RTHK: Russia 'deliberately slowing' Ukraine offensive

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Russia was deliberately slowing its offensive in Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate, while a top security official said Moscow was not "chasing deadlines" in the three-month-old war.

Their comments signalled that Russia sees no quick end to the fighting, while seeking to dispel any impression that the drawn-out and costly "special military operation" has stalled.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mocked the comments as pathetic lies designed to hide a disastrous campaign.

Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia has lost momentum after running into fierce Ukrainian resistance and suffering heavy losses in both men and equipment.

"Ceasefires are being declared and humanitarian corridors are being created in order to get people out of surrounded settlements," Shoigu said in televised remarks on day 90 of the war.

"Of course, this slows down the pace of the offensive, but this is done deliberately to avoid casualties among the civilian population," he told defence ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a military alliance of Russia and five other former Soviet republics.

Zelenskiy dismissed the statement as "absolutely unreal", given that Kyiv estimates Russia has lost nearly 30,000 soldiers and thousands of tanks and other armoured vehicles.

"And they are trying to cover this up with lies about how they are supposedly not fighting at full strength? How pathetic - and the time will come when they will recognise this themselves," he said in a late-night address.

In separate comments, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of President Vladimir Putin's Security Council, said all of Putin's goals in Ukraine would be met.

"We are not chasing deadlines," he said in a newspaper interview that restated Russia's aim of "denazifying" Ukraine - something Kyiv and the West reject as a false pretext for war.

"Nazism must be 100% eradicated, or it will raise its head again in a few years, in an even uglier form," Patrushev said.

Despite Shoigu's comments on sparing civilians, the United Nations has recorded 3,930 civilian casualties during the conflict. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas, and accused Ukraine, without evidence, of using people as "human shields". (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-05-24. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Home Affairs cuts into long queues

Revamping governments internet network, increasing the departments internet capacity and roping in specialist network engineers from banks are some of the interventions that the Department of Home Affairs is implementing to deal with long queues caused by system downtime.

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, said this when he led the debate on the departments budget vote on Tuesday.

Motsoaledi said while there were various reasons that have led to long, winding queues at Home Affairs offices, the main one that sticks out like a sore thumb among the rest is the issue of system downtime.

It is painful and generates a lot of anger to visit a Home Affairs office very early in the morning, and just stand there and wait for hours on end because all systems are down. It is very frustrating to say the least.

Many members of the public simply believe [the departments] computers dont work, and they keep asking us why we dont just fix our computers or even buy new ones? We cant blame them. They dont know that the problem of systems that are continuously down go beyond just fixing a computer.

Motsoaledi said some of the interventions to deal with this include:

- The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) is spending R400 million to revamp its entire network. The revamp will be concluded in the third quarter of this financial year.

- SITA has concluded the implementation of its Implement Software Define Network (SDN), which is expected to help increase the departments bandwidth due to the number of applications used at civic offices. This will increase the departments connectivity.

- SITA has now doubled its internet capacity and introduced three failovers located in three cities, namely, Tshwane, Cape Town and eThekwini. This will ensure that if any of the network is down, there will be two to support services.

- SITA has finalised its procurement plan to address cyber-security for the departments IT infrastructure. SITA has committed to spend almost R1 billion on IT infrastructure to support the Department of Home Affairs and other departments.

- After engaging with banks, the department has roped in eight IT engineers from a leading bank to assist to stabilise its network, as well as the installation of some key IT infrastructure.

We believe that the partnerships with the banks will rapidly reduce the skills deficit and assist the department to improve and maintain system uptime.

Members of the Portfolio Committee will remember that we mentioned on numerous occasions that banks are prepared to offer some of the Home Affairs services at some of their branches.

However, this did not work as fast as we envisaged because the banks are worried of reputational damage that our system downtime would cause them.

Remember that for them to offer Home Affairs services, they need to verify the details of the client by using our system. If there is downtime, the banks also get stuck.

We believe that as soon as their own engineers have helped us to increase system uptime, the banks will cheerfully open their doors for Home Affairs services, said Motsoaledi.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree approving the 'Agreement on defense cooperation between the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Latvia'.

Will be updated
By Azernews





Azerbaijani and Kazakh Foreign Ministers Jeyhun Bayramov and Mukhtar Tleuberdi respectively have discussed cooperation and regional issues, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

In a phone conversation on May 25, the ministers exchanged views on the broad bilateral cooperation agenda between the two countries. At the same time, the issues of cooperation on multilateral platforms were touched upon, the ministry said.

The sides exchanged views on regional issues, especially in the economic, transport, and logistics sectors, as well as other issues of mutual interest.

Earlier, Kazakh Ambassador to Azerbaijan Serzhan Abdykarimov stated that new opportunities are opening up to strengthen Azerbaijan as a regional center.

"New opportunities are opening up that will strengthen Azerbaijan's regional role in the post-conflict period. In this sense, the Zangazur corridor opens new doors for economic cooperation," he said.

Some experts are of the opinion that Kazakhstan is willing to use international transport routes passing through Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani Center for Analysis of International Relations Board Chairman Farid Shafiyev said that the importance of the Middle Corridor [Trans-Caspian International Transport Route] is growing due to the current geopolitical situation in the region.

"The Middle Corridor - the route from China to Europe, plays a big role in the current agenda. The importance of this project is growing, especially in connection with the current geopolitical situation in the region," he added.

Noting that the agreements on the simplification of customs procedures between the two countries had already been signed, Shafiyev also stressed that close cooperation between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan should be actively developed.

Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were established on August 30, 1992. The Kazakh Embassy in Azerbaijan was opened on January 9, 1993, and the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Kazakhstan on March 1, 2004.

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are cooperating in various sectors of the economy. The volume of foreign trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $135.7 million in 2021.

Currently, over 500 companies with Azerbaijani capital are registered in Kazakhstan, and about 60 companies with Kazakh capital in Azerbaijan.

The main export products from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan are mineral resources (oil and gas), chemical raw materials, grain, barley, tobacco products, carbon steel rolling, and electrical equipment. Azerbaijan exports petroleum products extracted from bituminous materials, ethylene polymers, components for machines and mechanisms, prefabricated buildings, etc. to Kazakhstan.
China wants 10 small Pacific nations to join an agreement covering many issues including security and fisheries. The agreement would permit China to gain more influence over the area.

The Associated Press (AP) received a draft of the agreement. It shows that China wants to train police officers, cooperate on traditional and non-traditional security and expand law enforcement cooperation. The plan is called the Common Development Vision.

China also wants to develop a plan for fisheries. The agreement would increase cooperation on operating the areas internet networks. It also would set up cultural Confucius Institutes and classrooms. China also suggests the possibility of setting up a free trade area with the Pacific nations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a delegation of 20 officials are beginning a visit to the Pacific area this week. Wang is visiting seven of the countries he hopes will support the plan. They include the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Samoa. Also on the list are Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea.

Wang is also holding video meetings with the other three possible supporters of the agreement: the Cook Islands, Niue and the Federated States of Micronesia. Wang is hoping the countries will support the agreement after a meeting planned for May 30 in Fiji. The foreign ministers of each of the 10 countries are invited.

Micronesia, however, has rejected the plan. President David Panuelo wrote an eight-page letter to the leaders of other Pacific nations warning of serious results if they do.

He wrote that he is concerned the agreement permits China to own and control the areas fisheries and communications infrastructure. Panuelo said in his letter that the agreement is an attempt by China to increase its influence over the Pacific nations and tie the whole of our economies and societies to them.

He also warned the agreement would heighten international political tensions. Panuelo wrote that the Common Development Vision threatens to bring a new Cold War era at best, and a World War at worst.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Wednesday he did not know about Panuelo's letter.

But I dont agree at all with the argument that cooperation between China and the South Pacific island countries will trigger a new Cold War, he said.

Like some other countries in the Pacific, Micronesia is finding itself caught between the competing interests of the United States and China.

Micronesia has close ties to the U.S. through an agreement called a Compact of Free Association. But it also has what Panuelo describes in his letter as a Great Friendship with China that he hopes will continue even though he opposes the agreement.

The security parts of the agreement will be particularly troubling to many in the area and beyond. China signed a separate security agreement with the Solomon Islands last month.

The draft agreement also states that the Pacific countries firmly abide by the one-China policy. That is the policy by the government in Beijing under which Taiwan, a self-ruled island democracy, is considered to be part of China.

The AP has also received a draft of another five-year plan that China hopes to have signed along with the Common Development Vision. Under the five-year plan, China is offering the Pacific nations different incentives like aid for law enforcement, education and governance.

China says it will also spend an additional $2 million and send 200 medical professionals to the islands to provide health services and fight COVID-19. China also promises to help the countries in their efforts to fight climate change.

Im Dan Novak.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press.

____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

draft  n. a beginning version of a document made before the final version is reached

infrastructure n. the basic equipment and structures, such as roads, power and communications, needed for a country to operate correctly

era n. a period of time that is tied to a quality, event or person

trigger v. something that causes a strong reaction

abide by  n. to accept or be guided by something

incentive  n. a reason to do something
Google has launched a new tool designed to help people prepare for job interviews.

The system, called Interview Warmup, is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) methods. The tool creates interview test questions related to several major technology fields. These include information technology (IT) and support, project management, data analytics and online sales and marketing.

The tool was created as part of Googles efforts to develop conversational AI systems. These systems use messaging technologies and voice recognition to permit users to interact with computers and devices in more natural ways.

Google recently launched Interview Warmup to the public for free.

Users first choose the field they are interested in for a practice interview. The process involves users typing or speaking their answers into the system after each question is presented. Video is currently not part of the tool.

The system centers on three main kinds of questions  background, situational and technical, Google explains.

Background questions cover a users past training and job history. Situational questions seek information on how a job seeker has dealt with different career situations in the past. And technical questions cover the specific knowledge and skills a person has.

If the user speaks using a microphone, the tool puts the users answers into written form. The Interview Warmup system then uses AI and machine learning methods to analyze the answers and provide suggestions for improvements.

For example, the system can let a user know when he or she is using important terms related to specific jobs of interest. It also identifies the words used most by the interviewee. Google says this information can help job seekers recognize whether using such repeated words can help or hurt them during an interview.

The tool can also point out any talking points that were used or suggest new ones that could be effective when interviewing for different kinds of jobs.

For people with privacy concerns, Google says none of the information entered or spoken into the tool is stored or shared. Since the system does not store information, users are asked to copy any answers they want to keep in a separate document.

While creating the system, developers spoke with individuals who had completed job training classes offered by Google and were actively looking for work. The classes are part of the companys Career Certificate Program.

Jasmin Rubinovitz is a software engineer and researcher with Google Creative Lab. She helped develop the Interview Warmup tool. Rubinovitz explains in a video that there are currently more than 1.3 million job openings in the United States for high-paying technology jobs across different fields.

She notes, however, that the companys career training programs can only go so far in helping prepare job seekers to get one of those available positions. We found that the one thing (job seekers) had a hard time with was interviewing, Rubinovitz said.

So we tried to think, could we use machine learning and large language models to build a tool to help you practice for a job interview, she added.

Rubinovitz says the tool is designed to permit job seekers to practice their interview skills in a safe space as many times as they desire.

Interview Warmup can be used with most internet browsers, as well as the Android and iOS mobile operating systems.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English based on information from Google.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

Quiz - Free Google AI Tool Aims to Improve Job Interview Skills Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

___________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

interview  n. a meeting in which someone asks you questions to see if you are qualified for a job or position

artificial intelligence  n. the development of computer systems with the ability to perform work that normally requires human intelligence

analytics  n. a process by which a computer examines information using mathematical methods in order to find useful patterns

practice  v. to do something repeatedly in order to improve your skills at doing it

analyze  v. to study or examine something in detail in order to discover or understand more about it

browser  n. a computer program used for accessing sites or information on a network
By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani and Armenian Deputy Prime Ministers Shahin Mustafayev and Mher Grigoryan respectively, who are also chairs of the border commissions simultaneously set up on 23 May following the third Brussels meeting between the two leaders, held their first meeting on 24 May to chart a course of action toward a future peace deal, Azernews reports.

Experts familiar with the nearly 30-year-long conflict viewed the move as a solid step toward a future peace deal.

Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev and his Armenian counterpart Mher Grigoryan held their first meeting in this format without the involvement of foreign intermediaries, raising hopes for the signing of a future peace treaty between the two countries after 30 years of conflict.

The parties reaffirmed their readiness to work within the framework of the commission on delimitation and other issues. Organizational and procedural issues of joint activities of the commission were discussed, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

In addition to meetings at the interstate border, the sides agreed to convene further commission meetings in a variety of locations, including the second one in Moscow and the third one in Brussels.

On May 25, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko confirmed that the second meeting of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border delimitation commissions will be held in Moscow, the TASS agency reported.

"We hope that it will be held next week," Rudenko said.

This arrangement of the forthcoming round of talks in Moscow and Brussels is viewed as a balancing act between the two leading intermediaries with whom these two South Caucasus nations want to preserve good relations.

EU Council President Charles Michel, who is actively involved in the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace negotiations, praised the first meeting of the border commissions, describing it as "tangible progress" following the leaders' third Brussels summit.

Warmly welcome first meeting of Border Commissions held today on Armenia-Azerbaijan border to advance discussions on delimitation of the inter-state border and how best to ensure stable situation. Tangible progress following the trilateral meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan," Michel tweeted.

On the other hand, France, as co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, indicated support for the European Union-mediated peace negotiations in Brussels on May 22 between the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"France reaffirms its support for the dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan under the auspices of the EU and will contribute to this dialogue," the ministry added.

Furthermore, in a telephone conversation with Pashinyan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered assistance with border delimitation and demarcation efforts, Azernews reports, citing the US Department of State.

Mentioning the positive momentum toward peace in the South Caucasus, Blinken encouraged the progress to develop regional transportation and communication links.

He emphasized the significance of continuing bilateral communication to address difficulties in the South Caucasus and underlined the United States' support for talks between President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan through the mediation of the EU.

Blinken underlined his countrys willingness to assist Armenia and Azerbaijan in finding a long-term comprehensive peace by engaging bilaterally and with like-minded allies, including via the United States' mission as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair. Blinken emphasized the need for normalizing Armenian-Turkish ties in securing peace, stability, and development in the region.
The votes are still trickling in from last Tuesday's primary, but the local and national prognostication for the general election in November is in full swing.

The votes keep coming in from mailed ballots that must arrive by the end of business Tuesday, May 24 and from the backlog of botched ballots that have to be duplicated because of an error in printing. As of 3.p.m. on Monday, May 23, Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan reports 1,074,251 ballots have been returned out of the 2,948,373 sent to voters. That's 36.44% turnout.

McLeod-Skinner lead holds

The insurgent candidacy of Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner against U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby, has held on to its victory margin as more voting totals have come in. She's doing best at the far ends of the House district that crosses the Cascades.

Overall, McLeod-Skinner is winning 59% of the vote in the 5th District, less than a percentage point below where she was running when the first votes were released on election night.

Currently, Schrader is winning in three of the five counties in the district: Marion, Linn and in the few votes that have come in from Clackamas County. But McLeod-Skinner has been able to offset those county counts by winning 70% of the vote in Deschutes and 60% in Multnomah.

The apparent win by progressive Terrebonne attorney McLeod-Skinner over moderate Schrader in the Democratic primary could cause more turmoil, some top political forecasters said after the primary election day.

The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia moved the race from "Likely Democratic" to "Leans Democrat" because of the loss of an incumbent.

"As we wait for the race to be called, were moving the race from Likely Democratic to Leans Democratic  it may be a Toss-up before long," wrote J. Miles Coleman, an analyst for the center. "It is among the kinds of seats we could see flipping in a good Republican environment."

Emptying political pockets on purpose

The rule in tight primary races is to spend all the money you have. If you win, your supporters will refill your coffers. If you lose, any money left in the bank can't change the outcome.

The top finishers in Tuesday's primary stuck to that mantra.

Since January 2021, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tina Kotek raised $2.64 million and had $118,401 left by the election.

Treasurer Tobias Read came in second in the Democratic primary, but not without putting all his chips on the table. He raised just under $2.15 million and had $24,153.18 left by election night.

Republican primary winner Christine Drazan surged with the help of major donations while other opponents were seeing their wallets empty out early. She raised just under $2.65 million since January 2021 and hit the finish line with $45,125.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Former GOP chair Bob Tiernan finished second to Drazan. He raised just under $1.66 million and hit May 17 with just under $5,900 in the bank.

Independent candidate for governor Betsy Johnson is just cranking up her campaign and has over $5.3 million in the bank, including $1.75 million from Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

But if the past is any indication, the major party candidates will soon see a firehose of funds.

U.S. capital cash is coming

In 2018, the GOP candidate for governor, former Rep. Knute Buehler of Bend, dipped under $100,000 in his campaign account to win a surprisingly close three-way Republican primary.

National Republican Party and business groups soon were writing big checks (including Knight, who was backing Buehler in that race) before summer had even started. They pulled the challenger's campaign finances off the mat and sustained a spending tempo to compete with Brown's own conveyor belt of cash.

Buehler and Brown together set a new record, spending just under $40 million in direct contributions to their campaigns.

Johnson last week was betting that the trio of candidates will blow past that amount, with as much as $75 million in spending before all the votes are in and counted in mid-November.

Analysts: Drazan gives GOP best shot at upset

It's been 40 years since a Republican won Oregon's governorship and winning in 2022 remains a historical longshot.

But some top national political forecasters see an opportunity in the surprise outcome of the Republican primary.

Drazan, the former house minority leader, has a conservative track record in the Legislature, but has distanced herself from the strident rhetoric of former President Donald Trump and his most fervent allies.

Democrats picked the most liberal leading candidate, Kotek, Oregon's longest serving speaker of the house. That isn't unusual in a state with a liberal-left tilt in the strongly Democratic urban areas.

Johnson, a former Democratic state senator from Scappoose, is launching a well-funded campaign running without party affiliation, and has the deep-pockets support of Knight. She's trying to stake out a middle between the left and right to pull off the first successful independent campaign for governor in 92 years.

FiveThirtyEight.com, a top political handicapping website, said the victory of Drazan in the GOP race narrows the width of the political spectrum Johnson had hoped to see.

Drazan is a relatively moderate suburbanite woman in a Republican party that has had trouble making inroads with moderates, suburbanites and women in general.

The GOP candidate "will have a decent shot at winning the general election given the unpopularity of the outgoing governor and the presence of a strong independent candidate," the FiveThirtyEight analysis projected.

Still unknown will be the effect on state races of the Roe vs. Wade abortion decision. Kotek and Johnson are pro-choice, while Drazan is endorsed by Oregon Right to Life. A cratering economy would also add turmoil to a three-way race.

Oregonian: Hall should resign

The Oregon Secretary of State and other state and local officials have been angry over the long delay in waiting for the final result of the voting in Clackamas County.

The Oregonian newspaper came out Sunday calling for Clackamas County Clerk Sherry Hall to resign, saying the current gridlock in county voting adds to previous mistakes in erroneously printed ballots in 2010 and the arrest and conviction of a temporary poll worker under Hall's supervision who filled in votes on ballots sent in blank by voters.

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Mid-Willamette Valley is helping Ukraine (and you can too)
Health Officials Issue Blue-Green Algae Health Alert at Lake Munson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 25, 2022

HEALTH OFFICIALS ISSUE BLUE-GREEN ALGAE BLOOM ALERT FOR LEON COUNTY

Previous Health Caution Is Upgraded to a Health Alert at Lake Munson

The Florida Department of Health in Leon County (DOH Leon), The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and Leon County Government are responding to a blue-green algae Health Alert at Lake Munson. This is in response to water samples taken on May 18, 2022. Laboratory analysis found low level toxins present. Following a recommendation from DOH Leon, Leon County Government in coordination with the Department has agreed to close the boat ramps until further notice. The public should exercise caution in and around Lake Munson.

Residents and visitors are advised to take the following precautions around Lake Munson:

Do not drink, swim, wade, use personal watercraft, water ski, or boat in waters where there is a visible algae bloom. Do not get water in your eyes, nose, or mouth.

Wash your skin and clothing with soap and water if you have contact with algae or discolored or smelly water.

Keep pets away from the area. Waters where there are algae blooms are not safe for animals. Pets and livestock should have a different source of water when algae blooms are present.

Do not cook or clean dishes with water contaminated by algae blooms. Boiling the water will not eliminate the toxins.

Eating fillets from healthy fish caught in freshwater lakes experiencing blooms is safe. Rinse fish fillets with tap or bottled water, throw out the guts and cook fish well.

Do not eat shellfish in waters with algae blooms.

Warm, nutrient rich water, or changes in water flow are factors that often contribute to algal blooms. While blooms may not be as commonplace in northern Florida as in the warmer climates of south Florida, they can and do occur throughout the state, and have been observed in Leon County in the past. Prior blooms in Leon County sampled by DEP can be viewed on their Algal Blooms Dashboard

.

Blue-green algae can occur wherever conditions are favorable for their growth.

Is blue-green algae harmful?

Blue-green algae blooms can impact human health and ecosystems, including fish and other aquatic animals.

For additional information on potential health effects of algal blooms, visit floridahealth.gov/environmental-health/aquatic-toxins.

Find current information about Floridas water quality status and public health notifications for harmful algal blooms and beach conditions by visiting ProtectingFloridaTogether.gov. Protecting Florida Together is the states joint effort to provide statewide water quality information to prioritize environmental transparency and commitment to action.

What do I do if I see an algal bloom?

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection collects and analyzes algal bloom samples. To report a bloom to DEP, call the toll-free hotline at 855-305-3903 or report online at surveygizmo.com/s3/3444948/Algal-Bloom-Reporting-Form.

To report fish kills, contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute at 1-800-636-0511.

Report symptoms from exposure to a harmful algal bloom or any aquatic toxin to the Florida Poison Information Center. Call 1-800-222-1222 to speak to a poison specialist immediately.

Contact your veterinarian if you believe your pet has become ill after consuming or having contact with blue-green algae contaminated water.

If you have other health questions or concerns about blue-green algae blooms, please contact the DOH Leon Office of Environmental Health at 850-895-8360.

Lifting the alert

A health alert is lifted once negative toxin analyses are obtained from DEP-coordinated resampling of the bloom, or 30 days have elapsed since the last sampling date. If a health alert has been issued, it can be rescinded at this time.

# # #

About the Florida Department of Health

The Department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @HealthyFla. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.

Follow the Florida Department of Health in Leon County on Twitter at @healthyleonfl.

Media Contact:

Pamela Saulsby | Public Information Officer

pamela.saulsby@flhealth.gov
LEXINGTON  A broken back porch light was the cause of an early morning fire that caused damage to a Lexington home on Wednesday, May 25.

At 4:09 a.m., the Lexington Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to 1404 N. Madison St. for the report of a house fire.

LVFD Fire Chief Bo Berry said in total they responded with 22 firefighters, two fire engines, a rescue unit, a command pickup and their extraction and air trailer.

The broken back porch light caused a spark that caught the siding of the house on fire. Berry said the fire was mainly exterior when they arrived on scene.

To knock down the fire, Berry said they used a two sided attack, they sent a water line behind the house to hit the fire and a second line through the front of the house to prevent the fire from spreading farther.

Berry said they had the fire knocked down relativity quickly, around 25 minutes. Firefighters remained on scene to examine the area and ensure there were no hotspots or flare ups. He said all fire units returned to the fire hall around 7 a.m.

The damage was mainly regulated to the backside of the home where the fire started, there was light smoke damage to the rest of the house. A family of five was home at the time of the fire, but they were not injured.

The LVFD was assisted on scene by the Lexington Police Department, Dawson County Sheriffs Office, Nebraska State Fire Marshal and the Nebraska Public Power District.
A Richmond woman pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Richmond to defrauding Virginia and the U.S. out of more than $1.1 million in COVID-19 relief funds by submitting bogus applications using the identities of state prison inmates and acquiring the personal identification information of unsuspecting Virginians from a government database.

By filing dozens of fraudulent claims, Sadie Mitchell, 30, and an unnamed co-conspirator obtained at least $1,127,462 in pandemic unemployment assistance, unemployment insurance, paycheck protection loan funds and economic injury disaster loan payments in a scheme that ran from May 19, 2020, to Aug. 9, 2021, according to federal prosecutors summary of evidence.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Mark R. Colombell convicted Mitchell on her guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. Sentencing was set for Aug. 23. Mitchells alleged accomplice has since died.

Part of the scheme involved Mitchell and her accomplice using the names of Virginians contained in a government database that Mitchell had access to through her employment with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and the Virginia Motor Vehicle Dealer Board.

Mitchell was a DMV employee from Sept. 30, 2013, through April 24, 2019, and the Virginia Motor Vehicle Dealer Board from April 25, 2019, through April 3, 2021, according to state records. She was a program support technician earning $39,864 when her crimes were discovered.

Another part of the conspiracy involved Mitchells accomplice obtaining the names, dates of birth and social security numbers of inmates serving sentences at state prisons. Mitchell then used that information to electronically file at least 20 fraudulent claims for pandemic unemployment assistance and unemployment insurance with the Virginia Employment Commission, according to federal prosecutors.

The applications for assistance listed a physical address rather than the state prison at which the inmates were housed and included the name of a bogus last employer since the inmates were incarcerated and not employed. The VEC would then mail Way 2 Go debit cards loaded with benefit funds to the addresses listed by Mitchell in the applications. In some cases, Mitchell and the co-conspirator requested the benefits be directly deposited into bank accounts they controlled, prosecutors said.

On a weekly basis, Mitchell and her accomplice would submit recertifications for unemployment status, resulting in the VEC disbursing additional funds. Using the personal information of inmates, the VEC disbursed more than $300,000 in benefits to Mitchell and her accomplice.

After Mitchell and her accomplice obtained the names of Virginians from the government database, Mitchell would query the database for the dates of birth and social security numbers of those individuals, and then use that information to electronically submit false applications for benefits.

The vast majority of these individuals had no knowledge that their personal identifying information had been compromised and used by the conspirators to file fraudulent applications, prosecutors said their summary of evidence. However, some of the people whose information was used were aware of the fraudulent claims and shared in the stolen proceeds.

In total, Mitchell and her accomplice filed at least 30 false and misleading applications for benefits, resulting in the VEC disbursing more than $700,000 in benefit funds. Mitchell and her accomplice also filed false benefit claims for themselves and received a additional $20,000 in benefits from the VEC.

In addition to pandemic-related unemployment assistance, Mitchell and her accomplice filed five fraudulent applications for money through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, a federal Small Business Administration program that provided forgivable loans through participating financial institutions to small businesses for job retention and other expenses.

Mitchell submitted three applications for businesses that she claimed she owned and operated, and two more that Mitchell claimed were owned and operated by other people. Among other fabrications, Mitchell provided bogus gross income figures for the businesses and falsely certified they were in operation.

All five of the Paycheck Protection Program loan applications were approved and funded, resulting in the disbursal of $97,462 by participating financial institutions, money that was guaranteed by the SBA.

Lastly, Mitchell submitted six applications for federal Economic Injury Disaster Loans for businesses she claimed to own and operate, and two additional applications for businesses purportedly owned by her accomplice. The federal program provides loan assistance up to $2 million, including $10,000 advances, for small businesses and other eligible entities.

Ultimately, none of Mitchells fraudulent EIDL applications were approved by the SBA, but in response to one of the bogus applications, the SBA disbursed a $10,000 advance to a bank account designated by Mitchell.

So far, the government has recovered more than $62,000 of the stolen benefits, which will offset the restitution that she will be required to pay. Mitchell turned over to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service a Navy Federal Credit Union cashiers check in the amount of $34,853; a second cashiers check in the amount of $368; and a third cashiers check in the amount of $27,240.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kashan Pathan and Carla Jordan-Detamore.
OMAHA  Only a few back-office details remain before Nebraska wraps up its last contract with a private agency to oversee the care of abused and neglected children in the Omaha area.

The contract with the Kansas-based Saint Francis Ministries finishes June 30. That date marks both the end of the contract with the embattled nonprofit and the conclusion of Nebraskas 12-year experiment with having private entities manage child welfare cases.

Based on multiple reports, the transition back to Department of Health and Human Services management of child welfare cases has gone smoothly.

Sen. John Arch of La Vista, who chairs the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee and an investigative committee looking into the Saint Francis contract, said he has been hearing good reports about the changeover.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, who led the push for the legislative investigation, said she has heard nothing about the transition process, which she considers a good sign when it comes to HHS.

No news is usually good news, she said, contrasting the silence to the flood of calls, emails and other contacts about problems during the contract.

All 800 or so child and family cases handled by Saint Francis, along with the majority of the agencys case managers, made the switch between Jan. 1 and the end of March. The last support service employees were transferred by May 9. Work continues on some final billing and payment matters.

But some of the problems that plagued the private contractor will take time to correct, according to state officials and others.

We havent seen any kind of miraculous turnaround in the cases, said Monika Gross, director of the state Foster Care Review Office. I guess the good news is theres nothing horrible, but theres still significant struggles going on.

Most critical is the continuing failure to meet caseload standards set by state law. Keeping caseloads at manageable levels allows workers time to focus on the needs of the children and families they are working with.

In March, the latest time period available, only 44.6% of state case managers in Douglas and Sarpy counties had caseloads within the state standards, similar to Saint Francis performance. Saint Francis never met the caseload standards during the two-plus years it held the case management contract.

Stephanie Beasley, children and family services director for HHS, acknowledged that HHS, too, has struggled to fill case manager positions, particularly in the states tight labor market.

But she said the two-county service area has made great gains in hiring, with 57 new workers added since March. Most are still in the training stage and not handling a full caseload. She said the goal is to hire 15 more.

So far, turnover among case managers appears to be better for HHS than it was under Saint Francis. In March, turnover among HHS staff was 3.8%, well below the 9.3% turnover for Saint Francis staff in May 2021.

Arch said the private agency struggled to keep staff, in part because of concerns about how long the contract would continue.

What pleases me most is I think weve reached stability, he said.

A consultant hired to study Nebraskas history with case management privatization concluded in December that the system increased instability and disruptions in care. By its nature, privatization involves time-limited contracts that can be lost during the next bidding process.

Nebraskas attempt to privatize child welfare case management got off to a disastrous start 12 years ago. It was attempted statewide and four of the five original contractors lost or dropped their contracts within two years.

The lone survivor was PromiseShip, then called Nebraska Families Collaborative, which managed child welfare cases in the two-county Omaha area for close to a decade. State workers resumed case management in the rest of the state.

PromiseShip lost its contract to Saint Francis three years ago, after the Kansas nonprofit bid 40% less to do the job. Saint Francis signed a five-year, $197 million contract in July 2019.

Saint Francis tenure was troubled from the start and, in January 2021, HHS was forced to sign a new, emergency contract to keep the agency operating. The 25-month, $147.3 million contract erased the original 40% cost difference.

But the agency never met caseload standards set by state law and continually fell short on other contract requirements. In response to the agencys problems, HHS officials restricted Saint Francis from taking new cases as of Sept. 30, keeping those cases in-house. In December, state officials announced an early termination of the contract.

Nebraska paid Saint Francis a total of $175 million for managing cases from October 2019 through April 2022, according to HHS records. That includes $28 million paid during the transition period of January through April.

Gross, with the Foster Care Review Office, praised the states transition plan. State officials offered jobs to 233 Saint Francis employees immediately after announcing the contract termination and worked out a timeline for transferring each case.

The week before each case switched over, interested parties met to discuss the case, share needed information, update its status and make a plan to address issues. The meetings included representatives from HHS, Saint Francis, the Foster Care Review Office, the courts and legal parties.

Beasley said department staff are now reviewing the case files again to ensure all necessary steps have been taken and documented. The reviews also highlight training needs for the newly transferred case managers and potential process improvements.

Thats going to take a minute, she said.

Meanwhile, Beasley said state child welfare officials have begun meeting with representatives from education, the courts, county attorneys, child welfare providers, former foster youth and others to develop a broader vision for Nebraskas child welfare system.

Creating a shared strategic direction and a statewide model for how best to serve vulnerable families in Nebraska were among the recommendations from the legislative investigation into the Saint Francis contract.
By Azernews





By Orkhan Amashov

One of the truly tangible and easily identifiable results of the 22 May Brussels meeting focused on the border issue. Baku and Yerevan, through the good offices of the EU, agreed to proceed with the first joint meeting of the border commissions as a matter of unflinching urgency. Two days later, on 24 May, the very first convocation involving the participation of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia took place.

DD agenda

The delimitation and demarcation (DD issue) of the interstate border is a critical component of the normalisation between the two parties and constitutes a vital ingredient as a larger precursor to a future peace treaty. All the results achieved by the joint work of the border commissions, and concords agreed upon, will then be translated into the provisions of a prospective comprehensive deal.

To use the technical language of international law, as seen under the guise of the OSCE guidelines, delimitation of the boundary is legal formalisation in a treaty of the state boundary between adjoining states, whose position is graphically plotted on the topographic map and duly defined in its corresponding written description, whereupon the map and the description may become an integral part of the treaty or its annex. This slightly circumlocutory definition says it all.

At present, as it may be ascertained from the text of the post-meeting statement that the focus is on delimitation as the initial stage, and thereafter the parties will be able to move into the demarcation phase, where the delimitation maps will be translated to the ground.

Functional framework

European Council President Charles Michels post-meeting speech specified the two segments of the commissions functional scope, addressing all questions related to delimitation of the border and ensuring stability. Demarcation is not touched upon, due to the obvious exigency of the present phase.

To this effect, Azerbaijan has mostly appeared to emphasise the delimitation part of the commissions mandate, whereas Armenia has viewed the entity as a joint watchdog reporting on border security and rectifying deviations. The 22 May meeting has provided extra clarity as to what the joint work of the commissions is supposed to achieve.

Belated development

The inaugural meeting on the state border was undoubtedly a belated development. On 6 April, the sides agreed to establish border commissions to address security issues and delimitation matters. The first meeting should have been convened by 29 April, but nothing eventuated. The meeting scheduled to take place on 16-17 May was also cancelled. Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of the Armenian Security Council, justified this by citing Bakus refusal to consider the final determination of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, entailed in Yerevans six-point package.

On the day the commissions convened, Charles Michel warmly welcomed the development, describing it as tangible progress. It was also agreed that the next two consecutive meetings will take place in Moscow and Brussels.

There has never been a properly delimited and demarcated state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Between 1918-20, the two nations were at war. During the Soviet age, what one conditionally may call a partial delimitation was carried out, but the borderline was never demarcated, as both countries were part of the one sovereign entity, and the practical need was less than pronounced.

The May 2021 incidents around the Sev Lidj (Qaragol) in the Syunik region (Western Zangazur) have again raised the importance of full delimitation and demarcation of the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

It is unclear with what degree of honesty Yerevan is committed to fixing the interstate border issue. One of the aims of the ongoing protests currently engulfing Armenia is to ensure that the government makes no plausible movement towards a peace deal. It is beyond doubt that Pashinyan's administration is given to wavering between different options under pressure.

The DD agenda also entails elements related to the thorny exclave subject, in relation to which the parties have been at loggerheads for some considerable time. Baku and Yerevan see the subject differently. The former believes that control over exclaves is to be transferred; the latter is of the opinion the existing control regime is to be preserved.

The latest trilateral meeting in Brussels has given renewed impetus to the negotiations. The border commissions latest meeting is a case in point. Now that momentum has been re-engendered, it is vital that it is not slackened, like a slipping noose that ultimately strangles.

The ongoing peace-resistance demonstrations entrapping Yerevan, and the incumbent governments vacillation, together with other external influences, form a major stumbling block on the way to an even more decisive breakthrough that will be for the greater good of all.
Paul B. Miller (Notre Dame Law School) has posted Fiduciary Liability and Business Judgment (Martin Petrin and Christian Witting, eds., Research Handbook on Corporate Liability (Elgar, Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This chapter provides a comparative interpretive analysis of the business judgment rule and its relationship to principles governing the fiduciary liability of corporate directors. In broad outline, principles providing for the fiduciary liability of directors under Delaware law are in alignment with those of foreign jurisdictions. However, Delaware charts its own course in the spirit and finer doctrinal detailing of its law. And if any doctrine may be said to singularly reflect the spirit of American corporate law, it is the business judgment rule. American law stands apart for the sheer breadth of latitude it asserts for managerial discretion. And that assertion is made, and thought to be policed, through the business judgment rule.

The business judgment rule appears anomalous in comparative context. First, it seems anomalous within the context of American fiduciary law for, as Julian Velasco has observed, there is no fiduciary judgment rule applicable to all fiduciaries. Second, the rule seems distinctive as a matter of comparative corporate law. Aside from legal transplants inspired by Delaware law, most foreign jurisdictions have done without a business judgment rule.

In this chapter I test the appearance of anomaly as well as conventional views about the nature of the business judgment rule and its relationship to basic precepts of fiduciary liability. The interpretive project is one of rational reconstruction: it acknowledges doctrinal irresolution but asks what sense may be made of the rule when presented it is in its best light. The comparative analysis probes the apparent distinctiveness of the business judgment rule. I suggest that, surprisingly, the reconstructed rule is not anomalous, save in being given doctrinal expression (i.e., in being posited as a rule). Fiduciary administration is, elsewhere, protected by implicit norms of deference by judges to decisions lawfully made by fiduciaries. I conclude by querying whether the effectiveness of the business judgment rule in the United States  something achieved despite persistent doctrinal irresolution  and the reported ineffectiveness of the rule in other jurisdictions might suggest that causal factors shaping judicial behavior in conformity with the rules aims are primarily social rather than legal.
Richard H. Pildes (New York University School of Law) has posted Democracies in the Age of Fragmentation (California Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Democracies throughout the West are unable to marshal wide-enough support to deliver effective government. The communications revolution is one reason why, and we have not yet fully grasped the profound challenge social media poses to democracies. Even if the problems of disinformation, misinformation, incitement, and the like could somehow be solved, that challenge would remain.

The political turbulence social media has fueled takes many different forms, which this essay chronicles. In the United States, it has enabled the rise of independent, free-agent politicians, who party leaders cannot corral to generate a unified party agenda. The internet has also spawned the rise of small donors, one effect of which is to fuel the extremes of the parties. In Europe, social media has led to the sudden emergence of digital pop-up parties that have dramatically disrupted politics, such as the Brexit Party in the UK and the Five Star Party in Italy. The communications revolution has also facilitated the rise of spontaneous, non-organized groups that have completely roiled politics, such as the Indignados in Spain or the Yellow Vests in France. Because these groups lack structure and leaders, democratic governments find it difficult to respond to vague, shifting demands. Even atomistic individuals, acting through social media but outside of any party or organizational context, have had major disruptive effects on politics in some countries.

Political authority must be accountable, of course, and badly exercised power deserves challenge. But democracies now function in an era in which the challenge to them is constant. This new democratic era might be one in which new technologies will enable many more people to engage in forms of politics, individually and in groups or parties. Opposition to government action, or demands for government to act or act differently, will be easy to mobilize and constant. Politics and government will be continually turbulent, but less able to deliver effectively on the issues citizens care most urgently about.

Highly recommended.
LONDON (AP)  Health authorities in Europe, North America, Israel and Australia have identified more than 100 cases of monkeypox in recent days.

Officials around the world are keeping watch for more cases because, for the first time, the rare disease appears to be spreading among people who didnt travel to Africa, where monkeypox is endemic. They stress, however, that the risk to the general population is low.

WHAT IS MONKEYPOX?

Monkeypox is a virus that originates in wild animals like rodents and primates, and occasionally jumps to people. It belongs to the same virus family as smallpox.

Most human cases have been in central and west Africa and outbreaks have been relatively limited.

The illness was first identified by scientists in 1958 when there were two outbreaks of a pox-like disease in research monkeys  thus the name monkeypox. The first known human infection was in 1970, in a young boy in a remote part of Congo.

WHAT CAUSED THIS LATEST OUTBREAK?

Health officials are still investigating, but a top adviser to the World Health Organization said this week that the leading theory is that monkeypox was likely spread after sexual activity at two recent raves in Europe.

Dr. David Heymann, who chairs WHO's expert advisory group on infectious hazards, said monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with someone already infected with the disease, and that "it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission.

Authorities in countries including Britain, Spain, Germany and Portugal say most of the known cases in Europe have been among men who have sex with men, but experts emphasize that anyone can be infected through close contact with a sick person, their clothing or bedsheets.

Scientists say it will be difficult to determine whether the spread is being driven by sex or merely close contact.

WHY ARE MOST OF THE CURRENT INFECTIONS OUTSIDE AFRICA IN MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MEN?

It's unclear, but the disease is no more likely to infect gay and bisexual men than anyone else.

This may just be unlucky that (monkeypox) happened to get into this one particular community first, said Dr. Jake Dunning, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of Oxford, who is also involved in treating cases in London. It's just that they are a community and by having sex with each other, that is how it's spreading, he said.

Other experts warn the disease could spread more widely if measures aren't taken to stop the outbreak.

Infectious diseases dont care about borders or social networks. Some groups may have a greater chance of exposure right now, but by no means is the current risk of exposure to monkeypox exclusive to men who have sex with men, said the CDCs Dr. John Brooks.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS AND HOW IS IT TREATED?

Most monkeypox patients experience only fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body.

Most people recover within about two to four weeks without needing to be hospitalized, monkeypox can be fatal for up to 6% of cases and is thought to be more severe in children.

Smallpox vaccines are effective against monkeypox and anti-viral drugs are also being developed.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control recommended all suspected cases be isolated and that high-risk contacts be offered a smallpox vaccine. The U.K. is offering high-risk contacts the smallpox vaccine and recommending anyone who might be infected to isolate until they recover.

The U.S. has 1,000 doses of a vaccine approved for the prevention of monkeypox and smallpox, plus more than 100 million doses of an older-generation smallpox vaccine in a government stockpile, officials said.

HOW WORRYING IS THIS OUTBREAK?

Any outbreak of an emerging virus is concerning, but most of the cases have been mild and there have been no deaths so far.

Monkeypox also requires very close contact to spread, so it is not likely to prompt big waves of disease like COVID-19, which can be transmitted in the air by people with no symptoms.

Still, Britains Health Security Agency has said it expects to see new infections on a daily basis and WHOs Europe director warned that the summer season of festivals and parties could spread the disease. Many of the cases being identified have no links to previous infections, suggesting the virus is already spreading widely.

On Tuesday, Germanys Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said the outbreak is not the beginning of a new pandemic but needed to be contained quickly.

HOW MANY MONKEYPOX CASES ARE THERE TYPICALLY?

The World Health Organization estimates there are thousands of monkeypox infections in about a dozen African countries every year. Most are in Congo, which reports about 6,000 cases annually, and Nigeria, with about 3,000 cases a year.

In the past, isolated cases of monkeypox have been spotted outside Africa, including in the U.S. and Britain. The cases were mostly linked to travel in Africa or contact with animals from areas where the disease is more common.

In 2003, 47 people in six U.S. states had confirmed or probable cases. They caught the virus from pet prairie dogs that been housed near imported small mammals from Ghana.

AP writers Mike Stobbe in New York and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

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.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
FICTION: In this sequel to "The Idiot," Selin returns for her sophomore year at Harvard.

"Either/Or" by Elif Batuman; Penguin Press (360 pages, $27)



When we last met Selin, the singular protagonist of Elif Batuman's Pulitzer Prize-finalist novel "The Idiot," she spent the summer after her Harvard freshman year teaching in a Hungarian village, an opportunity that Ivan, her ambiguous love interest, encouraged her to pursue. As "Either/Or" opens, Selin arrives back at Cambridge in 1996, puzzled by Ivan's lack of romantic advances while she visited his hometown.

Selin, a Turkish-American Russian literature major who "was unlike other people in so many ways," including her fresh examination of the world, her never-been-kissed status, and her size 11 1/2 feet, seldom obeys convention.

Neither does Batuman, who plunges into "Either/Or" without recapping Selin's "Idiot" year. Luckily, Selin's friend Svetlana provides a summary, noting that Ivan "terrorized her with ambiguous e-mails about sex, even though he already had a girlfriend, and led her on a wild-goose chase to a Hungarian village, and then he disappeared, and now he won't talk to her."

Heartbroken Selin analyzes what happened through her favorite methods  reading, thinking, emailing and observing. Selin embarks on a quest to move past Ivan, get her groove back and enjoy a hot girl summer, but these classic literary-heroine pursuits will play out in entirely unexpected and hilarious ways, in part because Selin's so skilled at noticing flourishes of the bizarre within the mundane. "Could its name really have been 'Grimace'?" she asks of the cheerful purple McDonald's blob character.

Selin views college classes not as occupational training, but as avenues for understanding life. She's dissatisfied with the available majors: "Why were the most important subjects addressed only indirectly? Why was there no department of love?" She picks up Kierkegaard's "Either/Or" and "The Seducer's Diary" as she tries to discern the rules for love, and when she reads the 1995 bestseller "The Rules: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right" it confirms what she gleaned from Kierkegaard, Flaubert and her experience with Ivan.

"Nothing in 'The Rules' was news, exactly: the eternal defeat of non-lame women, the worthlessness of their 'honesty,' the way they so often ended up marrying lame guys whom they had initially rejected as tedious."

While love's pursuit provides the surface tension of "Either/Or," Selin also investigates the nature of conquest and resistance, dominance and submission. Even Pilates offers lessons for Selin: "The logistics of mat placement was deeply stressful, in a way that made me feel like I understood the primal conflicts for land that formed the basis of modern history."

The 1990s, in retrospect, were an era of falling walls and freely unfurled Pilates mats. At Selin's Ukrainian Research Institute job, the scholars are touchy about people who "assumed that some word in Ukrainian was the same as in Russian."

Selin makes summer plans blithely, signing on to update the "Let's Go" guide to Turkey, including a stop at a Syrian border town, followed by an internship in Moscow. Current global calamities haunt these funny passages, enhancing the novel's atmosphere of bittersweet longing.

If "The Idiot" was a tale of innocence, "Either/Or" is a chronicle of experience that will leave Batuman's fans clamoring for an account of Selin's junior year.



Jenny Shank's story collection, "Mixed Company," won the George Garrett Fiction Prize and is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award and her novel, "The Ringer," won the High Plains Book Award.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Senate Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a wide-ranging proposal they say would help parents stay informed about what their children are being taught and how they're being treated by doctors. The measure also would tread into contentious LGBTQ matters that have caused divisive debate elsewhere.

The Parents' Bill of Rights legislation would bar public school curriculum for kindergarten through third grade from containing instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity. Republicans contend the prohibition is more limited than a new Florida law that critics have dubbed the Dont Say Gay law, which has received intense scrutiny nationally from critics who argue it marginalizes LGBTQ people.

And throughout K-12 schools, local school boards would be required to adopt procedures that notify a parent when school staff notices changes to a child's mental, emotional or physical health or well-being," or before a child's name or pronoun is changed in school records.

Separately, the bill also would subject health care providers to disciplinary action by licensing boards should they fail to receive parental consent for non-urgent medical treatments for a minor child, including fines of up to $5,000.

With kids participating in online classrooms during the coronavirus pandemic, parents got an up-close look at what their children were being taught. It opened their eyes in a lot of ways, Senate leader Phil Berger said.

The bill is about increasing transparency and trust in our public schools, Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, said at a news conference.

The measure, to be heard in an education committee on Wednesday, would have to clear both the House and Senate before going to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Berger and Sen. Deanna Ballard, who is helping shepherd the bill, said they hadn't spoken to Senate Democrats about the measure. But some Democratic support would be needed if Cooper vetoed the bill.

The measure would broaden the rights that parents already have in state and federal laws. Additional rights would include the ability to make health care decisions for their children and to be notified if a government agency suspects a crime has been committed against the child. The proposed rights would be in state law, not in the state constitution.

For schools, parents would have additional legal rights and be provided a guide to student achievement at the start of each school year. Parents would have to be informed that they can review textbooks and instructional materials, request that their child be evaluated for gifted programs and review standardize test results.

Greater participation from our parents really does lead to a better quality of life for our students, said Ballard, a Watauga County Republican. When parents are excluded from critical decisions affecting their childs health and well-being at school, it really sends a message to children that parents' input and authority is really no longer important.

Berger said the provision addressing the K-3 classroom instruction is different from Florida's law because the Senate's proposal would only ban content on sexual orientation and gender identity from actual curriculum.

Language in the Florida law says "classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.

Berger said the North Carolina law would not prevent a K-3 teacher from responding to a child's LGBTQ-related questions. But he said it would make sense for a school to alert the child's parent about such questions.

Parents who have complaints about the K-3 curriculum or don't feel properly notified about their child's physical and mental health could ultimately seek intervention from the State Board of Education or go to court to seek an injunction.

This version corrects the bill's title to Parents' Bill of Rights."

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





Azerbaijani Defense Minister Col-Gen Zakir Hasanov has received the Turkish Baykar drone companys Technical Director Selcuk Bayraktar on May 25, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

Welcoming the guest, Hasanov stated that the two nations' military cooperation is based on friendly and brotherly ties that are constantly growing and strengthening.

Hasanov emphasized the importance of such meetings in terms of developing mutual cooperation, stating that friendly relations between the two nations play an essential role in the development of bilateral relations.

The importance of holding the TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan festival in Baku in 2022 was also stressed at the meeting.

The sides exchanged views on the current state and prospects of military-technical cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Azerbaijan procures Turkish military drones from the Baykar company. Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles proved highly effective during the 44-day war with Armenia in 2020.

Earlier, the international media headlines described it as a "game-changer" with its spectacular performance in the second Karabakh war.

Azerbaijan will host the TEKNOFEST International Aviation, Space, and Technology Festival from May 26 to 29.

The event will feature air shows, demonstration flights by Azerbaijani Air Forces Su-25 attack aircraft, and MiG-29 multi-role fighter aircraft, as well as Turkish Stars F-5 fighter planes and Solo Turk F-16 aerobatic demonstration teams, Hurkush Fighter trainer aircraft, and ATAK helicopters.

The festival is organized by the Azerbaijani Digital Development and Transport Ministry. At the same time, the TEKNOFEST production office operates in Baku, of which full staff consists of Azerbaijani specialists.

The event has been organized yearly since 2018, with the Turkish Technology Team Foundation, which is controlled by the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry and Baykar Makina's technical director in cooperation with around 60 Turkish state institutions, universities, and private firms.

The festival's goal is to popularize areas like aviation, space industry, and the digital economy, encourage entrepreneurship in these fields, identify the knowledge and skills of young engineers through competitions held within the festival's framework, and present national technologies to the general public.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

(THE CONVERSATION) Calls for new gun legislation that previously failed to pass Congress are being raised again after the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at an elementary school in the small town of Uvalde, Texas.

An 18-year-old shooter killed at least 19 fourth grade students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, marking the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in a decade.

The U.S. has been here before  after shootings in Tucson, Aurora, Newtown, Charleston, Roseburg, San Bernardino, Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland, El Paso, Boulder, and 12 days earlier at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y.

Gun production and sales in the U.S. remain high, following a purchasing surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the firearms industry sold about six guns for every 100 Americans.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut was among the Democratic politicians who pleaded for action on gun control as horrifying details of the Uvalde school shooting unfolded.

What are we doing? Murphy asked other lawmakers, speaking from the Senate floor on the day of the shooting. Why are you here if not to solve a problem as existential as this?

Congress has declined to pass significant new gun legislation after dozens of shootings, including those that occurred during periods like this one, with Democrats controlling the House of Representatives, Senate and presidency.

This response may seem puzzling given that national opinion polls reveal extensive support for several gun control policies, including expanding background checks and banning assault weapons.

In October 2021, 52% of people polled by Gallup said that they thought firearm sales laws should be made more strict.

But polls do not determine policy.

Our research on this topic finds there is legislative activity following these tragedies, but its at the state level.

Restrictions loosened

Stricter gun laws at the national level are more popular among Democrats than Republicans, and major new legislation would likely need votes from at least 10 Republican senators. Many of these senators represent constituencies opposed to gun control.

U.S. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said on May 24 that more gun control laws could not have prevented the Uvalde attack, explaining that doesnt work, its not effective, it doesnt prevent crime.

The absence of strict control policies in Republican-controlled states shows that senators crossing party lines to support gun control would be out of step with the views of voters whose support they need to win elections.

But a lack of action from Congress doesnt mean gun laws are stagnant after mass shootings.

To examine how policy changes, we assembled data on shootings and gun legislation in the 50 states between 1990 and 2014. Overall, we identified more than 20,000 firearm bills and nearly 3,200 enacted laws. Some of these loosened gun restrictions, others tightened them, and still others did neither or both  that is, tightened in some dimensions but loosened in others.

We then compared gun laws before and after mass shootings in states where mass shootings occurred, relative to all other states.

Contrary to the view that nothing changes, state legislatures consider 15% more firearm bills the year after a mass shooting. Deadlier shootings  which receive more media attention  have larger effects.

In fact, mass shootings have a greater influence on lawmakers than other homicides, even though they account for less than 1% of gun deaths in the United States.

As impressive as this 15% increase in gun bills may sound, gun legislation can reduce gun violence only if it becomes law. And when it comes to enacting these bills into law, our research found that mass shootings do not regularly cause lawmakers to tighten gun restrictions.

In fact, we found the opposite. Republican state legislatures pass significantly more gun laws that loosen restrictions on firearms after mass shootings.

In 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a new law that eliminated a requirement for Texans to obtain a license or receive training to carry handguns. This came two years after a 2019 mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso.

Thats not to say Democrats never tighten gun laws  there are prominent examples of Democratic-controlled states passing new legislation following mass shootings.

California, for example, enacted several new gun laws following a 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino. Our research shows, however, that Democrats dont tighten gun laws more than usual following mass shootings.

After the Buffalo shooting in early May 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that she would work to increase the age for legal gun purchasing from 18 to 21 at a minimum.

Ideology governs response

The contrasting response from Democrats and Republicans is indicative of different philosophies regarding the causes of gun violence and the best ways to reduce deaths.

While Democrats tend to view social factors as contributing to violence, Republicans are more likely to blame the individual shooters.

Cruz, for example, has said that stopping individuals with criminal records from committing violence could help prevent mass shootings.

Politicians favoring looser restrictions on guns following mass shootings frequently argue that more people carrying guns would allow law-abiding citizens to stop perpetrators.

In fact, gun sales often surge after mass shootings, in part because people fear being victimized.

Democrats, in contrast, typically focus more on trying to solve policy and societal problems that contribute to gun violence.

For both sides, mass shootings are an opportunity to propose bills consistent with their ideology.

Since we wrote our study of gun legislation following mass shootings, which covered the period through 2014, several additional tragedies have energized the gun control movement that emerged following the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. These include the May 2022 shooting at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo, as well as the Uvalde school massacre.

While President Joe Biden issued executive orders in 2021 with the goal of reducing gun violence, action in Congress remains elusive. States, meanwhile, have been more active on the issue.

Student activism following the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, did not result in congressional action but led several states to pass new gun control laws.

With more funding and better organization, this new movement is better positioned than prior gun control movements to advocate for stricter gun policies following mass shootings. Public outcry and devastation over the Uvalde shootings will likely provide fuel to this advocacy work.

But with states historically more active than Congress on the issue of guns, both advocates and opponents of new restrictions should look beyond Washington for action on gun policy.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 21, 2021.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/after-mass-shootings-like-uvalde-national-gun-control-fails-but-states-often-loosen-gun-laws-183879.

Licenced as Creative Commons - attribution, no derivatives.

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TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  China is trying to navigate its biggest coronavirus outbreak without a tool it could have adopted many months ago, the kind of vaccines that have proven to offer the best protection against the worst outcomes from COVID-19.

As early as the spring of 2020 a Chinese pharmaceutical company, Fosun Pharma, reached an agreement to distribute  and eventually manufacture  the mRNA vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech. It still has not been cleared in mainland China, despite being authorized for use by separate authorities in Hong Kong and Macao.

Now health experts say that delay  a result of putting politics and national pride above public health  could lead to avoidable coronavirus deaths and deeper economic losses because whole cities would be locked down to insulate the country's unprotected population.

The biggest issue is about the delay of the reopening, said Xi Chen, a health economist at Yale University's School of Public Health. The consequences will be huge, the supply chain disruption, the disruption to all kinds of service sectors.

Studies have consistently shown that vaccination with mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna offer the best protection against hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Chinese vaccines made with older technology proved fairly effective against the original strain of the virus, but much less so against more recent variants.

As this evidence became clearer, even countries that initially used Chinese vaccines and some other less effective Western-made vaccines have turned to mRNA vaccines for booster shots and new vaccinations.

Not China. Regulators have not publicly said why they have not acted  the mRNA vaccines are authorized in much of the world and have proven safe and effective in hundreds of millions of people. But a Chinese health official and another person directly involved in the negotiations told The Associated Press that authorities have held back because they want to master the technology in China and not depend on foreign suppliers. Both spoke on condition of anonymity, given the sensitive nature of the issue.

For more than a year, the approach seemed defensible. The country was able to keep the virus at bay better than any other large nation with its strict "zero COVID approach that isolates infected people and locks down communities when infections pop up.

But now, the highly transmissible omicron variant is testing that strategy, requiring ever wider and longer lockdowns that are taking a greater economic and human toll. While other countries are able to operate close to normal because their people are protected by vaccination or previous infection, China is left with only its lockdown strategy to avoid huge numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.

China may be changing its mind. The Communist Party-owned Global Times newspaper reported last month that Fosun Pharma is still working with health authorities on its approval and Shanghai authorities recently issued new policies that could allow the import of COVID-19 vaccines. Fosun, based in Shanghai, did not respond to questions about the announcement.

Chinas National Health Commission directed questions to the countrys drug regulator, the National Medical Products Administration. That agency did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

In the meantime, hopes for a Chinese-developed mRNA vaccine center on Abogen Biosciences, a startup founded in 2019 by Bo Ying, an American-trained scientist who once worked for Moderna.

The company has partnered with more established companies in the country such as Walvax, a private company founded in 2001, and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, the militarys medical research facility. Abogen has raised more than $1.7 billion since 2020.

The company's vaccine candidate succeeded in eliciting an immune response in a small, preliminary test in humans designed to evaluate safety, according to a study published in the journal Lancet Microbe.

The results were promising, said Dr. Vineeta Bal, who studies immune systems at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune, India, although she said that a direct comparison of the immune response the shot triggered with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines would have helped scientists better evaluate its performance.

But large studies that are needed to show whether the shot works to prevent infections or symptoms have not been completed. Abogen did not respond to requests for an interview.

Even if the studies can be completed and the vaccine proves effective, manufacturing the millions of doses required will be a challenge, experts say. Abogen built a manufacturing facility in December 2020 with a projected capacity of up to 120 million doses a year.

Manufacturing that vaccine and ensuring quality at scale will be a difficult hurdle to clear because mRNA is still a new technology, said Scott Wheelwright, chief operating officer at BioInno Bioscience, a Chinese biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer who has held conversations with Abogen.

In the meantime, Chen, the Yale health policy expert, said the Chinese government should better protect its elderly population by both approving the Pfizer vaccine and encouraging booster shots.

Using a Chinese phrase that means giving up completely, Chen said the change from zero COVID does not have to be all or nothing. "It doesnt have to be tang ping or sticking to zero COVID, Chen said. I dont think there are only two solutions, and we can stick to a middle ground.

Ghosal reported from New Delhi. Associated Press journalist Dake Kang in Beijing contributed to this report.

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.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The Russian parliament gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a bill that would allow the government to appoint new management of foreign companies that pulled out of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

According to the state news agency Tass, the new law would transfer control over companies that left Russia not for economic reasons but because of anti-Russian sentiment in Europe and the U.S. Tass said foreign owners would still be able to resume operations in Russia or sell their shares.

Many foreign companies have suspended operations in Russia. Others have walked away entirely, despite their huge investments.

McDonalds announced this month that it is selling its 850 restaurants in Russia.

The State Duma, the lower house of Russias parliament, approved the bill in the first of three readings on Tuesday. After final approval, it would go to the upper house and then to President Vladimir Putin for his signature.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the new law made it even more imperative for foreign companies remaining in Russia to leave. Its the last chance to save not only your reputation but your property, he said in a statement.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 After 3 months, Russia still bogged down in Ukraine war

 200 bodies found in Mariupol as war rages in Ukraines east

 AP-NORC poll: US economy, not punishing Russia, is top priority

 Pentagon says more high-tech weapons going to Ukraine

 After 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian military said Russia has fired at Ukrainian border guards in the northeastern Sumy region in the latest of a series of alleged cross-border attacks over the past few weeks.

Military officials say observers Tuesday night recorded seven shots from Russian territory toward the village of Boyaro-Lezhachi, most likely mortar fire.

The Ukrainian Operational Command North said on its Facebook post that eight other shots were heard Tuesday afternoon near a neighboring village. There were no reports of any deaths.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Russian shelling continues around Ukraines second-largest city of Kharkiv, even after Russian troops withdrew from its surroundings last week.

Ukrainian regional officials say the city of Derhachi was hit and a 69-year-old woman died and another person was injured.

Derhachi is southwest of the city of Kharkiv and has previously come under Russian shelling.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is using everything at its disposal in the fight for four cities in the eastern Donbas region.

The situation in the Donbas now is very difficult, Zelenskyy said late Tuesday in his nightly address to the nation. Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there. Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk  the occupiers want to destroy everything there.

Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian army is fighting back, but it will take time and a lot more effort by our people to overcome their advantage in the amount of equipment and weapons.

He told Ukrainians they should be proud of having held off Russia for three months in a war that many in Russia and the West expected to last three days.

Zelenskyy appealed for even more weapons from the West to keep Ukraine in the fight including multiple-rocket launchers and tanks.

In addition, Zelenskyy mocked the statement made Tuesday by the Russian defense minister that Russia was deliberately slowing its offensive to allow residents of encircled cites time to evacuate.

KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian governor of the eastern Luhansk region said Tuesday that the area was facing the most difficult time since conflict with Russia-backed separatists began in 2014.

Now, for the Luhansk region, is the most difficult time in the eight years of the war, Serhii Haidai wrote on Telegram. The Russians are advancing in all directions at the same time, they brought over an insane number of fighters and equipment.

He also accused Moscows troops of deploying scorched-earth tactics across the region, one of two which make up Ukraines eastern industrial heartland.

Its only getting worse. What the Russians are doing is hard to describe in words. The invaders are killing our cities, destroying everything around.  The situation is on the verge of being critical. The free Luhansk region is now like Mariupol, Haidai added, in a reference to the ruined port city captured by Moscow last week.

KYIV, Ukraine  The top military commander who fought until last week to keep Ukrainian control of the southern port city of Mariupol is alive in Russian-controlled territory, his wife said Tuesday after holding a brief telephone conversation.

Kateryna Prokopenko, who is married to Azov Regiment leader Denys Prokopenko, said that her husband asked her how she was, but that the line broke off before he could say anything about himself.

She said the phone call was possible under an agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Russia and thanks to the mediation of the Red Cross, which has been visiting some of the Ukrainian fighters who surrendered.

Earlier this month Russia announced its takeover of Mariupol with the surrender of the fighters holed up at the massive Azovstal steel mill.

Prokopenko, who spoke to The Associated Press in Kyiv together with another wife of a soldier, Yuliia Fedosiuk, said that the Ukraine and Russia agreement guarantees proper burial of dead soldiers and certain conditions for the prisoners of war, including allowing them to hold telephone calls with family members a few times per week.

The two women said several families had received calls in the past two days. They said they could not reveal more details of the agreement but they were hopeful that the soldiers will not be tortured and that they eventually will come back home.

BERLIN  Germany has rejected suggestions that it is reneging on a promise to provide Poland with tanks to make up for those that Warsaw has delivered to Ukraine.

Polish President Andrzej Duda told German broadcaster Welt that he was very disappointed Berlin had not fulfilled its promise on the delivery of Leopard tanks to Poland.

Speaking after a meeting with her Polish counterpart in Berlin on Tuesday, Germanys Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the issue had been discussed in order to resolve misunderstandings.

She said Germany could not supply heavy weapons at the press of a button as there were numerous questions to consider, not least what arms are actually available.

Polands Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said his country regretted that the situation with regard to arms deliveries to Ukraine was not as dynamic as hoped, but acknowledged that the devil lies in the detail on the issue.

Poland gave Soviet-designed T-72 tanks to Ukraine with the expectation that NATO, the U.S. and Germany would fill that void.

Germany has agreed to several similar circular swaps with allied countries such as Slovenia and the Czech Republic, who in turn are sending older Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine.

DAVOS, Switzerland  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday accused Russia of deliberately bombarding grain warehouses across Ukraine and weaponizing food supplies.

Russias invasion of Ukraine has provoked disruptions of global food supplies, and the blockade of Ukrainian ports has been particularly harmful. Ukraine accounted for 90% of grain and oilseed exports before the war, according to the EU.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the head of the EUs executive arm said about 20 million tons of wheat are currently stuck in Ukraine.

And on top of this, Russia is now hoarding its own food exports as a form of blackmail  holding back supplies to increase global prices, or trading wheat in exchange for political support, she said. This is using hunger and grain to wield power.

Von der Leyen said that fragile countries and vulnerable populations suffer the most. She said bread prices in Lebanon increased by 70%, and food shipments from Odesa have been blocked from reaching Somalia.

LVIV, Ukraine  An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol said on Tuesday that workers removing rubble from a collapsed apartment building in the devastated Ukrainian city found about 200 corpses in the buildings basement.

Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram that the bodies were decomposing and that the stench permeated the neighborhood. Its not clear when they were discovered and the report could not be independently verified.

Perched on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol was relentlessly pounded during a monthslong siege that finally ended last week after some 2,500 Ukrainian fighters abandoned a steel plant where they had made their last stand in the strategic port city.

BRUSSELS  A European Union plan to suspend all tariffs on imports from Ukraine for one year cleared the final political hurdle on Tuesday when EU finance ministers endorsed the move.

Meant to help the Ukrainian economy battered by Russias invasion, the removal of the EU duties will apply to Ukrainian industrial products, including steel, and to farm goods such as fruits and vegetables.

The EU has already scrapped most of its tariffs on Ukrainian products as a result of a 2016 free-trade agreement. Ukrainian exports to the EU were worth 24.1 billion euros ($25.8 billion) last year, with the main goods being metals, agricultural products and machinery.

Two top Russian security officials vowed on Tuesday that Moscow will achieve all the goals set for the military operation in Ukraine, appearing to address the fact that the invasion, expected by many to be a blitzkrieg, has entered its fourth month this week.

The secretary of Russias Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said in an interview published Tuesday that the Russian government is not chasing deadlines.

Nazism must either be 100% eradicated, or it will raise its head in a few years, and in an even uglier form, he said in a response to a question about the war dragging on.

Russia has falsely called the war a campaign to denazify Ukraine  a country with a democratically elected Jewish president who wants closer ties with the West.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of security officials that Russia is deliberately slowing down its offensive by arranging cease-fires and humanitarian corridors in order to avoid casualties among the civilians.

APs reporting on the ground found that the Russian forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets, such as hospitals, schools and venues where civilians were sheltering.

PARIS  A Ukrainian government minister pushed Tuesday for a quick decision on eventual Ukrainian membership in the European Union, even as France warns that it could be decades before Ukraine joins the bloc.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna met with French Europe Minister Clement Beaune Tuesday in Paris and argued that Ukraine has made deep and difficult reforms aimed at improving its chances at EU membership.

As politicians, we must find a way for Ukraine to truly become part of this family, both economically and politically, she told reporters.

The European Commission aims to deliver a first opinion in June on Ukraines request to become a member. But the process usually takes many years, and French President Emmanuel Macron has said it could be decades.

In the meantime France is proposing an interim arrangement that would allow more political cooperation with Ukraine and other potential EU members.

-

DAVOS, Switzerland  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says Russia can be reintegrated into the orbit of European nations if it finds its way back to democracy, the rule of law, the respect for the international rules-based order.

Von der Leyen spoke at the World Economic Forums annual gathering Tuesday. Insisting on the historical and cultural links between Europe and Russia, the head of the EUs executive arm said reconciliation is certainly a distant dream and hope.

But this also says that our standing up against this brutal invasion is standing up against the leadership in Russia. It is the Russian people who are the ones who decide about the future of their country. They have it in their hands.



ANKARA, Turkey  The leader of a Turkish nationalist party that is allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey should consider leaving NATO if circumstances become inextricable and Turkey is forced to approve Sweden and Finland membership.

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Action Party, said in a speech to his partys legislators on Tuesday that Turkey isn't without alternatives and could be part of a possible security alliance that could be made up of Turkic-speaking states and Muslim nations.

Turkey is not without options. Turkey is not helpless. Leaving NATO should be put on the agenda as an alternative option if the circumstances become inextricable, Bahceli said. We did not exist with NATO, and we will not perish without NATO.

Turkey is objecting to Sweden's and Finlands historic bid to join the alliance, citing as reasons their perceived support to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and other groups that Turkey considers to be terrorists.

ANKARA, Turkey  Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says a delegation made up of officials from Sweden and Finland are expected to arrive in Turkey later on Tuesday to discuss Ankaras objection to their membership in NATO.

Cavusoglu told a group of journalists traveling with him on a two-day visit to the Palestinian territories and Israel that the delegation would meet with Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal on Wednesday.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto also confirmed the meeting.

A Russian-installed official in Ukraines Kherson region says the regions pro-Kremlin administration will ask Moscow to set up a military base there.

There should be a Russian military base in the Kherson region, deputy head of the Russia-installed administration in Kherson Kirill Stremousov was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. We will be asking for it, the entire population is interested in it. It is vitally important and will become a security guarantee for the region and its residents.

Russian forces took control of the Kherson region in southeastern Ukraine early on in the war and installed its own administration there. Ukrainian officials have speculated that Russia plans to stage a referendum in the region to declare its independence, similar to the ones that took place in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014. Moscow recognized the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics two days before invading Ukraine and used it as a pretext to send troops to its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Stremousov denied such plans earlier this month and said the region will ask the Kremlin to make it part of Russia instead. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said it is up to the people of Kherson to decide how and where they want to live.

-

LONDON  British military authorities say Russian forces have intensified efforts to encircle and capture Severodonetsk and neighboring cities, the only part of the Luhansk region that remains under Ukrainian government control.

The U.K. defense ministry, in a briefing posted Tuesday morning, says the northern and southern arms of the Russian operation are currently separated by about 25 kilometers (15 miles) of Ukrainian-held territory.

The ministry says Russian forces have achieved some localized successes despite strong resistance from Ukrainian troops that occupy well dug-in defensive positions.

The ministry says the battle for Severodonetsk is only one part of the Russian campaign to take the larger Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, and the fall of the city may cause logistical problems for the Kremlin.

If the Donbas front line moves further west, this will extend Russian lines of communication and likely see its forces face further logistic resupply difficulties, the ministry said.

KYIV, Ukraine  Russian shelling of a residential building in Sievierodonetsk killed four people, Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region Serhiy Haidai said Tuesday. He didnt specify when the shelling took place.

The Russian forces in recent weeks have been trying  so far unsuccessfully  to take control of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in the region, subjecting both cities to intensive shelling.

The most recent round of shelling, Haidai said, damaged six houses in each of the two cities.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Residents evacuated from an apartment complex near UWs campus Monday afternoon after a carpet cleaning van left running outside pumped potentially lethal levels of carbon monoxide into the building, the Madison Fire Department said.

Fire crews arrived to the scene just after 5:30 p.m. after Madison Gas and Electric alerted them of the high carbon monoxide levels at X01 Apartments, a private apartment complex located at 1001 University Ave., said Cynthia Schuster, a spokesperson for the Fire Department.

MGE staff got CO readings of about 500 parts per million on the upper floor of the building, Schuster said. Firefighters at the scene found that some residents in the building had taken down their CO detectors, removed the batteries and threw them in the hallway, Schuster said.

The carpet cleaning services van had been left running next to an exterior stairwell door, Schuster said.

Upon arrival, fire crews ventilated the building with fans as they went door-to-door and evacuated the 128-unit complex. Firefighters found many of the apartments had high CO readings as they cleared the building, Schuster said.

Residents were evacuated from the complex for about two hours while firefighters and MGE staff ventilated the building. Paramedics assessed two people for mild symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning but they did not go to the hospital, Schuster said.

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A conservative Chicago law firm that has been working with the Republican-appointed special counsel probing Wisconsins 2020 election has filed another spate of lawsuits challenging another aspect of that election  ballot drop boxes  that has long raised the ire of Republicans, especially since their candidate for president lost.

The Thomas More Society, however, isnt suing all the approximately 245 Wisconsin municipalities that used the absentee ballot drop boxes in November 2020, just the five largest and most Democratic-leaning: Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine.

The firm, on behalf of a total of six residents in the five municipalities, notes that state law is silent on the use of drop boxes and asks a judge to declare them legally unauthorized and permanently barred.

Democrats and Republicans alike largely approved of drop boxes prior to the 2020 election, and the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission approved their use in the election as a way to cut down on crowds at polling places at a time when there was no vaccine against COVID-19 and public health authorities were warning that large groups, such as at polling places, could spread the virus thats killed more than 1 million Americans.

A January ruling by a Waukesha County judge that barred the use of drop boxes except in a clerks office has been appealed, and the legality of drop boxes is now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on the matter sometime this summer.

The Elections Commission in February rescinded its guidance allowing drop boxes, in keeping with the lower courts ruling. The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau found the drop boxes were used in at least 43 cities, 46 villages and 156 towns throughout the state in the 2020 election.

A spokesperson for the Thomas More Society did not respond when asked why the firm isnt suing the other municipalities that used drop boxes. The Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine clerks offices also did not respond to an opportunity to comment.

Erick Kaardal, an attorney for the group, has been working with former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman on his ongoing $676,000 probe of the election. That review was paused earlier this month by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to allow time for resolution of five lawsuits related to the probe.

Much like multiple judges, outside reviews and recounts, Gableman has so far found no evidence of the kind of widespread fraud or criminal activity that could have changed the outcome of the election in Wisconsin, where Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by just fewer than 21,000 votes.

Still, he and other conservatives continue to allege a conspiracy among Democratic-leaning nonprofits and elections officials to use more than $10 million from the Chicago-based nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life to boost turnout in Democratic areas under the guise of safe voting during a pandemic.

Money from the Center for Tech and Civic Life was distributed to about 214 Wisconsin municipalities, including many won by Trump, to pay for things including poll worker training and pay, new voting machines, ballot drop boxes and personal protective equipment. While the states five largest and most Democratic-leaning municipalities got between two and four times more money, per capita, than other municipalities, the center has said no municipality that asked for the money was denied it.

A Dane County judge earlier this month characterized as ridiculous Kaardals claims in a separate lawsuit that accepting the centers grants to help fund elections constituted bribery. There is nothing in state law barring private funding to help administer elections.

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The victim of a fatal shooting Sunday in La Crosse has been identified as a 15-year-old La Crosse Logan student.

The La Crosse Police Department Monday said Storm D. Vondrashek was shot multiple times shortly before 1:30 a.m. and succumbed to his injuries a short time later.

Police say a second victim was shot and is recovering at a local hospital.

School Superintendent Aaron Engel sent out an email Sunday night identifying the fatal shooting victim as a student at Logan. He said additional counseling resources are being made available.

We are incredibly saddened by the tragic loss of one of our Logan High School students over the weekend that occurred due to a shooting, Engel said. Please reach out to your school counselor if your child needs additional support.

Engel also addressed potential safety concerns.

While we have minimal safety concerns at this time, we are working closely with the La Crosse Police Department to have extra resources in place to ensure the safety of all students, Engel said.

The shooting occurred in the area of 1900 Seventh St. South. Police say the shooting doesnt appear to be a random act of violence and that the investigation is continuing.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the police department at 608-782-7575. Those wishing to remain anonymous can contact La Crosse Area Crime Stoppers at 608-784-TIPS or submit online at p3tips.com/459. There is also a Crime Stoppers app that can be downloaded and used to submit a tip, or tips can be submitted online at speakup.widoj.gov.

La Crosse Tribune reporter Steve Rundio can be reached at steve.rundio@lee.net.

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PULASKI  A Wisconsin man accused of participating in last year's insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has pleaded not guilty to numerous charges.

Riley Kasper, 23, of Pulaski, is accused of pepper-spraying law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6 riot and faces charges that include assaulting officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon to inflict bodily injury and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon, WLUK-TV reported.

Prosecutors say Kasper communicated on social media with another individual about the melee.

"I pepper sprayed 3 cops so bad they got undressed and went home," Kasper said. "As you can see in that video, it was my group that busted the first gate and kept chasing the cops down and pushing them back at the capitol."

About 800 defendants have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Roughly 300 pleaded guilty. Juries have convicted four other defendants after trials.

Charges in the riot range from misdemeanor offenses for those who only entered the Capitol to seditious conspiracy charges against members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group.
The second of three men charged in the drive-by fatal shooting of 11-year-old Anisa Scott nearly two years ago pleaded guilty Wednesday morning. Prosecutors agreed to recommend he be sentenced to no more than 35 years in prison.

In a brief hearing, Perion Carreon, 21, of Madison, answered yes, maam and guilty when questioned by Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese about whether he understood the charges against him and how he was pleading.

In addition to pleading guilty to being a party to first-degree reckless homicide in Scotts death, Carreon pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted homicide, also as a party to the crime, for trying to kill Christopher Carthans, who was the boyfriend of Scotts mother and was driving the vehicle Scott was in when she was shot in the head on Aug. 11, 2020, on East Washington Avenue.

Scotts mother, Ashley Rios, declined to comment after the hearing, saying she would release a statement when the cases against all three of the men charged have been resolved.

Carreons plea comes five days after Andre P. Brown, 18, of Madison, pleaded guilty to being a party to first-degree reckless homicide in the case. Prosecutors agreed to recommend he spend no more than 40 years in prison. Jury selection in the case of the third man charged, 19-year-old Jerry Ward Jr., is set to begin Tuesday.

All three men were originally charged with first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

There is nothing in Carreons and Browns plea agreements that would require them to testify at Wards trial, but District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said they are subpoenaed and will be called as witnesses.

According to a criminal complaint and Madison police, Brown, Carreon and Ward were trailing Carthans Chevy Tahoe in a stolen Kia Optima near Route 30 just before noon. Scott was in Carthans front passenger seat. Documents in a separate federal case filed later against Carthans say police believed Carthans knew he was a target and enlisted Anisa to travel with him to discourage anyone from shooting at him.

The complaint says Carreon told police Brown and Ward fired on the Tahoe two separate times in the space of a few minutes. But in an amended criminal complaint, filed when Ward was charged about a week after Carreon and Brown, Ward claimed that Carreon fired on the Tahoe both times. Ward has also maintained he was asleep in the back of the Optima when the gunfire started.

At a recent hearing, Genovese denied a motion by Wards attorney to dismiss the homicide charge against him. Assistant District Attorney Dan Hess said Ward had a gun on his lap and had helped another person in the car clear a gun that had jammed.

Carthans told police he was driving when he heard glass break and realized someone was shooting at him, according to the complaint. He saw that Anisa was injured and continued driving while he called 911. He heard four more gunshots and then saw another car with the front-seat passenger firing through the passenger-side window, the complaint states.

Carreon also told police he had picked Brown up from an apartment on Northport Drive, the complaint states. He said Brown, seated in the front passenger seat, fired the first shot and that another person in the car fired the second time. He said he was told to turn the car around so that Brown could fire again, the complaint states.

According to federal court documents filed later, Carthans told his federal probation agent that he did not believe he was the target of the shooting and that it was a case of mistaken identity. He told his agent that he had been mistaken for the older brother of a man who had stolen a significant amount of marijuana from a storage locker, and that the pot belonged to a cartel. Carthans said two of the three charged with the shooting had been hired by the cartel  the story police doubted.

U.S. District Judge William Conley sentenced Carthans, 34, to 21 months in prison in September 2020 for violations of conditions of his federal supervision. He was released in February, federal prison records indicate.

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A woman bit a Janesville police officer while being put under arrest for a felony warrant during a traffic stop early Tuesday, authorities said.

Officers arrested Shasta C. Howell, 43, of Brodhead, after they pulled over a vehicle she was riding in for not having its lights on in the area of West Centerway and North Academy Street near downtown Janesville just before 3:40 a.m., Deputy Chief Chad Pearson said in a statement.

A struggle ensued to arrest Howell after officers tried to take her into custody on a felony warrant for bail jumping and driving a stolen vehicle, Pearson said.

Officers pepper sprayed Howell after she braced herself inside the vehicle. After taking her out of the vehicle and trying to handcuff her, Howell bit an officer on the arm.

Howell was briefly hospitalized for a reaction to the pepper spray though has since been taken to the Rock County Jail, Pearson said. She faces tentative charges of battery to law enforcement, resisting an officer, felony bail jumping, misdemeanor bail jumping and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The officer who Howell bit received medical treatment and immediately returned to work.

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The Dane County Sheriffs Office said Wednesday it is increasing police presence around schools in the wake of Tuesdays mass shooting at a Texas school.

An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school after he barricaded himself inside a single classroom and began shooting anyone that was in his way, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety said Wednesday on NBCs Today.

Law enforcement officers eventually broke into the classroom and killed the gunman.

Olivarez told CNN that all the victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary.

The killer barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom, he said. It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.

There are no words to describe the devastating news of yesterdays school shooting, Dane County Sheriffs Office spokesperson Elise Schaffer said in a statement, adding the incident serves as a reminder to be aware of ones environment.

The Sheriffs Office offers Emergency Preparedness Training for the community that can be scheduled online at go.madison.com/preparedness-training.

As teachers and parents around the country struggled to explain the tragedy to children, top educators joined Democrats and others in calling for reforming gun laws in Wisconsin and nationally.

The painful fact that gun violence and other societal challenges continue to spill into our schools requires me to engage in issues that extend beyond traditional school policy, state Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement. The education of Wisconsin students and the safety of our children and educators in our schools must be addressed  not tomorrow, not next month, and not after the next loss of life.

Madison School District Superintendent Carlton Jenkins also said the country must do better.

Communities, business, elected officials, and educators need to work in collaboration to provide the necessary laws and resources to keep our children and communities safe, he said, adding that students depend on them to live in a world that is safe from a persistent threat of violence, and in a place and time where human decency is the fabric of society.

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By Azernews





Ahmad Shahidov, Coordinator for the Information Center for Azerbaijani Captives and Hostages, has said that Baku will return an Armenian serviceman soon, Azernews reports.

The talk is about Armenian private Eduard Martirosov, who was detained by the Azerbaijani border guards, while crossing the state border in Zangilan region on April 23.

On May 25, at a government hour in parliament, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed that Azerbaijan is holding 39 Armenian citizens and Yerevan demands the resolution of this humanitarian issue without any preconditions.

"We now have accurate data that there are 39 prisoners in Azerbaijan. It will be most effective if the international community uses pressure to have our citizens returned," he said.

Armenia seeks the return of all detainees from Azerbaijan. Yerevan has repeatedly stressed that their return is a priority issue at a time when the parties are in talks to make peace in the region.

Baku claims that all Armenian citizens, who were captured during the hostilities in the conflict zone in Karabakh late in 2020 were returned and only "terrorists and saboteurs" are being held.
In arguments before the state Supreme Court Tuesday, attorneys sparred over whether parents should be allowed to sue the Madison School District over its gender identity policies without identifying themselves or even proving they are residents of the district.

In September 2020, a Dane County Circuit Court judge temporarily suspended portions of the Madison School Districts guidance on gender identity that a group of unnamed parents and a conservative law firm sued to overturn last winter.

Judge Frank Remington granted a request from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) to bar the district from enforcing parts of its guidance related to when and how staff can speak to a parent about a childs gender transition. Remington issued the partial injunction in September.

Remington, in May 2020, ordered the parents names be disclosed to School District attorneys, but as of Wednesday, counsel for the district was still unaware of the plaintiffs identities.

Sarah Zylstra, representing the Madison School District from local law firm Boardman Clark, said she took Luke Berg, deputy counsel for WILL, at his word that the plaintiffs are indeed parents of Madison School District students though she couldnt confirm or question the validity of that claim due to their anonymity.

Unless I know who those are, I have no way to verify whether they are or they are not parents in the district, she said.

Chief Justice Annette Ziegler suggested Berg submit an affidavit to disclose the plaintiffs names to the court only, but Zylstra argued that she would then have to share that information with the school district to verify whether or not they are indeed parents of students.

Berg argued the parent identity isnt relevant to the case, because the question of whether parents are notified if their child adopts a new identity is a constitutional issue. He also argued that public knowledge of the plaintiffs identity could open them up to retaliation and harassment because the case involves a sensitive and controversial topic. He said anonymity was necessary to protect the identity of the plaintiffs children.

Zylstra argued that the identity of the parents needs to be known in order to allow her to raise a legal defense, to protect against ethical constraints and address aspects of a facial challenge  or the plaintiffs claim that their constitutional rights as parents are being curtailed.

WILL initially represented 14 parents, but that number has now dropped to six.

Tuesdays argument was two pronged. Berg asked the court to require the district to defer to parents regarding their childs gender identity as the issue of the plaintiffs anonymity continues to be argued. The initial partial injunction, handed down by the circuit court in September 2020, didnt go far enough, WILL argued, because students are allowed to transition at school without parental notice or consent.

We need an injunction to protect parents rights to protect children from harm, while the issue regarding anonymity is decided, he said.

Adam Prinsen, from law firm Quarles and Brady, who argued on behalf of the Memorial High School Gender Equity Association, noted that because of the anonymity of the plaintiffs, the circuit court was unable to adequately hear the preliminary injunction motion.

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A conservative Chicago law firm that has been working with the Republican-appointed special counsel probing Wisconsins 2020 election has filed another spate of lawsuits challenging another aspect of that election  ballot drop boxes  that has long raised the ire of Republicans, especially since their candidate for president lost.

The Thomas More Society, however, isnt suing all the approximately 245 Wisconsin municipalities that used the absentee ballot drop boxes in November 2020, just the five largest and most Democratic-leaning: Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine.

The firm, on behalf of a total of six residents in the five municipalities, notes that state law is silent on the use of drop boxes and asks a judge to declare them legally unauthorized and permanently barred.

Democrats and Republicans alike largely approved of drop boxes prior to the 2020 election, and the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission approved their use in the election as a way to cut down on crowds at polling places at a time when there was no vaccine against COVID-19 and public health authorities were warning that large groups, such as at polling places, could spread the virus thats killed more than 1 million Americans.

A January ruling by a Waukesha County judge that barred the use of drop boxes except in a clerks office has been appealed, and the legality of drop boxes is now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on the matter sometime this summer.

The Elections Commission in February rescinded its guidance allowing drop boxes, in keeping with the lower courts ruling. The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau found the drop boxes were used in at least 43 cities, 46 villages and 156 towns throughout the state in the 2020 election.

A spokesperson for the Thomas More Society did not respond when asked why the firm isnt suing the other municipalities that used drop boxes. The Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine clerks offices also did not respond to an opportunity to comment.

Erick Kaardal, an attorney for the group, has been working with former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman on his ongoing $676,000 probe of the election. That review was paused earlier this month by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to allow time for resolution of five lawsuits related to the probe.

Much like multiple judges, outside reviews and recounts, Gableman has so far found no evidence of the kind of widespread fraud or criminal activity that could have changed the outcome of the election in Wisconsin, where Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by just fewer than 21,000 votes.

Still, he and other conservatives continue to allege a conspiracy among Democratic-leaning nonprofits and elections officials to use more than $10 million from the Chicago-based nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life to boost turnout in Democratic areas under the guise of safe voting during a pandemic.

Money from the Center for Tech and Civic Life was distributed to about 214 Wisconsin municipalities, including many won by Trump, to pay for things including poll worker training and pay, new voting machines, ballot drop boxes and personal protective equipment. While the states five largest and most Democratic-leaning municipalities got between two and four times more money, per capita, than other municipalities, the center has said no municipality that asked for the money was denied it.

A Dane County judge earlier this month characterized as ridiculous Kaardals claims in a separate lawsuit that accepting the centers grants to help fund elections constituted bribery. There is nothing in state law barring private funding to help administer elections.

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A day after a gunman killed 21 people at a Texas elementary school, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul called on Wisconsins Republican-controlled Legislature to ban untraceable, homemade guns and require universal background checks for gun buyers.

Separately, Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, circulated a petition calling on the Legislature to approve universal background checks and allow judges to take guns away from owners they deem risky. In 2019, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called his first special session encouraging legislators to pass those measures, but Republican leaders called the bills an infringement on Second Amendment rights and ended the special session just seconds after it began.

Along with banning untraceable ghost guns and background checks, Kaul called for keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, which spokesperson Gillian Drummond said was in response to last weeks Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that allows certain domestic abusers to receive a concealed carry permit.

These are steps that have broad public support, he said. What we lack is legislative will.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, as well as several Republican legislators did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2019, Vos reiterated Republican concerns that red-flag laws, under which people deemed to be threats by a court must surrender their firearms, would infringe upon due process.

We already have had these debates, we already know where people stand, Vos said. I dont necessarily want to spend a bunch of time playing politics with this.

Evers slammed the Legislatures inaction at the time. This year, Evers vetoed AB 597, which would have allowed concealed carry licensees to bring guns to places of worship located on school grounds, and AB 495, which would have allowed concealed carry licensees to bring guns in their vehicles on school grounds.

Politicians, and Republican politicians in particular, need to be more concerned about parents than they are about the NRA, Kaul said Wednesday. They need to be more worried about about keeping kids safe than they are about keeping their political futures safe.

In Washington, D.C., Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson refused to answer whether he would support background checks for people who want to buy guns. Calling Tuesdays shooting heartbreaking in an interview with radio host James T. Harris, Johnson blamed the shooting on many Americans secularization and called for stronger communities and renewed faith.

Speaking on the U.S. Senate floor Wednesday, Johnson also called for passage of a measure he authored that would codify the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety into law.

That measure calls for the clearinghouse to include information about threat prevention, preparedness, protection, mitigation, incident response and recovery.

Its a good idea, Johnson said. It could save lives. It is an action, when people are calling for action following this tragedy.

The legislation does not call for background checks for gun buyers. Neither chamber in Congress has voted on the measure.

Democratic U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blocked action on the bill Wednesday, saying he would focus instead on a measure that would authorize federal agencies to monitor, analyze, investigate and prosecute domestic terrorists.

Democrats arent interested in solutions. They are interested in maintaining wedge issues that they believe give them a political advantage, Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning said in a statement.

Asked whether Johnson would support the domestic terrorism measure, Henning said, Wont speak to hypotheticals since Sen. Schumer today, after he blocked Sen. Johnsons commonsense school safety legislation, said there would be numerous proposals added to this bill and we have yet to see that.

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PHOENIX (AP)  Arizona Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego lashed out at the National Rifle Association and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in a series of profane tweets in response to a massacre at a Texas elementary school.

Gallego responded Tuesday to Cruz's comments predicting that Democrats and the media would try to politicize the shooting.

F- you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered, Gallego wrote. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless.

Cruz opposes abortion and was roundly mocked last year when he went to Cancun during widespread power outages that left many Texans without heat in frigid temperatures.

Gallego followed that tweet a few minutes later with another: Just to be clear f- you @tedcruz you f- baby killer.

Gallego was reacting to comments Cruz made to a CNN journalist.

Inevitably when theres a murderer of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens, Cruz said.

The Texas senator later tweeted that he and his wife are lifting up in prayer the entire Uvalde community."

An email sent to Cruz's media office seeking comment on Gallego's tweets was not immediately returned.

Gallego also targeted his ire at the nation's largest gun lobby, writing F- you @NRA," and at California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who offered thoughts and prayers to the victims.

F- your prayers, Gallego wrote. They havent worked for the last 20 mass shootings how about passing laws that will stop these killings.

Gallego, a former Marine and Iraq war veteran, has a history of using profanity on Twitter, especially during times of national crisis. He has directed variations of the F- you phrase at Russian President Vladimir Putin, Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward and former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  Rescue teams searched Wednesday for dozens of people reported missing after a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Europe capsized off Tunisia's coast.

The International Organization for Migration said 30 people were rescued and 75 people were unaccounted for after the boat sank off the city of Sfax in southern Tunisia. One body has been recovered, authorities said.

Mourad Turki, a Sfax courts spokesperson, told The Associated Press that the people rescued were between the ages of 18 and 40 and of various nationalities, including Bangladeshi, Egyptian, Moroccan and Cameroonian.

The number believed to be missing was provisional and could increase, Turki said. The search continued Wednesday, according to International Organization for Migration spokesperson Esma Rihane.

The boat reportedly departed from Zuwara in north Libya on Sunday night. According to the Sfax National Guard, the vessel ran aground 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the island of Kerkennah, off Tunisia's coast, although it was unclear exactly when.

Zuwara serves as a departure point for migrants attempting to reach southern Europe by sea. Last July, a boat carrying 127 migrants from Zuwara sank off Zarzis, a port in southern Tunisia, leaving 43 people missing.

In a mission separate from the Tunisian navy's ongoing search, the non-governmental organization Open Arms conducted a rescue operation late Tuesday in an area off the coast of Tunisia.

Dramatic photos and videos from the Spanish maritime rescue group showed dozens of people in the water and clinging to the side of an upturned boat.

Head of mission Gerard Canals said the organization was alerted of a possible vessel in distress late Tuesday and located the boat after four hours of navigation.

A wooden boat with over 100 people was left adrift very close to the Tunisian territorial waters....It was overcrowded Canals said. During the rescue operation, the wooden boat capsized but we managed to take these 110 people on board on different life rafts that we deployed during the night.

The Open Arms rescue ship is looking for a safe port to disembark, he said.

We need the authorities to act immediately," Canals said. "The weather will deteriorate very soon and we (do not have enough) space, food or water to provide the people on board.

The central Mediterranean, which connects Libya and other North African countries to Italy and Malta, is the world's most dangerous migration route, according to the IOM.

The U.N. agency estimates that more than 1,500 people died or went missing in that part of the sea in 2021 and more than 500 have perished so far this year.

Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, one of the only anti-abortion Democrats remaining in Congress, faced the toughest reelection fight of his career in a primary runoff against progressive Jessica Cisneros that could offer clues over how much abortion rights could animate voters in the 2022 midterms.

Early Wednesday, the race was too early to call. Cuellar was leading Cisneros by 175 votes, or 0.38 percentage points, out of 45,209 ballots counted as of 2 a.m. ET Wednesday. There likely remain a small number of absentee, provisional and late-arriving mail ballots left to count.

The winner will face Cassy Garcia, who won the Republican runoff for the seat.

Cuellar has come under increased attacks from abortion rights groups over his position in the weeks since a leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion draft showed the justices are poised to overturn a constitutional right to abortion, which has been in place for 50 years. It would then be up to the states to regulate abortion, unless Congress codifies into law the right to abortion access.

In March, Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration attorney, forced the runoff after she came within 1,000 votes of Cuellar, a nine-term incumbent, in the primarily Hispanic district with a large Catholic population. Cuellar has received support from fellow Democrats in Congress, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It is our fundamental freedoms on the line, Cisneros told reporters last week. I am more than happy to do what we can to make sure we are delivering on the promises Democrats successfully ran on in 2020.

In the closing weeks, abortion rights groups poured money and resources on the ground and across TV in South Texas, where Cuellar has been in office for 17 years and beat Cisneros in the primary two years ago. Progressive leaders including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, have also come to Texas to campaign with Cisneros.

That has made the runoff another test of whether progressives can topple other moderate, establishment-oriented candidates. Cuellar's unapologetic defense of gun rights and support of the oil and gas industry, which is a major employer in his district that runs from San Antonio to the border with Mexico, are also out of step with many Democrats. The runoff came the same day that an 18-year-old gunman killed at least 19 children at an elementary school in a district neighboring Cuellars.

Cuellar came under scrutiny in January after FBI agents searched his house in the border city of Laredo as part of an investigation related to the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. His lawyer said last month that federal authorities informed him that Cuellar was not the target of the investigation. The FBI and a spokesman for the U.S. attorneys office in Washington had declined to comment.

Ocasio-Cortez slammed the House Democratic leadership for supporting Cuellar in the race.

On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary. Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted late Tuesday. Accountability isnt partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership.

But Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said Cuellar has a better pulse on South Texas, where the GOP is taking a bigger swing in 2022 after decades of writing off the region as a Democratic stronghold.

The new optimism by Republicans along Texas' border with Mexico comes after several counties showed a dramatic increase in support for GOP candidates in 2020.

What the progressives in Washington, D.C., dont understand is that much of our Hispanic population in South Texas is pretty conservative, sort of from a cultural standpoint, Cornyn said last week. And I think Henry fits that district and that temperament and that attitude very well.

Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Four years ago, I traveled around America, visiting historical archives. I was looking for documents that might reveal the hidden history of climate change  and in particular, when the major coal, oil and gas companies became aware of the problem, and what they knew about it.

I pored over boxes of papers, thousands of pages. I began to recognize typewriter fonts from the 1960s and 70s and marveled at the legibility of past penmanship, and got used to squinting when it wasnt so clear.

What those papers revealed is now changing our understanding of how climate change became a crisis. The industrys own words, as my research found, show companies knew about the risk long before most of the rest of the world.

Surprising discoveries

At an old gunpowder factory in Delaware  now a museum and archive  I found a transcript of a petroleum conference from 1959 called the Energy and Man symposium, held at Columbia University in New York. As I flipped through, I saw a speech from a famous scientist, Edward Teller (who helped invent the hydrogen bomb), warning the industry executives and others assembled of global warming.

Whenever you burn conventional fuel, Teller explained, you create carbon dioxide.  Its presence in the atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect. If the world kept using fossil fuels, the ice caps would begin to melt, raising sea levels. Eventually, all the coastal cities would be covered, he warned.

1959 was before the moon landing, before the Beatles first single, before Martin Luther Kings I Have a Dream speech, before the first modern aluminum can was ever made. It was decades before I was born. What else was out there?

In Wyoming, I found another speech at the university archives in Laramie  this one from 1965, and from an oil executive himself. That year, at the annual meeting of the American Petroleum Institute, the main organization for the U.S. oil industry, the groups president, Frank Ikard, mentioning a report called Restoring the Quality of Our Environment that had been published just a few days before by President Lyndon Johnsons team of scientific advisers.

The substance of the report, Ikard told the industry audience, is that there is still time to save the worlds peoples from the catastrophic consequences of pollution, but time is running out. He continued that One of the most important predictions of the report is that carbon dioxide is being added to the earths atmosphere by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas at such a rate that by the year 2000 the heat balance will be so modified as possibly to cause marked changes in climate.

Ikard noted that the report had found that a nonpolluting means of powering automobiles, buses, and trucks is likely to become a national necessity.

As I reviewed my findings back in California, I realized that before San Franciscos Summer of Love, before Woodstock, the peak of the '60s counterculture and all that stuff that seemed ancient history to me, the heads of the oil industry had been privately informed by their own leaders that their products would eventually alter the climate of the entire planet, with dangerous consequences.

Secret research revealed the risks ahead

While I traveled the country, other researchers were hard at work too. And the documents they found were in some ways even more shocking.

By the late 1970s, the American Petroleum Institute had formed a secret committee called the CO2 and Climate Task Force, which included representatives of many of the major oil companies, to privately monitor and discuss the latest developments in climate science.

In 1980, the task force invited a scientist from Stanford University, John Laurmann, to brief them on the state of climate science. Today, we have a copy of Laurmanns presentation, which warned that if fossil fuels continued to be used, global warming would be barely noticeable by 2005, but by the 2060s would have globally catastrophic effects. That same year, the American Petroleum Institute called on governments to triple coal production worldwide, insisting there would be no negative consequences despite what it knew internally.

Exxon had a secretive research program too. In 1981, one of its managers, Roger Cohen, sent an internal memo observing that the companys long-term business plans could produce effects which will indeed be catastrophic (at least for a substantial fraction of the earths population).

The next year, Exxon completed a comprehensive, 40-page internal report on climate change, which predicted almost exactly the amount of global warming weve seen, as well as sea level rise, drought and more. According to the front page of the report, it was given wide circulation to Exxon management but was not to be distributed externally.

And Exxon did keep it secret: We know of the reports existence only because investigative journalists at Inside Climate News uncovered it in 2015.

Other oil companies knew the effects their products were having on the planet too. In 1986, the Dutch oil company Shell finished an internal report nearly 100 pages long, predicting that global warming from fossil fuels would cause changes that would be the greatest in recorded history, including destructive floods, abandonment of entire countries and even forced migration around the world. That report was stamped CONFIDENTIAL and only brought to light in 2018 by Jelmer Mommers, a Dutch journalist.

In October 2021, I and two French colleagues published another study showing through company documents and interviews how the Paris-based oil major Total was also aware of global warmings catastrophic potential as early as the 1970s. Despite this awareness, we found that Total then worked with Exxon to spread doubt about climate change.

Big Oils PR pivot

These companies had a choice.

Back in 1979, Exxon had privately studied options for avoiding global warming. It found that with immediate action, if the industry moved away from fossil fuels and instead focused on renewable energy, fossil fuel pollution could start to decline in the 1990s and a major climate crisis could be avoided.

But the industry didnt pursue that path. Instead, colleagues and I recently found that in the late 1980s, Exxon and other oil companies coordinated a global effort to dispute climate science, block fossil fuel controls and keep their products flowing.

We know about it through internal documents and the words of industry insiders, who are now beginning to share what they saw with the public. We also know that in 1989, the fossil fuel industry created something called the Global Climate Coalition  but it wasnt an environmental group like the name suggests; instead, it worked to sow doubt about climate change and lobbied lawmakers to block clean energy legislation and climate treaties throughout the 1990s.

For example, in 1997, the Global Climate Coalitions chairman, William O'Keefe, who was also an executive vice president for the American Petroleum Institute, wrote in the Washington Post that Climate scientists dont say that burning oil, gas and coal is steadily warming the earth, contradicting what the industry had known for decades. The fossil fuel industry also funded think tanks and biased studies that helped slow progress to a crawl.

Today, most oil companies shy away from denying climate science outright, but they continue to fight fossil fuel controls and promote themselves as clean energy leaders even though they still put the vast majority of their investments into fossil fuels.

A Congressional subcommittee on Oct. 28, 2021, questioned executives from Exxon, BP, Chevron, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute about industry efforts to downplay the role of fossil fuels in climate change. Exxon CEO Darren Woods told lawmakers that his companys public statements are and have always been truthful and that the company does not spread disinformation regarding climate change.

As I write this, climate legislation is again being blocked in Congress by a lawmaker with close ties to the fossil fuel industry.

People around the world, meanwhile, are experiencing the effects of global warming: weird weather, shifting seasons, extreme heat waves and even wildfires like theyve never seen before.

Will the world experience the global catastrophe that the oil companies predicted years before I was born? That depends on what we do now, with our slice of history.

This article was updated Oct. 28, 2021, with details from a Congressional hearing.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/what-big-oil-knew-about-climate-change-in-its-own-words-170642.

Licenced as Creative Commons - attribution, no derivatives.

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While some cities are known as consistent winnerslike New York City and Boston, who both have an opportunity to add to their championship tot
More than 40 Democratic members of Congress are asking Google to stop what they see as the unnecessary collection and retention of people's location data, arguing the information could be used to identify women seeking abortions.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google parent Alphabet Inc., the lawmakers express concern that if abortion were to become illegal in the U.S., the company's "current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care.

If the Supreme Court upends the 1973 decision that legalized abortion  as a draft opinion suggests it may in the coming weeks  pregnancies could be surveilled and the data shared with police or sold to vigilantes, privacy experts fear.

Google, specifically, stores "historical location information about hundreds of millions of smartphone users," the letter notes, "which it routinely shares with government agencies."

Representatives for Alphabet did not immediately respond to a message for comment. Tech companies have largely tried to stay out of the abortion debate. Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, has reportedly reminded employees that they are prohibited from discussing abortion in workplace communication channels. Meta did not respond to a request for comment.

In their letter, the Democrats, who were led by Sen. Ron Wyden from Oregon, asks Google to stop collecting and keeping records of their customers' every movement.

Law enforcement officials routinely obtain court orders forcing Google to turn over its customers location information, the letter notes. This includes geofence orders, which are requests for Google to provide data about everyone who was near a specific location at a specific time.

Google received 11,554 geofence warrants in 2020, according to the company. It has not said how many of those it complied with.

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Idaho avoided a full-on political catastrophe as the states Republicans largely decided who will hold public office.

But by no means has Idaho shed the ongoing influence of an ultra-conservative, authoritarian Republican Party.

Pick your metaphor. The bullet was dodged, but the glass is half empty. Consider:

An incumbent Republican governor, riding a wave of economic expansion and sitting on massive budget surpluses, won renomination with, hum, less than 53% of the vote. Not exactly a ringing endorsement from his party, particularly when you consider that the governors principal opponent is a serial embracer of the most odious positions floating around the alt right universe. At least take heart that there will not be Proud Boys providing security at the inauguration next January.

A competent, serious, civil secretary of state candidate, Phil McGrane  you should thank your lucky stars  was selected to oversee Idahos elections. McGranes two election denying opponents garnered 57% of the primary vote. Had this been a two-way race  a sane and sober conservative versus a Trumpified stop the steal clown  the clown would have won. This bullet was caught in the teeth.

A very conservative speaker of the house, the longest serving speaker in state history, received just over 51% in a contest for lieutenant governor against a candidate so loathsome her own colleagues censured her for misconduct in a rape case.

A mostly invisible state school superintendent lost to a much more competent challenger who received less than 40% of the vote in a race where the second-place finisher, a former Democrat turned alt right favorite, was cited in April by a Washington state judge for contempt of court on four occasions related to the custody agreement with his ex-wife. The ex-wife also accused him of child abuse.

One of the longest serving congressmen in Idaho history commanded 54% in a contest against a truly mediocre line-up of no-names and a guy the incumbent had to vilify as a corrupt medical debt collector.

And that was the good news.

There is ample bad news.

The Legislature seems almost certain to be as radically right as it has been and, depending on leadership elections and committee assignments, a swing farther right seems entirely possible.

While it is true that some of the most irresponsible right-wingers lost in what was generally a bloodbath for incumbents, and support for public education may  may  have been bolstered, the trend line of crazy stuff was hardly bent and certainly not broken.

Idaho will come to rue the day it handed over the attorney generals office to a political provocateur who made his reputation, such as it is, by repeatedly battling his partys leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives. Raul Labrador really doesnt want to run state governments law office, he wants to be governor and he will spend the next four years employing every scheme he can devise to make Gov. Brad Littles life miserable.

The states expensive penchant for quixotic but performative legal battles will now only increase. Labrador will surely move out many of the career lawyers who have made the office a largely nonpartisan source of legal advice and representation. His chief argument against longtime incumbent Lawrence Wasden, who will be remembered as one of the most effective and least political AGs in recent history, was that Wasden refused to sign on to the bogus legal challenge Texas mounted against the 2020 presidential election.

Labrador will enter office running for governor and hell bully and bluster his way to the front of that line. Few politicians in recent Idaho history have been so thoroughly disliked by his peers, but now he, again, has a platform. Watch him use it, use it to the detriment of the state and its taxpayers.

So, what should Little do now?

Well, hes entitled to a few moments of satisfaction that he defeated an opponent who openly courted white supremacist support, denied a deadly pandemic, did her part to destroy public education, brandished her Bible like a light saber and was endorsed by the malignant force from Mar-a-Lago, but then what?

Barring some remarkable and exceedingly unlikely outcome in November, Little will have four more years to make his mark on Idaho. What will he do? After all, there are only so many regulations you can eliminate, tax cuts for the wealthy you can engineer or draconian abortion bills you can sign.

He might take his mandate as a call for a return to sanity in the states conservative world. He could use the presence of militant, government hater and independent gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy on the general election ballot to isolate Bundy and his type. Call them out for what they are  a threat to democracy. Its past time for yet another reckoning of Idahos reputation for harboring dangerous nuts like Bundy. Little could lead the repudiation, and at no cost to his political future.

He could address, forcefully and candidly, the intolerance and ignorance that goes with banning books in school libraries, and he could shame the alt right efforts to intimidate educators and health care workers. He could speak out against the shameful targeting of trans kids.

He could disown the Idaho Freedom Foundation and its blatantly disruptive agenda. They hate him. He should make them an example.

The governor could make an early trip to Coeur dAlene to meet with the new board of the venerable community college there that, momentarily at least, has been rescued from the clutches of the crazy wing of his own party.

A governor who cared about Idaho could appeal to the better angels that certainly must be lurking out there. If he wanted to, he could.

Like most of America, much of Idaho is crying out for real, principled political leadership  from the right and the left. Not slogans or appeals to the worst in us, but real substance about real things.

The Idaho primary settled nothing about the overall direction of the states politics, which will, barring real leadership, continue to wander, neck deep, in a swamp of conspiracy and grievance.

Rejoice for a moment that some of the absolute worst did not happen this week but take no comfort for little is likely to change.

Marc C. Johnson served as press secretary and chief of staff to the late former Idaho Gov. Cecil D. Andrus. He lives in Manzanita, Ore.

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By Azernews





Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Estonian Parliament Speaker Juri Ratas have discussed multifaceted cooperation and regional issues on May 25, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

Welcoming the guests, Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan highly appreciates the development of cordial relations with Estonia.

The minister underlined the active interaction, including the reciprocal parliamentary visits that both countries have been involved in recently.

The sides exchanged views on prospects of cooperation in a number of areas, including economic, information technology, environmental, humanitarian, and other fields. The potential for collaboration in the domains of information technology, education, and alternative energy was particularly emphasized.

Furthermore, Bayramov briefed Ratas on the post-conflict situation in the region, demining by Azerbaijan of its liberated lands, extensive restoration, and construction work in the region, steps taken to normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the latest meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders in Brussels.

The minister noted that 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (the period which has been associated with a number of successes in the development of relations) and expressed interest in further development of cooperation.

Ratas described his visit to Azerbaijan as very productive, pointing to his meeting with the Azerbaijani president and his visit to Shusha. He praised the two nations' historical relations and congratulated the people of Azerbaijan on May 28 - Independence Day.

Speaker Ratas said that Estonia has always backed Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and that his nation is committed to regional peace.

The sides also discussed Azerbaijan's relations with the European Union, regional issues, including the situation in Ukraine, and other issues of mutual interest.
BOSTON (AP)  Nineteen people have been indicted in a complex money laundering scheme to move millions of dollars in drug proceeds from Colombian cartels through U.S. banks, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

The charges brought in Massachusetts federal court are the result of a five-year investigation into the money laundering organization based in Colombia. Authorities say they laundered at least $6 million through the U.S. banking system.

Two people were arrested on Tuesday in Jamaica and three others were arrested in Florida, authorities said. Last month, another person was arrested in Florida and 12 others were arrested in Colombia. Prosecutors are seeking the extradition of the Colombian and Jamaican defendants to the U.S., officials said. One person remains at large.

If nothing else, this case shows that the long arm of the law does not stop at our borders," said Joleen Simpson, special agent in charge of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations in Boston.

Those charged played a variety of roles in the conspiracy, including drug suppliers and dollar purchasers, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins told reporters.

The scheme involved the use of so-called peso brokers," who agreed to give pesos to drug traffickers in exchange for the profits of U.S. drug sales, Rollins said. Criminal associates would be handed drug money in suitcases or bags on the street and then peso brokers deposited the funds into U.S. banks, Rollins said.

To make it appear like it was legitimate business activity, the money was deposited into bank accounts held by front companies and individuals or through multiple small deposits into different bank accounts, officials said.

Nearly 3,000 kilograms (6,600 pounds) of seized cocaine  with a street value of more than $90 million  have been traced back to the money laundering organization, Rollins said.

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

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A contractor hired to clean up the nation's worst coal ash spill is not immune from being sued by workers who say they were not properly protected, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week.

More than 200 workers blame Jacobs Engineering for exposing them to ash they say caused a slew of illnesses, including cancers of the lung, brain, blood and skin.

A Knoxville, Tennessee, jury in 2018 took only a few hours to decide that Jacobs  a contractor hired by Tennessee Valley Authority  breached its duty of care to the workers, exposing them to airborne fly ash with known carcinogens. The jurors said Jacobs actions were capable of making the workers sick. Whether those actions actually did make them sick, and thus eligible for monetary damages, was left for a subsequent trial or trials.

The federal judge in the case ordered mediation, alluding to many workers' urgent need for medical care. More than three years later, the two sides have not been able to come to an agreement and a new trial date has not been set.

In the meantime, Jacobs has challenged the workers' right to sue. In the question decided last week, Jacobs argued that TVA was immune from lawsuits because it is a federal public utility, and that protection extends to the contractor through derivative immunity.

In its ruling, the federal appeals court panel found that TVA is not immune from suit and neither is Jacobs. The court notes that Congress, in creating the TVA, wrote a clause into statute specifically providing that the utility can sue and be sued in its corporate name.

The largest industrial spill in modern U.S. history began with a leaky six-story earthen dam outside TVAs Kingston Fossil Plant. On Dec. 22, 2008, that dam collapsed, releasing more than a billion gallons of coal ash sludge in a torrent that knocked nearby homes off their foundations. As the sludge slowly dried over the yearslong course of the cleanup, it turned into a fine dust that had to be constantly watered down but still filled the air, especially on windy days, according to trial testimony.

Some of the cleanup workers took on 12-hour shifts for months at a time with few or no days off. A Jacobs subcontractor testified at trial that workers were not allowed to wear masks to protect them from the fly ash because it looked bad. In Associated Press interviews, workers recalled constantly coughing and joking about coal ash flu. Later they began suffering strange lesions. Dozens developed cancers and at least 40 later died from illnesses.

Jacobs attorneys have said the company did its best to mange the cleanup in a way regulators said was safe. It has not been proven that Jacobs  or even coal ash  is to blame for any illnesses, and the EPA classifies coal ash as nonhazardous.

But Duke University geochemist Avner Vengosh, who is not involved in the litigation, found high levels of radioactivity and toxic metals, including arsenic and mercury in the Kingston coal ash. In a statement about his 2009 peer-reviewed study, he warned that inhaling airborne particles could have a "severe health impact.

Still, if and when the workers get a new trial, it could be difficult to prove the ash caused their illnesses. Experts say there just is not enough research on the health effects of prolonged exposure to fly ash.

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

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TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  One month into existence, New Jersey's recreational marijuana market has done $24 million in sales and regulators on Tuesday voted to grant permits to nearly a dozen new recreational cannabis retailers in their first public meeting since the market opened to the public last month.

How long before the new dispensaries open, though, isn't clear, and there will be additional regulatory hurdles before the new shops start selling to adults 21 and over.

Jeff Brown, the executive director of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, said the review of the applications  and unanimous approval on Tuesday  came in about 70 days, under the 90-day mark he anticipated and amid pressure from lawmakers to speed up the regulatory process.

The commission also approved licenses for 21 new cultivators and 13 manufacturers on Tuesday. The commission didn't discuss the new applicants and  except for the names of the firms  additional details were not immediately available.

The state's recreational marijuana legislation calls for 30% of licensees to include people of color, women, and disabled veterans.

The commission will release that information quarterly, beginning in June, Brown said.

Also made public for the first time Tuesday were details about the first month of recreational marijuana sales.

The 13 facilities open for recreational sales did $24 million in business, averaging about $5 million a week and conducting 212,000 transactions, according to the commission.

The new licenses granted Tuesday are considered conditional, meaning that they will now be required to have a permanent site for their business, gain control of the property through a lease of purchase, get municipal approval along with other operating plans, according to the commission.

Applicants for these kinds of licenses must prove that they earned less than $200,000 annually or $400,000 if filing jointly, a requirement aimed at attracting smaller businesses, compared with the larger multistate firms operating the 13 dispensaries already open to the public.

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)  Workers digging through the rubble of an apartment building in Mariupol found 200 bodies in the basement, Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday, as more horrors come to light in the ruined city that has seen some of the worst suffering of the 3-month-old war.

The bodies were decomposing and the stench hung over the neighborhood, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor. He did not say when they were discovered, but the sheer number of victims makes it one of the deadliest known attacks of the war.

Heavy fighting, meanwhile, was reported in the Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland that Moscows forces are intent on seizing. Russian troops took over an industrial town that hosts a thermal power station, and intensified efforts to encircle and capture Sievierodonetsk and other cities.

Twelve people were killed by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region of the Donbas, according to the regional governor. And the governor of the Luhansk region of the Donbas said the area is facing its most difficult time in the eight years since separatist fighting erupted there.

The Russians are advancing in all directions at the same time. They brought over an insane number of fighters and equipment," the governor, Serhii Haidai, wrote on Telegram. The invaders are killing our cities, destroying everything around. He added that Luhansk is becoming like Mariupol.

Mariupol was relentlessly pounded during a nearly three-month siege that ended last week after some 2,500 Ukrainian fighters abandoned a steel plant where they had made their stand. Russian forces already held the rest of the city, where an estimated 100,000 people remain out a prewar population of 450,000, many of them trapped during the encirclement with little food, water, heat or electricity.

At least 21,000 people were killed in the siege, according to Ukrainian authorities, who have accused Russia of trying to cover up the horrors by bringing in mobile cremation equipment and by burying the dead in mass graves.

During the assault on Mariupol, Russian airstrikes hit a maternity hospital and a theater where civilians were taking shelter. An Associated Press investigation found that close to 600 people died in the theater attack, double the figure estimated by Ukrainian authorities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russians of waging total war and seeking to inflict as much death and destruction as possible on his country.

Indeed, there has not been such a war on the European continent for 77 years, Zelensky said, referring to end of World War II.

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for eight years and hold large swaths of territory. Sievierodonetsk and neighboring cities are the only part of the Donbas Luhansk region still under Ukrainian government control.

Russian forces have achieved some localized successes despite strong Ukrainian resistance along dug-in positions, British military authorities said.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces in the region are facing a difficult situation.

Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there, Zelenskyy said late Tuesday in his nightly address to the nation. Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk  the occupiers want to destroy everything there.

In the Donetsk region, Moscows troops took over the industrial town of Svitlodarsk, which hosts a thermal power station and had a prewar population of about 11,000, and raised the Russian flag there.

They have now hung their rag on the local administration building, Serhii Goshko, the head of the local Ukrainian military administration, told Ukraines Vilny Radio, in a reference to the Russian flag. Goshko said armed units were patrolling Svitlodarsks streets, checking residents documents.

Russian troops also shelled the eastern city of Slovyansk with cluster munitions, hitting a private building, according to Mayor Vadym Lyakh. He said casualties were avoided because many people had already left their homes, and he urged the remaining residents to evacuate west. Heavy fighting was also underway in the city of Lyman.

Amid the fighting, two top Russian officials appeared to acknowledge that Moscows advance has been slower than expected, though they vowed the offensive would achieve its goals.

Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russias Security Council. said the Russian government is not chasing deadlines. And Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of a Russia-led security alliance of former Soviet states that Moscow is deliberately slowing down its offensive to allow residents of encircled cities to evacuate  though forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets.

Hours later, Zelenskyy mocked Shoigu's assertion.

Well, after three months of searching for an explanation for why they were unable to break Ukraine in three days, they couldnt think of anything better than to say thats what they planned, he said in his video address.

Russian officials also announced that Moscows forces had finished clearing mines from the waters off Mariupol and that a safe corridor will open Wednesday for the exit of as many as 70 foreign ships from Ukraines southern coast.

In Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, there were signs of recovery after weeks of bombardment. Residents formed long lines to receive rations of flour, pasta, sugar and others staples this week. Moscows forces withdrew from around Kharkiv earlier this month, pulling back toward the Russian border in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks, though Russia continues to shell the area from afar, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

Galina Kolembed, the aid distribution center coordinator, said that more and more people are returning to the city. Kolembed said the center is providing food to over 1,000 people every day, a number that keeps growing.

Many of them have small kids, and they spend their money on the kids, so they need some support with food, she said.

Meanwhile, the wife of the top commander who held out inside the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol said Tuesday that she had a brief telephone conversation with her husband, who surrendered to the Russians and was taken prisoner last week.

Kateryna Prokopenko, who is married to Azov Regiment leader Denys Prokopenko, said the call broke off before he could say anything about himself.

She said the call was made possible under an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by the Red Cross.

Prokopenko and Yuliia Fedosiuk, the wife of another soldier, said several families received calls in the past two days. The women said they are hopeful the soldiers will not be tortured and will eventually come back home.

Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Moscow-backed separatists in the Donetsk region, told the Russian Interfax agency that preparations are underway for a trial of captured Ukrainian soldiers, including the Mariupol defenders.

Becatoros reported from Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Danica Kirka in London and other AP staffers around the world contributed.

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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Walmart's attempt to commemorate Juneteenth with a new ice cream didn't go over so well.

The company is apologizing for selling "Celebration Edition: Juneteenth Ice Cream," under its Great Value label. The branding sparked a backlash with many people on social media.

"Share and celebrate African-American culture, emancipation and enduring hope," the label on the red velvet-flavored ice cream read.

"Juneteenth holiday marks a celebration of freedom and independence," a Walmart spokesperson said in a statement. "However, we received feedback that a few items caused concern for some of our customers and we sincerely apologize. We are reviewing our assortment and will remove items as appropriate."

Other Juneteenth-themed items that appear to be on sale include party plates, according to a tweet.

One critic on Twitter said the ice cream highlighted why it's "important to have diverse voices at the table when making strategic business decisions. When you don't, you end up making costly, foolish mistakes," the tweet said.

Others on Twitter are encouraging shoppers to buy Black-owned Creamalicious Ice Cream from Target.

CNN affiliate WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina, found the Juneteenth ice cream at a local store. However when a reporter tried to buy it, it was "unavailable for purchase." A store employee told the channel that they are "throwing the ice cream out."

Juneteenth, on June 19, is now a federal holiday after President Joe Biden signed a bill last year. It's the oldest US celebration of the end of slavery, marking the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed residents that the Civil War was over and slavery abolished. African-Americans and others have long marked the anniversary much like the Fourth of July, with parties, picnics and gatherings of family and friends.

The-CNN-Wire  &  2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

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Three Turkish soldiers have been killed in a clash with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in northern Iraq, the Turkish defense ministry has indicated.

The soldiers serving as part of operations against PKK fighters, were killed on Tuesday. Four other soldiers were wounded in the clash, the ministry said in a statement.

Turkey and its western allies have branded the PKK a terror group. Ankara has been hunting down on the movement which has training camps and bases in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan and has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Around 40,000 people most of whom civilians, have been killed so far in the feud between the two sides.

Turkey has also launched a battle front against PKK in Syria. Since 2016, Turkey has launched three offensives into northern Syria against the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian-Kurdish group it considers to be part of the PKK.

Speaking on Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated that Turkey would soon launch a new military operation into northern Syria which he said was designed to create a 30-kilometer (19-mile) security zone along their border.
Jamal Hassan Al-Musawi, secretary-general of Omans National Museum, has received the Star of Italy, the countrys highest civilian award, Arab News reports.

Al-Musawi received the honor from the European countrys Ambassador to Oman Federica Favi at a ceremony in Muscat. The award recognizes Al-Musawis work in enhancing relations between the two countries, having collaborated with Italian experts on projects since 2011.

We benefited from recruiting Italian experts in the foundational phase of the National Museum, to contribute to restoring elements of the cultural heritage of Oman, Museum head told the Omani News Agency.
Senegal is experiencing an intense debate about the validity of some lists for the July 31 legislative elections. The Constitutional Council published its decisions on Tuesday after appeals filed by the opposition.

The Constitutional Council authorizes the opposition coalition Yewwi Askan Wi to modify its list for the department of Dakar.

This list had been invalidated by the General Directorate of Elections. Reason: non-compliance with the parity. This had provoked the anger of the mayor of Dakar, Barthelemy Dias, also head of list in the department.

According to the wise men of the Constitutional Council, the coalition Yewwi Askan Wi can indeed withdraw and substitute candidates. A relief for the coalition.

Another decision published Tuesday concerns the list of the coalition of the majority Benno Bokk Yakaar, which had filed more sponsorships than the number required by law. The opposition had appealed to the Council to have this list invalidated. But according to the institution, these appeals are inadmissible.

These two decisions are in the direction of appeasement, according to human rights defender Alioune Tine, of the think tank Afrikajom Center.

But this is not the end of the debate: the two main coalitions accuse each other of having made other mistakes on the lists. The reasons invoked are non-compliance with parity on the list of the majority or the nomination of the same person twice on the national list of Yewwi Askan Wi 

This is the first time in the history of Senegal that we have had to make a mistake. This is the first time in the history of Senegal that we have so many problems, said former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall, who spoke of cacophony.

The former mayor of Dakar and one of the leaders of the coalition Yewwi Askan Wi called for a rally against what he called loot, double standards of the electoral administration, to dismiss the opposition according to him.

Ousmane Sonko, head of the national list for Yewwi Askan Wi, for his part called for resistance, with a call for a mobilization of 200,000 people in Dakar.

Meanwhile, the presidential coalition accused the opposition of smoke and mirrors. The tone has therefore risen in view of the legislative elections. Several civil society organizations have warned of the risk of political violence.
The Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) officially open this Tuesday, May 24, in Accra, Ghana. Resumed, in part, in person, after two years in videoconference, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these meetings are the most important event of the year.

The AfDBs annual meetings attract some 3,000 delegates: Bank executives and shareholders to take stock. It is also an opportunity for government and business representatives to discuss African economic issues. This years theme is Fostering Climate Resilience and a Just Energy Transition for Africa, a theme that aligns with preparations for COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in November.

The AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina, spoke to the press on the eve of the event about the major challenges of the conference and the dynamics that will be instilled.

Drought, cyclones and extreme weather events are devastating the continent, a climate change that has a human and financial cost, said Akinwumi Adesina. The bill is $50 billion, every year, by 2040. We are not responsible for climate change, but we suffer disproportionately from its negative consequences, he said.

The AfDB president insists on his institutions commitment to help reduce the continents greenhouse gas emissions. There is no question of financing coal, for example. However, he remains cautious about other energy sources, like the Angolan president who recently called on the African Oil Producers Organization not to abandon fossil fuels in haste.
With a year and a half to go before the presidential election, the candidacy season has begun in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is already causing a stir, heralding a pre-election crisis against a backdrop of community tensions.

Until recently, the only declared candidate was the incumbent president himself, Felix Tshisekedi, who announced in 2020, three years before the end of his term, that he would run for a second term, as allowed by the constitution. But since early May, the political terrain has been heating up.

Former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo (2012-2016) has taken the other contenders for the presidential chair by surprise by announcing his intention to enter the race. Accused of alleged misappropriation of public funds when he was head of government, Matata, who denies any wrongdoing, saw his horizon lightened last November when the Constitutional Court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to try him, cutting short the case against him.

Suspicions of corruption were raised about the president of the court, Dieudonne Kaluba, who, despite Matatas denials, was removed from office on May 10 in a strange and contested lottery procedure.

Many saw this as the hand of the presidency, which did not want to keep him at the head of this body, which is crucial to the electoral process since it ultimately proclaims the results of the presidential and legislative elections.

The results are sometimes violently contested, as in 2006 and 2011, resulting in dozens of deaths.

The announcement of the candidacy of Augustin Matata has also prompted other candidates to come out of the woodwork. On the starting line, there will be Martin Fayulu, unhappy candidate in the 2018 presidential election who, when questioned, declared that he is naturally a candidate for the 2023 election.

His ally of the opposition coalition Lamuka is also announced: Adolphe Muzito is the natural candidate of the party Nouvel elan', assures its secretary general Blanchard Mongomba.

For his part, the former governor of Katanga, Moise Katumbi, is still holding back. But one of his close friends says that his candidacy for the presidential elections is imperative.
By Trend

Airbus signed a follow-on Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) contract with the U.S. Army, the European multinational aerospace corporation said in a press release, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The deal is the largest helicopter performance-based support contract managed by Airbus worldwide, it said.

Airbus will provide spare parts, material, and engineering support for the Army's helicopter models UH-72A and UH-72B Lakota fleet of 482 utility and training helicopters. It will support 67 Lakota sites in the United States and overseas.

The contract includes a six-month base and 4.5 option years, with a potential total value of more than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.

The UH-72B is produced at Airbus' facility in Columbus, Mississippi and the logistics are managed from the facility in Dallas, Texas.

The UH-72A and UH-72B models are for Army's National Guard missions, it said.
Shaken by the pandemic, the World Health Organization's member states agreed Tuesday to overhaul how they fund the UN health agency, giving it much more money to spend on its own priorities.

The budget revamp is aimed at strengthening the organisation and making it more agile when responding to global health crises.

The change will give the WHO a more stable income stream and control over a much bigger portion of the funding flowing through its Geneva headquarters.

"This is a historic moment," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as the resolution was adopted at the World Health Assembly, the annual gathering of the organisation's member states which serves as its decision-making body.

He said it would transform how the WHO is funded, and how it works.

"It will give us a predictable and sustainable funding platform from which to deliver long-term programming in countries," he said.

Member states currently channel most of their cash into short-term health projects of their own choosing, which can fluctuate.

But countries will now transition towards giving half of their WHO contributions as straightforward membership fees instead, giving the organisation more flexibility.

Tedros, who was re-elected earlier Tuesday, has made overhauling the agency's finances a key plank of his leadership.

He had warned countries that it was "now or never", after the COVID-19 crisis exposed the shortcomings of the existing set-up.

"The pandemic has demonstrated why the world needs WHO, but also why the world needs a stronger, empowered and sustainably financed WHO," Tedros told the assembly.

Room for manoeuvre

The WHO gets its money from its 194 member states and non-governmental organisations.

Nations' membership fees"assessed contributions" calculated according to wealth and populationaccount for less than one-fifth of the WHO's funding.

Most of it currently comes via "voluntary contributions" from member states and donors, which go towards outcomes specified by them.

The WHO therefore has limited leeway to respond to crises like COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and other health emergencies.

The membership fee portion will rise to 50 percent by the 2030-2031 budget cycle at the latest.

In return, the WHO will be expected to implement reforms, including towards more transparency on its financing and hiring.

Changing the funding model will help the WHO implement its priorities "more effectively and efficiently", Tedros said Tuesday.

Rather than spending time scrambling to find money, "You're telling us to focus on the programmes, and the funding will be taken care of."

"You are ensuring the stability of our organisation."

The approved two-year programme budget for 2022-2023 is $6.12 billion. The total is up five percent from the $5.84 billion of the 2020-2021 budget.

According to the latest figures, assessed contributions account for only $957 million, while specified voluntary contributions make up $3.7 billion, highlighting the imbalance Tedros wants to correct.

Now assessed contributions are set to go up by 20 percent in the next budget alone, to roughly $1.2 billion.

The biggest assessed contribution membership fees currently are from the United States ($219 million), China ($115 million), Japan ($82 million), Germany ($58 million) and Britain ($44 million).

Huge discrepancy

The new proposals were put forward by a working group tasked with finding a long-term solution for the WHO's finances.

Chairman Bjoern Kuemmel said the group found a "huge discrepancy" between what member states expected the WHO to do and how they funded the organisation.

He called the decision "groundbreaking" as it would ensure that the WHO "adequately equipped and able to be the leading coordinating authority on global health".

"This is not about new money, this is about better money, truly enabling WHO to do what member states expect WHO to do," he told reporters afterwards.

"Members are ready to walk the talk.

"These recommendations will make WHO fit for purpose in being the leading organisation in pandemic preparedness and response."

Explore further Countries agree to overhaul WHO funding model

 2022 AFP
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A new study led by Penn LDI associate fellow Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins queried patients at a Veterans Administration (VA) renal clinic and found them angry, resentful, and stressed by their experiences with racism. The findings are published in JAMA Network Open.

At a time when most health equity studies are based on data from electronic health records, which often lack personal stories, this project, instead, interviewed the Black patients themselves at Philadelphia's Corporal Michael Crescenz Veteran Affairs Renal Clinic, asking how they thought racism was impacting their health in general, as well as their treatment for chronic kidney disease in the clinic.

The study tells a story about Black veterans who have endured a lifetime of trauma from structural racism that generates stress that can exacerbate chronic kidney disease (CKD). Then, when they seek treatment for the condition in a VA renal clinic, they regularly encounter additional institutional racism traumas that may make their CKD even worse.

Long-term harm

The research was grounded in the well-established fact that traumatic experiences cause stress throughout the human body, and that excessive stress, experienced over a substantial period, can directly cause subsequent long-term physical and mental harm.

Black veterans with CKD are twice as likely to progress to end-stage renal disease than white veterans. Despite the fact that Black veterans make up 12 percent of the overall veteran population, they account for 37% of all VA end-stage renal disease patients.

With an average age of 66 and eight years of military service, the 36 Black clinic patients described how racism:

Caused emotional and physical stress along with anger and hurt

Was the root of a strong distrust of the health care system

Made them behave in hypervigilant ways during their clinical encounters

Resulted in their "balling up" or suppressing feelings in ways that sometimes drove behaviors like substance use disorder

Forced them to develop individual and collective strategies for coping with the stress of constant discrimination.

Veterans' voices

Here are some sample excerpts of veterans' quotes from the interviews:

"I know I'm Black. I know a lot of people don't like me because I'm Black. But after me serving in Vietnam and in Somalia, I don't play the race card. I mean, I don't even pay it no mind until it's forced on me. [Racism] don't bother meit goes in one ear and come out the other."

"[Racism] bothers me. It stresses me a little bit. I go smoke a cigarette or drink a beer, or I just sit down to myself. I change my behavior because I can't react to everything. It's gonna make you angry But like I said, I try to keep that down because of my condition. I don't need to be stressed out and lose this kidney."

"[Racism] gives me headaches. It makes me irritable. It just makes me negative. It turns me into a negative person."

"I've watched certain thingsthe nurses and their interactions with other patients that are white. They may spend time with them, talking with them, this or that, less time with me or the other African Americans that are in the clinic. But that's their people. And so I don't blame them for treating their people goodI blame us for treating our people bad."

'A lot of nuances'

On this last quote, Jenkins noted: "People often think of racism like it is literally a tool of whites that makes a target of Blacks. But that's not true. This veteran told us it wasn't just white staff presenting 'isms' and stigma, it was staff that looked just like him as well. There are a lot of nuances at work here and we need to bring them all out."

Jenkins was principal investigator on the pilot project funded by Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP) at the Crescenz VA Medical Center. Both the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh are academic affiliates of CHERP. Jenkins is a Lecturer and Visiting Scholar at Penn, and a Core Investigator at CHERP.

Jenkins emphasized that the study findings are not a surprise to the VA clinic staffers.

"This was not a 'gotcha project,'" Jenkins said. "The stafffrom chief of nephrology to physicians and nursesworked with us from day one on this and even helped develop some of the questions we used. Then, as it progressed, we had individual physicians asking us how should they be talking to patients? There was a lot of interest in understanding how to address the thing we were studying."

The contested word 'racism'

As a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida in 2012, one of Jenkins' first published papers was "The Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination and Patient Experiences with Health Care." His 2015 graduating Ph.D. thesis was "I Think Therefore You Are: Detecting the Social Construction of Race in Medicine." Ever since, his research has been focused on how stress lethally interacts with vascular-based diseases, including heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes in high-risk subgroups within the Black community.

But publication in this area of scientific exploration hasn't always proven easy for him.

"In the past, some of the reviewers of my submitted papers actually told me to 'stop saying racism,'" Jenkins explained. "I was told to take the word 'racism' out or I would never get published. But I kept thinking: "How can that possibly work?" I mean how can you begin to change something you're not allowed to mention? So, this pilot study at the VA really represents the first salvo of true thought about the word 'racism.'"

Evidence for racism as trauma

"One of the things we're working through now," said Jenkins, "is how to provide the evidentiary point that racism is a trauma. We currently talk so much about the existence of racism-driven trauma, but not really about the eradication part. What does it mean if it is trauma? How should clinicians react and respond to that? My argument is metrics. We need to provide the right metrics so we can actually measure that inequity and the trauma it creates."

Explore further Research looks at racism in health care and how to end it

More information: Kevin A. Jenkins et al, Perspectives on Racism in Health Care Among Black Veterans With Chronic Kidney Disease, JAMA Network Open (2022). Journal information: JAMA Network Open Kevin A. Jenkins et al, Perspectives on Racism in Health Care Among Black Veterans With Chronic Kidney Disease,(2022). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.11900
Michelle Saenz of Santee, Calif. buys baby formula at a grocery story across the border, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Tijuana, Mexico. As the baby formula shortage continues in the United States, some parents are opting to cross the border into Mexico, where the shelves are still stocked with options to feed their babies. Credit: AP Photo/Gregory Bull

The head of the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that efforts to investigate problems at a baby formula plant linked to the nationwide shortage were slowed by COVID-19, scheduling conflicts and even a missing piece of mail.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf laid out a series of setbacks in congressional testimony that slowed his agency's response by months, including a whistleblower complaint that didn't reach FDA leadership due to a "mailroom failure."

Califf testified before a House subcommittee probing the shortage, which has forced the U.S. to begin airlifting products from Europe while many parents still hunt for scarce supplies in stores.

Califf told lawmakers FDA's response was: "Too slow and there were decisions that were suboptimal along the way."

The FDA and President Joe Biden face mounting pollical pressure to explain why they didn't intervene earlier to try and address the supply problems. The oversight subcommittee's ranking Republican quickly zeroed in on the slow response.

"Why did it take an onslaught of national media attention for the Biden administration to act with a sense of urgency required to address an infant formula shortage?" asked Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Virginia. The panel will also hear from three formula manufacturers, including Abbott Nutrition.

The shortage mostly stems from Abbott's Michigan plant, the largest in the U.S., which the FDA shut down in February due to contamination.

"We knew that ceasing plant operations would create supply problems but we had no choice given the insanitary conditions," Califf said in opening testimony.

Califf gave the first detailed account of why his agency took months to inspect the plant despite learning of potential problems as early as September.

FDA staff began honing in on Abbott's plant last fall while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula from the facility. The four cases occurred between September and January, leading to hospitalization and two deaths.

Califf told lawmakers the FDA began planning to visit the Sturgis, Michigan, plant in early December, with inspectors set to arrive on Dec. 30. But Abbott said that about a dozen of its employees had recently tested positive for COVID-19 and requested a delay. As a result, the FDA didn't begin its inspection until Jan. 31.

After detecting positive samples of bacteria in multiple parts of the plant, the FDA closed the facility and Abbott announced a massive recall of its formula on Feb. 17.

Abbott and the FDA have reached an agreement to reopen the plant next week, requiring the company to regularly undergo outside safety audits.

Califf also laid out the agency's months-long timeline responding to an October whistleblower complaint alleging numerous safety violations at Abbott's plant, including employees falsifying records.

Several FDA staffers reviewed the complaint in late October, but officials didn't request an interview until early December. Because of conflicts with the whistleblower's schedule, the interview didn't take place until Dec. 22, according to the FDA testimony.

Senior FDA officials eventually received emailed copies of the complaint, but not until February due to "an isolated failure in FDA's mailroom, likely due to COVID-19 staffing issues," according to the prepared remarks. A mailed copy addressed to then-acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock has still not been located, according to the FDA.

Political fury over the shortage has landed squarely on the FDA and Califf, the only administration official who has testified thus far on the issue. The problems have quickly snowballed into a political firestorm for President Joe Biden, who has invoked the Defense Production Act and emergency flights to shore up supplies.

Califf is also facing questions about why his agency didn't anticipate the shortage, given that Abbott's plant supplies roughly one-sixth of the U.S. formula supply. FDA regulators did not contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture about impacts to the formula supply until Feb. 11. Califf's testimony states that his agency does not have the "authority, resources, or dedicated staff" to track supply chain disruptions. He asked lawmakers for new powers and resources to monitor the information.

Behind the shortage are other distinct factors, including industry consolidation that's made the U.S. formula market vulnerable to disruptions at individual companies.

An Abbott executive is expected to tell the committee that his company will invest in additional capacity and supply chain safeguards. After the company restarts production next month it will be able to produce more formula than before the recall, according to prepared remarks from Abbott's senior vice president, Christopher Calamari.

The company will restate its contention that there is no direct link between its formula and the infant infections investigated by the FDA. Agency regulators have said the small number of cases and incomplete testing data make it hard to draw a direct connection between the illnesses and Abbott's plant.

Executives from Reckitt and Gerber are also scheduled to testify.

Explore further US reaches deal to reopen shuttered baby formula plant

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Researchers have discovered the key immunological changes that support the remission of peanut allergy in children, paving the way for new, more targeted treatments. Credit: Daniella Segura

Australian researchers have discovered the key immunological changes that support the remission of peanut allergy in children, paving the way for new, more targeted treatments.

The research showed for the first time that specific gene networks are rewired to drive the transition from peanut allergy to clinical remission following a combination treatment of a probiotic and peanut oral immunotherapy.

Led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and the Telethon Kids Institute, and published in Allergy, the study found that this network reprogramming essentially shuts down the allergic immune response that was responsible for causing a food allergy.

Lead researcher, Murdoch Children's Professor Mimi Tang, said this was the first study to map the complex gene to gene communication and connectivity underlying clinical remission of peanut allergy.

"The immunological changes leading to remission of peanut allergy were largely unknown," she said. Previous studies had mostly focused on examining the levels of gene expression, without also exploring how genes interact with each other. But genes don't work in isolation; instead, biological responses are controlled by large numbers of genes communicating with each other, so it made sense to look at these interactions more closely.

"What we found was profound differences in network connectivity patterns between children who were allergic and those who were in remission. These same changes were also seen when we compared gene networks before and after immunotherapy in the children who achieved remission following immunotherapy."

The randomized controlled trial involved 62 peanut allergic children from Melbourne, aged 1-10 years, who received a combination treatment of a probiotic and oral immunotherapy (the gradual introduction of the allergenic food) or a placebo. Following 18 months of treatment, 74 per cent taking the combination treatment achieved remission compared with 4 per cent in the placebo group.

The peanut oral immunotherapy that was used in combination with the probiotic in the trial was PRT120, a lead candidate from Prota Therapeutics, an Australian biotech company focused on bringing its novel allergy immunotherapy treatment for children with life-threatening peanut allergies to market.

The team led by Professor Tang also recently showed in a separate trial that two treatmentsthe combination probiotic and peanut oral immunotherapy treatment and the peanut oral immunotherapy alonewere highly effective at inducing remission and desensitization. About half of the treated children achieved remission, which allowed them to stop treatment and safely eat peanut freely.

Murdoch Children's Dr. Sarah Ashley said while oral immunotherapy could successfully induce desensitization and remission, desensitization often waned after treatment ended or even during ongoing maintenance dosing.

"Certain changes in the allergen-specific immune cells, called Th2 cells, are critical to achieving lasting remission," she said. "Th2 cells are essential for generating allergen-specific antibodies and the development of food allergy. We found that the Th2 signaling that drives allergy is 'turned off' in children in remission."

Food allergy is a global public health concern, affecting 10 per cent of infants and 5-8 per cent of children.

Telethon Kids Institute's Dr. Anya Jones said because there was no cure for food allergies, management relied on avoidance of the allergenic food, resulting in reduced quality of life.

"Understanding the complex immune processes that support remission will provide greater insight into key drivers of treatment success and potentially identify novel targets for more effective treatments that deliver long-term solutions for patients," she said.

Ju Lee Ng's daughter Stella, 9, was diagnosed with a peanut allergy at 18 months of age after breaking out in hives from a meal containing traces of the nut.

But Ju Lee said after taking part in a Murdoch Children's allergy trial, Stella had been in clinical remission for almost four years and now eats peanut regularly.

"Stella's quality of life has improved considerably since the trial," she said. Her level of anxiety has reduced dramatically and she has the freedom to enjoy different types of food. Stella no longer has to always check food labels for peanuts and brief her teachers or friends' parents about her allergy. She can now dig in and enjoy a bag of peanut M&Ms.

"We previously had to avoid travel to countries that use lots of peanuts in the food, including Malaysia, where my husband and I are from. Shortly after Stella achieved remission we were so excited to be able to travel on a family holiday to Thailand. We tried local dishes and enjoyed an amazing holiday without the stress that Stella could have an allergic reaction."

Ju Lee said it was reassuring to learn that new treatments could be developed off the back of the latest study results by the Murdoch Children's.

"This research will give a lot of hope to families who have children with a peanut allergy," she said. "We hope other families can experience the same sense of comfort we now have with a child who can eat peanut freely without fear of a reaction."

Explore further Researchers discover two treatments that induce peanut allergy remission in children

More information: Mimi Tang et al, Remission of peanut allergy is associated with rewiring of allergen-driven T helper 2-related gene networks, Allergy (2022). Journal information: Allergy Mimi Tang et al, Remission of peanut allergy is associated with rewiring of allergen-driven T helper 2-related gene networks,(2022). DOI: 10.1111/all.15324
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The most common cause of spontaneous abortions is chromosome defects, but they can be difficult to detect. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have developed a new method that can make us wiser about how chromosome defects and disease-associated chromosome changes look and how to aid diagnosis.

In Denmark, more and more people are experiencing problems with fertility. The most common cause of spontaneous abortion is chromosome defects. In more than half of the miscarriages that occur during the first 12 weeks, it is because the fetus has a chromosome defect.

Often doctors do not know which chromosome defect is involved. Therefore, it is also difficult to know what the parents can do to complete the pregnancy successfully. However, new research from the University of Copenhagen may help to clarify this.

A newly developed method can characterize chromosomes with an unprecedented level of detail and may help uncover new chromosome errors, which cannot be diagnosed with current methods.

"The dream is that we can take a chromosome sample from a person who has a fertility problem, for example, and then use our method to analyze the chromosomes and determine if something is wrong. It could potentially also be used to investigate other chromosome defects and diseases, for example cancer," says Professor Ian Hickson from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, who has headed the study.

Today, it is already normal practice at Danish hospitals to examine chromosomes for defects. But the new method will make it possible to examine chromosomes more thoroughly, Ian Hickson explains.

"Today, the chromosomes being examined are exposed to chemicals that fix them. It is like a vet wanting to examine a pet dog, but having to stuff it first," he says.

The chromosomes of a single cell contain two meters of DNA

"We use optical tweezers and a super resolution microscope to examine chromosomes as if they are inside the cells, where they are flexible and mobile. With that method, we can move, press and pull on the chromosomes to see if there are any abnormalities," says Ian Hickson.

With a super resolution microscope, they can see in detail what happens to the chromosome when they manipulate it.

"We can detect more hidden chromosome defects. Maybe the chromosome, for example, falls apart when we pull at one end. Then we know we are dealing with a chromosome defect. But you cannot know that until you have stretched the chromosome," he says.

"With this method we can get a precise calculation of the bare mechanical properties of chromosomes and this can give a detailed view of the underlying structure. If a diseased chromosome has a weaker structure or a weak spot we'll be able to measure it with our method," adds postdoc Christian Friberg Nielsen, one of the main authors of the study.

In order to know what a diseased chromosome looks like, the researchers have first had to investigate several hundred normal chromosomes.

"A chromosome is a remarkable structure. It consists of two DNA molecules. The DNA in the chromosomes of one single cell is two meters long but is packed inside a tiny cell with a diameter smaller than the thickness of a human hair. The two meters of DNA must be packed and folded until chromosomes adopt the characteristic x-shape and only then can we see individual chromosomes using a microscope," says Ian Hickson.

1% of the world's population lives with a chromosome defect

Ian Hickson emphasizes that there is a very fine balance with chromosomes, and it does not take more than a small chromosome error before it has extensive consequences.

"The most well-known genetic chromosome abnormality is Down Syndrome, which is caused by a child being born with three copies of chromosome 21 instead of two. Whereas a less well known defect, where the embryo has three copies of chromosome 16 is the most common cause of spontaneous miscarriage. It shows how gently balanced the system is," says Ian Hickson.

About 1% of the world's population lives with a chromosome defect. Some can live a normal life, like men with double Y syndrome who have two copies of the male sex chromosome. For others with a chromosome defect it is far more disabling and can result in early death.

The researchers therefore hope that the new method can be used to diagnose chromosomal defects and thus become wiser on how to screen for chromosomal defects in fetuses. In the long term, it might even be possible to help people living with a chromosomal defect, for example by screening their chromosomes in order to suggest treatments that overcome certain features of the defect.

Other forms of chromosomal abnormalities are seen in cancer.

"To put it simply, cancer is a disease of our DNA and chromosomes. It is often obvious when analyzing chromosomes from the affected tissue that a person has cancer and you can see it by the fact that the chromosome number is very high. For example, 83 or 71 instead of the normal, which is 46. But in many cases it is not as obvious," says Ian Hickson.

In those cases, he hopes the new method can help determine if chromosomes are actually hiding cancer-causing changes.

Ian Hickson estimates that the method probably will be tested in labs for five to ten years before researchers will be able to try it in clinical trials.

"Nonlinear mechanics of human mitotic chromosomes" is published in Nature.

Explore further Studying the active role of the maize B chromosome in the modulation of gene expression

More information: Anna E. C. Meijering et al, Nonlinear mechanics of human mitotic chromosomes, Nature (2022). Journal information: Nature Anna E. C. Meijering et al, Nonlinear mechanics of human mitotic chromosomes,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04666-5
U.S. drug overdose deaths have followed an exponential curve for more than four decades, recently topping 100,000 deaths, a prediction Pitt Public Health scientists made five years ago. Credit: Burke, D. and Jalal, H. International Journal of Drug Policy, 2022.

A grim prediction made half a decade ago by University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health epidemiologists and modelers has come true: More than 100,000 people are now dying from drug overdoses annually in the U.S. The milestone comes as the International Journal of Drug Policy publishes a special section of the June issue reflecting on the exponential growth in drug-related deaths the Pitt team uncovered in 2017.

The special sectionbased around the Pitt team's landmark research article in Science that analyzed nearly four decades of U.S. drug overdose datacontains commentary by four teams of epidemiologists, addiction specialists, modelers and drug policy experts, as well as an update from the original authors and an editorial by one of the journal's senior editors.

"Since 1979, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have inexorably climbed along a near-perfect exponential curve, despite changes in the popularity of different drugs, new drug control policies, changing demographics, economic upswings and downturns, warsand now a global pandemic," said Donald S. Burke, M.D., Distinguished University Professor of Health Science and Policy in Pitt Public Health's Department of Epidemiology and senior author of the Science publication. "The fact that we're still seeing this exponential growth in another five years of data413,000 more young Americans deadshows that we really don't understand the deep drivers of the epidemic."

Following their Science publication, Burke and his colleagues published several more articles involving U.S. drug overdose death data. Notably, the team reported in Nature Medicine that the generation a person was born intosilent generation, baby boomer, Generation X or millennialstrongly predicts how likely they are to die from a drug overdose, and at what age.

And, when drug overdose deaths diverged from their predictions, taking a celebrated downturn in 2018, the team showed in the journal Addiction that it was a result of a decrease in supply of the potent synthetic opioid carfentanil and not a sign of the drug overdose epidemic abating. Sure enough, overdose deaths snapped right back onto the exponential curve in the following year.

"There are theories, but nobody has an explanation for why drug overdose deaths so consistently stick to this exponential growth pattern, marching ever upward at an annual pace of 7.4%," said Hawre Jalal, M.D., Ph.D., who was lead author of the Science paper while at Pitt and is now at the University of Ottawa. "Five years ago, leaders in the drug addiction and policy fields called our findings a coincidence. We need to stop denying that this exponential growth will continue if we don't get at the root causes and fix them."

In his editorial introducing the International Journal of Drug Policy special edition, Peter Reuter, Ph.D., distinguished professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, noted that although the Science manuscript had been cited by scientists hundreds of times since its original publication to support that drug overdose rates are rising, no one had investigated the underlying cause of the relentless increase.

"It's hard to imagine that this growth rate can continue much longer," Reuter writes. "The notion that we might see 200,000 fatal overdoses annually in 2030 is simply too frightening, though we would have made the same statement in 2010 when the figure was a mere 38,000."

In their article for the special section, Burke and Jalal suggest that a "systems" analysis including, but not limited to, surveillance data from electronic health records, urine screening, wastewater testing, law enforcement drug seizures, surveys to measure societal well-being and despair, and the economics of the drug trade will be necessary to understand the exponential growth. Computational models and simulations will then need to be designed to guide and test interventions, they said.

"Improved understanding of the deep causal drivers of the epidemic may be necessary to bend the curve," they conclude. "Unless something different is done, the death toll will probably continue to increase exponentially."
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Since May 3, 2022, when Politico reported that the Supreme Court was planning to strike down Roe v. Wade, many Christians have celebrated the prospect of an America where abortion is not a constitutionally protected rightor is someday banned entirely.

Meanwhile, other conservative Christians have been working on a related target: limiting access to some contraceptives.

In July 2020, when the Supreme Court ruled that organizations with "sincerely held religious or moral objection" are not obligated to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees, many conservative Christians applauded. Six years before, the evangelical owners of crafting chain Hobby Lobby took their objections to covering the IUD in their health insurance plans all the way to the Supreme Court. Hobby Lobby arguedincorrectly, according to most medical authoritiesthat it was a form of abortion, and therefore they should not have to cover employees' health insurance for it. The justices sided with the chain's owners.

Yet as access to both abortion and contraception comes under threat, the vast majority of Protestants use or have used some form of contraception. Their actions are supported by almost 100 years of pastoral advocacy on the issue. In my work as a scholar of religious studies, gender and sexuality, I have researched the Protestant leaders who campaigned to make contraception respectable, and therefore widely acceptable, in the mid-20th century.

History, I have found, provides a different story about the relationship between Protestants and birth control.

'Responsible parenthood'

As new contraceptive options emerged in the first two-thirds of the 20th century, from the diaphragm to the birth control pill, Christian leaders wrestled with what to think. Many came to see birth control as a moral good that would allow married couples to have satisfying sex lives, while protecting women from the health risks of frequent pregnancies. They hoped it could ensure that couples would not have more children than they could care for, emotionally and economically.

They looked inward, considering the consequences of birth control for their own communities, and hoped that "planned" or "responsible" sex would create healthy families and decrease divorce. They also looked outward, thinking about birth control's wider implications, at a time of widespread concern that the global population was rising too quickly to handle.

By the time the pill came on the market in the 1960s, liberal and even some conservative Protestants were advocating for birth control using new theological ideas about "responsible parenthood."

"Responsible parenthood" reframed debates about family size around "Christian duty." To be responsible in parenting was not only to avoid having more children than you could afford, nurture and educate. It also meant considering responsibilities outside the home toward churches, society and humanity.

Protestant leaders supporting contraception argued that the best kind of family was a father with a steady job and a homemaker mother, and that birth control could encourage this model, because smaller families could maintain a comfortable lifestyle on one income. They also hoped that contraception would help couples stay together by allowing them to have satisfying sex lives.

Multiple denominations endorsed birth control. In 1958, for example, the Anglican Communion stated that family planning was a "primary obligation of Christian marriage," and chastised parents "who carelessly and improvidently bring children into the world, trusting in an unknown future or a generous society to care for them."

The big picture

Religious leaders' support for "responsible parenthood" was not just about deliberately creating the kind of Christian families they approved of. It was also about heading off the horrors of population explosiona fear very much front of mind in mid-century America.

In the middle of the 20th century, with increased access to vaccines and antibiotics, more children were living to adulthood and life expectancies were rising. Protestant leaders feared this so-called population bomb would outstrip the Earth's food supply, leading to famine and war.

In 1954, when the global population stood at about 2.5 billion, Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, one of the most prominent Protestant voices of the age, framed overpopulation as one of the world's "basic problems," and the birth control pill, which was then being developed, as the best potential solution.

Richard Fagley, a minister who served on the World Council of Church's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, argued that in family planning, science had provided Christians with a new venue for moral responsibility. Medical knowledge, Fagley wrote, is "a liberating gift from God, to be used to the glory of God, in accordance with his will for men."

These "responsible parenthood" ideas held that religious couples had a responsibility to be good stewards of the earth by not having more children than the planet could support. In the context of marriage, contraception was viewed as moral, shoring up a particular form of Christian values.

Yesterday's arguments

These ideas about "good" and "bad" families often rested on assumptions about race and gender that reproductive rights advocates find troubling today.

Early in the 20th century, predominantly white, Protestant clergy were very interested in increasing access to contraception for the poor, who were often Catholic or Jewish immigrants or people of color. Some scholars have argued that early support for contraception was predominantly about eugenics, particularly before World War II. Among some white leaders, there was concern about so-called race suicide: the racist fear that "they" would be overwhelmed.

Apart from some eugenicists, however, most of these clergy wanted to give people access to contraception in order to create "healthy" families, regardless of income level. Yet many were unable or unwilling to see how they were promoting a narrow view of the ideal family, and how that marginalized poor communities and people of colorthemes I am studying in my current book project.

Moreover, many proponents were advocating for women's health, but not reproductive freedom. Their priority was setting women up for success to attain their ideal of the middle-class, Christian motherhood. With fewer children, some hoped, families would be able to get by on just a husband's salary, meaning more women at home raising children.

A battle wonand lost?

Over the decades, Protestant leaders have, in large part, disappeared from pro-birth control arguments.

There are many reasons. Mid-century agricultural technologies reduced fears of overpopulationwhich have only recently been reawoken by the climate crisis. Meanwhile, mainline Protestant churches, and their public influence, are shrinking. Conservative leaders eventually grew concerned that birth control would lead to more working women, not fewer. And since the 1970s, evangelicals have grown increasingly opposed to abortion, which was increasingly linked to birth control through the broad term "family planning."

In other words, since the "population bomb" was no longer ticking, contraception no longer seemed like such an urgent necessityand some of its other implications troubled conservatives, breaking an almost pan-Protestant alliance.

Meanwhile, liberal Protestants had so embraced contraception that they no longer viewed it as turf that needed defending. Today, 99% of American girls and women between the ages of 15 and 44 who have ever had sex use or have used a contraceptive method. Reproductive rights advocates turned their attention to abortion rightslargely leaving religious views on birth control to their opponents.

Explore further France introduces free contraception for women aged 18-25

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
WEDNESDAY, May 25, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Children raised by same-sex parents are just as well-adjusted as kids raised by different-sex parents, researchers say.

In the new study, the researchers compared 62 Dutch children (aged 6 to 16 years) whose parents were the same sex with 72 kids whose parents were different sexes. The investigators considered prosocial behavior, hyperactivity, peer problems, emotional adjustment and general behavioral problems.

"The new findings clearly show that same-sex families have strong resilience strategies to protect their children from prevailing legal hurdles and societal rejection. For example, parents create an environment in which their children receive appreciation and recognition from others and where other same-sex families provide positive role models," said Dr. Mirjam Fischer. She is with the University of Cologne's Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology in Germany.

"However, it should not be necessary in the first place that parents have to develop these strategies," Fischer said in a university news release.

Past research has found that same-sex parents face significant stress factors related to their sexual orientation that has led to decreased physical and mental health for the parents. It was thought that this emotional turmoil could lead to adjustment problems in the children, but this study did not find that.

The researchers recommended that research and policy makers move away from deficit-driven comparisons between same-sex and different-sex families. Instead, support services for same-sex families should build on their existing resilience structures and strengthen them further, the authors said.

The findings were published online recently in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

More information

The organization Family Equality has more resources and facts for LGBTQ+ families.

SOURCE: University of Cologne, news release, May 20, 2022

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WEDNESDAY, May 25, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A year after being hospitalized with COVID-19, more than 12% of patients had been diagnosed with heart inflammation, according to a new study of the long-term effects of the virus.

For the study, researchers in Scotland followed 159 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between May 2020 and March 2021. A year later, many patients had ongoing health conditions.

Besides heart inflammation (myocarditis), inflammation across the body and damage to other organs, including the kidneys, were common, according to the team from the University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

"COVID-19 is a multisystem disease, and our study shows that injury on the heart, lungs and kidneys can be seen after initial hospitalization in scans and blood tests," said principal investigator Colin Berry. He is a professor of cardiology and imaging at the University of Glasgow.

"These results bridge a vital knowledge gap between our current understanding of post-COVID-19 syndromes, such as long COVID, and objective evidence of ongoing disease," Berry said in a university news release.

The study, dubbed CISCO-19 (for Cardiac Imaging in SARS Coronavirus disease-19), is part of a Scottish government effort to boost understanding of the coronavirus pandemic.

Participants were asked about their own impressions of their health. They also underwent blood tests, and CT and MRI scans of multiple organs, including the heart, kidneys and lungs. The researchers also assessed clinical outcomes, including survival, hospital readmission and referral to outpatient clinics.

The investigators found that being hospitalized with COVID-19 was associated with poorer health-related quality of life, as well as with anxiety and depression.

The findings also showed that some patients suffer long-term impacts because of the severity of their COVID-19 symptoms, rather than because of pre-existing health issues.

"The reasons for this are unclear, but it may be that a healthy person who is hospitalized with COVID-19 is likely to have a worse COVID infection than someone with underlying health conditions who is hospitalized," Berry suggested. "More work needs to be done here to understand the risks, and also on how we can better support patients who have ongoing health outcomes after being hospitalized with COVID-19."

Within 450 days of leaving the hospital, one in seven patients had died or been readmitted. In all, two in three required outpatient care.

The study found that long COVID appears to predominantly affect women. The researchers found a link between being female and having myocarditis. That was then tied with lower mental and physical well-being.

The findings suggest a need for focused use of medical tests, new therapy development and rehabilitation, the study authors said. They also highlight the importance of vaccination to help prevent severe COVID-19.

"This study provides important insight into the longer-term effects of COVID-19 infection, and will help inform approaches to treatment going forward," said David Crossman, formerly Scotland's chief scientist (health).

While the study focused on people hospitalized with COVID-19, other research examining cases not requiring hospitalization has reported more encouraging data on long-term health.

The researchers noted that most patients in this study were unvaccinated because they were enrolled early in the pandemic. Risk factors for heart disease were common, including obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.

The report was published online May 23 in Nature Medicine. The study is ongoing and will include follow-up with participants after 18 months and five years.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID.

SOURCE: University of Glasgow, news release, May 23, 2022

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President Joe Biden says cases of monkeypox are something that everybody should be concerned about. The president made his first public comments on the disease after being asked about it during his visit to South Korea. He said there's work underway to identify an effective vaccine. And he added that if the disease were to spread "it would be consequential. The disease is rarely identified outside of Africa, but there have been a number of recent cases in Europe and at least two in the United States. Most people recover from monkeypox without hospitalization, but it can be fatal.
By Trend

The Russian Grain Union believes that grain exports from Russia in the current agricultural year (July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022) will amount to more than 40 mln tonnes, Vice President of the union Alexander Korbut said on Tuesday, ???????? Trend reports with reference to TASS.

"We export over 40 mln tonnes of grain, we will completely close the wheat quota," he said. Thus, according to Korbut, Russia will be able to remain first among wheat exporters in the world. He also noted that carry-over stocks of grain for the next agricultural year can even be called excessive. Korbut stressed that export deliveries are continuing despite the difficult foreign policy situation.

At the same time, he noted there is a problem with the discount when selling Russian grain. "Our wheat, and this is the effect of sanctions, is purchased around $25-50 cheaper than the global price," Korbut explained.

According to him, the situation will improve in the next agricultural season, because export demand "will be crazy". "The world is very nervous and there will obviously be export demand," he concluded.

The Ministry of Agriculture estimates grain exports from Russia in the 2021-2022 agricultural year at the level of 45-48 mln tonnes. The Ministry has not yet given a forecast for wheat supplies for export, however, according to the Grain Quality Assessment Center, its export may reach 37 mln tonnes. Grain exports from Russia in 2020-2021 agricultural year (July 1, 2020 - June 30, 2021) reached 49 mln tonnes, including 38.4 mln tonnes of wheat.
WEDNESDAY, May 25, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors need to be aware that prostate cancer raises a man's risk of serious and potentially deadly blood clots by about 50%, researchers say.

All cancer patients are at increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE), a dangerous but treatable blood clot in the veins that is a leading cause of death in cancer patients.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in middle-aged and older men. Previous research has suggested that men with prostate cancer are two to three times more likely to develop VTE than those without cancer, the researchers noted in their study, published May 24 in the online journal BMJ Open.

In light of significant improvements in prostate cancer care over the last decade, researchers wanted to reassess the risk of VTE in prostate cancer patients.

The greatest risk of VTE is in the first six months after prostate cancer diagnosis, they discovered.

"Physicians treating men with prostate cancer should be aware of the marked increase in VTE risk in these men, particularly in the first six months following cancer diagnosis, to help ensure timely VTE diagnosis," Yanina Lenz, of Bayer AG in Berlin, Germany, and colleagues wrote.

The investigators analyzed 2007-2017 data from Sweden to assess VTE rates among more than 92,000 men with prostate cancer and a comparison group of more than 466,000 men without the disease.

They found that 3.2% of the prostate cancer patients developed VTE within about five years after their cancer diagnosis, compared with 2.1% of men in the comparison group.

That means that about seven in every 1,000 men with prostate cancer would develop a VTE each year, compared with around four of every 1,000 men without prostate cancer.

After accounting for other factors that could affect VTE risk -- such as heart disease and income -- the researchers concluded that prostate cancer patients had a 50% higher risk of VTE in the five years after their cancer diagnosis than those of the same age without prostate cancer.

"The magnitude of increased VTE risk among men with prostate cancer seen in our study is lower than that seen for other cancer types as seen in previous studies, and is likely attributable to the high proportion of men with localized disease and at low risk of cancer progression," Lenz and colleagues said in a journal news release.

More information

There's more on VTE at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

SOURCE: BMJ Open, news release, May 23, 2022

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WEDNESDAY, May 25, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Even with Roe v. Wade still the law of the land, primary care doctors in the United States have difficulty prescribing U.S. federally approved abortion pills, a new study finds.

Getting in the way is a complex combination of state and federal regulations, insufficient training and institutional hurdles, researchers found when they surveyed dozens of doctors.

"As family physicians provide comprehensive medical care to individuals throughout their life course -- including supporting their reproductive choices -- they are prime individuals to provide medication abortion," explained study lead author Dr. Na'amah Razon.

"We found a range of barriers that prevented family physicians from integrating medication abortion into their primary care practices," said Razon, an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, Davis.

It's a landscape that will likely only gets worse, said Razon, whether or not Roe v. Wade is actually overturned, although a leaked draft from the U.S. Supreme Court indicates it will be.

"Given the recent movement toward restricting abortions in the United States, family physicians could face increasing barriers in providing medication abortion," she noted.

The two-pill regimen consists of mifepristone and misoprostol. Planned Parenthood notes this noninvasive method is safe and 94%-96% effective. And the Guttmacher Institute says that the medicinal approach now accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States.

Until December 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration only allowed mifepristone to be administered in-person at a clinic, a hospital or under the direct supervision of a certified medical provider. Retail pharmacy pickup and mail orders were not allowed. The December FDA ruling did away with the in-person requirement, allowing telehealth consultation, though all the doctors in the current study were interviewed before that decision came down.

For the study, 48 U.S. primary care doctors were interviewed in 2019 and classified into one of three groups: those who did not provide abortions and had not been trained to do so (11 doctors); those who didn't provide abortions, despite having received training (20 doctors), and those who had been trained and did provide abortion services (17 doctors).

Roughly two-thirds were not providing abortions at the time they were surveyed.

Those in the untrained/non-provider group said their lack of training was the main reason for not offering abortion care.

Such doctors variously said their lack of abortion care skills left them "uncomfortable," unfamiliar with the medications involved, and/or unconvinced that abortion services truly falls within the realm of family medicine. They were also the most likely to point to their state's anti-abortion political climate, a lack of community support, and a poor understanding of local hospital regulations as discouraging factors.

By contrast, those who didn't provide abortion services despite their training generally said they understood all too well the wide range of primary care, clinic and hospital restrictions in place in their region.

This group also cited the federal Hyde Amendment as a red-tape barrier to providing care in their own practice and elsewhere. That law prevents any federal funds from being used for abortion.

In addition, the group highlighted the FDA's REMS (Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy) as another impediment. REMS is a drug safety protocol applied to certain medications. Since 2011, the FDA has applied REMS to mifepristone to restrict how, where and when it can be prescribed and obtained.

Among primary care doctors who were trained and currently providing abortion care, 60% said they didnt offer abortion pill prescriptions as part of their family practice, but only at specialized reproductive health clinics.

Researchers also found that practitioners who offered abortion pill prescriptions in their primary care setting were located in either the Northeast or West; none resided in states with highly restrictive abortion laws in place.

Some also noted that the institutions and/or hospital ob-gyn departments with which they worked prohibited abortion services of any kind.

Several said that in order to make abortion pills available at a family practice or a specialized clinic it was necessary to have a "champion" on board willing to jump through the regulatory hoops involved.

Elisa Wells is co-founder and co-director of Plan C, an organization dedicated to ensuring unrestricted and non-stigmatized access to abortion pills. She expressed frustration with the status quo.

"The science about the absolute safety of medication abortion doesn't support these added barriers to access," Wells said. "Many primary care providers we have talked to are not in practices that allow them to do abortion, so that's a huge hurdle," even among those who are trained and willing.

Wells, who was not involved in the study, said that ensuring widespread abortion pill access will mean convincing the FDA to remove all REMS restrictions for mifepristone.

"Mifepristone is an extremely safe medication," she noted, "and any licensed provider should be able to write a prescription for a patient who qualifies for it, and the patient should be able to fill that prescription at any pharmacy."

The findings were published in the May-June issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

More information

There's more on abortion medication at Plan C.

SOURCES: Na'amah Razon, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento; Elisa Wells, MPH, co-founder and co-director, Plan C; Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, May-June 2022

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WEDNESDAY, May 25, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- If you use pot, you may need more sedation than normal during a gastric endoscopy, according to a new study.

"Patients didn't have increased awareness or discomfort during procedures, but they did require more drugs," lead author Dr. Yasmin Nasser said in a news release from the American Gastroenterological Association. Nasser is an assistant professor in the Institute for Chronic Diseases at the University of Calgary School of Medicine in Canada.

With increases in marijuana legalization and use, doctors need to be aware of patients' use of the drug and prepare themselves and their patients for the possible need of increased sedation and associated risks, the study authors said.

In an endoscopy, a tube with a camera is inserted down the throat to examine the upper digestive system. Patients typically receive conscious sedation, meaning they're partially conscious but relaxed during the procedure.

In this study, researchers assessed the link between marijuana and sedation in 419 adult outpatients undergoing gastric endoscopy or colonoscopy at three centers in Canada.

The patients were asked about their pot use and their awareness and comfort level during the procedure. The researchers analyzed the use of the sedatives midazolam, fentanyl and diphenhydramine during the patients' procedures.

Marijuana users were more likely to require higher total sedation -- defined as more than 5 mg of midazolam, or more than 100 mcg of fentanyl, or the need for diphenhydramine -- during gastric endoscopy, but not during colonoscopy.

Gastric endoscopy generally requires more sedation than colonoscopy because the scope irritates the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract, often triggering the gag reflex, the researchers explained.

Nasser presented the study Saturday at the American Gastroenterological Association's Digestive Disease Week meeting, in San Diego. Studies presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

The researchers noted that they only compared users and non-users of marijuana, but did not examine how the timing, amount or method of pot use could affect the need for greater conscious sedation.

They pointed out that their study did not look at marijuana's impact on propofol sedation, which is more commonly used in the United States.

More information

For more on gastric endoscopy, go to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

SOURCE: American Gastroenterological Association, news release, May 21, 2022

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ATLANTA (AP)  A Democrat running for the Georgia Public Service Commission stayed on the ballot Tuesday after a judge blocked a Monday decision by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to disqualify her over residency issues.

Patty Durand of Conyers is one of two Democrats competing in a primary to challenge Republican incumbent Tim Echols. Raffensperger on Monday found Durand was not qualified to run for the District 2 seat. She moved into the new district in March after Durand's old Peachtree Corners residence was drawn out of the district.

Durand said she was unconstitutionally targeted in redistricting, and should be able to run anyway, arguing it violated her 14th Amendment right to equal protection.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melynee Leftridge on Tuesday ordered Raffenspergers office to put Durand back on the ballot and count her votes, pending a later decision on Durand's lawsuit.

The order came after polls opened. Leftridge ordered removal of polling place signs stating Durand had been disqualified.

Commission candidates run statewide, but must live in one of five districts for at least a year before the November election. The commission regulates Georgia Power Co. and will decide how the utility's customers pay for its share of $30 billion being spent on two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta.

Durand agrees she did not meet the one-year residency requirement. Instead, she argues Echols and Public Service Commission President Tricia Pridemore, also a Republican, conspired to draw Durand out of the district. In a May 12 hearing, Durand produced texts between Echols and Pridemore showing Echols sent Durand's address in Gwinnett County to Pridemore after Pridemore had produced a draft map that kept Gwinnett County in Echols district.

Administrative Law Judge Shakara Barnes found Friday that at the very least, the SB 472 redistricting map was drawn with respondents specific address in mind. But Barnes wrote she is not allowed to resolve constitutional challenges and recommended to Raffensperger that Durand be disqualified.

Raffensperger ordered Durand disqualified on Monday, while disputing many of Barnes findings about what happened during redistricting.

The other Democrat in the primary, Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Russell Edwards, was recruited by Durand to run in case she was disqualified, Durand has said. Edwards endorsed Durand and suspended his campaign in late April. Durand said that if she wins the nomination Tuesday and is later disqualified, the state Democratic Party would choose a new nominee.

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)  President Vladimir Putin issued an order Wednesday to fast track Russian citizenship for residents in parts of southern Ukraine largely held by his forces, while lawmakers in Moscow passed a bill to strengthen the stretched Russian army.

Putins decree applying to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions could allow Russia to strengthen its hold on territory that lies between eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists occupy some areas, and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

The Russian army is engaged in an intense battle for Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas. In a sign that the Kremlin is trying to bolster its stretched military machine, Russian lawmakers agreed to scrap the age limit of 40 for individuals signing their first voluntary military contracts.

A description of the bill on the parliament website indicated older recruits would be allowed to operate precision weapons or serve in engineering or medical roles. The chair of the Russian parliaments defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said the measure would make it easier to hire people with in-demand" skills.

Russian authorities have said that only volunteer contract soldiers are sent to fight in Ukraine, although they have acknowledged that some conscripts were drawn into the fighting by mistake in the early stages of the war.

Three months into Russia's invasion of the neighboring country, Putin visited a military hospital in Moscow on Wednesday and met with some soldiers wounded in Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.

The event was the Russian leader's first publicly known visit with soldiers fighting in Ukraine since he launched the war on Feb. 24. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited wounded soldiers, civilians and children  including at times when Russian troops were fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv.

A reporter for the state-run Russia1 TV channel posted a video clip on Telegram showing Putin in a white medical coat talking to a man in hospital attire, presumably a soldier.

The man, filmed from behind standing up and with no visible wounds, tells Putin that he has a son. The president, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, responds: He will be proud of his father, before shaking the man's hand.

Zelenskyy reiterated Wednesday that he would be willing to negotiate with Putin directly but said Moscow needs to retreat to the positions it held before the invasion and must show it's ready to shift from the bloody war to diplomacy.

I believe it would be a correct step for Russia to make," Zelenskyy told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link.

He also said that Ukraine wants to drive Russian troops out of all captured areas. Ukraine will fight until it reclaims all its territories, Zelenskyy said. Its about our independence and our sovereignty.

Russia already had a program to expedite the naturalization of people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two eastern Ukraine provinces that make up the Donbas and where the Moscow-backed separatists hold large areas as self-declared independent republics.

During a visit to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin indicated they could become part of our Russian family.

A Russia-installed official in the Kherson region has predicted the region would become part of Russia. An official in Zaporizhzhia said Wednesday that the region's pro-Kremlin administration would seek that as well.

Melitopol, Zaporizhzhias second-largest city, plans to start issuing Russian passports in the near future, said the Russian-installed acting mayor, Galina Danilchenko.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine was not ready to cede control of areas occupied by Russian forces for the sake of reaching a peace agreement, saying some Western lobbyists are pushing Kyiv to so.

Ukrainian society has paid a terrible price and will not allow anyone to take even a step in this direction -- not a single government, not a single country, Podolyak said on Telegram. He said instead ceding territory would only freeze the conflict, not resolve it.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who attended the Davos forum in person, called for friendly countries  particularly the United States  to provide the Ukrainian military with multiple launch rocket systems so they could try to recapture territory taken by the Russians.

Every day of someone sitting in Washington, Berlin, Paris and other capitals, and considering whether they should or should not do something, costs us lives and territories, Kuleba said.

On Wednesday Russian rockets pounded towns far from the front line in the Donbas. The governor of Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, accused Russia of targeting shelters where civilians were hiding in the city of Sievierodonetsk.

The situation is serious, Haidai said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press. The city is constantly being shelled with every possible weapon in the enemys possession.

Sievierodonetsk and the nearby city of Lysychansk are the largest remaining settlements held by Ukraine in Luhansk. The region is more than 90% controlled by Russia, Haidai said, adding that a key supply route was coming under pressure despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Haidai said the road between Lysychansk and the city of Bakhmut to the southwest is considered crucial to keeping Ukrainian troops in the area supplied. Haidai said it was constantly being shelled and that Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams were approaching the area.

The regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said four civilians were injured when two rockets hit the town of Pokrovsk early Wednesday.

One strike left a crater at least three meters (10 feet) deep, with the remnants of what appeared to be a rocket still smoldering. A row of low terraced houses near the strike suffered significant damage.

Theres no place to live in left. Everything is smashed, Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother of two who lived in one of the terraced houses, said.

An earlier strike about a month ago blew out the windows, which were replaced with plastic sheeting. Kurbonova thinks that probably saved their lives since there was no glass flying around.

I was reaching for my child, and I couldnt find him in the dust, she said.

In other developments, Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol was functional again following a nearly three-month siege that ended with the surrender of the last Ukrainian fighters.

The Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said the military completed clearing the port of land mines.

Russian forces took full control of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, after the last defenders holed up in a giant seaside steel plant laid down their weapons last week. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the separatists in Donetsk planned to set up a tribunal to put the fighters on trial and that Moscow welcomes the action.

Elena Becatoros in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, and Jamey Keaten in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.

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

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UVALDE, Texas (AP)  An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children as he went from classroom to classroom, officials said, in the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade and the latest gruesome moment for a country scarred by a string of massacres. The attacker was killed by law enforcement.

The death toll also included two adults, authorities said. Gov. Greg Abbott said one of the two was a teacher.

The assault at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

Hours after the attack, families were still awaiting word on their children.

Outside the town civic center, where families were told to await news about their loved ones, the silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wailing. No! Please, no! one man yelled as he embraced another man.

My heart is broken today, said Hal Harrell, the school district superintendent. Were a small community, and were going to need your prayers to get through this.

Adolfo Cruz, a 69-year-old air conditioning repairman, was still outside the school as the sun set, seeking word on his 10-year-old great-granddaughter, Elijah Cruz Torres.

He drove to the scene after receiving a terrifying call from his daughter shortly after the first reports of the shooting. He said other relatives were at the hospital and the civic center.

Waiting, he said, was the heaviest moment of his life.

I hope she is alive, Cruz said.

The attack came just 10 days after a deadly, racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that added to a yearslong series of mass killings at churches, schools and stores. And the prospects for any reform of the nations gun regulations seemed as dim, if not dimmer, than in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook deaths.

But President Joe Biden appeared ready for a fight, calling for new gun restrictions in an address to the nation hours after the attack.

As a nation we have to ask, when in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in Gods name are we going to do what has to be done? Biden asked. Why are we willing to live with this carnage?"

Many of the wounded were rushed to Uvalde Memorial Hospital, where staff members in scrubs and devastated victims' relatives could be seen weeping as they walked out of the complex.

Officials did not immediately reveal a motive, but they identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio. Law enforcement officials said he acted alone.

The attack came as Robb Elementary was counting down to the last days of the school year with a series of themed days. Tuesday was to be Footloose and Fancy, with students wearing nice outfits and shoes.

The school has nearly 600 students in second, third and fourth grades. The vast majority of the students are Latino.

Ramos had hinted on social media that an attack could be coming, according to state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who said he had been briefed by state police. He noted that the gunman suggested the kids should watch out.

Before heading to the school, Ramos killed his grandmother with two military-style rifles he purchased on his birthday, Gutierrez said.

That was the first thing he did on his 18th birthday, he said. Other officials said later that the grandmother had survived, and was being treated, through her condition was not known.

Investigators believe Ramos posted photos on Instagram of two guns he used in the shooting, and they were examining whether he made statements online alluding to the attack in the hours before the assault, a law enforcement official said.

Law enforcement officers were serving multiple search warrants Tuesday night and gathering telephone and other records, the official said. Investigators were also attempting to contact Ramos' relatives and were tracing the firearms.

The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The attack began about 11:30 a.m., when the gunman crashed his car outside the school and ran into the building, according to Travis Considine, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. A resident who heard the crash called 911, and two local police officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter.

Both officers were shot, though it was not immediately clear where on the campus that confrontation occurred, or how much time elapsed before more authorities arrived on the scene.

Meanwhile, teams of Border Patrol agents raced to the school, including 10 to 15 members of a SWAT-like tactical and counter-terrorism unit, said Jason Owens, a top regional official with the Border Patrol.

One Border Patrol agent who was working nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about it.

The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, the law enforcement source said.

Owens confirmed that an agent suffered minor injuries, but would not provide details of that confrontation.

He said some area agents have children at Robb Elementary.

We have Border Patrol kids that go to this school. It hit home for everybody," he said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were wounded, but Uvalde Police Chief Pete Arredondo said there were several injuries. Earlier, Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

Uvalde, home to about 16,000 people, is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the border with Mexico. Robb Elementary is in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.

The tragedy in Uvalde was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, and it added to a grim tally in the state, which has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years.

In 2018, a gunman fatally shot 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area. A year before that, a gunman at a Texas church killed more than two dozen people during a Sunday service in the small town of Sutherland Springs. In 2019, another gunman at a Walmart in El Paso killed 23 people in a racist attack targeting Hispanics.

The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston. Abbott and both of Texas U.S. senators were among elected Republican officials who were the scheduled speakers at a Friday leadership forum sponsored by the NRAs lobbying arm.

In the years since Sandy Hook, the gun control debate in Congress has waxed and waned. Efforts by lawmakers to change U.S. gun policies in any significant way have consistently faced roadblocks from Republicans and the influence of outside groups such as the NRA.

A year after Sandy Hook, Sens. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, and Patrick J. Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, negotiated a bipartisan proposal to expand the nations background check system. But the measure failed in a Senate vote, without enough support to clear a 60-vote filibuster hurdle.

Then-President Barack Obama, who had made gun control central to his administrations goals after the Newtown shooting, called Congress' failure to act a pretty shameful day for Washington.

Last year, the House passed two bills to expand background checks on firearms purchases. One bill would have closed a loophole for private and online sales. The other would have extended the background check review period. Both languished in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome objections from a filibuster.

Eugene Garcia and Dario Lopez-Mills in Uvalde, Jake Bleiberg in Dallas, Ben Fox, Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington, Paul J. Weber in Austin, Juan Lozano in Houston, Gene Johnson in Seattle and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings

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DETROIT (AP)  A class action lawsuit is accusing three automakers and a parts manufacturer of knowingly selling vehicles containing air bag inflators that are at risk of exploding. Two deaths and at least four injuries have been linked to such explosions.

The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday in San Francisco, names ARC Automotive Inc. of Knoxville, Tennessee, which made the inflators and sold them to air bag manufacturers. The air bag makers, in turn, sold them to General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen, which are named in the lawsuit, too.

The five plaintiffs are the owners of vehicles with ARC inflators who contend the defective air bag parts were not disclosed when they made their purchases.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has been investigating ARC inflators for nearly seven years without a resolution, estimates that there are 51 million on U.S. roads. That's somewhere between 10% and 20% of all passenger vehicles.

Yet most drivers have no conclusive way to determine whether their vehicle contains an ARC inflator. Even if they were to tear apart the steering wheel assembly, the internal parts might bear the markings only of the automaker or the air bag manufacturer, not the inflator maker.

You could have a ticking time bomb in your lap and youve got no way of knowing, said Frank Melton, a Florida lawyer who is among those filing the new lawsuit.

One of the deaths was a mother of 10 who was killed in what appeared to be an otherwise minor crash in Michigans Upper Peninsula last summer. Police reports show that a metal inflator fragment hit her neck in a crash involving a 2015 Chevrolet Traverse SUV.

In a statement Tuesday, GM said it hadnt had a chance to review the lawsuit. It said it is dedicated to the safety of its products and customers and is cooperating with NHTSA in its investigation.

Messages were left seeking comment from ARC and Ford. Volkswagen declined comment.

The plaintiffs allege that ARCs inflators use ammonium nitrate as a secondary propellant to inflate the air bags. The propellant is pressed into tablets that can expand and develop microscopic holes if exposed to moisture. Degraded tablets have a larger surface area, causing them to burn too fast and ignite too big of an explosion, according to the lawsuit.

The explosion can blow apart a metal canister housing the chemical, sending metal shards into the cabin. Ammonium nitrate, used in fertilizer and as a cheap explosive, is so dangerous that it can burn too fast even without moisture present, the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs allege that ARC inflators have blown apart seven times on U.S. roads and two other times in testing by ARC. There have so far been five limited recalls of the inflators that totaled about 5,000 vehicles, including three recalls by GM.

Auto safety advocates say the case seems to mirror the Takata air bag saga that began in the early 2000s, which also involved exploding air bag inflators and resulted in 28 deaths worldwide, hundreds of injuries and the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. So far NHTSA has gathered information but hasnt forced any wider recalls from its investigation that began in July of 2015.

Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies Inc., which conducts research for lawyers that sue automakers as well as for other groups, noted that just as in the early stages of the Takata ordeal, many ARC ammonium nitrate inflators remain in use.

Its almost like Groundhog Day here, said Kane, who asserts that NHTSA should have acted already. Its not a question of whether it can kill or injure people. It already has.

ARC, the lawsuit alleges, knew about the danger of ammonium nitrate in patent applications it filed in 1995 and 1998. In 2019, after several ARC inflators blew apart, ARC acknowledged that its use was not acceptable for automotive air bags, according to the lawsuit.

The suit asserts that General Motors, which began recalling Takata ammonium nitrate inflators in 2013, should have known that ARCs inflators were also unstable.

GM recalled only a small number of vehicles that contained a particular lot of inflators, despite its knowledge that ARC driver- and passenger-side inflators in various models and model years from 2002 through at least 2015 also had experienced ruptures, the lawsuit said.

In its statement Tuesday, GM said it makes recall decisions based on data and facts. It declined to comment further.

The lawsuit alleges that ARCs inflators are marred by a systemic problem rather than just a limited manufacturing defect. In 2014, an ARC inflator in a 2004 Kia Optima blew apart in a crash in New Mexico, injuring the driver.

Two years later, the driver of a car made by Kias sister automaker Hyundai was killed in Canada when an ARC inflator exploded in a crash.

The lawsuit also names Volkswagen and Ford as defendants, alleging that they represented the air bag inflators as safe while knowing they were dangerous.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating ARC inflators in 2015 after an Ohio woman was injured when an inflator exploded in a Chrysler minivan. At the time the agency estimated that there were 490,000 ARC inflators on the nations roads.

The review was elevated to an engineering analysis  a step closer to a product recall  in 2016 after the death in Canada.

Though a seven-year investigation is longer than most NHTSA reviews, inflators are particularly complex, said David Friedman, a former NHTSA acting administrator who is now a vice president at Consumer Reports.

Automakers appear to be balking at recalls for cost reasons, Friedman said. And NHTSA, he suggested, needs a slam dunk case before seeking recalls because of threats and lawsuits that automakers have filed in the past.

Thats one of the things thats broken in the system, he said.

Friedman described NHTSA as a chronically underfunded agency that has had to prioritize safety issues after four years of the Trump administration, which demanded far less federal regulation.

The fact that its stretched on seven years, the companies should have blinked, or NHTSA should have made them, or if they truly dont have a case, then say so, Friedman said.

A NHTSA official who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about an ongoing inquiry, said the investigation has persisted because of the complexity of air bag inflators and because ARCs design is different from Takatas.

We want to make sure what we do is thorough. he said.

He noted that NHTSAs investigation of ARC has had to examine issues different from the Takata case. Ammonium nitrate in Takatas inflators, for example, would deteriorate when airborne moisture entered the canister. But ARC pressurizes its inflator canisters to keep moisture out.

Its not similar to Takata, the official said.

Whether the ammonium nitrate tablets can deteriorate without moisture is still being investigated, he said.

The agency, he said, has retrieved ARC inflators from vehicles to learn how they work. It also has gathered production and other data from ARC and automakers and issued an order making automakers report any problems with ARC inflators.

He noted that several years went by without any incidents, before there were three in the past two years and that each of those cases is informing the investigation.

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

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No one has yet to sign on the dotted line, but it looks promising that the newest prequel to the highly acclaimed television show, Yellowstone, will be filming in Butte this summer and staying through December.

Screenwriter and director Taylor Sheridans 1932 will star celebrated actors Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. Ford, whose career spans more than five decades, brought two favorite movie characters to the screen  "Raider of the Lost Arks'' Indiana Jones and Han Solo of "Star Wars.'' Mirrens accolades include an Academy Award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the 2006 film, The Queen. She is a four-time Emmy winner and in 2015, won a Tony Award for her performance in The Audience.

Yellowstone made its debut in 2018 on Paramount+ and centers on the Dutton family and their ranch, The Yellowstone. The series stars Kevin Costner as Montana ranch owner John Dutton. The recent prequel, 1883, starred Faith Hill and Tim McGraw as John Duttons great-grandparents, Margaret and James Dutton. The eight-episode series, which received rave reviews, followed the couples journey from Texas to Montana.

The most recent addition, 1932 will take viewers back in time to the early 20th century, an era of renewed interest in the West, prohibition and the Great Depression.

Nothing is set in stone but there has been a verbal commitment to come to Butte to utilize the Butte Civic Center, said Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher.

According to Gallagher, he and other city officials have been working with representatives from 101 Studios, who feel Butte is the best base for the new series and the best location.

Butte is the direction they want to go, said Gallagher.

Besides the Yellowstone, franchise, 101 Studios, based out of Beverly Hills, California, has produced such films as The War With Grandpa, starring Robert DeNiro, Burden, with Forest Whitaker, and The Current War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

On Monday afternoon, in a unanimous decision, the Butte Civic Center board members gave the green light for Gallagher and Bill Melvin, manager of the Butte Civic Center, to negotiate with 101 Studios on the use of the Butte facility.

According to Melvin, 101 Studios is keenly interested in coming to Butte, who shared that the crew will be filming throughout Montana.

Theyll be based out of Butte, he explained.

Melvin was quick to point out that nothing is certain until the contract is signed, but if it becomes a reality, it will be a big boon to the Butte community.

The monetary impact will be enormous, said Melvin, and could potentially bring more tourists in the aftermath.

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TOPSHOT-US-COURT-DEPP-HEARD

Model Kate Moss is sworn in via video link at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 25, 2022 Credit - POOL/AFP via Getty Images

British model Kate Moss took to the stand Wednesday morning as a witness for Johnny Depps legal team in the defamation case against his ex-wife, actor Amber Heard.

During her short testimony over a video call, Moss refuted a rumor that Heard had mentioned about Depp pushing Moss down a flight of stairs while they dated in the 1990s.

[Depp] never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs, Moss told the court.

The trial is rounding out its sixth and final week of proceedings, following a 2018 op-ed Heard wrote for the Washington Post, in which she accused an unnamed former partner of domestic abuse. Depp has denied the accusations, and is suing for defamation after the article reportedly devastated his career as an actor.

Depps lawyers called Moss as a witness because Heard had previously alluded to an incident in which Depp allegedly pushed Moss down stairs while they were dating. Earlier in the trial, Heard had said she swung at Depp during a fight in 2015 in which he attempted to strike Heards sister at the top of a flight of stairs.

I just, in my head, instantly think of Kate Moss and the stairs and I swung at him, Heard said on May 5. When Heard brought up Moss name, Depps lead lawyer visibly celebrated with a fist pump: his legal team would therefore be able to call upon Moss as a witness.

In her roughly three-minute testimony, Moss described an incident during a vacation she and Depp took to Jamaica during their relationship, which lasted from 1994 to 1998.

We were leaving the room and Johnny left the room before I did, and there had been a rainstorm. And as I left the room I slid down the stairs and I hurt my back, Moss said. And I screamed because I didnt know what happened to me, and I was in pain, and he came running back to help me and carried me to my room and got me medical attention.

Story continues

Depps lawyer then asked Moss, Did Mr. Depp push you in any way down the stairs? Moss replied, No.

This is not the first trial in which Heard mentioned Depp allegedly pushing Moss down the stairs during a testimony. In 2020, when Heard was a witness in Depps libel case against The Sun, she said, I remembered information I had heard [that] he pushed a former girlfriendI believe it was Kate Mossdown the stairs. I had heard this rumor from two people, and it was fresh in my mind.

Moss rebutted the accusation a day after the judge denied Depps bid to dismiss Heards $100 million counterlawsuit.
By Trend

A total of 261,400 Georgian resident travellers took a trip outside of the country in the first quarter of 2022 with most of these trips being made to Turkey (102,800) and Russia (26,300), show the latest data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia, Trend reports with reference to Agenda.

The next most in demand destinations were EU member countries (12.4 percent), Ukraine (1.9 percent) and Azerbaijan (1.2 percent).

Georgian residents spent ?285.1 million (about $99.69m/93.39m) while travelling abroad in Q1 of 2022. The average expenditure of the visit amounted to ?1,318.8 (about $461.12/432.01).

Georgians spent the highest amount of money on shopping (113.7 million GEL), followed by foods and drinks (93.3 million GEL) and accommodation (39.3 million GEL).

Visiting friends/relatives was the most common reason for travel outside Georgia, while the top reasons for visiting other countries included:

Visiting friends/relatives  67,400 visits (31.2%)

Shopping  65,900 visits (30.5%)

Business  42,900 visits (19.8%)

Holiday/Leisure/Recreation  25,400 visits (11.7%)

Health and medical care  6,900 visits (3.2%)

Other  7,700 visits (3.6%)

In Q1 of 2022 the average number of nights spent during the outbound visits was 6.4 nights.

Meanwhile, 95.5 percent of outbound visits were repeat visits, said Geostat.

The majority of outbound visits (47.6 percent) belonged to the visitors of age group of 31-50 years. The number of visits made by women equalled to 41.4 percent of the total number of visits.
An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children as he went from classroom to classroom, in the nation's deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade. The assailant also killed two adults before he was killed by law enforcement. The shooting happened at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a heavily Latino community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio. It was the worst school shooting in the U.S. since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in late 2012.
Chris Fanuzzi is a renowned pheno-hunter, better known as the granddaddy of the famed Montana Silver Tip cannabis strain.

Say what?

In the cannabis world, a pheno-hunter is a grower who searches through multiple plants of a specific variety to find that one desired phenotype (seed) trait such as height, color, flavor or potency, for example. Once identified, the phenotypes will be bred to propagate and cloned as a new strain in a process that can take anywhere from months to years.

Growing is an intensive process, said Fanuzzi, founder and owner of Lionheart Cannabis, Montanas leading medical and recreational cannabis provider since 2007. Because it takes a significant amount of time to go from seed to plant, the seeds have to germinate, sprout and establish a root structure before they grow into the vegetative, pre-flowering and flowering stages. Only then can the plants be harvested, dried, cured and packaged.

Lionheart produces a myriad of oils, edibles and tinctures in a variety of flavors, strengths and price ranges. In addition to its headquarters in Bozeman, the company has five cultivation facilities with 22 different flowering rooms throughout the state, as well as dispensaries in Billings, Butte, Helena, Great Falls (Herbal Bliss), Kalispell, Livingston and Missoula. However, it is in the flowering rooms where pheno-hunting occurs.

When Montana legalized cannabis use for medicinal purposes in 2004, Fanuzzi started pheno-hunting for a strain that would help alleviate the pain experienced in individuals suffering from debilitating medical conditions. For him, it was personal. His older brother John had experienced intense pain from rigorous chemotherapy treatments for cancer several years earlier. His brother had searched extensively for relief (he has since recovered).

The infamous original Silver Tip started out as just one bag of seed, a rogue bud with a mystery pollen that I decided to plant. But when it flowered, I knew I had something really special, he said. It was the most beautiful plant I had ever seen, with these huge leaves and nodes just stacked on top of one another with a purple and white hue, very dominant genetics.

Fanuzzi was so excited he snapped some pictures of the plant that eventually became the cover photo on the inaugural issue of Cannabis Now magazine in 2010.

A genetic cross between Purple Urkel (also known as Granddaddy Purple) and Super Silver Haze, the sativa-dominant bud has a THC level anywhere from 27% to 30% and has notes of earthy pine and blueberry.

I knew this was a plant I had to preserve, so I passed clones of it to other growers so they too could grow good cannabis for their medical patients, he said. It put Montana on the map for having good quality medicinal cannabis. Today, Montana Silver Tip is a classic legendary strain.

While Fanuzzi and his team continue to breed original strains in house in the flowering rooms, they also plant seeds from specific batches of cross-breeds produced and released by popular seed companies.

You never really know until you plant a seed and flower it out what you have and if its a winner in terms of viable genetics, Fanuzzi said. But its important to keep trying in the name of genetic preservation.

And so, the pheno-hunt continues.

For more information on Lionheart products, click here.

Information provided is for educational and informational purposes only and does not supersede any medical advice given by a physician. Cannabis is still considered a schedule 1 controlled substance and is illegal under federal law. Adults who consume cannabis must keep cannabis products away from animals and out of reach of children. Note that the intoxicating effects of cannabis can sometimes be delayed, so do not operate a vehicle or machinery after consumption. Use of cannabis during pregnancy or while breastfeeding may be harmful. By purchasing cannabis from a dispensary, you are assuming the risk of any damage or loss that occurs during its use.

This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com.

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The Rotary Club of Twin Bridges / Ruby Valley awarded scholarships of $1,000 each to four Ruby Valley students based on academic achievement, probability of success, service to school, community and public services and financial need.

The Rotary Club awards two scholarships to two graduating seniors from each high school annually. One scholarship is for students attending a Montana college in a four-year curriculum. The other scholarship is intended for students attending a college of technology, two-year curriculum in any state.

Following are the Rotary Club of Twin Bridges / Ruby Valley 2022 scholarships recipients.

TWIN BRIDGES HIGH SCHOOL

Lilly Grabil plans to attend the University of Montana Western and major in Business Management. After college graduation Grabil hopes to use her business degree to start her own business.

Samuel Konen plans to attend the University of Montana, enroll in Davidson's Honor College, and major in Pre-Medical Sciences. Konen then plans to attend a Physicians Assistant program at the University of Washington with plans on returning to Twin Bridges and working at the clinic.

SHERIDAN HIGH SCHOOL

Joe Gilman plans to attend Montana State University and major in film and photography. Gilman attended Rotary Youth Leadership camp and has been a great leader at Sheridan Schools.

Brooke Grow plans to attend Idaho State University and major in the sciences with a focus on physical therapy. Grow has been an excellent student and leader through the years.

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End of subsidies for wild animal circuses in Spain



Three major circuses in Spain still use animals in their performances

Animal rights activists all across Spain have celebrated a huge victory this week as the government has announced that circuses which use wild animals in their performances will no longer be entitled to apply for financial subsidies.

Back in 2019 amid growing public pressure, the Ministry of Culture gave circuses three years to phase out the use of animals, otherwise they would not be in a position to access funds through the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM), but for years before this activists have been fighting the practice.

In February 2016, together with the actresses Natalie Sesena and Lluvia Rojo, InfoCircos delivered a petition to the organisation containing more than 100,000 signatures against the granting of subsidies.

Although Spanish circuses containing wild animals performing in other counties will be allowed to continue for another year, InfoCircus nevertheless considers the change a huge victory.

Where animals continue to be used abroad, their proper treatment and care will have to be accredited by a registered public entity or recognised independent organisation in order for the circus to receive the subsidy.

The group estimates that subsidies could range between 10,000 and 40,000 euros per circus per year, although recently a gradual decrease in aid granted to circuses with animals has been observed, in line with the conversion process that the circuses themselves undertook towards shows without animals.

According to InfoCircus, there are three Spanish circuses that continue to use wild animals in their shows, but the new rules mean that organisers will have to comply with the regulations laid down by each region of Spain they perform in.

Even the ones which still use them have an alternative performance program without animals to perform in those municipalities and regions where the presence of wild animals is no longer authorised, the group concluded.

Image: Archive

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The top 10 tourist mistakes in Spain



Use our top hacks to blend in with the locals in Spain

With travel restrictions all but eliminated and UK tourists allowed to come to Spain with just a Covid test from this week , hoards of holidaymakers are expected to descend as the summer rapidly approaches.

Tourists these days are far more the intrepid traveller than the map and guidebook carrying visitors of the past, but there are still a few common mistakes holidaymakers make that cause them to stand out from the locals.

To help travellers blend in seamlessly with their Spanish counterparts, weve listed the top ten faux pas for tourists to avoid.

1. Eating too early

Spain is a gastronomic gem for travellers, but most tourists are surprised to learn just how late the Spanish eat their meals. The iconic Menu del Dia , a three or four course bargain feast which is usually available in the afternoon, attests to this.

Spaniards usually eat their main meal somewhere between 2 and 4pm, followed by the traditional siesta time. Dinner is a more modest affair, consisting of smaller portions, and often not consumed until 9 or 10pm.

For this reason, Spanish restaurants will be packed late at night while many in smaller towns still shut up shop for a few hours in the middle of the day.

2. Falling foul to pickpockets

The bigger cities are the main target, particularly on public transport, but thronged beaches and bustling local markets also attract unscrupulous pickpockets. Keep bags and purses close to your body and dont store phones or wallets in your back pocket to avoid thefts.

3. Going shirtless on the street

While visitors from cooler climes tend to strip off at the first sign of sun, men walking the streets without their shirt on and women wearing bikinis is not only frowned upon, but can result in heavy fines in places like Barcelona and Mallorca

4. Not speaking the lingo

Fluency in English is definitely improving in Spain, particularly in the bigger cities and coastal resorts, and among the younger generations. However, in more rural settings and mainly Spanish towns and villages the locals might struggle, and its well worth learning a few handy phrases before you arrive.

5. Hitting the shops on a Sunday

Sundays are still considered a traditional day of rest in Spain, and aside from a few exceptions at the height of summer and during festivals, most supermarkets, shops and banks remain closed

This can be a nuisance if your flight arrives in late on a Saturday night, but most of the staples are available on Sundays in the majority of filling stations around the country.

6. Eating in touristy spots

For an authentic Spanish meal, its better to head off of the beaten track as most restaurants in tourist areas are aimed specifically at travellers, many with more expensive prices and sub-standard food. They can often be spotted by the staff waiting outside to coax you in, or menus with garish pictures in several languages.

For the real experience, choose Spanish restaurants away from the main drag, which will almost certainly be cheaper and more delicious.

7. Not opting for a Menu del Dia

Given that we now know Spaniards tend to eat their biggest meals in the middle of the day, its no surprise that the Menu del Dia is a firm favourite in Spain.

This budget-friendly option usually consists of three courses with bread and a drink and will only set you back around 15 euros.

8. Drinking sangria

While enjoying your Menu del Dia you may be tempted to order a refreshing glass of Sangria, but this will mark you out as a tourist instantly. The Spanish usually opt instead for a tinto de verano or summer wine, a cooling mix of red wine and lemonade or sparkling water.

9. Leaving a big tip

The tipping culture in Spain has long been the source of considerable debate but it certainly differs from the likes of the US. Generally speaking, the Spanish arent huge tippers unless the restaurant is exceptional, and its more usual to leave a few coins behind, or round up to the nearest euro on your bill.

10. Having a siesta

While many Spanish businesses close between 2 and 5pm to facilitate lunch breaks, the traditional idea of taking a nap in the middle of the day doesnt really hold true anymore.

The siesta was originally designed to give field workers a break at the hottest point of the day, but nowadays most families save the afternoon snooze for a Sunday.

Image: Archive
By Shawn Touney | May 25, 2022

Murray State University has once again been highlighted by Money Magazine as a nationally-recognized best value for students seeking a college degree. The publication ranked Murray State as the top regional public institution in a multi-state region that includes both Kentucky and Tennessee.

MURRAY, Ky.  Murray State University has once again been highlighted by Money Magazine as a nationally-recognized best value for students seeking a college degree. The publication ranked Murray State as the top regional public institution in a multi-state region that includes both Kentucky and Tennessee.

The list includes more than 600 four-year universities across the country which were ranked on 24 factors in three categories: quality of education, affordability and outcomes.

Murray State continues to reinforce its high-quality, high-impact, nationally-recognized best value promise that has been identified by multiple publications within the past year. The University has been named a Best Bang for the Buck by Washington Monthly, one of Americas Best Colleges by Forbes, as well as a Top-Tier University by U.S. News & World Report for more than 30 consecutive years.

The University offers 146 academic programs and more than 170 student organizations, encompassing a variety of shared academic and personal interests.

Murray State continues to offer financial assistance to Racers and their families. Based on the Universitys most recent annual reports, more than $115 million was awarded in financial aid and scholarships, and 99 percent of Murray States freshman class received financial aid or a scholarship.

Numerous scholarships and aid opportunities are available, such as the Murray State Promise, which provides scholarship assistance for eligible Kentucky first-time freshmen and new transfer students who may already have their tuition paid for through this program. Additional information is available at murraystate.edu/promise.

There is still time for prospective students to join the Racer Family for the upcoming fall and 2022-2023 academic year. Individuals can learn more, schedule a campus or virtual visit and apply for admission at admissions.murraystate.edu.
MUSCATINE  Among the things the Muscatine Community School District and the Muscatine Police Department do together to ensure students remain safe, resource officer Whitni Pena believes the relationships she builds with students is the most important.

In the wake of a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 children and two adults dead, Pena said when a tragedy of this type happens in a school, it hits home. She said even when the incident happens thousands of miles away, there is still a sense among the people in the schools  teachers, administration and officers  to reaffirm safety in schools. Pena believes the district is ready in case anything of this type happens.

I wouldnt send my own children to this district if I didnt feel they were safe, she said. I feel like we pride ourselves on safety.

While on duty, Pena said she tries to build relationships with the students to get to know them. She strongly encourages people when they feel uncomfortable about something or feel there are some indicators, to say something to someone about it. She stressed building relationships is key to seeing red flags that a student may turn to violence.

Other than Pena, there are two safety liaisons in the district who constantly make sure doors are checked during the day and all schools have secured exterior doors during the day.

In a press release, the Muscatine School District and the Muscatine Police Department joined the country in mourning the loss of the students and teachers, only days away from summer break.

It is essential for our families to know that while we may not know the why behind these senseless acts, the MCSD (Muscatine Community School District) team of counselors is available to support students and staff members, the release said. We also want to communicate and update the Muscatine community on our ongoing safety efforts taken to protect our Muskie students and staff members.

The release said the district is continuing to work on safety and emergency operation plans with the police and emergency responders. This includes a multi-layered approach that includes secure entrances and classroom doors, security cameras, school resource officers on-site at the junior high and high school, and mental health support for students.

Pena explained all district personnel has been trained in ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) procedures in case of emergency. The program can issue an alert to close and lock their rooms or to evacuate, if needed. Many district staff and high school students have also been taught the basics of the Run, Hide, Fight system against a deadly threat.

In light of the tragic events in Uvalde, we strongly encourage all MCSD families to talk to their students and listen to their concerns, the release said. We also urge that students continue to see something, say something and communicate with school officials when they observe things that concern them. Students should never feel intimidated or embarrassed by sharing their concerns.

Pena said that when incidents like this happen, she tries to learn something from it that can be used to help the Muscatine district.

When I train teachers I like to include some information about previous school shootings to tell them what we have learned and how much we have grown, Pena said.

On Sept. 18, 2019, two students at Muscatine High School perpetrated a hoax with information about a potential school shooter. The police responded immediately and quickly secured the situation. While social media rumors frightened several parents, the police assured them their children were never in any danger. Officials said if school is in session after a threat it is because the subjects involved have been identified and the situation is secured.

Pena stressed that Muscatine Police take any information about a threat very seriously.

Muscatine has a special unit tasked with dealing with dangerous situations. In a previous interview, Muscatine Police Chieff Brett Talkington said in a live active shooter situations, where seconds count, the Muscatine Police realize that they cant always wait for the special unit to arrive. For that reason, patrol officers are trained to engage an active shooter.

Talkington said patrol officers regularly do scenario-based trainings on how to deal with active shooters. He said members of the Muscatine Fire Department are also involved in the training.

The bottom line is you have to go and confront the shooter as soon as possible, he said. If you dont confront the shooter more people are going to die. The times of waiting for the SRT to arrive are gone. The Columbine situation taught us that. You cant wait. You have to confront the shooter and take the threat out.

The police department trains in schools and businesses to be ready in case of an active shooter situation. Drills have also been done with area hospitals to learn how to handle casualties.

The Muscatine Special Operations Response Team formed about five years ago and consists of three counties  Muscatine, Cedar and Louisa. The Iowa State Patrol acts as backup for the team. The team trains monthly in areas such as hostage rescue, active shooter, negotiations, and sharpshooting.

According to the City of Uvalde Police Department Facebook page, the city is accepting donations for medical expenses of people involved in the incident. Checks may be sent to City of Uvalde, P.O. Box 799, Uvalde, Texas 78802. The police say this is the real place donations are being accepted and warn scammers may make fake accounts to take advantage of the tragedy.

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won his Republican runoff election against Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush on Tuesday despite facing a slew of legal problems, including an FBI investigation and a trial on securities fraud charges.

Bush is the only member of his famous family still in office, but the loss means he will now exit in January. That will leave the Bush dynasty out of elected office for one of the few times in the last 40 years.

The coming end of the Bush era  at least for now  came at the hands of a two-term incumbent still dogged by a 2015 felony indictment and a separate FBI investigation into accusation of corruption. But importantly in Texas, Paxton had the backing of former President Donald Trump, who has mocked and antagonized the Bush family on his way to taking their mantle as the GOPs standard-bearer.

Paxton, who has denied wrongdoing, is now within reach of a third term in Texas, where a Democrat hasnt won statewide office in nearly 30 years. More recently, the State Bar of Texas is weighing possible reprimands against Paxton over his baseless attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

It was one of two closely watched primary runoffs in Texas: On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, one of the last anti-abortion Democrats in Congress, was in the fight of his political career against Jessica Cisneros, who supports abortion rights.

Despite finishing second in Marchs four-way primary, Bush trailed Paxton by 20 points. The wide gap underscored Paxtons continued political durability and showed how much ground the 46-year-old scion of the Bush political dynasty needed to make up with GOP voters in Texas, where his uncle, former President George W. Bush, was once governor and his late grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush, was a congressman and longtime Houston resident.

But the Bushes influence in the GOP is not what it once was. Two years ago, Pierce Bush, a cousin of George P. Bush, became the first member of his family to lose a race in Texas in 40 years in a failed run for Congress in Houston.

When U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas last week became a rare top Republican to publicly criticize Paxton, calling his long-running and unresolved criminal case an embarrassment, Paxton shot back by aligning him with the Bushes.

Im not shocked by the Senators comments. He represents the Bush wing of the GOP, Paxton tweeted.

Greg Pinn, 41, of Dallas, decided to vote in the Republican primary solely to vote against Paxton. He said that while he wasnt fond of George P. Bush, no one is worse than Ken Paxton.

The attorney general of Texas at least shouldnt be an actual criminal, hes got to be somewhat better than that, Pinn said.

In the final weeks of the campaign, Bush has ratcheted up his attacks on Paxtons legal troubles, running ads that highlighted the unresolved indictments and FBI investigation and called him unfit for office.

This race isnt about my last name, Bush says in one ad. Its about Ken Paxtons crimes.

Voter Suzanne Grishman, 54, wasnt deterred by the attorney generals indictment or the ongoing FBI investigation. I believe people are innocent until proven guilty, she said.

Grishman said she cast a ballot for Paxton in Dallas because she appreciates his very bold stances and because he has a proven track-record of following the Constitution and the laws of the land and individual rights and freedoms for Americans and Texans.

Associated Press writers Jake Bleiberg and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.

Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics

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

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MTN is still the most valuable brand in Africa, according to Brand Finances Africa 150 report for 2022.

The report revealed that the mobile network operators brand value had reached $4 billion (R63 billion), and its Mobile Money application has overtaken its competition with a client base of 57 million users.

Notably, MTN still holds the title, even though Brand Finance Africas report revealed that Africas banking sector has more valuable brands than any other industry.

However, none have reached a similar brand value to MTN.

The most valuable banks in Africa, Standard Bank and First National Bank, have brand values of $1.6 billion (R25 billion)  less than half that of MTN.

Overall, South African brands are the most valuable on the continent at $36.9 billion (R580 billion).

This is more than ten times the value of Nigerias brands  the second most valuable on the continent  which are worth $3.2 billion (R50 billion).

Brand Finance Africas managing director Jeremy Sampson said that he expects South Africa to continue to dominate the rankings.

African brands have achieved strong performances by being agile amid change in the business environment, he said.

Whilst South African brands will continue to dominate the ranking for some time, there are encouraging signs of strong brands emerging around the continent, especially amongst the banking and telecommunication sectors.

Brand Finance Africa determines the relative strength of brands through evaluations of marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance.

Its report revealed that Capitec is the strongest brand in Africa, with an AAA+ rating.

Brand Finance Africa explained that brands originating from the content have benefitted from adapting to the uncertain operating environment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brands from diverse sectors, including banking, telecommunications and food and beverage, found innovative ways to connect with the customers online.

The shift to digital helped the continents top brands achieve a 28% increase in aggregate brand value to US$50.1 billion (R786 billion).
By Dumisani Moyo, Marketing Director, SAP Africa.

The month of May is significant for the African continent because it is during this month that we celebrate Africa Day.

Africa Day commemorates the formation of the African Union on May 25, 1963.

It is a day when Africans celebrate the continents independence, freedom, and liberation from colonialism.

Reflecting on the significance of Africa Day, we have accomplished much in terms of colonial liberation, but much work remains to be done in achieving liberation from persistent challenges such as poverty, inequality, and unemployment that continue to plague the African continent.

I am fortunate to work in the dynamic and vibrant technology space, supporting a wide range of businesses in various industries, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the African continent.

A common realisation in my travels and interactions with business leaders has been the enormous opportunities that the African continent possesses.

According to the United Nations, Africa has a population of 1.1 billion people, which is roughly equal to the combined populations of Europe and North America.

A resource-rich continent of youthful potential

Africas youthful population is expected to grow to 1.4 billion by the year 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050.

Roughly 70% of Africans are under the age of 30, compared to Europe where populations are aging and declining.

This young population offers enormous opportunities for economic growth and innovation, but only if they are seized.

Other valuable resources are also waiting to be unlocked

United Nations data indicates that Africa has 30% of the worlds mineral resources and 65% of the planets arable agricultural land.

South Africa, for example, holds 90% of the worlds platinum reserves, while Nigeria and Libya are among the top ten countries with the largest oil reserves.

Africa also has the largest cobalt reserves, with the Democratic Republic of Congo accounting for more than two-thirds of global supplies.

As the world transitions to green energy sources, cobalt has become a strategic resource, particularly in the automotive and power generation industries.

In certain types of innovation, Africa also leads the world

According to a BCG study into mobile payment banking, Kenya and Ghana have the second and third highest mobile payment usage after China, demonstrating Africas enormous potential.

Mobile transactions account for 87% of Kenyas GDP and 82% in Ghana.

To put this in context, the African mobile payment market could have 850 million customers by 2025, which is 100 million more than Europes total population.

The big question is why, despite a large young population and mineral resource wealth, does Africa continue to trail the rest of the world in its development?

Tech-enabled SMEs could power the continents growth

One of the solutions to driving Africas economic development could lie in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.

SMEs have the potential to support development by creating jobs and driving economic growth.

The burning question is: why are African SMEs so slow to adopt and leverage technology?

African businesses  and SMEs in particular  face significant challenges that include lack of access to capital, specialised skills, raw materials, and markets.

A lack of adoption of new technologies is causing several issues for Africas SME sector, ranging from poor planning, a lack of forecasting capability, and lack of capacity to leverage the efficiency gains of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

These issues must be addressed if we are to unleash the next generation of African business success stories.

Although technology is not the only answer to the question of building world-class competitive African businesses, it is one of the most accessible solutions to many of the challenges that businesses face.

Returning to the mobile payment banking example, this innovation was the result of a clever use of technology to address a fundamental challenge in both Kenya and Ghana: a lack of banking infrastructure.

Digital supply chains and business network solutions could unlock access to new markets for raw materials or finished products.

Innovative use of technology  like what weve seen with mobile banking  could solve immediate challenges stunting SMEs growth and unlock a new wave of innovation across the continent.

Even though Africa continues to face numerous and complex challenges, there is no denying that the continent is brimming with possibilities.

The time is now for African businesses to leverage technology as a strategic resource to fuel innovation and growth.

Click here to learn more about purpose-built solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises.
South Africa: eThekwini Municipality vows to continue search for missing employees

eThekwini Municipality Mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, has vowed that the municipality will do everything in its power to assist the families in searching for missing municipal employees.

The two municipal employees went missing and presumed drowned following the heavy rains and flood over the weekend.

The two men are believed to have been on duty over the weekend when they went missing, and their vehicle has been spotted in a river near Osindisweni.

According to Kaunda, the city learnt of the incident on Monday, and the search and rescue operation commenced.

The vehicle they were travelling in was spotted. Search and rescue teams then went into the water to investigate. Unfortunately, there were no occupants inside.

The team then resolved to search around the vehicle. However, due to strong currents that were posing a serious threat to the lives of the divers, the search operation had to be aborted, Kaunda said.

The Mayor has assured the families of the employees that the citys search and rescue teams have been looking for them and the team will not stop until they are found.

[On Tuesday], the teams embarked on an aerial search with no success. The search is continuing, and the city will keep the families abreast of developments, Kaunda said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Trend

Kyrgyz Temir Zholu announces the resumption of international rail passenger traffic from Kyrgyzstan to Russia starting from June 6, 2022, Trend reports with the reference to the press service of Kyrgyz Temir Zholu.

The resumption of rail passenger traffic is planned on the following routes:

Bishkek - Kazan: starting from June 6, 2022 on Mondays, once a week;

Bishkek - Samara: from June 8, 2022 on Wednesdays and Fridays, twice a week;

Bishkek - Novosibirsk: starting from June 9, 2022, once every eight days.

"We kindly ask citizens to read the rules of crossing the state borders of Russia and Kazakhstan in international passenger trains in accordance with the COVID-19 regulations," the message says.
The German government has rejected allegations by Polish President Andrzej Duda that Berlin had broken its promise to send tanks.

This is stated in the publication Politico.

Recently, the President of Poland accused Berlin that Germany did not send tanks to Warsaw instead of those that Poland sent to Kyiv.

"The federal government is stunned, I would say so ," said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.

Hebestreit denied the allegations, saying the German government had made it clear from the start that it "should see what it can do".

Olaf Scholz and Steffen Hebestraight. Photo: German media

The Polish side requested the transfer of the most modern main battle tanks Leopard 2A7 to Poland.

" The problem is that the Bundeswehr itself has only about 50 such tanks ," Hebestreit said.

The German representative also added that although "they are still under development, they are not standing anywhere in the car park or factory site, they must be made."

Steffen Hebestreit said that these circumstances were clearly reported to Warsaw.

It will be recalled that Poland handed over more than two hundred T-72 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine.

Tank T-72M1R of Polish modification with dynamic protection in Ukraine. May 2022. Photo: Buchko Vladimir

In particular, the Armed Forces of Ukraine received Polish T-72M1 and T-72M1R tanks.

Modification of the T-72M1R includes the integration of new surveillance systems (including thermal imaging gunner's sight), the installation of new means of communication, electronic starting system 780-horsepower engine.

Read also:

Ukrainian soldiers from the Stugna-P anti-tank missile system destroyed a racist tank. VIDEO



Su-25 assault planes were disassembled in Europe and delivered to Ukraine - Foreign Policy



The kamikaze drone of the Ukrainian special forces was struck by the tank crew of the occupiers



The enemy has minus 100 occupiers, 3 tanks and a plane per day. Statistics from the General Staff of the Armed Forces



The kamikaze drone of the Ukrainian special forces was struck by the tank crew of the occupiers



The Ukrainian military began using M320 grenade launchers



New data on the losses of Russians in the war with Ukraine: more than 29 thousand people, 1,300 tanks



Destroyed DT-30 "Knight" was shown in Vilkhivka



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From the first shot: NATO howitzer gunners hit the command post of the Russian unit
By deploying persistent emails, conversations and presentations about the ongoing impacts of climate change to Napas city councils over the past year, a group of Napa Countys high school students have played a large part in pushing Napas local governments to take climate action.

As a result, the city councils of Napa, Calistoga, American Canyon and St. Helena have, in turn, all passed resolutions declaring a climate emergency in recent months. The Yountville Town Council also recently passed a proclamation announcing the same thing.

And though the resolutions differ in their details, they all set a goal of net-zero climate pollution by 2030. The American Canyon and Calistoga City councils have taken a further step by banning the development of future gas stations.

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These moves are thanks to the efforts of American Canyon High School senior Emily Bit and Napa High School senior Alisa Karesh, whove served as co-presidents of Napa Schools for Climate Action and spearheaded the groups work since late 2020.

Both, set to graduate soon, are hoping Napa County will follow the lead of its cities.

Karesh said she first became aware of climate issues while growing up in Moscow, Russia and seeing various forms of pollution.

I grew up in an industrial city, a very big city, so of course there were a lot of issues; there was smog and such things like that, Karesh said. I know distinctly, I think it was December of 2010 when there were underground fires. And the smoke and the smog together, it was crazy. We lived on the eighth floor, there was no AC and it was super-hot weather. It wasnt a very good summer. I think we actually ended up going to the countryside to escape that.

Karesh moved to Napa at age 10, she said, and the air was much cleaner than in Moscow. She started learning directly about climate change in sixth grade, but was really inspired to dive further into climate work after taking an AP Environmental Science class in 10th grade.

I know it may sound a little bit cringey or cliche, but I fell in love with the subject  I absolutely loved it, Karesh said. I loved reading the textbook, the subject was everything to me, and I wanted to expand.

Bit said she became aware of climate issues when she was young because her mother worked as a teacher at Ford Elementary School in Richmond, near the looming Chevron Refinery. Bit said she would often visit the school, and her mom told her about drills the students would go through to prepare in case something happened at the refinery.

I think every Wednesday at 11 a.m. theyd hear the sirens and have to duck or close their doors, Bit said. It just seems like something apocalyptic that I would read in a dystopian novel. And it was honestly a little bit scary to me because Id befriended her students and theyd tell me these stories.

But the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County  which almost completely destroyed the town of Paradise  convinced Bit to become directly involved in climate action work. She said she had a few friends who lived in Paradise at the time of the fire, and seeing how their homes had burned down, along with news coverage of the wildfires, convinced her she had to help with climate action.

Just hearing about wildfires continuously on the news and how climate change is intertwined with it, it was something that I felt like I had a personal mission to help with climate action in my personal community, Bit said.

Even before Bit and Karesh joined the group, Napa Schools for Climate Action  a local chapter of a country-wide coalition of high school students  was going strong. Local environmentalist Jim Wilson founded Napa Schools for Climate Action in 2018. Their first project, Wilson said, was to bring a climate emergency resolution to the Napa Valley Unified School District. And the NVUSD board passed that resolution in 2019.

The students are acknowledging the truth and asking us to do the same," Wilson said, "and we have a moral obligation to take action.

Bit and Karesh joined the group in the 2019-20 school year and took over as co-presidents in late 2020. Karesh said the two of them knew each other prior to the pandemic, but remote meetings that started up because of the pandemic gave them more opportunity to attend the meetings for Napa Schools for Climate Action, which previously were held at New Tech High School.

When we switched to the online format, we really got to start participating and attending those meetings, and since then, its just been a wonderful experience to be able to connect with so many people across the county, Karesh said.

That advantage extended to their work with Napas city councils, which were all meeting virtually because of the pandemic.

Once Bit and Karesh became leaders of the climate group, they talked with local leaders about climate change and what the leaders thought they as students could be doing to help prevent it. That helped them develop an initiative known as Fossil Free Future, which focused on reducing Napa Countys reliance on the fossil fuel industry through banning the construction of new gas stations in any Napa County City.

The inspiration for the initiative came from American Canyon, which Karesh said had several pending gas station proposals back in late 2020. Bit said her family has really settled down in American Canyon, and she didnt want to think about a future in American Canyon with a ton of new gas stations.

We began attending a lot of meetings, Karesh said. We would send emails, we would public comment all the time, and we got quite a few students to also participate in public comment.

American Canyon passed a temporary moratorium on new gas stations in March 2021, exempting a gas station being built as part of a Circle K. A permanent ban was passed in January this year. Calistoga also banned new gas stations in December 2021.

Karesh and Bit began giving presentations asking Napas others municipalities to ban new gas stations and to consider passing climate emergency resolutions in December 2021. And now theyre waiting on Napa County to pass a climate emergency as well.

If the county also passes a climate emergency resolution, it will just show the entire countys support for this initiative and actually do something about the climate emergency, Karesh said. "We do really emphasize the year 2030, so were really trying to get that passed, hopefully sometime soon.

Both Karesh and Bit said theyll be continuing to pursue climate action work after they graduate and as students at UC Berkeley in the fall. Karesh said she wants to explore the environmental field and hopefully make the community a better place. Bit said shes interested in exploring the law or politics, and she hopes both of them can continue to be involved in local climate action.

The biggest thing I think moving forward Im going to remember is to always just put myself out there, Bit said. I think sometimes we go into something thinking were already going to lose or thinking that its already not going to happen. You kind of self-sabotage. And being involved in this local activism work Ive learned to not self sabotage.

Going in, we never thought we could get a ban on gas stations in American Canyon, Bit said. That was just the craziest idea; the most ambitious thing we could have ever done. I think anything can happen when you put your mind to it, even though thats really cliche, but thats something Im definitely going to carry with me for the rest of my life.

You can reach Edward Booth at 707-256-2213.

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DEER PARK  Rep. Mike Thompson visited Adventist Health St. Helena on Monday to deliver a ceremonial check for $1.84 million to improve the water system serving the hospital and the surrounding community.

The Glass Fire of 2020 damaged parts of the hospitals water system, which also provides storage, treatment and distribution facilities for about 660 residents of the Deer Park area.

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The federal funding, approved March 15 as part of an omnibus spending bill signed by President Joe Biden, will help improve the water systems infrastructure and increase on-site water storage.

Dr. Steven Herber, president and CEO of Adventist Health St. Helena, asked Thompson, D-St. Helena, for help after the Glass Fire, the congressman recalled.

I was able to find a pot of money  for this important project, Thompson told hospital representatives.

Ive got a great affinity for this hospital, he added. Its where I was born and its where I left my tonsils.

The upgrades to the water system wouldnt be possible without these funds that Mike (secured) for us, Herber said.

Its not just helping the hospital and patients, Herber said. Its going to help the community around us who relies on us for their water, and we may even be able to go beyond that into St. Helena. This is doing something very impactful.

You can reach Jesse Duarte at (707) 967-6803 or jduarte@sthelenastar.com.

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Updated at 6:08 p.m. Tuesday  ST. HELENA  A vegetation fire broke out early Monday evening in east St. Helena and spread to roughly two or three acres, triggering a closure of the nearby Silverado Trail and a brief evacuation of areas along Howell Mountain Road, authorities said.

Several callers reported the Pope Fire to Cal Fire off Silverado and Pope Street starting around 5:24 p.m., according to Capt. Pete Avansino. The first Cal Fire unit found flames covering 2 acres and moving uphill, but crews were able to stop its forward progress within an hour, he said.

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The Pope Fire is 100% contained, St. Helena Police Chief Chris Hartley told the City Council at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Silverado Trail reopened Monday night.

No injuries or structural damage were reported. The fire was "partially due to mechanical malfunction," Hartley told the City Council on Tuesday, adding that the council will be updated once the St. Helena Fire Department concludes its investigation.

St. Helena Police announced a mandatory evacuation for the area covered by the STH-E008 area on Zonehaven maps, St. Helena Police announced. The evacuation zone included an area east of Silverado and a stretch of Howell Mountain Road, from the Trail on north, and also including Ridgeview Lane, which branches from Howell Mountain.

An evacuation advisory was in force to the east of the mandatory evacuation zone, in Zonehaven area NPA-E147, an area that includes Howell Mountain's northward extension as Conn Valley Road.

Evacuation orders were lifted at 9:13 p.m., the Napa County Sheriff's Office later announced in a Nixle alert.

The fire was the first local test of the Zonehaven evacuation system implemented in 2021. Instead of using roads to delineate evacuation areas, Zonehaven uses zones with names like STH-E008 and STH-E003-B. Residents can find their neighborhood zone at community.zonehaven.com.

Silverado Trail, Howell Mountain Road and Ridgeview Lane were closed during the early hours of the fire. No road closures remained in effect on Tuesday morning.

According to St. Helena Police, nine drivers were cited for trying to bypass the barricades at the Silverado/Howell Mountain/Pope intersection while road closures were in effect during the early hours of the fire.

You can reach Howard Yune at 530-763-2266 or hyune@napanews.com

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Howard Yune Public Safety Reporter Howard Yune covers public safety for the Napa Valley Register. He has been a reporter and photographer for the Register since 2011, and previously wrote for the Marysville Appeal-Democrat, Anaheim Bulletin and Coos Bay (Oregon) World. Follow Howard Yune 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
According to a PR published by Saab on May 24, 2022, the firm has received an order from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration for a new torpedo tube for lightweight torpedos. The order value is approximately SEK 150 million, and there is an option to increase the quantity of the order. Deliveries will take place in 2023.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Artist rendering of future Visby-class corvettes (Picture source: Saab)

The new torpedo tube will have the customer designation Tub m/20 in Sweden and will replace the tube currently in use on the Swedish Navys corvettes.

The tube is designed to meet future requirements, enabling a larger torpedo payload as well as easier and more user-friendly loading and unloading. Saab designed the launch system to provide higher availability and to enable surveillance of the tube from a naval command and control centre. The torpedo tube was developed when Finland placed its order for the Saab New Lightweight Torpedo for its Pohjanmaa class corvettes.

About Visby-class corvettes

The Visby class is a warship in use by the Swedish Navy. It is the latest class of corvette adopted by the navy after the Goteborg and Stockholm-class corvettes. Its design emphasizes low visibility radar cross-section and infrared signature, and the class has received widespread international attention because of its capabilities as a stealth ship.

The ship can reach a top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h) with a maximum cruising range of 2,500 nmi (4,600 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h).

The Visby-class is armed with one 1 Bofors 57 mm Mk3 naval gun, eight RBS15 Mk2 anti-ship missiles, four 400 mm torpedo launchers for Torped 45 torpedoes, and ASW 127mm rocket-powered grenade launchers.
According to information published by Deutsch Welle on May 24, 2022, the United Kingdom plans to send warships to the Black Sea to escort civilian ships exporting Ukrainian grain.

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Royal Navy's HMS Defender in the Black Sea (Picture source: Russia Novosti)

On June 23, 2021, the United Kingdom's HMS Defender had undertaken freedom of navigation patrol through the disputed waters around the Crimean Peninsula.

It was a diplomatic incident (known as "the 2021 Black Sea incident") between Russia and the United Kingdom involving the British destroyer HMS Defender while it transited from Odessa, Ukraine, to Batumi, Georgia.

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and border guards said they fired warning shots from coast guard patrol ships and dropped bombs from a Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft in the path of Defender after, according to the Russian Defence Ministry, it had allegedly strayed for about 20 minutes as far as 3 km (2 miles) into waters off the coast of Crimea.

Montreux Convention

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the Ukrainian government appealed to Turkey to exercise its authority under the Montreux Convention to limit the transit of Russian warships from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced on 27 February that his government would legally recognize the Russian invasion as a "war", which provides grounds for implementing the Convention with respect to military vessels.

This blockage of naval vessels also applies to NATO powers who cannot now move their vessels from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.
The EU has always had a clear position: we will support any agreement that would guarantee a long-term sustainable solution, Toivo Klaar, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia, told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

President Michel emphasized the fact that, in his view, in addition to talks on inter-state relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it was important to address the issue of the rights and security of the ethnic Armenian population in Karabakh. Interstate relations are naturally very important and need to be normalized. As we know very well, rights and security in an inter-ethnic context were among the core issues at the origin of the conflict. Without addressing this topic, we cannot arrive at a comprehensive lasting solution.

As far as status and self-determination are concerned, the EU has always had a clear position: we will support any agreement that would guarantee a long-term sustainable solution. Peace processes tend to be accompanied by fears, emotions, speculations, and misinterpretations  this is natural.

In this context, it is important that the process be as transparent as possible so that societies have a clear understanding of what is being discussed.

There is also a need to defuse tensions and lower the rhetoric. The EU welcomed the remarks made by Armenian Prime Minister N. Pashinyan in Parliament on 13 April and also recent positions expressed by Azerbaijani President I. Aliyev on the need to turn the page of enmity and ensure a safe and positive future for all conflict-affected populations on the ground, be it the ethnic Armenian population or the displaced persons from past hostilities," he noted.
Pashinyan: Armenia is interested in concluding agreement between Iran, Eurasian Union

Turkey expects Sweden and Finland to take 'concrete action'

Boris Johnson says Russia is making slow but palpable progress in eastern Ukraine

Sweden, Finland's aspirations to join NATO won't require deployment of additional US troops

Representatives of Resistance Movement organize car rallies in various regions of Armenia

World Bank to provide $500 million to Turkey to support COVID-19 efforts

Armenia PM and French Ambassador discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process

Citizens demanding Pashinyan's resignation block the road to Georgia

Lavrov: Western countries do not abandon attempts to set peoples of former Soviet Union against each other

Protesters block Yerevan-Sevan road

Japan to ease border restrictions further from 10 June

Turkey recruits Afghans to fight on side of Ukraine

Armenia Parliament speaker receives delegation headed by Montenegro President

Reuters: US and Ukraine discuss risk of escalation as new weapons expand capabilities

Mayor of Paris arrives in Yerevan on official visit

Azerbaijani authorities propose to hold meeting of Turkic Speaking Countries in occupied Shushi

Armenia Ambassador to France and Mayor of Cannes discuss Karabakh situation

Pallone says US should not hesitate to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its unprovoked aggression against Artsakh

Food prices in Armenia increased by 14.3%

Armenia PM's wife meets with businessman and co-owner of Franck Muller company

Armenia PM sends congratulatory message to Uruguay President

US to approve supply of long-range missile systems to Ukraine

Armenia President holds number of meetings in Davos, introducing country's development programs

NATO countries informally agree not to supply tanks and combat aircraft to Ukraine

EEU leaders to take part in meeting of Supreme Eurasian Economic Council

WhatsApp to change rules for handling confidential messages

Twitter investors sue billionaire Elon Musk

Hungary needs 3.5 to 4 years to give up Russian oil

German authorities plan to suspend pandemic rules for summer entry

Africa: 1.8 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty due to crisis in Ukraine

Shell is negotiating with consortium of Indian energy companies to sell its stake in Sakhalin-2

Turkish Security Council says 'operation' in Syria 'is not directed against territorial integrity of country'

Former Louvre president faces preliminary charges of fraud and money laundering

Senegal hospital fire kills 11 babies

NEWS.am digest: Azerbaijan returns Armenian soldier, Armenias 1st satellite launched into space

Greece tells UN Secretary General Turkey is challenging its sovereignty

Ishkhan Saghatelyan introduces action plan for coming days

Blinken says US considers China long-term challenge to global order

G7 countries could lead way in phasing out coal

Albania offers Naval base to NATO

Resistance Movement rally starts on France Square

Soldier Eduard Martirosov, handed over by Azerbaijani side, already in Yerevan

Twitter to pay $150 million for leaking user data

Resistance movement ends its protest outside government building

EU states announce freezing of about EUR 23 billion of assets of Russian Central Bank

Saghatelyan announces successful rally outside Armenian government building

Over $6.2 million assigned to Armenian National Security Service

Armenia imposes 6-month ban on exports of some agricultural products

Robert Habeck: EU can still strike a deal on an embargo on Russian oil imports

Montenegro President pays tribute to Armenian Genocide victims in Yerevan

Saghatelyan: From now on Pashinyan will see people only from behind iron curtain

Olaf Scholz: 'Putin must not win this war'

Resistance Movement Procession approaches Armenian Government building

Police try to prevent Resistance Movement procession from approaching Armenian government building

Bayramov: We expect that specific document will be presented at next meeting

Dollar, euro continue to fall in Armenia

Macron highlights need to respect sovereign choice of Sweden and Finland

Pashinyan receives director of International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas

Inflation in Zimbabwe exceeds 100% per annum in May

Resistance Movement starts procession in Yerevan

Over half of Americans favor tougher gun laws

Iran offers to organize negotiations between Russia and Ukraine

Azerbaijan FM does not rule out new phone conversations with Armenia FM

Queensland becomes second Australian state to ban Nazi symbols

Montenegro President arrives in Armenia

Putin proposes to form strategy for Eurasian Union economic development

Putin sees no problem in some IT specialists moving from Russia to Armenia

Georgia President calls referendum in South Ossetia provocation by Russia

Putin names share of settlements in national currencies in the EAEU

Putin calls on Eurasian Union to speed up dialogue on transition from SWIFT system

Cavusoglu: Turkey doesn't intend to stop buying natural gas from Russia

Turkey, Azerbaijan are negotiating the joint production of Akinci UAVs

Biden: US will continue to support Georgia's Euro-Atlantic course

Resistance Movement supporters march to France Square in Yerevan

Stoltenberg calls on NATO countries to prepare for long-term support for Ukraine

Armenian authorities propose to unite 13 large communities into 5

Turkey intends to create technoparks in Azerbaijan

TV presenter killed in militant attack in Kashmir

PM: Average salary in Armenia increased by $45

Armenian sports federations to receive additional $420,000

Azerbaijan returns Armenian POW to Yerevan

Axios: Biden advisers secretly visited Saudi Arabia for oil contracts

Ararat Mirzoyan, Andrzej Kasprzyk discuss work of commission on border delimitation with Azerbaijan

Pashinyan tells US envoy about importance of Washington's clear position on Karabakh issue

Erdogan to visit Baku on May 28

Azerbaijan to send another batch of aid to Ukraine

UN Security Council to hold meeting on North Korea on May 26

Ruling party: Baku isn't determined to fail process of delimitation of Armenian-Azerbaijani border

Senegal hospital fire kills 11 newborns

March and rally to be held in Stepanakert on May 28

Artsakh parliament delegation meets with Ambassador of Armenia to Lebanon

Google disables some of servers in Russia speed up the download of content

Copper is getting cheaper

Resistance movement supports protests of missing and fallen soldiers' families

Pashinyan: By the end of 2023, a satellite control center and a receiving station will be created in Armenia

State Department urges not to disconnect Russia from Internet

PM: Armenia's first satellite launched into space

Gold prices are falling

Procession of opposition supporters to building of Supreme Judicial Council of Armenia

Oil rises in price
By Azernews





Health Minister Teymur Musayev has said that the Non-Aligned Movement, under the chairmanship of Azerbaijan, has taken a series of successful initiatives in terms of combating the COVID-19 pandemic and dealing with its negative impact, Azernews reports.

He made the remarks speaking at the 75th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva on the topic "Health for peace, peace for health".

"Since the start of the pandemic, under the chairmanship of Azerbaijan, the Non-Aligned Movement, by actively mobilizing the efforts of the wider international community in a spirit of multilateralism, cooperation, and solidarity, has taken a number of successful initiatives in terms of combating the pandemic and dealing with its negative impact," he said.

He underlined that the inequality between developing and developed countries in terms of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution prevents the international community from achieving complete elimination of the pandemic in a short period. Musayev added that it is important to strengthen all relevant aspects of essential health services to ensure the sustainability of the health system and to take effective action against the pandemic.

"This, along with various actions, must also include the continuation of ongoing vaccination programs for universal health care accessibility," he added.

At the end of his speech, Teymur Musayev noted that another high-level meeting of the NAM member states is planned to exchange views on the post-pandemic period and shape the position of the movement.

The 75th World Health Assembly is being held in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 22-28, 2022. It is the first in-person Health Assembly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result of the shooting at the elementary school in the South Texas state, 21 people were killed, 19 of them are children, Texas Senator Roland Gutierrez said, The Voice of America reported.

Governor Greg Abbott told a news conference hours after the shooting that 14 students and a teacher had been killed. However, Senator Gutierrez later told CNN, citing Texas police, that the death toll had risen to 21 - 19 children and two adults.

The motives behind Tuesday's mass killing in Texas, which has become commonplace in the United States in recent years, are not yet known.

Governor Abbott said the suspect, according to eyewitnesses, drove up to the school campus in a car and entered the school building armed with a handgun and possibly a rifle.

Investigators have information that Ramos shot and killed his grandmother before opening fire at the school. CBS News television reported this, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.

According to the governor, the suspect, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was killed by police at the scene.

President Joe Biden has already been briefed on the tragedy in Texas, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Joe Biden ordered that flags at the White House and other US federal buildings be flown at half-mast in honour of the victims in Uvalde.

The tragedy at the Uvalde school was the bloodiest elementary school shooting since the 2012 attack at Sandy Hook High School in Connecticut, when 20 children and six school employees were killed.

The shooting happened around noon at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, about 130 miles west of San Antonio. The town is home to about 15,000 people.

The Facebook page of the local hospital in Uvalde reported the arrival of 13 injured children who were brought to the hospital in ambulances, with two of the injured children unable to be saved.

Another hospital in San Antonio reported the admission of two patients injured in the shooting, a child and an adult.

School district officials urged people not to visit the school campus, adding that law enforcement officers were on the scene of the shooting.

Robb's school has children in grades two, three and four, said Pete Arredondo, police chief of the Uvalde Unified Independent School District. In U.S. schools, these classes are typically attended by children between the ages of 7 and 10.
Australia's new government has called on China to lift trade sanctions if it wants to reset bilateral relations.

Chinese Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's congratulatory letter to Prime Minister on his election victory was seen as easing Beijing's two-year ban on high-level government contacts with Australia. Premier Li Keqiang said China is ready to work with Australia to develop bilateral relations, AP reported.

In recent years, China has imposed a series of formal and informal trade barriers on a range of Australian goods worth billions of dollars, including coal, wine, barley, beef and seafood.

"It was China that imposed sanctions on Australia. There is no justification for this. And that is why they should be removed, Albanese told reporters.

We would certainly like to see those sanctions and those tariffs lifted. They are damaging our economy. They are making life harder for some of our employers and workers here in Australia and so obviously we would like to see those measures lifted, Chalmers said on Wednesday.
Polish President Andrzej Duda has accused the German government of breaking a promise to supply Warsaw with new tanks as compensation for Polish deliveries of Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine, writes Politico.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last month unveiled the so-called Ringtausch, an exchange scheme under which Eastern NATO partners would supply the Ukrainian army with Soviet tanks such as the T-72 in exchange for modern Western German-made tanks such as the Leopard. Scholz and German officials argue that the model is beneficial for Ukraine, as it gets the same Soviet-era tanks that its soldiers and mechanics are already familiar with.

Duda said in an interview with the German news agency Welt that Berlin is not fulfilling its obligations to supply new tanks to replace those exported.

The Polish president added that the majority of the tank arsenal in the Polish armed forces is made up of German Leopard tanks, adding that Berlin had made a promise to supply these tanks to Poland.

On Monday, a German Defense Ministry spokesman said that Berlin has begun a constructive exchange of views with the Polish allies to agree on their wishes and our capabilities but acknowledged that there is still some work to be done.

Also on Monday, the same spokesman said that Berlin is already successfully implementing Ringtausch with the Czech Republic and will supply Prague with 14 Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks and one Leopard recovery vehicle under an exchange scheme.

One German official suggested that the quarrel with Warsaw could be related to Poland wanting better tanks from Germany: while the Leopard 2A4 that the Czech Republic is receiving was built in the late 1980s and has since been partly upgraded, Poland showed interest in a more modern version of the tank - Leopard 2A6.
An Iraqi man has been arrested in the US in connection with a plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush.

Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab is charged with aiding and abetting the attempted assassination of a former United States official, as well as an immigration offense for his alleged attempt to smuggle foreign nationals into the United States, according to the Department of Justice. Shihab planned to ferry four Iraqi citizens as part of a plot, CNN reports.

According to the documents, the FBI uncovered the conspiracy through confidential informants, one of whom recorded conversations about the conspiracy with Shihab in meetings late last year and in the spring. There is no indication in the documents that the former president was ever in danger.

During a November meeting, Shihab is alleged to have told an FBI informant that they wanted to kill former President Bush because they felt he was responsible for killing many Iraqis and breaking up Iraq.

Shihab described himself as a soldier awaiting instructions from the Qatari leadership, according to the January conversation outlined in the warrant application.
By Trend

The agenda of the next meeting of the Azerbaijani Parliament (Milli Majlis), which will be held on May 27, has been published, Trend reports.

The agenda of the meeting includes the following issues:

1. Draft law on amendments to the law "On the establishment of orders and medals of Azerbaijan Republic" in connection with the establishment of medal "For excellence in environmental protection" (third reading).

2. Draft law on amendments to the Administrative Procedure Code of Azerbaijan Republic (third reading).

3. Draft law of Azerbaijan Republic on amendments to the Law "On information, informatization and protection of information" (third reading).

4. Draft law on amendments to the Code of Administrative Violations of Azerbaijan Republic (third reading).

5. Draft law on amendments to the laws of Azerbaijan Republic "On the protection of public health", "On private medical activity", "On lotteries" and "On physical culture and sports" (third reading).

6. Draft law on amendments to the law of Azerbaijan Republic "On the rational use of energy resources and energy efficiency" (third reading).

7. Draft law on amendments to the Town Planning and Construction Code of Azerbaijan Republic, laws of Azerbaijan Republic "On Electricity", "On Gas Supply", "On Energy", "On the Safety of Hydraulic Structures" and "On Ensuring the Uniformity of Measurements" (third reading).

8. Draft law on amendments to the Law of Azerbaijan Republic "On electric power industry" (second reading).

9. Draft law on amendments to the laws of Azerbaijan Republic "On the regulation of inspections in the sphere of entrepreneurship and protection of the interests of entrepreneurs" and "On the suspension of inspections in the sphere of entrepreneurship" (second reading).

10. Draft law on amendments to the Code of Administrative Violations of Azerbaijan Republic (second reading);

11. Draft law on amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan (first reading).

12. Draft law on amendments to the Code of Administrative Violations (first reading).

13. Draft law on amendments to the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On the protection of public health", "On the list of items not allowed for civil circulation (excluded from civil circulation)", "On the list of items that may belong to certain participants in civil circulation and allowed for circulation (limited civil circulation) on the basis of a special permit, On Combating Human Trafficking in Beings and On Advertising (first reading).

14. Draft law on amendments to the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On the Alat Free Economic Zone" (first reading).

15. Draft law on amendments to the Civil Code, the Migration Code of Azerbaijan Republic, the laws "On fire safety", "On the bowels of the Earth", "On fishing", "On technical safety", "On protection of atmospheric air", "On Tobacco and Tobacco Products", "On Telecommunications", "On Breeding Livestock Production", "On Natural Medical Resources, Health Resorts and Resorts", "On Cotton Growing" and "On Ensuring Intellectual Property Rights and Combating Piracy" (first reading ).

16. Draft law on amendments to the law of Azerbaijan Republic "On individual accounting in the state social insurance system" (first reading).

17. Draft law on amendments to the law of Azerbaijan Republic "On Encumbrance of Movable Property" (first reading).
Iranian and Turkish Deputy Foreign Ministers Mehdi Safar and Faruk Kaymakci discussed the expansion of bilateral ties, Mehr reports.

Referring to the recent significant growth in Iranian-Turkish trade and economic relations, Safar noted the importance of strengthening bilateral relations and regional cooperation between the two countries. He also expressed Iran's readiness to develop cooperation with Turkey in several areas, including banking, trade, transport, transit, energy, healthcare and new technologies.

Kaymakci, for his part, emphasized the importance of relations between the two countries in various fields and stated Turkey's readiness to develop relations with Iran and increase cooperation within the framework of regional and multilateral organizations such as the ECO.

The parties highlighted the need for cooperation between the countries of the region to protect the environment and manage shared water resources.
The Armenian opposition is going to convene an extraordinary session of the Armenian Parliament next week.

"Today at the rally I will speak with the details of the agenda of the session," Ishkhan Saghatelyan, representative of the Supreme Body of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun, vice-speaker of the Armenian parliament from the opposition, told reporters on Wednesday.

He invited the authorities to parliament "with the agenda of the people, and not with their false agenda."

According to him, the mandate of the opposition requires that it is now on the street, next to the people.

We will return to parliament with our agenda. We will formulate our agenda. We do not want to become part of the idiotic agenda and participants in the show. What are we going to ask the capitulator? President Aliyev of Azerbaijan and head of the European Council Charles Michel have already spoken about it. It's just that the authorities do not respect the people, because they are cut off from the people. What courage are they talking about? They surrounded themselves with thousands of troops. If you withdraw these troops, then we will see who can talk about courage, Saghatelyan added.
Turkey has threatened another invasion of Syria, similar to those in October 2019 and January 2018, leading to widespread ethnic cleansing of Kurds, Yazidis and other minorities, Jpost reported.

According to the author, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara is planning a new military operation. This could lead to demographic change as the government has promised to return Syrian refugees, mostly Arabs, to the safety zone it wants to create.

In the past, Ankara's incursions have resulted in Kurds and other minorities being persecuted and forced to flee, and extremist groups have seized Turkish-controlled territories.

Turkey's far-right regime, which combines radical nationalism and religious fundamentalism, has promised to create a "safe zone" along the border. It is similar to the "safety zone" created in October 2019 when 200,000 people fled due to its invasion of eastern Syria.

At the time, Ankara had a close relationship with the Trump administration and received a green light from the White House to invade and attack the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed group. In a series of bizarre events, Washington opened the door to its "NATO ally" Turkey to attack the very people America was also training to fight ISIS.

The White House has said Turkey will fight ISIS and the US will withdraw from Syria. The Trump administration has been so rebuffed by Congress and members of the administration that it has reversed course. But the damage was done, the border region was destroyed and key civilians such as Hevrin Khalaf, a young female politician, were killed by Turkish-backed extremists.

Ankara calls these people in Syria terrorists, a term it uses for anyone who criticizes or opposes the ruling AKP party. Usually these are journalists, women's and gay rights activists, youth, intellectuals, teachers, students, artists, Kurds, Yezidis, Christian minorities and others.

For example, in Afrin, a Kurdish region that Turkey invaded in Syria in January 2018, about 160,000 Kurds were expelled from their homes. Yazidi temples were destroyed, cemeteries desecrated, and then the area was turned into a haven for extremists sent by Ankara to Syria. Extremist groups, some of which are linked to former Syrian rebel groups, are kidnapping women and accused by the US, the UN and others of human rights violations.

One of these groups even came under US sanctions. This means that Ankara, which claims to be a "NATO ally", supports extremists and groups associated with terrorists, while claiming to be "fighting terrorists."

Now, with Ankara's ruling party facing elections next year, it appears to be paving the way for even more chaos in Syria.

Ankara's goal is to destabilize areas liberated from ISIS control and clear the borders of minorities. This historical ethnic cleansing is similar to what was done in Turkey in 1915 during the Armenian Genocide and subsequent genocide and massacres of Christian communities.

Ankara did this before in Cyprus when it invaded in the 1970s and expelled Greek minorities from its northern regions. Ethnic cleansing in Afrin, Sere Kania and other border areas in 2018 and 2019 changed historical settlement patterns, displacing indigenous minorities. This is similar to what happened in the Balkans in the 1990s, except that Ankara used its NATO membership to claim that it needed "security".

Turkey also supports extremist groups that frequently shell Tel Tamr and Christian minority areas in eastern Syria. He also conducts bombing raids on Sinjar in Iraq, where Yazidi genocide survivors live. Ankara has also bombed Christian villages in northern Iraq, claiming to be "fighting terrorists."

Ironically, the regime's "war on terror" always targets minorities in the Middle East.

The threat of a new invasion has emerged as Turkey tries to prevent Finland and Sweden from joining NATO. These two democracies are now threatened by Ankara's authoritarian government and must expel dissidents and bow to its demands or they will not be able to join the Western alliance.

This strange turn of events means that NATO now revolves around whatever Turkey wants. The NATO defensive alliance has been implicated in Ankara's incursions and abuses in Syria.

We will soon take new steps regarding the incomplete portions of the project we started on the 30 km.-deep safe zone we established along our southern border, Turkeys president said this week.

Ankara's threats came after Turkey criticized the Greek prime minister as well as the US for easing sanctions on eastern Syria.

It is obvious that now the regime is changing its policy from trying to reconcile with Greece to putting forward new threats.

In 2019 and 2020, Ankara also threatened Athens. This policy continued until US President Joe Biden was elected, after which course changed. This is because Turkey's ruling party has lobbyists in Washington, including those with influence in several important think tanks, who have sought to influence the Trump administration.

In those days, the Ankara lobby claimed that Turkey was an ally against Russia and Iran, even though Turkey bought the Russian S-400 missile defense system and worked with Iran. Turkey is now in the spotlight because of the Ukrainian crisis, as it appears to be working with both Moscow and Kyiv. Turkey sold drones to Ukraine, but buys S-400s. She also wants to buy more US military aircraft, but is outraged that some countries have sanctioned her for violations in Syria.

In 2021, Ankara moved towards reconciliation, first with Egypt and the UAE, and later with Israel, hoping to make new friends in Washington with this new policy. For example, the regime has mobilized its embassy in the US to work with pro-Israeli voices and hopes that by working with Israel, it will be able to make new strides.

To this end, Ankara invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit earlier this year and is working with the Jewish state, including sending its foreign minister this week.

The question remains whether Ankara will try to trade Finland's and Sweden's accession to NATO for another carte blanche from the defensive alliance for its "security", which means another invasion. Ankara tends to say that for its own "security" it must invade other countries and force people to flee. Russia used the same pretext to invade Ukraine.

It is unclear whether the Biden administration will withstand Turkey's threats. Ankara also promised a new invasion last year, but seems to have given up.

Turkey abandoned its promised invasion in November 2021. Will she back down again? It's not clear that Ankara has promised to deport millions of Syrian refugees and seems to believe it can achieve two goals at once: remove Syrian refugees and destroy Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria, fueling populism at home and harming adversaries abroad.

Turkey may also try to harm new American initiatives in eastern Syria and at the same time use this to blackmail NATO. It is not clear if Ankara can actually do all this, but it will probably try.
Armenian Justice Minister Karen Andreasyan paid a working visit to Minsk at the invitation of his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Khomenko, the press service of the Armenia Ministry of Justice informed NEWS.am.

During the visit, the main directions of cooperation between the Ministries of Justice of the two countries and other issues of mutual interest were discussed. A cooperation agreement was signed between the two ministries.

Within the framework of the working visit Andreasyan visited the Civil Registry Office of the Moscow Administrative District of Minsk, the multifunctional center of the Belarusian Chamber of Notaries and got acquainted with the work of the "One Window" service at the Minsk City Executive Center.

The Head of the Ministry of Justice also visited the State Judicial Expertise Committee and met with its leadership. A cooperation agreement was also signed during the visit to the committee.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg spoke in favor of gradual integration of Ukraine into the EU, Welt reported.

According to him, in the case of Ukraine, the EU does not promise entry.

Ukraine's accession to the EU - if it takes place at all - is still very, very far away, he noted adding that the EU must give Ukraine a clear signal that the country is part of the European way of life and is anchored in our community of values.

On the other hand, Schallenberg called for concrete steps towards EU accession for the Western Balkans.

Accession must happen anyway, we promised it to these six countries, he noted.

According to him, the EU should make a final decision in June to open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina also needs perspectives, residents of Kosovo should be able to enter the EU without a visa. We need to step up our game in the Western Balkans and get things done. It cannot be ruled out that Putin is also trying to destabilize the Western Balkans, he said.
The European Union's efforts to impose an embargo on Russian oil imports have faced new obstacles. German officials have said they will not support the plan in its current form and have recommended removing the issue from the agenda of next week's EU leaders' summit, AP reports.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday that Hungary would not vote on the oil embargo proposal as long as it makes Hungary's energy supply impossible.

He accused the EU executive of pushing through the plan without ensuring the energy security of Hungary, which gets 85% of its natural gas and more than 60% of its oil from Russia.

This problem was created by the European Commission, so the solution must be proposed by the European Commission. First, there must be a decision, and only then can we talk about sanctions, Szijjarto said.

The EU has previously offered exemptions to landlocked countries such as Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, which are particularly dependent on Russian oil, by granting them longer phase-out periods. Budapest remains steadfast in its opposition to sanctions on Russian energy.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the embrace would be an atomic bomb for the Hungarian economy and destroy its stable energy supply.

On Monday, Orban wrote a letter to the President of the European Council, asking him to remove the proposed oil embargo from the agenda of the summit, which is due to start on May 30.

In a letter to Charles Michel, Orban said that Hungary is not in a position to agree to the 6th package of sanctions until negotiations lead to the resolution of all outstanding issues and a solution is very unlikely to be reached before the summit next week.
The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region saw a 400% year-on-year increase in the number of firms listing with 15 IPOs raising proceeds of $4 billion, a jump of 1,242% in value when compared to the same period in 2021.

Strong IPO pipelines in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are expected to result in another record-setting year for Mena IPO markets, according to the EY Mena IPO Eye Q1 2022 report.

The figure of 15 listings compares to three IPOs in Q1 2021, showing that activity in Mena looks very promising with a strong start to the year, despite uncertainties that are affecting the global IPO outlook. In contrast, global IPO volumes during Q1 2022 fell 37%, with proceeds down by 51% year-on-year.

Saudi Arabia dominate listings

Saudi Arabia dominated listings activity in Q1 2022 with 6 IPOs on Tadawuls Main Market and 7 IPOs on the Nomu-Parallel Market, for a total of 13 IPOs raising $ 3.9 billion in proceeds. The Nomu market offers lighter listing requirements, serving as an alternative platform for companies to go public, with investments restricted to Qualified Investors.

Within the GCC, the number of listings and their total value far exceeded that of previous years. In Q1 2020 the market saw only three listings with a combined value of $801 million, while Q1 2021 also saw three listings, with a combined value of $295 million. In 2022, there were 14 total listings across the GCC during Q1, which raised approximately $3.9 billion in proceeds.

Brad Watson, EY Mena Strategy and Transactions Leader, says: It is clear that with an unprecedented surge in issuances in Q1 2022, Mena IPO activity is delivering new opportunities for investors and bucking the global trend. The breadth of industry sectors that have been listed also reflects a more widespread return to strong economic growth across the region, with IPOs in consumer cyclicals, technology, basic materials, healthcare and the energy sector. Saudi Arabia is currently the dominant player, but with regionwide activity that is bucking the global trend, we anticipate continued IPO activity across the entire region as 2022 progresses.

Saudi Arabia dominates in volume and value

Saudi Arabia dominated IPO activity, with six IPOs on Tadawuls Main Market and seven IPOs on Nomu, marking a total of 13 IPOs raising $3.9 billion in proceeds.

Jahez International Company for Information System Technology completed its listing on the Tadawul and was the first listing in the Mena region for 2022, after raising $427 million with their IPO on Nomu-Parallel Market in December 2021.

The largest IPO during Q1 2022 for the Mena region was in Saudi Arabia, with Al Nahdi Medical Co raising $1.38 billion in the kingdoms biggest IPO since Saudi Aramcos listing in 2019. Saudi Arabia's digital security firm Elm Information Security Company had the second-biggest IPO of the quarter, raising $819 million in proceeds.

The Nomu-Parallel Market also saw four direct listings during this period with no funds raised through a public offering but with shares admitted to trading. They were AME Company for Medical Supplies, Obeikan Glass Co, Saudi Parts Centre Company and Saudi Azm for Communication and Information Technology Co. The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) increased by 16.1% in Q1 compared to the same quarter in 2021.

Abu Dhabi lists ports company

In the UAE, Abu Dhabis main index saw an increase of 17.2% during Q1 2022. Separately, the Abu Dhabi Ports Company raised a capital of $1.1 billion through a private placement before listing on the ADX.

Bahrain bourse up by 15.3%

Mena equity markets continued their strong performance during 2021 into 2022. The Bahrain Bourse increased by 15.3% in Q1 2022, reflecting a strong return to trading and a fast-growing investor appetite in the kingdom. This growth was mirrored in Kuwait, where the Boursa Kuwait Premier Market Index increased by a significant 18% in Q1.

Oman also saw a welcome return to IPO activity in Q1 2022, with the Barka Desalination Co SAOC raising $11.4 million and completing its listing on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX). Overall, the MSX saw a slight increase of 1.8% during Q1 2022. Elsewhere in the GCC, the Qatar Exchange General Index in Doha saw a strong increase of 16.5% during the first quarter of 2022.

Further afield, the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) saw the listing of the previously postponed IPO of cosmeceuticals giant Macro Group Pharmaceuticals, having raised $82.7 million during their IPO. The Nahr Al-Khair Company for Investment and Agricultural Development also completed its direct listing during Q1 2022.

Strong investor confidence

Gregory Hughes, EY Mena IPO and Transaction Diligence Leader, says: With such a strong start to IPOs and trading activity across many of the Middle Easts exchanges in Q1 2022, we can be confident that the region is moving through a period of strong investor confidence. Within the GCC, Saudi Arabia in particular is presenting investors with a great variety of opportunities across multiple industry sectors that bodes well for Saudi Arabias Vision 2030 for the development of a diverse non-oil economy.

As we look ahead, Q2 is already off to a strong start with the Dewa IPO listing on the Dubai Financial Market, which was heavily oversubscribed. This good news is particularly welcome given the current context of global uncertainty, which led to a number of launches in other markets being postponed.

The EY analysis suggests that after two years of oil and gas market reaction to a continuous string of historic events, the first quarter of 2022 faces the prospect of a complete reworking of the global supply-demand balance, trade flows and capital allocation. Analysis shows that the oil market balance continues to lean toward undersupply. In the first quarter, global demand declined slightly by 0.3% from the previous quarter.

Opec and other oil producers outside North America increased their production, while US output marginally declined. Going forward, supply concerns will almost certainly become the dominant narrative, with refiners and traders rethinking the flow of crude oil and refined products against the race to bring alternatives to the energy landscape, presenting implications for capital markets.-- TradeArabia News Service
One of the main topics discussed in Brussels was the return of prisoners, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a meeting of the National Assembly during the government hour on Wednesday.

According to him, the position of the European Union and international organizations is that the Armenians held in Azerbaijan should be returned to their homeland as soon as possible.

According to the prime minister, Azerbaijan is constantly trying to link the return of prisoners with some additional conditions, but Armenia does not agree with this position of Baku.

Our position remains that, according to the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, all detainees, prisoners of war and hostages must be returned, Pashinyan noted.

He also said that 39 Armenian prisoners are being held in Azerbaijan to this day. Their identities have been confirmed.

"One of them recently got lost and ended up under the control of Azerbaijanis," the Armenian leade added.

The most effective way is to secure support and pressure from the international community. He is convinced that this is what will make it possible to achieve the return of captive compatriots to their homeland in the future, he added.

Ombudsman of Artsakh recently noted that in addition to the 38 military and civilian confirmed by Baku, there is evidence that another 80 Armenians are being held in Azerbaijan.
Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic will arrive in Armenia on May 26 for a two-day official visit, the press service of the President reported.

After the official welcoming ceremony at the Residence of the President of Armenia, Vahagn Khachaturian and Milo Djukanovic will have a separate conversation, followed by a meeting of the delegations of the two countries in an expanded format. Then the Presidents of Armenia and Montenegro will make press statements.

The delegation headed by the President of Montenegro will visit the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex to pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, also make a tour of the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide, President Djukanovic will plant a tree on the Alley of Memory.

During the visit, the President of Montenegro will meet with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Chairman of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan.

During his visit to Armenia, the President of Montenegro will also visit the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies.
The former authorities of Armenia are guilty of delegitimizing the procedures by which Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a meeting of the National Assembly during the government hour on Wednesday, answering questions from deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party.

Earlier, a controversy ensued between Pashinyan and a deputy from the Armenia opposition bloc, a member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun party Armen Rustamyan, during which the head of government promised to reveal some scandalous details of the negotiations. However, the opposition left the hall that day, and Pashinyan did not finish, saying that the exposure would take place in their presence.

At the request of Hasmik Hakobyan, MP from the ruling party, the Head of Government decided to open the brackets, despite the fact that there was no opposition in the hall.

Pashinyan, in particular, recalled that the results of the referendum on September 2, 1991 and the adoption of the constitution on December 10, 1991 were laid as the basis for the foundation of the negotiation process on Karabakh.

However, in the so-called 'Madrid principles' on the Karabakh settlement states that the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh will be determined by a referendum, and the Armenian authorities agreed with this. Thus, they delegitimized the 1991 referendum, he said.

In his opinion, when the previous authorities, in mutual agreement with Baku, agreed to hold a referendum, they, in fact, cut down the branch on which the Armenian side had been sitting all this time.

If we rightly state that Nagorno-Karabakh has never been part of Azerbaijan, then why are we discussing with the same Azerbaijan the issue of obtaining a new status. Moreover, we also say that this should happen on the terms agreed with Baku, Pashinyan complained.

He believes that the government of Armenia, which acted in 2007, whose representatives are blocking the streets today, in fact, gave Azerbaijan the right to veto the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Prime Minister noted that it was for this reason that, even before the start of the 44-day war, he spoke about the need to understand the essence of the 'Madrid principles'.

It was necessary to understand what they mean, the head of the government said.
The unblocking of communications with Azerbaijan will not take place in the logic of the so-called "Zangezur corridor", which has been talked about in Baku for a long time, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan told parliament on May 25, answering questions from deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party.

According to the head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, certain progress was recorded in negotiations with Azerbaijan in some areas. At the same time, on a number of other issues, the parties are trying to find common ground.

For example, there is progress in the work of commissions on delimitation and demarcation, the minister explained.

He recalled yesterday's meeting at the border of the members of the commissions of the two countries, and also pointed to the agreement concerning the upcoming meeting in Moscow.

The head of the Foreign Ministry called the unblocking of communications an important direction. Here, according to him, the parties, in their views, also have certain similarities. For example, we are talking about the fact that all unblocked communications remain under the jurisdiction of the countries through which they pass.

I do not consider it superfluous to note that the so-called Zangezur corridor in the logic in which it was exaggerated by Azerbaijan over these one and a half to two years is unacceptable for us. And there seems to be a general understanding that this will not be the case. Economic communications will open according to the parameters that are acceptable to us, Mirzoyan noted.
Saudi Arabia's Tourism Development Fund (TDF) today announced the signing of a financing agreement with Rimal AlKhobar Real Estate Company, co-owned by Retal Urban Development Co and Assayel Arabia, to develop the first Nobu complex in the Eastern Province.

The $63.5 million (SR238 million) project will feature a 5-star hotel with over 100 rooms and suites, 62 residential units, a luxury Nobu restaurant, pools, a health center, gym, and meeting and event venues.

With an outstanding seafront location, the project will contribute towards the ongoing development of the Kingdoms tourism sector, said a statement.

The financing agreement was announced during the second edition of the Future Hospitality Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which brought together government leaders, owners, and operators under this years theme of reimagined horizons to discuss the future of hospitality.

Wahdan Al Kadi, Chief Business Officer of TDF, and Eng Abdullah bin Faisal Al Braikan, CEO of Retal Urban Development, representing Rimal AlKhobar Real Estate Company, signed the agreement that aims to enhance tourism and leisure offerings, a key component of the sustainable development of Al Khobar and the wider region. The project presents a significant opportunity that will attract more investors to the Kingdom's tourism sector, resulting in job creation, improving overall quality of life, and catalyzing further development of tourism destinations.

Al Kadi said: "The Saudi tourism sector is undergoing a major development drive and we are committed to enabling private sector investors participation and providing them with the necessary support to develop quality tourism projects across the country.

The projects ideal location and unique offerings ensure that it meets the evolving needs of the Saudi market. The Nobu project reflects investors confidence in the Kingdom and signals strong support for tourism development projects. Agreements like this are testament to the crucial role that TDF plays in advancing the Kingdoms economic diversification.

Al Braikan said: "We are honoured to announce our partnership with the Tourism Development Fund. This cooperation will enable us to take advantage of promising investment opportunities, beginning with the new Nobu complex. The project will provide exciting activities for Al Khobars visitors and offer unique and innovative experiences within the Kingdoms luxury hospitality sector."

TDF was established in June 2020 with a capital of $4 billion to drive tourism growth in Saudi Arabia. The fund works to unify the efforts of the tourism sector and its partners including lenders, operators, and service providers, to enhance the investment experience and facilitate private sector access to opportunities across the kingdom. -TradeArabia News Service
Rumors on 'death' of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship format can be considered somewhat exaggerated, said Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

"Due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, to put it mildly, are inactive," he noted on Wednesday at a meeting of the National Assembly.

According to him, after the Ukrainian war, certain disagreements arose among the co-chairs.

But we continue to see the place and format of negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group.

We are constantly talking about this with all international partners and, first of all, with the co-chairs themselves. I must state with pleasure that recently the co-chairing countries have reaffirmed their readiness and commitment to continue work, and in the specified format, Mirzoyan said.

As the FM noted, talks about consensus in the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship would be a clear exaggeration. However, rumors about the death of this format can also be considered exaggerated.
Ankara synchronizes the Armenian-Turkish process with the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said during the government hour on Wednesday.

When asked by the MPs about the role of the meeting places of the representatives of Armenia and Turkey, the minister noted that this is not so important.

He did not rule out that in the future the above-mentioned meetings will be held both in Yerevan and Ankara.

At the moment, I can only say that, unfortunately, no matter how much the process is said without preconditions, our Turkish partners, to a certain extent, synchronize it with the relations developing between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They make it part of their narrative, Mirzoyan said.

They do not turn this into a precondition, but such an approach does not add constructiveness to the process and atmosphere, he added

However, discussions continue.

But, unfortunately, there is no tangible progress yet. Armenia's position remains the same. Armenia wants and is ready to normalize relations and open borders. We would like to see the same from Turkey. I have already spoken about the Azerbaijani narrative and various gestures of the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the Foreign Minister added.

Turkey has earlier closed the border as a sign of support for Azerbaijan.
The Madrid Principles are the only internationally approved document in which the co-chairs recognize the exercise by the people of Artsakh of the right to self-determination, Baghrat Mikoyan, coordinator of the office of the second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, told Yerevan.Today.

His remarks came commenting on the statement of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in parliament that, by adopting the Madrid Document, the Armenian authorities questioned the referendum on the independence of Artsakh.

According to him, Madrid principles are the only internationally approved document in which the co-chairs recognize the exercise by the people of Artsakh of the right to self-determination in accordance with international law through the 1991 processes, with mandatory acceptance by all.

The PM said the former authorities of Armenia 'are guilty of delegitimizing the procedures by which Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence.'

Earlier, a controversy ensued between Pashinyan and a deputy from the Armenia opposition bloc, a member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun party Armen Rustamyan, during which the head of government promised to reveal some scandalous details of the negotiations.

However, the opposition left the hall that day, and Pashinyan did not finish, saying that the exposure would take place in their presence.
Yerevan and Baku did not reach an agreement on the wording of the statement made following the talks in Brussels, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a meeting of the National Assembly during the government hour on May 25.

His remarks came in response to comment on the phrase that "the ethnic Armenian population of Karabakh", voiced by the head of the European Council Charles Michel.

According to the prime minister, the discussions were supported by at least two co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group.

At the same time, in his joint statement with the President of Russia, the importance of the Karabakh settlement and the use of the potential of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship in this regard is noted.

Naturally, a very serious discussion took place in Brussels on the Karabakh conflict. And as a result of these discussions, differences in the positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan were recorded, Pashinyan noted.

These differences, as the head of the Cabinet noted, were discussed publicly. In particular, Baku believes that the Karabakh conflict has been resolved. Armenia is sure that it is not so.

In the context of possible negotiations on the signing of a peace treaty, Baku presented its 5 proposals, and Yerevan presented its observations and agenda.

It is on this basis that subsequent negotiations should be conducted. The principles proposed by us fix the security and rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the clarification of the final status, the Prime Minister noted.

Since, according to him, the parties, during the discussions, did not agree on the wording, the head of the European Council decided to express himself what, in his opinion, would include as many elements as possible, reflecting the positions of both sides.

How well this happened, how accurate it is, is another question. But we have expressed our position, and, of course, there are no changes in this position. We will continue to consistently follow this path, the head of government said.
The Armenian authorities will consistently defend both the rights of the Armenians of Karabakh and the issue of determining its status. At the same time, peace will always be at the forefront, Nikol Pashinyan said during a government hour in parliament, answering questions from deputies from the ruling Civil Contract party.

He then turned his attention back to the criticism voiced by the opposition.

Today the opposition accuses us of we brought the war. No, it was you who announced the war and then left. There was only one way to prevent a war - to agree to all the unacceptable preconditions and demands of Azerbaijan, Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister noted that "the war began back in 2016." Thus, the third president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, personally announced from the rostrum of the parliament that the war could not be avoided.

He bluntly stated that there is no need to have hopes that war can be avoided...We are accused of going to ensure peace at any cost. But no! Peace at any cost is no longer peace. Peace is given at the price of peace, and not at any price, the PM noted.
A procession of members of the Resistance Movement to France Square started from Garegin Nzhdeh Square. The marchers demand the resignation of the team led by the current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Before the start of the procession, ARF member Sevada Ghukasyan, former Armenian Deputy Defense Minister Artak Zakaryan and representative of the ARF Supreme Body, NA Vice Speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan made speeches.

In his speech, Ishkhan Saghatelyan touched upon the statements of the opposition, which were made today in the National Assembly during the government hour. "The authorities will not complete their program," he promised.

As in previous days, this morning the participants of the movement organized actions of disobedience in the capital. The participants of the movement surrounded the building of the residence of the President of the Republic of Armenia and demanded that the President express his point of view regarding the situation in Armenia.
UAE-based Azizi Developments has announced that the five lagoon-facing buildings within Phase Three of its flagship waterfront project, Riviera, are now 96% sold out and the remaining withheld units will be released into the market in the coming weeks.

Of the total 979 units, 940 have already been snapped up. The remaining projects in Phase Three, which comprise more than 2,330 units, are also being bought at a remarkable pace, stated the developer.

All of Riviera Phase 3s buildings are fully equipped with gyms, swimming pools, saunas, steam rooms, and childrens play areas, and are surrounded by vast green open spaces and other lifestyle-enhancing amenities, it added.

On the solid response, CEO Farhad Azizi said: "It gives us immense pleasure to announce the rapid sales progress of Rivieras Phase 3. This is a testament to our steadfast commitment to the high-quality development of world-class residences and their timely delivery while placing our valued customers first."

"We are thrilled to see our megaproject gaining interest from both local and international investors and look forward to its forthcoming completion," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The procession of the Resistance Movement, which started from Garegin Nzhdeh Square, reached France Square.

ARF member Sevada Ghukasyan, former RA Deputy Defense Minister Artak Zakaryan and representative of the ARF Supreme Council, Vice Speaker of the National Assembly Ishkhan Saghatelyan spoke before the march.

In his speech, Ishkhan Saghatelyan referred to the statements made today in the National Assembly during the Q&A format with the government to the opposition.

"The authorities will not complete their program, we will continue to say that he is a traitor and a scoundrel, and this will have its consequences," he noted.

As in previous days, today the participants of the movement organized actions of disobedience in the capital. They surrounded the building of the presidential residence and demanded that the president express his opinion on the situation in Armenia.
Azerbaijan, Turkey will demand Russian peacekeepers leave, citing a peace agreement, said Artak Zakaryan, former Deputy Defense Minister.

"In parliament today, [Armenian PM - ed.] Nikol Pashinyan continued his manipulative, populist, baseless and dangerous statements, this time trying to make amends for his mediocre, stupid policy, as a result of which our country has reached such a plight," he noted.

Touching upon the topic of the Brussels trilateral meeting, he noted that there was nothing in the statements of the meeting participants about the mission of Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh.

"And this means that at some point, Azerbaijan and Turkey, with the tacit consent of the criminal authorities of Armenia, will demand from Russia the withdrawal of peacekeepers, justifying this by the fact that there is supposedly already a peace treaty, and Azerbaijan has assumed the obligation to ensure the rights and security of residents Artsakh," he said.
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the digest of top news of protests in Yerevan as of 25.05.22:

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan addressed the parliament on Wednesday.

He referred to his meeting with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and European Council president Charles Michel in Brussels and the statement of Michel which stirred disturbance in Armenia over the EUs possible position that Nagorno Karabakh should be part of Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan explained that the wording in Michels statement the ethnic Armenian population of Karabakh was initiated by Charles Michel.

Armenia and Azerbaijan could not come to an agreement on the issue of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, he said. Azerbaijan claims that the conflict is solved, while Armenia believes that the rights, security and future status of Nagorno Karabakh people are still to be addressed.

Pashinyan particularly noted: Since the parties did not agree on the wording, the head of the European Council decided to express in the statement what, in his opinion, would include as many elements as possible, reflecting the positions of both sides.

The PM also commented on the situation with the Armenian prisoners of war still being kept by Azerbaijan. He said that quite often there are statements that the issue of the return of prisoners should be put forward as a precondition for further continuation of political processes. However, Pashinyan said humanitarian issues should not be linked to political ones.

Pashinyan also added that 39 Armenian prisoners are being held in Azerbaijan to this day. It should be noted that this is the number of only those whose identities have been confirmed. However, Armenian human rights activists have evidence on many more Armenian prisoners of war, who are being kept in Azerbaijan.

During the session, the PM also referred to the oppositions daily anti-government street protests in Yerevan.

He noted that the purpose of the protest actions is to create inconveniences for the citizens, and its a logistic problem now rather than political, since the opposition has failed to fulfill its political goal, which was to make the prime minister resign under public pressure.

Armenian parliamentary opposition, who has been absent from sessions for about a month now, today blocked the entrances to the presidential residence and the Security Council, where they faced the resistance of numerous policemen.

While there were minor clashes between the police and the protesters, none of the protesters was taken to the police stations today. In the evening, the opposition held another march in Yerevan, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whom they blame for making unacceptable concessions over Nagorno Karabakh in peace talks with Azerbaijan.

The second meeting of the commissions of Armenia and Azerbaijan on border delimitation will be held in Moscow next week, Andrei Rudenko, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, told reporters.

The first meeting took place Tuesday on the interstate border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Later the office of Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan confirmed that the second meeting will be held in Moscow, but said the date is not decided yet.

However, the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian deputy prime ministers will meet in Moscow next week to discuss the unblocking of regional communications.

Moscow sees persistent attempts by the EU to intervene in the process of trilateral agreements reached at the highest level between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova has stated.

She said they expect that Brussels will help implement those agreements rather than play geopolitical games. Zakharova noted that Russia's strategic goal is to turn the South Caucasus into a zone of stability and prosperity, and to promote the peace process.

Montenegro President Milo Djukanovic will arrive in Armenia on May 26 for a two-day official visit.

The delegation headed by the President of Montenegro will visit the Armeinan Genocide Memorial Complex to pay tribute to the memory of the victims of Armenian Genocide and meet with Armenian officials, including the Prime Minister.
In the past few weeks, cases of the monkeypox virus have started spreading across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases of the rare virus on Monday in 12 countries, with the majority clustered in Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. Canada also has a handful of cases.

Last week, a Massachusetts man was the latest confirmed case in the United States. On Sunday, a suspected case was found in Broward County, with a second presumed case announced on Tuesday.

First identified in Africa more than 50 years ago, experts believe the monkeypox virus transferred from a primate or rodent to a human. However, since monkeypox is not a respiratory virus and is typically spread through saliva or bodily fluids, experts believe it will not become as contagious as COVID-19.

Alcaide

Two infectious disease experts at the Miller School of Medicine describe what they know about the monkeypox virus. Dr. Maria Luisa Alcaide is a professor of clinical medicine in the division of infectious diseases, director of clinical research at the Miller School, and directs the clinical core and mentoring program at the Center for AIDS Research. Professor Mario Stevenson is a renowned expert in molecular virology in the division of infectious diseases and is the Raymond F. Schinazi and Family endowed chair of biomedicine. He also co-directs the Center for AIDS Research.

What is monkeypox and how long has it been around?

Alcaide: Monkeypox is a virus that typically infects animals, and it has been identified in animals in central and west Africa. Cases in humans are rare and usually happen when people are in contact with animals. Most of the cases we have seen outside of Africa were cases where people were traveling to Africa, or animals from Africa were brought to the U.S. and infected humans. Until recently, the virus hasnt been known to transmit from human to human. Although, it seems like that is happening now and thats why we are concerned. Over the past few weeks, there has been an unusual number of cases reported in humans.

Stevenson: First of all, monkeypox is a DNA virus and thats a good thing because they tend not to mutate. They are nothing like RNA viruses, such as the novel coronavirus, or HIV, or influenza. Therefore, we dont expect there to be a whole lot of monkeypox viruses to evolve and stop vaccines from working.

Stevenson

The first identified case of monkeypox in humans was in 1970, and likely came from a person working in the logging industry in Africa who came across a primate and butchered itwithout knowing the animal had a virus.

The first monkeypox outbreak was from 1981 to 1986 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there were several hundred cases with a 10 percent mortality rate. The second outbreak of monkeypox occurred from 1996 to 1997, also in the Congo, with a smaller mortality rate of 1 percent. That was about 500 cases. The third outbreak we know of happened in the United States around 2003 when a Texas pet distributor imported some pouched rats from Ghana, and one bit a child. Within a few months, there were 70 cases, but there were no deaths or fatalities.

And although monkeypox is in the same family of viruses as smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980, monkeypox is much less severe.

How is it transmitted?

Alcaide: We are looking for these answers now. When epidemiologists looked at many of the recent cases in Europe, they found some common links. It looks like somenot allof these cases were found in men who have sex with men, who may have visited places that are common vacation spots.

In general, the virus is usually transmitted through saliva droplets or skin to skin contact with monkeypox lesions, which are filled with liquid. Typically, monkeypox is not considered a sexually transmitted infection. But because of the recent cases in men, its being considered transmitted where there has been intimate contact.

How contagious is it?

Alcaide: This is not a respiratory viruslike COVID-19so it is not as contagious. The main mode of transmission for monkeypox is direct contact with saliva or monkeypox lesions. If this occurs, symptoms will develop pretty quickly, like malaise, fever, and then a rash developswhich are pustules (bubble-like wounds) with liquid inside. Its kind of like chicken pox, but the pustules are larger, and monkeypox lesions can last up to two weeks. Some can heal while others are appearing, and people can get the lesions anywhere. They often appear in the palms of the hands and on the arms, then they can spread anywhere on the body. Generally, people are considered contagious until all the lesions are gone, and they can be itchy.

Stevenson: There is some evidence that monkeypox can be aerosolized, so people in the same household may be at risk, but this is a continually evolving story.

How does the virus progress?

Alcaide: If we see more cases, we will know more. But as of now, we believe that people often feel bad for a few days with fever, malaise, and headache, and then lesions will appear. However, we dont know exactly, because we have only seen a handful of cases.

Stevenson: Typically, it starts with fever, muscle aches, headache and/or swollen glands, and the rash will show up within one to 10 days.

Do you expect monkeypox to spread more?

Alcaide: Right now, the number of cases is limited. And as we identify cases, they are relatively easy to isolate, which is reassuring. Its concerning enough that doctors should be on the lookout for fever and a rash that looks like monkeypox, but it is too early to believe this will be widespread. We need to see whats going to happen over the next few weeks and months.

The good news is, the majority of people recover from monkeypox, but its not a virus for which we have a lot of data.

Stevenson: No. We had an outbreak in the Midwest in the early 2000s and it did not spread beyond 70 people, and now we all have a heightened awareness of infectious pathogens because of the coronavirus. So, it makes people more aware of their illness and more likely to go to a doctor or health care practitioner if they arent feeling right, or if they get a rash. Also, it is easier to identify people who are infected with monkeypox. And they should be isolated and contact traced. These public health measures did not work well for coronavirus because lots of infections had little or no symptoms.

Plus, there are treatments for monkeypox available. There is a drug called Tecovirimat, also known as TPOXX, that is an antiviral and is known to combat monkeypox, cowpox, and smallpox. There is also evidence that people vaccinated for smallpox in the 1970s may have some protection against monkeypox. In addition, there was a vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2019, called Jynneos, that can protect people against smallpox and monkeypox.

What can people do to protect themselves?

Stevenson: Someone who has come back from a trip to an exotic location or from a place with documented cases of monkeypox want to be extra aware of their symptoms if they get sick.

Alcaide: If you or a family member is experiencing symptoms, seek medical attention.
Xi defends China's human rights progress

President Xi Jinping says Chinas development of human rights "suits its own national conditions". File photo: Xinhua

President Xi Jinping on Wednesday defended China's human rights progress in a virtual meeting with UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, who is visiting the mainland.



Bachelet's six-day trip, which began on Monday, will include a visit to the Xinjiang region, where her office last year said it believes mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghurs have been unlawfully detained, mistreated and forced to work. Beijing denies the allegations.



During the video call, Xi told Bachelet that Chinas development of human rights "suits its own national conditions", and that among the various types of human rights, the rights to subsistence and development were primary for developing countries.



"Deviating from reality and copying wholesale the institutional model of other countries will not only fit badly with the local conditions, but also bring disastrous consequences," Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying.



"In the end, it is the broad masses of the people who will suffer," he said.



According to a CCTV readout, Bachelet said the UN Human Rights Office is "willing to strengthen cooperation with the Chinese side...and make joint efforts to promote the progress of the global human rights cause".



She also said: "I admire China's efforts and achievements in eradicating poverty, protecting human rights, and realising economic and social development." (Reuters/AFP)
Davos [Switzerland), May 24 (ANI/PRNewswire): The UAE-based VPS Healthcare has announced the launch of Burjeel Holdings on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos on Sunday to consolidate its healthcare offerings in the UAE, Oman, and across the GCC. As an intermediary holding company established under VPS Healthcare, Burjeel Holdings will build on the organization's legacy of providing an unparalleled continuum of compassionate care across its network of hospitals, specialized clinics, and allied services. "Burjeel Holdings enables us to consolidate our healthcare offerings under one platform to create an integrated ecosystem, which will continue our vision to offer end-to-end health solutions under a single window. As we embark on our expansion journey, the platform will provide the foundation to scale up operations in new geographies in the GCC and beyond. It will also enable us to take strategic corporate actions needed to drive our future growth," said Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, Chairman and Managing Director, VPS Healthcare. "We are proud to launch this exciting next phase of growth on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos as a representation of our vision to explore, expand, and grow our capabilities." Burjeel Holdings will operate nearly 60 assets catering to all socio-economic segments across a range of brands, including Burjeel Hospitals, Medeor Hospital, LLH Hospital, Lifecare Hospital, and Tajmeel. Its flagship facility, Burjeel Medical City, is the largest private hospital in the UAE and the only ESMO-accredited center. In addition to having renowned world-class centers of excellence, Burjeel Holdings consolidates the largest diagnostic network in the UAE and the largest comprehensive cancer center in the nation. Burjeel Holdings will be instrumental in continuing VPS Healthcare's mission of delivering quality and inclusive medical care to people around the world. Connecting care, scale, and community to benefit refugees from Ukraine Dr Shamsheer began his entrepreneurial career with a vision to ensure healthcare equity. In his journey towards fulfilling this vision, he has also focused on outreach through humanitarian efforts. Alongside the launch of Burjeel Holdings, Dr Shamsheer, a highly regarded philanthropist, announced a commitment of 50 pediatric stem cell transplantations to support Ukraine as well as additional support on behalf of those who join the pledge of support at Burjeel House in Davos. Dr Shamsheer and VPS Healthcare have been at the forefront of many humanitarian initiatives over the last 15 years. In 2018, VPS Healthcare enabled the treatment of Yemeni war victims at its hospitals in India. The organization offered the '100 Free Heart Surgeries' initiative for those in need as a tribute to the late H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. "I am pleased to announce our commitment of support for those affected by the conflict in Ukraine. This contribution is being made toward the important task of rebuilding a strong community in the war-torn region. We have seen that children, especially those undergoing cancer treatment, are suffering the most in this very unfortunate conflict. Burjeel Holdings will look to provide them with the care they desperately need," said Dr Shamsheer. VPS Healthcare announced the launch of Burjeel Holdings and its commitment to supporting the Ukrainian refugees at the Burjeel House on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. The Burjeel House will convene intentional, collaborative dialogues on topics like catalyzing equitable health training, and advancing medical innovation. 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] May 25 (ANI/GPRC): What should you look for in an app that's best suited for mutual fund investments? Let's take a look. Out of all the investment options that are available across the market, Mutual Funds top the list as they are one of the ideal methods to keep yourself financially stable for a long term. However, investing in any such markets require the right tools which helps you zero down the right amount that will yield the right returns. A Mutual Fund App is an ideal tool which can help you achieve this, as the amounts can be calculated rightly, with ease in a hassle-free manner. Let's see which works best for you. So, What Makes a Particular App Better than Others? One of the most attractive features that an app must have is that it should be commission-free where investors can invest in direct plans of mutual funds via the app. This is advantageous and saves your money that is deducted in the form of agent commissions, directly impacting your returns. Furthermore, owing to their zero commission feature, the money that generally goes towards agents' commissions are added up to your final returns which total up to approximately 1 per cent extra, which is quite a deal. The ideal app should have top mutual funds in India under one roof, which you can choose according to your needs. Investors don't need to create & use multiple accounts to access their investments. You can redeem your investments at the click of a button as everything is listed under one app. The funds listed on the app for you have to be categorized which makes it easy for investors to choose the right ones, depending on their financial goals, risk appetite and the period they want to stay invested. Also, they should feature a host of investment themes which will allow investors to buy their preferred combination instantly. Right from tax saving to long term or short term investments, you can find it all here, at one place. The app should be a secured platform, which ensures your investments are safe from cyber frauds. Secondly, when you buy funds via the app the amount should be directly transferred from your bank to the mutual fund company without any third party involvement, and similarly, when you withdraw, the amount is directly transferred to the linked bank account which makes the entire process of buying, selling and withdrawing the invested amount seamless. So, if you are thinking of investing in mutual funds, you need to look no further as now you know which is the ideal one that can help fulfill your financial goals with much ease. This story is provided by GPRC. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/GPRC)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India] May 25 (ANI/ NewsVoir): TiE Mumbai has announced the 15th edition of its flagship conference - TiECon Mumbai which will be held on June 10, 2022 at the prestigious brand new Jio World Convention Centre. BKC - India's largest and first state-of-the-art Conference and Exhibition center. TiECon Mumbai 2022: India Unicorn Summit is the largest Unicorn Summit to be held in India. The theme for this year's conference is "India Unicorn Summit 2022 - Creating Value, IPO's & Beyond" - Edition 1. This conference will explore various facets of India developing many more Unicorns and truly becoming a Unicorn Nation. TiECon Mumbai is the largest Entrepreneurial conference in the West of India, and it attracts all the key Industry Leaders from Mumbai and India, Startup Founders and Investors. TiECon sees close to 3000+ people attending the conference. This will be Mumbai's first physical event of this scale post the pandemic. Thanks to the adoption of the virtual conferences and webinars during the pandemic, TiECon 2022 will be telecasted live to 30+ Corporates in India reaching close to 2.5+ lakhs employees who want to instill the spirit of Intrapreneurship and Entrepreneurship in their career development. "The largest congregation of unicorns will converge under one roof at TiECon '22. TiECon' 22 will have stories from the first to the hundredth Unicorn in the country. It is slated to be a time capsule of the journey of a startup from inception to listing," said Amit Mookim, President, TiE Mumbai. "This conference will showcase the true power of 'Start-up India' by bringing together Unicorns and Sunicorns from across the country. TiECon'22 will also comprise of close to 200 specifically curated startups which will be showcased to demonstrate innovation in India," said Atul Nishar, Past President, TiE Mumbai. The conference will attract around 45+ India's leading Unicorns, who will talk on various aspects of their journey, growth and scaling, struggles and conquests, product and engineering stories, technology adoption and pivots that have helped them accelerate their journeys. The conference will further explore their talent and resource management, fundraising strategies, exits strategies and setting up and executing IPO's. Close to 250 funds will also be attending TiECon'22. Sharing the stage will be an illustrious array of India's top Industrialists, Corporate Business Leaders and Honcos, Investment Bankers, Investors, Analysts and other Soonicorn Founders who have played a direct role in the contributions a startup becoming a Unicorn - The Unicorn makers as we call them! Some of the key Unicorns who will be part of this year's TiECon Mumbai are Dream11, InMobi, Fractal.ai, Rebel foods, Car Trade, CitiusTech, Amagi, EaseMyTrip, Nazara Technologies, Ofbusiness, Pharmeasy, People Group (Shaadi.com), Xpressbees, Zerodha, NoBroker, Azent Overseas Education and many more. Key corporates like TATA Group, Mahindra, Jio, Birla's, Microsoft, Amazon, NTT Data, Abbott, Pfizer, SAP, IIFL, KPMG, AZA Fashions etc. will also be sharing their stories around building Unicorns and effort in shaping the ecosystem. TiE Mumbai Hall of Fame TiE Mumbai is in its third year of initiating a "Hall of Fame" series that is aimed at recognizing outstanding Entrepreneurs, Investors, Investment Bankers, Corporates, Public Sector & Government change agents who have contributed tremendously to the development of the Economy and the Ecosystem in India and Globally. These recognitions are given to high achievers, impactful value creators, marquee individuals and institutions who have brought about positive change through innovation, disrupted the norms and are wealth creators. Sri Ratan N. Tata was honoured with Lifetime achievement award at TiECon Hall of Fame Awards in 2020. The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals with roots in the Indus region. Since 1992. TiE has been supporting entrepreneurs by offering education, mentorship, networking and funding opportunities. The mission of TiE is to foster entrepreneurship globally through the 5 pillars of TiE: mentoring, networking and education, funding and incubation. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community. TiE's focus area is to generate enable the next generation of entrepreneurs. There are currently 11,000 members, including over 2,500 charter members in 60 chapters across 17 countries. TiE's mission is to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, and education. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community, TiE's focus is on generating and nurturing our next generation of entrepreneurs. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ NewsVoir)
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India] May 25 (ANI/ NewsVoir): The Institute of Indian Foundrymen says the move, coupled with the levy of export duty on iron ore and steel intermediates, will help in improving availability and usher in price stability. The foundry industry, the mother of all manufacturing industries, has hailed the central government's decision to reduce the import duty on the raw material of steel and the increase in export duty on iron ore and steel intermediates. Devendra Jain, President of The Institute of Indian Foundrymen (IIF), said the import duty reduction on the raw material of steel will bring down the domestic prices of key inputs. "The unprecedented surge in prices of raw material of steel has been a big challenge for the foundry industry in the recent months. The import duty reduction will lead to a lowering of prices and provide much-needed support to the industry. We are hopeful that the levy of export duty on iron ore and steel intermediates will also help in improving raw material availability, usher in price stability, and enhance the industry's competitiveness in the global market," said Jain. He also expressed sincere gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the proactive measures and responding to the industry's demand. The IIF President also welcomed the steep reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel, saying it will provide much-needed relief to people at large and also help in reducing logistics costs for industries. The finance ministry rescued the import duty on coking coal and anthracite, also known as high energy coal, from 2.5 per cent to zero, and the duty on coke and semi from 5 per cent to zero. The duty on ferronickel was lowered from 2.5 per cent to zero. To improve the availability of iron ore and some other steel intermediates, the ministry raised the export duty on one item and imposed the duty on 10 other items. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ NewsVoir)
India is in discussion and exploring the possibilities to buy cheaper oil from Russia using the Rupee-Rouble mechanism, Finance Ministry sources said on Wednesday. Russian central bank officials along with representatives of Sberbank of Russia PJSC discussed the proposals with their Indian counterparts and also with officials at the finance ministry last week, the source said. No final decision has been taken yet. Sources said that Government has cut excise duty on Petrol and Diesel on Saturday to give some relief to consumers. The government is looking at whether the benefit of duty cut is passed on to consumers or not. We need to monitor whether this measure is passed on to consumers, a source said. (ANI)
Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the worlds first graduate, research university dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI), will set up an AI Centre of Excellence teaming up with IBM.

Senior leaders from both organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at advancing fundamental AI research, as well as accelerating the types of scientific breakthroughs that could unlock the potential of AI to help solve some of humanitys greatest challenges.

The collaboration will focus on three key pillars: Natural Language Processing (NLP) including Arabic, AI applications in the healthcare industry and sustainability.

Highly valuable resource

Professor Eric Xing, President of MBZUAI, delivered short remarks, as did Jonathan Adashek, IBMs Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, and Saad Toma, General Manager, IBM Middle East, and Africa. The agreement was then signed by Sultan Al Hajji, Vice President for Public Affairs and Alumni Relations at MBZUAI and Wael Abdoush, General Manager IBM Gulf and Levant.

Were excited to be among the first research universities in the Mena region to host a Centre of Excellence for AI research and development with technology and expertise from a world-leading technological giant like IBM. This centre will provide highly valuable resource and collaborative environment to our faculty and students to broaden their work in AI. IBM has a long history of technological innovation, and we look forward to joining their latest efforts in our region and together advance AI technology and commercialisation for mutual good, Professor Xing said.

Toma said: This collaboration will help drive innovations in AI which is critical for the future of business and society. Were bringing together some of the brightest minds across both the industry and academia, while reinforcing IBMs commitment to promoting knowledge and skills in critical areas for the UAEs development, where the use of technologies like AI is fundamental.

Leveraging talents

Central to the collaboration is the establishment of a new AI Centre of Excellence to be based at the universitys Masdar City campus. The Centre will leverage the talents of IBM researchers, in collaboration with MBZUAI faculty and students, and will focus on the advancement of both fundamental and applied research objectives.

The initiative seeks to develop, validate, and incubate technologies that harness the capabilities of AI to address civic, social, and business challenges. Further, the collaboration aims to provide real-life applications, particularly in the fields of natural language processing, as well as AI applications that seek to further climate and sustainability goals, and accelerate discoveries in healthcare.

IBM will provide targeted training and technologies as part of the initiative, which supports the universitys vision to be a global leader for advancing AI and its application for the good of society and business.

Providing access

For example, through the IBM Academic Initiative, IBM will provide MBZUAI students and faculty with access to IBM tools, software, courseware and cloud accounts for teaching, learning, and non-commercial research.

In addition, through the IBM Skills Academy programme, MBZUAI will have access to curated AI curricula, lectures, labs, industry use cases, design-thinking sessions, and an AI Practitioner certification.-- TradeArabia News Service
Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey, a native of Uvalde, Texas, has shared a social media message addressing the mass shooting that occurred at Robb Elementary School which is in his hometown. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the tragedy, which happened today, has left at least 19 children and two adults dead and has been considered the deadliest school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012. Addressing the incident, McConaughey took to his Twitter handle and wrote a lengthy statement condemning the shooting. It read, "Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us. The true call to action is for every American to take a longer and deeper look in the mirror, and ask ourselves, 'What is it that we truly value? How do we repair the problem? What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state and neighbourhood tomorrow?' We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo." "This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured. And to those who dropped off their loved ones not knowing it was goodbye, no words can comprehend or heal your loss, but if prayers can provide comfort, we will keep them coming," the statement concluded. The 'Interstellar' actor has a long history of activism and philanthropy in his home state, and last year even contemplated running for governor. McConaughey has said he supports the Second Amendment but believes in common-sense gun laws, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He has called for a ban on assault-style weapons and for more comprehensive background checks. (ANI)
A Varanasi court will hear the maintainability of the civil suit on May 26, and will hear objections of the Muslim side in the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri temple dispute. The court will hear the Order 7 Rule 11 application by the Muslim side which seeks to reject the civil suit of the Hindu side. The Judge has asked for objections to the Court Commissioners survey report from both the sides. The district court has also given seven days' time to both the sides to file objections to the report of the court-mandated videography of the complex. In the court, the mosque committee, Anjumane Intezamia, has argued that the suit is barred under the Places of Worship Act, the Hindu side that the survey report should be considered by the court. The mosque committee says that filming at the mosque violates a 1991 law that prevents the alteration of the character of any place of worship in the country. It wanted the 'maintainability' case to be heard first, which the court has agreed to. The Supreme Court had asked the Varanasi court to decide on priority whether the survey at the Gyanvapi mosque and the petition that led to the survey was 'maintainable' or not. "I told the court that it is a mandate of the Supreme Court that our application saying the case is not maintainable should be heard first. I read out my application and also the Supreme Court order. The opposing counsel said he needed more documents and time to file objections to our application, but I said the maintainability must be decided first," said Abhay Nath Yadav, a lawyer for the mosque committee. The court also said that both the sides should be given copies of the video survey and one week's time to file their objections, if any. Early last week, lawyers representing the Hindu petitioners claimed that a 'Shivling' was found during the videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex. The claim was disputed by the mosque committee members who said it was part of the water fountain mechanism in the wuzu khana reservoir, used by devotees to perform ritual ablutions before offering namaz. The district court had then ordered the sealing of the 'wuzu khana'. --IANS miz/bg ( 392 Words) 2022-05-24-20:05:50 (IANS)
Dozens of people including police personnel were injured as violence broke out in Andhra Pradesh's Amalapuram town on Tuesday during the protest by a group against the government's move to rename Konaseema district as Dr B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district. Protesters opposing the proposal to rename the district also attacked the residence of state minister P. Viswaroop, torched few vehicles and resorted to stone pelting, triggering tension in the town. A mob set a couple of vehicles afire at the minister's house and also ransacked the office. The minister's family members escaped unhurt as the police had shifted them to a safe place. Hundreds of youth participated in the protest called by Konaseema Sadhana Samithi (KSS). Raising slogans against the government's decision, they gathered at the Clock Tower. As police moved to detain the protesters, some of them ran towards the collector's office. Police chased and arrested some of them. As they were being taken in police vehicles, others pelted stones damaging window panes. The mob set afire a police vehicle and a private bus. However, there was no one in the vehicles. The youth also pelted stones on police near Amalapuram Area Hospital. Superintendent of Police K.S.S.V Subba Reddy escaped in the stone pelting but some police personnel were injured. Police resorted to baton charge to control the situation. Home Minister T. Anita condemned the violence. She said anti-social elements were leading the protesters. She said it was unfortunate that the decision to name the district after the father of the Indian Constitution Dr Ambedkar was opposed. The home minister claimed that the decision was taken at the request of the people. The Konaseema district was carved out from East Godavari with Amalapuram as its headquarters. It was one of the 13 districts created on April 4, taking the total number of districts in the state to 26. The government had named some of the districts after prominent personalities like freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju, former chief minister and TDP founder Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, who was popular as NTR. Similarly, two new districts were named after saint composer Tallapaka Annamacharya (Annamayya) and Satya Sai Baba (Sri Satya Sai). The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government headed by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had come under criticism from Dalit groups and others for not naming a district after Ambedkar. The state government on May 18 issued a notification inviting objections and suggestions on the proposal to rename the Konaseema district after Dr Ambedkar. It sought suggestions and objections from the people residing within Konaseema. People have been urged to send objections and suggestions, if any, to Konaseema district collector within 30 days. However, opposing the proposal, KSS had called for protests. The police had imposed prohibitory orders in the town in view of the protest call. --IANS ms/pgh ( 478 Words) 2022-05-24-20:10:29 (IANS)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside bail granted to an accused in kidnapping and murder of a 13-year-old, whose body was found in a drain in east Delhi uin November 2014, by the Delhi High Court. A vacation bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Bela M. Trivedi noted that the high court did not take into consideration that the trial is ongoing and there are crucial witnesses, who have not been examined in the case so far as it allowed the appeal filed by the victim's parents against the high court order, which granted bail to the accused Pratap Singh Sisodia, on March 2. The bench observed that 11 prosecution witnesses have been examined so far in the case. Counsel for parents submitted that the high court failed to appreciate the gravity of the offence, where a young boy was murdered. During the hearing, the bench noted that the victim's parents apprehend that the witnesses in the matter may be influenced. It directed the accused to surrender immediately and also directed the trial court to conduct the proceedings expeditiously, and preferably on a day-to-day basis. The parent's plea contended that the accused, along with co-accused, were captured on the CCTV footage on their scooty and as per the post-mortem report, the child was strangulated. It was claimed that the accused hatched a conspiracy with his friend, who also wanted to make quick money to start a business of car accessories. --IANS ss/vd ( 259 Words) 2022-05-24-20:36:05 (IANS)
Gaining people's confidence is a big challenge in using technologies like facial recognition with Artificial Intelligence, said Telangana's Industry and Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao. He shared his thoughts on 'AI on the Street: Managing Trust in the Public Square' at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday. "Big challenge in using technologies like facial recognition coupled with AI is to gain citizens' confidence that the government is unbiased in their use of data and citizens are not surveilled unless they have been notified." KTR, as the minister is popularly known, stated that the only way to be able to achieve this would be to first clearly identify the regulatory powers that each of the government organisations would require. "These powers must be given to them in a parliamentary and a fully transparent method," he said. "Facial recognition has reduced the dependency on physical resources and time taken to find criminals and missing people. With the right regulatory outreach, we can make it far easier for police and also support the citizens with their needs," he said. Emphasising making the process transparent, the minister stated that every single step that the government will take to be able to use facial recognition needs to be shared with the public first before it is being used by the government organisations. This needs to be formally bestowed upon them following the rules of democracy. KTR reiterated that obtaining public confidence is very important. "The government understands the advantages that facial recognition provides in regulation and policing. The confidence that the public has in this system needs to be bolstered by optional systems that can expose them to the method and only then scale up." About education within the government, he said: "We need minds that are well-versed in AI, ML, Blockchain, Data Sciences and the risks that come with the use of the same. The data being used must be fully secured and the security must be verified." Meanwhile, KTR met Bharti Enterprises (Airtel) Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, abd Vice Chairman, Rajan Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman of , and discussed cooperation and collaboration on T-Fiber, a state government initiative to connect rural and urban households with broadband. The minister invited Bharti to set up their data centres in Telangana. The minister also had a conversation with spiritual leader Sadguru at the Telangana Pavilion. The 'Save Soil movement' and a range of environmental issues were discussed during the session. KTR praised Sadguru's brainchild 'Save Soil movement' and highlighted various programmes taken up by the Telangana government for the welfare of farmers and the environment. Sadguru stated that the programs of Telangana government are making a great difference to the society. He appreciated the state leadership for the good work. --IANS ms/vd ( 475 Words) 2022-05-24-20:42:10 (IANS)
Congress leader and Lok Sabha member from Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu, Karti P Chidambaram on Tuesday said he would fight the motivated attempts of the central government to target his father through him. He is the son of former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram. In a statement posted on his Twitter handle, Karti Chidambaram referring to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid and the first information report (FIR) against him and his chartered accountant said he was not associated with the visa issue directly, indirectly, vicariously or even telepathically. Recently the CBI had conducted raids at 10 locations across the country including the houses of former Union Home Minister Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram. Later, the CBI had arrested Karti Chidambaram's chartered accountant S. Bhaskaraman. Denying any relationship with the companies mentioned in the FIR, Karti Chidambaram said: "I say with certainty that I have never facilitated even a single Chinese in their visa process, let alone 250." The CBI has charged Karti Chidambaram and Bhaskaraman with facilitating visas for 250 Chinese nationals with the help of former Union Minister Chidambaram for a bribe of Rs 50 lakh. "I have also never known the person (now deceased) whose alleged action triggers this charge. He has never been examined by the CBI, and now, never can be," Karti Chidambaram said. He said during the past seven years, he had been raided by central investigation agencies six times without cause or evidence. Karti Chidambaram said he is heading back home from the UK on Tuesday after a two-week work/family trip to the UK and Europe. --IANS vj/bg ( 285 Words) 2022-05-24-20:46:36 (IANS)
Sukamal Chowdhury was a top level executive in the private sector in Delhi. After his retirement in 2008, he returned to his ancestral home in Barrackpore, about 30 km north of Kolkata. He cast his vote in the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency for the first time in 2009. "I voted for change. Though I left Barrackpore nearly 40 years ago, I kept myself updated about the happenings here. For six terms, since 1989, the CPI(M) had held on to this seat. This is an industrial belt with a significant percentage of the population having origins in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. "Trade union activity brought the Left to power in Barrackpore. Gradually, as industries started winding up due to rabid trade union activity, strong arm tactics evolved. Illegal activities flourished under the patronage of political leaders and this constituency, with vast heritage pre-dating Kolkata's claim to fame, fell upon bad times. So, when the Trinamool Congress fielded a gentleman like Dinesh Trivedi in 2009, I was happy and voted for him. So did many others. We were looking for change," Chowdhury said. His childhood friend Bibhas Roy, an entrepreneur, points to how Barrackpore turned into a fiefdom under the Left with politicians controlling nearly all economic activity and demanding a cut. "Dinesh Trivedi's 10-year-tenure between 2009 and 2019 was like a breadth of fresh air. However, good things don't last long. Well before the 2019 general elections, it was evident that Trivedi's good work hadn't been appreciated by his party. Trivedi, being the gentleman as he is, agreed to contest the 2019 polls but Arjun Singh wanted the ticket. On being denied, he left the Trinamool Congress for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP wave was sweeping the country then and people in Bengal also wanted a change. That is how he pipped Trivedi by a margin of a mere 14,000-odd votes in 2019," he said. Arjun Singh has now quit the BJP and returned to the Trinamool Congress. People close to him claim that Singh had simply wanted to prove a point in 2019 after being denied a ticket by the Trinamool Congress. He had wanted to show the party that he is powerful enough to win the seat by himself, even without the party banner. However, voters like Chowdhury and Roy do not agree. They say that Singh would have lost to Trivedi by a large margin had the BJP wave not been there in 2019 and the latter's position in the Trinamool Congress not been weakened. "Arjun Singh believes that it was his personal charisma that worked. It was nothing like that. People did vote for Dinesh Trivedi wholeheartedly. It was just the BJP tag that helped him. People just wanted a change and that worked in his favour. The last time Arjun Singh contested the Parliamentary elections from Barrackpore was in 2004 when he lost to Tarit Baran Topdar of the CPI(M) by over 1,65,000 votes. Where was his charisma then," Roy asked. While the state unit of the BJP is still a bit confused over Singh's defection, the central leadership in Delhi isn't worried. "This is how a firm organisation is built in a state. We always knew that those who migrated from the Trinamool Congress are prone to return once their aspirations aren't fulfilled. However, till we have a strong organisational base in the state, we will have to offer such people tickets. If not for anything else, but to show our ground level workers and supporters that Brand BJP counts in the state. Only after the state leadership creates a pool of leaders, can we stop patronising people like Arjun Singh or Babul Supriyo. It is difficult to build a strong organisation in a state but that must happen before the BJP can seek to oust the well entrenched Trinamool Congress from West Bengal," a BJP leader in Delhi said. With less than two years remaining for the 2024 Parliamentary elections, it doesn't seem that the central leadership's ideas have had any effect on the West Bengal BJP leaders. Instead of hitting the streets on issues like corruption and nepotism that have been confirmed by high court rulings, the state leadership is more interested in attempting to prove who is a greater leader. They continue to wait for top leaders from Delhi to address public meetings in the state, but are doing no follow-up to influence people against the Trinamool Congress that is going through a rough time at the moment. After all, Mamata Banerjee can rage and rant against central agencies but she can say little once agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are directed by the high court to probe corruption charges. --IANS jayanta/arm ( 802 Words) 2022-05-24-21:03:27 (IANS)
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Tuesday asserted that the state has huge domestic and international potential for trade as it shares borders with Tibet (China), Myanmar and Bhutan. He said in tandem with the Central government's focus on "Neighbourhood First Policy", the state's trade relations can be further improved by using connectivity links like Pangsau Pass (with Myanmar) in the east and Lumla-Tashigang road (with Bhutan) in the west. "By 2047, we should aim to make Arunachal Pradesh as a 'Gateway of Trade' with our neighbours," he said in his address at the inaugural session of the one-day International Buyer Seller Meet (IBSM) at the DK Convention Centre here. The IBSM is being held for the second time in Arunachal Pradesh by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), an apex body of Ministry of Commerce, to promote exports of potential agricultural and processed food products from Arunachal Pradesh and provide market linkage to producers. The first IBSM was held here in 2019 in Arunachal Pradesh. Lauding APEDA for organising the 'all important' meet in the state, Khandu suggested focussing on developing three types of markets on a long term goal - short, medium, and long distance markets. The 'short distance markee', he said, is the existing market within the state, which needs to be further strengthened by roping in the Indian Army and paramilitary forces, who are posted in the state in huge numbers, as potential buyers. "While under the 'middle distance market' we can work on developing markets with rest of the country including states in the northeast, we need to explore and open marketing avenues with neighboring countries," he said. Emphasising on the need to promote sustainable and organic agriculture in the state, the Chief Minister informed with only 17 persons per square km population density, Arunachal Pradesh has huge stretches of fertile land for cultivation. "From the foothills to the snow-clad mountains, we have all the weather conditions suitable for agriculture and horticulture products. And as we are geographically the largest state in the northeast, we have ample scope to focus and improve in this sector," he said. He said that his government's basic focus is on building an 'AtmaNirbhar Arunachal Pradesh' by strengthening agriculture and allied sectors, enhancing the quality of output and improving livelihoods of the dependent population. "By launching Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojana and Atma Nirbhar Bagwani Yojana - two unique schemes wherein of the total project cost 40 per cent is borne by the state government, 40 per cent provided as credit linkage from banks and only 20 per cent contributed by the farmer - we aim to make Arunachal self-sufficient in food grains and emerge as fruit bowl of the country." Underscoring the importance of GI (Geographical Indication) tag, which has become a powerful tool to depict the uniqueness and distinct characteristic of the product, while competing in the international market, Khandu requested the departments concerned to persue GI tagging of products in coordination with APEDA. "Our Arunachal oranges have received GI tag. We are the largest producers of Kiwi in the country and we have started exporting several other fruits. In order to popularise unique products from the state, we should work towards identifying more such local products from agri-horti, textiles and handloom sectors which can be GI tagged," he suggested. The Chief Minister expressed hope that the exchange of views and ideas between sellers from the state and buyers from across the country and abroad would throw open new avenues of markets and lay foundations for more in future. Also hoping that the state government departments and agencies would take full advantage of all APEDA schemes and programs, he requested the central agency to keep in loop the state departments of agriculture and horticulture and the Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Marketing Board (APAMB) in all its future endeavours. Besides Agriculture Minister Tage Taki and state government officials, the inaugural session was also attended by APEDA Chairman, Dr M Angamuthu, North Eastern Development Finance Corporation CMD, P.V.S.L.N. Murty, APEDA General Manager S.S. Nayyar and Deputy General Manager Vinita Sudhanshu. --IANS sc/vd ( 696 Words) 2022-05-24-21:03:28 (IANS)
Amid souring relations between ruling allies Janata Dal-United and Bharatiya Janata Party, Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha on Tuesday said that 80 per cent of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's dream project "Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal" programme has failed in the state. Visiting his home district Lakhisarai, he said: "We have received reports that 80 per cent of households where 'Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal' were facilitated in the state, these arrangements are either partially completed or shut. In some places, it required repair work. Issues related to installation of water tanks, and pipelines also appeared before us. The overall situation is extremely bad." "Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal" is a pet project of Nitish Kumar. It comes under "Saat Nishchay Yojana" (Seven Point Programme) of the state government with an idea to provide water to every household in rural and urban areas. Sinha, who is of the BJP, also asserted that the law and order situation is also at the lowest level in Bihar. "The state government is used to transferring SPs, DSPs and other officers from one place to another. Such moves will not address the law and order situation in Bihar. It needs to break the mindset of the people. The honest officers are getting sidelined and corrupt officers are deployed on the key areas of the ground. I will personally talk to the DGP and Chief Secretary to avoid giving protection to them," he said. Sinha's statement came at a time when the political relation between the BJP and the JD-U is not looking good. It would be interesting to see how the JD-U reacts to it. There is an impression arising that BJP top leadership deliberately asked Sinha to raise these points and attack Nitish Kumar, and the state wing of BJP is not leaving any chances to target the CM. There is speculation that Nitish Kumar may utilise the issue to break the alliance and form the government with the help of the RJD. However, JD-U national President Rajiv Ranjan Singh, who is popularly known as Lalan Singh, said that the relation with the BJP is normal so far. --IANS ajk/vd ( 371 Words) 2022-05-24-21:34:02 (IANS)
ReNew Power, a leading name in the renewable energy sector, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka government in the presence of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai at the World Economic Forum meet, held at Davos to invest Rs 50,000 crore over the next seven years in the state. Bommai termed the pact a milestone in the Renewable Energy sector of Karnataka. "The company intends to set up production units in Renewable Energy, Battery Storage and Green Hydrogen over the next seven years in two phases. In the first phase, Rs 11,900 crore would be invested in the ongoing projects in the state and they would be operationalised in the next two years", said Bommai. "In the second phase, the company plans to invest Rs 37,500 crore to set up Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen units over the next 5 years. The projects spread over two phases would create employment opportunities for about 30,000 persons", Bommai said. ReNew Power is the biggest company in the renewable energy sector of India and it has implemented over 120 wind, solar and hydropower projects spread over nine states of the country. The company is generating about 12 Gigawatts of power through its plants in the country. It has a strong presence in Karnataka. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Bommai met Chairman and CEO of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Bharti Mittal. The latter has expressed keen interest to set up a Mega Data Centre in the state. Bommai assured all the support from the state government to make it a reality. The Chief Minister also held talks with George Oliver, the CEO of Johnson Controls on investment opportunities in Karnataka. Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani, IT, BT Minister CN Ashwathnarayan, Additional Chief Secretary in the department of Industries EV Ramana Reddy, CM's Principal Secretary N Manjunath and Commissioner in the department of Industries Gunjan Krishna were present. (ANI)
At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, US, on Tuesday, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The gunman, identified by officials as Salvador Ramos, is dead and is believed to have acted alone. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the 18-year-old suspect had attended Uvalde High School, according to a CNN report.

The gunman shot his grandmother before the mass shooting, authorities say, and she remains hospitalised in critical condition, CNN reported.

President Joe Biden called on the US to turn its collective pain into political action following the deadliest elementary school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012.

The gunman, identified by officials as Salvador Ramos, is dead and is believed to have acted alone. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the 18-year-old suspect had attended Uvalde High School.

The shooting was the deadliest at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut that left 26 people dead, including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old.

The gunman wore body armour, crashed his vehicle in a ditch near the school before attempting to enter the premises, an official told CNN. Law enforcement engaged the suspect but he was able to get inside, where he "entered several classrooms and started shooting his firearm," he said.

A photo of two AR15-style rifles appeared on an Instagram account linked to the gunman just three days before Tuesday's shooting. His TikTok page has only a single post of a mobile game, yet the bio under his profile picture reads: Kids be scared irl or in real life, CNN said.
The case against student activist Umar Khalid, who was arrested and charged under the Unlawful Activities Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the alleged larger conspiracy case behind the 2020 Delhi riots, is intentionally fabricated, his counsel told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday. Senior advocate Tridip Pais, appearing for Khalid argued that the incarceration of his client for the past two years was solely based on the hearsay statement. "It is all hearsay," Pais said during the course of hearing before a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar. Questioning the statement of witnesses and Whatsapp chats procured by the police, he said that there were 751 FIRs related to violence and none of the complaints of actual violence is tied to Umar Khalid. "However, I have to bear the brunt of two years of imprisonment because you have a statement," he argued. "Basically UAPA is now this, you just get a person to make a statement and that is it. That is the difficulty in which I have been arraigned in this matter," he added. Counsel further argued that it is a case where a statement is made in order to implicate. It doesn't have any relation to violence in Delhi, Pais claimed, adding "that the entire preface of this matter is to frame people under UAPA solely by messages". Khalid had approached the High Court with his appeal challenging the trial court order which denied him bail in connection with the UAPA case. 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. JNU scholars and activists Khalid, and Sharjeel Imam are among the nearly a dozen people involved in the alleged larger conspiracy case linked with the Delhi riots 2020, as per the Delhi Police. The riots broke out in the national capital in February 2020 as clashes between the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and pro-CAA protesters took a violent turn, in which more than 50 people lost their lives and over 700 were injured. --IANS jw/vd ( 369 Words) 2022-05-24-22:41:32 (IANS)
With an objective to increase its presence among minorities, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is planning to reach out to backward Muslims in a bigger way. The BJP is also planning to identify individuals among the backward Muslim community for leadership role in the party and government as a trust building measures to draw maximum benefits in the upcoming assembly polls and ultimately general elections 2024. The saffron party believes that the most of the votes its gets are from the backward Muslim communities who are also beneficiaries of many welfare schemes of the union and party ruled state governments. A senior party leader told IANS that in recent Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the BJP had got around five to seven per cent Muslim votes and majority of them belong to backward castes of the community. "During recent Uttar Pradesh assembly polls backward Muslim communities who are benefitted from PM Awas Yojna, PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana which provided free ration, Ujjwala Yojana and others schemes had voted for the BJP. These Muslims, especially the backward, are openly supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and now we are planning to further consolidate their support by reaching out to backward Muslims across the country," he said. The BJP feels that winning support of new vote bank ahead of next general election will further strengthen party position in 2024 polls. "For next Lok Sabha polls, we are planning get more than 50 per cent vote share and it can achieved only by increasing party acceptance among new communities. Backward Muslims in one of such community," another party leader said. According to the party estimates, there is around 85 per cent backward Muslim population across the country. Another functionary of the BJP said that given the large population, which holds the key in electoral politics, the party is also planning to groom young new faces and hand over leadership roles to leaders from backward or Pasmanda Muslims. The functionary added that the top leadership is aware of the matter and may soon start working on it and appropriate representation to backward class people will be given in future. "Appointment of Danish Azad Ansari as minister in second term of Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is part of party' plans to give leadership role to backward Muslim. More leaders from backward Muslim communities will be given different leadership role in different position in future," he said. Another party leader said that like other backward communities in Hindu, which is turning out to be a major vote-bank, the BJP is now focusing on backward communities of Muslim to expand its reach ahead of the next parliamentary election. --IANS ssb/pgh ( 456 Words) 2022-05-24-22:48:14 (IANS)
Hardik Patel, who recently quit the Congress, hit out at the party leadership on Tuesday for their alleged "hatred towards Hindus and Lord Ram". Patel's remarks followed the statement of a former working president of the Congress, Bharatsinh Solanki. Addressing an OBC meeting in Ahmedabad, Solanki said, "The BJP has always used Lord Ram's name for political gains... It has played with the sentiments of lakhs of Hindus. With great respect, people had donated for the Ram Shila in the late eighties for the construction of Ram Temple, but they never bothered to take care of Ram Shila... It was found that dogs used to pee on the Ram Shila in Ayodhya." In a series of tweets, Hardik Patel said: "I had said earlier also that the Congress party works to hurt the sentiments of the people, it is always trying to damage the faith of Hindu religion. "I want to ask the Congress and its leaders as in what enmity do you have with Lord Shri Ram? Why hate Hindus so much? After centuries, a temple of Lord Shri Ram is being built in Ayodhya, yet the leaders of Congress keep making statements against Lord Shri Ram." Alleging that the Congress has always hurt the Hindu faith, he questioned the party and its leaders as to why they are against Lord Ram. --IANS haresh/arm ( 236 Words) 2022-05-24-22:51:44 (IANS)
Later, the deceased was identified as Shivaram Patra, son of a temple priest from Harachandi Taluchha Sahi of the pilgrim town.

As per reports, two bike-borne miscreants opened two rounds of fire and killed Sibaram on the spot just 20 metres away from the Singha Dwara (main entrance) of the Puri Jagannath Temple.

'Singha Dwara' police immediately called an ambulance and shifted the injured person to Puri district headquarters hospital where he was declared dead.

Puri Superintendent of Police (SP) Kanwar Vishal Singh reached the spot to assess the situation.

He said, "Prime accused has been identified as Chandan Barik. He has been detained in connection with the incident. The weapon used in the crime has also been seized."

According to the SP, the case prima facie seems to be the result of personal enmity.

Forensic examination is underway.

As per local people, the deceased was murdered due to a love affair. (ANI)
The Delhi government on Tuesday extended the Excise Policy 2021-22 for two months, up to July 31, which has also extended the validity period of the licences for retail liquor stores in the city. The previous policy ends on May 31. The decision was taken in anticipation of the delay in the approval of the Excise Policy 2022-23. which permits home delivery of alcohol. among others. The policy 2022-23 was approved by the cabinet on its meeting on May 5. However, the approval from Lt Governor is still pending. The extension is subject to payment of licence fee for the extended period, including security deposit, as per provisions extant. "The extension is subject to payment of pro-rata fee for the extension period including security deposit where applicable. The L-1 licences who are illing to avail of this extension period of two months from June 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022 for making sales of their registered brands at existing price, are required to deposit two months' fee," said the order from Excise Department. However, the licence fee dues will not be allowed to exceed the security deposit amount available with the department at any point of time during the extended period. The existing licensees of retail liquor stores will be required to pay the licence fee for the extended period by May 31. --IANS avr/vd ( 239 Words) 2022-05-24-23:06:55 (IANS)
The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, on Tuesday called on the family members of Rahul Bhat, the Kashmiri Pandit who was killed by terrorists in Budgam on May 12, and expressed his condolences. Sinha said the administration stands shoulder to shoulder with the bereaved family in this hour of grief and assured the family members of all the support from the UT government. The education of the daughter of Rahul Bhat is now the responsibility of the government, he said. "The J&K government has already formed an SIT to probe Rahul Bhat's killing," Sinha said. A special cell within the L-G Secretariat is handling the grievances of PM package employees. A nodal officer has been deputed who is looking after the issues on a daily basis. J&K police have also been directed to ensure foolproof security for the PM package employees. --IANS zi/arm ( 159 Words) 2022-05-24-23:08:52 (IANS)
Delhi Police has busted an inter-state gang that used to cheat unemployed youth by offering them fake 'Work from Home' job profiles, an official said on Tuesday. The police also arrested two persons in this connection following an inter-state operation in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi. DCP Sagar Singh Kalsi said a complaint on MHA Cyber Crime Portal was received by Cyber Police Station North District, wherein the complainant alleged that she saw a video on Youtube for earning money through online application "Freelancer Data Corporation based in the UK". She downloaded the Freelancer app and saw a work for bid. Upon obtaining work after bidding, she started working on an assignment given to her. She was contacted by an unknown person on mobile and through e-mail, who asked her to make payment on the pretext of registration fee, processing fee, international bank transaction charge, foreign exchange conversion fee, etc., in order to facilitate payment in her bank account for completion of work assigned to her. She transferred around Rs 12,000 in various UPI IDs and bank accounts and later on realised that she was cheated on the pretext of work from home. Accordingly, the police registered an FIR under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code at Cyber north police station and initiated the investigation. During the probe, it was found that the accused persons were operating from Kichha, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand from where one accused Tushar Kumar (20) was arrested on May 19. Further, based on his revelations, the second accused Mohd. Akram Ali (22) was also apprehended. Further investigation of the case is in progress and efforts are being made to trace other victims cheated by the accused, the official added. --IANS uj/pgh ( 300 Words) 2022-05-24-23:18:02 (IANS)
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia met the Cambridge University faculty on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing partnership and to explore new ways to strengthen ties. The meeting was a part of the Deputy Chief Minister's ongoing visit to the United Kingdom for the Education World Forum 2022. Speaking at the forum, Manish Sisodia said, "It was a pleasure sharing the Delhi Education model with the education ministers and experts from 122 countries at Education World Forum-2022. I am happy to see the growing interest of people to learn from our education model and reforms." Delving into details about the purpose of his visit to Cambridge University, Sisodia added, "Our ongoing collaboration with the Cambridge University for training principals has helped us create a positive environment in schools and introduce better administrative practices." "In this journey of Delhi's Education Revolution, Cambridge University has played a crucial role to help turn our vision into a reality. We are continuously training our teachers for improving their pedagogical skills and relationships with students by sending them to premier institutes across India and abroad, such as the University of Cambridge, educational institutes in Finland and Singapore for professional training." Sisodia also discussed the idea of designing a joint certification course between Cambridge University and Delhi Teachers University in the areas of school leadership, curriculum development, and other related fields. Notably, between 2016 to 2021, about 354 officials, principals and educators visited Cambridge University for training in 12 batches, and the next batch is scheduled to visit Cambridge between 19-28 June 2022. During the course of the training that was developed by the Delhi government with Judge Business School, Cambridge University, Heads of School get to visit local schools, interact with the senior leaders there and observe the teaching methods. The Deputy Chief Minister also visited Chesterton Community College at Cambridge University, which is one of the schools where the Delhi Government's Head of schools go to understand the leadership challenges as part of their training. Sisodia informed the Cambridge faculty about Delhi Government's groundbreaking 'Happiness, Deshbhakti, and Entrepreneurship Mindset' curricula, which have been introduced in government schools with an aim to improve emotional well-being, experiential learning and encouraging the entrepreneurial mindset. (ANI)
After a child raised provocative slogans at a Popular Front of India (PFI) rally, state president CP Muhammad Basheer on Tuesday said that the slogan was against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He further said that his party will continue to fight and resist RSS terrorism. In the viral video, a boy is seen raising the slogan that "Hindus should keep rice for their last rites and Christians should keep incense for their last rites. If your live decently, you can live in our land and if you don't live decently, we know Azadi (freedom). Live decently, decently, decently." This came as a direct threat to the Hindu and Christian population living in Kerala, with PFI warning the death penalty if they don't fall in line. Reacting to the Muslim boy chanting death for Hindus, Basheer said, "The PFI's slogan in the national campaign conducted by the PFI, grand people's conference and rally held in Alapuzha were in accordance with the laws of the land and communal normally. We used to give out printed slogans and in this programme also, we distributed printed slogans. The programme attracted a large number of people, which was beyond the expectations of the organisers and it was a success. So the people who did not like this wanted to tarnish the PFI by picking up one particular incident that happened." "One group of people was sloganeering with a boy below 15 years. He was chanting the slogans and the slogan was basically against the RSS and against the terrorism of RSS. But one or two lines were not in accordance with the policy and the culture of PFI and democratic society. It was totally against RSS. Using this instance, the people who hate Muslims or do not like the work of PFI are actively involved in the propaganda to tarnish the image of the organisation", he added. "In this incident, we are trying to say that intimidation propaganda campaign against PFI is not going to win. We will succeed this, we will overcome this, and we will show our activities and our ideology to the public. It is totally in harmony with the people. It is in accordance with the democratic setup. It is not against the Christan community and Hindu community or not against any other community. We will continue our resistance against RSS terrorism", the PFI state president added. (ANI)
According to the Finance Ministry notification, the order will come into force on May 25, 2022, and shall cease to apply after March 31, 2024.

"Central Govt. has allowed import of a quantity of 20 Lakh MT each of Crude Soyabean Oil & Crude Sunflower Oil per year for a period of 2 years at Nil rate of customs duty & Agricultural Infrastructure and Development Cess. This will provide significant relief to the consumers", the CBIC tweeted.

The announcement comes in the wake of a surge in edible oil prices in India. India is one of the world's largest vegetable oil importers and relies on imports for 60 per cent of its needs.

Meanwhile, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, edible oil prices have shot up significantly. Sunflower oil is imported into India majorly from Ukraine and Russia.

In February, the Government of India on Monday announced that agri-cess on crude palm oil has been reduced to 5 per cent with effect from 12th February 2022 from the earlier 7.5 per cent. (ANI)
Printers from across the Middle East and Africa have filled the aisles of Gulf Print & Pack on its opening day on May 24, which was opened by Sheikh Hasher Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, Director-General, Dubai Department of Information.

Commenting on the quality of visitors as well as the numbers and the more international outlook of the show, Barry Killengrey, Event Director of Gulf Print & Pack 2022, said: We are delighted with attendance at the first day of GPP. Pre-registration is double that of the previous edition of GPP, demonstrating the eagerness of the MEA print community to reconnect in person. We have also noticed a rise in the number of international visitors from outside the Middle East region.

Highlights of the first day of GPP 2022 included the global launch of the Canon imagePRESS V1000. Other leading graphic arts manufacturers at the show include Heidelberg, Ricoh, Kodak, Konica Minolta and Xerox.

Digital printing

It has been amazing to see our peers, partners and customers from all over the region, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar at GPP, after two years of virtual meetings. The pandemic has really impacted the way businesses operate and changed the printing and packaging landscape - in particular it has accelerated certain trends, including digital printing and our top priority is to help customers better navigate the changing landscape and operate efficiently in a post pandemic reality.

Through our presence at GPP we are showcasing the depth of our portfolio and are very excited to set a new benchmark in production print, with the successful Middle East launch of the all new imagePRESS V1000. The needs of our customers have always been central to our business philosophy, and we have ensured that we are able to demonstrate the practical applications, benefits and technical capabilities of our products at GPP.

Our stand is divided into 5 zones with live demonstrations that underscore the real-life applications of inkjet, wide format and production printing and we look forward to sharing this technology with all visitors to GPP, said Shadi Bakhour, Business Unit Director, Canon Middle East.

Gulf Print and Pack continues until May 26 at the Dubai World Trade Centre (Sheikh Saeed Halls 1 and 2). Registration is still ongoing and can be done onsite or online at www.gulfprintpack.com.-- TradeArabia News Service
Telangana Congress on Wednesday urged the Telangana government to remove the photo of RSS leader Veer Savarkar from the Salar Jung Museum here. Congress urged the government to replace it with the photo of freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Mahatma Gandhi or Nizams of Hyderabad. In a conversation with reporters on Tuesday, Organising Secretary in Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee Osman Mohammed Khan said, "The Congress leaders on Tuesday visited the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad. At the museum, we objected to placing the photo of Savarkar inside the Museum and demand the Government to remove it with immediate effect." Khan further expressed his unhappiness over witnessing the minimalist representation of Nizams of Hyderabad in the museum. "Today, we came to this museum which is one of the best in Hyderabad. I felt really bad looking at a few scenes here. Salar Jung was a Prime Minister during the Nizam rule. The Nizam family here had donated several antique pieces. However, the government did not acknowledge it well." "The museum authorities have removed all his photos from the museum. Instead, they chose to place the photo of Savarkar here. Savarkar was never a part of the freedom struggle. He was supporting the Britishers. Putting his photo in Salar Jung museum is very shameful and we condemn it," he said. He further questioned Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi by saying, "the museum comes under your jurisdiction. Here, the local MLA, local corporator is of AIMIM. Such a big issue is happening and you are not aware of it? We appeal that Savarkar's portrait be removed from here immediately." (ANI)
The All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) has called for a Bharat Bandh today demanding a caste-based census. The strike has been called as a mark of protest against the Centre for not conducting a caste-based census for the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The Federation is also demanding reservations for the SC/ST/OBC communities in the private sector. Besides, BAMCEF is also protesting against the use of EVMs during elections and the issue of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Population Register (NPR). The other key demands include the implementation of a separate electorate in OBC reservation in Panchayat polls in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, resumption of the old pension scheme, protection of labour rights and no displacement of tribal people. BAMCEF also demanded a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) for farmers. Several parties including BJP's ally Janata Dal-United have been demanding a caste-based census in the country. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said that a caste-based census would enable the government to work for the development of various sections of the society. "We will start it soon and will also ensure it is implemented properly. Once the caste-based Census is done, the government can work for their development," he said. Earlier, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had said that the Government of India has decided as a matter of policy "not to enumerate caste-wise populations other than SCs and STs in the census". (ANI)
Reddy said that social justice is irrelevant and incomplete without gender justice in political representation.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Reddy wrote, "All men who get MLA/MP ticket will not win, so winnability question is ONLY for women? Men with all resources also have lost elections, but the question on resources is ONLY for women? Social justice is irrelevant/incomplete without Gender justice!"

"Why is Indian National Congress ignoring 50 per cent of the population? Is there no representation for women in our Assembly, Council, or Parliament at all? Is it no entry for women?" the post read.

The state Legislative Council elections will be held on June 3. The election is necessitated as the term of office of seven members expires on June 14.

Meanwhile, the BJP has announced four candidates for the Legislative Council polls. The BJP has picked senior leaders Laxman Savadi, S Keshava Prasad, Hemalatha Nayak and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy for contesting the polls. (ANI)
The encounter took place at Najibhat crossing in Kreeri area of Baramulla earlier today in which one Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel also lost his life.

The security forces have recovered incriminating materials including arms and ammunition.

"Three #Pakistani #terrorists killed. One JKP personnel also attained #martyrdom in this chance encounter. #Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition recovered," Kashmir Zone Police tweeted.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that security forces have neutralised 22 Pakistani terrorists so far this year.

"We have neutralised three Pakistani terrorists of JeM. They were active in this area for the last 3-4 months and we were tracking them. One police personnel also got martyred. Till now this year, we have neutralised 22 Pakistani terrorists," Kumar said. (ANI)
The Prime Minister also prayed that those injured in the accident recover at the very earliest.

"I am deeply pained by the loss of lives due to a tragic accident in Odisha's Ganjam district. In this tragic hour, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray that those injured recover at the very earliest: PM @narendramodi," tweeted Prime Minister's office today.

At least six tourists were killed and several others were seriously injured in a road accident near the Durgaprasad area in Ganjam district late on Tuesday night.

Pradhan, a fire officer, who was present at the site of the incident, said, "Six people were killed and over 40 injured after a bus overturned near Kalinga Ghat in Ganjam last night."

"Tourists from West Bengal were returning from Daringbadi. It must have happened due to brake failure," the fire officer said.

Taking note of the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted, "Our administration is coordinating with Odisha officials for a speedy postmortem of the dead, treatment for the injured and their return. Rushing a high-level team led by Principal Secretary, Disaster Management and MLA Udaynarayanpur to Odisha." (ANI)
Indian Railways have started its restoration works to re-build the railway infrastructure damaged in the flood and landslide-hit Dima Hasao district of Assam. According to the Northeast Frontier Railway (NF Railway), the flood and landslides caused due to the incessant rains had damaged the railway network at 60 locations in Dima Hasao, under the 170-km long Lumding-Badarpur section.Sabyasachi De, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of NF Railway told ANI that out of the locations destroyed by the floods, 10-11 are some critical areas, where the railways have started restoration. "Recent floods and landslides in Dima Hasao district have affected the train services in the area. The Lumding-Badarpur is a 170-km long section and landslides and floods have damaged the railway network at 60 locations in this section," said De. "Out of these 60 locations, we have already restored 11 sites and works are undergoing for the remaining areas. And out of the remaining 49 locations as well, 10-11 such locations are some critical areas where restoration is going on in full swing," he added. The CPRO of NF Railway further informed that the NF Railway has cancelled 26 pairs of trains and partially cancelled around 28 pairs of trains and the cancellation will continue till June 30. "We have started the restoration works and it will be costing around Rs 180 crore. We are targeting to complete the restoration soon," he said. Recently, the Railway Ministry has sanctioned Rs 180 crore for the task of restoration of the network that was devastated by floods and landslides in the hill district. Earlier, Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma met with Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi on May 22 and assured to complete the restoration railway network in the Dima Hasao district by July 10. (ANI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent visit to the United Kingdom, and especially his meeting with British Labour Party leader and MP Jeremy Corbyn in London came under the scanner after his controversial statements. Top sources in the government have revealed that the Congress MP skipped the due procedure, and had not sought political clearance for his visit. Top sources informed ANI that another Member of Parliament, Professor Manoj Jha from the Rashtriya Janata Dal, who also went for a function in which Rahul Gandhi was participating in London, had all due permission including - the due political clearance. Jha also spoke at the Cambridge University, a day ahead of Rahul Gandhi. On Tuesday, Gandhi posed a picture with UK Labour party leader and known India-baiter Jeremy Corbyn, which sparked off a war of words between the Congress and the BJP. While the Congress Wayanad MP spoke at the 'Ideas for India' conclave, Gandhi said that democracy is in danger and the Constitution of India is under attack. Gandhi also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of remaining silent 'deliberately' on every issue. Heated words were also exchanged between Rahul Gandhi and India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Twitter. Hitting out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks concerning "complete change" in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Jaishankar said that the change is not called "arrogance" but "confidence and defending national interest". The remarks came after Rahul Gandhi said at an event in London that he had been told by bureaucrats in Europe that IFS has changed and the officers are "arrogant". Jaishankar said in a tweet that the IFS officers follow the orders of the government and protect national interests while countering the arguments of others. "Yes, the Indian Foreign Service has changed. Yes, they follow the orders of the Government. Yes, they counter the arguments of others. No, it's not called Arrogance. It is called Confidence. And it is called defending National Interest," Jaishankar said. He also attached a clip of Rahul Gandhi's remarks. In his remarks at the 'Ideas for India' conference in London, Gandhi said he had been told that IFS officers do not listen to anything, they were just getting orders from the government and there is no conversation. (ANI)
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in collaboration with Harvard University have developed a novel Machine-Learning algorithm named 'CombSGPO' (Combined Security Game Policy Optimization) to help save the wildlife from poaching. IIT Madras, in a statement, said that the researchers have found that combined and coordinated use of the Forest Rangers and drones were a good way to protect wildlife from poaching. "As the resources (Rangers and drones) are limited, the researchers developed this algorithm which provides a good strategy to protect wildlife with the resources available. This new algorithm provides highly efficient strategies that are more scalable than the earlier ones created for the same purpose," the institute said. The algorithm, as per IIT-M, works by handling resource allocation and strategizing patrolling after the extent of resources available had been identified. For this task, the algorithm utilizes data on the animal population in the conserved area and assumes that poachers are aware of the patrolling being done at various sites. Prof Balaraman Ravindran, Mindtree Faculty Fellow and Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras, and the Head of Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), IIT Madras, collaborated with Professor Milind Tambe's Research Group - Teamcore - at Harvard University, US, to carry out this study. Highlighting the need for such Research, Ravindran said that the work was motivated by the need to perform strategic resource allocation and patrolling in green security domains to prevent illegal activities such as wildlife poaching, illegal logging and illegal fishing. "The resources we consider are human patrollers (forest rangers) and surveillance drones, which have object detectors mounted on them for animals and poachers and can perform strategic signalling and communicate with each other as well as the human patrollers," he added. This developed algorithm utilizes a Game Theory-based model created by the researchers. As per the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the wildlife trade poses the second-biggest direct threat to the survival of species after habitat destruction. While several organizations and regulatory authorities are trying to curb the incidences of poaching, the poachers seem to have always remained one step ahead of the patrollers. This collaborative research work by two esteemed universities will help in keeping poaching incidents in check. (ANI)
To scale up anti-Maoist operations, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) recently opened two new Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in its bastion in deep forested Naxal-hit state of Chhattisgarh, said officials in the paramilitary force. These new establishments will help the CRPF to penetrate deeper into the forested areas affected by the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Naxals to improve road connectivity and facilitate other Central schemes. These FOBs, the CRPF officials said, were constructed almost three months ago in the Elmagonda and Potakpally areas of Chhattisgarh's Sukma district. CRPF Director General Kuldiep Singh on Tuesday visited these two FOBs established in the heavily Maoist-infested remote region of Chhattisgarh and reviewed the operational preparedness of the force. The DG also commended the CRPF bravehearts for the valour displayed while bravely serving the motherland. With the opening of these two FOBs, the number of total such camps established since 2020 is 63, mentions CRPF data. Officials said that the CRPF has targeted to open 25 FOBs in Naxal-hit states this year. These establishments will increase the reach of the force and the Centre's schemes in nearly four dozen districts in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana which have been facing the menace of decades. The move to set up maximum FOBs is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) target to root out the decade-old Maoist issue. Of the 25 'Forward Operating Bases', 10 will be established in Chhattisgarh, seven in Maharashtra, six in Jharkhand, and one each in Odisha and Telangana, an official in the force told ANI. "It's almost a five-year-old scheme on which we are working," the officer added. The FOBs are the places from where troops move around in the field as per the operational schedule and return back there to take a rest. These FOBs are mostly built in pucca structures with the capacity to occupy more than two companies. On many occasions, another official said, other security forces like state police forces are provided logistic support in these FOBs. Meanwhile, the official said, these FOBs helped the security forces to conduct various operations. (ANI)
The Central anti-terror agency filed the supplementary charge sheet against Divan Mujipeer alias Divan under charges of criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code and section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The case pertains to a criminal conspiracy hatched by accused persons and their associates, who had pledged to the violent extremist ideology of proscribed terrorist organizations including Al-Qaeda and ISIS and had formed a terrorist gang namely Ansarullah while being in the United Arab Emirates and in India, said the NIA.

"They had recruited like-minded youth into their fold besides conducting religious classes with the intention of waging violent jihad for establishing Islamic rule in India," said the NIA.

NIA had earlier filed a charge sheet against 11 accused persons on January 8, 2020, in this case.

During the investigation, the NIA said, the charge-sheeted accused Mujipeer was found to have conspired with co-accused persons namely, Mohammed Ibrahim, Mohammed Sheik Maitheen, Meeran Ghani and Gulam Nabi Asath in UAE to form an extremist religious group namely Ansarullah with an intention to establish Islamic rule in India especially in Tamil Nadu through violent Jihad.

"They had circulated a magazine named Thozhan for propagating extreme Jihadi ideologies of ISIS and Al Qaeda," added the NIA. (ANI)
South Africa: Four in court for alleged Public Works tender collusion

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) says the arrest of four people linked to alleged tender fraud in the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is a continuation of the corruption busting units efforts to recover money stolen from the public purse.

This after four people - Jan Mathebula, Solomon Mojela, Romeo Malope and Prudence Mohale  were arrested and appeared in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court for allegedly colluding to defraud the department of at least R2.8 million through corrupt tenders.

SIU spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago, said the arrests follow an investigation which found that employees in the departments supply chain management office colluded with businesses, friends and family members to defraud the department through cover quoting.

The SIUs investigation revealed a trend of certain contractors being awarded more contracts than others. This disparate award of contracts was underpinned by a practice that indicated that entities linked to certain individuals or entities appeared to quote in collusion with each other.

The invitation of suppliers onto the database of suppliers appears to have created an environment where the database is populated with various entities all linked to a single individual, who is the ultimate beneficiary of the contract award, Kganyago said.

He added at least six other people are expected to be arrested  including the mastermind behind the scheme.

The analysis of the data from the department revealed that 11 entities linked to one individual submitted quotations to the department, thus misrepresenting to the department that they were obtaining independent quotations. These actions led the department to believe that the markets were dictating the prices being charged, when in fact the prices were being determined by the collusive actions of the 11 entities.

The effect of this practice was to ensure that the competitiveness and fairness element relating to public procurement was circumvented, allowing the suppliers, rather than a competitive and cost effective process, to dictate the charged prices, Kganyago said.

Mathebula, Mojela, Malope and Mohale have each been granted R2 000 bail, with the case postponed to 17 June for further investigation.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The UAE will strive to promote global trade and fill funding gaps, enhance global food security, launch the Markets of Tomorrow and develop applications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in tie-up with the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The official delegation of the UAE to WEF Davos 2022 shed light on the unrelenting and continuous efforts made by the UAE in various fields of interest at the global level, announced new initiatives and agreements to further enhance collaboration with WEF.

Supporting global trade

Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said in a speech during his participation in the Closing the Trade Finance Gap session that the UAE is keen to push the global economic growth to new heights.

He said that UAE is committed to supporting efforts to promote global trade and fill funding gaps in trade and export business, and stimulate innovation and growth in the digital economy.

Dr Al Zeyoudi also added that UAE is keen to create new opportunities based on modern technology to advance the overall global development process and improve the lives of peoples and communities.

Dr Al Zeyoudi discussed the UAE governments adoption of an ambitious strategy that will enable it to strengthen its foreign trade in accordance with the rapid global changes, to meet the requirements of the next phase in the development process of the country.

He also reinforced the countrys goals and position in the future labour market to enhance the competitiveness of the national economy and establishing the countrys leadership in the commercial space.

Enhancing food security

During her participation in a session entitled Averting a Global Food Crisis, Maryam Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said that the UAE government is committed to supporting international efforts to enhance global food security and adopt healthy, and sustainable food systems to achieve the goals of comprehensive development and combat hunger in the world, ensuring that the current and future needs of societies are met.

Almheiri said that the rapid changes taking place in the world require strengthening international cooperation and global partnerships and coordinating efforts to enhance food security and avoid a food crisis that affects all.

She added that the need of the hour was to adopt broader concepts and practices of sustainability, and sharing successful experiences and experiences between governments, states and the private sector, in terms of innovative and effective solutions to provide new sources of food based on modern technology to ensure that the needs of current and future generations are met.

Partnerships in scientific research

During her participation in a dialogue session entitled Safeguarding Global Scientific Collaboration, Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chairwoman of UAE Council of Scientists, stressed the UAE governments keenness to strengthen partnerships and constructive global cooperation in the field of scientific research, because of its positive implications for societies.

She said the UAE plays a pivotal role in this sector and displayed the achievements of the UAE Council of Scientists, in providing scientific advice to UAE institutions and decision-making centres.

She pointed out the importance of constructive cooperation by sharing the results and outputs of scientific research, which contributes to the development of solutions to current and future challenges and touched on the role of the UAE in sharing the data of the Emirates Mars Mission Hope Probe with more than 200 scientific institutions and research centres around the world.

Markets of Tomorrow initiative

The Forum also saw the UAE government launch the Markets of Tomorrow initiative, in partnership with WEF. The initiative aims to develop new business accelerators that will prepare the UAE's national economy to embrace business activities focused on the new economy and enhance its readiness to enter tomorrow's markets, utilising the latest technological means.

The launch of the initiative is part of a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between the UAE Ministry of Economy and WEF's New Economy and Society Centre. The agreement was signed by Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy, and Saadia Zahidi, managing director at WEF.

The Markets of Tomorrow initiative focuses on launching new accelerators in the UAE government and allocating them to support new business models in the UAE, strengthening the role of startups in the national economy, enabling them to prepare for future digital and technological work that will be part of the post-oil economy, developing a new vision that will be the most important focus of market designer alliances, supporting cooperation and integration between the government and private sectors, and shaping future markets.

Al Marri said that the UAE is entering a new era of development and sustainable progress in accordance with a clear vision and integrated strategies, to provide tools and mechanisms of action to embrace business activities based on the concepts and applications of new economies, and attract startups from regional and international markets, especially those focused on innovation, knowledge and modern technology.

He added that the country is committed to encouraging businesses to move to the UAE, reflecting a new economic model developed based on pillars that entrench entrepreneurial thinking in business and provide solutions, learning opportunities and incentives.

Agreement to develop 4IR applications

The UAE government also announced the signing of an agreement with WEF in the development of applications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in the presence of Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, Deputy Managing Director of Dubai Future Foundation, and Jeremy Jurgens - Managing Director & Head of the Forum's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Al Olama said the strategic partnership between the UAE government and WEF aims to serve communities by employing artificial intelligence, blockchain and various technologies of the future, and sharing innovative experiences and practices to provide supportive environments for the development of new ideas and projects that accelerate the process of scientific, technological and cognitive progress.

The forum, expected to host more than 2,500 leaders and delegates, including state leaders, business leaders, investors, and decision makers at the international level, coincides with the geopolitical and economic developments across the world that have led to serious challenges on global growth and caused disruption in supply chain.

The forum seeks to strengthen international efforts in building understanding and common ground to overcome the current circumstances.-- TradeArabia News Service
Amid the ongoing Gyanvapi mosque and Qutub Minar row in the country, the All India Shia Personal Law Board on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding the Centre to ensure the implementation of Places of Worship Act 1991n the Section 3 of which bars the conversion of places of worship. In the Executive meeting, the Board also said that the members will meet President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to present a memorandum to "stop surveying all the mosque and heritage monuments". The remarks of the Board came after a plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the constitutional validity of certain sections of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, saying that it barefacedly violates the principles of secularism and rule of law. Meanwhile, a plea had also been filed in Delhi's Saket court urging the restoration of 27 Hindu and Jain temples in the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli. However, the Court has reserved the order on the matter. The AIMPLB alleged that the situation in the country is "going more communal than before". "We should follow the Constitution. We will meet and give a memorandum to the President of India and Prime Minister of India to stop this communal overture like surveying all the mosques and heritage monuments. We need to work as a society to build unity among Hindus and Muslims not divide them," Board spokesperson Maulana Yasoob Abbas said. Earlier this month, the Board had decided to extend legal assistance to the Muslim side in the ongoing Gyanvapi Mosque case. (ANI)
The Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh on Wednesday while sentencing JKLF leader Yasin Malik to life imprisonment in a terror funding case said, in his opinion, there was no reformation of the convict. "It may be correct that the convict may have given up the gun in the year 1994, but he had never expressed any regret for the violence he had committed prior to the year 1994 and still remained engaged in violent acts," the judge said. "It is to be noticed that, when he claimed to have given up the path of violence after the year 1994, the government of India took it upon its face value and gave him an opportunity to reform and in good faith, tried to engage in a meaningful dialogue with him and as admitted by him, gave him every platform to express his opinion, said NIA Judge Praveen Singh. "I must observe here that the convict cannot invoke the Mahatma and claim to be his follower because, in Mahatma Gandhi's principles, there was no place for violence, howsoever high the objective might be. It only took one small incident of violence at Chauri Chaura for the Mahatma to call off the entire non-cooperation movement but the convict despite large scale of violence engulfing the valley neither condemned the violence nor withdrew his calendar of protest which had led to the said violence," the court further observed. The NIA court further said that the crimes for which Malik was convicted were of a very serious nature. These crimes were intended to strike at the heart of the idea of India and intended to forcefully secede J-K from the Union of India. The crime becomes more serious as it was committed with the assistance of foreign powers and designated terrorists. The seriousness of the crime is further increased by the fact that it was committed behind the smokescreen of an alleged peaceful political movement, added the court. The manner of the commission of the crime, and the kind of weaponry used in the crime lead me to a conclusion that the crime in question would fail the test of rarest of rare cases, NIA Judge Praveen Singh said. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to Yasin Malik, in a terror funding case. The NIA court while sentencing life imprisonment to Malik also imposed a fine of above Rs 10 lakh. He was sentenced to life imprisonment twice (one for waging war against the nation and one in UAPA sec 17 raising fund for terror act). NIA had sought the death penalty for Malik who was convicted on May 19. The court while convicting him had said, "In view of the plea of the guilt, accused Mohd. Yasin Malik @ Aslam is hereby convicted for the offences punishable u/s 120B IPC, 121 IPC, 121A IPC, 13 UAPA r/w 120B IPC, 15 UAPA r/w 120B IPC, 17 UAPA, 18 UAPA, 20 UAPA, 38 UAPA and 39 UAPA." The NIA charge sheet submitted in the case stated that the Central Government received credible information that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Amir of Jammat-ud-Dawah and the secessionist and separatist leaders including the members of Hurriyat Conference have been acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organizations like HM, LeT etc. for raising, receiving and collecting funds domestically and abroad through various illegal channels including hawala. The NIA also stated before the court that this has been done for funding separatist and terrorist activities in J&K and as such, they have entered into a larger conspiracy for causing disruption in the valley by way of pelting stones on security forces, systematically burning schools, damage to public property and waging war against India. (ANI)
In order to speed up the process of the Aravali Safari Park project, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar held a meeting with Union Minister for Forest, Environment and Climate Change and Labor and Employment Bhupender Yadav in New Delhi.

The meeting was attended by the personal secretary to the chief minister, V Umashankar, personal secretary to the Haryana Tourism Minister, M D Sinha and senior officers from the Union Government.

Khattar while interacting with the media said that the Aravalli Safari Park Project would be an important component of developing Haryana as a Tourism Hub. The site and land have been marked to set up Aravalli Safari Park in the Gurugram District.

The chief minister discussed in-depth with the Union Minister in the context of Aravalli Safari Park to be set up on the basis of world-class design and standards. The Regional Cultural Identity of Haryana will be included in the format of Aravalli Safari Park.

Some world-class safari park sites will also be visited to study the wold level design and standards. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) and Conservator of Forest (DCF) on a plea seeking direction to authorities to stop vehicular movement on the illegal road constructed in the Rajokri protected Forest here. Justice Yashwant Varma on issued notice to MoEF, DCF, SDM of Mehrauli and Delhi Police Commissioner and sought their response on the plea moved by Mall Road, Vasant Kunj, Residents Welfare Association. The matter has been listed for hearing on July 27, 2022. The petition filed through advocate Simarpal Singh Sawney also sought direction to the authorities to take necessary action to preserve the Rajokri protected Forest by blocking the illegal road and other ancillary directions. It is stated that there has been a continuous unauthorised two-way movement of heavy commercial vehicles through an illegal road constructed through the Rajokri Forest land to Church/ Mall Road, Vasant Kunj in South Delhi since March 2021. It causes serious traffic congestion. The petition alleged that the illegal road has been constructed over the past few years with impunity and blatant disregard within the protected forest land for plying of commercial vehicles for the transport of Ready-Mix-Concrete (RMC) leading to the factory of respondent NDCON. The Rajokri forest is a protected forest land under the Indian Forests Act and come under the purview of the prohibiting provisions, and thus cannot be used for any non-forest purpose, the petition stated. It is also stated that the road constructed in the forest is illegal and in contravention of the laws of the country. It is also causing safety issues for the residents of Church Road, Green Avenue, and neighbouring areas, a safety hazard for the students of nearby schools, and pollution and degradation of the ecology and environment of the Rajokri Reserved Forest. (ANI)
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday lashed out at K Chandrashekar Rao after reports surfaced that Telangana Chief Minister will not be in the state during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit on Thursday. The Prime Minister will visit Hyderabad on Thursday to attend the 20th annual celebrations at the Indian School of Business (ISB) and according to sources, the Chief Minister is likely not to receive the PM as he has other prescheduled plans. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi president, who has expressed his national ambitions in the past and is eying a role in national politics, is likely to skip protocol for the second time in less than four months. In February this year, KCR had remained absent during the Prime Minister's tour to Hyderabad. Speaking to ANI, BJP OBC morcha National President Dr. K Lakshman said, "PM Modi is to arrive for a private programme at International school of business at Gachibowli in Hyderabad. The BJP state unit will felicitate him at the Begumpet airport." The BJP leader said that it is the solemn duty of a Chief Minister to receive the Prime Minister during his visit to the state. "The people of Telangana are vexed with the present Telangana government and more particularly KCR, being the chief Minister not maintaining minimum courtesy to receive PM. This is not the first time but a second time, during this time, KCR is visiting other states, and the people of Telangana are laughing at him," he said. "This is not the system but the CM acts that way. Irrespective of political and party affiliations, it is the bounden duty of the Chief Minister to receive him at the airport and protocol has to be maintained. We were told that except for the Chief secretary, no other Minister is coming to receive PM," Lakshman added. The BJP leader also highlighted that the party workers are "overwhelmed to receive the Prime Minister" at the airport. "But as far as the schedule is concerned, there is no specific programme but karyakartas and cadres' wish and have a desire to hear him at the airport," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Hyderabad and Chennai on Thursday. (ANI)
Former interim general secretary of the AIADMK, V.K. Sasikala who was in political hibernation after her incarceration in Bengaluru central jail, has slammed the DMK government led by Stalin. At a press conference here on Wednesday, the former close aide of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, said that the DMK government must stop its confrontationist attitude toward the Central government and start functioning in a constructive manner. Taking a dig at the media, Sasikala said that it was failing to highlight the wrongdoings of the DMK government. She came out strongly against the state government for constituting committees headed by private persons and said that the IAS officers will not implement their recommendations. Sasikala said the government must stop constituting such committees and take IAS officers into confidence and execute government work directly through them. She lashed out against the DMK government for stopping the people-friendly schemes launched by the late Jayalalithaa and said that the state government in the past year was not doing anything other than taking a confrontationist attitude toward the central government. She came out strongly against the home department and said that the law and order situation was bad and cited the example of a BJP leader being hacked to death in Chennai on Tuesday night. She added: "It is doubtful whether Stalin is in charge of the law and order situation in the state." Sasikala said that the AIADMK cadres wanted her to lead the party and claimed that the delay in the announcement of AIADMK candidates for the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats was because the party was not in the control of a single person. When asked about the second rung leaders of the AIADMK opposing her coming back to the party fold, Sasikala said, "Not all second rung leaders but a few. They may be speaking against me to get some party posts." Sasikala said that it was the party cadre who decides who joins the AIADMK and added that this was the norm created in the party by its founder and former Chief Minister, late M.G. Ramachandran. She warned the DMK government not to play politics by cancelling the Amma clinics floated by the previous Jayalalithaa government. --IANS aal/bg ( 382 Words) 2022-05-25-19:56:21 (IANS)
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Jammu signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jammu and Kashmir Skill Development Department (SDD) at the Civil Secretariat in Jammu on Wednesday. The MoU was signed by Professor BS Sahay, Director of IIM Jammu and Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, Principal Secretary, Government of Jammu and Kashmir. "IIM Jammu will work closely with the Department of Skill Development to improve the skill development ecosystem of J&K by mentoring Polytechnics and ITIs and offering management development training programmes to the principals and faculty of these institutes", stated an official release. Speaking on the occasion, Professor BS Sahay said, "The MoU provides various opportunities to work together in the areas of skill development, mentoring, entrepreneurship, and developing of skill hubs in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. These collaborations will be helpful in fostering the advancement in entrepreneurship and enhancement of skills among the faculty and trainers through various capacity-building programs. I am sure the collaboration will lead to meaningful outcomes in the interest of the youth and people of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir." Asgar Hassan Samoon said, "The collaboration with IIM Jammu will help the Department of Skill Development to develop its competence in many key areas ranging from skill development to entrepreneurship and increase industry interactions. I would like to emphasize that the collaboration would give a leading edge to the Department of Skill Development in the core areas of skill development, business incubations, entrepreneurship, and development of skill hubs in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir." (ANI)
BJP president J.P. Nadda will visit Madhya Pradesh from June 1 to 3, during which he will hold several meetings with state party leaders, party's state unit chief V.D. Sharma said on Wednesday. Talking to the press at BJP headquarters in Bhopal, Sharma said the state leadership has planned a grand welcome for Nadda, who will be first visiting Bhopal on June 1 and then will go to Jabalpur on June 2. "He (Nadda) will be meeting with state BJP working committee members and party workers in Bhopal on June 1 and on June 2, he will be attending a 'youth connect' programme organised by the party's state youth wing in Jabalpur," Sharma said. Nadda will meet the state working committee members to review the party's ongoing preparations regarding the Assembly polls scheduled next year. During the meeting, he will also review the progress reports of the individual members of the state working committee assigned to them. "He will be addressing the gathering of party leaders and workers in Jabalpur," Sharma added. Nadda's visit will also be crucial as the state is set for panchayat elections and local body polls which are to be held soon. Notably, the state's local body polls have been a point of debate since long due to the OBC reservation issue. The national BJP president will meet the organisation's office bearers to discuss the election strategy for local body polls so that all the shortcomings can be removed before the election. Earlier in March this year, Nadda had visited Indore and during a day-long visit had held meetings with party office-bearers. --IANS pd/skp/ ( 281 Words) 2022-05-25-20:28:03 (IANS)
The park is proposed to be set up in an area of 10,000 acres in the areas of Gurugram district of Haryana.

"The Aravalli Safari Park Project would be an important component towards developing Haryana as a Tourism Hub," the Chief Minister said while interacting with the media persons.

Khattar discussed in-depth with the Union Minister in the context of Aravalli Safari Park to be set up on the basis of world class design and standards.

The regional cultural identity of Haryana will be included in the format of Aravalli Safari Park.

According to the government, before setting up the park, some world class safari parks sites will also be visited by the officials to study their design and standards.The meeting was attended by Haryana CM's PS, V. Umashankar, Haryana Tourism PS M.D. Sinha, and other senior officials from the Central government.

--IANS uj/pgh

( 195 Words)

2022-05-25-20:44:26 (IANS)
The police have shifted him to Thiruvananthapuram from Kochi for further proceedings. He will be produced before the court on Thursday at Thiruvananthapuram.

Kerala High Court on Monday granted interim bail to PC George in another hate speech case at the Mahadeva Temple at Vennala in the Ernakulam district on May 8.

Wednesday's arrest was recorded in a case of alleged hate speech against Muslims in Anantapuri Hindu Maha Sammelan in Thiruvananthapuram on April 30.

On the way to Thiruvananthapuram, he was admitted to the general hospital at Ernakulam as he felt unwell but the journey continued shortly after.

George said, "I haven't done anything that goes against the country. I don't need anyone's vote who is not a patriot. I haven't done anything illegal. I have respect for the law, that's why I am cooperating. I haven't done anything wrong." (ANI)
The UAE government and the World Economic Forum (WEF) (Davos 2022) have signed a sustainable global strategic partnership deal that ushers in a new era of continuous, fruitful bilateral cooperation over the coming two decades.

The agreement aims to boost the exploration of future opportunities, while augmenting integration and cooperation in supporting global efforts to achieve mutual objectives and develop comprehensive future plans and strategies.

The UAE-WEF Sustainable Global Strategic Partnership was unveiled during a high-level meeting between Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs, and Prof Klaus Schwab, WEF Founder and President. The bilateral meeting was held on the sidelines of the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from May 22 to 26, 2022.

Creating new visions

More than 2,000 government officials, decision makers, scholars, scientists and elite leaders from the private sector and academia attend the annual meeting. The focus of the annual meeting is to create new visions and ideas that enhance readiness across governments and the private sector.

The partnership agreement was signed by Al Gergawi and Prof Schwab. The signing ceremony was attended by Mohamed bin Hadi Al Husseini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs; Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy; Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade; Ohood Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and the Future; Shamma Al Mazrui, Minister of State for Youth; Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology; Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications; and Khalfan Belhoul, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Future Foundation.

The UAE-WEF global partnership encompasses numerous levels of cooperation, partnerships, bilateral initiatives and programmes. The agreement seeks to bolster the UAEs national strategies and achieve its future visions across different fields. It also supports achieving WEFs objectives by leveraging innovation, technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and Fourth Industrial Revolution solutions and tools across various vital sectors.

Shaping the future

Al Gergawi highlighted that the UAE is positioning itself as a hub for positive future change, through the insights of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. He added that the new partnership agreement embodies the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to enhance the position of the UAE as a hub for future government practices, and a platform for pioneering partnerships that inspire futureproofing.

He said: The UAE government is committed to designing new work models, which support futureproofing governments and improve societies lives as a whole. This can be attained through focus on the foundations of proactive strategic thinking, comprehensive plans and renewable systems to design and advance future policies in line with the global developments. The UAE plans to realise this through steadfastly sharing its advanced model for future forecasting and futureproofing, along with enhancing government resilience and readiness.

He noted that the strategic sustainable global partnership agreement between the UAE Government and WEF reflects the UAE's continued commitment to promoting comprehensive development and realising its objectives. This can be accomplished through inspiring and supporting global governments; enhancing their current capabilities and developing them to ensure their readiness for dealing with future challenges and creating an integrated ecosystem of opportunities.

Crucial global challenges

Prof Schwab praised the joint efforts of the UAE and the forum, which contribute to strengthening the global capability to deal with challenges at various levels by utilising technology and innovation.

He said: The UAE shares a remarkable vision of innovation for the global common good. The World Economic Forum is proud of our many partnerships together which aim to mobilise public and private sector action to address global food security, climate resiliency, trade innovation and responsible technology innovations as some of the worlds most challenging issues.

Four main pillars

The UAE-WEF strategic sustainable global partnership agreement strives to support and boost cooperation and integration through four main pillars: the Centre For The Fourth Industrial Revolution UAE; reinforcing public-private sectors partnerships; supporting the participation of UAE ministers and government officials in meetings, conferences and events organised by WEF regionally and globally; and launching a special summit that focuses on future opportunities and defining challenges for which the world must prepare.

The first pillar focuses on extending the Centre For The Fourth Industrial Revolution UAE mandate in the UAE for three years. The Centre plays a strategic role in shaping and strengthening the future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, alongside its relevant national strategies and plans, and the mechanisms for realising them, through public-private partnerships.

As a part of the Forum's global network of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Centres, the centre will work on designing development policies and cooperation frameworks that accelerate taking advantage of science and technology opportunities, and enhance the sharing of knowledge, science and data at the local, regional and global levels that contribute to accelerating development, by employing blockchain technology, digital assets, and artificial intelligence, in addition to blockchain technology sustainability.

Exploring opportunities

The pillar of strengthening public-private sector partnerships includes launching several initiatives and signing agreements to support the efforts of the UAE government and WEF and enhance their cooperation in finding solutions to major challenges at the social and economic levels and exploring future opportunities in vital sectors.

This pillar includes the launch of the Food Innovation Hubs initiative that focuses on establishing national food systems innovations with the aim of making an impact in local communities, and enhancing the use of the best global practices, experiences and expertise to shape initiatives that develop the work of innovation centres, in a way that ensures the strengthening of the UAEs global position as a centre of food innovation and outstanding global practices.

It also includes the extension of the Scale 360 initiative for a period of two years, according to which the UAE became the first country to support the initiative globally, to be a global centre and an open laboratory for economic and technological innovation, and a leading model in sustainable development, which aims to employ Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to create a qualified environment and sustainable infrastructure to support the growth of vital sectors.

The UAE government, in partnership with WEF, will launch the global network of international accelerators. The global cooperative village will also be launched in partnership with global organisations, governments, the private sector, and community institutions around the world. It is a village in the world of metaverse for working together and cooperating in finding solutions to the urgent challenges facing the world, shaping new sectors, and setting a new vision for the regional and global agenda.

Enhancing global presence

The third pillar includes enhancing the participation of UAE ministers and government officials in major events organised by WEF. The forum will work in partnership with the UAE government to enhance their participation and global presence and sharing of best experiences and practices.

The participations will focus on events, conferences and sessions organised by WEF at the regional and global levels, including WEF's annual meeting, in addition to WEF's annual Sustainable Development Impact Summit, and other global conferences.

The fourth pillar focuses on agreeing to organise an exceptional summit focusing on future challenges and preparation for these global changes by identifying main global trends, and developing effective solutions, initiatives and programs that contribute to creating positive change. The summit hosts more than 500 government officials, private sector leaders, experts and specialists from around the world to share these trends in vital sectors.

Annual meetings

The UAE government also signed a strategic partnership agreement that focuses on organising the annual meetings of the Global Future Councils, in partnership with the World Economic Forum, in the next two years. These meetings will host more than 300 government officials, experts and specialists to discuss new trends and future changes in 20 major councils.

The agreement builds on the strong relations between the UAE government and the Forum, which span more than two decades and have attracted more than 12,000 experts from 100 countries over 14 years. More than 900 councils were held as part of the annual meetings of the Global Future Councils, whose first session was held in 2008 under the name of Global Agenda Councils.

The Global Future Councils contribute to strengthening the position of the UAE as a knowledge hub, gathering the elite of Arab minds and thinkers with the aim of developing a new vision for the future, creating the future, enhancing opportunities for generations and enabling them to face various challenges and find successful solutions. The latest annual meetings in 2020 have attracted more than 1,000 experts and specialists in 31 sectors from more than 80 countries to contribute to the development of a global joint effort in 40 global councils.

The UAE is participating in the activities of the annual meeting of WEF in Davos with a high-level delegation, which includes a number of ministers and officials in the federal government, and senior officials in the government of Abu Dhabi and the government of Dubai. Seven ministers in the UAE government will speak in key sessions covering the most vital future sectors.

The Forum focuses on six main pillars, including restoring global order and regional cooperation, ensuring economic recovery and foreseeing a new era of growth, building healthy and just societies, protecting the climate and food and nature sources, leading the industrial transformation, and harnessing the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.-- TradeArabia News Service
The Congress has said that it will take the decision within next 60 days on whether the 2023 assembly polls in Rajasthan will be held under Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. According to the party leadership, it does not want to create a Punjab-like situation where it had been postponed till the last moment. Will Congress go to the elections under the leadership of Gehlot or Sachin or will adopt the formula of collective leadership, will be finalised soon. The situation will become clear after the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on June 10. Overall, the situation of confusion will end soon and it will be announced whether to go to the elections under the leadership of Ashok Gehlot or to change the leadership. The party believes that it is necessary to take a clear decision so that preparations for the elections are done with full gusto. There should be no confusion between the organization and the workers. If the election is to be contested under the leadership of Ashok Gehlot, then that should also be clear and if the leadership is to be changed, then that too has to be announced well within time. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, after discussing with the state in-charge Ajay Maken and other leaders, has decided that after the Rajya Sabha elections, the final decision will be taken so that no change is made like Punjab. That is, till July, there is an uproar in the Rajasthan Congress. After holding the Chintan Shivir, Gehlot has strengthened his grip, but whether the party will move forward with the youth leadership or remain with the experience, will be decided by the end of June or the first week of July. (ANI)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that an elementary school shooter is an 18-year-old male from Uvalde.

"It's believed that he abandoned his vehicle and entered into the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with a handgun and he may have also had a rifle, but that is not yet confirmed according to my most recent report," Abbott said as quoted by CNN.

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) in Texas said they are cancelling all school activities after the shooting at Robb Elementary School.

"All district and campus activities, after-school programs, and events are cancelled," the district tweeted.The district also announced that they will soon hold a news conference.

According to UCISD, the shooter on Tuesday was at Robb Elementary School at 12:17 pm (US time) and law enforcement was on site.

This is the deadliest attack since the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed, according to CNN. Upon this incident, White House new press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre informed that President Joe Biden has been briefed on the school shooting in Texas.

"President Biden has been briefed on the horrific news of the elementary school shooting in Texas and will continue to be briefed regularly as information becomes available," she tweeted.

"His prayers are with the families impacted by this awful event, and he will speak this evening when he arrives back at the White House," Jean-Pierre added.

Local police had previously said that a suspect was taken into custody, following the attack in Texas. (ANI)
In line with his "foreign conspiracy" theory, Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday called for the dismissal of US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia, Donald Lu for his "sheer arrogance and bad manners". The PTI Chairman accused Lu of threatening Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, that a failure to remove Imran through a no-confidence vote would herald "consequences" for Pakistan and vice versa, Dawn reported citing Khan's interview with the American television show. Imran khan also claimed that before the no-confidence motion, the threat was made and then, it subsequently started a chain of events that resulted in his ouster and the conspirators joining to launch their conspiracy. "Imagine telling the ambassador of a country of 220 million people that you get rid of your Prime Minister," Imran Khan said in an American television show interview. Responding to the neglection that he made in his claims in public earlier when he was so "specific" about their details, the PTI chairman said he had placed the cypher -- containing details of the meeting between Lu and Pakistan's ambassador -- before his cabinet which was later presented in a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), according to Dawn. Referring to Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's stance on Pak-US relations Imran Khan said, "I had a perfectly good relationship with the Trump administration. It's only when the Biden administration came, that it coincided with what was happening in Afghanistan and for some reason -- which I still don't know -- they never got in touch with me." Anderson said the US had "rubbished" the notion that it was involved in a regime change in Pakistan and asked Imran if he "genuinely" believed his claim of there being a foreign conspiracy to topple his government, reported Dawn. The PTI chairman responded that the US embassy was calling and meeting disgruntled PTI members even before the meeting between Lu and Pakistan's then-ambassador to the US. "What were they meeting [US officials] for? They were the first ones to jump ship and they were the ones who then offered million dollars each to buy my other MNAs who jumped ship later on. "Why would the US embassy be interested in our party backbenchers?" Imran said. Referring to his visit to Russia coinciding with the announcement of Russia's war in Ukraine, the former PM said, "They didn't but let me explain to you. This visit was planned a long time back and all stakeholders in Pakistan were onboard. The military wanted Russian hardware, we wanted oil, there was a gas pipeline which was being negotiated for the past six years before my government came in ... how would I have known that the day I land in Moscow, President [Vladimir] Putin would decide to go into Ukraine?" Pressed on whether he regretted the trip, Imran said he would have regretted it if he had known about the invasion beforehand and still chosen to go ahead. "I do not believe in military solutions. I have opposed all military ways of achieving political ends but I wasn't supposed to know [that Russia would announce war]." (ANI)
The Summit in Tokyo is the fourth interaction of Quad Leaders since their first virtual meeting in March 2021, in-person Summit in Washington D.C. in September 2021 and virtual meeting in March 2022.

At the Quad Summit, PM Modi highlighted India's consistent and principled position on the need for cessation of hostilities, resumption of dialogue and diplomacy.

PM Modi, along with the leaders of the Quad nations, took part in the fourth interaction of the leaders, which saw criticism of Russian military action in Ukraine, from Australia, Japan and the United States.

During the summit, the leaders reiterated their shared commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and the importance of upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of disputes.

They exchanged perspectives on developments in the Indo-Pacific and the conflict in Europe.

On the sidelines of the Quad Summit, Prime Minister on Tuesday had bilateral meetings with US President Joe Biden and new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He will also have a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

On the first day of his visit to Japan on Monday, the Prime Minister had a series of engagements. He participated in the event to launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity and chaired a business roundtable in Tokyo. He also interacted with members of the Indian community. (ANI)
Pakistan's discrimination against minorities continues even in the employment sector as 80 per cent of non-Muslims are employed to carry out their job with less salary and around half of the posts reserved for the minorities in government departments are still vacant. This data was seen in the report 'Unequal Citizens: Ending Systemic Discrimination against Minorities,' compiled by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) with support from the European Union (EU), Dawn reported. This report highlights the hazardous working conditions, insufficient safety gear and equipment, lack of job security and payment of low compensation to the injured and families of those who die while working. It also has the stories of sanitation workers who have faced societal ostracisation, stigma, discrimination and death in deadly manholes that have been highlighted. In order to rectify the situation, the commission has given certain recommendations like the use of machines instead of manual labour where there is a danger of death or injury to sanitation workers and providing them with social security and healthcare. According to the report, the discrimination against minorities in the employment quota must end, and there should be an immediate ban on the practice of publishing discriminatory advertisements and ensuring public transparency in the number of minority posts filled across each basic pay scale. "On the basis of the letter sent by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), the Ministry of Human Rights took immediate action and issued a letter to chief secretaries of each province, directing them to ensure that minorities are protected in line with international obligations and constitutional guarantees," Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Minister for Human Rights announced in the event. Pakistan Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, Shazia Marri stressed the sensitisation of relevant government departments on unconscious biases that lead to discrimination against minorities, reported Dawn During the event, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah said that the conferences and court judgments were not enough unless a proactive role was played by the government, civil society and media. "Human rights violations occur because of the abuse of rule of law. Under the Constitution, every citizen is equal. Still, we have the term 'ordinary citizen' commonly used," IHC Chief Justice said. "Every year, the president of Pakistan is obligated to submit a report on the status of implementation of 'Principles of Policy' of the Constitution which ensures that people are given their basic human rights. Regrettably, this constitutional obligation has never been fulfilled by any president or the governor," he added. NCHR Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha said as a result of NCHR's efforts, federal and provincial governments have made a commitment (in writing) to not only look into the issue of discriminatory practices but to affirm and vigorously uphold constitutional safeguards for minority citizens, according to Dawn. (ANI)
The death toll in the mass shooting incident at a school in Texas rose to 21 including 19 children and two adults. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has extended his heartfelt condolences over the mass shooting. Taking to Twitter, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Abdulla Sahid said, "Deeply saddened to know about the horrific & indiscriminate firing at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 people, including 18 children. Heartfelt condolences to the parents, siblings, family members, friends & community members bearing this unimaginable anguish." The incident took place on Tuesday (local time) after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The gunman was later killed by law enforcement officers, CNN reported. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) in Texas said they are cancelling all school activities after the shooting at Robb Elementary School. This is the deadliest attack since the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed, according to CNN. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden asked Americans to stand up to the gun lobby and urged the members of Congress for immediate gun control legislation as he highlighted that the 'sensible gun laws' need to be passed in the wake of the Texas school shooting. "When we passed the Assault Weapons Ban (in 1994), mass shootings went down. When the law expired [in 2004], mass shootings tripled. The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy assault weapons, it's just wrong," Biden said. As a mark of respect for the victims, the President ordered that the flags will fly at half-mast at the White House and other public places until Saturday. Following his return from Asia, Biden will address the nation on the school shooting incident this evening at 8:15 p.m. ET from the White House. (ANI)
"Canada stands with Ukraine and its people as they resist Putin's illegal and unjustifiable assault. Today's announcement is another example of our unwavering commitment to provide Ukraine with the comprehensive military aid it needs to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence," Anita Anand, Minister of National Defence of Canada, said.

The ammunition has been sourced from the United States at a cost of up to $98 million and work is underway to get this much-needed aid expedited and delivered to Ukraine as quickly as possible, a Canadian news release stated.

"To keep supporting Ukraine's military as they continue to fight Russia's illegal invasion, we're sending them more military equipment," the Canadian Prime Minister tweeted, informing the global communities about the aid.

This ammunition will be fired from guns, including M777 howitzers, that Canada and its allies have donated to Ukrainian forces, and for which Canadian Armed Forces members provided training to their Ukrainian Security Forces counterparts.

The Canadian soldiers are providing training in such areas as tactics, improvised explosive device disposal, sniping, reconnaissance and medicine

Following the announcement of USD 500 million in new funding for military assistance to Ukraine in Budget 2022, the Government of Canada continues to pursue additional military support to meet Ukraine's immediate and longer-term requirements. (ANI)
"Met @JaPortalMiranda, Minister of Public Health, Cuba," said Mandviya in a tweet, adding that both sides agreed to work together on pharma research and manufacturing.

During the meeting, Cuba praised India's healthcare interventions and also discussed ways to enhance cooperation in the health sector through established bilateral MoU in health.

For over 50 years, the World Economic Forum has been the international organization for public-private cooperation as the annual meeting and its sessions bring together global leaders from business, government, and civil society under one roof.

Earlier, in a historic address at the 75th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 23, Mandaviya reiterated India's commitment to building a more resilient global health security architecture.

India believes that this year's theme linking peace and health, is timely and pertinent as there can be no sustainable development and universal health and wellbeing without peace, he said in a statement.

India's covid vaccination programme has turned out to be one of the most successful in the world as the coverage exceeded 192.52 crores on Tuesday as per provisional reports by 7 pm, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Covid vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on March 16, 2022. (ANI)
North Korea on Wednesday fired three ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, including an apparent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS), the first three launches were suspected to be ICBM which flew for about 360 km at an altitude of 540 metres. Military authorities presume that the missile launched is the North's newest Hwasong-17 ICBM. The second missile launch, apparently a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), is deemed to be a failure because after reaching an altitude of 20 km it vanished, reported Yonhap News Agency. It is speculated that amid the Covid-19 outbreak and economic crisis, North Korea could conduct an ICBM or nuclear test to bolster its military presence and tighten national unity. "The North's ICBM launch is yet another case of its breach of a moratorium on ICBM launches that it itself pledged to the international community, and the launch is in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a serious provocative act," stated the JCS, as reported Yonhap News Agency. In addition, they said, "Our military is monitoring related movements in preparation against the possibility of additional provocations by the North, and is maintaining a full readiness posture to ensure an overwhelming victory at all times." In the opinion of the US Indo-Pacific Command, the missile launches highlight the "destabilizing impact of the DPRK's illicit weapons program," reported, Yonhap News Agency. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "We are aware of the multiple DPRK (North Korea) ballistic missile launches today and are assessing and consulting closely with our allies and partners," states the press release "The US commitment to the defence of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad." However, in response to North Korea's missile launch, South Korea and the US fired a Hyunmoo-II ballistic missile and an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile into the East Sea to establish their rapid strike capabilities, said the JCS as reported by Yonhap News Agency. Earlier, North Korea launched what was supposed to be an ICBM, an apparent submarine-launched ballistic missile, in an attempted effort to diversify its nuclear delivery vehicles. (ANI)
In the wake of ensuring the security of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan is adamant to fence the Durand Line while also restricting the Pashtun solidarity in the region. According to media reports, the proposed fence, along the 2640 KM Durand Line is planned to be supported by over 400 outposts and a similar number of check posts. The fencing work which started in 2016, continued unhindered till the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in 2021. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan has witnessed several instances of illegal bombardment by the Pakistani forces mainly in the Khost and Kunar provinces resulting in casualties and financial losses on the Afghan side. In the current year till May 1st, 2022, there have been around 40 clashes along the Durand Line most of which pertain to the border dispute. More than 40 people died when rockets were fired from Pakistan Air Force (PAF) helicopters in Kunar, Khost, Paktika and other bordering provinces on April 16, 2022. The situation has come to such a pass that the Pakistani ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry in Kabul and was issued a stern warning. The sequence of events suggests that a major confrontation with the Afghan Taliban, which Pakistan desperately wants to avoid, may just be around the corner, the Afghan Diaspora Network reported. In Pakistan, most of the problems precipitating cross border threats in the Af-Pak region are created from within by flawed state policies as the nation's politics have been plagued by failures in establishing an equitable and honourable existence for its ethnically divided population, living on both sides of the border disturbing their agricultural land, traditional border trade and movement of labour. The ethnic consciousness of Pashtuns and Balochis in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan is essentially arising out of this sense of alienation and deprivation. As a consequence, border areas have experienced tribal insurgencies, ethnic and sectarian struggles and secessionist movements by Balochis and Pashtuns. Pakistan's contention that the Af-Pak border is plagued with cross-border movement of terror groups, infiltration, illegal immigration, smuggling and drug trafficking may be valid to some extent. Pakistan's deep state is known to be involved in the largest state-sponsored drug peddling operations along the Af-Pak border and has emerged as the prime exponent of the narco-terror nexus. The Durand Line passes through the present-day Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (NWFP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan. It also includes 10 provinces in Afghanistan. Disputed in the context of the struggle for the Pashtun homeland, the Durand Line has of late become the cause of heightened border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. (ANI)
Dyson, a global research and technology company, has given its biggest clue yet to the future of household robots as it sought to woo the brightest in the field of robotics to join its rapidly growing team at the the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Philadelphia, US.

At the conference, Dyson provided further definition to its ambitions in advanced robotics, and signalled it is accelerating development of an autonomous device capable of household chores and other tasks.

A film, which has also been released on social media, catches the latest developments of Dyson-designed robotic hands grasping objects, indicating that the tech company is moving beyond robotic floor-based vacuums. The secret R&D work at Hullavington Airfield in Wiltshire is being led by Dysons Chief Engineer Jake Dyson.

Dyson is half-way through the largest engineering recruitment drive in its history. 2,000 people have joined the tech company this year, of which 50% are engineers, scientists, and coders. Dyson is supercharging its robotics ambitions, recruiting 250 robotics engineers across disciplines including computer vision, machine learning, sensors and mechatronics, and expects to hire 700 more in the robotics field over the next five years.

The master plan: to create the UK's largest, most advanced, robotics centre at Hullavington Airfield and to bring the technology into homes by the end of the decade, the company said.

New recruits will be based at Hullavington Airfield in Wiltshire, a new London laboratory close to the Dyson Robotics Lab at Imperial College, and Singapore at Dysons global headquarters. Over the past six months, Dyson has been secretly refitting one of the main aircraft hangars at Hullavington Airfield to prepare for 250 roboticists to move into their new home. Its latest robotics makeover is the next stage in Dysons 2.75bn investment plan in new technologies, products and facilities; 600m of which is to be spent this year, it said.

Jake Dyson, Chief Engineer at Dyson, said: Dyson employed its first roboticist 20 years ago and this year alone we are seeking 250 more experts for our team. This is a big bet on future robotic technology that will drive research across the whole of Dyson, in areas including mechanical engineering, vision systems, machine learning and energy storage. We need the very best people in the world to come and join us now.

Until now, Dysons robots have been floor-based vacuum cleaners  the first of which, the DC06, was designed 20 years ago. Offering glimpses of new research in manipulation, robot learning, visual perception and compliant control, Dysons film gives the world a first glimpse into its latest big bet. -TradeArabia News Service
A conference on "Islamism and Human Rights in Pakistan" was held in Flemish Parliament at Leuvenseweg in Brussels on Tuesday. The conference was attended by Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, exiled chair of the United Kashmir People's National Party(UKPNP), Sardar Nasir Aziz Khan, central spokesperson of UKPNP, Sardar Amjad Yousaf, President of UKPNP Europe, and Sikandar Abbas, Vice President of UKPNP a mong others. At the press conference, Jamil Maqsood, Central Secretary of the commitee on foreign Affairs of UKPNP spoke that instead of framing a Constitution, all Pakistan did was adopt resolutions. However, although a Constitution was framed in 1973, Pakistan continued to exploit minorities due to which their population in the country has dipped to three per cent. Maqsood further added that when Pakistan introduced the Blasphemy Law in 1973, it was used against Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians. Hindu women were abducted and married off to Muslims. Recently, two Sikh youths were killed in Peshawar. There are laws which are used against minorities to threaten and usurp their property, he alleged. Faza ur Rehman, President of the Institute of Research and Strategic Studies, stated that Pashtuns were used as sacrificial goats in Pakistan. They were being forced to fight other people's wars in Afghanistan. Rehman claimed that thousands of extrajudicial killings of the Pashtun and Baloch people were conducted by the Pakistan Army as means of eliminating terrorists and the Taliban. Rehman condemned Pakistan for using radical Islam ideology to target its adversaries in the Pashtun community. Sardar Nasir Aziz Khan said that Pakistan was using PoK as a terror launchpad. Jehadi organizations are being trained in these areas while Pakistan is aiding them in terrorism in the name of fighting terror, he said, adding that the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan proves this fact. Further, the UKPNP Central spokesperson stated that presently women madrassas are being financed, promoted and even encouraged where the female population is being radicalized paving the way for a larger impact on the whole generation of radicals in the coming years. He urged the people living in the PoK, not to fall prey to Pakistan's tool of radical Islam ideology. (ANI)
The joint Russia-China military drills were conducted near Taiwan at the time when US President Joe Biden was in Tokyo for Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad summit. China had threatened countries including US, which are in favour of forging independent ties with Taiwan, that "Taiwan's independence" means war. The White House played down what appeared to be a departure from longstanding US policy after president Joe Biden said that the US would militarily intervene in case of an attack on Taiwan by China. As Taiwan has emerged as a hot spot amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese armed forces conducted military exercises near Taiwan, to "warn the United States," Sputnik reported, citing the People's Liberation Army of China on Wednesday. Biden, during his visit to Japan on Monday, said that Washington is ready to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion and attempts to change the status quo unilaterally. "Recently, the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army organized joint combat readiness patrols and military exercises in the sea and air space around the island of Taiwan," the military said in a statement, adding that this was "a serious warning due to the recent activity between the US and Taiwan," according to Sputnik. Chinese fighter jets recently conducted a joint aerial exercise over the sea of Japan with Russia on Tuesday amid the ongoing Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades. Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war. (ANI)
Simferopol [Crimea], May 25 (ANI/Sputnik):The Zaporizhzhia region has begun preparations for the issuance of Russian passports, lists of people are being specified, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the military-civilian administration of the region, told Sputnik. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the simplified admission of citizens of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine to the citizenship of the Russian Federation. The document was published on Wednesday on the official Internet portal of legal information. "This is not a secret. Now the administration is clarifying the lists of people and preparing the infrastructure and employees for organizing the issuance of Russian passports. This is a troublesome, but very joyful business," Rogov said. According to him, the issuance of the first passports is a matter of "the coming days." "I'm getting messages from people where to apply to get citizenship. These are written by ordinary residents of Melitopol, Berdyansk, Energodar, but most of all from Zaporizhzhia, despite the fact that the city is still, unfortunately, under the control of the Zelenskyy regime," Rogov emphasized.(ANI/Sputnik)
Pakistan government on Wednesday ordered the suspension of mobile services in 11 districts of Punjab in the wake of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s protest march to Islamabad, causing an interruption in communication among people. The telecom services confirmed that the orders have been issued for suspension of services in 11 districts, including Gujrat, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Sargodha, Khoshab, Mianwali, Sialkot, Jhelum and Rawalpindi till tonight, reported Pakistani media, the Nation. The Punjab government said that the step was taken to maintain the law and order situation in the country amid Imran Khan's protest march. On Tuesday, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz approved the suspension of mobile services at 350 places in the province as well as 20 places in Lahore. This comes after the law enforcement agencies briefed the chief minister on the situation prevailing in the province, and sought his approval for shutting down mobile phone service across Punjab. Political tensions are at an all-time high in Pakistan with all eyes on Islamabad as the city braced itself for the arrival of PTI workers and leaders heading towards the federal capital for the party's Azadi March despite the government's instructions not to. Lahore turned into a battleground as multiple scuffles took place between the police and PTI marchers as the latter tried to wriggle out of the barricades placed in their way. Notably, PTI Chairman Imran Khan had earlier announced that his party's long protest march to Islamabad will begin on May 25 demanding the dissolution of the National Assembly and a date for the next general election and inviting people to join in large numbers. (ANI)
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Wednesday said that the right to life is the biggest human right and racial discrimination is the worst injustice.

"We urge the United States to take the human rights of the American people seriously and submit an American human rights report to the world as soon as possible," Wang said.

The death toll in the mass shooting incident at a school in Texas rose to 21 including 19 children and two adults.

The incident took place on Tuesday (local time) after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The gunman was later killed by law enforcement officers, CNN reported.

This is the deadliest attack since the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed, according to CNN. (ANI)
Washington [US], May 25 (ANI/Sputnik): The United States is targeting nine Russian individuals and one entity in the new round of Iran-related sanctions it is imposing, the US Department of the Treasury said in a release on Wednesday. "Today, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating an international oil smuggling and money laundering network led by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) officials that has facilitated the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil for both the IRGC-QF and Hezbollah," the release said. The Treasury Department explained in the release that the oil smuggling network, for which is alleged that is led by US-designated IRGC-QF official Behnam Shahriyari and former IRGC-QF official Rostam Ghasemi and backed by senior levels of the Russian government, "has acted as a critical element of Iran's oil revenue generation, as well as its support for proxy militant groups that continue to perpetuate conflict and suffering throughout the region."(ANI/Sputnik)
Top British diplomat have also reportedly called for an investigation into fresh reports of human rights violations in Xinjiang.

UK's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has released a statement regarding "human rights violations" in China's Xinjiang, citing new evidence, Global Times reported.

In response, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the UK on Tuesday criticized some UK politicians over their remarks and said they have no qualification or right to make irresponsible remarks and issue orders to the Chinese government and the United Nations (UN).

Meanwhile, responding to a UK-based news network that, according to the Global Times, on Tuesday released some secret documents about "internment camps" for ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK slammed the BBC on Twitter yesterday.

On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping defended his government's record over the abuse of ethnic minorities during a video call with UN High Commissioner.

The meeting comes after the recent leak of a cache of photos and documents detailing abuses against Uyghur detainment in China's Xinjiang region. (ANI)
Pakistan Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained the present government from arresting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and allowed PTI to hold a sit-in protest at the H-9 ground area of Islamabad. The court order came after PTI assured to hold a peaceful protest and there would not be any damage to public and private properties, reported Dawn newspaper. A three-member bench headed by Pakistan Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Sayyed Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi, issued the orders after hearing the petition filed by Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) President Mohammad Shoaib Shaheen a day earlier, seeking the removal of blockades in the capital ahead of the PTI's march. While the court allowed PTI to hold protest at Srinagar Highway, it also directed that the protest must not disrupt the traffic flow and cause any inconvenience to the public, reported Dawn. "The flow of traffic must not be affected, the citizens must not be bothered, and the protestors should remain peaceful," court statement read. Besides, the court also instructed the Pakistan authorities to not make unnecessary use of force and restrained them to arrest other PTI leaders and workers or raid their homes and offices. It also ordered the immediate release of detained lawyers as well as those arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance 1960. Furthermore, it ordered to return the confiscated automobiles within the last 48 hours to their owners. "While playing the role of the arbitrator, we pass the order that no raids should be conducted on the homes of PTI workers," the Supreme Court said. "The lawyers on whom there are not serious charges should also be immediately released," quoted Dawn. Meanwhile, opposing the court's decision, Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf said that PTI's request to hold the protest in G-9 area has already been rejected stating that the ground area has the capacity of only 15,000 people whereas Imran's rally will have more people, reported Dawn. "PTI workers will be in hundreds of thousands, where the JUI-F held its rally had the capacity of only 15,000." He further said that an eight-member committee comprising four members each from the PTI and the government has been formed. PTI leader Firdous Ashiq Awan, Faisal Chaudhry, Amir Kiyani and Ali Nawaz will represent the party on the committee, whereas the Shehbaz government has nominated Yousuf Raza Gilani, Ahsan Iqbal, Ayaz Sadiq and Azam Nazeer Tarar, reported Dawn. Pakistan SC ordered the committee to hold a meeting at 10 pm tonight and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow. Meanwhile, PTI chief Imran Khan flagged off the protest march towards Islamabad today after which Lahore turned into a battleground as multiple scuffles took place between the police and PTI marchers as the latter tried to wriggle out of the barricades placed on their way. Khan said that he will not withdraw his call for dharna unless the government accepts his demands of dissolving the assemblies and holding elections. (ANI)
The protestors allegedly attacked and assaulted the journalists of a Pakistan media, Samaa TV near Karachi's Numaish Chowrangi area for shooting and broadcasting the visuals of the march leaving one female journalist and a cameraperson wounded, reported Samaa TV.

Samaa TV reported that the protesters stone pelted the broadcast van of the media channel when the team was heading back to the van after interviewing PTI Sindh President Ali Zaidi.

During the attack, the protestors also damaged the camera and vehicles of the media channel.

This comes after PTI chief Imran Khan flagged off the protest march towards Islamabad today which Lahore turned into a battleground as multiple scuffles took place between the police and PTI marchers as the latter tried to wriggle out of the barricades placed on their way.

Khan said that he will not withdraw his call for dharna unless the government accepts his demands of dissolving the assemblies and holding elections. (ANI)
Pakistan's Indus River System Authority (IRSA) urged the Pakistan provincial governments to plan the utilization of water and use it efficiently as the irrigation water shortage in the country surged close to 45 per cent on Tuesday. "Plan in advance the utilization of available supplies in the river system efficiently, cautiously and judiciously during the dip", IRSA stated in a joint letter. It also asked the provincial irrigation secretaries to place estimated rationalized indents (water requirement order by provinces) without any wastage till the water situation improves in the first half of June, the Dawn newspaper reported. "Currently 40-45 per cent shortage is being distributed among Punjab and Sindh at the rim-stations, resultantly a massive dip is likely to hit the Indus Basin Irrigation System with a lag time of about five to 15 days to the provinces due to zero storage in the reservoirs," reported the Dawn, quoting IRSA. It said in the letter that as a result of the water shortage, the authority is providing Punjab with 65,000 cusec water against its current share of 113,000 cusecs. It is providing 66,000 cusecs water to Sindh against its share of 116,000 cusecs further adding, "Exempted from application of shortages, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are being supplied their full share of 13,000 cusecs and 3,000 cusecs, respectively." The IRSA officials said that the Jhelum and Chenab rivers flow were 45 per cent lower than this year's estimate, that caused the major challenge. The river Jhelum flows at Mangla were currently at 27,000 cusecs against last year's flows of 55,000 cusecs, while the flows in Chenab were at 24,000 cusecs against last year's 38,000 cusecs, the Dawn reported. On Tuesday, the total inflows at rim-stations were recorded at 144,800 cusecs against 156,600 cusecs reported a day earlier and 10-year average of 230,400 cusecs. Irsa said this clearly depicted that the system had entered yet another dip as expected and intimated on May 20. Considering the situation, the National Assembly standing committee on water resources has sought a report from the committee constituted to inspect barrages and monitor water discharges at Taunsa, Punjnad, Guddu and Sukkur barrages and related canals to address provincial grievances about water shares. (ANI)
McLaren Automotive, the British creator of luxury, high-performance supercars, continues to strengthen its presence in the Middle East & Africa with the opening of its largest dedicated McLaren Service Centre in the region.

The state-of-the-art facility is adjacent to the brands future showroom on Sheikh Zayed Road, and will be operated by McLaren Dubai, represented by Performance Tuning, part of the Khalifa Juma Al Nabooda Group of Companies.

I am proud to confirm that our new service centre is ready to welcome both new and existing customers, as we progress with a successful first year of our operations as McLaren Dubai, said Juma Khalifa Al Nabooda, Board Member, Khalifa Juma Al Nabooda Group of Companies.

Our goal is to combine the dynamic and engineering excellence of McLaren supercars with a seamless and customer-centric ownership proposition to ensure that we continue to exceed the expectations of our discerning clientele in Dubai and Northern Emirates.

Mohamed Fawzi, Market Director  Middle East & Africa, McLaren Automotive, commented: I would like to congratulate the team at McLaren Dubai on the launch of its new, state-of-the-art Service Centre.

The official opening of this facility is an exciting moment for all of our stakeholders in the UAE and a result of significant investment made to bolster our presence in this key market.

I am confident that this significant milestone will allow us to continue offering a class-leading ownership experience that goes beyond the satisfaction of possessing one of the worlds best supercars and I look forward to the grand opening of our brand-new showroom later this year.

The new Service Centre is fully compliant with the latest processes of the iconic British brand and spans over 3,400 sq m of space, comprising six work areas, as well as the latest vehicle diagnostics equipment and tooling.

It is operated by a dedicated team of expert, McLaren-trained engineers with more than 40 years of combined McLaren experience, which includes the brands most exclusive models such as the ground-breaking McLaren P1.

The new facility will focus on a seamless customer-experience with an on-demand vehicle collection service utilising two dedicated recovery vehicles. With a maximum output of around 150 vehicles per month, the new service centre is future proofed to capture the sustainable growth of McLaren brand in the core UAE market in advance of first deliveries of the long-anticipated and all-new McLaren Artura, said a statement.

McLaren Dubai, operated by Performance Tuning, was announced in December 2021 and currently operates from a transitionary sales facility situated on Sheikh Zayed Road with a brand-new showroom currently under construction and scheduled to open for business by the end of 2022.

The official inauguration of the new service centre is an important milestone for McLaren Dubai, which is on track for a successful first year of trading with the largest share of the brands retail sales in the Middle East & Africa region, it said.  TradeArabia News Service
UNSC, in a joint statement, expressed deep concerns over the situation of Afghan women and girls following the Taliban's restrictions on education, employment, freedom of movement, and the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in public life, Afghan media, Khaama Press reported.

This comes after the Taliban's recent order for female Afghan television presenters to cover their faces when performing on air. Earlier, the Taliban had ordered women to cover their faces in public.

The UN Security Council also called on the Taliban to reopen the schools for all female students without further delay.

Besides this, UNSC also highlighted concerns over drug trafficking, continued terrorist attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and the need to restore the financial and banking system in the country, Khaama Press reported.

Afghan women are staring at a bleak future due to a number of restrictions imposed by the Taliban governing aspects of their lives within ten months of Afghanistan's takeover. Women are no longer allowed to travel unless accompanied by men related to them and are being curtailed from wearing make-up as well as their reproductive rights.

Unrecognized by most of the international community, the Taliban-led government has committed to disrespecting the human rights of women. (ANI)
In the wake of the Texas school shooting that resulted in the death of 19 children, the head of the UN Children''s Fund (UNICEF) asked on Wednesday: how many more children will die before leaders act? "Tragedy after tragedy, shooting after shooting, young life after young life: how many more children will die before government leaders act to keep children and their schools safe?" asked Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. "Because until they do, these horrors will continue." She said the children attacked and killed in Uvalde, Texas, were attending school, the one place outside of their homes where they should be safest. The 19 children, a teacher, and a school staff member who set off for school in the morning will never return home to their families, said Russell, adding that many more who witnessed the carnage will bear the "emotional and psychological scars" for the rest of their lives. "It happened in Texas," she said. "Where will it happen next? This year, we have already seen horrific attacks on schools in Afghanistan, Ukraine, the United States, West Africa and beyond." This yet another shooting incident comes amid growing criticism of constitutionally protected US gun laws, especially those allowing the sale of automatic weapons to young people, under 21 years of age. On Wednesday, Governor Greg Abbott confirmed that the Texas school shooter used an AR-15 assault rifle, and posted an attack plan on Facebook. However, the social media giant denied Abbott''s allegation that the gunman at a Texas elementary school posted publicly about the attack on its platform. Over half of Americans supported making gun violence laws more strict, The Hill reported citing a poll conducted between the mass shootings that took place this month in New York and Texas. According to the American publication, 54 per cent of those surveyed in a CBS News-YouGov poll out Wednesday said they would like to see stricter laws regulating the sale of guns. A total of 30 per cent said they wanted gun laws to remain the same, and 16 per cent said they wanted gun laws to be less strict, the report added. (ANI)
China on Wednesday announced military drills around Taiwan, days after US President Joe Biden said Washington would intervene militarily if Beijing tried to reunify with the island by force. China continues to regard Taiwan as its province even after decades of separate governance. Chinese President Xi Jinping even threatened to take the island, if needed. "The recent patrol and training exercises by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) around the Taiwan Island were necessary actions against the collusion between Taiwan and the United States," a Chinese defence spokesperson was quoted as saying by Xinhua on Wednesday. Tan Kefei, the spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, said that the PLA Eastern Theater Command had recently organized a joint war-preparedness alert patrol and combat training exercises involving troops of multiple services and arms in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island. "These are necessary actions taken targeting the collusion between Taiwan and the United States, and conforming to the need of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Tan said. Seeking "Taiwan independence" is doomed to fail, and so is supporting such actions, Tan said, adding that by playing the "Taiwan card" to contain China, the United States is putting the situation in jeopardy. The PLA is on high alert and ready to take all necessary measures to resolutely thwart any external forces' interference and secessionist attempts for "Taiwan independence," he added. This strong reaction from China comes after Biden on Monday said that Washington is ready to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan in the event of invasion. Biden met with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan on Monday to advance cooperation on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues. During a joint press conference with the Japanese PM, Biden reaffirmed Washington's commitment to ensuring the security of the Taiwan Strait and preventing any change in the status quo unilaterally. When asked whether the US is ready to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, he replied in the affirmative, adding that this is the commitment that the US has taken on. "We remain committed to supporting peace and stability in Taiwan Strait. The US stands firmly with Japan and other nations not to let that happen (China taking over Taiwan)," he said. (ANI)
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Wednesday announced that the United States is, for the second time, requesting dispute settlement consultations with Canada under the United States - Mexico - Canada Agreement (USMCA) to address dairy restrictions by Canada that are contrary to its USMCA commitments. Specifically, the United States is challenging Canada's dairy tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allocation measures, which deny allocation access to eligible applicants, including retailers, foodservice operators, and other types of importers, and impose new conditions on the allocation and use of the TRQs. According to an official release by the US Trade Representative, the United States is also challenging Canada's failure to fully allocate its annual dairy TRQs; Canada is instead parceling out a few months' quota at a time. Through these measures, Canada undermines the market access that it agreed to provide in the USMCA. "I am deeply troubled by Canada's decision to expand its dairy tariff-rate quota restrictions," Ambassador Katherine Tai said. "We communicated clearly to Canada that its new policies are not consistent with the USMCA and prevent U.S. workers, producers, farmers, and exporters from getting the full benefit of the market access that Canada committed to under the USMCA. We will continue to work with USDA to ensure that our dairy industry can bring a wide range of high-quality American products to Canadian customers." "Canada's protectionist dairy policies are a top concern for the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Biden-Harris Administration," Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said. "Canada has failed to honor and implement its USMCA commitments by removing the trade restrictions that disadvantage and deter U.S. dairy producers and exporters from enjoying real and meaningful access to the Canadian market. Obtaining that access remains a top priority for the Administration and we are considering all options available to achieve this objective." This is the second dispute the United States has brought under the USMCA regarding Canada's allocation of its dairy TRQs. While the United States prevailed in the first dispute, Canada's implementation measures and other actions have moved Canada further away from full compliance with its USMCA obligations. If the United States and Canada are not able to resolve U.S. concerns through consultations, the United States may request the establishment of a panel under the USMCA, the office of the US trade representative said. (ANI)
Failing to control the growing unrest due to the protest march launched by Imran Khan, the Shehbaz Sharif government has been forced to call in the army to protect the Red Zone as former Pakistan Prime Minister and PTI chief entered Islamabad in the early hours of Thursday. "Pursuant to the law and order situation in the Islamabad Capital Territory, the Federal Government, in the exercise of powers conferred under Article 245 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, authorises deployment of sufficient strength of troops of Pakistan Army," Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said in a government order posted on Twitter. The Pakistan government deployed the army in Red Zone to "protect important government buildings" after Imran Khan entered the federal capital amid rising tensions in the country. The government order said that the decision was taken for the protection of important government buildings including the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Parliament House, Presidency, Prime Minister's Office and others. Tension gripped the country as clashes took place between police and PTI workers after authorities tried to block them from moving toward D-Chowk in the federal capital. Imran Khan on Wednesday warned his supporters would not vacate D-Chowk until a date for fresh polls was announced by the Shehbaz Sharif government. Former Pakistan PM, who was ousted from power by a no-trust vote, has asked "all Pakistanis" to take to the streets in their respective cities and appealed to women and children to come out of their homes for "real independence", the Dawn newspaper reported. Rights groups expressed deep concern at the highhandedness of law enforcement agencies in disrupting the PTI's march to Islamabad. "We believe that all citizens and all political parties have every right to assemble and protest peacefully," the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) tweeted. "The state's overreaction has triggered, more than it has prevented, violence on the streets. The onus is on the government and opposition leaders to adopt a mature, democratic response and immediately begin a dialogue to end the impasse," the group added. Pakistan media reports say that Pakistan seems to be heading towards political confrontation following the Shehbaz Sharif government's decision to ban the PTI march. According to Dawn, crackdowns on the opposition leaders and the sealing of the capital have created a highly volatile situation. Pakistan Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained the present government from arresting Imran Khan and allowed PTI to hold a sit-in protest at the H-9 ground area of Islamabad. The court order came after PTI assured to hold a peaceful protest and that there would not be any damage to public and private properties. (ANI)
Gantz will depart on June 1 on a trip that was meant to take place in March but got cancelled, The Times of Israel (TOI) reported.

This trip was cancelled after he contracted COVID-19 in the backdrop of a series of terror attacks in Israel that left dozens of people dead.

Although the visit was announced on Wednesday, Gantz's office did not reveal the details of the trip but said he will meet and sign the document with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh.

Earlier in March, Israel's Defence Minister during a call with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and informed him that his proposed visit to India from March 30-31 had been postponed due to some unavoidable reasons.

According to the Israeli newspaper, the meeting in March was scheduled to include talks on improving security relations between India and Israel.

The report added that Tel Aviv has sought to enhance defence ties with New Delhi in recent years, especially in the fields of air and missile defence. (ANI)
Almosafer, a leading omni-channel travel brand, Saudi Arabia, has celebrated a robust first year of performance for its luxury travel Concierge service at the ongoing Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai.



Providing a VIP members-only service catering to the Kingdoms HNWI travellers, Almosafer Concierge has delivered over 1,000 curated and personalised travel experiences to VIP travellers from Saudi Arabia in its first 12 months of operation.



Almosafer Concierge curates bespoke itineraries catering to the discerning needs of UHNWIs from the Kingdom, providing round-the-clock support to surprise and create wow moments in line with clients high expectations. From private charters, yachts, exclusive shopping arrangements, unique dinner reservations, short indulgent weekend getaways and luxury holidays, Almosafer Concierge takes care of every aspect of travellers trips, as they seek to explore and create truly unique and memorable experiences in the post-Covid era.



Highlights of some of the unique experiences organised and managed by the expert Concierge team include a six-day private honeymoon experience in AlUla, same day table reservations at the most exclusive restaurants around the world, last minute helicopter transfers and much more.



Muzzammil Ahussain, Executive Vice President, Travel at Seera Group said: Luxury tourism in the Kingdom is booming, demonstrated by the fantastic year we have had with our Almosafer Concierge service over the past 12 months. There has been a growing trend for people to seek out memorable, rewarding experiences that go outside the normal post-pandemic. Almosafer Concierge has plugged into this niche perfectly.



Through our network of dedicated staff, the service has been able to meet this desire to create one-off experiences in unique destinations, going above and beyond in satisfying our travellers discerning needs and driving luxury tourism in 2021 and beyond. We expect this to grow exponentially in 2022, as travel restrictions continue to lift and the Kingdom gets set to open some of its newest luxury destinations, such as the Red Sea and new developments in AlUla. We look forward to growing the sector to new heights in the months to come, in line with Saudi Vision 2030.



Building on the success of the service in the Kingdom, Almosafer has also announced its plans to expand the bespoke service for select clientele across the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain from May 2022 to meet demand in these markets. In addition to expanding its bespoke, invite-only Concierge services, Almosafer has also introduced Concierge Planning Services, targeting customers looking to elevate certain trips by purchasing this service on a one-time basis across Almosafers retail network.



Rob Arrow, Head of Almosafer Concierge explained: Luxury travel never really went away, despite the pandemic  people just looked to different experiences and definitions of luxury. It is no longer just about the product but also about the privacy, exclusivity and level of support available pre, during and post trip. There is a strong demand for bespoke trips to lesser-known destinations and the support of a dedicated agent or boutique agency to personally manage a request, and we are thrilled to be bringing our expertise and outstanding levels of service to a wider client base both in and outside of the Kingdom and support the burgeoning travel scene in the region.



Almosafer Concierge is part of Serendipians (TravellerMade) network of agencies dedicated to providing unique and exclusive bespoke journeys to travellers looking for different and original experiences and has been recognized as a 2022 Grand Designer by the Consortium.



The Concierge brand of Almosafer has also established partnerships with luxurious renowned programs such as Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Stars by Marriott Luxury brands, Impresario by Hilton Luxury, Hyatt Prive, Rocco Forte Knights and Accor Luxe STEP in order to provide nothing but the best when it comes to travel arrangements.  TradeArabia News Service
IATA urged the federal government to take 'immediate action' to deal with the airport delays. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is urging the Canadian government to take immediate action, including removing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, to deal with the delays plaguing the country's biggest airports.

The airline lobby group, which represents 290 airlines including Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat, released a statement on Tuesday calling on the federal government "to reduce the massive delays and immigration and security which are presently occurring at the country's main international airports."

IATA pointed to delays at Toronto's Pearson International Airport as an example of the ongoing issues disrupting the aviation industry. The group says security wait times at the airport have doubled  and even quadrupled in some cases  in recent weeks. At the same time, it says every second flight landing at Pearson from abroad has been subject to an immigration delay, with some passengers waiting on planes for up to three hours before being allowed to disembark.

"Demand is coming back and it is clear that people want to travel. We can therefore ill afford to have passengers subjected to unacceptable wait times both on arrival in the country or on departure," Peter Cerda, IATA's regional vice-president for the Americas, said in the statement.

"The relevant authorities must urgently consider removing the last remaining travel-related COVID-19 restrictions and work with the industry on policies and processes which will allow passengers to pass through airports with no undue delay."

The airline group says Ottawa should remove the current vaccination mandate for travel, as well as the use of ArriveCAN for submitting health information and the random on-arrival testing for COVID-19.

Should the government leave the current travel requirements in place, IATA is offering up several suggestions to speed up the arrivals process, particularly when it comes to the use of ArriveCAN, the government platform used to provide mandatory travel information.

Story continues

IATA says the government should introduce dedicated immigration lanes for international passengers who did not provide required health and vaccination information in advance through ArriveCAN. According to the group, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) data shows that it takes three to five minutes to complete the immigration process for passengers who haven't completed the ArriveCAN process in advance, compared to 15 to 30 seconds for those that have.

IATA also says the app should be upgraded to include immigration and customs questions, so international passengers can submit relevant information in advance, a process that is currently only available on the web-based ArriveCAN version in Toronto and Vancouver.

The group also says on-arrival testing facilities should be moved from the terminal, or offer a home-testing option.

Passengers departing from and arriving at some Canadian airports have experienced significant delays in recent weeks as travel demand picks back up after the pandemic. The Canadian Airports Council has blamed COVID-19 protocols for the delays and has called on the federal government to do away with the random tests and public health questions at customs so as to ease the delays.

"We're seeing that we clearly cannot have these public health requirements and testing at our borders as we get back to regular travel," the council's interim president Monette Pasher said.

"Getting back to regular travel with these health protocols and testing in place, the two can't co-exist without a significant pressure and strain on our system."

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority said earlier this month that staffing challenges at the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) are contributing to long lines at Pearson. IATA says Ottawa should ensure that both the CBSA and CATSA have adequate staffing levels to ensure efficient immigration and screening processes.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said on May 11 that the security agency is increasing its staffing, but that a lack of workers is not the main culprit for the long delays at the airports. Alghabra says out-of-practice travellers are causing delays at security checkpoints as Canadians shift back into travel mode after spending most of the last two years grounded by COVID-19.

With files from The Canadian Press

Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
The Prince's Trust Awards 2022 Amal Clooney opted for red again as she braved the rain for the 18th Prince's Trust Awards in London. (Getty Images)

Renowned for tackling high-profile international court cases, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney had already carved a name for herself years before meeting her A-list actor husband George Clooney in 2013.

Following their marriage in 2014, the barrister shot to stardom, and quickly became known not just as inspiration to women globally, but as a source of style inspiration too.

After her well documented three-day Italian nuptials and enviable 168,000 maternity wardrobe in 2017, it became clear she is no amateur when it comes to sartorial know-how.

Whether shes sprinting between business meetings in New York donning head-to-toe Gucci, or supporting husband George on the red carpet in custom-made couture, Amal never fails to garner full marks in the fashion stakes.

Click through the gallery to revisit some of Amal Clooneys best fashion outfits to date.
Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, the UAE capitals first low-cost carrier, has announced the launch of direct flights to Baku in Azerbaijan from Abu Dhabi, starting from June 28, 2022.



The airline will fly and Airbus A320 to Heydar Aliyev International Airport and back to Abu Dhabi on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.



Nestled along the Caspian Sea, Baku is the capital and commercial hub of Azerbaijan. Famous for its medieval walled old city as well as modern skyscrapers, Baku combines the best of both worlds, offering travellers a unique immersive experience between the old and the new.



Air Arabia Abu Dhabi is currently serving 24 routes since the launch of the carriers service from Abu Dhabi International Airport in July 2020.  TradeArabia News Service
Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Joe Biden signed an executive order he promised would usher in the most significant police reform in decades on Wednesday, the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.

Related: Minneapolis police engaged in pattern of racial discrimination, inquiry finds

With Congress deadlocked, Biden said he was using the powers of the presidency to advance his campaign promises and deliver police accountability and reform that is real and lasting.

Biden was joined at the White House for a signing ceremony by Floyds family as well as relatives of Breonna Taylor, who was killed when police executed a no-knock warrant at her apartment in 2020. In remarks preceding the signing, Biden praised them for their efforts to push for change even as they grieve.

Its not about their death but what we do in their memory that matters, he said.

The executive order signed on Wednesday directs federal agencies to revise use-of-force policies, banning tactics such as chokeholds, restricting practices like no-knock warrants and promoting de-escalation techniques.

It also calls for the creation of a new national standard for accrediting police departments; establishes a national database to track police misconduct; further restricts the transfer of military equipment to police departments; and requires agencies to implement new tools to screen for inherent bias among officers as well as recruits, including those who promote unlawful violence or harbor white supremacist views.

The order, the president said, was a measure of what we can do together to heal the very soul of this nation, to address profound fear and trauma, exhaustion that particularly Black Americans have experienced for generations.

When the ceremony concluded, Biden invited Floyds young daughter, Gianna, to sit in his chair and handed her the pen he had used to sign the order. Remarking how tall shed grown since the last time he saw her, Biden turned to the audience and recalled that Gianna told him the first time they met: My daddy is gonna change the world.

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Biden began his remarks by addressing the massacre of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. Were here today for the same purpose  to come together and say, Enough,  he said.

Wednesdays action, which will apply to more than 100,000 federal law enforcement officers, reflects the delicate balance Biden has sought to strike on policing after promising to do everything in my power address racism and excessive use of force. Civil rights groups and racial justice activists have pushed him to fulfill his pledge while Republicans, seizing on concern over crime, have sought to cast Democrats as soft on crime.

Floyd was killed on 25 May 2020, when a white Minneapolis police officer pinned his knee on Floyds neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd, who was Black, was handcuffed and pleading that he couldnt breathe.

His death ignited a national movement against racial injustice and dramatically shifted long-held views on racism and policing. But translating the outcry into legislative action has proved elusive for Democrats, who narrowly control both chambers of Congress.

Last year, the House passed legislation named in Floyds honor. But negotiations stalled in the evenly divided Senate, where 60 votes are needed to pass most legislation.

Speaking before Biden on Wednesday, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, said Senate Republicans who opposed the legislation walked away from their moral obligation to address an issue that caused millions of Americans to march in the streets.

George Floyds daughter Gianna Floyd was among those at the signing. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

White House officials said the order had been finalized after more than 100 hours work and as many meetings with stakeholders including law enforcement officials, lawmakers, civil rights and civil liberties groups and families of victims of police violence.

The resulting order is far narrower in scope than was initially sought, but civil rights leaders  and some major police groups  welcomed the policies.

We know full well that an executive order cannot address Americas policing crisis the same way Congress has the ability to but weve got to do everything we can, Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, who attended Wednesdays signing ceremony, said in a statement.

Theres no better way to honor George Floyds legacy than for President Biden to take action by signing a police reform executive order.

Derek Chauvin, the officer who pinned Floyd to the ground with his knee, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. Three other former officers were convicted in federal court of violating Floyds civil rights.

The order applies only to federal agencies. Biden does not have direct authority over state and local agencies. But White House officials said the order incentivizes law enforcement agencies at every level to participate in the national police registry and to adopt the new accountability standards and de-escalation policies established by the order.

Democrats are navigating a complicated political landscape on the issue of policing and crime with less than six months before the midterm elections. Republicans have sought to blame Democrats for rises in violent crime in some cities, a dubious claim that they tie to calls made by activists after Floyds death to slash police funding.

As a candidate and as president, Biden has denounced efforts to defund the police, repeating, to the frustration of some in his party, that departments need more funding, not less. But with election day looming, Republicans have used those calls to accuse Democrats of being

When a draft version of the order was leaked earlier this year, some law enforcement groups found some of the language objectionable. Particularly offensive to them, according to a February report in the New York Times, was a reference to systemic racism within US criminal justice.

A White House official said the text had been revised and improved based on input from stakeholders but would not say if the document made explicit reference to systemic racism.

The official said the order does not hide from the truth that we need reform in policing and in our larger criminal justice system, and that includes addressing systemic racism.

The final version of the order Biden signed on Wednesday did use the contested term, making clear reference to racial disparities across policing and the criminal justice system which were explicitly identified as consequences of systemic racism.

The order said: It is time that we acknowledge the legacy of systemic racism in our criminal justice system and work together to eliminate the racial disparities that endure to this day. Doing so serves all Americans.
WASHINGTON  Invoking his own personal loss and the collective grief of a shaken nation, President Biden spoke from the White House on Tuesday night with anger and sadness at the slaughter of 19 children by a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, earlier in the day.

Two adults were also reportedly killed in the attack, but it was not clear if that total includes the attacker, who was fatally shot by law enforcement.

Where in Gods name is our backbone? Biden asked, lashing out gun manufacturers whom he blamed for preventing the passage of gun laws that polling suggests most Americans support. Its time to turn this pain into action.

President Biden addresses the nation about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

And he spoke of his own pain too, alluding to the loss of his first wife and baby daughter, in a 1972 car crash, and the 2015 death of son Beau from brain cancer. To lose a child, its like having a piece of your soul ripped away. Theres a hollowness in your chest, you feel like youre being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out, suffocating Biden said.

Its never quite the same.

Biden was returning from his trip to Asia when the shooting took place, in a predominantly Hispanic community outside of San Antonio. Shortly before he left, a gunman killed 10 people in Buffalo in a racist attack against the citys Black community. The president had traveled to Buffalo before departing for Asia. Now, back in Washington, he was dealing with a new tragedy.

Id hoped when I became president, I would not have to do this again, he said of the all-too-familiar ritual of a president having to address the nation after a mass shooting.

A woman cries and hugs a young girl outside the Willie de Leon Civic Center in Uvalde, Texas. (Allison DInner/AFP via Getty Images)

He recalled visiting, in his capacity as vice president to Barack Obama, the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where in 2012 a gunman killed 20 children and six adults. There have been more than 900 school shootings since Sandy Hook, he noted.

And dont tell me we cant have an impact on this carnage, he said.

The setting was not right for legislative specifics, but Biden pointed out that the assault weapons ban, which expired under President George W. Bush, had led to a decrease in mass shootings.

What in Gods name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone? he wondered, with first lady Jill Biden, dressed in funereal black, standing behind him in the Roosevelt Room.

Im sick and tired of it, he said. We have to act.


Ahead of the sentencing of Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik in a terror-funding case, spontaneous shutdown was witnessed in Kashmir parts, with clashes, sloganeering in Maliks native area.

Muhammad Raafi | TwoCircles.net

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NEW DELHI  The Special NIA judge, at Patiala House Court in New Delhi on Wednesday, awarded a life sentence to Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairperson Muhammad Yasin Malik in the terror funding case. Malik, however, is eligible to appeal in High Court.

The court awarded two life sentences and 10-year rigorous imprisonment each in five other cases. All the punishments will run concurrently, it said.

On May 19, Malik was convicted for the offences punishable under sections 120B IPC, 121 IPC, 121A IPC, 13 UAPA r/w 120B IPC, 15 UAPA r/w 120B IPC, 17 UAPA, 18 UAPA, 20 UAPA, 38 UAPA and 39 UAPA.

Earlier, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) urged the court to give the death penalty to Malik, while Malik said that he will not beg for anything and left the decision to the court.

Parts of Jammu and Kashmirs capital city Srinagar witnessed a shutdown ahead of the courts verdict on the quantum of sentence for Malik, who was convicted in a terror funding case earlier this month.

Shops and other business establishments were shut in some parts of the city. Government forces including paramilitary Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) personnel and Jammu and Kashmir police have been deployed in strength to thwart any public protests, officials said.

Besides, drones were deployed to keep a watch in sensitive areas of the capital city. No organization had called for the shutdown.

In the afternoon, civilian protesters clashed with government forces and pelted stones. The government forces shot tear smoke shells to disperse the protesters.

#Kashmir| Clashes erupted in Maisuma area of central Kashmir's Srinagar city ahead of #YasinMalik Quantum of punishment by NIA court at Delhi. pic.twitter.com/qijsdFX5Ba  Sajid Raina (@SajidRaina1) May 25, 2022

On May 10, Malik reportedly pleaded guilty to all charges, including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). He told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him.

He had been charged with terrorist acts, illegally raising funds, being a member of a terrorist organization, criminal conspiracy, and sedition.

During the trial, Malik protested the charges and said he was a freedom fighter.

Terrorism-related charges levelled against me are concocted, fabricated, and politically motivated, his organization, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), cited him as telling the court, Al Jazeera reported. If seeking Azadi (freedom) is a crime, then I am ready to accept this crime and its consequences, he told the judge.

In Srinagar, reports said that people were seen gathering at Maliks Maisuma residence early Wednesday where women chanted slogans in support of Malik.

The JKLF was one of the first armed rebel groups to come into existence in Jammu and Kashmir in the early 90s. JKLF led by Malik supported an independent Kashmir and laid down arms in 1994. In 2019, the government arrested Malik and banned JKLF.

Ahead of the sentence, Malik told the Special NIA judge, at Patiala House Court on Wednesday that he has been following Gandhian principles after giving up arms. After dropping weapons, I have followed the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. Since then, I have been following non-violent politics in Kashmir.

The lawyer who attended the court proceeding said, Yasin said (in the courtroom) that if I have been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in 28 years, if Indian Intelligence proves this, then I will also retire from politics. I will accept the hanging. With seven Prime Ministers, I have worked.

On the demand by NIA for the death penalty to him, Malik said, I will not beg for anything. The case is before this court and I leave it for the court to decide.

Earlier the court asked NIA to give an affidavit on the socio-economic status of convict Yasin Malik after taking the help of local authorities. Malik is also directed to file an affidavit disclosing all sources of his income and assets (movable and immovable).

Reacting to the courts verdict, the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of various mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmri said that life imprisonment given to Malik was unfortunate and a setback to the efforts for peace.

We are afraid that this will further compound the uncertainties in the region and will only fuel more alienation and separatist feelings, a spokesman of the PAGD said in a statement.

NIA Court has delivered its verdict but not justice, he said, adding, The triumphalism being displayed by the BJP and the corporate media is bound to prove counterproductive.

Meanwhile, the PAGD said, we suggest that Yaseen Malik should avail all legal opportunities to contest this verdict.

Meanwhile commenting on the courts decision, a senior lawyer based in Kashmir told TwoCircles.net that it is insane that anyone without an opportunity to meet his family and the counsel of choice can be convicted in such haste.

Reacting to Malik pleading guilty, the lawyer said it is not enough to say I am guilty.

The court has to draw satisfaction that the accused understands what he is saying and is aware of the consequences of his admission/confession, the lawyer added.

Muhammad Raafi is a journalist based in New Delhi. He covers politics and human rights and tweets at @MohammadRaafi
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  China wants 10 small Pacific nations to endorse a sweeping agreement covering everything from security to fisheries in what one leader warns is a game-changing bid by Beijing to wrest control of the region.

A draft of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press shows that China wants to train Pacific police officers, team up on traditional and non-traditional security" and expand law enforcement cooperation.

China also wants to jointly develop a marine plan for fisheries  which would include the Pacific's lucrative tuna catch  increase cooperation on running the region's internet networks, and set up cultural Confucius Institutes and classrooms. China also mentions the possibility of setting up a free trade area with the Pacific nations.

Chinas move comes as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a 20-person delegation begin a visit to the region this week.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price expressed concern Wednesday about Chinas intentions, saying Beijing might use the proposed accords to take advantage of the islands and destabilize the region.

We are concerned that these reported agreements may be negotiated in a rushed, nontransparent process, Price told reporters. He warned that China "has a pattern of offering shadowy, vague deals with little transparency or regional consultation in areas related to fishing, related to resource management, development, development assistance and more recently even security practices.

Price added that agreements that include sending Chinese security officials to the nations "could only seek to fuel regional international tensions and increase concerns over Beijings expansion of its internal security apparatus to the Pacific.

Wang is visiting seven of the countries he hopes will endorse the Common Development Vision  the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

Wang is also holding virtual meetings with the other three potential signatories  the Cook Islands, Niue and the Federated States of Micronesia. He is hoping the countries will endorse the pre-written agreement as part of a joint communique after a May 30 meeting in Fiji he is holding with the foreign ministers from each of the 10 countries.

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Micronesias president, David Panuelo, has told leaders of the other Pacific nations his nation won't endorse the plan, warning it would needlessly heighten geopolitical tensions and threaten regional stability, according to a letter from Panuelo obtained by the AP.

Among other concerns, Panuelo said, the agreement opens the door for China to own and control the region's fisheries and communications infrastructure. He said China could intercept emails and listen in on phone calls.

Panuelo called the Common Development Vision the single most game-changing proposed agreement in the Pacific in any of our lifetimes and said it threatens to bring a new Cold War era at best, and a World War at worst.

Panuelo declined to comment on the letter or the proposed agreement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Wednesday he didn't know about Panuelo's letter.

But I dont agree at all with the argument that cooperation between China and the South Pacific island countries will trigger a new Cold War, he said.

Like some other countries in the Pacific, Micronesia is finding itself increasingly caught between the competing interests of Washington and Beijing.

Micronesia has close ties to the U.S. through a Compact of Free Association. But it also has what Panuelo describes in his letter as a Great Friendship with China that he hopes will continue despite his opposition to the agreement.

The security aspects of the agreement will be particularly troubling to many in the region and beyond, especially after China signed a separate security pact with the Solomon Islands last month.

That pact has raised fears that China could send troops to the island nation or even establish a military base there, not far from Australia. The Solomon Islands and China say there are no plans for a base.

The May 30 meeting will be the second between Wang and the Pacific islands' foreign ministers after they held a virtual meeting last October.

Those who follow China's role in the Pacific will be scrutinizing the wording of the draft agreement.

Among its provisions: China will hold intermediate and high-level police training for Pacific Island countries.

The agreement says the countries will strengthen cooperation in the fields of traditional and non-traditional security and will expand law enforcement cooperation, jointly combat transnational crime, and establish a dialog mechanism on law enforcement capacity and police cooperation."

The agreement would also see the nations expand exchanges between governments, legislatures and political parties."

The draft agreement also stipulates that the Pacific countries firmly abide by the one-China principle, under which Taiwan, a self-ruled island democracy, is considered by Beijing to be part of China. It would also uphold the non-interference principle that China often cites as a deterrent to other nations speaking out about its human rights record.

The agreement says that China and the Pacific countries would jointly formulate a marine spatial plan to optimize the layout of the marine economy, and develop and utilize marine resources rationally, so as to promote a sustainable development of blue economy.

China also promises more investment in the region by mobilizing private capital and encouraging "more competitive and reputable Chinese enterprises to participate in direct investment in Pacific Island countries.

China also promised to dispatch Chinese language consultants, teachers and volunteers to the islands.

The AP has also obtained a draft of a five-year action plan that's intended to sit alongside the Common Development Vision, which outlines a number of immediate incentives that China is offering to the Pacific nations.

In the action plan, China says it will fully implement 2,500 government scholarships through 2025.

In 2022, China will hold the first training program for young diplomats from Pacific Island countries, depending on the pandemic situation, the draft plan states, adding that China will also hold seminars on governance and planning for the Pacific nations.

In the draft action plan, China says it will build criminal investigation laboratories as needed by the Pacific nations that can be used for fingerprint testing, forensic autopsies, and electronic forensics.

China also says it will also spend an additional $2 million and send 200 medics to the islands to help fight COVID-19 and promote health, and promises to help the countries in their efforts to combat climate change.
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A Unique Assyrian Town in North Iraq

Amedi the Duhok province, North Iraq. ( Kurdistan 24) One thousand meters long and 550 meters wide, and 1,200 meters above sea level, Amedi town has been home to Muslims and Christians for centuries. Located on the summit of a small plateau, Amedi is home to 6,000 who live in 1,200 houses.

Amedi town is well-known for its multiple ethnicities and religions, which have long lived in peaceful coexistence.

"Amedi is a gem, a unique town, an example of humanity," Bakir Khalil, a historian, told Kurdistan 24. "It neither grows nor expands, and it has always been an example of coexistence of the various religious and ethnic backgrounds."

The ancient town dates back to 3,000 BC to the ancient Assyrians. It was also one of the key Kurdish kingdoms around the 11th century.

"If you look at its history, Amedi has always been a strategic place," Khalil noted. "The authorities and empires throughout history wanted to capture it and rule because it is high and strategic."

Located 90 kilometers from Duhok province, Amedi is a touristic wonder in the Kurdistan Region, attracting thousands of local and international tourists each year.

"Amedi has so much to offer tourists," said Rasti Sharaza, a local tourist. "Besides its nature, there are so many religious, historical, and archaeological attractions to visit."

The town has these several places to visit, including Amedi Citadel, the ancient grand mosque, Badinan Gate, the ancient ruins of Khenis, and several other historical sites.

"Whenever I go to Duhok, I visit Amedi because it is a must-see town," Sardar Hakeem, a local tourist, told Kurdistan 24. "Besides its attractions, I enjoy its tahini, as it is the best in Kurdistan. I don't go home without buying two or three kilos of tahini."

( Kurmanj Nhili/Kurdistan 24)

Amedi has the oldest tahini factory, which is five centuries old. This small town has eight tahini factories altogether. A large part of its population makes a living producing the best quality tahini in the Kurdistan Region.

"We have been producing tahini for the last five hundred years. It is a family business," said Mustafa Jamil, a tahini factory owner. "My ancestors have started it, and now we are providing tahini for Kurdistan and export."
By Daren Butler and Maya Gebeily

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan's pledge to carry out a new military incursion on Turkey's southern borders has triggered speculation about potential targets, with the Syrian town of Tal Rifaat emerging as a primary goal of any operation.

Two days after Erdogan announced the plan, the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper said on Wednesday preparations had been made for a new operation to expand "safe zones" already set up in northern Syria, with several goals identified.

"Among the probable targets of the Turkish Armed forces and the (Turkey-backed) Syrian National Army, are Tal Rifaat, Ain al Arab (Kobani), Ain Issa and Manbij," the paper said.

Turkish control of the towns, which lie on or close to a central stretch of the 911-km-long border with Syria, could extend and deepen its military presence from near the Mediterranean coast along nearly three-quarters of the frontier.

So far, there have been few signs of military movements that preceded Turkey's last four incursions into northern Syria. Erdogan has said decisions on military operations would be made at a National Security Council meeting on Thursday.

The potential target areas are controlled by the U.S.-backed YPG, which Ankara views as an extension of the PKK, a Kurdish militant group waging an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984. Turkey designates both as terrorist organisations.

YPG TARGETED

The YPG has been the main target of several incursions which Turkey has carried out in northern Syria since 2016, seizing hundreds of kilometres of land and pushing some 30 km (20 miles) deep into the country.

YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmoud told Reuters the group took Erdogan's threats very seriously: "The international coalition, America, and Russia should commit to the pledges that they made to this region. Their presence in our areas must be meaningful, in the sense that it stops the repeated attacks on our people."

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The Yeni Safak newspaper said the most critical target of the latest operation would be Tal Rifaat, some 15 km (9 miles) from the Turkish border, which it said Kurdish fighters used as a base from which to launch attacks in the Afrin, Azaz and Jarablus areas controlled by Turkey and Ankara-backed Syrian fighters.

Tal Rifaat is located north of Aleppo city and just south of Azaz. An operation there alone would not represent a widening of Turkey's "safe zones" along the border, but would push its forces deeper into Syria.

Dareen Khalifa, an analyst on Syria at the International Crisis Group, said it was unclear whether Erdogan was talking about an operation in Tal Rifaat or further east, but she highlighted the role of the town.

"Tal Rifaat, if anything, can get him what he wants and it would avoid triggering a huge headache. I don't think the Americans care about Tal Rifaat," she said.

Most U.S. forces in northern Syria are based further east.

She said Russia, which has forces deployed in the region, had not been addressing his concerns on militant attacks on Turkish-controlled areas from Tal Rifaat, and that Erdogan has been saying for years that Tal Rifaat needs to be captured.

KOBANI?

The predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani was touted as another potential target. The YPG's defeat of Islamic State militants there in 2015 helped turn the tide against the group.

"Kobani represents the value of a global victory in the war against terrorism," YPG spokesman Mahmoud said. "There's no doubt that our forces will do what is needed to defend" the area.

The YPG, or People's Defence Units, are a key element of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the coalition which the United States largely relied on to fight Islamic State.

However, Khalifa played down the prospects of Turkey targeting Kobani.

"I don't think there's any interest in getting stuck in Kobani," she said, pointing to the major demographic changes and reaction that would ensue if the Kurdish population fled.

She said that while United States forces were not in Manbij physically, it is a U.S. zone of influence, so "I expect it to also trigger a U.S. reaction".

Any attack on Kobani would also risk triggering a strong reaction from Turkey's Kurds, who make up some 20% of the country's population. The Islamic State attack on Kobani in 2014 led to protests in which dozens died in Turkey.

Mithat Sancar, joint head of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), warned about the consequences of Erdogan's plans for fresh military operations.

"We must all see that this will lead again to a bloody vortex in this region and country," he told HDP lawmakers.

Erdogan's talk of a military operation has also raised the stakes in Turkey's row with NATO partners over Finland and Sweden joining the alliance, with Turkey accusing both of harbouring people linked to the PKK.

Analysts said the incursion plans reflected his belief that the West would not oppose such operations when it needs Ankara's support for the Nordic countries' bid to join NATO.

Erdogan's announcement was also aimed at bolstering nationalist support as he gears up for difficult elections next year, analysts said. Cross-border military operations have boosted his poll ratings in the past.

(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Dominic Evans and Bernadette Baum)
The Daily Beast

Roger SollenbergerHONDO, TexasThe father of the 18-year-old gunman who killed 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, this week wants the world to know he is sorry.In an interview with The Daily Beast on Thursday, Salvador Ramos said, I just want the people to know Im sorry man, [for] what my son did.I never expected my son to do something like that, Ramos, 42, added. He shouldve just killed me, you know, instead of doing something like that to someone.His son, also called S
South Africa: Fellow Africans are not our enemies  President Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on South Africans to exercise tolerance and to fight xenophobia in all its forms.

This as the continent marks Africa Day on Wednesday, which is a commemoration of the 1963 founding of the African Union  known then as the Organisation of African Unity.

As we address the critical issue of illegal immigration, as is our right as a sovereign nation, let us never become like the former oppressors, who sought to divide the African people and turn us against each other.

Our brothers and sisters from elsewhere in Africa are not our enemies. Our common enemies are the scourges of poverty, crime, unemployment and social exclusion. We need to work together to defeat them, and not turn on each other as Africans, the President said.

President Ramaphosa reflected that during the height of Apartheid, other African countries opened their borders to South Africans who were in the midst of the struggle for freedom.

According to the President, remnants of the presence of these freedom fighters can still be seen all across the continent where even South Africas most painful moments are commemorated and observed.

Travelling across the continent, one sees streets and monuments dedicated to the leaders of South Africas liberation movement. Even today student movements and civic groups in some African countries commemorate events like the Soweto uprising. We will never forget this solidarity, nor the cost that came with it, particularly for our neighbours in the SADC region.

South Africa must never be seen as a place of intolerance. This is not just an insult to the people of the continent who supported us and gave refuge to our leaders, but also a betrayal of our own Constitutional values, he said.

Peace on the continent

President Ramaphosa said peace in Africa is an imperative that South Africa is committed to achieving.

South Africas socio-economic development, stability and progress cannot be assured without a peaceful, integrated, prosperous continent. We will continue to contribute to this effort, whether it is through peacekeeping operations, through our role as AU Champion for COVID-19 response, or through supporting development projects through our African Renaissance Fund, he said.

The President revealed that during this week, an African Union Summit will be held to address the illegal and violent government takeovers that have gripped East Africa and the rise in terrorist action on the continent.

South Africa will be participating in two important African Union summits in Equatorial Guinea later this week that will be addressing the issues of terrorism and unconstitutional changes of government, and humanitarian assistance. The continents collective action on each of these issues are vital to peace and stability in Africa, he said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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Florida senators noticed a conspicuous absence during Mondays start to the special session about fixes to Floridas broken property insurance market.

We havent heard from anyone from [the Office of Insurance Regulation], who Im shocked is not here today, Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, remarked about two and a half hours into a Senate committee hearing.

About 10 minutes later, another senator asked whether anyone from the office was in the committee room. Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier raised his hand from the back corner, in one of the seats farthest from senators.

In a normal session, Altmaier, the states point person on insurance, might be seated in the front row, ready to provide input or answer lawmakers questions.

But during this weeks special session, legislators are rushing to pass a property insurance bill before the Memorial Day weekend, leaving little time for questions and frustrating lawmakers who want to understand the crisis.

No experts, no state insurance officials

Legislators this week have convened no panels of experts and heard no testimony from key state insurance officials, including the Department of Financial Services, which splits insurance regulation with Altmaiers office, or the states insurance consumer advocate. Altmaier did spend time answering lawmakers questions.

Lawmakers have expressed irritation that they lack data to understand whats causing insurers to request double-digit rate increases and to drop tens of thousands of policies across the state.

The two bills moving through the House and Senate, released less than 72 hours before the start of the special session, have each received a single hearing, and Republican leaders have entertained no serious debate or discussion about amending them.

State Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, confers with Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, during debate on Senate Bill CS/SB 2-D: Property Insurance, in the Florida Senate Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla.

Were supposed to come here to use an old-fashioned word. ... We called it legislating,  Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, told a House committee on Tuesday. Why dont we legislate anymore?

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From start to finish, the Legislature is set to spend a total of three days in Tallahassee to address what most agree is a five-alarm crisis in the states insurance market. That includes time to read and debate a 101-page bill released Tuesday that would create post-Surfside condominium inspection rules.

Lawmakers are set to leave Tallahassee on Wednesday after approving several short- and long-term fixes to the homeowners insurance market. The legislation, released Friday night, came after weeks of closed-door discussions between Gov. Ron DeSantis office and the leaders of the House and Senate. Among the proposals:

 Preventing insurers from dropping or refusing to insure homes solely because of a roofs age if the roof is less than 15 years old.

 Placing numerous limits on the fees lawyers can collect in lawsuits against insurers.

 Assigning $2 billion to create a new reinsurance program  insurance that insurers buy  and requiring any companies that use it to pass those savings on to homeowners.

 Enhancing scrutiny of insurers that fail.

Will insurance rates go down? Theres no answer

Lawmakers have said they havent done any analyses of the bills to determine what effect they will have on homeowners rates, although its unlikely rates will go down for at least 18 months, they said. They also dont know how many companies would tap into the reinsurance program.

Part of the reason for the rush is because the sharp increase in rates has become an emergency, Rep. Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, said Tuesday night. The reinsurance program also needs to be passed before June 1, he said, so insurers can buy it ahead of storm season.

Its untenable. We need to do something now, Trumbull said.

Lawmakers are already warning that they could be coming back to pass more changes.

Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, said hes asked Senate leadership to hold a workshop over the summer to explore the issue.

Insurers have blamed excessive litigation by trial lawyers and claims triggered by fraudulent roofers for driving up costs and causing them to request double-digit rate increases. Altmaier has agreed that excessive litigation is driving up rates, citing national data showing that Florida makes up a disproportionate share of lawsuits.

How much those lawsuits actually cost insurers is a major question that remains unanswered.

This has been a constant source of frustration, House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, told reporters about the lack of data on Tuesday. It is very difficult for us to do anything on any policy area without information.

Legislature ordered up data last year, but ...

Last year, the Legislature passed an insurance bill that ordered the Office of Insurance Regulation to start collecting data this year from insurers about the types of lawsuits theyre seeing.

But as lawmakers were meeting this week, the Office of Insurance Regulation had nothing to produce. Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, asked Altmaier on Monday why.

Knowing, and in consideration, that we had an insurance crisis and needed that data like two years ago, you dont have any data from any companies that might have been early with your submission that you can provide to us? Pizzo asked.

Altmaier responded that he had to go through the states rule-making process, which is still ongoing, and early data would likely be inaccurate.

Lawmakers have been lukewarm to the legislation so far, but it has passed overwhelmingly. A better bill could have been produced, some said.

Theres a part of me that really wishes that we would have had more time, said Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa. When we have to do things in such a condensed time frame, it doesnt really allow for the natural conversations that otherwise would take place during the process.
Kate Moss testified by video for just three minutes on Wednesday in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, dispelling a rumor that Depp had pushed her down a flight of steps when he was her boyfriend in the 1990s.

The 48-year-old supermodel, speaking from her English home in Gloucestershire, told the court in Virginia that she and Depp had been in a romantic relationship from 1994 to 1998.



Depps attorney Benjamin Chew asked Moss if anything had happened while they were on holiday at the GoldenEye resort in Jamaica.

We were leaving the room, and Johnny left the room before I did, and there had been a rainstorm. As I left the room, I slid down the stairs and I hurt my back, Moss told the court via the video feed.

I screamed because I didnt know what had happened to me and I was in pain. He came running back to help me and carried me to my room and got me medical attention, she added.

Moss said Depp had not pushed her down the stairs. Asked if, at any point in their relationship, he had pushed her in that way, Moss said: No.

He never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs, no, Moss told the court.

Heards attorneys declined to cross-examine Moss, and she was told she was free to go.

Moss was called by Depps legal team, who appeared to celebrate when her name was mentioned by Heard during her testimony, when she revived the rumor that Depp had pushed her down a flight of stairs.

Depp himself later took the stand to reject aspects of Heards testimony earlier in the trial. Among those were Heards claim that Depp had taken a handful of ecstasy pills during a trip to Australia in 2015.

Depp testified he had taken the drug, also known as MDMA, six or seven times in his life. His attorney asked him directly if he had ever taken eight to 10 pills at once, as Heard testified.

No. Im pretty sure Id be dead. I think one would die rather quickly, he said.

Depps attorneys asked him how it had been to listen to Heards accusations against him during the trial.

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Insane, Depp replied. Its insane to hear heinous accusations of violence, sexual violence, that shes attributed to me and accused me of. I dont think anyone enjoys having to split themselves open and tell the truth, but there are times when one simply has to, because its gotten out of control, Depp said.

The accusations against him, he added, were ridiculous, humiliating, ludicrous, painful, savage and unimaginably brutal, cruel and all false. All false.

The actor also disputed a claim made by Heard that he had nothing to do with getting her a role in the superhero blockbuster Aquaman.

Depp said that after Heard auditioned for the role, he talked to the studio on her behalf. He was barred from discussing the details of his conversations when Heards lawyers objected, but said that ultimately she did get the job, so hopefully, I suppose, I had curbed their worries to some degree.

But Depp rejected a claim by Heards attorneys that he had reached out to Warner Bros executives to have her removed from the franchise after their marriage collapsed. I had given my word to them, and I felt responsible that I had to tell them exactly what was going on and that it was going to end up ugly, Depp said.

Throughout Depps testimony on Wednesday, he appeared more argumentative, rather than maintaining the movie star veneer he had displayed earlier in the trial. In one exchange, he suggested that Amber Heards attorney had fabricated negative text messages that he allegedly sent about his ex-wife.

One of the last witnesses to be called, former TMZ employee Morgan Tremaine, testified that Heard had tipped off the gossip site that she would be at court (to file a temporary restraining order) and was going to stop and turn so that paparazzi could photograph the bruise Heard claims that Depp gave her.

Tremaine sparred with Heards attorneys. Testifying in this case, said Elaine Bredehodt, gets you your 15 minutes of fame, doesnt it? Tremaine shot back: I could say the same thing about taking Amber Heard as a client, for you.

The testimony came during the rebuttal phase of the long-running defamation case. Each side has sought to present the other as an abuser during their 15-month marriage.

Depp is suing Heard for $50m for libel in Fairfax county, Virginia, over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post, describing herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse.

His lawyers say he was defamed by the article, although it never mentioned his name.

Depp has denied he ever struck Heard and says she was the abuser in the relationship.

Heard has testified about more than a dozen instances of physical abuse she says she suffered at Depps hands, and has counter-sued her ex-husband for $100m.

In November, 2020, Depp lost a high-stakes libel action in the UK courts against the British tabloid the Sun after the newspaper described him as a wife-beater.

Mosss testimony in the US court came in the final week of the jury trial, with closing arguments expected on Friday.

The case continues.
William Oneal Lindsey

UPDATE: Lindsey was sentenced May 24, 2022, to 15 years and eight months in prison.

A teacher was arrested at Edmonson County High School in Kentucky this week after an investigation found he allegedly had an online conversation that was "sexual in nature" with a person he believed was a minor and asked for photos of them, authorities say.

U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman announced Thursday that William Oneal Lindsey, 28, of Brownsville, has been charged with attempted production of child pornography and attempted online enticement.

Lindsey had been worked for Edmonson County High School's Youth Service Center through the Jobs for America's Graduates program, The Bowling Green Daily News reported.

The high school in Brownsville is about 25 miles northeast of Bowling Green.

A criminal complaint said Lindsey began an online conversation Jan. 7 that "was sexual in nature" with a person he believed to be a minor but who was actually an undercover officer with the Kentucky Attorney General's Department of Criminal Investigations.

After several days of conversations, a detective arrested Lindsey at Edmonson County High School on Wednesday without incident, according to an affidavit.

Education news: Oldham County Schools will resume in-person classes

Lindsey admitted to authorities he believed the person he met online was a minor and said the conversation was "sexual in nature and he asked for images," according to the complaint.

"Lindsey offered that he should not have engaged in the behavior due to the age of the person he was talking to and went on to say that he had communicated with numerous other girls on various platforms concerning sexually explicit topics and that he believed many of them were minors," Detective Matt Hedden said in the affidavit.

Hedden works in the Kentucky attorney general's office and is assigned to U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force.

At the beginning of his conversation with Lindsey on the Omegle chat website, Hedden said he posed as a 15-year-old girl from Louisville, according to the complaint.

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The United States Attorneys Office and the Kentucky Attorney General stand united in protecting our kids, Coleman said Thursday in a news release. We will not permit predators to use the guise of our some of our most trusted and respected fellow citizens, its teachers, to exploit our young people."

Child perpetrators are becoming increasingly clever in the methods they use to entice and exploit children, and our Department of Criminal Investigations is focused on devoting resources to tracking these perpetrators online and stopping them before they can carry out crimes against a child, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron added. "Our office worked closely on this investigation with U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman, U.S. Secret Service, Kentucky State Police, Edmonson County Sheriffs Office, Shelby County Sheriffs Office and Louisville Metro Police Department, and I appreciate their partnership."

ICYMI: JCPS band director fired for submitting falsified music recordings

If convicted, Lindsey could face between 10 years and life in prison on the attempted enticement charge and between 15 years and life on the child production charge.

Both counts carry a fine of $250,000 and between five years to life on supervised release.

Lindsey is being held in the Grayson County Detention Center as he awaits a federal court date.

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky teacher arrested at school, charged with online enticement
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says sexual assault will not be tolerated in the Defense Department.

U.S. Army (retired) General Lloyd Austin speaks after being formally nominated to be Secretary of the Department of Defense by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware, on Dec. 9, 2020. Credit - Chip SomodevillaGetty Images

A U.S. Army commission has recommended new names for nine military bases commemorating Confederate officers, including the head of its army, the reputed Georgia chief of the Ku Klux Klan and the commander whose troops fired the first shots of the Civil War.

The Naming Commission, which was established by Congress in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, suggested a list of names for the military installations that include women and Black Americans for the first time, rather than white men.

Each of the posts, located in states stretching from Virginia to Texas, are currently named for a Confederate officer. The names were often given long after the Civil Warincluding many in the first half of the 20th Century when the U.S. military was rushing to open training posts for both world wars.

The panel, composed of former uniformed and civilian military leaders, visited the installations to gain feedback from soldiers and the community about their process, preferences for new names and an understanding of local sensitivities. The commission said it received more than 34,000 submissions related to naming activities.

Calls to rename military bases, ships and other military assets intensified in 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis and the ensuing national reckoning on racial injustice. The Naming Commission posted an inventory list to its website in March of more than 750 Department of Defense items identified for review to determine whether their names commemorate the Confederacy and if a recommendation for renaming is warranted. Among the items on the list are streets, civil works, buildings, paintings, vessels, signs and the military installations themselves.

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin must now approve the naming recommendations of the bases to fully enact them.

Here is the list of nine recommendations:

Fort Benning renamed as Fort Moore

Fort Benning, Ga now honors Brigadier General Henry Benning, a Georgia lawyer, politician, judge and supporter of slavery. The Army established Camp Benning, known as the Home of the Infantry, in 1918; it became a fort four years later 1950 (forts generally are bigger, more permanent installations than camps). In the wake of Lincolns election, Benning became one of Georgias most vocal proponents of secession, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Fort Moore would honor Lieut. General Hal Moore and, his wife, Julia. Hal served a combined 32 years with assignments in Japan, Norway, Vietnam, and twice in Korea. In Vietnam, 79 soldiers under Moores command were killed and 121 wounded in less than 72 hours. At home at Fort Benning, Julia accompanied cabbies to deliver notices and give compassionate condolences to the families of those killed in combat and attended the subsequent funerals. The panel said her work led to the creation of casualty notification teams and survivor support networks that continue today.

Fort Bragg renamed as Fort Liberty

Fort Bragg, N.C., honors General Braxton Bragg who served in the Second Seminole War, the MexicanAmerican War and the Civil War. He is said to be among the worst Confederate generals because he waged war ploddingly with frontal assaults, and a lack of follow-through that turned battlefield successes into post-battle disappointments. Even Braggs staunchest supporters admonished him for his quick temper, general irritability, and tendency to wound innocent men with barbs thrown during his frequent fits of anger, historian Peter Cozzens has written.

Fort Liberty would honor the value of liberty, the Pentagon says. Our Army was founded to achieve the ideal of liberty. In the American Revolution, patriots fought for the liberty to direct their lives, pursue their happiness, and determine their futures through representative democracy, the panel wrote.

Fort Gordon renamed as Fort Eisenhower

Fort Gordon, Ga., honors Lieut. General John Brown Gordon, one of Confederate leader Robert E. Lees most-trusted officers. The post began as Camp Gordon in 1917; it became Fort Gordon in 1956. It is home to the Army Signal Corps and the services Cyber Center of Excellence. Generally acknowledged as the head of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1872, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia (Gordon denied the charge). By the time of his death in 1904, Gordon had capitalized on his war record to such an extent that he had become for many Georgians, and southerners in general, the living embodiment of the Confederacy.

Fort Eisenhower would honor Dwight D. Eisenhower. As a general, Eisenhower led the Allied Forces to victory in World War II. Returning to the U.S. as a war hero, he was president of Columbia University and supreme commander of NATO before being elected president of the U.S. in 1952 and in 1956. Eisenhower ended the Korean War in 1953, and opened diplomatic negotiations with Cold War-rival, the Soviet Union. Eisenhower signed civil rights legislation in 1957 and in 1960, and ordered federal troops to enforce school desegregation in Little Rock, Ark. in 1957. He was TIMEs Man of the Year in 1944 and 1959, and later became the first president to be limited by the Constitutions 22nd Amendment of two terms. In his farewell address in January 1961, he famously warned of the dangers of the military-industrial complex.

Fort A.P. Hill renamed as Fort Walker

Fort A.P. Hill, Va., honors Virginia native Lieut. General A.P. Hill. The Army created the installation six months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. Today it is a training and maneuver center focused on providing realistic joint and combined-arms training. Hill had a frail physique and was frequently ill, attributes some historians believe are linked to the gonorrhea he contracted while on furlough from West Point (an infection that forced him to repeat his third year). A Union soldier from Pennsylvania shot and killed Hill in Petersburg, Va., a week before the end of the Civil War.

Fort Walker would honor Dr. Mary Walker. By the start of the Civil War, the 28-year-old Walker had already emerged as a skilled surgeon and strong abolitionist and advocate of womens rights and equality, the panel wrote. Walker attempted several times to serve as a surgeon for the Union but was rejected and offered a role as a nurse because she was a woman. She instead chose to support the military as a volunteer, working for free in the temporary hospitals around Washington. She moved into Virginia in 1862, treating wounded soldiers in field hospitals near the front lines after the carnage at Fredericksburg. Two years later, she was arrested by the Confederates and imprisoned for four months after she stayed behind enemy lines to treat the wounded. In November 1865, Walker received the Medal of Honor.

Fort Hood renamed as Fort Cavazos

Fort Hood, Texas, honors native Kentuckian General John Bell Hood. The installation began as Camp Hood in 1942, becoming a fort in 1950. It is the largest active-duty armored post in the U.S. military. Hood, himself, was wounded at Gettysburg, losing the use of his left arm. Despite that, he led his troops in a massive assault during the Battle of Chickamauga, suffering wounds that led to the loss of his right leg.

Fort Cavazos would honor General Richard Cavazos. A Texan and the first Hispanic-American to pin on four stars, Cavazos served in Korea, where he led a company of Puerto Rican soldiers and earned the Distinguished Service Cross, the nations second highest military honor for valor, after he personally evacuated his wounded men against an enemy onslaught. He did this five times while injured. When the Vietnam War began, then-Lt. Col. Cavazos was ready to bring men into battle once more: he commanded an infantry battalion, often fighting in the fieldand frequently leading from the front, the panel wrote. In 1967, he was once again awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for rallying his men through an ambush, organizing a counterattack, and leading several maneuvers to repulse and destroy extensive enemy defenses, repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire in the process. Throughout his career, Cavazos continued to combine personal valor with commitment to his troops and dedication to his missions, additionally earning two Legions of Merit, a Silver Star, five Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, and many other medals and awards for exceptional service in war and peace, the panel wrote.

Fort Lee renamed as Fort Gregg-Adams

Fort Lee, Va., honors Virginian General Robert E. Lee, the Souths commanding officer by the Civil Wars end. The War Department created Camp Lee within weeks of declaring war on Germany in 1917. The Pentagon promoted it to Fort Lee in 1950. Just south of Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, the post is home to the Army Quartermaster School. Lee, a slaveholder, was the Confederacys most renowned general and his forces inflicted tens of thousands of casualties on Union soldiers at Antietam, Gettysburg and Manassas.

Fort Gregg-Adams would honor Lieut. General Arthur Gregg and Lieut. Colonel Charity Adams. Gregg enlisted in 1945 after his parents signed waivers that allowed him to enlist in the U.S. Army at the age of 17. A Black man, he was assigned to a unit in Germany as a medical laboratory technician but was later told no job was available. He was ultimately assigned as supply clerk in a Quartermaster Truck Company, which set him on a path to become one of the most decorated Black officers of the era. He first helped rebuild Europe, which had been devastated by fighting, as a supply logistician in occupied Germany. Later, he ran a supply depot in Japan, commanded a supply and support battalion in Vietnam, and served in several assignments in Germany throughout the Cold War, including his leadership of the Army and Air Force Exchange System, the panel wrote. At the peak of his service, Gregg served as logistics director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics for the Army. In addition to his extensive service throughout the world, Gregg also promoted equality at home. As a young of officer in the 1950s, Gregg also personally desegregated the Fort Lee Officers Club, and, throughout his career, he mentored numerous younger soldiers.

During World War II, Adams was selected to command the first unit of Black women to serve overseas, which was tasked with delivering mail to and from almost seven million soldiers fighting in Europe. Adams unit handled an estimated 65,000 letters a day and close to two million pieces of mail each month, the panel wrote. Gender discrimination limited her promotion to lieutenant colonel, the highest rank attainable by any woman during the war. But her effectiveness was made clear when it took three units of men to replace her battalion after they disbanded.

Fort Pickett renamed as Fort Barfoot

Fort Pickett, Va., honors Major General George Pickett, a Virginia native. Picketts 1863 charge at Gettysburg has been called the high-water mark of the Confederacy. The charge resulted in a rebel bloodbath. Pickett fled to Canada for a year after the war ended, fearing execution as a traitor. Camp Pickett was dedicated on July 3, 1942, at 3 p.m., 79 years to the day and hour of Picketts charge in Gettysburg. It became a fort in 1974 and now is a Virginia Army National Guard installation.

Fort Barfoot would honor Technical Sergeant Van T. Barfoot. On May 23, 1944, Barfoot and his unit were assaulting entrenched German forces in northern Italy when they came under attack from machine gun positions in the foothills of the Alps. Barfoot moved out alone, heading for the enemy flank, the panel wrote. Crawling to the edge of the first machine gun emplacement, Barfoot threw a grenade that killed two and wounded three of the crew, disabling the position. Securing the three prisoners, Barfoot advanced on a second machine gun nest which he attacked with tommy-gun fire, killing two more enemy soldiers and taking another three prisoners. Continuing his solitary assault, Barfoot encountered a third machine gun emplacement and compelled the crew to surrender. Having turned the tide in the area, he continued to mop up the remaining enemy positions, ultimately taking 17 prisoners while consolidating the newly won position. Later in the afternoon the Germans counterattacked, Barfoot led a small squad and successfully defending the ground gained. He earned the Medal of Honor for his actions and served for a total of 34 years, including tours in Korea and Vietnam.

Fort Polk renamed as Fort Johnson

Fort Polk, La., honors Lieut. General Leonidas Polk, an Episcopal bishop born in North Carolina. Established in 1941, the post is now home to the Armys Joint Readiness Training Center, which trains thousands of soldiers annually for overseas deployments. Polk fought bitterly during the Civil War with his immediate superior, General Braxton Bragg, of Fort Bragg fame. Before being killed in action in 1864 during the Atlanta campaign, Polk committed one of the biggest blunders of the war. He sent troops to occupy Columbus, Ky., which led the Kentucky legislature to appeal to Washington for help, ending the states brief try at neutrality.

Fort Johnson would honor Sergeant William Henry Johnson. In the predawn hours on May 14, 1918, during World War I, Johnson was inside a trench in Frances Argonne Forest with a fellow Black soldier when a German raiding party suddenly attacked his position. Facing a fierce enemy, wounded, and without support, Johnson could have surrendered but chose to fight, the panel wrote. Sounding the alarm before single-handedly facing the enemy, Johnson threw grenades until his supply was exhausted. When he ran out of grenades, Johnson fired his rifle until he spent his ammunition. When he ran out of bullets, Johnson charged the enemy, swinging his rifle as a club. And when he observed two Germans about to carry his wounded comrade away for interrogation, Johnson abandoned his rifle and instead drew his bolo knife, fighting off the raiders at close quarters and pushing them back from the position. Ultimately, Johnson single-handedly engaged approximately two dozen men that night, killing at least four; few returned to their lines unscathed. Despite being outnumbered by a factor of twenty and sustaining 21 separate wounds in hand-to-hand combat, he had saved his comrade, sounded the alarm, and secured his units safety and position. Johnson became the United States first hero of the Great War.

Fort Rucker renamed as Fort Novosel

Fort Rucker, Ala., honors Tennessee native Colonel Edmund Rucker, who was often called general but never attained the rank (he was known as general after becoming a leading Birmingham, Ala., industrialist after the Civil War). Known today as the Home of Army Aviation, Fort Rucker was originally the Ozark Triangular Division Camp before being renamed Camp Rucker in 1942. It became Fort Rucker in 1955.

Fort Novosel would honor Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel, Sr. Novosel joined the Army Air Corps at the age of 19 in 1941, 10 months before the attack at Pearl Harbor. During the war, he rose to the rank of captain at the age of 23, flying B-29 Superfortress bombers. Assigned to Vietnam as a Dustoff pilot, he flew helicopters evacuating combat zone casualties; a dangerous mission in which approximately one third of all medevac pilots became casualties themselves, the panel wrote. In Novosels two tours in Vietnam, he flew 2,543 extraction missions, rescuing over 5,500 seriously wounded soldiers. He earned the Medal of Honor for heroics on Oct. 2, 1969, when at the age of 47, Novosel saved 29 men from certain death.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has made a name in Washington pushing hard-right conspiracy theories, easily won her partys nomination for Congress on Tuesday. The Associated Press called the race just over an hour after polls closed. With 99% of the vote reported, Greene had 69% of the vote.

Voters picked Greene, commonly known by her initials, MTG, over her Republican challengers, including health care executive Jennifer Strahan. Strahan received 17% of the vote on Tuesday.

Greene will face off against a Democratic challenger in the heavily Republican 14th Congressional District, which includes the exurbs of Atlanta and a rural northwest swath of Georgia.

An effort to remove Greene from the ballot for her role in former President Donald Trumps efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, but a state judge determined that Greenes opponents lacked enough evidence to prove she had engaged in insurrection.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene campaigning in Plainville, Ga., on Friday. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

In just two years in Washington, Greene has sparked numerous scandals, some of which shes apologized for.

Last May, she invoked the Holocaust while condemning House Speaker Nancy Pelosis decision to require lawmakers to don masks. The following month, in the face of a censure resolution from her House colleagues, Greene visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and later apologized for comparing the mask mandates to Nazi Germany.

Greene has pushed a number of other conspiracy theories, some rooted in antisemitism, like her baseless suggestion that a Jewish cabal used a space laser to start California wildfires. But she has also renounced conspiracy theories she has previously boosted, including those about Sept. 11 and school shootings.
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told Congress it has taken "immediate action" to ensure U.S. Capitol Police are aware of unusual aerial events after an April 20 small airplane flight that prompted a security scare. FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen said in a letter to Congress that the agency will provide advance notification of special event flights in the Washington-area. Nolen said the agency believes "this will provide all of our interagency partners with the extra time necessary to reduce any potential confusion," the letter dated Friday said.
DELAND  An Ohio man was arrested Wednesday, accused of killing a woman earlier this month and leaving her in a car parked outside a DeLand Walgreens.

Robert Fleming, 36, was arrested shortly after 9 a.m. in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on a warrant charging him with first-degree murder. He was taken into custody when Chattanooga police responded to a call about a suicidal person, said DeLand Police Capt. Prurince Dice.

Dice said in a press conference that while he did not have details of the arrest, he and his investigators were certain that Fleming pulled the trigger killing Latosia Mitchell Warren, 35.

"We are confident that is the person who committed the crime," Dice said.

Love triangle murder trial: Ex-Volusia County worker sentenced to life for killing another worker

More DeLand local news: DeLand woman had stepfather killed for $750,000 insurance payout, police say

And this: Police: Man shot in DeLand carjacking attempts

It was unclear whether Fleming was Warren's boyfriend or husband. Both were originally from Cleveland, Ohio, police said.

Latosia Mitchell's body was found in a car parked outside a DeLand Walgreens

Warren's body was found May 17 in a car parked outside the Walgreens at 300 E. New York Ave. Police said they believe the car had been parked outside the store with Warren's body inside since May 15.

At Wednesday's press conference, DeLand Police Chief Jason Umberger confirmed that Warren had been shot multiple times.

Dice also revealed on Wednesday that police had made earlier contact with Fleming on May 15, when they also responded to a call about a suicidal person.

At that time, Fleming was taken into custody for a mental evaluation under Florida's Baker Act, Umberger said.

He was released later that day, though police had yet to discover Warren's body in the parked car.

DeLand detectives will travel to Chattanooga to interview Fleming as he awaits extradition to Volusia County, Dice said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Man arrested in Tennessee on murder charges in Florida
The Queen is set to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee in June with a four-day bank holiday weekend.

The weekend, which will begin on Thursday 2 June and end on Sunday 5 June, will see several events take place involving members of the royal family.

These include Trooping the Colour, a Service of Thanksgiving, the Platinum beacons, a Platinum Jubilee pageant and a star-studded concert.

Members of the public tuning into the upcoming BBC documentary, Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen, will get to catch a glimpse into the fun behind the formality of royal life, the Queen will say in her introduction of the footage.

While the Queen has made mostly virtual appearances so far this year due to ongoing mobility issues, she has appeared at the Chelsea Flower show this week riding an electric buggy.

Buckingham Palace has said the Queens attendance at Jubilee weekend events arent likely to be confirmed until the day-of.

Follow our liveblog for all of the latest updates on the Queen as she prepares to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee.

Key points

When is the Platinum Jubilee?

Eight towns awarded city status to mark platinum jubilee

Charles laments nightmare situation during visit to Ukraine refugee centre

Unseen footage shows glimpse of fun behind the formality of the Queens life

Unseen footage shows glimpse of fun behind the formality of the Queens life

07:44 , Kate Ng

The Queen will allow the world to see touching glimpses of the fun behind the formality of her royal life in home movies that have been released for the first time.

The clips, which span her life from being a baby pushed in a pram by her mother to her coronation in 1953 at the age of 27, come as she is set to celebrate her platinum jubilee.

Find out what to expect from the upcoming BBC documentary, Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen:

Unseen footage shows glimpse of fun behind the formality of the Queens life

07:43 , Kate Ng

Good morning, and welcome back to The Independents liveblog following the latest updates about the Queen and the royal family. The big platinum jubilee weekend is now just under a week away.

Story continues

Thursday 26 May 2022 18:30 , Kate Ng

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage of the Queen and the royal family today. Come back tomorrow when we continue to bring you the latest updates in the run-up to the platinum jubilee weekend.

Make Elizabeth the last anti-monarchy campaigners urge ahead of platinum jubilee

Thursday 26 May 2022 17:30 , Kate Ng

An anti-monarchy pressure group has plastered billboards across the country urging Make Elizabeth the last ahead of the Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations next week.

Above the faces of Prince Andrew, Prince William and Prince Charles, the advert says #AbolishtheMonarchy.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:

Make Elizabeth the last anti-monarchy campaigners urge ahead of platinum jubilee

Why does the Queen love corgis so much?

Thursday 26 May 2022 16:30 , Kate Ng

For over eight decades, from 1933 to 2018, Queen Elizabeth II has owned at least one corgi  a dog breed that has become as synonymous with Her Majesty as Buckingham Palace.

But where did it all begin? Rachel Burchfield delves deep:

The Queen and her corgis: Why the monarch is so fond of the breed

12 fascinating things we learned from royal experts ahead of the platinum jubilee

Thursday 26 May 2022 15:30 , Kate Ng

Royal expert Sean OGrady was joined by former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond during an event for The Independent last week, where the pair spoke about the highs and lows of the royal family.

Deputy Lifestyle Editor Laura Hampson, who hosted the event, reveals all the things we learned from our panellists:

The monarchy could have disappeared if Charles was already King

When are the Jubilee bank holidays? The full list for 2022

Thursday 26 May 2022 14:30 , Kate Ng

Mark your calendars if you havent already:

When are the Jubilee bank holidays? The full list for 2022

Everything the Queen eats in a day, according to royal chefs

Thursday 26 May 2022 13:30 , Kate Ng

The Queens former chef, Darren McGrady, has drawn back the curtain and revealed Her Majestys private dining habits, having previously spoken about her preferred drinks.

In his book Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen, McGrady revealed the Queens dining preferences, her favourite meals and the things she is not a fan of on the dinner table.

Find out what Her Majestys preferences are below:

Everything the Queen eats in a day, according to royal chefs

Royal corgi revealed as platinum jubilee emoji

Thursday 26 May 2022 13:07 , Kate Ng

The royal familys Platinum Jubilee emoji has been unveiled  a crown-wearing corgi called PJ.

The cartoon image of the cheerful dog  the Queens favourite breed  appeared on the monarchys official Twitter account, with the message: Meet PJ the corgi, our Jubilee emoji!

Find out more about PJ below:

Royal corgi revealed as platinum jubilee emoji

Aldi has turned the Queen into a carrot for the platinum jubilee

Thursday 26 May 2022 12:30 , Kate Ng

Kevin the carrot, Aldis famous mascot, has featured in many a Christmas advert, with its giant toys becoming quite the sellout. And now, to mark the platinum jubilee, hes back as a lookalike for Her Majesty.

Yes, you read that right, Kevin is now the Queen (not literally, of course) and is even donning a pretty purple dress, pearls and a crown. There are also a variety of other patriotic characters to get your hands on, including a Prince Charles lookalike and corgis!

IndyBest reporter Lauren Cunningham has all the details on how you can get your hands on these royal plushies:

Aldi has turned the Queen into a carrot for the royal jubilee

Kate Middleton reunites with Holocaust survivor

Thursday 26 May 2022 11:32 , Kate Ng

The Duchess of Cambridge has said she will never forget the story of a Holocaust survivor she met at a Buckingham Palace garden party.

Manfred Goldberg, 92, was one of the first guests Kate greeted on Wednesday as rain descended on the third garden party to take place at the palace this year.

The Duchess of Cambridge meeting guests during a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in London (PA)

She first met Goldberg in 2017 on a visit to Stutthof, the concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland where he spent eight months, and spoke to him by videolink last year.

As she came along, she said, Oh hello Manfred, how lovely to see you, said Goldberg, who works for the Holocaust Education Trust.

She also thanked me for all the hard work I have been doing over the years, speaking to thousands of school children, mainly of A-level grades, who are old enough to really understand.

(PA)

Then I complimented her on remembering our previous conversations years back. She said, I will never forget.

So I think it made an impact. Yes, absolutely.

Goldberg, who was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Kassell, Germany, was sent to a Nazi labour camp in Latvia at the age of 11.

In 1944, he was moved to Stutthof - where tens of thousands of Jews were murdered - and was set free days after his 15th birthday the following year.

(PA)

He met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the camp 72 years later, having a conversation that Kate later said remained absolutely clear in my mind.

Goldberg said: They had never set foot in a concentration camp and they actually had the - I wouldnt say foresight - but the clarity that they needed to speak to people who actually experienced it as it was then.

There is a walk-through museum now... to an outsider it would still be cruel, but it has all been sanitised.

The questions they asked us clarified to them how much worse it actually was.

PA

Its time for royal tours to end

Thursday 26 May 2022 10:30 , Kate Ng

In light of the troubles that recent royal tours have run into, Emma Mackenzie questions whether they should continue:

Its time for royal tours to end

Boris Johnson to pay tribute to remarkable Queen in Parliament address

Thursday 26 May 2022 09:30 , Kate Ng

Boris Johnson will pay tribute to the remarkable Queen in an address to Parliament ahead of her platinum jubilee.

The prime minister will say that the Queens length of service and dedication to duty are without parallel and will make his tribute while proposing a Humble Address in Parliament.

He will say: Today we pay tribute to a head of state whose length of service and dedication to duty to are simply without parallel.

The only monarch most of us in this country have ever known and the rock to which our nation and our people have been anchored throughout all that the past 70 years have thrown at us.

He will add that the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth will be unabashed in celebrating her.

That is why next week the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth will be unabashed in celebrating not the institution of the Crown but the individual who wears it, he will tell parliament.

This remarkable woman who by God and her right has led her country through good times and bad.

Who has dedicated her life to her people, to her beloved Commonwealth, to the very idea of what a constitutional monarchy can and should be.

PA

Charles laments nightmare situation during visit to Ukraine refugee centre

Thursday 26 May 2022 08:35 , Kate Ng

The Prince of Wales has spoken out about the nightmare situation in Ukraine during a trip to Romania to meet refugees who have fled the war in their homeland.

Charles was joined by distant relative Margareta, head of the Romanian royal family, for the unannounced tour of a donation centre for refugees in the capital Bucharest.

Find out more about his visit below:

Charles laments nightmare situation during visit to Ukraine refugee centre

Thursday 26 May 2022 08:31 , Kate Ng

Good morning, and welcome once again to our liveblog following all the latest updates on the Queen and members of the royal family as the platinum jubilee weekend approaches.

Wednesday 25 May 2022 18:30 , Kate Ng

Thats a wrap on our live coverage of the Queen and the royal family today. See you tomorrow, when we return to bring you further updates on the platinum jubilee weekend.

All the food and drink deals over the platinum jubilee bank holiday

Wednesday 25 May 2022 17:30 , Kate Ng

The platinum jubilee weekend will be packed with deals and discounts from food and drink retailers across the country.

From 25 per cent off instant grocery delivery to a competition where 500 vouchers are up for grabs, weve rounded up all the offers you could benefit from as the bank holiday approaches.

All the food and drink deals over the platinum jubilee bank holiday

Huge 70-ft Tree of Trees sculpture erected outside Buckingham Palace

Wednesday 25 May 2022 16:30 , Kate Ng

A tree-like structure measuring 70-feet high, with 350 native British trees adorning its branches, has been erected outside Buckingham Palace for the Queens platinum jubilee.

The huge sculpture was completed on Tuesday. It was designed by architect and designer Thomas Heatherwick, who said Her Majesty herself gave approval for the plans with a big thumbs up.

A team of workers add the final parts to the Queen's Green Canopy ahead of the Platinum Jubilee (Getty Images)

To help complete the sculpture, junior foresters visited the palace and planted a batch of six-foot saplings in pots that had the monarchs cypher embossed on them.

They also helped weave LED lights through the structure, which will serve as the principal beacon on the first evening of the bank holiday weekend.

A team of workers add the final parts to the Queen's Green Canopy ahead of the Platinum Jubilee (Getty Images)

A massive team of hundreds of welders, arborists, engineers and fabricators have been working on the project, which Heatherwick said he designed in just one week.

Heatherwick told ITV News: This sculpture acts like a beacon sending one simple, eternal message that trees are the superheroes of our towns and cities and matter much more to our lives than we realise.

Thomas Heatherwick, designer of the Tree of Trees sculpture, part of the Queen's Green Canopy Project placed in front of Buckingham Palace, ahead of the Platinum Jubilee (AP)

We need reminding [of] how much trees humanise the world around us and they cant be taken for granted.

The tree twists and spirals symbolically spraying an array of 350 baby trees towards their final homes across the country - a symbol of the much bigget initiative of planting.

Wax figures of Harry and Meghan rejoin royal family at Madam Tussauds

Wednesday 25 May 2022 15:30 , Kate Ng

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have rejoined the royal family at Madame Tussauds to celebrate the Queens platinum jubilee.

Waxwork figures of the main family members have received a black tie makeover in preparation for the event marking the monarchs 70-year reign on 5 June.

Wax figures of Queen Elizabeth II and members of the royal family at Madame Tussauds London ahead the Platinum Jubilee celebrations (PA)

The reunion at the London attraction brings the Sussexes back together publicly with the family for the first time since their move to the US in 2020.

Meghans waxwork has been dressed in a red, caped Safiyaa gown, which she wore on one of her last royal engagements at the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall in London in March 2020.

(REUTERS)

The Queens waxwork, which is the 23rd of 24 created of the monarch by Madame Tussauds London across her 70-year reign, has been dressed in a recreation of the garment she wore in her official Diamond Jubilee portrait.

The white and silver lace dress is covered in 53,000 Swarovski elements, completed with a blue silk sash and topped off by a replica of the diamond and pearl George IV State Diadem.

Royal fans can also view the Royal Dress Collection that will be on display at Madame Tussauds London from 27 May, showcasing seven gowns that have graced some of the Queens 24 figures created during her 70-year reign.

PA

From Salad Queen to LamQueeni, all the jubilee-themed food you can buy

Wednesday 25 May 2022 14:30 , Kate Ng

Nothing says 70 years on the throne quite like Salad Queen and LamQueenie, among countless other jubilee specials that have emerged to celebrate Queen Elizabeth IIs long reign  the longest of any British monarch.

With the Queens big platinum jubilee weekend drawing ever closer, brands have released a plethora of royal-themed food and drink products to mark Her Majestys historic milestone. Weve rounded them all up for your jubilee feasting needs:

From Salad Queen to LamQueeni, all the jubilee-themed food you can buy

70 fun facts about the Queen

Wednesday 25 May 2022 13:30 , Kate Ng

To celebrate Her Majestys milestone, Buckingham Palace has released 70 facts about the Queen to celebrate her seven-decade reign.

From becoming the longest-reigning monarch in British history, to her first trip on the London Underground, and details from her wedding to Prince Philip, here are some things you might not know about Queen Elizabeth II.

70 facts about the Queen to mark her Platinum Jubilee

Which platinum jubilee events will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend?

Wednesday 25 May 2022 12:30 , Kate Ng

With the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attending the Queens platinum jubilee celebrations next week, you may be wondering which events they will be present for.

My colleague Saman Javed has the answers:

Queens platinum jubilee: Which events will Harry and Meghan attend?

Where will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stay during the platinum jubilee?

Wednesday 25 May 2022 11:30 , Kate Ng

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have confirmed they will be attending Queen Elizabeth IIs Platinum Jubilee celebrations along with their two children this month.

The scheduled June visit to the UK will mark the first time the 96-year-old monarch has met the couples daughter, Lilibet Diana, 11 months.

But where will the Sussexes stay when they are here? Chelsea Ritschel investigates:

Where will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stay during Queens Platinum Jubilee?

Royal mint unveils largest-ever 15kg gold coin for Queens platinum jubilee

Wednesday 25 May 2022 10:30 , Kate Ng

The Royal Mint has created a 15kg gold coin in celebration of the Queens platinum jubilee.

The special coin, which is the largest to ever be produced in the mints 1,100-year history, has a diameter of 220cm.

Saman Javed reports:

Royal mint unveils largest-ever 15kg gold coin for Queens platinum jubilee

Queen is a girl in pearls with a difference for new Country Life frontispiece

Wednesday 25 May 2022 09:30 , Kate Ng

The Queen has appeared as one of Country Lifes famous girls in pearls for the platinum jubilee, with a portrait collage made up of fragments of the sovereign at different stages of her life.

The artwork, entitled Faces Of A Monarch, has been created by artist James Vaulkhard for the 125-year-old magazine in honour of the head of states milestone.

Queen is a girl in pearls with a difference for new Country Life frontispiece

Eurovision star Sam Ryder is speechless about performing at the Queens jubilee concert

Wednesday 25 May 2022 08:48 , Kate Ng

Sam Ryder is a bit speechless about being selected as one of the acts to perform at the Queens platinum jubilee concert.

The Eurovision star who represented the UK in the 2022 contest  has been celebrating ever since competing in Turin, Italy, where he came in second place with an impressive 466 points.

Culture Reporter Nicole Vassell has the full story:

Eurovision star Sam Ryder is speechless about performing at the Jubilee concert

Wednesday 25 May 2022 08:38 , Kate Ng

Good morning, and welcome back to The Independents liveblog following all the latest updates on the Queen. Her Majestys big platinum jubilee weekend is imminent, and we will keep you in the loop as the celebrations draw nearer.

Tuesday 24 May 2022 18:30 , Kate Ng

Thank you for following our live coverage of the Queens platinum jubilee and all things related to the royal family today. Come back tomorrow to join us again as we continue to report in the lead-up to the big platinum jubilee weekend.

Prince William says awarding damehood to Deborah James was amazing for her family

Tuesday 24 May 2022 18:00 , Kate Ng

The Duke of Cambridge has spoken about the experience of giving Deborah James her Damehood, calling it amazing.

Prince William paid a visit to her at home earlier this month to present her with the award in person.

Olivia Petter reports:

Prince William says awarding damehood to Deborah James was amazing for her family

The Queen meets The Amir of Qatar

Tuesday 24 May 2022 17:54 , Laura Hampson

The Queen has met The Amir of Qatar this afternoon at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace tweeted.

 This afternoon The Amir of Qatar visited The Queen at Windsor Castle. pic.twitter.com/ianKqN039H  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 24, 2022

How old was Her Majesty when she became the Queen?

Tuesday 24 May 2022 17:00 , Kate Ng

The platinum jubilee is a chance to reflect on the past 70 years of Queen Elizabeth IIs reign, the longest of any British monarch in history.

But when was the Queen crowned sovereign and how old was the Queen when she became the Queen? Heres everything you need to know.

How old was the Queen when she became the Queen?

The best films and TV series about Queen Elizabeth II to watch on Netflix

Tuesday 24 May 2022 16:00 , Kate Ng

From Oscar-winning biopics to TV documentaries, theres plenty of choice when it comes to depictions of HRH on screen.

Our Culture Reporter Louis Chilton has listed a handful of the best  and a couple of less conventional picks for any republicans out there looking for some alternative Jubilee messaging.

The best films and TV series about the Queen to watch on Netflix

How is the Queen celebrating her platinum jubilee and who will join?

Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:00 , Kate Ng

On Thursday 2 June, the Queen will celebrate her official birthday with a military parade. The annual celebration, known as Trooping the Colour, is held on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace.

The event will also include an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace from members of the royal family.

Saman Javed has everything you need to know about this years Trooping the Colour:

Trooping the Colour 2022: How is the Queen celebrating and who will join?

Which platinum jubilee events will Harry and Meghan attend?

Tuesday 24 May 2022 14:00 , Kate Ng

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have confirmed they will be visiting the UK for the Queens platinum jubilee celebrations next month, along with their two children, Archie, 3, and baby daughter Lilibet.

It will mark the first time the Sussexes have returned to the UK with their children since they stepped down as senior members of the royal family in 2020.

Saman Javed has all the answers to your questions about which events they will be attending:

Queens platinum jubilee: Which events will Harry and Meghan attend?

Queen reacts to the John Ystumllyn rose being planted at Chelsea Flower Show

Tuesday 24 May 2022 13:00 , Kate Ng

Yesterday, the first rose named after a person from an ethnic minority background was planted at the RHS Chelsea Flower show.

Named after John Ystumllyn, who was one of the UKs first Black gardeners in the 18th century, the yellow rose represents the values of friendship and community.

The Queen released a statement in response to the planting of the rose and said she was pleased about it.

Read her full statement below:

John Ystumllyn lived in the eighteenth century and was one of Britains first black gardeners.



The yellow rose created in his honour represents the values of friendship and community, and serves as a reminder of how gardening can bring people together. pic.twitter.com/IhZKHNl37q  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 23, 2022

What will pub opening hours on platinum jubilee weekend be like?

Tuesday 24 May 2022 12:00 , Kate Ng

Keen to raise a late-night toast to her majesty over the jubilee weekend? Depending on which part of the UK youre in, you may well be in luck.

Joanna Whitehead has put together this handy guide for your pub planning needs:

What will pub opening hours be like for the Jubilee weekend?

Everything that happened at the Queens previous jubilees

Tuesday 24 May 2022 11:00 , Kate Ng

Over her decades-long reign, Queen Elizabeth II has celebrated her Silver, Gold and Diamond Jubilees in spectacular fashion, with plenty of events, pageants and tours to celebrate.

Find out more about how the monarch celebrated each milestone below:

Everything that happened at the Queens Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees

How to throw a jubilee street party

Tuesday 24 May 2022 10:00 , Kate Ng

Street parties are a traditional part of British celebrations, so why not throw one for the Queens platinum jubilee? Find out how to organise a royal bash below:

How to throw a jubilee street party

Queen tours Chelsea Flower show in electric buggy

Tuesday 24 May 2022 08:54 , Kate Ng

The Queen has made a surprise appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show in an electric buggy, delighting attendees as she toured the sprawling horticultural event while smiling from the mini vehicle.

In a statement to the BBC, Buckingham Palace said the royals attendance at the annual flower show came after adjustments [had] been made for the Queens comfort.

Chelsea Ritschel reports:

The Queen tours Chelsea Flower Show in a buggy

Tuesday 24 May 2022 08:41 , Kate Ng

Good morning, and welcome back to The Independents liveblog following all the royal coverage leading up to the Queens platinum jubilee weekend.

Monday 23 May 2022 18:00 , Kate Ng

Thats a wrap for todays liveblog, come back tomorrow for more live updates on the Queen, the royal family and the upcoming platinum jubilee.

Tesco is giving everyday heroes 700 to celebrate Jubilee

Monday 23 May 2022 17:00 , Kate Ng

Tesco has launched a limited edition Jubilee card in honour of the Queens 70th year on the throne.

The special card will offer recipients 700 to spend at Tesco, either in-store or online.

Olivia Petter reports:

Tesco is giving everyday heroes 700 to celebrate Jubilee

Plan your supermarket shop ahead of platinum jubilee weekend

Monday 23 May 2022 16:00 , Kate Ng

Heres everything you need to know about what time supermarkets are open over the bank holiday weekend:

What are supermarket opening times on the platinum jubilee bank holiday?

Women fleeing abuse have nothing to be ashamed of, the Duchess of Cornwall says

Monday 23 May 2022 15:00 , Kate Ng

The Duchess of Cornwall has said women fleeing domestic abuse have nothing to be ashamed of as she visited a refuge in Canada.

Camilla was visiting a YWCA transitional housing centre in Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, which can house up to 18 victims of violence and their children.

Read more about her visit in Canada:

Camilla says women fleeing abuse have nothing to be ashamed of

How you can take part in the platinum jubilee beacons

Monday 23 May 2022 14:00 , Kate Ng

Platinum jubilee beacons are an international recognition of the Queens service, and will be lit across the UK and the Commonwealth during the bank holiday weekend.

Heres how you can get involved:

What are the platinum jubilee beacons and how can I take part?

Everything you need to know about the Platinum Jubilee Pageant

Monday 23 May 2022 13:00 , Kate Ng

The Platinum Jubilee Pageant is taking place on the last of the special four-day bank holiday weekend to celebrate the Queens historic milestone.

Find out when the event is taking place and which special performers will be there:

When is the Platinum Jubilee Pageant and who is performing?

Queen wont receive Trooping the Colour salute for first time in 70 years

Monday 23 May 2022 12:00 , Kate Ng

For the first time in her seven-decade reign, the Queen will not take salute during the Trooping the Colour parade.

Historically, the Queen has taken the salute to her personal troops, the Household Division on Horse Guards Parade.

This year, Prince Charles, Prince William and Princess Anne will take the salute instead and will ride on the parade as colonels of the Welsh Guards, the Irish Guards and the Blues and Royals.

Read the full story:

Queen wont receive Trooping the Colour salute for first time in 70 years

Tube strike threatened for day after Jubilee weekend

Monday 23 May 2022 11:13 , Kate Ng

A tube strike has been proposed for 6 June, the day when most commuters will return to work after the Jubilee bank holiday weekend.

The 24-hour walkout, called by union RMT, could see the capital grind to a halt, affecting 4,000 London Underground staff.

Our Travel Editor Helen Coffey reports:

Tube strike threatened for day after Jubilee weekend

Prince Williams 40th birthday to be marked with his portrait on 5 coin

Monday 23 May 2022 10:30 , Kate Ng

The Duke of Cambridges 40th birthday will be celebrated with a 5 coin featuring his portrait, the Royal Mint said.

The UKs official coin producer has unveiled the coin ahead of Williams milestone birthday on 21 June.

Prince Williams 40th birthday to be marked with his portrait on 5 coin

Charles will make a fine king, Jennie Bond says

Monday 23 May 2022 09:30 , Kate Ng

Royal correspondent Jennie Bond believes that Prince Charles will make a fine king, she said during a recent event hosted by The Independent.

When asked about Charles as King, Bond said: Knowing Charles a little bit as I have over the years, Ive always maintained actually, that I think he has the makings of being a very fine King.

Hes a decent person you know, he made an absolute mess of his first marriage and his private life, of which a lot of us have done that. It took a long, long time for the public to forgive him.

Our Deputy Lifestyle Editor Laura Hampson reports:

Jennie Bond: Charles will make a fine King

Chelsea Flower Show to mark platinum jubilee with floral portrait of the Queen

Monday 23 May 2022 08:33 , Kate Ng

The Chelsea Flower Show will return to London this week, with special displays to mark the Queens platinum jubilee.

The annual event, which opens to the public on Tuesday 24 May, will include a floral sculptural portrait of the monarch in the official platinum jubilee shade of purple.

My colleague Saman Javed has the details:

Chelsea Flower Show to mark platinum jubilee with floral portrait of the Queen

Monday 23 May 2022 08:32 , Kate Ng

Good morning, and welcome to The Independents liveblog following the latest updates on the Queen in the lead-up to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations from 2 to 5 June.

Sunday 22 May 2022 17:30 , Saman Javed

Thats a wrap of our coverage today, join us again tomorrow for more updates on the Queen and the royal family.

Commemorate the Queens platinum jubilee with some regal merchandise

Sunday 22 May 2022 17:00 , Saman Javed

Ahead of the platinum jubilee celebrations in June, many among us will be commemorating the occasion with memorabilia and merchandise.

Outside the naff mugs and fridge magnets found in royal tourist shops, theres a wealth of lovely merch to mark the occasion  from silk scarves and picnic cool bags to fun prints, tea towels and even a Barbie immortalisation.

Heres our pick of the best bits of memorabilia to shop ahead of the jubilee:

Commemorate the Queens platinum jubilee with some regal merchandise

Tiktokers amused by blue and red jubilee fish and chips'

Sunday 22 May 2022 16:00 , Saman Javed

A chip shop in Wales has gone viral on TikTok after posting its take on a special platinum jubilee fish and chips.

Crisp and Fry, a chain of chip shops in Llanelli and Ammanford, created the dish in the colours of the Union Jack flag by adding blue and red food colouring to batter.

But many on the social media platform found the colourful twist on a British classic too much to stomach.

Immediately no, one person declared, while another joked: The police have been informed.

A third warned the chip shop that my therapist will hear about this, and a fourth said: Thanks, Queens crying now.

Kate Ng has the full story here:

TikTokers horrified and amused by blue and red jubilee fish and chips

Cookbook containing 70 recipes from around the world marks platinum jubilee

Sunday 22 May 2022 15:00 , Saman Javed

A royal cookbook containing 70 recipes from across the world has been released in celebration of the Queens Platinum Jubilee.

The Platinum Jubilee Cookbook, released on 28 April, contains recipes from British embassies and high commissions.

It includes how to make Spanish marmalade from Madrid, and green fish curry from the Islamabad High Commission.

Saman Javed has the details:

Cookbook containing 70 recipes to be released for Queens Platinum Jubilee

Giant slide coming to Tower of London in celebration of platinum jubilee

Sunday 22 May 2022 14:00 , Saman Javed

The Tower of London will be surrounded by a Superbloom display of flowers featuring a giant slide in celebration of the Queens platinum jubilee this summer.

The Historical Royal Palaces has announced that this spring it will plant 20 million seeds in the Tower of Londons moat, with the aim of creating the appearance of a sea of flowers surrounding the landmark.

To add an element of fun, visitors to the attraction will be able to enter the moat via a large slide which was originally commissioned by the National Trust for use at Cliveden House.

Saman Javed has the full story here:

What is the Queens last name?

Sunday 22 May 2022 13:00 , Saman Javed

As the nation prepares to celebrate 70 years of the Queens reign, some royal admirers might be surprised to learn that theyre not entirely familiar with our monarchs full name.

If youre unsure what the Queens last name is, Joanna Whitehead has everything you need to know:

What is the Queens last name?

What time will pubs open on the platinum jubilee weekend?

Sunday 22 May 2022 12:00 , Saman Javed

Keen to raise a late-night toast to her majesty over the jubilee weekend? Depending on which part of the UK youre in, you may well be in luck.

Marking Queen Elizabeth IIs 70 years on the throne, the platinum jubilee celebrations are fast approaching, with Britons looking forward to a four-day weekend at the beginning of June to mark the occasion.

In England and Wales, opening hours for pubs and bars will be extended over the four-day bank holiday weekend. However, in Scotland, only those in Glasgow are being permitted to pour drinks later than usual.

Joanna Whitehead has the full story here:

What will pub opening hours be like for the Jubilee weekend?

Queen plans to visit Chelsea Flower Show, Buckingham Palace says

Sunday 22 May 2022 11:00 , Saman Javed

The Queen is hoping to make an appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show as the event returns on Tuesday 24 May, Buckingham Palace has said.

It is understood a decision will be taken on the day as to whether the 96-year-old monarch, who has mobility issues, will be able to go.

Among the displays at this years show will be The Queens Platinum Jubilee Garden, which will feature laser-cut steel silhouettes of the monarch, surrounded by 70 planted terracotta pots, representing each year of her reign.

Read more here:

Queen hoping to visit Chelsea Flower Show, Palace says

One in three Britons think the Queen should retire

Sunday 22 May 2022 10:00 , Saman Javed

A third of Britons think that the Queen should retire and let her son, the Prince of Wales, take over after she missed a series of in-person events due to mobility issues.

A new YouGov survey revealed a distinct shift in public opinion about whether the Queen should remain as head of state for the rest of her life.

For the past two years since the polling began, more than half of Britons thought Her Majesty should continue her reign until she dies, while only a quarter thought she should retire.

The new survey, carried out for Times Radio, showed an increase in the number of people who think the monarch should withdraw from the throne (34 per cent), while less than half (49 per cent) think she should continue working.

Kate Ng has the full story here:

One in three Britons think the Queen should retire

Prince Charles and Camilla to feature in EastEnders jubilee special

Sunday 22 May 2022 08:50 , Saman Javed

Royal couple Prince Charles and Camilla will guest star in an episode of EastEnders in honour of the Queens platinum jubilee.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are set to feature on a special episode of the long-running soap, surprising the fictional residents of Albert Square at a street party.

The episode will air on 2 June, ahead of the Jubilee holiday weekend.

Louis Chilton has the details:

Prince Charles and Camilla to feature in EastEnders Jubilee special

Sunday 22 May 2022 08:45 , Saman Javed

Good morning and welcome to The Independents rolling coverage of the Queen and the royal family in the lead-up to the platinum jubilee.

Saturday 21 May 2022 17:30 , Saman Javed

Thats a wrap of our coverage today, join us again tomorrow for more updates on the Queen and the royal family.

How to take part in platinum jubilee beacon

Saturday 21 May 2022 17:05 , Saman Javed

The platinum jubilee beacons are one of the official events of the jubilee celebration, running across the extended bank holiday.

More than 2,022 beacons will be lit throughout the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and British Overseas Territories, including one in each of the capital cities of Commonwealth countries, in recognition of the Queens service.

There are hundreds of existing events that have already been scheduled across the UK. To find one near you, simply search for platinum jubilee beacons events in your area.

Joanna Whitehead has the details here:

What are the platinum jubilee beacons and how can I take part?

Everything we know about the platinum jubilee schedule

Saturday 21 May 2022 16:04 , Saman Javed

The Queens historic milestone will be celebrated in a number of events and initiatives taking place across the UK during the long weekend.

These will include public events and community activities, as well as national moments of reflection on the Queens 70 years of service.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said that more than 70,000 Big Jubilee Lunches have been planned across all four UK nations, with an expected 10 million people set to celebrate with their neighbours during the weekend.

Kate Ng has the full schedule of celebrations taking place across the weekend:

What events are scheduled during the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday?

Which platinum jubilee events will the Queen attend?

Saturday 21 May 2022 15:04 , Saman Javed

Four days of celebrations are scheduled to honour the monarch, including a platinum jubilee concert, Trooping the Colour, a pageant and a Service of Thanksgiving.

However, the question of whether the 96-year-old will be fit to attend all the events is still up for debate due to episodic mobility issues suffered by the Queen since the autumn.

In early May, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said that the Queens attendance at the platinum jubilee celebrations may not be confirmed until the day itself.

Despite this, the monarch is currently expected to attend the Trooping the Colour ceremony on Thursday 2 June, a Service of Thanksgiving at St Pauls Cathedral on Friday 3 June, and the Epsom Derby on Saturday 4 June.

Joanna Whitehead has detailed everything we know so far:

What events will the Queen attend on the platinum jubilee weekend?

Where will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stay during the platinum jubilee weekend?

Saturday 21 May 2022 14:00 , Saman Javed

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have confirmed they will attend the Queens platinum jubilee celebrations along with their children, Archie and Lilibet.

Last week, Buckingham Palace announced that the family will not appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour ceremony, as the Queen has restricted the line-up to working members of the Royal Family.

According to reports, the Sussexes will stay in their old home, Frogmore Cottage, during their time in the UK.

Chelsea Ritschel has the full story here:

Where will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stay during Queens Platinum Jubilee?

When was the Queens coronation?

Saturday 21 May 2022 13:04 , Saman Javed

As the country gears up to celebrate 70 years of the Queens reign  the first time in British history that a monarch has reached this milestone  many people are reflecting on the Queens years of service.

The Queen was just 27-year-old when she ascended the throne in 1953.

Joanna Whitehead has the details here:

Everything the Queen eats in a day, according to royal chefs

Saturday 21 May 2022 12:00 , Saman Javed

With a team of world-class chefs, access to the best food that money can buy, and dining rooms at palaces across the UK, you would have thought meal times are always prestigious in the Windsor household.

But as the Queens former chef, Darren McGrady, discloses in his book, Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen, the monarch prefers to eat only small portions.

However, she does indulge in a daily afternoon tea, where scones with clotted cream and jam are a must.

Sophie Gallagher has the details on Her Majestys dining preferences here:

Everything the Queen eats in a day, according to royal chefs

7 things you may not know about Princess Anne

Saturday 21 May 2022 11:15 , Laura Hampson

Although the royal family is a typically tight-lipped and genteel organisation, Princess Anne is known for her quick wit and dry humour, coming out with quips such as: When I appear in public people expect me to neigh, grind my teeth, paw the ground and swish my tail  none of which is easy.

The Princess Royal has had numerous remarkable experiences throughout her life. Here are seven you may not be aware of:

7 things you may not know about Princess Anne

What will pub opening hours be like on the platinum jubilee weekend?

Saturday 21 May 2022 10:23 , Laura Hampson

An extra bank holiday date tied with a royal jubilee means its a cause for celebration, so will pub opening hours be extended?

Joanna Whitehead has the answer here:

What will pub opening hours be like for the Jubilee weekend?

Eight towns win city status to mark platinum jubilee

Saturday 21 May 2022 09:55 , Saman Javed

A record-breaking eight towns across the UK have been awarded city status in celebration of the monarchs platinum jubilee.

The new cities are among the areas in the UK that make Britain great, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Steve Barclay said.

Those that triumphed in a competition to recieve civic honours include Colchester, Britains first recorded settlement, and Milton Keynes, a town formally established in 1967.

The towns of Dunfermline in Scotland and Wrexham in Wales were also successful.

Emily Atkinson has the full list of newly-crowned cities here:

Milton Keynes and Doncaster among eight new cities to mark platinum jubilee

What events will the Queen attend at the platinum jubilee?

Saturday 21 May 2022 09:01 , Laura Hampson

With the jubilee weekend now less than two weeks away, Her Majesty is expected to attend a total of three events across the weekend.

However, earlier this month Buckingham Palace released a statement saying that the Queens attendance at these events wasnt likely to be confirmed until the day-of.

Joanna Whitehead has the run-down on which events the Queen will be attending here:

What events will the Queen attend on the platinum jubilee weekend?

Saturday 21 May 2022 08:32 , Laura Hampson

Good morning and welcome to The Independents rolling coverage of the Queen and the royal family in the lead-up to the platinum jubilee.

Friday 20 May 2022 19:21 , Laura Hampson

Thats a wrap of our coverage today, join us again tomorrow for more updates on the Queen and the royal family.

This is the Queens favourite alcoholic drink

Friday 20 May 2022 18:58 , Laura Hampson

Darren McGrady, who previously worked as a personal chef for Queen Elizabeth II for over a decade, and later served Princess Diana and her two sons, William and Harry, once divulged everything that the Queen eats in a day.

Sharing a series of videos on YouTube, the former royal chef explained that during his time working for the monarch between 1982 and 1993, the Queen enjoyed four small meals a day, and always took afternoon tea - even when they were on the Royal Yacht Britannia on a tour of Australia.

Find out what the Queens favourite tipple is here:

The Queens favourite alcoholic drinks, according to former royal chef

Why Kate Middleton cant vote

Friday 20 May 2022 17:43 , Laura Hampson

Kate Middleton is forbidden from going to the ballot box. After Kate entered the royal family, she could no longer express her political views in public, and must always remain politically impartial in interviews and at events.

According to the official royal website this is convention rather than law. By convention, The Queen does not vote or stand for election, however, Her Majesty does have important ceremonial and formal roles in relation to the government of the UK.

Here are all the other things the Duchess cannot do:

Kate Middleton cant vote, and other everyday things shes not allowed to do

New TfL map released featuring Elizabeth Line

Friday 20 May 2022 16:34 , Laura Hampson

The latest tube map has been revealed by Transport for London (TfL), featuring the soon-to-launch Elizabeth Line.

The map of Londons underground network looks busier than ever, with the Elizabeth Line - part of the Crossrail project - sketched out in purple.

The Elizabeth Line is set to launch on Tuesday, 24 May, some 41 months later than originally planned.

Deputy Travel Editor Lucy Thackray has the full report here:

New TFL tube map released featuring Elizabeth Line

Jennie Bond: Charles will make a fine King

Friday 20 May 2022 15:57 , Laura Hampson

Jennie Bond has said that Prince Charles will make a fine King during an exclusive event hosted by The Independent on Thursday evening.

Bond was joined by Independent journalists Sean OGrady and Sunny Hundal to discuss the Queens upcoming platinum jubilee, her 70-year reign, and what the future of the monarchy might look like.

You can watch the full discussion, hosted by Laura Hampson, here:

Jennie Bond: Charles will make a fine King

Prince Harry and Meghan filming at-home documentary series for Netflix'

Friday 20 May 2022 14:48 , Laura Hampson

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are reportedly filming an at-home documentary series with Netflix.

Film crews have been given permission to film Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at their home in Montecito, California, and followed them on their trip to New York City last September.

Saman Javed has the full story here:

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle filming at-home documentary series for Netflix

Kate wears Roland Mouret dress at premiere

Friday 20 May 2022 13:32 , Laura Hampson

The Duchess of Cambridge went for a sleek, monochromatic look with her outfit choice at Thursday evenings premiere for Top Gun: Maverick, which she attended alongside her husband, the Duke of Cambridge, and the films lead actor, Tom Cruise.

For the occasion, Kate chose to wear a fitted, off-shoulder black and white gown by Roland Mouret that went down to her ankles.

She chose to wear her hair loose and accessorised the look with minimal jewellery, opting for just a simple pair of drop earrings and no necklace.

Olivia Petter reports:

Kate Middleton dazzles in Roland Mouret dress at Top Gun premiere

Camilla says women fleeing abuse have nothing to be ashamed of in refuge visit

Friday 20 May 2022 12:23 , Laura Hampson

The Duchess of Cornwall has said women fleeing domestic abuse have nothing to be ashamed of as she visited a refuge in Canada.

Camilla was visiting a YWCA transitional housing centre in Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, which can house up to 18 victims of violence and their children.

The Duchess told staff at the facility: How lucky they are to have you here for them. It has been hidden for so long, people never talked about it. But now it is alright to talk about it. There is nothing to be ashamed of.

Read more here:

Camilla says women fleeing abuse have nothing to be ashamed of

Milton Keynes and Doncaster among eight new cities to mark Queens platinum jubilee

Friday 20 May 2022 11:17 , Laura Hampson

A record-breaking eight places across the UK and beyond have been awarded city status to mark the Queens platinum jubilee.

The new cities that triumphed in a competition to receive civic honours range from Colchester, Britains first recorded settlement, to Milton Keynes, a town formally established in 1967.

Emily Atkinson has the full report:

Milton Keynes and Doncaster among eight new cities to mark platinum jubilee

Prince Charles dances during traditional drum show in Canada

Friday 20 May 2022 10:06 , Laura Hampson

Charles busted some moves as he took part in 1,000-year-old traditional Dene Drum Dance in Yellowknife, the capital of Canadas Northwest Territories.

The Prince of Wales spoke to Chief Edward Sangris and Chief Fred Sangris in private about issues affecting indigenous people on his trip to see the Yellowknives Dene First Nation Leadership at the Chief Drygeese Government Building in Detta.

Read the full story here:

Prince Charles dances during traditional drum show in Canada

Camilla presented with stress ball made from beaver fur in Canada

Friday 20 May 2022 09:13 , Laura Hampson

On the last day of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwalls tour of Canada, Camilla laughed when she was presented with a fluffy gift in Yellowknife, Canada, and was told it was a stress ball made of beaver fur.

Everybody needs a stress ball, Camilla said.

Jane Dragon, 81, handmade the ball for the Duchess, explaining: Its from sheared beaver.

Read the full report here:

Camilla given ball made from beaver fur in Canada: Everybody needs a stress ball

Kate Middleton helped up red carpet steps by Tom Cruise at Top Gun premiere

Friday 20 May 2022 09:04 , Laura Hampson

Prince William and Kate Middleton dazzled on the red carpet at the UK premiere of Top Gun: Maverick last night.

On Thursday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at Leicester Square in London ahead of the film screening, with the duchess opting for an off-the-shoulder black and white gown by Roland Mouret for the occasion.

The Duchess wore her hair in a sleek straight style, and accessorised with a black clutch and dangling star statement earrings.

Chelsea Ritschel has the full story here:

Kate Middleton helped up steps by Tom Cruise at Top Gun premiere

Friday 20 May 2022 08:54 , Laura Hampson

Good morning and welcome to The Independents liveblog covering news of the Queen and the wider royal family in the lead-up to the platinum jubilee.

Tune in to our liveblog again tomorrow

Thursday 19 May 2022 17:25 , Saman Javed

Thats a wrap of our coverage today! Check back in tomorrow for more news and live updates about the Queens upcoming platinum jubilee celebrations.

Preparations are underway

Thursday 19 May 2022 17:20 , Saman Javed

A photograph shared to the Royal Familys official Twitter shows preparations underway at Buckingham Palace ahead of the Platinum Jubilee weekend.

Spectator stands have been erected around The Victoria Memorial and railings have also been put in place.

70 facts about the Queen

Thursday 19 May 2022 17:00 , Saman Javed

The Queen is the longest-reigning monarch in British history, having spent 70 years on the throne.

From her first trip on the London Underground to details from her wedding to Prince Philip, here are some things you might not know about Her Majesty:

70 facts about the Queen to mark her Platinum Jubilee

Platinum Jubilee: What events are scheduled to take place and when is it?

Thursday 19 May 2022 16:30 , Saman Javed

The Platinum Jubilee celebrations will take place over four days. They will include the monarchs birthday parade, Trooping the Colour, a Service of Thanksgiving and a Jubilee pageant.

See the full schedule here:

What events are scheduled during the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday?

How to make the lemon trifle crowned platinum pudding for Queens jubilee

Thursday 19 May 2022 16:08 , Saman Javed

A lemon and amaretti Swiss roll trifle is the official pudding of the Queens Platinum Jubilee.

The dessert, created by Jemma Melvin, a copywriter from Southport, Merseyside, was inspired by the lemon posset served at the Queens 1947 wedding to Prince Philip.

Keen to make your own Jubilee pudding? Joanna Whitehead has detailed Melvins recipe in full:

How to make the lemon trifle crowned Platinum Pudding for the Queens Jubilee

What is the Queens last name?

Thursday 19 May 2022 10:57 , Laura Hampson

As many people reflect on the Queens historic reign, some royal admirers might be surprised to learn that theyre not entirely familiar with our monarchs full name.

If youre unsure what the Queens last name is, Joanna Whitehead has laid it out here:

What is the Queens last name?

First Nations leader calls for Queens apology over indigenous children scandal

Thursday 19 May 2022 10:23 , Laura Hampson

The Prince of Wales has not apologised on behalf of the Queen for the assimilation and genocide of Canadas indigenous residential school children but instead acknowledged the nations dark past, First Nations leaders have said.

RoseAnne Archibald, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, appealed directly to Charles for an apology from the monarch during a reception in the Canadian capital where many leading figures from the countrys indigenous community were invited, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other prominent individuals.

You can read the full story here:

First Nations leader calls for Queens apology over indigenous children scandal

What is operation London Bridge?

Thursday 19 May 2022 09:47 , Laura Hampson

The day that Queen Elizabeth II dies will elicit a series of carefully constructed plans that have been in place since the 1960s in a process dubbed Operation London Bridge.

Oivia Petter has the complete run-down on the process here:

The secret plan for after the Queen dies has been updated

William and Kate to attend Top Gun: Maverick premiere in London

Thursday 19 May 2022 09:18 , Laura Hampson

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will make an appearance at the UK premiere of the highly anticipated Top Gun sequel, Maverick.

The couple will join Tom Cruise for the London event on Thursday, which is taking place as a Royal Film Performance.

The fundraising event is held in aid of The Film and TV Charity, which supports people working behind the scenes in the UKs screen sector.

Read the full report here:

William and Kate to attend Top Gun: Maverick premiere in London

Over 2,800 beacons will be lit to celebrate Queens platinum jubilee

Thursday 19 May 2022 08:55 , Laura Hampson

More than 2,800 Platinum Jubilee beacons will be lit across the globe in honour of the Queens 70-year reign, organisers have revealed as the two-week countdown to the national celebrations begins.

Read the full report here:

Over 2,800 beacons will be lit to celebrate Queens platinum jubilee

Everything the Queen eats in a day, according to royal chefs

Thursday 19 May 2022 08:26 , Laura Hampson

With a team of world-class chefs, access to the best food that money can buy, and dining rooms at palaces across the UK, you would have thought meal times are always prestigious in the Windsor household.

Yet, as the Queens former chef Darren McGrady previously revealed, the Queen sticks to a pretty rigid schedule about what she eats and drinks.

Read the full story here:

Everything the Queen eats in a day, according to royal chefs

Queen + Adam Lambert to open Platinum Jubilee concert

Thursday 19 May 2022 08:25 , Laura Hampson

Queen + Adam Lambert will open the Queens Platinum Jubilee concert 20 years after Brian May performed God Save the Queen on Buckingham Palaces roof to mark the Golden Jubilee.

The Queen is celebrating 70 years on the throne in June, with a whole line-up of events taking place across the country to celebrate her reign.

One of the most star-studded events taking place over the bank holiday weekend is the Platinum Party at the Palace, which will be broadcast live on the BBC on Saturday 4 June.

Isobel Lewis has the full story here:

Full line-up for Platinum Party at the Palace concert for Queens jubilee announced

Click here to read the full blog on The Independent's website
Rail workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike after the RMT union balloted its members. (Getty Images)

Train services across the UK could face massive disruption within weeks after rail workers voted overwhelmingly to strike.

The proposed walkout would be the biggest in decades if it goes ahead, bringing huge parts of the rail network to a standstill.

Here is everything we know about the planned industrial action.

Why do rail workers want to strike?

The RMT union is locked in a bitter dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.

The union says Network Rail plans to cut at least 2,500 maintenance jobs as part of a 2bn reduction in spending on the network.

It also says staff at train companies have been subject to pay freezes, threats to jobs and attacks on their terms and conditions.

The union walkout could bring much of the UK's train network to a standstill. (PA Images via Getty Images)

This has prompted RMT members at Network Rail and 15 train operators to back launching industrial action from mid-June.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) is also threatening industrial action in the same dispute.

RMT general-secretary Mick Lynch said its members "want a decent pay rise, job security and no compulsory redundancies".

How would the strike impact my journey?

A walkout by Network Rail signallers would have a significant impact on train services.

It is possible that trains would only run for part of the day, such as from 7am to 7pm and only on main lines.

Services could be reduced to around a fifth of the normal weekday timetable.

Which rail companies could strike?

More than 40,000 RMT members were balloted between 26 April and 24 May.

A total of 71% of those balloted took part in the vote, with 89% voting in favour of strike action and 11% voting against.

Those at the following companies voted for strike action and action short of a strike:

Network Rail

Chiltern Railways

Cross Country Trains

Greater Anglia

LNER

East Midlands Railway

c2c

Great Western Railway

Northern Trains

South Eastern

South Western Railway

Transpennine Express

Avanti West Coast

West Midlands Trains

Members at GTR  which runs the Gatwick Express  voted only for action short of a strike. Workers on the Isle of Wight's Island Line rejected all all forms of industrial action.

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Services could be reduced to around a fifth of the normal weekday timetable. (In Pictures via Getty Images)

What happens next?

RMT leaders will now meet to discuss a timetable for strike action from mid-June.

The union has called for ministers to "encourage the employers to return to the negotiating table and hammer out a reasonable settlement".

In response, Network Rail's chief executive Andrew Haines urged the RMT to "sit down with us" to "find a compromise and avoid damaging industrial action".

He added: "The RMT has jumped the gun here as everyone loses if there's a strike."

Steve Montgomery, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group which represents rail firms, called on the RMT "to behave responsibly and to talk to us".

What has the government said?

The government has urged the RMT to "reconsider" the proposed strike and "accept the invitation of industry talks".

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "Strikes should always be the last resort, not the first, so it is hugely disappointing and premature that the RMT is calling for industrial action before even entering discussions.

"Taxpayers across the country contributed 16bn to keep our railways running throughout the pandemic while ensuring not a single worker lost their job.

The railway is still on life support, with passenger numbers 25% down, and anything that drives away even more of them risks killing services and jobs."
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Rhode Islands governor is signing legislation Wednesday to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana in the state.

Democratic Gov. Dan McKee scheduled a bill signing ceremony at the State House for Wednesday afternoon after Rhode Islands General Assembly overwhelming voted in favor of the legislation Tuesday night. His office said the legislation accomplishes the priorities of making sure legalization is equitable, controlled and safe.

It will legalize the sale and possession of up to 1 ounce of cannabis for adults, ages 21 and older, with no more than 10 ounces for personal use kept at a persons home. It will also allow residents to grow a small amount at home.

The start date for recreational sales was pushed from Oct. 1 to Dec. 1 during the legislative process. Recreational marijuana is already sold in Massachusetts. Connecticut has legalized it but recreational dispensaries are not yet open.

The reality is that prohibition does not stop cannabis use, said Democratic Sen. Joshua Miller, who led the legalization effort in the Senate, in a statement. Since Rhode Islanders can already access cannabis just across the state border or on the illicit market, we experience all the challenges without any of the safeguards or resources that our neighboring states have. With this bill, we are ending prohibition in a way that is safe, keeps revenue in Rhode Island, and is as fair and equitable as we can possibly make it.

The Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association released a statement Tuesday before the legislation passed, saying it wanted to draw attention to several public health and safety holes.

The association said its concerned because of the potential for impaired motorists and more roadway fatalities since theres no test to check for driving under the influence of marijuana. The association also said the bill does not adequately restrict marijuana use in public, which creates a public nuisance.

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Thirty-three cannabis retailers will be allowed in Rhode Island. There will be a 10% state cannabis excise tax in addition to the 7% sales tax and 3% local tax for the municipality where the sale takes place.

The legislation also provides for the automatic expungement of any prior conviction for possession of cannabis that will be decriminalized. The expungements will occur by July 1, 2024, with an expedited process offered for anyone who wants to have their record expunged sooner.

Current fees charged to patients and caregivers for registration in the states medical marijuana program will be eliminated. A three-member Cannabis Control Commission that will oversee the industry will be appointed by the governor with input from the House speaker and approval from the Senate.

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A massive and slow-moving storm system brought the risk of flooding downpours and locally violent thunderstorms to the Ohio and Tennessee valleys as well as the southern Appalachians on Thursday and will continue its journey to the East Coast on Friday, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.

As the storms move to the east, hot and dry conditions will build across the southern and central Plains later this week and into the Memorial Day weekend.

Earlier this week, a line of severe thunderstorms attributed to the large system produced dozens of incidents of severe weather ranging from tornadoes to high winds and large hail as it roared southeastward across Texas on Tuesday night, according to AccuWeather Senior On-Air Meteorologist Geoff Cornish.

Clouds associated with a massive swirling storm were flying over approximately half of the lower 48 United States as of Thursday, May 26, 2022. (GOES-East/NOAA)

"Hail up to the size of softballs fell on Knickerbocker, Texas," Cornish said. "Midland, Texas, was pummeled with hail the size of large apples and rocked with hurricane-force wind gusts to 74 mph. Wind gusts in Sundown, Texas, reached 78 mph."

The storm brought a general 3-6 inches of rain to the southern Plains with close to a foot falling on Cushing, Oklahoma, over a 36-hour period into Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday, there were at least 80 incidents of high wind gusts from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes region, including a tornado in northern Illinois.

A confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was reported east of Veedersburg, Indiana, on Thursday evening, according to the National Weather Service. Funnel clouds were also reported across North Carolina throughout the day on Thursday, with a potential tornado reported in Iredell County, according to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.

Into Thursday night, the severe weather threat and torrential downpours shifted eastward and extended along much of the Interstate 65 corridor from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes and on to portions of the southern Appalachians.

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Many of the storms will be isolated in nature, but there is still some risk for storms to organize into a couple of large complexes. "[People will] have to watch for discrete severe cells that erupt ahead of a line of severe thunderstorms, as these tend to be most likely to produce tornadoes," AccuWeather Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.

The storms will also tend to wring out copious amounts of Gulf of Mexico moisture in the form of torrential downpours.

GET THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

As the storm continues to move steadily along, the risk of severe thunderstorms will shift east of the Appalachians on Friday and extend from the Carolinas to parts of south-central and southeastern Pennsylvania.

Just as in prior days, the main threats will be due to high wind gusts and flash flooding. Some of the strongest storms at the end of the week could produce hail and perhaps an isolated tornado.

"The risk of severe thunderstorms on Friday, with localized flash flooding, is likely to extend from near Albany, New York, to Charlotte, North Carolina, and central Georgia," AccuWeather Meteorologist Nicole LoBiondo said.

Depending on how far to the northeast warm and humid air expands on Friday, there is a chance that strong to severe thunderstorms could reach into the New York City metro area, LoBiondo said.

Motorists hitting the highways in the East on Friday for an early start to the holiday should expect weather-related delays in addition to high traffic volume. Torrential downpours can create dangerous conditions from low visibility, wet roads and flooding in poor drainage areas.

By Saturday, AccuWeather forecasters expect, the threat of severe thunderstorms will have subsided across much of the eastern half of the nation, except for one highly-populated region. Strong storms could develop along the mid-Atlantic coast, and downpours may be intense enough to lead to localized street and small stream flooding in coastal areas of the Northeast as well.

The same massive storm system will lead to a wet start to the long Memorial Day weekend in the Northeast, but conditions should improve substantially by Sunday across much of the eastern United States.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
MADRID (Reuters) - Russia's expanding influence and activity in Africa pose a "worrying" threat to the security of NATO countries along with its invasion of Ukraine and must be addressed by the military alliance, the Spanish and British defence ministers said Wednesday.

At a joint news conference in Madrid, Spain's Margarita Robles said the expansion of operations by the Russian state and Russian private security companies such as the Wagner Group in countries like Mali and Libya was "very clear" and accused them of fomenting organised crime and terrorism.

"NATO cannot remain indifferent in this situation," she added.

Britain's Ben Wallace, in Madrid for a bilateral meeting ahead of Spain's hosting of a crunch NATO summit in late June, said rising instability coupled with hunger in Africa could significantly impact Europe.

"If (Russia) can use migrant flows as a weapon at one end of Europe, they can certainly use it at the other," he said.

He was referring to allegations by Western governments that in last year's European Union border crisis, Russia supported ally Belarus in encouraging thousands of migrants fleeing war in other parts of the world to cross towards Poland in retaliation for EU sanctions.

Wallace echoed Robles' call for NATO to include defence of its southern flank in its new strategic concept, its basic military doctrine which will be drafted at the Madrid summit.

"NATO's strategic concept has to involve the whole of NATO, all the territory it covers through its partnership," he said.

"Russia's army is already exhausted, broken, we see it bringing equipment out of retirement. The Russian navy will be more of a threat, Vladimir Putin will use his navy as a way of intimidating his enemies and that means he will be in other parts including the southern flank," he added.

(Reporting by Aislinn Laing; editing by Andrei Khalip and Jonathan Oatis)
A head pops out of the toilet, a woman gets pregnant from birth control pills -- South Korean Booker Prize nominee Bora Chung's short stories are full of horror, inspired by her own lonely life.

An academic specialising in Slavic literature, Chung was considered a "genre writer" and excluded from South Korea's mainstream literary scene. Until recently, she was relatively unknown to local readers.

Her stories -- which combine science fiction, horror and fantasy -- are not considered "pure" literature by Seoul's cultural elite. But her life took a dramatic turn when her 2017 collection "Cursed Bunny" caught the eye of translator Anton Hur.

Hur's English edition of the book, released by British publisher Honford Star, has been named a finalist for this year's International Booker Prize.

Only two South Korean writers -- Han Kang ("The Vegetarian") and Hwang Sok-yong ("At Dusk") -- have previously been nominated for the honour, and both were far more established and well regarded domestically.

"Cursed Bunny" has not won any prizes in South Korea, and Chung mostly earned a living teaching at a university and translating Russian literature.

"I certainly don't think Chung is aiming to write 'pure' literature, and her work is all the richer for it," Jeremy Tiang, one of the judges for this year's International Booker Prize, told AFP.

The collection's blend of genres was "viscerally rooted in the real fears and pressures of everyday life", he added.

Chung said the anthology was ultimately about the innate loneliness of being human.

She spent nearly a decade overseas as a graduate student, living year to year and unsure of her next move, which profoundly shaped her imagination as a writer, she told AFP.

"I wasn't sure if anything was actually waiting for me in South Korea even if I wanted to return," she said.

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"I was constantly nervous about the future, and because this lasted for nine years, I became very used to the state of being lonely," she added.

- Horrors of modern society -

A graduate of Seoul's Yonsei University, Chung holds a master's degree in Russian and East European studies from Yale and a PhD in Slavic literature from Indiana University, both in the United States.

She was deeply inspired by Soviet Russian writer Andrei Platonov's 1928 novel "Chevengur", about a poor orphan whose quest to find a communist utopia ultimately fails and ends in a bloodbath.

The Booker Prize Foundation says Chung's collection uses the fantastical to address the horrors of the "patriarchy and capitalism of modern society".

Her characters include a father who locks up his daughter and exploits her for business, a designer who falls in love with a robot companion she's invented and a woman who is constantly shamed after becoming pregnant due to the side effects of birth control pills.

Another character faces the horror of repeatedly seeing a creature appear in her toilet bowl, claiming to be her child.

In her own life, Chung said the prospect of falling pregnant felt like a serious threat during her years overseas.

"To me, it was horror," she told AFP at her apartment in the South Korean port city of Pohang before leaving for the United Kingdom to attend the awards ceremony set for Thursday.

"All I could think was if I suddenly fell pregnant and gave birth, I would just die with my child. I would just be on the streets and die," she said.

"I had no ability to raise a child, didn't have a partner, had no support network and I was a foreigner."

- 'A very hard sell' -

Chung's nomination rides a global wave of enthusiasm for South Korean culture, from Netflix's "Squid Game" to Bong Joon-ho's 2019 Oscar winner "Parasite", as well as Han's "The Vegetarian", which won the International Booker in 2016.

But Hur said "Cursed Bunny" was "actually a very, very hard sell" given what he characterised as a lack of interest in Korean literature.

"I did everything I could to promote the book, whether it was on social media, at Oxford University where I won a translator's residency... and the many literary festivals I dragged the author to so that we could sell just one more book," he told AFP.

Chung, who is married to a labour rights activist, prefers to spend her spare time attending political rallies.

"I feel at ease at rallies as I get to be with a lot of people who share the same thoughts as me," said the author, who met her husband at a rally.

Chung's years overseas, meanwhile, have made her painfully aware of cultural differences, and her work seems to ask: If culture and language are such barriers to intimacy, then what hope do humans have of understanding robots?

cdl/ceb/leg
Caitlyn Jenner says Kim Kardashian's ex-husband Kanye West was 'difficult to live with'. (Getty Images)

Caitlyn Jenner has spoken out about Kim Kardashian's 'difficult' marriage to Kanye West.

The reality star, 72, compared Kardashian's relationships with both her ex West, 44, and current boyfriend Pete Davidson, 28, on The Pivot podcast, where she spoke highly of both men, but acknowledged that West was difficult to live with.

Jenner said she had recently met Davidson and said he was unlike any man Kardashian, 41, would ordinarily date.

Read more: Kim Kardashian Just Professed Her Love For Pete Davidson In The Most #Kravis Way

Kim Kardashian has been dating Pete Davidson since late last year. (Getty Images)

Read more: The Kardashians looked stylish at Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker's wedding. Here are the best looks from the ceremony

"They came over the other day, because I told Kim, 'I haven't even met him yet.'" she said. "So she brought him over and we spent a couple hours here at the house together. And very different than what she would normally date."

Jenner also said she had got along well with Kardashian's previous husband West, but believed that he was 'complicated'.

"But Kimberly has been through a lot with the guys she's been with," Jenner added. "You know? Especially Kanye. Very complicated guy. I really liked Kanye, I got along with him so well.

"The two of us did great together. And, through even when I transitioned, he was so on my side. Loving it. But he was very difficult to live with."

Watch now: Caitlyn Jenner says she met Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian seemed 'so happy'.

Read more: Fans celebrate Kourtney Kardashian, 43, marrying later in life: 'Hope for everyone'

Jenner spoke highly of Kardashian's new partner Davidson and praised his treatment of her.

"Pete is 180 degrees the other direction," she said. "I mean, first of all, he treats her so well, and when they were over here, Kim is so happy. And Kim deserves to be happy."

Kardashian and West married in 2014 in Italy, and share four children together  North, Psalm, Chicago and Saint.

But they split early last year and Kardashian was declared legally single in March 2022.

She began dating actor and comedian Pete Davidson in November, and the couple appeared together on the red carpet of this year's Met Gala.
Deep racial inequities in the U.S. workforce disproportionately harm Black women and other women of color. Nowhere are those gaps more stark than in who gets the jobs with the most pay, perks and power, a new USA TODAY analysis of hundreds of top companies has found.

White women are 4.5 times more likely than Black women to hold a leadership position, according to the analysis, which drew on the latest reports of employee demographics at 287 of the nation's 500 biggest companies provided by data firm DiversIQ.

White men, who dominate the corporate executive ranks, are almost 8 times as likely as Black women to be an executive.

Even Black men, who barely register at the executive level, are twice as likely as Black women to hold these leadership roles.

Not separate, still not equal: Pressure grows on Americas companies to fix failures of the past

A racist and sexist society': How top companies in US are struggling to diversify leadership

The No. 1 job at a company, chief executive officer, is a rank even farther out of reach at these companies than other executive titles. Only two Black women run S&P 500 companies: Rosalind Brewer, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Thasunda Brown Duckett, CEO of TIAA.

At the same time, Black women remain overrepresented by wide margins in lower-level positions such as administrative support, labor and customer service.

The findings have extra resonance as the nation observes the two-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer. His death sparked a movement for racial justice and pledges by corporate America to improve diversity in hiring.

People only recently really started paying attention to the underlying reasons why Black women are not able to break into executive teams and boardrooms, said Evelyn Carter, president of diversity firm Paradigm.

Two women embrace in front of a mural of George Floyd following the guilty verdict at the trial of Derek Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police officer, who was convicted of murdering Floyd.

For decades, discrimination has stymied the corporate careers of Black women, from the harmful stereotypes  like the racist trope of the angry Black woman  to a lack of mentorship and support as they climb the leadership rungs.

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At the current rate, it could take four decades to close the leadership gap, USA TODAY's analysis found.

For Black women to hold a percentage of executive jobs equal to their share of the U.S. workforce, their numbers would have to swell from about 1,500 today to nearly 4,600 at the 287 companies reviewed by USA TODAY. From 2019 to 2020, the ranks of Black women executives increased by just 80.

We have, in most cases, found a way to persist, to be just as successful, to carve out spaces for ourselves and to really thrive. And we do all of that in the face of bias, in the face of racism and sexism, in the face of peoples stereotypes and expectations," Carter said. "Think about what power you would unlock if you stopped putting all of these headwinds in front of Black women.

Intersectionality: Black women face racism and sexism

When Ella Bell Smith was researching Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women and the Struggle for Professional Identity, she was in her early 40s. The seminal book that she wrote with fellow academic Stella Nkomo contrasted the paths of the first generation of Black women to hold managerial and executive positions with those of their white women counterparts.

Today, Bell Smith is in her early 70s. The book was recently rereleased, just as current as the day it was published, she says, with Black women still battling the same systemic issues.

Just a tiny fraction of the S&P 500 companies reviewed by USA TODAY  10 out of 287  had the same percentage of Black women in the executive suite as there are in the nations overall workforce. Just 33 had a share of Black women executives that matched the diversity of their overall employment ranks.

Their scarcity in the executive suite is the result of a unique set of challenges Black women face when their identities overlap, producing discrimination more complex than just racism and sexism alone, said Bell Smith, a professor at Dartmouths Tuck School of Business.

Corporations dont know how to deal with the intersection of race and gender, said Ella Bell Smith, a Dartmouth professor and co-author of Our Separate Ways," which examines the career trajectories of Black and white female managers.

Corporations dont know how to deal with the intersection of race and gender, she said. When you have two oppressive mechanisms, what happens is it can keep you really locked in at the bottom. Men dont have that intersection and women do. And Black women are paying the price for it.

Research has found that Black women are significantly more likely than white women and just as likely as white men to express interest in becoming top executives. Yet they have far fewer opportunities for advancement inside major corporations.

The careers of Black women often stall in middle management. Comparing the representation of managers to executives, white women are twice as likely and white men three times as likely as Black women to progress into corporate leadership, a USA TODAY analysis showed.

People have a problem seeing what wasnt there before," said Saidah Grayson Dill, vice president and deputy general counsel at Cisco Systems. "If youve never seen a Black woman in a position when that position is open, youre not necessarily looking for that. It takes a while mentally to understand, oh, this person may actually be good for that position."

When Grayson Dill told a high school teacher where she was going to college, she recalls he answered with surprise: You got into Stanford?

Forget about the fact that I was an excellent student," she said. "Forget about the fact that I was vice president of the school. Forget about the fact that I was an athlete. Forget about all those facts. It imprints on your mind.

So she set out to prove her teacher wrong. From Stanford, she charted a path via Georgetown to the legal profession, where Black women are just 2% of its members. She worked for two international firms before joining Cisco Systems.

She says shes been fortunate to work for clients and corporate leaders who recognized her talents and made sure she got a foot in the door and a seat at the table. Black women are less likely than men and white women to have supervisors who advocate for them or give them stretch assignments and leadership responsibilities, a McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.org report found.

Saidah Grayson Dill, vice president and deputy general counsel at Cisco Systems.

My whole career, my whole journey has been being one of the few people in the room who looked like me, she said.

Where are the Asian women executives? Asian women are shut out of leadership at America's top companies. Our data shows why

As Black women rise in organizations, their existence becomes more solitary. They are often the only, or one of the only, Black women on their team. They feel their performance gets extra scrutiny. And they feel additional pressure to be perfect as an ambassador for all Black women.

'Leadership is in the Black woman's DNA'

What is really painful about this is that if you look at African American communities, its Black women who are the leaders. Its not that this group does not have leadership skills. Leadership is in the Black womans DNA, Bell Smith said.

Yet its common for Black women with top credentials to not be encouraged, to not be supported, to not be given the opportunity, to not be sponsored, to not get the visibility and as a result cannot move into top-line executive positions, she said.

A woman in June 2020 works on a mural honoring George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Even when they land top roles, Black women still get questioned if they belong in them.

Three years ago when Lisa Wardell, a new director, showed up for a board meeting, a white male member of the companys management team asked her to get him a cup of coffee.

The room fell silent. Everyone else had reviewed the biographies of new board members beforehand.

Id be happy to grab you coffee while I get some for myself, Wardell, a veteran corporate executive, said she replied. Since Im new to the board, why dont we walk over there together to get to know each other?

Wardell was one of the lucky ones. She says she got plenty of practice being uncomfortable as a vice president and chief operating officer for RLJ Companies, the investment firm led by Bob Johnson, the founder of BET.

How diverse is your company?: We asked Walmart, Amazon and others about hiring for diversity. What we found may surprise you

Wardell was frequently invited to present to the board and to lead company meetings filled with white male bankers. She said Johnson advised her to own her authority, telling her: If you dont think you belong in the room, you dont belong in the room.

She credits that early exposure to the echelons of corporate America with allowing her to demonstrate she had the chops to run a company.

In 2016 when Wardell took over AdTalem Global Education, she was one of only two Black women CEOs in the nations 1,000 top companies. A year later, she was the only one.

The assignment was the classic example of a glass cliff, where women are placed in leadership positions because an organization is in crisis. The company then known as DeVry was facing multiple lawsuits and a federal investigation for false advertising and improper business practices. Under Wardell's leadership, the company sold DeVry University, rebranded as Adtalem, and shifted focus to health care education.

I had to come in and push out an entire management team, for the most part, she said. Investors, analysts, and others cast her as an angry Black woman, among other stereotypes when critiquing her turnaround of the company. Several yelled in her face.

Wardells overhaul included putting women and people of color into top jobs, including the Black man who took over as CEO last year, Stephen Beard. Wardell says she also made sure executive compensation and performance were tied to diversity and inclusion outcomes.

The company, she says, is stronger for it and her early critics have come around.

Black women breaking through in corporate America

Business leaders must reshape the business culture to remain competitive, according to Bonita Stewart, vice president of global partnerships at Google, who says expecting people of color, particularly women, to adapt to the historical status quo will not be enough as the nation and its workers grow more diverse. Plus, young adults are more likely to believe there is a widespread systemic bias against people of color and women, according to a survey co-led by Stewart.

Racial justice in the workplace: In-depth look at diversitys struggle to crack corporate boardrooms

From a management perspective, if you want to retain talent, youre going to have to understand culturally how to tap into the talent to ensure youre getting the highest return for your business, she said.

And that means shaking up traditional views of what leadership looks like.

Bonita Stewart, vice president of global partnerships at Google

Stewarts father, John Coleman, aspired to be an Air Force pilot at a time when the service excluded Black people or relegated them to menial roles.

The story was he would walk into the recruiting office and they would say, Not today, Stewart recalled.

He kept going back until they accepted his application. Once in the Air Force, he fought to be a pilot, not just a navigator. One of the Air Forces first Black pilots, Coleman, a major, was among those who flew the worlds first supersonic jet.

Before he died during her freshman year in college, Stewart says her father taught her to become the change she wished to see in the world. In 2011, she became the first Black woman vice president at Google.

If he were here today, she imagines he would say: Shes a pioneer. Just like me.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Black women in business: Why there are still so few at the top
The George Floyd Foundations Shareeduh McGee and Tera Brown spoke to theGrio about grief and purpose in the days leading to the second anniversary of his death.

Two of George Floyds family members have been quietly working behind the scenes on social justice and community initiatives they believe would make their cousin proud.

Shareeduh McGee and Tera Brown serve as president and vice-president, respectively, of The George Floyd Foundation in Houston. It was the first foundation formed after Floyds murder on May 25, 2020, they say.

George Floyd

McGee and Brown  Floyds sister and first cousin  spoke to theGrio about several subjects in the days leading to the second anniversary of his death. Theyre still haunted by the callousness former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin showed during his sentencing hearing. Chauvin killed Floyd when he kept his knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. Theyre disappointed that the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would restrict certain police practices and make cops more accountable for their actions, remains stuck in the U.S. Senate.

They also discussed the emptiness and pain they still feel.

Everybody saw this video, and the way in which Perry was murdered, its different than anyone else, McGee, said, referring to Floyd by his middle name. Because it was a slow and gradual torturous thing we all had to watch play out.

The full interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Whats changed over the last year?

McGee: Some of the focus with the protests has changed. We understood that shift would happen. You know that at some point, we would have to move from that phase to one of, what are we going to do? So to build on the momentum of the first year, we have continued to work hard behind the scenes.

So whats going on behind the scenes that people wouldnt necessarily know?

McGee: We have a lot of projects that were working on to kind of shift things in the community and try to bridge gaps in the community. We have a project that will be announced within the next week that were working on with a technology company where were trying to provide content to individuals who are looking for second chances. We work with schools and universities. We just finished some courses with Texas Southern University, where we work with the police officers to talk about community policing. Youth mentoring services is one component of what we do here at the foundation. So there are just a lot of different things that were working on. And I think that these are things that definitely will make a difference in our community.

Story continues

Why did you start the foundation?

McGee: Its a foundation that we found in the middle of our grief to figure out a way we could make sure that Georges death was not in vain and that we would continue his legacy. Its an opportunity for us to work with elected officials to change their laws on our local, state, and federal levels on policing so that no other family would have to encounter or go through what our family had to go through.

Shareeduh McGee, president, The George Floyd Foundation (Submiited)

How do you see his legacy?

Brown: What can we do to make sure that people remember the life that he lived as much as the way he died? The things that weve chosen to do with our foundation are all things that were important to his life. We want the legacy to be something that he would have been proud of. Being able to provide opportunities to folks like us that grew up in the same community that we grew up in. Providing second chances for folks who struggle with either incarceration or drugs or whatever it is.

What have you found the most gratifying in your work?

McGee. I found more people who understood and empathized. In fact, we met people who said they had never really been able to process what African American people would talk about when we talk about profiling and the different things that happen. So I think the most gratifying thing to me was just the humanity to see that there were so many people who, for the first time in my life, [showed] there was no color. It was just, I hurt as much as you guys. I know that he was not my brother and not my cousin, not my father, not my son. But the pain was something that everybody could feel.

Brown: What happened to him transcended race and religion because it was humanity. If you had any love for human beings at all, you recognize that what happened to him was not only a horrific tragedy, but it was injustice, it was inhumane. And so I think when you see something like that, it touches the core of people.

Whats been most disturbing?

McGee: The act itself. I dont think I can get past it. If I can think about one single thing, it was the audacity of (Derek) Chauvin. To carry himself as if he didnt think he had done anything wrong. I mean, that definitely was something I remember. I just could not process how someone could be so disconnected from what he had done.

Brown: I never heard an apology. He said things are going to come out. It was unbelievable to me that he would go through that whole process and an apology never happened. There was no remorse.

Tera Brown, vice-president, The George Floyd Foundation (Submitted)

What hasnt happened in the last two years that you wish would have?

McGee: Obviously, the George Floyd Policing Act (we hoped) would have passed by now. Im not sure what has to happen, but Im still pessimistically optimistic that, at some point, it will happen. But we would have thought that, by this time, it could have been done.

Im sure you want a law that matters 

McGee: Were not interested in having something symbolic passed. So when you think about having components that will hold officers accountable, I think thats what the holdout is. If the bill isnt going to change the way things have always been and have the teeth required to make officers accountable, then theres no point in passing it.

What will never be the same?

McGee: Holidays. Perry was that person that would dip in and out. He may not stay for the entire family dinner. But you knew when he came in and left because he just had that presence. And so thats something that will never be the same.

Brown: He had a huge personality. Theres no replacement for that. Youll always have that empty spot. I always will remember the phone call that I didnt make or the text message that I didnt send. That has been haunting for me and has changed me forever.

What does the name George Floyd mean?

McGee: His name is synonymous with social justice and policing. And I do think that thats going to be, forever.

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The post Two years later, family members work to keep George Floyds legacy alive appeared first on TheGrio.
LONDON (Reuters) -A failure of leadership at British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Downing Street office was to a blame for a culture that led to illegal parties being held during coronavirus lockdowns, a report by a senior civil servant said on Wednesday.

The report by senior official Sue Gray was commissioned by Johnson after revelations of alcohol-fuelled parties at Downing Street when social mixing was all but banned under stringent laws his government had made to curb the spread of COVID-19.

"Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen," the report said. "The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture."

Gray's interim findings were published in January, but most details were withheld until the end of a separate police inquiry, which concluded last week with 126 fines handed out.

Both Johnson and finance minister Rishi Sunak were among those fined over a party to celebrate the prime minister's 56th birthday on June 2020.

Johnson has faced calls from opposition politicians and some in his own party for him to resign after it was revealed both he and officials had broken the rules which meant people could not socialise outside their households or even, in many cases, attend funerals for loved ones.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout and William James; writing by Michael Holden, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
RTHK: Russia bears down on key city in eastern Ukraine

Russian forces threatened to encircle a crucial eastern Ukrainian city on Wednesday as Moscow said the West must drop sanctions to end a global food crisis.

Ukrainian officials said fierce fighting had reached the edge of the industrial hub of Severodonetsk, under relentless bombardment by Russian forces trying to seize control of the Donbas region.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for more Western support for his outgunned troops as the Russian campaign entered its fourth month, while his foreign minister blasted Nato for doing "nothing".

Kyiv meanwhile accused Moscow of "blackmail" over its proposal to allow grain exports if the West lifts sanctions, as the war between two of the world's big wheat producers creates growing food shortages.

The governor of the eastern Ukrainian region of Lugansk, Sergiy Gaiday, described the situation around of Severodonetsk as "very difficult" and said there was "already fighting on the outskirts".

"Russian troops have advanced far enough that they can already fire mortars" on the city, he said.

Western funds and weapons have helped Ukraine hold off its neighbour's advances in many areas, including the capital Kyiv.

But Russia is now focused on expanding its gains in eastern Donbas, home to pro-Russian separatists, as well as the southern coast. Donbas comprises Lugansk and the region of Donetsk.

"Solving the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the removal of sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions," said Russian deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the West not to give in.

"This is clear blackmail. You could not find a better example of blackmail in international relations," Kuleba said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Kuleba also slammed Nato for "doing literally nothing" to stop Russia.(AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A day after another deadly mass shooting in the United States and with no gun control legislation in sight, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that there is a plague upon this nation. But he admitted action was unlikely.

In a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, Schumer quoted a poem Amanda Gorman posted to Twitter hours after the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman.

The truth is, one nation under guns, Schumer said, quoting Gorman, the poet laureate who spoke at President Bidens inauguration. One nation under guns. That is simply heartbreaking  heartbreaking to think that this is the legacy that older generations are leaving behind for young Americans, one nation under guns.

People react after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

"It doesn't have to be that way, he continued. Parents don't need to drop their kids off at school and wonder if their kid will be next."

Schumer said he is willing to work with Republicans, but acknowledged that no gun bill is imminent and that the chamber would likely depart Thursday for its Memorial Day recess as scheduled.

Americans can cast their vote in November, he said, despite the fact that Democrats already control both chambers of Congress and the White House. Because of current Senate rules, most legislation cannot pass without 60 votes due to the legislative filibuster, which was historically used to block civil rights legislation.

While Democratic senators could unanimously vote to change the rules and allow legislation to pass with 50 votes on issues like guns, voting rights and womens reproductive health, they are blocked by a few more moderate members of their caucus who want to keep the 60-vote requirement in place. The most prominent of those filibuster supporters is Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

A child looks through a window from inside a reunification center where students were transported after the shooting on Tuesday. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

It makes no sense why we cant do common-sense things to try to prevent some of this from happening, Manchin said Tuesday after the shooting. Its just unbelievable how we got here as a society.

Story continues

However, he rejected the idea of removing the filibuster in order to get it done. You would think thered be enough common sense, Manchin said. The filibuster is the only thing that prevents us from total insanity.

Manchins efforts at common sense gun legislation have been thwarted by the filibuster for nearly a decade. In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, he worked with Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., on legislation that would have expanded background checks. Although it received 54 yes votes in April 2013, it failed to advance because of the filibuster.

Everyone wants to go, Filibuster, filibuster, filibuster, get rid of that, Manchin added Wednesday morning. Thats the easy way out ... [if the filibuster is eliminated]. What makes you think they wont reverse it immediately if they dont like what we do?

First responders gather outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde following the shooting. (Dario Lopez-Mills/AP)

Last year, Manchin tried to get 10 Republican votes for both instituting a commission to investigate the Capitol riot of Jan. 6 and for a voting rights bill.

"I think we'll come together, he said in May 2021 of the vote to advance the commission. You have to have faith there's 10 good people.

Six Republicans voted in favor, killing the Senate investigation of the Capitol insurrection. Manchins voting rights proposal also made no progress with Republicans.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.  whose impassioned plea for gun control on the Senate floor in the wake of Tuesday's shooting went viral  said Wednesday that he believes a compromise is possible.

I refuse to believe this is inevitable, Murphy said on CNN. We are the only country in the world in which this happens, in which children are sitting in school right now worrying for their lives. That only happens to our kids in the United States.

But he too acknowledged that the issue is ultimately up to voters.

Voters get to decide this. Ask your candidates this fall: 'Are you supportive of universal background checks? Do you think that 18-year-olds should have access to military-style assault weapons?' And if they say yes, if they support the current law and don't support reform, then don't send them back to Congress."

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., speaks on the Senate floor following Tuesday's shooting. (C-SPAN/Yahoo News)

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reacted to the shooting in his home state by writing, Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde. We are in close contact with local officials, but the precise details are still unfolding. Thank you to heroic law enforcement & first responders for acting so swiftly.

During his 2018 reelection campaign, Cruz was the leading recipient of gun rights funding in Congress, bringing in more than $300,000, according to OpenSecrets.org.

Arent you slated to headline a speaking gig for the NRA in three days  in Houston, no less? asked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in a tweet. You can do more than pray. Faith without works is dead.

Cruz, as well as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former President Donald Trump, is set to speak at the National Rifle Associations annual meeting this weekend. Guns will not be allowed in the venue during Trumps speech.

Other representatives were even more direct toward Cruz, who told reporters, Inevitably when there's a murderer of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.

F*** you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered, wrote Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., an Iraq War veteran, who then referred to Cruzs Mexican vacation last year when much of Texas was without power. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless.

To ensure no confusion about his position, 17 minutes after that message Gallego added, Just to be clear f*** you @tedcruz you f***ing baby killer.
UVALDE, Texas (AP)  An 18-year-old gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school barricaded himself inside a classroom, shooting anyone that was in his way, an official said Wednesday, describing the latest in a gruesome, yearslong series of mass killings at churches, schools and stores.

Police and others responding to Tuesday's attack broke windows at the school in an effort to allow students and teachers inside to escape, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety said Wednesday on NBCs Today.

Olivarez told CNN that all victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School. Eventually, the shooter was killed by law enforcement.

Tuesday's assault in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

Families waited hours for word on their children. At the town civic center where some gathered, the silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wailing. No! Please, no! one man yelled as he embraced another man.

My heart is broken today, said Hal Harrell, the school district superintendent. Were a small community, and were going to need your prayers to get through this. Live coverage here:

***

***
In the wake of a Texas school shooting that has claimed at least 21 lives, Iowas U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is calling for expanding the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center with a greater focus on school violence prevention.

Weve got to keep our schools safe. We cant waste another day, the Iowa Republican told reporters Wednesday.

Grassley made his remarks in response to an 18-year-old gunman barricading himself in an Uvalde, Texas, classroom and killing at least 19 children and two teachers.

The Secret Service conducts threat assessments in other areas, Grassley said, and his Eagles Act would expand its role to include school violence prevention. The bill is named for the mascot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., site of another mass shooting in February 2018.

The legislation, which Grassley reintroduced earlier this year with bipartisan support and the backing of 40 state attorneys general, would proactively mitigate threats of violence on school campuses by reauthorizing and expanding the Secret Services National Threat Assessment Center.

The center studies targeted violence and develops best practices and training to identify and manage threats before they result in violence.

The bill would establish a national program on school violence prevention that will include expanded research. It also would allow the Secret Service to equip communities and schools with training and best practices on recognizing and preventing school violence.

It would help us proactively identify and manage these threats before they occur, said Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sioux City state Sen. Jim Carlin, who is running against Grassley in the June 7 primary, tweeted: Our hearts break for the families of those whose lives were lost in the senseless shooting in Texas earlier today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

DEMS RESPOND

Democrats hoping to run against Grassley, who is seeking re-election, say hes waited too long to take action.

How many gunshot corpses does it take for you to vote for responsible firearm ownership legislation? Sioux City Democratic Mike Franken asked Grassley on social media. The voters are waiting for a number 

Former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids said the slayings left her heartbroken.

But, folks, I am pissed off, she said in a campaign appearance Tuesday evening.

Finkenauer recalled being 10 years old at the time of the Columbine school shooting in 1999 when Grassley had been in Washington 23 years.

Sen. Grassley has sat there another 24 years in Washington, D.C.,  and hasnt done a dang thing to stop it, she said. He has changed nothing. He has done nothing.

A third Democratic candidate, Glenn Hurst of Minden, called for new hate crime laws and common sense gun laws, such as banning assault weapons and limiting access to ammunition. He made his comments during a recent debate when asked about a shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., that claimed 10 lives.
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A 19th century suspension bridge spanning the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan in New York City is a well-known landmark. The Brooklyn Bridge was the first to use steel wire for its cables. Another bridge that bears the same name, but is much, much smaller and considerably more lightwei
The deans of law colleges in Tunisias universities Tuesday turned down their choice by President Kais Saied to form a consultative commission tasked to draft a new Constitution for the country.

President Saied signed on May 20 a decree for the formation of a consultative commission to be composed of deans of law colleges. The university professors will ponder over the drafting of a new constitution to be put for referendum in July for the establishment of a new republic.

The Tunisian President has taken control over most powers in the North African country since July 25 after he imposed exceptional measures, firing the then Prime Minister, suspending the parliament before dissolving it in a later date, and lifting the immunity of MPs.

In a statement issued Tuesday, 76 law professors slammed the president and refused to be involved in the political showdown between the president and political parties that have been sidelined from the process.

After the promulgation of the decree () relating to the establishment of the National Consultative Commission, the university professors of law colleges and legal sciences institutions denounce this unjust method of appointing the members of the commission without any extended and real national consultation and dialogue, the statement said.

The male and female deans of the universities of law and legal sciences are among the professors who were elected according to their academic value to manage the scientific affairs within the colleges, not to involve them in participating in the political activities, the statement added.

The university elites also called on the male and female deans not to accept joining this commission, in addition, to unify their position to reject such deception against the scientific institutions and involving universities in political projects.

The refusal is another blow to the president after the countrys powerful labor union UGTT also turned down participation in the national dialogue to pave the way for the new republic. The union has criticized the absence of political parties in the dialogue.
Moroccan Minister-Delegate in charge of the National Defense Administration, Abdeltif Loudyi, conferred Tuesday in Rabat with Mauritanian Major Gen. El Mokhtar Bolle Chaabane, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces.

The two officials stressed the need to deepen and broaden the scope of military cooperation ties in the field of defense and security, insisting on the exchange of experience & expertise between the two countries Armed Forces to counter security threats, including the illegal migration and trafficking, said a statement released by the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces.

They also praised the efforts made by the two countries to boost regional cooperation in the Western Mediterranean within the frame of the 5+5 Defense Initiative under the Mauritanian presidency in 2021 and Moroccan presidency in 2022.

The Mauritanian General was also received, the same day, by Lt. General, Inspector General of the FAR and Commander of Southern Zone. Talks focused on relations of friendship and military cooperation existing between the two countries.

Afterwards, they co-chaired the 3rd meeting of the Moroccan-Mauritanian Joint Military Commission to review last years cooperation activities and discuss the joint military activities planned during the 2022-2023 period, particularly in training, operational training, technical support and exchanges of visits and expertise.

Morocco & Mauritania discuss cooperation ties in defense & security

Moroccan Minister-Delegate in charge of the National Defense Administration, Abdeltif Loudyi, conferred Tuesday in Rabat with Mauritanian Major Gen. El Mokhtar Bolle Chaabane, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces.

The two officials stressed the need to deepen and broaden the scope of military cooperation ties in the field of defense and security, insisting on the exchange of experience & expertise between the two countries Armed Forces to counter security threats, including the illegal migration and trafficking, said a statement released by the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces.

They also praised the efforts made by the two countries to boost regional cooperation in the Western Mediterranean within the frame of the 5+5 Defense Initiative under the Mauritanian presidency in 2021 and Moroccan presidency in 2022.

The Mauritanian General was also received, the same day, by Lt. General, Inspector General of the FAR and Commander of Southern Zone. Talks focused on relations of friendship and military cooperation existing between the two countries.

Afterwards, they co-chaired the 3rd meeting of the Moroccan-Mauritanian Joint Military Commission to review last years cooperation activities and discuss the joint military activities planned during the 2022-2023 period, particularly in training, operational training, technical support and exchanges of visits and expertise.
The Algerian government has made much fuss about an incoming investment code which analysts see as a cosmetic measure that fails to address the real issues that make Algeria a very unfriendly foreign investment destination.

A copy of the draft of the new code was unveiled last week copying much of a similar code that aims to promote investments led by the private sector in Morocco.

Algerian officials say the new code is tailored to facilitate investments by Algerians and foreigners alike in a country which has been shunned by investors due to its archaic investment climate.

The new law provides for fiscal measures only for large scale investments which are impossible to make in a state-dominated economy with an underdeveloped financial sector.

In the most recent versions of the Doing Business Index, Algeria was ranked as one of the most-unfriendly investment destinations on par with war-stricken countries like Iraq and Syria.

In 2022, Algeria was ranked the 185% least economic free country in the Economic Freedom Index, established by The Heritage Foundation, an American public policy think tank based in Washington, DC. Algeria only outperformed war-ravaged countries such as the Central African Republic.

The lack of political and monetary stability is another major issue that makes Algeria a very risky investment destination. The new law will not stop the devaluation of the dinar, amid the recurrent resort to money printing by the central bank to deal with the fiscal deficit.

Algeria has dragged its feet for long on economy diversification and failed to liberalize the economy. Investors who made the risk to set up plants in the country have already left or planning to do so, including Renault mini-factory in the country which was designed to produce 50,000 vehicles annually and ended up producing 5000 only amid restrictive measures on importing car parts.

The perception of Algerias unfriendliness towards foreign investors is worsened by recent investment reforms that left unchanged a rule requiring 51% of national ownership of any projects.

The 51/49 rule provides that at least 51% of the shares of Algeria-based companies must be owned by Algerian nationals residing in Algeria or by companies, which are wholly owned by Algerian resident shareholders.

The archaic banking system has also been pushing investors away. Algerias banks remain state-dominated and highly corrupt thus thwarting foreign direct investments.

The political instability stoked by a military regime ruling and its repression against peaceful protesters add to the unfriendliness of Algeria to foreign investments.

Algeria can copy and paste Moroccos investment code. But to match its neighbor it needs years of hard work to improve its business climate and empower its private sector as well as reforms to reassure foreign investors.
Suriname has expressed full support to the Morocco-proposed autonomy plan for the Sahara as the unique basis for a political solution to the regional dispute and announced its decision to open a Consulate General in the city of Dakhla.

The remarks were made by Surinamese Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin in Rabat on Wednesday during a joint press briefing with his Moroccan peer Nasser bourita.

He also announced the opening of his countrys embassy in Rabat, pointing out that the opening of these two diplomatic representations of Suriname in Morocco will be two mechanisms to consolidate cooperation between the two countries and give a new dynamic to bilateral relations.

In a joint statement issued after the talks between the two Foreign Ministers, Albert Ramdin reaffirmed the recognition by the Republic of Suriname of Moroccos sovereignty over all its territory, including the Moroccan Sahara, and expressed full support to the Moroccan autonomy plan as the only basis for a political solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, in full respect of the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Morocco.

During these talks, Bourita informed Ramdin of the latest developments on the Sahara issue and stressed the support of the international community to the Moroccan autonomy plan under the sovereignty of Morocco, as the only basis for a consensual political solution to this regional dispute.

The Moroccan official reiterated, in this regard, Moroccos commitment to the ongoing political process conducted under the exclusive auspices of the United Nations.

Surinames position on the Sahara issue is part of a support wave for the national cause expressed by several countries around the world, especially in the Caribbean region. A total of 12 countries out of 14 in this region have changed their positions in favor of Morocco on the Sahara issue.

Twenty-four countries have already opened consulates in the cities of Dakhla (12 countries) and Laayoune (12 countries).

the inauguration of the general consulate of suriname is slated for thursday, may 26.
A former Omaha meatpacking plant employee, who was denied unemployment benefits after he was fired for refusing to perform the job duties of two people, will likely receive retroactive benefits thanks to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Ruling in the employees favor, the court in an opinion published Friday also clarified what had only been implied in prior rulings: In a disputed claim for unemployment benefits where an employer says that an employee was fired for misconduct, the employer bears the burden of proving the misconduct.

The employee, Saied Badawi, worked as a meat cutter at the JBS Swift Beef plant in Omaha from January 2019 until May 2020. Thats when a supervisor instructed him to fill in for a co-worker who was out sick with COVID-19  on top of doing his own job. When Badawi refused, he was suspended for one week.

When he returned to work after a second suspension, he was informed that he had been fired for insubordination. In turn, Badawi applied for unemployment benefits through the Nebraska Department of Labor.

The department found that Badawi left his job voluntarily and without good reason, making him ineligible for unemployment benefits. He appealed the decision to the Nebraska Appeals Tribunal, an administrative body within the State Department of Labor.

At a hearing held by the tribunal, Badawi explained that he was aware of JBS policy that required employees to temporarily fill in for other positions if requested by the company. He said he understood the requirement, but it would have been impossible to do what he was asked. A JBS representative did not attend the hearing.

It was like Im asked to do two jobs, to work in this position and to go and work in other position, Badawi testified through an Arabic interpreter.

The tribunal found that Badawi had not left his job voluntarily, and instead disqualified him from unemployment benefits on the grounds that his refusal to work two jobs amounted to misconduct. He appealed the tribunals decision in district court for Douglas County. The district court agreed with the tribunal, finding Badawis argument that performing the two jobs at once would be impossible unpersuasive.

On appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court, Badawi successfully argued that there was insufficient evidence to support the claim that he was fired for misconduct. The court found that there was no evidence to show that JBS policy required an employee to work the jobs of two people at the same time.

The court also contemplated whether the request from JBS was reasonable. In prior cases, the court has ruled that, in order to prove misconduct, an employer must show that the rule or policy broken by the employee is reasonable and serves the purpose of protecting business interests.

Because the transcript from the tribunal hearing was riddled with indiscernible statements (likely due to technological issues, as the hearing was held via teleconference), the court found that there wasnt enough evidence to determine if the request was reasonable.

Finding that JBS failed to meet its burden of proving misconduct, the court sent the case back to the appeals tribunal. It is likely that Badawi will be awarded retroactive unemployment benefits, albeit two years after he applied for them.
About a dozen teens got firsthand education on agriculture safety Tuesday through a series of breakout sessions.

One of them included a roughly 1,000-pound steer as part of a discussion on trailer safety.

It was part of a two-day training event at the Lincoln County Extension Office, which 14- and 15-year-olds must go through to be eligible to be hired to work on a farm.

Students took a 50-question written test on which they were required to score at least 70%, and they must pass a tractor driving session to receive a certificate and be cleared to legally work at an operation.

The driving certification test is Wednesday and is the first of six opportunities to earn a farm husbandry permit from the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles.

Tests to be able to operate mini trucks and farm equipment will be at five additional sites across the state June 6 to 10.

This is about life and death. Its something we dont want to be frivolous about, said Ellen Duysen, the coordinator of the Agricultural Safety and Health Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which partners with Extension offices for the safety program.

Duysen quoted national statistics that note every three days an individual 18 years old or younger is killed in an agricultural accident.

Tractor rollovers are the leading cause, followed by livestock runovers.

(The numbers) could be higher, Duysen said. A lot of times we dont count ATV rollovers as agriculture (incidents), we count them as something else. But if (the teens) are working on a farm and using that ATV, it should be counted as agricultural.

Thats a reason why ATV safety was covered Tuesday, along with fire safety, connecting and using implements and equipment, and handling livestock.

There also was a breakout session on basic first aid, or as Duysen called it, stop the bleeding.

It is pretty isolated out here, and you get up into the Sandhills and some of these kids may be out (in the field) without (first responder) help for a while, she said. They need to know how to maintain either themselves or someone else until help can get there. It happens more often than people know.

Teens also can take the safety class online instead of in person.

About 25 teens are expected to take the tractor driving certificate test. Those in attendance got the opportunity to take a tractor for a short spin with an instructor ahead of Wednesdays test.

To pass, the teens must show knowledge of tractor safety and maneuver the machinery through a course without hitting a cone.

They also must back up the tractor, attach a trailer and move forward with it. Each individual has two opportunities to pass before they would be required to attend another test site.

There is about two sheets of things that a trainer is watching for (during the test), Duysen said.

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Even after the city in April settled a federal lawsuit with a protester who was injured during racial justice protests in May 2020, momentarily ending litigation related to the demonstrations, Lincoln will not release body-worn camera footage from officers who policed the demonstrations.

The city earlier this month denied the Journal Star's public records request for body-worn camera footage from the 2020 demonstrations, citing an exception in the state's open records statute that allows law enforcement agencies to withhold records they deem "investigatory" in nature.

The newspaper sought four nights' worth of footage after the city's $497,500 settlement with Elise Poole, the Lincoln woman who was struck by a rubber bullet two years ago amid a tumultuous week of local demonstrations in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis at the hands of police.

Footage captured on body-worn cameras is public record, but due to the investigatory exception, "state law effectively prohibits disclosure of all body-worn camera footage to the public," said Max Kautsch, an attorney who focuses on First Amendment rights cases in Kansas and Nebraska.

Kautsch noted that there are no exceptions in Nebraska, like there are in Kansas, that guarantee people captured in body-cam footage are entitled access to the video, leaving decisions on whether to release footage entirely in the hands of Nebraska law enforcement agencies.

City Attorney Yohance Christie said the requested footage "includes a time period where litigation is currently pending," adding that there are "other claims that are pending" from the same time period.

"We do not believe it is appropriate to release any footage that may taint a potential jury pool or otherwise impact the fair resolution of those claims," he said.

(In the days after Lincoln settled with Poole, a 45-year-old Lincoln man also sued the city, claiming he was struck in the face by a rubber bullet or other projectile shot by a police officer or sheriff's deputy while outside the U-Stop, across the street from the Hall of Justice, where he'd gone that night to buy something).

The police department also declined to commit to a timely release of the footage.

Lincoln Police Capt. Todd Kocian, a department spokesman, said the decision whether to release the footage would be up to Chief Teresa Ewins, adding that he couldn't provide a final decision or possible timeline, "however, it's not likely to be released in the near future."

Ewins, who was not made available for an interview in the three weeks prior to publication of this story, addressed the release of body-worn camera footage at a candidate forum last June before she was named the city's police chief, calling the cameras "a great tool for law enforcement."

"The public gets to see the interaction between the officer and the community, whoever they're interacting with," Ewins said then. "That's very important, and that was really misunderstood way back when, when all you could rely on was really a police report."

Asked specifically if she would support releasing body-cam footage in the immediate aftermath of critical incidents, such as officer-involved shootings, Ewins cited investigatory concerns but pledged overall transparency.

"There has to be a process in place, in which I consult with the city attorney, as well as the (county attorney's) office, to make sure we don't have any problems with the investigation itself," she said. "But, overall, getting ahead of anything the public needs to know is something that I will do, whether it is me speaking to the media and getting the messaging out, or body-worn cameras."

But that statement does not align with the department's written policy or de facto practices on the release of body-worn camera footage  a reality that advocates and observers say exists not just in Lincoln but across Nebraska, where the investigatory exception to the state's public records law serves as a broad shield for law enforcement agencies.

"If you see an incident in another jurisdiction, in another state  whether it's a police shooting or even just a law enforcement thing that's caught on a body cam  it's on CNN like 20 minutes after it happens in those other places," said Spike Eickholt, a lobbyist for the ACLU of Nebraska.

"Here, it's just pulling teeth to get those things. Unless, of course, the police want to release it."

The Lincoln Police Department's body-cam policy does not address the potential for release of footage. And though the city cited the investigatory exception when it declined to release the footage requested by the Journal Star, it's unclear if there are any active criminal investigations involving the video captured nearly two years ago.

LPD's public information office did not respond to questions seeking clarity on the status of investigations stemming from the protests.

The only specific reference to body-worn camera footage in state law stems from a bill passed in 2016 requiring law enforcement agencies that utilize body-worn cameras to develop written policies for training and footage-handling processes.

When he championed the bill through the Legislature in 2016, Heath Mello, then an Omaha-area senator, pointed to high-profile incidences of police brutality across the country.

"By creating objective visual records, body-worn cameras have the potential to protect the public from police officer misconduct," he said as the Legislature weighed his bill.

In the six years since Mello's bill passed, though, the visual records created by body-worn cameras have largely remained inaccessible to the public  a reality that calls into question the effectiveness of body cameras as a tool for police accountability.

"If the standard practice in Nebraska is going to be to never share body-cam footage, I don't think it is accountability, because nobody ever gets to see it," said Sen. Matt Hansen of northeast Lincoln, who sponsored LB557 in 2021, which would have strengthened the state's public record law.

In February 2021, Eickholt testified in support of Hansen's bill, which would have required governing bodies to incur more of the costs when fulfilling public records requests and requiring law enforcement agencies to release body-worn camera footage after officer-involved shootings or in-custody deaths.

The bill was later amended to only address the release of body-cam footage. Under the amended bill, footage relating to in-custody deaths would become public record at the conclusion of a grand jury investigation  a process that usually extends for several months.

"That is, granted, very, very narrow," Hansen said. "But that was also the most clear-cut case of, 'Well, those are the situations we need to see.'"

The amended bill made it out of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs committee with unanimous support despite opposition from two of the state's three largest police departments.

An Omaha police captain at the committee hearing said the immediate release of footage could "derail the process of justice by fracturing the ability to obtain and deliver the truth," potential tainting grand jury pools, leaving investigations "severely compromised."

And in a letter to the committee dated Feb. 19, 2021, then-Acting Lincoln Police Chief Brian Jackson and Assistant Chief Jason Stille wrote in opposition to the bill, calling it "a well-intentioned but flawed effort to increase the accessibility of certain public records" in the state.

"Prematurely releasing limited video evidence jeopardizes the right to due process for those individuals involved," the letter reads in part. "We cannot and should not sacrifice the right to due process merely to satisfy someone's curiosity or because a media outlet wants to be the first to break a story."

For Eickholt, the oppositional testimony from police and the Attorney General's Office  the government agency tasked with upholding the Nebraska's public record laws  is itself cause for concern, he said.

"It should raise eyebrows for many people," he said. "... what are they afraid of?"

The bill was never debated on the floor last year or in 2022, Hansen's last session as a senator.

Now a candidate for Lancaster County Clerk, Hansen is still hopeful his former colleagues will take action to reform the state's public records laws, which he said are weaker than state officials would like to believe.

"Nebraska isn't as transparent on this particular issue as we like to hold ourselves out to be," he said. "I hope we get the traction to change it."

Reach the writer at 402-473-7223 or awegley@journalstar.com. On Twitter @andrewwegley
It was Brian Kemps night in Georgia, but Stacey Abrams awaits in November. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images

Donald Trump invested very heavily in a show of force in Georgias 2022 Republican primary, endorsing 13 candidates, some of them handpicked. But he was especially determined to take down the two incumbents who together certified Joe Bidens 2020 win in the Peach State: Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Kemp emphatically beat Trumps candidate, former senator David Perdue, winning nearly three-fourths of the vote, well above his performance in any poll. and carrying all 159 counties. More surprisingly, Raffensperger, who defied Trumps direct orders to find him additional votes in December 2020 and has mocked his election fables, defeated Jody Hice, whom Trump convinced to give up a safe congressional seat to purge the incumbent. Hice was apparently saving his money for a runoff that nearly everyone expected, but Raffensperger won a spare majority and thus the nomination, after being left for dead by most observers at the beginning of the race.

The enmity between Trump and Kemp goes back a ways, well before the governors refusal to help overturn the 2020 election. When Kemp was cruising toward a runoff win in 2018 as a self-proclaimed politically incorrect conservative, Trump gave him a late endorsement, and subsequently took total credit for Kemps career. When Kemp spurned his recommendation to fill an open Senate seat, and then got crosswise with Trump on COVID policy, Trump decided he was ungrateful. Certifying Bidens win was the final straw, so Trump decided on revenge and talked Perdue into becoming its instrument.

But Kemp had the better idea. His smashing victory on Tuesday was a testament to his success in making himself a Trumpy candidate in every way other than in bending the knee to Trumps stolen-election claims. He used his gubernatorial powers ruthlessly and effectively to head off any room to his right, cutting taxes (and suspending gasoline taxes), championing voter suppression and extreme abortion laws, and reminding Republican voters he had been just as ruthless in turning back a tough 2018 challenge from Stacey Abrams, whom he will face once again in November. He also secured timely financial help and some personal campaigning from his fellow Republican governors (and also, down the home stretch, from another Trumpism-Without-Trump pol, Mike Pence). Meanwhile Perdue steadily lost ground after beginning the contest dead-even with Kemp, lagging in fundraising and never succeeding in outflanking the incumbent ideologically. His campaign reached a dismal end with Perdue talking racist smack about Abrams. He has already endorsed Trumps bitter enemy Kemp against the charismatic Democrat, who was unopposed for her partys nomination.

Raffenspergers surprise comeback was the product of three factors. First, he was able to self-fund an aggressive campaign that emphasized his hostility to voting-rights champions like Abrams and his support for the states new restricting voting and election law. Second, Raffenspegers defiance of Trump led an undefined but probably significant number of Democrats to cross over and vote for him. Third, Hice didnt spend the money to let Trump fans know he was the MAGA candidate. Aside from voters in his congressional district, he had no real base.

Wrap your head around this fact: GOP primary voters in #GA14 simultaneously renominated Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) by 53 pts and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) by 20 pts.  Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) May 25, 2022

Trumps losing streak continued with his candidates for attorney general and insurance commissioner, who lost badly. The bright spots for him are Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who like Kemp is winning handily over a large but feeble field (amazingly, Walker ran five points behind Kemp) and state legislator Butch Jones, who is running first in the primary for lieutenant governor and could avoid a runoff. Down-ballot, Trumps celebrity party-switcher Vernon Jones is currently running second in the primary for Hices open seat, and will likely face heavily favored Mike Collins in a runoff. Though nobody really thought ultra-MAGA congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was in any trouble against underfunded primary opponents, Trump will probably claim her easy win as a feather in his cap in what is turning out to be a nightmarish evening for him.

The Kemp-Abrams general election tilt along with Walkers effort to knock off incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock could be landmark races in November. If Republicans stay united, they could have an advantage in both races thanks to the midterm dynamics that are helping the GOP from coast to coast. But Abrams and Warnock are savvy campaigners who have raised epic sums of money while watching the Trump-inspired Republican squabble. And even if Georgia Republican leaders unite behind their ticket, theres no guarantee their ex-presidential leader will lift a finger to help Kemp and Raffensperger (who will have his own tough general-election fight). Most knowledgeable observers blame Trump for the twin Senate losses in Georgia on January 5, 2021, when some loyal MAGA voters sat on their hands rather than participating further in an election Trump had called rigged. Now that Georgia has humiliated Trump and his champions again, he may once again be unable to look beyond his own towering ego and help the party he professes to lead.

Trump has already stumbled in his effort to make Republican midterm primaries proof positive of his domination of the GOP, with the defeat of his gubernatorial candidates in Nebraska and Idaho; his struggle to pick a Senate candidate in Pennsylvania; and his withdrawn endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks. After this primary setback in Georgia, hed better get his mojo back soon or his party leadership will be seriously in question.
Not the candidate anyone should be looking for. Photo: John. Amis/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Mike Pence, erstwhile Trumpian, is making more noise about running for president in 2024. The former vice-president has been campaigning for Brian Kemps reelection in the Georgia governors race and traveling to Iowa, where he is attempting to carve out a new path for himself in the Republican Party. He even visited the Charlottesville, Virginia, memorial to Heather Heyer, who was killed in a 2017 white-supremacist riot that then-President Donald Trump infamously tried to downplay.

Pence has been persona non grata in Trumpworld since he refused to back the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, nor illegally attempt to block Bidens victory the day of the Capitol riot. At least in theory, that might make Pence more palatable to moderates who wax nostalgic for the patrician, well-mannered Republicans of yore or even the so-called mavericks like John McCain. Such sentiment has already benefited former GOP big shots like George W. Bush, who in retirement has reinvented himself as a lovable, if doddering, grandfather who paints and pals around with Michelle Obama. In the wake of Trumps madness, Bushs eight years in the Oval Office are reimagined as a time of comity and ease. For the pundits and media mandarins who prize style or decorum over substance, the return of a Bush- or Ronald Reaganstyle presidency  these men, they say, at least respected democracy  seems almost welcome, especially if Joe Biden is doomed no matter what.

But even the remote prospect of a President Mike Pence should be feared as much as any Trump redux, if not more so. Respectability politics will be merged with the Evangelical, anti-government hard right that liberals only had a taste of under Trump. A Pence presidency would be the ultimate triumph of the Koch familyandMitch McConnellwing of the GOP, one that has practiced a dark fusion of Ayn Randian economics and Christian fervor for decades. Trump was their pawn; Pence would be a true king.

While many liberals believe Trump was on the cusp of installing a fascist regime in the U.S., he was nowhere close in actuality. As the political scientist Corey Robin has argued, Trump was a relatively weak president, unfocused and unable to aggressively implement much in the way of reactionary policy. Despite commanding significant majorities in the House and Senate, his White House could not force through a repeal of Obamacare, something Republicans had been campaigning on for much of the decade. Rather than radically realign politics, as Reagan did when he blasted away at the New Deal consensus, Trump flailed from crisis to crisis, rarely achieving any kind of far-reaching executive agenda.

What Trump ultimately did, in most circumstances, was what any Republican president in the late 2010s would have done. He aggressively deported immigrants, though Barack Obama didnt show much leniency for most of his eight years, either. Trump gutted the EPA and slashed various environmental regulations, turning the government over to energy lobbyists. He pulled out of the Paris climate accord. He exited the Iran nuclear deal. And he appointed lots of judges  but this was mostly McConnells doing, along with the Federalist Society. All Trump had to do was pick names off a list. Before 2017, its unlikely Trump would have known who Neil Gorsuch, Bret Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett were if they were standing naked in Mar-a-Lago.

Trump is a danger because he undermines faith in democracy, he lies repeatedly, and he is extraordinarily reckless. But its important to remember that Republican competency does not guarantee any kind of safety or security for anyone, in America or abroad. The Bush administration was stocked with the best and brightest of the neoconservative movement; Dick Cheney was remarkably seasoned, one of the great operators in American history. Trump and his ilk would have probably been too shambolic to pass something like the Patriot Act or even invade Iraq. Trumps vaguely isolationist instincts and inability to bring his attention to any subject for too long likely spared America some disastrous foreign engagement.

In Pence, America would quickly come to understand the most sinister aspects of the Republican Party. Deeply socially conservative, Pence would have a pliant Supreme Court to defend whatever measures his White House undertook; its not hard to envision a President Pence marshaling a federal abortion ban through a GOP-controlled Congress, or quietly encouraging a legal challenge of Obergefell v. Hodges, which guaranteed the right to same-sex marriage in all 50 states. The 2015 decision was 5-4. Barrett, a hard-line conservative, has since replaced the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

To understand what Pences economic agenda would look like, its best to examine what Senator Rick Scott of Florida is trying to get his fellow Republicans to campaign on this fall. The Trump Republican faction of the party could stomach a degree of economic populism  Trump did not campaign on slashing Social Security or Medicare  but Scott and his traditionalist allies prefer austerity and tax cuts on the wealthy at all costs. Currently Scott, as chairman of the Republican Senate Campaign Committee, is arguing poor and working-class people should pay far more in taxes and all legislation should sunset after five years. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid would disappear unless Congress voted to reauthorize them. Whats left of Americas 20th-century welfare state could disappear overnight. Given the trajectory of the Senate and the House, its plausible that any Republican who wins in 2024, including Pence, would govern with large majorities come 2025. The Scott agenda, under Pence at least, would get a hearing.

Meanwhile, Pence could easily revive the Bush-era foreign-policy prerogatives, pushing the American military into more global conflicts and further bloating the Pentagon budget. The most hawkish Republicans, hungry for fresh confrontations abroad, will have a much freer rein in Pences orbit. It is not difficult to imagine how the existing conflict with Russia over Ukraine, or a potential conflict with China, would play out to more dangerous extremes.

Democrats should ultimately hope Trump, and not Pence, claims the Republican nomination in 2024 because Trump is more beatable. Like Pence, Florida governor Ron DeSantis  who is more effectively aping Trumpism  should be feared too, since he would run a strong race and likely attempt to implement at least as destructive GOP policies if elected. In the end, Trump is probably the general-election opponent Democrats want. Even with lackluster support for Biden, Trump is polarizing enough to draw enormous Democratic turnout. His vulnerabilities are plain. If Mike Pence is campaigning against Biden, he will not make gaffes, slander allies, or take to social media to broadcast inanities. He will not be embroiled in any sex scandals. He could be what any Republican hopes for: a chance for a swift return to power.
A woman embraces a child outside the Willie de Leon Civic Center in Uvalde, Texas, after the massacre at an elementary school killed at least 19 children and two teachers. Photo: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The mass shooting in Texas that killed at least 19 schoolchildren and two adults on Thursday came on the heels of the horrific, racist slaughter in Buffalo, New York. When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? Joe Biden asked in a national address, sounding more like a beleaguered Democratic voter than the president of the United States. Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?

Bidens plea speaks to his relative powerlessness here; the president of the United States can do many fantastic and world-historical things, but altering gun policy in a meaningful way is tragically not one of them. Every solution at hand cries out for Congress and state legislatures. For instance, to renew the assault-weapon ban that expired in 2004  an AR15 semiautomatic rifle was wielded in the attack  would take overcoming the filibuster in the Senate. Democrats only have 50 votes there, and neither Joe Manchin nor Kyrsten Sinema, the conservative Democrats who make up two of those votes, want to move to end that historic and ultimately idiotic threshold for passing significant legislation.

Still, an assault-weapons ban will only go so far. The United States of America, the worlds wealthiest nation, is addicted to gun violence. Among affluent nations, far more die here from firearms than anywhere else. Our suicide rates are fed by easy access to handguns. It is estimated there are around 400 million guns in the United States, more than people, and we are currently in the midst of a great gun-buying boom that the pandemic accelerated. Annual domestic gun production increased from 3.9 million in 2000 to 11.3 million in 2020, according to the ATF last week.

This staggering tide of weaponry fuels carnage everywhere. Manufacturers reap enormous profits from laws in Republican-controlled states that have loosened restrictions on guns to an almost absurd degree. In Texas last year, Governor Greg Abbott allowed all residents to legally carry handguns without licenses. Guns are already allowed on college campuses, and now, hotel guests can store guns in their rooms. Abbott is not sorry for signing these bills into law. Texas senator Ted Cruz will offer thoughts and prayers and not utter a word about gun control. Marjorie Taylor Greene, perhaps the most unhinged of all, talks about a return to God to stop the violence.

This is the state of our broken, polarized politics, and its not shifting anytime soon. Meanwhile, so-called ghost gun manufacturers are sending untraceable weapons through the streets of large cities throughout the country, where criminals can easily acquire them. Gun violence is a plague in many American cities, especially in poorer neighborhoods. In the Bronx, a 15-year-old boy was arrested recently for fatally shooting an 11-year-old girl with a bullet allegedly meant for another teenager.

Democrat-run states and cities have tougher gun laws, and these do make a difference, especially when these states border each other. New York has the fortune of being in the Northeast, near neighboring states that also take gun control seriously, such as Connecticut, which tightened its gun laws following the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. Within New York, it is quite hard to legally buy a handgun or rifle. Shootings have spiked in the five boroughs since the pandemic fueled by illegal guns, but mass shootings are rare in the city. Last months subway shooting, which wounded ten, was the worst ever in the subway system, but nothing like the Texas elementary-school shooting has ever occurred.

The problem lies elsewhere. Staunching the flow of weapons across state lines is inordinately difficult. Law enforcement cant open every car trunk coming from Pennsylvania into New York by way of South Carolina or somewhere else. A true gun-control response would be national in scope: strong limits and background checks on the purchase of firearms with penalties accorded to manufacturers that earn billions off dead bodies. It should be very hard, in general, to buy a firearm in America. Consider Japan, where no one may purchase a handgun or rifle unless they belong to the police or military.

Realistically, such a law will never come to the United States, thanks to disingenuous reinterpretations of the Second Amendment and the place guns hold in the culture of rural states. The 2008 Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller severely undercut local gun control laws, thanks to a tie-breaking vote from Chief Justice John Roberts. The court is now much more right-wing today than it was then and is poised to overturn a local law in New York that regulates concealed permits. Plus, the National Rifle Associations hold on the Republican Party is ironclad.

Whats heinous about this turn in our culture is that it didnt have to be this way. In a more rational society, even conservatives would embrace gun control as a law-and-order position, akin to their otherwise aggressive approach to cracking down on crime. Decades ago, this was the case, with Republicans and Democrats in relative agreement over the nature of limiting firearms. In the 20th century, gun-control laws moved through Congress, with the assault-weapon ban coming in 1994 as part of the national crime bill authored by then-Senator Biden. It sunset a decade later, never to be renewed.

Within blue states, there is some lingering allegiance to this view among right-leaning voters. Big-city Republicans, closely aligned with local police departments, are not in the streets calling for laxer gun laws. In some sense, there is a profound amount of unexamined cognitive dissonance among the right-wingers of America. How can so-called defenders of the police also repeatedly oppose measures that could save the lives of rank-and-file cops? Indeed, two cops were shot responding to the elementary-school shooting. Progressive activists and police departments each want to halt the flow of firearms.

The debate is exhausting and debilitating because it feels like so little can be done. Lately, at least in the case of the Buffalo shooting, Democrats have pivoted to bemoaning disinformation online, as if cracking down on Twitter or 4chan will end mass shootings in America. It wont. Only getting guns out of peoples hands will. We are nowhere close to doing that.
The Opelika Police Department has arrested two suspects after responding to a robbery that occurred Tuesday morning.

At approximately 8:41 a.m. police received a call of a robbery at the Valero station, 2400 Westpoint Parkway.

The victim told police that the suspects were two Hispanic males who were armed and traveling in a White Jeep SUV, according to the police report.

Police said responding officers located a vehicle matching the description traveling on I-85 Southbound near Exit 62 and discovered two individuals matching the description provided by the victim.

After further investigation, police arrested Angel Cardenas, 20, from Texas, as well as a 17-year-old juvenile and charged each with first degree robbery, according to the police report.

Police said this case remains under investigation and additional charges are pending.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Opelika Police Department 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.
Heres a look at the unofficial results of who won what around Lee County, the region and the state. And just for kicks, we give you the Lee County results for state and multi-county races so you can see how your neighbors voted in the bigger races.

LOCAL RACES

Lee County Commission District 5: John Andrew Harris, who in the past served 24 straight years unopposed in the seat, ousted incumbent Richard LaGrand 855 votes to 812, or about 51% to 49%. This was a Democratic primary with no candidates on the Republican ballot.

Circuit Court Judge, 37th Judicial, Place 1: Jeff Tickal defeated Elijah Beaver with about 58% of the vote. He will replace Judge Jacob Walker on the Lee County Circuit Court. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

Lee County Commission, District 4: Talk about a balanced race. And talk about a runoff. Robert Ham got 34.5% of the vote, Tony Langley got 33.3%, and Greg Boddie apparently just missed out with 32.2%. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

Lee County School Board District 2: Rusty Courson defeated incumbent Larry Boswell with about 58% of the vote.

MULTI-COUNTY RACES

State Senator District 27: Incumbent Tom Whatley and Jay Hovey are nearly dead-even across three counties with 50% of the vote, except Hovey has 50% plus four votes. Oh, and 65 provisional votes remain to be assessed by the board of registrars and then turned over to the Republican party, and all that should go down by next Tuesday. Those provisional ballots are from Lee County, where Hovey won by nearly 63%.

Alabama State House District 82: Incumbent Pebblin Warren won with about 55% of the total votes from Macon and Lee counties, but Lee voters favored her by nearly 60%. This was a Democratic primary with no candidates on the Republican ballot.

State Senator District 13: Incumbent Randy Price won with about 79% of the vote over five counties, beating fellow Opelika resident John Coker. In Lee County, he got about 81% of the vote. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

State House District 38: Incumbent Debbie Wood won by 57% in two counties against Micah Messer. Lee County voters favored her by 54%. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

U.S. House District 3: Mike Rogers cruised with more than 82% of the vote. Lee County voters favored him by just under 80%. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

State Board of Education District 2: Incumbent Tracie West of Auburn won with 67% of the vote in 14 counties, and Lee County voters favored her by 73%. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

STATE RACES

Governor (Republican): Kay Ivey won with about 54% of the vote, followed by Lynda Blanchard with 19% and Tim James with 16%. Dean Odle of Opelika got about 2% of the vote. Ivey did even better in Lee County, with about 59% of the vote, and so did Odle, with more than 3%.

Governor (Democrat): Yolanda Flowers and Malika Sanders-Fortier appear headed to a runoff, the former getting 33.8% of the vote and the latter getting 32.5% but both with less than a majority. Flowers was the favorite in Lee County, garnering about 45% of the vote.

U.S. Senate (Republican): Katie Britt and Mo Brooks are headed to a runoff, despite Britt beating him by more than 100,000 votes. Britt got about 45% of the vote, short of the majority needed. Brooks got 29% and Mike Durant had about 23%. In Lee County, voters gave Britt a majority with 55%, followed by Brooks with 22% and Durant with about 18%.

U.S. Senate (Democrat): Will Boyd won with about 64% of the vote. He won in Lee County too, with about 62% of the vote.

Attorney General: Steve Marshall won with just under 90% of the vote. In Lee County, he got 84% of the vote. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

Secretary of State: Jim Zeigler (43%) and Wes Allen (40%) are headed to a runoff. Ed Packard of Lee County got 8% of state voters but 17% at home. In Lee County, Zeigler and Allen got 38% and 35%, respectively. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Place 5: Greg Cook had 55% of the vote against Debra Jones across the state and 56% of the vote in Lee County. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

State Auditor: Andrew Sorrell (40%) and Stan Cooke (33%) are headed to a runoff. Rusty Glover got 28% but got 39% of the vote in Lee County, with Sorrell and Cooke getting 32% and 29%, respectively. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

Public Service Commission, Place 1: The votes are still being counted, though incumbent Jeremy Oden and Brent Woodall appear headed to a runoff, each with less than 35% of the vote. Each got about 32% of the vote in Lee County. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

Public Service Commission, Place 2: The votes are still being counted, though incumbent Chip Beeker (43%) and Robert McCollum (36%) appear headed for a runoff. Each got about 39% of the vote in Lee County. This was a Republican primary with no candidates on the Democratic ballot.

Statewide Amendment 1: This amendment, to authorize issuance and sale of bonds to provide funding for state parks, received a yes vote from about 77% of voters around the state and 82% of voters in Lee County.
All votes have been tallied from polling places in Lee, Tallapoosa and Russell counties in the race for Alabama State Senate District 27, and Jay Hovey leads Tom Whatley 8,367 votes to 8,363.

Yes, thats four votes.

There are also provisional ballots to be counted, which means this wont be sorted out for another week.

To those monitoring the results in Lee County on Tuesday night, Hovey appeared to be cruising to victory, piling up 6,610 votes in that county to Whatleys 3,942, or about 62% of the vote.

But despite Tallapoosa and Russell counties having far fewer voters than Lee County, Whatley dominated both counties to such a great extent that he nearly wiped out the entire deficit. Whatley won Tallapoosa by 3,540 votes to 1,555, or about 70%, and Russell by 881 to 202, or about 81%.

By the end of the night, it was enough to leave both men deadlocked at 50%, with Hovey maintaining the razor-slim, four-vote margin.

While officials at the Lee County Meeting Center were double-checking their math late Tuesday night, Lee County Probate Judge Bill English broke the news that 65 provisional votes were left to be counted.

But not so fast.

While Sheriff Jay Jones will hold onto the ballots, the affidavits accompanying those ballots and describing the circumstances leading to the voters provisional status must be turned over to the Lee County Board of Registrars by noon Wednesday.

The boards three members will decide whether each of those votes, as Jones said, should count or not count.

In a general election, the decisions of the registrars would be handed to the canvas board, but in a primary they go to the partys executive committee, which in this case is the Republican party.

On Tuesday, says English, the affidavits will be turned over to the party, and a winner will presumably be announced. Thats the Tuesday after Memorial Day.

As a rough, rough rule, about half of those provisional votes count, English said.

Those provisional votes are from Lee County, so Hovey, at least on paper, appears to have an advantage.

In the meantime, a state senate seat hangs in the balance.
WASHINGTON  Fort Benning would become Fort Moore. Fort Bragg would become Fort Liberty. Fort Gordon would be Fort Eisenhower. And, for the first time, Army bases would be named after Black soldiers and women. An independent commission on Tuesday recommended new names for nine Army posts that now commemorate Confederate officers.

The recommendations are the latest step in a broader effort by the military to confront racial injustice, most recently in the aftermath of the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Fort Benning, Georgia, would be named after a married couple: Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, who served in Vietnam and received the Distinguished Service Cross, and his wife Julia, who prompted the creation of teams that do in-person notifications of military casualties.

Hal Moore commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of Ia Drang in 1965, and his account of the battle became the 1992 bestseller We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, which was made into a movie starring Mel Gibson.

The Moores moved to Auburn. Julie Moore died in 2004, and Hal Moore died in 2017 at the age of 94.

Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, is the only base that wouldnt be named after a person. Two others would be named after Black soldiers, and three would include womens names. Fort Gordon in Georgia would get the most well-known name  commemorating President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who led allied forces in Europe in World War II.

Other proposed renamings would honor lesser-known heroes, including several who received the Medal of Honor, the militarys highest award. Fort Polk, in Louisiana, would be renamed Fort Johnson, after Sgt. William Henry Johnson, a Black Medal of Honor recipient who served in the Army in World War I.

Fort Pickett in Virginia, would be named after Tech Sgt. Van Barfoot, a Medal of Honor recipient who served in World War II, and And Fort Rucker in Alabama, would be named Fort Novosel, after Chief Warrant Officer Michael Novosel, a Medal of Honor recipient who served in World War II and Vietnam.

Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia would be renamed Fort Walker, after Mary Edwards Walker, a doctor who treated soldiers in the Civil War and later received a Medal of Honor.

Fort Hood, Texas, would be renamed Fort Cavazos, in honor of Gen. Richard Cavazos, who served in the Korean War, received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest military award, and became the Armys first Hispanic four-star general.

And Fort Lee, Virginia, would get a hyphenated name  Fort Gregg-Adams  and is the only one that would commemorate someone who remains alive today: Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg, known as a logistics leader. Lt. Col. Charity Adamsthe other half of the name  led the first female Black unit of the Army deployed in World War II.

A final report is due to Congress by Oct. 1, and will include the costs of removing and changing the names. The renaming process was laid out in a law passed by Congress in late 2020 The secretary of defense is expected to implement the commissions plan no later than Jan. 1, 2024.

The proposal to change the names triggered widespread discussion and debate within the bases communities around the country. Panel members visited the bases, met with local leaders and residents, and relied heavily on their recommendations when choosing the final names, said the vice chairman, Ty Seidule.

For years, U.S. military officials had defended the naming of bases after Confederate officers. As recently as 2015 the Army argued that the names did not honor the rebel cause but were a gesture of reconciliation with the South.

But in the aftermath of the Floyd killing, and the months of racial unrest that followed, Congress ordered a comprehensive plan to rename the military posts and hundreds of other federal assets such as roads, buildings, memorials, signs and landmarks that honored rebel leaders.

The change in the militarys thinking was reflected in congressional testimony by Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a month after Floyds death. He said that the current base names could be reminders to Black soldiers that rebel officers fought for an institution that may have enslaved their ancestors.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin  the nations first Black Pentagon chief  has spoken bluntly of his own personal brushes with racism. During his Senate confirmation hearing, he told of serving as a lieutenant colonel with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg when three white soldiers, described as self-styled skinheads, were arrested in the murder of a Black couple who were walking down a street.

Investigators concluded the two were targeted because of their race, and all told, 22 soldiers were linked to skinhead and other similar groups or found to hold extremist views.

The current chief of the Air Force, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, posted an emotional video last June in which he discussed the difficulties he experienced as a young Black pilot. Brown, the first Black Air Force chief, said he had to prove to white supervisors that their expectations and perceptions of African-Americans were invalid.

Created in 2020, the Naming Commission first met in March 2021 and began taking name recommendations from the public in September. Overall, the commission received more than 34,000 potential names, which it said included about 3,670 unique ones that could possibly be used. That list was later narrowed to about 100 before the final nine were chosen to be recommended to Congress.

Panel members said Tuesday that the decisions were difficult because they had so many heroes to choose from. But in all cases, they said they had widespread agreement from the local communities.

In at least one case, however, the panel members said that local residents were adamant that they wanted a name that wasnt on the final list: Fort Liberty. During the panels final visit to Fort Bragg, people at the meeting were very, very adamant about the name Fort Liberty, said Lawrence Romo, a commission member. We gave a lot of deference to what the Fort Bragg community wanted.

Seidule said that the panel wanted names that will inspire soldiers to achieve the highest standards demanded by their nation in peace and in war.

The panel also is considering new names for two Navy ships: the USS Chancellorsville and USNS Maury. Those and the new names for hundreds of streets, buildings and other assets, will be in the final report.

A final report is due to Congress by Oct. 1, and will include the costs of removing and changing the names. Under the law, the secretary of defense is expected to implement the commissions plan no later than Jan. 1, 2024.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Cases of monkeypox, a viral illness, have been reported in Europe and North America, in addition to areas where it normally occurs in Central and Western Africa. Dr. Constantinos Kyriakis, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathobiology in Auburn Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine, provides information about the illness.

What is monkeypox?

Monkeypox is an infectious disease caused by monkeypox virus in rodents, non-human primates and occasionally humans in Central and Western Africa. The virus was first identified in 1958 in a monkey colony in Denmark and the first human cases were found in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The virus causing the disease is a cousin of smallpox virus, one of the most important pathogens in human history, which was eradicated following a massive vaccination campaign by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980.

Does it affect humans and animals?

Rodents are considered the reservoir of the virus, which would then spill-over to monkeys and subsequently to humans following direct contact with a monkey. Up to a few hundred cases in humans are recorded annually in Africa, most of which can be traced back to an exposure to infected animals or animal products. Until recently, very few cases were recorded outside Africa, exclusively in people who had previously traveled to endemic areas. Typically, incubation lasts between 10 and 21 days. Initial symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, muscle pain and swollen lymphnodes, followed a few days later by the formation of blisters, which are typical of the disease. In Africa, the disease is characterized by high mortality in immunocompromised individuals, as well as young children and pregnant women. So far, no deaths have been reported in the current oubreak in Europe and North America.

How is it spread?

Until the current outbreak, human-to-human transmission was considered rare. This is the first time that community transmission of monkeypox is recorded outside Africa. The virus can spread by close contact with the infected individual or contact with materials or surfaces used by infected individuals. This does not completely exclude the possibility of transmission via respiratory droplets. The consensus of both the U.S. and European Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is that currently the risk to the general public is low.

Where is the current outbreak?

As of May 25, 2022, a total of 235 cases have been confirmed in Europe and North America. Most cases have been identified in the United Kingdom (71), Spain (51) and Portugal (49). Fifteen cases have been confirmed in Canada, with another 16 cases under investigation and two cases have been confirmed in the U.S. A small number of cases has also been confirmed in Australia (2), Austria (1), Belgium (6), the Czech Republic (1), Denmark (2), Finland (1), France (5), Germany (5), Israel (1), Italy (6), the Netherlands (12), Slovenia (1), Sweden (1), Switzerland (2) and the United Arab Emirates (1).

Is there a vaccine against it? Precautions?

Vaccination against smallpox can provide protection against infection with monkeypox. However, individuals born after 1980, when smallpox was eradicated, are not vaccinated, thus they are more susceptible to infection with monkeypox. In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a live, non-replicating vaccine against smallpox and monkeypox. The vaccine was designed for administration to those determined to be a high risk of exposure to the virus. It is also part of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), the largest supply of potentially life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in the case of a public health emergency. As of May 24, 2022, the U.S. released 1,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine from the SNS. As we all learned during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, good hygiene practices can reduce virus transmission. These include hand washing and the use of hand sanitizer.

Is there a treatment?

In the U.S. and Europe, an antiviral drug, tecovirimat, is approved for the treatment of poxvirus infections, including monkeypox. Another antiviral drug, brincidofovir, approved for the treatment of smallpox, is also available. These antiviral drugs can be administered in severe cases of infection, in combination with supportive care.

About Dr. Constantinos Kyriakis:

Dr. Constantinos Kyriakis is an assistant professor in the Department of Pathobiology in Auburn Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine. His research focuses on human and animal diseases, including the mechanism of interspecies transmission, novel vaccine technologies and animal models of viral disease pathogenesis and prevention. He is also an affiliated faculty member at the Center for Vaccines and Immunology at the University of Georgia. He received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Macedonia, Greece, in 2004 and his doctorate in virology and vaccinology from the Laboratory of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium, in 2009.
Those poor babies. This is so tragic and horrifying.

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I'm so sick of hearing this shit!!! I'm even more sick of the political posturing. Republicans don't give a fuck and won't let anything happen, IM TIRED AND IF YOU'RE AGAINST GUN CONTROL GO FUCK YOURSELF.

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Ah yes- because this could be solved simply by making guns illegal.



A school again? Isn't that a "gun free" zone?



That is basically a sign that advertises no one will return fire.

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Literally who are you and where did you come from lmao



You're not going to bait me, not with that icon sweetie

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and yet it worked in the UK, in Australia, in New Zealand.



fuck outta here with your idiotic arguments and incorrectly-sized icon.

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go fuck yourself

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stop. i live in a country that banned guns decades ago and to my knowledge there's only been one shooting since. fuck off

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Its worked in another places, dumbass.

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What is truly sad to me... is that this shooting could have happened at a school (private?) that ended up killing Senator/Reps kids and they would STILL do nothing. I would bet my bottom dollar. They would make sure the shooter either was life in prison or death penalty but they still wouldn't pass any legislation.



They are going to arm everyone... good vs bad guys. (eyeroll). In a fucked up way, can you see that shit going down when cops kill the 'good guys with the guns' because they can't tell the difference between them and the actual fucking shooter?



Fuck all GOP and NRA assholes.

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someone wrote that "it's not about gun control, the problem is in their hearts" and i just. i can't deal with this stupidity.

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"YOU CAN KILL CHILDREN IN SCHOOL IN TEXAS BUT CANT GET AN ABORTION."



:( Legit making me cry. RIP to the lives lost, and I hope that their loved ones have support right now.

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Guess the GOP wants to force women to have children so that those children can then be used as cannon fodder.



Edited at 2022-05-24 10:58 pm (UTC)

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it's so sick

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Well, they have to replace the population of kids that keep being gunned down SOMEHOW /s



Seriously, 'thoughts and prayers and nothing else'

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I mean, yes.



Thats exactly what they want.



See our policies on college tuition, military recruiting, etc.

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What's insane is that they say, "There's no point in banning guns! People will still find a way to get them if they want! That only hurts responsible gun owners!11!1"



Yet they banned abortion? Wouldn't the same logic apply? Wouldn't there be no point in banning abortions because people will still find a way to get one? Wouldn't a ban only hurt those who safely needed one?



If there's no need to ban or regulate guns because people are gonna get them anyway, why ban abortions? People are gonna get them anyway....

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Yeppppp. That the Republican party is wringing their hands over kids being taught about sexual orientation like that will be the downfall of their innocence when these kids are statistically far too likely to see a peer be shot in front of them is insanity to me.

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I honestly feel if you asked the GOP to rank what they think is most important between unborn babies, born babies and guns, guns would always be their top pick.

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Pretty much as someone else said-if we were to stop and think realistically here is what they actually think.



You should have children. but those children should be subject to die to gunfire at any given time. Don't want to die? Buy our guns. We're selling them to bad people anyway. So buy them from us to be a good guy. Then work for us and make us more money. Carry your guns to work. If you die then I'm sorry, but that was gods will. If you need an abortion to save your life, then I'm sorry but you're supposed to die. To save you would be an act against god and for you to die would be gods will. If you cant breastfeed, your child should die. This is all gods will. Stop defying god, buy our guns, and make us money.



Any republican who tells you that this isnt what they're actually thinking is lying directly to your face.

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Everything is so fucking awful all the time, Im traumatized and exhausted, every day is fresh horror in the news, its been unrelenting nightmare headlines for YEARS now I dont, Im hanging by a fucking thread yall, where are we going. Where is this all going.

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I'm right there with you. Wish we could eradicate religion and controlling, psycho men. The earth would be a completely different place.

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I was agnostic for years and then went full blown atheist and never looked back.



I loathe all religion. We would be better without it. You don't need religion to have morals. I don't need fear of hell in order to not do terrible things. I sure as fuck don't want to do terrible things in the name of religion because one god has a bigger dick than another god.



I'm just so fucking tired.

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Im so sorry you feel this way and I think many of us can relate. Honestly whats helped me is completely disconnecting from the news except for a few check in here and there. Obviously big events like this it unavoidable but Ive stopped looking at my local news except for weather and have muted so many topics on Twitter to try and block out things. Theres only so much we can take. I hope you feel some peace soon

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Same if someone said a meteor was hitting tomorrow I wouldnt even blink, like what is the point anymore?

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you're not alone, i'm right there with you </3

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Yep, right there with you. We live in hell.

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Honestly, yes. I've switched over to watching BBC World News on PBS lately because I've noticed that they end the night with a positive point like a cure for a specific cancer being found etc etc.



I find the news in America to be exhausting and way too sensationalized now

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I broke down at my desk today. I called a crisis line. I did my best. I still feel fucking exhausted. Every day it just feels like a new horror.

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i feel the same.

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Its hard not to feel this way. You expect positive progress for the future. Instead, people cant feel safe in a public space, woman are being shoved back into the dark age, youre forced into having a baby but go fuck yourself if you want to feed it, no one can afford shit and the environment is fucked. Idk what to think anymore

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I fucking can't anymore. I'm so triggered by everything lately. I swear I just want to go live on a piece of land with lots of animals and virtually no human contact.

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I feel you bb <3

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If you can, try taking a while away from the news. It doesn't change the world, but it gives you some peace of mind for even just that bit of time 

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Greg Abbot and every single state and federal legislator that voted against gun control needs to look into the eyes of the parents whose babies have just been murdered and explain why guns are more important than their children.



How can those politicians live with themselves? I don't understand.

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It's all money. That's what it is. That's literally all they care about.

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Need a vomit reaction.

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MURDERER

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T^*{p is hosting some NRA conference in Houston on Friday and ofc Abbot is scheduled to be there. Absolutely disgusting. I would say if they dont cancel it give todays events.. but theyre vile POS and it will go on as planned

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it is so fucking bizzare to me  do they not fear for there own children? what the fuck is going on

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Texas lowered concealed carry laws to 18 in 2021 and the shooter bought two rifles on his 18th birthday.

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I said in another comment, I honestly don't believe it will ever change for them. It could have been THEIR kids in a fucking private school and they still wouldn't make any legislation happen.

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I say, let them look at the children directly. They never see what actually happened, it never affects them.

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Ban guns. I literally don't care about "responsible gun owners," if they're so responsible then they should be willing to give up their fave toys at this point. Then ban angry, entitled men who think they're allowed to hurt people because they're mad.

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SERIOUSLY. if you think your right to own a gun should outweigh people being able to literally go to school, the movies, grocery shopping etc without being shot dead then you can fuck off forever. literally no argument can convince me otherwise.

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Plus WHEN DID THE LEGALITY OF GUN OWNERSHIP SAVE LITERALLY FUCKING ANYONE IN A MASS SHOOTING, I cannot!!!

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An armed guard was killed in Buffalo last week because the shooter had protective gear. And I've read about other cases where civilians with guns get involved and it just causes more chaos because no one knows who the "good guy" and "bad guy" are in the moment, including the cops. IT DOES NOT WORK. It is so moronic to keep trotting out that lame-ass excuse.

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flashbacks to sandy hook. :(

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It was after Sandy Hook that I knew changes would never happen if they didnt happen there. They were just babies 

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Everyone called it.

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I felt the same way, especially when Fox News claimed Obama "fake" cried during his speech. I knew there was no hope.



Part of why I've cried today is wondering what conspiracy theory will be unleashed and the pain the surviving children will live with. It's so unfair.

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FUCKING ENOUGH!!!!  Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) May 24, 2022 I don't know what to say anymore. Fred Guttenberg is on msnbc reliving what he went through and it's just, how can these gop assholes keep meeting these grieving parents and still not care?

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this vapid idiot should schedule another photo op with Ted Cruz

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~Both sides of the aisle~

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This 'both sides' idiot can shut the fuck up.

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Lol as the trailer to his gun slinging film came out today? Please. I DONT doubt his frustration but some reflection is in order.

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i wish he'd look at some of those quote tweets!!!!

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It is absolutely fucking ridiculous that conservatives in this country will ban a fucking medical procedure cuz they wanna protect the unborn but will allow actual living children to be slaughtered all so they can own a semi automatic rifle.



It's fucking stupid.

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they don't actually care about the unborn, and i wish they would just admit it since we all see through it.

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Its about the sanctity of life which is why theyll murder women for getting abortions and let people get gunned down over and over and over

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They don't always run background checks at gun shops here.



Do i even have to mention we live in TX?



Edited at 2022-05-24 11:01 pm (UTC)

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you don't have to do comprehensive background checks here

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Its insane!!! I had to jump through hoops just to transfer my driver's license yet they make it so easy for some fucking mad man to get his hands on a gun.

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I'm not defending Texas's gun laws but this is not exactly true. If you buy a gun from a gun dealer you are subject to an FBI background check but that is not required if you buy a gun from a private owner which includes a lot of sellers at gun shows, and there was a standing gun show every weekend at the George R Brown convention center in when I went to college in Houston. That loophole exists in every state unless there are specific state laws regulating it. Texas did pass legislation last year that does not require a permit to carry any gun. That is different than a background check but still screwed up.

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Thats so fucked. Do you know how long it took us to adopt a dog here? Some states in Germany even require attending 10 hours of dog school with a final test, meanwhile you can just walk into a store to buy a gun in the US. Unbelievable

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Wait, so ANYBODY of age can walk in and buy a gun? Just like going to the supermarket and buy milk and potatos?

Fucking HOW??????



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You don't even have to have a gun license anymore in Texas.



Like, we saw something like this happening.

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not looking forward to all the empty platitudes from Repubs. those poor babies and their poor mothers.

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I am so beyond exhausted and numb. There are many reasons why I don't want to have children, and this is one of the biggest. Children in this country are not protected and it is beyond disgusting that our lawmakers allow this to keep happening. And for fucking what? A handheld weapon that goes bang bang? Stupid fucking guns are more important than our most vulnerable citizens? I have no idea how parents send their kids to school and don't have an 8 hour long panic attack worrying if their baby will come home. I'm so heartbroken for these families. We deserve better. Sorry I'm rambling, but I'm just so fed up with this stupid fucking country.

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At this point there's nothing to even say because the GOP isnt going to actually do anything. They don't care.

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Until someone shoots their kids up they won't give a fuck, maybe not even then honestly.

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"Myklynnnen died for a free america at the hands of a gunman."

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Not really cause I remember a case where a bunch of republicans were playing baseball and they got shot at and some injured. Even then some of the actual injured still didn't do anything.

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Nah...see Jan 6th. They were literally on lockdown, shitting in their pants and now act like it was no big deal. It's absolutely wild.

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they didn't even care when that congressman or whoever scalise got shot, why would they care otherwise?

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They still won't care.

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Oh, theyll do something. Theyll make guns even easier to get, the same thing they did after Sandy Hook. Theyll require kindergarten teachers to open carry and call it a day.

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that nra $$$ matters more. they wont care unless poc/other persecuted minorities start arming themselves and their racist asses will fucking scramble to put some small measure in place aka the 60s all over again



(see also: the way they lost their shit over protests in front of politicians homes)

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i want more responses like rep. gallego's tbh. we need members of congress who will fight for this shit.



Fuck you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless. https://t.co/0tArGHosep  Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) May 24, 2022



Just to be clear fuck you @tedcruz you fucking baby killer.  Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) May 24, 2022 I'M SO FUCKING SICK OF THIS AND THE INEVITABLE INACTION THAT WILL RESULTi want more responses like rep. gallego's tbh. we need members of congress who will fight for this shit.

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I approve of calling ted cruz a baby killer from now on

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If it weren't for my job (cos I interact with these politicians), I would like and retweet this.

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I really hope he primaries Sinema in '24.

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same!!! i live in california but i'd go next door to knock doors for him any day.



SINEMA REMAINS TRASH.

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Tell me more about him! I'm not in the know.

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I cant stand Gallego but hes an asshat show hater but hes right.

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When someone's freedom to own a gun is greater than the freedom of feeling safe in school.



I honestly have no idea how people in the us coope with the idea that there could be a mass shooting anywhere at any time. It's horrific.



Prayers to the families won't do shit. Less thoughts and prayers and more actions and reforms

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once again petitioning a "get a job/stay away from her" tag

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Omg that gif lmao

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britney's assistant vicky t is friends with sam levinson, they met through her. i do hope it does mean something, though i'm more hoping for a britney/the weeknd collab than a guest appearance on his show.

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God I want a musical collab lol.

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vicky t like cobra starship?

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! The people deserve to know !



Edited at 2022-05-25 05:35 am (UTC)

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The very same! Shes her PA and seemingly her closest friend atm other than Sam. Shes very chill with Brit fans (as long as theyre respectful obviously). Her dad was in the music industry so shes grown up in Hollywood etc. Abel just thanked her for making the meeting happen on IG.



Edited at 2022-05-25 07:05 am (UTC)

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The Weeknd is one of those people that whenever I see him he always looks different, I think it really depends on his hair or something. He looks like he did during Starboy here.



Britney and him have cute smiles, I have to admit.



Edited at 2022-05-25 04:24 am (UTC)

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He looks doofy in the pics in this post imo lol

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i dont want her working with Sam L lmao... or the weeknd. But they are probably dying to work with her. Hopefully nothing comes of it bc I'm sure brit is a fan of both their work since she loves the show

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A collab with The Weeknd and the music video directed by Levi.

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A collab with The Weeknd: 



music video directed by Levi: 

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Get a job stay away from her

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omg I actually looked at the pics rn and Sam is so gd ugly and I hate that she had to be near him. Isn't he rich??? Jesus. You can poitely refuse a pic if you're just going to ugg it up like that

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He's ugly inside and out.





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honestly. OP could have used a TW but i love ha so no hard feelings tbh.





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omg I thought you meant her boyfriend for a sec. I was like I know people have opinions about Sam but I didn't realize him being ugly was one of them lol

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OP, I need you to wear a helmet. You're to precious to become a victim of some asshole's road rage lmaooo

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Nah it's worth crashing my bike for Britney!

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But your head, bb! 

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I am still concerned for her. This is erratic

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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*celebrates in fuckboi* *celebrates in fuckboi*

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Britney blessing the lessers with her presence.

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Levinson and The Weeknd collaborating together, so predictable. Britney's been in a cage for a long ass time so she deserves to be in projects that she's passionate about, but it's worrisome if it's these two, especially if it's not music.

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your icon is sending me

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OSHA Cites Lumber Manufacturer After Struck-By Incident

An Alabama worker was struck by a forklift and fatally injured last November.

An Alabama company was recently cited for struck-by hazards after a worker was fatally injured.

According to a press release, in Athens, Alabama, the worker was struck by a forklift when she was walking across a lumber shipping yard in November 2021. She was fatally injured.

OSHA cited Sunbelt Forest Products LLC, operating as Sunbelt Forest Products Corp., for not having marked paths for forklift operators and allowing workers to walk where they could not be seen by forklift operators. OSHA also found the company did not remove damaged forklifts from rotation, citing errors like cracked windshields and missing mirrors. Proposed penalties total $53,866.

A forklift typically weighs between 4,000 to 9,000 pounds and poses significant risk of severe injury or death to workers who may be struck-by this equipment. Employers must take precautions in workplaces that use powered industrial vehicles to prevent devastating incidents and the loss of someones life, said OSHA Area Office Director Ramona Morris in Birmingham, Alabama in the press release.

Forklift incidents claim dozens of lives every year. In 2017, 74 workers died due to incidents from forklifts, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That same year, 9,050 workers were injured from forklift incidents.

OSHA requirements for forklift safety are outlined in standard 29 CFR 1910.178. The maritime industry has additional standards. For more information and resources on forklift safety, visit OSHA.gov.
In the context of voting on shareholder proposals regarding climate-related risk, companies face particular challenges in the near term, BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS) said.

The ESG investment momentum has run up against energy supply disruptions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As shareholders at the biggest energy companies are asked to voteagainon various climate resolutions, many investors continue to call for more transparent and detailed plans for how firms intend to align with the Paris Agreement goals. Others, such as the worlds top asset manager, BlackRock, expect to support fewer shareholder proposals this AGM season compared to 2021 as it finds that climate-related shareholder proposals have become unduly more prescriptive and micromanaging.

Sure, large institutional investors are not abandoning the ESG trend or insistence that companies need to be prepared to change as the energy transition progresses. But some, including BlackRock, acknowledge the current energy market pressures and the need for investment in both traditional and renewable energy sources.

Fund managers want companies to double down on the energy transition, which has become an even more urgent topic of conversation after the Russian war in Ukraine and Europes subsequent struggles to cutand ultimately eliminateits dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

Yet, energy security and economic stability in the short term appear to override the longer-term drive to accelerate the transition toward green energy sources.

Investors are also looking to shift their focus onto actual outcomes instead of on simplified ESG ratings that are based on policy statements.

Related: Permian Drillers Lead The Charge As Rig Count Climbs

BlackRock: Investment In Both Traditional And Renewable Energy Needed BlackRock said in early May that many of the climate-related shareholder proposals coming to a vote in 2022 are more prescriptive or constraining on companies and may not promote long-term shareholder value.

Importantly, in the context of voting on shareholder proposals regarding climate-related risk, companies face particular challenges in the near term, given under-investment in both traditional and renewable energy, exacerbated by current geo-political tensions, BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS) said.

This set of dynamics will  at least in the short- and medium-term  drive a need for companies that invest in both traditional and renewable sources of energy and we believe the companies that do that effectively will produce attractive returns for our clients.

Thats why BlackRock is likely to back proportionately fewer climate-related resolutions this proxy season than in 2021, as it does not consider them to be consistent with its clients long-term financial interests, the asset manager said.

Doubling Down On Energy Transition

Still, investors are not backing down on seeking active engagement with companies and demanding detailed, credible energy-transition plans.

The way out of the situation we currently find ourselves in is not to abandon the energy transition but to double down, Nick Stansbury, head of climate solutions at the UKs largest fund manager, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), told the Financial Times.

Last month, LGIM said in its Active Ownership report for 2021 that We believe voting against a company is a powerful tool to express our views and concerns on key thematic issues such as climate change and diversity, as part of our engagement with consequences approach.

LGIM welcomed in its report positive steps taken by ExxonMobil to commit to net-zero emissions for operated assets by 2050, as well as BPs strengthened climate targets announced in February 2022.

Related: Slew Of New Discoveries Brings UAE Closer To Production Goals



We engaged with BPs senior executives on six occasions in 2021 as they develop their climate transition strategy to ensure alignment with Paris goals. Following constructive engagements with the company, we were pleased to learn about the recent strengthening of BPs climate targets, announced in a press release on 8 February 2022, together with the commitment to become a net-zero company by 2050  an ambition we expect to be shared across the oil and gas sector as we aim to progress towards a low-carbon economy.

Change Of Focus

Investors are also increasingly looking to affect change in the companies they are invested in, rather than just picking firms with the best ESG scores on paper.

What do ESG scores tell us about anything? Ben Caldecott, director of the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment, told FT. They are mainly measuring processes and policies  if a company has a policy in place against deforestation it will get a good score, even if it is deforesting.

Others are shifting focus to the industries that use the energy produced by oil and gas companies. For example, the Church of England Pensions Board said earlier this month that after co-leading the investor process to establish the first Net Zero Standard for the oil and gas sector, it is shifting focus this year to industry sectors.

This will see the Board step down from leading engagement with Shell and begin co-leading engagement with Europes largest car manufacturers, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, and Volkswagen, the board said.

If the demand for energy doesnt change, those companies that are supplying it wont change. We have developed an exacting global net zero standard for the oil and gas sector, which companies that wish to retain their social license can implement. Ultimately those same companies ability to deliver on their targets will largely be shaped by a change in demand for oil and gas from sectors like autos, aviation and shipping said Adam Matthews, Chief Responsible Investment Officer at the Church of England Pensions Board.

However, with energy security concerns front and center and governments prioritizing energy supply in the biggest energy market shock in decades, demand for oil and gas is set to rise in the short term, while chronic underinvestment would plague supply in the medium term.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads from Oilprice.com:
Asia will soon be heading into a season of strong summer demand and China plans to ease lockdowns, both of which provided some reason to be bullish for producers.

Recently, China made it clear that it plans to move away from its rigid string of lockdowns, arguably the main demand-curbing trend in Asia over the course of 2022. When setting their June 2022 official selling prices (OSP), most Middle Eastern oil producers did not know that the restrictions were set to be relaxed on June 01, though they could have anticipated it. At the same time, the likes of Saudi Aramco or SOMO already understood the general trend of oil markets  the European Union has been closing in on a Russian oil ban, Asia is heading into a season of strong summer demand as the physical availability of products remains below historical standards, and all this is taking place against the background of backwardation easing across all pricing benchmarks. So in a way, it was evident that they needed to cut, especially with Russian crude making such inroads into India and upending the usual flow map of the oil markets, the real question was whether NOCs could risk going against the main trends.

Chart 1. Saudi Aramcos Official Selling Prices for Asian Cargoes (vs Oman/Dubai average).





Source: Saudi Aramco.

Cognizant of potentially lower buying on the back of Chinas lockdowns and a general easing in the futures curve, Saudi Aramco lowered its Asian prices for June-loading cargoes by $4.95 per barrel for all the key streams. Only Arab Super Light, a relatively small grade of some 100,000 b/d that mostly sails to Aramco-controlled refineries, saw a bigger decrease than that, dropping by -$5.10 per barrel, though still selling for a premium of $5.75 per barrel vs the Oman/Dubai average. This was by no means a surprise to the market at large  the backwardation in the Dubai cash-futures spread, having soared to an almost unimaginable $8.8 per barrel in March, dropped back to $3.7 per barrel in April, so the $5 per barrel month-on-month change is fairly justified when looking at the futures curve. Attesting to the overall lack of understanding as to where the markets are headed, refinery margins in Asia have been hitting all-time highs recently, meaning Aramco could have cut its Asian prices by much less if it were certain that refining strength outweighs demand concerns.

Chart 2. Saudi Aramcos Official Selling Prices for European Cargoes (vs ICE Bwave).





Source: Saudi Aramco.

As Europe buys increasingly less Russian Urals crude, especially countries in Northwest Europe, many of which have self-sanctioned from buying any more Russian hydrocarbons, the dilemma Saudi Aramco faced with its European OSPs was that of extent, namely how low could it lower the formula prices without selling them too cheap. In the end, NW Europe OSPs for June were decreased by $2-3 per barrel, with Arab Medium witnessing the smallest month-on-month decline. Likewise in the Mediterranean, where Arab Medium (arguably the closest grade to Urals in terms of quality) also dropped $2 per barrel, to a $0.20 per barrel premium vs ICE Brent. Potentially signaling Aramcos unwillingness to hike exports towards the United States, US-bound June OSPs were simply rolled over from May (when they reached an all-time high).

In a recent public utterance, Saudi Arabias energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman stated that Riyadh would be aiming to reach an oil production capacity of 13.2 million b/d by 2027, with output additions coming from Aramcos current portfolio of projects as well as fields in the Neutral Zone (jointly owned with Kuwait) which have been operating only at some 50% of their nameplate capacity. This might also suggest that Aramcos immediate options to ramp up production are rather limited, and a sizable part of Saudi Arabias spare capacity might in fact take several years to see the light of the day.

Chart 3. ADNOC Official Selling Prices for May 2022 (set outright, here vs Oman/Dubai average).



Source: ADNOC.

The flagship grade of UAE national oil company ADNOC, the light sweet Murban, saw its June outright price fall to $104.48 per barrel, a decline of $8 per barrel compared to last month. Being linked to Murban, the differentials of all other Emirati grades were lowered month-on-month, with Upper Zakum once again witnessing the largest changes. Part of it might be coming from Zakum taking a much higher share in overall UAE crude exports recently as April figures have already the medium sour grade and Murban at roughly the same level of outflows, just a little below 1 million b/d. Yet with Asian refining margins as good as ever, specifically middle distillate inventories still trending at lows that were unimaginable for years, it does seem as if ADNOC is trying to incentivize global buyers to buy more of Zakum. Coming back to June OSPs, this months pricing decisions widened the Murban-Upper Zakum spread to $2.10 per barrel, up 30 cents per barrel from last month.

Chart 4. Iraqi Official Selling Prices for Asian cargoes (vs Oman/Dubai average).



Source: SOMO.

Offsetting smaller-than-anticipated increases into May pricing, the Iraqi state oil marketer SOMO decided to take it lighter with June 2022 OSPs and dropped the Asia-Pacific prices by $3.00 and $3.20 per barrel for Basrah Medium and Basrah Heavy, respectively. This is almost $2 per barrel lower than Saudi Aramco, however in the grand balance of things, formula prices are back where they were before backwardation got really severe in March. In Europe, however, SOMOs June prices were largely in line with Saudi Aramco, lowering the OSPs by $1.90-$2.60 per barrel. Strangely enough, it is SOMOs European exports that might see a huge boost over the upcoming weeks, though most likely it will not come from cargoes loading at the port of Basrah  ever since the February 22 Supreme Court ruling indicating that the Kurdish Regional Governments oil dealings were unconstitutional, price differentials and overall buying interest for Kirkuk plummeted and the likelihood of federal Baghdad authorities picking up this stream keeps on increasing.

Chart 5. Iraqi Official Selling Prices for European cargoes (vs Brent Dated).



Source: NIOC.

The Iranian national oil company NIOC toed the line of its Middle Eastern peers, lowering Asian prices by -$4.95 and -$5.00 per barrel for Iranian Light and Iranian Heavy, respectively. European pricing was kept within the boundaries of Aramcos pricing changes, ranging from declines of -$2.1 per barrel for Iranian Heavy in both Med/NWE to a -$3.05 per barrel decrease to Iranian Light in the Mediterranean. Whilst notable as a trend, these prices still do not reflect reality as no European buyer has been seen buying Iranian crude over the past 3 years. Iranian exports have been increasing in importance over the past months, trending around 900,000 b/d according to Kpler data. Whilst China still remains the key buyer of Iranian crude, there have been some new trends developing. Now that Iran is invested in revamping Venezuelas 140,000 b/d El Palito refinery, the flow of Iranian barrels to the Latin American country has risen to approximately 100,000 b/d  it would be more or less safe to assume that most of it would be condensate to dilute heavy domestic production.

Chart 6. Iranian Official Selling Prices for Asia-bound cargoes (vs Oman/Dubai average).



Source: NIOC.

Even accounting for stable deliveries to Syria, this still leaves NIOC with a huge 800,000 b/d flow to China. With protracted lockdowns eating into Chinese demand, a lot of Iranian cargoes have been anchored outside Singapore and Malaysia, waiting for restrictions to end  this might also mean that future exports might not be as strong as the current rate, after all, Chinese buyers will need to digest first the volumes they are yet to receive. Following the impasse of Vienna talks since early March, hopes for a revival of the JCPOA deal have started to fade, to the extent that Iran has ceased to be a factor in most analysts short-term supply/demand prospects. Whilst neither side has officially given up on the assumed goal, in fact, the European Unions high representative traveled to Teheran as recently as mid-May, the agreed-upon nuclear framework has been dwarfed by long-ranging political dilemmas, such as the Biden Administrations reluctance to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its list of terrorist organizations.

Chart 7. Kuwaiti Official Selling Prices for Asian cargoes (vs Oman/Dubai average).



Source: KPC.

The Kuwaiti national oil company KPC mirrored the June pricing changes set by Saudi Aramco completely, lowering the Asian differential of its main KEB by $4.95 per barrel vs May OSPs and rolling over its US formula price. The only region where KPCs pricing differed from that of its Saudi peer was Europe, however that discrepancy is largely irrelevant as the last time any European nation saw a Kuwaiti cargo arriving was back in April 2020. The mirroring of Saudi pricing is noteworthy, considering that the actual pool of available crude will be decreasing over time  Kuwaits 615,000 b/d Al-Zour refinery is expected to be operational over the next few weeks, with the crude distillation unit set to come online next month. This means that domestic refining will eat up a sizeable chunk of crude volumes that are currently exported, in fact approximately a third of the 1.8 million b/d currently leaving Kuwait every month.

By Gerald Jansen for Oilprice.com

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Over the past couple of years, venture capitalists, PE firms and LPs have given the oil and gas sector a wide berth thanks to years of poor returns, chronic underperformance compared to sectors like tech and, lately, ESG concerns and the energy transition. But the ongoing oil price boom driven by high energy demand, supply bottlenecks and the Ukraine war has made the sector attractive again, and deep-pocketed investors are not immune to its charms. Indeed, after a brief hiatus driven by fears of a Great Unwinding, venture capital is back with a bang, characterized by huge deals, little diligence and hyper-fast follow-on rounds. According to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, in the first nine months of this year, VCs in the United States netted a record-setting haul of $96 billion across 526 funds, topping the $85.8 billion raised for 665 funds in all of 2020. The past year witnessed dozens of startups, including a growing number of unicorns, list on public stock markets.

The PE sector is not to be outdone, with private equity investors increasingly taking advantage of market volatility and rising energy prices.

According to PitchBook data, In the first quarter of 2022, investors financed 40 US energy transactions totaling $11.2 billion in value, accounting for 5% of all US deal value. Q1's total deal value in the energy sector is higher than each quarter last year but below the typical figures of first quarters in recent years. PE firms manage investment capital obtained from institutional investors or high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) to acquire equity ownership of companies through a variety of strategies, including leveraged buyouts and venture capital.

Related: Hungary Imposes Windfall Tax On Energy Companies

High-Profile Energy Buyouts

Among the more prominent energy deals last quarter was ArcLight Capital Partners purchase of Public Service Enterprise Groups fossil-generating portfolio for $1.92 billion. The deal came as ArcLight tapped top oil and gas dealmaker Angelo Acconcia from Blackstone Inc..

In yet another mega-deal, Pembina Pipeline (NYSE:PBA) and KKR & Co.(NYSE:KKR) have agreed to combine their natural gas processing assets in western Canada via a joint venture, which will also acquire some assets held by U.S. pipeline company Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) for a deal valued at ~$8.9 billion.

Another oil and gas highlight: for the first time in many years, limited partnerships (LPs) have shown fresh interest in PE funds that invest in the oil and gas sector.

Notably, Lime Rock Partners raised $538 million for its fifth energy fund and related vehicle, with the capital to be used to acquire and operate production oil and gas properties in the U.S.

Climate-friendly deals

That said, some experts still believe that ESG and clean energy will emerge as the long-term winners when it comes to attracting funding.

PitchBook PE analyst Jinny Choi says climate-friendly deals will likely continue their upward trajectory and become the main driving force of long-term growth in the energy sector.

They are in good company: In an article titled The End of Venture Capital as We Know It by Sam Lessin published on The Information, the author argues that a monumental shift in startup investing with the future of venture capital being breakthrough science that will transforming billions of lives in sectors like energy, transportation, infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and human augmentation.

One of the new age sectors that has been seeing renewed interest is renewable energy and technologies that address climate change.

Lessin notes that in the past, investors have felt jaded by overhyped clean energy solutions, which fell short of expectations mainly because they failed to be cost-competitive with fossil fuels and other conventional energy sources. However, this is no longer the case thanks to breakthroughs in fields such as solar energy and battery storage that have dramatically lowered costs.

Indeed, Spanish developer Acciona Energia has told Energy Intelligence that the appetite for renewables remains strong as they are "massively" more competitive than fossil fuels.Todays stratospheric gas and coal prices have helped renewables retain their crown as the cheapest option for new power generation across the globe--despite rising equipment and materials costs.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads from Oilprice.com:
For years, Western countries have been pushing for an end to oil and gas, and now they are reaping what they sow, Qatar's energy minister told Sky News in an exclusive interview this week.

"There was a build-up of countries pushing for the [energy] transition in a hard way," Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said.

"[They pushed for] net-zero, moving to renewables, doing away with fossil fuels, and demonizing the oil and gas companies, [calling them] the bad guys. And [as a result] you don't have enough investment in the oil and gas sector."

Vilifying oil and gas producers has not helped either, Al-Kaabi added in comments that echo the opinion expressed by other Middle Eastern oil producers. Saudi Arabia's energy minister has repeatedly noted the lack of sufficient investment in new oil production capacity because of the energy transition and the rearrangement of priorities for the world's largest economies.

Yet renewable energy has yet to prove reliable enough to replace fossil fuel energy fully.

"The wind does not always blow, and the sun does not shine all the time We are absolutely convinced that you can't achieve that transition [to renewables] without fossil fuels. And the best fossil fuel available to mankind is gas," Al-Kaabi told Sky News.

The energy minister was visiting the UK as a member of a delegation that arrived to sign a major strategic investment contract with the UK government worth over $10 billion.

The UK is a big energy consumer, and although it has substantial renewable power generation capacity, it still relies on natural gas for much of the energy it needs. Qatar, for its part, is one of the world's top LNG exporters and a very sought-after supplier in Europe these days.

"Unfortunately, it's a little bit painful because it will take time [and the price is] amplified by the Ukraine issue," Al-Kaabi said in response to questions about what Qatar could do to help bring UK energy prices down.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The European Union is considering the idea of a construction of an offshore gas pipeline between Spain and the Italian coast in Tuscany to reduce the EUs reliance on Russian gas, Spanish daily El Pais reported on Wednesday.

Spain has the highest number of regasification terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Europe, at six. However, Spain is not well connected via pipelines to other countries, limiting European access to LNG imports.

The plan that the EU is considering entails the construction of a gas pipeline of more than 700 kilometers (435 miles) between Barcelona in Spain and Livorno in Italy, El Pais reports. The pipeline would cost more than $2.66 billion (2.5 billion) and could take one to two years to build, the Spanish daily says.

Via the pipeline, gas could be supplied not only to Italy, but also to countries in central and north Europe via existing pipelines.

Diversification of supply, including via increased LNG imports, is one of the pillars of the EUs plan to end the blocs dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

The EU has been working with international partners to diversify supplies for several months, and has secured record levels of LNG imports and higher pipeline gas deliveries. The newly created EU Energy Platform, supported by regional task forces, will enable voluntary common purchases of gas, LNG and hydrogen by pooling demand, optimising infrastructure use and coordinating outreach to suppliers, the European Commission said when it unveiled the details of the plan last week.

Earlier this month, energy infrastructure operator Snam of Italy signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Spanish energy and transmission system operator Enagas for a feasibility study on an offshore pipeline between Spain and Italy. Snam and Enagas will jointly mandate a technical feasibility study aimed at the potential construction of an offshore pipeline connecting Spain with Italy, which would be beneficial to further diversify energy supply towards our country as well as Europe, the Italian company said.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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A day after declaring a state of emergency, Hungarian leader Viktor Orban said on Wednesday that big companies operating in the country, including energy companies, would be forced to turn over extra profits to the state to fund subsidies.

Banks, retailers, airlines, energy companies and all other large corporations in Hungary will be obliged to pay a large part of their extra profits to the state this year and next, Orban said in an announcement made on Facebook.

The windfall taxes would be placed into state funds to help subsidize soaring food and energy prices and consumer energy bills, as well as to prop up Hungarian defenses amid Russias war on Ukraine.

More details are expected on Thursday.

Orbans announcement comes a day after a declaration of emergency on Tuesday, the same day that the new Hungarian government assumed office.

Hungarys Fidesz ruling party, in control of parliament, amended the countrys constitution Tuesday, paving the way for the prime minister to declare a state of emergency, citing a war that puts Hungarian security at risk, from physical and financial, to energy.

The Hungarian PM has blamed both the war and EU sanctions for huge upheaval and a drastic rise in prices, EURACTIV reported.

Orban, who strongly opposes a proposed EU ban on Russian oil, won a fourth consecutive term in office in April elections, and the constitutional amendment allowing for a state of emergency gives him the power to approve measures by decree.

Investor confidence is expected to take a hit, much like it did in 2010 when Orban made a similar move against big companies, imposing a windfall tax to make up for budget shortcomings.

On Wednesday, European Council President Charles Michel said he was optimistic that a deal on a Russian oil embargo could be reached ahead of a summit in Brussels scheduled for Monday. However, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has warned against false expectations.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Hungary, the main holdout to the EU reaching an agreement on an embargo of Russian oil imports, is unwilling to discuss the potential ban at the EU summit on May 30 and 31, top Hungarian officials say.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a letter to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, asking that the oil embargo be removed from the topics of discussion at the summit, according to the document dated March 23 and obtained by Reuters.

On Wednesday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that if the ban is on the agenda next week, it "would run the serious danger of dismantling European unity," Argus reported.

"This problem was created by the European Commission, so the solution must be also proposed by the European Commission," the Hungarian foreign minister said.

"We see it unrealistic that such a comprehensive solution will be proposed this week," Szijjarto added.

EU diplomats have hoped that the EU summit on May 30 and 31 could reach a unanimous decision on a ban on Russian oil, to be phased out over six months and with exemptions for central European countries, including Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

In early May, the European Commission officially proposed a full ban on Russian crude and oil product imports, to come into effect by the end of the year. But the EU is still scrambling to find a common position, trying to persuade Hungary and some other central and eastern European countries to drop their opposition to an embargo.

Hungarywhose Prime Minister Viktor Orban held close ties with Putin before the Russian invasion of Ukraineis the biggest opponent of an EU embargo on Russian oil imports, and has said it would need hundreds of millions of dollars to adapt its refining and pipeline industry in order to accommodate a stop to Russian oil imports.

Earlier this week, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that Germany is willing to cut Hungary out of an EU-wide agreement on a crude oil embargo against Russia.

"If the Commission president says we're doing this as 26 without Hungary, then that is a path that I would always support," Habeck said, as quoted by Reuters, adding, "But I have not yet heard this from the EU."

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Washington has imposed sanctions on an oil smuggling network led by figures connected to Irans Revolutionary Guards and allegedly backed by the Russian government.

Today, the U.S. is sanctioning an international oil-smuggling and money laundering network used to generate revenue for Iran. Anyone purchasing oil from Iran faces the prospect of U.S. sanctions, the U.S. Department of Treasury tweeted Wednesday.

Among the sanctioned are current and former members of Irans Revolutionary Guards Quds force, along with Chinese companies and one former Afghan diplomat. On the Russian side, the sanctions target RPP LLC, which the Treasury Department says is the company used to help launder millions of dollars for the Quds Force. Also accused is UAE-based Zamanoil DMCC, which the Treasury Department claims is working with the Kremlin and Rosneft to ship Iranian oil to companies in Europe.

The network is said to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Quds force and Hezbollah.

This oil smuggling network, led by U.S.-designated IRGC-QF official Behnam Shahriyari and former IRGC-QF official Rostam Ghasemi and backed by senior levels of the Russian Federation government and state-run economic organs, has acted as a critical element of Irans oil revenue generation, as well as its support for proxy militant groups that continue to perpetuate conflict and suffering throughout the region, according to a Treasury Department statement.

The sanctions come as the U.S. hits a wall with Iran nuclear talks and a return to the full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Until a nuclear deal is reached, the White House says sanctions on Irans oil trade will be strictly enforced.

On Wednesday, Robert Malley, Special Envoy for Iran, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the chances of reaching a deal with Iran were at best, tenuous.

Just last week, the National Iranian Oil Co. claimed that the country could double its crude oil exports if sanctions were removed.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Libyas oilfields are expected to reopen soon, after militias have agreed to lift the siege on oil facilities, Parliament-backed Libyan Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha, who was elected in February, said on Twitter late on Tuesday.

The efforts of the Libyan Parliament and government were crowned with success, said Bashagha, who is in a power struggle with Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who has refused to stand down as prime minister after Parliament voted in and swore in Bashagha earlier this year.

Libyan oilfields and terminals have again been under blockade in recent weeks amid protests, clashes, and disputes over the distribution of oil revenues in the country with two rival governments, with incumbent Dbeibah refusing to step down for newly sworn-in eastern Prime Minister Bashagha.

Both rival governments have reportedly reached out to militias to try to persuade them to drop the blockades on oil export terminals and oilfields.

As of early on Wednesday, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) of Libya had not issued any official statement about an imminent reopening of blockaded oil infrastructure.

The oil minister in Dbeibahs government, Mohamed Oun, told Bloomberg that talks were still ongoing about lifting the blockades.

We are facing some difficulties in reaching an agreement with protesters to reopen the oil, Oun wrote in a text message to Bloomberg hours before Bashaga tweeted about the reopening, for which he did not provide a timeline.

Libya expects to open all its oil loading terminals after it sets up a mechanism for a fair distribution of the countrys oil revenues among the regions, Parliament Speaker Aqila Saleh told U.S. ambassador and Special Envoy to Libya, Richard Norland, Benghazi-based news outlet The Libya Update reported earlier this week.

In April, Libya loaded just 819,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from its ports, down from nearly 1 million in March and the lowest volume since October 2020, per tanker-tracking data that Bloomberg is monitoring.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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A U.S. federal government official is going to India to discuss U.S. sanctions on Russia and try to convince the Indian side to reduce its purchases of Russian oil, Reuters reported, saying the visit would take place later this week.

The visit, from Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes assistant secretary Elizabeth Rosenberg, is part of a broader attempt by the Biden administration to convince foreign U.S. allies to subscribe to U.S. and European sanctions against Russia, especially, it seems, in the energy area.

"It's important to talk to the parts of the world that are strong U.S. partners on a whole host of other issues, and make sure we're in close contact about our sanctions regime and working together to crack down on any evasion opportunities or evasion activities," a Treasury Department spokesperson said.

Russia recently became India's fourth-largest oil supplier as the subcontinent rushed to buy discount Russian crude shunned by Europe and the U.S. In April, the share of Russian crude in India's total import tally stood at 6 percent, which was a record high, translating into some 277,000 bpd. That was up from 66,000 bpd in the previous month.

India is highly dependent on oil imports, relying on them for over 80 percent of its total consumption. This makes the country quite vulnerable to price shocks and motivates taking advantage of any bargain that presents itself.

Rosenberg's visit to New Delhi would not be the first attempt of the Biden administration to rein India in. In March, Washington warned New Delhi that buying more Russian oil could expose it to "a great risk."

"U.S. has no objection to India buying Russian oil provided it buys it at discount, without significantly increasing from previous years," an unnamed senior government official told Reuters at the time, adding, "Some increase is allowed."

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The chances of the world powers reaching a deal with Iran on its nuclear activities that would pave the way toward the removal of the U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports are, at best, tenuous, Robert Malley, Special Envoy for Iran, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

As I speak to you today, we do not have a deal with Iran and prospects for reaching one are, at best, tenuous, Malley said in prepared testimony to the committee.

Moreover, the U.S. is even ready to tighten the sanctions against Iran if the Islamic Republic escalates its nuclear program, the envoy said.

If Iran maintains demands that go beyond the scope of the JCPOA, we will continue to reject them, and there will be no deal. We are fully prepared to live with and confront that reality if that is Irans choice, ready to continue to enforce and further tighten our sanctions, albeit this time around with Europe firmly by our side, and to respond strongly to any Iranian escalation, working in concert with Israel and our regional partners, he said.

The U.S. Administration is committed to working with its European allies to fully revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)as the nuclear deal is officially knownif Iran is willing to do so, Malley told the Senate committee.

Earlier this year, the oil market was hoping that an Iran nuclear deal was in sight, and even tantalizingly close, just around the time when Russiaone of the signatories to the dealinvaded Ukraine. Amid soaring oil prices, the prospects of an Iranian deal soon were capping some of the price gains.

However, as talks continued to drag on and Iran refused to budge on several key issues, analysts started to note that a deal is getting harder to reach.

Earlier this month, Iran said it could double its oil exports if the world needed more oil, and sanctions on Iranian exports were lifted.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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The value of Saudi Arabias oil exports soared by 123%, or by $16.7 billion, in March 2022 compared to the same month last year, the General Authority for Statistics of the worlds top crude oil exporter said on Wednesday.

Moreover, the share of oil exports in total exports jumped from 69.5% in March 2021 to 80.2% in March 2022, the data showed, as oil prices spiked above $100 a barrel in March after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The higher oil prices more than offset the slight drop in Saudi crude oil exports in March compared to February.

The total value of all Saudi exports doubled to $37.9 billion (142.2 billion Saudi riyals) in March 2022 compared to March 2021, chiefly thanks to the $16.7 billion (62.9 billion riyals)or 123%jump in the value of oil exports, the Saudi statistics authority said.

In the first quarter of 2022, the value of Saudi oil exports soared by $35.6 billion (133.6 billion riyals), or by 90.3%, compared to the first quarter of 2021, the authority said in a separate estimate today. Oil exports at high prices were the main reason for a surge in total Saudi merchandise exports between January and March.

The share of oil exports in total exports increased from 71.1% in Q1 2021 to 78.3% in Q1 2022.

Thanks to the high oil prices, Saudi Arabia is set to receive a windfall of oil revenues this year, which will also push its economic growth higher than earlier estimates, the IMF and other forecasters say.

Oil revenues in Saudi Arabia are expected to surge by 66 percent this year to around $249 billion, Riyadh-based Jadwa Investment said earlier this month.

For the first quarter alone, Saudi Arabia recorded its highest economic growth rate in the last ten years, at 9.6%, compared to the same quarter of 2021, according to flash estimates by the General Authority for Statistics, which attributed the growth to oil activities and exports.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Two senior White House advisors on Tuesday met in secret with senior Saudi officials to discuss a deal to increase oil production, three current and former U.S. officials told Axios.

The meeting, which was not made public, comes prior to another possible meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman, that could take place at the end of June.

Other items that were discussed were a possible arrangement between Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia and the United States relationship, which has soured since President Biden took office as he sought to distance himself from Saudi Arabia, citing human rights concerns, especially after the death of Jamal Khashoggi.

The two senior officials, White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and State Department energy envoy Amos Hochstein, were said to have arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, although the White House and the Saudi embassy have so far declined to comment. The State Department told Axios that it had no official travel to announce at this time.

The United States has been asking Saudi Arabia for additional oil production for months now to alleviate high retail gasoline prices at home. So far, Saudi Arabia and the remaining OPEC+ members have stuck to their agreements, unwilling or unable to produce more.

The average cost for a gallon of regular grade gasoline in the United States was $4.599 on Wednesday--a record. A Rasmussen Reports poll from earlier in May showed that 82% of Americans worry about gas prices and rising energy costsmore than they are about climate change, with 60% favoring a law that would dramatically increase oil and gas drilling in the U.S.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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NEW YORK (AP)  The dramatic story of an iconic movie costume from The Wizard of Oz thought lost for decades went through another plot twist Monday, when a judge blocked its planned sale at auction.

One of the blue-and-white checked gingham dresses that Judy Garland wore in 1939 for her role as Dorothy was scheduled to be part of an auction of Hollywood memorabilia in Los Angeles on Tuesday, put up for sale by Catholic University of America. The dress was rediscovered at the school last year in a shoebox during preparations for a renovation.

Auctioneer Bonhams listed a presale estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million for the dress before it was withdrawn.

But U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan granted a motion for a preliminary injunction after a hearing in a lawsuit filed by a relative of Father Gilbert Hartke, who worked at the university and was given the dress in 1973.

Hartke died in 1986; a niece, Barbara Ann Hartke, 81, filed a lawsuit against the school and the auctioneer earlier this month after media accounts that the dress was going up for auction.

In her lawsuit, she said that as her uncle's closest living relative, the dress belongs to her. She says it was given to him as a personal gift by actress Mercedes McCambridge.

According to her lawsuit, the university has no ownership interest in the dress as ... there is no documentation demonstrating decedent ever formally or informally donated the dress to Catholic University."

In a filing opposing the lawsuit's request for the injunction, the school's attorneys said that as a Dominican priest, Hartke had taken a vow to never accept gifts in his personal capacity" and so the dress couldn't be considered part of any estate.

Catholic University officials had said the dress went missing for decades after being given to Hartke, then head of the drama department.

Garland wore several versions of the dress during the filming of the movie; auctioneer Bonhams said the one found at Catholic University was one of two that still had its accompanying blouse, and that Garland wore it in the scene in the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Bonhams had no comment.

In a statement, lawyers for the university said, We look forward to presenting our position, and the overwhelming evidence contradicting Ms. Hartkes claim, to the court in the course of this litigation."

An email seeking comment was sent to Hartke's attorney.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  A veteran Russian diplomat to the U.N. Office at Geneva says he handed in his resignation before sending out a scathing letter to foreign colleagues inveighing against the aggressive war unleashed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

Boris Bondarev, 41, confirmed his resignation in a letter delivered Monday morning after a diplomatic official passed on his English-language statement to The Associated Press.

For twenty years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on Feb. 24 of this year, he wrote, alluding to the date of Russias invasion.

The resignation amounts to a rare  if not unprecedented  public admission of disgruntlement about Russias war in Ukraine among the Russian diplomatic corps. It comes at a time when Putins government has sought to crack down on dissent over the invasion and quell narratives that conflict with the Russian government's line about how the special military operation  as its officially known in Russia  is proceeding.

The aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine, and in fact against the entire Western world, is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but also, perhaps, the most serious crime against the people of Russia, with a bold letter Z crossing out all hopes and prospects for a prosperous and free society in our country," Bondarev wrote, referring to the widespread use of the letter Z as a symbol of support for Russia's war in Ukraine.

Reached by phone, Bondarev  a diplomatic counselor who has focused on Russias role in the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva after postings in places like Cambodia and Mongolia  confirmed he handed in his resignation in a letter addressed to Ambassador Gennady Gatilov.

A spokesman for the mission didn't immediately respond to AP requests seeking comment.

It is intolerable what my government is doing now, Bondarev told the AP. As a civil servant, I have to carry a share of responsibility for that. And I dont want to do that.

Bondarev said he had not received any reaction yet from Russian officials, but added: Am I concerned about the possible reaction from Moscow? I have to be concerned about it.

He told the AP that he had no plans to leave Geneva. Previously, he said he had expressed disapproval of the war to Russian colleagues.

Some said, Everybody disagrees, but we have to keep working' while others replied 'Shut up and stop spreading this bad influence especially among younger diplomats,'" he recalled.

Asked if some colleagues felt the same, Bondarev said: Not all Russian diplomats are warmongering. They are reasonable, but they have to keep their mouths shut.

He suggested his case could become an example.

If my case is prosecuted, then if other people want to follow, they would not, Bondarev said.

Asked if he planned to defect, he chuckled and said, I didn't think so far ahead.

In his English-language statement, which he said he emailed to about 40 diplomats and others, Bondarev said those who conceived the war want only one thing  to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity.

He railed against the growing lies and unprofessionalism at Russia's Foreign Ministry and took particular aim at Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

In 18 years, he (Lavrov) went from a professional and educated intellectual  to a person who constantly broadcasts conflicting statements and threatens the world with nuclear weapons! he wrote. Today, the (Russian) Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not about diplomacy. It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred.

Hiller Neuer, executive director of the advocacy group U.N. Watch, tweeted a copy of Bondarev's letter and said simply: Boris Bondarev is a hero.

Bondarev should be invited to speak in Davos this week, he added, referring to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The U.S., the U.K. and the (European Union) should lead the free world in creating a program to encourage more Russian diplomats to follow and defect, by providing protection, financial security and resettlement for diplomats and their families.

In his email, Bondarev wrote that he should have resigned earlier, but didn't because of some unfinished family business and because he needed to gather my resolve.

Its been already three months since my government launched a bloody assault on Ukraine and its been very hard to keep my mind more or less sane when all about were losing theirs, he wrote.

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.
The twenties have roared in and the Grantham family is still a bit hesitant to embrace them.

At least thats the way it seems when Downton Abbey: A New Era unfolds. The second big-screen outing for the cast of the popular PBS series, New Era pushes them to see other worlds even though theyre tethered to that dusty mansion with a wonky roof.

To help pay the bills, Mary (Michelle Dockery) agrees to let filmmakers shoot in her home. The actors are an odd breed, to be sure, but they also represent opportunity: downstairs folks see celebrity; upstairs folk get new fodder for their biting wit. The feistiest of them all  the Dowager (Maggie Smith)  gets to unleash her best lines on the actors (Dominic West and Laura Haddock) and their profession.

While half the family is busy investigating the interlopers, another half is in the south of France, checking out a villa that, mysteriously, has been willed to the Dowager. How did she get it? Who is this man? And what, pray tell, could they have had in common?

It all swirls like an Agatha Christie potboiler, particularly since the woman in question isnt talking.

That film, meanwhile, is the source of more intrigue. Talkies threaten to shut things down until the director (Hugh Dancy) makes an offer to Mary to help them out. Its all too Singin in the Rain for its own good, but it does show how inheritance isnt the only way to gain wealth.

(Could it be coincidence that Ralph Lauren was a big fan of Downton Abbey? Or do those French scenes look like his spring line come to life?)

There are other questions that pop to mind, even though seams of the show are beginning to show. Writer Julian Fellowes loves to make viewers think its headed in one direction before taking a sharp left turn. He does this several times in New Era and never stops to apologize. Suffice it to say, there are crowd-pleasing moments for everyone.

A same-sex relationship moves from a back burner to a front one; an exit looms for one of the regulars. Three weddings and funeral? Its definitely in the cards this time out.

While actors like Joanne Froggatt and Laura Carmichael barely get screen time, theyre there when it matters. A New Era builds to those group scenes and makes sure they represent what fans want most.

Downton, in fact, has become more user-friendly in its big-screen incarnation. British royalty visited in the last film; now its Americas turn.

West and Haddock suggest big stars of the era but their behavior is less obvious. West, in particular, moves Downton closer to Bridgerton than anyone might have thought.

Newcomers get a nudge every now and then when director Simon Curtis drops in key information about characters. Its all meant to keep the home fires burning and, yes, they do.

A New Era may not be as progressive as it seems but it moves quickly and positions its characters for even more drama in the 1930s.
As pandemic-related restrictions start to lift, and we emerge from the lockdown shadows, one thing is returning to the minds and spending of many people: travel.

If the current travel chaos is anything to go by, we're all dreaming of a vacation right now. There's just one problem. The climate crisis hasn't gone anywhere. Two years of hunkering down has been good for our carbon footprints, but returning to ambitious travel is a step in the wrong environmental direction.

Of course, we know the answer: stop traveling. Or, at least, stop flying.

But while the flight shame movement is growing, it's not for everyone. And just because you aren't prepared to make that sacrifice, doesn't mean you can't make smaller changes to ensure your travel is more sustainable.

What's the big deal about flying?

After all, aviation accounts for just 2.1% of manmade carbon emissions worldwide, according to the Air Transport Action Group, and 3.5% of planet-warming emissions in total. It doesn't sound so bad when you put it like that.

But it's not so simple, explained Matteo Mirolo, aviation policy officer at Transport & Environment, a European campaign group for cleaner transportation.

"You have to look at the growth of the sector. It's quite significant, despite Covid," Mirolo said. "Even after 9/11 or the 1970s oil crisis, aviation grows back stronger. Now it's growing again, and it's a largely unregulated sector."

"If we don't do anything now, in a few years aviation will be one of the most significant contributing factors. We shouldn't look at the snapshot now," he said, "we should look at the forecast."

Good news and bad

The good news? "Lots of solutions" are in the pipeline, Mirolo said.

The bad? They're not ready yet. Expect real results in "decades."

Sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, is a future gamechanger, Mirolo said. But not all SAFs are created equal. What he calls "true waste residue" -- like the used cooking oil with which Airbus recently powered an A380 -- is "a real step in the right direction." Synthetic kerosene also works. However, some SAFs contain palm oil, which is linked to deforestation. In October 2021, Indonesia conducted a test flight powered by biofuel containing palm oil, as government officials spoke of the need to increase production of palm oil-heavy biofuels.

Neste, a biofuels company which sells SAF to the likes of American Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa and Delta, uses palm oil in its non-SAF biofuels, though a company spokesperson says that it is sustainably sourced and will be phased out by the end of 2023. Using palm oil as fuel said Mirolo, is "a cure worse than the disease."

And although flying a plane fueled by used cooking oil is in the testing stages, we're decades from it happening commercially. The UK government, for example, has proposed mandating that all planes filling up in the country must fuel with up to 10% SAF by 2030 and up to 75% by 2050. The EU is mulling a mandate of 2% SAF by 2025 for planes departing from European Union airports, while Japan is aiming for 10% SAF by 2030.

That's all unconfirmed, as yet. The only SAF mandates currently in place are Norway, Sweden and France, each of which oblige carriers leaving the country to use 1% SAF.

Meanwhile, we're looking at around 2030-35 for the introduction of hydrogen-powered planes, if we're being optimistic, said Mirolo. Even when they're introduced, they'll only be capable of flying under 2,000 miles -- meaning they won't be viable for long-haul flights.

As for battery-powered planes, again, 2030 would be optimistic, said Mirolo, and they are likewise unsuitable for long journeys. An hour's flight is currently the limit for a 100-seater plane. Plus, he said, we'll have to work out the climate impact of building and changing batteries -- they may not be as great as we think. Hydrogen and electric planes could cover around 20% of the projected passenger demand by 2050, he says -- which is why he thinks SAF is a better bet.

Mirolo said that airlines that trumpet their carbon offsetting schemes are ones to avoid. "Carbon offsetting was in fashion a few years ago but we know it's not the solution -- the solution is SAF," he said.

Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research at environmental organization Friends of the Earth, previously described carbon offsetting as a "massive con" to CNN, partly because any effect from offsetting is years off (and might never occur) and partly because efforts to reforest are already being made. Today, "nothing has fundamentally changed" with the schemes, he said.

Bottom line: Fly less

Experts are realistic and acknowledge that most people will feel the need to fly sometime. As Childs put it: "None of us are angels."

"This isn't a discussion about whether we should fly or not, but about reducing the amount of carbon emissions from flying," said Justin Francis, CEO of Responsible Travel, which sells sustainable vacations around the world.

Francis believes travel broadens minds and helps local communities, but says many are doing too much of it. Instead of jumping on every cheap flight we get an alert for, Francis suggests we roll back to a time when getting on a plane was a treat.

We need to get out of the mindset that we need to fly so much, these experts say. Childs said that boarding a plane should be our last option. "The best thing to do is rail, or, mile for mile, even driving is going to be better," he said.

Mirolo said that each time we plan a trip, we should "think twice about flying." Can you go by another method of transport? If it's a business trip, is an in-person meeting essential or can you do it remotely? "You have to decide whether you're going to take that plane. It's not about stopping flying altogether, but being reasonable."

"Our position is to encourage people to take longer holidays, which will mean fewer flights total," said Francis. "A longer trip is more relaxing and enjoyable, and carbon does need to be top of our minds. We need to choose big trips more consciously and use other forms of transport to travel closer to home.

"For me, instead of two long-haul flights a year I might still go to Vietnam, but for one of my longer trips I might do a slow travel train trip to Italy."

Trains and buses

Of course, it helps that Francis is based in Europe, where high-speed train travel is the norm. But even if you're somewhere with limited public transportation, like the US, it's still better to avoid flying, said Childs.

He reckons that a long cross-country US road trip, say, from Washington, DC to Yellowstone National Park, will be less harmful to the environment than a quick flight to the Caribbean.

"If you've no option to go by train or public transport, and you've got a choice between driving and flying somewhere, then driving will always be the better option," he said. "It's easier to shift a body in a big lump of metal by road than by sending it up into the air and keeping it there... One day there may well be greener forms of flying a short distance, but right now go on the surface where you can."

And the more often that surface transport is public (i.e. trains, buses) the better.

How to fly

For those of us who've been lucky enough to fly business class, going back to economy is hard. But economy is the greenest way to fly -- and budget airlines that cram as many seats in as possible are the most efficient planes in the sky.

Premium seats made up just 5% of international traffic in February 2022, according to the International Air Transport Association, yet premium seats take up far more room on a plane. For instance, all-economy Wizz Air has 239 seats on its A321neo aircraft, whereas its European rival Lufthansa, which has a shorthaul business class, operates the same plane configured for just 215 passengers. Both fly the A320-200, too -- Lufthansa's version has 168 seats, while Wizz's crams in up to 186 passengers.

On shorthaul routes the difference between business and economy class is likely to be a wider seat and maybe a bit more legroom, but long-haul configurations change the dynamics entirely, with space for lie-flat beds and even entire "suites" on the likes of Emirates and Singapore Airlines, each taking up the equivalent of several rows of economy class.

Both Singapore Airlines and Emirates fly the A380, for example, but the former puts economy and premium economy on the top deck; the latter reserves it for business and first class. The difference? Singapore Airlines fits a total of 399 passengers on its top deck; and Emirates, just 90, in the same space.

Business and first class components tend to be much heavier as well, with chairs sitting in fixed "shells," and sometimes closable doors for each seat.

Budget carriers are greener -- on paper at least

The European carrier Wizz Air calls itself the "greenest" airline on the continent, thanks to its young, modern fleet, pile-'em-high, all-economy seating philosophy, and its undertaking to only fly direct. They also don't offer any routes for which there's a rail alternative in under four hours. Wizz claims the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer in Europe and tells passengers, "If you don't need to fly, please don't."

However, that's not the whole picture, said Mirolo. Low-cost carriers "are the ones growing very fast," he explained -- so while their metrics per passengers look good, they're a major part of aviation's problematic expansion.

When it comes to legacy carriers, he said that long-haul flights are the issue -- with 5% of flights representing 50% of emissions. The EU's proposed SAF mandate applies only to aircraft departing from EU airports -- which means that while flights within the bloc would be covered, the mandate would only apply to half of long-haul flights (those leaving the EU, but not coming in).

That's why Mirolo recommends concerned passengers put their money where their mouth is, booking flights with airlines who've been investing in, and already using, SAF in a "credible" way. Those include United, Alaska, Qantas and SAS, which even allows passengers to buy "blocks" of biofuel alongside their flights, and are rewarded with extra miles if they do so.

Air France-KLM is bound by the 1% SAF mandate for flights leaving France, but since January has committed to 0.5% SAF in every plane departing their Amsterdam Schiphol hub, too. A surcharge (1-10) is applied to tickets.

Mirolo also said concerned fliers should be using their vote to make the aviation industry more sustainable. "There's unprecedented political will to make [sustainable aviation] happen, and real movement, so vote with your ballot, and then vote with your feet."

Private jets are ruinous -- but could also help

For most of us, the closest we'll get to flying in a private jet is watching celebrities' social media posts. But just because it's a method of travel for the elite, doesn't mean it's not affecting all of us.

A 2021 study by the environmental nonprofit Transport & Environment, found that 1% of people were responsible for half of all global emissions from flying. The private jet industry is booming, expanding by 31% between 2005 and 2019. What's more, 40% of private flights are "ghost flights" -- empty of passengers as they reposition for their next pick-up.

Because private jets tend to make short hops, that makes them even less environmentally sustainable. The shorter the hop, the less necessary it is, too. "For 80% of the most popular (private jet) routes in Europe, there's an alternative by train," said Mirolo, adding that according to his tally, 10% of flights taken in France are now private.

The good news, however, is that, because of their smaller size, private jets can be at the forefront to adapt to new technology as it comes on the market. That, in turn, could help the market move forward, faster.

"The super rich can super charge the decarbonization of aviation by investing in these kind of planes," said Mirolo, referring to electric and hydrogen-fueled planes. And if they do that, the 1% will help the 99% fly more sustainably.

The-CNN-Wire

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WEDNESDAY, May 25, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Beginning June 4, Abbott Nutrition will restart producing baby formula at a shuttered factory that's been central to the ongoing shortage of infant formula in the United States, the company announced on Tuesday.

The factory in Sturgis, Mich., has been closed since February for what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called "insanitary conditions." In the first three months of the year agency inspectors detected Cronobacter sakazakii bacteria in several locations inside the plant, CNN reported.

However, the recent infant formula shortage has led to a push to quickly clean and re-open the plant.

A federal judge in May issued a consent decree that outlined steps Abbott needed to take to resume production, and after fulfilling those steps the company estimated that it would take about two weeks to restart production.

The company will keep an independent expert on site to review operations and to make sure the plant is in compliance with FDA rules.

In a statement released Tuesday, the FDA said that Abbott will begin by producing EleCare and other specialty metabolic formulas at the Michigan plant. The first batches are expected to be in stores around June 20.

Abbott will also immediately release 300,000 cans of EleCare Specialty Formula already in storage, at no charge, to people whose babies urgently need the amino acid-based hypoallergenic product.

To ensure that they are not contaminated by bacteria, "these products will undergo enhanced microbiological testing before release," the FDA said in the statement. "Although some EleCare product was included in Abbott Nutrition's infant formula recall, these EleCare products that will be released were in different lots, have never been released and have been maintained in storage under control by Abbott Nutrition."

Parents and caregivers in need of EleCare Specialty Formula can ask their doctors for more information about the release or call Abbott at 1-800-881-0876.

The FDA said Tuesday that it is doing "everything in our power" to make sure there is enough baby formula for parents and caregivers who need it.

The agency is talking with foreign formula manufacturers and suppliers about bringing their products to the United States. This includes Kendal Nutricare, a company based in the United Kingdom, which will export some of its formula to the United States, including 40,000 cans now in stock that it may fast-track and ship immediately, the FDA said.

The agency has evaluated and approved the nutritional quality of the company's products, its safety tests and production and inspection history. Over 2 million cans of Kendal Nutricare products are expected to be available on store shelves in the United States in June, the agency said.

"Our recent steps will help further bolster supply of infant formula, including through the import of safe and nutritious products from overseas based on our increased flexibilities announced last week," FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said in the news release. "Importantly, we anticipate additional infant formula products may be safely and quickly imported into the U.S. in the near-term based on ongoing discussions with manufacturers and suppliers worldwide."

In the meantime, "the FDA continues to advise against making infant formulas at home or diluting formula," the agency said. Parents and caregivers of infants are urged to consult with their child's health care provider on advice on changing feeding practices, if deemed necessary.

"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has also released a fact sheet with information to help families find infant formula," the FDA noted.

More information

The American Academy of Pediatrics has tips for parents during the formula shortage.

SOURCES: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, May 24, 2022; CNN

Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea test-launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile and two shorter-range weapons toward its eastern waters Wednesday, South Korea said, hours after President Joe Biden ended a trip to Asia where he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend its allies in the face of the Norths nuclear threat.

The suspected ICBM didnt fly its full range. But if confirmed, it would still be North Koreas first test of an ICBM system in about two months amid stalled nuclear diplomacy with the United States. The launch suggests North Korea is determined to continue its efforts to modernize its arsenal despite its first COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused outside worries about a humanitarian disaster.

North Koreas sustained provocations can only result in stronger and faster South Korea-U.S. combined deterrence and can only deepen North Koreas international isolation, the South Korean government said in a statement after an emergency security meeting.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi called the launches an act of provocation and absolutely impermissible.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held separate calls with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan during which they condemned the launches as a clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, the State Department said.

Blinken noted Washington commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan remains ironclad as the three allies continue to cooperate to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the statement said.

(The launches) were a political message. Theyre saying they feel bad about Bidens recent summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea.

Biden and Yoon said after their meeting Saturday that they would consider expanded military exercises to deter North Korean nuclear threats.

Biden brushed aside questions about any possible provocation by North Korea during his trip, saying, We are prepared for anything North Korea does. He later met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, and they vowed to work closely to address security challenges, including North Koreas nuclear and ballistic programs and what they called Chinas increasingly coercive behavior in the region.

According to South Koreas military, the first missile was likely an ICBM that reached a maximum height of 540 kilometers (335 miles) while traveling 360 kilometers (223 miles). The statement said the second missile disappeared from South Korean radar at some point and the third flew 760 kilometers (472 miles).

Kim Tae-hyo, South Koreas deputy national security adviser, told reporters that the first launch involved the Norths biggest Hwasong-17 missile, whose potential range includes the entirety of the U.S. mainland. He said the missile was fired at a high angle and that its launch appeared aimed at reviewing the weapons propellant and stage separations, though he couldnt conclusively say whether the test was successful.

He said the tests of the two other missiles, both short-range, implied North Koreas intention to improve its ability to launch nuclear strikes on its rivals.

While the North Korean launches were part of its weapons development program, they were also strategically timed to the end of Bidens Asian visits and likely designed to test the readiness of South Koreas new government, which took office about two weeks ago, Kim said.

The flight details for the suspected ICBM were similar to those of two previous North Korean launches this year, which the South Korean and U.S. militaries had said were meant to test components of the Hwasong-17 missile. North Korea said at the time it launched rockets to test cameras for a spy satellite.

After the two launches, South Koreas military in March detected what it said was a North Korean Hwasong-17 missile that blew up soon after liftoff. Later in the month, North Korea claimed to have successfully launched the Hwasong-17 in its first full-range ICBM flight test that broke its self-imposed 2018 moratorium on long-distance launches.

South Korea said North Korea may have fired a smaller ICBM, not a Hwasong-17. Whichever it was, the missile flew longer and higher than any other weapon the North has ever tested, experts say.

Chang, the missile expert, said he doubts whether North Korea truly launched an ICBM again Wednesday because the country would have no reason to conduct the same test repeatedly and waste an ICBM that costs about 10 billion to 20 billion won ($8 million to $16 million).

He said the flight details of the third missile resemble those of the hypersonic missile that North Korea tested in January. Other analysts say it could also be the Norths highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile.

After the Norths earlier launches, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they fired surface-to-surface missiles to demonstrate their striking capabilities. South Korea said its air force on Tuesday conducted an elephant walk involving 30, fully armed F-15K fighter jets parading along a runway in formation.

Wednesdays launches were North Koreas 17th round of missile firings this year. Experts have said North Korea wants to move ahead with its push to expand its arsenal and apply more pressure on its rivals to wrest sanctions relief and other concessions.

U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials have said North Korea could soon conduct its first nuclear test in nearly five years as well. Kim, the South Korean official, said North Korea has been testing a trigger system for a nuclear explosive device.

Before Wednesday, North Koreas most recent missile tests occurred on May 12, hours after the country acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak.

The country in the past few days has said there has been a positive sign in its anti-virus campaign. Since admitting to the outbreak, North Korea has identified about 3 million cases of an unidentified fever but said only 68 people died, an extremely low death toll for COVID-19.

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Republican state lawmakers in Ohio have fast-tracked a fall ballot measure that would expressly prohibit noncitizens from voting in local elections.

The proposed noncitizen voting ban  which emerged just last week and cleared the Ohio House 68-28 on Wednesday  stands to ignite GOP voters ahead of this year's high-stakes midterm elections, when Republicans hope dissatisfaction with Democrats in Washington will help them regain control of Congress and win overwhelming Statehouse majorities.

The push comes as some places in the country have begun to allow legally documented, voting-age noncitizens to cast ballots. Its legal in New York City in races for mayor, City Council and other municipal offices; and in San Francisco for school board races  but not for things like president, governor or U.S. House members.

The Ohio constitutional amendment moves next to the state Senate, where it needs a similar three-fifths majority to advance to the November statewide ballot.

Its backers say the prohibition on noncitizen voting is meant to be preventive.

Most people would be surprised to learn that this situation (noncitizen voting) even exists, GOP state Rep. Jay Edwards said in announcing it last week.

Democrats criticized the effort as taxation without representation and an infringement on the home rule rights of Ohio's cities, towns and villages.

Immigrants serve as firefighters, they serve as police officers in our communities, they are homeowners, they contribute to our societies, they serve as schoolteachers, their kids go to schools in our community, said state Rep. Mike Skindell, a Lakewood Democrat. And they have a right to have a voice, and we should allow that.

The effort follows approval in 2020 by Yellow Springs, a progressive village near Dayton, of a charter amendment allowing legal immigrants to vote on certain local candidate races and tax issues.

Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered the county elections board to discount any noncitizen votes that were subsequently cast. He argued that the charter amendment violated both the U.S. and Ohio constitutions, which prohibit noncitizen voting in federal and state races.

The Yellow Springs council insisted it was within its home rule rights to extend the local right to vote to legal immigrants. However, the village chose not to challenge LaRose's directive in court.

That left a legal loophole unaddressed: Ohio's constitution guarantees every citizen of the U.S. meeting certain criteria the right to vote. The new proposal would amend that to say only U.S. citizens can vote.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Lamenting a uniquely American tragedy, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden delivered an urgent call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman shot and killed at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school.

Biden spoke Tuesday night from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bracketed by mass shootings in the U.S. He pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure  and bitterly blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

'When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden said with emotion. Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?"

With first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children  though not to gun violence  spoke in visceral terms about the grief of the loved ones of the victims and the pain that will endure for the students who survived.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away, Biden said. Theres a hollowness in your chest. You feel like youre being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out.

He called on the nation to hold the victims and families in prayer  but also to work harder to prevent the next tragedy, Its time we turned this pain into action," he said.

At least 19 students were killed at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, according to local officials. The death toll also included two adults. The gunman died after being shot by responding officers, local police said.

It was just a week earlier that Biden, on the eve of his overseas trip, traveled to Buffalo to meet with victims' families after a racist, hate-filled shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

The back-to-back tragedies served as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world," Biden said, reflecting that other nations have people filled with hate or with mental health issues but no other industrialized nation experiences gun violence at the level of the U.S.

"Why? he asked.

It was much too early to tell if the latest violent outbreak could break the political logjam around tightening the nation's gun laws, after so many others  including the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 26, including 20 children  have failed.

The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong," Biden said. He has previously called for a ban on assault-style weapons, as well as tougher federal background check requirements and red flag laws that are meant to keep guns out of the hands of those with mental health problems.

Late Tuesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer set in motion possible action on two House-passed bills to expand federally required background checks for gun purchases, but no votes have been scheduled.

Biden was somber when he returned to the White House, having been briefed on the shooting on Air Force One. Shortly before landing in Washington, he spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and offered any and all assistance needed, the White House said. He directed that American flags be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims in Texas.

His aides, some of whom had just returned from Asia with the president, gathered to watch Bidens speech on televisions in the West Wing.

Id hoped when I became president I would not have to do this, again," he said. "Another massacre.

In a stark reminder of the issue's divisiveness, Biden's call for gun measures was booed at a campaign event in Georgia hosted by Herschel Walker, who won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Speaking at an Asian Pacific American event that was intended to celebrate Biden's Asia trip, Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier that people normally declare in moments like this, our hearts break  but our hearts keep getting broken ... and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families.

We have to have the courage to take action ... to ensure something like this never happens again, she said.

Echoing Biden's call, former President Barack Obama, who has called the day of the Sandy Hook shooting the darkest of his administration, said, Its long past time for action, any kind of action."

Michelle and I grieve with the families in Uvalde, who are experiencing pain no one should have to bear, he said in a statement. Were also angry for them. Nearly ten years after Sandy Hookand ten days after Buffaloour country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that have shown no willingness to act in any way that might help prevent these tragedies.

Congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation ever since the bipartisan effort to strengthen background checks on firearm purchases collapsed in the aftermath of the 2012 shooting.

Despite months of work, a bill that was backed by a majority of senators, fell to a filibuster  unable to to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to advance.

In impassioned remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who represented Newton, Connecticut, in the House at the time of the Sandy Hook massacre, asked his colleagues why they even bother running for office if theyre going to stand by and do nothing.

Im here on this floor to beg  to literally get down on my hands and knees  to beg my colleagues, he said.

Murphy said he was planning to reach out to Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn after the two had teamed on an 2021 effort to toughen background check requirements that never became law. He said he would also reach out to Texas other Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

I just dont understand why people here think were powerless, Murphy said. We arent.

Cornyn told reporters he was on his way to Texas and would talk with them later. Cruz issued a statement calling it a dark day. Were all completely sickened and heartbroken.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who sponsored gun legislation that failed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate after Sandy Hook, said, Were just pushing on people who just wont budge on anything.

It makes no sense at all why we cant do commonsense things and try to prevent some of this from happening, he said.



Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Michael Balsamo, Alan Fram and Farnoush Amiri contributed.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Control of Alabama's seven-member congressional delegation likely will remain firmly in Republican hands, but not without a contest.

Two GOP candidates are in a runoff for the open District 5 seat in north Alabama, and three Republican incumbents and the only Democratic member face opposition in November. All the incumbents will be heavy favorites to return to Washington.

Neither District 1 Republican Rep. Jerry Carl of Mobile nor Rep. Gary Palmer of Hoover in District 6 had any opposition, meaning each will get another two-year term. Here is a look at the races in the state's remaining five congressional districts:

DISTRICT 2

First-term GOP Rep. Barry Moore of Enterprise did not have any primary opposition and will face Democrat Phyllis Harvey-Hall in November. Harvey-Hall, a teacher and community volunteer, defeated newcomer Vimal Patel in Tuesday's election in heavily Republican southeast Alabama.

DISTRICT 3

Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Saks, who was first elected 20 years ago, easily defeated Michael Joiner of Pell City for the GOP nomination in east-central Alabama. Rogers will face Democrat Lin Veasey in the fall

DISTRICT 4

Democrat Rick Neighbors, a veteran and longtime apparel worker from Phil Campbell, defeated Rhonda Gore for the chance to go up against GOP Rep. Robert Aderholt, a 12-term incumbent from Haleyville. Solidly Republican, District 4 covers most of northwest Alabama.

DISTRICT 5

The lone runoff in Alabama's congressional races will occur in north Alabama's 5th District, where Republican Rep. Mo Brooks gave up the seat to run for Senate. Madison County Commission chair Dale Strong and Casey Wardynski, a former Huntsville school superintendent, advanced to a runoff that will be held June 21. The winner will face Democrat Kathy Warner-Stanton of Decatur, who defeated Charlie Thompson in the primary.

DISTRICT 7

Rep. Terri Sewell of Selma, the only Democrat in the state delegation, did not have any primary opposition and will face Republican nominee Beatrice Nichols of Moundville in November. The sprawling district includes the Black Belt of west Alabama plus parts of Birmingham and Montgomery.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  Senior officials from Sweden and Finland held some five hours of talks with Turkish counterparts in Ankara on Wednesday in an effort to overcome Turkeys strong objections to the Nordic nations' bids to join NATO.

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO last week. The move represents one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russias war in Ukraine and could rewrite Europes security map.

Turkey has said it opposes the countries membership in the Western military alliance, citing grievances with Sweden's  and a to a lesser extent Finlands  perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey views as security threats.

The PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by several of Turkeys allies, has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey, a conflict that has cost the lives of tens of thousands people.

The Turkish government also accuses Finland and Sweden of imposing arms exports restrictions on Turkey and refusing to extradite suspected terrorists.

Turkeys objections have dampened Stockholm's and Helsinkis hopes for joining NATO quickly amid Russias invasion of Ukraine and put the trans-Atlantic alliance's credibility at stake. All 30 NATO members must agree on admitting new members.

The Swedish and Finnish delegations met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation was led by state secretary Oscar Stenstrom, while Jukka Salovaara, the foreign ministry undersecretary, headed up the Finnish delegation, Turkish officials said.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said following a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Stockholm that her country wanted to clarify claims that have been floating around during discussions with Turkey.

We do not send money or weapons to terrorist organizations, Andersson said.

During a news conference with the Estonian prime minister later Wednesday, Andersson said that in these times, it is important to strengthen our security.

She said Sweden has a constructive dialogue with Turkey and that Stockholm was eager to sort out issues and misunderstandings and questions.

Michel, who is scheduled to head to Helsinki from Stockholm, said it was a pivotal moment for Sweden" and we fully support your choices.

Turkey this week listed five concrete assurances it was demanding from Sweden, including what it said was termination of political support for terrorism, an elimination of the source of terrorism financing, and the cessation of arms support to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it.

The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.

Turkey said that it has requested the extradition of Kurdish militants and other suspects since 2017 but hasnt received a positive response from Stockholm. The Turkish government claimed Sweden had decided to provide $376 million to support the Kurdish militants in 2023 and that it had provided them with military equipment, including anti-tank weapons and drones.

Finland has received nine extradition requests from Turkey in a recent period covering over three years, Finnish news agency STT said Wednesday, citing data from the Finnish justice ministry. Two people were extradited while six of the requests were rejected. A decision was pending regarding one other case.

Sweden has denied providing financial assistance or military support to Kurdish groups or entities in Syria.

Sweden is a major humanitarian donor to the Syria crisis through global allocations to humanitarian actors, Foreign Minister Ann Linde told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Cooperation in northeastern Syria is carried out primarily through the United Nations and international organizations, she said. Sweden doesn't provide targeted support to Syrian Kurds or to the political or military structures in northeastern Syria, but the population in these areas is, of course, taking part in these aid projects.

Speaking Tuesday before a meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia had left Sweden and Finland no choice but to join NATO.

She said Germany would support the two countries membership, calling it a real gain for the military alliance.

Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report.

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.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Republican former U.S Department of Agriculture official Brad Finstad will face Democratic former Hormel Foods chief executive Jeff Ettinger in an August special election to finish the term of the late Minnesota GOP U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn.

State Rep. Jeremy Munson conceded defeat Wednesday morning in the GOP special primary with Finstad ahead by a few hundred votes, or a little over 1 percentage point.

I will work to slash inflation, get control of the border, restore American energy independence, and put our families first, Finstad said in a statement. Our district should not become a rubber stamp for the radical Democrat agenda that keeps kids out of classrooms, shuts small businesses down, and forces strict mandates on everyone but themselves."

While the Aug. 9 special election will determine who will finish the last few months of Hagedorns term, the stakes are likely higher than that, with the winners expecting a bump in their chances to win a full term in November.

Were very excited. Its really an honor to have the trust of the voters in the district, Ettinger said after cruising to an easy victor Tuesday night. Im ready for the next stage of the race. I intend to offer the district a non-politicians alternative  someone who will be inclusive and respectful in representing the district.

Other Republican hopefuls included Hagedorn's widow, Jennifer Carnahan, who finished a distant third. Finstad, Munson and Carnahan all played up their admiration for former President Donald Trump, who did not endorse in the race.

Finstad had support from establishment Republicans such as U.S. Reps. Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber of Minnesota. He also had the pedigree of serving in the Trump administration as state director for USDA Rural Development in Minnesota.

Munson, meanwhile, portrayed himself as the true conservative in the race, with national endorsements from hardliners such as Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Jim Jordan. He narrowly missed endorsement by 1st District Republicans last month.

Munson posted a statement on Facebook congratulating Finstad on his victory and pledged to support him in the special election to fill Hagedorns seat.

Carnahan brought baggage to the race, including being forced out as chairwoman of the state Republican Party last year after a prominent donor was indicted on sex-trafficking charges and former staffers complained of a toxic work environment. She also was sued by Hagedorn's mother, stepfather and sister this month in a dispute over money they loaned to help cover his medical bills.

On the Democratic side, Ettinger, who is making his first foray into politics, outdistanced University of Minnesota law professor Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush's administration, and progressive activist Sarah Brakebill-Hacke.

The process that will follow Tuesday's primary is complicated. The Aug. 9 special general election coincides with Minnesota's statewide primary the same day.

The winner of the special general election, who will fill out the rest of Hagedorn's term into January, presumably will also win the districts regular primary that same day. That should give him an advantage heading into the November general election, which will determine who holds the seat in the next Congress.

The district stretches across Minnesota's southern border, and is mostly rural and agricultural except for big population centers in Mankato and Rochester.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
ROME (AP)  Pope Francis has sent a protocol greeting to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, assuring him of prayers on his patron's feast day and stressing the value of human life and wisdom, as the Vatican insists on maintaining cordial relations amid the war in Ukraine.

The website of the Moscow Patriarchate published the brief greetings Francis sent Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to mark Tuesday's feast day for St. Cyril, a saint important to both Catholics and Orthodox Christians, especially in Slavic nations.

These days I pray to our Heavenly Father that the Holy Spirit will renew and strengthen us in the gospel ministry, especially in our efforts to protect the value and dignity of every human life, Francis wrote.

He also called for Gods gift of wisdom.

The moderate tone was evidence of the Vatican's attempt to maintain relations with Kirill, a policy that has come under increasing criticism from the head of the Polish bishops conference. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki returned from a visit to Ukraine this week and called for the Vatican to change its naive and utopian policy, saying it won't work in the long run.

In an interview with the Polish Catholic news agency KAI, Gadecki said it was a noble goal to strike a dialogue with Moscow. But that is not accompanied by sufficiently serious thought on the Vaticans part, he was quoted as saying.

Kirill has justified the invasion on spiritual and ideological grounds, calling it a metaphysical battle with the West. He has blessed soldiers going into battle and invoked the idea that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.

Francis' three-sentence note to the Orthodox leader made no mention of Russias invasion of Ukraine or even a generic appeal for peace. That said, it was a protocol greeting marking a religious observance; Francis has, in his public remarks, frequently denounced the war and loss of life.

Gadecki, of the Polish bishops' conference, acknowledged that the tradition of Vatican diplomacy is to not call out aggressors, and to seek at all costs to maintain an open channel of dialogue in hope of nudging a peaceful resolution.

In the case of Ukraine, the Vatican has also been keen to not antagonize the Russian Orthodox Church, after it worked for decades to improve relations that culminated in a historic meeting between Francis and Kirill in Havana in 2016.

But today, in the situation of war  it is most important that the Holy See supported Ukraine on all levels and was not directed by utopian thoughts, Gadecki was quoted as saying.

Gadecki also said bitterly that his visit to sites of mass killings in Ukraine led him to conclude that humans have drawn no lessons from previous deadly wars but have only improved their killing methods.

Weve heard so many declarations and incantations over recent decades about such crimes no longer being possible, given the present level of civilization, but murdering people has turned out to be just as possible as before, he said.

Francis mentioned the war at the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday. Speaking to Polish pilgrims, he called for prayers for peace in Ukraine and for God to teach us to show solidarity for those who are affected by the tragedy of war and to find reconciliation among nations.

Scislowska reported from Warsaw, Poland.

Follow AP's coverage of the Ukraine 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.
ATLANTA (AP)  Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia easily dispatched Donald Trump's hand-picked challenger on Tuesday in a Republican primary that demonstrated the limits of the former president and his conspiracy-fueled politics in a critical swing state.

Kemp will face Democrat Stacey Abrams this fall in what will be one of the nation's most consequential governor's races.

The GOP results, combined with the loss of the Trump-backed candidate for secretary of state, served as a stinging rebuke for the former president in a state he prioritized above almost all others. Angered by Kemp's refusal to go along with his extraordinary effort to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, Trump personally recruited former Sen. David Perdue to challenge the sitting governor. He also helped clear the primary field and spent more than $3 million on the failed effort.

Kemp ultimately emerged as a powerful candidate able to draw prolific fundraising totals that helped him flood Georgia with television and other ads. He tapped into the power of his office to show voters what he could do for them, unveiling a $5.5 billion, 8,100-job Hyundai Motor plant near Savannah in the final days of the campaign.

"Even in the middle of a tough primary, conservatives across our state didn't listen to the noise. They didn't get distracted," Kemp told cheering supporters, before calling on his party to rally behind his campaign.

In defeat, Perdue struck a unifying tone that has become increasingly rare in a Republican Party dominated by Trump's hardline tactics.

"I want you to know tonight that I am fully supporting Brian Kemp in his run to beat Stacey Abrams," Perdue said. "It's emotional for all of us, we're disappointed, I get that. Let's take a few hours, lick our wounds, and tomorrow morning, you're going to hear me going to work for Brian Kemp to make damn sure that Stacey Abrams is never governor of Georgia."

In all, five states were voting Tuesday, including Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Minnesota. But none had been more consumed than Georgia by Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

Altogether, Trump failed to replace all four Republican incumbents he targeted in the state, including the governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who refused to support the former president's direct calls to overturn the 2020 election, defeated Trump's choice, Rep. Jody Hice.

The Georgia losses become the latest examples of a primary setback for Trump's preferred candidates, who have lost governor's races in Idaho and Nebraska. A Pennsylvania Senate primary is too close to call a week after the election.

Still, the totality of Tuesday's contests underscored the sustained power of Trumpism in Republican politics 18 months after he was voted out of office. His preferred Senate candidate in Georgia, Herschel Walker, easily won the GOP nomination despite warnings from Walker's Republican competitors about his history of domestic violence and mental health struggles. He will face Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock in the fall in a race that could determine control of the chamber.

Regardless of Trump's involvement in their races, virtually all of the Republican candidates  even Kemp  ran on "election integrity." That phrase that has emerged as a code for the former president's baseless grievances about the 2020 election, which were roundly rejected by courts and his own attorney general. Conservative candidates from Georgia to Arkansas to Texas also leaned into Trump's preferred culture wars by playing up concerns about transgender athletes, "critical race theory" and illegal immigration.

Sensing Kemp's strength in Georgia, however, other prominent Republicans had grown increasingly willing to defy the former president.

Trump's own vice president, Mike Pence, rallied with Kemp in the Atlanta suburbs on Monday evening. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who also campaigned for Kemp and has been critical of Trump, described his victory as "enormous."

"I am so proud of and happy for my friend  and just as importantly for the Georgia GOP and the people of Georgia," Christie tweeted. "They were not going to kick out a great Governor or be willing participants in the DJT Vendetta Tour."

Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats elsewhere were navigating challenging primaries.

Democrats were especially focused on a runoff election in south Texas, where longtime incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar was facing a fierce challenge from progressive Jessica Cisneros in a race where abortion was a prominent issue. Cuellar is the last anti-abortion Democrat serving in the House. The race was too early to call with the candidates separated by 175 votes, or 0.38 percentage points, out of 45,209 ballots counted as of 2 a.m. ET Wednesday.

In Alabama, conservative firebrand Rep. Mo Brooks and Katie Britt advanced to a June runoff to represent the GOP in the race to replace retiring Sen. Richard Shelby. Britt served as Shelby's former chief of staff, while Brooks, a leading figure at the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the Capitol attack, initially won Trump's endorsement. Trump rescinded his backing after watching Brooks struggle in the polls.

And former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who was the face of an administration that contributed to the nation's stark divide, won the Republican governor's nomination in Arkansas.

Back in Georgia, Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath defeated Democratic Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux in suburban Atlanta after being forced into a rare incumbent-on-incumbent primary after Republicans redrew the congressional map. McBath, whose son was murdered, has become a vocal advocate for gun control.

Not far away, in Georgia's 14th congressional district, leading Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene won her primary election, despite a first term notable for her conspiracy theories and controversy.

Tuesday marked the first Georgia election under a new voting law adopted by the Republican-backed state legislature in response to Trump's grievances. The changes made it harder to vote by mail, which was popular among Democrats in 2020 amid the pandemic; introduced new voter identification requirements that critics warned might disenfranchise Black voters; and expanded early voting in rural areas that typically vote Republican.

The new law also banned handing out food or water within 150 feet of a polling place, a practice common in urban areas where there are typically long voter lines.

Despite concerns about the impact of the law, there were no major or systemwide issues reported in Georgia. There were sporadic reports of polling locations opening late, minor equipment troubles and some voters finding themselves at the wrong location.

In the Atlanta suburb of Woodstock, Republican primary voter David Butler said he likes Trump, but chose to support Kemp instead of the Trump-backed Perdue.

He said Trump's endorsement had "no impact, none, whatsoever" on his decision.

"I like Trump a lot, but Trump is in the past," Butler said.

___

Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jeff Martin in Woodstock, Georgia, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
UVALDE, Texas (AP)  Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman's rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.

Go in there! Go in there! nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in.

Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building.

Upset that police were not moving in, he raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders.

Lets just rush in because the cops arent doing anything like they are supposed to, he said. More could have been done.

They were unprepared, he added.

Minutes earlier, Carranza had watched as Salvador Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch outside the school, grabbed his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shot at two people outside a nearby funeral home who ran away uninjured.

Officials say he encountered" a school district security officer outside the school, though there were conflicting reports from authorities on whether the men exchanged gunfire. After running inside, he fired on two arriving Uvalde police officers who were outside the building, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine. The police officers were injured.

After entering the school, Ramos charged into one classroom and began to kill.

He barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Department of Public Safety told CNN. It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.

All those killed were in the same classroom, he said.

Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told reporters that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when Ramos opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him, though a department spokesman said later that they could not give a solid estimate of how long the gunman was in the school or when he was killed.

The bottom line is law enforcement was there," McCraw said. They did engage immediately. They did contain (Ramos) in the classroom.

Meanwhile, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said the Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.

Carranza said the officers should have entered the school sooner.

There were more of them. There was just one of him, he said.

Uvalde is a largely Latino town of some 16,000 people about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the Mexican border. Robb Elementary, which has nearly 600 students in second, third and fourth grades, is a single-story brick structure in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.

Hundreds packed into bleachers at the towns fairgrounds for a vigil Wednesday and the crowd swelled so big some stood around the speakers on the dirt arena. Some cried. Some closed their eyes tight, mouthing silent prayers. Parents wrapped their arms around their children, as the speakers lead prayers for healing.

Before attacking the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at the home they shared, authorities said.

Neighbor Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives across the street and has known the family for decades, said he was puttering in his yard when he heard the shots.

Ramos ran out the front door and across the small yard to the truck parked in front of the house. He seemed panicked, Gallegos said, and had trouble getting the truck out of park.

Then he raced away: He spun out, I mean fast, spraying gravel in the air.

His grandmother emerged covered in blood: She says, Berto, this is what he did. He shot me. She was hospitalized.

Gallegos, whose wife called 911, said he had heard no arguments before or after the shots, and knew of no history of bullying or abuse of Ramos, who he rarely saw.

Investigators also shed no light on Ramos' motive for the attack, which also left at least 17 people wounded. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Ramos, a resident of the small town about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, had no known criminal or mental health history.

We dont see a motive or catalyst right now, said McCraw of the Department of Public Safety.

Ramos legally bought the rifle and a second one like it last week, just after his birthday, authorities said.

About a half-hour before the mass shooting, Ramos sent the first of three online messages warning about his plans, Abbott said.

Ramos wrote that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman. In the last note, sent about 15 minutes before he reached Robb Elementary, he said he was going to shoot up an elementary school, according to Abbott. Investigators said Ramos did not specify which school.

Ramos sent the private, one-to-one text messages via Facebook, said company spokesman Andy Stone. It was not clear who received the messages.

Grief engulfed Uvalde as the details emerged.

The dead included Eliahna Garcia, an outgoing 10-year-old who loved to sing, dance and play basketball; a fellow fourth-grader, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming; and a teacher, Eva Mireles, whose husband is an officer with the school districts police department.

You can just tell by their angelic smiles that they were loved, Uvalde Schools Superintendent Hal Harrell said, fighting back tears as he recalled the children and teachers killed.

The attack was the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

Amid calls for tighter restrictions on firearms, the Republican governor repeatedly talked about mental health struggles among Texas young people and argued that tougher gun laws in Chicago, New York and California are ineffective.

Democrat Beto ORourke, who is running against Abbott for governor, interrupted Wednesday's news conference, calling the tragedy predictable. Pointing his finger at Abbott, he said: This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. ORourke was escorted out as some in the room yelled at him. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin yelled that ORourke was a sick son of a bitch.

Texas has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the nation and has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years.

I just dont know how people can sell that type of a gun to a kid 18 years old, Siria Arizmendi, the aunt of victim Eliahna Garcia, said angrily through tears. What is he going to use it for but for that purpose?

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the Second Amendment is not absolute as he called for new limitations on guns in the wake of the massacre.

But the prospects for reform of the nations gun regulations appeared dim. Repeated attempts over the years to expand background checks and enact other curbs have run into Republican opposition in Congress.

The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston, with the Texas governor and both of the state's Republican U.S. senators scheduled to speak.

Dillon Silva, whose nephew was in a classroom, said students were watching the Disney movie Moana when they heard several loud pops and a bullet shattered a window. Moments later, their teacher saw the attacker stride past.

Oh, my God, he has a gun! the teacher shouted twice, according to Silva. The teacher didnt even have time to lock the door, he said.

The close-knit community, built around a shaded central square, includes many families who have lived there for generations.

Lorena Auguste was substitute teaching at Uvalde High School when she heard about the shooting and began frantically texting her niece, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary. Eventually she found out the girl was OK.

But that night, her niece had a question.

Why did they do this to us?" the girl asked. Were good kids. We didnt do anything wrong.

Bleiberg reported from Dallas. Acacia Coronado, Eugene Garcia and Dario Lopez-Mills in Uvalde; Ben Fox, Michael Balsamo, Amanda Seitz and Eric Tucker in Washington; Paul J. Weber in Austin; Juan Lozano in Houston; Gene Johnson in Seattle; Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

(THE CONVERSATION) Insects scuttle, chew and fly through the world around us. Humans rely on them to pollinate plants, prey on insects that we dont get along with, and to be movers and shakers for Earths ecosystems. Its hard to imagine a world without insects.

Thats why news reports warning of an insect apocalypse sparked widespread alarm. These articles, which were based on long-term insect collections and a review of past studies, suggested that people alive today will witness the indiscriminate extinction of insect-kind.

I study fungi that can be used to control harmful insects, such as pests that damage crops and mosquitoes that transmit malaria. In my world, reports of mass insect die-offs are big news. But while there clearly is reason to be concerned about certain insects, such as the endangered rusty patched bumble bee or the American burying beetle, in my view it isnt yet possible to predict a looming insect apocalypse.

More than 1 million insects have been discovered and named, but many millions have yet to be described. Its undeniable that Earth is becoming increasingly inhospitable to some insects  but nightmarish conditions for one may be heaven to another.

Put another way, there is no perfect environment for all insects. And human impacts on the environment, like climate change and land development, very well may hurt beneficial insects and help harmful ones.

Insect declines

Around the world, entomologists are looking wistfully into empty nets, and car owners are increasingly unsettled by their pristine windshields. It does not take decades of data collection and a degree to notice that in a human lifetime, our teeming world teems less.

Underscoring this theme, in April 2019 two scholars published a review that synthesized over 70 reports of insect decline from around the world, and predicted mass insect extinctions within a human lifetime. They took a alarmist tone, and have been widely criticized for exaggerating their conclusions and selecting studies to review with the word decline.

Nonetheless, these researchers had no trouble finding studies to include in their review. Many scientists are currently analyzing the roles that climate change, land use, chemical pesticides and other factors have played in reported declines in many insect species.

The end is not near

These discussions are important, but they dont mean an insect apocalypse is under way. Predicting insect decline is hard to do without a lot of effort and data.

To predict an apocalypse, entomologists worldwide will need to conduct careful large-scale studies that involve collecting, identifying and counting many different insects. There are very few insects for which scientists have enough data now to reliably predict how many individuals there will be from year to year, let alone confidently chart a decline in each species. Most of the insects for which this information exists are species that are important for agricultural or human health, such as managed honey bees or mosquitoes.

And human actions are shifting balances between insect species. As an example, the mosquitoes that are best at spreading pathogens that cause disease have evolved to thrive near us. Entomologists call them anthropophilic, which means they love people.

That love extends to human impacts on the land. Insects that flutter from flower to flower wont be happy when developers bulldoze a meadow and scatter tires around, but human-biting mosquitoes will be buzzing with excitement.

What else is out there?

Entomologists are uniformly concerned about the fate of insects in todays changing world. But I believe the responsible approach is to push back on fire-and-brimstone rhetoric until detailed, large-scale studies are completed. Until then, these same gaps in our knowledge also make it hard to rule out that significant declines in diverse insects are happening. These gaps must be filled to illuminate challenges that insects face, from the inconvenient to the apocalyptic.

When the majority of insects remain to be described, its hard to value them. But heres one example: Insecticide use in pear groves in Chinas Sichuan Province has caused such a decline in native pollinators that beekeepers will not lend their bees to these orchards. These farmers are forced to pollinate their trees by hand  an expensive and time-consuming process if you arent an insect.

Similarly, native natural enemies played invisible roles in slowing the spread of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug when it was introduced into Pennsylvania in the 1990s. They included wasps that lay their eggs inside of stink bug eggs, and predatory insects and spiders that eat stink bugs eggs for breakfast.

Pollination and predation are just the start. Some insects could be sources of new drugs or traditional dyes, while others inspire artists or just provide little moments of inimitable beauty.

With so many unanswered questions, its clear that there is a need for more funding for biodiversity research. It is no coincidence that recent studies reporting massive insect declines came from a Long-Term Ecological Research center that is publicly funded through the National Science Foundation and from a carefully curated collection made and maintained by entomologists.

This kind of work requires money, bold foresight and dedication to science over long periods of time. But it can produce insights into how our world is changing  and that knowledge will help us prepare for the future.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/is-an-insect-apocalypse-happening-how-would-we-know-113170.

Licenced as Creative Commons - attribution, no derivatives.

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The idea of painting a mural on the side of a building in downtown Dunlap, Iowa, had long intrigued Jill Schaben.

When she discovered that Austin McDonald  a member of the towns development group  had the same idea, they teamed up and approached Dale Smith at Smittys Grocery. He decided a popsicle mural would be perfect for his mom and pop grocery store.

We wanted to support them for being such a loyal business in Dunlap, Schaben said. People were so excited.

But that was just the start of changes in the town of about 1,000, located an hour northeast of Omaha. Schaben says it has been a domino effect. Groups of volunteers painted five more murals last summer and two more are planned.

A new beautification and tourism committee was formed under the Dunlap Community Development Corp. Florist Melissa Boettger organized the look for flowers that were planted throughout the towns downtown.

Around the same time, Margo Hansen and City Administrator Meredith VanHouten crafted grants for new playground equipment and renovations at the pool and bath house.

Local businesswomen Kelsey Miller and Jill Melby started a farmers market, which is held the third Saturday of every month through October.

The murals kind of drove excitement for people already on the cusp of doing great things, Schaben said.

Schaben also got a new job: Shes now working for the Dunlap Community Development Corp.

Smith calls her a go-getter. Schaben, 37, said shes just one of many younger adults who are ready to step up for Dunlap.

We have a real cool community, she said. An up-and-coming generation of people who are inspired to do a lot for the town, to make it a fun place to visit and live and raise our kids.

Schaben said the first mural was a steppingstone. They even told Smith they could paint it white again if it didnt turn out. But he loved it and so did his customers.

It sure got talked about for a few weeks, he said.

Using some easy designs and her father-in-laws projector, Schaben, McDonald and a rotating group of volunteers moved on to the next wall, this time on an old metal building on the way into town owned by John and Dede Sullivan of Sullivan Supply.

They painted Welcome to Dunlap in bright colors there and then took on a wall of the Dunlap Community Pool. A scissor lift was required to tackle the Bonsall TV & Appliance Co. mural, where they brought back a 1940s advertisement for Robin Hood Flour.

Then Greg and Monica Stinn commissioned a Lincoln Highway mural for their building.

They wanted to commemorate the Lincoln Highway passing through Dunlap, Schaben said.

The Dunlap American Legion Post 224 requested the final mural to commemorate service men and women. Veterans supplied most of the labor.

Each mural took about three days.

Six to eight people stepped up for each one. The paint-by-number designs made it easy for any age.

The Bonsalls mural will be extended this summer as will the original one at the Sullivans warehouse. It will have a soda pop vibe to pair with a vintage Coca-Cola machine that is a stopping point on a new mural walk.

The development group has created a mural walk map, mural coloring brochures and mural puzzle pieces to further promote the new pieces of art.

It definitely brightens main street up, Smith said. Some of these old buildings looked kind of rough before.

Schaben said the community development group is in the midst of some strategic planning to keep the momentum going. They want Dunlap to be a place where their kids will want to stay and raise their own families.

You can mark my words, she said, that Dunlap is going to be doing some exciting things in the next few years because of this pride in our town.

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Park activity schedules

Eugene T. Mahoney State Park

Starting May 28, the Family Aquatic Center hours of operation will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday, noon-5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.

Concession offerings will be reduced on those days. The aquatic center is closed Tuesday and Thursday.

Platte River State Park

Starting May 28, the hours of operation at the Outdoor Heritage Education Complex will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Stations available on those days may be limited depending on staffing.
Two men shot to death Sunday morning near 30th and P Streets in Lincoln have been identified by police.

Patricio Urias, 42, and Zachariah Palomo, 26, were found about 2:20 a.m. inside a duplex suffering from fatal gunshot wounds, according to a Lincoln police spokeswoman. Officers responded to the residence after a man placed a 911 call saying that he had been shot.

Both men died at the scene despite life-saving efforts by officers, the spokeswoman said. Jose Soto, 19, who also was shot at the residence, went by private vehicle to a Lincoln hospital, where he was treated and released.

Anyone with information about the shootings may call the Lincoln Police Department at 402-441-6000 or Crime Stoppers at 402-475-3600.

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Statement from Secretary Cardona on Todays Tragic Events at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona today issued the following statement in response to the tragic events at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas:

My heart is aching for all the families in Uvalde, Texas who are living through every parents greatest fear and worst nightmare: a shooting in their childrens school. As a parent, I am filled with grief for the families and students; concern that as our schools move past pandemic closures, the fear of shootings has become all too real once again; and anger at the lack of will by many to pass legislation that can protect our children.

I pray our nation has not grown numb to the horrors that unfolded today at Robb Elementary School, when the lives of 18 precious children and a devoted educator were cut short. How many more lives must be lost before we realize that we, the people, and those we elect, have the power and the opportunity to ensure this never happens again?

My team at the Department of Education is offering every available federal resourceincluding through our Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence) program and on-the-ground supportto help the families, educators, staff, and greater Robb Elementary School community recover from this trauma and loss.

I spent the formative part of my career in a Connecticut elementary school. I will never forget the ripple effect of fear and heartbreak that spread among students and teachers in the aftermath of the horrific Sandy Hook shooting. We must unite as a country against this senseless cycle of violence, act immediately to protect our children, and make sure that every child and every educator feels safe in our schools.
It could be make or break time for the Iran nuclear deal.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was the Obama administrations top foreign policy achievement. It led to dramatic reductions in Irans ability to enrich uranium in return for the U.S. and its allies lifting nuclear-related sanctions that were crippling Irans economy.

Former President Donald Trump abrogated the agreement just over four years ago. The Biden administrations talks with Iran to revive the deal have since progressed impressively, but now they have stalled again.

The problem lies with one of the many new sanctions Trump imposed against Iran during his last days in office that have nothing to do with Irans nuclear program or the JCPOA.

Under Trump, the U.S. designated an elite Iranian military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a foreign terrorist organization. That led to extreme sanctions against individuals and agencies connected to this group.

The designation was explicitly designed by Trump to serve as a poison pill that would make it politically much harder for the U.S. to rejoin the deal, since it would require lifting sanctions against a so-called terrorist organization.

Unfortunately, the ploy seems to have worked.

The Senate recently approved a nonbinding GOP-backed measure pressuring the Biden administration not to de-list the Revolutionary Guard, even though getting back to the agreement will be almost impossible without delisting. Diplomats on all sides are working to overcome this obstacle, but time is running short.

Trumps blatantly political move has made the United States, the region and the world less safe.

During the period that the JCPOA was in effect, all sides agreed that Iran was in full compliance with its requirements. But still it faced devastating new sanctions from the Trump administration.

While Iran has gradually enriched uranium to higher levels since Trump abrogated the deal, it has made no attempt to acquire nuclear weapons. Returning to the JCPOA is the best way to prevent this from happening.

Israel is the regions only current nuclear weapons state. But others  including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey (which already has U.S. nuclear weapons on its soil as part of NATOs nuclear sharing)  could end up joining the nuclear club if Iran does.

A renewed JCPOA provides a way to avoid the threat of war  initiated by one of Irans regional rivals, or even the United States  that would arise should Iran at some point move toward nuclear capability. It might also serve as the basis for future negotiations with Iran on broader military and regional issues, and even set the stage for beginning negotiations towards global nuclear disarmament.

Negotiations over restoring the JCPOA are ongoing, and a resolution could come soon. A separate agreement between Iran and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, allowing UN inspection of Irans nuclear sites, is scheduled to expire around June 6. That gives sharp urgency to getting the U.S. team to the table.

Theres still time to undo Trumps reckless abandonment of diplomacy. The last thing the world needs is another regional arms race, or another war.

Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. Kevin Martin is the president of Peace Action and the Peace Action Education Fund.

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NORMAL  A Chicago man is in McLean County custody in connection to a shooting reported early Wednesday morning near the Illinois State University campus.

Normal police responded to the 300 block of North Main Street for a report of shots fired at 12:28 a.m.

Upon arrival, officers observed a white SUV  which police later learned had been reported stolen in Chicago  fleeing the area at a high rate of speed, and officers pursued the vehicle toward South University Street, police said.

A short foot pursuit ensued with two suspects who were eventually taken into custody. One of the suspects was interviewed at the Normal Police Department and later released pending further investigation, police said.

The other suspect is identified by police as Malik Alexander-Romello Wilson, 23, of Chicago.

Police are preliminarily charging him with reckless discharge of a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated robbery and criminal trespass to a vehicle. Those charges are pending review by the McLean County State's Attorney's Office.

No injuries were reported in the shooting. Police located shell casings near an alleyway at 300 N. Main St., Normal.

Police said the vehicle was reportedly hijacked Sunday in Chicago.

A loaded handgun and gun magazine were retrieved from the vehicle, police said.

ISU police responded to the call to assist Normal police because the vehicle traveled onto campus, ISU Police Chief Aaron Woodruff said.

Bloomington police and McLean County Sheriff's Office police also responded to the incident.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact NPD at 309-454-9535, as the investigation is ongoing.

This was at least the 21st shooting reported in Bloomington-Normal this year, of which four occurred in Normal.

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BLOOMINGTON  Central Illinois school districts are looking closely at their security measures, plans and protocols following the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

At least 19 children and two teachers were killed at an elementary school there Tuesday, reigniting national conversations about gun control, mental health and school security.

Heres a look at the measures already in place, and further steps being taken, at some districts across Central Illinois.

McLean County Unit 5

Students and staff at McLean County Unit 5 practice active shooter drills as Illinois School Safety Drill Act requires: at least one drill per year, with one conducted within the first 90 days of the school year.

Superintendent Kristen Weikle said school administrators in the districts 24 buildings work with school resource officers to review the steps students and staff would need to take in a crisis as well.

Every time theres an incident nationally, we always review and reassess the measures that we have in place and our plans, she said, noting district staff receive additional training regarding safety procedures in addition to the drills.

The district has dedicated school resource officers at each high school and junior high, and those six officers also cover the elementary school, especially if theres an event or a threat or we need to call someone, Weikle said.

With school doors locked by default, all visitors that are allowed into the building are screened by building personnel through cameras and speakers before being buzzed in. They then must be checked in at the school office before they can proceed.

All district volunteers who have access to the buildings must first complete a background check, Weikle added.

The students had a typical normal almost last day of school day on Wednesday, with no added measures to disrupt the students, Weikle said.

My heart goes out to the students, staff, families and community in Texas. I can only imagine what theyre going through, the superintendent said. I know a lot of people are sending their thoughts and prayers, but I really hope the community  can come together to provide the support they need.

Bloomington District 87

District 87 schools generally hold lockdown drills once or twice a year, Superintendent Barry Reilly said. The drills are set in cooperation between the districts director of safety and security, building administrators and first responders.

First responders also use the buildings for trainings when students are not present. Reilly highlighted the strong relationship the district has with area first responders, helped by Director of Safety and Security Brian Evans' background in law enforcement. Evans is retiring soon and will be replaced by Rich Hirsch, who used to be a school resource officer in the district.

The district has two resource officers, one at the high school and one at the junior high. There are also plans in place for a third resource officer for elementary schools if Bloomington police staffing levels allow for it in the future.

There have been discussions about adding metal detectors, but so far the challenges around equipment, personnel and logistics in using the detectors have led the district not to add them, Reilly said.

Metal detectors bring with them a whole world of issues and challenges, he said.

The elementary schools and junior high school require visitors to buzz into the building. However, the high school has too many students coming and going from the main building during the day to use a single point of entry, Reilly said. The three main sets of doors have either camera systems or hall monitors stationed nearby.

The district is also upgrading its security camera systems and plans to implement a new visitor tracking system, which will provide more streamlined tracking of visitors and run quick background checks on them, Reilly said.

With a week left of school, students and families may see more police presence at District 87 schools, he said. National events like the Texas shooting lead to a greater vigilance around the districts schools.

Beyond the active shooter drills, the staff hold crisis intervention training at least yearly, Reilly said. Incidents like Tuesdays also prompt the district to provide more resources to teachers about how to talk with their students about the news, as well as places they can contact if they need help processing.

Events like Uvalde shooting can impact the staff as much or more than the students, Reilly said. That can be especially true if the adults have children themselves.

It resonates, it makes you just be thankful for what we have, he said.

Clinton School District

Curt Nettles, superintendent for the Clinton School District, said they practice active shooter drills annually with an optional additional drill, if we feel that we need to make any changes or tweak it or anything.

We want students and staff to know how to behave and how to react.  but if were drilling too much, it can create complacency and also we dont want those thoughts, especially in our younger kids heads, too much, Nettles said.

Clintons five school buildings have single points of entry with doors locked by default, he said.

Visitors are screened by building personnel through cameras and speakers before being admitted to the schools offices.

The districts school resource officer, Mike Bennett, covers all five buildings and does a fantastic job of training our administration and staff on what to do in a crisis, Nettles said, noting they do training beyond the drills.

Bennett reviews possible scenarios with staff and teaches the appropriate behavior and decision-making skills at least once per school year, the superintendent said.

Nettles said he met with Bennett and the Clinton Police Chief Robert Lowers on Wednesday to review their security measures and plans, and had more police presence in the buildings than a typical day.

In the wake of the Uvalde shooting, Nettles said he sent a message to staff reminding everyone what their jobs are and to be vigilant.

When this sort of thing happens, it just creates a heavy feeling. You start your day and you try to push through knowing when those people in Texas are going through and you feel for them, he said. We have our kids in front of us and we have to push through, but everybody feels a heaviness.

Heyworth School District

Heyworth students practice active shooter drills annually as required, but throughout the year, some of the strategies that are taught during the drills we try to teach regularly as well, said Superintendent Lisa Taylor.

Those strategies include the old adage, If you see something, say something as a reminder to be vigilant for more than just school shootings.

Trust your gut and if something makes you uncomfortable, notify an adult, Taylor said, of what they teach students. A reminder to keep the lines of communication open between the children and staff members.

The district doesnt have a school resource officer, but through partnership with the Heyworth Police Department, a patrol officer or Chief Michael Geriets frequent the schools, especially during arrival and at events.

Geriets also works with teachers reviewing protocol, preparing us for those worst case scenarios that you hope you never have to deal with but need to be ready for, Taylor said.

Prior to Tuesdays shooting, the districts safety team already planned to meet this summer to reevaluate and review plans, she said.

During the school day, staff was not expected to initiate discussions in response to the shooting, but they were told to prepare for students questions and to reassure them.

We do want school to be a safe place for everyone, Taylor said. We want our teachers to listen to them, reassure them and remind them in these tragic situations of how we should respond.

The superintendent said the district has no immediate plans to change their security plan but administration has discussed ways to ensure schools have a single point of entry.

Taylor said Tuesday night and into Wednesday, she received several messages from worried staff members, some of whom showed a heightened sense of awareness for their security systems and how they could be improved.

These stories are too common and theyre the worst nightmare for any staff and any parent, she said. It hits close to home for educators especially as we celebrate the end of the year  knowing now some dont get to do that.

Tri-Valley School District

Tri-Valley School District, based in Downs, conducts lockdown drills yearly, said superintendent David Mouser, who is becoming the District 87 superintendent this summer. Those are just part of continuous discussions around safety among Tri-Valley staff.

Our teachers invest emotional energy and genuine love for our kids, thats why stories like these hurt so deeply, he said in an email. It is my continued prayer that we reach a point where we can stop talking about events like these happening at all.

The district does not have metal detectors but the schools have single points of entry where visitors have to buzz in. Visitors are also given a sticker or badge. Mouser said that most visitors are parent volunteers there on pre-arranged visits. The district does not have a school resource officer, but there is a daily police presence on campus through cooperation with the Village of Downs.

Like everyone, I am devastated by yet again another senseless act of violence in a school, he said.

Catholic schools

Sharon Weiss, superintendent of Schools at the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, said in an email to the Pantagraph that each of their schools have armed intruder drills and all other drills mandated by the Illinois State Board of Education for non-public schools; recognition and compliance during the academic year.

Local law enforcement comes on site annually to conduct armed intruder drills by the state, as well as local fire departments (who) visit each school during Fire Safety Month and observe a fire drill at the school, Weiss said in the email.

Four years ago, the Diocese of Peoria hired two law enforcement personnel to come on site at each school  which includes Central Catholic High School, Epiphany Catholic School, St. Marys School and Corpus Christi Catholic School  to provide consultation and complete an audit of safety measures in place and make recommendations to take further action, Weiss said.

There are doorbells to indicate when an individual wants to enter the building and visitor badges are available in the office. Churches with parish schools were also inspected since the schools are in attendance at the parish church for masses and other events scheduled during the week throughout the school year.

All schools have a crisis management plan that is reviewed annually with faculty, staff and students and signs are posted in each classroom that provide visuals and written instructions.

As our 42 elementary and secondary schools throughout the Diocese of Peoria are one system of schools and under the supervision of the Office of Catholic Schools, we will be asking our schools to be aware and vigilant as they finish their school years, Weiss said. This topic of school safety is ever present, and our diocesan office will be reviewing our protocols, procedures and policies for possible changes in 2022-2023 as we review and update policies each year.

Trinity Lutheran School

Shawn Hoffman, principal at Trinity Lutheran School in Bloomington, said it performs a lockdown drill with a local police officer once every year, and students are very familiar with the drills.

Every year, with the help of local police officers, Trinity re-evaluates its security procedures and that it is an ongoing, evolving process, the principal said.

Trinity does not have metal detectors at entrances, but there are strict visitor entrance procedures. Any visitor has to be buzzed in and provide an ID, which is then scanned and checked against a sex offender database.

Faculty and staff have active shooter discussions at the beginning, middle and end of the year as well, Hoffman said. During these, they discuss the physical protocols of what to do in the event of an active shooter and what psychological, medical and spiritual needs the students may have.

While Trinity does not have a resource officer, they have a strong relationship with the Bloomington Police Department. Hoffman said an officer even stopped by Wednesday morning to check on the school.

In a message to parents Wednesday, Hoffman said he encouraged them to talk to their children, but some age-appropriate discussions were held in the classroom as well.

He said he checked in on classrooms this morning and found that while students were excited for summer break to begin, they also wanted to offer their prayers for the families and the victims of the Uvalde shooting.

Illinois Education Association

According to a statement from the Illinois Education Association (IEA), officials said mass shootings like the one that took place at Robb Elementary and others that have happened over the years including Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and the Tops grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., should raise red flags for us as a country.

Its time to stop watching these tragedies and start doing something. We ask for our leaders to come together. This is not a partisan issue. This is not a gun rights issue, Officials said in the statement. This is an issue of children being able to attend school and be safe, of families of color being able to go to the grocery store in the middle of the day and not be targeted by violence, and of helping all of America not live in fear.

Officials said they join U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., in his pleas to Congress to come together and find a solution for the ongoing issues of gun violence.

This isnt inevitable. These kids werent unlucky. This only happens in this country. Nowhere else, Murphy said on the Senate floor Tuesday. It is a choice.

The IEAs joint statement is attributable to president Kathi Griffin, vice president Al Llorens, and secretary and treasurer Tom Lully.

The District 87 and Unit 5 teachers unions expressed their dismay at the shooting on their Facebook pages.

We have no statement  what words could there possibly be? Unit Five Education Associations post read in part.

Bloomington Education Associations post similarly said the union was uncertain what to say.

We just dont know what to say. We have dedicated our lives to our communitys children. Our hearts go out to Texas. When will this stop? it said.

Pantagraph reporters Kelsey Watznauer, Connor Wood, Mateusz Janik and D. Jack Alkire contributed to this story.

Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.

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SPRINGFIELD  The six Republican candidates for Illinois governor faced off Tuesday night in Chicago, albeit on two separate debate stages, hours after a shooting at a Texas elementary school that dominated a large portion of the debates.

A scheduling conflict between two TV networks  WGN and NBC 5  had the candidates split into groups of three, with the NBC debate beginning at 6 p.m. and the WGN debate starting immediately after it at 7 p.m.

NBCs debate included Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, the polling and money frontrunner, along with former Waterloo state Sen. Paul Schimpf and suburban attorney Max Solomon. The WGN debate that followed included Sen. Darren Bailey, of Xenia, Petersburg venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan and suburban paving magnate Gary Rabine.

The debates saw Irvin stick mostly to the talking points hes deployed throughout the campaign, while Bailey, who was closely trailing Irvin in recent polls, referred to Chicago as a crime-ridden, corrupt, dysfunctional hellhole.

Much of the discussion revolved around a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old barricaded himself in a fourth-grade classroom and killed at least 21 individuals, including 19 children.

While all candidates expressed horror at the tragedy, responses from a policy standpoint ranged from saying more needs to be done to support police and treat mental health to candidates saying more guns are needed in schools. Below is a summary of responses on shooting and crime.

On Texas school shooting

Irvin noted he was mayor of Aurora in 2019 when a shooter killed six, including himself, at the Henry Pratt Co. in that city. Irvin said a governor would have to make sure that not only we heal after this, these events that seem to be happening so much throughout our country day in and day out where we're comparing one violent act to another.

We need to make sure that we support our police, and we support our neighbors, and our families, and our friends, and these school children that we don't allow weapons to get into the hands of criminals and those with mental illnesses, Irvin added. And as governor, I will take a strong stance to ensure that we do what's necessary to protect ourselves.

Irvins response followed Schimpf, who cited law enforcement support as well.

You have to try to keep our students safe by helping law enforcement to do their job. We also have to be exploring mental illness and the challenge that mental illness faces, poses for our country, Schimpf said, without giving specifics.

Solomon said all schools should have armed security guards.

The candidates at the WGN debate were asked about the shooting, as well as their positions on the states Firearm Owners Identification law that requires Illinoisans to apply for a photo ID to be able to legally own a gun.

Bailey said he would look to repeal the law  a move that would require action from lawmakers  and pointed to the state of New York, where shootings occur despite some of the most egregious gun laws that there are.

So, I've been striving for the last four years as an elected official to try to partner with community groups and church groups as well to empower them to be able to deal with mental health because much of these issues that we're dealing with actually have to do more with mental health than anything else, Bailey said.

Sullivan said some of the root causes are getting back to fatherhood, and promoting the family in our society again.

I really do feel like when you remove God from our society, these are the types of things that happen, he said. You know, and the Democrats always want to talk immediately about gun control and limiting our Second Amendment rights. But that is not the, I mean, we have the strictest gun laws in the nation here in Chicago and what is that doing for us? I am pro Second Amendment but I also feel like we need to look at mental health services, you know, and we also have to look at faith and fatherhood.

Rabine responded that bad people are going to get guns regardless of policy.

So we've got, we've got to really be better, in my opinion, raise our kids better than we are and do better things, he said.

Schimpf also said he would look to get rid of the FOID law.

We need to enforce the gun laws that we have. We need to enforce the background checks, but we need to get rid of the FOID, he said.

Irvin said the FOID process  which saw an overhaul passed by state lawmakers in 2021 that strengthened Illinois State Polices FOID enforcement abilities and directed the agency to create a searchable database with serial numbers of stolen gun  is broken.

The system is broken and definitely needs to be fixed, he said. But we need background checks to ensure that guns don't get in the hands of criminals and folks with mental illnesses.

On crime, Chicago

Irvin, Schimpf and Solomon were asked if they would call in the National Guard  which only governors can do  to address violence in Chicago.

If necessary, I would definitely call them in Chicago, you know, as governor, Irvin said without answering whether it would be necessary right now. He also claimed he called the National Guard into Aurora in response to rioting in 2020.

I will tell you what's necessary, he said. It's necessary that we get a governor that's going to actually lead the state and work with mayors like Mayor Lightfoot or any other mayor throughout this state to address the crime.

Irvin said hed focus on three Cs  children, cops, community, by getting kids into positive programs, putting more police officers on the beat and empowering the community to help our police take back their streets.

I dont care how many people you arrest, if you don't give the community an opportunity to address and work and take pride and stock in their own community, it's just going to return, he said.

The budget that passed this year with only Democratic votes included hundreds of millions of dollars for community youth investment and violence prevention programs, money for three new classes State Police troopers, and $10 million for law enforcement recruitment and retention.

Bailey said he voted against the budget because more money always seems to be the answer for Illinois politicians.

More money and new programs is not the answer, Bailey said, touting a zero-based budget process to cut the fat, although he did not identify programs he would cut. He also said more conversations are needed between lawmakers and law enforcement.

When asked how he would keep guns out of the hands of mental health patients, Bailey said he would look to partner with churches and civic groups, then launched into an attack on Chicagos leaders.

Let's focus on the city of Chicago a minute, let's just call it like it is. Let's think about Chicago, a crime-ridden, corrupt, dysfunctional hellhole and no one knows that better than the friends and the people that live in Chicago, he said.

Bailey, who promoted a measure in the General Assembly that would make Chicago a separate state from the rest of Illinois, said as governor he would be standing up and fighting for Chicago just as much as I will be fighting for the state of Illinois.

Bailey downplayed the separation measure, saying it was to raise awareness of the problems in Chicago.

Sullivan and Rabine said theyd push to create an option for voters to recall states attorneys, such as Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx, although Illinois law does not currently allow it.

We need to surge the National Guard and treat this like the crisis that it is to help our brothers and sisters and their families that are in need, Sullivan said, adding he would be the most pro-law enforcement governor in the nation.

The candidates also frequently said they would look to repeal the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform, which passed in 2021 and made changes to law enforcement use-of-force, decertification and detainee rights while providing for the elimination of cash bail beginning in January. A repeal would require legislative action.

Schimpf, a U.S. Marine who was an American adviser in the trial of Saddam Hussein, was more measured in his response.

Well, the National Guard is not a solution that you can just say I'm going to call in the National Guard as a governor and that's going to solve all the problems, he said.

He said hed be a more supportive governor of law enforcement.

I'm going to be a presence on the streets of Chicago, he said. I'm not going to be cuffing and stuffing anybody. That is not my job as governor, but our Chicago police need to know that they have a governor that supports them.

Solomon said he would have called in the National Guard yesterday, and he would accept federal aid no matter who is president.

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SPRINGFIELD  Illinois House Republican Floor Leader Mark Batinick, a self-described policy guy, came to Springfield with the goal of pushing good policy.

A father of five who resides in Plainfield with his wife, Batinick said after eight years in the General Assembly, it was either time to try and run for something else or to just move on to better manage his time as a family and business man.

I felt like it was time to pass the baton, Batinick, who represents the 97th district which includes portions of Oswego, Montgomery, Naperville, Plainfield, Bolingbrook, Joliet and Shorewood, said. Im proud of a lot of the things that I was able to accomplish, especially from the minority side.

Batinick graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1992 with a degree in business education. After that, he started his own contracting company, which he still owns but is now run by his business partner.

He eventually got his commercial real estate license and has been a real estate agent, mainly dealing with small businesses, during his time in the Illinois House.

When the opportunity arose to run for representative, Batinick decided to go for it, since he said at the time he was a frustrated business guy. He said he saw a lot of businesses leaving the state, which gave him a feel for what was going on in his local economy, and he thought he could help.

In 2014, Batinick was elected to the Illinois House, taking office at the beginning of a two-year budget impasse under former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

As a freshman lawmaker watching the budget impasse unfold, Batinick said he observed that so much of Springfield was theater, and he would watch then-House Speaker Michael Madigan keep everyone busy, acting like all these things were getting done.

Batinick said rather than hold committee meetings and hearings regarding the budget, lawmakers were instead having debates over silly little things, such as how to label fish on food menus or whether to require repainting of school busses to a different color when they are sold used.

His biggest takeaway over the years, especially from watching the budget impasse, he said, is to watch things unfold and remain focused.

As time has gone by, Ive done a better job of just watching the roller coaster and making my decisions based on watching instead of personally being thrown about and getting all emotional about every big change, Batinick said.

In 2019, Batinick was appointed floor leader for the Republican Caucus. The floor leader serves as the spokesperson for the partys positions on issues and coordinates legislative strategies.

Batinick said without having to worry about defending the governors choices, it allowed him more time to prepare and organize. He noted that he had two goals as floor leader  to prepare in advance to help move things a bit faster and to not debate every bill.

On Mondays, usually the day before session begins, Batinick would make the three-hour drive to Springfield, sit at his desk in a quiet House chamber and read through bills approaching final action. His review would determine which bills were of concern to his party, what questions needed to be asked and who would speak on a certain bill.

When he first became floor leader, Batinick said he quickly learned that the role was not to support or oppose bills as an individual, but to vet them instead. Batinick said he once made the mistake of praising a bill but then looked around and saw some of his members were upset because they hated the bill.

As a freshman lawmaker, Batinick said he was given a book by a colleague that talked about vetting bills to push good policy, and he used that knowledge when it came to approaching bills as floor leader.

Democratic House Leader Greg Harris, of Chicago, who is also stepping down after completing this term, said everyone needs to bring their A-game when debating Batinick because he is always well-prepared.

They chose him for that job because hes smart and articulate, Harris said. He has clear, thought-out principles and is a good man.

Batinick said one main strategy for advancing good policy as a member of the minority was building outside pressure.

During his first year, Batinick said he introduced a bill that would stop automatic legislative pay increases. It was continuously ignored, even as the state didnt have a budget, until newspapers started writing about the automatic pay increases.

With outside pressure building, Batinick said Madigan introduced legislation that was the same concept as Batinicks to stop automatic legislative pay increases.

Maybe somebody else will take it and get credit for it and that's fine, Batinick said. You just want to push good policy.

When he first began serving in 2015, Batinick said it was a bit easier to balance everything because his oldest was heading off to college, one was a junior in high school and could fill in as an extra driver, one was in middle school and the other two were still young.

As crazy as that all sounds, especially with an extra driver, it actually wasnt too bad, Batinick said.

Now, with his oldest three kids out the door and the youngest two in junior high and involved in traveling sports, it became difficult to manage fatherhood, running a business and spending a good portion of his time in Springfield.

With eight years worth of memorable moments on the House floor, Batinick said his favorite was the bittersweet passage of his final sponsored bill.

That bill, which allows a pension transfer credit for county correctional officers, passed the House unanimously, and his wife, two kids and a few close family friends were able to witness the moment.

He said his family was planning to go to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, but he texted his wife to have them come to the House gallery for a little bit before leaving because his final bill was about to be called.

My son was sitting next to me, my daughter and wife were in the gallery and it was pretty special to have that moment with two of my kids there, Batinick said.

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SPRINGFIELD  The senseless massacre of 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday  the deadliest American school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary a decade ago  has brought the issue of gun violence back to the forefront in the Illinois governor's race.

The six Republican candidates for governor met at two competing debates that evening, where they were asked at the top how they would prevent such tragedies from happening again.

As has often happened following mass shootings in the past decade, Republicans sought to shift the conversation away from stricter gun laws and emphasize mental health and enhanced school security among other things.

"I really do feel when you remove God from our society, these are the types of things that happen," said venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan. "And the Democrats always want to talk immediately about gun control and limiting our Second Amendment rights. But we have the strictest gun laws in the nation here in Chicago and what is that doing for us?"

Sullivan suggested that focusing on the impact of "fatherhood and promoting the family in our society again" would help reduce such heinous acts.

At the same debate, hosted by WGN-TV, state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, said he would look to partner with community groups and church groups to deal with mental health as "much of these issues that we're dealing actually have to do more with mental health than anything else."

Bailey said he would not support additional gun control measures and would seek to eliminate the state's FOID card requirement.

"We have the federal background safety check and I feel confident that that is enough, and that the FOID card hinders the freedoms of Second Amendment gun owners," Bailey said.

Businessman Gary Rabine said "we gotta raise our kids better than we are," saying that additional gun control would not prevent such a tragedy.

"There's no way the most stringent gun laws in the country or our city are going to eliminate that," he said.

At the competing debate on NBC Chicago, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin recalled his response to the mass shooting in his city at Henry Pratt Company in 2019. He said he remembered "going to the funerals and seeing the pain on the parents' face at the loss of their adult children."

"I believe in the Second Amendment," Irvin said. "But, I believe that background checks are very necessary."

"The (FOID) system is broken and definitely needs to be fixed, but we need background checks to ensure that guns don't get into the hands of criminals and folks with mental illnesses and make it harder for us to protect our residents," he added.

Former state Sen. Paul Schimpf called the shooting "absolutely horrific," but said the state should enforce the gun laws it has one the books while eliminating the FOID card.

Attorney Max Solomon said he would "makes sure that every school has armed security guards."

"I've always believed personally that it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun," Solomon said. Authorities say the Texas shooter exchanged fire with an armed school district officer, and also with two arriving police officers at the scene.

For Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the GOP candidates' words were not enough.

In the simplest of terms, this is the fault of the Republican Party," Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said in a joint statement. "This is a uniquely American problem because we have a political party that is more concerned with banning books and policing reproductive rights than actually saving lives."

"Thoughts and prayers have never been enough  its time for real, substantive action to end the gun violence epidemic in our country, they added.

National action on gun violence has largely been limited over the past decade, a reflection of the deep political and cultural divide on the issue.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, acknowledged that chances of action from Congress were "slim" given the 50-50 Senate and the bare Democratic majority in the House.

In Illinois, gun control measures have received friendlier reception in recent years given Democratic supermajorities in the legislature and Pritzker in the governor's mansion.

Just last week, Pritzker signed legislation banning "ghost guns," which are unserialized weapons that are often homemade and difficult or impossible to trace.

Last August, Pritzker signed a bill that streamlines the FOID process and will expand background checks to all gun sales  including private sales  in 2024.

Whether more action is taken remains to be seen. But, there is precedent.

In 2018, state lawmakers proposed a menu of gun control proposals following the the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida and the killing of Chicago Police Commander Paul Bauer.

Some of those proposals, such as a "red flag" law allowing for guns to temporarily be taken from those deemed a danger to themselves or others, a 72-hour wait period and gun dealer licensing legislation, were eventually signed into law.

But, as Democrats and Republicans have both alluded to in one way or another, a state's gun laws are often limited in their effectiveness when surrounded by states with far more lax policies.

Simply put, the gun issue is a microcosm of our national divide.

Illinois has fairly strict gun control laws on the books. And it could add more with the Democratic legislature's vote and Pritzker's pen.

But it would be another blue state enacting gun control while red states continue to loosen gun laws. This, of course, could change with the election of one of the six Republicans as governor.

It remains an open question if action at the state level  in absence of corresponding federal measures  could stop such a tragedy.

But the very least, there will be another conversation about gun violence in the governor's race and state legislative races here as well as nationally.

Contact Brenden Moore at brenden.moore@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter: @brendenmoore13

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Following the slaying of at least 19 students and two adults at a Texas elementary school, gun violence and Chicago crime became the dominant issues Tuesday in dueling televised debates among the six men seeking Illinois Republican governor nomination.

State Sen. Darren Bailey of downstate Xenia called Chicago a crime-ridden, corrupt, dysfunctional hellhole when asked about gun violence.

Lets just call it what it is, said Bailey, who once co-sponsored legislation to split Chicago from the rest of the state. And no one knows that better than the friends and the people that live in Chicago. Somethings wrong. City leaders, they hate the police.

Baileys comments were made at a debate where he appeared alongside businessman Gary Rabine of Bull Valley and cryptocurrency venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan. They came right after a separate televised forum that featured Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, Paul Schimpf of Waterloo, a former state senator, and Max Solomon, a lawyer from Hazel Crest.

Irvin called the Texas school shooting a horrific act.

We need to make sure we support our police and we support our neighbors and our families and our friends and these schoolchildren that we dont allow weapons to get in the hands of criminals and those with mental illnesses, Irvin said.

I believe in the Second Amendment, but I believe background checks are very necessary, Irvin said, adding the states Firearm Owners Identification card, or FOID, law for gun owners was broken and definitely needs to be fixed.

But Schimpf said no additional gun laws were needed. Instead, he said, We need to enforce the gun laws that we have. We need to enforce the background checks. But we need to get rid of the FOID.

Irvin, Schimpf and Solomon appeared at 6 p.m. in a forum hosted by NBC-Ch. 5 and Telemundo. An hour later, Bailey, Rabine and Sullivan appeared for an hour on WGN-Ch. 9. All six are vying for the June 28 GOP primary nomination for governor and the right to take on first-term Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Nov. 8.

The split debates, which prevented questioning among the full field, allowed the three candidates on WGN to attack Irvin in absentia for spending millions of dollars on TV ads and mailers that question their Republican loyalties.

Bailey bemoaned the Aurora mayors absence and labeled him a mini-Mike Madigan, a reference to the recently indicted former Illinois House speaker and state Democratic Party chairman.

Its actually a shame that Richard Irvin chose not to be here tonight because I was actually looking forward to having a conversation with him face to face, Bailey said. Richard Irvin is as corrupt as Mike Madigan, and actually electing Richard Irvin into this seat would be no different from allowing Mike Madigan to serve as governor.

Though the situation left Irvin with the opportunity to try to continue his attacks on his rivals unrebutted, he chose to save them for the post-debate spin room in criticizing them for not showing up.

During the earlier forum, Irvin again continued to deflect questions about the influence former President Donald Trump holds over the GOP.

Irvin continued to refuse to specifically say if he voted for Trump in past elections, someone he referred to as an idiot and a bigoted racist in text messages uncovered by WTTW. He did, however, say yes when asked if Democrat Joe Biden won the presidency amid Trumps baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Previously, Irvin has said only that Joe Biden is the president.

But Irvin refused to say if he believed the storming of the nations Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021, was an insurrection. Its not a yes or no question, Irvin said, adding those who broke the law should be prosecuted but those who were engaged in peaceful protests should not. And asked if he wanted Trumps endorsement, Irvin said he was looking for the endorsement of the voters.

But it was the topic of gun violence and crime, in light of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and continued outbreaks of violent crime in Chicago, that took up a large portion of each forum.

Sullivan, Rabine and Bailey each offered their version of thoughts and prayers for the families of the victims but also said mental health issues, not gun laws, are at the core of the problem.

Much of these issues, that were dealing with actually have more to do with mental health than anything else, said Bailey, who has pushed legislation that would repeal the states required FOID card.

When mass shootings occur, Democrats always want to talk immediately about gun control and limiting our Second Amendment rights, Sullivan said.

In addition to needing to look at mental health services, he said, we also have to look at faith and fatherhood.

Rabine also said he thought stricter gun laws werent the answer, noting mass shooting and other violent crimes happen in places like Chicago that have stringent rules in place.

Still, bad people are going to get guns, Rabine said. When bad people get guns  bad things are going to happen.

The three candidates appearing on WGN offered few specifics on policies or programs they would put forward to address rising crime, instead saying they would listen to and support police and push to remove Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx from office, something that would require a change in state law.

After referring to Chicago as a hellhole, Bailey said the solution was to restore confidence in our government by electing honorable men and women to these positions.

At the earlier forum, Irvin recounted learning in February 2019 about the killing of five people and the wounding of five others, including police officers, by a disgruntled former employee of Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora while he was mayor. Months later, Irvin joined with mayors across the country urging congressional action on gun safety.

But Irvin has since denied signing such a letter and instead has said he was focused on fixing the FOID card system, though many of his rivals favor eliminating the card requirement for gun owners.

Solomon, a U.S. citizen from Lagos, Nigeria, whose campaign has largely been relegated to public forums, said the answer to curb gun violence in schools was to make sure that every school in the state of Illinois has armed security guards.

As for crime in Chicago, Irvin repeated his line that he called National Guard troops into Aurora to deal with violent protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In actuality, only the governor has the authority to call out the National Guard as was done by Pritzker based on Irvins request.

If necessary, I would definitely call them in to Chicago as governor, Irvin said of the National Guard, stopping short of saying if he believed it necessary.

For his part, Rabine said a key priority for addressing crime would be to repeal Illinois status as a sanctuary state, where there are restrictions on local law enforcement cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

The sanctuary state is creating a state where illegal felons are treated better than anywhere else in the country here in Illinois, Rabine said.

Irvin also said he would move to revoke Illinois sanctuary state protections for immigrants in the country illegally and said Aurora was not a sanctuary city. But in June 2019, amid plans for Immigration and Custom Enforcement raids, Irvin issued a statement that his city joined with Pritzker and Lightfoot in prohibiting the use of our resources to aid or support ICE in its enforcement activities.

The split forums occurred even though candidates typically resolve differences over televised debates. But in this case the dueling debates occurred when Bailey, Rabine and Sullivan agreed to appear at WGN, which made its invitation before NBC. Irvin accepted the later NBC offer but Bailey, Rabine and Sullivan kept their commitment to WGN.

But Irvin said Wednesday he would appear at a June 2 League of Women Voters on

ABC-Ch. 7. Baileys campaign said the downstate senator had a conflict for that date and urged the station to select a new date.

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The journey for Africas own version of the much-touted DAVOS, - the World Economic Forum which engages global political and corporate leaders, investors, economists and celebrities in the mountainous resort in Switzerland with the goal to shaping the world, - kick-started on Tuesday, May 24th with the media launch in Accras Marriot Hotel.



Dubbed the Kwahu Summit, it has been deliberately designed to offer the appropriate platform for African Heads of State, astute business leaders on the continent to gather each year to expedite the implementation of the agreed initiatives within the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) bloc.



Spearheaded by a non-profit Africa=focused organization, the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), who are partnered by the AfCFTA Secretariat, the Government of the Republic of Ghana, and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), the maiden summit is slated to be held at the Rock City on the Kwahu hills in the Eastern Region on October 28th and 29th, this year.



The Kwahu Summit will be under the theme AfCFTA: From Ambition to Action; Delivering Prosperity Through Continental Trade.



In his remarks, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who represented the President of the Republic, reiterated governments support for a leadership platform in the mould of the Kwahu Summit where leading Africans in business, politics, academia will convene to contribute, connect and commit to reconstructing the African narrative for a uniformed prosperity.



.if you pay attention to the thought leadership conversation that is currently going on, you will find that there are some parts of the world where more time is spent talking, discussing and stimulating conversations about what is possible and what can be achieved. If we stretch our minds a bit more what this platform will do is to challenge all of Africa and all of us to strive to do some more together and leverage the kind of opportunities and resources around to do more.



We [government] think that it is a very important conversation that you are stimulating on this platform and we celebrate you for this, he said.



The minister further stated that though the AfCTA secretariat is in Ghana, it will take a deliberate act that seeks to engineer or stimulate trade relationships, the building of networks among ourselves to really turn the tide of our international trade from outside the continent into the African continent and to trade between ourselves. And what you are doing is actually creating the platform and bringing together the people to achieve this



Speaking to Peacefmonline.com on the sidelines of the media launch, the Chairperson for APN and Senior Partner, Africa Legal Associates, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, believed Africa is blessed with the resources to strike fear in the heart of the world but an all-hands-on-deck approach is needed to achieve this.



Asked how the Kwahu Summit through APN can thrive even where the mighty AfCTA appears to be floundering as it is still bedevilled with the ever-present bureaucratic red tape, increased conflicts on the continent and extreme protectionism (as some governments continue to create trade barriers and tariffs to defend their market against regional competition), Mr Otchere-Darko alluded to the success story of the European Union (EU) despite its initial setbacks.



In 1957, Europe started the EU with six nations and it was not until years later that other countries became part of it. In just this few years since AfCTA rolled out, look at the numbers and the commitment.it is the business person or investor who will be directly involved in the trading process, not the politicians. So this conversation that the politicians have initiated, the business community is the right source to own it and move it forward. And here, we are not only talking about multi-national companies, that is why we settled on Kwahu became the Kwahu indigenes are considered or noted for being resourceful people business-wise..













The AU have tasked themselves to meet certain targets regarding free trade on the continent in 10years, consequently, there should be a convergence point for these African leaders, business community, Africans in the diaspora annually to assess and review previous action plans and the way forward and that is what the Kwahu Summit offers.



"Kwahu itself offers people of Africa our own DAVOS.. and we have a lot to let the world be afraid of us. We need not go a-begging (certainly not with the human and natural resources at our disposal). if we come together, think together, plan together and work together, theres nothing we cannot achieve. We need to own the narrative first., he stated.



On his part, His Excellency Wamkele Mene who is the Executive Secretary of AfCFTA, declared the Secretariats support for the "Kwahu Summit" and urged that the Summit effectively engages the full range of sustainable development actors, governments, and businesses to explore how to accelerate the AfCFTA implementation as well as the explore the kind of economic development vision Africa must have for decades to come.









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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A Ghanaian gospel musician based in the United States has died on board United Airlines 997 flight that departed from Accra for Washington DC on Sunday, May 22, 2022.



The deceased identified as Daniel Toffey Jnr was on the fight with his father Daniel Toffey Snr when he developed a medical condition that ultimately led to his death.



Not even the presence of as many as seven medical doctors on board the United 997 flight could save the 27-year-old gospel musician who was days from his birthday, according to a report by Diaspora Network Television, DNT Ghana.



A return to Ghana to attend a funeral



The Toffeys, resident in Pataskala, Ohio  a suburb of Columbus in the US, returned home to attend the funeral of an in-law.



The report added that the deceased's mother stayed behind while Toffey Jnr and Snr headed back to the States.



It was on the journey back that he, unfortunately, passed on mid-air. He kept saying Daddy I cant breathe, Daddy I cant breathe,' the senior Toffey narrated to DNT in an interview.



Cause of death and flight diversion



According to the report, the suspected cause of death is a case of pulmonary embolism.



[A pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blood clot that develops in a blood vessel in the body (often in the leg). It then travels to a lung artery where it suddenly blocks blood flow].



As a result of the tragic incident, the flight was diverted to Bermuda where all 178 passengers were lodged at Grotto Bay Resort before they continued their journey to Washington.



Gospel musician and upcoming album launch



Toffey Junior, the report added, worships with Pentecost International Worship Center, PIWC, in Columbus North and was a gospel musician.



He was scheduled to launch his album on June 4 in Columbus with Joe Mettle as a guest artiste.



The Toffeys hail from Jomoro in the Western Region of Ghana.



Eye Witness account



The Toffeys were travelling in Business Class when the incident happened. Jesse Lasuer, a fellow traveller spoke about the countenance of Toffey Snr after the incident.



Although he is holding up just fine, you can just see the pain in his eyes, Lasuer observed.



Another unnamed witness wrote: I was on the flight and I witnessed everything 'fiilifili'. Hmmm! This world is full of uncertainties.



"We got stranded at the Bermuda Airport for almost fifteen hours before they got us a flight to Washington Dulles Airport last night. It was a harrowing experience. I have never experienced such a thing in my life. Terrible. Anyway, I pray for the soul of that young man.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A 20-year-old woman, Ellian Zumeseh, is in the grip of the Sunyani Police for allegedly and deliberately dumping her three-month-old male twins in a well.



The police said the well is in the house where Zumeseh stayed at Abetifi Zongo, a suburb of Sunyani.



The incident, which happened about 1.30 a.m. Monday, has thrown the suburb into a state of shock and disbelief.



The babies were found floating in the well, which drew the attention of some members of the household.



Facts



The Bono Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Augustine Kingsley Oppong, told Graphic Online that a business woman in the community, assisted by two policemen, arrested and sent the suspect to the Sunyani Police Station.



ASP Oppong said after the police had received a report on the dastardly act, a team was dispatched to the scene at Abetifi Zongo, where the team saw the bodies of the twins floating in the well.



He said the police retrieved the bodies, but a careful inspection of the remains revealed no signs of violence.



However, he added, there was a whitish foam from their nostrils.



ASP Oppong said the bodies were conveyed to the Emergency Ward of the Sunyani Regional Hospital, where a medical officer declared them dead on arrival.



The Bono Police Regional PRO said the bodies had been deposited at the mortuary of the same hospital for preservation and autopsy.



He said the suspect, Zumeseh, had been detained to assist in investigations into the case.

Source: Graphiconline.com









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The new Executive Instrument (E.I.) that declassifies portions of the Achimota Forest Reserve has no effect, the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) has said.



The Association said the (Cessation of Forest Reserve) Instrument, 2022 (EI 144) has not got any power to declassify any forest reserve, arguing that it was only Parliament that had the power to do so.



In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Dr Isaac Bampoe-Addo, the Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, said per the dictates of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 (Act 925), it was only Parliament that could approve the rezoning or declassification of a forest reserve and not the President.



The E.I. that has been passed has no effect. It has not got any power to declassify any forest reserve, and we want to say that it is the responsibility of Parliament to ensure this responsibility is carried out, he stressed.



The E.I. 144 gazetted on April 19, 2022, indicates that portions of the Achimota Forest cease to be recognized as a forest reserve from May 1, 2022  a move that has received widespread condemnation.



Section 93 (1) of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 indicates that Where a person seeks to change the zoning of the whole or part of a piece of land, that person shall apply in writing to the District Spatial Planning Committee of the district t, which the change relates in the form prescribed in the zoning regulations and planning standards.



Section 93(4) says: ... the change of use or re-zoning of public space shall be subjected to approval by Parliament. 



Section 198 of the Act interprets Public Space as: a generally open area accessible to and used by the public including resource lands, urban utility space, riparian buffer zones, natural park areas, forests, urban parks, recreational areas, infrastructure right of way, areas of cultural or historical interests



Mr Bampoe-Addo said the Association was considering meeting the Speaker of Parliament to officially draw his attention to the matter.



Parliament should play its role and do the work that they are supposed to do, he said.



The E.I. 144 since its publication has been met with strong opposition, with civil society organisations operating in the environment and climate change sectors expressing fear that the move could open the forest to all forms of development, which could affect the integrity of the area as a forest reserve.



The Government has explained that its intention was to reforest and develop the Achimota Forest into a true forest reserve to serve Accra and the people of Ghana.

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 Africa Prosperity Network has, today, launched the Kwahu Summit for Africas prosperity.



The launch which featured top African business leaders, political leaders, and local and international media occurred at the Accra Marriot Hotel on the sidelines of the African Development Banks annual meeting currently happening in Accra, Ghana.



Speaking at the launch, His Excellency Wamkele Mene who is the Executive Secretary of the AfCFTA Secretariate emphasized the need for Africans to have impactful dialogues about Africas trade relations with the rests of the world in light of the state of intra-Africa trade.



His Excellency Wamkele Mene declared AfCfFTA Secretariates support for the Kwahu Summit and urged that the Summit would effectively engage the full range of sustainable development actors, governments, and businesses to explore how to accelerate the AfCFTA implementation as well as the explore the kind of economic development vision Africa must have for decades to come.



On behalf of the Government of Ghana, Honorable Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Ghanas Minister of Information, spoke about the governments support for the thought leadership platform the Kwahu Summit creates for Africans to leverage opportunities and resources on the continent to achieve more.



Mr. Yofi Grant, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) emphasized the need for Africans to proactively direct global discourses and collaborations on Africas development, given the share of global natural resources the Continent possesses and the potential of the Continents demography for consumerism, leadership, and labor force.



The maiden edition of the Kwahu Summit on Africas prosperity will take place at the Rock City Hotel in Kwahu on 28th and 29th October 2022. The partners of the Summit are AfCFTA Secretariat the Government of the Republic of Ghana, and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC).







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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UK Minister for Africa Vicky Ford has arrived in Accra following the success of the first UK-Ghana Business Council (UKGBC) held in person in 2019.



The Council was held in the UK Governments Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the heart of London with the senior Government of Ghana delegation led by Honourable Minister for Trade, Alan Kyerematen.



Arriving in Ghana for the second time in 2022, Minister Fords visit signals the importance the UK places on the deep and broad bilateral partnership. With almost a billion dollars worth of trade between Ghana and the UK, the British Government is committed to growing this by the end of 2024.



Following her arrival at Kotoka International Airport, Minister Vicky Ford said:It is fantastic to be back in Ghana, to continue the conversations, decisions and opportunities discussed both at UK-Ghana Business Council and during my visit in February. Its also been fantastic to meet colleagues from the African Development Bank in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.



I am proud to use my visit to announce a successful deal between our nations that will see 70 armoured Husky vehicles deployed to Northern Ghana to ensure the safety of vulnerable communities.



During her visit, the UK Minister for Africa will attend the African Development Banks meeting of Governors where Minister Ford is expected to sign a climate finance deal worth up to $2 billion. Announced at COP26, at least half of the Room to Run guarantee will unlock support for countries across the Continent to manage the impacts of climate change. The signing honours the global commitments made at COP26 by leaders from around the world including His Excellency President Nana Akufo-Addo.



Welcoming Minister Ford to Accra for the second time in 2022, British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson said: Ghana is a beacon of security, stability and democracy in a troubled region. Its role in ECOWAS and membership of the UN Security Council means that Ghana has a vital role in safeguarding democratic principles and defending freedoms across West Africa and beyond. We strongly support Ghanas leadership in this.



Our partnership in recent times includes the fight against the impact of climate change and, of course, global health security. Minister Fords return to Ghana will reinforce this partnership through the signing of a climate finance deal, to ensure the safety of vulnerable communities.



Minister Ford will pay tribute to the enduring UK-Ghana security and defence partnership, announcing the completion of a deal between our nations that will see 70 armoured Husky vehicles arrive in Ghana. These vehicles will be used to bolster security along the countrys Northern border, protecting communities from the threat of extremists inciting violence across the border.



Linked to the deal, worth more than $10 million, the UK armed forces will provide training for Ghanaian troops, including training of Ghanaian instructors to teach the operation and daily maintenance of the vehicles.



Minister Ford last visited Ghana in February 2022 as Russia unlawfully invaded Ukraine. During this visit, the Minister met with Honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Botchwey and held meetings with like-minded partners in Accra including Ambassadors from the American Embassy, the French Embassy, and Kenya High Commissioner to Ghana, Eliphas Barine and former United Nations General Assembly Chef de Cabinet, Kwabena Osei-Danquah.



During her previous trip, the Minister also visited the West Africa Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), based at the University of Ghana.



Now, with vital UK backing, the centre is supporting the country and the region on COVID-19 genome sequencing.



Minister Ford also met with the scientists working on antimalarial drug resistance and new malaria vaccines in partnership with UK research institutions including Edinburgh University, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Francis Crick Institute.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Throughout history, Muslim communities have always been attached, in one form or another, to the mosque or the masjid as it is known in Arabic.



The masjid was not restricted to being a place of worship, a location for performing rituals or a social and political dimension of the Muslim community. Instead, it has served as a symbol of belonging and identity.



However, some Muslim communities in Ghana sometimes struggle to access good religious facilities, especially ones with clean water and other essential facilities.



Many people are left to walk for miles to reach a neighbouring mosque for Jumuah or make due at home by worshiping outside, exposed and vulnerable to the elements.



It is for this reason the Muslim community in Gbanyamni in the Northern Region of Ghana were happy a philanthropist decided to put up a Masjid for them.



The new ultra-modern mosque will provide lasting and sustainable facilities, including an educational center known as the Darul Hedaya Islamic School for the local community.



According to Sheikh Ibrahim Afa-zie, Vice Chairman of the Darul Hedaya Islamic School, Mosques have become a cornerstone of worship in Islam. Mosques unite our community and each time we enter one, our spirits soar as we feel the presence of God.



He added that when you step foot in a Mosque, you have the opportunity to join together with your Islamic community to receive the many blessings of communal worship and Islamic education. We can celebrate our faith together or mourn the loss of loved ones, find strength in our Lord through prayer or seek council on Islamic matters. It is our home away from home.



He entreated Muslims to be tolerant and live peacefully with each other and follow the Islamic teachings on peace. Also, present at the inauguration, were Chief Imams, Sheikhs and other Islamic Scholars.



According to one of the speakers at the event who spoke on the role of mosques, throughout Islamic history the mosque, as an institution, played a central role in cultural and social life. The mosque acted as a focal point of all activities based on the importance bestowed upon it by the Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime and the life of his companions thereafter. The distinctiveness of the mosque is linked directly to the worldview of Islam.



On the importance of building of the mosque, the Northern Regional Chief Imam said; Worshipers are to feel satisfaction, attain tranquility, acquire mercy and devotion, and release daily worries. People are encouraged to interact with one another on the basis of love, equality, cooperation, and by seeking Allahs pleasure. Every worshiper attempts to eliminate the selfishness that isolates him or her from others and to reach a level of harmony with the rest of society.

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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The US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has announced it will sell some of its patented drugs at non-profit prices to the world's poorest countries.



The non-profit price will take into account the cost to manufacture and transport each product to the port of entry.



Launching the initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Pfizer said it would focus on infectious diseases, cancer, inflammation, rare illnesses and women's health.



The company's Covid vaccine and anti-viral treatment are included in the scheme.



Five African countries including Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda will be the first beneficiaries.



Developing countries experience 70% of the world's disease burden but receive only 15% of global health spending.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu has stopped short of declaring his total support for the Ashanti Regional Chairman, Mr Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi, ahead of the regional elections on Friday.



Hon. Kyei-Mensah says Chairman Wontumi is one of the best persons to lead the NPP in the Ashanti Region in the quest to Break the 8-year electoral cycle.



He indicated that though the party in its current state is going through some challenges, he still thinks it will require someone with experience such as Wontumi to rectify them.



Speaking on Fox 97.9FM political show in Kumasi, the Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Suame, said Chairman Wontumi has a huge influence in NPP politics and credited him for his role in reviving the party in the region since his election as Chairman.



"Let's be honest; we all know the role Wontumi played in the NPP, especially prior to the 2016 elections. He did a lot to revive the grassroots and has seen the party win two successive elections. Wontumi has done well and deserves to be commended" He noted.



The Majority Leader further emphasized "Yes, it true things are not the way they used to be and will require some review. Some say being the incumbent, and having been around for a while, has the requisite experience to fix things."









Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, has announced the Houses intention to create a platform to partner academia, legal and governance experts to lead detailed discussions on reviewing its composition and procedures.



He said recent Supreme Court decisions and directives among other court cases have affected the way members conduct business in the House.



We may disagree with decisions but we are bound by those decisions and have to comply and obey. We have been called upon by those decisions to take action in reviewing the composition and procedures of the House. The earlier we do that the better for all of us and the country, he said.



Speaker Bagbin made the statement in a formal communication to members at the beginning of the Second Meeting of the Second Session of the Eighth Parliament in Accra.



The House resumed sitting on Tuesday after a six-week break.



Speaker Bagbin explained that the deliberations by the experts would focus on the implications and effects of the court decisions on the practice and procedures of Parliament and the relationship between the Judiciary and the Legislature.



That would provide valuable input to enable Parliament to revise and refine its rules, laws and Standing Orders to comply with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution.



Speaker Bagbin said Parliament would also dedicate more attention to its oversight function, put in the legal processes to consolidate its strength, and empower members to perform their duties and responsibilities effectively.



In this second session, we will take further vigorous steps to strengthen the hand of the House to hold government and state institutions accountable to the people for the power, trust, resources and hope reposed in them.



The executive President, assisted by the Cabinet and state institutions, shall be called upon to account for their stewardship of the country.



The Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, said Parliament must set a rule-of-thumb on borrowing and at no time should it allow any government to borrow beyond 70 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).



He said allowing governments with four to eight years mandate to borrow beyond 80 percent of GDP could spell doom for the nation.



Therefore, we must make a decision, and this House should be able to do thatwe must cap how much any government should be able to borrow not exceeding 70 per pent of GDP per best practice, he said.



Mr Iddrisu called for public inquiry into the declassification of certain portions of the Achimota Forest Reserve by the Government, saying it must be treated as an urgent matter of concern.



He said the public must be made to know the processes regarding the release of the said lands to the allodial owners.



The Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, called for a second look at Article 286 of the Constitution, which relates to assets declaration by public officeholders.



Public office holders like Members of the Council of State, officials of EOCO, the Special Prosecutor, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, among others do not declare their assets, which did not help the fight against corruption, he said.

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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Vincent Ekow Assafuah, Member of Parliament for the Old Tafo Constituency in the Ashanti Region has celebrated the memory of the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, alias Sir John, a former General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party, NPP.



Assafuah in a May 24 Facebook post stressed that no amount of smear can dent the image and the impact that Sir John left behind.



In the tribute titled: 'WOFA: Remembering Sir John,' he recalled Sir John's life in public service and service of the NPP, narrating how the deceased had impacted his and the lives of other young activists growing up.



"Your legacies are written on the lives you changed. The children whose school fees you paid. The mothers whose tears you wiped away. You were indeed a Sir.



"It doesn't matter how people want to place your hard-earned name in the mud, you will continue to shine.



"The Ministry of Lands has finally spoken. As we all believed you were a man of integrity and strong moral character. You worked for and earned every penny and block. Soldier on, Sir! Continue to rest in peace. Forever in our hearts," the Old Tafo MP's post said.



Sir Johns Will dominates media reportage



Sir John's Last Will and Testament have dominated media discussions since its contents were released over the weekend, showing that he had bequeathed lands located in the Achimota Forest enclave to some beneficiaries.



The outrage also stems from the fact that the disclosures come barely a week after the government issued Executive Instrument 144, declassifying portions of the Forest Reserve.



Government said it was releasing portions of the peripherals of the forest to its custodial owners, the Owoo family of Accra.



Sir John, who also served as a one-time CEO of the Forestry Commission, died two years ago of Coronavirus.



His one-time aide, Charles Owusu, has lamented how the deceased is being dragged even in death. According to him, the truth will come out after the Ministry completes its investigations into the matter.



Read the Old Tafo MP's full tribute below:



WOFA: Remembering Sir John.



Wofa, as we all affectionately called him. The only Cocoa Krakye. The man who always remembered his roots and honoured where he came from: Sakora Woono.



Under H.E John Agyekum Kuffour, you served as the head of legal services of GNPC.



You later got appointed as acting deputy CEO of GNPC. Then you rose to become the Elephant Party's, General Secretary. It was your second bid that earned us the famous word, "AFTER GOD, FEAR DELEGATES". You got appointed as CEO of the Forestry Commission until your sudden demise.



You were not only kind, but you were patient, funny, caring and above all a leader. I remember how you use to speak to us during our young days. Of how you use to encourage us to continue working and serving the party, the people and making Ghana great.



Your legacies are written on the lives you changed. The children whose school fees you paid. The mothers whose tears you wiped away. You were indeed a Sir.



It doesn't matter how people want to place your hard-earned name in the mud, you will continue to shine. The Ministry of Lands has finally spoken. As we all believed you were a man of integrity and strong moral character. You worked for and earned every penny and block.



Soldier on, Sir! Continue to rest in peace. Forever in our hearts.

# A hero of Old Tafo.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









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Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng has been petitioned to look into the alleged state lands owned by the late Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission (FC) Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John.



Corruption Watch in a petition dated 24th May 2022 is asking the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate:



1. Whether the said lands were owned by the Republic of Ghana at the time of their alleged acquisition by

Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Jakaypros Limited, Fasoh Limited, DML Limited and Charles Owusu.



2. The circumstances of the alleged acquisition



3. The Beneficial Owners of the companies implicated in this transaction and compliance with the

reporting requirements of such persons where they are PEPs under ss. 13, 35 and 126 of the Companies

Act 2019 (Act 992)



4. Who authorized the alleged sale or purchase of the lands?



Read the full petition below

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Source: Peacefmonline.com









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RTHK: US Senate discusses gun policy after Texas shooting

Democrats and some Republicans in the US Senate have discussed tightening reviews of gun buyers following the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade, although members of both parties acknowledged action was unlikely.

There is a wide gap between the two parties, with Republicans arguing that new limits on legal gun purchases will do nothing to deter crime, despite impassioned pleas by Democratic President Joe Biden and some of his Senate colleagues to act.

"My Republican colleagues can work with us now. I know this is a slim prospect, very slim, all too slim," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech a day after a gunman killed 19 young children and two teachers at a Texas school.

Democrats control razor-thin majorities in Congress but Senate rules mean they need at least 10 Republicans to pass major legislation. That's a tall order with less than six months to go before November elections in which Republicans aim to retake the majority.

Similar debates have erupted following the many mass shootings that have occurred in the United States over the past decades, with little to no action by Congress.

Republicans Susan Collins and Pat Toomey said they had been in contact with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy about possible legislation to deny weapons to people deemed dangerous and to tighten background checks for gun purchasers.

Schumer's Republican counterpart, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, on Wednesday condemned the murderous actions of a "deranged" gunman and a "maniac" without addressing prospects for legislation.

Republican Senator Mike Rounds said that banning assault rifles or placing age restrictions on gun purchases would not have prevented the Texas shooting.

"Show us what would stop this from happening," Rounds said. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-05-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen says the flagship programmes being implemented by government  which include the Planting for Food and Jobs and One District One Factory (1D1F) initiatives  alone cannot create the millions of jobs needed to solve the countrys unemployment challenges.



The ministers warning is coming as the countrys unemployment rate almost tripled in little more than a decade, according to the Ghana Statistical Services 2021 Population and Housing Census. More than 1.55 million people, or 13.4 percent of Ghanas economically active population, are out of work  with 19.7 percent of unemployed persons being between the ages of 15 to 35 years.



Mr. Kyerematen says for the country to fix the yawning unemployment gap, theres a need for deliberate policy to support the countrys micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to play a critical role in the creation of jobs for the teeming unemployed citizens.



He was speaking at a graduation and handing-over of start-up kits to beneficiaries of the apprenticeship to entrepreneurship (A2E) component under the Mastercard Young Africa Works project last Thursday in Accra.



According to him, successful implementation of the programmes being jointly implemented by GEA and Mastercard Foundation will improve the ecosystem and boost the productivity of governments flagship programmes like 1D1F.



He said the delivery mechanisms used by GEA to implement the Young Africa Works Project took into account all the facets of youth entrepreneurship, which is focused on equipping 39,000 young men and women with dignified jobs and 70 percent being women.



In this regard, we should be grateful to the Mastercard Foundation for complementing governments efforts at training the youth in Ghana to obtain skills as well as equipping them with relevant tools to support the nations industrial transformation agenda, he said.



The minister assured that government will work hard to ensure an enabling environment is created for MSMEs to be profitable and create opportunities for others in their communities.



My ministry will continue to partner with both local and foreign organisations to create similar opportunities for MSMEs to enhance their productive capacities, he stated.



The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey  who was also speaking at the event, said the flagship programmes being implemented by government are strategies to make Ghana an industrial hub for Africa.



The long-term goal of government is to create jobs for the youth in Ghana. The successful implementation of these programmes will require the requisite human resources with relevant skill-sets, he stated.

Source: B&FT









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Under my chairmanship, we are going to work together, think together, decide together, vote together, suffer together, enjoy together, and solve our issues and differences together. This is what makes my idea different. What unites us is bigger than what divides us, we are all working for one common goal, we have a party to manage and protect to win power these were the words of an aspiring Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party(NPP).



Chairman Odeneho Kwaku Appiah (COKA) has pledged to serve the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on all fronts.



According to him, he is going to serve as the chairman for the entire Ashanti Region and not only Kumasi should delegate give him the mandate.



Speaking at a press briefing today, ahead of the NPP Regional Executives Elections on Friday, COKA stated that Im not going to be a chairman for Kumasi; Im going to be a chairman for Ashanti Region.



He stated that he is going to work hand in hand with all party members, thus from the grassroots to the top.

Speaking directly to the NPP delegates, Odeneho said; Delegates, if you want practical and reasonable help, instead of empty words: this is the idea for you, then COKA is the man.



"Delegates!!!! If you want a leader with vision, passion, devotion, hard work, and love, Vote for COKA. If you want promises you can trust, then COKA."



"Delegates, my leadership will show you love and respect, I will not abandon you, I will not leave you to your own resources; I will not stand taller than you. I will do whatever I think is right, not what my mind directs me.

My opponents may have (maybe) good ideas, but can they deliver?



We have a party to manage and protect to win power  Odeneho Kwaku Appiah



Delegate, under my leadership we will always think about the future for all, I will bring hope alive to the party, make our dreams come true, and meet the ambition of the party.



Delegates, you need to make the right decision now, the right choice now for our future generation in Ashanti Region as a whole.



Delegates, in building the future, I will do my best to fight with all my strength, energy, and resources to work with you to achieve our party goals and objectives. The vote from Ashanti Region is important for our party, lets not underestimate this, we need a strong, competent, confident strategic, and wise leader like myself to lead the region.



Delegates, I will use my energy, skills, and resources to deliver the best to achieve lasting results. I am passionate about uplifting the party better than we found it now.



COKA as hes widely known said he believes the future will be progressive; progress he said isnt a promise but a plan to salvage the party from its lost glory.



The fight is for our lives  and it is the fight for our future. I have faith in the delegates and our party members.



I am confident that, together, we can make the future of our beloved party brighter; and can be both sustained and shared, he added.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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As the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) commence its Regional elections from this Friday, May 27, 2022, the former General Secretary of the Convention People's Party (CPP), James Kwabena Bomfeh, has issued a stern warning to the leadership of the party.



The NPP is holding their internal elections to elect Regional executives and will subsequently have their national elections where the party will select its national executives before it finalizes its electioneering year with the election of a flagbearer ahead of the 2024 general elections.



The party recently conducted its constituency elections but were characterized by misunderstandings and some pockets of violent confrontations by the delegates as they accused their leaders of foul play.



With the NPP going into its Regional elections, James Kwabena Bomfeh, popularly called Kabila, has called on the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to address the grievances of the party delegates.



"Mr. President, listen to the concerns in your party because it's affecting your governance."



He reminded the party of its role in securing a multiparty democratic rule in Ghana, hence warning them not to do anything to jeopardize their track record in the country's political space.



"You have salvaged the nation for multiparty democracy to thrive. Don't joke with it!", he cautioned.



Kabila, speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme, urged the leadership to be sincere with the party members stressing "be very careful, NPP! Tell yourselves the truth".







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs has sent his well-wishes to all the candidates contesting the Ashanti Regional Chairman position of the New Patriotic Party.



The New Patroitic Party (NPP) will from Friday, May 27 to Sunday, May 29, 2022 hold its Regional elections across all the 16 Regions of the country to elect Regional executives.



Speaking in an interview with Kumasi-based radio station, Fox 97.9FM, ahead of the Regional elections and dwelling on the Ashanti Regional elections, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu was asked to pitch for his favorite candidate.



In his submissions, he stated emphatically that all the aspirants are his favorites explaining he has a close and solid relationship with them, hence subtly avoiding the temptation to pick one for the delegates.



The aspirants for the Ashanti Regional Chairmanship include Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi; the current Chairman of the Ashanti Region, Odeneho Kwaku Appiah; a former Chairman of the Afigya Kwabre constituency, Kwabena Owusu Aduomi; former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ejisu constituency, Robert Asare-Bediako; former Asokwa Chairman of the New Patriotic Party among others.



All these candidates have well-served the party in their various capacities, thus the Ashanti Regional election is anticipated to be a tight contest.



As an experienced Member of Parliament and a leading member of the NPP, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu noted that each of the candidates stand a good chance of winning the contest.



"Some people say Chairman Wontumi has done eight years, having practiced with the system, he has the foresight for what we have to transform and lead us because he is in the room and knows our shortcomings, therefore can help us to move forward. Some people also say it appears his energy has waned, so we should look for a fresh blood to continue his reign.



"A fresh blood like Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, some people are rooting for him. Others also say he (Chairman Wontumi) has done his part and if we want to change him, then we should search for an elderly person like Asare Bediako who is the Chairman of Asokwa for a long time, another person is Owusu Aduomi who is the Ejisu MP; very experienced Member of Parliament...All these nine people are my friends...I'm in good terms with all of them. I know their strengths and as they are campaigning, what I will tell them is they should sell what their capabilities", he said.



Although he was fascinated by the hardwork of Chairman Wontumi as he stated that "he (Wontumi) did a lot to revive the grassroots and has seen the party win two successive elections", the Majority Leader however made it crystal clear that no one person is better than the other, as a result, wishing for the best candidate to win the elections.



"All of them have their pluses and, as human as they are, they have their minuses too. So, people should weigh them and make their choice", he emphasized.









Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Detail from an illustration of Genyornis being chased from its nest by a Megalania lizard in prehistoric Australia. Credit: Peter Trusler

Proteins extracted from fragments of prehistoric eggshell found in the Australian sands confirm that the continent's earliest humans consumed the eggs of a two-meter tall bird that disappeared into extinction over 47,000 years ago.

Burn marks discovered on scraps of ancient shell several years ago suggested the first Australians cooked and ate large eggs from a long-extinct birdleading to fierce debate over the species that laid them.

Now, an international team led by scientists from the universities of Cambridge and Turin have placed the animal on the evolutionary tree by comparing the protein sequences from powdered egg fossils to those encoded in the genomes of living avian species.

"Time, temperature and the chemistry of a fossil all dictate how much information we can glean," said senior co-author Prof Matthew Collins from the University of Cambridge's Department of Archaeology.

"Eggshells are made of mineral crystals that can tightly trap some proteins, preserving this biological data in the harshest of environmentspotentially for millions of years."

According to findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the ancient eggs came from Genyornis: a huge flightless "mihirung"or "Thunder Bird"with tiny wings and massive legs that roamed prehistoric Australia, possibly in flocks.

The only almost complete Genyornis eggshell ever found. Located by N. Spooner, collected by G Miller, South Australia. Four puncture holes on the egg confirm it was predated by a scavenger marsupial. Credit: Gifford H. Miller

Fossil records show that Genyornis stood over two meters tall, weighed between 220-240 kilograms, and laid melon-sized eggs of around 1.5 kg. It was among the Australian "mega-fauna" to vanish a few thousand years after humans arrived, suggesting people played a role in its extinction.

The earliest "robust" date for the arrival of humans to Australia is some 65,000 years ago. Burnt eggshells from the previously unconfirmed species all date to around 50 to 55 thousand years agonot long before Genyornis is thought to have gone extinctby which time humans had spread across most of the continent.

"There is no evidence of Genyornis butchery in the archaeological record. However, eggshell fragments with unique burn patterns consistent with human activity have been found at different places across the continent," said senior co-author Prof Gifford Miller from the University of Colorado.

"This implies that the first humans did not necessarily hunt these enormous birds, but did routinely raid nests and steal their giant eggs for food," he said. "Overexploitation of the eggs by humans may well have contributed to Genyornis extinction."

While Genyornis was always a contender for the mystery egg-layer, some scientists argued thatdue to shell shape and thicknessa more likely candidate was the Progura or "giant malleefowl": another extinct bird, much smaller, weighing around 5-7 kg and akin to a large turkey.

Genyornis eggshell recently exposed by wind erosion of sand dune in which it was buried, South Australia. Credit: Gifford H. Miller

The initial ambition was to put the debate to bed by pulling ancient DNA from pieces of shell, but genetic material had not sufficiently survived the hot Australian climate.

Miller turned to researchers at Cambridge and Turin to explore a relatively new technique for extracting a different type of "biomolecule": protein.

While not as rich in hereditary data, the scientists were able to compare the sequences in ancient proteins to those of living species using a vast new database of biological material: the Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) project.

"The Progura was related to today's megapodes, a group of birds in the galliform lineage, which also contains ground-feeders such as chickens and turkeys," said study first author Prof Beatrice Demarchi from the University of Turin.

"We found that the bird responsible for the mystery eggs emerged prior to the galliform lineage, enabling us to rule out the Progura hypothesis. This supports the implication that the eggs eaten by early Australians were laid by Genyornis."

Eggshell fragments from an ancient nest in South Australia. The mass of eggshell collected within one meter squared is equivalent to around 12 whole eggs. Credit: Gifford H. Miller

The 50,000-year-old eggshell tested for the study came from the archaeological site of Wood Point in South Australia, but Prof Miller has previously shown that similar burnt shells can be found at hundreds of sites on the far western Ningaloo coast.

The researchers point out that the Genyornis egg exploitation behavior of the first Australians likely mirrors that of early humans with ostrich eggs, the shells of which have been unearthed at archaeological sites across Africa dating back at least 100,000 years.

Prof Collins added that "while ostriches and humans have co-existed throughout prehistory, the levels of exploitation of Genyornis eggs by early Australians may have ultimately proved more than the reproductive strategies of these extraordinary birds could bear."

Explore further A case of mistaken identity for Australia's extinct big bird

More information: Beatrice Demarchi et al, Ancient proteins resolve controversy over the identity of Genyornis eggshell, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Beatrice Demarchi et al, Ancient proteins resolve controversy over the identity of Genyornis eggshell,(2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2109326119
Global impacts of slower silica dissolution under OA. a, Differences in the global vertical distribution of Si(OH) 4 (zonally averaged for the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean), including a depiction of the OA-driven downward transport of Si and its trapping in the deep ocean. AABW, Antarctic bottom water; AAIW, Antarctic intermediate water; CDW, circumpolar deep water; NADW, North Atlantic deep water; NPDW, North Pacific deep water; SAMW, sub-Antarctic mode water. b, OA effect on global diatom biomass under RCP8.5 and RCP6.0 emission scenarios. c, Spatial distribution of the difference in diatom biomass. Results show the net effect of the OA-driven slowdown of silica dissolution ( OA ), given as the difference to the standard model configuration (that is, including impacts of climate change, but excluding OA effects on Si dissolution). Panels a and c show results from year 2200 of the RCP8.5 simulation. Credit: Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04687-0

While calcifying organisms like oysters and corals have difficulty forming their shells and skeletons in more acidic seawater, diatoms have been considered less susceptible to the effects of ocean acidificationa chemical change triggered by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). The globally widespread tiny diatoms use silica, a compound of silicon, oxygen and hydrogen, as a building material for their shells. That diatoms are nevertheless under threat has now been demonstrated for the first time by researchers from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited New Zealand and the University of Tasmania in a study published in Nature. For the study, researchers linked an overarching analysis of various data sources with Earth system modeling. The findings provide a new assessment of the global impact of ocean acidification.

As a result of ocean acidification, the silicon shells of diatoms dissolve more slowly. This is not an advantageit causes diatoms to sink into deeper water layers, before they chemically dissolve and are converted back into silica. Consequently, this nutrient is more efficiently exported to the deep ocean and thus becomes scarcer in the light-flooded surface layer, where it is needed to form new shells. This causes a decline in diatoms, according to the scientists in their recent publication. Diatoms contribute 40 percent of the production of plant biomass in the ocean and are the basis of many marine food webs. They are also the main driver of the biological carbon pump that transports CO 2 into the deep ocean for long-term storage.

Dr. Jan Taucher, marine biologist at GEOMAR and first author of the study, says, "With an overarching analysis of field experiments and observational data, we wanted to find out how ocean acidification affects diatoms on a global scale. Our current understanding of ecological effects of ocean change is largely based on small-scale experiments; that is, from a particular place at a particular time. These findings can be deceptive if the complexity of the Earth system is not taken into account. Our study uses diatoms as an example to show how small-scale effects can lead to ocean-wide changes with unforeseen and far-reaching consequences for marine ecosystems and matter cycles. Since diatoms are one of the most important plankton groups in the ocean, their decline could lead to a significant shift in the marine food web or even a change for the ocean as a carbon sink."

Biological oceanographer Jan Taucher is working on a mesocosm. Mesocosms are a type of large-volume, oversized test tube in the ocean with a capacity of tens of thousands of liters, in which changes in environmental conditions can be studied in a closed but otherwise natural ecosystem. Credit: Ulf Riebesell / GEOMAR

The meta-analysis examined data from five mesocosm studies from 2010 to 2014, from different ocean regions ranging from Arctic to subtropical waters. Mesocosms are a type of large-volume, oversized test tube in the ocean with a capacity of tens of thousands of liters, in which changes in environmental conditions can be studied in a closed but otherwise natural ecosystem. For this purpose, the water enclosed in the mesocosms was enriched in carbon dioxide to correspond to future scenarios with moderate to high increases in atmospheric CO 2 levels. For the present study, the chemical composition of organic material from sediment traps was evaluated as it sank through the water contained in the experimental containers over the course of several weeks of experiments. Combined with measurements from the water column, an accurate picture of biogeochemical processes within the ecosystem emerged.

The findings obtained from the mesocosm studies could be confirmed using global observational data from the open ocean. They showin line with the results of the meta-analysisa lower dissolution of the silicon shells at higher seawater acidity. With the resulting data sets, simulations were performed in an Earth system model to assess the ocean-wide consequences of the observed trends.

"Already by the end of this century, we expect a loss of up to ten percent of diatoms. That's immense when you consider how important they are to life in the ocean and to the climate system," Dr. Taucher continued. "However, it is important to think beyond 2100. Climate change will not stop abruptly, and global effects in particular take some time to become clearly visible. Depending on the amount of emissions, our model in the study predicts a loss of up to 27 percent silica in surface waters and an ocean-wide decline in diatoms of up to 26 percent by the year 2200more than a quarter of the current population."

This finding of the study is in sharp contrast to the previous state of ocean research, which sees calcifying organisms as losers and diatoms being less affected by ocean acidification. Professor Ulf Riebesell, marine biologist at GEOMAR and head of the mesocosm experiments, adds, "This study once again highlights the complexity of the Earth system and the associated difficulty in predicting the consequences of man-made climate change in its entirety. Surprises of this kind remind us again and again of the incalculable risks we run if we do not counteract climate change swiftly and decisively."

Explore further Study examines the effects of ocean acidification on phytoplankton's energy stores

More information: Jan Taucher et al, Enhanced silica export in a future ocean triggers global diatom decline, Nature (2022). Journal information: Nature Jan Taucher et al, Enhanced silica export in a future ocean triggers global diatom decline,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04687-0
Left: best-fit temperature from 10 to 50 K vs. lookback time from a sample of 139,535 COSMOS2015 galaxies with S/N > 10 in the V band (Laigle et al. 2016). At each redshift, the distribution is individually normalized in order to emphasize the temperature distribution at all redshifts. With increased redshift, fewer galaxies are fit at lower temperatures. Right: boxcar-smoothed mean with standard deviation of best-fit gas temperature at different lookback times (with mean determined from objects in 2 Gyr width age bins and not including galaxies fit at the bounds of temperature range). The mean temperature increases from 28 to 36 K from present to 12 Gyr, while the spread decreases. Credit: The European Physical Journal E (2022). DOI: 10.1140/epje/s10189-022-00183-5

A team of University of Copenhagen astrophysicists has arrived at a major result regarding star populations beyond the Milky Way. The result could change our understanding of a wide range of astronomical phenomena, including the formation of black holes, supernovae and why galaxies die.

For as long as humans have studied the heavens, how stars look in distant galaxies has been a mystery. In a study published today in The Astrophysical Journal, a team of researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute is challenging previous understandings of stars beyond our own galaxy.

Since 1955, it has been assumed that the composition of stars in the universe's other galaxies is similar to that of the hundreds of billions of stars within our owna mixture of massive, medium mass and low mass stars. But with the help of observations from 140,000 galaxies across the universe and a wide range of advanced models, the team has tested whether the same distribution of stars apparent in the Milky Way applies elsewhere. The answer is no. Stars in distant galaxies are typically more massive than those in our "local neighborhood." The finding has a major impact on what we think we know about the universe.

"The mass of stars tells us astronomers a lot. If you change mass, you also change the number of supernovae and black holes that arise out of massive stars. As such, our result means that we'll have to revise many of the things we once presumed, because distant galaxies look quite different from our own," says Albert Sneppen, a graduate student at the Niels Bohr Institute and first author of the study.

Analyzed light from 140,000 galaxies

Researchers assumed that the size and weight of stars in other galaxies was similar to our own for more than fifty years, for the simple reason that they were unable to observe them through a telescope, as they could with the stars of our own galaxy.

Distant galaxies are billions of light-years away. As a result, only light from their most powerful stars ever reaches Earth. This has been a headache for researchers around the world for years, as they could never accurately clarify how stars in other galaxies were distributed, an uncertainty that forced them to believe that they were distributed much like the stars in our Milky Way.

"We've only been able to see the tip of the iceberg and known for a long time that expecting other galaxies to look like our own was not a particularly good assumption to make. However, no one has ever been able to prove that other galaxies form different populations of stars. This study has allowed us to do just that, which may open the door for a deeper understanding of galaxy formation and evolution," says Associate Professor Charles Steinhardt, a co-author of the study.

In the study, the researchers analyzed light from 140,000 galaxies using the COSMOS catalog, a large international database of more than one million observations of light from other galaxies. These galaxies are distributed from the nearest to farthest reaches of the universe, from which light has traveled a full twelve billion years before being observable on Earth.

Massive galaxies die first

According to the researchers, the new discovery will have a wide range of implications. For example, it remains unresolved why galaxies die and stop forming new stars. The new result suggests that this might be explained by a simple trend.

"Now that we are better able to decode the mass of stars, we can see a new pattern; the least massive galaxies continue to form stars, while the more massive galaxies stop birthing new stars. This suggests a remarkably universal trend in the death of galaxies," concludes Sneppen.

Explore further Early universe bristled with starburst galaxies
Drones spraying pesticide, sensors taking soil readings, sprinklers that squirt fertiliser at the touch of a buttona Malaysian plantation is using high-tech methods to boost its crop of pungent durians.

Grown across Southeast Asia, fans hail the spiky durian as the "king of fruit" due to its bittersweet flavours and creamy golden flesh, and it is particularly popular in China.

But to its detractors it is the world's smelliest fruit, with an overpowering stench like rotting food that has seen it banned in hotels and on public transport across the region.

In a competitive market, Malaysian grower Top Fruits Plantations has turned to high-tech methods to lift its output.

"It's a much faster way to get more consistent results," managing director Tan Sue Sian told AFP during a recent tour of one of the company's plantations in Batu Pahat, southern Johor state.

Using technology allows farmers to gauge more precisely how much fertiliser and water the trees need, he said.

"When you give what is needed, the fruit will be much more consistent. The shape will be better, and the aroma will be better," added Tan, who has more than 30 years' experience growing durians.

Sensors essential

Key in the drive are sensors spread across 400 acres (160 hectares) of Top Fruits' 700-acre Batu Pahat plantation, relaying data on soil quality and content to workers' handheld devices.

The sensors are boxes mounted on poles, connected to the soil with a series of cables. By 2024, the entire plantation should be kitted out with them.

Sprinklers attached to a network of pipes are remotely activated to spray fertiliser onto the trees, while drones hover over the plantation squirting pesticide.

Such methods are unheard of on Malaysian durian farms, where growers typically rely on a large labour force, instinct and educated guesses.

The investment has been heftyTop Fruits has spent about four million ringgit ($900,000) over the past three years on the technology.

But it has led to an increase in yields of 40 percent, while its workforce has shrunk by 30 percent.

The company is now able to produce 800 tonnes of durians from its farms every year, with more than 80 percent of its crop frozen in factories to be exported overseas, much of it to China.

In a bid to further boost their crop, Top Fruits is getting into research by setting up a lab and collaborating with local universities.

 2022 AFP
Artist impression of gate operations on logical quantum bits, that are protected from faults by means of quantum error correction. Credit: Johannes Knunz

In modern computers, errors during processing and storage of information have become a rarity due to high-quality fabrication. However, for critical applications, where even single errors can have serious effects, error correction mechanisms based on redundancy of the processed data are still used.

Quantum computers are inherently much more susceptible to disturbances and will thus probably always require error correction mechanisms, because otherwise errors will propagate uncontrolled in the system and information will be lost. Because the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics forbid copying quantum information, redundancy can be achieved by distributing logical quantum information into an entangled state of several physical systems, for example multiple individual atoms.

The team led by Thomas Monz of the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck and Markus Muller of RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Julich in Germany has now succeeded for the first time in realizing a set of computational operations on two logical quantum bits that can be used to implement any possible operation. "For a real-world quantum computer, we need a universal set of gates with which we can program all algorithms," explains Lukas Postler, an experimental physicist from Innsbruck.

Fundamental quantum operation realized

The team of researchers implemented this universal gate set on an ion trap quantum computer featuring 16 trapped atoms. The quantum information was stored in two logical quantum bits, each distributed over seven atoms.

Now, for the first time, it has been possible to implement two computational gates on these fault-tolerant quantum bits, which are necessary for a universal set of gates: a computational operation on two quantum bits (a CNOT gate) and a logical T gate, which is particularly difficult to implement on fault-tolerant quantum bits.

"T gates are very fundamental operations," explains theoretical physicist Markus Muller. "They are particularly interesting because quantum algorithms without T gates can be simulated relatively easily on classical computers, negating any possible speed-up. This is no longer possible for algorithms with T gates." The physicists demonstrated the T-gate by preparing a special state in a logical quantum bit and teleporting it to another quantum bit via an entangled gate operation.

Fundamental building blocks for fault-tolerant quantum computing demonstrated. Credit: Uni Innsbruck/Harald Ritsch

Complexity increases, but accuracy also

In encoded logical quantum bits, the stored quantum information is protected from errors. But this is useless without computational operations and these operations are themselves error-prone.

The researchers have implemented operations on the logical qubits in such a way that errors caused by the underlying physical operations can also be detected and corrected. Thus, they have implemented the first fault-tolerant implementation of a universal set of gates on encoded logical quantum bits.

"The fault-tolerant implementation requires more operations than non-fault-tolerant operations. This will introduce more errors on the scale of single atoms, but nevertheless the experimental operations on the logical qubits are better than non-fault-tolerant logical operations," Thomas Monz is pleased to report. "The effort and complexity increase, but the resulting quality is better." The researchers also checked and confirmed their experimental results using numerical simulations on classical computers.

The physicists have now demonstrated all the building blocks for fault-tolerant computing on a quantum computer. The task now is to implement these methods on larger and hence more useful quantum computers. The methods demonstrated in Innsbruck on an ion trap quantum computer can also be used on other architectures for quantum computers.

The research was published in Nature.

Explore further Error-protected quantum bits entangled for the first time

More information: Philipp Schindler et al, Demonstration of fault-tolerant universal quantum gate operations, Nature (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04721-1 Journal information: Nature Philipp Schindler et al, Demonstration of fault-tolerant universal quantum gate operations,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04721-1
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Infrasound waves can probe some of the most complex weather patterns hidden to normal observations, but finding a powerful enough source of infrasound waves can be a challenge unless there is a munitions factory nearby.

During the 182nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Stephen Arrowsmith, from Southern Methodist University, will discuss a method for using infrasound pulses from detonated munitions to probe atmospheric phenomena. His presentation, "The use of infrasound from repeating explosion sequences in Oklahoma to probe the atmosphere," will take place May 25 at 10:55 a.m. Eastern U.S. at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel.

Infrasound waves are acoustic waves at frequencies too low for humans to hear, but they can be invaluable for studying atmospheric phenomena. One example is gravity waves, which are small-scale waves in the atmosphere driven by buoyancy. These waves are small and transient, making them challenging to study with traditional methods. Infrasound waves have the speed and resolution to track those gravity waves.

"The sound that we record propagates upward into the atmosphere and is refracted back down to the ground," said Arrowsmith. "The information they provide on the upper atmosphere can tell us about the winds aloft, and these can affect the weather at the ground."

These infrasound waves need to be strong enough to reach the atmosphere and bounce back, which requires a sizeable source. Fortunately for Arrowsmith, an Oklahoma munitions factory routinely sets off large explosions multiple times per day. He and his team set up detectors in the area around the factory to measure infrasound reflections from the troposphere and stratosphere.

They were able to use the data to study short-term atmospheric fluctuations and tie those fluctuations to gravity waves and other events. They then compared their data across multiple days to study longer-term trends and compare those to meteorological models.

Arrowsmith intends this result to serve as a demonstration of the power of infrasound to probe the atmosphere and study some of its more elusive elements. He hopes infrasound could one day be used as a tool to better understand and predict weather patterns.

Explore further Outside Oz, GLINDA reports on tornado acoustics
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

When something goes wrong in mitochondria, the tiny organelles that power cells, it can cause a bewildering variety of symptoms such as poor growth, fatigue and weakness, seizures, developmental and cognitive disabilities, and vision problems. The culprit could be a defect in any of the 1,300 or so proteins that make up mitochondria, but scientists have very little idea what many of those proteins do, making it difficult to identify the faulty protein and treat the condition.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of WisconsinMadison systematically analyzed dozens of mitochondrial proteins of unknown function and suggested functions for many of them. Using these data as a starting point, they identified the genetic causes of three mitochondrial diseases and proposed another 20 possibilities for further investigation. The findings, published May 25 in Nature, indicate that understanding how mitochondria's hundreds of proteins work together to generate power and perform the organelles' other functions could be a promising path to finding better ways to diagnose and treat such conditions.

"We have a parts list for mitochondria, but we don't know what many of the parts do," said co-senior author David J. Pagliarini, Ph.D., the Hugo F. and Ina C. Urbauer Professor and a BJC Investigator at Washington University. "It's similar to if you had a problem with your car, and you brought it to a mechanic, and upon opening the hood they said, 'We've never seen half of these parts before.' They wouldn't know how to fix it. This study is an attempt to define the functions of as many of those mitochondrial parts as we can so we have a better understanding of what happens when they don't work and, ultimately, a better chance at devising therapeutics to rectify those problems."

Mitochondrial diseases are a group of rare genetic conditions that collectively affect one in every 4,300 people. Since mitochondria provide energy for almost all cells, people with defects in their mitochondria can have symptoms in any part of the body, although the symptoms tend to be most pronounced in the tissues that require the most energy, such as the heart, brain and muscles.

To better understand how mitochondria work, Pagliarini teamed up with colleagues, including co-senior author Joshua J. Coon, Ph.D., a UW-Madison professor of biomolecular chemistry & chemistry and an investigator with the Morgridge Institute for Research; and co-first authors Jarred W. Rensvold, Ph.D., a former staff scientist in Pagliarini's lab, and Evgenia Shishkova, Ph.D., a staff scientist in Coon's lab, to identify the functions of as many mitochondrial proteins as possible.

The researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to remove individual genes from a human cell line. The procedure created a set of related cell lines, each derived from the same original cell line but with a single gene deleted. The missing genes coded for 50 mitochondrial proteins of unknown function and 66 mitochondrial proteins with known functions.

Then, they examined each cell line for clues to the role each missing gene normally plays in keeping the mitochondria running properly. The researchers monitored the cells' growth rates and quantified the levels of 8,433 proteins, 3,563 lipids and 218 metabolites for each cell line. They used the data to build the MITOMICS (mitochondrial orphan protein multi-omics CRISPR screen) app, equipping it with tools to analyze and identify the biological processes that faltered when a specific protein went missing.

After validating the approach with mitochondrial proteins of known function, the researchers proposed possible biological roles for many mitochondrial proteins of unknown function. With further investigation, they were able to tie three proteins to three separate mitochondrial conditions.

"It is very exciting to see how our mass spectrometry technology platform can generate data on this scale but more importantly, data that can directly help us to understand human disease," Coon said.

One condition is a multisystemic disorder caused by defects in the main energy-producing pathway. Co-author Robert Taylor, Ph.D., DSc, a professor of mitochondrial pathology at Newcastle University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K., identified a patient with clear signs of the disorder but no mutations in the usual suspect genes. The researchers identified a new gene in the pathway and showed that the patient carried a mutation in it.

Separately, Pagliarini and colleagues noticed that disrupting one gene, RAB5IF, eliminated a protein encoded by a different gene, TMCO1, that has been linked to cerebrofaciothoracic dysplasia. The condition is characterized by distinctive facial features and severe intellectual disability. In collaboration with co-author Nurten Akarsu, Ph.D., a professor of human genetics at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey, the researchers showed that a mutation in RAB5IF was responsible for one case of cerebrofaciothoracic dysplasia and two cases of cleft lip in one Turkish family.

A third gene, when disrupted, led to problems with sugar storage, contributing to a fatal autoinflammatory syndrome. Data regarding that syndrome were published last year in a paper led by Bruno Reversade, Ph.D., of A*STAR, Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research.

"We focused primarily on the three conditions, but we found data connecting about 20 other proteins to biological pathways or processes," said Pagliarini, a professor of cell biology & physiology, of biochemistry & molecular biophysics and of genetics. "We can't chase down 20 stories in one paper, but we made hypotheses and put them out there for us and others to test."

To aid scientific discovery, Pagliarini, Coon and colleagues have made the MITOMICS app available to the public. They built in several user-friendly analysis tools so anyone can look for patterns and create plots just by clicking around. All of the data can be downloaded for more advanced analysis.

"The hope is that this large dataset becomes one of a number in the field that collectively help us to devise better biomarkers and diagnostics for mitochondrial diseases," Pagliarini said. "Every time we discover a function of a new protein, it gives us a new opportunity to target a pathway therapeutically. Our long-term goal is to understand mitochondria at sufficient depth to be able to intervene therapeutically, which we can't do yet."

Explore further Yeast knockouts peel back secrets of cell protein function

More information: David Pagliarini, Defining mitochondrial protein functions through deep multiomic profiling, Nature (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04765-3 Journal information: Nature David Pagliarini, Defining mitochondrial protein functions through deep multiomic profiling,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04765-3
Three-dimensional reconstruction of the skull of a Letter-winged Kite, with the brain reconstructed in purple. Credit: Dr Vera Weisbecker, Flinders University.

Australia's Letter-winged kite may not be any better at seeing in the dark than its closest, day-hunting relatives.

An international study led by Flinders University's Weisbecker Lab has revealed that the rarely-observed kite's visual system is no different to that of its close relatives that are active during the day, challenging many decades of speculation that the Letter-winged Kite might be becoming more like an owl than a hawk.

"Letter-winged kites hunt at night and must be able to navigate obstacles in the dark while tracking down their favorite prey, the Long-tailed Rat," says Assoc. Prof. Vera Weisbecker.

"It has therefore long been speculated that their visual system shows adaptations for seeing in the dark, and particularly that they are similar to owls in having larger eyes than other hawks, and larger image processing centers in the brain. However, we found that this wasn't the case."

Dr. Karine Mardon, from The National Imaging Facility at The University of Queensland Centre for Advanced Imaging, scanned the skull of most of the birds of prey included in the study, using computed tomography (CT scanning).

First author and Ph.D. student in the Weisbecker lab, Aubrey Keirnan, then compared 3D reconstructions of the Letter-winged Kite's skull and brain with that other birds of prey.

"Contrary to many anectodal reports, the dimensions of the eye of letter-winged kites were no different to two closely related kites from the same genusthe black-shouldered and the black-winged kites."

"But there was a twist in the story: We realized that all three kite species had larger orbits relative to their optic foramen, the hole in the back of orbit that the optic nerve passes through. This is often seen in in nocturnal birds, where a small number of nerves relay a lot of input from the eye into a high-contrast, low-resolution image."

A Letter-winged kite flying at daylight. Credit: Michael Jury

"This suggests all Elanus kites may be pretty good at seeing in the dark and not too good at seeing in daylightbut for some reason, only the letter-winged kite has made the move into a nocturnal lifestyle."

Dr. Weisbecker says this might also explain many reports that the Letter-winged kite is particularly active during moonlit nights.

"It might not actually be very good at flying in the total dark, unlike many owls."

Dr. Andrew Iwaniuk, from the University of Lethbridge (Canada), who-co-led the study, says the use of anatomical observations to infer the species' behavior was an innovative approach to understand a bird that is notoriously difficult to observe in the wild.

"The species lives in remote arid Australia, avoids human settlements and is highly elusive. Population estimates vary between 670 and 6700 individuals according to the IUCN, and it is currently listed as near-threatened. To conserve the species, it is critical that we understand its behavioral needs and capabilities, but they are extremely difficult to observe."

"We are extremely lucky to have Australia's amazing museum collections at our disposal to help us understand this bird without the need to find and disturb the species. For example, the letter-winged-kite, and its relatives, might be impacted differently by artificial light sources than other hawks."

Dr. Jeroen Smaers, from Stony Brook University (US), notes that "this study perfectly exemplifies how studying variation across many species enlightens our understanding of individual species; an approach that is starting to show its contributions to animal conservation."

Ms Keirnan adds that their "work on the letter-winged kite is really just the beginning. Our measurements showed that many other birds of prey are quite unique in one aspect or other of their visual system. I am excited to spend my Ph.D. on delving further into how measurement of the visual system can help in the understanding and management of other birds."

The research was published in Royal Society Open Science.

Explore further Mysterious Australian Night Parrots may not see in the dead of night

More information: Aubrey Keirnan et al, Not like night and day: the nocturnal letter-winged kite does not differ from diurnal congeners in orbit or endocast morphology, Royal Society Open Science (2022). Journal information: Royal Society Open Science Aubrey Keirnan et al, Not like night and day: the nocturnal letter-winged kite does not differ from diurnal congeners in orbit or endocast morphology,(2022). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220135
Analysts say that the decision of the Indian government to ban wheat exports will deny farmers and traders the opportunity to earn from the global market. Credit: Yann Forget (CC BY-SA 3.0)

India's ban on wheat exports has denied the country's farmers and traders an opportunity to earn money from the sale of wheat in the global market that is currently facing shortages of the prime staple as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine, say analysts.

India produced an estimated 107.9 million metric tons of the grain in 20202021, second only to China with 134.3 million metric tons. Russia came in third with 85.4 million metric tons.

Farmers' hopes were raised when the government announced on 12 May plans to export 10 million metric tons of wheat during 20222023 and identified Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon, Morocco, Philippines, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and Vietnam among potential buyers.

But two days later, the trade department under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry did an about-turn by issuing a notification restricting wheat exports except through government channels and where private traders had already contracted export deals.

"Raising expectations of making good the global supply shortfall and then back-tracking creates a real problem," said Biswajit Dhar, professor and head of the Centre for WTO Studies, New Delhi. "Trade channels seek reliable suppliers for good reasons and India's credibility would therefore take a hitfuture exports could be affected as a result."

During a press conference on 14 May, Commerce Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, explained that the export restrictions would help domestic food security and as well as neighboring and vulnerable countries. Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are among neighboring countries that receive wheat from India.

Subrahmanyam said the restrictions could be lifted "if the global supply and demand is the same and once cooling (of prices) happens."

India's ban on wheat exports drew criticism from the Group of Seven (G7) countries with German food and agriculture minister Cem Ozdemir saying at a press conference in Stuttgart on 20 May that if countries begin imposing export restrictions it could only worsen shortages.

While the bulk of India's wheat production is consumed locally, the country has increasing presence in the global markets. In the 20212022 financial year India exported 7.85 million metric tons of the grain which was more than four times the 2.1 million metric tons exported in the preceding fiscal year.

Dhar said it was interesting that China has defended India's move to control wheat exports. "Blaming India won't solve the food problem, although there is no denying that India's move to stop its wheat exports may push up wheat prices a little bit," Global Times, the Chinese government-controlled portal said on 15 May. "Why won't the G7 nations themselves move to stabilize food market supply by hiking their exports?"

There were other compelling reasons that prompted the government to restrict wheat exports. "Private traders, sensing the rise in global prices of wheat, were suddenly buying up stocks at rates higher than the government's minimum support price," said Devinder Sharma, food and policy analyst and founder member of Kisan Ekta Morcha, an umbrella organization for more than 65 farmers' groups.

Sharma said past experience had shown that allowing free trade helps traders rather than farmers or consumers. "There were times when traders mopped up so much grain that the government had to import wheat at twice the price at which it had been exported months earlier."

Said Dhar: "Given the nature of India's agricultural markets and the stranglehold of traders, it is unlikely that exports would have directly benefited the farmers. Unless farmers are more organized and develop better bargaining power, they would have difficulties in taking advantage of the favorable circumstances in the international market."

The main government constraint is that it is committed to providing some 800 million Indians highly subsidized food grains under the National Food Security Act. Each beneficiary is entitled to five kilograms of grains per month at Rupees 3 (US$0.039) per kilogram for rice and Rupees 2 (US$0.013) per kilogram for wheat.

Sharma said it was important for the government to maintain large buffer stocks, or public stockholding, against unpredictable events like monsoon failures or the recent heat waves which affected harvests. "During the pandemic, India could distribute subsidized grain only because bumper harvests over the last five years had allowed the building of 50 million metric tons of surplus stock."

"What we are actually staring at is a failure of policy arising from lack of reliable data systems with different ministries unable to coordinate with each other," said Kavitha Kuruganti, leader of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture, a national network that promotes farmers' rights and food security.

"Farmers and traders need a predictable policy environment. Also, there should be no mid-way changes in export-import policies between sowing season and marketing," Kuruganti said.

"Right now, the government could offer a bonus over the minimum support price," she said. "That way, enough stocks can be ensured for poor consumers, while not penalizing farmers who have been waiting for higher prices from exports but lost out thanks to ad-hoc decision-making and policy flip-flops."

A mega policy flip-flop happened when the government was forced by striking farmers to repeal in November 2021 laws aimed at freeing up controls on the marketing of farm produce and doing away with the minimum support price for commodities that had become a budgetary burden.

Provided by SciDev.Net
Credit: Tara Gatehouse

An AIDS-like virus plaguing Australia's koala population is leaving them more vulnerable to chlamydia and other threatening health conditions, University of Queensland research has found.

One of UQ's leading COVID-19 vaccine researchers, Associate Professor Keith Chappell, has discovered that the chlamydia epidemic plaguing endangered koala populations in Queensland and NSW is linked to a common virus that likely suppresses koalas' immune systems.

Dr. Chappell and Dr. Michaela Blyton, from UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, made this discovery after studying more than 150 koalas admitted to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.

Dr. Chappell said this study could have far reaching impacts and lead to better protective measures like breeding programs and new anti-viral medications.

"We know Queensland and NSW koala populations are heavily impacted by chlamydia infections and a retrovirus, but until now a clear link between the two has not been conclusively established," Professor Chappell said.

"Our research has found that the amount of retrovirus circulating within an animal's blood was strongly associated with chlamydia and symptoms like cystitis and conjunctivitis, as well as overall poor health.

"It's a double whammy for already-endangered koalas."

Dr. Chappell said they found high levels of the virus increased a koala's risk of chlamydia by over 200% percent.

"There is no question that koala retrovirus and chlamydia are connected, and we believe the retrovirus suppresses the koala's immune system, making them more vulnerable to disease."

It was previously assumed that a particular subtype of koala retrovirus may be more capable of causing disease, but this research has found that all the subtypes increase disease and has further highlighted the urgent need to stop the virus circulating within koala populations.

Dr. Blyton said while these findings highlighted another threat facing endangered koalas, it could also lead to new ways to treat populations and reduce the risk of extinction.

"It is deeply concerning that koalas are facing environmental pressures at the same time as biological threats from a retrovirus and diseases," Dr. Blyton said.

"The findings from this study are important for conservation, especially as the koala is now listed as endangered and wild populations continue to decline in Queensland and NSW.

"Research like this helps us understand how the threats facing koalas are interlinked, so we can help find ways to protect the species going forward and closely examine the success of anti-viral medications and breeding programs."

The UQ team now intends to study how environmental factors influence the amount of circulating retrovirus and disease in koalas.

Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Senior Veterinarian Michael Pyne said this was an important project and he was excited to have been working alongside the University of Queensland for so many years.

"This is a major step forward in understanding how retroviruses can affect koalas and the link with other disease, and is a perfect example of the importance of research when saving endangered species."

This study has been published in PLOS Pathogens.

Explore further Deadly koala virus being passed to joeys from mum

More information: Michaela D. J. Blyton et al, Koala retrovirus load and non-A subtypes are associated with secondary disease among wild northern koalas, PLOS Pathogens (2022). Journal information: PLoS Pathogens Michaela D. J. Blyton et al, Koala retrovirus load and non-A subtypes are associated with secondary disease among wild northern koalas,(2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010513
This April 28, 2022, photo provided by Ehsan Abdi shows the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Nanuq in the Gulf of Alaska. The Nanuq helped with a project involving an underwater glider that was fitted with a special sensor, which was used to collect an enormous amount of data to study ocean acidification. Credit: Ehsan Abdi via AP

In the cold, choppy waters of Alaska's Resurrection Bay, all eyes were on the gray water, looking for one thing only.

It wasn't a spout from humpback whales that power through this scenic fjord, or a sea otter lazing on its back, munching a king crab.

Instead, everyone aboard the Nanuq, a University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel, was looking where a 5-foot (1.52-meter) long, bright pink underwater sea glider surfaced.

The gliderbelieved to be the first configured with a large sensor to measure carbon dioxide levels in the oceanhad just completed its first overnight mission.

Designed to dive 3,281 feet (1,000 meters) and roam remote parts of the ocean, the autonomous vehicle was deployed in the Gulf of Alaska this spring to provide a deeper understanding of the ocean's chemistry in the era of climate change. The research could be a major step forward in ocean greenhouse gas monitoring, because until now, measuring CO 2 concentrationsa quantifier of ocean acidificationwas mostly done from ships, buoys and moorings tethered to the ocean floor.

"Ocean acidification is a process by which humans are emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through their activities of burning fossil fuels and changing land use," said Andrew McDonnell, an oceanographer with the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

This April 28, 2022, photo provided by Andrew McDonnell shows an underwater glider in the Gulf of Alaska. The glider was fitted with a special sensor that will collect an enormous amount of data to study ocean acidification. Credit: Andrew McDonnell via AP

Oceans have done humans a huge favor by taking in some of the C02. Otherwise, there would be much more in the atmosphere, trapping the sun's heat and warming the Earth.

"But the problem is now that the ocean is changing its chemistry because of this uptake," said Claudine Hauri, an oceanographer with the International Arctic Research Center at the university.

The enormous amount of data collected is being used to study ocean acidification that can harm and kill certain marine life.

Rising acidity of the oceans is affecting some marine organisms that build shells. This process could kill or make an organism more susceptible to predators.

Over several weeks this spring, Hauri and McDonnell, who are married, worked with engineers from Cyprus Subsea Consulting and Services, which provided the underwater glider, and 4H-Jena, a German company that provided the sensor inserted into the drone.

This May 4, 2022, photo shows oceanographers Andrew McDonnell, left, and Claudine Hauri, middle, along with engineer Joran Kemme after an underwater glider was pulled aboard the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Nanuq from the Gulf of Alaska. The glider was fitted with special sensors to study ocean acidification. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

Most days, researchers took the glider farther and farther into Resurrection Bay from the coastal community of Seward to conduct tests.

After its first nighttime mission, a crew member spotted it bobbing in the water, and the Nanuqthe Inupiat word for polar bearbacked up to let people pull the 130-pound (59-kilogram) glider onto the ship. Then the sensor was removed from the drone and rushed into the ship's cabin to upload its data.

Think of the foot-tall (0.30-meter) sensor with a diameter of 6 inches (15.24 centimeters) as a laboratory in a tube, with pumps, valves and membranes moving to separate the gas from seawater. It analyzes CO 2 and it logs and stores the data inside a temperature-controlled system. Many of these sensor components use battery power.

Since it's the industry standard, the sensor is the same as found on any ship or lab working with CO 2 measurements.

This April 28, 2022, photo provided by Andrew McDonnell shows an underwater glider waiting to be picked up in the Gulf of Alaska by the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Nanuq. The glider was fitted with a special sensor that will collect an enormous amount of data to study ocean acidification. Credit: Andrew McDonnell via AP

Hauri said using this was "a huge step to be able to accommodate such a big and power hungry sensor, so that's special about this project."

"I think she is one of the first persons to actually utilize (gliders) to measure CO 2 directly, so that's very, very exciting," said Richard Feely, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's senior scientist at the agency's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. He said Hauri was a graduate student in 2007 when she accompanied him on the first acidification cruise he ever led.

The challenge, Feely said, is to make the measurements on a glider with the same degree of accuracy and precision as tests on board ships.

"We need to get confidence in our measurements and confidence in our models if we are going to make important scientific statements about how the oceans are changing over time and how it's going to impact our important economic systems that are dependent on the food from the sea," he said, noting that acidification impacts are already seen in the Pacific Northwest on oysters, Dungeness crabs and other species.

This May 4, 2022, photo shows an underwater glider bobbing in the Gulf of Alaska. The glider was fitted with special sensors to study ocean acidification. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

Researchers in Canada had previously attached a smaller, prototype CO 2 sensor to an underwater drone in the Labrador Sea but found it did not yet meet the targets for ocean acidification observations.

"The tests showed that the glider sensor worked in a remote-harsh environment but needed more development," Nicolai von Oppeln-Bronikowski, the Glider Program Manager with the Ocean Frontier Institute at Memorial University of Newfoundland, said in an email.

The two teams are "just using two different types of sensors to solve the same issue, and it's always good to have two different options," Hauri said.

There is no GPS unit inside the underwater autonomous drone. Instead, after being programmed, it heads out on its own to cruise the ocean according to the navigation directionsknowing how far to go down in the water column, when to sample, and when to surface and send a locator signal so it can be retrieved.

This May 4, 2022, photo shows engineer Ehsan Abdi looking from the other end as a sensor is placed inside an underwater glider on the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Nanuq in the Gulf of Alaska. The glider was fitted with special sensors to study ocean acidification. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

This May 3, 2022, photo shows engineer Ehsan Abdi checking data on his computer after the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Nanuq returned to dock in Seward, Alaska. The data was from a special sensor which Abdi helped fit to an underwater glider to study ocean acidification. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

This May 4, 2022, photo shows an underwater glider being pulled apart on the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Nanuq in the Gulf of Alaska to allow a sensor inside to be swapped out. The glider was fitted with special sensors to study ocean acidification. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

This May 4, 2022, photo shows a sensor after it was removed from an underwater glider on the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Nanuq in the Gulf of Alaska. The glider was fitted with special sensors to study ocean acidification. Oceanographers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks tests have been conducting tests this spring with a drone that goes underwater, configured with a sensor specifically designed to measure carbon dioxide levels. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

This May 4, 2022, photo shows sensors to measure carbon dioxide and methane, to be used separately on an underwater glider in the Gulf of Alaska. The glider was fitted with special sensors to collect an enormous amount of data to study ocean acidification. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

This May 4, 2022, photo shows oceanographer Claudine Hauri on the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Nanuq in the Gulf of Alaska. She is part of a team that fitted an underwater glider with special sensors to study ocean acidification. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

This May 4, 2022, photo shows University of Alaska Fairbanks oceanographer Andrew McDonnell checking data on his computer aboard the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Nanuq in the Gulf of Alaska. The data was from a special sensor which was fitted to an underwater glider to study ocean acidification. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen

As the drone tests were underway, the U.S. research vessel Sikuliaq, owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the university, conducted its own two-week mission in the gulf to take carbon and pH samples as part of ongoing work each spring, summer and fall.

Those methods are limited to collecting samples from a fixed point while the glider will be able to roam all over the ocean and provide researchers with a wealth of data on the ocean's chemical makeup.

The vision is to one day have a fleet of robotic gliders operating in oceans across the globe, providing a real-time glimpse of current conditions and a way to better predict the future.

"We can ... understand much more about what's going on in the ocean than we have been before," McDonnell said.

Explore further Natural cycles in the Gulf of Alaska accentuate ocean acidification

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Palaeospondylus as reconstructed by synchrotron radiation x-ray computed tomography. Credit: RIKEN

The Evolutionary Morphology Laboratory led by Shigeru Kuratani at the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR) in Japan, along with collaborators, has found evidence that the mysterious ancient fish-like vertebrate Palaeospondylus was likely one of the earliest ancestors of four-limbed animals, including humans. Published May 25 in the scientific journal Nature, the study unmasks this strange animal from the deep past and sets its position on the evolutionary tree.

Palaeospondylus was a small fish-like vertebrate, about 5 cm long, which had an eel-like body and lived in the Devonian period about 390 million years ago. Although fossils are abundant, its small size and the poor quality of cranial reconstructionsby both CT scan and wax modelshave made placing it on the evolutionary tree difficult ever since its discovery in 1890. It's been thought to share features with both jawed and jawless fish and its body has presented evolutionary scientists as a mystery. Among several unusual features, the most perplexing is the lack of teeth or dermal bones in the fossil record.

To resolve some of these issues, the researchers used the extremely powerful RIKEN SPring-8 synchrotron to generate high-resolution micro-CT scans using synchrotron radiation X-rays. Additionally, unlike most studies that have used excavated fossil heads, the new study used carefully selected fossils in which the heads remained completely embedded in the rock. "Choosing the best specimens for the micro-CT scans and carefully trimming away the rock surrounding the fossilized skull allowed us to improve the resolution of the scans," says lead author Tatsuya Hirasawa. "Although not quite cutting-edge technology, these preparations were certainly keys to our achievement."

The high-resolution scans revealed several important features. First, researchers found three semi-circular canals, clearly indicating an inner-ear morphology of jawed vertebrates. This resolved an issue because previous studies suggested that Palaeospondylus was evolutionarily closer to primitive jawless vertebrates. Next, they found key cranial features that place Palaeospondylus into the tetrapodomorph category, which is made from tetrapodsfour-limbed animalsand their closest ancient relatives. Several analyses showed that Palaeospondylus was more closely related to limbed tetrapods than to many other known tetrapodomorphs that still retained fins.

However, unlike tetrapodomorphs in general, teeth, dermal bones, and paired appendages have never been associated with Palaeospondylus fossils, although these features are readily found in fossils of other animals that lived around the same time and in the same place in the Achanarras fish bed in Scotland. The lack of these features can be explained by the splitting of a set of developmental features, resulting in a larval-like body. "Whether these features were evolutionarily lost or whether normal development froze half-way in fossils might never be known," says Hirasawa. "Nevertheless, this heterochronic evolution might have facilitated the development of new features like limbs."

Kuratani and his research group do not limit their study of early vertebrate evolution to the fossil record. They also use molecular biology and genetics to study developing embryos of key modern vertebrates. "The strange morphology of Palaeospondylus, which is comparable to that of tetrapod larvae, is very interesting from a developmental genetic point of view," says Hirasawa. "Taking this into consideration, we will continue to study the developmental genetics that brought about this and other morphological changes that occurred at the water-to-land transition in vertebrate history."

Explore further Bite marks in fossils reveal demise of our early relatives

More information: Tatsuya Hirasawa, Morphology of Palaeospondylus shows affinity to tetrapod ancestors, Nature (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04781-3 Journal information: Nature Tatsuya Hirasawa, Morphology of Palaeospondylus shows affinity to tetrapod ancestors,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04781-3
LAKE GEORGE  Septic systems within 500 feet of Lake George and 100 feet of certain streams would be required to be inspected every five years under a program proposed by the Lake George Park Commission.

The commission on Tuesday approved submitted the proposal to the state for formal rule-making.

A special committee of the commission has been working on the regulations for eight months. Board Chairman Ken Parker said that the committee researched dozens of septic inspection programs from across New York state and modeled its regulations after one from the Finger Lakes.

We think we have a program thats definitely publicly supportable and sustainable and will be good for the future of Lake George, he said at the meeting.

Parker went on to say that the regulations have been a long time in coming and the committee had tremendous help from the state Department of Health and Department of Environmental Conservation as well as from various community members.

The commission hopes to implement the regulations by 2023 if the state signs off on them.

Karla Buettner, attorney for the commission, said the material will be submitted to the state on Wednesday, which will review it and send it back to the commission if any changes need to be made. If it is acceptable, they will be published in the state register and then a public hearing will be held, likely in August or September.

The commission cannot release the language of the regulations until then, but the basic concept was outlined in a report released in January.

About 2,700 properties in the watershed area would be covered under the regulations. Seasonal commission staff would conduct the inspections, according to the report. Costs for the program would be borne by affected property owners at about $60 to $80 per year.

The commission believes that having staff conduct the inspections would allow for better oversight instead of having homeowners hire private engineers.

Bolton, Lake George and Queensbury have the most parcels with septic systems with over 1,200. The average age of septic systems in the affected area is estimated to be 50 years old, according to an analysis by the commission.

Poorly functioning septic systems can release an excessive amount of nutrients into the lake, which can turn the water murky green. The blooms can also release harmful toxins. There were harmful algal blooms found in November 2020 and July 2021.

Systems would be determined to be failing or in need of upgrades if a variety of conditions are found including lack of a pre-treatment vessel; discharge of effluent directly or indirectly to the grounds surface; or direct pipe surface discharge of gray water or buildup of sewage into the dwelling. Other factors are whether the existing septic tank requires pumping more than four times per year; if the tank is made of metal; if there is a cesspool present or it discharges effluent to any outlet, according to the report.

Homeowners who have septic systems that need to be upgraded would go through their local municipality to get approved.

The commission also looked at current programs going on in Queensbury and Bolton. People running those programs told the commission that the first inspection during the five years reveals the most issues because many people are not very knowledgeable about their systems. The second inspection in the next five-year cycle is helpful to identify new issues but fewer systems require major repairs.

Last year, Warren County had considered implementing a septic system inspection program but ultimately the Board of Supervisors decided to hold off and wait for the Lake George Park Commission to complete its work.

The countys proposal would have required inspection upon transfer of the property  similar to Queensburys plan.

Michael Goot is night and weekend editor of The Post-Star. Reach him at 518-742-3320.

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ALBANY  A Vermont man was sentenced in federal court on Wednesday to nearly 4 years in prison for traveling to Queensbury to have sex with someone he believed to be a 15-year-old girl.

Robert McAdam, 49, of Rutland, had previously admitted in U.S. District Court that between Feb. 7, 2019 and June 16, 2020, he exchanged text messages with a person he thought was the father of a teenage girl. McAdam then traveled to New York in early June to meet with this man.

After the in-person meeting, McAdam arranged to have sex with the minor at a hotel in Queensbury, according to a news release.

McAdam was arrested on June 16, 2020 after arriving at the hotel. He had brought alcohol that he intended to give to the minor, as well as condoms.

U.S. District Judge Mae DAgostino sentenced McAdam to 46 months in prison and 15 years of post-release supervision. He will be required to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.
State police responded to an Argyle residence at around 11:43 a.m. on May 14. Police said Clifton L. Patrick, 50, threatened the person with the weapon and then discarded the knife in a lake after the dispute. The incident took place in front of three children.
Police: Man fired gun at person

BOLTON  A Bolton man was arrested on Sunday after police said he fired a gun at a person driving a four-wheeler near his property.

The Warren County Sheriffs Office and New York State Police responded to 10 River Lane for a 911 call regarding a man firing a gun at another person. The investigation determined that Christopher G. Sprague II, 53, of 10 River Lane, fired a shotgun from his driveway, according to a news release.

Sprague was acquainted with the person. No one was injured as a result of the incident, police said.

Sprague was charged with felony counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and misdemeanor second-degree menacing.

He was arraigned in Warren County Centralized Arraignment Court and released on his own recognizance.

The investigation and arrest was handled by members of the Warren County Sheriffs Criminal Investigations Unit and Patrol Division.

Post-Star staff reports

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QUEENSBURY  The Warren-Washington Industrial Development Agency held a public hearing on a proposed mixed-use development project in Queensbury on Monday.

Foothills Builders, run by a father and son both named Joseph Leuci, wants to construct a 25,000-square-foot three-story building at 78-80 Main St., across from the Adirondack Trust Company in the Exit 18 corridor.

The building would have 7,000 square feet of retail and commercial space on the ground floor, and 12 apartments each on the second and third floors. Currently, the 20 one-bedroom units would rent at about $1,100 to $1,200 a month, while the four two-bedroom units would be about $1,600 per month.

At a minimum, the retail floor will probably house Foothills Builders as a showroom for their residential construction business.

The owners filed an application with the IDA for sales and tax abatement assistance.

The need for the request for tax abatements  sales, mortgage and pilot  is a reflection of rising costs, both for raw materials and for labor. It has becoming a difficult building market, even though theres a high demand, said Jeffrey Meyers, the attorney representing Foothills Builders.

Meyers and the son, Leuci, were both in attendance, and explained that with the assistance, Foothills Builders will be able to maintain rent for their apartment units.

Its not affordable housing by definition, but its reasonable and in line with demand, Meyers said about the apartment units.

When asked what Leuci would do if assistance is not approved, he responded that it would be tough to meet their target rent rates.

We would see those rental numbers creep up a little higher than they are, Leuci said, adding that they want to stay in the bottom of the market and not exceed it with high rent.

Sales tax abatements would amount to $105,000. After mortgage tax abatement assistance, Foothills Builders would save a little over $34,000.

Michael Ostrander, executive director of the IDA, said that once the tax incentives are calculated against the assessed value of the property, the tax abatement would start at 50% at the first year and be reduced by 5% each year for approximately 11 years.

The development is estimated to create around 20 jobs after the first two years, which will help the projects case in receiving approval for the assistance.

No one from the public offered any comments during the hearing, which was streamed over Zoom.

The public hearing did not yield any motion to approve the project on Monday.

OBrien said via email that the the IDA hadnt approved the project yet.

While not scheduled as of yet, there will be another meeting on the project.

Queensbury Supervisor John Strough had previously told The Post-Star that while the site plan review is not handled by his department, he wholeheartedly supports the project, and that its exactly what Main Street in Queensbury needs.

Along these same lines, the owners have said that the business will help attract people and keep them in the area.

Meyers said during the meeting that he and his clients will be meeting with the town of Queensbury for the site plan review this week, and that they feel confident about the project moving ahead.

Foothills Builders specializes in residential construction in and around Queensbury.

Drew Wardle is a reporter for The Post-Star. You can contact him at 518-681-7343 or email him at dwardle@poststar.com.

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Warren County Health Services reported 47 new COVID cases on Tuesday, 23 of which stemmed from at-home test results.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate in Warren County is 9.8%, Health Services said on Tuesday.

Warren County Health Services next COVID vaccine clinic is open on Tuesday, May 31, at the Warren County Municipal Center.

Registration is now open and can be done here: warrencountyny.gov/covidhub.

Warren County Health Services is awaiting New York state guidelines for booster shots for children who are between the ages 5 and 11, which was approved on Tuesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Information will be posted when these specific vaccinations become available locally, officials said.

There have been 319 new cases in Warren County over the last five days.

There are currently 12 people hospitalized in Warren County.

Glens Falls Hospital has 26 COVID patients in-house, with none in the ICU as of Tuesday, according to hospital spokesperson Ray Agnew.

Washington County

As of Friday, Washington County Health Services reported 109 active COVID cases, with 21 hospitalized.

As of Tuesday, there were 12 new COVID cases reported out of 249 administered tests, according to state data.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate in the county is 7.9%.

Saratoga County

There are currently 486 active COVID cases in Saratoga County, according to county data.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate in the county is 14.1%.

There are currently 35 COVID patients hospitalized in Saratoga County.

Capital Region/statewide

There are currently 189 COVID patients in Capital Region hospitals, which is 15 patients fewer than Mondays report, according Warren County data.

As of Tuesday morning, there were 248 new COVID cases out of 2,358 administered tests, according to state data.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate in the Capital Region is 11.5%, while statewide, that rate is 8%, according to state data.

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As New York has closed prisons over the years, it has faced difficulties in finding new uses for the shuttered facilities.

Now, Gov. Kathy Hochul is creating a commission to explore possibilities for the properties.

Hochul on Monday launched the Prison Redevelopment Commission. The 15-member panel will be led by Hope Knight, president and CEO of Empire State Development, and Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. The members include heads of state agencies, including Anthony Annucci, acting commissioner of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, and leaders from various real estate firms and organizations.

The commission, which first met on Monday, will be tasked with recommending a clear and credible plan of action to redevelop more than 20 state prisons that closed within the last 15 years. The panel will meet throughout the year and gather feedback from communities affected by the closures. A public report will be issued at the end of the process.

As New York continues to move forward, we are looking at ways to revitalize our economy, including reimagining shuttered state prison properties as hubs of regional opportunity, said Hochul, who announced the commission as part of her State of the State agenda for the year. She added that the goal is to put New Yorkers to work.

With a declining incarcerated population, New York closed nearly 20 prisons under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Hochul announced six prison closures in November 2021. The facilities closed in March.

According to DOCCS, the state eliminated more than 13,000 prison beds and saves $442 million annually from the closures.

But the shuttered prisons largely sit vacant with no plans for reusing the properties. Butler Correctional Facility in Wayne County has been closed since 2014, but there hasnt been a plan to redevelop the property. The state considered holding an auction, but those plans were scrapped.

Elizabeth Gaynes, the former president and CEO of the Osborne Association, supports the formation of the commission as a way to meet the needs of communities affected by closures.

The Osborne Association, which is named for Thomas Mott Osborne, an Auburnian who was the warden at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in the early 20th century, has been working to convert the former Fulton Correctional Facility into a community reentry center with housing for more than 130 people exiting prison.

I am excited to bring my experiences from that effort, and from decades of working in prisons in every part of the state, to this commission and to learn from stakeholders about how these resources can be repurposed to meet community needs, Gaynes said.

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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ATLANTIC CITY  A small crowd came out for an interfaith silent prayer vigil on the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.

The vigil was held at noon Wednesday in the courtyard of City Hall.

Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder last June for kneeling on Floyds neck for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020. Onlookers recorded the killing on video. Floyds death prompted protests nationwide.

City Council Vice President Kaleem Shabazz organized Wednesdays event.

The vigil included a period of silence for 9 minutes and 29 seconds to signify the time Floyd was pinned to the ground, resulting in his death.

Interfaith service to mark second anniversary of George Floyd murder ATLANTIC CITY  There will be an Interfaith Silent Prayer Vigil at noon on Wednesday in the 

Last month, Chauvin appealed his conviction, arguing that jurors were intimidated by the protests that followed and prejudiced by heavy pretrial publicity.

Chauvin is serving a sentence of 22.5 years in the case.

Floyd had been accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store, resulting in police being called and the events that led to his death.

The city of Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from Floyds family last year.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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ATLANTIC CITY  The city has a new emergency alert system to inform the public about severe weather, police actions and more, but needs the help of residents and business owners to maximize its reach, officials said Wednesday.

The system is very robust. You will receive alerts through email, text messages and phone calls, said fire Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator Scott Evans.

I cant express how important it is for residents to get involved, Evans said. We need the public ... to embrace the system, go to the website, sign up and create a profile.

At a cost of $15,000, the new system has the chance of saving lives and property, officials said.

The city has about phone 18,000 numbers in its database but needs people to link those numbers to accounts so alerts can be targeted, officials said.

Alerts can be sent to specific neighborhoods that are affected by emergencies, they said.

Residents can create a profile by going to acnj.gov and clicking on AC Alerts.

Until now, the city has relied largely on a siren system during emergencies, Evans said.

We have 11 sirens throughout the city, he said, used to indicate curfew times, pending hurricanes or evacuations, and to let people know when beaches are closed.

And we have the Impactivate TVs on the Boardwalk to notify the tens of thousands of people on the Boardwalk when there are impending storms or about ... rip current conditions, Evans said.

The new system will be added to existing systems, he said.

Mayor Marty Small Sr. said information will not be limited to emergencies, but people can also sign up to find out about things such as summer camps for kids and special events.

Atlantic City small businesses suffer in wake of looting ATLANTIC CITY  Sunday unfolded at first like any other weekend day for Marilyn Russo.

The system is for residents and city business owners and employees, the mayor said.

In the near future, the system also will be available to visitors coming to town for special events, Evans said, and the city will put up signs telling visitors how to sign up.

It also will be capable of sending alerts to all cellphones in the city when there is an emergency.

We have the capacity, like Amber Alerts ... its a specific certification with the FAA to automatically send out public safety messages through cellphone towers, Evans said.

Small said the new system represents only a small increase over spending on lesser notification systems in the past.

The AC Alerts system is made by Everbridge.

No tolerance policy trickier than it seems for Atlantic Avenue It was 9 a.m. Tuesday, and many who filed inside Pay Less Liquor as soon as the doors were u

Small said improving the citys website and other technology resources was a major priority for him, especially after a recent failure to get information to city employees in a weather emergency.

We had a delayed opening due to weather, but some didnt get the message and showed up at 8:30 a.m. and the building is closed, Small said. Unacceptable.

He credited former Public Information Officer Rebekah Mena for introducing the city to the Everbridge system.

She worked with the system in Washington, D.C., Small said. Prior to working for Atlantic City, Mena had worked for the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

Those who sign up for the new system can specify which types of alerts they want to receive. In addition to public safety alerts like information from the Police Department and emergency management, there are categories for business and nonprofit resources, grant opportunities, city news and updates, the city newsletter, government office closures, special events and others.

The news conference was held in the ACHILES (Atlantic City Headquarters Intelligence Logistics Electronics Surveillance) room in the Public Safety Building on Atlantic Avenue, where the citys security cameras are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It also is the room where city leaders meet to oversee the response to weather or other emergencies.

This is the most important room in the city that people need to know about, Evans said of the room that has access to feeds from hundreds of city and private business cameras around the city, many of which are on the Boardwalk.

Evans predicted the camera program will eventually convince criminals not to operate in the city.

The school district has its own alert system, Small said, for parents and guardians of students, when asked whether the system would be helpful in the event of a school shooting such as the one Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all victims in the Texas school shooting, Small said. A system like this can alert the community immediately.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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BUENA  Fallout from last years dissolution of a local fire district continues to reverberate in the borough.

The Borough Council held a lengthy closed session Monday night to discuss litigation that pits the borough and the Minotola Volunteer Fire Company against the Landisville Volunteer Fire Company.

After returning to its chambers, council entertained a motion for the borough to drop the lawsuit, but ultimately decided to pull the motion.

Members of council left open the possibility that they may hold a special meeting sometime before the next scheduled meeting June 13 to further discuss the issue.

The council voted unanimously in July 2021 to dissolve Buena Fire District No. 1, a municipal entity that had historically been served by the 100-year-old Landisville fire company.

The territory and responsibilities of Fire District No. 1 were to be taken over by Buena Fire District No. 2, which is served by the Minotola fire company.

Buena Borough Hall set to reopen after flooding BUENA  Four months after flooding shut down Borough Hall, Buena is beginning to create more

The borough and Fire District No. 2 have since sued the Landisville company and former Fire District No. 1 commissioners. The plaintiffs say the Landisville company failed to turn over certain property as prescribed by borough ordinance. Landisville supporters maintain the plaintiffs have received what they need, and that outstanding property still belongs to the private Landisville company, rather than the dissolved public district.

The dissolution and lawsuit have galvanized an ongoing opposition campaign against the then members of council. Two were unseated in the November election, and two people who voted for the dissolution are being challenged in the June 7 Republican primary.

Council member Jorge Alvarez, who had seconded the motion, said he would be willing to vote in favor of dropping the suit if the Landisville litigants, many of whom were in the approximately 20-person audience Monday, agreed to resolve the dispute outside of litigation.

We're asking that we meet and end this thing, let's get it done," Alvarez said. Let's come to an agreement as adults and more as residents, because we're residents."

This has to end, this has to be done tonight, Council President Matthew Walker, who made the motion, said earlier.

Some people involved in the litigation said they did not want to meet about the case without first talking with their lawyers. Others in the audience said the underlying cause of the lawsuit would have to be addressed, namely the dissolution of Fire District No. 1.

Buena Borough Hall closed due to flooding BUENA  People hoping for a smooth start to 2022 for borough government have had their hopes

In response to the reluctance of people to meet on the spot after the meeting, the motion was pulled. Alvarez and Walker still met with some supporters of the Landisville company after the meeting to discuss resolving the situation and the possibility of holding a special meeting to take further action on the matter.

Borough Solicitor Angela Costigan disputed that the motion on the floor was to drop the lawsuit and that the motion was instead to meet and discuss. She later said the council president had made a request to which Alvarez "agreed."

Walker, when he seemingly made the motion, had begun by saying I want to make a resolution that we drop the lawsuit and that we bring all the parties to the table, to which Alvarez replied, and I second that.

Costigan also noted that the litigation involved not only the borough but also Fire District No. 2, which is a separate municipal entity, meaning the borough does not have the power to end all legal action by itself.

Council member Joseph DAlessandro III said he was concerned about how dropping the lawsuit would affect the boroughs ability to fulfill its fiduciary obligations to the firefighters of the former Fire District No. 1. He said the litigation would allow Fire District No. 2 to obtain records pertaining to Landisville firefighters Length of Service Award Program, or LOSAP, so they could receive their payments. Landisville officials have argued that Fire District No. 2 already has the documents it needs to distribute LOSAP funds. DAlessandro added the borough also had to enforce its ordinance, which he said mandated that transfer of property still in Landisvilles possession go to Fire District No. 2.

Council members Patricia and Gina Andaloro, a mother-daughter pair and the two Democrats on the council, were excluded from much of the closed session to avoid creating the perception of conflict of interest. Patricia Andaloro is named as a defendant in the lawsuit due to her stint as a Fire District No. 1 commissioner. Some residents took issue with Gina Andaloros exclusion from the closed session, saying her familial relationship did not create a conflict of interest.

Members of the council who voted to dissolve Fire District No. 1 in July 2021 have argued dissolution was warranted by code violations. The borough and the state Office of Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health launched investigations that uncovered more than two dozen code violations at the Landisville company.

Supporters of the fire company have argued the dissolution was unfair. They noted that Landisville passed a state inspection in June 2021 after the investigations were completed and before council voted to dissolve.

The dissolution seemingly precipitated a swell of political action against the July 2021 members of council. Then Council President Rosalie Baker and then Council member Joseph Mancuso Jr., running as Republican incumbents, were defeated in the November election by the Andaloros, a remarkable outcome given Bakers approximately 30-year career on the governing body and the overall tilt of the New Jersey 2021 elections toward the GOP. Supporters of the company attributed the outcome in part to outrage over the dissolution of Fire District No. 1.

The June 7 Republican primary election will see Baker and DAlessandro running against three newcomers  Douglas Adams, Mariana Barsuglia and Joseph Fabrizio. Of the three newcomers, Fabrizio is running unopposed for the GOP nomination to fill a one-year unexpired term of a vacant seat on the council. Of the remaining four candidates, the two who obtain the highest vote totals will win the GOP nomination to fill two full-term seats on the council.

Contact Chris Doyle cdoyle@pressofac.com

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In the wake of another school shooting  the latest leaving 19 children and two adults dead  there is a push for new gun control legislation in New Jersey.

During a news conference Wednesday on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Gov. Phil Murphy called for the state Legislature to hold a vote on his Gun Safety 3.0 package and excoriated conservative politicians he accused of impeding needed safety measures.

Another day in America, another horrific act of gun violence enabled by the weak and feckless politicians kept in the holster of the gun lobby, Murphy said.

The Gun Safety 3.0 package, first unveiled by Murphy in April 2021, would impose new regulations on firearm ownership pertaining to training and safe storage, while requiring people who move to New Jersey from another state to register their guns. It also bans .50-caliber rifles, raises the minimum age for purchase of a long gun from 18 to 21, and allows gun manufacturers to be held liable for gun violence.

Murphy said his package put forth common-sense regulations. He said state legislative leaders should immediately bring the package up for a vote, as well as every bill that would relax gun control measures in the state.

Lets make every legislator choose whose side they have chosen to be on, Murphy said. The people of New Jersey on the one hand or the gun lobby on the other hand. Its quite simple.

Investigation into police-involved shooting in Absecon continues ABSECON  Police shot a person in the parking lot of a local bargain store Tuesday morning a

Murphy explicitly called out several Republican legislators, including Assembly Minority Leader John DiMaio, R-Hunterdon, Somerset, Warren, for their proposed bills pulling back several gun control measures in the state.

State Sen. Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, referred to a comment he posted on Twitter Wednesday afternoon when reached by The Press of Atlantic City for a reaction to the news conference. He criticized the National Rifle Association and said the Second Amendment right to bear arms had to be construed in a way that accounts for the advent of modern firearms.

NRA and some politicians are big problems for our country, Polistina said. We have a right to keep and bear arms, but to ignore how much weapons have changed since 1791 is ignorant and not considered by founders. We need to address mental illness and enact laws to help prevent senseless tragedies.

Murphy also expressed concern about action at the federal level, noting that gun violence is a problem unique to the United States and not experienced by other, comparably wealthy nations. The governor said he was alarmed by a case about a New York concealed-carry law being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court that he feared could pare back gun control measures across the country. Saying about four-fifths of guns recovered from crimes are from out of state, he said action from Congress was also needed to improve gun safety in New Jersey.

The state has already taken some action with respect to policing in light of the school shooting.

Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin said Wednesday he directed law enforcement officials on Tuesday night to increase their presence at New Jersey schools.

He said he issued a similar directive last week after a white-supremacist shooting in Buffalo, New York, asking for an increased police presence around places of worship, particularly in Black neighborhoods. Both efforts, Platkin said, were ongoing.

I think its safe to say were tired of having to direct law enforcement to be in front of schools, Platkin said. It is ongoing, but were tired of the fact that its ongoing.

As part of the order, county prosecutors are to direct municipal police departments to increase their presence in schools within their jurisdictions. Murphy said Wednesday that State Police will increase their presence at the 111 schools where they act as the primary law enforcement agency.

The Cape May County Prosecutors Office issued a news release Tuesday saying all law enforcement agencies would up their presence at schools throughout the county.

The Atlantic City Police Department tweeted Wednesday that it would remain vigilant about threats to its schools.

Murphy tweeted Tuesday night that there were no credible threats that prompted the heightened police presence. He said he nevertheless wanted his administration to do everything in our power to ensure students, parents, and educators feel safe at school.

Several other legislators and activists also spoke at the news conference.

Sean Spiller, president of the New Jersey Education Association, called gun violence a preventable epidemic and said the nation was failing to protect its children.

Once again, children and educators are dead and injured, families are devastated and a community is in shock and mourning, Spiller said.

Action is needed statewide and on the federal level to help keep teachers across New Jersey and the country safe from gun violence, Spiller said. He too accused state and federal politicians of blocking needed action, while praising the teachers who risk their lives trying to save their students from mass shooters.

Weve seen this tragedy unfold too many times already to think that it will finally soften the hearts of those in Washington, D.C., Spiller said. And unfortunately, we see that its not just in D.C. where some continue to block common-sense gun control laws that will stop our children from being slaughtered.

Spiller rebuked the common refrain that it was too soon to make a push for new gun control laws, saying it was instead too late for those in Uvalde.

New scholarship awards money to Atlantic City High School seniors ATLANTIC CITY  Two Atlantic City High School seniors were awarded college money from a scho

Our children and all Americans deserve to be safe in school, safe at home or safe everywhere they go, Spiller said. Our nation owes it to them to ensure their safety and to make sure that no student or no educator ever has to experience anything like this ever again.

Jennifer Gonzales, a member of the gun control group Moms Demand Action, reflected on how she was feeling after yet another school shooting and called for action.

As a mother of four children, all of whom are in school right now, it is difficult to describe the feelings of heartbreak, devastation, fear and anger  yes anger  that Im experiencing, Gonzales said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Chris Doyle cdoyle@pressofac.com

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The cost of renting or buying housing in New Jersey is terribly high, putting a heavy burden on low-income working people. The main reason is that, like other intensely regulated states, New Jersey makes it overly expensive to build even basic, functional apartments and small homes.

Rather than fix the market problems it created that restrict construction of such housing, the state simply ordered municipalities to require developers to make some affordable housing -- letting an activist organization negotiate with each town how much it should create.

Egg Harbor Township recently had a good plan under this dysfunctional scheme. Its Timber Ridge Redevelopment Plan specified that a fifth of the 252 residential units to be built on 48 acres off the Black Horse Pike would be affordable.

But the Pinelands Commission, which also oversees development in much of South Jersey, would only approve the project if the developer bought $1.1 million worth credits from it. The pines panel uses that money to purchase development rights from property owners in areas the state wants to preserve. In this way, development (no matter how economically beneficial) of 56,000 acres of South Jersey has been prevented.

Unsurprisingly, adding more than a million dollars to the cost of the Timber Ridge project made it unfeasible. The township and the developer adjusted the project to lessen the pinelands regulatory burden, reducing it to 226 housing units -- and just eight of them affordable rather than market rate.

So now less than a sixth of the affordable housing units originally planned will get built.

Meanwhile, Gov. Phil Murphy is asking the state Legislature to create a $335 million Affordable Housing Production Fund, which would produce more than 3,300 affordable housing units. Thats an average subsidy for each unit of $101,515. That sounds like a good deal for those selected to build such apartments.

Decades of state government housing mandates and housing subsidies have produced just a tiny fraction of what people in New Jersey need. Demand for housing creates a market for it, and in a free-market economy only private business and investment can meet that demand.

The other obvious problem is the various parts of government bureaucracy working at cross-purposes. Its like running the heat and air conditioning at the same time, and paying far more for what should have been an easy comfort level.

Do that often enough and you get New Jerseys unpleasant combination of high costs, high taxes, diminishing services and lower quality of life.
TRENTON  More than 30 groups advocating for same-day voter registration will hold a rally Thursday at the Statehouse.

The coalition is urging passage of bills (A1966/S247) that would create a system to register people to vote on the same day they apply, including Election Day.

Same-day registration has been shown to increase turnout for Black and Latino voters, and in particular young people, according to the coalition.

It will also cost the state little  if anything  since it uses already-existing infrastructure, the coalition said in a news release. Yet despite support from across the state and from Gov. Murphy, the bill remains stalled.

Opponents of same-day registration argue it would prevent election officials from being able to verify information on voter registration forms, and would allow for voter fraud.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia have same-day voter registration, the coalition said.

Under current law, to vote in an election an individual must be registered 21 days ahead of that election, and the coalition said an arbitrary deadline should not prevent them from exercising their voting rights.

The rally will be 11 a.m. Thursday in front of the Statehouse. It will be followed at noon by a lobby day inside the Statehouse to urge representatives to pass the bills.

Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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Bad policy makes people vulnerable, and the current baby formula shortage is just the latest example. The immediate cause of the shortage was the FDA shutdown of a Michigan factory for possible contamination, which might not resume production until June. But the underlying cause is a slew of bad policies that make the market less competitive.

Tariffs, labeling and marketing regulations have removed so much competition from the industry that when a recall affects one factory, it becomes an emergency for parents across the country.

Those regulations give young families fewer places to turn to during shortages  on purpose. Existing companies push hard for these regulations because they put up a barrier to entry against potential competitors and preserve market share for themselves. Policymakers need to clean up the mess they made as quickly as possible. Instead, they are doubling down.

Regulation is a major reason only four large formula producers control most of the U.S. market. First, parents receiving WIC assistance are allowed to choose only certain brands. Second, consumers must pay a 17.5 percent tariff on any imported formula, which prices countless brands out of the U.S. market. Its a nice arrangement for the companies  and for their lobbyists  but it raises prices for families and makes it difficult to boost supplies during shortages.

When new formulas enter the market, regulations forbid sellers from letting anyone know about them for 90 days, even as manufacturers may advertise existing formulas all they like. Those first months on the shelf are make-or-break for many new products, which is why existing producers like this otherwise pointless regulation. At times like this, parents might appreciate hearing about new options.

One of those options is toddler formula, which in many cases meets the Food and Drug Administrations nutritional requirements for infant formula. However, FDA regulations prohibit many manufacturers from recommending this option.

Even product labels have become an anti-competitive tool. The FDA recently recalled a formula that European parents have been safely giving their babies for years, because its label did not include a statement on the label indicating that additional iron may be necessary.

U.S. Customs recently seized nearly 600 cases of formula from Germany and the Netherlands over labeling requirements. The agencys self-congratulatory press release reads as though it had made a major drug bust, lauding its and the FDAs collective efforts to help keep our citizens safe.

Human nutritional requirements do not change across political borders. If a formula is safe and nutritious for babies in Germany or the Netherlands or any other country, then it will be for American babies, too. A system of mutual recognition, whereby regulators in countries with comparable standards automatically approve one anothers decisions, would go a long way to help address and prevent shortages of baby formula and myriad other products  at least after they pay tariffs.

When policies fail, the right thing to do is get rid of them. But instead, politicians might be about to make new ones.

President Joe Biden is using the Defense Production Act, an emergency wartime powers law, to direct baby formula production from Washington. At least eight senators are interested in potential antitrust action against the industry, which is concentrated in a few companies largely because of government regulations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants legislation increasing Washingtons role in supply chain management. The House Oversight Committee is looking at price gouging regulation, which would be counterproductive. Many Republicans are invoking conspiracy theories and blaming foreigners who would likely be happy to help, if regulations allowed it.

Regulations are why the formula shortage is so bad, but politicians are blaming the market instead. Blaming greedy markets is good for grandstanding and campaigning, but there isnt much of a free market to point to when it comes to baby formula. The one healthy response so far is Sen. Mike Lees FORMULA Act, which would allow WIC parents to choose their formula brand, roll back tariffs and enact mutual recognition with trusted allies.

When a recall or a shortage happens, parents would have far more options in a free market than in the current regulatory mess of cronyism and protectionism. The only losers would be incumbent producers, their lobbyists and politicians in search of another way to grandstand on the campaign trail.

Ryan Young is a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Children get on a school bus as law enforcement personnel guard the scene of a shooting near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, U.S., May 24, 2022. (Reuters)

VOA Special Report School shootings Average age of a K-12 shooter is 18

Mass shootings (1966 - February 2020)

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, about 135 kilometers west of San Antonio.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a news conference that the 18-year-old gunman was believed to have been killed by responding police.

The mass shooting Tuesday at the Robb Elementary School was the deadliest elementary school shooting in the United States since the killings in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were killed in that attack, including 20 children.

The Texas shooting is also the second in less than two weeks involving an 18-year-old suspect. The gunman who allegedly shot and killed 10 Black people on May 14 at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York, was also 18.

According to data on mass shooters compiled by The Violence Project, a nonprofit research center based in St. Paul, Minnesota, the average age of a K-12 school perpetrator is 18.

The center says shooters who carry out their crimes at elementary, middle and high schools share similar characteristics. Its research from 1966 to 2020 shows that most K-12 school shooters tend to be a white male student of the school who has an interest in guns, uses a high degree of planning for his act and uses multiple guns.

Abbott said the Texas gunman used a handgun and possibly a rifle, and was a resident of the community.

As yet, there is no known motive for the shootings.

The first K-12 mass shooting of the modern era occurred in 1989 in the schoolyard at the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California.

Five children  all of them Southeast Asian refugees  were killed. Thirty-two others were wounded. The attack led to Californias first assault weapons act.

After that violence, shootings took place at elementary, middle and high schools across the country every year for the next 10 years. Though they were not mass shootings  defined by the Congressional Research Service as four or more victims  and in several cases, resulted in no deaths, their impact on families and communities were everlasting.

In 1999, the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, marked a turning point in school violence at K-12 schools. According to The Violence Project, the attack inspired an entire subculture of copycats, called Columbiners, and the city itself became synonymous with mass shootings.

In a column published in 2019 on a research and commentary website, Violence Project researchers Jillian Peterson and James Densely said since Columbine, six mass shootings and 40 active shooter incidents took place in K-12 schools in the United States. In 20 of the 46 shootings  including at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2019  Columbine was the shooters obsession and inspiration.

School mass shooting locations Fatalities and school mass shootings (1966 - February 2020) Circles scaled according to the number of fatalities.

Jillian Peterson, Ph.D., and James Densley, Ph.D., built the new database of mass shooters that they hope will inform future research and policy decisions about how to effectively prevent and respond to mass shootings.

For their study, they used the Congressional Research Services definition of a mass shooting:

a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms  not including the offender(s)  within one event, and at least some of the murders occurred in a public location or locations in close geographical proximity (e.g., a workplace, school, restaurant, or other public settings), and the murders are not attributable to any other underlying criminal activity or commonplace circumstance (armed robbery, criminal competition, insurance fraud, argument, or romantic triangle).

About the data All shooters have either been charged, convicted or killed at the scene.

The team collected more than 100 pieces of information on each of 172 mass shooters, resulting in The Violence Project Database of Mass Shootings in the United States, 1966 - February 2020.

They compiled details on hundreds of factors, including age, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, education, relationship status, number of children, employment type and status, military service and branch, criminal, violence and abuse history, gang and terrorist affiliation, bullying, home environment and trauma.

What emerged were fleshed-out profiles and motivations of individual shooters, whose crimes can potentially influence current and future policy and prevention.
www.clpblog.org

The contributors to the Consumer Law & Policy blog are lawyers and law professors who practice, teach, or write about consumer law and policy. The blog is hosted by Public Citizen Litigation Group, but the views expressed here are solely those of the individual contributors (and don't necessarily reflect the views of institutions with which they are affiliated). To view the blog's policies, please click here.
Police say a 26-year-old Milan man died from injuries suffered in a Monday night shooting in Monmouth.

Officers responded just after 7 p.m. Monday to the 300 block of South Ninth Street, where police found Romel Gilliam, 26, of Milan, with a gunshot wound, according to the Monmouth Police Department. Gilliam was transported to OSF Holy Family Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries, according to a Facebook post from the Monmouth Police Department.

The department said it was attempting to locate several suspects and continues to actively investigate the shooting.

No further information was available Wednesday morning.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact the Monmouth Police Department at 309-734-8383 or Warren County Crime Stoppers at 309-734-9363.

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Quad-Cities school districts were forced Wednesday to comfort and reassure students and parents  yet again  in the wake of one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern history, this time at a school in Texas.

A gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday in Uvalde. The gunman was killed by police.

In the Quad-Cities, schools made counselors available, reviewed safety plans and renewed pleas for people to speak out if they're worried about a potential shooter.

Today, the theme was Handle with care, Davenport Community School District Superintendent TJ Schneckloth said. Whether that be your staff, families, community members, and know and understand that we have resources available.

The district issued a statement outlining its safety measures, recommendations for families to help improve safety and links to resources to help adults talk to their children about events like the Texas mass killing.

Safety measures listed included two-step building entrances that allow staff to screen visitors and deny their entry if needed. Staff can also lock district building rooms from inside in a way that prevents access from outside.

We have full-time counselors in all of our buildings, Schneckloth added. We have social workers available to us, and we have outside resources that can help deal with any situation.

If students brought up the shootings in Texas, teachers could respond, said Jake Klipsch, the instructional leadership director for the Davenport districts central region. But there was so much not known about the attack that Davenport schools were not proactively discussing them Wednesday.

They were, however, discussing general safety with their students, Klipsch said.

Our director of student services made sure that our counselors/social workers/psychologists put in extra effort today to provide supports for those who need to talk and/or be provided with additional resources, Rock Island-Milan School District spokeswoman Holly Sparkman said in an email. "We aren't proactively doing any formal talks with students today about the Texas incident but I do know that if students need to talk about it  our staff (teachers, principals, counselors, etc) are ready to support and to have those conversations."

In a scary moment for some parents, Rock Island-Milan was temporarily locked down Wednesday morning while a possible threat was investigated. The response resulted from a vague verbal statement that staff decided was concerning enough that they needed to follow up and contact the police for help, Sparkman said Wednesday afternoon. The issue was investigated and deemed not to be a risk after about 45 minutes, and normal routines resumed.

The districts plans for addressing a possible threat include responses to a variety of scenarios, Sparkman said. They include drills with the Rock Island Police Department to prepare for the possibility of a shooting and guidelines for dealing with bomb threats, severe weather and medical emergencies.

United Township High Schools normal security procedures include an armed school resource officer on the premises, and visitors checking in at the front door, UT Superintendent Jay Morrow said. The check-in includes a required background screening. All exterior doors are kept locked.

We, of course, have school safety drills and a threat-assessment team to prepare for and respond as best as we can, Morrow said. We do the very best we can with the resources available to keep our students and employees safe.

Pleasant Valley Community School Districts school resource officers visited all of its schools Wednesday to answer questions, evaluate safety routines and ensure the safety of the people in Pleasant Valley buildings.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind all of our families that we have a plan in place at each of our schools to handle emergency situations, Bettendorf Community School District Superintendent Michelle Morse wrote in a statement.

Her recommendations to families included validating their childrens feelings about the event.

Explain that all feelings are OK when a tragedy occurs, she wrote, citing a list of tips from the National Association of School Psychologists. Let children talk about their feelings, help put them into perspective, and assist them in expressing these feelings appropriately.

The districts statements also discussed how families and others can help lessen the risk of a shooting at a school, particularly remaining vigilant and reporting things that appear suspicious.

We ask all of you to remain vigilant and follow our See Something. Say Something. initiative, North Scott Community School District Superintendent Joe Stutting wrote to the North Scott families.

Pleasant Valley reminded people that the P3 Campus app is available to people so they can anonymously report issues that worry them.

The Moline Police Department also urged people not to remain silent if they suspect something bad is about to occur. Someone planning such an attack often shares their plan with friends or online,but those statements are often unreported.

We need your help, the department wrote on its Facebook page. We need you to help us prevent these tragedies that have struck Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas and many other communities around our country.

Call the police, tell a teacher or parent, the department wrote. Call Crime Stoppers.

Tell anyone and everyone to help us prevent more tragedies, the department said.

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The massive Amazon fulfillment center under construction in northern Davenport will open two years later than expected.

Amazon spokesperson Caitlin Polochak wrote in an email that the five-story, fulfillment center "is now anticipated to launch in 2024."

The center was originally slated to open in September and add 1,000 jobs to the local economy.

Polochak did not respond to multiple questions asking why the e-commerce giant is delaying the launch of the Davenport fulfillment center  part of Amazon's rapid expansion of warehouse space that accelerated during the pandemic and is one of least seven Amazon facilities under construction or in operation in Iowa.

But the delay comes as the country grapples with supply chains challenges, especially in construction, hiring, and as Amazon looks to shed warehouse space in other states as it saw a slowdown in online sales, according to Bloomberg.

In April, Amazon posted its first quarterly loss in seven years, which the chief financial officer attributed to overbuilding warehouse space during the pandemic, when Americans turned to online shopping and Amazon's profits soared. The CFO said in April, overcapacity could account for as much as $10 billion in extra costs in the first half of 2022.

Davenport's fulfillment facility is still expected to open, according to Polochak.

Were still excited to launch this new facility in Davenport, though weve had to adjust our timing," Polochak wrote. "We know the Davenport community is excited about the opportunities well be bringing to the area, and we look forward to sharing new timing along with information about the great jobs, pay  starting at $16/hour  and comprehensive benefits well be offering just as soon as we can.

In December, chamber and city officials announced the new fulfillment center, which has gone up at a rapid pace immediately north of Interstate 80 and west of the Davenport Municipal Airport.

It is common for developments of this size to have situations that impact their timeline along the way," said Quad Cities Chamber spokesperson Jennifer Walker. "Its our understanding that Amazon is experiencing supply chain issues, just like many of our local employers are experiencing. Were pleased that Amazon is committed to opening the facility, even if the project is delayed due to unforeseen circumstances.

Davenport Chief Strategy Officer Sarah Ott said Amazon has notified the city that their opening of the fulfillment center has been delayed until 2024 due to ongoing global supply chain issues.

"The City of Davenport is pleased to hear Amazon's continued commitment to open this facility in our community," Ott said.

On Tuesday, construction vehicles and trucks roved around outside the Amazon fulfillment center, which at the time of announcement, Amazon said would be 2.9 million gross square-foot over five stories.

From the outside, it appears construction is close to completion. According to building permits available from the Scott County Assessor, a new building permit was taken out for construction valued at about $189 million. Plumbing, electrical, and foundational permits cited another roughly $40 million of construction.

The new warehouse positions, according to Amazon, will offer a starting wage of at least $16 an hour. Local city and chamber leaders applauded the incoming fulfillment center, which they said have had ripple effects in other communities, compelling other businesses to raise wages.

According to a study by economists at the University of California-Berkley and Brandeis University, Amazon increasing pay to a $15-an-hour minimum in 2018 resulted in a 4.7% increase in the average hourly wage among employers in the same labor market.

Polochak did not respond when asked whether the company planned to still hire 1,000 people for its fulfillment center.

During the pandemic, Amazon hired at a record pace so fast, historians and economists struggled to find historical comparisons, according to the New York Times.

In 2020, the Amazon added 500,000 employees, including 1,500 in Iowa, bringing its workforce to 1.3 million by the end of 2020. The company hired even more over 2021  the company reported it's workforce was at 1.6 million by the end of December 2021.

Despite its wages and benefits, Amazon has rapidly cycled through employees.

Western Illinois University economics professor Bill Polley in a broader context, uncertainty in the national economy has been heightened with new COVID variants, Ukraine war, inflation, and the federal reserve's response to it.

Polley said one potential upside to Amazon delaying its opening is it could give the regional economy time to absorb the influx of 1,000 new job openings during a time when employers have struggled to find workers.

"It does set some of that concern to rest at least temporarily," Polley said.

The company opened a similar fulfillment center in Bondurant, Iowa, in December 2020.

Davenport agreed to make about $3.9 million in road improvements for the site, winning a $2.56 million grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation Revitalizing Iowa's Sound Economy grant program. That grant was expected to cover 60% of the cost.

The road projects, according to the city are expected to include:

Reconstruction and new turning lanes on north Division Street at the project site.

Intersection improvements at Hillandale Road and Research Parkway with the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center.

Intersection improvements at the center's entrance at Northwest Boulevard and Hillandale Road.

Intersection improvements at Northwest Boulevard and West 76th Street.

Ott said those road projects are currently underway and are scheduled to be completed later this summer.

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Police have arrested a Buffalo man who they say had 16 pounds of crystal methamphetamine.

The Scott County Special Operations Task Force made the arrest Monday.

According to affidavits filed by Bettendorf Police Sgt. Joshua Paul, at 10:04 p.m. Sunday, SOU agents had been watching a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV with a temporary Arizona license tag.

Agents conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle in the 2200 block of Rockingham Road in order to serve a warrant and search the vehicle.

Michael Sean Russell, 48, was driving the vehicle.

In the rear passenger side door panel, agents found 16 one-pound vacuum sealed packages, the contents of which each tested positive for crystal methamphetamine. By police calculations, that's 72,575 doses of methamphetamine.

Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane said that the market has been flooded with methamphetamine and that one dose is going for about $10, or about $100 per gram on the street.

The meth Russell had in his possession is worth $725,748.

Agents also had a warrant to search a storage facility connected to Russell. They found two guns inside. Russell is not allowed to possess a firearm or ammunition.

Russel has previous drug arrests.

On Feb. 6, 2003, when he was 29-years-old, Russell pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, according to electronic records of the U.S. District Court, Tucson.

On June, 2005, U.S. District Judge David Bury sentenced Russell to 72 months  six years  in federal prison, with credit for time served by Russell awaiting trial and sentencing. Russell also was sentenced to serve five years on supervised release after he completed his prison sentence.

According to U.S. Bureau of Prisons electronic records, Russell was released from prison on Sept. 22, 2008.

In Scott County, Russell is charged one count of possession with the intent to deliver more than 5 kilograms of amphetamine. The charge is a Class B felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 25 years.

Russell also is charged with one count each of being a felon in possession of a firearm and violating Iowas drug tax stamp law. Each of those charges is a Class D felony under Iowa law that carry a prison sentence of five years.

Russell was being held Wednesday in the Scott County Jail on a bond or $25,000, cash or surety.

During a first appearance Monday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Peter Geirut scheduled a preliminary hearing for June 2.

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Lawmakers in Iowa and Illinois are calling for immediate gun control measures and policy changes that would allow them to expedite reform after a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old shooter had just purchased two assault rifles on his birthday.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, called for a suspension of the Senate's filibuster rule to enable a majority of Senators to pass gun safety reforms that she said could save lives and that the majority of Americans support.

"What happened in Texas (Tuesday) is every parent's nightmare," Duckworth said. "Im heartbroken for these families and angry as hell at Republicans' shameless inaction to save the lives of innocent children. We know how to stop these attacks from happening as often as they do. We know there will be another and another and another attack in the weeks and months ahead if we do nothing. And we know who is preventing action.

"The Senate should immediately  at a 50-vote threshold  vote on commonsense gun safety reforms that the American people have demanded for too long," Duckworth said. "For every victim of this tragedy and every tragedy before it, enough must be enough."

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, called the shooting "heartbreaking and tragic" and demanded that lawmakers to enact gun reform.

"My heart is with the families and friends of these lives lost," Durbin said.

"I implore  beg  my Republican colleagues to join Democrats in finally making changes to our gun laws to help prevent Americans from re-living this gun tragedy far too often. We cannot continue to sit on our hands and allow innocent lives to be lost. Congress must act."

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a statement on Twitter.

"It is heartwrenching and enraging to hear the news of the elementary students and their teacher gunned down in Texas," Pritzker said. "My prayers are with their families, and my resolve is with all Americans who are working to end senseless gun violence wherever it occurs."

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, also issued a statement on Twitter.

"Im a mother who raised three boys  todays tragic news makes me sick to my stomach," Bustos said. "My heart breaks for the children and families of Robb Elementary School.

"These innocent lives have been taken too soon. Its time for Congress to take action."

Iowa lawmakers

On a call with reporters, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called for expanding the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center to focus more on school violence prevention. The center does research on best practices for violence prevention and training on identifying and preventing threats. The bill would expand its focus on school violence prevention.

Democrats hoping to unseat Grassley  Abby Finkenauer, Mike Franken, and Glenn Hurst  pointed to Grassley's lack of support for restrictions on gun access and contend he has failed to act to prevent mass shootings.

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa tweeted: "A senseless, horrendous act of evil. My heart is with all those in Texas right now."

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks tweeted: "Please pray for the safety of everyone in Uvalde."

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Ross Wilburn on Wednesday called out Grassley for blocking legislation last year in the wake of a Michigan school shooting that would expand background checks for firearms purchases.

Grassley acknowledged the Michigan school shooting was a "shocking act of violence," but said the bill was "hostile toward lawful gun owners and lawful firearms transactions."

He also said "so-called universal background checks will not prevent crime, but will turn otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals."

Instead, Grassley urged senators to adopt his proposal to improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

"The majority of Americans  including gun owners  agree that universal background checks are key to ending gun violence in our country," Wilburn said in a statement. "We must pass common-sense gun reform now. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst have a choice to make, do they stand with the gun lobby, or with our nations children?"

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Nine Rock Island police officers have been honored by the city for exemplary actions, including a life-saving award for two officers who talked a man out of jumping off the Centennial Bridge in November.

"I'm very proud of all the work that we do," Rock Island Police Chief Richard Landi said during the May 23 city council meeting. "Tonight is a night when we can recognize the extra bit of work and exemplary service done by our staff."

Life Saving Award

Officers Brieanne Lonergan and Matthew Bundy were each recognized with the Life Saving Award for their actions Nov. 21 when they responded to a suicidal man on the Centennial Bridge who was live streaming himself on Facebook after losing custody of his child.

The man, armed with a knife, had climbed over the railing and was threatening to jump off the bridge. Longergan and Bundy initiated a conversation with the man, which lasted more than an hour as they gradually persuaded him to step back from the railing. The man was secured and transported to a local hospital for mental health treatment.

"This subject's life was undoubtedly saved thanks to the teamwork and skilled negotiating tactics that (Lonergan) and Officer Bundy demonstrated throughout this tense situation," Landi said.

Challenge Coin Award

Detective Tina Noe, Sgt. Phil Anderson and Sgt. Ben Meiresonne each received challenge coins from the U.S. State Department for their assistance in an investigation involving a former military member scheduled for court martial.

Staff Sgt. Gary Goins, a former teacher for the Davenport and Rock Island-Milan school districts, was placed under investigation for the sexual assault of a minor during a Christmas Eve party Dec. 24, 2020, while he was stationed with the U.S. Army in Saudi Arabia.

Noe, Anderson and Meiresonne collaborated with the State Department to locate and interview various witnesses involved with the case.

Goins was convicted of one count of sexual assault of a child between the ages of 12 and 15, three counts of sexual abuse of a child involving sexual contact and one count of sexual abuse of a child involving indecent communication. He was sentenced to military prison for 126 months.

Meritorious Service Awards

Officers Zachary Costas and Andrew Lawler were each recognized with meritorious service awards for exemplary performance and dedication to duty for their roles in the police department's Tactical Operations Division, formed for the purpose of addressing violent crime on the streets of Rock Island.

From Jan. 2019 to June 2021, Landi said the teamwork of both officers led to the apprehension of several alleged criminals.

"You excelled in identifying, recognizing and apprehending violent repeat offenders who are commonly armed and intent on using those firearms in the furtherance of criminal activity and ultimately victimizing the citizens of Rock Island," Landi said.

Certificate of Commendation

K-9 handler Alex Bowman, along with his dog, Sparky Jackson, was awarded a Certificate of Commendation for exemplary performance and dedication to duty for his actions during a traffic stop last year in which two firearms were recovered.

On Aug. 23, Bowman initiated a traffic stop in the area of 5th Street and 5th Avenue. During the course of the stop, the driver exited the vehicle and Bowman observed the subject was visibly nervous and shaking. After the dog gave a positive alert on the vehicle, Bowman conducted a search, finding a loaded firearm on the front passenger seat and another firearm in a bag on the back seat. One the of firearms was reported as stolen out of Davenport.

The driver was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated use of a weapon and possession of a stolen firearm, a Class 2 felony.

Certificate of Recognition

A Certificate of Recognition was awarded to CSI Officer Garrett Alderson for taking the initiative to become a certified latent print examiner in 2018.

The certification allowed Alderson access to the ISP Next Generation Identification (NGI) and the Automated Identification System (ABIS) at no cost to the city of Rock Island.

"Having access to these systems will provide the police department with an extensive nationwide database for latent prints that could potentially identify subjects that otherwise would not have been identified," Landi said.

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A grant from the state of Illinois will revitalize Arts Alley in the heart of downtown Rock Island into a vibrant focal point for arts and culture.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) awarded $267,000 to the city of Rock Island and the Quad Cities Chamber for the renovation of the alley, 1719 2nd Ave., Rock Island. The grant adds to $534,000 raised in funding for the project with support from the Doris & Victor Day Foundation, Quad City Arts, Rauch Family Foundation, Rock Island Arts Guild and Rock Island Community Foundation. Additional matching funds will come from the citys downtown TIF district, which has a balance of $1.5 million.

"It takes a collaborative team to make these things happen," Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Arts Alley. "This is just the beginning of what we're going to see. We're going to continue to thrive and continue to work hard."

The pedestrian space between 17th and 18th Streets will feature professional murals, ornate signage, lighting, interactive art installations, spaces for live performances and film screenings, new pavement, landscaping and a heating component to make it accessible throughout the year. Vendor stalls also will be available for rent to artists and small business owners during seasonal pop-up shop programs.

Designed by Streamline Architects, the project will begin this fall and finish in 2023.

Arts Alley is one component of a planned multi-million dollar downtown revitalization that will include an urban dog park, reconstruction of the Great River Plaza, streetscaping and construction of a pedestrian gateway between the downtown business district and Schwiebert Riverfront Park.

Thoms said the city also applied for a matching $3 million grant from the State of Illinois Rebuild Downtowns Capital Grant Program.

Jack Cullen, downtown Rock Island director for the Quad Cities Chamber, said Arts Alley was created in 1994 to fill a gap left by a demolished building as an effort to create a gateway between the downtown district and the riverfront.

Cullen said the grant award from the Tourism Attraction Grant Program is extremely competitive and will help "put downtown Rock Island on the map."

"What we're wanting to do with this project is take it to the next level and create a tourist attraction, a destination for the Quad Cities, downtown Rock Island and beyond," he said. "We believe the new designs, coupled with the plans to program the space, really have the capability to do just that  turn it into a true tourist attraction and destination for the community."

Quad City Arts Executive Director Kevin Maynard said Quad City Arts is assisting the project in finding artists and the right style of art to put in the space.

"Arts Alley is what Quad-City Arts is about. It's about activating our public spaces with art and about putting artists to work," Maynard said. "To be able to do that right outside of our building is an incredible feeling. We're very excited to make that happen. It is truly going to make this 'Arts Alley.'

"People go out of their way to see public art," he said. "Over 68% of tourism is driven by art. Cultural tourists spend nearly twice as much money when visiting a community."

Dave Herrell, President and CEO of Visit Quad Cities, said the community must come together and support artists.

"Arts and culture has to be prioritized, and not only by our institutions, but our artists," Herrell said. "There is an amazing amount of global artistry in our region."

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IOWA CITY  The state education budget lawmakers finalized early Wednesday includes a fraction of the $22.1 million increase Iowas public universities sought for the upcoming budget year.

The education appropriations bill offers a $6.2 million increase for the Board of Regents, just over a quarter of the increase it requested and called essential in campus efforts to provide high-quality public education, cutting-edge research, and needed public services.

Of the Legislatures $6.2 million increase, $5.5 million was designated for general university appropriations  to be divided by the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.

The Board of Regents is very appreciative of the appropriations that we continue to receive for Iowas public universities, Board President Michael Richards said Wednesday in a statement provided to The Gazette. We have had a great partnership with the state for more than a century, and it continues to provide significant resources to our institutions.

While it is unfortunate that we could not receive a general university increase equal to the $12.2 million that Gov. Reynolds had in her FY23 budget proposal, we are still thankful that the state continues to recognize that our universities are key drivers of the state economy and receive significant funding.

What was asked

The regents in September requested $15 million more in general education dollars for its public universities  proposing a split of $4 million to UNI, $4 million to the UI, and $7 million to Iowa State.

Additionally, the UI asked for $3 million for its Oakdale campus, State Hygienic Lab, Family Practice Program, and Iowa Flood Center.

The Family Practice Program -- with an additional $500,000, bringing its total budget to $2.2 million -- was the only one of those UI-based special units to receive more funding.

The Board of Regents, in its September request, had said that money was necessary to maintain community-based family medicine residency programs across Iowa.

The program has been instrumental for the state of Iowa to promote primary health care for all Iowans, particularly in rural Iowa, according to the regents request. An increase in financial support is now more important than ever as the future sustainability of these programs is in jeopardy due to rising costs.

The state denied more money for the Oakdale Campus, with a budget of $2.1 million; the Iowa Flood Center, with a budget of $1.2 million; and the State Hygienic Lab, which has a $4.8 million budget and that needs $1 million more to be prepared to rapidly respond to a variety of threats against both human and environmental health, according to the budget request.

The onset of the pandemic and the need to retain staff and recruit additional talented analysts was never more apparent than throughout this pandemic when over 1 million COVID-19 specimens were tested, according to the boards fall request.

Salary increases are critical as the statistics show that the public health lab work force is aging and retiring with fewer new professionals seeking public health labs as a place of employment.

$662.8 million in 23

The final education appropriations package ups the Legislatures total Board of Regents appropriations from $616.6 million in the current budget year to $622.8 million next year  below the requested $638.6 million hope.

It increases the universities general education appropriations from $486 million to $491.5 million, which is below the $493 million at the start of fiscal 2020  before COVID compelled lawmakers to cut $8 million in the middle of that year.

The state denied the universities any general education funding increase last year, despite a regent request for an $18 million bump  plus restoration of the $8 million cut.

The budget includes a $150,000 increase for Iowa States Cooperative Extension Service; a $300,000 increase for the Iowa School for the Deaf; and a $114,000 increase for the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School.

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Just as fishing activity has started to gain momentum, Mother Nature may once again intrude upon angler participation and/or pleasure. Following a 90-degree day on Friday, a spell of cool, rainy weather will move into the Black Hills area and linger for four or five days.

On a positive note, rainy weather can produce a better bite due to runoff and stirred waters, a situation that often draws fish out of hiding spots while providing concealment for anglers seeking access to fishing hot spots.

And typically, fishing, the catching part that is, often improves following rainy weather.

Or so say the so-called experts, though ones personal experience may be a better guide.

Regardless, it is late spring; waters are warming and hungry fish are awaiting. Thus, while breaking out the raingear, or planning other activities until the weather clears, here follows a brief survey of recent fishing activity.

Angostura Reservoir: Walleye bite continues to improve. Fish are being located in shallows leading to drop-offs, particularly during midday hours. Crawler combinations appear to be working best though trial-and-error may be needed. Perch, crappie and catfish activity reported as well.

Bear Butte Lake: Weather permitting, an excellent site for family fishing as a bullhead bite is usually a given. And on occasion, a nice-sized pike may show up as well.

Belle Fourche Reservoir (Orman): Walleye bite continues to improve, particularly for boaters who are catching lots of overs working depths of 13-15 feet of water with bottom bouncers and worms. Shore fishermen, meanwhile, are finding the bite considerably slower though minnows appear to be the better option. Also, catfish activity continues in the channel on shrimp, chicken liver or stink bait.

Black Hills Area Streams: Water levels have been excellent and area streams have been fishing well. Rapid Creek had been trout active throughout the system, including through the city. Nymphs and streamers remain steady performers, and dry fly-fishing opportunities abound as well. Castle and Spearfish Creeks are producing in similar fashion.

Custer State Park Lakes: Catches of trout reported in most locations with fish responding vigorously to a variety of presentations. Center lake continues to be a steady producer.

Deerfield Reservoir: Not much activity reported recently, likely due to weather conditions. Would expect that hungry perch await angler arrival.

Mitchell Lake: Steady trout bite reported.

Pactola Reservoir: Trout activity remains excellent on a variety of presentations. Veterans Point and south marina areas have been busiest locations. Some northern pike activity (chubs and smelt) reported in Jenney Gulch on occasion.

Roubaix Lake: A nice trout bite in progress, particularly during morning hours. Night crawlers have been working well, though fish arent particularly choosey and a variety or presentations should produce action.

Shadehill Reservoir: Walleye activity has improved considerably during last week or so. Limits are being caught though fish have been on the small side.

Sheridan Lake: Trout have been the attention getter with limits taken the norm. Perch and largemouth bass have been active as well. Minnows, crawlers and spinner baits are all producing action.

Lake Oahe: Water temps have climbed into the mid-50, and though still cool in terms of an optimum walleye bite, had resulted in a steady walleye activity in the upper stretches of the lake. Minnows/bottom bouncers and small spinner rigs have been working best. Walleye bite has been slower in Gettysburg and Spring Creek areas though improving as weather warms. Spring salmon bite has been slow to date.

Lake Sharpe: Walleye bite is reportedly excellent as water temps have moved into 50s farther downstream. Walleye are shallow (10-12 feet of water) and responding to minnows and nightcrawlers. Activity has been strong throughout the system from below the dam to West Bend area.

Lake Francis Case: Walleye activity has improved in Chamberlain area as water temps move into low 50s. Fish are shallow (10-15 feet of water) and have been responding to minnows, small spinners and crankbaits. Platte area has been busier with plentiful walleye activity as well as smallmouth bass.

Area Fishing Tournaments:

Jared Roe Memorial Walleye Tournament: June 4, Angostura. Call Jerry Roe (605-484-3494) for additional information.

Grand River Sportsmans Club Walleye Tournament: June 4 at Shadehill Recreation Area. Contact Mike Pazie (605-490-8054) for more information.

First Fathers Day Tournament conducted by Fall River Swim Team: Angostura Reservoir, June 17 and 18. Three-person teams ($120). Registration is 6 p.m., Friday, June 17 at picnic shelter, Call Stacy Reetz (605-890-1484) for additional details.

For State Wide Fishing Tournaments, visit South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks website: gfp.sd.gov/events/.

Dakota Angler & Outfitter, 513 Seventh St., Rapid City; The Rooster, 1441 W. Main St., Rapid City; Wheel in Bait Shop, 18696 Fishermans Road, Fruitdale, and West Prairie Resort, 28354 182nd, Pierre (605-264-5303) have contributed to this report.

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U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds, R-SD, and Joe Manchin, D-WV, reintroduced a bill Tuesday to repeal the Veterans Administration Asset and Infrastructure Review Act of 2018.

The bill, which was originally introduced in 2019 and could be cited as the "Elimination of the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission Act of 2022," would eliminate the 2018 act that was passed to establish a new process for the development, review, approval and implementation of recommendations to modernize and realign Veterans Health Affairs medical facilities.

VA and VISN 23 officials announced in March that services in Fort Meade and Hot Springs could be reduced and transferred to a new facility in Rapid City. Additional closures could impact the Sioux Falls VA Emergency Room and a clinic in Wagner.

Rounds said in a press release that the VA MISSION Act and its BRAC-style process were bad public policy in 2018 and have not improved with age.

"The AIR Commission should be called the ERROR Commission," Rounds said. "Now that the consequences of the VA MISSION Act are being widely experienced, more members are joining our efforts to stop it. I will continue working to make certain veterans in South Dakota receive the care they have earned.

Rounds and Manchin were joined by Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV, Martin Heinrich, D-NM, John Thune, R-SD, Maggie Hassan, D-NH, and Ben Ray Lujan, D-NM.

Thune said in a press release that the VA's process of developing its recommendations relied on "faulty and limited assessments" based on bad information.

"We cannot let the VA extinguish the important progress we have made to protect our VA facilities, which is why I will continue to fight tooth and nail against any proposals that seek to blindly reduce veterans' access to care in our state," he said.

Rounds and Manchin originally introduced the legislation to eliminate the AIR Commission in 2019. The AIR Commission is a panel comprised of nine members nominated by the president and approved by the Senate. The commission is meant to review the recommendations submitted by the VA secretary.

However, the commission does not exist yet as all of the nominees have yet to be assessed by the Senate Committee on Veteran's Affairs and voted on by the full Senate.

Once formed, the AIR Commission would be required to submit the final list of recommendations to the president by Jan. 31, 2023.

 Contact Siandhara Bonnet at siandhara.bonnet@rapidcityjournal.com 

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U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-SD, wants to stop the formation of what he calls the ERROR Commission, his nickname for the panel that is proposing the possible closure of Veterans Affairs medical facilities.

It shouldve been the ERROR Commission because it was done, I believe, in error, it was a mistake, he told the Journal Wednesday.

Rounds and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV, introduced legislation Tuesday based on a bill they introduced in 2019 to stop the VAs Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission from moving forward. The commission, which has yet to have members appointed to it, stems from the Veterans Administration Asset and Infrastructure Review Act of 2018. The 2018 act was passed to establish a new process for the development, review, approval and implementation of recommendations to modernize and realign Veterans Health Affairs medical facilities.

VA and VISN 23 officials announced in March that services in Fort Meade and Hot Springs could be reduced and transferred to a new facility in Rapid City. Additional closures could impact the Sioux Falls VA Emergency Room and a clinic in Wagner.

Rounds said since the VA has now made the recommendation and the AIR Commission has not been established, this is the best time to address and stop misinformation the VA compiled from becoming part of the commission report.

The recommendation comes from information gathered since the process began in 2018. Rounds said although action isn't scheduled until 2023, waiting until then would be kicking the can down the road.

He said if the commission accepts the recommendation from the VA, it would be virtually impossible to stop the VA from shutting down the rural facilities. If the commission is not prevented from forming and makes the recommendation to the president, it would be left to the president to veto it or for Congress to make modifications to the recommendation.

Now is the time to act, Rounds said. Were drawing attention to the Senate so the Senate might consider not accepting nominations for the commission.

Rounds said hes done multiple town halls with veterans and has been met with questions of why the federal government seems to be taking a benefit veterans have earned and making it more difficult to access.

The VA is a huge bureaucracy, he said. Its a huge, perhaps one of the largest, agencies in the federal government, but I think the focus, unfortunately, is one of preservation within the VA through bureaucracy rather than what the needs of veterans actually are.

Rounds said the VA should be built on service with the focus on helping veterans as quickly as possible.

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-SD, said Wednesday that he understands that the VA of the future needs to look different than the VA of the past, but a number of the recommendations are based on bad data. He said the AIR Commission indicates the consultant indicated that they expected the need for in-patient mental health services in the west would go down by 14%, but the need has only increased.

If youre gonna have bad data like that, I do think it undercuts the legitimacy of this whole process, he said.

U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-SD, joined Rounds and Manchin as a co-sponsor of the bill.

 Contact Siandhara Bonnet at siandhara.bonnet@rapidcityjournal.com 

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A federal judge sentenced a Rapid City man on Friday to four years in prison for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Judge Jeffrey Viken sentenced Jquann Jackson, 28, to four years in prison for each count, but Jackson will serve those sentences concurrently. Viken also ordered him to pay a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

The maximum sentence for the possession charge is 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, or both, and at least three years of supervised release. The firearm charge allows for a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or both, and three years of supervised release.

Jackson pleaded guilty to the two counts in exchange for prosecutors dropping the third count in his indictment: possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Court documents show that Jackson distributed cocaine in Rapid City between January 2021 and July 2021, using social media to promote his product. He also posted numerous photographs and videos of himself posing with various firearms.

In 2012, Jackson pleaded guilty to second degree burglary, which is a Class 3 Felony. As a prior felon, it was illegal for him to possess any firearms.

During the execution of a search warrant at Jacksons residence in July 2021, law enforcement found a Mossberg International Incorporated, model 715T, .22 Long Rifle caliber, semi-automatic rifle, and a Sarsilmaz Arms (SAR), model SAR9, 9x19mm Luger caliber, semi-automatic pistol.

Law enforcement also discovered scales, baggies, THC containers, rolled up currency bills containing cocaine residue and a zipper bag containing cocaine residue.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Rapid City Police Department investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin Patterson prosecuted the case.

 Contact Shalom Baer Gee at sgee@rapidcityjournal.com 

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I can only hope that voters dont fall prey to the fear factor that is being offered up this election cycle by several Rapid City candidates.

The cognitive dissonance displayed in the campaign of J.J. Carrell for the Ward 5 City Council seat is a case in point. His campaign materials say, on the one hand, that he is thrilled to have moved his family to our amazing, beautiful city, yet on the other hand, his main campaign issue is that the city is in a vicious downward spiral of violent crime and that the only solution is a massive and immediate increase in our police officer footprint.

Of course, Mr. Carrell moved here less than a year ago, so any of his opinions about how we should run our city would be suspect.

As I write these words, I am looking at his recent fund-raising letter, one identical in format and sent from the same sinister Harrisonburg, Va., origin as at least two others. One was the racist, homophobic, hateful assault on our amazing teachers from school board candidate Janyce Hockenbury; the other from Pennington County sheriff candidate Ryan Mechaley, where he uses the same disinformation, misinformation and distorted statistics as Carrell.

Ive done my time on the thin blue line. After my service as a Marine officer during the Vietnam era, I served for eight years as the director of federal law enforcement at USCG Air Station Miami during the height of the Drug War.

So, the kind of fear Mr. Carrell is selling strikes a particularly raw nerve for me. Ill grant you that he has the courage of his convictions, its just that they are wrong, as well as dangerous should he be elected to our City Council. He is so ensconced in the law enforcement bubble that cops with guns is his go-to solution for everything.

He totally denigrates the work of our citys best, Police Chief Don Hedrick and former chiefs the late Craig Tieszen, Steve Allender (currently our mayor) and Karl Jegeris.

Programs other than police boots on the ground, which we have developed over the years to address the problems on the streets of our community, are opposed by Mr. Carrell if they take away a cent from greater police officer numbers; One Heart, the CARE Campus, the police departments Quality of Life Units, and the Journey On response teams are examples of such alternative programs.

Take Journey On and their work since the programs inception. This group of amazing people have responded to problems on our streets more than 1,800 times since funded by our police department budget in mid-December. Outreach workers show up with empathy and compassion rather than a gun.

Of course, many of our uniformed officers also share these qualities, but the dynamic is obviously different when they respond. In addition, the work of Journey On frees up uniformed officers and allows them to respond to more serious issues in our community. Mr. Carrell would not vote for this tradeoff of compassion for more guns!

How do I know this? As I said, Mr. Carrell does have the courage of his convictions and talked to me at length for this blog post. He said: Im for broken window policing (targeting the most minor of infractions, zero tolerance in arrests).

We dont need to control crime, we need to crush it he said, and there should be cops everywhere, as well as boots on the ground never fail you and strong law enforcement presence everywhere, we need to swarm.

These are just some of Mr. Carrels outlandish quotes from inside the bubble.

There is now a widely held belief in law enforcement circles that, You cant arrest your way out of crime. You must also educate and intervene to try to solve the underlying problems at the root of criminal behavior. Mr. Carrell told me that he thinks that view is nonsense!

The previously listed police chiefs are proof that thoughtful, compassionate people can break free of the law enforcement bubble. It also recalls two of my local heroes, Tim and Charity Doyle. Ten years ago, Tim was seriously wounded in a street incident where our community also lost two fine young officers, Nick Armstrong and Ryan McCandless.

My wife was on the City Council with Charity at the time, so I was close to that drama. I thought that Tim and Charity were a little out there, based on some of their previous, quite conservative writings.

The soul-searching that comes from such a horrific incident has led them, however, to an admirable, compassionate embrace of our community, when they could easily have gone the other way. Charity is now executive director of One Heart, providing a path off the street and into the mainstream for some of our most challenged and vulnerable citizens.

I know what its like to lose men under your charge, so I had great empathy for Chief Allender as he grieved the loss of his two young officers a decade ago. I was gratified to see him make the transition from the law enforcement bubble to become a community leader that is leading us into a brighter tomorrow.

I would hate for our community to backslide, when we have come so far, by buying into the fear mongering that J.J. Carrell is peddling.

This column was originally published at https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/rapid-citian-jim-petersen-hopes-voters-dont-fall-prey-to-fear-factor-offered-up-by-city-council-candidate-jj-carrell?fbclid=IwAR1_3qWrky3RX4xJ2Qt1QvpykX3d9l7I9TBb-LxHnV7vSYs_1fesDeheC70

Jim Petersen of Rapid City is a Vietnam-era U.S. Marine Corps officer who subsequently served 10 years in the United States Coast Guard and retired from the South Dakota National Guard. For the past 20, he has lived and worked around the world on sustainable environmental issues.

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Dan Brandborg offered a friendly warning as his foot hovered over the acceleration pedal of his 2019 Tesla Model Y.

You might want to put your head back against the headrest, the Hamilton man said with a smile.

A first-time ride in an electric vehicle can offer a jolt to the uninitiated.

And when Brandborg punched the pedal and the car jumped from zero to 60 in 4.3 seconds, his inexperienced passenger was glad to have taken his advice.

Brandborg is one of the few in Ravalli County who own an electric vehicle, but he doesnt think it will be long before they become a more common sight in the Bitterroot Valley.

Next week, on Tuesday and Thursday night, Brandborg will offer an introduction to the electric vehicles, Electric Vehicles, Past, Present and Future, in an adult education class offered at the Bitterroot College. People can register online, call the college at 406-375-0100 or stop by the school. The class costs $25.

By the time Brandborg offers his insights into the fast-changing world of electric vehicles, Hamiltons first public charger could be up and running.

The city of Hamilton will install its first charger with dual ports this week in the parking lot on the north side of City Hall. Another faster charger is going in at Town Pump.

Were only going to see more electric vehicles as prices start to come down to the point where everyday consumers can afford them, said Hamilton City Planner Matthew Rohrbach. I think that time is going to come much quicker than what we think it will.

Historically high gasoline prices and increasing numbers of new electric vehicle models have forecasters calling for EV sales to top 670,000 vehicles in 2022, which would be a 37% increase from the 448,000 sold last year. Market consultant AutoPacific predicts that EV sales could top the one million mark in 2024.

Its anyones guess how many of those will end up in Montana.

Brandborg said it remains a rare sighting to see another electric vehicle in his travels around the state, but as mainstream carmakers gear up to offer models with longer range and more functionality for rural lifestyles, he expects that to change.

At this point, he said he sees more excitement from 13-year-olds than adults when hes driving around Montana.

People dont have a good feeling about batteries in this state yet, he said. They know its bad when the battery in their car or phone goes dead. They dont have a lot of trust with batteries but I think theres a paradigm shift in thinking for that top on the horizon.

In his class  which he also plans to offer at the University of Montana later this year  Brandborg will answer the questions that most people ask when they learn he has been driving an electric car for the last three years.

They want to know how far it will go, he said. The answer for my car is 250 to 300 milesThat means I can go to Missoula twice without charging.

People are also anxious about charging the battery. Brandborg  who has been in the solar industry for more than 30 years  lets the sun do most of the work if hes home during the day. If not, he plugs into a 240-volt charger hes had installed at his home to top off the battery at night. People can also use a regular 120-volt outlet, but it takes longer to charge.

Since Brandborgs electric vehicle is basically a computer on wheels. He can punch in a destination and it will show him where he might have to stop to get some electricity on a road trip. While Brandborg has found an adequate charging network along his routes, he expects that number to grow dramatically over the next few years with funding coming from a variety of sources.

On a recent trip to Spokane, Brandborg stopped at Superior for a 10-minute charge that was enough to get him to his destination.

Highway driving does take more planning, he said. Batteries are getting better all the time and the vehicles' range is being extended.

The other variable is the cost of the vehicle, which Brandborg said runs $40,000 to $80,000, or more, than a traditional gas vehicle. People can receive a tax rebate on some models.

I will also tell people they are wonderful to drive, he said. They have incredible acceleration. They are smooth, quiet and zippy with lots of automation and safety devices.

There are a lot of myths being spread about these vehicles right now, Brandborg said. Im hoping to be able to answer a lot of questions about my experience.

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The Hamilton Public Works Department received an Environmental Excellence Award from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

The Resilience award for Building Sustainable Communities came from MT Stormwater 2022.

Hamilton Public Works Director Donny Ramer said the award was a well-deserved honor.

It was presented to those who maintain a high standard for being professional, placing value on collaboration and coordination, emphasize customer service and work hard to protect water quality, Ramer said. They gave it to four or five communities at the Stormwater conference in Missoula.

Ramer explained that the Hamilton Public Works department had recently made upgrades to the system, and collaborative changes between the city and the regulator (DEQ).

Our new lead wastewater operator Dana Baughman brought changes on how we coordinate with the Department of Environmental Quality, Ramer said. We are now proactive in trying to address things before we have problems. Often the relationship between the regulator and the municipalities can be contentious and we try to be proactive.

The Stormwater conference brought together builders, municipalities and large corporations.

We are required to have an industrial stormwater pollution prevention plan for our wastewater treatment plant, Ramer said. Every year DEQ does compliance inspections of our wastewater treatment, as part of that we were told we needed a plan.

As part of that, in 2021 Ramer and his staff wrote their own stormwater pollution prevention plan and submitted it to DEQ. This year when the Hamilton wastewater treatment plant was inspected, the DEQ did not request many changes.

Ramer explained that DEQ has two sides, a permitting side and a compliance side. He noted that approval for the permit had been given but that this was the first year for an inspection with the new plan.

Once they came and did their inspection things went really smoothly, Ramer said. It has been nice.

On Monday, May 16, Hamilton Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf celebrated the Hamilton Public Works department.

The wastewater treatment crew work incredibly hard in a challenging job, Farrenkopf said. They provide some very necessary services that we all use but don't always think about. I appreciate their efforts and am proud of the work that they do. They certainly deserve this recognition.

Ramer also mentioned other projects including receiving a $1.7 million grant from ARPA, the American Rescue Plan Act.

A large portion of that was for water and wastewater infrastructure, he said. We have a $3 million project to upgrade our wastewater treatment plant that was originally built in the 80s, I think 1982 was when construction was started on it, and we still have some of the original equipment.

The upgrade will include pumping and creating a more consistent treatment coming out.

It is a biological process so we now have sensors to monitor pH, oxidation-reduction potential and temperature, so by monitoring those we can acclimate our treatment process to make things more consistent, Ramer said.

He explained that the American Rescue Plan Act had given local fiscal recovery funds to the cities to supplement income lost during the pandemic and a minimum allocation grant based on gas tax disbursement which was required to be used for water, wastewater and broadband.

Ramer said that two years ago Hamilton Public Works started upgrading controls and communication for water and wastewater systems.

Most of that was from late 90s early 2000s, he said. Part of that is we added sensors to the wastewater treatment in the oxidation ditch. Those sensors allowed us to find our issues and we found we were not adding enough air for the biological process.

The new project will allow better oxidation.

Hopefully automated, so it oxidizes each cycle, Ramer said. Right now it is just set on timers. As the water temperature changes, we dont always hit the optimum cycle to remove the maximum amount of nitrogen and phosphorus.

He expected that equipment to be implemented by January.

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C.M. Russell High School and neighborhood elementary schools in Great Falls enacted protective safety measures early Wednesday as police investigated a report in the neighborhood of a potential threat.

Officials said later in the day no threat had existed and there were no arrests.

Police posted on Facebook that Detective Jesse Rosteck, a school resource officer at the high school, was alerted shortly before 8 a.m. about a potential threat to the school involving a student with a gun. The initial report came from a parent who said that during morning drop-off they saw a student place a gun into a bag and walk into the school.

Rosteck placed the school in lockdown status. Students and staff were directed to secure themselves in classrooms and no one was allowed to enter or exit the building.

Detectives worked with the parent to review surveillance video. The students involved were questioned. Detectives determined the item seen by the reporting party was a benign object that could have been mistaken for the barrel of a gun and there was no threat.

"The students who were questioned were fully cooperative, have been cleared of any wrongdoing, and were released to their parents," police said.

Law enforcement officers from several agencies, including Cascade County Sheriffs Office, U.S. Marshal Service, Montana Probation and Parole, Montana Highway Patrol, Customs & Border Protection, Homeland Security, and the FBI, converged on the school and the surrounding area.

Crews from Great Falls Fire Rescue and Great Falls Emergency Services staged to administer emergency medical care if needed.

Police told parents earlier in the day via Facebook that they could pick up their children who were at elementary schools.

"Praying for peace and safety," one person posted online.

Wednesday was the last day of the school year for seniors at the high school. All classes and activities at CMR were canceled for the rest of the day.

Authorities posted about noon that students with vehicles at the high school were allowed to drive home and could take siblings with them, but no friends. They were instructed to go directly home. Students who walk or bus to school were taken to Montana ExpoPark, where parents or guardians could pick them up. An ID was required.

Capt. Doug Otto and Superintendent Tom Moore held a news conference earlier in the day in which Otto said police had yet to find someone with a firearm and students would remain in lockdown.

"We have everybody at the school, everyone is safe," Otto said.

According to publicschoolreview.com, Russell has about 1,400 students.

The incident occurred less than a day after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas.

Helena Public Schools Superintendent Rex Weltz posted a note on the district's website.

"Our hearts go out to the families and staff at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas," he wrote. "We are heartbroken this morning as we prepare to support our kids, both as parents and educators, in the wake of another national tragedy.

"Some students may have difficult questions about yesterdays horrible event which comes just 10 days after a shooting in a New York grocery store. We can take steps to help them cope. One of the most important things we can do is to stick to our normal routines at home, at school, and with sports and other extra-curricular activities," Weltz said.

"All District operations are normal today and staff are taking age-appropriate steps to help students cope while continuing normal class activities. For our youngest kids, this means class-as-usual and being available for kids who may have heard about the shootings and have questions or emotions to address. For middle school and high school students, there may be more direct discussion to share feelings and check in on each other."

He said the district will continue to collaborate with parents, law enforcement, mental health care providers, and local government to identify and implement safety and violence-prevention measures.

Independent Record photographer Thom Bridge contributed to this story.

Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.

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An 18-year-old Richmond man gunned down last week has been identified by Richmond police.

At 11:48 p.m. on May 19, Ashod Edwards was found by officers responding to the 1500 block of Jennie Scher Road for a report of random gunfire. Edwards, who had been shot, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Richmond police are investigating the fatal shooting as a homicide.

Anyone with information is asked to call Major Crimes Detective B. Neifeld (804) 646-3246 or contact Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000. The P3 Tips Crime Stoppers app also may be used. All Crime Stoppers reporting methods are anonymous.
As students arrived to Richmond Public Schools Wednesday morning they underwent enhanced searches and Superintendent Jason Kamras told families they might notice extra city police officers on school grounds.

Without divulging much detail, Henrico schools Superintendent Amy Cashwell wrote to families that robust safety measures and procedures are in place at every school. She said students, staff and parents may see additional police officers on and near school grounds for the remainder of the year.

A number of school systems in the Richmond area took additional safety measures after an 18-year-old gunman murdered at least 19 children and two adults Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. It was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., almost a decade ago.

Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, said Tuesday, my heart is broken today.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin met Wednesday morning with members of his Cabinet to discuss actions taken to protect children in schools and received a briefing on what state resources are available to provide mental health supports in response to the Uvalde school shooting.

The Governor has asked his administration to evaluate steps already taken and future steps to help ensure our schools are safe, Youngkin press secretary Macaulay Porter said in an email.

The Governor previously requested an additional $50 million in the budget for School Resource Officers and is hopeful the General Assembly will prioritize this important request, Porter said.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who condemned the Texas shootings as wretched evil, is scheduled to be the keynote speaker Friday at a Womens Leadership Forum luncheon during the NRAs annual convention in Houston. Virginia Democrats called on Earle-Sears to cancel her appearance.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Wednesday that the mass school shooting in Texas made him kind of relive the worst day of my life  April 16, 2007, when a gunman killed 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech while he was governor.

Theres PTSD for me anytime theres one of these shootings, he said in a media briefing.

But Kaine also said hes ripped emotionally not only by the shooting at Uvalde, but what he termed the failure of Congress  and specifically the U.S. Senate  to do anything in response to the numbing list of mass shootings that have followed the massacre at Virginia Tech, then the most deadly mass shooting on a U.S. college or university campus.

The shootings are bad enough, but what really stings is the realization that Congress has done nothing, he said.

Richmond

In his daily newsletter on Tuesday, Kamras sent condolences to the families of those who were senselessly gunned down today, and sought to offer assurances about security to the Richmond school community.

To our students, families, and staff: please know that I take your safety extremely seriously  it is truly my number one priority, as both superintendent and a father, he wrote.

On Tuesday evening, Kamras authorized the RPS director of security to enact enhanced searches during student arrival Wednesday morning. Kamras thanked parents in advance for their understanding. He also asked for additional Richmond police to be posted at schools during arrival and dismissal.

Kamras also informed the RPS community that several months ago, he asked the director of security, a former SWAT commander, to review the districts active-shooter protocols with principals and where necessary, update school-specific active shooter response plans.

Kamras also provided FBI active-shooter resources and mental health, domestic violence, child abuse resources.

Finally, please give your loved ones an extra tight embrace tonight, tell them how much you love them, and cherish the blessing of their very existence, Kamras wrote.

Henrico, Chesterfield

Cashwell, the Henrico schools superintendent, wrote to families that she is grief-stricken following the senseless act of violence at the Texas school.

Cashwell thanked the Henrico County Police Department and school resource officers who work with the district in identifying and supporting individuals who might be in distress.

This vital partnership helps reduce violence in our schools and enables us to respond swiftly and safely to potential threats, Cashwell wrote.

In a statement to Chesterfield County families and staff Tuesday night, the division said: Everyone has a role to play in school safety. If you see something, say something. If you know something, make sure someone at a school knows it too. We are all partners in efforts to protect our children.

Chesterfields school system says it has individual threat assessment teams and a team that is trained to respond to issues affecting students and staff in tandem with the divisions critical incident and emergency response management plan.

In a message to families Wednesday afternoon, Hanover schools Superintendent Michael Gill said: We extend our deepest condolences and sincerest prayers to the families and friends of the victims, as well as the entire Uvalde community.

We are all searching for answers that may never come in the wake of yet another tragedy.

Hanover said its schools work each day with the countys sheriffs office, the fire and emergency medical services department and other community partners to remain vigilant, and that the division evaluates its safety and crisis plans continuously and invests in school safety measures at each school.

Julius Hamlin, acting superintendent of Petersburg City Public Schools, said its schools will have an increased law enforcement presence at every school campus as a precautionary measure in light of the increased violence throughout the country and that school officials are reviewing the divisions safety protocols.

Youngkin tweeted that he and first lady Suzanne Youngkin are devastated at the incomprehensible and tragic news out of Texas. We are praying for the community of Uvalde and the families who lost their children and loved ones to this senseless attack.

In keeping with President Joe Bidens proclamation Youngkin ordered U.S. and Virginia flags lowered to half-staff until sunset on Sunday.

School resource officers

Last fall, in his successful campaign for governor against Democrat Terry McAuliffe, Youngkin called on every school in the state to have a law enforcement officer on its campus, or face losing state education funding.

If you are a school board and you refuse to equip your schools with school resource officers to keep our children safe, you will need to find your funding for your school on your own, Youngkin said in October during a rally in Burke in Fairfax County.

In the regular General Assembly session that ended March 12, lawmakers passed a watered-down bill that would not require a school resource officer in each elementary or secondary school. It instead requires the training of a law enforcement officer as a liaison to a school without a resource officer.

Youngkins call for law enforcement presence in schools came after many localities and school districts examined the role of law enforcement officers amid the racial reckoning that followed the killing of George Floyd.

In 2020, Kamras, the Richmond schools superintendent, punctuated an emotional, student-led town hall spurred by the nations racial reckoning, with a pitch to remove police from city schools. In 2021 he proposed a modification, in response to what he described as the will of the School Board.

I think school is not a place where police belong, Kamras said in a 2021 interview. I also recognize that, frankly, the [School Board] votes just arent there to take that action and a significant part of the community has also shared ... they find some safety in having those individuals there.

Some RPS schools do still have school resource officers, but a few have Care & Safety Officers instead who are not police and do not carry weapons.

In Chesterfield, the school division has school resource officers in middle schools, child safety officers in elementary schools and school security officers in all high schools and career and technical centers.

Kaine

Kaine recalled how Virginia Tech survivors and families came to the Senate in 2013 in support of the parents of 20 children slain at Sandy Hook the previous year, with the hope that Congress would make it harder for the wrong people to buy the most lethal firearms and accessories.

But the Senate, operating under a filibuster rule requiring at least 60 votes to pass legislation, could muster only 57 votes in support of legislation to expand criminal background checks, ban the sale of assault rifles and high-capacity gun magazines that Kaine said increase the lethality of mass shooting incidents.

The Senate has betrayed a spirit of indifference, he said. I am trying to find reason to believe that a Senate known by its indifference can change.

He said he takes hope from the example Virginia set in 2020, when the General Assembly and then-Gov. Ralph Northam adopted a package of gun-control legislation.

That same year, Kaine and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., introduced federal legislation modeled on the Virginia plan. Its components included universal background checks for gun purchases; extreme risk protective orders; prevention of gun sales to people under court orders for domestic violence; working to prevent children from having access to firearms; requiring reporting of lost or stolen firearms; and limiting handgun purchases to one gun a month, as Virginia had done under then-Gov. Doug Wilder and then repealed under Gov. Bob McDonnell.

If we can do it in Virginia, then we can do it in the Senate, he said.

In 2020 Northam also sought a ban on assault-style weapons but the measure failed in the state Senate.

Kaine, who is fluent in Spanish, recounted a conversation he had on Wednesday morning with a Capitol staffer from El Salvador who was distraught over the Texas shootings.

She said, My country is really messed up and its really violent, but kids are safe in school there. Kids are safe  people are safe in churches there,  the senator recalled.  At least in my violent country there is some sacred and safe place. Why not here? 

Kaine said, I didnt have a good answer for her.

jnocera@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6023 Twitter: @jessmnocera mmartz@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6964 Staff writers Sean McGoey and Andrew Cain contributed to this report, which also includes information from The Associated Press.

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A Chesterfield County man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 30 years in prison for a multiyear scheme in which he coerced and threatened at least seven underage girls to perform sex acts in front of their web cameras that the defendant recorded and saved. Joshua Brady assumed false identities associated with wealthy and influential families to facilitate many of his crimes.

Not satisfied with exploiting the girls sexually, Brady then induced some of his victims to send him money or add him as an authorized user of their credit or debit accounts. He extorted a total of $34,120 in cash and credit card purchases from a number of his victims.

Bradys penchant for manipulating vulnerable people and using false personas make him uniquely dangerous, Assistant U.S Attorney Michael Moore and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Fishel wrote for the government in a sentencing memorandum.

Following a sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Judge Henry E. Hudson sentenced Brady, 36, to 360 months in federal prison on his earlier guilty plea to production of child pornography. Bradys punishment was within discretionary federal sentencing guidelines, which called for a prison term of between 360 months and life behind bars.

This is an extremely aggravated case, Hudson said from the bench.

In accordance with Bradys Jan. 26 plea agreement, prosecutors dropped five other charges, including receiving child pornography, mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud an aggravated identification theft.

Prosecutors described Bradys child pornography scheme as the culmination of nearly 16 years of criminal conduct that continually escalated in severity.

Between the ages of 19 and 24, Brady amassed convictions for obtaining money by false pretenses, passing worthless checks and filing a false police report. From there, Brady engaged in more brazen and bizarre behavior.

He was convicted of forging the signature of U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Payne in an effort to win back his cellphone service; impersonating a Department of Homeland Security agent in an outlandish scheme in which he contacted two Richmond area hospitals for assistance with a purported human trafficking investigation; and bribing a female witness while posing as a British citizen in a scheme to falsely accuse a 17-year-old boy of rape in Chesterfield.

He has been completely unamenable to even stringent court supervision and has developed and refined a striking ability to deceive and manipulate others, Moore and Fishel wrote.

In the current case, Brady stole the names of influential and or famous families, such as Theo Schwarzman and Joshua Weston, to influence and extort his victims. In using the Schwarzman name, Brady claimed he was the son of the CEO of one of the worlds leading investment firms. By assuming the Weston name, Brady claimed he was part of a wealthy family in the United Kingdom.

Prosecutors said he used the false names to insulate himself from detection and to give his threats increased credibility, as the victims were more likely to believe that Brady could make good on those threats with impunity.

Beginning around December 2015 and continuing through January 2020, Brady sought out underage girls and adult women over the internet, sometimes using dating websites such as SeekingArrangement.com, which generally matches older and wealthier men and women with young men and women.

After making connections, Brady would begin chatting with them using Skype. After gaining their trust, he steered the conversation over several days toward sexual topics. Then, using harsh and coercive language, Brady ordered them to perform sex acts in front of their web cameras. The victims complied and Brady recorded the acts and saved them on his laptop computer, according to prosecutors.

One of his victims was 14 years old when Brady began to chat with her. Another victim was 16. He later threatened and forced them to engage in additional sex acts by suggesting he would disclose their past sexually explicit recordings to their families and friends if they didnt comply, prosecutors said.

In addition to those two victims, authorities discovered that Brady had recorded and saved sexually explicit videos of five other underage girls engaged in similar conduct after conducting a forensic examination of his laptop computer that was seized by Chesterfield County police during a search of his home in September 2019.

This was ... the repeated sexual abuse of multiple impressionable and vulnerable minors that involved substantial planning and effort, prosecutors said.

After exploiting the victims sexually, Brady in some cases would extort them for financial gain.

In the case of the 16-year-old girl, Brady  using the Schwarzman persona  he re-contacted the victim when she was a college freshman. Posing as Schwarzman, Brady coerced the victim to wire his friend  whom he identified as Joshua Brady  sums of money. He also persuaded her to allow Brady to use her credit cards.

Prosecutors said Brady engaged in similar fraudulent conduct with adult victims he met on online dating sites. Some sent funds via wire transfer, believing that doing so would curry favor with Schwarzman. One woman wired him more than $12,000.

Brady attended Matoaca High School in Chesterfield before leaving during the 10th grade. Court records filed by his attorney said Bradys mother took him to a psychologist at age 16 and he attended a few sessions over several months as a result of bullying and harassment in school. He also attended Richard Bland Community College for a semester in 2019.

When not incarcerated, Brady has lived with his mother for his entire life and never held a job, prosecutors said in court papers.

Brady previously has been diagnosed with a myriad of mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, dysthymia, Paranoid Schizophrenia and Delusional Disorder. However, the reliability of those diagnoses were called into question during one of the battery of tests conducted on Brady and conduct he displayed during those tests, prosecutors said.

In March 2013, Brady was charged in federal court in Alexandria with impersonating a CIA officer and recruiting others to rob banks for the intelligence agency. A psychiatrist appointed on a motion filed by his attorney opined that Brady suffered from Paranoid Schizophrenia and Schizotypal Personality Disorder, and concluded he met a test for insanity at the time of the offense.

A second expert, a clinical psychologist, offered a slightly different opinion, noting that Brady exaggerated his psychological problems, and results of testing showed he was trying to fake bad.

The psychologist wrote: The question here was whether he could have a real mental illness and have been trying to fake, or whether the whole story was a sham and he thought he could reinforce the image of psychosis on the psychological tests, but he overplayed his role.

Prosecutors said theres little doubt Brady suffers from some form or forms of mental illness, but his attempts at deception during testing make it difficult, if not impossible, to determine precisely what he suffers from and what the best treatment regimen might be. That, coupled with the nature of the mental illness, makes Brady far more difficult to supervise and far more likely to re-offend.

In unsuccessfully seeking a downward variance in punishment for his client, Charles Gavin, Bradys attorney, wrote that his clients delusional past and associated crime has been in large part managed now by a proper medicine regimen. Gavin said that was the primary reason why the defense did not push insanity or other mental disorder arguments, because as long as Brady receives his prescribed medication, he appears to be under control.

But prosecutors said what distinguishes Brady over the course of his adult life is his flagrant disregard for the law and the failure to follow the rules imposed on him by numerous courts, including this one. Brady has wreaked havoc on society and left incalculable economic and psychological damage in his wake.
Virginias mental health system is suffering a double blow from the resignations of the director of the states largest psychiatric hospital and the deputy director of forensic services for people who enter the state system through criminal courts.

State officials confirmed that Brandie French will step down as director of Eastern State Hospital near Williamsburg on June 1 and Christine Schein on Wednesday served her last day as deputy director for forensic services at the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

The state gave no explanation for the departures, but the timing isnt good for Virginias oldest public mental hospital, which also has the highest percentage of forensic patients of any facility in the state behavioral health system.

We had a serious exodus of folks in the last administration [of then-Gov. Ralph Northam], said Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, who serves on the Virginia Behavioral Health Commission. For that to continue, you have a lot of people with a lot of history associated with what were doing who are no longer there.

The resignations come just over a month after two patients, both felons, escaped from Eastern State. Law enforcement agencies apprehended the two escapees  one in Chesapeake on Easter Sunday, the day after the escape, and the other in Norfolk four days later. Authorities said he had a firearm.

A spokesperson for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services stressed that the resignations had nothing to do with the escapes.

"Neither Ms French nor Ms Schein are leaving in connection to the recent elopements at Eastern State," Meghan Wedd McGuire said in an emailed statement. "Both are leaving DBHDS in good standing and will be missed."

Virginias behavioral health facilities have been struggling with overcrowding and understaffing, as well as a backup in the evaluation of patients to determine whether they are mentally competent to stand trial on criminal charges or, if not, to restore their competency so they can.

Many of those patients are there on misdemeanor charges for minor offenses, but languish in the hospital until their competency can be evaluated and, if necessary, restored.

Theres got to be a better way than sending people with misdemeanor crimes to be restored so they can be tried for them, said Mason, who hopes the Senate prevails in budget negotiations that could produce an agreement this week that the General Assembly can consider in special session on June 1.

The Senate budget includes money for an amendment he sponsored to boost the fee for competency evaluations from $750 to $1,200 to encourage more qualified professionals to perform them.

French had been CEO and director of Eastern State for more than two years, dating back to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that killed 26 patients and two staff at state facilities, but none at the hospital in James City County. Previously she had worked as chief operating officer at Piedmont Geriatric Hospital, a state institution in Nottoway County for elderly patients with behavioral health problems.

She will be replaced as facility director on an interim basis by William Dewey Jennings, who is currently assistant director of administration and has more than 25 years of experience in state government.

Schein had worked in the job for almost five years, with previous experience at Henrico Area Mental Health & Developmental Services and St. Josephs Villa in Henrico County.

Clinical psychologist Angela Torres will become interim deputy director for forensic services. Currently, Torres is working as forensic oversight manager, developing state and regional policy on mental health and criminal justice.

She previously served as chief forensic coordinator at Central State Hospital near Petersburg, which operates the only maximum-security forensic unit in the state system.

Eastern State and Central State have the largest percentages of forensic patients in the state system at 85% and 81%, respectively, followed by Southern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Danville at 76% and Western State Hospital in Staunton at 60%.

Mason contends that the state hospitals  including a rebuilt Eastern State  are not designed for this kind of a patient.

Yet, he said, most of the patients in the hospitals are that kind of patient exactly.
As a financial wizard, Glenn Youngkin knows how to turn a problem into a profit.

In his previous incarnation  co-CEO of investment giant Carlyle Group  Youngkin helped transform the struggling coffee-and-confection chain Dunkin Donuts into a huge moneymaker. Purchased for $2.4 billion in 2005 by Carlyle and two other private equity firms, whats now known as Dunkin, went public in 2011, having significantly expanded its footprint and staff. After loans were paid off, stock sales produced a three-fold windfall of $1.8 billion, divided equally among the three firms.

As a Republican governor, Youngkin is attempting to manage the state work force with same acumen that made him very wealthy.

Which makes you wonder: Why is Youngkin ordering an estimated 55,000 government employees back to their offices across the state by July 5, jettisoning COVID-19 protocols put in place by his Democratic predecessor, Ralph Northam, that allowed many of them to work remotely, usually from their home?

Wouldnt this be a great opportunity to more fully take advantage of the disruption attributed to the coronavirus?

That task would likely fall to the administrations so-called chief transformation officer, Eric Moeller. Hes a former partner at the McKinsey management consultancy, where Youngkin worked pre-Carlyle and where the best and brightest can make millions of dollars recommending to business cost-savings and efficiencies that inflate executives pay packets and eliminate the jobs of line employees.

The pandemic forced Virginia to rethink the delivery of services, likely accelerating their digitization  a task that might be slowed by the back-to-office order and creates greater reliance on a state info-tech agency for which Youngkin has yet to find permanent leadership. Northams proposed investment in broadband, supported by Youngkin, could mean a continued build-out, especially in rural Virginia, financed with $2 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds.

Greater use of virtual space  a policy the General Assembly first adopted in 2001 with the goal of roughly 2 in 10 workers telecommuting  means reduced demand for actual space. If agencies, principally their back shops, are, in effect, moved into employees homes, office buildings in downtown Richmond, where the state manages 6.5 million square feet and pays $63 million annually in rents, could be leased or sold, repurposed or redeveloped.

In addition to shrinking its real estate footprint, the state might reduce its 4,000-vehicle motor pool. And with fewer workers commuting, sparing them the expense of gas and parking, state-owned garages that hold about 7,000 cars could give way to fresh development.

Exceptions to continue telecommuting two or three days a week require the approval, respectively, of the Cabinet secretary who oversees the employees agency or Youngkins chief of staff, who, in effect, is the deputy governor. Running up the chain of command a request to remain in the digital workspace may, for some employees, be akin to running the gantlet.

That is, its a form of punishment  more trouble than its worth. Workers who feel that way, having seen all those help-wanted signs that denote a tight job market, might quit the public for the private sector. And that would probably be OK with Youngkin. So, too, would be wide-scale departures, perhaps fueled by a perception within the bureaucracy that Youngkin  for political reasons  is intent on micromanaging the states nonpolitical workers.

Forget about the fact that the corporate sector, not just to keep its best people, is trying to strike a balance between virtual and in-person work. Theres something to be said for the creative tension of a face-to-face meeting. And there are activities that simply demand real-life contact among employees. Among them: determining how some engage others.

Some state services just require real people in real time: law enforcement, public health, transportation and elements of the social safety net. That includes the Virginia Employment Commission, claimed by Youngkin as an early success story, having been restored from its near-collapse under the weight of the jobless surge attributed to COVID-19.

So maybe the Youngkin directive, paired with an apparent freeze on agency discretionary spending over $100,000 announced in a recent memo by the finance secretary, is a cynical attempt to run off employees, saving the taxpayers for whom they work millions of dollars in salaries, health insurance coverage and pension contributions? For state employees, jumping now beats being pushed later, when layoffs could be the rule.

An exodus of public employees  voluntary or forced  could cost Virginia government a defining feature: institutional knowledge. That there are people, most of whom are professional not political, who know how things work means things work better. To skeptics, some of whom are professional politicians, these people are viewed as little more than faceless, process-wedded bureaucrats whose job is to do a job on services.

Next year, one in four state employees  25%  are eligible to retire, according to the General Assemblys investigative arm, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. The pools of potential retirees are likely larger in some agencies. Many employees poised to exit are white-collar types: 41% are general managers, 38% are financial managers and 28% are engineers and architects.

And departures will disrupt one of the state work forces recent characteristics: greater diversity. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-of-center think tank, notes that 58% of Virginia government employees are female, 1 in 5 is Black and 1 in 10 is Hispanic or Asian.

These are challenges that do not lend themselves to quick fixes so often preferred by the political class.

Fingers crossed Youngkin and his advisers are talking about them. Perhaps over coffee and Dunkin Donuts?
Fort Lee soon may be known as Fort Gregg-Adams, renamed for two African American officers who excelled in logistics, instead of the general who led the Confederate army against the Union in the Civil War.

A commission Congress created to recommend new titles for nine U.S. Army bases  including three in Virginia  chose on Tuesday to honor Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams at the sprawling base outside of Petersburg that plays a central role in providing logistical support to Army operations.

Its a great day in Virginia, exclaimed Rep. Don McEachin, D-4th, who had led an effort with other Black congressional leaders to name the base after Gregg, the Armys highest ranking minority general when he retired in 1981 after 35 years in the service.

The naming commission also recommended that Fort Pickett  currently named after George Pickett, a Confederate officer known for a doomed charge against U.S. forces at Gettysburg  be rechristened Fort Barfoot after Tech. Sgt. Van T. Barfoot. A Medal of Honor recipient, Barfoot also took a highly public stand in 2009 in defense of his right to fly the American flag from a pole he erected outside of his home in Henrico County.

Fort A.P. Hill, named for a general whose statue is among the last to Confederates still standing in Richmond, would be renamed Fort Walker after Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army, who received a Medal of Honor for her medical service to wounded Union troops during the Civil War.

The panel will formally submit its recommendations later this year to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, a retired four-star Army general who is the first African American to hold the office.

Todays announcement highlights the commissions efforts to propose nine new installation names that reflect the courage, values, sacrifices, and diversity of our military men and women, Austin said in a statement on Tuesday.

The commissions chair, retired Adm. Michelle J. Howard, said that when the panel began its work under the National Defense Reauthorization Act adopted last year, We realized that we had more heroes than we did bases to name.

And we were overwhelmed with the greatness of the American Soldier  from those who gave their entire adult lives to the Army, to those who sacrificed themselves in valorous acts, Howard said in a statement on Tuesday. We were reminded that courage has no boundaries by man-made categories of race, color, gender, religion, or creed.

For McEachin, the choice of Gregg was personally satisfying because he has known him since childhood. Gregg, born in South Carolina, moved to Newport News as a teenager and met the future congressmans father, Ivan, better known as Sandy, who became a lifelong friend.

But McEachin is quick to add, Hes exceedingly well qualified.

Gregg enlisted in the Army in 1945 and became involved in supply logistics to support the reconstruction of war-shattered Germany. He applied for Officer Candidate School the same year that then-President Harry Truman ordered the racial desegregation of U.S. armed forces.

He rose through the ranks to become logistics director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and deputy chief of staff for logistics for the Army. The Army named its award for logistics achievement after him.

But the naming commission also noted that Gregg promoted equality at home by desegregating the Fort Lee Officers Club as a young officer in the 1950s.

Charity Adams retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1945, the same year Gregg joined the service. She, too, hailed from South Carolina, but interrupted her pursuit of a masters degree in psychology to join the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 to support the U.S. war effort.

In 1944, Adams, then 25, was named to lead the first unit of African American women serving the Army overseas, the 6888th Central Postal Directory in England. The unit directed the delivery of mail to and from almost seven million American soldiers fighting in Europe, handling some 65,000 letters a day.

Though Arthur Gregg and Charity Adams served on different missions and in different conflicts, consistent themes of leadership, dedication and problem solving united their service, the naming commission said.

Moreover, in overcoming the [logistical] sustainment obstacles caused by war, they also helped overcome the social obstacles caused by segregation, the commission said. Their service simultaneously supported mission success and societal progress.

Barfoot, whose name would replace that of Pickett on the base in Nottoway County, received the Medal of Honor for his heroics in fighting the Germans in Italy in 1944. By himself, he subdued three German machine gun nests, taking 17 prisoners before repelling a German counter-attack the same day by using a bazooka to disable the lead tank.

A native of Mississippi, he served as senior Army adviser to the Virginia National Guard and retired in Virginia as a colonel.

But he wasnt done. At age 90, Barfoot made national news by generating a groundswell that forced his local homeowners association in Henrico to back down after it ordered him to remove the 21-foot flagpole he had erected outside of his home.

Walker, whose name would replace A.P. Hills at the base in Caroline County, was a native New Yorker. She tended wounded Union soldiers in Fredericksburg and other Civil War battlefields, and was imprisoned in Richmond by Confederates as a suspected Union spy.

She received the Medal of Honor in 1865 at the recommendation of Union Gens. William T. Sherman and George Thomas, and continued to wear the medal thereafter, including through five decades of campaigning for womens equality and womens rights, the commission said.

McEachin welcomed the replacement of the names of Confederate leaders at U.S. Army bases.

Were Virginians and its going to take us a minute to adjust to it, he said, and well adjust.

Its a good thing.
The United States subsidiary of an international textile manufacturer, based in Pulaski, has agreed to a $3 million fine that settles accusations that it defrauded the American military.

In Wednesday's announcement of the settlement, United States Attorney Chris Kavanaugh cited the actions of a HEYtex USA employee who came forward as a whistleblower.

The employee "brought information regarding falsified test results to the attention of former company management," Kavanaugh, the federal prosecutor for the Western District of Virginia, said in a prepared statement.

"The employee alleged that on over 100 separate occasions, HEYtex falsely certified that its military-grade fabrics met all requisite performance specifications set by the military when, in fact, the fabrics failed those tests," Kavanaugh continued.

The employee, Kim Altizer, released a statement through her attorney, John Fishwick, on Wednesday. Altizer is "proud to have brought the case and is pleased the matter is settled," according to the statement, which added that she will have no further comment on the matter.

The government charged HEYtex with violating the False Claims Act between Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2018, "when it knowingly sold fabrics to the United States military that failed to meet certain required specifications," according to the government statement.

According to its website, HEYtex USA employs about 90 workers at its plant on Burgis Avenue in Pulaski. It produces coated and laminated textiles for various industrial uses, including the military. In 2015 HEYtex purchased the former BondCote Corp., which has a history in Pulaski dating to 1949.

The HEYtex Group is headquartered in Germany. Its website lists manufacturing facilities in that country in addition to sites in the Netherlands, China and Malaysia.

"In the settlement, the United States alleged HEYtex caused false claims to be submitted in connection with fabrics manufactured for military and personal equipment," the government statement said, adding that the whistleblower's claims were initially ignored by management.

We applaud the courageous efforts of whistleblowers, who put their livelihood on the line to do what is right. Whistleblowers are essential to combatting fraud against the government and we aggressively investigate all such allegations, Kavanaugh said. We commend our citizen partners and encourage all who know, or have reason to know, of fraud against the government to come forward and report it.

Part of the case's resolution includes an agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency to ensure that HEYtex remains in compliance with testing requirements.

The regional U.S. Attorneys Office, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Army Criminal Investigations Division cooperated in prosecuting the case.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability, the government said.
Quinton Cruse and April Ragan drank beer and sulked by a downtown Roanoke bridge the morning of May 5, dispirited by the difficulty of moving from the streets into Section 8 housing.

Years without housing had cost them  he the use of an arm, her a pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. A home would mean safety and not postponing dreams, like getting married.

They never got the apartment. But life did them one better.

Unknown to Cruse, three members of his family who hadnt seen him in more than 20 years were driving toward the city to reunite at that hour. They learned his whereabouts from Roanoke Times coverage of homeless people camping in downtown and from the reporter who wrote it last year.

As reported, Cruse, 58, and Ragan, 34, met last year at the Greyhound bus station and lived together in his tent near the Taubman Museum of Art. She became pregnant. He was shown in a photo with a black cast over a knife cut to his arm received in a fight.

For his part, Cruse would later say that he didnt think his family wanted contact with him, citing the way Ive been living. He lived on the streets of Roanoke or in a jail cell since his marriage ended in 2009, he said. Multiple drinking in public and trespassing charges appear on his online court record.

Ragan marked three years as a homeless person this year, an odyssey that began with the death of her grandmother with whom she shared a home, she said, and has been summoned to court on multiple alcohol-related charges, online records show.

Family members wondered before visiting Roanoke whether Cruse would welcome them after years of estrangement. They had had no idea where he was, much less the knowledge that he was homeless, before discovering the mention of him in the newspaper.

A car with three women parked on Campbell Avenue at almost the same moment that Cruse and his girlfriend stepped out of the Blue Ridge Legal Services, where they had gone for advice on getting a joint apartment. They wore baby blue T-shirts from a homeless assistance program that said LOVE in oversized white letters. Their dog Lilly, one reason they did not live in a homeless shelter, walked close beside them.

Yolanda Cruse, 39, a grocery store manager from Alexandria and Cruses niece, spoke first.

How you doing? How are you? Do you know who I am? she told Cruse.

I remember your face, Cruse replied. Cruses sister, Bernita Hargrove, 59, a caregiver from Alexandria, introduced herself.

But Cruse did not appear to grasp who they were. He nodded politely and quietly asked, how you?

Yolanda Cruse looked her uncle in the eye, repeated her name and then he reacted. Oh!, he said, throwing out his arms for a hug. I missed you so much.

We missed you so much, his niece replied.

Tears fell.

Cruse also had children. His first-born, daughter, Sierra Agurs, 34, a property manager from Silver Spring, Maryland, stood a few feet away. Adopted soon after birth, she had never met her father, though they had talked by phone when she was a teenager and she had seen pictures of him, she said. Based on those images and one provided by the reporter, she had become sure he was in Roanoke and had initiated the trip. I was extremely nervous, she said later. Too nervous to look his way.

Cruz turned and walked away upon seeing her. He took a moment for himself before walking back with his head hung low and leaning in for a hug.

Introductions completed, the four laughed and bantered as Cruse heard the latest on his large extended family  about 50 people in the Alexandria area  living and dead.

Who else died? Cruse asked.

Your daddy died, his sister told him.

My daddy died? Cruse said. He appeared stunned, but soon he was handed a phone with a call in-progress to his nephew. He soon traded that phone for another and spoke to his brother.

I dont even recognize my family, thats how far gone I am, Cruse said into the phone. I wont lose you again.

Cruse hung up and looked elated.

I still got a family! Cruse exclaimed.

Everybody went to lunch. Cruse chose shrimp fried rice at the City Market building, a favorite he seldom had the money for.

The struggles of homelessness had been immense, the couple said.

The city, acting at the request of downtown residents and businesses, banned tents on sidewalks in January. Cruse and Ragan slept in such locations at an alcove of the Market Square Walkway, the rear dock of the former Roanoke Times press building and the porch of a vacant house in southwest. Police shooed them often from the walkway, but the owner of the home with the porch let them to use it on the condition they cleaned up afterward, they said.

They recently spent multiple nights on a secluded concrete floor behind the press building protected only by sheet of cardboard, sleeping bag and blankets. They spread their gear out in an adjacent outdoor seating plaza: a tent, backpacks and two shopping carts. One cart helped tote around a 30-pound bag of dry food they kept for the dog, Ragan said.

They said they often split a beer for breakfast and ate most of their meals at the Roanoke Rescue Mission or RAM House. Cruse from time to time collected a few bucks by panhandling from traffic with a sign that read: HOMELESS  HARD TIMES  Please Help.

Despite the presence of their dog, the couple had several run-ins with others.

She requires an anti-seizure medicine that the couple said makes her sleep hard for several hours, day or night. One time Cruse stepped away to relieve himself while she slept and returned to find their backpack with their cellphone gone.

Another time when Cruse was away but Ragan was awake, a man tried to rape her, she said. An angry Cruse confronted the alleged attacker at a later time, a fight broke out and Cruse was knifed in the arm. A bloodied Cruse didnt want to go to the hospital but passed out. An ambulance took him for treatment, but the arm is useless today, he said.

I cant write my name, he said. He expressed hope of receiving disability benefits.

Some time after the knife fight, Ragan started bleeding non-stop, went to the hospital and learned that she had had a miscarriage, they said. She attributed the loss of the baby to stress. Cruse cries when he talks about the incident, which he said involved doctors showing him a small pink fetus that had been in her body.

Didnt get to name the baby, didnt give us no funeral, he said.

Agurs said she had pretty much done it all to find her dad, including years of online searches by her and other family members. The trail had gone cold in Louisiana, where he spent time in prison, they said, and they did not have a reason to check court records in Roanoke.

Yolanda Cruse recounted that, in early May, she was thinking about Cruse and decided to again Google his name. Weve been doing this for a while but nothing ever pops up, she said.

This time was different.

After the meal at the market building ended, they said goodbyes. Another group from Alexandria was due back in a few days with plans to pick up Cruse and Ragan and take them to a new life with his family.

She wants a new beginning and I do, too, Cruse said. A few days later, she had changed her mind about joining him, but he was trying to get her change her mind back.

Agurs reflected on finding her father.

I overthought so many scenarios over the years on how this day would play out if it ever happened and, when it did, man, was it better than all of my imaginations, she wrote in a text. Once I made eye contact with him and we hugged  the feeling is still indescribable. I instantly felt whole from the depths of my soul. I felt a large amount of our pain, a pain I thought was solely my own for two decades, had been healed. I felt safe. I felt loved. This was truly one of the best days of my life.

A GoFundMe fundraiser is underway to collect donations for Quinton Cruse. It can be accessed at https://gofund.me/d9837d2a

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TExTOUR steering committee met in Turin, Italy, on April 27th-28th, for a hybrid meeting to take stock of the work done in the projects' first 15 months and to trace the route for TExTOUR's next steps.

The meeting was hosted by Links foundation, inside the campus of the Politecnico di Torino, a 160-years-old institution that is among the most prestigious for what concerns education, research, technology and services in all fields of architecture and engineering.

Links- Leading Innovation & Knowledge for Society is one of TExTOUR's partners and promotes, conducts, and strengthens innovation and research projects processes, improving products implementation as well as the study of new approaches and models. Links expertise is exploited by TExTOUR on two main topics: cultural heritage and regional-urban development, and advanced computing and applications. Links is in charge for the exploitation and upscaling of the project's results, defining a strategy that valorises TExTOUR's outcomes.

During this steering committee meeting, each project's partner had the chance to share the job they did so far and to plan together the next steps. Since the end of its first year, TExTOUR has entered more practical phase marked by a more and more active involvement of local communities from each pilot site.

One of the goal of TExTOUR's first year was to establish a strong dialogue with these local communities and it was successfully achieved thanks to the partner's efforts . TExTOUR will make the local communities part of the process of data collection and decision making. This is beacuse each pilot needs a tailored strategy to develop sustainable cultural tourism and these strategies cannot be successful unless they are co-designed with the local communities. A special attention is given by TExTOUR to the dimension of gender issues, for example with the pilots' efforts to achieve the gender balance in their workshops.

All pilot partners completed the first two workshops with their communities and shared the outcomes with the rest of the consortium. Each partner adopted a strategy to attract a sample of the local population that was representative of the minority groups in their territory, for example contacting local organisations that are active in their territory. Implemented strategies to foster local community members participation were shared and discussed during the steering committee so that pilot's partners could beneficiate from each other experience and help each other to maximize the outreach of the next workshops.

Quantitative and qualitative data collected during the first year of the project are now being processed and integrated to generate a set of key indicators to be used by TExTOUR's partners. A set of maps on cultural tourism development are being produced as well and will be used as strategic guidelines to drive the sustainable development of TExTOUR's pilot sites.

TExTOUR's action plan is being designed using the project's first year data following the guideline offered by the key indicators. It will provide information for the development of the ICT- Information Communication Technology platform. This platform will be a public hub collecting all TExTOUR's strategies that will be implemented as a set of services.

The second day of the meeting was dedicated to the launch of the 3rd round of pilot's workshops. The meeting participants were divided into three groups, two in presence and one online, with the University of Bologna moderating each discussion table. The focus was on how to build the business model canva: an activity that is going to be replicated by each pilot with their local communities.

During the workshop the strategies described in the action cards realised by University of Bologna were discussed by each round table. The aim was to understand which of the cultural tourism development actions described are useful for the specific need of each pilot site.

The roundtables gave birth to very fruitful discussions, producing new ideas and the seeds of possible future development strategies for cultural tourism. By actively taking part in the workshop, pilot's partners identified the best way to carry out a roundtable, knowing, for example, which parts of the workshop are particularly demanding in term of energy and attention of the participants and therefore need to be kept as short as possible.

TExTOUR's meeting in Turin saw the handover between the former project manager Daniel Basulto from Fundacion Santa Maria la Real to his colleague Lucia Delenikas. Daniel Basulto will stay in TExTOUR with a project coordinator role, while Lucia Delenikas took the role of project manager with enthusiasm and positive energy.

For some of TExTOUR's consortium members this meeting was the first chance to meet in person. People had the chance to know each other and strengthen their relationships. Thanks to this time together the project will progress with renewed energy in its travel across sustainable tourism in Europe and beyond.

Provided by iCube Programme
Cats are said to have nine lives. Rasputin was said to have almost as many. If only the MeToo movement had the same brief lifespan.

Alas, the pink hats and the accusations of abuse excavated many years after the fact are still part and parcel of the culture wars, as we have seen these past few weeks.

First came word that Bill Murray had been fired from a Hollywood production because of alleged inappropriate behavior. There wasnt much clarification beyond that opaque comment, but if there had been a sexual element you know they would have publicized it to the hilt. Its more likely that Murray was rude, arrogant and pretty much the same sort of character he played on Saturday Night Live a generation ago. In fact, Lucy Liu accused him of exactly that sort of conduct when she was filming Charlies Angels 20 years ago, so its likely he was more Obnoxious Uncle Bill than Harvey Weinstein wannabe. I suppose its some relief to be reminded that not every boorish act is libidinous.

Then came the assault on Frank Langella, an octogenarian who is well known for his dark, brooding characters on screen and on the stage. Langella was fired from an upcoming series after an unnamed actress accused him of putting his hand where it wasnt supposed to go. Apparently, a love scene that had been blocked by the director required that Langella keep his extremities in certain positions, and when he moved one of the less offensive extremities in a direction that his colleague didnt appreciate, she accused him of sexual harassment. She gets the protective veil of anonymity, and grandpa gets the shaft.

But its not just the geriatric set thats in the cross hairs these days. Fred Savage, who grew up in front of our eyes as Kevin in The Wonder Years and is still a fairly young man, was fired as a producer on the reboot of the series after allegations of being quick to anger on the set. This wasnt the first time that hed been accused of harassment. In 1993, a worker on the set of his series filed a lawsuit against Savage, which was ultimately settled, and another lawsuit that was filed that same year was dismissed by a judge. There was never any evidence that little Kevin had been a hound dog, but those accusations make an impact years after theyre lodged.

And then we have Mario Batali, who was essentially forced into professional Siberia when he was accused in 2017 by a woman of groping her. He pleaded not guilty to indecent assault, and was just acquitted. However, Batali has admitted to acting inappropriately with female staff members over the years, so this acquittal is more of a pyrrhic victory than an actual vindication. Unlike the others, who have never admitted to any wrongdoing and who are only suspected of misconduct, Molto Mario was clearly much too Molto.

But I nonetheless find it interesting that almost four years after Christine Blasey Ford launched her I cant remember where or when but I know it happened campaign against Brett Kavanaugh, and years after Harvey Weinstein became this centurys Bluebeard, we still have to deal with this cultural phenomenon. Its not as fierce as it once was, and the Salem Witch hunt aspect seems to have calmed, but there is no question that we are still ready to believe all women, even when the facts dont add up to abuse.

If being rude to someone, or a social miscreant, or a bad boss, or a precocious/obnoxious kid, or an old man with bad aim makes you a social pariah, there are an awful lot of people who should get ready to eat their meals alone. We got rid of the public stocks generations ago, but there is still this need to shame people for breaking some unwritten code that keeps changing with each passing day. Im not sure we even know anymore whats acceptable, and whats not.

Dont get me wrong. Gropers, leering losers, and patronizing pigs who think they are Gods gift to the female world are an albatross that will never fall from our necks. We will always be saddled with repellent folk who fall somewhere on the spectrum between criminal and pathetic. It used to be that you just walked away, head held high, nose held tightly.

And the true criminals, the ones who rape and molest and cause severe emotional and physical harm should be jailed forever, no parole, no probation. There is no excuse for abuse.

But it seems as if we are fixated on these smaller social violations, these breaches of etiquette, these collective failures in collaborative behavior. So what if Frank Langella kept his arthritic hand a little too long on his costars knee? She should have just slapped it.

Actions do have consequences, and the actions of these men deserved old school criticism, not the sort of triggered melodrama from these latter-day Miss Havishams.

Lets hope this MeToo resurgence is as short lived as CNN+.

Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times, and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  In one of the years most closely watched congressional Republican primaries, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace met two GOP challengers on the debate stage who are seeking to oust her from South Carolinas 1st Congressional District, one of whom immediately endorsed the other, before walking off stage.

In the Monday night matchup in Charleston, slated to be the only debate for Mace, Katie Arrington and Lynz Piper-Loomis ahead of the June 14 primary election, Piper-Loomis answered her opening question by saying she would be supporting Arrington before removing her mic and leaving the debate.

With Piper-Loomis having been unable to attract significant fundraising, her departure now makes official the two-way contest that had already been largely shaping up between the freshman Mace and Arrington, a former Defense Department cybersecurity expert who is making her second run for the seat. In 2018,

Arrington notably knocked U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford out of the GOP primary, going on to lose the general election to Democrat Joe Cunningham, who became the first of his party in decades to flip a South Carolina House seat.

Mace, who ousted Cunningham in 2020 to become the first Republican woman elected to Congress from the state, has supported issues largely popular among conservatives, like transgender athlete bans, but has also backed bipartisan efforts, like the decriminalization of marijuana.

On Monday night, Mace and Arrington faced off on offshore drilling, the issue that was a hallmark of Arringtons losing 2018 bid, during which she argued both in favor of and against the practice.

If there was oil off our coasts, there would be rigs, they would have been there a long time ago, Arrington said, asked if she supports drilling off South Carolinas coast. She then tilted her answer toward criticism of the Biden administration for degrading the energy independent and energy dominant era of the Trump administration.

This was a major issue in why we lost the seat to begin with, Mace pointed out in her answer, noting that Arrington campaigned in support of offshore drilling during her 2018 primary but walked back the sentiment during the general election campaign against Cunningham, a staunch drilling opponent.

Ive always been against off shore drilling, added Mace, who has cosponsored legislation to end it.

Arrington several times mentioned her endorsement from Trump, who solicited challengers to run against Mace following her vote to certify President Joe Bidens win in the 2020 election and frequent television appearances blaming Trump for the Jan. 6 insurrection.

On Monday, Arrington argued that Mace turned her back on us, and she turned her back on President Trump, claiming that Mace read the room wrong; she thought this district was a moderate district, and we are not. We are conservative.

Mace, who had Trumps backing in 2020, filmed a video of herself in front of Trump Tower after the former president endorsed Arrington, saying her opponent was more than qualified to lose the seat to Democrats for a second time and casting herself as best suited to represent the districts fiscally conservative values.

She also reminded voters she was among Trumps earliest supporters in 2016, when she worked for his campaign.

On Monday, Mace rarely mentioned the former president, though at one point she called him one of the greatest presidents of all time in protecting animal rights, after Arrington questioned Maces sponsorship as a fiscal conservative of animal rights legislation.

Both Piper-Loomis and Arrington feel that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, a sentiment expressed by many of the candidates across the country to receive his backing.

State electoral officials and courts throughout the country, however, found the Trump campaigns complaints systematically groundless and certified the election as fair and legitimate.

During a March South Carolina rally, Trump called Mace a terrible person who has no idea what shes doing.

You won this seat because President Donald J. Trump endorsed you, Arrington said Monday, after Mace touted her winning the seat back from Democrats in 2020. We need to hold the line.

I am conservative before I am Republican, and I have the record to back it up, Mace said in response to Arringtons allegation she works too much with Democrats. My opponent simply cant tell the truth, and maybe its she just cant handle the facts.

Mace had amassed a campaign war chest of more than $3.8 million as of the end of March, nearly $1 million of which came in the weeks after Trump backed Arrington. In the first quarter, Arrington said she brought in around $814,000, $525,000 of which was in the form of a personal loan from herself.

The winner of the 1st District GOP contest will go on to face Democratic nominee Dr. Annie Andrews, who faces no primary opposition, in November.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
FLORENCE, S.C.  The Florence section of the National Council of Negro Women has given $500 scholarships to two students, Ashton Oliver and Kimyia Frierson.

Oliver said he plans to attend the University of South Carolina Beaufort to become a surgeon. He said he wants to be a general surgeon until he finds his specialty. Oliver said his mission is to find the cure for diabetes.

I knew I wanted to be a doctor when my mother, who was a type one diabetic, passed away last year, he said. I did not see any diversity in her doctors. I knew from that point on I wanted to impact the health care system and change lives.

Oliver said he is nervous, but knows he is prepared to be successful in college.

My plan is to go to school debt free with scholarships, he said. I am always on the search for scholarships and when I found out about the NCNW scholarship I filled it out immediately. When I got the acceptance, I was very excited. I am just glad and very appreciative that I was selected.

Olivers father, Anthony Oliver, said it was an honor to watch his son be recognized for all of the hard work he has done and for persevering in the face of adversity.

I am excited to see him branch off and see what he does in the next four years of college, he said. I am appreciative of anything that helps my son further his education.

Kimiya Frierson will be attending Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., where she will pursue cybersecurity and computer engineering.

She said she has been working on codes and security locks throughout her high school years.

I am excited for college because I get a chance to get out of my comfort zone and try new things, she said. I am usually very quiet and dont like to try new things. This is a great opportunity for me to branch out.

Frierson said as a young woman in the tech field, she will be able to add more power to the workforce.

The power of women has often gone unnoticed, but now is the time for women to rise up and show their capabilities, she said. I will do everything in my power to represent every woman in the tech field with courage.

Even in a male-dominated field, Frierson said, she is confident she has what it takes and is not intimidated by the male-to-female ratio. Life is all about stepping out and trying new things, she said.

Friersons grandmother, Gloria Frierson, said the scholarship helps her granddaughter become a better leader and helps financially.

When you are a grandmother taking care of your grandchild and you are retired with limited income, this scholarship is very helpful, she said. We are grateful.

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We grieve for the 10 people murdered Saturday in Buffalo, allegedly by a racist teenaged gunman. Remember them:

Celestine Chaney

Roberta A. Drury

Andre Mackneil

Katherine Massey

Margus D. Morrison

Deacon Heyward Patterson

Aaron Salter Jr.

Geraldine Talley

Ruth Whitfield

Pearl Young.

We continue to grieve in Charleston for nine people murdered almost seven years ago by a racist gunman, then 21. Never forget them:

Cynthia Graham Hurd

Susie Jackson

Ethel Lee Lance

The Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor

The Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney

Tywanza Sanders

The Rev. Daniel L. Simmons

The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton

Myra Thompson.

The Saturday deaths of innocent people at a Buffalo grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood rekindles the fear, sadness, disappointment, anger, resentment and hopelessness that ripped through Charleston and the country seven years ago. With more than 200 mass shootings already this year, too many are wondering, Will it ever end?

The racism and hate that fuels these crimes and the antipathy that grips too many people in the United States is wrong, oh so wrong. It violates the very soul and decency at the root of the worlds greatest experiment in freedom.

From Key West to Seattle, too many Americans feel lost that we cant resolve the two issues linked by these hate crimes  racism and guns. Whats particularly vexing is how many wake-up calls the country has had since 2015  from hate-based shootings in El Paso (21 dead in 2019), Pittsburgh (11 dead in 2018) and Orlando (49 deaths in 2016). Add to that the racial animosity fueled daily on television and the Internet in political discourse as well as at hate rallies like those in Charlottesville in 2017 and rogue policing that led to the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The burden is growing. Its a scratchy shroud that bites into our shoulders. It holds back our communities, states and nation. Failure to combat this hate keeps too many from realizing their dreams.

Malcolm Graham, a Charlotte city councilman who lost his sister in the Charleston massacre, rightly describes racism as the countrys Achilles heel. As a country, we need to acknowledge that it exists, he told the Associated Press. Theres a lack of acknowledgment that these problems are persistent, are embedded into systems and cost lives.

But we need to do more. We need to triple-down on efforts to confront hate by reining in the dark Internet, educating youths, celebrating diversity and tearing apart hate groups through the legal system. Unfortunately, it will be hard and take far too long.

What can be done more quickly is to do more to reduce gun violence. Its a travesty that South Carolina legislators again avoided responsibility to everyone in the state and failed to outlaw hate crimes or close the Charleston loophole that let the Emanuel AME murderer purchase a gun.

Its a travesty that members of Congress havent taken national steps to reduce gun violence. Some common-sense steps that should happen sooner than later, as suggested by the Center for American Progress and the Prevention Institute:

 Reduce easy access to dangerous weapons.

 Ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

 Allow federal research of gun violence as a public health issue.

 Require background checks for all gun sales.

 Establish a culture of gun safety.

 Bolster the health system for more violence prevention.

Lets stop having these wake-up calls. Lets really start doing something about gun violence, not just talking about it.

Andy Brack is publisher of the Charleston City Paper and editor and publisher of Statehouse Report.
 Some sharp headlines in response to sharp SCOTUS habeas limits | Main | Former reality star Josh Duggar sentencing to just over 12.5 years in federal prison for child pornography offense 

May 25, 2022

New Executive Order from Prez Biden, though mostly on policing, includes some sentencing and corrections matters

This new "FACT SHEET" from the White House, titled "President Biden to Sign Historic Executive Order to Advance Effective, Accountable Policing and Strengthen Public Safety," provides an overview of what the latest presidential EO will cover in the criminal justice space. Though focused mostly on policing issues, I was intrigued to see this passage at the very end of the fact sheet:

Reforms Our Broader Criminal Justice System Directs a government-wide strategic plan to propose interventions to reform our criminal justice system. A new committee with representatives from agencies across the federal government will produce a strategic plan that advances front-end diversion, alternatives to incarceration, rehabilitation, and reentry. The Attorney General will also publish an annual report on resources available to support the needs of persons on probation or supervised release. Improves conditions of confinement. The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, will update procedures as necessary to increase mitigation of Covid-19 in correctional facilities; expand the publication and sharing of vaccination, testing, infection, and fatality data disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age, sex, disability, and facility; and to identify alternatives to facility-wide lockdowns and restrictive housing to reduce the risk of transmission. The Attorney General will also report to the President on steps to limit the use of restrictive housing and improve conditions of confinement, including with respect to the incarceration of women, juveniles, and persons in recovery. Requires full implementation of the FIRST STEP Act. The Attorney General will update DOJ policy as necessary to fully implement the FIRST STEP Act and to report annually on implementation metrics, including an assessment of any disparate impact of the PATTERN risk assessment tool and steps to correct any such disparities.

May 25, 2022 at 09:40 AM | Permalink

Comments

This seems to be an awesome development, but it will take years to implement effectively. One issue will be that many of the petty BOP employees enjoy their unbridled power to send inmates to SHU for the smallest perceived infractions. also, when I was incarcerated in the BOP between 2000 and 2008, the prisons could not have operated without keeping SHUs almost full all the time, because otherwise they did not have enough beds on the compounds to house the inmates in each prison! When the BOP operates above its design capacities, SHU effectively becomes de facto overflow housing. Thankfully, the BOP no longer houses the 210,000 plus inmates that it did when I served my time.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | May 25, 2022 11:24:24 AM

Asking the federal government to improve policies for the federal government. That should work. (sarcasm) Why not just speak to the organizations that have already researched and suggested policy changes? There are plenty of them doing it for decades now. And hold CO's to account. Requiring full implementation of the First Step Act is good.

Posted by: Mp | May 25, 2022 12:27:47 PM

When I looked earlier in the day, executive order had not yet been released. Summary sounds like some decent ideas, but the devil is in the details.

Posted by: tmm | May 25, 2022 2:42:18 PM

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 "A Catholic Perspective on Prison Conditions and Human Dignity" | Main | Some sharp headlines in response to sharp SCOTUS habeas limits 

May 25, 2022

So many depressing stories in a country awash with so many guns

Another week brings news of another horrific mass shooting in the USA, this one ever so depressing because its victims were so many young children murdered at an elementary school. And, sadly, mass shootings are only one component of modern depressing gun realities in the United States: recent years have brought increases in gun homicides as gun sales have continued to spike. While recent homicide numbers would seem to undercut narratives that more guns mean more safety, I have come to doubt that any horrible mass shooting or any detailed data are likely to alter our nation's current gun policies or politics.

That said, particularly with a major Supreme Court Second Amendment ruling likely in the works, I still find data about how existing gun laws are criminally enforced to be noteworthy. And this data can also be quite depressing, as evidenced by this new lengthy local article headlined "Theres a large racial disparity in federal gun prosecutions in Missouri, data shows." Here are excerpts:

[Darrell] Hargraves [in 2018] became one of more than 3,600 people convicted between 2015 and 2021 for federal firearm possession in Missouri, which outranks the rest of the nation for its rate of prosecution of such crimes. In an analysis of federal sentencing and crime data, The Kansas City Star found Black people were disproportionately convicted for illegally carrying firearms compared to white people. They were also sentenced more harshly. In the Eastern District, a federal court jurisdiction that includes St. Louis, 81% of those convicted of illegal firearm possession in the past seven years were Black. In the Western District, which includes Kansas City, 54% were Black. Together the two districts cover the entire state of Missouri. The states population is 12% Black. In the Western District in 2020, Black people were also more than twice as likely to receive sentences above the recommended guidelines for firearm possession compared to white people, according to data from the United States Sentencing Commission. Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Western District, said the office did not have demographic information on gun possession convictions. Race is not a factor in prosecutorial decision making or sentencing recommendations, Ledford said. Therefore, we dont track defendants or cases on that criteria. But researchers, advocates and community members say when it comes to carrying guns, Black people are treated differently as a result of the structure of the states gun policies and uneven enforcement. There was certainly a racial politics on who got to carry a gun ... There were African American men who tried to open carry and would get attacked or shot, said Dr. Jonathan Metzl, author of Dying of Whiteness and director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. Theyre seen as criminals.... Hargraves said he wants to see the community be safer. I do understand there are individuals that regardless of race are harming people, he said. My problem lies  in unfairness, the unfairness in sentencing, the unfairness in prison, the unfairness in not assessing the overall situation. The Eastern and Western districts of Missouri ranked first and sixth, respectively, for the number of people incarcerated for illegal firearm possession in any federal district in 2021. The year before, they ranked first and third. The rate of firearm possession began to noticeably increase in Missouris federal districts in the early days of Project Safe Neighborhood, a U.S. Department of Justice program that began in 2001, said Ken Novak, a criminal justice professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. It brought together federal, state and local law enforcement officials, prosecutors, community leaders, and other stakeholders to identify the most serious violent crime problems in each region. In Missouris federal districts, that was gun violence and homicides, said Novak. That led to more federal prosecutions for gun violations.... However there is little evidence to suggest incarcerating people for firearm possession helps curb violent crime or targets those who perpetrate gun violence in their communities, according to research by legal experts and federal defenders. In Missouri, the majority of violent crimes are committed by people under the age of 30, according to data from the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting program. Meanwhile, 63% of those convicted for federal firearm possession in the state are 30 or older.

May 25, 2022 at 08:00 AM | Permalink

Comments

This story reaffirms the fact that Federal law enforcement have nothing better to do. The Feds are going after older convicted felons for possessing guns. 30-40 years ago, Federal law enforcement aggressively prosecuted organized crime figures and drug kingpins. Now, Federal law enforcement is wasting resources to arrest folks like Hargraves, that hasn't committed a violent felony in over 15 years. It's time to revamp Federal sentences guidelines and make most of these offenses parole eligible, reduce the inmate population and cut the budgets in half for the DEA, ATF and FBI.

Posted by: anon | May 25, 2022 11:52:19 PM

We started off with "a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

So how did we get from that proposition to letting 18 year olds buy AR 15's and unlimited ammunition and shoot and kill elementary school kids? This maniac was not so "well-regulated," was he?

America is always touted as the "exceptional" country. It is indeed; we kill more kids than any other. And all we do is send our "thoughts and prayers." Very depressing. I pity parents with young kids.

Posted by: Michael R. Levine | May 26, 2022 11:00:01 AM

Here in Lexington, Kentucky, we had a record 34 homicides in 2021. But in May 2022 alone, we have had 11 homicides. Yesterday afternoon, a 64-year old man with no prior criminal history shot and killed his wife and two adult daughters in their home. Triple homicides are quite rare in Central Kentucky. It appears that he may have had aa psychotic break with reality. Time will tell. The police cannot stop these homicides -- all they can do is respond and react after they occur.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | May 26, 2022 11:10:09 AM

The state and federal Republican lawmakers preach about the sanctity of life when railing against the abortion of a foetus while at the same time blocking bills that would broading background checks for purchasers of firearms. Apparently, they care more about the life of the foetus than the life of their own children and grandchildren.

Posted by: anon1 | May 26, 2022 4:48:55 PM

@Michael Levine. I agree with your assessment. Gun violence is a unique American problem. Conservatives hold firearms in higher regard than children (even their own) and have a perverse love for the 2nd Amendment. I'm beating a dead horse by stating that gun control would curb gun violence, and Republicans will oppose it. Still, it's my hope that one day a majority of Americans push for sweeping legislative reform regarding guns.

Posted by: anon | May 26, 2022 10:13:56 PM

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  President Vladimir Putin issued an order Wednesday to fast track Russian citizenship for residents in parts of southern Ukraine largely held by his forces, while lawmakers in Moscow passed a bill to strengthen the stretched Russian army.

Putins decree applying to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions could allow Russia to strengthen its hold on territory that lies between eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists occupy some areas, and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

The Russian army is engaged in an intense battle for Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas. In a sign that the Kremlin is trying to bolster its stretched military machine, Russian lawmakers agreed to scrap the age limit of 40 for individuals signing their first voluntary military contracts.

A description of the bill on the parliament website indicated older recruits would be allowed to operate precision weapons or serve in engineering or medical roles. The chair of the Russian parliaments defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said the measure would make it easier to hire people with in-demand" skills.

Russian authorities have said that only volunteer contract soldiers are sent to fight in Ukraine, although they have acknowledged that some conscripts were drawn into the fighting by mistake in the early stages of the war.

Three months into Russia's invasion of the neighboring country, Putin visited a military hospital in Moscow on Wednesday and met with some soldiers wounded in Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.

The event was the Russian leader's first publicly known visit with soldiers fighting in Ukraine since he launched the war on Feb. 24. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited wounded soldiers, civilians and children  including at times when Russian troops were fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv.

A reporter for the state-run Russia1 TV channel posted a video clip on Telegram showing Putin in a white medical coat talking to a man in hospital attire, presumably a soldier.

The man, filmed from behind standing up and with no visible wounds, tells Putin that he has a son. The president, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, responds: He will be proud of his father, before shaking the man's hand.

Zelenskyy reiterated Wednesday that he would be willing to negotiate with Putin directly but said Moscow needs to retreat to the positions it held before the invasion and must show it's ready to shift from the bloody war to diplomacy.

I believe it would be a correct step for Russia to make," Zelenskyy told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link.

He also said that Ukraine wants to drive Russian troops out of all captured areas. Ukraine will fight until it reclaims all its territories, Zelenskyy said. Its about our independence and our sovereignty.

Russia already had a program to expedite the naturalization of people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two eastern Ukraine provinces that make up the Donbas and where the Moscow-backed separatists hold large areas as self-declared independent republics.

During a visit to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin indicated they could become part of our Russian family.

A Russia-installed official in the Kherson region has predicted the region would become part of Russia. An official in Zaporizhzhia said Wednesday that the region's pro-Kremlin administration would seek that as well.

Melitopol, Zaporizhzhias second-largest city, plans to start issuing Russian passports in the near future, said the Russian-installed acting mayor, Galina Danilchenko.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine was not ready to cede control of areas occupied by Russian forces for the sake of reaching a peace agreement, saying some Western lobbyists are pushing Kyiv to so.

Ukrainian society has paid a terrible price and will not allow anyone to take even a step in this direction -- not a single government, not a single country, Podolyak said on Telegram. He said instead ceding territory would only freeze the conflict, not resolve it.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who attended the Davos forum in person, called for friendly countries  particularly the United States  to provide the Ukrainian military with multiple launch rocket systems so they could try to recapture territory taken by the Russians.

Every day of someone sitting in Washington, Berlin, Paris and other capitals, and considering whether they should or should not do something, costs us lives and territories, Kuleba said.

On Wednesday Russian rockets pounded towns far from the front line in the Donbas. The governor of Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, accused Russia of targeting shelters where civilians were hiding in the city of Sievierodonetsk.

The situation is serious, Haidai said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press. The city is constantly being shelled with every possible weapon in the enemys possession.

Sievierodonetsk and the nearby city of Lysychansk are the largest remaining settlements held by Ukraine in Luhansk. The region is more than 90% controlled by Russia, Haidai said, adding that a key supply route was coming under pressure despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Haidai said the road between Lysychansk and the city of Bakhmut to the southwest is considered crucial to keeping Ukrainian troops in the area supplied. Haidai said it was constantly being shelled and that Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams were approaching the area.

The regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said four civilians were injured when two rockets hit the town of Pokrovsk early Wednesday.

One strike left a crater at least three meters (10 feet) deep, with the remnants of what appeared to be a rocket still smoldering. A row of low terraced houses near the strike suffered significant damage.

Theres no place to live in left. Everything is smashed, Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother of two who lived in one of the terraced houses, said.

An earlier strike about a month ago blew out the windows, which were replaced with plastic sheeting. Kurbonova thinks that probably saved their lives since there was no glass flying around.

I was reaching for my child, and I couldnt find him in the dust, she said.

In other developments, Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol was functional again following a nearly three-month siege that ended with the surrender of the last Ukrainian fighters.

The Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said the military completed clearing the port of land mines.

Russian forces took full control of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, after the last defenders holed up in a giant seaside steel plant laid down their weapons last week. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the separatists in Donetsk planned to set up a tribunal to put the fighters on trial and that Moscow welcomes the action.

Elena Becatoros in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, and Jamey Keaten in Davos, Switzerland, 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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WASHINGTON (AP)  Lamenting a uniquely American tragedy, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden delivered an urgent call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman shot and killed at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school.

Biden spoke Tuesday night from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bracketed by mass shootings in the U.S. He pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure  and bitterly blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

'When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden said with emotion. Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?"

With first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children  though not to gun violence  spoke in visceral terms about the grief of the loved ones of the victims and the pain that will endure for the students who survived.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away, Biden said. Theres a hollowness in your chest. You feel like youre being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out.

He called on the nation to hold the victims and families in prayer  but also to work harder to prevent the next tragedy, Its time we turned this pain into action," he said.

At least 19 students were killed at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, according to local officials. The death toll also included two adults. The gunman died after being shot by responding officers, local police said.

It was just a week earlier that Biden, on the eve of his overseas trip, traveled to Buffalo to meet with victims' families after a racist, hate-filled shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

The back-to-back tragedies served as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world," Biden said, reflecting that other nations have people filled with hate or with mental health issues but no other industrialized nation experiences gun violence at the level of the U.S.

"Why? he asked.

It was much too early to tell if the latest violent outbreak could break the political logjam around tightening the nation's gun laws, after so many others  including the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 26, including 20 children  have failed.

The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong," Biden said. He has previously called for a ban on assault-style weapons, as well as tougher federal background check requirements and red flag laws that are meant to keep guns out of the hands of those with mental health problems.

Late Tuesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer set in motion possible action on two House-passed bills to expand federally required background checks for gun purchases, but no votes have been scheduled.

Biden was somber when he returned to the White House, having been briefed on the shooting on Air Force One. Shortly before landing in Washington, he spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and offered any and all assistance needed, the White House said. He directed that American flags be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims in Texas.

His aides, some of whom had just returned from Asia with the president, gathered to watch Bidens speech on televisions in the West Wing.

Id hoped when I became president I would not have to do this, again," he said. "Another massacre.

In a stark reminder of the issue's divisiveness, Biden's call for gun measures was booed at a campaign event in Georgia hosted by Herschel Walker, who won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Speaking at an Asian Pacific American event that was intended to celebrate Biden's Asia trip, Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier that people normally declare in moments like this, our hearts break  but our hearts keep getting broken ... and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families.

We have to have the courage to take action ... to ensure something like this never happens again, she said.

Echoing Biden's call, former President Barack Obama, who has called the day of the Sandy Hook shooting the darkest of his administration, said, Its long past time for action, any kind of action."

Michelle and I grieve with the families in Uvalde, who are experiencing pain no one should have to bear, he said in a statement. Were also angry for them. Nearly ten years after Sandy Hookand ten days after Buffaloour country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that have shown no willingness to act in any way that might help prevent these tragedies.

Congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation ever since the bipartisan effort to strengthen background checks on firearm purchases collapsed in the aftermath of the 2012 shooting.

Despite months of work, a bill that was backed by a majority of senators, fell to a filibuster  unable to to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to advance.

In impassioned remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who represented Newton, Connecticut, in the House at the time of the Sandy Hook massacre, asked his colleagues why they even bother running for office if theyre going to stand by and do nothing.

Im here on this floor to beg  to literally get down on my hands and knees  to beg my colleagues, he said.

Murphy said he was planning to reach out to Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn after the two had teamed on an 2021 effort to toughen background check requirements that never became law. He said he would also reach out to Texas other Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

I just dont understand why people here think were powerless, Murphy said. We arent.

Cornyn told reporters he was on his way to Texas and would talk with them later. Cruz issued a statement calling it a dark day. Were all completely sickened and heartbroken.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who sponsored gun legislation that failed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate after Sandy Hook, said, Were just pushing on people who just wont budge on anything.

It makes no sense at all why we cant do commonsense things and try to prevent some of this from happening, he said.



Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Michael Balsamo, Alan Fram and Farnoush Amiri contributed.

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 shocking shooting that left 19 children dead at a school in Texas is forcing parents and schools to once again confront how to talk to kids about violence.

Experts have told The Times these are complex and sensitive conversations, but also vital.

Kids are "anxious and worried, and they're dealing with the unknown," one specialist told The Times after the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack. "Parents have to be role models in terms of establishing a sense of safety, security, predictability."

Here are some tips experts have suggested from previous Times coverage:

1. Check in with your child and talk to them about their concerns.

The first thing adults should do is make sure their child or adolescent knows they are willing and available to talk with them, Stephen Brock, a professor of school psychology at Cal State Sacramento, told The Times in 2019.

Younger kids may not be as worried. But teenagers are likely to know more and have concerns, so it's better to address the subject directly with them rather than avoid it, said Carol Vidal, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, that same year.

2. Give kids reassuring facts about their safety.

Parents should immediately reassure children that they are safe  a practice that extends to all trauma survivors.

With younger children, adults can explain all that adults do to keep them safe, such as locking doors and conducting emergency drills.

Parents also can and should tell their children that school is a safe place for them.

3. Treat children according to their age.

Give young children only brief, simple information. These children are less verbal so they may communicate about their anxiety by drawing or playing, Vidal said. Answer their questions with specifics, but don't overload them.

For middle- and high-school age youth, more detailed conversations will be appropriate. The best place to have that conversation depends on the teen  it could be in the car or while a friend is present, instead of just sitting and talking about the event one on one.

4. Limit exposure to the media.

This is true for youth of all ages. Violent images can cause secondary trauma, and developmentally inappropriate information can cause anxiety and confusion. For younger children, "every time they watch the news, they feel like it's a new event as opposed to repetition of the same event. It's important for them not to watch too much," Vidal said.

While older kids will understand that difference, prolonged exposure to graphic images and details is harmful to them as well.

5. Model healthy behavior.

Children pick up everything their parents are saying and doing. Parents can set an example by turning off the television, radio or social media. It can be constructive for parents to acknowledge that constantly watching or hearing about a violent incident makes them too feel anxious or fearful.

But parents should make clear that they are handling their own emotions and that their child does not need to be strong for them, said Jonathan Vickburg, a licensed marriage and family therapist who treats kids dealing with trauma.

6. Maintain routines.

Sticking to regular routines can be reassuring and can help children and teens maintain a sense of normality.

That may be difficult in the hours and days immediately after a traumatic event, Vickburg said, but parents can still help their children put some order to their days  for example, by continuing to have dinner with family, doing homework, or hanging out with friends.

With teenagers in particular, giving them extra time to be with their friends is important. It helps them establish normality and connect to their support network.

7. Have a plan.

Review safety procedures at school and at home. Let children know whom to call, where to meet and how to communicate in case of an emergency. This helps children feel secure and know adults are in control.

8. Observe children's emotional state and seek help if necessary.

The majority of children are resilient and will not experience long-term symptoms after a one-off event, experts said. Immediately after a violent incident they may experience anxiety and fear. Some people closer to the incident may also have difficulty sleeping or be jittery.

Watch for changes in behavior, mood, appetite or sleep. When such symptoms persist over time and start affecting how a person functions, that's when professional help may be needed, experts said.

More tips

The National Assn. of School Psychologists has guidelines for explaining violent events to children of different ages. It's important, the experts say, to use age-appropriate language, and to answer questions without adding to confusion. From the NASP tip sheet:

"Early elementary school children need brief, simple information that should be balanced with reassurances that their school and homes are safe and that adults are there to protect them."

"Upper elementary and early middle school children will be more vocal in asking questions about whether they truly are safe and what is being done at their school. They may need assistance separating reality from fantasy. Discuss efforts of school and community leaders to provide safe schools."

"Upper middle school and high school students will have strong and varying opinions about the causes of violence in schools and society. Emphasize the role that students have in maintaining safe schools by following school safety guidelines ... communicating any personal safety concerns to school administrators, and accessing support for emotional needs.

___

MORE COVERAGE FROM TUESDAY'S MASS SHOOTING IN TEXAS:

Former Times staff writer Nina Argawal and Sonali Kholi contributed to this report. 2022 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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SIOUX CITY -- A man found guilty of beating a Sioux City homeowner to death while breaking into his home a second time will see his prison sentence reduced after the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled there was insufficient evidence for one of the charges of which he was convicted.

A three-judge panel ruled Wednesday there was inadequate evidence to show Gary Dains Jr. would have burglarized Paul Smith's home in the future after he killed Smith and, therefore, did not meet a legal requirement showing Dains committed the burglaries on a "continuing basis." The court vacated Dains' conviction for ongoing criminal conduct and the charge's 25-year prison sentence.

District Judge Tod Deck sentenced Dains to 60 years in prison in April 2021 after a Woodbury County jury a month earlier found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter, ongoing criminal conduct, second-degree theft and first-degree burglary. The Court of Appeals reaffirmed the other sentences.

The court's action reduces Dains' total prison sentence for Smith's death to 35 years. Dains was later sentenced in a separate case to an additional 10 years in prison for biting a fellow jail inmate while awaiting trial, giving him a total prison sentence of 45 years.

Dains, 47, of Carroll, Iowa, was originally charged with first-degree murder for the July 16, 2019, beating death of 65-year-old Smith, who had interrupted Dains breaking into his home at 314 20th St. Jurors found him guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, sparing him from a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, in addition to the theft, burglary and ongoing criminal conduct charges.

Dains appealed, saying Deck, who presided over the trial, should have granted his motion of acquittal on the ongoing criminal conduct charge. The appeals judges agreed, saying in their 10-page ruling the evidence was insufficient to show Dains would have continued to commit similar offenses in the future because after Smith was killed, he would no longer be able to restock his home with more items for Dains to steal.

Dains had previously lived with his estranged wife in an apartment in Smith's home, but she kicked him out weeks before Smith's death because of his methamphetamine use. Dains broke into Smith's home on July 8, 2019, and stole coins he later pawned for $47 to support his meth habit. Eight days later, Smith interrupted Dains burglarizing his home a second time and confronted him. An autopsy showed Smith died of blunt-force trauma to the face and head and had been struck at least four times. He also had been strangled, but the autopsy was inconclusive if that was the cause of death. On the day of Smith's death, Dains took $120 in cash and Smith's Ford Explorer, which he later gave away.

Under Iowa sentencing laws, Dains still could have his sentence cut in half for good behavior while in prison, and he could be paroled before then.

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CHEROKEE, Iowa -- A Cherokee police officer charged with striking a 6-year-old girl at a street intersection with a pickup truck and leaving the scene is no longer employed with the police department.

Michael McGee left the department Monday, a woman answering the phone at the Cherokee Police Department said. Police chief Nate James was not available, and the woman said she did not know if McGee had resigned or was fired.

McGee, 52, of Cherokee, was charged Sunday with leaving or failing to return to the scene of an injury accident, a serious misdemeanor. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 2 in Cherokee County District Court.

McGee is charged with striking the girl at about 3:30 p.m. Friday with his Dodge Ram pickup at the intersection of North Roosevelt and East Indian streets.

According to a complaint filed in district court, McGee, who was off duty, had left his home on North Roosevelt Street and had several children's swimming pools stacked in the back of his pickup. He was driving north on North Roosevelt Street when the girl and two other children were either crossing the street in a crosswalk or were entering the street. McGee braked his pickup and later told investigators he did not think he had hit anyone and continued to drive north.

McGee went to the city garage and placed the pools and other potentially identifying items into a garbage bin. According to the complaint, he told investigators he heard an ambulance dispatched to the intersection and panicked, returning home.

An Iowa State Patrol report said McGee and his pickup were identified by witnesses, and he was located and charged. The State Patrol continues to investigate the incident.

The girl, who is from Cherokee, was hospitalized with a concussion and other non life-threatening injuries.

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PRIMGHAR, Iowa -- A Sheldon man has pleaded not guilty of having sexual contact with a girl several times during a five-year period.

Leuanglong Thongvilay, 36, entered his written plea Wednesday in O'Brien County District Court to two counts each of second-degree sexual abuse and indecent contact with a child.

According to court documents, the alleged victim told police she was sexually assaulted and inappropriately touched several times when she was age 7-12 from approximately January 2015 to August 2020.

The girl told police that on two separate occasions she was blindfolded by Thongvilay before the incidents occurred. Another night, she woke up and Thongvilay was in bed with her touching her. The girl said she pushed him away from her and he left.

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SIOUX CITY -- Both Republicans seeking their party's nomination for Woodbury County attorney believe the office should be more visible, reaching out more to community leaders and residents.

Jacklyn Fox and James Loomis present voters who will go to the polls in the June 7 primary with some similar and some differing ideas how to do that.

Loomis, an assistant Woodbury County attorney for 19 years, said he would meet with mayors and city councils in the county's communities. He proposes monthly meetings with the county's law enforcement leaders to discuss issues and concerns.

"There needs to be more engagement with law enforcement and more engagement with community leaders," said Loomis, who lives near Bronson. "Those are all folks I've talked to. They want to be involved."

By engaging, communicating and partnering with the public, more people will feel comfortable approaching the county attorney's office with concerns.

"People need to feel they can call and talk to you," said Loomis, 45, who has been with the county attorney's office since graduating from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2003.

Fox, an assistant Woodbury County attorney for 10 years, said she often feels hidden from view in the office. The county attorney needs to be in the public eye, informing citizens of the office's role in fighting crime.

"We have to make sure we are letting the community know what we are doing," Fox said. "I want to bring an awareness to the community what we do and how the process works."

Some Iowa county attorneys provide updates on cases on social media sites. Fox would like to do the same, giving the public a place to access information for free and motivating prosecutors to do better when they know case outcomes will be widely available. Law enforcement agencies ask their members to go out and meet people and engage with them on social media, and the county attorney's office should, too, said Fox, 36, of Sioux City.

"It's about being able to interface with all types of people," Fox said.

Fox and Loomis have remained in the county attorney's office since declaring their candidacies. The primary winner will face his or her boss, Democrat Patrick Jennings, who is seeking his fifth four-year term.

Both Loomis and Fox stressed the need for collaboration with law enforcement. Loomis said he has endorsements from more than 80 active and retired law enforcement officers. He said the trust he's built with officers can lead to better investigations, which leads to better cases and trial outcomes.

"I trust law enforcement, and law enforcement trusts me," said Loomis, a Winterset, Iowa, native.

Fox said she, too, has law enforcement endorsements, and the county attorney's office needs to collaborate not just with police, but with but social services and advocacy groups to provide a broader view of community issues and how to prevent crime, rather than just responding to it.

"Being the county attorney is more than being a good or great prosecutor. We should be involved in these types of entities and organizations. It's my hope that would change our mentality and perspective," said Fox, an Urbandale, Iowa, native who received her law degree from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis in 2011.

Fox said the county attorney must have a teamwork mentality. She defined herself as an experienced prosecutor of all types of crimes and a problem-solver and strategist who would be an advocate for victims.

"I want you to know you're going to be taken care of, no matter what division you're working with," she said.

Loomis said the county attorney's ultimate goal is keeping Woodbury County communities safe by holding offenders accountable and seeing that victims receive justice. He touted his experience of having prosecuted the most serious kinds of crimes.

"I've done the job, so I can lead this office because of that experience," he said.

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In the June 7 GOP primary, State Rep. Dennis Bush (R-Cherokee) will not have the support of sitting Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Wednesday afternoon, Reynolds, who's running for re-election this year, announced via a statement that she'd endorsed Zach Dieken of Granville who is one of three candidates in the Iowa House District 5 race along with Bush and Thomas Kuiper of Sibley. The newly-drawn district takes in all of O'Brien and Osceola counties and parts of Buena Vista and Cherokee counties, including the city of Cherokee.

"Zach Dieken will be a strong advocate for freedom, parental choice in education, and the pro-life movement," Reynolds said (per Iowa's News Now).

During a Feb. 19 event at Pizza Ranch in Sheldon, the N'West Iowa Review's Elijah Helton reported that Bush had issues with the so-called voucher bill which would shift taxpayer funding for public schools to scholarships for private school tuition assistance.

"I personally have a problem with it. One of the founding principles of this nation was the separation of church and state, and I have a problem getting past taking public tax dollars. . . and taking that to a private, religious school," Bush was quoted as saying.

Then, on Tuesday, May 5, Helton reported Bush went farther during a debate that also featured Dieken and Kuiper.

"I might as well come out and say it. The governor is trying to use this election as a referendum for her voucher bill," he said. "Im the only candidate running for the House of Representatives thats standing with our public schools. To paint all our public schools with the same brush is doing a disservice," the Review reported Bush as saying.

Just this past week, Reynolds endorsed another opponent of a sitting state legislator from the Republican Party.

As the Gazette noted: "Reynolds endorsed McCulla even though Iowa Rep. Jon Thorup, a state trooper from Knoxville who is serving his second term in the House, also is running in the district...Thorup last month publicly stated his opposition to Reynolds proposed legislation that would create taxpayer-funded scholarships for private school tuition assistance."

Bush is serving his first term in the Iowa House but previously served two terms on the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors.

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As part of the run-up to the June 7 primary, Sen. Chuck Grassley is planning to hit O'Brien and Sioux counties in the coming week.

According to a press release from Grassley's office, the seven-term incumbent will visit the Primghar Community Building in Primghar on Tuesday, May 31 at 12:15 p.m. and then stop at the Parkview Event Center in Rock Valley at 2:30 p.m. the same day.

"This is Grassleys 42nd year of holding meetings in every one of Iowas 99 counties," the release noted. "Grassley has held at least one meeting in every county, every year since he was first elected to serve in the U.S. Senate. He takes and answers questions on any subject raised. Iowans set the agenda."

For this election cycle, Grassley faces a challenge from fellow Republican Jim Carlin, a state senator and lawyer from Sioux City. During the campaign, Carlin has criticized Grassley for not sticking to campaign promises. The 88-year-old Grassley has said, if elected to an eighth term, he would make sure "Iowa punches above its weight at the policymaking tables."

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Onlookers urged police to charge into Texas school

UVALDE, Texas (AP)  Onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunmans rampage killed 19 children and two teachers. That's what a witness said Wednesday as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team. Juan Carranza saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in. Minutes earlier, Carranza had watched as Salvador Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch outside the school, grabbed his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shot at two people.

'Precious individuals' taken in Texas school shooting

UVALDE, Texas (AP)  One student was an avid runner, so fast she swept all the races at field day. Another was learning football plays from his grandfather. One girl sensed something was wrong and wanted to skip school. On Wednesday, stories began to emerge about the lives of the 19 grade schoolers  described by the school district superintendent as precious individuals  and their teachers who were gunned down behind a barricaded door at Robb Elementary School in the southwestern Texas town of Uvalde. Superintendent Hal Harrell says it was obvious by "their angelic smiles that they were loved.

Oklahoma governor signs the nation's strictest abortion ban

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed into law the nations strictest abortion ban. The ban, passed by state lawmakers last week, prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Stitt signed the bill on Wednesday. Providers have said they will stop performing the procedure as soon as the bill is signed. The law is part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states to scale back abortion rights. The only exceptions included in the law are to save the life of a pregnant woman or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.

Biden signs policing order on anniversary of Floyd's death

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to improve accountability in policing. It's a meaningful but limited action on the second anniversary of George Floyds death that reflected the challenges in addressing racism, excessive use of force and public safety with a deadlocked Congress. Most of the order issued Wednesday is focused on federal law enforcement agencies  for example, requiring them to review and revise policies on use of force. It will also create a database to help track officer misconduct. The administration cannot require local police departments to participate in the database, which is intended to prevent problem officers from job-hopping. The order also restricts the flow of surplus military equipment to local police.

Scars of war seem to be everywhere in Ukraine after 3 months

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP)  No matter where Ukrainians live, the 3-month-old war never seems to be far away. Those in towns and villages near the front lines hide in basements from constant shelling, struggling to survive with no electricity or gas  and often no running water. But even in regions out of the range of the big guns, frequent air raid sirens wail in a constant reminder that a Russian missile can strike at any time, even for those walking their dogs, riding bicycles or taking their children to parks in cities like Kyiv, Odesa and Lviv. Curfews, checkpoints and fortifications are commonplace. So are fresh cemeteries, uprooted villagers and war-scarred landscapes, as Moscow intensifies its attacks in the east and south.

EXPLAINER: What's at stake for China on South Pacific visit?

BEIJING (AP)  China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting South Pacific nations amid concerns over Beijing's growing military and diplomatic presence in the region. The U.S. traditionally has been the major power in the area, but China has been pursuing inroads. It has a new security pact with Solomon Islands that has raised concerns from its neighbors. In addition, a draft plan revealed Wednesday shows China wants several nations to sign a sweeping agreement to cooperate more on security, fisheries, internet networks and other areas. China has long waged a battle for influence in the South Pacific, where Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, maintains some of its last remaining diplomatic allies.

Beto O'Rourke interrupts briefing, echoing US debate on guns

UVALDE, Texas (AP)  Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke has blamed Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for inaction on gun control. His remarks echo a debate happening across the U.S. after the latest deadly school shooting. As the Republican governor was finishing his opening remarks Wednesday about the deaths of 19 children and two teachers in the small town of Uvalde, ORourke approached the stage, pointed to the governor and blasted him for doing nothing. Republicans countered that it wasn't time to talk about politics and partisanship. But Abbott went on to say that he doesn't support restrictions on guns and prefers to focus on issues such as mental health and school security.

Officer in Buffalo supermarket attack honored at funeral

GETZVILLE, N.Y. (AP)  The retired police officer killed in the Buffalo supermarket shooting has been posthumously awarded the city police department's medal of honor and promoted to lieutenant. The honors were announced Wednesday as Aaron Salter and another shooting victim, Pearl Young, were laid to rest and as the country processes a newer massacre at a Texas school. Salter was working security and fired multiple times at the gunman who attacked the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo. The 77-year-old Young is being remembered as a great-grandmother, Sunday school teacher at her church, a longtime volunteer in its soup kitchen, and a substitute teacher in Buffalo Public Schools.

'Trump is in the past': Mounting losses show limits of power

WOODSTOCK, Ga. (AP)  Donald Trump began May with a decisive win for a favored candidate in Ohio, catapulting a Senate hopeful to a primary victory. But the month ended in stinging defeat for Trump as one of his top targets for retribution walloped the Trump-endorsed challenger by more than 50 percentage points in the Georgia governor's GOP primary. As the first round of primaries comes to a close, the month has laid bare Trumps diminished grip on the Republican Party. But the races have also made clear the extent to which the party has been transformed in Trump's image. And they've shown that his MAGA movement isnt going anywhere, whether he decides to run for president again or not.

Boeing capsule lands back on Earth after space shakedown

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)  Boeing's astronaut taxi has returned to Earth from the International Space Station, completing a repeat test flight with a mannequin on board. The Starliner capsule parachuted into the New Mexico desert just four hours after leaving the orbiting lab Wednesday. Aside from a few snags, Starliner appears to have clinched its high-stakes shakedown cruise 2 1/2 years after its botched first attempt. That means NASA test pilots will fly next, perhaps by year's end. NASA wants two competing U.S. companies ferrying astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX is already the established leader.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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ATLANTA (AP)  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was a top target of former President Donald Trump, has won the Republican primary as he seeks reelection.

Raffensperger beat three challengers, including Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who had criticized his handling of the 2020 election. It was not immediately clear which Democrat he would face in November.

What I have found is that every Georgian wants safe and secure elections with the right balance of accessibility with security. Thats where Georgia voting is today, Raffensperger told reporters late Tuesday after declaring victory.

Raffensperger was among Trumps chief targets when the former president turned his wrath on top Georgia officials for not taking steps to overturn his narrow election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the state. Trump insisted without proof that victory had been stolen from him through widespread voter fraud.

In a now-notorious January 2021 phone call, Trump suggested Raffensperger could find enough votes to overturn President Bidens victory. That led a prosecutor in Atlanta to open an investigation into whether Trump and others tried to illegally influence the states election. That investigation is ongoing.

If you dont understand what happened in the election of 2020, heres what happened -- 28,000 Georgians skipped the presidential race and yet voted down ballot in other races, Raffensperger said.

Hice fully embraced Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and objected to Georgias electoral votes being counted for Biden. State and federal officials, including Trumps own attorney general, have said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. The votes in Georgias presidential election were counted three times, and each tally confirmed Bidens victory.

All three challengers in the GOP primary  Hice, former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle and former probate and magistrate judge T.J. Hudson  criticized Raffensperger's handling of the 2020 election, saying he caused Georgians to lose confidence in the system.

Raffensperger punched back, staunchly defending his record and insisting that Georgia's elections are fair and secure. He also made prohibiting noncitizens from voting  a platform popular with conservative Republicans that is already enshrined in Georgia law  a centerpiece of his reelection campaign.

Trump's obsession with his election loss and his unproven claims of widespread fraud have put a spotlight on down-ballot secretary of state races around the country.

Asked by a reporter if his victory was a direct rebuke of Trump, Raffensperger said, No, I think its a direct compliment to the goodness of my fellow Georgians.

On the Democratic side, State Rep. Bee Nguyen, who occupies the seat formerly held by Democratic gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, advanced to a runoff.

It was too early to tell which of the other four Democratic candidates she will face in the June 21 contest. They are Floyd Griffin, a state senator and former mayor of the city of Milledgeville; Michael Owens, former Cobb County Democratic Party chairman; John Eaves, former Fulton County Commission chairman; and Dee Dawkins-Haigler, a former state representative from DeKalb County.

Nguyen's campaign put out a news release early Wednesday saying her dominant position makes it clear that she's best positioned to beat Raffensperger.

Georgians deserve a Secretary of State who will fight for the right of every eligible voter to make their voices heard at the ballot box, regardless of their party affiliation, zip code, or the color of their skin," Nguyen said. "Im running to be Secretary of State because our basic civil liberties begin at the ballot box.

Nguyen has served in the state House since winning a 2017 special election to succeed Abrams in a district that includes parts of DeKalb County just east of the Fulton County line and some parts of the city of Atlanta. Nguyen is also a vice chair of the state Democratic Party.

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

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YouVersion Partner Laura Woodworth's Devotionals Offer Comfort for Recent Tragedies When the world seems unsafe, Laura Woodworth's YouVersion devotionals offer strength, comfort and a path to forgiveness for the hurting.







NEWS PROVIDED BY

Laura Woodworth

May 25, 2022



KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 25, 2022 /



"In uncertain times, God's word offers us hope  and a strategy for combating the darkness," shares Woodworth. "The world isn't safe, but for those who believe there is a place of protection in the One who holds the stars and our lives in his hands."



"Safe  The High Tower of the Lord" and the Spanish "Seguro  En La Torre Fuerte del Senor" are based on Woodworth's featured article on



An award winning writer-producer-director and a development executive for Cooke Media Group in Burbank, California, Woodworth appreciates the access YouVersion offers to their global audience with 500 million installs of the Bible app.



Find out more at



Check out the devotionals on YouVersion's free Bible app:



"Safe  The High Tower of the Lord"

https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/20912-safe-the-high-tower-of-the-lord



"Seguro  En La Torre Fuerte del Senor"

https://www.bible.com/es/reading-plans/22238



"Love Your Enemy  Godliness in a Tainted World"

https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/25149-love-your-enemy-godliness-in-a-tainted-world



About Laura Woodworth - Writer-Producer-Director

Laura Woodworth is a freelance writer-producer-director, a script consultant and a development executive for Cooke Media Group in Burbank, Calif. With a B.A. in Ministerial Studies and postgraduate UCLA's Professional Program in Producing, her awards include the Telly award-winning documentary, Asia: The Great Wall and Beyond of the TBN television series Inexplicable. A contributor to FamilyChristian.com, iDisciple and Pure Flix Insider, her YouVersion devotional plans have 150,000 subscribers. Her revised "Effective Writing: Develop Your Book, Blog or Screenplay to Share Your Faith with the World" releases June 2022. Her new devotional "Through the Valley: A 40-Day Spiritual Journey to Move Your Life Forward in God" by iDisciple Publishing releases summer 2022.



SOURCE Laura Woodworth



CONTACT: 310-992-8828,



Share Tweet NEWS PROVIDED BYMay 25, 2022KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 25, 2022 / Christian Newswire / -- In light of the recent mass shootings and tragedies across the nation, Laura Woodworth's devotionals on YouVersion's free Bible app offer strength, comfort and a path to forgiveness for the hurting. With over 150K subscribers to her devotional plans, two in particular stand out with messages for our uncertain times: "Safe  The High Tower of the Lord" available in both English and Spanish and "Love Your Enemy  Godliness in a Tainted World.""In uncertain times, God's word offers us hope  and a strategy for combating the darkness," shares Woodworth. "The world isn't safe, but for those who believe there is a place of protection in the One who holds the stars and our lives in his hands.""Safe  The High Tower of the Lord" and the Spanish "Seguro  En La Torre Fuerte del Senor" are based on Woodworth's featured article on FamilyChristian.com that became an all-time top performing article on the platform. Woodworth developed the concept into a 3-day devotional that explores the refuge of God's protection while inspiring readers to bring others with them into this place of safety. "Love Your Enemy  Godliness in a Tainted World" helps readers recognize and confront the spiritual warfare in the world while enabling victims to forgive their enemies as Christ has forgiven us.An award winning writer-producer-director and a development executive for Cooke Media Group in Burbank, California, Woodworth appreciates the access YouVersion offers to their global audience with 500 million installs of the Bible app.Find out more at LauraWoodworth.com . For interviews, contact Woodworth at laura@laurawoodworth.com Check out the devotionals on YouVersion's free Bible app:"Safe  The High Tower of the Lord""Seguro  En La Torre Fuerte del Senor""Love Your Enemy  Godliness in a Tainted World"Laura Woodworth is a freelance writer-producer-director, a script consultant and a development executive for Cooke Media Group in Burbank, Calif. With a B.A. in Ministerial Studies and postgraduate UCLA's Professional Program in Producing, her awards include the Telly award-winning documentary, Asia: The Great Wall and Beyond of the TBN television series Inexplicable. A contributor to FamilyChristian.com, iDisciple and Pure Flix Insider, her YouVersion devotional plans have 150,000 subscribers. Her revised "Effective Writing: Develop Your Book, Blog or Screenplay to Share Your Faith with the World" releases June 2022. Her new devotional "Through the Valley: A 40-Day Spiritual Journey to Move Your Life Forward in God" by iDisciple Publishing releases summer 2022. https://LauraWoodworth.com SOURCE Laura WoodworthCONTACT: 310-992-8828, laura@laurawoodworth.com
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  Rescue teams searched Wednesday for dozens of people reported missing after a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Europe capsized off Tunisia's coast.

The International Organization for Migration said 30 people were rescued and 75 people were unaccounted for after the boat sank off the city of Sfax in southern Tunisia. One body has been recovered, authorities said.

Mourad Turki, a Sfax courts spokesperson, told The Associated Press that the people rescued were between the ages of 18 and 40 and of various nationalities, including Bangladeshi, Egyptian, Moroccan and Cameroonian.

The number believed to be missing was provisional and could increase, Turki said. The search continued Wednesday, according to International Organization for Migration spokesperson Esma Rihane.

The boat reportedly departed from Zuwara in north Libya on Sunday night. According to the Sfax National Guard, the vessel ran aground 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the island of Kerkennah, off Tunisia's coast, although it was unclear exactly when.

Zuwara serves as a departure point for migrants attempting to reach southern Europe by sea. Last July, a boat carrying 127 migrants from Zuwara sank off Zarzis, a port in southern Tunisia, leaving 43 people missing.

In a mission separate from the Tunisian navy's ongoing search, the non-governmental organization Open Arms conducted a rescue operation late Tuesday in an area off the coast of Tunisia.

Dramatic photos and videos from the Spanish maritime rescue group showed dozens of people in the water and clinging to the side of an upturned boat.

Head of mission Gerard Canals said the organization was alerted of a possible vessel in distress late Tuesday and located the boat after four hours of navigation.

A wooden boat with over 100 people was left adrift very close to the Tunisian territorial waters....It was overcrowded Canals said. During the rescue operation, the wooden boat capsized but we managed to take these 110 people on board on different life rafts that we deployed during the night.

The Open Arms rescue ship is looking for a safe port to disembark, he said.

We need the authorities to act immediately," Canals said. "The weather will deteriorate very soon and we (do not have enough) space, food or water to provide the people on board.

The central Mediterranean, which connects Libya and other North African countries to Italy and Malta, is the world's most dangerous migration route, according to the IOM.

The U.N. agency estimates that more than 1,500 people died or went missing in that part of the sea in 2021 and more than 500 have perished so far this year.

Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Former Hormel Foods executive Jeff Ettinger cruised to victory Tuesday in a Democratic primary to finish the term of the late U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, while Republicans Brad Finstad and Jeremy Munson were locked in a close battle late into the evening.

Finstad, a former state representative, and current state Rep. Munson were well ahead of a crowded field of Republicans eager for a shot at capturing the Republican-leaning seat. The two were separated by just a few hundred votes, with much of Fillmore County still to report.

The winner will meet Ettinger in August to determine who will finish the last few months of Hagedorns term. The stakes are likely higher than that, though, with the winners expecting a bump in their chances to win a full term later in November.

Were very excited. Its really an honor to have the trust of the voters in the district, Ettinger said. Im ready for the next stage of the race. I intend to offer the district a non-politicians alternative  someone who will be inclusive and respectful in representing the district.

Other Republican hopefuls include Hagedorn's widow, Jennifer Carnahan. Finstad, Munson and Carnahan all played up their admiration for former President Donald Trump while trying to set themselves apart from their rivals.

Trump did not endorse in the race.

Munson portrayed himself as the true conservative in the race, with national endorsements from hardliners such as Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Jim Jordan. He narrowly missed endorsement by 1st District Republicans last month.

Finstad, meanwhile, had support from establishment Republicans such as U.S. Reps. Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber of Minnesota. He also had the pedigree of serving in the Trump administration as state director for USDA Rural Development in Minnesota.

Carnahan brought baggage to the race, including being forced out as chairwoman of the state Republican Party last year after a prominent donor was indicted on sex-trafficking charges and former staffers complained of a toxic work environment. She also was sued by Hagedorn's mother, stepfather and sister this month in a dispute over money they loaned to help cover his medical bills.

On the Democratic side, Ettinger, who is making his first foray into politics, raised significantly more money than a handful of rivals. Those included University of Minnesota law professor Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush's administration, and progressive activist Sarah Brakebill-Hacke.

The process that will follow Tuesday's primary is complicated. The winners will run in an Aug. 9 special general election that coincides with Minnesota's statewide primary the same day.

The winner of the special general election, who will fill out the rest of Hagedorn's term into January, presumably will also win the districts regular primary that same day. That should give him or her an advantage heading into the November general election, which will determine who holds the seat in the next Congress.

The seat stretches across Minnesota's southern border, and is mostly rural and agricultural except for big population centers in Mankato and Rochester.

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

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NEW DELHI (AP)  An Indian court sentenced a Kashmiri separatist leader to life in prison on Wednesday after declaring him guilty of terrorism and sedition, triggering a clash between protesters and police and a partial shutdown of businesses in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Mohammed Yasin Malik, 56, led the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, one of the first armed rebel groups in the Indian-held area, but later shifted to peaceful means in seeking the end of Indian rule.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British colonialists granted it independence in 1947. Both countries claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over its control.

Malik was arrested in 2019 and was convicted last week on charges of committing terrorist acts, illegally raising funds, belonging to a terrorist organization, and criminal conspiracy and sedition.

Before Wednesday's sentencing, dozens of Kashmiris gathered at Maliks home in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Some marched through the streets, chanting We want freedom and Go back India. Government forces fired tear gas at the marchers, who threw stones. No injuries were immediately reported.

Shops and businesses closed in the main centers of Srinagar.

Prosecutors said the judge rejected their request for a death sentence.

The government banned Malik's organization in 2019, accusing it of funding terrorism and blaming it for the deaths of minority Hindus in the Himalayan region.

Malik protested the charges during the trial and said he was a freedom fighter.

The terrorism-related charges leveled against me are concocted, fabricated and politically motivated, he said.

If seeking azadi (freedom) is a crime, then I am ready to accept this crime and its consequences, he told the judge.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned Malik's sentencing, and its Foreign Ministry said it summoned India's top diplomat in Islamabad.

Today is a black day for Indian democracy & its justice system," Sharif tweeted. "India can imprison Yasin Malik physically but it can never imprison idea of freedom he symbolizes. Life imprisonment for valiant freedom fighter will provide fresh impetus to Kashmiris right to self-determination.

In the late 1980s, Malik joined a group of young people who traveled to Pakistani-controlled Kashmir for arms training, seeking independence for all of Kashmir from India and Pakistan.

By 1989, Indian-controlled Kashmir was in the throes of a full-blown rebellion, with Malik and his comrades conducting attacks against the Indian security establishment and pro-India Kashmiri politicians.

India responded with a massive militarization of Kashmir, saying it was fighting a Pakistan-sponsored proxy war. It unleashed a brutal counterinsurgency campaign, and soldiers were given broad impunity and allowed to shoot suspects on sight or detain them indefinitely.

Malik was arrested during a raid by Indian troops in 1990 and was released in 1994. He took over control of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, shifting away from armed rebellion and seeking the end of Indian rule over the territory through peaceful political means.

In 2003, Malik and his associates began collecting signatures of Kashmiris seeking the right to self-determination. They traveled for two years to hundreds of villages and towns, gathering over 1.5 million signatures.

He helped lead an anti-India uprising in 2008 with large-scale protests that marked a shift from armed struggle to non-violent resistance. He continued to lead large public gatherings in subsequent years seeking an end of Indian rule.

Malik held several unsuccessful rounds of talks with the Indian government, including with two prime ministers. He is married to a Pakistani artist, Mushaal Hussein, and they have a 10-year-old daughter.

Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict since 1989.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a coalition of anti-Indian Kashmiri political groups, said Malik was being punished for his political beliefs and was convicted in invented cases under draconian laws.

The group urged the Indian government to release all Kashmiri political prisoners and resolve the Kashmir conflict through dialogue.

Hussain reported from Srinagar, India. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

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 Republican nominations for four statewide races were on the ballot Tuesday, along with a constitutional amendment to fund improvements at state parks and historical sites.

Here is a rundown on key races:

SECRETARY OF STATE

Outgoing State Auditor Jim Zeigler and state Rep. Wes Allen advanced to the Republican primary runoff to succeed GOP incumbent John Merrill as Alabamas top elections officer, secretary of state.

Zeigler was barred from running again as auditor by term limits, and Allen served nearly a decade as probate judge in Pike County. Neither could get above the 50% vote threshold in a race that also included Ed Packard, who worked in the secretary of states elections division for nearly 25 years, and Christian Horn, a GOP activist and business owner from Madison County.

None of the four candidates raised major complaints about election problems in Alabama, which is controlled by Republicans and voted heavily for President Donald Trump in 2020. But all talked about measures needed to tighten election security, an issue popularized among conservatives by Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen by President Joe Biden.

The eventual Republican nominee will face Democrat Pamela J. Laffitte of Mobile in November.

Merrill couldnt seek the office again after serving two terms.

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall easily defeated a Republican primary opponent and now has a good chance at reelection as he seeks a second four-year term as the states leading law enforcement official.

First appointed in 2017, Marshall turned back a challenge from Harry Bartlett Still III, an attorney from Daphne.

Marshall will face Democratic nominee Wendell Major, police chief in the Birmingham-area city of Tarrant, in November. No Democrat holds statewide office in the heavily Republican state.

Marshall, who previously served as district attorney in Marshall County, regularly opposes initiatives launched by Democratic President Joe Biden including vaccination requirements for COVID-19 and federal policies along the border with Mexico, and he testified against the nomination of now-Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still argued that corruption is rampant in state government and that the agency overseeing police standards and training in the state needs to be reorganized to increase public trust in law enforcement. He also supported replacing Alabamas heavily amended Constitution, passed in 1901 to ensure white supremacy.

SUPREME COURT

Attorney Greg Cook, who portrayed himself as a Trump-tough Republican, won his partys nomination for an open seat on Alabamas Supreme Court by defeating Debra Jones, a judge who shot a gun in a tough-talking campaign commercial.

Cook will now be a heavy favorite over Democrat Anita L. Kelly in November to keep the states highest court in all Republican hands.

The race is for the Place 5 seat held by Justice Mike Bolin, a Republican who is retiring.

Cook campaigned in part on his Republican credentials and Christian faith. He was a Trump delegate and represented conservative interests in the 2000 presidential recount contest in Florida between Al Gore and President George W. Bush. Cooks campaign resume also featured his longtime church membership and leadership.

Jones released a commercial late in the campaign boasting of her support for Trump, her short stature  Shes 5 feet of concrete  and a case in which she sentenced a person convicted of child molestation to more than 1,000 years in prison. The spot showed her firing a handgun and saying the only reason she didnt put the person under the jail was the liberals wouldnt let her.

STATE AUDITOR

State Rep. Andrew Sorrell of Muscle Shoals advanced to a runoff against one of two other candidates in the race for the GOP nomination for state auditor.

Sorrell led balloting, but it was too early to say whether Stan Cooke, a pastor from Kimberly, or Rusty Glover, a former history teacher from Semmes who served in the state Senate, to advance to the June 21 vote.

Winning the Republican nomination is tantamount to election because no Democrat qualified to run for auditor.

Candidates for auditor typically emphasize the importance of keeping track of state property, but all three Republicans talked about election security in the era of false claims about a stolen presidential vote in 2020 because the auditor has a role in selecting county registrar boards.

Copying false claims by former President Donald Trump, Cookes campaign website said Alabama must get ahead of Democrats before they try and steal our elections as they did in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and even our neighbor to the east, Georgia.

The incumbent, Jim Zeigler, could not seek reelection after serving two terms and is running for secretary of state.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Voters approved a measure to let the state go into debt for $85 million in bonds to spruce up Alabamas state parks and historical sites.

The statewide constitutional amendment will provide $80 million in funding for state park projects that include adding and improving camping sites, adding wireless service, upgrading electrical and water service, replacing playgrounds, constructing swimming pools and repairing parts of Gulf State Park damaged by Hurricane Sally.

The remaining $5 million will go to the Alabama Historical Commission for acquiring, renovating and maintaining historical parks across the state. The agency wouldnt be allowed to use the money at Confederate Memorial Park in Marbury. The park is funded by a tax that was originally intended for needy Confederate veterans.

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

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A witness says onlookers urged police to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunmans rampage killed 19 children and two teachers.

Juan Carranza spoke Wednesday as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.

Carranza lives across the street from Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde.

He says women were shouting at officers: Go in there! Go in there! soon after the attack began. But he says the officers didn't enter.

Minutes earlier, Carranza had watched as Salvador Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch outside the school, grabbed his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shot at two people.

Authorities say once inside the school, Ramos locked the door of a classroom and started shooting. All those who died were in that classroom.

A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation says Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open the room with a key.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE TEXAS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING:

 Governor: Texas gunman said he was going to shoot up school

 Beto ORourke disrupts news conference on shooting

 Stories are emerging about the lives of the children and teachers killed

IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

UVALDE, Texas  The rifle used in the Texas elementary school shooting is known as a DDM4 Rifle. Its modeled after the M4 carbine, the U.S. militarys go-to rifle, according to a blog post by the guns maker, Daniel Defense.

The Daniel Defense rifle can be classified as an AR-15 type. A key difference between the Daniel Defense rifle and the M4 carbine is that the militarys version can switch to fully automatic or fire a three-round burst depending on the model.

AR-15-type rifles can be purchased for as little as $400, but the Daniel Defense rifle is on the high-end of around $2,000 or more. These rifles can also be financed, with customers paying less than $100 a month.

The Daniel Defense rifle is not sold with sights. According to pictures of the shooters guns posted on Instagram, he appears to have purchased a battery-powered holographic sight that typically sells for around $725.

A snipers scope uses magnification to aid in hitting targets from a great distance. Holographic sights are designed to speed up the process of short-range shooting by helping to fix on targets more quickly.

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the Second Amendment is not absolute as he called for new limitations on guns in the wake of this weeks massacre at a Texas elementary school.

When the amendment was approved, he said, You couldnt own a cannon. You couldnt own certain kinds of weapons. Theres always been limitations.

Biden was speaking at the White House before signing an executive order on policing on the second anniversary of George Floyds death.

He that he would visit Texas with first lady Jill Biden in the coming days to hopefully bring some little comfort to the community.

As a nation, I think we must all be there for them, he said. And we must ask, when it Gods name will we do whats needed to be done."

WASHINGTON  The State Department says the school shooting in Texas and other mass casualty incidents are hurting Americas standing abroad and giving comfort to U.S. rivals and adversaries.

Spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday incidents like these not only cause damage to the U.S. global reputation but also upset and confuse friends and allies who dont understand how they can continue to happen.

The fact is that what happens in this country is magnified on the world stage, Price told reporters a day after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults in the Texas school shooting. And countries around the world, people around the world, are going to fixate on what transpires here  oftentimes out of envy, but again thats when were at our best.

Price said the shootings will have implications for our standing and the U.S. diplomats posted around the world are very mindful of that.

He said that despite the State Departments foreign policy focus, the shootings hit American diplomats as a real punch to the gut.

A Facebook spokesman says messages posted by the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school were private.

Andy Stone says the messages were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy. He says Facebook is cooperating with investigators.

Gov. Greg Abbott described the messages at a news conference where he said the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, used an AR-15 in the attack Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

About 30 minutes before the shooting, Ramos sent three social media messages. According to the governor, Ramos posted that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman, and finally that he was going to shoot an elementary school.

UVALDE, Texas  Beto ORourke interrupted a press conference Wednesday about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, calling the shooting totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.

ORourke was escorted out while members of the crowd yelled at him, with one man shouting profanities at ORourke. The Democrat is challenging against Gov. Greg Abbott in this years election.

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said to ORourke: Youre out of line and an embarrassment.

ORourke, as he was being escorted out, turned around, faced the stage, pointed his finger and said: This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday.

Abbott says the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school warned on social media minutes before the attack that he was going to shoot up a school. He says the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, used an AR-15 in the attack Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

The news conference was attended by several elected Republican officials.

UVALDE, Texas  The governor of Texas says the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school warned on social media minutes before the attack that he was going to shoot up a school.

Gov. Greg Abbott says the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, used an AR-15 in the attack Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

About 30 minutes before the shooting, Ramos made three social media posts. According to the governor, Ramos posted that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman, and finally that he was going to shoot an elementary school.

Seventeen people were also injured in the attack.

Abbott says Ramos had no known criminal or mental health history.

Evil swept across Uvalde yesterday, the Republican governor said at a news conference attended by other Republican political officials.

Former President Donald Trump says hell deliver an important address to America at the National Rifle Associations annual convention in Texas on Friday.

The Republican leader posted on his social media network Wednesday that America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship.

Houstons Democratic mayor, Sylvester Turner, says some people want the city to cancel the NRA meeting, but he says they cant break the contract.

The greater question, he says, is why politicians still plan to speak there after the shooting in Uvalde. Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz are among other Republicans scheduled to address a leadership forum sponsored by the NRAs lobbying arm.

Its about elected officials at the highest level in our state going and speaking and endorsing those policies and thats wrong," Turner said. "And you cant pray and send condolences on one day and then be going and championing guns on the next.

BERLIN  German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser sharply condemned the Texas school massacre, saying shes shocked by the terrible bloodshed.

It is horrific that so many children and a teacher were killed. And it is terrible how powerful the gun lobby still is in the USA  despite so many terrible crimes, Faeser tweeted on Wednesday.

Germany has a strict weapons law, and its authorities must enforce it decisively, she said.

Above all, we must disarm extremists very consistently. Where necessary, we will further tighten gun laws, Faeser said.

However, Germany is not immune from school attacks. Last week, a school employee was seriously wounded in a crossbow attack at a high school in Bremerhaven and a suspect was detained. Earlier this month, a 16-year-old was detained for allegedly plotting an attack on a secondary school in Essen after police seized weapons and bomb-making materials from his apartment, authorities said.

HARTFORD, Conn.  Schools around the country increased security as a precaution after the killings of 19 children and two teachers in Texas.

In Connecticut, where the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting killed 20 first graders and six educators, state police said they were sending extra troopers to schools Wednesday, although no specific threats had been received.

This assault on the most innocent of our citizens is deeply disturbing and heartbreaking, Connecticut state police Col. Stavros Mellekas said in a statement. At this time, our focus will be on protecting all school populations here in our state.

Schools in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Virginia, Maryland and Florida also were among those increasing security and offering counseling.

WASHINGTON  Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor Wednesday in the aftermath of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting to call out the Republicans decadeslong opposition to gun control legislation.

Maybe the thought of putting yourself in the shoes of these parents instead of in the arms of the NRA might let you wriggle free from the vise-like grip of the NRA to act on even a simple measure, the New York Democrat said. For the sake of these children, these 9-year-olds, these 10-year-olds, these 11-year-olds, these beautiful children, please, damn it.

The Democrats pleas to Republican colleagues reflect a long history of congressional inaction on gun control since a gunman killed 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Connecticut, nearly a decade ago. Democratic lawmakers have introduced countless proposals that would have required a background check of the gunman in Texas. All failed to pass, mostly due to the filibuster.

Schumer pledged Wednesday to move forward with or without Republican lawmakers.

Instagram has confirmed it's working with law enforcement to review an account that appears to belong to the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers in Texas.

A series of posts appeared on Instagram and TikTok in the days leading up to Tuesdays shooting. One selfie appears to show the shooter in front of a mirror. Another photo shows a gun magazine in hand. And on Friday, the same day law enforcement officials believe Salvador Ramos bought a second rifle, a picture of two AR-style semi-automatic rifles appeared.

Another Instagram user with many more followers was tagged in that post. That user has since removed her profile, but first she shared parts of what appears to be a chilling exchange with Ramos, asking her to share his gun pictures with her more than 10,000 followers.

I barely know you and u tag me in a picture with some guns, she responded, adding, Its just scary.

A response sent from Ramoss account on Tuesday morning just said: Im about to.

Witnesses said the shooting began around 11:30 a.m.

UVALDE, Texas  The man who killed 19 children and two teachers in Texas bought his guns legally days before the attack and soon after his 18th birthday, a law enforcement briefing said.

He bought one AR-style rifle from a federally-licensed gun dealer in the Uvalde area on May 17, according to a state police briefing given to Sen. John Whitmire. The next day, he bought 375 rounds of ammunition, and bought a second rifle on May 20.

Officers recovered one of the rifles from Ramos truck and the other was found in the school, according to the briefing. It says Ramos dropped a backpack with several magazines full of ammunition near the school entrance, and that he was wearing a body-armor style vest but that it had no hardened plates inside.

Actor Matthew McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday. He called on Americans to act now to control an epidemic of mass shootings.

Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us, McConaughey posted on his Instagram account. We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo.

The actor doesnt describe any specific laws or policies he wants adopted. He doesnt mention gun control.

As Americans, Texans, mothers and fathers, its time we re-evaluate, he wrote. We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground.

This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better.

UVALDE, Texas  Uvalde community members arrived early Wednesday at a civic center where families learned the fate of their loved ones the night before. Volunteers arrived with Bibles and therapy dogs.

A minister says he prayed with families of victims in a hospital waiting room after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers inside an elementary school classroom in Texas.

Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

Pastor Doug Swimmer of the nondenominational Potters House Church told ABCs Good Morning America on Wednesday that Uvalde is a tight-knit community where people know their neighbors and see them every day.

Asked what he said to people whose faith may have been shaken by the mass shooting, Swimmer said I know that one thing that we as Texans understand is that God is still God ... he is able to bring comfort in times of distress.

VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis has said he's heartbroken about the massacre at an elementary school in Texas.

Francis spoke Wednesday during his general audience. He said he was praying for the children and adults killed and their families after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, killing at least 19 children and two adults before an officer shot and killed the gunman.

UKRAINE  Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that he was deeply saddened by the news of the murder of innocent children in Texas.

Zelenskyy, in a tweet, sent his condolences to the families of the victims, the people of the U.S. and President Joe Biden after a gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, killing at least 19 children and two adults before an officer shot and killed the gunman.

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

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Within minutes of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announcing 18 students and a teacher had been killed earlier Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, an old Abbott tweet calling for Texans to buy more guns resurfaced on Twitter.

"I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans," Abbott tweeted on October 28, 2015, during his first year in the governor's mansion, while also plugging the NRA and linking to an article about the state's gun sales.

This isn't the first time the tweet has recirculated after a mass shooting in the Long Star State.

The same thing happened after several other mass shootings during Abbott's terms, including the Sutherland Springs church shooting in November 2017 (26 dead, 22 injured), the May 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School (10 dead, 13 wounded), the August 2019 shooting at an El Paso Walmart (23 dead, 23 injured) and the Midland-Odessa shooting spree  also August 2019  that left seven dead and 25 wounded.

___

2022 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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At least 19 children and two adults were shot dead on May 24 when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at their Texas elementary school, the latest in the United States' relentless cycle of school mass shootings. In the years since Sandy Hook, the gun control debate in Congress has waxed and waned. Efforts by lawmakers to change US gun policies in any significant way have consistently faced roadblocks from Republicans and the influence of outside groups such as the NRA.
After operating for nearly a decade in a temporary location at Offutt Air Force Base, a Defense Department laboratory that identifies the remains of missing U.S. military members could be in store for a new home near the base.

Rep. Don Bacon proposed an amendment to the House Armed Services Committee calling on the department to accelerate planning for the construction and relocation of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency lab. The committee passed Bacons proposal unanimously this year, amending the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2022, an annual piece of legislation that appropriates defense funding.

The department came forward with a preliminary plan to build a two-story, 65,000-square-foot building, more than double the size of the current facility, which is 31,000 square feet and more than 80 years old. Bacon said the new lab will be in a different location near Offutt.

The estimated cost of the new lab is about $50 million, which will be considered in the federal budget for fiscal year 2024, Bacon said. A timeline for the construction has not been finalized.

The DPAA lab is responsible for the identification of hundreds of missing soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines from past wars. Last month, the lab identified the remains of a World War II pilot who earned the Medal of Honor in 1943. It was also involved in the six-year effort to identify the remains of sailors and Marines who went missing after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It helps bring closure to families, said Bacon, a retired brigadier general who previously served as commander of the Offutt-based 55th Wing.

While a base commander, Bacon helped persuade the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to select Offutt as the location for its second lab when it was looking to expand beyond its original site in Hawaii. The new lab opened in 2013 inside the historic Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant where workers from Nebraska and Iowa built B-26 and B-29 bombers during World War II.

From the beginning, Bacon said the space was always meant to be temporary. Discussions about building a new permanent lab had already begun in 2020. Not only is the building old, and set to be demolished by 2030, Bacon said it is still used for several other purposes and isnt customized to meet the labs needs.

When we moved into this space, we always knew we would have to move again, said Franklin Damann, the laboratory director, in 2020.

The new facility, in contrast, will be tailor made for the labs operations, Bacon said.

The make and design will have their mission in mind, Bacon said.

According to a document from Bacons office, the next step for the project will be the Department of Defense completing the project plans and designs, which is expected before the end of the year. Bacon said his job is to ensure Congress follows through and approves the funding for the lab in the fiscal year 2024 budget.

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A South Dakota man has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing a child and witness tampering. A federal judge this week sent 40-year-old Kimo John Little Bird to prison for life on his conviction of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. An additional 10 years in prison was imposed for committing the crime while he was required to register as a sex offender. Little Bird was sentenced to five years in prison for witness tampering, to be served concurrently with the other counts. In 2016, Little Bird sexually abused an 11-year-old girl. Prosecutors said prior to his trial, he contacted a number of potential witnesses in an effort to have them pressure the girl into recanting.
The overt racism and anti-Semitism written in the Buffalo shooters 180-page manifesto has been rightly denounced by civilized people. The usual questions are being asked. These include how did he get the gun after he was admitted to a hospital last year for symptoms of mental illness?

Another question: Why did President Biden go to Buffalo when as many, or more people, have been shot on an average weekend in Chicago? Thirty-three were shot last weekend in that city. The president didnt visit the sites of other recent shootings. Last July, after more than 100 people were shot in Chicago, Biden declined to visit the city, opting instead for a speech about infrastructure in suburban Crystal Lake. Didnt those lost lives and wounded victims matter as much as the people who were tragically cut down in Buffalo while shopping for groceries?

As a New York Post editorial correctly noted, One things clear(the shooter) never should have been able to get his hands on the Bushmaster assault rifle Press reports say the gun shop owner who sold the 18-year-old the weapon could not find any information that would have disqualified him from making the sale. Why? Did the hospital that evaluated him for mental health problems not share information with authorities about his diagnosis? It wasnt the first time he had demonstrated mental instability.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has pledged to close loopholes in state gun laws. Buying large magazines is already illegal in the state. That didnt deter the shooter. People intent on committing evil acts will find a way, no matter how many laws are passed.

Most TV networks defaulted to their usual position as to whats needed to stop or reduce shootings: more gun control laws. They never tell us which laws a lawbreaker intent on killing people are likely to obey.

There is something else about the continuing narrative of race and racism in America.

One doesnt have to be a cynic  just an observer of how politicians and politics work  to conclude that most shootings involving Blacks shooting other Blacks dont fit the America is a racist nation narrative for the media and especially Democratic politicians. These incidents appear to receive less national coverage and fewer denunciations than when a white person shoots Black people.

Heres my suggestion on one way to fight racism. As one who has worked in television most of my professional life, I want to challenge my colleagues to start doing stories on successful, family-oriented and religious African Americans. I attend a diverse church where the pastor is a man of color and the congregation is made up of different ethnicities  Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican and Black, as well as white. We sing the same hymns and pray together. No TV cameras are there to record the service as a positive image of diversity.

Too often, TV focuses on stories about the corrupt leadership in the Black Lives Matter organization, criminals who are Black, minority welfare recipients who are able-bodied, but dont work, while ignoring whites who are able-bodied but dont work. Im not saying these stories dont deserve attention, but they should be balanced with stories about the overwhelming number of people who obey secular and moral laws.

Covering stories that show people at their worst while mostly ignoring them at their best is racism and contributes to negative stereotypes and perceptions. It would also help if more Republican leaders and conservatives were seen as denouncing racist ideology. I do.

Good and evil dont exist in a vacuum. Whichever is promoted, tends to dominate.

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According to the Washington Posts data on school shootings, more than 215,000 students have experienced gun violence since the killings at Columbine High School in 1999. And that number doesnt even include teachers and other school workers. To understand what its like to survive a school shooting and then return to the classroom as an adult, I spoke with three educators who have experienced gun violence in their schools.

Heather Martin is currently a high school English teacher in Aurora, Colorado, but on April 20, 1999, she was a senior at Columbine High School, where 13 people were shot to death. The shooting began while she was in choir class.

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Mary Ann Jacob was a library clerk at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20 children and six adult staff members were fatally shot in 2012. It was a Friday morning, and Mary Ann remembers that those mornings were often reserved for short dance parties to celebrate the end of the week. As she prepared for a library class with a group of fourth-graders, she heard noises coming over the schools intercom.

Ken Yuers is a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Rancho Tehama Elementary School in Northern California. He recalls that the shooting spree began on Nov. 13, 2017. The gunman ultimately fled the school and later shot and killed himself as police closed in on him.

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Listen by clicking the arrow on the audio player below, or via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Overcast, or TuneIn. An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

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Heather Martin: A student ran up through the doors and just said, Someone has a gun downstairs, and theyre shooting. We all kind of immediately jumped up, probably out of shock, and the teacher yelled at us, Get down. So we kind of sat down, and then the gunfire erupted right outside the doorway.

So a bunch of people scattered. I did not scatter. Im not really sure why. I think I just was in shock and didnt want to overreact. Definitely not thinking that this could happen at my school. Theres a chance I went outside to investigate what was happening. A friend of mine says that we went outside the door where we saw Mr. Sanders take a bullet. I dont have any memory of that, but we did come back into the choir room and eventually barricaded ourselves into the teachers office. We put the two desks in front of the door. There were about 60 of us barricaded in there for three hours. So we heard the gunfire happening in the library, which is where most of the murders took place. And after three hours, we heard a knock at the door, and we all looked at each other like, what should we do? One of the students was like, Who is it? Denver SWAT team, open the door. So we moved the desks and came flying out the door. We couldnt get out of there fast enough.

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From there, they did question us and search us. And then led us out of the school in groups of 10. The gunman had a lot of pipe bombs that they had set off throughout the building. So the fire alarm was going off; the sprinklers were on. I remember walking through water, and when I was walking through the commons, that was very surreal. It was empty, but there were water and backpacks and paper plates floating on the water. It was eerily quiet. I often think about theI dont know why it reminds me of this, its kind of gruesomebut the scene in the movie Titanic, with all the bodies sort of just like floating in this water.

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It wasnt bodies, it was backpacks and things. There were chairs that were melted because of the bombsand then they hadnt covered the bodies yet. So we did see the bodies on the way out.

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Mary Ann Jacob: I thought, What are they doing in the office? Could they have hit the button by mistake while theyre fooling around having their Dance Party Friday? So I got up and walked over to the circulation desk and picked up the phone and called down there to let them know we could hear them  and I start hearing some loud noises, but its not really making any sense. And from under her desk, one of the school secretaries picks up the phone and says, Theres shooting. And I hung up the phone without even responding. Yelled to Yvonne Cech, who is our librarian, Lockdown, and I ran out into the hallway to the two classrooms across the hall from us and yelled Lockdown in their doors, and slammed their doors shut. And when I got back to the library, Yvonne was ushering the kids to the spot along the wall that backed up to the hallway, in between two bookcases where we had practiced our lockdown drills, and there were two other adults in the room.

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I said, What happened? And she said to me: Its the worst thing this countrys seen since Columbine.   Mary Ann Jacob, Sandy Hook Elementary

We put some bookcases around us and waited, looking at each other, the adults. We were sort of spread out among the 19, 18 kids looking at each other like were thinking, What is going on? I mean, clearly, at that point we could tell they were gunshots. It was, Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And even hearing all that, the reality of it just wasnt sinking in.

A few minutes go by, and we thought we had locked all our doors. There were five separate doors in the library. We hear a door open, and I look up, and I see the barrel of a shotgun come around the corner. And honestly, we all thought it was the gunman but very quickly realized it was the first policeman whod come in the building. His head came around the corner.

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He looked at me and said something, and I said something in response, I dont know what. And he put his finger to his lips to tell us to be quiet and turned around and left. And Yvonne went over to check the door again, and we realized it wasnt locking properly. Were still thinking were in grave danger. So we instruct the kids to crawl along the floor to a closet. And then we closed the door and pushed two filing cabinets in front of it and waited.

So we heard a guy yell, Police, so we made him shove his badge under the door and then we pulled the file cabinets out of the way, and I opened the door. And standing outside the room where we were in was a room full of police in riot gear, and I sort of crumpled at that moment thinking, Oh my God, its real. Whatevers going on is really bad.

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And I said to the police, What do you want us to do? And theyre like, We want you to come out two by two, and an adult will take each child in each hand and well exit the building. And I remember thinking that I had to compose my face before I turned around to face the kids, and so I did and said to them, OK guys, the police are here, theyre ready to take us out. When we emerged from the library, the hallway was lined with police in riot gear with their guns drawn, like there was a very present danger. And we ran out of the building.

I remember getting to the firehouse, which was adjacent to our school, and the kids just sort of melted out of my hands. I dont remember what happened to them, and the first selectman and some people were standing there, and I said, What happened? And she said to me: Its the worst thing this countrys seen since Columbine.

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Ken Yuers: This man in our community of 1,500 people had murdered his wife the evening of the 13th and, wed come to find out later, cut open up the floorboards of his home and put her body in there, and he had been feuding with his neighbors. So the next morning, about 7:51 a.m., he shot a couple and stole a truck and began a rampage in the community.

So for me, I was at the school office, trying to arrange a meeting with a parent, and then I was on my way toward the classroom. I was between the quad in my classroom, and I stopped to talk to the head of yard duty, Patty Smith, and we were talking, and we heard a series of gunshots, about a quarter mile away, rapid fire, and Patty said to me, We may need to get these kids inside.

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I did my best army crawl toward the phone and said, Lord, forgive me for my sins, because the phone was right by the ramp where the shooter was.  Ken Yuers, Rancho Tehama Elementary School

I proceeded westward toward my classroom. I was walking very fast, just heightened alert, and we got them lined up. I got the door open. A couple of kids looked really scared, and I was getting them inside. And [I said], Hey, did you see someone? He said, I saw a guy with a gun. And then the gate crashed and not all the students were in the door yet, some of them were on the ramp. They looked, and they saw this guy with a gun, and they let out a bigyou could just hear an audible gasp. And I kept standing there at that door, Come on, get inside. And they did. And, Get under your desks. They knew what to do. They were experienced with a lockdown. And then I did my best army crawl toward the phone and said loud enough, Lord, forgive me for my sins, because the phone was right by the ramp, and I picked it up, and I called 911, and I couldnt get out.

So I called my daughters grandmother, and I told her, Hey, we have an active shooter at Rancho Tehama Elementary. Call 911, active shooter at Rancho Tehama Elementary, call 911, and hung up the phone. And the kids were whimpering. I just repeated, Our eyes are our ears, we need to remain calm. Fortunately, Mr. May and Mrs. Smith and the custodian and the teachers were now getting out too, and the secretary, everybody got those kids inside. So by the time he came around the corner, they were all inside, which was pivotal because this man went around shooting at the quad area.

He started in Room 1 where Ms. Bauman was.  Her Lock Blok was malfunctioning, so she was holding it with her body trying to pull that door closed with all of her strength. And then Room 2, where Mrs. Almand and Mrs. Smith and Mr. May were. And then he continued on toward the office. Just opened up on there where the secretary and the custodian were, and then continued on toward the eastern part of the quad, the library, shot the kindergarten and first-grade classrooms where a bullet did get a student, a 6-year-old. And a lot of the students were injured by flying glass, but we were lucky. According to the school officials, he fired off about a hundred rounds on that campus. We were extremely lucky. God help that community. I mean, five people died, but the shots going off were enough to alert us to get those kids inside.

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The Conversation

Dahlia Lithwick: Hearing these stories provides a jarring look at what we ask of teachers in America. They also remind me of a piece I wrote for Slate back in 2013 about active shooter drills in our nations schools and their unintended consequences of making children anxious and worried. My own son, during an active shooter drill at his school, was told to run like a pack of wild dogs is chasing you. Do you think lockdown drills are a good thing, or not?

Mary Ann Jacob: Whats happening today, just five years later than what happened in Sandy Hook, is different. When we did lockdown drills before 2012, we would say to the kids, This is in the event that theres a stray dog or a bear, so were just making sure that were safe. Today, its all about an active shooter, and every kid in America knows that.  Were traumatizing kids today in a vastly different way who havent actually experienced gun violence themselves but are acutely aware of how much danger theyre in. I mean, school has always been a safe haven for kids, and its not anymore.

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Ive got my plan, and Ive got my backup plan, and I have a backup plan for my backup plan. And part of being a survivor is really going through those what-ifs.  Heather Martin, Columbine High School

Dahlia Lithwick: Heather, you actually are teaching protocols. I know that you clearly feel that its better to be forearmed with knowledge and a plan than to just be shocked. How do you finesse it when you teach it so that youre not essentially terrifying the kids youre trying to protect?

Heather Martin: Well, there are a couple factors here. One is: I teach seniors, so theyre 17, 18 years old, so I think its really different talking to those students than it would be talking to younger students. Im very upfront and honest about my story, and I tell my story to my students every year. And with my students, many of them have experienced gun violence in their lives. Theres a lot of gang activity. And I also have a lot of students who are refugees who are fleeing civil war. So the trauma from a red lockdown, well, they hear my story, and they can sort of  they can imagine it happening.

I dont notice that my kids are that impacted by the drills. As a matter of fact, even the real lockdowns that we hadwe had a student shot outside, and then we had a student with a gun in the building. For me, I do like to be prepared given what Ive been through. Ive got my plan, and Ive got my backup plan, and I have a backup plan for my backup plan. And part of being a survivor is really going through those what-ifs.

Mary Ann Jacob: I do the same thing. I mean, I have a lot of plans for emergency situations, and they go well beyond what the school has put together, because we know that sometimes what the school puts together is inadequate.

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Ken Yuers: I am onboard with that. Ive prepared thinking about what could happen, not only at the school but when Im away from school after going through November.

Dahlia Lithwick: One thing that we keep hearing after events like this is just how much confusion there is in the momentfrom confusion around the number of shooters, confusion about who the victims are, their names, what happened. It seems like all these years after Columbine we would be better on these communications and protocols.

Heather Martin: I think sort of to your question is law enforcements response. When we were first busted out of that room, and we came flying out of there, we were cussed at. We were searched, and not nicely, and they were yelling, and it was loud. Its a very high-stress situation. I also learned that when they saved us, they thought that there were still four gunmen on the loose. Because, again, initial reports were that there were six. They did find two in the library. Obviously, they were deceased then. The two on the roof were the air conditioning repair guys, so theyre still thinking that there are two gunmen on the loose. When they cleared our room, they searched us.

Im sort of circling the issue here, but I think we do learn stuff from every situation, and I know that at least the law enforcement conferences that Ive been to and that Ive spoken to, theyre really working on their response to these things. Not just tactically but also how to minimize the trauma of the people who are going through these situations.

Dahlia Lithwick: Youre all describing, I think, PTSD, right? Some version of, The way I make sense of this and go forward in the world is to just be hyperaware of the world around me. Part of whats so difficult is that I guess all of your students in the aggregate have some version of that, too, right?

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Ken Yuers: It made for a very surreal year because this happened in November. It was the first one-third of the year. We had two-thirds of the year left to finish. Theres the combination of [having a] class of traumatized kids, and also youre an educator. Youre there to help kids advance and learn, be successful in life, be part of their community locally, nationally, and here you are just now focused, and the district backed us on this, on their mental health. That had to come first. And you have to keep reminding yourself these kids have to start rebuilding their mental health. It just made for a very, very different year trying to process it all.

Heather Martin: I just wanted to commend you guys for that because, as a senior, I know it was different because we graduated and sort of moved on, but one of my biggest struggles was not having that system of support as I went off to college. I did try college. I dropped out. There was a fire alarm, and I lost it. So its really nice to hear that your district was supportive.

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Ken Yuers: And we have a great staff. Every teacher, and staff, they didnt have a sick day the rest of the year, which to me is justwe were there for the kids because thats, as you know, thats why we do what we do.

It was an exhausting year.  Sometimes before I went in that classroom, I would be in that staff room just trying to get myself together.  Ken Yuers, Rancho Tehama Elementary School

Mary Ann Jacob: The adults were just so traumatized, too, but nobody could imagine allowing the kids to go back without being there for them, because they needed us as much as we needed to be with each other. But the amount of learning that went on the rest of the year was far below what would have occurred, and every day you encountered something with a student that you were wholly unprepared to deal with. And I remember sitting at my computer one day and swiping a girls ID to check out a book, and her picture came up. She said, Oh, that was before Ms. Soto died, who was her teacher who died. I said, I know, honey. Thats so hard. Because we had 11 children, 6-year-olds, who survived in the two classrooms where the shooters were, who ran by him when he was killing their classmates. It meant, again, putting aside our own grief and trauma every day. I mean, Ken, you were probably exhausted the rest of the year, Im guessing.

Ken Yuers: Yes, it was an exhausting year, but, as I said, we were there for the kids. And sometimes before I went in that classroom, I would be in that staff room just trying to get myself together before Id leave to go do it, and thats where the support from other staff members was great, because everybody could relate to what you had gone through. You werent alone in the experience.

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Dahlia Lithwick: And two of you have talked about having to kind of compose your face and compose your voice and what it feels like in this moment of extreme crisis to have to almost put on a mask. When youre reliving this and thinking about it, this question of, How did I hold it together for these kids?that must be such a huge part, something you probably didnt think you had in you, right?

Ken Yuers: Oh, yeah. Its surreal. And yes, I didnt know I had it in me. I didnt know I had it in me when all of it was going down, when the perpetrator was out there shooting. You know, inside, you just want to scream and use a bunch of bad language, but I have a classroom full of 18 kids, and theyre turning to you, and they do turn to you. And its a form of therapy for myself.  You cant help but grow closer to these kids after going through such an experience.

Mary Ann Jacob: One of the things that I think we didnt do a great job of as a school community was take care of the adults in the school. The focus was on getting the kids back into a normal routine, and that was so important that it was done at the expense of the adults in the classroom, and in the building, who were basically told, If you cant keep it together, well get somebody else to come in. And it was a year before there was help in the building for the adults.

Dahlia Lithwick: Im so glad you said that, Mary Ann, because as I was listening to Ken, I was thinking: Its so easy to construct a story in which everybodys a hero in these moments. We need to focus on heroes because it makes us feel better. But I love what youre saying, because what youre saying is, the minute you start calling teachers heroes, youre taking away a little bit of the possibility of them being in trauma and grieving themselves, right?

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Mary Ann Jacob: Yeah, and you know, it was interesting because, a lot of the people in the community, and in the nationI mean there was so much attention on us, like there was after Columbine  the first responders are getting awards and these people are getting awards and these people, while those of us who are going to school every day, like Ken, you know, going back to the school every day and teaching those kids, it was like: What about them? They were the first responders. We were the first responders. We protected those kids every day in and out, and nobody wanted to be a hero, but we wanted people to understand that, as a community, we needed their support. And I think people felt like we must have been getting that support, because of who we were. But, in fact, we werent necessarily getting the kind of support we needed.

I remember even my own physician saying to me, Well, youve been through a terrible trauma, you need to get help. And I can remember driving away from her office that day thinking, That was not helpful. Because people who are most traumatized are least equipped to help themselves.

Dahlia Lithwick: I guess that leads to the post-Parkland conversation, which must break your hearts, because youve had this conversation a thousand times before. Maybe we should arm teachers, and maybe we should hire veterans. Is there anything of utility here?  What do you do when we have these conversations for the thousandth time?

Mary Ann Jacob: Frankly, I think the only person having the conversation about arming teachers is the NRA leadership and the president. I think regular people, in general, think thats a ridiculous idea. Because on a practical basis, its almost unmanageable. And its also the extreme. You know, most schools in this country have about a hundred things they can do between nothing and arming teachers that are very effective for safety and security of their students. So, there are a lot of things we should be doing to make our schools safer. Thats not one of them, in my opinion.

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Dahlia Lithwick: Heather, Ken, I want to give you an opportunity, if youre proponents of arming teachers, to rebut what Mary Ann just said, or just to reflect on what you think would be measures that would make a difference, instead of this incredibly tedious thoughts and prayers conversation.

Ken Yuers: There are a lot of things that could be done, I agree, and unfortunately, a lot of it requires funding, and here in California, theyre trying to do some things to make schools safer.

A local assemblyman, [James] Gallagher, he tried to get it where every school had an armed security guard, which, thats an outrageous amount of money, no way its gonna happen.

Speaking to the day of Nov. 14, for me, I was a military policeman, so I carried a sidearm for three and a half years. Im not a guy who goes out and shoots for fun. Ive never hunted, Im not a member of the NRA. But in Northern California, in a rural area, there is a little more Second Amendment type of thinking, so, because of where I live, I do have a concealed weapon permit. I never really thought about being armed so much at school, but I will say that morning, I wouldnt have thought about using the gun, but I did, once I got that Chromebook cart slid up against the door, I was thinking, Gosh, if I had my sidearm on me, this would be a good way to set up a defensive posture, with the police so far away.

I think at that exact moment, we have a rare exception where, if youre in a rural area and there are no other protections already in placeplease, get those protections in place, but in the meantime, you know, I think it should be something at least considered. I dont think itll happen in California. Im a member of the California teachers union here, and theyre supporting Gov.he will probably be our governor[Gavin] Newsom, hes lieutenant governor right now, and they asked him what he thought about arming teachers, and he had a one-word response: ludicrous.

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And I get what hes saying. You know, teachers, we want to bond with our students, build a rapport; we dont want to be thinking about a gun. But, if theres gonna be an exception, I dont think any teachers should be forced to have to carry  it could be strictly voluntary, with intense training. And, when I was going to get my permit, the instructor told me, every bullet you potentially fire has a liability lawsuit attached to it. Anyhow, I dont want to come across as a gun nut. I dont think I am.

Dahlia Lithwick: Youre not.

Ken Yuers: OK. And I heard about some knucklehead whos supposed to be a police reserve or something firing off a gun in a classroom in the past year, and just, there should be no gun unholstered ever in a school unless youre trying to save someones life. Anyways, thats my thought on that.

Heather Martin: Well, I think as a teacher, when were talking about arming teachers, I personally would not like to carry a firearm, mainly because my what-if scenarios are all the things that could go wrong, and my what-if is, What if I accidentally shoot one of my kids? What if the gunman is a student, and then I have to shoot one of my kids? What if the police come looking for the gunman and here I am holding a gun? There are so many what-ifs in that scenario.

I would not feel comfortable carrying a weapon. And then, you know, I appreciate what Ken said just about, you know, mandating it. If somebody mandated that I carry a gun, I want to be like, Um, I was at Columbine? Like, why would you want me to have a gun? There are teachers out there that maybe shouldnt have scissors, I dont know.

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But I would be very careful with, you know, mandating that and making teachers carry guns, because, again, especially in the community where I work, people in authority with weapons, thats not always a good thing.

Mary Ann Jacob: I also come from a home that has guns. My husband and sons actually spent Fathers Day at the shooting range doing skeet shooting, and my husband grew up in the Midwest where the first day of hunting season was a day off from school, and, you know, my family has always respected the Second Amendment and considers gun ownership a privilege that comes with great responsibility.

That being said, Im not anti-weapons in school, but I think, you know, in Connecticut, for example, we have a law that you can have a school security  its called an SSO, and that position was created by the state Legislature. Its part of the police department, its a part-time position that is a retired police officer, and they belong to the police department, so they work under the authority of the police department with all the same training, and our schools have those in some of our communities. I think thats perfectly acceptable. They man the front doors and they protect the internal community.

In Kens community, this doesnt sound superpractical from a financial standpoint, so there may be something else that has to happen. But, you know, in many communities there are other solutions other than arming teachers, I think. Teachers need to focus on what they do for a living, which is teach kids.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Ninety-five percent of American schools now conduct drills to prepare students for a school shooter. For adults who were out of high school by the time of the 1999 Columbine shooting, this is an unfamiliar phenomenon. We dont have a clear picture of how the drills are experienced by the children they were designed for.

In this partnership between Slate and the Trace, we spoke to more than 20 students from different parts of the country, to learn what they see, hear, and feel during what has become a routine experience in American schools.

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We turned those experiences into an audio story you can listen to in the audio player just below, or on your preferred podcast app. You can also scroll further to read and hear selections from the kids we spoke to, kindergartners and high school seniors alike, as they describe how these drills frighten and bore, annoy and perplex. Every school performs the drills in a different way, and every child experiences them alone. But even the younger students know better than we might expect what the drills are for. Here are their stories.

They say its a drill on the loudspeaker, most of the time, but they might be lying just to make sure youre not going to panic.

Phoebe

Fifth grade

South Orange, New Jersey

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I repeat, this is a code red lockdown drill. I was so scared. I stood on top of the toilet, but then I remembered my teacher told me this year to sit on the toilet and put my feet up. And then last year, my teacher told me to stand on the toilet. So I was like, wait, what do I do? I was panicking. Then I heard footsteps outside. I was like, oh my gosh, is someone coming? I tried to stay as quiet as I could be. I just hear footsteps, click-clack, click-clack  and then I heard the shifting of the doorknob, and I was like oh my gosh, whats going to happen? I was just hoping  hoping that it was the principal coming, not anybody that was going to kill me.

We know its not real, its just a drill, so people start to goof off quite a bit. But were supposed to take it really seriously.

Ava

Ninth grade

San Diego

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Youre supposed to feel safe at school, you have your teachers  youre in your community. But its really stressful to think about a random person doing that. And really just sad. If something happened, the first thing Id do is really get worried and maybe start to cry, and then I would hide, but I feel its important that someone needs to fight back. Maybe not me, because Im very scared. I would tell everyone to push all the tables to the doors and just start hiding, and if someone breaks in, do something crazy, pull something elaborate off. But Id probably just start crying.

Whos gonna win? Someone with a rifle or someone with a textbook?

Collin

Sixth grade

Los Angeles

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If an active shooter went on, youre supposed to, like, grab kind of a blunt object to protect yourself with it. If someone were to come at you, you, like, either, like, throw it at them to slow them down or you, if you are close to them, you just whack them in the head with it. Or if you were to grab a pencil, its pretty self-explanatoryyou just stab. I was kind of just thinking, well, whos gonna win? Someone with a rifle or someone with a textbook? So, shes telling us to barricade the doors, but I was kind of thinking, well, if the locks dont work, they could probably push the door forward and remove the barricades.

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I was like a little porcupine or a little hedgehog rolling up to a ball, trying to protect myself from the enemy.

Kennedi

Fifth grade

Baltimore

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We were all sitting under the sink, and under the shelves, so it was kind of uncomfortable because everyone in the class was there. Everyone was kinda fidgety, and our teacher told us not to move. I felt like I was a little ball, and I was trying to stay together, and, like, I was like a little porcupine or a little hedgehog rolling up to a ball, trying to protect myself from the enemy. One kid, he was kind of worried and thought it was real. So he had a panic attack. He started breathing heavily and crying, and everyone was really worried about him. So then we had waited for a few minutes and then everyone started to calm him down. Like, Its OK, its OK, its just fake, were just practicing. One kid, hes really funny, he said, Its OK, man, its OK, cool your beans! Everyone started laughing.

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You know theres not a school shooter in your hallways right now, but you know this is going to be a reality for a school, somewhere.

Satchel

10th grade

Louisville, Kentucky

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Many teachers talk about what we would do for their specific classroom, if there were a shooter. In the class we were in, my European history teacher says, Well, if theres a shooter, Id be so mad Id just go smack him, and you all would jump out this window and run down to University of Louisville. Very helpful. But he talked about how we were on the first floor so that we might be in that classroom, we might be the first onesfirst ones to be, um, shot. The next day, in my journalism 2 class, the teacher mentioned that we were far from many entrances, and we have many exits in our room, so we would probably be able to evacuate fine. And then my chemistry teacher talked about how we could all huddle into the chemical closet, and if a shooter came in, we could splash chemicals in their eyes or whatnot.

Were pretty calm about it because we do it a lot.

Roxy

Fourth grade

Portland, Oregon

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Ive been doing lockdown drills for five years. My teacher says, Lockdown, everybody in the corner, turns off the lights, and then he locks the door, and then we sit down. We basically sit behind the desk, like a big clump. You really have to be squinched. If youre all laid out, theres not enough room for everybody. People are so close to you and theyre right next to you, and sometimes people sit on your legs on accident. Sometimes, if you lean your head, you can feel the other persons hair. Were pretty calm about it sometimes because we do it a lot.

Usually its kinda funyoure under a desk, you look at your friend, you giggle.  The teachers try to make it a serious thing, but it never really is.

Colin

10th grade

Metuchen, New Jersey

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I was in gym. I think it was seventh grade. To preface, I have ADHD. We heard it over the loudspeaker, we were sitting in our squads. We heard it, We will be entering a lockdown drill, please prepare. So we go in the locker room, and Im standing there. I start playing with my fingers because Im incredibly bored. And the gym teacher, who I dont particularly like, decided to put me up to the front because he did not like me playing with my fingers because he thought it was distracting to other children. I was not making a sound. And then I sneezed. And everybody thought I was dabbing. Dabbing is sort of a dance move from a few years ago. So then he gave me detention because he thought I was trying to get everybody to laugh.

Why we would do the lockdown drill? Because if a wild animal or a robber or something came barging in.

Foster

First grade

Seattle

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We first did a lockdown drill, and we only did it about two times last year, in kindergarten. So, how the teacher explained it, she was thinking, like, if a wild animal came, and we hid in the bathroomif it were a mouse or something, we probably wouldnt have to do that. But if it were a zebra or lion or something. Now there were spiders in the bathroom and some people were afraid of spiders, but they still had to go in, they just had to hug my kindergarten teacher. But it was nothing to be afraid of, they were daddy longlegs. But some spiders are poisonous, and Im afraid of those.

I was very frightened. The stranger was literally just outside the door of our classroom.

Leah

Kindergarten

Louisville, Kentucky

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Last week there was a real stranger in the building, and we saw it on the security cameras. And I was very frightened, and I got a feeling stuck in my head about I was thinking if we were going to be OK because the stranger was literally just outside the door of our classroom. And it was actually just our principal dressed in stranger clothes. I saw her wearing, like, a boy wig with her hair up in a bun. She had, like, a white shirt, a green tank top, and some, like, grayish blueish pants. I thought it was kind of scary because I didnt know who her true self was. So, we hid in the backroom or the closet. And it was very crowded, and we were very quiet.

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I remember it being a very weird shift from thinking about calculus to how I would escape if someone had a gun in my school.

Margot

12th grade

Towson, Maryland

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ALICE is an acronym for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, and evacuate.  [With] lockdown, basically we were just sitting ducks, and we were just staying in our classroom and hoping that no one came in, but obviously that isnt always the case. So the idea with ALICE is that it gives us more options. Basically what theyre telling us is that we have permission and that were encouraged to counter a shooter if given the opportunity. Countering always comes up. Some people have some fun with it because theyre, like, OK, what can I throw at this person? And to some extent, its kind of just being ridiculous because a water bottle isnt going to be a fair match against an AR-15. And we all kind of know that. But were also being serious at the same time because its kind of all we have.

If it happensa school shootingI could risk my life, and I dont want to do that, so I want to learn how to do it correctly.

Brandon

Seventh grade

San Diego

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Some of them are laughing and cracking jokes, some of them are just messing around, and some of them are just standing like robots. Its very unorganized, the drills. We were talking and then there was a moment of silence for a straight minute, and it was really creepy. Im thinking: Are we ever going to get up? Is the teacher ever going to say anything? After the drill at recess, I just didnt do anything, I just sat there and thought about everything. I thought there was going to be more action. We could have done a lot more than just sat there the whole time.

We got to our places and got heavy things.  Theres spheres and rectangles and triangles. I got the sphere because thats the heaviest thing.

Colin

First grade

Towson, Maryland

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The teacher has to barricade the door and then, like, we have to get something heavy, and hide in a spot where you can actually hide, like in this cozy cornerits like a little couch in a corner. And the thing that I got was heavy blocks. Theres like spheres and rectangles and triangles. So I got this sphere because thats the heaviest thing. But theres only three spheres. I got one, but the rest of the class got other shapes. And then the teacher pretended to be the bad guy in the school.

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Some of our teachers do have plans: Well if a shooter tries to butt their gun in through the glass of the door, Ill grab the gun. 

Shawn

10th grade

Louisville, Kentucky

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I think lots of us are faced with this and we go: I know what Id do. And we go: Id totally be able to this, that, and the other. But I think practically, knowing myself, I would be in abject terror, and it would almost be hard to get myself to do anything, much less heft a heavy object at someone trying to get in. If I had to rank on all this, of things I would be worried about in school, I think it would be: No. 1, getting a bad grade. No. 2, school shooter.

But then all the teachers tell you, You should have a worst-case scenario in your mind. And I dont get why they do that.

Alden

Sixth grade

Seattle

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Its so scary, especially whats been happening in the past year. Thats the main reason of lockdowns nowadays. At first I didnt get it, but now Ive heard all these stories, I sort of really get why they tell us to. When I heard about the first school shooting Im, like, wow thats why we do lockdown drills. We get the Seattle Times every morning, and it was on the front page of the Seattle Times, and Im pretty sure I asked my friends, and they told me that its a very sad story. Thats a reason to be afraid. But having a little drill is not a reason to be afraid.

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If a real intruder came, I think since Im used to it now, I wouldnt be so scared by it.

Lucy

Second grade

Louisville, Kentucky

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Before lunch we did the intruder drill. I was sitting at my desk, we were learning some math. And then we heard our principal tell us on the speaker there was an intruder drill. We heard someone bang on the door, like [knock, knock, knock]. I knew it was the principal at the time. It was a little scary because it was loud, and very dark in the room. And then it just stopped. Sometimes I worry about intruder drills, whenever its done. If a real intruder came, I think since Im used to it now, I wouldnt be so scared by it.

I was genuinely not sure if I would finish the day alive.

Macie

Eighth grade

South Orange, New Jersey

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Ive always been worried about this. Like, every time I have a lockdown drill, I always am really scared by people talking and playing chopsticks or whatever. Because I always do the thingnot in like a, Oh, I always do the right thingbut its because I dont want to die. And I thought there was a significant possibility that I could. So I was, like, why is everyone playing games, whats going on here? Maybe this is a super common feeling or maybe nobody feels this way. Its hard to tell, because people dont talk about it much. That drill made me get mad at the school and everything. It really made me angry and sad and feel kind of trapped, because what am I supposed to do?

Its not the kind of thing I want to be thinking about. I want to be like, I hope I finish this Spanish assessment. I dont want to be thinking about, How can I best hide from a shooter? 

Connor

Ninth grade

San Diego

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During the drill, I was thinking: So they say shut the door and close the blinds, but in my mind Im thinking, OK these people have probably gone to school, these people probably know the procedure, so why not do the opposite. If you have enough time, really make it look like youre not there. Open all the blinds but take everything off the desks, so it looks like an empty classroom. Maybe even post signs saying Sorry, the teacher is out on prep.

Everybody was acting all goofy and playing. I was about to cry.

Kareena

Fifth grade

Baltimore

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My first thought was, What should I do? My second thought, Oh my gosh, were all gonna die if they dont shut up. The substitute closed the blinds, and she turned off the lights. We locked the doors, made sure every window was locked and every blind is closed on each window. We hide and sit. Everybody was acting all goofy and playing. I was about to cry because I didnt know if it was real or not, and everybody was just freaking out and acting like fools, like they didnt know what to do. They knew what they were doing, but instead of just going straight to where they were supposed to go, they were playing. I was behind my teachers desk, by the wall, scared, crunched up, with my head in my legs, about to cry.

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Its scary. But if you remember that there wasnt actually an intruder in the building, then usually you feel safe.

Casey

Sixth grade

Towson, Maryland

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The teacher will push over something. We had this shelf, it was the minilibrary, and he would push it over in front of the door. Usually while he does it, we will get behind something. Youre also supposed to spread out so were not clumped together  mostly just get cover  usually if Im sitting closer to the door I go farther away. Were usually crouching and got something ready to throw. I would grab my computerits heavierwhatevers on your desk that could actually do something. You could get a book or something, not like a crayon. You wouldnt actually throw it, youd get in a stance like you were ready to. And the teacher would get behind something. And we would just wait.

Im not sure I would be thinking rationally: OK, my job is to pull down the blinds. I think I would be thinking more: I need to get in the corner. 

Lauren

Ninth grade

Louisville, Kentucky

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The teacher was talking to a few people that sit right next to the entrance to our classroom, and she was saying, You all are going to help move this really heavy piece of furniture against the door, while you all in this general vicinity are pushing chairs over here. And she was telling the people where I sit, You all are going to help pull these blinds down. Im not sure I would be thinking rationally: OK, my job is to pull down the blinds. I think I would be thinking more: I need to get in the corner. Also, Im not sure how to pull down the blinds, which was a little alarming. So I just pray that I dont have to ever fulfill my role. Its definitely a bigger responsibility than Im used to in those drills.

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If somebody really, really wanted to hurt somebody or us, theyre going to do it. Theres nothing you can do to stop somebody from hurting somebody.

Charnita

12th Grade

Baltimore

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I can be very aware that nothing wrongs going to happenits like a part of me is like, Im fine, everything is fine, but I can still imagine the bad things happening. You can lock the door. But if he really wants to get in, he can find a way to get in. That happens. If he really wants to kill all of us, he can. But thats just being blunt and honest. You cannot stop somebody from wanting to hurt other people. If thats his mission, that he got in his headIm coming to school and Im killing every kid in hereif he really can and he will, he can. And us as people, all we can do is do drills and try to protect ourselves. If he comes into the classroom, we can try to run, or teachers can try to protect kids. But you cant stop bullets.

Reported by Elizabeth Van Brocklin, with additional reporting by Alain Stephens. Audio produced by Sara Burningham. Photography by Stacy Kranitz. Production assistance by Rosemary Belson.
Our columnists have heard it all over the years. As the academic calendar winds down in many areas, were revisiting some of Care and Feeding and Ask a Teachers best advice on testing, exams, and grades. Join Slate Plus for even more advice columns.

Dear Care and Feeding,

My daughter Kay is taking AP Calculus A/B. She is the only AP Calculus A/B student, and her teacher is using a new book and finalizing the curriculum as Kay goes through it. Kays teacher has told her she does not need to do several sections of her calculus book for the AP test. My daughter checked with the college board, and then emailed the textbook author, and it turns out her teacher is unfortunately mistaken.

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My daughter is planning to simply study the missing sections herself. The problem is that next year, if Kay gets the good score I expect she will get, her teacher will assume the curriculum was sufficient as is, and the teacher will almost certainly not realize she is not teaching critical information. In general, the teacher is terrific, but she hates to be corrected. What should we do? I certainly dont want to tell Kay to annoy her teacher, but I also know my daughter, and she will feel very guilty next year if she ends up accidently sabotaging other students going through the course.

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 Puzzled Parent

Dear Puzzled Parent,

Guess how much it matters that the teacher hates to be corrected.

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Seriously, somebody has to tell her. Her students and future students deserve that much.

If your daughter feels comfortable telling the teacher what she found out, she should do it sooner rather than later. That way, the teacher can familiarize herself with how to teach the concepts in those sections and be even more effective next year.

If your daughter doesnt feel comfortable, you should do it. Are you worried about retaliation against your daughter? I think in this instance its OK to preserve the teachers dignity a bit and say you were talking to a friend who teaches AP Calculus in another state. You mentioned the textbook, and the sections your daughter was skipping. The teacher-friend corrected you, so you checked in with the college board to be sure. And would you believe it? Those sections will be on the test!

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Just do it. Itll weigh on both of your minds until you do .And this probably goes without saying, but taking correction is part of being a learner. If anybody should model taking correction, it should be teachers.

 Ms. Scott (eighth grade teacher, North Carolina)

From: My Daughters Calculus Teacher Is Wrong About What Will Be on the AP Test. (April 1, 2021)

Dear Care and Feeding,

My son did poorly in school during remote learning even though hes a smart kid who wants to succeed in his classes. This year has been SO MUCH better with school being in-person, despite having moved from his little elementary school into the wild world of middle school. At the beginning of the year he stated, I am going to get all As this year, which he is completely capable of. The issue he has is with incomplete workthere is work to do during class and if it doesnt get done during class its homework. He socializes in class and then drags his feet on homework. When the missing work piles up, he gets too stressed out to deal with it and makes all kinds of excuses, from it being Google Classrooms fault, to a teacher not handing something out, to  running out of time.

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At the beginning of the year he said, if I get all As will you take me to [this local amusement park]? Maybe I should have allowed for some nuance, but I didnt, and said, If you do that, well go there, no problem. We even agreed on a bigger prize if he pulls it off all year. But now the problem is that he has missing work, and some grades have dropped into B or C territory. This is really frustrating for him, and for memostly because now that its looking like hes going to fail the challenge, hes ready to give up completely, even on the bigger end-of-year goal.

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Besides going back in time and saying, I want to reward your hard work, lets not tie it specifically to getting all As, how can I rework this goal to maintain the desire to succeed rather than being tied to specific grades? I always want him to work hard and try, but I dont want to punish him if he tries hard and still doesnt win. How do I get him to keep up that perseverance?

 I Just Want My Kids To Try

Dear I Just Want My Kids to Try,

Tying academic achievement to an at-home reward system will always be tricky, for many of the reasons you outline in your letter. This sort of motivation doesnt work for every child, even ifand perhaps especially ifthe child is the one who proposes it. Your son seems like he might benefit from being rewarded, not for a final grade, but for shorter-term progress, like finishing assignments within the time allotted, socializing outside of class instead of during, and accepting accountability instead of placing blame.

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Bring him back to the negotiation table. Say something like, Okay. It looks like the amusement park goal may have been too ambitious for this quarter. But we can still turn this around. Id like to start by measuring our success this year on a scale that isnt based only on grades.

There are so many daily steps a child has to take in order to achieve big long-term goals. Your son is still struggling with those, and if hes going to be rewarded for anything, it should be learning self-discipline and structure. Youll have to work up to his loftier goals as a family, but those will only be achieved if he establishes better habits day by day.

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 Stacia L. Brown

From: I Regret Bribing My Son to Get Good Grades (Nov. 8, 2021)

Catch Up on Care and Feeding

 If you missed Tuesdays column, read it here.

 Discuss this column in the Slate Parenting Facebook group!

Dear Care and Feeding,

My childrens school has quarterly countywide assessment tests to track their progress. These tests are used for class placement, as well as consideration in advanced coursework, and students know that they measure more than, say, a weekly algebra or Spanish test. The test is taken electronically, and students always receive their score upon completion of the test. I find this practice very wrong, since all it results in is children comparing their test scores to one another.

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Recently, our middle school took this process even farther, however, by sending students via email the same notice that was sent to parents, which outlined students scores as compared to others. Students saw whether they fall in the high, middle, or low range of test scores. What do you think of this practice? And if you agree that its as bad as I do, how do you suggest I address it with the administration, without seeming very adversarial? If you think this is OK, Id love to hear why.

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 Testing Troubles

Dear Testing Troubles,

Oof. Yeah, this is a terrible practice.

Imagine your kids doctor measured their height and weight quarterly, told them their body mass index, and showed them where they land on the curve. Youd find a new pediatrician because you know that, first of all, BMI doesnt take into account fat mass, muscle mass, genetics, blood pressure, mental health, or any other health markers. BMI cannot predict how often a person exercises, nor how many vegetables they eat. Second of all, how does this practice help your kid?

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Never in my 20 years in the classroom has this ranking approach helped kids in any way.

Indeed, it has harmed some students. Kids who work really hard and still end up low will throw up their hands and ask, Why bother? And those who score highwhat do they gain? Theyre already in advanced classes.

Id definitely ask the administration. (And this is one time Id skip talking to the teacher because the teachers are, or at least should be, against this policy.) My question to the administration would be this: What purpose does giving kids this one particular measure serve? How does it help the students? Does it tell them how to improve? Does it provide resources to fill any content or skill gaps they have?

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You asked how to address this issue without seeming adversarial. Maybe Im the wrong person to ask because just thinking about it has me taking my gloves off. But I guess, as calmly as you can, ask those questions, and explain your concerns. If no change is made, recruit other parents to inquire as well. If the administration says it is a district policy, take it up the ladder.

Go make good trouble.

 Ms. Scott (high school teacher, North Carolina)

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From: My Childs School Has the Most Absurd Testing Policy (Nov. 4, 2021)

Want Advice From Care and Feeding?

Submit your questions about parenting and family life here. Its anonymous! (Questions may be edited for publication.)

Dear Care and Feeding,

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Our very sweet and sensitive daughter is in second grade at our local public elementary school. My husband and I place a high value on academics, but Ive been dismayed about the amount of homework she gets, all of which consists of repetitive worksheets and rote memorization tasks that evidence shows are not effective. Since January, her homework has been to memorize 20 spelling words each week. Every day we try to practice, but sometimes its like pulling teeth. I hate feeling like Im forcing her to do this extra work when I dont believe theres a real benefit to most of it, but Im a rule follower and so, if the teacher assigns it, we make sure she does it. Weve tried to build some intrinsic motivation in the form of being proud at being able to do hard things and persevering even when some tasks arent fun, etc., but Im honestly not sure how much thats helping.

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My larger problem is that today I received an email from my daughters teacher letting us know that during her spelling test, she was caught with some of the words written down on a sticky note. The teacher gave her a zero and apparently had a talk about habits of character (something the school promotes). It sounds like the teacher didnt demean or punish her, which Im grateful for. I know we have to talk to our daughter about this, and Im struggling a bit with how to approach it.

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On the one hand, I dont want to punish or embarrass herIm sure the shame of getting caught was bad enough. And Im worried that shes so young and feeling this kind of stress around academic achievement already. On the other, I certainly want to convey that cheating is wrong and its more important to try hard than get everything right all the time. Mostly I want to make sure were using this as a learning opportunity and that she knows that if shes struggling she can tell us without fear of judgment or punishment. Im also not sure if I should be engaging with the teacher in a different wayI basically thanked her for telling me and said wed talk to her. Should I be doing anything else?

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 Learning Should Be Fun

Dear Learning Should Be Fun,

Wow, this story takes me back. I remember getting grounded for a week for cheating on a spelling test. I was struggling to remember the e at the end of the word orange, so I wrote it on my hand. Unfortunately, my third grade teacher caught me red, or in this case orange, handed. I was mortified when she caught me, so I think youre spot on with avoiding any additional punishment for your daughter.

Cheating at this age is a natural form of experimentation and boundary testing for kids, especially in perceived high-stress academic environments. Most kids after being caught cheating once or twice give it up as a viable option. (Unfortunately, it is true that in some cases they just get a lot better at it.) But in your case, I wouldnt make a big deal out of it unless it becomes a pattern. The best thing you can do for her now is to continue disassociating high marks as a primary indicator of success or intelligence, because they just arent. Dont get me wrong, you should still encourage your child to try her best and work hard for good grades. However, getting a high score on every single assignment or exam is an unrealistic expectation for kids, especially at your daughters age.

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I always tell my students that I dont really care if they get the right answer all the timeI would much rather see that they tried their best to figure it out. Layering this value into our classroom culture has been a big help in cutting down on paper peeking and builds resilience in my second graders. I also dont think you need to engage with the teacher any further on this. Just keep encouraging your daughter to try her best and reassure her that a poor grade is not the end of the world, its merely a starting point from which to grow.

 Mr. Hersey (second grade teacher, Washington)

From: My 8-Year-Old Cheated on a Test (Feb. 18, 2021)
A typically sleepy set of races has taken on outsize importance in this years midterms: the votes for secretaries of state, the administrators who generally control state election apparatuses across the country. Given the wide field of Republican candidates backing former President Donald Trumps Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen and promising themselves to block a future Democratic winner from the White House via baroque procedural attacks, these contests have become a proving ground for whether the United States will face another coup attempt in 2024, and whether it will have greater odds of succeeding.

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Tuesday offered the first big test of that question with Georgias Republican primary for secretary of state. Shockingly, incumbent Brad Raffensperger defeated the Trump-backed candidate and one of the staunchest proponents of the Big Lie, Rep. Jody Hice, winning more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff on June 21. Raffensperger is likely to face either state Rep. Bee Nguyen or former state Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler in the general election, but it was impossible not to see the result as a stunning defeat for Trump, whose candidates for attorney general and governor in the state also lost on Tuesday. Raffenspergers victory was also a win for the premise that the nation can get past Trumps false claims that Democrats swindled the 2020 electionwhich have pervaded the consciousness of Republican votersand actually have elections in future years that are not marred by coup attempts.

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Hard not to see tonight as a self-inflicted wound by Donald Trump, Georgia-based conservative political analyst Erick Erickson wrote on Twitter. Raffensperger is the big tip-off here that the GOP is ready to move on in Georgia. He was dead man walking. And hes a winner.

Sign Up for the Surge The most important political nonsense of the week, delivered to your inbox every Saturday. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.

Raffensperger, who had around 52 percent of the vote with more than 95 percent reporting on Wednesday, was one of Trumps top Republican nemeses following the 2020 election. Raffensperger earned Trumps eternal enmity for defying the former presidents efforts to steal the election and for loudly proclaiming Trumps defeat in a clean race in Georgia. During an infamous January 2021 phone call that was leaked, Trump beseeched Raffensperger to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have to overcome Bidens slim, 11,779-vote margin of victory in the state. The Republican refused and will now likely cooperate with a Fulton County special grand jury investigating Trumps alleged efforts to defraud the voters. Further, Raffensperger declared at every turn that Trump was the loser in 2020, saying last year that Trump knows in his heart that he lost.

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Raffenspergers defiance infuriated Trump, who basically hand-picked Hice to challenge the secretary of state for his heresy. The people of Georgia must replace the RINOs and weak Republicans who made it all possible, Trump said during a September 2021 rally in Georgia, of Raffenspergers role in the last election. In particular, your incompetent and strangeeh, theres something wrong with this guyyour Secretary of State Raffensperger.

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In a series of statements, Trump urged Georgias Republican voters to oust Raffensperger, who in April he suggested was in collusion with the Radical Left Democrats. Instead, they chose him as their standard-bearer this November, even as Raffensperger repeatedly called out Trumps Big Lie, declaring to anyone who would listen that the election was clean and that Trump lost because he underperformed other Republican candidates by tens of thousands of votes.

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On Tuesday, Raffensperger likely won in part because of cross-over votes from Democrats who wanted to stick it to Trump. (Georgia has open primaries in which every voter can choose whether to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests.) That doesnt discount, though, the success he achieved among Republican voters. Raffensperger was a fierce advocate for the GOPs latest voter suppression measures in the state, promising to crack down on supposed fraud and illegal voting, even as he acknowledged the 2020 election had been clean. As Sam Levine reported earlier this month in the Guardian, there were clearly a significant number of GOP voters who professed to believe the vote count in 2020 had been corrupt, but still supported the man who ran that count and maintained a typical conservative position on other voting rights questions. I felt that under all that pressure, he did a good job, one voter told Levine. I know it upset Trump, and Im a Trump person, but fair is fair.

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Its worth emphasizing, meanwhile, the extent to which Hice would have truly been disastrous for the 2024 election. He could say he would not report any official totals and urge the Legislature to appoint its own slate of electors, election expert and Slate contributor Richard Hasen told me of how Hice could have meddled in 2024 had he won. Indeed, Hice has said that he would not have certified Joe Bidens victory in 2020 had he been in charge of the states election at the time. Had that happened, the Georgia state Legislature would have likely given the race to Trump, and the president would have just needed to corrupt two more close outcomes among Republican-controlled state legislatures. This was in fact his last-ditch plan to overturn the election, but it did not succeed because someone like Raffenspergera conservative Republican!was in charge instead of someone like Hice.

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[Read: The Beclowning of David Perdue]

Hice wasnt a latecomer to the Big Lie. The congressman spent most of his time between Election Day 2020 and the Jan. 6 insurrection promoting lies about voter fraud on Twitter and during appearances on Newsmax that would soon be debunked, refusing to acknowledge that they had been debunked, and ultimately backing Trumps coup attempt in Congress itself. One day after the election, Hice promoted a theory that 138,339 votes in Michigan had been flipped to Biden, which was later shown to be a typographical error that was immediately corrected. He never acknowledged the mistake. In December, he promoted a false claim that voting-machine manufacturer Dominion had flipped votes from Biden to Trump in one Georgia county. He never corrected the lie. Hice also claimed repeatedly that a video showed election workers stuffing ballot boxes from secret suitcases hidden under a table and demanded a special counsel investigation. Investigators found no wrongdoing, and the election workers in the video sued another conservative TV network for defamation for promoting that lie, settling the lawsuit victoriously this month. Hice never corrected the record and had relied on this series of debunked claimsamong othersto say that if he had been elected secretary of state, he would have sought to decertify the election from two years ago. Crucially, Hice also attended a December 2020 meeting where the White House plotted with Republican members of Congress to block the certification of the election on Jan. 6.

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In 2020, he was at a White House meeting to discuss overturning the results of the 2020 election and whether Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to overturn the election and reject presidential electors, chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told me. He was one of 126 Republican members of Congress who attempted to get the Supreme Court to stop several states from certifying Bidens victory, on top of just himself voting against certification. That is undemocratic and un-American for a Congressperson to try to override the will of American voters in a presidential election.

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Prior to objecting to Georgias electors on Jan. 6, Hice also called it the objectors 1776 moment, parroting a rallying cry of the violent insurrectionists. Following the insurrection, he described it as a peaceful protest [that] was hijacked by bad actorssome reportedly masquerading as Trump supporters and said it was Trump supporters who lost their lives that day, not Trump supporters who were taking the lives of others.

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Needless to say, having this man in charge of elections in a major swing state in 2024 would have proved to be an utter disaster. Instead, Raffensbergerwho thumbed his nose at the big lie that Hice did everything to promotewill be the Republican nominee. Democrats will still find plenty of reasons to criticize Raffensberger for adhering to party-line efforts to make voting as difficult as possible, particularly for people of color, in Georgia.

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I think Secretary Raffensberger may have done his job in 2020 when he certified elections results that reflected the will of the people, but he has done tremendous damage to voting rights in Georgia while in office, Griswold told me. We saw of course in Congressman Hice a willingness to help steal a presidential election, and in Raffensberger a willingness to suppress the voters of Georgia for his own political well-being.

If the option is going to be between one or the other as the possible person in charge of our nations elections, though, its clearly preferable to have the candidate who wont seek to overturn American democracy after a clean vote due to bullying and threats from an insecure loser.

As Raffensperger declared in his victory speech: Not buckling under the pressure is what the people want.
On Jan. 6, 2021, after a pro-Trump mob overwhelmed police at the U.S. Capitol and broke into the building, Vice President Mike Pence was taken into hiding by the Secret Service. While this was happening, Donald Trump wrote a tweet attacking Pence (you may remember that Pence had upset Trump by upholding his responsibility to certify the results of the presidential election in a joint session of Congress):

Mike Pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!

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I had to copy and paste that text rather than embed the tweet, because it is no longer online. Twitter suspended and removed Trumpthe president!from its service after more or less concluding that he was using it to try to overthrow the government.

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This all looked pretty bad in the moment. It looks even worse now! One of the details that emerged from the Capitol that day is that some of the people in the mob said they were looking for Pence; a number of them took part in an unnervingly intense HANG MIKE PENCE chant. Trump has since defended this behavior, and Politico reported Wednesday that according to testimony given to the Houses Jan. 6 committee, he approved of the idea of killing Pence at the time, too:

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The White House chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, was in the dining room off the Oval Office with Trump at one point during last years Capitol attack, the committee has been told. Meadows then left the dining room and informed other people nearby that Trump had signaled a positive view of the prospect of hanging the vice president, the panel heard.

This is a tortured description of a thirdhand account, so its not clear exactly how much thought and specificity Trump put into his comments. We know from experience that he will kind of nod along and claim to be strongly looking into nearly anything that anyone suggests to him. It may not be prosecutorially actionable evidence of conspiracy to commit murder.

On the other hand, you have to admit: Its messed up! And its also messed up that this revelation is so unsurprising that Politicos story about it is not (currently) among the top five most-read on its website.

Messed-up stuff!
In the recent annals of American political rhetoric, there have been few more consequential statements of ideology than NRA chief Wayne LaPierres postSandy Hook truism that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

The line has gone from crisis PR spin to Republican Party dogma. But while the good guy with a gun mantra has the ring of tough guy common sense, the empirical evidence suggests armed cops and civilians do less than nothing to deter mass shooters.

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Look no further than Texas Republicans responses to this weeks mass shooting in the small town of Uvalde, the deadliest at an elementary school since Sandy Hook. Speaking to Newsmax, Attorney General Ken Paxton, the top law enforcement and public safety officer in the state, said: We cant stop bad people from doing bad things.  We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly. That, in my opinion, is the best answer.

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Of course, this is Texas. Its not like potential good guys with guns were thin on the ground in Uvalde. Law enforcement actually engaged the shooter before he got into the elementary school. Indeed, as the Austin American-Statesman reported, it was actually a school guarda good guy with a gunwho confronted and failed to prevent the shooters entry. For years, though, Texas has encouraged teachers to pack heat. In the wake of a 2018 shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation that encouraged schools to do exactly what Ken Paxton now demands. It mattered little back then that Abbott was responding to killings at a school that already had two armed guards and a plan to put guns in the hands of teachers.

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As Republicans like Abbott and Paxton double down on the same pro-gun proliferation response to every mass shooting, evidence accumulates that weapons are rarely effective means of deterring or stopping mass shootings.

Last year, a group of public health scholars published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association examining 133 school shootings from 1980 to 2019. An armed guard was present in about a quarter of the incidents in the study. Those schools actually suffered death rates nearly three times higher than schools without armed guards. Similarly, a 2020 review of gun policy research by the RAND Corporation think tank found no evidence that the presence of more guns had any effect on gun violence. Criminologists at Texas State University found that unarmed staff or the shooters themselves are far more likely to bring a school shooting to an end than someone with a gun returning fire.

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So-called good guys with guns fail to effectively deter or end mass shootings for a variety of tactical and psychological reasons.

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For one thing, its actually very hard to shoot straight in a situation like a mass shooting. RAND analysts have found that even highly trained NYPD officers only hit their intended target in 19 percent of gunfire exchanges. Winning a gunfight with a shooter only becomes more difficult when the perpetrator carries a semi-automatic rifle like an AR-15, as the Uvalde suspect and many others have done. These weapons have a much longer range and are far more accurate than the kinds of pistols typically used by police and civilian concealed carriers, allowing shooters to keep responders far enough away that their own weapons will be of little use. The Uvalde gunman, for instance, managed to overpower two officers whom he encountered on his way to the elementary school.

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In the most extreme cases, a single gunman with a semi-automatic rifle can stymie an entire SWAT team for hours: Back in 2015, a single gunman assaulting a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood with an AK-style rifle held off police for the better part of a day before surrendering.

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The idea that armed guards and teachers could deter shootings in the first place presumes mass shooters behave rationally, weighing risks, when in fact the opposite is true. As the JAMA authors noted, many school shooters are actively suicidal, intending to die in the act, so an armed officer may be an incentive rather than a deterrent.

Considering the long odds of taking down a determined shooter equipped with an assault rifle, armed police and bystanders sometimes have difficulty motivating themselves to actually engage at all, as happened so infamously in the Parkland shooting when two sheriffs deputies apparently hid from the gunman.

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So Republicans preferred response to mass shootings operates in the realm of fantasy. The standard-issue liberal responseto ban guns in a country where they outnumber peopleis at this point not much more realistic. Thats not to say there is no way to prevent a lot of mass shootings, however.

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Civil gun seizure orders, known as red flag laws, are a promising but underutilized means of preemptively intervening when gun owners show signs they will hurt themselves or others. If a gun owner makes a threat or behaves dangerouslycommitting violent misdemeanors or torturing animals, for examplered flag laws allow family, school workers, medical professionals, and law enforcement to petition a judge for an emergency temporary order confiscating the dangerous persons weapons. The laws function like more commonplace personal restraining orders. Many states created civil gun seizure procedures in the wake of the 2018 Parkland shooting (though not Texas), and the NRA even offered limited support for the measures. A 2019 case study of Californias law, passed in the wake of the 2014 Isla Vista shooting, found the orders were used in 21 cases where gun owners had made credible threats of mass shootings. Its at least conceivable that this law prevented other possible atrocities.

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Good guys with guns fail to stop bad guys with guns in the moment because mass shootings are rare, surprising, and unpredictable events. Red flag laws are effective because mass shooters are, by contrast, pretty predictable: They almost always display clear warning signs that they are a danger to society and themselves. The Uvalde shooter was no exception: According to friends, he engaged in self-harm, shot a BB gun at strangers, and expressed a desire to kill. He also posted frequently on social media about his desire for guns. If Texas had the appropriate legal machinery in place, the people in the shooters life who had been so alarmed by his behavior might have had an opportunity to act before it was too late.
On Tuesday, Texas police reported that at least 19 students and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, had been killed in a shooting.

The potentially horrific scale of the tragedy immediately brought to mind this months mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 dead, as well as the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that resulted in 26 deaths, including 20 elementary-school-age children.

It was initially reported that 18-year-old shooter, Salvador Ramos, was a student at the local high school and that, prior to the Robb Elementary shooting, he had killed his grandmother. It was later reported that he had shot his grandmother, who was still alive and in serious condition. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also said that the shooter had been killed by police.

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As the New York Times reported, Thursday was scheduled to be the last day of school for Robb Elementary, and Friday was its graduation. According to its website, the school teaches second through fourth graders in the community, which is located a little more than an hour outside of San Antonio, and has approximately 16,000 residents.

An image of Ramos has been released:

.@ABC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT: Image released of alleged gunman in horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.



The suspect, an 18-year-old local high school student, is dead, according to the governor. https://t.co/VCKVKoRdub pic.twitter.com/VzYtDXHgDo  ABC News (@ABC) May 24, 2022

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Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, one of the Senates most avid supporters of legislation to curb gun violence since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in his home state, went to the Senate floor to plead for sensible legislation on guns.

Just days after a shooter walked into a grocery store to gun down African American patrons, we have another Sandy Hook on our hands, Murphy said. Why do you spend all this time running for the United States, why do you go through all this hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authority, if your answer is that as the slaughter increases, as the kid runs for their lives, we do nothing?

Im here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely, Murphy pleaded.

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By doing something we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing shooting after shooting. What are doing? Why are we here? What are we doing?

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who supported the last major effort to pass slightly more stringent federal gun control laws after the Sandy Hook massacre only to see that legislation filibustered in the Senate, said you would think there would be enough common sense to pass a bill to address the issue in the evenly divided Senate. He added that he would not alter his opposition to ending the filibuster to do so, though, even as Republicans already indicated their own opposition to any such gun legislation.
On a recent episode of the Amicus podcast, Dahlia Lithwick spoke with Norm Eisen, whose new book is called Overcoming Trumpery: How to Restore Ethics, the Rule of Law, and Democracy. Eisen is a senior fellow in governance studies at Brookings and executive chair of the States United Democracy Center. He served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the first Trump impeachment, and he is author of A Case for the American People: The United States v. Donald J. Trump (Crown 2020) and The Last Palace: Europes Turbulent Century in Five Lives and One Legendary House. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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Dahlia Lithwick: So, describe what it means to Overcome Trumpery and what Trumpery means in connection to the rule of law and subverting democracy?

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Norm Eisen: Theres a deep strain of our law that has been profoundly regressive from the beginning of the legal system. And its contained in American society in the protection of powerful minorities. And thats why we didnt havein the early decades of our politics of the post-constitutional eradirect vote for our senators and our representatives as you do now. (And by the way, this is something that the regressive forces want to return to with the independent state legislature theory.) So even the idea of voting was always contested. And then you had not just the racial element. You also had property limitations, gender limitations. Thats just one of these seven deadly sins. So I think that this is a very familiar battle that we are engaged in.

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Trump simply exploited and accelerated some trends, while adding to them and putting in new developments, to create Trumpery, this philosophy of corrupt governance. As you noted earlier, God help us if a Ron DeSantis, a Josh Hawley, or a J.D. Vance could exploit these new trends. Theyre intelligent, theyre Ivy League educated. They genuinely got into the Ivy League, unlike Trump. And theyve learned from him. All of that brings us, though, the hopeful part is the short, medium, and long-term solutions.

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Lets do it. Lets talk about solutions. I feel like we should start long term, but maybe we should actually start short term, since theres a sense that the clock is ticking, and that a midterm election is bearing down upon us faster than we can do long-term accountability.

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Unless we get the short-term right, there will be no long-term. So, I think hope for overcoming Trumpery comes in four boxes. Short term, the book is bristling with solutions. I forced all my authors and myselfI told them all, Do not just describe what happened in your area. Dont just give me the analysis of the problems. I want solutions. And I dont care if we cant get them now. You put the solutions in there. So theres a book for posterity. And you know they kvetched. And I had to send some of these chapters back to get the solutions.

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Short-term hope comes in four boxes: The tally box, the cable box, the ballot box, and the jury box. What do I mean? The tally box, tally sheets as you know, are what Congress uses and state legislatures use to pass laws. And Im still hopeful that we will  Even though we didnt get the big democracy reform package we wanted in this Congress, theres a very vibrant bipartisan effort in the House and in the Senate, a bipartisan and bicameral effort to reform the rules that Trump tried to exploit, and its called the Electoral Count Act. But to do an Electoral Count Act plus package, where you combine that with dealing with some of the worst things were seeing now, the threats to election workers, the need for more money, for safety, like the worst aspectsso ECA plus. Theres hope for that in this Congress. And the book is also full of not just legislation, but regulatory ideas that pro-democracy officials in the states of both parties, governors, attorneys general, secretaries, legislatures, that they can work on and pass and implement. The tally box, thats No. 1.

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No. 2 is the cable box. The Jan. 6 hearings are coming. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to educate the American people and the world about not just Jan 6. I dont even like that name. Its really the insurrection. They should call it the Insurrection Committee. And insurrections are not the work of a day. We know what happened on Jan. 6. Theres some questions. What was Trump doing during those mysterious 187 minutes when he was silent? But the biggest questions are about the run-up to Jan. 6 and the aftermath. The insurrection hasnt ended. And we see this in the wins of candidates like J.D. Vance in Ohio, like Mastriano in Pennsylvania, the Trumpery advocates who succeeded in North Carolina in this cycle, and many more down the pike. Georgia is a Trumpery ticket with Herschel Walker for Senate, David Perdue for governor, and Jody Hice for secretary of state, all in various forms embracing the Big Lie. Trumpery is on the ballot. Thats the third thing.

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But to set that upthe cable boxthe Jan. 6 committee must tell that story before the insurrection, the day of the insurrection, and the continuation of the insurrection driven by Trumps Big Lie. This is what a federal judge has now found to be a likely criminal conspiracy, an attempted coup that hasnt ended. Theyre setting up for the next coup. Telling that story effectively, and I think theyll do it, which brings us to the ballot box. Like 2020. You mentioned my previous book, A Case for the American People. That book explained the first impeachment and trial in terms of making a case. We knew we werent going to get 67 senators. So why did we do it? We wanted to make the case to the American people, turn the 2020 election into a referendum on democracy versus Trumpery. The ballot box. 2022, the elections going to be another referendum.

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So American people are going to be called on. I think theyll repudiate Trumpery. Thats why I think Trump has to be front and center. Im not in agreement with the people who say, No, never talk about Trump. He needs to be discussed. Trumpery, not Trump, Trumpery needs to be a part of every conversation. The 2024 election is going to be a referendum on both Trump and Trumpery, because if hes alive, hes running.

That brings me to the fourth box of hope: the jury box. Trump is very likely going to get prosecuted, at least in Georgia, by the Fulton County DA Fani Willis, who has a very advanced and very good criminal case. The Georgia statutes fit in a simple case. He told Brad Raffensperger to just find 11,780 votes. And even if he believed he was ripped off, you cant take the law into your own hands. Thats vigilantism, right? Now, thats a perfect case because you dont have to prove his intent. All you have to do is show he wanted to fabricate one more vote than Biden had. You can also prove his intent, I think, beyond a reasonable doubt. And Georgia law is a very tight fit.

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As I wrote for a Slate this week, myself and my wonderful co-authors, Stuart Gerson and Dennis Aftergut, both experienced prosecutors, I also think Merrick Garland, and the DOJ, in his own slow, methodical way, have built up the political capital of DOJ. And we think hes about to expend it on a very serious investigation of Trump. And based on looking at the evidence, I think theres also a good federal case to go with the state one. And I think well see more state cases.

I guess that leads me to this question of whether it all feels like its too late, Norm. If it feels as though you are hoping that people are going to be infuriated and activated by July, and theyre going to race to the ballot box in November. And for folks like me  I wake up and then its just vodka shooters and back to bed. And the thing that Im worried about is weve done all this in both impeachment trials. We know what happened in that call to Brad Raffensperger because we all heard it. We know what happened on Jan. 6, because we all saw it. I deeply understand what youre saying, which is that folks need to see it. They need to hear the story. They need to be reminded of the visceral horror of it.

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But heres me saying to you, at the same time, we have elections officials quitting en masse. We have states choking off the vote. And we have this foot race between the values you are suggesting, which I agree won in 2020, and then Big Liebased efforts to make it ever harder to win in 2022. And so I guess I want you to reassure me that in this foot race, A) the things that you are talking about, all of your four boxes, are salient and timely. That its all going to happen in time. And that B) its somehow going to overmaster what feels like a really dangerous push from, I think, arsonists on the other side, who dont care about institutions the way you do. I want to know if you think were going to get there on time.

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Its a very profound question. In my view, it is the single most profound question in American public life today. And it is mirrored internationally by a similar version of the question about the Russian and Chinese assault on the international rule of law system. It is a mistake to view Ukraine as only a Putin endeavor. Just as Trump requires a lot of enablers and colleagues, so does Putin, and China is first among the enablers. He couldnt do it without China. But be that as it may, I will answer your question for the United States, and well leave for another day Ukraine. And by the way, the world is looking at your question as well, because without America, the international blue wall also falls apart completely. If Trump were in office, Putin wouldve had his way with Ukraine and much more.

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OK, so now to answer your question. We know that we can succeed in 2022 and 2024 and beyond in defending democracy as a nation, because we survived the dry run, the spring training of autocracy. We know we can now survive the playoffs with the Super Bowl coming in 2024 because we won in 2020. We didnt have that federal democracy protection package, H.R. 1, the Senate S. 1, and its various analogs, including the John Lewis Voting Rights revision. We had an assault on democracy led by someone in the White House in 2020. We can do that again. The elements are there. And indeed, in some ways the system is weaker because of this formula, Dahlia, now they have a formula. Its a playbook theyre running again, the autocracy playbook. They tried in 2020, led by Trump, to attack the rules. Thats why they went to court. Thats what they thought the Supreme Court was going to do, those 63 losses to attack the referees. They viciously pressured the election deciders at the state and federal level up to and including Mike Pence himself. And why? To change the results. Thats all theyre doing now. Its not fancy. States United this week had a huge new report out with Protect Democracy and Law Forward, called A Democracy Crisis in the Making.

We publish it roughly every quarter describing these trends. Theyre trying to change the rules. Thats why all these election bills, hundreds of them around the country, pressure the refs. We have another report called Replacing the Refs at States United, so they can change the results, right? But the same bipartisan coalitions that saved us in 2020 can come together again in this great referendum at the ballot box, in 22 and 24 to do the right thing.

To hear their entire discussion, listen below, or subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Members of Congress blasted north suburban-based Abbott Laboratories at a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday over the companys role in a nationwide shortage of infant formula.

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Abbott recalled a number of infant formulas produced at its Sturgis, Michigan, facility in February as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it was investigating complaints of Cronobacter sakazakii infections among four babies who reportedly consumed formula made there. All four were hospitalized, and Cronobacter may have contributed to two babies deaths, according to the FDA.

The recall dramatically exacerbated a shortage of formula initially sparked by supply chain issues.

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The tragic situation is unacceptable and, worse, it was totally preventable, said Rep. Diane DeGette, D-Colo., chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations subcommittee. This presents a disturbing pattern of negligence.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., said more competition among manufacturers is needed so one company doesnt wield so much power over the supply of infant formula.

Were too reliant on too few companies to do the right thing, and when just one of those companies cuts corners we spiral into an emergency, Pallone said.

Rep. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., said it seems that Abbott has a culture problem and asked what steps Abbott is taking to correct that. Have any heads rolled? he asked.

The Abbott manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Michigan, on May 13, 2022. (Jeff Kowalsky/Getty-AFP)

Christopher Calamari, president of U.S. and Canada nutrition for Abbott, apologized for Abbotts role in the shortage during his testimony before the subcommittee Wednesday. His words followed an apology by Abbott CEO Robert Ford in an opinion piece in The Washington Post over the weekend. Calamari did not answer Griffiths question about whether any Abbott employees have lost their jobs over the situation.

We are deeply, deeply sorry and we are committed to ensuring that this never happens again, Calamari told subcommittee members. Safety comes first, and the recall and shutdown were necessary steps to ensure that our formula supply was safe.

He said Abbott is doing everything it can to address the situation, including releasing additional cans of EleCare, a specialty formula for babies and children with allergies and certain gastrointestinal disorders. Abbott is also establishing a $5 million fund to help families who rely on EleCare with living and medical expenses; has flown cans of formula from its plant in Ireland to the U.S.; and is running its other U.S. facilities that produce formula around the clock.

Abbott announced Tuesday that it would restart production at its Michigan facility June 4. Earlier this month, Abbott entered into a consent decree with the FDA outlining steps the company would have to take before it could restart production of infant formula at the facility.

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Calamari said he expects by the end of June, Abbott will be producing more formula than it was in January, before the recall.

Lawmakers also criticized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for not inspecting the facility sooner and not better anticipating the shortage.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf acknowledged during the hearing Wednesday that the FDA was too slow to inspect the plant and interview a whistleblower about conditions there.

The FDA first got a complaint in September about an infant who became ill after consuming formula made at the Michigan facility, and received a whistleblower complaint in October. Top FDA officials, however, didnt receive copies of the whistleblower complaint until mid-February, partly because of an isolated failure in FDAs mailroom, likely due to COVID-19 staffing issues, according to the FDAs written testimony. The whistleblower was interviewed by the FDA in December.

The FDA inspected the facility from Jan. 31 through March 18 and found five environmental subsamples collected from the Sturgis facility to be positive for Cronobacter sakazakii, though product samples collected by the FDA at the facility were negative for Cronobacter.

Abbott has said the Cronobacter that was found in environmental testing during the investigation was in non-product contact areas of the facility and has not been linked to any known infant illness. Abbott has said it has taken action to address issues identified during the FDA inspection.

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Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., said Wednesday that subcommittee members were shocked to hear about the conditions in the Sturgis plant. Califf said the FDA found standing water, cracks in key equipment and leaks in the roof, among other issues.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said Wednesday she was livid over the situation at Abbott.

Its pretty disgusting what we heard about the water on the floors and the water leaking from the ceiling and conditions that could lead to contamination, and I dont know how a company that has a reputation like yours and a responsibility like yours could actually get into a situation like that.

The Federal Trade Commission also announced Tuesday it was launching an inquiry into the formula shortage and the factors that have led to concentration in the infant formula market and the fragility of the supply chains for these crucial products, according to an FTC news release.
On Tuesday, 19 children and two adults were gunned down at a school in Uvalde, Texas. The Senate will do nothing in response. It wont pass an emergency bill to protect our children from weapons of war; little kids arent nearly as important to the Republican project as conservative justices.

Consider that two weeks ago, when peaceful protesters were gathering outside the homes of Supreme Court justices, the U.S Senate unanimously passed an emergency bill to protect their families. Nobody in the Senate suggested that the justices or their children arm themselves, and nobody intimated that piously offering prayers for the justices and their families was more effective than actually protecting them. From peaceful protesters. And no one suggested the existing prohibition on carrying guns within the court building or within the Capitol complex is an affront to the Second Amendment. Certainly nobody accused the Senate of politicizing the alleged threats against the justices. Quite the opposite. After the unanimous vote to ensure that Supreme Court justices would have federal protection from scented votive candles and hand-painted signs, senators congratulated themselves on rallying on a bipartisan basis to protect the security of important public officials.

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Dont let anyone tell you that we couldnt have done anything to stop Tuesdays massacre in Texas. We are in this nightmare because our broken political system produced broken laws and a broken judiciary. And that judiciary is now poised to strike down the few effective gun safety laws this system has produced.

Let us remind you that several months ago, when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the most consequential case involving gun rights in more than a decade, the six conservative justices in the supermajority worried about whether their impending move to allow concealed carry everywhere in New York, excepting perhaps sensitive places, would sweep in college campuses, Times Square on New Years Eve, and crowded protests. Justice Samuel Alito pressed even harder for the right of every New Yorker to be permitted to carry a gun on New York Citys subways. The court may not actually be able to find a politically convenient moment to hand down this opinion; between a Buffalo gun massacre, Orange County church murders, and a massacre of Texas schoolchildren on Tuesday, its clear that there will always be another mass shooting immediately before, or on, Supreme Court opinion days.

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Still, there is little doubt that in the coming weeks, the majority will strike down New Yorks requirement that gun owners show good cause to obtain a concealed carry permitthereby forcing the state, and states with similar measures, to hand out concealed carry licenses to anyone who wants one. (One in four Americans currently lives in such a state.)

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The justices themselves wont face the lethal consequences of their own Second Amendment rulings. Justice Antonin Scalias reasoning from D.C. v. Heller preemptively upholding laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in government buildings will stand, although it represented dicta and not official doctrine. And Republican senators wont face the lethal consequences of their failures to act after Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Parkland, and after today. The judiciary will uphold the prohibition on guns in the halls of the Congress and the Supreme Court. Indeed, the NRA just announced that guns will be banned during Donald Trumps speech at Fridays NRA conference.

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When the decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. et al. v. Bruen comes down next month, there will be millions more guns carried to more public places. That is a fact. The majority will pretendas it did in the draft Dobbs opinion from May 2that it is applying neutral historical and factual principles, when it will in truth be distorting the history and original meaning of constitutional language to achieve a partisan political outcome that is disfavored by vast majorities of Americans. That is because what majorities of Americans actually want doesnt matter to them.

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The justices wont face the lethal consequences of their own Second Amendment rulings.

It doesnt matter to some senators, either. As Sen. Chris Murphy pointed out yet again Tuesday night, the Senate unerringly chooses to do nothing about school killings. Two House-passed background-check bills have been stalled in the Senate since March 2021, where they can never and will never be passed under the current rules. Like the Supreme Court majority in Bruen, it seeks to bank on a short attention span to surf the present moment before enabling future violence.

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If we cannot manage to sustain public horror and outrage about yet more slaughtered children between now and November, perhaps we can at least hold on to the public horror and outrage around six conservative jurists bantering about which college campuses in Manhattan deserve to be exempted from more weapons, or whether New York subway riders and Times Square revelers will get to be further terrorized by gun owners as more children are slaughtered.

If we cannot sustain our horror over 19 dead kids, perhaps we can remember the revolting sight of two Trump judges congratulating themselves for striking down a California law banning the sale of semi-automatic rifles to people between the ages of 18 and 20. Those under 21 are far more likely to commit violent crimes, including gun homicides, but that fact didnt matter to the majority. Instead, Trump Judge Ryan D. Nelson compared todays armed teenagers to the young adults who fought and died in our revolutionary army. And Trump Judge Kenneth Lee wrote that only a minuscule percentage of the populace abuses the right to bear arms, while most exercise their Second Amendment rights in responsible and productive ways.

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[Read: Our Unique American Grief Is an Opportunity]

The young adults among this miniscule percentage exact a deadly toll. The Buffalo shooter bought his rifle legally. He was 18. The Uvalde shooter also bought his rifle legally. He was 18. In fact, he waited until his 18th birthday to purchase it, and then murdered at least 21 people days later. One wonders: Would the parents inside the Uvalde Civic Center last night, whose screams were audible from the parking lot, be comforted to know that, actually, only a minuscule percentage of the populace misuses guns? That, as unfortunate as it is that their children were shot to death by an 18-year-old, thats just not a good enough reason to stop 18-year-olds from buying deadly weapons? That the heroism of teenage soldiers in the Revolutionary War requires us all, nearly 250 years later, to sacrifice our own children on the altar of the Second Amendment as the price we pay for liberty?

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Hold on to these images when the Bruen decision comes down, as well as the many more radical decisions that will follow it. Think about these judges, protected from the horrors they inflict on the rest of us in their well-guarded courthouses. Think about the justices, already shielded from actual danger by taxpayer-funded security, and ask yourself why they swiftly and without drama received extra protection from picketers this past month. The immiseration of women and children that comes at the end of this Supreme Court termnot just from reproductive health and gun rulings, but from the gutting of environmental protections and public health measuresshould not surprise us, even if it shocks our consciences. Nor should the failure of the Senate to do a single thing to prevent the next Sandy Hook, or the next Buffalo, or the next Uvalde.

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We know what is required to fix this mess. And call your representative is not the answer. End the filibuster. Expand the Supreme Court. Admit new states. Shift political power away from the rural whites who hold a disproportionate amount of it and toward the multiracial urban centers that make up a majority of the country. Create the truly representative democracy that people have been denied for far too longdemocracy for precisely those people who receive platitudes about prayer and Gods will in lieu of meaningful public safety, dignity, and respect.

Until then, we will be at the mercy of conservative jurists and lawmakers making choices that kill us and our families. That they can still exempt themselves from these ravages isnt a coincidence. Its both evidence of the crime and proof that, as long as theyre in charge, the killing will never stop.
The killing of 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday has been met in Congress not with grim determination to right wrongs but with the feeling, already, of defeat.

I know this is a slim prospect, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday when floating the idea of a bipartisan gun-control bill. Very slim, all too slim. Weve been burned so many times before.

Democrats in the Senate are currently mired in a debate over whether to try to hash out a bipartisan billone that would likely take time to draft and contain compromises frustrating to gun control advocatesor vote on two existing gun bills dealing with background checks for firearm purchases that have already been passed by the House. That latter option would almost certainly end in defeat with a Republican filibusterbringing it to a vote would merely be for accountability. I believe that accountability votes are important, Schumer said. But sadly, this isnt a case of the American people not knowing where their senators stand. They know.

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The shooting in Uvalde comes almost a decade after 20 elementary school students were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The connections between the two shootings are unavoidable, given the scale of the tragedy and the ages of the victims. Its hard not to notice that since Sandy Hook, there has been no substantial federal gun control legislation.

For a moment, though, it seemed as if there could be. In 2013, senators Joe Manchin and Patrick Toomey hammered out a background check bill they hoped would harness the horror lawmakers felt. Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, and Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania, thought they had found a workable compromise: the bill required background checks on all commercial sales of firearms, but it also allowed people to sell their guns to family and friends without needing one. A majority of senators supported the bill.

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But a majority wasnt enough. Even though the bill attempted to appease the National Rifle Association with certain loosened restrictions, the NRA still came out against it. According to the Washington Post, Republicans began to worry that as conversations about other cultural issues shifted nationally, their base would resent them for relenting on another major Republican identity issue. That April, just four months after the shooting, the bill came six votes short of the 60 it needed to defeat the filibuster. Four Republicans voted for the bill; five Democrats voted against it (one for procedural reasons). Congress also rejected a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines.

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Criminals do not submit to background checks now, Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican, said at the time. They will not submit to expanded background checks.

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Manchin-Toomey remains the closest Congress has come to passing major bipartisan gun control legislation. (Manchin has pushed a version of Manchin-Toomey multiple times since its failure in 2013.) And thats true despite bursts of legislative activity after nearly every major mass shooting in the past decade.

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To name some of them:

After the killing of nine Black worshipers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, Democrats failed to bring to a vote a bill that would have increased the waiting time required for background checks to be completed from three to 10 days. (Firearms dealers can sell to people after the waiting period if the background check hasnt been completed; this has been called the Charleston loophole, as the gunman in that shooting exploited it. A bill to close the Charleston loophole, passed in the House last year, is one of the bills doomed to fail in the senate if brought to a vote.)

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After the killing of 14 in San Bernardino, California, in 2015, the Senate again rejected two background check proposals by Democrats.

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After the killing of 49 at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016, the senate rejected four gun measures that would have dealt with background check loopholes and barred people from the federal terrorism watch list from buying firearms.

After the killing of 58 at a music festival in Las Vegas in 2017, Congress failed to gain traction on a bump stock ban. (President Donald Trump, under a Justice Department rule, banned them in 2019.)

After the killing of 14 students and three staff members in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, Democrats again put forward a number of gun control bills, but Republicans in control of both the House and the Senate declined to take them up for a vote.

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After the killing of 23 in a WalMart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, Democrats in the House introduced a number of gun control bills, including one that would ban the sale of high-capacity magazines. The House passed what was considered the most significant gun control measure in decades, focused on expanding background checks; Republicans in the Senate did not take up the bill. (Trump had said he would veto the bill if it passed.)

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On Tuesday night, Democrats placed the Charleston loophole bill on the calendar, but its not clear when the Senate will vote on it. The Senate could also take up a bill that would expand background checks for all gun sales or transfers in the country, including those between relatives and friends. The bill, like the Charleston Loophole one, passed in the House last year, but, given it is even broader than the Manchin-Toomey bill, it seems unlikely to draw support from Republicans in the Senate.

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Senators are expected to leave for Memorial Day recess soon, so its unclear if Schumer will try to force a vote before their departure or wait to find a less ambitious, bipartisan approach. Manchin has once again called for Manchin-Toomey to be taken up; even that seems unlikely.

But Connecticut Sen. Christopher Murphy, a Democrat who has focused on gun control since the Sandy Hook shooting in his home state, doesnt feel the same hopelessness that others in Democratic leadershipand on social mediaseem to feel. While Murphy agrees that immediate legislation is unlikely, he said in an interview with the New York Times that Americans should not forget that the power of the NRA is waning, or that the Biden administration could lean on executive actions.

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There was this popular meme in 2013, which said that if the killing of 20 children didnt result in any action, nothing will, he told the Times. Thats fundamentally the wrong way to look at how Washington works. There are few epiphanies here. Its all about political power, and political muscle, and were in the process of building our own.

Murphy said he believed that the movement had come a long way since 2012. [D]emocrats are under the illusion that its a losing issue for us, he said. My main recommendation is for Democrats to go out and run on this issue, proudly and strongly.
Editors note: This interview was conducted before the Tuesday shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, in which an 18-year-old allegedly shot and killed at least 19 children and two teachers.

On May 14, an 18-year-old radicalized by white supremacist ideologies drove from his home in Conklin, New York, to Buffalo, New York, where he shot 13 people; 10, all of whom were Black, died. As others have written, the racial ideology that fueled the alleged shooter is foundational to the nation. But ideology alone does not explain what makes someone act on their violent impulses or perceived grievances.

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In the new book Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America, journalist Mark Follman traces decades of research into how mass shootings happen as well as successful strategies for preventing them. Specifically, he looks at the field of threat assessment, which Follman defines as a community based violence prevention method that brings together collaborative expertise in mental health, law enforcement, and other areas. The field aims to identify potential mass shooters and intervene constructively before they act on their worst impulses.

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The accused Buffalo shooter was detained a year before the attack and received a psychiatric evaluation after writing an alarming comment during a school assignment. But officials never took advantage of the states red flag law, which would have banned him from purchasing a firearm, in part because he had not threatened anyone specifically and had no clinical history of mental illness.

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Follman spoke with Slate about threat assessments potential to offer help to both individuals and the community, why interventions that are not punitive can be helpful, and what media narratives about mass shootings and mental health get wrong. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Roshan Abraham: There are often broad discussions about mental health after a mass shooting. But as you point out in the book, while mass shooters may be emotionally disturbed, they often are behaving quite rationally. What do you think about the medias familiar scripts around mental illness and mass shootings?

Mark Follman: One of the biggest myths that we have about mass shootings is the idea that these attacks can be blamed entirely on mental illness. This goes hand in hand with discussion we often hear after these attacks about a perpetrator snapping, which suggests that this is an impulsive act, that a person just suddenly goes crazy and goes out and commits a mass shooting. It conveys the idea that these are people who are detached from reality, suggesting psychosis or schizophrenia, conditions like that. None of that is really true at all in most of these cases. In the vast majority of mass shootings, were talking about people who are developing violent plans over time. Were seeing this again with the Buffalo case. Theres already a lot of alleged evidence of long-term planning and a process of escalation toward the attack at the supermarket over months. And so by blaming mental illness, by regarding the perpetrators of these attacks as crazy or insane, its really looking away from the reality of how these cases develop and build and take place.

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By definition, no one who commits a mass shooting is mentally healthy. But the kinds of problems theyre having are not limited to mental health. In most cases, theyre circumstantial. And theyre making choices. Theyre deciding to act this way, based on grievance, rage, despair. There are many cases in which perpetrators showed signs of suicidality. Thats a mental health issue. But thats not the same as a person who may be suffering from schizophrenia or psychosis. And so by implying that that kind of clinically diagnosable disease is at the core of all these cases, not only is it unhelpful to understanding the problem, its also stigmatizing. Those conditions in people are rarely associated with violence; theyre not meaningfully predictive of violence; theres a long body of research that shows theres no connection between mental illness and violence in any predictive way. So its stigmatizing people who do suffer from mental health conditions as well.

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Some people who hear about teenagers being assessed for threats may be concerned about overreaction or criminalization. But your book shows assessments can point teenagers who exhibit troubling behavior to interventions that are not punitive. What are they?

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The field has learned over decades of research and work that punitive steps often can be ineffective and may actually worsen the situation. If you kick someone out of school, or you fire them from their job, you may actually be worsening their problems, worsening their sense of grievance or anger, worsening the conditions in which they are developing violent planning and then setting off that planning.

So particularly with younger people who are troubled or in crisis, there are a lot of other options apart from punitive ones. In some ways this work was developed as a reaction or a response to the much harsher policies of the 1990s and 2000s, with zero tolerance and putting more police in schools and exacerbating what was known as the school-to-prison pipeline. Those types of measures were creating a lot of contact with the criminal justice system for young people and were disproportionately harmful to people of color.

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This, in a certain sense, is the opposite approach. Its saying, rather than try to arrest kids who are behaving a certain way, or kick them out of school, we want to figure out what the problem is, whats going on with them, whats the true nature of their trouble, and try to help them. And theres a range of tools that I saw threat assessment programs use to do that, primarily extending counseling support, doing individual education plans, figuring out what the individual student needs to do better. This is an approach that seeks to alleviate that by getting to the root of the problem and dealing with it constructively rather than trying to kick the problem out the door through suspension, or expulsion, or arrest. There are cases where that type of approach may be necessary, but it is not the ideal approach.

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You suggest that bringing isolated people into a larger network is a successful way to improve someones well-being as well as a way of deterring shootings.

One of the stories I tell in the book is how after Columbine in 1999, leaders at the U.S. Secret Service connected with the Department of Education to work on this problem. One of the most important conclusions they reached was that one of the best ways to do this work, to identify and head off potential violence, was to create more connection in a broad sense with students in schools. Ideally, every single student in a school would have at least one authority figure that they had a connection with, the sense that they had someone they could talk to, or turn to for help. This is really quite a remarkable outcome. Were talking about the top federal protective agency in the country, working together with leaders in the Department of Education. And the conclusion wasnt really about law enforcement work at allit was about creating a better climate of connection in schools throughout the country. Because, you know, in a lot of these cases, especially with school shootings, youre talking about individuals who arent necessarily isolated, because theyre in a school system. And yet, they arent well-connected to people who are in the best position, theoretically, to notice when something is going wrong.

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Shootings targeting marginalized groups seem to be increasing in the past eight to 10 years: the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016; the 2014 Isla Vista killings by an incel mens rights activist; the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh; the 2015 Charleston massacre of nine Black churchgoers; the Buffalo shooting. Have you found that mass shootings driven by these types of ideological grievances are increasing? What role does identifying ideologies play in threat assessment ?

You have a whole range of problems with a person who goes and does this typically. That said, there are often entrenched grievances in perpetrators of this crime, and that can include ideological extremism. And that is a factor that I found has been growing in recent years. There are different versions of that. It can be political. Theres violent misogyny. Theres the so-called incel phenomenon. This is an area of growing concern for leaders in the field of threat assessment and a factor that they are looking at more actively with cases in recent years.

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So why has that been a rising factor? I think that its hard to say because, again, this is a complex picture when youre asking the questions of motive, why a person gets to such an extreme point where theyre willing to go out and commit mass murder. But I do think that there is a significant influence from digital media in the past decade. Theres an issue with media sensationalism, in covering this kind of violence that feeds into emulation behavior, known more commonly as the copycat problem.

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One successful threat assessment intervention highlighted in your book is the case of an employee who was offered mental health support by his employer on advice of the FBI, after he had threatened a manager upon hearing of impending layoffs. He was eventually let go, but the company set up what the FBI called a a soft landing, meaning he got severance pay and his unemployment benefits were not contested. How likely are these types of interventions to gain traction with employers?

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As threat assessment was developing in the 1990s, the focus was primarily around workplace violence. And one of the core insights of that era, both at the FBI and elsewhere, was that taking a really harsh approach to aberrant or disruptive employee behavior was not particularly effective and could be counterproductive. There are many cases over the years where concerning employees or threatening employees who were fired or kicked out came back later and committed violent attacks or went elsewhere and committed violence.

There isnt a whole lot known in terms of how much [threat assessment intervention in the workplace] is being done, how widely adopted it is. It is growing as a policy in school systems. There are a handful of states that require it now, and thats a development in the last few years. And there are corporate employers that use it too.

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Many communities might have valid concerns about alerting law enforcement even when they have fears of someone with warning signs. Are there community-based versions of these threat assessment strategies, ones that dont formally involve law?

Its not that so much as bringing more community leaders into the process. And in this way, it has a lot in common with other community-based violence prevention models. You will have not only law enforcement and mental health leaders, but you will also have leaders of religious institutions or other cultural institutions in a community, in addition to education leaders, working together to do this work. And those other leaders who are not in law enforcement may be the first point of contact for concerned citizens to bring issues to. There are threat assessment leaders who are actively cultivating this idea. Theyre saying, Who else can we put on point with a threat assessment team thats not a police officer, so that the public doesnt feel like this is about turning someone in to be arrested?

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Your book doesnt directly address laws that would hinder a potential shooters ability to get a gun. In New York, where gun laws are considered strict, the Buffalo shooter obtained a gun relatively easily, even after making previous threats. Where do gun regulations fit into threat assessment, assuming all previous interventions have broken down?

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I really see it as an additional tool for dealing with the problem of gun violence and mass attacks. Its not either/or.

I think this method is very pragmatic about the reality of guns and gun laws in our country. One top expert in the field that I spoke to in the book said, We just assume everyone has a gun when were handling a threat case, because its safer to assume that than to not assume that.

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That being said, there are specific gun policies that are particularly relevant to threat assessment work. One of them would be a more recent policy thats known as red flag laws or extreme risk protection orders. Nineteen states [plus the District of Columbia] now have a version of a red flag law, which is a mechanism whereby families and in some cases law enforcement can go to a court and seek to have firearms removed from an individual who is thought to be a danger to themselves or to others. This is a relatively new legal tool, and there isnt a whole lot of research yet on its efficacy. But some initial research does show promise for how it could be used to manage threatening situations.

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What else do you think the public should know about threat assessment and mass shootings?

Were kind of stuck in this narrative about what mass shootings are and who does them. And part of that is this idea that theyre just going to keep happening no matter what. Theres a lot of kind of resignation about it. And Ive come to think that thats really unhelpful and in a way part of the problem itself. In a certain sense, it is actually validating this kind of violence. And for people who are thinking about doing this, the very relatively tiny number of people who are thinking about committing a mass shooting, many of them we know from case evidence are cognizant of this narrative, that they will get a lot of attention if they commit a mass shooting, that mass shootings keep happening, that they can easily get guns and go out and do it. And so I think that we could work toward changing that narrative, that we dont have to accept that this is just going to keep happening, that theres more we can do to solve this problem as a society.

Update, May 26, 2022: This article has been updated to reflect the most recent death count from the shooting.

State of Mind is a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University that offers a practical look at our mental health systemand how to make it better.
On Tuesday, the World Health Organization announced that it is continuing to investigate the recent outbreak of monkeypox but believes it is containable. As Slates Jordan Weissmann has explained, monkeypox is a virus related to smallpox that causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions. Rarely found outside of Africa, its been making headlines after an outbreak that, according to a tracker from the data science initiative Data.Health, has grown to more than 300 confirmed and suspected cases in places where it isnt endemic, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and several European countries.

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While its perfectly understandable to be anxious about another viral outbreak after the past few years weve had, public health officials have said that risk to the public is low. And although he originally said monkeypox is something everybody should be concerned about, President Joe Biden said on Monday that a national quarantine would not be necessary to contain monkeypox cases in the U.S. because there are enough vaccine doses to prevent a widespread outbreak. Monkeypox has historically been prevented using smallpox vaccines, which are not currently available to the general public in the U.S., but there is a reserve in case of emergency. The FDA also approved a vaccine to prevent monkeypox in 2019.

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And the U.S. has faced monkeypox before, most notably in July 2003, when 47 individuals from six Midwestern statesIllinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsinwere confirmed to have or suspected of having the West African strain of the monkeypox virus (the same strain that has broken out in the U.S. and Europe this year). The outbreak began in Illinois, where an exotic animal vendor received a shipment of Gambian pouched rats and briefly housed them next to a prairie dog enclosure. The Gambian pouched rats were infected with monkeypoxwhich, despite its name, is more common in rodents than in monkeysand passed it along to their neighbors.

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Before the prairie dogs showed any signs of infection, they were sold as pets to both individuals and to pet shops, where their rapid and widespread distribution led to 71 total confirmed cases. (Thats human and animal infections.) One unfortunate family, the Kautzers, had bought two during a Mothers Day event. After they got sick, they were told to quarantine until the scabs fall off the sores, and while one of their prairie dogs eventually succumbed to the illness, they were happy to keep the second (named Chuckles!) after he recovered.

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During the outbreak, the smallpox vaccine was used both to prevent further transmission and to help infected individuals fight off the monkeypox. At least 30 people received the vaccine, either pre- or post-exposure, as the smallpox vaccine can make the disease less severe if administered within a week of exposure, according to the CDC.

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Kurt Zaeske, a veterinarian who contracted one of the first cases during the 2003 outbreak, told Insider recently that he noticed younger infected people tended to have worse symptoms and more lesions than older people. He theorized that this was due to the discontinuation of regular smallpox vaccinations in 1972, as a result of the eradication of the virus within the U.S. Older individuals who had been vaccinated against smallpox would have had some natural immunity to monkeypox because of the similarities between the two viruses.

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The difference between the 2003 outbreak and the recent one is the ways in which the virus can be transmitted. According to the CDC, the virus can be passed from person to person, and appears to be spreading through breathing in large respiratory droplets as well as by touching the skin lesions of an infected person, both of which require close, prolonged contact with an infected person. It can also be contracted off of contaminated surfaces, like bed linens. But during the 2003 outbreak, all 35 confirmed cases in humans were caused by direct contact with the infected prairie dogs. In fact, at the time, the CDC said that no instances of monkeypox infection were attributed exclusively to person-to-person contact.

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The 2003 outbreak is not the only disease associated with prairie dogs. Wild populations of black-tailed prairie dogs in the American West are endemic breeding grounds for the literal plague. As in, bubonic.

Poxes and plagues? What is it that makes prairie dogs such effective vessels for such medieval-sounding diseases? As it turns out, they might not be very effective at all. Plague detected in black-tailed prairie dog towns has been the cause of multiple shutdowns in national parks such as Yosemite and other wildlife refuges in the Western U.S. in recent years. If youve ever visited the Badlands National Park, you may have seen yellow warning signs reminding you exactly why you should stay in your vehicle.

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But prairie dogs generally die due to plague before they have a chance to pass it onto humans; a fact sheet prepared by the Prairie Dog Coalition and the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment says that out of 51 total human plague cases in Colorado since 1957, only seven were linked to prairie dog exposure. (The fact sheet says, Of those 7 cases two were related to people skinning prairie dogs, two were the result of family pets bringing home fleas after being allowed to roam freely in prairie dog colonies and three were people infected from working, playing or hiking in infected colonies.) In modern times, prairie dogs seem to have replaced rats as plague scapegoats, but its more common for the fleas found in these populations to jump onto a nearby pet (such as a cat or a dog) that then brings the plague-ridden fleas home to its owners.

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However, there is another, environmental reason to fear plague found in prairie dog populations. As a keystone species, prairie dogs provide valuable services to their ecosystems, and they are an important source of food for endangered species, such as the black-footed ferret. Plague then poses a problem for these ferrets, which contract it when they hunt the prairie dogs. Fortunately, threats to the ferret population can be mitigated through the spraying of pesticides over prairie dog colonies as well as edible peanut butter vaccines such as the ones distributed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

For now, it seems that any vaccine to combat monkeypox cases will be distributed strategically. Unfortunately, though, it wont involve peanut butter.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Experts previously warned it was Russia's attempt to strengthen its influence in western Europe.

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The broad-gauge railway will not be extended across Slovakia anytime soon. The ambitious project, which would have complicated the position of Kosice's unique position as the terminal of the broad-gauge railroad, has been abandoned for now.

The Austrian railway company OBB has officially withdrawn from the project, leaving its shares to Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia, the Railfreight.com website wrote.

The project of continuing the broad-gauge railway to Vienna harbored the ambition of connecting eastern European markets in a direct link to Asian markets.

Austria would have gained many macroeconomic advantages  creating approximately 127,500 annual jobs and an additional profit of 16 billion. However, Slovakia had not been so willing to approve of this project. The Kosice-Vienna route would have threatened Kosices position, ceasing thousands of jobs.

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I'm not inclinded towards this idea. I always wonder what Slovakia would gain from it. The unloading area would then be in Vienna instead of Kosice. So, the Viennese would be the only ones to benefit, Ivo Nesrovnal, then mayor of Bratislava, told Wiener Zeitung in a 2015 interview.

Experts saw the project as, among other things, an attempt by Russia to extend its influence in western Europe.

How it started
An exhibit where you can hear Frank Waln, a Sicangu Lakota hip-hop artist, is part of the Field Museum's new "Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories" permanent exhibit, shown on May 24, 2022. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

From the 1950s until 2019, the Field Museums Native North America Hall was a haphazard collection of everyday Indigenous American items. Vague, terse descriptions rendered the artifacts as faceless as the mannequins on display. Field anthropologists had hastily collected the items in the late 19th century, assuming, chillingly, that the cultures of their origin wouldnt last.

Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories, which opened this month, is a long-awaited corrective. A four-year project, the permanent exhibit replacing the former Native North America displays brings the history of Native American life in dialogue with its kaleidoscopic present.

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Debra Yepa-Pappan, who coordinates Native community engagement at the Field, says shes received a flood of requests by Indigenous groups to visit the new exhibit, all of which shes committed to accommodating.

Just because the exhibition is open now, thats not the end. Thats the beginning, Yepa-Pappan says. The exhibition needs to be viewed as also living and thriving.

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"It's Complicated!" is a collaboration between artists Chris Pappan, Kanza, and Jaalen Edenshaw, Haida, is part of the Field Museum's new "Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories" permanent exhibit. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Native Truths is by far the most significant effort by the Field to atone for its legacy of culturally insensitive displays about Indigenous Americans, though its not the first. North American anthropology curator Alaka Wali has tapped artists to create works both complementing and challenging the Fields displays, starting with Pawnee artist Bunky Echo-Hawk in 2013. Just before the old Native North America Hall closed to make way for Native Truths, an installation of Kaw Nation artist Chris Pappans contemporary ledger art quite literally overrode the display cases content by laminating his works over the glass.

Native Truths treads in their footsteps. Its writer-curators  representing about 100 of the 574 federally recognized Native American tribes in the U.S.  contextualize items from the Fields holdings through first-person descriptions, mostly relayed via touch screen. Fifty of the 400-plus items on display were commissioned by contemporary Native artists specifically for the exhibit, where theyre juxtaposed with historical artworks and artifacts.

I consider my legacy pieces to be animate and living. They have that life-force to me, says Karen Ann Hoffman, an Oneida Nation artist whose Haudenosaunee beadworks are featured in the exhibit. This might sound a little crazy, but I hear conversations between the art. I would like to come back sometime when its very quiet and listen to what they have to say to each other.

"Thunderbird Whimsey" by Karen Ann Hoffman, Oneida, is part of the Field Museum's new "Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories" permanent exhibit. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Native Truths soft-opened to Native community members on May 14-15, then more formally with an opening celebration on May 21. Programming through opening weekend brought Native exhibit collaborators to Stanley Field Hall to demonstrate basket-weaving and beadwork techniques, the artists chatting amiably with curious observers.

The exhibit is likely precedent-setting in the American museum world. From its conception to its PR campaigns, Native Truths was spearheaded by Indigenous curators  a rarity for an institution of the Fields size and scope. Even the physical materials used to build the exhibit were selected for their cultural significance and connection to Native peoples. For example, the wood used for the floors and benches was donated by Menominee Tribal Enterprises, a Wisconsin-based sustainable lumber provider.

A dancing bustle created by Ruben Mitchell, Sac and Fox, is part of the Field Museum's new exhibit "Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories." (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

More broadly, Native Truths might inspire peer museums to rethink their approach to cultural exhibits. Field Museum exhibitions director Jaap Hoogstraten says the exhibit has not only attracted the attention of other museums but challenged the Field internally to reimagine new paradigms for exhibit curation and design.

Usually, when curators think of a show, we think of the pacing and the flow. Like, Oh, a third of the way through this hall, I need something big and flashy. But very early in the process, our advisers said, Dont focus on the object  focus on the story, Hoogstraten says. Ultimately, the attitude we developed with Native Truths will apply to all cultural exhibits, not just Native American material.

Nor will those narratives remain static. Field staff estimate the modular exhibit spaces in Native Truths will rotate every 18 months or so, ensuring the exhibit maintains a plurality of perspectives. Those currently on display explore everything from the pedagogical lineage of Cahuilla basketweavers in Southern California to the Fields recent repatriation of seeds bred by the Meskwaki (Fox) in the Great Lakes and greater Midwest.

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The module at the exhibits heart features displays about Chicagos Native communities. A 1960s-era photo of the American Indian Centers Canoe Club paddling down the Chicago River, their voyage framed by skyscrapers and a half-skeletal Hancock Tower, is as apt a summation of Native Truths as could be imagined.

Conspicuously absent during the opening weekends and from the Chicago displays advisory team were members of Chi-Nations Youth Council, one of the citys most prominent Native activist groups. As was originally reported by WBEZ, the organization had planned to advise on Native Truths until summer 2020, when members learned that Chicago Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz also chaired the Field Museums board, and dropped out.

Chi-Nations had successfully lobbied the American Indian Center to cut ties with the Blackhawks the year before, following reignited scrutiny about the teams racially insensitive name and logo. They subsequently began a public campaign to oust Wirtz. As of the exhibit opening this month, Wirtz remained the Fields board chair.

Chi-Nations Youth Council representatives did not respond to requests for comment by press time. As for the omission, Hoogstraten of the Field maintains that Native collaborators had full control over what appeared in their sections  including the Chicago module, which mostly featured writer-curators from the American Indian Center; the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative; and the Saint Kateri Center, a Catholic parish serving Native worshippers in Chicago.

The content in that section reflects that community. It wasnt the Field Museum editing anything out, he says.

Field representatives are mostly forthright in acknowledging how much remains to be done. On a recent visit to the exhibit, a couple of passersby could be heard muttering about the Alsdorf Hall of Northwest Coast and Arctic Peoples next door, a dark, musty exhibit that opened in 1982 and has remained mostly the same since. In comparison to Native Truths, its content is outdated, contextually emaciated, and  according to Hoogstraten  sometimes culturally inappropriate or inaccurate.

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Hoogstraten estimates Alsdorf will be similarly re-imagined within the next five years, possibly with an artistic intervention in the interim.

We need to do something bold to make sure that people know that were aware, and I would hope to get it done before then. But the relationship-building that goes into doing this kind of work collaboratively is time-consuming, he says.

Though Native Truths exceeded all of (her) expectations, Hoffman understands some Native visitors reticence toward the exhibit. But shes honored that her beadwork is among the first displays visitors see entering from Stanley Field Hall  in her words, a welcome mat  because they pose a question of their own.

Oneida people have this thing that goes way back, called the edge of the woods. If visitors start coming to our village, wed send folks out to greet them at the edge of the woods so everybody knows what everybodys about before being welcomed in, Hoffman says.

I feel like Im at the edge of the woods here for people: They get a chance to make a decision. I havent seen anybody turn around yet.
The bison that escaped from a Wauconda farm is shown in an image from video in September. (Mark Stage)

Billy, the wily bison that escaped a Wauconda farm and eluded capture for eight months, has finally been caught.

Lake County Forest Preserves announced that the 1,300-pound bovine was safely and humanely removed from Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda early Wednesday by a professional wildlife specialist.

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We are thankful the animal has been removed from the forest preserve safely before Memorial Day weekend when attendance at preserves increases, Mike Tully, chief operations officer for the Lake County Forest Preserves, said in a news release. The safety of our users and the animal has been our No. 1 priority throughout this process. Bison are considered domestic livestock in Illinois, therefore roaming free in a public forest preserve is not an appropriate place for it to call home.

The forest preserves brought in Matt Noble, owner of Loose Cattle Caught, on Friday to assist in humanely capturing the bison, according to a news release.

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Noble deployed a crew of specialists, a drone, a horse and a dog in his attempt to locate the bison, which may have been living at the forest preserve since early April. Billy was located early Wednesday, and Noble lightly tranquilized her.

The tranquilizer, intended to make her slow down, did not endanger Billy or make her fall to the ground, according to the release. The bison slowly made her way to the barn for food, and Noble was able to close the door.

Noble was able to relocate the bison to his compound, and he is in the process of contacting the owners, the release said.

Billy became a local celebrity following her escape from captivity Sept. 18, while she and her sister were being delivered to Milk & Honey Farmstead in Wauconda. The two bison were purchased for breeding purposes.

Citizens posted photos and videos of Billy  who doesnt yet have an official name  on Facebook, along with jokes, nicknames and statements of support. A local artist painted Billys portrait, and the Island Lake police posted video of an officers encounter with our beloved Island Lake bison who has proved as elusive as Sasquatch.

In recent months, her owners had been trying to lure Billy back to the farm with sweetened feed.

nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com
A 75-year-old man known affectionately to Chicagoans as the Walking Man, was in critical condition early Wednesday after someone doused him in flammable liquid and lit him on fire as he lay sleeping on Lower Wabash Avenue overnight, according to Chicago police.

Joseph Kromelis, who once told the Tribune he roams as a way of life, had been resting or sleeping when a man he didnt know came up to him in the 400 block of North Lower Wabash Avenue about 2:50 a.m., police said.

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The stranger doused him with lighter fluid and then proceeded to ignite the victim before fleeing the scene, according to a statement from police.

A security officer working at a nearby building in the Near North neighborhood saw the man engulfed in flames and rushed over with a fire extinguisher, which he used to put the fire out, police said.

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Chicago police officers look at the scene where a 75-year-old man was left in critical condition after being doused with flammable liquid and set on fire, in the 400 block of North Wabash Avenue early Wednesday morning. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Paramedics took him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where the man was listed in critical condition. Authorities said he suffered burns to nearly half his body. He was scheduled to be transferred to Stroger Cook County Hospitals burn unit.

The attacker, who is wanted on suspicion of aggravated battery and arson, ran west and into the Blue Line CTA tunnel after setting Kromelis on fire.

The attacker, of an unknown race, had a thin build and was wearing a baseball hat, black pants and a black and white hooded Hoodrich sweatshirt and gray sandals, police said in a community alert.

Police have not suggested a motive for the attack but said they are reviewing security footage.

Chicago police released these images from surveillance video of a suspect in the attack of Joseph Kromelis. (Chicago Police Department)

In May 2016, also along Lower Wacker Drive, Kromelis was beaten by an attacker wielding a baseball bat. He spent several weeks hospitalized and he rallied back.

That year, Janice Riggs started a GoFundMe account for Kromelis. Reached on Wednesday, Riggs was appalled.

Im crushed. I think this is horrible thing to attack someone who is nothing more than a friend to everyone around Chicago, Riggs said. Hes is a totally harmless individual. To single him out for this kind of abuse is shocking and inhuman.

Strangers, who for decades recognized him by his distinctive long, wavy hair, mustache and sport coat as he wandered downtown streets, were so moved by his plight in 2016 that they donated more than $33,000 to the GoFundMe account. Well-wishers spent another $5,500 on charity T-shirts bearing the slogan Walk on, Dude.

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Kromelis has been a fixture in downtown street life, often seen browsing inside stores and walking the streets of the Magnificent Mile and Streeterville. He has been featured in news stories and videos, including a YouTube feature titled Dudementary. A few years ago, someone created a Facebook page where people post sightings.

Kromelis once joked: Im like the Kardashians  Im famous for doing nothing.

Joseph Kromelis, known as the "Walking Man", is seen in the Loop in August 2016 after being attacked and hospitalized earlier that year. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

Riggs saw him most recently in Millennium Park near the skating rink about three months ago.

She decided against striking up a conversation because she didnt want to jolt him out of his routine. But he seemed happy and healthy.

When she would stop and briefly chat with him after the attack, he never really made the connection that she was the person who had instigated the GoFundMe, which was later taken over by Kromelis relatives.

Hes always been tough and obviously in very good shape but after the beating, there were long lapses where she would not see him and then, the pandemic came.

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He didnt engage as much as he used to, and moved much slower, Riggs said. He was more isolated with himself.

He used to be the fastest man in Chicago. I would see him in Palos Heights and then a half a day later see him in Edgewater or near Wrigley Field, Riggs said.

He was everywhere.

When people on the street talk to him and ask how he is doing, he would respond but was never very forthcoming.

It wasnt like he was isolated on the street, Riggs said. He was always very polite and was very reticent about discussing himself. He would talk about anything in the world but not himself.

No arrests had been made as of Wednesday evening.

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kdouglas@chicagotribune.com

rsobol@chicagotribune.com
One of the best cards anywhere in the harness racing season so far during 2022 will be proudly presented at Harrahs Philadelphia this Sunday afternoon (May 29), as the top trotters and pacers in many varieties will be racing on the tracks $600,000+ Super Sunday card.

There will be three $100,000 Invitational events: the Maxie Lee Trot, the Commodore Barry Pace and the Betsy Ross Pace for females, with the two champions on the pace coming back to try to defend their titles. There are two divisions of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies, including the first start of the year for last years champion Niki Hill, and five attendant Stallion Series cuts, with over $230,000 on the line for these distaffs. And there will be $30,000 Open races in the #senditin series, paralleling the Invitational divisions.

Heres a brief look at each classification in the Sunday spotlight.

$100,000 BETSY ROSS DISTAFF INVITATIONAL PACE (Race 11)

The Captaintreacherous mare Lyons Sentinel, divisional champion at two and four (in both the U.S. and Canada) and the biggest money-winner in any of the three Invite fields with $2,182,522, makes her first start of 2022 after two solid qualifying seconds at Philly. Shell have to start from post seven in an eight-horse field, but her connections know the way to the winner's circle: trainer Jim King Jr. won the Betsy Ross twice with the great Shartin N, and driver Tim Tetrick (who is also named on Keep Rockin A) has captured the event in no fewer than seven of its 13 previous editions.

The 1-2-3 finishers in the $381,000 Blue Chip Matchmaker Series final at Yonkers -- Drama Act, Racine Bell, and Easy To Please -- must be regarded, as should defending champion Keep Rockin A and Down Under millionaire Amazing Dream N.

Post - Horse - Listed Driver - Trainer

1. Racine Bell - Jason Bartlett - David Dewhurst

2. Drama Act - Yannick Gingras - Ron Burke

3. Amazing Dream N - Todd McCarthy - Linda Toscano

4. Majorca N - Corey Callahan - Dylan Davis

5. Easy To Please - Jordan Stratton - Cory Stratton

6. Keep Rockin A - Tim Tetrick - Jeff Cullipher

7. Lyons Sentinel - Tim Tetrick - Jim King Jr.

8. Watch Me Now N - Dexter Dunn - Tony Alagna

$100,000 MAXIE LEE INVITATIONAL TROT (Race 12)

This contest, honouring the legendary pioneer horseman of the area, finds Amigo Volo coming back off five days rest, after qualifying in 1:53.4. The Father Patrick gelding, starting from post five with Dexter Dunn scheduled to drive for trainer Nifty Norman, has won $1,785,651 in career earnings, including two Breeders Crowns and the U.S. divisional title in his sophomore year.

The ultra-consistent Muscle Hill mare When Dovescry has hit the board 44 times in a 49-race career, with $1,719,328 bankrolled. She faces a major burden here, having to start from the outside post eight for driver David Miller and trainer Brett Pelling, but females have three wins against the boys in the Maxie Lee  double winner Buck I St Pat and last years winner Manchego, now retired.

Post - Horse - Listed Driver - Trainer

1. Sermon - Kasper Foget - Per Engblom

2. Mississippi Storm - Jordan Stratton, Tom Fanning

3. Back Of The Neck - Scott Zeron - Ake Svanstedt

4. Hillexotic - Yannick Gingras - Ron Burke

5. Amigo Volo - Dexter Dunn - Nifty Norman

6. Eurobond - Matt Kakaley - Michael Spaccarelli Jr.

7. Lovedbythemasses - Tim Tetrick - Jeff Cullipher

8. When Dovescry - David Miller - Brett Pelling

$100,000 COMMODORE BARRY PACE (Race 13)

Nicholas Beach won last years Commodore Barry and he couldnt be coming back to Philly in sharper form, having turned in the fastest mile of the year (1:47) in his last start at The Meadowlands. The altered son of Somebeachsomewhere prefers to be on or near the lead, but he has shown versatility in tactics for the brother/sister team of driver Joe and trainer Jenn Bongiorno. Post two will give Team Bongiorno several options.

Three horses in outstanding winning form will go against him: Wild Wild Western, winner of six straight in the top ranks at The Meadows; Southwind Ozzi, the 2019 Little Brown Jug champ who has won four straight since coming back to Philly; and Ignatius A, a Down Under wonder who has captured four of his last five while quickly adjusting to Stateside racing.

Post - Horse - Listed Driver - Trainer

1. Workin Ona Mystery - Tim Tetrick - Ron Burke

2. Nicholas Beach - Joe Bongiorno - Jenn Bongiorno

3. American Dealer N - Todd McCarthy - Linda Toscano

4. Nandolo N - Jason Bartlett - Shane Tritton

5. Wild Wild Western - Mike Wilder - Norm Parker

6. Southwind Ozzi - David Miller - Bill MacKenzie

7. Jacks Legend N - Dexter Dunn - Nifty Norman

8. Ignatius A - Andrew McCarthy - Noel Daley

PENNSYLVANIA SIRE STAKES & STALLION SERIES  THREE-YEAR-OLD PACING FILLIES (Sire Stakes - Races 8, 10; Stallion Series - Races 1, 3, 4, 5, 7)

The exciting Always B Miki filly Niki Hill, winner of nine of 10 last year, U.S. divisional champion and the richest two-year-old pacer of 2021 with earnings of $960,784, makes her long-awaited return to the races in one $68,116 division of the Sire Stakes, drawing post two for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Chris Ryder. Shes had three solid qualifiers in preparation for this campaign and will likely be a strong favourite despite some solid opposition.

The filly who may wind up to be her toughest foe in 2022, Treacherous Dragon, will start from post four in the other Sire Stakes division for driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Brett Pelling. The Captaintreacherous miss is two-for-two in 2022, a Pennsylvania All-Stars win and an overnight victory against older horses in 1:49.1.

#senditin OPENS (Open Pace - Race 6; Mares Open Pace - Race 9; Open Trot - Race 14)

Named after the popular social media handicapping/wagering platform, these $30,000 races are for horses who were just on or near the cut lines for the Invitationals. Nary an entrant in all three races would be out of place in a feature race at any track in North America and should produce hard-fought, exciting contests.

First race on the 15-race Super Sunday card at Harrahs Philadelphia will be 12:40 p.m. Scratches and driver changes will be announced early Thursday afternoon.

(With files from PHHA / Harrah's Philadelphia)
FORT MEADE, MarylandPetty Officer 1st Class Michael Dizmang, a native of Orange, Virginia, protects America from cyber threats as a member of U.S. Fleet Cyber Command.

Information technology advances at a staggering pace. Practically all major systems on ships, aircraft, submarines, and unmanned vehicles are networked to some degree.

This includes most combat, communications, engineering, and navigation systems. While connectivity provides the military with speed, agility, and precision, it also opens attack opportunities for adept cyber adversaries.

Dizmang attended Orange County High School and graduated in 2012. Today, he uses skills and values similar to those learned in Orange.

Attending high school in Orange County, I learned the importance of perfecting your craft, being really good at what you do, said Dizmang. I learned this as a percussionist in the band. The lessons I learned there carried over into my career in the Navy because its important to have a clear goal and then setting achievable steps to achieve that goal, putting in the work to accomplish what you set out to do.

Today, Dizmang plays a crucial role in defending against cyber threats in support of the commands mission to collect, analyze and report on communication signals using computers, specialized computer-assisted equipment, and video display terminals.

According to Navy officials, networks are under continuous threats of attack by a broad array of state actors, terrorist organizations, hacktivist groups, organized crime, and individual hackers. Motivations include personal gain, information theft, discrediting the United States, sabotage, political gain, denial or degradation of the Navys access to cyberspace.

As leaders and experts in Information Warfare, our sailors and civilians are at the forefront of disrupting the ability of bad actors to execute their plans, which often degrade U.S. interests, said Vice Admiral Ross Myers, commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and U.S. 10th Fleet.

Because of our workforce and their world class skills and dedication to service, todays Navy has the agility, tactical skills, advanced technologies and innovative mindset to succeed. Alongside our sister services, Fleet Cyber Command is on the frontlines to thwart malicious efforts in cyberspace. We are engaged against adversaries, around the globe and around the clock24/7/365.

Thats why the work being done by Dizmang is so important. Serving in the Navy means he is part of a team taking on new importance in Americas focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of the National Defense Strategy.

Our Navy is forward deployed and the contribution we make is hard to fathom, especially the work we do in cyber security, said Dizmang.

With more than 90 percent of all trade traveling by sea, and 95 percent of the worlds international phone and internet traffic carried through fiber optic cables lying on the ocean floor, Navy officials continue to emphasize the prosperity and security of the United States is directly linked to a strong and ready Navy.

Im proud of the training environment I developed, which provided a foundation to teach what was needed to complete the mission, said Dizmang.

As he and other sailors continue to train and perform the missions they are tasked with, they take pride in serving their country.

Serving in the Navy gives me purpose and offers a driving force for a lot of the decisions I made throughout my adult life, added Dizmang.
A man suspected in the shooting death of a 60-year-old Colorado woman remains at large, according to Scottsbluff Police, but is no longer believed to be in the immediate area.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Davin Darayle Saunders, 38, on charges of murder in the second-degree, a Class IB felony; possession of a deadly weapon to a prohibited person, a Class ID felony; and one count of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony; a Class IC felony, in the shooting death of Karen Cooper, of Loveland, Colorado. Cooper is an aunt of Davin Saunders, Scottsbluff Police Chief Kevin Spencer told the Star-Herald.

Saunders is being sought in connection with a shooting that occurred in the 1700 block of Avenue Z at about 5 p.m. Tuesday. Scottsbluff Police and other law enforcement agencies responded to the residence after receiving a report of an argument and shots having been fired. Police arriving at the scene found Cooper, who had been shot. Medical personnel attempted life-saving measures, however, she died at the scene.

Court documents detail events that are alleged to have occurred prior to the shooting. According to an arrest affidavit, Scottsbluff Police responding to the scene made contact with a 48-year-old woman who told police that a woman in the home may be dead and Saunders had left.

An 83-year-old man who resides at the home told police Saunders had been outside with Cooper, and they were heard arguing. When they came in the home, he said, he went to another room when he heard several gunshots. When he came back, only Cooper and the 48-year-old woman remained in the home. Saunders had left, along with a 25-year-old woman identified as his girlfriend. Police later located the woman and the vehicle at a Scottsbluff convenience store.

When police questioned that woman, she told police that Saunders lived in Scottsbluff, off and on, and that Karen Cooper had been visiting the home. The woman said the family had been preparing to travel to Colorado for a graduation when Saunders left for a side job and returned with another woman. The couple had been having problems lately because he was dating other women and his girlfriend knew he had also been seeing the woman he returned with to the home.

The two women became involved in an argument and Davin Saunders began arguing. Cooper also became involved in the argument and Saunders, Cooper and his girlfriend went into the living room, continuing to argue. The woman Saunders had returned to the home with left and Saunders girlfriend also decided to leave the home. As she was leaving, she told police, she heard gun shots. She said as she continued backing out, Saunders ran to her vehicle, opened the passenger door and jumped inside.

As she traveled on South Beltline Highway and West 20th Street, she told police, Saunders jerked the steering wheel and then exited the vehicle. She left the area, being encountered by law enforcement at the convenience store.

Police with multiple agencies conducted extensive searches for Saunders Tuesday night. Police quickly established Saunders as a suspect and began searching for him immediately. Officers with multiple agencies searched locations in Scottsbluff, Gering and Bayard.

In information released Wednesday, Scottsbluff Police said that investigators developed information that Saunders was last in Cheyenne, Wyoming, during the evening hours of Tuesday, May 24. According to information released by the Cheyenne Police Department, police received a report of a domestic disturbance involving a firearm at the local Walmart. During the investigation, Cheyenne police identified the man involved in the disturbance to be Saunders, who had fled on foot prior to police arriving.

Saunders is described as a Black male, 511 in height, weighing 190 to 200 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. He has numerous tattoos, including tattoos on both inner forearms, a script tattoo across his upper chest, another script tattoo on the right side of his neck that has a star at the beginning and end of the text and a flaming skull above the navel.

Citizens are advised that Saunders is believed to be armed and dangerous. According to information released by Scottsbluff Police, he has an extensive history of violence. People are asked not to approach him and to contact local law enforcement if they see him.

Saunders is also being investigated in connection with another shooting involving a different person that occurred last week. In that incident, Saunders is accused of shooting the person in the foot.

Anyone with information in the case can contact the Scottsbluff Police Department via communications, 308-632-7176. Anonymous tips can also be left by contacting Scotts Bluff County Crime Stoppers, 308-632-STOP (7867) or by emailing crimestoppers@scottsbluff.org.

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Scottsbluff Police Chief Kevin Spencer confirmed a shooting that occurred Tuesday in the 1700 block of Avenue Z is being investigated as a homicide. As of publication, a suspect in the shooting remained at large.

Spencer identified the suspect as 38-year-old Davin Darayle Saunders. Saunders has been living in the area for about a year, Spencer said, but came to the area from Colorado. He is considered a suspect in the shooting of a relative that occurred at the residence.

Authorities with the Scottsbluff Police Department and other agencies responded at about 5 p.m. to a reports of an argument and shots having been fired. When officer arrived, Spencer said, they found a 60-year-old woman who had been shot. Medical personnel attempted to administer life-saving treatment, however, they were unsuccessful and the woman died at the scene. The victim is not yet being identified to allow family to contact next-of-kin.

Police quickly developed a suspect, he said, identifying Saunders. Witnesses reported the man having left the home in a gold Chevy Impala driven by a woman. Police later recovered the vehicle at a convenience store near the intersection of Avenue I and West Overland and made contact with the woman driving the vehicle.

In scanner traffic, police described the suspect as an African American man, wearing a blue checkered shirt and dark pants. Spencer confirmed that description and said Saunders is 511 and weighs 205 pounds. He said that Saunders is considered armed and dangerous, so people should not approach him. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact police, 308-632-7176, or to call 911.

At about 9 p.m., police issued an alert to other Panhandle law enforcement that Saunders is being sought in connection with the shooting and police had issued a stop and hold for a Morrill County vehicle. Information about that vehicle and a potential driver are not yet being released.

Scottsbluff Police had sought a search warrant for the home where the residence occurred and a second residence in Gering.

Police began their search for Saunders almost immediately and conducted searches throughout Scottsbluff and Gering. Information about where the man may have fled police changed throughout the evening. Initially, police were searching in the area of Avenue I along South Beltline toward Avenue B. However, after being told that the man left the vehicle at Highway 92 and West Overland, not far from the shooting, they secured that area. However, as of 7 p.m., police were providing updates that the man had been reported to have left the vehicle at 20th Street and South Beltline. Later, a witness reported to police seeing a man picked up by a person driving a Morrill County vehicle in the area of Fifth Avenue near the railroad tracks.

Police searches included employing the use of drones to search a wooded area near the North Platte River and cornfields west of Scottsbluff. Scanner reports also indicated the Nebraska State Patrol could be used to dispatch an aircraft to help in the search.

Officers impounded the vehicle found at the convenience store.

Stay with starherald.com for more on this developing story. The Star-Herald will update this report as additional details are released.

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As a young boy growing up in Alliance, Christian Voss had a dream to become an actor. With over two decades in the industry, Voss teamed up with directors Dave Campfield and Paul Chomicki to pay tribute to his late wife and highlight the trafficking market relevant to many families in Nebraska and South Dakota with a thriller Fortress of Sin.

The film features several native born Nebraskans in the cast and crew.

After moving to Montana and serving in the Air Force, he got tired of shoveling snow and move to Los Angeles, California. With his wife, Robin Ritter by his side, the two enjoyed a 25-year career in filmmaking.

The duo were involved in ghost hunting films to reality shows to low budget features. After Ritter died May 18, 2018, Voss decided to clear his head and go home to his fathers property in Hay Springs. While helping out his father, Voss received a call from Dave Campfield, the director of Caesar and Ottos Summer Camp Massacre, about creating a tribute film for Voss late wife Robin.

It was about a young girl who joined a cult and it was based in New York, and involved a pastor of a congregation in North Carolina, Voss said. He had actually cast me as the pastor of the church.

The script was rewritten to accommodate a shift in venue due to limited resources.

So we formed a writing coalition between the three of us (Voss, Campfield and Chomicki), he said.

As the script evolved, the three men found inspiration for the characters names, as each experienced the death of a family member. Voss wife had died, and both Campfields and Chomickis brothers had died, one from cancer and the other from a stroke.

So we each had this tragedy in our lives, and it was almost the same time so we decided to make a tribute to them, Voss said.

The film tells the story of a Native American woman, named Robin, who goes missing after joining a church cult. Robin is abducted to be trafficked to a cartel.

Using his local connections to the ranchers, Voss found locations for scenes in the film around the Sandhills area and Sheridan County. He contacted Ryan Lovell, who is involved with the Sheridan County Players and is the Gordon-Rushville High School music teacher.

Ryan Lovell was absolutely instrumental in this film, Voss said. Im so grateful for him and his ability. Hes got a passion as an actor and hes very focused on how this is going to affect the community.

Aside from using Lovell as a casting director, he also portrays Walt. Some of Lovells favorite scenes were taken in a pig farm outside of Hay Springs and neighboring Badlands National Park.

We went in there are night and found some night stuff that was really creepy, Lovell said. Then, we were near the Badlands and shot in this really old church up there. We camped up there for that evening then shot again for two full days in the Badlands. You cant see any cities around you, no glow of lights or anything. It was beautiful.

Jama Bourne, a Gordon-Rushville High School graduate, plays the character of Robin.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Bourne said. Its something I had never done before, so it was interesting to see the dynamics that went with it.

As she portrayed her character, Bourne said she found inspiration from her life.

I can relate to quite a bit of it because my dad wasnt really in my life when I was growing up, so I was raised by a single mom, she said. That was realistic to me because I always wanted my dad in my life.

Bourne said the story also touches her as she has several family friends who have had children gone missing and were later found dead.

Its kind of like an eye-opener for me that it is a real thing, she said. It just touched home.

Working alongside some of his former students, Lovell hopes they take the experience as a chance to grow and inspire change.

I think obviously it lends time to getting them in front of the camera and giving them some experience, but I think the main thing is that this is actually happening, Lovell said. Theyre aware that the indigenous Native American women are actually coming up missing and being trafficked.

The COVID-19 pandemic delayed some filming, requiring the directors to make multiple trips to Sheridan County over the past two years to capture all of the scenes in the desolate and derelict locations as a lonely man seeks his daughter.

Our biggest thing is the awareness of the missing and the murdered Indigenous women, Voss said about the message of the film. Trafficking is reality and its everywhere.

The film is produced by Ragged Sky and Fourth Horizon Cinema. The film is available on Amazon and Best Buy. The Gordon Theater will screen the film on June 11 at 7 p.m. Some members of the cast will be in attendance.

The film has won international awards at festivals, including Best Feature Film at the Eastern European Film Fest.

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Scottsbluff Police Chief Kevin Spencer confirmed a shooting in the 1700 block of Avenue Z is being investigated as a homicide. As of publication, a suspect in the shooting remained at large.

Spencer declined to release additional details about the homicide, saying that police are seeking a search warrant.

Authorities with the Scottsbluff Police Department and other agencies responded at about 5 p.m. to a report of shots having been fired and a person having been shot at a residence in the 1700 block of Avenue Z. Witnesses reported a suspect having left the home in a gold Chevy Impala driven by a woman. Police later recovered the vehicle at a convenience store near the intersection of Avenue I and West Overland.

In scanner traffic, police described the suspect as an African American man, wearing a blue checkered shirt and dark pants. At about 9 p.m., the man was identified over scanner traffic by name as being sought in connection with the shooting and police had issued a stop and hold for a Morrill County vehicle. However, the Star-Herald is awaiting confirmation of that name before releasing it.

Scottsbluff Police had sought a search warrant for the home where the residence occurred and a second residence in Gering.

Police began their search for the suspect identified by witnesses immediately. Information about where the man changed throughout the evening. Initially, police were searching in the area of Avenue I along South Beltline toward Avenue B. However, after being told that the man left the vehicle at Highway 92 and West Overland, not far from the shooting, they secured that area. However, as of 7 p.m., police were providing updates that the man is now believed to left the vehicle at 20th Street and South Beltline. Later, a witness reported to police seeing a man picked up by Morrill County vehicle in the area of Fifth Avenue near the railroad tracks. At 9 p.m., Scottsbluff Police had issued a stop and hold alert to other law enforcement, asking for police to stop a Morrill County vehicle, identified as red Nissan, if encountered, and citing the name of a suspect. The Star-Herald is awaiting confirmation of that name before releasing it.

Police conducted an extensive search, searching cornfields by foot and employing the use of drones to search a wooded area near the North Platte River. Scanner reports also indicated the Nebraska State Patrol could be used to dispatch an aircraft to help in the search.

Officers impounded the vehicle found at the convenience store.

Stay with starherald.com for more on this developing story. The Star-Herald will release details as they are provided.

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The University of Notre Dame issued a statement saying it is appalled that the suspect in the Buffalo grocery store shooting cited an article written by one of its professors in his diatribe before he killed 10 people.

Payton Gendron, 18, has been charged with murder and is being held without bail.

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In 2013, John Gaski, associate professor at Notre Dame, wrote a commentary titled A Discussion on Race, Crime and the Inconvenient Facts, where he makes claims of race-based rape and crime statistics but fails to cite where he got his information.

A group prays at the site of a memorial for the victims of the Buffalo supermarket shooting outside the Tops Friendly Market on May 21, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. (Joshua Bessex/AP)

A 180-page diatribe allegedly written by Gendron refers to one of the claims in Gaskis article and links to it. The diatribe, which officials are working on to verify its authenticity, repeatedly cites the great replacement theory, a conspiracy theory that falsely claims white people are being replaced.

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On May 14, Gendron allegedly went to a supermarket in a majority Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, and opened fire, killing 10 and injuring three, most of them Black. The mass shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.

The Notre Dame connection came to light after comedian Liz Hynes, a writer on the Last Week Tonight show, posted on Instagram and Twitter about the article.

a letter to the @NDSMCObserver re: a sitting @NotreDame professor's work being cited by a white supremacist mass shooter pic.twitter.com/mU9JQM7Gep  liz hynes (@anticapitalizm) May 17, 2022

In the article, Gaski wrote, Because the number of white-on-black rape is so low nationally in any given year, the ratio ranges from 100-to-1 to infinity. This is the part cited in the diatribe.

Gaski does not mention that rape and sexual violence are difficult to measure because the crime is underreported. He also provides only one citation throughout the article.

The article was written after George Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012, and it accuses prominent leaders, including Al Sharpton and Barack Obama, of race-baiting.

This petty, intellectually dishonest piece, dripping in racial animus, has forever linked the University of Notre Dame to a white supremacist murderer, Hynes wrote on her social media platforms three days after the mass shooting. No marketing on earth can undo that. But an acknowledgment would be a start.

On Thursday, Joel Curran, the universitys top spokesperson, issued the following statement from the university: We are appalled that a 2013 article by John Gaski, an associate professor at Notre Dame, was cited by the perpetrator of the heinous murders of innocent people in Buffalo. Whatever professor Gaskis intentions, we deeply regret that his words were used to support a doctrine of racial hatred. We urge all, at Notre Dame or elsewhere, to speak and act in ways that never give harbor to hatred and violence.

On Friday, Gaski issued his own statement, published on the universitys news webpage.

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It is sobering that a portion of an article I wrote in August 2013 was cited in the document composed by the Buffalo shooting suspect, Gaski wrote. It was, of course, never my intent to in any way incite violence  in fact, just the opposite. I also am appalled and deeply distressed that the information I provided is associated in any way with this young mans horrific actions.

An attempt to reach Gaski by phone was unsuccessful. He is listed as an associate professor of marketing in Notre Dames Mendoza College of Business directory. In response to a request for comment, a Mendoza college spokesperson referred the Tribune to the schools published statement.

scasanova@chicagotribune.com
By Norayr Nazaryan

NEWS.am STYLE offers you a retrospective look at the worthy film adaptations of 2021 events.

Capture of the US Capitol

On 6 January 2021, a crowd of protesters supporting the attempts of the 45th US President Donald Trump to cancel the result of the 2020 presidential election made an unauthorized entrance to the US Capitol by the authorities.

Quite pulls on the film adaptation in the genre of "political drama". In the center of the plot will be a young political strategist, from which the viewer will be shown the whole background of the electoral process in the United States with all its curious moments and manipulations, which eventually led to the storming of the Capitol building, the holy of holies of the democratic world.

For the main role, we suggest taking Miles Teller, who watched the movie " Whiplash" and will agree with us that there will be no problems in terms of acting.

The film director may be Ron Howard, who is an expert at such film screenings.

The Fall of Kabul

On 1 May 2021, the Taliban movement, together with its allies, launched a large-scale offensive, simultaneously with the withdrawal of most of the American troops from Afghanistan.

On 15 August 2021, as a result of an offensive operation against government forces, the Taliban seized the capital Kabul and thereby established its power in the country.

We offer a film in the genre of a military drama, where everything that happens will be presented to the viewer on behalf of two employees of the US embassy, who, contrary to the evacuation order, remained in the city and tried their best to help as many citizens as possible to leave the city.

We offer Matthew McConaughey and Dakota Fanning for the main roles. We are sure these actors will brilliantly embody the roles of the head of the department and his assistant in a very extreme situation.

Sam Mendes can become a director. Maestro Mendes is sure that he will be able to make a film on a par with Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down".

King

On 23 January 2021, journalism icon Larry King died at the age of 88.

The biography of Larry King is so extensive that you can even shoot a series based on it.

He conducted more than fifty thousand interviews with politicians, athletes, artists, and other celebrities during his career.

Not only the professional but also the personal life of King was very intense, the mere fact that he was married eight times is enough for a full-fledged film.

A biopic about King is simply necessary for the big screen because he is the personification of an entire era.

Who could play the main role is not so important, the main thing is that there should be similarity and artistry.

But David Fincher is obliged to sit on the director's chair.

To be continued

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The COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact Floyd County courts last week when positive tests cancelled a long-planned jury trial for Michael T. Duncan of Check.

After a member of the court clerks staff and an assistant prosecutor came down with the virus, Circuit Judge Mike Fleenor cancelled the trial on May 16 and ordered the courtroom to be deep cleaned.

Regularly scheduled hearings on May 17 were held with sentencings and pleas, including prison terms for Jason Phillip Greenhaugh of Riner for pointing a loaded pistol at a teenager before firing into the wall of their house.

Commonwealths Attorney Eric Branscom said Greenhaugh should serve significant time behind bars and said Greenhaughs term should exceed the Virginia Sentencing Guidelines.

In court, testimony reported Greenhaugh has a history of threats and assaults against family, especially when intoxicated.

Judge Fleenor followed the guidelines and imposed a prison sentence 10 years on the felony gun discharge of a firearm, five years for felony child endangerment and 12 months on two misdemeanors, all served concurrently.

The sentencing guidelines could give Greenhaugh a chance to leave prison after a year and a half of time with the remaining time imposed if he gets into trouble again.

In other hearings on May 17:

Zachery Michael Lovern of Indian Valley entered guilty pleas on a hit & run accident that injured a horse on the day after Christmas 2021 and received two six-month suspended sentences for animal cruelty and leaving the scene of the accident.

Melissa Gail Young of Indian Valley was given a 12-month suspended sentence for filing a false report, which brought a charge of obstructing justice.

Judge Fleenor set aside the dates of July 17-22 for a jury trial for Robert Joseph Gibbons, charged with murdering his father, Robert James Gibbons in 2014.

The elder Gibbons was reported missing in August of 2014 by his adult daughter, and his remains were found in August of 2020 on the family property on Lick Ridge Road. Charges of were filed after a Virginia State Police and Floyd County Sheriffs Office investigation.
Despite national record fuel prices, AAA projects millions of Americans will hit the highways during the long Memorial Day weekend.

AAA estimates more than 1.09 million Virginia residents and more than 800,000 Tennesseans will travel 50 miles or more from home over the three-day weekend, with about 90% planning to travel by road. More than 1.01 million Virginians and 740,000 Tennesseans traveled on Memorial Day weekend in 2021.

More Information For current information on fuel prices nationwide, visit: https://gasprices.aaa.com/.

While the increase in auto travel is notable given the pain at the pump, a sharp jump in air travel and travel by other modes of transportation suggests gas prices may be motivating some travelers to consider alternatives to driving, Morgan Dean, spokesperson for AAA Mid-Atlantic in Virginia, said in a written statement.

The national average price for regular unleaded gasoline was a new record $4.59 per gallon on Monday, up 47 cents from a month ago and $1.55 more than last year, according to AAA.

Virginias average was $4.46 on Monday, up 50 cents from last month and $1.52 more than a year ago.

Tennessees average price was somewhat less, at $4.28 per gallon, 43 cents higher than one month ago and $1.41 higher than one year ago, according to AAA.

Despite record-high gas prices, 35 million Americans  including nearly 1 million Virginians  are expected to hit the roads this Memorial Day weekend. Our roadways will be as crowded as they have been over the holiday since pre-pandemic, but airports, train stations and bus depots will also be extremely busy, so travelers should plan accordingly, Dean said.

In 2021, 36.2 million Americans traveled during the holiday weekend period, including 33.4 million by car. That compares to 42.8 million total and 37.6 million on U.S. highways in pre-pandemic 2019, according to AAA.

From May 26 through May 30, more than 39 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home, an increase of more than 8% over last year.

More than 3 million people plan to fly to their destination, about 25% more than last year but still below pre-pandemic air travel levels. More than 1.3 million people  a 200% increase over 2021  plan to travel by train, bus or cruise line.

Whether you will be driving, flying or taking some other mode of transportation over the holiday weekend, planning ahead is key to ensuring your best travel experience, Dean said.

Motorists are encouraged to make sure their vehicle is ready for summer driving, by checking the battery, fuel system, tires, brakes and all fluid levels.

In case of breakdown, motorists are urged to pack an emergency kit including a fully charged cellphone, additional cellphone charger, jumper cables, first aid kit, flare or flashlight with extra batteries, blankets, water, snacks and extra medicines.

Peak travel times are expected to be between 1-8 p.m. on Thursday, noon to 7 p.m. on Friday, 1 to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday and Monday, according to AAA. Expect lighter traffic levels early in the morning or after 9 p.m.

Anyone traveling by air is urged to check their flight status before going to the airport, arriving at least two hours early for domestic flights or three hours early for international flights. Review TSA guidelines for getting through security and pack accordingly. Also, remember that masks are still required in some airports and on some flights to international destinations.

AAA encourages all travelers to abide by CDC guidelines.
Patients, staff and volunteers all appeared pleased with the new location for the Remote Area Medical clinic at Emory & Henry College this weekend.

The hot weather Saturday and expected rain Sunday was mitigated by being able to conduct the clinic indoors. The space provided to the clinic was exceptional, according to coordinators the Rev. Harry Howe and Kim Faulkinbury.

Emory & Henrys really been gracious and worked hard to make it happen, Howe said Saturday, making their facilities available and working with us so we could get everything in to accommodate the changes that were required. So I think its going well.

Howe led the Smyth County RAM clinic for several years before moving to the E&H campus in Washington County this year.

Faulkinbury is clinic coordinator for RAM USA and has worked with the clinic locally since its inception.

We have been delighted to work with Emory & Henry, she said. Its been amazing. Theyve been incredibly accommodating with everything we need.

Faulkinbury said the clinic had a good number of patients this year providing them with dental, medical, vision and hearing services.

Services available at the clinic include dental cleanings, dental fillings, dental extractions, dental X-rays, eye exams, glaucoma testing, eyeglass prescriptions, eyeglasses made on-site, womens health exams and general medical exams. Free take-home colon cancer screening test kits were available, and vendors had set up to provide health care information.

Patient numbers were good, about as full as could be, Faulkinbury said.

COVID is still impacting the recruitment of volunteers, particularly in vision services, Faulkinbury said. There were no vision care providers Saturday. Sunday also provided limited service.

Howe said patient numbers are counted once the clinic is completed, so he didnt know Saturday how many had been seen, but that it had been a constant flow.

The move to E&H would be better over time, Howe said, as more patients become aware of the new location. Everything is contained in a smaller area with more space for each service that is both more accessible and easier to facilitate than at Mountain Empire Airport in Groseclose where RAM Smyth County originated, he said.

The airport was a great site, always so kind, but with the heat, it would be difficult outside, Faulkinbury said. Some years were exceptionally cold or rainy.

Emory & Henry would like to host it, Howe said of the RAM clinic, so the plan is to keep it at the main campus. Its a good partnership. Im hoping that is what will transpire.

Dates for next years event have been set with E&H, he said, and just have to be confirmed with RAM USA.

Another beneficial aspect of having the clinic at the college is student volunteers. Many of the colleges students in medical education, particularly those with the E&H College of Health Sciences in Marion, helped with the clinic, Howe said. Other colleges sending students included Howard University and University of Virginia.

Its been a wonderful experience, Ryan Boyer with the college said. We are certainly happy to help. Its along the lines of our mission. We would love to have RAM back next year.

In past years, RAM has attracted more than 1,000 patients seeking free care at the Smyth County clinic.

Volunteers for the clinic come from all around the area, including Washington, Smyth and Wythe counties.

Kristel Dunford of Wythe County said the patients she has helped have been incredibly grateful for the services.

Its something to be able to see them leave with a relief on their faces, Dunford said. I came to volunteer at the Emory & Henry clinic because it is close to my home area, and although I feel that there is a dire need for health care in rural communities all over the United States it is special to me to be able to come out today to give back to my community.

This is my first experience with the remote area medical and I know that it wont be my last because Ive had such a great experience, she said. The staff people are amazing to work with and the patients are so gracious.

Patrick Faulkinbury of Louisa, a dental X-ray supervisor, has worked with RAM clinics all over the area.

I am managing our X-ray area  getting images taken, he said. That way our dentists can practice safely.

I have lost count of how many clinics Ive done, he said. I do 12 to 15 a year. This location, Im loving [that] its inside. It may be warm this weekend, but were not getting cold wind and rain blowing on us at an airport.

Food is something else important at the clinic. Volunteers and staff were fed by E&H in the cafeteria while volunteers brought food for patients.

The Rev. Emily Edmondson along with David and Darlene Crank from Christ Episcopal Church in Marion were on hand to provide sandwiches, drinks and snacks to patients coming through the clinic. The church has been providing food since the clinic first started in Smyth County.

Weve been, I guess for the last seven years, weve been doing food for the patients, Edmondson said. But well feed anybody that comes by and wants something including the volunteers obviously. We just think its important that we have something the patients can take with them if they cant eat it because theyve had dental work. This is a mission now of our church.

The impact of COVID-19 was still in evidence this year as everyone coming through the clinic was screened and had to wear a mask indoors. The dental service area consisted of enclosed tents installed with controlled air circulation where patients received treatment and the tents could be cleaned between each patient.

Aaron Hinds, former promotions coordinator for the RAMUSA.org, said last year some of the measures implemented for the 2021 RAM clinics around the country may become permanent as the program moves forward through the pandemic.

In 2020, RAM developed a new way to reach patients through telehealth services connecting volunteer health care professionals with patients seeking services through free online appointments.

Founded in 1985, RAM has treated more than 888,000 individuals with $181.5 million worth of free health care and veterinary services. Since its foundation, nearly 183,000 volunteers comprised of licensed dental, vision, medical and veterinary professionals, as well as general support staff have supported RAMs mission.
Many of the Cowlitz County races that will appear on ballots this year are on far ends of the competitive spectrum.

The county sheriff, coroner and a county commissioner are facing challengers, but five other county positions have current incumbents running unopposed.

Unopposed candidates are County Assessor Emily Wilcox, Auditor Carolyn Fundingsland, Clerk Staci Myklebust, Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Jurvakainen and Treasurer Debra Gardner.

Four of the five incumbents ran unopposed for their positions in 2018 as well. Gardner was the only candidate to have a challenger that year, Karen Walker, who dropped out of the race in September.

Fundingsland, who oversees the county election process as auditor, said that roles like the one she holds may attract fewer outside challengers because they do not set policy. The unopposed county offices focus on enacting policies set by higher officials.

All the partisan county races will appear on the ballots in both the August primary and the November general election. The primary votes are only significant for races with more than two candidates, as they will narrow the field to the two with the most votes.

Running for the county positions also means paying for a campaign. There is a $998 filing fee to run for assessor, auditor, clerk or treasurer in Cowlitz County. The filing fee for the prosecuting attorney is $1,805, which is higher than the fee to run as a Congressional representative.

Washington state law sets the filing fees at 1% of the annual salary for the elected offices. Candidates can file for a petition waiving the fee by gathering one signature for every dollar included in the fee.

All five of the unopposed candidates identified as Independents when they filed with the Washington Secretary of States office this year. Myklebust and Gardner had both identified as Democrats during the 2018 election cycle.

Contested races

The recently-appointed Cowlitz County Commissioner John Jabusch is running against Christie Masters and Rick Dahl to keep his seat. Dahl and Masters were two of the finalists for the commissioner seat last year but the Cowlitz County commissioners were unable to agree on a selection before the deadline. Jabusch was appointed to the seat by Gov. Jay Inslee.

Brad Thurman is running for a second term as Cowlitz County Sheriff against Rob Gibbs and Robert Lundine.

The other competitive race for a county position is the vote for coroner, where incumbent Tim Davidson will be running against Dana Tucker, the chief deputy coroner for Lewis County.

The deadline for candidates to submit information about themselves for the voters pamphlet is Friday.

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Jazz Frazier always kept busy during high school. He didnt mind.

Ive always been drawn to helping and wanting to do more in my school, said Frazier, weeks away from earning his diploma from Mark Morris High School. I remember when I was smaller I always wanted to help the teacher and even now there are times when my teacher is passing out papers and Im like, Can I pass the rest out?

Drum major in the Mark Morris High School marching band, Frazier stood as one of three people who directed the rest of the band. As a senior, his role as Associated Student Body activities coordinator meant keeping a calendar of assemblies and other events.

A seat on Longview School Districts equity committee saw Frazier, as a student representative, reporting on some of the experiences he had at Mark Morris and ways they could improve diversity and racial equality.

He was homecoming king, a varsity javelin and discus thrower, a member of Longviews National Honor Society chapter, and he helped coordinate school food drives. Hes even performed across the state at high school band festivals.

Jazz Frazier Age: 17. Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska. Parent: Regina Frazier. Plans: Going to WSU Vancouver studying social science. If you could talk to anyone, living or dead, who would it be? "I would talk to Michelle Obama." Final meal: "A nice and big T-bone steak and baked potato and steamed spinach, with a thick piece of red velvet cake for desert." Secret talent: "I can play the drums."

That work ethic drove him to choose a social sciences major when he goes to Washington State University Vancouver this fall.

Eventually, Frazier said he wants to go to law school to become a prosecuting attorney and eventually sit in the judges chambers.

Someone told me once, You know, youre really good at arguing, and I was like, You know, youre absolutely right, Frazier said.

Regan Huffman, band director at Mark Morris who also taught Frazier at Cascade Middle School, said Frazier brought a natural confidence and sense of humor to every performance.

He comes in front of a group and has no hesitation about leading, which is kind of unusual especially at that age, Huffman said. But he is so comfortable in that role.

In his final year, Frazier and his bandmates participated in the Washington Music Educators Association regional contest, in which they performed pieces for three judges in Centralia.

Frazier remembers this as the day when half the band lost their music and had to play from memory. Huffman remembers this as the day they got the highest possible score for a high school band  a superior rating.

Hes one of those people you know is going to be successful no matter what, Huffman said.

Before leaving, Frazier said he learned the most about himself in his leadership roles. Student council was essential in putting on assemblies and events for the school, but it was the classroom activities Frazier enjoyed the most.

We did workshops in the classroom for vulnerability, and I learned connection building, which is something I do in my own life now, Frazier said. Being your true, authentic self is the best way.

Frazier moved to Longview from Anchorage, Alaska when he was 10. He has an older brother who is 12 years older and often acted as a father figure, Frazier said.

His grandparents, pastors at Longview House of Prayer for All Nations, supported Frazier in his dreams, and Frazier said his mother inspired him to do well academically. Now that hes going to WSU Vancouver, Frazier said he is happy to be leaving the nest.

I look at the last four years and, yes, two of them were impacted by COVID, but I had a lot of fun, Frazier said. And my family was always there helping me along so I could get through it all.

Stand-out Grad is an annual series featuring local public high school seniors who have overcome hardships big and small before graduation. The series will run through early June, prior to schools graduation ceremonies.

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In just two days, this almost two kilometers wide potentially hazardous asteroid will come dangerously close to the Earth, says NASA. Will it hit? Find out

NASA: So far, the year 2022 has been filled with astronomical surprises. We ended the previous month with a total solar eclipse and we close the month of May with a gigantic asteroid making a close approach towards the Earth. The situation is concerning as the asteroid is 1.8-kilometers wide. For a visual reference, that is more than twice the size of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. And if it were to deviate towards our planet, it would easily cause a global disaster. With just two days remaining, are there any chances of risk associated with this asteroid? Are we in any danger of an asteroid strike? Read on to find out. Also read: NASA solar sails could take science to new heights

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is an arm of NASA, has revealed that the asteroid is named 1989 JA and it is 3,400-feet or 1.8 kilometers wide. The asteroid is expected to make its closest approach to the Earth at a distance of 40,24,182 kilometers on May 27th. While this may look like a large distance to cover, due to its high speed, it can be covered in a matter of hours. Due to its close proximity to the Earth, the asteroid has been classified as a Near-Earth object or NEO. Scientists from various agencies are monitoring the asteroid flight path to ensure that it does not come close to us. Fortunately, at the moment, it is expected that the asteroid will make a safe passage and is not likely to impact.

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NASA: 1.8-km wide asteroid will approach the Earth on May 27

The asteroid has been labeled as a potentially hazardous asteroid. This label has been given to it due to the combination of its size and its proximity to Earth. Asteroids that are larger than a certain size and cross the orbit of the Earth at least once are placed into this category. While the asteroid takes just 2.35 years to complete an orbit around the Sun, it will not make its next close approach to the Earth till May 29, 2029. Also read: The most spectacular meteor shower in years to take place on this date

Because of how rare this occurrence is, NASA will be hosting a live stream of this event on its YouTube channel. If you want to watch it, you can just click here. The stream will go live at 4:30 AM IST on May 27.
The US and Japan agreed to work to put the first Japanese astronaut on the moon, accompanied by an American astronaut, as the longtime allies develop a partnership aimed at countering China.

The US and Japan agreed to work to put the first Japanese astronaut on the moon, accompanied by an American astronaut, as the longtime allies develop a partnership aimed at countering China.

The two countries said in a joint statement theyd collaborate on human and robotic moon missions including a shared ambition to see a future Japanese astronaut on the lunar surface, with a goal of signing an implementation agreement this year.

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Following a meeting Monday in Tokyo between President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the countries also said they are committed to a Japanese astronaut opportunity on the Gateway, a human outpost in the lunar vicinity, as part of expanding Artemis collaboration.

The joint lunar exploration development ties into the Artemis project, a US-led effort to return astronauts to the moon and eventually send humans to Mars.

US-Japanese space cooperation is taking off, looking toward the moon and to Mars, Biden said Monday at a press conference with Kishida.

Im excited about the work we will do together on the Gateway Station around the moon and look forward to the first Japanese astronaut joining us in the mission to the lunar surface, under the Artemis program, he added.

The US and Japan are seeking to work more closely on space exploration after NASA officials warned of growing tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Mondays news comes amid the race to start extracting potentially hundreds of billions of dollars worth of resources on the moon and elsewhere.

The moon may contain large amounts of helium-3, an isotope potentially useful as an alternative to uranium for nuclear power plants because its not radioactive. Experts believe 5,000 tons of coal could be replaced by about three tablespoons of helium-3.

The geopolitics of space mirrors the competition between the US and its allies against China and Russia. The worlds top superpowers have been struggling to agree upon a common set of rules to govern the next generation of space activity.

Japan and South Korea are among 19 countries that have agreed to support the Artemis Accords, a non-legally binding set of principles for exploration of the moon, Mars and beyond.

But China and Russia have led opposition to the accords. They are jointly promoting an alternative project on the moon they say is open to all other countries: the International Lunar Research Station.

Japan itself has one of the worlds most advanced space programs, and in 2020 the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency succeeded in bringing back material from an asteroid using the unmanned Hayabusa2 probe.

About a dozen Japanese nationals have experienced space travel, putting the country roughly even with China, Germany and France, but far behind the US and Russia in the global rankings. The countrys space budget jumped by more than 20% to about 450 billion yen ($3.5 billion) last year.

The lack of cooperation between the US and China on space exploration is particularly dangerous in an era where the cosmos are becoming more crowded, and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are increasingly launching satellites to delve into commercial opportunities.

Japanese e-commerce billionaire Yusaku Maezawa spent time on the International Space Station last year in preparation for becoming the first private passenger on a planned trip around the moon on Musks SpaceX in 2023. No Japanese citizens have actually landed on the moon.

NASA in April conducted tests for the launch of Artemis I, a fully robotic mission to the moon -- the first since Apollo 17 in 1972. China is swiftly moving toward a goal of matching US capabilities. China is the only country to operate its own space station, and last year became only the second nation after the US to land a rover on Mars.

US legislation first passed in 2011 prevents NASA from most interactions with its Chinese counterpart, and the US has blocked China from taking part in the International Space Station -- a move that simply prompted Beijing to build its own.
Illustration of TBIRD downlinking data over lasers links to Optical Ground Station 1 in California. (Not drawn to scale). Credit: NASA/Dave Ryan

NASA's Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3) mission, carrying the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system, will debut on May 25 as part of SpaceX's Transporter-5 rideshare launch. TBIRD will showcase the high-data-rate capabilities of laser communications from a CubeSat in low-Earth orbit. At 200 gigabits per second (Gbps), TBIRD will downlink data at the highest optical rate ever achieved by NASA.

NASA primarily uses radio frequency to communicate with spacecraft, but with sights set on human exploration of the Moon and Mars and the development of enhanced scientific instruments, NASA needs more efficient communications systems to transmit significant amounts of data. With more data, researchers can make profound discoveries. Laser communications substantially increases data transport capabilities, offering higher data rates and more information packed into a single transmission.

"TBIRD is a game changer and will be very important for future human exploration and science missions," said Andreas Doulaveris, TBIRD's mission systems engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

With a single seven-minute pass at 200 Gbps, TBIRD will send back terabytes of data and give NASA more insight into the capabilities of laser communications. The addition of laser communications to spacecraft is similar to switching from dial-up to high-speed internet.

"As future science instruments and imaging systems incorporate the latest technology advancements, they'll return very large volumes of data on a daily basis," said Jason Mitchell, Director of the Advanced Communications and Navigation Technology division within NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program. "These missions will need the downlink capabilities that laser communications can provide."

The TBIRD system, funded by SCaN and built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, is about the size of a tissue box and is integrated into PTD-3, a CubeSat that is the size of two stacked cereal boxes.

The Small Spacecraft Technology program at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley manages the PTD mission series. The PTD series leverages a common commercial spacecraft to provide a robust platform for effective testing of technologies with minimal redesign in between launches.

"Small spacecraft continue to prove themselves vital building blocks for larger, more complicated missions," said Roger Hunter, program manager for Small Spacecraft Technology at Ames. "We are pushing the envelope by increasing the pace of subsystem technology demonstrations through the innovations of our industry partners."

Historically, most new spacecraft missions have required custom spacecraft designs based on the requirements of their payloads. This step is as costly and complex as redesigning a car every time a person needs to travel. Each PTD mission uses the same spacecraft bus and avionics platform designs with the goal of increasing efficiency and reducing the amount of time required for mission planning and design.

Terran Orbital of Irvine, California, provides the spacecraft, integrates the payload, and operates PTD missions. This approach allows the PTD series to rapidly and affordably demonstrate new subsystem technologies for increasing small spacecraft capabilities.

In addition to being on a standardized commercial spacecraft, TBIRD was also built from existing commercial, telecommunications hardware products that were modified for the extreme environment of space. Leveraging existing components increases efficiency and creates cost savings.

In the course of the mission, PTD-3 will demonstrate highly stable body pointing, meaning the spacecraft can be precisely directed toward the ground station to facilitate TBIRD's downlink demonstration. TBIRD's streamlined design does not contain any moving mechanisms, so the spacecraft's pointing ability enables the laser communications telescope's connection from space to ground. TBIRD's ground station is in Table Mountain, California, and is managed by NASA's Jet Proplusion Laboratory in Southern California.

During TBIRD's six-month operations, NASA and its partners will gather as much information as possible about laser communications functionality on small satellites. PTD-3 will launch as soon as May 25, 2022, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on SpaceX's Transporter-5 rideshare mission, which will use a Falcon 9 rocket to launch multiple CubeSats.

Together, PTD-3 and TBIRD have the capacity to help NASA make giant leaps in the advancement of space technology for laser communications and the overall utility of small spacecraft to support exploration and science goals.

A second, separate technology demonstration supported by NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology program will also be aboard the Transporter-5 launch: the CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration, which will demonstrate rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking using two 3-unit CubeSats.

Explore further A CubeSat is flying to the moon to make sure Lunar Gateway's orbit is stable
Workflow and example usage. (A) The GAN pipeline. (B) The Wasserstein distance reduces when training epochs increase and the generated images at different training epochs. (C) Examples of generated western blot images. (D) Examples of generated esophageal cancer images. (E) The synthetic images from GAN have more high-frequency parts than the real images. Credit: Patterns (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.patter.2022.100509

A small team of researchers at Xiamen University has expressed alarm at the ease with which bad actors can now generate fake AI imagery for use in research projects. They have published an opinion piece outlining their concerns in the journal Patterns.

When researchers publish their work in established journals, they often include photographs to show the results of their work. But now the integrity of such photographs is under assault by certain entities who wish to circumvent standard research protocols. Instead of generating photographs of their actual work, they can instead generate them using artificial-intelligence applications. Generating fake photographs in this way, the researchers suggest, could allow miscreants to publish research papers without doing any real research.

To demonstrate the ease with which fake research imagery could be generated, the researchers generated some of their own using a generative adversarial network (GAN), in which two systems, one a generator, the other a discriminator, attempt to outcompete one another in creating a desired image. Prior research has shown that the approach can be used to create images of strikingly realistic human faces. In their work, the researchers generated two types of images. The first kind were of a western blotan imaging approach used for detecting proteins in a blood sample. The second was of esophageal cancer images. The researchers then presented the images they had created to biomedical specialiststwo out of three were unable to distinguish them from the real thing.

The researchers note that it is likely possible to create algorithms that can spot such fakes, but doing so would be stop-gap at best. New technology will likely emerge that could overcome detection software, rendering it useless. The researchers also note that GAN software is readily available and easy to use, and has therefore likely already been used in fraudulent research papers. They suggest that the solution lies with the organizations that publish research papers. To maintain integrity, publishers must prevent artificially generated images from showing up in work published in their journals.

Explore further Detecting fake face images created by both humans and machines

More information: Liansheng Wang et al, Deepfakes: A new threat to image fabrication in scientific publications? Patterns (2022). Liansheng Wang et al, Deepfakes: A new threat to image fabrication in scientific publications?(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.patter.2022.100509

 2022 Science X Network
WASHINGTON  Texas asked a federal judge on Monday to block a Biden administration overhaul of asylum processing at the border just days before the rule is set to take effect, a move the Justice Department criticized as gamesmanship.

The Biden administration wants more time to defend the new rule that is set to start phasing in on May 31, in the latest legal clash with a Republican-led state over changes to immigration policies.

The rule, finalized in late March, would allow asylum officers to approve migrants claims for protection after they cross the border, rather than sending all asylum-seekers into the backlogged immigration court system for judges to approve their claims.

The state of Texas filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the rule on April 28. But the state did not submit its request for the court to halt the rule until Monday  just eight days before the policy is slated to take effect.

That same day, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ordered the federal government to respond to the states 39-page filing by Thursday night  just three days later. The Trump appointee also ordered Texas to file its reply the next day, potentially teeing up a ruling ahead of the May 31 implementation date.

The Justice Department, in a filing later Monday, accused Texas of deliberately waiting to file its motion to gain an advantage in court, and urged Kacsmaryk to reconsider his briefing schedule to give the government more time to respond.

Requiring the government to respond in three days would reward Texass gamesmanship in delaying their motion until the last minute and would significantly prejudice Defendants ability to respond, government lawyers wrote in a Monday filing. And Texas cannot claim to be harmed by any delay that was of its own making, the department said.

Further, the government cannot respond properly to Texas motion until the court has ruled whether this court is the correct venue for the case, the Justice Department wrote. The department filed a motion nearly a month ago arguing that all lawsuits challenging how migrants are processed must be argued in D.C. federal court and Kacsmaryk has not ruled on that.

The government asked the judge to give it until June 3 to fully compile the administrative record, and until June 10 to respond to Texas motion.

The contested policy was issued jointly by the Homeland Security and Justice departments in late March in an effort to speed up asylum processing at the Southwest border, which has seen increasing levels of migrations over the past year.

Currently, individuals who request asylum or other protection receive an initial evaluation from an asylum officer, but then must fight their cases in immigration court, where they could wait years for final decisions. According to a Syracuse University research center, the immigration court backlog has stretched past 1.8 million cases.

But under the upcoming rule, individuals making claims for protections could have their cases approved by asylum officers within 90 days and without ever having to step foot in a courtroom. Those whose asylum claims are denied by immigration officers could still appeal those denials in immigration court.

Texas said in its April lawsuit that the policy unconstitutionally upends the entire adjudicatory system to the benefit of aliens.

Though the final rule takes effect May 31, it wont be implemented across the border immediately. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters earlier this month the department will be upscaling the implementation over time.

What we are talking about is delivering justice quickly, not compromising due process, Mayorkas said.

The government lawyers argued Monday that the phased implementation will minimize any harms Texas would face by extending the case beyond May 31.

They noted that in addition to starting with smaller groups of migrants, DHS wont be able to fully implement the rule until it has hired and trained more asylum officers, a process that may take months, the filing states.

Other challenges

The lawsuit is the latest challenge brought by Republican officials against Biden administration efforts to reverse the prior administrations immigration policies.

Texas and other states have previously sued the Biden administration over its memo to narrow immigration enforcement priorities, to lift a pandemic-era border expulsion policy and to end a policy requiring migrants to wait in Mexico for decisions in their U.S. immigration cases.

In the latter case, Kacsmaryk ordered the administration to revive the so-called Remain in Mexico program, and that case is now pending before the Supreme Court.

The Biden administration is also facing a second lawsuit in Louisiana federal court brought by a coalition of states against the asylum officer rule, where briefing deadlines are set throughout the month of June.
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Ashley Lothrop has known she would be a nurse ever since she was a child.

Even though other family members have gone into nursing and health care, her grandmother was mostly my inspiration for entering the profession.

My grandma was a nurse and growing up, she would tell me all the stories of what its like to be a nurse. I would play with her stethoscope whenever I visited her, recalled Lothrop, now an emergency room nurse for CHI Health St. Francis.

Lothrop got her entire nursing education from the College of St. Mary in Omaha, receiving her licensed piratical nurse license in 2016.

I did home health care for two years (for Craig HomeCare, Pediatrics) and transitioned into the ER.

Like many nurses, Lothrop started work before completing all her degrees. She transitioned to the ER while simultaneously becoming a registered nurse through the College of St. Mary bachelors degree program. She earned her bachelors degree in 2019.

During that time, her weekdays were filled with college studies. Weekends were spent working as a tech in the ER.

Lothrop is still studying, accumulating her clinical hours so she can also work in the ER as a licensed sexual assault nurse examiner, starting sometime in 2023.

Lothrop always believed she wanted to work in an emergency room, but an internship as a student nurse in the CHI Health St. Francis ER cemented her decision. She loved the variety of cases that ranged from expectant mothers to traffic accident victims, heart attack patients and stroke victims ranging in age from pediatric to geriatric.

I guess I really like the adrenaline rush.

There are other times in her work when Lothrop draws on compassion, not adrenaline. Medical emergencies often mean a crowd of people gathered in the waiting room under a cloud of concern for the patient in the ER.

Whenever I get the chance and I can see they are religious or praying already, I offer to pray with them.

Keeping a busy schedule is a legacy from Lothrops grandmother. She had eight children and worked nights at the local hospital (St. Paul.)

Her grandmother earned her degree from St. Francis School of Nursing in Grand Island.

Her graduation picture is in the hallway connecting the ER to the rest of the hospital, so I get to see her every day at work, Lothrop said of her grandmother.

Lothrop, a wife and a mother of an 18-month-old boy, certainly keeps busy. She also has other relatives in her ER co-workers.

Weve kind of created a family because what we see can be very difficult. Once you witness a code or death, it kind of bonds you.

On the other hand, when the ER staff saves a patient whom they were almost certain was not going to survive, it creates an even deeper bond.

Lothrop has discovered a saying that reveals her philosophy on being an ER nurse.

Everyone wants to be the sun so they can shine on your brightest day, but why not be the moon so you can shine on someones darkest hour.
A 17-year-old Grand Island female died of a drug overdose over the weekend, the Grand Island Police Department reported.

The death was reported on Sunday. The teens body was discovered in a Grand Island home. Grand Island police didnt release the exact address of the house because its an open investigation.

However, Jim Duering, a GIPD captain, said the house is in the southest part of the city.

Police did not recover any of the drugs they believe were used. But it appears the female voluntarily used what she believed to be fentanyl-laced Xanax, Duering said.
OMAHA -- The Douglas County Treasurers Office miscalculated distributions of millions of dollars in revenue in 2021, resulting in overpayments to the Omaha Public Schools, the City of Omaha and Douglas County and underpayments to four other local school districts, the Nebraska State Auditors Office has concluded.

Even though his office had done the calculations the same way, apparently unchallenged, for 61 years, Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing said Monday that he agrees with the auditors conclusions. This year, he said, he changed how the distributions are calculated.

The issue involves an apparently recent interpretation of state statute that spells out how counties with more than one school district within a single city are supposed to distribute annual payments that the Omaha Public Power District makes in lieu of property taxes. Its an issue that arose last year in Sarpy County and is the subject of litigation.

According to a letter from Nebraska State Auditor Charlie Janssens office made public Monday, the Douglas County treasurer in April 2021 overpaid the Omaha Public Schools by about $5.7 million, the City of Omaha by about $4.4 million and Douglas County by about $2.7 million. The treasurer underpaid the Elkhorn Public Schools by about $4.2 million, Ralston Public Schools by about $4 million, Westside Community Schools by about $3.7 million and Millard Public Schools by about $820,000, according to the letter. The treasurer also underpaid the City of Ralston by $945, says the letter, signed by Deputy Auditor Craig Kubicek.

The money comes from payments, known as payments in lieu of taxes, that state law requires OPPD to make. The publicly owned utility is required to pay 5% of its gross revenue from electricity sales. The Douglas County treasurer should have included the levies of all the school districts within Omaha when it calculated the distributions, the state auditors letter said.

Instead, the County Treasurer started the calculation by using only the Omaha Public School District levies to determine the amount to be disbursed to the five school districts within the City of Omaha, the letter said. This incorrect amount was then divided among the five school districts based on the student census percentages that are also used for the distribution of city fines.

Ewing said Douglas County treasurers had calculated the distributions of OPPD payments the same way for 61 years.

Since 1960, there was an interpretation by the previous treasurers that the distribution method that we were using was the correct interpretation of the state statute, Ewing said.

In 2019, he said, he sent a couple of his staff to training on the issue put on by the Nebraska Association of County Officials and the state auditor. They concluded they were doing it correctly.

As we looked at what was happening in Sarpy County, we decided to do a more in-depth review of this process and came to the same determination that the State Auditors Office did, Ewing said. And were in the process of correcting the distribution for 2022, and that distribution was made on May 13. It was done according to this new corrected formula.

He said his office did a proactive approach to it and reviewed the state statutes and made the determination that we needed to correct the distribution process.

The state auditor in 2021 found that the Sarpy County treasurer had similarly miscalculated distribution of OPPD payments from 2018 to 2020, resulting in overpayments to some school districts and underpayments to others. The Omaha, Gretna, Millard and Platteview school districts are suing the Sarpy County treasurer. A hearing is scheduled for May 31.

The Omaha Public Schools was underpaid by $1.4 million by the Sarpy treasurer, according to the lawsuit. The Millard Public Schools missed out on $2.3 million payment. The lawsuit alleges the Gretna Public Schools was underpaid by $721,774, while the Platteview Community Schools didnt receive $1.9 million in funds.

The Bellevue Public Schools was also reportedly overpaid by more than $2.3 million, and the Papillion-La Vista Community Schools received $946,054 more than it was supposed to receive, according to the lawsuit.

The audit of Douglas Countys distribution of OPPD payments came about because of the Sarpy County findings, Kubicek said.

In Douglas County, the change in how the distributions are calculated this year has led to shortfalls in what some government subdivisions were expecting. Douglas County was expecting $4 million from the OPPD payments this year, but instead received $2.6 million, said Joe Lorenz, the countys finance director. The City of Omaha received about $5 million less than projected for 2022, City Finance Director Steve Curtiss said.

The finance directors and Ewing said they had not heard yet that underpaid governments are seeking to recover money. It will be up to those entities to decide whether to pursue that, Ewing said.
NEW YORK (AP)  Margaret Atwood has imagined apocalyptic disaster, Dystopian government and an author faking her own death. But until recently she had spared herself the nightmare of trying to burn one of her own books.

With a flamethrower, no less.

She failed, and that was the point.

On Monday night, timed for PEN America's annual gala, Atwood and Penguin Random House announced that a one-off, unburnable edition of "The Handmaid's Tale" would be auctioned through Sotheby's New York. They launched the initiative with a brief video that shows Atwood attempting in vain to incinerate her classic novel about a totalitarian patriarchy, the Republic of Gilead. Proceeds will be donated to PEN, which advocates for free expression around the world.

"In the category of things you never expected, this is one of them," she said in a telephone interview.

"To see her classic novel about the dangers of oppression reborn in this innovative, unburnable edition is a timely reminder of what's at stake in the battle against censorship," Markus Dohle, CEO of Penguin Random House, said in a statement.

The fireproof narrative is a joint project among PEN, Atwood, Penguin Random House and two companies based in Toronto, where Atwood is a longtime resident: the Rethink creative agency and The Gas Company Inc., a graphic arts and bookbinding specialty studio.

Rethink's Robbie Percy said that he and fellow creative director Caroline Friesen came up with the idea. Late last year, they had heard about a Texas legislator who listed hundreds of works for potential banning from school libraries: Percy and Friesen wondered if it were possible to make a book protected from the most harrowing censorship. They soon agreed on "The Handmaid's Tale," which came out in the 1980s and has had renewed attention over the past few years, beginning with the political rise and unexpected presidency of Donald Trump and continuing with the current surge of book bannings.

"We thought an unburnable copy of 'Handmaid's Tale' could serve as a symbol," he said.

Percy and Friesen spoke with Atwood's publishers in Canada and the U.S.  both divisions of Penguin Random House  and got in touch with the author. They then contacted Gaslight, which has worked on numerous commissioned texts, including some for PEN.

The Gas Company's principal owner, Doug Laxdal, told the AP that instead of paper, he and his colleagues used Cinefoil, a specially treated aluminum product. The 384-page text, which can be read like an ordinary novel, took more than two months to complete. The Gas Company needed days just to print out the manuscript; the Cinefoil sheets were so thin that some would fall through cracks in the printer and become damaged beyond repair. The manuscript was then sewed together by hand, using nickel copper wire.

"The only way you could destroy that book is with a shredder," Laxdal says. "Otherwise, it will last for a very long time."

Atwood told the AP that she was was immediately interested in the special edition, and in making the video. She was a teenager in the 1950s, when Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" was published, and holds vivid memories of the novel's futuristic setting, in which books are reduced to ashes.

"The Handmaid's Tale" has never been burned, as far as Atwood knows, but has often been subjected to bans or attempted bans. Atwood remembers a 2006 effort in one Texas high school district, when the superintendent called her book "sexually explicit and offensive to Christians," that ended when students successfully fought back. In 2021, "The Handmaid's Tale" was pulled by schools in Texas and Kansas.

The novel has sold millions of copies and its impact is not just through words, but images, amplified by the award-winning Hulu adaptation starring Elisabeth Moss. Advocates worldwide for women's rights have dressed in the puritanical caped robes Atwood devised for her story. Most recently, some women in handmaid outfits marched to protest the Supreme Court's expected overturning this year of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

"It's an unforgettable visual metaphor," Atwood said. "That's why people in the middle ages put coats of arms on their armor, and had recognizable flags. That way you can visualize them and know who's standing for what."

___

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CARBONDALE  During its regular meeting, Carbondale City Council spent more than an hour hearing from citizens on the possibility of an abortion clinic coming to Carbondale.

The crowd was so large the council meeting was postponed while city workers opened up an additional room on the north side of the civic center so that everyone could have room to sit down during the meeting.

Mayor Mike Henry asked the group to have four or five speakers, and the council would allow others to stand in support.

Most of the residents spoke out against an abortion clinic coming to Carbondale.

Jared Sparks, pastor of Christ Church and a self-proclaimed advocate of women, spoke first. The Bible is clear that a baby is a baby inside or outside the womb, Sparks said.

Judith Zanotti spoke about the dangers and side effects of abortion.

John Gossett, a member of Franklin County Board, told the council they had passed a referendum in Franklin County saying they did not support abortion. He asked Carbondale to do the same.

Regina Harp told the council she had given birth to a baby who had died. She received a death certificate from the State of Illinois for that child even though she had not lived outside her womb.

At least seven or eight people spoke against the abortion clinic.

Two women who were birth doulas spoke in favor of an abortion clinic coming to Carbondale. One of them was Chastity Mays. Mays spoke about racism in health care and the high incidence of poor outcomes for mothers of color in Illinois.

My sisters are dying in childbirth and not being listened to and not being heard, Mays said.

It is important to note that the city council did not have any items on its agenda.

A couple of other residents spoke on other issues.

Mayor Henry told those at the meeting that there was nothing the city council could do to stop an abortion clinic from coming to Carbondale.

There is nothing this council can do to stop this clinic from coming here. We got a legal opinion and the city attorney agrees."

Councilman Adam Loos spoke in favor of the clinic. He said a local church had tipped off a local television network saying the council would vote on the clinic at the meeting. "We have no legal remedy. Even if we did, I couldn't support it," Loos said.

Councilwoman Ginger Rye-Sanders spoke against the clinic. "I believe even though we don't have a lot to do with this, Carbondale will do the right thing," she said.

While the meeting was going on inside the Carbondale Civic Center, a group was having a prayer meeting outside near the parking lot.

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A St. Matthews man with a long criminal history has been sentenced to federal prison.

Jerry Jarell McKnight, Jr., 28, of St. Matthews, has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

McKnight pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Evidence presented in court showed that on Jan. 6, 2019, a Santee Police officer spotted a vehicle traveling on U.S. Highway 15 allegedly speeding and committing various traffic violations.

The officer conducted a traffic stop. He claimed that he smelled marijuana as he approached the vehicle.

The officer conducted a search.

He claimed that he found methamphetamine packaged in numerous types of packaging consistent with distribution, a digital scale, and a loaded Springfield Armory .40-caliber pistol on McKnight, a passenger in the vehicle.

An analysis conducted by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division determined that McKnights DNA was on the firearm and its magazine, and McKnight appeared to make admissions related to the firearm and drug distribution on recorded jail calls, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Evidence presented also indicated that McKnight had numerous prior felony convictions, including a 10-year sentence for first-degree assault and battery in connection with an Orangeburg County shooting.

He also had convictions for accessory after the fact of a felony, in which a person was shot and killed in Orangeburg County; accessory after the fact of a felony, in which a person was shot and killed in Orangeburg County; as well as convictions related to drug possession, burglary and shoplifting.

U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced McKnight to 77 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of court ordered supervision.

There is no parole in the federal system.

The court revoked McKnights credit for acceptance of responsibility due to conduct following his guilty plea, including numerous frivolous court filings and making claims inconsistent with acceptance of responsibility. Hes appealing the sentence.

This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state and local Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justices violent crime reduction efforts. PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Santee Police Department, the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office, and SLED. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott B. Daniels prosecuted the case.

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NOTE: This editorial was written before the school shootings in Texas on Tuesday.

South Carolinians cringe at the mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y.

The suspect in the case is an avowed white supremacist. With the 18-year-old killing 10 people and injuring others at a Buffalo supermarket, his actions are a horrible reminder of the killings of Black church-goers in 2015 at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

The Buffalo suspect goes so far as to have stated that he was inspired by Dylann Roof, the man in prison for killing nine at Emanuel AME.

The events in Buffalo have sparked all kinds of words and actions. Notably, politicians and others from President Joe Biden on down, and news media, have been reporting on Buffalo as an example of domestic terrorism and a hate crime. Then by extension, they call white supremacy the biggest internal threat to America today. They call for action to stop the evil of white supremacy.

But a focus on white supremacy alone as the underlying reason for mass shootings is failing to address what is happening in America.

Buffalo is the deadliest mass shooting to date in 2022 -- BUT it represents the 198th mass shooting of the year, roughly 10 a week.

The tally of mass shootings as reported by NPR comes from the Gun Violence Archive, an independent data-collection organization. The group defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed, excluding the shooter.

Many of the incidents get far less media focus than has Buffalo, including one that occurred in Las Vegas just a day after. There an Asian man, who was stopped before he could kill or injure more people, killed one person and is accused of trying to kill five others. He was allegedly motivated by political tensions between Taiwan and China.

South Carolina, too, has been touched by mass shootings.

On Easter weekend, gunfire erupted at a mall in Columbia. Nine people were shot and five people sustained other kinds of injuries while trying to flee the scene. Miraculously no one was killed in an incident that authorities contend originated in a conflict between the alleged shooters.

Then a nightclub shooting spree in Hampton County resulted in the wounding of at least nine people.

And on the same weekend, two minors were killed and 31 people were wounded in a mass shooting in Pittsburgh at a party.

Prior to the Buffalo attack, the largest-scale mass shooting this year as defined by the Gun Violence Archive was at a car show in Dumas, Ark., on March 19. That attack killed one person and injured 27  and originated from a gunfight between individuals.

Many mass shootings have nothing to do with racism or hate. They involve criminal activity of the type that is seeing violent crime in the country reach unprecedented levels. Whether from an avowed white supremacist, someone looking for payback or revenge, or someone engaged in criminal behavior, bullets are just as deadly.

Lets be clear, with the FBI reporting that hate crimes in the U.S. rose a year ago to their highest level in 12 years, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is right to make domestic terrorism and racially based hate crimes a top priority for the Justice Department.

But the focus on hate alone is not enough. Stopping mass shootings of all types must be a top priority. And that means more than addressing gun availability. Violent criminals have to be removed from the streets.

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BILLINGS  The Montana Supreme Court has ruled against state utility regulators and NorthWestern Energy for requiring a wind farm developer to pay $267 million to connect to NorthWesterns transmission system.

Consolidated Edison Development planned to build wind farms in Wheatland, Pondera and Teton counties with NorthWestern Energy as its target customer under a 44-year-old law requiring the utilities to purchase power from small generators.

Those plans ran aground when NorthWestern chose to bill CED $267 million for network upgrades. After the Montana Public Service Commission sided with the utility, CED sued. What followed was the latest case against regulators and the states largest monopoly utility concerning the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, or PURPA. The law requires utilities to buy power from qualifying alternative energy facilities, complete with contract lengths set by states, and as well as regulator-established rates for the smallest projects.

Commissioners have repeatedly imposed conditions on renewable energy businesses that violate PURPA law. The commission has created shorter contract lengths and pricing terms that made solar projects uneconomical, and even suspended PURPA hookup laws in Montana at the utilitys request.

In the latest case, Montanas Supreme Court ruled that the commission erred in requiring CED to pay for upgrades to NorthWesterns transmission system. The costs went beyond what could reasonably be considered CEDs share.

Most of the cost came from CEDs planned 75-megawatt wind farm in Wheatland County. In that instance, NorthWestern said it would need a new transmission line, a twin to one already servicing the area, at a considerable cost, first estimated at $128 million, then adjusted upward to $237 million.

NorthWestern argued that the transmission line was only necessary because of CEDs Wheatland wind farm.

But the transmission line NorthWestern expected CED to pay for was capable of serving more than CEDs Wheatland wind farm.

In order to connect Wheatland, NorthWestern wants to construct a second transmission line of equal length and capacity, essentially doubling its transmission service and providing additional reliability to its network at CEDs expense, wrote Justice Laurie McKinnon.

CED shouldnt have to pay for more than the costs associated with servicing its own project, the court ruled.

There were wins in the ruling for NorthWestern and the PSC. The court didnt grant CEDs request for a 25-year contract, which the developer argued it was entitled to, based on a previous court decision. The contract length on the table for CED is 15 years.

The court also concluded the commission is correct in assessing network upgrade costs, though commissioners erred in assigning the $267 million for those costs.

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Hours after a fire burned the inside of a Casper abortion clinic set to open next month, clinic founder Julie Burkhart sat on the tailgate of a red truck parked across the street.

I have a lot of emotions, she said. Anger is probably at the top of the list.

Im sad. This world seems to be encased in violence.

Police believe the fire was intentional, as does Burkhart.

According to a statement, police got a call at 3:52 a.m. Wednesday, reporting a possible burglary at the clinic site on Second Street, right next to a Sinclair gas station. The caller said theyd seen someone running away from the building with a gas can and black bag, police said.

When officers arrived, they saw smoke. They called the fire department.

No one was at the clinic at the time, and no injuries were reported. Burkhart said she was told there was extensive smoke damage inside, and fire damage affecting one area of the building.

The clinic planned to open in mid-June, offering services including abortion, OB/GYN, family planning and gender-affirming care.

This was intentional, Burkhart said, looking at the beige building from a barber shop parking lot across the way. This was not random.

Its unclear how the fire may affect the clinics planned opening. Burkhart said in a statement Wednesday that the clinic will continue to do everything (it) can to accomplish its mission of providing reproductive health care in Casper.

Burkhart said she wasnt necessarily surprised when she got the call around 6 a.m. Shes been concerned about vandalism at the clinic, but said shes also wary of rising violence around the country. Having worked at clinics in rural areas of Washington, Oklahoma and Kansas, Burkhart said shes no stranger to opposition or violence. Her former boss, nationally known abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, was murdered in 2009 at his Wichita church.

A group of anti-abortion protesters have demonstrated outside the clinic every Thursday since its arrival was announced in mid-April. At the first demonstration, anti-abortion activists signed a statement of peace stating they would not damage private property or threaten, physically contact or verbally abuse clinic employees, volunteers or patients.

Bob Brechtel, a former state lawmaker who coordinates a prayer group that attends those demonstrations, said Wednesday that the fire, if intentional, was a senseless act that doesnt help anybody.

I was absolutely surprised, Brechtel said. I dont know why anybody thinks something like this can actually fix any problems.

Mike Pyatt, a leader of far-right anti-abortion group Libertys Place 4 U, said he found Burkhart condemning the suspected arson hypocritical since he sees abortion as violence against the unborn.

Her colleagues will rip babies out of the womb, and what is that? he said in a text Wednesday. What of the old bromide, violence begets violence.

Burkhart lives in Colorado, but she was already in Casper when she got the call, preparing to give informal tours of the clinic to press later that day. She came right over, she said, and kept watch over the site all morning. Police told her she probably wouldnt be able to go inside until the afternoon, after its been cleared by investigators.

Leslie Kee, a local Unitarian Universalist reverend and a member of the clinics advisory board, came to keep Burkhart company. Others on the board, Kee said, were outraged and shocked when they heard the news.

If it is intentional, its an act of violence. That doesnt solve anything. That does not solve anything, Kee said.

Kee said she plans to reexamine security at her own church in the aftermath of the fire. Chelseas Fund, a Lander-based abortion access nonprofit and the primary funder for the clinic, plans to do the same, according to board member Cristina Gonzalez.

Pro-Choice Wyoming Executive Director Sharon Breitweiser said she was heartbroken and stunned at the news of the fire.

This type of thing happens, you know, but I guess it always shakes you up to know its so close to home, Breitweiser said.

Casper police spokesperson Rebekah Ladd said investigators are reviewing footage from the clinic  which has at least three cameras on the exterior and more inside  to try to identify the suspect. If they find an image that appears to show them, she said, the department plans to release it to the public to ask for help.

Burkhart and Kee said they hope the police call a press conference to discuss the fire. Ladd said the department did not anticipate a press conference being convened Wednesday.

In addition to several police and fire vehicles, an officer from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also on scene Wednesday morning. Uniformed officers milled in and out of the building, which had several windows with glass missing or cracked showing a blackened interior.

Detective Andrew Lincowski said there was lots of damage inside, but could not elaborate. Casper Fire Deputy Chief Devin Garvin said the fire remained pretty small.

Burkhart said her team was in the process of putting the finishing touches on the clinic, and planned to start training staff next week. While there was some equipment inside, she said she was glad there wasnt more.

I have no clue what this is going to do for staffing, are people going to be scared and not want to work at the clinic? Burkhart said. I just dont know what the temperature is going to be.

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Rep. Liz Cheney tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday morning, her office announced in a statement.

I am currently experiencing mild symptoms and will follow the CDCs guidance as I continue to work on behalf of the people of Wyoming, she said in the statement.

Cheney said she was fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.

During the height of the pandemic, the congresswoman touted measures designed to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, even when those positions sometimes put her at odds with other Republicans. On Twitter, she called for mask wearing  she posted a photograph of her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, in a mask and cowboy hat  and promoted the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine.

However, she also said the U.S. Supreme Court made the correct decision when it struck down President Joe Bidens worker vaccine mandate.

The congresswoman is currently in a difficult reelection bid after angering many Republicans over her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump. Trump is set to make his first political visit to Wyoming on Saturday to campaign for his choice to unseat Cheney, attorney Harriet Hageman.

Cheney has yet to officially file for reelection. The deadline for that is Friday.

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One of Wyomings senators encouraged former President Donald Trump to endorse Harriet Hageman in the race against Liz Cheney, Trump said in a radio interview Wednesday.

Ahead of his rally Saturday in Casper, Trump called into K2 Radios Wake Up Wyoming with Glenn Woods and said one member of Wyomings congressional delegation offered advice on whom he should select to unseat Cheney, one of the former presidents top enemies. Trump also used the occasion to slam Gov. Mark Gordon.

In the wide-ranging interview, Trump said he had consulted with one of Wyomings senators while mulling over which candidate to endorse for the race against Cheney. At the time, a broad field was seeking the Republican nod.

I had some good people. I really did have some good people, but I just felt that [Hageman] was very good and your wonderful senator up there ... whos a tremendous person by the way, was very strong on her, wanted her very badly, Trump said.

Trump did not reveal which of Wyomings two senators he was referring to.

A spokesperson with Sen. John Barrassos office said it was not him. Sen. Cynthia Lummis office did not directly confirm Trumps statement, but said she believes President Trump has made an inspired choice in backing Harriet Hageman.

In Trumps original statement in support of Hageman last fall, he mentioned Lummis by name.

Harriet is a fourth-generation daughter of Wyoming, a very successful attorney, and has the support and respect of a truly great U.S. Senator, Wyomings own Cynthia Lummis, Trump said at the time.

Both senators have avoided directly commenting on the U.S. House race. But a Lummis spokesperson called Hageman an inspired choice at the time Trump endorsed her, according to Politico.

During the radio interview, Trump also bashed Gordon without prompting.

And you have a governor that hasnt been too helpful, I must tell you, Trump said.

Right, right, Woods responded and moved on.

The governors office declined to comment. Gordon is a traditional Republican who has faced criticism from some on the far right.

As usual, Trump also took digs at Cheney, calling her Democrats best asset and radical left.

Shes gone bad, really bad, he said.

Cheney became one of Trumps main targets after she voted to impeach him. She has repeatedly criticized him for being a threat to democracy, and she joined the select committee to investigate Trumps role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump is coming to Caspers Ford Wyoming Center on Saturday for a rally to support Hageman. It will mark his first political visit to Wyoming, the state with the highest support for him in the 2020 and 2016 general elections.

A few days out, Casper is already gearing up for his arrival. Many hotels are fully booked and multiple vendors are set up around town and selling Trump-themed memorabilia. Officials are preparing for a crowd of up to 10,000.

Follow state politics reporter Victoria Eavis on Twitter @Victoria_Eavis

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Sen. Tara Nethercott announced Tuesday that she is running for secretary of state after five years in the Wyoming Legislature.

Nethercott, a Cheyenne attorney, is the third member of the statehouse to announce a bid for secretary of state since incumbent Secretary of State Ed Buchanan bowed out.

I am excited for the opportunity to continue to serve the people of Wyoming as Secretary of State. We should be proud of our elections. Wyoming serves as an example to the nation for election integrity, but it is more important than ever to protect Wyomings elections, Nethercott said in a statement. I will be steadfast and vigilant to ensure safe and secure elections to defend our shared western values and will bring my experience and dedication as your next Republican Secretary of State.

Buchanan originally announced that he would run, but once a judicial position opened up in his hometown he reversed course and said he would pursue the judicial appointment. Hours after Buchanans announcement, Senate President Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, filed to run for secretary of state. A day later, Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, threw his hat in the ring.

For Dockstader and Nethercott, this is a politically low-risk race: Their Senate terms are not up for another two years, so if they lose the secretary of state race, they can keep their current offices.

The secretary of state oversees statewide elections, campaign finance and business entity registration, among other things.

The stature of the role has risen amid a time of growing skepticism over election integrity in the state, which has jumped since former President Donald Trump made false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

Gray had echoed Trumps statements about stolen elections. While campaigning against Cheney, he visited a partisan Arizona audit of the presidential election, which later reaffirmed President Joe Bidens victory there.

With Biden and the radical Left trying to steal our elections, I will fight them tooth and nail to preserve the voter ID law I passed and the integrity of Wyoming elections, Gray said in his secretary of state campaign announcement.

Dockstader walked the line. Dockstader dodged the question three times last week when asked whether he thought there was enough fraud in the 2020 presidential election to steal it for Biden.

Weve got to make sure were addressing those concerns or the issue wont go away, he said.

Dockstader also, however, commended Buchanan for his statewide work to dispel the myths that Wyoming experienced significant voter fraud.

Nethercott is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and serves on the corporations committee, the capital finance and investments committee, the Wyoming retirement system board as well as the select committee on blockchain.

Nethercott was elected to the Wyoming Senate in 2016. She has a reputation as a conservative, no-nonsense senator who speaks with force.

Follow state politics reporter Victoria Eavis on Twitter @Victoria_Eavis

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An inquest has been ordered into the death of Roy Phillip and the woman who was detained has
Overseas Vietnamese visit Truong Sa island district, DK1 platform

A delegation of more than 40 overseas Vietnamese (OV) from 17 countries around the world have visited people and soldiers in Truong Sa island district, the south central province of Khanh Hoa, and DK1 platform.













The delegation comprises more than 40 OVs from 17 countries around the world (Photo: VNA)



The visit, which was delayed for two years due to COVID-19, is the 10th of its kind held by the State Committee for OV Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Naval High Command.



According to Ambassador Ngo Huong Nam, Vice Chairman of the State Committee for OV Affairs, the visit aims to affirm Vietnams sovereignty and sovereign rights over the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago and southern continental shelf.





This is also a chance for the OVs to meet, exchange and foster connections with their fellow Vietnamese at home, contributing to strengthening great solidarity bloc, he said.









DK1 platform

The organisation of the visit in the context of COVID-19 impacts shows the sentiments and responsibilities of the Party and State towards the Vietnamese community abroad, he added.



Responding to the call of the State Committee over the past 10 years, OVs have made their material and spiritual contributions to Truong Sa. During the visit, the OVs presented gifts and necessities to soldiers and people in the island district.



The visit, spanning from May 17-25, the OVs engaged in many activities, including exploring the daily life of locals in the island district, attending a flag hoisting ceremony, and offering incense to heroic martyrs and President Ho Chi Minh./.
Public sector wage negotiations recently began, and with them have come the usual unfortunate sabre rattling by some of the parties.

Two principles are really at play here. The first is a tenet of family law, where a divorced spouse demands to be kept in the condition to which he or she has grown accustomed. The quantum of alimony payments must reflect this.

The second is informed by an economic reality. You must learn to live within your means.
We have many problems here in T&T, but mercifully not the American depravity of mass sho
FICTION: Written over a 30-year-period, this engrossing novel focuses on an apparent crime and its ruinous effect on two families.

"All the Secrets of the World" by Steve Almond; Zando (416 pages, $28)



Steve Almond's first novel is about a missing-persons case, a subgenre that tends to present a writer with a very 21st-century challenge: How to explain a character's disappearance in an age of cellphones and global positioning systems?

One solution is to set the action in the recent past, with its busy signals and hastily scribbled correspondence. At first glance, Almond seems to have chosen this route in "All the Secrets of the World," which opens in 1981. But the real explanation for his decades-ago story line is much more interesting  he's been writing this book for 30 years.

The author of several short-story collections and nonfiction titles, Almond has crafted an insightful debut novel involving a police investigation that threatens to destroy two families.

Lorena Saenz, the daughter of undocumented immigrants, and Jenny Stallworth, whose parents are rich and influential, are partnering on a middle-school project. Visiting the Stallworths' mansion in Sacramento, Lorena bonds with Jenny's father, Marcus, an academic who studies scorpions. His interest in the 13-year-old soon turns unwholesome, and after her older brother Tony grows suspicious and threatens Marcus, the professor disappears.

To police, there are two plausible explanations. Either Marcus lost his way while doing fieldwork in the mountains, or Tony kidnapped and killed Marcus. Lorena offers another theory: Maybe the unpretentious professor, at odds with his status-conscious wife Rosemary, vanished on purpose.

It's a plot replete with treacherous relationships, punishing landscapes and biblical allusions. Marcus' beguiling but dangerous scorpions serve as an oft-effective metaphor that Almond returns to  perhaps a bit too frequently  throughout the book. Meanwhile, Almond crafts some beautiful prose. A dying character yearns "to ascend, to take his place amid the riot of dead souls and flickering stars that disappeared before dawn lit the world."

Lorena's intelligence and resolve fuel the story. Lest she do something that gets her mother, Graciela, deported, she lives in a "prison of careful habits," Almond writes. Telling a police officer about her relationship with the Stallworths, the normally articulate Lorena can't find the right words  "an awkward moment, so familiar in American life, when the unspoken fact of class rudely presents itself."

But when the moment calls for it, she's bold and galvanizing, a brainy battler. Her perpetually angry brother Tony is an equally credible character, his insecurities and psychological wounds explored in vivid flashback scenes.

Conversely, some of Almond's flash-forwards  closing-act scenes that tell us what becomes of the characters in decades ahead  have a hurried quality that saps some of the book's narrative energy. This is a forgivable shortcoming in an otherwise well-constructed novel. Almond lived with some of these characters for decades, so it's easy to understand why he had a hard time saying goodbye.

Almond, a white man, will likely be criticized in some quarters for trying to imagine the inner lives of vulnerable people  women, in particular  with Central American roots. Though more than a few complaints of this sort are ahistorical and appear to be lodged by people who've not read the book in question, they're worth considering if a writer seems to sensationalize, fetishize or in some other way exploit his characters' plight. Almond doesn't, though  not at all, which will be obvious to anyone who reads this imperfect yet compassionate novel.



Kevin Canfield is a writer in New York City.

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Casanega, ALICE Alice Casanega entered into eternal rest on May 21, 2022. She is reunited with her beloved husband David Casanega, sisters Aurora and Carmen as well as her parents in the presence of the Lord. Alice is survived by her children Ralph Rillos, Cathy Garcia, Rebecca Franco and Lorraine .... Read more
FICTION: Nell Zink's sixth novel in seven years is about a woman's rise from dire beginnings.

"Avalon" by Nell Zink; Knopf (224 pages, $27)



Over six novels in seven years, Nell Zink has honed a talent for prose that's assertive, even breezy in the face of ostensibly sad subjects: toxic relationships and environmental destruction, racism and prejudice, dysfunctional families and poverty, disease and death. So it's fitting in a way that her latest, "Avalon," is a kind of modern fairy tale, a light-footed Cinderella story that documents a young woman's rise from a wretched existence in stylish, witty fashion.

Bran (short for Brandy) is our heroine and narrator, a college-age woman who starts this story by sketching out the tragic details of her life so far. As a child, she lost her mother, first when she took off for a Buddhist monastery, and later, for good, to cancer.

Having never known her real father, who fled home to Australia soon after she was born, Bran ends up in the custody of Doug, her common-law stepfather. Doug is a member of a locally infamous family, the Hendersons, who operate a rundown, rambling nursery that's a haven for undocumented workers, a longtime hangout for Hell's Angels and certainly no place for a parentless girl to grow up.

Sleeping in a lean-to on the property, Bran is made from adolescence onward to earn her keep by helping take care of the plants. The nursery is ruled by Grandpa Larry, a cranky biker who rants about government intrusion and refers to all of the nursery's dozens of laborers as either "Roger" or "Eric."

Despite the general air of lawlessness that prevails on the Hendersons' property, Grandpa Larry ensured that she was never physically or sexually abused there. Still, as she reaches high school and makes friends with more normal family circumstances (and regular teenage things like cellphones, cars and bedrooms), Bran starts to sense that it might be time to move on.

Loosely plotted and chatty, the gist of "Avalon" tells how first friendship and then romance, along with shared interests in art and knowledge, help Bran transcend her squalid circumstances. In high school she befriends Jay, the only child of a wealthy family, and together with schoolmates Henry, Will and Fifi, they take over their school's literary magazine.

Zink lovingly lampoons the way that teenagers bumble toward identity and character: "Henry regarded himself as an ethical person with a right to sit in judgment because he knew first aid," she writes.

Jay heads to UCLA after high school. Bran can't afford college but she keeps up the friendship, and that's how she meets Peter, a fellow student on whom both Jay and Bran develop intense crushes. As Jay shifts from dance to film studies, Bran starts to take her tentative steps toward autonomy.

Peter emerges as Bran's potential Prince Charming, and what little narrative momentum that "Avalon" achieves  Zink is best for readers who don't mind a lot of digression in their novels  lies in finding out whether Bran will get her happy ending.

A comparative literature major with curly black hair, Peter is almost comically erudite for his age  are there really 19-year-old boys in the world so comfortable monologuing on Edward Said off the cuff, or debating concepts of fascism and utopia with ease?

But it's easy to forgive Zink this flight of fancy in a book that's so fun to read. And you don't have to believe a fairy tale to enjoy it.

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Casanega, ALICE Alice Casanega entered into eternal rest on May 21, 2022. She is reunited with her beloved husband David Casanega, sisters Aurora and Carmen as well as her parents in the presence of the Lord. Alice is survived by her children Ralph Rillos, Cathy Garcia, Rebecca Franco and Lorraine .... Read more
Lily Gonzales balances her young son on her hip as she opens the folder filled with paperwork documenting why she fled Guatemala.

Gonzales is one of about 300 people, mostly migrants, gathered in downtown Nogales, Sonora, to rally against the continuation of Title 42, a public-health policy in response to the pandemic that allows the U.S. government to send some migrants who enter the country undocumented directly back to Mexico without entering them into the immigration system.

Monday, the day of the rally, was the day Title 42 was scheduled to end. That changed Friday when a federal judge in Louisiana ruled that the Biden administration acted illegally when it announced in April that it planned to end Title 42.

Gonzales folder contains what she hopes will prove she has a legal right to claim asylum in the U.S., a process that has been largely closed to many migrants because of Title 42.

Showing anyone who will listen, Gonzales carries court records and photos of her husband with missing teeth and stitches. She says he had been beaten by a man who a judge ruled owed him money. When her husband died under somewhat mysterious circumstances, she was sure he was killed by the same man.

Gonzales then began receiving threats.

I wanted to save my life, and my childrens lives, she said.

She left Guatemala a month ago, traveling with her three children, 10, 8 and 2-year-old Carlitos. They made their way through Mexico with another Guatemalan woman and her 11-year-old son, who are also fleeing death threats.

They arrived in Nogales a week ago and attempted to cross the border. After walking three hours through the desert and crossing through a gap in the border wall, Border Patrol picked them up and dropped them off back in Nogales, Sonora, Gonzales says.

The women and children are sleeping in a shelter in Nogales, but there is a limit on how many days they can stay. They dont know where theyll go next. Gonzales has a sister in Florida who she eventually hopes to reach.

Gonzales said she hopes her pile of documents will help make an asylum claim.

'We hoped for an opportunity'

Many of the migrants at the rally are from Guerrero, a state in southern Mexico. And many have similar stories, saying that every person in whole towns are made to either make regular payments to cartels or have to leave under threat of death. Children are kidnapped and forced to join the cartels, and women are kidnapped and raped. Most say they have family members who have been murdered.

Mother and daughter Adilene and Maria fled Guerrero under threat of death. Like many of the migrants here, theyve been waiting in Nogales for 10 months, hoping that when Title 42 ends, theyll be allowed to present themselves at a port of entry and ask for asylum.

They live in fear that the criminal organizations they ran from will find them anywhere in the country, which is why they asked that their last names not be used in this news story.

Were desperate, Adilene said. We hoped for an opportunity. We just want a little peace

Like many of the migrants waiting in Nogales, Adilene and Maria are vaccinated against COVID and dont understand why they are being barred from making an asylum claim because of the pandemic.

While migrant advocates say that Title 42 circumvents domestic and international law that affords persecuted people the right to make an asylum claim, proponents of keeping the public-health order say border communities would not be able to handle the influx in migrants that could happen if the order were ended.

Both March and April saw record-breaking numbers of apprehensions along the southern border, at more than 222,000 in March and 234,000 in April. Nearly half of these migrants were quickly expelled from the U.S. under Title 42.

Arizona border apprehensions in March were also high at nearly 58,500 but fell slightly to 53,500 in April.

No 'horizon to look forward to'

Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema were among a group of senators who introduced a bill that could have delayed the lifting of Title 42, saying there needs to be a more comprehensive plan to handle a possible influx of migrants before the order is lifted.

For too long, Arizonans have paid the price for Washingtons failure to plan ahead and secure the border, Kelly said in a statement the day the judge ruled to keep the order in place. Todays decision does not change the fact that there is a crisis at the border and there must be a detailed plan that can be implemented before Title 42 is lifted. Arizonans deserve a secure, orderly, and humane border response and I will continue to hold the administration accountable to that.

The Department of Homeland Security released a 20-page plan in April for how they would handle a possible influx of migrants upon the lifting of Title 42. The department typically relies on Title 8 for processing migrants who enter the country undocumented. The immigration law allows the government to process people for removal or put them through court proceedings that could establish a legal basis for them to remain in the country, such as a political asylum claim, which tend to have low approval rates.

Title 42 has been extended numerous times, but this time is different, says Joanna Williams, executive director for the Kino Border Initiative, a migrant-aide organization in Nogales, Sonora, which also helped organize the rally on Monday.

Williams says she fears that more migrants will attempt the treacherous desert crossing. Hundreds of migrants die each year doing so, especially during the summer months.

Every other time it was extended, it was for a certain amount of time, she said. There was always this sense of  30 days from now, 60 days from now, maybe we'll be able to persuade the CDC that this law never made sense in the first place. But now we're at a point where this is indefinite. We're caught up in the court system. And the families don't have a horizon to look forward to.

Contact reporter Danyelle Khmara at dkhmara@tucson.com or 573-4223. On Twitter: @DanyelleKhmara

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PHOENIX  State health officials are doing a poor job of ensuring that nursing home residents are properly protected, a new report concludes.

And whats worse, said Auditor General Lindsey Perry, is that the situation has not changed since her agency pointed out the problems 30 months ago.

In fact, she noted that auditors made five recommendations in September 2019 of things the Department of Health Services should implement to ensure that all complaints are prioritized, investigated and resolved in a timely manner.

So far none have been implemented, Perry said.

There were multiple cases in which the health department inappropriately closed most high-priority complaints without the required on-site investigation, Perry said, citing a follow-up investigation be her staffers.

That includes complaints about lack of precautions to keep residents from getting pressure sores, patients being left soiled for extended periods, and incidents of abuse and neglect, she said.

And Perry said she found the agency inappropriately changed virtually all of its open high-priority complaints to lower priorities. What that did, she said, is artificially extend the time to respond to those complaints from 10 days to a full year.

Even then, Perry said, some cases still ended up being closed without any inquiry at all.

But what really got Perrys attention was the failure of the health department to implement those 2019 recommendations.

We identified additional significant complaint-prioritization and investigation failures that have continued to put long-term care facility residents health, safety and welfare at risk, she wrote of the follow-up investigation.

In a prepared statement, state Health Director Don Harrington said there were mitigating circumstances.

Pandemic shifts priorities

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, and on instruction from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agencys main focus shifted to infection control survey for long-term care facilities, he said. The goal there, according to Harrington, was to reduce the chances of outbreaks that could endanger residents.

He said the agency exceeded the federal requirements for those infection control surveys that staff conducted at all facilities and handled rapidly when outbreaks were reported.

Perry, however, was not impressed.

While we understand that the states COVID-19 pandemic response has required significant department time and resources and the department experienced executive and licensing changes during this time period, neither mitigate its failure to appropriately prioritize and investigate complaints (and) self-reports alleging abuse or neglect of long-term care facility residents, she wrote in her report.

Self-reports are incidents that a nursing home must report on its own to the health department. These range from resident injuries of unknown origin and allegations of abuse or neglect to misappropriation of a residents property.

It also does not justify changing high-priority complaints and self-reports to lower priorities that do not need to be investigated as urgently, Perry said.

And she said the numbers bear out the scope of the problem.

Time is of the essence

It starts with the requirement to investigate high-priority complaints within 10 days.

These are one step below those classified as immediate jeopardy, meaning there is an immediate and serious threat to health and safety. They have to be checked out within two days.

High priority, by contrast, is defined to include actual harm that impairs a residents mental, physical or psycho-social status. It also includes hazards to health and safety that may exist and are likely to cause a significant problem in care and treatment.

Perry said the follow-up audit to the 2019 report found that 73% of the high-priority complaints the agency received still were not investigated within the 10-day window as required.

Failing to timely investigate high-priority complaints can have severe, adverse effects including compromised investigations impacting the departments ability to substantiate allegations such as sexual abuse where time is of the essence, she said. Perry said it also ensures that actions can be taken to protect not only that resident but others at the facility.

She cited several actual examples.

One was a January 2020 complaint from the wife of a resident of a long-term care facility who reported her husband had developed unexplained bruises on his arm. The wife also said that he had not been receiving doctor-ordered respiratory treatments and had developed a pressure sore on his tailbone due to being left soiled for extended periods of time.

The complaint noted that the man had severe cognitive impairment which would limit his ability to complain about the level of care or report instances of physical abuse or unreported accidents.

Perry said the health department listed seven separate allegations and designated it a high-priority complaint.

Only thing is, she said, the agency did not act on it until 15 months later when it downgraded it to a medium-priority complaint.

Approximately two weeks later, the department closed the complaint without investigating any of the allegations, Perry wrote.

In a similar situation, the department got a complaint from a daughter of a resident at a long-term care facility who had been hospitalized with a pressure ulcer resulting in dead skin and a bone infection.

The complaint record said the man did not have that problem when he entered the facility. And because he was nonverbal, he could not complain about pain or other symptoms.

He eventually was placed in hospice care and died at the end of the month.

But Perry said while the health department classified it as alleged neglect and assigned it a high-priority level, it simply closed the complaint 18 months later without an investigation and took no further action against the facility.

Complaints labeled not credible

It is not just that high-priority complaints were not promptly investigated.

Perry said the health department inappropriately changed 98% of its open high-priority complaints to lower priorities, artificially extending the time to respond from 10 days to a full year.

She said her interviews her investigators did found that the health department staff sometimes made decisions about whether to downgrade complaints based on factors ranging from whether staff was available within the required time frame and whether the resident already had died.

Perry also said the person who was responsible for assigning priority levels also told her investigators that it considers complaints that come from the Adult Protective Services program at the Department of Economic Security to be not credible, saying that agency often sensationalizes its reports to the health department.

And she said that complaints from family members also are not considered as credible by the health department, with the staffer saying that the family is simply upset about the passing of the resident.

Harrington, in his prepared response, said Perrys office has provided the data about complaints that were closed without an investigation or simply downgrade.

We have begun a thorough review to see what improvements are needed, he said. The department takes very seriously any concerns about our oversight of long-term care facilities.

Harrington did acknowledge the agency has not met the recommendations from the 2019 report. He said, though, that there have been more than 1,000 visits to long-term care facilities since July 1, 2019, with an average of seven visits to each.

And Harrington said all the immediate jeopardy and high-priority complaints received since the beginning of 2021 have been investigated within the required time frames.

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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The city of Tucson is collaborating with Tucson Industrial Development Authority to dole out $625,000 to help cover closing costs on homes for an estimated 250 essential workers.

The new program, called the Essential Workers Housing Fund, will launch June 1 and provide essential workers up to 1% of the first mortgage loan amount or up to $2,500 of a down payment on a home.

Tucson is putting $500,000 of its American Rescue Plan dollars toward the initiative, a move Mayor Regina Romero called a transformative investment in the community.

The importance of homeownership in our community cannot be understated and overstated. Essential workers kept us safe during the pandemic, they kept working to keep all of us safe and our economy working, Romero said at a news conference Wednesday.

The program comes at a time of increasing housing prices across the region. In 2020, about 91% of Tucson homebuyers had a home loan approved for about $215,000, according to data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Average sales prices for all new and existing homes was $303,356 in January 2020 and rose to $422,407 in January 2022.

Dre Thompson, the CEO of the Tucson Industrial Development Authority, said she began working with other local real estate groups to come up with a way to reduce barriers to homeownership after the Arizona House Commerce Committee received a report in February that if an intervention wasnt made, essential workers would be boxed out of the housing market in Arizona.

Essential workers are the bedrock of our workforce, and it is so vital that they are able to access the benefits of homeownership, the stability that it brings, the opportunity to provide generational wealth for families that havent always had that, Thompson said, later adding, I feel like this exemplifies what public-private partnerships should look like, that community partners embedded in an issue come together to develop programs.

Recipients of the Essential Workers Housing Fund must qualify for the Pima Tucson Homebuyers Solution Program, which provides down payment assistance to cover out-of-pocket mortgage expenses. The program says its participants receive on average $14,000 in a 100% forgivable loan and save $16,500 in closing and down payment costs if they stay in their home for three years.

Professions that qualify for the loan are those outlined by the Centers for Disease Control as both medical and nonmedical field essential workers. Some of those qualified occupations include hospital workers, pharmacy workers, care facility workers, first-responders, veterinarians, educators, postal workers, transit workers, manufacturing facility workers, agricultural and food-service workers.

While the Tucson Realtors Charitable Foundation is the title sponsor of the fund, several groups such as the Family Housing Resources/FHR CARES, The Tucson Industrial Development Authority and the Pima Industrial Development Authority are also sponsoring the program.

To learn more about the program, visit EssentialWorkersHousingFund.com.

Contact reporter Nicole Ludden at nludden@tucson.com

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The class president at a Florida high school says he wasn't allowed to share his experience as a gay student in his graduation speech or how the state's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law will affect students like him, so he talked about something else that makes him a little different from his classmates -- his curly hair.

Zander Moricz, 18, has been active in social justice causes as a student at Pine View School in Osprey, Florida, and led a student walkout in March to protest the controversial measure that bans certain teachings about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools and goes into effect in July. He's also one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the law.

Moricz told CNN that a few weeks before graduation, the school's principal met with him and told him he couldn't talk about that issue.

"He'd always been very supportive of me and my identity and I was really hurt," he said.

Moricz came out during his freshman year and was the first openly gay class president at the school, so he felt a responsibility to address the controversy. He told CNN that school is the only guaranteed space that kids have in the state.

"When you take that only guaranteed space and you make it one that victimizes an entire population of students, what you're doing is you're forcing kids to make the choice of either not come out safely or not come out at all," he said.

So when it came time to speak at Sunday's ceremony, Moricz took off his mortarboard hat and pointed to his head.

"I used to hate my curls. I spend mornings and nights embarrassed of them trying desperately to straighten this part of who I am. But the daily damage of trying to fix myself became too much to do," he said in his speech. "So while having curly hair in Florida is difficult, due to the humidity, I decided to be proud of who I was and started coming to school as my authentic self."

Moricz said his teachers were some of the first people he went to for advice because he didn't have "other curly-haired people" to talk to and said the support he got at school helped him grow.

"Now I'm happy. Now I'm happy, and that is what is at stake. There are going to be so many kids with curly hair, who need a community like Pine View and they won't have one," Moricz said. "Instead, they'll try to fix themselves so that they can exist in Florida's humid climate."

After the speech, Pine View School Principal Stephen Covert applauded and gave Moricz a hug on stage.

"We honor and celebrate the incredible diversity in thought, belief, and background in our school, and champion the uniqueness of every single student on their personal and educational journey," Covert said in a statement.

Moricz said he had an emotional moment backstage after the ceremony with school officials who had been there for him over the years.

Sarasota County Schools said in a statement that school administrators review all graduation speeches before they are delivered and confirmed that Covert met with Moricz before he submitted his speech "to remind him of the ceremony expectations."

"As in years past, student speakers were reminded that graduation is a community celebration and were encouraged to tailor their remarks to be reflective of experiences & memories that all students could appreciate to best reflect all facets of the graduating class's achievements," the statement said.

Moricz was also the first student to be elected class president for all four years of high school, so he's been thinking about this speech since he was a freshman. He ended up writing the speech that was approved by the school in about a day.

In the speech, he reminded his classmates of times they rallied together against anti-Black violence and to draw attention to the climate crisis, as well as an unsuccessful campaign to convince rap superstar Pitbull to perform in their school gym.

He said that the students have power and need to use it.

"When you waste your power, what you're really doing is giving it to whoever has the most already, and right now, those who have the most power are coming for those with the least," he said in his speech. "We should not have to deal with this, but we're gonna."

Moricz told CNN that the controversy surrounding his speech over the past few weeks has been pretty terrible, but he doesn't have any hard feelings toward the principal or school officials.

"I'm angry at the governor and I'm angry at our legislators in Florida," Moricz told CNN. "That's where my anger is directed towards, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I hold everyone a little bit accountable. We're all responsible to push against things like this."

Moricz plans to attend Harvard University in the fall to study government.

From Stonewall to today: 50+ years of modern LGBTQ+ history From Stonewall to today: 50+ years of modern LGBTQ+ history 1969: Stonewall Riots 1970: Gay Liberation Front (GLF) forms 1972: Sweden allows people to legally change gender 1972: UK has first pride parade 1973: Lambda Legal forms 1973: Homosexuality is no longer classified as a mental illness 1974: First openly lesbian officials elected 1977: First openly gay man elected 1978: The rainbow flag is created 1979: First national LGBTQ+ march 1981: Norway enacts anti-discrimination laws 1981: Gay men affected with rare cancer 1982: Wisconsin passes LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination law 1983: BiPOL forms 1984: HIV discovered 1986: Bowers v. Hardwick 1986: New York passes anti-discrimination bill 1987: UK opens first HIV/AIDS clinic 1987: Barney Frank comes out as gay 1987: ACT UP 1988: National Coming Out Day starts 1989: Denmark legalizes same-sex unions 1990: First pride parade in South Africa 1993: Dont ask, dont tell enacted 1994: American Medical Association opposes conversion therapy 1995: Gay and lesbian workers can get government security clearance 1996: President Bill Clinton signs Defense of Marriage Act 1996: High schooler starts Gay-Straight Alliance 1997: Ellen DeGeneres comes out 1998: Bisexual flag created 2000: Vermont recognizes same-sex unions 2000: Netherlands recognizes same-sex marriage 2002: New York City passes LGBTQ+ rights law 2003: US legalizes consensual same-sex acts 2004: Massachusetts performs first same-sex marriage 2009: Hate Crimes Prevention Act 2010: Same-sex marriage legal in Iceland 2011: Dont ask, dont tell repealed 2012: First openly LGBTQ+ senator 2013: Supreme Court recognizes same-sex marriage 2014: Transgender students get federal protection 2014: First transgender person nominated for Emmy 2015: U.S. legalizes same-sex marriage 2016: Ban lifted on transgender troops 2017: First openly transgender state legislator elected 2018: Rainbow wave in politics 2019: Taiwan passes same-sex marriage 2019: Transgender troops banned from military 2019: Mayor Pete runs for president 2019: Being transgender no longer a disorder 2020: NYC Pride March canceled by coronavirus 2021: Biden reverses Trump-era ban on transgender people in the military 2021: Gender-affirming care for minors is blockedthen overturned 2021: Switzerland and Japan make strides toward marriage equality 2022: Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in US states

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There have been dozens of shootings and other attacks in U.S. schools and colleges over the years, but until the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999, the number of dead tended to be in the single digits. Since then, the number of shootings that included schools and killed 10 or more people has mounted. The most recent two were both in Texas.

ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, May 2022

An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 18 children and at least two adults while leaving several others wounded, officials said. The shooter died.

SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, May 2018

A 17-year-old opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. The suspect has been charged with murder.

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL, February 2018

An attack left 14 students and three staff members dead at the school in Parkland, Florida, and injured many others. The 20-year-old suspect was charged with murder.

UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, October 2015

A man killed nine people at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, and wounded nine others, then killed himself.

SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, December 2012

A 19-year-old man killed his mother at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, then went to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first graders and six educators. He took his own life.

VIRGINIA TECH, April 2007

A 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007; more than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.

RED LAKE HIGH SCHOOL, March 2005

A 16-year-old student killed his grandfather and the man's companion at their Minnesota home, then went to nearby Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a teacher and a security guard before shooting himself.

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL, April 1999

Two students killed 12 of their peers and one teacher at the school in Littleton, Colorado, and injured many others before killing themselves.

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NEW YORK (AP)  Democrat Antonio Delgado was sworn in as New Yorks lieutenant governor Wednesday, becoming the state's first person of Latino heritage to serve in statewide office.

Delgado, who identifies as Afro-Latino, is taking on the largely ceremonial role in the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who selected him for the job. It was previously held by Brian Benjamin, who resigned following his arrest in April for federal corruption charges, which he has denied.

Delgado, 45, will also be Hochul's running mate in this year's gubernatorial election.

Hochul, speaking at a ceremony in New York City before Delgado was sworn into office, said he shares her views of what it means to be a public servant.

It means being a good listener, but not just listening to peoples concerns passively, but translating those concerns into real action. Thats when public service manifests itself and achieves its full potential, she said.

Delgado, who was joined by his wife and twin 8-year-old sons at the ceremony, gave a short speech in which he said his path to politics was not meticulously plotted out.

He is a Rhodes Scholar who, after earning a Harvard law degree, pursued a rap career before becoming a litigator at a New York City law firm.

I heard some chuckles out there, he said as he recounted his foray into hip hop. I followed my heart. Like Im doing now.

He said that though he spanned two different careers, in two very different environments, a diversity of experience will help him bridge divides.

As leaders we need to listen and work hard and find common ground and be effective. That's my commitment," he said.

He spoke about the shooting at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday and said nothing was being done on the national level to protect children like his from gun violence, and he said America was at a moment where too many lives and the foundation of democracy were at stake.

The very fabric of our nation is on the line," he said.

The two-term congressman represented the Hudson Valley and the Catskills and was the first person of color representing upstate New York in Congress. He had campaigned for the U.S. House on universal access to Medicare, creating good jobs and eliminating tax loopholes for the rich.

Delgado's move to leave Congress and join Hochul's administration comes in an election year in which the state's congressional maps were redrawn as part of the decennial redistricting process.

The timing sets up a dual-track process to replace Delgado, in which a special election would be held for his sprawling House seat, New York's 19th Congressional District, on Aug. 23, with the winner holding office for the rest of the year.

But that same day, the state will hold primary elections for Congress under the new political maps, which shifted boundaries and political matchups throughout the state.

That has left some quirks in campaigning, like Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, a Democrat, who announced he will seek to win the Aug. 23 special election for the 19th District, but on the same day, compete in a Democratic primary for the 18th District.

Delgado grew up in Schenectady and lives in Rhinebeck.

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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP)  The family of a Black man who yelled that he couldn't breathe before he died in a North Carolina jail in 2019 has reached a $3 million settlement in its wrongful-death lawsuit, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

John Neville's family reached the settlement with all five former jailers who were initially charged with involuntary manslaughter in his death as well as with Forsyth County government and Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr., the Winston-Salem Journal reported.

The settlement was reached during a mediation meeting April 19. In that settlement, the detention officers, Forsyth County and Kimbrough do not admit liability.

The family said Neville's civil rights were violated when detention officers and a nurse ignored his medical distress and pinned him on a mattress as he yelled that he couldnt breathe.

Neville died on Dec. 4, 2019 after having a medical emergency at the Forsyth County jail. Body camera videos showed him struggling with guards to get up from where he lay on the floor, calling out for his mother and yelling I cant breathe! more than 20 times as he was being restrained. Neville had been arrested several days earlier.

Kimbrough did not publicly acknowledge Nevilles death until about six months later, when he was questioned by the Journal in June 2020.

Claims are still pending against Michelle Heughins, a nurse who worked at the Forsyth County jail, and Wellpath LLC, the jails former medical provider. In July 2020, Forsyth County District Attorney Jim ONeill announced involuntary manslaughter charges against Heughins and the five former detention officers.

In April, a Forsyth County grand jury declined to indict the five former jailers on involuntary manslaughter charges. Heughins was indicted, and her case is pending in Forsyth County Superior Court.

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A defiant U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene easily defeated five fellow Republicans on Tuesday in a primary race that showed her conservative Georgia constituents standing steadfastly beside her after a turbulent freshman term.

Greene showed no signs of mellowing in her victory speech late Tuesday. She called, as she has in the past, for the impeachment of President Joe Biden and dismissed his election as the product of fraudulent electoral votes. She likened pandemic mask and vaccine mandates to medical tyranny, and bemoaned the cruel and illegal treatment of many nonviolent Jan. 6 protesters.

Greene called Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell one of Congress failed leaders and said to loud applause that shes part of a majority who even now wants to see Hillary Clinton in jail.

Sending me back to Washington will send a message to the bloodsucking establishment: It is we who will set the policy agenda for the next decade and not them, Greene said. She added: Were going to start speaking the truth more forcefully and more loudly than ever before.

Greene, 47, will be back on the ballot in November facing Democrat Marcus Flowers in northwest Georgias 14th District, a seat drawn to give Republicans a huge advantage. Flowers, an Army veteran who raised $8.1 million, easily beat two other candidates in the Democratic primary.

Greene became a celebrity of the Republican Party's far-right fringe with her election two years ago as she embraced former President Donald Trumps false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and engaged in conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.

Greene spoke at an event organized by a white nationalist where the crowd chanted Putin! after Russias invasion of Ukraine and launched other partisan attacks that critics said promoted racism and violence.

Greene remained on the primary ballot Tuesday in Georgia's 14th Congressional District after a failed effort to disqualify her by opposing voters. They argued Greene engaged in insurrection by encouraging the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that disrupted Congress certification of Joe Bidens presidential victory. Georgia's secretary of state and an administrative law judge dismissed the claims.

Still, fellow Republicans refused to give Greene a free ride to reelection. Though her first term won loyal followers, it left others in the GOP embarrassed.

Leading the slate of Republicans running to oust Greene in the primary was Jennifer Strahan, founder of a suburban Atlanta health care advisory firm who pitched herself to voters as a no-nonsense conservative.

This is not the time for unserious politicians who just want to hear themselves talk, Strahan said in one campaign ad, without mentioning Greene by name. In another she stated bluntly: Our current U.S. representative isnt doing her job.

Greene was stripped of her committee assignments last year by House Democrats who accused her of spreading violent and hateful conspiracies. In recent months, Greene got banned from Twitter for spreading coronavirus misinformation.

Green has been largely unrepentant. In a campaign ad posted recently to her Facebook page, she calls Biden and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi communist Democrats who hate America, hate God and hate our way of life.

Greene proved popular enough that she raised more than $9 million for her reelection bid, placing her among the years top fundraisers in Congress, according to the Federal Election Commission. Greene spent more than $6.6 million before the primary.

Strahan's $391,000 in fundraising trailed far behind Greene but dwarfed that of other Republican contenders  retired physician Charles Lutin, engineer James Haygood, Marine Corps veteran Seth Synstelien and logistics executive Eric Cunningham.

Spanning a stretch of northwest Georgia from metro Atlanta to the state line at Chattanooga, Tennessee, Greene's district was drawn to favor Republicans even after state lawmakers slightly shifted its boundaries during redistricting last year.

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La Yaquesita Tacos got its start in a kelly green ramada behind a tire shop in the western reaches of Valencia Road.

What you find inside the steel shell is a food truck with a curated menu centered around quesabirria. While they make staples like Sonoran dogs and asada tacos at La Yaquesita, you have to start with the quesabirria.

The success of their quesabirria is what inspired the launch of La Yaquesitas second location, moving into the former location of the L Station at 500 N. Fourth Ave.

Business is going good, said Jenny Rodriguez, sister-in-law of La Yaquesitas chef-owner Miguel Rodriguez. People love our quesabirria.

While youll be able to try their quesabirria at the Fourth Avenue location in a few weeks  La Yaquesita estimates theyll open in the first two weeks of June  the charming flagship location, down Valencia to 6530 S. Camino del Oeste, isnt going anywhere.

When I visited recently, I asked the woman behind the counter what I should try  from their photos online, I knew La Yaquesita would be a quesabirria destination. She agreed with a nod. The quesabirria, she said.

What makes the quesabirria special is in the sauce: the consomme is rich and densely flavored, a perfect reflection of what makes the tacos  whose tortillas are dipped in the birria then grilled  so delicious.

The melty cheese mixed with the succulent shredded beef is the cornerstone of all good quesabirria, including La Yaquesitas. It doesnt hurt that their garnish is some of the freshest Ive had, with juicy limes and crunchy cabbage.

But I also saw something on the menu I hadnt tried yet: a variation of the Sonoran hot dog called Philadelphia. The weenie is cut in half and filled with cream cheese and roasted green chile before its wrapped with bacon, in an otherwise traditional dogo. The cream cheese adds richness and also cuts through the spice, which may invite a bite of the blackened jalapeno they pair with the hot dog. If you ordered the birria, you may even dip the bun in the consomme.

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The location on Camino del Oeste is charming. On the side of their truck, they have a mural of a little dachshund depicted as a Sonoran dog against a lush desert setting. Traditional Mexican music and a shady, well-ventilated dining area create a comfy atmosphere. While its worth the trip for anyone who lives farther away, Im sure glad theyre opening a second location on Fourth Avenue. Its a destination either way.

La Yaquesita Tacos

Location: 6530 S. Camino del Oeste | 500 N. Fourth Ave. to come in early June

Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday | Hours TBD for the second location

Price: at Camino del Oeste location, $11 for two quesabirra tacos and consomme | $4 for a regular Sonoran dog, $5 for a Philadelphia

For more information, check out their Facebook page.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  A Danish Jehovahs Witness on Wednesday has returned to Denmark after spending five years in a Russian prison under Moscows crackdown on the religious group, the organization said.

Russia officially banned the Jehovahs Witnesses in 2017, and designated the religious denomination an extremist organization in connection to its alleged propaganda of exclusivity. Dennis Christensen, a 49-year-old Dane, was arrested that year for leading a prayer meeting, and was handed a six-year prison sentence in 2019.

Jehovahs Witnesses around the world couldnt be happier for Dennis and his wife, Irina," Jarrod Lopes, a spokesman for the organization said in a statement. However, Jehovahs Witnesses continue to be arrested, imprisoned, and sometimes tortured simply for the peaceful practice of their Christian faith.

"We hope soon Russian authorities will halt the discriminatory attack on Jehovahs Witnesses and allow them to worship freely as they do in over 200 other lands.

Christensen was held at a penal colony in the western Kursk region. The group had previously claimed that he was denied medical treatment and was harassed by prison authorities.

In June 2020, the Lgov district court paroled Christensen after he served half of his sentence, and replaced the remaining three years with a fine of 50,000 rubles ($5,250). However, that ruling was overturned by the Kursk Regional Court after local prosecutors appealed the parole, insisting that Christensen had violated prison rules.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  Defense lawyers for a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer charged with lying to the FBI during the Trump-Russia probe showed jurors handwritten notes on Wednesday aimed at undercutting allegations that he misled the federal government about his legal work.

Michael Sussmann is on trial in Washingtons federal court, accused of lying to the FBIs general counsel during a September 2016 meeting when he presented computer data that purported to show a secret communications backchannel between Donald Trump and Russia. The FBI investigated but quickly determined no link existed between the Trump Organization, the former presidents company, and Russia-based Alfa Bank.

Prosecutors allege he misled the FBI by saying that he was not attending the meeting on behalf of a particular client when he was actually representing the interests of the Clinton campaign and another client  a technology executive who had provided him with the data.

Sussmanns lawyers deny he lied, saying he was coming to the FBI to raise concerns about a potential national security threat.

Prosecutors rested their case on Wednesday.

Defense lawyers called as their first witnesses former senior Justice Department officials who attended a March 6, 2017, meeting at which FBI leaders briefed them on the status of investigations into potential coordination during the 2016 presidential election between Trump's successful campaign and Russia. Among the topics that came up were the Alfa Bank claims.

One of those ex-officials, Tashina Gauhar, took notes from the meeting in which she wrote that the Alfa Bank allegations were brought to the FBI by an attorney on behalf of his client. She said she didn't recall who at the meeting said that, but said that if she had written that down, then "thats what I would have heard at the briefing.

One of Sussmann's lawyers, Michael Bosworth, sought to persuade jurors about the credibility of Gauhar's notes by asking, mostly rhetorically: When senior leaders of the FBI come to brief senior leaders of the Department of Justice, do they try to get it right? Do they try to present truthful accurate information to the Department of Justice?

Another participant at the March 2017 meeting, Mary McCord, at the time the department's top national security official, took similar notes about the fact that the Alfa Bank claims came to the FBI from a lawyer.

The notes are seen as an important piece of evidence for the defense because neither Sussmann nor James Baker, the FBI official to whom he is alleged to have made the false statement, took notes during the original September 2016 meeting at which the Alfa Bank data was presented.

Also Wednesday, defense lawyers noted that Sussmann billed the taxi ride to the FBI building for the meeting to his law firm at the time, Perkins Coie, rather than to the Clinton campaign.

Earlier Wednesday, prosecutors showed jurors billing records indicating that Sussmann repeatedly billed to the campaign general political advice and legal work related to the Alfa Bank server issue.

Defense lawyers, however, noted that Sussmann billed the taxi ride to the FBI building for the meeting on Alfa Bank to his law firm at the time, Perkins Coie, rather than to the Clinton campaign.

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A Tulsa-based venture capital firm announced Wednesday the launch of an angel investing program that will help educate new investors and support early-stage start-ups in the corridor connecting Tulsa and northwest Arkansas.

Atento Capital will partner on 412 Angels with the Northwest Arkansas Council, the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation on the effort, which seeks to build one of the most competitive tech economies in the country.

By helping more local leaders become angel investors, we will only deepen our regions ability to support, launch, and scale early-stage startups. It is our hope that this network can serve as an introduction to our tech scene, and ultimately help new investors advise local startups, help traditionally under-invested founders attract new funding, or even found companies of their own, Atento Capitals Managing Partner Michael Basch said in a statement.

With a robust angel network, top-tier educational programs and established local companies like Walmart, J.B. Hunt, Tyson Food and BOK Financial, which are eager to partner with new startups, our region has all of the ingredients to develop a thriving tech ecosystem.

The group is named after U.S. 412, the highway that connects the regions.

Angel investments currently represent 90% of outside equity raised by startups after friends and family. 412 Angels will build a network of corporate leaders, successful high-growth startup founders, academics and members of the investment community through a series of educational sessions and direct learning opportunities.

Top investors from around the country will also participate in regular programming designed to improve local members knowledge of start-up investing as an asset class.

This partnership is an important step toward the long-held goal of bridging the northwest Arkansas and Tulsa communities through venture capital, Nelson Peacock, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, said in a statement.

A sophisticated network of angel investors in the heartland will attract innovative startup companies and entrepreneurs and bolster the growing economies in both regions.

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Nathaniel "Nate" Rojas didnt want to open a Mexican restaurant because he thought there were too many in town. That is until he opened a restaurant with a giant menu, and tacos were his biggest seller.

Rojas officially opens at the famous Pink House on Thursday, May 26 at 804 E. Cherokee St. in Wagoner. Just a week prior, the historic house was home to Nates Restaurant. Floricel "Chey" Rojas will be the owner, Nathaniel's husband.

The Rojas' likes to keep it simple  and pay attention to the numbers.

When we first opened, we thought people were tired of hamburgers and Mexican food, Rojas said. They turned out being the biggest menu items that we were selling.

Authentic Mexican food is going to be the staple of Rojas. Their family runs deep in making quality Mexican dishes, passed on from generations. The menu at Rojas will almost primarily be authentic, Mexican food imported from Chiapas  a southern Mexican state bordering Guatemala.

Thats what is going to make us different from everyone else in town, he said.

Nates officially opened in November 2021 after Wagoners Pink House sat vacant for a number of years. It was labeled as a country diner, with a large menu and multiple tables on the inside and outside. On Thursdays, they served red tacos called rojas tacos. Once that homegrown food item got added to the menu, Thursdays went from their slowest day to their busiest.

From there, Nate decided it was time to capitalize on what he and family do best: Mexican. Rojas was born.

We threw so much away at the old restaurant with our big menu, except the Mexican food, Rojas said.

The building, built in 1906 in Indian Territory, is on the Oklahoma Historical Society registrar. Prior to Nates, it was a restaurant specializing in juicy, home-cooked steaks. Rojas doesnt plan to do any extensive remodeling on the inside to keep its historic feel. He may do some tweaks here and there to differentiate it between the ambiance of Nates and Rojas.

Rojas will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day except Wednesday.

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FICTION: Nell Zink's sixth novel in seven years is about a woman's rise from dire beginnings.

"Avalon" by Nell Zink; Knopf (224 pages, $27)



Over six novels in seven years, Nell Zink has honed a talent for prose that's assertive, even breezy in the face of ostensibly sad subjects: toxic relationships and environmental destruction, racism and prejudice, dysfunctional families and poverty, disease and death. So it's fitting in a way that her latest, "Avalon," is a kind of modern fairy tale, a light-footed Cinderella story that documents a young woman's rise from a wretched existence in stylish, witty fashion.

Bran (short for Brandy) is our heroine and narrator, a college-age woman who starts this story by sketching out the tragic details of her life so far. As a child, she lost her mother, first when she took off for a Buddhist monastery, and later, for good, to cancer.

Having never known her real father, who fled home to Australia soon after she was born, Bran ends up in the custody of Doug, her common-law stepfather. Doug is a member of a locally infamous family, the Hendersons, who operate a rundown, rambling nursery that's a haven for undocumented workers, a longtime hangout for Hell's Angels and certainly no place for a parentless girl to grow up.

Sleeping in a lean-to on the property, Bran is made from adolescence onward to earn her keep by helping take care of the plants. The nursery is ruled by Grandpa Larry, a cranky biker who rants about government intrusion and refers to all of the nursery's dozens of laborers as either "Roger" or "Eric."

Despite the general air of lawlessness that prevails on the Hendersons' property, Grandpa Larry ensured that she was never physically or sexually abused there. Still, as she reaches high school and makes friends with more normal family circumstances (and regular teenage things like cellphones, cars and bedrooms), Bran starts to sense that it might be time to move on.

Loosely plotted and chatty, the gist of "Avalon" tells how first friendship and then romance, along with shared interests in art and knowledge, help Bran transcend her squalid circumstances. In high school she befriends Jay, the only child of a wealthy family, and together with schoolmates Henry, Will and Fifi, they take over their school's literary magazine.

Zink lovingly lampoons the way that teenagers bumble toward identity and character: "Henry regarded himself as an ethical person with a right to sit in judgment because he knew first aid," she writes.

Jay heads to UCLA after high school. Bran can't afford college but she keeps up the friendship, and that's how she meets Peter, a fellow student on whom both Jay and Bran develop intense crushes. As Jay shifts from dance to film studies, Bran starts to take her tentative steps toward autonomy.

Peter emerges as Bran's potential Prince Charming, and what little narrative momentum that "Avalon" achieves  Zink is best for readers who don't mind a lot of digression in their novels  lies in finding out whether Bran will get her happy ending.

A comparative literature major with curly black hair, Peter is almost comically erudite for his age  are there really 19-year-old boys in the world so comfortable monologuing on Edward Said off the cuff, or debating concepts of fascism and utopia with ease?

But it's easy to forgive Zink this flight of fancy in a book that's so fun to read. And you don't have to believe a fairy tale to enjoy it.
The ancient city of Palmyra has been something of a crossing point for many of the cultures of the Mediterranean, from the Greeks and Romans to the travelers along the Silk Road trading routes, to modern-day Syria.

That is one reason why Faisel Abdelsamad chose to name his restaurant Palmyra Mediterranean Grill.

So many different cultures passed through that area, he said. What I like to do with the food I make is mix flavors from all these different countries together  Lebanon, Greece, Syria, Jordan.

Jordan is Abdelsamads native country, where he had a career in banking before making the decision to move his family to the United States about five years ago. The family chose Oklahoma because a relative lived here.

I always loved cooking  to be in the kitchen making food was for me the best way to relax, he said. It was always my dream to have my own restaurant, so I started learning the business from the bottom.

Abdelsamad said he started out as a dishwasher at Tulsas Tallys Good Food Cafe, and worked his way up to cook, all the while saving as much money as possible with the goal of opening his own place.

He was able to do that about two months ago, taking over the space previously occupied by the New Hong Kong restaurant.

I thought about doing American food, Abdelsamad said. But I realized that there were not a lot of Mediterranean restaurants in Tulsa, and that people here seemed to like Mediterranean food.

The concept of bringing diverse things together extends to the way that Abdelsamad has conceived Palmyras menu. One selects the basic configuration  a wrap ($9.99) or a plate ($14.99)  that can be customized however one might wish.

For example, one can select a protein and five side items on a plate. The protein choices are beef kabob, shish tawook (chunks of white meat chicken skewered and grilled) and chicken shawarma. Wraps are paired with a single side but more can be added for $3.99 each.

I thought that this would be easier for people, because they can order exactly what they want, Abdelsamad said.

During a recent visit, my companion and I decided to load up our plates with as many options as possible. She went with beef kabob, which is ground beef that is cooked on skewers, choosing as her sides the basmati rice, the Mediterranean salad and baba ghanoush.

Our plate started with the chicken shawarma, thin pieces of chicken typically stacked into a vertical cone and grilled before being shaved off for serving, with an addition of the shish tawook (an additional $2.99). Accompanying this was pita bread, hummus, falafel, yogurt-cucumber salad and lentil soup.

My companion pronounced the rice as some of the best she had ever had, and thought the baba ghanoush  roasted eggplant with tomato, bell pepper and onion  seemed to offer up a different taste with each bite. One of the more surprising of those tastes was the distinct flavor of liquid smoke.

The beef was nicely seasoned but unfortunately dry, while the salad was a fresh, tangy mix of tomatoes, cucumber and parsley with a lemony dressing.

The chicken in the tawook was also overcooked to a painfully dry state, but the smaller pieces of the shawarma were flavored and tender, and was truly tasty when packed into one of the pita bread triangles with a generous helping of the yogurt-cucumber salad.

The hummus was creamy with a subtle citrus tang; the puree of mild jalapeno and olive oil that topped it added a surprising but not unpleasant dimension to it.

The side order of falafel was maybe the best thing we tried: crisp on the outside, creamy and bursting with flavor on the inside. The lentil soup, on the other hand, relied too much on jalapeno, to the point that this was about the only thing about it one could taste.

All dishes are served, whether one dines in or takes home, in divided to-go containers with clear hinged lids; silverware is available on a small island in the middle of the dining area. Beverages are bottled water and sodas one selects from a refrigerated case.

Abdelsamad said that most of the recipes are ones he has developed on his own, although he is not above seeking help and advice from a somewhat higher power.

Some of the recipes are ones my mother created, he said, with a broad smile. Sometimes, if I am having trouble with a recipe, I will call her and she will guide me through what I should do.

For example, I used to buy the yogurt I use for the yogurt-cucumber salad, Abdelsamad said. I mentioned that to my mother, and she said, No, no, no, why are you doing that? You should make your own yogurt. She told me how to do it, and thats what I do now. And the salad is a lot better.

What the Ale, Beer of the Week: Hop the Griffins Hazy Ambrosia

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Editor's Note: The Tulsa World spent a year producing a six-part narrative in 2017 on what remains perhaps the state's most infamous cold case: the unsolved murders of three girls  Lori Farmer, Denise Milner and Michele Guse  at a Girl Scout camp near Locust Grove 43 years ago. Arrested after an intense manhunt, Gene Leroy Hart, who was charged with the crimes, was ultimately acquitted after a sensational trial. The series examines the details of what happened and the lingering effects on those who survived. A new four-part Hulu series called "Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders" is now streaming.

CHAPTER ONE: INTO THE DARKNESS

Darkness.

Total, all-consuming darkness.

Michelle Hoffman has never forgotten her first experience with it.

"My first year at Camp Scott I remember going 'Whoa!'  because it is dark, dark, dark in those woods at night," she said.

"If you've never been camping in a platform tent in the deep woods, it's a little intimidating."

"After your first time there," she added, "you get it. You're just prepared. It's going to be dark."

For the Girl Scouts of the Tulsa-based Magic Empire Council, the dark nights were all part of the experience of Camp Scott, where their annual two-week summer camps were held.

Hoffman was 9 years old her first summer there.

She had fallen in love with everything about it, she said  the hiking, swimming, the sleeping in tents  and had come back every year.

Hoffman's seventh summer was going to be different, though. For one thing, she was no longer a camper. At 15, she had "aged out." Instead, she would serve as an aide to the camp director.

Something else was different, too, although Hoffman had no way of knowing it going in.

Every summer up to then, despite what a little girl's imagination might sometimes conjure up, the night had not been hiding any real terrors.

But that summer, in June 1977, there was something in the darkness at Camp Scott that had not been there before.

On the morning of Sunday, June 12, by the time Hoffman arrived at Girl Scout headquarters in Tulsa, the parking lot was already swarming.

"There were girls everywhere," she said, "excited, loading up the buses."

But in all the hubbub, one girl caught her eye.

"She just stood out to me," Hoffman said, recalling the first time she saw Denise Milner.

A 10-year-old Girl Scout who was going to camp for the first time, "Denise was one of the only African-American girls in the group. I could tell she was nervous," Hoffman said.

Thinking she could use a little encouragement, Hoffman walked over and introduced herself to Denise and her mother, Bettye Milner.

Denise was feeling homesick, Bettye told her, and not wanting to go.

"Why don't you come with me?" Hoffman offered. "We'll ride down together."

Denise agreed, and the two claimed the front seat of their bus. Bettye came on board with them to say goodbye, then left. But she came back again just before the bus pulled out, Hoffman said.

"She wanted to ask me, if Denise was still homesick tomorrow, if I would help her to call home," she recalled. "I assured her I would. Although I knew full well we don't normally do that. You try to divert the kids from being homesick. And calling home does not help."

On the hour-and-a-half journey that followed, Denise mostly stayed quiet and stared out of the window. Hoffman helped lead camp songs.

She tried to talk to Denise a little, she said, doing her best to be encouraging.

"I kept saying 'You're going to do great, you'll have a good time.'"

In her "15-year-old wisdom," Hoffman added, she had no reason to doubt that.

Located two miles from the town of Locust Grove in Mayes County, about 50 miles from Tulsa, Camp Scott had been operated by the Girl Scouts since 1928.

With a creek on site and occupying 410 acres of the area's densely wooded hill country, the camp was an ideal spot to leave civilization behind and was used by the Scouts year-round.

The units, consisting of several campers' tents and a counselors' tent, were named after Indian tribes.

The tents themselves, about 12-by-14 feet, with canvas sides that could be rolled up, sat on wooden platforms and held four cots for sleeping.

For the first two-week session in June 1977, more than 130 campers were attending, most of them from the Tulsa area.

Arrival at Camp Scott, Hoffman said, was always a sort of "stepping off."

Turning off Oklahoma 82 onto Cookie Trail Road  the narrow route to the camp entrance  it was like the wilderness suddenly sprang to life, looming up on all sides.

On the buses, the singing and talking would start to die down, and an expectant hush fall over the campers.

"It's dark, Hoffman said. There's trees that line the road. It changes. You can feel people quiet down. It's like 'Well, here we are.'"

"Camp Scott was an important place for me," Hoffman said. "It was really where I started growing up."

Her hope, after the 1977 session, was to train to become a counselor, she said.

And after that  who knew? One day she might even become camp director.

That was her dream, she said.

When the campers arrived on Sunday afternoon, things went according to plan.

Spilling out of their buses, the girls scurried to find their units and tents, dropping off their sleeping bags and backpacks.

Hoffman stuck with Denise.

She helped her grab her things, she said, then, together, they went to find her tent in the Kiowa unit.

When Hoffman saw it, she couldn't help smiling. It was the same tent in which she had spent one of her own summer camps.

In fact, she told Denise, Kiowa Tent No. 8 was pretty much her all-time favorite tent.

Later, she'd claimed it on her troop's camp outings.

The tents were arranged in a horseshoe shape and, while technically the last one in the row, Hoffman liked it because "it was close to the bathroom and the kitchen unit."

Once, she even wrote her name inside it.

The canvas had been changed out, though, so it wasn't there anymore, she said.

As the kids in the Kiowa unit began settling in, Carla Wilhite did her best to put names with faces.

Denise's face made a definite impression.

"She was just a beautiful and radiant child," said Wilhite, 18 at the time and one of three Kiowa counselors. "She was the only African-American and a first-time camper, and I remember thinking we would want to make sure she had a good start and great experience."

Both of which seemed likely.

Denise and her tent mates, Michele and Lori, had not known each other. But they appeared to be bonding quickly, Wilhite said.

Individually "three of the quietest kids," their tent was "just as loud and lively as many of the other tents," she said.

Late Sunday evening, after some songs around the campfire, Hoffman returned to check on Denise.

She found her getting ready for bed with her two new friends. Just as Hoffman had hoped, she seemed to be adjusting.

"Good night, see you in the morning," she told Denise cheerfully.

A few minutes later, Hoffman was climbing into her own cot in another unit.

"The first day is exhausting," she said. "You are wiped out from the sun and the excitement and the girls."

Except for an early-evening thunderstorm, which had given the camp a good soaking, everything had gone pretty much like normal, Hoffman added.

She just knew everyone would sleep well, and wake up ready for a fun Monday.

Around the camp, one by one, lights went out.

Before turning in, a lot of the girls engaged in a little horseplay with their flashlights.

One of them was 10-year-old Amy Sullivan.

Another first-time camper, she wrote in her diary that night by flashlight.

When she finally switched it off, the last in her tent to do so, she remembers the feeling of being swallowed up by darkness.

"It was the darkest dark I had ever known," she said, adding it was both a little scary and little magical at the same time. "I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or shut."

Sullivan didn't know it then, but that darkness would stay with her. "It became my personal measure of any darkness  from that night forward, and ever after."

Not only could the campers not see anything, not much could be heard either.

The platform tents were sturdy structures, and the trees and undergrowth crowding in helped absorb sound.

Gradually, the giggles subsided. The girls drifted off.

By 8 a.m. Monday, June 13, just as Tulsa-area residents were getting the work week started, the first news reports were beginning to break.

At first it sounded too strange  the kind of news you ask to hear a second time and then a third to make sure you understand.

Three Girl Scouts had been found dead at Camp Scott near Locust Grove.

The reports differed initially over the circumstances  whether the deaths were foul play or some freak mishap.

But as the morning advanced, more details emerged.

And they were shocking.

Three Tulsa Girl Scouts had been beaten to death overnight at Camp Scott.

Initial evidence indicated they had also been raped.

Police were looking for a killer or killers.

Just under 24 hours earlier, they had been dropping their daughters off for camp and saying their goodbyes.

Now, the families began to get the alarming news about the deaths.

They heard it in different ways. One mother was at a beauty shop when the news came over the radio there.

"They were about to blow my hair dry, and I rushed to the phone and called my husband," she told a reporter later.

Through Scouts officials, families were able to learn that the buses would be bringing their children back to Tulsa.

And before noon, they began gathering at the council building in anticipation.

There, huddled in groups, some inside, others on the lawn, they waited.

Although they knew that the victims' families had been informed, most of those on hand were firm in their agreement: They would not  could not  rest until they saw their child step off that bus.

That would take a while.

And the waiting only fed the tension.

"I won't believe she's all right until I see her," one mother told a reporter. As she walked back and forth, the woman patted other parents on their arms  as if by reassuring others she was reassuring herself.

About 2:15 p.m., the three Greyhound buses finally arrived. Before the doors even opened, the waiting groups "surged forward, straining for a glimpse," the Tulsa Tribune reported.

As the campers began, one at a time, to emerge, more than a few of the adults fought back tears.

The campers still knew nothing of what had happened. And the scene before them  parents, news cameras and vans  only added to their confusion.

"I think every single one of us on the buses just stood up when we saw them all," said Sullivan, the camper who'd been writing in her diary the night before. "It was like a mob scene."

Explanations, for most, would have to wait, though.

Sullivan remembers her grandmother, who picked her up because her parents were in Dallas, looking distraught as she came out of the crowd.

Together they collected her things and then drove away.

"A few minutes later at a stoplight," Sullivan recalled, "I remember looking at her very closely. I asked her what happened."

"Oh, honey," her grandmother replied, crying. "Three girls were killed at your camp last night."

"'Killed?'" Sullivan asked. The word didn't quite register.

Killed.

"'At camp? While I slept?' I could not understand how that could be."

Among the girls on the buses, she said, the rumors had been swirling. However, "the possibility of a tragedy didn't enter my 10-year-old brain."

The light turned green, and her grandmother accelerated. But the tears on her cheeks, Sullivan remembers, stayed there, as if frozen.

That night in her diary, after her own tears had finally come, Sullivan tried to sum up the day:

"I came home from camp," she wrote, "because something happened at camp. Three girls got killed ..."

Sullivan doesn't remember when, but sometime later she crossed out "killed" and above it wrote "murdered."

"Before this," she said, "I didn't even know what that word meant."

After the buses had left Camp Scott for Tulsa, Michelle Hoffman stayed behind, helping camp officials as they assisted authorities.

Unable to even begin absorbing what had happened, she spent much of the day, she said, answering the main office phone. It rang constantly, with calls coming in from media around the world.

Hoffman finally got back to Tulsa that evening.

Met by her mother, she said, it was then, for the first time all day, that she cried.

"For some reason, (seeing my mother) made it real," she said.

The worst moment, though, wouldn't come for a few days.

Hoffman still remembers how it hit her  the terrible revelation. Sitting in the living room with her parents, she was poring over the newspaper and the latest reports about the murders.

For the umpteenth time, she looked at the victims' faces, read the names.

Lori Lee Farmer.

Michele Guse.

Doris Denise Milner.

And suddenly Hoffman felt very sick.

The bus ride to camp flashed in her mind, then the bedtime check-in. "Good night. See you in the morning"  suddenly it all came back.

Up to that moment, the first name "Doris"  and the artificial quality of the photo  had thrown her, kept her from making the connection.

"Oh my God, Mom," Hoffman blurted out, holding up the newspaper.

"This is the girl I rode the bus with!

"This  is Denise."

Related content

The complete Girl Scout Murders series

Chapter 1: Tulsans react to the stunning news that three area girls have been murdered at a Girl Scout camp near Locust Grove.

Chapter 2: The largest manhunt in Oklahoma history kicks off in pursuit of two-time prison escapee Gene Leroy Hart, who, despite being charged with the murders, has a growing number of supporters.

Chapter 3: One of the state's most-anticipated and sensational trials pits a seasoned, successful district attorney from Tulsa County against a scrappy, young Oklahoma City defense attorney in a battle over evidence and accusations that Hart is being framed.

Chapter 4: Officials stop pursuing the case despite a not-guilty verdict, and Hart dies unexpectedly while in prison for unrelated crimes.

Chapter 5: In the years following the murders, the survivors and others affected continue trying to make sense of it all, while maintaining hope that advancements in DNA testing may ultimately bring answers.

Chapter 6: After 40 years, the victims' families show their resilience, undeterred by the mystery that still surrounds the case.

Tim Stanley 918-581-8385 tim.stanley@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @timstanleyTW

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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  Alaska Senate President Peter Micciche said Wednesday he will not seek re-election this year, citing a desire to spend more time with family.

His announcement comes after the Legislature last week ended its four-month regular session and a week before a candidate filing deadline.

The Soldotna Republican said he has spent nearly 11 of the last 16 months away from his four daughters and wife, who need me at home. My family is my priority. Last year was marked by drawn-out budget fights and four special sessions.

The Division of Elections shows that Micciche had previously filed to run for the seat. Leona Long with the Senate Majority press office said by email that he had filed months ago and things have changed.

The division currently shows three other candidates for the Senate seat, including Tuckerman Babcock, a former Republican state party chair.

Micciche was first elected to the Senate in 2012 and has been Senate president since last year. He led a Republican-majority caucus whose members had sharply different views on the annual dividend paid to residents from Alaska's oil-wealth fund.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich last week called Micciche a friend. The two spoke to reporters together in Micciche's office on May 19 about their impressions of the legislative session that had just ended.

Begich, an Anchorage Democrat, said working with Micciche had been a joy and a delight."

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. took to social media Monday night to dispel a rumor that the tribe plans to build a jail in north Tulsa.

I must stress that we are absolutely not, contrary to rumors on social media, building a jail, Hoskin wrote on Twitter.

The confusion stems from the tribes effort to repurpose a commercial property in North Pointe Shopping Center for use as a courthouse and administrative building. The building is on the northeast corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Pine Street.

The Cherokee Nation was scheduled to appear before the city of Tulsas Board of Adjustment on Tuesday to seek a special exception to the zoning code for that purpose. But Hoskin said in his tweet that the tribe plans to join in a request to postpone the hearing until June 28.

The hearing was, and remains, simply one part of the process as we consider this investment, Hoskin wrote. We will continue to listen to community stakeholders as we work to grow with the north Tulsa community as good neighbors.

The Cherokee Nation District Court and Cherokee Nation Supreme Court are in Tahlequah.

According to its rezoning application, the tribe has for several years been looking to establish a location within its reservation where it could provide day-to-day civic services and conduct other operations for its growing population in Tulsa.

The need for those services has only increased since the historic 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, according to the rezoning application.

The high courts decision recognized that the Muscogee Nation reservation, which includes much of Tulsa, had never been disenfranchised by Congress. A state appellate court, in a series of decisions, has subsequently ruled that five other eastern Oklahoma tribes reservations with treaties with the U.S government also were never disestablished.

One of those was the Cherokee Nation.

The rulings mean crimes involving tribal citizens within any of those six reservations are in federal or tribal jurisdiction, not state jurisdiction.

The Subject property would allow for a fully-functioning courtroom and affiliated activities including offices for the Attorney General of the Cherokee Nation and staff, the Board of Adjustment application states.

The operation of this court would allow for a variety of legal cases to be handled in a more streamlined and timely fashion for all parties involved.

In his tweet, Hoskin stressed that the proposed repurposing of the North Pointe Shopping Center property is part of the tribes ongoing commitment to meet its obligations under McGirt and to invest in the community.

If this request were to be granted, the subject property would undergo significant rehabilitation including repair of long-term issues such as roof replacement as well as landscaping and exterior updating, the application states.

The updating combined with the large amount of daily activity at the site will operate to continue to drive traffic to the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Pine Street and will provide impetus for continued increased economic activity in North Tulsa.

City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper, whose district includes the shopping center, said she is the person who requested that the BOA meeting be postponed.

When I learned of it, I immediately told them, We are not voting on this on the 24th (of May), she said. This is going to be postponed, and we are going to have a town hall meeting, and you all need to come to this community and stand in front and answer any questions or concerns they may have, so that is what were doing.

Hall-Harper said she was disappointed that she never heard of the proposal until she received an email from BOA staff informing her of Tuesdays scheduled hearing. That lack of communication led many of her constituents to misunderstand what was being proposed, she said.

When people have asked me, Ive told them, No, its not a jail; its not a detention center, Hall-Harper said. But heres the point: Had they done it the right way, people would not have been left to assume things that are not true.

When you dont engage with the community like you should, then people are left to assume, and oftentimes when that happens, the assumptions are incorrect.

The Cherokee Nation did not respond to a request for comment regarding Hall-Harpers remarks.

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State agents and Bartlesville police arrested 13 people Wednesday after a monthslong investigation into a meth-trafficking organization, according to the state drug law enforcement agency.

Since fall 2021, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control agents have seized 35 pounds of methamphetamine and 96 firearms related to the investigation, bureau spokesman Mark Woodward said in a news release. In a traffic stop early in the investigation, authorities reportedly found 25 pounds of meth hidden in a tire.

We found this organization shipping anywhere from 10 to 25 pounds of meth into northeastern Oklahoma from the West Coast on a weekly basis, Woodward said in a statement. Those shipments would then be moved onto the streets in Washington County, Nowata County and parts of Kansas.

After the arrest warrants were served by state and local authorities about 7 a.m. Wednesday, 13 people were transported to the Washington County jail on complaints including trafficking methamphetamine, the release stated.

Meth continues to be the top killer when it comes to drug-related deaths in our state, OBN Director Donnie Anderson said in a statement. I am grateful to our local law enforcement partners who work tirelessly along-side our agents every day to identify and dismantle these trafficking organizations that destroy lives and families.

Sheriffs deputies from Washington and Nowata counties assisted, as well as the District 11 Drug Task Force and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, according to the news release.
NEW YORK (AP)  Darren Walker, Ford Foundation president and preeminent connector and advocate for artists and art institutions, joined the exclusive company of global superstars like Stevie Wonder, T.S. Eliot and Meryl Streep, in receiving France's highest cultural honor.

Walker was named commander of Frances Order of Arts and Letters for his work as a benefactor of the arts on Tuesday at a Gilded Age mansion in New York owned by the French embassy.

Being in this firmament is absolutely humbling, Walker told The Associated Press. Im simply a servant to the idea of art and justice in the world, because we cant have justice without art.

Walker became president of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest in the U.S., in 2013. He came in with a vision to shape the organizations giving to support social justice in part through funding the arts.

To symbolize that mission, Walker arranged to sell the foundations art collection of works almost exclusively from white male artists. Starting in 2017, the collection displayed at the foundations buildings was rebuilt with some 350 works of newer artists, many of whom are people of color, women and queer people.

Walker has steadily built a connection with French institutions in part because of what he described as the country's parallel journeys to live up to their founding ideals of freedom or liberty for all, equality and fellowship.

France, just like America, unfortunately, has engaged in the exclusion of especially the art and culture and stories of people of African descent," Walker said. And just like in America, "France is on a journey" toward great inclusion and recognition of the contributions of Black artists, he said.

Under his leadership, the Ford Foundation funded an exhibition in New York at Columbia University's Wallach Art Gallery in 2018 that explored the participation of Black models painted by modernists like Edouard Manet in the creation of those works. The exhibition curated by Denise Murrell, who was a fellow at the Ford Foundation at the time, traveled to the Musee dOrsay in Paris where it made a big impression.

Laurence des Cars, who is now president-director of the Louvre Museum, partnered with Walker and Murrell to bring the exhibit to Paris when she was leading the Musee dOrsay.

On Tuesday, she bestowed the honor to Walker on Frances behalf in front of 50 guests in a room shimmering with mirrors that overlooks Central Park. Des Cars recalled Walker's unwavering support of the exhibition that they were told over and over would cause problems.

You see what others do not see or refuse to see, and you see what could be, she said before placing a medal on a green and white stripped ribbon around Walker's neck.

French ambassador Philippe Etienne listed off projects that the Ford Foundation and Walker have supported, including art residencies both in France and the U.S., and a planned exhibition highlighting the many Black American artists who spent time in France especially after World War II.

As president of the Ford Foundation, he brings the foundation, of course, but he brings himself too," Etienne said, referring to Walker's expertise and knowledge, "but also a real passion, a real energy.

Walker sits on the board of the National Gallery of the Arts, the first Black man to do so, as well as the boards of many other arts institutions and companies.

The Washington-based organization, Americans for the Arts, invited Walker in 2017 to give an annual address where he made the case for public funding of the arts, tracing his own journey as a child in Texas raised by a single mother to a banker and now leading voice in philanthropy.

Nolen V. Bivens, the organization's president and CEO, said Walker believes deeply in the power of cultural diplomacy and the power of art.

Darren Walker is the most influential arts policy grant maker and I would say thought leader in America, especially in the area of diversity and equity, he said, adding that Walker's dedication to the support of the arts and certainly artists is exceptional.

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The Republican nominations for four statewide races were on the ballot Tuesday, along with a constitutional amendment to fund improvements at state parks and historical sites.

Here is a rundown on key races:

SECRETARY OF STATE

Outgoing State Auditor Jim Zeigler and state Rep. Wes Allen advanced to the Republican primary runoff to succeed GOP incumbent John Merrill as Alabamas top elections officer, secretary of state.

Zeigler was barred from running again as auditor by term limits, and Allen served nearly a decade as probate judge in Pike County. Neither could get above the 50% vote threshold in a race that also included Ed Packard, who worked in the secretary of states elections division for nearly 25 years, and Christian Horn, a GOP activist and business owner from Madison County.

None of the four candidates raised major complaints about election problems in Alabama, which is controlled by Republicans and voted heavily for President Donald Trump in 2020. But all talked about measures needed to tighten election security, an issue popularized among conservatives by Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen by President Joe Biden.

The eventual Republican nominee will face Democrat Pamela J. Laffitte of Mobile in November.

Merrill couldnt seek the office again after serving two terms.

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall easily defeated a Republican primary opponent and now has a good chance at reelection as he seeks a second four-year term as the states leading law enforcement official.

First appointed in 2017, Marshall turned back a challenge from Harry Bartlett Still III, an attorney from Daphne.

Marshall will face Democratic nominee Wendell Major, police chief in the Birmingham-area city of Tarrant, in November. No Democrat holds statewide office in the heavily Republican state.

Marshall, who previously served as district attorney in Marshall County, regularly opposes initiatives launched by Democratic President Joe Biden including vaccination requirements for COVID-19 and federal policies along the border with Mexico, and he testified against the nomination of now-Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still argued that corruption is rampant in state government and that the agency overseeing police standards and training in the state needs to be reorganized to increase public trust in law enforcement. He also supported replacing Alabamas heavily amended Constitution, passed in 1901 to ensure white supremacy.

SUPREME COURT

Attorney Greg Cook, who portrayed himself as a Trump-tough Republican, won his partys nomination for an open seat on Alabamas Supreme Court by defeating Debra Jones, a judge who shot a gun in a tough-talking campaign commercial.

Cook will now be a heavy favorite over Democrat Anita L. Kelly in November to keep the states highest court in all Republican hands.

The race is for the Place 5 seat held by Justice Mike Bolin, a Republican who is retiring.

Cook campaigned in part on his Republican credentials and Christian faith. He was a Trump delegate and represented conservative interests in the 2000 presidential recount contest in Florida between Al Gore and President George W. Bush. Cooks campaign resume also featured his longtime church membership and leadership.

Jones released a commercial late in the campaign boasting of her support for Trump, her short stature  Shes 5 feet of concrete  and a case in which she sentenced a person convicted of child molestation to more than 1,000 years in prison. The spot showed her firing a handgun and saying the only reason she didnt put the person under the jail was the liberals wouldnt let her.

STATE AUDITOR

State Rep. Andrew Sorrell of Muscle Shoals advanced to a runoff against one of two other candidates in the race for the GOP nomination for state auditor.

Sorrell led balloting, but it was too early to say whether Stan Cooke, a pastor from Kimberly, or Rusty Glover, a former history teacher from Semmes who served in the state Senate, to advance to the June 21 vote.

Winning the Republican nomination is tantamount to election because no Democrat qualified to run for auditor.

Candidates for auditor typically emphasize the importance of keeping track of state property, but all three Republicans talked about election security in the era of false claims about a stolen presidential vote in 2020 because the auditor has a role in selecting county registrar boards.

Copying false claims by former President Donald Trump, Cookes campaign website said Alabama must get ahead of Democrats before they try and steal our elections as they did in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and even our neighbor to the east, Georgia.

The incumbent, Jim Zeigler, could not seek reelection after serving two terms and is running for secretary of state.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Voters approved a measure to let the state go into debt for $85 million in bonds to spruce up Alabamas state parks and historical sites.

The statewide constitutional amendment will provide $80 million in funding for state park projects that include adding and improving camping sites, adding wireless service, upgrading electrical and water service, replacing playgrounds, constructing swimming pools and repairing parts of Gulf State Park damaged by Hurricane Sally.

The remaining $5 million will go to the Alabama Historical Commission for acquiring, renovating and maintaining historical parks across the state. The agency wouldnt be allowed to use the money at Confederate Memorial Park in Marbury. The park is funded by a tax that was originally intended for needy Confederate veterans.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
UVALDE, Texas (AP)  An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children as he went from classroom to classroom, officials said, in the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade and the latest gruesome moment for a country scarred by a string of massacres. The attacker was killed by law enforcement.

The death toll also included two adults, authorities said. Gov. Greg Abbott said one of the two was a teacher.

The assault at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

Hours after the attack, families were still awaiting word on their children.

Outside the town civic center, where families were told to await news about their loved ones, the silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wailing. No! Please, no! one man yelled as he embraced another man.

My heart is broken today, said Hal Harrell, the school district superintendent. Were a small community, and were going to need your prayers to get through this.

Adolfo Cruz, a 69-year-old air conditioning repairman, was still outside the school as the sun set, seeking word on his 10-year-old great-granddaughter, Elijah Cruz Torres.

He drove to the scene after receiving a terrifying call from his daughter shortly after the first reports of the shooting. He said other relatives were at the hospital and the civic center.

Waiting, he said, was the heaviest moment of his life.

I hope she is alive, Cruz said.

The attack came just 10 days after a deadly, racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that added to a yearslong series of mass killings at churches, schools and stores. And the prospects for any reform of the nations gun regulations seemed as dim, if not dimmer, than in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook deaths.

But President Joe Biden appeared ready for a fight, calling for new gun restrictions in an address to the nation hours after the attack.

As a nation we have to ask, when in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in Gods name are we going to do what has to be done? Biden asked. Why are we willing to live with this carnage?"

Many of the wounded were rushed to Uvalde Memorial Hospital, where staff members in scrubs and devastated victims' relatives could be seen weeping as they walked out of the complex.

Officials did not immediately reveal a motive, but they identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio. Law enforcement officials said he acted alone.

The attack came as Robb Elementary was counting down to the last days of the school year with a series of themed days. Tuesday was to be Footloose and Fancy, with students wearing nice outfits and shoes.

The school has nearly 600 students in second, third and fourth grades. The vast majority of the students are Latino.

Ramos had hinted on social media that an attack could be coming, according to state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who said he had been briefed by state police. He noted that the gunman suggested the kids should watch out.

Before heading to the school, Ramos killed his grandmother with two military-style rifles he purchased on his birthday, Gutierrez said.

That was the first thing he did on his 18th birthday, he said. Other officials said later that the grandmother had survived, and was being treated, through her condition was not known.

Investigators believe Ramos posted photos on Instagram of two guns he used in the shooting, and they were examining whether he made statements online alluding to the attack in the hours before the assault, a law enforcement official said.

Law enforcement officers were serving multiple search warrants Tuesday night and gathering telephone and other records, the official said. Investigators were also attempting to contact Ramos' relatives and were tracing the firearms.

The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The attack began about 11:30 a.m., when the gunman crashed his car outside the school and ran into the building, according to Travis Considine, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. A resident who heard the crash called 911, and two local police officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter.

Both officers were shot, though it was not immediately clear where on the campus that confrontation occurred, or how much time elapsed before more authorities arrived on the scene.

Meanwhile, teams of Border Patrol agents raced to the school, including 10 to 15 members of a SWAT-like tactical and counter-terrorism unit, said Jason Owens, a top regional official with the Border Patrol.

One Border Patrol agent who was working nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about it.

The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, the law enforcement source said.

Owens confirmed that an agent suffered minor injuries, but would not provide details of that confrontation.

He said some area agents have children at Robb Elementary.

We have Border Patrol kids that go to this school. It hit home for everybody," he said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were wounded, but Uvalde Police Chief Pete Arredondo said there were several injuries. Earlier, Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

Uvalde, home to about 16,000 people, is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the border with Mexico. Robb Elementary is in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.

The tragedy in Uvalde was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, and it added to a grim tally in the state, which has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years.

In 2018, a gunman fatally shot 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area. A year before that, a gunman at a Texas church killed more than two dozen people during a Sunday service in the small town of Sutherland Springs. In 2019, another gunman at a Walmart in El Paso killed 23 people in a racist attack targeting Hispanics.

The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston. Abbott and both of Texas U.S. senators were among elected Republican officials who were the scheduled speakers at a Friday leadership forum sponsored by the NRAs lobbying arm.

In the years since Sandy Hook, the gun control debate in Congress has waxed and waned. Efforts by lawmakers to change U.S. gun policies in any significant way have consistently faced roadblocks from Republicans and the influence of outside groups such as the NRA.

A year after Sandy Hook, Sens. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, and Patrick J. Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, negotiated a bipartisan proposal to expand the nations background check system. But the measure failed in a Senate vote, without enough support to clear a 60-vote filibuster hurdle.

Then-President Barack Obama, who had made gun control central to his administrations goals after the Newtown shooting, called Congress' failure to act a pretty shameful day for Washington.

Last year, the House passed two bills to expand background checks on firearms purchases. One bill would have closed a loophole for private and online sales. The other would have extended the background check review period. Both languished in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome objections from a filibuster.

Eugene Garcia and Dario Lopez-Mills in Uvalde, Jake Bleiberg in Dallas, Ben Fox, Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington, Paul J. Weber in Austin, Juan Lozano in Houston, Gene Johnson in Seattle and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden delivered an emotional call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman opened fire at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday.

"When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden said at the White House shortly after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bookended by tragedy.

With first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, Biden added, "I am sick and tired. We have to act."

At least 19 students and two adults were killed. The latest figures come from Travis Considine, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The gunman also died.

The massacre at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since a gunmen killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago.

The attack came just 10 days after a deadly, racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that added to a yearslong series of mass killings at churches, schools and stores. And the prospects for any reform of the nations gun regulations seemed at least as dim as in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook deaths.

The gunman, who was wearing body armor and had hinted on social media of an upcoming attack, crashed his car outside the school and went inside armed, Sgt. Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN.

He killed his grandmother before heading to the school with two military-style rifles he had purchased on his birthday, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said.

That was the first thing he did on his 18th birthday, he said.

Officials did not immediately reveal a motive, but the governor identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos and said he was a resident of the community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio.

A Border Patrol agent who was working nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about it.

The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, the law enforcement source said.

Here are the latest updates from Texas:
OKLAHOMA CITY  Gentner Drummond, a wealthy Tulsa businessman who said he plans to spend millions on his campaign for state attorney general, received $3.6 million in pandemic relief funds for several of his businesses, using his own bank to review some of the applications and to administer the money.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Toll rates for the soon-to-be opened Gilcrease Expressway extension could be set July 26.

Transportation Secretary Tim Gatz was asked Tuesday about the project during the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority meeting.

Gatz said the toll road is expected to open in mid-to late summer.

I think it is going along pretty well, he said. We will have an item in front of the board sometime between now and the July meeting  looking like the July meeting  talking about the final tolling configuration.

He said the OTA has gotten feedback from members of the Berryhill community.

Berryhill-area residents told the OTA in April that eliminating the toll on the section of the highway between 41st Street and 51st Street was a top priority. That section had been free since completion but will have a toll as soon as the rest of the 5-mile turnpike is opened to traffic.

We are looking at options and looking at reducing the toll rate as much as we can, said James Poling, an OTA spokesman. Under the current funding mechanism, it has to be tolled.

Poling said no price range is available for the four sections of the new road that will be tolled.

He said the OTA is considering a lot of factors and how best to keep the rates low while meeting its financial obligations.

The OTA undertook the project at the invitation of a lot of different parties, including the city of Tulsa, Tulsa County and the Indian Nations Council of Governments, Gatz said. He said the parties needed a plan to leverage resources to build one of the most expensive sections of highway in Oklahoma.

The $330 million, 5-mile turnpike has 22 bridges, including several large ones over the Arkansas River, Gatz noted.

It will complete the gap from where the existing Gilcrease Expressway connects to Interstate 44 just south of 51st Street in west Tulsa to just north of U.S. 412  the Sand Springs Expressway  at Edison Street west of downtown Tulsa. All of the roads that will connect to the turnpike are free roads.

Construction of the roadway began Jan. 30, 2020.

Under a recently announced 15-year, $5 billion roadway improvement plan, the Gilcrease Expressway is set to get further work.

The plan calls for the completion of Gilcreases northern leg, connecting it to the Tisdale Expressway.

The plan also calls for several other projects, including widening the rest of the Turner Turnpike between Oklahoma City and Tulsa and widening the Will Rogers Turnpike between the Catoosa area and Claremore.

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Great Place to Work, the global authority on workplace culture held its inaugural Vietnam Best Workplaces event on May 12 at Sofitel Saigon Plaza with the theme People-First, Purpose-Driven, acknowledging the approach that companies have adopted in their workplace practices over the past year.

The event was attended by 120 participants, including Vo Tan Thanh, vice-chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Delphine Rousselet, executive director of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.

In the welcome speech to the audience, Evelyn Kwek, managing director of Great Place to Work ASEAN and ANZ said, The best way to do great business and take care of our customers is to take care of our people first.

When we are purpose-driven, the company is here to do more, a lot more than just make money; were here to take care of each other, respect each other, build great teams, and help each other perform in a way that is better for people, better for business, and better for the world.

In addition to honoring the 15 companies in the Vietnam Best WorkplacesTM List, certified companies across industries such as technology, agriculture, manufacturing, and electronics were also presented with a recognition of their certification journey because they had met the Great Place to Work Certified standard.

About 30 companies are Great Place to Work-Certified in its first year of operations in Vietnam.

To determine the 2022 Vietnams Best Workplaces, Great Place to Work analyzed confidential survey feedback representing about over 20,000 employees across different industries in Vietnam.

Employees responded to over 60 survey questions describing the extent to which their organization creates a Great Place to Work For All.

Eighty-five percent of the evaluation was based on what employees said about their experiences of trust and reaching their full human potential as part of their organization, no matter who they are or what they do.

Great Place to Work analyzed these experiences relative to each organizations size, workforce make-up, and what is typical in their industry.

The remaining 15 percent of the rank was based on an assessment of all employees daily experiences of innovation, the companys values, and the effectiveness of their leaders, to ensure they were consistently experienced.

TTC Sugar, the agriculture arm of TTC Group, was one of the Certified companies who received the recognition.

TTC Sugar is a Vietnamese company but we want to have global orientation as we export our sugar products to over 24 countries, said Tai Quach, talent acquisition manager of the company, who oversees recruitment, employee branding for the head office and 22 business units of TTC Agricultural Industry.

We want to build the best culture for the employees as they are also our decision-makers.

The company will continue to grow and we want to have a workplace culture that can be compared to MNCs."

Cisco Systems Vietnam topped the Best Workplaces List in the small category (10 to 99 employees).

We believe when people are given opportunities, they will shine! said Luong Thi Le Thuy, general director, Cisco Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

We honor the conscious culture weve been fostering for years.

The work weve been doing isnt just to serve our business goals or employees, its for the community and people who live and work within Vietnam.

So this award is recognition that its a way to honor and celebrate the efforts weve put in.

DHL-VNPT Express Ltd., who was given the top-ranked Best Workplace company in the medium and large category, shared, Our highly motivated teams constantly strive for excellence.

We work together to create a trusting environment that allows each person to feel empowered.

The event also discussed the future of employee engagement in the new normal with Luong Thi Le Thuy, general director, Cisco Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and HR representatives Nam Phuong, vice-president of Human Resources Association, and Le Hong Phuc, founder and president of Vietnam Human Resources Association.

The panel acknowledged that the post-pandemic way of working within companies have changed.

Many are adopting a hybrid and flexible work model complementing the younger generations increased pace of working.

Coupled with the impact of digital transformation, companies should develop HR policies that are agile, can cater to the current workforce, and to respond with timely measures and policies that are aligned with the companies and the individuals.

We entered Vietnam in late 2020 and, over the past one and a half years, we are humbled and honored to have worked together with some of the most amazing companies here, managing director Kwek said.

We are committed to our mission and look forward to partnering you in building great places to work for all in Vietnam.
THACO Auto, owned by billionaire Tran Ba Duong, has launched a partnership with Daimler Bus which will allow it to assemble Mercedes-Benz-branded buses for the Vietnamese market and eventually begin exporting these vehicles to nearby countries.

THACO organized a ceremony on May 21 to announce its strategic partnership with Daimler Bus and launch its Mercedes-Benz bus assembly plant in Chu Lai, Quang Nam Province.

The company aims to expand its reach and diversify its products to meet the needs of both local and international markets.

The THACO-assembled Mercedes-Benz buses include 47-seater, 24-seater VIP buses, 24-bed sleeper buses, and 22-bed VIP sleeper buses.

They are all available at truck and bus showrooms nationwide.

This image shows details inside a Mercedes-Benz bus. Photo: T.C. / Tuoi Tre

THACOs partnership with Mercedes-Benz has been in the works for many years.

The first milestone for the partnership was hit in December 2017 when THACO and Daimler signed a technology transfer agreement which allowed the former to distribute trucks and FUSO buses in Vietnam.

In 2018, the two firms launched a Mercedes-Benz Bus development project in Vietnam with a vision toward outbound shipment.

Around this time, the partnership shifted its focus toward designing and developing Mercedes-Benz bus lines capable of handling topography and traffic in Southeast Asia.

THACO has also upgraded the production lines at its bus factory in order to meet modern technical requirements and Mercedes-Benz standards.

Implementing its 'joining the global chain value with international automakers in the Vietnamese market' strategy, THACO has teamed up with a coterie of leading auto groups from around the world to design and manufacture internationally branded buses capable of serving the ASEAN market, according to Nguyen Quang Bao, general director of THACO.

THACOs high-class bus model under the Mercedes-Benz brand marks a key milestone in the partnership between THACO Auto and Daimler, Bao said.

With the COVID-19 pandemic now under control in Vietnam, THACO hopes to ramp up its production and business activities to meet the increased demand for daily community solutions.

Harald Schmid, CEO of Daimler Bus Commercial Vehicles in Southeast Asia, said that Mercedes-Benz buses are manufactured at the THACO Bus plant on the O500 1836 and O500 1843 chassis, and are equipped with the latest technologies to make the buses suitable for the Vietnamese market.

The Mercedes-Benz bus, which was launched today, will become a symbol and pinnacle of superiority in the bus market in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia in the coming time, Schmid said.

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Construction is due to start on Vietnam's first green hydrogen plant next month, the government said on Wednesday, as the Southeast Asian country seeks to boost the use of cleaner energy while reducing dependence on coal in its power mix.

TGS Green Hydrogen will build the plant in the southern province of Ben Tre, with trial operations due to start from the first quarter of next year, the government said in a statement.

Hydrogen is categorised 'green' when it is extracted from water using electrolysis powered by renewable energy and is seen as crucial to help decarbonise industry, though the technology is still expensive and at an early stage of development.

The 19.5 trillion dong ($840 million) plant will initially produce 24,000 tonnes of green hydrogen, 150,000 tonnes of ammonia and 195,000 tonnes of oxygen a year, the government said, adding that capacity would be more than doubled in a later stage.

Vietnam, a regional manufacturing powerhouse, wants to nearly double its total installed power generation capacity to 146,000 megawatts by 2030, and prioritise using renewable energy and reducing dependency on coal.

The country made a commitment at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow (COP26) in November last year to become carbon neutral by 2050.
UVALDE, Texas -- A teenage gunman opened fire at an elementary school in South Texas on Tuesday, killing 18 children and three adults before the suspect was also killed, officials said, in the latest spasm of mass gun violence sweeping the United States.

Governor Greg Abbott said the suspect, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was apparently killed by police officers responding to the scene, and that two officers were struck by gunfire, though the governor said their injuries were not serious.

Authorities said the suspect acted alone.

Abbott told a news conference hours after the shooting that 14 schoolchildren had been slain, along with one teacher. But Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez later told CNN, citing the Texas Rangers state police as his source, that the death toll had climbed to 18 children and three adults.

Law enforcement personnel run away from the scene of a suspected shooting near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24, 2022. Photo: Reuters

The shooting unfolded just 10 days after 10 people were killed in Buffalo, New York, in a predominantly Black neighborhood. An 18-year-old man whom authorities said opened fire with an assault-style rifle has been charged.

The motive for Tuesday's massacre in Texas, the latest in a string of seemingly random mass shootings that have become commonplace in the United States, was not immediately known.

Law enforcement personnel guard the scene of a suspected shooting near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Official details remained sketchy about the circumstances of the late morning shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, about 80 miles west of San Antonio.

Abbott said the suspect was believed to have abandoned his vehicle and entered the school armed with a handgun, and possibly a rifle, before opening fire.

A woman reacts while talking on the phone outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School to be picked up after a suspected shooting, in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Investigators believe Ramos shot and killed his grandmother before going to the school, CBS News reported, citing unidentified law enforcement sources.

"It is being reported that the subject shot his grandmother right before he went into the school," Abbott told reporters. "I have no further information about the connection between those two shootings."

University Hospital in San Antonio said on Twitter it had received two patients from the shooting in Uvalde, a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl, both listed in critical condition.

A board with the list of classes/teachers is displayed outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School to be picked up after a suspected shooting, in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24, 2022. Photo: Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden, who ordered flags flown at half-staff until sunset daily until May 28 in observance of the tragedy, planned to address the nation about the shooting at 8:15 p.m. EDT, the White House said.

The student body at the school consists of children in the second, third and fourth grades, according to Pete Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, who also addressed reporters. In American schools, those grades are typically made up of children ranging from 7 to 10 years of age.
The U.S.-Vietnam Cooperation Center made its debut in Hanoi on Tuesday and will function as a place for anyone interested in learning more about the two countries diplomatic relations.

The U.S.-Vietnam Cooperation Center is located on the campus of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam in the capital city.

It is an output of the partnership between the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.

The space, open to academics, researchers, faculty, students, and the public, is set to be a platform for educational and cultural programming, research support, and academic services.

It will support the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnams American studies program, English language studies, and leadership development, as well as provide information about the U.S. and its foreign policy.

Students at the U.S.-Vietnam Cooperation Center in Hanoi, May 24, 2022. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The center is the second American Spaces partnership in northern Vietnam alongside the American Hangout at Thai Nguyen University in the namesake province.

The U.S.-Vietnam Cooperation Center joins over 600 other American Spaces around the world which encourage open dialogue and build bridges of understanding by serving as study centers for students and communal spaces for those interested in American culture and values, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper said at the inauguration.

This center is a multicultural ecosystem where students can interact not only with American culture but also with other cultures, exchange languages, and understand the differences between each nation, said former Vietnamese Ambassador to the U.S. Pham Quang Vinh.

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Two senior staff have departed activeTV after long employment with the production company behind Carols in the Domain, Good Friday Appeal, The Amazing Race Australia and more.

Shauna Kane departs as Head of Production after 20 years and Kay Lawrence as General Manager after 10 years.

Shauna Kane said, Working at activeTV has been a highlight of my career. Ive worked on some incredible productions both in Australia and overseas; including The Amazing Race, Country Music Awards of Australia, World Superbikes, Tropfest and The Ultimate Fighter, just to name a few. Ive produced 20 Carols in the Domain and have been the Executive Producer for many years. Carols is very close to my heart and while Ill miss the scale of the production, I will truly miss the incredible team that work on it, several who have been there longer than me. 20 is a great number to go out on and I know Carols will continue to delight audiences across Australia for years to come. After 40 years in the industry, Im going to take a well-earned break and then see what the future holds.

Kay Lawrence said, It has been a great experience working with activeTV. Coming from a scripted drama background to the excitement of live television and big reality formats was challenging, but after ten years and with the focus now mainly on Christmas content its time for a change. I have a few projects I have been developing and will also be working alongside Andy McIntyre and Nicole Dixon at Big Yellow Taxi Productions on their slate of comedy content.

Michael McKay acknowledged their achievements and wished them well in pursuing life changes telling, TV Tonight, Shauna had been with us for 20 years and we very much appreciate her extraordinary contribution to activeTV and Carols in the Domain. Wed have loved her to keep going but respect her decision to make a change.

Kay has been with us for 10 years, which I think also says a lot about our organisation.

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Carols in the Domain, although its only my 34th, but I couldnt be more excited.

All of our partners are lining up to help make this the most spectacular ever and we cant wait for Christmas 2022.

My objective is to grow our Christmas business and Im enjoying being more hands on with an event I love so much.
Actor Tim Roth (Hateful Eight, Lie To Me) will now play the role of the lead antagonist, Ezra in upcoming Paramount+ drama Last King of The Cross, after actor Ian McShane has had to withdraw due to health concerns.

Producer and Helium founder, Mark Fennessy, said: Its unfortunate that Ian is unable to join us and we wish him a speedy recovery.

We are truly delighted that the super brilliant Tim Roth joins our cast as Ezra, and cannot wait to see him breathe life into yet another unforgettable character.

Filming is currently underway in Sydney on the series, inspired by John Ibrahims autobiography, around two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim who organise the street but lose each other in their ascent to power.

The cast includes Lincoln Younes, Callan Mulvey, Tess Haubrich, Claude Jabbour, Maria Tran, Matt Nable and Damian Walshe-Howling.

The 10-part gritty serialised drama tracks John Ibrahims rise from a poverty-stricken immigrant with no education, no money, and no prospects, to Australias most infamous nightclub mogul in Sydneys Kings Cross  a mini-Atlantic City, barely half a mile long with every form of criminality on offer.

Last King of The Cross cast also includes Wadih Dona, Setareh Naghoni, Wesley Patten, Jake Ryan, Tony Nikolakopoulos, Simon Elrahi, Robert Rabiah, Justin Rosniak and rising stars Allegra Monk and Malek Alkoni, who plays teen John.

Last King of The Cross is a Helium Pictures production for Paramount+ Australia with Cineflix Rights as the exclusive international distribution partner.
They still draw pictures!

So wrote the editors of an influential collection of childrens art that was compiled in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War.

In 1970, a 16-year-old Laotian boy drew a picture of his school being bombed. Many people died, he wrote, But I didnt know who because I wasnt courageous enough to look. Legacies of War , CC BY-SA

Eighty years later, war continues to upend childrens lives in Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere. In January, UNICEF projected that 177 million children worldwide would require assistance due to war and political instability in 2022. This included 12 million children in Yemen, 6.5 million in Syria and 5 million in Myanmar.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 added 7 million more children to this number. To date, more than half of Ukraines children have been internally or externally displaced. Many more have faced disruptions to education, health care and home life.

And yet they, too, still draw pictures. In March, a charity called UA Kids Today launched, offering a digital platform for kids to respond with art to Russias invasion and raise money for aid to Ukrainian families with children.

As a scholar who studies the ways wars affect societies most vulnerable members, I see much that can be learned from the art created by kids living in war-torn regions across place and time.

A century of childrens art

During the Boer War  a conflict waged from 1899 to 1902 between British troops and South African guerrilla forces  relief workers sought to teach orphaned girls the art of lace-making. During World War I, displaced children in Greece and Turkey learned to weave textiles and decorate pottery as a means of making a living.

Over time, expression has replaced subsistence as the driver of childrens wartime artwork. No longer pressed to sell their productions, children are instead urged to put their emotions and experiences on display for the world to see.

Novelist Aldous Huxley hinted at this goal in his introduction to the 1938 collection of Spanish Civil War art.

Whether showing explosions, the panic rush to shelter, [or] the bodies of victims, Huxley wrote, these drawings revealed a power of expression that evokes our admiration for the childish artists and our horror at the elaborate bestiality of modern war.

Herbert Read, a World War I veteran and educational theorist, organized another show of childrens art during World War II. Unlike Huxley, Read found that scenes of war did not dominate the drawings he collected from British schoolchildren, even those exposed to the London Blitz. In a pamphlet for the exhibition, he highlighted the sense of beauty and the enjoyment of life which they have expressed.

While the shows discussed by Read and Huxley differed in many ways, both men emphasized the form and composition of childrens artwork as much as their pictorial contents. Both also expressed the view that the creators of these drawings would play a critical role in the rebuilding of their war-torn communities.

A political tool

As with the childrens war art made during Huxley and Reads time, the images coming out of Ukraine express a mix of horror, fear, hope and beauty.

While planes, rockets and explosions appear in many of the pictures uploaded by UA Kids Today, so do flowers, angels, Easter bunnies and peace signs.

The managers of this platform  who are refugees themselves  have not been able to mount a physical exhibition of these works. But artists and curators elsewhere are beginning to do so.

In Sarasota, Florida, artist Wojtek Sawa has opened a show of Ukrainian childrens art that will be used to collect donations and messages from visitors. These will later be distributed to displaced children in Poland.

The War Childhood Museum, based in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, had recently concluded traveling exhibitions in Kyiv and Kherson when the Russian invasion started. The museums managing director, who has spoken out strongly about the need for cultural heritage protection in war, was able to retrieve several dozen artifacts from these shows a few days before the fighting commenced. Those toys and drawings, which tell the story of childrens experience during Russias previous effort to gain control of the Donbas region in 2014, will be featured in shows opening elsewhere in Europe in 2022.

By capturing the attention of journalists and the public, these exhibitions have been used to raise awareness, solicit funds and inspire commentary.

However, childrens art from Ukraine has not yet played a role in political deliberations, as it did when peace activist Fred Branfman shared his collection of drawings by Laotian children and adults during his 1971 testimony before Congress on the Secret War the U.S. had been conducting in Laos since 1964.

Nor is it yet clear whether this art will play a part in future war crimes trials, as the art of Auschwitz-Birkenau internee Yahuda Bacon did during the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann.

Windows into different worlds

Art historians once thought childrens drawings, no matter where they lived, revealed the world in a way that was unshaped by cultural conventions.

But I dont believe that children in all countries and conflicts represent their experiences in the same way. The drawings of children imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II are not formally or symbolically interchangeable with drawings made by children exposed to Americas bombing campaign in Laos. Nor can these be interpreted in the same way as images produced by Ukrainian, Yemeni, Syrian or Sudanese children today.

To me, one of the most valuable features of childrens art is its power to highlight unique aspects of everyday life in distant places, while conveying a sense of what can be upended, lost or destroyed.

A Laotian childs drawing of a horse that ran back to the village from the rice field after its owner was killed by a bomb offers a small window into the lives of subsistence rice farmers. The desert landscapes and urban architecture of Yemen are equally distinctive, and Yemeni childrens drawings highlight those differences even as they express aspirations that viewers around the world may share.

Legacies of War. , CC BY-ND

The challenges of preservation

As an academic who has also worked in museums, I am always thinking about how artifacts from todays conflicts will be preserved for exhibition in the future.

There are significant challenges to preserving the drawings and paintings young people produce.

First, childrens art is materially unstable. It is often made on paper, with crayons, markers and other ephemeral media. This makes it dangerous to display originals and demands care in the production of facsimiles.

Second, childrens art is often hard to contextualize. The first-person commentaries that accompanied some of the Spanish Civil War drawings and most of the Laotian images often provide details about childrens localized experience but rarely about the timing of events, geographic locations or other crucial facts.

Finally, much childrens war art suffers from uncertain authorship. With few full names recorded, it is hard to trace the fates of most child artists, nor is it generally possible to gather their adult reflections on their childhood creations.

By noting these complications, I dont want to detract from the remarkable fact that children still draw pictures during war. Their expressions are invaluable for documenting war and its impact, and its important to study them.

Nevertheless, in researching childrens art, it is necessary to reflect that scholars and curators are  like the child artists themselves  often working at the limits of their knowledge.

Paul Morrow is a human rights fellow in the Human Rights Center at the University of Dayton.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The recent grocery store mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, is placing a spotlight on white supremacy.

People pray at the scene of the mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 15, 2022. Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The 18-year-old accused gunman drove three hours from his home in Conklin, New York, to the Tops grocery store on May 14, 2022, and shot 13 people  most of them Black  killing 10 shoppers. The gun had racist expletives written on it, and his 180-page online manifesto also repeated key elements of replacement theory.

This conspiracy theory, with roots in French nationalism of the 20th century, falsely warns that Western elites and Jews are bringing immigrants into a country to replace white people.

Since the shooting, several Republican politicians and commentators have used language that echoes this idea.

For example, Missouri Senate candidate Eric Schmitt, the state attorney general, said in May that Democrats are fundamentally trying to change this country through illegal immigration.

As scholars of white supremacy, white nationalism and extremism, we think it is important to understand what replacement theory means and how it shapes various white supremacist conspiracies, which motivate violent extremism.

Our research shows that this once-fringe theory has been gaining traction in the U.S. over the past few decades. It is necessary to understand the various elements that lead people to commit domestic violent extremism in order to stop it from happening. Here are three key points about replacement theory to keep in mind.

What is replacement theory?

Those who believe in replacement theory think there is an organized, conspiratorial effort across all levels of society to establish a great replacement of white people, white civilization and white culture.

For those who accept this false idea, the threat poses an existential danger to white identity and society.

Four out of 10 Americans identify as nonwhite, and the numbers of white people in the U.S. are expected to continue to decline, according to U.S. Census projections.

That ultimately means less influence and power over time for white people. Replacement theory believers think that they must correct the declining influence of white voters and white identity through whatever means they can.

One key element of replacement theory targets immigrants, and the belief that immigrants are part of a plot to replace the political power and culture of white people living in Western countries.

But the theory isnt just about immigrants. Like the rest of white supremacist ideology, replacement theory also extends to Jewish people and Black people, seeing them as inferior and a threat to white people. The Buffalo shooter targeted victims in a predominantly Black neighborhood, and because they were Black.

Whats the history of replacement theory?

Replacement theory traces back to the early 20th-century writings of French nationalist Maurice Barres, who warned of a new population of immigrants that would take over and ruin our homeland.

The idea of a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world was articulated in the antisemitic document The Protocols of Elders of Zion, first published in 1903 in Russia, and then moving west into Europe and the U.S. Replacement theory also guided the Nazis genocide of 6 million Jewish people during World War II.

In the 1960s and 1970s, many American white supremacists, like Klu Klux Klan leader Thomas Robb, reiterated replacement ideas in their racist political advocacy. White supremacists generally believe white people are superior to all other people.

In the 1980s, Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke, white supremacist Don Black and others centered conversations about replacement theory in the U.S. on immigration and the idea that immigrants will reshuffle demographics, eventually replacing white people.

Throughout the 1990s, racist skinhead groups and the growing online networks of white supremacists also promoted variations of the replacement theory to justify their politics and violence.

Around this time, the internet became a main forum for recruiting more white supremacists. And one of the common ideologies shared across online groups and forums was a replacement narrative  now closely tied to immigration.

Many white supremacist and nationalist groups and leaders in the U.S. continue to embrace replacement narratives. This conspiracy theory has become a standard element of white nationalism that motivates violence in the U.S. and across the globe. A shooter who killed at least 50 Muslim people at mosques in New Zealand in 2019, for example, wrote about an alleged assault on European people.

Is this now gaining popularity in the U.S.?

Conspiracy narratives, like the replacement theory, often find fertile ground during a period of cultural change.

As the U.S. population becomes more diverse, replacement narratives have moved from the margins of extremism into the mainstream.

A May 2022 Associated Press public poll found that about 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. believes an effort is underway to replace U.S.-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gains.

The Buffalo shooting is only the latest deadly incident in which a violent perpetrator was motivated by the replacement theory  and it is unlikely to be the last. The shooters decision to livestream his rampage could motivate other extremists to hurt others, some experts say.

The violent extremist who attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 targeted Jewish people and killed 11. The shooter in the attacks at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 wanted to target Hispanic people, and killed 23.

The replacement theory also featured during a white supremacist Unite the Right rally in August 2017, when hundreds of white nationalists protested the removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia. They marched and chanted, You will not replace us and Jews will not replace us. A 21-year-old white supremacist also drove his car through a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens.

Paul J. Becker and Art Jipson are associate professors of sociology at the University of Dayton.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
In the Cuban province of Ciego de Avila, located some 430 km east of the country's capital of Havana, nearly 500 people are now enrolled in the local Wushu school.

The practice of Chinese martial arts continues to gain ground in Cuba amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the local Wushu learners is Emily Cabezas, who started practicing Wushu four years ago and now expects to continue to hone her skills to participate in Chinese martial arts contests at the local level.

"It is like discovering a whole new world," she told Xinhua. "The Chinese culture is very attractive. I would like to visit China in the future."

At present, over 100 children and adolescents from Ciego de Avila attend the local Wushu school from Monday through Friday.

Cabezas' classmate Alexander Cabrera said that Chinese martial arts have become his greatest passion in life.

"This is like a huge challenge to me," he said. "Wushu techniques and moves are spectacular, including jumps and acrobatics."

Situated in the facilities of the Min Chih Tang Association in Ciego de Avila, the school has seen the highest enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Founded in 2008, the school has a dedicated team of instructors who began their martial arts training more than a decade ago.

Senior instructor Frank Jose Suarez told Xinhua that the Wushu program has had a significant impact on improving the health conditions of different age groups ranging from children to senior citizens.

The 23-year-old spends his free time at the school after finishing his work as an informatics technician in a city's health facility.

"Looking into the future, we would like to expand the Wushu practice province-wide," he said. "Chinese martial arts instructors are in high demand."

Meanwhile, school President Luis Alberto Cespedes said that the Wushu practice has significantly extended outside Havana over the past few years.

"We are very satisfied with the results of the school but want to go one step further," he said. "It has been very positive. Wushu is here to stay."
Brother Bao, the Thai business partner of Chinese hemp company Hempu Time(https://hemptimeshop.com), opened a comprehensive clinic, hemp clinic and hemp spa club in the country's capital Bangkok on May 10, helping to boost collaboration between the two companies.

Brother Bao is one of the most competitive medical hemp enterprises in Thailand. The company has dedicated itself to the medical hemp industry in Thailand for many years, boasting a wide business scope from hemp planting and production, product R&D and hemp clinic, to hemp and traditional Chinese medicine spa. With its full industrial chain development, the enterprise is leading the way among local hemp companies.

Brother Bao is currently setting up its own medical hemp planting and production bases - which are rare in Thailand - with plans for a launch ceremony of the project's first phase to be held in May.

Hempu Time has played an active part in construction of the bases, hoping to seek a larger market share and greater cooperation in Thailand and playing its trump card by debuting a CBD cream there featuring local ingredients in 2022 with Brother Bao. The Thai company owns two hemp farms, a greenhouse of around 8 hectares and a field of over 30 hectares, which provide raw hemp material for further processing.

Thailand legalized medical hemp in 2019, becoming the first country in Asia to do so. The following year, the country released preferential regulations concerning medical hemp, allowing doctors and patients to apply for licenses to plant hemp, and for pharmaceutical manufacturers to export medical hemp products.

Thai Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul planned to offer 1 million cannabis plants for free when household cultivation and use of the plant is legalized in June, according to a May 16 report on Thailand's news website The Nation Thailand. On June 9, hemp will be reclassified as a medicine in Thailand as the country removes the plant from its list of illegal drugs under control and the government aims to turn the country into a center for medical and health care by legalizing hemp. Among the first batch of countries to legalize the planting, sale and consumption of hemp in Asia, Thailand is leading the way across the continent.
A doctor checks the PET/CT scanner before operating it at Cho Ray Hospital. (Photo: SGGP)

Dr. Nguyen Trieu Vu, Head of the Oncology Department of Thu Duc City Hospital, said that the general situation of many cancer patients, who have been ordered to have PET/CT scans in HCMC, is to wait. Because CT and MRI scans do not provide clear results of cancers, doctors can only know the exact condition via PET/CT scan.

Being told by his friends that only Cho Ray Hospital had a working scanner, he registered a PET/CT scan for his mother there. However, due to the overwhelming number of patients, it takes more than a month before his mothers turn comes. "For cancer patients, a long waiting time may cause the disease to advance to a severe stage, so my family has been considering the option of going to Hanoi or Da Nang City to get a scan early," Hung said worriedly.

PET/CT is a means for diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of many diseases, especially early detection of cancers, thanks to the use of 18F-FDG radiopharmaceuticals. While other imaging methods usually apply only to an area of the body, PET/CT scan can examine the whole body, helping diagnose diseases at the cellular and molecular levels, with high sensitiveness, specificity, and accuracy, capable of detecting lesions and pathology at a very early stage.

PET/CT scanning does not apply to all cancer patients, but this technique helps detect metastatic lesions, assess response and risk of cancer recurrence, and is especially effective when evaluating difficult cases," said Dr. Nguyen Trieu Vu.

In HCMC, there are currently four hospitals equipped with PET/CT systems, including Cho Ray Hospital, Peoples Hospital 115, Military Hospital 175, and HCMC Oncology Hospital. However, recently, the scanners of three of these four hospitals have had to suspend operations due to a shortage of radioactive materials. Only Cho Ray Hospital still has radioactive tracers to run its machine. As a result, patients at HCMC-based hospitals with PET/CT orders have flocked to Cho Ray Hospital. Meanwhile, the hospital can only handle about ten patients per day. Some patients accept to wait for a long time for their turns, but others have planned to go to Da Nang or Hanoi to perform this technique.

Meanwhile, some medical facilities in Hanoi, such as K Hospital, Military Hospital 108, and Hanoi Oncology, have PET/CT scanners for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Most of the PET/CT scanners at many hospitals in Hanoi are operating normally, with a large number of patients designated for scanning.

Early drug licensing to run the scanners

Explaining the shortage of radioactive materials for the operation of PET/CT scanners, a leader of HCMC Oncology Hospital said that the 18F-FDG radioactive materials of HCMC Oncology Hospital was supplied by a pharmaceutical company with its branch located in Thu Duc City. However, from the beginning of 2022 to now, this company has not been able to renew the drug registration certificate for circulation.
German automaker Volkswagen's Chinese joint venture Volkswagen Anhui recently began working on a new project for making new energy vehicle (NEV) parts, with an investment of 130 million yuan (about 19.5 million U.S. dollars).



Located in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, the project has a planned construction area of around 31,000 square meters. Upon completion, it will provide auto parts including seats and accessories for NEVs produced by Volkswagen Anhui.

Despite many parts of China still battling COVID-19 resurgence, foreign firms' confidence in investing in the Chinese NEV market remains undiminished, thanks in part to the country's thriving economic prospects.

On May 10, Volkswagen Group China announced to establish a new digital sales and services company in Hefei. The new company is expected to complete Volkswagen Anhui's entire value chain in terms of manufacturing, R&D, testing, marketing, and customer services.

This new digital sales and services company is an exciting chapter in the group's investment in e-mobility and another milestone in its partnership with Anhui Province, said Stephan Wollenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Group China.

Japanese carmaker Honda, which officially launched its first pure-electric vehicle in China in April, aims to increase its NEV sales in China to 800,000 units by 2030.

In January, Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. announced to set up an NEV factory project in Wuhan, Hubei Province, with a total investment of about 10 billion yuan. It is expected to start operation in 2024.

Guidelines released last month said China supports the development of NEVs, and encourages the development of NEVs in rural areas and the construction of NEV supporting facilities there.

Industrial insiders believe that the favorable policies will further boost the consumption of NEVs in China.

"Foreign enterprises are generally optimistic about the long-term and stable development of China's economy and market potential," said Zhang Bingli, professor at Hefei University of Technology.

Chinese government's heightened focus on the NEV industry and its strong support in terms of policies and funds to the industry are attracting foreign investment into China's NEV business, Zhang added.
Editor's note: "Unmaking a Murderer," scheduled for Friday night, was canceled on Wednesday. The Waco Hippodrome will contact ticket holders with details on receiving a refund.

As attorney, podcaster and author Rabia Chaudry knows, sometimes solving a crime comes after a jurys decision. And as investigator Sarah Cailean knows, solving a crime sometimes happens years after criminal investigators have closed a case.

Waco fans of true crime stories and podcasting will see how insights from the two womens work and experiences overlap in their live presentation Unmaking a Murderer Friday night at the Waco Hippodrome.

She does cold cases, I do innocence cases. I do criminal justice and talk about how to undo a conviction. Sarah does justice work. Theres a lot of overlay, explained Chaudry, whose name may be familiar to those whove followed the long case of Adnan Syed.

Syed was a Baltimore high school student convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1999 murder of a classmate he had dated, Hae Min Lee. The case drew national attention thanks to the podcast Serial, whose first season explored flaws in the investigation and subsequent trials, and put podcasting on the map for millions of listeners.

Chaudry, a childhood friend of Syed, initially brought his case to the attention of Serial producer and host Sarah Koenig, then followed Serial with her own podcast, Undisclosed, in which she, Susan Simpson and Collin Miller examined the Syed case in more detail. That more detailed story Chaudry captured in her book, Adnans Story, which became a New York Times best-seller, and in the HBO series The Case Against Adnan Syed.

The response to Undisclosed steered Chaudry deeper into innocence work and podcasting, with Chaudry and her Undisclosed colleagues exploring other cases of unwrongful convictions. At last count, Undisclosed has led to the exonerations of more than a dozen people in prison, with some 400 million downloads by listeners.

She and Simpson collaborated on the podcast The 45th, which looked at the policy developments and consequences during the administration of President Donald Trump, and she hosted two others coming out of her own interests and literary tastes: The Hidden Djinn, folk stories in Arabian and Muslim mythologies told about the Djinn, and her current collection of spooky bedtime stories, Nighty Night.

Theres also a new book on the way this fall, Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat and Family, her account of food, body image and growing up in an immigrant Pakistani family.

Cailean, a former police officer, comes to Waco as a civilian special investigator for the Mobile County Sheriffs Office in Alabama and heads the consulting firm Cailean Investigations, with more than a decades experience in criminal investigation. She also created the documentary series Hell in the Heartland: What Happened to Ashley and Lauria?

Fridays presentation with Cailean came after the two had been booked for a Magnolia executive event. While in Waco, they thought about doing a public presentation on their work, resulting in the Hippodrome event.

Well walk through a case and see how do you approach old evidence? said Chaudry, speaking by phone from New York. What Sarah and I do is go back to the beginning. What steps would I have taken if I were the investigator?

Chaudry will share from her work with the Syed case, while Cailean will present a case that Fridays audience likely has not heard about.

While the two seek justice from different ends of a case, Chaudry after a jury conviction, Cailean for cases that never get that far, theres common ground in the problems they find that steer investigators and prosecutors away from finding the true criminals. Chaudry ticks off the usual suspects: tunnel vision that keeps investigators from exploring alternate explanations, poor documentation of evidence or investigatory steps, no forensic testing, bad police practice or poor legal work.

Its territory theyve explored in sound through podcasts, only Fridays audience will get to see the documents and photos they use this time.

For those who love unraveling mysteries, innocence justice work and cold cases offers those sort of stories, but often with the happy ending of justice accomplished and innocents freed. Thats the motivation for Chaudry. I love it. I love the work, she said.

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A Waco man charged with evidence tampering in connection with the shooting death of his 2-year-old nephew in September has been scheduled to enter a plea agreement in Wacos 54th State District Court on Thursday.

Waco police arrested Derrick Damon Pipkins Jr., 22, of Waco, on Sept. 22, on a third-degree felony tampering with physical evidence charge after they were called to the University Club Apartments, 1725 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., where the 2-year-old boy had been shot in the head, records show.

Subsequent investigation determined the actual shooting of the toddler was accidental, officials said. Pipkins had placed a backpack containing a gun in a back room of the apartment where the toddler found it and accidently shot himself, according to court documents.

Waco police charged Pipkins with concealing the gun following the shooting, with intent to keep it out of evidence in the investigation of the toddlers death, according to his indictment.

For this charge, he will enter a plea agreement Thursday.

At the time Pipkins nephew died, Pipkins was prohibited from having a gun because he was on probation for two counts of deadly conduct from June 2019.

Police booked Pipkins into McLennan County Jail on the tampering with evidence charge with $10,000 bail on Sept. 22, 2021. The next day his probation violation charges were added.

Judge David Hodges signed an adjudication of guilt with a sentence of 10 years in a state institution on March 4 for Pipkins two deadly conduct charges from 2019. The original order said the 10-year sentences on each count would be served consecutively, as called for in motions of prosecutor Anne Jackson.

Pipkins defense attorney, Jonathan Sibley, filed a motion March 23 make the sentences run at the same time instead, because the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure does not allow for sentences stemming from the same conduct to be consecutive. Judge Hodges signed an order to that effect March 31.

Pipkins plea agreement Thursday will be for the evidence tampering charge from the toddlers death last year, records show. He has been in custody in McLennan County Jail since Sept. 22, and his plea hearing will be conducted by video conference, officials said.

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Kyle Kacal was reelected as State Representative for District 12 after winning the Republican primary runoff election against Ben Bius on Tuesday.

Districtwide, Kacal won 57.92% of the votes, with Bius at 42.08%.

First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers are out with our friends in Uvalde, Texas. I am just heartbroken right now and emotional, Kacal said about the school shooting that claimed at least 21 lives Tuesday. With the campaign it has been an emotional ride and I am very grateful and honored and thankful for all of the support throughout the entire district. We made a lot of headway, we did really good in the primary but the numbers we picked up are truly amazing and a testament of our time that we did to get to know everybody.

Kacal, first elected to represent the Waco area in 2012, will serve his sixth term in the Texas Legislature since he will run unopposed in the general election. The 52-year-old incumbent graduated from Texas A&M in 1992 and is a Brazos County rancher. In the most recent legislative session, Kacal served on the House Committee on Environmental Regulation and the Natural Resources Committee.

As far as next steps, Kacal said he has plans for infrastructure needs in Texas.

I know we have a lot of needs in infrastructure and there are other areas we need to hit the ground running. I am just grateful to have the privilege and honor to serve in the Texas House and that is going to bode well for this new district, he said. As we try to help six new counties work together with a new state representative, I am glad I bring experience to make sure that transition is a lot less hectic.

Redistricting shuffled District 12s boundaries. It had contained portions of McLennan and Brazos counties, plus Falls, Limestone and Robertson counties, but now covers Grimes, Madison, Robertson, Walker, Washington counties and a portion of Brazos County.

Formerly represented by Kacal, parts of northern McLennan County, including West, will now be represented by State Rep. Charles Doc Anderson in a redrawn District 56, while the rest of eastern McLennan County, now in District 13, will be represented by the winner of Novembers election between Republican Angelia Orr, a former Hill County district clerk from Itasca, and Democrat Cedric Davis, the Marlin city manager.

The general election is Nov. 8.

Kacals wife, Marci, inspired him to keep going during the runoff campaign process, he said.

She was my rock through this whole campaign and would encourage me whether it was through prayer or a little kick to the backside to keep going and go out and make 10 more phone calls and knock on five more doors; she was tough, he said. We invested so much time in this over this last session, and she was very encouraging.

Kacal also thanked Brazos County voters who headed to the polls for the runoff.

Our friends that we live among in Brazos County, thank you for your unwavering support, your faith you have in me to serve you in the Legislature and I have your back, he said. I am honored and privileged to go to Austin and represent you once again.

Bius, a 66-year-old Huntsville resident, is a commercial real estate developer and owner of B&B Properties. He graduated from Sam Houston State University in 1979 with a degree in finance.

Bius declined to comment Tuesday night.

The Tribune-Herald staff contributed to this report.
Wacos Planned Parenthood clinic is offering family planning services and preventive health care to patients on an income-based sliding scale thanks to a new Title X federal grant.

The Waco location plans to use its portion of the $5 million grant to provide another 2,400 patients with reproductive health care, which includes cancer screenings; testing, treatment and prevention for sexually transmitted infections; annual check-ups; vaccinations and birth control. The grant, also supporting five other Texas clinics, is specifically for low income and uninsured patients and is not limited to Waco residents, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas spokesperson Sarah Wheat said during a press conference Tuesday.

Most American women use birth control at some point in their lives, Wheat said. So as they come to the health center for birth control, a family planning visit includes that full wraparound preventive health care visit.

Wheat said a visit to the clinic for birth control is a chance for patients to get preventive care, including screenings for breast cancer and cervical cancer that uninsured patients might otherwise go without.

The statewide grant will cover the costs of services at Paris, Lubbock, El Paso, San Antonio and Houston, allowing patients to pay on an income-based sliding scale. It will cover costs entirely for patients under 200% of the federal poverty level. Patients can make appointments by phone or online, and the Waco clinic takes walk-ins.

We have a chance to do early detection and to screen and treat for other health conditions that that patient may not realize that they have, Wheat said.

The program is funded through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Title X grants have been awarded for decades, solely for family planning services and related preventive health care services. Abortion is not included in the family planning services Title X grants can cover, and Planned Parenthood maintains centers where it offers abortions separately from centers where it provides other health care services.

Tonya Capson, health services regional director at the Waco clinic, said most Americans spend 20 to 25 years of their lives trying to prevent unintended pregnancies.

This is so crucial in our community, where a lot of people dont have access to health care, Capson said. They dont have insurance and they dont have a way to get the preventative services that they need.

Capson said the grant-funded program is intended to fill those gaps in access to care.

They can come in be seen be screened, regardless of their income, regardless of their documentation status, regardless of where they live or who they love, Capson said.

Dr. Iliana Neumann, a family medicine specialist in Waco, said 18% of people in McLennan County are uninsured, about double the national average. Also in McLennan County, about 20% of the population is in poverty, and the teen birth rate is 38 births per 1,000 females, both rates significantly higher than the national average.

Theres so much need here, and theres such a desire to be able to take good care of our neighbors and our friends, Neumann said.

The Rev. Leslie King from First Presbyterian Church in Waco said the grant-funded services will be especially important for groups less likely to have health insurance or health care. That includes LGBTQ patients.

As corporations really struggle to provide adequate health care for their employees, provisions like Title X really do strengthen a social fabric thats pulled to a breaking point often, King said.

Alice Shelly, a Planned Parenthood volunteer and Baylor University student, said the high teen birth rate makes it clear that birth control, STI testing and other reproductive health care is important, but too many do not have those resources available.

That adds to the general fear surrounding reproductive health at the state and national levels, Shelly said. Birth control is more important now than ever, and so this news comes at a really good time.

Wheat said some forms of contraception, like condoms, are readily available. The most effective methods, like intrauterine devices and inserts, are expensive and might take multiple doctor visits to acquire, she said.

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Amine Qourzal became Woodways mayor Monday, and he will keep the position a year if he wins a runoff election June 28.

Some may wonder if the Woodway City Council, in choosing Qourzal, got the cart before the horse or wanted to make a political statement.

Whatever the case, Qourzal appreciates what his council colleagues did.

I consider it a strong endorsement and a vote of confidence, and Im very grateful for that vote of confidence, Qourzal said. I look forward to serving alongside them.

He completed his first three-year city council term but must survive a runoff with challenger David G. Henry Sr. for a second.

Qourzal came within a whisker, or six votes, of claiming a majority in the three-person race May 7, but because he did not, runner-up Henry remains in the contest. Qourzal received 526 votes, or 49.3%, while Henry received 431 votes, or 40.4%. Nancy Goebel received 111 votes, or 10.4%, enough to send voters to the polls a second time to settle things.

Goebel endorsed Henry and suspended campaigning for the seat but did not have her name removed from the ballot.

Woodways council members serve three-year terms, not the two years commonplace among Texas municipalities. That means Qourzal needed to receive a majority, not simply the most votes of any of the candidates, to remain on the council.

Qourzal serves as an assistant director at Baylor Universitys Career Center.

Henry, a Baylor University law professor and patent attorney, said the results produced acrimony among residents to a degree that surprised him. He said people sent emails criticizing him for not conceding the race, considering the voting margin. He told the Tribune-Herald in an interview earlier this month he owed it to his own supporters to remain in the race until the matter is settled.

A lot of people think of elections as belonging to candidates. I believe they belong to voters, Henry said earlier this month. Once announced, I believe candidacy should be carried through until someone says the election is over.

Woodway City Council members choose a mayor from among themselves. The mayor serves a one-year term, but can serve more than one term if the council votes its support. Outgoing Mayor Jane Kittner, who did not seek reelection to her council seat, served 27 years on the city council, the last two as mayor.

I just rotated out, Kittner said. I would have voted for (Qourzal). Hes a real stable individual, with more experience than some of the other council members. But only current council members get to vote.

Council Member Gayle Avant said Qourzal has a lot going for him.

I know him, I like him and I think hes a good council member, Avant said.

He also said Henry is civic minded and a very pleasant fellow.

There was some discussion about the two candidates settling things right off the bat, Avant said of Henry. But Mr. Henry was not willing to yield despite his opponents near majority.

The vote for Qourzal was unanimous, though Council Member David Mercer did not attend Mondays council meeting, having a longstanding business obligation in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Oh, absolutely, Mercer said when asked about supporting Qourzal. There is nothing to dislike about Amine. Hes starting his fourth year on the council, and he has a long resume of giving to the Woodway community. He served on the plan commission, the parks board. Everybody sees that he genuinely cares about Woodway. I hope he wins the runoff.

Henry could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Qourzal said he knows Woodway voters have the ultimate say.

I still have an election to face, he said. Im encouraged, but voters have to feel the same way. They ultimately decide if I remain in this capacity. Should I lose, my term would be over. I would be finished at that point.

Voters at the polls will decide the winner.

Obviously a lot depends on turnout, which is usually lower in runoffs, Avant said. This is the only item on the ballot. I dont know, candidly. We wont know until the votes are counted.

In the May 7 election, only 14.2%, or 1,068, of Woodways 7,517 eligible voters weighed in with a pick for their council member.

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ATLANTA (AP)  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was a top target of former President Donald Trump, has won the Republican primary as he seeks reelection.

Raffensperger beat three challengers, including Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who had criticized his handling of the 2020 election. It was not immediately clear which Democrat he would face in November.

What I have found is that every Georgian wants safe and secure elections with the right balance of accessibility with security. Thats where Georgia voting is today, Raffensperger told reporters late Tuesday after declaring victory.

Raffensperger was among Trumps chief targets when the former president turned his wrath on top Georgia officials for not taking steps to overturn his narrow election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the state. Trump insisted without proof that victory had been stolen from him through widespread voter fraud.

In a now-notorious January 2021 phone call, Trump suggested Raffensperger could find enough votes to overturn President Bidens victory. That led a prosecutor in Atlanta to open an investigation into whether Trump and others tried to illegally influence the states election. That investigation is ongoing.

If you dont understand what happened in the election of 2020, heres what happened -- 28,000 Georgians skipped the presidential race and yet voted down ballot in other races, Raffensperger said.

Hice fully embraced Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and objected to Georgias electoral votes being counted for Biden. State and federal officials, including Trumps own attorney general, have said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. The votes in Georgias presidential election were counted three times, and each tally confirmed Bidens victory.

All three challengers in the GOP primary  Hice, former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle and former probate and magistrate judge T.J. Hudson  criticized Raffensperger's handling of the 2020 election, saying he caused Georgians to lose confidence in the system.

Raffensperger punched back, staunchly defending his record and insisting that Georgia's elections are fair and secure. He also made prohibiting noncitizens from voting  a platform popular with conservative Republicans that is already enshrined in Georgia law  a centerpiece of his reelection campaign.

Trump's obsession with his election loss and his unproven claims of widespread fraud have put a spotlight on down-ballot secretary of state races around the country.

Asked by a reporter if his victory was a direct rebuke of Trump, Raffensperger said, No, I think its a direct compliment to the goodness of my fellow Georgians.

On the Democratic side, State Rep. Bee Nguyen, who occupies the seat formerly held by Democratic gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, advanced to a runoff.

It was too early to tell which of the other four Democratic candidates she will face in the June 21 contest. They are Floyd Griffin, a state senator and former mayor of the city of Milledgeville; Michael Owens, former Cobb County Democratic Party chairman; John Eaves, former Fulton County Commission chairman; and Dee Dawkins-Haigler, a former state representative from DeKalb County.

Nguyen's campaign put out a news release early Wednesday saying her dominant position makes it clear that she's best positioned to beat Raffensperger.

Georgians deserve a Secretary of State who will fight for the right of every eligible voter to make their voices heard at the ballot box, regardless of their party affiliation, zip code, or the color of their skin," Nguyen said. "Im running to be Secretary of State because our basic civil liberties begin at the ballot box.

Nguyen has served in the state House since winning a 2017 special election to succeed Abrams in a district that includes parts of DeKalb County just east of the Fulton County line and some parts of the city of Atlanta. Nguyen is also a vice chair of the state Democratic Party.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
In the hours after a gunman killed more than 20 people at a South Texas elementary school Tuesday, the states top Republicans sought to immediately squelch the possibility of gun control measures in the wake of yet another mass shooting.

As the death toll mounted from the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde and President Joe Biden vowed to push for stricter gun laws, Texas Republicans made it clear that any kind of gun restriction in response to the tragedy was off the table.

Inevitably when theres a murder of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz told reporters Tuesday afternoon. That doesnt work. Its not effective. It doesnt prevent crime.

In an appearance on the far-right television network Newsmax, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton quickly dismissed the notion of enacting restrictions on firearms  reasoning that shooters wouldnt follow the law anyway.

Id much rather have law-abiding citizens armed and trained so that they can respond when something like this happens because its not going to be the last time, Paxton said.

Meanwhile, Biden called for a renewed push to reform the nations gun laws in the wake of the shooting during a nationwide address Tuesday evening.

We as a nation have to ask: When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in Gods name do we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done? Biden said.

But in gun-friendly Texas, any laws restricting access to firearms have been a nonstarter. Instead, state legislators have expanded access to firearms  including with a law allowing residents to carry guns without a permit.

On Tuesday, Republican officials revived ideas to stop future mass shooters  arming teachers and school administrators, putting more police officers on campus and limiting entryways to school buildings.

We have to harden these targets so that no one can get in ever except through one entrance, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Tucker Carlson in an appearance on Fox News. Maybe that would help. Maybe that would stop someone.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Cruz and former President Donald Trump are scheduled to talk in Houston on Friday at the National Rifle Associations 2022 annual meeting. Former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke, Abbotts Democratic opponent in this years gubernatorial race, called on Abbott to skip the convention and tell the NRA to take the convention elsewhere.

Governor Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekends NRA convention and urge them to hold it anywhere but Texas, ORourke tweeted Tuesday night.

Abbotts office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/24/texas-republicans-uvalde-gun-control/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Mass shootings in Texas have become so common, they begin to collectively feel familiar. But each lands with fresh horror.

The sniper who climbed a tower 56 years ago at the University of Texas to gun down students introduced the state to the threat. The massacre of 23 at a Walmart by a gunman targeting Hispanics reminded us in 2019 of the hatred and insanity that persist here.

A church has been attacked. (26 dead in 2018.) And a restaurant. (24 dead in 1991.) And an Army base. (Twice: 13 dead in 2009 and 4 dead in 2014.) And a high school. (10 dead in 2018.) And drivers on the streets of Odessa-Midland. (7 dead in 2019.) And police on the streets of downtown Dallas. (5 dead in 2016.)

And now children at an elementary school.

At least 19 kids have been killed this time. And at least one teacher. Most of their names have not been released, but we know they were two days away from the end of the school year. We know they had endured the isolation brought about by at-home learning and COVID-19. We know they attended a campus in Uvalde where nearly 90% of students are Hispanic and more than four-fifths economically disadvantaged. If theyre like other elementary school students, we know they spent the day laughing and playing and making noise.

And we know what comes next: Their deaths will add another scar to the psyche of this state  and kick off a routine of mourning, outrage and, ultimately, inaction.

The familiar cycle started minutes after the shooting ended. At a press conference, Gov. Greg Abbott, wearing the recognizable white button-down shirt he often dons for disasters, choked over his words as he identified the shooter and revealed the death toll. He also shared his grief with the families of the victims.

When parents drop their kids off at school, they have every expectation to know that they are going to be able to pick their child up when that school day ends, Abbott said. And there are families who are in mourning right now. And the state of Texas is in mourning with them.

If history is a guide, the next few days will see a temporary cooling of partisan vitriol. Until Tuesday, the states leaders were warning that schools had become places of indoctrination  that the most innocent among us were being taught that they were racist or sexist and were being shown illicit materials.

Now a few hundred children have witnessed something no one should ever see. And Texans are being reminded that schools are where their children should feel safe. Theyre being told that we need to change something as a society so this kind of thing never happens again.

But already the partisan divides that have stymied big policy reactions to past shootings are roiling. Not long after offering condolences to Abbott on the phone, President Joe Biden addressed the nation. He joined the chorus of Democrats calling for the country to do something about its abundance of guns.

Another massacre at a Texas elementary school, he said. Beautiful, innocent second, third, fourth graders. As a nation, we have to ask: When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?

It was the next volley in an endless fight, one that politics has turned into an irreconcilable clash of views. One group notes that this unique horror happens in America far more than any other place  and that its the result of practically unfettered access to guns. In few places are those guns more available than in Texas, where you can buy one in a department store and carry it on the street without a permit or training.

On the other side, there is a sincerely held belief that there are evil people who do evil things and no amount of government intervention can stop them. But maybe someone else with a gun can. And taking that gun away from good people also takes away their rights.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned about those efforts in the hours after the shooting.

You know, inevitably, when there is a murder of this kind you see politicians try to politicize it, he said Tuesday. You see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. That doesnt work.

Theres still a lot to learn about the gunman in Uvalde, his motives, and what might have been done to stop him. There are still vigils to hold. The mourning has just begun. Some parents will likely retreat into their grief. Others will push for changes to prevent anyone else from feeling this horror  just like some of the parents of children in Newtown, Connecticut, did and some of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School did in Florida.

After the racist attack in El Paso, Abbott joined some families of the victims, along with law enforcement and local legislators, for roundtable discussions to do everything we can to make sure a crime like this doesnt happen again. Some modest gun restrictions were discussed.

As the subsequent legislative session wrapped up, state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, stood before the state House and reminded lawmakers that I heard lots of promises, behind closed doors when he attended those roundtables. But by the end of the session, the Legislature opted to loosen gun laws instead.

The fact that we turn a blind eye, or that certain people turn a blind eye, is tragic, Moody said Tuesday. And today tragically happens to be Uvalde County. And tomorrow itll be a different county. And almost three years ago, it was El Paso County.

Correction, May 24, 2022: Correction: This story misspelled the name of the Connecticut town where the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School took place. It is Newtown, not Newton.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/24/texas-mass-shooting-uvalde/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
China's cabinet has urged the implementation of a large-scale policy package, which is expected to bring the country's economy back on track amid downward pressure and tackle difficulties encountered by market entities, according to experts.



China will implement 33 measures in six fields, mainly fiscal and related measures, to stabilize economic performance, according to a recent State Council Executive meeting.

"The raft of proposed policies is extensive, pertinent and prompt," said Wang Yifeng, an analyst at Everbright Securities. The mix coordinates fiscal, financial and industrial policies and aims to reduce COVID-induced impacts on the economy to a minimum.

Fiscal policies

Confronting the current situation, the government has sought to take proactive fiscal policies that prioritize employment and economic stability, according to Zhang Yiqun, an expert from the Society of Public Finance of China.

The meeting elected to extend the country's policy of refunding outstanding and new value-added tax credits to more industries, which is expected to increase tax refunds by more than 140 billion yuan (21.03 billion U.S. dollars).

It also decided to defer premium payments of old-age, unemployment and workplace safety insurance until the end of the year for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), self-employed households and companies in five hard-hit sectors: catering, retail, tourism, civil aviation, as well as highway, waterway and railway transportation. Deferred payments this year are expected to reach 320 billion yuan, covering the five sectors and other industries facing difficulties.

Zhang said the fiscal policies will free companies' cash tied up in premium payments to the greatest possible extent and release more capital for them.

Zhang also said he expected the premium payment deferral policy to extend to enterprises contributing to efforts to stabilize employment, foreign trade and prices, as well as those in the coal, power generation and new energy industries.

Policy toolbox

The meeting stressed that funds from this year's local government special bonds shall be basically utilized by the end of August, with their scope of support extended to new infrastructure and other projects.

The instruction urged the accelerated utilization of special bonds and sent a signal that new infrastructure is likely to replace traditional infrastructure as the investment focus in the future, while easing the scope of special bonds to boost investment returns, Zhang said.

The meeting also announced that the re-guarantee business of the national financing guaranty fund will be increased by more than 1 trillion yuan this year.

China's State Council approved the establishment of the national financing guaranty fund in April 2018 to relieve the financing troubles of the real economy and small businesses.

Zhang said the measures take full advantage of fiscal leveraging to bolster the financing capabilities of small businesses, and will help them tide over their current difficulties.

Financial instruments

The meeting decided to double the scale of the support facility for inclusive loans to micro and small businesses, as well as its share of the increase in the loan balance.

Banks will be supported in deferring, within this year, principal and interest repayments on loans made to MSMEs and self-employed households, truck loans, and home loans and consumer loans owed by individuals facing temporary difficulties.

Noting that some residents and firms had decreased incomes due to the COVID-19, and therefore are unable to repay their loans, chief analyst at CITIC Securities Ming Ming said the financial arrangements were appropriate, prompt and precise.

Zhou Maohua, an analyst at China Everbright Bank, said the expansion of the support facility for banks is mainly in place to cope with the complex economic environment.

The move steps up support for small and micro businesses, revives the vitality of market entities and expedites the economy's return to normal, Zhou said.
So, you want to spend this Memorial Day in the town where the holiday began. Take your pick. After all, you have 25 communities to choose from.

Experts will tell you wading into identifying the town where Memorial Day started is a risky business. Call it the third rail of American history; touching it can give researchers a serious jolt.

Lets start with what we know for sure. Back in 1868, Gen. John Black Jack Logan was commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was an organization of Union Civil War veterans, much like todays American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. He urged that May 30 be observed as Decoration Day, a time to place flowers on the graves of Northern war dead. Its thought the 30th was selected because flowers would be blooming all around the country by then.

A large ceremony was held that first Decoration Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where future President James Garfield spoke for an hour and a half. Ulysses S. Grant, who would become president himself 10 months later, and much of the Union Armys big brass were also on hand. It was the first of Arlingtons annual May observances honoring the fallen, a tradition that carries on to this day.

But when you go back beyond 1868 things get very murky, very fast. Claims of which community commenced the custom are frequent and intense.

Theres Columbus, Mississippi, where on April 25, 1866, ladies laid flowers on the graves of Confederate soldiers killed in the nearby bloody Battle of Shiloh. Farther east, Columbus and Macon, Georgia, each say it got the ball rolling with observances there. A cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois, Logans wartime home, contains a stone proclaiming the first Memorial Day observance was held there on April 29, 1866. Charleston, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; and many other localities all boast the honor as theirs.

In 1966, Congress waded into the dispute by declaring Waterloo, N.Y., to be the holidays official birthplace. Why Waterloo? It seems a special day of observance was held there on May 6, 1866. Stores were closed, flags were flown at half-staff, and, of course, graves were decorated with flowers. That, Waterloos supporters argue, shows it was an organized townwide event. Incidents in other places, they say, were just ad hoc groups of women taking flowers to the local cemetery. Waterloos observance had all the hallmarks of a true holiday and Congress eventually agreed.

But that didnt stop the bickering.

In the 56 years since the official designation was bestowed, adherents of other towns claim to the title keep arguing for a transfer. Theyll likely still be arguing about it 56 years from now, too. Theres even a separate debate over which town hosts the nations oldest continuously running Memorial Day parade. Doylestown, Pennsylvania, has a parade that has been held since 1868. But the parade in Rochester, Wisconsin, started in 1867.

Its worth noting that in spring 1917, just as America was entering World War I, the holidays focus began shifting from decorating just Civil War graves to honoring everyone who fell in all American wars.

After World War II, the name began changing from the quaint Decoration Day to Memorial Day. In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, both cementing the new name and moving its observance to the last Monday in May.

One important parting note: At the conclusion of Arlington National Cemeterys first ceremony in 1868, children from the Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home walked among the rows of tombstones, singing hymns as they strewed flowers on all graves, both Union and Confederate. The very children who had lived through the war and lost their fathers in its carnage paid tribute to their parents adversaries.

Given how deeply (and increasingly) divided the country is in 2022, where people are all too eager to tear into anyone they disagree with or destroy anything they dont like, it would be well to revisit 1868s example so that once more a little child shall lead them.

J. Mark Powell is a novelist, former TV journalist and diehard history buff. Send questions about historic mysteries or forgotten moments worth remembering to HolyCow@insidesources.com.
The shocking shooting that left 18 children dead at a school in Texas is forcing parents and schools to once again confront how to talk to kids about violence.

Experts have told The Times these are complex and sensitive conversations, but also vital.

Kids are "anxious and worried, and they're dealing with the unknown," one specialist told The Times after the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack. "Parents have to be role models in terms of establishing a sense of safety, security, predictability."

Here are some tips experts have suggested from previous Times coverage:

1. Check in with your child and talk to them about their concerns.

The first thing adults should do is make sure their child or adolescent knows they are willing and available to talk with them, Stephen Brock, a professor of school psychology at Cal State Sacramento, told The Times in 2019.

Younger kids may not be as worried. But teenagers are likely to know more and have concerns, so it's better to address the subject directly with them rather than avoid it, said Carol Vidal, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, that same year.

2. Give kids reassuring facts about their safety.

Parents should immediately reassure children that they are safe  a practice that extends to all trauma survivors.

With younger children, adults can explain all that adults do to keep them safe, such as locking doors and conducting emergency drills.

Parents also can and should tell their children that school is a safe place for them.

3. Treat children according to their age.

Give young children only brief, simple information. These children are less verbal so they may communicate about their anxiety by drawing or playing, Vidal said. Answer their questions with specifics, but don't overload them.

For middle- and high-school age youth, more detailed conversations will be appropriate. The best place to have that conversation depends on the teen  it could be in the car or while a friend is present, instead of just sitting and talking about the event one on one.

4. Limit exposure to the media.

This is true for youth of all ages. Violent images can cause secondary trauma, and developmentally inappropriate information can cause anxiety and confusion. For younger children, "every time they watch the news, they feel like it's a new event as opposed to repetition of the same event. It's important for them not to watch too much," Vidal said.

While older kids will understand that difference, prolonged exposure to graphic images and details is harmful to them as well.

5. Model healthy behavior.

Children pick up everything their parents are saying and doing. Parents can set an example by turning off the television, radio or social media. It can be constructive for parents to acknowledge that constantly watching or hearing about a violent incident makes them too feel anxious or fearful.

But parents should make clear that they are handling their own emotions and that their child does not need to be strong for them, said Jonathan Vickburg, a licensed marriage and family therapist who treats kids dealing with trauma.

6. Maintain routines.

Sticking to regular routines can be reassuring and can help children and teens maintain a sense of normality.

That may be difficult in the hours and days immediately after a traumatic event, Vickburg said, but parents can still help their children put some order to their days  for example, by continuing to have dinner with family, doing homework, or hanging out with friends.

With teenagers in particular, giving them extra time to be with their friends is important. It helps them establish normality and connect to their support network.

7. Have a plan.

Review safety procedures at school and at home. Let children know whom to call, where to meet and how to communicate in case of an emergency. This helps children feel secure and know adults are in control.

8. Observe children's emotional state and seek help if necessary.

The majority of children are resilient and will not experience long-term symptoms after a one-off event, experts said. Immediately after a violent incident they may experience anxiety and fear. Some people closer to the incident may also have difficulty sleeping or be jittery.

Watch for changes in behavior, mood, appetite or sleep. When such symptoms persist over time and start affecting how a person functions, that's when professional help may be needed, experts said.

More tips

The National Assn. of School Psychologists has guidelines for explaining violent events to children of different ages. It's important, the experts say, to use age-appropriate language, and to answer questions without adding to confusion. From the NASP tip sheet:

"Early elementary school children need brief, simple information that should be balanced with reassurances that their school and homes are safe and that adults are there to protect them."

"Upper elementary and early middle school children will be more vocal in asking questions about whether they truly are safe and what is being done at their school. They may need assistance separating reality from fantasy. Discuss efforts of school and community leaders to provide safe schools."

"Upper middle school and high school students will have strong and varying opinions about the causes of violence in schools and society. Emphasize the role that students have in maintaining safe schools by following school safety guidelines ... communicating any personal safety concerns to school administrators, and accessing support for emotional needs.

___

MORE COVERAGE FROM TUESDAY'S MASS SHOOTING IN TEXAS:

Former Times staff writer Nina Argawal and Sonali Kholi contributed to this report. 2022 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
WINTHROP  A Canadian who allegedly sold pseudoephedrine pills to a Buchanan County man involved in methamphetamine  and to others across the United States and Australia  has pleaded to distribution and customs charges.

Joseph Damgajian, also known as Joe Dam, of Laval, Quebec, entered a plea to charges of using the mail to distribute pseudoephedrine, unlawfully importing pseudoephedrine into the United States, and making false customs declarations to illegally import pseudoephedrine into the United States on Wednesday.

Sentencing will be at a later date.

Court records allege Damgajian sold at least 3 kilograms of pseudoephedrine  a decongestant sold freely in Canada but regulated in the United States because it is also a key ingredient in meth  on eBay and other web sites. The pills, usually Equate and Reactine, often came disguised in sealed Jamieson vitamin containers.

Damgajians customers in Australia included people with a history of selling and manufacturing drugs and an associate of Italian organized crime figures, an associate of the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle club involved in clandestine labs, and a member of the Finks outlaw motorcycle club, court records state.

There were also buyers in 23 American states.

Local narcotics investigators became involved in 2011 when a shipment destined for an address on Buffalo Creek Boulevard near Winthrop broke open, spilling out pills, court records state.

Police searched the Winthrop home and found firearms, meth, pseudoephedrine pills and shipping documents for medicine showing the Joe Dam name.

In January 2012, undercover operatives in the United States began buying pills from Damgajian on eBay and paid using PayPal.

During the investigation, agents uncovered emails between Damgajian and his other customers, including an exchange with an Australian buyer who complained he hadnt received a shipment.

Damgajian noted the pills were prohibited in Australia and suggested the package may have been confiscated by customs officials. He offered to remedy the issue with a two-for-one deal on another purchase concluding, pick any product you like. And lets try another address this time.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also were investigating Damgajian and were intercepting packages headed for Australia, including vitamin D bottles filled with cold medicine pills, court records state.

In December 2012, Canadian officials searched his home and found boxes of pseudoephedrine nasal spray and vitamin bottles with glue to seal the bottles.

A federal grand jury in the Northern District for Iowa handed up a 12-count indictment in the case in December 2012. The case was put on hold while Damgajian challenged the extradition request in Canadian courts, which turned down his appeal.

Deputy marshals arrested him in September.

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WATERLOO  A major expansion of Hawkeye Community College's presence at the downtown TechWorks Campus will get underway after the board of trustees Tuesday approved plans to renovate a space in the Tech 1 Building.

Eight bid packages with a total price tag of $2.11 million were approved to remodel a 20,000-square-foot space on the second floor of the building at 360 Westfield Ave. as part of the effort to develop a smart automation center. The bids are contingent on the college finalizing a lease agreement with TechWorks for the manufacturing training facility.

Trustees rejected a ninth bid package for painting, floor striping, coatings and wall/ceiling surface prep. Construction manager Peters Construction Corp., which solicited the bids, recommended rejecting that proposal while approving the others. Three of the accepted bids were the lowest of multiple proposals and the other five packages only had one bid.

"All the other bid packages in total came in about where they estimated," Dan Gillen, Hawkeye's vice president of administration and finance, told the board. The single painting bid was $480,000. Accepting it would have brought the total cost $2.59 million  well above the $2.24 million estimate.

Peters will rebid the painting contract. It would then come to a later trustees meeting for approval.

"The nice thing is painting is at the end of the process," said Hawkeye President Todd Holcomb, so there is time to go through the rebidding process.

In the meantime, the construction manager and contractors will work to identify value engineering options with the aim of reducing costs. According to a board memo, the most significant potential savings would be to complete concrete topping demolition during daytime business hours at a savings of $70,000.

The total project estimate is $5.12 million. That includes anticipated costs of $2 million for equipment and $523,000 for furniture and fixtures as well as the construction manager contract of $144,530. Money to pay for the project, expected to take six months to complete, will come from the college's plant fund.

"They have said that the timeline is good," Aaron Sauerbrei, Hawkeyes executive director of business and community education, said of Peters' officials. The company doesn't anticipate delays related to acquiring construction materials. Once work is done on the smart automation center, the college will immediately put it to use.

"We actually start classes, a cohort, in January," Sauerbrei noted.

The center plans to work with small- and medium-sized companies that need help updating equipment and training workers. The college will take steps to ensure the center can join the Smart Automation Certification Alliance, or SACA. With that designation, it could draw participants not only from across Iowa but from neighboring states.

Hawkeye's current use of TechWorks includes lab space for the IGNITE: Introduction to Advanced Manufacturing course. Plans for the smart automation center will build on what that course offers to adult learners and Waterloo Career Center students.

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CEDAR FALLS  While navigating the unimaginable grief of losing their 7-year-old son, Cooper, to a blood infection, his parents, Eric and Becky Lins, found purpose through a project meant to honor their very special boy.

After spending time choosing his headstone, they visited the Southdale Elementary School playground to clear their heads and think through things.

Their family often would play with their three children there, including Cooper who was a Southdale second-grader at the time of his passing Feb. 27.

Just about every day in the summer, they would walk there, as their home was only about a half block away, said Becky Lins, also a Peet Junior High counselor, at the school Tuesday afternoon.

She recalled Cooper always climbing as high as he could, and how he loved hiding in the spiral tubed slide, surprising people and laughing about it afterwards.

While on that walk, they decided they wanted to honor his joyful, fun-loving spirit while blessing a whole lot of other families, said father Eric Lins, a Peet Junior High and Aldrich Elementary band teacher.

That thought has turned into a community effort to raise $140,000 for a new unique addition to Southdales playground, which hasnt been updated in years.

It also was a campaign Eric Lins said would bring the community together to meet a need. Theyve raised a little more than $30,000 since the campaign kicked off earlier this month.

Lets dream big and lets see what happens, Eric Lins recalled saying.

He noted that they leaned on a quote from Harry Potter as they started the campaign: Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light.

His parents are hopeful the community will come together to raise the funds by the end of July. If that is accomplished, the playground set would be constructed before Iowas cold hits in the fall and dedicated as a celebration.

There will be lots of new opportunities for climbing, and it encourages healthy playing for all abilities, said Eric Lins.

After driving around to different playgrounds in the area and looking through catalogues, Principal Jason Strub recalled seeing the parents faces when they found the page they wanted to bring to life.

As soon as they saw that page, it was Cooper, Strub said.

They could have done a tree or bench memorial. That would have been great, but it wasnt representative of Cooper playing, running around, socializing with friends, climbing and smiling, Strub added.

The new addition will increase the playground footprint by about one-third and allow for more kids to play on it at once. It also will be green, Coopers favorite color, and be representative of him being their St. Pattys baby.

Becky Lins also noted it will give kids unique obstacles, which Cooper always liked, especially while playing at Ninja U and going from one end of a course to the other.

At the Southdale Social, where they were recently raising funds for the campaign, Becky and Eric Lins said they heard stories about their son that they had never heard before.

One involved Cooper rallying the troops to roll a giant snowball when everyone else was tired, showcasing his energy and spirit. Another was about covertly planting corn with a friend near the playground as part of a top secret plan.

Weve heard all about how he had such a good heart, said Becky Lins. Thats been endearing.

He just got along with everyone, added Strub. I really do think everyone in the class thought he was their best friend.

Cedar Falls school board finalizes $70 million bond issue The general obligation bonds, to be purchased by Citigroup Global Markets, will help pay for the construction of a new Cedar Falls High School now underway.

Southdale Elementarys IMPACT parent group is leading the fundraising. That makes all donations tax-deductible.

Checks can be written to Southdale IMPACT and mailed to 4105 Stewart Lane, Cedar Falls, IA 50613. People can also contribute @Southdale_Playground_Addition through the Venmo mobile payment service.

Questions can be directed to Eric or Becky Lins at eric.lins@cfschools.org or rebecca.lins@cfschools.org. And updates can be found on Facebook at Southdale Playground AdditionCooper Lins Memorial Project.

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WATERLOO  The Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors went on the record Tuesday in opposition to a bill that would replace the local option sales tax with a statewide sales tax to be used in part for improving water quality.

The bill is supported by the Iowa Water and Land Legacy Coalition, or IWILL, which advocates for a sales tax increase in any legislative solution aimed at addressing water quality and conservation.

In 2010, 63% of Iowa voters approved a constitutional amendment to create the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund. It would create a permanent funding source dedicated to protecting the states water quality and support outdoor recreation through a three-eighths cent sales tax. But no sales tax has been put in effect.

In 1991, Black Hawk County voters approved a 1% local option sales tax. Until 2008, 100% of the sales tax went toward property tax relief. In 2008, supervisors amended that so 50% of the revenues would go toward property tax relief with the other half going toward roads and bridges.

County Engineer Cathy Nicholas said since 2008 the county has resurfaced more than 85 miles of county roads. In 2012, it replaced Cedar River bridges on Brandon Road.

But now, if passed by the Legislature, Senate Study Bill 3157 would increase the state sales tax from 6% to 7% beginning Jan. 1. It would start the flow of funds to the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund.

The Senate proposal would eliminate local governments local-option sales taxes, replace them with a statewide sales tax and return that revenue to the local governments while triggering the water quality and conservation funding.

Im concerned that if this Senate study bill passes, that we will have the voters who have voted to approve this lose the ability to use the funds they voted on, Nicholas said. We will not be able to use (that money) to improve the roads and bridges in this county.

Black Hawk County Conservation Director Mike Hendrickson seconded the thoughts of the board and Nicholas. He said he supports the idea of the IWILL Coalition and has fought for it in the past, but said the way the bill is written would have adverse effects.

Another worry from the board is that it would have to rely on the good faith of the General Assembly over the next few decades to keep its word on sending money to local governments. Members said the Legislature does not have the most impressive history of keeping its promises to backfill lost revenue to local governments.

The board unanimously agreed to oppose the Senate study bill.

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, one of the only anti-abortion Democrats remaining in Congress, faced the toughest reelection fight of his career in a primary runoff against progressive Jessica Cisneros that could offer clues over how much abortion rights could animate voters in the 2022 midterms.

Early Wednesday, the race was too early to call. Cuellar was leading Cisneros by 175 votes, or 0.38 percentage points, out of 45,209 ballots counted as of 2 a.m. ET Wednesday. There likely remain a small number of absentee, provisional and late-arriving mail ballots left to count.

The winner will face Cassy Garcia, who won the Republican runoff for the seat.

Cuellar has come under increased attacks from abortion rights groups over his position in the weeks since a leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion draft showed the justices are poised to overturn a constitutional right to abortion, which has been in place for 50 years. It would then be up to the states to regulate abortion, unless Congress codifies into law the right to abortion access.

In March, Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration attorney, forced the runoff after she came within 1,000 votes of Cuellar, a nine-term incumbent, in the primarily Hispanic district with a large Catholic population. Cuellar has received support from fellow Democrats in Congress, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It is our fundamental freedoms on the line, Cisneros told reporters last week. I am more than happy to do what we can to make sure we are delivering on the promises Democrats successfully ran on in 2020.

In the closing weeks, abortion rights groups poured money and resources on the ground and across TV in South Texas, where Cuellar has been in office for 17 years and beat Cisneros in the primary two years ago. Progressive leaders including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, have also come to Texas to campaign with Cisneros.

That has made the runoff another test of whether progressives can topple other moderate, establishment-oriented candidates. Cuellar's unapologetic defense of gun rights and support of the oil and gas industry, which is a major employer in his district that runs from San Antonio to the border with Mexico, are also out of step with many Democrats. The runoff came the same day that an 18-year-old gunman killed at least 19 children at an elementary school in a district neighboring Cuellars.

Cuellar came under scrutiny in January after FBI agents searched his house in the border city of Laredo as part of an investigation related to the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. His lawyer said last month that federal authorities informed him that Cuellar was not the target of the investigation. The FBI and a spokesman for the U.S. attorneys office in Washington had declined to comment.

Ocasio-Cortez slammed the House Democratic leadership for supporting Cuellar in the race.

On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary. Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted late Tuesday. Accountability isnt partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership.

But Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said Cuellar has a better pulse on South Texas, where the GOP is taking a bigger swing in 2022 after decades of writing off the region as a Democratic stronghold.

The new optimism by Republicans along Texas' border with Mexico comes after several counties showed a dramatic increase in support for GOP candidates in 2020.

What the progressives in Washington, D.C., dont understand is that much of our Hispanic population in South Texas is pretty conservative, sort of from a cultural standpoint, Cornyn said last week. And I think Henry fits that district and that temperament and that attitude very well.

Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics

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

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WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden delivered an emotional call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman opened fire at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday.

"When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden said at the White House shortly after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bookended by tragedy.

With first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, Biden added, "I am sick and tired. We have to act."

At least 19 students and two adults were killed. The latest figures come from Travis Considine, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The gunman also died.

The massacre at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since a gunmen killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago.

The attack came just 10 days after a deadly, racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that added to a yearslong series of mass killings at churches, schools and stores. And the prospects for any reform of the nations gun regulations seemed at least as dim as in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook deaths.

The gunman, who was wearing body armor and had hinted on social media of an upcoming attack, crashed his car outside the school and went inside armed, Sgt. Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN.

He killed his grandmother before heading to the school with two military-style rifles he had purchased on his birthday, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said.

That was the first thing he did on his 18th birthday, he said.

Officials did not immediately reveal a motive, but the governor identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos and said he was a resident of the community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio.

A Border Patrol agent who was working nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about it.

The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, the law enforcement source said.

Here are the latest updates from Texas:

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CGTN:

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward the BRI. My question is, over the past 10 years, how has the trade between China and countries along the Belt and Road been going? According to some foreign media, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have cast doubt on the prospect of the BRI. What's your comment on that? Thank you.

Sheng Qiuping:

I'll answer the questions first. After deep consideration of the future of humanity and the development trend of China and the whole world, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the BRI, which is a significant collaboration initiative to promote common prosperity and build a community with a shared future for mankind. Since it was put forward in 2013, the BRI has been constantly refined with growing influence and appeal and has become a popular international public product and cooperation platform in the world. The MOFCOM, together with related departments, has continuously enhanced Belt and Road economic and trade cooperation and achieved solid and fruitful accomplishments, based on the principles of consultation, cooperation and benefit for all.

First, we have promoted unimpeded trade along the Belt and Road. From 2013 to 2021, the annual trade volume between China and countries along the Belt and Road increased from $1.04 trillion to $1.8 trillion, growing by 73%. New forms of trade have developed rapidly, with "Silk Road E-commerce" being a highlight and cross-border e-commerce imports and exports increasing at high speeds. A number of overseas warehouses have been constructed and put into operation. The trade routes have been facilitated steadily, with the China-Europe Railway Express completing over 50,000 services and reaching more than 180 cities in 23 European countries. The construction of new land-sea transit routes has achieved new progress. The construction of free trade zone network covering Belt and Road countries has been accelerated, with seven free trade agreements signed with 13 countries along the Belt and Road.

Second, by stepping up investment cooperation, we have notably improved the integration of industrial and supply chains. From 2013 to 2021, China's direct investment in countries along the Belt and Road totaled $161.3 billion, while 32,000 enterprises were established in China by these countries, with a combined investment of $71.2 billion. By the end of 2021, Chinese enterprises have invested $43.08 billion in overseas economic and trade cooperation zones established in countries along the Belt and Road, creating 346,000 local jobs and playing a crucial role in propelling international capacity cooperation.

Third, the connectivity level has been greatly improved by advancing project construction. From 2013 to 2021, China signed new contracts worth about $1.08 trillion with countries along the Belt and Road for engineering projects in transportation, electricity and other areas, with a $728.6-billion business volume completed. A number of major cooperation projects have been completed and implemented, with the China-Laos railway put into operation, the Budapest-Belgrade railway under construction, and the Piraeus port in good operation. A number of handy and practical projects in agriculture, healthcare and poverty reduction have been carried out in succession, delivering tangible benefits to people of countries along the Belt and Road.

Fourth, by improving mechanisms and platforms, we have raised communication and cooperation efficiency. The bilateral economic and trade mechanisms have been improved continuously, with over 100 mechanisms established to promote unimpeded trade, investment cooperation, service trade and e-commerce cooperation. The platforms for opening up, represented by large-scale exhibitions and forums, have enjoyed robust development, with four sessions of the CIIE, the China-ASEAN Expo, China-Eurasia Expo, China-CEEC Expo, and China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo successfully held.

Over the past eight years, the BRI has witnessed fruitful achievements, focused on mutual benefit and boosted common development of participating countries, and improved people's wellbeing. Currently, the pandemic is still ongoing, and the international situation is complex and volatile. However, the Belt and Road cooperation still displays resilience and vitality, injecting strong impetus to global openness, cooperation and economic recovery. Next, the MOFCOM will implement the guiding principles of General Secretary Xi Jinping's speeches on promoting Belt and Road cooperation, and work with all sides to ensure the BRI continues building momentum and producing concrete outcomes, promote high-quality development of the BRI through joint efforts and contribute to building a community with a shared future for mankind. Thank you.

Wang Lingjun:

Since the launch of the BRI, China has greatly facilitated trade with countries along the Belt and Road. The trade volume between China and BRI countries accounted for 29.7% of China's total foreign trade in 2021, from 25% in 2013. In the first four months of this year, China's exports and imports with BRI countries totaled 3.97 trillion yuan, growing by 15.5% year-on-year, 7.5 percentage points higher than the country's total foreign trade growth rate. China's foreign trade with Vietnam, Malaysia, and some other countries exceeded 1 trillion yuan each; its foreign trade volume with countries including Thailand and Indonesia surpassed 800 billion yuan each.

Regarding the high-quality development of the BRI, China has further deepened its cooperation with BRI countries in foreign trade security and customs clearance efficiency, particularly in promoting AEO mutual recognition, the China International Trade Single Window scheme, the establishment of a network of certificates of origin, and so on. Among the 48 countries and regions that have signed AEO agreements with China, 32 are involved in the BRI. The Partnership Program of Customs-Railway Operators for Promoting the Safety and Rapid Customs Clearance of China Railway Express (PPCR) has been put into trial operation at the Alashankou Port and Horgos Port on the China-Kazakhstan border. Meanwhile, China has continuously expanded import access to high-quality agricultural products and foods produced by BRI countries.

In 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the cooperation vision of "Smart Customs, Smart Borders and Smart Connectivity." The General Administration of Customs of China has swiftly responded by launching 78 pilot programs. Of those programs, 22 involve international cooperation, mainly between China and BRI countries. The pilot programs aim to decrease the customs clearance costs for enterprises and raise customs clearance efficiency by increasing the level of intelligence. At present, many international organizations and multilateral frameworks represented by the WCO, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and Asia-Europe Meeting have adopted the vision of "Smart Customs, Smart Borders and Smart Connectivity" into their strategic documents and multilateral agendas. Thank You.
Dear Willamette community,

With deep heaviness of heart, I write to you regarding the recent, tragic shootings that have occurred this month in our nation. Already, there have been reports of 198 mass shootings in the United States this year, including the recent hate crimes in Laguna Woods, California, and Buffalo, New York.

In Laguna Woods, a man attacked the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church during their after-church banquet. Characterized by authorities as a politically motivated hate crime against the Taiwanese community, this man murdered one man and wounded five people.

In Buffalo, a man opened fire at a supermarket with the intention of murdering Black Americans. Thirteen were shot, of which ten were murdered in this racially motivated massacre.

Please, let us hold these victims, witnesses, and their families in our hearts.

Let us continue to reject all forms of violence, and especially that which is rooted in hatred, and laced in a fear of loss of power, privilege, and undue entitlement. We must ask ourselves: what must die so this violence may cease? What systems must end? May we continue to reject injustices and structures grounded in white supremacist, racist, fascist, tyrannical ideologies.

I personally invite you to continue to address these systemic injustices locally, nationally, and globally by joining our programming aimed at social justice in the coming year. We will expand our programming around reckoning with racism locally, and we will address the global dangers of nuclear weapons and autocracy through our work with the Annual Salem Peace Lecture, to name a couple opportunities.

For all of those who grieve and carry heightened anxieties for your own safety and wellbeing after these incidents, I am here for you. Please reach out at chaplain@willamette.edu.
Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry

Demining and demilitarization of the seaport in the Donetsk Peoples Republics Mariupol city, liberated from Ukrainian militants, has been completed and is now operating on a daily basis.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.

High-precision long-range air- and sea-based missiles in Zaporozhye have destroyed the production facilities of Motor Sich plant, which produced aircraft engines for combat aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force, including UAVs.

In addition, units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reserve deployed to reinforce the grouping of Ukrainian troops in Donbass have been destroyed near Pokrovskoe railway station in Dnepropetrovsk Region.

High-precision air-based missiles have hit 3 command posts, including 1 command post of the 14th Mechanised Brigade and 1 communications hub in Vrubovka and Bakhmut, 1 AFU radio technical centre near Dneprovskoe, Nikolaev Region, 1 logistics centre of the 72nd Motorised Infantry Brigade near Soledar, 2 fuel bases in Kovyagin and Bezlyudovka, Kharkov Region, 2 air defence radar posts and military equipment at a storage base near Bakhmut, and 16 areas of AFU manpower and military equipment concentration, during the day.

Operational-tactical and army aviation have hit 2 missile-artillery weapons and ammunition depots near Dolina in Kharkov Region and Posad-Pokrovskoe in Nikolaev Region, the territorial defence headquarters in Soledar and 46 areas of manpower and military equipment concentration.

The attacks have resulted in the elimination of more than 300 nationalists and up to 46 armoured and motor vehicles.

Russian air defence means have shot down 1 Mi-8 helicopter of the Ukrainian Air Force over Barmashovo, Nikolaev Region.

Also, 11 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down in the air near Snake Island, Glubokoe, Pershotravnevoe, Bolshie Prokhody, Kharkiv Region, and Verhnetoretskoe, Stavki, Terny, including 1 Bayraktar TB-2 near Shandrigolovo, Donetsk Peoples Republic.

Missile troops and artillery have hit 51 command posts, 385 areas of AFU manpower and military equipment concentration, as well as 53 artillery and mortar units at firing positions.

In total, 178 Ukrainian airplanes and 126 helicopters, 1,006 unmanned aerial vehicles, 322 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,258 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 430 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,671 field artillery and mortars, as well as 3,155 units of special military vehicles were destroyed during the operation.

#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #Briefing

@mod_russia_enjoy

WtR
Facebook to charge an additional 5% tax on advertisers in Vietnam

Facebook will charge a five percent value added tax on all advertisements in Vietnam starting from June 1, its parent company Meta announced on its website on Tuesday.













The move was made after the company pledged to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh that they would register and pay tax as a foreign contractor doing business in Vietnam.



Before VAT, Facebook collected a fee of between 1-3 percent from advertisers that pay in Vietnamese Dong.



Vietnamese authorities have been calling on tech giants operating in the countries including Meta and Google, which account for around 70 percent of the online advertisement market, to pay tax.



Earlier in a National Assembly Q&A session at the NA in March, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said that the local taxation department had collected nearly VND5 trillion (USD 217.40 million) from cross-border platforms between 2018-2021. Facebook has so far paid VND 1.69 trillion and Google VND1.62 trillion in taxes.


A strong agricultural industry, beautiful countryside and well-off farmers -- this is rural China described when speaking about the goal of the country's rural revitalization strategy for the upcoming decades.



What will China's future countryside look like? What would be done to turn this vision into reality in the next few years? The latest action plan on China's rural construction has provided more details.

By 2025, tangible progress should be made on rural construction, and continuous improvement should be seen in the rural living environment, said the document jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council General Office on Monday.

China also expects positive progress in ensuring that every village and household has access to rural infrastructure, steady advancement in basic public services, and solid results in promoting cultural and ethical progress in rural areas.

The action plan has focused on the development of both infrastructure and services. It arranged projects to improve rural roads, water supply, energy, logistics, housing and living environments, as well as efforts to enhance public services and rural governance.

"Rural construction is an important task in implementing the rural revitalization strategy, as well as an essential part of China's modernization drive," the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group said in a Q&A with Xinhua.

The action plan will play a guiding role in advancing the rural construction initiative and making rural areas more attractive places to live and work, according to the office.

The rural revitalization strategy, which was first put forward during the 19th CPC National Congress in 2017, aims at achieving the basic modernization of agriculture and rural areas by 2035, and the grand goal of strong agriculture, beautiful countryside and well-off farmers by 2050.

To make the countryside more livable, China launched a three-year rural living environment upgrade campaign in 2018, which follows another five-year campaign from the previous year to further consolidate such efforts.

By the end of 2020, more than 40 million rural household toilets had been renovated during the three-year campaign, with the penetration rate of clean toilets achieving 68 percent in China's rural areas, statistics showed.

From 2016 to 2020, China also built or rebuilt more than 1.4 million km of rural roads. The country will continue road construction and bring the total length of rural roads to approximately 5 million km by 2035, according to a plan released by the transport ministry.

Despite the progress, there are still weak links between rural infrastructure and public services, which has yet to fulfill the farmers' ever-growing needs for a better life, the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group has noted.

"Apart from infrastructure, rural construction would also cover rural governance, sustainable development of rural industries, public services and promotion of cultural progress," said Li Xiaoyun, a professor at China Agricultural University.

Rural construction will be a green and resource-efficient process, according to the action plan, which has aimed for an alignment between construction and the natural environment.

In efforts to protect the rural environment, China has aimed to keep the rural green coverage rate above 32 percent by 2025, with some 20,000 national forest villages and a great number of local forest villages established, according to the country's forestry and grassland authorities.

The action plan has also highlighted the participation of farmers in the decision-making and construction process, as well as the need to keep the traditional architecture, folk culture and local characteristics instead of simply copying the urban construction models.

"Farmers will not only be beneficiaries of rural construction, but also important participants, builders and supervisors of the process," said Zhang Bin, a researcher with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.


Appointment of Chairman

Melbourne, May 25, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Crowd Media Holdings Limited ( ASX:CM8 ) ( FRA:CM3 ) is pleased to announce the appointment of Sytze Voulon as Non-Executive Chairman, replacing the outgoing Chairman Steven Schapera following his resignation announced on 11 March 2022.Sytze's appointment will be effective May 25th, and Steven will stay on as a Non-Executive Director until 30 June 2022.Sytze joined the Board of Crowd on 30 September 2021 as a Non-Executive Director and has been working closely with CEO, Idan Schmorak since that time. Based in the Netherlands, Sytze is an experienced executive who has led international businesses across several industries and geographies, orchestrating the building, scaling, and transformation of these businesses. In his most recent role, Sytze was the CEO of Synlab Analytics & Services, a division of Synlab - Europe's number one medical diagnostic service provider.Under his leadership, Synlab Analytics & Services had annual revenues of around EUR200m with 2,300 employees across 11 countries. Sytze successfully led an exit process, culminating in sale of the division to SGS in 2020, ahead of the subsequent IPO of the Synlab Group.Sytze currently offers his experience, skills and networking as an independent Strategy and Management Consultant to assist start-up and scale-up businesses.Outgoing chairman Steven Schapera said "It gives me great pleasure to pass the baton on to Sytze. The business is in great shape, and has a very bright future ahead of it. Sytze has all the skills and relationships necessary to take the Company on to the next level."Sytze Voulon said "I am pleased to accept the role to become Chairman of Crowd Media having worked closely with Idan and the Board over the past six months. Seeing progress made on the Talking Head AI platform, I am excited by this upcoming phase for Crowd which will look to accelerate from development to monetization. I would like to thank Steven for his contributions to Crowd which has the Company in a position to build momentum on the commercial front in the year ahead."About Crowd Media Holdings Limited

Crowd Media Holdings Ltd (ASX:CM8) (FRA:CM3) is an Artificial Intelligence company that is leveraging its AI platform for applications in Conversational Commerce.
Extending the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act another two years was the right thing to do. Continuing to neglect New Mexicans who unwittingly suffered nuclear fallout is wrong and can not be allowed to stand.

Congress this month extended RECA to May 2024. The 1990 bipartisan act would have expired in July; it provides money for people who develop cancer or other diseases after exposure to atomic weapons testing or contact with uranium and has paid out $2.5 billion to over 39,000 claimants.

But the act has failed to recognize radioactive fallout doesnt stop at state lines. While numerous downwind counties were designated in Arizona, Nevada and Utah, the act has never covered N.M. downwinders who suffered nuclear fallout from the Trinity Site in July 1945 or the hundreds of above-ground nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992.

As Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., wrote in a recent column for CNN, harmful radioactive material blanketed parts of New Mexico, too. And while uranium workers employed between Jan. 1, 1942, and Dec. 31, 1971, are eligible for compensation, workers employed after 1971 are ineligible.

Lujan has tried with Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, to expand the scope of RECA to New Mexicans living downwind of nuclear weapons tests and those who worked in uranium mines after 1971. The rest of the states congressional delegation should join forces behind this bipartisan effort to finally make things right for the affected New Mexicans.

N.M. fallout victims were not warned ahead of the atomic blasts and were led to believe there was little or no danger. Its a wrong of our federal government that must be corrected. And hundreds of abandoned uranium mines as well as radioactive waste on the Navajo Nation must be cleaned up.

Thirty-two years after RECA, Congress needs to follow Lujans lead and step up. RECA should be expanded and extended to include New Mexican downwinders and uranium workers of the last 50 years and made more permanent.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Two high school students were found with guns on campus in separate incidents Tuesday in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.

Both students, one at Volcano Vista High School and another at Cleveland High School, are facing criminal charges.

The situations unfolded the same day that more than a dozen children were killed in a shooting at an elementary school in west Texas.

The local incidents came without any reported injuries.

Volcano Vista Principal Melissa Sedillo said the gun was confiscated from the backpack of a student in the south parking lot of the school.

The student who brought the gun on campus now faces criminal charges and appropriate school discipline, which could include suspension or expulsion, she said in a Facebook post, adding that Albuquerque Public Schools Police are handling the investigation.

Sedillo said a concerned individual notified staff of the weapon before the student was found and searched.

We encourage people to come forward as they did today when they learn of possible threats to our students and staff, she said. We take every threat or rumor of danger seriously and work closely with APS Police and other law enforcement.

Around the same time, a similar situation played out in Rio Rancho.

Police Lt. Jacquelynn Reedy told the Rio Rancho Observer that a boy was arrested Tuesday morning after being seen with a gun at Cleveland High School.

She said the student was booked into the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center. According to Reedy, a student told a school security officer that the boy had a gun.

The suspect was contacted, and authorities located and confiscated the handgun, Rio Rancho Public Schools said in a release.

The release said no threats were made and the weapon was not brandished or pointed at anyone.

At this time we dont know why he decided to bring the firearm, Reedy told the Observer.

Rio Rancho school officials said parents should urge their children to report suspicious activities or disturbing information to a trusted adult.

Together we can prevent situations like this and ensure the safety of our students and staff, the district said in its release.

The Rio Rancho Observer contributed to this story.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  One of this years most closely-watched state House primary races is playing out in northern New Mexicos House District 40, where incumbent Rep. Roger Montoya, D-Velarde, is facing a challenge from ex-state lawmaker Joseph Sanchez of Alcalde.

The race is one of several contests featuring more moderate Democrats targeting progressive Democrats who have won election in recent years.

Its also one of three state House contests this year featuring an ex-lawmaker trying to win a second stint in the Legislature. But its the only one of those races in which the ex-legislator is taking on an incumbent of his own party in the primary election.

Sanchez, an engineer who served in the House from 2019 through 2020 before launching an unsuccessful bid for Congress, said the Legislature has gone too far left in recent election cycles that have featured large amounts of out-of-state funding pouring into state races.

We need to restore some sort of balance in the Legislature, he told the Journal. I think the Democrats need to be more pro-business.

Among other policies, he supports New Mexico pursuing federal funding for hydrogen energy development, even though a bill backed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham that would have set up a hydrogen energy framework was rebuffed during this years 30-day session by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

In contrast, Montoya has described hydrogen as a false solution and says New Mexico  and his largely rural House district  needs to take a more holistic approach to health and well-being.

Since being elected in 2020, he has focused on infrastructure improvements, including broadband expansion, in rural parts of the state.

I am now a political leader, but I see myself much more as a community leader and social worker, and above all else an artist, Montoya said in explaining his approach to being a legislator.

This years race has been marked in part by hard-hitting attack mailers from an independent political committee that have targeted Montoyas past work in adult films several decades ago.

While Montoya said he expected such attacks, he described them as a desperate ploy.

As an openly gay, HIV-positive man, I have experienced far worse, Montoya added.

As for Sanchez, he has sought to distance himself from the mailers sent by Working Together New Mexico PAC, saying in a statement he does not condone the attacks.

I want my record to speak for itself, Sanchez added in an interview.

Both candidates have raised significant amounts of campaign cash.

Montoya has raised $63,955 for his reelection campaign, with contributions from U.S. Interior Secretary and ex-New Mexico congresswoman Deb Haaland, House Democratic floor leader Javier Martinez of Albuquerque and Rep. Gail Chasey, among others.

For his part, Sanchez has raised $66,775 for his bid to win back his old seat, with hefty donations from oil giant Chevron, Oklahoma-based Devon Energy, House Appropriations and Finance Committee Chairwoman Patricia Lundstrom and former state Rep. Debbie Rodella of Espanola.

The winner of the June 7 primary election will face Republican Jerald Steve McFall of Angel Fire in the November general election. But no Republican has held the seat in the last 50 years.

The House District 40 seat, after being slightly redrawn during redistricting, stretches from Raton to Espanola and encompasses most of the burn area of the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak wildfire complex that has now grown to more than 311,000 acres and forced thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  State Treasurer Tim Eichenbergs attack ads targeting a fellow Democrat in the race to succeed him are drawing opposition from county-level Democratic Party leaders.

In a recent letter, they called on Eichenberg to halt his mudslinging against Laura Montoya and described the ads as totally beneath the office of State Treasurer.

Eichenberg says he is within his rights to educate voters about Montoyas record.

The conflict centers on the race between Montoya, a former Sandoval County treasurer, and Heather Benavidez, Eichenbergs chief of staff, for the Democratic nomination to serve as state treasurer.

Eichenberg, who cant run for reelection this year because of term limits, has purchased radio ads and filed an ethics complaint slamming Montoya. He has accused her of accepting unemployment benefits last year while campaigning, among other allegations, all of which Montoya says are false.

A letter to Eichenberg from Democratic activists  including county-level party chairs Alexandria Piland of Sandoval County, Bernadette Vadurro of Santa Fe County and Flora Lucero of Bernalillo County  urged Eichenberg to stop the attacks.

As Democrats, they said, we cannot have our primaries descend into schoolyard spectacles where baseless accusations are made and character assassinations are an accepted part of campaigning.

Vadurro shared the letter with the Journal and said she signed it in her personal capacity as an activist, not on behalf the Santa Fe County Democratic Party.

Eichenberg, in turn, rejected the call to curtail his involvement in the race.

I intend to protect the integrity of the State Treasurers office and thats why Ive been active in this primary, he said in a written response to the letter. Primaries are to vet candidates and I believe it is important for voters to have information on our candidates that may negatively affect the result in the General Election.

Montoya, for her part, has defended herself vigorously and questioned why Eichenberg has inserted himself into the race.

She acknowledges that she received federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits in January and February last year after leaving office as county treasurer. But she said it was appropriate for her situation  work was difficult to find in the pandemic  and that she didnt announce a campaign for state treasurer until August.

State Democratic Party spokesperson Daniel Garcia said the state and county parties are impartial in contested primaries and that the letter didnt come from them.

The signers of this letter are acting on their own accord as individuals, he said. They have not signed this letter on behalf of the Democratic Party of New Mexico or their county parties.

The winner of the June 7 primary election will advance to face Republican Harry Montoya in the fall.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Bernalillo County voters will decide two Democratic primary contests June 7 for judicial posts in 2nd Judicial District Court.

The winners of those contests will likely run unopposed in the general election in November.

Division 10

Incumbent District Judge Bruce Fox faces challenger Edward Benavidez for the Division 10 post.

Fox was appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to the courts Criminal Division in 2021. He previously served as chief judge for the Pueblo of Laguna and as a public defender in Albuquerque.

Fox received his law degree at Western New England University in 1989 and spent his entire professional career in New Mexico.

Benavidez has served three years as a prosecutor for the 2nd Judicial District Attorneys Office. He also served as Bernalillo County Metro Court judge for 10 years but was not retained by voters in 2018.

Benavidez received his law degree from Western Michigan University Law School and has practiced law in Albuquerque for 27 years.

Division 16

Incumbent District Judge Jennifer Wernersbach faces challenger Emeterio Rudolfo for the Division 16 post.

Wernersbach was appointed to the bench by Lujan Grisham in 2021. She previously practiced as a criminal defense lawyer for 17 years.

Wernersbach received her law degree from the University of New Mexico in 2004.

Rudolfo has practiced law for 27 years, primarily in criminal defense. He also has served on the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.

He received his law degree from the UNM School of Law in 1995.
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet via video link in Beijing, capital of China, May 25, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

President Xi Jinping met via video link with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday in Beijing.

President Xi welcomed Bachelet to China. He expounded on major issues regarding China's human rights development in the context of China's history and culture, and reaffirmed the principled position of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government in upholding and protecting human rights in all areas. He stressed that, on day one of its existence, the CPC identified as its founding mission the pursuit of happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and has been working hard for the people's interests over the past century. The people's aspiration for a better life is what we are striving for. After decades of strenuous efforts, China has successfully found a path of human rights development in keeping with the trend of the times and China's national reality. We have been advancing whole-process people's democracy, promoting legal safeguard for human rights and upholding social equity and justice. The Chinese people now enjoy fuller and more extensive and comprehensive democratic rights. The human rights of the Chinese people are guaranteed like never before.

President Xi pointed out that in terms of human rights protection, no one can claim perfection and there is always room for improvement. On the basis of equality and mutual respect, China is ready to actively conduct human rights dialogue and cooperation with all other parties to expand common understanding, reduce differences, promote mutual learning, seek progress together, and jointly advance the international human rights cause for the greater benefit of people across the world. At present, it is most important to work on the following four priorities:

First, putting people front and center. It is important to take the people's interests as the fundamental purpose and goal, make continuous efforts to address the most pressing and immediate issues that concern the people the most, and strive to deliver a better life to the people. That is the biggest human right. How a country is doing on human rights is essentially gauged by whether the interests of its people are upheld, and whether they enjoy a growing sense of fulfillment, happiness and security. That is the most important criterion for assessing the human rights conditions of a country. The people should become the true masters of their countries and the main participants, contributors and beneficiaries of human rights development.

Second, respecting different countries' paths of human rights development. Human rights have historical, specific and practical contexts. With different national conditions, histories, cultures, social systems and levels of economic and social development, countries should and can only explore suitable paths of human rights development in light of national realities and people's needs. Any system or model blindly copied from another country regardless of the situation on the ground will not only look out of place, but also bring disastrous consequences. Should that happen, it is the people who will bear the brunt. There is no shortage of such examples, and lessons must be learned.

Third, following a holistic approach to all categories of human rights. Human rights are a rich and all-encompassing concept, and must be advanced with integrated and systematic measures. For developing countries, the rights to subsistence and development are the primary human rights. More efforts are needed to achieve development of higher quality, efficiency, equity, sustainability and security, so as to provide strong safeguards for the advancement of human rights.

Fourth, stepping up global human rights governance. The promotion and protection of human rights is a common cause for humanity and thus requires the concerted efforts of all. When it comes to human rights issues, there is no such thing as a flawless utopia; countries do not need patronizing lecturers; still less should human rights issues be politicized and used as a tool to apply double standards, or as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. It is important to abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, advocate humanity's common values, and steer global human rights governance toward greater fairness, justice, equity and inclusiveness. China will continue to support the UN in making positive efforts for the international human rights cause.

Ms. Bachelet expressed appreciation to China for receiving her visit despite the COVID challenge, the first visit to China by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 17 years. She very much values and cherishes this visit and will have extensive engagements and direct communication with the Chinese government and people across different sectors. The High Commissioner is confident that this visit will give her a better understanding of China. She expressed admiration for China's efforts and achievements in eliminating poverty, protecting human rights and realizing economic and social development, and commended China's important role in upholding multilateralism, confronting global challenges such as climate change, and promoting sustainable development across the world. The High Commissioner's Office would like to enhance communication and explore cooperation with the Chinese side to make joint efforts for the progress of the global human rights cause.

Ding Xuexiang, Yang Jiechi, Wang Yi (in Guangzhou) were present at the meeting.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

David Aguilera had managed to escape from the back seat of a patrol car and get into the drivers seat as Chaves County Sheriffs deputies were arresting him at a dairy a couple of blocks from his home in late March.

Lapel camera video shows that as the car began to roll forward and 34-year-old Aguilera flailed his arms a deputy opened fire striking him several times. Another deputy on scene also shot Aguilera, although it is not seen on the video.

Aguilera died at the scene.

Now his family, their lawyer and a policing expert are raising questions about the circumstances around the shooting.

Its difficult to say why lethal force would be used for what would amount to a theft of a department vehicle, said Keith Taylor, an adjunct assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Thats that visceral reaction that most people would have when looking at (the video). What is the justification of lethal force when stealing a car and refusing to be arrested? Was there some other option?

However, Taylor cautioned that the video is just one view of the shooting. The former New York Police Department sergeant who worked in emergency services and internal affairs reviewed the video of the shooting, which the Journal obtained in response to a public records act request.

It is not the investigation, Taylor said. There are additional facts and circumstances that may inform the individuals who have to determine whether that was appropriate or not.

Investigation under review

In a video posted on Facebook hours after the incident, Chaves County Sheriff Mike Herrington said the deputies went to the dairy on Jackson Road near the Eddy County line in response to calls about a disorderly subject. Aguilera was reportedly jumping on the equipment and running around.

Herrington said a Taser was used multiple times and an officer involved shooting had occurred.

The sheriffs office referred the Journal to the county attorney for more information.

Attorney Stanton Riggs said deputies Benjamin Conklin and Joshua McKelvey believed their lives were at risk or they were at risk of substantial harm and thats why they fired at Aguilera after he got into the drivers seat.

The Roswell Police Department led an investigation into the shooting. A spokesman said the investigation is complete but it is awaiting a couple of lab results that will be added to the final report when they are received.

The investigation has been turned over to the 5th Judicial District Attorneys Office, where it is still being reviewed.

Deputy Conklin had been with the Chaves County Sheriffs Office for a little over two years and deputy McKelvey had been there for a little under two years.

Riggs said both deputies are back on patrol after being put on the standard administrative leave. He said the department has not opened an internal investigation and is waiting to see what District Attorney Dianna Luce determines before deciding if it has to investigate further or take disciplinary action.



Its hard, really hard

Camille Ortega met Aguilera through mutual friends when she was about 13 and then the two got together years later in 2011 when she was about 21.

Aguilera worked in the oil fields doing several different jobs over the years. He grew close to Ortegas four children and then the couple had two of their own, the youngest of whom is 5. They lived outside of Lake Arthur, south of Roswell.

On the evening of March 27, Ortega returned home after taking their children to a doctors appointment in Las Cruces. They talked a little and then Aguilera left the house.

He enjoys walking, Ortega said. Usually when he takes off, he comes back right away. But that night, I dont know. It was just different.

A couple of hours later, deputies were called to the nearby Sideline Dairy.

Video and statements from investigators show the deputies used their Tasers at least five times on Aguilera to try to subdue him. He is agitated and uncooperative but repeatedly apologizes to the deputies.

Eventually they were able to get him into the backseat of Conklins patrol car.

Then, at some point deputies Conklin and McKelvey returned to the patrol car and opened the back doors. McKelveys lapel camera video shows Aguilera escape from the back and run around the lot away from the deputies before he returns and gets in the drivers seat. He appears to be agitated and upset and continues to apologize.

Get out of the (expletive) car and I will (expletive) shoot you, deputy McKelvey yelled over and over before instructing deputy Conklin to move as the car appears to be rolling forward.

Thats when first McKelvey and then Conklin began firing at Aguilera, striking him.

The deputies tried to revive Aguilera, but he died at the scene.

When investigators arrived they found the car had rolled about 40 yards west of where Aguilera was lying on the ground, according to incident reports released to the Journal.

Next to him on the ground was five spent bullet shell casings and the Pokemon wallet his son had lent him after he lost his own.

Remembering Aguilera, Ortega starts to cry. She said the couple did everything with their children and she recounts how funny Aguilera was and how he used to take them fishing and taught the oldest how to drive.

Now shes doing everything by herself and had to switch jobs to support the family.

Its hard, really hard, Ortega said. I cry all the time. Im upset wishing he was here to help me  I keep expecting him to walk through the doors.

Not the first suit

Aguileras family has been calling for justice on social media. Ortega has started the process of a wrongful death suit.

Shane Maier, Ortegas attorney, said his office is still investigating but he questions why the deputies didnt take another course of action.

The car was moving forward, but there was no one in front of him, Maier said. He was not a dangerous threat to anybody else. He was also confined within a field.  Ultimately, if it needed to come down to it, they could also just follow him. He wasnt going anywhere.

Ortegas suit will be the second one filed in connection with a shooting by Chaves County Sheriffs deputies in less than a year.

In April, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and the Ives and Flores law firm filed a suit on behalf of the family of 25-year-old Oscar Najera. Najera, who suffered from a mental health disability and a traumatic brain injury, was unarmed when he was shot several times in June 2021.

The suit alleges that Chaves County and Sheriff Herrington enthusiastically hires known problem cops from other departments and allows deputies to lapse in their firearm qualifications.

Chaves County and the sheriff did not comment on that lawsuit and have not filed any responses in the case.
SEOUL, South Korea  North Korea test-launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile and two shorter-range weapons toward its eastern waters Wednesday, South Korea said, hours after President Joe Biden ended a trip to Asia where he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend its allies in the face of the Norths nuclear threat.

The suspected ICBM didnt fly its full range. But if confirmed, it would still be North Koreas first test of an ICBM system in about two months amid stalled nuclear diplomacy with the United States. The launch suggests North Korea is determined to continue its efforts to modernize its arsenal despite its first COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused outside worries about a humanitarian disaster.

North Koreas sustained provocations can only result in stronger and faster South Korea-U.S. combined deterrence and can only deepen North Koreas international isolation, the South Korean government said in a statement after an emergency security meeting.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi called the launches an act of provocation and absolutely impermissible.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held separate calls with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan during which they condemned the launches as a clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, the State Department said.

Blinken noted Washingtons commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan remains ironclad as the three allies continue to cooperate to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the statement said.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the launch of the three missiles only contributes to increasing regional and international tensions and reiterated U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres call on North Korea to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions, which ban such tests.

Diplomatic engagement remains the only pathway to sustainable peace and complete and verifiable de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Dujarric said.

(The launches) were a political message. Theyre saying they feel bad about Bidens recent summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea.

Biden and Yoon said after their meeting Saturday that they would consider expanded military exercises to deter North Korean nuclear threats.

Biden brushed aside questions about any possible provocation by North Korea during his trip, saying, We are prepared for anything North Korea does. He later met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, and they vowed to work closely to address security challenges, including North Koreas nuclear and ballistic programs and what they called Chinas increasingly coercive behavior in the region.

According to South Koreas military, the first missile was likely an ICBM that reached a maximum height of 540 kilometers (335 miles) while traveling 360 kilometers (223 miles). The statement said the second missile disappeared from South Korean radar at some point and the third flew 760 kilometers (472 miles).

Kim Tae-hyo, South Koreas deputy national security adviser, told reporters that the first launch involved the Norths biggest Hwasong-17 missile, whose potential range includes the entirety of the U.S. mainland. He said the missile was fired at a high angle and that its launch appeared aimed at reviewing the weapons propellant and stage separations, though he couldnt conclusively say whether the test was successful.

He said the tests of the two other missiles, both short-range, implied North Koreas intention to improve its ability to launch nuclear strikes on its rivals.

While the North Korean launches were part of its weapons development program, they were also strategically timed to the end of Bidens Asian visits and likely designed to test the readiness of South Koreas new government, which took office about two weeks ago, Kim said.

The flight details for the suspected ICBM were similar to those of two previous North Korean launches this year, which the South Korean and U.S. militaries had said were meant to test components of the Hwasong-17 missile. North Korea said at the time it launched rockets to test cameras for a spy satellite.

After the two launches, South Koreas military in March detected what it said was a North Korean Hwasong-17 missile that blew up soon after liftoff. Later in the month, North Korea claimed to have successfully launched the Hwasong-17 in its first full-range ICBM flight test that broke its self-imposed 2018 moratorium on long-distance launches.

South Korea said North Korea may have fired a smaller ICBM, not a Hwasong-17. Whichever it was, the missile flew longer and higher than any other weapon the North has ever tested, experts say.

Chang, the missile expert, said he doubts whether North Korea truly launched an ICBM again Wednesday because the country would have no reason to conduct the same test repeatedly and waste an ICBM that costs about 10 billion to 20 billion won ($8 million to $16 million).

He said the flight details of the third missile resemble those of the hypersonic missile that North Korea tested in January. Other analysts say it could also be the Norths highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile.

After the Norths earlier launches, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they fired surface-to-surface missiles to demonstrate their striking capabilities. South Korea said its air force on Tuesday conducted an elephant walk involving 30, fully armed F-15K fighter jets parading along a runway in formation.

Wednesdays launches were North Koreas 17th round of missile firings this year. Experts have said North Korea wants to move ahead with its push to expand its arsenal and apply more pressure on its rivals to wrest sanctions relief and other concessions.

U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials have said North Korea could soon conduct its first nuclear test in nearly five years as well. Kim, the South Korean official, said North Korea has been testing a trigger system for a nuclear explosive device.

Before Wednesday, North Koreas most recent missile tests occurred on May 12, hours after the country acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak.

The country in the past few days has said there has been a positive sign in its anti-virus campaign. Since admitting to the outbreak, North Korea has identified about 3 million cases of an unidentified fever but said only 68 people died, an extremely low death toll for COVID-19.

___

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
DEVELOPING... Story will be updated as new information can be verified. Updated 4 times

UVALDE, Texas  Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunmans rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.

Go in there! Go in there! nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in.

Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building.

Upset that police were not moving in, he raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders.

Lets just rush in because the cops arent doing anything like they are supposed to, he said. More could have been done.

They were unprepared, he added.

Minutes earlier, Carranza had watched as Salvador Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch outside the school, grabbed his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shot at two people outside a nearby funeral home who ran away uninjured.

Officials say he encountered a school district security officer outside the school, though there were conflicting reports from authorities on whether the men exchanged gunfire. After running inside, he fired on two arriving Uvalde police officers who were outside the building, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine. The police officers were injured.

After entering the school, Ramos charged into one classroom and began to kill.

He barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Department of Public Safety told CNN. It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.

All those killed were in the same classroom, he said.

Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told reporters that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when Ramos opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him, though a department spokesman said later that they could not give a solid estimate of how long the gunman was in the school or when he was killed.

The bottom line is law enforcement was there, McCraw said. They did engage immediately. They did contain (Ramos) in the classroom.

Meanwhile, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said the Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.

Carranza said the officers should have entered the school sooner.

There were more of them. There was just one of him, he said.

Uvalde is a largely Latino town of some 16,000 people about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the Mexican border. Robb Elementary, which has nearly 600 students in second, third and fourth grades, is a single-story brick structure in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.

Hundreds packed into bleachers at the towns fairgrounds for a vigil Wednesday and the crowd swelled so big some stood around the speakers on the dirt arena. Some cried. Some closed their eyes tight, mouthing silent prayers. Parents wrapped their arms around their children, as the speakers lead prayers for healing.

Before attacking the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at the home they shared, authorities said.

Neighbor Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives across the street and has known the family for decades, said he was puttering in his yard when he heard the shots.

Ramos ran out the front door and across the small yard to the truck parked in front of the house. He seemed panicked, Gallegos said, and had trouble getting the truck out of park.

Then he raced away: He spun out, I mean fast, spraying gravel in the air.

His grandmother emerged covered in blood: She says, Berto, this is what he did. He shot me.' She was hospitalized.

Gallegos, whose wife called 911, said he had heard no arguments before or after the shots, and knew of no history of bullying or abuse of Ramos, who he rarely saw.

Investigators also shed no light on Ramos motive for the attack, which also left at least 17 people wounded. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Ramos, a resident of the small town about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, had no known criminal or mental health history.

We dont see a motive or catalyst right now, said McCraw of the Department of Public Safety.

Ramos legally bought the rifle and a second one like it last week, just after his birthday, authorities said.

About a half-hour before the mass shooting, Ramos sent the first of three online messages warning about his plans, Abbott said.

Ramos wrote that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman. In the last note, sent about 15 minutes before he reached Robb Elementary, he said he was going to shoot up an elementary school, according to Abbott. Investigators said Ramos did not specify which school.

Ramos sent the private, one-to-one text messages via Facebook, said company spokesman Andy Stone. It was not clear who received the messages.

Grief engulfed Uvalde as the details emerged.

The dead included Eliahna Garcia, an outgoing 10-year-old who loved to sing, dance and play basketball; a fellow fourth-grader, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming; and a teacher, Eva Mireles, whose husband is an officer with the school districts police department.

You can just tell by their angelic smiles that they were loved, Uvalde Schools Superintendent Hal Harrell said, fighting back tears as he recalled the children and teachers killed.

The tragedy was the latest in a seemingly unending wave of mass shootings across the U.S. in recent years. Just 10 days earlier, 10 Black people were shot to death in a racist attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.

The attack was the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

Amid calls for tighter restrictions on firearms, the Republican governor repeatedly talked about mental health struggles among Texas young people and argued that tougher gun laws in Chicago, New York and California are ineffective.

Democrat Beto ORourke, who is running against Abbott for governor, interrupted Wednesdays news conference, calling the tragedy predictable. Pointing his finger at Abbott, he said: This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. ORourke was escorted out as some in the room yelled at him. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin yelled that ORourke was a sick son of a bitch.

Texas has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the nation and has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years.

I just dont know how people can sell that type of a gun to a kid 18 years old, Siria Arizmendi, the aunt of victim Eliahna Garcia, said angrily through tears. What is he going to use it for but for that purpose?

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the Second Amendment is not absolute as he called for new limitations on guns in the wake of the massacre.

But the prospects for reform of the nations gun regulations appeared dim. Repeated attempts over the years to expand background checks and enact other curbs have run into Republican opposition in Congress.

The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston, with the Texas governor and both of the states Republican U.S. senators scheduled to speak.

Dillon Silva, whose nephew was in a classroom, said students were watching the Disney movie Moana when they heard several loud pops and a bullet shattered a window. Moments later, their teacher saw the attacker stride past.

Oh, my God, he has a gun! the teacher shouted twice, according to Silva. The teacher didnt even have time to lock the door, he said.

The close-knit community, built around a shaded central square, includes many families who have lived there for generations.

Lorena Auguste was substitute teaching at Uvalde High School when she heard about the shooting and began frantically texting her niece, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary. Eventually she found out the girl was OK.

But that night, her niece had a question.

Why did they do this to us? the girl asked. Were good kids. We didnt do anything wrong.

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Bleiberg reported from Dallas. Acacia Coronado, Eugene Garcia and Dario Lopez-Mills in Uvalde; Ben Fox, Michael Balsamo, Amanda Seitz and Eric Tucker in Washington; Paul J. Weber in Austin; Juan Lozano in Houston; Gene Johnson in Seattle; Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

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More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings
WASHINGTON  The head of the Food and Drug Administration faced bipartisan fury from House lawmakers Wednesday over months of delays investigating problems at the nations largest baby formula plant that prompted an ongoing shortage.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf laid out a series of setbacks in congressional testimony that slowed his agencys response, including a COVID-19 outbreak at the plant and a whistleblower complaint that didnt reach FDA leadership because it was apparently lost in the mail.

Califf testified before a House subcommittee investigating the shortage, which has snowballed into a national political controversy and forced the U.S. military to begin airlifting supplies from Europe.

The shortage largely stems from Abbotts Michigan plant, which the FDA shut down in February due to contamination issues. Under fire from Congress, parents and the media, Califf gave the first detailed account Wednesday of why his agency took months to inspect and shutter the plant despite learning of potential problems as early as September.

The FDAs response was: Too slow and there were decisions that were suboptimal along the way, Califf told lawmakers.

The FDA and President Joe Biden face mounting political pressure to explain why they didnt intervene sooner to head off the supply crisis.

Why did it take an onslaught of national media attention for the Biden administration to act with a sense of urgency required to address an infant formula shortage? asked Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Virginia, the committees ranking Republican.

Califf said the agency had been trying to monitor formula supplies since 2020 when COVID-related disruptions first emerged, but regulators have limited visibility into company supply chains.

The House panel also heard from three formula manufacturers, including a top Abbott Nutrition executive who apologized to parents for the shortage.

We let you down, said Abbott vice president Christopher Calamari. We are deeply sorry.

Calamari repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether any employees were disciplined or fired over the problems at the plant, which included standing water, a leaky roof and damaged equipment.

FDA staff began honing in on Abbotts plant last fall while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula from the facility. The four cases occurred between September and January, causing hospitalizations and two deaths.

The FDA planned to begin inspecting the Sturgis, Michigan, plant on Dec. 30, according to Califfs testimony. But Abbott warned that about a dozen plant employees had tested positive for COVID-19 and requested a delay. As a result, the FDA didnt begin its inspection until Jan. 31.

After detecting positive samples of a rare-but-dangerous bacteria in multiple parts of the plant, the FDA closed the facility and Abbott announced a massive recall of its formula on Feb. 17.

We knew that ceasing plant operations would create supply problems but we had no choice given the insanitary conditions, said Califf, calling the problems shocking and unacceptable.

Abbott and the FDA have reached an agreement to reopen the plant next week, under which the company must regularly undergo outside safety audits.

Califf also struggled to explain delays in following up on a whistleblower complaint alleging numerous safety violations at Abbotts plant, including employees falsifying records and failing to test formula before shipment.

Several FDA staffers reviewed the complaint in late October when it was sent to a regional FDA office, but an interview didnt take place until two months later, in part due to the whistleblowers scheduling conflicts.

Senior FDA officials eventually received the complaint via email, but not until February due to an isolated failure in FDAs mailroom, likely due to COVID-19 staffing issues, according to the FDA testimony. A mailed copy addressed to then-acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock has still not been located.

Political outrage over the shortage has landed squarely on the FDA and Califf, who was confirmed to the FDA role for a second time in February. The problems have escalated into a political firestorm for the White House, which has invoked the Defense Production Act and emergency import measures.

The FDA contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Feb. 11. about a potential shortage, just days before Abbotts recall, according to FDAs timeline.

Califf said the FDA requested new authorities, funding and staff to track supply chain data that could have helped get ahead of the problem, but noted Congress has not provided them.

Several lawmakers raised longstanding concerns that the FDAs food program  which oversees most U.S. foods except meat, poultry and eggs  is underfunded and needs restructuring.

The program has a convoluted leadership structure in which there is a director of FDAs Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and a separate deputy commissioner for food policy and response. The deputy commissioner has more of a safety focus, but has no direct authority over food center staff nor field staff who inspect company plants.

Both officials testified Wednesday, along with Califf.

When Rep. Nanette Diaz-Barragan, D-Calif., asked who is in charge of food safety, Califf and food center director Susan Mayne gave extended answers, describing different roles and responsibilities.

I dont think theres one person that is responsible, Diaz-Barragan responded. I just think it goes to show there needs to be restructuring and it needs to be more clear whos ultimately responsible.

Later Wednesday afternoon, Abbotts Calamari told lawmakers his company plans to build extra capacity and redundancies into its supply chain to avoid future disruptions. He reiterated the companys point that the FDA has not drawn a direct link between the illnesses reported in infants and bacteria samples collected from its plant.

After the company restarts production next month it will be able to produce more formula than before the recall, he noted.

Were going to learn from this. Were going to get better as a result of this, Calamari said.

Executives from Reckitt and Gerber also testified on their efforts to boost production.

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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.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.  Former reality TV star Josh Duggar was sentenced Wednesday to about 12 1/2 years in prison after he was convicted of receiving child pornography.

Duggar was also convicted of possessing child pornography in December, but U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks dismissed that conviction after ruling that, under federal law, it was an included offense in the receiving child pornography count.

Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks to give the maximum term of 20 years to Duggar, whose large family was the focus of TLCs 19 Kids and Counting. They argued in a pre-sentencing court filing that Duggar has a deep-seated, pervasive and violent sexual interest in children.

The judge sentenced Duggar to 12 years and seven months in prison, one day after denying a defense motion to overturn the guilty verdict on grounds of insufficient evidence or to order a new trial.

U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes said he was pleased with the sentence.

While this is not the sentence we asked for, this is a lengthy sentence, Fowlkes said outside the courthouse.

Duggar, whose lawyers sought a five-year sentence, maintains his innocence. Defense attorney Justin Gelfand said he is grateful Brooks declined to impose the full 20-year sentence requested by prosecutors.

Well immediately file the notice of appeal within the next 14 days, Gelfand said.

Duggar was arrested in April 2021 after a Little Rock police detective found child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar. Investigators testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.

TLC canceled 19 Kids and Counting in 2015 following allegations that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. Authorities began investigating the abuse in 2006 after receiving a tip from a family friend but concluded that the statute of limitations on any possible charges had expired.

Duggars parents said he had confessed to the fondling and apologized. After the allegations resurfaced in 2015, Duggar apologized publicly for unspecified behavior and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.

Months later, he publicly apologized for cheating on his wife and a pornography addiction, for which he then sought treatment.

In seeking a 20-year sentence, prosecutors cited the graphic images  and the ages of the children involved  as well as court testimony about the alleged abuse of Duggars sisters.

Duggars past behavior provides an alarming window into the extent of his sexual interest in children that the Court should consider at sentencing, federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

This past conduct, when viewed alongside the conduct for which he has been convicted, makes clear that Duggar has a deep-seated, pervasive, and violent sexual interest in children, and a willingness to act on that interest the court filing said.

Prosecutors also noted that Duggars computer had been partitioned to evade accountability software that had been installed to report to his wife activity such as porn searches, according to experts.

There is simply no indication that Duggar will ever take the steps necessary to change this pattern of behavior and address his predilection for minor females, prosecutors wrote.

Duggar accepts that he is before this Court for sentencing and that this Court must impose a penalty, his attorneys wrote. That is justice. But Duggar also appeals to this Courts discretion to temper that justice with mercy.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Netflix made a commitment to bringing film to New Mexico with the purchase of Albuquerque Studios in 2018.

The streaming giant then announced a 300-acre expansion in 2020.

On Wednesday at the Economic Forum of Albuquerque event, Nick Maniatis, director of Studio Affairs, North America for Netflix, said the expansion is expected to continue as planned, despite the recently announced layoffs.

Its not affecting us at all, Maniatis said of the Albuquerque production hub. This is going to be a major hub for us and production will continue to ramp up. None of our plans have changed with the expansion.

Maniatis did mention that Albuquerque Studios is the only studio that Netflix owns. The production hubs that are located around the world are on a long-term lease.

Work has started on the expansion and Maniatis said a completion date is set for 2024.

Maniatis, who used to be the New Mexico Film Office director, touted the expansion, which will include up to 10 new stages, post-production services, production offices, mills, backlots, training facilities, wardrobe suites, a commissary to support meals and craft services, and other flex buildings to support productions.

As part of the proposed expansion, Netflix will push job creation, as well as an additional $1 billion in production spend and $150 million in capital expenditures.

While the project is currently under construction, Maniatis said the sustainability team at Netflix is working with Albuquerque-based firms Dekker/Perich/Sabatini and Bohannan Huston Inc. on its solar or alternative energy use plan.

Were going to have electric vehicles and electric charging stations, Maniatis said. (Alternative energy) is something thats high on our list and I know its whats important for the company.

Maniatis also spoke on the collaboration Netflix has with the New Mexico Film Office in getting more New Mexicans trained for jobs within the film industry.

The recently announced Next Generation Media Academy, which will provide an instructional environment unlike any other facility in the state  with state-of-the-art sound stages, equipment, technology, and materials, where production methods, existing and emergent, can be put into real-world practice. A proposed satellite campus in Las Cruces is also in development, with plans to offer bilingual training programs.

Were trying to be an integral part of the community, he said. Weve joined the chamber of commerce to give ourselves more of a presence within the community.
Authorities say a detective with the Sandoval County Sheriffs Office was found with photos of children being sexually abused in a search Wednesday.

The New Mexico Attorney Generals Office said the images were found as agents searched devices belonging to Deputy Robert Jesse Strand, 39, of Bernalillo. He was detained hours later and charged with criminal solicitation for possession of visual medium of sexual exploitation.

It is unclear if Strand has an attorney.

All children deserve to be safe in our community, and we will intervene to mitigate child exploitation in New Mexico, Attorney General Hector Balderas said in a news release.

Authorities had traced the downloaded images to Strands personal phone by June 2021 but did not execute search warrants until this week.

AG spokeswoman Jerri Mares said once agents learned Strand was law enforcement, the case required third-party search warrants and multi-agency operational planning.

This case is still an active investigation, she said.

SCSO Chief Deputy Allen Mills said Strand has been placed on administrative leave pending further investigation by the Sheriffs Office Professional Standards Unit. Strand has been with the department since 2014 and had just made detective.

I am disturbed by the troubling allegations Sandoval County Sheriff Jesse James Casaus said in a statement. I have instructed my staff to fully (cooperate) with ICAC investigators regarding the allegations. I do not tolerate criminal or unethical behavior.

Court records show Strand has been charged with DWI twice since 2006. The second case, filed in 2012, was dismissed by prosecutors.

According to an affidavit filed in Magistrate Court:

Between February and April 2021, the AGs Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received several tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone in New Mexico was downloading child sex abuse material.

In all, 92 images or GIFs were received that depicted children less than a year old and up to 13 years old being sexually abused by adults. The downloads were traced to the personal phone of Strand by June 2021.

Months later, on March 18, agents obtained a search warrant on Strands phone history, finding the same files had been downloaded. On Wednesday agents executed a search warrant on Strands home.

Strand told agents he viewed the child sex abuse material but then deleted them from his phone. Agents found a GIF of a girl between 6 and 10 being sexually abused by a man and photos of Strand having intercourse with a computer-generated pre-teen girl.
Chris Brochu lives for projects that speak to him.

When the script for Zero Contact fell on his lap, it was one he wanted to pursue.

That was in 2020 during the pandemic and when the film industry was on a hiatus.

Luckily, Zero Contact was written for the cast to film in seclusion.

It felt like an experiment, Brochu says. The director turned it into something I couldnt have fathomed and it reinforces that the payoff is big when you take chances.

Zero Contact is a high-tech thriller that reimagines our isolated, virtual world.

Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins plays Finley Hart, the eccentric genius behind a global data-mining program. Upon his death, five remote agents  including Finleys son, Sam, played by Brochu  are contacted by a mysterious artificial intelligence entity to reactivate the initiative, which may enable time travel.

As sinister events occur at each of the agents homes, they must decide whether entering their passwords will save the world  or destroy it. The film is out in select theaters across the country, as well as on demand on digital platforms.

Brochu says the entire project exceeds the dream and playing Sam was a good challenge.

Sam is a bit of a loner, he says. He grew up in a very privileged environment financially. His father wasnt around and his mom died a birth. He tends to be quiet and thoughtful. Hes very observant.

Brochu says though the cast didnt film together, everything happened organically.

The film shot quickly and (director) Rick (Dugdale) wanted to release it during lock down, Brochu says. As we were filming, the performances were pretty amazing. Each actor had to be hair, makeup and lighting. It was fascinating to be on that side of filmmaking. My wife helped me with her iPhone so I could film. The assistant director would be on a Zoom call with us and going over lines. It was an experience like no other.

Brochu moved to Taos just before the pandemic and has become part of the community.

When hes not acting, he will perform gigs around Taos.

I cant wait to get back to Taos, he says. Were in Los Angeles right now because of the fires. Luckily, nothing has been lost and were hoping that the communities can recover as soon as possible. Its devastating.

Brochu is no stranger to New Mexico-filmed projects.

He starred in the TV movie, Truth Be Told in 2011 and Disney Channels hit movie, Lemonade Mouth.

Ive always been drawn to the mountains, he says. I cant believe its been that long since I started working in New Mexico. Now Im living there and I love it.

On demand

Taos resident Chris Brochu starts in Zero Contact, which is available on demand beginning Friday, May 27.
Eli del Puerto is one with music.

As a child, she found herself singing in the church.

Then I moved to making up my own songs, she says. I was in band when I was in junior high where I played tuba and clarinet. Thats my younger life of being exposed to music.

The Albuquerque residents journey to now has been full of ups and downs.

At 19, she was in an accident that took away her ability to walk for a long time.

This is when I started dabbling with percussion, she says. And writing my own music.

Del Puerto is known for belting out originals and covers in both Spanish and English.

She is a world traveling songbird educator that arrives to ports around the world singing and dancing.

Her artist name, Eli del Puerto, was born while living in the port city Veracruz, Mexico.

I lived in Mexico for about six years, she says. I wanted to learn Spanish and I wanted to keep teaching. In Veracruz is where I started to take voice lessons.

And the rest is history.

Del Puertos bandmates are accomplished musicians referred to as Los Encantos  her dear ones.

Los Encantos add rhythmic world flare bringing both the music and the audience to life and she works with award-winning producer Shaun Hettinger from Albuquerque-based Neon Moon Studios.

Go Go Get It Girl from her album, Encounters, won best adult contemporary pop song from the New Mexico Music Awards in 2021. She also produced two music videos while in Mexico for two songs from her new album. Hey Mami was filmed in Veracruz.

Del Puerto has found a balance to her life. It includes proper rest, eating healthy and staying hydrated.

Also, not allowing work to consume me, she says. Finding that nice balance while keeping optimal health is great.

While she feels at peace, there are moments where she plateaus with her art.

In February, I got a bass for my birthday, she says. Ive been learning to play all the standard rhythms and its inspiring my new music. The new instrument is a conduit.

Shes also grown into herself as an artist.

Im doing what I want to do and not concerned with whos watching or how I look, she says. Music has become very spiritual for me. Its been a journey.

Though she was born in Georgia, she considers New Mexico home. Here are a few things you didnt know at her:

1 I am a master curriculum designer, using the arts to teach any subject bilingually for all ages. Licensed New Mexican teacher grades 6 through 12 for languages and history. I teach private lessons and facilitate group workshops.

2 I lived in India for 6 months to become a certified yoga teacher and had my first painting exhibit there too!

3 As white as I may appear my heart is Mexican and have spent the last 20 years living and traveling to Mexico.

4 Glitz and glamour are temporary and short lived. I am secretly a hermit that spends a lot of time in nature and in silence. My spiritual practices are the vital juices that fuel me to exist on this planet.

5 I am a visual artist that has created a spirit animal product line of shirts and stickers. I design logos for businesses. Check out my lobo!! It is a 1012 ink on paper.
Sheehan Winery is doing its part to contribute to the growth of grapes in New Mexico.

The booming wine industry in the state is creating a strain on Land of Enchantment growers that are trying to keep up with supply.

Our winery is growing and growing, explained Sean Sheehan, owner of Sheehan Winery. Our winery has probably tripled in the last three years as far as production and sales. Were running up against a cap of having enough grapes to stay 100% New Mexico True and not take out-of-state grapes. And so that means we need to farm more.

Sheehan Winery has seen a boost in its wine club membership partly due its new tasting room in Plaza Don Luis in Old Town. Prior to the pandemic, it had about 100 wine club members. It currently has about 800 members.

Its a blessing, but we have to make sure that we have the wine to sell them, Sheehan said. And so the absolute push is to get as many vines in the ground as possible and to make sure that were staying true to our New Mexico roots, that were staying true to farming right here in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, which I think is the very best place to grow grapes in New Mexico. But I do think that the grapes that are grown right here in the North Valley, in the South Valley, in Belen, in Los Lunas and in Bosque Farms, where we have our home vineyard, thats really the best place to grow grapes in the state for our style of wine.

In early May, Sheehan and about 100 volunteers participated in a vine planting party at the winery. Sheehan anticipates having a half harvest in three years and a full harvest in four years. He hopes to be able to sell the wine in 2026.

Sheehan Winery grows six different grape varietals to create its award-winning wines.

Weve got cabernet sauvignon, we have tempranillo and the other two reds that we have are less well-known, Sheehan explained. One is called blaufrankisch, which is an Austrian variety and it makes a really deep dark purple wine. It is really soft and smooth, pretty similar to a malbec as far as style goes. And then the other red that we have is something called regent and it is one of the primary grapes in our Ollpheist wine.

Sheehan has seen a high demand for the award-winning Ollpheist. It is the winerys most popular red wine.

Were planting a good bit of that regent grape to make sure that were able to keep up with production on what has become one of the flagship wines of the winery, Sheehan said.

The winery grows two grape varietals for its white wines.

Weve got albarino, which is a Spanish white, really crisp, really bright, really fresh, Sheehan said. The other one is Vidal blanc, which has become really popular as a white wine for us  We cant quite keep up with production on the Vidal blanc. We get those grapes from the South Valley.

Sheehan said the winery tries to buy as many grapes as possible from the grower in the South Valley.

Hes only got a couple acres down there, Sheehan said. So putting in an acre of the regent grape and more than an acre of Vidal blanc should help keep wine in peoples glasses and keep up with production.
A Thai food restaurant in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, recently recalled one of its milk tea products packaged to resemble a detergent bottle, as many Chinese parents worried that the novel design may confuse unknowing children and encourage them to drink laundry detergent.

The design, which is almost identical to a detergent bottle apart from the bilingual milk tea advertising slogans, started trending on Chinese social media last December. Clout-chasing milk tea products with similar containers were also found in Chongqing and Guangdong province shortly after the adverts gained popularity among internet influencers and young customers.

Still, the seemingly innovative move sparked heated debate as netizens held different opinions about the design of food packaging.

Critics of the practice believe that the design of packaging for foods and liquids should follow people's conventional thinking and customary habits. Washing products have long been packaged in ways that conventionally denote they are inedible. Once such misleading packaging designs were rolled out, minors with poor judgment would be confused.

"The catering industry should prioritize food safety and quality rather than pursing meaningless packaging designs, while the misleading containers in this case can easily lead to serious danger, especially among young children," wroteone commenter on Zhihu, a Quora-like Q&A platform in China.

"These innovative designs and marketing ideas deserve applause. However, if these practices are at the cost of causing potential personal injuries to others, we need to think twice about it," another commenter wrote.

But others disagree, and accuse worried parents of shifting the blame and making excuses for their irresponsibility in educating their kids. They believe that parents should play a bigger part in teaching their children to tell right from wrong, instead of requiring that society offers them a "completely risk-free" environment.

"Life will always be dangerous for children if their parents fail to take their due responsibility to help them develop good judgment," read another comment on Zhihu.

The products have already been pulled from shelves both in physical stores and e-commerce platforms last week after local market regulators received complaints and launched an investigation.
Police tallied another homicide as a gunshot victim died in the hospital weeks after being shot on East Central.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said Raymond Sedillo, 25, died last weekend after being shot on May 8.

This case will now be investigated by the homicide unit, he said.

Gallegos said police responded to gunfire near Central and Pennsylvania SE and found a car crashed into a fire hydrant with a broken window. He said officers found Sedillo slumped over in the drivers seat and he was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds.

Gallegos said police traced the shooting to the parking lot of a nearby market.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Detectives say a man with a history of mental health issues beat his father to death and covered the body with dirt Tuesday morning outside a mobile home on West Central.

Abelito Rivera Jr., 42, is charged with an open count of murder in the death of his 69-year-old father Abelito Rivera Sr. He has been booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Rivera Jr. has multiple arrests over the years related to ongoing behavioral health crises and, in some cases, fights with his father.

In March, Rivera Jr. was charged with misdemeanor battery after allegedly punching a worker at the Haven Behavioral Hospital, according to court records. The staff member told police Rivera Jr. lived at the hospital and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

In 2015, the father and son got into a fight but Rivera Sr. refused to press charges, telling the officer he felt sorry for his son. It was one of several disputes documented by police over the years.

On Tuesday morning, a neighbor called 911 after seeing Rivera Sr. lying outside, covered in dirt, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Police responded around 9:45 a.m. to the mobile home in the 10200 block of Central SW, near 98th. Officers found Rivera Sr. near the back porch covered in dirt, tree leaves and debris.

Investigators found Rivera Sr. had suffered extensive blunt force trauma and a neighbor told police he heard the father and son fighting the night before, according to the complaint. He said the pair had ongoing issues that escalated when Rivera Jr. stopped taking his medication for schizophrenia.

Police said Rivera Jr. came out of the home making erratic statements and told police his feet hurt because he was stomping on my dads face because he is the devil. Detectives tried to interview Rivera Jr. but he was not coherent or making any sense.

Court records show police gave Rivera Jr. a cup of water, which he poured on himself, began to cry and said I hurt my dad. Police decided Rivera Jr. was not coherent enough to be interviewed at the time.
NEW ORLEANS  About $33 million of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan recently signed into law by President Joe Biden will go toward cleanning up 277 of an estimated 15,000 abandoned oil and gas wells on federal land, the nations interior secretary said Wednesday.

Millions of Americans live within one mile of an abandoned oil or gas well, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said, adding during a news conference that the wells pose a danger to people, particularly in communities of color and rural communities.

With tens of thousands of known orphaned wells across the country there is a significant amount of work to be done, so the program will provide many jobs that pay well, Haaland said.

There are an estimated 15,000 abandoned wells on federal land  and states have indicated that they would need more than $8 billion to clean up 130,000 other orphaned wells, said Laura Daniel-Davis, principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals.

Those figures could be low  the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated the national total at 3.2 million.

Daniel-Davis said money to help nail down state inventories is included in $1.1 billion announced in January as available to states under the infrastructure law.

This is the first installment of $250 million provided through the infrastructure law for cleaning up orphaned wells and well sites on federal public lands, national parks, national wildlife refuges and national forests, Daniel-Davis said. The next will probably be announced during the fiscal year which starts Oct. 1, she said.

Including wells on federal land, the bill will provide $4.7 billion to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells, said Mitch Landrieu, Bidens infrastructure coordinator.

States are now finally counting them, he said.

Wells covered by Wednesdays announcement are considered high-priority because pollution threatens human health and safety, the climate and wildlife. Several wells, particularly in Pennsylvania and Louisiana, are near disadvantaged groups, Daniel-Davis said.

Some 163 wells are in Louisiana, in five wildlife refuges and the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserves Barataria unit. Sixty-eight are in the Darbonne National Wildlife Refuge and 59 in the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge.

There are 24 each in Kentucky, in the Daniel Boone National Forest, and in Oklahoma, in the Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge. Another 20 are in Texas, 18 in the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania and 14 in Bureau of Land Management lands in Utah. In addition, the government will inventory and assess wells in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah.

Ten wells are in California, three in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio and one in the Gauley River National Recreation Area in West Virginia.

Contractors will measure methane before and after cleanup, Haaland said.

Louisiana has about 4,600 orphaned wells, defined in state law as those with owners that have either gone out of business or have ignored state clean-up orders, said Patrick Courreges, spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources.

He said environmentalists often count those which have been plugged for at least five years as abandoned. As of last fall, he said, there were 9,352 such wells, owned by 447 companies.

Louisiana has been plugging 120 to 200 abandoned wells a year for the past five or six years, he said.

It is our hope to at least double that with money from the infrastructure bill, said Courreges.
You are here: China

In 2021, procuratorial organs across China prosecuted 60,553 people for crimes against minors, up 5.69 percent year on year, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said Wednesday.

In the meantime, 160 million yuan (about 24 million U.S. dollars), three times the amount in 2018, was provided in 11,000 judicial assistance cases of minor victims.

Regarding juvenile suspects, procuratorial organs approved the arrest of 27,208 underage suspects and prosecuted 35,228 last year, said the SPP.

Procuratorial organs also conducted the procedure to review the necessity of detention for 20,045 minor suspects.
The last couple of days have provided a little relief from the scorching heat in the North due to rains, but the temperatures are set to soar again. Come summers and here is a rush to get various electronic products to beat the heat. Air coolers is a category that sees tremendous traction during the summer months. As per industry reports, the Indian air cooler market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.4% during 2022-27. While the uncertainties of Covid-19 had hit the industry, but now the outlook is very positive, especially with the pent-up demand in this category, which is highly price driven and the next best alternative to an expensive air-conditioner.

The price advantage offered by air coolers is an attractive proposition, along with relatively low running and maintenance cost. For decades, people have been going for locally manufactured air coolers that have a simplistic mechanism  a metal body with a powerful pump, fan and lining of khus-khus. It has been middle class and the lower income groups saviour from the scorching heat.

Growth of the rural economy and increased penetration of electricity, new technology, rising disposable incomes and a more robust and improved distribution network is also helping brands make deeper inroads in the Tier 2, 3 and rural markets.

For long, the unorganised sector has been dominating the air coolers category. But now, branded players such as Symphony, Orient, Bajaj and Havell have started to see greater traction, with modern technology, sleeker looks, more design options and great value for money. Last year, Godrej Appliances forayed into the air-cooler category.

Highlighting the market potential of air coolers, Ravindra Singh Negi, President  Electrical Consumer Durables, Havells India, pointed out that they are ideal for tropical regions and perform better in the areas influenced by hot and dry climate. The biggest advantage with air coolers is that you save power as it reduces the electricity bills. Besides that, air coolers offer minimal capital and operating cost, easy maintenance and eco-friendly cooling with cleaner, healthier and breathable air. With summer temperatures rising, we foresee an uptick in demand for air coolers, he added.

Negi further said, Havells innovative air coolers are loaded with best in-class features and are unbeatable when it comes safety, portability and convenience. Our unique premium range of Freddo, Fresco and Brina-Plus air cooler series are equipped with Breatheezee Technology, which reduces PM 2.5 and PM 10 particles to 85%, by capturing dust particles as small as PM 2.5 into the micro dust filter nets. The specially processed anti-bacterial, anti-erosion, and anti-deformation honeycomb pads have good hydrophilic properties to absorb remaining dust particles and cleanse air thoroughly.

Saurabh Baishakhia, President - Appliances, Usha International, said This summer season has been very good in terms of sell-out. Summer temperatures are already breaching the 45-degree mark in many places and with issued forecasts of heat waves and an extended summer in May, we have our supply and distribution in place.

Continuing further, he pointed out that during the past few years, the cooling appliances segment has witnessed rapid innovation with the advent of new designs and better technologies. We at Usha have been consistently working towards new product innovations. In fact, our range of coolers boasts of state-of-the-art features such as EcoCool Honeycomb pads, remote and touch-control panels, auto tank fill with float valve technology, auto drain, humidity control, anti-bacterial tank, auto-clean reminder function, intelligent low-water alarm, and ice chambers  all of which enhance the performance and help keep to the heat away. This summer, we have launched a new range of Desert Coolers and Personal Coolers, developed based on our consumer research and insights, Baishakhia added.

Speaking about Ushas marketing strategy, he said that the focus has been on consumer insights and innovation. In order to make out offer compelling, we have deployed a robust 360-degree marketing campaign across all touchpoints, he added.

Amit Jain, Product Group Head  Air Coolers, Godrej Appliances, too, said that this summer is witnessing a pent-up demand for air coolers, with temperatures soaring and the easing of pandemic-related restrictions across various states in India.

Jain was confident of seeing a robust growth for the air coolers segment throughout the summer season. With people across the spectrum looking for solutions to tackle the heat, the affordable buying price and lower operating and maintenance cost of air coolers in comparison to ACs is aiding the double-digit growth of air coolers. Within the air coolers category, we are extending marketing support at a local level via a mix of media vehicles ranging from digital, print, OOH and BTL activations aimed at our targeted audience. The use of celebrity brand ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana in the brand messaging is expected to aid visibility and recall further. Air coolers are more efficient in dry regions across north, north-west, central and east India, and within these zones, the category garners high sales volumes across the large spread of Tier 2 and 3 towns.

Emphasising on the innovation front, Jain added that Godrej Air Coolers with Inverter Technology delivers superior cooling and greater energy efficiency. The brand was the first to introduce Inverter Technology, hitherto associated with ACs, into Air Coolers to drive power savings and efficiency.
Not just the big MNCs, but Indias growing start-up and freelancer community can also find their dream space in Delhi-NCR. Avanta India, the leading provider of managed offices and co-working spaces to large corporates has launched the #OwnYourDreamOffice campaign curated for start-ups and freelancers. The company will provide tailor-made office spaces as per their need.

The company is planning to aggressively market it via a multifaceted campaign across the radio, web, and OTT platforms. Avanta India will also consider other media platforms to reach out to the community. The radio jingle is ready & creative team is working on another advertisement as well.

Speaking on the new development, Mr. Nakul Mathur, MD Avanta India, commented The start-up and freelancer community in India is thriving at a spectacular pace. When it comes to office leasing, they have their specific needs. Paying special attention to their requirements, we have crafted custom packages for them under #OwnYourDreamOffice campaign.

Now we will be aggressively marketing this campaign across numerous media channels to create the right buzz in the market. Besides running advertisements on Radio, we will also use new age media platforms such as OTT and social media. We wish that every start-up or freelancer should find a dream space to operate Mr. Mathur further added.

Avanta Indias radio marketing campaign is directed toward a range of start-ups including but not limited to techpreneurs and data analytics platforms. Likewise, Avanta has served more than 1500 corporate houses with office space. Its clients range from Fortune 500 companies, renowned international and national companies, now want to reach out to Indias growing army of freelancers across the technology, marketing, and professional service segment. It has properties in Saket, CP, Nehru Place, and sec-30 Gurugram.
Gather Network, a Dubai based Web3 and Blockchain content monetization platform known has announced its expansion plan for Indian operations with the launch of the first commercial establishment in Gurugram. Gather's innovative solution has been the tool for many international businesses (Shoof Max Streaming Platform, Bad Crypto Podcast, Synrgise, Bookstr, Bold.Tv) to generate revenue without relying solely on digital advertisements, and now the company aims to step into India's tech scene.

Having their own blockchain & token the platform will also enable support, consultancy servicing and proprietary tooling for various businesses such as, DeFi protocols, blockchain gaming and decentralized apps across the wide reaches of the country along with enterprises that look to transition into blockchain space With its first ever India office opening in Gurgaon, the following platform will empower transparency as well as an ad-free monetisation culture that will help build, configure, and create strong content loyalty with an enhanced user experience. India has now become a converged digital communications market and will be able to access the various cloud native solutions of Gather Network capitalizing on IoT, multi decentralized models and networks to build on their digital journey for engaging experiences of the global audiences.

Speaking on the occasion, CEO & Founder Gather Network, Mr. Reggie Raghav Jerath shares,  The primary goal of Gather has always been to fix the internet's broken business model. With our new operations opening in Gurgaon, we look forward to connecting with Indian tech talent who can help empower Gathers mission to spread and connect with various creative businesses in other parts of India as well. Thereby, to generate alternate revenue streams and provide monetisation solutions to existing digital advertising routes, Gather hopes to help contribute a better economic solution catered to the emerging digital ecosystem.

Gather has various products that help in enabling effective monetization for content creators such as Gather Online, where web and mobile developers can monetize from the end-user processing power with their express permission, Gather Enterprise, that is an effective consultancy service providing solutions for business on tokenization and lastly is Gather Cloud, a decentralized cloud services providing businesses with the affordable processing power that keeps the cost of cloud computing in check with the use of their own existing devices.
Dominos Pizza, Indias largest pizza chain, known for creating innovative yet unique cuisines, has launched its latest offering Paratha Pizza. The brand, loved by its consumers for innovation and delicious products, has redefined the Indianization of the menu by bringing a super exciting fusion of Paratha & Pizza, which gives consumers the best of both worlds.

With the launch of the new Paratha Pizza range, Dominos is trying to bring together two of the most loved dishes, the goodness of Paratha and the Cheesiness of Pizza. Crafted for discerning Indian taste buds, the Corn and Cheese Paratha Pizza is a delicious fusion of corn stuffed paratha and cheesy pizza. The Paneer Paratha Pizza  an epic fusion of paratha and pizza with melting cheese and soft paneer stuffing  is sure to satisfy indulgent cravings. The Chicken Keema Paratha Pizza promises the goodness of cheesy pizza coming together with flavourful and meaty filling in an epic crossover.

Dominos has kept innovation and consumer-centricity at the centre of its business to provide the best food experience and become a brand synonymous with pizza in India. Over the years, Dominos Pizza has introduced several innovative products like Cheesilicious and Chicken lovers pizza range to add to the delight of pizzas lovers across the country. Even today, the brand continues to stay connected with emerging consumer trends with a continued commitment to align with the taste preferences across age groups with newer menu offerings.

Commenting on the launch, Sandeep Anand, Chief Marketing Officer & EVP, Dominos Pizza said, At Dominos, we focus on understanding our consumers and their evolving preferences. These insights helps us drive innovation in our menu and has made Dominos the most preferred QSR brand amongst consumers. We hope that this launch will stimulate consumption and build excitement through flavours familiar to the Indian taste palate.

The launch is supported by a 360-degree campaign which is live across multi-media channels, including TV, print and digital. It will be further amplified on YouTube and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Here is the campaign link: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=02QDOoOZjoU

The new range is available at all 1500 Dominos Pizza restaurants across India and can be ordered at Dominos restaurants as well as online via Dominos app.
After 7 successful road trips across the country, gourmet extraordinaire and lifelong buddies Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma are packing their bags to head for hills in the 8th season of HistoryTV18s digital-first series #RoadTrippinWithRnM. Starting from the national capital New Delhi, the two friends will drive across the heartland of Uttar Pradesh and up the hills to explore the picturesque Uttarakhand, its ancient culture, and a legacy steeped in spirituality while also tantalising their taste buds with the best meals they can find. Viewers can follow their journey from 25th May to 5th June across social media on HistoryTV18s and Rocky and Mayurs accounts.

Officially formed in 2000 as Indias 27th state, Uttarakhand has a history that stretches far beyond. Ancient cave paintings and artefacts show that this land has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Crowned by the Himalayas up north, Uttarakhand is a mountainous state covered with forests, blessed with rich fauna and flora. It has tourism and religious hotspots like Corbett, Kedarnath and Badrinath attracting visitors from all over the country. Through this road trip, the audience will get a taste of the little-knowns with a dash of must-have experiences in Uttarakhand. While in Nainital, they will make a stop at the iconic Sakley's Restaurant & Pastry Shop and in Haridwar they will find out why Mathura Walon ki Pracheen Dukaan is so legendary. In Corbett they will explore the national park for a glimpse of its famous inhabitants. In Binsar they will reveal one of the states best-kept secrets - the Mary Budden Estate  a century-old luxury retreat. Their itinerary also includes exploring Bhimtal, Mussourie, Ranikhet and Dehradun before the inevitable return to the plains.

Starting off as a series capturing the joys of a road trip and incredible beauty of the country, #RoadTrippinWithRnM has become a new benchmark of sorts for travel and food based digital content. Over 800 million impressions, 220+ million video views and nearly 8 million engagements are a testament to its success. The one-of-its-kind camaraderie between these childhood friends coupled with HistoryTV18s programming expertise that helps provide a near-to-live experience by processing and posting content on social media in near real time. The series makes for a compelling watch and has kept the audience engaged successfully season after season.

Speaking on the new season Rocky says, A road trip means the open road, wind in your hair as you stand under a blue sky, being one with the journey and the experience. Laughter, new sights at every turn, a new roof over your head every night, new tastes and flavours. The world unfolds as the journey beginsmusic and a friend and not a care in the world  just the road trip! You coming along? Season 8 begins, 25 May onwards . The mountains beckon!

Mayur adds, "What could be better than a road trip through the magnificent hills of Uttarakhand. Leaving the scorching hot Delhi plains for the winding roads, cool misty mornings, bonfire-lit evenings and delicious hill cuisines is our plan. Come share our journey of food, fun and friendship on Season 8 of #RoadtrippinWithRnM & HistoryTV18. This one will be really, really cool. Really ;)

Speaking on new seasons launch, Arun Thapar, President-Content & Communication of HistoryTV18 said, " RoadTrippinWithRnM has always been about showcasing the most wonderful experiences, memorable adventures and incredulously rich culture and heritage of India. The ground-breaking success of the series is testament to the fact that HistoryTV18 and Rocky and Mayur have created a juggernaut that has been delivering season after season. While the humour, energy, and camaraderie have remained constant, weve also surprised viewers with extraordinary experiences each time. With every season #RoadtrippinwithRnM sets a new benchmark and we can't wait to see where the new season takes us."

Follow #RoadTrippinWithRnM season 8 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube starting 25th May.
Winnings for The Lost Class on behalf of Change the Ref propelled Leo Burnett Chicago to the top agency position in the ADC 101st Annual Awards Global Creative Rankings.

The work, done with No. 6 New York and Hungry Man Los Angeles, picked up Best of Show, Best of Disciplines in Advertising and Interactive, the Members Choice award, and the Designism Cube for the entry that best encourages positive societal and political change. The Lost Class picked up a total of eight Gold Cubes, seven Silver, six Bronze and seven Merits.

Google capped the year as the ADC 101st top-ranked brand, including winning In-House Best of Discipline for Real Tone.

Highlights of the ADC 101st Annual Awards Global Creative Rankings are as follows (click the category links to view the full list for each):

ADC 101st Global Agency Rankings

1. Leo Burnett Chicago

2. The New York Times Magazine New York

3. alma DDB Miami

4. Area 23 New York

5. Serviceplan Germany Munich

6. Wunderman Thompson Argentina Buenos Aires

7. COLLINS New York

8. MullenLowe SSP3 Bogota

9. WeTransfer Amsterdam

10. Shanghai Version Design Group Shanghai

ADC 101st Global Brand-Side Agency Rankings

1. Google Devices & Services Creative Team Mountain View

2. Spotify In-House New York

3. Google Brand Studio San Francisco

4. Tencent In-House Shenzhen

5. Yandex Magic Camp Moscow

ADC 101st Global Brand Rankings

1. Google

2. Pepsi

3. Degree

4. Apple

5. Pfaff Harley-Davidson

ADC 101st Global Non-Profit Client Rankings

1. Change the Ref

2. Shelter

3. Girls Scouts of America (tie)

3. Yokosuka City (tie)

5. The Columbia Journalism Review

ADC 101st Global Production Company Rankings

1. Hungry Man Los Angeles

2. Carbo Films Venice CA

3. Ladoble Buenos Aires

4. Macarena Bogota

5. M SS NG P ECES New York

ADC 101st Global Music & Sound Company Rankings

1. Beacon Street Venice CA

2. Perra Santa Buenos Aires

3. Jamute Sao Paulo (tie)

3. JSM Music New York (tie)

5. 2WEI Music Hamburg

ADC 101st Global Network Rankings

1. Leo Burnett Worldwide

2. DDB Worldwide

3. FCB

4. R/GA

5. Dentsu

ADC 101st Global Highest-Ranked Work

1. The Lost Class by Leo Burnett Chicago with No. 6 New York and Hungry Man Los Angeles for Change the Ref

2. Degree Inclusive by Wunderman Thompson Argentina Buenos Aires for Unilever

3. Tough Turban by Zulu Alpha Kilo Toronto for Pfaff Harley-Davidson

4. Real Tone by Google Devices & Services Creative Team Mountain View for itself

5. Fight for Home by Superunion with Who Wot Why and There Is Studio, all in London for Shelter

ADC 101st Country Rankings

1. United States

2. China

3. Germany

4. United Kingdom

5. Canada

ADC 101st Region Rankings

1. North America

2. Europe

3. Asia Pacific

4. Latin America

5. Middle East & Africa

ADC 101st Regional Agencies of the Year are as follows (click the region to view the full list).

ADC 101st APAC Agency of the Year:

Shanghai Version Design Group Shanghai

ADC 101st Europe Agency of the Year:

Serviceplan Germany Munich

ADC 101st Latin America Agency of the Year:

Wunderman Thompson Argentina Buenos Aires

ADC 101st Middle East & Africa Agency of the Year:

Leo Burnett Riyadh

ADC 101st North America Agency of the Year:

Leo Burnett Chicago

The ADC 101st Global Creatives of the Year, listed at the agencies where they worked when the winning entries were produced, are as follows (click the link for each category to view the full list).

ADC 101st CCO of the Year:

Alvar Sunol, alma Miami

ADC 101st Global ECD of the Year:

Sam Shepherd, Leo Burnett Chicago

ADC101st Global GCD of the Year (tie)

Chris Bernesby, Area 23 New York

Joe Capanear, Area 23 New York

ADC 101st Global Designer of the Year:

Mia Meredith, The New York Times Magazine New York

ADC 101st Global Art Director of the Year (tie):

Katie DiNardo, Leo Burnett Chicago

Sofia Gahn, Leo Burnett Chicago

ADC 101st Global Copywriter of the Year (tie):

Kelley Barrett, Leo Burnett Chicago

MacKenzie Hart, Leo Burnett Chicago

ADC 101st Global Director of the Year:

Bryan Buckley, Hungry Man Los Angeles

ADC 101st Global Photographer of the Year:

Neil DaCosta Portland

ADC 101st Global Illustrator of the Year:

Sean Hannaway, Leo Burnett Chicago

ADC 101st Global Animator of the Year:

Igor Bastidas New York

ADC 101st Global Typographer of the Year:

Eve Steben, This Is Studio London

ADC 101st Global CMO of the Year:

Deborah Yeh, Sephora

The rankings can be viewed by Agency, Independent Agency, Brand-Side Agency, Network, Brand, Non-Profit Client, Production Company, Music & Sound Company, Highest Ranked Work, Country, Region, and Creatives (globally, and by region and country), using dropdown menus.

ADC 101st Annual Awards Global Creative Rankings methodology

Rankings in each category are calculated by the company that garners the most points overall for winning entries based on ADC Cubes, Merits and Special Awards, allocated as follows: Gold Cube 15 points, Silver 7, Bronze 3, Merit 1, Fusion Cube 30, Designism Cube 45, Best of Discipline 45, and Black Cube for Best of Show 90.

If the same entry wins multiple awards within a discipline, the points for the highest award in that discipline is counted towards of the Year awards.

Points are only awarded to agencies listed as Primary and Secondary on entries. If several agencies are listed under Primary and Secondary, the points are divided among them.

A total of 10,565 pieces were entered from 54 countries in the ADC 101st Annual Awards, a 15.7% increase over last year. Agencies, studios, freelancers, brands and production companies in 36 countries were awarded a total of 95 ADC Gold Cubes, 114 Silvers, 172 Bronze and 381 Merits this year.

A complete showcase of all ADC 101st Annual Awards Cube and Merit winners can be viewed here, and a pdf of all winners can be downloaded here.

The One Show 2022 Global Creative Rankings were announced yesterday, and The ONE Global Creative Rankings, combining results from both The One Show 2022 and ADC 101st Annual Awards, will be announced on May 25.

The One Club awards shows each have their distinct focus. The ADC Annual Awards maintain their long-running concentration as the champion for craft, design and innovation, while The One Show judges focus on creativity of ideas and quality of execution.
News18 India, the country's leading national Hindi news channel, is all set to bring special programming to mark the Modi government's eighth anniversary on Thursday, May 26th. With Vishwaguru News18 India will highlight Modi government's achievements over the last eight years, as well as how the government has stood out to make a difference and justify the people's absolute mandate.

News18 India's through the day special coverage on the government's 8th anniversary will highlight the remarkable achievements of Modi-led government over last 8 years. Whether it's the government's Covid vaccination drive, evacuation of medical students from war-hit Ukraine, Kisan Samman Nidhi, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna or abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir; the government has taken numerous constructive steps that will lead Indias way of becoming a truly superpower.

The programming will also gauge many other significant steps taken by the government in past few years like free food grain scheme, digitisation of the payment system, changes in country's foreign policy, creating a start-up eco-system and the Make In India initiative amongst others.

News18 India has pushed the boundaries of programming through innovative and engaging formats over the years. With special programming such as Vishwaguru the channel will continue to provide viewers with relevant content to keep them up to date on various government policies and initiatives.

Watch Vishwaguru on Thursday, 26th May 2022 only on News18 India
PRHUB Integrated Marketing Communications, one of Indias leading, full services, independent integrated communications firms today announced its partnering Singapore-headquartered APRW, to launch a specialised communications practice targeted at start-ups looking to expand within and beyond Asia-pacific (APAC) region. The new practice is established under US-headquartered IPREX, the premier international communications network with 100+ communications partners worldwide. It will be co-led by Xavier PRabhu, Founder and Managing Director of PRHUB & Regional President for APAC and Member of the global Board at IPREX and and Anu Gupta, Director of APRW.

The APAC start-up ecosystem has seen unprecedented growth in the past few years. According to market intelligence firm Preqin start-ups in APAC have secured US$152 billion in venture capital deals within the first nine months of 2021, matching the previous record of US$152 billion set in 2018. As per Statista research there were close to 200 unicorns in APAC with only the US possessing a greater number of unicorns. The vibrancy and diversity of APACs start-up ecosystem indicates a strong potential for start-ups to expand regionally and beyond through targeted communication campaigns and strategies. The specialised communications practice will provide a full suite of communications services for start-ups by leveraging IPREXs global network of communication partners and tapping upon the expertise of Xavier and Anu. As communications veterans, both bring a deep understanding of the start-up ecosystem in the region coupled with industry expertise. Theyve also worked closely with several regional start-ups located in India and Singapore.

Commenting on the new practice, Julie Exner, IPREX Global President, said, Spread across India, China, Indonesia and Singapore among other countries in the region, there is absolutely no doubt that the start-up ecosystem in the APAC is one of the most dynamic and thriving ecosystems globally. APRW and PRHUB are highly established partners with deep understanding of the ecosystem. With their expertise and support from other partners in key markets, I am confident that the new practice will be a success and bring start-ups to greater heights.

In his comments, Xavier PRabhu, Founder & Managing Director, PRHUB and IPREX Regional President for APAC, said, Many start-ups are looking to scale beyond their home markets and leverage the many opportunities that APAC has to offer. As they grow, they will require communication agencies who can provide holistic regional communications strategies to boost their visibility and strengthen their reputations. Our practice will be able to offer a global network of esteemed communication partners with a huge repertoire of capabilities and expertise. PRHUB with its SAARC and APRW with its South east asia reach are also perfectly poised to offer the widest available coverage for any start-up looking at multiple markets in the region.

Added Anu Gupta, Director, APRW-Singapore, More than ever we see growing linkage between markets in the region. The linkage between India and Singapore is so strong and deep that at times one cannot even distinguish or separate. Indonesia is emerging as a go to market for most start-ups in the region. China has had huge success with some of the worlds largest start-ups coming from there. Japan and Australia are witnessing a surge in start-up activity. So, the timing of this practice is apt and the value we bring to the start-ups looking to grow in the region and beyond, immense. Look forward to working with Xavier and other partners in the region to making this practice a success and ofcourse with start-ups across the region in fuelling their growth plans.
After I wrote this post, the news broke about 18 year old Salvador Ramos, who killed in cold blood 19 elementary school students and 2 adults in Uvalde, Texas. I am in no way equating the agony of having your child murdered in school with having a child with autism. I am going to point out that systems everywhere are broken beyond repair. And failing children right into adulthood. Those who make it. We have a generation that literally has the WORLD in their palm of their hand, and yet are so very alone. Angry. Vindictive. Without coping skills. We say it's a gun issue. We say it's a mental health issue. It seems like a radically altered childhood issue. And no one wants to talk about it. What the hell has happened to our kids?



###



Those readers of a certain age will remember the Fractured Fairy Tales cartoons that aired during Bullwinkle. Today's post is about the fracturing within our community. Ignored. Disregarded. Glossed over. Not here.



Many of our readers are drowning in ever deeper waters as their children head into adulthood. There are few supports once school lets out. Day programs are turning down autistic individuals with high levels of need. Jobs are grim for those who qualify for viable employment with or without supports. Medical freedom and Covid have eclipsed autism everywhere - even within organizations that were founded by warrior families. Biomedical treatment is a distant memory. Spelling has become the new darling. New reports of beautiful Elizabeth Bonker, who was Valedictorian for her college class, they mention, "She lost her speech at 15 months," but none asked WHY??? It's as if they said, "She got glasses in 3rd grade." Perfectly normal. Spelling is wonderful, I've seen my own daughters intelligence shine through. I am a big fan. Then reality steps in. I just saw a spelling training program that sounds fantastic. 8 weeks of intensive training with support. $1000 per trainee. I need 4 or 5 trainees at least. I can't be the only "voice" for my 3 daughters. I need others to be able to train and learn, but at $1000 each? Even if I train them. Staff quits. What then? I have been my daughters trainer for more than 25 years. And with spelling's success and marketing, theres yet another documentary, and an invitation to fly to the Midwest to view it. I have a hard time getting to the Stop and Shop up the street. It's enough. If I sound like I'm complaining, I am. I'm angry that after 2+ decades of work, 15 years of Age of Autism, nothing much has changed for families. Young Moms who are able to get into a diagnosis center leave with exactly what most of us got years go. NOTHING. No road map. No plan. Just "Call early intervention and find yourself 30 hours of ABA a week. Good luck, call us in a year." Students in school get speech and OT that are all but useless even after 18 years. Assistive Technology flopped, it's completely hit or miss who can use it, program it, buy an iPad every few months to replace the one thrown across the room and shattered. It's disheartening in the extreme. Yesterday, I saw a post that only hardened my heart. A dear friend of our community, a PhD with autism who was active at Autism One and other conferences, wrote



"Reporting from London as XXX and I gear up to explore literature and research findings that support shifting to strength-based views of autistic people. We shall examine US and UK current models through a strength-based lens as we review advances in health, education, media and advocacy. What ideas do you have to shift from thinking of autism in terms of deficit, disability, and disorder toward abilities and strengths?"



My daughters will never travel to London. Lord, give me a "strength based view," to keep going. If you still love what we do at AofA - Anne, John, Cathy and I - we are AofA - please consider a donation to keep us going.



And to families in Uvalde, and in every city from coast to coast that has had a shooting, I'm sorry we've let our kids sink into this fractured fairy tale called the USA.



Thanks.

Kim
 Flash

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock held a video meeting on Tuesday, exchanging views on furthering bilateral ties and upholding true multilateralism, among other issues.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the China-Germany diplomatic ties. Wang said that, over the past five decades, the two countries have adhered to the concept of seeking common ground while reserving differences, mutual benefit and win-win results, and have deepened cooperation in various fields.

The all-round strategic partnership between the two countries has become an important stabilizing factor in today's world, Wang said, adding that the sound and steady development of China-Germany relations serves the interests of both sides and helps the two countries play a positive role in maintaining world peace, stability and development.

He said that the two countries should make good use of the government consultation mechanism, advance high-level dialogues on strategy, security, finance and people-to-people exchanges, and strengthen exchanges among local governments and youth, as well as educational and cultural exchanges.

Wang pointed out that China and Germany have been deeply involved in each other's development over the past 50 years, which is beneficial to both. China has been Germany's largest trading partner for six consecutive years, and Germany is China's largest trading partner in Europe.

"China is willing to deepen cooperation with Germany in traditional fields and expand cooperation in emerging fields such as intelligent manufacturing, information and communication, service trade and new-energy vehicles to foster new growth drivers for the two countries," said Wang.

Baerbock said Germany regards China as an important partner for cooperation and is formulating a new strategy toward China.

Germany is willing to maintain interactions with China at various levels, strengthen cooperation on environmental governance, climate change and pandemic response, and facilitate personnel exchanges, she added.

Wang said China hopes that Germany's new strategy toward China will remain active and pragmatic, with foreseeable positive results, and conducive to greater development of bilateral ties.

On issues of global significance, Wang said China and Germany, as two major countries, should further strengthen strategic communication, make joint efforts and inject more stability and positive energy into the world.

He said the two countries should explicitly uphold true multilateralism, and maintain the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the international law and basic norms governing international relations.

Baerbock said Germany supports multilateralism and is firmly committed to strengthening European strategic autonomy.

The two ministers also exchanged views on grain supply problems caused by spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis.

Wang said that the international community should push for an early ceasefire and a green channel for Russia and Ukraine to export grain. China is willing to maintain communication with all parties.






November 19, 2020

President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are under fire for suggesting that Iran could continue talks with the United States after President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

In a video recently released by Iranian media, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Esmail Ghaani criticizes the idea of speaking with the United States. Ghaani, who took over the Quds Force after the United States assassinated the previous commander, Qasem Soleimani, said that Iran is under a new era in the region and would be on the defensive.

In reference to the nuclear deal, which the United States exited in 2018 after signing it in 2015, Ghaani said, Ignorance is part of their nature and cowardice of their existence; every day you witness how the heads of states sign a paper and in utter rudeness and shamelessness before the world, they undermine their own signature. They have no ability to negotiate.

Its unclear when Ghaani made these remarks, but that conservative Iranian media published them today suggests that conservatives in Iran, even though they may want a reentry of the United States into the nuclear deal and the removal of sanctions, do not want direct Iran-US talks similar to those that occurred under the Obama administration.

Amir Abdollahian, adviser to the parliament speaker and former deputy foreign minister of Arab affairs, also discussed the possibility of Iran-US talks, saying that removing sanctions would be a priority and Iran can be trusted to keep its word. However, he added that both Donald Trump and Biden would be different in how they approach Iran, and neither is a friend to the Islamic Republic and are not the key to solving all of the countrys problems.

Zarif had recently said in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency that the US reentry into the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would not be complicated. He said that if the United States reenters its obligations under UN Res. 2231, then Iran would reenter its obligations under the JCPOA. The United States exited the nuclear deal in May 2018 and reapplied US sanctions on Iran, limiting Irans ability to sell its oil and causing a great deal of damage to the countrys economy. Zarif also said that if the United States wants to rejoin the JCPOA, then Iran is ready to negotiate terms for US participant status.

Zarifs interview was conducted with the Islamic Republic News Agency, which operates under the administration. The interview, which was also translated into English, clearly was conducted to have an international audience.

Rouhani was also quick to signal that Iran would be open to an improvement in relations, even if not talks, at the moment. The topic is not negotiations with America; its another topic, Rouhani said. The new administration can return to [following] rules. He said that under such a situation, We can slowly move from a direction of threats to a direction of opportunity.

The Rouhani administration only has five months to normalize international issues before another Iranian administration takes office. Rouhani will be keen to at least see that the JCPOA in decent shape before leaving. Conservatives, while wanting the removal of sanctions, will be eager to paint Rouhanis eight years in office as a loss. Vatan-e Emrooz, the conservative paper, tried to sum up the Rouhani administration with their front page of Rouhani and Zarif hugging with the large headline, Loser.
 Flash

President Xi Jinping has written to his "old friend" Sarah Lande, from Iowa, the United States, encouraging her to sow seeds of friendship to make new contributions to friendly exchanges between the Chinese and American people.

After recently hearing from Lande, who received Xi in 1985 when he visited Muscatine, Iowa, Xi replied to her and recalled his two visits to Iowa and connections with the city of Muscatine, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

Xi said in his letter of reply that both the Chinese and American people are great people, and the friendship between them is not only a valuable asset, but also provides an important foundation for the development of bilateral relations.

The Chinese people are willing to continue to work along with the American people to strengthen friendly exchanges, advance mutually beneficial cooperation and jointly enhance the well-being of the two peoples, he added.

In 1985, the then 32-year-old Xi, who was then the secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhengding County Committee in Hebei province, led a five-person agricultural delegation to Muscatine. During the visit, he lived with a local family and exchanged experiences in agriculture and stock farming.

When Xi visited the US in February 2012 as China's vice-president, he returned to Iowa and met with his "old friends" in Lande's home.

In her letter to Xi, Lande expressed her appreciation for Xi's ties with his "old friends" in the US. She expressed her hope that the two countries would continue to strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and enhance mutual understanding and trust.

Along with her letter, Lande presented Xi with her memoir 'Old Friends': The Xi Jinping-Iowa Story, in which she tells the story of President Xi's relationship with the state of Iowa.

Lande was honored in 2013 as a "Friendship Ambassador" by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
 Flash

The United States' strategic ambiguity became an issue on Tuesday as Beijing slammed Washington's propensity to play with words when US President Joe Biden walked back his remarks concerning Taiwan.

During a summit news briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Monday, the US leader vowed to defend Taiwan militarily, suggesting a change in the decades-old US policy of strategic ambiguity over the island.

However, the White House quickly rolled back Biden's remark later that day, and Biden on Tuesday contradicted himself by saying, "The policy has not changed at all. I stated that when I made my statement yesterday."

Given that it has been the third time Biden made similar confusing comments on Taiwan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused Washington on Tuesday of "making every effort to play with words on its commitment to the one-China principle".

The spokesman said that the US cannot stop the Chinese people from achieving complete national reunification with Taiwan, nor can it save the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces from failure.

"If the US goes further down the wrong path, it will invite irreversible consequences for the Sino-US relationship, and will ultimately make the US pay an unbearable price," Wang said.

"For our friends, we have fine wine. Jackals or wolves we welcome with shotguns," Wang quoted the final lines of a song written to eulogize China's war with the US on the Korean Peninsula in the 1950s as a warning. "Jackals" in the lyrics were a metaphor for the US soldiers fighting in the war.

The Taiwan question has been the most sensitive issue in China-US relations, with Washington intentionally using the "Taiwan card" in recent years to contain China. In its latest move, the US State Department removed its wording about not supporting "Taiwan independence" and acknowledging Beijing's position that Taiwan is a part of China from its website.

"That gives reason for the Chinese side to question the US' credibility on its commitment to the one-China principle," said Liu Qingbin, a former professor at the Institute of Advanced Sciences at Yokohama National University in Japan and now a senior researcher at the China Digital Economy Institute.

Liu said that the reason why the US has been fuzzy on whether it is willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan is twofold.

"It deters Beijing from taking the island province by force and it prevents authorities in Taiwan from seeking 'independence', which will provoke the Chinese mainland," Liu said.

However, Biden's repeated gaffes over the issue limited Washington's deterrence effort as many believe that "a gaffe in politics is when a politician says what he or she really means", Liu added.

Referring to Biden's comment, Douglas Paal, vice-president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, "I don't see this as helping keep the region calm and Taiwan safe."

Paal told China Daily: "I doubt this was well-coordinated. Otherwise, I don't know how it happened."

Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies, called Biden's remarks a "two-step play".

"Biden speaks off the cuff in a direct political manner understandable to laypersons that the US will defend Taiwan. And then the White House reins that comment in somewhat and restores the nuance to the US' one-China policy," Gupta told China Daily. "So, it seems like a two-step play. This happened last October, and I fully expect it to happen again in the future.

"I don't think this has to do with lack of policy management. The president seems determined to politically show strength, not weakness, on Taiwan policy, and leave it to his White House team thereafter to restore the equilibrium on the finer details of policy," Gupta said.
Once again, a large governmental body has exposed itself as morally bankrupt if not wholly bereft of legitimacy. On May 18, 2022, the European Parliament, one of the European Union's legislative bodies, rejected a proposal to discuss the elephant in the room: the rampant persecution of Christians around the world.

The proposal came in response to the May 12 stoning and burning to death of Deborah Samuel Jacob (Yakuba), a Christian student in Nigeria murdered by Muslims for thanking Jesus for her performance in a test, and, therefore, precipitating an allegation that she had somehow "blasphemed" against Muhammad. Her murderers also made a video laughing at and mocking her burning corpse. Using that tragic incident as a catalyst, Jean-Paul Garraud, a French member of the European Parliament (MEP), proposed a debate on the persecution of Christians and Christianophobia.

With a vote of 244 against, 231 in favor, and 19 abstentions, the proposal was rejected. Considering that the European Union claims to champion human rights and religious freedom, several of those MEPs who voted for the proposal were heard booing and shouting, "Shame on you!" across the plenary floor (video here).

Those MEP groups that voted against the proposal included the vast majority of the European United Left, the Greens, the Social Democrats, and the Renew Europe group  in a word, and to use American parlance, the "left."

Responding to their hypocrisy and double-standards, Jean-Paul Garraud, the MEP who submitted the proposal, lamented that the European Commission "does not want to designate a coordinator for the fight against Christianophobia, when a coordinator of this type was created for anti-Semitism and Islamophobia."

Other MEPs were outraged at what they described as "shameful" and "disgraceful" behavior from the left. Margarita de la Pisa Carrion, of the Spanish political party Vox, and an MEP since 2019, tweeted: "What a disgrace! The European Parliament does not want to take a stand on the murder of the young Nigerian for being a Christian. They do not want to condemn the persecution that we Christians suffer. This is inexcusable!" (Spanish original.)

Similarly, Peter van Dalen, a Dutch MEP, tweeted, "It is an extremely deep disgrace that a majority of the European Parliament refused to debate the murder, by stoning, of the Nigerian Christian student Yakubu, who was falsely accused of blasphemy."

"Europe should know Deborah Samuel Yakubu's name," observed Jean-Paul Van De Walle, of ADF International, a religious freedom advocacy group in Brussels. "This opportunity to speak out against a brutal and unjust murder of an innocent teenage girl  based on a false accusation of 'blasphemy,' no less  has been unforgivably lost. Nobody should be persecuted because of their faith, but it seems that the E.U. has turned a blind eye."

The irony of all this is that the gruesome murder of Deborah, which some are presenting as an anomaly, is just the tip of the iceberg of the Muslim persecution of Christians. A few weeks before her killing, a Muslim man slaughtered a Christian priest in broad daylight in Egypt. A few days later, another Muslim man killed another Christian in Egypt; afterward, and just like the murderers of Deborah, he made a video boasting about his actions, adding that he did it out of "loyalty to Allah."

The list goes on and on. What the Christian woman, Deborah, suffered  being accused of and killed for "blasphemy"  is common throughout the ultra-thin-skinned Muslim world. It seems to be a weekly occurrence in Pakistan, where not a few Christians, including several mentally disabled, have been imprisoned, killed, and burned alive on the charge.

In short, Christians all around the world are being savagely persecuted, notoriously so in Muslim nations. According to one large study published in early 2022, "over 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith  a rise of 20 million from last year." Nearly 5,898 Christians were murdered due to their religious identity, and 5,110 churches and other Christian buildings (monasteries, schools, etc.) were attacked and profaned. On average, then, every single day around the world, more than 16 Christians were murdered for their faith, and 14 churches were destroyed or desecrated.

Equally telling is that the report ranks the top 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted for their faith. Thirty-nine of these nations are Muslim-majority or have sizeable Muslim populations.

As for Nigeria, where Deborah Samuel was murdered, according to several international observers, a "pure genocide" against Christians is taking place. Since an Islamic insurgency earnestly began in July 2009  first at the hands of Boko Haram, a professional Islamic terrorist group, and later by the Fulani, Muslim herdsmen also radicalized and motivated by jihadist ideology  over 60,000 Christians have been butchered or abducted during raids, never to return and believed by their loved ones to be dead. About 20,000 churches and Christian schools have also been torched and destroyed during the same timeframe.

So what has been the international community's response to this unmitigated jihad on Christians all around the world  including, increasingly, in Europe, where several churches are desecrated daily? As recently demonstrated by the European Parliament, not only are large governmental bodies turning a blind eye to it, but they are employing their vast resources to present the persecutors as victims and the victims as persecutors, as underscored by the United Nations' recent "Combat Islamophobia" initiative.

While claiming to champion human rights, leftists  and virtually all 244 MEPs who voted against the aforementioned proposal are leftists  habitually refuse to acknowledge, much less address one of the most urgent human rights crises of our times: Muslim persecution of Christians. And they do so  if we may be brutally frank for a moment  for the simple and increasingly obvious reason that they hate Christianity.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

Image via Max Pixel.
Legislation entered in Californias state legislature has gone where Bidens disinformation bureau couldnt. Bill AB-2098 gives power to the states medical board to investigate and punish doctors whose advice and treatment regarding COVID-19 varies from the applicable standard of care. Physicians in the medical establishment now have disinformation authority over others who dare to voice alternative options to their patients. Consequences include actions that can take away a medical license.

Doctors on the West Coast should be dismayed (but not surprised) by AB-2098. Californias attempt to reign in misinformation goes against everything a young physician should be taught in medical school. The importance of teaching the next medical generation to be objective with regards to the current conventional wisdom can't be overstated. Even more importantly, each medical generation should question prevailing thought when appropriate. If medical professionals didnt have this freedom in the past, medical progress wouldnt have moved at the pace needed to meet todays challenges. California is making an effort to cancel a healthcare professionals right to think freely by creating a censor. Worse than that, a censor with the power to ruin careers.

If todays practicing physicians on the West Coast fail to toe the line and follow conventional dogma, they will suffer the penalty. In leftist communities (of which there are plenty in California), dozens of complaints will be entered by activists against perfectly competent and caring practitioners. Defending themselves against such complaints is risky for young doctors, many of whom have spouses and children to support. They will feel forced to follow the straight and very narrow path, even if that path isnt in their patients best interests.

At present, Bill AB-2098 refers specifically to advice and treatment relating to COVID-19. A bill can be easily amended, however, to include another medical issue, then another, and another. Eventually, there will be an infallible set of standards that cannot be violated. If theres a definition of a slippery slope in a medical dictionary, this is it.

The bill is meant to protect the community against dangerous doctors. Yes, some doctors may be incompetent, even negligent. Some may have opinions that arent supported by hard data. Others may offer questionable options as a cure-all. No drug or procedure cures everything, and sweeping medical claims should always be viewed with a skeptical eye by doctors and by ordinary citizens. A medical board should scrutinize practitioners who make wild claims and take action when necessary to keep patients safe.

Whats going on in California, however, is different. The bill will have implications that are far-reaching enough to set a precedent for other state and national organizations. Before long, therell be one way to deal with a particular health issue and one way only. If the treatment accepted by the medical establishment doesnt work, what are physicians to do? Shrug and walk away?

The steamroller of censorship has already started. The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) has passed a misinformation policy of their own. They recommend that its members crack down on errant physicians. The CEO of the organization has been quoted in the L.A. Times as saying: its incumbent upon physicians to keep up with whats permissible, whats approved, whats authorized and whats not. The FSMB wants to exert an iron fist authority over the entire countrys physicians. You can bet that some states will institute punishments for heretics that equate to much more than a slap on the wrist.

Many media outlets like the LA Times would actually welcome a 1984-style medical Ministry of Truth. I dont. Im a retired physician who writes about strategies that might save lives in long-term disasters. In these situations, the caregivers options are limited due to a lack of a functioning medical infrastructure, so you must be flexible and think outside the box. This means crossing into uncharted territory sometimes; territory that is off-limits to the medical powers-that-be. Something, however, is better than nothing. Theodore Roosevelt once said: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. I wonder what the medical board in California would say about that? When the San Andreas fault unleashes the "big one" one day, will you be reprimanded if all the doctor had to splint a broken leg was a couple of sticks and a tee shirt?

Theres more than one way to skin a cat. There might, surprise, even be more than one way to treat an illness. Developing different ways to handle infections, injuries, and chronic illness is the way medicine moves forward. With COVID, that might mean letting physicians prescribe medicines that are politically out-of-favor like ivermectin (for which, by the way, there is a lot of hard data available). Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, thyroid diseasewhat if we didnt allow new ways of diagnosis and treatment? Wed be stuck in a previous medical era and lives would be lost.

Discouraging free thought in our healthcare providers is a mistake. California makes mistakes on policy regularly, but this is the kind that, one day down the road, may cost its citizens dearly.

Joe Alton MD is the NY Times bestselling author of The Survival Medicine Handbook: The Essential Guide for when Help is Not on the Way.

Image: PxHere
Uncle Sam sent me to South Korea in 1953 during its war of survival against communist North Korea.

Rumbles of yet another war while I was there  that would in time explode into war in Vietnam  made some of my comrades believe that at rotation time, they would be headed to that next fight against communism instead of returning to the states. One of my schoolteachers wrote in 1953: What do you do there besides freezing in the winter...I hope they send you home before things get started in Indo-China. It looks very much as if that is the next step. I pray that it is not... Many who dodged the bullet in Korea did in fact end up fighting in that next confrontation with communism.

Does the fact that we fought communism well over half a century ago register in the minds of many of todays young Americans who seem eager and ready to embrace the geopolitical scourge of communism that brought down major countries, including the once great civilization of China, turning it into the worlds greatest dictatorship?

Since my return to civilian life, I have witnessed a series of turbulent decades that have pushed America off its foundation. Then and now seem like antipodes between two different worlds, one declared innocent but easily proven saner, the other sophisticated yet  in spite of numerous advances in burgeoning fields  conspicuously deranged.

The contrast between the 1950s and the closing years of the last century vividly highlights a dissection in our country not seen since the Civil War, reflecting a chronically unresolved conflict between Americans who trust in God, as did the originators of this county, and those who trust in man, then and now. Leaders of the latter camp, partly or wholly ignorant of their own history, seem blind to the adverse consequences of their inadequate judgments, as they blindly steer an enfeebled nation into the hands of Americas global enemies, not one of whom has any regard for the sanctity of human life.

One would think that the lessons of such an unstable and explosive past century as my generation lived through would be applied intelligently toward the formation of a just, safe, and peaceful world by those entrusted to lead. Perhaps that is too big an assignment for mortals who take their cues and assignments from men who, despite their apparent intelligence, choose to ignore the nature of reality, preferring to commandeer it in god-like fashion.

But a regard for reality and principled, moral power are prerequisites to progress for people. Witness the condition of America today, perilously close to the bottom of the slippery slope warned against in Americas culture war.

My brother, who served in World War II, was justly bitter over the fact that half a million men of his generation and a great many fighters of subsequent generations went to their graves fighting for what?  today's mindless, degrading, lascivious culture with its contempt for civility and time-honored principles of morality and virtue greater than any generations non-equivalent substitutes?  Time-tested wisdom that defines for every generation the difference between freedom and license, need and wish, love and lust, dependence on the Power that designed us and the power that wants to enslave us. And my generation of fighters wonders why the hell we are now fighting communism in our schools and on our streets instead of on foreign soil.

The power that designed us (for which it is deemed divine) calls for a humbling respect for the sacredness of life, for a place in every heart, in every soul, in every mind where arrogance and conquest are not welcome. Without this vital appreciation for the value of life, there is no appreciation for the bloodshed and sacrifices of two world wars, the Korean War, the war in Vietnam, and subsequent conflicts to secure the right of every American to live free of tyranny.

Is today's unappreciative, amoral, immoral, principle-starved, baby-killing, Marxist warped segment of society what the staggering number of American fighters sacrificed and died for? Are todays brave young fighters committing themselves to defending more of the same arrogant, corrupted democracy?

Judging from their actions to date, I must wonder if our leaders havent gone stark out of their minds. How else to explain the last couple of years of tyranny against people and now a mindless plunge into a major confrontation with Russia? When did progress become a synonym for insanity?

A pause for breath is all thats left to remind ourselves that fighting that is not directly linked to defending ones homeland, family, and community is wanton disregard for innocent human life, which no responsible leader can justify. The fact is, a search for the moral authority for wanton war in todays world is most likely to lead to money bags and to politicians who violate their oaths of office and set themselves above the laws of God.

The war left to fight in todays broken world is still the war against tyranny, a war that must be fought with all ones heart, with all ones soul, and with all ones mind  the very way we must love God  in order that the blessings of freedom may endure for all generations.

To any who might be asking . . . has it come to this? . . . this great-grandpa must ask, has it not?

Image: Victor Jorgenson via Picryl // public domain
Michigan's Bureau of Elections is trying to use procedural grounds to remove from the ballot the top two Republicans running to replace the current Democrat governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Considering that one of the candidates is African-American, it's to be hoped that Michigan's Black voters, including Democrats, are offended by this blatant systemic racism. This is eerily reminiscent of how Obama got his start in Illinois politics: not by running an actual primary race that voters decided, but by using procedural devices and smears to knock out his opponents before the election began.

The Daily Wire sums up the story:

The Michigan gubernatorial election was thrown into chaos Monday night when the state Bureau of Elections recommended barring two top Republicans, including former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, from running to replace Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The bureau charged that neither Craig nor businessman Perry Johnson submitted enough valid petition signatures and thousands of signatures they and others submitted were invalid. Craig, an African American who supported Second Amendment rights while fighting crime as Detroit's top cop, is the GOP's best-known candidate. Johnson is its best-funded. If the board's ruling sticks, half of the 10 candidates seeking to run for governor wouldn't make the ballot, The Detroit News reported.



Image: Retired Police Chief James Craig. YouTube screen grab.

Neither Craig nor Johnson is taking the matter lying down. Again, from the Daily Wire:

"I'm a fighter, always been a fighter," Craig told Fox 2 after the report came out. "Michigan wants something different. I know, everyone else knows, I was the GOP candidate that would have upset the incumbent," Craig told FOX 2 following the report from the bureau. [snip] John Yob, a consultant for Johnson, told The Detroit News the bureau didn't have the right to unilaterally void every single signature obtained by the alleged forgers. "We strongly believe they are refusing to count thousands of signatures from legitimate voters who signed the petitions and look forward to winning this fight before the board, and if necessary, in the courts," Yob said.

It's possible, of course, that this is a real problem. Time will tell, but, currently, it has the feel of an anti-democratic (small-"d" democratic) trick to disenfranchise voters.

Additionally, as noted above, this has the smell of Barack Obama politics all over it. In 1996, a special election was held to fill the seat of U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds (D), who was convicted of sex crimes. Ultimately, there were five Democrat primary candidates, including Obama.

That's when Obama's team members went through every single signature on the nominating petitions for all the other Democrat candidates. They challenged signature after signature until every opponent was knocked off the ballot. Obama was the only Democrat left standing. What he did was legal but, again, has an un-democratic smell about it.

During the COVID years, Gov. Whitmer showed herself to be tyrannical, hypocritical, and hyper-partisan. Now that she's finally up for re-election, voters deserve a real choice. To use a bureaucratic tactic to knock her most threatening candidates off the ballot has the same un-democratic smell as Obama's tactic in 1996. Moreover, given that retired police chief Craig is African-American, there's a strong systemic racism feel to the whole thing, too  for those looking for systemic racism...

Correction: I managed to confuse two different Illinois elections. I've corrected the error.
Something utterly awful happened in Uvalde, Texas yesterday: a man who can only be described as a psychopath (and who looked remarkably like Richard Ramirez, AKA the Night Stalker serial killer) entered an elementary school and slaughtered at least nineteen children and two teachers. My heart bleeds for the people whose loved ones will never come home and for the lives so cruelly cut short. Facts are still sparse, but the one thing we know with certainty is that Joe Biden disgraced himself when he used a tragedy that shocked the nation as the springboard for a political rant.

As was to be expected, given his place in the White House, Biden "addressed the nation." For the first two and a half minutes, Biden actually did sound like a statesman and decent person.

He spoke of the horrible loss experienced by every parent who sees a child die. I've been singularly blessed in that I haven't had to know that pain, but Biden has lost two of his children. Looking and sounding every minute of his age, with his voice weak and his expression drawn, Biden's initial statement showed genuine compassion that was heartfelt and moving:

I had hoped that when I became president, I would not have to do this again. Another massacre. Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, innocent second, third, and fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happened, see [sic] their friends die as if they were in a battlefield, for God's sake? They will live with it the rest of their lives. There is a lot we don't know yet. There is a lot we do know. The parents who will never see their child again and never have them jump in the bed and cuddle with them. Parents who will never be the same. To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. There is a hollowness in your chest. You feel like you are being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. It is never quite the same. It is a feeling shared by the siblings and the grandparents and the family members of the community that is left behind. Scripture says  Jill and I have talked about this in different contexts, in other contexts  the Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit [Psalm 34-18]. So many crushed spirits. So, tonight, I asked the nation to pray for them and give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.

That is a beautiful encomium. Those are words one expects from a nation's leader in a time of national sorrow.

But Biden couldn't maintain that pose. Instantly shaking off his solemn lethargy, Biden launched into an impassioned rant that saw him demanding gun control; insisting that the 1994 "assault weapons" ban worked; and blaming gun-manufacturers for a crazed, evil man's decision to enter a school and murder children and their teachers. It was an ugly, divisive, and error-filled speech.



Image: Biden using tragedy to play politics. YouTube screen grab.

Regarding those errors, if Biden is going to play politics, let's at least make sure his lies don't stand unchallenged.

Definitive studies show that the 1994 "assault weapons" ban did not affect gun violence. Unsurprisingly, criminals ignored it.

Yes, America has seen shootings with tragically high death counts (although none at the hands of an NRA member), but it's fallacious to pretend America, the third largest country in the world by a wide margin, is the only one in which such tragedies happen.

In Kenya, in 2015, gunmen killed 148 people. In Pakistan, in 2014, gunmen killed 141 people, mostly children. In Paris, in 2015, men with guns and bombs killed 130 people. In Oslo, in 2011, a gunman killed 77 children. In Kenya (again), in 2013, gunmen killed 67 people. In South Korea, in 1982, a gunman killed 56 people. In New Zealand, in 2019, a gunman killed 51 people. In Tunisia, in 2015, gunmen killed 38 people. In Australia, in 1996, a gunman killed 35 people. In Scotland, in 1994, a gunman killed 17 people, 16 of whom were students. In China, in 1994, a gunman killed 28 people. (We won't even touch upon the trucks, bombs, knives, and poison gas used abroad for mass murders.)

There's one constant in mass shootings, in America or elsewhere: the gunmen target unarmed people. And as a reminder, there is no killer more dangerous than an armed government against its own, disarmed people.

Biden wasn't half so upset when his policies directly kill people, as he showed when his harum-scarum pullout led to thirteen troop deaths at the Kabul airport and then the military, on Biden's watch, slaughtered seven children in Afghanistan.

It is spitting on graves to go on a crude political rant as the response to the Uvalde tragedy. For Biden, it's politics first, last, and always, and that is why he is a political animal of the lowest kind. Tucker Carlson, after listening to Biden's statement, summed up perfectly just how contemptible Biden is:
At the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, the world's elites gathered to discuss their plans for a re-envisioned world in the wake of global government terrorism  apparently "justified" because of COVID-19. President of the Forum Klaus Schwab calls it the "Great Reset'' and said, "The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world."

Over the years, the themes and topics remain fairly consistent, but arguably the most notable is that of "climate change." Although China owns the title for "World's Biggest Polluter"  the country generates around 30% of the yearly carbon dioxide emissions, which is more than double the output of the United States  its political leaders and business executives are headliners and "innovators" in the "climate change" field. Last year, President Xi Jinping listed a global to-do list, saying, "The Earth is our one and only home. [The need t]o scale up efforts to address climate change and promote sustainable development bears on the future of humanity." To continue the hypocrisy this year, J. Michael Evans  president of Chinese company Alibaba  discussed state-of-the-art technology for users to quantify their own carbon footprint.

Alibaba Group president J. Michael Evans boasts at the World Economic Forum about the development of an "individual carbon footprint tracker" to monitor what you buy, what you eat, and where/how you travel. pic.twitter.com/sisSrUngDI  Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) May 24, 2022

The technology is not yet ready for launch. It is set to track a person's movement, what mode of transportation that person used, and what that person is eating.

In 2019, a record number of elites flew to Davos in their private jets, with experts saying that number was around 1,500. In a report published by the World Inequality Lab, the wealthiest 10% are responsible for over half of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. However, as we all know, the mantra of the elites is "rules for thee, but not for me"  and this technology is meant for us. They want someone to pay for the costs of their extravagant lifestyle, as long as it's not they. It's not surprising, as the Forum suggested we the plebs move to eating insects instead of conventional meat because of the "environmental impact."

Their attitude echoes infamous 20th-century eugenics visionaries of the Nazi regime  there are "useless eaters" and "life unworthy of life" sucking up the resources of the elites, and therefore, the end justifies the means.
 Flash

The death toll from an elementary school shooting in the U.S. state of Texas has risen to 21, including 18 children, a state senator said Tuesday, citing the Texas Department of Public Safety.

An 18-year-old man opened fire at the school in Uvalde city on Tuesday afternoon, Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a news conference.

Police are believed to have killed the gunman.

Two children who were shot had died by the time rescuers arrived at the Uvalde Memorial Hospital, Adam Apolinar, the hospital's chief operating officer, was quoted by The New York Times as saying earlier in the afternoon.

The University Hospital in San Antonio received two patients from the shooting, tweeting that the patients, one child and one adult, "are currently being evaluated so we don't have a condition to release at this time."

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District in Texas said it is canceling all school activities after the shooting at the Robb Elementary School. "All district and campus activities, after-school programs, and events are canceled," it tweeted.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is assisting local police with the investigation into the shooting. "Special Agents from our Houston Field Division have responded to assist the Uvalde Police Department (UPD) in their investigation," ATF spokesperson Erik Longnecker told CNN.
All that is left of Joe Biden's never very bright mind is his viciousness.

Biden's speech after the Buffalo mass shooting was as obscene as his speech in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas was last night.

He was barely there  frail and blank, reading the teleprompter with no emotion until he got to blaming guns. Then he yelled with thoroughly phony anger at all Americans who revere the Second Amendment. It never occurs to leftists like Biden that had one or two or three of the staff at the market in Buffalo or the school in Uvalde been armed and trained, those nineteen children might be alive. Israel figured this out decades ago.

If he ever had a soul, it's long gone. If he ever had empathy for others, that has never been evident. Joe Biden has always and only cared about Joe Biden. Those who have known him over the years most certainly know this; anyone who has known him well knows he is not a good man, all of which makes the people who installed him in the office of the president as heartless and power-mad as he is.

In the fifteen months he has been in office, he has nearly destroyed this nation. In his mindless quest to "transition" away from fossil fuels, he has almost brought the country to a standstill. No baby formula, gas prices nearly double what they were under Trump. Diesel so costly, the truckers we all depend on for nearly everything cannot afford to fill their tanks. So market shelves are becoming empty of products we've long taken for granted. Almost every move or step Biden has taken seems calculated to do damage to the middle and working classes and to further enrich the already massively wealthy  the Pelosis, the McConnells, the Kerrys, the Bezoses, etc. Those folks have become astonishingly wealthier due to the pandemic, a government-perpetrated hoax if there ever was one.

And this most terrible president cannot let a tragedy like the massacre in Buffalo and then in Uvalde, Texas go to political waste.

As a nation, we have to ask: When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done? It's been 3,448 days  10 years since I stood up at a high school in Connecticut  a grade school in Connecticut, where another gunman massacred 26 people, including 20 first graders, at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Since then, there have been over 900 incidents of gunfire reported on school grounds. Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Santa Fe High School in Texas. Oxford High School in Michigan. The list goes on and on. And the list grows when it includes mass shootings at places like movie theaters, houses of worship, and, as we saw just 10 days ago, at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage.

Does Biden ever speak worryingly about the hundreds of deaths that occur in Chicago every month? No. Did he spend any time decrying the deaths in Waukesha? Nope. To Biden and his handlers, deaths caused by minorities are justifiable unless their weapons can be blamed rather than the perpetrators themselves. This brings us to the utter inanity of his latest speech.

What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone? Deer aren't running through the forest with Kevlar vests on, for God's sake. It's just sick. And the gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons which make them the most and largest profit. For God's sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry.

People have an absolute right to defend themselves, by any means necessary. But gun-grabbers like our leftists always blame the law-abiding for the bad acts of criminals. Anyone with a modicum of common sense knows that the criminals will always find a way to get guns. Common sense dictates that citizens are safer when the bad guys must assume that everyone might be armed. Mass shootings do not occur in places where many people may be armed.

The Second Amendment is not the problem; antiSecond Amendment activists are the problem. Mass shooters always choose locations where they know no one will be carrying a weapon. The Colorado theater where the Aurora shooting occurred bore a sign saying, "This is a gun-free zone." Such shooters are mentally ill  deranged, even, but not necessarily stupid. Most of them can read. They laugh at the left's anti-gun campaigns; it makes their mania so much simpler to indulge.

If there is one thing that characterizes the left, it is its lack of common sense. There were two shootings last week, in New York and California, two states with the most restrictive gun laws. Meanwhile, Illinois has very strict gun laws, too, but hundreds are killed each month in gang and other criminal violence in Chicago. The same goes for Baltimore and St. Louis. Biden gives no speeches about the tragedies of those deaths. The gun laws Biden advocates, laws that would leave guns only in the hands of criminals, are a boon to the murderous crazies; they let them know where it is safe to kill people.

Biden talked and talked about unifying the nation, but he has, from day one, with every word and deed done the opposite. He has brought this country to the lowest point in many decades, economically, culturally. With his wide open border policy and evisceration of the military, his capitulation to China and his fomenting of war in Ukraine, he has made us catastrophically less safe.

Biden's speech paid lip service to the families of the murdered children but only as an introduction to his angry rhetoric re: the gun lobby. "It's time to act." This from the man who supports letting criminals go free without bail but tortures those still imprisoned for being present at the Capitol on January 6.

He lied when he said that after the assault weapon ban, shootings went down. They did not.

Joe Biden is the worst president in my lifetime for countless reasons, but his contempt for those of us who revere the Bill of Rights and the Constitution makes him the most dangerous.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
In the 1960s, under the leadership of Defense secretary Robert McNamara, the United States voluntarily surrendered the nuclear superiority it had constructed and maintained since the beginning of the Cold War. The theory that McNamara foisted upon the country to justify our strategic restraint was called "Mutual Assured Destruction" or MAD. According to MAD, nuclear superiority was meaningless. The U.S. nuclear posture, so the theory held, needed only enough nuclear weapons to survive a first strike by our nuclear-armed adversaries and threaten destruction of the enemy's country after suffering a first strike.

McNamara's theory fell apart in the late 1960s and 1970s as the Soviet Union engaged in a massive nuclear build-up, including construction of large numbers of their mammoth SS-18 missile, each of which could deliver up to 20 nuclear warheads to targets in the United States. Meanwhile, the United States looked to arms control agreements to provide strategic stability, foregoing anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defenses as part of the arms control regime. By the end of the 1970s, experts like Senator Henry M. Jackson, Paul Nitze, Robert Jastrow, and Edward Luttwak warned our policymakers that U.S. land-based nuclear forces were becoming increasingly vulnerable to a Soviet first strike. Experts warned about a "window of vulnerability" that threatened to undermine the U.S. nuclear deterrent. As President Carter's secretary of Defense, Harold Brown, later lamented: when we build, they build; when we stop, they continue to build. Apparently, Soviet strategists didn't sign on to McNamara's MAD theory.

Some experts noted that Soviet strategic thinking did not match U.S. strategic thinking. Soviet military writings indicated that they planned to use nuclear weapons at the outset of any war against Europe and the United States, and they constructed a strategic nuclear force that could cripple our deterrent forces and leave Western leaders with the choice between surrender and suicide.

Then Ronald Reagan became president, and U.S. strategic thinking changed. Reagan engaged in a massive build-up of nuclear and conventional forces and launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in an effort to provide the United States and its allies with defense against nuclear warheads. While American liberals like Senator Ted Kennedy derided SDI as "Star Wars," the Soviets viewed it with alarm. Reagan effectively restarted the nuclear arms race  a race that the Soviets realized they could not win. It was only then  and in the context of Reagan's multi-pronged strategy to bring down the Soviet empire  that Gorbachev engaged in serious arms control.

Our victory in the Cold War, however, led U.S. policymakers to seek a "peace dividend," which meant abandoning SDI and drastically reducing our nuclear arsenal. Beginning with the George H.W. Bush administration and continuing with most of his successors (except for Trump), we cut our nuclear arsenal and failed to modernize the force that remained. Meanwhile, the Russians modernized their nuclear force, and China entered a new nuclear arms race  at first cautiously, then later at a faster pace. Our diplomacy failed to prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear power, and it is likely that Iran will soon join the nuclear club. Once again, the United States surrendered its nuclear superiority.

Now some American strategists are recognizing that Reagan's "peace through strength" should again become a central aspect of U.S. defense policy. Writing in The National Interest, the Hudson Institute's Peter Huessy contends that "U.S. deterrent strategy and policy need to be constantly 're-established'" and suggests that we must plan to fight and win a nuclear war. Otherwise, Huessy writes, our deterrent strategy is nothing more than a bluff. Meanwhile, he warns, Russia and China have engaged in "nuclear brinkmanship," perhaps because they are not deterred by an aging and reduced U.S. nuclear capability.

Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, on a recent John Batchelor Show episode, expressed similar concerns that our deterrent force is again becoming vulnerable to a first strike from Russia or China. Sokolski says the U.S. entered into a "nuclear modernization holiday" while Russia and China built up and modernized their nuclear forces.

And Patty-Jane Geller of the Heritage Foundation warns that the Biden nuclear posture review "weakens deterrence at a time when it is needed most." Although Biden did not succumb to the far left's view that we should declare a "no first use" nuclear weapons policy, he has signaled to our adversaries that we would use nuclear weapons only in response to a nuclear attack and that the principal goal of our strategic policy is arms control. That is not a policy that will assure the allies to whom we have extended a nuclear guarantee. And it is not a policy that will likely deter a Chinese conventional attack on Taiwan.

It's time, in the words of the late, great nuclear strategist Herman Kahn, to start "thinking about the unthinkable" again.

Image via Max Pixel.
In 18th and 19th century England and Scotland, sin eating was a profession. Beggars, destitute and those in want of a measly morsel of nutrition took to the career path of relieving the deceased of their sins, by eating them. When a loved one lay dying on the bed, families would call one of these sin eaters home. They would lay a piece of bread on their chest and hover a glass of ale or wine in a customary manner. The sin eater, sitting at the tip of the bed, would then eat the bread off the chest of the deceased or dying; he would drink the glass full of liquid too. In doing so, the family believed that sins of their kin were absorbed into the foodstuff and taken in by the sin eater. This, rather dubiously, provided the departing a way into heaven.

Where Did the Sin Eaters Come From?

The origin of the macabre practice remains elusive. What is clear is that it was confined to the 18th and 19th century to only certain segments of Christianity. Sin eaters had no affiliation with churches, but instead came under their scrutiny for their consequential evilness. The Gift of Suffering by Ingrid Harris suggests that sin eating was used in Protestant practice. It was an effort to fill the gap left by the departed Catholic sacraments of confession and absolution. Sin eaters would often listen to confessions of the dying before they passed. The idea was to ensure that the victims sins were washed away before they set on their transcendental path. The need arose mostly when the death or affliction was sudden, leaving the dying no time to wash their own dirty linen. Other historians suggest that it oddly mimicked the custom of distributing bread among the poor upon someone's death. Some believe that it was a twisted take on the Jewish tradition where a goat was accepted as a manifestation of the deceased's sins, and let loose in the wilderness during Yom Kippur.

Despite its religious strongholds, sin eating was largely confined to the Welsh marches. It was a voluntary profession, taken on by those whose hunger overshadowed all sense of morality and mortality. But among the villagers, sin eaters were considered the lowliest of peoplethey got worse and darker with each job.

And yet, in their heyday, sin eaters replaced the role of priests. Each village has its own sin eater, and he or she was expected to attend funerals whenever someone passed. But otherwise they were social outcasts, not accepted in any other social or religious congregation. A job well done earned them a sixpence or two shillingsa meagre amount that hardly justified the eternal loss of peace. It was a deal with the devila piece of bread at the cost of a damned, sinning soul.

Gradual Decline

By the 20th century, the declining profession was seeing its own death. Priests were becoming all the rage once again. Little evidence of the activity was passed on in history, probably because of its pagan origins. The undeniable truth was that it was a shame to associate with heretical acts such as this one. Could this be a reason why sin eaters stopped being called into homes? Some say the tradition trickled into the United States by way of immigration to the Appalachia. But who knows?

A Ratlinghope churchyard contains the remains of the last known sin eaterRichard Munslowwho died in 1906. During his time he briefly revived the practice, though not out of desperation but grief. As Marie Kereft writes in Slow Travel Shropshire, Munslow possessed about 70 acres of land as a farmer. He lost four of his children, three within a week, which was a plausible reason why he took to the practicein hopes to relieve sins and darkness. He was also the only sin eater who was granted a ceremonious funeral of his own. In 2010, 1,000 was raised to restore and repair his grave. Ironically as it may be, the practitioners finally got their farewell with due respect through Munslow.

References:

# Gizmodo

# Atlas Obscura

# Slow Travel Shropshire

# Pan Macmillan

# BBC
On the shores of Taunton River at Berkley, Massachusetts, stands a small museum with a single but massive exhibita 40-ton rock that was fished out of the riverbed and installed here in 1963the famous Dighton Rock named after the former town of Dighton where it was found. The rocks fame lies in the indecipherable inscriptions carved on its face that has puzzled scholars since the 17th century.

The petroglyphs, primarily made up of straight lines and geometric shapes, are accompanied by very basic drawings of people along with writing that are known. It almost looks like random doodles made by people who had nothing better to do, but people are convinced they hide a secret message.

The Dighton Rock in 1893.

The Dighton Rock is approximately 5 feet high, 9.5 feet wide, and 11 feet long. The surface with the inscriptions is inclined and once faced the sea where it could have been seen by any approaching boat or ship. Through the centuries, therefore, it was speculated that the carvings was a message left by visitors to the coast, intended to catch the eye of subsequent maritime explorers passing that way.

One of the first mentions of the Dighton Rock can be found in 1680 when the English colonist Rev. John Danforth made a drawing of the petroglyphs, which has been preserved in the British Museum. However, Danforths drawing conflicts with other reports on the rock at a similar time. In 1690 Rev. Cotton Mather described the rock in his book The Wonderful Works of God Commemorated:

Among the other Curiosities of New-England, one is that of a mighty Rock, on a perpendicular side whereof by a River, which at High Tide covers part of it, there are very deeply Engraved, no man alive knows How or When about half a score Lines, near Ten Foot Long, and a foot and half broad, filled with strange Characters: which would suggest as odd Thoughts about them that were here before us, as there are odd Shapes in that Elaborate Monument.

During the 19th century, many popular publications and public figures mentioned the rock. The poet and critic James Russell Lowell suggested that it should be mentioned by presidential candidates in letters to newspapers: "If letters must be written, profitable use might be made of the Dighton rock hieroglyphic or the cuneiform script, every fresh decipherer of which is enabled to educe a different meaning. Lowell made other references to the rock in his widely circulated satirical writing, and may thus have helped to popularize it.

A copy of the inscription on Dighton Rock.

Different Theories

One of the most influential theories was put forward in 1837 by a Danish scholar, Carl Christian RaIn, who suggested that the carvings were made by Vikings and represented the Norse saga of Thorfinn Karlselne and his voyage to the North American coast to a place called Hop, where his wife Gudrida gave birth to his son Snorro. Ralns theory piqued the interest of the Rhode Island Historical Society, who contacted their friends in Denmark, and together they found ample proof to declare that Hop lay on the Taunton River.

Rafns researches excited international enthusiasm, and from 1837 onwards, the theory of pre-Columbian explorations of North America by the Vikings was almost universally accepted. Dighton Rock formed the last link in a long chain of evidence. Alas, the Viking theory of the rock was shredded to pieces in 1916 by the late Professor Edmund B. Delabarre of Brown University. Delabarre found gross discrepancies between the societys actual drawings and the doctored-up copies reproduced in Rafns book. Apparently, Rafn had added many lines to the drawings to support his theory.

While studying the inscription, Delabarre found what appeared to be the name Miguel Cortereal and the date 1511 scribbled across among the lines and markings. Delebarre claimed that the message is an abbreviated Portuguese-style Latin, which can be translated to say I, Miguel Cortereal, 1511. In this place, by the will of God, I became a chief of the Indians.

But who was Miguel Cortereal?

Miguel Cortereal was a Portuguese explorer who had set out from Lisbon in 1502 in search of his brother Gaspar who had got lost two years previously near Newfoundland. The expedition apparently reached the location where Gaspar's party had landed, at which point the three ships broke off in different directions to search. Later, the ship carrying Miguel failed to appear at a designated rendezvous. The other two ships made the return voyage to Portugal, while Miguel and his ship were never seen again.

Delabarre speculated that Miguel Cortereal reached Mount Hope Bay in 1502 and sent men ashore near the site of Dighton Rock. Perhaps there was a battle with the Wampanoag Indians, perhaps a shipwreck, or perhaps for other reasons Miguel joined the Wampanoags. Cortereal lived with the Wampanoags for several years keeping close watch for vessels along the coast. But by 1511, his hopes of rescue having dimmed, he carved the message on the rock where it would stand for future generations.

Delabarres theory is widely accepted in Portugal, but not much elsewhere. It was severely criticized by American historian Samuel Eliot Morison in his 1971 book The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages.

Other theories have attributed these carvings to Phoenicians and even to the Chinese, who according to author Gavin Menzies sailed to America before Columbus.

The Dighton Rock continue to be debated endlessly among scholars, but it does not drive much tourists to the Dighton Rock State Park that was established in 1955. When Roadside America visited the museum, they found that they were the only tourists. Park Service employee Milt told them, It's not visited all that often," to which his colleague Bob added "You don't see too many people."

References:

# Edward Brecher, The Enigma Of Dighton Rock, American Heritage

# Roadside America
Earlier this week Samsung announced it would be offering a beta program for the Galaxy Watch 4, and it turns out you can actually sign up for it right now if you want to. Spotted by 9To5Google, Samsung seems to have surprised users by making it possible to sign up for the beta program earlier than intended.

The company initially stated that signups would be available starting June 2. But as 9To5Google points out, you can sign up today. Although the beta wont actually roll out until the specified June 2 date. That being said, the signups arent available to everyone. Most notably, it appears that to sign up for the Galaxy Watch 4 beta today, you need to be a user in the US.

Youll also need to have access to the Samsung Members app. This is where the signup banner appears. Lastly, you need to have a Samsung phone. Samsung Members isnt available on non-Samsung devices. So, youre unfortunately out of luck if you use the Galaxy Watch 4 with anything from another brand.

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To sign up for the Galaxy Watch 4 beta, you need a Samsung phone

As mentioned youll need a Samsung phone to get things started. Thats because you need sign up for the beta through the Samsung Members app. Which is only accessible to Samsung Galaxy devices. If youve got that, youre in the clear.

The other caveat is that your Galaxy Watch 4 currently has to be connected to that Samsung device. If its connected to a different device than the Samsung one youre using the Members app on, you wont be able to begin the join process.

To get signed up, heres what you do. Sign into the Samsung Members app with your Samsung account, or create one. You should see the banner across the top of the main page for the beta. But if not, tap the notices button and then select Registration for One UI Watch Beta Program.

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Keep in mind that signing up for the beta program does not guarantee you access. And Samsung will notify users that were selected to participate. Samsung also states that once the beta rollout begins, itll happen gradually. So the beta wont be sent to all Galaxy Watch 4 users at once.
As far as 5G carriers are concerned, T-Mobile is among the most attractive, thanks to its speeds and pricing. According to a new nationwide study, the Un-carrier has the best 5G download/upload speeds and the most coverage.

T-Mobiles Extended Range 5G is currently available to 315 million people in the U.S.

The carriers Extended Range 5G currently covers 315 million people across 1.8 million square miles of the U.S. Meanwhile, the faster Ultra Capacity 5G is available to 225 million people in the country. The carrier wants to cover 260 million people with Ultra Capacity 5G by the end of the year and breach 300 million by 2023.

The study comes from the research firm umlaut, which captured 3 billion samples from 600,000 5G users across the U.S. Anyone can SAY theyre the leader in 5G. But independent experts from across the industry have sent a clear message time and time again: theres one network leader and its T-Mobile, President of Technology at T-Mobile, Neville Ray, said.

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Our 5G network is delivering a level of performance, coverage and reliability that our competitors just cant match. And that experience will only improve for customers as we accelerate the build of this amazing network!

T-Mobile has long claimed to be the best 5G network in the U.S., and this new research largely backs it up. The carrier also cites research firms like Ookla and Opensignal, which have conferred several 5G awards on the Un-carrier so far across 20 network reports.

The network reliability chart included in the umlaut report puts AT&T in second place and Verizon in third. Verizon takes the second spot in the speed test (download/upload), though, with AT&T settling for last place.

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AT&T will carry out an expansion of its mid-band 5G network in 2023

This report highlights the precarious situation that Verizon and AT&T are currently facing. While Verizon has the most subscribers as of Q4 2021(142.8 million), T-Mobile isnt far behind at 108.7 million.

As for AT&T, the carrier is currently focusing heavily on AT&T Fiber. But it is on course for a big expansion of mid-band 5G in 2023. AT&T has set a goal to cover at least 200 million people with its mid-band 5G network by the end of 2023. But the carrier seemingly has no major 5G expansion plans for 2022.
(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 25 - Italian MEP Dino Giarrusso announced Wednesday that he was leaving the 5-Star Movement (M5S) to form his own political movement.

Giarrusso has been critical of the positions the M5S, which started out as an anti-establishment movement, has adopted in recent years and the compromises it has made after being in government since the 2018 general election.

"I'd like to found a movement that makes it possible for the south and north (of Italy) to be equal," said the Sicilian, who was a familiar face with the Italian public before he went into politics as he was a reporter for Le Iene, a Mediaset show that mixes satire with investigative reporting.

"The M5S has lost its values".

The M5S caucus in the European Parliament called on Giarrusso to resign as an MEP after leaving the movement he was elected with.

(ANSA).


The death toll from a police raid in a poor neighborhood in northern Rio de Janeiro has risen to 21, authorities in Brazil said Tuesday.

They said an early morning police raid took place in the Vila Cruzeiro favela, or slum, with the objective of detaining members of an influential drug trafficking group.

Among the deaths was a woman who was hit by a stray bullet during a gun battle.

Authorities said a number of alleged drug traffickers opened fire as they resisted arrest and were killed during the confrontation.

Colonel Ivan Blaz, a spokesman for the militarized police force that led the raid, described it as "a very intense confrontation."

Residents took to social media to describe loud shooting in the early hours of the morning around 4 a.m. local time (0700GMT), which they said came from a wooded area close to the community, causing alarm among the population living there.

According to police, several gun battles took place on high parts of the ground in the favela and the wooded areas close by as authorities captured a number of arms and vehicles during the raid.

Police helicopters were also hit with bullets during the raid.

Close to 20 schools in the area were closed due to the gunfire, according to residents.

Vila Cruzeiro, a densely populated favela, sits on a hill close to Rio de Janeiros international airport.

In February, the neighborhood experienced violent clashes as police killed eight people.

According to the Brazilian news portal G1, authorities were targeting Comando Vermelho, one of Brazil's most powerful gangs.

Some have criticized the raid for excessive use of force by authorities, notably left-wing councilman Tarcisio Motta, describing it on Twitter as "another massacre. Schools closed, thousands of people terrorized," before going on to add that "extermination is the ongoing policy in Rio de Janeiro."

Previous notable raids such as last Mays in the citys Jacarezinho favela were denounced by residents, who called for an independent investigation from rights groups and the United Nations.

In May 2021, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said "we remind the Brazilian authorities that the use of force should be applied only when strictly necessary and that they should always respect the principles of legality, precaution, necessity and proportionality.

In 2021, Brazilian police were responsible for 6,100 fatalities over the course of the year, equating to 17 per day, according to G1s violence monitor count in collaboration with the University of Sao Paulo and the non-governmental Public Safety Forum./aa
(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 25 - Premier Mario Draghi will travel to Israel in mid-June for talks with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, government sources told ANSA Wednesday.

The trip will probably be on June 14 or 15, the sources said after the La Repubblica newspaper reported it. (ANSA).


(ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, MAY 25 - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has called for the adhesion of Montenegro to 'Open Balkan', the agreement between Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania aimed at creating a common market in the Balkan area, eliminating barriers in exchanges to facilitate the free circulation of people, goods, services and capital. On the sidelines of the Forum of Davos, Vucic - media in Belgrade reported - met on Wednesday with the new premier of Montenegro, Dritan Abazovic, whom he invited to the new summit of 'Open Balkan' scheduled over the coming weeks in Ohrid, in North Macedonia.

In their talks today, Vucic and Abazovic spoke about boosting relations between Serbia and Montenegro, in particular in the fields of energy, infrastructure and tourism, as well as regional cooperation and the reconciliation between the populations of the western Balkans. Vucic, who spoke in Davos on Wednesday during a panel on the situation in the Balkans, held various bilateral meetings with political and financial leaders.

Serbia and Montenegro - which constituted a political union until 2006 - are engaged in EU adhesion talks. Podgorica adhered to NATO in 2017.(ANSAmed).


(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 25 - Italian monkeypox cases rose to seven Wednesday as a new case was reported by the Spallanzani Hospital in Rome.

The Spallanzani, Italy's premier infectious disease hospital, is dealing with six cases, five found in Lazio and one in Tuscany, while the Sacco Hospital in Milan is handling one found in Lombardy.

Lazio Health Councillor Alessio D'Amato said four of the Spallanzani cases were at the hospital and in good clinical condition while a fifth was being treated at home.

He said the epidemiological investigation was proceeding.

"There is no alarm but the infection surveillance system is in a state of maximum attention," said D'Amato.

More than 250 monkeypox cases have now been reported in at least 16 countries, according to the World Health Organization.

Spallanzani researchers said the new cases were probably part of a pan-European cluster linked to cases in the Canary Islands.

The number of Italian monkeypox cases rose to four Monday after the South-East Tuscany health authority said a 32-year-old man who returned to Arezzo on May 15 from a holiday in the Canary Islands had the disease.

The news came amid reports that the virus has been sequenced for the first time, in Portugal.

The Arezzo man is being treated at Arezzo's San Donato hospital.

It is the first case in Tuscany. Five other men are being treated by the Spallanzani, in Rome.

And 15 men who had been in contact with them are now self-isolating, across the Lazio region surrounding Rome, the hospital said.

The first Italian case of monkey smallpox, or monkeypox, also regarded a man who had recently returned from a stay in the Canary Islands. (ANSA).


(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, MAY 25 -Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a press conference with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid that "we have found an agreement to reinvigorate our relations in various sectors", Anadolu reports during an official visit to Tel Aviv, the first in 15 years by a high Turkish official in Israel. "Working on a positive agenda could help us consider our disputes in a constructive world", added Cavusoglu who met in Ramallah on Tuesday with top officials of the Palestinian National Authority, reaffirming support for a two-State solution for the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

The renewal of negotiations to make it possible for Israeli air carriers to fly to Turkey and the renewed activity of a joint economic commission were some of the points agreed by Lapid and Cavusoglu during their meeting. "We both expect to assist to progress not just in our diplomatic and security relations but also in economic ones", said Lapid.(ANSAmed).


Ukraine: Coldiretti, 19 mln/t of wheat shipped by sea A significant change for Italy as well

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 25 - As Russia gave the green light to the departure of foreign cargo ships, space is being freed up in warehouses to accommodate new wheat crops arriving in a few weeks for an estimated 19.4 million tons. This figure, about 40% less than the 33 million tons planned for this season, still places Ukraine sixth among the world wheat exporters.



Coldiretti reported this news about the humanitarian corridor opened by Russia to allow foreign ships to leave the port of Mariupol and the first freight train with a load of wheat from Ukraine, which arrived in Lithuania via Poland, ushering in the possibility of rail transport of grain. This step is also an essential change for Italy, which buys 2.7% of soft wheat imports from Ukraine, totaling 122 million kilograms, and 15% of corn, about 785 million kilograms. (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
Slovenia: irregular migration up 86% year-on-year Upward trend will continue in coming months: police

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, MAY 25 - The police in Slovenia dealt with more than 3,100 cases of irregular migration in the first four months of 2022, up nearly 86% from the same period last year, the Slovenian news agency STA reported today, quoting official data. Afghan citizens accounted for more than a quarter of all the irregular migrants apprehended from January through April.



"The police expect that the upward trend in illegal migration recorded this year will continue in the coming months," STA wrote today. (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
JERUSALEM - A Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli army fire in clashes that erupted during a Jewish religious pilgrimage in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday.



The victim was identified as Ghaith Yamin, 16, who died from a head wound "after being hit by Israeli forces" near Joseph's Tomb, near Nablus.




TEL AVIV - Israel has said that a CNN report claiming that Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh of al-Jazeera, who died in Jenin on May 11, was shot dead in a "targeted attack" by Israeli soldiers is unfounded. The statement to military radio was made on Wednesday by Israeli deputy foreign minister, Idan Roll.



CNN first published last night a detailed report based on videos obtained by the network, corroborated by testimony from eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggesting that Abu Akleh "was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces", said the network. Recordings of the sound of shots suggests they weren't fired randomly but with precision, the report said. CNN also opposed the Israeli version of events according to which Abu Akleh was caught in the crossfire between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers: CNN quoted an eyewitness as saying that there was no active combat when the reporter was killed and that there were no Palestinian militants close by, according to the witness.



Roll said CNN's investigation "has no contact with reality".



"Our forces operate in Jenin solely to prevent terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians", and not to intimidate members of the press, said the official. Roll added that CNN's sources "are not reliable". "We have proposed to the Palestinian National Authority to conduct together a forensic examination, but they refused. What are they trying to hide?". On Tuesday, an Israeli military spokesperson recalled that he has asked, so far in vain, to be allowed to examine the bullet extracted from the reporter's body. In its absence, he concluded, it is impossible to establish with certainty who shot at her.




ROME - Prosecutors in the 'Ruby#3' trial on bribing witnesses to lie about Silvio Berlusconi's bunga bunga parties on Wednesday requested a jail term of six years for the three-time former premier and media mogul and a five-year term for Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby Heartstealer.



They also asked a Milan court to seize five million euros from the Moroccan-Italian former teen runaway and exotic dancer, whom Berlusconi paid for sex when she was a minor but committed no crime because he didn't know she was just 17.



Berlusconi assets worth more than 10 million euros were requested to be seized.



There were 28 other conviction requests Wednesday including one year and four months for former centre-right Forza Italia (FI) Senator and Berlusconi factotum Maria Rosaria Rossi, two years for Berlusconi magazine journalist Carlo Rossella, and up to five years for 20 young women who attended what the ex-premier called "elegant soirees" - all for perjury.



FI No2 Antonio Tajani and the leaders of FI's two allies, Matteo Salvini of the League and Giorgia Meloni of Brothers of Italy (FdI), all accused the prosecutors of persecuting the FI leader, with Salvini saying "all this will change" with five League justice reform referenda on June 12 including one on rating magistrates' performance, when Italy goes to the polls in local elections across the country.




Tunisia: union rejects Saied's dialogue proposal again Spokesman Ugtt, dialogue 'from civilian forces, not by decree'

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, MAY 25 - Powerful Tunisian union Ugtt on Wednesday morning stressed once again at a press conference its refusal to engage in the national dialogue proposed by the president of the Republic, Kais Saied. "We reject any formal dialogue in which roles are unilaterally determined and from which civilian and political forces are excluded", spokesperson Sami Tahri said. Ugtt however left open the possibility of negotiation in case Saied decided to start a process of participation.



"The appeal to participate in dialogue must come from an exchange, not by decree", said the spokesperson, complaining about the fact that the union was not preliminarily consulted on the president's decision to set up a national consultative commission for a new Republic.(ANSAmed).




A retired doctor convicted of sex offences against 47 women over more than three decades has been jailed for 12 years.

Krishna Singh, 72, was convicted of 54 charges, mainly of indecent and sexual assault, following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow which ended last month.

The offences happened between January 1984 and 2018, mainly at a medical practice in North Lanarkshire but also at a police office and a hospital accident and emergency department.

His victims included pregnant women, a rape victim and four girls under the age of 16.

His actions included kissing and hugging patients, touching their breasts and making inappropriate comments to them.

Sentencing Singh when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday, Lord Armstrong said: You have been convicted after trial of 54 charges of calculated and manipulative sexual abuse of 47 women and girls in relation to who, as a general practitioner, you were in a clear position of trust.

You perpetrated these crimes against your female patients persistently over a period of 34 years.

He said that Singh breached his position of trust and carried out unnecessary examinations, telling him: You undermined the trust of the medical profession by eroding the trust that women would have had.

Singh was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow (John Linton/PA)

Lord Armstrong said that victim impact statements showed that Singhs actions had a devastating impact on his victims, some of whom now have a distrust of the medical profession while others have suffered depression, low self-esteem and anxiety.

He sentenced the 72-year-old to 12 years behind bars and placed him on the sex offenders register.

Singhs defence agent, Janice Green, said he had expressed extreme regret at his actions.

She said: Dr Singh knows that custody is the only disposal appropriate given the grave breach of trust. The seriousness of the offences arises from the breach of trust.

The 72-year-old had denied the charges against him.

He claimed he had been using examination techniques learned while training in India.

Laura Connor, head of Thompsons Solicitors abuse unit, represents 16 women abused by Singh and welcomed the sentence.

She said: This man used a position of trust and power to prey upon women and girls in his community for decades. His sentence reflects that abhorrent abuse of trust.

Singh qualified as a doctor in India in 1974.

He registered with the General Medical Council as a doctor in November 1976 before taking up a job as a GP at a practice in North Lanarkshire, where he remained until 2018.

Singh also took up a position as a police casualty surgeon between 2005 and 2010 in Scotland, during which he examined people in custody.

An investigation into Singh ensued after NHS Lanarkshire received a complaint about him in 2018.

Procurator Fiscal for the High Court, Ruth McQuaid, said: Krishna Singhs behaviour was an appalling betrayal of the trust which exists between patient and doctor. He used his position for his own depraved purposes over many years.

The courage and determination of his victims has brought his offending to an end and I would like to commend their fortitude through a long process.

Detective Inspector Stephen Morris, of Police Scotlands Specialist Crime Division, also praised the women.

He said: The victims have shown great courage in coming forward with vital information, making sure he was held accountable for his actions, and ultimately convicted.

I hope this sentence provides a sense of closure for them and sends a clear message that all reports of sexual abuse, regardless of the passage of time, will be thoroughly investigated by Police Scotland and victims will be supported throughout.
Oprah Winfrey made a rare COVID-era appearance to help with Ellen DeGeneres's talk-show send-off.

Winfrey, whose own iconic eponymous talk show ended 11 years ago, admitted she was "emotional" when she came out having just talked to Ellen DeGeneres Show staffers backstage about the end of the show's 19-year run.

Oprah Winfrey gives Ellen DeGeneres advice for her next chapter. (Photo: Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.)

"I said to everybody, 'I know what this feels like with only a few days left,'" she told DeGeneres Tuesday ahead of Thursday's final show. "I just was really applauding your team for making this show what it's been for 19 years. Obviously you're the face out front but it's everybody back there that actually makes it work. I was tearing it up saying, 'Guys, what a great job you've done holding this together."

Winfrey said seeing the staff "triggered me," taking her back to May 2011 when the Oprah Winfrey Show ended. "You have all of these people who become your family. This becomes your home. That's what happens. Families come together, relationships are built. It becomes home for hundreds of people who are all supporting you and helping you be as great as you are."

DeGeneres  who weathered what she called a "coordinated" toxic workplace scandal just prior to announcing her decision to end the show  said she had been "thanking them every single day." She also thanked Winfrey, whom she called her mentor and friend, for being a guest with just two more full episodes to follow, saying there's "small group of people who understand what this job is  and an even smaller group of women."

And Winfrey seemed sincere in sharing her take  the good and bad.

"This is the truth: There will never, ever be a time like this," Winfrey said. "I just said this to your team. Everybody's like, 'Oh, yeah, you're going to go on [to do something new].' But you will never, ever have a time like this where you were held in the public's eye [like this] and received the joy in such a way that all of you came together and made that happen. There will be other things. There will be other great things. But there will never be a time like this. Know that these are the glory days."

She added, "You are going to be so missed."

Winfrey also urged DeGeneres to do what she didn't when her talk show ended and she immediately launched the OWN Network.

"I want you take some time off," Winfrey advised her pal. "Some real time. Because you know what I did? I took a week off and then I went right back into work. Take some time, OK? Do you hear me?"

DeGeneres agreed, but added that she then has "to keep working because I like to stay busy." She said she plans to "buy some houses" during her break, as a notorious house-flipper with wife Portia de Rossi.

DeGeneres also pitched some joke joint projects for them, as they are also neighbors in super posh Montecito, Calif. They included "CSI: Montecito," "Grand Ole O-pry" and "Real Ex-Talk Show Hosts of Santa Barbara," which got laughs from Winfrey.

They ended by telling one another, "I'll see you in the backyard."

The Hollywood Reporter was on the set of Ellen last month when Winfrey left her COVID bubble to tape the show. The audience didn't know Winfrey was a guest, leading to "screams and standing ovation." Winfrey, who was extremely locked down during the pandemic with a mandatory quarantine for visitors at her home, said that she had just visited the Atlanta set of The Color Purple movie musical remake, which she is producing.

Winfrey and DeGeneres go way back. When DeGeneres's TV character came out on her ABC sitcom in 1997, Winfrey  the then "queen of daytime"  played a therapist in famous "The Puppy Episode." Winfrey later said she received backlash for it, including being called the "N" word. DeGeneres came out offscreen, as well, in a Time magazine cover story, and also did a sit-down interview on Winfrey's then-talk show.

Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey in "The Puppy Episode" in 1997. (Photo: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

The finale of the Ellen DeGeneres Show airs on Thursday.
Marysville, CA (95901)

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Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 55F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

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Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 55F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
Marysville, CA (95901)

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Mostly cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 87F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

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YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Foreign Ministry denies the media reports claiming that FM Ararat Mirzoyan was late to his meeting with United States Senators Bob Menendez and Jim Rich.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan said these reports are false.

The delegation headed by the Armenian Foreign Minister arrived to the meeting on time. We call on the press to refrain from generating another information garbage, Hunanyan said.
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. As part of Europe Day, the EU Head of Delegation in Armenia Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin visited the Goris Medical Center in Syunik on May 25.

Ambassador Wiktorin donated a modern x-ray machine to the hospital as part of a larger EU assistance to Armenias COVID-19 response.

As part of the EUs Solidarity for Health Initiative, the Goris Medical Center was equipped with 1 ECG device and 3 oxygen concentrators, which helped hundreds of patients recover from COVID-19 related diseases.

Ambassadors of EU-member states joined the event. The ambassadors also visited a vaccination site in Goris where they met senior citizens who received medical consultation and were vaccinated as part of the EU-funded Vaccination is Care campaign.
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan met with Senior Minister of Singapore, Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Tharman Shanmugaratnam on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Presidential office said.

The sides exchanged ideas about issues relating to the global security and raising the efficiency of the operation of the public administration system. They noted that there is a big partnership potential in high technologies, science and education sectors.

The necessity of uniting efforts aimed at the exchange of experience in different areas and the effective implementation of the reforms was emphasized.
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRES. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan attaches great importance to Artsakh's position on the issue of whether the agenda of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be separated from the agenda of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, or whether the normalization of relations should also resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Discussions are underway in Armenia to form a position on this issue, and at the moment negotiations are underway only on the format and parameters of starting negotiations, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan said at the parliament-Cabinet Q&A session.

Sargis Khandanyan, a member of the Civil Contract faction, reminded that the statement issued by the President of the European Council after the trilateral meeting in Brussels did not mention Azerbaijan's proposals for peace talks and Armenia's proposals in response. And the President of Azerbaijan stated that the 5 principles proposed by Azerbaijan will play a key role in the preparation of the peace treaty.

"Some formulations that have given rise to speculation are, in fact, that the principles proposed by Armenia and Azerbaijan should become the common pillars of the peace treaty. It may be formulated not correctly, not successfully, but in reality it is about that," Pashinyan assured.

There is a very important conceptual debate in the international community, Pashinyan noted that that debate has reached the Republic of Armenia. "There is a question whether the issue of normalization of relations should also resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, or whether the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be separated from the issue of normalization of relations and viewed as a separate issue. This question arose from our response. Azerbaijan says "no territorial claims to each other", we say that it is acceptable, because for us the Karabakh issue has never been a matter of territory, it is a matter of right. And the statement of the President of the European Council refers to the right probably for emphasizing that context," Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan noted that the representatives of the opposition are also developing that agenda, saying that the agenda of normalization of relations should be separated from the agenda of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Prime Minister considered this a legitimate point of view. He highlighted the discussions during this period, emphasizing that a number of opposition partners refuse from those discussions. "But we have those discussions with other political circles, moreover, we also discuss with the Artsakh authorities which tactical approach is better," Pashinyan said, adding that he has his own position, but that position will be specified after discussions with a wider audience.

He stressed that Artsakh's position on this issue will be very important.

"In fact, now the negotiations are about the format and parameters of starting negotiations. What we are discussing is about that," said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister cannot say when the talks will start. The foreign ministries of the two countries work together.
Mr Yadav and other SP leaders were present when Mr Sibal filed his nomination papers

Former Congress leader Kapil Sibal with Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav as he files his nomination papers for Rajya Sabha with the latter's support, at Vidhan Bhawan in Lucknow. Also seen is Sibal's wife Promila Sibal (L). (PTI/Nand Kumar)

New Delhi: In a major setback to the Congress, senior leader Kapil Sibal has quit the party and filed his nomination as an Independent candidate from Uttar Pradesh in the coming Rajya Sabha elections. He is supported by the Samajwadi Party, which is expected to get three Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh. Mr Sibal arrived in Lucknow Wednesday morning and before filing his nomination papers as an Independent candidate met senior Samajwadi Party leaders, including party president Akhilesh Yadav. Mr Yadav and other SP leaders were present when Mr Sibal filed his nomination papers.

Speaking to the media after filing his nomination, Mr Sibal said: I have filed my nomination as an Independent candidate. I have always wanted to be an independent voice in the country. We (the Opposition) want to create an alliance so we can oppose the (Narendra) Modi government.

Mr Sibal then added: I was a Congress leader. But not anymore. I had resigned from the Congress on May 16. I will not say anything about the Congress It is not appropriate for me to say anything. Its not easy to leave a relationship of 30-31 years.

After Mr Sibal filed his nomination, Mr Akhilesh Yadav said: Kapil Sibal is a senior lawyer. He has presented his opinions well in Parliament. We hope he will present the opinions of both the SP as well as himself.

Insiders claim that the Congress high command was in touch with Mr Sibal after his resignation on May 16, and trying to ensure that the matter could be resolved. Mr Sibal had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of his predicament, and reluctance to continue within the party. AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also met Mr Sibal, and sources said it was a gracious and frank meeting about the future of the Congress. But after several overtures, Mr Sibal had made up his mind and the parting was pleasant.

Mr Sibal was one of the key voices in the G-23 change seekers group. He was the first one to categorically state that the Gandhis should hand over the leadership and come in a mentoring role for the party. Earlier, his home had been gheraoed by Congress workers over some utterances on the functioning of the Congress. In a press conference, Mr Sibal had said that their group was G-23 and Ji Huzoor 23, that irked some Congress leaders.

Recently, most of the other G-23 members, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, have been accommodated by the party in various capacities. This is the fifth high-profile exit from the Congress this year. The list includes former Union ministers Ashwani Kumar and R.P.N. Singh, and Sunil Jakhar from Punjab and Hardik Patel from Gujarat. Even after the party held a chintan shivir in Udaipur recently, the series of departures are continuing. While the Congress seems to have mastered the art of not appearing bothered over such exits in the last couple of months, the list just keeps on growing.

There are two important Assembly elections due later this year -- in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. If the Congress cannot get its house in order, trouble will only mount for the party.
by Arundathie Abeysinghe

The majority of the population no longer has access to three meals a day due to a lack of food. The Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund are considering various financial assistance programmes. Female employment drops by 47% in the tourism sector.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - Several economic programmes will soon be implemented in Sri Lanka to tackle the growing food insecurity of the population. In recent days, the US Treasury Department and the Sri Lankan government have launched a joint action plan, which will be joined by interventions by international credit institutions.

The majority of the population can no longer eat three balanced meals a day due to the rising prices of basic necessities. The causes are to be found in Sri Lanka's worst economic crisis since independence, aggravated by a disastrous switch to organic farming imposed last year by the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The joint action plan (International Financial Institution Action Plan to Address Food Insecurity) calls for a review of commitments made so far with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to the value of USD 150 million. The assistance "may include the transfer of money to needy and vulnerable groups and livelihood development programmes", in addition to food.

In conjunction with this plan, at the proposal of Svenja Schulze, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, the G7 Development Ministers launched a Global Alliance for Food Security with the aim of solving the 'hunger crisis'. The world's seven largest economies have also agreed to provide financial assistance to Colombo through a sovereign debt restructuring programme, known as the Autonomous Loan Reunion Programme.

The ADB is also exploring different financing options and loans to the private sector to facilitate food imports, in collaboration with the FAO and the World Food Programme: while the ADB's financing guarantees will facilitate imports of essential goods, trade and supply chain financing programmes will provide guarantees to banks for trade in agricultural and food products.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development, active in rural areas since 1978, with its involvement in the Kirindi Oya project (a programme for the development of unused land in the arid zone of Sri Lanka) will also provide short-term assistance.

Similarly, the World Bank is considering projects worth USD 12 billion to be implemented over the next 15 months: they will include agricultural and social protection assistance 'to help cushion the income effect' of rising food prices.

According to economists, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will also donate assistance to Sri Lanka 'with the full range of its instruments, focusing on macroeconomic data'.

A UN study of 600 companies, entitled 'Gender Disparities and Labour Market Challenges', reveals that between 2019 and 2020, women's employment in Sri Lanka fell by around 8%: in the tourism sector, the decline was 47%.

Meanwhile, the country has suspended payments to creditors, becoming the first in the Asia-Pacific region to go bankrupt in the last century. The new premier Ranil Wickremesinghe stated in Parliament last week that he was unaware of the actual debt figures and that the statistics had 'gone haywire'.
The Turkish president announces an operation to shore up the 'buffer zone' across the border. Details discussed at a Security Council meeting scheduled for tomorrow. The operation as a bargaining chip for the green light for Sweden and Finland to join the Atlantic Alliance. And to close ranks ahead of the vote in 2023.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to launch a military operation in Syrian territory shortly, to expand the so-called "buffer zone" along the southern border. Announced in recent days, the offensive has raised more than one perplexity over the timing and methods; however, it reflects the Turkish leader's deep conviction that he will not receive vetoes from his Atlantic Alliance partners.

Moreover, Ankara's green light is essential for Sweden and Finland's entry - in an anti-Russian move - into NATO, which is being examined in recent weeks and which is being opposed by Turkey because the two Nordic nations would be hosting "terrorists from the PKK," the Kurdish Workers' Party.

Speaking at a government meeting on 23 May, Erdogan said the aim of the operation is to finalise the creation of the 30 km-wide area, considered essential for the defence of its borders. 'We will soon take new measures,' he said, 'regarding the incomplete parts of the project [...] along our southern border'.

While giving no further details on the modalities and timing of the operation, he added that "the operation will begin after Turkish military, intelligence and security forces have completed their preparations". "We will discuss this operation in detail," he concluded, "at the Security Council meeting" that is scheduled for tomorrow, 26 May. Earlier he had announced his intention to send one million Syrians back across the border before the elections, welcomed in the name of the common 'Muslim brotherhood' and now dumped as a burden, at a time of deep socio-economic crisis that casts doubt on his re-election in 2023.

At the moment, there are no official statements from the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or from the Damascus leadership for a possible aggression within its territory. Mouths are also sealed in Washington, which is busy on several fronts from the Russian invasion in Ukraine to the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO, to the tensions with China in the Asia-Pacific region. In the past, the Turkish army has launched four major military offensives in northern Syria: the first, renamed 'Operation Euphrates Shield' in 2016; followed by 'Operation Olive Branch' in 2018; the following year, in 2019, Operation 'Source of Peace'; fourth and last in 2020, Operation 'Spring Shield' during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since 2016, the Turkish army has been carrying out regular military operations on Syrian territory against the Kurdish YPG militia, which is considered a terrorist organisation (but, unlike the latter, not by the West) on a par with the Pkk. Ankara has also intensified its air raids in Iraqi Kurdistan, striking Christian villages on several occasions, causing casualties and serious damage to economic activities, homes and places of worship.

Analysts and experts emphasise that Erdogan's proclamations have a twofold objective: on the one hand, to gain an advantage from the granting of clearance for Stockholm and Helsinki to join NATO. On the other hand, from an internal perspective, to armour the support of the nationalist wing for his now 20-year power. In fact, already in the past, cross-border military operations have increased consensus and in some ways favoured his victory at the polls.

Against a backdrop of silence and expectation, among the few critical and concerned voices are those of the Syrian Kurds, whose military factions have proved essential in the past in the fight against the Islamic State (IS, formerly Isis), thanks also to US support. Commenting on Erdogan's words, the leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, which also includes the YPG) accuse Ankara of wanting to "destabilise the region".
Today's headlines: A famous Vietnamese hacker turns government agent; Seoul and Tokyo send fighter jets in response to an intrusion by Chinese and Russian jets during the Quad summit; Indian Catholic lay forum launches a call for an end to discrimination against minorities; 'one-way' airline tickets to Russia have reached 70% of sales.

ISRAEL - PALESTINE

A young Palestinian man aged just 16 was killed by Israeli soldiers during clashes that broke out on the sidelines of a Jewish pilgrimage in the northern West Bank, in an already tense atmosphere. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the boy was hit in the head by bullets fired by the army deployed around Joseph's tomb in Nablus.

VIETNAM

One of the country's best-known hackers has become a government cyber-agent, putting his skills at the service of the State. At the peak of his career, Ngo Minh Hieu made his fortune by stealing the personal data of hundreds of millions of Americans. For this he spent seven years in US prisons. Now he has been recruited by Hanoi to hunt down his former colleagues.

SOUTH KOREA - JAPAN

Seoul flew fighter jets in response to the earlier intrusion of at least four Chinese and Russian military aircraft into the South Korean Air Defence Identification Zone. Similar action was also taken by the Japanese Defence Ministry after jets approached the Japanese space while Tokyo was hosting the Quad leaders' summit.

INDIA

A forum of Indian Catholics is calling for an end to discrimination and hatred towards minorities, urging the country to learn from the mistakes of other nations that have led to economic and social disasters. The India Catholic Union, the largest secular movement, points out that the rising tide of hatred if left unchecked could cause damage to peace and unity. .

AFGHANISTAN - EMIRATES

A United Arab Emirates company signed a contract with the Taliban to provide ground handling services at three airports in Afghanistan. The only one in the capital, Kabul, was destroyed in August during the evacuation after the Koranic students came to power. Some domestic and international flights are operational, but major companies need modernisation.

CHINA

Beijing continues to remain behind the scenes of the Russian war in Ukraine. The 68-year-old Xi Jinping is preparing for re-election as 'eternal president' next autumn, at the 20th Communist Party Congress, with a very strict control of the country's opinions. A widespread opinion of scepticism prevails with respect to the invasion launched by Moscow.

RUSSIA

Russian "one-way" airline tickets out of the country have reached 70% of sales, especially among collaborators and employees of financial, consulting and IT firms. In March and April, the favourite destinations were Turkey and Kazakhstan.
According to the Hong Kong Democracy Council, more than three-quarters are under the age of 30, more than 15% are under the age of 18. At least 179 opponents are in custody; 1,159 are on trial. Yesterday, well-known jurist Benny Tai was sentenced. While awaiting trial, Card. Zen says "martyrdom is normal in our Church": yesterday he celebrated a Mass for Catholics in China.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - There are 1,014 political prisoners languishing in the city's jails: in June 2019, when protests by the pro-democracy movement against the extradition bill broke out in the city (before being called off), there were only a handful. This is according to the database of the Hong Kong Democracy Council (Hkdc), a Washington-based non-governmental organisation that promotes the protection of fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in the former British colony, as well as its autonomy from the Chinese central government.

The new data presented by the Hkdc shows that Hong Kong rivals authoritarian nations such as Cuba, Belarus and Myanmar in the growth of prison populations linked to political offences. The crackdown imposed by the city authorities after the 2019 demonstrations, especially with the adoption of the Beijing-imposed National Security Act in 2020, has in fact restricted, suspended or cancelled the rights of assembly, association, expression and political participation.

The prisoners in question include leaders of NGOs, trade unions and protest groups, as well as journalists, activists, teachers, students, opposition politicians and lawyers. Many of them are well-known figures in the democratic camp, such as Catholic media magnate Jimmy Lai and Joshua Wong, but most are ordinary citizens. The most contested crime is that of unauthorised demonstration, with 234 convicted.

The number of young people in prison is striking: more than three quarters of the political prisoners are under 30; more than half are under 25 and more than 15% are minors. Largely due to the passing of the security measure, the number of opponents held in pre-trial detention and awaiting trial has also increased: to date there are 179; 69 have served more than a year in pre-trial detention, the average being 12.4 months per defendant.

To date, 1,159 citizens are on trial on politically motivated charges. Many are already in prison, and most are indicted for threats to national security, sedition and riots. The latest to receive a conviction yesterday was Benny Tai. Already on remand for threats to national security, the lawyer and democratic activist will have to serve 10 months in prison for breaking the local law on electoral publicity.

Card. Joseph Zen Ze-kiun was also on trial, on 19 September. A court yesterday indicted the city's emeritus bishop, along with five well-known representatives of the Democratic Front, for failing to properly register Fund 612, which until last October assisted thousands of protesters involved in the 2019 protests. Card. Zen and the other defendants were trustees of the humanitarian organisation: they all pleaded not guilty.

The police had arrested and then released the cardinal and the others charged with the far more serious charge of 'collusion' with foreign forces, in violation of the security law. Yesterday in front of 300 faithful, Card. Zen celebrated a Mass for the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China. In an indirect reference to his court case, he said in his homily that 'martyrdom is normal in our Church'. The cardinal then asked the faithful to pray for "our brothers and sisters who cannot attend Mass because they are not free".
by Shafique Khokhar

The girl, who was on her way to work as a domestic, was shoved into an autorickshaw by two men. It is feared that, like in similar cases, her kidnappers will present a certificate of conversion to Islam in order to register a marriage. For Human rights activist Lala Robin Daniel, We will stage a sit-in in Faisalabad and stay with the victims families until the courts take concrete action against the culprits.

Faisalabad (AsiaNews)  Once again a Pakistani Christian girl was the victim of a sexually-motivated abduction by well-known people.

On 20 May, Saba, 15, and her sister Muqaddas were going to Madina Town, a neighbourhood in Faisalabad (Punjab), where both are employed as domestic workers.

Around 9 am, two men in their 40s, Muhammad Yasir and Muhammad Riaz, along with others, stopped the two sisters. After pushing Muqaddas away, they seized Saba and threw her into an auto-rickshaw, and took her with them.

According to her mother, Rubina Nadeem, Saba was kidnapped for adultery and is being held captive at an unknown location.

Two eyewitnesses, Tariq Iqbal and Amir Daniel, saw the girls kidnapping while crossing the street on their way to work.

Sabas mother filed a complaint at the Madina Town police station citing Article 365-B of the Pakistani Penal Code, which reads:

[W]hoever kidnaps or abducts any woman with intent that she may be compelled, or knowing it to be likely that she will be compelled, to marry any person against her will, or in order that she may be forced, or seduced to illicit intercourse, or knowing it to be likely that she will be forced or seduced to illicit intercourse, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, and shall also he liable to fine.

Police are looking for the kidnappers but have not yet been able to track down the girl since the day she was taken.

According to human rights activist Simon Aleem, Saba is an innocent girl, the victim of an injustice that unfortunately happens far too often.

Many Christian girls and young women have been the victims of abduction; when this happens, kidnappers surface a few days later with the girl and her conversion certificate. When asked, she claims to have accepted Islam voluntarily and then marries her kidnapper.

For Aleem, The government must take immediate action against Saba Nadeems kidnappers. More importantly, he wonders, How is it possible that an underage girl, kidnapped in front of people, accepts her Islam of her own free will and then marries the same person who kidnapped her?

In Saba's case, both kidnappers are over 45. The same thing is happening to other Christian girls: How do our underage girls fall in love with older men? he adds.

Lala Robin Daniel, another human rights activist from Faisalabad, goes further. Whenever there is a problem with the government or rich politicians, the courts are opened even at night, only to give justice to the rich. Why can't these courts remain open to give justice to poor minority families?

In light of the latest incident, We will stage a sit-in in Faisalabad and stay with the victims families until the courts take concrete action against the culprits and bring back the abducted girls. The time has come to raise our voices collectively against such crimes against minorities.
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We are writing about a 1966 Vanden Plas Princess Limousine, which was commissioned by the Crown Agents in 1965. The vehicle was built at the Vanden Plas Works in Kingsbury, London, and was subsequently shipped to Jamaica, where it waited patiently for the Queen's visit, which took place in 1966.Instead of being shipped back to the United Kingdom, the 1966 Vanden Plas, which has an inline-six-cylinder motor from an Austin, remained in Jamaica. The vehicle was kept by the Governor, General Sir Clifford Campbell, and was used as the official State limousine for the next Royal visits.It is worth noting that the vehicle was previously restored by a company that specializes in British cars, and that it has even been repainted in its original black and grey color. The Austin unit comes with a Ford-sourced carburetor, and it sends power to a four-speed manual transmission. The unit has a special gear just for being in parades, which means that you just have three "normal" gears for regular driving.While the shell, engine, and transmission are the same as they left the factory, the vehicle was upgraded to a 12V electrical system instead of the old 6V setup. Equipment included power steering, an electric fuel pump, front and rear air conditioning, and a sliding partition for the driver.The chrome is all-new inside and out, but the gauges are all original, while the wood has been refinished. The leather is all-new, but it features the same color combination as the original. This vehicle is set to go under the hammer in the company's Las Vegas event, which takes place between June 30, and July 2, 2022.Lot 686, as it is referred to by Barrett-Jackson , is for sale at no reserve, and it might make a great addition to someone's collection. It is worth noting that the buyer will also get a copy of the British Motor Industries Heritage Trust production trace certificate, as well as a letter from Buckingham Palace, along with the built sheet and the Bill of Landing from Jamaica to the United States of America.
Unlike the American market, where VinFast will only have to communicate its marketing messages in a single language, things will be different in Europe . It is no longer a secret that VinFast wants to launch two models on the German market this year.The EU's largest car market is a good indication of what might happen in other markets, and it will have enough potential for sales volumes. On the other hand, if the brand does not make it in Germany, it might also have a tough time in other European countries, while the company that owns the brand will have to spend on advertising, marketing, and on creating a dealer network.While VinFast already has two models in its range , increasing its portfolio is a no-brainer for any company interested in raising its sales. Until they will have a shot of becoming more profitable while selling fewer vehicles, the brand will have to be present in the most important markets in Europe, and that is just the beginning.The prototype seen in the photo gallery was being tested in Spain. While heavily camouflaged, the prototype is based on the VF9. It does appear that the wheelbase is different from the one on the model that was shown in the U.S., while the wheel arches have increased their size.VinFast's VF9 is the brand's largest model , and it also has different rear lights. Since this vehicle has an even bigger wheelbase, the company might be prepping a model that is even larger than the existing VF9.
In the EV adoption age , school districts across the United States are also looking to embrace the transition to a more sustainable future by replacing existing diesel school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models. But electric school buses dont come cheap; they are actually 3-4 times more expensive than regular diesel buses, so thats quite a financial burden for some school districts.To help ease this burden, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and EPA Administrator Michael Regan launched phase one of the Clean School Bus program, which is part of President Joe Bidens Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This first phase is basically a rebate program that will operate as a lottery system, so all school districts that apply on time will be eligible for up to $375,000 in electric bus funds.EPA has also published the list of prioritized School Districts for the Clean School Bus program, and it includes rural schools, tribal schools, low-income areas, and traditionally underserved school districts.Officials promise to offer 5 billion dollars over the next five years (FY 2022-2026), but this initial phases budget is $500 million. Half of this amount will represent funding for zero-emission buses in 2022, while the remaining $250 million will be funds for clean school buses.School districts applying for the rebate can request funds for up to 25 electric, CNG, or propane school buses. The deadline to submit applications for this years rebate program is August 19, 2022.The need to ditch diesel school buses and replace them with electric models is best summarized by U.S. PIRG environment campaigns director Matt Casale, who stated, Getting to school shouldnt include a daily dose of toxic pollution or make our children sick. And we shouldnt continue to use dirty diesel buses when they are making the climate crisis worse. The opening of the Clean School Bus Program should be the end of air-polluting school buses as we know them.
These days, superyacht-watching is proving a far more entertaining pastime than it was ever before, and mostly because of the maneuvers and guessing games played by Russian oligarchs trying to keep their floating palaces out of reach. Speaking of playing games, Nord, one of the handful megayachts to avoid seizure, is back at it.

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For example, Waze comes with integration for the majority of music services out there, including Spotify , Deezer, and YouTube Music.In other words, if you run the app on your mobile device, you can play the music without having to quit Waze and therefore interrupt the navigation.Starting today, Waze is also supporting Apple Music, so if you have a subscription to Apples service, you can play your favorite songs right from the navigation UI.With a direct connection between the apps, you can now access Apple Music content directly from the Waze Audio Player. Enjoy more than 90 million songs, tens of thousands of curated playlists, Apple Music Radio and more while you navigate. Were thrilled to join forces with Apple Music to bring Apple Music subscribers their tunes while driving with Waze on iPhone, the Google-owned company announced today.Enabling Apple Music in Waze doesnt take more than a few seconds.The first thing you need to do is launch the app and make sure you are running the latest version. If you are, then simply tap the My Waze menu and then launch the settings screen. In this menu, navigate to the Audio Player section and select Apple Music.The Apple Music integration should now show up right in the main UI of Waze, so you should be able to play the music and control the playback without having to switch to a different screen. Of course, you can also launch the full version of Apple Music on your mobile device if you want the full capabilities of the app and then return to Waze to continue the playback.
With its share prices hitting $42.92, BYD is now worth $114.03 billion. Volkswagen is in the fourth position, valued at $106.16 billion. In the second place, Toyota has a market cap of $221.32 billion, which is more than Volkswagen and BYD combined.It is not difficult to understand why the Chinese car company is doing so well. Its latest vehicle, the BYD Seal , sold 22,637 units less than six hours after reservations opened (4:20 PM on May 20 in China). BYD itself disclosed the amazing result, which is equivalent to four months of production at this early stage.The only recent disruption on the wave of good news for the Chinese carmaker was the production suspension at the Changsha plant on May 9. According to CLS , nearby residents began to complain about nosebleeds, nausea, chronic coughing, and dizziness. The local government started investigations, and BYD decided to suspend production for rectification.Unlike Tesla with its issues at Giga Shanghai, that should not impact BYD in a meaningful way. Its other factories can supply the vehicles that the Changsha plant currently manufactures: e2, e3, Destroyer 05, Qin Plus DM-i, Song MAX DM-i, Yuan Pro, and the K series electric buses. Thats 50% more models than Tesla has in its entire lineup at the Changsha plant alone  without counting the buses.Apart from making electric and plug-in hybrid cars, BYD is also known for another crucial characteristic: its high verticalization level. The Chinese automaker manufactures its own semiconductors, batteries, other components, and even masks during the worst part of the international health crisis.In the current automotive environment, that means BYD does not have to wait for suppliers to deliver anything. It just has to increase production. With the e-platform 3.0 , Blade Batteries, and a new line of attractive electric vehicles, the Chinese companys only restriction is reaching more markets. That explains why BYD is now the third most valuable company globally. We would not be surprised if it climbs to higher positions soon.
One of the biggest captures since international sanctions list went into effect is the Lurssen megayacht Scheherazade. Formerly known as Project Lightning, its cost is estimated at over $700 million and its supposed owner is Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Back on February 1st, the Fiat Chrysler Technical Safety and Regulatory Committee was informed by the assembly plant that some vehicles were produced with an incorrect configuration parameter for the hazard lights during brake application. A few days later, the organization decided to open an investigation, bringing in the peeps at FCA US Engineering to better understand the failure mode. Sometime during March 2022, the suspect population was singled out to 20 vehicles produced on January 26th.As per documents filed with the, the configuration parameter was corrected on that very same day. A grand total of five units of the Grand Cherokee for the 2022 model year are recalled, together with 15 units of the Grand Cherokee L Its hard to get ones head around how much time has passed from identifying the issue to deciding on a recall, but on the other hand, Fiat Chrysler isnt exactly proactive when it comes to such issues. Heck, these guys will plead guilty to criminal conduct regarding emissions fraud in diesel-engined Ram trucks and Jeeps produced between 2014 and 2016.If the hazard lights flash when the brake pedal is applied, the vehicle automatically fails to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 108. In the real world, this condition may confuse other drivers, potentially causing a serious crash on the highway.The supplier of the iffy software and body control module is Continental Teves AG & Co. oHG of Frankfurt, a company that weve covered on multiple occasions for its tremendously bad software in automotive applications. Customers and dealers alike will be informed of the recall on July 1st, and the fix comes in the guise of a software update for the module.
SUV

As it turns out, the slow-to-react giant decided to cancel the proposed U.S. return of Peugeot because Alfa Romeo needs more attention  and they probably hoped that Alfa-based clones like the upcoming Dodge Hornet subcompactwill be more successful and profitable. But that does not mean one cannot imagine a hypothesis for rethinking that strategy.Courtesy of the virtual artist better known as Theottle on social media, who has recently decided to tempt our imagination by rekindling our passion for tougher Peugeot models, we realized this digital project  if ever real, would be an important asset for mulling a North American return. So, the gist of its creation is simple: realizing that most mid-size ladder-framed pickup trucks have SUV variants, like Ford Ranger and Everest or Nissan Navara and Terra, the pixel master created this oddity. Based on the little-known Peugeot Landtrek (itself a rebadged mid-size pickup truck created from the Chinese Kaicene F70 model), the CGI expert imagined a tough SUV variant that he dubbed Peugeot 8008. So, what does it all have to do with North America, since both hypothetical rivals formerly mentioned  Everest and Terra  are nowhere to be seen in the United States?Well, if Stellantis decided to greenlight a tough body-on-frame mid-size SUV based on the Landtrek such as this imagined 8008 and then wanted to sell it all around the world, it would easily find a market in North America as well. Once there, it would immediately clash with a big Japanese star: the Toyota 4Runner, which is on its way to celebrating 40 years of existence and is still going massively strong in terms of local sales!
The achievement belongs to the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), which sent its Sentry aircraft flying in a designated pattern used for departures, arrivals, and runway approach practice.The goal of the test was to demonstrate the huge potential of drones in environments like Alaska and it represented an important step in developing the drone economy in the area. Using cargo drones for transportation in Alaska would lead to improved freight and mail transport, especially in rural locations. Moreover, drones could also prove to be of great help during disasters and emergencies, for surveilling a wildfire, dropping emergency supplies during a search and rescue, and more.Operated remotely by the UAF through its Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI), the light-gray Sentry drone was given the same treatment as any other aircraft, with the flying machine carrying a transponder that allows air traffic controllers to know both its location and the altitude at which it was flying. Sentrys operating crew consisted of rated aviators who kept constant and close communication with the Fairbank airports controllers just like any other aviation pilot The drone has a wingspan of approximately 13 ft (around 4 meters) and an empty weight of 280 pounds (127 kg). The Sentry aircraft is not the only one owned and operated by the ACUASI. It has a variety of other UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) that range from small racing drones used for scientific purposes to larger, 300 lb (136 kg) ones. The ACUASI works with state and federal authorities to integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the national space, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks is one of the seven FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)-approved test sites in the country and the only one in Alaska.
EV

One of the Revel Tesla taxis got in a gnarly crash with a UPS truck on W 34th in front of Macys pic.twitter.com/joj2XLsst9  Patrick (@Pronk__) May 24, 2022

The crash happened on May 24 at around 11:30 AM at 34th Street and Seventh Avenue. For those familiar with Manhattan, it was in front of Macys. An NBC New York report indicated that several vehicles were involved in the situation and that a Tesla Model 3 from Revel was among them. Revel is a ridesharing service that is more similar to taxi cab companies than to Uber: it owns its vehicles, and drivers are paid for the hours behind the wheel, not for every ride. They also have healthcare and other benefits such as paid time off.According to NBC New York, Revel stated that it was aware of the crash and looking into the circumstances. Considering how bad the Model 3 looks, it was fortunate that nobody died in the crash. NBC New York said that at least one person was taken to the hospital with a possible trauma.Although the news channel did not have much information right after the situation unfolded, a video posted on Reddit shows exactly what happened. The Revel Tesla Model 3 passes at a very high speed on the bus lane  as if the driver could not control its speed  and eventually hits a UPS truck.The driver seems to aim for the truck in a desperate attempt to reduce the speed. The Model 3 rear then spins to the left, and thehits the back of a Top View touristic bus with its left side and eventually stops on the nearby lane. Luckily, it did not kill anyone. In the Paris crash, 21 people were hurt and one died.Were yet to have information on the drivers health. We hope that they are ok not only because this person must have a family and people that care about them but also because they are the only ones able to tell what happened. Tesla could also disclose information on the crash, but it only has a working press department in China. In other words, Revel, authorities, and the driver are our only information sources at this point.In Paris, the taxi driver is suing Tesla. His lawyer, Sarah Saldmann, alleged that the company endangered the lives of others. The unidentified taxi driver was not under the influence of any substance and said that his Model 3 accelerated and could not be stopped, which raised suspicion that it was an SUA (sudden unintended acceleration) event.People familiar with Tesla cars dismissed that as a possibility. The most likely hypothesis is an accidental activation of TACC (traffic-aware cruise control) . If the set speed is much higher than the current one, the car accelerates abruptly to reach the target. In China, Tesla was forced to make a recall to add a sound warning for when TACC is engaged. Again, we need to wait for the investigations and listen to what the driver has to say.
KW

Introduced in 1995 as a successor to the quirky Z1 , the Z3 was a two-seat roadster based on the E36 3 Series platform. The first BMW model to be fully assembled in the United States, it initially came with a naturally aspirated four-cylinder that made it quite boring.The Z3 became a bit more interesting starting with the 1997 model year, when an inline-six was added to the engine lineup and an M-tuned version became available. That year, at the Frankfurt Motors Show, the Bavarians also unveiled a Coupe variant. The pet project of BMWs research and development chief, Dr. Burkhard Goschel, the car was developed by a small group of engineers in their spare time with the aim of delivering a stiffer chassis that would dramatically improve the cars maneuverability.Although it was ridiculed by members of the automotive press, as well as many enthusiasts who nicknamed it Clown Shoe, the coupe chassis proved to be fundamentally better than the roadster, which convinced the companys management to approve series production. In 1998, the M-badged Coupe also hit the streets. With up to 316 hp (in the EU version), on that stiffened chassis , he Z3 was finally an exciting drivers car. Performance peaked in 2001 when the E46 M3s S54 straight-six was fitted inside both North American and European models.One of these ultra-rare, S54-powered Coupes made its way to South Africa where it was purchased from its original owner by Desmond Rudman. He kept it stock for several years, but at some point, the thought of adding more power started to seep into his mind.With the help of his son, Jonathan, who owns a local tuning garage called RAPiD Fabrication , Desmond started exploring the option of turbocharging the S54. However, they soon abandoned that plan and decided to go for something more outrageous.Turbocharging the S54 was not a complicated endeavor, but in case something went wrong, and they ended up blowing the engine, sourcing a new one was just too expensive.A cheaper, but highly-controversial alternative was found by Jonathan in the shape of an ex-Supra 2JZ-GTE engine that was available in Japan for a bargain price. He brought it and had it shipped to their garage in Gauteng, where it was comprehensively upgraded before being transplanted to the M Coupe.The legendary Toyota six-cylinder got a new aftermarket cylinder head, high-flow intake manifold, a single 100-mm (3.93-inch) throttle body, 960-cc injectors with Chevy LS1 coils, and, of course, a Garrett GT45 turbocharger with a large, custom-built intercooler. The stock silencers were retained and connected to an equal-length stainless exhaust manifold via a custom 89-mm (3.5-inch) system.The cars limited-slip differential was also retained, but the ZF S5-31 five-speed manual that came from the factory was unable to cope with the power of the modified 2JZ. To solve this problem, the Rudmans installed a gearbox from a Toyota Hilux D4D pickup truck and upgraded it with a high-performance copper clutch.For the suspension,coilovers were added, while the stock BMW M brakes remained in place - albeit fitted with a set of new Ferodo Racing pads.Finished with a fresh coat of Blu Passione Pearl taken from Maseratis stock color palette, and sitting on custom 18-inch wheels wrapped in Yokohama Advan A048 semi-slicks, the 2JZ-swapped M Coupe was initially capable of no less than 536 hp. This setup proved to be a bit too much for the cars short wheelbase, and a smaller Garrett GT30 turbo was subsequently fitted, dropping the output to a more-manageable 400 hp.The best thing about this project is that every single modification is reversible. The S54-equipped M Coupe is a rare model, and its value has begun to rise in recent years. With that in mind, Desmond and Jonathan kept the stock components they swapped out and the car can be put back together in its original configuration with ease. So, BMW purists can breathe a sigh of relief because no M Coupe was harmed during the development of this 2JZ-powered beast.Completed in 2013, this custom Bimmer has been tested by various automotive publications that praised the exquisiteness of the tuning performed by the team at RAPiD Fabrication, as well as the tamable, yet drift-friendly attitude of the car. One such test was performed by Cars.co.za in 2020 and you can see the results in the YouTube video below.
kW

The idea for #BroncoRaptor was an Ultra4 racing-inspired Bronco built for high speed off-roading & extreme rock crawling.

The target was 400 horsepower.

Now it's official: 418hp + 440lbs-ft of torque!



Congrats to the @FordPerformance team for taking #BuiltWild to a new level! pic.twitter.com/l46WV8zjqF  Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) May 24, 2022

However, fast forward to just a few hours ago, and we finally know how much its 3.0-liter V6 engine, hooked up to a ten-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel drive, produces. The Dearborn companys head honcho, Jim Farley, took to social media to announce the numbers: 418 horsepower (424 ps / 312) and 440 pound-feet (597 Nm).Thats a significant advantage over the variant packing the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6, which is offered with 330 hp (335 ps / 250 kW) and 415 lb-ft (563 Nm), according to Fords official website. The base model comes with a 300 hp (304 ps / 227 kW) and 325 lb-ft (441 Nm) 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-pot. The entry-level gets a seven-speed manual or a ten-speed automatic gearbox, and the mid-range variant comes solely with the ten-speed auto.One of the Bronco Raptors biggest rivals, the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 , uses a bigger engine, a 6.4-liter V8, rated at 470 hp (477 ps / 351 kW) and 470 lb-ft (637 Nm). Working in concert with an eight-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive, it enables a 0 to 60 mph (0-97 kph) acceleration in 4.5 seconds. This model can deal with the quarter mile in around 13 seconds, the official spec sheet reveals.Pricing for the Wrangler Rubicon 392 kicks off at $77,490, excluding destination and dealer fees. At $68,500 before destination, the 2022 Bronco Raptor is more affordable. Some of the key features of the latter, besides the punchy engine powering it, are the dedicated suspension with semi-active dampers, 37-inch tires wrapped around the 17-inch alloy wheels, upgraded transfer case, reinforced structure, upgraded axles, and 13.1 inches (333 mm) of ground clearance, 4.8 inches (122 mm) more than the base four-door Bronco.
SUV

The Japanese automaker recently marked almost four decades (production started in autumn of 1983 with a 1984 model year release but carmakers are always in a hurry today) since the introduction of their go-anywherewith a cool, retro-flavored limited series that will only be available in exactly 4,040 units. Well, that means a lot of fans will have to settle for the  forbidden fruit  thought if they cannot get their hands on a piece of the vintage-like action.And with Toyota delivering almost 145k units of the body-on-frame off-roader last year in America alone, one can only imagine the 4Runner 40th Anniversary is going to leave a trail of broken hearts behind it. Both in the real world and across the virtual realm, it seems. This is because Jim, the virtual artist better known as jlord8 on social media, continues to alternate between some of his most successful CGI series to date with poise, sense, and sensibility.So, after imagining an entire series of street or off-road Single/Extended Cab pickup trucks and alternating them with passenger car revivals, the pixel master recently started musing about an SUV-focused spinoff where the Street sporty truck attire was displaced on top of reimagined models, such as the hypothetical fourth-gen 2022 Dodge Ramcharger TRX . Now, the base is simpler  the real-world 4Runner 40th Anniversary edition.It too gets down to a raw  Street Sport  level, and the author says that he could not help putting his spin on a 4Runner 40th-anniversary edition. I know this defeats the purpose of the 4Runner, but that does not matter in Imagination Land. That is his name for the virtual realm of Photoshopped goodies, and it certainly fits the bill. Anyway, as for his CGI version of the beloved SUV, all we can say is that we agree with the popular opinion: it is scorching hot!
kW

Carlex Design, on the other hand, went above, beyond, and under in order to meet the demand of one of its customers, so they fitted the car, a Ferrari 812 GTS, with natural leather that came from the African kudu antelope and buffalo.Wrapped around a good portion of the interior, the kudu antelope hide is represented in a warm caramel color, with the natural scars and scratches giving it a vintage look, Carlex says. The Buffalo leather has a black shade, and the rest of the cockpit has been decorated with unique seams, laser-engraved motifs, and metal plaques. Moreover, all plastics now have a glossy black look.In order to tie the cabin to the exterior, the tuner has given the grey body a few custom decals. Normally, we would have told you about the wheels, and maybe some front, side, and rear add-ons, but thats not the case here, as everything else has remained stock, including the powertrain.The open-top model from the Maranello company has a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine under the hood, with 800 ps (789 hp / 588) and 718 Nm (530 lb-ft) of torque bouncing off the walls. For a convertible, the 812 GTS is very fast, with the 0 to 100 kph (0-62 mph) acceleration taking less than 3 seconds, the official spec sheet reveals. Keep the right pedal pinned to the floor long enough, if youre lucky to find yourself behind the wheel of such a beast, and you will eventually see over 340 kph (211 mph) on the speedometer.
As many people who have experienced the appearance of scooters for rent in their city might have noticed, not every user will leave the shared scooter in a place where it does not bother others.While some cities have stricter rules regarding the possibility of closing the ride with a scooter with geofencing, along with a strict policy of parking them responsibly, the policy is yet to be enforced in Denver.Someone who has had enough of people leaving e-scooters wherever they wanted has begun a case of vigilante justice that involves scratching or blacking out QR codes on illegally parked scooters. It happened in Denver, but the culprit is still at large, as Yahoo News notes.The idea behind the vigilante justice, which is illegal , mind you, was that these e-scooters cannot be rented by simply scanning their QR codes anymore if they are no longer visible. Someone took their time in doing this act of vandalism to dozens of scooters in Denver, and ride-sharing companies are not happy.As Lime representatives told Denver 7 , "vandalizing property is a crime, and only harms those who rely on these vehicles every day as an affordable, convenient way to get around. Lime takes vandalism seriously and will pursue appropriate legal action against those that damage or vandalize our property."Now, as you may have noticed, someone has vandalized e-scooters because other people left them where they were not supposed to be left. The actions of those people led to a disproportionate reaction from this unidentified individual, who has gone against the wrong entity here.It is worth noting that Denver's city code forbids blocking sidewalks, curbs, or entryways with scooters, which must also be parked upright, and always maintain five feet of clearance on sidewalks. While the problem is caused by irresponsible users, other people are affected.A potential solution to illegal parking of these alternative transportation methods is making special parking spaces for them that have geofencing.The idea would be to have the e-scooter plugged into a charger in a particular "station" to complete the ride, which would mean that it was not left on a sidewalk or in front of someone's driveway.The concern with such geofencing is that people will no longer be able to leave these scooters in some areas at all, which might motivate some to buy a personal e-scooter, while others might turn to other services. In places where such a system is operational, the user pays for the rent of the e-scooter until it is returned to a safe parking spot.
According to the duo, the 2022 Acura MDX Type S is the most expensive non-NSX Acura ever. The advance package option costs about $72,000 and is a totally different variant from the regular MDX.Under the hood, it packs the same engine youd find in the Acura TLX. A twin-turbo, 3.0-liter V6 engine mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission making 355 hp (360 ps) at 5,500 rpm ( 65 hp/66 ps more than the regular MDX) and 354 lb-ft (480 Nm) of torque at 1,400 rpm.Part of the MDX Type S charm is its rugged engine, sophisticated suspension, and tons of optional features. It has a unique engine block with a forged crankshaft, connecting rods, and a 6-bolt sinister main caps for increased durability and crank rigidity.The transmission is specially tuned with a new valve body and torque converter, offering 40% quicker manual downshifts and 30% faster upshifts in Sport plus Mode.It also comes with an adaptive air suspension thats height and stiff adjustable. The new lift mode gives the Type S 50 mm more ground clearance for deep snow and road hazards (only available below 37 mph). Klapman emphasizes this feature is by no means a Baja mode and is only effective when getting you out of a predicament.For an additional $6,000, you get the Advanced Package with a heads-up display, surround-view cameras, Milano leather interior with massage seats, and a banging 25-speaker, 1,000 watts ELS 3D studio sound system.Behind the wheel, the 2022 Acura MDX Type S has a very nice tune to the engine. Farah admits its not overbearing and sounds pleasant. The transmission is rapid when in full throttle and, according to Klapman, Sport mode feels way better in the canyon than in city streets.What I am noticing is the suspension is doing a nice job of controlling the body roll, but not eliminating it. I can still feel the weight transfer, but I know it is going to get through the corner, Farah said.So, would you pick the 2022 Acura MDX Type S over the German competition? TheSmokingTire duo feels its better as an alternative.
Palmdale, CA (93550)

Today

Mostly sunny early then partly cloudy and windy this afternoon. High 84F. Winds WSW at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Windy. Low near 60F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph.
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According to the Russian Embassy in Yerevan, Kopyrkin visited two Russian military outposts at local sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and spoke with Russian border guards serving there about their day-to-day combat and training activities.

The commander of the border guards deployed in the strategically important area briefed him on the operational situation developing in this section of the Armenian border, the embassy said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The statement said that at the entrance to Syuniks administrative center Kapan Kopyrkin was greeted by unnamed officials from the municipal administration. It said they thanked Russia for its contribution to the regions security and economic development.

Moscow deployed soldiers and border guards to Syunik during and after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh to help the Armenian military defend the province against possible Azerbaijani attacks.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are to reopen their border to commercial and passenger traffic under the terms of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped their six-week war in November 2020. The deal specifically commits Yerevan to opening rail and road links between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly claimed that it calls for an exterritorial land corridor that would pass through Syunik. Armenian leaders deny this, saying that Azerbaijani citizens and cargo cannot be exempt from Armenian border controls.

Iran has likewise stated that Armenia must have full control and sovereignty over all roads passing through its territory. Tehran underscored its interest in Syunik when it announced last December its decision to open an Iranian consulate in Kapan.

The U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Lynne Tracy, also visited Syunik on Tuesday. According to the provincial administration, she discussed with Syunik Governor Robert Ghukasian ways of supporting the region through socioeconomic and educational projects.
Pashinian said, meanwhile, that the civil disobedience campaign launched by the countrys leading opposition forces on May 1 has failed to attract public support.

This is not against the authorities anymore, this is against the public, he said of the protests involving blockages of major streets and government buildings.

They [the opposition forces] have the following logic: You dont join us, so you should spend more time in traffic jams, we will cause you more inconvenience, he added during the Armenian governments question-and-answer session in the parliament.

Pashinian addressed the National Assembly hours after opposition leaders and their supporters blocked the entrances to the presidential palace and the adjacent building of Armenias Security Council for nearly three hours. Riot police pushed back back some of the protesters who tried to scale a fence surrounding the palace.

President Vahagn Khachaturian, who was installed by the government-controlled parliament earlier this year, was not in the building. He is currently attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The opposition launched the campaign after Pashinian indicated last month his readiness to lower the bar on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh acceptable to Armenia. Opposition leaders say the premier is prepared to help Azerbaijan regain full control over Karabakh.

We have at least managed to thwart a timetable through which the authorities planned to surrender the country, one of them, Ishkhan Saghatelian, told reporters on Wednesday.

Saghatelian said he remains confident that the opposition will succeed in forcing Pashinian to step down. It will keep up the tempo and step up the pressure on the government, he said.

Later in the day, a larger number of opposition supporters rallied in Yerevans southern Shengavit district before marching to the city center where the opposition set up a tent camp on May 1.
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 65F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 65F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
The Russian parliament has given preliminary approval to a bill that would allow the government to appoint new management of foreign companies that pulled out of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Some sun in the morning with increasing clouds during the afternoon. High 89F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 63F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
RTHK: Gunman kills 15 at Texas elementary school

A gunman opened fire at an elementary school in South Texas on Tuesday, killing 14 students and one teacher, Governor Greg Abbott told reporters.

Abbott said the suspect, who he identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was himself killed, apparently by police officers responding to the scene.

Official details on the circumstances of the midday shooting remained sketchy in the immediate aftermath of the violence, which unfolded at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, about 80 miles west of San Antonio.

"He shot and killed horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher. Mr. Ramos, the shooter, he himself is deceased and it's believed that responding officers killed him," Abbott told a news briefing.

The gunman drove up to the school and entered with a rifle and a handgun, CNN reported.

University Hospital in San Antonio said on Twitter it had received two patients from the shooting in Uvalde, one child and one adult. Both patients, a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl, were listed in critical condition. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-05-24. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Xi replies to letter from Iowa friend Sarah Lande

Xinhua) 08:21, May 25, 2022

Sarah Lande (1st L) and Wanxiang America Corporation President Ni Pin (C, Front) sign the agreement of the "Sarah and Roger Lande Scholars" Program in Muscatine, Iowa, the United States, on April 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Xu Jing)

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently replied to a letter from Sarah Lande, a friend of his in the U.S. state of Iowa.

In his letter, Xi noted that he visited the beautiful state of Iowa twice, and has forged an indissoluble bond with the city of Muscatine.

The Chinese and American people are both great people, Xi said, adding that their friendship is not only a valuable asset, but also an important foundation for the development of bilateral relations.

The Chinese people are ready to keep on joining the American people in strengthening friendly exchanges, pushing forward mutually beneficial cooperation, and jointly promoting the well-being of the two people, Xi said.

He encouraged Lande and his other old friends in Muscatine to continue sowing the seeds of friendship and making new contributions to the friendship between the two people.

A Chinese master teaches students to write Chinese calligraphy during the 2016 Muscatine Chinese Culture Week at Muscatine High School in Iowa, the United States, Nov. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

Sarah Lande received Xi, then party secretary of Zhengding County in China's Hebei Province, when he visited the city of Muscatine in 1985. During his visit to the United States in 2012, Xi, then Chinese vice president, went to Lande's home again to meet his old American friends.

Recently, Lande wrote a letter to Xi, extending gratitude for Xi's precious friendship with old friends and expressing the hope that the two countries would continue deepening people-to-people and cultural exchanges and enhance understanding and mutual trust.

With the letter, Lande enclosed a copy of her memoir "'Old Friends': The Xi Jinping-Iowa Story" as a gift.

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
Central Oregon Coast Artist Exhibits Surreal, Colorful Works at Florence Visitors Center

Published 05/22/22 at 3:25 AM PST

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Florence, Oregon)  Down on the central Oregon coast, the little town of Florence knows how to mix art and everyday life. Even business life, perhaps. In that spirit, the Florence Area Chamber of Commerces Visitor Center has an art gallery, hosting an ever-revolving exhibit of local artists' work. The newest one on the roster is a mixed media called encaustics created by Jo Beaudreau, owner of BeauxArts Fine Art Materials and Gallery in Florence.

Encaustics is a unique painting technique that has been around for centuries, utilizing pigments mixed with resin and hot wax.

This year's works featured a challenge since we have been living in challenging times - why not embrace and take it head on? asked Beaudreau.

With these particular works, Beaudreau chose for herself a set of guidelines, to utilize round shapes of varying sizes with neon colors. Within this framework, the result was abstract landscapes that are dreamy, surreal: portraits of forests, lakes, beaches, sunsets, sunrises and more. All of it used the encaustic techniques.



Neon colors are, appropriate to our times, a challenge - hard to work with- because they are so vibrant, she said. Not many artists use neon colors in their works, but I was inspired by seeing a Monet painting at the Portland Art Museum, a huge 10x10 foot work of his lilies, and lo and behold, he had used dayglo pink in his flowers and other vibrant colors. Neon colors don't translate well photographically, they are best seen/experienced in person, just like this amazing area in which we live.

If youre lucky and you have your camera  and if you know what to look for  youll be there to capture some strange sights and some unusual moments.

Beaudreau's works have been exhibited across various parts of America and in galleries and shows, as well as being a mainstay on the central Oregon coast.

We are thrilled to have Jos work on display again, said Bettina Hannigan, president/CEO of the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce. Shes so multitalented. Her last exhibit was her magnificent photography. This time its her artistry with a paintbrush. Visitors are going to love this exhibit, said Bettina Hannigan, president/CEO of the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce.

The ocean/beach environment isn't like any other, and Oregon's coast  with its wilder conditions and seesawing weather patterns  isnt like many other beaches in the world. It changes, often drastically, from day to day, moment to moment. Not just on the beaches itself or at the tideline, but in the sky as well.
New Surge in Orca Sightings Over Weekend Good Sign for Oregon Coast Holiday

Published 05/24/22 at 7:25 PM PST

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Brookings, Oregon)  It's like a volcano building pressure: the jaw-dropping sightings of killer whales along the whole of the Oregon coast are not only still happening after two, three weeks of lots of activity but they surged substantially in the last few days. Chances are really quite decent you'll get to spot some over the holiday weekend on the shoreline, but they're even better if you can get there during the weekdays. (Photo courtesy Brookings Fishing Charters)

There were at least 20 different sightings of killer whales around the bulk of the Oregon coast since Friday afternoon, and these riveting encounters continue Monday and today (Tuesday). Reports are pouring in on the various Facebook whale groups, and the photo and video documentation are simply amazing. Many are quite close, within tens of feet sometimes.

In one case, Morgan Lewellen caught video of four different orcas gliding along the jetty at Barview, the opening to Tillamook Bay. They were as little as almost ten feet from her at times.

A week ago, these sightings were a definite delight, and there had certainly been a sizable and steady uptick in these killer whale events. In the last few days, it's reached what could only be called a fever pitch.

Last week, Oregon Coast Beach Connection talked to Josh McInnes of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C, a lead researcher on the killer whale populations off the Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and California coasts. There had definitely been rising numbers here since April and it was reaching new heights in the first two weeks of this month. Since that article was published on May 16, going through the roof doesn't even cover the new appearances.

McInnes told Oregon Coast Beach Connection it's all about the increased availability of prey as it's harbor seal pupping season right now. Like late summer when all the baitfish on the north coast draw in huge pods of Humbpack whales, little baby seal pups are a tasty treat to these cetaceans.

The reports ranged from Manzanita to Coos Bay, McInnes said of the last few days.

However, some of the most striking video was taken down in Brookings on Saturday by Brookings Fishing Charters. There, they caught a couple of orcas poking out of the ocean, doing a remarkable spy hop. That's when a whale pops its upper body up above the surface, looking like it's standing up for a second, to look around and scope things out.

McInnes confirmed that's what they were doing. In this case, he said, they were chasing a steller sea lion, which you can see attempting to hide under the charter boat. The orcas are seen doing some other jumps out of the water, creating more amazing sights you don't often see.

The charter company reveals that the killer whales eventually got the sea lion, but their video does not show the gory parts.

To see many of the videos and sightings, check out the Port Orford And PNW Whale Watchers group and the Oregon Coast Whale Watchers. MORE ORCA PHOTOS BELOW

Oregon Coast Hotels for this event - South Coast Hotels - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours





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Photos below courtesy Edith Hitchings, who volunteered with Depoe Bay's Whale Watch Center in 2017









Photo courtesy Selena Rivera



Photo below courtesy NOAA

Photo courtesy Josh McInnes

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(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Christopher Poliquin, University of California, Los Angeles

(THE CONVERSATION) Calls for new gun legislation that previously failed to pass Congress are being raised again after the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at an elementary school in the small town of Uvalde, Texas.

An 18-year-old shooter killed at least 19 fourth grade students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, marking the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in a decade.

The U.S. has been here before  after shootings in Tucson, Aurora, Newtown, Charleston, Roseburg, San Bernardino, Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland, El Paso, Boulder, and 10 days earlier at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y.

Gun production and sales in the U.S. remain high, following a purchasing surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the firearms industry sold about six guns for every 100 Americans.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut was among the Democratic politicians who pleaded for action on gun control as horrifying details of the Uvalde school shooting unfolded.

What are we doing? Murphy asked other lawmakers, speaking from the Senate floor on the day of the shooting. Why are you here if not to solve a problem as existential as this?

Congress has declined to pass significant new gun legislation after dozens of shootings, including those that occurred during periods like this one, with Democrats controlling the House of Representatives, Senate and presidency.

This response may seem puzzling given that national opinion polls reveal extensive support for several gun control policies, including expanding background checks and banning assault weapons.

In October 2021, 52% of people polled by Gallup said that they thought firearm sales laws should be made more strict.

But polls do not determine policy.

I am a professor of strategy at UCLA and have researched gun policy. With my co-authors at Harvard University, Ive studied how gun laws change following mass shootings.

Our research on this topic finds there is legislative activity following these tragedies, but its at the state level.

Restrictions loosened

Stricter gun laws at the national level are more popular among Democrats than Republicans, and major new legislation would likely need votes from at least 10 Republican senators. Many of these senators represent constituencies opposed to gun control.

Despite national polls showing majority support for an assault weapons ban, not one of the 30 states with a Republican-controlled legislature has such a policy.

U.S. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said on May 24 that more gun control laws could not have prevented the Uvalde attack, explaining that doesnt work, its not effective, it doesnt prevent crime.

The absence of strict control policies in Republican-controlled states shows that senators crossing party lines to support gun control would be out of step with the views of voters whose support they need to win elections.

But a lack of action from Congress doesnt mean gun laws are stagnant after mass shootings.

To examine how policy changes, we assembled data on shootings and gun legislation in the 50 states between 1990 and 2014. Overall, we identified more than 20,000 firearm bills and nearly 3,200 enacted laws. Some of these loosened gun restrictions, others tightened them, and still others did neither or both  that is, tightened in some dimensions but loosened in others.

We then compared gun laws before and after mass shootings in states where mass shootings occurred, relative to all other states.

Contrary to the view that nothing changes, state legislatures consider 15% more firearm bills the year after a mass shooting. Deadlier shootings  which receive more media attention  have larger effects.

In fact, mass shootings have a greater influence on lawmakers than other homicides, even though they account for less than 1% of gun deaths in the United States.

As impressive as this 15% increase in gun bills may sound, gun legislation can reduce gun violence only if it becomes law. And when it comes to enacting these bills into law, our research found that mass shootings do not regularly cause lawmakers to tighten gun restrictions.

In fact, we found the opposite. Republican state legislatures pass significantly more gun laws that loosen restrictions on firearms after mass shootings.

In 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a new law that eliminated a requirement for Texans to obtain a license or receive training to carry handguns. This came two years after a 2019 mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso.

Thats not to say Democrats never tighten gun laws  there are prominent examples of Democratic-controlled states passing new legislation following mass shootings.

California, for example, enacted several new gun laws following a 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino. Our research shows, however, that Democrats dont tighten gun laws more than usual following mass shootings.

After the Buffalo shooting in early May 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that she would work to increase the age for legal gun purchasing from 18 to 21 at a minimum.

Ideology governs response

The contrasting response from Democrats and Republicans is indicative of different philosophies regarding the causes of gun violence and the best ways to reduce deaths.

While Democrats tend to view social factors as contributing to violence, Republicans are more likely to blame the individual shooters.

Cruz, for example, has said that stopping individuals with criminal records from committing violence could help prevent mass shootings.

Politicians favoring looser restrictions on guns following mass shootings frequently argue that more people carrying guns would allow law-abiding citizens to stop perpetrators.

In fact, gun sales often surge after mass shootings, in part because people fear being victimized.

Democrats, in contrast, typically focus more on trying to solve policy and societal problems that contribute to gun violence.

For both sides, mass shootings are an opportunity to propose bills consistent with their ideology.

Since we wrote our study of gun legislation following mass shootings, which covered the period through 2014, several additional tragedies have energized the gun control movement that emerged following the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. These include the May 2022 shooting at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo, as well as the Uvalde school massacre.

While President Joe Biden issued executive orders in 2021 with the goal of reducing gun violence, action in Congress remains elusive. States, meanwhile, have been more active on the issue.

Student activism following the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, did not result in congressional action but led several states to pass new gun control laws.

With more funding and better organization, this new movement is better positioned than prior gun control movements to advocate for stricter gun policies following mass shootings. Public outcry and devastation over the Uvalde shootings will likely provide fuel to this advocacy work.

But with states historically more active than Congress on the issue of guns, both advocates and opponents of new restrictions should look beyond Washington for action on gun policy.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 21, 2021. This article was updated to indicate there were 10 days between the Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas shootings.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/after-mass-shootings-like-uvalde-national-gun-control-fails-but-states-often-loosen-gun-laws-183879.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  West Virginia lawmakers aim to form a workgroup to help address overcrowding in the state's regional jail system, according to a published report.

Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Committee Co-Chair David Kelly made the announcement during a legislative interim committee meeting Sunday in Morgantown, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported. Kelly said he hoped a workgroup could convene by September.
On Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced its predictions for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season. NOAA Climate Prediction Center forecasters are calling for an "above-average" hurricane season, according to the release, potentially the seventh consecutive above-average Atlantic hurricane season.

2022 Atlantic hurricane season forecast

The agency's 2022 Atlantic hurricane season outlook for June 1 through the end of November forecasted a "65% chance of an above-normal season, a 25% chance of a near-normal season and a 10% chance of a below-normal season," the releases states.

In the upcoming season, the agency predicted a "likely range" of between 14 and 21 named storms, a designation given to systems with 39 mph winds or higher, according to the release, with six to 10 of these storms potentially becoming hurricanes. This includes three to six major hurricanes rated at category three, four or five, with the agency stating that it provided these "ranges with a 70% confidence."

Early preparation and understanding your risk is key to being hurricane resilient and climate-ready, said Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo in the release. Throughout the hurricane season, NOAA experts will work around-the-clock to provide early and accurate forecasts and warnings that communities in the path of storms can depend on to stay informed.

The anticipated above-average hurricane is attributed to a number of factors, such as the ongoing La Nina, above-average Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperatures, "weaker tropical Atlantic trade winds and an enhanced west African monsoon," the report states, noting that the latter supports "stronger African Easterly Waves, which seed many of the strongest and longest lived hurricanes during most seasons."

2022 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone names

The report also lists the 2022 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone names in alphabetical order. This includes Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, Hermine, Ian, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Martin, Nicole, Owen, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tobias, Virginie and Walter.

NOAA notes that the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season forecast is focused on overall seasonal activity and is not intended to be a landfall forecast.
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Once again, one of America's deadliest mass shootings happened in Texas.

Past shootings targeted worshippers during a Sunday sermon, shoppers at a Walmart, students on a high school campus and drivers on a highway. Among the latest victims were 19 children and two teachers in the small town of Uvalde, west of San Antonio, where on Tuesday a gunman opened fire inside an elementary school in the nation's deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade.

Each of those tragedies in Texas  which resulted in more than 85 dead in all  occurred in the last five years.

But as the horror in Uvalde plunges the U.S. into another debate over gun violence, Texas and the state's Republican-controlled government have by now demonstrated what is likely to happen next: virtually nothing that would restrict gun access.

Lawmakers are unlikely to adopt any significant new limits on guns. Last year, gun laws were actually loosened after a gunman at a Walmart in El Paso killed 23 people in a racist 2019 attack that targeted Hispanics.

I can't wrap my head around it, said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes Uvalde. It's disturbing to me as a policymaker that we have been able to do little other than create greater access to these militarized weapons to just about anyone who would want them.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott identified the gunman as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. The gunman was killed by authorities.

The cycle in Texas  a mass shooting followed by few if any new restrictions on guns  mirrors GOP efforts to block stricter laws in Congress and the ensuring outrage from Democrats and supporters of tougher gun control.

President Joe Biden angrily made a renewed push Tuesday evening after the tragedy in Uvalde. "When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? he asked in an address from the White House.

The shooting in Texas happened days before the National Rifle Association is set to hold its annual meeting in Houston, where Abbott and other Republican leaders are scheduled to speak.

Even as Bidens party has slim control of Congress, gun violence bills have stalled in the face of Republican opposition in the Senate. Last year, the House passed two bills to expand background checks on firearms purchases, but both languished in the 50-50 Senate where Democrats need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome objections from a filibuster.

"It sort of centers around the issue of mental health. It seems like theres consensus in that area, No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune said about how Congress should respond to the Uvalde shooting. He did not specify what that would be.

In Texas, any changes to gun access would not come until lawmakers return to the Capitol in 2023. In the past, calls for action have faded.

Abbott, who is up for reelection in November, said the shooting in Uvalde was carried out horrifically, incomprehensibly on children. He did not immediately say how or whether Texas would respond to this latest mass shooting on a policy level, but since he became governor in 2015, the state has only gotten more relaxed when it comes to gun laws.

Exactly one year before the Uvalde shooting, the GOP-controlled Legislature voted to remove one of the last major gun restrictions in Texas: required licenses, background checks and training for the nearly 1.6 million registered handgun owners in the state at the time.

Abbott signed the measure, which came at the end of what was the Texas Legislature's first chance to act after the Walmart attack.

A year later, a man went on a highway shooting rampage in the West Texas oil patch that left seven people dead, spraying bullets into passing cars and shopping plazas and killing a U.S. Postal Service employee while hijacking her mail truck.

Following a shooting at Santa Fe High School in 2018 that killed 10 people near Houston, Abbott signaled support for so-called red flag laws, which restrict gun access for people deemed dangerous to themselves or others. But he later retreated amid pushback from gun-rights supporters.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won the GOP nomination for a third term Tuesday, told Fox News after the Uvalde shooting that the best response would be training teachers and hardening schools.

Democrat state Rep. Joe Moody recalled the hope he felt that the Walmart shooting in his border city might finally lead to reforms.

And the only answer you get when we go to the Capitol is, More guns, less restrictions,'" Moody said. "Thats it.'

___

Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
A Jefferson County judge has significantly increased the bond for a teen accused of bringing a gun to school late last year in Southeast Texas.

Desmond Baltazar on Wednesday sat before a judge for the first time since his arrest -- just one day after the deadly shooting at a south Texas elementary school that left 21 people dead and others hospitalized.

Jefferson County Criminal District Court Judge John B. Stevens Jr. increased Baltazar's bond to $100,000 with conditions for home confinement and a GPS device.

"You don't think it is serious apparently but everyone else on the planet does," Stevens said. "You're going to have to get your mind straight. This game you are playing with firearms is irresponsible behavior. Do you understand what I am saying? You will be dealt with severely, seriously. You've got to stop playing with firearms as though they are toys."

Stevens said Baltazar was indicted for the unlawfully carrying a weapon in a prohibited place after he was caught carrying a gun at a high school last October. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

"You can imagine how serious that is, especially today after what happened yesterday," Stevens said.

Related: Uvalde school shooting: Teen gunman bought AR-15 style rifle day after he turned 18

After Baltazar was released on the first charge, in March he was indicted for a second firearm-related incident -- theft of a firearm. Beaumont police received a report for the theft on Jan. 25.

Baltazar originally was being held on a combined $15,000 bond.

"You really think this was wise?" Stevens said. "This is serious and we are going to treat it serious. You've been arrested twice now within a short period of time for different firearms -- one, bringing one on a school. You think we are just going to treat that lightly. It's not $5,000. That was an error. And you will be confined at home. You won't leave the house."

Related: Port Arthur looks to enforce new juvenile curfew

Baltazar's defense attorney asked the judge to reconsider.

She said Baltazar's mother made sure he was in court and, keeping the two additional conditions of at-home confinement and the GPS, asked Stevens not to increase the bond past some $20,000.

"Your honor I am worried about the safety of the community so we think $100,000 is appropriate," the state's prosecutor responded when prompted by Stevens.

The judge said the bond decision was "done" and he continued to have a discussion with the teen about the next steps in the case.

"We will take care of the safety of this community from people like you," Stevens said.

meagan.ellsworth@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/megzmagpie
UPDATE: 1:50 PM CT

At a Thursday press conference DPS Regional Safety Director Victor Escalon Jr. said that the team that entered the school and killed the gunman who murdered 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary on Tuesday didn't arrive on the campus until "approximately an hour" after first responding officers made their way into the school.

Escalon said the first officers on the scene entered the building, came under fire and backed to a safe location where they requested backup and ushered staff and students into other rooms. The Border Patrol Tactical team that ultimately killed the shooter arrived an hour after this initial engagement, the director said.

"Officers were calling for additional resources. Tactical teams. We needed specialty equipment, we need body armor. We need sharpshooters. We need negotiators," Escalon said. "It's a complex situation."

"I wanted to clear up that a school district police officer confronted the suspect," Escalon said. "Thats not accurate. He walked in unobstructed. He was not confronted by anybody."

UPDATE: 11:30 AM CT

Authorities are investigating the police response to Tuesday's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School by suspected gunman Salvador Ramos.

The Austin American-Statesman's Tony Plohetski reported Thursday morning that officials are now reviewing police radio traffic at the time of the shooting.

"Authorities now confirm they are examining the response of police in Uvalde in the shooting of 19 children amid conflicting witness statements, including what steps they took to stop the gunman," Plohetski wrote. "Part of the review will include a timeline based on radio traffic."

Investigators are also examining the timing and points of origin regarding firearm discharges by police at the school.

"Officials also are analyzing ballistics to learn who fired and when," Plohetski tweeted. "Sources say these types of reviews are standard after major incidents but are intensified in this case because of discrepancies in statements and gravity of the matter. Uvaldes chief could not be reached."

Officials on Wednesday night appeared to retract previous claims that officers engaged Ramos immediately upon his arrival at Robb Elementary, stating they could no longer confirm initial reports of the encounter.

"Officials first said a school officer and the gunman exchanged fire," Plohetski tweeted. "On Wednesday night, they said they could no longer confirm that initial report. We will stay with this to fully understand what happened."

--- End of Update ---

UPDATE: May 26, 7:20 AM CT

Concerned and frustrated parents of students at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas urged police to charge into the school and take down the gunman, according to an AP report released Thursday. Instead, the police waited outside for 'roughly an hour' prior to entering the school. During that time the alleged gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, murdered 19 students and two teachers in a single classroom, while injuring an additional 17 people Tuesday, before the shooter was killed by a member of Border Patrol.

One woman repeatedly shouted Go in there! Go in there! according to Juan Carranza, 24, a bystander who watched the events unfold from his house across the street from the school. Carranza said he first witnessed the shooter crash his truck, grab his semi-automatic weapon, and fire indiscriminately toward two people standing outside a nearby funeral home who ran away uninjured. The shooter then made his way to the school. Despite this threat, the officers continued to wait outside, Carranza said.

After running inside the school, the AP reports that the gunman fired on two Uvalde police who were arriving outside the building, according to Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine. Both officers were injured by the spray of bullets.

At one point during the attacks, Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed by the gunman, suggested that he and the other parents take matters into their own hands. While police looked on Cazares said, Lets just rush in because the cops arent doing anything like they are supposed to, he told the AP. More could have been done.

Gov. Greg Abbott praised and thanked police officers for their courage at a press conference held in Uvalde Wednesday afternoon. "The reality is, as horrible as what happened is, it couldve been worse," Abbot said. "The reason it wasnt worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do: they showed amazing courage. They ran toward gunfire for the sole purpose of saving lives. They were able to save lives. Unfortunately, not enough."

UPDATE: May 25, 4:19 PM CT

A New York Times report published Wednesday afternoon outlines new details from Tuesday's mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, including preliminary documents stating the shooter was inside the building for "roughly an hour" before being shot and killed by responding authorities.

"The gunman was inside the school for roughly one hour before a tactical unit from the border patrol shot him several times, killing him," the report states, citing documents described by a state police official.

The alleged gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was a Uvalde resident. Ramos allegedly shot his grandmother in the face inside her home Tuesday morning before driving to the elementary school and engaging in a shooting spree that left 19 students and two teachers dead inside a single classroom.

--- End of Update ---

UPDATE: 2:52 PM CT

A Wednesday press conference led by Governor Greg Abbott regarding the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas turned into a tense affair following an interruption from his political opponent Beto O'Rourke. The governor had finished his initial remarks and was turning over the proceedings to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick when O'Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso, Texas and 2022 Texas gubernatorial candidate, approached the stage and pointed a finger at Abbott.

"This is predictable," O'Rourke said. "You're doing nothing...You said this was unpredictable, it's not. It's totally predictable."

O'Rourke was shouted down by men on the stage, which included Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Uvalde Mayor Donald McLaughlin, among others.

"Sit down," Cruz said to O'Rourke.

"Sir, you're out of line," McLaughlin shouted, gesticulating as officers escorted O'Rourke from the building. "You're a sick son of a b-tch to do this to make a political point."

Prior to the interruption, Abbott offered condolences to the families of the victims of Tuesday's mass shooting and outlined further details on the events that cut short the lives of 19 elementary school students, two teachers and the gunman himself. The governor began his remarks by lamenting the "intolerable" circumstances of a shooting targeting such young individuals.

"For someone to gun down little kids. Its intolerable for us to have in the state of Texas, anyone who would kill little kids in our schools," Abbott said. "Children are a blessing. God teaches that. They are filled with innocence."

Abbott spoke about the urgent need for Texans and Americans to come together and thanked police officers, claiming that the situation "could've been worse."

"The reality is, as horrible as what happened is, it couldve been worse," Abbot said. "The reason it wasnt worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do: they showed amazing courage. They ran toward gunfire for the sole purpose of saving lives.

"They were able to save lives. Unfortunately, not enough."

The governor detailed the chronological events of Tuesday's mass shooting, saying it was preceded by the suspected gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, shooting his grandmother in the face at her home and driving her truck to Robb Elementary, where he crashed the vehicle into a ditch before making his way inside the school armed with an assault rifle. Abbott said Ramos' grandmother is alive as of Wednesday and contacted police after being shot.

Officers at the school engaged Ramos, according to Abbott, and the suspected gunman fled down a hallway and into a classroom. From there Ramos ran into another classroom through an adjoining door and proceeded to shoot students and teachers in the second room. Responding officers formed a tactical stack, according to the governor, and were eventually able to overwhelm the shooter, who was killed by a Border Patrol agent responding to the scene.

Abbott finished his remarks by putting the blame for the shooting on a mental health crisis in the Uvalde community, and promised to provide state resources for counseling to police and citizens in the area.

"Everybody in this communitythe victims, the families, the friends, the law enforcement involved, the entire community is in shock by this," the governor said. "The physical wounds sustained by the officers are going to heal in the coming days. The lasting wounds are harder to see, and are going to be around much longer."

"I cannot emphasize the importance of law enforcement officers seeking out and obtaining mental health services," Abbott said.

The governor is scheduled to attend an NRA meeting in Houston this Saturday.

--- End of Update ---

UPDATE: May 25, 10:31 AM CT

Officials told the Associated Press that the suspected gunman who killed 19 students and two adults at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent working in the area at the time of the shooting.

The unnamed agent entered the school without waiting for backup and engaged the suspected shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, shooting and killing him, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to ongoing investigations. Ramos, a Uvalde resident, had legally purchased two assault rifle-style weapons the previous week shortly after turning 18, reports indicate. One of these weapons was discovered by investigators near a truck Ramos crashed into a ditch close to the school prior to the attack. The other weapon was on his person following his death, per officials.

The responding Border Patrol agent sustained wounds while engaging Ramos but was able to walk out of the school, the anonymous official told AP.

--- End of Update ---

UPDATE: May 25, 7:36 AM CT

Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Christopher Olivarez told CNN on Wednesday morning that all of those murdered in Tuesday's tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas were in the same room, according to an AP report.

The victims, according to Olivarez, were gathered in the same fourth-grade classroom when they were killed by alleged shooter Salvador Ramos. The death toll in the shooting rose to 19 students overnight. Two school staff members and the shooter are also among those dead, for a total of 22 fatalities as of Wednesday morning.

--- End of Update ---

UPDATE: May 25, 6:49 AM CT

Authorities are now confirming a 19th child has died as a result of Tuesday's school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, per ABC News.

The suspect, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, is deceased, according to Texas Governor Greg Abbott. ABC News reported Tuesday night that Ramos also shot his grandmother before the shooting at Robb Elementary. This shooting occurred at a different location. Ramos' grandmother was initially reported dead by some outlets but was reportedly alive as of 11 p.m. CT Tuesday night, according to ABC News.

--- End of Update ---

UPDATE: 6:47 PM CT

The death toll of Tuesday's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas has increased to 21 individuals, according to a statement made Tuesday evening by Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez.

CNN's Manu Raju reported that Gutierrez appeared on MSNBC and stated that Texas Rangers, in a briefing, confirmed to him that 18 students, two school staff members and the shooter are dead as a result of the attack.

--- End of Update ---

UPDATE: 3:57 PM CT

Multiple people are dead, including 14 children and one teacher, following an active shooter situation at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, according to Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

The governor gave a press conference detailing the aftermath of the deadly attack, stating that the shooter and a teacher are also among those dead.

"The shooter was Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old male that resided in Uvalde," Abbott said. "It is believed that he abandoned his vehicle and entered into the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with a handgun, and he may have also had a rifle, but that is not yet confirmed."

"He shot and killed, horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher," Abbott stated. "Mr. Romas, the shooter, he himself is deceased."

Abbott stated that it is believed responding officers shot and killed the shooter at the scene.

Uvalde Memorial Hospital confirmed that two individuals from Robb Elementary School arrived at the hospital dead on Tuesday afternoon, and 13 other children were transported to the hospital with injuries.

"UMH received 13 children via ambulance or buses for treatment," the hospital wrote in a Facebook post. "Two children have been transferred to San Antonio and one child is pending transfer. Two individuals that arrived at UMH were deceased. No details are available. Please refrain from coming to the hospital at this time."

--- End of Update ---

A suspect is in custody and a number of students are being treated at Uvalde Memorial Hospital on Tuesday afternoon following an active shooter situation that unfolded at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, about 90 minutes outside San Antonio.

According to Uvalde Memorial Hospital, "several" students are being treated in the emergency room following the incident. The hospital posted a status Tuesday afternoon updating followers and asking immediate family of students in their care to meet in the cafeteria.

"Information at this time is that the active shooter at Robb Elementary is in custody," the hospital wrote in a Facebook post. "UMH is currently caring for several students in the ER. Immediate family of those students are to report to the cafeteria on the second floor. UMH staff will be in constant communication with the family members. If you are not an immediate family member, we are asking you to refrain from coming to the hospital at this time."

Uvalde police confirmed that an active shooter situation did occur at Robb Elementary Tuesday afternoon and noted that a suspect has been taken into custody, according to ABC 8. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District informed the public at 12:17 p.m. CT that an active shooter was on the campus and that local law enforcement had arrived on the scene. UCISD stated all of its campuses were on lockdown until further notice and asked families of students not to approach the school.

"There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary," the district wrote in a Facebook post. "Law enforcement is on site. Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared. The rest of the district is under a Secure Status."

UCISD followed this with a message informing parents of a reunification site at Willie DeLeon Civic Center.

"Reunification Site for Robb Students: Robb Elementary students are being transported to the Willie DeLeon Civic Center for reunification," the district wrote. "The Civic Center will be under a Secure Status until all students are account for. Parents please do not pick up students at this time. You will be notified to pick up students once all are accounted for."

The district has since confirmed parents can pick up their children at the reunification site.

"Update: Robb Parents. Robb Elementary students have been transported to the CIVIC CENTER for reunification. Parents are encouraged to pick up their children at this time.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Gov. Greg Abbott revealed more details about the mass shooting and the gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde during a press conference on Wednesday, May 25.

"It is intolerable and unacceptable for us to have in this state anybody who would kill little kids in our school," Abbott started the conference. "...The reality is, as horrible as what happened, it could have been worse. The reason it was not worse is that law enforcement officials did what they do. They showed amazing courage by running towards gunfire for the singular purpose of trying to save lives."

Abbott said the gunman was an 18-year-old high school dropout with no reported criminal history. However, officials said he may have a juvenile record, but it has yet to be determined. The gunman reportedly posted on Facebook about 30 minutes before the shooting that he was going to shoot his grandmother in the face.

Once he shot her, officials said the shooter published another post that stated he was going to shoot an elementary school. Abbott said he took his grandmother's vehicle, had an accident at the elementary school, and then entered the school with an AR15.

The gunman started shooting in a classroom that was connected to another classroom, Abbott said. That's when responding officers converged to the classroom and killed the gunman. Along with the 21 dead, 17 people were injured. Abbott said the injuries are not life-threatening.

Abbott said the community is focusing on mental health opportunities right now as Uvalde leaders and law enforcement officials believe that was the main problem, not guns.

"[The leaders] said, 'We have a problem with mental health illness in this community," Abbott said, adding that 18-year-olds have been able to buy a gun in the state of Texas for more than 60 years. "...We have not had episodes like this. Why is it that we do now? The reality is I don't know the answer to that question. However, what I do know and talking to the leaders here, as well as with elite leaders from other locations around the state, and the one thing that has substantially changed is the status of mental health in our communities."

Abbott continued, "We as a state. We as a society need to do a better job with mental health. Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge. Period. We as a government need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and to do something about it."

According to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, the gunman bought a semi-automatic rifle on March 17, and then another on March 20. Abbott said the problem isn't a gun law solution, saying more people are shot every weekend in Chicago than they are in Texas schools.

"We need to realize that people who think that, 'well maybe we should implement tougher gun laws to solve it," Abbott continued. "...If you're looking for a real solution, Chicago teaches that what you're talking about, it's not a real solution."

Dario Lopez-Mills/AP

During the conference, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke interrupted it and went face-to-face with Abbott saying, "This is on you." A shouting match followed before O'Rourke was escorted out of the Uvalde shooting press conference.
Brandon Bell, Staff / Getty Images

Texas grocery chain H-E-B announced Wednesday, May 25, it would step in to assist Uvalde families impacted by the shooting at Robb Elementary School, which killed at least 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday, May 24. An additional 17 people were wounded, according to Gov. Greg Abbott.

The San Antonio-based company says it's committing $500,000 in aid to the affected Texas families. H-E-B will also give customers the opportunity to provide additional support by making $1, $3, $5, $50, or $100 donations at checkout. The offer is also available through curbside or home delivery orders.
At least 19 children and two adults were killed after a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, west of San Antonio, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Officials confirmed the suspected shooter is dead. Here's what we know about the shooting:

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the shooter was an 18-year-old high school dropout who resided in Uvalde. The suspect's name is Salvador Ramos. The gunman reportedly posted on Facebook about 30 minutes before the shooting that he was going to shoot his grandmother in the face.

Once he shot her, officials said Ramos published another post that stated he was going to shoot an elementary school. Abbott said he took his grandmother's vehicle, had an accident at the elementary school, and then entered the school with an AR15.

Officials say the shooter "encountered" a school district security officer outside the school, though there were conflicting reports from authorities on whether the men exchanged gunfire. After running inside, he fired on two arriving Uvalde police officers who were outside the building, according to the Associated Press.

The gunman then barricaded himself inside a classroom that was connected to another classroom and began shooting, Abbott said. That's when responding officers converged to the classroom and killed the gunman.

CNN reports that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when the shooter opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him, though a department spokesman said later that they could not give a solid estimate of how long the gunman was in the school or when he was killed.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, the gunman bought a semi-automatic rifle on March 17, and then another on March 20.

Along with the 21 dead, 17 people were injured. According to University Health, the hospital is treating a 66-year-old woman who's in critical condition, a 10-year-old who's in serious condition, and a 10-year-old and 9-year-old who are both in good condition.

Billy Calzada/AP

Where is Uvalde?

The city is about 80 miles west of San Antonio. It was founded as Encina in 1855 but renamed Uvalde in 1857, according to TSHA. There is an estimated population of 24,729 as of July 2021, according to the Census Bureau. The demographic makeup is 95% white and 72% Hispanic.

It is the birthplace of Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey.

The Oscar winner released a statement on Tuesday's shooting asking "What is it we truly value?"

William Luther/AP

Things to know about Robb Elementary School, district

Uvalde CISD has over 4,200 students, according to 2020 Texas Education Agency data. It pulls students from Zavala and Real counties.

Robb Elementary School is less than a mile from Uvalde's city center. Robb Elementary School is 89% Hispanic, according to 2020 TEA data. About 81% of Robb Elementary is classified as economically disadvantaged.

The last day of school for the school district is Thursday, May 26, only two days away.

Uvalde CISD announced in a tweet on Thursday, May 26 that it has postponed its graduation ceremony at Uvalde High School.

"Out of the deepest respect for the families and our community affected by the tragedy we have experienced, the Uvalde High School Graduation Ceremony has been postponed," the district wrote. "This is a difficult time for everyone. Please keep all families in your prayers."

In May 2018, two teenagers from Uvalde were arrested after authorities discovered their plan to commit a mass shooting at a junior high school in Uvalde that was originally planned to carry out on April 20, 2022, according to a report from MySA.com.

The teens were inspired by the Columbine, Colorado shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and often referred to each other using those names. Harris and Klebold killed 13 people and wounded 24 others in a mass murder at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.

Although originally planned for 2022, one of the suspects persuaded the other to commit the shooting in 2018 at Morales Junior High, which the same district as Robb Elementary School.

Dario Lopez-Mills/AP

Uvalde Police Department issues statement on response time

Under national scrutiny about the response time of its officers as the gunman killed 19 children and two teachers, Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez issued a statement recognizing the questions and doubling down on the claim that officers responded in minutes to Robb Elementary. He also noted that officers sustained injuries in the response. The statement says the Texas Rangers are leading the investigation.

The statement was issued on Thursday, May 26, moments after the Uvalde Police Department scheduled a press conference to address the questions at the site of the shooting.

Twitter/@fuhknjo

Surviving family members now dead

On Thursday, two days after the shooting, the family of teacher Irma Garcia shared that her husband had died due to grief.

Family also shared a GoFundMe fundraiser set up by Irma Garcias cousin, which includes contributions for her husband, Joe.

"I truly believe Joe died of a broken heart and losing the love of his life of more than 30 years was too much to bear, the fundraiser says.

Biden to visit Uvalde

President Joe Biden plans to visit Uvalde on Sunday. The president and the first lady believe it is important to show their support for the community, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday."

William Luther/AP

Additional resources are being sent to Uvalde

On Wednesday, May 25, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff issued a statement on the involvement of local resources. Bexar County Medical Examiner Dr. Kimberley Molina is in Uvalde with her staff and has brought on five additional doctors to help "bring closure" to affected families. Wolff says the Commissioners Court will be providing financial help for this effort and are ready to fund more staff if needed.

William Luther/AP

How to help?

If you are looking for ways to help, please consider donating blood, University Health recommended on Twitter on Tuesday.

"Your donation can help ensure we have supplies immediately available for the victims of this tragic shooting," the hospital tweeted.

You can check for availability here.

The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center also sent 15 units of low titer O whole blood to Uvalde and is asking for others to donate blood as well. You can make an appointment by calling the emergency blood supply at 210-731-5590.
After 19 children and at least two adults were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday, May 24, one local funeral home has announced they will be providing services free of charge to victims and their families. Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home located in Uvalde, about 80 miles west of San Antonio, announced the news in a post on their Facebook page on Tuesday evening.

"We have fought together as a community and we will pull together as one now in our time of need. Hillcrest will be assisting families with NO COST for funerals for all involved in todays horrific events. Prayer for our small amazing town. #UvaldeStrong," the family-run business wrote.
Nineteen students and two adults were killed when a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday, May 24, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The 18-year-old gunman was shot and killed by law enforcement officers.

Here's what we know about the victims identified so far:

Eliahna "Ellie" Garcia, 9

Eliahna "Ellie" Garcia, 9, was also confirmed to be another victim, family members told NBC News. Siria Arizmendi, Eliahna's aunt and a fifth-grade teacher at Flores Elementary School in the same school district, also told the Associated Press that Eliahna was "very happy and very outgoing."

Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10

Felix Coronado, the cousin of Maite Rodriguezs mother, confirmed her death through a GoFundMe page, calling her a "sweet baby girl."

"It is with a heavy heart I come on here on behalf of my cousin Ana who lost her sweet baby girl in yesterday's senseless shooting we are deeply saddened by the loss of this sweet smart little girl. Donations for funeral expenses as well for time away from work to allow her to grieve her loss anything helps God bless and may she R.I.P Maite Rodriguez we love you," he wrote.

Tess Mata, 10

Tess Mata, a 10-year-old fourth-grader, was killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School, her older sister, Faith Mata, told the Washington Post. She loved TikTok dance videos, Ariana Grande, the Houston Astros, and getting her hair curled, Mata told the newspaper.

"Sissy I miss you so much," the older sister wrote on Facebook.

Makenna Lee Elrod, 10

Makenna Lee Elrod, 10, was one of the students killed Tuesday, her uncle, Kyle McCullough. told ABC News.

In an online fundraiser, Makenna's aunt, Allison McCullough, described her niece as "beautiful, funny, smart and amazing."

"She had the biggest heart and loved her family and friends so much," Allison McCullough said. "Her smile would light up a room. We will carry her in our hearts and we know she is with our Lord and Savior."

Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10

Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, was confirmed dead, her grandfather, Adolfo Cruz, told ABC News.

Jose Flores Jr., 10

Jose Flores Jr. 10, was among the students killed, his uncle told the Washington Post.

"I'm going to miss you baby Jose, i still can't believe this happened my heart is broken just hearing them tell us your gone," Christopher Salazar, the uncle, wrote in a Facebook post. "It hurts me I love you so much and I wish you were still here. I'm going to miss you soo much rest in paradise my beautiful angel."

Nevaeh Bravo, 10

Nevaeh Bravo, 10, was confirmed to have been killed, by her grandmother, Esmeralda Bravo, according to ABC News.

Alexandria "Lexi" Rubio, 10

Alexandria "Lexi" Rubio is among the dead, her mother, Kimberly Mata-Rubio, told CNN. Her mother and father, Felix Rubio, told CNN that on the morning of the shooting, they celebrated her making the honor roll and earning a good citizen award.

Felix Rubio, a deputy with the Uvalde County Sheriff's Office, was one of many law enforcement officers who responded to the school, he told CNN.

Miranda Mathis, 11

Miranda Mathis' cousin Deanna Miller confirmed the 11-year-old's death on Facebook, writing, "My sweet baby cousin we loved u dearly I'm so sorry this happen to u baby please keep my family in your prayers," alongside a photo of the girl.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Miranda's family searched for her for hours before learning the devastating news.

Layla Salazar, 10

Layla Salazar was a 10-year-old 4th grader at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and one of the 19 kids murdered, according to KTHV 11.

Jaliah Nicole Silguero, 10

Veronica Luevanos, whose 10-year-old daughter, Jaliah Nicole Silguero, was among the victims, told Univision in a tearful interview that her daughter did not want to go to school Tuesday and that the girl seemed to sense something was going to happen.

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos was cousins with Jaliah Silguero, according to ABC News.

"They were nothing but loving baby angels, always had a smile on their face just full of life," Zeke Luevanos, their cousin, said in a statement to ABC News. "I can't believe this happened to our angels."

Alithia Ramirez, 10

Alithia Ramirez, 10, was among the victims of the shooting, according to her father Ryan Ramirez. Beto O'Rourke tweeted he met the parents of Alithia, writing how balloons from her 10th birthday were still up.

"They want the world to know what a beautiful, talented, happy girl she was. They never want this to happen to another kid," O'Rourke tweeted on Wednesday, May 25.

Uziyah Garcia, 8

Another victim of the Uvalde school shooting has been identified. The Associated Press reported late Tuesday night that 8 year old Uziyah Garcia was among the 19 children who lost their lives in the shooting.

"The sweetest little boy that I've ever known," Manny Renfro, the boy's grandfather, said. "I'm not just saying that because he was my grandkid."

UCISD

Eva Mireles

Eva Mireles was a 4th Grade Teacher at Robb Elementary, according to ABC News. Mireles worked in the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District for 17 years, her aunt Lydia Martinez Delgado said in a statement.

"I'm furious that these shootings continue. These children are innocent. Rifles should not be easily available to all. This is my hometown, a small community of less than 20,000. I never imagined this would happen to, especially, loved ones," Delgado says in a statement. "All we can do is pray hard for our country, state, schools, and especially the families of all."

GoFundMe

Xavier Lopez, 10

Fourth-grader Xavier Lopez died in Tuesday's elementary school shooting, his family confirmed on a GoFundMe page. He was 10 years old.

According to the page, he was tragically taken during Tuesday's elementary school shooting. The page has raised $55,171 as of Wednesday morning.

You can donate by clicking here.

UCISD

Irma Garcia

Mireles' co-teacher, Irma Garcia, was killed, her son, Christian Garcia told NBC News.

Garcia taught at the school for 23 years, according to her school profile. She had four children and loved barbecuing with her husband and listening to music. Her son told NBC News that a friend in law enforcement who was at the scene saw Garcia shielding her students.

A GoFundMe was created for Garcia, raising over $10,000 as of Wednesday morning, May 25. The organizer described her as a sweet, kind, and loving wife and mother to four children.

"She sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom. She was a hero. She was loved by many and will truly be missed," the page wrote.

To donate, click here.

Courtesy photo / Facebook

Amerie Jo Garza, 10

A father identified his 10-year-old daughter, Amerie Jo Garza, as one of the children who died in Tuesday's shooting, according to CNN.

"Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby. She's been found," Angel Garza wrote in a Facebook post early Wednesday morning. "My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don't take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie jo. Watch over your baby brother for me."

Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10

Ten-year-old Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez is another one of the children who died in Tuesday's shooting, according to a KHOU reporter. She was in the third grade.

Her older sister Lidia Anthony Luna wrote on Facebook that her little sister didn't make it. She stated, "why god these sweet babies didn't deserve this."

Jacinto Cazares

Jacklyn Cazares, 9

Jacklyn Cazares, 9, was killed along with her cousin Annabelle Rodriguez. They were cousins, friends, and classmates in their fourth-grade class at Robb Elementary, the Cazares family told MySA.com.

"My baby girl has been taken away from my family and I," Jacinto Cazares, Jacklyn's father, wrote in a Facebook post. "We're devastated in ways, I hope no one ever goes thru. Taken out of arms and lives, in this freaking cowardly way, so young, so innocent, full of life and love. It hurts us to our souls. We thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts, for your love, support and prayers. My babygirl will always be with us and those she has touched."

Jacinto told MySA.com that his daughter and all her best friends are gone.

Rogelio Torres, 10

Rojelio Torres, who was initially reported missing by his father, has since been confirmed dead by his family. Torres was 10 years old.

The boys dad, Federico Torres, told KHOU-TV that he was at work when he learned about the shooting and rushed to the school.

Check back for updates of the victims.
William Luther/AP

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg announced he will be at a local vigil to stand together in solidarity, silence, and prayer for the victims, families, and community in Uvalde. The gathering will be at 6 p.m. at the Main Plaza on Wednesday, May 25.

"Our time together will be a time of standing in solidarity, silence, and prayer," Nirenberg tweeted the day after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. "Uvalde is not alone."
WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX

111 AM CDT Wed May 25 2022

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN KINNEY AND

SOUTHERN UVALDE COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The storms which prompted the warning have moved out of the warned

area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 300 AM CDT for

south central Texas.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 145 AM CDT

FOR EASTERN MAVERICK...NORTHERN DIMMIT...ZAVALA AND WESTERN FRIO

COUNTIES...

At 111 AM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Loma Vista to 11 miles north of Cometa, moving

southeast at 50 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind

damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Crystal City, Carrizo Springs, Dilley, Big Wells, La Pryor,

Batesville, Asherton, Chula Vista-River Spur, Las Colonias, Winter

Haven, Cometa, Brundage, Carrizo Hill, Divot, Loma Vista, Las Vegas,

Bluff, Hilltop and Farias Lake.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with these storms.

Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading

killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to

be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of northwestern Medina,

southeastern Kinney, Maverick, Uvalde and northwestern Zavala

Counties through 200 AM CDT...

At 113 AM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from Reagan Wells to 14 miles southwest of Quemado.

Movement was east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and nickel size hail.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Eagle Pass, Uvalde, Brackettville, Spofford, Quemado, Sabinal, Chula

Vista, Laguna, Concan, Darling, Uvalde Estates, Dabney, Cline,

Anacacho, Reagan Wells, Utopia, Rosita, Knippa, Blewett and Paloma.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

These storms may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

LAT...LON 2855 10041 2858 10040 2861 10045 2864 10045

2866 10050 2880 10053 2883 10055 2883 10058

2889 10059 2890 10063 2894 10065 2909 10067

2913 10073 2962 9992 2962 9907

TIME...MOT...LOC 0613Z 278DEG 31KT 2955 9982 2883 10083

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
Shutterstock.com

It's very evident that our world is going through some very trying times, and it has affected everyone to some degree. Tension, fear, and disunity are at an all-time high. In short, our world is hurting right now. People are hurting. People are angry. People are living in fear. In a time like these, we can either focus on the problem or focus on being a part of a solution to the hurt, fear, and tensions around us.

It doesn't cost you anything to be a part of a solution. You don't need a title, position, or money in order to answer the call of bringing peace, calm, and hope to a hurting people around you. One of the frequently asked questions in times like these is, how can I help, or how I can support others that are hurting.

If that's you and you want to be a part of the solution, then I encourage you to start right where you are, with what you have.

Create Intentional Conversations

Create opportunities for people of different races to come together in a safe place to have open dialogue and conversation about what's going on in our country. It doesn't have to be a lot of people to be effective. It can be a very small group or simply two people coming together to talk. This provides an outlet and time to hear from different perspectives and views. It's not a time to judge or debate or to push one's own beliefs. It's simply using the power of conversation to open up awareness and bring an understanding of how others are feeling and what they are going through and why. It also empowers you as a listener to learn from others by hearing their heart and views on the current events that the world is facing.

Here are some tips on creating opportunities for people to come together and talk. Always let them know you want to have some open dialogue and conversation about the current events. Make them aware that it will be a safe place and ways to explore solutions and how each can be a part.

 Send an email to some co-workers inviting them out for lunch.

 Invite some of your neighbors over to sit out on the back or front porch. Porch conversations are simply awesome.

 Reach out to someone of a different race than you and invite him or her out for coffee or lunch. This will provide the one on one conversation and dialogue from a different perspective, which fosters learning from each other, and understanding that may not have been there before.

Encourage One Person Every Day

Everyone needs encouragement at one time or another. There's a lot going on in our world that has brought discouragement to the minds and hearts of many people. With the uncertainty of what our world will look like from day to day, it causes so many to lose heart and hope for a better tomorrow.

If you are taking the time to read this article, then you have time and everything you need in order to spread some encouragement, love, and hope to others around you. What I mean by that is that this is an online article, and you are reading it from your smartphone, iPad, or computer. This means you can easily spread encouragement immediately after reading this.

 Send someone an encouraging text message.

 Call someone and actually have a conversation filled with hope and encouragement.

 Send an email.

 Post something very encouraging on your social media.

Let's face it; social media has the potential to become very toxic during turbulent times. People often use their social media to spew out their opinions and anger by debating with people they will never come face to face with. In short, it emboldens people to be bullies online and continue to spread so much anger and hate. The next time you make a social media post, think about it as a powerful platform that can be a part of the solution that brings healing and hope to hurting people.

Once again, everybody needs encouragement.

Spread Love Like a WildFire

Love is the greatest commandment. It has the power to change the lives of those around us. When you love others, it is unconditional and requires no repayment from the recipient. Love is a very powerful force that can change a life, touch a heart, and bring people of different backgrounds and colors together in unity.

"Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

If you are a person of faith, then it is imperative to walk out the scriptures and be a part of the solution that showers this world with love, one person at a time. Showing the love of God to a hurting and a discouraged person is a part of your Christian faith and journey in life.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12).

It doesn't take much to reach out and encourage someone or to do something that will put a smile on their face and a little joy in their heart. It doesn't take much to be a part of the solution. This world needs encouragement, hope, and healing, and you are the perfect candidate to be a part of bringing that solution to hurting people every single day.

Here are a few take away thoughts to remember as you embark on your own journey of being a part of the solution to making this world a better place.

Smile - It has the potential to brighten someone's day.

Listen - Create opportunities for all people to come together and have meaningful dialogue that brings understanding, healing, and solutions.

Love - It's better than hate and has the power to change the world. Besides that, God commanded us to do it.

This world needs you.

Hurting people need you.

Angry people need you.

Discouraged people need you.

Go out and be a part of the solution today!
Filippo Grandi (center), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, talks with Rohingya refugees during his visit to the Kutupalong camp in Ukhia, Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, May 22, 2022.

Despite the Ukraine war, the world mustnt forget about the plight of Rohingya and other refugees as well as the burden of their host countries, the head of the U.N.s refugee agency pleaded Wednesday as he ended a five-day trip to Bangladesh.

The conflict stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its humanitarian fallout is straining resources everywhere, including in supporting the sprawling refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh along the frontier with Myanmar, said Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

I am here to remind the international community that there is not just Ukraine. Bangladesh has been bearing the responsibilities for five years and this support cannot decline, he told a press conference in Dhaka.

I will not accept it. I will put maximum pressure on all donor partners.

It is very important that the world knows this should not be forgotten . The risk is there of marginalization of some of the crises because so many resources are absorbed, especially by the Ukraine emergency, he added.

The camps in Bangladeshs Coxs Bazar district house about 1 million Rohingya refugees, including 740,000 who fled atrocities during a military offensive in Myanmars Rakhine state in 2017.

But only 13 percent of the U.S. $881 million needed by humanitarian agencies this year to support the Rohingya refugees in the South Asian nation has been funded as of May.

I am a bit worried... first of all, there are a bit more needs because there is also Bhashan Char, and now in Ukraine, in Afghanistan and a lot of other competing crises, we struggle a bit, but I am here also for that reason, Grandi said.

Bhashan Char is a remote island in the Bay of Bengal where the Bangladesh government has relocated some 26,000 Rohingya refugees since December 2020, ostensibly to ease the burden on the crowded mainland camps in Coxs Bazar.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Grandi visited refugee camps in both Coxs Bazar and on Bhashan Char.

Grandi said the war in Ukraine had added an additional financial burden on the United Nations, which was affecting the Rohingya camps as well.

The Ukraine emergency is posing a problem here as well. We buy liquid gas for  [these] camps. That price has gone up a lot and this is a direct impact of the crisis, he said.

When asked, Grandi acknowledged that funding for the Rohingya refugees would be more difficult than before.

I think the government knows that, we know that, and the donors know that.

The solution to the Rohingya crisis lies in Myanmar, the UNHCR chief said.

The Rohingya refugees I met reiterated their desire to return home when conditions allow. The world must work to address the root causes of their flight and to translate those dreams into reality, Grandi said.

Filippo Grandi (center), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, walks inside the Kutupalong refugee camp in Coxs Bazar district in Bangladesh, May 22, 2022. [Photo courtesy UNHCR]

Grandi talked with Rohingya about their situation during his visit to refugee camps earlier this week, said Kin Maung, the founder of the Rohingya Youth Association in Coxs Bazar.

We hope, following the visit of UNHCR boss, the process of repatriation will get more focus, he told BenarNews.

We want to return to our homeland with dignity.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has his hands raised by Senate President Vicente Sotto (to his right) and House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco (to his left) as the Philippine Congress proclaims him winner of the May 9 presidential election, May 25, 2022.

The Philippine Congress on Wednesday officially declared Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte-Carpio winners of the May 9 presidential and vice-presidential polls, saying the running mates each garnered about 60 percent of ballots cast in landslide victories.

The declaration was a crowning moment for Marcos, the son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator, as he sealed his quest to follow in his footsteps as president, despite the long and dark shadow of his fathers brutal rule. It also guaranteed that a Duterte would have a top position in the incoming administration as President Rodrigo Duterte exits office at the end of June.

I am humbled because for anyone in public service or in a public life, the most valuable thing we may receive from a fellow citizen is their vote. Because embedded in that vote are their hopes, their aspirations for the future, Marcos said. But also embedded in that vote are the trust and the confidence that they give to you to take them to that aspirational future.

This years proclamation of electoral results  the fastest in the countrys history  came after the House of Representatives and Senate convened as a canvassing body a day earlier. Congress noted that lawyers for top opposition candidate Leni Robredo, who received less than half of the votes for Marcos, did not pose any objection.

We did not sacrifice transparency and authenticity of the results for a speedy count, said Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who chaired the process, adding that Marcos garnered close to 59 percent of the total presidential votes cast, while Duterte-Carpio, the daughter of the incumbent president, took in 61.5 percent of votes for VP.

Senate President Vicente Sotto, who finished second in the vice presidential race to Duterte-Carpio, concurred that Marcos was the duly elected president of the Philippines.

Marcos thanked the Commission on Elections for overseeing a smooth election and said that in my experience, the best-run election that we have seen that has reflected truly the voice of the people and the choice of the people.

I am inspired by this responsibility that has been given me, so I ask you all, pray for me, wish me well, I want to do well, because when a president does well, the country does well. And I want to do well for this country.

Meanwhile, protesters staged an anti-Marcos rally outside the headquarters of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, with police seen using water cannon to control the crowd.

Marcoss inauguration is set for June 30, under the Philippine Constitution, and his first work day will be July 1.

Congress noted that Marcos and Duterte-Carpio won by landslides, receiving 31.6 million and 32.2 million votes respectively. By contrast, Robredo received a little over 15 million votes and her vice presidential running mate, Francis Pangilinan, received 9.3 million.

The joint canvassing committee tabulated votes from 81 provinces and independent cities, along with absentee local and overseas Filipinos votes, according to House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, a cousin of Marcos.

Their overwhelming mandate reflects the peoples desire for unity toward progress and development, Romualdez said.

He thanked Robredo and the other eight candidates for accepting their defeat graciously.

Their manifestations to no longer challenge the COCs (certificates of canvass) and to recognize the integrity and authenticity of the election results smoothened and expedited our canvass and allowed the canvassing committee to carry out its mandate from the joint session in so short a time, he said.

Philippine police clash with activists protesting against the proclamation of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as president-elect during a rally at the Commission on Human Rights in suburban Quezon City, May 25, 2022. [Basilio Sepe/BenarNews]

Family present

Among those attending the announcement on Wednesday were Marcoss family, including his mother, Imelda. The aging matriarch of the political clan remains a polarizing figure in the Philippines, 36 years after a peaceful people-power revolt removed her dictator husband, Ferdinand E. Marcos, from office.

Marcos Jr.s sister, Imee Marcos, a senator, said the family was grateful to the Philippine people for giving them a chance to revive the Marcos name.

Imee Marcos said the family had been unduly judged through the years after her father went into exile in Hawaii in 1986, where he died three years later. The elder Marcos had ruled the nation for more than two decades and had declared martial law in 1972.

Following his death, Imelda Marcos and their three children were allowed to return home and were never barred from running for public office.

Imelda Marcos (right), the widow of dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, shares a laugh with her daughter-in-law, Lisa Araneta Marcos (in blue), following the announcement that Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (left) is the Philippine president-elect, May 25, 2022. [BenarNews]

In 2016, the family supported Rodrigo Dutertes successful presidential campaign, the same year Marcos lost the vice presidential race to Robredo. One of Dutertes first official acts as president was to transfer the remains of the Marcos patriarch to the National Heroes Cemetery in Manila.

Yes were very, very grateful for a second chance as it were, because we have gone through so much. They have filed many cases against us, on top of their criticism and oppression. Our family really suffered for the past almost four decades, Imee Marcos told reporters.

So I thank everyone who trusted us, to our loyalists, the Ilocanos and to those who believed that the country really needs strong leadership, she said, referring to the people of the Ilocos region, the familys northern bailiwick.

Dennis Jay Santos in Davao city, Philippines, contributed to this report.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left), U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend an event during the summit of Quad leaders in Tokyo, May 24, 2022.

Japan has described as provocative a joint patrol by Chinese and Russian air forces over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea conducted as Quad leaders met in Tokyo to discuss regional security.

At Tuesdays meeting, the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States declared a steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi said after the summit that Japan had communicated through our diplomatic routes our grave concerns over the China-Russia joint patrol.

We believe the fact that this action was taken during the Quad summit makes it more provocative than in the past, Kishi told reporters in Tokyo, adding that it was the fourth such incident since November.

The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a brief statement that a joint aerial strategic patrol was carried out in the airspace over the waters of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean.

The two militaries staged the patrol in accordance with their annual military cooperation plan, the statement said.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied that the joint patrol was aimed against third countries.

It said that during the 13-hour mission Russian and Chinese bombers did not intrude into Japanese and South Korean airspace.

South Korea said at least four Chinese and four Russian warplanes entered its air defense zone several times during the day of the patrol, Reuters reported.

China-Russia no-limit partnership

The Russian ministry maintained that the Russian and Chinese aircraft operated strictly in compliance with the provisions of international law.

It said the patrol included Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers of the Russian Aerospace Force and Hong-6K (commonly known as Xian H-6) strategic bombers of the Air Force of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA).

Russian Su-30SM jets provided fighter support for this air task force and at some sections of the route, the bombers were escorted by F-2 aircraft of the South Korean Air Force and F-15 jets of the Japanese Air Force, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Japanese fighter jets scramble to intercept a suspected intrusion into Japans airspace over the Sea of Japan in this undated photo. [Japan Ministry of Defense] Japans Ministry of Defense Joint Staff confirmed that Japanese fighters scrambled to cope with a suspected intrusion into Japans airspace over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

It said in a press release that Japan identified four Chinese H-6 bombers, two Russian Tu-95 bombers and a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Chinese and Russian air forces have conducted such joint strategic air patrol. The two militaries have also carried out numerous joint exercises on land and at sea.

At a briefing on Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the latest event demonstrated that the Sino-Russian partnership is quite alive and well.

Russias President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a summit in February, in which they praised the bilateral partnership as having "no limits" and "no forbidden areas of cooperation."

China-Russia cooperation is driven by strong internal dynamics and valued for its independence. It is not targeted at any third party and will not be affected by others, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Tuesday.

The Russia-initiated war in Ukraine has pushed the two countries even closer and Beijing has so far refused to condemn the Russian invasion.

As the international community responds to Russias aggression against Ukraine, the fact that China took such action in collaboration with Russia, which is the aggressor, is cause for concern. It cannot be overlooked, Japanese Defense Minister Kishi said, referring to Tuesdays joint patrol.

Containing China

The Quad summit on Tuesday, though not mentioning China, did reaffirm the groupings resolve to uphold the international rules-based order where countries are free from all forms of military, economic and political coercion.

Analysts say the four Quad nations share concerns about Chinas growing influence and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

Beijing has been responding to international criticism by holding military drills and deployments.

On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden said his country is "committed" to defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

On the same day, China announced increased naval activities in the two strategically important straits northwest and southwest of Japan.

Japans Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said two Type 054A frigates of the PLA Navy  the Xuzhou and the Handan  transited the Tsushima Strait toward the Sea of Japan while the Sovremenny-class destroyer Hangzhou entered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Miyako Strait from the East China Sea.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the PLA Eastern Theater Command said it has recently organized joint combat-readiness patrol and real-combat training exercises involving multiple services and arms in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island.

These actions are stern warning against the recent collusion activities between the US and the Taiwan independence separatist forces, said command spokesperson, Senior Col. Shi Yi. He did not specify the dates when the exercises took place.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that should be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

The Eastern Theater Command of the PLA is responsible for Taiwan, Japan and the East China Sea.

Reported by Radio Free Asia, an online news service affiliated with BenarNews.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Cloudy skies this morning followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High near 80F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Showers and thundershowers early, then overcast overnight with occasional rain. Low 62F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Cloudy this morning. Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High around 80F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Showers and thundershowers this evening will give way to steady rain overnight. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Cloudy this morning. Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High around 80F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Showers and thundershowers early, then overcast overnight with occasional rain. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
What will a nation do after it sees nearly two-dozen of its citizens, mostly children, killed in their classrooms by a hail of gunfire?
Cops and Courts Reporter

Amanda Burke is Cops and Courts Reporter for The Berkshire Eagle. An Ithaca, New York native, she previously worked at The Herald News of Fall River and the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise.
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.
PITTSFIELD  Whats going on when the jobless rate falls? Often, its a sign of an improving economy, as increasing employment powers growth.

Thats not whats going on in Berkshire County.

The countys jobless rate dropped in April to 4.2 percent, new figures show, compared to 7.3 percent in April 2021.

Sounds good, right? Not when you look at a few more numbers.

The state reports monthly on both the jobless rate for each county and the full civilian workforce, which includes people with jobs as well as those out of work.

In April, there were 1,993 fewer unemployed people in the county, compared to the same month a year ago. But there were also 69 fewer employed people, state numbers show.

A recap, since were talking about numbers: Thats nearly 2,000 fewer jobless folks from one year to the next in the Berkshires. But also fewer people holding jobs. So where did those unemployed workers go (or at least the total number of them)?

Simply out of the labor force, it seems: From one April to another, the civilian labor force shrank in Berkshire County by 2,062.

As a result, two years into the pandemic, Berkshire County employers still face a dramatic shortage of workers.

Heather Boulger, executive director of the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board, estimates that there are two openings for every jobless worker in the region.

We spoke with Boulger to learn more.

Q: When, if ever, will this labor market get back to normal?

A: A whole lot has changed, even though the unemployment rate is pretty similar to what it was pre-pandemic. The biggest thing that I see from a workforce perspective is a drop in the number of people in the labor force in the Berkshires ... and its consistently been about 2,000 people under pre-pandemic levels. Weve come to conclude that those 2,000 people are mostly people who have taken early retirement. People who were working and just decided to leave the workforce.

Q: What can be done to address that?

A: Were doing everything in the MassHire system to rescale and retool people and get them back into the labor force. We have a highly competitive labor market right now, and a shortage of available workers. We have more than 3,500 jobs listed in the Berkshires on our state database. Thats huge. Thats double what it was pre-pandemic. Theres about two job openings for every unemployed worker.

Its definitely a job seekers market. We have some unique challenges here in the Berkshires  with an aging population, a decline in population and an outmigration of the working-age population. And those factors all existed before the pandemic.

Q: What happened to all those people who moved into the Berkshires because it was seemingly safer here during the pandemic?

A: Were still trying to collect data and information on those folks, but many people who permanently moved here, or resided in their second home here in the Berkshires, either were already retired, or they were doing remote work. Their company was allowing them to work from anywhere and they chose the beautiful Berkshires.

Q: Of all state counties, from March 2021 to March of this year, only Berkshire and Nantucket counties saw their workforce numbers fall. Surprise?

A: Im not surprised. The Berkshires has the oldest of populations to begin with in Massachusetts.

Q: Are those missing 2,000 people just out of the workforce for good? They cant be persuaded to come back?

A: More than likely, thats true. But for those who might have retired early, as they start to use their retirement funding, they might come back in some type of part-time capacity, or in a consulting or gig capacity.

Q: Do you know of employers who are reaching out to retirees or people who want to work part time?

A: In Berkshire County, employers are resilient. They are pulling out every avenue possible. Weve spoken to more than 700 companies this year so far. And weve heard most are struggling to find those skilled workers.

Many are trying to be as creative as they possibly can and are recruiting younger people. Were hoping that our youth employment will get better and theyre starting to hire more 16- and 17-year-olds, even down to 14-year-olds for some of the work that can be done.

Q: How are area hospitality businesses coping with the need for summer workers? Historically, theyve relied on visa programs to bring in foreign staff.

A: We need to figure out the whole immigration concern. Thats another huge population that the Berkshire has relied on. And thats also hindering some of our leisure and hospitality sectors. Theyre slowly gearing up, but its not like before. Its probably a third of what it was before the pandemic.

Q: Do special circumstances affect women who work?

A: Female workers have been greatly impacted during the pandemic, more than men, mainly because they are primary child care providers. Theres been a lot of child care organizations that have closed or downsized or dont have the staffing. So a lot of female employees had to leave their employment to be able to care for their children.

Were working with our education and training providers to try to create new opportunities for child care. So folks can actually end up returning to work and get trained to go into that industry sector.

Q: Whats the chance that people will come back into the workforce?

A: People are slowly returning, those that were sitting on the sidelines, who were afraid to go to work, or had compromised immune systems or who couldnt find child care. Theyre starting to trickle back into the workforce. The economy is crazy, but at least the workforce numbers are looking more favorable. We just need about 2,500 more people.

Q: What businesses are feeling the worker shortage most acutely?

A: Every industry is struggling, but especially health care, where you cant work remotely. And our hospitality sectors. Theyre struggling to find folks. Manufacturing companies are finding it hard to find skilled workers. Every industry sector has been hit by that.

Quote "Yeah, we're baffled. We don't know where the people who want to work are." Heather Boulger, MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board

During COVID-19, people had a chance to reevaluate what their priorities are personally. If they werent happy in their job, they jumped out  and hopefully switched to another career. But theres people that just dont want to work full time or are job hopping between companies.

Q: Last fall, when extended federal jobless benefits ran out, people thought that might be the nudge to get people back.

A: Were still waiting for that nudge. Six months later. Yeah, were baffled.

We dont know where the people who want to work are. The Career Center [in Pittsfield] has been open for in-person business since January. People are not coming through the doors. Were trying really hard to connect all the dots for job-seekers or companies.

Were also trying to provide support for people who have been working right along  the people who are working two or three times what they normally do.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is joining a nationwide group of lawsuits against companies that manufacture ubiquitous forever chemicals contained in firefighting foam.
Gov. Charlie Baker hopes to sign a bill outlawing revenge porn in his final year in office. The House is poised to vote on a bill that differs from his version.
The question of the Divine inspiration of Scripture is one that has ebbed within society in recent years. Bodie Hodge, speaker and writer for Answers in Genesis, addressed a state school several years ago, and he reflected on his visit in a 2009 article. I didnt realize the importance of this question (Was the Bible written by men?) until I saw a statistical analysis of young people who had walked away from the church. Out of 1,000 young adults who have left church, 44% of them said that they did not believe the accounts in the Bible were true and accurate. When asked what made them answer this way, the most common response (24%) said that the Bible was written by men (not God, albeit inspiring men).

What does a comparable 2022 statistic look like?

According to the American Bible Society, Of five response options, the most popular (27%) was: The Bible is the inspired word of God and has no errors, although some verses are meant to be symbolic rather than literal. Last year (2021), this answer was chosen by 29 percent. This was the most popular choice of every age group except Millennials.

The second most chosen statement was: The Bible is just another book of teachings written by people that contains stories and advice. One in five people chose this (20%), up sharply from 13 percent last year. It is the favorite choice of Millennials (24%).

We saw the steepest drop in the fourth-place answer: The Bible is the actual word of God and should be taken literally, word for word. This had 15 percent agreement in this years poll, down from 26 percent last year. The highest support for this view came not from Elders, but from Boomers (19%).

The Bible (which was completed almost 2,000 years ago) confirms what is currently happening, For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4). While this passage is not explicitly directed at divine inspiration of Scripture, it fits within the growing unbelief in God and His Word. And God has not been taken by surprise.

Photo credit: Getty Images/eggeeggjiew
I have attended many funerals in my life, but nothing like the one for my grandmother. She was the rock of our family and helped raise me alongside my mom. On the day of her funeral, I was overwhelmed by the display of grief by my mother. She cried uncontrollably, begged the funeral director not to close the casket, and even screamed a few times.

To this day, that funeral and the mourning that took place afterward have stuck with me for one reason. I was asked almost a week after the funeral why I had not cried over the death of my grandmother. Why was I not mourning?

The answer to those questions lies in the words of Isaiah. Particularly Isaiah 61:3.

And provide for those who grieve in Zion  to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Let us take this time to look deeper at the context of this verse and what it means for us today.

What Does 'Beauty for Ashes' Mean?

Isaiah 61:3 is a beautiful picture of what Christ can do for the mourning people of Israel and the ones hurting today. When we examine the verse, we learn that Christ is the joy-giver. He gives a joy that extends beyond the surface. Christ releases us from the bondage that sorrow brings.

Our sorrows can leave us feeling defeated. When we fully give ourselves over to God, our view of the trouble and sorrow of life changes. The circumstances may remain the same, but we change the glass we look through.

It is possible to live while the storm rages, but God remains the calm in the storm. He gives us sources of joy to get us through. Everything we go through in this life contributes to the end when we spend eternity in heaven.

The phrases in Isaiah 61:3 make the meaning of this verse even more powerful. When Isaiah writes the words beauty for ashes, he uses Hebrew language that cannot be translated into English. The Hebrew word for beauty used here refers to a headdress, turban, or tiara. God is stating that he is going to wipe out the ashes upon your head and replace it with a beautiful headdress.

Isaiah also tells us we will be anointed with oil. This was a common practice in his time and was usually done in times of festivity. God is also going to clothe his people with a garment of praise. The language here is speaking of a garment that would be dyed in bright colors. Lastly, Isaiah speaks of oaks of righteous. Trees represent people, and the mighty oak of righteousness shows us that in Christ we are strong.

What Is the Context of Isaiah 61:3 and 'Beauty for Ashes'?

Isaiah was a prophet who delivered poignant messages to the Jewish people. In his writings, he starts with the topic of judgement. Isaiah tells the people that God will pour out judgement and justice to His chosen people.

Historically, the Israelite people have been involved in many battles. They had been captives of enemy groups such as the Assyrians and Babylonians. Kings such as Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, and Hezekiah were vital to the delayed capture of Judah by the more merciful Babylonians.

The light of this book is when Isaiah reminds the Jews that even though God will judge the people, he will also pour out His love and favor for them. This theme of judgement, repentance, and forgiveness has been happening since the Israelites entered the wilderness.

When we look at our verse in question, we need to take a moment and discuss what verses one and two mean. In verse one, Isaiah says The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me. This is a reference to the Christ that was to come. Jesus uses these verses to refer to himself while on earth.

Further on in verses one and two, we learn that the one who has the spirit upon him will also mend the brokenhearted, preach good news, comfort, and proclaim freedom to the captives. This is exactly what Jesus was sent to this earth to do. God knew we needed a redeemer before He ever sent His son to die for us.





Photo credit: Getty Images/Gordon Images

Why Will God Comfort Those Who Mourn?

Our God is a God of comfort. He sent his son to die for us so that we may have life more abundantly. Jesus tells us in John 10:10, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.

God sent his son to be a shepherd to the people. He desires that no one experience an earthly life of sorrow, and an eternal life in hell. It is clear that if God would send his only son to die on a cross for the purpose of saving us, then God would comfort those who are mourning. Our mourning cannot become the thief that destroys us.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is a time for mourning and a time for dancing. Our Lord does not intend for us to stay in the mourning phase. We are supposed to be dancing.

Jesus said in his sermon on the mount in Matthew 5 that blessed were those that mourned, for they would be comforted. This was His promise, and we know that our God never breaks a promise.

Countless times in Scripture we are reminded that God will be our comforter. When he comforts us, we can do what He created us for; to glorify and praise Him.





Photo credit:Getty Images/seb_ra

What Does Beauty for Ashes Mean for Us When We Experience Suffering or Mourning?

Inevitably, we are going to experience suffering and mourning in our lives. When we lose loved ones, or our jobs, or even our identity in Christ, we can rest assured that God will come alongside us with his love and comfort.

I believe this verse gives us hope, too. It is a beautiful reminder that God can take what we believe to be the worst of circumstances and turn it into something great. We have hope for coming out on the other side of sorrow with shouts of praise for our Lord.

If we can accept our grief, then we can overcome our grief. We can carry our sorrows to the sanctuary at the foot of the cross and leave them there. When we do that, we can walk away with shouts of praise for the one true God. We can put on our new headdress and bright colored garments for all to see what God has done for us and what he can do for them.

A Prayer for Comfort in Adversity

Lord,

Sorrow and mourning are often a part of my life. I know you never promised that my faith would protect me from trials and suffering, but you promised to be with me always, even in the valleys. Let me walk hand in hand with you as you turn my sorrows into your praise. You alone can bring beauty from ashes. May I always remember that sorrow and mourning will never have the last word because you will replace it with eternal joy.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Trials will always be a part of our earthly lives, but when we consider what Isaiah 61:3 says, we have much hope. We can throw off our ashes and place a tiara on our heads. Most importantly, we can use our sorrow to point people to Jesus as we display his splendor with our garments of praise.

Related articles

5 Comforts God Offers Today That Will Truly Satisfy

6 Simple Ways to Count Joy When Life Is Difficult

How Are Christians Uniquely Able to Shine Light in Difficult Times?

Photo credit: Unsplash/whoislimos

Ashley Hooker is a freelance writer who spends her time homeschooling her two children, ministering alongside her husband as he pastors a rural church in West Virginia, and writing about her faith. Currently, she is a contributing author for Journey Christian magazine. She has taken part in mission trips with the NC Baptist Men during the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey in Mississippi and Texas. In her local church, she has served on various committees focusing in the area of evangelism along with traveling to West Virginia and Vermont to share the Gospel. Her dream is to spend her time writing and sharing the love of Christ with all she meets.
CULDESAC - In the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 24, deputies with the Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office attempted to stop a vehicle that was being driven by a subject involved in a prior situation in Lewiston. The driver of the vehicle was also wanted on outstanding warrants of Burglary, Stalking and 1st Degree Arson.

According to the Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office, the driver, 36-year-old Mohammad N. Kayad, of Lewiston, led deputies on a pursuit to the Culdesac area where he crashed his vehicle and fled on foot.

After being unable to locate Kayed, a tip from the public came in around 2:30 p.m. that led deputies back to the area of Cottonwood Creek Road near Culdesac. A short time later, a trooper with the Idaho State Police located Kayed on Chambers Road. Kayed again attempted to evade on foot, but was ultimately captured and taken into custody.

In addition to the outstanding warrants, police say Kayed will also face more charges related to the pursuit and this morning's incident in Lewiston. No further details on the incident in Lewiston were made available.

The Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office thanked the following agencies for their assistance during both incidents: Idaho State Police, Idaho County Sheriff's Office, Quad Cities Drug Task Force members and Nez Perce Tribal Police.
Organizers behind the "Greater Idaho" movement have announced that it will propose a less ambitious map to state legislatures as Phase 1 of the project that seeks to make a large portion of Oregon part of Idaho.

The proposed map now only adds eastern Oregon to Idaho after two counties in southwestern Oregon voted down perusing becoming part of Idaho this month, according to preliminary election results.

Klamath County did vote in May to become the ninth eastern Oregon county to vote in favor of a Greater Idaho ballot measure, preliminary results indicate.

The leader of the movement, Mike McCarter said if southern Oregon changes its mind, its welcome to join phase 1 or phase 2 of our proposal, but we want to make progress now in state legislatures with eastern Oregon. Eastern Oregon has consistently voted in favor and so we want eastern Oregons request to join Idaho to be heard. Theres only a few counties left in eastern Oregon that havent gotten a chance to vote on Greater Idaho yet.

Organizers say they will submit enough signatures this week to put the issue onto Morrow Countys November ballot. It says it almost has enough signatures to put the issue on Wallowa Countys ballot, but prefers to submit them later so that the county can vote on the issue while the Oregon Legislature is in session next year.

The proposal would put fourteen eastern Oregon counties and parts of three other eastern Oregon counties under the governance of Idaho. Organizers say the area has a population of 386,000 - 9% of the population of Oregon and 63% of the land area of Oregon. If Phase 1 of the effort is successful, Idaho would almost tie Montana in land area but have twice the population of Montana.

The movement is asking Oregon state legislators for hearings and for cosponsors for a resolution that would invite Idaho to begin talks with Oregon on moving the border. McCarter says that if the Oregon Legislature agrees to move the border, Oregons state budget would be helped significantly on a per-capita basis, and the Oregon Legislature would lose almost one quarter of its Republicans.




First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.





Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.





And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.





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Implementing integrated people-centred eye care has the potential to improve millions of lives worldwide

A new World Health Organization (WHO) guide on eye care was recently launched at the event - Universal Health Coverage and Eye Care: Promoting Country Action - attended by government officials, WHO representatives and non-governmental organizations in the eye care sector.

The Eye Care in Health Systems: Guide for Action provides practical, step-by-step, guidance to support Member States in planning and implementing the recommendations of the World report on vision with the goal to provide integrated people-centred eye care services.

This new resource leads Member States through a four-step process: situation analysis; development of an eye care strategic plan and monitoring framework; development and implementation of an operational plan; and establishing and maintaining ongoing review processes.

Currently, more than 2 billion people are living with a vision impairment and of these, at least 1 billion people are needlessly living with poor vision due to lack of access to eye care services. This burden is not borne equally: 90 percent of people with vision impairment or blindness live in low- and middle-income countries. Often, all that is needed is a cost-effective intervention, such as a pair of spectacles or cataract surgery.
Millicent Maroga

Every region in Africa has its own recipe and traditions for brewing beer, which goes by many different names depending on the location. Southern Africa has, and, and western Africa has. Kenya has; Botswana has; and Ethiopia, and. Uganda hasand. While Ghana has, and. The art of brewing traditional beer is a skill passed down from generation to generation, with great care taken to maintain the integrity of the brewing method to ensure a tasty brew.Across different countries and cultural groups in the continent, traditional beer is a prominent feature of social gatherings and celebratory moments such as lobola celebrations, weddings, welcoming a new bride into the family and honouring of initiates who have gone through the passage of manhood. It is also a special brew for honouring of ancestors and in initiation ceremonies of traditional healers. Traditional beer is also used in sacred ceremonies to bless the soil at the start of planting season and to celebrate a good harvest.In Limpopo, South Africa, the tribe ofbrew beer for the rain making ceremony which is performed yearly in November to ask ancestors for rain. The beer is poured from calabashes onto the earth to ask the ancestors for blessings of rain.Traditional beer also features in burial rituals and tombstone unveilings especially for a head of family and traditional leaders (chiefs and kings), and in the modern occasion of after tears.Traditional beer is often consumed in these occasions to honour significance of the celebrations and give thanks to ancestors, and then followed by consumption of modern beer. So, the consumption of both  traditional and modern beer, co-exist in almost all consumption occasions. Both brews have a rich heritage and yet are brewed differently.In Africa, both traditional and modern beer is not only a drink that brings people together, but a source of economic activity, with the brewing industry supporting an estimated 150,000 to 210,000 jobs.Agriculture is an industry that the brewers also support. George is seen as being the only area in Africa that has the correct climatic conditions to grow one of the main ingredients for the brew. The hops industry in this region is not just about agricultural development, but is also home to some homegrown varietals that are gleaning international interest.Brewing of beer is an art that keeps evolving with modern times and consumer preference. The growth of the craft brewers in South Africa is a strong indication of that. The growth of this category of brewers has brought innovation into the brewing of malt-based beer and sorghum-based beer. One such innovation is by the master brewer, Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela founder of Tolokazi Beer, Sorghum Pilsner  which is brewed with malted sorghum.Beers long history across the world represents an industry that builds economies, supports farmers, creates employment, supports entrepreneurs, and promotes tourism. When enjoyed responsibly it also builds vibrant social and participatory communities on the continent.So, this Africa day, we raise a glass to Africas oldest brew and that bring people together for moments of celebrations, honour, and thanksgiving.
Restaurant franchisor Spur Corporation, owner of brands including Spur Steak Ranches, Rocomamas and Panarottis, has appointed Vuyo Henda as its new chief marketing officer.

Vuyo Henda, chief marketing officer at Spur Corporation. Source: Supplied

Vuyo, congrats on your appointment! Whats at the top of your to-do list in your new role?

How do you believe your time working in FMCG at Unilever has prepared you for your new position at Spur?

You've spent some time working on plant-based strategy in the past. Any big learnings you've gained in this area that you're aiming to apply in your work at Spur?

In your opinion, what are the qualities of a great leader?

Anything in particular you're currently reading, watching or listening to for work inspiration?

What impact do you hope to make in your industry?

Could you leave us with some valuable career advice?

Henda grows the already strong female representation in the company's executive team and brings with her an impressive track-record in marketing, both locally and globally in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry.Henda holds a Bachelor of Business Science (Finance) degree from the University of Cape Town, and boasts more than 10 years' business experience, with her most recent role leading the Foods business for Southern Africa at Unilever.She joined the FMCG giant in 2009 and has worked in various roles across customer development and marketing. Henda also spent some time abroad working on the biggest Unilever Food brand, Knorr. Since her return from London, she has a built upon her expertise in foods within FMCG, including working on the development of a plant-based strategy.Passionate about the empowerment of girls and young women, Henda is part of the founding exco team for the Durban branch of the DreamGirls Academy, and in 2020 became one of 20 Dalai Lama Fellows Getting out to meet franchisees and customers in restaurants, as there is no better place to learn! I am also looking forward to getting to know the people within the organisation and forming the connections needed to be effective. I am also implementing key strategic initiatives that will support the ongoing development of the company and key brands.Unilever is renowned for its marketing prowess. The principles of building and leading purposeful brands have been instilled in me, which has set a solid foundation for the work I need to do at Spur.I also have experience in roles of a commercial nature, including in other countries. This makes me comfortable engaging on topics franchisees care about. The broad exposure Ive had to the marketing industry both from a strategic and operational perspective will be invaluable in my transition.People are conscious about health and seeking better choices. The opportunity to appeal to flexitarians (people who arent vegan or vegetarian but seek to reduce their meat consumption occasionally) is significant in our market. Weve seen a revolution both for in-home and out-of-home menus as plant-based offerings start to be the norm.Its important for food brands to make these alternatives more accessible. Its also important that we dispel the misconception that plant-based means forgoing taste and exceeding your budget. Im excited about building on the initiatives the group has already started in this category, such as Modrockers, which is in proof of concept currently in Rosebank in Johannesburg.There is no one-size fits all, but I do believe a leader has to be adept at creating the conditions necessary for teams to thrive. A leader who has an inclusive mindset is vital for the diverse partners and customers we serve. Being decisive and retaining a sense of inner balance in times of volatility is key as well. Above all, I think humility and a concern for the greater good is essential for a leader leading in the time we are in right now.I am currently readingby Tom Nixon. This challenges conventional wisdom around leadership and managing complexity. It is a refreshing take on systems thinking and I am finding it thoroughly engaging.Wow, what a big question! I hope to impact the customers and franchisees we partner with for the better. My purpose is to activate greatness in everything I do and those I work with. At Spur this will be developing our brands and leading for the greater good.I also hope to show Black young women that they too can play a role in this sector and that my leadership supports the positive development of young people and leads to more women playing a role in the sector.I think its important to challenge yourself as often as possible by stepping out of your zone of comfort. My best career opportunities and growth moments have come from doing things that pushed me to dig deep and to go beyond what I felt safe doing.Have a trusted group of people in your life that you know will be honest with you no matter what. This will help you remain balanced. Treat others the way you want to be treated.Be obsessed with serving your customer well, whatever line of work you are in. Focus on creating an inner state that is positive, and be vigilant against entertaining a negative inner critic that produces self-doubt. But above all, enjoy the journey!
On 25 May 1963, the Organisation for African Unity was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to promote unity, solidarity, collaboration and development amongst African member states. To celebrate this important day, Baker McKenzie partners and its African Relationship Firm colleagues share some of their thoughts on the many opportunities that the continent offers.

Image source: Alexander Ryabintsev  123RF.com

1. "There are considerable opportunities across the continent, but not without responsibility. As well as being bankable and yielding attractive returns, it is becoming increasingly imperative that investment should be sustainable and also provide ancillary benefits to local economies. Simply put, it should be net positive for the region." -2. "Recent developments across the African continent show that the idea of Africa Rising remains true and alive. With trade liberalisation through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), a fast growing population and increased technology penetration, the opportunities in Africas key markets continue to expand. What many see as challenges in Africa, are in a manner of speaking, Africas greatest strength for investments and growth." -3. "The AfCFTA agreement is gathering momentum and rapidly improving intra-African trade across the continent, thereby providing exciting opportunities for pandemic recovery and growth. At a high level, AfCFTA is focused on stimulating growth, creating employment and diversifying economies across the African continent through the creation of a single African market for goods and services. Once the agreements ambitious goals are realised, it will help African member states establish new cross-border value chains, encourage foreign investment and better insulate the continents economies from future global shocks." -4. "AfCFTA is leading to increased investor interest in sub-Saharan Africa as new markets open and cross-border transactions become more streamlined. Chinas ongoing interest in Africa, a commitment from the European Union to strengthen partnerships with Africa, the United Kingdoms new Economic Partnership Agreements and a renewed reciprocal trade focus from the United States, have contributed to improved investor sentiment across the region." -5. "The pandemic represented the start of a new era and there has been a shift in priorities and strategy for allocation of funds through this lens. There are more investments in the healthcare industry, as well as energy, mining and infrastructure. Considering other factors, the AfCFTA agreement requires the development of transportation and logistics infrastructure focused projects to cater for a connected Africa and enable the acceleration of on-ground execution of intra-African trade." -6. "Post-pandemic, new solutions are being implemented to address Africa's power challenges. Such solutions have had to consider the energy transition and the utilisation of renewable energy, the focus on smart power technologies, the role of green hydrogen and ammonia, and the global drive towards a decentralised, decarbonised, affordable and secure energy supply that addresses climate change and stimulates economic growth." -7. "African countries are increasingly playing a significant role in the global economy. Several industries are showing rapid growth, tapping into the significant usage of mobile telephones, a dynamic workforce, manufacturing opportunities, infrastructure growth, amongst others. With the continent continually making business environment reforms, the outlook for investing in countries like Kenya is much more exciting now than in the past. -8. "Expanding access to quality healthcare services and increasing domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity is dominating Africas healthcare sector and investment is following in support of these objectives. Covid-19 caused as massive spike in the already increasing demand for affordable healthcare, with technology-focused models, which allow for easier access to medical advice and care, already having begun easing the constraints of the traditional delivery model across Africa, before the pandemic." -9. "Organisations that rely on supply chains in Africa are looking at ways to strengthen pandemic-impacted chains. Many effective treatments aimed at boosting the health of ailing chains are being implemented, including those that rely on digitisation, sustainability standards, and commitments to improving infrastructure and manufacturing capacity." -10. "Competition authorities in Africa play an important role as champions, advocates and enforcers of competition policy across economies, and view competition policy as a key driver of economic growth. Our new Competition Report shows that 29 of the 32 surveyed African jurisdictions and regional bodies have national competition laws in place. Over the past two years, African competition regulators have actively engaged in efforts to address pandemic-related challenges, but there has also been a general upward trend in competition policy enforcement across the continent. African jurisdictions have strengthened their competition and antitrust regimes by way of amendments to existing legislation, the introduction of new laws and regulations, and renewed fervour and political will to enforce existing laws." -11. "The pandemic drove home the high value of personal data to the global economy, while also highlighting its vulnerability to abuse and attack. In response, many governments in Africa have been reviewing their data privacy and protection laws and regulations." -12. "The growth of the digital economy across the continent has naturally been accelerated by the pandemic and this unabated demand for technology has caused extensive cross-sector disruption in Africa, with the financial, energy, transport, retail, health and agricultural sectors all seeking opportunities to expand their tech infrastructure to acquire the necessary skills and innovation needed to keep up with demand. Fintech is also a popular sector for investment across Africa and specifically in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, with health-tech, mobility and agritech also attracting growing interest." -13. "Once the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes a reality, through the rollout of 5G, Africa's transformation will be meaningfully accelerated through the ability to access the enhanced capabilities of smart cities, asset tracking, connected shopping, energy monitoring, smart homes and smart agriculture. It is, however, important to ensure that policy and legislative frameworks are in place to enable the efficient and affordable rollout of telecommunications infrastructure, as well as access to the required broadband spectrum. A further important focus for the success of 5G roll out will be the ability of consumers to access affordable data services and smart devices."-14. "Despite the global pandemic, the African Fintech ecosystem has remained on a steady rise. Increasing access to mobile devices and internet connectivity has accelerated Africa into the second fastest market for global banking and payments businesses. Mobile money and third-party payment systems have been segment leaders, with more than half of the world's mobile money customers now based in Africa, and the continent accounting for three quarters of the world's mobile money and peer-to-peer transactions by volume. The Fintech industry has also accounted for more than 25% of all venture capital rounds in the last few years, with regional leaders, such as Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, seeing the majority of funded start-ups and capital coming from various jurisdictions, including west-coast United States and China." -15. "Post-pandemic, disputes are becoming increasingly frequent and complex in Africa, as corporates and institutions continue to enter new markets against a backdrop of tighter regulatory scrutiny, increased digitisation and higher accountability. Initiatives in Africa going forward are also expected to have a heightened focus on environmental, social and governance issues. The discussions around ESG are also resulting in an added emphasis on the social aspect and the mitigation of potential disputes in this space. In terms of governance, there has been an increased focus on due diligence and risk mitigation around compliance with regards to anti-bribery and corruption, data privacy and cyber security legislation, for example. Legal advisors are needed to oversee incident response plans, perform due diligence assessments, review and manage risk allocations in contracts and advise on comprehensive risk mitigation strategies for businesses expanding or launching operations in Africa." -16. "Arbitration continues to gain a real foothold in Africa. In the last five years alone, an additional seven African countries, including Ethiopia and Malawi, have acceded to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. Many African countries are parties to Bilateral Investment Treaties, most of which provide for arbitration to resolve investment disputes between foreign investors and host states. There are also a number of African arbitral institutions that have come up recently with state-of-the-art facilities and modern, party-friendly rules that cater to users' needs, further providing assurance to parties that their disputes will be resolved in a fair, efficient and transparent manner." -17. "Forecasts reflect the negative impact on economic growth caused by low vaccination rates across-sub-Saharan Africa. Employers across the continent are grappling with finding optimal staffing solutions for recovering businesses. Many businesses are keen to see employees returning to the workplace, with a large number (especially in the professional and business services industries) sensing an opportunity to attract and retain sought-after talent by offering flexible working arrangements. Companies were also forced to take a critical look at their staffing levels during the pandemic. Businesses right-sized and are generally running lean structures at the moment. With the World Bank predicting increased growth rates of 5.1% and 5.4% for 2022 and 2023, subject to increases in vaccination rates, businesses are looking to create capacity to deal with the anticipated economic upturn. Managing vaccination, return to work, flexible staffing and working arrangements, and talent traction and retention will assist companies in capitalising on opportunities. Business as usual will not work in the post-pandemic era." -18. "Africa has, in the last several years, maintained growth in adverse conditions including most recently the COVID-19 pandemic. Many African countries continue to exhibit strength and fortitude as their economies recover and demonstrate resilience and vast potential. In 2021, we saw more money being invested in the continent in the last seven years and inevitably this will grow into 2022 and years to come." -
Telkom's first Youth Employment Service (Yes) programme is giving 499 young South Africans an opportunity to break into the workforce, learn future-fit skills in the ever-growing ICT sector, and in so doing, contribute to their communities.

Telkom has opted to place youth externally through the YES turnkey solution as a way to capacitate NGOs working in the digital space all over South Africa.The turnkey solution allows companies to sponsor the placement of unemployed youth for 12 months in vetted implementation partners (generally NGOs or SMMEs working in high-impact sectors). Because youth are placed within their own communities, they do not have to travel far for work, and can rather contribute to building their hometowns economies.Telkoms job creation footprint through the programme is prevalent in Gauteng, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. The youth were placed with Yes implementation partners operating in positions that offer crucial in-demand skills such as data capturers, cyber security agents, digital artisans, content creators and software developers. This offers them a year of work and upskilling while earning a salary.The five implementation partners hosting the Telkom youth are: South Africas oldest tech incubator  which promotes the inclusive growth of the digital economy., which provides ongoing consumer financial education using various platforms., a non-profit which provides empowerment through hope, technology, innovation, training and economic opportunities., where talented black content creators are connected with business., where unemployed young people are given work experiences in non-traditional worksitesThe ICT sector desperately needs more skilled workers. Telkoms partnership with YEs will contribute to building an equipped workforce in South Africa, and indeed the rest of Africa, that will have the right skills to deal with the growing ICT demands of the world, concludes Yes CEO, Ravi Naidoo.
Globally, countries urge shoppers to purchase domestic goods above imports to assist local livelihoods, small business growth, and job creation. Here on African soil, this call for conscious consumerism is now more important than ever.

Yet, to simply encourage people to think and shop locally isn't enough. We also need to establish environments that support and celebrate local design and the creators behind these courageous homegrown brands.The Local Edit responded to this call with an e-commerce app that is making it easier than ever for consumers to support local, with all the convenience of contemporary online shopping.Established in September 2021 by Christine Meintjes and Berdine Swart, The Local Edit is an app that allows users to discover and shop across some of the best South African designer brands, all in one cart.The app is free to download from both Apple and Google stores. With over 12,000 quality locally designed products, from over 140 South African brands, including a wide variety of curated clothing, jewellery, accessories, furniture, smaller homeware goods, skincare, as well as kids, pets, and wellness products. The app also offers the convenience of Gift Vouchers, which can be sent digitally to loved ones.The Local Edit offers all of these products at the same price and shipping rates as if you purchased directly from the designers' independent online stores, but with the added benefit of it all being in one place. Plus the added benefit of saving products or brands youd like to come back to at a later stage.It all started with The Pretty Blog which entrepreneur Christine Meintjes launched in 2010 as a platform for sharing inspiring lifestyle content. Through building strong relationships with people in the industry the blog naturally started showcasing incredible local products that we adored. And soon, many people asked where they could find these products, says Meintjes.The idea to create a low-impact, convenient offering that would allow people to discover and shop from local designers was born, and The Local Edit emerged as a first-of-its-kind e-commerce solution.The team knew they wanted to mirror a store-like experience with a wide range of products. They wanted shoppers to be able to browse products by brand or by well-curated edits, which is their way of exhibiting a handpicked category collection.As a supporter of local, I personally wanted to see multiple brands in one location. I wanted variety, to understand more about the brands story as well as the ability to discover new like-minded brands and products. I also wanted to be able to save products for later purchase and have the convenience to shop it all in one cart, without visiting multiple online stores, says Meintjes.And, while conceptualising an app with sophisticated functionality, the team also took significant reflection to ensure its business operations were low-impact. We dont warehouse, or repackage, as every order is dispatched by the independent designers, to support our low impact approach, says Meintjes.When choosing products for the app, The Local Edit looks for a combination of aesthetics, quality, authenticity, and the story behind the brand. More importantly, the brand and products must be locally grown by designers who hold a close connection to their production line.For us, the designers and what they stand for, are as important as the products themselves. Not only do we sell products, but host three sections dedicated to storytelling. The first is each independent brand story. The second is internal editorials where we celebrate creators in the local design industry through educational and inspirational pieces. Thirdly, our internal podcast,, where we share authentic conversations with the people behind these incredible brands, Meintjes adds.By investing in local businesses and supporting local makers we begin to imagine and mobilise ourselves to become better consumers. By doing so we become part of a greater community that intentionally contributes to creating thriving local economies that produce and consume with care.Through its app, The Local Edit hopes to educate consumers about local talent. They take creativity seriously and connect local creators to discerning consumers who want to make more conscious consumer decisions.It is fortunate that South Africans are setting trends, locally and globally. With so many talented change-makers and brands we are pioneering a different way of doing things  a way that is slower, more considered, and most importantly local.Find The Local Edit in Apple or Google app stores. Visit www.thelocaledit.com and follow us @thelocaledit on Facebook and Instagram. Download now to shop and discover the best South African brands, all in one place.
Source:  rawpixel 123rf South African brands lead the continent in the Brand Finance Africa 150 report

MTN retains top position

Tusker: Africas fastest growing brand

Capitec: Strongest brand in Africa

Banking: Africa's most valuable brands

Kenya leads Global Soft Power Index 2022

Putting the worlds biggest brands to the test

The South African brands (value up by 30% to $36.9bn) are followed by Nigerian brands (value up by 35% to $3.2bn), Egyptian brands (value up by 42% to $3.1bn), Moroccan brands (value up by 14% to $2.6bn) and Kenyan brands (value up by 69% to 2.1bn).The report, by brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, found that African brands have benefited significantly from adapting to uncertain business conditions caused by Covid-19 by leveraging technological disruption to tackle supply chain issues and national lockdowns.In Africa brands from diverse sectors including banking, telecommunications and food & beverage found innovative ways to connect with the customers. Online and this digital transformation helped the top brands in Africa achieve a 28% increase in aggregate brand value to $50.1bn.African brands have achieved strong performances by being agile amid change in the business environment, comments Jeremy Sampson, MD, Brand Finance Africa."Whilst South African brands will continue to dominate the ranking for some time, there are encouraging signs of strong brands emerging around the continent, especially amongst the banking and telecommunication sectors, he adds.MTN (brand value up 49% to $4bn) retained its number one place on the ranking of the most valuable African brands in the world as the brand has diversified its services across Africa from telecommunications to include fintech and mobile money.MTNs Mobile Money (MoMo) application is performing exceedingly well and overtook its competition M-Pesa (brand value up 32% to $246m) by Safaricom in terms of volume of financial transactions through the application with a loyal customer base of 57 million active users.Kenyan beer brand, Tusker achieved an impressive 132% brand value growth this year, more than doubling to $50m in brand value.This brand value growth was noteworthy as it was achieved amidst uncertain business conditions, including the global supply chain crisis, and the closure of restaurants and bars due to pandemic induced restrictions.The brand overcame this challenge by employing social media marketing and influencer marketing as its primary method of promotion throughout the lockdown.By partnering with athletes and social media influencers, Tusker created engaging online content to increase demand, sales and brand recall.In addition to brand value, Brand Finance determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance.Compliant with ISO 20671, Brand Finances assessment of stakeholder equity incorporates original market research data from over 100,000 respondents in more than 35 countries and across nearly 30 sectors.Capitec Bank (brand value up 41% to $625m) is the strongest brand in the ranking with a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 92.4 out of 100 and a corresponding brand rating of AAA+.The South African bank is forming strategic partnerships to keep up with market and sector-wide trends in online banking and digital ransformation.Most recently, Capitec Bank partnered with IT consulting firm Entersekt to leverage behavioural analytics and enable a higher number of online transactions using e-commerce platforms.The bank also works alongside US-based software brand nCino to provide more efficient and more effective banking services to consumers with the help of cloud banking and digital automation.Banking has the most valuable brands in Africa, followed by telecom and retail.Banking brands including Standard Bank (brand value up 26% to $1.6bn), First National Bank (brand value up 18% to $1.6bn) and Absa (brand value up 16% to $1.4bn) are contributing to the success of African brands significantly with 26% of the total brand value growth. The growth of African banks in the ranking is facilitated by focusing on digital payments and online banking.Similarly, the telecommunications sector led by MTN (brand value up 49% to $4bn), Vodacom (brand value up 18% to $2bn), and Maroc Telecom (brand value up 12% to $851m) is also focusing on mobile applications as a strategic means to engage with users. Telecom brands have relied on growth in internet usage and mobile data requirements with major brands pivoting to a primarily digital strategy.Lastly, retail brands such as South African Woolworths (brand value up 53% to $1.2bn), Shoprite (brand value up 37% to $1bn) and Spar SA (brand value up 44% to $1bnn) have recovered from the impact of the pandemic with their impressive ability to adapt to changing customer needs in a time of economic disruption.Kenya is leading African nations on several pillars of the Global Soft Power Index 2022 and is showing significant potential for further growth in various tourism-related metrics.The perception of Kenyas nation brand is especially high with regard to soft power pillars including great place to visit and food the world loves. The nation brand has improved its scores for other major pillars such as familiarity, business and trade, international relations, governance and media and communications.Further, the results of the Global Soft Power Index 2022 show that Egypt ranks first in the Culture and Heritage pillar of the study based on its scores for heritage, arts, food, lifestyle, and sports.The measurement of soft power has several applications to the tourism industry to contrast the performance of different nations, formulate strategic positioning, nation branding activities, and effective resource allocations for marketing budgets.Every year, leading brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance puts 5,000 of the worlds biggest brands to the test, publishing around 100 reports, ranking brands across all sectors and countries.Africas top 150 most valuable and strongest brands are included in the annual Brand Finance Africa 150 report, which can be viewed here
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Commentary: Political manipulation on Taiwan unpopular, doomed

Xinhua) 08:23, May 25, 2022

Photo taken on March 30, 2021 shows an exterior view of the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. (Xinhua/Chen Junxia)

World Health Assembly rejects again Taiwan-related proposal. The decision is another proof that the one-China principle is a consensus of the international community, corresponds with the trend of the times, and brooks no challenge, and that such downright political manipulation as the Taiwan-related proposal is inherently unpopular and doomed to fail.

GENEVA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The General Committee and the Plenary Session of the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday respectively decided to reject the so-called proposal of "inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA as an observer" submitted by a handful of countries.

The decision is another proof that the one-China principle is a consensus of the international community, corresponds with the trend of the times, and brooks no challenge, and that such downright political manipulation as the Taiwan-related proposal is inherently unpopular and doomed to fail.

At a time when COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc around the world, cooperation and solidarity have emerged as the common aspiration of the international community for the WHA. However, Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have acted discordantly, insisting on advancing the Taiwan-related proposal at the expense of disrupting assembly proceedings and sabotaging global anti-pandemic cooperation. Such a move has laid bare their political plot to engage in "Taiwan independence" separatist activities by hyping up their participation in the WHA.

Photo taken on July 21, 2019 from Xiangshan Mountain shows the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang)

Meanwhile, a handful of countries have emboldened and incited this move overtly or covertly, in an attempt to play their old political trick to contain China. Their sinister intention to split China and their egregious behavior to go against the historical trend are unanimously opposed by countries worldwide that uphold justice.

Prior to the opening of the WHA, nearly 90 countries sent letters to the World Health Organization (WHO) to express their commitment to the one-China principle and their opposition to Taiwan's participation in the assembly.

Taiwan-related proposals have no legal basis. There is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. The Taiwan region's participation in the activities of international organizations, including the WHO, must be handled under the one-China principle. The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1 have confirmed this fundamental principle, and have provided the legal basis for the WHO to abide by this principle.

The Taiwan region's participation in the WHA must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle and through cross-strait consultations. However, since the DPP authorities obstinately adhere to the "Taiwan independence" stance, the political foundation for Taiwan to join the WHA has ceased to exist.

In hope of angling for international sympathy and creating 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan,' the DPP authorities have hyped up a groundless claim that the region is a so-called "gap" in global anti-pandemic efforts.

Facts speak for themselves. The Chinese central government always attaches great importance to the health and well-being of Taiwan compatriots. It has given the region about 400 updates on the epidemic situation since the outbreak of the epidemic.

Medical workers are busy at the screening station for possible COVID-19 cases at a hospital in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, March 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

Since April 2021, as many as 47 experts from Taiwan have been approved to participate in the WHO-organized technical activities for 44 times. The region has also received WHO Secretariat briefings on the epidemic situation for multiple times.

The WHA has rejected Taiwan-related proposals for six consecutive years, which has fully showed that any attempt to violate the common aspiration and to reverse the overriding trend will face an inevitable demise. It is time for the DPP authorities to wake up to the fact that seeking "Taiwan independence" under the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic will only come to a dead end.

It is also time for some countries to stop politicizing health issues and interfering in China's internal affairs by exploiting the Taiwan question. If not, they are bound to shoot themselves in the foot.

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- BRICS culture ministers met virtually on Tuesday, calling for deepened cooperation on cultural digitalization, cultural-relic protection and the construction of cultural-exchange platforms.

During the meeting, an action plan was signed to implement an agreement on cultural cooperation within the emerging-market bloc, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Hu Heping, China's minister of culture and tourism, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech, saying cultural exchange is the "third pillar" of BRICS cooperation.

Hu made five initiatives to promote cultural cooperation, concerning inclusiveness and mutual learning, pragmatism, innovation, obligation sharing and exchanges among young people.

The ministers expressed hope that the BRICS countries would become good examples of exchange and mutual learning between civilizations, and would contribute to the progress of human civilization and world peace and prosperity. 
Fourteen children and one teacher are among the dead after an 18-year-old gunman, named as Salvador Ramos, killed them in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Police responding to the incident shot Ramos dead, according to most reports, though the AP suggests he killed himself. Several police officers were wounded, according to ABC News. He is also thought to have murdered his grandmother earlier in the day. The gunman was a resident of the community and entered the school with a handgun, and possibly a rifle, and opened fire, [Texas Governor Greg] Abbott said. He said the shooter was likely killed by responding officers but that the events were still being investigated. It was not immediately clear how many people, in addition to the dead, were injured in the shooting. Earlier, Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.1

Newsweek Reports: Ramos is believed to have been the only shooter, police said, according to KSAT. Several students were being treated in the emergency rooms of local hospitals for injuries suffered during the mass shooting, and their families were being notified.

It also remained unknown if he was known to police before the shooting.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on May 21, 2022 that more than 100 confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox had been identified in 12 countries, including between one and five confirmed cases in the U.S.1 Most of the cases have occurred in Europe with higher numbers in Portugal, Spain and the U.K. WHO officials stated current evidence suggests those who are most at risk have had close physical contact with someone with monkeypox, while they are symptomatic.

The detection of monkeypox cases in Europe and the U.S. is highly unusual because monkeypox has previously been mostly confined to tropical areas of West or Central Africa.2 Monkeypox belongs to the same family of orthopox viruses as smallpox (variola) and the CDC states that smallpox (vaccinia) vaccines can be used to prevent monkeypox.3

On May 18, 2022, biotechnology firm Bavarian Nordic of Denmark announced that the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), signed a contract with it to supply a freeze-dried version of its smallpox and monkeypox vaccine.4 A freeze-dried version of the vaccine is stated to have a longer shelf life.5

BARDA placed an $119 million order for 13 million freeze-dried doses of Bavarian Nordics smallpox and monkeypox vaccine known as JYNNEOS. The contract states that the U.S. has an option to purchase additional vaccines worth $180 million if needed.6

What is Monkeypox?

Monkeypox is a rare viral, zoonotic infectious disease that typically manifests with a fever, skin rashes, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and body aches, back pain, and extreme fatigue lasting approximately two to four weeks. Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, which is a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the Poxviridae family of viruses.7

Transmission of the monkeypox virus occurs through close contact with an infected person or animal or with material contaminated with the virus. Person to person transmission occurs through close contact with open skin lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials, such as bedding. According to the WHO, monkeypox is not as contagious as smallpox and usually causes less severe illness.8

FDA Approved JYNNEOS Smallpox and Monkeypox Vaccine in 2019

On Sept. 24, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a live, non-replicating JYNNEOS smallpox and monkeypox vaccine in adults 18 years of age and older determined to be at high risk for smallpox or monkeypox infection. JYNNEOS is a two-dose vaccine given four weeks apart. It is the only FDA approved vaccine in the U.S for the prevention of monkeypox disease.9

According to the FDA:

Jynneos does not contain the viruses that cause smallpox or monkeypox. It is made from a vaccinia virus, a virus that is closely related to, but less harmful than, variola or monkeypox viruses and can protect against both of these diseases. Jynneos contains a modified form of the vaccinia virus called Modified Vaccinia Ankara, which does not cause disease in humans and is non-replicating, meaning it cannot reproduce in human cells.10

First Case of Monkeypox Reported in the U.S.

On May 18, 2022, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) reported that a resident in the state has tested positive for monkeypox. The patient, who was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is an adult male to recently returned from traveling to Canada.11

A MDPH press release stated:

DPH is working closely with the CDC, relevant local boards of health, and the patients health care providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious. This contact tracing approach is the most appropriate given the nature and transmission of the virus. The case poses no risk to the public, and the individual is hospitalized and in good condition.12

By May 7, there had been cases of monkeypox reported in Europe. An individual who had travelled to Nigeria, where monkeypox is endemic, reportedly was thought to have been the source of transmission.13

HHS Says Monkeypox Vaccine Purchase Not Related to the Outbreak

A spokesperson from HHS said that BARDAs recent purchase of the smallpox and monkeypox vaccine JYNNEOS is not related to the recent monkeypox outbreak. The most recent BARDA purchase of smallpox vaccine was part of a standard and ongoing preparedness efforts and unrelated to specific events. BARDA has worked with industry to develop and purchase vaccines and treatments for a potential smallpox emergency, some of which may also be used to respond to monkeypox, said an HHS spokesperson.14
Joe Biden on Tuesday used his bully pulpit to deliver a nakedly political stump speech blaming gun rights and Republicans for the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.



Biden insisted the shooting could have been prevented if everyone had just listened to him and banned "assault weapons."





[Embed starts at 48:57]



Excerpts of Biden's speech via The White House:

As a nation, we have to ask: When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in Gods name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?



[...] I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And dont tell me we cant have an impact on this carnage.



I spent my career as a senator and as Vice President working to pass commonsense gun laws. We cant and wont prevent every tragedy. But we know they work and have a positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down. When the law expired, mass shootings tripled.



The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.



What in Gods name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?



[...] Heres what else I know: Most Americans support commonsense laws  commonsense gun laws.



I just got off my trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders, and I learned of this while I was on the aircraft. And what struck me on that 17-hour flight  what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.



Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why?

Data from 2016.

Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in Gods name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies?



Its time to turn this pain into action.



For every parent, for every citizen in this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: Its time to act.



Its time  for those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget.



We can do so much more. We have to do more.

Nowhere in Biden's speech did he mention there was an actual perpetrator of this attack with a name and a history.







The blame instead lies on his political opposition and people who support the Second Amendment.



For contrast, here's who Biden said was responsible for the shooting in Buffalo:

Jill and I bring you this message from deep in our nations soul: In America, evil will not win  I promise you. Hate will not prevail. And white supremacy will not have the last word.



For the evil did come to Buffalo, and its come to all too many places, manifested in gunmen who massacred innocent people in the name of hateful and perverse ideology rooted in fear and racism.



Its taken so much. Ten lives cut short in a grocery store, three other wounded  three other wounded by a hate-filled individual who had driven 200 miles from Binghamton  in that range  to carry out a murderous, racist rampage that he would livestream  livestream to the world.



What happened here is simple and straightforward: terrorism. Terrorism. Domestic terrorism. Violence inflicted in the service of hate and a vicious thirst for power that defines one group of people being inherently inferior to any other group.



A hate that through the media and politics, the Internet, has radicalized angry, alienated, lost, and isolated individuals into falsely believing that they will be replaced  thats the word, replaced  by the other  by people who dont look like them and who are therefore, in a perverse ideology that they possess and being fed, lesser beings.



I and all of you reject the lie. I call on all Americans to reject the lie. And I condemn those who spread the lie for power, political gain, and for profit.

Biden did not search for Ramos' motive, hunt for his ideology, or call for a deep dive into his internet history and views on race.



There was also no search for his criminal history (why did he have a mugshot?). We know from Parkland that Nikolas Cruz was only able to buy a gun legally because he was shielded from the criminal justice system under the "Promise Program" that aimed to fight "systemic racism" by limiting arrests of minority students to stop the "school to prison pipeline." Could something similar have happened here? It's possible.



Regardless, Biden doesn't know and most certainly doesn't care. Exploiting tragedies for political gain is all he knows and that's his only concern.



Though Biden pooh-poohed mental health, the fact remains no other countries use as much anti-depressants and illicit drugs as America. Few countries suffer from our level of alienation and broken families. No other countries have Drag Queen Story Hours in ever major city and transgender ideology and critical race theory in nearly every classroom. Mental illness in America is a major problem that's encouraged from the top down and is only getting worse.





Jen Psaki literally breaks down in tears over state laws that ban children from undergoing sex changes.

pic.twitter.com/JMzejTbW3o  Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 20, 2022



Contrary to Biden's talking points, mass shootings have been spreading to other countries as the poison from the US empire, Hollywood and American universities spreads throughout the world.



You can't have a healthy society when your people are swamped in nihilism, drugged out of their minds and intentionally stripped of any national identity and sense of common purpose.



No attempts are being made by our occupiers to remedy any of our social ills, instead every attempt is being made to make our problems even worse.



If Biden wants someone to blame for this shooting other than the perpetrator himself he should look in the mirror.



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Megalomaniac Bill Gates is parroting and reinforcing the latest NTI simulation that is driving the Monkeypox mania: Shut down early, shut down often, shut down just in case; shut down with no regrets. This is in direct contradiction to studies proving that lockdowns, masks, social distancing or closing schools does nothing to curtail a virus.  TN Editor

The second attack comes through a new international pandemic treaty with the WHO. They intend to eliminate individualized medicine and provide blanket rulings for how a given threat is to be addressed, and this can only result in needless suffering  not to mention the loss of individual freedom

The first attack comes in the form of amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), which are currently being voted on by the World Health Assembly. These amendments will strip member nations of their sovereignty and give the WHO unprecedented power to restrict your medical freedoms and civil liberties in the name of biosecurity. Get involved and urge your nations leaders to reject the amendments if passed. Unless rejected, they will become binding law in November 2022

The globalist cabal plans to seize control through biosecurity governance, and theyre attempting to do this using two different avenues. If we fail to fight off both attacks, well end up under totalitarian governance

Bill Gates intends to play a key part in this takeover. Hes building a pandemic response team for the WHO, dubbed the Global Epidemic Response & Mobilization or GERM Team, which will have the authority to monitor nations and make pandemic response decisions, such as when to suspend civil liberties to prevent spread of an illness

The World Health Organization is attempting to seize control over global pandemic monitoring and response and, ultimately, all health care decisions

In The Corbett Report above,1 independent journalist James Corbett reviews the contents of Bill Gates book, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.

Its every bit as infuriating, nauseating, ridiculous, laughable and risible as you would expect, he says. This is a ridiculous book  Theres certainly nothing of medical or scientific value in here  Its a baffling book even from a propagandistic perspective 

Gates goal in writing the book is to disarm the public and prepare us to accept the agenda that Gates and his allies would like to impose on the world. Ultimately, what this is about is drumming up general public support  or at least general public understanding  of the unfolding biosecurity agenda.

Another reviewer of Gates book, economist Jeffrey Tucker, offered similarly negative feedback:2

Imagine yourself sidled up to a bar. A talkative guy sits down on the stool next to you. He has decided that there is one thing wrong with the world. It can be literally anything. Regardless, he has the solution.

Its interesting and weird for a few minutes. But you gradually come to realize that he is actually crazy. His main point is wrong and so his solutions are wrong too. But the drinks are good, and he is buying. So you put up with it. In any case, you will forget the whole thing in the morning.

In the morning, however, you realize that he is one of the worlds richest men and he is pulling the strings of many of the worlds most powerful people. Now you are alarmed. In a nutshell, thats what its like to read Bill Gatess new book How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.

Gates Book Chapter by Chapter

Corbett goes through Gates book chapter by chapter, so if youre short on time, you can review the ones that interest you the most:

Chapter 1: Learn from COVID (timestamp: 12:58) Chapter 2: Create a pandemic prevention team (timestamp: 18:23) Chapter 3: Get better at detecting outbreaks early (timestamp: 26:21) Chapter 4: Help people protect themselves right away (timestamp: 31:01) Chapter 5: Find new treatments fast (timestamp: 37:26) Chapter 6: Get ready to make vaccines (timestamp: 39:46) Chapter 7: Practice, practice, practice (timestamp: 47:06) Chapter 8: Close the health gap between rich and poor countries (timestamp: 50:49) Chapter 9: Make  and fund  a plan for preventing pandemics (timestamp: 57:40) Afterword: How COVID changed the course of our digital future (timestamp: 1:03:00)

Gates GERM Team

By now, youve probably heard that the World Health Organization is attempting to seize control over global pandemic monitoring and response, and ultimately, all health care decisions. But did you know Bill Gates, the largest funder of the WHO (if you combine funding from his foundation and GAVI), also intends to play a key part in this takeover?

As Gates explains in a video at the beginning of Corbetts report, hes building a pandemic response team for the WHO, dubbed the Global Epidemic Response & Mobilization or GERM Team. This team will be made up of thousands of disease experts under WHOs purview, and will monitor nations and make decisions about when to suspend civil liberties to prevent spread of an illness.3

Alas, as noted by Rising host Kim Iversen in the video compilation above, if COVID-19 has taught us anything, its that stopping the spread of a virus is more or less impossible, no matter how draconian the rules. Meanwhile, the side effects of lockdowns and business shutdowns are manifold.

Peoples health has suffered from lack of health care. Depression and suicide have skyrocketed. Economies have gone bust. Violent crime has risen. Tucker also points out the false premise behind Gates pandemic prevention plan, stating:4

This theory of virus control  the notion that muscling the population makes a prevalent virus shrink into submission and disappear  is a completely new invention, the mechanization of a primitive instinct.

Smallpox occupies a unique position among infectious diseases as the only one affecting humans that has been eradicated. There are reasons for that: a stable pathogen, a great vaccine, and a hundred years of focused public health work. This happened not due to lockdowns but from the careful and patient application of traditional public-health principles.

[T]he attempt to crush a respiratory virus through universal avoidance could be worse than allowing endemicity to it to develop throughout the population.

Gates Destructive Greed

During COVID, we basically traded false protection against one thing for a multitude of other ills that are far worse in the long run. Now, Gates and the WHO want to make this disastrous strategy the norm.

Once again, we see Gates is basically paying the WHO to dictate what the world must do to make him a ton of money, because hes always heavily invested in the very solutions he presents to the world. While hes built a reputation as a philanthropist, his actions are self-serving, and more often than not, the recipients of his generosity end up worse than they were before.

Case in point: After 15 years, Gates Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) project has now been proven an epic fail.5 Gates promised the project would double yields and incomes for 30 million farming households by 2020.

That false prognosis was deleted from the AGRA website in June 2020, after a Tuft University assessment revealed hunger had actually increased by 31%. February 28, 2022, the first-ever evaluation report6 confirmed the failure of AGRA.

The Globalists Double-Prong Attack on National Sovereignty

But getting back to the globalists plan to seize global control through biosecurity governance, they are attempting to do this using two different avenues. If we fail to fight off both attacks, well end up under totalitarian governance.

The first attack comes in the form of amendments7 to the International Health Regulations (IHR). The second attack comes through a new international pandemic treaty with the WHO.

Starting with the first takeover strategy, as you read this, countries around the world are in the process of voting on amendments to the IHR.8 By May 28, 2022, the World Health Assembly will have concluded their vote on these amendments and, if passed, they will be enacted into international law in November 2022.

The IHR, adopted in 2005, is what empowers the WHO to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).9 This is a special legal category that allows the WHO to initiate certain contracts and procedures, including drug and vaccine contracts. While the IHR grants the WHO exceptional power over global health policy already, under the current rules, member states must consent to the WHOs recommendations.

This is one key feature that is up for revision. Under the new amendments, the WHO would be able to declare a PHEIC in a member state over the objection of that state. The amendments also include ceding control to WHO regional directors authorized to declare a Public Health Emergency of Regional Concern (PHERC).

In summary, the IHR amendments establish a globalist architecture of worldwide health surveillance, reporting and management, Robert Malone, Ph.D., warns,10 and we the public have no say in the matter.

We have no official avenue for providing feedback to the World Health Assembly, even though the amendments will give the WHO unprecedented power to restrict our rights and freedoms in the name of biosecurity. Theres not even a publicly available list of who the delegates are or who will vote on the amendments.

Summary of Proposed IHR Amendments

A summary of the proposed changes to the IHR was recently provided by Malone.11 In all, the WHO wants to amend 13 different IHR articles (articles 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 48, 49, 53 and 59), the end result of which is the following:12

1.Increased surveillance  Under Article 5, the WHO will develop early warning criteria that will allow it to establish a risk assessment for a member state, which means that it can use the type of modeling, simulation, and predictions that exaggerated the risk from COVID-19 over two years ago. Once the WHO creates its assessment, it will communicate it to inter-governmental organizations and other member states. 2.48-hour deadline  Under Articles 6, 10, 11, and 13, a member state is given 48 hours to respond to a WHO risk assessment and accept or reject on-site assistance. However, in practice, this timeline can be reduced to hours, forcing it to comply or face international disapproval lead by the WHO and potentially unfriendly member states. 3.Secret sources  Under Article 9, the WHO can rely on undisclosed sources for information leading it to declare a public health emergency. Those sources could include Big Pharma, WHO funders such as the Gates Foundation and the Gates-founded-and-funded GAVI Alliance, as well as others seeking to monopolize power. 4.Weakened sovereignty  Under Article 12, when the WHO receives undisclosed information concerning a purported public health threat in a member state, the Director-General may (not must) consult with the WHO Emergency Committee and the member state. However, s/he can unilaterally declare a potential or actual public health emergency of international concern. The Director Generals authority replaces national sovereign authority. This can later be used to enforce sanctions on nations.

Once the amendments are adopted by the World Health Assembly, nations will have only a limited time  six months  to reject them. That would put us into November 2022. Any nation which hasnt officially rejected the amendments will then be legally bound by them, and any attempt to reject them after the six-month grace period will be null and void.

Attack No. 2: The WHO Pandemic Treaty

The second attempt to gain global control is through an international pandemic treaty with the WHO. An intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) was established as a subdivision of the World Health Assembly in December 2021,13 for the purpose of drafting and negotiating this new pandemic treaty.

In summary, the WHO wants to make its pandemic leadership permanent. It can then extend its power into the health care systems of every nation, and eventually implement a universal or socialist-like health care system as part of The Great Reset.

While a WHO-based universal health care system is not currently being discussed, theres every reason to suspect that this is part of the plan. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has previously stated that his central priority as director-general is to push the world toward universal health coverage.14

And, considering the WHO changed its definition of pandemic to a worldwide epidemic of a disease,15 without the original specificity of severe illness that causes high morbidity,16,17 just about anything could be made to fit the pandemic criterion.

The problem with this treaty is that it simply cannot work. The whole premise behind this pandemic treaty is that shared threat requires shared response. But a given threat is almost never equally shared across regions.

Take COVID-19 for example. Not only is the risk of COVID not the same for people in New York City and the outback of Australia, its not even the same for all the people in those areas, as COVID is highly dependent on age and underlying health conditions.

The WHO insists that the remedy is the same for everyone everywhere, yet the risks vary widely from nation to nation, region to region, person to person. They intend to eliminate individualized medicine and provide blanket rulings for how a given threat is to be addressed, and this can only result in needless suffering  not to mention the loss of individual freedom.

Are You Ready to Cede All Authority to Gates-Led Group?
The threat posed by monkeypox is real, very real. Or is it?

According to Dr. Robert Malone, not really. But you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. The way in which the virus is being covered, Malone recently noted, provides a classical example of public health fearporn.

CNN, one of the many outlets breathlessly covering the virus, should be reprimanded for broadcasting irresponsible propagandamisinformation and disinformationunder the guise of journalism, wrote Malone. In his opinion, this virus and disease, which is endemic in Africa, is readily controlled by classical public health measures.

More importantly, it does not [emphasis mine] have a high mortality rate. This insignificant biothreat has never been considered a high threat pathogen in the past.

Malone finished by asking the media and so-called medical experts to stop the fear mongering, misinformation and disinformation.

Malones request has been ignored, with doctors around the world telling us to prepare for the worst. President Joe Biden has also joined the chorus of doomsayers. Not surprisingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) is also making noise.

More worryingly, the WHO is making moves, and these moves could have profound effects on billions of people around the world, including those residing in the United States.

The New Panopticon

On May 20, the WHO held an emergency meeting to discuss monkeypox.

As Reuters reported, members of the WHOs Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential (STAG-IH), which advises on infection risks that could pose a global health threat, will soon decide whether or not the outbreak should be declared a public health emergency of international concern.

As the aforementioned Dr. Malone noted, it shouldnt. But dont be surprised if the WHO thinks otherwise.

Members of the WHO, one of the most powerful agencies in the world, are currently working on a new pandemic prevention and preparedness treaty. The drafting progress will continue for the next few months. Then, on Aug. 1, members will meet to discuss the progress made. Next year, at the 76th World Health Assembly (WHA), they will deliver the report. If everything goes to plan, then changes will take effect two years from now.

What Sort of Changes?

According to authors at Reclaim the Net, a website dedicated to defending free speech and calling out bureaucratic overreach, we should brace ourselves for draconian changes. It must be noted that the authors at Reclaim allegedly managed to get their hands on a working draft of the WHOs plans, so the following warnings could carry a great deal of weight.

Reclaim warns that the WHA, the decision-making body of WHO, aims to have this treaty adopted under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution. If successful, this will give the WHA the power to impose legally binding conventions or agreements on WHO member states if two-thirds of the WHA vote in favor of them. To put that sentence in context: There are 195 countries in the world; the WHO has 194 member states.

The WHO has framed this treaty as an international pandemic treaty. However, the draft obtained by Reclaim shows that the accord has actually evolved to cover all manner of health emergencies.

The WHO defines a public health emergency as a situation that carries implications for public health beyond the affected states national border and may require immediate international action.

The definition is vague, perhaps by design, allowing those in charge to push any agenda, no matter how nefarious.

Again, as authors at Reclaim warned, such an all-encompassing treaty would give the WHO sweeping, legally binding powers to force member states to adopt many of the censorship and surveillance tools that were imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

International vaccine passports are not out of the question. In fact, as the draft outlines, member states will be legally required to fully support the development of standards for producing a digital version of the International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis.

Moreover, the WHO will seek to normalize the use of digital technology applications for all international travel. If you are imagining contact tracing apps and extensive, self-declaration health forms, then you are imagining correctly.

Of course, vaccine passports and contact tracing are intimately tied to surveillance. More specifically, global surveillance. As the draft notes, the WHO will carry out coordinated global surveillance of public health threats. This can only be achieved by member states, all 194 of them, expanding their surveillance systems and contributing to the WHOs global systems for surveillance.

The authors at Reclaim stress that non-state actors, which could include Big Tech companies, will also be required to work with governments, the WHO, and other international partners. Why? To leverage their considerable data to create the strongest possible early warning and response systems.

As mentioned earlier, Dr. Malone has passionately called for an end to the spread of misinformation and disinformation. The draft treaty also calls for the same. The reports authors urge members to support a globally coordinated attempt to address the misinformation, disinformation, and stigmatization that undermine public health.

Considering the WHO has a history of spreading false information, the call to address the problem seems, at best, disingenuous. All things considered, however, disingenuous messaging should be the least of our concerns here. If the current draft becomes a reality, the light from the panopticon will shine even brighter. There will be nowhere to hide. Vaccine passports will be the norm, and our right to privacy, or at least some degree of privacy, will become but a distant memory.


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RAMALLAH, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Authority (PA) called on the United States to remove the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) from the lists of terror classified by the U.S. Congress, a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday.

The PA addressed an official letter to the U.S. administration, calling on it to remove the PLO from the lists of terror, Hussein al-Sheikh, a member of the PLO executive committee, said in a press statement.

"We expressed our shock and our absolute rejection of the persistence of this unjust and unfair classification of the Palestinian people who live under the occupation while the Israeli terrorist organization Kach was removed from those lists," Al-Sheikh said.

The Palestinian request comes days after U.S. State Department announced that it removed five extremist groups believed to be no longer active from its list of foreign terrorist organizations, including the Israeli "Kach" organization.

The Palestinians accuse the organization of being responsible for killing and wounding dozens of worshipers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron in 1994 and being behind the incitement to kill and displace Palestinians.

In 1987, the U.S. Congress declared the PLO a "terrorist organization" and prohibited it from opening any of its office in the United States.

Despite the decision, the Congress allowed U.S. presidents to issue an exemption with their consent, which every U.S. president has done since the signing of the Oslo interim peace agreement between the PLO and Israel in 1993, except former President Donald Trump.

In September 2018, the Trump administration closed the PLO office in Washington D.C. and its banking accounts to pressure the Palestinians to stop working with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel. 
by Sanaa Kamal

GAZA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Zainab al-Qoulaq, a Gaza-based artist and a survivor of the large-scale Israeli bombings on the Palestinian enclave last May, put on an art exhibition on Tuesday to remind people of the tragedy.

Dubbed "I am 22 and I lost 22 people," the exhibition was organized by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, a nongovernmental organization, in cooperation with the UN Women Palestine.

Nine paintings, with depictions of ruined homes, ambulances, corpses and skeletons, show the visitors her trauma from the military attacks.

"I drew with my feeling about the Israeli crime against my family and dozens of others during the aggression," the 22-year-old woman told Xinhua.

"I am here to spotlight my family story and to tell the world that we are not numbers, we are humans, and we have rights that must be respected and protected from any violations," she said.

On May 10, 2021, Israel and Hamas, the ruling faction of Gaza, began a round of what was later described as their heaviest fighting since 2014, which lasted 11 days and killed more than 260 Palestinians and 14 Israelis.

The Israeli military offensive came after Hamas-led militants' barrage of rockets on Israeli major cities in response to Israeli provocations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.

Many Gazan residents, including 22 members of al-Qoulaq's family, were killed in building collapses caused by Israeli airstrikes claiming to destroy underground tunnels used as militant hideouts.

Al-Qoulaq, her father and a brother had been trapped under the rubble for about 12 hours before being pulled out by rescue teams, and later found themselves the only survivors of the whole family.

"No one can imagine the pain, fear, and horror I lived through under the rubble when I didn't know what would happen to my family," she said.

Failing to express her haunting agony in words, al-Qoulaq resorted to drawing, according to the artist.

"In the past, my daughter used to paint nature and other beautiful things, but because of the Israeli crime, she started painting tragic events that express how sad she is," al-Qoulaq's father Shukri told Xinhua.

"Hundreds of thousands of people have been subjected to the Israeli massacres, and we are working primarily to support these victims so that their voice can be heard to the world," said Maha Al-Husseini, an official at the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

Sami Shaqoura, an exhibition goer, expressed his solidarity with al-Qoulaq, saying "the paintings touch people and make the viewer feel sad for the tragedy that befell her family."

"We have to support the victims of the Israeli wars and encourage them to continue their lives despite the wounds they suffer," he added. 
BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- In 2021, procuratorial organs across China prosecuted 60,553 people for crimes against minors, up 5.69 percent year on year, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said Wednesday.

In the meantime, 160 million yuan (about 24 million U.S. dollars), three times the amount in 2018, was provided in 11,000 judicial assistance cases of minor victims.

Regarding juvenile suspects, procuratorial organs approved the arrest of 27,208 underage suspects and prosecuted 35,228 last year, said the SPP.

Procuratorial organs also conducted the procedure to review the necessity of detention for 20,045 minor suspects. 
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The Manitoba Metis Federations near three-week election ended in historic fashion Tuesday.

In a resounding vote of confidence by Red River Metis citizens, all 23 incumbents, spanning seven regions across the province, were re-elected by acclamation for the first time in the organizations history.

"Its so humbling," said John Fleury, minister of human resource development and regional executive officer for Minnedosa.

"That, to me, is a solid vote of confidence in the cabinet and where were taking the Metis citizens today."

First elected in March 2000, Fleury has been linked to the MMF since he was a young lad. His father, George Fleury, was a founding member and longtime vice-president of the southwest region.

Fleury remembers quietly sitting in on board meetings as they happened in his living room, listening to how the tight-knit group was trying to better the lives of Metis people in Manitoba.

He quickly grew fond of the impact his father was making on the community.

"I thought that would be something interesting to do," he said.

Fleury later joined the MMF as a 16-year-old. Now 63, he enters his seventh term in cabinet.

As minister of human resource development, Fleury said hes proud of his effort to help working Metis citizens across the province.

The goal is to get people to a point where they can stand on equal footing with every other applicant, he said, adding more than 20,000 people have gained better employment opportunities through the MMF.

"Theyre in positions where they can buy their own homes and vehicle," he said. "Theyre educated and trained to get some of the best jobs in Canada."

Will Goodon enters his third term as an elected representative.

"Its a big honour, but one I dont take lightly," he said. "The indication is that our citizens want us to keep moving forward."

Goodon started with the MMF in 1996, working his way through the ranks before claiming a spot at the table.

Goodon served as an assistant to the president during his early years with the organization before starting the first Metis General Store in the late 1990s.

Now the minister of housing, Goodon couldnt help but look back at how far he and the organization have come.

"When I started, we had three employees and were in debt," he said with a chuckle. "Now, its so big and theres just so much going on."

While economic development is always the backbone of the MMFs platform, Goodon said hes pleased to be a part of the success its had in housing.

"Were doing more than anyone else in Canada and more than anyone couldve imagined 50 years ago."

A new allotment of funding for housing and a modern-day treaty is close to being finalized between the Red River Metis and Government of Canada, according to Goodon.

"Im looking forward to providing even more senior homes and family homes for people in their communities," he said.

"Its good to be able to deliver tangible things in a lot of our communities."

Leah LaPlante was elected to her eighth term with the MMF, the sixth by acclamation.

"I was quite excited," said the vice-president of the southwest region. "We put a lot of effort into the jobs we do as elected leaders, so to all be in by acclamation feels good."

First elected in 1997, LaPlante, also the minister of natural resources, oversees the citizenship portfolio for the MMF.

The organizations citizenship has grown by "leaps and bounds" over the past decade and continues to soar, LaPlante said.

The MMF is approaching 50,000 registered members  nearly double what it was 10 years ago, according to her.

"I dont think theres ever a month that goes by where I dont have a stack of applications to put through the process," she said.

"My motto has always been we leave no one behind, and if you belong here then we welcome you here with open arms."

Heading the MMF since 1997, President David Chartrand was re-elected without opposition for a third straight term.

Chartrand offered a statement about his cabinet in a press release.

"Our elected officials are the backbone of our government, and our success has only been possible because of our strength as a team," he said. "There are over a thousand individuals who have served Red River Metis citizens over the years and are qualified to run for these positions, so an uncontested election across the slate is truly remarkable."

In what would be a standard procedure following an election, Chartrand could shuffle responsibilities among the caucus soon. An incumbent overseeing housing today could assume citizenship responsibilities tomorrow, according to LaPlante.

"It keeps it fresh, and [Chartrand] has been really good at putting people in a place where they are doing the best for that portfolio," she said.

The lone change to the cabinet came as John Parenteau stepped down from his position as regional executive officer for Minitonas, paving the way for Peter Fleming to replace him by acclamation, according to a press release.

 jfrey-sam@brandonsun.com
The owner of Victorias Yallourn coal-fired power station will plead guilty to three charges of workplace safety violations following the death of one of its employees in 2018.

Graeme Edwards, 54, who worked as a unit controller at EnergyAustralias Latrobe Valley power plant for 30 years, was killed when a high-voltage circuit breaker exploded on him, severely burning most of his body.

Graeme Edwards.

Following a two-year investigation, Victorias workplace safety watchdog WorkSafe in December charged the company with breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, alleging it had failed to provide a safe workplace, didnt provide proper instructions and training and failed to provide and maintain safe work procedures such as offering adequate personal protective equipment.

EnergyAustralia, which is owned by Hong Kong-listed CLP Group, on Wednesday told the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court it would enter a guilty plea to each of the three charges.
Social media giants and digital publishers are caught between a sliding economy and a slew of privacy changes by Apple and Google that have made online advertising more expensive or less effective, and sometimes both.

Snapchat, the self-deleting photo and video sharing service, slashed its revenue forecasts this week and took a 43 per cent hit to its share price on Tuesday, which now sits at $US12.79 ($18). Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram (-7.62 per cent); Alphabet, which owns Google and YouTube (-4.95 per cent); Pinterest (-23.64 per cent) and Twitter (-5.55 per cent) followed it down on expectations that ad spending will dive as the economy weakens.

Snaps share price is below what is listed for in 2017. Chief executive Evan Spiegel (right) told staff it would tighten budgets after it downgraded forecasts. Credit:AP

The rout leaves Twitters shares trading at just under $US36 ($50.60), far lower than the $US54.20 that Elon Musk, the worlds sometime richest man, agreed to pay for the company.

But the downturn goes beyond complicating a billionaires buyout. Ben Morrisroe, head of growth at advertising technology company Publift, says advertisers could reduce expenditure by 30 per cent.
19 school students, two teachers killed in Texas shooting

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TEHRAN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in a 10-story commercial building collapse in southwestern Iran has risen to 16, official news agency IRNA reported on Wednesday.

The incident, which took place on Monday in the city of Abadan, has also injured another 38 so far, it said.

Operations with the participation of 2,000 people are still underway to remove the debris in search of those still trapped beneath it, according to the report.

The Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development has sent a team of experts to the site of the incident to investigate the cause, which is believed to be a failure to observe technical and engineering standards during the construction process, it added.

Mojtaba Khaledi, the spokesman of Iran's emergency services, said Tuesday it is estimated that 50 people were still trapped under the debris.

The collapse shook nearby buildings severely. After the incident on Monday, the building was evacuated completely and the main street leading to it was blocked by police as part of safety measures.

Ten people have been arrested for the incident, in which the building's owner and contractor were killed, the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary reported.

The under-construction building is located in a crowded street in downtown Abadan, surrounded by commercial and medical complexes and offices. 
With a change of government in Canberra, inevitably comes the scramble among well-connected lobbying firms to get into the ears of incoming ministers on behalf of their well-paying clients.

Credit:Matt Golding

For the nine years of Coalition government, Liberal-linked outfits such as DPG Advisory  led by former Liberal staffer, candidate and Scott Morrison inner circle member David Gazard  TG Public Affairs and, of course, Barton Deakin ruled the roost.

But now the changing of the guard is well and truly on, although TP has given itself a sniff of staying in the game, hiring Michael Choueifate, Anthony Albaneses old chief of staff from Albos last stint in government.

Perennial Labor-linked influencer Hawker Britton is never far away from the ALP hierarchy, with managing director Simon Banks spotted in the vicinity of Albaneses office in recent days.
In an interview with police a decade after his first wife Lynette vanished from Sydneys northern beaches, Chris Dawson said she called him several times in January 1982 to say she needed time away.

In the 1991 video, filmed at a Gold Coast police station, Dawson said the couple had been having some matrimonial problems and he went on a brief time away from home to try and clarify how he felt.

Chris Dawson (right) outside the NSW Supreme Court this week. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Excerpts from the recording were aired on Wednesday afternoon in the NSW Supreme Court, where Dawson, 73, is on trial after pleading not guilty to Lynettes murder.

Dawson had travelled to Queensland shortly before Christmas 1981 with his former student and the couples babysitter, JC, with a view to them starting a new life together.
Afghanistan has a ministry of vice and virtue, enforcing dress codes on their women (Herald, May 24), notes Sue Casiglia of North Ryde. Lets hope they never visit the suburbs of Sydney, where we often have vice but no virtue. After all, Sydney is a place where you can find pampered pooches who are covered up more than the teenage girls.

The bloodlines look pretty good for clan Manwaring, as Keith Manwaring of Carlingford explains: May not be a record but worthy of mention. Herb and Eva Manwaring of Murrumburrah in the 1920s and 30s had four children. Doreen now 93, Keith 91, Kathleen 90 and Maurice 88 are all still mobile and living at home. Their great-great-grandfather, William, who came from Kent by sailing ship in 1856, may have passed on the longevity gene. He died from misadventure, aged 93.

Just wondering if Kristina Keneally will need to parachute back to her home  on Scotland Island? ponders Matt Easton of Alexandria.

Murray Hutton (C8) got a rather communal response to his Roman numerals offering, with the unfolding of his formula leading to CIVIC rather than CIVIL. Obviously, there were legions of outraged responses, and while Murray himself says he wanted to test the C8 pedants to see how long before they flood Grannys inbox, Jock Brodie of Port Macquarie asked if we would like to express in Roman numerals the number of people who objected. The current answer is XV.

I thought everybody knew that Apropos was the fourth Musketeer, says Norman Carter of Roseville Chase. He was often late, so I will understand if you dont publish this.
The City of Yarra has removed a gate into Alphington Grammar, following through on its ultimatum that the school must let people walk or ride through its front entrance to public land near Darebin Creek.

The non-government school has resisted the councils demand for several months, citing concerns about student safety and even voicing fears that paedophiles, drunks and drug-affected people would be able to enter the prep-12 school if the gate was removed.

Alphington Grammar School principal Dr Vivianne Nikou stands with students Miles, Isabella, Zoe, Ethan and Nikoletta at the school gates. Credit:Chris Hopkins

The school community rallied on Tuesday morning, hours before the councils 5pm deadline, in a last-ditch effort to convince the council to back down. But the City of Yarra made good on its demand, removing the pedestrian gate on Tuesday night, in a move the schools principal described as lunacy.

The school is in a pocket of residential Alphington that backs onto the Darebin Creek Trail, though there was no access to the trail through the school grounds.
Unless Liberals heed the lessons from the complete repudiation on Saturday of Scott Morrisons style of leadership and governing, then they are destined to spend a long time in opposition.

It certainly doesnt mean lurching to the right. Nor does it mean unthinkingly veering left to Labors agenda, although to remain relevant they will have to support chunks of it, including on climate change, childcare, the Indigenous Voice to parliament and an integrity commission.

Heeding the lessons of their loss doesnt mean the Liberals should lurch to the right, nor veer to the left. Credit:Dionne Gain

Instead of drifting aimlessly on policies, neither left, right nor centre, as they have been for the past few years under Morrison, searching for culture wars to wage or picking fights over issues which should have been settled long ago, they need to be in the sensible centre to survive with their horizons focused beyond the Sky After Dark mob.

They have to stand for something more enduring than whatever spin, stunt or sneaky manoeuvre will get them through the daily news cycle. They either change or they die.
Ahead of the 2015 state election, then NSW premier Mike Baird had one task for two of his most junior ministers. They were to secure the preselection of Vietnamese refugee Dai Le to the upper house Liberal ticket.

After her unsuccessful, but strong, tilts as a Liberal lower house candidate in the safe Labor seat of Cabramatta, Baird wanted Le in the upper house. He directed ministers Jai Rowell and Matthew Mason-Cox, from the partys right faction, to make it happen. Instead, the duo picked a man who remains among the most low-profile MPs in the NSW parliament.

The new independent MP for Fowler, Dai Le. Credit:Peter Rae

Lou Amato is best known for being one of three MPs who launched a failed leadership spill motion against former premier Gladys Berejiklian during the 2019 abortion decriminalisation debate.

Dai Le, the newly elected federal member for Fowler, was identified by Baird as exactly the sort of candidate the Liberals must get into parliament, but factionalism within the Liberal Party prevailed. Now she is off to Canberra as an independent and Amato is a Liberal MP who has flirted with defecting to One Nation. (Baird ultimately dumped Mason-Cox and Rowell from cabinet for their actions.)
Spare me the bullshit about mental illness ... We dont have any more mental illness than any other country in the world. You cannot explain this through a prism of mental illness because were not an outlier on mental illness. ... Were an outlier when it comes to access to firearms and the ability of criminals and very sick people to get their arms on firearms. Thats what makes America different. People react outside the Civic Centre following a deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills Credit:AP UTAH REPUBLICAN SENATOR MITT ROMNEY Grief overwhelms the soul. Children slaughtered. Lives extinguished. Parents hearts wrenched. Incomprehensible. I offer prayer and condolence but know that it is grossly inadequate. We must find answers. FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON

My heart breaks for the families who sent their children and loved ones off to school today at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, whose lived will now never be the same. We owe these families - and the families who have experienced similar losses, including as recently as last week in Buffalo - action. Enough is enough. The American people overwhelmingly agree. Our elected leaders at the local, state and federal levels, regardless of party, must find common-sense ways to keep our children and communities safe. They can do so without touching the right to hunt, sport shoot, and keep guns for self-defence. Propaganda and paranoia have kept us from helping each other in this for too long. We can do - and be - better. The time to act is now. HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI

Loading This shooting stole the futures of children, who wont experience joys of graduating from school, chasing a career, falling in love, even starting a family of their own. We hold close all who have lost a loved one to gun violence, as this horrible crime deepens their suffering. PETE BUTTIGIEG, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION How many more lives? How many more children? And how much longer before we reject the choices that have made ours the one country where this happens routinely? It is not inevitable, it is horrific. It must end. REPUBLICAN TEXAS GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT

Texans are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime & for the community of Uvalde.

Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and urge all Texans to come together. SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL Horrified and heartbroken by reports of the disgusting violence directed at innocent schoolkids in Uvalde, Texas. The entire country is praying for the children, families, teachers, and staff and the first responders on the scene. TEXAS REPUBLICAN SENATOR TED CRUZ Heidi and I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde. We are in close contact with local officials, but the precise details are still unfolding. Thank you to heroic law enforcement and first responders for acting so swiftly.

TEXAS REPUBLICAN SENATOR JOHN CORNYN Loading Im grateful to law enforcement and everyone who worked to stop the shooter, as well as the medical staff working now to prevent further loss of life. I join my fellow Texans in lifting up the entire Uvalde community during this unimaginable tragedy. TEXAS REPUBLICAN ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON I ask you all of you to join me in praying for our fellow Texans impacted by the horrific shooting in Uvalde today. Lord, our refuge and strength, we pray for the souls of those lost, those who were wounded, their families, and our brave first responders.
Falls Church: Supermodel Kate Moss said she was never pushed or assaulted by actor Johnny Depp during their relationship in a brief testimony to the defamation trial between her ex-boyfriend and Amber Heard.

Moss testified as a rebuttal witness in Depps libel lawsuit against ex-wife Heard on Wednesday (AEST).

Kate Moss testifies via video link at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse on Wednesday. Credit:AP

He never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs, said Moss, who appeared via video from England.

Moss, who dated Depp from 1994 to 1998, testified that she slipped on a staircase and injured her back during a vacation the couple took in Jamaica.
Hartford, Connecticut: US Senator Chris Murphy, who came to Congress representing Sandy Hook, begged his colleagues to finally pass legislation addressing the nations gun violence problem as the latest school shooting unfolded in Uvalde, Texas.

A gutted Murphy took to the Senate floor on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) and demanded politicians do what they failed to do after 26 elementary school students and teachers were killed almost a decade ago at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation since the collapse of a bipartisan Senate effort in the aftermath of that massacre.

Murphy, a Democrat, urged his colleagues to finally find a compromise.

Our heart is breaking for these families. Every ounce of love and thoughts and prayers we can send, we are sending, said Murphy, who represented Newtown as a US congressman.
RAMALLAH, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday met with President of the European Union (EU) parliament Roberta Metsola on the ongoing escalating conflicts between Palestine and Israel.

Metsola arrived in Israel on Monday and held meetings at the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, amid tension between Israel and the Palestinians that has been flaring over the past few weeks.

The official Palestinian news agency (WAFA) reported that President Abbas briefed Metsola on the ongoing "Israeli assaults and killings" and settlement expansion as well as the Israeli measures in east Jerusalem.

The endless and escalating Israeli measures against the Palestinian people "violate international resolutions and international law...The unilateral Israeli measures in Jerusalem and the entire Palestinian territories are mounting to acts of ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination," Abbas was quoted by WAFA as telling Metsola.

Abbas praised the efforts made by the European Parliament, the EU, and its member states to support the political process based on international legitimacy and international law, to end the Israeli occupation.

Metsola told Abbas that the EU supports the political process in accordance with the two-state solution based on the international resolutions, international law, and rejection of Israeli settlements.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stopped in March 2014.

The Palestinians want to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel on the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including the entire West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. 
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the sale of the governments remaining stake in Ltd (HZL), as the Centre looks to accelerate its disinvestment drive. The sale of the entire 29.5 per cent stake in HZL would fetch the Centre Rs 38,062 crore according to the closing price of the companys shares on Wednesday.

The government may sell its stake in tranches through an offer for sale (OFS), and the same will be structured by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), an official said. This will help the Centre in moving closer to its Rs 65,000-crore divestment target for financial year 2022-23.

The Centre has so far garnered Rs 23,575 crore in the current financial year in divestment proceeds through the initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the offer for sale of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

In 2002, the government had sold 26 per cent of its stake in HZL to Vedantas Sterlite Industries. The group then acquired an additional 20 per cent through an open offer.

In 2003, an extra 19 per cent was bought by the Anil Agarwal-managed conglomerate. In 2009, the company exercised a call option according to the share purchase agreement, which was contested by the Centre.

This led to Vedanta invoking arbitration to claim settlement. The conglomerate recently withdrew the arbitration proceedings, clearing the way for the government to sell its 1.24 billion shares in HZL.

At present, Vedanta owns 64.9 per cent in HZL. Agarwal has reportedly said the company can just buy the Centres 5 per cent stake after considering the price of the shares on offer.

In November last year, the Supreme Court had allowed the Centre to sell its residual stake in HZL, noting that the company was no longer a public sector undertaking (PSU). The Centre in its affidavit had earlier said the residual shareholding of 29.54 per cent would be sold in the open market.

Though the sale of the residual stake in the company was not questioned, the apex court had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the initial transaction under which the Centre had sold 26 per cent in HZL and enabled its eventual privatisation.

Some of the Centres nearly-completed privatisation transactions such as Central Electronics (CEL) and Pawan Hans (PHL) have hit a roadblock with the winning bidders having pending legal cases against them. The big-ticket privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has fallen through with just one bidder remaining in the fray, and the government is now redrawing a new strategy to sell its stake in the oil PSU.
The joint venture between Rahul Bhatia-owned Interglobe Enterprises and Atlanta-based logistics giant United Parcel Service (UPS) is completely independent of IndiGo, the airline clarified.

Business Standard on Wednesday reported that Interglobe Enterprise which holds 37.82 percent stake in is foraying into the business of logistics and by forming a 50:50 joint venture with UPS.

The arrangement between Interglobe Enterprise and UPS has nothing to do with us. Thats a standalone operation. They have their own agreements which have no impact on IndiGo, CEO Ronojoy Dutta said in a post results call with analysts.

Dutta said that IndiGos business will continue to cater to all customers and not be selective about UPS.

The business of UPS is more likely to focus on small shipments and surface transport. We are into consolidated shipments. These are two ships passing in the night. We dont signal each other. We have nothing to do with each other, he said.

While UPS had a joint venture with an affiliate of Jet Airways, since the demise of Jet Airways, the venture has been all but dead. India has been on the cards of global logistics giants.

Sources said that the new venture with Interglobe will look to foray into all types of logistics services including warehouses, transportation and inventory management, and value-added services linked to the conveyance and shipment of all types of goods by air, land and sea.

German logistics major DHL acquired Blue Dart in 2004 and currently holds 74 percent stake in the company. UPS country rival FedEx last year invested $ 100 million in logistics start-up Delhivery which got listed in the stock market today.

IndiGos cargo business has grown by over 31 percent in terms of revenue in FY 22 as compared to the previous fiscal.

The airline, thanks to its 275 aircraft fleet size, is the largest carrier of cargo both in domestic and international sectors. In order to increase the scope of its cargo business, the airline is leasing four Airbus A321 freighter aircraft, - the first of which will arrive by middle of this year.
Dallas Venture Capital (DVC) said on Wednesday it was closing its $80 million fund after it was oversubscribed (the target amount was $75 million).

The firm is raising a separate fund in India, DVC India Fund 1, and has raised $20 million of its $50-million target.

DVC US Fund II plans to invest alongside its $50 million India fund, making it a cross-border venture capital fund that will back ecosystems in the US and India. DVC plans to invest about $130 million in B2B (software as a service) start-ups over the next four to five years through both its funds.

DVC was founded in 2020 by Dayakar Puskoor, an entrepreneur, and co-founded by Abidali Neemuchwala, former chief executive officer of Wipro and a veteran executive.

"We are overwhelmed by the response to our DVC Fund II and particularly pleased with the recognition as a cross-border VC by our investors as they benefit from the revolution that is taking place in India, said Puskoor, managing director of DVC.

We partner with our portfolio as mentors offering strategic guidance during the most important phase of the start-up's journey to accelerate their revenues from $1 million to beyond $10 million through our time tested and honed DVC Advantage program leveraging our network of venture partners and advisors, said Abidali Neemuchwala co-founder and director of DVC.

The completion of fundraise of US Fund II, which is a co-investing partner for DVC India Fund, is a significant milestone in DVCs journey.

We are confident that both the funds, which are truly cross border in nature, will emerge as significant contributors to the growth of Indian start-ups, said Shyam Penumaka, partner at DVC.

The focus of DVC India Fund is on raising the remaining capital from institutional investors, family offices, and high net worth individuals keen on participating in the flourishing Indian deep technology B2B sector, said Penumaka.

DVC has invested in four start-ups before: Lucy.ai, Rollick, Citylitics, and Disprz. DVC has a healthy pipeline of and plans to, on average, invest in one company per quarter, or a total of approximately 20-25 over the next four to five years.
South Korean battery maker SDI said on Wednesday it is investing $1.29 billion in an electric vehicle battery plant to be built in the Indiana state in the US under a joint venture with Stellantis NV.

SDI will own a 51 per cent stake in the $2.5 billion joint venture company set up with the Chrysler parent, and its investment could increase to as much as $1.57 billion in the long term, it said in a regulatory filing.

SDI and Stellantis may boost their investment in the project to as much as $3.1 billion, the South Korean company said, reports Yonhap agency.

The two signed a binding agreement in Kokomo, Indiana, on Tuesday (U.S. time) to establish the manufacturing facility in the Midwestern state by 2025, Samsung SDI said in a statement.

The construction will start later this year, with the production operations expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025.

The plant will supply lithium ion battery cells and modules for produced at Stellantis' assembly lines in North America.

It initially aims to have an annual production capacity of 23 gigawatt hours (GWh) and plans to increase to 33 GWh in the coming years.

Samsung SDI will apply its latest premium technology, launched under the brand name of PRiMX, to produce EV battery cells and modules, it said.

The two agreed in October to form a joint venture to build what would be the first US battery cell plant for the South Korean battery maker.

Samsung SDI has foreign operations in China, Hungary, Malaysia and Vietnam, and runs a battery pack assembly line in Michigan.

--IANS

na/

(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.)
Workers uncover the waterproof cloth covered on grains transported on the bulk grain shipping line of the Grain Bulk Handlers Ltd (GBHL) in Nairobi, Kenya, May 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Long Lei)

NAIROBI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) freight service has facilitated the seamless movement of imported bulk cargo to the hinterland since its launch in January 2018, logistics and supply chains players have said.

Edward Opiyo, the Terminal manager at Nairobi Freight Terminals Limited, a private logistics firm directly linked to the SGR freight service, said it has provided a fast, efficient and cost-effective means of transporting bulk cargo.

During a recent interview with Xinhua ahead of the 5th anniversary of the launch of the modern railway, Opiyo said it has elevated Kenya's status as a transport and logistics hub.

"We are serviced by the SGR, which moves cargo directly from the port of Mombasa to Nairobi freight terminal, we are linked directly and therefore we act as a hub for physical distribution of cargo from Nairobi to hinterland destinations," said Opiyo.

He said that Nairobi freight terminals that are embedded in the SGR freight service operations have ample facilities like warehouses that can accommodate bulk cargo.

According to Opiyo, the 36-hectare yard which is served by four railway lines has state-of-the-art equipment like forklifts and trucks that are able to handle imported cargo belonging to local and regional clients.

He said the SGR has eased congestion while improving efficiency at the Mombasa port, which also serves the landlocked east and central African countries. Local and regional supply chains have been transformed since the launch of the SGR freight service, amid the guarantee of an efficient, cheaper and environmentally friendly mode of hauling bulk cargo.

On average, it takes eight hours to transport cargo from the port of Mombasa to Nairobi using the SGR as opposed to three days via the meter gauge railway that was laden with risks, said Opiyo.

He believed the port of Mombasa has become a cheaper alternative for the shipment of goods and services to the wider east and central African region due to its linkage with the SGR freight service.

Also, thanks to the China-built modern railway, importers have reduced their over-reliance on trucks to transport bulk cargo, shielding them from the risk of theft and damage to their goods, said Opiyo. "With the Standard Gauge Railway, we are able to move safely, securely and faster, reaching the destination in the shortest time possible and this helps a lot in the movement of cargo and builds up the volume that would generate more revenue and income."

The former employee of the Kenya Ports Authority who was instrumental in the design and execution of SGR freight service operations disclosed that Afristar, the operator of SGR freight service, has been operating 17 cargo trains daily between Mombasa and Nairobi.

Opiyo revealed that his major clients include manufacturers importing raw material from the far east including China, adding that courtesy of the SGR, regional integration and commerce have flourished.

Ernest Ondego, the Terminal manager at Grain Bulk Handlers Limited, a Kenyan logistics company, said since the launch of the SGR freight service, transporting large quantities of imported wheat from the port of Mombasa to the bonded warehouses in Nairobi has been efficient, safe and cost-effective.

"Since 2019, all our clients have seen the enormous benefits the SGR has brought in terms of cost reduction by firms saving up to 25 percent. With the SGR, we have been able to bring transit losses to zero," said Ondego, noting that importers used to lose up to 100 kg of grains per truckload.

According to Ondego, consumers have also benefited from the reduced cost of transporting grain from the port of Mombasa to the hinterland using the SGR freight service.

He said Kenyan logistics firms were excited about the prospects of SGR extending to neighboring Uganda, amid reduced cost of transporting goods and enhanced safety.

Ondego said supply chain players had fully backed the modern cargo train service while acknowledging that the SGR was one of Kenya's legacy projects, that will enhance the realization of the country's long-term development agenda. 

A worker unloads a container from a train in Nairobi freight terminal in Nairobi, Kenya, May 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Long Lei)
Budget carrier and Switzerland-based investment banking company have decided to put an end to a legal battle between them and have signed and cocluded settlement and consent terms with regard to a pending dispute.



ALSO READ - SpiceJet settles $24-mn financial dispute with Credit Suisse

The settlement and consent terms, executed on May 23, 2022, have also been filed before the of India for final orders.  had already provided Bank Guarantee of $5 million on the direction of the Madras High Court in the matter and there is no adverse financial liability on the Company. The settlement involves payment of certain amount upfront and balance amount over a mutually agreed timeline, said a statement from .

The legal dispute started when dragged SpiceJet to the Madras High Court in 2021 after the airline failed to make payments of over $24 million. This amount was pending payment towards Swiss maintenance, repair and overhauling (MRO) service provider SR Technics. had a financing agreement with SR Technics that gave it the right to receive payments from the airline.

Last December, the high court ordered the winding up of SpiceJet for failing to make payment of $24 million to SR Technics. The high court stayed its order for three weeks and directed the airline to deposit $5 million.

The settlement with Credit Suisse follows SpiceJets successful settlements and performances therein with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (DHC), Boeing, CDB Aviation, BOC Aviation and Avolon and provides an impetus to normalisation, growth and expansion of the airline, the statement said.
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Israel-based company Watergen on Wednesday announced a strategic joint venture with SMV Jaipuria Group with a planned investment of more than USD 50 million (over Rs 387 crore) in the next 2-3 years for bringing water-from-air technology products to India.

As part of the 50:50 JV, Watergen also launched four of its atmospheric drinking devices -- Genny, Gen-M1, Gen-M PRO and Gen-L -- for the Indian market for both industrial and consumer use. A manufacturing plant will also be set up by the year-end under this partnership, it said.

These devices produce from humidity in the air. They have capacity to produce 30 to 6,000 litres per day, with prices starting from Rs 2.5 lakh plus GST.

These devices are ideal for schools, hospitals, parks, resorts, construction sites, villages, residential buildings, homes, offices, among others.

Speaking to PTI, Watergen India CEO Maayan Mulla said, "We are planning to invest in India. Based on our plan, we will invest more than USD 50 million in the next 2-3 years."



The four devices launched for the Indian market will be imported initially till a manufacturing facility is opened in the country, he said.

"We are looking at Indian market as one of the top strategic markets for Watergen. We are entering into this market because of the need and the size of the market as well," he said.

The manufacturing facility to be set up in India will serve both Indian and global markets. In fact, it will be a manufacturing hub for Watergen's global activity, he added.

Asserting that the company sees no challenges in adoption of its devices in India, Mulla said, "Our technology is working very well all over the world. India is a country with different climatic conditions and size of states. Indian market is suitable for our technology."



Mulla also said it has a research and development centre in Israel and has research tie-ups with several universities in Israel and the UAE.

"Hopefully soon we will join with a local university in India. We are looking for a university that will help us do research for atmosphere in India," he added.

SMV Jaipuria Group Director Chaitanya Jaipuria said, "It is a 50:50 JV. A manufacturing facility should come up before end of this year, that is our target. We wish to start the production of first batch of machines towards the end of this year."



The company has not yet identified a place for the manufacturing unit and talks are underway, he said, adding the aim of the JV is to address the safe drinking water problem in India.

The atmospheric drinking water devices have plug-and-play technology that can be easily installed using a standard electricity connection or any alternative energy sources.

Watergen is present in more than 90 countries and has five manufacturing facilities in the US, Israel and China.

(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.)
WSO2, provider of digital transformation technology, announced that the company has completed its Series E round with the addition of RedStart Labs (India), a subsidiary of Info Edge. The move brings the total growth capital raised to $93 million. Info Edge joins lead investor Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Credit (Goldman Sachs), which completed the first tranche of the Series E in November 2021. Info Edge, through its RedStart subsidiary, will contribute strategically to WSO2s accelerated business expansion across India.

WSO2, with more than 800 customers in over 90 countries, has already established a strong presence in India. Over 35 leading enterprises in Indiaincluding government agencies and global leaders in financial services, communications, healthcare and technologyrely WSO2s products and solutions to drive their digital journeys and deliver innovative experiences to customers. Additionally, over 100 million consumers in India are interacting with these organizations using secure digital services powered by WSO2.

Across India, were seeing growing demand for our uniquely integrated approach to uniting best-in-class API management and integration with identity and access management as more organisations embrace digital business models, said Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana, WSO2 founder and CEO. RedStart, as part of Info Edge with its deep market understanding, extensive network, and success in investing in digital businesses like Zomato, will play a strategic role in helping us accelerate our growth and customer adoption in India.

Since 2005, WSO2 has been delivering on its mission to democratize the development of modern applications and services with industry-leading, cloud native and open-source technologies for API management, integration, and customer identity and access management (CIAM).

The company is now expanding upon these offerings with a new generation of platform-as-a-service solutions that further speed customers time to market and ability to innovate.

We believe WSO2 operates at the intersection of two powerful trends of an increasingly API driven world coupled with a wider adoption of open-source software by large enterprises for the flexibility and adaptability to offer agile, personalized services and innovative use-cases for their customers, said Amit Behl, a partner at Info Edge, who led the companys investment in WSO2. As digital transformation accelerates across Indian enterprises and also as open-source forms the foundation of the government's Digital India initiative, we expect India to emerge as a key market for WSO2 not only for its revenue potential but also for developer adoption.
The process of sealing of properties of a slain gangster and his relatives, has begun.

According to official sources, property worth Rs 50 crore has been sealed. Nearly 653 sacks of foodgrains of the slain gangster kept in the Panchayat Bhawan in the tehsil auditorium were also auctioned.

Most of the seized properties are agricultural land. Tehsildar Bilhaur, who is a receiver, has sealed and deposited the keys in the 'malkhana' of the police station.

The court of district magistrate Neha Sharma had recently issued an order to confiscate the properties of the slain criminal in Kanpur, Lucknow and Kanpur Dehat worth about Rs 67 crore. Tehsildar Bilhaur was made a receiver.

The tehsildar sealed the properties of Vikas Dubey, his father Ram Kumar Dubey, wife Richa Dubey, their sons Akash Dubey, Shantanu Dubey, brother-in-law Dinesh Kumar Tiwari, sister Chandrakanti, Rekha Dubey and a close friend Govind Saini.

The police have locked the houses of the gangster and his relatives.

Tehsildar Bilhaur, Laxmi Narain Bajpai, said that the agricultural land in Khodan, Rampur Sakhrej, Basen, Bhiti, Bikru, Sakarwa and plots in Chaubepur Kalan and Malou have been sealed.

The agricultural land has been sealed by installing wooden logs with a red ribbon all around.

Similarly, 10 vehicles, including two cars, two tractors, trolley, thrasher, rotavator, motorcycle, cultivator have been sealed and dispatched to the Chaubepur police station.

Regional food officer Hemant Kumar, meanwhile, said that in the auction process, 608 bags of wheat and 45 bags of rice were auctioned for Rs 1.5 lakh. The price of the food grains was Rs eight lakh in the market but due to the poor upkeep they have been damaged.

Reminders will be sent soon in Kanpur Dehat and Lucknow so that other properties can also be auctioned.

, the main accused in the massacre of eight police personnel on July 3, 2020, was shot dead in an encounter with the police, a week after the incident.

--IANS

amita/dpb

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The situation in Assam, where the pre-monsoon floods have affected large parts of the state for the past 12 days, continue to improve for the third day on Tuesday but still 5.80 lakh people in 18 districts affected and with two more deaths during the past 24 hours, the overall death toll has risen to 27.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday predicted more rains in the next few days in the northeastern states including .

Officials of the State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that at least 5,80,145 people, including 1,15,208 children, of 1,374 villages have been affected in 18 of the state's 34 districts.

Of the 27 deaths, 21 died in floods and remaining in landslides in different districts.

An ASDMA release said that 64,098 hectares crop areas remained affected in flood-hit areas. In all, 81,712 people are staying in the 346 relief camps, while the district administrations have also opened 182 relief distribution centres in all the affected areas.

Of the 18 affected districts, the worst-hit were three - 3,46,291 people were affected in Nagaon alone followed by 1,77,954 people in Cachar and 40,941 in Morigaon district.

The Army, the Rifles, the National Disaster Response Force, and the State Disaster Response Force, along with the district administrations, continue to work round the clock to rescue the stranded people and to provide relief to the marooned men, women and children.

The water of Kopili river was flowing above the danger level in several places.

The ASDMA release said that various food items, cooking oil and diesel have been air transported in the remote areas on Tuesday.

Officials said that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday visited landslide areas at Sarkari Bagan in Haflong which witnessed heavy mudslides triggered by incessant rain on Tuesday.

He also visited relief camps and interacted with the camp inmates at Lower Haflong.He also visited the homes of those persons killed in landslides at Hokai Pungchi Village in Haflong.

Sarma, in a meeting at Haflong Circuit House, reviewed the situation and took stock of the extent of damages caused by rain-induced landslides in the mountainous Dima Hasao district.

Several Ministers, including Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta, Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika, and Environment and Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, are camping in the flood-ravaged areas to supervise the rescue and relief operations.

The situation in the hill section of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) in Dima Hasao district remained serious on Tuesday as inclement weather continued to batter the area, affecting the Lumding-Badarpur single line railway route, which connects Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and the southern part of Assam with the rest of the country.

According to NFR's Chief Public Relations Officer, Sabyasachi De, in the Lumding Division, train services have been either cancelled till June end.

--IANS

sc/vd

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An all-party meeting on the caste-based census in Bihar will be held on June 1 under the leadership of Chief Minister in Patna, informed Bihar Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Wednesday.

Choudhary further said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has "not opposed" the all-party meeting on the caste-based census.

"All parties have agreed (on the caste-based census in Bihar). I've said that talks have been held with all parties and they've agreed on an all-party meeting on June 1. We hope that people of all parties will come. As far as Bharatiya Janata Party is concerned, they've not opposed it," he said.

Choudhary added that almost all parties in the state have been in the favour of a caste-based census since the beginning.

The Bihar minister also said that following a decision that will be taken in the meeting, a meeting of state cabinet ministers will also be called for its implementation.

"So, that will be taken up in the next meeting of the Council of Ministers and then the government will try to implement it," he said.

Notably, the Bihar Chief Minister had earlier said that the state government will conduct a caste census, and would seek political consensus before doing so.

Highlighting the importance of the caste Census, Bihar Chief Minister said that it would enable the government to work for the development of various sections of the society.

"We will start it soon and will also ensure it is implemented properly. Once the caste-based Census is done, the government can work for their development," he said.

Caste Census has become a key political issue in Bihar. Most of the parties in Bihar, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) which is in Opposition in the state, have called for Caste Census.

(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 government has decided to hold an all-party meeting on the issue of caste-based census on June 1 in Patna.

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, the Education Minister of has confirmed the development. He said that all political parties have agreed on the meeting for the caste-based census.

"Our Chief Minister has already said that a meeting on the caste-based census will soon be held in Patna. Now, the date has been finalised as June 1. Every party has agreed on the date and we are hopeful that the leaders of all the parties will give their valuable suggestions on this issue," Chaudhary said.

"The venue of the meeting will be 4 Desh Ratna Marg Patna at 4 p.m.," Chaudhary said.

Earlier, hinted that he is in favour of meeting on May 27. In Bihar, except BJP, all parties including RJD, JD-U, Congress, left parties, HAM and AIMIM agreed on caste-based census. BJP was stuck with the stand of its central leadership, which has decided not to conduct caste-based census in the country. Though, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already clarified that states are independent to conduct caste-based census on their own expenses.

As is looking firm on his decision to conduct a caste-based census in Bihar, BJP stepped down on Monday and gave its support on the issue in . The BJP think tank believes that if they would oppose caste-based census in Bihar, might break the alliance with BJP and form government in Bihar with the help of RJD.

--IANS

ajk/shs

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury Tuesday said that Biplab Kumar Deb was ousted from the chief minister's post to divert the people's anger against the misrule of the BJP-led coalition government in the state.

The saffron party government has throttled democracy, installed a fascist rule and brought to a halt development activities in the past four years, he said during a press conference after the state committee meeting.

Suddenly, the BJP central leadership ousted Biplab Kumar Deb just 10 months ahead of the state Assembly elections. Interestingly, (Narendra) Modiji and Amit Shah had praised Biplab Deb's chief ministership at least on two occasions. This is a design to divert the people's anger to win the next Assembly election by replacing Modiji's blue-eyed boy, he claimed.

But the saffron party would not be able to save its "fort" as the law and order situation has been worsening rapidly in the state," Chowdhury asserted.

Altogether killing of 24 persons and 15 cases of crime against women were reported in the past 62 days. The state recorded a total of 108 kidnapping and snatching cases during the period. Never before has the state witnessed such an alarming situation, he said.

The Left party will launch a massive programme to mobilize people's opinion against the misrule of the BJP-led government in Tripura, Chowdhury added.

CPI(M), he said, was not against constitutional solution to the problems facing Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) or its indigenous people but is against the formation of Greater Tipraland. We strongly demand the passing a Bill for empowerment of autonomous district councils at the earliest. The Autonomous District Councils Empowerment Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha a few years ago but it has not seen the light of the day as yet, he said.

On the Tipraland issue, he said Bifurcation of state is permissible under the Constitution and states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh Uttarakhand and Telangana have been created after being carved out from four states. But Greater Tipraland or Tipraland is not possible in keeping in mind its geographical, social and cultural composition.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
To cheer up the falling morale of the grassroots level workers in and to find ways for arresting the exodus of senior party leaders, BJP's national president, J.P. Nadda, is likely to make a visit to for two days. In all probability, his two-day visit will be on June 7 and June 8.

A state committee leader of the BJP, who did not wish to be named, said that on Wednesday a phone call came to the party's state committee in Kolkata from the national headquarters in New Delhi. "In that phone call, all the state committee leaders were asked not to schedule any other programme in the state and wait for the next round of instructions from New Delhi. As our national president is scheduled to come to the state in June this year and today's phone call was an indication enough to infer that the scheduled two-day visit would be on June 7 and June 8," the state committee member said.

BJP's national vice president and party MP, Dilip Ghosh said that Nadda's visit in June was decided much before. "He will be coming to attend a meeting with state leaders in West Bengal," Ghosh said.

It is learnt that during the two-day visit, Nadda, besides having meetings with the members of the state committee, will also hold a separate meeting with the elected legislators and Lok Sabha members from the state.

Party insiders said that in the recent past often the party's state unit had hit the headlines for wrong reasons like factional infighting and at times the infighting at the grassroots levels have even gone up to the upper levels of the leadership. "At the same time, the exit of senior party leaders like the Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore, Arjun Singh had made things worse. Our national president is expected to give some strong guidelines on how to get over this infighting and arrest the exodus of senior leaders from the party. Some initial strategy discussion for the panchayat elections next year might also come up for discussions," the state committee leader said.

Party sources said that there are also apprehensions of cross-voting in in the forthcoming Presidential polls. Nadda's forthcoming West Bengal tour is also expected to finalize the strategy on this count.

(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.)
MADRID, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Hector Bellerin says he wants to stay at La Liga club Real Betis rather than return to Arsenal for next season.

27-year-old Bellerin has completed a successful season on loan with Betis from Arsenal, helping them finish fifth in La Liga and win the Copa del Rey, and speaking in Spanish newspaper Diario AS, the right-back expressed his desire to stay in the south of Spain.

"I have spoken to both clubs and I made my position clear. We have two months to try to make it work out for the best for all of us," said the defender.

"I made an effort to come here [to Betis] and I am willing to make whatever effort is needed so that this continues as my home because I am happy here," he added.

Bellerin joined Arsenal from Barcelona in 2013 and has made 239 appearances for the club.

"I had some very good times at Arsenal and they gave me a lot. When I talk about Betis, I bear in mind how good Arsenal was for many years. It is a tough moment to leave Arsenal, but I hope everything works out well," added Bellerin.

"I really enjoyed last year. I have had a few days to reflect on this season and prepare for what comes next. I want to be here, although it is not as easy as that. We will see what happens this summer, I hope I can stay," he continued.

"It is a great locker room here, I have made a lot of friends and everything has passed very quickly, which is a sign that I have enjoyed myself," commented Bellerin. 
has asked local authorities to further lower the price of Covid-19 nucleic acid tests to no more than 16 yuan (nearly $2.4) per person for a single test.

The price for batch testing, which combines samples from up to 10 people in a single test, should be no more than five yuan per person, said a circular made public by the National Healthcare Security Administration on Wednesday.

The administration requires all provincial-level regions to complete the price adjustment by June 10, Xinhua news agency reported.

The move is part of the government's efforts to reduce the cost of nucleic acid testing, an important means to facilitate regular epidemic response.

The nucleic acid test price in has dropped over the past years from more than 120 yuan per person for a single test to no more than 60 yuan in September 2021, 40 yuan in December 2021, and 28 yuan in April 2022.

The administration also encouraged measures, including centralised procurement of detection reagents, to secure a continuous and reasonable decline in the testing price.

--IANS

int/khz/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister on Wednesday said he was deeply pained by the loss of lives due to a tragic accident in Odisha's Ganjam district and wished a speedy recovery for those injured.

At least six tourists from West Bengal, four of them women, were killed and 40 were injured late on Tuesday night when the bus they were travelling in rolled down the road at Kalinga Ghat on the borders of Kandhamal and Ganjam districts of Odisha, police said.

The incident took place past midnight near Durgaprasad village in Ganjam and 15 people among the injured are in serious condition, the police said on Wednesday.

"I am deeply pained by the loss of lives due to a tragic accident in Odisha's Ganjam district. In this tragic hour, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray that those injured recover at the very earliest," PM Modi was quoted as saying in a tweet from his office.

(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 has arrested a Karnal-based businessman under the anti- law in a case linked to alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 155 crore, the agency said on Wednesday.

Ashok Kumar Mittal, director of Mahesh Timber Private Limited, was taken into custody and produced before a special Prevention of Act (PMLA) court in Panchkula on Tuesday, it said in a statement.

The court remanded him to ED custody for four days.

"Mittal was non-cooperative during investigation and resorted to withholding of relevant information and was misleading the investigation," the ED alleged.

According to the agency, Mittal is the "key director of Mahesh Timber Private Limited, who in connivance with bank official has fraudulently got Letter of Credits limit enhanced from Rs 21 crore to Rs 195 crore, which were diverted to Singapore-based related entities of Mittal on account of fake imports."



"They caused overall wrongful loss to the bank to the tune of Rs 155 crore and wrongful gains to themselves in this manner," it said.

The case stems from a CBI FIR against Mittal and others for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and criminal misconduct of public servant.

(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.)
services are now available on WhatsApp through MyGov Helpdesk chatbot. For the uninitiated, is a smartphone app developed by the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) with an aim to provide access to authentic documents in digital form to the citizens. The issued documents on the platform are deemed to be at par with original physical documents as per Rule 9A of the Information Technology (Preservation and Retention of Information by Intermediaries providing Digital Locker facilities) Rules, 2016 notified on February 8, 2017.

"Offering Digilocker services on the MyGov Helpdesk is a natural progression and a step towards providing citizens with simplified access to essential services via WhatsApp's easy and accessible platform. With almost 100 million plus people already registered on Digilocker and 5 billion plus documents issued till date, we are confident that the service on WhatsApp will digitally empower millions by helping them access authentic documents and information, right from within their phones," MyGov CEO, Abhishek Singh, said.

Here is how-to access Digilocker services via MyGov Helpdesk chatbot on WhatsApp:

Step 1: Save +91-9013151515 as a MyGov HelpDesk contact number in the phone directory

Save +91-9013151515 as a MyGov HelpDesk contact number in the phone directory Step 2: Open WhatsApp and refresh list of contacts

Open WhatsApp and refresh list of contacts Step 3: Tap on MyGov HelpDesk to open the chat window

Tap on MyGov HelpDesk to open the chat window Step 4: Type Namaste', Hi' or Digilocker to activate the chatbot

Type Namaste', Hi' or Digilocker to activate the chatbot Step 5: The chatbot shows available options. Tap on the Digilocker Services here

The chatbot shows available options. Tap on the Digilocker Services here Step 6: Tap on Yes option when the chatbot asks if you have Digilocker account

Tap on Yes option when the chatbot asks if you have Digilocker account Step 7: Enter 12-digit Aadhaar number when the chatbot asks for it. It is required to link and authenticate your Digilocker account for access to its services via WhatsApp

Enter 12-digit Aadhaar number when the chatbot asks for it. It is required to link and authenticate your Digilocker account for access to its services via WhatsApp Step 8: Enter the OTP to proceed

Enter the OTP to proceed Step 9: Once the OTP is confirmed, the chatbot lists all the documents linked with your Digilocker account. However, you can download only one document at a time. To download, type and send the number the document is listed at

Once the OTP is confirmed, the chatbot lists all the documents linked with your Digilocker account. Step 10: Tap on other documents to go back to the list of available documents

Digilocker is a new addition to the services available through MyGov HelpDesk chatbot on WhatsApp. You can also access CoWin services such as vaccine certificate through the same chatbot. To do so, follow the following steps:
Commerce and Industry Minister on Tuesday met World Trade Organisation Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and reiterated India's support for strengthening the multilateral trading system.

During the meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 here, Goyal said India is committed to the WTO's efforts to strengthen the multilateral trading system to ensure free and fair trade among member countries.

He also met Swiss State Secretary Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch and exchanged views on enhancing India-Switzerland trade ties.

"India is an attractive market for Swiss cutting-edge technology and expertise to achieve scale and serve the world," the minister tweeted later.

Among his various meetings, Goyal also met Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and held talks on ways to further strengthen and renew Indo-Dutch ties by expanding business and investment opportunities while also exploring prospects of joint cooperation between the two countries.

He also met UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi and Indian Energy Alliance Executive Director Fatih Birol; Denmark's Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs Simon Kollerup; and Bangladesh's Private Industry and Investment Adviser to PM Salman F Rahman.

(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 member of the Eminent Persons' Group (EPG) on Nepal- relations said on Tuesday that the group has decided to hand over its joint report, charting out a future course for bilateral ties, to the prime ministers of the two countries.

The group which was formed in January 2016 with the mandate to review various aspects of the bilateral relations including Nepal- Friendship Treaty 1950, said it has worked for about three-and-a-half years to come up with a detailed report and will submit it to prime ministers of and soon.

It would not be appropriate to leave it under the responsibility of the coordinators, without handing it over to the two governments, group's coordinator Bhekh Bahadur Thapa said in a statement.

At an informal meeting held among the members, the group decided that the report would be handed over to the prime ministers of the two countries as soon as possible, and if that was not possible, it would be made public, Thapa said.

A panel of eight members from and India from diverse backgrounds prepared the Eminent Persons' Group (EPG) report in 2018. While the Indian side was led by former chief minister of Uttarakhand Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, the Nepali team was led by former foreign minister Thapa.

The EPG was formed by the governments of Nepal and India for reviewing the entire gamut of Nepal-India relations and updating bilateral agreements and treaties.

In the ninth EPG meeting in Kathmandu in 2018, it was agreed to replace the 1950 Treaty with a new one, regulate the Nepal-India border by asking citizens to show identity cards while crossing over to either side, and jointly tackle challenges in areas of combating terrorism, extremism, and all kinds of trafficking.

The joint report was prepared years ago, but remains unimplemented.

(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.)
Saying he resigned from the Congress last week, on Wednesday filed his nomination for the as an Independent supported by the .

Sibal, whose tenure as Congress member ends in July, went to the Uttar Pradesh assembly premises with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and other senior leaders to file his papers.

"I have filed the nomination as an Independent candidate. I thank Akhileshji for supporting me," Sibal told reporters.

"I resigned from the Congress on May 16 and am no longer a senior Congress leader now," he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A preliminary report submitted by Justice (Retd) BP Katakey has revealed the failure of authorities in to comply with directions issued by the and the (NGT) to check illegal .

The preliminary findings in the 41 page report dated May 23, 2022 indicated that except for notifying The Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rules, 2022 as recently as March 24, 2022, none of the directions issued by the Hon'ble and the NGT have been complied with by the concerned authorities



In the preliminary findings, the details of the non-compliance have been pointed out. In addition, the report makes recommendations to ensure implementation of the outstanding directions in point form, so that the appropriate agencies can deal with the various aspects.

The report was placed before the full bench of the High Court during the hearing on a PIL here on Tuesday.

Justice BP Katakey has been appointed by the Court to head a committee for recommending the measures to be taken by the state in compliance with the directions issued by the and NGT, including the sale of already extracted coal.

The court said it is a matter of regret that orders passed by the Supreme Court and by the NGT continue to be violated and the directions issued are not implemented and directed that the recommendations made in the preliminary report of May 23, 2022 be immediately taken note of and the relevant matters addressed.

It is made clear that the time for implementation of the outstanding directions will not be counted from today or from the date of institution of the present suo motu proceedings, but from the relevant dates when such directions were issued, it said while directing all relevant authorities should get their acts in order and ensure the complete implementation of the directions within four weeks from date.

The court further directed that Justice Katakey, will continue to monitor the implementation of the recommendations, including the outstanding orders and the directions of the Supreme Court and the NGT.

For such purpose, Justice Katakey will make periodic visits to Shillong, which will be facilitated by the State government. A secretary-level member in the State's civil service should be attached to Justice Katakey to facilitate the monitoring work, it said.

It said that a copy of the preliminary report together with the attendant papers which have been filed will be made over to the Union through the office of Assistant Solicitor-General attached to this Court.

Meanwhile, the court also directed all the authorities to respond individually to indicate to what extent the outstanding directions have been complied with. The next hearing will be held on June 21.

(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.)
BJP president J P Nadda on Wednesday deliberated with Union ministers on the party's planned outreach exercise to mark eight years of the government.

The meeting also discussed details of the ministers' visits to different parts of the country as part of the exercise.

Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Smriti Irani and Kiren Rijiju were among those who attended the meeting, which concluded with a speech by former BJP chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The BJP will celebrate the Modi government's anniversary from May 30 to June 15 on the theme of 'Sewa, Sushashan and Gareeb Kalyan' (service, good governance and welfare of poor).

In the recent meeting of its office-bearers in Jaipur, the BJP had announced that all Union ministers would visit different areas across the country to mark eight years of the government and take feedback from people on various welfare schemes.

During their visits, the ministers will interact with the poor and the beneficiaries of various welfare schemes.

(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 NIA on Wednesday sought the death penalty before a Delhi court for Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who had earlier pleaded guilty to all the charges, including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), in a terror funding case, court sources said.

The agency told Special Judge Praveen Singh in an in-chamber proceedings that Malik was responsible for the Kashmiri exodus.

On the point of sentence, sources said that Malik submitted that he would not beg for mercy, and that court could decide at its discretion.

The amicus curiae appointed by the court to assist Malik, sought minimum punishment, i.e., life imprisonment in the matter.

Malik, meanwhile, said that if Indian Intelligence can prove that he had been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in 28 years, then he would retire from politics, and will also accept the hanging.

The judge, however, said that since he has already been convicted, there was no point in arguing on the facts of the case and that he was already given the opportunity.

After hearing the arguments, the court reserved its order and is likely to pronounce it later in the day.

The court had on May 19 convicted Malik and had directed the NIA authorities to assess his financial situation to determine the amount of fine likely to be imposed.

Malik had on May 10 told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him that included sections 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the IPC.

The court had, meanwhile, formally framed the charges against Kashmiri separatist leaders including Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, Md Yusuf Shah, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Md Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, and Naval Kishore Kapoor.

The charge sheet was also filed against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, who have been declared proclaimed offenders (PO) in the case.

(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.)
LOS ANGELES, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new warning regarding monkeypox on Monday as it is investigating four more suspected cases in the country.

Currently, the United States has reported one confirmed case of monkeypox which is in a man in Massachusetts, who recently returned home from Canada.

The four suspected cases are in New York, Florida and Utah. They tested positive for orthopoxvirus, the family of viruses to which monkeypox belongs.

"It is likely that there are going to be additional cases reported in the United States," said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, a veterinarian and deputy director of the CDC's Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology.

The CDC is also tracking multiple clusters of monkeypox that have been reported in early- to mid-May in several countries that do not normally report monkeypox, including in Europe and North America.

"None of these people reported having recently been in central or west African countries where monkeypox usually occurs, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, among others," said the CDC.

The CDC warned travelers to avoid close contact with sick people, including those with skin lesions or genital lesions, and avoid contact with dead or live wild animals such as small mammals including rodents, and non-human primates such as monkeys, and apes.

Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with monkeypox virus. Monkeypox occurs throughout Central and West Africa, often near tropical rain forests, according to the CDC.

Monkeypox can spread through direct contact with bodily fluids or through contact with contaminated clothes or bedsheets, according to the CDC.

"Anyone can spread monkeypox [from] contact with body fluid or monkeypox sores or respiratory droplets when close to someone," said John Brooks, chief medical officer for the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.

The virus typically incubates for seven to 14 days before symptoms appear, according to the CDC.

Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes, followed by a rash. Lesions typically develop at the same time and evolve together on any given part of the body. Lesions progress through several stages before falling off, according to the CDC.

This can happen all over the body. The illness usually lasts two to four weeks.

A person can be contagious from one day before the rash appears until up to 21 days after symptoms began. Once the scabs fall off, the person is no longer contagious, the CDC says.

Monkeypox is fatal in as many as 1 percent to 11 percent of people who become infected. Prior vaccination against smallpox may provide protection against monkeypox.

The risk of monkeypox to the general public is "extremely low" at the moment, and there is "no cause for panic," Daniel Bausch, president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, told Xinhua.

"Although we need to get to the bottom of this and understand what is going on, it is extremely unlikely that we will have a large outbreak or pandemic of monkeypox. These will likely remain as smaller clusters in defined geographic areas," he said.

Currently, there is no proven, safe treatment for monkeypox virus infection, according to the CDC. For purposes of controlling a monkeypox outbreak in the United States, smallpox vaccine, antivirals, and vaccinia immune globulin can be used, said the agency.

According to the World Health Organization, as of May 21, 92 laboratory -confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox had been reported from 12 countries that are not endemic for monkeypox virus. 
The has not yet taken a view on the civil aviation ministry's plea for tax cuts on jet fuel (ATF) to bring down prices, a top source said on Wednesday.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has been making a case for lowering the high taxes on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) even as most states have already moved to significantly reduce the value-added tax (VAT).

"They (civil aviation ministry) have approached us with a plea to moderate the prices. However, no decision has been taken yet," the source said.

The continues to be in discussion with the finance minister over the issue, the source added.

As many as 23 states have lowered VAT on jet fuel from highs of 20-30 per cent. And now it wants the central government to cut excise duty.

makes up for about 40 per cent of the operating cost of an airline. Jet fuel prices are at a record high in line with the global surge in energy prices. And since India is 85 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs, the only way to cut jet fuel prices is to reduce taxes.

While BJP-ruled states have reduced VAT, the states housing the country's busiest airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata have not done so yet.

presently is chargeable at an 11 per cent ad valorem rate of excise duty. A concessional rate of 2 per cent is applicable for sold under the Regional Connectivity Scheme.

Ad valorem rate means the incidence of taxation rises whenever there is an increase in the base price.

Some in the industry have demanded that the government bring specific excise duty expressed in Rs per kilolitre to insulate airlines from such volatility.

Petrol and diesel already attract a specific rate of excise duty.

ATF attracts both excise duty of the central government and sales tax or VAT of states. This because when the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced on July 1, 2017, amalgamating 17 central and state levies, five commodities -- namely crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel, and ATF -- were kept out of its purview given the revenue dependence of state governments on this sector.

The aviation ministry has time and again sought the inclusion of ATF under GST. The oil ministry too has favoured including ATF along with natural gas under the GST regime to help companies set off tax that they pay on input.

So far no proposal for including ATF in GST has been made to the GST Council -- the apex decision-making body of the new indirect tax regime.

(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.)
said Wednesday that it will provide nearly two dozen products, including its top-selling COVID-19 and treatment, at not-for-profit prices in some of the world's poorest countries.

The drugmaker announced the programme at the World Economic Forum's annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, and said it was aimed at improving health equity in 45 lower-income countries. Most of the countries are in Africa, but the list also includes Haiti, Syria, Cambodia and North Korea.

The products, which are widely available in the US and the European Union, include 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, some cancers and rare and inflammatory conditions. Company spokeswoman Pam Eisele said only a small number of the medicines and vaccines are currently available in the 45 countries.

New York-based will charge only manufacturing costs and minimal distribution expenses, Eisele said. It will comply with any sanctions and all other applicable laws.

Earlier this month, the head of the World Health Organization called on to make its COVID-19 treatment more widely available in poorer countries. Pfizer has said its COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, is already being provided to poorer counties at a not-for-profit rate through the US government, which buys the shots and then distributes them for free.

Comirnaty brought in nearly USD 37 billion in sales last year, and analysts expect the company's COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid to add almost $24 billion this year, according to the data firm FactSet.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived early morning on Wednesday after participating in the Leaders' Summit as part of his two-day tour in Japan, immediately held a Cabinet meeting after reaching the national capital.

Senior Cabinet ministers including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, S Jaishankar, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Kiren Rijiju, Anurag Thakur, and Smriti Irani among others were present in the meeting.

PM Modi arrived at the Air Force Station, Palam today after participating in the Leaders' Summit as part of his two-day tour to Japan.

The Summit in Tokyo was the fourth interaction of Leaders since their first virtual meeting in March 2021, in-person Summit in Washington D.C. in September 2021 and virtual meeting in March 2022.

At the Quad Summit, PM Modi highlighted India's consistent and principled position on the need for cessation of hostilities, resumption of dialogue and diplomacy.

PM Modi, along with the leaders of the Quad nations, took part in the fourth interaction of the leaders, which saw criticism of Russian military action in Ukraine, from Australia, Japan and the United States.

During the summit, the leaders reiterated their shared commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and the importance of upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of disputes.

They exchanged perspectives on developments in the Indo-Pacific and the conflict in Europe.

On the sidelines of the Quad Summit, Prime Minister on Tuesday had bilateral meetings with US President Joe Biden and new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He also had a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

On the first day of his visit to Japan on Monday, the Prime Minister had a series of engagements. He participated in the event to launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity and chaired a business roundtable in Tokyo. He also interacted with members of the Indian community.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister would dedicate to the nation completed projects and lay the foundation stone for 11 projects, including a highway project between Bengaluru and Chennai, totally worth over Rs 31,000 crore during his visit here on Thursday.

While the BJP is geared up to accord a warm welcome to Modi, the state police department has made tight security arrangements.

This is the first official visit of Modi to after DMK captured power last year from archrival AIADMK. The DMK chief, M K Stalin assumed office as Chief Minister on May 7, 2021.

The Prime Minister would dedicate to the nation 5 projects worth over Rs 2,960 crore, in the presence of Governor R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The 75 km long Madurai-Teni (Railway Gauge Conversion Project), in southern Tamil Nadu, built at a cost of over Rs 500 crore, would facilitate access and give a boost to tourism in the region, an official release said.

The 30 km long third railway line between Tambaram-Chengalpattu here, built at a cost of about Rs 590 crore, would pave the way for operating more suburban services.

The 115 km long Ennore-Chengalpattu section and 271 km long Thiruvallur-Bengaluru section of ETBPNMT (Ennore-Thiruvallur-Bengaluru-Puducherry-Nagapatinam-Madurai-Tuticorin) natural gas pipeline, built at a cost of around Rs 850 crore and Rs 910 crore respectively, would facilitate supply of natural gas to consumers as well industries in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The programme at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, would also witness inauguration of 1,152 houses constructed as part of the Light House Project-Chennai, built at a cost of Rs 116 crore under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban.

Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of 6 projects, worth over Rs 28,000 crore.

The 262 Km long Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway would be built at a cost of over Rs 14,870 crore.

It would pass through the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and and help reduce travel time between Bengaluru and Chennai by 2-3 hours.

The 4 lane double decker elevated road connecting Chennai Port to Maduravoyal (NH-4), of about 21 KM, would be built at a cost of over Rs 5,850 crore ensuring round the clock movement of cargo vehicles to Chennai port.

The ??94 km long 4 lane Neraluru to Dharmapuri section of NH-844 and 31 km long 2 lane with paved shoulders of Meensurutti to Chidambaram section of NH-227, at a cost of around Rs 3870 crore and Rs 720 crore respectively, would help provide seamless connectivity in the region.

The foundation stones would be laid for the redevelopment of five railway stations in Tamil Nadu, Chennai Egmore, Rameswaram, Madurai, Katpadi and Kanniyakumari.

This project would be completed at a cost of over Rs 1,800 crore, and is being undertaken with a view to enhance convenience and comfort of passengers by providing modern amenities.

The Prime Minister would also lay the foundation stone of a Multi Modal Logistic Park at Chennai worth around Rs 1430 crore. It would provide seamless intermodal freight movement and also offer multiple functionalities.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The on Wednesday scheduled the hearing of the plea of corporate fraud investigating agency Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to Thursday (May 26) challenging a order staying the investigation into nine companies related to the .

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Bela M Trivedi agreed to list the matter tomorrow for hearing after it was informed that senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the was unable to appear before the court today.

The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for SFIO, said, "he cannot oppose the request as Sibal is facing personal issues."

The on 13 December 2021, had granted interim relief to Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited and others by staying the operation, implementation and execution of the investigation orders dated 31 October 2018, and 27 October 2020, passed by the Central Government.

It had also stayed all subsequent actions and proceedings initiated pursuant thereof including coercive proceedings and lookout notices issued against the chief and others.

The SFIO has filed the petition against the order of the Delhi HC and said, "ground of urgency is that all action and proceedings undertaken under the orders dated October 31, 2018, and October 27, 2020, passed by the Central Government have stayed which seriously prejudiced the ongoing investigations and proceedings which necessitated urgent listing of the captioned petitions."

Therefore, the statutory corporate fraud investigating agency has sought a stay on the order dated 13 December 2021.

(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.)
At least one antiviral medicine shows promise against monkeypox and should be investigated further, scientists said as the outbreak widens.

The finding is based on a single case that occurred in the UK before the current flare-up. The study, which calls for more research on a drug called tecovirimat, was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

The study focused on seven cases of transmission outside of Africa, where the virus is considered endemic in a dozen countries. It suggests SIGA Technologies Inc.s tecovirimat may be able to shorten symptoms and the amount of time people are contagious.

The scientists said more work is needed to reach any conclusions but their study found little evidence that another drug, brincidofovir, was beneficial.

Our paper gives a signal that if you had the choice between the two drugs, tecovirimat has shown more promise so far, Hugh Adler, a researcher at the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and lead author, told reporters in a briefing, while urging caution.

This is the sum total of human experience with these drugs in monkeypox so far, he said. We hope that by sharing this data other clinicians who are dealing with cases, particularly if theyre severe cases of monkeypox, might be able to access this drug as well, and that people will have the incentive to do a bigger study.

The cousin of the smallpox virus has spread across and the U.S. in recent days, leading to 131 confirmed cases and another 106 suspected ones across 19 nations, according to the .

Three of the cases of monkeypox studied were reported in 2021 in a family traveling from Nigeria. One patient was treated with tecovirimat and experienced a shorter duration of symptoms and upper respiratory tract viral shedding than the others, according to the report. The study is too small to determine its effectiveness against monkeypox, the authors said.

Throat Swabs

Tecovirimat, sold under the brand name Tpoxx, isnt yet widely available. An oral formulation is cleared in the US, Canada and to treat smallpox, while the European approval also includes monkeypox, the company said.

Brincidofovir didnt appear to have convincing clinical benefit in three other patients treated with the drug seven days after the initial onset of a rash, researchers said. Its uncertain whether giving brincidofovir to people earlier in the course the disease, or at a different interval, would have led to different outcomes. The three patients, plus a health worker exposed to the virus in a hospital, fully recovered in those cases from 2018 and 2019.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. earlier this month reached an agreement with Chimerix Inc. to acquire rights to brincidofovir, or Tembexa, approved by the FDA to treat smallpox.
PSU privatisation: Centre asks for legal declaration from bidders

After halting the of Central Electronics (CEL) and Pawan Hans over legal issues, the Centre has introduced changes in the process by seeking a legal declaration from bidders that they have not been convicted by any court, or indicted or received any adverse order from regulators for a grave offence. The changes have been introduced in the process, currently underway, for Ferro Scrap Nigam (FSNL). Read more...

The 5G leapfrog to 6G: New technology needs a 'whole-of-govt' ecosystem

Within a few days the Union cabinet will give the go-ahead for 5G auctions. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has last week made clear that the government will support the roll-out of 5G as an important step toward self-reliance in critical and modern technology, the timelines are going to hold. Given that, it is important now that the telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the group of secretaries, the Commission (DDC) and the Union cabinet get the prices and the range of airwaves offered to the industry just right. Read more...

InterGlobe, UPS in 50:50 joint venture to dive into India logistics market

Billionaire airline owner Rahul Bhatias InterGlobe Enterprises is foraying into a new business -- logistics and cargo. InterGlobe has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Atlanta-based logistics giant United Parcels Service (UPS).

People aware of the development said that UPS was scouting for a local partner to grow its business in India which has largely stagnated when compared with its global peers like DHL and FedEx. UPS floated a company, Iris Transportation Service, in 2021 in which InterGlobe picked up a stake of 50 per cent around the middle of last year. Read more...

Passive funds set for boost as Sebi eases market making, NFO and ETF rules

The passive fund industry has received a major shot in the arm from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which industry players say, could help double assets under management (AUM) in less than five years. The market regulator has relaxed several rules around market making, launch of new fund offerings (NFOs) and promotion of debt exchange traded funds (ETFs) through a circular titled development of passive funds. Read more...

countries make $50-bn infra push for Indo-Pacific to counter China

As a counter to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, the nations  India, the US, Japan and Australia  on Tuesday agreed to extend more than $50 billion of assistance to the Indo-Pacific region over the next five years to bridge the infrastructure gaps. We reaffirmed our shared commitment to deepen cooperation on infrastructure, which is critical to driving productivity and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. We are committed to working closely with partners and the region to drive public and private investment to bridge gaps, the leaders said in a joint statement. Read more...

companies' sky-high valuations unfazed by market correction

The recent correction in equity markets has done little to dent the sky-high valuation of companies. companies remain some of the most expensive stocks on the bourses, with a combined price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 105.3x and a price-to-book value (P/BV) ratio of 15.3x. The seven listed companies in Adani Group had a combined market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 14.44 trillion on Tuesday, against a combined net profit of Rs 13,715 crore in 2021-22 (FY22), and combined networth of Rs 94,442.5 crore at the end of FY22. Read more...
A Biden administration official headed to India on Tuesday to talk with officials and private industry about U.S. sanctions, the Treasury Department said, as Washington seeks to keep India's purchases of Russian oil from rising.

Elizabeth Rosenberg, the assistant secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, will visit New Delhi and Mumbai through Thursday, a Treasury spokesperson said.

Another senior U.S. official told Reuters on March 31 that a significant increase in Russian oil exports by India could expose New Delhi to "great risk" as Washington prepares to step up enforcement of sanctions against Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.

Rosenberg's visit is part of a wider Biden administration effort to fan out to partners and allies around the world to talk with officials and industry about implementation of U.S. sanctions and export controls, the Treasury spokesperson said.

"It's important to talk to the parts of the world that are strong U.S. partners on a whole host of other issues, and make sure we're in close contact about our sanctions regime and working together to crack down on any evasion opportunities or evasion activities," the spokesperson said.

India, the world's No. 3 oil importer, boosted Russian oil imports in April to about 277,000 barrels per day, up from 66,000 bpd in March as refiners buy the discounted crude shunned by many Western countries and companies.

Current U.S. sanctions against Russia do not prevent other countries from buying Russian oil. But Biden administration officials have considered so-called secondary sanctions that could restrict those purchases. Tariffs and price caps on Russian oil as well as putting proceeds from Russian oil sales into escrow accounts that its oil sellers could tap only for certain purchases have been under consideration. There have been no indications that such measures are imminent.

Rosenberg was expected to meet with both Indian government officials and private and state refining companies and other businesses on topics ranging from sanctions to food security.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Delhi court on Wednesday, while sentencing Kashmiri separatist leader to life imprisonment in a case, observed that had there been no funding from Pakistan, violence at this scale could not have been committed in the Kashmir Valley.

Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh observed that financing is the backbone of any operation, including terrorist activities. In the present case, the order on charge specifies how funds were raised and how they were received from the Pakistani establishment as well as designated terrorist Hafeez Saeed and through other hawala operations.

These funds were used to create unrest where under the guise of public protests, paid terror activities of stone-pelting and arson on a mass scale were committed, the court said in the order.

About Malik's role, the court said that betraying good intentions of the government, he took a different path to orchestrate violence in the guise of political struggle.

"The convict claims that he followed the Gandhian principle of nonviolence and spear- headed a peaceful nonviolent struggle. However the evidence on the basis of which charges were framed and to which the convict has pleaded guilty speaks otherwise," it held.

It also said that that with such funding for the convict to conspire to commit these acts and to pay the perpetrators, the violence and mayhem, at this scale, could not have been committed.

"Therefore, in my considered opinion, it is high time that it is recognised that is one of the gravest offences and has to be punished more severely," the judge said.

"The convict has been convicted of offense of under section 17 of UAPA. The convict was a part of the group which had been receiving funds that were raised for terrorist activities and he had received Rs 10 lakh on April 29, 2015, from accused Ahmad Shah Watali," the order read.

(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.)
Chinas Special Envoy for on Wednesday said the country will plant and conserve 70 billion trees by 2030, reosponding to the World Economic Forums (WEF) 1t.org initiative.

The WEF and Green Foundation, their statements said, will "actively echo and support" the initiative which will encourage society-wide stakeholders, including enterprises, individuals, and local governments at all levels to commit with actions to plant, conserve, restore and manage trees.

"China's forest cover and forest stock volume have been growing in the last 30 years, and accounts for more than 25 per cent of the world's new green areas," said Xie Zhenhua during his speech at the Forums 2022 Annual Meeting in Davos.

WEF Chairman Klaus Schwab said, "We appreciate Chinas effort in supporting the 1t.org initiative of the and relevant UN initiatives, we highly appreciate Chinas practices upholding relative international commitment such as the Paris Agreement and Biodiversity target through Nature-Based Solutions."

In the past decade, has regrown more than 70 million hectares of forest cover and has benefited greatly from solutions in biodiversity conservation, sustainable usage and climate governance.
Int'l freight train departs from Chongqing for Myanmar

Xinhua) 09:07, May 25, 2022

The first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar is about to set off from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

Aerial photo shows the first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar departing from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

Aerial photo shows the first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar departing from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

The first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar is about to set off from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

The first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar is about to set off from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

Aerial photo shows the first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar being about to set off from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

Aerial photo shows the first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar departing from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

Aerial photo shows the first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar being about to set off from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

The first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar is about to set off from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

A staff member walks past an international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar at the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

The first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar is about to set off from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

The first international freight train linking Chongqing and Lincang in southwest China with Myanmar is about to set off from the Yuzui station in Chongqing, southwest China, on May 23, 2022. Carrying 60 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of mechanical equipment, electronic and auto parts, the train will pass through Lincang in southwest China's Yunnan province and arrive at Myanmar's Mandalay in about 15 days. This new freight train route can save about 20 days compared with traditional logistics routes and reduce 20 percent of logistics cost. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
SANAA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia started meetings in Jordan's capital Amman on Wednesday to discuss lifting the siege on Taiz city, which holds strategic significance in southwestern Yemen.

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said on his official Twitter account that the talks are under his auspices and he has spent the last few days in Jordan talking with Yemen's political heavyweights.

The government-controlled Taiz has been under siege since the civil war erupted in Yemen in late 2014. Lifting the blockade would facilitate the movement of citizens and allow humanitarian aid access.

The lift is also the last major term to be fulfilled pursuant to the agreement reached by warring sides before the two-month ceasefire starting on April 2.

The truce marks the first breakthrough in more than seven years in efforts to end the war in Yemen that has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed the country to the brink of starvation.

Last week, the Houthis said they are considering a request by the United Nations to extend the ongoing truce with the Yemeni government, which expires on June 2. 
Denying life-saving vaccines to "people of colour" amounts to racism, said UN Undersecretary-General Winnie Byanyima on Wednesday at the Annual Meeting of the (WEF) 2022.



Some 18 months after the first Covid-19 vaccines became available, 75 per cent of people in high-income countries, mainly white, are fully vaccinated, while just 13 per cent of people in low-income countries, mostly brown and black, are vaccinated, she said.

 is not only when black people or brown people cannot breathe because of police violence. is when black people, brown people, people of colour take their last breath because of policy violence, when they are denied life-saving, pandemic-ending medicines when they cant access care or education because debt is choking them. Thats racism, said Byanyima while speaking at a session on racial equity in Davos.

Byanyima pointed the finger at the companies and governments that had invested in the vaccines. She drew a parallel with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, when antiretroviral treatments made available in the US allowed those with the disease to live long and happy lives.

Cheryl Dorsey, President of Echoing Green, highlighted the failure of leading companies to deliver on pledges made at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement.

As of January this year, by some measures, only 1 per cent of the $67 billion pledged toward racial equity by the largest companies in the world has been dispersed, she said.

She added that only 22 Fortune 500 companies fully cover race and ethnicity in their ESG reporting, while over 48,000 posts for directors and vice-presidents of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in US companies remain open.
American cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax performed to a packed hall at Davos to celebrate Our Shared Humanity in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

The concert began with the national anthem of Ukraine and ended with a hope for peace and resolution of conflict with Catalan cellist Pablo Casals Song of the birds.

Russias participation was noticeably absent at the World Economic Forums (WEF) Annual Meeting, while Ukraine was heavily represented, led by a special virtual address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russia House on the Promenade, which is next to India Lounge and has been the venue for the Russian delegation at the Forum for years, has been renamed Russian Warcrimes House by a Ukranian foundation.

The venue now hosts an exhibition documenting alleged war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for "maximum sanctions" on Russia, including a ban on all Russian banks, a Russian oil embargo and stopping all trade with Russia.

Addressing the Annual Meeting via a video link, he said this was the moment when it would be decided whether a "brute force" would rule the world.

He blamed the Russian attack for triggering poverty and despair across the world and called for concrete steps by the world to guard against another war that could be waged by Russia.

"Ukraine is short on time. The world has to be united. The world is united and I only wish that the world doesn't lose its unity," he added.
For more than 40 years, Bajaj Group's Chairman emeritus hosted a nightcap gathering at for business leaders and friends of India. This time around, the nightcap was hosted by his son Sanjiv, in honour of his father, who passed away on February 12, 2022 at the age of 83.

The (WEF) Annual Meeting is taking place in Davos, Switzerland, under the theme, 'Working Together, Restoring Trust' from May 22 to 26. It is the first global in-person leadership event since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The venue in Belvedere hotel was the same at which would stand at the door to welcome global CEOs, heads of state and Indian delegates. The hall was adorned with photographs of Bajaj, showcasing glimpses of his years in .

The one photo that caught everyones attention showed Bajaj sitting in a three-wheeler auto on a snowy road of in 2008. The picture encapsulated his efforts to ensure that Indian business was a prominent presence at the global forum.

It was Bajaj's insistence 40 years ago that made Indian business leaders attend the WEF event. The friendship between Bajaj and Professor Klaus Schwab, founder of WEF, laid the foundation for India to be a regular presence at the worlds most influential gathering of business leaders.

At least 100 Indian CEOs, as well as hundreds of business and political leaders from across the world, have already registered for the WEF 2022 five-day event.

These include Adani Group's Gautam Adani, Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani and his two children Isha and Akash, Bajaj Finserv's Sanjiv Bajaj, Aditya Birla Group's Kumar Mangalam Birla, Tata Sons' N Chandrasekaran, Axis Bank's Amitabh Chaudhry, HCL Tech's Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Infosys's Salil Parekh, Serum Institute's Adar Poonawalla, Wipro's Rishad Premji, Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma, ReNew Power's Sumant Sinha and Tata Steel's T V Narendran.
Reduction of non-tariff barriers, including border and customs administration, could lead to gains in of $20 billion a year, a new report released by the (WEF) at the Annual Meeting in Davos stated.

The report, Growing Intra- through Digital Transformation of customs and borders, presented on Tuesday called for more integrated digital reforms that can drive higher impact through public-private partnerships that sets the course for Africas post-pandemic recovery and growth.

Written in collaboration with Deloitte, it was presented at the convening of the Forum Friends of the Continental Free Area (AfCFTA), a multistakeholder group that supports implementation of the goals set out by AfCFTA through public-private collaborations.

The AfCFTA implementation, which started in January 2021, has the potential to increase intra-African trade from its current 18 per cent of total trade to 50 per cent by 2030. It also has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty.

The African Free Trade Area agreement can be a great catalyst for Africas growth and development, but its full realisation hinges on the introduction of efficiencies, including the improvement of customs processes," said Kavitha Prag, Africa Lead, Enterprise Technology and Performance at Deloitte Africa.

The report highlights insights from the Logistic Performance Index as well as key insights from case studies demonstrating the quantifiable value of digital reforms in countries such as Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.

Even after tariffs are lowered, and simplified procedures put in place, the full benefits of the AfCFTA will not be realized unless non-tariff barriers to trade are also addressed, said Chido Munyati, Head of Africa at the WEF. Policy-makers can make a difference by implementing digital solutions.

The World Bank notes that while African exports of goods and services have seen their fastest growth in the past decade, the volumes remain low at just three per cent of global trade.
Various Indian states are making their presence felt in Davos.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday launched a global investors meet at the state pavilion on the main promenade at the (WEF) meet being held in Davos. Apart from presentations and videos, the participants were delighted to receive a packet of coffee grown in the state.

ALSO READ - WEF 2022: Digital reforms of customs may increase intra-African trade

Karnataka, the GI coffee hub of India is home to five GI-tagged coffees. Along with Monsooned Malabar Arabica and Robusta Coffee, the Chikamagaluru Arabica Coffee and Coorg Arabica Coffee showcase how Karnatakas magical beans are globally renowned, an accompanying note said.

Before leaving for Davos, the chief minister said, "We will have an interaction with the 17 to 18 business leaders from different nations at the pavilion. Since we are organising 'Invest Karnataka', a global investors' meet in November this year, in this regard we are holding the discussion with them."

On Monday, Karnataka signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lulu International Group for an investment of Rs 2,000 crore in the presence of CM Bommai. He also held talks with heads of Jubilant Group, Hitachi, Hero MotoCorp, Siemens, Dassault Systems and Nestle, among others.

Meanwhile, the government of held a separate panel discussion with senior executives of global companies, such as Schneider and Flex. The theme of Building Advanced Manufacturing Ecosystems for Sustainable Growth positioned as a destination for investment in high tech systems

Thangam Thennarasu, Minister, Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce Department emphasised that policy predictability and business friendly mindset will enable the state to be a significant contributor to Indias growth story.
India's could fall 19% to the lowest level in 11-years as soyoil, now cheaper, takes more market share because of Indonesia's curbs on palm oil exports and New Delhi's move to allow duty-free imports of soyoil, dealers said.

Lower palm oil purchases by the world's biggest vegetable oil importer could put pressure on Malaysian palm oil prices and may lift soyoil imports to record highs and support U.S. soyoil futures prices.

India's in the 2021/22 marketing year, ending on Oct. 31, could fall to 6.7 million tonnes, the lowest since 2010/11, according to the average forecast from five dealers.

Soyoil imports in the year could jump 57% from a year before to a record 4.5 million tonnes, they said.

India on Tuesday allowed duty-free imports of 2 million tonnes each of crude soyoil and crude sunflower oil for the current and next fiscal years, ending March 31, as part of efforts to keep a lid on local edible-oil prices.

"The duty structure has made buying soyoil more attractive than palm oil," said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm.

Other dealers agreed.

Crude palm oil was being offered in India at about $1,775 a tonne, including cost, insurance and freight, for June shipments, compared with $1,845 for crude soybean oil.

But since the crude palm oil attracts 5.5% import tax, the effective price for Indian buyers is $1,873, said Bajoria.

allowed the resumption of palm oil exports from Monday after a three-week ban, but industry players said shipments were unlikely to restart until details emerged on how much of the edible oil must be held back for domestic use.

(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 government is exploring a payment mechanism for the import of oil from Russia in view of the sanctions imposed by the US and European countries following Moscow's attack on Ukraine.

With sanctions imposed on Russia, the scope of a payment mechanism in local currencies has expanded from being a means to sustain ongoing trade to possibilities of deeper engagement, including increasing bilateral trade.

"We have heard rouble payment being done by Europe. India had a rupee-rouble payment structure earlier. I don't think we have arrived at any decision as yet. Some discussions are happening," sources said.

Any such payment mechanism involving rupee and rouble payments for imports and exports would help circumvent the sweeping economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the western nations, including freezing many key Kremlin officials' individual accounts and snapping Russian banks from the international payment gateway SWIFT.

"We have a mechanism already. We have to see if the existing system is workable in the current global situation. We are exploring that and some more related things," sources said.

Asked if India can increase its dependence on Russia for oil needs if Moscow provides lower than the international prevailing rate, sources said, it is subject to some payment mechanism being worked out.

India's main imports from Russia include fuels, mineral oils, pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical machinery and equipment, and fertilisers.

Major export items from India to Russia include pharmaceutical products, electrical machinery and equipment, organic chemicals and vehicles.

In the past too, India had devised a mechanism to pay for imports from Iran when sanctions were imposed on the Persian Gulf nation.

India had entered into an agreement with Iran for carrying out trade-related transactions through a rupee account maintained with a state-owned lender.

As per the mechanism, Indian importers deposited payments in rupee in the 'vostro' account of Iranian banks, maintained with the Indian state-owned lender UCO Bank for imports including crude oil.

The account was also used to make payments to Indian exporters for sending goods to Iran and the payments were settled on a daily basis.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Supply Chain disruptions have made the world a difficult place when it comes to ensuring complete internet connectivity for everyone, Bharti Enterprises Chairman said on Wednesday and hoped that some sort of sanity returns at the soonest.

"The world has become much more difficult. We didn't imagine there would be so much supply chain disruptions. Chinese equipment were being supplied at a fast pace and at low costs, but that is not the case anymore," Mittal said.

"Some businesses have moved on, but at a much higher cost. I really hope that we bring sanity back to the supply chains at the soonest," he added.

He was speaking during a session on 'advancing digital cooperation', moderated by Observer Research Foundation President Samir Saran, during the Annual Meeting 2022 here.

In 2023, the United Nations aims to agree on a Global Digital Compact, a multi-stakeholder understanding between states, the private sector and civil society on how to achieve the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.

In the broader context, digital cooperation spans topics such as connectivity, artificial intelligence, Internet governance, safety and security, and data governance; all of which mandate the involvement of all stakeholders, not only governments.

The panelists also discussed whether digital cooperation changes the way one thinks about governing.

Mittal said, "We (Bharti group) operate in countries that are still working on building infrastructure, be it India, Bangladesh or sub-Sahara countries, but we have been able to do business only because of the commitments made on creating digital highways.

"There is still a long way to go to make everyone connected. Those who are not yet connected, are at a huge disadvantage and it becomes everyone's duty to bring them online. That will ensure that whether it is health services, medicines, education and other essential services, everyone will be able to access those," 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.)
By Aftab Ahmed

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India will continue to buy "cheap oil" from Russia but has not finalised terms of the discount, a senior government official familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

"We will get cheap oil from Russia," the government official told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the average price at which the world's third largest oil importer buys crude is currently above $100 a barrel.

With concerns that conventional payment routes could be blocked due to Western sanctions on Moscow, including on banks, work was ongoing to set up a rupee-rouble trade mechanism to facilitate transactions, the official said.

Without elaborating further, the official added that no final decision had been taken and all possible ways to pay for goods were still under discussion.

While Russia's oil exports have not to date fallen under Western sanctions, some international traders have avoided buying the barrels given the disruption to payment systems and shipping.

The official also said India was increasing its dependence on coal due to surging power demand, adding that state-run Coal India will produce more coal in the coming months.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed; Writing by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Jane Merriman, Kirsten Donovan)

(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 group of ministers (GoM) in the government deliberating on excise matters has given the consent to reduce the on beer and wine in the state, MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra said.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the ministerial group headed by Mishra on Tuesday.

"Various issues related to the excise policy for 2022-23 were discussed during the meeting. The GoM has agreed on reducing the on beer from Rs 30 to Rs 20 per bulk litre, Mishra said in a statement.

The GoM group also approved a departmental proposal to reduce the on wine from Rs 10 to Rs 5 per proof litre, he said.

Excise Minister Jagdish Devda, Forest Minister Vijay Shah and other senior officials of the excise department were present in the meeting.

The GoM will again hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss various issues, the statement 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.)
NANJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Wu Jiying, a Nanjing Massacre survivor, passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 98.

Her death reduced the total number of registered survivors to 56, according to the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

The Nanjing Massacre occurred when Japanese troops captured the east China city on Dec. 13, 1937. Over six weeks, they killed about 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers in one of the most savage episodes of World War II.

When she was only ten years old, Wu was sold to a family in Nanjing to be a maid by her debt-ridden father. She was stabbed by two Japanese soldiers in her right leg during the massacre. She eventually survived by feigning death among corpses in a house.

Wu was found by her father later and they returned to their hometown about 50 km away from Nanjing, where she got married and became a mother of six children.

In 2014, China's top legislature designated Dec. 13 as the national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

The Chinese government has preserved the survivors' testimonies, recorded in written documents and video footage. These records of the massacre were listed by UNESCO in the Memory of the World Register in 2015. 
India has received special requests from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Korea, Oman and Yemen for wheat after the government banned exports on May 13. UAE has expressed concern about the wheat export ban through our ambassador to the country. Requests for wheat have also come from the governments of South Korea, Oman and Yemen.

However, we are ascertaining whether the request from Yemen is from the officially-recognised government or the self-proclaimed government. We are yet to take a call on what would be the quantity of wheat exports to these countries, said a ...
Following the government missive, the board of has recommended a five per cent (Rs 337 crore) for the financial year ended March 31 2022.

Officials said the money, following government nudge, is being paid out of net worth. The revised net-worth would be Rs 10,175 crore, down from Rs 10,512 crore.

The payout will make a small dent in capital adequacy ratio (CAR) to 16.48 per cent from 16.85 per cent, according to filing with BSE.

BoM stock closed 3.73 per cent lower at Rs 15.5 Per share on BSE. It touched 52-low of Rs 15 per share in intra-day trading.

The revision in audited results will not change net profit for Fy22. The bank's net profit doubled to Rs 1,151.54 crore, as against Rs 550.25 crore in 2020-21. The board had not recommended when in met in April 2022 to approve results for Fy22.

Another public sector lender Bank of Baroda will revise the recommended dividend and its board is meeting on May 31, 2022 to decide quantum. Earlier, its board had recommended a dividend at Rs 1.20 per equity share (face Value Rs two each) for the Fy22.

Kolkata-based UCO Bank which had planned a board meeting on May 19 to consider dividend proposal. But it could not go ahead with tje proposal since the bank had not yet received the requisite regulatory approval for declaration of dividend.

According to BS Research assessment, for FY22 eight out of 12 public sector have recommended a dividend amounting Rs 11,981 crore. All 12 reported net profit this year. In FY21, only two PSBs - SBI and Indian Bank -- had declared dividends with outgo amounting Rs 3,796 crore.

Krishnan Sitaraman, Senior Director and Deputy Chief Ratings Officer, CRISIL Ratings said the profitability of PSBs has substantially improved in FY22 vis-a-vis FY21 levels leading most of them to announce dividends. This is what is normally followed by the corporate world in a business as usual situation.

Also the fact that all PSBs have a cushion over regulatory Tier 1 capital adequacy requirement of at least 100bps, it makes them well placed to pay out dividends from their profits, he added.

The board of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) will meet on May 30 to approve the results for the quarter ended and year ended March, 2021, and payment of dividend. BSE listed LIC has not paid any dividend to the government, which now holds 96.5 per cent stake in the insurer, for the last two financial years  FY21 and FY20.

The governments share of surplus for FY20 amounting to Rs 2,699.73 crore and in FY21 amounting to Rs 2,903.14 was retained as reserves by the insurer, in accordance with approval from Government of India and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).
The government is on course with the privatisation of two public sector (PSBs) and will take appropriate steps in the coming months, sources said.

In the Union Budget for 2021-22, the government announced its intent to take up the privatisation of two PSBs in the year and approved a policy of strategic disinvestment of public sector enterprises.

According to sources, the government is committed to the privatisation of two public sector and it is on course.

Besides, sources also said the divestment of BPCL is also on the card and fresh bids will be invited.

The government had to cancel the sale as only a single bidder was left in the fray, sources said.

The government had planned to sell its entire 52.98 per cent stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and invited Expression of Interest from bidders in March 2020. At least three bids came in by November 2020 but only one remains now after the others withdrew from the race.

On the strategic sale of Container Corporation of India (Concor), sources said, there are some issues and the process would be undertaken after those are resolved.

The Cabinet, in November 2019, had approved the strategic sale of a 30.8 per cent stake, along with management control, in Concor out of the government equity of 54.80 per cent. The government will retain 24 per cent stake post-sell-off but without any veto powers.

The government think-tank NITI Aayog has already suggested two and one insurance company to the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment for privatisation.

According to sources, Central Bank of India and are likely candidates for privatisation.

As per the process, the Core Group of Secretaries, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, will send its recommendation to Alternative Mechanism (AM) for its approval and eventually to the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister for the final nod.

The members of the Core Group of Secretaries include economic affairs secretary, revenue secretary, expenditure secretary, corporate affairs secretary, legal affairs secretary, Department of Public Enterprises secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary and an administrative department secretary.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In one of the worst school shootings in American history, an 18-year-old gunman has killed 21 people, including 18 children, and rendered several other grievously injured at an elementary school in Texas state, before the assailant was eliminated in police firing.

Gunshots rang out of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde town, Texas, 134 km from San Antonio, at about 11.30 AM on Tuesday.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott identified the killer as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the area where the school was located. The shooter's motive remains unclear.

"He shot and killed horrifically, incomprehensibly. Fourteen students and a teacher killed," Abbott said in the evening; later the toll was raised to 18 children and three adults dead.

Two law enforcement officers were shot but are expected to recover, Abbott said.

Ramos was armed with a handgun and an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, law enforcement sources confirmed. The shooter also carried high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Names of the deceased and other details were yet to be released. According to the school website, its students are aged between 5 years and 11 years.

Chief of Police, Uvalde, Pete Arredondo said the "mass casualty event occurred at Robb Elementary School at about 11:32 this morning". He said the killer acted as an lone wolf - who was shot dead in police exchange.

The deceased children are in the second, third and fourth grades - aged between 7 years and 10 years, he said.

US President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting during his return flight from Japan where he attended the Quad Summit.

Biden will address the media on the shooting in the evening after he returns to Washington, his Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

In a tweet, Jean-Pierre wrote: "His (Biden's) prayers are with the families impacted by this awful event".

Biden has ordered the US flag to be flown at half-mast until sunset on Saturday May 28, in memory of those killed in Texas.

The US flag across all public buildings, grounds, military posts, naval stations, naval vessels, embassies, consular offices and military facilities will be in half-mast.

In Uvalde, all schools were locked once the gunshots were heard.

In addition to the confirmed deaths, a number of people have been injured. No number on the injured has been released.

Texans across the state grieved for the victims.

Abbott said: "Cecilia (wife) and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering."



Abbott said he had instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers to work with the local law enforcement to investigate the shooting.

A disturbing message on the school's website read: "Robb Elementary Parents, please do not pick up students at this time. Students need to be accounted for before they are released to your care. You will be notified to pick up students once all are accounted for."



Officials said the city's civic center was being used as a reunification center where the kin of victims can procure information from the state and coordinate other functions.

The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center issued a public appeal for blood donations. They have already sent over 15 units of blood and are running out.

There is currently a blood shortage at the local hospitals where the wounded are being treated.

Emergency blood donation appointments are being held for Wednesday.

The shooting stoked the fiery debate on guns control.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said teachers should be armed to stop such incidents in the future.

Speaking to a conservative news outlet, Newsmax, Paxton said "Having potentially teachers and other administrators be armed would help stop future attacks while authorities arrived."



"First responders typically can't get there in time to prevent a shooting. It's just not possible unless you have a police officer on every campus," he said.

"I think you're going to have to do more at the school."



US Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) said in a tweet: "Today, the entire state of Texas is in mourning. The shooting at Robb Elementary School is every parent and teacher's worst nightmare. My heart goes out to those in the hospital receiving care and to the loved ones of those who lost their lives. As a parent, I cannot imagine the pain they must be feeling."



"I am in touch with local officials in Uvalde and plan to travel there as soon as I can get there. No parent, child, or teacher should ever have to wonder whether it's safe to go to school. This is an excruciatingly painful time for the tight-knit Uvalde community and for all Texans.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz described the Uvalde shooting as "truly horrific", but said gun reforms were not the way to prevent such crimes.

Speaking to reporters, he said that restricting the rights of "law-abiding citizens... doesn't work. It's not effective. It doesn't prevent crime."



He said "going after felons" is what prevents such crimes and he criticised other politicians for trying to "advance their own political agenda" by calling for gun control.

He added that from past experience, armed law enforcement on campus is the most effective way of keeping children safe.

"We don't know the details of what happened at Robb Elementary School, but there will be a lot of time to examine what steps could have been taken proactively to enhance the safety and security of the school right now," he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President mourned the killing of at least 19 children and one teacher in a mass shooting at a elementary school on Tuesday, decrying their deaths as senseless and demanding action to try to curb the violence.

I hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this again, Biden said at the White House, in sometimes halting, emotional remarks. Another massacre in Uvalde, . An elementary school. Beautiful, innocent second, third and fourth graders.

As a nation, he said, we have to ask: When are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When are we going to do what we know in our gut needs to be done?

Tuesdays massacre at Robb Elementary School is the latest in a string of mass shootings that have rocked the country. Just 10 days ago, a gunman in Buffalo, New York, opened fire at a supermarket, killing 10 people in a racist attack.

The attack in Uvalde, which is about 80 miles west of San Antonio, is the most deadly US school shooting since a gunman killed 26 people, most of them first-graders, at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

The shooter, an 18-year-old, was killed Tuesday by responding officers.

Biden was briefed on the Uvalde shooting aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from a trip to South Korea and Japan. He ordered US flags to be flown at half-staff through May 28.

With gun control legislation stalled on Capitol Hill, the president has little to offer but yet another call to action and grief for the victims families.
President plans to sign an executive order on policing on Wednesday, the second anniversary of George Floyd's death, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The order would require federal law enforcement to review and revise policies on use of force, and it would restrict the flow of surplus military equipment to local police. In addition, the order would encourage limitations on chokeholds and no-knock warrants by attaching strings to federal funding.

The people who described the order spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of any public announcement. Biden is expected to sign the order alongside relatives of Floyd, whose killing by Minneapolis police sparked nationwide protests.

The order reflects a less extensive approach than Biden originally wanted because Congress was unable to agree on legislation that would have increased oversight of law enforcement. It is the result of months of negotiations among White House officials, civil rights groups and police organizations.

The administration began working on executive action after bipartisan talks to pass police reform legislation in Congress stalled last year.

"We know full well that an executive order cannot address America's policing crisis the same way Congress has the ability to, but we've got to do everything we can," said a statement from NAACP President Derrick Johnson.

(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.)
Boris Johnson's government went on the defensive on Wednesday, as it awaited an official report into lockdown-breaking parties at the prime minister's Downing Street office and residence.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray's report is expected to be published on Wednesday, against a backdrop of new photographs and accounts this week of boozy gatherings that took place there.

It is set to offer more details of parties at the heart of power while the rest of the country was under a strict lockdown to try to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Johnson, who was fined by police for attending his birthday party during lockdown but escaped further penalties, has been forced to apologise for the culture in Downing Street, but more details may only add to pressure for him to quit.

Seeking to play down Gray's report, a British minister said police had investigated "all of these events".

"They've issued a fixed penalty notice to the prime minister in respect of one of those events that he that he attended. He's paid that penalty," Environment Minister George Eustice told Times Radio.

"He's apologised ... So I'm not sure that anything new will come from this report other than further detail, but of course, we will... look at it."

For months, evidence of alcohol-fuelled parties at Downing Street has dripped out into the media, forcing Johnson to apologise, change the team at his office and promise a reset to try to restore his authority.

But his actions have failed to stem a steady drumbeat of calls for his resignation, with some lawmakers saying his position is untenable if he lied to parliament, a matter under investigation by parliament's Committee of Privileges.

Ministers say he has not misled parliament.

Gray's report follows new revelations of what went on inside Downing Street when rules meant people could not socialise outside their households or even, in many cases, attend funerals for loved ones.

Late on Tuesday, the BBC's Panorama programme cited insiders as saying staff crowded together at such events, and how, sometimes in the morning when arriving for work, they were met with bottles littering parts of the building. Some parties went on so late, they said, some people ended up staying all night.

On Monday, photographs published by broadcaster ITV appeared to show Johnson on Nov. 13, 2020 making a speech and raising a toast, with a glass in his hand, standing next to a table on top of which are several open wine bottles.

Johnson's spokesman did not address the photographs directly but said that, after the publication of the Gray report, the prime minister would address parliament and answer questions.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and William James; editing by John Stonestreet)

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Chinas economy is in some respects faring worse than in 2020 when the pandemic first emerged, Premier Li Keqiang said, urging efforts to reduce a soaring unemployment rate.

Economic indicators in have fallen significantly, and difficulties in some aspects and to a certain extent are greater than when the epidemic hit us severely in 2020, Li said Wednesday following a meeting with local officials, state-owned companies and financial firms to discuss how to stabilize the economy.

His remarks came after economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast Chinas economy will grow 4.5% this year, well below the governments target of about 5.5%. Beijings priority on coronavirus control is raising the prospect that it will admit to missing its GDP target by a large margin for the first time ever this year.

The premier called on officials to make sure the unemployment rate falls and the economy operates in a reasonable range in the second quarter of this year, state media cited him as saying. The nations surveyed jobless rate climbed to 6.1% in April, the highest since February 2020.

The meeting is the latest in a series of calls by Li to shore up growth, which has come under enormous pressure since March from Covid outbreaks and president Xi Jinpings commitment to zero-Covid, requiring strict restrictions on activity where outbreaks occur. He stressed implementation of current support policies, adding that economic data for the second quarter would be released accurately.

Li indicated that will try to reduce the impact of its strict coronavirus control policies on the economy, without giving details on how that would be achieved. At the same time as controlling the epidemic, we must complete the task of economic development, he said.

Beijing has never admitted to missing its annual growth target by a large margin since it began setting such goals more than three decades ago. It didnt set a target in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic first hit.

Chinas industrial production and retail sales both contracted year-on-year in April, according to official data. Economic contraction continued this month, according to high frequency indicators, such as truck flows between cities. In the week through May 15, a road freight index produced by Chinese company G7 Connect fell 18% from a year ago, a company executive told local media this week.

G7 added in a social media post on Wednesday that truck flows in Shanghai, which has been under a strict lockdown since March, stood at just 20% of pre-pandemic levels over the last two weeks. Most Chinese freight travels by truck, and economists based at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and other universities found truck flows and Chinas economic output are highly correlated.

Xi has laid the groundwork for treating the GDP target as just one goal among several for officials to aim at, writing into a key Communist party document last year that it should no longer be a sole criterion of success.. Jeremy Wallace, an expert on Chinas economic policy making at Cornell University, said its likely that Beijing will argue that below-target growth was justified by needed Covid measures.

Beijing hasnt explicitly mentioned the growth target since March. Instead, Li and other officials have repeatedly stressed the importance of employment, which the government can boost by subsidizing companies to retain workers to keep unemployment below its target of under 5.5%, even if they cant perform their usual work tasks due to virus controls.

The nations leadership is trying to put a floor on growth especially as repeated lockdowns raise the chance that Chinas economy will grow more slowly than the U.S. for the first time since 1976. Economists expect additional stimulus which could include cash handouts to households and financial support for the tech sector.

Beijing will try to climb down from the 5.5% target, said Houze Song, an economist at think tank MacroPolo. How Beijing handles the situation in the coming months will matter more than missing the target. If it handles well, it can offset some of the damage.

Li outlined 33 support measures on Monday to help businesses, including more than 140 billion yuan ($21 billion) of additional tax cuts, and a cut on vehicle purchases taxes. Local governments were told to spend most of the proceeds from 3.65 trillion yuan of bonds used mainly for infrastructure by the end of August. Li said more detailed instructions on how to implement those policies would be issued this month.

The central bank and banking regulator also held a meeting with major financial institutions on Monday to urge them to boost loans. State media reported following the meeting that some banks had been handed specific quotas requiring them to accelerate loan growth.

Li met with local authorities in April, when Shanghai was in the middle of a lockdown, telling them to add a sense of urgency as they rolled out policy. During a trip to Yunnan province last week, he said they should act decisively to support growth.
China's military said on Wednesday it recently conducted an exercise around as a "solemn warning" against its "collusion" with the United States, Chinese state media reported.

U.S. President angered on Monday by appearing to signal a change in a U.S. policy of "strategic ambiguity" on by saying the would get involved militarily if were to attack the island.

But he said on Tuesday there was no change to U.S. policy.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command said it had recently carried out a patrol and drill in the airspace and sea around .

"This is a solemn warning against recent collusion between the and Taiwan," said spokesman for the command, Shi Yi said, according to state television.

"It is hypocritical and futile for the to say one thing and do another on the Taiwan issue," he said.

has never renounced the use of force to bring democratically ruled Taiwan under its control, and the Taiwan Strait remains a potential military flashpoint.

While the United States abides by a "one China" policy, recognising only Beijing, it has made a commitment under its Taiwan Relations Act "to help provide Taiwan the means to defend itself".

Despite that, it has long held a policy of not specifying how it might react in the event of a Chinese attack on the island.

(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian;

Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former Prime Minister of will begin his 'Long March' to Islamabad on Wednesday demanding the dissolution of the National Assembly and a date for the next general election. He has invited people to join in large numbers.

Earlier, speaking at a press conference after his party's core committee meeting in Peshawar, Imran said that he will meet the people on the Srinagar highway on May 25 and asked them to join him at 3 pm.

"Today we held our core committee meeting and made important decisions, the biggest question was when to begin the long march, and we have decided. On the 25th of May, I will meet you in Islamabad on the Srinagar Highway. You have to reach there at 3 pm," The Dawn quoted Khan as saying.

Why is holding a march?

Before announcing the date for the march, the PTI chairman explained his allegations of conspiracy as well as the purpose of his march. "The march would have two primary demands: dissolution of assemblies and a date for elections," said.

Khan demanded a free and fair election in the country and said that he would accept it if the nation would bring the current government back into power. However, no country from outside will be allowed to impose them on us, he said. Imran said that the 'long march' would convert into a sit-in and continue until his demands are accepted.



government's reaction

Pakistan government has taken a decision to stop the long march and decided to launch a crackdown against the members of PTI throughout the country in a bid to stop them from marching towards the capital Islamabad.

Police authorities have started raiding houses of senior members of the PTI in the major cities of Pakistan and have already taken into custody over 600 supporters of PTI, who were gearing up to join Imran Khan's long march towards Islamabad.

In raids across the country, especially in the Punjab province, the police arrested PTI supporters, while forcing senior members of the party to go into hiding.

Preparation of local police

Police command of Islamabad and Rawalpindi have started chalking out strategies after Imran Khan announced a 'Long March', followed by sit-in for an indefinite time.

The leaves of police personnel have been cancelled, with an exception for emergency cases. An officer told The News that top police officers visited the sensitive locations of the metropolis including the Red Zone, which has already been 'containerised' and surrounded by barbed wires and the sensitive points' entry from Rawalpindi or IJ Principal Road

PM calls out Imran Khan

Pakistan Prime Minister alleged that Imran Khan wants to start a civil war in the country, but warned him that the nation will hold him by the collar for his "nefarious designs".

When asked if the government would call in the army to stop the long march, he replied that a decision would be taken if and when needed.
DAMASCUS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday slammed the Turkish plan to create a safe zone in northern Syria as an "aggressive and colonial act."

The ministry said in a statement that the Turkish side aims to create an "explosive hotspot" inside Syria and continue to "arm and operate terrorist groups to use them against the Syrian people," according to the state news agency SANA.

It pointed out that the practices of the Turkish forces on Syrian soil are "illegitimate and null," adding that such acts are "tantamount to war crimes."

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country was planning to launch a new military operation in Syria in an effort to link up two areas already under Turkish control in the northern region near the Turkish border.

He said the aim is to create a 30-km safe zone along the Turkish border with Syria. 
Sarah Sanders won the Republican nomination for governor in Arkansas, putting her on a clear path to lead a solidly red state where Donald Trump's popularity has overshadowed questions about his administration's credibility that she faced during her time as White House press secretary.

Sanders won the GOP primary for the office her dad, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, held for a decade after a race where she shattered fundraising records. Sanders bombarded the state's airwaves with TV ads invoking the former president and going after his favourite targets, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Sanders headed into the primary virtually assured of the nomination, and she remains a heavy favourite in the general election in a state that hasn't voted for a Democrat for governor since 2010. Nuclear engineer and ordained minister Chris Jones won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday.

During her victory speech Tuesday, Sanders didn't mention Trump or Biden and invoked the fatal shooting of at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school as a stark and humbling reminder of just how precious life is.

Every single life has value and the most vulnerable among us should be those that we are fighting for and protecting the most, Sanders said. I can assure you that in my administration, that's exactly what we will do. We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, they're as safe as they are in the classroom, the workplace, the nursing home, because every stage of life has value.

As Trump's spokesperson, Sanders was one of his closest White House aides and was the face of an administration that contributed to the nation's stark divide. She's running at a time that Republicans around the country are adopting the president's rhetoric and approach on a number of issues, including immigration policy and the way race is taught in schools.

Sanders joked Tuesday night about her shift from press secretary to nominee.

When I worked at the White House, nobody ever cheered when I went up to the podium," she said. This is different, but I like it a whole lot better."



During Sanders' nearly two-year tenure at the White House, she scaled back daily televised briefings after repeatedly sparring with reporters who aggressively questioned her.

She faced questions about her credibility, particularly after special counsel Robert Mueller's report revealed that Sanders admitted making an unfounded claim to reporters about FBI agents' reaction to director James Comey's firing. But she also earned reporters' respect working behind the scenes to develop relationships with the media.

She faced similar credibility questions after Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's personal attorneys, surprised the White House by saying on national TV that Trump had reimbursed his then-fixer Michael Cohen for the USD 130,000 Cohen had paid porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet during the campaign about an alleged past sexual encounter with Trump. Trump has denied Daniels' claim.

The White House had failed to disclose the reimbursement. Sanders said she didn't know anything about the repayment until Giuliani disclosed it.

Sanders in her ads embraced Trump's endorsement and his rhetoric, promising to use the state's top office to fight Biden and the radical left, something that's awfully hard to find in a state where no Democrat holds statewide or federal office. She also invoked Trump's one of Trump's favourite targets, the national news media.

As White House press secretary, I never had to worry about the far left and their allies at CNN or the New York Times defining me, Sanders says in one TV spot. Because I have a creator who's already done that.

But she danced more delicately around some of Trump's biggest grievances, especially his lies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

Sanders in interviews has stopped short of calling the presidential election stolen, unlike Trump-endorsed candidates in Pennsylvania, Georgia and elsewhere were running on his false claims. Sanders said she thinks Trump has the right to call the election stolen, though she said she can't say how much fraud there was in 2020. An Associated Press review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by Trump has found fewer than 475 a number that would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election.

What I do know is the country would be infinitely better off right now if was in the White House, Sanders told the AP in an interview earlier this month.

She also avoided publicly criticizing outgoing Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, even after the former president labeled Hutchinson a RINO Republican In Name Only for vetoing an anti-transgender law. Sanders said she would have signed that measure, which the GOP Legislature enacted by overriding Hutchinson. Hutchinson, who is considering a run for president in 2024, has often split with the former president.

Hutchinson endorsed Sanders in November after her two chief rivals for the nomination Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge dropped out to seek other offices. Hutchinson was barred by term limits from seeking reelection.

Trump publicly encouraged Sanders to run for governor when she left the White House in 2019 to return to her home state.

Sanders was already well known in Arkansas politics, going back to when she appeared in ads for her father's campaigns. She managed Sen. John Boozman's 2010 election and worked as an adviser to Sen. Tom Cotton's in 2014. She appeared in ads endorsing Boozman, who won the GOP primary for his seat after fending off challenges from the right.

Sanders has run on a promise to phase out the state's income tax, though she's stopped short of giving a timeline for doing so or offering details on how she'd pay for the loss in revenue.

Sanders defeated former talk radio host Doc Washburn, who mounted a long shot bid against her in the primary by trying to paint her as not conservative enough partly because of her endorsement from Hutchinson and backing of Boozman.

Jones, who won the Democratic nomination in a five-person primary, launched his campaign last year with a video that quickly went viral and contrasted with Sanders' rhetoric. During his victory speech, he continued that theme, presenting himself as a more unifying figure than Sanders.

Arkansans are clear that we are sick and tired of the politics of division, Jones said.

Jones is among dozens of Black Democrats who are winning in areas that Trump has won, in the hopes of mobilizing more voters. Arkansas has never elected an African-American to statewide or federal office.

Before jumping into the governor's race, Jones headed the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, a nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs. He has dubbed his platform PB&J, which he says stands for preschool, broadband and jobs.

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Malaysia, the worlds second-biggest producer, has ruled out curtailing exports as it has enough supplies to meet local demand and will instead focus on targeting subsidies to ensure it benefits the most needy consumers.



So far, we have no worries because we definitely have no shortages at all, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said in an interview Tuesday. Most of the time we export more than half of what we produce, and we still have an excess to export, she said from her office in the administrative capital Putrajaya.

The nation aims to fill the gap in the edible oil market caused by the Ukraine war, as well Indonesias export curbs on palm oil, Zuraida said. She forecasts Malaysias production may rebound to 23 million to 25 million tons in 2022, versus last years 18.1 million tons, as pandemic-driven labor shortages ease and foreign workers are allowed back in estates, while smallholders boost productivity to capitalize on high prices.

The labor situation in local plantations will likely return to pre-pandemic levels by June as issues with foreign worker intake are being ironed out, Zuraida said, setting yields on track to climb in the second half of the year.

All the teething problems in terms of the worker application and processes have been resolved, she said. Everything is in place and now its about workers coming in.

Around the world, governments are taking to food protectionism to secure local supplies and battle rising food costs, stoked in part by supply shocks caused by the war in Ukraine. Top shipper Indonesia recently temporarily banned palm oil exports, before replacing it with domestic sales quota after farmers protested the move. India has moved to curb wheat and sugar exports, and Serbia and Kazakhstan have imposed quotas on grain shipments.

Elevated global commodity prices, which were initially expected to ease in the third quarter of the year, will likely remain high toward the year-end or even into 2023 before normalizing, Zuraida said.

Thats problematic for Malaysia, which is a net food importer and exposed to global shocks in the food supply chain.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Monday announced that the country will halt exports of chickens from June, and investigate allegations of cartel pricing, as the nation seeks to secure its own supply. The move is likely to hit Singapore, which sources a third of its supply from Malaysia, as well as Thailand, Brunei, Japan and Hong Kong.

The measure will be temporary until prices and production of chicken stabilizes, Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Ronald Kiandee said at the sidelines of a ministry event Tuesday. Both Kiandee and Zuraida said that the government is not currently considering export restrictions on other agricultural commodities.

Subsidies

The government is in the midst of targeting subsidies toward lower income groups and small businesses, Zuraida said. typically sets aside about 30% of its output annually for its local subsidy program, and the new mechanism may be rolled out this year after it is finalized by the finance ministry, she said.

Zuraida added that the plan to trim export taxes on palm oil may be a temporary measure thats limited to government-linked companies with downstream operations in foreign countries, such as India and Pakistan. The move is still being discussed with the finance ministry and is expected to be ready by July, she said. Meanwhile, the implementation of the B20 biodiesel mandate in the transport sector will be slowed to prioritize the use of palm oil in food, she said.

While palm oil prices may ease alongside the rival commodities and amid rising output, benchmark futures may stay supported around 4,000 ringgit to 4,500 ringgit a ton into early next year, she said. Prices in jumped 3.3% to close at 6,470 ringgit on Tuesday.
The German grew in the first quarter, in line with expectations, despite difficult economic conditions caused by the war in Ukraine and the pandemic, data showed on Wednesday.

Europe's largest grew by 0.2% quarter on quarter and by 3.8% on the year, adjusted for price and calendar effects, the Federal Statistics Office said. A Reuters poll had forecast growth of 0.2% and 3.7%, respectively.

The first-quarter growth meant avoided a recession, defined as two quarters in a row of contraction, after gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.3% at the end of 2021.

"Despite the difficult global economic conditions, the German started the year 2022 with slight growth," said Georg Thiel, president of the statistics office.

While household and government spending remained mostly at the same level as in the previous quarter and exports were down at the start of the year, investments helped boost the economy.

Construction investments, boosted by mild weather, were up 4.6% from the previous quarter, despite price increases, and machinery and equipment investments also saw a rise, of 2.5%.

The German government in its spring forecast said that it expects overall economic growth in 2022 of 2.2%.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray and Rene Wagner Editing by Paul Carrel)

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Hungary's Parliament has amended the country's constitution to enable the government to introduce a special legal order and declare a state of emergency in case of an armed conflict, war or humanitarian disaster in a neighbouring country.

The legislation was approved with 136 votes for and 36 against, Xinhua news agency reported.

Currently, Hungary's constitution authorises the government to declare a state of emergency, referred to as a "state of danger", "in the event of a natural disaster or industrial accident endangering life and property, or in order to mitigate the consequences thereof".

Under the changes, the government will have the power to suspend some laws or deviate from their stipulations to ensure the security of residents, their assets, as well as the stability of the national economy.

The Constitutional Court, if requested, must review the measures taken by the government.

The 10th amendment of the country's constitution was initiated by Justice Minister Judit Varga and will enter into force on November 1, 2022.

--IANS

int/shs

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The Group of Seven (G7) economic powers should align climate protection ambitions along the lines of a "climate club" proposed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the head of the Business 7 (B7) group of industry lobbies said on Wednesday.

A joint statement by B7 members to the G7, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, was presented by the German Federation of Industry (BDI) on behalf of the group on the opening day of a three-day meeting of environment, climate and energy ministers in .

Scholz had suggested the idea to try to avoid trade friction in areas including green tariffs, the development of markets for decarbonised products, carbon pricing and removal methods.

"The B7 support the idea of an open and ambitious climate club," said BDI and B7 President Siegfried Russwurm. "The must now clarify what its contribution can and should be." The B7 comprises the leading business and industry federations of the states. It was founded on the initiative of BDI in 2007.

The B7 wanted to promote an understanding of what, for example, constituted "green" raw materials such as steel or cement, he said.

The group viewed energy supply security and diversification as paramount, a stance that had been underscored by war in Ukraine and the possibility of Russia stopping pipeline shipments of natural gas to Europe, Russwurm added.

The B7 wanted to accelerate alternative shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG), a rapid expansion of renewable energy sources and the supply of hydrogen as a gas substitute.

It was urgent for G7 countries to agree on a coordinated promotion of low carbon hydrogen economies and the build-up of related transport and infrastructure capacities.

Europe's largest economy holds the G7 presidency this year, making federal environment minister Steffi Lemke and federal economy minister Robert Habeck the hosts of the May 25-27 get-together.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert, Rene Wagner and Markus Wacket in Frankfurt

Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has lost his appeal against a new 9-year prison sentence that he and his allies condemn as politically motivated.

Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny is already serving two-and-a-half years in prison for violating parole on old fraud charges, Al Jazeera reported.

As soon as the court's sentence came into force, Navalny has been transferred to a strict regime penal colony with harsher conditions, including fewer family visits for another 8 years.

Navalny joined the hearing on Tuesday at a court through video link from behind bars at his prison colony to appeal against the extension of his current jail term. The hearing started last week but Navalny was granted a week's postponement so he could visit his family.

This hearing came as continues its military offensive in Ukraine and Russian authorities also wanted to silence the remaining government critics, according to Al Jazeera.

A vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny late March had his jail time extended to nine years after he was found guilty of embezzling donations to his political organisations and contempt of court.

His lawyer Olga Mikhailova told the court the sentence should be annulled as it is "unjust" and "contradicts law", while the prosecutor called it "legal and justified".

Navalny told the court his case was heard in prison on the pretext of COVID restrictions although the relevant Moscow court was functioning.

He also alleged his legal team "caught judge (Margarita) Kotova right in the middle of the trial calling someone from the presidential administration".

Navalny became famous as an anti-corruption blogger and, before his imprisonment, mobilised anti-government protests across . In 2020, he was attacked with a Novichok, a Soviet-designed military-grade nerve agent, but, fortunately, he survived the poisonous attack, reported Al Jazeera.

He was arrested last year on his return from treatment in Germany, sparking widespread condemnation abroad and sanctions from Western capitals.

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An Iraqi man who came to the two years ago and applied for asylum hatched a plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush in retaliation for casualties against his compatriots during the war, the government announced Tuesday.

Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, 52, also schemed to smuggle other Iraqis into the U.S. from Mexico to aid in the plot, after which they'd be smuggled out back through Mexico, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Columbus.

Shihab insinuated he had contacts with the Islamic State group, but it did not appear the plot came close to materializing, with confidential informants briefing the FBI from April 2021 through this month, the complaint said.

Shihab was ordered held without bond by federal Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers during a short hearing in court Tuesday. Deavers scheduled a detention hearing for Friday.

Shihab was not required to enter a plea. Soumyajit Dutta, a federal public defender representing Shihab at the hearing, declined to comment. If convicted, Shihab could face up to 30 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

A message was left with the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum seeking comment.

Shihab worked at restaurants in and around Columbus and also at a market in Indianapolis where he had an apartment, the government said.

Shihab told a confidential informant that he assisted in the killing of American soldiers during the War, and said he and wished to kill former president Bush because they felt that he was responsible for killing many Iraqis and breaking apart the entire country of Iraq, the complaint said.

Shihab traveled in February to Dallas, where he took video of the entrance gate to the neighborhood where Bush lives, and also traveled to Detroit in November to investigate smuggling Iraqi nationals into the U.S., the government said.

Shihab met a confidential informant a Columbus hotel room in March to examine weapons and U.S. border patrol uniforms, according to the complaint. Shihab allegedly planned to use a Columbus car dealership to help transfer money from an Islamic State official into the U.S.

Last fall, Shihab accepted thousands of dollars for what he thought was payment for him to smuggle another Iraqi citizen into the U.S., according to the complaint, but the transaction was entirely coordinated by the FBI.

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& Co.s offices were raided by police in the latest escalation of a controversy over whether the US consulting firm paid any French corporate taxes in the last decade despite earning millions of euros on government projects.

Prosecutors confirmed that evidence-gathering searches had begun on Tuesday. Last month, financial prosecutors at the Parquet National Financier said they had opened a probe into to look into suspicions of laundering of tax-fraud proceeds.

said its cooperating with authorities and provided all the information required by prosecutors during the raid. The firm added in the statement that it adheres to French tax and social rules.

The scandal also ensnared French President Emmanuel Macron after the Senate released a report over the use of private consultants by his government in March. Far-right rival Marine Le Pen sought to channel outrage over the affair to attack Macron ahead of his re-election last month. Consulting had wide-ranging influence over government decisions, the Senate report said, prompting accusations that Macron had wasted taxpayer money and served his own interests in the process.
on Wednesday said it would extend the Defence Force's deployment to the until at least May next year, amid concerns among Western allies about China's growing presence in the South Pacific.

deployed troops to the at the request of the nation's government in late 2021 after rioting broke out in the capital city of Honiara. The troops are part of the Pacific-led Assistance Force, which includes troops from Fiji, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

"Our partnership promotes peace not only through security cooperation, but also by addressing economic challenges, climate change and a range of other development needs we face as a region," said Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta in a statement.

Mahuta had met via Zoom with the Solomon Islands Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade Jeremiah Manele on Wednesday.

A New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affair and Trade statement said Mahuta had reiterated concerns about a recently signed security agreement between Solomon Islands and China and welcomed Manele's assurances it would not lead to a military base.

"Minister Mahuta highlighted the need to understand and discuss the regional implications of the agreement amongst (Pacific Island) Forum Members," the statement said.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

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rose in early trade on Wednesday, boosted by tight supplies and the prospect of rising demand from the upcoming start of the U.S. summer driving season.

Brent crude futures for July rose 46 cents, or 0.4%, to $114.02 a barrel by 0020 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for July delivery was up 58 cents, or 0.5%, to $110.35 a barrel.

Brent had gained 0.1% on Tuesday while WTI settled down 52 cents.

France's new foreign minister said on Tuesday she was optimistic that those still opposed to a new European Union sanctions package that would phase out Russian oil imports to the bloc could be convinced, and that the bloc would strike a deal that would have the effect of tightening global supply.

Meanwhile a Biden administration official headed to India on Tuesday to talk with officials and private industry executives about U.S. sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury Department said, as Washington seeks to keep India's purchases of Russian oil from rising. Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine "a special military operation".

Supply could tighten just as U.S. Memorial Day weekend travel is expected to be the busiest in two years, as more American drivers hit the road and shake off coronavirus pandemic restrictions despite high fuel prices.

While U.S. crude stocks rose by 567,000 barrels last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures, gasoline inventories fell by 4.2 million barrels. Distillate stocks also dropped by 949,000 barrels. [API/S]

Data from the U.S. government on stockpiles were expected on Wednesday. Analysts, in a Reuters poll, expected U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories to fall last week, while distillate stockpiles were seen up. [EIA/S]

In China, Beijing stepped up quarantine efforts to end its month-old COVID outbreak, while in Shanghai, authorities plan to keep most restrictions in place this month, before a more complete lifting of the two-month-old lockdown from June 1.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

(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.)
Officials from Sweden meet with Turkish counterparts in Ankara, Turkey, on May 25, 2022. Turkey has set out conditions for the Swedish and Finnish delegations to earn its support over the two Nordic countries' bids to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday. (Xinhua)

ANKARA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has set out conditions for the Swedish and Finnish delegations to earn its support over the two Nordic countries' bids to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday.

Kalin, who also participated in Turkey's talks with the two European countries, said Sweden and Finland's procedure to join the military alliance will not move forward if concrete steps are not taken to address Turkey's concerns.

Officials from Sweden and Finland met with Turkish counterparts in Turkey's capital Ankara on Wednesday, in an attempt to resolve disputes with Turkey, which opposes their NATO membership bids.

"Our expectations were about taking concrete steps to address the presence of terrorist organizations ... We've conveyed the information and documents on this matter," Kalin told a news conference after their meeting.

"We stated that this procedure would not be possible until Turkey's security concerns were addressed," he said, adding Finnish and Swedish officials had made notes and will submit them to their governments.

Turkey will continue consultations with both Finland and Sweden until the two countries respond to Turkey's concerns, according to Kalin.

Sweden and Finland have formally submitted their NATO membership applications. However, Turkey is the only NATO member that objected to their bids so far, accusing the two countries of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades, and Ankara sees the YPG as the Syrian branch of the PKK.

Turkey also accused the two Nordic countries of harboring the members of the Gulen Movement, which Ankara claims is responsible for a failed military coup attempt in 2016.

"We sent 28 extradition requests to Sweden and 17 to Finland, unfortunately we did not receive any response," Kalin said, referring to the members of these groups.

Ankara also expected the sanctions against Turkey's defense industry be lifted, he said, adding Ankara has seen a positive development on the issue.

Sweden and Finland restricted defense industry exports to Turkey following the country's cross-border operation into northeast Syria in 2019. 

Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin speaks at a press conference after Turkey's talks with Sweden and Finland in Ankara, Turkey, on May 25, 2022. Turkey has set out conditions for the Swedish and Finnish delegations to earn its support over the two Nordic countries' bids to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday. (Xinhua)

Officials from Finland meet with Turkish counterparts in Ankara, Turkey, on May 25, 2022. Turkey has set out conditions for the Swedish and Finnish delegations to earn its support over the two Nordic countries' bids to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday. (Xinhua)

Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin speaks at a press conference after Turkey's talks with Sweden and Finland in Ankara, Turkey, on May 25, 2022. Turkey has set out conditions for the Swedish and Finnish delegations to earn its support over the two Nordic countries' bids to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday. (Xinhua)




A Palestinian teenager was killed and more than 90 were wounded early on Wednesday during clashes with Israeli soldiers near the northern city of Nablus, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement.

The statement said Ghaith Yamin, 16, was killed after he was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during clashes in Nablus, Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 90 Palestinians were injured, including 11 who were shot by live ammunition and 23 by rubber-coated metal bullets, the statement said, adding that more than 60 suffered suffocation after inhaling teargas.

Palestinian eyewitnesses said the Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers exchanged fire when Israeli soldiers escorted a group of Jewish worshippers who arrived at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus for prayers.

They said clashes also broke out between dozens of Palestinian stone-pelters and the Israeli soldiers, who fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and teargas canisters to disperse the Palestinians.

Israeli authorities have not given any comment on the incidents.

On Tuesday, three Palestinians were injured in an exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers in the northern city of Jenin, Palestinian medics at the city's hospital said.

Israeli army forces carry out daily raids on Palestinian towns and villages in the to arrest Palestinians, who are wanted by Israel for being involved in carrying out attacks against Israel.

An Israeli Army spokesman said the Israeli army personnel carried out security activities in Jenin and when Palestinian gunmen opened fire at them, they responded and injured three gunmen.

He added that the forces arrested a wanted man on suspicion of terrorist activity, adding that two M16 weapons and an Israeli military jacket were found during searches in his house.

--IANS

int/khz/

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has met with (EU) parliament President Roberta Metsola on the ongoing escalating conflicts between and Israel.

The meeting took place on Tuesday.

Metsola arrived in Israel on Monday and held meetings at the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, amid tension between Israel and the Palestinians that has been flaring over the past few weeks, Xinhua news agency reported.

The official Palestinian news agency (WAFA) reported that President Abbas briefed the EU Parliament President on the ongoing "Israeli assaults and killings" and settlement expansion as well as the Israeli measures in east Jerusalem.

The endless and escalating Israeli measures against the Palestinian people "violate resolutions and law...The unilateral Israeli measures in Jerusalem and the entire Palestinian territories are mounting to acts of ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination," the Palestinian President was quoted by WAFA as telling Metsola.

Abbas praised the efforts made by the European Parliament, the EU, and its member states to support the political process based on legitimacy and international law, to end the Israeli occupation.

The EU Parliament President told the Palestinian President that the EU supports the political process in accordance with the two-state solution based on the international resolutions, international law and rejection of Israeli settlements.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stopped in March 2014.

The Palestinians want to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel on the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including the entire West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

--IANS

int/khz/

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Health authorities said a 16-year-old Palestinian died early Wednesday after being wounded during clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, the latest in a wave of violence that has persisted for months.

The Palestinian health ministry said Ghaith Yamin was wounded by a gunshot to the head and died at a hospital. Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, reported that the clashes erupted when Jewish worshipers, escorted by the military, arrived at a shrine on the outskirts of Nablus city to pray.

At least 15 Palestinians were wounded by live fire, according to Wafa, during the clashes near Joseph's Tomb, a frequent flashpoint site. Some Jews believe biblical Joseph is buried at the site, while Palestinians say it's the tomb of a Sheikh.

On Tuesday, Israeli authorities said they have foiled a wide-ranging plot by Palestinian militant Hamas group to shoot a member of parliament, kidnap soldiers and bomb Jerusalem's light rail system during a surge of violence that has left dozens dead in recent weeks.

The police and Shin Bet security services said in a statement that five Palestinian men from east Jerusalem had been arrested for allegedly planning a shooting attack against far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir and other targets at a time of heightened tensions in the flashpoint city.

The suspects, authorities said, had planned the attacks last month, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to destabilize the area around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Authorities said a drone was found, intended to be armed and used in an attack on Jerusalem's light rail, which sees daily crowds of commuters and tourists.

They identified the plot leaders as Hamas militants Rashid Rashak and Mansur Tzafadi, who delivered many fireworks, flags and Hamas videos to east Jerusalem neighborhoods last month during Ramadan. Security forces also seized a camera to be used to photograph abductees, cash and other equipment.

The statement did not say how close they came to carrying out the plot. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

The arrests came at a time of heightened violence between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police in east Jerusalem, much of it concentrated at a contested holy site. also has stepped up military activity in the in recent weeks in response to a series of deadly attacks inside .

Next week, Israeli ultranationalists plan to march through the main Muslim thoroughfare of the Old City.

The march is meant to celebrate Israel's capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. subsequently annexed the area in a step that is not internationally recognized. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Also inflaming tensions is the death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during a firefight in Jenin. A reconstruction by The Associated Press lends support to assertions from both Palestinian authorities and Abu Akleh's colleagues that the bullet that cut her down came from an Israeli gun.

Any conclusive answer is likely to prove elusive due to the severe distrust between the two sides, each of which is in sole possession of potentially crucial evidence.

(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.)
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the authorities to provide an alternate place to the supporters of ousted Tehreek-e-Insaf party for their "Azadi March" protest so that they can demonstrate and then go home.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Ahsan, and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi made the directions while hearing a petition filed on Tuesday by Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) President Mohammad Shoaib Shaheen.

The petitioner asked the court to intervene to remove blockades placed in the capital to derail the protest march called by ousted prime minister .

After hearing arguments, the bench ordered the chief commissioner of Islamabad to provide an alternate site for rally to the PTI workers and also create a traffic plan for protesters.

"Let them protest and then go home," Justice Ahsan said, adding that the court expected the government "to remove barricades".

The judges gave a 2.30 pm (local time) deadline for the commissioner to come up with the plan to let the ousted party hold its rally in a peaceful manner as it also directed PTI's lawyer Faisal Chaudhry to "sit at the negotiating table" with the administration officials.

The bench gave the lawyer time till 2:20 pm to get instructions from the party leadership.

The court also directed the interior secretary and police to review their policies on road closures.

The court also asked the administration to get an assurance from the PTI that the protest would be peaceful.

Justice Ahsan said political parties had their own interests but they were secondary to the country and the people.

Meanwhile, the long march towards Islamabad on Wednesday started from Wali Interchange on the M-2 Motorway in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan, accompanied by hundreds of his supporters, has been leading the march mounting on a truck.

Khan flew from Peshawar to Wali Interchange in the Mardan area on a helicopter.

According to latest reports, Khan has reached Karnal Sher Khan Interchange on the M-2 near Swabi town of the province.

His caravan of protestors will have to overcome barricades at different places before reaching Islamabad.

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Tesla CEO on Wednesday slammed billionaire philanthropist after a report claimed that the co-founder poured millions into attacking Musk's $44 billion acquisition of .

Far-right publication Breitbart News claimed that hundreds of millions of dollars flew from Gates' foundation to 11 of the 26 organisations that "signed an open letter last month urging advertisers to boycott the company if restores free speech on the platform".

Citing research and analysis from the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO), the report analysed public filings to trace hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions from the letter signatories back to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"In total, 11 of the 26 anti-Musk organisations received funding from a Gates-backed entity," the report claimed.

Musk replied: "What a d*** move!"

"You think that's bad, wait until you find out what he put in your vaccine," Musk replied to a follower.

As per FFO's analysis, Gates Foundation paid 102 separate cash grants to or through New Venture Fund, totaling $457 million.

Soros, Clinton, Obama staffers shoot off anti-Musk letter to boycott Twitter

After Musk tweeted about "who funds these organisations that want to control your access to information", the reports surfaced late on Wednesday that the groups behind the anti-Musk campaign belong to wealthy Democrat donors and their family foundations, labour unions and the governments of European nations.

Earlier this month, about 26 activist organisations and NGOs signed a letter to advertisers asking them to boycott the platform if Musk makes content moderation changes.

It was later revealed that some of these groups are funded or tied to billionaire philanthropist George Soros, former US presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

"Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter will further toxify our information ecosystem and be a direct threat to public safety, especially among those already most vulnerable and marginalised," the groups wrote to advertisers.

"Under Musk's management, Twitter risks becoming a cesspool of misinformation, with your brand attached, polluting our information ecosystem in a time where trust in institutions and news media is already at an all-time low," the groups wrote.

The Daily Mail had first revealed the people behind the 26 groups.

Musk has put the Twitter deal on hold till the company reveals the actual number of bots on its platform.

He has sparred with Gates on Twitter earlier too over various issues.

Gates had expressed apprehension regarding Musk's Twitter takeover, saying he could potentially make the micro-blogging site a "worse" platform.

Musk earlier tweeted a picture of Gates, accusing him of shorting Tesla's stock.

Gates replied, saying Musk's tweeting "doesn't bother me".

--IANS

na/svn/

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Russian forces sought to encircle Ukrainian troops in twin eastern cities straddling a river as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Moscow was seeking to destroy the industrial Donbas region where it has focused its attacks.

is attempting to seize the separatist-claimed Donbas' two provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, and trap Ukrainian forces in a pocket on the main eastern front.

Musa Magomedov, a Ukrainian member of parliament, said Russian forces were shelling Avdiivka, a town just inside the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk, "in totally inhuman fashion".

"They are killing civilians and destroying the city we built up with such love," Magomedov, the director of a coking plant in Avdiivka, said on Telegram.

Ukraine's military general staff said had intensified the use of aircraft to support ground forces because it lacked supplies of high-precision missiles.

Russian forces took control of three towns in the Donetsk region including Svitlodarsk, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told an affiliate of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

"The situation in Donbas is extremely difficult. All the remaining strength of the Russian army is now concentrated on this region," Zelenskiy said in a late Tuesday address. "The occupiers want to destroy everything there." Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment out-of-hours.

The easternmost part of the Ukrainian-held Donbas pocket, the city of Sievierodonetsk on the east bank of the Siverskiy Donets River and its twin Lysychansk, on the west bank, have become a pivotal battlefield. Russian forces were advancing from three directions to encircle them.

"The enemy has focused its efforts on carrying out an offensive in order to encircle Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk," said Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, where the two cities are among the last territory held by .

Ukraine's military said it had repelled nine Russian attacks on Tuesday in the Donbas where Moscow's troops had killed at least 14 civilians, using aircraft, rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, mortars and missiles.

Reuters could not immediately verify the information.

In a sign of Ukrainian success elsewhere, authorities in its second-largest city, Kharkiv, re-opened the underground metro, where thousands of civilians had sheltered for months under relentless bombardment.

The re-opening came after pushed Russian forces largely out of artillery range of the northern city, as they did from the capital, Kyiv, in March.

WORLD WAR THREE?

Three months into the invasion, still has only limited gains to show for its worst military losses in decades, while much of has suffered devastation in the biggest attack on a European state since 1945.

More than 6.5 million people have fled abroad, uncounted thousands have been killed and cities have been reduced to rubble.

The war has also caused growing food shortages and soaring prices due to sanctions and disruption of supply chains. Both Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grain and other commodities.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen accused Russia of using food as a weapon.

Billionaire financier George Soros, also speaking in Davos, said Russia's invasion of Ukraine may have marked the start of World War Three.

"The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible," he said.

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday lambasted President Vladimir Putin, casting the Kremlin chief as a doomed madman who was butchering the people of both Ukraine and Russia.

"This is a stupid war which your Putin started," Navalny told an appeals court in Moscow via video link from a corrective penal colony. "This war was built on lies." Underlining the global tensions unleashed by the war, major U.S. ally Japan scrambled jets on Tuesday after Russian and Chinese warplanes neared its airspace as U.S. President Joe Biden visited Tokyo.

Meanwhile, in a decision that could push Russia closer to the brink of default, the Biden administration announced it would not extend a waiver set to expire on Wednesday that enabled Russia to pay U.S. bondholders.



Russia had been allowed to keep paying interest and principal and avert default on its government debt.

Russian lawmakers gave the first stamp of approval to a bill that would allow Russian entities to take over foreign companies that have left the country in opposition to Moscow's actions in Ukraine, a government online portal showed. On Monday, Starbucks Corp became the latest Western brand to announce it was pulling out of Russia, following a similar decision by McDonald's. The hamburger chain's trademark "Golden Arches" were lowered near Moscow on Monday.

DRAWN OUT CONFLICT

Senior Russian officials suggested in comments on Tuesday the war, which Russia calls a "special operation", may be drawn-out.

Nikolai Patrushev, head of Putin's security council, said Russia would fight as long as necessary to eradicate "Nazism" in Ukraine, a justification for the war that the West calls baseless.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia was deliberately advancing slowly to avoid civilian casualties.

Zelenskiy dismissed such statements as "absolutely unreal".

In Kharkiv, hundreds of people were living underground in trains and stations when the authorities asked them to make way on Tuesday.

"Everyone is crazily scared, because there is still shelling," said Nataliia Lopanska, who had lived in a metro train for most of the war.

The Donbas fighting follows Russia's biggest victory in months: the surrender last week of Ukraine's garrison in the port of Mariupol after a siege in which Kyiv believes tens of thousands of civilians were killed.

Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to Mariupol's Ukrainian mayor now operating outside the city, said the dead were lying in the rubble.

About 200 decomposing bodies were buried in debris in a basement of one high-rise building, he said. Residents had refused to collect them and Russian authorities had abandoned the site.

(Reporting by Oleksandr Kozhukhar in Lviv, Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv, Vitaliy Hnidiy in Kharkiv and Reuters journalists in Mariupol and Slovyansk; Writing by Costas Pitas and Michael Perry; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Robert Birsel)

(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.)
will continue its "special military operation" in despite the sanctions and increased Western assistance to Kiev, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said.

"We will continue the special military operation until all objectives are accomplished, despite the large-scale Western assistance to Kiev, and the sanctions pressure on Russia," local media reported, citing Shoigu during a meeting of the Council of Defence Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Shoigu added that was intentionally slowing its offensive in "to avoid civilian casualties", Xinhua news agency reported.

"Silence regimes are being introduced and humanitarian corridors are being created for the evacuation of civilians from nearby settlements," he said.

started its special military operation in on February 24.

--IANS

int/shs

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China's COVID-hit capital further tightened its dragnet on the virus with zero community transmission the target, punishing workplaces that flout rules or circumvent curbs and imploring residents to police their own movements.

Since late April, the city of 22 million has wrestled with dozens of new cases a day. While these have been mostly in quarantine areas, a handful have been found in the community at large, illustrating the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant and the challenges that poses to the world's most stringent of pandemic containment policies.

With Shanghai, China's business and commercial hub, and numerous other giant cities also shackled by partial lockdowns or other curbs, the zero-COVID approach remains the government's focus despite the damage it has done to the world's second-biggest economy and global supply chains.

This week, the city has stepped up quarantine efforts and clamped down on workplace attendance, with more districts issuing work-from-home requirements or guidance. That followed an inspection tour on Monday by Vice Premier Sun Chunlan - in charge of China's COVID response - during which she called for more thorough measures to sever transmission chains.

Some workplaces have ignored COVID prevention policies, state-run Xinhua News agency wrote in a commentary, and failed to check the health profiles of their staff, opening a gap for the spread of the epidemic.



"A big wind can enter even through the smallest of gaps," according to the commentary published on Wednesday.

In one example of disciplinary action, some employees at the state-run postal service were either dismissed or given a stern warning after a cluster of cases hit a private logistics company within its jurisdiction, the municipal anti-corruption watchdog said late on Tuesday. The regulator said the firm failed to organise COVID tests for its employees and did not follow strict vaccination rules.

In another instance, a handful of employees in at a branch of the state railway company concealed their travel histories and have been put under police investigation, the watchdog said in a separate statement.

Meanwhile some operations at a big real estate agency in Beijing have been suspended after one employee violated a district-wide requirement to work from home, the municipality's housing development authority said on Wednesday.

'DARE NOT TRAVEL'

Throughout the week, Beijing health authorities have been sending out text messages to people's mobile phones urging them to monitor the travel histories of COVID cases and report themselves to local officials if their own movements overlap with those of the infected.

One Beijing resident surnamed Shi, whose residential building recently exited from a lockdown, said she tried to avoid venturing too far from her home, concerned that she might accidentally enter areas with cases, tainting her COVID health credentials recorded by an app on her phone.

"I basically just walk in areas around my residential compounds, go to the supermarket, and dare not travel too far," she said.

Elsewhere in the country, a series of heavily populated cities were also launching new rounds of mass testing despite caseloads that remain very small by comparisons.

The northern port city of Tianjin initiated a fresh round of citywide testing on Wednesday after more than a dozen daily new infections emerged this week following two such rounds of testing last weekend. Tianjin requires its 14 million residents to keep their movements largely close to where they live and adhere to a "relatively static" mode during the testing.

The northwestern city of Xian advanced a routine mass testing campaign previously scheduled on Friday to Wednesday as the city of 13 million raced to reduce transmission risks after five local infections were found over the past 10 days.

In Shanghai, which is aiming for a June 1 complete exit from a stringent city-wide lockdown, is gradually and cautiously unwinding COVID curbs and allowing more of its population of 25 million to venture out. Still, the vast majority of shops, restaurants and businesses remain shut and a work-from-home regime is still in place.

After nearly two months of lockdown, that highly anticipated exit is expected to reignite the engines of its economy.

Exports from Shanghai, the world's largest container port, dived 44% last month from a year earlier and imports fell by a third, the local statistics bureau said on Tuesday - the steepest declines since at least 2011.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Roxanne Liu; Additional reporting by Ellen Zhang and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has demanded a "written agreement" from and on steps to end their "support for terrorism" if they want to join the .

Cavusoglu's remarks on Tuesday came a day before will hold consultations with the two Nordic countries in Ankara on their bids, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We expect them to end support for terrorism and to lift defence restrictions," Turkey's NTV broadcaster quoted the Minister as telling reporters on his flight to Palestine and Israel.

"They said: 'We can take concrete steps.' We want a written agreement," the Turkish Minister said, adding Ankara demands "assurances" in a signed agreement.

A four-way meeting can be held by the three countries with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in this regard, said Cavusoglu.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the Turkish Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal will meet with Finnish and Swedish officials on Wednesday.

has so far been the only NATO member which objects to the NATO bids by and Finland, citing the two countries' support to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian branch of PKK.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades.

also accuses the two countries of harbouring members of the Gulen Movement which Ankara says is behind a failed military coup attempt in 2016.

Moreover, Ankara demands and end their arms exports bans imposed following the country's cross-border military operation into northeast Syria in 2019.

--IANS

int/khz/

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ADEN, Yemen, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of people took to the streets in the southwestern Yemeni province of Taiz on Wednesday to protest against the Houthi group's siege of the strategic city since the civil war erupted in 2014.

A local official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that "large demonstrations were organized across the neighborhoods of Taiz demanding the opening of closed crossings and roads leading to their city."

He said the demonstrators marched across streets in Taiz with banners calling the United Nations to lift the Houthis' siege and blockade of the city controlled by the Yemeni government and holding strategic significance.

They urged the UN to accelerate efforts and pressure the Houthis to open the blocked roads and facilitate their normal movement to and from the neighborhoods in Taiz.

Taiz Province Governor Nabil Shamsan attended one of the demonstrations and delivered a speech saying "it is not acceptable to address humanitarian issues in Yemen without lifting the siege imposed on the city of Taiz."

The demonstrations coincided with the beginning of the Yemeni government's negotiating talks with Houthi militants in Jordan's capital Amman on ending the siege.

Lifting the siege is the last major term to be fulfilled pursuant to the agreement reached by warring sides before the two-month ceasefire starting on April 2.

The truce marks the first breakthrough in more than seven years in efforts to end the war in Yemen that has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed the country to the brink of starvation.

Last week, the Houthis said they are considering a UN request to extend the ongoing truce with the Yemeni government, which expires on June 2. 
A report into lockdown-breaching U.K. government parties says blame for a culture of rule-breaking in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office must rest with those at the top.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray's long-awaited report was published Wednesday.

It said the senior leadership team ... must bear responsibility for a culture that allowed events to take place that should not have been allowed to happen. Gray said there had been failures of leadership and judgment in No. 10, a reference to Johnson's office.

She investigated 16 gatherings held while people in the U.K. were barred from socializing under coronavirus restrictions imposed by Johnson's government.

A separate police investigation resulted in 83 people getting fined, including Johnson.

The scandal has led to calls for Johnson to resign. He has apologized but denies personal wrongdoing.
The has called on the to swiftly reverse their policies and practices which are currently restricting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Afghan women and girls.

The top organ of the UN voiced its concern over the volatile situation in the country, particularly continued terrorist attacks.

Earlier this month, Afghanistan's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued an order for women to cover up fully in public, including their faces, ideally with the traditional burqa. The have ordered female Afghan TV presenters and other women on screen to cover their faces while on air.

The 15-member Council, in a Press Statement on Afghanistan, issued under the Presidency of the United States, expressed deep concern regarding the increasing erosion of respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in by the Taliban, including through the imposition of restrictions that limit access to education, employment, freedom of movement, and women's full, equal and meaningful participation in public life, and emphasised that these restrictions contradict the expectations of the community and the commitments made by the to the Afghan people.

The Council members further expressed deep concern regarding the announcements by the Taliban that all women must cover their faces in public spaces and in media broadcasts, only leave home in cases of necessity, and that violations of this directive will lead to the punishment of their male relatives. They also expressed concern regarding the decision by the Taliban to dissolve several key national institutions.

The members of the Security Council further expressed deep concern regarding the volatile situation in Afghanistan, including political, economic, social and security challenges and their impact on the lives of the Afghan people, in particular continued terrorist attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, including in religious minority communities, across and cultivation, production, trade and trafficking of illicit drugs.

The Security Council called on the Taliban to swiftly reverse the policies and practices which are currently restricting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Afghan women and girls. They also reiterated their call on the Taliban to adhere to their commitments to reopen schools for all female students without further delay.

The Security Council members further expressed deep concern regarding the dire humanitarian and economic situation in Afghanistan, recognized the need for strengthened efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic human needs in Afghanistan, and emphasises that the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance requires all actors to allow full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for all humanitarian personnel, including women, and further recognises the need to help address the substantial challenges facing Afghanistan's economy, including through efforts to restore the banking and financial systems and efforts to enable the use of assets belonging to Afghanistan's Central Bank for the benefit of the Afghan people.

The Council members requested the United Nations Assistance Mission in (UNAMA) to continue to closely monitor and report on the situation.

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The Rs 1,083 crore buyback by state-run opened today and will run till June 7. The 14-day long buyback offer is priced at Rs 190 per share, representing a premium of 28.28 per cent on the BSE and 29.20 per cent on the NSE.

The state gas utility plans to buyback 57 million shares of face value of Rs 10 each. It intends to buyback shares through two different categories: reserved category for small shareholders, who have held shares of not more than Rs 2 lakh, and general category that is applicable for all eligible shareholders other than small shareholders. Of this, the government intends to tender shares up to an extent that the minimum shareholding post buyback remains at least 51 per cent.

The company, which aims to optimize its capital structure and improve return on equity through the buyback, has prescribed a buyback ratio of 2 shares for 25 equity shares for reserved category whereas 2 shares for 179 equity shares for general category.

As the buyback offers over 25 per cent premium to its price, analysts expect the retail entitlement ratio to be in the range of 8-10 per cent. According to Abhijeet Bora, energy analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, the potential return range can be from 2 per cent to 4.3 per cent, assuming a base acceptance ratio of 30 per cent and exit price of Rs 140-150 for untendered shares.

The entitlement ratio is the ratio of shares a retail investor has offered in the buyback process, whereas, acceptance ratio represents how many shares the company will be able to accept in the buyback offer for every 100 shares tendered by shareholders.

Gaurang Shah, senior vice president at Geojit Financial Services, meanwhile, suggests investors shouldn't tender their shares as he sees the stock as a long-term value bet.

We are bullish on the fortunes of oil-exploration companies due to pent-up demand for alternative fuel. Aggressive price hike in natural gas and changes in gas exploration guidelines will bode well for the company. We can expect 15 per cent upside for GAIL in the long haul, he said.

That apart, analysts anticipate the company's gas and marketing business to witness steady cash-flows, buoyed by spot LNG prices, during FY23-24.

We expect volumes of the gas transmission business to improve after the completion of Eastern gas pipeline. With fertilizer plants coming up in the country, it is possible that the entire LNG volume of the US is consumed by India itself. We expect the stock to perform well in the long-term with a target price of Rs 196, Abhijeet Bora of Sharekhan said.

is a PSU with a presence along the entire natural gas value chain that includes gas transmission or marketing, LPG transmission, gas processing, petrochemical, LNG imports, and city gas distribution. It supplies to major consumers, fertilizer industries, steel plants, petrochemical plants, and small industries. The company has also diversified into renewable energy business and is exploring business opportunities in green hydrogen.

The management believes the buyback will not impair the ability of the company to pursue growth opportunities or meet its cash requirements for business operations. Neither do they expect the buyback to cause any material impact on the earnings of the company.

Meanwhile, the company is scheduled to report its January-March quarter (Q4FY22) result on May 27, 2022. Analysts expect the company to report 44.8 per cent growth year-on-year (YoY) in net profit to Rs 2,7616.6 from Rs 2,564.83 in Q3FY21. Net sales are expected to increase by 56.9 per cent YoY to Rs 24,391.5 crore.

Shares of GAIL have surged over 16 per cent this year as against 8 per cent decline in BSE S&P Sensex. Earlier, the stock had touched a 52-week high of Rs 173.45 on April 19, 2022. It has outperformed peers like Gujarat State Petronet and Gujarat Gas that bled over 12 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively this year.
Shares of (AWL) and Industries shed 5 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday's trade as investors booked profit in the counters after the government on Tuesday exempted customs duty and agri cess on importing 2 million tonnes of soybean and sunflower oil per year.

The duty-free import of 20 lakh MT per year will be applicable for two FYs (2022-23, 2023-24) for crude soyabean oil and crude sunflower oil, the Finance Ministry said in a notification.

The effective duty on crude palm oil, crude soybean, and sunflower till now was 5.50 per cent, which will come down to almost zero after Tuesdays reduction for the two oils up to a fixed quantity, the Business Standard reported. CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS



Individually, AWL was locked in the 5 per cent lower circuit band at Rs 664.95, while Industries, too, was down 5 per cent to Rs 1,045.45 on the BSE in the intra-day trade. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.09 per cent at 54,100 level.

However, both these stocks have had a strong run-up in the past three months with zooming 82 per cent, and rallying 34 per cent, as compared to 3 per cent decline in the benchmark index.

AWL is a joint venture between the Adani and Wilmar group, and is India's leading manufacturer of edible oil under the Fortune brand. Besides oil, the company offers products like wheat flour, rice, pulses, sugar and packaged foods. Ruchi Soya is primarily engaged in manufacturing and selling of edible oil and soya products under brands, such as Mahakosh, Sunrich, and Nutrela.

Currently, AWL and Ruchi Soya are trading under the T group on the BSE and under BE category on the NSE. In the T2T and BE segment, each trade has to result in delivery and no intra-day netting of positions is allowed.
By Rowena Edwards

LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Wednesday, buoyed by tight supplies and the prospect of rising demand from the summer driving season in the United States, the world's biggest crude consumer.

Brent crude futures for July rose for a fifth session running, gaining $1.69, or 1.5%, to $115.25 a barrel by 0940 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July delivery rose $1.86, or 1.7%, to $111.63.

Oil prices are gaining support from tight gasoline supply, with inventories of the refined oil product down by 4.2 million barrels last week, market sources said on Tuesday, citing American Petroleum Institute figures.

Stockpiles data from the U.S. government is due on Wednesday, with analysts polled by Reuters poll expecting U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories to have fallen last week. [API/S] [EIA/S]

"Just ahead of the summer driving season, U.S. gasoline stocks find themselves at their seasonally lowest level since 2014," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

U.S. Memorial Day weekend travel is expected to be the busiest in two years, causing fuel demand to rise as more drivers hit the road and shake off coronavirus pandemic restrictions despite high fuel prices.

At the same time, global crude supplies continue to tighten as buyers avoid oil from Russia, the world's second-largest exporter, after the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".

France's new foreign minister on Tuesday said she was optimistic on the prospect of securing agreement on a European Union sanctions package that would phase out Russian oil imports to the bloc despite current opposition in some quarters.

"With explicit bans on importing Russian crude in the U.S. and UK, and oil companies reluctant to buy even without formal legal obstacles, self sanctions are still causing supply shortages," said SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes in a note.

A record amount of Russia's Urals crude oil is sitting in vessels at sea as it struggles to find buyers.

On the flip side is the the strict approach to the COVID-19 pandemic from China, the world's biggest oil importer. Beijing has imposed new curbs while Shanghai plans to keep most restrictions in place this month.

(Reporting by Rowena EdwardsAdditional reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston and Isabel Kua in SingaporeEditing by David Goodman)

(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.)
Grasim Industries: The company's consolidated net profit rose 61.89% to Rs 2,777.15 crore on 18.07% rise in net sales to Rs 28,811.39 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ): The company's consolidated net profit dropped to Rs 1033 crore in Q4 March 2022 from Rs 1321 crore in Q4 March 2021. Total income rose to Rs 4,418 crore from Rs 4,072 crore.

RITES: The company's consolidated net profit rose to Rs 142.36 crore in Q4 March 2022 from Rs 141.55 crore in Q4 March 2021. Total income rose to Rs 787.52 crore from Rs 649.55 crore.

Metropolis Healthcare: The company's consolidated net profit fell 35% to Rs 40.10 crore on 5% rise in total income to Rs 305.90 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021.

Anupam Rasayan India: The board of directors of the company has considered and approved the raising of funds for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 800 crore through issue of equity shares by way of a qualified institutions placement.

SIS: The company has signed definitive agreement for purchase of 49.99% shareholding of Terminix SIS India Private Limited, a subsidiary of the company.

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Minda Industries jumped 5.28% after the company's board approved the issue of bonus shares to the shareholders of the company.

The company will issue one bonus equity share for every one existing equity share held by the shareholders as on the 'record date'.

Minda Industries had announced its earnings for the quarter and the year ended on 31 March 2022 after market hours yesterday.

The company reported 2.9% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 144.37 crore on a 7.9% increase in net sales to Rs 2,415.08 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21.

Profit before tax in Q4 FY22 stood at Rs 174.96 crore, down by 7.9% from Rs 189.96 crore in Q4 FY21.

Minda Industries recorded 72.2% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 355.80 crore on a 30.4% rise in net sales to Rs 8,313 crore in FY22 over FY21.

The board of Minda Industries has approved a final dividend of Rs 1 per equity share for the year ended on 31 March 2022.

An interim dividend of Rs 0.50 per share was paid to the equity shareholders during the quarter ended on 31 March 2022. Therefore, the total dividend for the financial year ended on 31 March 2022 aggregates to Rs 1.50 per equity share.

The board has fixed 10 June 2022 as the record date for the purpose of dividend payment and issue of bonus shares.

The company's board considered the proposal for fund raising up to Rs 1,000 crore via issue of debt securities, in one or more tranches, on private placement basis. The board has given its approval to seek shareholders' approval for the issue the said debt securities.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Office of the Registrar of Companies, Central Registration Centre, Government of India, vide Its letter dated 19 May 2022, has issued name reservation certificate stating that there is no objection in the availability of the changed name UNO Minda from the existing name Minda Industries.

The board is of the opinion that the company's entire sales are under the trade mark "UNO Minda" and the company is largely known, well established and reputed as "UNO Minda" in auto components industries across the globe.

Accordingly, the board has approved the change of the name of the company from "Minda Industries " to "UNO Minda", subject to shareholders, all necessary and regulatory and statutory approvals.

The company's board has approved a proposal to invest in the equity shares of Tokai Rika Minda India under right issue, aggregating to Rs 25 crore.

Tokai Rika Minda is a joint venture between Tokai Rika Co., Japan (TRJ) and Minda Industries (MIL), in which TRJ holds 70% equity shares and MIL holds 30% equity shares of the said company.

The JV firm is engaged in the manufacturing of safety and security systems, electronic components and automotive switches.

Minda Industries is a flagship company of UNO MINDA Group, which manufactures automobile components for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

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SpiceJet and Credit Suisse AG have signed and concluded the settlement and consent terms with regard to the pending dispute between the two parties.

The settlement and consent terms, which was executed on 23 May 2022, has also been filed before the Supreme Court of India for final orders.

SpiceJet had already provided Bank Guarantee of US $5million on the direction of the Hon'ble Madras High Court in the matter and there is no adverse financial liability on the Company. The settlement involves payment of certain amount upfront and balance amount over a mutually agreed timeline.

The settlement with Credit Suisse follows SpiceJet's successful settlements and performances therein with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (DHC), Boeing,CDB Aviation, BOC Aviation and Avolon and provides an impetus to normalisation,growth and expansion of the airline.

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CARACAS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's government on Wednesday officially put up for sale up to 10 percent of the shares of the country's top state-owned Bank of Venezuela (BDV).

The Ministry of Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade said in a statement it is a "first step" to offering private national and international investors the opportunity to buy stock in public companies through the stock market.

"The public offer of 5 percent to 10 percent progressively of the BDV's share capital will allow all citizens who wish to participate in the success of a solid public company," the ministry said.

"The Bank of Venezuela shows 169 percent growth in the public's deposits and has more than 15 million customers," it added.

According to the ministry, the bank is "the top profit-making bank ... in the National Financial System."

On May 11, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced the government would sell between 5 and 10 percent of shares in several state-run companies "for fundamentally national, or international, investment."

Maduro mentioned companies in such areas as telecommunications, petrochemicals, gas and oil, and mining could be opened up to investment.

The shares of Venezuelan state-owned companies have increased in value since the May 11 announcement, the head of the Bicentennial Public Stock Exchange, Rodolfo Medina, said Wednesday.

Shares of telecommunications company CANTV rose in value by 342.20 percent in the 13-day period following the announcement, Medina said in an interview with the state-owned Venezuelan television network.

According to Medina, the rise in share values signalled that "the market welcomes" the decision. 
The drug maker reported a 36.6% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 29.22 crore on a 4.7% fall in net revenue from operations to Rs 866.02 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21.

The company recorded a pre-tax loss of Rs 102.52 crore in Q4 FY22 as against a pre-tax profit of Rs 55.23 crore in Q4 FY21. Total expenses surged 22.2% to Rs 944.44 crore in the last quarter from Rs 772.84 crore reported in the same period last year.

EBITDA slumped 71% year on year to Rs 46.1 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2022. Meanwhile on the margins front, EBITDA margin tumbled to 5.3% in Q4 FY22 from 17.6% posted in Q4 FY21 while gross margin slipped to 50.9% in Q4 FY22 from 59.2% registered in the corresponding quarter last year.

On full year basis, the pharma company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 460.21 crore in financial year ended 2022 as against a net profit of Rs 268.44 crore in financial year ended 2021. Revenue from operations declined 7.4% year on year to Rs 3,070.25 crore in FY22 over FY21.

Commenting on the performance, Arun Kumar, founder, executive chairperson & managing director said, FY22 has been a challenging year for the pharma industry and, particularly for Strides, given the significant headwinds. We have witnessed unusual price erosion and volume drops in the US, leading to significant compression in our gross margins. The other regulated markets delivered a tepid growth as the business was impacted in the first half of fiscal year 2022 due to covid led disruptions.

In light of the evolving business environment, we have made several changes to our businesses with a focus on growth, better cash flows and a significant debt reduction. Our growth across the market will be driven by portfolio expansion leveraging our approved portfolio and new customer acquisition for our IP led B2B businesses. We will aggressively focus on the cost reduction, while one of the key actions planned for the year is to reduce our gross debt by over Rs 10 billion in FY23, which will bring our Net Debt to EBITDA below 3 times. While the operating environment continues to evolve and is ambiguous, we stay confident of a bounceback in FY23 to deliver significant value for our stakeholders in the coming years.

In its future outlook, the pharmaceutical company guided for an encouraging FY23 with focus on growth, higher cashflows & reduction in debt.

Strides Pharma Science is a global pharmaceutical company. The company mainly operates in the regulated markets and has an 'in Africa for Africa' strategy along with an institutional business to service donorfunded markets. The company focusses on difficult to manufacture products that are sold in over 100 countries.

Shares of Strides Pharma Science were trading 0.66% lower at Rs 300.70 on the BSE.

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The Union governments decision last week to reduce the road and infrastructure cess on petrol and diesel has given rise to a debate over whether the states too should cut their value-added tax or sales tax they impose on these fuel items. But only two states have complied. Why are states so reluctant to cut their fuel taxes? To explain this, A K Bhattacharya describes how the Centres duty structure for petrol and diesel has evolved over the last few years. Read it here



In other views:



Quote of the Day



We reaffirm our resolve to uphold the international rules-based order where countries are free from all forms of military, economic and political coercion



Joint Leaders statement

Thesays the joint statement upped the ante against Beijing even as it sought to widen the scope of the group from its security-oriented focus. Read it here suggests a Vyapar Credit Card on the lines of the Kisan Credit Card to drive finance for . Read it here Theexplains how past experience can help India reclaim degraded land. Read it here
After Bharatsinh Solanki's remark on the Ram temple, BJP Chief C.R. Patil on Wednesday slammed him, saying that he needs to consult a doctor to "check his mental stability".

Patil was in Vadodara district to take part in the party's ongoing programme 'One Day One District'. He said, "Congress leader Bharatsinh Solanki needs to consult a psychiatrist and check his mental stability."

Questioning Solanki, Patel challenged the Congress leader and said, "if he has spine, he should dare to make such statements on the people of other religions. It is becoming a habit of the leader to insult Hindus and the Hindu religion".

He also warned Solanki, asking him to stop making such statements against Hindus, or "he should be prepared for the reaction from Hindus".

On Tuesday, while addressing members of the OBC community in an Ahmedabad rural area, Bharatsinh had said, "People with great faith and respect had donated Ram Shilas for the construction of Ram temple, the BJP and other organisation failed to preserve and protect these Ram Shilas, because of which they were lying in open on which dogs used to pee."

While reacting to the crowd's enthusiasm, Patil said if any other party's workers or leaders saw this then no one would dare to ask for a ticket of his/her party to contest the Assembly elections from there fearing defeat. Patil has set a target to win all the 182 Assembly seats in the upcoming elections.

This is not the first time Patil has stated that no other will dare to contest. Last month while addressing workers in Himmatnagar of the Sabarkantha district in North Gujarat, he had said, "Congress party will not be able to find one candidate to contest elections on its symbol this time."

In Vadodara, without naming the AAP or Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Patil appealed to his party workers to create awareness among the voters and to see that innocent Gujarati's don't get cheated by the "Maha thag". Mocking Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's action to drop Health Minister Vijay Singla over the corruption charges, Patil said this was an example of the so-called honest party.

--IANS

haresh/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.)
It was a moment of mutual relief. Former union minister in the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, announced on Wednesday that he had resigned from the on May 16, the day the party was winding up its Udaipur consultation. He added that he would be an independent candidate from Uttar Pradesh for elections due next month, with the support of the Samajwadi Party. Sibal had been vocal about the way the was being mismanaged, as part of the Group of 23 leaders who had sought a more active party leadership.

People come and go, was the laconic response of General Secretary K C Venugopal to the development. Things began going sour even when the Congress was in power and strode into a press conference in 2013 and tore up the government ordinance that sought to override a Supreme Court order that convicted lawmakers cannot continue in office.

As Law Minister at the time, it was Sibal who piloted the ordinance. Gandhi said the ordinance should be torn up and thrown out and that the governments decision to approve the ordinance was wrong. The position of the government at the time was that the responsibility of deciding who should be allowed to contest elections and hold political office lay with Parliament and the Supreme Court was overreaching itself in issuing such orders. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had supported the government on its stand. But at one stroke, Rahul Gandhis dramatic intervention, and then spokesman Lalit Makens bald defence - Shri Rahul Gandhis position is the governments position  only served to undermine the authority of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister and his council of ministers.

Above all it was public humiliation of the countrys law minister who has been a senior advocate in the Supreme Court for more than 30 years. It is safe to say that Sibal never forgot or forgave Gandhi for that.

More recently, the Congress launched a whisper campaign against him, citing the exorbitant fees he charged while fighting the case for the party in Manipur in 2020 when ahead of a election, the Speaker of Manipur assembly disqualified several Congress MLAs, leading to the BJP winning the seat easily. Sibal was the lawyer from the Congress and the party said he billed them for hefty fees.

Between then and now, Sibal has represented many politicians: Jayalalithaa, in the Coal Import case; K Karunakaran, Bhajan Lal, the Akali Dal (in the last instance in Sukhbir Badals controversial hotel purchase case) and Lalu Prasad. He fought the case of SP politician Azam Khan, helping him secure bail.

It was thanks to Lalu Prasad that Sibal became a MP in the 1990s, when Prasad directed party MLAs in the Bihar assembly to transfer their surplus votes to Sibal, a Congress candidate, in return for fighting his case in the fodder scam. Additional Solicitor General of India between December 1989-1990, Sibal defended Supreme Court judge V Ramaswamy during his impeachment in Parliament. His performance caught the eye of then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao who offered him the South Delhi seat in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. Sibal lost by a margin of over 1 lakh votes. The offer from Lalu Prasad for the Rajya Sabha came in 1998. By then, he had decided he enjoyed and decided to contest the Lok Sabha election from Chandni Chowk, Delhi in 2004 which he won.

Today, he said he would not comment on a party with which he had been associated for 30 odd years. "I'll not say anything about Congress. I've resigned, so it's not appropriate for me to say anything about the Congress. It's not easy to leave a relationship of 30-31 years." He filed the nomination papers with the help of the SP and all factions of the party  the one led by Akhilesh Yadav as well as Shivpal Yadav  pledging support to him.

"In the past, only a few came to House by getting elected independently, especially in the Rajya Sabha. I've got a big opportunity and it has been given to me by Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, Azam Khan. I will raise the issues of the country in the House," Sibal added.

It remains to be seen if he will win. Out of the 57 seats that will see elections, UP will send 11 members to the upper house. As per the numbers, the BJP is sure to win at least 7 seats and SP three comfortably. However, for the 11th seat, there could be a contest as the BJP with 273 members in Assembly, is short of 15 votes to win an additional seat and SP, with 125 MLAs, will need 20 more votes to win the fourth seat. The Congress with just two seats has no influence. However, Sibal is counting on other smaller parties for support.
Vinai Kumar Saxena will take oath as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi on Thursday at a ceremony at the Raj Niwas which is expected to be attended by hundreds of guests, including Union ministers.

Invitations for the ceremony have been sent to more than 500 dignitaries, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues, high court judges, Union ministers, MPs and MLAs, official sources said on Wednesday.

Saxena, 64, will be administered the oath of office by Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Vipin Sanghi at the ceremony scheduled to begin at 11 AM.

Saxena, who held the post of chairperson of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), was appointed the Lt Governor of Delhi earlier this week, following resignation by his predecessor Anil Baijal due to "personal reasons".

Ten Union ministers, including Home minister Amit Shah, have been invited to the oath-taking ceremony, sources 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.)
Shiv Sena's chief spokesperson on Wednesday said he and party colleague Sanjay Pawar will on Thursday file their nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.

Shiv Sena's Kolhapur district president Sanjay Pawar will be the party's second candidate for the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls, Raut had said on Tuesday, in a clear snub to former MP Sambhaji Chhatrpati who was seeking support for his candidature.

The Sena, which heads the coalition government in Maharashtra, will contest two Rajya Sabha seats and ensure victory in both, asserted Raut, whom the party has given a fourth consecutive term in the Upper House of Parliament.

Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, Raut said, "The leaders had a discussion with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and it has been decided that Sanjay Pawar and I will file our nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls on Thursday. There is no question of supporting Sambhajiraje anymore."



He said CM Thackeray will be present when they file their nomination papers.

"The has been firm on giving tickets to party candidates and we repeatedly communicated it to Sambhajiraje as well," he said.

Asked about fighting against Sambhaji Chhatrapati, Raut said, "We are not fighting against him. We respect him. We have enough numbers in the Assembly to win two seats, hence we have fielded Sanjay Pawar as well."



Earlier, Sambhaji Chhatrapati had been nominated to the Rajya Sabha from the President's quota.

Six Rajya Sabha seats from the state will go to polls on June 10, with the opposition BJP having the numbers to get two of its candidates elected.

The ruling Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in Maharashtra have enough votes to secure one win each, while together they can win the sixth seat as well, for which the Sena has thrown its hat in the ring.

The tenure of six Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra Piyush Goyal, Vinay Sahastrabuddhe and Vikas Mahatme (all three from the BJP), P Chidambaram (Congress), Praful Patel (NCP) and (Shiv Sena) ends on July 4.

The 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly constitutes the electoral college Rajya Sabha elections, and a candidate needs 42 votes to win a seat.

The BJP currently has 106 MLAs in the state, Shiv Sena-55, NCP-53, Congress-44, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi-3, Samajwadi Party, AIMIM and Prahar Janshakti Party-2 each, MNS, CPM, Peasants and Workers Party, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Swabhimani Party, Jansurajya Shakti and Krantikari Shetkari Party-1 each. There are 13 Independent legislators, while one seat is lying vacant.

(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.)
Mastercards smile to pay system, announced last week, is supposed to save time for customers at checkouts. It is being trialled in Brazil, with future pilots planned for the Middle East and Asia.

The company argues touch-less technology will help speed up transaction times, shorten lines in shops, heighten security and improve hygiene in businesses. But it raises concerns relating to customer privacy, data storage, crime risk and bias.

How will it work?

Mastercards biometric checkout system will provide customers facial recognition-based payments, by linking the biometric authentication systems of a number of third-party companies with Mastercards own .

A spokesperson told The Conversation it had already partnered with NEC, Payface, Aurus, Fujitsu Limited, PopID and PayByFace, with more providers to be named. They said providers need to go through independent laboratory certification against the program criteria to be considered  but details of these criteria arent yet publicly available.

According to media reports, customers will have to install an app which will take their picture and payment information. This information will be saved and stored on the third-party providers servers.

At the checkout, the customers face will be matched with the stored data. And once their identity is verified, funds will be deducted automatically. The wave option is a bit of a trick: as the customer watches the camera while waving, the camera still scans their face  not their hand.

Similar authentication technologies are used on smartphones (face ID) and in many airports around the world, including smartgates in Australia.

China started using biometrics-based checkout technology back in 2017. But Mastercard is among the first to launch such a system in Western markets  competing with the pay with your palm system used at cashier-less Amazon Go and Whole Foods brick and mortars in the United States.

What we dont know

Much about the precise functioning of Mastercards system isnt clear. How accurate will the facial recognition be? Who will have access to the databases of biometric data?

A spokesperson told The Conversation customers data would be stored with the relevant biometric service provider in encrypted form, and removed when the customer indicates they want to end their enrolment. But how will the removal of data be enforced if itself cant access it?

Obviously, privacy protection is a major concern, especially when there are many potential third-party providers involved.

On the bright side, Mastercards customers will have a choice as to whether or not they use the biometrics checkout system. However, it will be at retailers discretion whether they offer it, or whether they offer it exclusively as the only payment option.

Similar face-recognition technologies used in airports, and by police, often offer no choice.

We can assume Mastercard and the biometrics provider with whom they partner will require customer consent, as per most privacy laws. But will customers know what they are consenting to?

Ultimately, the biometric service providers Mastercard teams up with will decide how they use the data, for how long, where they store it, and who can access it. Mastercard will merely decide what providers are good enough to be accepted as partners, and the minimum standards they must adhere to.

Customers who want the convenience of this checkout service will have to consent to all the related data and privacy terms.

And as reports have noted, there is potential for Mastercard to integrate the feature with loyalty schemes and make personalised recommendations based on purchases.

Accuracy is a problem

While the accuracy of face recognition technologies has previously been challenged, the current best facial authentication algorithms have an error of just 0.08%, according to tests by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In some countries, even banks have become comfortable relying on it to log users into their accounts.

Yet we cant know how accurate the technologies used in Mastercards biometric checkout system will be. The algorithms underpinning a technology can work almost perfectly when trailed in a lab, but perform poorly in real life settings, where lighting, angles and other parameters are varied.

Bias is another problem

In a 2019 study, NIST found that out of 189 facial recognition algorithms, the majority were biased. Specifically, they were less accurate on people from racial and ethnic minorities.

Even if the technology has improved in the past few years, its not foolproof. And we dont know the extent to which Mastercards system has overcome this challenge.

If the software fails to recognise a customer at the check out, they might end up disappointed, or even become irate  which would completely undo any promise of speed or convenience.

But if the technology misidentifies a person (for instance, John is recognised as Peter  or twins are confused for each other), then money could be taken from the wrong persons account. How would such a situation be dealt with? Is the technology secure?

We often hear about software and databases being hacked, even in cases of supposedly very secure organisations. Despite Mastercards efforts to ensure security, theres no guarantee the third-party providers databases  with potentially millions of peoples biometric data  wont be hacked.

In the wrong hands, this data could lead to identity theft, which is one of the fastest growing types of crime, and financial fraud.

Do we want it?

Mastercard suggests 74% of customers are in favour of using such technology, referencing a stat from its own study  also used by business partner Idemia (a company that sells biometric identification products).

But the report cited is vague and brief. Other studies show entirely different results. For example, this study suggests 69% of customers arent comfortable with face recognition tech being used in retail settings. And this one shows only 16% trust such tech.

Also, if consumers knew the risks the technology poses, the number of those willing to use it might drop even lower.

Rita Matulionyte, Senior Lecturer in Law, Macquarie University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
What we understand by pro has become so convoluted in tech jargon that everything has just become pro. Any flagship comes with a pro suffix attached, whether it justifies the features or not. And, over the last five or so years, it has become one of the most overused terms. Vivo, like many others, does not do justice to the pro name with its new iteration the X80 pro. The phone does come equipped with more feature than its other categories, but it does not justify the pro tag. But then what you and I understand as pro, can be very subjective.

Design

The first thing which will attract a person towards this device is the camera bump. Occupying nearly a third of the space, the phone has a distinct look to it. The feel of the back panel is good, and the back cover with its textured finish gives it a premium look. Though a bit wobbly, the phone doesnt skid on surfaces. The volume and power buttons on the side are just about right for easy access and the front has a hole-punch camera. Ergonomically, though, there are problems. The phone weighs too much and isnt as well balanced as you would like to be.

Screen

This is where has really outdone itself. With peak brightness at 1,500 nits, doesnt disappoint. The 6.8-inch screen offers excellent viewing angles and perfect blacks. Even in the sun, the screen performs well. And, in low light modes, it shines. For movie watching, would have been ideal, had it not been for its weight. The refresh rate, though 120Hz, was not as smooth as you would expect in a Samsung. The curve edges are also something I am not a big fan of.

The bezels are barely noticeable and like with most phones the hole-punch camera becomes invisible after a while. One problem, which has been very common across platforms, was the night light feature. Even with warm temperatures, it was very luminescent for my comfort.

ALSO READ: OnePlus 10 Pro review: Unmissable OPPO influence, in both good ways and bad

Camera

Another area where Vivo has done exceedingly well is the camera setup. With high pixel density lenses at the back and the 32-MP lens at the front, the camera setup is one of the best in the category. The telephoto lens worked well and there were hardly any issues with pixelations. Vivo provides a few standard beautification modes, which when switched off provide a vivid and clear picture. The colours are as close to likeness as possible and with Zeiss mode on, the phone performs even better with clearer colours. The video recording feature is still not as good as others in the category. The cinematic mode offered more, but still fell short of expectation.

Battery life

The 4700mAh battery provided enough juice for the phone to survive over 14 hours even with medium to heavy use and GPS, but it was not a two-day battery life one would expect. With light and medium use the battery can run 18 hours, but that would be too much of a stretch. But the battery drain was not as bad as other Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processors.

ALSO READ: Xiaomi 12 Pro 5G review: Modestly priced all-round premium smartphone

Performance and UX

Vivo has been able to solve the heating issues related with the Snapdragon chips to a certain extent. The phone does start heating up after 45 minutes of gameplay. Regular functions, though, did not subject it to heating issues. Performance wise, the phone was not up to the mark. The bloatware was a big problem. Despite the 12 GB RAM and extra clocking speed, the phone did not perform well at its peak. The OS is complicated and not an easy one to navigate. Vivo needs better OS at top of the line up.

Price

Imagine purchasing a Rs 80,000 phone and spending a day deleting all the apps you do not need and then having to deal with too much of native apps. When a person is paying that much, they would like a clean interface and that is what Vivo has not been able to provide. To break the premium market, it would need a strong key differentiator.
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As pandemic waned and eateries sprung back to life, the old controversy surrounding service charges at restaurants has again come to the fore. Social media is again full of posts questioning why consumers are still paying when GST was supposed to subsume all the taxes.

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After the complaints, the Department of Consumer Affairs has warned restaurants across the country against forcibly levying the charge. The government has also called a meeting with association to discuss the contentious issue.

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In a letter to the National Association of India, which represents the interests of 5 lakh plus restaurants, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh pointed out that restaurants have been collecting from consumers by default, even though payment of any such charge is voluntary and at the discretion of consumers and not mandatory as per law.

It has scheduled a meeting with NRAI on June 2nd to discuss four issues pertaining to levied by eateries.

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The meeting follows the government taking notice of a number of media reports as well as grievances registered by consumers on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH).

Department of Consumer Affairs has already published guidelines in April 2017, which note that the entry of a customer into a cannot by itself be construed as consent to pay the service charge.

The departments letter points out that consumers are forced to pay service charge, often fixed at arbitrarily high rates by restaurants. They are also being falsely misled on the legality of such charges and harassed by restaurants on making a request to remove such charges from the bill amount.

Any restriction on entry on the consumer by way of forcing him to pay the service charge as a condition precedent to placing an order of food and beverages amounts to restrictive trade practice as defined in the .

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The guidelines mention that placing of an order by a customer amount to his agreement to pay the prices displayed on the menu card along with the applicable taxes. Charging for anything other than that, without the express consent of the customer, would amount to unfair trade practice as defined under the Act.

Anku Sharma, Associate Director - Competition, Spice Route Legal says the Govt will take proactive steps on issues concerning the public at large. Very few restaurants that take service charge are following 2017 guidelines, he says. Dept of Consumer Affairs guidelines are recommendatory.

Needless to say, the restaurant industry has a different view. The NRAI, in a statement yesterday, claimed there was no illegality in levying such a charge and whether or not to levy a service charge is a matter of individual restaurant policy.

It argued that once the customer, who is made aware of such a charge in advance, decides to place the order, it becomes an agreement between the parties, and is not an unfair trade practice.

GST is also paid on the service charge, the association added. Another industry body, the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India, had in 2017 said that while the rights of the consumers are paramount, the rights of individual establishments should not be impinged upon.

Are there merits to the industrys arguments?

Anku Sharma of Spice Route Legal says the agreement remains between restaurant and customer. Ultimately, it boils down to how much the govt can interfere with private contracts, he says.

The Consumer Affairs Department had in April 2017 said that paying service charge or the tip to staff should be left to the discretion of customers and it should not be binding. It is high time that the government sets the record straight on this issue which has been dragging on for years. The meeting called by the government may be a step in the right direction.
DAVOS, Switzerland, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Shyam Bishen, head of Shaping the Future of Health and Healthcare at the World Economic Forum (WEF), welcomed China's calling for the building of "a community of common health for mankind" amid the global public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

COMBATING COVID-19

"The WEF applauds this commitment from the government of China and President Xi... of both funding and resources to combat the ongoing (COVID-19) pandemic," Bishen told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting here on Wednesday.

He also underlined the problems of access of developing countries to COVID vaccines, naming it a problem that links to health equity.

"The problem was that most of the production for vaccine was coming from rich nations and was concentrated in just certain areas in the developed world. It was very hard to get out vaccines to developing low and middle-income countries in Africa and other parts of the world," said Bishen.

"Even now we only have about 16-17 percent of the African population vaccinated, whereas there is an oversupply of vaccine in the developed world," he said, urging for a more distributed vaccine manufacturing capacity.

China, he said, has made a significant contribution with its at least three listed COVID vaccines approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"COVID vaccines from China are being used in many developing countries. China has made very good contributions," he said.

HEALTH EQUITY

Bishen said the goal of health equity can only be achieved if "both the social determinants as well as non-social determinants of health equity" are looked at.

"We have challenges with regard to the access to health care products and services because of the social determinants, and because of poverty and inequality in society where many people do not have access to good education," Bishen said.

"They don't have access to transport or to good food, and that leads to health inequality," he noted. "At the same time, people don't have access to health care products because of the places or the regions they are living, and because of their social-economic situation."

"We are trying at the World Economic Forum to create public-private partnerships to bring about better health equity so that products and services can be made available across the world, irrespective of the geography," he added.

Looking ahead to the next pandemic, Bishen said it would require global cooperation, including a pathogen surveillance and timely share of information.

"If (the next pandemic) happens, we want to make sure we do a better job of controlling that pandemic through easy access to vaccines, easy access to diagnostics, as well as treatments," he said. 
According to the World Health Organization, the name monkeypox originated from the initial discovery of the virus in monkeys in a Danish laboratory in 1958. Human monkeypox was first discovered in 1970 in a 9-year-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo-- where smallpox was eliminated in 1968.

Since 1970, human cases of monkeypox have been reported in 11 African countries. In 2003, the first monkeypox outbreak outside of Africa was in the United States and was linked to contact with infected pet prairie dogs.

These pets had been housed with Gambian pouched rats and dormice that had been imported into the country from Ghana. This outbreak led to over 70 cases of monkeypox in the US.

says that monkeypox is a viral zoonosis -- a virus transmitted to humans from animals-- with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.

Evidence of monkeypox virus infection has been found in animals including squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, different species of monkeys and others.

Now, fresh cases of monkeypox have been found in Europe and other parts of the world. 16 countries, mostly in Europe, along with the US, Canada and Australia and Israel have reported outbreaks of the viral disease, with more than 170 confirmed infections. This is the worst outbreak of the virus outside of Africa, where it is endemic.

Britain has reported the most cases at 56, followed by 41 in Spain and 37 in Portugal. Only 10 cases have been detected outside of Europe so far.

So far, reported cases have no established travel links to endemic areas. Based on the available information, cases have mainly but not exclusively been found among men have had sex with men (MSM), the World Health Organization has said.

Monkeypox is usually a self-limited with symptoms lasting from two to four weeks. Severe cases occur more commonly among children and are related to the extent of virus exposure, patient health status and nature of complications.

The case fatality ratio of monkeypox has historically ranged from 0 to 11 % in the general population and has been higher among young children. In recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around 36%.

Animal-to-human transmission can occur from direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids, or cutaneous or mucosal lesions of infected animals.

Human-to-human transmission can result from close contact with respiratory secretions, skin lesions of an infected person or recently contaminated objects.

Transmission via droplet respiratory particles usually requires prolonged face-to-face contact, which puts health workers, household members and other close contacts of active cases at greater risk.

The illness begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

Within one to three days after the appearance of fever, the patient develops a rash, often beginning on the face then spreading to other parts of the body. The rash tends to be more concentrated on the face and extremities

Monkeypox symptoms often subside on their own, without the need for treatment. It is important to take care of the rash by letting it dry if possible or covering it with a moist dressing to protect the area if needed. Smallpox vaccine and vaccinia immune globulin (VIG) can be used to control a monkeypox outbreak.

An antiviral that was developed to treat smallpox was also approved for the treatment of monkeypox in January 2022.
DAVOS, Switzerland, May 25 (Xinhua) -- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International on Wednesday called for urgent action to secure a nature-positive and net-zero emissions world at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022 here, while agriculture giant Syngenta Group emphasized that science, technology and regenerative agriculture could help tackle some of the challenges.

As nearly 2,500 global leaders from business, politics, civil society and the media are meeting in the Swiss mountain town this week, WWF called on them to accelerate their action to tackle climate and nature crises.

Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, issued a stark warning in a press release. "While it is important to recognize the progress that has been made on key environmental issues in the last year, the world remains on course for environmental catastrophe unless it takes urgent and unprecedented action to address the climate and nature crises."

"In the face of growing political and economic instability, leaders meeting at Davos must balance short-term responses with the long-term actions needed to increase resilience and secure a liveable planet for future generations," he said.

"This means urgently increasing the ambition of their climate targets, transitioning to sustainable food systems, and stepping up efforts to conserve the ecosystems and biodiversity left on the planet, while restoring what's possible. This year, world leaders have an unmissable chance to embrace a 'Paris-style' agreement to tackle our escalating nature crisis and make a fairer, nature-positive and food-secure world a reality."

WWF warned that global greenhouse emissions are returning to sky-high levels last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, while deforestation remains alarmingly high, and the global extinction crisis continues unabated.

The WEF in Davos takes place ahead of Stockholm+50, an international meeting convened by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 2-3. It aims to commemorate the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and celebrate 50 years of global environmental action.

According to a UN report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), more than one million species are now threatened with extinction.

Joao Campari, leader of WWF's Global Food Practice, said: "On top of the nature and climate crises, we are facing an escalating food security crisis. As leaders grapple with shocks and stresses, and justifiably focus on securing food supplies, we must ensure building sustainable and resilient food systems remains a long-term priority. If not, we will face even more frequent and more damaging crises."

"The way we produce and consume food is both the biggest driver of nature loss and a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Adopting nature-positive food production practices is a win-win for people and the planet and should be a priority for forward-looking countries and businesses," Campari added.

According to the WWF's "The Living Planet Report 2020," food systems are responsible for 80 percent of deforestation and generate around 30 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

In the press statement, WWF wrote that natural disasters caused by climate change and human ecosystem disruption cost more than 300 billion U.S. dollars per year.

"Climate-smart growth could deliver at least 26 trillion U.S. dollars in economic benefits through to 2030, and a move to more sustainable agriculture, combined with forest protection, could deliver over 2 trillion U.S. dollars per year," it said.

Erik Fyrwald, chief executive officer (CEO) of Syngenta Group, one of the world's leading agricultural innovation and technology companies, said: "When it comes to food, humanity faces an epochal challenge. With globally stagnating arable land, it is of utmost importance to safely supply a rapidly growing global population with high-quality food while protecting biodiversity and the climate."

The Swiss company, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is owned by the Chinese chemical company ChemChina.

"Our vision is regenerative agriculture with higher land productivity which means more food produced on less land so more land is returned to nature and we stop deforestation," Fyrwald said. "We are contributing to a reduction of agriculture greenhouse gas emissions, aspiring to go from 12 percent of total global emissions today to net-zero or even net-positive." 
SANAA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg on Wednesday called on the warring parties in Yemen to renew the ongoing two-month truce that is expected to expire on June 2.

"We have seen the tangible benefits the truce has delivered so far for the daily lives of Yemenis. The parties need to renew the truce to extend and consolidate these benefits to the people of Yemen who have suffered over seven years of war," Grundberg said in a written statement.

"The truce has presented a window of opportunity to break with the violence and suffering of the past and move towards a peaceful future in Yemen," the UN envoy said, urging the Yemeni warring parties to "seize this opportunity" and to support a comprehensive political settlement of the conflict.

Earlier in the day, representatives of the Yemeni government and the Houthi group started negotiations under the UN envoy's auspices in Amman, the capital of Jordan, to discuss lifting the siege of Taiz city in southwestern Yemen, which is the last major term to be fulfilled pursuant to the agreement reached by the parties before entering the truce on April 2.

The truce also included resuming commercial flights to and from the Houthi-held airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and allowing the entry of fuel ships into the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah, which both have seen breakthroughs since the start of the truce.

The truce marks the first breakthrough in more than seven years in efforts to end the war in Yemen that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 4 million, and pushed the country to the brink of starvation. 
PHNOM PENH, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian anti-drug police have arrested three foreigners for allegedly manufacturing, possessing and trafficking more than 30 kg illicit drugs, the National Police said on Wednesday.

One suspect was arrested at a condo in capital Phnom Penh, and two others were caught in the coastal province of Preah Sihanouk, police said, adding that they were all male and apprehended on May 18.

"A total of 30.4 kg drugs and 56.5 kg ingredients have been confiscated from the trio," the National Police said on its website.

The seized drugs included heroin, ecstasy, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine, ketamine, and nimetazepam, police said.

The southeast Asian nation has no death sentence for drug traffickers. Under its law, anyone found guilty of trafficking more than 80 grams of drugs could be jailed for life.

According to the Anti-Drug Police Department, Cambodia nabbed 4,602 drug suspects, including 66 foreigners, during the first four months of 2022, seizing 1.55 tons of illicit drugs and 173 tons of ingredients. 
CAMEROUN :: A MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED IN DOUALA FOR THE ILLEGAL POSSESSION OF A MANDRILL :: CAMEROON

He was arrested during an operation carried out by wildlife officials of the Littoral Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife in collaboration with the Police. The operation was technically assisted by The Last Great Ape Organisation, a wildlife support body also known as LAGA.

The suspected trafficker was apprehended in possession of an adult mandrill tied to a tree at the entrance of his home, situated at the

Bonaberineighbourhood. He was attempting to sell the animal shortly before his arrest. The mandrill was tied to a treewith heavy metal chains. They equally left the animal open tocontact withneighbours. visitors, and passersby who often threw objects at the mandrill to get its attention or to get it off their way.

The suspected trafficker is behind bars at the police station meanwhile, the mandrill was taken to the Mvogbetsi zoo.



One of the officials of the operation teamwho spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that the mandrill was bought by the suspect in Djoum. An accomplice to the arrested man is on the run.



It should be noted that mandrills are large old world monkeysfound in Central African countries. Gabon is a stronghold for the animal where the largest populations is found.Its habitat has declined in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea while its range in the Republic of Congo is limited. Its one of the most colourful mammal in the world with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. Mandrills mainly live in tropical rainforests but travel also across savannahs. They live in large, stable group known as hordes and can be comprised of hundreds.



The mandrill is classified as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list and is protected under the 1994 wildlife law of country. The law stipulates that anyone found at any time or place in possession of a whole or a part of a protected species is liable to a prison terms of up to 3 years or and pay a fine of up to 10 million CFA Francs.




We Are China

Session themed "Safeguarding Our Planet and People" held at WEF

Xinhua) 09:17, May 25, 2022

Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change, attends a session themed "Safeguarding Our Planet and People" at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos, Switzerland, May 24, 2022.

The WEF Annual Meeting 2022 is held here from May 22 to 26. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
CANBERRA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A leading infectious diseases expert has called for the influenza vaccine to be made free for all Australians to prevent a looming health "disaster".

Ian Barr, deputy director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza, said recently governments should entirely subsidize flu vaccinations to help emphasize their importance.

According to data from the federal Health Department, about 5.9 million people aged five and older, or 24 percent of the population, and 151,189 Australians younger than five had received a flu vaccine as of Sunday.

The low figures come despite governments and health authorities across the country urging as many people as possible to get vaccinated to protect the health system ahead of a projected winter spike in flu and COVID-19 cases.

"The COVID vaccination has set the precedent. It sends a message the government thinks it's a priority," Barr told the Guardian Australia.

"There's a two-year gap when we haven't been exposed, and we know immunity wanes especially if you're not vaccinated.

"What we don't normally see is quite so many kids in hospital but a lot of this is due to high numbers. There'll be deaths for sure, and no doubt increased pressure on hospitals."

Up until May 8 there had been 10,599 confirmed influenza cases in Australia compared to fewer than 1,000 in 2021 amid coronavirus restrictions and border closures.

In the Central Australia region of the Northern Territory (NT), 36 percent of confirmed flu cases in 2022 have been hospitalized for treatment, prompting concerns of a severe season.

"This is the first full flu season for three years while our hospitals are already full," Australian Medical Association (AMA) Vice President Chris Moy said.

"It's quite a scary prospect. We should be thinking about this from a disaster perspective."

As of Tuesday afternoon, 7,020,862 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Australia, including 8,178 deaths, and approximately 353,415 active cases, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.

The number of new cases reported in the previous 24 hours stood at 43,090. 
Giant panda cub Sheng Yi eats bamboo at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan.

"The Malaysia government hopes that Sheng Yi could help enhance and improve the established relationship between Malaysia and China," said Takiyuddin who witnessed the naming ceremony with Ouyang Yujing, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, at the Giant Panda Conservation Centre of Zoo Negara.

Sheng Yi made a grand appearance to the public with her mother Liang Liang for the naming ceremony and enjoyed a sumptuous fresh bamboo feast.

The lovable tree-climber has shown great interest and excitement in the banner with her name on it.

As the third cub to mother Liang Liang and father Xing Xing, she was born on May 31, 2021, in conjunction with the 47th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia.

Currently weighing around 27 kg and in healthy physical condition, the giant panda cub started to meet the public in December 2021.

Xing Xing and Liang Liang, after arriving in Malaysia in 2014, delivered their first Malaysia-born giant panda cub Nuan Nuan on Aug. 18, 2015, while their second, Yi Yi was born on Jan. 14, 2018. Nuan Nuan returned to China in November 2017 after turning two years old. 

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi looks at its name at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi enjoys bamboo at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi enjoys bamboo at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda Sheng Yi's mother Liang Liang enjoys bamboo at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi (upper) and its mother Liang Liang play at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi plays at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi looks at its name at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi plays at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi enjoys bamboo at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi plays at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi (upper) and its mother Liang Liang play at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi (L) and its mother Liang Liang play at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi (R) and its mother Liang Liang play at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda Sheng Yi's father Xing Xing enjoys bamboo at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi looks at its name at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi (L) and its mother Liang Liang play at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

Giant panda cub Sheng Yi plays at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 25, 2022. The third locally bred giant panda cub born in May last year in Malaysia is officially named Sheng Yi, which means "peaceful and friendship."

The name also indicates the wish of the Malaysian government in strengthening its diplomatic ties with China, according to a press release by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia Takiyuddin Hassan. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)
Cherys a brand on a mission, and while they still have a mountain to climb, they know theyve got the tools to do it. In the decades since ...
Sky has released a trailer for its upcoming animated feature The Amazing Maurice, adapted from Terry Pratchetts popular Discworld entry.

A bit about the film:
VIENTIANE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Lao health authorities are monitoring tourists for cases of monkeypox, following a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) that cases of the disease have emerged in several countries.

The Local daily Vientiane Times on Wednesday quoted Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh, director general of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health, as saying that health workers will be screening visitors and asking them about their travel history. People who have spent time in at-risk areas will not be allowed to enter Laos.

Monkeypox is a viral disease found mostly in central and western Africa.

Monkeypox cases in humans have occurred outside of Africa linked to international travel or imported animals, including in the United States, Israel, Singapore and Britain.

The situation is evolving and WHO expects there will be more cases of monkeypox identified as surveillance expands in non-endemic countries.

Immediate actions focus on informing those who may be most at risk for infection with accurate information, in order to stop further spread.

WHO said that available information suggests that human-to-human transmission is occurring among people in close physical contact with cases who are symptomatic. 
Photo: The Canadian Press B.C. Premier John Horgan. Recent polling shows support for provincial management of the pandemic is up slightly.

It is often said, albeit not always in the right context, that public opinion polls are a snapshot in time.

There can be a very different outcome to a survey if a question is put to the collective psyche of a country immediately after an impactful event or experience.

An example of this came in September 2001, when then-U.S. President George W. Bush enjoyed the highest approval rating of his tenure, just hours after relying on a bullhorn to address first respondents assembled at Ground Zero. There may have been many reasons for Americans to be upset with their head of state. Still, at that moment, a profound emotional connection that transcended party allegiance was successfully established.

Research Co. and Glacier Media have spent the last 26 months measuring the perceptions of Canadians on the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been moments in which the decisions of political leaders have led to praise. At the federal level, we saw this during the early days of the pandemic when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the country daily, outlining various forms of support for Canadians.

Provincial administrations have also benefited, or suffered, from their reaction to the challenges posed by COVID-19.

As Canadians begin to enjoy warm weather, our minds shift into rest and travel, and our thoughts of a future without COVID-19 become clearer. This is not the first time the country has been brimming with optimism. It happened in 2020, when people assumed that restrictions would be abandoned, and in 2021, when vaccination rates suggested that a return to normalcy was at hand.

This month, for the first time, more than three in four Canadians (76 per cent) believe that the worst of the pandemic is now behind us, up 14 points since our previous survey in April.

As our views on the pandemic turn rosier, we appear to be more compassionate towards our elected officials. In May, 61 per cent of Canadians are satisfied with the way the federal government has handled the pandemic, up four points.

Provincial administrations also see an improvement, with satisfaction with pandemic management going from 57 per cent in April to 63 per cent in May. The numbers did not move much in Ontario (65 per cent, up two points) and B.C. (62 per cent, up one point), but there are significant gains in Quebec (67 per cent, up eight points) and Alberta (53 per cent, up 16 points).

The situation is also better for the federal chief public health officer, whose satisfaction levels increased by five points to 66 per cent this month. Provincial health and chief medical officers have the same rating nationally (66 per cent).

Being happier with governments and health authorities does not mean that Canadians have completely neglected the pandemic. More than three in four (78 per cent, down four points) continue to consider COVID-19 as a real threat.

As satisfaction levels improve for governments, it is important to remember that elections  like polls  can be deeply affected by timing. In B.C., satisfaction with pandemic management was turned into a real majority in 2020, but the feat eluded the federal administration in 2021. In Ontario, where an election to the legislative assembly is scheduled for June 2, the government seems to be peaking at the right time when it comes to COVID-19.

In the next few months, Quebec and Alberta will have an opportunity to see if residents have forgiven, or forgotten, the decisions of their ruling parties. 

Mario Canseco is president of Research Co.

Results are based on an online study conducted from May 14 to May 16, 2022, among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: The Canadian Press Andrew Abdullah, 25, is escorted into the Fifth precinct, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in New York. Abdullah, the man wanted in an apparently unprovoked fatal shooting aboard a New York City subway train surrendered to police on Tuesday, hours after authorities posted his name and photo on social media and implored the public to help find him. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A man suspected of abruptly pulling a gun and killing a stranger on a New York City subway train was arrested Tuesday, with police saying his motive for the unprovoked attack was a big mystery.

Andrew Abdullah, 25, was expected to face a murder charge in the death of 48-year-old Daniel Enriquez, who was shot to death while heading to Sunday brunch.

Abdullah "targeted this poor individual for reasons we dont know, Chief of Detectives James Essig said at a news conference.

The arrest came hours after police posted Abdullah's name and photo on social media and implored the public to help find him. But after the arrest, police disclosed that officers briefly stopped him after the shooting but let him go because his clothes didn't match the description they were given.

The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Abdullah, said it was just beginning to review evidence and urged the public not to make assumptions about the case.

Mr. Abdullah deserves vigorous representation from his defense counsel, and that is what The Legal Aid Society will provide, the organization said in a statement.

About six weeks after another subway shooting wounded 10 people, witnesses Sunday saw a man pacing the last car of a Q line train heading from Brooklyn to Manhattan, muttering to himself, Essig said. The only words witnesses could make out: No phones.

Then the man pulled out a gun and fired at Enriquez at close range, hitting him once in the chest, police said. The shooter fled after the train arrived at Manhattans Canal Street and ditched his gun by handing it to a stranger on the subway stairs, Essig said. Police eventually found the recipient and the gun, which had been reported stolen in Virginia in 2019.

About a block and a half away, officers stopped Abdullah and asked him what he was doing, Essig said. But he wasn't wearing the black hoodie mentioned in the initial suspect description, and he had a backpack that hadn't been mentioned. Officers let him leave but took down his name.

Only later, when viewing surveillance video, did police realize that the gunman had removed the sweatshirt after the shooting, Essig said.

The Legal Aid Society said it had tried since Monday night to arrange for Abdullah to surrender in the subway shooting, but authorities instead made a completely unwarranted and inappropriate decision to apprehend him outside the organization's office. An inquiry was sent to police.

Abdullah was on parole until last June after serving 2 1/2 years behind bars on a conviction on conspiracy and attempted weapon possession charges in a gang case, according to parole records and police. Court records show he has open criminal cases stemming from an April 24 vehicle theft and an alleged assault in 2020. He hasn't entered a plea in either of those cases; messages seeking comment were left with his lawyers.

This horrific crime should never have happened, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news briefing Tuesday, calling Abdullah a repeat offender who was given every leeway by the criminal justice system.

Before his arrest, Enriquezs sister Griselda Vile implored the city Tuesday to tackle crime more effectively.

Im pleading that this not happen to another New Yorker, she told Fox News. I dont want my brother just to be a passing name in the media, a passing name in our normalcy post-pandemic.

Enriquez worked for the global investment research division at Goldman Sachs, where CEO David Solomon called him a dedicated and beloved employee who epitomized our culture of collaboration and excellence.

A child of Mexican American parents, Enriquez spent his early childhood in Brooklyn before his family moved to California and then to Seattle, his partner, Adam Pollack, told the New YorkPost.

Enriquez returned to New York City in the mid-1990s to pursue a master's degree in Latin American studies at New York University. His yen for learning didn't stop there  during the coronavirus pandemic, he learned to play the guitar and to speak Portuguese and Italian, his family and partner said.

He was constantly in self-improvement mode, brother-in-law Glenn Vile told Fox News.

The eldest of five children, Enriquez texted his siblings about an hour before he was killed to advise them to check on their parents, who have health problems, she said.

The seemingly random shooting further shook a city already on edge about public safety. Many types of crime have rebounded after dipping dramatically earlier in the pandemic when people were staying home.

In the first five months of 2022, the number of shootings in the city dropped slightly over the same period a year earlier, and the number of murders is down 12% so far over last year. But New York is still on pace to have its second-highest number of homicides since 2011, after nearly a decade of record lows.

In terms of violent crime, the city remains substantially safer now than it was during the 1970s, '80s, '90s and early 2000s. But crime is now city voters top concern by far, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this month. It surveyed 1,249 registered city voters and has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who campaigned on promises to make the city safer, said his administration will evaluate how it is deploying officers across the sprawling subway system.
Photo: The Canadian Press This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP, File

Quebec health officials are reporting 10 more cases of monkeypox, for a total of 15 confirmed cases across the province.

Last week, the province reported the first cases of the virus in Canada.

Health Department spokesman Robert Maranda says Quebec is considering ordering vaccines against the disease from the federal government.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said last week it was investigating about two dozen possible cases of monkeypox in the country in addition to the confirmed cases in Quebec.

Toronto Public Health said over the weekend it was investigating Ontario's first suspected case.

Monkeypox is a rare disease that comes from the same family of viruses that causes smallpox, which the World Health Organization declared eradicated around the globe in 1980. It spreads through prolonged closed contact and can cause fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, swollen lymph nodes and lesions.
UPDATE 6 p.m.

A bag containing what appeared to be an incendiary device was responsible for shutting down Victoria International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

RCMP Cpl. Andrew Sanchez said specialists from the Lower Mainland have been called to investigate a suspicious package that was brought in by a passenger. During scanning, security officials became concerned.

Airport was full of passengers when alert came in, but the departures area had been blocked off by 4:50 p.m.

In an update posted at 4:22 p.m., the airport said airlines are working with their operations teams to determine the status of flights. "Scheduled flights over the next 2 hours can be confirmed as cancelled. Please continue to check with your airline, or our website arrivals and departures."

As of 5 p.m., all remaining flights for the day appeared to be cancelled, but police said there's hope airport can resume operations tonight.

Megan Batchelor, spokesperson for the Vancouver Airport Authority, said: At YVR we are currently monitoring the situation at YYJ and working with our partners to accommodate any diverted aircraft.

We encourage passengers to contact their airlines for latest flight information and assistance. We dont have any other details to provide at this time.

UPDATE 5 p.m.

The Victoria International Airport is closed to commercial flights due to a police incident.

In a tweet, the airport asked travellers not to go to the airport as RCMP respond to a "call for service."

No details on the nature of the police call have been released.

Rod Hunchak, airport director of business development and community relations, said he could not comment, referring questions to the airports website, its social media, and the RCMP.

An update from RCMP is expected around 5:15 p.m.

Travellers are being advised to check with their airline or go to the airport's website for updates on flights.

The terminal remained full of passengers at 4:30 p.m., but the departures area had been blocked off by 4:50 p.m.

In an update posted at 4:22 p.m., the airport said airlines are working with their operations teams to determine the status of flights. "Scheduled flights over the next 2 hours can be confirmed as cancelled. Please continue to check with your airline, or our website arrivals and departures."

ORIGINAL 4:30 p.m.

The Victoria International Airport is closed to commercial flights due to a police incident.

In a tweet, the airport asked travellers not to go to the airport as RCMP respond to a "call for service."

No details on the nature of the police call have been released.

Travellers are being advised to check with their airline or go to the airport's website for updates on flights.
Photo: The Canadian Press FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, watches a military parade to mark the 90th anniversary of North Korea's army at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea on April 25, 2022. South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday, May 25, the missile was fired toward waters near North Korea's eastern coast. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

North Korea launched three ballistic missiles toward the sea on Wednesday, its neighbors said, hours after President Joe Biden wrapped up his trip to Asia where he reaffirmed U.S. commitment to defend its allies in the face of the Norths growing nuclear threat.

The North's first missile launches in about two weeks also came as the country makes a much-disputed claim that its first domestic COVID-19 outbreak is weakening.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that all three missiles were fired toward waters off North Koreas eastern coast one after another between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

It said South Korea has subsequently boosted its surveillance posture and maintains a military readiness in close coordination with the United States. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol separately called a National Security Council meeting to discuss the Norths launches, his office said.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the missile launches highlight the destabilizing impact of (North Korea's) illicit weapons program" though they didn't pose an immediate threat to U.S. territory and its allies. A command statement said the U.S. commitment to the defense of the South Korea and Japan remains ironclad.

The White House said Biden has been briefed on the North Korean missile launches and will continue to be briefed as information develops.

The launches were North Koreas 17th round of missile firings this year. Experts have said North Koreas testing is aimed at modernizing its weapons arsenal and at applying pressure on its rivals to wrest sanctions relief and other concessions amid long-dormant nuclear diplomacy.

North Koreas unusual pace in weapons tests this year included its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 in March. U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials have that North Korea could soon conduct its first nuclear test in nearly five years as well.

After their summit in Seoul on Saturday, Biden and Yoon said they would consider expanded military exercises to deter North Korean nuclear threats.

Biden brushed aside questions about any possible provocation by North Korea during his trip, saying, We are prepared for anything North Korea does. Asked if he had a message for the Norths leader, Kim Jong Un, Biden offered a clipped response: Hello. Period.

After his Seoul trip, Biden traveled on to Japan and met with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, where the leaders vowed to work closely to address security challenges, including North Koreas nuclear and ballistic programs, and also what they called Chinas increasingly coercive behavior in the region.

Hours before the Norths missile launches, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters in Washington that North Korea may be on the verge of a major weapons test. Our concern for another potential provocation, be it an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) launch, be a potential seventh nuclear weapons test, our concern has not abated in any way, he said.

Before Wednesday's launches, North Koreas most recent missile tests occurred hours after the country on May 12 acknowledged its COVID-19 outbreak on its soil, after maintaining a widely disputed claim to be coronavirus-free for more than two years.

The country has said in the past few days that there has been a positive sign in its anti-virus campaign. Some observers predicted that North Korea would soon resume its missile tests.

Since its admission of the outbreak of the highly contagious omicron variant, North Korea has said an unidentified fever has been spreading across the country since late April. It has stated how many people have fevers daily but identified just a fraction of the cases as COVID-19.

On Wednesday, North Koreas state media said 115,970 more people fell ill due to feverish symptoms in the past 24-hour period but there was no additional death. It's the second consecutive day that North Korea has claimed no fatality.

It said its total fever cases reached about 3 million people but only 68 of them died, an extremely low fatality rate if the illness is COVID-19 as suspected.

North Korea has limited testing capability for that many sick people, but some experts say it is also likely underreporting mortalities to prevent possible political damage on Kim.

North Korea has so far ignored South Korean and U.S. offers of humanitarian shipments of vaccines, medicines and other support items. Much of North Korea's 26 million people remain unvaccinated and the country's once free socialist public health care system has been in shambles for decades.
Photo: The Canadian Press FILE-U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sits in a courtroom, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Atlanta. A judge in Georgia on Friday, May 6, found that Green can run for reelection, rejecting arguments from a group of voters who had challenged her eligibility over allegations that she engaged in insurrection. But the decision will ultimately be up to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.(AP Photo/John Bazemore, Pool, File)

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated five challengers Tuesday in a GOP primary race that tested how her conservative Georgia constituents judged her turbulent freshman term.

Greene, 47, became a celebrity of the Republican Party's far-right fringe with her election two years ago as she embraced former President Donald Trumps false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and engaged in conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.

She will face the winner of a three-way Democratic primary in northwest Georgias 14th District, a seat drawn to give Republicans a huge advantage, in November.

Greene spoke at an event organized by a white nationalist where the crowd chanted Putin! after Russias invasion of Ukraine and launched other partisan attacks that critics said promoted racism and violence.

Greene remained on the primary ballot Tuesday in Georgia's 14th Congressional District after a failed effort to disqualify her by opposing voters. They argued Greene engaged in insurrection by encouraging the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that disrupted Congress certification of Joe Bidens presidential victory. Georgia's secretary of state and an administrative law judge dismissed the claims.

Still, fellow Republicans refused to give Greene a free ride to reelection. Though her first term won loyal followers, it left others in the GOP embarrassed.

Leading the slate of Republicans running to oust Greene in the primary was Jennifer Strahan, founder of a suburban Atlanta health care advisory firm who pitched herself to voters as a no-nonsense conservative.

This is not the time for unserious politicians who just want to hear themselves talk, Strahan said in one campaign ad, without mentioning Greene by name. In another she stated bluntly: Our current U.S. representative isnt doing her job.

Greene was stripped of her committee assignments last year by House Democrats who accused her of spreading violent and hateful conspiracies. In recent months, Greene got banned from Twitter for spreading coronavirus misinformation.

Green has been largely unrepentant. In a campaign ad posted recently to her Facebook page, she calls Biden and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi communist Democrats who hate America, hate God and hate our way of life.

Greene proved popular enough that she raised more than $9 million for her reelection bid, placing her among the years top fundraisers in Congress, according to the Federal Election Commission. Greene spent more than $6.6 million before the primary.

Strahan's $391,000 in fundraising trailed far behind Greene but dwarfed that of other Republican contenders  retired physician Charles Lutin, engineer James Haygood, Marine Corps veteran Seth Synstelien and logistics executive Eric Cunningham.

Spanning a stretch of northwest Georgia from metro Atlanta to the state line at Chattanooga, Tennessee, Greene's district was drawn to favor Republicans even after state lawmakers slightly shifted its boundaries during redistricting last year.

Even with the odds against them, three Democrats competed for a shot at challenging Greene in November. Army veteran Marcus Flowers led the Democratic field with more than $8.1 million raised. He faced small business owner Hollie McCormack and Wendy Davis, a former Rome city commissioner, in the district's Democratic primary.
Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with a Vancouver family on Tuesday.

It's been a difficult year for many since the discovery of unmarked graves at residential schools and those expressing anger are justified in doing so, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Trudeau made the comment Tuesday after facing angry chants by some attendees of a memorial ceremony at the former residential school in Kamloops the day before.

"There were a number of people who are still very, very hurt by this and who are angry, and, frankly, they have a right to be angry," Trudeau said at an event in Vancouver, where he was visiting a family to discuss federal housing policy.

The ceremony in Kamloops on Monday marked one year since the Tkemlups te Secwepemc announced that ground-penetrating radar had identified 215 suspected graves in an apple orchard by the former residential school.

The announcement sparked a reckoning over Canada's treatment of Indigenous Peoples and additional searches on former residential school grounds across the country.

Trudeau said the news affected Indigenous people who have long known that many kids who went to the schools never came home, as well as Canadians who learned with shock that residential schools had graveyards.

"These are things that Canada needs to grapple with and, of course, there's a need for healing, there's a need for partnership, but there's also going to be a lot of trauma and anger," Trudeau said.

He said he was "incredibly touched" by elders who welcomed him and told him it was important for the federal government to be at the ceremony and he also understands there are others who are still very hurt.

Hundreds of people attended the daylong memorial in Kamloops and Trudeau was followed by a large group who chanted and pounded drums as he stopped in the stands, talking face-to-face with people.

While he exchanged hugs with some, others were less receptive, chanting, "Canada is all Indian land," and "We don't need your Constitution.'"

"Canada was responsible for horrific things happening to Indigenous people, and those injustices continue not just in the past, but in the present today," Trudeau said Tuesday.

Socio-economic inequality and mental health challenges are among the legacies of residential schools that require ongoing action, he added.

"I was grateful to be there, grateful to hear people's perspectives, and grateful to be able to continue to insist and demonstrate that the federal government will be there as a partner on reconciliation for the long term."
Photo: The Canadian Press

UPDATE 12:55 p.m.

The gunman who massacred 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas had warned in online messages minutes before the attack that he had shot his grandmother and was going to shoot up a school, the governor said Wednesday.

Salvador Ramos, 18, used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in the bloodshed Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that ended with police storming a classroom and killing him. He had legally bought two such rifles just days before, soon after his birthday, authorities said.

Evil swept across Uvalde yesterday. Anyone who shoots his grandmother in the face has to have evil in his heart, Gov. Greg Abbott said. But it is far more evil for someone to gun down little kids.

Investigators shed no light on the motive for the attack, which also left at least 17 people wounded. The governor said Ramos, a resident of the small town about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, had no known criminal or mental health history.

But about a half-hour before the bloodbath, Ramos sent three messages online, Abbott said. Ramos wrote in the first that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman, and finally that he was going to shoot up an elementary school, according to Abbott. It was not clear whether Ramos specified which school.

Ramos sent private, one-to-one text messages on Facebook that were discovered after the terrible tragedy, company spokesman Andy Stone said. He said Facebook is cooperating with investigators.

Amid calls around the U.S. for tighter restrictions on firearms, the Republican governor repeatedly talked about mental health struggles among Texas young people and argued that tougher gun laws in Chicago, New York and California are ineffective.

Democrat Beto ORourke, who is running against Abbott for governor, interrupted Abbott's news conference and called the tragedy predictable. Pointing his finger at Abbott, he said: This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. ORourke was escorted out as members of the crowd yelled at him, with one man calling him a sick son of a bitch.

Texas has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the nation and has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years.

As details of the latest mass killing to rock the U.S. emerged, grief engulfed Uvalde, population 16,000.

The dead included an outgoing 10-year-old, Eliahna Garcia, who loved to sing, dance and play basketball; a fellow fourth-grader, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming; and a teacher, Eva Mireles, with 17 years experience whose husband is an officer with the school districts police department.

I just dont know how people can sell that type of a gun to a kid 18 years old, Eliahnas aunt, Siria Arizmendi, said angrily through tears. What is he going to use it for but for that purpose?

Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN that all of those killed were in the same fourth-grade classroom.

The killer barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom, Olivarez said. It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.

Police and others responding to the attack also went around breaking windows at the school to enable students and teachers to escape. Law enforcement officers eventually broke into the classroom and killed Ramos in one last exchange of gunfire, authorities said.

The attack in the predominantly Latino town was the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

The bloodshed was the latest in a seemingly unending string of mass killings at churches, schools, stores and other sites in the U.S. Just 10 days earlier, 10 Black people were shot to death in a racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.

In a somber address to the nation hours after the attack in Texas, President Joe Biden pleaded for Americans to stand up to the gun lobby and enact tougher restrictions, saying: When in Gods name are we going to do what has to be done?

But the prospects for any reform of the nations gun regulations appeared dim. Repeated attempts over the years to expand background checks and enact other curbs have run into Republican opposition in Congress.

The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston, with the Texas governor and both of the state's Republican U.S. senators scheduled to speak.

On social media in the days and hours before the massacre, Ramos appeared to drop hints that something was going to happen.

On the day he bought his second weapon last week, an Instagram account that investigators say apparently belonged to Ramos carried a photo of two AR-style rifles. That post tagged another Instagram user, one with more than 10,000 followers, asking her to share the picture.

I barely know you and u tag me in a picture with some guns, replied the Instagram user, who has since removed her profile. Its just scary.

On the morning of the attack, the account linked to the gunman replied: Im about to.

Instagram confirmed to The Associated Press that it is working with law enforcement to review the account but declined to answer questions about the postings.

Investigators are also looking at an account on TikTok, possibly belonging to the shooter, with a profile that reads: Kids be scared IRL, an acronym meaning in real life. The profile is not dated.

Investigators do not yet know why Ramos targeted the school, said Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

We dont see a motive or catalyst right now, he said.

Officers found one of the rifles in Ramos truck, the other in the school, according to the briefing given to lawmakers. Ramos was wearing a tactical vest, but it had no hardened body-armor plates inside, lawmakers were told. He also dropped a backpack containing several magazines full of ammunition near the school entrance.

One of the guns was purchased at a federally licensed dealer in the Uvalde area on May 17, according to state Sen. John Whitmire, who was briefed by investigators. Ramos bought 375 rounds of ammunition the next day, then purchased the second rifle last Friday.

On Tuesday morning, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at her home, then left. Neighbors called police when she staggered outside and they saw she had been shot in the face, Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine said.

Ramos then crashed his truck through a railing on the school grounds, and an Uvalde school district officer exchanged fire with him and was wounded, Considine said. Ramos went inside and exchanged more gunfire with two arriving Uvalde police officers, who were still outside, Considine said. Those officers were also wounded.

UPDATE: 9:40 a.m.

The 18-year-old gunman who slaughtered 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school barricaded himself inside a single classroom and began shooting anyone that was in his way, authorities said Wednesday in detailing the latest mass killing to rock the U.S.

Law enforcement officers eventually broke into the classroom and killed the gunman, who used an AR-style rifle. Police and others responding to Tuesdays attack also went around breaking windows at the school to enable students and teachers to escape, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety said on NBCs Today show.

Olivarez told CNN that all of the victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary.

The killer "barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom, he said. "It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.

Investigators did not immediately disclose a motive but identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio. In chilling posts on social media in the days and hours before the massacre, an account that appeared to belong to Ramos seemed to hint at plans for violence.

Ramos legally bought two AR-style rifles just days before the attack, soon after his 18th birthday, state senators briefed by law enforcement said.

The attack in the predominantly Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

The bloodshed was the latest in a seemingly unending string of mass killings at churches, schools, stores and other sites in the United States. Just 10 days earlier, 10 Black people were shot to death in a racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.

In a somber address to the nation hours after the attack in Texas, President Joe Biden pleaded for new gun restrictions.

As a nation we have to ask: When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in Gods name are we going to do what has to be done? he asked. Why are we willing to live with this carnage?"

But the prospects for any reform of the nations gun regulations appeared dim. Repeated attempts over the years to expand background checks and enact other curbs have run into Republican opposition in Congress.

Days before the attack, an Instagram account investigators say apparently belonged to Ramos posted a photo of a hand holding an ammunition magazine. On the day Ramos bought his second weapon last week, the account carried a photo of two AR-style rifles.

In that post, Ramos apparently tagged another Instagram user, one with more than 10,000 followers, asking her to share the picture with her followers.

I barely know you and u tag me in a picture with some guns, replied the Instagram user, who has since removed her profile. Its just scary.

On the morning of the attack, the account linked to the gunman replied: Im about to.

Instagram confirmed to The Associated Press that it is working with law enforcement to review the account but declined to answer questions about the postings.

Officers found one of the rifles in Ramos truck, the other in the school, according to the briefing given to lawmakers. Ramos was wearing a tactical vest, but it had no hardened body-armor plates inside, lawmakers were told. He also dropped a backpack containing several magazines full of ammunition near the school entrance.

One of the guns was purchased at a federally licensed dealer in the Uvalde area on May 17, according to state Sen. John Whitmire. Ramos bought 375 rounds of ammunition the next day, then purchased the second rifle last Friday.

On Tuesday morning, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother, then fled the scene, crashing his truck near the school and entering the building, authorities said. Inside the barricaded classroom, he "just began shooting anyone that was in his way," Olivarez said.

Dillon Silva, whose nephew was in a nearby classroom, said students were watching the Disney movie Moana when they heard several loud pops and a bullet shattered a window. Moments later, their teacher saw the attacker stride past the door.

Oh, my God, he has a gun! the teacher shouted twice, according to Silva. The teacher didnt even have time to lock the door, he said.

A tactical team forced its way into the classroom where the attacker was holed up and was met with gunfire from Ramos but shot and killed him, according to Olivarez.

In the aftermath, families in Uvalde waited hours for word on their children. At the town civic center where some gathered Tuesday night, the silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wails. No! Please, no! one man yelled as he embraced another man. On Wednesday morning, volunteers were seen arriving with Bibles and therapy dogs.

Staff members in scrubs and devastated victims relatives could be seen weeping as they left Uvalde Memorial Hospital, where many of the children were taken. Three children and an adult were being treated at a San Antonio hospital, where two of them  a 66-year-old woman and 10-year-old girl  were listed in serious condition.

Law enforcement officers investigating the bloodshed began serving search warrants and gathering telephone and other records. They also sought to contact Ramos relatives and trace the guns.

Uvalde, home to about 16,000 people, is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the Mexican border. Robb Elementary, which has nearly 600 students in second, third and fourth grades, is a single-story brick structure in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.

The attack came as the school was counting down to the last days of the school year with a series of themed days. Tuesday was to be Footloose and Fancy, with students wearing nice outfits.

Condolences poured in from leaders around the world. Pope Francis said it is time to say "'enough to the indiscriminate trade of weapons! Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his nation also knows the pain of losing innocent young lives.

Texas, which has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the nation, has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years.

In 2018, a gunman killed 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area. A year before that, a gunman shot more than two dozen people to death during a Sunday service in the small town of Sutherland Springs. In 2019, a gunman at a Walmart in El Paso killed 23 people in a racist attack targeting Hispanics.

The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston. Gov. Greg. Abbott and both of Texas U.S. senators, all of them Republicans, were among the scheduled speakers at a forum Friday.

ORIGINAL: 9 a.m.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has joined a global chorus of grief following the shooting deaths of 19 children at a small-town elementary school in Texas.

Trudeau says all of Canada is grieving the tragedy, which unfolded Tuesday afternoon in Uvalde, Tex., a community of 16,000 just west of San Antonio.

In the U.S., however, which is reeling from a recent string of mass shootings, grief has already given way to unbridled rage.

Tuesday's shooting, which also claimed the lives of two adults, comes less than two weeks after a gunman killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y.

And it echoes the 10-year-old Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newtown, Penn., which killed 20 children and six adults  a tragedy that failed to spur meaningful gun control efforts in the U.S.

The Texas horror is sure to dominate Senate proceedings, where President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is set to testify at committee.

"The students, the parents, the teachers, the entire community  they've had their lives changed forever by this unimaginable event," a sombre Trudeau said Tuesday in Vancouver.

"All of Canada grieves with our American friends on this terrible, terrible day."

Biden himself addressed the nation from the White House just hours after the shooting in an emotional and anger-tinged speech he said he'd hoped to never have to give.

"I am sick and tired of it," the president said. "We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage."
Photo: The Canadian Press

Federal Justice Minister David Lametti says his government will join a legal challenge to Quebec's religious symbols law if it reaches the Supreme Court.

Lametti told reporters in Montreal today that the challenge will be a federal issue once it is before the high court.

Both the Quebec government and groups opposing the law are appealing an April 2021 Quebec Superior Court decision that upheld most of the law, while striking down provisions that related to English-language school boards and a ban on members of the provincial legislature wearing face coverings.

The case is currently before the Quebec Court of Appeal, the province's highest court.

The law, commonly known as Bill 21, bans public sector workers who are deemed to be in positions of authority  including teachers, judges and police officers  from wearing religious symbols on the job.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in December that he opposes the law and that his government had not ruled out participating in a legal challenge.

"When it arrives at the Supreme Court of Canada, it is by definition a national issue, and we will be there," Lametti said.
Photo: The Canadian Press

British Columbia has extended the deadline to apply for recovery help for farmers hit by last fall's devastating floods.

A statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food says farmers whose lands were damaged during torrential rains in November 2021 that caused washouts and flooding now have until Aug. 31 to apply for assistance.

The previous application deadline for the federally and provincially funded program was June 1.

The Canada-BC Flood Recovery for Food Security Program aids farmers who lost livestock and crops by offsetting the costs of returning to production.

It provides reimbursement of uninsured expenses for everything from cleanup of lands, barns, water and waste systems to renting temporary production facilities, replacing some perennial plants and paying vets or mortality disposal crews.

The statement says processing of claims will continue after the deadline and farmers can continue submitting documents outlining their expenses after the program closes at the end of August.
Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change, attends a session themed "Safeguarding Our Planet and People" at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos, Switzerland, May 24, 2022.

The WEF Annual Meeting 2022 is held here from May 22 to 26. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry attends a session themed "Safeguarding Our Planet and People" at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos, Switzerland, May 24, 2022.

The WEF Annual Meeting 2022 is held here from May 22 to 26. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
Photo: The Canadian Press Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety, speaks during an announcement regarding the Government of Canadas ongoing efforts to protect Canadians from the threat of gun violence during a press conference in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Several women's groups are imploring the federal Liberals to abandon the idea of creating a new regime for an endangered person to seek a court order to remove firearms from a stalker or abuser.

They say the so-called red flag provision, proposed in a bill that did not pass last year, would lead to more tragic deaths by downloading responsibility for gun-law enforcement to potential victims.

The plea comes in a letter to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and Women and Gender Equality Minister Marci Ien as the government prepares new gun-control legislation.

The May 16 letter is signed by Tiffany Butler, executive director of the National Association of Women and the Law, on behalf of representatives of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, YWCA Toronto, the Canadian Women's Foundation, and Women's Shelter Canada, among others.

"Firearms increase the likelihood that domestic violence will end in death," it says. "Firearms increase the number of victims: children are often also killed and injured and, in 50 per cent of the cases of domestic violence involving firearms, the perpetrator commits suicide."

The women's groups object to a provision in last year's federal gun bill  which expired upon the general election call  that proposed to create a new regime for emergency prohibition orders. Under the regime, anyone would be able to apply to a provincial court judge to prohibit another person from possessing a gun for 30 days on safety grounds.

Instead, the women's groups support efforts to use existing means, as well as additional powers and community education, to identify risks and swiftly remove firearms from people who pose a threat to themselves or others.

"There is no support for downloading or eroding the responsibility of law enforcement and other government officials to implement gun laws," the letter says.

"They are, and must remain, responsible and accountable for ensuring that firearms licences are denied and revoked when there are potential risks to women. Citizens or other organizations, much less potential victims, should not be expected to put themselves at risk by going to court to request action that should be immediate and within the direct responsibility of police."

It is widely recognized that women are in greatest danger during and after separation, and shifting the onus of enforcement to women and third parties "is a guaranteed route to increased fatality," the groups say.

The letter cites a number of shootings in which people were aware of patterns of threats and violence against women. "In some cases, police were in fact notified, but no action was taken."

The groups call on the government to promote use of the existing "red flag" mechanisms in the system, such as the Firearms Incident Police system, and ensure they are used as intended. In particular, they say officials should:

 ensure those flags are raised by a broad range of offences and behaviours;

 encourage community members, health care professionals and others to report red flags; and

 ensure immediate and effective action is taken in response to such red flag reports.

The letter urges the government to focus on training, more rigorous screening, better enforcement, and accountability of police and other government officials responsible for safeguarding the security of women and other potential victims of gun violence.

The offices of Mendicino and Ien had no immediate comment Wednesday.

In a recent mandate letter issued to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, Mendicino said victims of intimate partner violence deserve protection.

He asked Lucki to work with chief firearms officers across Canada so that they respond without delay to calls from Canadians who have safety concerns about anyone who has access to firearms, and to work with police of jurisdiction to remove firearms quickly as needed.

Lucki was also directed to provide awareness and training on the importance of recording incidents involving dangerous behaviour and firearms. "This work will also involve implementing new procedures and educational tools in close partnership with community groups, women's shelters and organizations, academia and more."

The coming firearm legislation is expected to address several distinct issues. The Liberals have promised a mandatory buyback of banned guns they consider assault-style firearms, a crackdown on high-capacity firearm magazines and new efforts to combat gun smuggling.

The planned buyback would make it mandatory for owners of a wide variety of banned firearms to either sell them back to the government or have them rendered inoperable at federal expense. The list includes the Ruger Mini-14 used in the 1989 shooting at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, where 14 women were killed.

The buyback plan has won applause from gun-control advocates but criticism from some firearm owners and Conservative MPs who say it unfairly focuses on legitimate gun users.

The Liberals have also pledged to work with any province or territory that wants to ban handguns.

The women's groups and many other organizations pushing for stronger gun laws advocate a truly national ban on handguns.

The letter to Mendicino and Ien says the federal government should not hand off regulation of firearms, including handguns, to the provinces or municipalities. "In order to ensure effective gun control in Canada, your government must proactively exercise the full extent of its powers in this area."
Photo: Ecojustice A projection on Equinor's Stavanger, Norway, headquarters protests the company's plans to drill for oil in Bay du Nord project, 500 km off Newfoundland and Labrador.

Despite promises to reduce emissions, eight of the world's largest oil and gas producers are moving ahead on over 200 new fossil fuel projects over the next three years, a new report has found.

The resulting emissions, according to the "Big Oil Reality Check" study published Tuesday, would add 8.6 gigatonnes to the world's carbon budget  equivalent to one-quarter of global emissions in 2020.

Among the projects set to proceed are dozens of so-called "carbon bombs"  mega-projects that in Canada include the Cold Lake oil sands project and the Bay du Nord plan to drill deep into the ocean floor off Newfoundland and Labrador, according to David Tong, author of the report and a researcher with Oil Change International.

Together, Tong estimates forecasted production from those two projects alone could add up to 210 megatonnes of carbon equivalent emissions. In a country like Poland, which has roughly the same population as Canada, that's on par with roughly half of all emissions produced in a year.

"Our analysis shows that all eight of these companies' climate pledges and plans are grossly insufficient," wrote Tong.

A recent investigation by U.K. newspaper The Guardian came to similar conclusions: "Canada and Australia are among the countries with the biggest expansion plans and the highest number of carbon bombs."

At the same time, independent research shared with the British paper indicated Canada, along with the United States and Australia, "also give some of the world's biggest subsidies for fossil fuels per capita."

Tong's analysis also relied on data from the Norwegian energy research and business intelligence firm Rystad Energy.

This time honing in on publicly traded companies, he found that of the world's "supermajor" oil and gas companies, ExxonMobil and Chevron had the least effective climate plans.

His report assessed big oil companies' climate pledges based on 10 criteria. Even meeting all 10 metrics does not mean a company would do its part to limit warming to 1.5 Celsius beyond pre-industrial levels, the threshold beyond which scientists say the Earth will face catastrophic consequences.

Those 10 criteria include stopping exploration for oil and gas, stopping approval of new extraction projects and demonstrating a decline in oil and gas production.

Success in any one of the metrics would likely lead to positive spin-offs for the entire planet.

That's because from 1970 to 2010, fossil fuels and industrial processes accounted for roughly 78 per cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions increase, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Over the past decade, the share of emissions from the production and consumption of coal, oil and gas has only increased, rising to roughly 86 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions emitted globally.

In 2021, the International Energy Agency, a longtime policy arm advancing the interests of fossil fuel companies, assessed that no new oil and gas projects could be approved starting in 2022 if the world had a chance to hit net-zero emissions by 2050 and stay below 1.5 C of warming.

But since that landmark report, several new oil and gas "carbon bombs" have received green lights from regulators, including a $12-billion Bay du Nord offshore oil project approved by the Canadian government in April 2022.

Sitting roughly 500 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Equinor ASA project  one of the big eight  is now the subject of a lawsuit after two environmental groups sued to have its approval overturned.

The report also assessed whether each oil and gas company has set explicit goals to phase out oil and gas extraction over the long-term, has ended lobbying and advertisements that obstruct climate solutions and is committing money to help workers transition into other jobs.

"Only three companies expect to drop their production by 2030, and not a single one of those companies anticipates production cuts that are even close to that needed for 1.5 C," wrote Tong in the May 24 report.

"As this analysis shows, none of the oil and gas majors' commitments pass the baseline test to be considered serious climate plans."

Companies deny claims of climate plan failure

Glacier Media reached out to all eight companies analyzed in the report. Only two had returned a request to comment on its findings by publication time.

In a statement, ExxonMobil spokesperson Casey Norton said the company "is committed to meeting the essential needs of modern living, including solutions to address the risks of climate change, and lower emissions."

In the Permian Basin, which extends from West Texas into the U.S. Southwest, Norton said ExxonMobil plans to make its direct operations net-zero by 2030  something that he said will be applied to its operations worldwide by 2050.

"In doing this, we are working to strike the appropriate balance  investing to help society achieve its ambition for a net-zero future while meeting today's need for reliably supplied, affordable energy," he said.

ExxonMobil's net-zero plans do not extend to Scope 3 emissions.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for BP pointed to the company's March 2022 annual net-zero report, where CEO Bernard Looney described BP as "unique among our peers in aiming to be net-zero across operations, production and sales."

Looney added that together, the company's goals are "consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement" to keep temperature rise below 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.

The spokesperson also said the Oil Change International report failed to consider that BP's emission reduction targets don't include the company's share in Rosneft  the Russian oil and gas giant BP is divesting from over its invasion of Ukraine.

As a result, the report misrepresents BP's reduction targets, said the spokesperson, adding that the company has "stopped corporate-reputation advertising."

Canadian companies' among the worst'

Tong told Glacier Media his latest report undercounts the oil and gas expansion his organization is anticipating in Canada.

"We haven't fully accounted for shale expansion in Canada," he said, adding, "The largest share of expansion in Canada is not coming from the companies we've assessed in these reports."

The report comes six months after Tong conducted a similar analysis looking at the ambition, integrity and transition planning of Canada's eight largest oil and gas producers.

In November 2021, the results were even more "abysmal," found the researcher. In nearly every metric, the oil and gas companies' plans were "grossly insufficient."

Only two companies deviated from failing on every metric.

Shell Canada said it expected its oil production to decline between one and two per cent a year until 2030. But while the company has sold off much of its stake in the Alberta tar sands, it also plans to ramp up investments in natural gas extraction, which could ultimately offset its oil divestment, noted Tong's Canadian analysis.

At a global level, Oil Change International's latest report states that transitioning to natural gas as a so-called 'bridge fuel' would ultimately "take the world far beyond safe climate limits."

Suncor Energy, meanwhile, was the only major Canadian-based company with a plan that even referred to Scope 3 emissions, which include greenhouse gases released from directly burning oil and gas as a fuel and using it as feedstock in the production of plastic or fertilizer.

The company's 2050 net-zero target, however, doesn't count those sources, "even though they account for 80 per cent of the company's emissions," according to the report.

As Tong put it in November, "this research shows that all eight major Canadian companies studied are amongst the worst worldwide, despite all their rhetoric about net zero."

With the data he has gathered, Tong says Canadian oil and gas producers are on track to expand their operations by 30 per cent by 2030. That, he added, will lead to a 25 per cent increase in their emissions.

His message for Canadians: "There is no such thing as net-zero oil and gas production. When companies or governments say there is, they're hiding something."
On Thursday, 26 May 2022, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors will hold a meeting to discuss the level of the key rate. The press release on the Board of Directors decision will be published at 10:30 Moscow time.

The reference to the Press Service is mandatory if you intend to use this material.
Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and High School and Middle School Principals:

2022 California Student Mock Election: Register Your School Today!

The 2022 California primary and U.S. general election are quickly approaching, and it is once again time to get students involved and excited about civic engagement. The California Secretary of State and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction are partnering to host the 2022 California Student Mock Election on Tuesday, October 11, 2022.

School registration for the 2022 California Student Mock Election opened on April 25, 2022. This important program helps young people discover the importance of elections and the power of their votes in the democratic process. Through your schools involvement, students will discover how government and politics affect their daily lives. Once all the votes are counted, students will be able to compare their votes to those of their peers at schools from across the state.

We strongly encourage you to incorporate this great program into your curriculum. Registration for the 2022 California Student Mock Election can be found on the Secretary of State California Student Mock Election web page at https://studentmockelection.sos.ca.gov/. Here, you are able to register your school and obtain resources for holding a successful mock election. Please note that only one registration is allowed per school. If you and your colleagues would like to participate, please be sure to collaborate and select a Mock Election Coordinator for your school.

Supplies for conducting a well-run student mock election, including Student Voter Information Guides, ballots, posters, I Voted sticker templates, and other materials will be available on the Mock Election web page. Please visit the Secretary of State Tools for Success web page at https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/studentmockelection/tools-success to access the supply kit in electronic format. Schools that register by September 19, 2022, and would like to receive a supply kit in the mail may request one by selecting Paper from the drop-down menu in the Supply Kit Preference section of the registration screen.

In addition to the materials already listed, the 2022 California Student Mock Election web page contains a collection of standards-based lesson plans designed to engage students and share ideas that other schools have used as part of their California Student Mock Election activities.

Another way to get students excited about civic engagement this year is to help students host a voter registration drive for your school. In California, pre-registration is available to eligible sixteen- and seventeen-year-old students. California youth who pre-register to vote will have their registration become active once they turn eighteen. Students can pre-register at the California Secretary of State Online Voter Registration web page at https://registertovote.ca.gov/. To obtain a supply of voter registration cards, please contact our Elections Voter Engagement team at MyVote@sos.ca.gov. For more information about pre-registration and the Secretary of States other youth initiatives, please visit the Secretary of State High School and Youth Initiatives web page at https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/high-school-programs/.

Together, we can inspire a new generation to become more active in the political process. If you have questions about the 2022 California Student Mock Election or other civic engagement opportunities, please contact the Secretary of States Student Mock Election Team at 916-651-3070 or MyVote@sos.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Tony Thurmond

State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D.

California Secretary of State
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MOSCOW, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The United States is actively recruiting members of international terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State (ISIS), as mercenaries to fight in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.

In April this year, about 60 ISIS militants aged 20-25 were released from prisons controlled by the Syrian Kurds with the participation of American intelligence services, the SVR said in a recent statement.

They were "transferred to the U.S. military base Al-Tanf, located in Syria near the border with Jordan and Iraq, for combat training with a view to subsequent delivery to Ukraine," according to the statement.

According to the SVR, the Al-Tanf base and its environs have turned into "a kind of terrorist hub," where up to 500 ISIS members loyal to Washington and other jihadists are being retrained at the same time.

"The above facts once again confirm that the United States is ready to use any means to achieve its geopolitical goals, not excluding sponsoring international terrorist groups," it said. 
Charges against James R. Bennett, former Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for Memorial Hospital, have been dismissed by the Hamilton County Criminal Court upon motion by the state. Judge Tom Greenholtz signed the order of dismissal.

My client, Bob Bennett, lost his job, his license and had to face everything that comes with criminal charges, attorney McCracken Poston said, but we are thankful for a prosecutor who will take new information into consideration.



Attorney Poston said that he revealed his sole defense to the prosecutor, and that a fresh look was taken at the case, resulting in the motion to dismiss the case.

Mr. Bennett, who was working as an EMT on June 13, 2020, answered a call to an East Ridge residence on an illegal substance overdose case - the second such call regarding the same individual in a matter of a few weeks.



The patient was non-responsive, attorney Poston said, and Bob needed to act quickly. He said the video offered by the East Ridge Police to prosecute his client would have been Exhibit A for the Defense.



Attorney Poston said that laypersons do not know about EMT training, particularly regarding painful stimuli that EMTs need to apply to assess the depths of unconsciousness of an overdose patient.

He said these can involve quite painful measures such as a clavicle pinch or a sternal rub.

As we were in the middle of a pandemic, attorney Poston said, getting down next to the face of an unconscious drug abuser was not wise.



Attorney Poston said The video did not reveal anything other than a modified application of the initial assessment painful stimuli of short swift kicks to the mans leg, pointing out that this was a method much safer for the emergency responder.

He blamed "petty professional jealousies" for the charges being brought in the first place. When an EMT enters the room, they should be in charge, and I think some feelings got hurt when he ordered all of the police officers out of the small bedroom.
For a hot minute I thought the gun-totin' 'conceal carry' folks were on to something.

I heard the proposition that if we could all strap on a Ruger that some of these cowardly punks would think twice about shooting up a grocery store or showing up at a school with a gun or threatening the community in which we live. Even heard people clamoring that teachers should be armed. That'll fix it.

That was how many school shootings ago?

Today, over a dozen dead elementary school students in Texas--- where it feels like everyone carries. No 'conceal carry' citizens nearby to do their cowboy thing.

Over a dozen dead children. Again.

Garry Mac

* * *

Garry, this could be one of the worst thought-out stances to invite the gun community to argue your view but I'll be your huckleberry.

Let's start with the latest event- the Texas school shooting where (currently) 14 students and one teacher were killed. Why weren't the "gun-totin', 'conceal carry' folks" you might ask? They were probably at work. If some of those same people happen to be teachers, you might remember most school districts do not allow firearms on the property unless it's a law enforcement officer. Instead of trying to throw shade on legal gun owners, ask "where and what was the security?"

As for New York, a state with some of the strictest gun laws in the country, that should answer your question. These shooters go after soft targets, where the likely hood of resistance is low and the maximum damage can be inflicted. Obtaining a New York pistol license is extremely restrictive so not near as many folks conceal carry as compared to the south.

I personally believe all gun laws are unconstitutional but that's a whole different rabbit hole that folks have varying viewpoints so I digress. Texas and New York have very different gun laws however they both allowed for these scenarios to unfold. I'm sure there were plenty of armed civilians nearby after both situations unfolded. But sometimes bad people do bad things. My prayers go out to everyone affected and to those who feel the guilt of not having been there to make a difference.

Michael Hailey

* * *

We are out here and we are toting, but we obey the law. Thats why the shooters go to places where we cant tote. Almost every mass shooting happens in a gun free zone (or free target zone for the criminal shooters). It is against the law to carry a gun on school property, but of course that doesnt stop the bad guys.

Heres a clue for you, they dont care about the law. Stop trying to use your stale argument about the ones carrying legally.

If you would bother to do even a little research you would learn that legal gun carriers stop between 750,000 and 1.5 million crimes every year and are generally the most law abiding citizens out there. Dont take my word for it though, the FBI and the CDC both have the stats to back it up, if you really care.

Ken Kaylor

* * *

I would like to know from anyone that does not believe in gun control why it is necessary for a private citizen to own a weapon that fires multiple rounds in seconds, with loaded magazines that are also replaced in seconds?

I cannot accept "sporting use" as a reasonable answer, having heard that argument in the past.

But if you do think "sporting use" is a reason, compare the ownership of a weapon firing multiple rounds in seconds for killing to another weapon, an automobile. You will argue that is not an apples to apples comparison. Yes, it is not because we believe an automobile to be a necessity.

Nevertheless, how many automobiles are used as weapons by women running over philandering men or in road rage? Yet an automobile is regulated by licensing the operator, requiring the automobile to be insured for liability, requiring the operator and occupants to use seatbelts, requiring headlights and taillights at night, requiring brake lights, requiring a tag and taxed, and requiring the automobile be manufactured to safety specifications, among other examples.

A weapon that fires multiple rounds in seconds, with loaded magazines that are also replaced in seconds, all for killing, is not a necessity. But if not banned for private citizens, why do people vehemently object to regulation as we do with automobiles? Won't regulation reduce the likelihood of intentional use contrary to the intent of the manufacturer?

Joe Warren

* * *

Gary, some, not all, are likely rushing to stockpile bigger even more deadlier guns.

As an update, and possibly more to come, 19 children were killed and two adults. One was a 4th grade elementary school teacher. There are no reports out yet as to whether the second adult killed is the shooter himself, he was killed by police, or another adult victim. I have family members in Texas, though none in that area, who've been able to keep up to date on the tragedy through more local news coverage.

Michael and Ken, word is the shooter legally purchased the two AR-15 rifles used in Uvalde Texas school the massacre. One, some kind of specialty type, was allegedly purchased online then picked up by the shooter from a local dealer with special license to sell such weapons. The other is said to have been purchased out right from a local dealer. A "good guy" with the guns turned "bad guy" with the guns? Not sure yet. But the guns were legal.

Ken, those numbers you present to show how many crimes have been prevented by "good guys with guns" are most likely exaggerated and padded. Especially so since the the reportings are voluntary and there's no definitive way to determine if they're true or someone's "alternative true" looking to make their case.

Even the "good guys with guns" have been known to turn "bad guys with guns" without indication or notice. No priors isn't a guarantee.

Brenda Washington

* * *

I want to know how an 18-year-old who lived with his grandmother bought Daniel Defense rifles and optics worth over $5,000. I think the gun grabbers are secretly rubbing their hands together in glee.

Dennis Wooden

* * *

Brenda,

Rather than speculate "Ken's numbers" and as you described, "most likely exaggerated and padded"...you should do as he suggested. Research those numbers for yourself, rather than letting your emotions make conjectures that mean nothing. The CDC and FBI can be a good resource for shooting data. Just ask Ken.

As for purchasing a firearm from a federally licensed dealer, if you can pass the government background check, you get the firearm. This bad actor bought two firearms and passed two government background checks.

You mentioned one of the firearms as being "special". There is nothing "special" about either of those firearms in the context of your description. They both have high capacity magazines, both are chambered for 5.56mm, both are semi-automatic and both go bang. The Daniel Defense model is higher quality, has a red dot sight and better furniture, which I think is the "special" you are alluding to. Your emotional description, unnecessarily makes it seem more scarier and deadlier than it already is. Bottom line, both firearms are equally deadly. There is no ''special".

Evil will try to do what evil wants to do, regardless of the roadblocks. One must be on guard.

Phil Snider
The City Council voted Tuesday night to approve an affordable housing project for seniors across from Brainerd Recreation Center.

The $12 million-$15 million project is sponsored by Greater Tucker Missionary Baptist Church on an adjacent three acres on North Moore Road.

A three-story building is to be at the site.

An amendment that was approved by council requires a six-foot berm planted with hollies on the part adjacent to a residential section.

There were seven votes to approve.

Councilwoman Raquetta Dotley said she could not support the project because the Pennrose development firm that is based in Philadelphia is involved.

She said Pennrose "has a history that is just horrible in District 7."
Marjorie Taylor Greene, controversial Georgia House District 14 representative, won Tuesday's Republican primary by a large margin.

In the state Senate District 53 election to replace Jeff Mullis, former state Rep. Colton Moore won over Steve Henry.

Despite there being six candidates on the GOP ballot, Rep. Greene gained almost 70 percent of the vote.

She will face Democrat Marcus Flowers in the general election. He is an Army veteran, contractor and official in the State Department and Department of Defense.

Rep. Greene had 72,096. Her closest competitor was Jennifer Strahan with 17,571.

With three Democrats on the ballot, it was Flowers with over 75 percent of the vote. He had 20,039 votes.

Mr. Moore, who had lost to former Senator Mullis in the last election, won 14,631 to 13,804.

Mr. Moore was a state representative from Dade County from 2018 to 2020. Mr. Henry is a former Catoosa County Commissioner and mayor.

Mr. Henry won by almost 700 votes in his home Catoosa County. However, Mr. Moore took Chattooga, Dade, Floyd and Walker counties.

Senator Mullis held the seat for 22 years before deciding not to seek a new term.
William Lewis, the blacksmith at Chattanooga in its pioneer days, was "a man of great force of character, who had the esteem of the whole community.'' Chattanoogans marveled at how

"Uncle Bill'' Lewis had bought his own way out of slavery and also redeemed many family members. He was among the hundreds of residents of Chattanooga's old West Side.

Lewis was born about 1815 at Winchester on the plantation of a man who had fought in the principal battles of the Revolution and who oversaw the business affairs of James Madison when he was minister to France. This was Col. James Lewis, who was the father of William Lewis - apparently by a black slave woman. James Lewis fought at Brandywine, Trenton, Princeton, White Plains and Germantown, where he was taken prisoner and placed in a dungeon for nine months. At Yorktown, he witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis. While living in Albemarle County, he was a contractor, a land appraiser and the proprietor of the Stone Tavern. He was the agent for James Monroe. Col. Lewis was granted several thousand acres in the future Tennessee for his war service, and he built a fine brick house in 1808 at the section that became Franklin County. He also had the area's first race track. James Lewis was a friend of Andrew Jackson, and he often visited at the Hermitage. Jackson presented Lewis a walking cane on which was mounted a deer horn.

William Lewis grew up on the Lewis farm and went swimming in the river with a neighbor, Peter Turney. For a time he was the personal attendant for the future Tennessee governor. While yet a slave, he was allowed to move to Chattanooga and begin working off his freedom with his blacksmithing skills. He soon became a popular member of the community, and he made the clapper for the bell at the first church house. He attended the Methodist church at a time when whites and blacks worshiped together there.

William Lewis was married at Chattanooga in the early 1840s to a slave named Jane. She was apparently part black and part Cherokee. The enterprising blacksmith, with his Market Street shop, proceeded to buy from his father, Col. Lewis, his liberty for $1,000. He bought his wife's freedom at the same price after 10 white men went security on her bond. Later, he bought his young son, Eldridge G. Lewis, for $400, his mother and aunt for $150 each, two brothers for $1,000 each, and his sister for $400.

An observer said that after Williams Lewis redeemed all his family he "paid for his house and laid up a large amount of money besides. Such a man is a genuine hero. He was not able to do business in his own name, under the black laws, and was obliged to pay a white man largely to legalize his transactions. When he saw that the ruin of the Confederacy was inevitable, he purchased tobacco with his disposable funds, and, storing it, was able to sell at a handsome profit. He has since lived with the esteem of all men, and presents an example of triumphing over difficulties seldom equaled.'' Another acquaintance termed William Lewis "a rugged man of much intelligence. He voted independent, often Democrat.''

William Lewis listed a worth of $1,500 in 1850 and this had grown to $7,000 by 1860. He was able to pay William Crutchfield $2,000 for a lot at Seventh and Market just before the start of the war.

In addition to the son, Eldridge G., his other children were Marion Isabel, Hugh N., Mary M., Jennie S., Willianna, Elizabeth M., James T., Hickman B. and Sueda D.

During the early part of the Civil War, William Lewis sent over lettuce to the Andrews Raiders in their dark hole at Swaim's Jail on Lookout Street. The Lewis family then lived in a large two-story frame house near the jail. One of his workmen was called into the dungeon to rivet a pair of heavy iron fetters around the ankles of James Andrews just before he was hanged. After Federal soldiers took over the town, the Lewis blacksmith shop was seized and some Lewis family members were sent to Ohio. William Lewis then had a large supply of tobacco, which he moved to the storehouse of T.K. Wornacut. Lewis was then selling tobacco at $3 a pound or $1 a plug. Hugh Lewis enlisted in May of 1864 in a regiment of U.S. Colored Troops. He died of a fever in a hospital in Wilmington, N.C., the following year.

By the time of the war, William Lewis, due to a hernia, was no longer able to do the heavy work

at his shop. However, he hired a crew and oversaw their labors. It was a familiar sight to see him "sitting in his splint-bottom chair with his sturdy staff between his knees directing his workmen.'' His fortunes had declined to $300 by 1870. His wife later filed a pension request, stating that her husband was afflicted with rheumatism and they needed the government allotment.

The Lewis family lived in the College Hill section at 125 Burch St. This was at the corner of Gillespie St. (11th Street).

In 1879 in the Chattanooga Commercial, there was an advertisement for "W.T. Lewis, the old reliable blacksmith, corner Market and Ninth, horseshoeing a specialty.'' Apparently, he moved his blacksmith shop several times over the years, and the last one was on Cherry at the intersection with Georgia Avenue. Family members said his anvil that he had used since the Ross's Landing days was given to a family in Hixson. The Lewis family prized the invitation

they received in 1892 to the wedding of Booker T. Washington.

William Lewis and his wife could not read and write, but they urged their children to get a good education. Three of the daughters were sent north to be educated. The eldest daughter, Marion Isabel, went away to Oberlin College, graduating in 1865. She married attorney John H. Cook, and they resided at Washington, D.C. John Cook taught at Howard University and was dean of the law school. After his death, she married Dr. James Howard. Marion Isabel Lewis Cook

Howard taught for many years in the industrial department of Howard University.

Mary Lewis married Larkin Fralix, a house mover at Chattanooga. Willianna Lewis married Edward Taylor, who in 1900 was operating a saloon here. Eldridge Lewis long worked with his father in his blacksmith shop. He and his wife, Mary, had no children. James Lewis did some blacksmithing and worked at other jobs. His wife was Kate. Hickman Lewis, who married schoolteacher Mary Symington, was a mail carrier. His children were William, Charles and Leo. Jennie Lewis, who married a Cook, moved away. They had a son Oscar Cook. Sueda Lewis was a teacher in Washington, D.C., and Chattanooga. Elizabeth Lewis was unmarried and occupied the old homeplace at 125 Burch St. for many years. Mary Lewis and her husband, Larkin Fralix, previously lived there.

A historical marker was erected at Seventh and Market at the site of one of William Lewis' blacksmith shops.
An employee at Walgreens, 110 N Market St., asked police to trespass a homeless man who had been taking a bath using the store bathroom. Police spoke with the man and informed him that store employees requested that he not come back, and that he is being trespassed for the previously mentioned reason.

* * *

A man at an apartment on Mountain Creek Road told police he observed a man cut a catalytic converter from a neighbor's vehicle and take off on a black mountain bike. The theft occurred around 8:26 a.m. He described the man as a tall (possibly 5'10"-6'), slender white male, with a dark jacket (possibly vinyl or fake leather), dark pants (possibly blue jeans) and a dark ball cap. Police spoke with the neighbor and observed her vehicle (2004 Honda CRV) had damage underneath, with the catalytic converter having been cut out. Police searched the area, but nothing further was located.

* * *



Police were called to 1031 E. Martin Luther King Blvd. in reference to an open door, possible homeless people inside of a vacant house. Police spoke to the property owner via cell phone, who said she did not wish to pursue prosecution should anyone be found inside, but did wish to have them criminally trespassed. Police cleared the building and found it to be unoccupied. Police

observed the front door of the address to be open due to forced entry. The owner said she also owns another vacant house next door and wished for police to check it was well. Police observed the front door of that house to be unlocked and unable to properly secure. Police attempted to clear the building, but due to the front staircase being blocked/barricaded with old clothes, boxes, etc., police could not enter. Police gave several verbal commands while at the foot of the stairs and there did not appear to be anyone inside. Police placed both addresses on the Watch List for the next three nights. The woman was asked to call back about the matter at any time. Due to the influx of homelessness in the vicinity, this is an ongoing problem near the downtown area with vacant buildings/houses.

* * *

A man on Walker Avenue told police that his brother's rental car was stolen from in front of his house. He said the vehicle was left unlocked and the keys were still in it. The 2021 Silver Chevy Malibu (TN tag) is owned by Enterprise Rental and has been entered into NCIC. It was later found that this vehicle was wrecked and abandoned at 980 N. Orchard Knob Ave. The vehicle has been removed from NCIC and Enterprise Rental has been notified.

* * *

Police were checking on an alarm at Scenic City Air, 6135 Airways Blvd., and found a man and woman who were loading up old scrap metal into a trailer. The man told police that the owner of the company allows this twice per week. Police could not make contact with the responsible, but have the video and couple's information on file in case a complaint is made.

* * *

A man told police that while he was at Bud's Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Road, sometime between 10-11:30 p.m. his wallet was stolen. Inside his wallet was $700 cash, misc. ID cards and misc. credit/debit cards. There is no suspect information.

* * *

A man told police that he was walking out of Publix on Snow Hill Road when a red Lincoln with an older white male driver blew the horn at him. He said the driver of the Lincoln then revved up the engine and drove forward and hit him with the vehicle. The man said that he did not need any medical attention and that he just wanted officers to look in the area for the driver and see if he was okay to drive. The man thought that he was able to remember the registration information for the Lincoln, but the information did not come back to any vehicle.

* * *

A woman told police that while she was at the Enterprise Nature Park, 190 Still Hollow Loop, between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. someone entered her vehicle and stole her credit/debit

cards and $20 cash from her wallet.

* * *

A woman on Ocoee Street told police that she and her daughter were having a verbal disagreement and she wanted her daughter to leave the residence. The woman said she owned the residence and the daughter was not on the deed and did not pay any bills. The daughter packed her belongings and police watched her leave without incident.

* * *

Police observed a pair of vagrants loitering in the 5200 block of Austin Road. The woman, who police recognized, became furious when police asked the man accompanying her for his information. She said police were violating his rights by asking for his information. Police informed her that they were not violating his rights by acquiring information he was willingly giving out.

* * *

A man on Montview Drive who had earlier reported his car stolen called police to report that his car was returned to his home, but his daughter, who stole the car, was not on scene. The vehicle was removed from NCIC.

* * *

A woman on Hughes Avenue told police that sometime overnight someone used a blunt object to strike the side of her 2017 Chevy Sonic multiple times, leaving multiple dents and marks.

* * *

A woman at Orange Grove, 517 Arlington Ave., told police someone stole a catalytic converter off of one of their vehicles. She said the vehicle was a Ford F-250 pickup. There is no suspect information.

* * *

A man on Shallowford Village Drive told police that he had some illegal charges on his

two credit cards. One of the charges was for $170.87 on his Chase personal card at Volcano and the others were at Texas Roadhouse on Shallowford Road using his Chase business credit card for $96.48 and $29.78. The transactions/charges are for orders that were made at these two locations and he has not spoken to anyone from either place about this incident. He still has his cards, so he said someone must be using his card numbers. Also, he's not sure if the transactions were done online or in person and he does not have times, just dates. He said he has no proof of who is doing this, but he suspects its related to a moving company that helped move his belongings recently. Also, he said he has some Cash App charges and he has a made a report with his local PD in Red Bank.

* * *



The manager of Harbor Freight, 4860 Hixson Pike, told police that sometime over the weekend someone attempted to make entry into the store via the back door. The manager showed police where someone used a crow bar and damaged the rear door. He said that the person did not gain entry into the store, however they will have to replace the large door. He said that the store does have video in the rear of the building, but he has not found anything on camera yet.

* * *

A woman on Windsor Street reported that sometime overnight someone entered her unlocked vehicle and stole her purse ($400) containing her IDs and credit/debit cards.
Power pitching, and a two-homer day from fourth-year player Ashlyn Holland, sent Chattanooga State to the second round of the NJCAA tournament.





Chattanooga State's softball Tigers dispatched Southern Idaho on Tuesday 5-0. This result from Yuma was in large part thanks to another dominant start from right-handed flamethrower Sam Ryan (21-3), who went the distance and allowed only three hits and two walks.





Holland roughed her up first when she belted a second inning solo shot over the right field wall. After a few cleaner innings, the Tigers got her again in the fifth. The Tigers faced Brooke Merrill (20-5), who by no means pitched poorly, but was just not quite as sharp.Holland roughed her up first when she belted a second inning solo shot over the right field wall. After a few cleaner innings, the Tigers got her again in the fifth.





In a play that involved all three of Chatt State's fastest players, centerfielder Reagan Hartley dumped a single into that score Mia Apple and advanced Camryn Cernuto to second.





That 2-0 score didn't last for long. In the sixth, Holland went to her pull side and launched another solo homer over the wall, this time to her left, and gave Chatt State a 3-0 lead.





Marquilla Howell may have been in the nine-spot, but her two-RBI double a few batters later scored Amber and Jade Gainer to complete run-getting. The Tigers will play Florida SouthWestern State at 5:00 EST on Wednesday.




Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, residents across the Tri-Cities region will once again enjoy summer recreation activities at Boone Dam.

After seven years and two million hours of dam remediation work, TVA and the community are celebrating the re-opening of the historic recreation area. The agency hosted an event on Wednesday to offer the public a glimpse into the work that was completed.

Boone Lake is a local treasure, and I want to thank everyone for their patience as we completed the important dam safety work, TVA Chief Operating Officer Don Moul said. The recreation area provides the community with opportunities for summer fun  and the improvements we made will enhance the experience for our neighbors.

In 2014, TVA discovered seepage below the dam and immediately lowered the lakes water level to ensure public safety. Remediation work started in 2015.

The $326 million project involved construction of a composite seepage barrier created in several phases  which included the highly visible, two-year, round-the-clock construction of an underground cutoff wall. Following completion of the underground work, TVA restored the crest of the dam to its previous elevation and constructed a floodwall. Paving and fencing, along with site restoration, round out the project.

Mr. Moul said the project is a major geotechnical engineering feat.

TVA has delivered on its promise to the Tri-Cities region, he said. At the onset of this project, we made a commitment that we would complete this effort safely within seven years and we would do it right the first time with a high-quality repair. We are here today to celebrate that accomplishment and to turn over Boone Dam back to the public.

TVA was founded to serve the region with reliable, low-cost energy, protect and enhance the environment and drive economic development and growth. This was a clear topic of discussion during Wednesdays celebration event.

The Boone Dam project exemplifies all three aspects of TVAs mission of service, Jeff Lyash, TVA president and chief executive officer shared. Environmental stewardship by providing a beautiful recreational area for families to picnic, swim and relax this summer; economic development with a lake that helps communities in the Tri-Cities region prosper from fishing tournaments to boating activities and much more; and electricity that is clean, reliable and generated right here at the Boone Dam hydropower facility.

Energy generation from Boone Unit 1, which was shut down during construction, will return to normal operations this summer.

Lake lovers will be glad to know Boone Lake is once again able to fill to its normal seasonal levels. The lake began gaining volume in late February and will eventually rise to its normal peak level of 1,382 feet. A lack of rainfall, which is in Mother Natures hands, is the only factor that could impact projected levels.

At the ceremony, TVA recognized three partner groups: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Association, Boone Lake Association and Boone Dam Repair Coalition. TWRA partnered by planting grasses and shrubs, creating nurseries for fish, and stocking the lake with F1 largemouth bass. TVA worked closely with its neighbors in the Boone Lake Association and Boone Dam Repair Coalition on community outreach efforts throughout the project. Together, they reached more than 25,000 people at various events.

For more information on the Boone Dam Project, including the latest photos and videos, visit https://www.tva.com/Newsroom/Boone-Dam-Project.
MOSCOW, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Russia said on Wednesday that it is closely monitoring hostile activities of Japan and reserves the right to strengthen its defense capability in response.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova made the remarks in a statement commenting on Japan's so-called protest against the joint strategic air patrol by Chinese and Russian air forces on Tuesday.

Cooperation between the Russian and Chinese militaries is an important part of the bilateral ties, and the regular joint air patrols have demonstrated the high level of mutual trust and interaction between the two armed forces, she said.

These patrols were held in strict accordance with the norms of international law and fully met the objectives of strengthening peace, stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region and in the world as a whole, she added.

Zakharova criticized Tokyo for clinging to these already traditional training events, distorting their goals and content, and wrongly linking them with Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

The diplomat dismissed Japan's so-called protest as "groundless and absurd."

Zakharova stressed that the Japanese government is accelerating the build-up of military-political cooperation with the United States and non-regional outsiders from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and conducting joint military exercises of unprecedented scale near the Russian borders.

Japan is seeking to connect to the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) trilateral security partnership, studying the prospects for deploying U.S. medium- and shorter-range missiles on its territory, and taking other provocative actions that pose a serious challenge and potential threat to Russia's security in the Far East, she added. 
Hamilton County School Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson decried the tragic violence at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex.

He said, We are heartbroken over the horrific events at Robb Elementary School in Texas on Tuesday. It is unconscionable that parents who sent their children off to school yesterday morning will never have another opportunity to hold them because of this despicable act. Our hearts go out to the families of the students and staff who were victims of the senseless act of violence, as well as the entire community that is dealing with trauma caused by the tragedy.

Education is a foundational right in our democracy, one that is intended to allow our children to thrive and experience a bright future. Unfortunately, the violence in our nation continues to impact schools. Our community and nation must do more to protect the lives of students and teachers who deserve a warm and safe learning environment.

In times like these, I am reminded that change does not happen without intentional and deliberate collaboration between elected officials, law enforcement, school leaders, and community members. As a school system, we will continue to use our resources and our voice to be a part of community wide solutions to protect our children.
The Chattanooga State Foundation added Julie Cook Davis, Leslie Gower, Marcus Jones and Tiffanie Robinson to its 16-member board of directors that also includes Dr. Edna Varner, Rowena Belcher, Stephanie Crowe, Joe Ferguson, C. Duffy Franck, Jr., John F. Germ, Wade Hinton, Larry Parks, Dr. Maricela Rodriguez, Keith Sanford, Britt Tabor and Tom White.



Ms. Davis is a partner for the Round Table Advisors of Raymond James and senior financial advisor, RJFS, serving as the teams insurance specialist. She possesses over 32 years of experience in the industry working with each facet of wealth management, including life and long-term care insurance. Ms. Davis is the immediate past president of the Chattanooga State Alumni Association board of directors. In addition to being a Chattanooga State alum, her mother and daughter are also Chattanooga State alums. Ms. Davis currently serves as assistant vice-chair on the board of directors for the Chattanooga Womens Leadership Institute, where she has been an active member for six years and has served in many leadership roles, including Membership Committee chair, Finance Committee chair, treasurer, and most recently IMPACT Event 2021 co-chair.

Ms. Gower is the CEO of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of East Tennessee. She started her career as a public relations director with an association in Detroit. For many years she worked for association management firms representing a variety of industries. Then for 17 years she worked with an economic development agency focused on rebuilding downtown Memphis. "When the opportunity to run AGC of East Tennessee came along, it represented a special blend of her experience with association work and with the people building our communities," officials said. Ms. Gower serves as STEM Council chair for one of four Hamilton County Future Ready Institutes industry career clusters. She is also a member of the Rotary Club of Chattanooga.



Mr. Jones owns and leads Magnolia Developments, LLC Commercial and Residential Construction Division. He brings more than 15 years of experience, including management of industrial projects and luxury residential sectors. He previously worked in the utility industry for TVA in Chattanooga, TN and AREVA in Charlotte, NC. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and is a certified project manager professional, member of the Sigma Pi Phi (Boule) and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He volunteers for the local Habitat for Humanity, joining their board in 2017, and most recently served as the board chair through June 2022. He is an alum of the Chambers Leadership Chattanooga program.



Ms. Robinson serves as the president/CEO of Lamp Post Properties and the chief executive and principal broker for SVN | Second Story Real Estate Management, an off shoot of Lamp Post Properties. She is also the elected District 4 Hamilton County School Board member and co-founder of The Jump Fund. The first in her family to go to college, she is an alum of Lee University, where she earned a theater scholarship and graduated with a degree in communications.



We are grateful to have four new dynamic leaders joining a stellar group of dedicated board members, stated Nancy Patterson, vice president, College Advancement & Public Relations. Our Chattanooga State Foundation board of directors help ensure that we foster a loyal philanthropic community in support of the mission of the college.


The Tennessee Board of Regents on Wednesday appointed the next presidents of Cleveland State Community College and Tennessee College of Applied Technology Elizabethton, and the systems next vice chancellor of business and finance  all who will succeed officials who are retiring this summer.

In a special called meeting this afternoon, the Board appointed:

- Dr.

Ty A. Stone as next president of Cleveland State. She will succeed Dr. Bill Seymour, who is retiring after leading the college for 8 years and more than 43 years in higher education. Dr. Stone has been president of Jefferson Community College in Watertown, N.Y., since 2017 and previously served in the leadership of Sinclair Community College in Dayton Ohio, from 2010 to 2017, including vice president for strategic initiatives and vice president for business operations.

- Dr. David J. Hicks as next president of TCAT Elizabethton. He will succeed President Dean Blevins, who is retiring after 13 years of leading the college and 35 years in career and technical education. Dr. Hicks has been superintendent of Bremen City Schools in Bremen, Ga., since 2010 and was previously superintendent of Hart County Schools in Georgia from 2007 to 2010.

- Alisha Fox as TBR Vice Chancellor of Business and Finance. She will succeed Danny Gibbs, who is retiring after five years as the systems chief financial officer and 39 years of service to the state and the College System of Tennessee. She has been vice president of finance and chief operations officer at Cleveland State Community College since 2018. She earlier served as the colleges interim vice president and assistant vice president of finance and operations, director of fiscal services, and director of purchasing and contracts.

All three were recommended to the Board by TBR Chancellor Flora W. Tydings, following months-long searches led by search advisory committees which selected and announced multiple finalists for each position.

For the two presidencies, each search committee included members of the Board of Regents, representatives of the colleges faculty, staff, students and alumni, and community and business representatives from their regions. Public forums with the finalists were held on the two main campuses. Afterward, the chancellor further interviewed the finalists and reviewed public and campus input in making her recommendations, which were announced earlier this month.

We are thrilled to have each of these three join our system, Chancellor Tydings said. The new presidents appointed today will have big shoes to fill but Im confident that Dr. Hicks and Dr. Stone will lead their campuses toward even greater student success and with a focus on serving their communities. And Dr. Fox has the knowledge and experience to be a great chief financial officer for our system. The search committee members could not have done a better job.

Regent Miles Burdine chaired the search committee for the TCAT Elizabethton presidency, Regent Thomas White chaired the Cleveland State search committee, and Regent Greg Duckett chaired the vice chancellor search committee.

Board Vice Chair Emily Reynolds thanked all search committee members for their diligence and work. This is always one of our most important responsibilities and we take it very seriously.

Board members unanimously approved each of the appointments.

Dr. Stone said, I am deeply honored to be confirmed by the Board of Regents as the next president of Cleveland State Community College. I am excited to join the community and am looking forward to supporting and advancing the educational priorities of the state of Tennessee and working toward the success of our students. I was moved by the commitment and engagement of everyone who served on the search committee, and it validated for me that Cleveland State is a very special place.

TCAT Elizabethton has an excellent track record of preparing and placing students in productive and thriving job opportunities, Dr. Hicks said. Working together, I'm confident we will build on that success. I look forward to immersing myself into the important work of preparing our students. Collectively, we will continue and seek ways to ever improve upon the role we play in developing a well skilled workforce that enhances economic development for Northeast Tennessee communities. I am thankful to Chancellor Tydings and the Board of Regents for this opportunity, and I'm ready to get to work."

Said Fox: Im really excited to get to work to serve you all, our 13 community colleges and the colleges of applied technology. Its an honor and I cant wait to get started.

Stone earned a Doctor of Philosophy in organization and management at Capella University, a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in organizational strategy at Trinity University, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Washington Adventist University. She is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and twice was named to the City & State New York Higher Education Power 100 list of higher education leaders, public officials and philanthropists in New York State. Her complete resume and more information about the search process are available on the TBR website at https://www.tbr.edu/hr/ executivesearches/president- cleveland-state-community- college .

Hicks earned a Doctor of Education degree and a Masters degree, both in educational leadership, from Valdosta State University, and a Bachelor of Science in history/secondary education at Georgia Southwestern State University. He began his education career as a high school social studies teacher, and worked as an assistant principal and principal in Georgia public schools. His complete resume and other information about the search are posted on the TBR website at: https://www.tbr.edu/hr/ executivesearches/president- tcat-elizabethton .

Dr. Fox joined Cleveland State in 2014 after nearly 17 years in the campus bookstore industry. She has completed the academic work toward and will be awarded her Doctor of Public Administration degree from Valdosta State University in August, where she has also earned a Master of Public Administration. She received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, and a Graduate Certificate in Community College Leadership at East Tennessee State University.
The Austin Hatcher Foundation has expanded their team, adding Shayna Ryan and Rachel Youngblood to their staff and promoting Emily Osborne.

Ms. Ryan has joined the foundation staff as the new marketing coordinator. As marketing coordinator, Ms. Ryan will support the foundations efforts through community engagement, traffic engagement and marketing initiatives. She graduated from Lee University this past May with a B.S in digital media journalism and a B.S. in public relations. She minored in business administration and media writing.

I am thrilled to begin my post-collegiate career and grow with a foundation that serves families in such a beautiful way, said Ms. Ryan. Not only am I excited to add my marketing and social media skills to the already dynamic team here, but I am also looking forward to serving the children that come through here and helping this incredible foundation expand.

Ms. Youngblood has joined the foundation staff as the new patient navigator. As patient navigator, Ms. Youngblood will greet families as they enter the foundations Education Advancement Center, conduct purposeful play and interact with patients. She will also help monitor and organize the foundations electronic medical records system and schedules visits for patients. Ms. Youngblood received both her bachelor's in psychology and master's in social work from UTC. Ms. Youngblood has a background in healthcare administration and organizational development, and she is now pursuing her license in clinical social work.

"When my husband and I decided to settle in our hometown of Chattanooga, I felt an innate desire to serve the community my family has called home for many generations, said Ms. Youngblood. The Austin Hatcher Foundation made that dream a reality. It is truly a magical place. I'm forever grateful for this opportunity and look forward to learning and growing in such an inspirational environment."

As Ms. Youngblood joins the team, previous patient navigator, Emily Osborne, has been promoted to executive assistant.

As executive assistant, Ms. Osborne will work closely with the foundations president and CEO to manage schedules and appointments, create proposals and reports, and support partnership efforts. Ms. Osborne is currently studying at Middle Tennessee State University to obtain a Masters of Business Administration with a focus in healthcare management.

I am so excited to continue my career here at the Austin Hatcher Foundation, said Ms. Osborne. I am grateful for the opportunities Ive been given and for the chance to grow within the organization. This place has truly become my family and has shown me what it is like to love your occupation.

To learn more about the Austin Hatcher Foundation staff, visit www.HatcherFoundation.org/staff.
The Tennessee General Assembly has honored the late State Rep. Mike Carter as part of the Transportation Omnibus Bill.

House Bill 1654 (SB 1668) included the naming of a bridge on Interstate 75 that spans State Route 2/U.S. Highway 64 in Ooltewah after the former state representative from Hamilton County who lost his battle with cancer in May 2021. The bill was signed by Governor Bill Lee on May 9, and is effective as Public Chapter 1009.



We know Rep.

Carter was a dedicated, highly respected public servant, attorney, judge and state representative for House District 29, said bill sponsor State Rep. Dan Howell, R-Cleveland. He did a lot for Tennessee and left his imprint on this body.

An amendment to House Bill 1654 to name the bridge in honor of Rep. Carter was introduced by State Rep. Greg Vital, R-Harrison, who won a special election last year to fill the vacancy left by the late state representative.



Mike Carters commitment to Hamilton County is immeasurable, said Rep. Greg Vital. As a state representative, judge and community businessman, his life made a difference for many individuals.

Section 33 of the Omnibus Transportation Bill designates a bridge on Interstate 75 spanning State Route 2/U.S. Highway 64 in Hamilton County as the State Representative Mike Carter Memorial Bridge and directs TDOT to erect suitable signs.

In learning of the recognition of her late husband, Joan Carter stated, I am so honored and grateful for this tribute. Mike will always be remembered as an 'Ooltewah boy,' and this is so fitting; he loved this community. On behalf of myself, my sons and especially my grandsons Walter, who adored his grandad, and Freddie, born three months after Mikes passing, I thank all involved in making this happen.



My dad had a sharp legal mind but what made him an effective legislator and a good public servant is that he didnt spend much time worrying about who got the credit for things, said Stephen Carter, son of Mike Carter. When people ask me what would Mike think about this, I always answer honestly, Im not sure. But it means a lot to our family, and Id like to sincerely thank the Tennessee General Assembly and Rep. Greg Vital for the honor.


Apocalypse Now has long been hailed as one of the greatest war movies ever made. Focusing as much on the psychological impact as the physical impact of war, Apocalypse Now was released in 1979 to immediate critical acclaim. Over the years, myths have sprung up around the making of the movie, with fans speculating about everything from the way Marlon Brando got into character as Colonel Kurtz to the challenging filming conditions. One of the most disturbing behind-the-scenes stories involves the alleged use of dead bodies as props.

In this case, truth is stranger than fiction.

Apocalypse Now initially used corpses as props

A scene from Apocalypse Now | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Apocalypse Now was a notoriously difficult movie to make, with Francis Ford Coppola jumping through hoops to get the film produced.

According to the Independent, the legendary director planned for the crew to film on location in the Philippines for 14 weeks. But logistics and weather intervened, and Ford constantly had to grapple with the difficulties of filming under such tense circumstances.

On this date May 19 in 1979. the film Apocalypse Now premiered, at the Cannes Film Festival. #OTD pic.twitter.com/20jRg2prUW  Dr. Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) May 19, 2022

At one point, co-producer Gray Frederickson went to the temple set, which was being used for a big scene involving Kurtz, and found garbage and dead rats strewn everywhere. The Independent notes that Frederickson confronted production designer Dean Tavoularis, who told him the rats were intentional, meant to provide atmosphere.

Frederickson also allegedly learned that dead bodies were being used as props for the film  which the co-producer had previously discounted as an outrageous rumor.

What happened to the Apocalypse Now cast after police learned about the bodies?

The late Dennis Hopper was born #OTD in 1936  here he is pictured in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now: pic.twitter.com/nSz4VlNBeT  StudiocanalUK (@StudiocanalUK) May 17, 2022

Slash Film reports that Frederickson finally saw the dead bodies, a row of corpses used as props hanging from trees and placed strategically around the temple set. Frederickson demanded the bodies be taken away, at which point the local police came to the set to question the crew.

The police detained every cast and crew member and seized their passports, Far Out Magazine reports. Because the bodies were unidentified, the local authorities had to be sure a serial killer wasnt running amok in the Philippines.

Eventually, the truth came out.

They didnt know we hadnt killed these people because the bodies were unidentified. I was pretty damn worried for a few days. But they got to the truth and put the guy in jail, Frederickson said of the grave robber who was also said to have supplied bodies to medical schools.

But the nightmare didnt end there.

Frederickson also said that when soldiers came to take the bodies away, he learned the corpses couldnt be placed in a cemetery because there was no one to pay for the burials, the Independent reports.

I dont know what they did with them, Frederickson said. So for the scenes in the movie, we had extras hanging from trees, not dead bodies.

The 1979 film earned eight Academy Award nominations

Listening to the Apocalypse Now soundtrack and, as usual, getting hypnotized by Martin Sheen's voice.



"Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one." pic.twitter.com/vMrHbor6uh  Ron Marz (@ronmarz) May 10, 2022

Despite the difficult conditions and the terrifying brush with local law enforcement, producers eventually completed Apocalypse Now. It premiered in theaters in 1979 to critical acclaim, eventually earning eight Academy Award nominations.

Today, Apocalypse Now is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made and one of Coppolas finest cinematic achievements. If anything, the stories about the making of the iconic film have only enhanced its complicated legacy.

RELATED: Samuel L. Jacksons Reaction to Losing the Oscar for Pulp Fiction Was Brutally Honest
You know him as a Food Network celebrity chef and all-around food scientist. Alton Browns fun and witty style of cooking won fans over with Good Eats. Hes self-described his style of on-screen cuisine as a mashup between Monty Python and Julia Child. And Brown has cultivated a mass following of fans who literally eat it up.

Good Eats came to an end back in 2011, but Brown since made a monstrous comeback with Good Eats: Reloaded in 2019. Hes been back in the headlines, too, talking about his lovely wife Elizabeth Ingram. Fans are happy for him, of course. But you may wonder how many times Brown has been down the aisle and if he has any kids.

How many times has Alton Brown been married?

Celebrity chef Alton Brown signs cookbooks | David Livingston/Getty Images

Alton Brown has officially been married twice. His first wife, Deanna Brown, was his partner in life from 1994 through 2015. Thats more than two decades of devotion, which can be rare in show business. But as Brown has shared in previous interviews, including one for People back in 2019, the couple just went separate ways.

The pair were together during Browns rise to fame and popularity. But ultimately, he said, The world changed and went on to say, We changed, leading to the split. Brown has since found love again with Ingram, whom he married in 2018.

They first met at a book signing. Brown subsequently hired Ingram for interior design work, as she was well-known for her designs across Atlantas hottest restaurants, as Wide Open Eats shared. One year later, they were engaged. The two wed on a boat in Charleston, South Carolina, and continue living their best lives with their two dogs.

Does Alton Brown have kids?

Happy 18th birthday to my close personal friend (and daughter) Zoey Brown! pic.twitter.com/3HC8D9DEpr  Alton Brown (@altonbrown) December 30, 2017

Alton Brown has one daughter, Zoey Brown, with his first wife, Deanna. Zoey was born in 1999, so shes grown up with a celebrity father. As Amo Mamma points out, Alton and Deanna remained amicable upon their split in co-parenting Zoey. Brown has previously shared how often he and his ex-wife connect to talk about Zoey, saying, We have a great kid in common.

Zoey has not shared the TV spotlight too much with her Food Network titan father during her upbringing, although she has appeared on his show a few times. From what we can tell, Zoey isnt planning on following in her dads culinary footsteps as an adult.

But the two are close, often sharing comments and love on social media over the years. For instance, back in 2019, Zoey posted an adorable tribute to her father, describing him as one of my favorite people. She also went on to admit that being your daughter is a joy and privilege.

What his daughters doing now

Brown is known to have attended the University of Georgia and then the New England Culinary Institute, where he graduated in 1997. Daughter Zoey, however, seems to be taking a different path. She attended Georgetown University a few years ago. According to her Instagram, shes now enrolled in UCLA as a law student, slated for graduation in 2025.

Brown is a lot of things, including one of the countrys most influential TV chefs. Hes solidified his place among the cuisine elite with Food Network shows like Iron Chef America, Feasting on Asphalt, and Good Eats. Brown is also a musician and prolific writer, too, with several cookbooks to his credit.

RELATED: Alton Brown Has Left Food Network, He Appears to Confirm in a Tweet
TL;DR:

Meghan Markles estranged father, Thomas Markle, entered the hospital following a stroke in May 2022.

A royal biographer says Meghan Markle could visit her father in the hospital if shes really a very compassionate person.

Meghan Markle recounted what happened with her father in a 2021 Oprah interview.

Meghan Markle | Samir Hussein/WireImage

A royal biographer has weighed in on whether or not Meghan Markle will visit her estranged father, Thomas Markle, in the hospital after a stroke. The former Hollywood lighting director experienced a stroke in May 2022. Now hes reportedly receiving medical care within driving distance of the Duchess of Sussexs Montecito home. With Meghan and Prince Harrys upcoming trip to the U.K. for Queen Elizabeth IIs Platinum Jubilee drawing nearer, its unclear whether or not Meghan will visit her father. According to the royal author, she will if shes actually as compassionate as she says.

Thomas Markle entered the hospital on May 23 following a stroke

A representative for Markle confirmed to Insider the 77-year-old was hospitalized on May 23, 2022, following a stroke. The representative said Markle traveled by ambulance from Tijuana, Mexico, to Chula Vista, California, where he was admitted to a local hospital after sharing concerns about the possibility of having a stroke with paramedics.

Upon his arrival at the emergency room, Markles representative said he was unable to speak, leaving him to communicate his symptoms in writing.

Samantha Markle, Markles oldest daughter  and Meghans half-sister  spoke to the Daily Mail after the hospitalization. My father is recovering in hospital. We ask for privacy for the family, for his health and wellbeing, she said. He just needs peace and rest. Godspeed. We are praying.

He just needs some rest, she added. Its a travesty how much hes been tortured and how much hes had to go through thanks to my sisters disregard the past few years. That is unforgivable.

Prior to the hospitalization, Markle had a trip to England for the Platinum Jubilee planned.

Royal biographer Tom Bower says Meghan Markle will give her father comfort and reassurance if shes really a very compassionate person

Meghan Markle | Samir Hussein/WireImage

Will Meghan visit her father in the hospital? Tom Bower, who is writing a biography on the Duchess of Sussex, told the Daily Mail its unclear. If we knew what she was going to do, that would be terrific, he said.

However, if shes really very compassionate, like shes said, Bower explained, shed offer her support.

What we do know is that Meghan has always said that shes a very compassionate person, he shared. And if compassion was at all necessary right now, it would mean she would go to her fathers bedside, about two and a half hours drive south of where she lives, and give him some comfort and reassurance.

We wait to see what happens, he added, saying besides the letter Meghan wrote her father, there hasnt been any contact since just before her 2018 royal wedding.

Meghan Markle opened up about the situation with her father in 2021

"'I just need you to tell me. And if you tell me the truth, we can help.' And he wasn't able to do that."  Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, on a conversation she had with her father regarding tabloids #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/XhPwGM0Uvl  CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) March 8, 2021

The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview included major bombshells. In addition to talking about her own experience as a British royal, Meghan discussed her relationship with her father.

Meghan recalled to Oprah, per CBS News, how tabloids descended upon her father and the small town he lived in. Later, prior to her wedding, paparazzi photos of Markle were revealed to be staged. Ultimately, he didnt walk Meghan down the aisle or attend the ceremony. The whole thing brings us to where we are today, Meghan said.

Did it feel like betrayal when you found out your father was working

with the tabloids? Oprah asked. Meghan shared she explained to her father she could go to the institution and ask them to kill the story.



However, in doing so, shed be using up a favor that may prevent protecting her kids in the future. She went on, telling Oprah her father said he wasnt working with tabloids.

So, he basically lied to you, Oprah replied, to which Meghan said his response stuck with her.

When I said we wont be able to protect our own kids one day I said, I just need you to tell me. And if you tell me the truth, we can help, Meghan said, adding he wasnt able to do that.

That for me has really resonated, especially now as a mother, she concluded.

RELATED: Meghan Markle: 5 Photographs of the Duchess of Sussex With Her Mother, Doria Ragland
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When my eldest child was born 17 years ago, there was no Instagram, no WhatsApp, and certainly no TikTok viral trends to mimic. Back then, who would have thought that we would be able to hail a cab, order food or even have a doctor consultation through our phones? All without the need to step out of our homes.





Technology has evolved in such a huge way that we now depend on the digital world to perform a range of tasks every single day. And this has only increased exponentially with the COVID-19 pandemic. We use the Internet and new technologies to work from our homes, learn new skills, watch shows, and keep in touch with the latest news... all with a few taps on our digital devices.





But with technology, there is also a set of new challenges, like digital fatigue, increased risk of online scams, and the pressure to learn new digital skills especially among senior citizens. In addition, not everyone has the same access to these digital opportunities due to one's circumstances.









And this is what the first Digital for Life Festival hopes to achieve - to get every Singaporean to be part of the Digital for Life movement, to hopefully pick up new digital skills and enhance their knowledge.





Organised by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) from 21 to 29 May 2022, the launch event was held at Suntec City Convention Centre last weekend so Ale and I headed down to find out more and hopefully, pick up some new digital knowledge too!









I love how the festival area had three sections to it: Learn (Digital Skills), Explore (Digital Tech) and Play a Part. All three are extremely relevant in today's digital age  to ensure that we have the right skills to participate in the digital future and have our lives enriched by digital, but more importantly, empower others, particularly the digitally vulnerable, to embrace digital for life.





I also liked how each of the three sections had a wide range of activities that catered to different age groups. So whether you are a parent bringing along young children, a youth, a senior or a person with disability, there are programmes that will appeal to you.





Of course, my tween was immediately drawn to the bright and cheery Google Online Safety Park booth.









Through four different game stations, Ale was tasked to learn the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety - all with the help of fun activities!





Like learning to be Internet Strong by setting a strong online password.















Ale also learnt how to be Internet Alert by spotting the fake online.





Sidenote: this game is super fun! I saw plenty of kids and senior citizens giving it a go as well.  Sidenote: this game is super fun! I saw plenty of kids and senior citizens giving it a go as well. 





Of course, being kind applies to both the real and online world so I was glad to see that participants also picked up tips on how to be Internet Kind.



Oh, and remember to collect stamps as you complete the four game stations! That's because you will get a go at the claw machine for a chance to win a prize!



Don't worry if you have missed the lauch event at Suntec Convention Centre. The Digital for Life Festival will be held at Heartbeat@Bedok, L1 Atrium this coming weekend on 28 & 29 May and at Enabling Village on 29 May, along with webinars throughout the week! Oh, and you stand to win $50 GrabFood vouchers if you attend the webinars!

Here are some of the fun activities that you and your family should not miss:

Google Online Safety Park 28 & 29 May 2022 | Heartbeat@Bedok | 10 am - 7 pm | Pre-registration is not required, walk-in to participate





Doom the Gloom Roadshow 28 & 29 May 2022 | Heartbeat@Bedok | 10 am - 7 pm | Pre-registration is required REGISTER HERE

If your kids love LEGO - which kid doesn't? - then they cannot miss the Doom the Gloom Roadshow!



In this interactive experience created by the LEGO Group, kids join Captain Safety and his hero squad to defeat the gloom.



Just what is this 'gloom'? It refers to how we treat each other, or from online meanies and scammers. Through fun interactive videos and mini-games, kids will learn gloom-busting skills and how to better cope with the 'gloom'. Just what is this 'gloom'? It refers to how we treat each other, or from online meanies and scammers. Through fun interactive videos and mini-games, kids will learn gloom-busting skills and how to better cope with the 'gloom'.



UOB x Central Singapore CDC My Digital Bootcamps



If you have kids who love tinkering with tech, then do register them for the FREE UOB x Central Singapore CDC My Digital Bootcamps which are also happening this weekend!



Pick from a Virtual Reality Workshop where kids will learn how to programme, animate, and create their own 3D model in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) spaces, or a Game Design Workshop where kids can learn the fundamentals of game design and create their own racing games. Pre-registration is compulsory. Pick from a Virtual Reality Workshop where kids will learn how to programme, animate, and create their own 3D model in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) spaces, or a Game Design Workshop where kids can learn the fundamentals of game design and create their own racing games. Pre-registration is compulsory.



Virtual Reality (VR) Workshop 29 May 2022 | Enabling Village Classroom 1 & 3 | 10 am  12 pm | Pre-registration is required REGISTER HERE

Game Design Workshop 29 May 2022 | Enabling Village Classroom 1 & 3 | 10 am  12 pm | Pre-registration is required REGISTER HERE



Oh, and PARENTS! There are plenty to learn at the festival too!

TikTok for Good presents: Making a difference with digital platforms 28 May 2022 | Heartbeat@Bedok | 11.30 am - 12.30 pm | Pre-registration is required REGISTER HERE

See TikTok in a different light!

Spend a morning with TikTok wellness creators, Asher and Hidayah, and discover how popular digital platforms can be used as a force for good - in a fun, lighthearted session. They will be sharing their personal stories and how digital platforms like TikTok, Zoom and Discord can be used to make a difference, provide help, and encourage others to seek help.

How to be a Cyber Safe Family 28 & 29 May 2022 | Heartbeat@Bedok, L1 Atrium | 10 am - 11 am | Pre-registration is required REGISTER HERE

Should we control screen time with children? Just how much should we worry about online gaming? What should we do if our kids cant stop dancing on TikTok? Ah, the big questions of modern parenting!

Bring along the kids for this talk because it is recommended for kids aged 8 and up! Filled with interactive challenges and fun activities, parents will learn how to navigate and support their children towards becoming independent online by equipping them with strong cyber knowledge. A child cyber safety expert will help families understand the five core topics of cyber wellness: digital citizenship, passwords and privacy, cyberbullying, phishing, and fake news.



But that's not to say all the activities are geared towards families, kids and youths. There are plenty of programmes available for seniors as well.



Smart Nation Builder 28 & 29 May 2022 | Heartbeat@Bedok (Near the walkway to Blk 216 Bedok Food Centre & Market) | 10 am - 7 pm | Pre-registration is not required, walk-in to participate

Designed as a roving showcase, the Smart Nation Builder is a 12m truck fitted with eight interactive game stations for members of the public to learn about Singapore's Smart Nation initiatives and digital government services such as LifeSG, Parents Gateway app, Healthy365 and the NLB mobile app.



When I was there, I saw some senior citizens using the opportunity to seek help on how to install and use some of the everyday apps on their phones. Very useful indeed!

Association of Information Security Professionals (AiSP) Booth 28 & 29 May 2022 | Heartbeat@Bedok | 10 am - 7 pm



AiSP is an independent cybersecurity association that believes in developing, supporting as well as enhancing industry technical competence and management expertise to promote the integrity, status and interests of Information Security Professionals in Singapore.





So for those who are looking to advance their interests or careers in the field of cybersecurity, they offer certification courses like the fundamentals of cybersecurity. So even if you have very little knowledge of computers and technology, you are welcome to learn too.



If you can't head down to Heartbeat@Bedok this weekend, you can also participate from your home too! Like signing up for these FREE Webinars!

Coding with Roblox (for ages 9 to 14) 27 May 2022 | 3.30 pm - 5.30 pm | Virtual event | Pre-registration is required. REGISTER HERE

Learn to code  the fun way  with Roblox. Using this popular gaming platform, kids will learn coding and make games. Learn the programming language Lua which is widely used in the real world by game developers due to its gentle learning curve and speed of execution. The most exciting part? Kids will use fundamental building blocks of Roblox Studios to create their own obstacle course! Visit HERE for more details.

Tech for Health: How you can enhance your wellbeing with digital apps 27 May 2022 | 2.30pm - 3.30pm | Virtual event | Pre-registration is required REGISTER HERE

We live in an age where a plethora of digital services are helping us to enhance our wellbeing and live better for longer. In this interactive session, discover one such app developed by Prudential Singapore, called Pulse, which is available to all Singapore residents to download for free. Learn how you can use it to conduct a health assessment, check your symptoms, book an online doctor consultation and even monitor your mental health! Vist HERE for more details.

Singapore Police Force Scam Prevention Virtual Talk 28 May 2022 | 10am - 11am | Pre-registration is required SMS/WhatsApp 9654 9607 to sign up.



Best of all, the festival is all FREE to enjoy, and you get to take back lots of festival goodies after this! 

Personally, my greatest takeaway from the festival is that the activities provide a starting point for us parents to have a conversation about digital wellness, digital readiness and digital inclusivity with our kids.



I have to admit - there are some things in the online world that my kids are more in tuned with than me, so the festival provides the perfect stepping stone in equipping all of us - young and old - with the right tips and tools to build a positive cyber space for the whole family, so that we can explore the online world with confidence.

Useful Information

Digital for Life Festival 2022

Venue: Heartbeat@Bedok Dates: 28 & 29 May 2022 Timing: 10am to 7pm Admission: FREE

Venue: Enabling Village Date: 29 May 2022 Timing: 10am to 6pm Admission: FREE

*Webinars now on till 28 May

Website

AiSP is an independent cybersecurity association that believes in developing, supporting as well as enhancing industry technical competence and management expertise to promote the integrity, status and interests of Information Security Professionals in Singapore. If you have kids who love tinkering with tech, then do register them for thewhich are also happening this weekend! In this interactive experience created by the LEGO Group, kids joinand his hero squad to defeat the gloom.

One very important aspect about the online world is to be mindful of the things we share so there is also a station which imparts knowledge on how to be Internet Smart.
STOCKHOLM, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Sweden is continuing its dialogue with Turkey to secure Ankara's support for Stockholm's bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said here on Wednesday.

"Sweden's dialogue with Turkey is ongoing, and I look forward to strengthening the Swedish-Turkish bilateral relations including on peace, security and the fight against terrorism," Andersson told a press conference held jointly with Charles Michel, visiting president of the European Council.

Sweden and Finland simultaneously handed in their official letters of application to join NATO on May 18. Turkey has been the only NATO member to object to these bids, citing the two countries' support to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian branch of PKK.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday demanded a "written agreement" from Finland and Sweden on steps to end their "support for terrorism" if they want to join NATO.

Michel said in his turn that the European Union (EU) looks forward to a "positive resolution to discussions among NATO allies." He reiterated the EU's support for Sweden and Finland's NATO membership bid. 
For over a decade, scientists have attempted to synthesize a new form of carbon called graphyne with limited success. That endeavor is now at an end, though, thanks to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Graphyne has long been of interest to scientists because of its similarities to the wonder material grapheneanother form of carbon that is highly valued by industry whose research was even awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. However, despite decades of work and theorizing, only a few fragments have ever been created before now.

This research, announced last week in Nature Synthesis, fills a longstanding gap in carbon material science, potentially opening brand-new possibilities for electronics, optics and semiconducting material research.

The whole audience, the whole field, is really excited that this long-standing problem, or this imaginary material, is finally getting realized, said Yiming Hu, lead author on the paper and 2022 doctoral graduate in chemistry.

Scientists have long been interested in the construction of new or novel carbon allotropes, or forms of carbon, because of carbons usefulness to industry, as well as its versatility.

There are different ways carbon allotropes can be constructed depending on how sp2, sp3 and sp hybridized carbon (or the different ways carbon atoms can bind to other elements), and their corresponding bonds, are utilized. The most well-known carbon allotropes are graphite (used in tools like pencils and batteries) and diamonds, which are created out of sp2 carbon and sp3 carbon, respectively.

Using traditional chemistry methods, scientists have successfully created various allotropes over the years, including fullerene (whose discovery won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996) and graphene.

However, these methods dont allow for the different types of carbon to be synthesized together in any sort of large capacity, like whats required for graphyne, which has left the theorized materialspeculated to have unique electron conducting, mechanical and optical propertiesto remain that: a theory.

But it was also that need for the nontraditional that led those in the field to reach out to Wei Zhangs lab group.

Zhang, a professor of chemistry at CU Boulder, studies reversible chemistry, which is chemistry that allows bonds to self-correct, allowing for the creation of novel ordered structures, or lattices, such as synthetic DNA-like polymers.

After being approached, Zhang and his lab group decided to give it a try.

Creating graphyne is a really old, long-standing question, but since the synthetic tools were limited, the interest went down, Hu, who was a PhD student in Zhangs lab group, commented. We brought out the problem again and used a new tool to solve an old problem that is really important.

Using a process called alkyne metathesiswhich is an organic reaction that entails the redistribution, or cutting and reforming, of alkyne chemical bonds (a type of hydrocarbon with at least one carbon-carbon triple covalent bond)as well as thermodynamics and kinetic control, the group was able to successfully create what had never been created before: A material that could rival the conductivity of graphene but with control.

Theres a pretty big difference (between graphene and graphyne) but in a good way, said Zhang. This could be the next generation wonder material. Thats why people are very excited.

While the material has been successfully created, the team still wants to look into the particular details of it, including how to create the material on a large scale and how it can be manipulated.

We are really trying to explore this novel material from multiple dimensions, both experimentally and theoretically, from atomic-level to real devices, Zhang said of next steps.

These efforts, in turn, should aid in figuring out how the materials electron-conducting and optical properties can be used for industry applications like lithium-ion batteries.

We hope in the future we can lower the costs and simplify the reaction procedure, and then, hopefully, people can really benefit from our research, said Hu.

For Zhang, this never could have been accomplished without the support of an interdisciplinary team, adding: Without the support from the physics department, without some support from colleagues, this work probably couldnt be done.
An international research team headed by the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Aarhus University and the Science for Life Lab in Uppsala has developed tiny particles that measure the oxygen concentration in their surroundings. In this way, they can track fluid flow and oxygen content at the same time  exciting prospects for many fields of research, from biology to physics.

The surface of a coral is rugged. Its hard skeleton is populated by polyps that stretch their tentacles into the surrounding water to filter out food. But how exactly does the water flow over the coral surface, what eddies and flows develop, and what does this mean for the oxygen supply around the coral and its associated algae? Until now, there was no answer to these questions. Now an international research team around Soeren Ahmerkamp from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Klaus Koren from the Aarhus University in Denmark and Lars Behrendt from the Uppsala University and SciLifeLab in Sweden has developed a method that allows studying the flow and oxygen concentrations simultaneously at very small scales. Now it is possible to see how the corals generate a flow with their cilia, thus increasing oxygen transport.

Accurate and fast as never before

Oxygen and life are inextricably linked, from single cells to whole organisms. Across a few micrometers and within milliseconds, oxygen concentrations can change as a result of flow or organisms' activity. Existing methods typically measure oxygen concentrations and flows separately and, as a result, many correlations between these two parameters could not be detected. Ahmerkamp and his colleagues are now doing this in one fell swoop: They measure oxygen concentrations and flow simultaneously and with previously unattained accuracy and speed. The researchers named their newly developed method sensPIV. PIV is the abbreviation for "Particle Image Velocimetry", an established method for measuring flow with particles. Now the sens is added, the particles sense their chemical surroundings.

The work was a technical challenge. In fiddly detail, the team managed to produce tiny particles with a diameter of less than 1 micrometre, which are soaked in a luminescent dye (for comparison: A human hair has a diameter of about 100 micrometres). This dye glows brighter the less oxygen is present. It was particularly important that the particles react very quickly to changes in oxygen concentrations. We also needed special cameras to accurately record the fluorescence, explains co-author Farooq Moin Jalaluddin from the Max Planck Institute in Bremen. He adds, With the sensPIV-method sensPIV we are able to resolve in rapid and small-scale fluid flows.

Useful in medicine, biology, and much more

The possible applications of sensPIV are manifold. Many organisms interact with oxygen, and thus sensPIV can provide answers to open questions in life sciences. Ahmerkamp and his colleagues used it, for example, not only on corals, but also to take a detailed look at how oxygen flows through sand. Small-scale metabolic processes in microbes, animals and plants can also be studied in this way. Numerous other applications are arising in microfluidics, which examines how liquids behave in the smallest of spaces, and in medicine.

The first idea for this method came up already several years ago. "But it was only achievable through the great international team and our close cooperation that the idea has now turned into a functional and versatile application," says Ahmerkamp. Now the team is excited about the upcoming applications of the method. "The particles are not difficult to produce once you know how," says Klaus Koren. They are also thinking about further developing the method: "We would like to make sensPIV receptive to substances other than oxygen. Klaus is already working on it," adds Lars Behrendt.
On April 21, 2022, the state of Texas executed 78-year-old Carl Buntion, who shot and killed police officer James Irby in 1990.

But Buntion wasnt alone when he died. Beyond the usual prison staff, his spiritual adviser Barbara Laubenthal was also in attendance at his execution. She had come to know Carl as the man he became after serving three decades behind bars.

Later, Laubenthal admits she felt deeply affected by her experience. In a statement on Twitter, the political activist said: After witnessing tonight how a human being was killed in front of our eyes, we are convinced more than ever that the death penalty is inhumane and has no place in a democracy in the 21st century.

Her shock is not uniqueeven among those who support the death penalty. And with a recent Supreme Court decision, this traumatic experience will soon be shared by many other faith leaders across the nation.

Thanks to the March 24, 2022, ruling in Ramirez v. Collier, death row inmates will now have more access to a spiritual adviser of their choosing in their final moments.

As a pastor of 17 years, I have witnessed death firsthand in hospitals and homes. The ministerial calling often requires going into uncomfortable or difficult situations that I will never forget. The moment I read about the religious liberty victory of the Ramirez ruling I was conflicted. What if I was asked to be there?

In 2004, Texas inmate John Henry Ramirez robbed and then stabbed convenience store cashier Pablo Castro 29 times. Texas law has fluctuated regarding access to chaplains, but the Ramirez case was unique in that he requested his pastor maintain physical contact with him as he passed. He won.

The case is widely hailed as a victory for the religious liberty of the condemned. And yet few are talking about the negative effects this case will have on the many faith leaders who will increasingly be called upon in these situations. Experiences like Laubenthals will surely take a psychological toll on an already burdened pastoral profession.

A recent Barna Group study cited the immense stress of the job as the reason 56 percent of pastors considered leaving full-time ministry in the past year. The personal impact of seeing someone executed will greatly add to this stress for those who experience it.

However, this is hardly a new debate.

The historical church has had a long and complicated relationship with capital punishment. The early church was typically against the practice, but views evolved as Christianity became more mainstream in the culture.

Icon of medieval theology Thomas Aquinas famously defended the practice as a biblical response to injustice stating: If any individual becomes a danger to society and if his sin is contagious to others, it is laudable and beneficial to put him to death on behalf of the common good. His statement summarizes most Christian defenses of the practice today.

Modern Christian ethicists continue to debate the issueincluding former Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission leader Russell Moore, who famously defended the practice against Pope Franciss opposition in 2016.

Regardless of their views on the ethics of the practice itself, Christian leaders have been regularly present in the final moments of those about to be executed. And there is no question that the final minutes of ones life is a unique opportunity for appealing to faith.

In some cases, a priest or pastor will invite the condemned to repent, convert, or recant. Others will spend hours in prayer with and for them. Often, these faith figures are entrusted with the inmates final words to be recorded for history or passed on to their loved ones.

Article continues below

With executions generally rare, these few faith leaders with increased access often form an isolated fraternity. It is difficult to find others who share their experiences with whom to discuss potential trauma. In this aspect, they have more in common with the experiences of prison staff, many of whom report never being comfortable with the execution process.

Guards can feel mentally tortured by their participation in executions, both before and after, wrote Dr. Robert T Muller, a trauma treatment specialists and educator who addressed the psychological impact of executions on the executioners themselves.

Complicating matters, human connections are frequently formed between guards and prisoners, he adds. Muller then goes on describe the instances of PTSD reported and treated among prison staff.

These issues raise similar questions regarding faith leaders and the burden of participation. Does being present signal their approval of capital punishment? Most faith leaders do not think so.

I interviewed Pastor Shane Claiborne, who leads non-violent direct action against the death penalty and says he sees a role for faith leaders in even the worst situations.

I have not personally witnessed an execution, but I have been with many people who have, before and after, said Claiborne in response to my question about the Ramirez ruling. I have accompanied many death row prisoners leading up to the execution. I do not believe being present in the execution is a form of endorsement.

He believes that there is a place for pastors in this tragic moment even as he fights to end the practice entirely.

Claibornes experiences echo many others who come to know inmates for more than their offense. And just as prison staff often comment on the relationship built over time with these long-term residents of death row, faith leaders experiences can often go even deeper.

A big part of being a spiritual adviser is building a relationship with their parishioner. They must get to know them to truly care for their soul. The Bible often compares church members to sheep within a flock.

In the death chamber, the shepherd must watch one of their sheep be killed. This experience is traumaticeven if they believe the convicted is executed with just cause.

In 2015, The Week highlighted the psychological impact of witnessing executions. They profiled reporter and spokesperson Michelle Lyons, who spent a decade watching 278 executions. Lyons reported a wearing down over time as she got to know the inmates.

In their survey of San Quentin State Prison employees, many reported anxiety and said they felt estranged or detached from other people. Data published by The American Journal of Psychiatry also showed that witnessing an execution had a strong psychological impact on journalistsand could cause symptoms of dissociative disorder in the weeks following.

These journalists often had no close connection to the condemned and actively tried to remain detached throughout the process. They also had no physical contact with the individual, and yet they still showed the same signs of social detachment afterwards.

This means that without the proper care, spiritual advisers will see an impact in the very area that is most required of their ministry: connecting with people. Ironically, that sense of human connectionwhich causes them pain in watching their parishioner executedis the very thing that could undermine their ability to be effective in that role in the future.

Death already takes a major toll on faith leaders. Where the average layperson deals with the grief of a lost loved one once every few years, the faith leader may walk through this process multiple times in a single month. One of the traits of a good faith leader is to learn how to deeply love all those under ones careincluding the guilty and hard to love. The depression that can come from losing so many of ones parishioners is very real.

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In Mullers article, one prison executioner confessed: You cant tell me I can take the life of people and go home and be normal. Neither can someone go home normal after holding their hand and watching them dieand yet caring for the dying is seen as an integral part of the pastoral calling in all faith traditions.

It is fair to argue that this is what faith leaders agreed to when they signed up for the role. And indeed, they are responsible to be there on the good days and the hard days. In fact, most pastors have been in the presence of the dying many times.

And yet the intentional and calculated nature of a scheduled execution adds a deeper level of ethical confusion.

Faith leaders have witnessed the execution of their parishioners countless times in premodern eras. However, there is an increasing debate about what it means to be pro-life, whether the faith leaders personal views on the act matter, and how rare executions should be. All these factors have been building toward a new cultural moment in light of this 8-1 court decision.

Few pastors who walk into the chamber pro-death penalty will leave it with the same clarity.

As Michelle Lyons, the woman who witnessed 278 executions, acknowledged: There is a difference between supporting the death penalty as a concept and being the person who actually watches its application. This verifies a 1995 study that showed witnessing an execution moved 57 percent of people toward opposition.

John Henry Ramirez himself found reprieve after the case delayed his original execution date in the fall of 2021. The District Attorney of Nueces County Mark Gonzalez withdrew the death warrant citing a personal objection to capital punishment. Ramirez remains on death row, and his sentence could be reinstated if a future officeholder feels differently.

Political activists like Barbara Laubenthal continue to be outspoken voices against capital punishment, just as pastors like Shane Claiborne remain resolute in their efforts to end all executions.

Modern execution policy is almost always decided by people who are not present in the execution room themselves. They send others to represent law enforcement, the courts, and lawmakers. Now another group will be increasingly called to represent God himselfand if their right hand is on the dying, who will hold their left to support them afterwards?

While this is a victory for religious freedom, the aftermath of the Ramirez v. Collier case will forever change the pastors who walk out of the death chamber and back to the pulpit.

As far as answering my own instigating question? Yes. I would be there if asked. The calling is to compassion. It is to care for the hurting and dying. I would go, but I would go counting the cost, knowing that I would never be the same.

Mark Fugitt holds a PhD in Historical Theology and is a pastor and adjunct professor of religion, ethics, and history for Missouri State University and Spurgeon College.

Speaking Out is Christianity Todays guest opinion column and (unlike an editorial) does not necessarily represent the opinion of the publication.
Thousands of churches across Nigeria demanded an end to sectarian killings on Sunday, horrified by the mob assault on a female university student accused of blasphemy. But fearful of more violence, their approach differed significantlyby geography.

The overwhelming majority of our churches in the south participated, many going to the streets in peaceful protest, said Testimony Onifade, senior special assistant to the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Gathering together, we condemned this gruesome act and demanded the government identify, arrest, and prosecute the culprits.

But in the north, where Muslims represent the majority of Nigerians, John Hayab described 20 minutes set aside to pray for divine intervention. The president of CANs Kaduna state chapter lauded the solemn ceremony observed by all northern denominations, amid a ban on protests by local authorities as some Muslims had threatened counterdemonstrations.

Instead, a select group of 120 Christian leaders gathered in a Kaduna city church, guarded by police and security agencies.

There was good reason for caution.

Two weeks ago, in Nigerias northwestern-most state of Sokoto, Deborah Samuel was beaten to death and set on fire by fellow students at Shehu Shagari College of Education. Officials and police intervened in vain.

Two students were arrested. Protesting for their release, Muslim supporters proceeded to destroy an additional 11 buildings, descended on Christian shops in the city, and besieged the palace of the sultan of Sokoto who had condemned the May 12 murder.

According to her friend Rakia, Samuels last words were, What do you hope to achieve with this?

After a colleague shared Islamic material on an exam-prep social media group, Samuel posted an audio recording asking him to remove it. Friends who overheard some Muslim students deeming her response to be blasphemous urged her to retract the statement.

Instead, she responded, Holy Ghost fire. Nothing will happen to me.

Gideon Para-Mallam, the former Jos-based Africa ambassador for the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, joined demonstrations in the middle-belt Plateau state.

He called for peace and restraint. But also, for an explanation.

How is it that our young people behaved in this way? he asked. All those dreams and hopes for the future, destroyed in a few moments of profound evil.

Nigerian Christians circulated the video response of a radical imam with a picture of the slain former leader of Boko Haram in the background.

Anyone who insults the prophet of God, kill him, the imam said. Dont waste time telling the authorities, just kill him.

It has been a bloody year.

Open Doors, which ranks Nigeria No. 7 on its World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is hardest to be a Christian, tallied 896 civilians killed by Islamic extremists in the first three months of 2022.

Abubakar Shekau was confirmed dead last June, killed in a firefight with the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Over 40,000 militants surrendered to the Nigerian government, while a large but unknown number of commanders joined their jihadist rivals.

The same week as Samuels murder, ISWAP released a video depicting the execution of 20 Christians.

Christians around the world should be in awe of the testimony of these men, stated Jo Newhouse, spokesperson for Open Doors in Sub-Saharan Africa, who, to the best of our knowledge, held on to their faith even in the face of execution.

Formed in 2014 to confront ISIS in Syria and Iraq, an 84-nation coalition announced alarm in Africa, where the tempo of affiliate attacks far outpaces the parent organization in the Middle East. The 3,461 sub-Saharan killings in 2021 represent 48 percent of the terrorists worldwide total.

And in mid-April, Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed more than 150 Christian farmers in 10 Plateau state communities. While some attribute the attacks to a shortage of resources, Nigerias information minister Lai Mohamed stated there is now a sort of holy handshake between bandits and Boko Haram.

Last year, Open Doors ranked Nigeria an ignoble No. 1 in the categories of Christians killed (4,650) or abducted (2,510), as well as Christians homes and shops (a symbolic tally of 1,000 each) attacked, for faith-based reasons.

Deborah Samuel put a face on the crisis.

We see this wicked act as having been facilitated by successive governments failing to respond effectively to religious extremism and violence, said Para-Mallam. This impunity has gone on for too long.

He called for the end of jungle justice.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari promptly criticized those who took the law into their own hands, promising an independent investigation. But former vice president and likely 2023 presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar deleted a tweet in which he condemned the killing.

One comment claimed he would lose one million votes in Sokoto.

The original post was shared without his authorization, he said. But while his explanatory statement asserted his ability to take strong stands on issuesincluding sharia lawhe did not comment on the victim.

CANs youth wing vowed to withhold votes from any candidate who does not clearly condemn Samuels murder. The nonreligious Southern and Middle Belt Alliance stated Abubakars insensitivity was not fitting for a president.

Under the auspices of Muslims United for Peace and Justice, 13 groups condemned the killing. Para-Mallam expressed appreciation for such sentiment. Hayab said that in the north, such leaders are few and unpopular.

But one of the 13, Muslim Rights Concern, used the opportunity to call for greater implementation of the blasphemy law, and asked for deep introspection by Nigerias Christian community to ward off intolerance.

It also asked for an investigation into a pastor in the southwest state of Osun, whose remarks in response to Samuels killing allegedly insulted Islam and could plunge the entire region into chaos and religious war, according to the Muslim group.

One government official, while condemning the murder, blamed Samuel herself.

Muslims dont take insults against [our] beloved prophet, said Anas Sani, assistant to the finance minister in Sokoto. May the recklessness of our tongues never drive us to [an] early grave.

While a manhunt for suspects is ongoing, the two students charged so far face only a two-year jail term for conspiracy and inciting public disturbance.

Regarding blasphemy allegations in Nigeria, Mubarak Bala was sentenced to 24 years in prison in April after pleading guilty. In 2020, Omar Farouq received a 10-year sentence, while Yahaya Aminu was sentenced to death.

All three are Muslims, and the Nigeria Supreme Court overturned the latter two convictions. But it has recognized blasphemy as an offense, punishable by death if established by a court of law.

Onifade chided his nations constitution for including sharia law.

The blasphemy agenda is the latest plot to destroy vulnerable Christian minorities, he said, placing it in line with Boko Haram terrorists and Fulani herdsmen extremists. Crafted by Islamists and violent Quran teachers, this conspiracy cannot be ignored by the international community.

Both Muslims and Christians have fled their homes due to extremist violence, stated the United Nations, with 8.4 million in need of humanitarian assistance in Nigerias northwest alone. Half of these face a food crisis.

In response, Hayab called on citizens to arm themselves.

Nigerian Christians, especially those of northern extraction, have no other option than to defend themselvesfrom bandits, terrorists, and now religious fundamentalists, he said, citing previous spurious examples. They will use every opportunity to kill, on the slightest allegation of blasphemy.

Para-Mallam, who has founded an eponymous peace foundation, agreed the law licenses certain weapons in certain situations. He has advocated for communities to protect themselves against aggression.

But all must conform to the teaching of Jesus.

There is a thin line between self-defense and retaliation, he said. Just peacemaking must be emphasized first, to promote co-existence.

The opposite produced a tragedy.

Samuels classmates called out desperately for help. Police fired tear gas into the melee, and then shots into the air. They retreated, witnesses stated, when students threw stones and beat them with sticks.

Which were then turned on the accused.

She pleaded for mercy, but it was far from her, said Rakia, her friend. What a cruel way to die.
KIEV, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned the decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which allows residents of Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to apply for Russian citizenship under a fast-track procedure.

"The decree of the President of Russia is legally null and void and will have no legal consequences," the ministry said in a statement.

The issuance of Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens living in the territories seized by Russia is a "gross violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, norms and principles of international humanitarian law," the statement said.

Putin signed the decree on the simplified passport issuance procedure for the residents of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions earlier in the day. 
Days after a bombshell investigative report, the Southern Baptist Conventions Executive Committee (EC) decided to do what previous leaders refused to for 15 years: release a list of pastors who had been credibly accused of abuse.

Sitting on either side of interim EC president Willie McLaurin during a meeting over Zoom on Tuesday, a new pair of lawyers discussed the ECs initial response. They proposed immediately issuing a statement repudiating the dismissive stance EC leaders had taken toward victims in the past and making public a list of 700 alleged abusers that former leaders kept in secret.

The quick moves contrast with the historic approach captured in the investigative report and in last years meetings, where ascending liability was a common talking point and lawyers defaulted to closed-door session to advise the trustees.

We have become too familiar with using techniques to slow processes down, said SBC president Ed Litton. We need to be very mindful that the world is watching, and they dont need to see business as usual we have to do this right.

The two lawyers from Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLPGene Besen and Scarlett Singleton Nokesbegan as outside legal counsel at the start of the year. They spoke openly in the meeting, with Nokes reflecting on her faith and the need for the fruit of gentleness to drive the ECs work on this issue going forward.

On Twitter, survivor Jennifer Lyell called them the most positive consequential thing to happen in the @sbcexeccomm in the past 20 years.

Its the first time in a generation the EC has been represented by attorneys other than Jim Guenther and Jaime Jordan. They were part of a three-person Nashville firm that worked closely with the Southern Baptist Convention since 1955 but withdrew during the investigation. They had advised the EC against allowing Guidepost Solutions to access material covered under attorney-client privilege.

With their 2021 vote, SBC messengers demanded the EC deal with the awful reality of sexual assault and stop stiff-arming survivors. The two lawyers from Bradley representing the EC have subject-matter expertise and are offering counsel consistent with the mandate of the messengers, said Adam Plant, an Alabama attorney who has followed the saga. But lets be clear, this report exposed deep rot that cant be overcome just by getting different legal advicethat will take systemic change.

Still, the meeting signals what trustees hope will be a turning point for the Southern Baptist body. One of the new lawyers, Besen, referenced changing the direction, and the new interim president, McLaurin, talked about changing the culture. Multiple trustees called it an opportunity to do the right thing.

Besen and Nokes come from Bradley, a national firm based in Birmingham. Nokes served a dozen years as an assistant US Attorney and specializes in Title IX and sexual assault investigations.

The previous attorneys, Guenther, Jordan & Price, had been focused on nonprofit, college, and estate law, with the SBC as a major client over half a century. Guenther was 87 when his firm resigned from representing the EC last year. This week, its websitegpjlaw.comwas made private.

Guenther and Jordan have criticized the Guidepost Solutions report for misunderstanding the role of legal counsel and, they say, mischaracterizing the motives of the EC leaders they worked alongside for decades.

The report repeatedly attacks our firm for advising the Executive Committee and the Southern Baptist Convention regarding the risks which could arise from various courses of action, they said in a statement to Baptist Press.

According to the report, they proposed possibly making a list of abusive pastors public. Guidepost recounts how Jordan had advised former EC leader and general counsel Augie Boto in 2006 that the EC could consider a national list of abusive pastors and that it may be time for policy-makers in the SBC to have the discussion. Guenther too suggested a plan to link a database from the SBC website. Boto quashed efforts to follow up on the suggestions, despite keeping his own list of hundreds of names.

Before his decades-long involvement with the EC, Boto was a Baylor University graduate and a lawyer in Dallas in the 1980s. At that time, he connected with Paige Patterson at First Baptist Church Dallas as the Conservative Resurgence began.

Boto told investigators he continues to oppose the idea of an SBC database for liability reasons. But many SBC leaders, including presidents J. D. Greear and Ed Litton, were frustrated with the liability line.

Repeatedly withholding information that could stop known predators from harming future victims was both a riskier legal strategy and totally opposed to the example of Christ, said Plant, who practices law in Alabama.

The ECs new counsel didnt see potential liability as a reason for continuing to withhold Botos list. They obtained a copy from Guidepost and plan to release it on Thursday.

My advice to this body, to my client the Executive Committee, is that promptly releasing that list is in our best interest. Its important. Its of immediate concern to the public and the survivor community, and were going to do it right away, Besen said.

Releasing the list is a move toward transparency but likely wont expose many alleged abusers for the first time, since it was compiled mainly using news reports. Of the hundreds on the list, Guidepost found that just nine of the pastors are still active in ministry, and just two of those are at SBC churches.

Besen also said the attorneys hope the EC trustees will provide unanimous support at next months annual meeting for the recommendations made by the Sexual Abuse Task Force, which oversaw the Guidepost investation.

At the ECs direction, Guidepost is continuing to accept reports through a hotline (202-864-5578 or SBChotline@guidepostsolutions.com) now through June, when the convention will consider potential long-term solutions to reporting abuse.

Earlier this week, the EC also condemned a 2006 letter from Boto to survivor Christa Brown where he wrote that it would not be positive or fruitful for the EC to work with survivor advocates.

The EC, the statement said, rejects this sentiment in its entirely and seeks to publicly repent for its failure to rectify this position and wholeheartedly listen to survivors.

Brown told CT she was grateful for the statement, as well as other moves being made by the EC and its attorneys, including to consider pulling Botos retirement.

Its been a long time coming, and it is just one very small step, and so much more is needed, she said, but I hope that this may be the start of a new era in how the EC relates to SBC clergy sex abuse survivors.

The SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission was also named in Botos 2006 letter to Brown, and its current president Brent Leatherwood joined in repudiating and rejecting it.

This entity long ago parted with the past advice of Mr. Boto, as we have sought to learn from, serve, and be an advocate for survivors. With what we now know, it is appalling this was ever advanced as legal counsel, he said in remarks to CT. But this is what you get when you view individuals crying out for help as potential plaintiffs, rather than as neighbors who deserve our care and support.

But survivors want more than the apologies theyve received in the past and are awaiting bold changes at the annual meeting if not before. The initial signs, however, are encouraging.

The outcome  is as good as we could have hoped for in this kind of meeting, said Todd Benkert, an Indiana pastor and survivors advocate. He sees need for futher change, but also signs of hope, calling out the statement as an important step and describing the new lawyers as excellent.

Tuesdays EC meeting began as an informational one, but trustees voted to make it a business meeting so they could officially approve the statement presented by the lawyers and stand by the response. Normally there are 86 trustees, who are elected to four-year terms, but the committee is down to 68 members after a wave of resignations over the scope of the Guidepost investigation. Sixty were at the meeting.

Besen, the attorney, has also urged the body to focus on next steps.

The path that led us to this moment was ugly. There was lots of bad judgment and poor leadership that brought us here. But I believe arguing about past votes and replacing trustees would not serve us well. Arguing over privileged materials and whether or not the waiver was proper or not is not the issue we need to face today, he told the trustees. We are here. We have the report. Thats what we need to focus on and how we move forward from here.
5 'gruesome and unethical' abortion clinic practices for disposing of aborted baby body parts

Reports of aborted body parts allegedly being sold for profit or disposed of through improper or illegal means have long raised concerns for pro-lifers about how facilities handle the human remains left behind after each abortion.

During a Wednesday House Judiciary Committee hearing on abortion, Alabama abortionist Dr. Yashica Robinson declined to directly answer a question from Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, about how she discards or stores aborted human remains. Robinson, who said she has performed abortions as late as 20 weeks into a pregnancy, accused Roy of using inflammatory language.

The congressman later inquired about a 2015 Center for Medical Progress video showing a Planned Parenthood executive in Houston discussing the purchase of fetal tissue, a federal felony. Roy also pressed Robinson about reports of abortion facilities storing remains in freezers or Pyrex dishes.

All of those things that you just mentioned, I have never seen that in a healthcare setting, ever. We dont put baby parts in freezers or Pyrex dishes, she said.

Tessa Longbons, senior research associate at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, discussed multiple cases involving abortion facilities violating or stretching the law to dispose of aborted human remains in an emailed statement to The Christian Post on Monday.

The abortion industry operates under see no evil, hear no evil, acknowledge no evil, the pro-life researcher told CP. Yet in the real world, real abortion doctors handle aborted baby body parts in gruesome and unethical ways.

Longbons provided five examples of what she views as alarming disposal and storage practices at abortion clinics nationwide. Read the list on the next page.
San Francisco Mayor Breed refuses to march in city's pride parade over police uniform ban

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, police and other first responders say they will not attend San Francisco's upcoming pride parade because organizers barred LGBT officers from marching in uniform, prompting concerns about solidarity and inclusion at the event.

San Francisco Pride is a nonprofit organization that organizes the annual San Francisco pride celebration and parade at the end of June, which LGBT activists recognize as "pride month."

The June 26 event is reportedly one of the largest LGBT community gatherings in the United States, welcoming nearly 1 million attendees in a typical year.

In a statement released Monday, the San Francisco Police Officers Pride Alliance, along with LGBT members of the San Francisco Sheriff's Office and the San Francisco Fire Department, announced that they will not be marching in the parade unless the San Francisco Pride board reverses its decision "not allow uniformed LGBTQ+ members of police agencies to march in this year's SF Pride celebration."

"[T]he board of SF Pride offered only one option: that the LGBTQ+ peace officers hang up their uniforms, put them back in the closet, and march in civilian attire," the statement reads.

The decision to ban uniformed LGBT police officers from marching in the parade followed the nationwide outrage over the death of unarmed African American George Floyd in police custody in 2020.

The push to ban law enforcement officials from marching in uniform at the parade stems from an incident at the 2019 parade, where a group of demonstrators "peacefully disrupted the Parade for several minutes." San Francisco Pride alleges that "several officers of the San Francisco Police Department unexpectedly and rashly overreacted to the disruption, swarming the area and leading to a larger scuffle."

In a statement published by KGO-TV, Breed revealed she is skipping the parade.

"I love the Pride Parade, and what it means for our LGBTQ community and for our city. It's one of my favorite events of the year. However, if the Pride Board does not reverse its decision, I will join our city public safety departments that are not participating in the Pride Parade," Breed said.

"I've made this very hard decision in order to support those members of the LGBTQ community who serve in uniform, in our Police Department and Sheriff's Department, who have been told they cannot march in uniform, and in support of the members of the Fire Department who are refusing to march out of solidarity with their public safety partners."

The San Franciso Police Department, the San Francisco Mayor's Office and San Francisco Pride did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.

Officer Kathryn Winters of the SFPD Officers Pride Alliance called for San Francisco Pride to "embrace the values of San Francisco, the values of radical inclusion."

"We want to be able to show the members of our community that there are people just like you who put on these uniforms every day and are out there to support, help, and protect you," Winters told KGO-TV.

Suzanne Ford, interim executive director of San Francisco Pride, told the Bay Area Reporter that the organization does want LGBT police officers to march in the parade, just not in uniform.

"This is not a ban; this is merely an invitation to participate with a condition attached," she said.

Ford insisted that law enforcement can wear shirts that identify themselves as police officers but cautioned that uniforms could make people feel unsafe.

The 2022 pride parade marks the first time the event has been held in person since the coronavirus pandemic, making it the first to occur with the new policy in effect.

"Let us be clear: this committee would not order the leather community to wear polyester at the parade," the public safety officials maintained in their joint statement. "But they have told us, peace officers, that if we wear our uniforms, we may not attend. For LGBTQ+ officers, this brings us back to a time when we had to hide at work that we were LGBTQ+. Now they ask us to hide the fact of where we work."
$170M class-action lawsuit against Gospel for Asia refused certification by Canadian judge

A judge rejected a proposed $170 million class-action lawsuit against one of the worlds largest Christian ministries over alleged misappropriation of funds more than three years after the charity paid $37 million to settle a similar class-action lawsuit in the United States.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a motion to certify a lawsuit against Gospel for Asia (GFA World) Canada and a number of its current and former officers and directors.

Plaintiff Greg Zentner of Nova Scotia filed the motion in June 2021, alleging that GFA defrauded thousands of Canadians and churches who collectively donated millions to GFA Canada by diverting those funds to improper purposes.

The motion to certify a class action was denied on March 17 by Justice Peter J. Cavenaugh. GFA announced the dismissal in a press statement earlier this month.

The judge found the plaintiff failed to show some basis in fact for his allegation that the defendants intentionally misappropriated donor funds in a manner that had no connection to any purported charitable purpose.

The judge also found Zentner had not shown some basis in fact that he or other class members suffered a "compensable loss."

"I regard the evidence as supporting Zentners suspicion, based on evidence that is speculative, that GFA Canada misappropriated donors money," the judge wrote in his 29-page ruling obtained by The Christian Post.

"But suspicion, based on speculation, is not enough. The approach that Zentner has taken

on this motion ... is to make serious allegations of fraud and then assert that the evidence tendered by the defendants is not sufficient to prove that donors money was spent in India as they designated, and discovery is needed to uncover the evidence of fraud. This approach reverses the onus. The onus is on Zentner to adduce admissible evidence showing some basis in fact that donated funds were misappropriated."

"The only expert who has undertaken an analysis of how donor funds were used is [GFA Canadas forensic accounting expert Andy] Harrington, and his opinion is that GFA Canada used donor funds in the field as directed, an opinion that is not challenged by other expert evidence," the ruling states.

The ruling comes as GFA has maintained that all funds for the field were sent to their intended destination and used for ministry purposes, he added.

Founded by K.P. Yohannan over 40 years ago, Gospel for Asia was founded to serve the least of these in Asia and Africa, often in places where no one else is serving, so they can experience the love of God for the first time.

GFA reached a $37 million settlement in 2019 in another class-action lawsuit that accused the nonprofit of mishandling hundreds of millions in donations designated to be used in the mission field worldwide. There was no admission of liability by GFA under the settlement.

In the 2015 lawsuit, Yohannan and his associates were accused of racketeering, fraud and financial mismanagement for using donations earmarked for charitable purposes within its mission fields to build personal residences and a headquarters in Texas.

GFA denied the allegation, but the organization was subsequently expelled from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and the National Religious Broadcasters after financial accountability concerns were voiced.

The offices of Yohannans Believers Eastern Church in India were raided by authorities in November 2020 over allegations that the network received foreign donations through associated nongovernmental organizations.

GFA  which is a separate legal entity  later described the actions against Believers Eastern Church as a type of Christian persecution and part of an ongoing smear campaign targeting the ministry.

An affidavit in support of Zentner's lawsuit cites a press release from the Indian Ministry of finance announcing search and seizure operations said to have been carried out as credible information was received that the group received donations from foreign countries ostensibly for helping the poor and destitute and for evangelical purposes, but was actually siphoning out of such tax-exempted funds in cash to engage in unaccounted cash transactions or personal and other illegal expenses in real estate transactions."

However, the court ruled that the press release "does not disclose the source of the information" and is "not admissible evidence showing some basis in fact for Zentners allegation that GFA Canada fraudulently misappropriated donors money."

Preacher and author Francis Chan, who has served as a GFA board member since 2015, has remained a staunch public defender of the organization and Yohannan.

After allegations emerged against GFA in 2015, Chan said he traveled to its Texas headquarters and the mission field in India with a trusted financial expert who is a partner with a large accounting firm. Chan also reviewed tax returns from Yohannan and his son.

After careful research, our conclusion was that there was no money misappropriated and that all funds were channeled to the intended areas, Chan assured in a 2019 statement.
SBC leaders grieved over report finding sexual abuse claims ignored for years to avoid liability

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have said they are grieved after an independent investigation found the denominations leadership mishandled sexual abuse allegations, mistreated victims and advocates, engaged in an abusive pattern of intimidation and repeatedly resisted reforms aimed at making their churches safer largely to avoid liability.

The report from Guidepost Solutions was promised to be delivered ahead of the denominations annual meeting set for Anaheim, California, in June. Released on Sunday, the report alleges that for the last 20 years, the SBC sought to protect the interests of the denomination above alleged sexual abuse victims even as they fielded credible claims of abuse.

These claims include one made against former SBC President Johnny Hunt, who was accused of sexually assaulting another pastors wife while on a beach vacation in Panama City, Florida.

Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a few senior EC leaders, along with outside counsel, largely controlled the ECs response to these reports of abuse. They closely guarded information about abuse allegations and lawsuits, which were not shared with EC Trustees, and were singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC to the exclusion of other considerations, Guidepost Solutions investigators wrote in their 288-page report to the denominations Sexual Abuse Task Force.

In service of this goal, survivors and others who reported abuse were ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action due to its polity regarding church autonomy  even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or warning to their current church or congregation, investigators continued.

Responding to the report Sunday, Rolland Slade, chairman of the SBC EC, and Willie McLaurin, interim president-CEO of the EC, said the commission was reviewing the report and grieving.

To the members of the survivor community, we are grieved by the findings of this investigation. We are committed to doing all we can to prevent future instances of sexual abuse in churches, to improve our response and our care, to remove reporting roadblocks, and to respond to the will of the messengers in Anaheim next month, the commission said in a statement to The Christian Post.

In a separate statement to CP, the Sexual Abuse Task Force of the SBC EC said they, too, were grieving.

We receive this report with open minds and heavy hearts. We grieve for those impacted by abuse, and we are prepared to repent for anything the Credentials Committee inadvertently failed to do to alleviate the suffering of survivors, the group said. We are committed to listening and learning from this extensive report and its recommendations. We look forward to implementing recommendations and strengthening the Credentials Committees work.

The SBC Executive Committee announced on June 11 that Guidepost Solutions would review allegations made by the former leader of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, that SBC leaders intimidated whistleblowers and exonerated churches with credible claims of negligence of sexual abuse victims.

Guidepost Solutions was also commissioned to "review and enhance training provided to SBC Executive Committee staff and its board of trustees" as it relates to sex abuse and the organizations "communications to cooperating churches and congregants in cooperating churches."

The investigation, funded by allocations from the Cooperative Program, covered the period from January 1, 2000, to June 14, 2021, and include a review of actions and decisions of staff and members of the Executive Committee.

The investigation also includes an audit of the procedures and actions taken by the SBC Credentials Committee, tasked in 2019 with evaluating whether a church is in friendly cooperation with the Convention as described in the SBC Constitution, Article III.

Investigators found that the SBC Executive Committees response to sexual abuse allegations over the years was largely driven by senior members of the committee, particularly D. August Augie Boto, who served as EC General Counsel and later Interim EC President, as well as the SBCs long-serving outside counsel, James Guenther, James Jordan and the firm of Guenther, Jordan & Price.

Their status and longevity in the SBC organization  Mr. Guenther had provided legal advice since 1966 and began in 1998 as Vice President for Convention Policy before becoming General Counsel in 2004  enabled them to control decisions about how the SBC EC would deal with the increasing attention on church sexual abuse, investigators noted. Their main concern was avoiding any potential liability for the SBC.

Guenther repeatedly advised EC staff not to request follow-up details on claims of sexual abuse to ensure that the EC did not assume a legal duty to take further action.

While these reports were not shared with EC trustees, investigators found that since 2007, an EC staff member working for Boto has been maintaining a list of accused ministers in Baptist churches, including the ministers name, year reported, and relevant news articles, state and denomination.

Investigators cited a May 2019 email from former EC Vice President Roger Sing Oldham to Ronnie Floyd, the then-EC president, acknowledging that [f]or the past decade, I have been regularly sending Augie news reports of Baptist ministers who are arrested for sexual abuse, for his awareness. It hasn't slowed down since the [Houston] Chronicle articles started on February 10.

Boto also acknowledged that: Yes. We are collecting them, and may even post them in some way, but wed have to really examine the potential liabilities that would stem therefrom.

Investigators noted that the most recent audit of the list shows 703 abusers, with 409 believed to be SBC-affiliated at some point in time. There is no evidence showing that the SBC took any action against these alleged perpetrators.

The report also shows how some EC leaders took steps to protect some of these alleged abusers.

Investigators showed how former SBC President Steve Gaines admitted that, as senior pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church, he had delayed reporting a staff ministers prior sexual abuse of a child out of heartfelt concern and compassion for th[e] minister. He did acknowledge that he should have brought it to the attention of our church leadership immediately.

Another former SBC president, pastor Jack Graham, was accused of allowing an accused abuser of young boys to be dismissed quietly in 1989 when he was pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church. He did not report the abuse to police, and the accused abuser, John Langworthy, was later charged with abusing young boys in Mississippi in 2011.

A spokesperson for Prestonwood Church told The Washington Times that protection of an alleged abuser has never been provided at Prestonwood, and the church categorically denies the characterizations made in this report.

Former SBC Vice President Judge Paul Pressler is reportedly the defendant in a civil sexual abuse lawsuit alleging that he repeatedly sexually abused the plaintiff beginning when the plaintiff was 14 years old. Two other men also accused Judge Pressler of sexual misconduct in separate affidavits.
Pastor Chad Veach officiates wedding of Kourtney Kardashian, Travis Barker

Reality star Kourtney Kardashian and musician Travis Barker were wed in an elaborate ceremony in Italy last weekend. Kardashian commissioned her long-time friend, Pastor Chad Veach, to officiate the special occasion.

The celebrity gathering was all over mainstream media this week. Veach, the lead pastor of Zoe Church in Los Angeles, is front and center in many photos. Veach and his wife, Julia, also joined the family for the wedding reception, as seen in photos and videos posted online by the Kardashian and Barker family.

Kardashian and Barker have said "I do" in three different ceremonies. But their Italian wedding is the first time they invited their family and friends to share the event with them.

The Kardashians are known to reference their Christian faith on their Hulu reality show, "The Kardashians." Still, the wedding was loaded with more Catholic imagery than what is usually seen from the famous family.

Along with a provocative dress that resembled lingerie, the bride was adorned in a sheer fabric Dolce & Gabbana veil with the Virgin Mary embroidered in the center of it. The embroidery was based on one of Barker's skull tattoos, according to Vogue. The headdress also featured the text "Family, Loyalty, Respect."

In a 2015 interview with Vice, the famous drummer from the band Blink-182 explained the meaning behind his religious body art.

"Well, I got the Virgin Mary tattooed on my foreman when I was 18, 19, and I was brought up Catholic," he said. "I definitely pray; I believe in God. I definitely think I was blessed, and I'm here for a reason after being the only survivor of a plane crash."

"I'm not at church every day, and I'm not pushing religion on people, but I believe in God, and I pray and my kids pray," Barker assured.

On the altar of Sunday's wedding ceremony was a statue of Mary holding baby Jesus. The figure was directly behind Veach as he officiated the ceremony.

Kardashian's younger sister, Kylie Jenner, shared an image of the wedding program, which also included a Sacred Heart under "Travis and Kourtney." The Sacred Heart is a symbol of the heart of Jesus as described in well-known Catholic devotions.

Although she uses vulgar language and dresses provocatively, Kardashian has tried to keep a Christian presence in her life.

In a past video interview, the Poosh founder sat down with Chad and Julia Veach to discuss how to teach her children about faith without forcing her beliefs on them.

"How do you teach your kids about religion and what we believe in? You don't want to force your own beliefs on them, but how do you?" Kardashian asked in the video posted on YouTube in 2019.

She told the pastors that her late father, former celebrity lawyer Robert Kardashian, made it a point to raise his children in the Christian faith.

"We grew up always hearing Bible stories. My dad already read us Bible stories, and we would talk about it in the car, we would listen to Bible songs, we went to Sunday school, not every Sunday but a lot," she added. "So I just wonder if there's something you guys do, or that's really important to you, like routines or things that you do with your own family that could be helpful."

Veach, a spiritual leader to celebrities such as Justin and Hailey Bieber and Chris Pratt, said he "grew up with Christian parents who did some of the same things."

"I think with our kids, we are just trying to, even on the drive to school every morning as I'm getting ready to drop off my son, I'm like, 'Alright, I'm going to pray over you and remember, you're a leader in your school and people follow you and I'm going to pray that you are a light on your campus.'"

The pastor said he uses words of affirmation to keep his kids on the right path.

"I think we just try and take regular moments and say, 'We're going to go to bed, but, hey son, is there any friend you want to pray for?'" Veach said.

The Kardashian sister was moved by the idea of asking her kids to pray for their friends. She recalled other moments she had with her siblings and their dad.

"We use to watch these cartoons that were Bible stories," she revealed. "So I know every Bible story, and you remember them growing up."

Julia Veach said that, like many things in culture, "it's more caught than it is taught."

"So yeah, we want to teach things, but a lot of time, the kids are [like] this is what they do, this is who we are," Julia Veach said.

The Kardashians have been spotted at Kanye West's Sunday Service programs in recent years.
More dangerous than atheism? The threatening issue festering inside the church

There's an issue festering inside the American church that many believe is more damaging to faith than atheism, and it's called "apatheism."

Christian Post reporter Ian M. Giatti joins host Billy Hallowell on The Christian Post Podcast: The Inside Story to discuss the term, how the issue is impacting churches, and why it is pervasively dangerous to the faith.

Giatti focuses, in part, on a new Lifeway Research survey finding that 75% of pastors cite "peoples apathy or lack of commitment" as one of the biggest "people dynamics" they find troubling and challenging in ministry.

Listen to Giatti break down the inside story on what's going on and why it matters (and subscribe to the podcast):

The Christian Post Podcast: The Inside Story takes you behind the headlines of the biggest faith, culture, and political headlines of the week. In 15 minutes or less, Christian Post staff writers and editors will help you navigate and understand whats driving each story, the issues at play  and why it all matters.

Listen to more Christian podcasts today on the Edifi app  and be sure to subscribe to the Christian Post Podcast on your favorite platforms:
Former Muslim recalls how vision of Jesus led her to Christ when she was suicidal

Living out her early childhood in Tehran, Iran, before moving to the United States at an early age, Nikta and her sister developed somewhat of a "rebellious streak" despite growing up in a "strict" Muslim household.

Nikta (last name omitted due to privacy concerns) told The Christian Post in a recent interview that she did not always feel "love" as a child. Her parents worked hard, but they often argued. After the family moved to California to seek a better education in a free country, Nikta said she tried her first cigarette at the age of 7 and drank alcohol in the eighth grade with the encouragement of her older sister.

A traumatic experience with one of her sister's friends drove her to drink "all the time" as a teenager. She also became interested in new-age ideas and collected crystals after starting to attend high school in California.

During her college years, Nikta began feeling suicidal and anxious, later growing into massive social anxiety, making it difficult to attend college in California. Her mom suggested that she and her sister travel to Iran for the summer so they could reconnect with family, insisting it would make her feel better.

"And I was like, 'Mom, I'm having such bad stomachaches, I really don't want to leave the house,'" Nikta recalled. "'I don't want to go. I really didn't want to go.'"

Although she didn't want to go, it was on this trip that she had a vision of Jesus that ultimately persuaded her to leave the Muslim faith behind and embrace a new faith in Christ, a decision that was costly for her at first.

A vision of Jesus

Despite her objections, Nikta's mother sent her to Iran anyway. She recalled that when she landed, she immediately wanted to go home. But now, Nikta sees that the trip was really part of God's plan for her life.

One night, while lying in her aunt's bedroom, Nikta said she saw a vision of Jesus. He had long, dark hair and a blue robe. She recalled that He was standing inside an old wooden church with stained glass windows.

"And He looked at me, and He communicated to me, 'Follow me,'" she said. "I couldn't audibly hear Him say 'Follow me,' but I know He said that."

Nikta searched for a picture of Jesus on Google. And to her surprise, the image she found was the same as what she had seen in her vision.

"And so I immediately started thinking, 'I have to become a Christian because I just saw Jesus,'" she told CP. "'OK, what is Christianity?'"

She texted her Christian boyfriend, and he offered to take her to church if she wanted to learn more about Jesus when she returned to California.

Nikta informed her Muslim grandfather about her vision and her plan to convert to Christianity. She thought her grandfather would be excited. But instead, he asked why she would leave Islam. Nikta's sister said she was "crazy."

"So it was just my first little taste of how the world does not accept Him like how we think they should," Nikta said.

When she returned to California, Nikta started attending church with her boyfriend. She said she found that the more she prayed, the more the Lord spoke to her. She recalled how everything felt "alive" after getting baptized. Nikta remembered how the God who "sees inside our hearts" filled her thoughts.

"I believe it was a sign that God was taking me into this new life where I could just see into the Spirit," Nikta commented.

Nikta has not returned to Iran since her conversion to Christianity. An Islamic Republic, the Iranian government, is known for persecuting the nation's Christian minority. Open Doors USA, an international Christian persecution watchdog, ranks Iran as the ninth-worst country when it comes to Christian persecution. Christian converts from Islam are most at risk.

Her family responds

Her parents received the baptism certificate in the mail. Nikta recalled her mother telling her that she was not the same daughter she raised and could not support her conversion, making Nikta feel disowned.

When Nikta left the house, she saw a vision of three angels traveling with her. She kept praying to God for comfort. She told her boyfriend what had happened, and he returned to the house with her.

Nikta's parents had been inquiring about her whereabouts.

The former Muslim felt scared, as she had heard stories of Muslim fathers beheading their daughters for becoming Christian. When she entered the house, Nikta said her father started yelling at her, pushed her and stomped on her head.

"And he was saying, 'You're worthless. Who do you think you are? Because you follow Jesus, you think you're so special,'" Nikta recalled.

Nikta ran out of the house and moved in with her boyfriend and his family. The couple married a few years later. They now have a child.

Though he was raised Christian, Nikta's then-boyfriend was not a practicing Christian at the time Nikta had her vision. But he still agreed to take her to church. Once he got there, she said he rededicated his life to Christ.

Nikta eventually restored the relationship with her family, and they even came to her wedding.

"They kept finding ways to reach out to me. I remember God speaking to me the day after the whole abuse happened, and He told me to forgive them," she said.

At first, she only met with her family in public. But over time, Nikta felt comfortable meeting them privately. Leading up to the wedding, her parents still weren't always supportive of her conversion and choice of spouse. But Nikta believes they now accept the "fruit of [her and her husband's] lives."

Nikta graduated college in California. She and her husband left the state a few years after marrying (location omitted due to privacy reasons), where they still attend church.

Sometimes, Nikta's family comes to church with her.

She says her dad is not as "resistant" to Christianity as he was before. Nikta said he is open to her praying for him, but she does not think he has "laid down his life" for Christ yet.

"They may not fully understand, but they don't try to stop me," she said. "And it's just a miracle that my dad's heart has gotten so much softer."

Nikta and other Christians who have left the Islamic faith have been connected through the organization Uncharted Ministries and the website I Found The Truth.

The website is a platform that allows Muslim-background believers to share their testimonies and provides a safe space for Muslims to have their questions about Jesus answered. Uncharted Ministries shares the Christian faith with Jews and Muslims in the Middle East and other uncharted parts of the world. Nikta's testimony will be available to view soon on the website.

Nikta is not the only former Muslim who claims to have seen Jesus in a dream or vision. In 2017, Open Doors USA published the testimony of a Palestinian convert identified as "Ismail" who said that Jesus visited him in a dream.

"I saw a white face and heard a voice: 'Follow Me.' Nothing more. But it was enough. I made the decision to follow Him," he said.

Ismail believes most "Muslims come to the Lord through visions and dreams, not through evangelists."

The late Nabeel Qureshi, a Christian apologist and author who immigrated to the United States from Pakistan and came to Christ after doing a deep analysis of both religions, previously told CP in an interview that dreams are deeply valued in Muslim cultures.

"In Muslim cultures, generally speaking, people don't see themselves as being able to commune with God. Communion is a very Christian concept and the idea that Christ has torn down the veil  in a lot of cultures, the veil is still up," Qureshi said.

"In Islam, for example, people don't expect to have God talk back to them personally, as the Holy Spirit isn't living in them. They ask God for guidance through dreams; that's like the one way that Muslims expect to hear from God."

"There is a hadith, a tradition of something Mohammed said, which says that 'The dreams of the faithful are prophetic,'" he added. "There's another one which says that 'dreams are 1/46th of revelation.' This does go back to Mohammed, as far as traditional Islam is concerned."
3 Kinds of School Shooters: How Parents and Teachers Can Help

Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6 and part 7 of The Christian Post's series on youth and school violence.

Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old who was charged with the premeditated murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February, was troubled.

His attorneys have painted him as "a broken child" who struggled with chronic mental illness and depression. They have also pointed to his chaotic family life which was made worse by the death of his adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, in November 2017.

As many have sought to find an explanation for the conditions that give rise to school shooters, mental health experts agree that family dysfunction is one factor in the tide that leads them to strike like the "perfect storm." But even so, there is not one type of family situation that would lead to the making of a school gunman.

"The dynamics of a school shooter is extremely complex. It's like the meeting of a perfect storm," said Daniel Huerta, vice president of the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family, who is also a licensed clinical social worker.

"It's not necessarily the exact same family pattern where you can say, 'well, these families did this and so they developed and raised a school shooter.' Some of the families are described as just average," he noted.

Three Kinds of School Shooters

Peter Langman is a sought-after expert on the psychology of school shooters. His latest book, School Shooters: Understanding High School, College, and Adult Perpetrators, was published in January 2015. He also wrote Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters.

"First thing I need to say is that there is no one cause of school shootings. In some cases, the families are part of the problem. But even having a dysfunctional family by itself doesn't cause someone to commit mass murder. I think too often people are looking for the one thing that they can blame it on and there's never just one thing," he said in an interview with The Christian Post the day an armed student shot two others at Great Mills High School in Maryland last month.

He explained that there are three types of school shooters:

the psychopathic the psychotic the traumatized

Psychopathic and psychotic school shooters generally come from "more or less stable, middle class, intact families," he said.

Cho Seung-Hui

In Rampage School Shooters: A Typology, Langman classifies Seung-Hui Cho as psychotic.

Cho was 23 in 2007 when he, armed with two semi-automatic pistols, killed 32 people and wounded 17 others on April 16, 2007, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, before killing himself.

Sung Tae and Hyang Im Cho, Cho's parents, according to The Washington Post, worked their way up from a dank basement apartment in Seoul, South Korea, to an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Fairfax County, Virginia. They immigrated when Seung-Hui was just 8 years old and they worked six days a week as dry cleaners to provide the family with a comfortable life. Their son, however, did not adjust well and exhibited signs of mental illness, which they tried and failed to regulate with professional help.

"From a young age, he was markedly anxious in social situations. He spoke little, even within his family. Despite this, he was an intelligent child who behaved well in school. During his years at college, his behavior was notable for negative symptoms of schizophrenia, including poverty of speech and affective flattening," Langman explained.

Along with barely speaking, Cho also showed almost no emotion of any kind.

"When he did speak, he sometimes said things that suggested delusional thinking (Kleinfield, 2007). He talked about having a supermodel from outer space as a girlfriend. Though he initially referred to her as imaginary, on at least one occasion he told his roommate that she was in their dorm room. Whether this was psychotic or an attempt at humor remains unclear," Langman wrote.

Eric Harris

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris, 18, and his friend, Dylan Klebold, killed 13 people and wounded 24 others armed with firearms and knives at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.

Langman classifies Harris as a psychopathic school shooter because of his combination of narcissism, sadism, impression management, delight in deception, and rejection of morality and law.

Despite coming from an "intact, well-functioning family," it wasn't enough to counter his psychopathic tendencies.

"Psychopaths do not recognize laws or morality as constraints on their behavior. Eric wrote repeatedly in his journal about his rejection of traditional values. He stated, 'Morals is just another word,'" Langman noted.

"Elsewhere he wrote, 'There's no such thing as True Good or True evil' (JCSO, 1999, p. 26,010). His refusal to acknowledge morality made it easy for him to violate social norms and laws. Prior to the attack, Eric broke many laws.

"... Eric's disregard for social norms was manifest long before the attack. Eric was grandiose. He wrote 'Ich bin Gott,' which is German for 'I am God,' in his school planner and the yearbooks of his friends."

Evan Ramsey

While the above-mentioned two groups of school shooters might experience divorce in the home, "divorce is not [considered a] severe dysfunction," Langman noted.

School shooters, like Evan Ramsey, who fall in the traumatized category, however, tend to reflect severe patterns of family dysfunction.

In 1997, when he was 16, Ramsey, walked into Bethel Regional High School in Alaska and shot two of his classmates with a 12-gauge shotgun just so he could "get people to leave me alone."

A report compiled by Langman describes Ramsey's family life as "highly unstable." In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News published in February 2017, Ramsey described his childhood as "fairly abusive," one that saw him moving to different foster homes. His mother was a binge drinker, while his first foster father would beat him with a bungee cord.

He also struggled with bullying while at school and said he shared his struggle with his foster mother at the time of the shooting. She had been good to him. He said she told him to "do the mature and adult thing and report all incidents of bullying to the principal."

He did.

When that advice didn't work, Ramsey said: "I decided I needed to do something to stand up for myself. I chose to kill."

"When you get to the families of the traumatized school shooter, that is where you see the profound family impact on children. And when I talk about the traumatized school shooters, I'm looking at several facets of their family history," Langman said. "In perhaps every case of a traumatized school shooter, certainly the vast majority of them, there is at least one parent with a drug or alcohol problem. Sometimes it's both parents."

In unpacking other factors that help create a dysfunctional family environment for school shooters, he pointed to other issues such as domestic violence and sexual abuse.

"There is sometimes domestic violence between the father and the mother. There is emotional and physical abuse of the child. Sometimes there is criminal behavior on the part of one or both parents. Occasionally, it's significant enough that they have served time in jail [though] not always," Langman said.

"There is sometimes sexual abuse of the child [but] not necessarily within the home. It could be within the home [but] sometimes it's outside the home. It could be someone in the neighborhood. It could be someone in the foster home that these kids end up in because their families were dysfunctional. And for some of the families, because there's a lot of dysfunction and fragmentation, the kids are always bouncing from one home to another," he said.

Langman explained that in a study he conducted of 48 school shooters, he classified 24 of them as "secondary school shooters." This means they "committed the attacks in middle school or high school." He found that most of these school shooters came from a traumatized family background.

"Of that 24, the greatest number, 42 percent of them were traumatized, with only 29 percent psychotic and 29 percent psychopathic. So at that level when you're talking about the secondary school shooters, the traumatized in this one study were the most common," Langman pointed out.

In an assessment of 13 cases of college shooters, Langman explained that "none of them were traumatized" and attributed the difference to socioeconomic status.

"Another factor with the traumatized shooter is that any family can have severe dysfunction at any level of the socioeconomic spectrum. However, the traumatized school shooters tend to come from the lower end of the spectrum, financially speaking," he said. "Between the family dysfunction, and the lack of financial resources ... these kids don't end up going to college or their lives are so bad, if they reach a breaking point, they reach it in their teens before they even end up in higher education."

How Parents Can Help

Parents, he said, can help prevent their children from becoming school shooters by educating themselves about mental health issues and getting the right treatment when needed. Paying attention to the warning signs that can give rise to shooters is also important.

"Being educated about the warning signs of school shooters just in case either your children exhibit those warning signs or they come home talking about friends of theirs or kids at school. Then the parents know what to look out for or how to take a comment seriously," Langman noted.

He further pointed out the need for parents to monitor the activities of their children on social media, as sometimes it might be helpful in detecting problems they miss in the home.

"I think the major thing that's different today than when I was going to school is the internet and social media. I think it's a good idea for parents to have some knowledge about the internet and social media and what their kids are doing in these domains," said Langman. "That might also help them catch problems before they get too bad. Not just the potential school shooting but there's all kinds of other things that might allow them to keep their fingers on the pulse of what's happening to their children."

Langman noted that room searches are another tactic parents can pursue if they sense something is amiss with their children.

Huerta of Focus on the Family stressed the importance of also monitoring the kinds of media children are exposed to, especially when a child has a diagnosed mental health issue.

"[As far as] the media and the exposure to tremendously graphic violence, what we're discovering in neuroscience [is] that we have mirror neurons and our brain literally thinks it's in the screen. Even though we know consciously that we're not, our subconscious perceives as if it's participating and it's ... practicing what it's watching," Huerta said. "... Your brain is having this dual type of experience without you facing danger, and so I really believe it desensitizes a person to life  not necessarily to violence but just the respect of life, and that's a fine line."

Huerta also urged parents who have children with mental health issues not to be afraid to get help  even if Christian beliefs make you hesitant to get treatment, particularly when drugs are involved.

"If there is mental illness, if there is a lot of conflict in the home, I would say don't be afraid to get counseling and to dig deep into what is really going on," said Huerta.

"In Christian homes, I think we have to be really intentional about entering difficult conversations with our kids about what it means to be a Christian, what are the beliefs within our homes, why do we believe what we believe. Those aren't threatening conversations. Those are very important. And really grappling with what it means to have faith in something and then modeling that. Do I really live as if God is real?"

Working With Schools

Some schools have mental health and other screening processes designed to help the school community better serve students. Langman urged parents to support these initiatives as sometimes problems can be caught and treated through these assessments. Schools, he said, could also do a better job implementing these screenings.

"I think schools can do more to implement what's called threat assessments. I think schools all over the country have done a good job in training people in lock-down procedures ... but those are things we do in response to a shooting, not to prevent a shooting. The best way to prevent a shooting is for people to know the warning signs and report them and have a team in place within the school to investigate those threats," Langman said.

He further noted that that while news coverage has skewed the perception of the magnitude of school shootings as a problem, school is still perhaps the safest place children can be. He pointed out that children are killed far more often in their own homes and traffic accidents than in school shootings.

For more information on school shooters, visit schoolshooters.info.
Abby Johnson slams claim that sex is just 'a man's need': Wives should be able to enjoy it too

Abby Johnson highlighted the importance of women having pleasurable sex, warning that Christians can sometimes reduce procreation to "a man's need and a woman's duty."

In the May 16 episode of her podcast "Politely Rude," Johnson discussed God's design for marriage and sexual pleasure within the covenant of biblically defined marriage relationships.

The pro-life activist and licensed therapist noted that some married Christian women tend to struggle with sexual pleasure and low libido more than married Christian men, due to more frequent orgasms and more pleasure during sex.

Johnson said Christian husbands can sometimes treat their wives "selfishly," as though it's the wife's "duty" to please the husband because men "need" sex.

"There is a lack of pleasure for women in the bedroom. I know this because I'm friends with a lot of women. And I talked to many women, and women come to me saying, 'You know, I've never had an orgasm in my life. I don't know how to have an orgasm. Talk to me about orgasm,'" said Johnson.

Other times, Johnson said, when women struggle with sexual pleasure, it could be due to "a hormonal problem," such as "prolonged use of birth control" or other medications.

"Depending on what studies you look at, generally, about 20 percent of women are on some sort of antidepressant, some sort of [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors], [which] have sexual side effects. Almost all of them have some sort of sexual side effect, and so we're putting women on SSRIs, and then we're not counseling them on sexual side effects," she said.

Johnson also said that the "over-sexualized culture" might also contribute to the shame that makes Christian women afraid to orgasm during sex with their husbands.

"It makes me wonder if [based on] pornography and pornography culture, if there's any sort of link to women feeling like that's dirty. Like [I wonder if women are saying]: 'Oh, if I have an orgasm, that's filthy, that's dirty. That's like something you see in a porno film?'" Johnson said.

"But it's not. It's beautiful. It's intimate. That's what God meant for a husband and wife to experience together. That's how He created your body."

Guest speaker Francie Winslow, a writer and women's conference speaker whose work focuses on the topic of "intimacy in marriage," joined Johnson for the podcast discussion.

Winslow believes some Christian women struggle with connecting to their bodies due to layers of "shame, confusion [and] silence," and feeling "disembodied" while "fearing" sex.

Winslow said that, in many cases, Christian women struggle with connecting to their bodies as a result of the Church's emphasis on "separating the body from spiritual experience."

"In the Church, we focus so heavily on the spirit and morality, and we've given it such weight that it's been silent on the physicality side and the fact that our bodies are good; they were handcrafted by God," Winslow said.

Winslow added that while she "loves" the idea of purity, she believes that Christian women are often programmed to fear their own bodies due to an over-emphasis on purity culture.

"Our clitoris that has 8,000 nerve endings was God's idea. A man's penis has 4,000 nerve endings. That is evidence in and of itself that this was God's generous gift to incorporate into intimacy. Yes, procreation. Absolutely. But also pleasure and also the grand purpose of 'be fruitful, multiply and take dominion,'" Winslow said.

"Sex is not a chore or duty," she stressed. She encouraged Christians to twist that perspective around and "try and seek God's Genesis dream."

"[God] handcrafted our sexuality and called it 'good.' And so I think because of church history, having such an unfortunate, long track record of separating the body from the spirit, it's been so much silence. And then, I think you add on to that the sexual revolution and then just blatant, painful immorality, we're just afraid of it," Winslow added.

"And so we don't want anything to do with that. And we've made it so [much] about morals that we've also just kind of overlooked in the process, 'What does it look like to be connected to my body?' [Christian women tend to think], 'I'm so afraid of doing something bad. I'm completely disembodied at this point.'"

At the start of the podcast, Johnson said she was inspired to focus on sex in marriage after reading an article from Focus on the Family about how to resolve mismatched libido.

She posted a comment to the article in response, which received thousands of likes and hundreds of replies. According to her, dozens of women messaged her privately to tell her that they, too, are struggling with their sex drive and libido in their marriages.

"One of the most common things I hear from women is, 'I don't like having sex. It is a chore for me.' And I say, 'Oh well, do you orgasm?' [And they say], 'No, never.' And I tell them, 'It would not feel like a chore if you had pleasurable sex.' So that is one of the things that I feel like is women are struggling within their marriages," she said.

"Why do guys always want to have sex? Because they always receive pleasure from it. It's always pleasurable for men. If it wasn't pleasurable for them. They wouldn't want to do it all the time. Right? If sex was always pleasurable for a woman, then she would always want to do it. The women I know who have high sex drives have consistent orgasms."

Johnson advised Christian women struggling with sexual pleasure to talk with their husbands and encourage them to "switch things up" in the bedroom. Sexual intimacy should be about both partners, not just one, she emphasized.

"Sex should never just be something that you do. It should never just be a habit or something that you just sort of knock out once a week," Johnson posited.

"It should be something that is enjoyable for both people. And sex should be something that's experienced by both people in a couple.  It should be something that's enjoyable. And that's really the way that God intended it."
MANILA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) "may find relatively few supports" in some Southeast Asian countries and may "have fewer takers in the region," as it risks fomenting divisions among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a Philippine political analyst has warned.

Launched Monday by U.S. President Joe Biden, the so-called IPEF is believed to be part of its "Indo-Pacific Strategy" and focuses on "four pillars" -- trade, supply chains, clean energy and infrastructure, as well as tax and anti-corruption.

ASEAN countries will have an ambivalent outlook about the economic initiative as some ASEAN countries are "concerned and suspicious" that the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" is nothing more than "a narrower, security-centric effort" of the United States to counter China, the region's leading trading partner, said Anna Malindog-Uy, a researcher of Philippine-BRICS Strategic Studies.

With the ultimate goal of countering China's growing and latent economic influence in the Asia-Pacific region, the IPEF is aimed at securing U.S. survival as a global hegemon and dominant power, the expert added, pointing out that the United States has been constantly hyping up its "Indo-Pacific Strategy" in a bid to create division, instability and confrontation in the Asia-Pacific region.

She also mentioned that ASEAN countries like the Philippines have to figure out a way forward without sacrificing peace and stability. "ASEAN member states must be consistent and steadfast in upholding ASEAN centrality in matters such as regional security architecture and regional order," the expert stressed.

She noted that ASEAN needs collective security through a combination of multilateralism and bilateralism by championing ASEAN centrality, while pursuing win-win solutions to regional problems and challenges.

"The best option for ASEAN countries like the Philippines is strict neutrality and pursuance of an independent foreign policy," Malindog-Uy said. 
Atlanta pastor stabbed, set on fire by man she was ministering to at his home

A metro Atlanta church is mourning the loss of a pastor killed by a man she was reportedly trying to help.

The body of Marita Harrell, 57, was discovered last Wednesday when law enforcement responded to a homicide call near the 1600 block of Coffee Road, according to the DeKalb County Police Department.

Officers found Harrell dead at the scene.

The following day, police arrested 27-year-old Christopher Griggs, according to reports.

Investigators told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Griggs stabbed Harrell while she was ministering to him at his home.

According to warrants cited by a local CBS affiliate, Griggs stabbed Harrell with a large kitchen knife and set her on fire in his Atlanta home. Police say Griggs then left Harrell's body on the side of the road, where it was later discovered.

A search of the Dekalb County inmate database found Griggs was previously jailed for domestic violence and other charges.

Harrell served as the senior pastor at Connections at Metropolitan church, according to her bio on the church's website.

A statement from Connections at Metropolitan in response to Harrell's death reads: "On behalf of the congregation we would like to thank everyone for the outpour of love, support and prayers. All of your kind words are very much appreciated during this time. Your continued prayers are appreciated!"

The church described itself as a "multi-cultural, multi-generational, body of believers, connected to its community through partnerships, programs, and ministries that connect people to Christ."

Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church said it "appears [Harrell] died at the hand of one she was helping."

"Marita was a friend and a shining light among us. I pray for her family, her church, and all who loved her," Haupert-Johnson said. "I am grateful that the Lord she represented so well was with her in all things and accompanied her to her eternal home. May His Spirit comfort those of us who remain."

Haupert-Johnson announced the North Georgia Conference will provide grief support and free counseling sessions for Harrell's clergy colleagues in the wake of her passing.

Rivertown UMC, where Harrell served as pastor from 2016 to 2018, mourned her loss on Facebook.

"I know the love Rivertown has for her, and the love she has for Rivertown. We are asked to be in prayer, especially for her husband and daughters. Please keep the entire family in your prayers," the post reads. "May God's comforting arms envelop her family, friends, and loved ones."

Harrell moved to Atlanta from Chicago over 30 years ago. She worked for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper for 22 years. She graduated from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in May 2014.

She is survived by her husband Antonio and daughters Marae and Alyse.
Benham brothers say predators needs Jesus, not more gun laws in wake of Texas shooting

As the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left at least 21 people dead reignited a fierce political debate over gun-control Tuesday, conservative twin brothers David and Jason Benham said predatory young men who commit mass shootings need Jesus, not more "gun laws."

Theres not enough gun laws on earth to turn a young man from a predator to a protector. But there is a King, whose name is Jesus that can step into the heart of a man and change him from the inside out, the Texas natives said in a now-viral statement shared on their Facebook page to their more than 130,000 followers Wednesday.

Unfortunately, we dont want this King. Our nation glorifies everything that stands against King Jesus and His Kingdom fruit  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. As a result, were losing our young men and have lost the soul of our nation, they wrote.

The comments from the brothers come after a lone 18-year-old gunman went on a shooting rampage in a single classroom at Robb Elementary School that left at least 19 children dead.

The shooter has since been identified as Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School, who was shot and killed at the scene. He reportedly shot his grandmother prior to the attack at the school, which took place at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Democratic lawmakers have been publicly pushing for gun control legislation, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D., N.Y., has conceded that there is no current path forward for gun measures, the Journal reported Wednesday.

Schumer accused his GOP colleagues of being beholden to pro-gun groups, which he said has prevented the Senate from reaching the 60 votes needed to pass proposed gun-control legislation. The Senate is evenly divided at 50-50.

Its unacceptable that there are not 10 members of the Republican caucus willing to save lives, find a way to do it. And yet, thats where we are, Schumer argued.

However, Sen. Ted Cruz, R., Texas, accused Democrats of politicizing the school shooting.

You see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. That doesnt work, Cruz said.

He suggested that it would be better to prevent felons, fugitives and people with serious mental illness from buying guns, while some of his colleagues called for more armed guards at schools.

The Benham brothers further asserted that America does not have a gun problem but a heart problem.

The radical Left says its all about the guns  but its the heart that holds the gun! A gun in the hand of a good man brings peace and protection, but a gun in the hand of a bad man brings pain and destruction. Our nation has a heart problem  not a gun problem, they said.

Exalt Jesus once again. Teach our young men to deny themselves, become men of God, and fight against evil instead of perpetrate it. Our boys need to be called up to something much higher than video games, binge shows, and porn! Theres so much more  in Christ, they added. Lets do our part as we grieve with the families in TX today. Lets look at our own kids, our sphere of influence, our churches and schools  and lets call these young men to lay down their lives, bow to Jesus, and pick up His cross and follow Him. Until then, this path of destruction will never stop.
'The Lord is near to the brokenhearted': Biden calls for prayers after Robb Elementary School shooting President blames gun lobby, manufacturers for mass shootings

President Joe Biden quoted the Bible and asked for prayers for families who lost loved ones in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where at least 19 children and two teachers were gunned down Tuesday.

At a press conference Tuesday evening, Biden talked about the school shooting and the tragedy of a parent losing a child. He also blamed the gun lobby and gun manufacturers for school shootings.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away, said Biden, who himself has lost two children, one to a car accident in 1972 and another to cancer in 2015.

Theres a hollowness in your chest; you feel like you are being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out. It's suffocating. And its never quite the same.

Biden quoted Psalm 34:18, saying, The Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit, and asked people to pray for the victims' families.

The president then called for stricter gun laws in response to the mass shooting, asking, When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?

I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And dont tell me we cant have an impact on this carnage, he continued, citing his efforts to pass commonsense gun laws while in Congress.

We cant and wont prevent every tragedy, but we know they work and have positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down. When the law expired, mass shootings tripled.

What in Gods name do you need an assault weapon for, except to kill someone?

Biden then spoke about a recent meeting with national leaders from Asia and how their countries don't have as many mass shootings as the United States.

These kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency they happen in America, the president continued. Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?

"Where in God's name is our backbone ... the courage to stand up to the lobbies? It's time to turn this pain into action," he declared.

Biden then listed other mass shootings at schools, movie theaters and houses of worship, including the shooting at Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York, but didn't name the shooting at the Taiwanese Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California, two Sundays ago.

On Tuesday afternoon, an 18-year-old Uvalde High School student entered Robb Elementary School and opened fire, killing at least 19 children and one teacher before being shot and killed.

The shooter also allegedly shot his grandmother before entering the elementary school, according to a statement released by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday.

Abbott added that authorities are fully investigating the crime and that he and his wife mourn this horrific loss and called on people to show unwavering support to all who are suffering.
Church of Scotland votes to allow ministers to marry same-sex couples

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland voted Monday to allow ministers and deacons to marry same-sex couples.

By a vote of 274 to 136, ministers and deacons in the reformed Calvinist denomination can now apply to become authorized celebrants to conduct same-sex ceremonies.

According to a statement released by the Church of Scotland, "no person [will] be required to participate in or be involved in the arrangements for the same-sex marriage unless they explicitly wished to do so."

"There has been a lengthy, prayerful and in-depth discussion and debate about this topic for many years at all levels of the Church to find a solution that respects diversity and values the beliefs of all," General Assembly Moderator the Rev. Iain Greenshields said in a statement.

Greenshields said that the Church of Scotland is a broad church with many diverse views on marriage among its over 300,000 members, noting that the church is committed to handling the topic in "grace and humility."

"The tone and tenor of discussions are civil and people are respectful of those who hold opposing views," Greenshields added. "All celebrants would be expected to take account of the peace and unity and pastoral needs of the congregation and any parish or other grouping of which it is a part while considering to conduct a same-sex marriage ceremony."

Under the new rules, pastors who want to conduct same-sex marriages would first have to apply to the principal clerk's office, which will send an application to the Registrar General of Scotland on their behalf.

The principal clerk plans to maintain a record of those who conduct same-sex weddings. And church leaders are responsible for renewing their status to perform same-sex ceremonies every three years.

The Church of Scotland is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches founded in 1560. It has over 800 ministers serving in parishes and chaplaincies, mostly in Scotland but also in England and Europe.

The Rev. Phil Gunn, minister of Rosskeen Parish Church in Ross-shire, believes the overture is "not biblical."

"A Church that does not provoke any crisis, preach a Gospel that does not unsettle, proclaim a Word of God that does not get under anyone's skin or a Word of God that does not touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed, what kind of Gospel is that?" asked Gunn in a statement.

"We see the scriptures, old and new, that point to God's teaching on marriage and human sexuality. We are called to love everyone as Christ commanded us. We are to demonstrate God's love to the world so they might recognize something different in us, but that does not mean we have to conform to the ways of society or the world."

Gunn said that "the Bible is the supreme rule of faith and life for the Church."

"God has called us as His followers to be bold and make a stand for what is right in his eyes," Gunn proclaimed. "If we choose to turn our back on scripture how can we stand up and say we are ministers of God's church if we then change what God says?"

The Rev. Lezley Stewart, a minister and a commissioner, agrees with the Church of Scotland's new policy to allow same-sex marriages.

"We have always lived with differences and we always will. No one in this General Assembly hall is the same as you and no one thinks the same as you and maybe we should thank God for that," Stewart said.

"But we are the Church together and if you look to your right, to your left, look in front of you and look behind you, hopefully, what you can see is simply a reflection of Christ  we are the Church together."

Stewart believes that Jesus wants everyone to be "seen by our love for one another."

"I do respect the choice of ministers to choose," Stewart continued. "I do respect the faith and desire of members and ministers to say I do and be married in their church in a way that most of us have been able to do throughout the whole of our lives and take for granted."

Ahead of Monday's vote, members of the assembly expressed differing thoughts on the legislation.

The first openly gay clergyman in the Church of Scotland to have his appointment approved in 2009, the Rev. Scott Rennie, told the General Assembly he could not marry his husband in a religious wedding in the way that he would have wanted to in the past.

"I sincerely hope the assembly will find it in itself to support the deliverance, even those who have their doubt," Rennie said, according to the BBC.

"I want to say that marriage is a wonderful thing. My marriage to my husband Dave nurtures my life and my ministry. Frankly, I couldn't be a minister without his love and support. It is much the same as opposite-sex marriage in its joys and its glories."

The vote's outcome was expected because a majority of the denomination's presbyteries had voiced their support last month.

The U.K.-based Christian Institute said it's "very sad" to learn that most of the presbyteries support same-sex weddings.

The Christian Institute's Scotland Officer Nigel Kenny said in a statement that "the Bible is crystal clear" about the traditional biblical beliefs of marriage.

"True, God-honoring marriage is only between one man and one woman. Jesus' own teaching on this in Matthew 19 could not be clearer. But it seems that the majority of presbyteries are more interested in taking their cue from culture rather than Christ," Kenny stated.

The Covenant Fellowship Scotland, a group of Evangelicals within the Church of Scotland, said in a statement that the Church of Scotland is making a "serious mistake."

"The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in converting an overture permitting ministers and deacons to officiate at same-sex marriages into an Act of the Church, has acted in a way which is both unbiblical and sinful," the statement reads.

"We all have a deep pastoral care and concern for those who wish to enter into same-sex marriages, and we understand the pastoral impulse of ministers and deacons who wish to help people at life's key moments. But we must nevertheless point to the complete absence of any compelling or persuasive biblical evidence that might permit ministers and deacons of the Church of Scotland to officiate at same-sex marriages."

The Covenant Fellowship contends that the Church of Scotland's decision "contradicts everything the Bible has to say about the complementary nature of men and women, and of the character and purposes of marriage."

"Instead of following the clear and unambiguous teaching of God's written word, the Bible, the Church of Scotland continues to follow popular opinion," the statement concluded.
Matthew McConaughey says Americans must 'rearrange our values' after school shooting in hometown of Uvalde

Academy Award-winning actor and Uvalde, Texas, native Matthew McConaughey said "action must be taken" and the United States must "rearrange our values" following the school shooting in his hometown that left 19 children dead.

At least 21 victims, including 19 students and two teachers, have been confirmed dead after a lone 18-year-old gunman went on a shooting rampage in a single classroom at Robb Elementary School in the small Texas town on Tuesday. Before entering the school, the shooter was on the run from police after he shot his grandmother in the face.

McConaughey took to Instagram after the shooting to share his heartbreak and make a call for action.

"Once again we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us," the "Dallas Buyers Club" actor said.

He called on Americans to ask themselves several questions and urged the country not to accept mass shootings as the norm.

"What is it that we truly value? How do we repair the problem? What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state and neighborhood tomorrow?" he asked.

"As Americans, Texans, mother and fathers, its time we re-evaluate, and renegotiate our wants from our needs," the father of three continued. "We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our childrens issue."

The University Health Hospital in San Antonio is caring for four patients connected to the shooting, including the gunmans 66-year-old grandmother, who was shot before the attack at the school, according to the Austin-American Statesman. The other patients include a 10-year-old girl in serious condition, another 10-year-old girl in good condition, and a 9-year-old girl also in good condition.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott identified the shooter as Salvador Ramos, who was shot and killed at the scene.



McConaughey, who regularly attends church, stressed that mass shootings are an "epidemic we can control.

He said that regardless of one's political affiliation, "we all know we can do better. We must do better."

"Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured," he said.

McConaughey ended his post with a note to those grieving the horrific shooting.

"To those who dropped their loved ones off to school not knowing that today was goodbye, no words can comprehend or heal your loss, but if prayers can provide comfort, we will keep them coming," he wrote.

Uvaldes massacre is the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut in 2012.
School district pays $225K to end atheist group's lawsuit over Bible class

A school district in West Virginia has agreed to pay $225,000 in plaintiffs costs and attorney fees to end a lawsuit filed by an atheist group over once hosting an elective Bible class.

Mercer County Schools agreed to the settlement with the Freedom From Religion Foundation last week, ending litigation that began in 2017 over its Bible in the Schools program.

"We are pleased that this violation involving the illegal proselytizing of youngsters has come to a mutual resolution," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president, as quoted by the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. "But it should not take a lawsuit and years of effort to stop blatantly unconstitutional school programs."

The Christian Post reached out to Mercer County Schools for this story. The school district directed CP to a spokesperson who did not return comments by press time.

Known as the Bible in the Schools program, the course was first offered at Bluefield High School in 1939 and then was added to other schools in the county as time passed.

In January 2017, the FFRF filed a lawsuit against Mercer County for the Bible class on behalf of Elizabeth Deal, whose daughter had been reportedly ostracized for refusing to take the course.

"This program advances and endorses one religion, improperly entangles public schools in religious affairs, and violates the personal consciences of nonreligious and non-Christian parents and students," read the lawsuit.

"Forcing Jane Doe to choose between putting her child in a Bible study class or subjecting her child to the risk of ostracism by opting out of the program violates the rights of conscience of Jane and Jamie Doe and therefore their First Amendment rights."

U. S. District Court Judge David A. Faber dismissed the lawsuit in November 2017, pointing out that the school was mulling possible revisions to the Bible course curriculum.

"Indeed, whether or not this court were to undergo an (albeit incomplete) factual analysis of the past BITS program, defendants might remain capable of developing, adopting, and teaching a new BITS curriculum in conformity with Establishment Clause jurisprudence," ruled Faber.

"As a result, the clouded future of BITS classes in Mercer County would hang over the heads of the Does regardless of the court's substantive review. Nevertheless ... if BITS returns and it is clear the new BITS program violates constitutional law, this district is more than capable of granting a preliminary injunction."

Faber added that "Supreme Court jurisprudence has by no means established an absolute bar to the Bible being taught and studied in the public school system."

In December 2018, however, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned the earlier ruling and remanded the case back to the lower court.

In sum, the County has not carried its burden of showing that subsequent events make it absolutely clear that the suspended version of the BITS program will not return in identical or materially indistinguishable form, ruled the panel.

Appellants current claims are therefore not moot. Of course, this does not prevent the district court from addressing mootness in the future if presented with that issue.

In January 2019, the Mercer Countys board of education passed a resolution that ended the Bible class program rather than simply make revisions.
School Shootings: Mental Health or Spiritual Warfare?

Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6 of The Christian Post's series on youth and school violence.

Arguably, no other crime forces Americans to confront the reality of evil than when a gunman murders school children. Yet some of the reasons why horrific incidents happen are seldom discussed.

Whenever mass shootings occur in the United States, the political discourse and public conversation often centers on how lawmakers might further regulate firearms.

Yet other factors that are not spoken of nearly as much are worth considering, according to a Pentecostal theologian and a mental health counselor of 31 years, both of whom spoke with The Christian Post about some of the factors involved in mass shootings.

To examine the issue from a theological and spiritual perspective, CP talked with Wave Nunnally, a professor of early Judaism and Christian origins at Evangel University, an Assemblies of God school in Springfield, Missouri.

He explained that many Christians have in some ways failed to understand the spiritual dimension of evil, particularly grasping the interplay between the natural world and the spirit realm. And this is more than relevant when thinking about mass shootings, he said.

Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland, Florida, shooter from earlier this year, said "demons" told him how to execute the victims. Seventeen, most of them young students, were killed.

"It's such an interesting statement that he would make that voluntarily on his own," Nunnally said, suggesting that it's also possible those words might have been expressed with the intention of laying the legal groundwork for an insanity plea in court.

But it's also necessary to investigate whether Cruz had ever been institutionalized in a mental hospital, been on any psychotropic drugs, been in therapy, or had a history of mental illness, in which case any actual demonic voices he said he heard would be an "add-on" to his condition, he said.

"On the other hand, the enemy (Satan) is real and he has not declared any kind of truce," Nunnally noted.

Though he's been a Pentecostal since 1976, Nunnally told CP it was explained to him in his traditional evangelical upbringing that God and the devil had come to some kind of an armistice treaty of sorts.

"In return for there being no supernatural expressions of God's power in the world today," he said of the cessationist theology he grew up with, the idea was that "the devil agreed not to possess people."

"It always struck me, after I matured just a little bit past salvation, as being one of the most bizarre means of doing theology and conclusions that you could come up with because this is like light and darkness cooperating, shaking hands and agreeing to disagree and to play pretty.

"And it's so bizarre because the people who say 'we don't have the power to cast demons out' because we don't have the power to exercise spiritual discernment since that is one of the gifts of the Spirit that has died off, God doesn't do stuff like that anymore. But they are never willing to come to the table and say, 'Well, the devil doesn't do that anymore either and that is the reason that God doesn't do it.'"

Those who hold that view never carry that line of thinking to its logical conclusion, he said.

"In the West, we are all too quick to dismiss the supernatural or to explain away the supernatural by referencing areas of mental illness. And while that is probably true of some, there are dots that connect," he said, being careful not to conflate mental health problems with the demonic.

Cruz is not the first killer to speak of hearing devilish voices telling him how to commit acts of brutality.

Decades ago, serial killer David Berkowitz, who was known as the Son of Sam, recounted that the devil was speaking to him in various ways about how to carry out his crimes. Other notorious murderers like Ted Bundy have also described this phenomenon.

"I think we are really quick to knee-jerk react and say, 'Well, the problem is with guns, the problem is with our laws, with permissive society and mental illness.' And everybody seems to take their favorite whipping boy and trot that out every time this happens," Nunnally said.

CP asked Nunnally if he believes there is any connection between the presence of demonic voices in the mind and mental illness, and if involvement in occultic spirituality could in any way bring about mental health problems that might lead to someone becoming a mass shooter.

"We have to hold that open as a possibility," he replied.

"And I think to dismiss the association, not that one is the other and the other is the one, but there can be in certain instances a relationship [between the two]."

Yet the reverse is also true.

Nunnally recalled a time where he ministered to a young man who was convinced he had a demonic spirit and wanted prayer. He was ready to pray for deliverance for this young man but sensed the Holy Spirit prompt him to ask a few more questions. As he did, he found that the young man was so mentally out of sorts  he had not been taking his medications for a few weeks  he didn't even know his options.

"As many times I think that secular society has said, 'We can medicate or counsel this'" when it comes to spiritual problems, "some of us in the more [Christian] spiritually sensitive community have made the mistake in the opposite direction of trying to cast something out that is not in there."

"The key to all of this is spiritual sensitivity and asking God to help people function in that gift of discernment," he stressed.

Most Christians are not mental health specialists, he said, and it's a judgment call that must be made on a case-by-case basis.

"I think that we have unleashed into our society  through a lot of different means  where there is no right and wrong, and you kind of make it up as you go along," he added.

"And people are starting to act that out more and more, and our society has become almost amoral," he said, referencing how he has seen reports of financial firms retrofitting ethical training for their employees  some of whom are highly intelligent and graduates of Ivy League universities  in order for them to renew their credentials to be financial advisers or money managers.

Taken together with the postmodern notion that there is no such thing as absolute truth but that individuals self-create truth, only chaos has transpired, he said. Behavioral constraints once encouraged and maintained by society have all but evaporated. And in the absence of any moral compass, individuals who were on the margins become raving maniacs and mass killers.

Nunnally believes that Satan's influence over anyone who commits a murder is that he has stolen from them any and all concept of the sanctity of human life.
Chicago store accused of kicking out uniformed police officer shopping for Bible

A Chicago bookstore has been accused of asking a woman purporting to be an Illinois police officer to leave the store because it was not a "cop-friendly" business.

The incident was first reported on May 17 by a Facebook user going by the name of Jo Riv Bridges, who said she walked into her "beloved" Pilsen Community Books (PCB) in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago to purchase a Bible while dressed in her on-duty uniform.

As of Wednesday afternoon, her post has received nearly 500 reactions, more than 100 comments and almost 200 shares.

Bridges  who identified herself as a "gay Mexican-American woman"  said she was initially told to leave the store because of her police gear.

"When I walked in, in uniform, I was told I couldn't be in there because of my equipment. I told her I was on duty, and could carry," she wrote.

At that point, a PCB employee told Bridges: "This is not a cop-friendly space."

"As a gay Mexican-American woman, whose served her country and continues to serve her community, I'm shocked and heartbroken," Bridges wrote.

The Christian Post has not been able to confirm the officer's identity, but pictures on her social media page bear a resemblance to news photos of Illinois State Police Trooper Johanna Rivera. Illinois State Police didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the Facebook post.

The officer said she was "embarrassed and heartbroken" by how she was treated. "I promise you, I didn't get mad as I walked out but my voice did crack when I told her how as a woman, a Mexican, a member of the community, I couldn't believe what she was doing," she wrote.

The Christian Post reached out to Pilsen Community Books and the Jo Riv Bridges Facebook account for comments on the post. Responses are pending.

PCB said on Twitter the day after the Facebook post was issued that its policy is to keep "a police-free store."

In the words of Ruth Wilson Gilmore, abolition is presence. Fighting for a world where everyone is free is more than a cheeky t shirt, a slogan or a few well-timed tweets; to us, it means fostering a space where the most vulnerable feel welcome and safe. pic.twitter.com/m0xGODu4oX  PilsenCommunityBooks (@PilsenCommBooks) May 18, 2022

"Fighting for a world where everyone is free is more than a cheeky t shirt, a slogan or a few well-timed tweets; to us, it means fostering a space where the most vulnerable feel welcome and safe," the store's May 18 post stated.

After identifying "young organizers," teachers and parents as how PCB defines community, the post continued: "THESE people are our community, and these people are always welcome."

"In the interest of fostering a safe space for all of these people, whenever possible, we aim to keep PCB a police-free store," the tweet asserts.

A picture of several books with titles indicating a desire to abolish the police accompanied the Twitter thread.

The store also partners with "Liberation Library," an effort to provide books to incarcerated youth in Illinois and ultimately "fight for a world where prisons no longer exist," according to the PCB website.

While the Civil Rights Act of 1964 explicitly prohibits businesses from refusing service to patrons based on race, color, religion or national origin, refusing service strictly based on one's profession is unlikely to reach the threshold of discrimination.

But for Bridges, this visit to PCB was likely her last. After expressing disappointment about the treatment she received from "My beloved Pilsen, my home, my barrio where I lived for 7 years and still own a home there," she vowed to "never go there again."
Supreme Court rejects parents seeking religious exemption from school vaccinations

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from parents challenging New York's repeal of religious exemptions to school vaccine mandates.

In an order released Monday morning, the nation's high court declined to hear arguments in the case of F.F., as parent of Y.F. v. New York, which centers on a lawsuit challenging a 2019 law repealing religious exemptions for vaccines.

The denial of certiorari lets stand a lower court decision that concluded that the parents' arguments lacked merit.

In June 2019, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill removing religious exemptions for vaccines in schoolchildren. Under the law, children may not attend school or day care in New York without certification from a healthcare provider that the child has received all mandated vaccinations.

The law was passed amid a Measles outbreak impacting dozens of states. While providing medical exemptions, the law no longer allows exemptions for students whose parents or guardians hold genuine religious beliefs that do not permit the child to receive the vaccinations.

"The science is crystal clear: Vaccines are safe, effective and the best way to keep our children safe," Cuomo said after signing the bill.

"While I understand and respect freedom of religion, our first job is to protect the public health. And by signing this measure into law, we will help prevent further transmissions and stop this outbreak right in its tracks."

A group of families identified by initials, who held various religious objections to vaccinations, filed the lawsuit against the state on behalf of their minor children, contending that the policy forced them to either violate their beliefs or homeschool their children.

"In lobbying for its passage, numerous legislators publicly mocked and ridiculed those seeking religious exemptions for their children, and the legislature left intact a medical exemption," the parents' appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court reads. "And there is no dispute the repeal has put tens of thousands of students to the Hobsons choice of violating their sincerely-held religious beliefs or being denied the right to attend any manner of in-person schooling."

Acting Albany County Supreme Court Justice Denise Hartman denied the families a preliminary injunction in August 2019, concluding in part that protecting children's health "through attainment of threshold inoculation levels for community immunity from communicable diseases is unquestionably a compelling state interest."

"The courts have routinely held that the states need not wait for vaccination rates to fall below the community immunity threshold or for outbreaks to occur before mandatory inoculations are required for children to attend school," noted Hartman.

In March 2021, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York's Third Department upheld the decision, concluding that the repeal was "motivated by a prescient public health concern" rather than "active hostility towards religion."

"The repeal relieves public school officials from the challenge of distinguishing sincere expressions of religious beliefs from those that may be fabricated," wrote Appellate Justice Stanley Pritzker in the opinion.

Pritzker contrasted his court's ruling with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 decision Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, which struck down state-level COVID-19 gathering restrictions for houses of worship.

"As noted by Justice [Brett] Kavanaugh in a concurring opinion, the regulation created a favored class of businesses and it thus needed to justify why houses of worship were excluded from that favored class," continued Pritzker.

"By contrast, here, the religious exemption previously created a benefit to the covered class, and now the elimination of the exemption subjects those in the previously covered class to vaccine rules that are generally applicable to the public."

The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court after the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, refused to hear the case.
Maine Department of Education removes kindergarten LGBT lesson from website following backlash

The Maine Department of Education has removed a video introducing the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity to kindergarten students from its website after it became the subject of an attack ad in the states upcoming gubernatorial election.

The Maine Republican Party, which is seeking to defeat incumbent Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in the gubernatorial election this fall, released an ad last week alleging that Mills spent $2.8 million in taxpayer funding on radical school lessons. The ad features a clip from a lesson plan designed for kindergarten students.

In the clip, teacher Kailina Mills described trans-identified individuals as people the doctors made a mistake about when they were born. She suggested that when a baby is born, the doctors will tell the parents what gender they think that baby is.

Some people, when they get a little bit older, realize what the doctors said was not right, she claimed. The ad cut back to a narrator asking, Is this really what our kids should be learning in kindergarten, instead of math, science and reading? The video concluded by lambasting Mills agenda as just wrong for our kids and for Maine.

The lesson on transgenderism is a portion of a six-minute video titled Freedom Holidays, which was part of the states Kindergarten MOOSE Module. As explained by the Maine Department of Education, the Maine Opportunities for Online Sustained Education module was created to leverage the expertise of Maine educators to develop a free resource for online learning and address the inequitable access to in-person education faced by Maine students at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The resource consists of 300 project-based, interdisciplinary modules designed for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12, including the controversial Freedom Holidays video featuring Kailina Mills.

Mills announced on Facebook Friday that the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) and Mills administration caved to pressure instead of standing up for some of the most vulnerable people, families, and students in Maine by removing the video from the MOOSE Module.

The MOOSE Module website, as captured by the internet archiving tool the Wayback Machine on May 3, featured a module titled Freedom Holidays: Celebrating an American Summer, one of several community modules designed for students in pre-kindergarten through second grade. The link to the module now lands on a page reading Access Denied, indicating that the video has been removed from the website.

The video is still available on YouTube.

We have learned about the Fourth of July, which celebrates the freedom of the United States from Great Britain. Weve learned about Juneteenth, which celebrates the freedom of enslaved people. Weve learned about Womens Equality Day, which celebrates the freedom of women to vote, Mills said in the video.

The lesson quickly devolved into a discussion on the LGBT movement.

At this point in United States history, lots of people are free: free to vote, free to buy land and own homes, free to have a bank account, free to have a job that pays them money, free to do lots of things, but not everyone was free yet, she maintained.

People in this country who are LGBT-plus, were not free, she declared. She acknowledged that kindergarten students might have never heard that term before outlining what each letter in the acronym stands for. Mills identified lesbians as women who love other women, gays as men who love other men, and bisexuals as people who love both men and women.

When Mills got around to explaining what the T in the acronym stands for, she made the statements featured in the Maine Republican Partys ad. She explained that when LGBT people get older, they might say the doctors told me that I was a man, but Im really a woman.

Mills maintained that when they grow up and they can tell people that the doctors made a mistake about their gender, then they can transition to be the gender that they actually are.

She characterized transgender men as people who the doctors thought was a woman when they were born, but when they grew up, they could tell people that theyre actually a man and so they transition to be a man and transgender women as the opposite.

The video also touched upon the + in the LGBT+ acronym, designed to represent a lot of other people who love in ways that society hasnt always allowed. She recalled a time when only men and women were allowed to love each other and women were not allowed to love other women, men were not allowed to love other men, people were not allowed to transition to a different gender, classifying that time in American history as wrong.

Back then, when people were not allowed to love who they wanted to love or to be who they wanted to be, they were not able to live freely or happily.

Additionally, the video highlighted the movement for LGBT people to get the same rights as everyone else. Mills incorrectly stated that the U.S. Supreme Court decided that everyone can marry each other in 2014. The Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, which she was referring to, came down in 2015.

Anyone can marry who they want to because love is love, the teacher summarized the decision as concluding. After praising Obergefell as a huge success for the LGBT-plus movement, she said that people had to fight so that they could live the way they wanted to live.

Mills concluded the video by indicating that were going to learn today about three famous LGBT activists who fought so that they could love who they wanted to love and they could be who they wanted to be and fought so that all LGBT people could be free and be who they wanted to be and love whoever they wanted to love. She announced that youre going to watch three videos about those people, and then youre going to do a writing activity.

While the Freedom Holidays video has received heightened attention following last weeks ad, the Twitter account Libs of TikTok posted an excerpt of the video on May 1.

The account also reported that the lesson goes on and encourages 5-year-olds to celebrate pride and attend pride parades. Screenshots of the lesson plan reveal a video about Pride Parades as well as an encouragement to share your pride parade float with your family and talk with them about the way your float shows LOVE for the world.

The Maine Dept of Education has resources for teachers on their website. This resource is for kindergartners and it discusses the LGBT acronym. For trans, the teacher explains that doctors decide a babys gender and are sometimes wrong.



The official Maine DOE is promoting this. pic.twitter.com/Y6DE3lb2FL  Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 2, 2022

Mills completely defended the content of her video in her Facebook post: It is a fact that I have taught preschool students who are transgender and non-binary, and it is a fact that I have worked with parents who are L, G, B, and T. Those children and those families deserve to be represented in their school curriculum. Public schools are for everyone and should, therefore, include everyone.

Just because a topic might feel difficult to discuss does not mean that children arent ready for it, she added. As a teacher with both a BA and M.Ed in Early Childhood Education, I know that discussing gender  in all its varieties  is age-appropriate for kindergarten students. I know that discussing different kinds of family structures (two moms, two dads, single moms, single dads, grandparents, adoption, etc.) is also age-appropriate.

In her Facebook post, Mills pointed to an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association contending that gender identity typically becomes constant at ages 5-7 years as the justification for bringing up the topic with young children.

Using accurate pronouns and receiving affirmation from families, teachers, peers, and doctors is suicide prevention, and this affirming care must begin as early as kindergarten because thats when children are solidifying their gender identity," She said.

Deriding the removal of her module from the MOOSE Module curriculum as discrimination, Mills implied that if Republicans had taken issue with the Juneteenth portion of the Freedom Holidays unit because it included black people, I believe the MDOE and the Mills campaign would have reacted differently because they know that removing black people from the curriculum would be discrimination.

She asked, Why are Republicans attacks on LGBT+ children and families any different?

It is incredibly disappointing to see the MDOE and the Mills administration cave to that pressure. Our students deserve better than this. Our students deserve an inclusive community for all.

The removal of the Freedom Holidays video from the MOOSE Module curriculum comes as Mills faces a challenging reelection bid from former Republican Gov. Paul LePage. The most recent poll of the race was conducted by Pan Atlantic Research and found Mills leading LePage 46% to 42%, within the margin of error. Mills was elected to office in 2018, capturing 50.9% of the vote against Republican Shawn Moody and Independent candidate Terry Hayes.

The outrage over the Freedom Holidays video comes as parents and community members across the U.S. have descended on school board meetings to express concern about sexually explicit material included in school curricula and libraries.

The 1776 Project PAC, which supports school board candidates opposed to including sexually explicit material and critical race theory in the classroom, saw its candidates perform quite well in school board elections that took place in Texas last month.
National School Boards Association mulled asking Biden to deploy military to local meetings White House staffer had 'advance knowledge' of controversial letter

The National School Boards Association considered asking the White House to deploy the Army National Guard and military police to maintain order at local school board meetings, according to the findings of an independent review released by the organization on Friday.

An early draft letter addressed to President Joe Biden released May 20 as part of the review asked that the Army National Guard and its Military Police be "deployed [in egregious circumstances] to certain school districts and related events where students and school personnel have been subjected to acts and threats of violence."

That language was later removed, according to the review.

Last October, emails made public showed the NSBA consulted with the Biden administration when crafting the Sept. 29, 2021, letter. Critics alleged the NSBA letter likened the activism of concerned parents to "domestic terrorism" and prompted a memo from Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting the FBI to work with local law enforcement to address threats against school officials.

It was later reported that NSBA leadership had "been engaged with the White House for several weeks" leading up to the organization's letter.

The letter asked the U.S. Department of Justice to mobilize law enforcement agencies to respond to "threats and acts of violence against public schoolchildren, public school board members, and other public school district officials and educators."

Some of the "threats" cited by the letter included pushback from parents over COVID-19 mask mandates, "anti-mask proponents" and the confrontation of school boards by "angry mobs" that have led school boards to "end meetings abruptly."

Following the public backlash to the letter, the NSBA retained attorney Philip Kiko to conduct the independent review. The organization vows the review "was conducted independently from the influence of the NSBA, its staff, and Board of Directors."

As part of the review, attorneys interviewed 30 people, including NSBA staff, and issued formal FOIA requests for any information and documents to the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The review concluded that the letter was "principally directed, reviewed, and approved by" NSBA's former Interim Director and CEO Chip Slaven. Slaven is said to be responsible for the letter's "origin and substance."

The review also found that four board officers reviewed the letter: Slaven, NSBA Program Director Deborah Rigsby, NSBA's Interim Chief Advocacy Officer Jane Mellow and NSBA's Director of Communications Jason Amos.

Other than review by those four officers, the letter was not widely reviewed or approved within the organization, and the finalized letter was not disclosed to the full NSBA Board of Directors or NSBA members until after it was submitted, according to the report.

Notably, the review also "did not find evidence that most NSBA officers, board members, senior staff, or executives contributed to or were aware of the letter while the letter was being drafted."

"As you saw in the report, a draft of the letter was shared with the Board Officers," NSBA Board President Frank S. Henderson Jr. said in a statement. "We regret that we did not review the letter more closely at the time. We apologized in 2021 and acknowledged that the letter should have never been sent  the sentiments shared do not represent the Board's views or the views of the NSBA.

"We are focused now on implementing processes to ensure this does not happen again."

The review also found White House Senior Advisor to the President Mary C. Wall "had advance knowledge of the planned letter and its specific contents and interacted with Mr. Slaven regarding the letter during its drafting."

However, the review did not find any "direct or indirect evidence suggesting the Administration requested the letter."

"Evidence indicates that White House officials discussed the existence of the Letter, its requests, and the contents of the Letter with Department of Justice officials more than a week before the Letter was finalized and sent to President Biden," the review stated.

The report found that the initial draft letter was written shortly after Sept. 9, 2021, when Slaven directed Rigsby via Mellow to do so.

Slaven told investigators conducting the review that he decided to send the letter after reading a Sept. 8 Politico article entitled "Critical race theory turning school boards into GOP proving grounds."

The report quoted him as saying he was influenced by the article, which mentioned members of the far-right "Proud Boys" attending school board meetings in New Hampshire.

On Sept. 9, Slaven took part in a White House conference call regarding the Biden administration's upcoming announcement on its plan to "stop the Delta variant and boost COVID-19 vaccinations."

According to the report, Slaven emailed NSBA staff while he was on the conference call and instructed them to draft a statement on the plan. In response, the NSBA drafted a statement that cited "in-person threats, abuse, and harassment" against school boards over COVID and masking policies.

While Slaven considered requesting federal intervention as early as August 2021, he did not take such action until the Sept. 9 draft, the review states.

As NSBA's primary spokesman, Amos worked closely with Slaven and Mellow to "provide advance copies of the Letter to media outlets and to intentionally draw significant attention to the Letter both before and after it was publicly released."

In October, U.S. Attorney General Garland sent a memorandum directing the FBI to "convene meetings with federal, state, local, tribal and territorial leaders within 30 days" to "facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff."

Within weeks following the letter's release, 18 state affiliates announced intentions to cut ties with the NSBA, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Virginia.

The Christian Post asked NSBA for comment but was informed the organization won't provide further comment at this time.
Robert Jeffress: SBC polity no excuse for churches not to adopt zero-tolerance' sex abuse policies

Texas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress is calling for churches to have a "zero-tolerance policy" after an investigation report released this week showed that Southern Baptist Convention leadership failed to properly handle sex abuse allegations.

In an interview with Shannon Bream of Fox News Monday, Jeffress touched on the findings of a report released Sunday by Guidepost Solutions after nearly a yearlong investigation into the convention's handling of sexual abuse allegations within its member churches dating back 20 years.

Among other things, the 288-page report states that SBC leaders had a pattern of intimidating victims of abuse and refusing to adopt measures aimed at making churches safer because they wanted to avoid liability.

Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Dallas, said the report is "absolutely horrific" and hopes it will serve as a "wakeup call for churches." He would like to see more churches "adopt the kind of policy that we have at First Baptist Dallas."

Jeffress said his congregation practices a "zero-tolerance policy for abuse and harassment."

"At our church, we have mandatory background checks for everybody working with children, both volunteers and staff members," he said. "We have mandatory reporting to law enforcement officers if there is any sign of abuse whatsoever."

Jeffress stated that "these things don't guarantee an elimination of problems, but they will sharply diminish the problem."

Jeffress addressed the concerns of some SBC leaders, who are worried about adopting measures that will make the convention more centralized.

"A lot of Southern Baptists say, 'Our polity doesn't allow that. We can't have a denomination telling local churches what to do,'" Jeffress said. "That's true. But I tell you who does have the authority to institute these reforms, and it's the members sitting in the pews."

"I would encourage any of your viewers tonight who are a member of any church to demand that your church have safeguards in place to protect women and children in the church," Jeffress continued. "The church ought to be the safest place in the world for women and children."

According to the Guidepost report, which was presented to the SBC's Sexual Abuse Task Force, multiple SBC Executive Committee leaders exerted strong control over abuse allegations within the denomination and "were singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC to the exclusion of other considerations."

"In service of this goal, survivors and others who reported abuse were ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action due to its polity regarding church autonomy  even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or warning to their current church or congregation," the report reads.

In a statement to The Christian Post, the SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force said that they "receive this report with open minds and heavy hearts."

"We grieve for those impacted by abuse, and we are prepared to repent for anything the Credentials Committee inadvertently failed to do to alleviate the suffering of survivors," they stated.

"We are committed to listening and learning from this extensive report and its recommendations. We look forward to implementing recommendations and strengthening the Credentials Committee's work."

Last June, messengers to the SBC's annual meeting approved a resolution urging churches to "permanently" disqualify individuals who have committed sexual abuse from the pastorate. The non-binding resolution urges churches to hold a standard that any person who engaged in sexual abuse in their life is permanently disqualified from holding the office of pastor.

The report's release comes just weeks before the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting kicks off June 12 in Anaheim, California.
Black Lives Matter doesnt care about black lives

Two years ago today, George Floyd's passing changed the world forever. The viral footage of former police officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on George Floyd sent shockwaves around the globe. Variousvideos that showed everything in context were released but largely and deliberately ignored by the media.

Also tied to the event of George Floyds death, a Marxist organization known as Black Lives Matter, which was launched in 2013 after the death of Trayvon Martin, came into exceptional prominence.

The slogan Black Lives Matter is true. Of course the lives of black people matter. Human life is a sacred gift from God. That is not the debate or the issue. The question that arises is: Do black lives actually matter to Black Lives Matter?

Anyone can just say words, but what do actions demonstrate?

In the early verses of Matthew 15, Jesus castigates religious externalism. In verse 8, he says that the Pharisees are just posers. He shares that they honored him with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. The Pharisees would say one thing but do another.

If BLM actually cares about black lives, why do they not address the problems that negatively affect black people the most? They dont address the problem of 76% of black adults being overweight or obese. They dont address the chronic illiteracy among black youth around the country. They want to abolish police presence even though 81% of blacks want the same if not more police presence in their neighborhoods.

Black Lives Matter even wants fewer black people to exist. Their desire for reproductive justice, also known as murdering babies, causes them to stand with Planned Parenthood. In truth, the top killer of black people is abortion, and BLM boldly champions it.

BLMs lips say one thing, but their hearts are far from their mantra.

Black Lives Matter is corrupt. It is hellbent on its supreme goal of power. They will do whatever it takes. Whether that is through violence, intimidation, or some other tactic, they will make sure the goal is met.

If you are reading this, you likely remember the riots, or as the mainstream media called them mostly peaceful protests, that broke out in May 2020. The mainstream media did everything they could to gaslight you in regards to what you were seeing on television, on social media, and in your cities and neighborhoods.

We all saw the violence, crime, destruction, fires, and overall pandemonium that took over the country. These riots caused a record-setting $2-billion in damage. That number doesnt take into account the fact that most U.S. businesses are underinsured and around 40% of small businesses have no insurance at all. As a side note, 95% of 2020 riots were instigated by BLM.

BLM has a grotesque love affair with criminals, instead of fighting back against the evils that take the lives of innocent black individuals. Its actually quite demented.

Seven-year-old Dexter Fergusson, who was shot while lying in his bed, didnt receive the national attention that Alton Sterling, a chronic violent criminal received. Nine-year-old Tyshawn Lee, who was disgustingly executed by murderous and vengeful gang members, was not propped up like the knife-wieldingJacob Blake. Seven-year-old Jaslyn Adams who was killed in a McDonalds drive-thru was hardly mentioned, while the bullying thief Michael Brown got a tremendous amount of press and name recognition. Neziah Hill, a 3-month-old little girl killed during a senseless act of violence went virtually unnoticed, while the career criminal George Floyd is celebrated as a martyr.

You ask yourself, Why havent I heard the names of these kids before? Why didnt the media equally address these cases as much as they did the other cases? Why does Black Lives Matter not address the issues that cause the most harm to the black community?

The answer to your questions is that BLM gains money and power by continuing to pull race and oppression cards. They do this to push the narrative that society is oppressive towards blacks and they want to point the finger at police, or slave catchers, as professor Melina Abdullah would call them. They would also rather point the finger at those who dont line up with and bow to their demands by calling them racist, oppressive, or part of the problem.

In his dynamite new book, Fiery But Mostly Peaceful: The 2020 Riots And The Gaslighting of America, writer Julio Rosas shares a story about a man who was driving his car and was cussed out by a demonstrator for not getting out of his car and leaving it in the middle of the street, even though the driver explained that he was trying to support them. We see another instance of lack of accountability and finger-pointing when Jazz Smollett, older sister of hate crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett, laughably pointed at courtroom attendees telling them to Stop locking up our black men.

BLM is also arguably corrupt. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation raked in around $90 million in 2020. But the amount isnt the issue. Multiple states including Indiana and California have taken or have threatened to take action against the organization for a lack of financial transparency. BLM Activist Monica Cannon-Grant and her husband are faced with many fraud charges. Patrisse Cullors, who is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, confessed to throwing two parties at one of the multiple mansions owned by the organization. One of these parties happened to be for her own son.

As to how these mansions or parties help improve the lives of black people, your guess is as good as mine.

However, the corruption deepens when Cullors herself admitted a mansion supposedly owned by the organization is actually her residence. Documents revealed that an art firm owned by Damon Turner, the father of Patrice Cullors child, received nearly $1 million for creative services, while her brothers security firm received around $840,000.

Black Lives Matter also has an internal lack of transparency. Chapters complain about a lack of funding from the foundation and Cullors defense was that the organization was often scraping for money. Even Breonna Taylors mom, Tamika Palmer, called out BLM Louisville and labeled them a fraud.

Actions speak louder than words and Black Lives Matters actions have spoken. They have been speaking ever since 2013, but these last couple of years have shown that they dont believe what they say nor do they actually want to help black people. Black Lives Matter has no desire to help or enrich anyone but themselves and their elitist buddies. As a society, the next time an organization starts rising up, before supporting it and chanting their mantras and hashtags and giving them money, find out what they actually do and what they actually stand for.
Crisis in military recruitment is driven by liberal bias at DoD

Speaking to the 2022 Graduating class at West Point, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley told the new graduates that the world they face has the potential for significant conflict between great powers, And that potential is increasing, not decreasing. With that warning, it has been astonishing to witness how little coverage the May 5, 2022 hearing of the posture of the Department of the Army with the Senate Committee on Armed Services received.

In it, top military leaders sounded the alarm about recruitment. According to top DoD leadership, this is the most challenging recruiting year since the beginning of the all-volunteer force almost five decades ago. The Army announced that even after being forced to cut 12,000 soldiers, it still cannot fill its ranks. In addition to this, the percentage of young Americans qualified to join the Army is now at the lowest point ever at 23%. This comes as trust in the military has plummeted, particularly among conservatives. Its time for our civilian political leadership to get DoD back to its apolitical mission before its too late. Let me explain.

First, in fairness to the DoD, modern societal issues have contributed to the recruitment crisis. According to the Lt. General Thomas Spoehr, with each passing year, fewer and fewer young people qualify for military service. Widespread obesity (36% for ages 18-39), increasing numbers of youth afflicted with mental health issues (26% of youth aged 18-25), and other issues including criminal records or lack of high-school degrees are driving down the percentage of youths qualified to enlist without a waiver. Though DoD should sound the alarm about the need to physically and mentally strengthen our youth, thats primarily a civilian responsibility.

Currently, only 11% of those aged 16-21 answered definitely or probably in their likelihood to serve in the military. Recent polling helps provide the best insight into how negative perceptions of the DoD drive a lack of willingness to serve. In the past three years, according to a Reagan Institute Survey, the percentage of Americans who have a lot of confidence and trust in the military plummeted from 70% to 45%. This poll was taken after the debacle of the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 and noted a catastrophic 11 percentage point drop in trust in the military in the months before and after Afghanistan.



Clearly, the debacle of Afghanistan severely hurt perceptions. Crucially though, this survey showed that support for the military among Republicans is the real problem. By far, the greatest reason trust dropped so precipitously was the conservative loss of trust. The Reagan Institutes 2018 survey showed that 87% of Republican respondents said they had a great deal of confidence in the military, compared with 53% in 2021.

The DoD bears substantial responsibility for this conservative loss of trust. American trust in the military was built up from a low point after Vietnam. I can remember growing up as a military brat during that period and experiencing the poor public perceptions of the military firsthand. Then I saw and experienced the turnaround in public trust and confidence during the 1980s. A high point I remember was as an Army officer during and after Desert Shield/Storm, when the praise and trust in the military was the antithesis of post-Vietnam. Beyond the success of the force, the military was perceived as being apolitical and focused exclusively on winning our nations wars.

The loss of trust by many conservatives comes primarily from a perceived liberal bias at the top of DoD. Many conservative media sources have decried what appears to be DoD following political priorities of the Biden Administration, including perceived targeting of conservatives in uniform. The bias became so obvious that even traditionally liberal news sources have opined about the problem. The Atlantic, a known liberal source, published the following: Where (Milley) deserves greater criticism is his congressional testimony from a few weeks ago  he went on to connect racism to the attack on the Capitol: I want to understand white rage  What is it that made thousands of people assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America?

The white rage statement by General Milley infuriated conservatives, as it was perceived both as an endorsement of critical race theory and of partisan political narratives. The bias perception was compounded by Bob Woodwards and Robert Costa's book Peril quoting senior military and civilian DoD leaders with statements undermining Trump and showing partiality to Democrats.

Its time for our political leadership to set the DoD back to its warfighting mission and away from politics. The military needs the trust of the American people, and we all need our men and women in uniform.
'Why did this happen?' Thoughts on the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School

We have all been devastated by the unimaginable news that 19 innocent children and two teachers have been shot and killed on the campus of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The heart of America was ripped out this sad day.

This is every parent's worst nightmare and our hearts are all breaking, but none are feeling the pain that those families who lost their precious loved ones are experiencing right now.

This is a moment where we all should "Weep with those that weep" (Rom.12:15)

At a time like this, we all collectively ask, "Why?"

Why did God allow this to happen?

The simple answer is, I don't know.

But here is what I do know  There are evil people who do incomprehensively evil things every day BECAUSE WE live in a fallen, sinful world. MOMENTS LIKE THESE ARE A REFLECTION ON THE EVIL OF MANY, NOT THE GOODNESS OF GOD.

I know, that is not really a satisfactory answer in many ways, but IT IS THE fact.

The Bible says, The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" (Jer. 17:9)

When I find myself not knowing why bad things happen, I fall back on what I do know.

THAT IS BECAUSE IN A MOMENT LIKE THIS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION IS NOT WHY? BUT WHO?  WHO CAN WE RUN TO FOR HELP IN THE MIDST OF THIS BROKEN WORLD?

I know that God loves every one of these little children and the teacher who died.

I know that God loves the parents and families that lost these little ones.

I also know that these children are safely in the arms of Jesus Christ right now in Heaven.

Jesus said, Let the children come to me. Dont stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children. (Matt. 19:14)

YES, WHEN we do not know the answer to the "Why" question, it's best to pivot to the "WHO?" question instead. AND THEN TO THE WHAT?

By that, I mean: What do we do at a time like this?

The answer is: WE MUST turn to God.

That is what I did when I heard the devastating news that our son, Christopher, age 33, died in an automobile accident 14 years ago. It was like time stood still for me and all the air was sucked out of the room and I felt like I could literally die.

I fell to my knees and I asked God to help me.

He did.

14 years later, I still deeply grieve over this loss, but I can tell you that God was there for me and is still with me, walking through this valley.

I KNOW GOD WILL BE THERE FOR THESE FAMILIES BECAUSE HE WAS THERE FOR ME.

David wrote in Psalm 23, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me."

When we lost our son, the thing I realized there was no one who could fix this for me.

There was no doctor, police officer or anyone else who could bring my son back. I felt helpless.

But when I turned to God, I remembered that He knows all about suffering, and He knew what I was going through because He, too, lost a son.

Rather, I should say, He, too, gave a son.

Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son and whosever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

This is a time to mourn.

When I speak with parents who have lost children I tell them to cry as much as they want. The depth of their sorrow is an indication of the depth of their love. Jesus said, "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted." (Matt. 5:3)

The key is to cry out to God Himself.

He will hear your prayer.

If you are one of the parents who lost one of these children and is reading this right now, let me say this to you  I am so sorry for your loss.

If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you will see your child again. They are not just a part of your past, they are also a part of your future.

AND MY PRAYER IS THAT God be with you NOW.

Remember this  For the Christian, death is not the end of life but the continuation of it in another place  Heaven.

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die." (John 11:25-26)
The face of this age

Getting in someones face is an idiom that has become an icon in our age of socio-cultural warfare.

Imagine a picture of two angry people in profile yelling at one another, and you have an iconic expression of our present moment.

From grinding talk shows to caustic email exchanges, to online jabber, to bitter courtroom exchanges, to the heated debates in political arenas and congressional hearings, to harshly divided families, we are constantly in one anothers face.

The effort to get in someones face is terribly presumptuous, like spanking a strangers child. Where do we get the right to blitz another persons countenance?

Yet, this is a passionate age when we do need to speak out. We would be irresponsible if we did not warn about the sins of the day that might lead others to suffering and judgment.

The problem comes when we focus on ideology, ignore personhood, and forget that the motive and goal should be love, not verbal incineration.

The face of the age needs not to be the snarling one, but the compassionate countenance of Jesus of Nazareth.

But what about the cleansing of the Temple? Didnt Jesus get into the face of the charlatans who were turning the sacred place into a den of thieves? The broken heart hurts because the defilers are bringing judgment upon themselves and dragging others with them.

Jesus looked at the evil with fury, not the human beings who themselves were prisoners of that evil.

It was true also at Calvary when Jesus looked down at those who had nailed Him to the cross and forgave them.

Even though Jesus Christ in all those moments was the Lord of lords and King of kings, He did not presume the right to get into the faces of others.

The exception seems to have been the leaders of the religious establishment, the Scribes, and Pharisees who were stoking the get-in-the-face frenzy with their own angry verbal assaults. The spiritual leaders fired off words like ripping projectiles rather than speaking the truth in love.

Those who saidtheywere speaking truth into the public debate were giving little thought to the character of their style and the example they should have been setting.

It was inevitable that they would eventually turn on one another.

I know what the Scribes and Pharisees might have thought. When I was ordained as a pastor as a (too) young man, I felt authorized  even duty-bound  to get into the faces of others with the fieriest of condemnation.

Then, in 1988, I learned one of the greatest lessons for life and ministry I would ever learn when a man named Alex showed up at my church office door.

Alex was a wiry person, weighing perhaps 120 pounds. He wore dainty shoes and talked in a high voice.

As he spoke, I was conjuring all kinds of judgmental thoughts about Alex and sharpening my tongue for a good lashing of this individual.

Alex told me that he had left a lifestyle that had set him up for AIDS, but now he had given his life to Christ. However, he had not come out of the lifestyle soon enough and was infected with AIDS.

In three years, I would conduct his funeral... but not before wonderful things happened because of that afternoon meeting in my office.

Alex felt the Lord calling him to establish a ministry for people suffering from AIDS, and he wanted to base the ministry at our church. The ministry would be called, Positive Christians, and would mobilize church members to take care of individuals testing positive for the disease.

Soon we found ourselves ministering to people whom we might have seared with blistering words. But we learned to speak a different language, one received with joy  the Gospel of Christ, and hope for both the living and the dying. I and others of our pastors had the joy of baptizing people whom society was labeling as untouchables.

Through it all, I learned one of the most important truths of my life: To win the right to get into someones face you must first wash their feet.

Of all people, the late Charles Colson demonstrated this beautifully. I worked with Colson in the Nixon White House and knew his reputation as a powerful opponent in Washingtons partisan battles.

Chuck, who had become a serious Christian, was sent to prison for Watergate-related charges. The prison was a three-hour drive from my house. I visited Chuck several times, and, without knowing it, I was witnessing the formation of the vision that would become Prison Fellowship.

In the ensuing years, both in prison and after his release, many of us watched Chuck minister to people who had been the most intense of foes. Prison Fellowship became a foot washer not only for inmates but also for their needy spouses and children.

And Prison Fellowship ministers were able to speak into the destructive lifestyles of many inmates because Colson and his colleagues (many, like Chuck, former prisoners) had learned to wash their feet  and that of their families.

Franklin Graham and his Samaritans Purse ministry is also an example. Graham is sometimes boycotted because he speaks prophetically into the culture. Yet if anyone has earned the right to do so it is Graham, whose organization has washed the feet of tens of thousands across the world, if not millions.

There are indeed times for rigorous debate, and biblical Christians should not pull back. However, the church must not become just one more blazing partisan mouthpiece, but a blessed force that injects the heart and the mind of Christ into the melee. Such a style could become truly iconic in an age of snarling voices screaming in one anothers faces.
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ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  A senior Turkish official insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials Wednesday that Turkey would not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankara's objections.

We have made it very clear that if Turkey's security concerns are not met with concrete steps in a certain timeframe the process will not progress, Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference after the talks in Ankara that lasted about five hours.

Kalin is the spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a senior presidential aide.

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO last week, in a move representing one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russias war in Ukraine that could rewrite Europes security map.

Turkey has said it opposes the countries membership in the Western military alliance, citing grievances with Sweden's  and a to a lesser extent Finlands  perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey views as security threats.

The PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by several of Turkeys allies, has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey, a conflict that has cost the lives of tens of thousands people.

The Turkish government also accuses Finland and Sweden of imposing arms exports restrictions on Turkey and refusing to extradite suspected terrorists.

Turkeys objections have dampened Stockholm's and Helsinkis hopes for joining NATO quickly amid Russias invasion of Ukraine and put the trans-Atlantic alliance's credibility at stake. All 30 NATO members must agree on admitting new members.

The Swedish and Finnish delegations met with Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation was led by state secretary Oscar Stenstrom, while Jukka Salovaara, the foreign ministry undersecretary, headed up the Finnish delegation, Turkish officials said.

Kalin said Turkeys proposal to lift arms export limits was met with a positive attitude by the Swedish and Finnish delegations.

He added that talks would continue once the Nordic governments had responded to Turkeys demands.

Turkey also expects the extradition of 28 terrorism suspects from Sweden and 12 from Finland, Kalin said, adding that there was no legal or judicial basis not to extradite them. Turkish state media had previously said Turkey demanded the extradition of 33 suspects from the two countries.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said following a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Stockholm that her country wanted to clarify claims that have been floating around during discussions with Turkey.

We do not send money or weapons to terrorist organizations, Andersson said.

During a news conference with the Estonian prime minister later Wednesday, Andersson said that in these times, it is important to strengthen our security.

She said Sweden has a constructive dialogue with Turkey and that Stockholm was eager to sort out issues and misunderstandings and questions.

Michel, who is scheduled to head to Helsinki from Stockholm, said it was a pivotal moment for Sweden" and we fully support your choices.

Turkey this week listed five concrete assurances it was demanding from Sweden, including what it said was termination of political support for terrorism, an elimination of the source of terrorism financing, and the cessation of arms support to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it.

The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.

Turkey said that it has requested the extradition of Kurdish militants and other suspects since 2017 but hasnt received a positive response from Stockholm. The Turkish government claimed Sweden had decided to provide $376 million to support the Kurdish militants in 2023 and that it had provided them with military equipment, including anti-tank weapons and drones.

Finland has received nine extradition requests from Turkey in a recent period covering over three years, Finnish news agency STT said Wednesday, citing data from the Finnish justice ministry. Two people were extradited while six of the requests were rejected. A decision was pending regarding one other case.

Speaking Tuesday before a meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia had left Sweden and Finland no choice but to join NATO.

She said Germany would support the two countries membership, calling it a real gain for the military alliance.

__

Andrew Wilks in Istanbul, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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Johnny Depps ex-girlfriend, supermodel Kate Moss, testified on Wednesday that Depp did not push her down a flight of stairs while they were dating in the 1990s.

Moss was called to debunk that story as Depps defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard neared its conclusion in Fairfax, Va. Moss appeared by video link from Gloucestershire, England, and testified for a total of about five minutes.

Depp is suing Heard for referencing her domestic violence allegations against him in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Depp denies that he ever hit Heard, while Heard had offered photos of bruises and other evidence to support her claim that Depp was routinely violent. She is countersuing him over his lawyers claim that her allegations are a hoax.

The trial has been underway since April 11, and closing arguments are scheduled for Friday.

Heard had mentioned Moss during her four days of testimony earlier this month. Heard described a March 2015 incident in which Depp allegedly punched her repeatedly in the face on a stairway landing during an argument at the couples downtown L.A. apartment. Heard said that Depp had stormed up the stairs and struck her sister, and that she feared that Depp would push her sister down the stairs.

I instantly think of Kate Moss and the stairs and I swung at him, Heard said.

Heard had made a similar reference to Moss during the couples first defamation trial in 2020.

Depps lawyers are presenting rebuttal evidence and called Moss as their first witness on Wednesday morning. Moss said that she and Depp dated from 1994 to 1998, and that the alleged stairs incident had occurred when the couple traveled to a resort in Jamaica.

There had been a rainstorm, she said. As I left the room, I slid down the stairs and I hurt my back.

She said she screamed, and that Depp carried her to their room and got her medical attention. He never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs, Moss testified.

Heards lawyers did not do any cross-examination.

Depp also addressed the incident when he returned to the stand on Wednesday morning. He said that he remembered telling Heard once about Moss having slipped down the stairs in the rain.

Ms. Heard took the story and turned it into a very ugly incident all in her mind, Depp said. There was never a moment where I pushed Kate down any set of stairs.

Last week, Heards team played a deposition from Ellen Barkin, who testified that she had a brief sexual relationship with Depp in the 1990s. She said that once Depp became angry and threw a bottle in her direction at a hotel room in Las Vegas.

Hes just a jealous man, Barkin said.

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Before all of the trendy Houston bakeries touting jewel-toned macarons, oversized croissants and $4 cupcakes, there was Moeller's Bakery. Well before.

The iconic bakery, still family-owned to this day, dates back to 1930, when brothers Goswin "Gus" and Raymond Moeller opened shop at 4208 Almeda Road. The siblings were from a German immigrant family, who like so many at that time settled in Texas Hill Country. Gus operated the bakery alongside his wife, Lucille, with him doing the baking and Lucille handling customers.

Moeller's Bakery

The bakery's prized possession

In 1942, Moeller's gained a prized piece of equipment that would help cement the bakery's success for years to come. At the center of their operation was a 1935 Middleby Marshall carousel oven made of porcelain and brickthe last model made by the company before it began manufacturing tanks for World War II.

In the '50s, the bakery moved to Rice Village, where it remained for about 30 years, and in 1990, it made one final move to its current home at 4201 Bellaire Boulevard. At the time, the Moeller family took on the significant task of moving the oven, which "had to be painstakingly taken apart piece-by-piece, numbered and then reassembled by a Dallas company," according to a 2010 Chronicle story.

Houston Chronicle archives

At the start of the 1980s, Gus and Lucille's son, Don W. Moeller, took the reigns at the bakery, along with his wife Theresa. Coincidentally, Don was born the same year the bakery opened, in 1930.

Elliott Lapin / staff photo

Serving sweets for every occasion

If it seems like Moeller's has been consistently delicious as far back as you can remember, it's likely because many of the goods are made using original recipes from the '30s, baked in the same pre-World War II oven. Beyond year-round indulgences like birthday cakes, cookies and their famous petit fours, Moeller's does a fine job producing seasonal specialties, touting king cakes and Mardi Gras cookies during festival season and gingerbread houses at Christmasand they continue to make them daily, from scratch.

Custom cakes range from beautiful pieces of art to more humorous creations.

Hitting major milestones

In 2010, Moeller's celebrated its 80th anniversary with "retro-priced" offerings, including bread for a dime and gingerbread cookies for a nickel, as a nod to their rich history. A couple of years ago, the bakery hit its 90-year milestone, but it's the impressive 100-year celebration that lies ahead in 2030.

R. Clayton McKee/For The Chronicle

Moeller's Bakery remains all in the family, as Gus' grandson Eric Moeller operates it today, alongside much of the staff who has worked at the bakery for decades.

Elliott Lapin / staff photo

The third-generation baker shared sentiments with the Chronicle in 2020: "I was talking to my dad, and he actually got a little teary-eyed when he realized we'd been around for 90 years and how much the city and everybody around here has just made us such an icon. We wouldn't be here without our customers."
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP)  Two more men have been arrested in connection with the 2018 kidnapping of a man later found shot to death in a snowbank in Barnet, Vermont.

Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, of Los Angeles, and Berk Eratay, 35, of Las Vegas, were arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiring to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire which resulted in the death of Gregory Davis, of Danville, the U.S. attorney's office for Vermont said Wednesday.
Chinese, German FMs hold virtual meeting on bilateral ties, multilateralism

Xinhua) 09:27, May 25, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock hold a video meeting on May 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

GUANGZHOU, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock held a video meeting on Tuesday, exchanging views on furthering bilateral ties and upholding true multilateralism, among other issues.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the China-Germany diplomatic ties. Wang said that, over the past five decades, the two countries have adhered to the concept of seeking common ground while reserving differences, mutual benefit and win-win results, and have deepened cooperation in various fields.

The all-round strategic partnership between the two countries has become an important stabilizing factor in today's world, Wang said, adding that the sound and steady development of China-Germany relations serves the interests of both sides and helps the two countries play a positive role in maintaining world peace, stability and development.

He said that the two countries should make good use of the government consultation mechanism, advance high-level dialogues on strategy, security, finance and people-to-people exchanges, and strengthen exchanges among local governments and youth, as well as educational and cultural exchanges.

Wang pointed out that China and Germany have been deeply involved in each other's development over the past 50 years, which is beneficial to both. China has been Germany's largest trading partner for six consecutive years, and Germany is China's largest trading partner in Europe.

"China is willing to deepen cooperation with Germany in traditional fields and expand cooperation in emerging fields such as intelligent manufacturing, information and communication, service trade and new-energy vehicles to foster new growth drivers for the two countries," said Wang.

Baerbock said Germany regards China as an important partner for cooperation and is formulating a new strategy toward China.

Germany is willing to maintain interactions with China at various levels, strengthen cooperation on environmental governance, climate change and pandemic response, and facilitate personnel exchanges, she added.

Wang said China hopes that Germany's new strategy toward China will remain active and pragmatic, with foreseeable positive results, and conducive to greater development of bilateral ties.

On issues of global significance, Wang said China and Germany, as two major countries, should further strengthen strategic communication, make joint efforts and inject more stability and positive energy into the world.

He said the two countries should explicitly uphold true multilateralism, and maintain the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the international law and basic norms governing international relations.

Baerbock said Germany supports multilateralism and is firmly committed to strengthening European strategic autonomy.

The two ministers also exchanged views on grain supply problems caused by spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis.

Wang said that the international community should push for an early ceasefire and a green channel for Russia and Ukraine to export grain. China is willing to maintain communication with all parties.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock hold a video meeting on May 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
Sunday, May 29

On this date in 1856, Camp Moore in the Sonoita Valley was renamed Fort Buchanan.

On this date in 1873, a troop of the 5th Cavalry established a camp on the San Carlos River near Gila. It became the headquarters for the military government of the San Carlos Indian Agency.

On this date in 1895, the University of Arizona held its first commencement with three graduates.

On this date in 1998, former Sen. Barry Goldwater, who served five terms as Arizonas U.S. senator and lost a bid for the presidency in 1964, dies at age 89 at his home in Paradise Valley.

On this date in 2011, the Wallow Fire breaks out in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest and goes on to become at the time the largest wildfire in Arizona. The fire was caused by a campfire started by two cousins.

Monday, May 30

On this date in 1864, a group of residents along Granite Creek met and established the town of Prescott, named after historian William Hickling Prescott.

On this date in 1910, President William Howard Taft signed Proclamation 1043, establishing Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

On this date in 1910, Richard Gird, partner of Ed and Al Schiefflin in the founding of Tombstone, and known in later years as the father of the California beet sugar industry, died.

On this date in 1935, the governors of Arizona and Utah met at Boulder City to unveil a memorial plaque dedicated to the 89 men killed during construction of Boulder Dam.

Tuesday, May 31

On this date in 1910, the Maricopa Reservation was quarantined because of an outbreak of whooping cough and measles.

On this date in 1923, Pipe Spring, a Mormon settlement, fort and site of the first telegraph station in Arizona territory, was made a National Monument.

On this date in 1929, Lady Mary Heath, British aviatrix, stopped in Yuma during her aerial tour of the United States.

Wednesday, June 1

On this date in 1868, the eighth and final treaty between the Navajo Nation and the United States was concluded at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. This treaty included the establishment of the present reservation of the Navajo Nation.

On this date in 1906, the mule-drawn street car made its last run to the gates of the University of Arizona beside the electric car which had gone into operation five days before.

On this date in 1910, fire destroyed the stable of the Pioneer Transfer Co. in Phoenix. Four horses were burned to death.

Thursday, June 2

On this date in 1913, Sarah Greenway, sister of John C. Greenway, lit a fire in the new Calumet & Arizona smelter at Douglas. A big community celebration marked the dedication of what was then the largest and most modern smelter in the United States.

On this date in 1930, radio station KTAR brought the first national broadcast network to Arizona through its affiliation with NBC.

On this date in 1935, three carloads of dynamite were set off to open the New Cornelia mine site at Ajo and 400,000 tons of rock were dislodged.

On this date in 1976, a bomb exploded beneath the car of Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles in a parking lot of a Phoenix hotel. Bolles died 11 days later.

Friday, June 3

On this date in 1901, Richard McCormick, first territorial secretary and second territorial governor of Arizona, died.

On this date in 1913, stockholders of the African Land and Irrigation Co. decided to construct a two-story building in Tucson as headquarters for the organization of Southern Arizona Negroes.

On this date in 1936, a convict at Florence State Prison attempted to escape and elude prison bloodhounds by swimming 16 miles (26 kilometers) through irrigation canals to Picacho Lake, towing his lunch in a milk pail.

On this day in 1996, record temperatures were reported in Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff and Wilcox. The mercury in Phoenix hit 111, just one degree hotter than the record for June 3, which was set in 1987 and tied in 1990. The temperature at Tucson International Airport reached 107 degrees, tying a 1990 record. Flagstaff hit 86 degrees, matching a record set in 1988, and in Wilcox, the mercury rose to 102 degrees, the hottest for a June 3 since 1956.

Saturday, June 4

On this date in 1871, Gen, George Crook assumed command of the Department of Arizona.

On this date in 1879, public disapproval halted the scheduled first drawing of the Territorial Lottery. Proceeds were intended to support public schools, but the idea was scrapped.

On this date in 1928, fire destroyed the hotel in Elgin.
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ISLAMABAD (AP)  A series of explosions shook Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Taliban said, including a blast inside a mosque in the capital of Kabul that killed at least five worshippers and three bombings of minivans in the country's north that killed nine passengers.

The Islamic State groups local affiliate claimed responsibility for the minivan bombings.

The Kabul Emergency Hospital said it received 22 victims of the mosque bombing, including five dead. There were no further details on the blast that struck the Hazrat Zakaria Mosque in the citys central Police District 4, according to Khalid Zadran, a Taliban police spokesman in Kabul.

The blast took place while people were inside the mosque for the evening prayers, Zadran said, adding that they were waiting for an update.

The minivans were targeted in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif after explosive devices were placed inside the vehicles, according to Mohammad Asif Waziri, a Taliban-appointed spokesman in Balkh province. He said the explosions killed nine and wounded 15.

All the victims in Mazar-e-Sharif were from the country's minority Shiite Muslims, according to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to give details to the media.

The IS claim of responsibility was posted on the Sunni militant group's Aamaq news agency. The statement said IS targeted three buses with improvised explosive devices.

There was no claim of responsibility for the Kabul mosque explosion but it also bore the hallmarks of the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province, or IS-K.

The IS affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the countrys new Taliban rulers. Following their takeover when they seized power in Kabul and elsewhere in the country last August, the Taliban have launched a sweeping crackdown against the IS headquarters in eastern Afghanistan.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  The Michigan Court of Appeals opened the door Wednesday to abortion opponents who are trying to overturn a recent decision that suspended the state's long-dormant ban on the procedure.

The court set a briefing schedule that runs through July 5.

A judge at the Court of Claims last week issued a preliminary injunction that freezes a 1931 ban on abortion in most instances. If the injunction stands, it means abortion would not be illegal in Michigan if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade decision by summer.

Right to Life of Michigan, the Michigan Catholic Conference and two county prosecutors are asking the appeals court to throw out the injunction granted by Judge Elizabeth Gleicher, who said the law likely violates the state constitution.

They said there was no reason for Gleicher to act since abortion remains legal in Michigan.

They also noted Gleicher's past legal work for Planned Parenthood of Michigan, which filed the lawsuit, and her financial support for the organization. The judge disclosed some ties to the group but didnt step aside from the case.

In a separate legal action, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is trying to get the Michigan Supreme Court to reach over lower courts and declare the 1931 law unconstitutional.

The issues are live and squarely presented in this case, and there is no reason for the court to delay its consideration of these issues of vital state importance, Assistant Attorney General Linus Banghart-Linn said in a filing Wednesday.
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A Somali police officer recently received an unexpected summons from the enemy. An unknown caller ordered him to report to a town outside the capital, Mogadishu, where the extremist group al-Shabab would settle a dispute between him and his brother. The caller assured the officer he would be safe even if he showed up in uniform.

Overcoming his fear, Khadar traveled to meet with a panel of four bearded men in an office made from iron sheets. The al-Shabab men wanted to know why he was denying his brothers a share of the land they inherited from their father.

After an hour and a half of debate, the men directed me to distribute the inheritance among my brothers," Khadar recalled in an interview with The Associated Press, withholding his last name for safety concerns.

Khadar complied, an extraordinary gesture to an armed group that continues to pose a deadly threat to his police colleagues and his government at large.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab is projecting authority and asserting a wider role in public life in this troubled Horn of Africa nation, underlining the extent of the challenge Africa's deadliest Islamic extremist group presents to the newly elected government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The threats range beyond regular attacks on places frequented by officials and include militant control of vast territory where federal officials don't dare go and can't even collect taxes.

The group, which seeks to create an Islamic caliphate out of Somalia, is also increasingly undermining authorities by offering a parallel justice system  enforced by the threat of violence  in a country where many have little faith in conventional courts.

Some people who spoke to the AP expressed a favorable view of al-Shabab, saying its mobile courts are not corrupt and that the group appears able to protect vulnerable people in ways the federal government cannot.

You will get justice in al-Shabab courtrooms if you know you are doing the right thing, said farmer Muallim Abdi, a father of eight children who lives in another al-Shabab-controlled village near Mogadishu. But in the government-controlled areas it will take time, and the formal courts are corrupt.

Abdi acknowledged that life under al-Shabab is extremely difficult, citing the children forced to join the group, the tax burden and the inability to enjoy private property. Last Ramadan, he said, al-Shabab asked residents to raise money to buy livestock to be slaughtered for the Eid feast, an unreasonable demand at a time when the riverbed was dry and some people were on the verge of displacement amid drought.

Al-Shabab remains in a healthy financial position thanks to illicit taxation as well as income derived from the ongoing sale of $40 million in charcoal stockpiles in the city of Kismayo, a U.N. panel of experts reported last year.

Al-Shabab's tax code compels all those intending to buy or sell farmland to register with the group's land office, through which sales can be finalized. Farmers are ordered to notify al-Shabab of the quantities they are harvesting.

Once I harvested and sold 2,247 bags of onions but did not inform al-Shabab because I had an emergency to attend to," Abdi said. I was home when two men on motorcycles arrived. I was accosted for not telling them about the harvest. I was detained in a small, dark room and nearly suffocated. There's no room for appeal in the al-Shabab system.

Despite the $1,123 fine he paid, Abdi still sees al-Shabab in a positive light because later it ruled in his favor to settle a land dispute with a neighbor. Both claimants were summoned and told to prove ownership before a committee that found his papers authentic, he said.

The public would rally behind al-Shabab if they stopped killing people," Abdi said.

Al-Shabab, which has killed thousands of civilians in the last decade, is estimated to have anywhere between 4,000 and 7,000 fighters, according to the Mogadishu-based security think tank Hiraal Institute.

Although al-Shabab's extortionate power has been a major concern among traders, some businesspeople said they feel more confident in its mediation of disputes.

They are becoming more reliable, and the people are counting on them, Hiraal Institute's Samira Gaid said of al-Shabab's court system.

Somalis from minority clans, a growing community, see al-Shabab courts as fair, she said.

Al-Shabab has seized even more territory in recent years, taking advantage of rifts among security personnel as well as disagreements between the government seat in Mogadishu and regional states.

Forced to retreat from Mogadishu in 2011, al-Shabab is slowly making a comeback from the rural areas to which it retreated, defying the presence of African Union peacekeepers as well as U.S. drone strikes targeting its fighters.

The militants in early May attacked a military base for AU peacekeepers outside Mogadishu, killing many Burundian troops. The attack came just days before the presidential vote that returned Mohamud to power five years after he had been voted out.

Al-Shababs strategy is to bleed the system while patiently waiting for the exit of foreign troops, said Gaid, the security analyst.

The restructured AU peacekeeping mission is set to wind down by the end of 2024, when Somali forces would take over security responsibilities.

American officials cited the heightened threat posed by al-Shabab in mid-May as President Joe Biden signed an order to redeploy hundreds of U.S. troops to Somalia. Somali authorities have welcomed the decision reversing a 2021 order to withdraw U.S. troops.

Mohamud has said securing Mogadishu will depend heavily on pushing militants out of the neighboring regions of Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle. That could be challenging.

Al-Shabab has sharply increased its infiltration of state institutions, particularly security institutions, said political analyst Abdi Aynte, a former government minister.

Rebuilding Somalia's security system "isn't an administrative problem but ultimately a political one," with the new president needing to reform the security services in a way that's accommodative of all competing groups, he said.

___

An Associated Press journalist in Somalia contributed. Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.
GLEN CARBON  Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois has announced nine girls who were named Outstanding Graduating Girl Scouts at the annual Recognition of Excellence ceremony on May 15.

Among the honorees was Amelia Barfield of Highland.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  A jury in Portland has convicted a self-published romance novelist  who once wrote an essay titled How to Murder Your Husband  of fatally shooting her husband four years ago.

The jury of seven women and five men found Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday after deliberating over two days in chef Daniel Brophys death, KOIN-TV reported.

Brophy, 63, was killed June 2, 2018, as he prepped for work at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Southwest Portland.

Crampton Brophy displayed no visible reaction Wednesday inside the crowded Multnomah County courtroom.

Lisa Maxfield, one of Crampton Brophys attorneys, said the defense team plans to appeal.

Prosecutors told jurors that Crampton Brophy was motivated by money problems and a life insurance policy.

Crampton Brophy said during the trial, however, that she had no reason to kill her husband and that their financial problems had largely been solved by cashing in a chunk of Brophy's retirement savings plan.

She owned the same make and model of gun used to kill her husband and was seen on surveillance camera footage driving to and from the culinary institute, court exhibits and court testimony showed.

Police never found the gun that killed Brophy. Prosecutors alleged Crampton Brophy swapped out the barrel of the gun used in the shooting and then discarded the barrel.

Defense attorneys said the gun parts were inspiration for Crampton Brophys writing and suggested someone else might have killed Brophy during a robbery gone wrong. Crampton Brophy testified during the trial that her presence near the culinary school on the day of her husband's death was mere coincidence and that she had parked in the area to work on her writing.

Crampton Brophys how-two treatise detailed various options for committing an untraceable killing and professed a desire to avoid getting caught. Circuit Judge Christopher Ramras ultimately excluded the essay from the trial, noting it was published in 2011. A prosecutor, however, alluded to the essays themes without naming it after Crampton Brophy took the stand.

Crampton Brophy has remained in custody since her arrest in September 2018, several months after her husband was shot. Her sentencing has been scheduled for June 13.
More than $19.2 million in relief has been made available for U.S. consumers deceived by Ford Motor Company when the automaker allegedly falsely advertised the real-world fuel economy of its C-Max hybrids and the payload capacity of certain Super Duty pickup trucks.

According to a state news release, the relief is the result of a "bipartisan multistate investigation" and part of a settlement agreement negotiated by an executive committee of states that includes Illinois. During the investigation, the coalition of attorneys general discovered Ford made several misleading representations about model years 2013 and 2014 C-Max hybrids and 2011-2014 Super Duty pickup trucks.

"Consumers should be able to trust information issued by a products manufacturer  particularly if the product is something as expensive as a vehicle. In this instance, Fords alleged false advertising misled consumers into buying a product they may have otherwise not purchased," Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement.

Misleading representations about C-Max hybrids include:

Misrepresenting the distance consumers could drive on one tank of gas

Advertising that individuals' driving styles would not impact real-world fuel economy

Claiming superior real-world fuel economy compared to other hybrids

Ford ran a series of misleading video advertisements called the "Hybrid Games," narrated like an Olympic sporting event and depicting the C-Max outperforming rival hybrid vehicles, the coalition alleges. The coalition further alleges the ads deceptively marketed C-Max vehicles as offering superior real-world fuel economy and driving performance.

After initially promoting the C-Max as getting a combined 47 miles per gallon, Ford lowered the hybrid's fuel economy rating in 2013 and again in 2014 to a combined 40 mpg.

The coalition also investigated alleged misleading "Best-in-Class" payload claims related to Ford's 2011-2014 Super Duty pickup trucks, including the F-250, F-350 and F-450 models, which cater to consumers hauling and towing heavy loads, the release states. The coalition alleges that Ford based its methodology used to calculate maximum payload capacity for advertising purposes on a hypothetical truck configuration that was available only to fleet customers.

The configuration omitted standard items including the spare wheel, tire and jack, center and flow console and radio, the coalition alleged. Ford did not sell any trucks with the configuration relied on for its "Best-in-Class" payload claim, the coalition alleged.

Of the $19.2 million settlement, Illinois will receive approximately $1 million, which will support efforts to protect residents from fraud.

Ford is required to correct deceptive advertising practices to ensure future claims of fuel efficiency are not false or misleading through the settlement.

"Ford has agreed not to make false or misleading claims about pickup truck payload capacity, and not to make false or misleading fuel economy claims," Texas AG Ken Paxton said in a statement. "In todays automotive marketplace, it is imperative that Texans receive accurate information from automakers to ensure they can make informed decisions."

Several attorneys general of states and jurisdictions signed onto the agreement, including those of 40 states and the District of Columbia. The coalition was led by a bipartisan group including the attorneys general of Oregon, Texas, Maryland, Vermont and Arizona as well as Raoul in Illinois.

Updated to reflect the Attorney General's latest news release.
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CHANTILLY, Va. (AP)  Jill Biden and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy welcomed the delivery Wednesday of a second shipment of tens of thousands of pounds of baby formula that the Biden administration is importing from Europe to ease critical supply shortages in the U.S.

The first lady and the nation's doctor each sought to empathize with anxious parents nationwide who have been scrambling to find enough formula for their children.

Both said President Joe Biden and his team understand what parents are going through and were working hard to solve the latest domestic crisis to challenge the administration. Biden has come under growing political pressure for not acting more quickly to try to head off the supply crisis.

As a mom and a Nana, its impossible to hear the stories of children suffering and not imagine your own children in the same position, the first lady said, using her grandchildren's nickname for her. "Food is the first and most important way we nurture our children.

Murthy, a father of two young children, said he knows how important it is to parents that they have confidence in their ability to safely and securely feed their child. And I know how frustrating and scary it can be when that security feels out of reach.

That is why we will not rest until every parent has the formula they need for their child, he pledged.

Biden and Murthy spoke on the tarmac at Dulles International Airport in Virginia in front of a FedEx Express plane that had just delivered 120,000 pounds (54,431. kilograms) , or 60 tons, of infant formula from Ramstein Air Base in Germany under the administration's Operation Fly Formula program.

With Wednesday's delivery and a shipment of 78000 pounds (35,380 kilograms) of specialty infant formula that was flown by military aircraft to Indianapolis over the weekend, we now have brought the equivalent of 1.5 million eight-ounce bottles of infant formula to the United States, Murthy said.

More deliveries are scheduled to arrive soon. The administration has cut the timeframe for deliveries to three days, down from up to four weeks, he said.

Jill Biden said her husband knows there is more to do to solve the baby formula shortages.

Im here today to say to parents, you arent alone, she said. At the highest levels of Joes administration, he and his team understand what youre going through and they are finding solutions. And they wont stop until all parents can get the formula all their children need.

Under Operation Fly Formula, infant formula that meets U.S. health and safety standards is imported from overseas manufacturers and delivered to hospitals and retailers in the United States.

The first shipment arrived Sunday, bringing 132 pallets of Nestle Health Science Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior formula to Indianapolis  enough for 500,000 eight-ounce bottles.

The 114 pallets of Nestle's Gerber Good Start Extensive HA formula delivered Wednesday will be transported by FedEx to a Nestle distribution facility near Allentown, Pennsylvania, the White House said.

The three formulas are for children who are allergic to cow's milk protein.

The baby formula shortage stems mostly from Abbott Nutritions plant in Sturgis, Michigan, which the Food and Drug Administration closed in February due to contamination issues. Abbott, one of a handful of companies that control the vast majority of the market for infant formula, then announced a massive recall of its product on Feb. 17, which led to the nationwide supply shortage.

Abbott and the FDA recently reached an agreement to reopen the plant next week. But it will take about two months before product is ready for delivery.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  A South Dakota man has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing a child and witness tampering.

A federal judge this week sent 40-year-old Kimo John Little Bird to prison for life on his conviction of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. An additional 10 years in prison was imposed for committing the crime while he was required to register as a sex offender. Little Bird was sentenced to five years in prison for witness tampering, to be served concurrently with the other counts.
Julia Wall/AP

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein left a Raleigh hospital on Wednesday after being treated earlier this week for what he called a minor stroke.

Stein's office confirmed his release the day after the two-term Democrat announced he was hospitalized. He said doctors removed a small blood clot and that he had no lingering effects.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP)  A 39-year-old man died after he exchanged gunfire with members of a Wichita SWAT team after a lengthy standoff on Wednesday, police said.

Officers were called to a home in west Wichita after a report of a shooting. The officers found a woman and child in the front yard and saw a man with a gun go into a home, Wichita Officer Chad Ditch said.
JERSEYVILLE  Employees at six west-central Illinois residential nursing care facilities owned by a Peoria company will share in almost $3 million to resolve a U.S. Department of Labor investigation into overtime wages.

The settlement involves more than 3,000 employees across the Midwest at 84 Petersen Health Care facilities.

In west-central Illinois, Petersen Health Care operates Willow Rose Rehab & Health Care in Jerseyville, Courtyard Estates of Girard, Robings Manor Rehabilitation & Health Care in Brighton, Eastside Health & Rehab Center in Pittsfield and Riverview Estates and Havana Health Care Center in Havana, according to a company directory of properties.

The labor department's Wage and Hour Division determined Petersen Health Care failed to give correct overtime pay because it "wrongly assumed the affected workers were not entitled."

The department's investigation also determined the company failed to pay wages for meal periods of less than 20 minutes, did not add bonuses and other incentive pay to workers hourly rate when calculating overtime pay, and failed to maintain accurate records of work hours.

The actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to a U.S. Department of Labor spokesman.

While residential healthcare workers at Petersen Health Care provided around-the-clock, daily living assistance and delivered essential care to people in need, they were subject to pay practices that underreported their hours of work and denied them the pay they were legally due, Wage and Hour Division acting Administrator Jessica Looman said. The U.S. Department of Labor will ensure that workers who commit themselves to caring for others will receive the wages they earned so they can also take care of themselves and their families.

In addition to agreeing to pay more than $2.9 million in back wages for overtime, Petersen Health Care CEO Mark Petersen has signed an agreement with the labor department to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act in the future.

Petersen Health Care manages skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation facilities across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri.
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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Pennsylvania's top election official said Wednesday that the margin between the top two candidates in last week's Republican primary for U.S. Senate is tight enough to trigger a statewide recount, dragging the outcome into June as the candidates fight in court.

The states acting secretary of state, Leigh Chapman, said the difference in vote totals for the top two finishers  celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick  fall within the margin in state law for a mandatory recount.

Oz, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, led McCormick by 902 votes, or 0.07 percentage points, out of 1,343,643 ballots reported by the state as of Wednesday.

One question for McCormicks campaign is whether there are enough outstanding ballots for him to make up the difference with Oz.

The Department of State estimated that counties had about 10,000 provisional and absentee ballots remaining to count, but it did not know how many were cast by Republican voters.

There are another 860 Republican mail-in ballots without handwritten dates on their envelopes that are the subject of court cases, department officials said.

In a recount, most of the ballots are simply rescanned electronically. Election workers check ballots by hand if a scanner recorded no vote or dismissed it as a double vote, and they may find more voters there, election lawyers say.

The biggest change in votes could come from the discovery of a data entry error, a human mistake  such as transposed numbers when tallying precinct voting data  that could go in either direction, they say.

Under Pennsylvanias recount law, the separation between the candidates must be inside the laws 0.5% margin. The Associated Press will not declare a winner in the race until the recount is complete. That could take until June 8.

The winner will face Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in Novembers midterm elections in what Democrats see as their best opportunity to pick up a seat in the closely divided Senate. The incumbent, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, is retiring after serving two terms.

The deadline for counties to report their unofficial results to the state elections office was Tuesday. Even so, counties continued counting thousands of ballots on Wednesday, including provisional, military and overseas absentee ballots.

Chapmans recount order is mandatory  unless the losing candidate requests that it not be carried out. McCormick had no plans to decline a recount and said in a statement that we look forward to a swift resolution so our party can unite and defeat Fetterman in the fall.

Counties will begin the recount next week and have until June 7 to finish and another day to report results to the state.

In those cases, McCormick is hoping to get help closing the gap in votes with Oz.

His campaign has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to compel counties to promptly count those ballots. A lower court has ordered a hearing next Tuesday on the matter.

Oz, the Republican National Committee and the state Republican Party oppose McCormicks request. A separate case that affects those same ballots could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timelywriter.

___

Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ap_politics.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Pamela Renee Conley, Rochester Institute of Technology

(THE CONVERSATION) An increasing number of deaf and hard-of-hearing kids in the U.S. are receiving cochlear implants  electrical conductors surgically inserted into the inner ear to stimulate the nerve responsible for hearing.

Fewer than 30,000 U.S. children had received cochlear implants by 2010, while an estimated 65,000 children had them by 2019. This is due to continuously improving medical and technological advances in cochlear implantation that make it cheaper and less painful to hear better than they would with other types of devices.

Yet most kids with cochlear implants still need significant help learning to understand and produce spoken language, much less learn material taught in lessons primarily meant for students who can hear. And they often struggle to fit in with peers who were born hearing, sometimes only finding a community that truly understands their lifes journeys upon reaching adulthood and connecting with other people who were born deaf or hard of hearing.

When parents choose to get their child a cochlear implant, they are no doubt making the best choices they can with the information and understanding they have about growing up and living in a world where most people can hear.

But too often they miss out on key support for themselves, and for their kids, from the Deaf community, which I am a part of  as the deaf mother of a deaf son  and which I study professionally. People who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, and those with average hearing all use sign language  the most common of which in the U.S. is American Sign Language  to fully understand and express themselves in ways that go beyond speech, and help each other navigate the challenges presented in a hearing world.

Key materials leave out vital information

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, some of the benefits of having a cochlear implant include being able to understand speech without lip reading, making telephone calls, watching TV and enjoying music.

Many professional websites maintained by hearing implant specialists boast that deaf and hard-of-hearing children can be successfully trained to speak and hear for full integration in their communities.

But these sources leave out key information, such as the common need for assistance in school even after getting a cochlear implant. Their primary focus, as with many consultations with hearing specialists, audiologists and speech therapists, is on helping deaf and hard-of-hearing children learn to listen and speak.

These efforts downplay or ignore the idea that there are other ways deaf and hard-of-hearing people can communicate, without hardship or difficulty. For instance, on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website section about screening for congenital deafness, the emphasis is on providing deaf and hard-of-hearing children early intervention services to avoid delays in learning to speak. Information on American Sign Language is reached only by clicking to another page and reading through a bullet list of technical jargon like auditory-oral and cued speech.

A history of oppression

Over decades, even centuries, the Deaf community in the U.S. and around the world has been ignored, and even repressed, by mainstream hearing society.

As far back as the 19th century, educators of deaf people, such as telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, have tended to believe that speaking and listening are critical to functioning in the broader society. As a result, they have discouraged children from learning to sign, even though research shows that if kids can communicate effectively without speaking, theyll be more interested in learning speech.

This resulted in the methods used to teach generations of deaf Americans, including me, at schools for the deaf. I was not allowed to use American Sign Language in the classroom, but rather what was called the Rochester Method, a combination of speech and fingerspelling.

Attendance at these schools, which are mostly residential, has been declining since the 1975 passage of the first federal law requiring public school systems to offer a range of education options for students with different medical or physical conditions, including hearing loss. One option was placement in mainstream schools with aides for assistance.

But public schools arent always good at supporting deaf and hard-of-hearing students, who often struggle to follow along and fit in at school, including classrooms, hallways, cafeterias and recreational spaces  all of which can be very noisy, making it hard to distinguish one persons voice from another.

Little attention paid

All this history helps explain why there is so little research about the Deaf community, and why officials and families often dont know much about it.

There is no recent census data or systematic research on the use of American Sign Language. The best figure Ive ever found was published in 2004, when the University of Iowas Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology estimated that between 250,000 and 500,000 people in the U.S.  both deaf and hearing  used American Sign Language.

In my personal and professional experience, this group  the Deaf community  is made up of people who are well equipped to support the mental, emotional and social health of deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their families. They participate fully in society, holding a wide range of jobsunhindered by the limits on their hearing. And they have come to understand the role of deafness in their own identities and lives. The HeART of Deaf Culture website offers a selection of creative works that present profound insight for Deaf identity affirmation.

Yet deaf children who are taught to speak often struggle with language delays through childhood and into adulthood. Teaching them to sign, however, can help them fully express their thoughts, feelings and ideas, and find acceptance and connection with others with similar experiences. I believe these children deserve to be taught to sign, to celebrate their deaf identity.

And many parents of deaf children want more help from the Deaf community than they are able to find. A 2018 survey found that just 27% of hearing families with a deaf child were connected with deaf adults to help support their child.

One parent told the surveyors: I wish we could have a deaf mentor or at least access to a program. I really would like to have a deaf person weekly in our home teaching us. And 8% of parents of deaf children reported wanting access to instruction in American Sign Language.

But there are not enough sign-fluent professionals available to meet that need.

As parents make their decisions about how best to support their deaf and hard-of-hearing children, they will definitely encounter a large number of medical experts, speech therapists and other professionals who want to help their kids function in a world that places a lot of emphasis on hearing. But they should know there is another community available, too, standing ready to help their deaf and hard-of-hearing kids, with or without cochlear implants, gain deeper understanding of themselves and more fully develop their limitless human potential.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/parents-of-deaf-children-often-miss-out-on-key-support-from-the-deaf-community-182641.
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Pfizer said Wednesday that it will provide nearly two dozen products, including its top-selling COVID-19 vaccine and treatment, at not-for-profit prices in some of the worlds poorest countries.

The drugmaker announced the program at the World Economic Forums annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, and said it was aimed at improving health equity in 45 lower-income countries. Most of the countries are in Africa, but the list also includes Haiti, Syria, Cambodia and North Korea.

The products, which are widely available in the U.S. and the European Union, include 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, some cancers and rare and inflammatory conditions. Company spokeswoman Pam Eisele said only a small number of the medicines and vaccines are currently available in the 45 countries.

New York-based Pfizer will charge only manufacturing costs and minimal distribution expenses, Eisele said. It will comply with any sanctions and all other applicable laws.

The drugmaker also plans to provide help with public education, training for health care providers and drug supply management.

What we discovered through the pandemic was that supply was not enough to resolve the issues that these countries are having, Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said Wednesday during a talk at Davos.

He noted that billions of doses of the company's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, have been offered for free to low-income countries, mainly through the U.S. government, but those doses can't be used right now.

Pfizers plan will still leave many middle-income countries and other nations to pay through the nose for lifesaving drugs they cant afford, said a statement from the Peoples Vaccine Alliance, a grouping of human rights organizations advocating for broader sharing of vaccines and their underlying technology. We shouldnt hail pandemic profiteers as heroes, even when they make qualified gestures like this," the statement said.

Earlier this month, the head of the World Health Organization called on Pfizer to make its COVID-19 treatment more widely available in poorer countries.

Comirnaty brought in nearly $37 billion in sales last year, and analysts expect the company's COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid to add almost $24 billion this year, according to the data firm FactSet.

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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.
Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Rachel N. Crain, 35, of 728 N. East St. was arrested at 2:43 a.m. Tuesday on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

 Robert A. Lakamp, 38, of 950 Goltra Ave. was arrested at 6:28 p.m. Monday on an aggravated battery charge. He was accused of hitting an employee at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, 1600 W. Walnut St.

THEFTS, BURGLARIES

 A package was taken May 17 from a residence in the 300 block of North East Street, according to a report filed at 3:21 p.m. Tuesday.

 A bench and the padlock attached to it were stolen between 5 p.m. Monday and 9 a.m. Tuesday from the first block of East Central Park.

OTHER REPORTS

 A resident of the 800 block of North Prairie Street told police he confiscated a BB gun from a child who was loitering on his property about 6:29 a.m. Tuesday.

 A Jacksonville man told police he was involved in a road-rage incident about 4:15 p.m. Monday in the 1200 block of West Morton Avenue. The man said an assailant hit him and then drove away.
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UVALDE, Texas (AP)  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says 15 people were killed in a shooting Tuesday at an elementary school.

Abbott says the suspected shooter, an 18-year-old man, also died and was believed to be killed by responding officers. He says 14 children and one teacher were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles west of San Antonio.

Abbott says the shooter had a handgun and possibly a rifle.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP'S EARLIER STORY IS BELOW

Two people were dead after a shooting at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday, and more than two dozen children were injured, hospital officials said. Police have said the suspected shooter is in custody.

Thirteen children were taken by ambulance or bus to Uvalde Memorial Hospital after an active shooter was reported at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, officials with the hospital said. The nature and severity of the peoples injuries wasnt immediately known, as is whether the dead are included in that count.

Another hospital, University Hospital in San Antonio, said a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

Authorities did not immediately provide any details on the shooting, though the Uvalde Police Department said the shooter was in custody shortly after 1 p.m.

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District had said an active shooter was reported at the school, which has an enrollment of just under 600 students. Earlier, the district had said that all schools in the district were locked down because of gunshots in the area.

A heavy police presence surrounded the school Tuesday afternoon, with officers in heavy vests diverting traffic and FBI agents coming and going from the building. School and city officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The district said that the city's civic center was being used as a reunification center.

The shooting in Texas came less than two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 Black shoppers and workers in what officials have described as a hate crime. Uvalde is home to about 16,000 people and is the seat of government for Uvalde County. The town is about 75 miles from the border with Mexico. Robb Elementary is in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes. There is a funeral home across the street from the school.
San Antonio school officials are responding to a mass shooting that killed at least 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, a town about an hour outside of city limits, on Tuesday.

Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed the 18-year-old male shooter is dead, and police officers are believed to have killed him. The shooter was a resident of Uvalde. Here's how local districts are responding.

South San ISD

The Southside district sent a letter to parents saying protecting the community is a "top priority" and listed new protocols for the remainder of the school year: no backpacks allowed at any campus for the next two days, access to campus limited to parents/guardians with proper ID, more "safety support" at each campus, and Thursday, May 26 will be a half day.

The district is also encouraging families to speak with their students and encourage them to report any suspicious activity.

Northside ISD

"The safety of students and staff is always our priority. We have safety measures and protocols in place at each of our campuses and we will continue to adhere to these for the remainder of the school year. We stand ready to provide any support we can to the staff and students of Uvalde Consolidated ISD."

Judson ISD

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Uvalde community during this tragic time. We stand in support of all the students, families, and staff of Uvalde CISD."

Harlandale ISD

In a note sent to parents, Harlandale Superintendent Gerardo Soto says the community is "devastated."

"We want to reassure our Harlandale ISD community that our police presence at our schools will be on high alert during the last few weeks of school. We will not tolerate any behavior that may lead us to believe that there is a threat to our students and staff. We want to reiterate that the safety and well being of the entire Harlandale ISD family is our top priority and we will do everything to protect that."

Northeast ISD

"Any time a tragedy like this occurs, District officers are reminded to stay vigilant and make sure they are visible at schools and within the community. North East ISD will continue to follow our daily safety protocols."

San Antonio ISD

Superintendent Jaime Aquino told families in his district that the community is "shattered." He addressed the Uvalde community, saying the district is ready to offer support and guidance counselors are "on alert and ready" to help. Aquino also assured parents that SAISD is committed to the safety of students, staff, and visitors.

"Its only natural that our reactions of the heart are accompanied by an instinctual reaction of heightened awareness, to guard and protect our own students and campus employees. Please know that SAISD is committed to the safety and security of our students, employees and visitors at all of our campuses. Our police and school administration remain vigilant," his statement says. "The pain is immense. Lets bring our minds and hearts together to send strength and comfort to everyone affected by todays horrific events."
The early morning calm is shattered by a series of dull thuds. The port of Haiphong was among the most heavily bombed sites in all of North Vietnam. But the war is now nearly a half-century behind and this corner of the waterfront has been dredged and reclaimed. The steady pounding comes from the VinFast stamping plant where million-pound presses gearing up for the first shift of the day.

VinFast came into existence five years ago, the latest addition to an unlikely conglomerate founded by Pham Nhat Vuong. After graduating from school in Moscow, he borrowed $25,000 to start an instant noodle company in Ukraine. In 2010 he sold it to Nestle for $150 million, returning to Vietnam to launch the Vingroup JSC. It today operates an assortment of businesses, including high-end shopping malls, spas, resorts and amusement parks, hospitals and even a university.

Now the richest man in VietnamForbes estimates his worth at $6.2 billionPham is now intent on becoming a global automotive baron. Dubbed VinFast, his newest venture is intent on living up to its name. Formed in 2017, it had its first vehicle, a modified BMW X5, in production two years later at a sprawling complex erected in Haiphong.

The smaller VF 7 is set to launch in 2023. Alex Kwanten

Coming to America

If all goes according to schedule, the Vietnamese automaker intends to have two new all-electric models on sale in the U.S. by the end of this year.

And if that isnt moving quickly enough, VinFast has announced plans for a $6.5 billion manufacturing complex in North Carolina, and a U.S. IPO to help pay for it.

We are a young company, but we have big ambitions, Pham said during a meeting with reporters and investors who had come to Vietnam last month.

While theres plenty of manufacturing in Vietnam, its largely focused on labor industries like garment production. The launch of VinFast marks a dramatic change that could radically alter the Southeast Asian nations economy. At least, thats Phams goal.

VinFast wants to deliver near-luxury features in the electric VF 8 and VF 9 at a more affordable price. Alex Kwanten

Coming Up Fast

Few took his plans seriously when VinFast first started with little more than a line of credit from Vingroup and a licensing agreement with BMW. It was able to secure a large chunk of land along Haiphongs harbor and lured in an assortment of automotive expats from Europe, Australia and the U.S. Like Jim DeLuca, its original CEO, and current design chief Dave Lyon, much of its leadership team were General Motors alum.

The emphasis on speed was perhaps the biggest mandate, the now-retired DeLuca explained during my visit to the Haiphong site in late 2018. To help cut development timesand costsVinFast teamed up with key automotive suppliers like Magna Steyr, ABB, Bosch and Siemens to help tool up its factory, while developing a version of the X5 and a modified BMW engine.

It defied naysayers: It took barely 18 months to set up its stamping presses and assembly line. The first saleable version of the SUVrenamed the VinFast Lux A2.0reached customers by the second half of 2019.

The Lux quickly clicked with Vietnams emerging middle class, becoming the countrys best-selling vehicle. Though noisy scooters still dominate the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the SUV is an increasingly common sight.

With a population of more than 97 million, VinFast has a potentially lucrative home market. But Pham early on made it clear his ambitions dont stop at Vietnams border.

Beyond Vietnam

In October 2018, even before the first Lux models had been delivered, VinFast staged its first press conference at the Paris Motor Show. Many dismissed it as a costly act of hubris, especially as VinFast focused exclusively on its domestic market for the next three years.

But in November when the Los Angeles Auto Show announced its first event since the Covid pandemic began, there was VinFast with the last slot on the conference schedule.

In an unexpected move, the automaker announced that it would halt production of the BMW-based Lux. Its new (but short-lived) CEO Michael Lohscheller said the company was going to abandon internal combustion technology entirely. Instead, it would shift to battery-electric vehicles, with its first two models making their debut at the LA Convention Center.

VinFast returned just two months later, revealing at CES 2022 that it was readying a total of five all-electric models, including the first two coming to the U.S. Renamed the VF 8 and VF 9, they are expected to go on sale here before the end of 2022. A third SUV, the smaller VF 7, is set to launch in 2023, according to Le Thi Thu Thuy, who replaced Lohscheller as VinFast CEO.

The company isnt new to electrified vehicles. It already produces battery scooters and buses in Vietnam. VinFast has again lined up an assortment of big-name suppliers, designers and engineering houses. The VF 8, for example, was largely designed by Italys legendary Pininfarina.

It delivered the first 100 of the subcompact VF 4 model to customers in Vietnam last month.

Le Thi Thu Thuy was brought on as VinFast CEO within the past year. Denise Truscello/Getty Images for VinFast

Building Up

The Haiphong plant has the capacity to produce an average 38 vehicles an hour, or 250,000 EVs a year, according to deputy CEO Shaun Calvert. It recently opened a plant for assembling battery packs and eventually expects to produce battery cells in Haiphong. The long-term goal is to get production in Vietnam up to nearly 1 million vehicles annually. And that doesnt include the new North Carolina complex.

The multi-stage project is set to begin operations in 2024 with a $2 billion assembly plant producing up to 150,000 of the VF 8 and VF 9 electric crossovers a year. Subsequent plans call for localizing battery production and adding the capacity to build electric buses. Eventually, CEO Thuy has indicated, the company could spend a total of $6.5 billion in North Carolina, and create up to 13,000 jobs.

Targeting a home market like Vietnam is one thing. Going after the crowded U.S. EV market is another matter entirely. Its going to be a dogfight, as a wave of new battery-cars comes to market over the next several years, said Joe Phillippi, senior analyst with AutoTrends Consulting.

VinFast will have to face off with a variety of familiar names rapidly expanding their presence in the EV marketincluding GM, Volkswagen, Ford and Hyundai, never mind the industrys main competitor, Tesla.

VinFast will lease batteries to drivers, charging $44 for the VF 9 pack. Alex Kwanten

Near-Luxury, Near-Affordable

Thuy wants to deliver near-luxury features in the VF 8 and VF 9 at a more affordable price than key competitors. The smaller of the two models will start at $40,700 before delivery fees, the larger at $55,500.

Theres an asterisk to those numbers. In a unique move, VinFast customers will purchase the vehicle but lease the battery pack.

There will be two leasing options, a basic plan at $35 a month for the VF 8, $44 for the VF 9. Motorists will get up to 310 miles of free use each month. Beyond that theyll pay an additional 11 cents per mile for the VF 8, 15 cents with the VF 9. An all-you-can-eat plan will run $110 a month for the VF 8 and $160 for the VF 9. The leases initially run for three years. Then, motorists will either buy the packs or continue to lease.

Under the lease, VinFast will replace packs that develop problems, including those that drop to lower than 70% of initial capacity. That, according to Thuy, should reduce concerns about the reliability and longevity of lithium-ion batteries.

Fast and Ambitious

Stephanie Brinley, the principal automotive analyst at IHS Markit, said shes skeptical that motorists will understand the leasing program, though she believes there could be potential benefits to that approach.

During a news conference in Vietnam last month, Vingroup founder Pham was peppered with questions about entering the U.S. market. He retained his traditionally upbeat attitude, but acknowledged that the move will be a long slog.

There is no easy or fast way to succeed in the U.S., he acknowledged through an interpreter. But I believe we can do it.

Its time to see if VinFasts ambitious launch schedule is up for the American challenge.

This article, VinFast Is Vietnams First Automaker Coming To A Showroom Near You, originally appeared on Forbes Advisor.
Texas Republicans are being slammed online for their stance on gun ownership following the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday that left 22 people dead, including 19 children, two adults and the shooter.

Among Texas leaders getting called out are Gov. Greg Abbott, who shortly after the tragedy called on Texans to support victims and their families. "Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde," Abbott wrote. "Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering."

Shortly after his message, a tweet the Republican governor wrote on gun ownership seven years ago resurfaced. "I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans," Abbott tweeted in October 2015, along with a link to a blog article about Texas ordering 1 million guns that year.

"How can you be grieving?" asked a person responding to Abbott's message for victims, pointing out the 2015 tweet. "YOU APPROVED." Podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen tweeted, "Are you EMBARRASSED, Greg?"

Abbott's 2015 tweet also circulated following the Sutherland Springs church shooting in November 2017, the Santa Fe High School shooting in May 2018, and the El Paso Walmart and Midland-Odessa shootings in August 2019.

Abbott, who is up for reelection in November, confirmed that the shooter was an 18-year-old who lived in the community. Last year, Abbott signed a bill lowering the age to carry a handgun from 21 to 18.

The Republican is also facing calls to cancel his speech at the National Rifle Association's (NRA) annual meeting in Houston Friday, three days after the shooting. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who said he was "fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde," is also scheduled to speak at the forum.

Following the shooting, Cruz also called for more armed law enforcement on school campuses. "We are seeing way too many of these horrific mass murders and we need to devote more law enforcement resources to stopping violent criminals preventing these kinds of absolute acts of evil," Cruz told reporters.

Social media users commenting on Cruz's post reminded the senator of when he refused to speak with students from the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted in response to Cruz's Twitter post. "Aren't you slated to headline a speaking gig for the NRA in three days - in Houston, no less? You can do more than pray. Faith without works is dead."

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) tweeted, "F--k you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless." Gallego later tweeted, "Just to be clear fk you @tedcruz you f--king baby killer."

Political contributor Ana Navarro-Cardenas, a frequent co-host on "The View," retweeted Cruz's tweet, adding, "If you are one of the spineless cowards held hostage by the gun-lobby and have been an obstacle to sensible gun reform, just shut the f--k up, right now."

Others being criticized for their stance on guns are Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) who represents Texas' 23rd Congressional District, which includes Uvalde. Following the shooting, Gonzales posted a message on Twitter: "My heart breaks for the city of Uvalde. Pray for our families." He also cited a Bible verse about young children.

Shortly after the post, social media users responded with screenshots of tweets from Gonzales with his previous comments on gun control, including a March 2021 post boasting that he had "voted No on two gun control measures in the House today" and that he is a "proud supporter of the Second Amendment and will do everything I can to oppose gun grabs from the far left."

One of the bills Gonzales rejected called for expanded background checks. "The shooter thanks you for your vote," one person commented on Gonzales's prayer post. "Uvalde couldnt have happened without you."
Pool/Getty Images

Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego pulled absolutely no punches in his response to the tragic mass shooting that happened at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school Tuesday afternoon, answering his colleagues' tweets of "thoughts and prayers" with aggressive and explicit language, even going so far as to call Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a "f--king baby killer."

Shortly after news broke of the shooting at Robb Elementary School, which has so far claimed the lives of 21 people, including 19 children, Gallego started his tweet storm with a simple message to the National Rifle Association: "F--k you @NRA." The organization is holding its annual conference this weekend in Houston, where speakers will include former President Donald Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and Cruz, who caught the brunt of Gallego's ire.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot are criticizing Gov. Greg Abbott after the Republican leader, during a press conference Wednesday about Tuesday's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, pointed to Chicago crime as an example of why tough gun laws are "not a real solution."

In his remarks following the tragedy that left 22 people dead, including 19 children, Abbott blamed a mental health crisis for the shooting. He also singled out gun laws in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles he said have been ineffective.

"I hate to say this but there are more people who get shot every weekend in Chicago than there are schools in Texas," Abbott said. "And we need to realize that people who think that well, maybe we can just implement tougher gun laws, it's gonna solve it. Chicago and L.A. and New York disprove that thesis."

Abbott continued, adding: "If you're looking for a real solution, Chicago teaches that what you're talking about, is not a real solution. Our job is to come up with real solutions that we can implement."

Pritzker took to Twitter to respond to Abbott shortly after the comments were made. "Shame on you, @GovAbbott," he wrote, pointing to a report that a majority of guns used in Chicago crimes came from outside of Illinois. "Don't feed into the false narrative about Chicago and Illinois - it's an excuse that politicians like you hide behind to stop the federal legislation we need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people."

Pritzker also accused Abbott of lying and explained that his comments perpetuate gun violence. "The majority of guns used in Chicago shootings come from states with lax gun laws," he wrote. "Do better. You have 19 kids and two teachers who deserve our best."

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also defended against Abbott's comments, tweeting, "Gov. Abbott, instead of coming after my city, take a moment to think about how YOU can stop this carnage. I work day and night to stop the violence. I see the suffering. Open your eyes. Lives are being lost. Be a part of the solution or get the hell out of the way."

Abbott and other Texas Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz and Uvalde Rep. Tony Gonzales, who also faced criticism after the shooting for their stance on gun ownership and for helping to pass laws that allowed the 18-year-old shooter, identified by authorities as Salvador Ramos, to purchase the assault rifle-style weapon he used in the shooting in Uvalde. Authorities said he bought two such rifles the previous week shortly after turning 18.
The National Rifle Association's annual member meeting is in Houston this weekend, an already controversial gathering now put under additional scrutiny after an armed teenager killed 19 students and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school Tuesday.

There are already calls for the meeting to be canceled in light of the shooting and protests planned in and around downtown's George R. Brown Convention Center, where the event will take place Friday through Sunday. The NRA's continued promotions for the event indicate it will go on as planned, including speeches from former President Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz and several other Texas Republicans.

That headlining event featuring the Republican speakers will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, while the main members' meeting will start at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Here's what you need to know about the convention and its relationship to the Uvalde shooting:

Protests planned

There are at least two protests planned Friday outside the NRA convention, a push from some of Houston's progressive groups to put pressure on the association and its influence on conservative lawmakers.

"When you go and shoot up a school full of kids and teachers... you've taken someone's right to life away," said Ashton Woods, leader of Black Lives Matter Houston.

BLM, Fiel Houston, Indivisible Houston and the Harris County Democratic Party are hosting a protest at Discovery Green just outside the convention center at 1 p.m. Friday.

"It's about making sure we create a nexus of power while calling out the organization that enables Republicans... like Greg Abbott and other folks who make these laws and put them on the books to make it easier for what happened to happen," Woods said. "These same people are talking about the right to life and about family. A child is a human at conception, but you won't protect children who are living."

An interfaith protest is also planned outside the convention also starting at 1 p.m. Friday, which organizers have said will include a march inside the convention hall.

No guns for Trump speech

The NRA, at the request of the U.S. Secret Service, will ban guns from the convention hall during Trump's speech Friday despite the association's longstanding stance against gun control.

According to the convention's events page, no one will be allowed to carry a firearm inside the convention hall. The association is not providing any options for people to store their guns during the speech.

The irony of a gun ban at the NRA's annual convention was called out by several people on Twitter.

Not canceled

Several prominent figures have called for the city of Houston to flat-out cancel the event, which is hosted at the city-owned downtown convention center.

Indivisible Houston has already garnered 3,000 online signatures for the event to be canceled. Texas governor hopeful Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat, also called for the convention to be canceled.

Mayor Sylvester Turner on Wednesday said the city will not cancel the event, citing the potential cost of lawsuits that could arise.

Woods, the BLM leader who is hosting the protest Friday, said the cost shouldn't be the measure for choosing to move forward with the event.

"I feel like the city of Houston needs to be canceling the contracts," Woods said. "They've got billions of dollars to give to HPD. They can spend a couple million dollars to cancel an event on Houston First property."

Cornyn out, but no one else

With canceling the event seemingly off the table, others have called for Abbott and other Republicans in the lineup to abandon their speaking commitment.

None of the speakers have said they would not appear, although Sen. John Cornyn had already pulled out over a scheduling conflict before Tuesday's massacre, according to Politico's Burgess Everett.

Abbott would not say if he would appear at the NRA meeting when he was asked at a press conference in Uvalde Wednesday afternoon.

As far as future plans are concerned, listen, Im living moment to moment right now," Abbott said. "My heart my head and my body are in Uvalde right now, and Im here to help the people that are hurting.

A parallel to Columbine

When armed teenagers slaughtered students at Columbine High School outside Denver in 1999, the NRA was slated to host their annual member meeting at a Denver convention center a month later.

Similar to the NRA convention in Houston, several peopleincluding parents of those killed and then-Denver Mayor Wellington Webbasked the NRA to cancel the convention, but NRA leaders refused. The Associated Press called it a "defiant" stand in their 1999 coverage of the event.

Protests in Denver drew 8,000 people in 1999, according to the Associated Press.

Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images

"Don't let my son's death be in vain," said Tom Mauser at the time, whose son was killed. "I am here today because my son would want me to be here. If my son was alive, he would be here, too."

Here in Houston, protest organizers hope to draw a large crowd and make meaningful change.

"Demand justice and accountability," said Woods of Houston organizers' hope for the protest. "They're on the immoral side of the tracks. They're on the wrong side of history, and we're going to make them feel uncomfortable. I'm not going to go super low, but I'm not going high either. They haven't been going high with us."
A press conference on the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas led by Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday was interrupted by Democratic gubernatorial opponent Beto O'Rourke, who approached the conference table and shouted remarks seemingly condemning Abbott and others onstage at the briefing.

"This is predictable," O'Rourke said before being shouted down by those on the stage.

"Sit down," said Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who was standing behind the table.

"Sir, you're out of line," shouted Uvalde Mayor Donald McLaughlin, gesticulating. "You're a sick son of a b-tch to do this to make a point."

"You're doing nothing," O'Rourke continued, seemingly addressing Abbott as officers approached him. "You said this was unpredictable, it's not. It's totally predictable."

O'Rourke was ultimately escorted out of the press conference. He is running for governor of Texas in November, facing tall odds in his campaign against Abbott, whom he has criticized for inaction on issues ranging from the state power grid to gun control. On Tuesday night O'Rourke called upon the governor to cancel his forthcoming appearance at an NRA convention in Houston, Texas on Saturday.

"Governor Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekends NRA convention and urge them to hold it anywhere but Texas," O'Rourke tweeted.

He also tweeted about the predictable nature of American mass shootings, calling them the direct results of policy decisions and calculated inaction on part of Abbott and Republican leaders.

"These massacres arent natural disasters, acts of God, or random," O'Rourke wrote. "They are totally predictable, direct consequences of the choices made by Greg Abbott and the majority of those in the legislature."
UPDATE: Gov. Greg Abbott has canceled his planned appearance at the NRA-ILA conference in Houston Friday, opting instead for a press conference in Uvalde.

Abbott's office sent out an advisory late Thursday night announcing the press conference at Uvalde High School at 3:30 p.m., which was around the time he was scheduled to appear. Abbott follows Sen. John Cornyn, who canceled on Tuesday, the day 19 kids and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School.

Cornyn was tapped by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday to work with Democrats on "middle ground" legislation in response to the school shooting.

Sen. Ted Cruz has not said whether he still plans to appear or not.

Original story follows below.

Days after a deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz are expected to appear at a National Rifle Association conference in Houston this Friday, May 27, along with former president Donald Trump. All three are on the schedule to appear along with Rep. Dan Crenshaw at the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) Leadership Forum at the George R. Brown Convention Center, according to an announcement.

Sen. John Cornyn was scheduled to attend the conference, but his office confirmed to MySA that he canceled his appearance.

Their expected appearance comes after 14 students and one teacher were killed by an 18-year-old suspected shooter Salvador Ramos at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday, May 24. It's not known if any of the Texas officials will speak on the shooting, but the announcement says they will appear during "a celebration of Second Amendment rights."

Abbott said that he mourned "this horrific loss" in a statement made Tuesday afternoon about the Uvalde shooting. Cruz also tweeted Tuesday that he was praying for the families, among many other reactions from Texas officials.

Their appearances and the NRA-ILA's conference draws comparison to when the NRA held a conference in Denver days after the deadly mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999. The NRA held the conference despite recordings released years later showing NRA officials were shaken by the shooting while also discussing alternatives to the conference.

Thousands turned out to protest the NRA conference in Denver.
GoFundMe is launching a streamlined, verified way to help Uvalde with monetary donations following the Robb Elementary school shooting in which at least 21 were killed on Tuesday, May 24. The hub is intended to be a centralized place to hold fundraiser efforts that have been verified as legitimate.

It will be continuously updated as more fundraisers are vetted and verified. The hub can be found here.

"Immediately following the news, GoFundMe mobilized a crisis team and began monitoring the platform for fundraisers created to help individuals and families. GoFundMe has a dedicated Trust & Safety team reviewing fundraisers related to this tragedy," GoFundMe spokeswoman Melanie Yost tells MySA in an email.

The hub contains two trusted fundraisers in connection to the mass shooting, one by Austin-based Los Verdes Supporter Group and another launched by VictimsFirst which is a network of families of victims from previous mass shootings.

The public can also donate by giving blood. University Health and the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center are urging San Antonio residents to roll up their sleeves in support of Uvalde, a community only an hour outside of city limits.

As of this write, at least 19 students and two educators were confirmed dead at the hand of an 18-year-old shooter, who is also dead.

"Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by Uvalde Elementary School Shooting," Yost adds. "At GoFundMe, we are working around the clock to ensure the families receive the support they need."

On Wednesday, Uvalde Consolidate Independent School District updated the public on how to help. The official social media platforms shared information from First State Bank of Uvalde, where a memorial fund has been created to help victims of the Robb school shooting. Donations can be made at any FSB branch or by mailing a check payable to "Robb School Memorial Fund" to 200 East Nopal St. in Uvalde. Zelle donations can be sent to robbschoolmemorialfund@gmail.com.
Republican Alexandra del Moral Mealer is set to face incumbent Democrat Lina Hidalgo in November after winning the GOP primary runoff for Harris County judge on Tuesday. Del Moral Mealer, a 37-year-old investment banker and retired Army captain, defeated attorney Vidal Martinez with more than 75 percent of the vote, according to final, unofficial results, Jasper Scherer of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Del Moral Mealer celebrated her win via Twitter Wednesday morning, writing, "Proud to be the Republican nominee for Harris County judge. The fight to bring accountable, effective and efficient government back to Harris County begins today."

During the March 1 Republican primary, Del Moral Mealer secured 30 percent of the vote, leading against eight other GOP candidates, including Martinez, who won 26 percent of the vote. The race went to a runoff because no candidate secured more than 50 percent of the votes.

Hidalgo won the Democratic primary against five other candidates with 70 percent of the vote. In response to Del Moral Mealer's win, Hidalgo's campaign manager Jonathan Geldof issued a statement Wednesday, stating, "In nominating Alex Mealer, the Harris County GOP has chosen to ignore the priorities of everyday people and side with the far-right."

Geldoff continued, writing, "Mealer has aligned with anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists and promised to work hand-in-hand with Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott to purge voting rolls; she has opposed the worst-first allocation of flood funds; and she has said that, as County Judge, shell take unlimited contributions from County vendors - a practice Lina Hidalgo ended in her office."

Geldoff held that Hidalgo's team is "confident" voters will reelect her in November and support her "record of leadership through disasters ranging from floods to COVID-19 to chemical fires, over Mealers promise to return to the old way of doing things.

Del Moral Mealer's campaign did not respond to a request for comment by the time of this writing.

During her campaign, Mealer  who garnered endorsements from Sen. Ted Cruz and Houston business owner Jim Mattress Mack McIngvale  has taken aim at the indictments of three of Hidalgo's top aides and has claimed she would be tougher on violent crime in Harris County. Meanwhile, Hidalgo has repeatedly defended her staffers and has stood by the county's strategy on violent crime.
WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southwestern Edwards County in south central Texas...

Northeastern Val Verde County in south central Texas...

* Until 1015 PM CDT.

* At 910 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from 9 miles west of Loma Alta to 10 miles northeast of

Carta Valley, moving southeast at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Loma Alta, Carta Valley, Barksdale, Vinegarone and Devils River

State Nat Area Del Norte.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Large hail, damaging winds, and continuous cloud to ground lightning

are occurring with these storms. Move indoors immediately. Lightning

is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear

thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 945 PM CDT

FOR NORTHWESTERN WILLIAMSON AND BURNET COUNTIES...

At 911 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Lake Victor, or

9 miles north of Burnet, moving east at 45 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable

tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,

roofs, and outbuildings.

Locations impacted include...

Georgetown, Burnet, Marble Falls, Kingsland, Bertram, Serenada,

Buchanan Dam, Leander, Liberty Hill, Florence, Inks Lake State Park,

Georgetown Dam, Watson, Oatmeal, Briggs, Sun City, Lake Victor,

Mahomet, Sunnylane and Longhorn Cavern State Park.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of eastern Dimmit and

southwestern Frio Counties through 930 PM CDT...

At 912 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from near Millett to near Gilson Groves. Movement

was southeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph and penny size hail.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Dilley, Chaparral Wildlife Management Area, Catarina, Light and Las

Vegas.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 300 AM CDT for

south central Texas.

LAT...LON 2829 9971 2864 9945 2864 9941 2870 9941

2874 9938 2865 9914 2864 9939 2821 9940

2820 9959

TIME...MOT...LOC 0212Z 295DEG 39KT 2858 9924 2826 9968

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.75 IN

MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHWESTERN WEBB COUNTY WILL

EXPIRE AT 915 PM CDT...

The storm which prompted the warning has moved out of the area.

Therefore, the warning will be allowed to expire. However small hail

and gusty winds are still possible with this thunderstorm.

Kerr County in south central Texas...

Gillespie County in south central Texas...

Northeastern Real County in south central Texas...

* At 914 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from 11 miles southeast of Yates Crossing to near Kerr

Wildlife Management Area to 17 miles northwest of Lost Maples State

Natural Area, moving east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Ingram, Hunt, Cherry Spring, Tivydale,

Kerrville-Schreiner Park, Doss, Kerr Wildlife Management Area,

Waltonia, Harper, Mountain Home, Crabapple, Enchanted Rock State

Natural Area, I-10 Near The Kimble-Kerr County Line and The

Intersection Of I-10 And Us 290.

Northern Val Verde County in south central Texas...

* At 915 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from 18 miles south of Ozona to 14 miles northwest of

Pumpville, moving southeast at 30 mph.

Langtry, Juno, Shumla, Pandale, Pumpville, Bakers Crossing and

Devils River State Nat Area Del Norte.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Central Kerr County in south central Texas...

* Until 1115 PM CDT.

* At 1008 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Kerr Wildlife Management Area to 10 miles north

of Lost Maples State Natural Area, moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Ingram, Hunt, Mountain Home, Kerr Wildlife Management Area and

Waltonia.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi has issued a

Northeastern La Salle County in south central Texas...

Northwestern McMullen County in south central Texas...

* Until 1100 PM CDT.

* At 1010 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 9 miles southwest

of Los Angeles, or 11 miles southeast of Cotulla, moving east at 40

mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable

tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,

roofs, and outbuildings.

Cotulla, Tilden, Fort Ewell Site, Los Angeles, Zella and Fowlerton.

This includes Interstate 35 between mile markers 65 and 73.

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 115 AM CDT WEDNESDAY...

* WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected.

* WHERE...A portion of south central Texas, including the following

county, Kerr.

* WHEN...Until 115 AM CDT.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 1011 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to

thunderstorms. Minor flooding is ongoing or expected to begin

shortly in the advisory area. Between 1 and 3 inches of rain

have fallen.

- Additional rainfall amounts up to 2 inches are expected over

the area. This additional rain will result in minor flooding.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Hunt, Kerr Wildlife Management Area, Mountain Home and

Harper.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the

dangers of flooding.

In hilly terrain there are hundreds of low water crossings which are

potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded

roads. Find an alternate route.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
As the war in Ukraine unfolds, I cant help but admire the steadfast resolve of the Ukrainian people to resist the Russian invasion. Many of them would rather die than submit to Russian authority.

The president of Ukraine, President Zelensky, has displayed remarkable leadership and courage to rally his people, raise world-wide awareness of his countrys plight and mobilise international support. He embodies a person who is both a man of action and words.

Pictures of Ukrainian civilians walking in front of Russian tanks and bringing a tank to a halt in an act of defiance are particularly chilling.

Stories of women and children staying together as a family in the ruins of the Mariupol steelworks, with little food and water and under constant bombardment, display an intense resolve and unity of purpose.

These acts of courage bring admiration and raise some important questions.

Do I have a cause I am prepared to die for?

Would I be prepared to die for my country?

What are my red lines? The lines that I will refuse to cross.

And how far am I prepared to go for my faith?

In this world thousands of Christians are being persecuted and killed every day for their faith in Jesus Christ and I ask myself.

Would I be prepared to be persecuted and killed in the name of Jesus Christ?

The blazing furnace

One of the most powerful stories in the Bible displaying courage and conviction is the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

After being exiled to Babylon they refused to worship King Nebuchadnezzars image of gold and had to bear the consequences of their decision. Furious with rage at their refusal Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw them into a blazing furnace.

They responded:

Daniel chapter 3, verses 17-18

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majestys hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.

This response made Nebuchadnezzar even more angry and he ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual.

Once Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the blazing furnace, King Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace and leaped to his feet in amazement.

Daniel chapter 3, verse 25

He said, Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.

Jesus walked with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fire and the fire did not harm their bodies and they emerged without a hair singed.

This led Nebuchadnezzar to praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The king had a complete change of heart.

Refuge and shelter

This story can give us an immense set of comfort. No matter how dire our circumstances, God will protect us and be our refuge and shelter.

I wrote a song about this called Refuge and Shelter.

There is no darkness in heaven

Not even a shadow

Cast a light on His face hes everywhere

There is no sadness in Heaven

Not even a shadow

The sound of All Saints bring joy in the air

I would rather be ashes than dust

To be on fire in your trust

I would rather be ashes than dust

Blazing your love your love

You create the shelter and shade from the heat of the day

And a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain

Isnt this what our lives are to be?

A life of surrender, already paid for so God can use us to make an impact in ashes rather than scattered dust.

And after all, we cant be threatened with heaven.
WFO CORPUS CHRISTI Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Corpus Christi TX

1053 PM CDT Tue May 24 2022

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1100 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHWESTERN WEBB COUNTY...

At 1052 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Aguilares, or

21 miles east of Laredo, moving southeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Ranchitos Las Lomas.

This includes US Highway 59 between mile markers 812 and 814.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading

killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to

be struck by lightning.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN LA SALLE AND WEST

CENTRAL MCMULLEN COUNTIES WILL EXPIRE AT 1100 PM CDT...

The storm which prompted the warning has weakened below severe

limits, and no longer poses an immediate threat to life or property.

Therefore, the warning will be allowed to expire.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 300 AM CDT for

south central Texas.

TX

. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ATASCOSA BANDERA BASTROP

BEXAR BLANCO BURNET

CALDWELL COMAL DIMMIT

DUVAL EDWARDS FRIO

GILLESPIE GUADALUPE HAYS

KENDALL KERR KINNEY

LA SALLE LEE LLANO

MCMULLEN MAVERICK MEDINA

REAL TRAVIS UVALDE

VAL VERDE WEBB WILLIAMSON

WILSON ZAVALA

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Kinney County in south central Texas...

Uvalde County in south central Texas...

Southwestern Edwards County in south central Texas...

Southeastern Val Verde County in south central Texas...

Southwestern Real County in south central Texas...

* Until midnight CDT.

* At 1055 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Camp Wood to 12 miles northeast of Long Point,

moving southeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Del Rio, Uvalde, Brackettville, Spofford, Camp Wood, Laguna,

Barksdale, Concan, Vance, Laughlin AFB, Uvalde Estates, Dabney,

Cline, Anacacho, Reagan Wells, Alamo Village, Carta Valley, Knippa,

Blewett and Amanda.

Large hail, damaging winds, and continuous cloud to ground lightning

are occurring with these storms. Move indoors immediately. Lightning

is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear

thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of Robertson, Milam and

southwestern Leon Counties through 1130 PM CDT...

At 1055 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from near Rosebud to 6 miles northeast of Granger

Dam. Movement was south at 15 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects.

Rockdale, Cameron, Hearne, Franklin, Thorndale, Calvert, Bremond,

Jewett, Normangee, Buckholts, Milano and Marquez.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

central Texas.

LAT...LON 3046 9715 3073 9727 3075 9731 3105 9696

3144 9617 3109 9597 3092 9634 3074 9646

3070 9656 3073 9662

TIME...MOT...LOC 0355Z 346DEG 8KT 3106 9692 3076 9724

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN

MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northwestern Webb

County through 1130 PM CDT...

At 1055 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near

Chupadera Ranch Airport, or 28 miles south of Carrizo Springs, moving

southeast at 40 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and penny size hail.

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Chupadera Ranch Airport.

LAT...LON 2820 10008 2820 9968 2819 9961 2793 9973

2804 10001 2807 10002 2809 10005 2810 10005

2812 10007 2815 10008 2815 10010

TIME...MOT...LOC 0355Z 293DEG 33KT 2815 10002

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.75 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO CORPUS CHRISTI Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northwestern Webb County in south central Texas...

* Until 1145 PM CDT.

* At 1106 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 12 miles

southeast of Chupadera Ranch Airport, or 28 miles south of Carrizo

Springs, moving east at 40 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Las Tiendas, La Esperanza Ranch Airport and Callaghan.

This includes the following highways...

Interstate 35 between mile markers 24 and 31.

US Highway 83 between mile markers 668 and 692.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of central Smith,

Franklin and Wood Counties through 1145 PM CDT...

At 1107 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from near Cooper Lake Park South Sulphur to near

Edom. Movement was east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects.

Locations impacted include...

Tyler, Whitehouse, Mineola, Winnsboro, Lindale, Mount Vernon,

Quitman, Hawkins, Hoard, Scroggins, Pleasant Grove, Purley,

Hainesville, Golden, Forest Hill, New Chapel Hill, Winona, Yantis,

Red Springs and Perryville.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

LAT...LON 3296 9563 3296 9531 3334 9531 3334 9514

3222 9517 3229 9545 3237 9545 3248 9559

3269 9559 3272 9563

TIME...MOT...LOC 0407Z 266DEG 26KT 3330 9556 3240 9555

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of Williamson,

northwestern Travis and central Burnet Counties through MIDNIGHT

CDT...

a line extending from near Watson to near Smithwick. Movement was

east at 40 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and nickel size hail.

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Round Rock, Georgetown, Taylor, Burnet, Granger, Bertram, Serenada,

Leander, Bartlett, Liberty Hill, Jarrell, Florence, Thrall, Weir,

Georgetown Dam, Watson, Granger Dam, Joppa, Andice and Shady Grove.

Torrential rainfall is also occurring with these storms and may lead

to localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded

roadways.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with these storms.

Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe

shelter inside a building or vehicle.

These storms may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 300 AM CDT for

south central Texas.

LAT...LON 3091 9783 3087 9762 3074 9727 3058 9721

3055 9823 3095 9817 3099 9788

TIME...MOT...LOC 0407Z 268DEG 37KT 3090 9805 3057 9806

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1145 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHEASTERN WEBB COUNTY...

At 1109 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Mirando City,

or 21 miles west of Hebbronville, moving southeast at 35 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

Oilton, Mirando City and Aguilares.

Continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading

killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to

be struck by lightning.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO CORPUS CHRISTI Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

McMullen County in south central Texas...

West central Live Oak County in south central Texas...

* Until 245 AM CDT.

* At 200 AM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Tilden,

moving southeast at 25 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Choke Canyon, Tilden, Calliham and Simmons.

This includes Interstate 37 near mile marker 73.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

To report severe weather, contact your nearest law enforcement

agency. They will send your report to the National Weather Service

office in Corpus Christi.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO LUBBOCK Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

FLASH FLOOD WARNING

Flash Flood Statement

National Weather Service Lubbock TX

623 PM CDT Tue May 24 2022

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 730 PM CDT THIS

EVENING FOR SOUTHEASTERN HOCKLEY, SOUTHERN LUBBOCK, NORTHERN LYNN

AND NORTHEASTERN TERRY COUNTIES...

At 623 PM CDT, Doppler radar and automated rain gauges indicated the

heaviest rain was near Ransom Canyon and was starting to move east

into Crosby County. Between 1 and 3 inches of rain have fallen.

Additional rainfall amounts up to 1 inch are possible in the warned

area. Flash flooding is already occurring.

HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms.

SOURCE...Radar and automated gauges.

IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas,

highways, streets and underpasses as well as other poor

drainage and low-lying areas.

Some locations that will experience flash flooding include...

Lubbock, Levelland, Slaton, Wolfforth, Ransom Canyon, Slide,

Woodrow, Lubbock South Plains Mall, Texas Tech University,

Downtown Lubbock, Reese Center, Meadow, Wilson, Smyer, Buffalo

Springs, Ropesville, New Home and Lubbock Science Spectrum.

Although the heavies rain is starting to move out of the warned

area, dangerous flooding will continue.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads.

Stay away or be swept away. River banks and culverts can become

unstable and unsafe.

The National Weather Service in Lubbock Texas has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Western Dickens County in northwestern Texas...

Southeastern Crosby County in northwestern Texas...

* Until 715 PM CDT.

* At 622 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Afton to 8 miles west of Dickens to 3 miles

northwest of Kalgary, moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Spur, Dickens, White River Lake, Kalgary, Afton, and Mcadoo.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

TX

. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

BELL BOSQUE BROWN

BURNET CALLAHAN COKE

COLEMAN COLLIN COMANCHE

CONCHO CORYELL CROCKETT

DALLAS DELTA EASTLAND

EDWARDS ELLIS ERATH

FANNIN FISHER GILLESPIE

HAMILTON HENDERSON HILL

HOOD HOPKINS HUNT

IRION JOHNSON KAUFMAN

KERR KIMBLE KINNEY

LAMAR LAMPASAS LLANO

MCCULLOCH MCLENNAN MASON

MAVERICK MENARD MILLS

NAVARRO NOLAN RAINS

REAL ROCKWALL RUNNELS

SAN SABA SCHLEICHER SOMERVELL

STERLING SUTTON TARRANT

TAYLOR TOM GREEN VAL VERDE

VAN ZANDT

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern

Schleicher and northwestern Sutton Counties through 715 PM CDT...

At 623 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over

Sonora, moving northeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

Sonora, Eldorado, The Intersection Of I-10 And Ranch Road 1989, Us-

277 Near The Sutton-

Schleicher County Line and The Intersection Of Ranch Road 2596 And

Ranch Road 864.

This includes Interstate 10 between Mile Markers 390 and 409.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

west central Texas.

LAT...LON 3047 10066 3061 10082 3099 10052 3073 10013

TIME...MOT...LOC 2323Z 230DEG 38KT 3060 10067

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 645 PM CDT FOR

SOUTHEASTERN CROSBY COUNTY...

At 623 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado

was located 4 miles northwest of White River Lake, moving east at 15

mph.

HAZARD...Tornado and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated rotation.

IMPACT...Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without

shelter. Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed. Damage

to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur. Tree damage is

likely.

White River Lake.

TAKE COVER NOW! Move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest

floor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows. If you are outdoors, in a

mobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter

and protect yourself from flying debris.

Heavy rainfall may hide this tornado. Do not wait to see or hear the

tornado. TAKE COVER NOW!

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 645 PM CDT

FOR EASTERN GARZA AND SOUTHEASTERN CROSBY COUNTIES...

At 625 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 9 miles northeast of

Post, moving northeast at 15 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable

tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,

roofs, and outbuildings.

Lake Alan Henry, Kalgary and Justiceburg.

The National Weather Service in Midland has issued a

Northeastern Ector County in western Texas...

Central Midland County in western Texas...

* At 625 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Midland

International Air and Space Port, or 7 miles northeast of Odessa,

moving east at 40 mph.

Midland, Odessa, Greenwood, Midland International Air and Space

Port, Cotton Flat, Warfield and Skywest Airport.

This includes Interstate 20 between mile markers 121 and 131, and

between mile markers 137 and 143.

FOR SOUTHWESTERN BROWN...SOUTHEASTERN COLEMAN...CENTRAL MCCULLOCH AND

WEST CENTRAL SAN SABA COUNTIES...

At 625 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Placid, moving

northeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and ping pong ball size hail.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

considerable tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to

mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings.

This severe storm will be near...

Mercury around 635 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Whon,

Milburn, Fife, Us-283 Near The Mcculloch-Coleman County Line and Us-

190 Near The Mcculloch-San Saba County Line.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO MIDLAND/ODESSA Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

DUST STORM WARNING

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED

Dust Storm Warning

National Weather Service Midland/Odessa TX

732 PM CDT Tue May 24 2022

The National Weather Service in Midland has issued a

* Dust Storm Warning for...

Pecos County in southwestern Texas...

North central Brewster County in southwestern Texas...

Northwestern Terrell County in southwestern Texas...

* Until 800 PM CDT.

* At 730 PM CDT, a wall of dust was located near I-10 from the

western Pecos county line to Iraan, moving south at 50 mph.

HAZARD...Less than a quarter mile visibility with damaging wind in

excess of 60 mph.

SOURCE...Doppler Radar and trained spotters.

IMPACT...Dangerous life-threatening travel.

* This includes Interstate 10 between mile markers 229 and 327.

Locations impacted include...

Fort Stockton, Sheffield, Iraan, Fort Stockton-Pecos County Airport,

Sierra Madera, Firestone Test Track, Iraan Municipal Airport and

Bakersfield.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Dust storms lead to dangerous driving conditions with visibility

reduced to near zero. If driving, avoid dust storms if possible. If

caught in one, pull off the road, turn off your lights and keep your

foot off the brake.

There is no safe place on a highway when a dust storm hits.

Visibility can be lost immediately, making it difficult or impossible

to slow down and avoid stopped vehicles. Delay travel, or safely exit

the highway before the dust storm arrives.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of Llano and

northwestern Burnet Counties through 830 PM CDT...

At 731 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from near Chappel to near Fredonia to Yates

Crossing. Movement was east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Llano, Buchanan Lake Village, Castell, Field Creek, Lone Grove,

Bluffton, Valley Spring, Baby Head, Prairie Mountain, Stolz, Oxford,

Tow and Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

Torrential rainfall is also occurring with these storms and may lead

to localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded

roadways.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with these storms.

Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe

shelter inside a building or vehicle.

These storms may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

south central Texas.

LAT...LON 3084 9844 3051 9870 3051 9896 3092 9896

3092 9845 3093 9841 3096 9845 3098 9844

3101 9846 3103 9844 3103 9797

TIME...MOT...LOC 0031Z 266DEG 26KT 3109 9862 3096 9906 3060 9957

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHWESTERN HAMILTON...NORTHEASTERN MILLS AND SOUTHEASTERN

COMANCHE COUNTIES...

At 732 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 7 miles southeast of

Gustine, or 11 miles northwest of Hamilton, moving northeast at 35

mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and penny size hail.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

For your protection stay inside a sturdy structure and keep away from

windows.

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Eastern Reagan County in western Texas...

* At 733 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 11 miles northeast

of Big Lake, moving east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Big Lake and Reagan County Airport.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

TX

. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ANDREWS BORDEN CRANE

CROSBY DAWSON DICKENS

ECTOR GAINES GARZA

GLASSCOCK HOWARD KENT

KING LOVING LYNN

MARTIN MIDLAND MITCHELL

REAGAN SCURRY STONEWALL

UPTON WARD WINKLER

...HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING...

* WHAT...Dangerous rip currents.

* WHERE...Matagorda Islands, Brazoria Islands, Galveston Island

and Bolivar Peninsula Counties.

* WHEN...Through Wednesday evening.

* IMPACTS...Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away

from shore into deeper water.

Swim near a lifeguard. If caught in a rip current, relax and float.

Do not swim against the current. If able, swim in a direction

following the shoreline. If unable to escape, face the shore and

call or wave for help.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 745 PM CDT

FOR NORTHWESTERN EDWARDS COUNTY...

At 734 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 17 miles northwest

of Rocksprings, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind

damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

This severe thunderstorm will remain over mainly rural areas of

northwestern Edwards County.

Prepare immediately for large hail and deadly cloud to ground

lightning. Seek shelter inside a well-built structure. Stay away from

FOR SOUTHEASTERN MILLS COUNTY...

At 734 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 11 miles east of

Goldthwaite, or 22 miles southwest of Hamilton, moving east at 45

Goldthwaite.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN STERLING COUNTY

IS CANCELLED...

The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of

the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

west central Texas.

FOR CENTRAL TOM GREEN AND EASTERN IRION COUNTIES...

At 735 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Arden, moving

southeast at 40 mph.

HAZARD...Two inch hail and 70 mph wind gusts.

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

considerable tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to

mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings.

This severe storm will be near...

Tankersley and San Angelo State Park around 745 PM CDT.

O.c. Fisher Reservoir around 750 PM CDT.

Lake Nasworthy and Twin Buttes Reservoir around 755 PM CDT.

Goodfellow Air Force Base around 800 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Us-

67 Near The Irion-Tom Green County Line.

Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside

should move to a shelter, inside a strong building and away from

Continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading

killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to

be struck by lightning.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO MIDLAND/ODESSA Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Midland/Odessa TX

742 PM CDT Tue May 24 2022

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHEASTERN REAGAN COUNTY...

At 742 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 15 miles northeast

of Big Lake, moving east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind

damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Big Lake and Reagan County Airport.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

TX

. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ANDREWS BORDEN CRANE

DAWSON DICKENS ECTOR

GAINES GLASSCOCK HOWARD

KENT KING LOVING

MARTIN MIDLAND MITCHELL

REAGAN SCURRY STONEWALL

UPTON WARD WINKLER

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northern Edwards County in south central Texas...

* Until 830 PM CDT.

* At 744 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 11 miles northwest

of Rocksprings, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Rocksprings and Devil's Sinkhole State Natural Area.

Large hail, damaging winds, and continuous cloud to ground lightning

are occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is

one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder,

you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

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ZZ Top pulled into the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium Wednesday evening for a rocking performance. The band has been together for over five decades and sold over 30 million records across 15 studio albums. The loss of long-time bassist Dusty Hill in 2021 did not stop the band as his spot o
A recent TV newsclip on the Ukrainian invasion showed worshippers in a Ukrainian church lighting candles and offering prayers. The commentator referred to their unanswered prayers for Ukraine, implying such prayers are ineffectual and futile, and a mark of the desperation of a people increasingly suffering from Russian aggression.

Is that all these prayers are? A sign of desperation?

It all depends on how we regard prayer.

How do we regard such prayers?

Was prayer answered in the release of those who were trapped in the steelworks in Mariupol?

Many prayed for the release of the civilians, including women and children, from the steelworks bunkers. Now they have been released, thanks to the hard work, persistence and no doubt negotiation skills of the agencies involved. Is this the miracle that many prayed for?

But what about the wounded soldiers needing care, and those holed up who are continuing to fight? How are they to be prayed for?

Prayer can be complicated. It can be many things. As can how we interpret whether prayers have been answered or not.

Lets consider what prayer is NOT.

Prayer is not provocation. One morning when I was in Jerusalem our group had received permission to visit the Temple Mount, a site sacred to both Jews and Arabs, but under the jurisdiction of the latter. We arrived at one of the temple gates and were ushered into a nearby sheltered courtyard because it had begun to rain. Soon came the disappointing news  no, we could not visit that day, as there had been an incident. Later we discovered what had happened. A group of Israelis had gathered in the courtyard and were offering prayers. It was a deliberate act of provocation, more political than anything else, as they knew they would get a reaction. The group was taken away, and the whole site shut down to any visitors that day.

Prayer is not a pietistic pose. It was said of the religious leaders of Jesus day that they loved to be seen praying in public, showing off their piety. In the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the praying that Jesus commends is the genuine, heartfelt prayer of the tax collector, and not that of the Pharisee, who was telling God how good he was. Instead, Jesus encouraged people to pray in private.

Prayer is not a laundry list. Its not simply telling God all the things that we or others need. Its not a ritual to be gone through, a pietistic turning of the right phrases, as people might turn a prayer wheel. Its not particular ways of praying, whether the words used are from a book or from a collection of words and phrases that some Christian groups feel are necessary ways of praying.

So, what is prayer?

Prayer IS a relationship. Its a coming to God with whats on our hearts and minds. It may include specific requests and pleas. It may include the whole range of human emotions. It doesnt matter whether we use words that others have used for centuries, or recently written words, or our own spontaneous words. It can be silent  or prayer can be sung  or the same words can be said together in a group. It doesnt matter. Sometimes prayer is unformed; its the groaning of the Spirit within us, as Paul says. Sometimes its in another language, either known or unknown to the person voicing their prayer. Its the coming to God that matters.

President Zelensky has encouraged anyone who prays to use Psalm 31 when praying for Ukraine. Theres much power in adopting the words of Scripture as we pray for a country in so much need. Its not so much the specifics of what is being prayed for, when praying in this way  its rather the heart-felt turning to God, to the One who alone is above and beyond and yet also present in the horror that is happening in that country.

I suspect that this was what was happening in the brief news item showing people praying in a Ukrainian church. Our God knows  and hears  the cries of their hearts, whether prayer is answered or not.

Jesus encourages us to pray. And in so doing, we join with the countless others who are also praying, including those gathered in churches in Ukraine, (and in Russia) regardless of the outcome. And as the invasion continues, let us not be weary in well-doing, as Paul says, but continue to pray, as the Spirit leads us.
How to become a Canadian citizen The steps to go from permanent resident to Canadian citizen.

How to become a Canadian citizen The steps to go from permanent resident to Canadian citizen.

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Canadian citizenship holds much significance and meaning for a lot of people. For many, Canadian citizenship is a promise of a better life.

From May 23 to 29 this year, Canada is celebrating Citizenship Week. The Canadian Citizenship Act came into effect on January 1, 1947, under the government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Since then, the Citizenship Act has been amended to reflect Canadas values as a multicultural society. The pandemic further pushed innovation in Canadian citizenship by introducing virtual citizenship ceremonies.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser further elaborated on some of the changes to the Citizenship Act, which are moving toward a more inclusive Canada.

Schedule a Free Canadian Citizenship Consultation with the Cohen Immigration Law Firm

Welcoming new citizens into our Canadian family: Your success is our success! An inspiring video, featuring Citizenship Judge Suzanne Carriere that speaks of the importance of immigration, and of immigrants becoming Canadian citizens. 

Canada is known around the world as a country that respects and celebrates our differences, reads a quote attributed to Minister Fraser in a media release. As we have grown, we have amended our Citizenship Act so that it reflects our values and promotes an inclusive society.

Most recently, these amendments include broadening the interpretation of citizenship by descent to be more inclusive for families, the minister continued. They also include establishing a new Oath of Citizenship that recognizes the inherent and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples, and the obligation that all citizens have to uphold the treaties between the Crown and Indigenous nations. We are committed to ensuring that the tragic parts of our history are not forgotten, as we continue on the path of reconciliation.

As a citizen, you get a number of privileges that are not available to permanent residents, such as voting and holding a Canadian passport. Here are some of the steps that Canadian permanent residents must take in order to become eligible for citizenship.

How to become eligible for Canadian citizenship

Become a permanent resident

If you have already passed this step, keep scrolling. Otherwise, see if you are eligible for more than 100 Canadian immigration programs.

Meet residency requirement

You must have been physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days (three years) during the five years before the date you apply for citizenship. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) encourages you to apply with more than 1,095 days of living in Canada to avoid calculation problems.

If you were in Canada as a temporary resident, you may be able to count that time toward your residency requirement as well. Each day that you spent in Canada as a temporary resident or protected person in the last five years counts as a half-day when you calculate your physical presence. IRCC allows you to include up to 365 days as a temporary resident or protected person toward your physical presence calculation.

Temporary residents include visitors, students, workers, or temporary resident permit holders. Protected persons are those who were found to be in need of protection or a convention refugee by the Immigration and Refugee Board or who received a positive decision on a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment from IRCC.

Generally speaking, time spent outside of Canada does not count towards your physical presence requirements but there are some exceptions. For example, permanent residents who work in the United States may be able to count days spent in the US towards their physical presence requirement as long as they reside in Canada and return to Canada for at least part of the day.

Try CanadaVisas Citizenship Calculator

File your taxes

You may have to file taxes in Canada for at least three years within the five years before you apply for citizenship.

Even if you lived in Canada for only part of a year, you may be required to file an income tax return if you:

Have to pay tax for the year

Want to claim a refund

Want to get benefit and credit payments

Pass a Canadian citizenship test

Those between the ages of 18 to 54 on the day of their Canadian citizenship application must take a citizenship test. Participants are quizzed on the rights and responsibilities of Canadians, Canadas history, geography, economy, government, laws, and symbols. The test is 30 minutes long, it can be taken in English or French, and it contains multiple-choice and true or false questions. In order to pass, you need a mark of 15 out of 20.

Prove your language skills

Those aged 18 to 54 must also show they can communicate in English or French by achieving a Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) level of 4 or higher in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. IRCC assesses your language proficiency in a number of ways, such as:

Reviewing the evidence you submit with your application

Noting how well you communicate with citizenship officials during the application process

Assessing your language skills during a hearing with a citizenship official, if necessary

Proof of language ability can include your educational credential or transcript submitted in English or French (IRCC accepts certified translations), or evidence you attended a secondary or post-secondary educational program in English or French whether abroad or inside Canada. It could also be the results of the language test you have completed as part of your Canadian permanent residence application.

Become a Canadian citizen

More than 85% of Canadian immigrants become citizens. An immigration lawyer can help you through the Canadian citizenship process.

Schedule a Free Canadian Citizenship Consultation with the Cohen Immigration Law Firm

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Theres never been a better time to do business in the thriving Dutch tech industry, where a robust digital infrastructure and national entrepreneurship initiatives have created fertile ground for innovation.

In the Netherlands, there are female-led companies in the fields of fintech, education and healthcare technology, agritech, and AI  though there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality in the tech sector. The Diversity & Inclusion Taskforce, part of the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, found that only 18% of IT professionals in the Netherlands are female, with only a fraction of that number holding top management roles in tech companies. The Dutch government hopes to raise that number to 50% by 2030.

Even within a thriving Dutch entrepreneurship ecosystem with more than 4,000 startups, women are struggling to get funding: European startups founded by women won only 1% of funding last year, and 5.7% of total funding in the Netherlands in 2019. In the Netherlands, there is a noticeable lack of women leading funding rounds, with only 6% of partners at venture capitalist funds being female  far below the European average of 12%. With VC firms and investors largely dominated by men, one can only wonder how many female tech entrepreneurs ideas and innovations never come to fruition.

However, there are also encouraging signs of support for women in tech in the Netherlands. The Dutch Chamber of Commerce found that the number of female entrepreneurs is on the rise, increasing 62% between 2013 and 2022. The share of women holding top positions is gradually increasing, too.

From professional communities such as The Next Women and She Matters to organisations that advocate for gender-diverse funding such as Fundright and Borski Fund, there are an unprecedented number of resources for Dutch female entrepreneurs. We Rise, an Amsterdam-based organisation created to support women in tech, received an investment of 750,000 last year to support women in the tech sector, including the creation of a three-year program including mentorship, networking, and training courses.

Just as important is the role of mentors and role models in fostering female tech entrepreneurship, to share experiences and lessons learned on the path from startup to scaleup and beyond. These four founders share their tips and advice for professional women following in their footsteps.

Diane Janknegt

Diane Janknegt

Janknegt is the founder of Wizenoze, a cloud-based, AI-powered EdTech platform that uses data and machine learning to make digital learning more accessible and personalised.

On the importance of staying curious:

Without curiosity and eagerness to learn, Wizenoze would have never been there. I think that these are two basic ingredients for every entrepreneur. If you lack these skills, dont even think about starting your own company. For me, curiosity and learning are always on!

Advice for leaders who are beginning to use emerging technology such as AI:

The phrase AI is highly overrated and misused. Its not a Holy Grail, its a tool that helps you move towards a goal. I would recommend that they dive into the basics of AI before considering using it. It doesnt leave a strong impression if you mention AI as part of your proposition.

On diversity and inclusiveness in tech in the Netherlands:

Diversity for me is much more than a gender discussion. Its about different ages, colours, religions, beliefs, introverts vs. extroverts, etc. In the long run, a truly diverse team will always outperform a team without diversity. So, its not just a fashionable topic, its a lifeline towards success. Unfortunately, we are far from having a balanced number of diverse entrepreneurs in tech in the Netherlands, which is truly alarming. One big reason for that is the lack of capital invested in diverse founders. That is shockingly low: only 1.3% of the VC capital is invested in female founders, and even less in founders who are people of colour.

On encouraging more women to start tech companies:

In order to stimulate female entrepreneurship, we have to fix accessibility to growth capital by getting more female venture capitalists and promoting an open mindset with all VCs and showcase the fun side of being an entrepreneur.

Bernadette Wijnings

Bernadette Wijnings

Wijnings is the founder and associate partner of Het Strategiekantoor, a Dutch consultancy firm, and previously founded Blanco, a fintech company that develops technology and digital services for the wealth management industry.

Her leadership philosophy:

Team is everything. As a leader, you have to carefully select your team members and make sure that they live your company values. Each individual contributes most to the team when they can use their strengths and work in the way that fits them best. At the same time, its extremely important that responsibilities are clear. For my new venture that Im setting up right now, I have started with writing the design principles  what makes the optimal SaaS company? Many design principles are centred around people, the rest around the setup of the company itself. Everyone joining my new venture, be it new colleagues or investors, needs to subscribe to the design principles. This saves a lot of discussion and thinking power when scaling up.

On cultivating innovation:

For a culture of innovation, it is essential that mistakes are allowed and even openly discussed and celebrated, so everyone can learn from them and feel safe to experiment.

On improving womens representation in tech leadership:

Gender diversity in the Netherlands still has a long way to go; the vast majority of startups and scaleups are still set up and managed by white males. Womens representation in tech leadership can be improved in many ways, though one of the most important steps is for investors to become more open to investing in more diverse founders, not only in terms of gender, but also ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and socio-economic background including education. Furthermore, more inclusive cultures need to be built, not only accepting but truly embracing diversity. Part of what is needed is educating the non-diverse on the positive impact of and societal need to create diverse teams.

On knowing when its time to transition to a new venture:

I knew it was time to transition because I noticed that I was getting less energy from the challenges Blanco was facing going ahead: less building from scratch and more into professionalising processes, more operational optimisation, more increasing delivery capacity. While my strength lies in building companies, and I felt I wanted to start over, I wanted to feel the rush of a fresh startup again where every action mattered and every choice has tremendous impact.

Lessons learned from founding a fintech:

As a small selection: automate everything right from the start, from client onboarding to reporting. Make everything data-driven, never ever build any tech without a well-thought-out user story and functional design. Select your investors thoroughly and invest time and money in education and your team.

Willemijn Schneyder

Willemijn Schneyder

Schneyder is the founder and CEO of SwipeGuide, a performance platform for the manufacturing industry that captures, scales, and automates critical operational knowledge across teams and sites.

On driving new ideas:

SwipeGuide is a young technology company. Every Swipee is an expert and an innovator. They join because they have something to contribute to our mission. We have rituals that help to unlock the ideas like hack days, innovation challenges, etc. We stimulate our team members to look outside the box, get inspired in different industries and events. But at the core, we try to apply the same principles inside that we sell to our customers: unlock untapped potential from within by making sure everyone has an opportunity to contribute to product development.

On staying focused on the users needs and pain points:

We talk a lot to other technology companies to learn about different approaches to ensure that as you grow everyone on the team is laser-focused on solving real user problems with impact. There are three core concepts SwipeGuide has embraced since its founding and that we hope to foster and evolve as we grow: a deep understanding of our users, open innovation collaboration with customers, and bringing together different areas of expertise.

SwipeGuide has been developing the solution in open collaboration with users since founding. Initially, we used a customer board to verify problems and solutions. As we grew, we shifted to a system open to all users. They can make suggestions to a public innovation board and upvote problems they would like the solution to solve. Concepts we design and develop get verified and tested with our users, of course, as many organisations do. But the key is to get behind the question, to design and develop what they need instead of what they are asking for. In that sense, we are the most human-centred software solution. Every incoming Swipee that joins the team, whether in marketing, sales, product development, or engineering, is requested to spend some time at the front line with our customers and users. How can you develop sticky digital tools that solve real problems if you dont know the hassle of an average factory operator or maintenance engineer? Finally, you will see that our product is built by experts in computer science, mechanical engineering, behavioural design, and educational sciences. Solving big puzzles with different hats on brings value.

On her experience as a female founder:

My challenges as a female founder have been no different than a female entrepreneur, manager, innovation consultant, or whatever role I executed as a woman before founding SwipeGuide. Access to finance is 10 times more difficult in the tech world because it is all an old-boy network. So for sure, we had to  and still have to  break through bias barriers as a diverse team, but I believe we are more resilient because of it. I also see a lot has changed already in the last couple of years. People become more and more aware of their bias, their privilege. But we need to ensure that we address it intersectionally, not binary men/women. I have lots of privilege as a highly educated, western European white woman, so actually, am I the right person to talk to this topic? Not entirely. I believe we can make real progress when we develop awareness of the prevalence of unconscious bias.

Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt

Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt is the founder of The New Fork, which uses blockchain to help agrifood businesses optimise their supply chain, reduce risk, and improve food integrity.

Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt

On financing your business:

In software and new technologies, the most difficult part is to get your first paying customer. What is often seen as a good thing to do is to first get finance, then develop your idea, and find your customers. Im a strong believer in the reverse order: get a paying customer first and then get financing to upskill and improve the product.

My leadership philosophy:

Good leaders are system thinkers: they see the strong and weak points within systems and can see the bigger picture, rather than specific bits and pieces. The capacity to be able to see a system as a whole is essential to taking advantage of new opportunities. Leaders get great minds to work together and put people in positions where they can maximise their individual power.

On introducing complex technology to a user for the first time:

When we pitch something, it is received by the primitive part of our brains, which have a very simple response menu. Often, we try to explain complexity by unpeeling complexity, but that doesnt work. You just need to grab your audiences attention and keep them engaged. So dont talk technology: explain the effects that technology can bring but dont go operational. Rather than talking technology, we aim for experiencing its impact and have a PoC as quickly as possible.

Advice for young women following in your footsteps:

Be self-confident, have thick skin, and think big and bold. Build a team from Day 1, and fire anyone who doesnt appear to be an A player. If you have B or C players, they can really take a toll on everyone else. In technology, the key resource is still people. You need to have good people who can build the right technology.
Wilkes-Barre, PA (18701)

Today

Showers developing this afternoon with the possibility of a thunderstorm. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High around 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Wilkes-Barre, PA (18701)

Today

Cloudy with showers likely during the afternoon, and possibly a thunderstorm. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High near 75F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
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Last Thursdayfive days after a gunman killed ten people at a Buffalo supermarket, all of them Black, in what was the deadliest mass shooting of the year to that pointeditors at the Texas Tribune met to plan how they might cover future shootings in their state. Yesterdayfive days after that meetinga gunman in Uvalde, Texas, killed at least twenty-one people, nineteen of them children, at Robb Elementary School in what is the deadliest mass shooting of the year to this point. As details filtered agonizingly through, the Tribune updated the headline atop its homepage to reflect the evolving toll. Sewell Chan, its top editor, tweeted about the planning meeting and said he was gutted that it had become relevant so quickly.

Uvalde has a population of around fifteen thousand people, many of whom are Mexican American; the identities of most of the victims are not yet known, though according to district data, around 90 percent of Robb Elementarys students are Latino. Cecilia Munoz, an adviser at New America and a former Obama staffer, tweeted in the hours after the news broke that she was feeling right now the way I did the day of the El Paso shooting in that moment when every Latino paying attention knew who the shooting affected but the media hadnt yet figured it out, a reference to an attack on a Texas Walmart in 2019, when a gunman targeting Latinos killed twenty-three people. (The El Paso gunman posted a screed invoking the white-supremacist great replacement conspiracy. The Uvalde gunmans motives arent yet established.) Other observers praised the Spanish-language reporters already on the scene in Uvalde, and said that journalists flying in should seek help pronouncing victims names if necessary, study up on the region, and continue to center the fact that a Latino American community has been devastated by gun violence, as the US congressman Joaquin Castro put it. There were calls, too, for journalists to respect the grief and privacy of the victims families, particularly given how small Uvalde isrenewing a debate about reporting practices in traumatized communities that also swelled in the wake of not one but two other recent mass shootings in Texas: in tiny Sutherland Springs in 2017, and in Midland in 2019.

ICYMI: The Times, Haiti, and the treacherous bridge linking history and journalism

As the Uvalde story developed, the Tribune was all over it, sending reporters to the scene and publishing a rush of articles addressing different angles; Matthew Watkins, a managing editor, also weighed in with an analysis piece about the numbing script that typically follows mass shootings, writing that the latest tragedy will assuredly add another scar to the psyche of this stateand kick off a routine of mourning, outrage and, ultimately, inaction. Other local and regional outlets were quick to the scene, too. (As far as I can tell, Uvaldes small local paper, the Leader-News, hasnt published any stories yet, though it has tweeted to draw attention to an emergency blood drive in the community.) Priscilla Aguirre, a reporter at MySA in nearby San Antonio who is covering the shooting, said that her cousin was among the victims and was in critical condition in the hospital. The San Antonio Express-News is covering the story aggressively as well, and also weighed in with an editorial decrying national inaction on gun violence. Although words are our calling, there isnt a single word we can offer these families or our readers to bring comfort or reassurance that there will be brighter days, the editorial board wrote. What has happened in Uvalde should be an unimaginable terror, but what adds to our outrage about this massacre is there is nothing unimaginable or surprising that this has happened.

Similar notes rang throughout national coverage and reaction, including on cable news, with various journalists speaking to the sickening mix of shock and familiarity that usually follows a mass shooting. There arent any new points to make, any bold new things to say, Oliver Darcy, a media reporter at CNN, said. No one has the words. Everything is recycled. Mark Follman, a Mother Jones journalist who recently wrote a book on gun violence and prevention efforts, respectfully disagreed, arguing that being resigned to this narrative has become part of the problem; he and Darcy then debated whether this reply proved Darcys point. Darcys colleague Brian Stelter pushed back on the idea that the media has no words to adequately communicate such atrocities, suggesting several, including destroy, to describe what heavy weapons do to human bodies. Danielle Ohl, who survived the mass shooting in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis in 2018, initially said that she had no new reaction to offer, then demanded that journalists ask people in power why theyve decided its OK for children to die, or else quit the profession. There is no both sides here, Ohl wrote. There is death and death and death and death and death until we decide to have the courage to call it what the fuck it is.

Meanwhile, leading voices in right-wing politics and media responded, predictably, by blaming the media and liberals for politicizing a fresh tragedy; the Fox hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham both accused President Bidenwho had just called out the gun lobby in a televised addressof exploiting the massacre, while Kellyanne Conway, a Fox guest, said that she hoped people dont speculate, dont jump to the political conclusions, dont call for these sweeping massive changes while people are grieving. Of course, Conway and others also pushed their preferred school-shooting responses: mantraps and trip wires in schools; more people with guns in schools, funded by tax breaks or unspent covid funds; the renewal of faith in schools and Judeo-Christian values in society. Asked by Jesse Watters why people object to hardening these softer targets by putting security guards in schools, Jeanine Pirro said that people today are triggered if there is someone with a gun based on the new narrative that when you see a gun you should be frightened, as opposed to appreciating what they are doing for you.

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As I wrote in the wake of the El Paso shooting in 2019, right-wing calls not to politicize massacres when people are grievingeven if taken as sincere, and thats a big even ifchannel a false distinction. Politics, fundamentally, is about demonstrating the respective costs of action and inaction in the lives of real peoplesomething that centering victims unavoidably does, as well as being the right thing to do from a place of basic human dignity. Focusing on politics isnt just compatible with focusing on victims, I wrote. Its necessary.

Of course, the word politics is often used these days in a more pejorative, horseracey sense. On that score, the shooting yesterday happened to coincide with primary runoff elections in Texas, with Ken Paxton, the attorney general, holding off a Bush-dynasty challenge to claim the Republican nomination again. (Some national reporters were seemingly rerouted from covering the elections to cover the shooting.) Paxton has a hard-line record on gun rights and in an interview on Newsmax yesterday called for arming school staff; at a campaign event, a fellow Texas Republican said that the shooting reminds us why we need a great attorney general who believes in the Constitution. Various top outlets articles about Paxtons winwhich was not as big a story as it otherwise might have beendidnt make any mention of his stance on guns, though one found room to cite his thoughts and prayers for the victims in Uvalde.

If these specific stories felt bafflingly divorced from each other, mainstream national media has already swelled with a fresh debate on gun reform more broadly. Texas outlets, too, have already drawn attention to the states lax gun lawsnot least the Tribune, which promoted three prominent stories on the matter, with one bearing the laudably clear headline Confronted with mass shootings, Texas Republicans have repeatedly loosened gun laws and noting that in the states extensive recent history of gun violence, leaders have repeatedly proposed action, then quickly fallen silent. Something similar has been true of past media coverage of mass shootings, with a briefly focused policy debate often giving way to neglect and the frantic incentives of the news cycle. We are ourselves actors in the numbing script.

Those who have noticed all the horribly repetitive cadences in the Uvalde story have a pointnothing Ive noted above is really unprecedented. As Ive written before, though, this repetition need not hamstring coverage; it can be grimly illustrative and, if framed correctly, even galvanizing. And each tragedy is new in important ways, toonot least in terms of the different individual victims snatched away. We owe it to them to break the cycle, a universal truism in the aftermath of shootings, but one imbued each time with the fresh moral force of lost lives.

Below, more on Uvalde and shootings:

Uvalde: Russell Contreras, a race and justice reporter at Axios, pointed out yesterday that Uvalde was the site of one of the most important school walkouts in civil rights history, adding that what Mexican American students did there in 1970 helped students like me years later. According to Times Katie Reilly, an estimated 500600 students took part in the protest, which was organized after the school board refused to renew the contract of a beloved Mexican American middle school teacher who advocated for Spanish-speaking students and was one of the few Latino educators in the Uvalde school system. (The demonstration, Reilly wrote, was possibly the longest school walkout during the Chicano Movement, which fought educational discrimination more broadly.)

Russell Contreras, a race and justice reporter at Axios, pointed out yesterday that Uvalde was the site of one of the most important school walkouts in civil rights history, adding that what Mexican American students did there in 1970 helped students like me years later. According to Times Katie Reilly, an estimated 500600 students took part in the protest, which was organized after the school board refused to renew the contract of a beloved Mexican American middle school teacher who advocated for Spanish-speaking students and was one of the few Latino educators in the Uvalde school system. (The demonstration, Reilly wrote, was possibly the longest school walkout during the Chicano Movement, which fought educational discrimination more broadly.) Parkland: The Uvalde shooting was the deadliest at an elementary school since the Sandy Hook massacre ten years ago, and the deadliest at any school since a gunman killed seventeen people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. In the aftermath of the latter shooting, CJRs Alexandria Neason and Meg Dalton explored how students at the school took on the dual roles of journalist and survivor. One of my newspaper editors texted me that night, after everything happened, Melissa Falkowski, the schools newspaper adviser, recalled. And she said, We are going to use the newspaper to change the world.

The Uvalde shooting was the deadliest at an elementary school since the Sandy Hook massacre ten years ago, and the deadliest at any school since a gunman killed seventeen people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. In the aftermath of the latter shooting, CJRs Alexandria Neason and Meg Dalton explored how students at the school took on the dual roles of journalist and survivor. One of my newspaper editors texted me that night, after everything happened, Melissa Falkowski, the schools newspaper adviser, recalled. And she said, We are going to use the newspaper to change the world. Sutherland Springs: In the aftermath of the Sutherland Springs shooting in 2017, Lauren McGaughy, a reporter at the Dallas Morning News, wrote an op-ed in which she took the national media to task for swarming the town and overwhelming its seven hundred or so inhabitants with invasive and repetitive coverage. Afterward, I spoke with McGaughy and other observers, and suggested five ideas for more sensitive on-the-ground coverage; you can find them here. McGaughy weighed in again yesterday. We dont need every media outlet to respond to tragedies like these, she wrote. Its OK to grab wire instead of sending a team, to leave the stories to local reporters. Its OK to forgo calling grieving families and thus forgo the scoop.

In the aftermath of the Sutherland Springs shooting in 2017, Lauren McGaughy, a reporter at the Dallas Morning News, wrote an op-ed in which she took the national media to task for swarming the town and overwhelming its seven hundred or so inhabitants with invasive and repetitive coverage. Afterward, I spoke with McGaughy and other observers, and suggested five ideas for more sensitive on-the-ground coverage; you can find them here. McGaughy weighed in again yesterday. We dont need every media outlet to respond to tragedies like these, she wrote. Its OK to grab wire instead of sending a team, to leave the stories to local reporters. Its OK to forgo calling grieving families and thus forgo the scoop. ______: Last night, Politicos Tyler Weyant described mass shootings as Americas copy and paste tragedy. We change the place, the town, the number of dead and injured. But the constant is lives lost, people who cannot be brought back, and the nation is left in a numb daze. Last year, CJR and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma placed newspaper boxes around New York, filling them with copies of something called The Inevitable News: nearly identical fill-in-the-blank stories, with only a handful of details changed.



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: Three months of press threats in Ukraine

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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP)  Three firefighters were injured battling a major fire at a recently renovated hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, fire officials said.

The fire at the Wayfinder Hotel was reported at about 8 p.m. Monday and crews remained on the scene on Tuesday morning.

Nearly 100 firefighters from multiple municipalities responded to the blaze and all guests made it out safely, fire Chief Harp Donnelly IV told The Newport Daily News. The Red Cross responded to assist displaced guests find new accommodations.

The cause remains under investigation.

The four-story hotel has nearly 200 guest rooms, according it its website.

The injured firefighters are expected to recover, Deputy Chief Mark Riding said at the scene Tuesday.

We had one firefighter go through the floor. He was rescued by the crew that was with him. We dont know if it was from the heat or the water weight that was causing collapses, he said. As soon as the firefighter went through the floor all companies were pulled out.

Hotel ownership in a statement said they were deeply grateful for the efforts of firefighters.

With the support of all the first responders and our local community members, we can confirm that all employees and guests were safely evacuated, said Phil Hospod, CEO and founder of Dovetail+Co, which owns the Wayfinder. At this time, we are solely focused on the wellbeing of our guests and employees.

The hotel reopened in the summer of 2020 after a $16 million renovation project.

Elsewhere in New England, the Beach Cove Waterfront Inn in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, was destroyed by a fire on Monday night. The state fire marshals office is investigating.

The fire chief said no one was hurt.

The owners were at the inn, which was scheduled to open on Memorial Day weekend.

About the photo: Firefighters battle a fire at a recently renovated hotel in Newport, R.I., Monday, May 23, 2022. Three firefighters were injured battling the fire at the Wayfinder Hotel. (Scott Barrett/The Newport Daily News via AP)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Rescuers dug through debris Tuesday of a building collapse in southwestern Iran that killed at least 11 people, fearful that many more could still be trapped beneath the rubble as authorities arrested the citys mayor in a widening probe of the disaster.

The collapse Monday of an under-construction 10-story tower at the Metropol Building exposed its cement blocks and steel beams while also underscoring an ongoing crisis in Iranian construction projects that has seen other disasters in this earthquake-prone nation.

Video from the initial collapse Monday showed thick dust rise over Abadan, a crucial oil-producing city in Khuzestan province, near Irans border with Iraq. The Metropol Building included two towers, one already built and the other under construction, though its bottom commercial floors had finished and already had tenants.

On Tuesday, an emergency official interviewed on state television suggested that some 50 people may have been inside of the building at the time of the collapse, including people moving into its basement floors. However, it wasnt clear if that figure included those already pulled from the rubble. At least 39 people were injured, most of them lightly, officials earlier said.

Aerial drone footage aired Tuesday showed the floors had pancaked on top of each other, leaving a pile of dusty, gray debris. A construction crane stood still nearby as a single backhoe dug. State TV said at least 11 people had been killed.

An angry crowd at the site chased and beat Abadan Mayor Hossein Hamidpour immediately after the collapse, according to the semiofficial ILNA news agency and online videos.

Police later arrested Hamidpour and nine others, Iranian media reported Tuesday. Initially, authorities said the buildings owner and its general contractor had been arrested as well, though a later report from the judiciarys Mizan news agency said Tuesday that the two men had been killed in the collapse. The conflicting reports could not be immediately reconciled.

Authorities offered no immediate word on whether those detained faced charges and it wasnt immediately clear if lawyers represented them.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi offered his condolences and appealed on the local authorities to get to the bottom of the case. Irans vice president in charge of economic affairs, Mohsen Razaei, and Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi visited the site.

Lawmakers opened a separate parliament inquiry into the case Tuesday, trying to determine why the building on Amir Kabir Street collapsed during a sandstorm. However, there was no major earthquake recorded Monday near Abadan, some 660 kilometers (410 miles) southwest of Tehran.

A local journalist in Abadan had repeatedly raised concerns about the buildings construction, beginning from last year, publishing images that he said showed sagging floors at the first tower. He also alleged corruption in the building permits process.

Later Tuesday, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Faramarz Zoghi, a construction expert and adviser to Irans construction engineers league, as saying that definitely national construction measures were not observed at the site. Authorities also declared a one-day mourning period Wednesday over the disaster.

Abadan became the focus of development by the British beginning in 1909 as they built what became the worlds largest oil refinery at the time. Iran later nationalized its oil industry in the decades before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iraqs long war on Iran in the 1980s saw Abadan and the surrounding region destroyed in the fighting. In the years since, fast private and state-linked construction projects rebuilt the area, amid complaints of shoddy construction practices.

The collapse reminded many of the 2017 fire and collapse of the iconic Plasco building in Tehran that killed 26 people.

Abadan previously has suffered through historic disasters as well. In 1978, an intentionally set fire at Cinema Rex in the city killed hundreds. Anger over the blaze triggered unrest across Irans oil-rich regions and helped lead to the Islamic Revolution that toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

About the photo: In this photo provided by Tasnim News Agency, debris hangs from the Metropol buildin,g a 10-story commercial building under construction, in the southwestern city of Abadan, Iran, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. Rescuers dug through debris Tuesday of the collapsed building that killed at least 11 people, fearful that many more could still be trapped beneath the rubble as authorities arrested the citys mayor in a widening probe of the disaster. (Hossein Abdollah Asl, Tasnim News Agency via AP)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
MIAMI (AP)  Miami-Dade County has agreed to pay a record $4 million for the care of a girl whose spinal cord was severed in a crash with a police cruiser that was speeding into an intersection with non-working stoplights as a hurricane approached nearly six years ago.

The additional $3.8 million settlement is the largest claim the county has ever paid, and far exceeds an initial $200,000 the county already paid in damages for Yeilyn Quiroz Otero, the Miami Herald reported. But its far short of what shell need.

Most of the award will satisfy her past medical and legal bills, leaving less than $1.5 million for future medical bills. Her lawyers estimated that shell need more than $11 million for lifetime care, and deserves another $10 million for pain and suffering. But a special master found that her mother and the driver of their car were also at fault, lowering the countys share of the blame.

The claim bill was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last Friday.

The 13-month-old child was sitting on her mothers lap while the family went to Walmart on Oct. 6, 2016 to pick up baby supplies as Hurricane Matthew approached Florida, the newspaper reported. At the same time, a Miami-Dade police officer was speeding at 75 mph in a 40 mph zone, pursuing a suspect who had jumped out of a stolen car and was running through a neighborhood.

The two vehicles collided in an intersection where the stoplights werent working due to a power failure caused by approaching Hurricane Matthew.

The familys lawsuit against the county and police department was settled three years later. Without admitting fault, the county agreed to pay the statutory cap of $200,000 and agreed not to contest a $3.8 million claim bill, Assistant County Attorney Richard Schevis told a hearing before a special master for the Florida Legislature. The legislative claim bill allows compensation beyond the immunity cap.

This will make a real difference for our client, said attorney Frank Maderal. With these funds we hope she will be able to avoid being placed in a public nursing home when she turns 18 and will instead continue to receive in-home nursing so she can keep living with her family who loves her.

We never gave up, Maderal told the newspaper. It was equal parts lawyering, politicking, and pleading for our client. In the end we set a record. This case and this client will always have a special place for me.

Senate Special Master Eva M. Davis found the county and Officer Daniel Escarra at fault for exceeding the allowable speed under police policy as he headed to a crime scene, and failing to stop at an intersection with non-working lights.

But she also found that the driver of the Audi and the girls mother partly responsible for the girls injury. Hector Meraz-Funez did not have a valid drivers license, was not wearing a seat belt, allowed eight people to ride without seatbelts in his compact sedan, and should have yielded to the lights and siren of a speeding police vehicle, she found. Fany Otero is to blame for not securing her daughter into a car seat, she found.

Meraz-Funez has been in a vegetative state since the crash, unable to move or communicate, Davis noted.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A former Mississippi police officer who shot and killed a sleeping woman should pay her four children $2.5 million each for pain and suffering and a total of more than $300,000 to cover therapy, their aunt said in a lawsuit.

Matthew Kinne was in uniform and on duty when he shot Dominique Clayton in the head during what he claimed was a welfare check in 2019, according to the suit. It also said Kinne was married and Clayton wanted his full commitment.

Kinne is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to capital murder.

A hearing is scheduled Thursday in federal district court to decide how much Kinne must pay Claytons children, now 11 to 17 years old, court records show. The decision in Kinnes case will not affect claims against the city of Oxford and other defendants, Senior Judge Glen H. Davidson has written.

The Daily Journal reported that the judge issued a default ruling against Kinne after he failed to respond to the lawsuit.

A statement filed Monday by Claytons sister, Shyjuan Clayton, said the youngest child, a boy then 8 years old, found the body. His brother, then about 15, went to help and kept their two sisters from seeing their mothers body, it said.

All four routinely have nightmares, and the girls are seeing a therapist twice a week, Shyjuan Clayton wrote. The boys have not sought therapy but should get it, she wrote.

The affidavit also seeks $200,000 to cover money that Dominique Clayton, who made $30,000 a year at a Chipotles restaurant, would have spent on her children over 10 years.

It is not known if the Clayton family plans to present any other evidence or live testimony during the hearing, the newspaper reported. The familys lead attorney, Carlos Moore of Grenada  president of the National Bar Association  will be in Italy for a bar association international affiliates meeting. He tried unsuccessfully to get the federal court hearing delayed, the newspaper reported.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Turkey demands "written agreement" to allow Finnish, Swedish NATO bids

Xinhua) 09:31, May 25, 2022

ANKARA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday demanded a "written agreement" from Finland and Sweden on steps to end their "support for terrorism" if they want to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Cavusoglu's remarks came a day before Turkey will hold consultations with the two Nordic countries in Ankara on their NATO bids.

"We expect them to end support for terrorism and to lift defense restrictions," Turkey's NTV broadcaster quoted Cavusoglu as telling reporters on his flight to Palestine and Israel.

"They said 'We can take concrete steps.' We want a written agreement," the Turkish minister said, adding Ankara demands "assurances" in a signed agreement.

A four-way meeting can be held by the three countries with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in this regard, said Cavusoglu.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Turkish Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal will meet with Finnish and Swedish officials on Wednesday.

Turkey has so far been the only NATO member which objects to the NATO bids by Sweden and Finland, citing the two countries' support to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian branch of PKK.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades.

Turkey also accuses the two countries of harboring members of the Gulen Movement which Ankara says is behind a failed military coup attempt in 2016.

Moreover, Ankara demands Sweden and Finland end their arms exports bans imposed following the country's cross-border military operation into northeast Syria in 2019.

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
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When Android 13 officially arrives this summer, we're bound to see a bunch of befuddled head scratching.

It won't be because of heat-induced brain fog and/or dry scalp, either  not entirely, anyway. Instead, this fresh crop of confusion will stem from the fact that after months of buildup and anticipation, Google's latest and greatest Android version isn't gonna look like much for the majority of Android-owning organisms.

Sounds strange, I know, but it's true: For anyone carrying a phone that was already running last year's Android 12 software, Android 13 is shaping up to be an incredibly subtle, almost-not-even-noticeable change  at least on a surface level.

That's not to say Android 13 isn't significant. Far from it, in fact: This year's Android update may be one of Google's most pivotal, platform-shifting releases and the rare arrival that genuinely changes the course of where the platform is headed from a bigger-picture perspective.

But somewhat paradoxically, it's looking more and more like that the brunt of that impact will be almost entirely invisible to most of us mere phone-toting mortals. And consequently, when Android 13 actually shows up in your sweaty person-paws, your first reaction will probably be something along the lines of: "Wait  this is it?!"

[Get fresh Googley insight in your inbox with my Android Intelligence newsletter. Three things to know and three things to try every Friday!]

It's a tale of two operating systems in one and a type of dual identity we've never quite experienced on Android. But if you take a few minutes to understand what's happening now, you'll be far more prepared for what's coming  and far less likely to find yourself scratching that suspiciously soft noggin of yours in confusion.

Android 13 identity No. 1: The significant side

First things first, a bit of important context: This year's Android release cycle was unusual even before Android 13 came into the picture.

Back in October of last year, a matter of weeks after Android 12's arrival, Google announced the development of a new "feature drop" update it was calling Android 12L.

The update, which reached completion and started rolling out to a handful of devices this past March, was basically a 0.1-style update  so Android 12.1 or maybe even Android 13.-01, if you want to get even more accurate (and maybe just a wee bit sassy).

Like Android 13, Android 12L didn't look like much to anyone with an average Android phone. The update had a handful of teensy tweaks and adjustments to the experience on Google Pixel devices  the primary products that received it  but we're talkin' the sort of super-subtle stuff no normal person would ever notice or give an ounce of attention to digesting.

Again, though, Android 12L was significant  supremely so. It was essentially a foundation-creating prestep that established the groundwork for what Android 13 is about to accomplish. And that's a whole new approach to how Android looks and works in a large-screen environment.

For tablets and also foldable phones, Android 13 and its 12L-provided framework will be downright transformative. The software will introduce an interface that's actually optimized for large-screen use, with different elements on different halves of the display and a host of new desktop-like multitasking tools  including a nifty Chrome-OS-inspired taskbar that lets you access your favorite apps from anywhere and even drag 'em up to create an on-the-fly split-screen setup.

Google

Beyond that  and even more significantly  Android 13 will effectively create an entire new category of Google-flavored devices. The software has a series of features that'll allow tablets to be treated as shared devices when they're docked, with access to a specific set of "communal apps" in that context, and then let multiple users pick the tablets up and sign into their own personal profiles.

Signs suggest Google's own upcoming Pixel Tablet may tap into those possibilities and act as a new kind of hybrid mashup  a cross between a souped-up Smart Display and a traditional tablet that'd be unlike anything else out there today.

And all of that is because of Android 13 and the concepts it's introducing into the operating system.

But then there's the other side of Android 13  the side that anyone with a non-folding phone will almost certainly see.

And  well...

Android 13 identity No. 2: The subtle side

I've been using the latest Android 13 betas on my spare Pixel 4a phone for several weeks now, and lemme tell ya: By and large, the software looks, feels, and acts almost exactly like Android 12.

That's so true, in fact, that I'd be shocked if any regular, non-tech-obsessed and detail-seeking phone owner noticed any real difference upon receiving the update.

Now, it's always possible that Google could add some extra front-facing elements into Android 13 between now and the time of its final release. I originally assumed that was inevitable, given how subtle the software's changes are on the phone front.

But typically, the version of a beta release Google shows off at its I/O conference ends up being pretty darn similar to the one that ships later that year. And more and more, it's looking like Android 13's greatest impact is all that stuff it'll bring to the large-screen side of the Android ecosystem.

To be clear: On the phone front, there'll absolutely be improvements. For instance, Android 13 allows you to drag a notification down into the main area of your screen to open the associated app in a split-screen state  a neat new touch that makes Android's multi-window system feel like a much more native and prominent part of the operating system.

But let's be honest: Most people won't ever notice that or be aware of its existence. The same goes for all of Android 13's under-the-hood improvements  the undeniably important privacy and security enhancements that'll make Android even more effective at protecting your data and keeping your device safe.

That sort of stuff is present in practically every Android update, and that's a huge part of why Android updates absolutely matter even if you aren't excited about what's on the surface.

Still, it's impossible to deny that the surface-level elements are what most ordinary mammals see and associate with a new piece of software. And with Android 13, we've got two totally different pictures shaping up: the one that'll bring a dramatic, night-and-day change to the tablet front and open up the door to a whole new type of Android device experience and the one that'll land with an understated thump on the phone side and seem like much ado about nothing to most Android adorers.

I'm not sure we've ever seen a single software update take on such drastically different identities at the same time like this. It's a bold move on Google's part and one that may lead to even more diverging paths within Android in the future.

For now, one thing's for sure: Android 13's arrival this summer will mark the start of a new era for this ever-evolving platform of ours  even if it may feel completely inconsequential for most of us in the moment.

Want even more Googley knowledge? Sign up for my weekly newsletter to get next-level tips and insight to your inbox every Friday  and get three custom tips on your favorite topic this second.
Looking to make screen-sharing more interactive so colleagues can collaborate using third-party apps directly in Teams video meetings, Microsoft this week unveiled Live Share, a Teams SDK extension thats now in preview. It lets developers customize applications so users can co-edit and co-create while on a call together.

Announced Tuesday at Microsofts Build conference, Live Share uses Microsofts JavaScript-based Fluid Framework and is hosted on the Azure Fluid Relay cloud service and allows developers to build apps without writing back-end code.

Azure Fluid Relay will be available in mid-year, but Microsoft did not say when Live Share will be generally available.

Microsoft has added a variety of ways to interact with third-party apps in recent years, including the share to stage functionality announced last year that lets Teams users access products such as Mural and Miro during a video call. But while previous updates relied on bringing existing multi-player elements in third-party apps into Teams, Live Share lets developers customize a wider range of apps for use within Microsofts collaboration app, said Nicole Herskowitz, vice president for Microsoft Teams.

It basically makes every app a multiplayer app in a live meeting, said Herskowitz in an interview ahead of the Build event. It's a really hard problem to solve  a lot of apps are not built that way  but we're making it very easy for developers to do that."

Some of the companies that have already been building prototypes using the Live Share SDK include Frame.io, Hexagon, and SkillSoft (these are not currently available for users).

With Hexagons 3D design and visualization software, for example, its possible for users to zoom in and out, manipulate models, view data, and even make edits directly from Teams. Developers at learning and development software platform SkillSoft have created live share functionality that allows any Teams meeting participant to pause and annotate a video.

Microsoft said it will also start to bring more interactive experiences to its own first-party apps too.

Releasing capabilities such as Live Share and the Azure Fluid Relay service at Build demonstrates Microsofts commitment to investing in Teams as a platform, said Kevin Kieller, co-founder of Microsoft consultancy EnableUC.

Whether the Live Share capability is useful for end users relies on the interest, ingenuity, and creativity that Teams app developers employ using this new platform feature.
A note from Foundry's Global Editorial Director:

Thank you for your interest in Computerworld's Best Places to Work in IT.

IDG

We're excited to announce that the Best Places to Work in IT program is expanding in 2022! As a global company we want to recognize the achievements of companies all over the world. To enable worldwide participation in this popular program, we are making some significant changes this year:

The survey will be open to all companies with 5 or more IT employees, and 100 or more total employees worldwide.

There will not be an employee survey component this year. Nominated companies will still complete a company survey and be given the opportunity to tell us about their successes in multiple areas, including retention and engagement; diversity, equity, and inclusion; benefits; career development; and training.

Regional panels of judges consisting of industry leaders within and outside of Computerworld will evaluate entries and confirm the honorees.

Honorees will be recognized within their country and/or region. As in the past, overall and category awards will be named within three company size categories.

We are planning to open nominations on May 31, 2022. Well be promoting the program online and via social media. The FAQ list below answers many questions about participating in the Best Places to Work in IT program. Additional questions can be emailed to bestplaces@computerworld.com.

We look forward to learning more about what your organization is doing to provide the best possible work experience for your IT employees.

 Matt Egan, Global Editorial Director, Foundry

[ Keep up on the latest thought leadership, insights, how-to, and analysis on IT through Computerworlds newsletters. ]

About the Best Places to Work in IT program

Computerworld conducts an annual survey to identify the best places to work for IT professionals. We invite readers, PR professionals and other interested parties to nominate companies they consider great employers for IT workers. You may nominate your own company. We then ask those nominated companies that meet our basic criteria to participate in our survey.

This year for the first time, nominations will be open for companies outside of the United States! We are excited to expand this program, which has a 29-year history in the United States, to companies worldwide. Nominees will be evaluated against other participating companies in their region.

The employers in the Best Places list are evaluated by company size: Large companies have 5,000 or more employees; midsize have between 1,001 and 4,999 employees; and small companies employ 1,000 or fewer workers.

To be eligible, companies must have a minimum of 5 IT employees. Companies must have a minimum of 100 total employees. We consider IT employees to be those IT workers who provide technology support and services to their own company  or to multiple companies through their work at an IT service provider. Workers who would *not* be included are administrative support staff for the IT department, staff who work in communications or PR for the technology department, IT contractors, or those staff whose primary role is in product development for outside sales.

In most cases, we prefer to have the parent company, rather than subsidiaries or affiliates, apply for the Best Places to Work in IT list. However, a subsidiary or affiliate may be eligible, providing that it stands out as a separate entity from the parent company, with separate business functions, IT leadership and so on. A subsidiary may also be eligible to apply separately if its parent company is a holding company. In those cases, the parent company and subsidiary may be able to apply separately. We encourage companies to complete the nomination form or contact us at bestplaces@computerworld.com, and our Best Places research team will evaluate the submissions on a case-by-case basis.

Questions about the Best Places to Work in IT program can be emailed to bestplaces@computerworld.com.

Frequently asked questions

Survey requirements and eligibility

Does my company have to be nominated to complete the survey?

No. Companies may participate even if they were not nominated. In lieu of a nomination, please send an email to bestplaces@computerworld.com with the name and contact information (including email address) of the individual who should receive the company survey and other information; we'll take care of the rest.

Does the Best Places to Work in IT list include public companies only?

No. The survey includes private as well as public companies.

What criteria must my company meet to participate?

To be considered for our Best Places to Work in IT list:

Companies must have a minimum of 5 IT employees.

Companies must have a minimum of 100 total employees worldwide.

In most cases, we prefer to have the parent company, rather than subsidiaries or affiliates, apply for the Best Places to Work in IT list. However, a subsidiary or affiliate may be eligible, providing that it stands out as a separate entity from the parent company, with separate business functions, IT leadership and so on. A subsidiary may also be eligible to apply separately if its parent company is a holding company. In those cases, the parent company and subsidiary may be able to apply separately. We encourage companies to complete the nomination form or contact us at bestplaces@computerworld.com, and our Best Places research team will evaluate the submissions on a case-by-case basis.

Who should complete the survey?

An individual familiar with employment statistics, benefits, policies and programs of your IT department and your company should complete the survey. This could be a human resources representative, a CIO or corporate PR representative  or a team of all the above.

Survey contents and procedures

What does the company survey ask?

Our online survey includes questions about companies' benefits, training and development, IT salary changes, percent of IT employees promoted, IT turnover rates, and the percentage of women employees in management in IT departments. In addition, we will collect information about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, remote/hybrid working, and company growth.

Which employees are considered "IT workers" in this survey?

Answers to the survey should be based on those IT workers who provide technology support and services to their own company  or to multiple companies through their work at an IT service provider. Workers who wouldn't be included are administrative support staff for the IT department, staff who work in communications or PR for the technology department, IT contractors, or those staff whose primary role is in product development for outside sales.

What happens if I leave a question blank on the survey?

You can't leave a question blank if it is required. Many of the questions on the survey are required; the survey can't be processed if they aren't answered. Please answer to the best of your ability for questions with lists or options included. If any open-ended/text based questions aren't applicable to your company, please indicate "NA" for "not applicable." If there is a question you can't answer fully given the format of the survey, you may briefly explain your answers in an addendum field that follows each survey section.

Companies that withhold information used to rank the finalists will have points deducted from their ranking. Answers that are left blank or have unexplained N/As will be assumed to be 0 (zero).

Companies must provide answers to questions related to data we run in our feature story and graphics in order to be considered. Please see below for the types of required information that are typically shared publicly.

Can I save my survey and come back to it at a later date?

Yes. You will be able to save your partially completed survey and can save a partially completed survey as many times as necessary. Please save your unique ID and password to re-enter the survey. When you return to the survey, you will be able to review/modify questions that you have already answered. However, we will continue to provide a printer-friendly version of the survey, and we recommend that you complete this survey, then enter your answers online.

How should I send my company's information to Computerworld?

We accept company information from the online survey only. Please enter all data as accurately as possible. Provide company name, location, web address and other information, as you would like it to appear in print.

Can I get a copy of the survey to review before I go to the online survey and submit my company's information?

Yes. A printer-friendly version of the 2022 Best Places company survey can be viewed here, for reference. We encourage participants to complete this version offline before filling out the online survey.

download 2022 Best Places to Work in IT Company Survey Printer-friendly copy of the 2022 Best Places to Work in IT company survey. Best Places to Work in IT Team

Will Computerworld provide us with a copy of our submitted survey?

Upon survey submission, Computerworld will email you a password-protected link to view your company's survey responses.

Is there an employee portion to the survey?

This year there will NOT be an employee survey portion to the survey. Computerworld decided to make this change to streamline the process for global participation and to enable companies with smaller IT departments to participate. In lieu of the employee survey portion of the program, Computerworld will be inviting a panel of judges consisting of industry experts from both within and outside of Computerworld to evaluate entries and confirm this years honorees. More information about the judging panels in each region will be posted here as it becomes available.

List publication and notification

When will the list of honorees be published?

The Best Places to Work in IT honorees will be announced in late fall on Computerworld.com.

When can I find out if my company is on the list?

Computerworld will notify companies that will be honored as a 2022 Best Place to Work in IT several weeks in advance of publication. Computerworld's marketing group contacts honorees to offer assistance with press releases.

Is there a timeline to which I can refer for survey action items?

Below is the 2022 Best Places to Work in IT timeline.

Tuesday, May 31, 2022 Nominations open for the 2022 Best Places to Work in IT. Nominated companies receive an email with a link to the Best Places company survey from Computerworld by the second week of June. Thereafter, company surveys will be sent on a rolling basis. Monday, August 1, 2022 DEADLINE: Completed Best Places company survey is due to Computerworld. Late fall 2022 List of Best Places to Work in IT honorees is available online.

What information will be shared publicly?

Computerworld tries to avoid printing information that a company may consider competitive. The following information may appear publicly:

Company name

Location

Industry

Website

Total number of employees

Total number of IT employees

Percentage of IT employee turnover

Percentage of IT employee promotions

Number of training days offered per IT employee

Information from a 300-word essay outlining what's special about your company and IT department

Please note that revenue, overall IT budget and other sensitive information will not be reported. Such information will be used only in aggregate format or for ranking purposes.

What if I have a question that was not answered in this FAQ?

Please email your questions to the following address: bestplaces@computerworld.com.

In the subject line, please include your company name and be as descriptive as possible in the subject line as to the nature of your inquiry.
(Disclosure: The companies mentioned are clients of the author.)

Microsoft Build is my favorite Microsoft conference because it usually introduces me to fun new stuff to try out. Having this show be virtual is necessary because of the current environment but disappointing because its hard to check out some of the new things remotely. Interestingly, much of what Microsoft has been announcing at Build could fix that at future events because its turning up the ability of its tools to operate collaboratively far beyond whats previously been possible.

Here's how Microsoft is pushing the productivity envelope this week.

How Microsoft wins

Ive worked with and covered Microsoft since the 1970s. Back when it was a new company, it recruited me; I made one of the decisions Ive since regretted and went to work for my father instead. It is amazing how Microsoft has changed through the decades. In the early years, it was known for being closed, proprietary, and for telling partners and customers what was going to happen as opposed to listening to what they wanted.

Todays Microsoft is like that old Microsoft in name only. Now, its an open-source advocate and treats interoperability as a competitive edge. As one Microsoft customer, a multinational client, pointed out: they listen and collaborate today. In fact, this customer said this was unique at that level of business enterprises and a sharp contrast to Microsofts competitors. Microsoft now wants to work with its partners and customers, while competitors tend to hand out a catalog of products.

This last has been a historical problem in technology. Tech companies know that customers arent up to speed on current versions of products but tend to think thats a customer issue, not a vendor problem to solve. Microsoft, in contrast, appears to believe its its problem to solve, and it showcased that recognition at Build.

A new class of hardware

One of the biggest announcements at Build was Project Volterra. While Microsoft has clearly supported Windows on ARM, until this year the support wasnt what the market needed. The issue: Windows and related apps developed for X86 ARM implementations had to run an X86 emulator (which mauled the available performance). Remember that ARM is a highly efficient architecture with little performance headroom.

Project Volterra is projected to be the first four-processor PC with not only the more traditional CPU and GPU processors, but also an NPU and an ACU (the last term is mine because Microsoft didnt come up with another acronym). An NPU is a neural processing unit focused on AI loads that promises to provide far more AI performance at far less energy cost than any CPU or GPU can provide. The ACU is an Azure Compute Unit  the first major step to creating a hybrid model for the PC where loads shift seamlessly between the PC and the cloud as needed.

In addition, Project Volterra is a focused workstation, the first from Microsoft. It mirrors somewhat what Nvidia has been doing for AI creation, but with much lower-cost hardware and greater use of cloud resources.

In the end, Project Volterra will finally provide a hardware workstation platform that potentially fills out the Surface line (which has lacked a true workstation) with a focus on creating ARM-native software that would allow ARM to finally compete at its full potential. While Qualcomm is undoubtedly ecstatic about this  and for good reason  AMD and Intel are concerned with this move.

Of the OEMs, Lenovo will likely be the first to come up with a branded Volterra alternative. Lenovo has been the most aggressive OEM regarding its support for Microsoft announcements.

Collaboration and Teams

The entire Build event was focused on collaboration with far deeper integration of Teams capabilities into Microsofts developer tools, including GitHub and the emergence of an AI tool called GitHub Copilot. Microsoft claimed it would cut coding time by around 30% by anticipating the code needed to complete a project and generating it automatically. In a very real way, this is collaboration with AI at a scale we havent seen before.

Not only was collaboration improved with AI (this idea I find fascinating), but for people working remotely it has been significantly bolstered as well.

Teams gets an arguably better avatar experience than that showcased by Facebook, and it will increasingly allow a level of app interaction during meetings that is unprecedented. Remote collaborators will be able to interact with shared tools so that a team can do more than just voicing suggestions and collectively create or change something more efficiently. (There was one fascinating example of a meeting where remote attendees interacted using tools like Microsoft Mesh, which goes far beyond whats been do-able until now.

With Mesh, Microsoft has added drop-in spaces so users can interact serendipitously, much as youd grab someones eye while walking down the hall in the office. This focus on building relationships and new skills came up repeatedly during Build. You dont even need a VR headset, but if you had one, the experience would be better.

Microsoft looks ahead

At Build, Microsoft finally got serious about deepening its collaboration capabilities, which highlights one more advantage Microsoft has over other types of companies (both in and outside of the technology market). That advantage: the company operates off the tools it creates. This makes Microsoft its own most loyal and influential customer and assures that industry problems, like the need to support remote workers and create better ARM-native code, is driven by internal need.

With this improved collaboration between Microsoft employees, partners, and customers, these immersive tools should give Microsoft a competitive advantage that will be hard for others to overcome. Its worth watching CEO Satya Nadellas keynote and learning more about Project Volterra.

One of the historical concerns with Microsoft was its embrace of changes the market didnt want and often rejected. This years Build introduced a very different Microsoft, because this years offerings are solutions customers have been screaming for and will likely adopt. Once again, Microsoft proved it could pivot aggressively to the future  and that future will be more collaborative, more remote, and far more enhanced by AI than ever before.
05/25/2022

Photo (c) Wachiwit - Getty Images COVID-19 tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 83,518,205 (83,394,712)

Total U.S. deaths: 1,002,780 (1,002,386)

Total global cases: 526,849,172 (526,228,343)

Total global deaths: 6,280,942 (6,278,929)

CDC identifies most common symptoms of long COVID

A new study suggests that not everyone who recovers from COVID-19 gets a clean bill of health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that COVID-19 survivors are twice as likely to develop pulmonary embolism or respiratory conditions.

The study also found that one in five COVID-19 patients who recover and are between the ages of 18 and 64 have at least one lingering condition that could be a result of their COVID-19 infection  a condition known as long COVID. For people aged 65 and older, the odds of lingering symptoms are one in four.

In addition to neurological issues, the CDC identified cardiovascular conditions, kidney failure, respiratory conditions, musculoskeletal conditions, and blood clots as the most common lingering effects associated with long COVID.

Pfizer CEO predicts constant waves of the virus

If the current buildup in COVID-19 cases turns into another wave, it might be something to get used to. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla predicts that the world could experience repeated waves of the coronavirus.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Bourla said weakening immunity from previous infections and vaccinations could lead to constant waves of COVID-19 variants and deaths, especially if people stop taking precautions.

What worries me is the complacency, Bourla said, noting that the public is growing tired of mitigation measures.

New York has reopened, but the exodus to Florida continues

At the height of the pandemic, when New York was largely restricted, thousands of New Yorkers headed for Florida. Even though New York is now mostly open, data shows that the migration to Florida has continued.

The Department of Motor Vehicles can track the movement by analyzing drivers' license data. The latest analysis shows that 21,546 New Yorkers traded their drivers licenses for a Florida license during the first four months of this year. Thats a 12% increase from the same period last year.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams previously said New Yorkers would stop moving once the city reopened. The city has even leased billboards in Florida that urges recent transplants to return.

Around the nation
Designomic.com scored 40 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 21 Feb 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the designomic homepage on Twitter + the total number of designomic followers (if designomic has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the designomic homepage on StumbleUpon. The total number of people who shared the designomic homepage on Delicious. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the designomic homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if designomic has a Facebook fan page). The total number of people who shared the designomic homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button.

Basic Information

PAGE TITLE Design Directory - Designomic.com DESCRIPTION Designomic Design Directory is an online database of all the design professionals from various fields like web design, graphic design, fashion design and many more. Submit your links now! KEYWORDS web design directory, graphic design directory, fashion design directory OTHER KEYWORDS directorypress, designomic, wp content, publichtml, content, themes, php on line



The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The title found in the head section of the homepage. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site.

Domain and Server

DOCTYPE XHTML 1.0 Transitional CHARSET AND LANGUAGE UTF-8 DETECTED LANGUAGE English English SERVER Apache/2.2.23 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.23 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_bwlimited/1.4 mod_fcgid/2.3.6 (PHP/5.2.17) OPERATIVE SYSTEM Linux Linux

Operative System running on the server. Character set and language of the site. Type of server and offered services. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) The language of designomic.com as detected by CoolSocial algorithms.

Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world.

Referring domains for designomic.com by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.

Facebook link

FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND

The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. The URL of the found Facebook page. The type of Facebook page. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages.

Twitter account link

TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND
Mjhzj.he.cqbrkj.com scored 40 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 17 Jan 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the mjhzj.he.cqbrkj homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if mjhzj.he.cqbrkj has a Facebook fan page). This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the mjhzj.he.cqbrkj homepage on Twitter + the total number of mjhzj.he.cqbrkj followers (if mjhzj.he.cqbrkj has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the mjhzj.he.cqbrkj homepage on Delicious. The total number of people who shared the mjhzj.he.cqbrkj homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. The total number of people who shared the mjhzj.he.cqbrkj homepage on StumbleUpon.

Basic Information

PAGE TITLE 14p_-mmm- DESCRIPTION 14p_-mmm- KEYWORDS 14p_-mmm- OTHER KEYWORDS 14p, mmm , mmm, mmm , vip , mmm , vip



The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The title found in the head section of the homepage.

Domain and Server

DOCTYPE XHTML 1.0 Transitional CHARSET AND LANGUAGE GB2312 DETECTED LANGUAGE SERVER Microsoft-IIS/6.0 (PHP/5.2.17) OPERATIVE SYSTEM Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003

Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) Operative System running on the server. Type of server and offered services. The language of mjhzj.he.cqbrkj.com as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Character set and language of the site.

Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world.

Referring domains for mjhzj.he.cqbrkj.com by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.

Facebook link

FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND

A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. The type of Facebook page. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. The URL of the found Facebook page.

Twitter account link

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- [Grid 2019]: Flags and banners will no longer flicker during gameplay.

- [Adobe Premiere Pro]: Fixed Direct3D-related Crash Dumps.

- [Adobe Premiere Pro]: NVIDIA Control Panel now allows users to modify the Image Sharpening setting.

- Toggling HDR on and off in-game causes game stability issues when non-native resolution is used. [3624030]

- [GeForce RTX 3090 Ti] Oculus Rift S/Pimax 8Kx is not detected. [3632289][3626116]

- Videos played back in Microsoft Edge may appear green if NVIDIA Image Scaling is enabled upon resuming from hibernate or booting with fastboot. [3624218]

- [DirectX 12] Shadowplay recordings may appear over exposed when Use HDR is enabled from the Windows display settings. [200742937]

- [Assassin's Creed Origins] Game displays flicker when character is under water near a boat. [3642655]

- Monitor may briefly flicker on waking from display sleep if DSR/DLDSR is enabled. [3592260]

- [NVIDIA Ampere GPU]: With the GPU connected to an HDMI 2.1 audio/video receiver, audio may drop out when playing back Dolby Atmos. [3345965]

- Club 3D CAC-1085 dongle limited to maximum resolution of 4K at 60Hz. [3542678]

propose de nouveaux drivers, les, ces derniers promettent des performances optimales dans les jeuxetLes nouveaux venus corrigent certains bugs, comme le flickering sur les drapeaux et les bannieres presents dans le jeu Grid (2019).Les drivers sont telechargeables ici
In early December 2021, enterprise security teams around the world went on high alert because of a string of vulnerabilities in an open-source Java component, Log4j, that is used in millions of applications. The incident prompted warnings from CISA and other national CERTs and led to renewed discussion about security and the open-source software ecosystem and how developers consume and track their use of open-source components.

Chris Wysopal, founder and chief technology officer of application security company Veracode, sat down with CSO Senior Writer Lucian Constantin at a recent Security Summit to discuss just that.

A security industry veteran, with more than 20 years of experience in application security and vulnerability research, Wysopal has testified to the US Congress on the subjects of government security and how vulnerabilities are discovered in software.

What follows are edited excerpts of Wysopals conversation with Constantin. To learn more about the aftermath of the Log4j vulnerabilities and the future of open source security, watch the full video interview embedded below.

On the significance and impact of Log4j:

Log4j was definitely a different kind of vulnerability for development teams to deal with than their normal day-to-day, just because of how widespread it was and how urgent it was.

It just hit almost every organization, and within every organization, it hit multiple development teamsteams that were working on the latest and greatest thing for the company and teams that were in maybe maintenance mode that maybe changed the code like once a year.

Because [Veracode is] a SaaS provider, we can look across all of our customers. And we looked across the couple hundred thousand applications that we had scanned in the last year, especially enterprise customers. And of those enterprise customers, 95% of those customers were using Java. So that just shows you how popular Java is; if there is another vulnerability like this in Java, it is going to be widespread. And 88% were using Log4j and 58% were using the vulnerable version. So, this hit most organizations. Overall, 17% of Java apps were vulnerable to Log4j, so just think of that. There are millions and millions of Java applications that have been built over the last 10, 20 years, and a full 17% of them were vulnerable. There was just a lot of scrambling going on across all these different companies and their engineering teams.

How SBOMs could help:

If you are an IT department [or development team] that is purchasing products from vendors, [youll have to] to patch vendor code. Of course, IT departments are used to patching vendor code. The challenge was this was very widespreadall at the same time. This was a situation where most companies had dozens or even a hundred vendors that were all vulnerable to this, and they had to track which vendors were vulnerable, did I have the update yet, did I update it? And try to do this in a timely way because this is probably going to get attacked in a short amount of time.

A lot of organizations had to do this by asking questions of their vendors. They would ask, Well, I think this appliance uses Java, so let me go ask the vendor. I will send an email to my support person and ask them if they use Log4j and when the update is going to be available.

A lot of this was done manuallythrough emailand teams would set up spreadsheets and say, This one is vulnerable; we are waiting for the update here.

This is where the software bill of materialsor an SBOMcould really help, if when you purchased that product, they sent you an SBOM or they sent you a link online to their SBOM and you could programmatically just query so that you are not manually asking questions and building a spreadsheet. That is how I think things are going to move to in the future because SBOMs are starting to build traction.

On signs of progress:

[Open source] is becoming almost a national security risk. I was at the Aspen Cybersecurity Summit in September, and a big part of that was systemic risk and how open source is getting up there as one of those systemic risks for the United States. So that is the kind of importance it is getting to because the usage is just so widespread.

[The good news is] things have improved. There is a lot of awareness. I think the enterprises are aware that they should be picking the right packages, whether that is a project that is well maintained and has less vulnerabilities or they are always keeping it up to date and making sure they are using a less vulnerable version.

But I also think the open-source teams are responding quicker to these issues. So, there are a lot of different factors that are going into the improvement here. And we need it badly because we cannot have a Log4j episode on a monthly basis. That would just kill productivity for people using open source, which is everybody.

This article originally appeared in CIO.com's Center Stage newsletter. Subscribe today!

[ Learn how to track and secure open source in your enterprise. ]
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Ukrainian authorities have informed Cyprus about their seizure of $420 million worth of shares and securities linked to the east Mediterranean island nation, which belong to a Russian billionaire and other businessmen, a Cypriot official said Tuesday.

Cyprus government spokesman Marios Pelekanos told the Associated Press that Ukraine raised the matter with the relevant authorities of the Republic of Cyprus."

But he said no information can be disclosed" on whether Cyprus-registered companies were used to shield the assets from sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine's Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova in a social media posting identified the Russian businessman as billionaire Mikhail Fridman of Alfa Bank, a Russian lender with major operations in Ukraine.

Venediktova's office had previously described how an unnamed Russian oligarch and businessmen heavily involved in the Ukrainian banking sector sought to protect wealth from sanctions by routing it through Cyprus.

Cyprus is fully committed to the effective implementation of both U.N. sanctions" and European Union restrictive measures and any violation is punishable by law, Pelekanos said.

He added that Fridman does not hold a Cypriot passport.

Cyprus said it would strip citizenship from eight Russians  and their family members  who appear on the EUs sanctions list.

The Russians received Cypriot passports under the countrys once lucrative citizenship-by-investment program that was scrapped two years ago in the wake of an undercover TV report.

The report allegedly showed the parliamentary speaker and a senior lawmaker claiming that they could skirt the rules to issue a passport to a fictitious Chinese investor supposedly convicted of fraud at home.

A 2021 report found that more than half of a total 6,779 passports were issued unlawfully to relatives of wealthy investors over the programs 13-year run that generated more than 8 billion euros.

The report said the government had incorrectly interpreted the law on issuing passports to relatives and also found that nearly 770 foreigners were wrongly granted citizenship primarily because of inadequate vetting.
FAIRFIELD  Fairfield officials expressed profound grief at the recent tragedy in Texas  the second worst school shooting in American history behind only the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012.

Our hearts break watching the news tonight of another mass shooting, this one at a elementary school, First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said in a Facebook post.

I cant pretend to understand what brings a human being to the point of walking into a school, a grocery store, a church, a theater or anywhere and open fire on innocent people. I also dont understand why a teenage boy was stabbed and lost his life at a party this month, she said, speaking about the death of Fairfield Prep student James McGrath.

On Tuesday afternoon, Salvador Ramos, 18, killed 19 students and two teachers with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

In a message to Fairfield Public Schools, police Capt. Edward Weihe said the Fairfield Police Department would be increasing police presence at all schools in town on Wednesday.

This is not the result of any threats to our town or our schools, he said. This is simply a community engagement measure in response the tragedy occurring yesterday at Robb Elementary School, Texas.

Weihe said people can expect to see police cars driving through parking lots and around the streets surrounding properties at various times throughout the day.

As always, be vigilant in observing and reporting anything suspicious on or near school properties, he said. The non-emergency reporting number is 203-254-4800. When in doubt, call 9-1-1.

In response to the shooting, an interfaith gathering offering support, counsel, faith and community connection will be held at the Sherman Green on Saturday from noon to 2:30 p.m.

Kupchick, who was a member of the Connecticut General Assembly in 2012 when the shooting in Sandy Hook took place, said that shooting had a tremendous impact on the families of victims and the state  and was a period of time she will never forget.

At that time I joined every resident in Connecticut in feeling the gut wrenching pain of this unimaginable tragedy, she said. I soon realized I would be called upon with my legislative colleagues to answer our states residents cries to do something.

Kupchick said the legislature spent the entire session working on bills that were introduced in nearly every committee.

There were hundreds of hours of public hearings, hundreds more spent discussing legislative proposals and a lot of time listening, talking and emailing with the residents of Fairfield, she said. What still stands out the most to me was meeting the families who lost a child or family member in the school that day. Watching their faces and broken souls as they sat in the well in the House Chamber was heartbreaking.

That year, Kupchick said, legislators from both sides of the aisle worked together on gun violence, school safety and mental health legislation that was passed into law in Connecticut.

I dont have all the answers, Im not sure any of us do, she said. As citizens, I believe we need to start having real conversations without anger or judgment about the increase of violence in our country and how we can be part of solving it, together.

On its Facebook page, the Fairfield Police Department said it offers its sincere condolences to those who were harmed by the tragic events at Robb Elementary School.

Our deepest sympathies are extended to the family members and friends who have lost a loved one, along with the entire community affected by this tragedy, it said. We recognize that following tragic incidents such as these, no matter the distance between us, communities across the country are left feeling unsettled. Fairfield is certainly no exception and we take seriously our responsibility to ensure our residents, employees and visitors are all able to feel safe within our community and within our schools.

Bob Smoler, the president of the Fairfield Education Association, said teachers are devastated by the news of the shooting.

Its mostly all weve been talking about today, he said. Its very sad. Its obviously concerning. We had Newtown close by to us, so were not strangers to the situation. We are sad and devastated for the families, and frustrated that its still going on.

Smoler called the shooting a needless slaughter with needless deaths, adding Fairfields schools practice drills for this possibility.

The kids are all aware that this is a possibility, which is a scary thing, he said. I dont think children this age should have to worry about these things  but they do. Teachers also worry about these things, but we still have to soldier on and do the work of the school district.

Smoler said the possibility of a gunman coming into school and killing people is a lived fear for teachers similar to other lived fears like a cancer diagnosis. He said it gives them one more hesitancy about working in a school.

But to be quite honest, as we saw in Buffalo, shootings are happening in places other than schools, he said. I think the country as a whole, and teachers in particular, are fearful but also its sort of been integrated into our psyche a little bit.

That means taking all the precautions possible and hoping it never happens in Fairfield, Smoler said, adding it is a fear that people can only do so much to account for. He said it is a shame that the United States can not do more to protect its young people, teachers and citizens because it refuses to.

You look anywhere else in the world and they dont have these issues, because they dont have guns in everybodys hands, he said. For some reason, our elected officials feel like its their obligation to make sure that anybody who wants a gun in their hands should have one. Its an absolute catastrophe. (The shooting) is inexcusable and unacceptable, but it doesnt seem like anybody is going to do anything about it.

joshua.labella@hearstmediact.com
SHERMAN  Recently obtained accident information summaries shed some light on the back-to-back motorcycle crashes that left three people injured Saturday morning.

The first was a head-on collision involving an eastbound 2010 Harley-Davidson FLHX motorcycle and westbound 2010 BMW X5 on Route 37 East around 11:20 a.m.

Police said the motorcycle, driven by a 61-year-old New Milford man, crossed over into the westbound lane while negotiating a sharp curve and collided with the car, driven by a 71-year-old Sherman woman.

Both drivers were transported to Danbury Hospital  the motorcyclist with serious injuries and the BMW driver with minor ones, according to state police.

Route 37 East near Upland Pasture Road was closed in both directions for several hours, and both vehicles were towed from the scene with disabling damage.

Less than 20 minutes after the first crash, state police said they got a call about another motorcycle accident in the area of Route 39 and Bittersweet Lane.

At the scene, police said a 30-year-old man from Bedford Hills, N.Y., was found with minor injuries to his right ankle and back.

State police determined that the man lost control, fell off his 2019 Honda motorcycle and slid off the right side of the roadway.

According to authorities, he had been going approximately 30 mph at the time of the crash and was airlifted by LifeStar to Westchester Medical Center in New York. Officials said he was last listed in stable condition.

Any witnesses to the single-vehicle motorcycle crash on Route 39 are asked to call Trooper Daniel Albohn at 203-267-2240.

Both motorcycle crashes remain under investigation by state police.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Defense attorneys for a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer charged with lying to the FBI during the Trump-Russia probe showed jurors handwritten notes on Wednesday aimed at undercutting allegations that he misled the federal government about his legal work.

Michael Sussmann is on trial in Washingtons federal court, accused of lying to the FBIs general counsel during a September 2016 meeting in which he presented computer data that purported to show a secret communications backchannel between Donald Trump and Russia. The FBI investigated but quickly determined no link existed between the Trump Organization, the former presidents company, and Russia-based Alfa Bank.

Prosecutors allege he misled the FBI by saying he was not attending the meeting on behalf of a particular client when he was actually representing the interests of the Clinton campaign and another client  a technology executive who had provided him with the data.

The case was brought by special counsel John Durham, a Justice Department prosecutor appointed in 2019 to investigate potential government misconduct in the early days of the inquiry into potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Sussmann is one of three people charged so far by Durham and his team of prosecutors.

Sussmanns lawyers deny that he ever lied. They say his legal representation of Democratic interests was already well-known to James Baker, the FBI lawyer to whom he made the alleged false statement, and that he came to the FBI to raise concerns about a potential national security threat.

Prosecutors rested their case on Wednesday. It remains unclear if Sussmann will testify in his defense later this week.

Defense lawyers called as their first witnesses former senior Justice Department officials who attended a March 6, 2017, meeting at which FBI leaders briefed them on the status of investigations into potential coordination during the 2016 presidential election between Trump's successful campaign and Russia. Among the topics that came up at the meeting were the Alfa Bank claims.

One of those ex-officials, Tashina Gauhar, took notes from the meeting in which she wrote that the Alfa Bank allegations were brought to the FBI by an attorney on behalf of his client. She said she didn't recall who at the meeting said that, but said that if she had written that down, then "thats what I would have heard at the briefing.

One of Sussmann's lawyers, Michael Bosworth, sought to persuade jurors about the credibility of Gauhar's notes by asking, mostly rhetorically: When senior leaders of the FBI come to brief senior leaders of the Department of Justice, do they try to get it right? Do they try to present truthful, accurate information to the Department of Justice?

Another participant at the March 2017 meeting, Mary McCord, at the time the Justice Department's top national security official, took similar notes about the fact that the Alfa Bank claims came to the FBI from a lawyer.

Earlier Wednesday, prosecutors showed jurors billing records indicating that Sussmann repeatedly billed to the campaign general political advice and legal work related to the Alfa Bank server issue. The records were introduced to bolster their claim that Sussmann was acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign when he shared the data with the FBI.

Defense lawyers, however, noted that Sussmann billed the taxi ride to the FBI building for the meeting on Alfa Bank to his law firm at the time, Perkins Coie, rather than to the Clinton campaign.

____

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter://www.twitter/com/etuckerAP
Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law on Tuesday a Connecticut General Assembly bill that aims to draw more women back into the workforce who lost or left their jobs voluntarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, by expanding the opportunities to skill up for better-paying careers and get coaching from those who have found success.

Under the new law, the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy is charged with developing new programs in conjunction with the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

Possibilities include expanded apprenticeships in industries dominated today by men, like construction and manufacturing. The construction industry is on the brink of a boom, as Connecticut and other states get a massive infusion from the federal government for infrastructure projects.

OWS already lists a number of work-based learning programs and career-pathway programs as existing initiatives, but they are geared largely toward students.

We are in the process of formulating a plan for this but will likely need a few weeks given other priorities that our office is working on, stated Niall Dammando, chief of staff in the Office of Workforce Strategy, in an email response Wednesday to a Hearst Connecticut Media query.

It is one of multiple bills Lamont has signed to help women return to work, along with an expanded tax credit that kicks in on June 1 to defray some of the costs of child care. Under another new law, the Connecticut General Assembly wants the state to find ways to erase the hurdles for people interested in starting new day-care centers  or help former operators start them back up if they closed during the pandemic.

The Connecticut Business & Industry Association pressed legislators in March to pass the bill to help women improve their chances at getting good-paying jobs. CBIA referenced National Womens Law Center data that 63 percent of workers are women of those who have yet to return to the workforce since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For those that left by choice, the primary causes are thought to be health concerns or the need to care for children amid interruptions in schools and afternoon programs  exacerbated by the struggles of day care centers to keep their own workers on the job, and by extension furnish a relief valve for working parents who otherwise must rely on a revolving door of family members and trusted acquaintances helping out.

State Sen. Joan Hartley, D-15, referenced the issue her own district centered on Waterbury, in expressing support in March for the bill during a hearing by the Commerce Committee that she co-chairs.

We are asking DECD along with OWS to develop a plan ... to get an implementation  not another plan to be shelved, just to say its been done, Hartley said in March. In my own district, we have had child-care centers that have had to close. Trace it back and its because they havent had staff  and the primary reason for that is what the compensation is.

State Rep. Kate Farrar, D-West Hartford, said several states have innovative programs to help women support each other in finding opportunities and climbing the ladder of success. She cited the Womens Business Development Council as one good example in Connecticut, with the Stamford-based nonprofit offering an equity match program to help women start up businesses and learn from mentors and each other as they proceed.

Women have faced a disproportionate impact of COVID  on our health, on our care-giving responsibilities, on our role in the workforce, said Farrar, who led the nonprofit Connecticut Womens Education and Legal Fund for four years. I think at the heart of what COVID exacerbated was really the lack of support for women in the workforce  not just in regards to child care, but also in regards to the work women are doing, which is primarily low-wage work.

CBIA government affairs attorney Ashley Zane said she hopes OWS and DECD will make professional mentor programs and career fairs for women a key element in providing upward mobility for those contemplating a return to work. Zane cited the example of Whitcraft Group, an aerospace components manufacturer with Connecticut locations in Eastford, Plainville and South Windsor.

They are hiring now for character, and they are going to train the individual, Zane said Wednesday. If you have motivation, if you are interested in the field, theyll pay to re-skill or skill you up based off of their needs.

The CEO of the Norwalk-based human resources and training consultancy OperationsInc said the Connecticut bills do not address a major criteria for some parents  lingering unease over the danger posed by the COVID-19 virus and whether day care centers are able to minimize the odds of transmission. To date, nearly 73,000 children below age 10 have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

There are parents  mostly women  who see daycare as an unsafe place for their kids. As such they are opting out of the workforce, said David Lewis, CEO of OperationsInc, which has a large percentage of women in its own staff. We need more distance from COVID, more clarity on how medicines make COVID like the flu, and less real concerns around variants.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Connecticut-based supermarket chain Stew Leonard's has recalled a number of coffee products sold at its Norwalk location.

All bagged, loose or roasted coffee and coffee beans of all flavors and varieties, sold at the company's Norwalk market, have been recalled. Specifically, the company has issued the recall for any of these products purchased between May 21-24 at 11 a.m, according to a press release sent by Stew Leonard's.

The recall was issued due to a possible contamination that could trigger nut allergies. The company said in its press release that they were experimenting with a "a double-roasted pistachio nut" in their coffee roaster but didn't immediately realize that by doing so, they possibly contaminated the following batch of roasted coffee.

Stew Leonard's is asking that customers with nut allergies to return the coffee products for a full refund.
When I saw the news alert about the mass shooting in Buffalo, I felt sick about the loss of innocent lives  parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, murdered as they did their Saturday morning errands.

But having spent the last 21/2 years immersed in research for my upcoming novel, Some Kind of Hate, I also felt queasy because I was worried it would turn out to be the latest incidence of stochastic terrorism  the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act.

Sadly, my initial concern was validated. The shooters manifesto (largely cribbed from the manifestos of other right-wing extremists), consisted of the ideas Id seen in regularly in various online forums.

To understand the mindset of a teen boy who is radicalized to white nationalism through gaming platforms, I interviewed former extremists to find out what drew them into hate movements, as well what sparked their decisions to leave.

I also spent as much time as I could bear lurking in extremist chatrooms on Telegram. It was like being showered by a toxic firehouse of racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, and misogynist thoughts and memes.

A prevalent idea in these extremist chatrooms was Replacement Theory. Its rooted in antisemitism, namely that there is a Jewish-led conspiracy to encourage both immigration and intermarriage between races to cause white genocide  hence the chant of Jews will not replace us at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. It inspired domestic terrorists to commit mass murder at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 and an El Paso Walmart in 2019.

But these ideas are no longer confined to the political fringes  they are the essence of todays Republican Party, having been mainstreamed straight from the Oval Office under the former president, by media figures such as Tucker Carlson, and politicians such as Elise Stefanik and Matt Gaetz. A recent AP/NORC poll found that 32 percent of respondents agreed with the statement there is a group of people in this country who are trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants who agree with their political views. Those holding a belief in such conspiracies are more likely to identify as Republican, consider themselves born-again Christians, and interpret the Bible literally, than the general population.

Republicans are using multiple strategies to fight this alleged genocide  which at its heart is the fear of no longer controlling the reins of power due to Americas changing demographics.

The Brennan Center for Justice found that not only were there an increased number of restrictive voting laws in 2022, the harshest legislation was being proposed by almost exclusively by Republicans, and that they disproportionately affect people of color.

Then theres the assault on womens bodily autonomy. Oklahoma just passed a law that gives the fetus personhood from the moment of conception. This isnt pro Life, because make no mistake, women will die because of this law. Its an attempt to establish Christianity as the law of the land, as if the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment doesnt exist.

If you think these things arent related, Matt Schlapp recently said the quiet part aloud at CPAC in Hungary: If you say there is a population problem in a country, but youre killing millions of your own people through legalized abortion every year, if that were to be reduced, some of that problem is solved ... If youre worried about this ... replacement, why dont we start there? Start with allowing our own people to live.

When pressed by journalists on his belief in Replacement theory, Schlapp made the derisible statement, I dont know if I understand what that is.

Another prong in the attack is a coordinated effort to take over local school boards, as we saw last year in Guilford by raising unfounded fears that Critical Race Theory is being taught in K-12 schools. An allegedly grassroots groups called Moms for Liberty that claims its funding comes from t-shirt sales, yet curiously has strong connections with powerful figures in the Republican Party and the Heritage Foundation. The group is also stoking the book banning trend sweeping Republican states in the South. It shouldnt surprise anyone that the focus of these bans are books by authors of color and those featuring LGBTQIA characters.

A letter signed by 1,300 childrens book authors was recently submitted to the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties decrying these censorship efforts. Reading stories that reflect the diversity of our world builds empathy and respect for everyones humanity. At a time when our country is experiencing an alarming rise in hate crimes, we should be searching for ways to increase empathy and compassion at every turn, it said.

As writers, we know that words matter  that they can be used to create understanding, or to stoke hatred and dehumanization, with deadly results.

Connecticut resident Sarah Darer Littman is an award-winning author of young adult books. Some Kind of Hate is slated for release in November by Scholastic Press.
WESTPORT  Long Lots Elementary School was evacuated after an electrical short caused a wall fire in the auditorium Wednesday, fire officials said.

A police officer was alerted around noon to the smell of smoke coming from the schools auditorium. They then activated the fire alarm to evacuate the school once they saw smoke, according to Jeff Gootman, shift commander for the Westport Fire Department.

The police officer who first found the fire used an extinguisher to initially put out the blaze. Once firefighters arrived, they saw the small fire was in the wall of the auditorium and extinguished the remaining blaze, Gootman said.

Assistant Schools Superintendent John Bayers assured families that all students and staff were safe.

The small fire was contained to the wall. The Westport Fire Marshals Office later determined the fire was caused by an electrical short, according to Gootman.

Students went back into the school shortly before 1 p.m., but they were dismissed at 1:15 p.m. for the remainder of the school day out of an abundance of caution, Gootman said.

Gootman said there were no injuries to students or staff.

The district has a five-year capital plan in the works to improve its facilities. Long Lots Elementary School was identified as a priority in a report earlier this year. The report recommended $96 million in improvements, $8.16 million of which would go toward Long Lots.

Within that $8.16 million, about $600,000 was recommended for electrical, according to the report.

Most recently, officials are deciding whether they should renovate the building or rebuild the school.
NEW BRITAIN  A former fire lieutenant is trying to get his job back after city officials say he was terminated because text messages revealed he sold drugs at a local firehouse to a member of the department who died two months later of a suspected overdose.

Former New Britain fire Lt. Michael Yagmin, who was interviewed as part of a broad administrative investigation into allegations that more than a half-dozen firefighters were using drugs, including some while on duty, is in arbitration with the city, Mayor Erin Stewarts spokesperson Rachel Zaniewski said. A hearing is scheduled for June, she said.

According to his termination letter, Yagmin was fired in February after an internal investigation revealed he lied about selling heroin or fentanyl to firefighter Matthew Dizney, who died Jan. 26 at his Southington home of what Stewart called a suspected overdose. The states medical examiner said Dizneys cause of death is pending further studies.

Yagmin is also believed to have sold Dizney prescription drugs, according to the termination letter.

New Britain police conducted a criminal investigation into the alleged drug activity among city firefighters, but Stewart said she was told there was not enough evidence for an arrest.

New Britain police have not responded to requests for comment. The department has also not responded to Hearst Connecticut Media Groups request for the documents related to the criminal investigation.

Yagmin declined to comment when reached last week.

According to his termination letter, Yagmin was fired Feb. 18 for commission of a criminal or immoral act, conduct unbecoming of a city employee and untruthfulness under the Garrity Act during hearings. Under Garrity, an incriminating statement may not be used in a criminal proceeding against an employee threatened with termination.

The letter states that Yagmin was asked about apparent discrepancies in the statements he made to investigators and the text messages to and from Dizney. Yagmin denied to investigators that he arranged for a drug transaction or used illegal drugs at any fire station, the termination letter stated. But the text messages referred to Yagmin getting Dizney pills, a stack or a bun  street slang police said is used to describe quantities of heroin or fentanyl, according to the letter.

Yagmin said he didnt know what stack or bun meant, and said his texts were referring to marijuana, which he claimed to have legally obtained in Massachusetts, the letter stated.

In the letter, Stewart noted the contradiction and pointed out that firefighters are not allowed to use recreational marijuana.

Stewart wrote that despite his denials, Yagmin conducted a drug transaction at Station 7 on Nov. 17, 2021 and is believed to have planned a drug transaction at the same firehouse with Dizney on Dec. 22, 2021.

It is clear that you scheduled, arranged and conducted a drug transaction at (Station 7) on Nov. 17, 2021, the mayor wrote in the letter. You were knowingly supplying, giving, selling, sharing and using illegal drugs and your prescription Adderall pills with a private in the fire department and delivered drugs to Private Dizney while Private Dizney was on duty.

The Southington police probe of Dizneys death triggered the New Britain internal investigation of drug use among city firefighters, Stewart said. The investigation led to Yagmins firing and the demotion and suspension of seven others, all of whom had been promoted to lieutenant or driver, Stewart said.

The administrative investigation found that nine New Britain firefighters consumed drugs, including Adderall, marijuana, cocaine and possibly either heroin or fentanyl. Three of the employees, Yagmin, Dizney and one other unnamed firefighter are believed to have consumed drugs while on duty, Stewart said.

Stewart, who released the results of the internal investigation last week, said more than nine firefighters may have used drugs. She said as rumors about the internal investigation spread, a number of firefighters retired.

Fire Chief Raul Ortiz, Assistant Chief Peter Towey and staff from the Human Resources and corporation counsels offices conducted the administrative investigation.

As a result of the probe, two lieutenants and five drivers were demoted to private, which is the lowest rank, suspended for 30 days without pay and placed on probation for three years during which they are subject to random drug testing  something Stewart said she has been pushing for years to be included in the union contract for all firefighters.

The disciplined firefighters avoided termination by admitting somewhat of their truth when they were interviewed during the investigation, Stewart said. Yagmin, however, lied when he was interviewed, Stewart said.

Your actions and failure to acknowledge and be truthful with the city and yourself indicate that you are a safety risk to the fire department and the public it serves, which impacts the efficiency and operation of the department. For you and the union to state that you did not knowingly participate in illegal drug activity is irresponsible, Stewart wrote in the termination letter.

From a public policy standpoint, I cannot allow an employee of the fire department let alone a lieutenant to continue in employment when there is sufficient cause to believe that he is involved in illegal drug activity.
In the aftermath of a shooting that killed at least 19 children in Uvalde, Texas, Connecticut schools on Wednesday are offering counseling and resources to help their students.

Many districts have also said there will be increased police presences at their schools in the coming days.

Newtown Schools Superintendent Lorrie Rodrigue said in an email to staff and families that counseling teams will be prepared to offer assistance to students at each of the districts seven schools, including at Newtown High School where survivors of the 2012 attack now attend school.

In addition, Rodrigue said she is working with Newtown police to provide enhanced police presence at district schools.

In Newtown, this news resonates with our students, staff, and families in ways many communities might not understand  and hopefully never will, Rodrigue said in the email.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the students, families, and staff in the Uvalde school community. We will also be reaching out to the administration there to offer our support at this difficult time.

Dr. Andre Newfield, chair of psychiatry at St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport, said mass shootings like the one in Uvalde on Tuesday have enduring effects for survivors, who may develop post-traumatic stress disorder, but also on their communities.

Theres no greater violence than perpetration of violence against children, and when theres a mass murder of children all in one place in a sacred institution like a school, it doesnt matter how big or small or strong or weak a community is, theyre going to have a major reckoning to deal with, he said.

Newfield recommended that parents of young children in Connecticut think carefully about how, or whether, they discuss the shooting.

For the younger kids who dont have access to this firsthand, I dont think you discuss this, he said. I wouldnt want to instill fear in my children in going to school and having to think about, is there a shooter hiding around the corner? Theres just no way they could possibly process that.

In Hartford, where a student was stabbed Tuesday, Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez said the school district will provide support for students, including conflict resolution, added safety measures and mental health services.

Since the pandemic began more than two years ago, Torres-Rodriguez said the isolation, loss, housing insecurity, violence and other issues have been weighing heavily on students minds.

That is a lot for our young people to try and figure out on their own, she said. This is why we have added the additional supports.

We want to have these conversations that, for some, might be uncomfortable, but we know that its important for us to provide the spaces, the adults, the caring relationships for our students to feel safe, connected, valued and that there are supports in place for them, Torres-Rodriguez added.

In Middletown, police said they will assign officers to every school in the district and increase nearby patrols. The department said in a statement they have no information to suggest that our students and/or faculty are in any specific danger, calling the measures precautionary, and to allow staff and students to feel safe.

Brookfield Superintendent John Barile said hes been in continuous communication with the police chief and that there will be an enhanced police presence at all of the schools on Wednesday. Each schools crisis team is mobilized, he said.

It is devastating to hear the news of another senseless attack on innocent school children and staff, he said in a message to families.

He directed parents toward an article from the National Association of School Psychologists titled Talking to Children about Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers. The article advises parents and teachers to reassure their children that they are safe, make time to talk, keep their explanations developmentally appropriate and to review safety procedures.

Should your child need assistance, please reach out to our school counselors, social workers, school psychologists and/or administration, Barile said. Of course, you can always reach out to your childs teacher directly as they can help to facilitate support for your child as well. In the coming days and weeks, I ask you to join me in keeping the victims and loved ones of those directly affected by this horrific tragedy in your thoughts and prayers.

Bethel Public Schools counselors, psychologists and social workers will be available for any students who need to process this event with someone at school, Superintendent Christine Carver said in a message to families. Parents should contact their childs principal or teacher, who will ensure the support is provided, she said.

My thoughts and prayers are with the community in Uvalde, Texas, Carver wrote. Events such as this are heartbreaking and simply should not occur. We should expect that with more access to technology, our students, even younger ones, will likely hear of this horrific tragedy.

She directed families to resources from the National Association of School Psychologists, Common Sense Media and Sesame Street for how to talk to children about violence.

We have offered our assistance and support to our neighbors in Newtown, Carver said. I can not imagine the trauma that has resurfaced because of this horrific tragedy. We continue to review our All-Hazards School Security and Safety Plan and regularly practice drills with our staff and students so they understand what to do in serious situations such as this.

A spokesperson for the New Haven Public Schools said the district will maintain heightened security.

Greenwich police said the department will have an increased presence at the towns schools on Wednesday.

This is not the result of any threats to our town, Greenwich police said. We continue to ask residents to be watchful and to report anything suspicious on or near school properties, or throughout town.

Stratford Public Schools have activated their crisis team to provide support. Principals will also implement plans over the next few days to enhance school safety, according to Superintendent Uyi Osunde.

Equally as important, they will implement supports to ensure our schools are positioned to respond to the emotional needs of students and staff, Osunde said in a statement.

Stratford police officers will also be at all of the public schools in town.

As you hug your family tight this evening, I encourage you to continue to have conversations about being safe as individuals, and with others, Osunde said.

In Meriden, police officers will be visiting all Meriden Public elementary schools Wednesday. Counseling staff will also be available to support students, according to Superintendent Mark Benigni.

Westport Public Schools said there will be a police presence at all of its schools on Wednesday.

Our schools are not at risk, yet this collaboration and support with our local police department is reassuring for many in our community, Superintendent Thomas Scarice said. We will continue to partner with our police department to maintain the highest of safety standards in our drills and protocols.
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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A U.S. senator who came to Congress representing the Connecticut community where 26 elementary school students and educators were killed nearly a decade ago begged his colleagues Tuesday, as the latest school shooting unfolded, to pass legislation addressing the nation's gun violence problem.

The mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km) away from Newtown, Connecticut, felt all too familiar to residents and officials who saw many similarities to the attack by a lone gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

A gutted Sen. Chris Murphy took to the Senate floor Tuesday and demanded that lawmakers accomplish what they failed to do after 20 children, mostly 6 or 7 years old, and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut died on Dec. 14, 2012. Congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation since the collapse of a bipartisan Senate effort in the aftermath of that massacre.

What are we doing? Murphy asked. The Democrat, who represented Newtown during his time as a U.S. congressman, urged his colleagues to find a compromise.

"Im here on this floor to beg  to literally get down on my hands and knees  to beg my colleagues. Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely," he said.

I just dont understand why people here think were powerless, Murphy told reporters later. We arent."

He said he was working with colleagues  and reaching out in particular to Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas  to see if they could muster any bipartisan support for gun violence legislation.

Though the party of Democratic President Joe Biden has slim control of Congress, bills on gun violence have been stymied in the face of Republican opposition in the Senate.

Last year, the House passed two bills to expand background checks on firearms purchases. One would have closed a loophole for private and online sales; the other would have extended the background check review period. Both languished in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome objections from a filibuster.

Tuesday's tragedy in Texas appeared similar to the Sandy Hook shooting, where a 20-year-old man shot his way into the locked school on Dec. 14, 2012, then killed 20 first graders and six adults with an AR-15-type rifle purchased legally by his mother. He killed himself as police arrived. Before going to the school, he fatally shot his mother at their Newtown home.

My son never came home from Sandy Hook. My heart bleeds for Texas as I relive Dylans murder, Sandy Hook parent Nicole Hockley wrote in an op-ed for USA Today.

In February, the families of nine Sandy Hook victims reached a $73 million settlement in a lawsuit against the maker of the rifle used in the shooting. The case against Remington, filed in 2015, was closely watched by gun control advocates, gun rights supporters and manufacturers because of its potential to provide a road map for victims of other shootings to sue firearm makers.

The families and a survivor argued the company should have never sold such a dangerous weapon to the public. Theyve said their focus is on preventing future mass shootings by forcing gun companies to be more responsible with their products and how they market them.

I hope that more people stand up and demand action and demand change and stop just accepting the tweets of thoughts and prayers. Thats not going to save lives. Its not going to bring people back, said Erica Lafferty, daughter of Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, the slain principal of Sandy Hook.

Its really just a gun lobby talking point and something that people feel that they need to say in lieu of action," she told The Associated Press.

Lafferty, program manager at Everytown for Gun Safety and an advocate for universal background checks, said she decided a couple years ago to step back from talking to the media following what became a succession of mass shootings.

On Tuesday, struck by the familiarity of the aerial news shots of an elementary school and the fact the victims included children as young as second grade and educators like her mother, Lafferty thought she'd try to digest what had happened in Texas privately as well.

It didn't work.

I think that lasted maybe five minutes before I hear my moms voice in my head: `Get off your butt, kid. This is definitely your time, Lafferty said.

Advocacy groups that formed after Sandy Hook also expressed dismay as news of the shooting spread.

For the past decade, we have warned all Americans, including elected politicians across the nation, that if a mass shooting can happen in Sandy Hook then it can happen anywhere," Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance, said in a written statement.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, tweeted how the senseless violence will stop only when Congress matches thoughts & prayers with action.

Murphy acknowledged the problem of gun violence won't be solved overnight. But, he said, it can be addressed.

I understand my Republican colleagues will not agree to everything that I may support, but there is a common denominator that we can find, Murphy said. But by doing something, we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing, shooting after shooting.

___

Mascaro reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer David Collins contributed to this report.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea test-launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile and two shorter-range weapons toward its eastern waters Wednesday, South Korea said, hours after President Joe Biden ended a trip to Asia where he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend its allies in the face of the Norths nuclear threat.

The suspected ICBM didnt fly its full range. But if confirmed, it would still be North Koreas first test of an ICBM system in about two months amid stalled nuclear diplomacy with the United States. The launch suggests North Korea is determined to continue its efforts to modernize its arsenal despite its first COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused outside worries about a humanitarian disaster.

North Koreas sustained provocations can only result in stronger and faster South Korea-U.S. combined deterrence and can only deepen North Koreas international isolation, the South Korean government said in a statement after an emergency security meeting.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi called the launches an act of provocation and absolutely impermissible.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held separate calls with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan during which they condemned the launches as a clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, the State Department said.

Blinken noted Washingtons commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan remains ironclad as the three allies continue to cooperate to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the statement said.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the launch of the three missiles only contributes to increasing regional and international tensions and reiterated U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres call on North Korea to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions, which ban such tests.

Diplomatic engagement remains the only pathway to sustainable peace and complete and verifiable de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Dujarric said.

(The launches) were a political message. Theyre saying they feel bad about Bidens recent summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea.

Biden and Yoon said after their meeting Saturday that they would consider expanded military exercises to deter North Korean nuclear threats.

Biden brushed aside questions about any possible provocation by North Korea during his trip, saying, We are prepared for anything North Korea does. He later met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, and they vowed to work closely to address security challenges, including North Koreas nuclear and ballistic programs and what they called Chinas increasingly coercive behavior in the region.

According to South Koreas military, the first missile was likely an ICBM that reached a maximum height of 540 kilometers (335 miles) while traveling 360 kilometers (223 miles). The statement said the second missile disappeared from South Korean radar at some point and the third flew 760 kilometers (472 miles).

Kim Tae-hyo, South Koreas deputy national security adviser, told reporters that the first launch involved the Norths biggest Hwasong-17 missile, whose potential range includes the entirety of the U.S. mainland. He said the missile was fired at a high angle and that its launch appeared aimed at reviewing the weapons propellant and stage separations, though he couldnt conclusively say whether the test was successful.

He said the tests of the two other missiles, both short-range, implied North Koreas intention to improve its ability to launch nuclear strikes on its rivals.

While the North Korean launches were part of its weapons development program, they were also strategically timed to the end of Bidens Asian visits and likely designed to test the readiness of South Koreas new government, which took office about two weeks ago, Kim said.

The flight details for the suspected ICBM were similar to those of two previous North Korean launches this year, which the South Korean and U.S. militaries had said were meant to test components of the Hwasong-17 missile. North Korea said at the time it launched rockets to test cameras for a spy satellite.

After the two launches, South Koreas military in March detected what it said was a North Korean Hwasong-17 missile that blew up soon after liftoff. Later in the month, North Korea claimed to have successfully launched the Hwasong-17 in its first full-range ICBM flight test that broke its self-imposed 2018 moratorium on long-distance launches.

South Korea said North Korea may have fired a smaller ICBM, not a Hwasong-17. Whichever it was, the missile flew longer and higher than any other weapon the North has ever tested, experts say.

Chang, the missile expert, said he doubts whether North Korea truly launched an ICBM again Wednesday because the country would have no reason to conduct the same test repeatedly and waste an ICBM that costs about 10 billion to 20 billion won ($8 million to $16 million).

He said the flight details of the third missile resemble those of the hypersonic missile that North Korea tested in January. Other analysts say it could also be the Norths highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile.

After the Norths earlier launches, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they fired surface-to-surface missiles to demonstrate their striking capabilities. South Korea said its air force on Tuesday conducted an elephant walk involving 30, fully armed F-15K fighter jets parading along a runway in formation.

Wednesdays launches were North Koreas 17th round of missile firings this year. Experts have said North Korea wants to move ahead with its push to expand its arsenal and apply more pressure on its rivals to wrest sanctions relief and other concessions.

U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials have said North Korea could soon conduct its first nuclear test in nearly five years as well. Kim, the South Korean official, said North Korea has been testing a trigger system for a nuclear explosive device.

Before Wednesday, North Koreas most recent missile tests occurred on May 12, hours after the country acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak.

The country in the past few days has said there has been a positive sign in its anti-virus campaign. Since admitting to the outbreak, North Korea has identified about 3 million cases of an unidentified fever but said only 68 people died, an extremely low death toll for COVID-19.

___

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  Attorneys for the state of West Virginia and two remaining pharmaceutical manufacturers have reached a tentative $161.5 million settlement just as closing arguments were set to begin in a seven-week trial over the opioid epidemic, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Wednesday.

Morrisey announced the development in court in the states lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., AbbVies Allergan and their family of companies. The judge agreed to put the trial on hold to give the parties the opportunity to work out a full settlement agreement in the upcoming weeks.

Today does represent a very big day for our state, Morrisey said later at a news conference.

The trial started April 4. The lawsuit accused the defendants of downplaying the risks of addiction associated with opioid use while overstating the benefits.

Under the tentative deal, West Virginia would receive more than $134.5 million in cash, while Teva would supply the state with $27 million worth of Narcan, a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses, restore breathing and bring someone back to consciousness.

By reaching a settlement, it obviously puts us in a position where we mitigate risk, Morrisey said. "We could win if we kept going to trial. I think we would have won. No guarantees, of course. But then we might be subject to five years of appeals and then we wouldnt see any resources for five years.

"I want to make sure we start to put feet on the ground now. And I want to see resources targeted to this epidemic now.

Under a plan announced by Morrisey in February, 72.5% of the settlement will go to a nonprofit foundation established to distribute money in opioid-related litigations, 24.5% would be allocated to local governments and 3% would go to the state. The foundation would consist of an 11-member board, including five state appointees and representatives from six regions of the state. The board members will have expertise in fields such as mental health, substance misuse and law enforcement.

West Virginia had reached a $99 million settlement with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson's subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. last month over the drugmaker's role in perpetuating the opioid crisis in the state that has long led the nation in drug overdose deaths.

Before the trial started, Morrisey's office announced the state settled part of the lawsuit involving another defendant, Endo Health Solutions, for $26 million.

In separate, similar lawsuits, the state of West Virginia previously reached a $37 million settlement with McKesson Corp. in 2019, and $20 million with Cardinal Health Inc. and $16 million with AmerisourceBergen Drug Co. in 2017.

After years of lawsuits, drugmakers, distribution companies and some pharmacies have been settling cases over the toll of opioids.

In deals finalized this year, the three biggest distribution companies and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson agreed to settlements totaling $26 billion over time. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is in court trying to win approval for a national settlement including up to $6 billion in cash, plus using future profits from a remade version of the company to fight the opioid crisis.

In other settlements this year, the distributors have agreed to pay Washington state, which did not participate in the national settlement with them, more than $500 million, and a group of companies are sending $276 million to Alabama.

In all, proposed and finalized settlements, judgements and criminal penalties over opioids have reached more than $47 billion since 2007. Much of the money is to be used only to address the crisis, which has been linked to the deaths of more than 500,000 Americans in the last two decades. A relatively small portion of the settlement money  at least $750 million in the Purdue deal  is to be paid to individual victims and their survivors.

In Charleston, a separate bench trial wrapped up last summer in a federal lawsuit accusing AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson of fueling the opioid crisis in Cabell County and the city of Huntington. That judge has not indicated when he will rule.

___

Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report.
I have my white poster board and Sharpie all ready to go. My outrage at the subtle and overt antisemitism in this country and abroad has been aching for an outlet. I know thats true for many of my Jewish friends.

So ...why dont Jews march?

To be clear, Jews certainly do march. Rabbi Joachim Prinz marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King in 1963, as did Rabbi Uri Miller among many other prominent Jewish leaders.

I know Jews who have marched against Asian hate, for a womans right to choose, in favor of same-sex marriage, against Israels treatment of Palestinians. Aaron Mostofsky, the son of a New York City judge, took part in the Jan. 6 coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol. He pleaded guilty to felony civil disorder charges and was sentenced to eight months in prison.

Every other group demonstrates publicly. The only requirement appears to be a strongly held belief, with or without good cause, that you are the victim of an injustice. Even tiki-torch wielding white men, apparently frightened of being replaced by Jews and people of color, took to the streets in Charlottesville. Before that, the Ku Klux Klan marched, publicly wearing their telltale robes, complete with pointy headwear.

Since the founding of this nation, perhaps with greater frequency since the Civil Rights era, there have been large and small marches, for and against causes, people and institutions.

When has there been a march against antisemitism? Jews march, but we dont seem to do so on our own behalf, at least not at a large scale in the United States.

I asked the eminent scholar, Rabbi Elliott Dorff this question. I think that Jews dont march in part because we are a small population and therefore probably could not amass significant numbers to impress people through a march, he told me.

Far be it from me to disagree with so learned an intellectual as Rabbi Dorff, but I tend to think our tiny population is not a good enough answer. There are 7.6 million of us in the United States, more than 2 percent of the total population.

It may be because our relatively small population is not monolithic. We are orthodox, conservative and Reform, we are Ashkenazi and Sephardic, we are liberals and conservatives, we are wealthy and poor.

And more than that, there is a huge diversity of thought (two Jews, three opinions, as the saying goes).

Any placard drawn for a theoretical march for Jews or against antisemitism would require caveats: I support Israels right to exist (but not its treatment of the Palestinian people, although the Palestinian government bears some responsibility there, too).

Or, Anti-Zionism (may or may not depending on your outlook) = antisemitism.

Planning for a March for Jews would require a full year of discussion, with commentary going back to Maimonides.

Dorff also said that, In addition, I think that Jews have learned that other ways of responding are more effective  with legislators, courts, in the media, etc.

I think thats true, and I think that comes down to fear. We choose to work within the system, rather than seeking to change it.

The tradition of quietism in the Jewish community goes back centuries. Jews in this country and others have long believed in the adage that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, though grease in our case would be a bullet to the brain or a deep breath of Zyklon B.

Unlike Black and brown people, Jews can pass. Those of us who choose to dress in modern fashion can go unrecognized as Jews, if we want to. Weve changed our names to sound goyishe. Weve moved into suburban homes and joined country clubs and worn the same khakis as Chris and Mary down the street.

Weve tried (for the most part) to go along to get along, because weve learned over the millennia of our diaspora, from Russia to Spain to Germany to Charlottesville and Buffalo and beyond, that if we stay quiet and rock no boats we can make a home for ourselves and our children, though maybe not our childrens children because you never know.

We are not without our declarations. My mother proudly wears her star of David in a personal act of defiance against antisemitism. My girlfriend, the daughter and brother of former Israeli soldiers, wears her name in Hebrew around her neck. But our demonstrations are never made bullhorn-in-hand. Theyre usually limited to modes of dress that declare our Jewishness.

That is, itself, an act of defiance for a group of people intent on blending in for the purpose of self-preservation. When an ultra-Orthodox man chooses to walk through the streets of Crown Heights wearing the traditional black suit, head coverings and sidelocks, he is being brave enough to declare his Jewishness, and suffer what may come of it.

Jews dont march because even after decades, even after Ginsburg and Bruce and Hoffman and Prinz and Miller and Bernstein and countless others, we still feel like outsiders in America.

Maybe Jews should march. Maybe that sort of open declaration of our place in this country, our right to exist as Jews, would help us feel a part of it.

I have my poster board and Sharpie all ready to go.

Jordan Nathaniel Fenster is a staff writer for Hearst Connecticut Media. He can be found on Twitter @jordanfenster or reached at jordan.fenster@hearstmediact.com.
There are a number of Memorial Day parades and observances throughout Middlesex County this coming weekend.

MIDDLETOWN  Middletowns Memorial Day parade will be held downtown Monday. The procession will step off in front of Macdonough Elementary School on Spring Street at 10:30 a.m. and proceed down Main Street to the South Green for an observation.

Cromwell

CROMWELL  The annual Memorial Day Car Show will take place Monday from 4 to 8 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Cromwell Childrens Coalition. It will be held at Cromwell Growers on the corner of West Street (Route 372) and New Lane. There will be deejays, food and refreshments

On Monday, the town and Carlson-Sjovall Post 105 of the American Legion will host the annual Memorial Day service at 6 p.m. on the WWI Memorial Green across from the fire department, followed by the parade.

Portland

PORTLAND  After a two-year hiatus, the American Legion Ormont Post 69, at 12 Freestone Ave., will offer a veterans breakfast Saturday from 7:30 to 10 a.m. The menu will feature egg omelets, sausage, bacon, toast, chipped beef on toast, grits, coffee, tea and orange juice. Food donations are $8 per adult and per child 12 and under, with to-go orders welcome. Portland.

The Memorial Day Parade will take place Sunday at 2 p.m. rain or shine. Line up is at 12:30 p.m.

Westbrook

WESTBROOK  Westbrook organizations will honor and remember the veterans of both civilian and military service on Monday at 10 a.m. This is organized by the American Legion, Anderson-Hoxie Post 103. In case of rain, the parade will not be canceled, but there will be a shorter route. For information, go to bit.ly/3wMhJjM.

Clinton

CLINTON  Clintons Memorial Day ceremonies are Monday at 11 a.m. Observances include ceremonies at town cemeteries, a parade down Main Street and the main ceremony at the Lower Green. The parade will step off at Post Office Square. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the Clinton Town Hall auditorium. All veterans are invited to march. No uniform is required. They should gather in the square at 10:40 a.m. to join in the parade.

Old Saybrook

OLD SAYBROOK  The town will hold its annual Memorial Day parade Monday. A dockside naval ceremony will take place at the Saybrook Point Pavilion parking lot located at the end of College Street, with a rifle salute at 9 a.m. (rain or shine). A special highlight of this years parade will be a U.S. Coast Guard flyover of naval dockside ceremonies between 8:30 and 9 a.m. followed by military flyovers of the actual parade between 10 and 10:30 a.m.

The parade begins at 10 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial Monuments on the Town Green on Main Street. Gil Simmons, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and chief meteorologist for WTNH, will serve as master of ceremonies.

Guilford

GUILFORD  Guilfords Memorial Day activities take place Monday with a brief ceremony at Alderbrook Cemetery at 10 a.m., followed by a march to green for the main ceremony, concluding at noon. For information, go to bit.ly/3wCkK7E.

Madison

MADISON  The Memorial Day parade will start at 10 a.m. Monday at the intersection of Samson Rock Drive and Boston Post Road. It will proceed west on the Boston Post Road through the downtown area, and conclude with a ceremony at the Town Green. The parade will no longer resume and go to West Cemetery. For information, go to bit.ly/39Ks6wK.

Branford

BRANFORD  The towns Memorial Day ceremonies will begin at 6:45 a.m. Monday at the towns cemeteries and monuments with the laying of wreaths, lowering of the flag, taps and rifle salute. The Veterans Day parade committee will also participated in Stony Creeks morning march to the Stony Creek Cemetery, then proceed to the Hubbard Bridge on Montowese Street where, at 9:15 a.m., Dennis Flanigan will oversee Branfords Naval Memorial services, which includes the laying of a wreath on the Branford River.

Marching units will meet at the Branford Green at 9:45 a.m. for the ceremonies, which include the invocation, musical selections and speeches, followed by the parade. In case of inclement weather, ceremonies will be moved to Branford High School, 185 E. Main St., in the gymnasium at 10 a.m.
In 1976, a small group of Westport families who had children with developmental disabilities began planning weekend activities together. As the group grew, parents worried what would happen when their children became adults, without access to services provided by the school system.

In 1982 the group developed a limited partnership, called CLASP. They opened a group home on Kings Highway South, near Birchwood Country Club.

It was a pivotal time nationally for people with intellectual and emotional differences (including those on the autism spectrum). The state of Connecticut was moving men and women out of institutions like the Mansfield Training School, into the community. CLASP, and similar organizations, took up the slack.

Today CLASP serves 85 men and women in 12 homes and nine apartments throughout Fairfield County. Four are in Westport: the raised ranch on Kings Highway, plus Pine Drive off South Compo Road, Weston Road and Sturges Highway. Other group homes are in Fairfield, Easton, Wilton, Trumbull and Stratford.

There is also a day program in Bridgeport.

CLASPs clients range in age from their 20s to 82. There are few younger people, however; in the last 10 years, the growth of state homes has been halted, due to a lack of state funding.

CLASPs mission is simple. We provide people with developmental disabilities the opportunity to live a life that is meaningful, full of choices, with support to grow and feel fulfilled, says president Tracy Flood.

She should know. Since she was hired to work while still a graduate student in CLASPs second group home, she has spent 38 years with the non-profit. I wanted to see what it was like. I fell in love, Flood says of her nearly four decades with the organization. Its corny, but its true: Ive gotten out far more than Ive put in.

The work is not easy. Flood recalls a man who had been dropped off at a psychiatric hospital by his family. He was unmanageable and violent. It took a year or two for him to become stable. But he has spent the past three decades living in CLASP housing, and working in the community.

When he decided he wanted to live on his own in a CLASP apartment, the staff was not sure. But the man advocated for himself, and proved he was ready. Hes now been in an apartment for 18 years. Staff members check in daily, and help with shopping meal preparation, doctors appointments and medications.

When the pandemic struck, he stayed with his grocery store job. He was proud to be an essential worker. He has managed his life. Hes successful, Flood says proudly.

When the Mansfield Training School was closing, 200 people had to be moved in 90 days. CLASP tried to help the toughest woman, who had spent 25 years there. It took a couple of moves before she found the right CLASP home, but she too is a success story.

Were not here to serve just the ones who are easy to serve, Flood notes. The woman became an important part of her home. She became involved in the community. She loved her job so much, she wanted to do it on weekends.

Westport has warmly welcomed the four CLASP homes, Flood says. In fact, neighbors have been amazing. When a new client moves in, neighbors often introduce themselves.

Stories like those inspire Flood and her colleagues. They believe in the value of their work. They love their clients, and fight all the time for more services and resources. But its a constant battle. The state provides the basics - food and shelter - but to live a full, good life, group home residents need more.

From house needs like furniture to personal ones like clothing, recreation, even dentistry and glasses that are not covered by state funds, CLASP relies on donations and grants.

One of their major fundraisers is A Taste of Westport. The last two years were canceled by COVID, so this year its more important than ever. Set for June 15 at the Inn at Westport, its a bring-your-appetite-for-all-you-can-eat-and-drink event.

The mouth-watering list of restaurants and vendors includes Artisan, BE Chocolat, Black Bear Wines and Spirits, Boathouse Restaurant at Saugatuck Rowing club, Cylinder Vodka, Evaritos, Gabrieles Italian Steakhouse, Gloria Ferrer Sparkling Wine, La Plage, Lindsays Handmade, Little Dumpling House, Little Pub, Mrs. Londons Artisan Bakery, NewSylum Brewing Company, Nordic Fish, Post Oak Barbecue Company, Rive Bistro, Rizzutos, Romanacci, The Spread, SoNo1420, Tabloa, Tarantino and Walrus Alley.

Tickets are $100 each until May 31, then $125. To purchase, and for more information, visit www.ClaspHomes.org.

Dan Woog is a Westport writer. His new column Calendar Close-up appears each Friday and dives into one of the upcoming community events in Westport. He can be reached at dwoog@optonline.net. His personal blog is danwoog06880.com.
Additional support and police officers were at all Westport schools on Wednesday following a mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas that killed 19 children and two adults.

I just wish I had something magical to say that would console and comfort the heartache so many in our community feel in the aftermath of the massacre of young children in a Texas elementary school today, Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice said in a message to families Tuesday night. But, I do not. There is nothing I can say to ease that heartache. I can only feel that pain along with you.

In Weston, Superintendent Lisa Wolak said the district is reviewing the schools safety protocols with the police department.

In moments like these, it is understandable that people would question what resources our schools have to keep our students and staff safe, she said in a statement to families. We are fortunate to have a strong partnership with the Weston Police Department under the direction of Chief [Ed] Henion.

Westport First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker announced a vigil was in the works for the weekend that the Interfaith Council will host.

Today my heart is aching as we collectively grieve the loss of innocent life in Uvalde, Texas, Tooker said Wednesday morning.

Officials stressed that there was no threat in Westport but there was an additional police presence to help ease peoples minds. Many other schools in Connecticut also added more police officers in their buildings.

Our schools are not at risk, yet this collaboration and support with our local police department is reassuring for many in our community, Scarice said. We will continue to partner with our police department to maintain the highest of safety standards in our drills and protocols.

Valerie Babich, the districts psychological services director, began working with her team and the districts administrators Tuesday evening to prepare teachers and staff to meet their students with care on Wednesday.

We will be professionals and rise up to support our students, Scarice said. We all hurt right now, but when the bell rings in the morning, we will be ready.

Scarice said principals were working on getting information, guidance and resources to teachers so they were prepared to handle it in the classrooms, adding it wont be brought up at the elementary schools. He cautioned that there is a chance young children are aware of what happened given todays social media climate and access to smartphones.

As a result, we are doing our best to equip our teachers to acknowledge their feelings, reassure them of their safety by reviewing all of the measures in place to keep our schools safe, while not talking about the unspeakable tragedy in our elementary schools, he said.

He said many children throughout all of the levels will question why this happened.

There is no good answer to that question and we will not try to answer it, he said.

Scarice said they will also send out resources to families to help guide parents through how to talk about this with their children.

Many of us will give an extra long hug to our own children this evening, even the teenagers, and again in the morning before we leave, Scarice said. But we will be ready.

In Weston, Wolak said the district has two school resource officers and a police officer who patrol campus during the school day. There are also six security guards within the schools, most of whom are former police officers. She said the district and police work closely to practice drills throughout the year.

The safety and well-being of Westons students is the districts highest priority, Wolak said. Weston Public Schools Staff will be available to support them as they try to cope with this devastating tragedy. Teachers, school counselors, social workers and psychologists, support staff and school and district administrators care deeply about Westons children.

She said the tragedy in Texas is painfully reminiscent of Sandy Hook, referring to the shooting of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

Weston has always been supportive of one another and I ask that we draw from this collective strength in the upcoming days, Wolak said. As a mother and grandmother, my heart aches for the families in Texas. Please know that I take my responsibility to our children, families and staff very seriously.
East Hartford Police / Contributed

EAST HARTFORD  Police said they have arrested an adjunct instructor at Goodwin University Monday evening after an adult student alleged he sexually assaulted them earlier that day.

Suara Adediran, 74, of Middletown, was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and second-degree breach of peace, East Hartford police said.
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The Republican nominations for four statewide races were on the ballot Tuesday, along with a constitutional amendment to fund improvements at state parks and historical sites.

Here is a rundown on key races:

SECRETARY OF STATE

Outgoing State Auditor Jim Zeigler and state Rep. Wes Allen advanced to the Republican primary runoff to succeed GOP incumbent John Merrill as Alabamas top elections officer, secretary of state.

Zeigler was barred from running again as auditor by term limits, and Allen served nearly a decade as probate judge in Pike County. Neither could get above the 50% vote threshold in a race that also included Ed Packard, who worked in the secretary of states elections division for nearly 25 years, and Christian Horn, a GOP activist and business owner from Madison County.

None of the four candidates raised major complaints about election problems in Alabama, which is controlled by Republicans and voted heavily for President Donald Trump in 2020. But all talked about measures needed to tighten election security, an issue popularized among conservatives by Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen by President Joe Biden.

The eventual Republican nominee will face Democrat Pamela J. Laffitte of Mobile in November.

Merrill couldnt seek the office again after serving two terms.

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall easily defeated a Republican primary opponent and now has a good chance at reelection as he seeks a second four-year term as the states leading law enforcement official.

First appointed in 2017, Marshall turned back a challenge from Harry Bartlett Still III, an attorney from Daphne.

Marshall will face Democratic nominee Wendell Major, police chief in the Birmingham-area city of Tarrant, in November. No Democrat holds statewide office in the heavily Republican state.

Marshall, who previously served as district attorney in Marshall County, regularly opposes initiatives launched by Democratic President Joe Biden including vaccination requirements for COVID-19 and federal policies along the border with Mexico, and he testified against the nomination of now-Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still argued that corruption is rampant in state government and that the agency overseeing police standards and training in the state needs to be reorganized to increase public trust in law enforcement. He also supported replacing Alabamas heavily amended Constitution, passed in 1901 to ensure white supremacy.

SUPREME COURT

Attorney Greg Cook, who portrayed himself as a Trump-tough Republican, won his partys nomination for an open seat on Alabamas Supreme Court by defeating Debra Jones, a judge who shot a gun in a tough-talking campaign commercial.

Cook will now be a heavy favorite over Democrat Anita L. Kelly in November to keep the states highest court in all Republican hands.

The race is for the Place 5 seat held by Justice Mike Bolin, a Republican who is retiring.

Cook campaigned in part on his Republican credentials and Christian faith. He was a Trump delegate and represented conservative interests in the 2000 presidential recount contest in Florida between Al Gore and President George W. Bush. Cooks campaign resume also featured his longtime church membership and leadership.

Jones released a commercial late in the campaign boasting of her support for Trump, her short stature  Shes 5 feet of concrete  and a case in which she sentenced a person convicted of child molestation to more than 1,000 years in prison. The spot showed her firing a handgun and saying the only reason she didnt put the person under the jail was the liberals wouldnt let her.

STATE AUDITOR

State Rep. Andrew Sorrell of Muscle Shoals advanced to a runoff against one of two other candidates in the race for the GOP nomination for state auditor.

Sorrell led balloting, but it was too early to say whether Stan Cooke, a pastor from Kimberly, or Rusty Glover, a former history teacher from Semmes who served in the state Senate, to advance to the June 21 vote.

Winning the Republican nomination is tantamount to election because no Democrat qualified to run for auditor.

Candidates for auditor typically emphasize the importance of keeping track of state property, but all three Republicans talked about election security in the era of false claims about a stolen presidential vote in 2020 because the auditor has a role in selecting county registrar boards.

Copying false claims by former President Donald Trump, Cookes campaign website said Alabama must get ahead of Democrats before they try and steal our elections as they did in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and even our neighbor to the east, Georgia.

The incumbent, Jim Zeigler, could not seek reelection after serving two terms and is running for secretary of state.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Voters approved a measure to let the state go into debt for $85 million in bonds to spruce up Alabamas state parks and historical sites.

The statewide constitutional amendment will provide $80 million in funding for state park projects that include adding and improving camping sites, adding wireless service, upgrading electrical and water service, replacing playgrounds, constructing swimming pools and repairing parts of Gulf State Park damaged by Hurricane Sally.

The remaining $5 million will go to the Alabama Historical Commission for acquiring, renovating and maintaining historical parks across the state. The agency wouldnt be allowed to use the money at Confederate Memorial Park in Marbury. The park is funded by a tax that was originally intended for needy Confederate veterans.
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CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australias new government has urged China to lift trade sanctions if it wants to reset a bilateral relationship that plumbed new depths under the previous administration.

The Chinese premiers congratulatory letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his election victory was widely seen as a relaxation of Beijings two-year ban on high-level government contact with Australia. Premier Li Keqiang said China was ready to work with Australia to development the bilateral relationship.

But Albanese said it was China, not Australia, that had changed since his center-left Labor Party was last in power in 2013.

China has created a series of official and unofficial trade barriers in recent years to a range of Australian exports worth billions of dollars including coal, wine, barley, beef and seafood.

It is China that has placed sanctions on Australia, Albanese told reporters Tuesday at a Tokyo summit that he attended with President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

There is no justification for doing that and thats why they should be removed, Albanese added.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers also called for China to immediately lift trade barriers between the free-trade partners.

We would certainly like to see those sanctions and those tariffs lifted. They are damaging our economy. They are making life harder for some of our employers and workers here in Australia and so obviously we would like to see those measures lifted, Chalmers said on Wednesday.

China has announced its Foreign Minister Wang Yi would soon visit the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor in a 10-day trip.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong was expected to fly to Fiji on Thursday, a day after returning to Sydney from Japan as the new government hastens to counter Chinese influence in the South Pacific, The Australian newspaper reported. Wong's office did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

Before Albanese and Wong boarded a plane to return to Australia from Tokyo, he thanked Australian voters who, in Saturdays election, gave him the extraordinary honor of representing Australia at important international forums.

I will always act with integrity. I will always act with honesty in my dealings with other leaders and our friends and partners, Albanese said, in comments that could be aimed at his predecessor, Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

During a National Press Club speech last week, Albanese blamed Morrison for damaging relationships with other countries.

He said Morrison misled the United States that Labor supported a secret plan to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered with U.S. nuclear technology. In fact, Albanese's party wasnt told of the plan until the day before it was announced in September.

Albanese also accused Morrison of leaking to the media personal text messages from Emmanuel Macron to discredit the French presidents complaint that Australia had given no warning that a French submarine contract would be canceled. Macron also accused Morrison of lying to him, and French Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault described the leak as a warning to other world leaders that the Australian government could weaponize their private communications.
Hurt. Heartbroken. Helpless. Angry. Afraid.

In the hours after an 18-year-old gunman shot 19 children and two teachers to death at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, parents, educators, and officials in southwestern Connecticut stepped up school security efforts while trying to reassure children and the community at large about safety.

At the same time, a measure of despair and unease lingered, the carnage in Texas the second time in a decade an American elementary school has been the scene of a brutal mass murder  and the third time in 10 days that an armed suspect shot multiple people for no apparent reason, joining the May 14 supermarket shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., and the May 15 attack on a church in Laguna Woods, Calif.

That could have been my class, you know? said Rev. Mary McBride-Lee, a Bridgeport city councilwoman and first-grade teacher at Waltersville School. I came in and looked at my class this morning and it brought tears to my eyes because it could have been them. It could happen in Bridgeport, too. It could happen anywhere.

I cant pretend to understand what brings a human being to the point of walking into a school, a grocery store, a church, a theater or anywhere and open fire on innocent people, Fairfield First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick wrote Tuesday night in a Facebook post in which she recalled being a state lawmaker in 2012 when the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre took place.

Stratford Schools Superintendent Uyi Osunde noted the Texas massacres echo only miles away in Newtown, where one of the victims in 2012 was Victoria Soto, in whose honor a school is now named in Stratford.

For us in Connecticut, this tragic experience resonates in our hearts and memories, Osunde wrote in a letter to families Tuesday. For us in Stratford, the connections are even deeper. What becomes important today, and over the next few days, is that we remain with each other as we navigate our emotions tied to this national tragedy.

Westport Superintendent Thomas Scarice struggled to come up with appropriate words to deliver to the towns school system and families.

I just wish I had something magical to say that would console and comfort the heartache so many in our community feel in the aftermath of the massacre of young children in a Texas elementary school today, Scarice said in a message to the community. But, I do not.

School districts throughout the region mobilized crisis response and counseling teams to help children and staff try to manage the trauma associated with the shooting.

We will do our best tomorrow, Scarice said. We will be professionals and rise up to support our students. We all hurt right now, but when the bell rings in the morning, we will be ready.

Patti Moonan, a Shelton Board of Education member and licensed marriage and family therapist who works for the City of North Havens counseling service, said she was numb when she heard the news Tuesday night. Moonan worked as a therapist at Newtown Youth and Family Services in 2012 and spent years working with clients traumatized by the Sandy Hook Elementary School killings.

After this, you find people cannot process what has happened  they cannot focus, Moonan said. You have to understand that the entire community is hurting.

Police in many towns throughout the region also stepped up their presence at local schools. For parents, saying goodbye to their kids for the day was a little more difficult Thursday.

I had to hug my daughter a little tighter this morning as I set her off to school, said Ansonias Cynthia Flores, the mother of a 10-year-old. I was a bit hesitant naturally, as a parent, you want your child to be safe, always. You cant always protect them from the horrors of this world. But you just want to keep them protected and safe. I was just filled with a lot of anxiety.

You think the thoughts that you dont want to ever think if something were to happen, said State Rep. Mary Welander, a mother of three who represents Derby, Orange, and Woodbridge. What were they wearing just in case? I was thinking about the parents in Texas who are having to give DNA samples to identify their children.

For Ashley Gaudiano, sending her children to school every day is an act of faith. She sends them to class, and expects them to return safely to her. The Trumbull Town Council president  and mom to two children, aged 6 and 8  said this act is always tougher right after a tragedy like the one in Texas.

I cant fathom the pain of those parents who will never hug their babies again, Gaudiano said. Sending my kids to school the day after a mass shooting is always the most difficult thing in the world to do.

Westport First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker announced a vigil was in the works for the weekend that the Interfaith Council will host. In Trumbull, a vigil was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Town Hall. Other gatherings are also being planned in Fairfield and Ansonia.

Today my heart is aching as we collectively grieve the loss of innocent life in Uvalde, Texas, Tooker said Wednesday morning.

Gaudiano said she is confident in the work Trumbull has done to keep students safe, and has faith in those she leaves her kids with every day.

We place an immense amount of trust in our schools, teachers, and administrators to keep them safe  and I know they take that responsibility extraordinarily seriously, Gaudiano said. We have done a great job as a town to put policies and security measures in place to protect our children, and we consistently revisit those practices to ensure we are doing everything we can.

Bob Smoler, the president of the Fairfield Education Association and a math teacher at Fairfield Warde High School, said teachers were devastated and frustrated by news of the shooting  and students and staff drill in case something similar happens there.

The kids are all aware that this is a possibility, which is a scary thing, he said. I dont think children this age should have to worry about these things  but they do. Teachers also worry about these things, but we still have to soldier on and do the work of the school district.

Though concern and sympathy for the victims and their families in Texas predominated, many also expressed frustration that mass shootings occur again and again without anything being done about them.

I dont have all the answers, Im not sure any of us do, Kupchick said. As citizens, I believe we need to start having real conversations without anger or judgment about the increase of violence in our country and how we can be part of solving it, together.

Flores said society should be doing more to make sure guns dont end up in the hands of those who shouldnt have them.

Im angry that nothing has been done, she said. Im angry that theres too much easy access to guns. I feel like, guns shouldnt be easily accessible.

She added background and mental health checks should be mandatory.

Theres such a rise in mental health issues in our youth. And they often go overlooked, she said. And usually the signs are there, before something happens. And it gets swept under the rug or people ignore it. Or theyll they dont think too much of it. And so its too late.

At Stratfords Bunnell High School, physics teacher Kristen Record took 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of each class to engage with students on how they were feeling about what happened in Texas.

A lot of them wanted to talk about their frustration with lack of laws and lack of mental health supports that, from their perspective, allow these things to continue, Record said.

Nothing has substantively changed since what happened in Sandy Hook, she said. And here we are 10 years later and almost the same thing happened in another community to little kids and that is stunning to me.

Smoler noted the availability of firearms in the United States is higher than other countries, where gun deaths are much less common.

You look anywhere else in the world and they dont have these issues, because they dont have guns in everybodys hands, he said. For some reason, our elected officials feel like its their obligation to make sure that anybody who wants a gun in their hands should have one. Its an absolute catastrophe. (The shooting) is inexcusable and unacceptable, but it doesnt seem like anybody is going to do anything about it.

Welander said she felt angry and sad. And unfortunately, looking at it from a more cynical point of view, Im not sure if anythings going to change, even after another horrific, horrific loss.

Bobbi Brown, the Democratic vice chair of Bridgeports school board, said there should be better vetting of people who want to buy guns.

Parents send their kids (to school) to be safe and educated, Brown said. The message is very clear that we as a collective body need to make sure we are truly stopping gun violence by creating laws that prevent it.

John Weldon, chairman of the Bridgeport Board of Education and a Republican, a party which has opposed nationwide gun control measures like universal background checks, said he recognizes people have enjoyed the right to bear arms since the Revolutionary War-era, but for him the issue is what type and firepower?

The gunman in Texas used an AR-type military-style rifle which are commonly used in many mass shootings.

Its a different world today, Weldon said. I personally dont own a gun  for those who do, they should have that right. But I also think there needs to be some level of control. I dont think we should be allowing the public to have military-grade arms in their homes. I just dont see a need for that.

With reporting from Amanda Cuda, Eddy Martinez, Josh LaBella, Katrina Koerting, Brian Lockhart, Brian Gioiele, Mike Mavredakis, and Ethan Fry.

Editors note  This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Superintendent Thomas Scarice.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  The Florida Senate on Tuesday approved a sweeping legislative package meant to combat rising property insurance rates and other problems in the state's turbulent insurance market, creating a $2 billion reinsurance fund and writing new rules around coverage denials and attorney fees.

The Republican-controlled Senate approved the legislation after hours of debate. The proposals now await passage in the House, which is expected Wednesday.

The bills come as part of a special legislative session focused solely on property insurance. Lawmakers failed to pass insurance reforms earlier this year during their regular session, which was dominated by contentious partisan fights on bills involving race, gender identity, sexual orientation and abortion.

In debate Tuesday, Senate Democrats pushed to grant immediate rate reductions or freezes for property owners but their amendments were rejected by Republicans who argued the legislation was the best path to stabilize the market in the long term. GOP legislation sponsor Sen. Jim Boyd said the measures would not result in rate decreases before 12 to 18 months.

My constituents, who I have spent quite a bit of time with over the last several weeks and months, are in desperate, desperate need, not for 18 months from now  today, tomorrow the next day, certainly before hurricane season, said Sen. Lauren Book, a Democrat.

The proposals would create the $2 billion Reinsurance to Assist Policyholders program for insurers to purchase insurance to help insulate themselves from risk. In order for an insurer to access the fund, it would have to reduce policyholders rates.

The bills would forbid insurers from automatically denying coverage because of a roofs age if the roof is less than 15 years old. Homeowners with roofs 15 years or older would be allowed to get an inspection before insurers deny them coverage. If an inspection shows that a roof has at least five years of life remaining, insurers cant refuse to issue a policy only based on the roofs age, under the proposed legislation.

If a roof is more than 25% damaged but already complies with the states 2007 building code, it would only have to be repaired instead of replaced under an exemption to the building code that the proposed legislation creates.

Another measure would provide grants worth up to $10,000 each to retrofit homes so they are less vulnerable to hurricane damage. To qualify, properties would have to have insured values of $500,000 or less, be homesteaded, constructed before 2008 and located in areas where wind speeds from storms can exceed 140 mph (225 kph). Homeowners would get $2 from the state for every $1 they invested in mitigation efforts.

Obviously, you want to pay lower rates, but if you make improvements, you avoid damage in the first place, so thats going to help, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a Tuesday news conference in Havana, Florida. I think these reforms are positive.

The legislation also seeks to limit various attorney fees in insurance-related cases, which insurers blame for much of the rate increases for policyholders. Supporters of the legislative package have frequently noted that Florida accounted for 9% of all insurance claims filed nationally but nearly 80% of all the property insurance lawsuits.

The bills would allow for more state oversight so regulators can spot trends, analyze reasons and try to prevent the future failure of insurers. The insurance industry has had two years of underwriting losses exceeding $1 billion each year and several insurance companies have either gone insolvent, required midterm cancelations, are in liquidation or have stopped writing new business since 2021, the governor said in his proclamation calling lawmakers back to the Capitol.

Legislative leaders on Tuesday also reached an agreement to include in the package a measure to require that all condominiums higher than three stories statewide have periodic inspections of their structural integrity, a proposal that came in response to the Surfside condominium collapse that killed 98 people nearly a year ago.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Eli Lilly and Company plans to invest $2.1 billion in two new Indiana manufacturing sites, a move that's expected to create hundreds of new jobs in the Hoosier state, the company announced Wednesday.

The new facilities will expand the Indianapolis-based company's manufacturing network for active ingredients and new therapeutic drugs, including those used to treat diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's and cancer, Lily officials said during a news conference at the governor's residence.

Were fortunate to have had a very successful run lately in our laboratories in our pipeline... we have tremendous growth at Lilly, but we have even more promise ahead," said David Ricks, Lillys chair and CEO, emphasizing that the company has called Indiana home for 146 years. "Theres a lot of work to do. But I think it exemplifies whats special about Indiana, which is people come together to solve tough problems.

The LEAP Lebanon Innovation and Research District in Boone County, located 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis, was selected for its strategic proximity" to downtown Indianapolis, Purdue University in West Lafayette, and the I-65 corridor, Ricks continued.

Ricks did not provide a timeline for construction and said it could be three of four years before the facilities begin producing medicine for patients. He said ground-breaking in Boone County is expected much sooner," however.

The project is pending zoning and annexation approvals by local officials, however. The Indiana Economic Development Council said it is working with Lilly to finalize a performance-based incentive package, which Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers said could happen within the next 30 days.

The proposed project is expected to create up to 500 new Lilly roles with an additional four indirect jobs for every Lilly position created, Ricks said. An estimated 1,500 construction jobs will additionally be required while the facilities are being built.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb commended Lilly on the announcement, noting that the company has been an anchor in Indianas economy for generations." He said the announcement invest in our home state is a likely sign that the company will continue to stay in Indiana long-term.

I am incredibly proud Lilly continues to make exciting investments in Indiana that will better the lives and opportunities of Hoosiers for decades to come, Holcomb said. And in turn, the very research and pharmaceutical manufacturing spearheaded here in our state will improve lives worldwide.

___

Casey Smith 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. Follow Smith on Twitter.
PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. (AP)  A man who died when he and three other people fell off a Southern California ocean cliff was identified Tuesday as a 25-year-old from Los Angeles, authorities said.

The four friends slipped and tumbled about 300 feet (90 meters) onto the beach below before dawn Monday in Palos Verdes Estates. Police were investigating the fall as an accident.
MILFORD  City schools have a heightened police presence Wednesday, according to Superintendent Anna Cutaia, in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead Tuesday.

In an email sent to the school community Wednesday morning, Cutaia stated that there will be a heightened presence of Milford police officers in the area of each of our schools, along with extra checks throughout the day.

This has been arranged only as a precautionary measure and is intended to provide an extra layer of support for all students and staff, Cutaia said. We are grateful for this partnership.

Cutaia said the districts approach to school security is designed to be layered and comprehensive where we coordinate protocols, training, equipment, partnerships, and preventive measures continuously.

Our emergency preparedness efforts are continuously exercised throughout the school year with an emphasis on prevention, she added.

Cutaia said teams of school psychologists, social workers and school counselors are available to consult with parents for specific concerns they may be having in dealing with their children.

She added that these teams will continue to support students and staff members with the schools already existing comprehensive social and emotional learning programs.

We have embedded a wide variety of anti-violence, empathy, and peer support programs, Cutaia said. Our students are well aware of mean-spirited or divisive behaviors  whether those be viewed or heard in person or on social media.

We encourage all individuals, students and adults, to speak to a trusted member of their school support team if such behavior is viewed, she added. In cases of perceived threats of violence, please reach out to your school principal or the Milford Police Department.

brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com
WOODBRIDGE, Va. (AP)  A 9-year-old girl was shot and critically wounded in northern Virginia on Tuesday night, police said.

Prince William County Police officers called to Gatehouse Terrace in Woodbridge around 6:40 p.m. found the girl suffering from a gunshot wound and administered first aid until rescue personnel arrived, officials said in a news release.

The girl was flown to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries, where she remained in critical condition, police said Wednesday morning.

A group was walking in the area when one person fired multiple rounds and detectives have determined that the girl was not the intended target, police said. Rounds also struck an occupied vehicle driving in the area and the front door of a home.
GUYMON, Okla. (AP)  Police in Guymon fatally shot a gun-wielding man who pointed the weapon at them, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday.

Randal Haynes, 53, of Guymon was dead at the scene of the Monday afternoon shooting in the Panhandle city about 235 miles (378 kilometers) northwest of Oklahoma City, OSBI spokesperson Brooke Arbeitman said.
Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  A city man was charged with several gun offenses after he fired off six shots near Orange Street early Tuesday, according to Bridgeport police.

The citys Emergency Operations Center received a phone call reporting the gunfire in the area around 4:30 a.m. About 10 minutes later, police received a second call about a man shooting from the third floor window of a multifamily home on Orange Street, according to Capt. Kevin Gilleran.
WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX

106 AM CDT Wed May 25 2022

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHEASTERN CALDWELL...

BASTROP...NORTHEASTERN GONZALES AND LEE COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The storms which prompted the warning have moved out of the warned

area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 500 AM CDT for

south central Texas.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 130 AM CDT

FOR FAYETTE COUNTY...

At 106 AM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Burton to 6 miles northeast of La Grange to near

Schulenburg, moving southeast at 35 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and penny size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

La Grange, Schulenburg, Flatonia, Fayetteville, Round Top, Muldoon,

Carmine, Swiss Alp, Dubina, Rutersville, Warrenton, Engle, Waldeck,

Plum, Ammannsville, Mullins Prairie, Nechanitz, Freyburg, High Hill

and O'Quinn.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with these storms.

Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading

killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to

be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 145 AM CDT

FOR SOUTHEASTERN KINNEY...EASTERN MAVERICK...NORTHERN DIMMIT...

SOUTHERN UVALDE...ZAVALA AND WESTERN FRIO COUNTIES...

At 107 AM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Bluff to 7 miles west of Cometa, moving south at

35 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind

damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Uvalde, Crystal City, Carrizo Springs, Dilley, Big Wells, La Pryor,

Batesville, Asherton, Chula Vista-River Spur, Blewett, Washer, Las

Colonias, Winter Haven, Uvalde Estates, Cometa, Brundage, Dabney,

Carrizo Hill, Divot and Loma Vista.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of Victoria, Goliad,

north central Refugio, northeastern Live Oak and Bee Counties through

200 AM CDT...

At 107 AM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from 8 miles northwest of Fordtran to near Weesatche

to near Mineral. Movement was southeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph and pea size hail.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Victoria, Beeville, Goliad, Guadalupe, Fannin, Victoria Colony Creek

Country Club, Weesatche, Weser, Nursery, Victoria Riverside Park,

Victoria College, Victoria Mall, Saxet Lakes, Brentwood Subdivision,

Inez, Salem, Normanna, Pawnee, Telferner and Charco.

This includes the following highways...

US Highway 181 between mile markers 572 and 596.

US Highway 183 between mile markers 628 and 658.

US Highway 59 between mile markers 624 and 706.

US Highway 77 between mile markers 560 and 594.

US Highway 87 between mile markers 798 and 820.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

These storms may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

LAT...LON 2906 9694 2902 9683 2892 9679 2887 9673

2846 9721 2831 9788 2874 9816 2879 9810

2869 9801 2872 9792 2867 9778 2892 9742

2887 9730 2910 9698

TIME...MOT...LOC 0607Z 320DEG 41KT 2914 9714 2879 9748 2855 9797

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.25 IN

MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
China's top legislator proposes enhancing parliamentary exchanges with Greece

Xinhua) 09:35, May 25, 2022

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, holds a video meeting with Constantine Tassoulas, president of the Greek parliament, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, on Tuesday said China and Greece should enhance parliamentary exchanges to provide support for cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

During a video meeting with Constantine Tassoulas, president of the Greek parliament, Li said that China will work with Greece to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and promote the development of the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.

He said the NPC will strengthen exchanges with the Greek parliament among their high-level committees, special committees, friendship groups and parliamentarians, share legislative and supervisory work experience, and provide legal support for cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

Li called on the two countries to view political mutual trust as the foundation for cooperation, firmly support and cooperate with each other, and jointly promote the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system.

China appreciates Greece's long-term adherence to the one-China principle and supports Greece in safeguarding its core interests and legitimate rights and interests, Li said.

Greece has long played an active role in promoting the development of China-EU relations, and China is willing to make joint efforts with relevant countries, including Greece, to promote the further development of China-EU cooperation, Li said.

He called for the synergy of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with the Recovery and Resilience Plan of Greece, and expand cooperation in fields such as shipping, energy, infrastructure, green economy and digital economy.

Tassoulas reiterated Greece's firm commitment to the one-China policy. He said the Greek parliament will make positive contributions to the joint construction of the Belt and Road, and bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and tourism.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, holds a video meeting with Constantine Tassoulas, president of the Greek parliament, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
Watching Prince Harry gallop across a sunlit polo field in southern California it was tempting to wonder if it brought back any nostalgic memories for the very different kind of life he used to lead as a member of the Royal Family.

But of all the regrets he surely privately has over his exile, the greatest must be the animosity that exists between him and his father-in-law, who remains seriously ill in hospital after a suspected stroke.

The rift between Thomas Markle, his daughter and the son-in-law he has never met, has been one of the most tragic and enduring features of the entire Harry and Meghan saga. It is also by some distance the saddest. For despite the pain and suspicion that undoubtedly still exists between Harry and his father Prince Charles and brother William, the Prince has not completely severed those royal bonds. And although pointedly not invited to share the Buckingham Palace balcony, he and Meghan will be participating in next week's Platinum Jubilee.

Contrast that with the sorrowful events surrounding Mr Markle's admission to hospital after reportedly losing the power of speech and suffering a fall while out shopping in the Mexican town of Rosarito where he lives in solitary retirement.

Families at war: The Duke and Duchess during their controversial television interview with Oprah Winfrey last year

In footage posted online, the former TV lighting director is seen lying on a stretcher with an oxygen mask strapped to his face as a paramedic gently explains that he is being taken across the U.S. border to San Diego for treatment.

No one is quite sure these days how Harry and Meghan will respond to the plight of the Duchess's father and whether they will put aside the bitterness of the past four years and travel the four hours from their home in Santa Barbara to be at his bedside.

This is a particular conundrum for a couple who in their public roles make a virtue of their compassion.

How different things could have been, not just for Thomas Markle but for Prince Harry, too. Far from home, having the kindly figure of his father-in-law to turn to might have provided Harry with the stability he has so plainly been lacking since abandoning his own family.

And who better than Mr Markle to guide him in the realities of life in a mixed race marriage. But none of this wisdom has been available to Harry. Instead their relationship has been one of sour mistrust.

Suits you: Thomas pictured being measured for his wedding outfit

It has hardly helped that Mr Markle has offered his own uncompromising views of his daughter and her husband. Accusing Harry of being 'snotty' and an 'idiot' who is 'whipped' by Meghan was never likely to endear him to his son-in-law. Even so, this cannot excuse Harry's own behaviour. The roots of this unhappiness lie in the weeks leading up to Harry and Meghan's royal wedding in 2018. Mr Markle was revealed to have collaborated with a paparazzi photographer in staging pictures of him preparing for the marriage ceremony, from reading up on British history to being measured up for a wedding suit.

It was naive, foolish even but hardly wilful. The irony was that this act of invading his own privacy came at the very time Palace officials were sending strict warnings to the media not to harass him.

Indeed, it was hard not to escape the conclusion that royal advisers had failed to realise that this lonely but thoroughly decent man would struggle to deal with the enormity of his daughter marrying into Britain's Royal Family.

Daddy's girl: Meghan was doted on as a teenager by her father

It seemed then  and it seems now  remarkable that proper efforts were not put in place to prepare Mr Markle for the news, providing an aide to brief him or better still flying him to London and accommodating him in a royal home where he could have acclimatised ahead of the wedding.

But perhaps the most baffling failure of all was Harry's. Even now, four years later, it is hard to understand why Harry did not meet his girlfriend's father in person, as any prospective son-in-law would do.

There must have been countless opportunities for Harry (and Meghan) to have paid a private visit to her father  long before he started giving interviews.

By the eve of the wedding, when Thomas revealed he was pulling out of giving his daughter away because of heart problems, the relationship between the two men was turning toxic.

Mr Markle said he had hung up on Harry during a heated telephone call. Although he accepted the Prince had every right to reprimand him over the staged photographs, he described the timing of the call as 'rude'.

While admitting he had lied about the incident, he added: 'There is a time and place to say what he said but not when I'm lying in hospital after a heart attack.' He claimed he had ended the call after telling the Prince: 'Maybe it would be better for you guys if I was dead... then you could pretend to be sad.' Resentment had been bubbling for some time.

He claimed that when the couple's engagement was disclosed, two representatives from the British consulate in Los Angeles had visited the home of his ex-wife Doria Ragland  Meghan's mother  to present her with a copy of the official scroll bearing the Queen's announcement.

'No one came to my door in Mexico,' he complained. 'I would have liked the engagement announcement, too.'

Petulant maybe but perfectly understandable.

Yet by the time of the Duke and Duchess's interview with Oprah Winfrey last year, Meghan described the fake pictures episode as feeling like a 'betrayal'.

She said she had asked her father directly if he had talked to tabloid newspapers (over the pictures) and he had replied: 'No, absolutely not.' She said she told him that 'if you tell me the truth we can help'. According to Meghan her father 'wasn't able to do that' and she described his refusal to answer as 'so hard for me to reconcile'.

By the time of the interview, of course, the couple had already long slammed the door shut in Mr Markle's face.

Even so rather than seeking a reconciliation, the relationship unravelled further.

In December 2018, Thomas claimed he had been 'ghosted' by his daughter and that she had not responded to the countless attempts he had made to contact her. The situation deteriorated even more when details of a handwritten letter she had sent him were revealed by The Mail on Sunday.

Last year the Duchess sued the newspaper for reproducing parts of the 'personal and private' letter and it paid damages for infringing her copyright.

Even then a rapprochement might still have been possible. Thomas longs to see his two grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet.

It is not just three lives damaged by this escalating tragedy, now there are five divided by this bitter disagreement.

Harry has spoken of how sad it was that his mother Princess Diana never knew Meghan. How much sadder it will be if he never gets to know Meghan's father.

Just imagine how much he could learn about fatherhood from the man who displayed a unique approach to teaching his daughter about her mixed-race heritage. Meghan proudly recalled how one Christmas Day she had opened a present containing a set of Barbie dolls, specially customised by Thomas to reflect her family  one black doll and one white.

After her parents' divorce in 1987 the young Meghan lived with her mother but continued to spend time with her father who often brought her in to the TV studios where he was working.

When he won money in the California State Lottery in 1990 Thomas invested some but spent most of it on his children  Thomas junior and Samantha by an earlier marriage  and paid for Meghan to attend a Catholic high school.

These were formative years for Meghan when she mainly lived with her father. Of course, Doria has been able to tell the Prince something of Meghan's childhood but a complete picture needs to involve her father, too.

Is it really too late for Harry to put the past behind him and reach out to poorly Mr Markle? I don't think so  but if he does not I fear he may come to regret it.
Britain divides three ways over Boris Johnson.

There are the Boris-haters who will never forgive him for being the leader of the Brexit campaign to take us out of the European Union. They won't concede that he has the slightest moral or political virtue.

Exhibit A is Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Lib Dems. He said on Tuesday that whenever the Prime Minister opens his mouth 'you know he's lying'. What an outrageous thing for a mainstream political leader to say about another, but it's what millions of normally sensible people believe.

At the other extreme are the Boris-lovers. For them Boris is a hero, and will always be, largely because of Brexit. They either won't admit that he sometimes lies or they don't care very much if he does. They point to his achievements and ignore his failings.

There are the Boris-haters who will never forgive him for being the leader of the Brexit campaign to take us out of the European Union. They won't concede that he has the slightest moral or political virtue

At the other extreme are the Boris-lovers. For them Boris is a hero, and will always be, largely because of Brexit. They either won't admit that he sometimes lies or they don't care very much if he does. They point to his achievements and ignore his failings

And then there are the rest of us. We accept regretfully that Boris has told untruths throughout his life. We know he repeatedly betrayed his second wife, Marina. We can see that he is  like many journalists, by the way  a poor administrator with a short attention span. We don't entirely trust him

And then there are the rest of us.

We accept regretfully that Boris has told untruths throughout his life. We know he repeatedly betrayed his second wife, Marina. We can see that he is  like many journalists, by the way  a poor administrator with a short attention span. We don't entirely trust him.

Appalled

Nonetheless, we believe he has a spark of political genius. We admire his brio and energy. Most of us are grateful that he led us out of the EU. We think that when he sets his mind to it  as with Ukraine and the Covid vaccine rollout  he can be a force for good despite his managerial shortcomings.

This third group comprises millions of people in all walks of life. He will need our support if he is going to win the next general election. The question is whether he has forfeited it as a result of his behaviour over Partygate.

Many inveterate Boris fans scoff at the idea. They say that, when the election comes, the shenanigans in No 10 will have faded from the public memory and people will only care about tax and the cost of living. I don't agree.

Admittedly, Sue Gray's report was on the face of it good for Boris. Despite its graphic accounts of parties  of vomiting, a bust-up, empty wine bottles left lying around, late nights and spillages  the allegedly fearsome civil servant, who is supposed to take no prisoners, barely laid a glove on the PM.

She criticises the culture and leadership of No 10 without picking on the Prime Minister. The person who comes worst out of the report is his former principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, who is revealed as a party organiser.

Yet many reasonable people will reflect that it was Boris Johnson who presided over these Bacchanalian excesses, and must therefore bear ultimate responsibility for them.

Mr Johnson himself yesterday took responsibility for the goings-on, whilst in the next breath disavowing any knowledge of them, and describing himself as being 'appalled by some of the behaviour' described in Sue Gray's report.

Granted, No 10  as the PM was anxious to remind us  is much bigger than it looks. It is 'a building that is 5,300 metres square across five floors, excluding the flats', where 'hundreds of staff are entitled to work'.

I think it is highly likely that the PM knew what was happening, and was prepared to put up with it. This was partly because, being a generous person, he wanted hard-working young people to have a good time, and partly because he is by nature a rule-breaker

All the same, is it credible that a sharp-witted, experienced journalist used to observing people's behaviour had no intimation of the rampant partying, some of which he admits to having witnessed before it degenerated? Wouldn't someone have told him what was going on?

I think it is highly likely that the PM knew what was happening, and was prepared to put up with it. This was partly because, being a generous person, he wanted hard-working young people to have a good time, and partly because he is by nature a rule-breaker.

Rules

A former girlfriend has described in the Mail how, some 20 years ago, the two of them were driving down the motorway. They were on the way to Henley, where Mr Johnson was trying to become MP, and she had been drinking from a bottle of champagne. 'It's empty,' she said. 'What shall I do with it?' 'Chuck it out the window,' he replied.

That's Boris. We know that, on the eve of becoming PM, he spilt wine on Carrie's sofa in her Camberwell flat  to her great annoyance. Outside the flat was Boris's ancient people-carrier, which had parking tickets mouldering on its windscreen, and empty food cartons, crumpled clothes and plastic bags littering its interior.

Boris was neither offended by the partying in No 10, nor likely to be upset by the mess. The natural Cavalier forgot that the pandemic had cast him in the role of a Roundhead, solemnly announcing coercive rules on television which  to put it mildly  he didn't zealously enforce on his home patch.

Boris was neither offended by the partying in No 10, nor likely to be upset by the mess. The natural Cavalier forgot that the pandemic had cast him in the role of a Roundhead, solemnly announcing coercive rules on television which  to put it mildly  he didn't zealously enforce on his home patch

In other words, Partygate has illuminated a contradiction forced on Boris Johnson by Covid. In Shakespearean terms, he was the free-living, chaotic Sir Toby Belch and the puritanical, officious Malvolio at the same time.

And now, in order to survive, he has to cover his tracks, pretending to be 'humbled' by the whole experience, while telling us that he has learned from it, without being able or prepared to admit that  again, to put it mildly  he has run far too loose a ship.

The trouble is that it matters to a lot of people  to those millions who dutifully obeyed the coercive rules handed down by Boris, and are appalled by the lax behaviour of the inmates of No 10.

It's not nothing  certainly much more than the storm in a tea cup that some of his defenders allege it to be. Among my acquaintance are several Brexit-supporting Tory voters who won't easily forgive the Prime Minister, and in some cases may never do so.

There is also the unresolved question hanging over Mr Johnson, which is still to be considered by the Commons Privileges Committee, as to whether he lied to MPs last December.

When asked whether a party took place in No 10 on November 13, 2020 (it did), he replied: 'No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.'

Idiocies

Yesterday, he insisted that he did not knowingly mislead Parliament and said that it was what he 'believed to be true' at the time. Hard to credit, but also hard to disprove.

Boris will survive, at least in the short-term, because Tory MPs know there is no alternative leader. And sometimes, as over Ukraine, he gets the big things right. I don't believe they'll drop him now.

But that isn't to say that Partygate will be forgotten, still less forgiven, by millions of people. Voters have long memories. Some will never excuse the Prime Minister for not ensuring that No 10's employees respected rules foisted on the rest of us.

At the election, he will be judged over Partygate and his integrity. More than that, of course, he will also be judged over the Government's competence during the approaching economic tsunami and his abilities as a leader.

Can he recover? I'm increasingly pessimistic. I hope I'm wrong. I want him to succeed. But I fear the idiocies over Partygate symbolise a wider unsuitability for office that can never be corrected.
A mother who has covered most of her body in dramatic art work has revealed the tattoos help her to cope with the sexual abuse she experienced as a child.

Melissa Sloan, 45, from Powys, South Wales, whose entire body is shrouded from head to toe with dramatic designs, explained that her tattoos are her way of covering the 'emotional scars' of horrendous sexual abuse from her paedophile brother.

The mother-of-seven claims that she was sexually abused by her brother, Gavin, 46, from the age of six and has now broken her silence about her years of torment.

Last week, Gavin Sloan was finally jailed for a string of sickening rapes and sexual assaults against other children.

Melissa Sloan, 45, (pictured) from Powys, South Wales, has covered her body in tattoos to blot out the memories of being sexually abused from the age of six

Melissa's half-brother Gavin Sloan, 46, (pictured) was jailed last week for a string of sickening rapes and sexual assaults against other children

Melissa, who was abused by her brother until age 16, claims her complaints were not taken seriously by police. Pictured: Melissa and Gavin as children

'My tattoos help me cover the emotional scars that Gavin left behind,' Melissa said.

'They're my mask and I hide from the world behind them. But now that he is finally in jail, I can begin to feel free.'

Melissa claims her complaint was not taken seriously by police and he was never charged with the alleged offences against her.

She was horrified to read a news report last week of Gavin's recent conviction for child sex offences involving other children.

Melissa said: 'I am pleased that he is at last behind bars, but I feel angry too that my own complaint wasn't investigated properly at the time.

'I've suffered all my life because of the abuse. My entire body is covered with tattoos and it's my way of coping with trauma of my childhood abuse.

'I try to blot out the memories by covering myself with tattoos.'

Melissa said she is 'pleased' that Gavin is now behind bars, but angry that her own claims weren't investigated properly at the time

Melissa, who is one year younger than her abusive brother, grew up in Kidderminster with their mother, Doris, Gavin and two other siblings

Melissa said her mother brushed it off when she told her that Gavin had touched her down below in the bath at age six

Melissa and Gavin grew up in Kidderminster with their mother, Doris, and two other siblings. Melissa is one year younger than Gavin.

She said: 'Gavin and I have the same mother but different fathers, but we were raised as brother and sister. As tots we shared a bath together, as siblings do.

'But when I was six, and he was seven, Gavin touched me down below in the bath. I told my mum but we were both small children and she brushed it off. She didn't really believe me.

Melissa said the abuse from Gavin got worse in her teens and he would take every chance he could to grope her

'But it carried on and it got worse when I was in my teens. Gavin and I shared a bedroom, and he took every chance he could to grope me, and he tried to make me perform sexual acts on him. He drilled a small hole in the bathroom door to spy on me.

'I grew up thinking it was normal. He told me it was fine because he was my half-brother.

'I tried to fight back against him, but he was stronger and very aggressive towards me.

'He called me sexual names and made inappropriate comments. I saw him kill birds and small animals and I was very frightened of him.'

Melissa said she was 'very frightened' of Gavin, who she saw kill birds and small animals

Melissa said Gavin was 'very aggressive', would call her sexual names and made inappropriate comments until she left home aged 16

The abuse continued until Melissa left home aged 16.

She said: 'I couldn't take it any longer and I ran away from home and slept on the streets for a short time. I was very troubled.'

Melissa eventually turned her life around.

She got her first tattoo, aged 20, and has since covered most of her body with different designs.

She currently gets one or two new tattoos a week.

The mother-of-seven, who has been getting tattoos since age 20, revealed she now gets at least one new piece of artwork a week

Melissa said: 'I found the tattoos very therapeutic; a way of blocking out the past and also the abuse.

'Gavin got in touch again and even as an adult, the suggestive comments continued. He just didn't seem to see that it was wrong.

'When I was 35, I made a complaint to the police, because I was worried that he would do it someone else.

'I was interviewed, but that was it. Nothing came of it, and I went away thinking that I had left it too long.'

Having lost contact with Gavin, Melissa admits she was stunned to read that he has been jailed for raping and sexually assaulting other children

Melissa has since lost touch with her brother but last week was appalled to read on a news site that he has been jailed for raping and sexually assaulting children.

She said: 'I was stunned. I'd no idea about the case at all until I read about it online. I am relieved that he is locked up but, in many ways, I feel frustrated that it didn't happen sooner. If my complaint had been taken seriously, perhaps these poor children could have been spared.

'It's a horrible thought and I torture myself with that.'

Her brother, 46, pleaded guilty at Shrewsbury Crown Court to the rape of a child, possessing indecent images of children and sexual assaults against children.

Melissa said she's frustrated Gavin wasn't locked up sooner and if her complaints had been taken seriously maybe the other children would've been spared

In a case described as 'harrowing' by police, Sloan pleaded guilty to more than 30 offences and was jailed for 21 years. Two female accomplices were also sentenced earlier this month for their part in his sick crimes.

Louise Smith, 42, was jailed for 11 years after pleading guilty to 12 counts of sexual activity in the presence of a child and causing a child to commit a sexual act.

Jenna Ball, 37, received a two-year suspended sentence after admitting three counts of arranging child sex offences, causing a child to commit a sexual act and possession of indecent images.

Sloan was arrested in May 2021 after officers from West Mercia Police carried out a warrant at his home address. The warrant was granted as it was believed he may have been in possession of indecent images of children.

Melissa said she 'tortures' herself at the thought of the other children's sexual assaults possibly being avoided if Gavin was jailed sooner

Detective Inspector Jo Delahay said Gavin is a 'highly dangerous individual who preyed on young and vulnerable victims'. Pictured: Melissa and Gavin as children

Following searches of his home, officers discovered numerous videos containing indecent images of children, including a video of Sloan himself sexually assaulting a young child. The images had been taken between 2013 and 2021.

The discovery led officers to arrest and later charge Smith and Ball.

Detective Inspector Jo Delahay said: 'This investigation has been one of the most harrowing for all involved and we welcome the sentence that has been handed to Sloan. We also welcome the sentences handed to Ball and Smith for their part in assisting Sloan.

'He is a highly dangerous individual who preyed on young and vulnerable victims, and it is incomprehensible that he would commit such crimes against children and young people. Our thoughts remain with the victims and those close to them.'
Meghan Markle should visit her father Thomas who has been hospitalised with a stroke, but is not currently in contact with him, a royal expert has claimed.

Tom Bower, an investigative journalist who is currently working on a biography of the Duchess, 40, told Good Morning Britain today that he spoke to Thomas Markle over the weekend.

Mr Markle, 77, a former TV lighting director, is reportedly in a clinic in Chula Vista, California, a few hours' drive away from the Montecito home Meghan shares with husband Harry, 37, and their two children Archie, three, and Lilibet, 11 months.

Mr Bower told hosts Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid that it is unknown whether Meghan will make the trip to see her father, who has reportedly been left unable to speak following the stroke.

It is not yet known whether Meghan Markle, 40, pictured here with Thomas, 77, will visit her father following reports he's suffered a stroke

Royal author Tom Bower (pictured on GMB today) who is working on a biography of the duchess, said if the royal were compassionate, she would go and see Thomas

He said: 'If we knew what she was going to do, that would be terrific. But what we do know is that Meghan has always said that she's a very compassionate person.

'And if compassion was at all necessary right now, it would mean she would go to her father's bedside, about two and a half hours' drive south of where she lives, and give him some comfort and reassurance. We wait to see what happens.'

He added: 'We know she hasn't [made any contact]. There hasn't been any contact since just before the wedding day - other than the famous letter.'

Discussing the senior Markle's feelings about the rift between him and Meghan, Mr Bower said: 'He's very upset...because of course, he was a very loving father to Megan and supported her throughout her childhood when her mother wasn't there. And he paid for her student fees too.

'He is very upset that he hasn't been able to see his grandchildren. '

Mr Bower also discussed Mr Markle's plans to come to London for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June .

'Although he told me that he was coming to see the Queen, I think really he was also hoping to see Megan and to see his grandchildren,' he said.

Mr Bower added that if Mr Markle had made it to the UK, his appearance may 'have somewhat dominated the news outlets', suggesting that his absence may allow for more coverage of the event itself.

Thomas Markle, who has suffered a stroke which has left him hospitalised, is upset about the rift with his daughter Meghan, according to royal author Tom Bower

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, pictured at Global Citizen Live in New York in September 2021, live in Montecito, just a few hours' drive from the California clinic Thomas Markle is in

Mr Markle was admitted to hospital in Tijuana, Mexico yesterday, before being transferred to the California clinic.

A video, which was shared by US gossip outlet TMZ showed him on a stretcher flanked by paramedics, with a pale face and one hand on his chest.

Mr Markle's daughter Samantha, 57, told MailOnline: 'My father is recovering in hospital. We ask for privacy for the family, for his health and wellbeing. He just needs peace and rest.

'Godspeed. We are praying. He just needs some rest.'
A bereaved mother has spoken of her distress after a stranger offered to raise funds for her dying daughter, before stealing the cash for herself.

Carla Dawson, 36, from Nottingham, was desperately trying to raise money to save the life of her two-year-old daughter, Jorja-Rose, when Chanel Bailey contacted her and offered to help.

Bailey took part in a sponsored walk and a head shave but then kept all the proceeds for herself.

She claimed to be Carla's sister, and later told hospital staff she was a close family friend, even turning up in the last days of Jorja's life.

This week Bailey, 26, was jailed for two years and three months after admitting theft and fraud. A judge slammed her for targeting 'vulnerable' people using 'animal cunning.'

Carla and her husband, Lee, from Nottingham, were desperately raising money to save the life of their two-year-old daughter, Jorja-Rose

In April 2016, Jorja was diagnosed with a malignant stage 4 pineoblastoma, and underwent eight months of chemotherapy and stem cell treatment

Mother of six, Carla said: 'I still cannot believe that anyone could be so cruel and heartless. Chanel wormed her way into my life.

'I'm glad she's gone to prison and I hope this gives her to change her ways.'

Carla and her husband, Lee, now run the Jorja-Rose Foundation, a charity which aims to raise awareness and provides practical support to families in hospital.

Carla said: 'The foundation is our way of making sure that Jorja lives on and that we are doing something positive in her memory. She was such a brave, smiley little girl and I want to make a difference in her name.'

Jorja was the youngest of Carla and Lee's six children and was perfectly healthy when she was born in January 2015. In March 2016, she began vomiting in the mornings and losing her balance a little.

This week Chanel Bailey, 26, pleaded guilty to theft and fraud at Nottingham Crown Court and was jailed for two years and three months

Carla added: 'I was back and forth from the GP, the walk in centre and the hospital. They gave me antibiotics and said perhaps she had an ear infection. In the end, I pleaded with them for help. I knew it was something more.'

In April 2016, on Carla's 30th birthday, Jorja had a brain scan which confirmed she had a tumour. Further tests showed she had a malignant stage 4 pineoblastoma, a rare and aggressive type of tumour.

Jorja underwent eight months of chemotherapy and stem cell treatment, before ringing the bell for the all-clear in February 2017.

Carla explained: 'The chemo made her very sick but she was so brave. She would carry on playing and smiling even though she was ill. She was like a bright light in our lives.

'When we took her home, after her treatment ended, we really believed it was over.'

Carla and Jorja pictured after the mother-of-six shaved off her hair to raise funds for her daughter's life-saving treatment

Carla with Jorja in hospital. The youngster was Carla and Lee's youngest child and they were devastated when she passed away aged two years and nine months

The family went on holiday and Carla and Lee got married. But the day before the wedding, Jorja, a bridesmaid, said her head was hurting. Five days later, the family was devastated to learn the cancer had come back.

Carla said: 'I found a trial in Germany and there was also a specialist hospital in the US. We started raising money for treatment and people were so generous.'

That's when Carla was contacted by Chanel Bailey, offering to help. 'I was contacted by Chanel Bailey who was really sympathetic and said she wanted to help. I had shaved my head for Macmillan weeks earlier and she said she would shave her head also, for our fundraising. She also came to a sponsored walk.'

Lee and Jorja in hospital during one of her many treatments amid her 18-month battle with a tumour

But at the walk, Chanel told organisers that she was Carla's sister. Alarm bells rang amongst her friends, who knew she was an only child.

Carla added: 'A few of my friends had their doubts about Chanel but I just thought she was a bit odd, a bit forward maybe. I didn't want to judge her. Besides, my focus was Jorja and I had no time for anything else.'

Chanel then began telling people she was a close family friend and concerns were raised that money from the sponsored walk had vanished.

Carla and Lee with their family, including siblings, Corey, 19, Demi, 17, Jaydan, 14, Maximus, 10 and Jaimee-Leigh, with Jorja sitting on Carla's knee

'I couldn't begin to think about that. Jorja was very poorly by this stage. She was in hospital, with fluid on her brain, and needed surgery. She was due to start radiotherapy, but she wasn't well enough,' she said.

'I was sitting by her bedside one afternoon when Chanel just appeared next to me. I was so taken aback; I didn't want to be rude, but I felt it deeply inappropriate for her to be there. I hardly knew her.

'She asked me if she could take some photos and I said no. I felt that she had come to gawp at Jorja and I asked her to leave. I later found out she'd told the nurses she was a family member. It was a sick thing to do. I was under so much pressure at that time, and she just added to it. It was so invasive. It's that, rather than the money, which upsets me the most.'

Jorja rang the bell for the all-clear in February 2017. Carla explained: 'We took her home, after her treatment ended, we really believed it was over'

But the tumour returned and Jorja became very ill, needed a shunt fitted to her brain, before she passed away in October 2017

Jorja went on to have a shunt fitted to her brain but sadly, she never recovered and passed away on October 21 2017, aged just two years and nine months.

Her family, including siblings, Corey, 19, Demi, 17, Jaydan, 14, Maximus, 10 and Jaimee-Leigh, were heartbroken.

Carla remembered: 'I posted a photo of Jorja after she had passed on my private Facebook account and later learned Chanel had reposted the photos as if they were her own, writing that she was crying.

'She then messaged me asking why she was not allowed to come to the funeral. It really was the last thing I could cope with.'

Following Jorja's death, her family launched a foundation to raise awareness of brain tumours in children and also to provide support to other families in hospital. They currently offer toiletry packs to families. In the future, they hope to buy a holiday home for families living with childhood brain tumours.

Since Jorja's death Carla and Lee have formed The Jorja-Rose Foundation to raise awareness and fund research for childhood brain rumours and offer practical support to suffering families

Then in 2019, Carla was contacted by the police, who were investigating Chanel Bailey. She was later charged with stealing the money she had raised for Jorja's treatment.

Carla said: 'I was stunned to find out she had also conned another family, who had also lost a child. I want people to be aware who she is, so that she can't do it to anyone else.

'But I also want to thank the thousands of genuine people who donated their time and their money to our foundation. Thanks to them, our daughter's name lives on.'

Nottingham Crown Court heard this week that Chanel Bailey, 26, had stolen from two grieving mothers on two separate occasions by collecting donations under false pretenses.

The court heard Bailey failed to hand over cash she'd collected at a sponsored walk. She also announced plans to shave her head to raise money for the same cause and again failed to hand over donations.

Ben Blackner and his partner, Natalie Thompson, attend Nottingham Crown Court for the sentencing of Chanel Bailey, who were also victims of her deceit

Bailey appeared at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing having previously pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and theft. She was jailed for two years and three months.

Inspector Christopher Jury, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: 'Chanel Bailey took advantage of her victims' pain and the charitable spirit of many people, just so she could treat herself on other people's hard-earned money.

The deception was cunning and manipulative and I am pleased the courts recognised this. There is absolutely no excuse for her actions and she is deserving of the prison sentence she will now have to serve.'
A woman who was violently raped as a teenager has launched her own line of consent underwear to encourage partners to discuss boundaries and 'ask' before having sex.

Ella Fairon, from Newport Beach, California, who was a victim of high school sexual assault, has designed a range of underwear featuring slogans such as 'Ask the cutie before touching the booty' and 'Cool cats ask consent', to prompt partners discuss consent.

She had the idea for underwear brand Assk First after the tragic death of her 24-year-old friend Daisy Coleman in 2020, who she met when they featured in the Netflix documentary, Audrie and Daisy.

The show brought together teens who had been sexually assaulted in high school.

Ella Fairon (pictured), from Newport Beach, California, has launched her own range of underwear to encourage partners to discuss boundaries and 'ask' before having sex.

Ella said she was inspired to launch underwear brand Assk First after the tragic death of her 24-year-old friend Daisy Coleman in 2020

Ella said she was drawing little cat characters to cope with Daisy's death and thought they would look 'cute' on underwear

'When Daisy died, I was really struggling with it,' Ella said.

'I coped with her being gone by doing digital art and it sounds so stupid but I started drawing these little cat characters and I thought they'd look so cute on underwear.

'It was like a giant snowball that kept rolling and rolling and turned into Assk First.

'There are so many different scenarios where sexual assault happens and a big portion happens within relationships.

'I imagined so many different scenarios where someone would see them and be prompted to ask 'what does your underwear mean?'

'I've never had underwear with words on them. So many good things come out of this.

'I was raped by two boys. What happened to me was more violent, they physically assaulted me, hit me and stuff, drugged me then assaulted me when I was unconscious.

Ella said two boys physically assaulted, drugged and then assaulted her while she was unconscious at age 14

'It didn't just happen that night and go away, it was an ongoing thing at school. Everyone knew about it and would harass me in the halls.

'I don't think they think they did anything wrong. It was like I wasn't even a human being. There was an investigation but I never got justice for what happened.

'When I think back, when it was so fresh and I was 14, all the things you normally go through as a teen high school girl then add a super traumatising event to that. Everything feels like the end of the world.

'I was struggling so hard with self-harm. I felt like it was so unfair.'

Ella claims she has been inundated with over 1,000 orders since launching Assk First, but has also received messages from people describing her ideas as 'stupid'

Underwear designer Ella claims she has been inundated with more than 1,000 orders since launching last year.

Although the majority of the feedback has been positive, she says she's received messages from people describing her idea as 'stupid'.

Ella said: 'I feel like I haven't had something that's unique to me and my personality.

'Starting Assk first, I felt like I could be myself while continuing important work. I put my personality into all of the designs.

'I've had so much good feedback and support behind it. That makes me feel awesome but I do get negative feedback but it's all coming from people who don't understand rape culture.

Ella said the idea behind her underwear line is to dismantle the belief that the only kind of rape is the violent type that happens in a back alley

'I get comments from majority men saying it's the stupidest idea and my underwear would never stop a rapist.

'I thought that was such a weird response because you don't look at someone wearing a cancer awareness shirt and say 'your shirt isn't going to stop cancer'. It's such a stupid reaction.

'Of course the underwear isn't going to stop a rapist but the ideology that the only kind of rape in the world is the violent type that happens in a back alley, that's what I want to dismantle.

'That's a very small percentage of sexual assaults that occur. Rape is an escalation of sexual assault.

Ella said those who ignore that violent rapes do happen but are a small percentage are contributing to rape culture

Ella said she never advertises that her products are meant to stop a predator, but they empower and spread awareness

'When we're talking about consent and sexual assault, we're not talking about violent rapes that do happen but are a very small percentage. That's the whole point of my brand.'

'You're contributing to rape culture by ignoring all of these other things that are happening.

'I've got such good feedback on the quality and hearing from survivors and not survivors saying wearing them makes them feel safe.

'If that makes someone feel empowered and safe, then that's worth that for me.

'I never advertise that they're meant to stop a predator, but empower and spread awareness and start a conversation.'

Ella didn't tell her parents about the traumatic assault she experienced until six months after it happened. Pictured: Ella (second right) as a child with parents Holly and Patrick, her brothers Jack, Ford and Cole

Following the traumatic assault ten years ago, Ella admits she blamed herself and couldn't bring herself to confide in her parents Holly and Patrick, both 52, until six months later.

The family were forced to move states and have been campaigning against sexual assault in high schools since with Ella co-founding organisation, SafeBae, which aims to educate middle and high school students.

Ella said: 'I've been doing this work ever since I was assaulted.

'When I started speaking publicly about it 10 years ago, people were not supportive.

'This was before Me Too, they couldn't believe this happened in high schools, they could barely come to terms with it happening in colleges.

Ella's family moved states and have been campaigning against sexual assault in high schools since. Pictured: Ella as a child with her mother Holly

'After my parents knew they really made me understand that what had happened to me was really bad and a crime and I didn't do anything wrong.

'Right after it happened, in my 14-year-old mind, I thought I must have done something to deserve that happening to me.

'I didn't understand rape, I thought that just couldn't happen to me. I grew up in a conservative home with a good family, you just don't think that could happen.

'I feel the need to speak so publicly because I didn't feel like I had a choice.

'I was sick and tired of people not knowing it happened to me and not understanding why I was struggling and that it was wrong.

Ella said her parents helped her to realise what had happened was a crime and she didn't do anything wrong to deserve it. Pictured: Ella with her family as a child

'What happened to me was so wrong, educating people on it was important to me and it stemmed from there.

'It started feeling like there was no other choice but to speak out about this. From the beginning I've said if I can stop this from happening to anyone else, it's worth it for me.

'I don't think I'll ever stop advocating for this, even for my kids, when I have kids I don't want this to be a thing.'

Ella has recently launched a men's line, including t-shirts and boxers so that younger brothers, Jack, 22, Ford, 21, and Cole, 19, can get involved in the campaign.

Ella who is launching a men's line said her brothers were 'traumatised' after seeing her degraded and the assault affects them too

Ella said: 'My parents have always been extremely supportive.

'So many survivors don't have that support which I think is why me and my family have taken it upon ourselves to all be engaged in this work and try to be supportive for people who don't have that. I'm really lucky.

'My brothers were really young when it happened to me so they've grown up seeing the aftermath and it's rocked them to their core.

'It's like they're traumatised too, seeing your sister get degraded, it affects them too.

'They've been really strong advocates too. When I told them I was launching a men's line they were harassing me every day asking when the boxers would be here and they could wear them. It's really cute.'
A gay French broadcaster who was caught up in unfounded rumours that he was Emmanuel Macron's secret lover has spoken for the first time about the scandal, branding it 'detestable'.

Mathieu Gallet, 45, was chairman of state broadcaster Radio France when whispers first started circulating in late 2016 that he was seeing Macron, then an unknown former adviser to Francois Hollande who was emerging as a serious presidential candidate.

Macron, 44, has been married to Brigitte Macron, 69, since 2007. Mrs Macron is said to have been left angry and upset about the rumours of her husband's infidelity.

Mathieu Gallet, 45, pictured, was chairman of state broadcaster Radio France when whispers first started circulating in late 2016 that he was seeing Macron, then an unknown former adviser to Francois Hollande who was emerging as a serious presidential candidate

Macron, 44, has been married to Brigitte Macron, 69, since 2007. Mrs Macron is said to have been left angry and upset about the rumours of her husband's infidelity. Pictured, in February

Gallet, who at the time was in a relationship with a 20-year-old student, said he believes the rumours were rooted in misogyny and a desire to discredit Macron - whom he had only met a handful of times - as a presidential candidate.

'[The plotters said to themselves, "A heterosexual man cannot have a true relationship with a woman 24 years older than him, and therefore it means he is gay". It is an idea based in absolute misogyny,' he told The Times.

He also claims there were homophobic undertones.

'Those who created this rumour said to themselves that French society would say, "No, we cannot elect a gay president or a closet gay president," and that people would think to themselves, "If he hides things about his private life, he is going to hide things from the nation."'

Gallet believes the rumours were an attempt to discredit the married presidential candidate. In reality the public were nonplussed by the rumours and elected Macron anyway. Pictured, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron share a kiss following the election in 2017

In reality the public were nonplussed by the rumours and elected Macron anyway.

For his part, Gallet was targeted by foreign paparazzi, went viral on social media, and became the subject of endless dinner party gossip, although strict privacy laws imposed on French media meant the story stayed largely out of local press.

Gallet, who has written about the scandal in a new book, Jeux de pouvoir (Power Games), lost his job shortly after Macron was elected after being found to have broken a procurement law.

He now works as the head of a podcast startup.

Meanwhile Macron was elected for a second term as president in April.

Macron was elected for a second term as president in April, pictured with his wife following the win

Two weeks ago Mr Macron  who was fiercely opposed to Brexit  invited Britain to join a new European political community outside the EU.

The French president said this new status would allow the UK to enjoy full political integration within the 27-country bloc, and have a say in crucial decisions.

In a keynote speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Macron said he was all in favour of creating what I would call a European political community.

This new European organisation would allow democratic European nations adhering to our core values to find a new space for political cooperation, and security.

Joining it would not prejudge future membership of the European Union, and it would not be closed to those who have left the latter.
Conservative MPs - including the Prime Minister - leaving Downing Street last night found themselves on the receiving end of some very loud questions from Sky News' deputy political editor.

Journalist Sam Coates left viewers - and later those watching clips on social media - in stitches after he fired off a relentless barrage of questions at senior politicians over the lockdown parties scandal.

Some even compared his barking of 'heckling' questions to comedy television reporter Dennis Pennis, made famous by funnyman Paul Kaye in the 90s.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was among the biggest victims of Coates' cross-street bellowing, as he asked her in quick succession: 'Is Partygate embarrassing on the world stage, foreign secretary? Are you being loyal to save your job? Do you think a future prime minister would make you foreign secretary?'

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Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates, pictured outside Number 10 last night, went viral on Twitter after he bellowed a series of questions across Downing Street at MPs

The PM received the same pavement hairdryer treatment, looking over as he posed for photos outside of Number 10.

'Did you lie at the despatch box Prime Minister? Why did you try and stop Sue Gray publishing her report Prime Minister? Prime Minister, are the any circumstances where you would NOT consider turning a govt crisis meeting into a party?'

Sajid Javid and Dominic Raab didn't escape either; with Mr Javid asked: 'Are you proud of this government? Are you proud of what's been going on inside the building you've just come out of?'

Mr Raab was grilled: 'Did you discuss Partygate in cabinet deputy prime minister?'

Those watching the Tuesday evening bulletin on Sky News took to Twitter to share their mirth...

@hewitson10 wrote: 'Sam Coates in absolutely terminator mode. Grills every single cabinet member including the PM. Wow.'

Referencing Paul Kaye's 90s comedy creation, @BurtOHare wrote: 'Something very Dennis Pennis about his brilliant heckling interview technique.'

@adams_ellison added: 'Absolutely loved his performance in Downing Street today.'

Archive footage of Dennis Pennis played by Paul Kaye in the 90s - Dennis is pictured telling Hugh Grant his acting is wooden, to which the actor replied: 'F*** off'

Some were less than impressed, one wrote: 'This Sam Coates? The sensitive type who cant debate a member of the public, but can scream like a yob at the PM?'

@Colin00007 agreed, saying: 'Sam Coates needs to be banned from all Government buildings - thats harassment and not journalism.'

Defending his robust questioning, @MarkFranklin123 wrote: 'He asked each and everyone of them a question. The fact they chose not to answer says more about them. I wonder if youd be as vocal on this if it was another party who have shafted the citizens of this country repeatedly.'

The al fresco interrogation came just a day before the damning report on lockdown parties by Sue Gray.

Boris Johnson this morning insisted he takes 'full responsibility' for Partygate after Sue Gray gave a grim account of drunken antics at the heart of government.

The PM told MPs that the government had 'learned our lesson' and he personally was 'humbled' after being issued a fine - saying he 'renewed my apology'.

A group of pictures released by Sue Gray show the PM's birthday party in June 2020 - over which he was fined along with Rishi Sunak and his wife Carrie

But Mr Johnson also denied lying to Parliament about the breaches, arguing that leaving dos were needed to keep up 'morale' while people were 'working hard' and he was 'proud' of the efforts of staff.

Saying he wanted to 'move on', the premier told the House: 'I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch.'

Mr Johnson was heckled as he said 'the entire senior management has changed', and Keir Starmer accused him of treating the country 'with contempt'.

But the Labour leader was forced to deny he had broken the law as he was barracked over the 'Beergate' police investigation into an election campaign visit to Durham last year.

And the premier was boosted as Tory MPs were largely supportive in the chamber - even heckling long-term critic Tobias Ellwood as he called for a new leader.

In her 37-page verdict, Ms Gray slammed 'excessive' drinking at a slew of bashes in Downing Street and Whitehall - many of which broke lockdown rules.

She describes how officials enjoyed karaoke, were sick in offices and even got into fights while the rest of the country was under harsh restrictions.

Ms Gray was particularly scathing about a raucous leaving party in Downing Street on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, when a child's swing was broken by revellers. Mr Johnson was not present.

And former No10 principal secretary Martin Reynolds was warned by colleagues that a notorious 'BYOB' bash in May 2020 was a bad idea - but remarked afterwards that they had 'got away with' the event.

However, there was limited direct criticism of Mr Johnson himself, with Dominic Cummings complaining that Ms Gray had let him off the hook by failing to investigate an alleged 'Abba Party' in his grace-and-favour flat.

Mr Johnson said staff had been working 'extremely long hours' and 'doing their best' to help the country in the pandemic, adding to MPs: 'I appreciate this is no mitigation but it's important to set out.'

He added: 'I'm trying to set out the context, not to mitigate or to absolve myself in any way.

'The exemption under which they were present in Downing Street includes those circumstances where officials and advisers were leaving the Government and it was appropriate to recognise and to thank them for the work they had done.

'I briefly attended such gatherings to thank them for their service, which I believe is one of the essential duties of leadership and particularly important when people need to feel that their contributions have been appreciated and to keep morale as high as possible.'

Partygate: A timeline 2020 - March 23: First Covid lockdown begins. Non-essential shops are closed and Britons are legally required to stay at home. - April 5: Boris Johnson is admitted to hospital with Covid. He later spends days in intensive care before recovering and leaving hospital on April 12. - May 15: Cheese and wine in the No 10 garden. A photograph emerged of a number of groups gathered in the No 10 garden, including Mr Johnson, Carrie Johnson, and aides Dom Cummings and Martin Reynolds sitting together on the terrace. Not investigated by police. - May 20: Bring Your Own Booze party. A leaked email shows No 10 staff were invited to an event in the Downing Street garden. Mr Johnson has admitted he was there for 25 minutes, but said he thought it was a 'work event'. June 1: First lockdown begins to ease. Public permitted to meet outside in groups of up to six people. Meeting indoors is still banned. - June 18 2020: Cabinet Office leaving do. Sue Gray's interim report said a gathering in the 70 Whitehall building was held to mark the departure of a No 10 private secretary. The Telegraph said 20 people attended, with alcohol consumed. - June 19 2020: Boris Johnson's 56th birthday. He, his wife Carrie and Rishi Sunak were all fined for attending surprise get-together in Cabinet Room. - September 14: Rising cases led to the re-introduction of 'rule of six' indoors and outdoors. By the end of the month, the work from home begins again and a 10pm curfew came into force for pubs, bars and restaurants - November 5: Second national lockdown begins. Non-essential businesses close and people banned from meeting indoors with anyone not in their 'support bubble' - November 13: Downing Street flat do. Mrs Johnson reportedly hosted parties in the official flat over No 11 where she and Mr Johnson live, including one event on November 13, the night of Dominic Cummings' acrimonious departure. A spokesman for the Prime Minister's wife called the claim 'total nonsense'. - November 13: As shown in pictures released today Mr Johnson attended event for Lee Cain, his departing director of communications and a close ally of Dom Cummings. - November 27 2020: Another special adviser leaves. Mr Johnson reportedly gave a leaving speech at a gathering for Cleo Watson, another ally of Mr Cummings. Not investigated by police. - December 10 2020: Department for Education Christmas drinks. Then education secretary Gavin Williamson reportedly threw a party and delivered a short speech. Not investigated by police. - December 15 2020: An online Christmas quiz in No 10. The Prime Minister appeared on contestants' screens at the quiz but insisted he broke no rules. Not investigated by police. - December 17: Cabinet Office 'Christmas party'. It was reported the do had been organised by a private secretary in Cabinet Secretary Simon Case's team, and that it was included in digital calendars as: 'Christmas party!' and included an online quiz. - December 17: Leaving drinks for former Covid Taskforce head Kate Josephs in the Cabinet Office. She later apologised. - December 17: No 10 leaving do attended by PM, reported to be for Captain Steve Higham, then one of Mr Johnson's private secretaries - December 18: Downing Street Christmas party, featuring speeches, a cheese board, drinks and a Secret Santa gifts. 2021 - January 4: Third lockdown begins following a rapid rise in Covid cases - January 14: More Downing Street leaving drinks to mark the departure of two private secretaries. The other official's identity is so far unknown. - April 16: Leaving drinks on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral. Downing Street apologised to Buckingham Palace after reported details emerged of boozy drinks parties, including one for outgoing communications director James Slack. November 30: First report of potentially illegal gatherings within Downing Street emerge. December 7: Mr Johnson says: 'I am satisfied myself that the guidelines were followed at all times.' December 7: 'Footage emerged showing press secretary Allegra Stratton joking about the alleged party in 2020 leaked to ITV News. She later resigns. December 8: Scotland Yard refuses to investigate, citing an 'absence' of evidence 2022 January 25: After weeks of further revelations, Scotland Yard launches Operation Hillman, an investigation into allegations of Partygate lawbreaking January 31: Sue Gray releases her interim report into Partygate February 4: Five No10 aides resign over their role in Partgate, including Dan Rosenfield and comms chief Jack Doyle March 29: Detectives issue the first 20 fixed penalty notices to people working in No10 for breaches of Covid laws. April 12: A further 30 fines are issued, including to Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak. May 12: Scotland Yard revealed it has issued more than 100 fines. May 19: Scotland Yard reveals it has completed Operation Hillman, issuing 126 fines to 83 people in total. May 25: Ms Gray's report was finally delivered to the PM and published. Advertisement

As he was heckled, the PM said: 'I'm trying to explain the reasons I was there. It's clear from what Sue Gray had to say that some of these gatherings then went on far longer than was necessary and they were clearly in breach of the rules and they fell foul of the rules.'

Responding to allegations he deliberately misled Parliament, Mr Johnson said: 'I have been as surprised and disappointed as anyone else in this House as the revelations have unfolded and, frankly, I have been appalled by some of the behaviour, particularly in the treatment of the security and the cleaning staff.

After Sue Gray (right) concluded her report, Mr Johnson (left) told MPs that the government had 'learned our lesson' and he personally was 'humbled' after being issued a fine - saying he 'renewed my apology'

'And I'd like to apologise to those members of staff and I expect anyone who behaved in that way to apologise to them as well.'

The report included nine photographs featuring Mr Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.

Four are from the PM's birthday 'party' in the Cabinet Room in June 2020 - over which he was fined along with wife Carrie and Mr Sunak. The politicians and Mr Case can be seen with a tray of sandwiches.

Five other pictures are from a leaving do for spin doctor Lee Cain in November 2020, where Mr Johnson is shown making a toast in front of tables loaded with booze.
Heartthrob DJ Calvin Harris is finally off the market after popping the question to stunning BBC Radio 1 DJ Vick Hope.

The dance music pin-up, 38, has had a string of high profile romances with Rita Ora, Taylor Swift and model Aarika Wolf, but is set to wed Vick, 32, after popping the question underneath a tree at his Ibiza farm, Terra Masia, a few weeks ago.

The pair set tongues wagging when they made their first public outing together at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show yesterday, with Vick showing off her diamond sparkler.

6ft 4in Calvin, who has a reported 240million fortune, has modelled in his underwear for Emporio Armani and regularly posts snaps of his toned physique, leading his future wife to hail him an 'Adonis'.

But the Dumfries-born Grammy-winner has now always been so chiselled, as throwback photos from early in his career show.

Wedding bells! Calvin Harris and Vick Hope made their first public appearance together at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show as it emerged the DJ had proposed at his farm in Ibiza

Geeky start: Back in 2007, when he released his debut album I Created Disco, Calvin - whose real name is Adam Wiles - was a pale and scruffy brunette who favoured a battered leather jacket, hooded tops and loose jeans

A-list flames: Calvin made headlines with his relationship to songstress Rita Ora, who described the DJ as her 'first love'. Pictured, the couple at the Brit Awards in February 2014

Former girlfriend: Taylor Swift dated Harris for 15 months until their split in 2016. She stepped out with Tom Hiddleston shortly afterwards. Pictured, Swift and Harris in May 2015

Rekindled romance: Most recently, Harris split from model Aarika Wolf after a four-year relationship. The pair first began dating in 2014 after meeting on the set of Calvin's music video for his track Blame. Pictured, the couple at an event in London in February 2019

Back in 2007, when he released his debut album I Created Disco, Calvin - whose real name is Adam Wiles - was a pale and scruffy brunette who favoured a battered leather jacket, hooded tops and loose jeans.

Indeed his looks were enough to stop Vick from going on a date with him when he first asked her out more than a decade ago.

'He looked how he used to look, I was shallow, I was 19, and I said "no",' she revealed in 2018. 'It turns out Calvin Harris was going to turn into an Adonis.'

The transformation started around 2012 when Calvin had his eyes opened to the benefits of healthy eating after moving to LA.

'The food is fantastic over here. You can eat healthily, theres a lot more healthy options than in the UK  thats a fact,' he said at the time.

It was around this time that he ditched the hair dye and began to embrace his height, which had been a source of embarrassment growing up.

'It was hard being the tallest person in class,' he said in 2009. 'Especially when you are a teenager. You want to keep your head down. I did anyway.

'When you are a spotty awkward teenager, you don't want people to look at you. It's a self-conscious thing. Everyone looks at you because you are extra gangly. It's only in the last five years that I have come to terms with the fact that I am a big tall b******.'

Starting out: Calvin Harris rocked an ill-fitting t-shirt and bejwelled glasses for this 2007 shot

Groovy, baby! Harris opted for clashing prints and a 1970s-inspired background for this psychedelic shoot which is a world apart from his pared back aesthetic today

They're back! Harris brought out his questionable shades for an outing to the BRITs in 2009

Baby steps: In 2009, Harris wore a red zip-up jacket to the Capital Radio Summertime Ball. His fashion sense was sharper in 2011 (right), although he was still rocking his dyed black hair

Turning a corner: This 2012 photo gives a glimpse of the heartthrob DJ the world now knows. He ditched the dye and embraced healthy eating after moving to Los Angeles

The makeover was enough to attract some of the most glamorous women in showbiz.

Rita Ora described the DJ as her 'first love', while Taylor Swift said they had a 'magical' 15-month relationship.

Both romances ended with a sour note when Harris spoke out against his exes on Twitter.

He was rumoured to be linked to Ellie Goulding, music star Tinashe and Ex On The Beach star Megan Rees.

Most recently he split from model Aarika Wolf after a four-year relationship. The pair first began dating in 2014 after meeting on the set of Calvin's music video for his track Blame.

They enjoyed a seven-month romance, before splitting the following year, shortly before Calvin went public with Taylor.

Famous girlfriend: Calvin Harris and then girlfriend Rita Ora step out for a party in 2013

Looking sharp: Calvin offered two takes on a classic all-black look at 2014 red carpet events

Dashing: By the time he joined Taylor Swift at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, Calvin had discovered the power of good tailoring and added definition to his face with a trimmed beard

Rumoured flame: Dapper Calvin at the GQ Awards with pop star Ellie Goulding. Despite reports the pair were involved, Ellie insists they've always been just good friends

Aarika and Calvin rekindled their relationship in 2018 but stayed largely out of the spotlight, although they were occasionally spotted on supermarket runs and made the odd red carpet appearance.

Yesterday he made his first public outing with former Strictly Come Dancing star Vick, whom he first pursued while starting out in the industry a decade ago.

She revealed in 2018 that Calvin had asked her out when she was 19 but turned him down because of his looks.

'He looked how he used to look, I was shallow, I was 19, and I said "no" and I went off with either Scouting for Girls, or The Wombats, I don't which, I thought they were going to be bigger but no, it turns out Calvin Harris was going to turn into an Adonis,' she admitted.

Red carpet moment: Calvin looked sharp in a blue suit as he rubbed shoulders with Hollywood royalty at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in February 2017

On-again, off-again: Calvin was most recently linked to model Aarika Wolf. The pair recently split after four years together but were first linked in the mid-2010s (pictured in 2015)

The pair recently reconnected and had only been dating a few months before Calvin popped the question.

The fledgling romance was kept largely under wraps, although there were subtle Instagram clues.

Calvin has liked every one of Vick's Instagram pictures since January, when she posted sizzling bikini snaps on holiday in Mexico.

In April, Vick shared a photo of a tree at Calvin's 138-acre farm, Terra Masia. Calvin had previously posted the same tree, where he later proposed to Vick, on his own Instagram account.

Vick also teased an image of the couple on the beach in Ibiza by posting a picture of her feet alongside a man's foot believed to be Calvin's.

Whirlwind romance: Calvin Harris is engaged to Vick Hope after proposing to the Radio 1 DJ at his farm in Ibiza. The new couple made their first public appearance at Chelsea Flower Show on Monday

Secret trip: Former Strictly star Vick flew out to see Calvin's 138-acre farm in Ibiza last month (pictured in January)

Tactile: Calvin and Vick looked close attending the Chelsea Flower Show together on Monday

Secret signs of romance: How Calvin and Vick shared subtle hints of their romance on Instagram Secret visits: In April, Vick shared a photo of the same tree Calvin had previously posted on his own Instagram account, located on his farm Home sweet home: Calvin posted an image on Instagram of him hugging the same tree in August 2021, where he later proposed to fiancee Vick Basking in the sun: Vick also teased an image of the couple on the beach in Ibiza by posting a picture of her feet alongside a man's foot believed to be Calvin's Biggest fan: Harris has liked every one of Vick's posts since January, including this sizzling beach snap Advertisement

Vick is also regularly teased by Radio 1 co-host Jordan North, 32, about her closeness with Harris, although he's stopped short of suggesting they're romantically linked.

However the pair are now set to wed in an Ibiza wedding after making their first outing as a couple at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Reps for Calvin Harris and Vick Hope have been contacted for comment.

A source told MailOnline: 'Calvin and Vick's relationship has moved quickly but they're smitten with each other.

'They could not be happier and are already planning their wedding, which is set to take place in Ibiza, where they grew close during Vick's secret visits to the White Isle.

'After keeping their relationship private, they decided to go public at the Chelsea Flower Show on Monday, they want everyone to now know their happy news.'

A source added to The Sun: 'Vick has been telling people they are going to get married in Ibiza. It's a really special place for them both now and where they want to spend their lives together.

'Vick's mum is helping her to plan the wedding and they're already putting together mood boards and plans.

'It was a shock for some people because it happened so quickly but it is obvious how happy they make each other.'
A couple have finally tied the knot after a 60-year engagement.

Alex Hamilton, 90, first proposed to Jane, 89, in 1962, but a 'busy life' stopped them from ever walking down the aisle.

The couple, from Tillicoultry, in Scotland, finally exchanged vows on Saturday in a white wedding attended by their five children and 11 grandchildren.

Alex Hamilton, 90, and Jane, 89, from Tillicoultry, in Scotland, married on Saturday in a white wedding in front of close family after 'a busy life' prevented them from marrying sooner

1962: Both Alex and Jane were married to other people when they first met in 1956. At the time Alex was living with two children from a previous marriage and Jane was a mother-of-one living in Birmingham. Six years later (pictured) the pair struck up a romantic relationship

Daughter Sally McDonald, 59, said: 'Usually at this age people are thinking about funerals. This is a major celebration, it was really beautiful.

'I think Dad was quite emotional, it was the ultimate gift he had to give her, was to marry her.'

Both Alex and Jane were married to other people when they first met in 1956.

At the time Alex was living with two children from a previous marriage and Jane was a mother-of-one living in Birmingham.

Six years later, the pair struck up a romantic relationship and Alex proposed.

But being parents along with running a business became the focus of their lives and they never got around to making it official.

1968: Jane changed her surname by deed poll so their children grew up believing their parents were married but they only found out their parents were not officially man and wife when they were 16

1972: The couple on holiday in Spain. Their daughter Sally said the pair are still flirtatious and go on dates, 60 years after they were first engaged

Man and wife! The couple tied the knot on Saturday in a service attended by their family

Jane changed her surname by deed poll so their children grew up believing their parents were married but they only found out their parents were not officially man and wife when they were 16.

Jane was walked down the aisle in a wheelchair by granddaughter Claire McDonald, 29. Grandson Craig McDonald, 23, made a wedding cake decorated with edible wildflowers.

Proud daughter Sally, who works as a care worker, said both her parents were visibly nervous.

'It was almost like this was the way it should be, looking at what they have done together, and then the family coming together for that celebration.'

Here comes the bride: Jane was walked down the aisle in a wheelchair by granddaughter Claire McDonald, 29

Poignant: Daughter Sally McDonald, 59, said her father was 'emotional' on the wedding day, pictured

Jane wore a white broderie Anglaise top and wide-legged trousers, but needed an electric wheelchair to get up the aisle, which her daughter said 'ran over a few toes'

Grandson Craig McDonald, 23, made the wedding cake decorated with edible wildflowers

Jane wore a white broderie Anglaise top and wide-legged trousers, but needed an electric wheelchair to get up the aisle, which her daughter said 'ran over a few toes'.

Sally said her parents still behave like loved up teenagers and always flirt with each other in public.

She described her parents as 'unconventional' for cohabiting during a time when social expectations were fairly strict.

She added: 'If we go out to dinner with them, the two of them are looking across the table at each other, they are always so cheeky - they still flirt with each other.

'It's like when you have a new boyfriend only they've been like that for 60 years.'

Only close family were present at the celebrations. Daughter Sally said both her parents were visibly nervous. 'It was almost like this was the way it should be, looking at what they have done together, and then the family coming together for that celebration.'

She added that Jane made the first move all those years ago by taking Alex's hand as they crossed a road, and described her dad as 'shy' while her mum is 'flirtatious'.

She added: 'They still go out on little dates, lunches. He often says to her: 'would you marry me when the divorce comes through', it was a 60-year engagement.

'Dad talks so highly of her, he says 'you are one of the most beautiful women and have such a presence. They are really cute, she still giggles like a schoolgirl when he smiles at her.

'Sometimes the hard choices [in life] are the good decisions.'
The man who was convicted of murdering his wife in an ongoing legal wrangle that inspired the HBO drama The Staircase has denied that an earlier documentary showed him in a favourable light thanks to his relationship with its editor.

Michael Peterson, 78, was convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen in 2003, two years after he found her bleeding and unresponsive at the bottom of the staircase in their North Carolina home on December 9, 2001.

After more than 10 years of legal battles, the conviction was later overturned, after it emerged a forensic witness had given misleading testimony. Rather than opting for another trial, Peterson accepted an Alford Plea in 2017, admitted to the lesser charge of manslaughter in exchange for time served.

Although he maintains his innocence, suspicions remain over his involvement in Kathleen's death.

Peterson was the subject of a 2018, 13-part Netflix documentary, also called The Staircase, filmed across 16 years. However, it emerged in 2018 that he had engaged in a 15-year relationship with one of the series' editors, Sophie Burnett.

But speaking on This Morning today, Peterson said the documentary, which provided footage that helped to overturn his murder conviction, was not influenced by his relationship with Sophie.

Michael Peterson, who accepted an Alford Plea for the manslaughter of his wife Kathleen, is the focus of a new HBO drama The Staircase. He appeared on This Morning today (pictured) to discuss the new programme

While filming a 13-part Netflix documentary about the long legal battle, Michael met and started a relationship with one of its editors, Sophie Brunet (pictured)

Michael was found guilty of murdering his wife Kathleen in 2003. The conviction was later overturned, following a forensics scandal

This Morning host Phil Schofield said: 'Some would say that if you are dating the editor of the documentary that there's a fair chance that she's going to go easy on you, especially if she thinks you might be innocent.'

Peterson replied: 'I did not know [Sophie] until 2004, long after I'd been going through all the trial that had been convicted and was in prison, so to suggest that she had done something many years earlier to twist the truth.'

Host Holly Willoughby suggested: 'She may have been falling for you while watching that?'

He replied: 'Well that I wouldn't know. That I don't know... I would ask her "Why? Oh my God, you're married. You have a wonderful career. You have a child. Why are you coming to see me?".

'And part of it was [her saying] "I knew you were innocent from all of that".'

He went on: 'But to suggest that she had skewered the documentary to make it look that way, no, she didn't do that.

'And besides that, Jean [-Xavier de Lestrade], who was the director never would have allowed that. That's questioning both of their integrities.'

The relationship, which lasted for 15 years, only ended around 2017.

During the interview, Peterson also discussed the current HBO series, discussing why he and his children do not watch it.

He said: 'No one in my family has watched it. To me, it's a very simple matter. I was in the Marines and it was a war for a year. I came back I did not want to see war movies...I was in prison for eight years, when I got out, I didn't want to see a prison movie. I've lived it. I've seen it.'

Michael Peterson (pictured, right) was grilled by This Morning hosts Phil Schofield (pictured, left) and Hilly Willoughby (centre) over his relationship with Sophie Brunet

Michael Peterson was the subject of a 2018 Netflix documentary called The Staircase, which had 13 episodes and was filmed over 16 years. Sophie Brunet edited some of the episodes

The ongoing trial inspired the HBO series The Staircase, starring Colin Firth (pictured, right) playing Michael Peterson, and Michael Stuhlbarg (left), playing his attorney David Rudolph

Continuing, he said: 'And with Kathleen, she died. I was there when she died. I do not want to watch a fictionalised account, seeing her die three times. And I know my children won't even touch that.'

Peterson also touched on one of the more controversial theories around Kathleen's death - that it was caused by an owl.

While he does not believe the theory himself, saying he thinks her death was due to falling, he told the programme that there is some evidence to support it.

He said: 'My attorney right now believes that absolutely she was savaged by an owl at the top of the stairs.'

Peterson noted that there were lacerations on Kathleen's head, which could be consistent with an owl's talons, and added that lawyer David Rudolf, who represented him in 2003, believed an owl could have been responsible.

Attorney David Rudolf, who defended Michael Peterson in 2003, appeared on Lorraine earlier this week, describing the owl theory as 'plausible'

The lawyer appeared on Lorraine earlier this week, to speak about the theory, which he said was supported by 'plausible' evidence.

This includes a feather found near Kathleen's body, and a wooden sliver had been found in Kathleen's left hand in a clump of hair that looked like it had been pulled out by the roots.

A later examination of the hair in 2008 yielded two more microscopic owl feathers.

While it became known to the public in 2009, Rudolf said the theory of the owl attack was brought up to him in 2003, at the time of Peterson's first trial.

Speaking via video link, David Rudolf, told the programme: 'I dismissed it when it first came up in late late 2003 just before I was giving my closing arguments.

'It was dismissed pretty extensively at that time but then over the years, there were more and more owl attacks on humans.

'Larry Pollard, who first came up with the theory was able to get experts to support it. And in fact, now that I go back and look at some of the evidence in the case, the evidence in the case tend to support it.

'I can't say that the owl did it, but I can say it's a plausible theory.'
A bizarre advert telling Londoners to 'travel to Vienna' so Austrians will 'be sent to the UK' has been mocked online.

Twitter users branded the advert - for a scheme promoting travel throughout Europe - as a 'hostage negotiation' and a 'threat'.

The ad for unitedcities reads: 'The more UK tourists come to Vienna, the more Viennese will be sent to the UK'.

A picture was taken by author Ian Leslie who simply wrote: 'I dont get it'.

A bizarre advert telling Londoners to 'travel to Vienna' so Austrians will 'be sent to the UK' has been mocked online.

It was quickly met with dozens of witty replies, including one person who said: 'I have an image of furious Viennese being dragged away from the cafes where they are enjoying coffee and cake and frog-marched onto Ryanair flights to Stansted.'

Another added: 'I read it as some kind of threat'

A third joked: 'We're really flexing our second strike capabilities here. If a British person touches ground in Vienna, we will not hesitate to retaliate and dispatch tactical tourists to London.

The confusing advert is actually for United Cities for Vienna, a programme supporting tourism in Europe after the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was quickly met with dozens of witty replies, including one person who said: 'I have an image of furious Viennese being dragged away from the cafes where they are enjoying coffee and cake and frog-marched onto Ryanair flights to Stansted.'

The United Cities of Tourism initiative teamed up with Austrian Federal Railways (OBB) and Austrian Airlines, Vienna will send one Viennese person to a city in Europe for every 100 people from that city that go to Vienna.

Their website reads: 'The more guests that travel to the Austrian capital from your city between May 1 and June 30, 2022, the more Viennese we will send your way in return.

'The Covid-19 pandemic has had a lasting effect on travel in Europe. Entire countries went into lockdown.

The United Cities of Tourism initiative teamed up with Austrian Federal Railways (OBB) and Austrian Airlines, Vienna will send one Viennese person to a city in Europe for every 100 people from that city that go to Vienna.

'Borders were closed. The tourism industry and all of the institutions associated with it, from culture to hospitality, continue to suffer the financial fallout.

'And it is not just geographical borders that went up, but psychological ones, too.

'Slowly but surely, solidarity and intercultural exchange across national borders started to dry up. Normally bustling cities were transformed into ghost towns. The European idea? Sealed off behind closed doors.
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Kate Moss has taken the stand to defend her ex-boyfriend Johnny Depp in his $100 million defamation trial against Amber Heard - more than 20 years after their tumultuous relationship ended in heartbreak for the supermodel.

Moss, now 48, and Depp, now 58, were Hollywood's 'it' couple when they dated from 1994 to 1998.

But when the actor dumped the British entrepreneur so he could focus his full attention on his acting career, she said she was devastated for 'years' over the breakup.

However, despite the split leaving a heartbroken Moss in 'tears' for a long time, she today put aside her infamous hatred of interviews in order to rush to his aid, testifying on his behalf and delivering a sensational blow to his ex-wife Amber Heard by squashing the actress's claim that Depp once pushed his supermodel ex down a flight of stairs.

Kate Moss has taken the stand to defend her ex-boyfriend Johnny Depp in his $100 million defamation trial against Amber Heard - more than 20 years after their relationship ended

Moss, 48, and Depp, 58, were Hollywood's 'it' couple (pictured in 1994) when they dated from 1994 to 1997. But when the actor dumped her, she said she was devastated for 'years'

Moss testified on his behalf in court today, squashing claims made by Heard that Depp pushed Moss down a flight of stairs. Depp and Heard are seen in court today

Depp and Heard, 35 - who tied the knot in 2015, and were married for one year before Heard filed for divorce in 2016 - have been battling it out in court in recent weeks.

The trial, which is still underway in Virginia, is attempting to determine if a 2018 Washington Post essay written by Heard, in which she accused the actor of domestic abuse, defamed Depp.

During Heard's testimony earlier this month, the actress alleged that Depp once shoved Moss down a flight of stairs - however, according to Moss, the actor actually helped her after she accidentally slipped.

Heard made the claim while discussing an argument that she allegedly had with Depp at the top of a staircase, when she said her sister, Whitney Heard, stepped in between them.

'She threw herself in the line of fire. She was trying to get Johnny to stop. Her back was to the staircase, and Johnny swings at her. I dont hesitate and wait - I instantly think of Kate Moss and stairs,' she said. 'And I swung at him.'

Moss said during her testimony that Depp never 'pushed her or threw her down any stairs,' in fact, she said that he tended to her after she tripped during a trip they took to Jamaica together.

Moss said during her testimony that Depp never 'pushed her or threw her down any stairs,' in fact, she said he tended to her after she tripped during a trip they took to Jamaica together

After the fall, Moss (pictured during her testimony) said Depp came running to help her and that he 'carried her to her room and got her medical attention'

Heard (pictured in court today) previously claimed that Depp once shoved Moss down a flight of stairs while discussing an argument she allegedly had with the actor

When asked directly by Depp's team if the Pirates of the Caribbean star ever pushed her down the stairs, Moss replied, 'No, he never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs'

'We were leaving the room and Johnny left the room before I did. There had been a rainstorm and as I left the room I slid down the stairs,' she recalled, while testifying via video link.

'I hurt my back, and I screamed because I didn't know what had happened.'

She said Depp came running back to help her, adding that he 'carried her to her room and got her medical attention.'

When asked directly by Depp's team if the Pirates of the Caribbean star ever pushed her down the stairs, she replied, 'No.'

'No, he never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs,' she told the court.

Moss and Depp dated for three years in the '90s, after they met at a New York City cafe. And as two of the biggest names in Hollywood, the stars' high-profile romance quickly became one of the most talked about pairings of the time.

Although Depp and Moss were often spotted packing on the PDA on romantic trips around the globe and often attended glamorous events side by side, their relationship also had a darker side to it that embroiled the pair in scandal and controversy, and led them to be featured in many a headline.

Moss and Depp (pictured in 1994) dated for three years in the '90s, after they met at a New York City cafe

Moss had nothing but nice things to say about her ex after they split in 1997, telling Vanity Fair that there was no one who took care of her like Depp did. The pair is seen in 1995

They were seen getting into heated arguments more than once, and on one occasion, a disagreement between them led to Depp being arrested for trashing a hotel room.

As for why they split, Depp later told Hello magazine that he struggled to balance his busy work schedule with their relationship. They are pictured in 1995, two years before going their separate ways

However, despite the tiffs throughout their whirlwind romance, Moss had nothing but nice things to say about her ex after they split in 1997, telling Vanity Fair that there was no one who took care of her like Depp did.

'Theres nobody thats ever really been able to take care of me. Johnny did for a bit,' she said in the interview, which came out in 2012.

'I believed what he said. Like if I said, "What do I do?" hed tell me. And thats what I missed when I left.

'I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust. Nightmare. Years and years of crying. Oh, the tears!'

As for why they split, Depp later told Hello magazine that he struggled to balance his busy work schedule with their relationship.

'I have never got that emotional over a woman before,' he said. 'I have been so stupid because we had so much going for our relationship.

'I'm the one who has to take responsibility for what happened - I was difficult to get on with, I let my work get in the way and I didn't give her the attention I should have done.

'The whole thing was crazy because I should never have got so worked up over what people had to say about my work.

'Sure I should care about my movies, but when I get home I should try to leave that stuff behind. I couldn't do that and I was horrific to live with. Trust me, I'm a total moron at times.'

Where does the pair stand now? It's unclear whether or not Moss and Depp are still friends behind closed doors, but they haven't been seen together publicly since 1998 (pictured)

A source did tell the New York Post that she has 'always been supportive of the actor' in the wake of his trial. The former flames are pictured together in 1995

But where does the pair stand now - more than 20 years after going their separate ways?

Unfortunately, it's unclear whether or not Moss and Depp are still friends behind closed doors, but they haven't been seen together publicly since 1998, when they had a brief reconciliation.

But a source did tell the New York Post that she has 'always been supportive of the actor' in the wake of his trial.

The insider said Heard assumed Moss was on her side when she brought up the alleged stair incident in court earlier this month, but instead, they claimed 'that couldn't be further from the truth.'

'Amber mentioned an ex of Johnnys that clearly she felt was not supportive of him, which couldnt be further from the truth,' the insider dished.
A body language expert has revealed how Kate Moss lit up with 'warmth' as she recalled the 'memory' of her romance with Johnny Depp while giving testimony for her ex in his $100 million defamation trial against Amber Heard.

Notoriously-private Moss, 48, put aside her infamous hatred of interviews in order to rush to Depp's aid in court today, taking to the stand on his behalf and delivering a sensational blow to his ex-wife Heard's case by squashing the actress' claim that Depp once pushed his supermodel ex down a flight of stairs.

Now, body language expert Judi James has analyzed the subtle movements in Moss' face and expression, which she said implied that the star has nothing but warm feelings towards her former beau, despite her previously claiming that their breakup left her heartbroken for 'years.'

On the other hand, James claimed that Heard's uncomfortable look throughout the testimony suggested that she felt 'denial or irrelevance.'

A body expert has revealed how Kate Moss 'lit up with warmth' while recalling the 'memory' of her romance with Johnny Depp while she testified for her ex in his trial against Amber Heard

Notoriously-private Moss, 48, put aside her infamous hatred of interviews in order to rush to Depp's aid today in court, taking to the stand on his behalf

She delivered a sensational blow to his ex-wife Heard's case by squashing the actress' claim that Depp once pushed his supermodel ex down a flight of stairs

Body language expert Judi James has analyzed the subtle movements in Moss' face, which she said implies the star has nothing but warm feelings towards her former beau

'Asked, "Do you know Jonny Depp?" Kate's very subtle facial movements suggest residual warmth at the memory. The right side of her mouth curls up in a subtle smile as she says, "Yes I do,"' James told DailyMail.com, while discussing Moss' testimony.

Key body language clues from Kate Moss' day in court Kate Moss Kate's very subtle facial movements suggest residual warmth at the memory of her relationship with Depp. The right side of her mouth curled up in a subtle smile as she discussed it in court. She gave the impression of being polite, smiling sweetly and apologetically when accidentally speaking over the lawyer. Moss also appeared calm and impassive, devoid of any signs of stress or anxiety - despite her previously stating that she would get 'ill' before having to speak to the media. Amber Heard As for Heard, she could be seen watching with her chin raised and eyebrows arched, as Moss delivered a sensational blow to her case - suggesting that she felt denial or irrelevance. Johnny Depp Depp attempted to hide his joy by keeping his fingers over his mouth, but as the testimony concluded, he couldn't contain his delight any longer and let out a small smile. Advertisement

'Kate gives the impression of being polite, smiling sweetly and apologetically when speaking over the lawyer and being interrupted by him.'

Depp, 58, and Heard, 35 - who tied the knot in 2015, and were married for one year before Heard filed for divorce in 2016 - have been battling it out in court in recent weeks.

The trial, which is still underway in Virginia, is attempting to determine if a 2018 Washington Post essay written by Heard, in which she accused the actor of domestic abuse, defamed Depp.

Depp and Moss, on the other hand, were Hollywood's 'it' couple when they dated from 1994 to 1998.

When Depp dumped Moss so he could focus his full attention on his acting career, she admitted that she was devastated for a long time over the breakup.

However, it looks like there are no hard feelings between them now, since she appeared to smile at the mere thought of her past love with the movie star.

During Heard's testimony earlier this month, the actress alleged that Depp once shoved Moss down a flight of stairs - but according to the British entrepreneur, the Hollywood heartthrob actually helped her after she accidentally slipped.

Heard made the claim while discussing an argument that she allegedly had with Depp at the top of a staircase, when she said her sister, Whitney Heard, stepped in between them.

'She threw herself in the line of fire. She was trying to get Johnny to stop. Her back was to the staircase, and Johnny swings at her. I dont hesitate and wait - I instantly think of Kate Moss and stairs,' she said. 'And I swung at him.'

Moss said during her testimony that Depp never 'pushed her or threw her down any stairs,' in fact, she said that he tended to her after she tripped during a trip they took to Jamaica together.

'Kate's facial movements suggest residual warmth at the memory,' James said, pointing out that 'the right side of her mouth curls up in a subtle smile' while discussing their relationship

On the other hand, James claimed that Heard's uncomfortable look throughout the testimony suggests she felt 'denial or irrelevance'

Moss dressed casually for the appearance, wearing a white blouse and black jacket, while her blonde hair sat loosely around her face

'We were leaving the room and Johnny left the room before I did. There had been a rainstorm and as I left the room I slid down the stairs,' she recalled, while testifying via video link.

Depp and Moss (seen in 1994) were Hollywood's 'it' couple when they dated from 1994 to 1998

'I hurt my back, and I screamed because I didn't know what had happened.'

She said Depp came running back to help her, adding that he 'carried her to her room and got her medical attention.'

Throughout the testimony, James pointed out that Moss appeared calm and 'impassive, devoid of any signs of stress or anxiety' - despite her previously stating that she would get 'ill' before having to speak to the media.

James continued, 'Her testimony is brief and simple, as is her body language. For much of it her face is impassive, her lips pulling together slightly after most of her answers.

'Despite the fact that she is famously private, her blink rate and her shoulder angle look devoid of any signs of stress or anxiety.'

According to James, the supermodel didn't give much away with her eye movements, which is most likely due to the fact that she was talking to a computer screen and not an actual person.

'Her eyes tend to go upward as she describes the scene with the stairs,' she noted.

During Heard's previous testimony, she alleged that Depp shoved Moss down a flight of stairs - but Moss said he helped her after she slipped. Heard is pictured in court today

Throughout the testimony, James pointed out that Moss appeared calm and 'impassive, devoid of any signs of stress or anxiety' - despite her previously stating she hated interviews

Depp attempted to hide his joy by keeping his fingers over his mouth, but he was seen smiling as the testimony concluded

'Eye-direction is often sited as being indicative of accessing different parts of the brain, from recalled memory to creative, but the evidence for that is inconclusive and Kate is speaking to a screen, not a human being.'

When asked directly by Depp's team if the Pirates of the Caribbean star ever pushed her down the stairs, Moss replied, 'No.'

'No, he never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs,' she told the court.

The body language expert added, 'She becomes more animated at this point, seeming to be close to laughter as she says, "He never pushed me or kicked me."'

Moss dressed casually for the appearance, wearing a white blouse and black jacket, while her blonde hair sat loosely around her face.

'Giving no hint of her role as a fashion guru and supermodel, Kate sits primly upright on screen, dressed uncharacteristically dourly in a dark jacket and tie-neck blouse,' James described.

As for Heard, she could be seen watching with her chin raised and eyebrows arched, as Moss negatively impacted her case with her testimony.

'Amber is seen at times during this testimony, sitting mainly with her chin raised and her eyebrows arched,' James told DailyMail.com.

'When Kate is asked how long she and Johnny were a couple [Heard's] head seems to turn from side to side in a gesture that could suggest denial or irrelevance.'

Depp attempted to hide his joy by keeping his fingers over his mouth, but as the testimony concluded, he couldn't contain his happiness any longer and let out a small smile.

'When the camera scans to him, Johnny pretty much retains his signature pose, sitting immobile with his index finger over his lips, masking or controlling his mouth expression,' said James.

'Although [his lawyer Camille] Vasquez sits smiling at the screen in what looks like an expression of warm delight.'

Moss and Depp dated for more than three years in the '90s, after they met at a New York City cafe. And as two of the biggest names in Hollywood, the stars' high-profile romance quickly became one of the most talked about pairings of the time.

After they split, Moss had nothing but nice things to say about her ex, telling Vanity Fair that there was no one who took care of her like Depp did. However, she admitted that losing him was hard.

Depp and Moss (seen in 1995) were Hollywood's 'it' couple when they dated from 1994 to 1998. But after they split, she said she was devastated for a long time over the breakup

'Theres nobody thats ever really been able to take care of me. Johnny did for a bit,' she said in the interview, which came out in 2012.

'I believed what he said. Like if I said, "What do I do?" hed tell me. And thats what I missed when I left.

'I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust. Nightmare. Years and years of crying. Oh, the tears!'

However, it looks like there are no hard feelings between them now, since she appeared to smile at the mere thought of her past love with the movie star. The couple is seen in their last photo togther, in May 1998

As for why they went their separate ways, Depp later told Hello magazine that he struggled to balance his busy work schedule with their relationship.

'I have never got that emotional over a woman before,' he said. 'I have been so stupid because we had so much going for our relationship.

'I'm the one who has to take responsibility for what happened - I was difficult to get on with, I let my work get in the way and I didn't give her the attention I should have done.

'The whole thing was crazy because I should never have got so worked up over what people had to say about my work.

'Sure I should care about my movies, but when I get home I should try to leave that stuff behind. I couldn't do that and I was horrific to live with. Trust me, I'm a total moron at times.'

It's unclear whether or not Moss and Depp are still friends behind closed doors, but they haven't been seen together publicly since 1998.

However, a source told the New York Post that she has 'always been supportive of the actor' in the wake of his trial.

The insider said Heard assumed Moss was on her side when she brought up the alleged stair incident in court earlier this month, but instead, they claimed 'that couldn't be further from the truth.'

'Amber mentioned an ex of Johnnys that clearly she felt was not supportive of him, which couldnt be further from the truth,' the insider dished.
Every parent remembers the first time they leave their child at the school gates. Its a monumental milestone and, when we turn and walk away, we have an unspoken expectation that they will be kept safe from harm while out of our sight.

We trust, too, that the teaching they receive will be clear, age-appropriate and rooted in established facts. But as a parent of three children myself and also as a former therapist who has worked extensively with children at risk, Ive started to wonder whether its safe simply to trust this is the case.

Im particularly concerned about one new and deeply controversial area of the school curriculum: the teaching on sex, gender and identity in todays Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) lessons.

And Im not alone  increasing numbers of parents are sharing concerns both about the content of lessons and the increasingly fevered environment in schools surrounding these topics, which are at the centre of ongoing debate across society. .

Milli Hill (pictured with her three children) investigates how new sex and gender lessons in schools are being taught

Last week it emerged that a private school sixth former who questioned an external speakers views on gender was, according to The Times, surrounded by up to 60 girls who shouted, screamed, swore and spat at her.

The girl was reportedly accused of transphobia. She collapsed after the incident and has since left the school.

One of her teachers has said, anonymously, that the pupil was treated like a heretic and that by kowtowing to ideology and by inviting in activists and propagandists, schools were failing in their duty of care.

In a world in which increasing numbers of young people are exploring their gender identity and sexual preference, its important for schools to be supportive. However, stories like this suggest some are failing woefully to balance debate.

Schools have been put in a nearly impossible position. In September 2020  in the middle of the pandemic, which triggered an unprecedented crisis in education  the Government made the teaching of all-new RSHE lessons compulsory across senior schools. Perhaps its no surprise that many teachers feel underskilled in this area, given that at universities academics have been hounded out of their jobs for expressing unpopular opinions on gender issues. Instead, many institutions have turned to external agencies to provide teaching materials, staff training and workshops to pupils. There are dozens of groups offering such a service. Some are new, others part of existing services with a background in sexual health or LGBT+ advocacy. However, there is no formal qualification required and no central regulation.

My daughter begged me not to complain

This month, Minister for Schools Robin Walker said his department could not advise schools on the suitability of external resources and that it was down to schools to check credentials. Parents with concerns, he said, should raise them directly with the school.

A Department for Education spokesperson confirmed it was up to schools to vet RSHE content. All schools have a responsibility to ensure that lessons and materials are age-appropriate and factually accurate, particularly when using resources that are produced by external organisations, they told me.

Yet without clear guidelines, its hard for schools to navigate the complex issues at the centre of a culture war. These include whether children should be taught that people can self identify their gender and what young people should learn about various sexual behaviours.

So what are these groups actually teaching? One, the School of Sexuality Education, claims to have delivered workshops to over 67,000 secondary-age children. It was listed as consultant to the Family Sex Show, a touring theatre production that was cancelled last month after nearly 40,000 signed a petition in protest at the nudity and songs about masturbation aimed at children as young as five.

The organisers claimed the show would have offered safe and positive learning to children, young people and guardians about rights, bodies, sex and relationships.

According to feedback from one workshop attendee on its website, the groups RSHE lessons acknowledge that not all people with vaginas are female and penis does not equal male. Some parents say this risks seriously confusing children and is in opposition to Department for Education guidance, which states that all RSHE should be evidence based.

Minister for Schools Robin Walker said his department could not advise on the suitability of external resources and that it was to schools to check credentials. Many parents are sharing concerns about the content of lessons and the increasingly fevered environment in schools surrounding these topics

The external agencies also cover aspects of sex and sexuality. For example, The Proud Trust promotes use of the dice game, where children as young as 13 are encouraged to roll two dice bearing the words vulva/ vagina, penis, anus, mouth, hands/fingers, and object on each of their sides.

Young people are then asked to discuss which sexual activity is possible using the two words that land facing upwards. In spite of the furore created when the dice game was discussed in the Press in August 2020, the resource is still for sale on The Proud Trust website.

It seems clear that some parents will object to this content. Yet both parents and students say they feel unable to challenge what some see as an ideological takeover. Its telling that every parent I spoke to for this investigation wishes to be anonymous. All shared the same concerns  that if they were named complaining, this could impact negatively on their childs education. Some felt they had already marked themselves out as a problem just by making their views known to staff. Eleanor Morris*, 51, from Hampshire, has a 13-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter and says she is shocked by how sexualised schools have become.

She explains: I first realised this when my daughter came back from college saying how much she hated the furries. These are students who dress up as fetishised animals and wear bondage gear. One girl was led around by her boyfriend with a lead around her neck while wearing furry animal ears.

The teachers dont say anything because its been normalised. When I wanted to write to complain, my daughter begged me not to, so I kept quiet. But I find the whole thing shocking.

Eleanor feels her childrens schools are a place of surveillance, where people are constantly checking on each other in case they use the wrong pronoun or say the wrong thing.

Pronoun advice for primary kids  and a dice game for teens to make your mind boggle

Last year, her daughter was ostracised by her peers for liking something on TikTok: It was a Gender Critical person saying, You couldnt change sex. At first, my daughter laughed it off but then [other pupils] started saying she was definitely a transphobe. It contributed to her changing from her schools sixth form to a different college.

Many parents I spoke to said they felt a lack of support from schools on these matters.

Eleanor continues: In my sons school, a girl decided she wanted to run as Head Boy because she identified as a boy.

She didnt win in the end. But the fact the school allowed her to run says everything. When I spoke to the teacher about it, I got very short shrift. Why cant they just pick a Head Person if thats how they want to do it?

My daughter tells me one of the girls in her new sixth form college now identifies as a boy and has a new name. This child ran away from home last year and is now living with a trans woman. The school wont let the parents know their childs new address.

The campaigning groups Safe Schools Alliance and Safeguarding Our Schools (SOS) Scotland say theyve heard from other parents upset not to have been informed that their child was struggling with gender issues.

Various trans toolkits, developed by agencies such as Allsorts Youth Project and reproduced by local councils, tell schools they should not disclose a childs trans status to parents, because of the childs right to privacy. Often teachers dont know where to turn with their concerns, says Lucie Phillips of SOS Scotland.

Teachers have reported children changing names up to seven times. Parents are not being told and the affirmation of the childs new identity is simply being accepted. Policies are lacking and data is being compromised by being recorded as gender not sex. Typically, schools would be expected to respect a childs privacy unless there was a potential safeguarding issue. However, there is no Government guidance on whether teachers should tell parents if a child is trans or questioning their gender identity.

The content of lessons is in some cases obscured from parents. One mum, who did not wish to be named, said her childs primary school in Lambeth, South London, had signed a contract with an external provider called Jigsaw, agreeing it would not distribute teaching materials to parents.

When she became worried about the content of the course, which is said to include a group activity in which a mixed sex group of tenyear-olds discuss masturbation in pairs, she sent the school a freedom of information request, but was told that, after consultation with both Jigsaw and legal specialists, they were unable to allow her to see the course materials.

When I contacted Jigsaw, they stated: Our materials are always welcome to be viewed by parents at any time. But they added this could only be done in school in the presence of a teacher, to ensure that nothing is taken out of context and because our programme contains Intellectual Property which is protected by copyright.

Content of some lessons is kept from parents

Jigsaw added that it encourages schools to work with parents and provides leaflets and other materials designed to be shared with parents. They declined to send a copy of their materials to me but offered to arrange a Zoom call where I could view them with a Jigsaw representative.

Other resources for primary school children are available to view online, including posters from The Proud Trust that feature friendly aliens discussing their pronouns, and ask children which pronouns do you want to use? Another mum contacted me about her childs primary school, where she says pupils are encouraged to display their pronouns  he/him, she/her or they/them  alongside their name on their book drawers. The school is working towards a Rainbow Flag Award, a scheme run in several regions of the UK by organisations including The Proud Trust.

For 495 per year, schools can gain access to LGBT+ inclusion training and classroom resources. The school must then work towards achieving the award, set up as a pilot in 2017 with Government funding but now run as a franchise by several charities and not overseen by any external body.

Of course, schools promoting tolerance and inclusion is a positive thing. But this parent says she feels the scheme goes beyond that. I am concerned that this award is influencing my childs school to teach the concept of gender identity as fact, the mum told me. Telling children that they could have an inner gender that doesnt match their body could be very confusing, in particular for those who, like my own child, are neurodiverse.

Sexual education information for primary school children. Resources for primary aged children are available to view online, including posters from The Proud Trust that feature friendly aliens discussing their pronouns, and ask children which pronouns do you want to use?

The award programme is similar to the Stonewall School Champions Scheme, which also charges a fee to rate schools on their LGBT inclusivity.

Juliet Holmes (an alias) is 46, works in PR and lives in Oxfordshire with daughters Isabel, 15, and Felicity, 13.

She says she thought nothing of it when she noticed Stonewall posters saying Trans Rights are Human Rights and Trans Lives Matter in her daughters singlesex school three years ago.

Then Isabel said shed had a tutoring session all about gender. Her teacher gave a talk, saying the teachers own friends had been sharing transphobic messages on social media.

She didnt explain what transphobia was but said it was wrong. Two of the girls apparently said they thought the trans issue might be problematic in areas like sport [if male-bodied athletes compete in womens events, a current topic of debate], but were told we have to be kind. I wrote to the school and said I was concerned about this lesson, but they fobbed me off. My daughter was upset by it. Shes since come out as a lesbian and says she feels like theres no support for gay girls within the school. Last year during Pride month the school chose Juno Dawson  a trans woman writer  as their star woman on the school newsletter.

I was furious. Could they not have chosen a lesbian for that particular month? I wrote to the school and Dawson was removed from the newsletter. The school also partnered with EqualiTeach, an organisation that focuses on diversity, equality and inclusion.

Two pages on disability but five on gender

My daughter has additional needs so disability has always been an area Im passionate about, but when I checked EqualiTeachs website, I felt there was a lot of talk about gender and not enough about disability. There are two pages of search results on disability, five pages on gender and five pages on trans issues.

Ive also noticed that the language within the school has changed. It used to be: Girls can do this, Girls can achieve that  now its: Students, people, your children. The school has always focused on empowering girls, recognising the specific challenges that girls face because of sexism.

If you stop using the correct language you can no longer identify those issues.

One letter said that according to Ofsted, 90 per cent of students experienced sexual harassment when we know that figure referred to girls. How can we talk about sexual harassment if we are not able to use the correct language?

Tanya Carter, co-founder of the Safe Schools Alliance, says if parents disagree with this new way of teaching, they must speak up.

We must stand up and say No to inaccurate information about biology and the eroding of safeguards, she says. Children have a right to be protected and if we as adults fail to provide that, we have failed as a society.

And so the debate intensifies  and with it, the sad reality that school playgrounds have become battlegrounds of ideology, too.
The Prince of Wales has spoken out about the 'nightmare situation' in Ukraine during a trip to Romania to meet refugees who have fled the war in their homeland.

Charles was joined by distant relative Margareta, head of the Romanian royal family, for the unannounced tour of a donation centre for refugees in the capital Bucharest.

More than a million Ukrainians have crossed the border into Romania since the Russian invasion in February and the nation has had to quickly adapt to deal with the needs of the displaced.

Speaking through an interpreter, the prince told a group of Ukrainian families: 'We feel for Ukraine, a nightmare situation. Keep praying.'

The Prince of Wales has spoken out about the 'nightmare situation' in Ukraine during a trip to Romania to meet refugees who have fled the war in their homeland

The 73-year-old, pictured, met with members of the Red Cross during his visit to the Ukrainian refugee centre

Charles, who at one point clasped hands with a little boy, added: 'I'm full of admiration for the Ukrainian people.'

He met representatives from non-governmental organisations and charities like the Salvation Army and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, working at the Romexpo donation centre to provide everything from children's toys and toiletries to household goods and pet food.

Lilia Nimych, 33, an entrepreneur who produced a range of pet products in her home city of Bila Tserkva in central Ukraine, fled with her daughters Emily, six, and Nilana, 14.

She said: 'I'm so happy we came here, we've received so much help.

The Prince of Wales met with members of the Red Cross during his visit to the Ukrainian refugee centre

Charles chatted briefly to Stephen Noble, a minister and Major with the Scarborough branch of the Salvation Army, who for the past month has been working in Romania with the organisation's international emergency services section

He smiled and shook the hands of multiple volunteers at the centre, including those from the Salvation Army, which has 2,000 beds for Ukrainian refugees

The royal spoke of his admiration for the Ukranian people during his visit to the centre earlier today

'All we saw from windows was bombs dropping... that's why we left. We saw bombs coming down on our city - scary.'

After hearing Charles's words of support she said: 'It makes us brave and gives us the power to stand tall.'

Charles chatted briefly to Stephen Noble, a minister and Major with the Scarborough branch of the Salvation Army, who for the past month has been working in Romania with the organisation's international emergency services section.

The section deploys to disasters around the world and from the distribution centre has been providing 10 vouchers to Ukrainians aged under 18 for their families to spend on goods they need.

He met representatives from non-governmental organisations and charities like the Salvation Army and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The 73-year-old shook the hands of workers from the Salvation Army during his visit in Romania today

Charles appeared in good spirits as he chatted with Dr Raed Arafat, Vice President of the Red Cross

The 73-year-old also spoke to members of the Romanian Red Cross who have helped Ukrainian refugees at the centre

The minister said: 'It may not seem a huge amount but when you think we're seeing something in the order of 13,500 people, that's a lot of money.'

'I guess always we're trying to bring dignity to people who are in tough situations, here we've got a lot of provision for clothing and provision for food and hygiene, this gives people the dignity to use the voucher in supermarkets, or pharmacies, or even for fuel.'

The prince's tour of the Romexpo donation centre is the latest in a series of events he has attended to show solidarity with the plight of Ukraine and its people.

He has been a regular visitor to Romania over the past 20 years and set up the Prince of Wales Foundation Romania to support the development of farming, traditional skills and the preservation of historic buildings through training.

He smiled as he shook the hand of a representative from the charity World Vision at the centre in Romania

The Prince of Wales, pictured, met with members of the Red Cross during his visit to the Ukrainian refugee centre in Bucharest, Romania

Charles, pictured, listened intently as he met charity representatives and refugees at the centre in Romania

It is thought Charles, who earlier met Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, is spending time privately in the country ahead of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations which begin next week.

Charles was joined throughout the visit by local and national politicians alongside Margareta, who does not use her title of Queen of Romania but is known as the Custodian of the Romanian Crown.

Since the war began in February, more than one million Ukrainians have crossed the border into Romania.

Red Cross volunteers both in surrounding countries and Ukraine itself have been instrumental in rescuing and aiding many people to flee their homeland.

It was also reported in March that British royals including Prince Charles and Camillia were considering opening their homes to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing war.

Aides to the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William were understood to be examining a range of 'practical measures', including the possibility of jobs and training courses, as well as providing accommodation.

Charles was said to be looking at finding spaces on his Dumfries House estate in Ayrshire as well as sites across his Duchy of Cornwall holdings, which included a number of holiday homes.

Charles spoke to a refugee family at the centre in Bucharest, Romania during his visit today

At one stage, the royal clasped at the hand of one young boy, telling him and his family that he was 'praying' for them

As well as meeting with staff and volunteers, Prince Charles met with a number of young Ukrainian families

Charles was joined throughout the visit by local and national politicians alongside Margareta, who does not use her title of Queen of Romania but is known as the Custodian of the Romanian Crown

The Queen, Charles and his wife Camilla and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have also all donated to a coalition of 15 British charities working on the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine appeal.

Charles and William have also spoken out in support of Ukrainians resisting Russian aggression, but it is understood they are keen to do more as Britons prepare to welcome refugees under the Government's Homes for Ukraine scheme.

And last week, during their three-day royal tour of Canada for the Platinum Jubilee, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall met members of the Ukrainian community there.

They spoke with a refugee family, a mother and her two sons who had recently joined her sister in Ottawa after fleeing their homeland.

The royal couple also tried to make perogi and Camilla painted some eggs, as part of their visit to the Blessed Virgin Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral.

Prince Charles listened to Her Majesty Margareta as they arrived at the centre in Bucharest today

The Prince of Wales chatted with Margareta and Dr Raed ahead of the tour of the refugee centre in Bucharest
Are Kate Moss and Johnny Depp going to get back together? Social media exploded with speculation that the '90s couple might reunite after she gave testimony defending her ex in his $100 million defamation trial against Amber Heard.

Notoriously-private Moss, 48, put aside her infamous hatred of interviews and the media in order to rush to Depp's aid in court today, taking to the stand on his behalf and delivering a sensational blow to his ex-wife Heard's case by squashing the actress' claim that Depp once pushed his supermodel ex down a flight of stairs.

Now, many social media users are convinced that the pair - who was Hollywood's 'it' couple when they dated from 1994 to 1998 - are going to reignite their former flame.

The internet was flooded with tweets from enthralled Twitter users who called Moss Depp's 'true love.' One pointed out that Depp 'lit up' when he saw Moss on the screen, while another wondered if they still had romantic feelings for each other.

Others hoped that if they didn't, the court case would bring back their love for one another and spark a reconciliation 25 years in the making.

Social media exploded with speculation that Kate Moss and Johnny Depp might get back together after she gave testimony defending her ex in his trial against Amber Heard

Many social media users are convinced the pair - who was Hollywood's 'it' couple when they dated from 1994 to 1998 - are going to reignite their former flame. They are pictured in 1994

After her testimony, the internet was flooded with tweets from enthralled Twitter users who called Moss Depp's 'true love'

One pointed out that Depp 'lit up' when he saw Moss on the screen, while another wondered if they still had romantic feelings for each other

The actor, 58, and the British entrepreneur were together for just over three years in the '90s, and when Depp dumped Moss so he could focus his full attention on his career, she admitted she was devastated for 'years' over the breakup.

However, when she took the stand to defend her ex in court, it appeared as though she had nothing but warm feelings towards him, smiling at the mere thought of her past love with the movie star.

Depp also struggled to contain his joy, letting out a small grin as she spoke to the court room about their '90s romance.

Many viewers of the trial - which is being livestreamed online - were quick to notice the exes' happy compositions throughout the testimony, and they started to suggest that the pair should start dating again.

'Can we petition for Kate Moss and Johnny Depp to get back together or nah?' asked one user.

'Hands up - who wants Johnny and Kate back together?' said someone else.

Others hoped that if they didn't, the court case would bring back their love for one another and spark a reconciliation 25 years in the making

Many viewers of the trial were quick to notice the exes' happy compositions throughout the testimony, and they started to suggest that the pair should start dating again

Another person wrote, 'You can tell Kate Moss still has love for Johnny.'

'I would love to see Kate Moss and Johnny Depp reconnect and grow old together,' added a different viewer.

A fifth tweet read, 'I hope after this is over, Johnny realizes Kate was the one to marry as a life partner. I hope he phones her up and asks her out on dinner date.'

'Why has Kate Moss decided to testify - does she still love Johnny? I hope and think so,' gushed another user.

'Johnny's smile when Kate popped up on the screen? Y'all better get back together 'cause that cayute,' read another tweet.

Someone else said, 'Can we talk about how Johnny's face lit sup after seeing her face on screen?'

'This is true love and respect between two people,' one person wrote.

'Kate and Johnny made me realize at 62 that your first love ever will be loyal forever,' tweeted a different social media user.

'You might not be the best match then. That's normal while discovering life and yourself. Nothing will ever be more pure, more honest, more you. Never ever.'

Body language expert Judi James analyzed the subtle movements in Moss' face and expression while she was on the stand, which she said showed 'residual warmth' towards her former beau.

'Asked, "Do you know Jonny Depp?" Kate's very subtle facial movements suggest residual warmth at the memory. The right side of her mouth curls up in a subtle smile as she says, "Yes I do,"' James told DailyMail.com, while discussing Moss' testimony.

Moss testified on Depp's behalf in court today, squashing claims made by Heard that the actor pushed Moss down a flight of stairs. Depp and Heard are seen in court today

Heard (pictured in court today) previously claimed that Depp once shoved Moss down a flight of stairs while discussing an argument she allegedly had with the actor

Moss said during her testimony that Depp never 'pushed her or threw her down any stairs,' in fact, she said he tended to her after she tripped during a trip they took to Jamaica together

Depp and Heard, 35 - who tied the knot in 2015, and were married for one year before Heard filed for divorce in 2016 - have been battling it out in court in recent weeks.

The trial, which is still underway in Virginia, is attempting to determine if a 2018 Washington Post essay written by Heard, in which she accused the actor of domestic abuse, defamed Depp.

During Heard's testimony earlier this month, the actress alleged that Depp once shoved Moss down a flight of stairs - but according to Moss, the Hollywood heartthrob actually helped her after she accidentally slipped.

Heard made the claim while discussing an argument that she allegedly had with Depp at the top of a staircase, when she said her sister, Whitney Heard, stepped in between them.

'She threw herself in the line of fire. She was trying to get Johnny to stop. Her back was to the staircase, and Johnny swings at her. I dont hesitate and wait - I instantly think of Kate Moss and stairs,' she said. 'And I swung at him.'

Moss said during her testimony that Depp never 'pushed her or threw her down any stairs,' in fact, she said that he tended to her after she tripped during a trip they took to Jamaica together.

'We were leaving the room and Johnny left the room before I did. There had been a rainstorm and as I left the room I slid down the stairs,' she recalled, while testifying via video link.

The actor, 58, and the British entrepreneur (pictured in 1995), 48, dated from 1994 to 1998, and after they split, Moss admitted she was devastated for 'years' over the breakup

As for why they went their separate ways, Depp later told Hello magazine that he struggled to balance his busy work schedule with their relationship. They are pictured in 1994

'I hurt my back, and I screamed because I didn't know what had happened.'

She said Depp came running back to help her, adding that he 'carried her to her room and got her medical attention.'

It's unclear whether or not Moss and Depp are still friends behind closed doors, but they haven't been seen together publicly since 1998 (pictured). However, a source told the New York Post that she has 'always been supportive of the actor' in the wake of his trial

When asked directly by Depp's team if the Pirates of the Caribbean star ever pushed her down the stairs, Moss replied, 'No.'

'No, he never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs,' she told the court.

Moss and Depp started dating after they met at a New York City cafe. And as two of the biggest names in Hollywood, the stars' high-profile romance quickly became one of the most talked about pairings of the time.

After they split, Moss had nothing but nice things to say about her ex, telling Vanity Fair that there was no one who took care of her like Depp did. However, she admitted that losing him was hard.

'Theres nobody thats ever really been able to take care of me. Johnny did for a bit,' she said in the interview, which came out in 2012.

'I believed what he said. Like if I said, "What do I do?" hed tell me. And thats what I missed when I left.

'I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust. Nightmare. Years and years of crying. Oh, the tears!'

As for why they went their separate ways, Depp later told Hello magazine that he struggled to balance his busy work schedule with their relationship.

'I have never got that emotional over a woman before,' he said. 'I have been so stupid because we had so much going for our relationship.

Moss is currently dating British-German photographer Nikolai von Bismarck (pictured together in 2020)

If a reunion between Johnny and Kate ever did happen, they'd be following in the footsteps of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, who are engaged again - decades after they first split

'I'm the one who has to take responsibility for what happened - I was difficult to get on with, I let my work get in the way and I didn't give her the attention I should have done.

'The whole thing was crazy because I should never have got so worked up over what people had to say about my work.

'Sure I should care about my movies, but when I get home I should try to leave that stuff behind. I couldn't do that and I was horrific to live with. Trust me, I'm a total moron at times.'

It's unclear whether or not Moss and Depp are still friends behind closed doors, but they haven't been seen together publicly since 1998.

Exes Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston caused an uproar when they were photographed reuniting at the SAG Awards in 2020 (pictured) - sparking rumors that they were getting back together. However, in the end, it appeared that was just a friendly run-in

However, a source told the New York Post that she has 'always been supportive of the actor' in the wake of his trial.

The insider said Heard assumed Moss was on her side when she brought up the alleged stair incident in court earlier this month, but instead, they claimed 'that couldn't be further from the truth.'

'Amber mentioned an ex of Johnnys that clearly she felt was not supportive of him, which couldnt be further from the truth,' the insider dished.

Moss is currently dating British-German photographer Nikolai von Bismarck.

If Depp and Moss did get back together, they wouldn't be the first popular old-school couple to reunite.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were the talk of the town when they dated throughout the early 2000s, but they went their separate ways in 2004.

However, the exes shocked the world when they were seen hanging out again in early 2021 - nearly 17 years after they split.

By May 2021, they were officially back on - they were caught packing on the PDA while vacationing together in Montana - and they got engaged in April of this year.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston tied the knot in July 2000, but went their separate ways five years later.

However, the internet was in an uproar after they were photographed reuniting at the SAG Awards in 2020.

The pair was seen smiling warmly at one another while clutching hands backstage at the event, which caused a firestorm of social media posts about the possibility of them getting back together.

However, in the end, it appeared that was just a friendly run-in. Anniston later called all the buzz about her and her ex 'hysterical.'
A fashion entrepreneur has swapped out styling television celebrities to designing surgical scrubs for health professionals.

Business owner Rebecca Lau Marsh, from Sydney, joined forces with twin veterinarians Dr Audrey and Alison Shen to launch 21 Scrubs - a stylish range of scrubs that are both comfortable and practical.

The business was born when the Shen twins became increasingly frustrated after spending everyday working in uncomfortable, ill-fitting scrubs.

The twins approached close friend Rebecca, who previously launched online bridal retailer White Runway, to bring the idea life.

Sydney stylist Rebecca Lau Marsh (pictured) was approached by close friends and twin veterinarians Dr Audrey and Alison Shen who were fed up with spending everyday working in uncomfortable, ill-fitting scrubs

The trio (pictured) worked together to launch 21 Scrubs last year and designed a stylish range of scrubs that are both comfortable and practical

Dr Audrey said the original scrubs would attract pet hair and absorb liquids, stains and smells throughout the day - and weren't stylish.

'We understand that scrubs have to be practical. However, practicality doesn't mean you have to compromise on looking fashionable and feeling good,' she said.

Rebecca swiftly jumped on board the idea of recreating the traditional scrubs with added style and substance.

Rebecca's previous business saw her dressing celebrities such as Australian television personality Sophie Monk and American actress Eva Longoria

'I loved the idea of fashion in the operating theatre and I love a good makeover. I was excited to begin the process of reinventing the traditional scrub,' Rebecca said.

'We had a very clear vision to create workwear that was functional, that you could move in, was comfortable and of course flattering for all shapes and sizes.

'We also wanted to create workwear that had an 'all day to night' look, that you can wear out after work or be seen wearing out of work.'

The brand officially launched last year and have already sold out of the signature jumpsuit twice.

The 21 Scrubs range is made from a lightweight fabric that rebels hair, liquid and smells

Due to the practical design, the scrubs are popular among a range of different industries, including medical, veterinary, dentistry, cosmetic, beauty and hairdressing (pictured: Dr Audrey and Alison Shen)

The popular '21 jumpsuit' is made from a stretchy, lightweight fabric, features pockets for pens, keycard holders and a stethoscope, and has a flattering V-neckline.

It retails online for $160, is available in three different colours - black, navy and olive green - and is made to suit a range of sizes from XS to XXL.

Due to the practical design, the scrubs are popular among a range of different industries, including medical, veterinary, dentistry, cosmetic, beauty and hairdressing.

In future the brand hopes to break into the US market, which is reported to be worth $10 billion and growing.

For further details, visit the 21 Scrubs website here.
A young woman has bought back the home she grew up in with her parents by her side at an 'emotional' auction last weekend.

Gemma, 28, secured the three-bedroom suburban house in Para Vista where she lived from when she was born until she was 18 years old.

The Adelaide woman was the only registered buyer at the auction with 15 onlookers and secured the home for $460,000 after it was sold in 2014 for $292,000.

Adelaide woman Gemma (pictured right with auctioneer John Morris) bought back the Para Vista home she grew up in at an emotional auction last weekend

The Adelaide woman was the only registered buyer at the auction with about 15 onlookers and secured the home for $460,000 after negotiations

Auctioneer John Morris from Ray White - Norwood said it was a 'sweet' moment to sell the home to Gemma who attended the auction with her parents and had her partner on FaceTime.

'As we were walking through the house, we started talking and she was saying 'Oh my god, look at the peach paint my dad put on the wall, it's still there!'' he told FEMAIL.

'It was just a lovely story to give it to someone who will love the home and has loved home in the past.'

Mr Morris said the house is Gemma's first investment property which she plans to renovate and rent out.

Mr Morris said the house is Gemma's first investment property which she plans to renovate and rent out

The Para Vista family home features a huge light-filled lounge with a striking stained-glass window front door as well as a separate kitchen and meals room

'It wasn't even on her radar but when she saw it she said 'I've got to go along and see it',' he said.

Gemma had fond memories living in the home until 2012 and her family sold it in 2014 for $292,000 according to Real Estate View.

The Para Vista family home features a huge light-filled lounge with a striking stained-glass window front door as well as a separate kitchen and meals room.

There are three generous-sized bedrooms, one bathroom and a powder room as well as a spacious backyard with a series of verandahs.
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Eradicating smallpox may have left the world vulnerable to monkeypox, experts have warned amid growing fears about the current outbreak sweeping the world.

Britons were routinely offered smallpox jabs until the 1970s, when the scheme was deemed no longer necessary because the virus had been beaten into submission. Similar programmes were wound down across the world at the same time.

Scientists say the waning immunity from the mammoth inoculation campaigns may help explain why monkeypox outbreaks are becoming more common across the world.

Although not purposefully made for monkeypox, the Imvanex jab  made by Danish firm Bavarian Nordic  is up to 85 per cent effective because the two viruses are so similar. Antivirals and therapies for smallpox also work for monkeypox.

Dr Romulus Breban, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, said the current global outbreak was 'waiting to happen' because of the world's 'almost zero' immunity level. Nineteen countries have detected cases in the past month, which has sparked alarm because infections usually only occur in west and central Africa.

Professor Neil Mabbott, an immunopathologist from the University of Edinburgh, told MailOnline over-50s are the only group protected against monkeypox. 'Although the level of immunity will wane in time, smallpox vaccination provides long-lasting protection,' he said. 'Some estimates suggest this may last for decades.'

There are signs that monkeypox was becoming more common even before the latest outbreak, with studies in Africa suggesting the rates increased 20-fold between the 1980s and mid-2000s.

Experts believe larger populations and more interaction with infected animals are behind the rise.

The smallpox vaccine, called Imvanex in the UK and Jynneos in the US, can protect against monkeypox because the viruses causing the illnesses are related

Professor Neil Mabbott (left), chair in immunopathology at the University of Edinburgh, told MailOnline this has left the under-50s are more susceptible to the virus than those aged over 50 who have been jabbed. 'Although the level of immunity will wane in time, smallpox vaccination provides long lasting protection. Some estimates suggest this may last for decades,' he said. However, not all experts agree that a drop in immunity is fuelling the monkeypox spread. Professor Paul Hunter (right), an infectious disease expert based at the University of East Anglia, said it was 'difficult to say'. He pointed to data showing the smallpox vaccine was only fully effective for 'about five years'

UK detects another FOURTEEN monkeypox cases as virus continues to sweep the world Another 14 monkeypox patients have been spotted in England as the tropical virus continues to sweep the world amid fears it may have mutated to spread easier between humans. UK Health Security Agency bosses (UKHSA) have now confirmed 71 cases in the unprecedented global outbreak. At least one child has been sickened so far  but no-one has died. Officials have also warned the worst may still be to come. England has logged 70 cases since the first case was publicised on May 7, while Scotland has recorded one. None have yet been detected in Wales or Northern Ireland. Officials said a 'notable proportion' have occurred among gay and bisexual men but have not provided an exact breakdown. No gender or age details have been shared, either. Dr Susan Hopkins, the UKHSA's chief medical adviser, said new monkeypox cases were being spotted 'promptly' due to 'extensive surveillance and contact tracing networks'. Nineteen countries across the world  mainly in Europe  have already detected the smallpox-like virus, sparking concerns it may have learned to spread easier among humans. Infections are only detected sporadically outside of west and central Africa, where the virus is endemic in animals. Although, imported outbreaks have always fizzled out naturally after a few cases. Advertisement

At least 221 monkeypox cases have been confirmed across the world since the first patient was sickened in the UK on May 6, with most infections among gay and bisexual men.

The United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic and Slovenia are the latest countries to log infections.

Pavel Dlouhy, head of Czech Republic's Society for Infectious Diseases, said: 'It was only a question of time, we have been expecting this for days.'

The Czech man showed symptoms of the disease after returning from a festival in Antwerp, Belgium in early May. Several monkeypox cases have since been linked with Darklands  a large-scale fetish festival, held from May 5-8.

In Slovenia, a man who developed symptoms after returning from the Canary Islands, has also been confirmed to have monkeypox, according to health authorities. Monkeypox infections have already been linked with the Gran Canarian gay pride festival  attended by up to 80,000 people between May 5-15.

The UAE announced its first monkeypox case in a 29-year-old woman visiting the Gulf country from West Africa.

Meanwhile, England yesterday confirmed 14 more infections, bringing the UK-wide total to 71. Scotland confirmed its first ever case on Monday, while no infections have been spotted in Wales or Northern Ireland.

The UK Health Security Agency is contacting high-risk contacts of confirmed cases and advising them to self-isolate at home for three weeks and avoid contact with children.

They are also being offered the Imvanex vaccine.

This strategy, known as ring vaccination, involves jabbing and monitoring anyone around an infected person to form a buffer of immune people to limit the spread of the disease.

In the UK, high-risk contacts of confirmed cases are being offered the Imvanex vaccine. This strategy, known as ring vaccination, involves jabbing and monitoring anyone around an infected person to form a buffer of immune people to limit the spread of the disease

It has been used in previous monkeypox outbreaks.

The UK's smallpox vaccination campaign came to an end in 1971, when the disease had been essentially eradicated.

In Britain, babies under 12 months were given the jab, with a booster dose encouraged in school children and adults.

It means adults aged 51 in the UK now are the youngest cohort who could be vaccinated against smallpox and monkeypox.

But the winding down of the campaign, which also kept monkeypox under control, has left unjabbed Britons exposed to the virus.

As the proportion of the UK population with immunity against monkeypox has declined, it has theoretically given the virus room to circulate and be transmitted easier.

Dr Breban told the Guardian: 'This outbreak was really waiting to happen. Our immunity level is almost zero. People aged 50 and above are likely to be immune but the rest of us not, so we are very, very susceptible.'

In a paper published in the journal Bulletin of the World Health Organization in September 2020, Dr Breban and colleagues warned monkeypox 'is an emerging infectious disease for which outbreak frequency and expected outbreak size in human populations have steadily increased'.

The team pinpointed the spread of cases beyond west and central Africa as a pattern fuelled by the decline in immunity against orthopox viruses, a family of viruses that also includes smallpox and monkeypox, due to the end of the vaccination scheme.

Professor Mabbott told MailOnline: 'The monkeypox virus is closely related to smallpox.

'So smallpox vaccines are very effective against monkeypox.

'Here too, there is some evidence that smallpox vaccines used decades ago are still effective against monkeypox.

'Most people under 50 years old are unlikely to have received a smallpox vaccine in the past. This part of the population will not have any vaccine-induced immunity to smallpox, or cross-protection to monkeypox.

'As a consequence they will be more susceptible to the monkeypox virus than those who have been vaccinated.'

However, not all experts agree that a drop in immunity is fuelling the monkeypox spread.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert based at the University of East Anglia, said it was 'difficult to say'.

Health chiefs have warned monkeypox, a virus endemic in parts of Africa and is known for its rare and unusual rashes, bumps and lesions, could also spread to some pets and become endemic in Europe. Undated handout file image issued by the UK Health Security Agency of the stages of Monkeypox

Monkeypox outbreak may have been sparked by sex at two raves in Belgium and Spain, WHO expert warns Sexual transmission at two festivals in Europe may have sparked the worlds escalating monkeypox outbreak, a World Health Organization expert has claimed. Dr David Heymann, who used to head the WHO's emergencies department, revealed it was the leading theory behind the origins of the current cluster of cases. He said: 'We know monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with the lesions of someone who is infected, and it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission. 'It's very possible there was somebody who got infected, developed lesions on the genitals, hands or somewhere else, and then spread it to others when there was sexual or close physical contact. 'And then there were these international events that seeded the outbreak around the world, into the US and other European countries.' Despite not naming either festival, health chiefs tasked with containing the virus have already begun tracing cases back to the Gran Canarian gay pride festival  attended by up to 80,000 people between May 5-15. Meanwhile, three cases in Belgium have been linked with Darklands  a large-scale fetish festival in Antwerp, held from May 5-8. Organisers have since said there is reason to assume someone at the event was infected. Spanish health chiefs have also linked many cases to a single 'sauna' in Madrid. Advertisement

He pointed to data showing the smallpox vaccine was only fully effective for 'about five years'.

He told MailOnline: 'I think it would be a push to assume [it gives] significant protection 50 years later. There may still be some modifying effect but I don't know.'

Scientists do not know the origin of smallpox.

But findings of smallpox-like rashes on Egyptian mummies suggest the virus has existed for at least 3,000 years.

At the peak, it was estimated that 50million cases occurred each year.

The virus, which killed one per cent of those it infected, was last detected in Somalia in 1977 and the World Health Organization declared the virus eradicated in 1980  the only infectious disease to achieve this distinction.

It comes as scientists warned a vaccination campaign for gay and bisexual men may be needed to tackle the monkeypox outbreak.

A large proportion of cases are among gay and bisexual men. Scientists have suggested the virus was spread through superspreader events, including festivals and raves, and is now spreading within these communities.

Professor Hunter said: If this outbreak hasnt peaked within a few weeks, we need to start looking at offering vaccines to gay men, bisexual men and men who have sex with men.

'Its common sense to offer this group a preventative option to protect them against monkeypox, while being careful not to stigmatise them.

'We will never need to vaccinate the entire population, because the risk is so low, but targeted vaccination is sensible.

'The strategy of offering men who have sex with men a one-off jab is top of the list of the next actions we will need to take.'

Dr Jake Dunning, consultant in infectious diseases at Londons Royal Free Hospital, said vaccination for gay and bisexual men should be considered in principle.

He said: It requires data first to identify these men as a group with an ongoing, particular risk of acquiring or being exposed to monkeypox.

This needs to be done rapidly, after enough time to see how much of a problem monkeypox is in these men, in terms of the number of cases and the impact on their health.

But an issue may be available supply of vaccines, if it were to be offered to such a large group of people.

Health officials are not understood to be considering vaccinating gay and bisexual men yet, but have not ruled out doing so.

The UK had 5,000 doses of smallpox vaccine Imvanex stockpiled before the current outbreak.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid directed officials to buy more than 20,000 additional doses after cases began to rise last week, sources claimed.
Hundreds of thousands of people with alopecia areata may one day benefit from a drug that can cure baldness in months.

A study of the twice-a-day pill found four in 10 patients with the condition were able to regrow nearly a full head of hair within half a year.

The main scientist behind the drug does not expect it to work for the millions of men who lose their hair as they age, however.

Alopecia is the general medical term for hair loss. Alopecia areata  one type of hair loss  is caused by the body attacking its own healthy hair follicles.

Made by the US drugs company Concert Pharmaceuticals, the new therapy works by dampening the immune response, preventing it from going haywire.

There are currently no cures for alopecia areata  although other drug firms are also trialling drugs to help reverse the hair loss. Steroids and other medications can help kick-start hair growth, however.

Around 100,000 people in the UK and 6.8million in the US have the condition. It can rob people of their hair in a few weeks.

Because of the speed of hair loss, the disease can cause low self-esteem, depression and anxiety.

Famous sufferers include actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Her husband Will Smith landed in controversy at this year's Oscars in March, after he slapped comedian Chris Rock for joking about his wife's baldness.

Researchers at Yale University, Connecticut, found Concert Pharmaceuticals' experimental drug CTP-543 helped patients with alopecia areata regrow nearly a full head of hair. Pictured: A patient in previous Phase 2 clinical trials at the start (left) and end (right) of the 24-week study

What is the difference between alopecia and age-related hair loss? Alopecia areata is caused by the body's immune system attacking hair follicles. The follicles hold hair in place, so when they are damaged the hair starts to fall out. It usually causes circle or oval-shaped patches of baldness and can lead to someone becoming completely hairless. The disease can occur at any time in life and is unpredictable, with experts still uncertain what in a genetic makeup causes it. Meanwhile, age-related hair loss is caused by hereditary factors. In men it is called male pattern hair loss and women it is called female pattern hair loss. Genes inherited from either parent cause the follicles to shrink over time and eventually stop growing hair. It can start in teenage years but is more common in later life. It is not caused by an immune response and therefore is not affected by drugs aiming to suppress the body's defense system. Advertisement

The latest phase three trial looked at 706 adults with alopecia aged 18 to 65 in the US, Canada and Europe over 24 weeks.

Patients on average had just 16 per cent of their hair at the start of trial, and no more than half a head of hair.

They were spit into three groups, which were given a placebo, an 8mg twice-daily pill or a 12mg twice-daily dose.

Both the 8mg and 12mg groups saw statistically significantly more regrowth than the placebo group, researchers said.

A total of 41.5 per cent given the strongest dose saw more than 80 per cent of their hair regrow by the end of the study.

Among those in the 8mg group, 29.6 per cent experienced the same level of regrowth.

Just 0.8 per cent of the placebo group saw regrowth to more than 80 per cent of the scalp.

Side effects occurred in fewer than 5 per cent of patients, with the most common reactions including headaches, acne and infections.

The drug works by inhibiting a particular enzyme that is activated during an immune response, called JAK1 and JAK2.

These enzymes make up a group called janus kinases, and too much of them can lead to inflammatory immune responses that cause alopecia.

But suppressing them can also lead to weaker immunity across the board, resulting in more infections.

Concert Pharma expects to apply for US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the drug next year after a second Phase 3 trial, which will repeat the study on 517 participants.

Approval will depend on positive results from the second trial and could take up to 10 months.

Dr James Casella, chief developmental officer at Concert Pharmaceuticals, said: 'With these compelling Phase 3 data, we believe that CTP-543 has the potential to be a best-in-class treatment for patients with alopecia areata, a disease that has long been ignored.

'We are extremely grateful to the patients and teams of clinical research professionals who participate in our trials.

'Were working to change the treatment landscape and hope that CTP-543 will be one of the first FDA-approved treatment options for this serious disease.'

Alopecia areata does not currently have any cure and doctors cannot predict how much hair someone is likely to lose once small patches begin to fall out.

But there is a 60 to 80 per cent chance hair will regrow naturally in the small areas when it drops out.

Among the most famous people with the disease include actress Jada Pinkett Smith

Her husband Will Smith landed in controversy at this year's Oscars in March after he slapped comedian Chris Rock for joking about his wife's baldness

If hair does grow back, it can take months or years and usually starts as sparse white hairs in the bald patches which can eventually thicken and regain their colour.

Regrowth is less likely if all someone's hair falls out.

Current treatment options include corticosteroid injections, which are powerful anti-inflammatory drugs that can suppress the immune system.

These can work in up to 62 per cent of patients but also increase the risk of cutaneous atrophy  a thinning of the skin  prompting interest in new medications.

Dr Brett King, a dermatologist at Yale University School of Medicine who led the study, said: 'Today marks an important milestone in advancing new treatments for alopecia areata, and Im so happy to see such positive results from the first Phase 3 trial with CTP-543.

'There is a great need for treatments for this challenging disease, and the results from the THRIVE-AA1 trial suggest that CTP-543 may potentially provide an important therapy for treating alopecia areata.'
A 'uterus-shaped' cereal has been launched with the goal of putting conversations about periods on the table.

Feminine care brand Intimina developed its raspberry-flavoured 'Period Crunch' to encourage families to discuss menstruation more openly at breakfast.

Despite being marketed as womb-shaped, the cereal actually resembles the entire female reproductive system.

The wheat-based cereal  a PR stunt which won't actually ever go on sale  is dyed red to mimic the colour of blood.

Intimina claims conversations about periods are not 'truly normalised' and it wanted to 'make a statement' about the issue.

Although it won't ever be stuck on supermarket shelves, people can get a free box by contacting the Swedish company.

A survey of more than 2,000 people by the company found 48 per cent of girls and women are too embarrassed to talk about their period.

Feminine care brand Intimina developed its raspberry-flavoured Period Crunch to encourage families to discuss menstruation more openly at breakfast

The wheat-based cereal resembles the entire female reproductive system and is dyed red

Previous research has shown stigma around the time in the month can cause boys to mock girls at school, while nearly half of women say they have been 'period-shamed'.

The cereal campaign comes after Spain last week became the first European country to propose paid, unlimited menstrual leave for women in pain.

Intimina's Danela Zagar said: 'Periods are normal and talking about periods should be normal.

'But because of the ongoing stigma around menstruation, period conversations remain difficult and embarrassing for people, even with loved ones.

'There's no more normal and everyday a scene than the whole household sitting down together at the kitchen table and talking over a meal.

'And if period conversations were truly normalised then they wouldn't be off this table  or off any table for that matter.'

Period Crunch's box is illustrated with a diagram of the female reproductive system to help educate children.

Dr Shree Datta, a gynaecologist at King's College Hospital, said: 'I'm delighted Intimina has taken the bull by the horns and developed Period Crunch to help raise awareness of the ongoing social stigma around periods.

'Periods are a natural part of who we are, so it's deeply concerning to hear that so many people remain uncomfortable discussing them, when they are just another part of our health.'
A veterinarian who caught monkeypox in America's biggest ever outbreak nearly two decades ago says he suffered 'flu-like' symptoms and feared he'd lose his thumb after lesions erupted all over his body.

Dr Kurt Zaeske, who is now retired and living in Wisconsin, caught the virus in 2003 after tending to sick prairie dogs at a breeding farm.

The illness initially left him with a fever and feeling dizzy, nauseous and very tired all the time. Within a few days, small lesions erupted across his body, and a 'very painful' blister appeared on his thumb  leaving him fearing it could be amputated.

Doctors administered Zaeske with antibiotics after a positive test for monkeypox and he was put in self-isolation. The illness cleared up within a few weeks.

Zaeske detailed his harrowing experience to NBC, saying that suffering the tropical disease was 'scary' initially, but also 'fascinating' to be part of the outbreak.

Monkeypox is now sweeping the western world, with more than 221 cases detected in 24 countries  mostly in Europe  including up to eight in the United States.

But experts warn the outbreak of the disease  which is endemic to West Africa  was just waiting to happen as the end of smallpox vaccination drives in the 1970s have left people less than 50 years old with no protection against the virus.

Dr Kurt Zaeske, who is now retired and living in Wisconsin, said he caught the virus in 2003 while tending to infected prairie dogs imported from Ghana. Illness initially left him feeling dizzy before lesions erupted all across his body

The 2003 outbreak was the biggest experienced in the U.S. since records began. It was sparked after infected rodents were imported from Ghana, west Africa. They were then housed next to prairie dogs (pictured) which also became infected and spread the virus to humans after they were sold as pets

The U.S. faced its biggest ever outbreak of the tropical illness since records began in 2003, when a total of 47 people in six states caught the virus from infected prarie dogs.

Contact tracing revealed monkeypox had arrived in a shipment of more than 800 infected rodents imported from Ghana, in west Africa, to Texas.

The animals were housed next to a group of prairie dogs, to which they transmitted the virus. The animals were then sold as pets before they developed signs of infection.

Global monkeypox outbreak was 'waiting to happen' Eradicating smallpox may have left the world vulnerable to monkeypox, experts have warned amid growing fears about the current outbreak sweeping the world. Americans were routinely offered smallpox jabs until the early 1970s, when the scheme was deemed no longer necessary because the virus had been beaten into submission. Similar programmes were wound down across the world at the same time. Scientists say the waning immunity from the mammoth inoculation campaigns may help explain why monkeypox outbreaks are becoming more common across the world. Dr Romulus Breban, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, said the current global outbreak was 'waiting to happen' because of the world's 'almost zero' immunity level. Nineteen countries have detected cases in the past month, which has sparked alarm because infections usually only occur in west and central Africa. Advertisement

Studies on the outbreak revealed people who touched the skin of a prairie dog or were bitten or scratched were most likely to become infected.

Zaeske said when he arrived at the animal breeders farm, he was told some of the prairie dogs were sick and had died.

He gave the animals antibiotics, but within a few days the breeder called back to say that himself and his sister had both fallen ill.

The vet then started to feel ill himself, saying: 'Suddenly, I started not feeling well. And then, of course, I was very concerned because at that time, we didn't know what it was.

'My fear was, "Oh my gosh, is this an exotic disease? I've got to figure out what it is".'

Describing his illness, Zaeske said: 'My biggest fear was that I was going to lose my thumb and not be able to practice anymore.'

He was put into isolation to stop the illness spreading, and said it did not pass on to anyone he worked with or his family members.

Asked about the new cases, he said it showed how the world is always 'three to four degrees' away from a virus outbreak.

Monkeypox, first discovered in lab monkeys in the late 1950s, is usually mild but can cause severe illness in some cases. It can kill up to 10 percent of people it infects.

But the strain spreading in this outbreak, the West African type, is much milder with a mortality rate of around one in every 100 cases.

The disease has an incubation period of anywhere up to 21 days, meaning it can take three weeks for symptoms to appear. Patients then remain infectious for as long as they have warning signs of the disease.

Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

A rash also develops, often beginning on the face, which then spreads to other parts of the body  including the genitals. The rash can look like chickenpox or syphilis, and scabs can form which then fall off.

Up to eight cases have now been detected in the US. One is confirmed in Massachusetts, and seven are suspected across New York City, Florida, Utah, California and Washington

As well as the outbreak in 2003, two cases linked to international travel were detected last year.

In the latest outbreak one case has been confirmed in Massachusetts.

Two suspected infections have been detected in Florida and Utah, while one each has been spotted in New York City, California and Washington.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials say all the individuals are men and are connected to recent international travel.

Several cases in Europe's outbreak have been traced back to sex at two raves in Spain and Belgium attended by more than 80,000 people.

It comes as experts warned today that the outbreak was bound to happen.

Americans were offered routine smallpox vaccinations  which also protect against monkeypox as the viruses are so similar  until the early 1970s, when the scheme was deemed no longer necessary because the virus had been beaten into submission.

Scientists say the waning immunity from mammoth inoculation campaigns may help explain why monkeypox outbreaks are becoming more common across the world.

Dr Romulus Breban, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, said the current global outbreak was 'waiting to happen' because of the world's 'almost zero' immunity level. Nineteen countries have detected cases in the past month, which has sparked alarm because infections usually only occur in west and central Africa.

Professor Neil Mabbott, an immunopathologist from the University of Edinburgh, told MailOnline over-50s are the only group protected against monkeypox. 'Although the level of immunity will wane in time, smallpox vaccination provides long-lasting protection,' he said. 'Some estimates suggest this may last for decades.'

There are signs that monkeypox was becoming more common even before the latest outbreak, with studies in Africa suggesting the rates increased 20-fold between the 1980s and mid-2000s.

Experts believe larger populations and more interaction with infected animals are behind the rise.
Babies who are breastfed for longer are better thinkers as teenagers, research suggests.

A study of more than 7,800 British children looked at those who had their mother's milk for less than two months, two to four months, four to six months or over a year.

Researchers found those breastfed the longest, above the age of one, did best in vocabulary tests at age 14 compared to children who were not breastfed.

The study, by experts from Oxford University, said the differences in scores were equivalent to three IQ points.

Meanwhile children breastfed for four to six months did the best in a test of memory, reasoning and spatial awareness, compared to children who were never breastfed, at the ages of seven and 11.

Breastfeeding was linked to a modest increase in childrens intelligence even when their mothers intelligence and their socioeconomic circumstances were taken into account.

The World Health Organization advises mothers to exclusively breastfeed their baby for at least six months.

But only about 48 per cent of British and 52 per cent of American mothers breastfeed for this length of time.

A study has linked breastfeeding babies to better cognitive scores in children years later (stock image)

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BREASTFEEDING? Any amount of breastfeeding is beneficial, but exclusively breastfeeding your baby for six months offers the most benefit for babies and mothers. Benefits for newborns include: Reduces their risk of infections, with fewer visits to hospital as a result, diarrhoea and vomiting, sudden infant death syndrome, obesity and cardiovascular disease in adulthood

Reduce rates of respirtatory, ear, chest and gut infections

May reduce the baby's chance of getting childhood leukaemia Benefits for mothers are: Reducing uterus size: after having a baby, the uterus will gradually get smaller, but breastfeeding will help speed this up

Bonding with newborn: breastfeeding can help mothers strengthen the bond with their baby

Protects health: lowers the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, weak bones, diabetes and cardiovascular disease Source: NHS Advertisement

Dr Renee Pereyra-Elias, who led the study from the University of Oxfords Nuffield Department of Population Health, said: These results should not cause concern for women who did not breastfeed, or were unable to breastfeed, because the potential gains in IQ among children breastfed for several months compared to children never breastfed would be equivalent to two to three points.

However if many children, on average, increased their IQ by around three points, we could see important differences.

Therefore, it is important that women who want to breastfeed are given support to do so.'

Breast milk contains polyunsaturated fatty acids and nutrients like iron which help childrens brains develop.

Experts say it also causes children to have fewer infections and illnesses, which may aid their intelligence because they have fewer days off school.

Researchers looked at the link between breastfeeding duration and thinking skills in children from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, who were recruited as babies between 2000 and 2002 and given cognitive tests aged five, seven, 11 and 14.

Among those in the study, around a third of the children had never been breastfed, but 23 per cent had been breastfed for at least six months.

The strongest link between breastfeeding and vocabulary skills was seen in children aged 14, who were given a list of 20 words, ranging from unique to pusillanimous and asked to select the word with the most similar meaning from a list.

The 14-year-olds breastfed for at least 12 months had the test result almost three IQ points higher than teenagers of the same age who were never breastfed.

Childrens understanding of words in simpler tests was also better, compared to children who were never breastfed, for seven and 11-year-olds who were breastfed for four months or more.

Duration of breastfeeding was not linked to vocabulary at the age of five.

The researchers set out to ensure the results were not driven by mothers intelligence, assessed using a vocabulary test, and childrens socioeconomic status, judged based on their parents occupations and mothers level of education.

Children with more educated mothers, and those from wealthier families, tend to be breastfed for longer and may also benefit from tutoring, extra help with homework or trips to zoos, museums and galleries.

But even when this was taken into account, children breastfed for longer did better in cognitive tests.

Children who were breastfed for four to six months, compared to those never breastfed, did better at the age of seven in a spatial test asking them to fit coloured squares into a shape, and slightly better aged five.

They also made fewer errors, aged 11, when asked to check inside boxes on a computer screen for tokens, and remember which they had already checked after they were covered up.

These tests, done only up to the age of 11, measured spatial awareness and problem-solving skills.

The study, published in the journal Plos ONE, concludes that being breastfed for longer can boost childrens intelligence about as much as having a clever mother or coming from a well-off family and should not be underestimated.
Liver transplants from overdose victims rose during the first year of the COVID pandemic as more young men died from drugs, a new study finds.

Dr Peter Lymberopoulos, from St George's University in the Caribbean country of Grenada, who carried out the research, said the results were 'surprising' given how many operations were canceled.

He added that the 20 percent uptick from overdose victims was likely due to more people taking drugs to cope with economic and social pressures during lockdowns.

About 8,000 liver transplants are performed in the U.S. every year estimates suggest, for people who have suffered a failure of the organ  often due to infection from viruses, cancers and lifestyle factors such as being a heavy alcohol drinker.

It is safe to take livers from overdose patients because these are all tested for diseases before transfer, and cannot pass on any drug addiction. It is also the only organ capable of re-generating itself after damage.

The study was carried out up to June 2021, and did not include any cases who received livers in the recent outbreak of mysterious hepatitis.

A record 108,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2021, with opioids including fentanyl behind nearly three in every five fatalities.

Liver transplants from overdose victims rose 20 percent during the first year of the Covid pandemic as more young men died from drug overdoses, a study has found.

The above graph shows the CDC estimates for the number of deaths triggered by drug overdoses every year across the United States. It reveals figures have now reached a record high, and are surging on the last three years

In the study presented at the American Gastroenterological Association's Digestive Disease Week meeting in San Diego, California, scientists looked through transplant records from the U.S. organ donor registery.

They looked at the number carried out before Covid struck  January 2019 to February 2020  and over the 14-months after  May 2020 to June 2021.

Record 108,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2021 Deaths from drug overdoses in the U.S. hit their highest level since records began last year, provisional figures showed earlier this month  with opioids including fentanyl behind nearly three in five fatalities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated there were 107,622 fatalities linked to overdoses during 2021, or one every five minutes. It marked a 15 percent uptick on the previous year's record of 93,655 drug deaths and the seventh 12-month period in a row where they have risen. Opioids including fentanyl were linked to the majority of fatalities, or 80,800, followed by psychostimulants such as methamphetamine at nearly 33,000. It was possible for more than one drug to be linked to a fatality. Only one state  Hawaii  saw its deaths from overdoses decline last year. Appalachian states like West Virginia, Tennessee and Pennsylvania remaining the nation's hotspots for fatalities. Advertisement

Data showed a significant rise in liver transplants from overdose patients, from 1,465 to 1,846.

But there was also a significant uptick in kidney transplants from this group (from 1,724 to 2,259) and heart transplants (from 804 to 1,048) which both rose by almost a quarter on the previous period.

There was a 14 percent rise in the number of lung transplants (from 470 to 548), but the scientists said this was not significant.

Donors who died from a drug overdose were 36 years old on average, records showed.

They made up about 18 percent of all organs donated, the study found, compared to 15 percent previously.

Dr Lymberopoulos said: 'When the pandemic began, we saw no decline in liver transplants, which seemed surprising since many surgeries were canceled or postponed.

'Sadly, a key reason seems to be a surge of organ donors who died from drug overdoses.'

'Among liver transplants, we found that the number of overdose donors rose at a surprising rate in the pandemic's first 14 months, compared to the previous 14 months.

'Organ transplants are experiencing success, but it often comes at a cost. In many cases, that cost is primarily young males dying prematurely from overdoses.'

Across the U.S. organ transplants from overdose victims rose in five out of seven health regions.

The uptick was sharpest in the South Midwest and Southwest  by 68 percent , followed by the Southeast  55 percent , the Northwest  46 percent  and the North Midwest  38 percent.

It only fell in the Mid-Atlantic region  down six percent  and remained stable in the Northeast.

The paper has not been peer-reviewed, and is yet to be published in an academic journal.

America had a record 108,000 deaths from drug overdoses last year, provisional figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed.

It marked a 15 percent uptick on the previous year's record of 93,655 drug deaths and the seventh 12-month period in a row where they have risen.

Opioids including fentanyl were linked to the majority of fatalities, or 80,800, followed by psychostimulants such as methamphetamine at nearly 33,000. It was possible for more than one drug to be linked to a fatality.

Only one state  Hawaii  saw its deaths from overdoses decline last year, with Appalachian states like West Virginia, Tennessee and Pennsylvania remaining the nation's hotspots for fatalities.
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Another seven monkeypox cases were logged in the UK today as the tropical virus usually only spotted in Africa continues to sweep the world.

The new infections, all detected in England, bring Britain's total to 78 since the first case in the ongoing outbreak was publicised on May 7. Scotland has so far logged one monkeypox case, while no infections have been reported in Wales or Northern Ireland.

Officials stated a 'notable proportion' have occurred among gay and bisexual men but have not provided an exact breakdown. No gender or age details have been shared, either.

Nineteen countries across the world  mainly in Europe  have now detected the smallpox-like virus over the past three weeks.

Infections are usually only detected sporadically outside of west and central Africa, where the virus is endemic in animals. Imported outbreaks have always fizzled out naturally after a few cases.

UKHSA's chief medical adviser Dr Susan Hopkins said new monkeypox cases were being spotted 'promptly' due to 'extensive surveillance and contact tracing networks'.

It comes as scientists warned today scrapping the smallpox vaccination scheme four decades ago when the virus was eradicated has resulted in waning immunity that has left Britons more vulnerable to monkeypox.

Although not purposefully made for monkeypox, the Imvanex jab  made by Denmark-based Bavarian Nordic  is up to 85 per cent effective because the two viruses are so similar.

The smallpox vaccine, called Imvanex in the UK and Jynneos in the US, can protect against monkeypox because the viruses causing the illnesses are related

Professor Neil Mabbott (pictured), chair in immunopathology at the University of Edinburgh, told MailOnline this has left the under-50s are more susceptible to the virus than those aged over 50 who have been jabbed

Professor Paul Hunter (pictured), an infectious disease expert based at the University of East Anglia, said it was 'difficult to say'. He pointed to data showing the smallpox vaccine was only fully effective for 'about five years'

In the UK, high-risk contacts of confirmed cases are being offered the Imvanex vaccine. This strategy, known as ring vaccination, involves jabbing and monitoring anyone around an infected person to form a buffer of immune people to limit the spread of the disease

The disease, first discovered in lab monkeys in the late 1950s, is usually mild but can cause severe illness in some cases. It can kill up to 10 per cent of people it infects.

The milder strain causing the current outbreak kills one in 100  similar to when Covid first hit.

Monkeypox has an incubation period of anywhere up to 21 days, meaning it can take three weeks for symptoms to appear.

Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

A rash can develop, often beginning on the face, which then spreads to other parts of the body  including the genitals. The rash can look like chickenpox or syphilis, and scabs can form which then fall off.

Dr Hopkins said: 'We are continuing to promptly detect new monkeypox cases through our extensive surveillance network and NHS services.

'If anyone suspects they might have rashes or lesions on any part of their body, particularly if they have recently had a new sexual partner, they should limit their contact with others and contact NHS 111 or their local sexual health service as soon as possible  though please phone ahead before attending in person.'

UKHSA teams are contacting high-risk contacts of confirmed cases and advising them to self-isolate at home for three weeks and avoid contact with children.

They are also being offered the Imvanex vaccine to form a buffer of immune people around a confirmed case to limit the spread of the disease. The strategy, known as ring vaccination, has been used in previous monkeypox outbreaks and is also being carried out in some EU countries.

At least 236 monkeypox cases have been confirmed across the world since the first patient was sickened in the UK on May 6, with most infections among gay and bisexual men.

The United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic and Slovenia are the latest countries to log infections.

Pavel Dlouhy, head of Czech Republic's Society for Infectious Diseases, said: 'It was only a question of time, we have been expecting this for days.'

The Czech man showed symptoms of the disease after returning from a festival in Antwerp, Belgium in early May. Several monkeypox cases have since been linked with Darklands  a large-scale fetish festival, held from May 5-8.

In Slovenia, a man who developed symptoms after returning from the Canary Islands, has also been confirmed to have monkeypox, according to health authorities. Monkeypox infections have already been linked with the Gran Canarian gay pride festival  attended by up to 80,000 people between May 5-15.

The UAE announced its first monkeypox case in a 29-year-old woman visiting the Gulf country from West Africa.

It comes as experts today warned that the wrapping up of routine smallpox vaccine has left the world more vulnerable to monkeypox outbreaks.

The UK's smallpox vaccination campaign came to an end in 1971, when the disease had been essentially eradicated.

In Britain, babies under 12 months were given the jab, with a booster dose encouraged in school children and adults.

It means adults aged 51 in the UK now are the youngest cohort who could be vaccinated against smallpox and monkeypox.

As the proportion of the UK population with immunity against monkeypox has declined, it has theoretically given the virus room to circulate and be transmitted easier.

Dr Romulus Breban, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, said the current global outbreak was 'waiting to happen' because of the world's 'almost zero' immunity level.

He told the Guardian: 'Our immunity level is almost zero. People aged 50 and above are likely to be immune but the rest of us not, so we are very, very susceptible.'

In a paper published in the journal Bulletin of the World Health Organization in September 2020, Dr Breban and colleagues warned monkeypox 'is an emerging infectious disease for which outbreak frequency and expected outbreak size in human populations have steadily increased'.

The team pinpointed the spread of cases beyond west and central Africa as a pattern fuelled by the decline in immunity against orthopox viruses, a family of viruses that also includes smallpox and monkeypox, due to the end of the vaccination scheme.

Professor Neil Mabbott, an immunopathologist from the University of Edinburgh, told MailOnline over-50s are the only group protected against monkeypox. 'Although the level of immunity will wane in time, smallpox vaccination provides long-lasting protection,' he said. 'Some estimates suggest this may last for decades.'

He said: 'The monkeypox virus is closely related to smallpox. So smallpox vaccines are very effective against monkeypox. Here too, there is some evidence that smallpox vaccines used decades ago are still effective against monkeypox.

'Most people under 50 years old are unlikely to have received a smallpox vaccine in the past. This part of the population will not have any vaccine-induced immunity to smallpox, or cross-protection to monkeypox.

'As a consequence they will be more susceptible to the monkeypox virus than those who have been vaccinated.'

However, not all experts agree that a drop in immunity is fuelling the monkeypox spread.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert based at the University of East Anglia, said it was 'difficult to say'.

Health chiefs have warned monkeypox, a virus endemic in parts of Africa and is known for its rare and unusual rashes, bumps and lesions, could also spread to some pets and become endemic in Europe. Undated handout file image issued by the UK Health Security Agency of the stages of Monkeypox

Monkeypox outbreak may have been sparked by sex at two raves in Belgium and Spain, WHO expert warns Sexual transmission at two festivals in Europe may have sparked the world's escalating monkeypox outbreak, a World Health Organization expert has claimed. Dr David Heymann, who used to head the WHO's emergencies department, revealed it was the leading theory behind the origins of the current cluster of cases. He said: 'We know monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with the lesions of someone who is infected, and it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission. 'It's very possible there was somebody who got infected, developed lesions on the genitals, hands or somewhere else, and then spread it to others when there was sexual or close physical contact. 'And then there were these international events that seeded the outbreak around the world, into the US and other European countries.' Despite not naming either festival, health chiefs tasked with containing the virus have already begun tracing cases back to the Gran Canarian gay pride festival  attended by up to 80,000 people between May 5-15. Meanwhile, three cases in Belgium have been linked with Darklands  a large-scale fetish festival in Antwerp, held from May 5-8. Organisers have since said there is 'reason to assume' someone at the event was infected. Spanish health chiefs have also linked many cases to a single 'sauna' in Madrid. Advertisement

He pointed to data showing the smallpox vaccine was only fully effective for 'about five years'.

He told MailOnline: 'I think it would be a push to assume [it gives] significant protection 50 years later. There may still be some modifying effect but I don't know.'

Scientists do not know the origin of smallpox.

But findings of smallpox-like rashes on Egyptian mummies suggest the virus has existed for at least 3,000 years.

At the peak, it was estimated that 50million cases occurred each year.

The virus, which killed one per cent of those it infected, was last detected in Somalia in 1977 and the World Health Organization declared the virus eradicated in 1980  the only infectious disease to achieve this distinction.

It comes as scientists warned a vaccination campaign for gay and bisexual men may be needed to tackle the monkeypox outbreak.

A large proportion of cases are among gay and bisexual men. Scientists have suggested the virus was spread through 'superspreader events', including festivals and raves, and is now spreading within these communities.

Professor Hunter said: 'If this outbreak hasn't peaked within a few weeks, we need to start looking at offering vaccines to gay men, bisexual men and men who have sex with men.

'It's common sense to offer this group a preventative option to protect them against monkeypox, while being careful not to stigmatise them.

'We will never need to vaccinate the entire population, because the risk is so low, but targeted vaccination is sensible.

'The strategy of offering men who have sex with men a one-off jab is top of the list of the next actions we will need to take.'

Dr Jake Dunning, consultant in infectious diseases at London's Royal Free Hospital, said vaccination for gay and bisexual men should be considered 'in principle'.

He said: 'It requires data first to identify these men as a group with an ongoing, particular risk of acquiring or being exposed to monkeypox.

'This needs to be done rapidly, after enough time to see how much of a problem monkeypox is in these men, in terms of the number of cases and the impact on their health.

'But an issue may be available supply of vaccines, if it were to be offered to such a large group of people.'

Health officials are not understood to be considering vaccinating gay and bisexual men yet, but have not ruled out doing so.

The UK had 5,000 doses of smallpox vaccine Imvanex stockpiled before the current outbreak.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid directed officials to buy more than 20,000 additional doses after cases began to rise last week, sources claimed.
Gun violence is now the leading killer of America's children, surpassing accidents, disease and even drug overdose, a report published last month found, as attention to the topic is raised after a man killed 19 children in Uvalde, Texas, at their elementary school this week.

Researchers at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, write that over 4,300 children aged one to 19 years old died of a firearm related injury during the pandemic's first year - a 30 percent jump from the previous year.

2020 was the first year that gun violence overtook vehicle crashes as a leading killer - both due to a surge in firearm deaths and a rapid fall in vehicle related deaths over the past two decades.

On Tuesday, Salvador Ramos, 18, killed 18 young children under the age of 11, along with two teachers, in a fourth grade classroom at Robb Elementary School, in the west Texas city of Uvalde - another shocking example of the violence hurting America's youth.

Gun violence is now the leading killer off American youth, a research report finds, surpassing motor vehicle crashes (file photo)

Researchers, who published their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine on in April, found that there was a record 45,222 firearm deaths in 2020.

Overall there was a 13.5 percent jump in firearm deaths, including a 33 percent jump in gun-related homicides year-to-year.

Jason Goldstick (pictured), a researcher at the University of Michigan, said that there is no specific cause for the increase in gun violence, but it did correspond with a jump in firearm purchases

Suicides carried out by using firearms also increased one percent, remaining around even year-to-year.

The research team writes that after seeing these stats for the overall population, they decided to gather how much of the burden of firearm violence was falling on the nation's youth.

They found that just around six out of every 100,000 U.S. children died a fire alarm related death in 2020, surpassing a the five of every 100,000 children that died from the motor vehicle accident.

Jason Goldstick, a research associate professor at Michigan, told DailyMail.com that there is not strong evidence to point to any particular cause for the recent uptick in violence.

He does note that other studies have made similar findings about gun violence in America, though, and growing crime rates in much of the country seem to be pointing to the same.

A study from researchers at the University of California, Davis, finds that there was an increase in firearm purchases early in the pandemic, though there was not a direct correlation between purchases and increases in violence on a state-by-state level.

Goldstick can not be sure where the death figures will go from here either, as they could regress back to normal levels - though there is also a chance that this heavily increased rate of gun violence is the new normal in America.

Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, has been identified as the shooter. He was described as a bullied loner who slowly dropped out of school due to teasing about his lisp, habit of wearing eyeliner, clothes and his family's poverty

Deaths from drug overdoses surged as well, nearly doubling from 2019 to 2020, hitting over two deaths per 100,000 children and surpassing suffocation, cancer and birth defects as causes of deaths.

Fentanyl has largely been blamed for the surge in drug deaths, with a University of California, Los Angeles, study published earlier this month finding adolescent deaths from the synthetic opioid had tripled from 253 in 2019 to 884 in 2021.

Another shocking example of gun violence against America's youth came this week, when the 18-year-old 'loner' Ramos walked into a fourth grade classroom after a long police chase, and carried out a sickening crime.

Among those shot dead by the callous killer yesterday was 10-year-old girl who was phoning 911 when he opened fire.

Amerie Jo Garza, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary in the city Uvalde, Texas, was killed in cold blood Tuesday morning by 18-year-old 'loner' Salvador Ramos, who strode into the school carrying a handgun and a rifle before opening fire on classrooms full of children in an attack that also killed two teachers.

Berlinda Irene Arreola, Amerie's grandmother, said that Ramos told the class 'you're going to die' before he began his massacre - shooting her granddaughter dead as she tried to call 911. Amerie was sat next to her best friend who was left 'covered in her blood', Berlinda told the Daily Beast.
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Thousands more Americans may be living with undiagnosed HIV than before Covid struck, official figures have suggested, in a warning sign the devastating virus is spreading again in the United States.

The annual surveillance report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports new diagnoses fell by about two percent every year since 2016. But in 2020, the latest available data, they tumbled 17 percent to 30,000 new cases  which was 5,000 fewer than would be expected based on previous trends.

At the same time the number of CDC-funded swabs for the virus fell by half from 2.4 to 1.2 million, one of the lowest numbers on record, leading officials to fear many cases have gone unnoticed.

In its report the agency said the 'steep reduction' in new cases was 'likely due to disruptions in clinical care, patient hesitancy... and shortages in HIV testing reagents/materials'. Bruce Packett, director of American Academy of HIV medicine, told DailyMail.com it was 'very likely' thousands of cases had been missed.

He warned that  in line with other sexually transmitted diseases  cases of HIV may now be 'level' or 'even increasing', in a reversal of the gradual decline since for the past four years. The CDC warns other STIs like gonorrhea and syphilis may already be at record highs.

America is currently aiming to eradicate the transmission of HIV in just eight years, but experts say although this was the 'right' target efforts to hit it have been 'set back' by the pandemic.

The above graph shows the number of HIV cases declined every year since 2016. It reveals they had dropped by about two percent a year until 2020, when they fell 17 percent. The CDC warned this major drop was likely down to a fall in testing

The above map shows the proportion of people infected with HIV across every state in America. It reveals case rates are highest in New York, Georgia and Florida

More than eight in ten infections recorded in 2020 were among men, official data from the CDC's annual report shows

It also revealed more than six in ten cases were down to men having sex with other men, followed by heterosexual contact

The above shows that most new cases have been diagnosed among people aged 25 to 34 years old, followed by those in the 13 to 24 and 35 to 44 years categories

WHAT IS HIV? HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease. AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the name used to describe a number of potentially life-threatening infections and illnesses that happen when your immune system has been severely damaged by the HIV virus. While AIDS cannot be transmitted from 1 person to another, the HIV virus can. There's currently no cure for HIV, but there are very effective drug treatments that enable most people with the virus to live a long and healthy life. With an early diagnosis and effective treatments, most people with HIV will not develop any AIDS-related illnesses and will live a near-normal lifespan. Source: NHS Advertisement

The annual report on HIV cases pulls together data from all 50 states and U.S. territories. It is dated back to 2020 to allow a 12-month lag for infections to be reported.

About 1.07 million Americans are currently living with a diagnosed case of the disease, equivalent to about one in 300 people.

The CDC did not estimate the total number of people infected this year due to a lack of testing, but previous surveillance reports have put the tally at about 1.2 million.

The disease is most prevalent in New York  one in 130 people , Georgia  one in 155  and Florida  one in 160. At the other end of the scale, it is least likely to be detected in Wyoming  one in 1,330 , Montana  one in 1,300  and North Dakota  one in 1,250.

More than eight in ten infections diagnosed last year were in men, with about seven in ten also linked to men having sex with other men.

More than four in ten new cases were in Black/African Americans.

When asked about the CDC's latest figures, Packett told DailyMail.com: 'I think it is very likely that they have missed diagnoses in the thousands.

'With the pandemic, it is possible that new diagnoses numbers may even be level of increasing now.

'I don't know for sure, but I think given what we saw and the amount of patients who went off PrEP it is entirely possible that there were still risk events in 2020, despite the patients themselves reporting a decrease in encounters.'

He said in response to the report that the CDC will now likely aim to ramp up its testing for the virus, including hitting the aim of routinely testing people for the disease between the ages of 16 and 65.

Despite lockdowns and curbs to stop the spread of the virus in 2020, America saw its cases of gonorrhea and syphilis surge to a 30-year high in 2020.

Surveillance also found total cases had hit 2.4 million, down slightly from 2.5 million the year before. But health chiefs said this was likely down to a lack of testing and warned cases could in fact have hit a year high.

Jonathan Merin, the CDC's director for STI prevention, warned at the time that the 'unrelenting momentum' of the nation's STD epidemic had continued throughout the first year of the pandemic.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) spread to people from chimpanzees in the 1950s and sparked a major epidemic two decades later that is still ongoing today  with millions having lost their lives.

New cases only began to decline sharply in the 1990s with the advent of testing for the virus and medications to suppress viral load. The arrival of PrEP in 2012  which can stop someone who has the virus from passing it on to others  further limited its spread.

Former President Donald Trump launched a strategy to end the transmission of AIDS in the U.S. in 2019, called the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) strategy.

It had another $140 million injected into the project in 2020 to back new treatments and testing strategies, taking its budget to as much as $948 million a year.

The project aims to cut HIV transmission by at least 75 percent come 2025, and slash it to below 90 percent by 2030 compared against current levels.

But many experts fear it has got off to a slow start due to the Covid pandemic, which saw many resources redirected to helping battle this virus.

Usage of PrEP has risen only slightly in recent years, with about 25 percent of 'high-risk' people using it in 2020 compared to 23 percent over the previous three years.

About 68 percent of people with HIV are actually receiving medication to suppress the virus, CDC statistics also show, compared to about 90 percent in the UK, Australia, Sweden and other western nations.

HIV is spread through sharing blood with others, normally through sex. It attacks the immune system, eventually leading to AIDS when someone dies from infections and illnesses that the body can no longer fight off.

Measures to prevent infection include using a condom during sex, and taking anti-virals to reduce the viral load to undetectable levels. Many infected people can now live with the disease thanks to advances in treatment.
Another 36 children have fallen sick in the mysterious hepatitis outbreak, health chiefs revealed Wednesday  after six deaths were linked to the illness.

It brings the tally of children affected by the liver inflammation to 216 across 37 states, with Mississippi and Utah the latest to be added to the growing list.

No new deaths or liver transplants were reported over the last seven days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed in their weekly update with the totals remaining at 14 and six respectively.

The agency has not revealed where the fatalities occurred due to 'confidentiality issues', but at least one was registered in Wisconsin health chiefs in the state say.

Globally, the U.S. has recorded the most fatalities and suspected cases out of any nation  although this may be because of stronger surveillance here.

Indonesia has reported five deaths in the outbreak, while both Palestine and Israel have registered one each.

Scientists say it will still be weeks before the cause of the cases is revealed, although the CDC continues to consider an adenovirus infection  which can trigger the common cold  as the most likely cause.

The outbreak may also be the result of weakened immunity due to lockdowns which harmed people's immunity, experts warn.

The CDC is now publishing weekly outbreaks on the numbers of suspected cases, liver transplants and deaths reported.

Many of the cases are 'historic', having occurred over the seven months since October 2021, but are only just coming to light now as physicians research samples collected from sick children in-post.

The CDC said last week there was no sign that cases were surging in recent months.

A total of 37 states have now reported cases in the hepatitis outbreak. These are: Arkansas, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

The territory of Puerto Rico has also recorded at least one case of mysterious hepatitis.

Experts warn lockdowns mean the U.S. may now be heading into a period where it is difficult to know what to expect from infectious diseases.

Dr Marion Koopmans, head of the department of viroscience at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, gave the warning to STAT News and said it was because of less recent immunity.

She said blood tests on children showed they had been on something of an 'infection honeymoon' with few antibodies present to normal diseases.

She added: 'You really see that children in the second year of the pandemic have far less antibodies to a set of common respiratory viruses.

'They just got less exposed.'

The CDC said last week that an adenovirus infection  which can cause the common cold  was their leading hypothesis for the cause of the illness, although they were also still investigating whether Covid infections played a role.

They have all but ruled out theories suggesting a mutation in the virus may be causing the illness, or that it could be down to exposure to pet dogs. There is no evidence that the Covid vaccine is triggering hepatitis.

The usual causes  hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D and E  have all been ruled out.
Jenny Cooper, 63, is no stranger to counting the pennies.

The grandmother of five gave up her job four years ago to care for her husband when he was diagnosed with cancer.

And since his death in August last year, she has been living on just 77 a week in Universal Credit.

Invaluable: Jenny Cooper talks to Shanara Begum, of Citizens Advice about how she can keep her rapidly rising bills under control

But around 25  a third of this meagre sum  is now being swallowed up by her pre-payment energy meter, up from 10 last year.

Fortunately, she is today receiving expert advice, albeit in an unlikely place: her local Post Office in New Square Shopping Centre, West Bromwich.

It is one of four locations where British Gas is trialling a pop-up advice service this week to help people tackle soaring energy bills.

Bosses at Britains biggest energy supplier hope householders will feel comfortable in Post Office branches, where many already withdraw and deposit cash. When I visit on Monday morning for the launch, a large sign has been placed outside the branch that reads: Struggling with energy bills? Were here to talk.

Citizens Advice representatives are busy handing out leaflets about its budgeting buddies project and free tote bags to passers-by.

Inside, a screen has been placed next to the counter to provide some privacy for those who want to discuss their finances.

Here in West Bromwich, advisers will be in store on Monday and Wednesday from 12pm to 4pm.

Three branches in London, Glasgow and Cardiff are also taking part, with more to follow in the next fortnight. If successful, British Gas hopes to roll the service out more widely and on a permanent basis.

Around 22 million households have already seen their heating costs rocket after Ofgem raised its energy price cap by 54% last month

Around 22 million households have seen heating costs rocket after watchdog Ofgem raised its energy price cap by 54 per cent last month.

And yesterday the regulators chief executive told MPs he expected the cap to rise again, taking the average family bill to somewhere in the region of 2,800 a year by autumn.

Just this week E.Ons chief executive warned that up to 40 per cent of its customers are at risk of falling into fuel poverty spending more than a tenth of their income on energy.

British Gas Pop Up Advice Clinics British Gas are launching their pop-up advice clinics at local post office around the UK. Here's where you can find them: Cardiff  Thurs 26th & Fri 27th May Kennington  Friday 27th May Blackpool  Monday 6th June & Wednesday 8th June Sunderland  Monday 6th June & Thursday 9th June Bexhill on Sea  Monday 6th June & Wednesday 8th June Bethnal Green  Tuesday 14th June & Thursday 16th June Kettering  Tuesday 14th June & Wednesday 15th June

And half of the 20 worst-hit constituencies are in the West Midlands, where I am today, according to campaign group End Fuel Poverty Coalition.

Jenny, who lives in a council bungalow, says: It does make me angry when I think how much more I am spending on my energy bills. I hardly watch the television, so I cant cut down on that and I rarely buy anything from the supermarket that does not have a yellow reduction sticker on it.

The pensioner is here because she wants to replace her pre-payment meter with a standard one. A friend has told her this will save Jenny money  and she is right. Ofgems price cap is higher for pre-payment customers at an average of 2,017 a year  46 more than for those with standard meters.

Jenny says she is not in debt with her supplier, so she should be able to switch, but the firm is refusing to make the change.

Fortunately Shanara Begum, of Citizens Advice, is happy to take on her case. Were going to talk to the supplier to find out why it is saying no, she says.

She will also check if Jenny is eligible for the Warm House Discount  a one-off annual payment worth 140 that the pensioner used to receive when her husband was still alive.

Those on pension credit automatically qualify, but Jennys low income may mean she also meets her suppliers criteria for receiving it.

Hardest hit: Ofgems price cap is higher for pre-payment customers at an average of 2,017 a year - 46 more than for those with standard meters

As well as help with energy costs, Jenny is told she may be entitled to a substantial discount on her water bills if she is able to switch to South Staffs Waters discounted tariff for low-income customers. Jenny will receive a call from Citizens Advice within five days.

Jenny says: Its nice to be able to speak to someone in person, rather than failing to get through to a firm on the phone.

The British Gas Energy Trust also has a 6 million fund to provide grants of up to 750 to customers. Households must have no more than 1,000 in savings and owe between 250 and 750 to the supplier.

Applicants can start the process in the Post Office today and from July the scheme will be extended so all households, regardless of their supplier, will be able to apply for grants worth up to 1,000.

The pop-up service has been advertised on Facebook to local residents. Yet its evident few people know it exists as just three members of the public sat down with Shanara, 37, in the branch on Monday.

Others were in a rush or felt a little uncomfortable talking about their finances in public so, instead, provided their telephone number for a follow-up call with Citizens Advice.

A father of one arrived with his two-year-old daughter in a buggy. The 38-year-old, who works in the hospitality sector, tells me he is putting up to 3 a day into his pre-payment meter and worried about food prices.

Another passer-by, Meta Earlston, 55, says shell tell her brother, who is also struggling with bills, about the pop-up.

With so many people clearly desperate, this service could prove invaluable.

British Gas just needs to do a little more to ensure struggling households know it exists.

f.parker@dailymail.co.uk
The classic Mini - one of Britain's most iconic products of the last century - could be about to suffer from a case of stolen identity after patents filed by a Chinese brand revealed its plans to clone it and sell it as a new electric vehicle.

A Chinese automotive company has put forward documents showing a new compact battery-powered car - and it looks identical to the Mini's original design penned by Alec Issigonis in the late 1950s.

It wouldn't be the first time a Chinese company has pulled a copy-and-paste job on a existing model - and gotten away with it after complaints were raised by the manufacturers of the original knocked-off car.

BMW - Mini's parent company - is reportedly priming itself to respond to the patent, with a spokesperson saying it is 'examining legal action' to protect the famous car design.

 Slide me  Attack of the clones: A new Chinese automotive company has filed patents (left) for a compact battery-powered car - and it looks almost identical to the original Mini (right)

The patents were filed by a previously-unknown firm called Beijing Estech Technology, Car News China has revealed.

Details of the electric Mini rip-off are thin on the ground, though images show the familiar shape of the classic car with very little effort to make it appear different to the original.

Closer inspection of the renders reveals there is no exhaust pipe in the drawings of the vehicle, hinting at the plans for it be a zero-emission car.

Car News China says it thinks the electric motor is located in the front the battery pack built into the floor for optimum weight distribution - as is the case with most EVs hitting the market in recent years.

The leaked patent images will not amuse BMW, which has previously taken legal action against trademark infringements by Chinese brands - namely the Lifan Group and its Lifan 320, a Chinese supermini that closely resembled the modern-era Mini shape.

A spokesperson from Mini's parent group told classic car website Hagerty that it is 'examining legal action in connection with the targeted design protection of the classic Mini in China,' but refused to comment any further on the subject.

Launched in 1959 and designed by Alec Issigonis, the classic Mini revolutionised the automotive world and was produced at Oxford until 1968, before moving to Longbridge, near Birmingham, where it continued to be built until October 2000.

Between 1959 and 2000 more than 5.3 million classic Minis were built.

Patents have been filed by a previously-unknown firm called Beijing Estech Technology, Car News China revealed last week

Apart from not having an exhaust, it's almost impossible to tell the render images filed with the patent from the classic Mini

Sir Alec Issigonis created the original Mini in 1959. Between then and 2000 more than 5.3 million were built

The leaked patents come after BMW earlier this year launched its own official 'Recharged' electric conversion service for the classic Minis.

For an undisclosed fee, the Cowley factory - which is where the current BMW-Mini is built - will replace the original car's four-cylinder A-series engine with a powertrain of a 121bhp electric motor and battery. As a result it will accelerate to 62mph in 9 seconds and have a range of 99 miles.

While many will call it sacrilege, in stripping out the original car's motor, Mini says it will number and store the engine and removed parts, so that cars can be returned to their internal combustion originality if requested at a later date.

Other brands are also offering aftermarket kits. One of these is Swindon Powertrains, which specialises in dedicated electric powertrains for customers with donor Minis who want to convert them into EVs.

 Slide me  Details of the electric Mini rip-off (left) are thin on the ground, though images show the familiar shape of the classic car (right) with very little effort to make it appear different to the original

This is the prototype Mini project drawing by Alec Issigonis from 1958 that spawned one of Britain's most recognisable products of the century

The risk of taking on the Chinese copycat car makers

If BMW does choose to take the legal route, it could be a drawn out affair without guaranteed victory.

In recent years there have been various cases of Chinese courts taking the side of its copycat car makers accused of replicating existing design, having successfully claimed their creations are unique.

Arguably the highest profile case of a Western motor manufacturer taking on a Chinese company who it believed cloned one of its cars is Jaguar Land Rover's battle against Jiangling Motor Corporation - which had a happy ending for the British marque.

Jiangling Motor Corp had been producing an SUV called the X7 from 2015, which was almost a carbon copy of the Range Rover Evoque.

 Slide me  Spot the difference: On the left is the Landwind X7 and on the right the previous-generation Range Rover Evoque. The latter has just won a legal case against the Chinese brand for copying its design

 Slide me  With the two vehicles side-by-side, it's easy to see why Land Rover took legal action. However, major manufacturers had previously lost legal cases as courts have tend to rule in favour of the Chinese copycat firms

 Slide me  In previous copyright cases against Chinese brands, courts have backed home manufacturers and claimed their designs are different enough to legally pass as their own models. This latest result could set a precedent for other car makers to take the fight to copycat vehicle makers in Asia

Having taken legal action, JLR announced in 2019 that it had won the 'significant' case against the Chinese company after the Beijing Chaoyang District Court had decreed that the Evoque had five unique features that had been copied.

While the Evoque retailed for around 40,000 in China, its doppelganger has been on sale for half as much - around 14,000 - and had become a popular model in its home market.

As a result of the verdict, all sales, manufacturing and marketing of the Landwind vehicle were forced to cease with immediate effect.
The Volkswagen Group has today announced it has reached an out-of-court settlement with the group action representing car owners in England and Wales caught up in the Dieselgate scandal.

The German auto giant will pay 193million to the 91,000 motorists represented by law firms in the class action, which is the biggest to be brought before the English courts.

Volkswagen will make a separate contribution to cover claimants' legal costs and other fees, it added.

The case was due to go to trial next January.

Volkswagen today confirmed it has reached an out-of-court settlement with UK drivers impacted by the Dieselgate scandal worth 193million

The group action represents buyers in England and Wales of Volkswagen Group cars - including Audis, Seats and Skodas - with the EA189 diesel engine, which was found in September 2015 to emit more of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide than the company claimed.

The group action, which was launched in 2019, has been spearheaded by law firms Slater and Gordon, Leigh Day and PGMBM and reached the High Court in December last year for a five-day hearing.

It was created after the German car maker had originally refused to compensate owners of affected diesel models in the UK citing EU law.

The Volkswagen NOx Emissions Group Litigation was granted in 2020 after the High Court had ruled that emissions-testing software fitted to cars with the diesel engine had been designed to cheat emissions testing regimes, amounted to unlawful 'defeat devices'.

The group action has argued that dealerships had misled consumers during the purchase process as nitrogen dioxide levels were lowered under the lab conditions.

In a statement issued on Wednesday the Volkswagen Group said the settlement represents its efforts to 'rebuild the trust of customers in England and Wales'

The Volkswagen Group, which has already spent some 25billion globally on legal costs, compensation and vehicle buybacks since the Dieselgate scandal broke, today said an out-of-court settlement with UK drivers was 'the most prudent course of action commercially'.

What is 'Dieselgate' and what are 'defeat devices'? 'Dieselgate' began in September 2015 in the US when federal agency the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that many Volkswagen (VW) cars in America had a so-called 'defeat device' installed in diesel vehicles. Though full details of how the devices work were not revealed, the EPA claimed the vehicles had computer software which could sense when the car was being tested. A device for testing the emissions of cars in real driving situations is seen attached to the exhaust pipe of a car (stock image) A device for testing the emissions of cars in real driving situations is seen attached to the exhaust pipe of a car (stock image) They found that when in test conditions the 'defeat device' appeared to lower the vehicle's engine power and performance. But the EPA say that when the vehicle was out on the road it ran normally and engines emitted nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times above the legal limit in the US. Volkswagen later admitted that about 11 million cars worldwide, around three-quarters of which were in Europe, were fitted with the devices. VW's chief executive at the time, Martin Winterkorn, resigned, while VW launched an internal inquiry and recalled around 8.5million cars across Europe.

'No admissions in respect of liability, causation or loss have been made by any of the defendants in the group action as part of the settlement,' the vehicle manufacturer confirmed in an official statement.

'In Volkswagen's view, the legal costs of litigating this case to a six-month trial in England, and then in relation to any further appeals by either party, were such that settlement was the most prudent course of action commercially.'

It added that it is not participating in the distribution or allocation of the settlement amount, which will be 'allocated between the claimants in proportions agreed amongst the various claimant solicitors' firms and those from whom they take instructions'.

With legal fees covered by a separate contribution by Volkswagen, each of the 91,000 claimants look set to receive around 2,000.

One of the law firms leading the group action told us they were unable to disclose the exact amount and could only echo the official statement from the car giant.

'The Volkswagen Group would, once again, like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to their customers for the two mode software installed in the EA189 vehicles,' the statement continued.

'The Volkswagen Group will continue to work to rebuild the trust of their customers here in England and Wales. This settlement represents an important further stage in that process.'

Philip Haarmann, chief legal officer of Volkswagen AG, described the scandal as a 'deeply regrettable event' and said the settlement was 'another important milestone' in its wake.

Lawyers representing claimants in England and Wales said it had been the biggest consumer group action ever to be brought before the English courts.

The group action has argued that dealerships had misled consumers during the purchase process as nitrogen dioxide levels were lowered under the lab conditions

David Whitmore, boss of Slater and Gordon, commented: 'The settlement avoids the need for a lengthy, complex and expensive trial process and we are delighted to have achieved this settlement for our customers as a result of the group action.'

Its co-lead solicitor, Leigh Day, represented by Bozena Michalowska and Shazia Yamin, added: 'We are pleased that Volkswagen has repeated its sincere apology for the use of the prohibited two mode software.

'We are delighted that this case has finally been settled for our clients and the claimants in the NOx emissions litigation.

'We have been unwavering in our belief in our clients' case, that is why we have fought long and hard for this outcome. We are clear that it was in the interest of our clients to settle this early.'

Tony Winterburn, a partner and head of consumer protection litigation at PGMBM, who acted on behalf of more than 15,000 claimants, said: 'This is a good day for the Claimants and is the culmination of five years of hard-fought litigation.'

PGMBM client Haresh Kainth, 37, from Cambridge who bought an Audi A4 with the EA189 diesel engine, spoke of his relief at the case finally being concluded.

'I am glad that after six years VW have settled, and the matter is now resolved. It is a good day for all the claimants.'
On Friday last week, I received a rather excited call from the post room here at Daily Mail towers.

More than 1,000 letters had arrived for us in just three days.

When the crate made its way to my desk, it was immediately clear that every single envelope contained the coupon we had printed in the paper to gather support for our Pick up or Pay up campaign.

Your backing: We have received thousands of letters and emails supporting our 'Pick up or Pay up' campaign to impose fines of firms if they fail to pick up the phone within in ten minutes

Since then, two more crates of letters have arrived, along with hundreds of emails.

So when I said in my column last Wednesday that I had been amazed by your response to our campaign, I stand corrected. Consider me blown away.

In my ten years at Money Mail, I have never seen such overwhelming support  nor an overflowing postbag quite like this.

We are calling for a new consumer protection law that would see firms hit with hefty fines if they fail to pick up the phone within ten minutes.

We also want businesses to be made to publish their daily call wait times on their websites.

And its abundantly clear weve struck a nerve because thousands of you have now backed these demands in writing.

But its no wonder you are fed up. As revealed here, we have spent the past few weeks calling major companies to monitor their call wait times.

Yet its not only the length of time customers are being left on hold thats the issue. Just finding the right number to call is a challenge. Many websites refuse to reveal it unless you prove you cannot solve your problem online.

This means answering reams of questions  and dodging constant prompts to use the companys online chatbot service.

Virgin Media even had the cheek to remind customers online to only get in touch if you need to  I cant imagine many people are calling for fun.

Once you have found the telephone number, you are then required to press a tedious number of buttons before the wait to speak to a human even begins.

Many demand you key in your account details or speak into the phone before you can go any further.

And all the while an automated voice tells you again and again that your query could probably be answered online  which is particularly frustrating for the thousands of elderly and vulnerable people who dont use the internet.

HMRC even had the gall to ask if we wanted to engage in a customer service feedback survey before we had spoken to anyone.

Meanwhile, some firms are just hanging up on people. E.ON and BT both did this and then texted us to try to resolve our query.

Others just said we could not be put through due to a high volume of calls and that was that.

This is not customer service. Its a nightmare. So please keep your letters of support coming.

Offering to help

Once again, I have been left in awe of Money Mail readers generosity. Last week, I wrote in this column about a pensioner called James Scott who had lost a stone in weight because he cannot afford to eat more than two meals a day.

Since then, four readers have contacted me to say they were so saddened by the tale that they would like to send him some money.

One woman, Pippy, said: I felt compelled to write to ask if I may help in some way. I am by no means rich, just a granny in her 60s on disability allowance.

But I am fortunate to have enough income to cover my bills and food. It breaks my heart to know that in England, in the 21st century, we still have such poverty.

Another reader, Colin, added: Am I able to send a few quid to help James? Im a pensioner, too. I could help with 20 or 30 towards some food until this fuel crisis is correctly addressed.

Inspired by your kind words, I have donated the 150 council tax rebate I received last month on your behalf to the soup kitchen Amazing Grace in Blackpool, where James visits.

And the Daily Mail has agreed to top this up to 500. So thank you for your truly heart-warming emails.

v.bischoff@dailymail.co.uk
My father passed away in August last year and all the money due to the estate has been collected, with the exception of 56,986 from a Clerical Medical endowment savings bond.

Until the proceeds are received, I, as executor, cannot wind up the estate. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

DP, Ilkley, West Yorkshire

'Unacceptable': A reader was still waiting for Clerical Medical to pay out on her late father's savings bond more than six months after his death

Sally Hamilton replies: How frustrating that it has taken so long to arrange the last piece of the jigsaw needed to finalise your father's estate.

Paying out the proceeds of this endowment policy should not be complicated.

It is a fixed-term savings plan, with an element of life insurance. It should be a fairly routine process for the life insurers that sold the policy to arrange a payout on death.

Endowment policies work by savers making regular contributions to the plan, and then at the end of a chosen fixed term (usually between ten and 25 years) they are paid a lump sum. Its size will depend on stock market performance.

If savers die during the term, as your father did, the policy guarantees a minimum lump sum payment.

I gave Clerical Medical, which is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, a prod on your behalf.

I am pleased to say, within days, the 56,986 proceeds were sent to you, along with an extra 926, including 500 as an apology for the 'unacceptable' level of service and the rest interest covering the delay.

I am less than thrilled to report that a few days later, I had to intervene again, on behalf of another reader  G.H., from Bromley, Kent  who had been waiting far too long to receive an 18,000 payout from the Clerical Medical endowment policy she took out 30 years ago. It was designed to pay her interest-only mortgage at maturity.

She had managed to repay the mortgage in full in 1999 but had kept the endowment arrangement going as a savings plan.

Scam Watch Beware of fake emails purporting to be from energy watchdog Ofgem. Action Fraud warned last week it had received 752 reports of scammers posing as the regulator in just four days. The emails claim that customers are eligible for a rebate as a result of a newly announced government scheme. They include a link which then directs anyone who clicks on it to a fraudulent website designed to steal their personal details. Banks and organisations such as Ofgem will never ask you to share this type of information over email or text. If you have doubts about a message, ring or write to the company directly by using contact details on their website or any official paperwork it may have sent you.

But when the policy matured in January, Clerical Medical had her chasing NatWest to provide confirmation that the mortgage had been redeemed  a fact already confirmed by NatWest in writing in January 1999 (she has a copy of this document to prove it).

Despite this, her payment did not materialise and letters she wrote to various high-ranking executives at Lloyds Banking went unanswered. Even her financial adviser could not make headway with the firm.

Fed up with four months of chasing (during which time she had to halt work on her house as she had earmarked the policy proceeds for paying the tradesmen), she turned to me for help.

It's just as well her mortgage had been paid off, as I can't imagine a lender waiting so patiently to have a debt of this size repaid.

Anyway, once I got in touch with the company, the matter was quickly resolved and her 18,000 was released.

A Lloyds Banking spokesman said: 'We're sorry for the delay G.H. has experienced in processing her endowment policy.

'We have made contact to say sorry and confirm the policy amount has been paid.'

The company added 300 as an apology, plus 288 in interest.

It seems to me Clerical Medical's systems and customer service need some serious, clinical attention. I asked what was going wrong and what it was doing to cure the problem.

A spokesman says: 'We are sorry for the delays some customers have experienced. The levels of service have fallen short of our normal standards.

'We're working hard to improve this by recruiting and training more customer service staff, investing in our systems and simplifying our processes and procedures.'

Let's hope this treatment works  and quickly.

DWP won't return son's 482 overpayment

Please can you help me recover a duplicate repayment of Jobseeker's Allowance made to the Department for Work and Pensions.

My son received an overpayment of 482 because he applied for it, before realising he had been furloughed and did not need this benefit.

He received letters about returning the money but he has dyslexia, so letters and forms are a problem for him. I said I would deal with it and so posted a cheque to cover the overpayment to an office in Wolverhampton.

Unfortunately, in the same week my son received yet another demand for the repayment and, in a panic, thinking I hadn't paid it, he contacted the DWP and paid the money by phone. This left him very short of money.

The payments were made in early September 2021. Nearly nine months later and we have got nowhere, even after registering a complaint and sending many letters to the DWP, including one with evidence that my cheque was cashed on September 9.

D. D., Ayr.

Sally Hamilton replies: My inbox is awash with emails from readers who are owed money by a government department but are getting nowhere chasing the repayments on their own.

For the Department for Work and Pensions to be sitting on your cash for nine months is totally absurd.

You told me you worked as a civil servant for the department for 30 years and never encountered such poor service in all that time and suspect that the working-from-home arrangement has contributed to the blockage.

I asked the department to live up to its name and get to work on your complaint.

This was on a Monday and by the following Friday it had arranged for your son's money to be returned.

A DWP spokesman admitted an error  although did not explain what this was. I suspect there to be more than one.

However, he apologised for the distress and inconvenience caused to you and your son.

When I rang your home to check the 482 had been returned, your husband was delighted to confirm that it was in your son's bank account and that you were letting him keep it to put towards his wedding in June.

As a result, the occasion should be an even happier one than anticipated.

Straight to the point I am being bombarded with spam emails that appear to be from a firm called Shutterstock. Most claim I have won prizes and discounts. Apparently I have to log on to my account, which I don't have, to adjust my subscription settings? C. P., via email. Shutterstock did not respond to emails, so I resorted to contacting the firm on Twitter. Someone eventually confirmed that the emails you received were not sent by Shutterstock. Do not click on any links and block the sender's email address. *** My insurer is insisting it did not receive a 67.44 cheque I posted to renew my television cover. I have been with Domestic & General for years, so why is it messing me around now? G. W., Cardiff. A Domestic & General spokesman apologises and admits that an error meant your policy was not renewed even after it received your payment. It has rectified this by renewing your cover, refunding the 67.44 premium and sending you an additional 50 as a goodwill gesture. *** I ordered 3.07 of food at Barnstaple McDonald's drive-thru. I was told my card payment hadn't gone through, so I left and bought a sandwich at Tesco. But when I checked, I saw the money had been taken. R. D., Ilfracombe, Devon. Shortly after I contacted McDonald's you received a call from the Barnstaple branch. You were told that if you call in, the money will be refunded to your card and you will be offered a free meal.
Travellers heading to the US will pay an additional $7 (6) on their ESTA application from 26 May.

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization is used by the US to determine if inbound tourists are eligible to travel to the US using the Visa Waiver Program.

The price is going up from $14 (11) to $21 (17) at short notice and 80 per cent of that will go towards promotional costs, meaning inbound holidaymakers will be bearing the brunt of the US's tourism advertising.

It means a family of four will face an extra $28 to visit the US, or 22 - and in total it will cost $84 (67).

Price rise: The cost of an ESTA, which allows some tourists to travel to the US with a visa waiver, will now cost $21 per person

If you have a passport that will cover the timing of the trip to the US and are planning in the next two years, you can apply for an ESTA today to dodge the price rise.

Currently, $4 of the ESTA charge pays for the running of the system, while the other $10 used to promote tourism to the US.

The change to pricing was originally authorised in 2019, but was put on pause during the Covid pandemic.

From 26 May, the additional $7 dollar charge will be added to help pay for more US tourism promotion, making up $17 per application.

The US has maintained some of the strictest travel requirements for Covid and continue to require visitors to provide a negative test taken no more than one day before their travel date - regardless of vaccination status.

This means travellers are still expected to pay for private Covid tests, which can set you back an additional 20 per person at the lowest cost, and upwards of 89 for rapid testing.

It means all-in-all, a family of four face currently face an outlay of at least 147 to enter the US (those aged under 2 do not require a Covid test pre-departure).

But, the US Customs and Border Protection, which administers the scheme and collects the fees, said that the increase in fee is small when you factor in the entire price of your holiday and travel costs.

Its spokesperson said: 'Up to $100m of fee revenue goes to the Travel Promotion Fund.

'As the $7 fee increase is relatively small compared to costs involved to travel to the US, CBP anticipates that the fee increase will not adversely affect travel to the US.'

There are 40 countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program. It allows travellers to enter the US for up to 90 days without the need for a visa and it lasts two years.

Next year, Europe is introducing its own similar ESTA-style system, which will mean a fee for Britons heading to mainland Europe.

The European Travel Information and Authorization System will be mandatory for travellers and is likely to have a 7 fee.

When applying for an ESTA, it is important to use the official US Customs and Boarder Protection website.

A search online for ESTA can throw up websites that charge you a premium for a relatively straightforward task.
A British baby milk business has stepped up to help ease a shortage of the formula in the US which has seen families scrambling for ways to feed children.

Kendamil, the baby milk brand the Royal Family used to wean Prince Louis of Cambridge, will take part in President Joe Bidens Operation Fly Formula initiative to ease the crisis.

The brands owner, the Cumbria-based family-owned Kendal Nutricare, will ship 100 truckloads of product to the US in the next six months.

Kendamil, the baby milk brand the Royal Family used to wean Prince Louis of Cambridge, will take part in President Bidens Operation Fly Formula initiative

Mothers in the US have described a nightmare situation in which almost half of the product, used for bottle feeding babies less than a year old, is out of stock at major retailers.

Baby formula businesses in the US have been grappling with supply chain disruption linked to Covid but the crisis was sparked by the closure of a massive plant in Michigan over a product recall.

Biden launched Operation Fly Formula to get formula to stores as soon as possible. Kendamil launched talks with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since the crisis erupted after an intervention from Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Its Kendal factory is capable of producing 10m 900g cans of formula every year, which it plans to double by 2024 in the wake of soaring demand in the US.

Chief executive Ross McMahon said: We have received the call for assistance from the FDA and Kendamil stands ready to act.
Two London-listed firms have joined Kendamil in efforts to help relieve the ongoing baby formula shortage in the US.

Following US President Joe Biden's calls to help alleviate the crisis via Operation Fly Formula, Danone SA has been doubling shipments to the country while Reckitt has been in talks with regulators in efforts to increase supply, according to reports.

Covid-driven supply chain disruption has hampered domestic formula supply in the US, exacerbating a crisis brought on by the closure of an Abbot Laboratories plant in Michigan over a product recall in February.

US families face empty shelves after Covid-linked supply disruption exacerbated a shortage caused by the closure of an Abbot Laboratories plant in Michigan in February

Biden launched Operation Fly Formula to get formula to stores as soon as possible.

As US families face a nightmare scenario whereby almost half of the product is out of stock at major retailers, Kendamil joined the Operation Fly Formula initiative on Tuesday.

The brand's owner, the Cumbria-based family-owned Kendal Nutricare, will ship 100 truckloads of product to the US in the next six months.

Now, Enfamil-maker Reckitt has revealed it is working 'extremely closely' with the US Food & Drug Administration on ways to increase supply to the country, including speeding up the approval of products made at a facility in Mexico.

Reckitt's senior vice president of North America and Europe nutrition Robert Cleveland told Reuters: 'Accelerating this process, while still ensuring high safety and quality standards, would allow us to significantly increase supply to US consumers.'

The Slough-headquartered firm, which supplies roughly half the US baby formula market, is also working with the US Department of Agriculture to expand the availability of formula under programmes for low-income families.

Meanwhile, Paris-based Danone SA is understood to have been doubling US shipments of Neocate formula, which is for infants allergic to cow's milk, the firm told Reuters.

Danone's vice president general counsel of specialised nutrition Magdalena Broseta said: 'We have increased our supply for Neocate everywhere...the Abbott recall affected 38 marketsit's not only the US.

'Our factory in Europe is serving multiple markets...of course, the numbers and the volumes and the US are bigger just because of the size of the market.'

Danone, which has its main listing on Euronext Paris, is the world's second-biggest baby formula maker after Nestle but has a US market share of just 5 per cent.
Since Money Mail launched its Pick Up Or Pay Up campaign, businesses have fought back furiously against claims their customers are forced to spend hours on hold.

Big names, including Scottish Power, BT and Santander, insist their callers typically wait no longer than five minutes before speaking to a human.

Yet we know the average wait times claimed by major firms simply don't mirror reality for many of our readers.

Swamped: Money Mails Helena Kelly with some of your letters supporting our Pick Up Or Pay Up campaign

In the past week alone, we received thousands of letters from people backing our campaign to fine firms that don't pick up the phone within ten minutes.

So why do companies' advertised average call-wait times differ so much from what you are experiencing?

To put their assertions to the test, we carried out an audit of nine of the worst offenders highlighted by readers.

Over the past three weeks, we called each firm on three occasions, at various times and on different days, including at weekends.

We then compared the time it took for us to speak to someone with the average call-wait time provided by the company.

The result? Somewhat predictably, we struggled to get through to human beings.

We called Santander late on a Friday afternoon and were left on hold for 41 minutes. This is about nine times longer than the bank's supposed average wait time of four minutes and 48 seconds, which was calculated from its wait times two weeks ago.

When we tried Scottish Power last Tuesday morning, it took us 36 minutes to get through. Yet the energy giant claims customers spend an average of between four and five minutes on hold.

When we called BT on a Monday afternoon, it took 18 minutes for someone to answer.

According to Ofcom, the telecoms company answers within 55 seconds. But when Money Mail asked BT for its average wait time, a spokesman said three quarters of calls are answered within 60 seconds and outside of this, customers are still waiting 'less than three minutes'.

In fact, for six of the nine firms we tried, the average wait time we calculated was considerably longer than ten minutes. And for almost every company, our average was much longer than its own claimed wait time.

E.on, for example, says its typical call-wait time is 'significantly less than ten minutes'. Yet the average of our three attempts was 18 minutes and 36 seconds.

Only Barclays' claimed average call-wait time of four minutes and 30 seconds came close to matching what we found.

'Businesses have quiet periods and these are accounted for in their averages,' says Martyn James, of complaints service Revolver.

'But also lots of companies disconnect customers immediately if they have a high volume of calls. Are they including these calls in their averages? Companies should be transparent about this.'

We found the busiest times for all firms seemed to be between 10am and 3pm on weekdays. We had more success ringing after 4pm and at weekends.

We tried both Scottish Power and E.on at 4.30pm on a Wednesday afternoon and were able to get through within two minutes.

Calling on a Sunday proved especially quick. BT picked up in 11 seconds and we got through to British Airways within two minutes, after weeks of trying.

However, many companies close their phone lines at weekends  despite this being the optimum time for customers to call.

British Gas, Scottish Power and E.on, for example, are not open on Sundays and most offer a reduced service on Saturdays.

Peak times: We found the busiest times for all firms seemed to be between 10am and 3pm on weekdays. We had more success ringing after 4pm and at weekends

Campaigners say that, given the scale of the energy crisis, these firms should invest in extending their opening times.

Peter Smith, of National Energy Action, adds: 'Energy suppliers are central to tackling the impact of the energy crisis and it's essential their most vulnerable customers are able to get in touch.

'This means ensuring call centres are adequately resourced.'

Many companies also close their helplines at 6pm during the week, which is no use to those who can't call during the working day.

Some offer a 24-hour service, which could mean average wait times are skewed if they are including calls made during the middle of the night.

Most firms told us their call-waiting times are measured from the minute the customer is officially put 'on hold' to the time they get through.

This means they don't include the time spent clicking through various options asking about the nature of your query  but we did.

And we found some businesses are not putting customers through at all. During our four attempts to speak to British Airways in the week, an automated voice said: 'We cannot take your call right now as we are experiencing a high volume of calls'. Then the line went dead.

Both the DVLA and HM Passport Office did the same thing.

Scottish Power and E.on say the energy crisis means they are experiencing particularly high call volumes, while British Gas and HMRC insist they are recruiting extra customer service staff.

Santander and Jet2 also say they have experienced heightened pressure on their phone lines.

British Airways has urged customers to try to call during quieter periods, 'such as mornings or weekends'. BT says there is a variation between wait times for different functions.

h.kelly@dailymail.co.uk
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A group of the UK's most influential black leaders including a former trustee of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's foundation have launched a new group to advance justice and equality for black people.

The Black Equity Organisation (BEO) is the UK's first national and independent civil-rights group and features former Sussex Royal Foundation director Karen Blackett among its 12 trustees.

Ms Blackett is the UKs top advertising executive as country manager of WPP and was involved with the Sussexes when they set up their own foundation in 2019 after splitting from their joint charity with Prince William and Kate.

Among the other BEO trustees is historian Professor David Olusoga who gave testimony at the 'Colston Four' trial after siding with the Black Lives Matter protesters who pulled down the statue to the 17th century slaver in Bristol.

Further trustees of the new organisation are former Casualty actor Kwame Kwei-Armah, who is now the Young Vic's artistic director, Labour MP David Lammy and Conservatives Against Racism co-funder Siobhan Aarons.

The launch of the London-based group which is registered with the Charity Commission coincides with the second anniversary of George Floyd's murder, which sparked the Black Lives Matter anti-racism protests globally.

The 12 trustees of the newly-created Black Equity Organisation are (top row, from left) Siobhan Aarons; David Olusoga OBE; David Lammy MP; Yvonne Field; (centre row, from left) Karen Blackett OBE; Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE; Dame Vivian Hunt DBE; Mark Boisson; (bottom row, from left) Athian Akec; Ric Lewis; Michelle Daley and Marcia Willis Stewart QC

Former Sussex Royal Foundation trustee Karen Blackett (left) and historian David Olusoga (right) are both involved in the BEO

Labour MP David Lammy (pictured in Brighton last September) is another of the 12 trustees for the Black Equity Organisation

Another BEO trustee is Kwame Kwei-Armah (left), the Young Vic's artistic director who was previously in Casualty (right)

A video was released to mark the launch, voiced by Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh (above) who also used to be in Casualty

Chairman of the trustees, Dame Vivian Hunt, said given the cost-of-living crisis it is 'more urgent than ever we have a voice for black Britons'. She said: 'The George Floyd anniversary is significant because it really was a tragic event that resulted in a real global response.

'Technology meant that we all saw the videos and the injustice in real time and the reaction that you saw across the streets of Britain and all around the world was a very human reaction to human rights violations, and particular recognition that we simply haven't done enough around black people's lived experience.

Who are the 12 trustees helping to launch Black Equity Organisation? Siobhan Aarons: Chair of the UK automotive trade bodys International Trade Working Group, co-founder of Conservatives Against Racism and school governor

Chair Athian Akec: Young historian, writer and speaker who was a special advisor to a Parliamentary inquiry into teaching of black history in British schools

Karen Blackett OBE: UKs top advertising executive as country manager of agency WPP and former director of Harry and Meghan's Sussex Royal Foundation

Mark Boisson: Accountant who is finance and resources director for Hackney Council for Voluntary Service, and treasurer of Hackney Foodbank

Accountant who is finance and resources director for Hackney Council for Voluntary Service, and treasurer of Hackney Foodbank Michelle Daley: Activist on disability justice who has researched the experiences of enslaved African disabled people for the Greater London Authority

Yvonne Field: Chief executive and founder of social enterprise The Ubele Initiative who is a fellow of the Institute for Learning and Royal Society of Arts

Dame Vivian Hunt DBE: Senior partner for consulting firm McKinsey & Company and chair of the charity Teach First who is on the British Museum's board

Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE : Former Casualty actor who is now artistic director of the Young Vic theatre and was awarded OBE for services to drama in 2011

David Lammy MP: Labour Party politician who has been MP for Tottenham since 2000 and is now shadow foreign secretary under Keir Starmer

Ric Lewis: Founding partner of property investment firm Tristan Capital Partners, and founder and chairman of the Black Heart Foundation charity

David Olusoga OBE: Bafta-winning TV historian who is a professor at the University of Manchester and presents the BBC's A House Through Time

Marcia Willis Stewart QC (Hon): Managing partner at legal aid practice Birnberg Peirce Solicitors who acted for the family of Jean Charles de Menezes Advertisement

'I was really struck that the protests, response and empathy in the UK were not only black Britons.

'There were people from all walks of life, huge amounts of young people, and a real response at a human level to the injustices that black Britons continue to face.

'For me, that moment two years ago was a real awakening of how deeply engaged every household is around fairness and equality of opportunity.

'Everybody wants the same things for their children, black families in Britain are not any different than any other family - they want good schools, access to health care, housing support when they need it and access to justice if they feel they've been treated unfairly or have a case.

'It reminded me of how universal the need is to reduce racism and really attack systemic racism.'

In July 2020, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy chaired a call with Dame Vivian and a host of the UK's most influential black leaders to lament the 'lack of a national unified voice' to respond to injustices and 'tear down institutionally racist systems'.

Dame Vivian said: 'We decided to launch an independent national black civil rights organisation to dismantle patterns of systemic racism in Britain and really drive generational change, so that the lived experience of black Britons and all Britons improves.'

A campaign video called Change Is Here was released today to mark the launch, voiced by Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh. The clip was described as 'powerful' by London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Twitter today.

It includes images taken by photographer Misan Harriman, the first black man to shoot a cover of British Vogue.

Dame Vivian said BEO will be working in collaboration with grassroot groups who have the 'experience' to address the issues, but not the scale.

She said: 'These issues are not new. However, we lacked national scale of impact in addressing them, which is why they still exist.

'Particularly now as we go into the biggest living crisis that we will probably face in our generation, many black families who on average are more exposed to all disruptions in jobs and fragile work, disruptions because of health and Covid, disruptions because of low-quality rent, housing fragility, never mind the fragility in education.

'It is more urgent than ever that we have a voice for black Britons.'

As well as aiming to improve health, education, housing and representation across society, Dame Vivian said BEO will work on access to justice and economic empowerment.

One of two handout stills from a video issued by Black Equity Organisation from their campaign video titled Change Is Here

The other handout still from a video issued by Black Equity Organisation from their campaign video titled Change Is Here

Demonstrators hold signs depicting George Floyd during a protest against racial inequality in New York on June 13, 2020

The financially independent organisation began by raising funds from black British philanthropists so that their 'founding story is rooted in black British philanthropy - the black community helping itself'.

Dame Vivian said: 'We remain independent of governments so that we can challenge and help the government of the day work on issues of access for black Britons and you can't do that if you're not financially independent - so that we can do the work without fear or favour.'

She added that although there has been change over the last 10 years, 'we need to see more progress'.

Dame Vivian also said it is encouraging to see 'so much excellence' in the black British community, like Formula One star Sir Lewis Hamilton, Brit-award winning musician Dave and make-up artist Dame Pat McGrath.


Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton trounced his rival George P. Bush in a runoff election Tuesday even while facing fraud allegations, taking down the last elected member of the storied family in its political stronghold.

Paxton achieved the win despite facing a slew of legal problems, including an FBI investigation and a trial on securities fraud charges.

Paxton, a Donald Trump ally who backed the former president's election overturn effort when he filed a suit with the Supreme Court in 2020, held a commanding two-to-one lead  68 to 32 per cent  with more than two-thirds of the vote in Tuesday night.

Bush is the only member of his famous family still in office, but the loss means he will now exit in January. That will leave the Bush dynasty out of elected office for one of the few times in the last 40 years.

Trump has repeatedly railed against the Bush family, but George P. Bush embraced Trump's ideas on the campaign trail, including a vow to 'finish the Trump wall.'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton trounced Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush in a runoff election Tuesday

The coming end of the Bush era - at least for now - came at the hands of a two-term incumbent still dogged by a 2015 felony indictment and a separate FBI investigation into accusation of corruption.

But importantly in Texas, Paxton had the backing of former President Donald Trump, who has mocked and antagonized the Bush family on his way to taking their mantle as the GOPs standard-bearer.

Paxton, who has denied wrongdoing, is now within reach of a third term in Texas, where a Democrat hasnt won statewide office in nearly 30 years. More recently, the State Bar of Texas is weighing possible reprimands against Paxton over his baseless attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Paxton had bested Bush by more than 20 points in a March primary, but fell short of the needed 50 percent vote threshhold.

It was one of two closely watched primary runoffs in Texas: On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, one of the last anti-abortion Democrats in Congress, was in the fight of his political career against Jessica Cisneros, who supports abortion rights.

FILE - Republican Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush makes a campaign stop, Feb. 10, 2022, in Austin, Texas. Bush is running for attorney general in Texas' Republican primary runoff election against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, flanked by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone, speaks during a news conference after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in President Joe Biden's bid to rescind a Trump-era immigration policy that forced migrants to stay in Mexico to await U.S. hearings on their asylum claims, in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2022

Cisneros was leading by a narrow 52-48 per cent margin with more than 70 per cent of the vote in Tuesday night.

The FBI raided Cuellar's Laredo home in January. The lawmaker denied wrongdoing.

Despite finishing second in Marchs four-way primary, Bush trailed Paxton by 20 points. The wide gap underscored Paxtons continued political durability and showed how much ground the 46-year-old scion of the Bush political dynasty needed to make up with GOP voters in Texas, where his uncle, former President George W. Bush, was once governor and his late grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush, was a congressman and longtime Houston resident.

But the Bushes influence in the GOP is not what it once was. Two years ago, Pierce Bush, a cousin of George P. Bush, became the first member of his family to lose a race in Texas in 40 years in a failed run for Congress in Houston.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, a 17-year incumbent, was facing a close runoff race against progressive Jessica Cisneros

Democrats think they have a shot at winning against the ultra conservative.

Former ACLU lawyer Rochelle Garza and former Galveston mayor Joe Jaworski were vying for the Democratic AG nomination. Garza was leading 61-38 with more than half the vote in.

When U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas last week became a rare top Republican to publicly criticize Paxton, calling his long-running and unresolved criminal case an 'embarrassment,' Paxton shot back by aligning him with the Bushes.

'Im not shocked by the Senators comments. He represents the Bush wing of the GOP,' Paxton tweeted.

Greg Pinn, 41, of Dallas, decided to vote in the Republican primary 'solely' to vote against Paxton. He said that while he wasnt fond of George P. Bush, 'no one is worse than Ken Paxton.'

'The attorney general of Texas at least shouldnt be an actual criminal, hes got to be somewhat better than that,' Pinn said.

In the final weeks of the campaign, Bush has ratcheted up his attacks on Paxtons legal troubles, running ads that highlighted the unresolved indictments and FBI investigation and called him unfit for office.

'This race isnt about my last name,' Bush says in one ad. 'Its about Ken Paxtons crimes.'

Voter Suzanne Grishman, 54, wasnt deterred by the attorney generals indictment or the ongoing FBI investigation. 'I believe people are innocent until proven guilty,' she said.

Grishman said she cast a ballot for Paxton in Dallas because she appreciates his 'very bold stances' and because 'he has a proven track-record of following the Constitution and the laws of the land and individual rights and freedoms for Americans and Texans.'
This is the horrifying moment a man who had bravely intervened to stop a 'berserk' dog from attacking commuters in South London is mauled by the savage animal as it turns on him.

Video filmed by locals in flats overlooking New Malden railway station in Kingston-upon-Thames shows the moment the 'irresponsible' dog owner lets go of one of her leads as it tears free from her grasp.

Witnesses said a man in a vest tried to restrain the animal as it attacked another person at around 6.45pm on Friday.

He then tried in vain to escape but was caught by the dog which clamps onto one of his thrashing legs. Eventually he managed to grab hold of the leash and get his knee on the beast's back to subdue it.

The man had initially intervened to stop the dog from from attacking commuters around New Malden station in south London

But the savage animal then turned on him, with footage of the horrifying incident from flats above

The dog attack took place at New Malden railway station in Kingston-upon-Thames, London

Officers seized the dog following the attack, and its 22-year-old owner was arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control. She was released and remains under investigation.

British Transport Police (BTP) said two people suffered injuries in the attack, with one hospitalised and needing stitches to their arms and legs.

A witness told The Evening Standard: 'I had another neighbour say that these same dogs have attacked a little dog in Beverley Park in the past so this didn't seem the first incident.

'Their owner should have them muzzled if that was true. The owner was irresponsible, it doesn't look like the dogs have any training at all.'

A BTP spokesman told MailOnline: 'British Transport Police were called to New Malden railway station at 6.42pm on 20 May following reports of a dog attacking members of the public.

'Paramedics also attended and one person was taken to a local hospital for treatment, he has since been released after receiving stitches. A second person was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

'A 22-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control and conveyed to police custody. She has been released under investigation.'
Billionaire financier George Soros said on Tuesday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine may have been the beginning of World War Three and the best way to preserve free civilisation was for the West to defeat President Vladimir Putin's forces.

Soros, 91, a legendary hedge fund manager who earned fame by betting against the pound in 1992, cast the Ukraine war as part of a broader struggle between open societies and closed societies such as China and Russia which were in the ascent.

'The invasion may have been the beginning of the Third World War and our civilization may not survive it,' Soros told Davos, according to a text of his speech released by his office.

'The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible. That's the bottom line.'

Soros said that Putin, who says the 'special operation' in Ukraine is going to plan and will achieve all the Kremlin's aims, now believed the invasion was a mistake and was preparing to negotiate a ceasefire.

Hungarian-born US investor and philanthropist George Soros was speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos Davos

Soros argues the best way to preserve civilisation is to defeat Vladimir Putin as soon as possible

Putin and his proxies have been threatening the West with nuclear war since the invasion started at Soros thinks the chances of it increase as Putin gets weaker and becomes more unpredictable

Pictured: A destroyed residential area in Irpin, near Kyiv. The Russian invasion of Ukraine may be the start of World War Three, Soros fears

'But the ceasefire is unattainable because he cannot be trusted,' Soros said. 'The weaker Putin gets the more unpredictable he becomes.'

Soros said the European Union had to understand that Putin could turn off Russian natural gas, which currently accounts for about 40% of Europe's needs, 'while it really hurts'.

Russia's Feb 24 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more and raised fears of the most serious confrontation between Russia and the United States since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Putin says the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia through NATO enlargement and Moscow had to defend against the persecution of Russian-speaking people.

Ukraine and its Western allies reject these as baseless pretexts to invade a sovereign country.

'I can't predict the outcome, but Ukraine certainly has a fighting chance,' Soros said.

Soros cast Russia, by far the world's biggest country by area, and China, the world's second largest economy, as the leading members of a group of ascendant 'closed societies' where the individual was subservient to the state.

Echoing US President Joe Biden, who has said the West is locked in a battle with autocratic governments, Soros also added some pessimism.

'Repressive regimes are now in the ascendant and open societies are under siege,' Soros said. 'Today China and Russia present the greatest threat to open society.'

Soros said digital technology, especially artificial intelligence, had helped China to collect personal data for the surveillance and control of its citizens more aggressively than ever before.

Chinese officials dismiss foreign criticism as clouded by outdated colonial thinking. Such officials laud the Communist Party for throwing off foreign oppressors and rebuilding China by lifting 800 million people out of poverty.

George Soros said: 'Today China and Russia present the greatest threat to open society' when speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Pictured: Chinese President Xi Jinping chairs the ASEAN-China Special Summit on Nov 22, 2021

Russian state propaganda has regularly visualised nuclear strikes against the United Kingdom

Soros criticised President Xi Jinping's 'zero-COVID' strategy, saying it had failed and tipped Shanghai towards 'the verge of open rebellion.'

Along with the COVID policy, Soros said Xi had made a series of mistakes which could cost him significant influence as the Communist Party prepares for a decision on awarding him a precedent-breaking third term.

'Contrary to general expectations Xi Jinping may not get his coveted third term because of the mistakes he has made,' Soros said. 'But even if he does, the Politburo may not give him a free hand to select the members of the next Politburo.' (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
A prominent council in a Sydney affluent area has responded to widespread outrage over accusations the mayor scrapped the national anthem at citizenship ceremonies.

Advance Australia Fair had been performed at North Sydney Council's weekly citizenship ceremonies for at least a decade until it was allegedly axed by independent mayor Zoe Baker when she was elected earlier this year.

Her predecessor Jilly Gibson proposed a motion at Monday night's meeting calling for North Sydney, in line with other Sydney councils to promptly return to 'full citizenship ceremonies including the singing of the national anthem', which was defeated.

A council spokeswoman denied the anthem has been axed at its new event model and said councillors had voted against Cr Gibsons motion to return to larger ceremonies held pre-Covid.

The singing of the Advance Australia Fair is a ritual at citizenship ceremonies across Australia

The anthem is one of several national symbols that should be present at citizenship ceremonies, according to the federal government's guidelines for the event.

Cr Gibson doesn't know why the mayor scrapped the national anthem when she was elected in January.

Cr Baker is part of the Real Independents, which earlier this year called for Australia Day to be abolished and described the public holiday as a day of mourning.

Poll Should the council reverse its decision to not play the anthem at citizenship ceremonies? Yes No Should the council reverse its decision to not play the anthem at citizenship ceremonies? Yes 173 votes

No 7 votes Now share your opinion





'It's extreme cancel culture,' Cr Gibson told Daily Mail Australia.

'If you can't sing the national anthem when you've just become an Australian citizen, then when can you?'

'This is a day and big moment for new Australians and shouldn't be used as an opportunity for the mayor to push her personal ideologies.'

Cr Gibson said the playing of the anthem was a proud moment for attendees at the end of each ceremony.

'It was an always emotional moment when where I'd urge everyone to sing loudly and proudly,' she said.

North Sydney mayor Zoe Baker (pictured) has scrapped the anthem at citizenship ceremonies

2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham said North Sydney Council should be ashamed of itself.

'It used to be an emotional moment for everyone involved, they'd sing the words loud and proud in their first moments as Australian citizens,' he told listeners on Wednesday.

'But suddenly the national anthem has disappeared. I would love for Zoe Baker to explain why as this is meant to happen all over Australia.'

'I know this isn't an earth shattering decision but it's another crazy development in the crazy world of cancel culture.'

Fordham ended his rant with a message to the mayor and other 'woke' councillors who voted against Cr Gibson's motion for the anthem to be reinstated.

'When people ask you to focus on rates, roads and rubbish, the rubbish isn't meant to be this type of garbage,' he said.

The council previously held large citizenship ceremonies and invited a choir to lead the national anthem before the Department of Home Affairs temporarily banned singing at ceremonies last year as a Covid-19 measure.

Former North Sydney mayor Jilly Gibson (pictured right with new citizens) lodged a motion for the anthem to be reinstated but was overruled

'With the move to smaller ceremonies, council has not reintroduced a live choir, but has procured a video of the anthem which is now being played at the ceremony,' a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

'New citizens are invited to sing along and are provided with the lyrics in a booklet.

'Council has had positive feedback about the smaller ceremonies which new citizens find less intimidating and more friendly.

'The majority of councillors did not vote against singing the national anthem. They voted against Cr Gibsons notice of motion to return to larger ceremonies because they recognise the new model is safer and appreciated by the new citizens.

Cr Baker contacted 2GB to claim the anthem is still performed at citizenship ceremonies, a claim Cr Gibson denied to Daily Mail Australia.

'That's simply not true, it hasn't been played at ceremonies I've attended,' she said.

Almost 18 months ago, Australia changed a word in its national anthem after critics argued the line 'we are young and free' was disrespectful to Aboriginal history.

Advance Australia Fair is one of several national symbols that should be present at citizenship ceremonies, according to the federal government. Pictured is former Prime Minister Scott Morrison with new Australian citizens

Then Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on New Year's Eve 2020 that the second line of the anthem, Advance Australia Fair, had been changed from 'for we are young and free' to 'for we are one and free'.

The critics had long claimed describing Australia as a 'young nation' overlooks the fact that Aboriginal people have lived on the continent for centuries.

'It is time to ensure this great unity is reflected more fully in our national anthem,' Mr Morrison said.

'It recognises the distance we have travelled as a nation. It recognises our national story is drawn from more than 300 national ancestries and language groups and we are the most successful multicultural nation on earth,'
Detectives are poring through a long list of alleged 'dial-a-dealer' drug syndicate customers after seizing 36 phones during massive raids across Sydney.

One phone alone had 700 alleged customers on it - all of whom can expect to be contacted by investigators.

NSW Police say they are confident they've shut down the alleged Alameddine crime network after 18 men - all believed to be low and mid-level associates - were arrested on Tuesday morning in Sydney's south-west.

The blitz follows a 10-month-long investigation into the organised crime group. Police said the raids have now brought down a major player in the NSW drug trade.

Some of the alleged dealers raked in more than $250,000 a week in alleged drug sales.

NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Paul Toole alleged the 700 numbers on one particular phone 'were being used to go to suppliers and to dealers in relation to drugs'.

Eighteen men were arrested on Tuesday when police raided properties allegedly involve in a 'dial-a-dealer' syndicate in Sydney's southwest

An accused member of the Alameddine crime crew was dragged out of his house by police in just a pair of Bonds underwear during raids in Sydney on Tuesday

'I think it's certainly a huge breakthrough yesterday,' he told The Today Show on Wednesday.

'Just by the number of arrests that were made. And just the number of telephones that have actually been collected. This is giving our police more information, more data, more intelligence, as well.

'When you have a phone there that has been dealing and it could make around $250,000 a week, that's just incredible.

'And this is dealing with drugs. We're not just talking about a small portion of drugs, we're talking a smorgasbord of drugs that were actually found in the last couple of days.'

Cocaine, MDMA, ecstasy, cannabis, stacks of cash and luxury watches and jewellery were all found during the raids on Tuesday morning.

The 18 men arrested will be charged with crimes including drug supply, firearm, dealing with the proceeds of crime and direct or participate in a criminal group.

Dramatic footage shows police ramming down the doors of several homes, before the alleged crooks were taken away in handcuffs - one wearing just his undies.

The alleged dial-a-dealer syndicate utilised 36 phones, some raking in more than $250,000 a week in alleged drug sales

One phone with 700 contacts in it was seized during the raids in Sydney's southwest on Tuesday

The raids were carried out in Sydney suburbs Guildford, Merrylands, Chester Hill, South Granville, Casula, Yagoona and Wentworthville.

Among the arrested men were Rafat Alameddine's brother-in-law, Assaad Alahmad.

Trent Jeske, another alleged mid-ranking member of the group, was also arrested.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she was confident police had 'cut the head off the snake', shutting down the syndicate altogether.

She said those arrested on Tuesday didn't appear to be employed but 'displayed considerable wealth'.

More arrests are expected to be made in the coming days.

Tuesday's raids follow a string of fatal shootings around Sydney.

In the past 18 months there's been 14 people killed on suburban streets in gang violence in the city's west and southwest.

Three executions have occurred in recent weeks.

The latest shooting occurred on May 14 when Rami Iskander, the nephew of slain gangland figure Mahmoud 'Brownie' Ahmad, was shot dead at his western Sydney home.

Iskander, 23, was shot in the chest in front of his pregnant wife and two-year-old child at his home on Knox Street at Belmore.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she was confident police had 'cut the head off the snake', shutting down the syndicate altogether

A new taskforce has been set up to investigate the fatal shooting of Rami Iskander, 23. Taskforce Erebus helped coordinate the raids of 20 properties across Sydney this week

Tarek Zahed (seated) and his brother Omar (standing) were gunned down outside a gym in Sydney's west earlier this month

The young father was killed just weeks after his uncle Ahmad was sprayed with bullets outside a Greenacre home on April 27 after a $1million bounty was placed on his head.

Earlier this month Comanchero boss Tarek, 41, and his brother Omar Zahed, 39, were gunned down while leaving a BodyFit gym on Parramatta Road in Auburn, western Sydney, on Tuesday.

Omar died at the scene while his older brother was rushed to hospital fighting for life after suffering ten bullet wounds to his head and body.

The attack has left Tarek almost completely blind.

Police had told the brothers as recently as May 5 that their lives were at risk but their warnings went unheeded.

Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said police are investigating possible motives for the assassination attempt, refusing to rule out the possibility of an inside job.

Police sources claim the Comanchero are in bed with the Alameddine crime family.

By extension, the Alameddines' rivals the Hamzy family are considered enemies of the Comancheros.
Active shootings in the US have almost doubled in the last five years, from 31 in 2017 to 61 in 2021, new FBI figures revealed, as a Texas elementary school became the latest to witness a gun massacre.

In 2021, there were 61 active shooters, who killed 103 people and wounded another 140. This does not include any shooters themselves also killed while carrying out their crimes, according to the bureau's count.

In the first year of the pandemic, only 40 gun-crazed maniacs opened fire on public spaces - killing 38 people and injuring 126 more - up from 30 such armed frenzies in 2019 and 2018 and 31 in 2017.

The bureau's report eerily came out the day before a gunman killed 14 children and one teacher in a Texas school and a week after an 18-year-old white supremacist murdered 11 people in a Buffalo, New York supermarket.

There's been a 97 percent spike in mass shootings from 2017 to 2021 and exactly a 52.5 percent increase since last year.

The FBI defines 'active shooters' as one or more people who try to kill a population with a firearm.

A wounded Boulder, Colorado gunman is pictured being escorted from the scene by the police after being shot

Ahmad Alissa, 22, killed 10 people March shooting at a crowded King Soopers store grocery in Boulder, Colorado

Casualties, which includes the dead and wounded, was far higher in 2021 - 243- than it was in 2020 - 164, a nearly 50 percent increase.

There were active shooters in 30 states last year, according to the Feds report, up from 19 states in 2021. California had six mass shootings, followed by Georgia and Texas with five each. Colorado and Florida had four and Michigan, North Carolina and Tennessee each had three.

The vast majority of spree killers were men, 60 out of 61 shooters, and the ages ranged from 12 to 67. Half of those who opened fire were taken alive by police, 14 were killed by law enforcement, 11 died by suicide, 4 were shot by armed civilians and one died in a high speed chase with police.

'The U.S. is in the midst of a multiyear trend where we are experiencing an increase in mass shooters who are seeking to advance their ideological beliefs or based on a perceived personal grievance,' John Cohen, former undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security told ABC News. 'A growing subset of our population believes that violence is an acceptable way to express one's ideological beliefs or seek redress for a perceived personal grievance.'

The reasons for the killing spree was not addressed by the FBI.

'These reports were not intended to explore all facets of active shooter incidents but rather intended to provide law enforcement officers, other first responders, corporations, educators and the public in general with a baseline understanding of active shooter incidents,' the report stated.

Ahmad Alissa, 22, killed 10 people March shooting at a crowded King Soopers store grocery in Boulder, Colorado

There were some indications of motive by the location that the massacres occurred.

There were 32 shootings in business or commercial establishments, ranging from supermarkets to manufacturing plants. Four shooters were current employees, three were former employees, one was a former boss and another was a contractor.

The FBI noted that more shooters targeted multiple sites for their rampage, either in one day or over multiple days.

Two of the shooters wore body armor and another had four improvised explosive devices, the bureau found.

The only consistent pattern that emerges seems to be that most - about a third - were disturbed males, ages 25 to 34.

In one of the most deadly shooting last year, Ahmad Alissa, 22, killed 10 people in March at a crowded King Soopers grocery in Boulder, Colorado.

Illinois saw the second highest body count when a shooter killed 8 people at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis in April.

In November 2021, Ethan Crumbley murdered four students inside the Oxford High School and injured seven more, including a teacher.
Sunrise host Natalie Barr has made a disturbing observation about gun culture in the United States in the wake of a mass shooting at a Texas highschool.

The Sunrise host reacted to the heartbreaking scenes where 18 students and a teacher were slaughtered by an 18-year-old gunman, the latest mass shooting to rock the country.

Barr said the atrocity was 'horrendous' and doubted whether a massive overhaul of firearm legislation would make a meaningful impact on America's gun culture.

'There are so many millions of guns on streets in the US, it does make you wonder how much difference it would make if you did something now,' she said on Wednesday morning.

'You've got to try something though,' co-host David Koch responded.

Natalie Barr said the number of guns on America's streets meant changing gun legislation would do little to prevent future atrocities

Barr added changes in government drive increases in gun sales because owners fear they will lose their right to arms.

'And every time a Democrat is elected they all go out and buy more because they are worried that they will crackdown on the laws,' she said.

'It is horrendous.'

Gun purchases reached record highs in the lead-up to the 2020 election, with Republican Donald Trump losing to current President Joe Biden.

President Biden has previously described gun manufacturers as 'the enemy' and has called for future sales of AR-15 assault rifles - the gun most commonly used in America's mass shootings - to be banned.

According to a 2018 study from Swiss-based organisation Small Arms Survey, there were more than 390million guns in the USA.

That figure equates to 120.5 firearms per 100 residents - far higher than any other country in the world.

Texas alone has more than a million registered guns, double that of second place Florida.

On Tuesday, 14 students and a teacher were slaughtered by an 18-year-old gunman in Texas, the latest mass shooting to rock the country

Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 14 students and a teacher

Texas Governor Greg Abbott named 18-year-old Salvador Roma, a student at Uvalde High School, as the gunman who opened fire at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon. The name was later clarified to Salvador Ramos.

His student victims were aged between seven and 11, CNN's Ed Lavandera reported.

'He shot and killed - horrifically and incomprehensibly - 14 students and killed a teacher,' Abbott said at a press briefing.

'There are families that are in mourning right now. And the state of Texas is in mourning with them.'

Ramos's social media was full of photos of guns. He messaged a girl he knew on Instagram, tagging her in a photo of the guns.

Robb Elementary School, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in the city of Uvalde, hometown of Matthew McConaughey, 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio.

The 14 students who were murdered were tragically aged between seven and 11

Ramos, equipped with a handgun and possibly a rifle, allegedly shot his grandmother, whose condition is not yet known, before entering the school and opening fire, Abbott said. The shooting started around 11:32am.

Photos show a pickup truck that crashed outside the school, which, according to Abbott, Ramos abandoned before entering the school.

Additionally, thirteen children are being treated at the Uvalde Memorial emergency room as well as a 45-year-old man who suffered a 'graze.'

University Health San Antonio also confirmed they received a child whose condition is currently unknown and a 66-year-old woman who is critical condition.

It was the deadliest such incident since 14 high school students and three adult staff were killed in Parkland, Florida in 2018 - and the worst at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.
Matthew McConaughey has called for urgent action after a horrific massacre at an elementary school in his home town left 19 children and two teachers dead.

The Hollywood star, 52, blasted gun violence as 'an epidemic we can control' in social media posts around midnight.

He asked a series of questions including 'what is it that we truly value' and 'how do we repair the problem' in the messages around 12 hours after the shooting.

But the actor, who considered running as the state's governor last year, offered no practical solutions to end the attacks.

He's been tight-lipped on his politics but previously defended the Second Amendment while decrying the gun violence that plagues the US.



Texans also appears split on the idea of a crackdown on guns, with a poll last year showing 50 per cent would either loosen laws on leave them as they are.

Meanwhile just 39 per cent said they thought more guns in Americans' hands would make the country less safe.

Matthew McConaughey, of Uvalde, Texas, has been besieged with messages asking him to return to his Texas hometown of Uvalde in the wake of a shooting there on Tuesday that killed 14 elementary school students and a teacher

McConaughey, who was born in Uvalde in 1969 and now lives in Austin, shared the message across his social media platforms following the tragedy last night

McConaughey, who was born in Uvalde in 1969 and now lives in Austin, shared the message across his social media platforms following the tragedy last night.

He wrote: 'As you all are aware there was another mass shooting today, this time in my home town of Uvalde, Texas.

'Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us.'

'The true call to action now is for every American to take a longer and deeper look in the mirror, and ask ourselves ''What is that we truly value? How do we repair the problem?

'What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state, and neighborhood tomorrow?''

'We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo.'

Cops are pictured close to the scene of Tuesday's massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas

McConaughey called on all Americans to 'renegotiate our wants from our needs,' adding that 'we have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children's issue.'

'This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better.

'Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured.

'To those who dropped their loved ones off to school not knowing that today was goodbye, no words can comprehend or heal your loss, but if prayers can provide comfort, we will keep them coming.'

He further said 'it's time we re-evaluate, and negotiate our wants form our needs' and that a common ground needs to be found 'above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children's issue.'

McConaughey concluded his statement by calling mass shootings 'an epidemic we can control' and 'to those who dropped off their loved ones today not knowing it was goodbye, no words can comprehend or heal your loss, but if prayers can provide comfort, we will keep them coming.'

The Academy-Award winner from 2014 spoke out after he was besieged by tweets in the wake of Tuesday's massacre at Robb Elementary School.

'Come home,' one person tweeted while another shared: 'This is your hometown, these are your people! A word from you now will go further than a word from almost anyone else.'

'Please use your voice and address gun control in Texas. People listen to you,' wrote another user on Twitter.

'I really hope @McConaughey will reconsider his run for Governor after what occurred in his childhood hometown today. It's time to and his cronies out of office and get real gun control in place NOW!'

The Oscar-winner, whose primary residence is in Austin, didn't say whether he plans to visit Uvalde in the coming days.

McConaughey has been a vigilante on gun violence calling it 'an epidemic in our country' in the past before his Instagram post on Tuesday night.

The actor also once said he 'understands that Americans have the right to own guns, but it's time to ''forget that right'' because some people misuse guns.'

In a 2018 March for Our Lives event in Texas, McConaughey gave an impassioned speech about his support for some gun control, he also shared his fears that the youth-led movement will be 'hijacked' by those hoping to eliminate all guns in the United States.

'I've got a lot of friends who are gun owners. I've got a lot of friends who are NRA. I grew up hunting. We had responsible gun ownership, but I was taught the right way to respect that tool,' McConaughey said.

In 2020, he visited Uvalde with his mother, family matriarch Kay McConaughey and brother Mike for a comedy show that included a question-and-answer session.



Kay told of the family's moves across Uvalde, as they occupied homes on High, Getty and Third streets.

The family left in 1979. 'Uvalde was the most perfect place to raise children,' Kay said.

Salvador Ramos, 18, launched his deadly attack on Robb Elementary in Uvalde just before lunch yesterday.

He marched into the school and blasted bullets indiscriminately, killing 19 young children and two teachers.

The vile killer was later engaged in a shootout with cops before being shot dead by one of them.
A fresh twist has emerged in the disappearance of a data scientist who vanished seven months ago as one of her Facebook accounts under the name 'Red Riding Hood' is mysteriously deleted.

Kathleen Riethmuller walked into Elephant Backpackers, in the inner Sydney suburb of Woolloomooloo, on October 28 in a 'jittery' state to make a booking to stay the night - which she would never fulfil.

She abruptly left reception without first visiting her room before heading to Sydney's north, where she was last seen on security footage visiting shops before walking along a busy road.

Hours later, the 28-year-old's belongings including her ID and bank cards were found abandoned 7km away in a backpack in a street at Lane Cove, while her phone was discovered by another member of the public in a neighbouring suburb.

A nationwide appeal to find her has proved fruitless and police hold serious concerns for her welfare as distraught family have not heard from her since.

Kathleen Riethmuller, 28, (pictured right) has been missing for seven months since she mysteriously vanished from Sydney's northern suburbs

Now, Daily Mail Australia can reveal one of Ms Riethmuller's social media profiles has been deactivated sometime since November, and she is known by police to use a series of aliases.

The development comes after the former statistics analyst was recently added to the Australian Federal Police's missing person's register - reserved for the handful of cases where people have not been located for three months or more.

While police had initially reported her phone was found in the backpack, the AFP website states it was discovered separately in Lane Cove North.

In another baffling turn, the database information also revealed the young professional is known to use the aliases Amy Munroe, Kate Riethmuller, Margaret Riethmuller and Kate Muller.

According to social media profiles, Ms Riethmuller graduated from Brisbane Girls Grammar - which costs about $26,555-a-year - in 2010 before studying a Bachelor of Business Management/ Science at The University of Queensland.

In one of her Instagram accounts, Ms Riethmuller said she worked in 'data science, innovation and market developments' with 'experience in consulting, finance and start-ups'.

One of Ms Riethmuller's Facebook profiles, under the name 'Red Riding Hood' has been deleted since November. She is pictured in a post from May 2021 - which was on the now-deactivated account

Police inquiries revealed Kathleen attended a retail store on Reserve Road, Artarmon, about 11.40am on Thursday 28 October (pictured, left), before she was spotted again at 2.30pm the same day in North Sydney, wearing a long sleeve denim dress and black flat shoes (right)

She frequently posted photos of work conferences and new technology projects she was taking part in between 2017 to 2019, when the account appears to have become inactive.

A newly uncovered profile of Ms Riethmuller's on Goodreads has painted a picture of the books and topics that interested her in the months leading up to her disappearance.

Frequently occurring genres among her dozens of reading lists include entrepreneurship and finance, self-help, mental health, career and business, and fiction classics.

In July 2021, she added the titles 'The Million Dollar Mindset: How to Harness Your Internal Force to Live the Lifestyle You Deserve', 'How To BEcome A Successful Artist', and 'Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One.'

Although the account does not appear to have had any activity since that time, one reading list containing five books - mainly poem collections and classics like Memoirs of a Geisha - is named 'Kat's-fiction 2022'.

A family friend previously told Daily Mail Australia a 'jittery' Ms Riethmuller checked into Elephant Backpacker (pictured) in, Woolloomooloo, the morning she disappeared

She was last seen on CCTV walking eastbound on Falcon Street (pictured), North Sydney, towards Neutral Bay

A member of the public later found her belongings, including her ID and bank cards, in a backpack 7km away on Centennial Avenue (pictured) at Lane Cove

A map posted in a Facebook page dedicated to finding Ms Riethmuller shows her known movements around Sydney around the time she disappeared. The AFP has since updated her last sighting, which was on Falcon Street near Neutral Bay

In the weeks before her disappearance, Ms Riethmuller tried to sell a string of possessions on Gumtree , with police previously revealing they were exploring the possibility she travelled to Melbourne for work opportunities.

In 2021, more than 53,000 missing persons reports were made to Australian police, with over 98 per cent found - most of whom were safe and well.

After checking into the backpacker hostel, Ms Riethmuller attended a Bunnings store on Reserve Road, Artarmon, about 11.40am on Thursday 28 October.

She was spotted again at 2.30pm the same day in North Sydney, wearing a long sleeve denim dress and black flat shoes.

She was last captured on CCTV 15 minutes later walking eastbound on the northside of Falcon St towards Neutral Bay.

Her backpack was found by a member of the public later that afternoon on Centennial Avenue, Lane Cove, sparking the investigation into her whereabouts.

NSW Police first issued a public appeal for help finding Ms Riethmuller on October 31, which was renewed two weeks later as leads ran cold.

While she was in regular contact with her family, Ms Riethmuller was very private - offering them very few details about her friendship circles or life in Sydney since she moved to the city about five years ago.

Police hold serious concerns for Ms Riethmuller (pictured), who has not been in contact with family since October

The data scientist's public profiles reveal the books of interest she downloaded in the months before she vanished

Ms Riethmuller said she worked in 'data science, innovation and market developments' with 'experience in consulting, finance and start-ups' on her online profiles

A family friend, who wished to remain anonymous, previously told Daily Mail Australia Ms Riethmuller's Brisbane-based family were distraught by her unusual disappearance.

'Her family are very devastated and a bit at ends because there are not any leads to go off at the moment,' the friend said.

'A lot of information has come through to police but there have been no verified sightings of Kathleen since the day she went missing.

'The situation is bewildering. Her family is very confused and really just want to get her back.'

Ms Riethmuller is described as Caucasian, about 165cm  175cm tall, with a thin build and long dark hair.

Anyone who may have information about her whereabouts or has seen her is urged to contact Chatswood Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A million dollar reward is being offered for information about the suspected murder of a NSW teenager who was last seen being 'forced into a car' nearly three decades ago.

Gordana Kotevski, 16, was last seen on November 24, 1994 walking away from Charlestown Square Shopping Centre, two hours north of Sydney.

The 16-year-old, from the town of Lake Macquarie, was walking along Powell St in Charlestown when a horrified onlooker saw her being shoved into a car.

Gordana was last seen walking down a Charlestown street in 1994

Witnesses reported seeing Gordana being 'forced into a car'

Gordana had been walking to her aunt's house when she was taken and despite extensive investigations, she was never been found.

A coronial inquest into Gordana's disappearance in 2003 determined she was dead, most likely as a result of foul play.

The NSW Police Force announced on Wednesday the reward for information about her fate had been increased to $1 million.

NSW Police Superintendent Steve Kentwell and Gordana's aunt Julie Talevski will speak about the teenager's disappearance on Wednesday morning, where they'll make another appeal for answers.

Cold case detectives reopened Gordana's missing person case in 2019, 25 years after she disappeared.

A $100,000 reward was in place for two decades, for any information that led to a conviction, but it was never claimed.
The Sandy Hook Foundation issued a statement 10 years after the Connecticut massacre following Tuesday's shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 students.

'We are devastated about reports that multiple people are dead, including children,' the Sandy Hook Foundation wrote on Twitter. 'Our hearts are with the families and community as this tragic story unfolds.'

Salvador Ramos, 18, shot 19 elementary school students and three adults dead, including Ramos, on Tuesday morning after shooting his grandmother. Her condition is unknown.

Ramos, equipped with a handgun and possibly a rifle, entered the school and opened fire around 11.30am.

Additionally, 13 children are being treated at the Uvalde Memorial emergency room, as well as a 45-year-old man who suffered a 'graze.'

The Texas shooting now ranks as the second worst school shooting in the US, falling behind Sandy Hook and just in front of Parkland shooting.

The shooting at Robb Elementary School is the latest in a long line of gun atrocities to hit American high schools over the last decade.

In December 2012 the US was hit by its worst-ever school massacre when gunman Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 elementary school students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

He also killed his mom, four teachers, the school principal, and the school psychologist.

Here, DailyMail.com recalls some of the other gun outrages inflicted on US students over the preceding decade

SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, DECEMBER 2012: 27 DEAD, 2 INJURED

Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 elementary school students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the largest school shooting in the US

In December 2012, the deadliest school shooting in America took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Lanza arrived to the school with three guns - a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle, and two pistols after killing his mother, Nancy - with whom, he reportedly only communicated via email.

When he arrived to the school around 9.30am, the doors were locked as part of a new safety feature the school had recently rolled out. He allegedly 'shot the entrance into the building,' according to CNN.

The school psychologist and vice principal went to investigate after hearing 'popping' noises and the psychologist was shot by Lanza.

The elementary school was placed in lockdown and students were ushered into restrooms and closets to hide.

Lanza moved toward kindergarten and first-grade classrooms first. In one of the classrooms, he shot all 14 kindergarteners and six first-graders.

By the time law enforcement arrived to the scene, 20 students and six staff members were killed.

Little angels and stuffed animals lined the dirt in honor of the elementary schoolchildren who died in the shooting

As law enforcement approached the 20-year-old, he shot himself.

Although his motive is unknown, Lanza's old writings were discovered years later and shed light into the young man's mind. He had written to a fellow gamer that he had a 'scorn for humanity' and had been 'desperate to feel anything positive for someone for my entire life.'

A child advocate's for the state of Connecticut also said Lanza had severe mental health problems and suffered from anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder and was on the autism spectrum. He was also preoccupied with violence, according to CBS News.

With ease of access to his mother's weapons and being home-schooled, the advocate said it was 'proved a recipe for mass murder.'

MARYSVILLE PILCHUCK HIGH SCHOOL, OCTOBER 2014: 4 DEAD, 1 INJURED

Jaylen Fryberg, 17, killed his four 'ride or die' friends at lunch in October 2014 and said he 'needed to do this'

Marysville student Jaylen Fryberg, 17, gathered his friends around a table in the Washington state's school cafeteria and shot each of them in the head one-by-one to take them to 'the other side,' in October 2014. He shot them with a 'blank stare' and shot them 'left to right.'

Fryberg had sent a photo of the handgun to a friend just moments before he would open fire, killing four. He told the person he texted to call him before he did 'the thing.'

After shooting the four students as others watched on, he shot himself as a teacher ran toward him, the Washington Post reported.

The teen had methodically planned the massacre, even leaving a note for his parents with his funeral arrangements and what to do with his assets, if he had any.

He had texted his father: 'Read the paper on my bed. Dad, I love you.'

Students hug and cry after the shooting that took the lives of four and injured one

Inside the note, he told his parents he wanted to be 'fully dressed in Camo in my casket' and all his 'trust money or whatever goes to my brother.'

Fryberg also apologized to his friends' parents, but said he needed 'ride or dies with me on the other side.'

'I LOVE YOU FAMILY! I really do! More then anything,' he wrote. 'I needed to do this tho[ugh]I wasnt happy. And I need my crew with me too. Im sorry. I love you.'

UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, OCTOBER 2015: 9 DEAD, 9 INJURIED

Student Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, killed himself after the shooting

Student Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, opened fire in Snyder Hall at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, in October 2015 around 10.45am.

He killed eight students and one teacher before police arrived. Authorities and Mercer engaged in a brief shootout, before Mercer turned the gun on himself and took his own life.

More weapons were found in his apartment, which he shared with his mother, and he had handed a student a USB drive with his manifesto on it.

'It's pretty well laid out that he was a dejected failure,' Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said at the time. 'The only thing that I can conclude from it is he was mentally and emotionally ill.'

His manifesto detailed a life of a lonely virgin, who self-described himself as the 'most hated person in the world' and said he hated black men, whom he said only cared about their 'penises.'

Mercer also reportedly said he was constantly 'under siege' by 'morons and idiots,' the Oregonian reported.

Mercer wrote: 'What was it that was supposed to happen, what great event was it that was supposed to make me realize how much there was going for me?

'But for people like me there is another world, a darker world that welcomes us. For people like us this all that's left. My success in Hell is assured.'

Police arrived on campus in bulletproof vests and rifles after Mercer killed eight students and one teacher

Hundreds gathered for a vigil for victims of a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College

The young man also reportedly said he was 'denied' everything he deserved and likened himself the Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook shooters.

'Though we may have been born bad. Society left us no recourse, no way to be good,' he reportedly wrote.

'I have been forced to align myself with demonic forces. What was once an involuntary relationship has now become an alignment, a service. I now serve the demonic Heirarchy(sic). When I die will become one of them. A demon. And I will return to kill again and again.'

NORTH PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, APRIL 2017: 2 DEAD, 1 INJURED

Cedric Anderson, 53, shot and killed his wife at North Park Elementary, killing one student and injuring one other

Cedric Anderson, 53, entered the San Bernardino, California, school around 10.30am in April 2017, where his wife Karen Elaine Smith, also 53, worked as a special-education teacher.

He told administrators he was there to see his wife and walked into her classroom, which was positioned near the office.

He fired six shots from a Magnum revolver when he entered the classroom, killing his wife and an eight-year-old student and injuring another child. He reloaded the revolver and shot himself.

Although the motive is unknown, many suspected his wife - who had recently divorced him - was being abused, according to the San Bernardino Sun.

Since the shooting, her classroom IB, no longer exists. The classroom walls have been knocked down and it is now an open space for students to work on projects.

The school remodeled its building and outfitted every classroom with tempered glass windows, installed steel doors with locks on the inside, and a door that leads to the outside, which is mandated by law.

Although his motive is unknown, many suspect he abused his wife and that's what led to their divorce

AZTEC HIGH SCHOOL, DECEMBER 2017: 2 DEAD, 0 INJURED

William Atchison, 21, shot and killed two students at Aztec High School

Former student William Atchison, 21, disguised himself as student and hide in a bathroom with a Glock on the second floor of the New Mexico school, according to Fox News.

The custodian reported ran down the hallways screaming about an active shooter and telling teachers to go into 'lockdown.'

He killed a male student who walked into the bathroom before killing a girl in the hallway and then turned the gun on himself.

The shooter had left a manifesto on a USB drive that was found on his body, where he had allegedly wrote: 'Work sucks, school sucks, life sucks. I just want out...'

Atchison had been on the FBI's radar since 2016 after he allegedly asked in a forum: 'Where to find cheap assault rifles for a mass shooting?'

He told investigators he just liked to troll online forums and authorities found that he was not in possession of any weapons at the time after interviewing him at his parent's house.

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS - PARKLAND, FEBRUARY 2018: 17 DEAD, 17 INJURIED

Nikolas Cruz, then 19, shot and killed 14 students and three staff members in February 2018. He pleaded guilty and now faces the death penalty

The now-third biggest school shooting in US history happened in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine's Day.

Nikolas Cruz, then 19, shot and killed 14 students and three staff members and injured an additional 17.

The shooter, who was adopted, shot students with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. He began shooting students outside of the school before working his way inside, according to NBC News.

After the shooting, he slipped past authorities by hiding among the crowd running out of the school.

For years, Cruz was a subject of police attention as his parents had called 911 several times on him for being out of control and had been tripped off to the FBI about concerning behavior, NPR reported.

Starting when Cruz was 10 years old, his mother reported seeing violent behavior and had called the police after he and his other adopted brother Zach had gotten into a fight. She also reported Cruz had pushed her up against a wall after taking an X-Box game away and he had used a BB gun to shoot a chicken.

Students were ushered out of the building with their hands on each other's backs after the Valentine's day shooting

Hundreds of memorial items were gathered around the school sign after the shooting, which killed 17 and injured 17 others. It is the second largest school shooting in the US

After his mother died, he went to live with a family friend and had reportedly gotten in a fight with their son.

He told police: 'The thing is, I lost my mother a couple days ago. So like, I'm dealing with a bunch of things right now. I kind of got mad. And I started punching walls and stuff and a kid came at me and threw me on the ground. And he kicked me out of the house.'

The family claimed he put a gun to their son's head and had done it to his adoptive mother as well before.

Cruz (pictured in 2022) was adopted and showed signs of violent behavior the age of 10

Cruz had also been expelled from two school, was self-harming and had reportedly been diagnosed with depression, NPR reported.

He pleaded guilty in October 2021 and now faces the death penalty.

SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, MAY 2018: 10 DIED, 12 INJURED

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, shot up Santa Fe High School and now awaits trial and faces up to 40 years in prison

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, killed 10 and injured 12 others at Santa Fe High School in Texas in May 2018.

A student said Pagourtzis hid a shotgun and a handgun under his trench coat before opening fire in a first-period art class.

The then-student told police he did not kill anyone he liked because he wanted them to be able to tell the story, AP reported.

Authorities say Pagourtzis planned the killings, carried out with weapons owned by his father. Though Pagourtzis allegedly wrote about his intention to carry out the attack, authorities have not indicated a motive for the violence.

Although the motive is unknown, a student's mother said her daughter had rejected Pagourtzis romantically and her daughter, Shana Fisher, had made clear that she was not interested in him.

Police gather outside the high school, where 10 died and 12 were injured

'He continued to get more aggressive,' the mother told AP. 'She finally stood up to him and embarrassed him.'

The incident took place one week before the shooting and it is unclear if that drove Pagourtzis to kill.

Police also said they found multiple IEDs, pressure cookers, Molotov cocktails, pipe bombs, propane tanks, and other homemade explosives near the school and parking lot after the shooting.

He had engaged in a 25-minute shootout with police before surrendering after being injured.

Pagourtzis is currently awaiting trial. He faces 40 years in prison.

SAUGUS HIGH SCHOOL, NOVEMBER 2018: 2 DEAD, 3 INJURED

Nathaniel Berhow, 16, attempted suicide after the shooting and later died in the hospital

Nathaniel Berhow, 16, killed two students and injured two others at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, in November 2018.

Authorities said the attack was planned, but the victims were chosen at random.

'It was a planned attack; it was deliberate. He knew how many rounds he had, for example,' Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said at the time, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Berhow was dropped off at the school by his mother and was standing in the quad alongside other students. Authorities said he was standing away from students and was still before moving toward the center of the quad, where he dropped his backpack and began firing at students.

He shot five people in 16 seconds, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Berhow also shot himself in an attempted suicide and was taken to the hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

The motive for the attack is still unknown.

Students mourned outside the high school after the shooting that killed two and injured three

OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL, NOVEMBER 2021: 4 DIED, 7 INJURED

Ethan Crumbley, 15, faces life in prison and is scheduled to go to trial in September

The most recent well-known school shooter is 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who opened fire at Oxford High School in Michigan after a guidance counseling meeting with his parents at the school.

Four students were killed and seven more people were injured in the shooting.

Crumbley had a meeting with school administrators, and his mother was contacted via voicemail by the school about her son's inappropriate ammunition-related internet search.

According to the prosecutor, the mother and father also failed to ask Ethan if he had his gun with him, or where his gun was, and did not inspect his backpack.

Instead, the teen returned to class and the shooting occurred later.

His parents were also arrested after a large-scale manhunt. James and Jennifer were captured in the basement of a building in Detroit, less than half a mile from the Canadian border.

All the Crumbleys are being held at the Oakland County Jail. His parents are currently facing trial for four counts of manslaughter and have requested their trial be moved out of Oakland County.

Ethan is awaiting trial, which is schedule for September, and he faces life in prison.

Students gather around the school sign to place flowers after the shooting that killed four and injured seven others
A peeping Tom has been discovered spying on a group of young women inside a sharehouse.

Five housemates decided to install a secret camera outside of their house after they had the feeling they were being watched over the past few weeks.

The friends who live in a house in Randwick in Sydney's eastern suburbs had always assumed strange noises they had been hearing at night were from an animal.

Five housemates decided to install a secret camera outside of their house after they had the feeling they were being watched over the past few weeks (Peeping Pom is caught in the act above)

But one of the housemates experienced a terrifying moment when she saw a phone up pressed against the bathroom window as she was taking a shower, reported by The Daily Telegraph.

The woman then screamed out 'I know you are there'.

It was from that moment that the housemates made the decision to install a camera outside their property.

It only took until the following day for them to capture vision of the peeping Tom, after their Google Nest camera revealed a 6ft 2in tall, fair-haired man who was skulking in the dark.

It only took until the following day for them to capture vision of the peeping Tom (pictured), after their Google Nest camera revealed a 6ft 2, fair-haired man who was skulking in the dark

One of the housemates explained they called the police who chased the man down the street, but he got away.

'When I saw the footage on my phone, I started trembling and crying, - I thought I had been going crazy for months yet I was right all along,' she added.

It was revealed that it was in fact 'a young man with a British accent' who had been spying on the women - leading to him being dubbed a 'Peeping Pom'.

Prior to finally capturing the man on camera, he had previously been confronted by one of the women's boyfriends..

He claimed he just 'needed to pee, he was English and was wearing reflective trainers,' another housemate said.

Police are investigating multiple complaints which included a man peering into windows at houses along Arthur Street in Randwick around 10pm on May 7.
Scott Morrison was 'viscerally' disliked by voters who ousted a score of Liberal MPs in a protest against the Prime Minister, former MP Dave Sharma has claimed.

The former Liberal member for the inner-Sydney seat of Wentworth lost his job to 'teal' independent Allegra Spender, who focused her campaign on climate change.

Mr Sharma gave a damning verdict on the consequences of Mr Morrison's popularity in his electorate, with up to 20 Liberal MPs losing their seat in other areas.

The 46-year-old put the blame firmly at Mr Morrison's feet, saying he was 'definitely a drag' on his vote.

'He had a negative approval rating in seats like mine, and he was a drag on the vote,' he told ABC Radio on Wednesday morning.

'When you spoke to people... it was almost visceral, their reaction (to Morrison).

'They would say "he's too religious", they didn't like that he carried coal into parliament one time.

'They didn't believe his sincerity on climate change, they didn't like our handling of Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame - the Brittany Higgins rape allegations and Grace Tame's comments.'

Former Liberal member for the NSW seat of Wentworth Dave Sharma (pictured) was ousted by independent Allegra Spender

Meanwhile, the so-called 'teal' candidates, including Ms Spender, the daughter of designer Carla Zampatti, positioned themselves cleverly to voters as an alternative, he explained.

'Undoubtedly, the (former) prime minister had lost some prestige and credit during over the last few years,' Mr Sharma added.

'The teal candidates positioned themselves quite cleverly I think, as a repository for an anti-government protest vote without being a Labor-Greens vote.'

But the moderate Liberal said he was not one of the MPs who urged former treasurer Josh Frydenberg - who also lost his seat to 'teal' independent Monique Ryan - to challenge Mr Morrison for the leadership.

In September last year, some Liberal MPs urged Mr Frydenberg to turn against the Liberal Party leader out of fear he was steering the government towards a crushing electoral defeat.

'When you spoke to people ... it was almost visceral, their reaction (to Morrison),' Mr Sharma told ABC Radio National (pictured, Mr Morrison with his family as he conceded defeat on Saturday night)

Mr Sharma was one of many high-profile Liberal MPs to lose his seat to independent candidates focussed on climate change. In Wentworth, he lost to Allegra Spender (pictured)

'My view was, and remains, that we should stick with the leader we've got and take them to the election and if the electorate pronounces a verdict, as it has on this occasion, so be it,' Mr Sharma said.

He insisted that with Mr Morrison stepping down as party leader on election night, there is no better option to take the party forward than former defence minister Peter Dutton, who is widely expected to take on the role.

'He's our most experienced parliamentarian... his first job and his main job is to hold the government to account and to be opposition leader,' he said.

Mr Frydenberg finally conceded his seat of Kooyong on Tuesday after losing to independent Monique Ryan.

The former treasurer was another one of many high-profile Liberals to lose their safe, blue-ribbon seats to the so-called teal independent candidates.
Broadcaster Alan Jones claims the election was lost 'months ago' for Scott Morrison because the former prime minister believed his own spin.

Speaking on his show on Tuesday night, Jones, an outspoken conservative, said the Liberals had lessons to learn from their election defeat.

'No-one wants to be dancing on anyone's political grave, but... Scott Morrison believed his own bull***t,' Jones said.

'It's not in the last week that he couldn't win, this election was lost months and months ago.'

Broadcaster Alan Jones said Scott Morrison's election defeat was, in part, because he believed his own spin, though it fell short with voters (pictured: Mr Morrison and wife Jenny after being defeated on Saturday night)

Jones predicted weeks ago that Mr Morrison had 'no hope' of winning enough votes to see him retain his role as prime minister because he was out of favour with many Australians.

Back in 2019, Jones was the only political commentator to correctly back Mr Morrison in his underdog win against then-Labor leader Bill Shorten.

But in 2022, Mr Jones said the former PM was 'the handbrake' to the Coalition's chances of victory at the polls.

'The electorate hate him. His own cabinet don't like him. The party know it but it was too late to make a change,' Jones previously told Daily Mail Australia.

'To keep government, he has to hold every seat he's got and win two more. He's no hope.'

Jones, 81, claimed while the government was busy 'stopping people getting the flu', Mr Albanese was conducting a successful grassroots campaign.

'Anthony Albanese has been to every pub in Australia. They all know him now,' he said.

Mr Albanese appeared on Mr Jones' show at the beginning of the campaign, but the broadcaster claimed he was not yet a supporter of the new PM.

Jones (right) interviewed new PM Mr Albanese (left) during the campaign but the outspoken conservative insisted he wasn't a supporter

'There are good people on both sides of politics, but unfortunately they're not in leadership,' he said.

Mr Morrison focused much of his campaign on painting his government as stronger on national security and better at managing the economy, which seemed to gain the Coalition some ground, but it did not translate to seats won.

The Liberals took a hit in particular from the so-called teal independents, who campaigned on a platform of equality, climate change action, and a federal corruption watchdog.

They were all issues the Morrison government claimed it was tackling but voters went to the polls on Saturday feeling they had been neglected.

The Coaliton steadfastly clung to a mantra of 'transition' when talking about a switch from fossil fuels, which sounded like concrete action yet conveniently left the door open for a delayed or lengthy process.

Both Liberal and Labor had committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but the interim goal of the Coalition's 26-28 per cent reduction by 2030 was dwarfed by Labor's 43 per cent goal.

Similarly, Mr Morrison loudly commissioned the Respect@Work report in the wake of the Brittany Higgins saga, but then failed to commit to implementing its many recommendations.

Voters celebrate the result of teal independent Dr Monique Ryan, who knocked former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg from his seat of Kooyong (pictured)

Jones parted ways with Sky News last year after previously ruling the breakfast radio airwaves in Sydney for three decades with 2UE and 2GB.

He formed his own streaming network, Australian Digital Holdings, which he now operates out of a renovated warehouse in Sydney's Chippendale.

He claimed one of the things he was most excited about was being able to speak his unfiltered opinions.

'At Sky I would get legal letters every afternoon telling me that I couldn't say this or that,' he said.

'We would have to show them the script. The show would be ready to go at 4.30pm and a letter would arrive saying 'you can't say that'. In the end I thought, 'I don't need this'.'

New Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on his way back to Australia after winding up the Quad world leaders' summit in Japan, where he said discussions about democracy and regional security were on the agenda with the US president, Indian prime minister and Japanese prime minister.

Mr Albanese and Senator Penny Wong attending the Quad meeting in Japan this week (pictured)

In particular, the four leaders discussed Australia improving its engagement on climate change, Mr Albanese said.

'There are many consistencies in Australia's national security positions but there are some differences with the former Australian government particularly when it comes to climate change,' he told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.

'It's been a very positive way to start a new government.'

The prime minister has been invited by his counterparts to visit the United States and India and says dates will be worked out soon to facilitate that.

Australia will host the Quad summit next year, he said.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has confirmed that Aaron Robinson killed fellow soldier Vanessa Guillen after she saw a photo of Robinson's married lover on his phone.

Investigators believe Robinson, then 20, bludgeoned Guillen, also then 20, to death with a hammer, removed her body from an armory at Fort Hood, Texas, and then dismembered her and buried her remains on April 22.

Robinson died as cops moved to arrest him, with his death reported as a suicide.

His married lover - Cecily Aguilar, 22 - was charged with tampering with evidence after she told investigators that she helped her boyfriend Specialist Aaron Robinson - the main suspect in Guillen's death - bury her body in April of last year.

The state believes that Aguilar was the woman on Robinson's phone.

'He told her he was worried about getting in trouble for violating the Army's fraternization rules since Aguilar was still married to another soldier and he hit Guillen in the head with a hammer,' investigators said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has confirmed that Aaron Robinson killed fellow soldier Vanessa Guillen after he saw a photo of a married woman on his phone

Guillen, 20, (pictured) was last seen at Fort Hood on April 22, 2020, in the parking lot of her barracks. She vanished after telling her family that she had been sexually harassed while on base

Cecily Aguilar, 22, was charged with tampering with evidence after she told investigators that she helped her boyfriend Specialist Aaron Robinson - the main suspect in Guillen's death - bury her body in April of last year. The state believes that Aguilar was the woman on Robinson's phone

Robinson later shot himself after being confronted by investigators.

Aguilar, for her part, told authorities that Robinson 'would go into moods in which he would not be his normal self and have a 'tic.''

She also allegedly told one of her fellow inmates that Robinson 'snapped, that he had an image in his head. He saw himself [kill her] and wanted to do it.'

Aguilar at first claimed she was at home with Robinson the night Guillen disappeared but has since allegedly confessed to being there after Guillen's body was found.

Investigators learned Robinson was the last person to speak to Guillen, despite telling police that Guillen left an arms room and he went to be with Aguilar, who backed up his claim.

Investigators later discovered that Robinson's phone pinged in Belton, Texas, by a bridge near the Leon River in the early morning hours shortly after Vanessa vanished.

When they went to the location, they found a burn pile, including a tough box, an item Guillen had been seen with earlier by eyewitnesses.

Investigators noted that Robinson and Aguilar shared multiple phone calls the night of Guillen's disappearance, which Aguilar said was because she couldn't find her phone.

On June 30, hours after investigators discovered Guillen's dismembered body, Army officials at Fort Hood detained Robinson.

However, he managed to escape and was later spotted by Army and civilian police in the city of Killeen, just outside of Fort Hood, before he eventually shot himself.

Guillen, 20, was last seen at Fort Hood on April 22, 2020, in the parking lot of her barracks. She vanished after telling her family that she had been sexually harassed while on base.

In April, Aguilar's defense team filed a motion to toss her confession, claiming it was taken illegally and investigators violated her constitutional rights

The Army designated her as AWOL two days after she vanished.

Guillen's disappearance sparked a large-scale search, but her dismembered and buried remains were not found until June 30 at Leon River - 23 miles from where she was last seen.

According to a family lawyer, when Guillen's remains were discovered, she had been bludgeoned to death with a hammer in the armory room where she worked and her body was transported from the installation by her killer.

Her remains were sent to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to be identified, attorney Natalie Khawam told CNN last July.

An independent review found that the Army's Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention Program (SHARP) failed to curb sexual assault and harassment on bases due to structural failures.

Panelists said there was a lack of training, resourcing and staffing at the SHARP office on Fort Hood.

It also found that the command climate failed to practice the program's core values below the brigade level, which led to less trust in the program. The actions come after a year that saw at least 31 soldiers assigned to Fort Hood die due to suicide, homicide or accidents, including the bludgeoning death of Guillen.
Dominic Raab today attacks Labours spineless opposition to Tory law and order reforms as he launches a swathe of new rights for victims of crime.

The Justice Secretary, writing exclusively for the Daily Mail, blasts Sir Keir Starmers party for voting against tough action on offenders.

And he vows the measures will help victims secure justice, lock up more dangerous criminals  and make our streets safer.

A Victims Bill, published by the Government today, sets out to fire up our justice system to do better, Mr Raab says.

Justice Secretary Dominic Rabb, pictured, will publish a new Victims Bill today claiming too many people are dropping out of the criminal justice system after losing faith in the police and the courts

Mr Raab writes in today's Daily Mail: Labour voted against tougher sentences for child murderers and sex offenders, voted against boosting police funding and penny-pinched the victims of crime'

Under the package, victims will be given the right to attend Parole Board hearings in full and submit questions about an offenders suitability for release.

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyers will have a new duty to arrange a face-to-face meeting with each victim of crime before cases come to court.

Figures show growing numbers of victims are dropping out of the criminal justice process after losing faith in the police and courts.

Mr Raab writes: Labour voted against tougher sentences for child murderers and sex offenders, voted against boosting police funding and penny-pinched the victims of crime.

In the teeth of their spineless opposition, were delivering a Conservative plan to help victims secure justice, lock up more dangerous criminals  and make our streets safer. He says it is soul-destroying when victims dont feel that their voices matter.

The victim surcharge paid by offenders will rise by 20 per cent in a move forecast to raise an additional 20million by 2025.

This will be spent on rape support centres and other measures to help victims.

The draft legislation will also pave the way for the first Victims Law, making police and the CPS more accountable, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said.

Among the changes, the Parole Board  which faced heavy criticism for approving the release of double child-killer Colin Pitchfork  will have to consider victims concerns before making a decision.

Mr Raab has already promised further reforms to the Parole Board  set for later this year  including a new veto for ministers to block the release of serious criminals.

Commentating on Keir Starmer's opposition, Mr Raab wrote: In the teeth of their spineless opposition, were delivering a Conservative plan to help victims secure justice, lock up more dangerous criminals  and make our streets safer. He says it is soul-destroying when victims dont feel that their voices matter

The obligation on CPS lawyers to meet victims ahead of trial is designed to ensure their views are fully taken into account.

Mr Raab said: No victim should feel lost in a faceless system.

Were amplifying victims voices, boosting their rights at every stage and making criminals pay more to help victims recover.

Were doing this because it is morally the right thing to do to strengthen the care for victims, but also because it is operationally critical to drive up convictions  and keep our streets safe.

Also announced today are a new duty on police and crime commissioners, local authorities and health organisations to work together when commissioning services for victims of domestic abuse, sex crimes and serious violence.

Complainants will no longer have to go through their local MP before speaking to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Ministers will also be able to order the criminal justice inspectorates to carry out specific victim-focused inquiries.

Official figures show more than 26 per cent of all potential prosecutions collapse because victims withdraw their support. For violent crime the figure is nearly 44 per cent and for rape it is 33 per cent.

Crime rose by 14 per cent to 12.9million offences in England and Wales last year  but just one in 16 offenders was brought to justice.

Labour opposed a series of measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill when it passed through Parliament this year

The proportion of crimes which led to police bringing a charge or summons fell to just 6 per cent in the year to September. It stood at more than 15 per cent in 2015.

Labour opposed a series of measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill when it passed through Parliament this year.

The draft Victims Bill will face scrutiny by MPs on the Commons justice committee before being formally introduced to Parliament.

Justice system must do better

By SECRETARY OF STATE FOR JUSTICE, DOMINIC RABB MP

It is shocking that three in five victims dont report their crimes and a third drop out of a prosecution before justice is done.

That is soul-destroying: they just dont feel that their voices matter. I am determined to show that they do.

Victims expect firm justice, so this Conservative government  opposed by Labour and the Lib Dems  has passed into law tougher prison sentences for violent and sexual offenders.

But punishment isnt enough.

Justice secretary Dominic Rabb, pictured outside 10 Downing Street, will announce a 20 per cent increase in the victim surcharge paid by offenders in court

Victims must be compensated more for their suffering  by their assailants.

So, today, I am announcing an increase in the victim surcharge, levied by courts on offenders, of 20 per cent.

It will pay millions more in cash for support services that directly help victims.

Overall, this Conservative government is increasing by fourfold the funding for victims compared with the miserly amount allocated under Labour.

In the final year of the Labour government, the party spent 41million on victims. Well spend 185million by 2024-25.

Next, I want to make sure the voice and pain of victims fires up our justice system to do better.

So, under our Victims Bill and broader package, published today, there will be a commitment for prosecutors to meet victims in the most serious cases before going to trial. Its the right thing to do morally.

And, operationally, reinforcing the confidence of victims to come forward will increase the number of dangerous perpetrators we can convict and jail  making our neighbourhoods safer.

Victims confidence is also rocked when they see dangerous offenders released too early.

The views of victims matter. The ordeals theyve suffered matter.

So, for the first time, we will change the law to ensure victims have the right  only if they feel up to it  to attend Parole Board hearings and put their questions to the decision-makers.

Labour voted against tougher sentences for child murderers and sex offenders, voted against boosting police funding and penny-pinched the victims of crime.

In the teeth of their spineless opposition, were delivering a Conservative plan to help victims secure justice, lock up more dangerous criminals  and make our streets safer.
Seven teenagers have been arrested after they crashed a car into a tree while fleeing police, following an alleged home invasion crime spree.

Footage of the allegedly stolen BMW smashing into a tree on a narrow suburban street in Melbourne showed the moment leaves rained down onto the road as several teenagers slowly emerged from the stricken car.

The teens were seen staggering out of the car, with some crawling on the ground while others ran around the vehicle.

Police eventually caught up with the shell-shocked group, arresting all of them.

Occupants of the allegedly stolen BMW were no match for a tree they collided with on Tuesday morning (pictured), after alleged home raids took place around Melbourne's Bayside area

One teen, who was travelling in the boot at the time, was knocked unconscious during the collision in Chelsea St, Brighton, in Melbourne's south, and landed in hospital under police guard.

Mr Dowset said it was 'intimidating', to see the alleged robbery taking place, and that it has been going on during the Covid lockdowns

The young group's alleged crime rampage started in the early hours of Tuesday morning, in the Bayside area of Melbourne.

Two houses were allegedly targeted by the group, all aged between 14 and 16.

Brighton resident Doug Dowsett told Daily Mail Australia he saw torches being used inside a neighbouring home the alleged thieves had targeted.

'I was watching the whole thing, we were alerted because there was an idling car outside our house at 3am, which is obviously fairly suspicious,' Mr Dowsett said.

'My wife woke me, and we went around our house to check it out, then saw there were torches in our neighbour's place next door.'

At that stage, the vigilant neighbour rang police but was told they were busy attending to other burglaries.

Despite that, officers managed to arrive within about 15 minutes - but not before Mr Dowsett saw the group running from the home.

'It's intimidating, but unfortunately it's part of what has been going on ... over the last Covid [lockdowns],' he said.

Mr Dowsett also said police are under resourced in the locality, with only two cars to patrol a 12km Bayside strip and the entire area around it.

His neighbour, whose home was allegedly raided by the teens, told 7News he heard a noise in his home garage and went to investigate.

David McKern, 83, confronted the group as they allegedly attempted to steal his car - but instead they allegedly got away with some cash.

The Bayside man said he used a mop to scare them off.

The teens allegedly moved on from there, entering and wandering inside another nearby property before fleeing the scene - when they crashed the car.

One teen can be seen (pictured) getting up after the horrific collision on Tuesday

The BMW in the crash had been allegedly stolen a week before from Mount Waverley, in Melbourne's east, and was alleged to be used in other attempted criminal pursuits during the week.

Victoria Police is yet to lay any charges against the teenagers.

The high-speed crash comes after police said they caught up with a driver who was driving dangerously during a police pursuit last Friday in Melbourne's south east.

A police helicopter followed the car through various suburbs, where the vehicle was allegedly clocked travelling at 150km/hr in a 100km/hr zone.

Two male occupants in the car were eventually arrested and charged.
Vice President Kamala Harris condemned the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed at least 14 students and a teacher on Tuesday and called on elected officials to pass reforms to ensure it 'never happens again.'

'So while we don't know all the details yet, we do know that there are parents who have lost children - families that have lost children - and their loved ones of course, and many others who may have been injured,' the vice president said.

'So, I would normally say in a moment like this, we would also say, naturally, that our hearts break. But our hearts keep getting broken. You know, I think so many - there's so many elected leaders in this room, you know what I'm talking about. Every time a tragedy like this happens, our hearts break. And our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families.'

She added, 'And yet it keeps happening.'

Speaking at the annual summit for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, Harris called on those in the room specifically to examine their role in enacting change.

'I think we all know and have said many times with each other, "Enough is enough." Enough is enough. As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action and understand the nexus between what makes for reasonable and sensible public policy to ensure something like this never happens again.'

Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the devastating shooting at a pre-planned event in Washington, DC

A woman cries as she leave the Uvalde Civic Center following a shooting earlier in the day at Robb Elementary School, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas

'Please know that this is a room full of leaders who grieve with you, and we are praying for you, and we stand with you,' Harris said to the people of Uvalde during her remarks

Adding that President Joe Biden is due to speak shortly, Harris continued: 'But for now, I will just say to the people of Uvalde - Please know that this is a room full of leaders who grieve with you, and we are praying for you, and we stand with you.'

''It is difficult at a time like this to think about much else. But I do look around this room, and I know who is here, and I know this is a room full of American leaders who knows and have the courage to take a stand.'

Biden will address the nation at 8:15pm tonight after a gunman killed 15 people at a Texas elementary school, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced.

Biden ordered all flags at the White House and on federal grounds to fly at half-staff until sundown on May 28 in honor of the victims.

President Joe Biden spoke with Texas Governor Greg Abbott while aboard Air Force One, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield announced

The president looked somber as he returned to the White House, not answering reporters' questions but reminding them he will speak in the evening

The president was briefed on the devastating mass shooting while aboard Air Force One, as he returns from his first trip to Asia as commander-in-chief.

While on the plane he spoke with Texas Governor Greg Abbott to 'to offer any and all assistance he needs,' communications director Kate Bedingfield revealed.

He 'will continue to be briefed regularly as information becomes available,' his press secretary said.

'His prayers are with the families impacted by this awful event, and he will speak this evening when he arrives back at the White House,' Jean-Pierre added.

She called the shooting a 'horrific' event.

Biden was visiting with leaders in South Korea and Japan to reaffirm the United States' commitment to allies in the region and as a warning for China that it cannot operate unchecked.

But he's returning to face the deadliest school shooting of his administration, and the worst since a teenage gunman killed 17 people at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in February 2018.

Police walk near Robb Elementary School following the deadly shooting, Tuesday, May 24

At least 14 students are dead along with one teacher, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced

The 18-year-old shooter was also killed by police, officials said

At least 14 elementary school students and one teacher are dead after an 18-year-old opened fire in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas' governor told the press on Tuesday afternoon.

Thirteen students are being treated at Uvalde Memorial Hospital as well as a 45-year-old male who suffered a 'graze.'

Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 14 students and a teacher

The shooter, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School, had engaged in a shootout with Border Patrol officers and barricaded himself within the school facility. He died after a shootout with law enforcement, Abbott said.

'Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde,' the governor said in a statement.

'Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering. We thank the courageous first responders who worked to finally secure Robb Elementary School.'

Abbott, along with Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, are slated to speak at a National Rifle Association event in Houston on Friday - just three days after the shooting.

A visibly distraught Senator Chris Murphy questioned on the Senate floor: 'What are we doing? What are we doing?'

'We have another Sandy Hook on our hands,' the Connecticut Democrat said.

He said it was a 'choice' to let the numerous mass shootings continue unabated without passing any meaningful reform.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced that Biden was being kept updated on the shooting

'This wasn't inevitable. These kids weren't unlucky,' Murphy said. 'Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day.'

His fellow Democrat lawmaker, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, expressed his horror at the situation before laying blame with Republicans for their resistance to harsher gun control measures.

'The shooting at Robb Elementary in Texas is a horror. My heart aches for the families devastated by this tragedy and the Uvalde community,' Schiff said.

'Children are dying, and we could do something about it. But the GOP wont stand up to the gun lobby. Shameful doesnt begin to cover it.'

Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo said in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon that the elementary school, which has 600 students enrolled, catered to children in grades two, three and four.

Arredondo confirmed the shooter acted alone.

GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district the shooting occurred in, said: 'It is devastating when our innocent children become the victims of senseless violence. We are devastated.'

Gonzales was among the majority of Republican lawmakers who voted against expanding gun control measures on the federal level.

Robb elementary school, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in Uvalde - 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the 'monstrous' shooting before directing her ire at colleagues that have stood in the way of gun reform.

'Words are inadequate to describe the agony and outrage at the cold-blooded massacre of little schoolchildren and a teacher at Robb Elementary School today,' Pelosi said in a statement.

'This monstrous shooting stole the futures of precious children, who will never experience the joys of graduating from school, chasing the career of their dreams, falling in love, even starting a family of their own.'

Referring to the multiple mass shootings in recent weeks, the Democrat continued: 'Across the nation, Americans are filled with righteous fury in the wake of multiple incomprehensible mass shootings in the span of just days.'

'This a crisis of existential proportions  for our children and for every American. For too long, some in Congress have offered hollow words after these shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives,' she said.

'It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law.'
Boris Johnsons Tory critics last night hinted they may use Partygate to execute a coup.

Tom Tugendhat, the only senior Tory to confirm a leadership bid, said he was talking to colleagues about the PMs future.

Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper plunged the knife in, saying it was not just the events, its the fact hes not been straightforward about it.

Tory veteran Sir Roger Gale added: He misled us from the despatch box. And, honourably, there is one answer.

One leading rebel said: A lot of the 2019 intake are getting very unhappy... they are beginning to see that they will not hold their seats if Boris stays.

'The question is, have they got the guts to do something about it?

Boris Johnsons Tory critics last night hinted they may use Partygate to execute a coup

Sue Gray's Partygate report is expected to be released in full on Thursday - and make grim reading for the PM

Mr Tugendhat, a long-time critic of the PM, said it was time to end the lack of seriousness in government.

Discussing pictures of the PM raising a glass of bubbly at a lockdown leaving do, he told Times Radio: Seriousness and government is important. Its what keeps food prices down. Its what keeps energy prices down.

Its what protects the British people. And Im afraid these photographs just dont look serious, do they?

Asked whether Mr Johnson should be replaced, he said: This is something Im talking to colleagues about today. And the reason Im not giving you a yes, no answer is because this isnt a binary question.

Its about a team... We need to focus on who is going to lead us into the future.

Tory MPs can force a vote of no confidence if 54 of them write to backbench shop steward Sir Graham Brady demanding one. Pictured: Mr Johnson's cabinet met on Tuesday

Mr Harper, who has previously urged the PM to resign, said: Im fed up with my colleagues, a number of decent men and women, who are being asked to go out on the television day after day and saying things that are frankly ridiculous and defending the indefensible. Thats not what a leader should do.

Tory MPs can force a vote of no confidence if 54 of them write to backbench shop steward Sir Graham Brady demanding one.

The number of letters sent to Sir Graham is thought to be well short of the 54 target, and some critics of the PM stated publicly that they had withdrawn their letters in light of the PMs leadership on Ukraine.

But many Conservative MPs said they were reserving judgment on the PM until they had seen the details of Sue Grays report.
The digital travails of a man called Chris Paphides, narrated in a series of poignant posts by his son Pete on social media this week, are a parable for our times.

On arriving at the Greek Cathedral in Birmingham for a friends memorial service, the 84-year-old was shocked to discover new parking arrangements which meant he could only leave his car if he paid by app or used an automated payment line.

In this age of computer says no, he could not get to grips with either of these options but, rather than miss the service, he decided to leave his car anyway.

Back home, he called his son to ask if he could help explain to the parking company what had happened and try to remedy the situation.

Nobody took any notice of Petes explanations and it wasnt long before a fine landed on his fathers doormat  a fine he will never be able to pay as he had sadly passed away in the interim, leaving his grieving son to navigate the labyrinthine administration involved in trying to have the penalty annulled.

'For centuries older generations have had to accommodate the advances taking place around them. Nonetheless, the speed of change in our digital world is unprecedented'

The episode is a disgrace and I wish I could say it was an isolated incident. Alas, it is as familiar to me as it is distressing, a small but all-too-real illustration of the struggles faced by so many of our precious older generation in a digitally obsessed age, when everything from paying your bills to making an appointment with your doctor needs to be done over the internet or via a smartphone app.

For those of us who are fully at home with both of these methods, this may not be a big deal, but it is quite the opposite for those who arent.

The majority of those left behind by the drive to digitise even the most vital services are elderly or disabled. For assorted reasons they cannot  or do not feel confident enough  to embrace digital technology and, as a result, they find themselves excluded from accessing vital services.

And they represent a not insubstantial proportion of the population: last year, the Office for National Statistics reported that three million people were offline  meaning they did not access the internet  more than two million of them aged 70-plus.

Even among mobile phone users, ten per cent dont own a smartphone, denying them the capacity to download the apps with which so many companies seem to be entirely obsessed and increasingly foist on their customers in an effort to cut costs and increase their profits.

As a result, a large section of society is left feeling at best marginalised, at worst completely forgotten  not my words, but those of the writer of one of the many letters I receive each month as a result of my work championing the rights of older people.

When I was Pensions Minister in David Camerons Conservative government in 2015, the Prime Minister wanted me to accept a new cross-Government role as Minister for Older People, and I was thrilled.

Sadly, my department squashed the idea and there is still no government minister with specific responsibility for looking after the interests of older citizens. Yet that role is much-needed.

I constantly hear from older people who are fed up with organisations that trumpet their technological advances in the name of progress and efficiency but, in reality, are mostly cutting costs to please their shareholders while increasingly disadvantaging digitally excluded groups.

In my view, this is nothing less than discrimination.

How else to describe the plight of the lady who wrote to tell me she could no longer visit her local park because she cant use the new car-parking system, which  like the one that confronted Chris Paphides  requires you to download an app, which she cant do as she doesnt own a mobile phone.

Or the 87-year-old who, befuddled by his banks automated system, has to rely on a kindly neighbour to make a 30-mile round trip to his nearest bank to withdraw cash and pay his bills since his local branch closed.

Unrecognisable though this attitude may be to the younger generation, he just doesnt trust any form of online transaction.

Time and again these letters land on my desk, filled with every emotion from frustration to heartbreak, bewilderment to anger.

One woman wrote of her struggle to visit her ailing husband in hospital as she couldnt use the automated car park, forcing her to rely on often unavailable neighbours for lifts.

In her 70s, she would love to adopt the new technology but her arthritic fingers make it impossible for her to use a smartphone.

'I constantly hear from older people who are fed up with organisations that trumpet their technological advances in the name of progress and efficiency but, in reality, are mostly cutting costs to please their shareholders'

A lady in her 80s who lives alone and is almost blind contacted me in despair at the impossibility of engaging with almost anyone from her bank, and even from official bodies or major stores.

As she put it, the assumption is made that everyone in the country has a smartphone or an iPad and an array of apps to rely on.

There is now no way you can pick up a phone, dial a number and be answered by a voice asking how they can help, she wrote. Is this too much to ask?

Apparently so, and never more than in the past two years: alongside the pandemics many horrors was the sense of heightened isolation experienced by the elderly, many of whom found themselves locked out of the simple pleasures that gave their life structure and meaning, be it a visit to a cafe or a trip to the shops. The elderly have emerged from two years of on-and-off lockdowns to find those same cafes and shops have not restored previous services.

Meanwhile, having found a convenient excuse for limiting human interaction, public services from utility companies to GP surgeries seem determined to force everyone online, without making any provision for those who are incapable of doing so.

Many elderly people rely on simple human contacts for help with their queries or complaints. But all too often, the first point of contact is an automated telephone system designed to make it as difficult as possible to speak to an actual person.

Little wonder that the elderly  by and large a stoical generation, not inclined to kick up a fuss  feel marginalised and ignored, and sometimes feel they are being wished away as a troublesome inconvenience.

I dont want to suggest for a minute that these sentiments apply to everyone: I know ninety somethings who are incredibly technologically switched on and adaptable, including my 90-year-old mother, who, while far from a tech whiz, learnt how to email during lockdown, to the great surprise of her offspring.

Meanwhile, for many younger people and those working long hours, moving to digital is welcome time-saving progress.

This is not about resisting change. Life is a permanent state of transition and for centuries older generations have had to accommodate the advances taking place around them. Nonetheless, the speed of change in our digital world is unprecedented.

Progress should not be dressed up as improvement if, in reality, it leaves out millions of people.

Instead of prioritising profit, companies must consider the needs of their customers as a whole, rather than dumbing down to the lowest common and cost-effective denominator while abandoning so many good people.

As Pete Paphides put it at the end of his social media post, it is heartbreaking how difficult we have made it for the elderly to go about their daily business, terrorising them for the crime of not knowing how to download an app.

It has to stop. We require urgent action to ensure the needs of those who cant participate in this brave new online world are taken into consideration  a belt-and-braces approach, as Dame Esther Rantzen put it yesterday, that combines access to smart technology with the opportunity for others to speak to a human being.

This cannot be too much to ask. After all, it has long been said that you can judge a society by how it treats its elderly and vulnerable. And by that reckoning, we are currently failing.
Fifty years of history and controversy has come to a dramatic end as an iconic statue of Captain James Cook begins its next voyage.

Standing 10 metres tall, the statue of the British explorer has been a Cairns landmark since 1972.

The giant monument has sparked outrage over the years for the infamous statue's Nazi-like salute and because it stood as a 'symbol of colonialism and genocide' for indigenous Australians.

Dozens gathered at the site on Tuesday to witness history as the Captain Cook statue was brought down in a delicate operation to be relocated to a private property in the nearby Atherton Tablelands.

Demolition contractor Martin Anton reportedly bought the statue for $1 with plans to repaint and restore the monument.

Tuesday marked the end of an era for one of Cairns' most iconic landmarks (pictured)

'He's going to have a well-earned rest, he can lay down after standing for 50 years,' he told Seven News.

'No one can stand erect that long.'

Mr Anton hopes the restored statue will eventually be erected elsewhere.

'He's just going to be located on-site for storage purposes until the structural engineers have had a chance to go right over him and make sure he's as good now as he was 50 years ago,' he told the ABC.

'You get better with age, don't you?'

It was the third time lucky for the removal, which was previously postponed twice due to recent wet weather.

The giant statue was suspended mid-air by a crane before being carefully placed onto the back of a truck.

The historical moment for Cairns sparked a divided community reaction.

The removal of the 10 metre statue of Captain Cook required a careful and delicate operation

'Destroy it, take it away, it just opens up wounds,' First Nations resident Cheryl Creed said.

Almost 20,000 people signed a petition set up by indigenous artist Emma Hollingsworth for the statue to be removed during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement.

'Since 1972, the James Cook statue on Sheridan Street has stood as a symbol of colonialism and genocide. It's a slap in the face to all Indigenous people,' the petition stated.

'For us, it represents dispossession, forced removal, slavery, genocide, stolen land, and loss of culture - among many other things.'

The Captain Cook statue will be relocated to a private property in the nearby Atherton Tablelands to be restored

But some were sad to see the monument go.

'So much of Cairns is being knocked down so it's a question of trying to capture what you can,' one woman told Seven News.

Some online suggested the statue be re-erected 325km north in Cooktown, a coastal town where the explorer beached his ship the Endeavour, for repairs in 1770.

James Cook University will develop a hospital at the Sheridan Street site where the statue stood for half a century.
Two boys and four girls have been identified as the first child victims of the Texas elementary school massacre that left at least 19 kids dead, as desperate relatives search for their missing loved ones.

Fourth grade student Xavier Lopez, 10, was killed Tuesday when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The boy's mother had attended his awards ceremony just hours before the shooting, unaware that would be the last time she saw her son alive, his cousin told KTRK.

A GoFundMe account has been established by a family member to help his parents raise money for the funeral. The family had already collected more than $24,000 by Tuesday night.

The family of Uziyah Garcia, 9, said he was killed in the shooting hours after announcing he was among the missing.

'My nephew was a victim of a school shooting today,' Garcia's uncle Mitch Renfro wrote on Facebook, adding that he 'was killed by a crazy man.'

The boy's family told NBC 5 Garcia would have turned 10 this summer.

Makenna Lee Elrod, 10, was confirmed dead by a family friend late Tuesday night after her father, Brandon Elrod, revealed she had been missing since the shooting and said he feared 'she may not be alive.'

Fourth grade student Xavier Lopez, 10, was killed Tuesday when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. His mother had attended his awards ceremony just hours before the shooting, unaware that would be the last time she saw him

Uziyah Garcia, 9, (left) and Makenna Elrod, 10, (right) were both confirmed dead by loved ones on Facebook

Brandon told KTRK he was 'on the way to the funeral home' because 'we can't find my daughter.'

'It's pretty sad what this world's coming to,' he told the TV station.

Pilar Newberry, whose daughter was in a tumbling class with Elrod, confirmed her death on Facebook hours later, saying: 'Sweet Makenna Rest in Paradise!! My heart is shattered as my daughter Chloe loved her so much!!

'Ill never forget how excited she was to meet a new friend from a different school! Just a few weeks ago she got a friendship bracelet from her at the ballpark and she wears it everyday! When she wakes up tomorrow shes going to be devastated. Praying so hard for her sweet family!!!!'

Amerie Jo Garza was also confirmed dead by U.S. Marshals Tuesday night, according to ABC News. She had just celebrated her 10th birthday on May 10.

'My little love is now flying high with the angels above,' her father Angel Garza wrote on Facebook. 'Please dont take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie Jo.'

Steven Garcia and Jennifer Lugo confirmed their daughter, Ellie, was killed in Tuesday's massacre after she had been missing for several hours.

'Its hard to issue out a statement on anything right now my mind is going at 1000 miles per hour but I do wanna send our thoughts and prayers to those who also didnt make it home tonight!!! Our Ellie was a doll and was the happiest ever,' Steven wrote on Facebook. 'Mom and Dad love you never forget that and please try and stay by our side.'

Eliahana 'Elijah Cruz' Torres, 10, was also identified among the deceased. The fourth grader, didn't want to go to school on Tuesday, her grandfather told Fox News - but her family told her she had to.

So far, police have confirmed that 19 children and three adults, including a 44-year-old teacher, were killed in Tuesday's massacre. Police sources told KTRK they expect the death toll to rise.

Amerie Jo Garza (right) was confirmed dead by her father Angel Garza (left), who said: 'My little love is now flying high with the angels above'

Eliahana 'Elijah Cruz' Torres, 10, was also identified among the deceased. The fourth grader, didn't want to go to school on Tuesday, her grandfather said - but her family told her she had to

Steven Garcia and Jennifer Lugo confirmed their daughter, Ellie, was killed in Tuesday's massacre after she had been missing for several hours

Meanwhile, the families of missing students have taken to social media sharing photos of the children in hopes of tracking them down.

10 year-old Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez remains missing, with her dad sharing a photo of her in the hopes of tracking her down.

Her dad, who has not been named, told Fox News that he hasn't heard from her since gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, opened fire inside the school this afternoon.

The youngster's dad has also given her photo to Texas Rangers in the hope that they'll be able to track her down.

Federico Torres told KHOU his son Rogelio Torres, a student in Mr. Reyes' class, is still missing. He turned to the news outlet for help after officials at the local hospital and civic center had no information on his son's whereabouts.

Nevaeh Bravo's cousin identified her as missing on Twitter, saying: 'We cannot find her and are very worried.'

She was also a fourth grader in Mr. Reyes' class, along with deceased Garcia and missing Torres. Family members of the victims allege Ramos opened fired into Reyes' classroom.

Annabelle Rodriquez, 10, pictured here, a student at Robb Elementary School is missing, her frantic father told Fox News

Rogelio Torres (left) and Neveah Bravo (right) were both reported missing by relatives. The pair were students in Mr. Reyes' fourth grade class

Two teachers were also confirmed dead after Tuesday's massacre.

Eva Mireles, 44, a special ed teacher at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, was confirmed to have died by relatives Tuesday night.

She is married to Ruben Ruiz, 43, a cop at the local police department, with the couple parents to a college-age daughter.

Mireles worked in the education system for 17 years and was a co-teacher at the school for at least five of those.

In her Robb Elementary School profile, she describes herself as an active runner, hiker and, sometimes, biker. Her husband, Ruben Ruiz, 43, is a police officer at the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District.

'I'm furious that these shootings continue,' Mireles's aunt Lydia Martinez Delgado said. 'These children are innocent. Rifles should not be easily available to all. This is my hometown, a small community of less than 20,000. I never imagined this would happen to especially loved ones ... All we can do is pray hard for our country, state, schools, and especially the families of all,' her aunt, Lydia Martinez Delgado, said in a statement.

Irma Garcia (left) and Eva Mireles (right), who co-taught fourth grade, were both shot and killed at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday

The second teacher was named by friends and family as Irma Garcia, a mother of four and 23-year veteran at Robb Elementary School who had co-taught with Mireles for five years.

Married to Joe for 24 years, she was a mother of four - Cristian, completing Marine boot camp; Jose, attending Texas State university University; Lyliana, a sophomore in high school; and Alysandra, a 7th grader.

'My tia did not make it, she sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom, i beg of you to keep my family including all of her family in yalls prayers , IRMA GARCIA IS HER NAME and she died a HERO,' tweeted her nephew John.

'She was loved by many and will truly be missed.'

She was nominated as teacher of the year for the 2018-19 awards, organized by Trinity University.

Police and investigators continue to work at the scene of a mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas

Jennifer Click offers hugs and prayers to people coming and going at the SSGT Willie De Leon Civic Center after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas

A mobile morgue was snapped pulling up outside the school earlier on Tuesday as medical examiners began the grim task of identifying the victims.

Ramos was shot and killed by a Customs and Border Patrol agent who realized what was happening and ran to Robb Elementary to help without backup.

Additionally, 13 children are being treated at the Uvalde Memorial emergency room as well as a 45-year-old man who suffered a 'graze.'

Cops told a press conference Tuesday night that they'd work to contact the victims of the deceased as soon as their remains were identified.

University Health San Antonio also confirmed they received a child whose condition is currently unknown and a 66-year-old woman who is critical condition.

Robb Elementary School, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in the city of Uvalde, hometown of Matthew McConaughey, 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio.

Concerned parents were captured at the scene desperately searching for their children and video from the chaotic scene showed police arriving to the school campus with their guns in hand.

One widely shared video appears to show the suspected gunman approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background.

Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 14 students and a teacher

Videos taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting show mothers frantically running towards the campus to collect their kids.

The school warned parents to stay away and instead collect their children from a rendezvous point after they had been 'accounted for'.

'Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared.'

Ninety percent of the school's students are Hispanic and there are some 70 teachers.

It is one many schools in the district that is a stone's throw from the Mexican border, with the city of Coahuila 220 miles away. The school sits on the outskirts of the city of Uvalde, population 16,000.

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told Fox News that shots were fired off site, and that after shooting one person, the gunman ran to the school where he barricaded himself inside.

The district said that the city's civic center will be used as a reunification center and that parents will be able to pick up their children there once everyone is accounted for.

A mobile morgue was seen arriving at the school on Tuesday afternoon.

Ted Cruz, a Republican US senator from Texas, tweeted that he and his wife are 'lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.'

Ken Paxton, the attorney general for Texas, told Fox News that more teachers should carry guns.

'We can't stop bad people from doing bad things,' he said, adding that he had 'never understood that argument'.

Eva Mireles, 44, a victim in the attack is married to a police officer assigned to the Uvalde School Distict

A woman cries while speaking on the phone outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School to be picked up following the shooting

A board with the list of classes and teachers is displayed outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center

'We can harden these schools. We can create points of access that are difficult to get through.

'We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly.

'The reality is that we don't have the resources to have law enforcement at every school.

'So it takes time for law enforcement - now matter how prepared, no matter how good they are - to get there. So having the right training for some of these people at the school is the best hope.

Robb elementary school, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in Uvalde - 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio

'Nothing is going to work perfectly, but that, in my opinion it's the best answer to this problem.'

But Senator Chris Murphy, a Democratic from Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook shooting took place, made an impassioned appeal for concrete action to prevent further violence.

'This isn't inevitable, these kids weren't unlucky. This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day,' Murphy said on the Senate floor.

'I'm here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely,' he added.

State police arrive at the scene of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday

New video from the chaotic scene shows police arriving to the scene with their guns in hand

FBI agents arrive at Robb Elementary School following Tuesday's shooting

Kamala Harris, the vice president, said: 'Enough is enough. As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action and understand the nexus between makes for reasonable and sensible public policy to ensure something like this never happens again.'

The deadly violence in Texas follows a series of mass shootings in the United States this month.

On May 14, an 18-year-old white man shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.

Wearing heavy body armor and wielding an AR-15 rifle, the self-declared white supremacist allegedly livestreamed his attack, having reportedly targeted the store because of the large surrounding African American population.

The following day, a man blocked the door of a church in Laguna Woods, California and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and injuring five.

Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to enact their own restrictions.

The National Rifle Association has been instrumental in fighting against stricter US gun laws. Abbott and Cruz are listed as speakers at a forum that is being held by the powerful lobby in Houston, Texas later this week.

The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the 'monstrous' shooting before directing her ire at colleagues that have stood in the way of gun reform.

'Words are inadequate to describe the agony and outrage at the cold-blooded massacre of little schoolchildren and a teacher at Robb Elementary School today,' Pelosi said in a statement.

'This monstrous shooting stole the futures of precious children, who will never experience the joys of graduating from school, chasing the career of their dreams, falling in love, even starting a family of their own.'

Referring to the multiple mass shootings in recent weeks, the Democrat continued: 'Across the nation, Americans are filled with righteous fury in the wake of multiple incomprehensible mass shootings in the span of just days.'

'This a crisis of existential proportions  for our children and for every American. For too long, some in Congress have offered hollow words after these shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives,' she said.

'It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law.'
The Project's political analyst Peter van Onselen has been dragged online over his prediction that Christian Porter and Josh Frydenberg were 'the future of the Liberal Party.'

van Onselen tweeted a picture of the the pair in September 2020 and hailed them as the Coalition's next leadership in waiting - but just 20 months later, both have been booted into political obscurity.

Now he has been roasted by Twitter users over the old post, with former Independent MP Tony Windsor sniping: 'This is what happens when a media personality wants to be part of the future of his mates'

The Project's political analyst Peter van Onselen has been dragged online over his prediction that Christian Porter and Josh Frydenberg were 'the future of the Liberal Party'

Peter van Onselen has been roasted by Twitter users over the old post, with the attacks led by former independent MP Tony Windsor

Former Treasurer Frydenberg was sensationally abandoned by voters at the election with locals in his blue ribbon Melbourne seat of Kooyong turning to the teal Independent Monique Ryan.

And Mr Porter - a long-time friend of van Onselen - quit politics after he was embroiled in historic rape allegations which he denied, and the row that erupted over the secret donors funding his legal defence.

Now the 2020 tweet from van Onselen, 46, has resurfaced amid his other political predictions which proved to be the kiss of death for those tipped for success.

The Australian's political correspondent also famously backed Labor to romp home at the 2019 federal election and hailed Bill Shorten as Prime Minister-to-be.

Former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was sensationally abandoned by voters at the election with locals in his blue ribbon Melbourne seat of Kooyong turning to the teal Independent Monique Ryan

Christian Porter - a long-time friend of Peter van Onselen, seen here in the centre with Mr Porter (left) in his university days - quit politics after he was embroiled in historic rape allegations which he denied, and the row over the secret donors funding his legal defence

And even last week, van Onselen was still backing Scott Morrison to win at the weekend, only for the Liberal vote to collapse and Anthony Albanese sweep to victory.

'I've stuck to my Morrison win prediction this whole term. Happy to be wrong...' he posted last Thursday.

On the morning of the election however, van Onselen did suddenly and dramatically change horses and backed Labor to win in an op-ed for The Australian.

Since 2019's failed prediction, van Onselen has played up his kiss of death, often deliberately taunting fate by deliberately trying to curse results with his predictions.

Even last week, Peter van Onselen was still backing Scott Morrison to win at the weekend, only for the Liberal vote to collapse

But Twitter ensured van Onselen's serious flops were exposed, especially his picture of Porter and Frydenberg with the caption: 'The future of the Liberal Party in one photo...'

One user reposted a screenshot of the tweet, with the caption: '[That feeling when] you're completely right, but not in the way you intended...'

One said: 'Everything PVO touches' and another added: 'Is PVO a comedian?'

'Who has egg on his face? He's certainly made a mess as a political commentator,' posted another.

'Peter van Onselen has built quite a reputation for making election predictions. And getting them completely wrong,' a follower pointed out.

van Onselen has since hit back at the critics and insisted he made the original post on the spur of the moment as a swipe at Scott Morrison.

Peter van Onselen has since hit back at the critics and insisted he made the original post backing Josh Frydenberg (right) on the spur of the moment as a swipe at Scott Morrison (left)

The Project's political analyst's explanation also came under fire from Twitter users

'Actually that was when Morrison was attacking me and I was walking past the pair doing a media conference and thought referencing someone other than him as the future of the party when his polling was stratospheric would be funny,' he posted in reply to Mr Windsor.

'Sorry it triggered you! Wasn't a big deal'

One replied sarcastically: 'Ok that makes it totally less petty and churlish. Thanks.'

'Always got an answer for everything, don't ya buddy? And as usual the answer is 'That's not what I meant',' said another.

'Typical of your ilk. No accountability and you couldn't possibly be the problem.'

Another Twitter user pointed out Malcolm Turnbull had also made a similar prediction in his book.

van Onselen added: 'I didn't realise that. At any rate, I was making a deliberate jibe joke at the time.

'That said, yes, common sense would have told anyone back then they were the likely next generation leaders.

'Obviously that didn't happen - I'm sure Tony [Windsor] was much wiser and more virtuous'

On the morning of the election however, Peter van Onselen suddenly backed Labor to win in an op-ed for The Australian (pictured, Anthony Albanese with partner Jodie Haydon (right) and foreign minister Penny Wong)

The TV pundit was also accused of backing the Coalition in the run up to the election.

'van Onselen's smug long range prediction that Scott Morrison would win this election was not only wrong.. he got smashed!' posted one.

'So #PVO got any more long range predictions you want to share or are you getting tired of being wrong all the time!'

van Onselen insisted he had not been biased against either party in the election run up, adding: 'You can both read my columns and watch my stories all in my feed.

'If you watch and read them all and honestly think I favoured the Coalition this campaign DM me and I'll buy you a mealbut you've got to be honest.'

But one user replied: 'Pete, Twitter is truly not good for you...'

Peter van Onselen (right), the Political Editor of Network 10, left his colleagues shocked on election night by confessing he'd forgotten to vote. (Left: Sandra Sully)

van Onselen is a professor of politics with a PhD in political science, and the author of several books about former prime ministers, including John Howard, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison

But during Ten's election night coverage on Saturday, he shocked viewers when he admitted live on air that he had forgotten to vote.

'Sandra, I just realised I forgot to vote,' he told his co-host Sandra Sully, as the entire panel gasped, 'What!?'

Sully and her co-hosts Jan Fran and Hugh Riminton, the National Affairs Editor for Network 10, looked stunned by van Onselen's revelation while Labor politician Ed Husic shook his head in disapproval and rolled his eyes.

On Wednesday, van Onselen hinted that the seachange in Parliament would also herald a new approach for him on Twitter to focus on serious political commentary and step back from trivial online rows.

'The change of government on Saturday feels like such a welcome reset,' he tweeted.

'Irrespective of where you stand politically, or how the new government goes, its a chance to look forwards not backwards.

'The debates will be robust but it allows for a much needed line in the sand.'
A 17-year-old boy was allegedly stabbed in the neck by a machete-wielding thug holding a pair of Nike TN shoes at a popular Melbourne dining strip after the boy ran away barefoot.

A group of 11 young men were seen sprinting down Lygon Street in Carlton on Monday night, chasing the barefoot teenager before he was allegedly attacked outside the Pidapipo Gelateria.

Pools of blood were seen outside the ice-cream shop as the group of thugs fled the scene while horrified diners eating nearby watched on in horror.

The 17-year-old was rushed to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

A 17-year-old boy was allegedly stabbed by a machete-wielding thug in Melbourne's Lygon Street on Monday night

A woman who witnessed the chaos unfold said she feared the boy was going to die.

'I turned around and said ''hold your throat mate'', because I was scared he was going to bleed out,' she told Nine News.

'That was the most scariest, most horrible thing I've ever seen in Lygon Street.

'I'd be surprised if he walks or talks normally again, because that was a pretty bad stabbing.'

Pools of blood were seen outside the ice-cream store following the attack on Monday night

The inside of the store and the outdoor seating area were both splashed with blood following the shocking attack.

Nearby workers helped wrap the boy's wound before paramedics arrived.

Police and forensic officers have been scouring the area for clues to help them track down the thugs, with no arrests yet to be made.

One store worker was reportedly knocked to the ground in the attack.

Police say investigations are continuing.

Anyone with information about the incident has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Scott Morrison's unpopularity cost the Liberal Party a winnable election against an opposition that lost millions of votes to the Greens and independents.

Labor won a comfortable victory on Saturday that will likely send Anthony Albanese to The Lodge with a majority government.

However, its primary vote was just 32.8 per cent, a 0.5 per cent swing against it compared to 2019, and only picked up a dozen seats at most.

Instead, the 5.5 per cent swing away from the Coalition went to The Greens and 'teal' independents who snatched nine new seats between them.

Nowhere was this more apparent than the seat of Ryan in Brisbane, where the Liberal MP was replaced with The Greens' Elizabeth Watson-Brown.

Scott Morrison's unpopularity cost the Liberal Party a winnable election against an opposition that lost millions of votes to the Greens and independents

Since its creation in 1974 the Liberals have won this seat at every general election, although they did lose it briefly to Labor in a 2001 by-election but regained it later that year.

The Greens picked up a 10.2 per cent swing to finish in second place on the primary vote with 30.5 per cent, with Labor going backwards 2.2 per cent.

Ms Watson-Brown won 52.9 per cent of the final vote with Labor preferences.

This lineup of female candidates, bankrolled by millionaire Simon Holmes a Court, advocated strong climate change action and other progressive policies and knocked off six moderate Liberals in inner-city electorates.

Political analysts noted these trends showed Labor didn't really win the lection.

Instead it was the Coalition that lost it, as the huge swing to minor parties showed voters were frustrated with both options - not simply enamoured with Labor.

Greens candidate Elizabeth Watson-Brown (left) celebrates snatching away the formerly safe Liberal seat of Ryan along with Brisbane City Council Councillor Jonathan Sri (right)

Monique Ryan, here seen with her children, headlined the rise of the teal independents by taking the prize Liberal seat of Kooyong off the former treasurer Josh Frydenberg

Political reporter Samantha Maiden said Mr Morrison 'really screwed it up' and the Liberals could have won due to Labor's weakness if he wasn't so unpopular.

She said Mr Morrison was particularly unpopular with women, which was a decisive factor in his downfall.

'The data is pretty clear that it was also a defeat that was driven by women,' she said.

'It was women who decided that they weren't happy with what was on offer. It was women who helped to elect a record number of female independents.'

Ms Watson-Brown said she sensed the shift in mood among once Liberal voters before the election.

'Many people came up to me at pre-poll and said to me, "Elizabeth, I am going to vote for you this time. I had been a long-term Liberal voter and I feel completely abandoned",' she said.

This analysis received support from Dave Sharma, the outgoing MP for the wealthy seat of Wentworth, once held by former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Allegra Spender (right) holds on tight to her sister Bianca Spender while running for the seat of Wentworth in Sydney, which she successfully claimed from Liberal Dave Sharma

Teal independent Allegra Spender, the daughter of designer Carla Zampatti, who the Guardian reported held an election night party packed with young affluent professionals who had soured on the Liberal Party.

'Polling showed that he (Morrison) had a negative approval rating in seats like mine, and he was a drag on the vote,' Mr Sharma told the ABC on Wednesday.

'When you spoke to people, it was almost visceral.

'They would say he's too religious, they didn't like that he carried coal into parliament one time.

'They didn't believe his sincerity on climate change, they didn't like our handling of Brittany Higgins's rape allegations and Grace Tame's comments; those sorts of things.'

The highest profile Liberal taken out by an independent was Josh Frydenberg who lost to Monique Ryan in Kooyong, a seat with a prestigious Liberal pedigree of former members.

A clutch of other once solid Liberal seats, all held by men, also fell to Teal women, while Zali Stegall easily retained the seat of Warringah which she sensationally snatched off former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott in 2019.

Dave Sharma said that Scott Morrison generated an 'almost visceral dislike' among voters in his electorate who did not like his more conservative politics of his handling of various issues

Outgoing finance minister Simon Birmingham admitted the Liberals face an almost 'impossible' task to form government if they can't reclaim the 'heartland seats'.

Mr Birmingham also believed that women has sent the Liberals a very 'clear message' that they needed to pre-select more women.

Former Victorian Liberal deputy state director Tony Barry told the ABC the Liberals had 'lost their base. We don't seem to have a natural constituency anymore'.

Ms Steggall said the success of the teals showed the Liberals had lost touch with its once most staunch supporters.

'The Liberal Party has lost its way when it comes to representing sensible views, [the] sensible centre and has moved so far to the right, it has left so many people disenfranchised,' Ms Steggall told the Nine Network.
Labour was last night accused of being bought off by rail union barons after failing to condemn threats of summer strikes.

It came as Electoral Commission figures emerged showing the party had banked nearly 3million in little over a decade from the three unions threatening to bring railways to a halt.

Figures show the party and its MPs pocketed 1.4million from the TSSA union between 2010 and last year, 1.1million from train drivers union ASLEF and 469,450 from the militant RMT union. TSSA boss Manuel Cortes vowed to inflict a summer of discontent on travellers.

TSSA boss Manuel Cortes vowed to inflict a summer of discontent on travellers as railworkers have voted in favour of strike action to support their demand for improved pay and conditions

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: We talk about paid lobbying, but its clear the transport unions have bought Labours silence on this while their extremist leaders seek to undermine our economy and democracy'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer failed to condemn the threats. A party spokesman said: Its vital that the Government, network rail, the operators and the unions work together now to address the issues.

But Tory MPs Chris Loder, who sits on the Commons transport committee, and Andrew Bridgen said the money had bought [Labours] silence.

Mr Bridgen said: We talk about paid lobbying, but its clear the transport unions have bought Labours silence on this while their extremist leaders seek to undermine our economy and democracy.

Labour is always in the pockets of the trade unions and its important that media outlets such as the Mail point this out to the commuting public, who will rightly be angry.

It came as separate figures compiled by the TaxPayers Alliance (TPA) showed four union barons raked in nearly half a million pounds in pay and perks during the first year of the pandemic.

Mr Cortes pocketed a total pay package of 121,773 in 2020, including 18,151 in pension contributions.

Former RMT boss Mick Cash received a package of 163,468, including 1,432 in car benefit, while its former senior assistant general secretary, Steve Hedley, got 94,016, including 21,610 in pension contributions.

Mr Lynchs overall remuneration totalled 118,450 in 2020.

An RMT spokesman said he has since taken a voluntary pay cut and his salary is now 84,174.

But the TPAs Danielle Boxall said: Taxpayers are fed up with lectures and disruption from loaded union leaders.

These red barons are dooming commuters to misery, but are sitting comfortably as some of Britains biggest earners.
This is the shocking moment a group of men were involved in a major brawl in the departures area of Dublin Airport.

Shocked passengers in the terminal looked on in horror as one man stamped on another's face in pictures taken last night and shared online.

Several bystanders dragged the man away after the victim was unable to defend himself on the floor.

Witnesses said two men began brawling before several others became involved in scuffles at the airport

Several bystanders dragged the man away after the victim was unable to defend himself on the floor

A man in his 20s has been arrested. A second was rushed to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin which is a few miles south of the airport. Beaumont Hospital is the national centre for neurosurgery.

Witnesses said two men began brawling before several others became involved in scuffles.

At one stage a third man becomes involved who knocks one of the original brawlers to the ground.

Gardai confirmed they have made an arrest.

A Garda spokesperson told the Irish Independent: 'Gardai, with the assistance of the DAA Airport Police responded to a public order incident at Dublin Airport earlier this evening, May 24, 2022.

'One man has since been taken to Beaumont Hospital where he is receiving treatment.

'One man (20s) was arrested and is currently detained at Swords Garda station.

'No further information available at this time. Investigations ongoing.'

Dublin Airport Authority said: 'As this incident is subject to a police investigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.'
President Joe Biden condemned gun manufacturers and mourned 'so many crushed spirits' in the wake of a devastating mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 18 children on Tuesday.

'Where in God's name is our backbone?' a visibly emotional Biden pleaded.

The president called on elected officials to 'stand up to the gun lobby' in an impassioned speech barely two hours after arriving back in the United States following his first trip to Asia while commander-in-chief.

'I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre,' Biden said.

Speaking from the White House Roosevelt Room with First Lady Jill Biden clad in black by his side, the president said: 'Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful innocent, second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happen - see their friends die as if they're on a battlefield, for God's sake?'

He took a moment to empathize with parents who would never see their young children again after Tuesday.

'Parents will never be the same. To lose a child, it's like having a piece of your soul ripped away,' said the president, who lost his son Beau Biden to brain cancer in 2015.

'There's a hollowness in your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it. And never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. And it's never quite the same. It's the feeling shared by the siblings and the grandparents and the family members and the community that's left behind.'

He lamented there were 'so many crush spirits' left to mourn the more than dozen victims.

'So tonight, I asked the nation to pray for them. Give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.'

President Joe Biden gave a short but impassioned speech less than two hours after returning from a trip to Asia

Biden delivered the remarks in the White House Roosevelt Room with a silent and solemn First Lady Dr. Jill Biden by his side

His voice growing louder, Biden continued: 'As a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?'

Biden recalled the numerous mass shootings over the last decade, including visiting Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 26 people including 20 children while he was vice president. He also remarked on the this month's mass shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York.

'I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage. I spent my career as a senator and vice president working to pass common sense gun laws,' he said.

'We can't and won't prevent every tragedy, but we know they work and have positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down, when the law expired mass shootings tripled.'

He said the ability for a teenage gunman, like Salvador Ramos, to be able to 'walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.

'What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?' Biden questioned.

He then accused gun makers of spending 'two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons, which make them the most and largest profit.'

'For God's sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry,' the president said.

Biden pointed out that no other developed nation has the rate of gun violence the US experiences.

'Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why?' he pressed.

'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?'

He then called on supporters of tighter gun laws to mobilize in the wake of Tuesday's shooting, while warning opponents of firearm reform: 'For those who obstruct or delay or block the common sense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget.'

'Our prayer tonight is those parents lying in bed trying to figure out, will I be able to sleep again? What do I say to my other children? What happens tomorrow?' Biden said.

'May God bless the loss of innocent life on this sad day. And may the lord be near the brokenhearted and save those crushed in spirit because they're going to need a lot of help, a lot of our prayers.'

Earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris condemned the mass shooting and called on elected officials to pass reforms to ensure it 'never happens again.'

Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the devastating shooting at a pre-planned event in Washington, DC

'So while we don't know all the details yet, we do know that there are parents who have lost children - families that have lost children - and their loved ones of course, and many others who may have been injured,' the vice president said.

'So, I would normally say in a moment like this, we would also say, naturally, that our hearts break. But our hearts keep getting broken. You know, I think so many - there's so many elected leaders in this room, you know what I'm talking about. Every time a tragedy like this happens, our hearts break. And our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families.'

She added, 'And yet it keeps happening.'

Speaking at the annual summit for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, Harris called on those in the room specifically to examine their role in enacting change.

'I think we all know and have said many times with each other, "Enough is enough." Enough is enough. As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action and understand the nexus between what makes for reasonable and sensible public policy to ensure something like this never happens again.'

A woman cries as she leave the Uvalde Civic Center following a shooting earlier in the day at Robb Elementary School, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas

'Please know that this is a room full of leaders who grieve with you, and we are praying for you, and we stand with you,' Harris said to the people of Uvalde during her remarks

Adding that Biden was due to speak shortly, Harris continued: 'But for now, I will just say to the people of Uvalde - Please know that this is a room full of leaders who grieve with you, and we are praying for you, and we stand with you.'

'It is difficult at a time like this to think about much else. But I do look around this room, and I know who is here, and I know this is a room full of American leaders who knows and have the courage to take a stand.'

Biden ordered all flags at the White House and on federal grounds to fly at half-staff until sundown on May 28 in honor of the victims.

President Joe Biden spoke with Texas Governor Greg Abbott while aboard Air Force One, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield announced

The president looked somber as he returned to the White House, not answering reporters' questions but reminding them he will speak in the evening

The president was briefed on the devastating mass shooting while aboard Air Force One, as he returned from his first trip to Asia as commander-in-chief.

While on the plane he spoke with Texas Governor Greg Abbott to 'to offer any and all assistance he needs,' communications director Kate Bedingfield revealed.

'His prayers are with the families impacted by this awful event, and he will speak this evening when he arrives back at the White House,' Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added.

She called the shooting a 'horrific' event.

Biden was visiting with leaders in South Korea and Japan to reaffirm the United States' commitment to allies in the region and as a warning for China that it cannot operate unchecked.

But he's returning to face the deadliest school shooting of his administration, and the worst since a teenage gunman killed 17 people at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in February 2018.

Police walk near Robb Elementary School following the deadly shooting, Tuesday, May 24

At least 14 students are dead along with one teacher, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced

The 18-year-old shooter was also killed by police, officials said

At least 14 elementary school students and one teacher are dead after an 18-year-old opened fire in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas' governor told the press on Tuesday afternoon.

Thirteen students are being treated at Uvalde Memorial Hospital as well as a 45-year-old male who suffered a 'graze.'

Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 14 students and a teacher

The shooter, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School, had engaged in a shootout with Border Patrol officers and barricaded himself within the school facility. He died after a shootout with law enforcement, Abbott said.

'Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde,' the governor said in a statement.

'Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering. We thank the courageous first responders who worked to finally secure Robb Elementary School.'

Abbott, along with Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, are slated to speak at a National Rifle Association event in Houston on Friday - just three days after the shooting.

A visibly distraught Senator Chris Murphy questioned on the Senate floor: 'What are we doing? What are we doing?'

'We have another Sandy Hook on our hands,' the Connecticut Democrat said.

He said it was a 'choice' to let the numerous mass shootings continue unabated without passing any meaningful reform.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced that Biden was being kept updated on the shooting

'This wasn't inevitable. These kids weren't unlucky,' Murphy said. 'Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day.'

His fellow Democrat lawmaker, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, expressed his horror at the situation before laying blame with Republicans for their resistance to harsher gun control measures.

'The shooting at Robb Elementary in Texas is a horror. My heart aches for the families devastated by this tragedy and the Uvalde community,' Schiff said.

'Children are dying, and we could do something about it. But the GOP wont stand up to the gun lobby. Shameful doesnt begin to cover it.'

Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo said in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon that the elementary school, which has 600 students enrolled, catered to children in grades two, three and four.

Arredondo confirmed the shooter acted alone.

GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district the shooting occurred in, said: 'It is devastating when our innocent children become the victims of senseless violence. We are devastated.'

Gonzales was among the majority of Republican lawmakers who voted against expanding gun control measures on the federal level.

Robb elementary school, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in Uvalde - 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the 'monstrous' shooting before directing her ire at colleagues that have stood in the way of gun reform.

'Words are inadequate to describe the agony and outrage at the cold-blooded massacre of little schoolchildren and a teacher at Robb Elementary School today,' Pelosi said in a statement.

'This monstrous shooting stole the futures of precious children, who will never experience the joys of graduating from school, chasing the career of their dreams, falling in love, even starting a family of their own.'

Referring to the multiple mass shootings in recent weeks, the Democrat continued: 'Across the nation, Americans are filled with righteous fury in the wake of multiple incomprehensible mass shootings in the span of just days.'

'This a crisis of existential proportions  for our children and for every American. For too long, some in Congress have offered hollow words after these shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives,' she said.

'It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law.'
Theatre bosses at London's Globe have been slammed for providing trigger warnings for audiences watching William Shakespeare's 420-year-old play, Julius Caesar.

The Roman dictator was famously stabbed to death inside the halls of Rome's senate which is a scene that features in the modern production of Shakespeare's classic.

But the Globe - which is on the site of the Bard's original playhouse - alerts the audience before performances that the show will contain 'stage blood and weapons including knives.'

Shakespeare's play was first performed in the 16th century, but the modern day interpretation includes 'content guidance' for those in attendance, reports The Sun.

They are warned: 'Content guidance: Depictions of war, self-harm and suicide, stage blood and weapons including knives.'

The theatre describes the critically-acclaimed play, which will run from July to September this year: 'Conspiracy to kill, public broadcast of cunning rhetoric, a divisive fight for Greatness. Ancient Rome has never felt closer to home.

'When Cassius and Brutus decide Romes leader Julius Caesar poses a political threat to their beloved country, theres only one solution.'

Ticket prices range from 25 to 62 for the production, according to the Globe's official website.

The Roman dictator was famously stabbed to death inside the halls of Rome's senate which is a scene that features in the modern production of Shakespeare's classic

The Globe - which is on the site of the Bard's original playhouse - alerts the audience before performances that the show will contain 'stage blood and weapons including knives'

It comes less than a year after the Globe's bosses came under fire for giving audience members trigger warnings about 'upsetting' themes in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - and providing a number for the Samaritans for after the show.

The play, written by Shakespeare in the late 16th Century, tells the story of lovers whose desire to transcend the rivalries of their families fails when Romeo kills himself after wrongly believing Juliet is dead.

On its website, the Globe warned: 'This production contains depictions of suicide, moments of violence and references to drug use. It contains gunshot sound effects and the use of stage blood.

'If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this production of Romeo and Juliet please find details below of organisations offering advice and support.'

Former minister Ann Widdecombe said: 'You don't go to see Romeo and Juliet if you want a light-hearted evening.'

Actor Christopher Biggins added : 'Do we have to have signs for everything under the sun. It's a joke. What they are trying to do is insulting to the mentality of theatre-goers.'

William Shakespeare (illustrated) died in 1616 after penning 38 famous plays, including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Twelfth Night and As You Like It

It comes as Britain's strictest headmistress fears pupils will stop studying William Shakespeare as schools are forced to diversify the curriculum.

Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher at Michaela community school in north London and the Governments Social Mobility Commissioner, stressed the importance of keeping dead white men on the curriculum as black and female authors are added.

She explained Shakespearean texts had been lost in many places in the US and warned the UK may follow suit.

GCSE pupils in England are still required to study Shakespeare, despite reading lists having been broadened to include more writers from minority backgrounds.

Pupils entered for AQA GCSE English literature exams this summer are required to have studied Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, The Merchant Of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing or Julius Caesar.

Miss Birbalsingh told The Guardian: I think that dead white men have something to offer us. Shakespeare has been influencing literature for over 400 years. Its right to teach Shakespeare.

'The ideas in Shakespeare are universal. Im worried about the trend in America that is now influencing whats happening over here, where eventually we will do away with cultural icons like Shakespeare.

She added that any number of black and female authors could replace Shakespeare in schools.
It is something parents have been urging their children to do for years  put down the phone and go out and play.

Now its official  scientists say that stopping children staring at mobile and computer screens makes them more active.

A study found that restricting them to no more than three hours a week of screen time increased movement by 45 minutes a day.

A study has found that restricting the amount of screen time a child has to only three hours a week increases their movement by 45 minutes a day (stock image)

When the same rules were applied to the parents, there no was no impact on their daily movements (stock image of kids playing outside)

The University of Southern Denmark research comes after experts estimated that UK teenagers spend up to six and a half hours a day in front of a screen.

However, the Danish study found the screen limits  when applied to parents  had no effect on how active they were.

Professor Anders Grntved said time in front of devices displaces some activities where children move around more.

The study looked at 89 families  with 181 children with an average of nine and 164 adults at an average age of 41 overall  that were randomly allocated into two groups.

While one group was allowed to continue as usual their screen habits, families in the other group were only allowed to use theirs for no more than three hours per week.

Monitors were then attached to each participants thigh and torso which measured their physical activity over two weeks.

Researcher Jesper Pedersen said: We found that children in the screen reduction intervention group had an average of 45 min more daily physical activity compared to children in the control group.

The difference between the groups were largest on weekend days where children in the screen reduction group had an average of 73 min more physical activity compared to children in the control group.

The study, published in the scientific journal JAMA Pediatrics, also studied the daily movements of the parents involved. But it found there was no significant difference in daily movement  despite them typically being less physically active and also using devices more.

Professor Grntved said: The results of our trial clearly suggest that spending many hours using digital screens after school, kindergarten, and on weekends displaces some activities where children move more around

He added: We were quite surprised when we saw the numbers for the adult participants.

A potential explanation may be that adults are less spontaneous in their physical activity behaviour compared to children.

Although the results suggest that reducing screen media use is an ineffective way of increasing adults daily movement, it may still be a good idea for adults to balance their screen use in the home because we know from previous research that parental screen use in the home is strongly associated with childrens use of screen media.

Ofcom said children aged seven to 16 were estimated to spend just under three and a half hours every day online in 2021. It found 40 per cent of parents struggled to control their childs screen time.

The British Psychological Society warns that: Too much screen time for young children can unintentionally cause permanent damage to their still-developing brains.

The ability to focus, to concentrate, to lend attention, to sense other peoples attitudes and communicate with them, to build a large vocabulary  all those abilities are harmed.
MPs are set to be banned from taking second jobs involving advising companies on political strategy or parliamentary procedure.

Members of Parliament will also be prohibited from promoting a company or organisation which they have received hospitality or paid employment from during parliamentary work, The Times reports.

The plans will not limit politicians' outside earnings, as long as the outside income is not related to their work as an MP.

It follows the outcry over the disclosures that Tory Owen Paterson broke the ban on paid lobbying by MPs while Sir Geoffrey Cox earned more than 950,000 last year nearly from his work as a lawyer.

Mr Paterson urged former Health Secretary Matt Hancock to take up an offer from Randox, which paid him more than 8,000 per month for 16 hours work, to produce virus tests for the UK.

A week into the country's first lockdown, the firm secured a 133million contract to produce the test without a competitive bidding process.

By February 2022, the company had been awarded 600million.

The Commons Standards Committee has sought views on whether restrictions should be placed on MPs' outside earnings in a review of the MPs' Code of Conduct last November.

Owen Paterson resigned from the Commons in November last year, after he was found to have lobbied - against parliamentary rules - on behalf of Randox, a health firm for which he was a paid consultant

The Government provoked outrage from opposition parties - who back some form of restrictions - when it came out earlier this year against the move.

In its final report the committee said that without cross-party agreement on reform, the system should stay as it is.

'We concluded in our November 2021 report that a 'significant change' in the ability of Members to hold outside interests 'should only be implemented with broad cross-party support,'' it said.

'We have detected no such support in evidence received to our consultation.'

The committee's final report does include a number of recommendations for tightening the rules at Westminster, including outright ban on MPs providing paid parliamentary advice, consultancy or strategy services.

MPs who take on outside work would have to have a written contract which explicitly states that their duties cannot include lobbying ministers or officials or providing advice on how to influence Parliament.

Ministers would have to declare any benefits and hospitality they receive in the course of their ministerial duties in the Register of Members' Interests and not just in the government 'transparency' declarations.

At the same time, a new 'safe harbour' provision for MPs would mean they could not be held responsible for inadvertent breaches of the rules if they were following advice from the relevant authorities.

Sir Geoffrey Cox earned more than 950,000 last year nearly from his work as a lawyer

However a proposal to ban MPs from making 'unreasonable and excessive personal attacks in any medium' has been put on hold.

The proposal - which was primarily aimed at the 'abusive use' of social media - could have led to MPs accused of breaking it facing investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards leading to possible sanctions.

In its final report, the committee said a number of MPs had raised concerns about the 'chilling effect' it could have on freedom of speech.

'Although we are confident that Members have no intention of encouraging or licencing unreasonable and excessive personal attacks, we think that further consideration needs to be given to the implications of introducing such a new rule,' it said.

Instead, it said it would look again at the issue as part of a wider inquiry it intends to hold later this year into 'the tone of political debate, intimidation, misogyny and how parties conduct their campaigning'.

The committee chairman, Chris Bryant, urged MPs to read the report in full and to back the recommendations when they come to the Commons for a final decision.

'The last year has shown that the public cares passionately about standards in Parliament - and so do MPs,' he said.

'These proposals, if accepted, will not only improve checks and balances on MPs, and shine a light on any wrongdoing, but will also provide new clarity and support to MPs to avoid inadvertent breaches of the rules.

'Every generation of MPs holds membership of the House in trust for the next generation. It can either burnish the House's reputation or tarnish it.'

Last week Shona Dunn, second permanent secretary at the Department of Health, today told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee that Randox did not benefit from its association with Mr Paterson.

Her comments were in response to a question from Labour's Nick Smith, who asked whether Mr Paterson 'gamed the system' to the advantage of Randox.

Ms Dunn said: 'I don't believe from any of the documentation I've seen that Randox gained any benefit from their direct engagement via Mr Paterson or any other route with anyone.'

Mr Paterson, who had been the MP for North Shropshire since 1997, resigned from the Commons last year after he was found to have lobbied  against parliamentary rules  on behalf of Randox.

The saga prompted a sleaze scandal in Westminster after Boris Johnson's Government launched a defence of Mr Paterson and tried to save him from a 30-day suspension, only to back down when under considerable pressure.

Messages between the pair were subsequently released in February.

They showed Mr Paterson sent a series of texts to Mr Hancock between January and September 2020, calling for Randox to be involved in the UK's testing programme.

The National Audit Office also found there was insufficient documents showing the decision-making around granting Ulster-based Randox a contract.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp scored a victory over a Donald Trump-endorsed primary challenger on Tuesday night and will go on to fight for his re-election against Democrat Stacey Abrams in November.

It'll be a rematch of Kemp's close win over Abrams for the job in 2018.

Kemps race against former Senator David Perdue was widely seen as a long-shot test of the former presidents endorsement strength.

After surging ahead by roughly 50 points in early returns, the incumbent kept his wide lead over Perdue for more than an hour after polls closed.

Perdue conceded to Kemp in an address to supporters at his election night party, Reuters reported.

The New York Times declared Kemp the winner with a majority of the vote reported, getting nearly 75 percent of the vote compared to Perdue having less than a quarter.

Trump had reportedly persuaded Perdue to run after the former business executive lost his Senate seat to Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff.

The ex-president helped Kemp to the Governor's Mansion in 2018 when he backed the then-Georgia Secretary of State for the role.

Since then, however, Kemp's refusal to overturn his state's 2020 electoral count - which helped President Joe Biden clinch the White House - has made him among Trump's most frequent targets.

Kemp's campaign told DailyMail.com on Monday: 'Governor Kemp and his family are honored by the strong support they have seen from Georgians across the state these last few months. Our team is leaving everything on the field in this primary, and we look forward to uniting Republicans to stop Stacey Abrams in the fall.'

Trump's fury inspired him to throw his weight behind Perdue, who lost his Senate re-election bid in a January 2021 runoff to current Democrat incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp fended off a Republican primary challenger backed by Donald Trump and will now face Stacey Abrams in November

Former Senator David Perdue was recruited to run against Kemp by Donald Trump

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But experts did not think Perdue's campaign effort could hold a candle to Kemp's current popularity.

Georgia Republican strategist Jay Wallace said of the incumbent governor: 'He's one of the only governors that kind of stood up to everybody during the coronavirus stuff, kept the state open, kept everything moving.'

'The economy's really good, he's past a lot of conservative legislation, so it's harder for Trump to make a case that he has to go,' the GOP strategist explained.

'And then you couple that with a campaign that David Perdue hasn't done a very good job running, it makes it more difficult for Trump.'

Perdue's campaign made a splash when Trump first goaded him into tossing his hat in the ring, but it's sputtered since then with a lack of funds and a seeming lack of activity from the candidate himself.

But the campaign was also a reflection of a greater divide within the Republican Party - with Kemp scoring an endorsement from Trumps former vice president, Mike Pence.

Pence, who rebuffed pressure from Trump to reject certain states' election results early last year, has called the ex-president 'wrong' to push his conspiracy theories but has not hesitated to capitalize on the successes of the 'Trump-Pence administration' during his recent spate of appearances in front of GOP audiences.

Meanwhile Kemp got the high-profile support of Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence

Progressive activist and former state lawmaker Abrams will be Democrats' nominee for governor after narrowly losing the position to Kemp in 2018

The former White House officials campaigned for their respective candidates on Monday night.

Pence appeared at a rally for Kemp, where he focused on defeating Abrams in the fall rather than attacking Kemp's Trump-backed opponent.

'The Democratic Party has been taken over by a radical left wing that has literally lost its grip on everything that has made this country great, [and] with the full support of Stacey Abrams has unleashed a tidal wave of left-wing policies that has ruined our standing in the world and stifled the American economy,' the former vice president and ex-Indiana governor said.

Trump, meanwhile, appeared at a tele-rally with Perdue where he said the former Senator is '100 percent MAGA' and that Kemp allowed the 2020 race in Georgia to be 'rigged and to be stolen.'

The Peach State shattered early voting records for a primary election, with more than 850,000 already cast according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office.

'Compared early-voting turnout in recent primaries, this represented a 168 percent increase over the 2018, the last gubernatorial primary and a 212 percent jump above 2020, the last presidential primary year,' a statement from his office read.

Raffensperger credited the state's newly-passed election security law for the surge by creating 'short lines, smooth easy ballot access, and confidence in ballot security,' despite Democrat critics blasting it as 'voter suppression.'
Good evening my fellow Americans. I had hoped when I became president I would not have to do this. Again

Another massacre, Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, innocent, second, third, fourth-graders. And how many scores of little children, see their friends die, as if they're on a battlefield for God's sake. Gotta live with it the rest of their lives.

There's a lot we don't know yet. But there's a lot we do know.

The parents who will never see their child again. Never have them jump in bed and cuddle with them Parents who will never be the same.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. There's a hollowness in your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it. And never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. And it's never quite the same. It's the feeling shared by the siblings and the grandparents and the family members and the community that's left behind.

Scripture says - and Jill and I have talked about this in different contexts, in other contexts - the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

President Joe Biden delivered remarks from the White House Tuesday night about the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas after returning from a five-day trip to South Korea and Japan

So many crushed spirits.

So tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them.

And give the parents, siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.

As a nation we have to ask, when in God's name are we doing to stand up to the gun lobby?

When in God's name we all do in our gut needs to be done?

It's been ... 3,448 days, 10 years, since I stood up at a high school in Connecticut - a grade school in Connecticut, where another gun man massacred 26 people, including 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Since then, there have been over 900 incidents, gun fires reported on school grounds - Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Santa Fe high school in Texas, Oxford high school in Michigan, and the list goes on and on and the list grows - when we include mass shootings at places like movie theaters, houses of worship - as we saw just 10 days ago at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

I am sick and tired of it.

We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage.

I spent my career as a senator and a vice president working to pass common-sense gun laws.

We can't and won't prevent every tragedy, but we know they work and have positive impact.

When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down, when the law expired, mass shootings tripled.

The idea that an 18-year old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.

What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?

Deer aren't running through the forest with Kevlar vests on for God's sake. It's just sick.

And the gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons, which make them the most and largest profit. For God's sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry.

Here's what else I know.

Most Americans support common sense laws, common sense gun laws.

I just got off a trip from Asia meeting with Asian leaders. And I learned of this while I was on the aircraft. What struck me on that 17-hour flight, what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.

Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why we we keep letting this happen?

Where in God's name is our backbone?

To have the courage to deal with, to stand up to the lobbies.

It's the time to turn this pain into action. For every parent, for every citizen of this county, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country, it's time to act.

For those who obstruct or delay or block the common sense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget. We can do so much more, we have to do more.

Our prayer tonight is those parents lying in bed trying to figure out, will I be able to sleep again? What do I say to my other children? What happens tomorrow?

May God bless the loss of innocent life on this sad day.

And may the lord be near the brokenhearted and save those crushed in spirit becaue they're going to need a lot of help, a lot of our prayers. God love you.
The first victim of the Texas school massacre has been named as a 44 year-old special ed teacher - as it was revealed her police officer husband held an active shooter drill at the Uvalde high school just two months ago.

Eva Mireles, 44, was one of 22 people killed at Robb Elementary School Tuesday. The death toll has risen to 19 children, and three adults. That includes Mireles, gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, who was killed by cops, and a third adult who has not been named.

Hauntingly, Mireles husband Ruben Ruiz, a police officer at Uvalde School District, held an active shooter drill at Uvalde High School, on March 22, two months before his wife's murder. Both the gunman and the cop were once students at the school.

The 16 year-veteran was snapped in chilling Facebook photos where he and his fellow officers posed as active shooters, with students playing dead by laying on the floor of their school during the drill.

Slain Robb Elementary School teacher Eva Mireles, 44, with her husband Ruben Ruiz, 43, an officer in the Uvalde School District and their daughter Analynn Ruiz

In a eerily prescient scene, Uvalde School District police peer around a corner for an active shooter during a drill as students pretend to be dead on the hallway floor

An officer will a mock gun faces an attacker in the Uvalde High School auditorium during the active-shooter drills in March

Uvalde School District Police conducted active shooter live-training drills at the high school in March, two months before the massacre that killed 19 children

Officers listen to the theory regarding active-shooter response during a training course in March at the Uvalde High School

Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Officer Ruben Ruiz, 43, the husband of slain teacher Eva Mireles, 44, trained in active shooter drills in March

Fourth grade teacher Eva Mireles, 44, was gunned down at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday. She was an avid hiker, runner and sometimes biker

The shooter, Salvador Ramos, 18, attacked the school Tuesday afternoon spraying bullets before he was shot and killed by a Customs and Border Patrol agent.

Photos posted on the Uvalde Police Department Facebook page show Ruiz in an active shooter lecture in the Uvalde High School cafeteria on March 22.

In a shot eerily similar to the devastation at the elementary school officers can be seen in photographs peering around a school hallway as several of the students lay on the floor in mock death.

Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 14 students and a teacher

'Our overall goal is to train every Uvalde area law enforcement officer so that we can prepare as best as possible for any situation that may arise,' the department posted above photos of the drills.

Other shots of the drill show a man armed with a mock knife posed to attack a woman in what appears to be the auditorium.

Another shot shows the same mock assailant facing off with one of the training officer who is pointing an orange gun at him.

Ken Paxton, the attorney general for Texas, told Fox News that more teachers should carry guns.

'We can't stop bad people from doing bad things,' he said, adding that he had 'never understood that argument'.

'We can harden these schools. We can create points of access that are difficult to get through.

'We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly.

'The reality is that we don't have the resources to have law enforcement at every school.

Robb Elementary School shooting victim Xavier Lopeze was the first student identified in the massacre

A woman cries while speaking on the phone outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School to be picked up following the shooting

A board with the list of classes and teachers is displayed outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center

Annabelle Rodriquez, 10, pictured here, a student at Robb Elementary School is missing, her frantic father told FoxNews

'So it takes time for law enforcement - now matter how prepared, no matter how good they are - to get there. So having the right training for some of these people at the school is the best hope.

Ruiz, who was born in Uvalde, became an officer in 2006 and worked as a patrolman, training officer, youth advisor detective and worked in the Organized Crime Unit. He's trained in active shooter drills before and attended Advanced SWAT school. He joined the school district police in 2018.

Mireles, who taught special education at the Robb Elementary School for 17 years, was shot by Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old shooter.

The mother of an adult daughter, the educator credited her 'supportive, fun and loving family, including her four pets.

Her aunt Lydia Martinez Delgado called her the 'fun of the party.'

Ramos shared photos on social media of guns. His account was taken down shortly after Governor Greg Abbott confirmed his name

Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, Texas, drove to the Robb Elementary School in his hometown after shooting his grandmother

Family photos emerged after the shooting showing the educator at the top of a long mountain range. She enjoyed hiking, biking and running in the great outdoors.

'I'm furious that these shootings continue,' Delgado said. 'These children are innocent. Rifles should not be easily available to all. This is my hometown, a small community of less than 20,000. I never imagined this would happen to especially loved ones.'

Robb elementary student Xavier Lopez was also killed in the violence, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up by a cousin to help his parents raise money for the funeral. The family had already collected more than $10,000 by Tuesday night.

In addition to the 18 killed, another 13 children are being treated at the Uvalde Memorial emergency room along with a unnamed 45-year-old man who suffered a graze wound.

Parents are still frantically trying to find out if their children are among the dead. The father of 10-year-old Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriquez handed out photos to reporters and law enforcement, hoping that someone had seen his little girl.

Police said that they were working to inform families of the names of the dead as soon as they were able to identify the bodies.

University Health San Antonio also confirmed they received a child whose condition is currently unknown and a 66-year-old woman who is critical condition.

Robb Elementary School, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in the city of Uvalde, hometown of Matthew McConaughey, 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio.

Concerned parents were captured at the scene desperately searching for their children and video from the chaotic scene showed police arriving to the school campus with their guns in hand.

One widely shared video appears to show the suspected gunman approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background.

Videos taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting show mothers frantically running towards the campus to collect their kids.

The school warned parents to stay away and instead collect their children from a rendezvous point after they had been 'accounted for'.

'Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared.'

The district said that the city's civic center will be used as a reunification center and that parents will be able to pick up their children there once everyone is accounted for.

A mobile morgue was seen arriving at the school on Tuesday.
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off the Sea of Japan early Wednesday in the hours following President Joe Biden's departure from Asia after he spent five days in South Korea and Japan.

U.S. Indo-Pacific confirmed the launches, along with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and Japan's defense minister.

'While this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies, the missile launches highlights the destabilizing impact of the DPRKs illicit weapons program,' a statement from U.S. Indo-Pacific said. 'The U.S. commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad.'

President Joe Biden arrives back at the White House Tuesday night from his five-day trip to Asia. The White House said Biden had been updated about the North Korean missile tests that happened in the hours following his departure

South Korean television shows a previous North Korean missile launch. U.S. Indo-Pacific command confirmed the new missile launches

The White House said Biden had been updated on the launches as he arrived back in Washington Tuesday night.

Throughout Biden's trip to Asia - marking his first as U.S. president - administration officials warned that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could test missiles or nukes.

Biden was asked a number of questions about dealing with Kim while in South Korea.

He gave reporters a very literal answer Sunday when asked if he had a message for the North Korean dictator.

'Hello,' Biden answered. 'Period.'

'We are prepared for anything North Korea does,' Biden also said. 'I'm not concerned if that's what you're asking.'

The president was also asked about Kim at his Saturday press conference alongside South Korea's new leader, President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Biden was asked if the U.S. would consider sending COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea, as the so-called 'Hermit Kingdom' is experiencing skyrocketing coronavirus cases.

'Yes we've offered vaccines, not only to North Korea but to China as well and we're prepared to do that immediately,' Biden said.

'We've gotten no response,' he added.

On meeting with Kim - who thrice met former President Donald Trump - Biden included caveats.

'With regard to whether I would meet with the leader of North Korea, it would depend on whether he was sincere and whether it was serious.'

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said it was 'hard to speculate, honestly,' why Kim hadn't tested missiles or nuclear weapons while Biden was in South Korea.

'And anytime people start speculating on what North Korea might or might not do, they tend to have their expectations confounded one way or another,' Sullivan told reporters on board Air Force One en route to Japan Sunday.

Sullivan was also asked why the North Koreans engaged with the Trump White House but, so far, not Biden's.

'They go through cycles where they respond and cycles that they don't,' Sullivan explained. 'We're in a cycle where they don't. That's been true across multiple administrations and I just can't speculate as to the rationale for that.'

He also noted that past American presidents usually have seen a North Korean nuclear test in the first year of their administrations, but that didn't happen when Biden came into office.
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Dumped prime minister Scott Morrison's family are still holed up in Kirribilli House - and the ousted PM is running out of time before his successor arrives back in Australia from Japan.

Moving vans have not yet been sighted at the heritage-listed Sydney harbour front mansion where Mr Morrison lives with his wife Jenny and two daughters.

Crates of bottled water also arrived on Wednesday morning, indicating the Morrison family is not planning on heading back to the Sutherland Shire anytime soon.

The family had a short reprieve after Saturday's election drubbing with Anthony Albanese flying to Tokyo for the Quad meeting on Monday.

Mr Morrison used the days after his defeat to drown his sorrows with at least one rowdy party where he thanked friends, family, and staff for their efforts.

The outgoing PM and his wife both entertained guests by cracking a large whip on the lawn in between guzzling margaritas.

Crates of bottled water also arrived at Kirribilli House in Sydney on Wednesday morning, potentially indicating Scott Morrison's family is not planning on going anywhere in a hurry four days after losing the election

Moving vans have not yet been sighted at the heritage-listed Sydney mansion where Mr Morrison lives with his wife Jenny and two daughters. Instead there was a water delivery (left) and a crew doing maintenance on the front security gates

But the new prime minister, Mr Albanese, returned to Australia on Wednesday afternoon and will be keen to upgrade from his $2.5 million three-bedroom bungalow in Marrickville.

Tony Abbott moved out of Kirribilli House within 72 hours of being ousted by Malcolm Turnbull on September 15, 2018.

Kevin Rudd, however, took five days to leave The Lodge in Canberra, where he was primarily based, after losing a party room vote to Julia Gillard in June 2010.

Flyers posted around the neighbourhood depicted Mr Morrison as a lost dog, with his head on the body of a West Highland terrier with the title: 'Have you seen Scottie?'

He was also rather accommodating to John Howard's family after defeating him in a landslide in 2007, saying 'they should take as long as they need' to move.

Mr Morrison is believed to have left Kirribilli House on Monday or Tuesday, but his wife Jenny and other family were still inside on Wednesday.

Labor is taking the high road with Graham Perrett, who was shadow parliamentary secretary since 2014, saying the family should have all the time they need to transition.

'I think we should respect the service Scott Morrison has given this country,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'He's got kids, he's got a family, I don't think the prime minister is in any hurry.'

Neighbours in the leafy suburb in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge mocked Mr Morrison's election defeat and quiet exit to an undisclosed location even as his family remain.

Flyers posted around the neighbourhood depicted Mr Morrison as a lost dog, with his head on the body of a small pup and the title 'Have you seen Scottie?'

'Missing from Kirribilli House since 1pm on Sunday. Enjoys walkies, tells porkies. Like sharks but scared of fire. Used to run, now a basket case,' it read.

'Bites off more than he can chew and last seen barking up the wrong tree. I'd look for him myself but it's not my job and I'm hoping for a miracle.'

Mr Morrison has yet to update his Twitter profile to reflect the fact he is no longer prime minister, an oversight that has been spitefully and gleefully jumped on by his critics

This prompted petty Twitter trolls to report his account as 'impersonating' Mr Albanese

Other than hosting parties, the family has tried to keep a low profile since the humbling election defeat, even appearing to hide from cameras when departing for an outing on Sunday.

The outgoing prime minister made a quick getaway from Kirribilli House in Sydney in a three car convoy just before 9am on Sunday.

Mr Morrison stepped into the car with his wife Jenny, mother Marion and mother-in-law Beth Warren before the vehicles exited through the front gate without stopping for the reporters waiting for him on the street.

Not only has Mr Morrison's family not yet moved out despite it being the fourth day since his defeat, but he has not yet got around to changing his social media bios to note he is no longer PM.

This prompted petty Twitter trolls to report his account as 'impersonating' Mr Albanese because it still reads 'Prime Minister of Australia and Federal Member for Cook'.

The Morrison family have to move out of Kirribilli to make way for Mr Albanese, who is expected to live there with long-term girlfriend Jodie Haydon, his son Nathan from a previous marriage, and 'First Dog' Toto.

Scott Morrison has hidden away from the cameras the morning after he conceded defeat to Anthony Albanese

The outgoing prime minister made a quick escape from Kirribilli House in Sydney as he continues to reel from his election loss on Saturday night

He had a little more time that usual as Mr Albanese few to the Quad meeting in Japan on Monday almost immediately after being sworn in that morning, but he will return on Wednesday afternoon.

As the Morrison family remained holed up in their home of four years, the PM's remaining fans delivered bouquets of flowers to the fortified gate to cheer them up.

One sullen-looking woman arrived at Kirribilli on Monday night with her family, including a young boy and an older woman, and were let inside by police guarding the entrance.

She clutched a bouquet of pink roses, lilies and, chrysanthemums wrapped in white and pink paper as she approached the gates with a glum expression on her face.

Later in the evening a delivery driver arrived with another bouquet of mixed flowers from CBD Flowers, which he handed to a policeman to take to Mr Morrison and his family.

One sad-looking woman arrived at Kirribilli on Monday night with a bouquet of roses, lilies and, chrysanthemums

Later in the evening a delivery driver arrived with another bouquet of mixed flowers from CBD Flowers

Outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison enjoyed a cold drink as he chatted with staffers, friends, and family at a farewell social bash on the at Kirribilli House after losing the federal election (pictured)

What Mr Morrison will do next is yet to be decided, but in his concession speech at Sydney's Fullerton Hotel on Saturday night, he confirmed he was stepping down as leader.

But he vowed to stay on in Parliament to serve his South Sydney constituents, an unusual move for a prime minister ousted from office by voters.

'The people of Cook have supported me so strongly and I will continue to be your representative,' he said.

What's not clear yet is if Mr Morrison will look for a role on the new Liberal leader's front bench as a shadow minister, or if he will move to the back benches.

Alternatively, he may later reconsider his decision to stay on in Canberra and instead quit to spend more time with Jenny and their girls, Abbey and Lily.

Veteran political broadcaster Barrie Cassidy predicted Mr Morrison will stay on in Parliament, with the intent to cause chaos by sniping from the sidelines.
Author Margaret Atwood has taken a flamethrower to her most famous creation  and nothing could give her greater satisfaction.

The Handmaids Tale writer, 82, has responded to rising cancel culture and book bans by devising a version of the novel that cannot be destroyed.

The fireproof one-of-a-kind edition has gone up for auction, and all proceeds will be donated to PEN America, a non-profit aiming to promote free expression.

In a video to promote the auction, the author wears fireproof gloves to torch the award-winning 1985 book.

Author Margaret Atwood used a flamethrower near a fireproof copy of The Handmaid's Tale, which is going on auction to raise money for charity PEN America

The special edition of the book was made in response to book censorship in American schools

Since its publication in 1985, The Handmaids Tale has been banned in schools in the US and UK for more than 30 years due to its vulgarity, profanity, and sexual themes.

It was ranked in the top 40 of 100 books that are most frequently challenged books by The American Library Association.

The books promotional website claims it is designed to protect this vital story and stand as a powerful symbol against censorship.

Mark Doyle the chief executive of publisher Penguin Random House, said the unburnable edition is a timely remind of whats at stake in the battle against censorship.

In a statement, the company added: Across the United States and around the world, books are being challenged, banned and even burned. So we created a special edition of a book thats been challenged and banned for decades.

Printed and bound using fireproof materials, this edition of Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale was made to be completely unburnable. It is designed to protect this vital story and stand as a powerful symbol against censorship.

The book tells the story of an alternative ultra-religious and oppressive America where Handmaids are forced to give birth for infertile women of higher social status.

Its red cloak and white hood costumes have been seen at protests for reproductive and womens rights.
Video posted to social media Tuesday showed parents desperately running toward Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas as a shooting took place that ended up killing 19 children and two adults.

The video, posted on Snapchat and then shared across social media, shows several parents heading towards the school.

The caption reads: 'Kids are running out of the classrooms' with a broken heart emoji.

Notably, at least two other people are standing by recording with their phones.

The video comes as further details have been revealed about one of the adult victims and the shooter.

Fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles was murdered along with at least 19 children and one other adult.

Video posted to social media Tuesday showed parents desperately running toward Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas as a shooting took place that ended up killing 19 children and two adults

Loved ones are seen visibly distraught outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School

A woman cries and hugs a young girl while on the phone outside the Willie de Leon Civic Center where grief counseling will be offered in Uvalde, Texas, following the latest school shooting to shock the nation

A woman cries while covering her mouth after leaving the Uvalde Civic Center on Tuesday

Mireles' aunt, Lydia Martinez Delgado, released a statement.

'I'm furious that these shootings continue. these children are innocent. Rifles should not be easily available to all. This is my hometown, a small community of less than 20,000. I never imagined this would happen to especially loved ones ... All we can do is pray hard for our country, state, schools, and especially the families of all.'

A parent on Twitter who claimed Mireles taught her daughter paid tribute.

'My daughters beautiful teacher was the teacher who was killed in Uvalde, TX,' A woman who went by 'Audrey' wrote.

'Eva (Ms Mireles) taught Gabby in elementary school. She was a beautiful person & dedicated teacher. She believed in Gabby & went above & beyond to teach her as you can see below. There are no words.'

Fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles was murdered along with at least 19 children and one other adult

A parent on Twitter who claimed Mireles taught her daughter paid tribute. 'My daughters beautiful teacher was the teacher who was killed in Uvalde, TX,' A woman who went by 'Audrey' wrote

The gunman was shot dead by a heroic Border Patrol agent who ran into the school with a tactical support team and killed him while he was barricaded inside, and exchanging gunfire with other Texas law enforcement officers.

The gunman, Salvador Ramos - wearing body armor, equipped with a handgun and possibly a rifle - shot his grandmother before entering the school and opening fire, said Governor Greg Abbott.

The grandmother was airlifted to hospital and her condition was unknown.

One of the teachers was named by her family as Eva Mireles, 44. The second has not been named.

Ramos, who was born in North Dakota but lived in Uvalde, was a student at Uvalde High School, Abbott said.

Ramos's young victims were aged between seven and 11, CNN's Ed Lavandera reported.

On Tuesday night the father of 10-year-old Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez said that she was still missing.

'He shot and killed - horrifically and incomprehensibly - 14 students and killed a teacher,' Abbott said at a press briefing. The death toll was later revised to 18 children.

'There are families that are in mourning right now. And the state of Texas is in mourning with them.'

It was the deadliest such incident since 14 high school students and three adult staff were killed in Parkland, Florida in 2018 - and the worst at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.

'The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong,' said Joe Biden, addressing the country from the White House on Tuesday night.

'As a nation, we have to ask: When in God's name will we stand up to the gun lobby?'

He added: 'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep on letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?'

Scroll Down For Video:

Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, Texas, drove to the Robb Elementary School after shooting his grandmother

Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez's father said the 10-year-old was still unaccounted for

Eva Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was one of two teachers shot and killed at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday

Ramos shared photos on social media of guns. His account was taken down shortly after Governor Greg Abbott confirmed his name

Ramos shared a photo on Instagram of him holding the magazine of a rifle

Gutierrez said that Ramos was born in North Dakota but lived in Uvalde.

Ramos messaged a woman he knew on Instagram, tagging her in a photo of the guns.

'You gonna repost my gun pics,' @sal8dor_ direct messaged the girl on May 12.

'what your guns gotta do with me,' she replied on Friday.

'Just wanted to tag you,' he said back.

Then at 5:43am on Tuesday, @salv8dor_ messaged her and said: 'I'm about to'.

The girl asked 'about to what' to which he answered: 'I'll tell you before 11.'

He said he'd text her in an hour and urged her to respond.

'I got a lil secret I wanna tell u,' he messaged with a smiley face emoji covering its mouth.

'Be grateful I tagged you,' he wrote.

She replied: 'No it's just scary,' adding: 'I barely know you and you tag me in a picture with some guns?'

His last message at 9:16am on Tuesday was 'Ima air out'.

The shooting started around 11:32am.

Robb Elementary School, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in the city of Uvalde, hometown of Matthew McConaughey, 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio.

One video at the scene appears to show the suspected gunman, named by Governor Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background

Photos show a pickup truck that crashed outside the school, which, according to Abbott, Ramos abandoned before entering the school.

He was involved in a gunfight with border patrol agents who arrived on the scene. One of the agents was injured, but is expected to survive.

Additionally, thirteen children are being treated at the Uvalde Memorial emergency room as well as a 45-year-old man who suffered a 'graze.'

University Health San Antonio also confirmed they received a child whose condition is currently unknown and a 66-year-old woman who is critical condition.

Biden, who flew home from Japan on Tuesday, addressed the nation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House at 8:45pm. Air Force One landed just before 7pm.

'I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre,' a visibly emotional Biden said.

Speaking from the White House Roosevelt Room with First Lady Jill Biden clad in black by his side, the president said: 'Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful innocent, second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happen - see their friends die as if they're on a battlefield, for God's sake?'

He took a moment to empathize with parents who would never see their young children again after Tuesday.

'Parents will never be the same. To lose a child, it's like having a piece of your soul ripped away,' said the president, who lost his son Beau Biden to brain cancer in 2015.

'There's a hollowness in your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it. And never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. And it's never quite the same. It's the feeling shared by the siblings and the grandparents and the family members and the community that's left behind.'

He lamented there were 'so many crush spirits' left to mourn the more than dozen victims.

'So tonight, I asked the nation to pray for them. Give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.'
Australians have called on America to adopt gun control laws like those implemented Down Under after the nation was rocked by a mass shooting - but some say lecturing another country isn't helpful.

Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 18 students and a teacher

Nineteen children and a teacher are dead after a teenage gunman opened fire at a primary school, in Ulvade, Texas, on Tuesday.

Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother then went to Robb Elementary school to carry out the mass murder before he was shot dead on the campus by a heroic Border Patrol agent.

As the world mourns the latest tragedy, Australians have flocked online to note the country's record on restricting access to guns.

As prime minister, John Howard ushered in the restrictions following the Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania, 26 years ago.

In April 1996, Martin Bryant went on a shooting spree at the historic site - killing 35 people and injuring 23 others, prompting Mr Howard to tighten laws, confiscating more than 650,000 weapons in the world's largest mandatory gun buy-back scheme.

Many Aussies on Wednesday pointed to the pivotal change as evidence gun reform policies could stop mass shootings in the Unites States.

'I did not expect to have a conversation with my kids this morning about whether it's morally worse to kill 35 adults or 14 children but here we are,' Malaysian-Australian television presenter Adam Liaw tweeted.

'But at least I could say that after Port Arthur Australia did something about it.'

Another man said: 'The Australian government responded [to Port Arthur] with a massive, mandatory gun buy-back, and restricted future gun purchases. And it never happened again. This is preventable.'

Australians have flocked online to boast about local gun control laws in the wake of America's latest school shooting

One woman shared a photo of former PM John Howard speaking to pro-gun protesters

'It's totally f***ing crazy America still doesn't have gun control and has a completely lax attitude to guns,' someone else wrote.

'Guns are a problem and they're in denial. Here we are in Australia with no mass shootings since gun control in 1996.'

One woman shared a picture of Mr Howard, a conservative PM, speaking at a pro-gun rally after the Port Arthur tragedy. 'Change can happen!' she wrote.

'Every Aussie regardless of political persuasion is thankful for our gun law reform! It can be done! We've never had a mass shooting since!'

The notable amendment was also brought up by Americans desperate for cultural change.

'How do we do this every week?' one man said,' A month after Port Arthur Australia did a gun buyback and two decades later they still haven't had another mass shooting.'

'It's just like with Covid: these people, these kids do not have to die.'

However, some felt Australians' commentary was unnecessary.

'As always, not sure if Australians smugly lecturing Americans on Twitter about guns after something like this is really that helpfut,' Aussie writer Bec Shaw said.

'I'm not saying don't commiserate or express how awful it is or share links of how to help or contribute,' but smugly lecturing Americans on Twitter who are almost all going to already agree with you isn't helping sorry.'

An American praised Australia's gun control laws and called for them to be introduced in the US

Malaysian-Australian TV presenter Adam Liaw said he was proud of Australia's gun reform

Another woman said: 'I promise this is not the time for you to brag about how your country doesnt have mass shootings.'

Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School, was first identified as Salvador Roma by Governor Greg Abbott before his surname was later clarified.

His student victims were aged between seven and 11, CNN's Ed Lavandera reported.

On Tuesday night the father of 10-year-old Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez said that she was still missing.

'He shot and killed - horrifically and incomprehensibly - 14 students and killed a teacher,' Abbott said at a press briefing. The death toll was later revised to 18 children.

The bloody rampage at Port Arthur carried out by Martin Bryant (pictured) on April 28, 1996, stunned Australia and was acknowledged as the world's worst massacre at the time

Bryant hunted down victims at the historical site as he moved through the cafe, gift shop and carpark. This aerial view of crime scene shows the bodies of victims on the ground

'There are families that are in mourning right now. And the state of Texas is in mourning with them.'

Ramos, wearing body armor, equipped with a handgun and possibly a rifle, shot his grandmother, who was airlifted to hospital, before entering the school and opening fire, Abbott said.

Two other adults were shot by Ramos, police said.

One of the adults was a teacher, Eva Mireles, and it was unclear on Tuesday night if the other was his grandmother or another adult on the school premises.

The grandmother was airlifted to hospital, and her condition was unknown.

It was the deadliest such incident since 14 high school students and three adult staff were killed in Parkland, Florida in 2018 - and the worst at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.

'The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong,' said Joe Biden, addressing the country from the White House on Tuesday night.

'As a nation, we have to ask: When in God's name will we stand up to the gun lobby?'

He added: 'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep on letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?'

Scroll Down For Video:

Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, Texas, drove to the Robb Elementary School after shooting his grandmother

Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was identified by her family as being the staff member shot dead. She had worked in education for 17 years.

Her husband Ruben Ruiz, a veteran detective and SWAT team member currently serving as a police officer with the school district, held regular active shooter drills for the schools - most recently at the end of March.

'Let me assure you, the intruder is deceased,' said Pete Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department.

'We are not looking for another individual in relation to this case.'

Ramos's social media was full of photos of guns, which he bought legally on his 18th birthday, state senator Roland Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said that Ramos was born in North Dakota but lived in Uvalde.

Ramos messaged a woman he knew on Instagram, tagging her in a photo of the guns.

'I got lil secret. I wanna tell you,' one message said.

'Be grateful I tagged you,' he wrote.

She replied: 'No it's just scary,' adding: 'I barely know you and you tag me in a picture with some guns?'

Robb Elementary School, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in the city of Uvalde, hometown of Matthew McConaughey, 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio.

The shooting started around 11:32am.

Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez's father said the 10-year-old was still unaccounted for

Eva Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was shot and killed at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday

Ramos shared photos on social media of guns. His account was taken down shortly after Governor Greg Abbott confirmed his name

Ramos shared a photo on Instagram of him holding the magazine of a rifle

One video at the scene appears to show the suspected gunman, named by Governor Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background

Photos show a pickup truck that crashed outside the school, which, according to Abbott, Ramos abandoned before entering the school.

He was involved in a gunfight with border patrol agents who arrived on the scene. One of the agents was injured, but is expected to survive.

Additionally, thirteen children are being treated at the Uvalde Memorial emergency room as well as a 45-year-old man who suffered a 'graze.'

University Health San Antonio also confirmed they received a child whose condition is currently unknown and a 66-year-old woman who is critical condition.

Biden, who flew home from Japan on Tuesday, addressed the nation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House at 8:45pm. Air Force One landed just before 7pm.

'I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre,' a visibly emotional Biden said.

Speaking from the White House Roosevelt Room with First Lady Jill Biden clad in black by his side, the president said: 'Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful innocent, second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happen - see their friends die as if they're on a battlefield, for God's sake?'

He took a moment to empathize with parents who would never see their young children again after Tuesday.

'Parents will never be the same. To lose a child, it's like having a piece of your soul ripped away,' said the president, who lost his son Beau Biden to brain cancer in 2015.

'There's a hollowness in your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it. And never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. And it's never quite the same. It's the feeling shared by the siblings and the grandparents and the family members and the community that's left behind.'

He lamented there were 'so many crush spirits' left to mourn the more than dozen victims.

'So tonight, I asked the nation to pray for them. Give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.'

President Joe Biden gave a short but impassioned speech less than two hours after returning from a trip to Asia

Biden delivered the remarks in the White House Roosevelt Room with a silent and solemn First Lady Dr. Jill Biden by his side

His voice growing louder, Biden continued: 'As a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?'

Biden recalled the numerous mass shootings over the last decade, including visiting Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 26 people including 20 children while he was vice president. He also remarked on the this month's mass shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York.

'I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage. I spent my career as a senator and vice president working to pass common sense gun laws,' he said.

'We can't and won't prevent every tragedy, but we know they work and have positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down, when the law expired mass shootings tripled.'

He said the ability for a teenage gunman, like Salvador Ramos, to be able to 'walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.;

'What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?' Biden questioned.

He then accused gun makers of spending 'two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons, which make them the most and largest profit.'

The flags above the White House are flying at half staff.

A mobile morgue is seen on Tuesday afternoon being brought to the site of the shooting

Sheriffs are seen outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday

Law enforcement are seen near the crime scene on Tuesday afternoon after the mass murder at the school

State troopers are seen near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday

Law enforcement are seen at the scene of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday

Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, is seen on Tuesday addressing the mass shooting at the school in Uvalde

Concerned parents were captured at the scene desperately searching for their children and video from the chaotic scene showed police arriving to the school campus with their guns in hand.

One widely shared video appears to show the suspected gunman approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background.

'There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Law enforcement is on site,' The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District said.

Videos taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting show mothers frantically running towards the campus to collect their kids.

The school warned parents to stay away and instead collect their children from a rendezvous point after they had been 'accounted for'.

'Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared.'

The students were holding a day of celebrations, receiving certificates for the end of the school year.

Dr Hal Harrell, superintendent of Uvalde school district, said that classes had been cancelled for the rest of the school year.

'School will be closed,' Harrell told a press conference on Tuesday evening.

'The school year is done. All activities are cancelled throughout the district - I know graduation is on everyone's mind, but we will come to that later.

'My heart was broken today.

'We are a small community, and we will need your prayers to get through this.'

Ninety percent of the school's students are Hispanic and there are some 70 teachers.

It is one many schools in the district that is a stone's throw from the Mexican border, with the city of Coahuila 220 miles away. The school sits on the outskirts of the city of Uvalde, population 16,000.

Don McLaughlin, mayor of Uvalde, told Fox News that shots were fired off site, and that after shooting one person, the gunman ran to the school where he barricaded himself inside.

The district said that the city's civic center will be used as a reunification center and that parents will be able to pick up their children there once everyone is accounted for.

A mobile morgue was seen arriving at the school on Tuesday afternoon.

A police vehicle is seen parked near of a truck believed to belong to the suspect behind a shooting at Robb Elementary School

Horrified parents and students gathered after the shooting at the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center

A woman cries while speaking on the phone outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School to be picked up following the shooting

A board with the list of classes and teachers is displayed outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center

FBI agents arrive at Robb Elementary School following Tuesday's shooting

State police arrive at the scene of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday

New video from the chaotic scene shows police arriving to the scene with their guns in hand

Footage shot outside the school shows law enforcement approaching the elementary school with weapons

Robb elementary school, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in Uvalde - 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio

Paxton talks about arming teachers pic.twitter.com/wncmLVZIyM  Acyn (@Acyn) May 24, 2022

Ted Cruz, a Republican US senator from Texas, tweeted that he and his wife are 'lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.'

Ken Paxton, the attorney general for Texas, told Fox News that more teachers should carry guns.

'We can't stop bad people from doing bad things,' he said, adding that he had 'never understood that argument'.

'We can harden these schools. We can create points of access that are difficult to get through.

'We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly.

'The reality is that we don't have the resources to have law enforcement at every school.

'So it takes time for law enforcement - now matter how prepared, no matter how good they are - to get there. So having the right training for some of these people at the school is the best hope.

'Nothing is going to work perfectly, but that, in my opinion it's the best answer to this problem.'

But Senator Chris Murphy, a Democratic from Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook shooting took place, made an impassioned appeal for concrete action to prevent further violence.

'This isn't inevitable, these kids weren't unlucky. This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day,' Murphy said on the Senate floor.

'I'm here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely,' he added.

Kamala Harris, the vice president, said: 'Enough is enough. As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action and understand the nexus between makes for reasonable and sensible public policy to ensure something like this never happens again.'

The deadly violence in Texas follows a series of mass shootings in the United States this month.

On May 14, an 18-year-old white man shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.

Wearing heavy body armor and wielding an AR-15 rifle, the self-declared white supremacist allegedly livestreamed his attack, having reportedly targeted the store because of the large surrounding African American population.

The following day, a man blocked the door of a church in Laguna Woods, California and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and injuring five.

Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to enact their own restrictions.

The National Rifle Association has been instrumental in fighting against stricter US gun laws. Abbott and Cruz are listed as speakers at a forum that is being held by the powerful lobby in Houston, Texas later this week.

The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data.

Law enforcement crowds the entrance of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where a gunman shot and killed 18 students and a teacher

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told Fox News that shots were fired offsite and that after shooting one person the gunman ran to the school where he remained barricaded. He was then shot and killed by law enforcement

A gunman was on the run at Robb Elementary School (pictured) in Uvalde as the campus and all other schools in the district went into lockdown

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District said: 'There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Law enforcement is on site'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the 'monstrous' shooting before directing her ire at colleagues that have stood in the way of gun reform.

'Words are inadequate to describe the agony and outrage at the cold-blooded massacre of little schoolchildren and a teacher at Robb Elementary School today,' Pelosi said in a statement.

'This monstrous shooting stole the futures of precious children, who will never experience the joys of graduating from school, chasing the career of their dreams, falling in love, even starting a family of their own.'

Referring to the multiple mass shootings in recent weeks, the Democrat continued: 'Across the nation, Americans are filled with righteous fury in the wake of multiple incomprehensible mass shootings in the span of just days.'

'This a crisis of existential proportions  for our children and for every American. For too long, some in Congress have offered hollow words after these shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives,' she said.

'It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law.'
The Chris Dawson murder trial has heard how lyrics of a hit song by the band, The Police, were sung to taunt the younger sister of the schoolgirl having an affair with the PE teacher.

The court also heard on Wednesday that the schoolgirl, after leaving her marriage to Dawson in 1990, had told one of her best friends, that he had taken money in a brown paper bag from the glovebox of his car to pay someone to 'kill Lyn'.

The younger sister of JC told the court how girls at their school, Cromer High, sang the first line of "Don't Stand So Close To Me' to taunt her after her older sister - the woman known legally as JC - began an affair with Dawson.

The younger sister, who was four years behind her Year 12 sister at Cromer High School in 1981 - said she was bullied by girls singing her the song which made her 'kind of embarrassed'.

The lyrics sung to her were 'Young teacher, the subject Of schoolgirl fantasy.

The song goes on to say, 'You know how bad girls get, sometimes it's not so easy, to be the teacher's pet'.

The Teacher's Pet is the name of a podcast about the alleged murder of Lynette Dawson by her husband Chris Dawson, who went on to marry JC.

Asked about what the girls were referring to with the words, and its impact on her, JC's younger sister said, 'I knew they were referring to my sister and Mr Dawson, it made me cringe'.

One of JC's best friends at school, KL, told the court on Wednesday that in Year 12, JC had been 'very beautiful' and spent more and more time talking with her PE teacher Chris Dawson.

Chris Dawson's murder trial has heard how his schoolgirl wife claimed she had seen him take money in a brown paper bag from his car glovebox to 'pay' someone to 'kill Lyn'

The trial has heard how lyrics of a hit song by the band, The Police, were sung to taunt the younger sister of the schoolgirl JC (above) having an affair with Chris Dawson

'He was very flirtatious, he was very vain, (JC) was seen regularly standing in door of his PE Office (at) recess, lunchtime,' KL said.

She said that JC had steadily become 'more reserved' after becoming involved with Dawson and when their group of school friends and boyfriends went camping at South West Rocks in January 1982, he turned up.

'He was standing by a car, he was off in the distance, she had her back to him,' KL told the court.

'I said "what is HE doing here, were all students".'

JC's response was 'her body language was, she hunched up and sort of turned away from where he was. She collapsed her body and cringed'.

Another school friend staying at the South West Rocks caravan park, MC, had entreated JC not to leave with Dawson, saying, 'don't go', but she said JC had replied, 'I have no choice, I have to go'.

The Crown alleges this happened just after police say Chris Dawson murdered his wife, on or soon after January 8, 1982.

One of the schoolgirl's best friends said JC told her after leaving Dawson (above with first wife Lynette) how it was weird to see Lyn's rings and clothes left behind so she assumed the woman had been murdered

Friends of the schoolgirl (above, centre, leaving the trial this month) said she was 'very beautiful' in Year 12 and Dawson was 'flirtatious and vain' and turned up unexpectedly at the schoolfriends' camping holiday

KL told the judge-only trial in the NSW Supreme Court, where Dawson has pleaded not guilty to murder, that she next saw JC in 1990 when she had fled her marriage to the accused.

They were together, going to a petrol station in the Sydney suburb of Dee Why, when KL and JC discussed what the latter thought had happened to Dawson's first wife.

'The substance of what she said, was she believed Lyn had been murdered,' KL said.

'She said it was weird, all of her (Lynette Dawson's) rings were in a bowl on the dressing table and all her clothes were there and she felt Lyn was murdered.

'And Chris had taken her (JC) somewhere once and he took something out of the glovebox, and it was money to pay someone to kill Lyn.

'She (JC) said Chris was very controlling, he was aggressive, she was miserable and she had to get out.'

Under cross-examination by Dawson's counsel, KL was read a 2018 police statement she had made about the 1990 encounter with JC.

In that statement, the court heard, KLsaid she was told by JC that Dawson had 'grabbed a brown paper bag from the glovebox, (said) "I think he must have got a hit man to kill her or something ... she must be dead because she didnt take any of her clothes or anything".'

JC and Dawson at their 1984 marriage, which she left in 1990, telling friends 'Chris was very controlling, he was aggressive, she was miserable and she had to get out'

Video of the beginning of Chris Dawson's 1991 police interview was played in court late on Wednesday, showing the then 42-year-old dressed in a white t-shirt being grilled by two detectives.

In the interview Dawson runs though what had happened leading up to and after his wife's disappearance, and saying he'd spoken with a drug squad detective at a 1985 high school reunion about helping with inquiries.

Told by Detective Sergeant Paul Magyar that particular detective had been quizzed about that and 'had no knowledge of it', Dawson said the man might have been 'intoxicated' when they spoke.

Dawson agreed with his interviewers that after Lyn left because she 'needed time away' he had told her mother Lyn had phoned him saying she wouldnt come home until she made up her mind and he had said how much more bloody time do you need'.

The trial heard earlier that Dawson allegedly told JC, after driving her in her school uniform to a hotel, that he had planned to get a hit man to murder Lyn, but changed his mind because 'innocent' people could be hurt.

KL objected to Dawson's counsel describing JC's affair with Dawson as 'a relationship', protesting that she regarded it as 'molestation' and that at Cromer High school, teachers had 'preyed on' students.

Dawson's defence lawyer put it to KL that she had an 'unabashed view that this man (the accused) is guilty of killing Lyn Dawson', to which she replied, 'my opinion is that he had reason and she has been murdered'.

Asked by Justice Ian Harrison if it was KL's view that Dawson is 'guilty of murdering Lyn,' KL said, 'yes, or arranging to have her murdered'.

Chris Dawson, 73, is standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of killing his wife Lyn, who disappeared at the age of 33.

The Crown claims that then-high school teacher Chris Dawson killed Lynette and disposed of her body because of his affair with JC, who was one of his PE students.

Chris Dawson (above left, arriving at the Supreme Court with his brother, Peter) was 'flirtatious' and vain' as a PE teacher at Cromer High where, the court heard, teachers 'preyed on' students

Dawson's legal team has argued that while he may have failed his wife as a husband, he did not kill her.

On Tuesday, former childcare assistant Anna Grantham described to the court a violent incident Mrs Dawson had relayed to her, after Ms Grantham had become concerned at Mr Dawsons aggressive behaviour towards his first wife.

Ms Grantham said Lynette, with whom she had formed an instant friendship bond at Warriewood Childcare Centre, had met up at a Sunday boot sale in Elanora Heights to sell bric-a-brac.

When Chris Dawson came to pick her up with their two young daughters in the car, he appeared to be very agitated and angry and aggressive towards Lyn, the way he spoke to Lyn,' Ms Grantham told the court.

The following day at work, Ms Grantham said she had broached the subject and told Lynette she was very surprised the way Chris was towards her, cranky and he was aggressive with words.

Lyns response, Ms Grantham said, was her face changed, she appeared to be worried  and she said to me yes he can be very aggressive towards me.

Chris Dawson is on trial for the alleged murder of his first wife Lynette (above, the couple together), who hasn't been seen since January 1982

During her testimony, Ms Grantham said Lynette then told her, one day we were having a fight around the pool and he actually grabbed me around the back of my hair and that then he pressed her on the mud with her face, their own pool.

When she asked Lynette how long he had held her in the mud, Mrs Dawson replied, I could not breathe, I was gasping for breath.

Ms Grantham told the court she was scared for her friend saying 'oh my God, he could obviously (have) killed you and Lynette responded, saying Yes he could have easily killed me.

During cross-examination by Chris Dawsons lawyer, Pauline David, who suggested the story had come from a neighbour of the Dawsons, or that her memory had been contaminated by other peoples stories, Ms Grantham said she had a visual memory of Lyn telling her about the assault.

I cannot forget what I was told  by Lyn about the episode around the pool. I just had it inside me in my heart,' she told the court.

She also said Lyn had told her about going home at lunchtime during the school holidays  which she usually didnt do  and finding their schoolgirl babysitters bikini bottoms on the clothesline along with her husbands swimming trunks.

She was really hurt and very, very sad, Ms Grantham said of Lyn Dawsons reaction.

The trial continues.
Jacinda Ardern has been spotted wearing a facemask outside in New York City even though they have not even been required indoors for months.

The New Zealand Prime Minister, who tested positive for Covid on May 13, stood out wearing the protection while she was out and about in the Big Apple on Tuesday.

Surrounded by a security team, Ms Ardern - who was on day 11 of her infection - kept her black face covering on despite being outside and coming out of Covid isolation on May 21.

The state's rules say people need to keep a mask on up until day 10 of a Covid infection.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul ended her state's Covid-19 mask indoor mandate in February, and outdoors since vaccination was widespread last year.

But those who have had Covid must wear a mask until the end of day 10.

Jacinda Ardern has been spotted wearing a facemask outdoors in New York even though they have not been required for months

The Kiwi PM, who announced she had Covid on May 14, stood out wearing the unnecessary protection while she was out and about in the Big Apple on Tuesday

Face coverings were mandated outside in public spaces by the former governor Andrew Cuomo in April 2020. The rule lasted just over a year.

Ms Ardern rolled up in a motorcade to host a meeting with US travel editors before putting on the mask. She is in New York on a trade trip to meet businesses and tech giants.

She will later move on to Boston where she is the principal speaker at Harvard University's 371st Commencement on Thursday.

Harvard President Larry Bacow said he was looking forward to Ms Ardern's address.

'From climate change and gender equality to Covid-19, she has modeled compassionate leadership that has brought together empathy and science-based solutions to address the most challenging issues of our time,' he said.

Ms Ardern was earlier photographed chatting to new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and foreign minister Penny Wong in Tokyo, as an observer to the Quad meeting.

Ms Ardern congratulated Anthony Albanese on his win in the election but is understood to be determined to see a change in Australia's divisive deportation laws

Ms Ardern has been widely criticised for her strict Covid response, including presiding over a long-running mandatory quarantine system for returning Kiwis.

She also kept the borders closed for the whole pandemic and it doesn't reopen to all tourists and visa holders until 11.59pm on July 31.

Vaccinated Australians were allowed in from April 13 and jabbed travelers from a further 60 countries were permitted from May 2.

Despite admitting she was not a fan of vaccine mandates, Ms Ardern said she had to introduce them to prevent long-term Covid restrictions.

Auckland residents endured a series of lockdowns throughout the pandemic, the worst a nearly four-month stint at home from August to December last year.

Ms Ardern said stay-at-home order, combined with the presence of the more dangerous Delta variant, forced officials into more drastic action.

She was photographed chatting to new Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and foreign minister Penny Wong without a face covering

In her home country her approval has dramatically fallen in recent months and her government is behind in the polls ahead of the next NZ election, which is due before January 2024.

She is understood to hopeful the change in Australia's leadership may finally mean the end of divisive deportation laws.

Australia's '501' deportations, where foreign nationals are required to maintain 'good character' or risk being given a one-way ticket to their birth country and told never to return, has triggered some frosty discussions with New Zealand.

The powers, under section 501 of the Migration Act, allows the immigration minister to deport hundreds of people each year on the basis of 'bad character', most of whom are from New Zealand.
The maverick independent who crushed high-flying Labor Senator Kristina Keneally in Saturday's election has accused Labor of smear tactics after questions were raised about her eligibility.

Dai Le, who achieved a remarkable underdog electoral victory as an independent over Kristina Keneally at the election, said the claims were attempts to 'smear me and try to damage my reputation'.

The claims centre around whether Ms Le nominated for the southwest Sydney seat of Fowler while still being a citizen of Vietnam, the country she grew up in until she was seven.

A a report claimed she failed to indicate on electoral forms when and how she gave up her Vietnamese citizenship.

Independent MP Dai Le is facing questions over whether she was eligible to stand following her stunning and historic win over Labor's Kristina Keneally in Saturday's election

Under Section 44 of the Australian Constitution, someone who nominates for election to the Australian Parliament cannot be a citizen of a 'foreign power'.

Ms Le reportedly ticked that she had never been a citizen or subject of another nation on her declaration to the Australia Electoral Commission in her nomination form.

The spaces that a candidate must fill in to say how and when they ceased being a citizen of another country were left blank and no documentation was supplied.

Ms Le accused Labor of putting out the story and flatly denied it in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

'Over the last few days, the Labor Party has been trying to smear me and try to damage my reputation, dragging my family including my son into stories,' she wrote.

'I can confirm that the AEC accepted my application to stand for the Federal Election and that I'm not a subject or a citizen of another country, and was not when I lodged my nomination form with the AEC prior to the close of the nomination.'

She also wrote that the ALP needed 'to accept the people's democratic decision who have elected me to represent'.

Ms Le took to Facebook to accuse Labor of trying to smear her after questions were raised over whether she was still a citizen of Vietnam, the country she fled as child, which could disqualify her from running for parliament

Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally was parachuted into the ultra-safe Sydney Labor electorate of Fowler but saw a huge swing against her to hand Ms Le an unlikely triumph

Ms Le and her family fled Vietnam in 1975 and after several years in Hong Kong and Filipino refugee camps they arrived in Australia in 1979.

The High Court previously ruled candidates who were citizens of another country at the time of their nomination could not sit in parliament, even if the person took reasonable steps to renounce their other citizenship.

However, a court case over Ms Le's eligibility would only arise if she was challenged by Labor or the matter was referred by the House of Representatives.

University of Sydney constitutional law specialist Anne Twomey told The Australian that Ms Le would have had Vietnamese citizenship at some point, so ticking the box to say she never had foreign allegiance seemed a bit 'peculiar'.

However, Professor Towney stressed she could not be sure of Vietnamese law or whether Ms Le would be disqualified from parliament.

Fairfield mayor Frank Carbone, who is Ms Le's close political ally, told The Australian he believed she had a letter from the Vietnamese consulate that proved she renounced citizenship.

'She's not a citizen of Vietnam, she's never been a citizen, she checked that out, this is just someone getting a bit excited, they're all going to end up with egg on their face,' he said.

'She doesn't have to explain that to anybody. If someone wants to take her to court, let them take her to court.'

Fairfield mayor Frank Carbone, a close political ally of Ms Le, believes that she has a letter from the Vietnamese consulate proving that she is no longer a citizen of that country

Labor parachuted Ms Keneally from the Senate into Fowler, which the party has held since its creation, and was expected to comfortably win again despite disquiet over ditching of aspiring candidate, local lawyer Tu Le.

Ms Le, who previously has stood for the Liberals in state elections, said Fowler's electorate, which has a large Vietnamese community, felt insulted by Labor's 'arrogance' of presuming they could drop in a favoured candidate.

Ms Keneally lives on the other side of Sydney on Scotland Island, on the northern beaches, in a multimillion-dollar mansion.

Labor suffered a 16 per cent swing against it to lose Fowler to Ms Le, defying the national trend that saw the party take office.
Commentary: Political manipulation on Taiwan unpopular, doomed

Xinhua) 10:14, May 25, 2022

GENEVA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The General Committee and the Plenary Session of the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday respectively decided to reject the so-called proposal of "inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA as an observer" submitted by a handful of countries.

The decision is another proof that the one-China principle is a consensus of the international community, corresponds with the trend of the times, and brooks no challenge, and that such downright political manipulation as the Taiwan-related proposal is inherently unpopular and doomed to fail.

At a time when COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc around the world, cooperation and solidarity have emerged as the common aspiration of the international community for the WHA. However, Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have acted discordantly, insisting on advancing the Taiwan-related proposal at the expense of disrupting assembly proceedings and sabotaging global anti-pandemic cooperation. Such a move has laid bare their political plot to engage in "Taiwan independence" separatist activities by hyping up their participation in the WHA.

Meanwhile, a handful of countries have emboldened and incited this move overtly or covertly, in an attempt to play their old political trick to contain China. Their sinister intention to split China and their egregious behavior to go against the historical trend are unanimously opposed by countries worldwide that uphold justice.

Prior to the opening of the WHA, nearly 90 countries sent letters to the World Health Organization (WHO) to express their commitment to the one-China principle and their opposition to Taiwan's participation in the assembly.

Taiwan-related proposals have no legal basis. There is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. The Taiwan region's participation in the activities of international organizations, including the WHO, must be handled under the one-China principle. The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1 have confirmed this fundamental principle, and have provided the legal basis for the WHO to abide by this principle.

The Taiwan region's participation in the WHA must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle and through cross-strait consultations. However, since the DPP authorities obstinately adhere to the "Taiwan independence" stance, the political foundation for Taiwan to join the WHA has ceased to exist.

In hope of angling for international sympathy and creating 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan,' the DPP authorities have hyped up a groundless claim that the region is a so-called "gap" in global anti-pandemic efforts.

Facts speak for themselves. The Chinese central government always attaches great importance to the health and well-being of Taiwan compatriots. It has given the region about 400 updates on the epidemic situation since the outbreak of the epidemic.

Since April 2021, as many as 47 experts from Taiwan have been approved to participate in the WHO-organized technical activities for 44 times. The region has also received WHO Secretariat briefings on the epidemic situation for multiple times.

The WHA has rejected Taiwan-related proposals for six consecutive years, which has fully showed that any attempt to violate the common aspiration and to reverse the overriding trend will face an inevitable demise. It is time for the DPP authorities to wake up to the fact that seeking "Taiwan independence" under the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic will only come to a dead end.

It is also time for some countries to stop politicizing health issues and interfering in China's internal affairs by exploiting the Taiwan question. If not, they are bound to shoot themselves in the foot.

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 19 students and two teachers

The 18-year-old Texas shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers chillingly messaged a random girl saying: 'I got a lil secret I wanna tell u. I'm about to...'

Salvador Ramos sent an Instagram private chat to the California woman appearing to hint at the terror he would inflict on Robb Elementary in Uvalde.

The sick killer asked her to repost pictures of two of his AR-15s as well as a magazine of ammunition that he bought last week.

He also sent her a haunting post at 9.16am on Tuesday - just two hours before the deadly attack got underway - saying: 'Ima air out.'

And as the shooting got underway it emerged he had also tagged her in a highlighted post on his page with pictures of his guns.

The girl was initially confused by the apparently random messages, which started on May 12, but engaged with him because she said she was scared.

She reacted with horror last night when she heard of the devastation he had inflicted on the young children in the close-knit Texas community.

Ramos shared photos on social media of guns. His account was taken down shortly after Governor Greg Abbott confirmed his name

Ramos is believed to have shot his grandmother before racing away in a truck and crashing it outside the school.

The vicious high school dropout is then said to have rushed into the school before spraying gunfire indiscriminately at teachers and children.

Horrific reports said the youngsters were seen trying to scramble out of windows amid the hail of bullets.

Ramos' messages to the girl - believed to be from LA - on Instagram from May 12 painted a picture of a twisted freak plotting to carry out an attack.

He wrote from his account @sal8dor_: 'You gonna repost my gun pics.' She replied: 'What your guns gotta do with me.'

'Just wanted to tag you,' he said back. Then at 5:43am on Tuesday, @salv8dor_ messaged her and said: 'I'm about to'.

The girl asked 'about to what' to which he answered: 'I'll tell you before 11.' He said he'd text her in an hour and urged her to respond.

'I got a lil secret I wanna tell u,' he messaged with a smiley face emoji covering its mouth. 'Be grateful I tagged you,' he wrote.

She replied: 'No it's just scary,' adding: 'I barely know you and you tag me in a picture with some guns?'

His last message at 9:16am on Tuesday was 'Ima air out'. The shooting started around 11:32am.

One video at the scene appears to show the suspected gunman, named by Governor Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background

The woman reacted with horror when she learnt what he had done. 'He's a stranger I know nothing about him he decided to tag me in his gun post,' she wrote.

'I'm so sorry for the victims and their families I really don't know what to say.'

She then added: 'The only reason I responded to him was because I was afraid of him I wish I stayed awake to at least try to convince him to not commit his crime. I didn't know.'

When an Instagram user asked if she was his girlfriend, she replied: 'I don't know him and I don't even live in Texas.'

Ramos, born in North Dakota but who lived in Uvalde, was a student at Uvalde High School before finding work at a Wendy's.

He had bought the guns he used in the shooting legally when he turned 18.

Under a new Texan law passed in September, those aged 18-21 could buy guns if they had a protective order, because they were at risk of family violence, stalking, prostitution or sex trafficking.

The law also removed the requirement for a permit for a handgun. Rifles were already permitted in Texas without licenses.

Ramos's social media was full of photos of his new guns, which he bought on his 18th birthday, state senator Roland Gutierrez said.

Robb Elementary School, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in the city of Uvalde, hometown of Matthew McConaughey, 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio.

A school friend of Ramos's said that he sent him the photos of his guns too.

'He would message me here and there, and four days ago he sent me a picture of the AR he was using  and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds, probably like seven mags,' the friend told CNN.

'I was like, 'bro, why do you have this?' and he was like, 'Don't worry about it.'

'He proceeded to text me, 'I look very different now. You wouldn't recognize me,' he added.

The friend said Ramos was mocked by others for the clothes he wore and his family's financial situation, and eventually was seen less in class.

He largely dropped out, and took the job at Wendy's, where co-workers remember him as quiet.

Adrian Mendes, evening manager at the Wendy's, said Ramos 'kept to himself mostly.'

'He felt like the quiet type, the one who doesn't say much. He didn't really socialize with the other employees,' Mendes told CNN.

'He just worked, got paid, and came in to get his check.'

Mendes said that he did not know Ramos well - he was already employed when Mendes began in February - and didn't see him most of the time because they were on different shifts.

Ramos worked from 11am to 4pm or 5pm, five days a week.
Salvador Ramos, 18, was reportedly bullied at school for his clothing and because his family was poor, a 'close' friend said

Warped mass murderer Salvador Ramos was a failing high school loner with an 'aggressive streak', who was bullied for being poor and mocked for wearing eyeliner.

That is how former classmates and colleagues have described the 'evil' killer, 18, who slaughtered at least 19 innocent children in the second deadliest school shooting in American history in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, before being shot dead in a shootout with a border patrol officer.

Described by one pupil as an 'emo', his lisp also made him a target, according to the Washington Post, with classmates claiming he endured gay slurs. Another said he was mocked for his clothing.

A former classmate, who asked not to be identified, told CNN he and Ramos were somewhat 'close' and used to play Xbox together. The killer was a fan of the shooting and combat game Call of Duty.

On his since removed Instagram account, Ramos is believed to have shared a photo of two AR15-style rifles just three days before the killing at Robb Elementary school, while the bio on his TikTok page chillingly read: 'Kids be scared irl' (in real life).

While the motive for the massacre is not yet known, one neighbor told local news channel Newsy that he witnessed Ramos, who worked at a Wendy's, arguing with his grandmother, claiming he was 'angry that he did not graduate'.

He said the grandmother then screamed: 'He shot me, he shot me', before Ramos 'zoomed down the street' and crashed his car before embarking on his killing spree, which also counted two much-loved teachers, bringing the death toll to at least 21.

According to the Post, the shooting took place the day after his classmates had graduated. His grandmother has reportedly survived but was critically injured, reported Reuters.

His neighbor Ruben Flores, 41, said he had a 'pretty rough life' with his mother and that he had tried to be a father figure to the teen.

He claimed to the Post that police had previously visited his maternal home, on Hood Street, and that the troubled youth argued often with his mother before moving to his grandmother's house across town a few months ago.

Meanwhile, his Wendy's co-workers told the Daily Beast that he had an 'aggressive streak' and would send inappropriate messages to female employees. They also branded him 'quiet' and 'anti-social'.

One said: 'He would be very rude towards the girls sometimes, and one of the cooks, threatening them by asking, 'Do you know who I am?'

Four days before the shooting, Ramos reportedly sent his friend pictures of his guns and ammunition. When asked why he had it, Ramos allegedly replied: 'Don't worry about it'

'And he would also send inappropriate texts to the ladies.'

The same source claimed there were multiple videos of Ramos fighting people with boxing gloves at a local park.

'He'd take them around with him,' they claimed.

In the hours leading up to the killings, the shooter reportedly showed off his guns to an LA-based woman via his Instagram page, taunting that he was 'about to do' something.

When the woman asked what, he said: 'I'll tell you before 11.' He began shooting at noon.

'As soon as he made entry into the school he started shooting children, teachers, whoever was in his way, he was shooting everybody,' Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez said.

'This is just evil', an Uvalde resident told the New York Times, 'I'm afraid I'm going to know a lot of these kids that were killed.'

Another local, Adolfo Hernandez, told the same paper that his nephew had been in a classroom near where the shooting took place.

'He actually witnessed his little friend get shot in the face,' Hernandez said. The friend, he said, 'got shot in the nose and he just went down, and my nephew was devastated.'

Speaking anonymously, one classmate said Ramos had begun showing up to class less and less as other kids bullied him over his clothes and his family's financial situation.

'He would, like, not go to school...and he just, like, slowly dropped out. He barely came to school,' the friend said.

After the North Dakota native graduated from high school, the friend said they became even more distant from each other, but would occasionally message each other on Xbox.

'He would message me here and there,' he said.

Four days prior to Tuesday's shooting, Ramos reportedly sent his friend a picture of the AR and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds.

'[He had] probably like seven [magazines],' he said. 'I was like: 'Bro, why do you have this?' and he was like: 'Don't worry about it.''

His social media was filled with new rifles, which he purchased on his 18th birthday

He killed 19 kids and two adults at an elementary Robb Elementary School on Tuesday

The school shooter - who originates from North Dakota and had recently moved to Texas - had reportedly bought two rifles on his 18th birthday, which was days ago, the Daily Beast reported.

Under a new Texan law passed in September, those aged 18-21 could buy guns if they had a protective order, because they were at risk of family violence, stalking, prostitution or sex trafficking.

The law also removed the requirement for a permit for a handgun. Rifles were already permitted in Texas without licenses.

In the days leading up to the massacre, Ramos told his friend that he 'looked very different now.'

'You wouldn't recognize me,' he messaged less than a week ago.

Ramos's social media was full of photos of his new guns, which he bought on his 18th birthday, state senator Roland Gutierrez said.

Ramos also messaged a Los Angeles-based woman on May 12 on Instagram, tagging her in a photo of the guns.

'You gonna repost my gun pics,' @sal8dor_ direct messaged her.

'What your guns gotta do with me,' [sic] she replied on Friday.

'Just wanted to tag you,' he said back.

Then at 5:43am on Tuesday, @salv8dor_ messaged her and said: 'I'm about to'.

The girl asked 'about to what' to which he answered: 'I'll tell you before 11.'

He said he would text her in an hour and urged her to respond.

'I got a lil secret I wanna tell u,' he messaged with a smiley face emoji covering its mouth.

'Be grateful I tagged you,' he wrote.

She replied: 'No it's just scary,' adding: 'I barely know you and you tag me in a picture with some guns?'

His last message at 9:16am on Tuesday was 'Ima air out'.

The shooting started around 11:32am. The woman reacted with horror when she learnt what he had done.

'He's a stranger I know nothing about him he decided to tag me in his gun post,' she wrote.

'I'm so sorry for the victims and their families I really don't know what to say.'

She then added: 'The only reason I responded to him was because I was afraid of him I wish I stayed awake to at least try to convince him to not commit his crime. I didn't know.'

When an Instagram user asked if she was his girlfriend, she replied: 'I don't know him and I don't even live in Texas.'

He largely dropped out, and took the job at Wendy's, where co-workers remember him as quiet.

Adrian Mendes, evening manager at the Wendy's, said Ramos 'kept to himself mostly.'

'He felt like the quiet type, the one who doesn't say much. He didn't really socialize with the other employees,' Mendes told CNN.

'He just worked, got paid, and came in to get his check.'

Mendes said that he did not know Ramos well - he was already employed when Mendes began in February - and didn't see him most of the time because they were on different shifts.

Ramos worked from 11am to 4pm or 5pm, five days a week.

Ramos was shot and killed by law enforcement at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, after he had murdered 21 people.
Anthony Albanese has revealed his dream for high-speed rail in Australia, in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday.

The new prime minister spoke to Mr Kishida about his fast rail 'vision' at the annual Quad summit in Tokyo.

Mr Albanese admitted he was 'obsessive' about high-speed rail after the two world leaders spoke about their goal to keep the region 'free, open and peaceful'.

The trains would be expected to reach speeds of up to 350km/h between east coast cities and should have a positive economic impact on smaller communities along the route

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with his counterpart, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, on Tuesday (pictured) and spoke about defence, strategic relations and the energy outlook

'I think there is great prospect for greater economic cooperation across a range of areas including - one that my foreign minister (Penny Wong) knows is particularly an obsessive one of mine - my vision for high-speed rail,' Mr Albanese said in a video, obtained by Reuters.

Mr Albanese also spoke about his aspirations for moving towards green hydrogen with our regional neighbours.

'I see an enormous opportunity in doing what our countries have done for LNG in other areas including in green hydrogen,' Mr Albanese told Mr Kishida in the meeting.

Mr Albanese also held his first meeting as leader with US President Joe Biden prior to his meeting with Mr Kishida.

Australia's 31st prime minister flew to Tokyo to attend his first Quad summit, which was attended by other leaders from the United States, Japan and India on Monday.

Mr Albanese's high-speed rail comments are not new - the PM has repeatedly spoken about the prospect and said last January it would be one of Labor's top priorities if the party was elected.

The promised Melbourne to Brisbane bullet train would stop in areas along the east coast, including Sydney, Canberra and Newcastle.

Mr Albanese at the time flagged establishing a High Speed Rail Authority and said the $500million fast trains would run at speeds of up to 350km/h.

The cash injection is expected to be a part of Labor's first budget since winning office.

'If I'm elected prime minister, I want ours to be the first government which gets work underway on high-speed rail creating jobs and connecting communities up and down the east coast of Australia overcoming the tyranny of distance,' he said.

Mr Albanese said that no country had equalled the vision Japan has had with their world-famous Shinkansen trains, which reach a top speed of 320 km/hr.

The Shinkansen Trains network has been around for more than 50 years, and have connected remote regions with the country's capital, boosting economic growth.
Grim footage showed parents lining up to give DNA swabs to help identify the remains of 19 students massacred by a gunman at a Texas elementary school.

The family members were filmed lining up outside an auditorium close to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Tuesday evening before darkness fell.

Sobs could be heard throughout the evening as at least five family members were told their children had been killed. Two teachers have also been confirmed as victims of the grisly incident.

Parents had to wait outside the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center to provide DNA swabs to help authorities identify remains of children who may be unrecognizable after the tragedy.

Parents also desperately waited for their children at designated meeting spots, hoping their loved ones would reappear. As the night wore on, the parking lot of cars slowly began to peel away.

Among the lost children are Makenna Elrod, Uziyah Garcia, nine, and Xavier Lopez, 10, Amerie Jo Garza, Eliahana Torres, Ellie Garcia, as well as fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles and another teacher Irma Garcia.

Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was identified by her family as being one of the staff members shot dead. She had worked in education for 17 years.

Her husband Ruben Ruiz, a veteran detective and SWAT team member currently serving as a police officer with the school district, held regular active shooter drills for the schools - most recently at the end of March.

Salvador Ramos, 18, equipped with a handgun and possibly a rifle, entered the Robb Elementary School and opened fire around 11.30am.

Two parents, who claimed to be family friends of Ramos, said the teen was serious and had a temper and oftentimes talked back to her mother while growing up, The New York Times reported. However, both parents - who were not identified - said they were shocked to learned he could do something so violent.

Sad update Families tell me theyre going one by one inside getting swabbed for DNA to help investigators pic.twitter.com/zTuWr873Gk  Anayeli Ruiz KHOU (@AnayeliNews) May 25, 2022

Desperate families gather outside of SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center (pictured) to give DNA swabs to help authorities identify remains of children who may be unrecognizable after the tragedy

Ramos, who was born in North Dakota but lived in Uvalde, had been a student at Uvalde High School, Governor Gregg Abbott said. One of his friends at high school said he was teased about his clothes and his family's financial situation.

He also worked at Wendy's, where staff remembered him as quiet.

'You know how my guys talk to each other and are friendly? He wasnt like that. No one really knew him,' the night manager Adrian Mendes told The New York Times.

'He felt like the quiet type, the one who doesn't say much. He didn't really socialize with the other employees,' Mendes told CNN. 'He just worked, got paid, and came in to get his check.'

'He shot and killed - horrifically and incomprehensibly - 14 students and killed a teacher,' Abbott said at a press briefing. The death toll was later revised to 19 children.

'There are families that are in mourning right now. And the state of Texas is in mourning with them.'

It was the deadliest such incident since 14 high school students and three adult staff were killed in Parkland, Florida in 2018 - and the worst at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.

'The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong,' said Joe Biden, addressing the country from the White House on Tuesday night.

'As a nation, we have to ask: When in God's name will we stand up to the gun lobby?'

He added: 'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep on letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?'

Makenna Elrod (left) and Uziyah Garcia, nine, have been confirmed dead after the shooting

Xavier Lopez, 10, (left) and Amerie Jo Garza (right) was also killed at the school shooting on Tuesday

Eliahana Torres, 10, was also confirmed dead on Facebook

Steven Garcia and Jennifer Lugo confirmed their daughter, Ellie, was killed in Tuesday's massacre after she had been missing for several hours

Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia were shot and killed by Salvador Ramos on Tuesday while at the school where they taught in Uvalde

Four days prior to Tuesday's shooting, Ramos reportedly sent his friend a picture of the AR and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds.

'[He had] probably like seven [magazines],' he said. I was like: "Bro, why do you have this?" and he was like: "Dont worry about it,"' the unidentified friend said.

The school shooter - who originates from North Dakota and had recently moved to Texas - had reportedly bought two rifles on his 18th birthday, which was days ago, the Daily Beast reported.

Under a new Texan law passed in September, those aged 18-21 could buy guns if they had a protective order, because they were at risk of family violence, stalking, prostitution or sex trafficking.

The law also removed the requirement for a permit for a handgun. Rifles were already permitted in Texas without licenses.

Ramos also told his friend that he 'looked very different now.'

'You wouldnt recognize me,' he messaged less than a week ago.

Ramos's social media was full of photos of his new guns, which he bought on his 18th birthday, state senator Roland Gutierrez said.

Ramos also messaged a Los Angeles-based woman on May 12 on Instagram, tagging her in a photo of the guns.

'You gonna repost my gun pics,' @sal8dor_ direct messaged her.

Salvador Ramos, 18, murdered 21 people on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School. Family friends said they remember him having a temper growing up, but couldn't believe he could be so violent

One video at the scene appears to show the suspected gunman, named by Governor Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background

'what your guns gotta do with me,' she replied on Friday.

'Just wanted to tag you,' he said back.

Then at 5:43am on Tuesday, @salv8dor_ messaged her and said: 'I'm about to'.

The girl asked 'about to what' to which he answered: 'I'll tell you before 11.'

He said he'd text her in an hour and urged her to respond.

'I got a lil secret I wanna tell u,' he messaged with a smiley face emoji covering its mouth.

'Be grateful I tagged you,' he wrote.

She replied: 'No it's just scary,' adding: 'I barely know you and you tag me in a picture with some guns?'

His last message at 9:16am on Tuesday was 'Ima air out.'

Ramos was shot and killed by law enforcement at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, after he had murdered 21 people.
A man has been injured and his pet killed following a vicious attack by two off-leash dogs, despite the owner trying to stop the furious pitbulls by beating them with a stick.

Patrick, 30, was walking his beloved pet poodle cavalier cross 'Kevy' at the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail in Jacana in Melbourne's north on Thursday.

They were attacked by two dogs described as 'stocky' and possibly pitbulls , leaving 15-year-old Kevy with horrific injuries that he later died from.

Patrick suffered scratches, bruises and required stitches for cuts to his leg and upper body.

Speaking to 3AW, Patrick said he attempted to shield Kevy from the brutal attack.

'I was screaming and calling for help just from anyone who could hear,' he said.

'About two minutes into this whole thing the man who was the owner arrived on the scene. At first he just stood there and said nothing, so when I noticed someone was there I was begging this person to help me.'

Kevy, a 15-year-old cavoodle (pictured) was sadly killed in the dog attack in Melbourne's north

Patrick said the attack was 'heartless'.

Police are investigating the attack and have released descriptions of the dogs and their owner.

The owner is described as Middle Eastern in appearance with a medium build, approximately 175cm tall, aged in his late 30s, with short dark hair.

One of his dogs was black and the other brown and white.

Patrick said the man hit his dogs with a stick to stop them from attacking but when this failed he fled without assisting them and leaving his dogs.

Police are appealing for any witnesses around the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail area on Thursday evening and for information that may assist in identifying the owner and his two dogs.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Porn star Stormy Daniels has decided to legally change her name, claiming she wants to 'enter into a new chapter' of her life.

Daniels - whose legal birth name is Stephanie Gregory Clifford - filed a petition to change her name legally to Stormy Daniels Barratt.

No information was available as to where her new last name originated, and why Daniels has decided to opt for a moniker that is so similar to her old one.

The porn star, 42, shot to fame in 2018 when it emerged that Donald Trump had paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about their affair, 11 days before the 2016 election.

In the petition, which was filed in Los Angeles, Daniels says: 'I want to change my name to coincide with my entering into a new chapter in my life.'

Porn star Stormy Daniels has decided to legally change her name, claiming she wants to 'enter into a new chapter' of her life

The porn star, 42, shot to fame in 2018 when it emerged that Donald Trump had paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about their affair, 11 days before the 2016 election

Daniels - whose legal birth name is Stephanie Gregory Clifford - filed a petition to change her name legally to Stormy Daniels Barratt

Daniels has since written a book and embarked on nationwide stripping tours.

More recently, Daniels has reinvented herself as a psychic and is traveling the country for a documentary, accompanied by Susan - a doll she claims is 'haunted by the spirit of a girl who died in the 1960s.'

Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer for ten years, paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her alleged liaison with Trump.

After Daniels sued to void a non-disclosure agreement with Cohen in 2018, a judge ordered Trump in 2020 to pay Daniels more than $44,000 for her legal fees.

Daniels then sued Trump for defamation in 2018 for calling her a liar, after Trump accused her of planning 'a con job,' when she claimed a man threatened her to keep quiet about their alleged affair.

In the petition, which was filed in Los Angeles, Daniels says: 'I want to change my name to coincide with my entering into a new chapter in my life'

Most recently, Daniels was ordered by a federal court to pay Donald Trump $300,000 in attorney fees after it rejected her appeal to another's court ruling in her defamation lawsuit

The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge and Daniels appealed the decision in 2021 before her appeal was rejected yet again on Monday.

Daniels was ordered by a federal court to pay Donald Trump $300,000 in attorney fees in March after it rejected her appeal to another's court ruling in her defamation case against the former president.

In a statement issued on Monday, Trump celebrated the news and said that 'all I have to do is wait for all of the money she owes me.'

'The lawsuit was a purely political stunt that never should have started, or allowed to happen, and I am pleased that my lawyers were able to bring it to a successful conclusion after the court fully rejected her appeal,' Trump said, according to CNBC.

The ruling by the the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit followed an earlier ruling by a lower court that rejected Daniels' defamation suit against Trump after he refuted her claims that they had sex in 2006.

The lengthy legal battle has set a chain reaction of appeals, with attorneys for both parties being convicted of felonies.
A veteran teacher who's a married mom-of-four has been named as the second educator killed in the Texas elementary school massacre.

Irma Garcia, 46, was named as a victim of the atrocity by devastated friends and family members in the early hours of Wednesday.

Her co-teacher Eva Mireles, 44, was named as the second teacher killed in the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday evening.

The women were among three adults killed during the incident, the third being shooter Salvador Ramos, 19, who murdered the two women and 19 young children.

Garcia had spent 23 years teaching, and had been nominated as a teacher of the year by the Uvalde Independent School District in 2019.

Sharing news of her death on Facebook, a nephew called John said: 'My tia did not make it, she sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom, i beg of you to keep my family including all of her family in yalls prayers , IRMA GARCIA IS HER NAME and she died a HERO. she was loved by many and will truly be missed.'

Irma Garza, 46, has been named as the second teacher killed in the Texas elementary school massacre

The death of Garza's co-teacher Eva Mireles, pictured, was confirmed on Tuesday evening

Fourth grade student Xavier Lopez, 10, was killed Tuesday when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. His mother had attended his awards ceremony just hours before the shooting, unaware that would be the last time she saw him

Uziyah Garcia, 9, (left) and Makenna Elrod, 10, (right) were both confirmed dead by loved ones on Facebook

Amerie Jo Garza (right) was confirmed dead by her father Angel Garza (left), who said: 'My little love is now flying high with the angels above'

Eliahana 'Elijah Cruz' Torres, 10, was also identified among the deceased. The fourth grader, didn't want to go to school on Tuesday, her grandfather said - but her family told her she had to

Close friend Lisa G Salazar shared a snap of herself embracing Garcia on her Facebook page, prompting an outpouring of emotion from stricken family members and friends.

Friend Danielle Boone also posted a tribute to Garcia on Facebook, writing: 'No words are good enough. Irma Garcia was a sweet, funny, and gorgeous soul.

'My heart aches for her amazing family. Im so heartbroken. Lord please be with them all during this nightmare.'

Garcia's murder was confirmed hours after that of her colleague Mireles. The five child victims so-far identified are Amerie Jo Garza, Xavier Lopez, Makenna Lee Elrod and Eliahana Cruz Torres, all aged 10, as well as nine year-old Uziyah Garcia.

Hauntingly, Mireles husband Ruben Ruiz, a police officer at Uvalde School District, held an active shooter drill at Uvalde High School, on March 22, two months before his wife's murder. Both the gunman and the cop were once students at the school.

The 16 year-veteran was snapped in chilling Facebook photos where he and his fellow officers posed as active shooters, with students playing dead by laying on the floor of their school during the drill.

Slain Robb Elementary School teacher Eva Mireles, 44, with her husband Ruben Ruiz, 43, an officer in the Uvalde School District and their daughter Analynn Ruiz

In a eerily prescient scene, Uvalde School District police peer around a corner for an active shooter during a drill as students pretend to be dead on the hallway floor

An officer with a mock gun faces an attacker in the Uvalde High School auditorium during the active-shooter drills in March

Uvalde School District Police conducted active shooter live-training drills at the high school in March, two months before the massacre that killed 19 children

Officers listen to the theory regarding active-shooter response during a training course in March at the Uvalde High School

Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Officer Ruben Ruiz, 43, the husband of slain teacher Eva Mireles, 44, trained in active shooter drills in March

Fourth grade teacher Eva Mireles, 44, was gunned down at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday. She was an avid hiker, runner and sometimes biker

The shooter, Salvador Ramos, 18, attacked the school Tuesday afternoon spraying bullets before he was shot and killed by a Customs and Border Patrol agent.

Photos posted on the Uvalde Police Department Facebook page show Ruiz in an active shooter lecture in the Uvalde High School cafeteria on March 22.

In a shot eerily similar to the devastation at the elementary school officers can be seen in photographs peering around a school hallway as several of the students lay on the floor in mock death.

Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 14 students and a teacher

'Our overall goal is to train every Uvalde area law enforcement officer so that we can prepare as best as possible for any situation that may arise,' the department posted above photos of the drills.

Other shots of the drill show a man armed with a mock knife posed to attack a woman in what appears to be the auditorium.

Another shot shows the same mock assailant facing off with one of the training officer who is pointing an orange gun at him.

Ken Paxton, the attorney general for Texas, told Fox News that more teachers should carry guns.

'We can't stop bad people from doing bad things,' he said, adding that he had 'never understood that argument'.

'We can harden these schools. We can create points of access that are difficult to get through.

'We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly.

'The reality is that we don't have the resources to have law enforcement at every school.

A woman cries while speaking on the phone outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School to be picked up following the shooting

A board with the list of classes and teachers is displayed outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center

Annabelle Rodriquez, 10, pictured here, a student at Robb Elementary School is missing, her frantic father told FoxNews

'So it takes time for law enforcement - now matter how prepared, no matter how good they are - to get there. So having the right training for some of these people at the school is the best hope.

Ruiz, who was born in Uvalde, became an officer in 2006 and worked as a patrolman, training officer, youth advisor detective and worked in the Organized Crime Unit. He's trained in active shooter drills before and attended Advanced SWAT school. He joined the school district police in 2018.

Mireles, who taught special education at the Robb Elementary School for 17 years, was shot by Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old shooter.

The mother of an adult daughter, the educator credited her 'supportive, fun and loving family, including her four pets.

Her aunt Lydia Martinez Delgado called her the 'fun of the party.'

Ramos shared photos on social media of guns. His account was taken down shortly after Governor Greg Abbott confirmed his name

Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, Texas, drove to the Robb Elementary School in his hometown after shooting his grandmother

Family photos emerged after the shooting showing the educator at the top of a long mountain range. She enjoyed hiking, biking and running in the great outdoors.

'I'm furious that these shootings continue,' Delgado said. 'These children are innocent. Rifles should not be easily available to all. This is my hometown, a small community of less than 20,000. I never imagined this would happen to especially loved ones.'

Robb elementary student Xavier Lopez was also killed in the violence, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up by a cousin to help his parents raise money for the funeral. The family had already collected more than $10,000 by Tuesday night.

In addition to the 18 killed, another 13 children are being treated at the Uvalde Memorial emergency room along with a unnamed 45-year-old man who suffered a graze wound.

Parents are still frantically trying to find out if their children are among the dead. The father of 10-year-old Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriquez handed out photos to reporters and law enforcement, hoping that someone had seen his little girl.

Police said that they were working to inform families of the names of the dead as soon as they were able to identify the bodies.

University Health San Antonio also confirmed they received a child whose condition is currently unknown and a 66-year-old woman who is critical condition.

Robb Elementary School, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in the city of Uvalde, hometown of Matthew McConaughey, 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio.

Concerned parents were captured at the scene desperately searching for their children and video from the chaotic scene showed police arriving to the school campus with their guns in hand.

One widely shared video appears to show the suspected gunman approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background.

Videos taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting show mothers frantically running towards the campus to collect their kids.

The school warned parents to stay away and instead collect their children from a rendezvous point after they had been 'accounted for'.

'Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared.'

The district said that the city's civic center will be used as a reunification center and that parents will be able to pick up their children there once everyone is accounted for.

A mobile morgue was seen arriving at the school on Tuesday.
Senior Labor MP Tanya Plibersek has launched an extraordinary personal attack on Liberal MP Peter Dutton, comparing him to Voldemort, Harry Potter's archenemy.

Speaking on radio station 4BC, Ms Plibersek was asked her opinion of Mr Dutton, who is almost certain to be the new leader of the Liberal Party.

'Well I think there will be a lot of children who have watched a lot of Harry Potter films who will be very frightened of what they will see at night, that's for sure,' replied the Labor frontbencher.

But the comments from the woman tipped to be the next Minister for Education, have been called 'nasty' by Sky News commentator Andrew Bolt.

Tanya Plibersek (right) is pictured with her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter (left). Ms Plibersek is under fire for a comment she made about Peter Dutton's looks

'Why is Labor so often personally nasty and disparaging, including about people's looks,' said Bolt.

Scott Emerson, who was interviewing Ms Plibersek on 4BC, also seemed shocked by what she had just said.

'What, are you saying he looks strange, he looks odd?' he asked.

'I am saying he looks a bit like Voldemort and we will see whether he can do what he promised he would do when he was last running for leader, which is smile more,' she said.

Mr Emerson said it sounded like she was attacking Mr Dutton over his looks.

'No, I am just saying he is not the warm and friendly face of the Liberal party,' she replied.

'And if this last election taught us anything, it taught us that the Liberal Party has moved too far to the extremes of politics.'

The radio host later lambasted Ms Plibersek, who he said is a 'capable, smart, talented' politician, for her comments.

'It was a bit below her, I don't normally hear her say those sorts of things, I was a bit shocked when she did say that,' Mr Emerson said.

'I think it was poor, and I suspect she is regretting that right now.'

Ms Plibersek has since apologised for the comments.

Radio host Ben Fordham reported Ms Plibersek had reached out to Mr Dutton to apologise directly.

'I shouldnt have said it.'

Peter Dutton (pictured), who is expected to be the next leader of the Liberal Party, has been compared to Harry Potter's archenemy Voldemort, by senior Labor MP Tanya Plibersek

The character Voldemort (pictured) from the Harry Potter films, has been compared to Liberal MP Peter Dutton in an extraordinary attack by Labor's Tanya Plibersek

Speaking on Sky News on Wednesday night, Bolt said 'I actually know why Labor is freaking out about Dutton, because they're scared. He's tough, he's smart, he's a great communicator.

'He's a former copper, he's going to be very credible and turn the Liberals into a party for the battler, focussing on the cost of living and calling out bull.'

Bolt also had a go at the former prime minister though, saying that Mr Dutton 'unlike Scott Morrison, he stands for something. I think he's brave, plus he's a conservative.

'And remember, the Liberals have never won an election from opposition without a conservative leader ... so that's what's scaring Labor.'

Ms Plibersek is far from the only senior Labor politician to attack the expected next Liberal leader, this week.

On Monday, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan blasted Mr Dutton as not being fit to be prime minister.

'He's an extremist, and I don't think he fits with modern Australia at all,' said Mr McGowan.

'He doesn't seem to listen, he's extremely conservative and I actually don't think he's that smart.

'I've seen him present on things [and] I don't really pick up there's much there.

'As opposed to Scott Morrison, who is a clever guy, I don't pick up that Peter Dutton is fit to be prime minister.'

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (centre) is pictured with Tanya Plibersek speaking to students during a visit to his old school at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney on Monday, May 9, 2022

Then on Tuesday, Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews said 'I'm trying to be as polite as possible,' about Mr Dutton, who was the Minister for Defence under Scott Morrison.

'He hasn't become the leader yet. If he does, then I wish him well, but he's made a whole range of comments about Victoria.

'You guys need to remember this. It wasn't that long ago when these people were running around saying we're all going to get murdered by an African gang and we couldn't go out for dinner.'

While some within the Liberals believe the party needs to move to the centre to have a chance at winning back the inner city seats it lost this time, others believe its Liberals best hope is to fully embrace conservatism in line with Mr Dutton's vision.

Tony Abbott's former chief of staff Peta Credlin was among those making that case, urging the party to forego the rich voters who want more action on climate change.

Creating starker points of difference with Labor, this plan would see the Liberals target suburban battlers, the mortgage belt and blue-collar workers as a path back to government.
A new government campaign has revealed how young Australians can ask each other for sexual consent as new laws are set to be introduced.

The series of short clips will target young people between the ages of 16 and 24 and will air on social media platforms and dating apps.

The NSW government has released the campaign ahead of new affirmative consent laws due to come into force on June 1.

The new laws require each sexual partner to say or do something to communicate that they consent and were passed last November.

Attorney-General Mark Speakman said the affirmative model of consent would see partners in NSW engage in 'mutual and ongoing communication'.

In one of the short clips, a woman asks her partner if she can kiss her, who agrees (pictured)

The short clips show couples in passionate embraces pausing to ask for consent before proceeding, or deciding to stop.

In one of the short clips, a woman asks her partner if she can kiss her, who agrees.

In another video, a young couple at a party begin kissing before the man stops and asks his partner if she wants to keep going.

The woman pauses before telling him she would rather go back to the party.

Each of the educational clips use the tagline 'That's how you do it' to reference how young people can ask for consent.

The NSW government describes sexual consent as when people freely and voluntarily agree to engage in sexual activity.

Each of the educational clips use the tagline 'That's how you do it' to reference how young people can ask for consent and the hashtag #makenodoubt

In another video, a young couple at a party begin kissing before the man stops and asks his partner if she wants to keep going (pictured)

The campaign explains there are situations in which people can't give consent - even if they say yes - including if they are heavily affected by drugs or alcohol, unconscious or asleep or manipulated or threatened into consenting.

It also points out that consent can be withdrawn at any time, and as soon as this happens the sexual activity must stop.

Some body language cues that a sexual partner may be uncomfortable can be; tensing up, freezing, or moving away, the campaign explains.

'Look at body language and non-verbal cues to make sure they're comfortable. Just because someone isn't saying no, doesn't mean they're saying yes,' it states.

The website also encourages youths to continue checking in with their partner, ask directly for consent and remain aware of their body language.

The Attorney-General said that in the six months since the laws had passed, police and law courts had become familiar with the reforms.

What are the new affirmative consent laws? Under the new laws, set to be applied from June 1: It can't be assumed that a sexual partner is consenting just because they don't say no, are silent or inactive. Consent must be communicated through words or actions - each party must say or do something to show consent. If the other person hasn't communicated their consent, you must say or do something to make sure that they consent. Source: NSW Government Advertisement

The campaign encourages youths to continue to check in with their partner, ask directly for consent and remain aware of their body language

'These reforms make it clear that if you want to engage in sexual activity with someone, then they need to do or say something to show consent or you need to do or say something to seek consent,' Mr Speakman said.

'These reforms are not just about holding perpetrators to account, but changing social behaviour.'

He said the new campaign would target 16 to 24-year-olds as this age group was overrepresented among perpetrators and victims of sexual assault.

The outgoing Morrison government was last year slammed for their 'confusing' 'milkshake ad' which attempted to teach schoolchildren about sexual consent.

In the video a woman smears cream onto her partners face after screaming at him to 'eat it', in an analogy for forcing non-consensual sex.

The ad was quickly dropped less than 48 hours after it aired on Australian screens.

The woman is seen scooping out a handful of milkshake from her steel cup before pushing it into the face of her partner

In February it was announced education on consent will become mandatory in every Australian school after a landmark ruling by state and federal ministers.

Federal Senator Jonathon Duniam on Thursday confirm education officials would meet in April to finalise a new curriculum which includes consent education.

Teachers will give children from prep to Year 12 age-appropriate lessons about the importance of gaining permission, power imbalances and coercion.

Former Sydney private school student Chanel Contos has pushed for the change and launched a petition called Teach Us Consent - which advocates for earlier and improved sex education.

She helped design the proposal for the curriculum, which will be implemented from 2023 onwards.
A DUP MP broke down in tears last night as he called for justice for his cousin and others who were murdered by the IRA during the Troubles.

Jim Shannon, 67, was overcome with emotion as he recalled what happened to cousin Kenneth Smyth and those he served with in the Ulster Defence Regiment.

Sergeant Smyth was killed along with his friend Daniel McCormick as they travelled to work together in December 1971.

He spoke of his 'angst and agony' as he described the 'murders' and the fact that 'no IRA man was held accountable'.

Addressing Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, he questioned what he would do to 'make sure that happens'.

The MP had to briefly pause to gather himself after struggling to continue in the debate in the House of Commons about a new bill on the legacy of Northern Ireland's Troubles.

The Government's bill, which passed its second reading by 285 to 208 votes, proposes replacing police investigations and court cases into killings with an information recovery body.

This institution would offer immunity to individuals on both sides of the conflict who co-operate by helping to provide information for victims' families.

Critics have slammed the legislation as a 'whitewash', but veterans have welcomed it.

Yesterday two Northern Ireland groups that represent many victims of Army shootings held protests against the bill in both Derry and at the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast.

A DUP MP broke down in tears last night as he called for justice for his cousin and others who were murdered by the IRA during the Troubles. Jim Shannon was overcome with emotion as he recalled what happened to cousin Kenneth Smyth and those he served with in the Ulster Defence Regiment

Speaking to Mr Lewis, who had earlier spoken in support of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, Mr Shannon spoke movingly of his cousin and others who were killed.

He said: 'The Secretary of State mentioned those who served in uniform. I remind him gently and kindly, but seriously as well, that my cousin Kenneth Smyth and his friend Daniel McCormick, both in the Ulster Defence Regiment, neither of whom were able toexcuse me.

'No IRA man was ever made accountable for their murders 51 years ago.'

Mr Shannon's cousin, who was 28 when he was killed, was murdered with Mr McCormick, 29, when they were travelling to work together in County Tyrone.

Sergeant Smyth was a serving member of the UDR - the regiment of the British Army that had been set up a year earlier and which became the dominant official force in Northern Ireland.

Sergeant Smyth (left), who was 28 when he was killed, was shot with Mr McCormick (right), 29, when they were travelling to work together in County Tyrone

He was off duty at the time, whilst Mr McCormick had left the UDR shortly before his killing.

As well as serving in the UDR, Mr Smyth ran his own construction business, which Mr McCormick also worked for.

Mr Shannon went on to refer to other killings.

'Stuart Montgomery, a wee 20-year-old police officer was murdered outside Pomeroyno IRA man was ever made accountable for his murder,' he said.

'John Birch, Steven Smart, John Bradley and Michael Adams, the four UDR men killed at Ballydugan, four men who served this country in uniformno one was made accountable for their murders.'

He added: 'Secretary of State, you can understand the angst and the agony that I have on behalf of my constituents.

'I want to have the justice that they have been denied for over 50 yearsin the case of the four UDR men, for 32 years this Sunday past. What are you doing to make sure that happens?'

Private Birch, Lance Corporal Bradley, Lance Corporal Adams and Private Smart were killed when the IRA detonated a 1,000lb bomb under their car in 1990.

Constable Montgomery was killed aged 18 in an attack in 1981.

Mr Lewis said he had touched on 'the failure of the current system to be able to bring that accountability, that understanding and that truth for people', adding: 'That's exactly what we want to achieve with this legislation, is an outcome that means that people get the truth, and with that does come accountability.'

He described the subject of historic killings as a 'difficult and painful area, an area that there hasn't been consensus'.

Mr Lewis said he had touched on 'the failure of the current system to be able to bring that accountability, that understanding and that truth for people'

Yesterday two Northern Ireland groups that represent many victims of Army shootings held protests against the bill in both Derry and at the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast. Above: Karen Walsh (left) and mother Marian Walsh protest in Belfast. Damien Walsh was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries aged 17

Protesters against the UK Government's Troubles Legacy Bill stand together outside the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast yesterday

After listening to all parties, he added: 'It is sometimes for us in Government to take those difficult decisions, to find a way forward that can deliver a better outcome for people as we move forward in the future.'

However, former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith urged the Government to 'look again' at its proposals.

Mr Smith warned of an 'unfair cut-off point', and highlighted that 'consent is vital' when dealing with legacy issues.

He also raised concerns over the Government's plans for a new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

He said: 'I urge the Government to look at again at the independence and investigatory powers of this body to ensure that it can guarantee victims a full and thorough investigation of their case that is legally compliant.

'The shutting down of civil cases and of inquests, and the way it is done through this Bill, is also a source of much anger and worry.

'Civil actions have provided an effective mechanism for victims to obtain discovery and reparations.'

He added: 'Today many victims feel that they have been hit by a double whammy with this Bill. Their route to justice cut off, and at the same time their route to the truth restricted.'

Mr Smith also said he acknowledged the inquest system has used significant resources 'often without conclusions', but added: 'I urge the Government to also look at this.

'There must be a fairer way of at least completing the current work programme, and avoiding such an unfair cut-off point.'

He went on: 'On investigations and on inquests, I therefore urge the Government to pause and to listen to the voices of our valued Irish partners in the GFA (Good Friday Agreement), to Northern Ireland parties, and to the victims and survivors.

Mr Shannon had to briefly pause to gather himself after struggling to continue in the debate in the House of Commons about a new bill on the legacy of Northern Ireland's Troubles

'I hope too that the Government will reflect on how it can reframe this Bill in order to gain the trust required to help deliver a resolution.'

'I am deeply uncomfortable by the idea of voting for a Bill that will formalise immunity for those who have committed murder and other crimes, but I do however acknowledge that in the range of policy options that the Government is faced with, none are straightforward,' he added.

Elsewhere in the debate, DUP MP Ian Paisley (North Antrim) said changes to the Bill are necessary, warning that it may 'undermine the rule of law' and said it 'failed the Northern Ireland test of getting any sense of consensus whatsoever'.

Veterans will be 'getting a crumb off the table and the crumb off the table is blue-moulded and will not taste very good', he said.

Andrea Brown, whose police officer father Eric was shot dead by the IRA in 1983 when she was 12 told the BBC: 'There's nowhere else in the world that would try to make a law that murderers and serial killers do not have to face justice.

'Victims are meant to forgive, draw a line under it, but how can we? No one's sorry.

Five years after her father's death, Ms Brown was injured in a bomb attack that killed six soldiers.

Criticism also came from Alliance Party deputy leader Stephen Farry, who described the Bill as 'unworkable and incompatible with the principles of justice'.

'The difficulty we have here is that this debate is based around a false narrative of vexatious investigations or prosecutions, which simply does not stack up under scrutiny,' he said.

He warned the legislation could end up 're-traumatising victims' as 'people are seeing the potential prospects, slim as it may be, of justice being knocked out over their heads'.

Conservative former defence minister Johnny Mercer told the Commons: 'There are no winners in legacy, it is a mess.

'The whole thing is a disaster but we have to do what we can to bring some sort of end and finality and truth to this process for the victims, and that is what I want colleagues to focus on.'

The Plymouth Moor View MP later added: 'People will get away with things they should not get away with.

'We can bemoan that all we like, we can make speeches, we can speak to our home crowd as much as we like, it is never going to change. Everybody knows it is true.'

More than 3,500 people were killed during the Troubles, including over 1,000 members of the security forces.

Most of the deaths are attributed to republican paramilitaries while 30 per cent are blamed on loyalist paramilitaries, and 10 per cent attributed to the security forces
Nellore: The Indian Space Research Organisaton (Isro) plans to work with hospitals to share its knowledge in safety, quality and reliability. As part of Health-QUEST (Quality Upgradation Enabled through Space Technology), Isro will work with 11 hospitals across the country, the space organisation said in a release on Tuesday.

Besides, Isro's directorate of safety quality and reliability (DSRQ) has planned a Health-QUEST event at the Isro headquarters on Thursday.

Isro said that in 2016, the Association of Healthcare Providers (India) (AHPI) and the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organisations (CAHO) had approached Isro to learn from its best practices in the quality domain and implement the lessons in their emergency care and critical care departments.

"It is heartening to note that the pilot studies conducted in Dr Mehta's Hospital, Chennai, and Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, based on Isro's experiences have yielded positive results," Isro said.

It said that the Health-QUEST initiative was based on the interest shown by healthcare professionals in learning about Isros handling of the interplay among man, machine and environment in the human spaceflight programmes and about the medical equipment developed by ISRO.

Technology spinoffs from the space programme had helped in the dvelopment of cost-effective artificial limbs and jaws, left ventricular assist device and ventilators. In the safety sector, the spinoffs include flame-proof coatings, aerogel thermal wear for soldiers for protection from extreme cold and search and rescue beacons.

Isro Chairman Dr S. Somanath will deliver the keynote address at event where a brainstorming session between quality experts the space organisation and doctors from various domains is planned.

Dr. Brinda V, Director (DSRQ), Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Health, Bengaluru; Dr Alexander Thomas, president AHPI; Dr A.N. Venkatesh, president SEMI (Society for Emergency Medicine in India (SEMI); Dr T.S. Srinath Kumar, Head, Narayana Health will share their experiences.
The mother of a tiny toddler who plunged 5ft down a sewage drain has today revealed she thought he was 'gonna be dead' before she jumped down and found him 'absolutely screaming my name'.

Little Theo Prior fell through a drain cover as it flipped over then closed on top of him on Sunday afternoon while he was walking to his father's house with his mother Amy Blyth.

CCTV from a nearby house showed the moment quick-thinking personal trainer Miss Blyth jumped into the drain to rescue the 18-month-old tot and quickly plucked him from a river of human waste in Tenterden, Kent.

Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain today, Miss Blyth, 23, described the hair-raising moment her son plunged 5ft into sewage  while little Theo was seen walking inbetween TV cameras in the studio, smiling behind his dummy.

'I couldn't even hear him, I didn't even know if my baby was gonna be there, if he was gonna be dead because the hole was so tiny, I just literally jumped into the hole,' Theo's mother said.

'He was at the bottom standing in sewage up to his knees, he was screaming my name, absolutely screaming my name, and I just jumped in cause there was these concrete steps, I managed to get my foot on one but the hole was so tight I couldn't bend my body forward to actually grab him.'

CCTV of Amy Blyth and her son Theo, who plunged through a drain in Ashford, Kent

Quick-thinking Miss Blyth lifted off the heavy cover and jumped into the sewage drain

The personal trainer said she had to 'arch her body to grab him and pull him out' safely

Amy Blyth and Theo Prior on the set of ITV's Good Morning Britain today

The loose drain cover (pictured) that little Theo fell through before h is terrified mother leaped into action

She added: 'So we was walking through the area to his dad's house, was walking out from my mum's house to the car and I was walking along thew path and Theo was holding my hand at the start.

'After he let go of my hand, he ran towards the drain, he just ran towards the drain. And something, my gut instinct, just told me I need to run, I need to run, as I turned round, he fell through the hole and the drain had just closed completely on top of him.'

GMB host Richard Madeley responded: 'Thank god it wasn't raining! If you'd been in a storm, he would have been swept away.'

The terrified mother rushed the little boy  who is said to have swallowed some sewer water  to Ashford's William Harvey Hospital, where medics diagnosed him with mild concussion, but x-rays revealed he miraculously got away without a broken bone.

Theo is now home and doing well, but Miss Blyth complained to Southern Water and said she 'needs answers' as she believes the drain cover has been faulty for some time.

On GMB this morning, Miss Blyth said she feared Theo was 'gonna be dead'

The personal trainer said: 'Just as I pulled him up I think someone flushed a chain because we were soaked - with I think, possibly, wee. Our clothes are absolutely disgusting'

Miss Blyth complained to Southern Water and said she 'needs answers' as she believes the drain cover has been faulty for some time

When Miss Blyth had pulled out her son from the drain she appeared to shout for help

Yesterday Miss Blyth said: 'I yanked the drain lid out, and I just saw him down there, screaming my name. There was sewage up to his knees.

'I jumped down the drain, but it's not big enough for me to bend over to grab him. I had to sort of arch my body to grab him and pull him up.

'I don't know how I did it. My body went in ways I've never bent before, just to get him out of that drain. It was so deep you couldn't see my head from the ground, and I wasn't even on the floor.

'Just as I pulled him up I think someone flushed a chain because we were soaked  with I think, possibly, wee. Our clothes are absolutely disgusting.

'It could have ended up so much worse. If he'd gone down head first, I don't even know if he would be here. It makes me feel sick to think of it. It's an absolute nightmare - I'm petrified of drains now. I still feel really shaken from it. I just can't really get over it.

'He literally went straight to the bottom, and I thought I was going to lose him. It was actually like a horror film.'

Theo's mother said she dreads to think what might have happened had a child fallen through the drain cover unseen.

Amy Blyth, 23, jumped into the drain to rescue the tot and quickly plucked him from a river of human waste on Sunday afternoon in Tenterden, Kent

The terrified mum rushed the little boy - who is said to have swallowed some sewer water - to Ashford's William Harvey Hospital, where medics diagnosed him with mild concussion, but x-rays revealed he miraculously got away without a broken bone

She added: 'If he'd been on his own, or if it had been another kid on their own, we wouldn't have found him. We wouldn't have known where they'd gone. You couldn't even hear him because it's sound-proof.

'He could have fallen down and I'd have gone running round the block trying to find him, not in a drain.'

It is understood Southern Water is working to establish who is responsible for the drain and manhole.

Around four investigators were seen in the area on Sunday looking into the cause of the accident.

A Southern Water spokesperson told MailOnline: 'This is clearly a shocking incident and we are sorry for the distress that the child and their family experienced. Our County Customer Manager is supporting the family.

'When we were told about the situation our teams were onsite quickly and the manhole cover was immediately made safe. We are keeping the Health and Safety Executive informed of our actions.

'The manhole was inspected in February this year and was in a good condition. Anyone with a concern about a manhole should call us on 0330 303 0368.'
A young woman has captured the moment she confronted a Woolworths worker after going on an extraordinary mission to track down her AirPods.

Juliette Fox shared a video on Sunday that showed her speaking to the Melbourne Woolworths shift supervisor about the pair of missing earphones.

The dramatic footage showed Ms Fox telling the employee that she had been tracking her missing earphones via the 'Find My iPhone' feature and knew they were in the store.

Scroll down for the video

A dramatic video shows the moment Juliette Fox accuses a Woolworths employee (pictured) of stealing a pair of missing AirPods that she had been tracking via her iPhone

Ms Fox said she had been at an arcade earlier that week while visiting friends and family in Melbourne and left her earphones, keys, and phone in her coat pocket next to her.

However, Ms Fox later discovered her AirPods were missing.

She said she then began receiving notifications that her AirPods were being used in an apartment unknown to her.

The notifications and tracking was so specific that Ms Fox knew the apartment building the alleged thief lived in, the train stations the employee had walked in and out of, and where she had gone for dinner.

'I've been clicking on this every single day, it became the bane of my existence,' she said.

'I own them but I could see them charging them and using them.

'I have the receipts, I knew when you used them. So don't lie to me, don't pretend you didn't have them.'

Ms Fox said she had tried to recover her earphones from the couple's apartment but was unable to gain access so left her name and phone number with the doorman.

After three days of confusing conversations with the employee and her partner - and an impending flight back home to Canberra - Ms Fox decided to take matters into her own hands and confronted the Woolworths employee at the store.

'I know the AirPods are still here,' she told the employee.

'So you're either going to give them to me or I'm going to go back to the cop station.'

'You can look but I don't have it,' the employee told her.

Ms Fox then showed the employee her tracking notifications that alerted her the AirPods had recently been used in the store and the employee called her partner.

Ms Fox (above) said she knew the exact location of her AirPods throughout the ordeal because she used Apple's tracking software

'That lady whose the AirPods are, she's here,' the employee said.

'You know how you can track it? She tracked it.'

The employee ended the phone call and told Ms Fox that her partner had put the AirPods in her work bag, blaming him for making the situation 'so messy'.

She then told Ms Fox that she would go look for the AirPods.

'Give me a second and I'll go have a look,' the employee said.

'I don't know where he put it but if you want to go, I'm happy, you can go.'

'No, I want my AirPods,' Ms Fox said, as the employee walked away.

Luckily the employee was able to find the AirPods and return them to Ms Fox.

The Woolworths employee returned Ms Fox's AirPods and explained her partner had put the earphones in her workbag without the employee knowing

Ms Fox later explained the employee's partner claimed he accidentally took the AirPods and said they wanted to return them to her.

Commenters were left shocked by the employee's dismissive behaviour and alleged she intentionally stole them.

'She's breathing really fastshe knows she's in trouble,' one person wrote.

'The body language! I'm telling you it's her,' another said.

'You know the weird thing is that you can't track them unless they are being used so she was for sure using them,' another wrote.

A Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: 'Were aware of a social media video that makes reference to a Woolworths team member and are looking into it'.
Russian forces secretly conducted a macabre operation to remove the dead from the sunken cruiser Moskva, reports have claimed.

The flagship of Putin's Black Sea Fleet was sunk on 14 April by a suspected Ukrainian Neptune missile strike.

Russia has still not acknowledged the huge death toll, so far only admitting one casualty from the embarrassing blow to the Kremlin war effort.

But Ukrainian military intelligence has claimed Russia carried out a two-week salvage operation involving seven vessels following the sinking.

It comes amid a new claim that young naval sailors were 'left to drown' while 'officers fled the ship like rats'.

Russian forces secretly conducted a macabre operation to remove the dead from the sunken cruiser Moskva, reports have claimed

Admiral Igor Osipov, 49, in charge of the Black Sea Fleet, has not been seen since his flagship Moskva sank

Vadym Skibitskyi (pictured), spokesman for the Kyiv defence ministry's main intelligence directorate, said Russia carried out a two-week salvage operation

It is the largest Russian warship to be sunk since World War II and the first of a similar size since ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War in 1982

'They retrieved the bodies, removed all the equipment that was classified, and cleansed this cruiser,' said Vadym Skibitskyi, spokesman for the Kyiv defence ministry's main intelligence directorate.

'They took what wasn't supposed to fall into the hands of a third country.'

Ishi Svoikh Telegram channel added: 'It is completely unclear what happened to the bodies next.'

The latest claims confirmed an earlier Russian assertion that the holed vessel sank while under tow towards naval port Sevastopol.

The ship became infamous for a clip of a Ukrainian soldier telling the Russian warship 'go f*** yourself' at the outbreak of the war.

It is the largest Russian warship to be sunk since World War II and the first of a similar size since ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War in 1982.

The reported gruesome operation to retrieve the dead amid after rising fury from relatives of the crew over an alleged cover-up by the Russian authorities over the fate of many sailors, a large proportion of whom were conscripts.

Dmitry Shkrebets (left, pictured with his son Yegor, 20) is leading a campaign against the Russian cover-up

Conscript Yegor (left) poses with sailors just four days before the flagship was sunk

A father leading the campaign, Dmitry Shkrebets, 43, said: 'There were no rescue efforts. Officers fled the ship like rats, the sailors were abandoned.' He vowed: 'Putin will answer personally. He is used to lying.'

He told Putin: 'You'll answer!'

He lost his son Yegor, 20, in the sinking.

'Want to know why there were no badly wounded survivors from the Moskva?Because they sank them together with the cruiser.

'They couldn't tug the ship to Sevastopol, because everyone would realise what happened, so overnight from 13 to 14 April they pulled it further south, and sank it.

'This is the naked truth. The scary, awful truth, and I'll prove it.

'The time will pass, and I'll prove it. Look at the awful beasts we have as our authorities.'

The images show what appears to be damage to the left-hand side of the vessel close to the water line, smoke and fire damage along its left-hand side, missing lifeboats and open helicopter bay doors - suggesting the aircraft has taken off. A rescue ship also appears to be behind the stricken ship, spraying water jets

Leonid Savin (left) and Mukhammed Murtazaev (right) were conscripts who have not been seen since the sinking

Sergey Grudinin (left) and Nikita Efremenko (right) are among the hundreds feared killed in the strike

He confirmed his son was a conscript who had not signed a contract as a career member of the navy, like many others on the vessel.

'The pain is unstoppable,' he said.

'Were Yegor to have signed a contract, I would have been quiet, because that would mean he was trained and ready for war, but he didn't, and there are so many like him.

'The circumstances of their death are horrendous, they were betrayed and left to die.

'And now the top military officers must be fired. 'The time will come, and I'll publish a big investigation about what happened.

'I can say one thing right now: it is the highest ranks who are guilty in the death of the Moskva.

'There is betrayal and sloppiness there. I will say more about it later, if we live to see it.

'Our health got shaken by this because of the nerves. I am not the enemy to my country.'

Admiral Igor Osipov, 49, in charge of the Black Sea Fleet, has not been seen since his flagship Moskva sank, prompting rumours that he has been suspended or detained or was even on board.

But fleet sources say he remains at his desk but 'not in the mood' to attend events.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz has sparked fury among Democrat politicians after suggesting lawmakers will use the Robb Elementary School massacre to 'advance their own political agenda'.

At least 19 children and two teachers were shot dead by gunman Salvador Ramos at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday before a Border Force agent shot and killed Ramos.

We know what is effective, and it is targeting the fugitives and the felons and the bad guys,' said Cruz.

'But, as sure as night follows day, you can bet there [are] going to be Democrat politicians looking to advance their own pollical agenda rather than to work to stop this kind of horrific violence and to keep everyone safe.

Prominent Democrats have since lashed out at Cruz. Representative Ruben Gallego, from Arizona, tweeted: 'F*** you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your *ss to Cancun. You are useless.'

Cruz's comments come after President Joe Biden called for action on gun control within hours of the massacre.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz accused Democrat politicians of using the Robb Elementary School massacre to advance their political agenda after at least 18 children and a teacher were shot to death at an elementary school in Uvalde

'As a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done,' Biden said.

Cruz offered his own condolences to the victims of the shooting, thanking law enforcement and offering 'prayer' for the families affected.

But he came under fire for his track record of opposing tougher gun laws, and the fact that he is due to speak at an NRA event in Texas on Friday - alongside state governor Greg Abbott and former President Trump.

Cruz wrote on Twitter: 'Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.

'We are in close contact with local officials, but the precise details are still unfolding. Thank you to heroic law enforcement & first responders for acting so swiftly.'

Houston First, the government organization that oversees the convention center, told the Houston Chronicle that no cancellations or changes to the NRAs schedule had yet been made.

Houston station KHOU said Cruz collected more than $300,000 from pro-gun groups including the NRA during the 2018 election cycle, making him the largest recipient of funding from gun rights advocacy groups.

Cruz is set to speak at an event hosted by the National Rifle Association (NRA), a gun rights advocacy group, less than 72 hours after the school shooting. Donald Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and US Representative Dan Crenshaw

In 1999, the NRA hosted a gathering in Denver just days after 13 people were killed at Colorados Columbine High School, with protestors demonstrating at the event.

Shannon Watts, board member of Emerge America, a not-for-profit promoting Democrat women in politics, said: 'After 16 people were killed in a hot air balloon in Lockhart, Texas, Ted Cruz authored and passed federal legislation improving safety rules.'

'But after the shootings in El Paso and Santa Fe, he blamed mental illness for gun violence. Thank God there's no hot air balloon lobby.'

The Texas Senator has repeatedly said that 'restricting the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens' to prevent mass shootings 'doesn't work'.

One alternative is to put armed officers on school campuses, he said after asked about the shooting.

Cruz' comments came as Joe Biden announced it was time to impose gun restrictions, though he stopped short of detailing specific action.

The US president said he was 'sick and tired' of the cyclical discussion, calling for voters to 'turn this pain into action' to prevent more mass killings.

'The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong,' said Joe Biden, addressing the country on Tuesday night.

US President Biden said shootings went down when the Clinton administration passed the assault weapons ban, with attacks tripling when the law expired

Biden said shootings went down when the Clinton administration passed the assault weapons ban, with shootings tripling when the law expired, reported the Washington Post.

In 1994, then-president Bill Clinton signed into law the ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, defined as those that could hold more than 10 rounds.

The bill was in place for a decade until President George W. Bush let it expire, but the US Department of Justice found its impact on shootings was mixed, despite Biden's claim of its effectiveness.

Assault weapons account for 24.6 per cent of public mass shootings, according to Northeastern University professor James Alan Fox.

He later added: 'I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre.'

The president then accused gun makers of spending decades aggressively marketing assault weapons.

The shooting was the deadliest such incident since 14 high school students and three adult staff were killed in Parkland, Florida in 2018 - and the worst at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.
Oluwaseyi Elemide, who badgered beautician Demi Witter in July last year

An accountant has admitted stalking a beautician who he failed to impress with his clumsy attempts at romantic poetry and pestered by banging on the windows of her London salon and sending unwanted emails.

Oluwaseyi Elemide, 26, badgered Demi Witter at her Lavender Hill business 'lash+brow lab' in Battersea, bringing a gift of tea and a card, banging on the salon windows and following her on Instagram between July 20 and 27 last year.

Wimbledon Magistrates Court heard that the University of Northampton graduate even wrote her the clumsy romantic poem: 'Roses are red, violets are blue. We fit together like a bespoke three-piece and dapper shoes.'

Nigerian-born Elemide, of Putney, pleaded guilty to stalking Ms Witter, 28, involving serious alarm and distress last July.

In a victim impact statement, Ms Witter said: 'His behaviour is frightening and I am worried he will wait outside and follow me home'

In a victim impact statement, Ms Witter said: 'His behaviour is frightening and I am worried he will wait outside and follow me home. He turned up unannounced three times in a week.

'I think he is infatuated with me and I am stressed out and anxious because of this. I have to work with the door locked and I am afraid he will confront me in the street.'

Prosecutor Corran Helme told the court Elemide first approached Ms Witter, who quit a sociology degree to start her business, in the street.

'He tried to engage her in conversation and informed her he had his own business and engaged in an arms-length business level and she told him she was not interested,' he told the court.

'She gave him her business card and week later received an email from the defendant, explaining he could help her business and she replied, informing him no help was needed.

Demi Witter told the court in a victim impact statement: 'I think he is infatuated with me and I am stressed out and anxious because of this

'However, he did not stop and began following her on Instagram. She blocked him and he sent her an email.'

Elemide wrote: 'How are you? Some of the content was good on Instagram. You blocked me, what did I do to deserve that?'.

He then attended the victim's busy salon and left a box of teabags and a greeting card wishing her luck.

Ms Witter told Elemide to grow up and asked how old he was, repeating he was not welcome at the salon and she would call the police if she saw him again.

Two minutes later he returned to the salon window, showing the victim a post-it note with his age written on it.

Elemide even tried to get an appointment at the salon, emailing Ms Witter: 'Hi. I'd like to have a booking to try something with my brows'.

When she begged to be left alone he replied: 'Jesus Christ. What the f****'s your problem?'.

Beautician Ms Witter told Elemide to grow up and asked how old he was, repeating he was not welcome at the salon and she would call the police if she saw him again, the court heard

Ms Witter and her female business partner were alone in the salon at 5.45pm on July 27. 'Suddenly there was a loud banging on the window and the defendant was there again,' Mr Helme said.

'They felt afraid and hid behind one of the screens in the salon.'

Elemide's lawyer Alex Mullen told the court: 'He had a tough time during Covid and his restaurant business closed and he is now in an accounting role full-time for a television and film production company.

'He has a degree in accounting and finance from the University of Northampton and this infatuation has sadly landed him in court.'

Elemide was handed a 12-month community order, which includes 50 hours community service and up to 20 days of a recommended activity requirement.

The court also made him subject to an indefinite restraining order, prohibiting contact with Ms Witter or going to the salon, and he must pay 85 costs and a 95 victim surcharge.
Chinese military researchers have been drawing up plans to destroy Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system should Beijing deem it a threat to Chinese national security.

A paper published last month stated that China needs to develop capabilities to track and monitor and if necessary destroy each and every Starlink satellite in orbit around the Earth.

Starlink is a satellite constellation system operated by Musk's SpaceX company, which involves - at latest count - 2,400 satellite relays in low-earth orbit that can beam super highspeed internet data anywhere on the planet.

It has been hailed for providing superfast internet to developing countries and poorer regions of the Earth, but it also has potential military applications which Beijing is wary of.

The study was led by Ren Yuanzhen, a researcher with the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications under the PLA's Strategic Support Force. Co-authors included several senior scientists in China's defence industry.

Chinese military planners are already thinking of ways to destroy Elon Musk's Starlink system

Starlink is a satellite constellation system operated by Musk's SpaceX company, which involve - at latest count - 2,400 satellite relays in low-earth orbit that can beam super highspeed internet data anywhere on the planet

A paper published in Beijing calls for new surveillance capabilities to intercept data transferred by Starlink satellites. Pictured: An array of Starlink satellites before they are deployed to low-earth orbit

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Feb. 3, 2022. The rocket was carrying a batch of Starlink satellites into orbit

'A combination of soft and hard kill methods should be adopted to make some Starlink satellites lose their functions and destroy the constellation's operating system,' the paper said, published in domestic peer-reviewed journal Modern Defence Technology.

Musk's SpaceX has signed a contract with the US Department of Defense to use the Starlink platform for military purposes, including the development of sensitive instruments capable of detecting and tracking hypersonic weapons travelling at five times the speed of sounds in the Earth's atmosphere - technology Beijing is known to be developing.

The thousands of Starlink satellites spanning the skies over the planet - with filings showing SpaceX plans to launch as many as 30,000 over the coming decade - are also equipped with ion thrusters that allow them to change orbits rapidly and transform into low-earth battering rams against high value targets in space, Ren's team believe.

And Ren estimates that via a Starlink connection US military drones and stealth fighter jets could augment their data transfer one hundred fold, leading Beijing to conclude that the Starlink system - for all the benefits it can provide to the planet - is a potential threat to Chinese national security.

Xi Jingping giving a speech in July 2021. Beijing may have concluded that the Starlink system - for all the benefits it can provide to the planet - is a potential threat to Chinese national security

The paper, published by the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications, believes that Chinese military planners need to find a way to 'confront not individual satellites, but the whole Starlink system'

But destroying the network would be an extreme feat for Chinese military planners, as by its nature the network can afford to lose some satellites and continue to function.

What is Starlink? One of Elon Musk's many ambitious technology projects to transform the world, Starlink consists of thousands of low-earth orbit satellites that can relay data between one another and earth at incredible speeds. While traditional geo-stationary satellites must orbit a massive 22,236 miles above the earth but cover a huge proportion of the Earth's surface, each Starlink satellite orbits just a few miles above the planet and covers a far smaller patch. But because there's so many of them, mass-produced at economies of scale, they end up covering more of the Earth's surface more efficiently. Musk has offered the use of Starlink to the Ukrainian military in its war with Russia, allowing troops and civilians to stay connected to the world even as Russia attempts to sever their power and internet. Advertisement

Capabilities that Ren thinks China needs to develop include super-sharp space surveillance satellites to spy on the Starlink system, and capabilities to intercept and analyse the data being transmitted to pre-empt threats.

He also believes China needs to expand its satellite killing capabilities to more cost-effectively destroy multiple targets such as Starlink, although there would be a widescale risk of space debris that might impact other space functionality.

'The Starlink constellation constitutes a decentralised system. The confrontation is not about individual satellites, but the whole system.

'This requires some low-cost, high-efficiency measures,' said the researchers without elaborating on the methods of attack.

According to openly available information, China has been developing numerous alternative anti-satellite technologies, including microwaves that can jam communications or burn electronic components.

Chinese scientists have also developed lasers for blinding or damaging satellites, nano-sats that can be launched in huge numbers to cripple bigger satellites, and cyber weapons to hack into the satellite communication network.

An unnamed Beijing-based space scientist said 'the mainstream opinion, as far as I know, is that our countermeasures should be constructive. That means building our own internet satellite networks.'

China has launched a similar project known as Xing Wang - StarNet  to provide internet access on a global scale.
A leading gynaecologist who went on the BBC's Today programme to accuse the NHS of 'lethal failings' over her working conditions has avoided being struck off the medical register, after she was caught moonlighting at three private hospitals whilst on paid sick leave.

Dr Shree Datta, 42, told her employers she was unfit for work after having surgery.

Despite continuing to pocket a taxpayer funded salary, she secretly earned thousands of extra pounds to carry out various surgical and obstetric procedures at a string of luxury clinics  including in a private wing within her own NHS hospital.

Over a five-month period in 2019, Datta, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist and former chair of the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee, ignored warnings from a senior colleague not to undertake private work.

She carried out three caesarian deliveries, several biopsies and one hysterectomy during 99 days of private patient work at the Lister and Portland Hospitals in London and the Guthrie clinic in Kings College Hospital, a tribunal heard.

The General Medical Council had called for Datta to be struck off the medical register due to her 'brazen and persistent' dishonesty.

Dr Shree Datta, 42, went on the BBC's Today programme to accuse the NHS of 'lethal failings' over her working conditions

Datta also undertook procedures privately during a phased return to work, while simultaneously claiming she needed help to do the same work in her NHS practice.

Typically 30 minute private medical consultations in London can cost 280 with a caesarian delivery costing 6,040.

At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, she admitted a string of misconduct charges and was suspended from medical practice for 12 months.

In January 2017, Datta went on Radio 4 to claim she was unable to complete up to a half of her operations because of underfunding and staff rota changes within the NHS.

She told then presenter Sarah Montague: 'The biggest question I face on a Monday morning is whether I will be able to perform 50 or 25 per cent of my operations.

'Repeatedly we are seeing patients who have been cancelled once or twice beforehand and I don't think I am the only one who is facing these pressures.

'What we are facing now is an increasing number of complaints from patients quite rightly that we are having to cancel their procedures and that there is an increase in their waiting time.

Datta has avoided being struck off the medical register, after she was caught moonlighting at three private hospitals whilst on paid sick leave

'If you look at the funding and the changes in rotas for junior doctors, you've got a lethal combination.'

Datta, who worked for the NHS at Kings College Hospital, was reported to the General Medical Council after health bosses found out about her illicit sideline and fired her in December 2019 for gross misconduct.

The GMC called for her to be struck off the medical register over what it called 'brazen and persistent' dishonesty.

The Manchester hearing was told Datta had taken sick leave after undergoing surgery herself in January 2019 - but within days was undertaking private work at the three private hospitals, plus clinics at a GP practice and at The Medical Chambers.

In March 2019 she underwent a work assessment but NHS Occupational Health staff concluded she was still unfit to work.

Later during a 'Return to Work Meeting and Work Plan Discussion' with the Trust in July 2019, Datta falsely said on-call and obstetric work was 'the most difficult' and she 'not been able to undertake this part of her role' whilst she was seeing patients privately on the same day, the tribunal heard.

Mr Carl Horgan counsel for the GMC told the Manchester hearing: 'This was a deliberate and conscious act which undermines Dr Datta's assertions that such behaviour was out of character for her.

'She chose to ignore the Trust's sickness and absence policy and any claims that she did not know about, or even that there was, such a policy at the time, are not credible given her role and experience.

The GMC called for her to be struck off the medical register over what it called 'brazen and persistent' dishonesty. She has been given a 12 month suspension

'She chose to ignore the obvious fact that if she was signed off as unfit to work, she should not undertake any clinical practice without discussing with medical professionals and those that manage her clinical work.

'It is therefore clear that this was not a spur of the moment decision but was a continued and repeated series of dishonest actions over an extended period of time, and that she chose to brazenly continue with her private work even when multiple opportunities arose for her to inform her employers.

'Her misconduct was persistent, deliberate, repeated and consistently covered up.

'She put her own needs before those of her patients at significant detriment to the reputation of the wider profession.'

Datta's lawyer, Mr Marios Lambis QC, said his client posed no risk to patients and submitted 26 'glowing' character references on her behalf.

The gynaecologist (left) demonstrated 'persistent, deliberate, repeated and consistently covered up' misconduct, Mr Carl Horgan said

He added: 'The Tribunal should consider what a well informed observer may think.

'They are decent, reasonable and fair, not a vindictive individual holding the Sword of Damocles over individuals that make a mistake.

'Dr Datta's evidence was open, consistent and at times against her own interests. She has been contrite, remorseful and had shown humility.'

He added: 'This was a transparent act of dishonesty, self-destructive, lacking in sophistication and with a paper trail leading straight back to her. It is clear something was wrong and the Tribunal should consider Dr Datta's work environment at the time.

She stated that after informing her surgeon, she wished to make a report regarding her care, she was told to "watch your private practice".'

Datta told the hearing she had completed courses on probity, honesty, countering fraud within the NHS, and had helped give advice on 'professionalism' to student doctors.

She denied her motivation for moonlighting was financial and claimed her behaviour could have been different if she had had the benefit of a 'more supportive and communicative colleague base' at the Trust.

Datta's lawyer, Mr Marios Lambis QC, said his client posed no risk to patients and submitted 26 'glowing' character references on her behalf

When asked why she was treating patients privately on days she was having Return to Work meetings she said: 'I felt genuinely at the time that I could rationalise it. I don't understand what was going through my head but I do have the insight now to understand my actions.

Suspending her MPTS chairman Melissa Coutino said: 'The evidence clearly demonstrates that Dr Datta made a deliberate decision to continue with the private portion of her work starting within days of her surgery.

'This decision was made in advance of that procedure and she made no provision for any colleague to cover her private patient responsibilities in her absence.

'Dr Datta's admitted dishonesty was a sustained course of action in which she logged approximately 100 private appointments, while on certified sick leave from her NHS post and omitted to inform or discuss this decision with her NHS employer.

'Dr Datta put patients at risk of unwarranted harm by practising when she had been signed off as unfit to work and prioritised her own interests above those of patients.'

But she added: 'The Tribunal noted the evidence of Dr Datta's work beyond her clinical practice and found that the testimonials show her to be highly regarded and to have made a significant contribution in her field and to women's health more generally.

'The numerous testimonials about Dr Datta from people who have extensive experience of working with her, paint a picture of someone who is willing to give more time than she is paid for to professional and patient interests.

'She was depicted as someone who gives priority to her work and her area of expertise and whose actions in being dishonest and potentially placing patients at harm were completely out of character.'
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his family are still holed up in Kirribilli House, delaying his successor Anthony Albanese from being able to move in.

As the house is the Sydney residence of whoever is the Prime Minister of Australia, technically the Morrisons should have left after Labor won the election on Saturday.

The fact that they're still there even after Mr Albanese has returned from the Quad leaders' summit in Japan, has led to some calling the former PM 'Squat Morrison'.

As Mr Morrison returned to Kirribilli on Wednesday night, after seemingly spending Tuesday night elsewhere, he was seen carrying a JB Hi-Fi bag and a leather briefcase.

He also drove the family himself, doing so for the first time since he was elected as PM on August 24, 2018, as his access to chauffeur-driven transport is now limited.

Scott Morrison is pictured entering Kirribilli House in Sydney on Wednesday night, after seemingly spending Tuesday night elsewhere

The Morrisons' return came amid a heavy security presence of seven plainclothes and two uniformed officers as Mr Morrison drove into the stately home.

The fact that they are still living in Kirribilli House is perplexing, though, as the Morrison's own house in the Sutherland Shire is empty.

In February, the Morrison's former pool cleaner Nikki Durant and her two adult sons moved in when her house in the Northern Rivers town of Woodburn flooded.

But the Durants moved out on Monday, so the Morrisons could move back in.

Scott Morrison is pictured carrying a JB Hi-Fi bag as he arrived back at Kirribilli House in Sydney on Wednesday night

Jenny Morrison, former prime minister Scott Morrison's wife, is pictured arriving back to Kirribilli House, which is the prime ministerial residence in Sydney

It is unlikely, however, that Mr Morrison, his wife Jenny and their daughters Lily and Abbey are actually squatting and refusing to move out.

More likely, Mr Albanese has told them it's okay to stay a few extra days, to give them time to gather their things and arrange for a removalist.

Moving vans have not yet been sighted at the heritage-listed Sydney harbour front mansion.

But crates of bottled water arrived on Wednesday morning, indicating the Morrison family is not planning on heading back to the Sutherland Shire anytime soon.

Since Saturday's election drubbing, Mr Morrison has drowned his sorrows with at least one rowdy party where he thanked friends, family and staff for their efforts.

The outgoing PM and his wife both entertained guests by cracking a large whip on the lawn in between guzzling margaritas.

Scott Morrison is pictured driving for the first time since he became Australia's prime minister in August 2018. His access to chauffeur-driven transport is limited since he lost the 2022 federal election last week

Crates of bottled water also arrived at Kirribilli House in Sydney on Wednesday morning, potentially indicating Scott Morrison's family is not planning on going anywhere in a hurry four days after losing the election

Moving vans have not yet been sighted at the heritage-listed Sydney mansion where Mr Morrison lives with his wife Jenny and two daughters. Instead there was a water delivery (left) and a crew doing maintenance on the front security gates

But Mr Albanese returned to Australia on Wednesday afternoon and will be keen to upgrade from his $2.5 million three-bedroom bungalow in Sydney's inner west.

Tony Abbott moved out of Kirribilli House within 72 hours of being ousted by Malcolm Turnbull on September 15, 2015.

Kevin Rudd, however, took five days to leave The Lodge in Canberra, where he was primarily based, after losing a party room vote to Julia Gillard in June 2010.

Flyers posted around the neighbourhood depicted Mr Morrison as a lost dog, with his head on the body of a West Highland terrier with the title: 'Have you seen Scottie?'

But Mr Rudd was also very accommodating to John Howard's family after defeating him in a landslide in 2007, saying 'they should take as long as they need' to move.

Labor is again taking the high road this time, with Graham Perrett, who was shadow parliamentary secretary since 2014, saying the Morrisons should have all the time they need to transition.

'I think we should respect the service Scott Morrison has given this country,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'He's got kids, he's got a family, I don't think the prime minister is in any hurry.'

Neighbours in the leafy suburb in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge have mocked Mr Morrison's election defeat with flyers.

Posted around the neighbourhood, the flyers depict Mr Morrison as a lost dog, with his head on the body of a small pup and the title 'Have you seen Scottie?'

'Missing from Kirribilli House since 1pm on Sunday. Enjoys walkies, tells porkies. Like sharks but scared of fire. Used to run, now a basket case,' it reads.

'Bites off more than he can chew and last seen barking up the wrong tree. I'd look for him myself but it's not my job and I'm hoping for a miracle.'

Mr Morrison has yet to update his Twitter profile to reflect the fact he is no longer prime minister, an oversight that has been spitefully and gleefully jumped on by his critics

Other than hosting parties, the family has tried to keep a low profile since the humbling election defeat, even appearing to hide from cameras when departing for an outing on Sunday.

This prompted petty Twitter trolls to report his account as 'impersonating' Mr Albanese

The outgoing prime minister made a quick getaway from Kirribilli House in Sydney in a three car convoy just before 9am on Sunday.

Mr Morrison stepped into the car with his wife Jenny, mother Marion and mother-in-law Beth Warren before the vehicles exited through the front gate without stopping for the reporters waiting for him on the street.

Not only has Mr Morrison's family not yet moved out despite it being the fourth day since his defeat, but he has not yet got around to changing his social media bios to note he is no longer PM.

This prompted petty Twitter trolls to report his account as 'impersonating' Mr Albanese because it still reads 'Prime Minister of Australia and Federal Member for Cook'.

The Morrison family have to move out of Kirribilli to make way for Mr Albanese, who is expected to live there with long-term girlfriend Jodie Haydon, his son Nathan from a previous marriage, and 'First Dog' Toto.

Scott Morrison has hidden away from the cameras the morning after he conceded defeat to Anthony Albanese

The outgoing prime minister made a quick escape from Kirribilli House in Sydney as he continues to reel from his election loss on Saturday night

One sad-looking woman arrived at Kirribilli on Monday night with a bouquet of roses, lilies and, chrysanthemums

Later in the evening a delivery driver arrived with another bouquet of mixed flowers from CBD Flowers

Outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison enjoyed a cold drink as he chatted with staffers, friends, and family at a farewell social bash on the at Kirribilli House after losing the federal election (pictured)

What Mr Morrison will do next is yet to be decided, but in his concession speech at Sydney's Fullerton Hotel on Saturday night, he confirmed he was stepping down as leader.

But he vowed to stay on in Parliament to serve his south Sydney constituents, an unusual move for a prime minister ousted from office by voters.

'The people of Cook have supported me so strongly and I will continue to be your representative,' he said.

What's not clear yet is if Mr Morrison will look for a role on the new Liberal leader's front bench as a shadow minister, or if he will move to the back benches.

Veteran political broadcaster Barrie Cassidy predicted Mr Morrison will stay on in Parliament, with the intent to cause chaos by sniping from the sidelines.
Pizza firm said it realised and added 'We thought it would be a fun thing to do.'

But the stall was not receiving admiration for their food - but their domain name

A pizza company from the Valleys has been accused of having the 'worst name ever' - as their website and stall banners spell out 'WEL SH** ALIAN PIZZA'.

Welsh Italian Pizza attracted the attention of hungry customers when they pitched up at The BIG ICC Wales Wedding Fair at the International Convention Centre in Newport, South Wales, on April 10.

The gazebo proudly boasted of the company's wood-fired pizzas and along the top proudly displayed their website so people could grab a slice when the event was over.

But it wasn't their fare that got tongues wagging, but the unfortunate layout of their website URL www.welshitalianpizza.co.uk - that appears to read 'wel sh** alian pizza'.

People on social media found the website layout hilarious, claiming it reminded them of the launch of Britain's Got Talent start Susan Boyle.

One of her albums was put out with an infamous double-entendre hashtag #susanalbumparty in 2012.

Welsh Italian Pizza attracted attention at The BIG ICC Wales Wedding Fair where it set up

But the stall was not receiving admiration for their food - but their unusual web domain name

Welsh Italian Pizza mockers shared images of aliens eating the round dough-based meal to tease them about the blunder.

Others commented on the fact that the company was comparing their product to 'sh**' and that it may have contained incorrectly spelled aliens, which would be 'served on a saucer'.

A red-faced Welsh Italian Pizza spokesperson said they hadn't planned for the website blunder, as they usually use colours or camel case [the practice of writing phrases without spaces or punctuation, indicating the separation of words with a single capitalised letter].

The spokesperson for Welsh Italian Pizza said: 'We were aware you could read the URL differently if we didn't use camel case or colours to separate the words, but we did feel it would bring a bit of fun to people when they spot it.

'It wasn't originally planned like this as we do use camel case and colours to separate in most of our marketing.

'But for the gazebo, which is mainly aimed at street food events and festivals, we thought it would be a fun thing to do.'

People said the name reminded them of Britain's Got Talent start Susan Boyle's album launch

Tech entrepreneur Adrian Wright shared the snap on LinkedIn with the caption: 'Possibly the worst domain name URL I have seen.

'(unless anyone knows of a better - sry worse one?)'

Social media users flocked to the post where it racked up more than 500 likes, shares and comments.

One commented: 'That's where a good marketer would have highlighted the hidden text in the proposed name once in digital format....anyway what's Welsh about it...can you get a welsh rarebit pizza ???'

Another wrote: 'Not a URL but #susanalbumparty has to be up there, right?'

One posted: 'It took me several read-throughs of the domain name to work out where the spaces were really supposed to go.'
Amazing digital billboards have been put up showing missing people blinking and moving their heads, offering hope to the relatives of missing teen Leah Croucher and hundreds of other people.

The remarkable 3D images have been put up in London by the charity Missing People in the expectation that passers-by will be more likely to engage with them.

It is part of a wider revamp of missing people posters which has also seen the word 'missing' removed and replace with the phrase 'help us'.

They will also now include a QR code to encourage people to use social media and spread the word among their friends.

The posters were based on academic research that suggests having a clear call to action helps people feel less scared and overwhelmed, and more likely to act.

The move offers hope to the families of the 70,000 children who are reported missing in the UK every year, with Missing People saying many more go unreported.

Leah Croucher was last seen in Milton Keyens on February 15, 2019. Pictured are the old poster (left) and the new poster (right) that havee been released to try and find her

The new posters debuted on billboards across London on today to mark Missing Childrens Day.

Sites include Westfield, Westfield Stratford and Canary Wharf, and the new format will be used by Missing People for all posters moving forward.

Among those on the posters is missing teen Leah Croucher, who disappeared from her home in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, in February 2019.

Leah, who was 19 at the time, is one of those featured on the new posters, and earlier this year police said they are still committed in their search to find her.

Her mother, Claire Croucher, said she was amazed to see the new image of her daughter and hoped it would help find her.

'One of the many challenges as a parent of a missing person is trying to communicate who you've lost,' she said.

'We feel that if the public were to understand who our daughter is, they are more likely to remember seeing or meeting her.

'Seeing Leah's face move and smile on these amazing new posters is wonderful and gives us renewed hope that Leah  and other missing people like her  will be reunited their families.'

One of the new posters for missing teen Finn Layland-Stratfield. The 17-year-old disappeared from Tintagel in Cornwall on July 8, 2017

In April Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Andy Howard, of Thames Valley Police said: 'We remain absolutely committed to finding Leah and seeking answers for her family.'

It is thought the new posters showing 3D images, smiling faces and QR codes will improve effectiveness and memorability, with the background showing maps of where they were last seen.

Anita Braga, who led the research at behavioural science consultancy Influence at Work, said: 'Very often people do want to act, but they feel like they don't have the means to, they feel a bit overwhelmed by the situation maybe, and so by telling them "help us" find rather than "missing".

'Giving a clear call to action is a way to make them feel empowered and also feel empathy towards the person they're looking for.

'And then the second thing is the image  we really worked on improving the image clarity and to give the feeling that there is actually a person behind that picture.'

Steve Martin, chief executive of Influence at Work, said: 'It takes a village to find a missing person  not a single individual that's kind of motivated to do it.

One of the new posters for Alexander Soley. He went missing at the age of 16 from Islington in London on August 2, 2008

'So, even if a couple of dozen extra people see that image, they connect with it, they feel some empathy towards it, that could make the difference and it could help a family who has had their whole life not just disrupted but destroyed because they don't know where their loved one is.'

Jo Youle, Chief Executive of Missing People said: '70,000 children and young people are reported missing every year in the UK, and many more go unreported. Missing People is there for anyone affected, every day of the year.

'When it is appropriate to publicise someone's disappearance, our appeals are a hugely important way to reach the public, to help find children.

'By embracing innovation, we hope the new appeals will have an even greater impact and lead to those featured being found safely.

'We are proud to bring the public, the media and business together to make a unique difference to people affected in communities across the UK.'
Although the price of broiler chicken touched Rs 250 per kilogram, farmers said that the high prices are not trickling down to them and only traders are benefitting. (Representational Image/ AFP)

Khammam: Poultry farmers in Khammam and Bhadradri-Kothagudem districts have decided to temporarily suspend production of broiler chicken due to hiked labour costs and increased bird deaths during summer.

Although the price of broiler chicken touched Rs 250 per kilogram, farmers said that the high prices are not trickling down to them and only traders are benefitting.

At present, there are 20 lakh birds across 350 poultries in the two districts, expected to meet the demand for a month.

The districts, considered poultry hubs, produce nearly 25 lakh broiler birds per month. Most poultry farmers have agreements with companies, such as Suguna, Sneha, Venkateshwara Hatcheries and Indian Broilers.

Poultry farmers are paid Rs 3 - Rs 4 per kilogram of broiler chicken by the companies, which also provide additional support and supply bird feed to them. Retailers are given a profit margin of Rs 25 - Rs 35 per kilogram.

In Sattupalli, which houses 115 poultry units, farmers have not been raising new birds for the past 15 days.

K. Dayakar, alias Nani, who runs a poultry farm in Sattupalli, said he has reduced the number of birds from 40,000 to 35,000 at present and plans to reduce it to 25,000 by the next week.

Citing a loss of at least five per cent of chicks during summer, he said, We will not buy chicks in the next few weeks.

Individual poultry farmers in the district account for nearly 3.2 lakh birds per month.

Sources said that traders will source chicken from other districts if the count falls below the 10 lakh mark, which is the monthly consumption in the two districts. A few traders are also importing birds from Odisha, among other states.

N. Rama Rao, an individual poultry farmer, said, I lost 200 birds this summer. The price of chicken that has gone above Rs 250 per kilo was of immense benefit to traders than poultry farmers. Traders give farmers a slim margin, when compared to market rates.

Alapati Ramu, a poultry farmer in Aswaraopet, said that farmers should construct poultry units amid coconut or palm groves to keep them cool. Poultry units should be built facing north and south as east and west-facing units are hit by more sunlight, he said.
Jacinda Ardern has invited Late Show host Stephen Colbert to her wedding in a 'shameless' bid to entice American tourists to visit New Zealand.

The NZ Prime Minister handed the host an invitation to her wedding on air following an impassioned plea to tourists to come and make her country 'whole again'.

Mr Colbert's invitation was fittingly scrawled on the back of an ad for Air New Zealand's new direct flight from Auckland to New York, due to start in September.

'It's not a very professional invitation, I tore it out of an InFlight magazine,' the PM laughed as she pulled the folded piece of paper from her pocket.

Ms Ardern was forced to postpone her wedding to her TV host partner Clarke Gayford in February, following a Covid-19 outbreak in Auckland.

The PM is currently in the US on a multi-faceted trip built around Harvard University's Commencement address, which she has been invited to deliver on Friday.

The NZ Prime Minister handed the host an invitation to her wedding on air following an impassioned plea to tourists to come and make her country 'whole again'

Kiwi officials are yet to be advised whether Ms Ardern will be given an audience with President Joe Biden.

In the meantime, she met with the head of the United Nations, asset managers BlackRock and gave interviews to some of the world's leading travel publications, all on a bumper day one.

The trip has been designed to promote New Zealand to the world and help ailing tourism operators back onto their feet after two years without international visitors.

The appearance on The Late Show was to focus on Ms Ardern's pitch, but the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas naturally took top billing.

Mr Colbert's invitation was fittingly scrawled on the back of an ad for Air New Zealand's new direct flight from Auckland to New York, due to start in September

The PM (pictured on Tuesday) is currently in the US on a multi-faceted trip built around Harvard University's Commencement address, which she has been invited to deliver

Mr Colbert began his show with an impassioned plea for gun control, saying 'I'll tell you who've done something about it - the New Zealanders'.

After introducing Ms Ardern, Mr Colbert invited her to explain New Zealand's gun law reforms that followed the 2019 Christchurch Mosques attack.

'When I watch from afar and see events such as those today I think of them not as a politician, I see them just as a mother and I am so sorry for what happened here,' she said.

'We are a very pragmatic people. When we saw something like that happen, everyone said 'Never again'.

'We have legitimate needs for guns in our country for things like pest control ... but you don't need a military-style semi-automatic weapon to do that. So we got rid of them.'

Ms Ardern was forced to postpone her wedding to her TV host partner Clarke Gayford in February, following a Covid-19 outbreak in Auckland (pictured, the couple in 2018)

The PM has previously appeared on The Late Show (pictured with host Stephen Colbert)

Mr Colbert pivoted to the purpose of the interview - spruiking Kiwi tourism, allowing Ms Ardern to give her best sell-job.

'We are open,' Ms Ardern told the audience.

'Welcoming guests to New Zealand is so much of who we are. Hospitality is part of our identity ... please, come back and make us whole again, you'd be so welcome.'

Ms Ardern is no stranger to the show. She has appeared multiple times and forged a friendship with Mr Colbert due to his love of New Zealand and the Lord Of The Rings, where the movie adaptation was filmed.

The PM has forged a friendship with Mr Colbert due to his love of New Zealand and the Lord Of The Rings, where the movie adaptation was filmed (pictured on the show in 2018)

Ms Ardern also opened up about her family life with partner Clarke Gayford and daughter Neve during her appearance on the show (pictured, the family in 2019)

Wearing what local NZ outlet Newsroom described as a 'banging bright pink pant suit' by Kiwi designer Juliette Hogan, Ms Ardern went on to describe her family life with partner Clarke Gayford and daughter Neve, and their recent coronavirus diagnosis.

'I got Covid for Mother's Day. That was Clarke's gift to me,' she said.

That bout of Covid-19 has been cited by Ms Ardern's office as the reason she is yet to land a meeting with Mr Biden, with the White House operating under strict pandemic protocols.

Ms Ardern said a morning meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was centred on climate, sustainability and the war in Ukraine.

She is travelling with trade minister Damien O'Connor and a business delegation, and was pleased to be able to host a meeting with BlackRock on their behalf.
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All of the kids killed in the mass shooting in Texas Tuesday were in the same fourth grade classroom when teenage gunman Salvador Ramos shot them dead with an AR-15 he legally bought on his 18th birthday.

At least 19 students and two teachers were killed in the massacre, which saw 18-year-old Salvador Ramos storm the at Robb Elementary in Uvalde - roughly 80 miles west of San Antonio - just after 11:30 am.

Each of the victims - all aged under 11 - were killed inside a single classroom, the Texas Department of Public Safety revealed Wednesday, as authorities continue to assess the situation and identify all the victims.

Ramos - who just days before the attack bought two AR-style rifles and paraded them on social media - indiscriminately rained bullets on the room, before being fatally shot himself by police.

Cops are still gauging the extent of the disaster - the deadliest shooting at a US elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook killing - as new victim names continue to emerge.

Of the 19 kids slain, so far, 17 have been named.

Included among the dead was an eight-year-old boy whose grieving grandfather lamented was the sweetest little boy that I've ever known' and a 10-year-old girl who was killed as she tried to phone 911 while sitting next to her best friend, who ended up covered in her blood.

Another victim was confirmed by state Gov. Greg Abbot to be the daughter of a local sheriff.

Ramos also reportedly shot his grandmother, believed to be in her 60s, before embarking on the killing spree. The pair reportedly had been arguing about the teen's failure to graduate from nearby Uvalde High School.

The woman - who served as Ramos' guardian - is now in a local hospital fighting for her life.

The teenager has been described as a self-harming loner who was bullied because of his clothes, but who managed to save nearly $5,000 to buy two AR-15 guns and three hundred rounds of ammunition after turning 18 last week.

It has since been revealed that the shooter was known to police because of his violent arguments with his drug-addicted mother.

In addition to those confirmed killed as a result of Ramos' killing spree, more than a dozen kids were reportedly injured in the attack, including a ten-year-old girl taken to hospital in the nearby city of San Antonio in critical condition.

A 66-year-old woman - believed to be Ramos's grandmother who he shot at the start of his killing spree - was in the same hospital, also in critical condition.

A second hospital within Uvalde said a further 13 children had been brought in Tuesday, without saying what condition they are in. Police warned late Tuesday that the death toll is expected to rise.

Below are the confirm victims:

Amerie Jo Garza, 10 (right), was among 19 children shot dead at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday. Her grandmother said she was killed as she tried to phone 911 while sitting next to her best friend, who ended up covered in her blood

Amerie Jo Garza, 10

Amerie Jo Garza, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary, was one of 19 students confirmed to be killed Tuesday morning by Ramos, who cops say was carrying a handgun and an AR-15 during the attack that also killed two teachers in the classroom.

Her grandmother, Berlinda Irene Arreola, said the 10-year-od was killed as she tried to phone 911 while sitting next to her best friend, who ended up 'covered in her blood.'

Arreola said Ramos told the students and staffers inside the room, 'You're going to die,' before opening fire - shooting her granddaughter dead as she tried to phone for help.

'So the gunman went in and he told the children, 'You're going to die,' Berlinda told The Daily Beast.

'And [Amerie] had her phone and she called 911. And instead of grabbing it and breaking it or taking it from her, he shot her. She was sitting right next to her best friend. Her best friend was covered in her blood.'

Uziyah Garcia, the youngest victim to be identified so far at age 8, was also killed in the attack

Uziyah Garcia, 8

Uziyah Garcia, the youngest victim to be identified so far at age 8, was also killed in the attack.

The child's family announced he was killed hours after announcing he was among the many children unaccounted for following the tragedy.

The boy's grandfather, Manny Renfro, broke the news early Wednesday after being notified by authorities.

'[He was] the sweetest little boy that I've ever known,' Renfro said. 'I'm not just saying that because he was my grandkid.'

Renfro recalled how Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo over spring break.

'We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns.

'Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,' the grieving grandad said.

'There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.'

Makenna Elrod, 10

A relative of Makenna Lee Elrod posted that she was among the victims - after Makenna's father said his daughter was missing

Makenna Elrod, 10, had also been among the missing in the chaos that followed the massacre, with her father, Brandon Elrod telling reporters at the time he feared 'she may not be alive.'

Her death was eventually confirmed by a family friend on Wednesday. 'It's pretty sad what this world's coming to,' the girl's father told local outlet KTRK after the shooting.

A mother of one of Makenna's friends lamented the loss in a post to Facebook.

'Sweet Makenna Rest in Paradise!! My heart is shattered as my daughter Chloe loved her so much!!' the mom wrote. A relative Wednesday confirmed that the girl had been among the victims.

Xavier Lopez, 10

Xavier Lopez, 10, was the first student victim to be identified as one of Ramos' victims. The child's mother said that just hours before the massacre, the mom had been at the school to see her son participate an honor roll ceremony (pictured)

Xavier Lopez, 10, was the first student victim to be identified as one of Ramos' victims.

The child's mother, Felicha Martinez, told the Washington Post Tuesday that just hours before the massacre, the mom had been at the school to see her son participate an honor roll ceremony.

She took a picture showing her son showing off his certificate.

In the last exchange she had with the child, the mom heartbreakingly told the boy that she was proud of him and that she loved him, giving him a hug goodbye - not knowing it would be the last time she would see him alive.

'He was funny, never serious and his smile that smile I will never forget,' she recalled after learning of his death from police. 'It would always cheer anyone up.'

The boy's cousin, Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, said Xavier enjoyed swimming and had been looking forward to the summer.

'He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today,' she said.

'He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.'

Amelia Sandoval, Lopez's grandmother, said: 'It's just so hard... you send your kids to school thinking they are going to make it back home but they're not.'

Eliahana Torres, 10

Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, had also been missing for hours until she was confirmed to be among the dead

Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, had also been missing for hours until she was confirmed to be among the dead.

Adolfo Cruz, her great-grandfather, said she didn't want to attend school the day of the shooting - but was told by her family that she had to attend.

He said he remained outside the school gates throughout the night until he leanrned of her fate from local authorities.

'I hope she is alive,' he said at the time.

Torres was an avid baseball player and played the sport in a local little league.

Ellie Lugo, 10

Ellie Lugo was named as a victim of Tuesday's attack by her parents, who confirmed her death several hours after she was listed among the missing

Ellie Lugo was named as a victim of Tuesday's attack by her parents, with Steven Garcia and Jennifer Lugo confirming her death several hours after she was listed among the missing.

'It's hard to issue out a statement on anything right now my mind is going at 1000 miles per hour but I do wanna send our thoughts and prayers to those who also didn't make it home tonight!!! Our Ellie was a doll and was the happiest ever,' Steven Lugo said Wednesday.

'Mom and Dad love you never forget that and please try and stay by our side.'

Nevaeh Bravo

Nevaeh Bravo, a student at Robb Elementary School, was also confirmed dead after Tuesday's shooting.

Nevaeh Bravo was confirmed to be among the dead late Tuesday, after her cousin posted on social media following the shooting to ask for helping the girl.

Around 9 pm, she broke the news on Twitter.

'Unfortunately my beautiful Nevaeh was one of the many victims from todays tragedy,' she wrote.

Sje said the schoolchild was 'flying high' and asked for the family to be kept in people's prayers

'Our Nevaeh has been found. She is flying with the angels above. We love you Navaeh very much princess.'

'Thank you for the support and help,' she wrote. 'Rest in peace my sweet girl, you didn't deserve this.'

Bravo's age could not immediately be confirmed.

Tess Marie Mata

Fourth-grader Tess Marie Mata was named by her sister, who described her younger sibling as a 'precious angel'

Tess Marie Mata was also among those to perish in the attack, her sister, Faith Mata, revealed in a post to Facebook Wednesday.

'I honestly have no words just sadness, confusion, and anger,' she wrote.

'I'm sad because we will never get to tag team on mom and dad again and tell each other how much we mean to each other, I'm confused because how can something like this happen to my sweet, caring, and beautiful sister, and I'm angry because a coward took you from us.'

Photos shared with the post showed Tess smiling in a baby photo, snuggling with a cat, doing gymnastics, flashing a peace sign, and posing in front of a large heart mural.

'Sissy I miss you so much, I just want to hold you and tell you how pretty you are, I want to take you outside and practice softball, I want to go on one last family vacation, I want to hear your contagious laugh, and I want you to hear me tell you how much I love you,' she wrote.

Her age could not immediately be confirmed.

Rojelio Torres, 10

Rojelio Torres, 10, was initially reported missing by his father, but on Wednesday was confirmed dead by his family

Rojelio Torres, 10, was initially reported missing by his father, but on Wednesday was confirmed dead by his family.

A person who said she was the boy's cousin wrote on Twitter: 'It breaks my heart to say my rojelio is now with the angels I'll forever miss you and love you my angel.'

The child's father , Federico Torres, told Houston reporters that he was at work when he learned about the shooting and immediately raced to the school.

'They sent us to the hospital, to the civic center, to the hospital and here again, nothing, not even in San Antonio,' he said. 'They don't tell us anything, only a photo, wait, hope that everything is well.'

Nearly half a day later, cops broke the news to the boy's family.

'Our entire family waited almost 12 hours since the shooting to find out Rojelio Torres, my 10-year-old nephew, was killed in this tragedy,' Torres' aunt, Precious Perez, told KSAT. 'We are devastated and heartbroken. Rojer was a very intelligent, hard-working and helpful person. He will be missed and never forgotten.'

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10

Jayce Luevanos, 10, died in the shooting along with his ten-year-old cousin, Jailah, the boy's mother said Wednesday

Jayce Luevanos, 10, died in the shooting along with his ten-year-old cousin, Jailah, the child's mother said Wednesday.

In a Facebook post, uncle Unberto Gonzalez shared photos of both kids while offering a touching tribute.

'My babies going to miss them like crazy!!!,' Gonzalez wrote. 'We luv y'all so much!!! I'm just lost right now!!! Fly high my beautiful Angels!!'

Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10

Ten-year-old Jailah Nicole Silguero was also killed in the shooting, her mother tearfully revealed Wednesday

Ten-year-old Jailah Nicole Silguero was also killed in the shooting, her mother, Veronica Luevanos, tearfully revealed to Univision Wednesday.

She also lost her 10-year-old nephew Jayce to the tragedy.

She said Jailah loved to dance and film videos on TikTok.

The child reportedly also asked her mom the morning of the shooting if she could stay home from school - a request the now mourning mom rebuffed.

'I took her to school, but she didn't want to go. She told her father, 'Can I stay home?'' Luevanos said, noting that it was not a common occurrence for her daughter to make such a request. 'I think she knew something would happen.'

Luevanos' mom confirmed the loss on Facebook Wednesday.

'Fly high my angels. We're going to miss yall so much,' wrote Veronica Luevanos - whose dad had died just a week earlier.

'I'm so heart broken,' she wrote with a photo of her daughter and nephew.

'My baby I love u so much  fly high baby girl.'

Alithia Ramirez, 10

Fourth grader Alithia Ramirez was confirmed dead Wednesday by her father, Ryan Ramirez, who shared a post to Facebook showing the 10-year-old with angel's wings. He had used the same photo the previous day as he pleaded for help finding her after the massacre

Fourth grader Alithia Ramirez was confirmed dead early Wednesday by her father, Ryan Ramirez, who shared a post to Facebook showing the 10-year-old with angel's wings. He had used the same photo the previous day as he pleaded for help finding her after the massacre

He had heartbreakingly used the same photo the previous day as he desperately pleaded for help finding her after the massacre.

'Trying to find my daughter Alithia. I called all the hospitals and nothing,' he wrote at the time.

He also reporters during his frantic search, 'I'm trying to find out where my baby's at.'

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, was another killed by Ramos Tuesday - along with her cousin, who has yet to be identified

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, was another killed by Ramos Tuesday - along with her cousin, who has yet to be identified.

Annabell's father spent the afternoon after the shooting in frantic search for his daughter.

Speaking to KHOU11 Tuesday, he lamented at how he was at a loss as to what do, having little success with the search.

'They're not letting us in at the hospital right now so we don't know where to go.'

She has since been declared to be among the dead.

Miranda Mathis, 11

Miranda Mathis, 11, was also confirmed as another casualty from the mass shooting early Wednesday, in a Facebook post by an older cousin who earlier that day had posted a desperate plea for help in locating the child

Miranda Mathis, 11, was also confirmed as another casualty from the mass shooting early Wednesday, in a Facebook post by an older cousin who earlier that day had posted a desperate plea for help in locating the child.

'My sweet baby cousin we loved u dearly,' Deanna Miller wrote alongside a photo of the child with angel wings.

'I'm so sorry this happen to u baby please keep my family in your prayers,' she grieved.

Miller's kids had also been at the school at the time of the shooting, but survived the attack.

One of her sons told her that they were ushered out of a window by staffers during the attack and subsequently ran to a nearby funeral home after 'he heard the shooter say he was gonna kill all the kids.'

Alexandria 'Lexi' Aniyah Rubio, 10

Alexandria Aniyah Rubio - who was better known to friends as 'Lexi' - was confirmed dead just before midnight on Tuesday

Alexandria Aniyah Rubio - who was better known to friends as 'Lexi' - was confirmed dead just before midnight on Tuesday.

The ten-year-old was shot dead just hours after posing for a photo with her parents at the school's honor roll ceremony.

Kimberly Mata-Rubio, the girl's mother, wrote of the loss: 'My beautiful, smart, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio was recognized today for All-A honor roll. She also received the good citizen award. We told her we loved her and would pick her up after school. We had no idea this was goodbye.'

Maite Yuleana

Maite was another student to die in the attack that had attended the honor roll ceremony just hours before.

Maite was another student to die in the attack that had attended the honor roll ceremony just hours before.

A cousin of the girl's mother, Ana Rodriguez, announced the loss Wednesday.

'It is with a heavy heart I come on here on behalf of my cousin Ana who lost her sweet baby girl in yesterday's senseless shooting.

'We are deeply saddened by the lose [sic] of this sweet smart little girl. God bless and may she R.I.P Maite Rodriguez we love you.'

Another relative shared a photo of Maite with her honor roll certificate.

Her age could not immediately be confirmed.

Jose Flores Jr, 10

Jose Flores, 10, was also killed in the shooting after attending the honor roll ceremony, where he was pictured triumphantly clutching a certificate celebrating the accomplishment

Jose Flores, 10, was also killed in the shooting after attending the honor roll ceremony, where he was pictured triumphantly clutching a certificate celebrating the accomplishment.

Uncle Christopher Salazar confirmed to the Washington Post Wednesday that his 10-year-old nephew was among the dead, after sharing a tribute to the child on Facebook.

'I love you and I miss you,' Salazar wrote in the post.

The boy's father described Jose to CNN as an amazing boy and big brother to his two younger siblings.

'He was always fill of energy,' Jose Flores Sr. said. 'Ready to play till the night.'

He said the boy loved playing baseball and video games.

Irma Garcia, 46 - fourth grade teacher

Garcia, who co-taught with Mireles for the last five year, had been at Robb Elementary for 23 years. She and Mierles were both in the classroom when Ramos began his attack

Garcia, who co-taught with Mireles for the last five year, had been at Robb Elementary for 23 years.

Married to Joe for 24 years, she was a mother of four - Cristian, completing Marine boot camp; Jose, attending Texas State university University; Lyliana, a sophomore in high school; and Alysandra, a 7th grader.

'My tia did not make it, she sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom, i beg of you to keep my family including all of her family in y'all's prayers , IRMA GARCIA IS HER NAME and she died a HERO,' tweeted her nephew John.

'She was loved by many and will truly be missed.'

She was nominated as teacher of the year for the 2018-19 awards, organized by Trinity University.

Eva Mireles, 44 - fourth grade teacher

Eva Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was one of two adult staffers shot and killed at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday

Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was identified by her family as being one of the staff members shot dead. She had worked in education for 17 years.

Her husband Ruben Ruiz, a veteran detective and SWAT team member currently serving as a police officer with the school district, held regular active shooter drills for the schools - most recently at the end of March.

Portrait of a killer: Call of Duty-loving shooter, 18, was bullied at school for being poor, creeped out his Wendy's female co-workers, and lived with his grandmother who he shot at START of rampage after row over not graduating

In yet another tragic mass shooting, Salvador Ramos, 18, slaughtered 19 innocent children and two much-loved teachers at Robb Elementary school, in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday before being killed in a shoot out with a Border Patrol officer and local law enforcement.

It is the second deadliest shooting in US history after the infamous Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 - which saw 26 people killed - and has once again left people asking how someone could commit such a heinous crime.

As the country tries to make sense of the tragedy, stories about Ramos are beginning to emerge from those who knew him best, painting the picture of loner with a propensity for self-harm and violence, who was from an unstable home, including an alleged drug-using mother.

Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez said in a local television interview that the school shooter was born in North Dakota, but attended high school in Uvalde.

Neighbors and classmates say his behavior spiraled into the bizarre and macabre as he entered his later teenage years, with one friend telling Good Morning America: 'He had scars on his face and someone asked him, 'Are you ok?' and he just said with a smile 'I did it myself, I liked how it looked.'

He began dressing in dark clothes and military boots and used his BB gun to target random people, one local claimed.

There are around 15,000 residents in Uvalde which sits roughly 80 miles west of San Antonio, around an hour's drive from the US-Mexico border.

The would-be mass murderer lived with his grandmother on Hood Street, less than three miles from the Robb Elementary school.

More than one-third of residents in the city live at or barely above the federal poverty line.

According to Ramos' neighbor Ruben Flores, 41, the shooter and his mother would often have screaming matches, with police being called to the home on multiple occasions.

Four days before the shooting, Ramos reportedly sent his friend pictures of his guns and ammunition. When asked why he had it, Ramos allegedly replied: 'Don't worry about it'

His social media was filled with new rifles, which he purchased on his 18th birthday

Ramos' last known address, his grandmother's residence, is seen taped off by police as they carry out searches

He had recently gotten a job at the local Wendy's (pictured), where co-workers say he sent inappropriate text messages to his female colleagues

In since deleted Instagram videos, Ramos had allegedly filmed his mother interacting with police.

Classmate Nadia Reyes claimed: 'He'd call his mom a b***h and say she wanted to kick him out... He'd be screaming and talking to his mom really aggressively.'

Flores, meanwhile, told the Washington Post how he had tried to be a father figure to Ramos but that the situation at home only worsened as he got older.

Jeremiah Munoz, an alumnus from the local high school who used to play Xbox games with Ramos, also told the New York Times he would often hear him arguing with his mother through the microphone - and his mother would scream back at him, telling him he needed to go to school and he was doing nothing with his life.

Munoz said Ramos would often leave his mother's house and stay with his grandmother for several days after a big fight - and over the past year he has been spending more and more time with his grandmother.

Ramos' grandmother, who owned the house on Hood Street, was reportedly in the process of evicting the mother over her drug use in the days before Tuesday's killing spree. Flores said Ramos had moved into his grandmother's home across town some months earlier.

There, his grandfather, Ronaldo Reyes, 72, said he lived in a front room and slept on a mattress on the floor. Reyes told ABC News he had no idea his grandson purchased two AR-15s nor that he kept them in the house.

As a convicted felon, Reyes is not allowed to have guns inside his home, he said, and if he knew Ramos was keeping weapons there he said he would have turned in his grandson.

But, Reyes said, he did not think his grandson was dangerous, noting that he had tried to encourage his grandson to attend school, but he would just shrug in response.

'These kids these days think they know everything,' he said.

Now, Reyes said he is shocked and does not understand how his grandson could have committed such a heinous crime - saying he did not know how to drive and did not have a drivers' license.

He also wondered how his grandson would have purchased the weapons, or if he was trained on how to use them.

By all accounts, Ramos (pictured) had been a relatively normal child until the eighth grade, with his 'best friend' from that period, Stephen Garcia, branding him the 'nicest' and 'shyest kid' who 'just needed to break out of his shell.'

On the morning of the shooting, Reyes said, the suspect and his grandmother got into a 'minor argument' about a cellphone bill, but it was nothing significant.

Still, she would be Ramos' first victim on Tuesday, after Reyes shot her in the forehead.

The 66-year-old - who has not yet been publicly named - is now undergoing surgery, and Reyes said he believes she will survive.

By all accounts, Ramos had been a relatively normal child until the eighth grade, with his 'best friend' from that period, Stephen Garcia, branding him the 'nicest' and 'shyest kid' who 'just needed to break out of his shell.'

Reportedly Ramos was bullied for a stutter and lisp. Classmates also allegedly called him with gay slurs. At one point, he uploaded a picture of himself wearing eyeliner.

'He would get bullied hard, like bullied by a lot of people,' Garcia told the Post, 'Over social media, over gaming, over everything.'

When Garcia had to move away, Ramos began to change, dressing in all black and donning large military boots.

In his early childhood, friends claim, he had been nicknamed 'pelon', meaning bald in Spanish, for his incredibly short hair. But in an apparent bid to leave those days behind, he began to grow it long.

He was then branded an 'emo' or 'alternative' at school, where he got into multiple fist fights before increasingly playing truant.

During the last few months of his life, Ramos was working at a Wendy's and was hardly in attendance at school. He was not set to graduate this year, a fact he seemed to despise.

One neighbor told local news channel Newsy that he witnessed Ramos arguing with his grandmother on Tuesday, claiming he was 'angry that he did not graduate'.

He said the grandmother then screamed: 'He shot me, he shot me', before Ramos 'zoomed down the street' and crashed his pick-up truck before embarking on his killing spree - which happened to take place just one day after his colleagues had graduated.

As he morphed into a 'different person' into his later teen years, one local claimed he would ride around at night with a friend firing a BB gun at random passersby. He is also said to have egged people's cars.

He is said to have found it hard to hold onto friendships, often 'taking things too far' with 'weird' comments.

He killed 19 kids and two adults at an elementary Robb Elementary School on Tuesday

One friend, who wanted to join the Marines, said he cut off Ramos after the killer told him he only wanted to join the force 'so he could kill people.'

A former classmate, who asked not to be identified, also told CNN he and Ramos were somewhat 'close' and used to play Xbox together. The killer was a fan of the shooting and combat game Call of Duty.

On his since removed Instagram account, Ramos is believed to have shared a photo of two AR15-style rifles just three days before the massacre, while the bio on his TikTok page chillingly read: 'Kids be scared irl' (in real life).

Meanwhile, his Wendy's co-workers told the Daily Beast that he had an 'aggressive streak' and would send inappropriate messages to female employees. They also branded him 'quiet' and 'anti-social'.

One said: 'He would be very rude towards the girls sometimes, and one of the cooks, threatening them by asking, 'Do you know who I am?'

'And he would also send inappropriate texts to the ladies.'

The same source claimed there were multiple videos of Ramos fighting people with boxing gloves at a local park.

'He'd take them around with him,' they claimed.

In the hours leading up to the killings, the shooter reportedly showed off his guns to an LA-based woman via his Instagram page, taunting that he was 'about to do' something.

When the woman asked what, he said: 'I'll tell you before 11.' He began shooting at noon.

'As soon as he made entry into the school he started shooting children, teachers, whoever was in his way, he was shooting everybody,' Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez said.

'This is just evil', an Uvalde resident told the New York Times, 'I'm afraid I'm going to know a lot of these kids that were killed.'

Another local, Adolfo Hernandez, told the same paper that his nephew had been in a classroom near where the shooting took place.

'He actually witnessed his little friend get shot in the face,' Hernandez said. The friend, he said, 'got shot in the nose and he just went down, and my nephew was devastated.'

Speaking anonymously, one classmate said Ramos had begun showing up to class less and less as other kids bullied him over his clothes and his family's financial situation.

'He would, like, not go to school...and he just, like, slowly dropped out. He barely came to school,' the friend said.

After the North Dakota native graduated from high school, the friend said they became even more distant from each other, but would occasionally message each other on Xbox.

'He would message me here and there,' he said.

Four days prior to Tuesday's shooting, Ramos reportedly sent his friend a picture of the AR and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds.

'[He had] probably like seven [magazines],' he said. 'I was like: 'Bro, why do you have this?' and he was like: 'Don't worry about it.''

Under a new Texas law passed in September, those aged 18-21 could buy guns if they had a protective order, because they were at risk of family violence, stalking, prostitution or sex trafficking.

The law also removed the requirement for a permit for a handgun. Rifles were already permitted in Texas without licenses.

In the days leading up to the massacre, Ramos told his friend that he 'looked very different now.'

'You wouldn't recognize me,' he messaged less than a week ago.

Ramos's social media was full of photos of his new guns, which he bought on his 18th birthday, state senator Roland Gutierrez said.

Ramos also messaged a Los Angeles-based woman on May 12 on Instagram, tagging her in a photo of the guns.

'You gonna repost my gun pics,' @sal8dor_ direct messaged her.

'What your guns gotta do with me,' [sic] she replied on Friday.

'Just wanted to tag you,' he said back.

Then at 5:43am on Tuesday, @salv8dor_ messaged her and said: 'I'm about to'.

The girl asked 'about to what' to which he answered: 'I'll tell you before 11.'

He said he would text her in an hour and urged her to respond.

'I got a lil secret I wanna tell u,' he messaged with a smiley face emoji covering its mouth.

'Be grateful I tagged you,' he wrote.

She replied: 'No it's just scary,' adding: 'I barely know you and you tag me in a picture with some guns?'

His last message at 9:16am on Tuesday was 'Ima air out'.

The shooting started around 11:32am. The woman reacted with horror when she learnt what he had done.

'He's a stranger I know nothing about him he decided to tag me in his gun post,' she wrote.

'I'm so sorry for the victims and their families I really don't know what to say.'

She then added: 'The only reason I responded to him was because I was afraid of him I wish I stayed awake to at least try to convince him to not commit his crime. I didn't know.'

When an Instagram user asked if she was his girlfriend, she replied: 'I don't know him and I don't even live in Texas.'

He largely dropped out, and took the job at Wendy's nearby, where co-workers remember him as quiet.

Adrian Mendes, evening manager at the Wendy's, said Ramos 'kept to himself mostly.'

'He felt like the quiet type, the one who doesn't say much. He didn't really socialize with the other employees,' Mendes told CNN.

'He just worked, got paid, and came in to get his check.'

Mendes said that he did not know Ramos well - he was already employed when Ramos began in February - and didn't see him most of the time because they were on different shifts.

Ramos worked from 11am to 4pm or 5pm, five days a week for about a year, according to the New York Times. He then quit about one month ago.

Ramos was shot and killed by law enforcement at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, after he had murdered 21 people.

Texas elementary school massacre is just the latest in long line of bloody school shootings over the last 10 years

SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, DECEMBER 2012: 27 DEAD, 2 INJURED

Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 elementary school students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the largest school shooting in the US

In December 2012, the deadliest school shooting in America took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Lanza arrived to the school with three guns - a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle, and two pistols after killing his mother, Nancy - with whom, he reportedly only communicated via email.

When he arrived to the school around 9.30am, the doors were locked as part of a new safety feature the school had recently rolled out. He allegedly 'shot the entrance into the building,' according to CNN.

The school psychologist and vice principal went to investigate after hearing 'popping' noises and the psychologist was shot by Lanza.

The elementary school was placed in lockdown and students were ushered into restrooms and closets to hide.

Lanza moved toward kindergarten and first-grade classrooms first. In one of the classrooms, he shot all 14 kindergarteners and six first-graders.

By the time law enforcement arrived to the scene, 20 students and six staff members were killed.

Little angels and stuffed animals lined the dirt in honor of the elementary schoolchildren who died in the shooting

As law enforcement approached the 20-year-old, he shot himself.

Although his motive is unknown, Lanza's old writings were discovered years later and shed light into the young man's mind. He had written to a fellow gamer that he had a 'scorn for humanity' and had been 'desperate to feel anything positive for someone for my entire life.'

A child advocate's for the state of Connecticut also said Lanza had severe mental health problems and suffered from anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder and was on the autism spectrum. He was also preoccupied with violence, according to CBS News.

With ease of access to his mother's weapons and being home-schooled, the advocate said it was 'proved a recipe for mass murder.'

MARYSVILLE PILCHUCK HIGH SCHOOL, OCTOBER 2014: 4 DEAD, 1 INJURED

Jaylen Fryberg, 17, killed his four 'ride or die' friends at lunch in October 2014 and said he 'needed to do this'

Marysville student Jaylen Fryberg, 17, gathered his friends around a table in the Washington state's school cafeteria and shot each of them in the head one-by-one to take them to 'the other side,' in October 2014. He shot them with a 'blank stare' and shot them 'left to right.'

Fryberg had sent a photo of the handgun to a friend just moments before he would open fire, killing four. He told the person he texted to call him before he did 'the thing.'

After shooting the four students as others watched on, he shot himself as a teacher ran toward him, the Washington Post reported.

The teen had methodically planned the massacre, even leaving a note for his parents with his funeral arrangements and what to do with his assets, if he had any.

He had texted his father: 'Read the paper on my bed. Dad, I love you.'

Students hug and cry after the shooting that took the lives of four and injured one

Inside the note, he told his parents he wanted to be 'fully dressed in Camo in my casket' and all his 'trust money or whatever goes to my brother.'

Fryberg also apologized to his friends' parents, but said he needed 'ride or dies with me on the other side.'

'I LOVE YOU FAMILY! I really do! More then anything,' he wrote. 'I needed to do this tho[ugh]I wasn't happy. And I need my crew with me too. I'm sorry. I love you.'

UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, OCTOBER 2015: 9 DEAD, 9 INJURIED

Student Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, killed himself after the shooting

Student Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, opened fire in Snyder Hall at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, in October 2015 around 10.45am.

He killed eight students and one teacher before police arrived. Authorities and Mercer engaged in a brief shootout, before Mercer turned the gun on himself and took his own life.

More weapons were found in his apartment, which he shared with his mother, and he had handed a student a USB drive with his manifesto on it.

'It's pretty well laid out that he was a dejected failure,' Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said at the time. 'The only thing that I can conclude from it is he was mentally and emotionally ill.'

His manifesto detailed a life of a lonely virgin, who self-described himself as the 'most hated person in the world' and said he hated black men, whom he said only cared about their 'penises.'

Mercer also reportedly said he was constantly 'under siege' by 'morons and idiots,' the Oregonian reported.

Mercer wrote: 'What was it that was supposed to happen, what great event was it that was supposed to make me realize how much there was going for me?

'But for people like me there is another world, a darker world that welcomes us. For people like us this all that's left. My success in Hell is assured.'

Police arrived on campus in bulletproof vests and rifles after Mercer killed eight students and one teacher

Hundreds gathered for a vigil for victims of a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College

The young man also reportedly said he was 'denied' everything he deserved and likened himself the Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook shooters.

'Though we may have been born bad. Society left us no recourse, no way to be good,' he reportedly wrote.

'I have been forced to align myself with demonic forces. What was once an involuntary relationship has now become an alignment, a service. I now serve the demonic Heirarchy(sic). When I die will become one of them. A demon. And I will return to kill again and again.'

NORTH PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, APRIL 2017: 2 DEAD, 1 INJURED

Cedric Anderson, 53, shot and killed his wife at North Park Elementary, killing one student and injuring one other

Cedric Anderson, 53, entered the San Bernardino, California, school around 10.30am in April 2017, where his wife Karen Elaine Smith, also 53, worked as a special-education teacher.

He told administrators he was there to see his wife and walked into her classroom, which was positioned near the office.

He fired six shots from a Magnum revolver when he entered the classroom, killing his wife and an eight-year-old student and injuring another child. He reloaded the revolver and shot himself.

Although the motive is unknown, many suspected his wife - who had recently divorced him - was being abused, according to the San Bernardino Sun.

Since the shooting, her classroom IB, no longer exists. The classroom walls have been knocked down and it is now an open space for students to work on projects.

The school remodeled its building and outfitted every classroom with tempered glass windows, installed steel doors with locks on the inside, and a door that leads to the outside, which is mandated by law.

Although his motive is unknown, many suspect he abused his wife and that's what led to their divorce

AZTEC HIGH SCHOOL, DECEMBER 2017: 2 DEAD, 0 INJURED

William Atchison, 21, shot and killed two students at Aztec High School

Former student William Atchison, 21, disguised himself as student and hide in a bathroom with a Glock on the second floor of the New Mexico school, according to Fox News.

The custodian reported ran down the hallways screaming about an active shooter and telling teachers to go into 'lockdown.'

He killed a male student who walked into the bathroom before killing a girl in the hallway and then turned the gun on himself.

The shooter had left a manifesto on a USB drive that was found on his body, where he had allegedly wrote: 'Work sucks, school sucks, life sucks. I just want out...'

Atchison had been on the FBI's radar since 2016 after he allegedly asked in a forum: 'Where to find cheap assault rifles for a mass shooting?'

He told investigators he just liked to troll online forums and authorities found that he was not in possession of any weapons at the time after interviewing him at his parent's house.

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS - PARKLAND, FEBRUARY 2018: 17 DEAD, 17 INJURIED

Nikolas Cruz, then 19, shot and killed 14 students and three staff members in February 2018. He pleaded guilty and now faces the death penalty

The now-third biggest school shooting in US history happened in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine's Day.

Nikolas Cruz, then 19, shot and killed 14 students and three staff members and injured an additional 17.

The shooter, who was adopted, shot students with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. He began shooting students outside of the school before working his way inside, according to NBC News.

After the shooting, he slipped past authorities by hiding among the crowd running out of the school.

For years, Cruz was a subject of police attention as his parents had called 911 several times on him for being out of control and had been tripped off to the FBI about concerning behavior, NPR reported.

Starting when Cruz was 10 years old, his mother reported seeing violent behavior and had called the police after he and his other adopted brother Zach had gotten into a fight. She also reported Cruz had pushed her up against a wall after taking an X-Box game away and he had used a BB gun to shoot a chicken.

Students were ushered out of the building with their hands on each other's backs after the Valentine's day shooting

Hundreds of memorial items were gathered around the school sign after the shooting, which killed 17 and injured 17 others. It is the second largest school shooting in the US

After his mother died, he went to live with a family friend and had reportedly gotten in a fight with their son.

He told police: 'The thing is, I lost my mother a couple days ago. So like, I'm dealing with a bunch of things right now. I kind of got mad. And I started punching walls and stuff and a kid came at me and threw me on the ground. And he kicked me out of the house.'

The family claimed he put a gun to their son's head and had done it to his adoptive mother as well before.

Cruz (pictured in 2022) was adopted and showed signs of violent behavior the age of 10

Cruz had also been expelled from two school, was self-harming and had reportedly been diagnosed with depression, NPR reported.

He pleaded guilty in October 2021 and now faces the death penalty.

SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, MAY 2018: 10 DIED, 12 INJURED

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, shot up Santa Fe High School and now awaits trial and faces up to 40 years in prison

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, killed 10 and injured 12 others at Santa Fe High School in Texas in May 2018.

A student said Pagourtzis hid a shotgun and a handgun under his trench coat before opening fire in a first-period art class.

The then-student told police he did not kill anyone he liked because he wanted them to be able to tell the story, AP reported.

Authorities say Pagourtzis planned the killings, carried out with weapons owned by his father. Though Pagourtzis allegedly wrote about his intention to carry out the attack, authorities have not indicated a motive for the violence.

Although the motive is unknown, a student's mother said her daughter had rejected Pagourtzis romantically and her daughter, Shana Fisher, had made clear that she was not interested in him.

'He continued to get more aggressive,' the mother told AP. 'She finally stood up to him and embarrassed him.'

The incident took place one week before the shooting and it is unclear if that drove Pagourtzis to kill.

Police also said they found multiple IEDs, pressure cookers, Molotov cocktails, pipe bombs, propane tanks, and other homemade explosives near the school and parking lot after the shooting.

He had engaged in a 25-minute shootout with police before surrendering after being injured.

Pagourtzis is currently awaiting trial. He faces 40 years in prison.

Police gather outside the high school, where 10 died and 12 were injured

SAUGUS HIGH SCHOOL, NOVEMBER 2018: 2 DEAD, 3 INJURED

Nathaniel Berhow, 16, attempted suicide after the shooting and later died in the hospital

Nathaniel Berhow, 16, killed two students and injured two others at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, in November 2018.

Authorities said the attack was planned, but the victims were chosen at random.

'It was a planned attack; it was deliberate. He knew how many rounds he had, for example,' Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said at the time, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Berhow was dropped off at the school by his mother and was standing in the quad alongside other students. Authorities said he was standing away from students and was still before moving toward the center of the quad, where he dropped his backpack and began firing at students.

He shot five people in 16 seconds, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Berhow also shot himself in an attempted suicide and was taken to the hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

The motive for the attack is still unknown.

Students mourned outside the high school after the shooting that killed two and injured three

OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL, NOVEMBER 2021: 4 DIED, 7 INJURED

Ethan Crumbley, 15, faces life in prison and is scheduled to go to trial in September

The most recent well-known school shooter is 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who opened fire at Oxford High School in Michigan after a guidance counseling meeting with his parents at the school.

Four students were killed and seven more people were injured in the shooting.

Crumbley had a meeting with school administrators, and his mother was contacted via voicemail by the school about her son's inappropriate ammunition-related internet search.

According to the prosecutor, the mother and father also failed to ask Ethan if he had his gun with him, or where his gun was, and did not inspect his backpack.

Instead, the teen returned to class and the shooting occurred later.

His parents were also arrested after a large-scale manhunt. James and Jennifer were captured in the basement of a building in Detroit, less than half a mile from the Canadian border.

All the Crumbleys are being held at the Oakland County Jail. His parents are currently facing trial for four counts of manslaughter and have requested their trial be moved out of Oakland County.

Ethan is awaiting trial, which is schedule for September, and he faces life in prison.

Students gather around the school sign to place flowers after the shooting that killed four and injured seven others
The chairwoman of a team set up to tackle racism in the force wanted to defund the police and called for officers to be more 'woke'.

Award-winning lawyer Abimbola Johnson, a barrister who bragged of her 'hatred' for the Tories, is one of three Labour-backers on a new six-person scrutiny panel.

The 34-year-old had previously discussed crime being 'reclassified' until you 'no longer need to fund a police force'.

Ms Johnson has now been chosen to head up the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board (ISOB), which has been set up by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing.

It is part of a new action plan launched yesterday to tackle racism and racial disparity in policing  with the ultimate aim of 'creating an anti-racist police service'.

Barrister Abimbola Johnson, 34, has previously discussed crime being 'reclassified'

The board announced its six members this week, including Labour councillor Katrina Ffrench, 37, and Jeremy Corbyn supporter Nick Glynn, 54.

It also includes communications expert Colin Douglas, senior civil servant Ram Joshi and data scientist Rachael Grant.

Miss Johnson, who helped put together the team, previously defended calls to change police funding on Twitter in June 2020 during Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that summer.

She said at the time that people needed to 'engage and not react in knee-jerk fashion', and suggested funds be diverted to other areas such as mental health services, after-school programmes and shelters.

'Divert funds into other methods to tackle the causes of crime and even rethink what we classify as criminality in the first place. Until you no longer need to fund a police force,' the barrister posted.

Katrina Ffrench, 37, has used her online profile to promote protests against 'police impunity'

Miss Johnson, who said in her post that she is a Labour Party member, argued that people had the 'wrong impression' of the BLM movement.

In the Twitter conversation on June 29, 2020, she said the movement 'is meant to make us think harder about how we could run a safe and fair society without the need for a police force'. In another tweet in response to a now-deleted post, she wrote: 'Yes, the ultimate aim is to create a societal system that no longer needs the police. Or at least doesn't need police forces in the sizes we have now.'

In more recent times she has tweeted in favour of 'increasing funding' to police forces instead of widening their powers. In March 2021, she said more funding would enable the police 'to catch suspects and investigate crimes properly'. Meanwhile, fellow board member Miss Ffrench has used her online profile to promote protests against 'police impunity'.

Mr Glynn has praised Jeremy Corbyn and attended events supporting the former Labour leader. He has also openly criticised the Conservatives on his social media.

Nick Glynn, 54, has praised Jeremy Corbyn and attended events supporting the former Labour leader

At the launch of the police's race action plan yesterday, Miss Johnson said: 'Speaking completely frankly, policing has never got this right, in terms of dealing with racial disparity. They either have made progress but not at a rate that they expected or they haven't made any progress at all. The police need to do this themselves.

'If they really do want to become an anti-racist organisation they need to put the work in, they need to develop these plans, and they need to make sure they implement them on a regional as well as a national scale.' Kevin Hurley, a former Met Police officer who was crime commissioner for Surrey Police, said calls to end funding for the police were 'naive, ignorant or stupid' and the establishment of the new board was a 'cop-out'.

He said: 'For the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs' Council to set this up is, in fact, a cop-out for them failing to discharge their own responsibilities as leaders, setting and maintaining the correct values and standards.'

A NPCC spokesman said the board members 'were selected for their skills, expertise and experience in an open selection and recruitment process. Board members have committed to approach their roles in an impartial and non-partisan way.'

An ISOB spokesman said: 'Abimbola Johnson is a respected barrister appointed and vetted by the NPCC... using an open and fair recruitment process. Your claim that Miss Johnson tweeted about an ultimate aim to defund the police is factually incorrect as is the conclusion you have drawn from the tweets.

'There is no concern over board members' professional or personal affiliations. The chair and each member of the board is committed to working respectfully with people from all political parties.'
The president of war-torn Ukraine has led a global outpouring of grief from world leaders over the Texas school shooting that left at least 19 children dead Tuesday, saying it was 'terrible to have victims of shooters in peaceful times.'

'I would like to express my condolences to all of the relatives and family members of the children who were killed in an awful shooting in Texas in a school,' President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

'This is terrible to have victims of shooters in peaceful times,' he said by video link at a conference on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos to discuss Russia's invasion of his country.

Germany, Spain, France, Mexico and Britain also sent condolences in the aftermath of the massacre in which 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos went on the rampage killing 19 young children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday, many of whom were from a Hispanic background.

The attack in Uvalde - a small community about an hour from the Mexican border - was the deadliest US school shooting in years, and the latest in a spree of bloody gun violence across America.

'This everyday horror must stop in the US,' Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez Tweeted in Spanish, as world leaders reacted to the news.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking via videolink at the World Economic Forum in Davos, sent his condolences to the US after the Texas elementary school massacre

'I feel it is my personal tragedy when children are killed in Texas, and now in my country Russian military is killing our children,' Zelensky said.

Other Ukrainian officials added their voice to Zelensky's in a show of support for the US.

'As a nation that goes through the pain of losing innocent young lives, Ukraine shares the pain of our US friends,' said Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian minister of foreign affairs. 'We stand in solidarity with you at this difficult time.'

His words came alongside condolences from German and Spanish leaders, expressing their sympathies to the families of the dead.

'We share the shock and grief of the American people, and the rage of those who are fighting to end the violence,' Tweeted French President Emmanuel Macron.

'Our thoughts are with the injured and the bereaved of the victims of this inconceivable massacre for which hardly any words can be found', said German Leader Olaf Scholtz after the attack.

Pope Francis called for stricter gun control, commenting: 'My heart is broken over the mass shooting at the elementary school in Texas'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: 'Im thinking of the parents, the families, the friends, the classmates, and the coworkers whose lives have been forever changed  Canadians are mourning with you, and are here for you.'

'London stands with Uvalde & all those campaigning to enact laws to end these senseless and devastating attacks,' said Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London.

Other European leaders also began sending in their condolences today.

Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger said he was 'deeply saddened' by the news form Texas, where the 'lives of children were taken in a murderous rampage'.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin called the shooting 'an appalling and shocking tragedy' while Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin sent her 'condolences to the families of the victims.'

'Horrified by the news of a fatal shooting at a Texan primary school,' said UK foreign secretary Lizz Truss. 'My thoughts are with the people of Texas and all those affected by this dreadful attack.'

Guy Verhofstadt, member of the European Parliament, said: 'Laws make rights become reality. Gun laws need to end this nightmare!'

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who lives in the United States, asked when will the country 'finally ban automatic weapons as we did in Australia 25 years ago.'

Australia banned the weapons after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, when 35 people were killed and 23 others were wounded in Tasmania.

He added: 'And we did so under a conservative government! How many more of these innocents have to be slaughtered.'

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose country introduced stricter gun laws after the 2019 Christchurch mosque attack, said: 'I think about what happened to us, and all I can reflect is: We are a very pragmatic people. When we saw something like that happen, everyone said, Never again. And so then it was incumbent on us as politicians to respond to that.'

She told CBS: 'We have legitimate needs for guns in our country for things like peace control and to protect our biodiversity, but you dont need a military-style semiautomatic weapon to do that'

The Mexican government is providing assistance in the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, located around 50 miles from the US-Mexico border, CNN reported.

Biden called for a stand against the gun lobby and warned opponents of firearm reform their actions will not be forgotten

The US president called on elected officials to 'stand up to the gun lobby' in an impassioned speech barely two hours after arriving back in the United States following his first trip to Asia while commander-in-chief.

Biden recalled the numerous mass shootings over the last decade, including visiting Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 26 people including 20 children while he was vice president.

He also remarked on the this month's mass shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York.

He then called on supporters of tighter gun laws to mobilize in the wake of Tuesday's shooting, while warning opponents of firearm reform their actions will not be forgotten.

Former president Obama, an advocate for gun control, said: 'Our country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that have shown no willingness to act in any way that might help prevent these tragedies.'

Biden was visiting with leaders in South Korea and Japan to reaffirm the United States' commitment to allies in the region and as a warning for China that it cannot operate unchecked.

But he returned to face the deadliest school shooting of his administration, and the worst since a teenage gunman killed 17 people at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in February 2018.

Salvador Ramos, 18, murdered 21 people on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School. Family friends said they remember him having a temper growing up, but couldn't believe he could be so violent
A luxury yacht that was found to have 750 kilos of cocaine worth 60million onboard in one of the UK's biggest-ever drug busts is being put up for auction at a bargain price.

The dream boat, which is 50ft in length, had been used by two British men to try and smuggle cocaine from South America into Britain.

The vessel, called Sy Atrevido, was stopped off the Welsh coast in Pembrokeshire in August 2019 by investigators.

Inside they found 'every available storage space' had been stuffed with cocaine by its crew, bankrupt builder Gary Swift, 53 at the time, and shipmate Scott Kilgour, 41 at the time.

The pair, who are both from Liverpool, had sailed the boat across the Atlantic in June 2019 to the country of Suriname, a place described in court as 'an established transport hub' for exporting wholesale quantities of Class A drugs.

It was seized by the Government and will now be put up for auction with no reserve price, giving people the chance to own a slice of luxury for a knockdown amount.

The vessel Sy Atrevido is being put up for auction after being seized by the Government when it was found carrying 60million worth of cocaine off the coast of Wales in August 2019

Officers discovered 751kg of cocaine with a purity of up to 83 per cent. The quantity found would have a wholesale value of around 24 million and a potential street value of 60 million

The yacht is being auctioned by Wilsons Auctions after it was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

It will be sold unreserved - meaning it will go to the highest bidder of the auction.

The auction will open for bidding online on May 26 before it closes at 11am on May 27.

Mark Woods said, Wilsons Auctions, said: 'We are delighted to manage more seized vessels at auction this month for our vendors.

Gary Swift (left), 53 at the time, and shipmate Scott Kilgour (right), 41 at the time, were jailed for a total of 33 years

'Sy Atrevido is another high-profile UK case on behalf of the NCA with reports that around 60m worth of cocaine was found on board the 50ft yacht.'

'The great range of other luxury Lots should appeal to a wide variety of bidders - new buyers are always welcome to the auction process at Wilsons Auctions.

'We are proud to facilitate auctions on behalf of our government and law enforcement agency clients.

'We play an important role in realising a large quantity of assets on behalf of these clients and in recent years, these auctions have seen us responsible in returning in excess of 130m back into the public purse.'

The boat had been sailed from the UK to Suriname in South America, where Swift and Kilgour picked up the drugs, before sailing back

However, it was stopped by the Border Force, which searched it with the NCA, finding the drugs

Swift had originally bought the yacht on a trip to Spain for 50,000 before using it for his criminal enterprise.

The pair were attempting to smuggle the drugs into Fishguard Harbour in Pembrokeshire when they were stopped by Border Force cutter HMC Protector in the early hours of August 27, 2019.

The yacht was escorted to port where NCA officers and Border Force's Deep Rummage team searched it, finding cocaine with a purity level of up to 83 per cent onboard.

The boat had originally been bought by Swift in Spain for 50,000 before he began using it for his criminal activities

It will go to auction unreserved on May 26 - meaning it will go to the highest bidder before it closes at 11am on May 27, no matter how low the highest bid

Upon arrest, Swift said to officers: 'I just want to say that I am guilty. I have got something substantial on the boat and they will find it.'

He later admitted 'I'm the bad one here,' and asked custody officers to pass a message to the NCA revealing the number of packages on board the yacht.

Swift was jailed for 19-and-a-half years for drug smuggling, while his crewmate Kilgour was jailed for 13-and-a-half years for the same offence.

At the time, National Crime Agency's Craig Naylor said: 'Certainly in my recollection this is the second-biggest seizure that the NCA has had in recent years.'
Two in five workers in Parliament feel miserable at work as a shocking new survey laid bare how staff have experienced bullying, humiliation, conflict and sexual harassment.

In results that have heightened calls for reform at Westminster, it was found nearly two-fifths (38 per cent) reported their work is having a negative effect on their mental health.

And more than one-third (35 per cent) stated their work was having a negative impact on their physical health.

Recent months have seen a series of fresh scandals at Westminster, including an MP being revealed to have watched pornography in the House of Commons.

The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development study, commissioned by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Compassionate Politics, was based on the results of a survey of MPs and their staff carried out late last year.

One in three respondents said they had experienced some form of conflict in the last 12 months.

Of those, more than one-fifth (22 per cent) reported being humiliated and 10 per cent said they had been verbally abused.

One in three respondents to the survey said they had experienced some form of conflict in the last 12 months

The survey also found deep distrust between MPs, with half of the survey respondents saying there was no respect between MPs and 71 per cent claimed MPs are suspicious of one another

The study found feelings of safety drop considerably when MPs and staff are required to work in public - such as at a constituency office

Incidents of sexual harassment and one case of sexual assault were also reported.

Of the cases mentioned by respondents, 65 per cent had gone unresolved and half said the independent complaints process was unhelpful.

The survey also found deep distrust between MPs, with half of the survey respondents saying there was no respect between MPs and 71 per cent claimed MPs are suspicious of one another.

The study, carried out with the support of House of Commons' Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, comes after the murder of Conservative MP Sir David Amess at a constituency surgery in Leigh-On-Sea, Essex last October.

It found that while both MPs and their staff tend to feel reasonably safe when working on the parliamentary estate in Westminster.

But their feelings of safety drop considerably when they are required to work in public - such as at a constituency office.

More than a quarter (28 per cent) reported feeling unsafe when working outside of Parliament.

While 61 per cent of MPs said they feel 'fairly safe' in public that figure dropped to 54 per cent for MPs' staff.

Women were twice as likely as their male colleagues to report feeling unsafe when working in public.

In total, 315 people took part in the survey; 18 MPs and 297 staff.

Compassion in Politics, a cross-party thinktank that supports the work of the APPG, are calling for the establishment of an independent HR function to oversee the working conditions of MPs' staff, as well as the introduction of mandatory induction and training for MPs.

Eleven of the 18 MPs who completed the survey said they agreed that mandatory training is required.

Recent months have seen a series of fresh scandals at Westminster, including an MP being revealed to have watched pornography in the House of Commons

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle questioned whether there should be a fundamental overhaul of how parliamentary staff are employed

Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, the APPG co-chair, said: 'After weeks of scandal and controversy, it is clear to everyone that the working conditions in parliament are in need of significant reform.

'For too long abuse and harassment have been ignored, overlooked, or explained away. It cant go on. We need to draw a line in the sand.'

Sir Lindsay questioned whether there should be a fundamental overhaul of how parliamentary staff are employed, with the possibility of no longer making them direct employees of MPs.

'I want Parliament to be a good place to work  where we feel respected, supported, have a good work-life balance and the right training, and is free of discrimination, bullying and harassment,' he said.

'It is why I have called for a review of current working practices in Parliament, and in particular, to examine the current structure whereby MPs employ their staff directly.

'The question is: should someone else  or an outside body  employ the staff, as long as the MP has the right to choose them?'

Jennifer Nadel, co-director of Compassion in Politics, said: 'Weve got a political system that is high on conflict and low on compassion.

'As this report shows - thats damaging to the people who work within it and destructive to those it is meant to serve.

'Fixing the broken machinery of parliament is not beyond us. We have decades of research available that tells us how to build functioning, effective, and inclusive workplaces. All we need is the will.

'For too long we have clung to traditional rules and processes, even after they have long proven ineffective. We dont want a hand-me-down parliament - we want the gold standard.'
Pope Francis on Wednesday said he was 'heartbroken' over the school shooting in Texas which left at least 19 children and two teachers dead, and condemned the arms trade.

The crowd in St. Peter's Square for his weekly general audience applauded his appeal, made a day after the worst school shooting in the United States in nearly a decade.

'I am left heartbroken by the massacre in the elementary school in Texas. I pray for the children, for the adults killed and for their families,' the Argentine pontiff said after his weekly general audience.

'It is time to say enough to indiscriminate arms trafficking. Let us all commit to ensuring such tragedies can no longer take place.'

The attack in Uvalde, a small community about an hour from the Mexican border, was the deadliest US school shooting in years, and the latest in a spree of bloody gun violence across America.

More than a dozen children were also wounded in the attack at the school, which teaches more than 500, mostly Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students.

Pope Francis said he was 'heartbroken' over the school shooting in Texas which left at least 19 children and two teachers dead during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square

The Pope also condemned the arms industry in the USA, which the crowd in St. Peter's Square applauded

A girl cries, comforted by two adults, outside the Willie de Leon Civic Center in Uvalde, Texas, where a teenage gunman killed 19 young children in a shooting at an elementary school

Pope Francis arrived for the weekly general audience at the Vatican, May 25, where he spoke about Tuesday'sTexas school shooting

Speaking from the White House hours after the shooting, a visibly shaken President Joe Biden urged Americans to stand up to the politically powerful gun lobby, which he blamed for blocking enactment of tougher firearms safety laws.

'Where in God's name is our backbone?' an emotional Biden pleaded.

The president called on elected officials to 'stand up to the gun lobby' in an impassioned speech barely two hours after arriving back in the United States following his first trip to Asia while commander-in-chief.

'I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre,' Biden said.

Ted Cruz, Republican senator for Texas, led the response - repeating well-worn arguments that 'restricting the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens' to prevent mass shootings 'doesn't work'.

The solution, he said, is to put armed officers on school campuses. Cruz is due to speak an at NRA conference on Friday.

Pope Francis has often taken on the weapons industry. In 2015 he said people who manufacture weapons or invest in weapons industries are hypocrites if they call themselves Christian.

President Joe Biden gave a short but impassioned speech less than two hours after returning from a trip to Asia

The pontiff's words come after nineteen pupils aged between seven and 11 years old were shot dead along with two of their teachers by an 18-year-old gunman who was also killed in the latest school mass shooting to blight America - the deadliest since Sandy Hook almost a decade ago.

Salvador Ramos - a fast food worker described as a lonely child who was bullied for his lisp and for wearing eyeliner - carried out the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, around 11.30am Tuesday after shooting his grandmother at a house elsewhere in the city, reportedly after an argument about failing to graduate.

Police and officials said Ramos, who had purchased a pair of rifles for his 18th birthday and showed them off on social media, fled the scene of the first shooting in a car armed with a handgun, 'possibly' a rifle, and wearing body armour.

Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, Texas, drove to the Robb Elementary School after shooting his grandmother to carry out the massacre

Horrified parents and students gathered after the shooting at the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center on Tuesday morning

He ditched the vehicle close to the school, went inside and 'started shooting children, teachers, whoever was in his way.'

Cops rushed to the scene to reports of an armed man who had crashed a car near the school. Also on the scene were Border Patrol agents from a nearby outpost, one of whom got into a firefight with Ramos and shot him dead.

An agent was wounded in the shoot-out but was able to walk himself out of the school, a local spokesman said.

Salvador Ramos was a failing high school loner with an 'aggressive streak', who was bullied for being poor and mocked for wearing eyeliner according to former classmates and colleagues.

They described the 'evil' killer, 18, as an 'emo' whose his lisp made him a target, according to the Washington Post, with classmates claiming he endured gay slurs. Another said he was mocked for his clothing.

A former classmate, who asked not to be identified, told CNN he and Ramos were somewhat 'close' and used to play Xbox together. The killer was a fan of the shooting and combat game Call of Duty.
Nicola Sturgeon suffered a blow to her independence dream today as she marks becoming the longest-serving Scottish First Minister from her Covid sick bed.

A poll found 55 per cent of Scots oppose the SNP leader's call to split up the UK - the same proportion from the referendum in 2014.

The YouGov research for The Times - which ignored 'don't knows' - suggests that backing for the union has increased since March, when 53 per cent wanted to stay together.

The findings emerged as Ms Sturgeon overtaking her predecessor Alex Salmond's record time in charge of the Scottish government.

Ms Sturgeon has now served seven years and five days in the role, beginning after Mr Salmond stepped down in the wake of the 2014 defeat.

However, she has been forced to stay at home after development Covid symptoms over the weekend, saying she has been 'knocked for six'.

The YouGov research for The Times - which ignored 'don't knows' - suggests that backing for the union has increased since March, when 53 per cent wanted to stay together

Elections guru Professor Sir John Curtice said Ms Sturgeon would need to broaden her appeal to get Scots on board with indpendence.

Sturgeon snubs invite to appear before Commons committee Nicola Sturgeon has declined an invitation to appear before a Westminster committee. The Scottish Affairs Committee invited Nicola Sturgeon in November to discuss its recent inquiries, including into welfare, education and renewable energy. But a response sent from the First Minister's office on April 26 said she declined to appear, citing Ms Sturgeon's 'responsibilities and range of commitments'. Ms Sturgeon pointed to her appearance before the Scottish Parliament's Conveners Committee earlier this year. 'Thank you for your invitation to appear before the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee,' she said. 'Unfortunately, due to my responsibilities and range of commitments, I will have to decline the invitation. 'As the committee is aware, I am accountable to the Scottish Parliament for the decisions and actions of the Scottish Government in relation to the issues you refer to.' Advertisement

He told The Times: 'Caution was arguably a key feature of Ms Sturgeon's handling of the pandemic.

'But at the same time, undue caution is an accusation that has been levelled against her by the more impatient supporters of independence.

'But if her handling of the pandemic is not to prove the one and only achievement for which her time as First Minister is remembered after she vacates Bute House, she will soon need to strike out and try and persuade her fellow Scots of the merits of the vision that brought her into politics  a vision for which there is seemingly still not majority support.'

YouGov polled 1,115 Scottish adults between May 18 and May 23.

It found support for independence at 38 per cent, support for remaining in the union at 46 per cent and 'don't know' on 11 per cent.

The poll also found 59 per cent are opposed to having a referendum before the end of 2023 while 28 per cent were in favour.

The SNP plan to have another vote on the constitutional question by the end of next year.

However, 42 per cent of people were in favour of having another referendum within the next five years, with 41 per cent opposed.

Scots were also polled on their Westminster voting intention.

The SNP were on 46 per cent, Labour on 22 per cent, the Conservatives on 19 per cent, the Lib Dems on 6 per cent and the Greens on 3 per cent.

Ms Sturgeon's approval rating was a net positive, with 51 per cent saying she was doing well and 42 per cent saying she was doing badly.

Boris Johnson's was negative, with 17 per cent saying he was doing well and 78 per cent saying he was doing badly.

Among Holyrood's other parties, Anas Sarwar had a net positive approval rating with 35 per cent saying he was doing well and 30 per cent badly.

For Douglas Ross, 18 per cent said he was doing well and 55 per cent said he was doing badly.

Analysis of the Westminster results by Professor Curtice said they would translate into 53 seats for the SNP, three for the Scottish Conservatives, two for the Lib Dems and one for Scottish Labour.
Chinese companies are already preparing to cash in on monkeypox by developing test kits and vaccines, after profiting hugely from the Covid pandemic.

Several laboratories have started making nucleic acid test kits for the virus which is spreading around the world with more than 200 confirmed cases.

China has not yet recorded any infections but their experts believe a vaccine could be developed within a year.

Chinese companies are already preparing to cash in on monkeypox by developing test kits and vaccines, after profiting hugely from the Covid pandemic. Pictured: researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology

At least 221 monkeypox cases have been confirmed across the world since the first patient was sickened in the UK on May 6

The country's state-run newspaper Global Times said: 'Several Chinese test kit makers reached by the Global Times on Monday said they have developed nucleic acid test kits for monkeypox, which can be quickly put into mass production and on the domestic market once approved by the government.

'Meanwhile, experts pointed out that there are no technological problems in developing a vaccine against monkeypox and a rapid special review by China's drug administration could help the country develop the vaccine in roughly a year.'

Pharmaceutical company Sinovac saw sales in the first half of 2021 explode to more than 160 times the previous year as a result of their Covid vaccine.

The firm boasted sales of 9billion in the first six months of last year, up from just 50million the year before, showing the huge financial gains to be made from a pandemic.

Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion

So far, conspiracy theories are already spreading on Chinese social media that the US is deliberately spreading monkeypox, after its Communist government was accused of leaking and covering up Covid.

At least 221 monkeypox cases have been confirmed across the world since the first patient was sickened in the UK on May 6, with most infections among gay and bisexual men.

The United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic and Slovenia are the latest countries to log infections.

Although not purposefully made for monkeypox, the Imvanex jab  made by Danish-based Bavarian Nordic to treat smallpox  is up to 85 per cent effective because the two viruses are so similar.

Antivirals and therapies for smallpox also work for monkeypox.

Dr Romulus Breban, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, said the current global outbreak was 'waiting to happen' because of the world's 'almost zero' immunity level.

The smallpox vaccine, called Imvanex in the UK and Jynneos in the US, can protect against monkeypox because the viruses causing the illnesses are related

Nineteen countries have detected cases in the past month, which has sparked alarm because infections usually only occur in west and central Africa.

Imported outbreaks have always fizzled out naturally after a few cases.

The UK Health Security Agency is contacting high-risk contacts of confirmed cases and advising them to self-isolate at home for three weeks and avoid contact with children.

They are also being offered the Imvanex vaccine.

This strategy, known as ring vaccination, involves jabbing and monitoring anyone around an infected person to form a buffer of immune people to limit the spread of the disease.

It has been used in previous monkeypox outbreaks.

The disease, first discovered in lab monkeys in the late 1950s, is usually mild but can cause severe illness in some cases. It can kill up to 10 per cent of people it infects.

The milder strain causing the current outbreak kills one in 100  similar to when Covid first hit.

Monkeypox has an incubation period of anywhere up to 21 days, meaning it can take three weeks for symptoms to appear.

Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

A rash can develop, often beginning on the face, which then spreads to other parts of the body  including the genitals.

The rash can look like chickenpox or syphilis, and scabs can form which then fall off.
A takeaway boss 'turned detective' to sniff out a suspicious customer's supposedly 'missing' meal by rummaging through their BINS - before confronting them with the scoffed food packaging.

Connor Calland, owner of EborCibus Pizza in York, claims he was contacted by Deliveroo and told that a customer hadn't received their 23.49 order from two days earlier so had been issued a refund.

After checking with staff that the order of a 12-inch 'Solar Goat Pig' pizza, buffalo blue chicken loaded fries and mozzarella dippers had been sent out, the furious takeaway owner took matters into his own hands.

Connor claims to have visited the delivery address and rummaged through the bins where he came across containers covered in buffalo sauce from the loaded fries.

Connor Calland (pictured), owner of EborCibus Pizza in York, was furious when a customer claimed a refund from Deliveroo and said their food had not been delivered

The flabbergasted owner then knocked on the door to confront the customer only to be told by a mortified housemate that they were out.

Undeterred, Connor messaged them demanding an apology of 'no less' than 750 words and explanation for the 'fraudulent' claim.

Eventually he claims to have received an email supposedly from the shame-faced customer in which they repeatedly expressed remorse and pleaded for forgiveness, blaming the deceit on 'peer pressure'.

The letter even gushes with praise for Connor and his 'dedication for his business and business ethics', while showering him with admiration on how he 'puts his life' into his company.

Connor shared the incident on Facebook to raise awareness about 'fraudulent' complaints made by customers, which he claims costs the business between 50 to 100 every week.

Puzzled by the claim, he spoke to his staff who confirmed they had sent out the order for a 12-inch 'Solar Goat Pig' pizza, buffalo blue chicken loaded fries and mozzarella dippers

The business owner lamented that he had to 'root through somebody's dirty bin' in order to 'protect the integrity' of his business.

Connor also criticised Deliveroo for 'siding' with the customer and granting them a refund, as they claimed the complainant was a genuine customer who 'wasn't abusing the system'.

However Deliveroo said that the refund was issued 'in line with their policy' as the customer had claimed that the bag was torn and so food had spilled out as a result - though EborCibus Pizza have a screenshot showing that they were told it was because the order was 'not delivered'.

The takeaway owner took matters into his own hands and went rummaging through their customer's bins to find evidence they had received the order

EborCibus Pizza issued a statement saying that they had felt compelled to 'investigate the matter fully' because it was not the first time something like this had happened to them.

Owner Connor wrote: 'I had [an] email this morning [February 17] from Deliveroo stating a customer didn't receive the order requested Tuesday.

'I checked with my staff, they confirm[ed] the order was sent and delivered.. I told Deliveroo this.

'Deliveroo takes customers side (Check the email image) they DOUBLE checked and found their fraud prevention measures did not fail! And by default, WE MUST BE LYING.

'Fortunately I keep all the tickets, found their address. And visited.

Connor said it was 'deeply sad' that he had to go rifling through people's rubbish to prove the food had arrived

'How deeply sad is it that in order to preserve the integrity of my business and staff I have to root through someone's dirty bin. Knowing full well before I did this, that I was going to find my packaging.

'In the bin we find all our packaging that cross references to the order, the indicative buffalo sauce lining a container. (See images of our packaging).

'Upon knocking on the door, a house mate answers and claims he's at work.

'In the end - Deliveroo still gets 14% commission regardless, we take the hit. And their "Genuine customer, who is not abusing the system" (read the email) received their full refund.

'Pathetic. Poor morals. Scum.'

Connor then ranted: 'I woke up that morning and had enough of it, and future ones I'll do the same.

'Had so many messages of other businesses saying people had done the same.

'Deliveroo make it so easy, as their system automatically refunds them and you have to prove they got the goods. Meanwhile deliveroo take their cut regardless.'

In the alleged customer's grovelling apology letter, which Connor claimed he received hours after finding the takeaway on February 17, they claimed to regret their actions 'greatly and feel terrible'.

The customer said if they could 'go back in time' and change their actions they would and claimed to understand how hard it was at the moment for small businesses.

They even resorted to extreme flattery, by telling Connor that he 'seems to put his life into his business and the hard work really shows through with what has been created'.

Meanwhile, Connor's friends and other social media users applauded him for taking matters into his own hands.

When one pal praised him for 'turning detective', Connor boasted that he can 'pretty much do anything' as he once learned Polish for a stag do.

One wrote: 'Unreal that you turned detective. 100% students trying it on.'

Another commented: 'It's an absolute joke you've to physically resort to going sifting through bins and confronting them to prove this! You'll have delivery drivers with cams on next.'

A fellow supporter wrote: 'Outstanding work DCI Calland!'

He found success after spotting containers covered in buffalo sauce from the loaded fries (pictured)

Another commented: 'So glad you exposed him. I see now why you needed that breakfast the other morning. You were on detective duties.'

Deliveroo said the customer had not claimed the items were not received but had complained because the bag was torn and so food had spilled and items had fallen out - despite their note to EborCibus stating the order was 'not delivered'.

A Deliveroo spokesperson said: 'Deliveroo takes customer service extremely seriously and, in this case, a refund was issued to the customer in line with our policy.

'Whilst the restaurant was initially billed for the order, we have since spoken to them and decided not take payment on this occasion.'

A spokesperson for EborCibus Pizza said: 'It's regrettable that certain people fraudulently take advantage of goodwill and trust.

'We had to investigate this matter fully because this isn't unfortunately a one-time occurrence, it's happens on a daily basis to small businesses around the UK.

'Deliveroo does have anti-fraud prevention measures for companies that use Deliveroo riders, but in our case we use our own drivers, and the Deliveroo platform doesn't have any protection for us. This event happened three months ago, and nothing has changed.

'We hope our story will perhaps change the mindset of people who believe it's acceptable to do this, and urge Deliveroo to input anti fraud measures.'
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy with EaseMytrip Co Founder Prashanth Pitti at Davos on Wednesday. (By arrangement)

DAVOS / VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday interacted with founders and CEOs of unicorn startups and assured them that the state government would make Vishakapatnam a unicorn startups hub.

To encourage more start-ups to set-up their offices in AP, the chief minister held discussions with their top brass at the World Economic Forum Summit in Davos, officials said.

The CM discussed with industrialists and start-up founders on decisions to be taken in terms of policy and assured them that all possible steps would be taken to develop startups and provide them with all the necessary resources.

During the interaction, Jagan said the government will take steps to make Visakhapatnam a hub for unicorn startups.

The CM said, The AP government is determined to intensify the Visakhapatnam-based startup activities and extended an invitation to all. Vizag will be made the start-up hub of Andhra.

BYJU'S Vice President Public Policy Susmit Sarkar said the firm would extend full support to the education sector in Andhra Pradesh. They would set up a Research and Development Centre and provide BYJU'S curriculum to state students.

Coin Switch Kuber Founder and Group CEO Ashish Singhal discussed with the CM the scope for providing scientific technology to secure records of comprehensive land survey in Andhra Pradesh and offered necessary help.

Jagan interacted with co-founder of 'EaseMyTrip' Prashant Pitti on the tourism sector in the state. Pitti said they would give importance to tourism locations in Andhra Pradesh.

Meesho Founder, CEO Vidith Atreya, Byju's vice president on public policy Sushmit Sarkar, Coinswitch Kuber founder and group CEO Ashish Singhal, EaseMyTrip founder Prashant Pitti, VH. AI founder Satish Jaya Kumar and Coursera vice president Kevin Mills were among those who met the Chief Minister.
A group of Aussie bogans have revealed how they really feel about being part of one of the country's most scorned subcultures.

The group of nine self-confessed bogans from all corners of Australia were thrust into the spotlight in an episode of the ABC's You Can't Ask That.

The battlers, many sporting a mullet or a Southern Cross tattoo, answered a range of hard-hitting questions about the best and worst parts of being a bogan.

One viewer asked if a person was born a bogan, or became one.

Bonnie Tonic, a stripper from Central Australia said she had always joked with people that she had come out of the womb holding a can of lager (pictured)

Bonnie Tonic, a stripper from Central Australia, said she had always joked with people that she had come out of the womb holding a can of lager.

She said the first thing she did after turning 18 was head to 'the t**** bar in Rockhampton' which kick-started her career as the 'Outback Stripper'.

'I'm the sexiest bogan you'll ever meet,' she joked.

'I think there's something stuck in me, I'll be a bogan forever'.

Quacker Jack, from Forbes, said it was his rough upbringing that made him a bogan, while Perth author Holden Sheppard said he was 'born into a bogan setting'.

Megan Farquhar, from Newcastle, said there was an element of struggle in being born a bogan, and said most hadn't been born with a silver spoon in their mouths.

Many described not having a lot of money growing up, with self-proclaimed bogan Marc Ryan from Adelaide recalling having pancakes for dinner for weeks on end.

Megan Farquhar from Newcastle, said there was an element of struggle in being born a bogan, and said most hadn't been born with a silver spoon in their mouths

Perth author Holden Sheppard said he was 'born into a bogan setting' and revealed people were quick to write him off because of the way he spoke or dressed

The group agreed bogans commonly worked in abattoirs, construction or as greyhound trainers, drove Ford cars like Commodores and drank VB.

Bogans can usually be seen wearing singlets, thongs, footy shorts and a flannelette, and sport mullets or rat tails, with the addition of tattoos and piercings.

In response to why bogans sounded so unsophisticated, Benny, from Camperdown in Victoria replied simply: 'Simple answer. I am f***ing unsophisticated'.

'I think cause sophistication is bull****, Mr Sheppard hit back. 'Pretending you're something you're not is bull****.'

Mr Jack explained bogans could sound unsophisticated because they were used to shouting over each other when it got loud at the pub.

'We might say words like 'stoked' or 'drongo', like we might call our mate a drongo. I guess a lot of people can't relate to that,' he said.

'That's why they may think we sound unsophisticated.'

Self-confessed bogan Benny said he used swear words as joining words, and admitted he would struggle to put a sentence together without them

Marc Ryan from Adelaide said his family had never had much money and said he would ave pancakes for dinner for weeks on end because they couldn't afford other groceries

Benny said he used swear words as joining words, and admitted he would struggle to put a sentence together without them.

'No matter who I meet, I talk to them the same. The way I'm talking to you, I'll talk to the bloody Queen like this, you know?' he said.

Mr Sheppard said being a bogan meant people were quick to write him off.

'People always assume I'm an idiot. That I have nothing to offer or that I don't understand stuff,' he told the program.

'I'm a writer so I end up mixing with a lot of book-ish people, but I usually feel uncomfortable at most of those events.'

The group were asked if 'Aussie pride was code for racist', prompting a fierce debate on the significance of holding Australia Day on January 26.

Frida Deguise, from Sydney, said she had never celebrated Australia Day, not because she wasn't proud of her country but because a 'generation had been stolen'

Mr Ryan said it was a tricky question, because as much as he loved his country he hated how minorities were treated in Australia.

'We've got a really s****y history, Australia has got a shocking history,' Ms Jessie agreed. 'I'm thinking of Australia Day. We shouldn't call it that anymore.'

Frida Deguise, from Sydney, said she had never celebrated Australia Day, not because she wasn't proud but because a 'generation had been stolen'.

Benny disagreed and said people could cope for one day of the year.

'I think they're going to argue about it no matter what f***ing day it's on,' he said.

'If you don't like it, stay in bed that day. All these c**** want to change everything.'

Mr Sheppard said there were Australians who disguised racism with patriotism.

Mr Jack explained bogans could sound unsophisticated because they were used to shouting over each other when it got loud at the pub

'They pretend that what they're doing is being proud of their country, when they're actually being proud being white,' he said.

Towards the end of the episode the group shared their softer side and admitted that their day-to-day life could be difficult sometimes.

'Coming out as homosexual from the background that I came from was very hard,' Mr Sheppard said. 'I lost a couple of mates'.

'They just stopped talking to me and that f***ed me up.'

Mr Jack said he had been raised an orphan and as a result had been in and out of jail and homeless for the last 18 years.

In response to why bogans sounded so unsophisticated, Benny, from Camperdown in Victoria replied simply: 'Simple answer. I am f***ing unsophisticated'

Others said they had experienced depression, anxiety, PTSD and loneliness and admitted they had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

'Some days I wish I was in control of it, until I get drunk, I guess, and then it doesn't matter again,' Mr Jack admitted.

However, many said they lived by the iconic Aussie motto: 'She'll be right'.

'I think a lot of the time, if you've had a hard life and if you don't find a way to get tough, it'll end you,' Mr Sheppard said.

'I just take every day and as it comes, and just have gratitude,' Ms Tonic said.

Despite being one of Australia's most ridiculed subcultures, they all said they were proud to be bogans.

'I'm pretty f***ing proud, I reckon,' Mr Sheppard said.
A hero Border Patrol officer ended America's deadliest school mass shooting in almost a decade when he rushed in and shot the attacker dead, it has been revealed.

The unnamed agent - who got into a firefight with 18-year-old shooter Salvador Ramos - is believed to be from the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), which has specialized agents dispersed throughout the United States.

He is believed to have been taking part in a nearby operation to raid drug 'stash houses' with a SWAT-like team when they heard reports of a shooter in a school, and went in to take Ramos down.

The agent is thought to have been grazed by a bullet during a shoot-out with Ramos, but was otherwise uninjured. A total of 21 people, 19 of them children aged under 11, were killed in the attack - not including Ramos, who was also shot dead.

The agent who ended Tuesday's school massacre by shooting and killing the Robb Elementary school gunman is reported to be part of an 'elite' tactical unit. Law enforcement personnel are pictured at the scene of the shooting which saw two teachers and at least 19 children die

The unnamed agent is believed to be part of an 'elite' tactical unit from the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), which has agents who undergo extreme training dispersed throughout the United States (file photo from US Customs and Border protection website)

More than a dozen were wounded including at least 14 children - one of whom is currently in critical condition in hospital alongside a 66-year-old woman, believed to be Ramos's grandmother, who was also in critical.

Police say Ramos shot his grandmother in her home during an argument before fleeing in a car which he crashed near Robb Elementary School. He then went inside with a rifle he bought legally, and carried out the massacre.

A resident who heard the crash called 911, and two local police officers were shot when exchanging gunfire with the shooter.

WHAT IS BORTAC? The elite 'BORTAC' unit began in 1984 to serve a civil disturbance function in response to rioting at legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service detention facilities. The unit quickly evolved to counter terrorist threats at home and abroad, including deployment to Iraq and supporting US troops throughout the War on Terror. BORTAC's training mirrors that of the US special forces. Candidates who pass the initial physical testing must then complete a timed, six-mile ruck march with a weighted pack, as well as swimming, treading water, and drown-proofing test. BORTAC agents are expected to perform under extreme stress and sleep deprivation conditions. Once they have graduated, they return to their respective sectors and work alongside other US agents, continuing with advanced weapons training. Advertisement

The Del Rio-based BORTAC team was working west of San Antonio in an ongoing campaign taking down 'stash houses', used for smuggling people through the US border illegally.

San Antonio is a hub for people smugglers, with officers at times discovering 60 people crammed together with no electricity, running water, or food

As the school shooting began, Ramos was 'engaged' by both a school-district police officer and then two city police officers who were first on the scene, a Texas public safety officer told CNN.

Those officers were unable to stop Ramos, and called for backup from nearby police and Border Patrol units.

Marsha Espinosa, Homeland Security spokesman, said multiple border agents and other officers entered the building and 'faced gun fire from the subject, who was barricaded inside.'

'Risking their own lives, these Border Patrol Agents and other officers put themselves between the shooter and children on the scene to draw the shooters attention away from potential victims and save lives,' she said.

'At least one Border Patrol Agent was wounded by the shooter during the exchange of gunfire. On-and-off duty Border Patrol Agents arrived on the scene to assist with transferring students safely to their families and providing medical support.'

One BORTAC agent headed into the school with a shield, while two others engaged the shooter - along with a final armed agent from the BORSTAR agency, another special unit that primarily assists injured or stranded migrants.

Ramos was behind a barricade, returning fire with one of the bullets grazing the agent.

But the border patrol agent managed to shoot and kill the gunman before he could claim more victims.

The agent who ultimately shot and killed Ramos was from the elite BORTAC force, US Customs and Border Protection confirmed to MailOnline.

BORTAC is headquartered in El Paso, Texas, explaining the presence of the agent from the unusual tactical unit.

The unit is unique in that it conducts training and operations both in the United States and in other countries 'in furtherance of the US Border Patrols mission', according to US Customs and Border protection.

Dozens more children may have been killed if the BORTAC agent had not intervened, with the killer claiming the lives of 19 children and two teachers before he was stopped.

The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, law enforcement official said.

Meanwhile, teams of Border Patrol agents raced to the school, according to Jason Owens, a top regional official with the Border Patrol.

A number of the shooting victims are children of Customs and Border Patrol agents, according to ABC News.

'It hit home for everybody,' he said.

US Border and Customs has not yet responded to MailOnline's request for comment.

One video at the scene appears to show the suspected gunman, named by Governor Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background
Texas school officials had been monitoring students' social media prior to the deadly shooting in Uvalde Tuesday, it has been revealed - but still failed to pick up on concerning posts from the teenage gunman in the days leading up to the tragedy.

As an 18th birthday present to himself earlier this month, now-deceased suspect Salvador Ramos bought two AR-style rifles and paraded them on social media - including in ominous messages sent hours before the killing started.

The teen's photo-op also saw him share an image to his since-scrubbed Instagram account, of him cradling the magazine of a rifle on his lap.

The ensuing massacre - the deadliest at a US elementary school since the infamous 2012 Sandy Hook shooting - left 19 students aged under 11 and two adults at Uvalde Elementary dead. Ramos also reportedly shot his 66-year-old grandmother before embarking on the killing spree.

Now, Uvalde School officials say they had been monitoring its students' social media pages using an advanced AI-based service called Social Sentinel, designed to recognize signals of potential harm found in digital conversations.

The district revealed Monday it had been using the platform 'to monitor all social media with a connection to Uvalde as a measure to identify any possible threats that might be made against students and or staff within the school district.'

Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, fatally shot 19 children and two adults in Tuesday's shooting. Ramos shared photos of guns to social media in the days leading up to the massacre

This photo of two AR15-style rifles appeared on Ramos' Instagram account just three days before the massacre at Robb Elementary school. He then shared it in a tagged post hours before the shooting

The teen also shared an image to Instagram of him holding the magazine of a rifle. His account was taken down shortly after Governor Greg Abbott confirmed his name

According to its creators, the service - powered by advanced linguistics technology - scans and analyzes digital content to pick out and flag potential safety and security risks, as well as mental health and social and emotional concerns.

The software scans selected digital content - in this case, thousands of students' social media accounts - and identifies language that fit those criteria.

What is Social Sentinel? The media tracking service that failed to spot Texas shooter's gun posts on Instagram Social Sentinel is a linguistics technology service used by the Uvalde School District that tracks users' social media activity, flagging it if it finds the content to be concerning. The company primarily analyzes profiles of students, and seek 'to improve school violence prevention and awareness' with the tech, which is used by districts across the country. According to its creators, the service - powered by advanced linguistics technology - scans and analyzes digital content to pick out and flag potential safety and security risks, as well as mental health and social and emotional concerns. The software scans selected digital content - in this case, thousands of students' social media accounts - and identifies language that fit those criteria. The powerful tech is designed to then alerts leaders if a community member is showing signs of crisis, so they can intervene before an incident occurs. The service scans threatening images, along with its associated text, before determining whether it is something community leaders should look into. It is not immediately clear why the technology failed to flag gunman Salvador Ramos' posts, which contained photos of guns and ammo used in Tuesday's attack - the worst school shooting in a decade. Advertisement

The powerful technology is designed to then alerts leaders if a community member is showing signs of crisis, so they can intervene before an incident occurs.

The service also scans threatening images, along with its associated text, before determining whether it is something community leaders should look into.

However, in this particular instance, the technology fell short - failing to spot Ramos' objectively concerning posts and notify district officials.

It is not immediately clear why the technology failed to flag Ramos' posts. DailyMail.com reached out to Social Sentinel and Uvalde district staffers for comment on the software's apparent failure Wednesday morning, but did not immediately hear back.

Students and parents also failed to spot the post from the troubled student, who was described as a bullied loner who slowly dropped out of school due to teasing about his lisp, habit of wearing eyeliner, clothes and his family's poverty

Uvalde district policy encourages '[s]tudents, parents, staff, and community members are encouraged to share information that is deemed troubling' with the district using a reporting system' so that it can 'take appropriate action.'

Those who knew Ramos or his relatives say he was a 'nice' but 'quiet' boy who grew increasingly violent as he became older, amid relentless bullying both in school and online.

Santos Valdez told the Washington Post that he used to be friends with Ramos and played online shooter games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty with him, until the pair stopped talking as Ramos's behaviour 'deteriorated.'

Valdez said Ramos had showed up to the park one time with cuts all over his face, initially claiming he was scratched by a cat before admitting that he did it to himself with a knife.

Stephen Garcia, who considered himself Ramoss best friend in eighth grade, said he was 'bullied by a lot of people' including for over a photo of himself wearing eyeliner which led to 'gay' taunts. Garcia said Ramos dropped out of school when he moved away to another part of the state, and the two had lost touch.

New video from the chaotic scene shows police arriving to the scene with their guns in hand

A police vehicle is seen parked near of a truck believed to belong to the suspect behind a shooting at Robb Elementary School

Law enforcement are seen at the scene of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday

State troopers are seen near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday

Sheriffs are seen outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday

A mobile morgue is seen on Tuesday afternoon being brought to the site of the shooting

Others confirmed that Ramos had stopped attending classes, and did not intend to take part in graduation this summer. Instead, he got a job at a local Wendy's restaurant.

A colleague there described Ramos has having an aggressive streak. She told the Daily Beast he walked around with a pair of boxing gloves at the park, asking people to fight him and filming it. He also menaced co-workers, asking one of the cooks: 'Do you know who I am?'

'He would be very rude towards the girls sometimes... and he would also send inappropriate texts to the ladies,' the former colleague said, asking for her name not to be used.

A teenage acquaintance of Ramos, who lives in Los Angeles and claims to barely know him, posted screenshots of messages he sent her early Tuesday after tagging her in a picture of his rifles. In them, he said he wanted to share a 'lil secret' and urged her to respond to him. The conversation ended before Ramos revealed his secret.

People waiting for news of their loved ones following a mass shooting in Texas embrace outside a civic center in the city

Two women weep as they embrace one-another following a mass shooting at a Texas school which killed at least 19 children

A woman cries while speaking on the phone outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transferred from Robb Elementary to be picked up after the shooting

Women embrace one-another as they mourn outside a civic center in the city of Uvalde, southern Texas, following a mass shooting at an elementary school

Crowds of people comfort one-another following a mass shooting at a school in the city of Uvalde, southern Texas

Law enforcement are seen near the crime scene on Tuesday afternoon after the mass murder at the school

Ramos's home in Uvalde is seen on Tuesday as police try to fathom a motive for the shooting

Ruben Flores, who knew Ramos's family, said he had an unstable home life and got into blow-up fights with his mother, who he grew up with alongside two sisters in a house around a five minute drive from Robb Elementary.

Police had been called to the home on more than one occasion, Flores added.

She said Ramos had moved in with his grandmother 'a few months ago'. Flores said the grandmother was in the process of evicting Ramos's mother from her house, which the elderly lady owned.

So far, police have confirmed that 19 children and three adults, including a 44-year-old teacher, were killed in Tuesday's massacre. Police sources told KTRK they expect the death toll to rise.

During an emergency address from the White House Tuesday, President Joe Biden criticized state laws that let the teen - who was evidently suffering from deteriorating mental health - purchase the assault weapons just days after turning 18.

'The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong,' said Biden, addressing the country Tuesday night.

'As a nation, we have to ask: When in God's name will we stand up to the gun lobby?'

He added: 'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep on letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?'

One of the rifles that Ramos legally purchased was found alongside his body in the school, police sources told Click2Houston, while another was found in a truck which he crashed close by.

Amerie Jo Garza (right) was confirmed dead by her father Angel Garza (left), who said: 'My little love is now flying high with the angels above'

Eliahana 'Elijah Cruz' Torres, 10, was also identified among the deceased. The fourth grader, didn't want to go to school on Tuesday, her grandfather said - but her family told her she had to

Steven Garcia and Jennifer Lugo confirmed their daughter, Ellie, was killed in Tuesday's massacre after she had been missing for several hours

The deadly violence in Texas follows a series of mass shootings in the United States this month.

On May 14, an 18-year-old white man shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.

Wearing heavy body armor and wielding an AR-15 rifle, the self-declared white supremacist allegedly livestreamed his attack, having reportedly targeted the store because of the large surrounding African American population.

The following day, a man blocked the door of a church in Laguna Woods, California and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and injuring five.

Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to enact their own restrictions.

Cops are still investigating the shooting - the deadliest at a US school in more than a decade.
Leigh Sales has revealed how she once had to interrupt a huge interview to wipe her young son's bum.

Though Sales, 49, has broken many bombshell stories in her years as the 7.30 program presenter, this was her first bum-shell story.

It happened when the veteran TV presenter was interviewing tech billionaire Bill Gates' ex-wife Melinda about the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

'That was over the phone at home during Covid and my little guy called out "Mum, I need you to wipe my bum,"' she told Charlie Pickering on ABC show The Weekly on Wednesday night, which also featured more toilet humour.

ABC 7.30 presenter Leigh Sales (picture right) is pictured with her sons Daniel (left) and James (centre)

'Oh God, so I thought, OK, I can do this.

'So when she finished speaking I was standing at the bathroom door, I asked the next question, muted the phone, put it down, wiped his bum, quickly washed my hands unmuted and asked the next question,' she said.

Tending to her son's needs was not the only toilet related moment in her interview with Pickering though.

Sales was asked about a moment in last Saturday night's broadcast when she seemed to be pressuring ABC's election analyst to call the election for Labor.

'Look, I think I'd been on (air) for about, I don't know, four or five hours (by then).

'So you know, you kind of would like a toilet break because it's the ABC (which doesn't have ad breaks) right?' she joked.

'So you do reach a point where you're like, come on, can we call this thing?'

Sales said the issue of her having a toilet break or not when on air for hours on end on election night had previously been addressed by a fellow ABC presenter.

Melinda Gates (pictured) was being interviewed by ABC's Leigh Sales, when Sales' son announced 'Mum, I need you to wipe my bum'

'Annabel Crabb once was asked by a newspaper reporter, I think it was about the 2016 election, did Leigh Sales go to the toilet during that broadcast, which went for about six-and-a-half hours.

'And Crabb's reply was "I cannot answer that question definitively. All I can tell you is she never left her desk."'

In February, Sales shocked viewers by announcing she would be quitting her news show 7.30 after 11 years, revealing that it came down to her 'two beautiful little boys' wanting to see more of their mum.

At the end of that night's program she told viewers she wanted them to hear the news from her 'personally', as she explained that she wanted to finally spend evenings with her kids.

Leigh Sales (pictured) announced in February that she was quitting ABC's 7.30 program after the federal election to spend more time with her two sons

Leigh Sales is seen on the red carpet at the Logie Awards at The Star Casino on the Gold Coast on Sunday, June 30, 2019

'There's nothing wrong other than I just feel a strong sense of it being time to pass the baton to the next runner in the race and to take a break,' she said at the time.

'At the end of an election cycle feels like a good time to move on to something new at the ABC.'

In a possible first for an Australian TV news presenter, she also used strong language, saying she had 'tried to shut down and call out bull****, hold powerful people to account, expose lies, incompetence and exaggeration in all political parties and all issues and present facts even when they're unpopular or inconvenient'.

Sales' final time presenting 7.30 will come within weeks. Her replacement is another ABC veteran, Sarah Ferguson.

Leigh Sales (pictured) has is stepping down as the host of ABC's 7.30 show in June
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Uvalde school shooter Salvador Ramos's grandfather has revealed the family had no idea that he legally purchased two AR-15s last week, and described him as a quiet teenager who spent most of his time alone in his room.

Ramos, 18, was shot dead by police yesterday after he killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The gunman's motive remains unclear. He first shot his grandmother in the head at home, then stole her car and drove it to the school, crashing in a ditch before he walked into the classroom and opened fire.

Ramos turned 18 on May 16 and quickly bought two AR-15s and more than three hundred rounds of gun ammunition. They were purchased at the Oasis Outback store in Uvalde, a 10-minute drive from his grandmother's house.

His grandmother, believed to be 66-year-old Celia Martinez, took him for dinner to Applebee's to celebrate his birthday. On Wednesday morning, her husband Rolando Reyes, 74, told ABC News that neither of them were aware their grandson then bought the guns.

'I didn't know he had weapons. If I'd have known, I would have reported it,' Rolando, who has a past felony conviction and cannot be in a home with firearms, said.

Ramos went to live with his grandparents after arguing with his mother about her cutting out the Wi-Fi in their home.

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Rolando Reyes, 74, says he had no idea his grandson bought two AR-15s last week. Salvador Ramos bought the guns last week a day after celebrating his 18th birthday with his grandmother at Applebee's

Salvador Ramos legally purchased two AR-15 style rifles including the one he used in yesterday's attack after his 18th birthday last week. The gunman also bought more than 300 rounds of ammunition

One of the weapons the gunman bought was an $1,870 Daniel Defense weapon which he posted a receipt for on Yubo (left), according to The Daily Dot. The weapons are ordered online then picked up from local Daniel Defense dealers

Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch then entered the school on Tuesday. Cops found one of his AR-15 guns inside the vehicle, and he had also dumped a bag nearby. At the entrance of the school, they found his backpack which contained ammunition

Ramos' Ford truck dumped at the scene near the school. He shot his grandmother then drove from their home to the school and opened fire

Ramos's grandmother survived despite being shot in the head. She is in the hospital.

The shooter's grandfather also revealed that he was quiet, but would sometimes go to work with him.

'Sometimes I'd take him to work with me. Not all the time, but sometimes. This past year he didn't go to school. He didn't graduate. You would try to tell him but kids nowadays they think they know everything.

'He was very quiet, he didn't talk very much.'

The teen did not live with his mother because they had 'problems', the grandfather added.

On Tuesday, he was out of the house when the teen opened fire. A neighbor called him to tell him his wife had been shot but by the time he got back to the house, Ramos had escaped in his grandmother's car.

'The neighbor called me and said she'd been shot. When I came over here he said he'd taken off. It still hasn't sunk in,' he said.

The Call of Duty obsessed gunman bought two weapons including a Daniel Defense AR-15 worth $1,870. He posted a receipt for that purchase on the website Yubo, which was obtained by The Daily Dot on Tuesday after the shooting.

It is unclear if Ramos, who turned 18 last week, bought both weapons on the Daniel Defense website.

The site is run out of Georgia and operates by allowing customers to place orders online and then collect them from a local dealer.

There are no Daniel Defense dealers listed in Uvalde, but several are 100miles away in San Antonio. The ATF confirmed yesterday that Ramos purchased at least one weapon in a local firearms licensee.

His first purchase was on May 17 for one AR-15 rifle. The next day, he bought 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, according to ATF sources cited by Click2Houston.

On May 20, he bought another rifle. One of the weapons was found inside the truck he crashed into a ditch on Tuesday before opening fire at Robb Elementary School.

The Daniel Defense rifle was found inside the school, where Ramos was shot and killed by cops. It's unclear how the teenager paid for the weapons.

He had a job at Wendy's, where colleagues say he accosted female staff, but he was also bullied for his clothes and looking 'poor', according to classmates.

Ramos lived with his grandmother in Uvalde. He recently lived with his mother, but classmates say he often posted online about how she had kicked him out of their home.

'He posted videos on his Instagram where the cops were there and hed call his mom a b---- and say she wanted to kick him out.

These are the Daniel Defense dealer locations within 100 miles of the shooter's hometown of Uvalde, Texas . There are also several firearms stores in the town

One video at the scene appears to show the suspected gunman, named by Governor Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background

A police vehicle is seen parked near of a truck believed to belong to the suspect behind a shooting at Robb Elementary School

Ramos grew up in Hood Street before moving to his grandmother's house some months ago, neighbors claimed

'Hed be screaming and talking to his mom really aggressively,' Nadia Reyes told The Washington Post.

On Tuesday, Ramos first opened fire on his grandmother - who has not been named - at their home.

He then drove to the school in his pick-up truck, opening fire on the kids inside at around 11.30am.

The gunman was brought down by a border agent who stormed the school.

Now, there are widespread calls for gun reform to stop a similar tragedy. President Biden said in an address to the nation last night: 'Where in God's name is our backbone?'
Made in Chelsea star Victoria Baker-Harber said that she is standing by her fiance, a convicted art dealing fraudster who was jailed for seven years in the US for conning several former clients out of more than 80million in a 'Ponzi-like scheme'.

Inigo Philbrick, an American citizen dubbed the 'Mini Madoff of the art world' who previously lived in London, pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and told a judge he did it all 'for the money'.

The 34-year-old ran a 'Ponzi-like scheme' in which he used money from some customers to buy artworks, pay off others and bankroll a lavish lifestyle which saw him pose as an expert on art business conferences, federal prosecutors said.

Ms Baker-Harber, 33, said that rumours she and 'serial swindler' Philbrick are no longer a couple are a 'load of bulls***'.

She told the Sun: 'I've stood by him and will continue to do so.'

On Monday, she wept in the US courtroom when he spoke about the 'anguish' of being unable to support their daughter Gaia-Grace, who has born in 2020.

The pair began dating in 2017, with their daughter born two years later. Philbrick has never met Gaia-Grace, but they have spoken on the telephone, after he was arrested in 2019.

Ms Baker-Harber said that she 'dreads' the day she has to explain things about Philbrick to her daughter, and does not want to take Gaia to the 'barbaric' Brooklyn prison where her father is now being held.

Inigo Philbrick pictured with partner Victoria Baker-Harber, of Made in Chelsea fame, whom he had a baby with in 2020

Pictured: Inigo Philbrick being arrested by the FBI on the Pacific island of Vanuatu in 2019

Philbrick (right) attends the opening of a Jean Royere Exhibition at Galerie Patrick Seguin London on February 25, 2016

The home of Philbrick's registered offices in Grosvenor Street, Mayfair. The art dealer fraudulently lived a lavish lifestyle

Philbrick's scams included the sale of a 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat named Humidity, pictured above

The rise and fall of 'serial swindler' Inigo Philbrick Philbrick (pictured) has admitted conning investors out of millions of pounds and told a judge he did it all 'for the money' Born in East London, where his artistic parents were living in an abandoned warehouse, Inigo grew up in Manhattan and Connecticut, and in 2005 followed in his father's footsteps by studying art curation at Goldsmiths, University of London. In 2010, he was taken on as an intern at the prestigious White Cube gallery in London. Gallery founder Jay Jopling  later one of Inigo's victims  was impressed by the bright, sophisticated young man. In 2013, with Jopling's financial assistance, Inigo opened his own gallery and consultancy in London's Mayfair, specialising in post-war and contemporary art. A second Inigo Philbrick gallery opened in Miami in 2018. While some clients were wealthy collectors, wanting art to hang on the walls of their homes, he increasingly focused on those known in the art world as 'specullectors', who purchase artworks, or a percentage of them, as an investment. Inigo would then help these investors re-sell the artworks at a higher price, taking a share of the profits. As is the norm in this line of dealing, the artworks themselves remained in secure storage facilities  meaning clients were completely in the dark when Inigo began selling works to several parties, or over-selling shares in paintings that investors never actually set eyes on. Until his life of crime unravelled in 2019, Inigo was the toast of the art world, a charming bon viveur who, with Victoria on his arm, cut a swathe through London  and New York  society. Flush with cash, the couple flew around the world on private jets, spending summers in Ibiza. Inigo wore 5,000 suits, hand-made shoes, a belt with a diamond lodged in the pin and a 48,000 watch. He drank 5,000 bottles of wine and had an account at Mayfair restaurant Cipriani so that dinner companions would think he was too important to need to produce a credit card. But throughout this time, he was lying to clients about ownership and prices of artworks, borrowing money against art he didn't own and misappropriating sales proceeds, as well as forging contracts and documents to try to cover his tracks. One of his friends, art writer and dealer Kenny Schachter, who also lost around 1.4 million to Inigo, has described how the young impresario would sell him an artwork for 'around a million dollars' and then re-sell it to another client for a higher amount and 'we'd both pocket a few hundred thousand'. He said: 'His rationale was 'these people are rich, so screw them'.' The piece that brought down his house-of-cards existence was a 2012 painting of Pablo Picasso by Rudolf Stingel, a photo-realist painter from northern Italy. In 2015, Inigo signed a deal with financial services provider Fine Art Partners (FAP) to sell it to them for 5.8 million as part of an agreement to re-sell the work together at Christie's for a supposedly guaranteed price of 7.5million. Such guarantees are a marketing strategy used by major auction houses to lure valuable artworks away from competitors. Yet he went on to sell the same work twice again  including to an investment firm, Guzzini Properties, for $6 million (4.9 million). However, disastrously for Inigo, when the painting was finally auctioned in March 2019, it realised only 5.3 million. When FAP got in touch with Christie's, the auction house told them that not only had they never signed a guarantee, but the painting had not even been brought to auction by Inigo. FAP launched a lawsuit in Florida civil court in October 2019, with other clients launching their own legal actions in the U.S. and the UK, where Inigo's assets were frozen by a judge. But by the time it came for the dealer to appear in court, he had closed his gallery, disconnected his phones and disappeared. Philbrick was arrested in June 2020 following allegations he sold the same art works to different investors, sometimes at inflated prices, in order to get money to pay for another. He pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges at a New York's Southern District Court last November. When asked by Jude Stein why he committed the crimes, Philbrick replied: 'For the money, your honour'. Documents said he had a habit of 'drinking alcohol at lunch' and would continue 'throughout the day'. The court heard the serial swindler also took cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine because 'this is how art deals are done'. His supporters largely blame his downfall on the greed and excess endemic in the unregulated global art market, which in 2021 was worth around 53 billion. According to his lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman: 'While his actions were criminal in nature, he's part of an industry sick from top to bottom, where this sort of behaviour is sadly commonplace.' Advertisement

The Made in Chelsea socialite posted pictures of their daughter's first birthday on Instagram in November last year.

'She doesn't know she doesn't have a father yet,' she told the paper. 'I dread the day I have to start explaining things to her.'

She added that Philbrick is the 'best person' she knows.

When Philbrick was uncovered in November 2019, he failed to appear for court hearings in London and Miami, cities in which he owns art galleries, and was eventually arrested by the FBI on the Pacific island of Vanuatu.

At Manhattan federal court on Monday, Philbrick was sentenced to seven years in prison and was also ordered to forfeit 80 million.

Ms Baker-Harber cried from the wooden benches behind her fiance, before composing herself.

Speaking in court on Monday, Philbrick said their was 'no sweeter sound' than his daughter calling him daddy  as the pair have had phone calls together.

With Ms Baker-Harber crying again, Philbrick added that being unable to support Gaia-Grace brings him 'by far the most anguish I have ever experienced in my life'.

As he was taken to prison, he whispered to Ms Baker-Harber, and blew her a kiss.

She told The Sun that he said he loved her.

Prosecutors said he carried out the scheme by misrepresenting the ownership of certain artworks and by sometimes selling more than 100% ownership to multiple individuals and entities without their knowledge.

US Attorney Damian Williams said in a release that Philbrick's success as an art dealer came only after he collateralized and resold fractional shares in high-value contemporary art.

Artworks used in the scheme included, among others, a 1982 painting by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat titled 'Humidity,' a 2010 untitled painting by the artist Christopher Wool, and an untitled 2012 painting by the artist Rudolf Stingel depicting the artist Pablo Picasso, authorities said.

The scheme unravelled as jilted art buyers filed civil lawsuits, a lender notified him that he was in default of a $14million loan and he stopped responding to legal processes, prosecutors said.

'Unfortunately, his success was built on brazen lies, including concealed ownership interests, fake documents, and even an invented art collector,' Mr Williams said.

'When the house of cards fell apart, Philbrick fled for a remote island in the Pacific, leaving many of his victims without recourse. For his extensive fraud, Philbrick is now sentenced to a substantial prison term.'

Born in East London, where his artistic parents were living in an abandoned warehouse, Inigo grew up in Manhattan and Connecticut, and in 2005 followed in his father's footsteps by studying art curation at Goldsmiths, University of London.

In 2010, he was taken on as an intern at the prestigious White Cube gallery in London. Gallery founder Jay Jopling  later one of Inigo's victims  was impressed by the bright, sophisticated young man.

In 2013, with Jopling's financial assistance, Inigo opened his own gallery and consultancy in London's Mayfair, specialising in post-war and contemporary art.

A second Inigo Philbrick gallery opened in Miami in 2018. While some clients were wealthy collectors, wanting art to hang on the walls of their homes, he increasingly focused on those known in the art world as 'specullectors', who purchase artworks, or a percentage of them, as an investment.

Inigo would then help these investors re-sell the artworks at a higher price, taking a share of the profits. As is the norm in this line of dealing, the artworks themselves remained in secure storage facilities  meaning clients were completely in the dark when Inigo began selling works to several parties, or over-selling shares in paintings that investors never actually set eyes on.

Until his life of crime unravelled in 2019, Inigo was the toast of the art world, a charming bon viveur who, with Victoria on his arm, cut a swathe through London  and New York  society.

Flush with cash, the couple flew around the world on private jets, spending summers in Ibiza.

Inigo wore 5,000 suits, hand-made shoes, a belt with a diamond lodged in the pin and a 48,000 watch. He drank 5,000 bottles of wine and had an account at Mayfair restaurant Cipriani so that dinner companions would think he was too important to need to produce a credit card.

But throughout this time, he was lying to clients about ownership and prices of artworks, borrowing money against art he didn't own and misappropriating sales proceeds, as well as forging contracts and documents to try to cover his tracks.

One of his friends, art writer and dealer Kenny Schachter, who also lost around 1.4 million to Inigo, has described how the young impresario would sell him an artwork for 'around a million dollars' and then re-sell it to another client for a higher amount and 'we'd both pocket a few hundred thousand'. He said: 'His rationale was 'these people are rich, so screw them'.'

The piece that brought down his house-of-cards existence was a 2012 painting of Pablo Picasso by Rudolf Stingel, a photo-realist painter from northern Italy.

In 2015, Inigo signed a deal with financial services provider Fine Art Partners (FAP) to sell it to them for 5.8 million as part of an agreement to re-sell the work together at Christie's for a supposedly guaranteed price of 7.5million.

Such guarantees are a marketing strategy used by major auction houses to lure valuable artworks away from competitors.

Yet he went on to sell the same work twice again  including to an investment firm, Guzzini Properties, for $6 million (4.9 million).

However, disastrously for Inigo, when the painting was finally auctioned in March 2019, it realised only 5.3 million.

When FAP got in touch with Christie's, the auction house told them that not only had they never signed a guarantee, but the painting had not even been brought to auction by Inigo.

FAP launched a lawsuit in Florida civil court in October 2019, with other clients launching their own legal actions in the U.S. and the UK, where Inigo's assets were frozen by a judge.

But by the time it came for the dealer to appear in court, he had closed his gallery, disconnected his phones and disappeared.

Philbrick was arrested in June 2020 following allegations he sold the same art works to different investors, sometimes at inflated prices, in order to get money to pay for another.

Ms Baker-Harber was unaware of his criminal activity.

Philbrick has not met his daughter, with the reality star speaking of her heartbreak as she raises her baby alone.

Following the birth last year, she told Hello!: 'As hard as its been not to have Inigo around, I've been lucky to have amazing friends and amazing family.

'I am really excited for Gaia's first Christmas, I am going to have all of my family around. Sadly probably won't have Inigo around but as soon as I'm able to, I'm going to go and visit him so they can meet.'

It is understood Philbrick was arrested after he browsed for souvenirs near the beach.

He pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges at a New York's Southern District Court last November.

When asked by Jude Stein why he committed the crimes, Philbrick replied: 'For the money, your honour'.

Documents said he had a habit of 'drinking alcohol at lunch' and would continue 'throughout the day'. The court heard the serial swindler also took cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine because 'this is how art deals are done'.

His supporters largely blame his downfall on the greed and excess endemic in the unregulated global art market, which in 2021 was worth around 53 billion.

Ms Baker-Harber posing for a picture posted to her Instagram account

Victoria pictured with Jamie Laing (right) having lunch during an episode of Made in Chelsea in 2017

Ms Baker-Harber began dating Philbrick in 2017 and the pair had a baby together in 2019

According to his lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman: 'While his actions were criminal in nature, he's part of an industry sick from top to bottom, where this sort of behaviour is sadly commonplace.'

Mr Lichtman added: 'It's a sad day for Inigo, but he's happy to put this behind him.

'The industry is corrupt from top to bottom. Inigo isn't the cause here, he's a symptom. I suspect many more cases like this would appear if the art world were investigated thoroughly.

'While his actions were dishonest and criminal in nature, he's part of an industry sick from top to bottom where this sort of behaviour is sadly commonplace.

'That being said, he apologises to his victims and will do all that he can to make them whole.'

The fraudster, born in Connecticut, rose to notoriety in the industry after moving to Britain to study at Goldsmiths, University of London, aged 23.

He is the son of Harry Philbrick, a respected former museum director, and Jane, a Harvard-educated writer and artist.

Philbrick interned at the White Cube gallery in London before being made director of secondary market sales. Three years later, he opened the Inigo Philbrick Gallery in Mayfair.
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An official inquiry into the partygate scandal today said that the 'senior leadership' in Boris Johnson's Government must 'bear responsibility' for the culture which led to coronavirus lockdown rules being broken.

The Prime Minister faced fresh demands to resign after Sue Gray's report said the public would be 'dismayed' by a series of breaches of coronavirus rules in No 10 and Westminster. She added: 'The events that I investigated were attended by leaders in government. Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen.'

Scotland Yard has issued 126 fines for rule breaches in No 10 and Whitehall, with the Prime Minister receiving a single fixed-penalty notice for his birthday party. But senior civil servant Ms Gray condemned the wider culture that had been allowed to develop under Mr Johnson's leadership.

She said some of the more junior officials who attended parties 'believed that their involvement in some of these events was permitted given the attendance of senior leaders'. Ms Gray added: 'The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture.'

Read the inquiry's full findings and see the new photos here:
Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar has declared victory over his progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros, and with all precincts reporting the incumbent appears poised to win by the slimmest of leads, though the race is too close to call.

By early Wednesday morning only 177 votes separated Cuellar and Cisneros, 22,694 and 22,517 in the unofficial final tally. Cisneros will likely demand a recount.

The race had gone to a runoff after the March primary where Cuellar led but did not score a plurality of the votes.

'This primary was a hard-fought battle and I'd like to thank my supporters, who were instrumental in this victory, moving one step closer to a 10th term in the House of Representatives.

The 17-year congressman was able to overcome the bad press of an FBI raid on his Laredo home in January as part of an investigation into ties between U.S. businessmen and Azerbaijan, a move his challenger knocked him for. The lawmaker denied wrongdoing.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who backed his challenger, tore into leadership and her colleagues for the 'utter failure' of sending Cuellar back to Congress.

'On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary. Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it. Accountability isn't partisan,' the New York Democrat wrote on Twitter. 'This was an utter failure of leadership.'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who backed Jessica Cisneros, tore into leadership and her colleagues for the 'utter failure' of sending Cuellar back to Congress

Cuellar looks poised for victory but the race is too close to call as only 177 votes separate him from his challenger

'Congress should not be an incumbent protection racket and sadly it is treated as such by far too many,' she added. 'The fact is those who fail their communities deserve to lose. They don't need rescuing from powerful leaders who state they fight for gun safety, the right to choose, and more.'

Cuellar, one of the last anti-choice Democrats who frequently knocks President Biden on the border and scored an 'A' rating from the NRA, had Democratic leadership behind him, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, who flew into San Antonio earlier this month to rally for Cuellar.

Clyburn told reporters at the rally: 'This whole notion that you've got to agree with everybody on everything is pretty sophomoric to me.'

Some analysts had expected the leak of the Supreme Court's draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade to mobilize Democrats at the ballot box. House Leadership has a tradition of standing behind incumbents, and justified their support of Cuellar by noting that his 'no' vote on codifying Roe did not prevent the Women's Health Protection Act from passing the House.

'I don't believe in abortion, but at the same time, I don't believe that it should be banned completely At the same time, I don't think we should be allowing partial birth or late term abortions,' Cuellar said recently, explaining his views to Texas Public Radio. He added that as a Catholic he cannot support the practice, but believes there should be exceptions.

On Tuesday a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers.

Cisneros is pictured above at a watch party, standing next to her family as she delivers remarks

The gunman, Salvador Ramos, had purchased two firearms just days ago immediately after his 18th birthday. He paraded the AR-style rifles on social media, including in ominous messages sent hours before the killing started.

In Texas, people who are 18 and older are legally allowed to buy long guns, such as rifles and shotguns. They must be 21 to buy handguns.

Republicans are keeping eyes on Texas' 28th district and have identified it as one of five in Texas they could flip from blue to red come November.

Cassie Garcia, a former staffer of Sen. Ted Cruz, cinched the GOP nomination in the district over Sandra Whitten, a pre school director and the last GOP nominee for the seat.

Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was able to overcome a primary challenge from Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush. Paxton, who had Trump's endorsement, achieved the win despite facing a slew of legal problems, including an FBI investigation and a trial on securities fraud charges.
China has admitted it carried out a military exercise around Taiwan as a 'solemn warning' against its 'collusion' with the US.

Joe Biden angered China on Monday by suggesting the US would intervene if China invaded Taiwan, signalling a change in the policy of 'strategic ambiguity'.

He clarified on Tuesday there was no change to policy.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command said it had recently carried out a patrol and drill in the airspace and sea around Taiwan.

'This is a solemn warning against recent collusion between the United States and Taiwan,' said spokesman for the command, Shi Yi said, according to state television.

China has admitted it carried out a military exercise around Taiwan as a 'solemn warning' against its 'collusion' with the US. Pictured: Chinese destroyer fires missiles during an exercise in the South China Sea in March

China has never renounced the use of force to bring democratically ruled Taiwan under its control

'It is hypocritical and futile for the United States to say one thing and do another on the Taiwan issue,' he said.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring democratically ruled Taiwan under its control, and the Taiwan Strait remains a potential military flashpoint.

While the United States abides by a 'one China' policy, recognising only Beijing, it has made a commitment under its Taiwan Relations Act 'to help provide Taiwan the means to defend itself'.

Despite that, it has long held a policy of not specifying how it might react in the event of a Chinese attack on the island.

China also announced today that joint aerial exercises were held on Tuesday with Russia over the Sea of Japan, East China Sea and Western Pacific.

The patrol, the first since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, was part of an annual military exercise, China's defence ministry had said on its website on Tuesday.

The US has long held a policy of not specifying how it might react in the event of a Chinese attack on the island

China and Russia have held such patrols in 2019, 2020 and 2021 but in the latter half of the year.

Yesterday, Biden told reporters in Tokyo: 'The policy has not changed at all. I stated that when I made my statement yesterday.'

The president was first asked if the policy of 'strategic ambiguity' toward Taiwan was dead.

'No,' Biden responded.

When asked to elaborate, Biden declined.

'No,' he said.

During a press conference Monday alongside Kishida, Biden affirmed he would be willing to get involved militarily if China invaded Taiwan  drawing parallels between that threat and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Chinese troops take part in a military drill. Biden said Monday that Chin was 'already flirting with danger' by conducting military drills near Taiwan

'Yes,' Biden said. 'That's a commitment we made,' Biden responded when asked about the hot button diplomatic issue.

Biden reiterated that the U.S. agrees to the so-called 'One China' policy - that only the People's Republic of China is 'China,' thus the U.S.'s diplomatic relationship with Taiwan is unofficial.

'But the idea that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not appropriate,' Biden said. 'It will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine.'

Additionally, Biden said: 'My expectation is it will not happen, it will not be attempted.'

But he condemned military exercises China was conducting. 'They're already flirting with danger right now by flying so close and all the maneuvers that are undertaken,' the president said.

A White House official asked to clarify the comment responded: 'As the President said, our policy has not changed. He reiterated our One China Policy and our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. He also reiterated our commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself.'

Biden was asked at the very end of a press conference, held at Tokyo's Akasaka Palace: 'You didn't want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, if it comes to that?' - to which the president answered in the affirmative.

The US already provides fighter jets and Patriot missiles to Taiwan, but official policy is deliberately ambiguous in keeping with the 'one China' policy Biden referenced.
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The Duchess of Sussex's father Thomas Markle fell over while out shopping and had to be helped up to his feet just days before he was taken to hospital after suffering a suspected major stroke, it was revealed today.

Retired lighting director Mr Markle, 77, who lives in Rosarito, Mexico, was struck down and lost his speech only a week before he had been due to fly to London for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

It is not yet known whether Meghan, 40, who is estranged from him, will go to his bedside at a clinic in Chula Vista, California  only a few hours' drive from the home she shares with Prince Harry in Montecito.

And royal author Tom Bower revealed on ITV's Good Morning Britain today that he had spoken to Mr Markle over the weekend about his upcoming book about Meghan, and that he had fallen over - before the stroke happened.

Mr Bower said: 'He was alright, but he'd just fallen over in Rosarito, he'd been shopping and he told me that some other people had helped him stand up. But he is a man who's already had heart problems and he wasn't feeling too good. On the other hand, he was very excited about coming to London for the Jubilee.'

Mr Markle was taken by ambulance to the clinic in Chula Vista, but had earlier been admitted to hospital in Tijuana, Mexico, where he was seen arriving with an oxygen mask on his face and flanked by paramedics.

Thomas Markle had revealed to MailOnline's Dan Wootton on GB News last month that he wanted to visit Britain for the Jubilee

It is not known whether Meghan, who is estranged from her father Thomas Markle (together), is planning to go to his bedside

A video posted on US gossip website TMZ showed him on a stretcher with a pale face and one hand on his chest.

Mr Bower said he did not know whether Meghan would go and see her father, but added: 'What we do know is that Meghan has always said that she's a very compassionate person.

Harry and Meghan are FINALLY reunited with the Royal family.... in wax: Couple are added to line up with the Queen, William and Kate in upcoming display at Madame Tussauds Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been reunited at last with the Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton - in wax. Figures of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were separated from their family at Madame Tussauds in London in January 2020 after they decided to step back from their royal duties. Now, to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, the couple have temporarily been brought back into the fold. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been reunited at last with the Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton - in wax at Madame Tussauds in London Their figures will remain next to the other royal waxworks until the end of the jubilee celebrations early next month. Harry and Meghan, as well as Prince Charles, Camilla and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have also been given a makeover to mark the occasion. It comes after Harry and Meghan announced they would be coming to the UK to join in the celebrations next weekend. Advertisement

'And if compassion was at all necessary right now, it would mean that she would go to her father's bedside, about two and a half hours' drive south of where she lives, and give him some comfort and reassurance. And we wait to see what happens.'

Mr Bower also confirmed that Meghan has not made any contact with Mr Markle 'since just before the wedding - other than the famous letter'.

He continued: 'I've been in touch with him for my book, which comes out very soon now, for some time.

'And he is very upset, he's very unhappy because of course he was a very loving father to Meghan and supported her throughout her childhood when her mother wasn't there. And paid for her student fees too.

'He was very upset that he hasn't been able to see his grandchildren. So I do think to an extent he was going to come to London, although he told me that he was coming to see the Queen, I think in reality he was also hoping to see Meghan and to see his grandchildren.

'And we do know of course that if all Meghan Markle's family had been here in London, it would have somewhat dominated the news outlets, not just the Jubilee itself. So to that extent I suppose we've been relieved of that saga.'

It comes after Mr Markle's daughter Samantha, 57, told MailOnline: 'My father is recovering in hospital. We ask for privacy for the family, for his health and wellbeing. He just needs peace and rest. Godspeed. We are praying. He just needs some rest.'

His blood pressure had been high in the preceding days, it was said. It means that Mr Markle will miss the celebrations in London just as he missed Meghan's wedding to Harry in 2018 after suffering a heart attack.

Mr Markle, who lives in Rosarito, Mexico, was taken by ambulance across the border to the US at around 9.30pm on Monday.

His son Thomas Jr, 55, was with him and is at the hospital near San Diego, while Samantha was last night said to be flying in from her home in Florida.

In the footage posted online, Mr Markle is seen lying on a stretcher wearing an oxygen mask.

Two paramedics try to lift him while speaking in Spanish and ask him what his name is. Somebody behind the camera responds that his name is Thomas.

Speaking in English, one of the paramedics says: 'I'm going to be your paramedic. You're going to the US.'

Mr Markle was due in London next week and was to have been a guest on TV during coverage of the jubilee celebrations. The trip would have fulfilled his 'long-held wish to visit Windsor Castle', MailOnline's Dan Wootton wrote.

His health, however, seems certain to have dashed that hope, just as it scuppered Mr Markle's plans to walk Meghan down the aisle in 2018 when he was forced to pull out of the ceremony.

He underwent surgery to repair the damage and Prince Charles stood in for him, performing the father of the bride's duties during the wedding service.

A young Meghan Markle is pictured with her father Thomas Markle, a retired lighting director who lives in Mexico

Royal author Tom Bower revealed on ITV's Good Morning Britain today that he had spoken to Mr Markle over the weekend

Mr Bower is interviewed by Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid while appearing on ITV's Good Morning Britain today

Mr Markle has had a difficult relationship with Meghan and her husband Harry  whom he has accused of being 'snotty'.

He and his youngest daughter have not spoken since before the wedding, when they were texting while he lay in bed at the hospital, he has claimed.

According to Mr Markle, at that point they 'pretty much said goodbye' and Harry told him: 'If you had listened to me, this wouldn't have happened to you.'

The Sussexes were said to have been angry at Mr Markle selling photos of himself to a paparazzi agency in the run-up to the wedding.

Last month he announced he was flying to the UK for the royal celebrations and said he wanted to meet Harry and Meghan, who will be attending, along with their son Archie, three, and 11-month-old daughter Lilibet.

Mr Markle said he also wanted to meet Prince Charles and joked that they had both been 'ghosted by our own children'.

Meghan Markle and husband Prince Harry after his polo victory at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club on Sunday

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Westminster Abbey in London on March 9, 2020 - before stepping down as senior royals

Speaking to GB News from his home in Rosarito at the time, Mr Markle said: 'I'm looking forward to it.

'I'm going to show my respect for the Queen and I'm going to make sure that the Queen understands that my entire family respects the Queen and the royals.

'We admire them and we want them to know that's how we feel about them and that's how we feel about England.'

He added that he felt he had a right to meet his grandchildren.

In her interview with Oprah Winfrey in March last year, Meghan talked about the betrayal she felt when it emerged that her father had been working with a photo agency.

She said: 'We called my dad and I asked him [if he talked to the tabloids] and he said 'No, absolutely not' and I said, 'You know the institution has never intervened for anything for us, but they can try to go in and kill this story, but if they do this once we're not going to be able to use that same leverage to protect our own kids one day. I just need you to tell me and if you tell me the truth we can help.' '

According to Meghan, her father 'wasn't able to do that' and she said his refusal to answer was 'so hard for me to reconcile'.
Vijayawada: Even as normalcy was restored at Amalapuram in the aftermath of violence, fresh trouble erupted at Ravulapalem where youths in large numbers hit the road on Wednesday, opposing the move to name Konaseema district after Dr BR Ambedkar.

On the lines of the call given by the Konaseema Sadhana Samithi, youths took out the rally and organised a Chalo Ravulapalem to express their opposition to the government decision.

A large number of police personnel were deployed at Amalapuram, even as the situation there returned to normal. Seven cases were booked and nearly 46 persons arrested in relation to the arson and violence.

On Wednesday, the supporters of the Konaseema Sadhana Samithi gathered in large number to stage the protest at Ravulapalem. Some youths were seen pelting stones at the police. Police acted swiftly and chased them for a distance. Some 54 of them were arrested and taken to the local police station.

East Godavari SP Aishwaraya said, Section 144 is clamped on Ravulapalem but some people pelted stones at our personnel. We caught one of them. One or two stones fell near our personnel and no one was injured. We are going to deal with the rioters very sternly.

Following Tuesdays arson at Amalapuram, senior police officers from neighbouring districts like Kakinada and East Godavari, led by additional DGP Ravi Shankar are camping in the town to ensure maintenance of law and order.

Transport minister Pinepe Viswaroop whose house was torched by the arsonists at Amalapuram said, We narrowly escaped from getting killed. Had we remained at our home for a few more minutes, we would have lost our lives. The agitators did not allow fire tenders to reach our house.

So was the case with the wife of Mummidivaram MLA Ponnada Satish who also had a narrow escape when their house was set on fire. Though we suspect the role of some people, the police would inquire and arrest the culprits and punish them, he added.

Kakinada SP Ravindra Babu said, We are taking CCTV footage and statements from the eyewitnesses to identify the culprits involved in the arson and violence at Amalapuram.

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan alleged that the YSR Congress government stirred up the violence in Konaseema. It was a premeditated move to divert the attention of Dalits who are increasingly turning against the government, he claimed.

Though the state government claimed that it restructured the districts for administrative convenience, it did not name Konaseema district after Dr BR Ambedkar similar on the lines of a new districts named as Sri Satyasai, Annamayya and Alluri Sitarama Raju, he said.

He opined that had it been so, the violence would not have erupted.

He also raised his objection to the government giving 30 days time to people to express their opinions on renaming the Konaseema district. This meant that the government had prior knowledge that the issue would result in violence, he surmised.

Referring to the torching of houses of a minister and an MLA at Amalapuram, the Jana Sena chief asked as to why sufficient numbers of police personnel were not deployed there to avert such incidents. As the YSR Congress leaders wanted it, the police were not deployed in strength there.

He appealed to the people of Konaseema to remain calm and said there should have been a referendum when a decision on such a sensitive issue was taken.
Peter Dutton has revealed he will show a softer, more caring side to his personality if he becomes the next Liberal leader.

The former defence minister is favoured to succeed Scott Morrison after other possible candidates either lost their seats in the election, or pulled out of the race.

He formally launched his bid for the Liberal Party leadership on Wednesday, promising to bring together moderate and conservative wings.

He said that while the public had grown accustomed to seeing him in 'tough portfolios' like defence and home affairs, he hoped to show them a different side.

'I hope now, in moving from such tough portfolios, the Australian public can see the rest of my character, the side my family, friends and colleagues see,' he said.

'The side my community sees where they have elected me eight times. I come from the suburbs and I have never changed my values or forgotten where I have come from.'

The outgoing Defence Minister has sought to soften his hardman image as he formally confirmed he will stand for the leadership

The former defence minister (pictured with his wife and three kids) is favoured to succeed Scott Morrison after other possible candidates either lost their seats in the election, or pulled out of the race

His wife Kirilly, a successful businesswoman, gave her insight into the man vying to step into the leadership role, revealing that he has a 'great sense of humour'.

She said he was incredibly compassionate, especially when it came to the protection of women and children.

'He hides a lot of his emotion from the public but he gets most upset at reports of children or women being sexually abused or harmed. It obviously stems from his time as a policeman working in that area, but it's also from being the eldest of five kids growing up in the suburbs,' she said.

Mrs Dutton is standing side by side with her husband on the journey that is expected to see him announced as the next Liberal leader as soon as next week.

The couple has two sons, Harry, 17, and Tom, 16, and Mr Dutton also has a daughter Rebecca, 20, from his first marriage.

Mrs Dutton said he is an 'amazing father and the kids adore him'.

His leadership bid comes after Mr Morrison was defeated at Saturdays election with the party losing up to 19 seats.

Peter Dutton (centre right) is pictured with his wife Kirilly (centre left) to celebrate winning the Dickson electorate against Ali France in the 2019 federal election

Peter Dutton (pictured right) is pictured with his wife Kirilly (left) and their son Tom (centre) at his reception in the seat of Dickson, Brisbane on Saturday, May 21, 2022

And while debate has been raging about whether the party now needs to move to the right or the left, the no-nonsense Queenslander suggested he would lead from the centre.

'We aren't the Moderate Party. We aren't the Conservative Party. We are Liberals. We are the Liberal Party. We believe in families  whatever their composition. Small and micro businesses. For aspirational, hard-working 'forgotten people' across cities, suburbs, regions and in the bush.'

Despite the loss of six moderate Liberal-held seats in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, Mr Dutton said he will unify the party's remaining MPs and senators and hold the Labor government to account.

Mr Dutton has been heavily favoured to replace Mr Morrison since the defeat of his main rival, outgoing Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

As he has shot to the top of the rankings he has seen number of attacks from the left.

Peter Dutton (right) is pictured with his wife Kirilly. Mrs Dutton said 'He has a great sense of humour - very dry and witty'

Peter Dutton (right) is pictured with Scott Morrison (centre), the man he is set to succeed as leader of the Liberal Party. Pictured left is Josh Frydenberg, who lost his seat to an independent in the federal election

On Wednesday, Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek made fun of Mr Dutton's physical appearance, comparing him to Harry Potter archenemy Voldemort.

'There'll be a lot of children who have watched a lot of Harry Potter films who'll be very frightened of what they see on TV at night,' she told Brisbane's 4BC radio.

It is understood that Ms Plibersek later apologised to Mr Dutton for commenting on his appearance.

On Monday, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan blasted Mr Dutton as not being fit to be prime minister.

'He's an extremist, and I don't think he fits with modern Australia at all,' said Mr McGowan.

Dutton, a former policeman, is likely to be elected unopposed as Liberal leader when the party meets in Canberra in coming weeks.
The residents of the once sleepy Long Island enclave of North Fork say they're growing tired of a new influx of post-pandemic influx of tourists that have disturbed their once peaceful village.

The region, long known as Long Island's Wine Country, has become a tourist hotspot with its over 60 vineyards, multiple breweries and distilleries, and private fly fishing ranches.

But following the pandemic, parts of the peninsula such as Greenport, Southold, Mattituck and Cutchogue, have drawn in a huge influx of rowdy tourists that have taken over the once quaint area with their hard partying.

According to residents, so-called 'cityiots' have barged into town, loudly partying in their Airbnbs, getting wasted at local vineyards and causing heavy traffic when they extend their stays at local mansions, the New York Post reported.

Although the idyllic location has long been a popular getaway spot, in recent years residents say it has attracted a larger, younger crowd who have overstayed their welcome.

Claudio's waterfront restaurant located in Greenport is a tourist hotspot during the summer

The post-pandemic boom also affected the Hamptons, (above, partiers at The Boardy Barn in Hampton Bays) where longtime residents have previously expressed frustration with the rise in real estate, dining and transportation costs

Following the pandemic, an influx of tourists have taken over the once quaint town of Greenport (Above) Crowds pack downtown Greenport

'Years ago (visitors) were like osprey birds; they were pretty quiet and you would just see them down by the water over the summer,' 45-year-old Mattituck resident Ben Heins told the Post. 'But now they're like seagulls; they're all over the place and they crap on everything.'

Resident's say the 30-mile long peninsula has now become the new Hamptons, the popular seaside community known as a summer destination for the rich and famous located on Long Island's South Fork.

'It's become the Hamptons 2.0,' Cutchogue Civic Association member Steve Starroff told the Post. 'It feels like an invasion now, and it wasn't like this 10 years ago.'

What has upset residents the most-other than the overcrowding, the traffic and overall rowdiness is the lack of regard for town residents and their long-held customs.

'There's a lack of respect,' Greenport firefighter Bob Corwin told The Post. '(New arrivals) say they love it here, but want to change everything about the place.'

That includes pushing residents out of grocery stores on the weekends and the reluctance to pullover to allow emergency vehicles, including firetrucks, pass when out on a call, Corwin told the post.

Residents say there is no reprieve from the tourists, who years ago used to leave after Labor Day but are now sticking around.

What has upset residents the most-other than the overcrowding, the traffic and overall rowdiness- is the lack of regard for town residents and their customs

Resident's say the peninsula has now become the new Hamptons, the popular seaside community known as a summer destination for the rich and famous (Above, Lieb Cellars in Cutchogue pictured)

'We had something called "tumbleweed Tuesday," which is when all the locals would go out on the town and celebrate the tourists leaving  restaurants would even have specials and deals,' Starroff said. 'But we haven't had 'tumbleweed Tuesday' for a few years now because everybody seems to be sticking around.'

And even worse for some residents is the slew of new tawdy homes being built by newcomers that look out of place, local beef farm runner and owner of McCall Wines, Brewster McCall said.

'They look like garbage,' he told the Post of the 'McMansions from the Hamptons that max out their lot and put up a wall between them and the neighbors.'

The post-pandemic boom also affected the Hamptons, where longtime residents have previously expressed frustration with the rise in real estate, dining and transportation costs.

Last March locals complained about the wave of rich residents 'ruining the Hamptons'

'There's so much money now it's nauseating. I'm a one-percenter. But I bear no resemblance to these people,' one woman, who bought her Amagansett home in 1991, told Vanity Fair last summer.

'Everyone with money is here. If I weren't here already, I wouldn't come now. The conspicuous consumption is just gross.'
A British Army corporal accused of groping a junior female soldier and 'pestering' her for naked photos after physical training told a court that it was 'banter'.

Corporal Phillip Marshall-Nichols allegedly grabbed the female Private's breasts after she had asked for his help on a computer in Colchester.

He is also accused of 'grinding' his groin into her bottom as he was leaving a room after making a cup of tea.

The Army corporal of 16 Medical Regiment - who is nicknamed 'two dads' due to his double-barrel surname - denies two counts of sexual assault.

He claims instead that messages on WhatsApp and Snapchat of camera emojis and questions marks were 'banter' instead of requests for naked photos.

Cpl Marshall-Nichol also suggested the messages were actually innocent requests for pictures of model figurines that the female soldier likes to make.

Pictured: Corporal Phillip Marshall-Nichols at Bulford Military Court Centre

Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire, heard that Cpl Marshall-Nichols and the woman had a purely professional relationship in the year they knew each while stationed at an Army barracks in Colchester, Essex.

The alleged victim previously told the court she had been talking to a male soldier when Cpl Marshall-Nichols paused behind her and 'grinded' his penis into her bottom as he left the room.

The woman said: 'I was in the break room with [another private]. Cpl Marshall-Nichols was making a brew. At one point he moved to leave the room, and as he passed me he stopped and grinded his d**k into my a**e, left to right.

'He didn't say anything and it didn't go on for long, but I could feel his penis.'

The other soldier in the room at the time told the court he saw a look of shock cross his friend's face as Cpl Marshall-Nichols stopped behind her.

The former private, who has since left the military, said: 'I couldn't see how close they were but by her facial expression she did not like it [...] It just happened out of the blue and went on for a couple of seconds.

'Me and [the female soldier] went out for a cigarette afterwards and she explained what had happened.'

She said he then sent messages on Snapchat and WhatsApp asking for naked photos of her after group PT (physical training) sessions.

Bulford Military Court (pictured) in Wiltshire, heard that at the time Cpl Marshall-Nichols and the woman were stationed at an Army barracks in Colchester, Essex

The woman said: 'He was asking for pictures while I was in the shower. I just said, "No".'

When she refused she said he branded her a 'spoilsport' and the female soldier also 'blocked him on Snapchat'.

Cpl Marshall-Nichols today denied his messages to the young female private were requests for naked photos and argues they were simply 'banter' and 'a laugh'.

Cross-examining him, prosecutor Commander Peter Barker said: 'You sent two emojis - a camera with flash and one without [...] that is a request for photos.

'Her response is: "No". A flat refusal. You respond immediately, saying: "Spoilsport lol" and the crying laughter emoji.

'You are pestering one of your subordinates for a picture in the shower.

'You are calling her a spoilsport. You are disappointed and upset that she's not sending a photo, aren't you?'

Cpl Marshall-Nichols responded saying: 'No - it's banter, sir.

'We were having a laugh. With all due respect, and I didn't mean to upset anyone [...] but that is why I sent a laughing face - as a joke.'

He was then quizzed on an alleged incident when the Private went into work to update her 'objectives' on a computer system before an upcoming exercise, and asked for assistance from Cpl Marshall-Nichols.

Cdr Barker continued: 'You took this opportunity [when the female soldier asked for help on the computer] to try your luck, didn't you? You took the opportunity for a quick grope and touched her breasts just like she said, didn't you?'

'No, sir,' replied Cpl Marshall-Nichols.

Denying the other incident he added: 'I certainly didn't [grind myself into the female soldier]. I didn't [fancy her].'

Corporal Phillip Marshall-Nichols (pictured) allegedly grabbed the female Private's breasts after she had asked for his help on a computer in Colchester

When questioned by judge advocate Jane England on what his messages of the camera emojis on WhatsApp referred to, Cpl Marshall-Nichols replied: 'At the time [the female soldier] was into resin.

'It's basically two mixtures of liquids that turn solid over time. She had told me about them and showed me her figures.

'At the time [of the messages], I could have been requesting to see what she was doing with them.

'It could have been about that [...] but I can't remember. She showed me pictures of her figures. It got me interested enough that I [wanted to] try and do it myself.'

Defending, Simon Perkins previously argued the alleged victim had 'made up' both claims of sexual assault which she reported in December 2020.

Mr Perkins said: 'The first time [the female soldier] mentioned [these allegations] was at a social gathering [when she was drunk].

'These two alleged sexual assaults never happened. The sexual assault in the tea room never happened and for some reason you are making this up to get Cpl Marshall-Nichols in trouble.'

The trial continues.
The Alabama Senate race will advance to a runoff between Rep. Mo Brooks and Katie Britt, the former chief of staff for outgoing Sen. Richard Shelby.

Britt was 15 points ahead of Brooks, but failed to capture 50 percent of the vote, triggering a runoff election on June 16.

With over 95 percent of the votes in, Britt was nearly 100,000 votes ahead, and led Brooks 44.7 percent to 29.2 percent.

'Thank you, Alabama! What an incredible night! We still have a lot of work to do. But Im ready to take on the fight. Were going to win on June 21!' Britt wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.

'WE DID IT! Tonight, we clinched our spot in the runoff election. Thank you for everything youve done to make this happen. But we dont have a moment to restbecause its game on for the runoff starting now,' Brooks tweeted.

Katie Britt, pictured above as she arrived to talk with supporters at a watch party, led Brooks by 15 points

Trump initially endorsed, Rep. Mo Brooks, a longtime election denier, but clawed back that support after Brooks slipped in the polls and called on him to 'move on' from the 2020 election

Trump initially endorsed, Brooks, a longtime election denier, but clawed back that support after Brooks slipped in the polls and called on his supporters to 'move on' from the 2020 election.

'Mo Brooks of Alabama made a horrible mistake recently when he went 'woke' and stated, referring to the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, 'Put that behind you, put that behind you,' despite the fact that the Election was rife with fraud and irregularities,' Trump wrote in a March statement, announcing he would no longer support Brooks. He never made another endorsement in the race.

Trump claimed Brooks tanked a '44-point lead' after he hired new campaign staff who 'brilliantly' told him to 'stop talking about the 2020 election.'

'He listened to them,' Trump said. 'Then, according to the polls, Mo's 44-point lead totally evaporated all based on his '2020' statement made at our massive rally in Cullman, Alabama.'

Brooks advised rallygoers in August to put 2020 'behind you,' as Trump said, and was heckled by the crowd who shouted 'no' and booed.

'Look forward, look forward, look forward. Beat them in 2022, beat them in 2024,' he shouted over the boos. 'Alright, we'll look back at it, but go forward and take advantage of it. We've got to win in 2022, we've got to win in 2024, that's what we've got to do.'

The crowd seemingly got back on Brooks' side when he asked if they'd help Trump and MAGA candidates 'take back our country.'

'When I heard his statement, I said, 'Mo, you just blew the Election, and there's nothing you can do about it.' Very sad but, since he decided to go in another direction, so have I, and I am hereby withdrawing my Endorsement of Mo Brooks for the Senate,' Trump announced Wednesday.

Trump came back for more, writing in another statement: 'Mo Brooks was a leader on the 2020 Election Fraud and then, all of sudden, during the big rally in Alabama, he went woke and decided to drop everything he stood forwhen he did, the people of Alabama dropped him, and now I have done so also. The people get it, but unfortunately, Mo doesnt.'

In a statement sent out by Brooks Wednesday, he blasted Trump for being manipulated by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

'I wish President Trump wouldn't fall for McConnell's ploys, but, once again, he has,' Brooks said.

Trump clawed back his endorsement of Brooks as the congressman slipped in the polls, blaming his calls to 'move on' from the 2020 election

Trump shot back in his evening statement: 'As far as Mitch McConnell, I am not a fan and theres been no harsher critic than me. He has been absolutely terrible, and very bad for the GOP. The sooner he leaves Leadership, the better off the Republican Party will be.'

Brooks said that Trump, laser-focused as ever on his 2020 election loss, repeatedly asked the Alabama Republican to 'rescind' the presidential election results and 'remove' President Biden from office. Brooks said he'd been fielding the former president's requests 'off and on again since September 2021.'

'The word he used was 'rescind,' he said. 'We didn't get into the details because it's legally impossible. And I explained that fairly promptly.'

Brooks, a longtime defender of the former president's election fraud claims, said he did not receive a courtesy call before Trump clawed back his endorsement.

'Ive told President Trump the truth knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement,' Brooks said in an earlier statement.

'When the President calls me woke, theres not anybody in Alabama with a brain larger than the size of a pea who believes that Mo Brooks is a woke liberal,' Brooks added.

Meanwhile in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp secured a massive win over Trump-endorsed former Sen. David Perdue in the gubernatorial race, as did Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger after facing a primary challenge from Trump-endorsed Rep. Jody Hice. Trump's Senate candidate in Georgia, Herschel Walker cinched the GOP nomination, as did Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who had faced a challenge from Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush.

Trump paid no mind to the stinging losses of Perdue and Hice, and touted Tuesday's primaries as a win.



'A very big and successful evening of political Endorsements. All wins in Texas (33 & 0 for full primary list), Arkansas, and Alabama. A great new Senatorial Candidate, and others, in Georgia. Overall for the Cycle, 100 Wins, 6 Losses (some of which were not possible to win), and 2 runoffs. Thank you, and CONGRATULATIONS to all!' he wrote on Truth Social.
Senior Labor MP Tanya Plibersek has apologised after launching an extraordinary personal attack on Liberal MP Peter Dutton, comparing him to Voldemort, Harry Potter's archenemy.

Speaking on radio station 4BC, Ms Plibersek was asked her opinion of Mr Dutton, who is almost certain to be the new leader of the Liberal Party.

'Well I think there will be a lot of children who have watched a lot of Harry Potter films who will be very frightened of what they will see at night, that's for sure,' replied the Labor frontbencher.

The woman tipped to be the next Minister for Education has since reached out to Mr Dutton to apologise after coming under fire for her comments.

Tanya Plibersek (right) is pictured with her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter (left). Ms Plibersek is under fire for a comment she made about Peter Dutton's looks

Scott Emerson, who was interviewing Ms Plibersek on 4BC, seemed shocked during the interview.

'What, are you saying he looks strange, he looks odd?' he asked.

'I am saying he looks a bit like Voldemort and we will see whether he can do what he promised he would do when he was last running for leader, which is smile more,' she said.

Mr Emerson said it sounded like she was attacking Mr Dutton over his looks.

'No, I am just saying he is not the warm and friendly face of the Liberal party,' she replied.

'And if this last election taught us anything, it taught us that the Liberal Party has moved too far to the extremes of politics.'

The radio host later lambasted Ms Plibersek for her comments.

'It was a bit below her, I don't normally hear her say those sorts of things, I was a bit shocked when she did say that,' Mr Emerson said.

'I think it was poor, and I suspect she is regretting that right now.'

Peter Dutton (pictured), who is expected to be the next leader of the Liberal Party, has been compared to Harry Potter's archenemy Voldemort, by senior Labor MP Tanya Plibersek

The character Voldemort (pictured) from the Harry Potter films, has been compared to Liberal MP Peter Dutton in an extraordinary attack by Labor's Tanya Plibersek

Sky News commentator Andrew Bolt also spoke pout against the comments.

Speaking on Sky News on Wednesday night, Bolt said 'I actually know why Labor is freaking out about Dutton, because they're scared. He's tough, he's smart, he's a great communicator.

'He's a former copper, he's going to be very credible and turn the Liberals into a party for the battler, focussing on the cost of living and calling out bull.'

Bolt also had a go at the former prime minister though, saying that Mr Dutton 'unlike Scott Morrison, he stands for something. I think he's brave, plus he's a conservative.

'And remember, the Liberals have never won an election from opposition without a conservative leader ... so that's what's scaring Labor.'

Ms Plibersek apologised for the comments on Wednesday night.

2gb host Ben Fordham reported she had reached out to Mr Dutton to apoloise directly.

'I shouldn't have said it.'

She is far from the only senior Labor politician to attack the expected next Liberal leader, this week.

On Monday, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan blasted Mr Dutton as not being fit to be prime minister.

'He's an extremist, and I don't think he fits with modern Australia at all,' said Mr McGowan.

'He doesn't seem to listen, he's extremely conservative and I actually don't think he's that smart.

'I've seen him present on things [and] I don't really pick up there's much there.

'As opposed to Scott Morrison, who is a clever guy, I don't pick up that Peter Dutton is fit to be prime minister.'

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (centre) is pictured with Tanya Plibersek speaking to students during a visit to his old school at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney on Monday, May 9, 2022

Then on Tuesday, Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews said 'I'm trying to be as polite as possible,' about Mr Dutton, who was the Minister for Defence under Scott Morrison.

'He hasn't become the leader yet. If he does, then I wish him well, but he's made a whole range of comments about Victoria.

'You guys need to remember this. It wasn't that long ago when these people were running around saying we're all going to get murdered by an African gang and we couldn't go out for dinner.'

While some within the Liberals believe the party needs to move to the centre to have a chance at winning back the inner city seats it lost this time, others believe its Liberals best hope is to fully embrace conservatism in line with Mr Dutton's vision.

Tony Abbott's former chief of staff Peta Credlin was among those making that case, urging the party to forego the rich voters who want more action on climate change.

Creating starker points of difference with Labor, this plan would see the Liberals target suburban battlers, the mortgage belt and blue-collar workers as a path back to government.
Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Iraq war veteran, called out several of his Congressional colleagues in a series of tweets expressing outrage and grief over the circumstances that led to the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday

Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona called GOP Texas Senator Ted Cruz a 'f***ing baby killer' in a series of Twitter posts on Tuesday night expressing his outrage and grief over the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed at least 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School.

Gallego, an Iraq war veteran, raged at lawmakers who have stood in the way of recent federal gun reform legislation efforts after an 18-year-old gunman slaughtered nearly two dozen people and then reportedly was killed by law enforcment.

'Just to be clear f*** you [Ted Cruz] you f***ing baby killer,' Gallego tweeted.

Cruz told CNN after the shooting, 'Inevitably when there's a murder of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens.'

'We know from past experience that the most effective tool for keeping kids safe is armed law enforcement on the campus.'

He and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton themselves responded to the slaughter by reigniting right-wing calls to arm teachers and other school staff.

'The reality is, we don't have the resources to have law enforcement at every school,' Paxton said on Fox News.

'It takes time for law enforcement, no matter how prepared, no matter how good they are to get there. So, having the right training for some of these people at the school is the best hope.'

Gallego shared Cruz's comments on Twitter, replying: 'F*** you [Ted Cruz].'

'You care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless,' he said, referencing the Texas senator's infamous but brief trip to Mexico while millions in his state were struggling with extreme cold during a power grid failure.

Gallego went after Texas Senator Ted Cruz in multiple tweets after the conservative accused Democrats of trying to politicize the tragedy

He called out Cruz with a reference to the Senator's ill-advised trip to Cancun, Mexico when millions of people were out of power in his state amid record low temperatures

Cruz, along with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and former President Donald Trump, is slated to speak at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston - less than 300 miles away from the site of the massacre.

'F*** you, NRA,' Gallego said on Tuesday night.

In response to California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa offering his 'thoughts and prayers' to the families of the victims, Gallego said: 'F*** your prayers. They havent worked for the last 20 mass shootings how about passing laws that will stop these killings.'

While a majority of Republican lawmakers have long been against strict gun control legislation, Democrats' efforts to pass such bills over the last year have also been hampered by moderate lawmakers within their own party.

Gallego called out one of them, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, for opposing a maneuver that would allow Democrats to pass gun control legislation with just their razor-thin majority in Congress.

'We are horrified and heartbroken by the senseless tragedy unfolding at Robb Elementary School in Texas and grateful to the first responders for acting swiftly. No families should ever have to fear violence in their children's schools,' Sinema stated.

Gallego replied online: 'Please just stop.'

He also criticized the National Rifle Association, which is hosting an event in Houston on Friday

He also criticized California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa over his offer of 'thoughts and prayers' while voting against gun control

Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema's opposition to scuttling the filibuster and passing legislation with her party's slim majority in Congress also earned backlash from Gallego

'Unless you are willing to break the filibuster to actually pass sensible gun control measures you might as well just say thoughts and prayers,' the progressive veteran said.

Paxton claimed in a Newsmax interview that federal gun reform was not the answer and that Democrats had a 'political agenda of limiting guns in the hands of everybody, which makes no sense.'

'We already have laws against killing people and this guy apparently didn't care what the law was,' the state attorney general said.

Cruz sparked fury among Democrat politicians after suggesting lawmakers will use the Robb Elementary School massacre to 'advance their own political agenda'.

At least 19 children and two teachers were shot dead by gunman Salvador Ramos at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday.

We know what is effective, and it is targeting the fugitives and the felons and the bad guys,' said Cruz.

'But, as sure as night follows day, you can bet there [are] going to be Democrat politicians looking to advance their own political agenda rather than to work to stop this kind of horrific violence and to keep everyone safe.

Cruz's comments come after President Joe Biden called for action on gun control within hours of the massacre.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz accused Democrat politicians of using the Robb Elementary School massacre to advance their political agenda after at least 18 children and a teacher were shot to death at an elementary school in Uvalde

Cruz is set to speak at an event hosted by the National Rifle Association (NRA), a gun rights advocacy group, less than 72 hours after the school shooting. Donald Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and US Representative Dan Crenshaw

But Cruz has himself come under fire after tweeting he was praying for the city of Uvalde after the mass shooting.

'Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde,' he said. 'We are in close contact with local officials, but the precise details are still unfolding. Thank you to heroic law enforcement & first responders for acting so swiftly.'

Many critics pointed out Cruz' strong track record of opposing legislation intended to curb gun violence.

Shannon Watts, board member of Emerge America, a not-for-profit promoting Democrat women in politics, said: 'After 16 people were killed in a hot air balloon in Lockhart, Texas, Ted Cruz authored and passed federal legislation improving safety rules.'

'But after the shootings in El Paso and Santa Fe, he blamed mental illness for gun violence. Thank God there's no hot air balloon lobby.'

The Texas Senator has repeatedly said that 'restricting the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens' to prevent mass shootings 'doesn't work'.

Cruz' comments came as Biden announced it was time to impose gun restrictions, though he stopped short of detailing specific action.

US President Biden said shootings went down when the Clinton administration passed the assault weapons ban, with attacks tripling when the law expired

The US president said he was 'sick and tired' of the cyclical discussion, calling for voters to 'turn this pain into action' to prevent more mass killings.

'The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong,' said Joe Biden, addressing the country on Tuesday night.

Biden said shootings went down when the Clinton administration passed the assault weapons ban, with shootings tripling when the law expired, reported the Washington Post.

In 1994, then-president Bill Clinton signed into law the ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, defined as those that could hold more than 10 rounds.

The bill was in place for a decade until President George W. Bush let it expire, but the US Department of Justice found its impact on shootings was mixed, despite Biden's claim of its effectiveness.

Assault weapons account for 24.6 per cent of public mass shootings, according to Northeastern University professor James Alan Fox.

He later added: 'I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre.'

The president then accused gun makers of spending decades aggressively marketing assault weapons.

The shooting was the deadliest such incident since 14 high school students and three adult staff were killed in Parkland, Florida in 2018 - and the worst at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.
Princess Charlene of Monaco has spoken for the first time about her long battle with ill-health, admitting: 'The path has been long, difficult and very painful.'

The 44-year-old spent almost a year away from the Mediterranean principality in her native South Africa, undergoing treatment for an unspecified condition.

She then booked into a clinic in Switzerland, leading to fears that she would find it hard to return to Royal life with her 64-year-old husband, Prince Albert.

But in a soul-searching interview in the latest edition of Monaco-Matin newspaper, the Princess said she was determined to overcome her problems.

'My state of health is still fragile and I don't want to go too fast,' she said. 'The path has been long, difficult and very painful.'

Princess Charlene of Monaco has spoken for the first time about her long battle with ill-health. She is pictured at Monte Carlo fashion week with her daughter Princess Gabriella

Princess Charlene of Monaco stunned in an ethereal gown on Tuesday as she took her daughter Gabriella, seven, to Monte Carlo Fashion Awards

Referring to her seven-year-old twins, Gabriella and Jacques, Charlene said: 'When I returned to the Principality, I focused all my energy on my children, my husband and my health because they are my priority.'

Denying rumours about a possible divorce or a permanent move to Switzerland, she said: 'I am very happy to be back home in Monaco and with my family.'

She said she was particularly glad to have gone to the Monte Carlo Fashion Awards with Gabriella on Tuesday.

Talking lovingly about her daughter, Charlene said: 'She was not at all nervous, but rather amused that she could take part in a stage show!'

Charlene first fell ill in South Africa in May 2021, during what was meant to be a 10-day visit.

Complications from a sinus operation led to her staying in her native country for 10 months, and there have been rumours about the state of her marriage ever since.

Meanwhile her husband Prince Albert, 64, took Gabriella's twin Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco to attend the traditional Star Team charity football match

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco recently shared a touching family photo with their twins to mark Easter Sunday

Addressing them directly, Charlene told local reporters: 'You want to talk about rumours of divorce, or my new home in Switzerland?'

'I still find it regrettable that certain media peddle such rumours about my life, my relationship,' she said.

'Like everyone else, we are human beings, and like all human beings we have emotions, weaknesses, only our family is exposed to the media and the slightest weakness is relayed.'

There had also been claims by leading French media that Albert had signed an 'ultra-confidential contract' to pay his wife more than 10m a year to fulfil her Royal duties.

But Charlene instead described him as 'my protector,' saying: 'We discussed these malicious articles together and he did everything to protect me and our children.'

Charlene said: 'I'm very happy to be back home in Monaco and with my family. I received so many positive and warm messages when I was away from Monaco, and I thank them for their support.'

Pictured: Albert and Charlene pictured together during her time in South Africa in August 2021

Asked whether Gabriella shared her love for fashion, Charlene said: 'Like all little girls her age, Gabriella loves princess dresses, doing her hair and even trying on my lipsticks. Gabriella has her own style and I like to encourage that individuality.'

There have been reports of a rift between the Prince and Princess ever since their high-profile marriage in 2011.

At the time, Charlene was dubbed the 'Runaway Bride' by the French media after allegedly trying to flee before the wedding, but the reports were always denied.

Distinguished Royal expert Stephane Bern is among those who have speculated that Charlene's health is often used to try and disguise relationship problems.

'The Palace has had to invoke a suffering princess so often that the Monegasques today find it hard to believe,' he wrote in Paris Match last year. 'By crying wolf, the mother of Jacques and Gabriella has discredited and isolated herself.'

Albert was hit with a legal claim for cash by an alleged illegitimate child in December 2020, and soon afterwards Charlene shaved half her head in the style of a punk rocker.

There were allegations that Albert had fathered a love-child with an unnamed Brazilian woman during the time when he and Charlene were already in a relationship.

The woman said she met the Prince in a nightclub in Rio de Janeiro in 2004, and that their daughter, who is now a 16-year-old Brazilian schoolgirl, sent a handwritten note to Albert.

In turn,Albert's legal team branded the allegations 'a hoax, and they never went to court - prompting speculation that the case was settled privately.

The Prince has admitted fathering two other children out of wedlock  Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, who is now 30 and the result of Albert's affair with an American estate agent, and Alexandre Coste, 18, whose mother is a former Togolese air hostess.

Both children were struck off Monaco's line of succession in return for financial settlements.
A police officer who sold threesomes with his paramedic girlfriend for 150-an-hour has been banned from the police for life.

Detective Constable Nicholas Taylor advertised online to meet men for sex at their home in gross misconduct so serious it was 'akin to a criminal offence', a disciplinary panel said.

It was told that Taylor, who worked for West Midlands Police, 'acted as a prostitute' when he and his lover, Eleanor Turner, offered themselves for sex at their Shropshire home.

When bosses realised he was having sex for money Taylor, who had worked for the force for nearly 20 years, said he 'expressing his sexual identity'.

He would later hand in his resignation, something which became effective just one day before a misconduct panel returned a verdict of gross misconduct - an offence that would have seen him sacked.

Detective Constable Nick Taylor (left) and his girlfriend Eleanor Turner (right) sold threesomes for 150-an-hour on the internet

The officer's off-duty activities were exposed in November 2020 by The Sun, which reported that he was offering threesomes at an hourly rate of 150 via an adult website.

At the time DC Taylor, who worked in CID at Bloxwich, Walsall, told the newspaper his clients at his property had ranged in age from 21 to 70 and they had done it 'for years'.

He admitted to being in the 'public sector' to the paper's undercover reporter, adding: 'We get naked, we play and they join in.'

Speaking at the misconduct hearing today, John Goss, representing West Midlands Police, said it had not investigated the allegations in the paper as 'keeping or assisting in the management of a brothel' as it would not have been proportionate.

It was instead alleged Taylor had brought the police service into disrepute and misconducted himself by failing to declare a business interest.

Mr Goss told the hearing in Birmingham: 'The facts in terms of what actually was being done are not disputed.

'Although not investigated as a crime because a decision was taken that it would not be proportionate, it is conduct which does engage the criminal law.

Thee couple were caught selling services at their home in Shropshire by an undercover reporter

'Where there is more than one person selling sexual services from a premises it's a matter of fact... that those premises are likely to be a brothel.

'In and of itself, it (the conduct) brings discredit on the police service.'

Taylor, who is believed to be aged in his early 40s, did not attend his disciplinary hearing but submitted a document describing the allegations as 'part of his private life'.

He also claimed what he had done was not a business interest and that readers' comments left below The Sun's article had been largely supportive, with only a small percentage being negative.

The detective also argued his activities were 'an expression of his sexual identity' and that standards change over time - with what was unacceptable in the 1970s or 1980s now acceptable.

He further submitted the force had taken an over-cautious and 'prudish' approach to his behaviour.

But Mr Goss told the hearing: 'He (Taylor) accepted that he and his partner had met other consenting adults and they had received payment for this.

'We say that the exchange of money for services is quite obviously a business interest.

'It is almost the classic definition of a business interest. Even if it is right that DC Taylor simply never thought about it that way, he ought to have.

'If he had turned his mind to it for a moment, as he should have done, it would have been blindingly obvious that it was going to be an issue.

'In this case the behaviour involved advertising to the general public with pictures of himself that were traceable to who he was. It involved inviting people to his home address who he did not know.

'We say it goes without saying that accepting pay from members of the public in exchange for sexual services is conduct which is capable of bringing the police into disrepute.'

DC Taylor was found guilty of gross misconduct by a West Midlands Police misconduct panel. He would have been sacked had he not resigned before the hearing

The hearing was told Taylor, who had 19 years of police service, was 'already in the last chance saloon' because he had previously received a final written warning for neglect of duties, relating to a witness intimidation case in which statements were shredded rather than uploaded to a police system.

Misconduct panel chairman Harry Ireland was told Taylor had already submitted his resignation, with it becoming effective a day before the hearing.

Finding Taylor guilty of gross misconduct, Mr Ireland said: 'This was a business and therefore fell into the West Midlands Police business interest policy.

'DC Taylor should have sought permission from the force to undertake his activities.'

The misconduct was a deliberate act and not a simple oversight, Mr Ireland said, adding that it was 'akin to a criminal offence' and 'acting as a prostitute'.

The panel chairman added: 'This is not, as DC Taylor claims, a moral judgment on his sexual preferences.

'We find the conduct was a breach of the standards of professional behaviour.

'As far as we could see there was a criminal offence involved, albeit that the appropriate authority chose not to pursue such.'

The misconduct was a significant deviation from instructions, Mr Ireland said, and would have led to the officer's dismissal had he not already resigned.

In a statement after the hearing, West Midlands Police said DC Taylor will now be placed on a barred list, preventing him from working in policing.
Social media has reacted with fury after two student eco-zealots were spared jail and instead fined for the disruption they caused when blocking access to oil terminals.

Louis McKechnie, 21, of Weymouth, Dorset, and Matthew Powell, 22, of Bath, both admitted to aggravated trespass at Exolum Storage in Thurrock, Essex.

McKechnie - who is a regular at Just Stop Oil's protests and bears a resemblance to John Lennon - was ordered to forfeit glue and a chain which he used during disruption on April 11. He was told to pay a total of 339, including a 200 fine.

Powell was ordered to forfeit a D lock which he used during disruption on April 10. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay 127.

Social media reacted with derision to the news the two eco-zealots had escaped a custodial sentence. Others mocked the lenient sentences passed down.

Robert Judd wrote: 'Serial protestors should be prison now!'

Another Twitter user sarcastically added: 'Really had the book thrown at them, one even had to forfeit his glue.'

Just Stop Oil activist Louis McKechnie (pictured last month) has been convicted over a protest

Louis McKechnie (pictured last month) has admitted to aggravated trespass in Thurrock, Essex

Social media reacted with derision to the news the two eco-zealots had escaped a custodial sentence

The maximum sentence for aggravated trespass - an offence under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 - is three months in jail, or a 2,000 fine, or both.

The pair, whose case was heard at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court, are the second and third convictions by Essex Police over the disruption in Thurrock.

Last month, 64-year-old Catherine Maclean admitted at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court to aggravated trespass at an oil terminal in Thurrock. Maclean, of Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, was ordered to pay 409 in fines and costs.

Louis McKechnie is pictured at a Just Stop Oil press conference in Central London on April 5

Essex Police officers monitor an environmental protest by Just Stop Oil in Grays last month

Extinction Rebellion offshoot Just Stop Oil have been campaigning at oil terminals in recent months, demanding that the Government stops new oil and gas projects.

Police hunt Just Stop Oil activist who went on the run before being jailed for taking part in blockade of Kingsbury oil terminal Jake Handling, 27 Police are on the hunt for a Just Stop Oil activist who is facing jail after blockading an oil terminal. On-the-run Jake Handling, 27, is wanted by police after missing a court appearance last week. The long-haired eco-warrior was given a six-week prison sentence - in his absence - after breaching an injunction banning him from entering the Kingsbury Oil Terminal. He was arrested 11 days after the injunction was granted - on April 23 - while protesting outside the oil terminal in Warwickshire. Handling joined a group of 100 Just Stop Oil activists who lay in front of tankers and chained themselves to the gates as part of a protest. He was convicted of breaching the injunction and was sentenced to six weeks in jail in his absence last week. Now police have issued a warrant for his arrest and have issued a mugshot of the eco-zealot, featuring him with a beard and long straggly hair. Advertisement

Assistant Chief Constable Glen Pavelin, of Essex Police, said: 'We have consistently said our priority during this time was to ensure the safety of all those involved in the disruption; be that our own officers, other emergency services colleagues and indeed those causing the disruption.

'Thankfully, in each instance, officers were able to act quickly to ensure the affected sites experienced minimal disruption and fuel supply was not adversely affected.

'We welcome these convictions, which are our second and third respectively, and our investigative teams continue to build cases against a number of others.'

McKechnie and Powell appeared in court yesterday alongside 12 other people, who all denied charges against them.

The 12 defendants are next due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on August 8. A three-day trial has been set for the same court from September 20.

Yesterday, the UK's leading offshore energy body warned eco activists could undermine the country's energy security and hinder its efforts to reach net zero.

Protests, legal action and publicity stunts by organisations including Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil and Greenpeace may deter investment in the North Sea and set back the UK's efforts to cut emissions, according to Offshore Energies UK (OEUK).

Addressing colleagues at the OEUK's annual conference, held in Aberdeen yesterday, chief executive Deirdre Michie said attempts by pressure groups to block further oil and gas investment in UK waters would make the country increasingly dependent on other countries for energy, which could include Russia.

Activists have refuted her comments, claiming it is the country's dependence on fossil fuels that undermines energy security, not the people highlighting the problem.

Ms Michie emphasised the role of oil and gas-derived energy and products for British consumers, noting that emissions are driven by a country's infrastructure, and not by the source of its fuels.
Guanche is currently being held in a Florida jail without bond

told the judge 'it was an argument that just got out of hand. I was not being held against my will'

At Tuesday's hearing, the female victim told the judge 'it was an argument that just got out of hand. I was not being held against my will'

Police said the suspect was fighting with the victim over money issues, when the argument became physical

The female victim is heard on video crying out, 'No! No! as she is being slapped repeatedly, before being dragged by her on the pavement

Frank Andres Guanche, 24, faces charges of kidnapping, aggravated stalking and false imprisonment, and a misdemeanor charge of battery

This is the horrifying moment a 24-year-old man slaps, drags and kidnaps a screaming woman after an argument over money issues.

Frank Andres Guanche allegedly tried to abduct the victim - who has not been named - and bundle her into the back of a car in Haileah, Florida.

Their pair are said to have fallen out over cash but the argument turned violent outside a house on West 12th Avenue and West 79th Street.

The terrified homeowner called cops and Guanche was arrested and charged with kidnapping, aggravated stalking and false imprisonment.

Guanche see in court on Tuesday. Guanache 24, was fighting with a female victim over money issues, when the argument became physical before abducting her and keeping her against her will

During the horrifying ordeal, the female victim, who has not been identified, is heard on the video crying out, 'No! No! as she is being slapped repeatedly. Moments later the suspect is seen outside the Haileah home, located at West 12th Avenue and West 79th Street, dragging the woman on the pavement by her hair as the suspects shoves her into the passenger side of the vehicle

The suspect pulling onto the woman's arms and he moves closer his vehicle that was all caught on the home video camera

Shocking footage of the Monday night attack saw the suspect slap the female victim before she let out a blood-curdling scream.

She shouted 'No! No' as she was repeatedly cracked by the man before being dragged across the pavement by her hair.

The man then chucks her in the passenger seat of an awaiting car before getting behind the wheel and speeding off.

The disturbing scene started in the street outside the home belonging to Hialeah City Council member Monica Perez.

Perez told NBC Miami she heard someone screaming from inside the house and raced to see what was happening.

She said when she pulled up her camera from the Ring app she 'witnessed a vehicle driving off with the door open and someone struggling'.

She immediately contacted the police, who tracked down the suspect and the victim and made an arrest.

The chilling moments Guanche shoves the female victim into passenger seat of his vehicle

Harrowing moments of Guanache showing the female victim into the pasenger seat of his vehicle during the Monday night attack

Police later located the vehicle seen in the video that was located in the area of West Fifth Lane and West 78th Street.

Police said the 24-year-old suspect was fighting with a female victim over money issues, when the argument became physical.

According to the report, the victim exited the vehicle and Guanche began to follow her, and demanded that she get back into the car.

When she would not comply he chased her into a driveway and began to slap her in the face, according to the affidavit, Local10 News reported.

Police said Guanche then grabbed the victim by the hair, in which she fell to the ground, and was dragged by the suspect for at least 25 feet, before she was forced into the vehicle and kept against her will It is unclear what relationship the victim had with the suspect.

On Tuesday, at Guanche's hearing, the woman in the video, who asked to remain anonymous, told the judge 'it was an argument that just got out of hand. I was not being held against my will'.

This was despite the judge stating that it was all serious criminal charges, Local 10 News reported.

The victim had visible redness and scratch marks on her maintained Guanche had nothing to do with those marks, according to the arrest report.

Speaking out, the victim told the news outlet that she 'did not feel endangered around him [Guanche].

'I'm not excusing anybody's actions,' she said. ' I'm just here to state that he did not kidnap me or abduct me. I did not feel endangered around

She continued: 'He did take me to the car, he did drag me to the car, but he did not lay his fingers on me, as I told the police officers,' she said.

When DailyMail.com contacted the Hialeah Police Department they did not respond to our request for comment.

Guanche is being held in a Florida jail without bond.
Former Congress leader Kapil Sibal with Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav as he files his nomination papers for Rajya Sabha with the latter's support, at Vidhan Bhawan in Lucknow. Also seen is Sibal's wife Promila Sibal (L). (PTI/Nand Kumar)

New Delhi: In a major setback to the Congress, senior leader Kapil Sibal has quit the party and filed his nomination as an Independent candidate from Uttar Pradesh in the coming Rajya Sabha elections. He is supported by the Samajwadi Party, which is expected to get three Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh. Mr Sibal arrived in Lucknow Wednesday morning and before filing his nomination papers as an Independent candidate met senior Samajwadi Party leaders, including party president Akhilesh Yadav. Mr Yadav and other SP leaders were present when Mr Sibal filed his nomination papers.

Speaking to the media after filing his nomination, Mr Sibal said: I have filed my nomination as an Independent candidate. I have always wanted to be an independent voice in the country. We (the Opposition) want to create an alliance so we can oppose the (Narendra) Modi government.

Mr Sibal then added: I was a Congress leader. But not anymore. I had resigned from the Congress on May 16. I will not say anything about the Congress It is not appropriate for me to say anything. Its not easy to leave a relationship of 30-31 years.

After Mr Sibal filed his nomination, Mr Akhilesh Yadav said: Kapil Sibal is a senior lawyer. He has presented his opinions well in Parliament. We hope he will present the opinions of both the SP as well as himself.

Insiders claim that the Congress high command was in touch with Mr Sibal after his resignation on May 16, and trying to ensure that the matter could be resolved. Mr Sibal had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of his predicament, and reluctance to continue within the party. AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also met Mr Sibal, and sources said it was a gracious and frank meeting about the future of the Congress. But after several overtures, Mr Sibal had made up his mind and the parting was pleasant.

Mr Sibal was one of the key voices in the G-23 change seekers group. He was the first one to categorically state that the Gandhis should hand over the leadership and come in a mentoring role for the party. Earlier, his home had been gheraoed by Congress workers over some utterances on the functioning of the Congress. In a press conference, Mr Sibal had said that their group was G-23 and Ji Huzoor 23, that irked some Congress leaders.

Recently, most of the other G-23 members, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, have been accommodated by the party in various capacities. This is the fifth high-profile exit from the Congress this year. The list includes former Union ministers Ashwani Kumar and R.P.N. Singh, and Sunil Jakhar from Punjab and Hardik Patel from Gujarat. Even after the party held a chintan shivir in Udaipur recently, the series of departures are continuing. While the Congress seems to have mastered the art of not appearing bothered over such exits in the last couple of months, the list just keeps on growing.

There are two important Assembly elections due later this year -- in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. If the Congress cannot get its house in order, trouble will only mount for the party.
A registered sex offender who threatened to 'ruin' a teacher with false rape claims in a 600 blackmail plot has been jailed for two years.

Brandon Foskett texted the man he would tell his school and the police that he had raped two former students unless he handed over cash.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 24-year-old and his target were strangers to each other but Foskett found out his personal information through the removal work he was doing at the time.

Foskett, who had wanted money for drugs and alcohol, used his own phone and bank account to carry out the con and was quickly found out.

While being monitored for a Risk of Sexual Harm Order, he also fled 200 miles away from Newcastle to work as a porter at a tourist hotel in Scotland last year.

He was then released after serving his 10-month sentence on remand earlier this year.

Foskestt has now been jailed for two years over this latest offence after pleading guilty to blackmail.

Brandon Foskett (pictured), who is a registered sex offender, warned his victim in sinister text messages that his employer and the police would receive a report that he had raped two former students unless he handed over cash

Prosecutor Barry Robson told the court: 'The complainant received a message, a text message, which read he would be putting in a report to the education establishment and also Northumbria Police that you raped two females and the two females would be writing a statement and going to court.'

Foskett had warned in one message: 'Think you should get out of this one by sending 600 to my details below. Don't ask questions, do it or I will ruin you. Don't test me lad, I know who you are and I have a lot to take you down.'

The court heard a second message followed, which contained account details.

Mr Robson added: 'The complainant initially tried to laugh the messages off but became concerned this person knew personal details about him and had mentioned the educational establishment where he used to work.'

The court heard the victim contacted the police and the number used was traced to Foskett, who had given it as his contact for his notification requirements for the Sex Offenders Register.

The account details given during the blackmail matched a bank card Foskett was carrying.

Newcastle Crown Court (pictured) heard the 24-year-old and his target were strangers to each other but Foskett had managed to find out personal information that he could use in the scam through his removal work

The court also heard Foskett, of Park Road, Newcastle, was given a prison sentence earlier this year for working as a porter at a tourist hotel in Scotland without informing the authorities that he had a job or had left his home area.

Judge Penny Moreland has now sentenced him to two years behind bars with a five year restraining order to protect the victim.

She told Foskett: 'Blackmail is a particularly nasty offence. During the course of your work as a removal man you learned something of the person who was to become your victim and in particular you learned he taught at a particular educational establishment.

'When you needed money for drugs and alcohol you texted that person. You threatened that two false allegations of rape would be made against him by people he had taught at that educational establishment.

'I accept the blackmail was short lived and unsophisticated, your identity was easily found but I regard the nature of the menaces, that is, threats to make false allegations of rape against someone who works in an educational establishment, was particularly serious, given the potential damage to that person's character and reputation, professional and private life.'

Jamie Adams, defending, said Foskett was traced 'easily' by the police and has a series of problems including ADHD, Asperger's and dyslexia.

Mr Adams added: 'He was drinking and taking drugs and not thinking of the consequences of what he had been doing.'
English-learning children are being treated as 'second-class citizens' in Wales, says parents who are being forced to drive them miles to other schools if they don't want to be taught in Welsh.

New pupils face having to be shuttled by their mothers and fathers by car out of their home villages over the hard-line policy.

The problem has been sparked by the Welsh Government's Cymraeg 2050 Strategy, which aims to have a million speaking Welsh in 28 years' time.

Council staff  in their eagerness to pursue the plan  have left many children unable to attend their nearest school.

It is perfectly captured in the pretty village of Trefeglwys, where Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon school has just axed its English-medium element  after approval from Powys County Council.

From September parents who live there and want their newly-starting children to learn in English will have to take them to Ysgol Gynradd Llanidloes Primary School five miles away at their own cost.

But in the reverse situation  pupils wanting to learn in Welsh but whose local school does not provide that  the council foots the bill for their transport.

A parent, who wants their child to be taught in English, told MailOnline: 'This is treating our children as second-class citizens.

'It is biased at best. At worst the council is using children to force them to learn Welsh.

'We all live in Wales, we all like the Welsh language and if our children could learn as well using it, we would have no problem at all.

Caroline Harries, the head teacher of Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon, which she calls 'a special place where we value every child' did not have any part in the decision being made

Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon was previously a dual-media school but now only teaches in Welsh

'But the fact is, not all children do learn as well in Welsh  and those that want to learn in English are being penalised by this hardline language push.

'There will be hundreds of children across the country affected by this  it is not fair.'

In Trefeglwys there is no suitable public transport and no school bus laid on for the young would-be English learners.

Caroline Harries, the head teacher of Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon, had no part in making the decision.

It means parents face costs up to 10 a day by having to drive their youngsters elsewhere.

The nearest Ysgol Gynradd Llanidloes Primary School teaches in mainly English but also includes Welsh language classes, as does every school in Wales.

During the consultation on the school teaching language change, the council said it did not think the move was discriminatory.

The nearest Ysgol Gynradd Llanidloes Primary School, pictured, teaches in mainly English

What is the ambitious Cymraeg 2050 plan? The Welsh Government wants to see the number of people able to enjoy speaking and using Welsh reach a million by 2050. It admits it will be a challenging ambition. The government announced the strategy on the fiftieth anniversary of the first Welsh Language Act in 1967. It said: 'We now live in different times and the status of Welsh is enshrined in legislation made in Wales. 'The 2011 Census results presented us with an opportunity to have frank conversations and re-evaluate the future that we want to see for the language. Things need to change. We need to renew our energy, be systematic in our approach to planning, and improve collaboration in order to secure the legacy our language deserves.' Despite the hardline it and some councils are taking, it admits it cannot insist that parents and carers use the Welsh language with their children. The government added: 'Education is central to our vision, but we must ensure our young people come out of the education system ready and proud to use the language in all contexts.' Advertisement

It insisted it was based on what it described as a 'small number of pupils' currently accessing the English-medium stream at Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon.

But it went on to admit its 'priority is to increase the number of pupils accessing Welsh-medium provision, to increase the number of Powys pupils that are fully bilingual in Welsh and English'.

The Welsh Government wants to see the number of people able to enjoy speaking and using Welsh reach a million by 2050.

It admits the Cymraeg 2050 Strategy will be a 'challenging ambition' but it insists it is needed to save the Welsh language.

A spokesperson for Powys County Council told MailOnline: 'In September 2021, the Council agreed to proceed with gradually changing the language category of Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon, Trefeglwys from dual stream to Welsh-medium on a phased basis from September 2022. This would mean that eventually, all pupils attending the school will be taught through the medium of Welsh and will be fluent in Welsh and English, contributing to the Welsh Government's aspiration to achieve a million Welsh speakers by 2050. The current dual stream model means that whilst pupils attending the Welsh-medium stream become fully bilingual, fluent in both Welsh and English, whilst pupils attending the English-medium stream do not.

'The process to change the school's language category was started due to the small number of pupils choosing the English-medium stream at the school, which has reduced significantly over the last few years.

'Consultation was carried out as part of the process, and having considered the issues raised, the Council decided to proceed with the change.

'To minimise the impact on any pupils already attending the school, the change to the school's language category is being introduced on a phased basis as current pupils move through the school. Any new pupils joining the school in the future will be able to access Welsh-medium provision when they start school, meaning that they will be fully immersed in the Welsh language, and would have the Welsh language skills needed to access Welsh-medium provision throughout their time in school. Across Wales, a significant proportion of pupils that access Welsh-medium education come from homes where no Welsh is spoken, and this does not impact on their ability to succeed in their education. Pupils from families who do not speak Welsh are welcomed at all Welsh-medium schools in Powys and throughout Wales.

'Whilst acknowledging that some pupils may choose to access English-medium provision elsewhere instead of accessing Welsh-medium provision at Trefeglwys, the Council's hope is that all pupils living in Trefeglwys will access Welsh-medium provision at Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon. However, parents are entitled to apply for a place in any school they choose, and can apply for a place at an alternative English-medium school should they not want their children to attend Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon.

'Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon is one of four primary schools in the Llanidloes catchment. Whilst Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon will become a Welsh-medium primary school, the three other primary schools in the catchment, all of which are located within a few miles of Ysgol Dyffryn Trannon, are English-medium. It is correct that under the Council's current home-to-school transport policy, pupils living in Trefeglwys would not receive transport to English-medium provision should they live closer to Welsh-medium provision.'
Jill Biden and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy greeted the second overseas shipment of baby formula into the US on Wednesday with the first lady vowing President Joe Biden's administration won't stop working until parents have all the food they need for their infants.

'I'm here today to say to parents, you aren't alone at the highest levels of Joe's administration. He and his team understand what you're going through and they are finding solutions. And they won't stop until all parents can get the formula all their children need,' she said.

Biden and Murthy were at Dulles International Airport, just outside of Washington D.C., to see the 100,00 pounds of baby forumla being unloaded, equivalent to 1 million 8-ounce bottles.

From Dulles, the formula will be transported to a Nestle facility in Pennsylvania via cargo trucks.

The infant formula was flown in under the administration's Operation Fly Formula, which is bringing in baby food to cover the shortage in the United States.

Jill Biden and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy greeted the second overseas shipment of baby formula into the US

Jill Biden vowed her husband's administration 'won't stop until all parents can get the formula all their children need'

Shipment arriving at Dulles International Airport contained 100,00 pounds of baby forumla - equivalent to 1 million 8-ounce bottles

'I want every parent who is concerned about the formula supply chain challenge to know something for a lot of people across the administration including myself. This is a deeply personal issue. I have two small kids at home,' Murthy said.

'And it was just a few years ago that my own son was on infant formula. I know firsthand just how important it is to parents that they have confidence in their ability to safely and securely feed their child and I know how frustrating and scary it can be when that security is out of reach. That is why we will not rest until every parent has the formula they need for their child,' he added.

Biden also thanked the pilots who flew the shipment and the cargo workers at Dulles who unloaded it. She posed for photos with the group.

The shipment from Ramstein Air Force base in Germany contains 114 pallets of Gerber Good Start Extensive HA infant formula. This is the remainder of the 1.5 million bottles of three formulas - Alfamino Infant, Alfamino Junior, and Gerber Good Start Extensive HA - the administration was bringing in this week from Europe.

They are speciality hypoallergenic formulas for children with cow's milk protein allergy.

These formulas have been prioritized because they serve a critical medical purpose and are in short supply in the United States because of the Abbott Sturgis plant closure, the White House said.

Wednesday's shipment was the second round of formual brought in under the administration's 'Operation Fly Formula' initiative.

Over the weekend roughly 78,000 pounds of baby formula was flown into Indianapolis, Indiana from Ramstein Air Base in Germany in the first installment.

The president also invoked the Defense Production Act forcing suppliers to prioritize directing resources to infant formula production above all other contracts.

The crisis began when Abbott Nutrition, the nation's biggest manufactuer of infant formula, had to close its Michiigan plant over bacterial contamination.

The Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday that it has launched an inquiry into the formula shortage.

The agency said it also aims to shed light on what led to the concentration in the baby formula market and the weak supply chains.

Abbott officials said Tuesday they expect to restart the plant on June 4 and begin shipping new formula to stores about three weeks later.

Additionally, lawmakers are holding three hearings on the issue this week, calling on company executives, government regulators and outside experts to testify on the shortage.

Nearly 98% of baby formual is manufactured domestically. Four companies account for roughly 90% of the market: Abbott, Reckitt, Nestle and Perrigo.

Meanwhile, Jill Biden came under fire last week after she and Murthy recorded a public service announcement about the crisis.

'Becoming a mom or dad means falling in love deeper than you ever thought possible and in those first few months of sleepless nights, of endless diapers and dirty dishesand worrying about every little danger, your love can feel like the only thing that keeps you going,' Dr. Biden, 70, said in the PSA.

'I want you to know that you're doing an incredible jobeven if you don't always feel that way. And I know you are worried about how you are going to feed your baby. The President sees you, he hears you, and his team is working around the clock to get you what you need.'

The First Lady's message - which comes just days after her predecessor, Melania Trump, slammed the Biden Administration's response to the crisis - was met with heavy criticisms on Twitter from frantic mothers and fathers wade through empty grocery shelves in a struggle to find food for their babies.

'What a load of c**p. Basically you're saying, if your baby can hang on for however long, you may have formula produced in another country?' one concerned citizen penned. 'This message shares ZERO about help from the shortage. Babies cannot go without it.'

Jill Biden thanks workers and the pilots

From Dulles, the formula will be shipped to a Nestle facility in Pennsylvania

The PSA aired before the administration announced Operation Fly Formula.

'You should know that the president has been working tirelessly to increase the supply. He's worked with manufacturers to increase their production capacity,' Murthy said in the announcement.

'He's also worked those same manufacturers and the FDA to get the closed factory back online with strict safety standards. And finally, he's worked with the FDA and partners to import supply from abroad safely.'

Biden added: 'Most of all, know that we're here for you and you're not alone.'
America may have narrowly avoided a second tragic shooting on Tuesday after a pupil brought a gun to an elementary school in Sacramento, it has emerged.

Police have launched an investigation after being called to the scene at Edward Kemble Elementary, where officers secured a firearm and a loaded magazine.

The lethal weapon had been brought in by a second-grade pupil, meaning they were aged seven or eight, and was found hidden in their desk, reported CBS.

It is not yet clear what the student's motives for bringing the gun to school were.

The shock find came as 1,600 miles away, Salvador Ramos, 18, was embarking on a killing spree, taking the innocent lives of 19 pupils and two teachers at the Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

The alarm had been raised at the school in Sacramento when students alerted teachers to the gun and law enforcement was immediately called.

The school has around 560 students, 91 per cent of whom come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

In a message to parents, the Sacramento City Unified School District said: 'It is our promise to you that we will do all that we can to learn from today's experience so that we can keep your child and our schools safe.

'We are grateful that this incident did not result in a tragedy such as those that districts have experienced, including today's tragic and senseless mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.

Police have launched an investigation after being called to the scene at Edward Kemble Elementary (pictured), where officers secured the weapon and its loaded magazine

The lethal weapon had been brought in by a second-grade pupil and was found hidden in his desk, reported CBS (Stock image)

'This is due in large part to the bravery and awareness of the students who came forward and alerted staff at Kemble today.'

Sacramento City Unified is said to be cooperating with police as the investigation develops.

It comes as the massacre at Robb Elementary has reignited the debate around gun control.

The shock shooting came just months ahead of the 10 year anniversary of Sandy Hook, the deadliest shooting in US history, which saw 20 children and six adults killed in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

Addressing the nation yesterday, President Joe Biden said it was 'time to act.'

He said: 'When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?

'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?

'It is time to turn this pain to the action, for every parent, every citizen of this country.

'We have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: it's time to act.

'It's time for those who obstruct or delay or blocked the common sense gun laws  we need to let you know that we will not forget.'

It comes as it was today revealed that Uvalde School officials had been monitoring its students' social media pages using an advanced AI-based service called Social Sentinel, designed to recognize signals of potential harm found in digital conversations.

The district revealed it had been using the platform 'to monitor all social media with a connection to Uvalde as a measure to identify any possible threats that might be made against students and or staff within the school district.'

Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, fatally shot 19 children and two adults in Tuesday's shooting. Ramos shared photos of guns to social media in the days leading up to the massacre

This photo of two AR15-style rifles appeared on Ramos' Instagram account just three days before the massacre at Robb Elementary school. He then shared it in a tagged post hours before the shooting

The teen also shared an image to Instagram of him holding the magazine of a rifle. His account was taken down shortly after Governor Greg Abbott confirmed his name

According to its creators, the service - powered by advanced linguistics technology - scans and analyzes digital content to pick out and flag potential safety and security risks, as well as mental health and social and emotional concerns.

The software scans selected digital content - in this case, thousands of students' social media accounts - and identifies language that fit those criteria.

What is Social Sentinel? The media tracking service that failed to spot Texas shooter's gun posts on Instagram Social Sentinel is a linguistics technology service used by the Uvalde School District that tracks users' social media activity, flagging it if it finds the content to be concerning. The company primarily analyzes profiles of students, and seek 'to improve school violence prevention and awareness' with the tech, which is used by districts across the country. According to its creators, the service - powered by advanced linguistics technology - scans and analyzes digital content to pick out and flag potential safety and security risks, as well as mental health and social and emotional concerns. The software scans selected digital content - in this case, thousands of students' social media accounts - and identifies language that fit those criteria. The powerful tech is designed to then alerts leaders if a community member is showing signs of crisis, so they can intervene before an incident occurs. The service scans threatening images, along with its associated text, before determining whether it is something community leaders should look into. It is not immediately clear why the technology failed to flag gunman Salvador Ramos' posts, which contained photos of guns and ammo used in Tuesday's attack - the worst school shooting in a decade. Advertisement

The powerful technology is designed to then alerts leaders if a community member is showing signs of crisis, so they can intervene before an incident occurs.

The service also scans threatening images, along with its associated text, before determining whether it is something community leaders should look into.

However, in this particular instance, the technology fell short - failing to spot Ramos' objectively concerning posts and notify district officials.

It is not immediately clear why the technology failed to flag Ramos' posts. DailyMail.com reached out to Social Sentinel and Uvalde district staffers for comment on the software's apparent failure Wednesday morning, but did not immediately hear back.

Students and parents also failed to spot the post from the troubled student, who was described as a bullied loner who slowly dropped out of school due to teasing about his lisp, habit of wearing eyeliner, clothes and his family's poverty

Uvalde district policy encourages '[s]tudents, parents, staff, and community members are encouraged to share information that is deemed troubling' with the district using a reporting system' so that it can 'take appropriate action.'

Those who knew Ramos or his relatives say he was a 'nice' but 'quiet' boy who grew increasingly violent as he became older, amid relentless bullying both in school and online.

Santos Valdez told the Washington Post that he used to be friends with Ramos and played online shooter games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty with him, until the pair stopped talking as Ramos's behaviour 'deteriorated.'

Valdez said Ramos had showed up to the park one time with cuts all over his face, initially claiming he was scratched by a cat before admitting that he did it to himself with a knife.

Stephen Garcia, who considered himself Ramoss best friend in eighth grade, said he was 'bullied by a lot of people' including for over a photo of himself wearing eyeliner which led to 'gay' taunts. Garcia said Ramos dropped out of school when he moved away to another part of the state, and the two had lost touch.
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This is the moment RAF Typhoons were spotted roaring through the Peak District at low level just like Tom Cruise in his new Top Gun movie.

In a scene reminiscent of the Hollywood blockbuster, three fighter jets just a few hundred feet apart from each other tore through the picturesque national park in Derbyshire last Thursday.

The breathtaking sight was captured on camera by grandfather Richard Bowring, who snapped the planes as they zoomed over his head near the village of Hathersage.

All three aircraft were being put through their paces by their pilots, leaving the retired telecommunications engineer and amateur photographer as a delighted spectator.

Insignia on the aircraft indicate they were from the RAF's No41 Squadron, which is the Typhoon Test and Evaluation squadron based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

Richard, from Stoney Middleton in Derbyshire, said he had been hoping to spot a different aircraft when he saw the jets in the distance.

The three RAF Typhoons were spotted roaring through the air near the village of Hathersage in the Peak District last Thursday

The aircraft, which are based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, flew at low level above the countryside in Derbyshire, wowing spectators

It was a scene reminiscent of the new Top Gun movie starring Tom Cruise, a series famous for its dramatic scenes showing fighter jets in the air. The insignia of No41 Squadron can be seen on the tail wing of this aircraft

Richard Bowring said he had been in the national park expecting to see a different aircraft, but as he was about to give up he spotted the three Typhoons in the distance

The fighter jets can be used by the RAF for both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, and are capable of breaking the sound barrier

RAF Eurofighter Typhoon Crew: 1/2 Length: 52 ft Wingspan: 35 ft Empty weight: 24,251 lb Gross weight: 35,274 lb Max takeoff weight: 51,809 lb Powerplant: 2 x Eurojet EJ200 afterburning turbofan engines Max speed: 1,320 mph Range: 1,800 miles Combat range: 863 miles Service ceiling: 65,000 ft Armaments: Guns: 1 x 27 mm Mauser BK-27 revolver cannon with 150 rounds Hardpoints: Total of 13, 8 x under-wing; and 5 x under-fuselage pylon stations; holding in excess of 19,800 lb of payload. Advertisement

'I'd been hoping to picture an Airbus Atlas A400 which I'd seen on a flight tracking app,' he said.

'When it hadn't appeared after 20 minutes I was thinking about going home when I suddenly saw three dots in the distance.

'I could hear the roar of their engines as they got closer and I just started taking pictures.

'They were flying quite low to the ground and were just a few hundred feet apart when they banked back round through the valley.

'It was very exciting and it's unusual to see three so close together.

'They often practice manoeuvres over Derwent Reservoir and I've found a good place to take pictures of them as they come through the valley.

'As the planes flew past me almost at eye level I was able to take some very clear pictures of the pilots inside the cockpits.

'It was a bit like watching the real-life Top Guns.'

Built by BAE Systems, the Eurofighter Typhoon is designed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.

It is capable of reaching speeds of up to 1,320 mph, fast enough to break the sound barrier and cause sonic booms that can shake windows from miles away.

In February people across the North West of England had the windows of their homes rattled when a Typhoon went supersonic.

The jet was off the coast of Southport, Merseyside, when it created a huge bang as it broke the speed of sound.

BAE Systems said the aircraft, which took off from RAF Coningsby, was part of flight testing alongside the RAF and apologised for any alarm caused.

The firm said the Typhoon - registered as Apollo 11 - had been operating in an offshore range area but the sound may have travelled due to 'climatic conditions'.

The jet was part of the Typhoon development programme, which is part of the UK's attempts at safeguarding national security.

The three aircraft were put through their paces by the pilots, performing manoeuvres in the air at low level while staying just hundreds of metres apart from each other

Richard said: 'When it hadn't appeared after 20 minutes I was thinking about going home when I suddenly saw three dots in the distance. I could hear the roar of their engines as they got closer and I just started taking pictures'

He added: 'It was very exciting and it's unusual to see three so close together. They often practice manoeuvres over Derwent Reservoir and I've found a good place to take pictures of them as they come through the valley'
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Twitter users reacted to Kate Moss' lightning testimony in Johnny Depp's $100million defamation trial lauding the timeless supermodel for 'debunking 20 years of gossip' in just under four minutes in court.

Her brief remarks on Wednesday suggested that there is long-lasting mutual appreciation between the ex-90s 'it' couple.

Moss effectively refuted Amber Heard's claim that Depp had Moss pushed down a flight of stairs while they were on vacation in Jamaica.

Heard had previously told the court, in an apparent attempt to justify once striking Depp, that she had 'thought of Kate Moss and the stairs, then swung at Johnny,' claiming she feared Depp would push her sister down the stairs during a violent argument.

The decades-old rumor was seemingly put to rest by Moss, who on live video from Gloucestershire, England, said, 'I had a relationship with him,' and confirmed she and Depp were a couple from 1994 to 1998.

Moss said she went on a vacation with Depp to the Goldeneye resort in Jamaica, where the rumored attack on her was said to have occurred.

She proceeded to flatly deny it and recounted what she says really happened.

'We were leaving the room and Johnny left the room before I did. There had been a rainstorm and as I left the room I slid down the stairs. I hurt my back. And I screamed because I didn't know what had happened to me and I was in pain.

'He came running back to help me, carried me to my room and got me medical attention.'

Moss was pressed by Depp's attorney, Benjamin Chew, who asked, 'Did Mr. Deep push you in any way down the stairs?'

'No' she said, shaking her head from side to side.

'During the course of the relationship did he ever push you down any stairs?' Chew insisted.

'No,' Moss said again. 'He never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs.'

Chew asked Moss why she had decided to testify in support of Depp but an objection to the question by Heard's lawyer was sustained by the judge.

There was massive anticipation for Moss's appearance, as the famously private model rarely discusses her personal life with the media.

The testimony sparked an array of reactions on Twitter.

Moss was branded a 'model of love' who came to Depp's rescue almost 25 years after their relationship ended, and her 'short but sweet, no-nonsense, to-the-point' appearance was applauded.

User @lifeisasoundtrack tweeted: 'Kate Moss: *logs on. You're a f****** liar and keep my name out your mouth. *Log off. That's basically what happened.'

'Kate Moss testified in like 4 minutes debunked years of Amber Heard's rumor about Johnny pushing her down the stairs,' fellow user @busyxxchick agreed.

Kate Moss told Johnny Depp 's $100million defamation trial that he never pushed her down the stairs

Moss was appearing as a witness for Depp during a stage of the trial known as rebuttal, where he gets to challenge Heard's allegations

User @lifeisasoundtrack tweeted: 'Kate Moss: *logs on. You're a f****** liar and keep my name out your mouth. *Log off. That's basically what happened'

Moss' brief testimony Wednesday proved there is a long-lasting mutual appreciation between the 90s IT couple, when she shut down Heard's claim that Depp had pushed her while they were dating

Twitter used made light of the situation and shared memes

'Kate Moss testified in like 4 minutes debunked years of Amber Heard's rumor about Johnny pushing her down the stairs,' fellow user @busyxxchick agreed

And shared their excitement after Moss' appearance

Others jumped to theorize how Moss' appearance affected Amber Heard, who opened the door to Moss' testimony by claiming she feared Depp would push her sister down the stairs during a violent argument

Twitter user @DeGreer reacted: 'Kate Moss effectively told us that Johnny Depp did like James Bond at Goldeneye resort in Jamaica and carried her up the stairs to her room and called for medical help. #gentleman'

Moss' concise testimony was regarded as effective and her 'grace and elegance' were highlighted by users who cheered the way she conveyed her support for Depp in just a few minutes.

Arya Mishra also tweeted: 'That Kate Moss testimony was arguably the shortest and most effective testimony ever.'

'Kate Moss is a Queen!!! Bless her for everything! Just epic and 10000% straight up no nonsense,' another user wrote.

'Kate Moss appearance was short but effective in my opinion. All they need her for is to shut down ant speculation that JD ever hurt her,' @loveyourselfBTS agreed.

'Kate Moss appearance was short but effective in my opinion. All they need her for is to shut down ant speculation that JD ever hurt her,' @loveyourselfBTS tweeted

Moss' concise testimony was regarded as effective and her 'grace and elegance' were highlighted by users who cheered the way she conveyed her support for Depp in just a few minutes

Twitter user @DeGreer reacted: 'Kate Moss effectively told us that Johnny Depp did like James Bond at Goldeneye resort in Jamaica and carried her up the stairs to her room and called for medical help. #gentleman

She was applauded by fans of Johnny Depp

'And with that, #katemoss just debunked a lifelong gossip. If only for the sake of DV real victims, this trial has been crucial. #justiceforjohnnydepp,' a user wrote

Seldom complained about the short duration of the testimony: 'All that hype over the Kate Moss testimony and she was there less than 5 minutes

According to Heard, there was a rumor that Depp had once done the same thing to Moss and it came to her mind.

Rossana Wright tweeted: Amber Heard will never get over those few seconds of listening to Kate Moss defend Johnny Depp and destroy all of her lies. #AmberHeardlsAnAbuser #JusticeForJohnnyDepp She is still having a jealous meltdown right now, still fidgeting via her body language & facial expressions.

'Yes, #KateMoss, #shannoncurry, #CamilleVasquez, my ladies! Let's poke the final holes in all of #amberheard's stories. When you play with fire, you sometimes get burned. And Amber is going to need a medic after this trial,' another user tweeted.

Although succinct, Moss' appearance gave Twitter users plenty of material to comment about.

'And with that, #katemoss just debunked a lifelong gossip. If only for the sake of DV real victims, this trial has been crucial. #justiceforjohnnydepp,' a user wrote.

Seldom complained about the short duration of the testimony: 'All that hype over the Kate Moss testimony and she was there less than 5 minutes.'

Kate Moss, 48, who dated Johnny Depp (pictured together in 1995) from 1994 until 1998, appeared at the actor's defamation trial via live video Wednesday

Moss was at the height of her fame when she began her intense relationship with Depp who was a teen idol thanks to his roles in films like Edward Scissorhands. Both of them were notorious for their drink and drug use and became known as the 'chicest, druggiest couple in LA'

According to Heard, there was a rumor that Depp had once done the same thing to Moss and it came to her mind during an argument

Moss was appearing as a witness for Depp during a stage of the trial known as rebuttal, where he gets to challenge Heard's allegations.

Moss was at the height of her fame when she began her intense relationship with Depp who was a teen idol thanks to his roles in films like Edward Scissorhands.

Both of them were notorious for their drink and drug use and became known as the 'chicest, druggiest couple in LA.'

Among their favorite hangouts was the Viper Room in Los Angeles, which Depp owned, where they partied with the likes of Jared Leto, Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron.

Moss later said that she 'cried for years' over the breakup, after which her drug use escalated and eventually led her to rehab.

'There's nobody that's ever really been able to take care of me. Johnny did for a bitI believed what he said,' Moss told Vanity Fair in 2012. 'Like if I said, ''What do I do?'' he'd tell me. And that's what I missed when I left.

'I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust. Nightmare. Years and years of crying. Oh, the tears!'

Depp also admitted that he 'had never been so emotional about a woman before Moss,' and that he had been 'so stupid because [they] had so much going for [their] relationship.'

'I'm the one who has to take responsibility for what happened. I was difficult to get on with, I let my work get in the way and I didn't give her the attention I should have done,' he told HELLO! magazine in 1998.

After the testimony, a source close to Heard said, 'So Johnny Depp didn't abuse Kate Moss. That makes him 1 for 2 in the abuse column.

'But, to date, he's 0 for 1 in the courtroom on the central issue in this case back when he lost the same exact case in England. And when the jury deliberates over the singular issue in this case - whether Amber Heard can exercise her right of Freedom of Speech - he'll be 0 for 2, no matter how much his lawyers try to distract and divert the jury's attention.'

Johnny Depp's ex-girlfriend Kate Moss (pictured together in the 1990s) is gearing up to take the stand in his trial against Amber Heard on Wednesday

During Heard's testimony, the actress alleged that Depp once shoved Moss down a flight of stairs - however, sources close to the actor said Depp actually 'tended' to Moss after she accidentally slipped and fell down the stairs. The couple is pictured together in 1995

Dr. Shannon Curry - an expert witness for Depp - said that there were 'clear indications' that Heard was suffering from a personality disorder despite the actress' own expert denying it

Depp's forensic psychologist insisted that Amber Heard does suffer from a personality disorder after being recalled to the stand on Wednesday.

Dr. Shannon Curry - an expert witness for Depp - said that there were 'clear indications' that Heard was suffering from a personality disorder despite the actress' own expert denying it.

In her previous testimony Dr. Curry diagnosed Heard with borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder.

Heard called her own forensic psychologist as an expert witness, Dr. Dawn Hughes, who rejected Dr. Curry's claims and said that Heard was suffering from PTSD.

Dr. Curry said that Dr. Hughes used checklists in her analysis that are 'not appropriate for forensic settings' and are 'easily exploited'.

One example was the checklist given to Heard by Dr. Hughes about PTSD which is the most frequently claimed and feigned' mental trauma.

According to Dr. Curry, giving Heard a checklist of the symptoms was like 'teaching (her) all the little nuances to get that diagnosis'

Heard 'ticked most of the items' which led to her being diagnosed by Dr. Hughes with PTSD.

Dr. Curry said: 'A person being evaluated will have a major incentive to benefit the outcome of their case.

'You always approach examinations with a healthy dose of skepticism.'

Fans seen in dinosaur costumes posted up outside the courtroom to grab Depp's attention as he entered the Fairfax courthouse

Early Wednesday morning, fans continue to wait in long lines to get wristbands for the Depp-Heard trial

Early Wednesday morning, fans continued to wait in long lines to get wristbands for the trial.

They passed the time trying to sleep wrapped up in blankets on the ground, playing cards, or chatting with new friends.

Early arrivals bided their time across the street before rushing across the courthouse lawn to secure a place in line when the Fairfax County Sheriff's Department finally allowed them on the premises.

Some, still in their sweatpants, did their makeup as 7am approached - the moment when sheriff's deputies hand out the wristbands that are the fans' prized tickets into the courtroom.

After all the wristbands are distributed, those who didn't get in traipse to the back of the courthouse, hoping for the next best thing: a glimpse of Johnny Depp when he arrives for court.
An anti-monarchy pressure group has provoked fury after putting up billboards calling for Britain to 'Make Elizabeth the last' - just days before the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Republic published images of two of the posters which were seen being displayed in different locations in the UK.

Beneath the main strapline, the posters show images of disgraced Prince Andrew, along with Prince William and Prince Charles.

They are part of a campaign named '#AbolishTheMonarchy', which has been paid for by more than 43,000 of crowdfunding.

Republic claims posters have so far been put up in cities including Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Birmingham.

They come just days before the country celebrates Her Majesty's 70-year rule over the Platinum Jubilee Weekend at the start of next month.

Reacting to Republic's tweets about the posters, many Britons were critical, with one branding them 'pathetic'.

Another said the adverts were the 'stupidest waste of money' they had ever seen, whilst a third wrote that the group will be 'outnumbered many times over' at the jubilee celebrations next weekend.

Anti-monarchy pressure group Republic has provoked fury after putting up billboards calling for Britain to 'Make Elizabeth the last' - just days before the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations

Beneath the main strapline, the posters show images of disgraced Prince Andrew, along with Prince William and Prince Charles

The campaigning group first introduced the controversial billboards back in late July last year.

They claim on their funding page: 'As we approach the end of the Queen's reign the country needs an honest, grown-up debate about the monarchy.

'We need to stop and ask ourselves: Can't we just choose our next head of state?

'With polls showing young people wanting an elected head of state, the succession of King Charles will be a major turning point in the monarchy's history and in the growth of Britain's republican movement.

'It's time to make Elizabeth the Last.'

They also add that the Queen has 'all but retired from public life', even though she has been seen at a string of recent events despite suffering from mobility problems.

Reacting to Republic's tweets about the posters, many Britons lashed out at the posters, with one branding them 'pathetic'

Another wrote: 'Why is this sh** promoted. God save the queen. Long live the monarchy'

Someone else wrote: 'You have every right to campaign on this. But you seem to forget that we the people overall get to decide. And I see no sign that the majority want a republic. Quite the opposite'

This Twitter user said: 'God bless the system of constitutional monarchy embodied by successful liberal democracies like UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark & the Netherlands that, in stripping politics from the highest office in the land, protect everyone's right to voice political dissent. God Save The Queen'

This person said that Republic will be 'outnumbered many times over' at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations

Others on Twitter criticised the group's wishes.

One said: 'God bless the system of constitutional monarchy embodied by successful liberal democracies like UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark & the Netherlands that, in stripping politics from the highest office in the land, protect everyone's right to voice political dissent. God Save The Queen.'

Who are Republic? Republic is a pressure group calling for an end to the UK's system of constitutional monarchy. Set up in 1983 as a group of republicans and officially founded as pressure group in 2006, Republic wants to replace a royal head of state with an elected figure. It would bring the UK into line with countries such as Germany, which has both a political leader, currently Chancellor Angela Merkel, and an elected head of state, the President of Germany, currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier. It is a member organisation of Common Cause - the alliance of republican movements in the Commonwealth - as well as the Stockholm based Alliance of European Republican Movements. The group protested the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011 and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in 2018. It is currently headed up by Peter Cafferkey - who took over as chairman of the pressure group earlier this year. Mr Cafferkey is the UK's representative for the European Venture Philanthropy Association, having founded London-based 'social good' consultancy Boncerto. Its current CEO is long-term member Graham Smith, who has constistently called for the end to the Monarchy - a system he describes as 'wrong'. As of 2015, the group had an income of 140,000. In 2016 it had over 5,000 paying members and about 35,000 online supporters. Advertisement

Another added: 'You live in a monarchy where you are allowed to put up billboards calling for the abolition of the monarchy. Is that not enough for you? Have you ever stopped to think on how historically aberrant that is?'

A third wrote: 'Why is this sh** promoted. God save the queen. Long live the monarchy.'

A fourth said: 'You have every right to campaign on this. But you seem to forget that we the people overall get to decide. And I see no sign that the majority want a republic. Quite the opposite.'

The new posters come after Republic last year put up billboards in Wales that said 'Wales doesn't need a prince'.

The signs - featuring a picture of Charles, the Prince of Wales - were spotted in Aberdare, Cardiff and Swansea.

The slogan, written in bold white letters on a green background, was in both Welsh and English.

The group argue on their website that a hereditary public office such as the Royal Family 'goes against every democratic principle'.

Though the Queen is a constitutional monarch - meaning she has no effective democratic powers - the group say the royal family cannot be held to account via the ballot box.

'There's nothing to stop them abusing their privilege, misusing their influence or simply wasting our money' argues the organisation.

The group proposes a new elected head of state should be put in place to 'represent our hopes and aspirations - and help us keep politicians in check'.

Such a system is used in countries like Germany, which have both a political leader, currently Chancellor Angela Merkel, and an elected head of state, the President of Germany, currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The UK has had a royal head of state since 1688, when powers were put in place to turn the country from a monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.

But while some have argued for change, many have argued the UK should retain the Royal Family.

The Queen is a figure known around the world, and prior to the pandemic around 3,285,000 people visited the official royal residences each year.

It estimated by Forbes that the royal family brought in 19billion to the UK's economy in 2019/20.

Republic however estimated in 2015 that the Monarchy actually costs around 340million each year.

Others have pointed to the benefits of having a 'guiding figure', above the realm of politics, who people can look to particularly in times of crisis.

The Queen won praise for her 'unifying' speech at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, along with her message of thanks to frontline workers during her most recent Christmas Day speech.
A visibly enraged Chuck Schumer denounced his colleagues across the aisle over their opposition to stricter gun control

A visibly shaken Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer denounced gun violence as a 'plague upon this nation' on Wednesday after a gunman killed at least 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas.

The New York Democrat furiously tore into Republicans' enduring opposition to stricter gun control legislation, begging them to view the tragedy through the eyes of dozens of grieving parents and loved ones.

He questioned how the slaughter of 20 young children and six children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut a decade earlier did not make Republicans 'look at their conscience.'

'The leading cause of death among children is no longer a car accident, is no longer illness or malnourishment. The leading cause of death among children is a firearm. The leading cause of death of children - you hear that, my Republican colleagues - is a firearm,' the impassioned lawmaker said on the Senate floor.

He implored: 'Please, please, damn it - put yourselves in the shoes of these parents for once.'

'Maybe that thought, putting yourself in the shoes of these parents instead of in the arms of the NRA, might let you wriggle free from the vice-like grip of the NRA.'

The vast lobbying giant has led efforts to quash gun control legislation throughout the country for decades.

Schumer noted that the shooting happened just a few short weeks before school lets out for the summer, 'when these kids were looking forward to having such a wonderful time with their family and friends.'

'Gone. They're gone,' he said.

'America's gun epidemic is unmatched by any of our peer nations in the world. No American is saved from it. And the American people are sick and tired of it. But we also have a problem - a big problem - here in the United States Senate.'

A gunman killed at least 19 students and two teachers when he opened fire in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday

Schumer said of the shooting Wednesday: 'Too many members on the other side of the aisle are disconnected from the suffering of the American people'

That problem was 'simple,' Schumer said. Without explicitly labeling them, the Democrat pointed out the influence firearm lobbyists had on elected Republicans.

'Too many members on the other side of the aisle are disconnected from the suffering of the American people. Too many members on that side care more about the NRA than they do about families who grieve victims of gun violence,' Schumer claimed.

'The American people are sick and tired of mass shootings.'

He brought up past years when lawmakers could work together on bipartisan gun control such as the 1993 Brady bill, which among other measures imposed federal background checks on firearm purchases.

'Because they became law, tens of thousands -hundreds of thousands, perhaps - lives were saved. Children, elderly people, people of color - you name it. People now walking the streets who might have been dead had we not passed these laws,' Schumer said.

'But today, the NRA has made it all but impossible for even the bare minimum to move forward in Congress. And the other side is all too ready to bow in obeisance to the NRA in service of their whims.'

The New York lawmaker lamented that such national tragedies used to be 'rare' and 'singular events.'

'Honestly, I thought Sandy Hook 10 years ago would be the breaking point. I thought that that would be the tragedy that forced Republicans to examine their conscience and think "Oh God, we can't allow school children to be slaughtered." Well I was wrong,' Schumer said.

He said he hoped the murder of 20 young children and six school staff at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut in 2012 would have been a turning point

'We heard about their thoughts and their prayers, but no action.'

He continued, 'Indeed, we hear from Republicans - all we hear from Republicans - are thoughts, prayers, and now there's a new phrase. Now some of my Republican colleagues want to "Lift up the community." That sounds heartening, but it does absolutely nothing.'

'Nothing to prevent the next family from having to grieve for their loss, and it won't do a single damn thing to prevent another life from being taken,' Schumer said.

Across the aisle, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered prayers for the Texas families grieving their losses - in a similar fashion to what Schumer had just described - but pointedly left out the issue of firearms or reform.

'Our country is sickened and outraged by the senseless evil that struck Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas yesterday,' The Kentucky Republican said.

'According to early reports from authorities, it appears that a deranged young man tried to murder his own grandmother, then crashed his car, and then ran into an elementary school and began killing. At least 19 young children and two teachers were murdered for no apparent reason at all.'

He denounced the 18-year-old shooter as a 'maniac' and thanked the law enforcement officials who responded to the scene.

'It is literally sickening to consider the innocent young lives that were stolen by this pointless, senseless brutality,' McConnell said.

'To consider the parents and families who sat waiting at the Civic Center  waiting to either be reunited with their son or daughter, or to learn they never would be.'

Other Republicans, like Texas Senator Ted Cruz and the state Attorney General Ken Paxton, have called for teachers and other school staff to be armed in the wake of the shooting.

President Joe Biden tore into the massive gun lobby in a brief but powerful speech on Tuesday night, barely hours after stepping off of a 17-hour flight from Japan.

'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?' the president questioned.

He then called on supporters of tighter gun laws to mobilize in the wake of Tuesday's shooting, while warning opponents of firearm reform: 'For those who obstruct or delay or block the common sense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget.'
CCTV has been released showing eco-vigilantes letting the air out of tyres from SUVs before casually strolling off in a seaside town.

The 'Tyre Extinguishers' group has become a plague on cities and towns across the UK, deflating nearly 2,000 SUVs.

They travelled to East Sussex to carry out their latest operation and in CCTV released by police, two people dressed in black can be seen crouching down next to an SUV and letting the tyres down, before fleeing the scene.

Sussex Police has now launched a manhunt for the pair.

The Tyre Extinguishers who have become a plague on cities and towns across the UK after deflating nearly 2,000 SUVs recently arrived in East Sussex to carry out their operation

CCTV has been released showing eco zealots letting the air out of tyres from SUVs before casually strolling off

Do YOU know the pair, or have your tyres been deflated? Email: Charlotte.McLaughlin@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement

The group of vigilantes thought to be behind the latest spate of attacks in Brighton and Hove see the large vehicles as a 'climate disaster', 'dangerous' and 'unnecessary'.

Tyre Extinguishers - which has hit electric vehicles and stopped people from getting to hospital appointments - have previously bragged they will not be caught.

A spokeswoman for the group claimed last month that unless the police guard SUVs 24/7 they 'don't expect anyone to be apprehended'.

Sussex Police released the footage of the two people after a dozens vehicles had their tyres deflated in Brighton and Hove.

At around 11.45pm on Monday, May 9, the two people in this footage were captured on CCTV in Glynde Road, Brighton.

Is deflating someone's tyre a crime in the UK? Legal experts say that although prosecution is unlikely, the activists could actually be committing a criminal offence. Laura Baumanis, a criminal defence solicitor at legal defence firm Olliers, told MailOnline: 'Whilst it is extremely rare for someone to be prosecuted for letting the air out of a tyre, technically, it could be classed as criminal damage. 'For this offence to be satisfied, any damage caused does not have to be permanent, but is made out by virtue of the fact that steps need to be taken, ordinarily at expense to the owner, for the item to be in a working condition again.' Matthew Nash, tutor at The University of Law, said if the driver failed to notice the flat tyre and drove away, more serious charges could be brought it they crashed. He said: 'Letting out air from someone's tyres is clear criminal damage. Although technically the tyre is not 'damaged', if you do something to someone else's property and they need to do something to restore it, that is Criminal Damage within the meaning of the Criminal Damage Act. 'It is possible that if they let the air out of someone's types so as to cause an accident, there could be more serious charges depending on the resulting damage or injury. 'It is also possible that there could be other offences if this were done to many cars at the same time.' Three police forces have confirmed they are investigating multiple reports of criminal damage in Brighton, Liverpool and Cambridge. Advertisement

SUVs feature elements of standard cars but are larger and have off-road capabilities such as high ground clearance.

Petrol and diesel-powered models are generally less fuel efficient than cars.

The Tyre Extinguishers describes itself as 'leaderless' and encourages people to take action by reading instructions on how to deflate tyres on its website.

The group, which first took action on March 7, said in a statement: 'So far, the Tyre Extinguishers have disarmed nearly 2,000 SUVs in the UK, in Brighton, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Bristol and Edinburgh, in repeated actions.

'Plans are being made to launch the Tyre Extinguishers leaflet in four other languages as interest grows internationally.'

Marion Walker, a spokeswoman for the Tyre Extinguishers, said: 'Unless a bobby is posted beside every SUV in the country 24 hours a day, we don't expect anyone to be apprehended.

'Better to break the law than allow these killer vehicles to continue to be used on our streets.'

Activists are urged to avoid SUVs 'clearly used' by people with disabilities or by tradespersons.

However, they have hit people with disabilities like Kate Basker, 33, who was alerted by a neighbour to a flat tyre on her Jaguar F-Pace.

On Tuesday, March 8, a leaflet was left under the windscreen wipers made it clear it was not an accidental puncture.

'On bad days I certainly can't walk the ten minutes to a bus stop then wait the 30 minutes for a bus that may or may not come because Bristol transport is terrible,' Mrs Basker said.

'I'm all in favour of action to combat climate change. But skulking around at night and damaging people's property is not the way to raise awareness.

'I feel we've been subjected to bullying, intimidating behaviour. It's shocking to find out that someone has decided we're fair game just because of the car we drive, not knowing anything about us.'

Police would like to identify these two people in connection with a series of vehicles having their tyres deflated in Brighton and Hove. Officers are investigating dozens of incidents of SUV-type vehicles having the air let out of their tyres since the beginning of March, believed to be linked to a group calling themselves 'Tyre Extinguishers'

A new eco mob calling themselves Tyre Extinguishers claim they targeted almost 2,000 SUVs across the UK in the last month, and let air out of the tyres in a bid to have them banned from roads

As a multiple sclerosis sufferer, Kate Basker never quite knows when or how the condition will affect her. 'It's shocking to find out that someone has decided we're fair game just because of the car we drive, not knowing anything about us,' the 33-year-old from Bristol said

'They even targeted our hybrid car!' Iren Brown and her husband Nick woke up to find all four tyres on the family's part-electric Toyota Rav 4 had been deflated by activists. Mr Brown, 64, from Brighton, had to cancel a hospital appointment. Mrs Brown, 43, said: 'The Toyota is a hybrid electric car which we bought because we were being mindful of the environmental impact our previous diesel car was having. 'But these activists have not taken that into consideration. 'I'm so angry because everyone is behind their cause but their tactics are indiscriminate and scattershot.' The mother-of-two, a kitchen designer, added: 'Nick is quite a serious diabetic and we may have need to access a vehicle in an emergency. 'Their actions could have been dangerous.' Advertisement

Some of the SUVs that have had their tyres let down also included electric and hybrids.

Iren Brown from Brighton, had to cancel a hospital appointment after her and her husband Nick woke up to find all four tyres on the family's part-electric Toyota Rav 4 had been deflated by activists.

Mrs Brown, 43, said: 'The Toyota is a hybrid electric car which we bought because we were being mindful of the environmental impact our previous diesel car was having.

'But these activists have not taken that into consideration.

'I'm so angry because everyone is behind their cause but their tactics are indiscriminate and scattershot.'

The mother-of-two, a kitchen designer, added: 'Nick is quite a serious diabetic and we may have need to access a vehicle in an emergency.

'Their actions could have been dangerous.'

Legal experts say that although prosecution is unlikely, the activists could actually be committing a criminal offence.

Laura Baumanis, a criminal defence solicitor at legal defence firm Olliers, told MailOnline: 'Whilst it is extremely rare for someone to be prosecuted for letting the air out of a tyre, technically, it could be classed as criminal damage.

'For this offence to be satisfied, any damage caused does not have to be permanent, but is made out by virtue of the fact that steps need to be taken, ordinarily at expense to the owner, for the item to be in a working condition again.'
Kremlin TV propagandists have joked that Ukraine may still have McDonald's but they've all been blown up, after the fast food chain pulled out of Russia.

Presenters on the state-run Rossiya 1 laughed as they ridiculed Ukrainian children who will grow up without fathers or homes, branding it a 'burned-out country'.

Last week, McDonald's said it was selling its restaurants in Russia to its local licensee Alexander Govor to be rebranded under a new name, in response to Putin's savage invasion.

Kremlin TV propagandists have joked that Ukraine may still have McDonald's but they've all been blown up

Kremlin mouthpieces Evgeny Popov (pictured) and Andrei Sidorchik instead chose to take a swipe at Ukraine and the US

But Kremlin mouthpieces Evgeny Popov and Andrei Sidorchik instead chose to take a swipe at Ukraine and the US for sending weapons to Kyiv amid the cost of living crisis exacerbated by Russia's aggression.

Popov said: 'American children have nothing to eat.'

Sidorchik replied: 'And Ukrainian children are getting shells and bombs which are supposed to somehow secure their future, which is most interesting.

'They'll have no fathers, no homes, a burned out country. They'll have nothing that American children have.

'That's what Western countries bring to Ukrainian people.'

Popov then interjected, joking: 'But they'll have McDonald's.'

But Sidorchik and the other presenters smirked as he then said: 'Yes, but it will be burnt due to what's going on.'

Presenters on the state-run Rossiya 1 laughed as they ridiculed Ukrainian children who will grow up without fathers or homes

The fellow presenters laughed as they joked about all the McDonald's in Ukraine being destroyed

McDonald's in March closed all of its 850 restaurants in Russia - where it says it employs 62,000 people - including its iconic Pushkin Square location. It continued to pay its staff in the country.

But last week it went a step further, saying in a statement: 'After more than 30 years of operations in the country, McDonald's Corporation announced it will exit the Russian market and has initiated a process to sell its Russian business.'

The company said it would seek to have a Russian buyer hire its employees and pay them until the sale closes. It didn't identify a prospective buyer. McDonald's said it plans to start removing golden arches and other symbols and signs with its name.

As part of the exit, McDonald's expects to record a non-cash charge of about $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion.

McDonald's Corp said on Monday it had initiated a process to sell its business in Russia after 30 years of operating its restaurants in the country, following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Pictured: Customers stand in line on January 31, 1990 for the first McDonald's to open in Russia

'The humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald's to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable,' it said in a statement.

Chief executive Chris Kempczinski said the 'dedication and loyalty to McDonald's' of employees and hundreds of Russian suppliers made it a difficult decision to leave.

'However, we have a commitment to our global community and must remain steadfast in our values,' Mr Kempczinski said in a statement, 'and our commitment to our values means that we can no longer keep the arches shining there.'

As it tries to sell its restaurants, McDonald's said it plans to start removing golden arches and other symbols and signs with the company's name.

It said it will keep its trademarks in Russia.
Hitting back, the minister (in picture) hinted at the Congress leader and claimed that TRS leaders and he had never collected money from aspirants to give party tickets.  Facebook

Khammam: The political heat in Khammam went up a couple of notches with former Union minister Renuka Chowdary and transport minister P. Ajay Kumar levelling allegations of corruption against each other on Monday.

The Congress leader claimed that Ajay Kumar was looting minerals through illegal mining at the hillocks in Raghunadhapalem mandal. Many hillocks in the mandal had disappeared due to illegal mining, and TRS leaders had earned crores of rupees.

She accused TRS leaders of earning money by grabbing private and government lands and that the police were extending them support. There is no rule of law and illegal cases are being filed against the Opposition leaders for exposing TRS leaders misdeeds, she said. Mustafa, spouse of a Congress corporator, was arrested several times by filing illegal cases, the former Congress minister said.

Renuka Chowdary alleged that Ajay Kumar had encroached on government land parcels using benamis; a relative of the minister had encroached on private land in Khammam town. Saying that privately-owned land was not safe, Chowdary alleged, People of Khammam fear the ruling party leaders who are looting them.

Hitting back, the minister hinted at the Congress leader and claimed that TRS leaders and he had never collected money from aspirants to give party tickets.

He said: A cheating case has been filed against a former Union minister for collecting money from a doctor, who belonged to the Scheduled Tribes, for assuring to give Congress ticket. The wife of the doctor requested her to pay back their money as she failed to give the party ticket. The doctor died due to the health problems later.

He said that Renuka Chowdary had no right to blame him for corruption and denied that he was involved in illegal mining. She can inquire into it, the minister said.

He claimed that the Congress leaders were unable to digest the development in Khammam where 100-feet wide roads were being constructed. Congress leaders raise a hue and cry before elections and the people know about it, he said, adding, There is no space for the Congress in Khammam and the people will not believe Renuka, he said.
A consultant physician has been stuck off for wrongly prescribing sex-change treatments to seven transgender patients - one who was aged just nine and another a teenager who took their own life few months later.

Dr Michael Webberley, who spent 34 years working for the NHS, provided puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones via GenderGP, an online gender clinic which he ran with his GP wife Dr Helen Webberley.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel found there had been a 'catalogue of failings' in relation to his care of the seven patients between February 2017 and June 2019.

In several cases, he'd taken care of the patients after restrictions had been placed on his wife's practice.

But several doctors raised concerns about his treatment with the GMC (General Medical Council) and he was later suspended.

With all seven patients, he provided treatment that wasn't clinically indicated or had been prescribed without adequate tests, examinations or assessments.

He'd reached diagnoses of gender dysphoria - 'a sense of unease a person may have because of mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity', according to the NHS - based on inadequate information and failed to gain informed consent from patients.

The tribunal also found he had acted 'outside the limits of his expertise' as a consultant gastroenterologist and had failed to establish multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs).

Dr Michael Webberley, 55, wrongly prescribed sex-change treatments to seven transgender patients, a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel has found

Dr Michael Webberley, who spent 34 years working for the NHS, provided puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones via GenderGP, an online gender clinic which he ran with his GP wife Dr Helen Webberley (couple pictured together)

The tribunal heard about one nine-year-old patient - know as Patient V - who'd been born a biological girl but identified as a boy.

Dr Webberley diagnosed the patient as suffering from gender dysphoria based on a questionnaire that was 'inadequate for the assessment of a minor' and without performing an adequate mental or physical examination.

He then prescribed puberty blockers - which pause the physical changes of puberty - off-licence and without considering alternative treatments or adequately assessing the balance between the risks and benefits.

A 17-year-patient - known as Patient W - was transitioning from female to male and first contacted Dr Webberley in June 2018.

The patient had become unhappy at the long waiting lists for NHS treatment and said in an email that they wanted to transition as soon as possible as it would have a 'massively positive impact' on their mental health.

'I have been waiting to go on hormones so long now and it means so much to me,' they added. 'I am so happy it is finally happening.'

But Dr Webberley diagnosed Patient W as gender dysphoric without checking information with their GP.

The tribunal also found that he prescribed testosterone when it wasn't clinically indicated and without establishing whether the risks were lower than the risks to the patient's mental and physical health.

Patient W had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and had 'complex' and long-standing mental health issues but it 'did not appear' that Dr Webberley was aware of them and he'd failed to obtain the patient's medical records, the tribunal concluded.

Sadly, Patient W took their own life just three months later.

Patient W is believed to be Jayden Lowe, who was prescribed the treatment by the GenderGP clinic and subsequently stepped in front of a train.

Pictured: Jayden Lowe, a transgender teenager who took his own life in 2018 by stepping in front of a train after being prescribed hormone treatment by GenderGP

A coroner ruled that Lowe had committed suicide months after receiving the treatment

In summary, the tribunal found that on no occasion had Dr Webberley disagreed with diagnosis sought by each trans patient.

In 'every case' the patient was prescribed the treatment which they'd sought at the outset.

The 'apparent intention' was 'to prescribe according to the patient's wishes' and not by following an adequate and critical objective assessment before making a diagnosis and concluding the treatment was clinically indicated, it found.

Dr Webberley, who'd faced 89 charges in total, was also found guilty of failings in relation to 18 other patients who received androgen treatment for male hypogonadism - a condition when not enough sex hormones are produced by the body - via a company called Balance My Hormones.

The tribunal noted his 'wide ranging and sustained' misconduct and dishonesty and said it was 'fortuitous' that none of his patients suffered serious harm.

Tribunal chair Tim Bradbury said: 'The Tribunal had previously observed that, if Dr Webberley had not known that he was practising far beyond the limits of his competence, he should have done.

'To this extent, the Tribunal considered that, at the very least, his disregard for the principles set out in GMP (General Medical Practise) and/or patient safety was reckless.'

In April, an MPTS tribunal cleared his wife of wrongly prescribing sex-change treatments to three young transgender patients.

But she admitted several charges relating to her conviction in October 2018 for illegally running an unregistered clinic while treating 1,600 transgender patients and gender dysphoric children from her home in Wales.

Dr Webberley, from Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, was later fined 12,000 and suspended.

Dr Helen Webberley, 53, was convicted in October 2018 for illegally running an unregistered clinic while treating 1,600 transgender patients and gender dysphoric children from her home in Wales

A allegation against her husband that Gender GP's operating method was 'motivated by efforts to avoid the regulatory framework of the UK', including regulation by the Care Quality Commission and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) was also found proved.

It noted how, following interim restrictions being placed on his practice, he'd relocated GenderGP to Spain so the clinic could continue to provide care to transgender patients that - in his words - was 'unavailable' in the UK.

He and his wife are no longer directors of the company.

Gender GP said in a statement: 'Although Dr. Michael Webberley has not been involved in GenderGP for some time, we as an organisation, and our patient community, are here in part because of his efforts and courage in putting everything on the line to provide the best care possible for his patients.

Gender Affirming Healthcare has made great strides, producing better care outcomes for trans people around the world, and providing protocols that transform people's lives. Dr. Michael Webberley's patients have been united and unwavering in their support, feedback, and thanks for his role in helping progress models of care that have aided them to live as themselves.

Unfortunately, as equal healthcare moves forward around the world, there is further progress to make in the UK. The contradictory findings of the Drs. Webberley's cases demonstrate two things: the importance of having the opportunity to defend yourself, and the lack of key expertise, and a united approach, in the provision of trans care within the UK.'
America's gun laws are once again in the spotlight following a devastating school shooting in Texas that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

Gunman Salvador Rolando Ramos, 18, purchased two AR-15-style rifles just days after his birthday last week, using one of them to perpetrate Tuesday's massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Texas, like the vast majority of US states, allows 18-year-olds to purchase long guns, including shotguns and rifles.

However a few states have raised that age to 21, most notably in Florida, where the Republican-controlled legislature and governor raised the age limit following the 2018 Parkland shooting, in which a 19-year-old murdered 17 people.

Most states (red) either have a state minimum age of 18 for buying long guns, or default to the federal minimum of 18. Six states (blue) set the age limit at 21 for long guns

Salvador Ramos legally purchased two AR-15 style rifles (right) including the one he used in yesterday's attack after his 18th birthday last week. The gunman also bought more than 300 rounds of ammunition

Not every state has its own age limits on gun sales, but there are federal limits that apply to all federally licensed firearms dealers.

Under the Gun Control Act of 1968, a licensed dealer cannot sell a long gun to anyone under the age of 18. For handguns, the federal age limit is 21.

For unlicensed dealers, which could include a private sale or a gun show purchase, the federal age limit for handguns drops to 18.

While the vast majority of gun murders in the US are committed with handguns, a handful of mass shootings involving semi-auto rifles with high capacity magazines have drawn the focus of gun-control advocates.

In total, six states restrict the sale of semi-auto rifles to those over 21. California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois have a 21 age limit for all long guns.

Vermont sets the limit at 21 for those without a hunting safety certificate. Washington state forbids sales of semi-auto rifles specifically to those under 21.

Several other states ban so-called assault rifles entirely, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

Law enforcement work the scene after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School where 19 people, including 18 children, were killed on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas

Gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, have challenged those laws in court.

After Florida raised the age limit for all guns to 21, the NRA sued, arguing that the rule infringes on Second Amendment rights.

'At 18 years of age, law-abiding citizens in this country are considered adults for almost all purposes and certainly for the purposes of the exercise of fundamental constitutional rights. At 18, citizens are eligible to serve in the military  to fight and die by arms for the country,' the NRA argued in its suit.

'This blanket ban violates the fundamental rights of thousands of responsible, law-abiding Florida citizens,' the group added.

A federal judge struck down the lawsuit last year, but the NRA has continued to appeal and press its case.

Though Texas has a reputation as being lax on gun control, the anti-gun group Everytown ranked the Lone Star state as the 17th worst state in the nation for gun control.

According to the group's 2022 report, Mississippi, Idaho and Montana had the weakest gun control laws in the country.

In this aerial view, law enforcement works on scene at Robb Elementary School where at least 21 people were killed yesterday, including 19 children, on May 25, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas

Law enforcement work the scene after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. The suspected gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was killed by police

Nevertheless, Texas did loosen its gun laws with several recent changes, though none appear to have been a factor in Tuesday's shooting.

Starting in September, a new exception allows Texans age 18 to 21 to obtain a handgun license if they are under an emergency protection order by a magistrate.

Though the general age limit for handgun licenses remains 21, the exception is intended to allow those who are under the threat of domestic violence to carry a handgun.

According to the new rule, people who are under threat of family violence, including stalking, or forced prostitution, can submit a request for a gun license.

And under the new Unlicensed Carry Law, as of September, anyone 21 or older who is legally allowed to possess a gun can carry a handgun in most places without any need for a carry permit.

Shooter Salvador Ramos, 18

Texans still need licenses to carry guns in most schools or colleges, and private businesses can also ban guns.

The debate is set to intensify going into the weekend when Houston hosts the NRA's annual convention.

Scheduled to speak at the convention is former president Donald Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and other prominent Republicans.

Senator Chris Murphy, who represents Connecticut, made an emotional call on the Senate floor on Tuesday for lawmakers to pass new gun control laws.

'Nowhere else does that happen except here in the United States of America and it is a choice. It is our choice to let it continue,' he said.

But Cruz quickly pushed back, saying people will use the shooting to attack the right of people under the US Constitution's 2nd Amendment to own guns.

'When there's a crime of this kind, it almost immediately gets politicized,' Cruz said.

Attacking constitutional gun rights 'is not effective in stopping these sort of crimes,' he added.
A transgender male had relationships with three women by using a specially made prosthetic penis in the dark to pretend to be born a man.

Tarjit Singh, 32, who was born a biological female named Hannah Walters, assaulted the victims between June 2010 and March 2016.

Singh would keep clothing on and have sex with the women with the strap-on phallus when the lights were turned off.

When the victims began to ask questions, Singh became abusive and manipulative, telling one woman there was 'more to a relationship than sex' and that she should learn to talk about her feelings more.

Following a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Singh was today convicted of three counts of assault by penetration, six counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count of making a threat to kill.

Tarjit Singh, 32, had abusive relationships with each of the victims between June 2010 and March 2016. Singh was born as a female named Hannah Walters but now identifies as a transgender male. During the course of the relationships, Singh would keep clothing on and have sex with the women using a prosthetic penis in the dark

One victim said: 'He looked like a guy, he acted like a guy.'

The victim only found out that the defendant was not a man after finding his strap-on prosthetic penis some months into their relationship.

She told police officers that she felt 'so stupid' that she had fallen for such lies.

Singh told another victim that he had been born a boy, had a sex change to become a woman, and now wanted to be a man again.

The third victim met Singh after receiving a message from the dating website Plenty of Fish in 2014.

Singh told her that he would be having a sex change to become a woman.

He was caught out after this relationship became abusive and the victim made a complaint to police.

During the trial the prosecution was able to present mobile phone evidence that showed a history of websites visited by Singh, which included FreeToMProsthetics.com - a company making ultra-realistic prosthetic penises.

A view of Snaresbrook Crown Court in London where Singh was convicted of three counts of assault by penetration, six counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count of making a threat to kill

Melissa Garner, from the CPS, said: 'These victims have been deceived, betrayed and lied to in the most disturbing and traumatic of ways.

'One of the victims was just 16 years old when she met the defendant.

'Tarjit Singh, who was born as Hannah Walters, presented himself as a man, wore men's clothing and used a man's name.

'He tricked three innocent women into believing he was male and when questioned, he violently attacked them and intimidated them into continuing relationships.

'Singh has never admitted his crimes and has continued to claim that these victims were aware of his gender.

'The victims in this case have shown immense courage in coming to court and giving evidence.

Singh, of Enfield, will return for sentence on 27 July.
Chilling body camera footage reveals the moment a white Houston police officer fatally shot a black suspect after a April 27 car chase.

The video, released by the Houston Police Department on Tuesday, shows Narcotics Officer Shane Privette getting out of his patrol car as his partner reports that the suspect, 29-year-old Jalen Randle, is running.

Privette then yells at Randle to 'Let me see your hands,' but as he utters the last word in the command, a gunshot is heard and Randle immediately falls to the ground, dropping a bag and a sandal as he collapsed.

Privette reacted to the shooting instantaneously, saying: 'Oh s***,' as he runs over to examine Randle, who is by then lying face-down on the street.

Another officer, identified by the Houston Police Department as Officer Mansker, then handcuffs Randle who appears unresponsive and limp on the ground.

Officer Mansker is heard asking Privette if Randle had a gun, but Privette does not appear to answer.

A handgun was later found zipped inside of the bag Randle was carrying, however, it was not visible at the time Privette shot.

Privette could also be seen dragging Randle's body onto the sidewalk, revealing a patch of blood on the grass and sidewalk.

He asks: 'Where is he hit?' to which Mansker replies, 'In the neck or something.'

The officers could be seen trying to stop the bleeding from his neck as they called paramedics into the scene, with one officer telling Randle to 'keep breathing, bud.'

But Randle was pronounced dead at Ben Taub Hospital, KHOU reports, and an independent autopsy commissioned by his family determined he was shot in the back of the head.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences determined he died of a gunshot wound to the neck - but did not specify where the round entered.

Houston Police Officer Shane Privette fatally shot 29-year-old Jalen Randle on April 27

Privette could be seen dragging Randle's motionless body to the sidewalk in the aftermath

An independent autopsy commissioned by his family concluded he died of a gunshot wound to the back of his neck, and body camera footage shows him lying on the ground and bleeding

Officers - including Privette, left - tried to administer aid to Randle as he lay motionless on the ground in the 8700 block of Josie Street

Police later found a handgun in a bag he was carrying - though it was closed at the time of the fatal shooting

Houston Police say the shooting occurred as they were trying to arrest Randle on three felony warrants for aggravated assault of a family member and evading arrest, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Randle was seen getting into the passenger seat of a silver SUV, and police followed the vehicle until the driver, identified as Elvin Robertson, 32, made an alleged traffic violation.

An officer reportedly tried to pull the vehicle over, but Robertson refused to stop for about half a mile until he reached the 8700 block of Josie Street, where the officers pinned his vehicle in a so-called PIT maneuver.

Following the incident, Robertson was arrested and was charged with a misdemeanor evading arrest charge.

Robertson's lawyer, Sam Milledge II, though, claims that Robertson did not know that authorities were seeking Randle and when police tried to pull him over he flipped on his hazard lights and tried to drive to a nearby relative's house for safety.

Police say they were trying to arrest Randle (pictured) on three felony warrants for aggravated assault of a family member and evading arrest at the time of the shooting

His family is now calling for justice in the shooting, with his father noting that he is no longer able to attend his daughter's preschool graduation (Randel seen on right)

Meanwhile, police claim that Randle was fleeing the scene and was reaching back into the car when Privette shot him.

Doug Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officer's Union, said he believed the shooting was justified.

'I think it was completely justified with the fact that we are looking at an armed suspect,' he told ABC 13. 'He's got multiple felonies for aggravated offenses, and then on top of that he's got two objects - one in each hand, that are both black, and as he turns, the officers can't wait to find out if that's a gun or not.'

Griffith added that Randle should have complied with the officers, knowing they were coming to arrest him.

'We've got units behind him in a chase and we have officers stopping and getting out in front of him, he obviously knew what the deal was. All he had to do was comply,' Griffith said.

'Sadly, it was a horrible outcome and I feel for the family,' he said. 'But again, had he just complied, we would not be in this situation right now.'

But Randle's family says the body-worn camera footage shows he did not have time to react.

'In a matter of seconds, as soon as he got out of the car, he was shot,' his father, Warren Randle told ABC 13. 'He's never got a chance to even hear commands.'

Now, his father said: 'He'll never get to go to his daughter's graduation' from pre-school. 'It's terrible.'

And in a statement to KHOU, famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing his family, said: 'The brutality displayed in this video is extremely disturbing from the officer firing a deadly shot seemingly as he ordered Jalen to put his hands up, to the way they handcuffed and dragged his lifeless body across the ground.

'We demand full justice for Jalen Randle and his family.

'This officer needs to be held accountable immediately.'

Privette has been placed on administrative leave from the police department pending the investigation into the shooting death

He was previously charged with aggravated assault for allegedly kneeling on a drug suspect's face during a 2017 arrest, but he was later absolved of any wrongdoing

Privette has previously been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly kneeling on a drug suspect's face during a 2017 arrest.

He was charged in 2019 for aggravated assault in that case, but a second grand jury absolved him of any wrongdoing three months later, citing new, unspecified evidence.

Then-Police Chief Art Acevedo also said at the time that an internal probe cleared Privette of the excessive force allegation.

Privette is now on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office has said the case will be brought to a grand jury - as all officer-involved shootings are.
The number of pedestrians injured after being hit by e-scooters was nearly four times higher in 2021 than the previous year, new figures show.

Department for Transport statistics revealed that 223 people travelling on foot were wounded by the contraptions in Britain last year, including 63 who were seriously hurt.

The average age group of an e-scooter rider involved in a collision was 10 to 19, while the most common age group of e-scooter crash victim was 50 to 59.

In 2020 there were just 57 pedestrian casualties including only 13 serious injuries.

Hundreds of pedestrians were injured by e-scooter riders last year, in total four times more were hurt than the year before

The reported number of casualties in collisions involving e-scooters skyrocketed in the UK in 2021

The most common age of person involved in a collision with an e-scooter, not including the rider, was aged between 50 and 59

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps made his intentions to introduce new legislation concerning e-scooters in the Transport Bill clear, though the specifics are unknown

Currently there is no specific legislation for e-scooters and, while it is legal to buy and sell e-scooters in the UK, there are limitations on where they can be used

The figures have been released just weeks after the Government announced it plans to introduce new legislation to govern the use of e-scooters.

Private e-scooters are often used on public roads and pavements despite being banned.

Legalised trials of rental e-scooters have been set up in dozens of towns and cities across England to see if they can be used safely.

Trial areas like Merseyside and Nottinghamshire showed a similar amount of collisions from rental scooters as there were for privately owned ones, while Northamptonshire only recorded collisions from rental e-scooters.

The casualty statistics also show that 64 cyclists were injured in e-scooter crashes in 2021, up from 21 during the previous 12 months.

Some 1,034 e-scooter riders or passengers were injured in 2021, accounting for 76% of all casualties in crashes involving the devices.

Last year nine people were killed in e-scooter collisions, all of whom were riders, and 305 riders were seriously injured.

A breakdown of the types of injuries resulting from e-scooter crashes shows 28 people suffered a serious head injury, 32 sustained a fractured lower leg, ankle or foot, and three endured a broken neck or back.

TABLE TITLE Injury type Severity Number of casualties Shallow cuts/lacerations/abrasions Slight 132 Bruising Slight 70 Sprains and strains Slight 57 Fractured lower leg, ankle, foot Serious 32 Other head injury Serious 28 Fractured arm, collarbone, hand Serious 15 Deep cuts, lacerations Serious 13 Severe head injury, unconscious Serious 12 Whiplash or neck pain Slight 12 Shock Slight 10 Other chest injury, not bruising Serious 5 Fractured pelvis or upper leg Serious 4 Broken neck or back Serious 3 Internal injuries Serious 3 Multiple severe injuries, unconscious Serious 3 Multiple severe injuries, conscious Serious 2

Not all police provided full data for last year so the actual number of casualties during that period is likely to be higher.

A Government spokesman said: 'We extend our deepest sympathies to those involved in these tragic incidents.

'Safety is at the heart of our e-scooter trials, looking to protect riders, pedestrians and other road users.

'We have set out clear regulations and guidance for users and rental providers on wearing helmets, speed limits and precautions to keep everyone safe.

'While riding a privately owned e-scooter on public land is currently illegal, we are considering how best to design future regulations.

What are the laws on e-scooters? Renting an e-scooter is the only way to legally ride the vehicle on some public roads or in other public place at the moment. But the controversial vehicles could be approved for use across the UK following a trial period. Riding e-scooters on the pavement however is banned, and riders must be 18 or over and have a full or provisional driving licence to rent one. It is also illegal to use privately owned e-scooters or other powered transporters on public roads. Relevant laws on e-scooter use include: On public roads, anyone using a privately owned e-scooter or other powered transporter is likely to be committing at least one of a number of offences such as driving a motor vehicle with no insurance. You could be liable for a fixed penalty of 300 and six points on your driving licence On pavements, it is generally an offence to drive a motor vehicle, and this applies at all times to e-scooters and powered transporters E-scooters and powered transporters may be used on private land with permission from the landowner or occupier E-scooters rented from the TfL scheme will be permitted to ride on London's public roads and cycle infrastructure in participating boroughs. These boroughs will designate no-go areas where e-scooters cannot be ridden and will come to a safe stop, as well as go-slow areas, where the speed of e-scooters will be reduced to 8mph Source: TfL Advertisement

'Our Transport Bill will enable us to take the steps we need to support innovation, robustly crack down on irresponsible use and make e-scooters safer.'

The new Transport Bill was mentioned by the Department For Transport earlier this month.

Their intention is to regulate the e-scooters with its own rules separate from the rules for bikes and motorcycle.

Over a million e-scooters are reported to be on Britain's roads, many illegally.

A coroner said at Ms Hartridge's inquest: 'The scooter was being unsuitably driven, too fast and with an underinflated tyre and this caused the loss of control and her death'

Machines taking part in an official trials are restricted to 15.5mph.

But a back-room industry is able to transform an e-scooter into what are effectively unlicensed motorbikes capable of over 30mph.

Academics from Imperial College London found that three-quarters of riders fell to the ground if their scooter hit a pothole between 2.5in-3.5in deep (6cm-9cm), and that the force of the fall would be enough to cause a skull fracture.

TV presenter and YouTube star Emily Hartridge was the first e-scooter rider to die on a British road in 2019.

A coroner ruled she had been riding her e-scooter too fast with an under-inflated tyre when she collided with a lorry.

In December, a Voi e-scooter caught fire in Bristol as the city hosted a rental scheme, just days after the vehicles were banned from the London Tube.

A machine caught fire at Parsons Green underground station in November, with one passenger suffering smoke inhalation.

The London Fire Brigade attended more than 50 fires involving e-scooters and e-bikes last year - more than double the amount seen in 2020.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a 'mailroom failure' are at least two contributing factors that have led to the nationwide baby formula shortage, the Food and Drug Administration claimed on Wednesday.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf laid out a series of setbacks that delayed the government's reaction to the worsening crisis, fueled by persisted supply chain disruptions and the shutdown of a baby formula manufacturing plant run by Abbott Nutrition.

'Our oversight is critical but make no mistake about it - the return to normal will only occur when Abbott takes the steps to resume production in a safe manner,' Califf said.

He also could not give a clear answer when asked when conditions would be back to normal.

'This is a crisis, we're fully aware of it - families should not be searching for formula, but they have to do it now until we fill in,' he said.

'Several weeks out, we'll have a surplus of formula. When I say "several," I can't say exactly how many weeks.'

The Biden administration has been deflecting blame for the shortage by emphasizing the role Abbott's product recall and voluntary shutdown earlier this year played in the depleted supply - pointing out the inherent flaws in a supply chain so fragile that it could be severely disrupted by one manufacturer's issues.

FDA commissioner Robert Califf admitted his regulatory agency was 'too slow' to respond to signs that eventually led to the baby formula shortage

He testified before a hybrid House hearing on the crisis, which has been linked to multiple reports of children being hospitalized

'About a month ago, the reports of shortages on the shelf proliferated - although there was not a drop in production. This increase in consumption most likely represents heightened concern of parents and caregivers about shortages - leading to an understandable effort to purchase ahead to ensure adequate supply at home,' Califf said.

'This type of cycle has happened with other products throughout the pandemic, and we realize that the only solution is to have adequate supply to make sure shelves are stocked.'

However he did admit the FDA was 'too slow' to inspect Abbott's Michigan plant despite receiving a whistleblower complaint about conditions at the facility in September last year.

The bacteria was reportedly linked to Cronobacter sakazakii infections in four babies who consumed formula made there.

Califf's pre-planned opening remarks state that the complaint was made to a district office but failed to reach FDA leadership in a timely manner 'due to an isolated failure in FDAs mailroom.'

Officials did not request an interview with the whistleblower until December. It did not occur until December 22 due to scheduling conflicts on the whistleblower's part.

Meanwhile baby food shelves in many supermarkets nationwide continue to be empty

Califf also told the House panel that a spate of COVID-19 infections at the plant delayed an FDA inspection into the matter until January 31.

Meanwhile, both Republican and Democrat lawmakers grilled the government official on the Biden administration's handling of the shortage as well as the market monopoly that contributed to the failure.

'The tragic situation is unacceptable and, worse, it was totally preventable. This presents a disturbing pattern of negligence,' Democrat Colorado Rep. Diane DeGette said of Abbott.

Blasting the government for not picking up on the warning signs, she said: 'There were growing strains on the domestic supply of formula in the months leading up to the reported infant illness, and the subsequent recall of Abbott products, but the recall itself turned the US formula supply into a tailspin.'

'The Biden administration's efforts to coordinate this response to get families out of the immediate crisis have been extensive, and I think we'll see them working soon. But we cannot ignore the need for longer term solutions,' she said.

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Wednesday welcomed a shipment of infant formula at Dulles International Airport

President Joe Biden authorized the transfer of tens of thousands of pounds of baby formula to the US from Europe under 'Operation Fly Formula'

Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia declared: 'The big question I have today is, why did the Biden administration let the shortage become so dire before acting with any urgency?'

He blasted the Democrat administration for being caught 'flat-footed' in 'what should have been a foreseeable event.'

'Why did it take an onslaught of national media attention for the Biden administration to act with a sense of urgency that is required to adequately address an infant formula shortage?' the lawmaker demanded.

Abbott said on Tuesday that it would restart manufacturing at the plant in early June, the same day the Federal Trade Commission announced it was opening an inquiry into the baby formula shortage.

Meanwhile as part of President Joe Biden's Operation Fly Formula, tens of thousands of pounds of baby food are being airlifted via commercial military planes from Europe to the United States.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that tightening gun laws is not a 'real solution' to gun violence because places like New York and Chicago see more shootings than schools in Texas.

On Tuesday an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers.

'I know people like to try to oversimplify this,' Abbott said during a news briefing on the shooting Wednesday after he was asked whether there are any new gun laws he supports. 'There are 'real gun laws' in NY. There are real gun laws in California I hate to say this but there are more people who were shot every weekend in Chicago than in schools in Texas.'

'People need to realize-- who think well maybe we can just implement tougher gun laws, it's gonna solve it-- Chicago and LA and New York disprove that thesis,' the governor said.

'What you're talking about its not a real solution. Our job is to come up with real solutions we can implement.'

Abbott laid blame for the school shooting not on the state's lax gun laws but on the 'mental health crisis' it was facing.

He said he asked a group of Texas sheriffs what the 'problem' was, claiming they told him: 'We have a problem with mental health illness in this community.'

'We as a state, we as a society, need to do a better job with mental health. Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge. Period,' Abbott said.

'We as a government need to find a way to...do something about it'

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that tightening gun laws is not a 'real solution' to gun violence because places like New York and Chicago see more shootings than schools in Texas

'People need to realize-- who think well maybe we can just implement tougher gun laws, it's gonna solve it-- Chicago and LA and New York disprove that thesis,' the governor said

Texas ranks 15th for weakest gun laws of the 50 states, according to the Giffords Law Center. Gun homicide rates in the state have risen 90 percent in the last decade, rising every year since 2011.

Gun crimes have risen in major cities with strict gun laws, too-- a rise in shootings in Chicago left more people dead in 2021 than in any other year in a quarter century. Shootings in New York City are also on the rise, numbering 296 for the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021. Homicides in Los Angeles hit a 15-year-high in 2021, according to police.

Abbott then went on to say it has been legal for 18-year-olds in Texas to buy guns for 60 years, but that school shootings have not been happening for as long.

'What has changed is mental health.'

Meanwhile, Biden has issued a number of impassioned pleas for gun control legislation.

'These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen elsewhere in the world. Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in Gods name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with it? Its time to turn this pain into action,' Biden sounded off on Twitter Tuesday night.

'As a nation we must ask: When in Gods name will we stand up to the gun lobby?' he added. 'When in Gods name will we do what needs to be done? Im sick and tired of it. We have to act.'

He wrote Wednesday morning: 'We know common sense gun laws cant and wont prevent every tragedy. But we know they work and have a positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban.'

He said the ability for a teenage gunman, like Salvador Ramos, to be able to 'walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.'

People gather at Robb Elementary School, the scene of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas where 19 children were killed

O'Rourke was escorted out of Abbott's press briefing by police for causing a disturbance

'What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?' Biden questioned.

Meanwhile Beto O'Rourke, who is challenging Abbott in the gubernatorial race, knocked Abbott for his loosening of gun policy in the Lonestar State.

'The moment to stop Uvalde was right after Sandy Hook. After Santa Fe High. After El Paso. Instead,Abbott made it easier to carry guns in public,' O'Rourke wrote on Twitter.

O'Rourke was escorted out of Abbott's press briefing by police for causing a disturbance. 'This is on you!' he shouted at Abbott.

The Mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, roared up from his seat, leering over his walker and yelling: 'He needs to get his a** out of here! Sir you are out of line! Please leave this auditorium!

'I can't believe you, you sick son of a b****, you would come to an event like this to make it a political issue!

'A**holes like you, get out of here!'

Abbott is currently leading O'Rourke by an average of 6.7 points in the polls, according to a polling average by RealClearPolitics.

Last summer, Abbott signed a law allowing anyone 21 and older who can legally possess a firearm to carry a gun in public without a permit.

That law was only one of seven gun rights bills, another made Texas a 'Second Amendment Sanctuary' from future federal gun legislation, and another made it legal for gun owners to store firearms in their hotel rooms.

These laws do not appear to have been utilized by the Uvalde gunman, Salvador Ramos. But Ramos had legally purchased two firearms just days ago immediately after his 18th birthday. He paraded the AR-style rifles on social media, including in ominous messages sent hours before the killing started.

He also bought more than 300 rounds of ammunition to use in the attack.

In Texas, people who are 18 and older are legally allowed to buy long guns, such as rifles and shotguns. They must be 21 to buy handguns. Before crashing his car and bursting into Robb Elementary and mowing down 19 students, Ramos had shot his grandmother, who is now in critical condition.

During a press conference Wednesday, Abbott turned the focus to mental health, not guns.

He said he asked a group of Texas sheriffs what the 'problem' was. He says they told him: 'We have a problem with mental health illness in this community.'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questioned why teenagers can buy AR-15s before they can even purchase beer.

The New York Democrat was responding on Twitter to Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a staunch gun advocate, who wrote: 'You cannot legislate away evil.'

'Why even be in Congress if you don't believe in doing your job? Just quit and let someone who actually gives a damn do it instead of acting like a useless piece of furniture when babies are shot with AR15s that we let teen boys impulse buy before they can legally have a beer,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter.

Abbott is scheduled to speak at the National Rifle Association's (NRA) leadership summit this weekend, and O'Rourke has called on him to withdraw.

'Governor Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekend's NRA convention and urge them to hold it anywhere but Texas,' he tweeted.
Concerns over the supply of bottled beer in Britain have been rejected by industry insiders after a leading wholesaler warned of global glass shortages that could affect the country's alcohol industry.

On Monday, Scotland's largest wholesalers, Dunns Food and Drink, warned of a global shortage because of soaring production costs.

Stocks of glass plummeted after rapidly rising energy costs and the Ukraine invasion - prompting an approximate 80 per cent surge in glassware prices over the last year.

Julie Dunn, operations director, warned the shortage could soon impact beer drinkers across the UK.

She said: 'It won't be long before the glassware shortages hits UK consumers. Our wine and spirits suppliers from around the globe are facing ongoing struggles that will have a knock-on effect.

'As a result, there could be less variety in the bottled beers we see on UK shelves.'

But Dave Dalton, chief executive of British Glass, has insisted his industry sees no reason for concern over the supply of beer bottles.

Concerns over the supply of bottled beer in Britain have been rejected by industry insiders after a leading wholesaler warned of global glass shortages that could affect Britain's alcohol industry. [File image]

He said: 'British Glass has no concern over the beer bottle supply in the UK. This has been confirmed by our members and does not support the stories which suggest a threat of a shortage.

'It is the case that there is a high demand for beer bottles across Europe, which could lead to a knock-on effect, but it doesn't appear that there will be a shortage of bottles produced in the UK based on current demand.

'One of our members has confirmed, in fact, their production capacity has increased over the last few years, making well over three billion bottles for the UK, NI and Irish markets.'

Dave Dalton, chief executive of British Glass, has insisted his industry sees no reason for concern over the supply of beer bottles. [File image]

It had been suggested that the reason for a potential shortage was because of rising energy costs - with prices estimated to have increased by 80% in the last year.

But Mr Dalton has rejected these figures and said while the high demand for beer bottles across Europe could lead to a knock-on effect, there is no current warning of a shortage.

He added: 'While we do appreciate energy price increases have had an impact on the price of glass, it is significantly less than the 80% that has been quoted and there is more than enough glass to meet demand, which the industry does not foresee changing.'

Beer is the most popular alcoholic drink choice among Brits as it accounted for more than 7.1 billion of spend in 2020.

Britain's drinking habits have changed significantly in recent years, with more than 53 per cent of beer sales happening off trade in 2017, a rise of 20 per cent since 2000.
A New York man and high-ranking ISIS official who celebrated heinous acts of terror including cheering on suicide bombers and making prisoners dig their own graves has been found guilty of conspiracy and faces life behind bars, and possible death.

Mirsad Kandic, 40, a former Bronx and Brooklyn resident, was found guilty by a federal jury on Wednesday on a six-count indictment, including two counts resulting in death.

His charges include one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), and five counts of providing material support to ISIS, according to the Department of Justice.

At sentencing, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on the two counts resulting in death, and 20 years' imprisonment on each of the other four charges.

Mirsad Kandic, 40, a former Bronx and Brooklyn resident, was found guilty by a federal jury on Wednesday on a six-count indictment, including two counts resulting in death

Pictured Mirsad Kandic in court after his arrest on November 2017 in the Sarajevo neighborhood of Grbavica in Bosnia and Herzegovina where he had entered with false documents. The permanent U.S. resident who was arrested in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo stands accused of being a major recruiter and propagandist for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Brooklyn federal prosecutors said Kandic faces six charges. Two of the counts carry potential life prison sentences upon conviction

Kandic sent out ISIS recruitment messages and gruesome propaganda of their ISIS conquests depicting death and injury that was sent to more than 120 Twitter accounts. One particularly horrid one was an ISIS-produced 'documentary' titled the 'Flames of War,' where victims are seen digging their own graves before being shot execution-style. Kandic tweeted the video saying it was the 'best thing ever seen on screen'

Australian teen Jake Bilardi was one of Kandics foreign recruits. Described as shy and lonely the Melbourne teen fell under the spell of ISIS. He had just turned 18 years old and had never traveled internationally before. He was given instructions and guidance for reaching Istanbul, Turkey by Kandic, who then arranged for the teen to be picked up at the airport in Istanbul before smuggling him into Syria

Timeline of a terrorist: How ISIS chief left the US before grooming fighters and sourcing deadly weapons Kandic tried to leave the US attempted to fight jihad as early as the summer of 2012

But the terrorist was denied boarding at the US point of departure and told he was on the no-fly list

In January 2013, Kandic attempted to fly from Toronto, Canada, to Istanbul, Turkey, on a direct flight. He was again denied boarding

The defendant then took a two-day Greyhound bus ride from New York City to Monterrey, Mexico, in November 2013, and flew through Panama, Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Kosovo, and Turkey before arriving in Syria at the end of 2013

In Syria, Kandic joined ISIS and became a fighter for the group in Haritan, an ISIS stronghold in the outskirts of Aleppo, wielding Russian-made PK machine guns and AK-47 assault rifles Advertisement

The three-week trial included testimony of 36 witnesses and evidence spanning six continents.

In 2017, Kandic was arrested in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. His quest to join the extreme Islamic radical terrorist organization started the summer of 2012 when he attempted to leave the United States but on the no-fly list and was denied.

In January 2013, after several more attempts of leaving the country and getting denied boarding he managed to take a two-day Greyhound bus ride from New York City to Monterrey, Mexico and flew through Panama, Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Kosovo, and Turkey before arriving in Syria in his pursuit of becoming a key member of ISIS.

In Syria, Kandic joined ISIS and became a fighter for the group in Haritan, an ISIS stronghold in the outskirts of Aleppo, wielding Russian-made PK machine guns and AK-47 assault rifles.

Kandic was instructed by ISIS leadership to travel to Turkey where he took the role of smuggling foreign fighters and weapons into Syria from abroad, and to serve as a local chief for ISIS media.

During that time, he sent out ISIS recruitment messages and gruesome propaganda of their ISIS conquests depicting death and injury that was sent to more than 120 Twitter accounts.

One particularly horrid one was an ISIS-produced 'documentary' titled the 'Flames of War,' where victims are seen digging their own graves before being shot execution-style.

He tweeted the video saying it was the 'best thing ever seen on screen.'

Kandic was also a prolific recruiter of foreign fighters for ISIS sending thousands of radicalized ISIS volunteer fighters from Western countries into ISIS-controlled territories in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

This included a fellow New Yorker who became an ISIS sniper and sniper trainer, and another individual who became an emir for ISIS safehouses in the Idlib province of Syriam, the Department of Justice said.

Australian teen Jake Bilardi was one of his foreign recruits. Bilardi, described as shy and lonely fell under the spell of ISIS. He had just turned 18 years old and had never traveled internationally before.

He was given instructions and guidance for reaching Istanbul, Turkey by Kandic, who then arranged for the teen to be picked up at the airport in Istanbul before smuggling him into Syria.

Kandic provided battlefield intelligence and maps to ISIS battlefield commanders and fighters on the ground, including Bajro Ikanovic and Omar Shishani. Kandic also conspired with Ikanovic and other ISIS members in Syria to dig tunnels under the Turkey-Syria border to move 800-1000 fighters into ISIS at the time

Bilardi went on to commit a suicide truck attack with fellow ISIS members on March 11, 2015, in Ramadi, Iraq, killing himself, more than 30 Iraqi soldiers, and an Iraqi policeman.

Kandic allegedly praised the attack with the Twitter message: 'Australian citizen Jake Bilardi aka Abu Abdullah carried the martyrdom operation in #Ramadi, #Iraq. Ask about Abu Abdullah Australi (#JakeBilardi) they will tell you he was a sound brother, Took part in many battl(es)'.

'Just prior to Bilardi successfully detonating a suicide bomb in Ramadi, Kandic told Bilardi he hoped Bilardi's victims' organs would 'implode', and just after the attack, Kandic publicised it on Twitter,' FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said.

The government said Kandic began as early as 2005 to express a desire to travel to Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East to fight U.S. forces in martyrdom missions.

And, by late 2013, Kandic began trying to realize those objectives, prosecutors said.

Bilardi went on to commit a suicide truck attack with fellow ISIS members on March 11, 2015, in Ramadi, Iraq, killing himself, more than 30 Iraqi soldiers, and an Iraqi policeman. Kandic allegedly praised the attack with the Twitter message: 'Australian citizen Jake Bilardi aka Abu Abdullah carried the martyrdom operation in #Ramadi, #Iraq. Ask about Abu Abdullah Australian (JakeBilardi) they will tell you he was a sound brother, Took part in many battl(es)'

According to the Department of Justice, Kandic provided battlefield intelligence and maps to ISIS battlefield commanders and fighters on the ground, including Ikanovic.

Kandic also conspired with Ikanovic and other ISIS members in Syria to dig tunnels under the Turkey-Syria border to move 800-1000 fighters into ISIS at a time.

Kandic also shaped the information environment in which ISIS operated by enforcing ISIS media and publicity discipline. He also managed money for ISIS fighters in Syria, including two ISIS fighters who gave the defendant their bank cards, from which bank records showed more than $40,000 was transacted.

He also smuggled weapons to ISIS in Syria, including a rifle scope for an ISIS sniper.

Kandic also operated a private market via Telegram  called 'Khilafah (Caliphate) Market' where members frequently posted firearms and military equipment for sale, including mortars, suicide belts, assault rifles, and other firearms.

Among the members of the defendant's private Telegram market was Abu Luqman, who, at the time, was the ISIS governor for the Raqqa province, ISIS's de facto capital in Syria.

Kandic was arrested in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He was convicted of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS and five substantive counts of providing material support to ISIS in the forms of personnel, including himself, Bilardi, and others, as well as services, weapons, property, and equipment, and false documentation and identification.

At sentencing, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on the two counts resulting in death, and 20 years' imprisonment on each of the other four charges.

A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Jack Dorsey will reportedly leave Twitter's board of directors today - 16 years after co-founding the firm.

He is expected to stand down ahead of the $44billion takeover by Tesla magnate Elon Musk.

It comes after the entrepreneur was accused of stabbing the rest of the board in the back by helping the world's richest man acquire Twitter.

One of his former colleagues slammed him for 'clear backstabbing' when he and the billionaire 'had a deal in hand to come to a standstill'.

Meanwhile billionaire Peter Thiel is also expected to leave Facebook despite being an early investor in the company.

The CEO is expected to stand down ahead of the $44billion takeover by Tesla magnate Elon Musk

Dorsey was set to leave Twitter on Wednesday, according to business news website The Street.

The CEO and co-founded had not commented on the claims and the news firm was yet to go into further detail.

Earlier this month the entrepreneur said he agreed with Musk's decision to reverse a ban on Donald Trump on the platform.

Musk, who is in the process of completing his $44billion acquisition, revealed he intended to revoke the ban, calling it 'a morally bad decision and foolish in the extreme'.

Trump was banned from Twitter in January 2021, in response to his supporters storming the US Capitol and attempting to block the certification of Joe Biden's election victory.

Speaking at a London conference on the future of cars, Musk said: 'I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump.'

The Tesla founder said Dorsey, who was CEO until November 2021, agreed with him. 'I do agree,' Dorsey tweeted, pointing out he did not generally support bans.

'There are exceptions (CSE, illegal behaviour, spam or network manipulation, etc), but generally permanent bans are a failure of ours and don't work, which I wrote about here after the event (and called for a resilient social media protocol).'

Dorsey then linked to his January 13, 2021, tweet in which he defended the decision.

'I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realdonaldtrump from Twitter, or how we got here,' Dorsey said at the time.

'After a clear warning we'd take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter.

'I believe this was the right decision for Twitter. We faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public safety. Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all.'

Dorsey added, in his lengthy thread, a caveat that the decision would need reevaluating.

'This moment in time might call for this dynamic, but over the long term it will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet.

'A company making a business decision to moderate itself is different from a government removing access, yet can feel much the same,' he said.

Quizzed about his views by Axios's business editor Dan Primack, Dorsey said that he now regretted the call.

'It was a business decision, it shouldn't have been,' he said.

'And we should always revisit our decisions and evolve as necessary. I stated in that thread and still believe that permanent bans of individuals are directionally wrong.'

Trump, who launched his own competing service dubbed Truth Social, previously claimed he would not return to Twitter even if he was invited back.

Appearing virtually at the FT Future of the Car conference, Musk called Twitter's ban of Trump a 'mistake'.

'It alienated a large part of the country, and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice,' Musk said. 'He is now going to be on Truth Social.

'So I think this may end up being frankly worse than having a single forum where everyone can debate. I guess the answer is that I would reverse the permanent ban.'

Musk said he had discussed the subject of permanent bans, or 'permabans', with Dorsey.

'He and I are of the same mind, which is that permanent bans should be extremely rare, and really reserved for accounts that are bots, or spam/scam accounts,' said Musk.

Trump was banned from Twitter in January of 2021, in response to his supporters storming the US Capitol

'I would reverse the permaban [of Trump],' he said, adding: 'Obviously I don't own Twitter yet, so this is not something that will definitely happen.'

'But my opinion, and I want to be clear that Jack Dorsey shares this opinion, is that we should not have permabans,' said Musk.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Musk also said that his acquisition of Twitter, which is still subject to a shareholder approval, could close well before the October deadline.

'Just objectively it is not a done deal,' he said. 'The best case scenario is that it would perhaps be done in two or three months.'

Trump launched his Truth Social app in February, but the service's debut was plagued by technical issues.

Musk previously mocked the Twitter clone, calling Truth Social a 'terrible name' and joking that it should be called Trumpet instead. He has said that Truth Social only exists because Twitter 'censored free speech'.

Trump said that he had no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account was reinstated, telling Fox News last month that he would instead focus on Truth Social.

'I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on Truth,' Trump told the network.

'I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth.'

Trump was originally banned from Twitter for allegedly inciting violence with his unsupported claims that the election had been stolen.

Twitter said at the time that after a review of how Trump's tweets 'are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter' that it had banned his account 'due to the risk of further incitement of violence.'

The ban was handed down on January 8, 2021, two days after Trump loyalists attacked the US Capitol.

His final tweet read: 'To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.'

Twitter said in a statement at the time they interpreted this remark as a potential call to violence, by further calling into question the legitimacy of the election and signaling to supporters that the inauguration would be a 'safe' target for violence.
Law enforcement personnel walk outside Uvalde High School after shooting a was reported earlier in the day at Robb Elementary School, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. (William Luther/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)

Houston: In one of the worst school shootings in American history, an 18-year-old gunman in body armour massacred at least 21 people, including 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Texas state, with an emotional President Joe Biden urging lawmakers to "turn this pain into action" to control the powerful gun lobby.

The youth opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde town, Texas, 134 km from San Antonio, at about 11.30 AM on Tuesday before he was killed by law enforcement, officials said.

Investigators say the suspect was armed with a handgun, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and high-capacity magazines.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott identified the killer as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the area where the school was located. The shooter's motive remains unclear. The teenager is suspected of shooting his grandmother at the start of the rampage, US media reports said.

"He shot and killed horrifically, incomprehensibly. Fourteen students and a teacher were killed," Abbott said. Later the toll was raised to 19 children and two adults dead. Two law enforcement officers were shot but are expected to recover, Abbott said.

Names of the deceased and other details were yet to be released. According to the school website, its students are aged between 5 years and 11 years.

Chief of Police, Uvalde, Pete Arredondo said the "mass casualty event occurred at Robb Elementary School at about 11:32 this morning". He said the killer acted as a lone wolf - who was shot dead in a police exchange.

The deceased children are in the second, third and fourth grades - aged between 7 years and 10 years, he said.

US President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting during his return flight from Japan where he attended the Quad Summit.

In a prime-time address on Tuesday, a visibly emotional Biden asked what it would take to convince fellow lawmakers that it's time to act.

President Biden again tried to comfort a nation grieving after a mass shooting, urging action to counter powerful gunmakers and repeatedly questioning why the country he leads lacks the backbone to stem the bloodshed.

How many scores of little children who witnessed what happened  seen their friends die as if they're on a battlefield, for god's sake, said Biden. To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. There's a hollowness in your chest.

Turning to the issue of gun control legislation, Biden implored lawmakers to turn this pain into action" as he ticked through some of the mass shootings since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when he was vice president.

"I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage," he said, asking: Why do we keep letting this happen?"

"Where in God's name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with and stand up to the lobbies? he said.Biden has ordered the US flag to be flown at half-mast until sunset on Saturday, May 28, in memory of those killed in Texas.

The US flag across all public buildings, grounds, military posts, naval stations, naval vessels, embassies, consular offices and military facilities will be in half-mast. In Uvalde, all schools were locked once the gunshots were heard.

In addition to the confirmed deaths, a number of people have been injured. No number of the injured has been released.

Texans across the state grieved for the victims.

Abbott said: "Cecilia (wife) and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering."

Abbott said he had instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers to work with the local law enforcement to investigate the shooting.

A disturbing message on the school's website read: "Robb Elementary Parents, please do not pick up students at this time. Students need to be accounted for before they are released to your care. You will be notified to pick up students once all are accounted for."

Officials said the city's civic centre was being used as a reunification centre where the kin of victims can procure information from the state and coordinate other functions.

The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center issued a public appeal for blood donations. They have already sent over 15 units of blood and are running out.

There is currently a blood shortage at the local hospitals where the wounded are being treated.

Emergency blood donation appointments are being held on Wednesday.

The shooting stoked the fiery debate on gun control.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said teachers should be armed to stop such incidents in the future.

Speaking to a conservative news outlet, Newsmax, Paxton said "Having potentially teachers and other administrators be armed would help stop future attacks while authorities arrived."

"First responders typically can't get there in time to prevent a shooting. It's just not possible unless you have a police officer on every campus," he said.

"I think you're going to have to do more at the school."

US Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) said in a tweet: "Today, the entire state of Texas is in mourning. The shooting at Robb Elementary School is every parent and teacher's worst nightmare. My heart goes out to those in the hospital receiving care and to the loved ones of those who lost their lives. As a parent, I cannot imagine the pain they must be feeling."

"I am in touch with local officials in Uvalde and plan to travel there as soon as I can get there. No parent, child, or teacher should ever have to wonder whether it's safe to go to school. This is an excruciatingly painful time for the tight-knit Uvalde community and for all Texans.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz described the Uvalde shooting as "truly horrific", but said gun reforms were not the way to prevent such crimes.

Speaking to reporters, he said that restricting the rights of "law-abiding citizens... doesn't work. It's not effective. It doesn't prevent crime."

He said "going after felons" is what prevents such crimes and he criticised other politicians for trying to "advance their own political agenda" by calling for gun control.

He added that from past experience, armed law enforcement on campus is the most effective way of keeping children safe.

"We don't know the details of what happened at Robb Elementary School, but there will be a lot of time to examine what steps could have been taken proactively to enhance the safety and security of the school right now," he said.

There have so far been at least 212 mass shootings in the US in 2022, according to the nonprofit organisation Gun Violence Archive. This means there have been more mass shootings this year than there have been days in 2022, CNN reported.

CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.
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Democrat Beto O'Rourke was marched out of a press conference for the Texas school shooting on Wednesday and branded a 'sick son of a b****h' by the mayor of the town after showing up to heckle Republicans about gun reforms.

O'Rourke, who is running to become the state's next Governor, yelled out after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blamed mental health for the shooting of 19 kids and two teachers yesterday.

Echoing a speech made by Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy yesterday that went viral, O'Rourke approached the stage asking: 'What are we doing?'

He was immediately branded an 'embarrassment' by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and marched out of the room.

The Mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, then roared up from his seat, leering over his walker to yell: 'He needs to get his a** out of here! Sir you are out of line! Please leave this auditorium! I can't believe you, you sick son of a b****, you would come to an event like this to make it a political issue!

'A**holes like you, get out of here!'

O'Rourke is running in the Texas Gubernatorial election in November, three years after losing out to Ted Cruz in the Senate and has long campaigned for gun reform in the state, which has some of the loosest gun laws the country.

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Beto O'Rourke was marched out of a press conference for the Texas school shooting on Wednesday and branded a 'sick son of a b****h' after showing up to heckle Republicans about gun reforms

O'Rourke was pushed back from the stage, labeled an 'embarrassment' and a 'son of a b***h' by the mayor and the lieutenant governor

Beto O'Rourke is told to leave a press conference in Uvalde, Texas, after interrupting to ask Republicans what they planned to do about gun laws in the state

The governor had just completed a speech about the mental health suffering in the community of Uvalde, which he said was to blame for the atrocity yesterday.

'Before coming out here we had a long discussion with the law enforcement at all levels. I asked the sheriff and others an open ended question and I got the same answer from the sheriff as well as from the mayor.

'The question was "what is the problem here?" They were straightforward and emphatic. They said we have a problem with mental health illness in this community.

'Then they elaborated on the magnitude of the mental health challenges they are facing and the need for more mental health support in this region,' he said.

He then went on to say it has been legal for 18-year-olds in Texas to buy guns for 60 years, but that school shootings have not been happening for as long.

'What has changed is mental health. Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge. Period.

'We as a government need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it.'

At the start of the press conference, he said: 'Evil swept across Uvalde yesterday. Anyone who shoots his grandmother in the face has to have evil in his heart. But it is far more evil for someone to gun down little kids. In is intolerable and it is unacceptable for us to have in our state anybody who would kill little kids in our schools.

'Children are a blessing. God teaches us that. They are filled with laughter, innocence and joy. Their love is a gift that parents get to unwrap every single day. Parents in Uvalde had that gift taken away from them. Stolen by a demented person.'

Governor Greg Abbott was giving an update on the investigation into yesterday's shooting when O'Rourke interrupted, yelling

Beto O'Rourke being marched out of the auditorium on Wednesday after interrupting the press conference

Beto O'Rourke leaving the auditorium on Wednesday after storming the press conference to demand gun reform

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin was who called Beto a 'son of a b***'h'. He is shown sitting next to his walker before the furor

The gunman in yesterday's shooting legally purchased two AR-15 rifles from a store three miles from his home last week after turning 18.

Gunman Salvador Ramos bought two AR-15 rifles last week after turning 18 on May 16. He used them in the attack to kill 19 kids and two teachers before being shot dead himself

He also bought more than 300 rounds of ammunition to use in the attack.

It is a haul that he picked up, somehow, for around $5,000 despite being made fun of for being poor in school.

The Governor on Monday said that there were no known signs that he had mental problems, and that he did not have a criminal record. It remains unclear if he may have had a juvenile record.

Before opening fire at Robb Elementary, the gunman shot his grandmother at their home.

He wounded her in the face but she survived and fled to a neighbor's house where she called police.

At the same time, the shooter stole his grandmother's car and drove it towards the elementary school.

He has no driving experience and crashed into a ditch near the school.

Police started shooting him as he got to the school. He managed to make it inside and kill the 19 kids and two teachers who were in a single classroom before he was shot dead himself by a border patrol agent.

Before he shot his grandmother, he posted on Facebook that he planned to kill her.

'The gunman was 18 years old and a high school dropout. The only information known in advance was posted by the gunman on Facebook approximately 30 minutes before reaching the school. The first post was to the point of: "I'm going to shoot my grandmother".

Beto is running for Governor of Texas. The election is in November

'The second post was "I shot my grandmother."

'The third - less than 15 minutes before he arrived at the school - was "I'm going to shoot an elementary school,"" Abbott said.

Abbott is a firm 2nd Amendment advocate who once said he was 'embarrassed' that his state bought fewer guns than California.

On Wednesday, he defended having some of the most loose gun laws in the country by saying that Democratic cities and states with stricter laws have more fatalities as a result of shootings.

'There are "real" gun laws in Chicago, there are "real" gun laws in New York, there are "real" gun laws in California. I hate to say this but there are more people shot every weekend in Chicago than in schools in Texas. Our job is to come up with real solutions that we can implement,' he said.

In Texas, a person under the age of 21 must have a protective order to be able to buy a handgun - a defensive weapon.

nyone over the age of 18 in the state is allowed to buy an AR-15 because it is categorized as a hunting weapon.

Since yesterday's atrocity there have been renewed calls for stricter gun laws. On Tuesday night, President Biden begged lawmakers to enact change.

In an address to the nation, he said: 'Where in God's name is our backbone?'

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who was the Dem. Rep. for the state's fifth district when the Sandy Hook massacre happened in 2012, made an impassioned plea on the Senate floor yesterday.

'I am here to literally beg. To get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues to find a path forward,' he said.
A passenger caught the moment a frustrated WizzAir pilot ranted over the tannoy, while they were stationary on the runway of Gatwick Airport during a reported seven-hour-delay.

'I don't need this!' He told the exhausted holidaymakers, who were stuck in their seats waiting to set off to their destination of Larnaca, Cyprus.

Passenger Hannah Mace filmed the moment in disbelief and uploaded the video to TikTok.

A passenger on a WizzAir flight to Cyprus recorded the moment the pilot lost his cool and started ranting over the tannoy during a 'seven-hour-delay' at Gatwick Airport

Passengers onboard were shocked as the pilot told them that they could leave the plane if they wanted to

The WizzAir pilot was heard saying: 'Show of hands please, who wants to get off?

'We won't be going tonight if you get off.

'You know, I don't need this, the crew doesn't need this.

'We are doing what we can to get you out of here.

'It's out of my control. Completely out of my control.

'We're doing everything we can.

'If you want to get off, I'll let you off, no problem.'

On TikTok viewers sympathised with the pilot as he lost his temper.

One person said: 'Oh bless him though. You can hear the pain in his voice.

'He wanted to get going as much as everyone else, must be hard to have everyone moaning at you.'

Another wrote: 'To be fair, I'm on his side. He's probably extremely stressed and the crew are exhausted.'

On Tuesday morning travellers complained of up to four hour delays, with one Twitter user describing their experience as 'horrible' and 'grim'.

A spokesman for Gatwick Airport tweeted in response: 'Hi, we're really sorry for any delay. We are operating a moving queue system and staff are working hard to process passengers as quickly as possible through Security Search.'

Earlier this month on a different WizzAir flight a British passenger was arrested after starting a huge brawl.

The flight to Crete descended into chaos shortly after it landed, with punches thrown at other travellers and even the pilot, holidaymakers said.

The mass fight saw women and men injured in the melee.

The passenger and his friend were badly behaved throughout the flight and his anger boiled over when he was told police would escort him to the airport, according to witnesses.

Tourists said the pair were smoking and vaping throughout the journey, threatening fellow travellers, and were drunk before they even got on the plane.

The pilot then tried to calm down the situation but himself was then thumped, witnesses said.

Police eventually dragged the blood-stained man away from the plane with his trousers around his ankles.
Jill Biden said on Wednesday that she and President Joe Biden will visit Uvalde, Texas, after a massacre at Robb Elementary resulted in at least 19 children and two adults being killed.

'Of course we going to visit Texas,' the first lady said in response to a question from DailyMail.com. Asked when, she said planning was underway.

Biden was Dulles International Airport to greet the second shipment of baby formula from the president's Operation Fly Formula, which is bringing in infant food from Europe in response to the shortage in the United States.

She began her remarks with prayers for the Uvalde community and asked for 'common sense' to protect children.

'The sudden senseless massacre in an elementary school, little children and their teachers, Eva and Irma,' she said. 'Let us pray that God cradles those broken families in the palm of his hand.'

'But let us also pray to use the will and courage God gives each of us to act united with common sense to protect our children,' she added.

Jill Biden said that she and President Joe Biden will visit Uvalde, Texas, after a massacre at Robb Elementary resulted in at least 19 children and two adults being killed

People mourn outside of the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, also at the baby formula event, called the mass shootings a 'public health crisis.'

'If anyone ever doubted that gun violence is a public health crisis in America yesterday was an unequivocal reminder that it most definitely is,' he said.

'We owe it to them, to the victims and the survivors. We owe it to each other and to our children to do more to address this crisis. Our children should be able to go to school safely. Their parents shouldn't have to think twice about dropping them off - to hold the weight so many parents did this morning, including me and my wife,' said Murthy, who is parent to two school aged children.

Their comments came as the mood was bleak on Capitol Hill as Democrats and Republicans struggled to agree on legislation to prevent future mass shootings.

'It's f***ing nuts to do nothing about this,' said Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, whose wife - former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords - suffered a severe brain injury during an assassination attempt in 2011.

With the 100-seat Senate divided 50-50, Democrats would need support from at least 10 Republicans in order to move legislation forward.

Tuesday's shooting in Texas saw gunman Salvador Ramos kill 19 children, and two adults, including special ed teacher Eva Mirales, before he was shot dead by a cop.

President Biden gave an emotional speech on Tuesday night, Jill Biden at his side, about an hour after arriving back from a five-day trip to Asia.

'I'd hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this again,' Biden began. Biden was vice president during the 2012 Sandyhook Elementary massacre and visited parents there.

'As a nation we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby,' he said, raising his voice. 'I am sick and tired of it -- we have to act.'

Robb Elementary has around 500 students aged between seven and nine. It is 90 percent Hispanic.

A Texas Public Safety officer holds flowers that people brought to Robb Elementary school to be placed at the entrance

People gather at Robb Elementary School

People react outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School after a shooting, in Uvalde, Texas

Earlier that day, Ramos shot and killed his grandmother. The attack is one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history and the worst school shooting at an elementary school since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who was the Democratic Congressman for Connecticut's fifth district, where Sandyhook is located, pleaded the Senate to enact gun reform.

''Fourteen kids dead in an elementary school in Texas right now. What are we doing? What are we doing?,' he said in an impassioned speech on the Senate floor.

He went on: 'I am here on this floor to beg. To literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: find a path forward here. Pass laws that make this less likely.'
As his supporters rampaged through the U.S. Capitol on January 6 last year chanting that they wanted to hang Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump reportedly left aides with the impression that he approved of the idea.

Pence had emerged as a hate figure for many of the rioters because of the way he refused Trump's demand to try to block Congressional confirmation of his election defeat.

Leaked testimony to the House committee investigating the events of that day now suggests that Trump complained that his vice president was being taken to safety.

At one point Mark Meadows, his chief of staff, left the dining room off the Oval Office and suggested to other aides that the president had said something along the lines of perhaps Pence should indeed be hanged, according to the New York Times.

The comments will be seen as another example of the depth of the split between president and vice president - both possible contenders for the 2024 Republican nomination - over the 2020 election results.

The details were provided by at least one witness, according to two people familiar with the work of the January 6 committee as it prepares a timeline of the president's day.

Protesters built a gallows outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6 last year as they went on the rampage. Some chanted: 'Hang Mike Pence,' because they blamed him for failing to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election

Now a leak from the House January 6 committee suggests White House officials were left with the impression that President Donald Trump approved of the 'Hang Mike Pence' chants

The newspaper said it was confirmed by Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Meadows.

Trump's spokesman Taylor Budowich blasted the way the information had emerged.

'This partisan committee's vague 'leaks,' anonymous testimony and willingness to alter evidence proves it's just an extension of the Democrat smear campaign that has been exposed time and time again for being fabricated and dishonest,' he said.

Mark Meadows reportedly told colleagues about Trump's comments

'Americans are tired of the Democrat lies and the charades, but, sadly, it's the only thing they have to offer.'

Pence and his team repeatedly told Trump that the vice president did not have the authority to block Joe Biden's authority.

That led to a string of angry tweets from the president, as he proceeded to assert pressure on the day of the protests.

'We want to be so respectful of everybody,' Trump said in a defiant speech on the morning before the riot.

'And we are going to have to fight much harder.

'And Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn't, that will be a sad day for our country. Because you're sworn to uphold our Constitution.'

Shortly afterwards his supporters marched on the Capitol.

A mock gallows was set up outside the building and protesters chanted: 'Hang Mike Pence.'

Trump ramped up the pressure on Pence during a defiant speech delivered outside the White House on the morning of January 6. Soon after, his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol

Trump went after his own VP in a tweetstorm even though Pence had told the president that he did not have the power to block or delay the certification of Joe Biden's win

Their words came to symbolize the split between Republicans who were loyal to the Constitution and those who had sworn blind loyalty to Trump.

Months later audio emerged of the former president defending the people responsible, saying they were simply angry about voter fraud allegations.

During a taped interview with ABC News' Jonathan Karl, obtained by Axios, Trump can be heard playing down the chanted threats.

In the clip, Karl initially asks whether Trump was worried about his vice president.

'No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape,' Trump replies during the interview for Karl's book 'Betrayal' at Mar-a-Lago, conducted on March 18. 'No. Because I had heard he was in very good shape.'

'Because you heard those chants  that was terrible,' Karl replies. 'He could have  well, the people were very angry,' Trump says.

'They were saying 'hang Mike Pence,'' Karl pushes.

'Because it's common sense, Jon. It's common sense that you're supposed to protect,' Trump replies. 'How can you  if you know a vote is fraudulent, right?' he says, touting the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

'How can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that?'
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The mother of the sick school shooter who shot dead 19 children and two teachers in Texas has claimed he 'wasn't a violent person'.

Adriana Reyes said she was 'surprised' Salvador Ramos opened fire in a horrific killing spree at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde yesterday.

She admitted her son was a loner who 'kept to himself and didn't have many friends' but shot down reports she had a toxic relationship with him.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com she did not address claims she was a drug addict who saw the boy ditch her and go to live with his grandmother Celia Gonzalez.

Reyes was speaking from the bedside of Gonzalez, 66, as she recovers from being blasted in the face by her vile grandson before he went on a rampage and shot dead 19 children and two teachers.

He had bought two AR-15 assault rifles, bragged about them on social media and suggested he would commit an atrocity before the deadly attack.

But earlier today Ramos' grandfather revealed the family had no idea he legally purchased the two weapons last week.

Rolando Reyes, 74, Gonzalez's husband, also claimed his grandson had been a quiet teenager who spent most of his time alone in his room.

Adriana Reyes said she was 'surprised' by Salvador Ramos opening fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde yesterday

She admitted her son was a loner who 'kept to himself and didn't have many friends' but shot down claims she had a toxic relationship with him

Ramos was shot dead after his shooting spree left 19 children and two teachers dead as well as his grandmother Celia Gonzalez (pictured) fighting for her life after he blasted her in the face

Rolando Reyes, 74, says he had no idea his grandson bought two AR-15s last week. Salvador Ramos bought the guns last week a day after celebrating his 18th birthday with his grandmother at Applebee's

Tuesday's violence began when Ramos shot and critically wounded his grandmother at her home (above) in Uvalde. The grandmother survived and Ramos then drove the short distance to Robb Elementary and opened fire

Ramos grew up in Hood Street before moving to his grandmother's house some months ago, neighbors claimed

UVALDE SHOOTING VICTIMS NAMED SO FAR: Irma Garcia, 46 - fourth grade teacher

Eva Mireles, 44 - fourth grade teacher

Amerie Jo Garza, 10

Uziyah Garcia, 8

Makenna Elrod, 10

Xavier Lopez, 10

Eliahana Torres, 10

Ellie Lugo, 10

Nevaeh Bravo

Tess Marie Mata

Rojelio Torres, 10

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10

Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10

Alithia Ramirez, 10

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10

Miranda Mathis, 11

Alexandria 'Lexi' Aniyah Rubio, 10

Maite Yuleana

Jose Flores Jr, 10 Advertisement

Speaking to DailyMail.com from San Antonio, Reyes said: 'My son wasn't a violent person. I'm surprised by what he did.

'I pray for those families. I'm praying for all of those innocent children, yes I am. They [the children] had no part in this.'

She was speaking from the hospital where her mother Gonzalez was still being treated for the gunshot wounds to her face.

She also slapped down reports she had a toxic relationship with her son that may have warped his personality. She continued: 'I had a good relationship with him. He kept to himself; he didn't have many friends.'

She said the last time she spoke with him was last Monday, on his birthday, adding: 'I had a card and a Snoopy stuffed animal to give to him.'

She claims she did not know where Salvador shot her mother but added, me and my sister are going to care for her when she gets home to Uvalde.

She said her mother 'with her left hand, was able to hold my hand.' She added her mother cannot smile but knows she is there for her. She said doctors do not know what her mother's prognosis is.

Earlier today the boy's grandfather Rolando Reyes told how the family were kept in the dark about the two lethal weapons he bought.

He told ABC News: 'I didn't know he had weapons. If I'd have known, I would have reported it.'

Ramos is believed to have gone to live with his grandparents after rowing with his mother about cutting to WiFi at their home.

The shooter's grandfather also revealed he was quiet and would sometimes go to work with him.

He said: 'Sometimes I'd take him to work with me. Not all the time, but sometimes. This past year he didn't go to school. He didn't graduate. You would try to tell him but kids nowadays they think they know everything.

'He was very quiet, he didn't talk very much.' The teen did not live with his mother because they had 'problems', the grandfather added.

Fourth grader Alithia Ramirez (at left) was confirmed dead early Wednesday by her father, Ryan Ramirez, who shared a post to Facebook showing the 10-year-old with angel's wings. He had used the same photo the previous day as he pleaded for help finding her after the massacre. Jaliah Nicole Silguero (at right) was also confirmed as one of the victims early Wednesday, with her mother Veronica Luevanos also sharing a memorial post saying saying she was 'heartbroken' over the loss

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos (at left), who appears to be Jaliah's cousin based on posts shared by the family, was confirmed as one of the dead Wednesday by his aunt. 'Still can't believe that we're never gonna see you again,' she wrote on Facebook. Amerie Jo Garza (pictured at right with her father, Angel Garza) was confirmed dead by her dad Wednesday. The grieving parent captioned the post: 'My little love is now flying high with the angels above'

Uziyah Garcia, 8, (left) and Makenna Elrod, 10, (right) were both also confirmed dead by loved ones on Facebook

Xavier Lopez, 10, (left) and Eliahana Torres, 10, (right) was also killed at the school shooting on Tuesday

Ellie Lugo (left) and Nevaeh Bravo (right) were also killed. Ellie was reported as missing for several hours before her parents confirmed her death

Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, and Rogelio Torres, right, were also killed

Fourth-grader Tess Marie Mata was named by her sister, who described her younger sibling as a 'precious angel'

Alexandria Aniyah Rubio - who was better known to friends as 'Lexi' - was confirmed dead just before midnight on Tuesday

Jose Flores, 10, was also killed in the shooting after attending the honor roll ceremony, where he was pictured triumphantly clutching a certificate celebrating the accomplishment

Irma Garcia (left) and Eva Mireles (right), who co-taught fourth grade, were both shot and killed at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday

It comes after it emerged Ramos had warned in online messages minutes before the attack he had shot his grandmother and was going to shoot up a school.

He used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in the bloodbath Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. He had legally bought two such rifles just days before, soon after his birthday, authorities said.

Investigators shed no immediate light on the motive. Gov. Greg Abbott said Ramos, a resident of the community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, had no known criminal or mental health history.

But about 30 minutes before the bloodbath, Ramos made three social media posts, Abbott said. According to the governor, Ramos posted he was going to shoot his grandmother, then he had shot the woman, and finally he was going to shoot up an elementary school.

Seventeen people were also injured in the attack. 'Evil swept across Uvalde yesterday. Anyone who shoots his grandmother in the face has to have evil in his heart,' Abbott said at a news conference.

'But it is far more evil for someone to gun down little kids. It is intolerable and it is unacceptable for us to have in the state anybody who would kill little kids in our schools.'

Democrat Beto ORourke, who is running against Abbott for governor this year, interrupted the news conference, calling the Republicans response to the tragedy 'predictable.' ORourke was escorted out while members of the crowd yelled at him, with one man calling him a 'sick son of a bitch.'

As details of the latest mass killing to rock the US emerged, grief engulfed the small town of Uvalde, population 16,000.

The dead included an outgoing 10-year-old, Eliahna Garcia, who loved to sing, dance and play basketball; a fellow fourth grader, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming; and a teacher, Eva Mireles, with 17 years experience whose husband is an officer with the school districts police department.

'I just dont know how people can sell that type of a gun to a kid 18 years old,' Eliahnas aunt, Siria Arizmendi, said angrily through tears. 'What is he going to use it for but for that purpose?'

Lt Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN that all of those killed were in the same fourth-grade classroom.

The killer 'barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom,' Olivarez said. 'It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.'

Law enforcement officers eventually broke into the classroom and killed the gunman. Police and others responding to the attack also went around breaking windows at the school to enable students and teachers to escape.

Salvador Ramos legally purchased two AR-15 style rifles including the one he used in yesterday's attack after his 18th birthday last week. The gunman also bought more than 300 rounds of ammunition

One of the weapons the gunman bought was an $1,870 Daniel Defense weapon which he posted a receipt for on Yubo (left), according to The Daily Dot. The weapons are ordered online then picked up from local Daniel Defense dealers

One video at the scene appears to show the suspected gunman, named by Governor Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background

A police vehicle is seen parked near of a truck believed to belong to the suspect behind a shooting at Robb Elementary School

These are the Daniel Defense dealer locations within 100 miles of the shooter's hometown of Uvalde, Texas . There are also several firearms stores in the town

New video from the chaotic scene shows police arriving to the scene with their guns in hand

Ramos's home in Uvalde is seen on Tuesday as police try to fathom a motive for the shooting

Law enforcement are seen near the crime scene on Tuesday afternoon after the mass murder at the school

The attack in the predominantly Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest school shooting in the US since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

The bloodshed was the latest in a seemingly unending string of mass killings at churches, schools, stores and other sites in the United States. Just 10 days earlier, 10 Black people were shot to death in a racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.

In a somber address to the nation hours after the attack in Texas, President Joe Biden pleaded for Americans to 'stand up to the gun lobby' and enact tougher restrictions, saying: 'When in Gods name are we going to do what has to be done?'

But the prospects for any reform of the nations gun regulations appeared dim. Repeated attempts over the years to expand background checks and enact other curbs have run into Republican opposition in Congress.

On social media in the days and hours before the massacre, Ramos appeared to drop hints that something was going to happen.

On the day Ramos bought his second weapon last week, an Instagram account that investigators say apparently belong to Ramos carried a photo of two AR-style rifles. Ramos apparently tagged another Instagram user, one with more than 10,000 followers, asking her to share the picture with her followers.

'I barely know you and u tag me in a picture with some guns,' replied the Instagram user, who has since removed her profile. 'Its just scary.'

On the morning of the attack, the account linked to the gunman replied: 'Im about to.'

Instagram confirmed it was working with law enforcement to review the account but declined to answer questions about the postings.

Investigators are also looking at an account on TikTok, possibly belonging to the shooter, with a profile that reads: 'Kids be scared IRL,' an acronym meaning 'in real life.' The profile is not dated.

Investigators do not yet know why Ramos targeted the school, said Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

'We dont see a motive or catalyst right now,' he said.

People waiting for news of their loved ones following a mass shooting in Texas embrace outside a civic center in the city

Two women weep as they embrace one-another following a mass shooting at a Texas school which killed at least 19 children

A woman cries while speaking on the phone outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School to be picked up following the shooting

Women embrace one-another as they mourn outside a civic center in the city of Uvalde, southern Texas, following a mass shooting at an elementary school

Crowds of people comfort one-another following a mass shooting at a school in the city of Uvalde, southern Texas

America's worst school shootings There have been dozens of shootings and other attacks in US schools and colleges over the years, but until the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999, the number of dead tended to be in the single digits. Since then, the number of shootings that included schools and killed 10 or more people has mounted. The most recent two were both in Texas. ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, May 2022 An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children, two teachers and injuring others, Gov. Greg Abbott said. The shooter died. SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, May 2018 A 17-year-old opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. The suspect has been charged with murder. MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL, February 2018 An attack left 14 students and three staff members dead at the school in Parkland, Florida, and injured many others. The 20-year-old suspect was charged with murder. UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, October 2015 A man killed nine people at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, and wounded nine others, then killed himself. SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, December 2012 A 19-year-old man killed his mother at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, then went to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first graders and six educators. He took his own life. VIRGINIA TECH, April 2007 A 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007; more than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself. RED LAKE HIGH SCHOOL, March 2005 A 16-year-old student killed his grandfather and the man's companion at their Minnesota home, then went to nearby Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a teacher and a security guard before shooting himself. COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL, April 1999 Two students killed 12 of their peers and one teacher at the school in Littleton, Colorado, and injured many others before killing themselves. Advertisement

Officers found one of the rifles in Ramos truck, the other in the school, according to the briefing given to lawmakers. Ramos was wearing a tactical vest, but it had no hardened body-armor plates inside, lawmakers were told. He also dropped a backpack containing several magazines full of ammunition near the school entrance.

One of the guns was purchased at a federally licensed dealer in the Uvalde area on May 17, according to state Sen. John Whitmire, who was briefed by investigators. Ramos bought 375 rounds of ammunition the next day, then purchased the second rifle last Friday.

On Tuesday morning, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at her home, then left. Neighbors called police when she staggered outside and they saw she had been shot in the face, Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine said.

Ramos then crashed his truck through a railing on the school grounds, and an Uvalde school district officer exchanged fire with him and was wounded, Considine said.

Ramos went inside and exchanged more gunfire with two arriving Uvalde police officers, who were still outside, Considine said. Those officers were also wounded.

Dillon Silva, whose nephew was in a nearby classroom, said students were watching the Disney movie 'Moana' when they heard several loud pops and a bullet shattered a window. Moments later, their teacher saw the attacker stride past the door.

'Oh, my God, he has a gun!' the teacher shouted twice, according to Silva. 'The teacher didnt even have time to lock the door,' he said.

A tactical team forced its way into the classroom where the attacker was holed up and was met with gunfire from Ramos but shot and killed him, according to Olivarez.

In the aftermath, families in Uvalde waited hours for word on their children. At the town civic center where some gathered Tuesday night, the silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wails.

'No! Please, no!' one man yelled as he embraced another man. On Wednesday morning, volunteers were seen arriving with Bibles and therapy dogs.

Three children and an adult were being treated at a San Antonio hospital, where two of them - a 66-year-old woman and 10-year-old girl - were listed in serious condition.

Uvalde, home to about 16,000 people, is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the Mexican border. Robb Elementary, which has nearly 600 students in second, third and fourth grades, is a single-story brick structure in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.

The close-knit community, built around a shaded central square, includes many Hispanic families who have lived there for generations. It sits amid fields of cabbage, onions, carrots and other vegetables. But many of the steadiest jobs are supplied by companies that produce construction materials.

The attack came as the school was counting down to the last days of the school year with a series of themed days. Tuesday was to be 'Footloose and Fancy,' with students wearing nice outfits.

Texas, which has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the nation, has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years.

In 2018, a gunman killed 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area. A year before that, a gunman shot more than two dozen people to death during a Sunday service in the small town of Sutherland Springs. In 2019, a gunman at a Walmart in El Paso killed 23 people in a racist attack targeting Hispanics.

The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston. The governor and both of Texas U.S. senators, all of them Republicans, were among the scheduled speakers at a forum Friday.

Timeline of terror: How Texas elementary school gunman shot his grandmother then crashed her pickup, barricaded himself in a classroom and slaughtered 19 kids and two teachers - before cops killed him

New details are emerging in the school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday

Salvador Ramos, 18, was killed by police after massacring 19 children and two teachers

Ramos first shot and critically wounded his grandmother at her home under a mile from the school

He then drove a black Ford F-150 to the school and crashed into a ditch behind the elementary

Ramos stormed the school, exchanging fire with cops, and barricaded himself inside a classroom

CBP tactical unit breached the classroom and shot Ramos dead, potentially saving many more lives

New details are emerging in the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that left 21 people dead, including 19 elementary students.

Salvador Ramos, 18, on Tuesday committed the deadliest US school massacre since the Sandy Hook shooting nearly a decade ago, going on a rampage at Robb Elementary before being shot dead by police.

Officials say that the two AR-15-style rifles recovered from the shooting scene were purchased by Ramos earlier this month, just days after his 18th birthday.

Ramos purchased one of the rifles on May 17, and the following day he bought 375 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition. Ramos purchased other rifle on May 20, and posted pictures of the guns on Instagram.

Tuesday's violence began when Ramos shot and critically wounded his grandmother at her home in Uvalde, where he had reportedly been living for several months after domestic problems in his mother's home across town.

Savador Ramos first shot his grandmother at her house, before driving half a mile to Robb Elementary and crashing a truck outside the school. He stormed the building and killed 21 before he was shot dead

The grandmother was airlifted to a hospital and was still clinging to life on Wednesday.

After shooting his grandmother, Ramos drove in a black Ford F-150 pickup truck the short distance to Robb Elementary, just half a mile away.

Veering wildly off the road, Ramos crashed the truck into a culvert behind the elementary school, according to officials and photos from the scene.

At 11.32am, the first 911 call came in reporting the vehicle crash, and saying a man with a gun was exiting the truck.

Ramos, wearing body armor, apparently left one of the rifles in the truck, and carried the other with him towards the school, along with a backpack full of ammunition.

Investigators say that Ramos dropped the backpack near an entrance to the school, and that it contained seven 30-round magazines. It's unclear whether the magazines held live ammunition.

Police told news station KENS 5 that Ramos exchanged gunfire with police as he stormed into the school, but ultimately cops were unable to prevent him from gaining entry.

Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch before entering the school. Cops found one of his AR-15 guns inside the vehicle, and he had also dumped a bag (circled) nearby. At the entrance of the school, they found his backpack which contained ammunition

'The suspect made entry into the school and as soon as he made entry into the school he started shooting children, teachers, whoever's in his way,' Department of Public Safety Lt. Christopher Olivarez told the station.

'He was shooting everybody,' the state official said.

Olivarez told CNN that the shooter barricade himself inside of a single classroom, and that it is inside that classroom where most or all of the 19 children and two teachers were killed.

The children killed were believed to be third and fourth grade students. Robb Elementary serves grades two through four, officials said.

Police and state troopers arrived in time to hear gunshots inside a classroom where the man barricaded himself and began shooting children and teachers.

Olivarez said some of the officers were shot by the gunman, so others began breaking windows around the school trying to evacuate children and teachers.

Meanwhile, a nearby Customs and Border Protection tactical unit responded to provide backup.

In this aerial view, law enforcement works on scene at Robb Elementary School where at least 21 people were killed yesterday

The agent who ended Tuesday's school massacre by shooting and killing the Robb Elementary school gunman is reported to be part of an 'elite' CBP tactical unit. Law enforcement personnel are pictured at the scene of the shooting

Olivarez said 'tactical law enforcement' forced their way into the classroom, where 'they were met with gunfire as well but they were able to shoot and kill that suspect.'

The unnamed agent who shot and killed Ramos is believed to be from the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), which has specialized agents dispersed throughout the United States.

The BORTAC agent, whose identity has not yet been revealed, rushed into the school without waiting for backup.

Ramos was behind a barricade, returning fire, but the border patrol agent managed to shoot and kill the gunman before he could claim more victims.

'They came in from opposite sides. The BORTAC agent ended up exchanging gunfire with the shooter, killed the shooter, and I am told that the agent was injured in his leg,' reported Fox News.

'They are trying to figure out if he was shot in the leg or hit by shrapnel.'

More than a dozen children were also hurt in the attack, including a ten-year-old girl taken to hospital in the nearby city of San Antonio in critical condition. A 66-year-old woman - believed to be Ramos's grandmother who he shot at the start of his killing spree - was in the same hospital, also in critical.

A second hospital within Uvalde itself said 13 children had been brought to them, without saying what condition they are in. Police warned late Tuesday that the death toll is expected to rise.

Law enforcement work the scene after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. The gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was killed by law enforcement

The unnamed agent who shot and killed Ramos is believed to be from the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC), which has specialized agents dispersed throughout the United States

Police work the scene after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School where 19 children and two adults were killed

BORTAC is headquartered in El Paso, Texas, explaining the presence of the agent from the unusual tactical unit.

The unit is unique in that it conducts training and operations both in the United States and in other countries 'in furtherance of the US Border Patrol's mission', according to CBP.

Dozens more children may have been killed if the BORTAC agent had not intervened, with the killer claiming the lives of 19 children and two teachers before he was stopped.

The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, law enforcement official said.

Meanwhile, teams of Border Patrol agents raced to the school, according to Jason Owens, a top regional official with the Border Patrol.

A number of the shooting victims are children of Customs and Border Protection agents, according to ABC News.

'It hit home for everybody,' he said.

A picture of the gunman has also started to emerge as a bullied loner, picked on at school because of a lisp, a habit of wearing eyeliner, his clothes and because he came from a poor family.

Those who knew Ramos or his relatives say he was a 'nice' but 'quiet' boy who grew increasingly violent as he became older, amid relentless bullying both in school and online.

Santos Valdez told the Washington Post that he used to be friends with Ramos and played online shooter games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty with him, until the pair stopped talking as Ramos's behaviour 'deteriorated.'

Valdez said Ramos had showed up to the park one time with cuts all over his face, initially claiming he was scratched by a cat before admitting that he did it to himself with a knife.

Stephen Garcia, who considered himself Ramos's best friend in eighth grade, said he was 'bullied by a lot of people' including for over a photo of himself wearing eyeliner which led to 'gay' taunts. Garcia said Ramos dropped out of school when he moved away to another part of the state, and the two had lost touch.

Others confirmed that Ramos had stopped attending classes, and did not intend to take part in graduation this summer. Instead, he got a job at a local Wendy's restaurant.

A colleague there described Ramos has having an aggressive streak. She told the Daily Beast he walked around with a pair of boxing gloves at the park, asking people to fight him and filming it. He also menaced co-workers, asking one of the cooks: 'Do you know who I am?'

'He would be very rude towards the girls sometimes... and he would also send inappropriate texts to the ladies,' the former colleague said, asking for her name not to be used.

As an 18th birthday present to himself earlier this month, Ramos bought two AR-style rifles and paraded them on social media, including in ominous messages sent hours before the killing started.

A teenage acquaintance of Ramos, who lives in Los Angeles and claims to barely know him, posted screenshots of messages he sent her early Tuesday after tagging her in a picture of his rifles. In them, he said he wanted to share a 'lil secret' and urged her to respond to him. The conversation ended before Ramos revealed his secret.
Also pictured was Papini's California home, where she has been staying since her split while she awaits sentencing on July 11

After 13 years of marriage, Keith, 38, claims Papini has 'significant mental health issues' and is 'not in a position to provide good parenting' to their two children - Tyler, nine, and Violet, seven

It was the first time the father of two has been photographed since filing for divorce from Papini in April

He was dressed casually in a neon green t-shirt and a brown cap with shades

Sherri Papini's estranged husband Keith, 38, was pictured in California dropping his kids off at school before heading to work

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The husband of disgraced California 'supermom' Sherri Papini was pictured, in exclusive photographs obtained by DailyMail.com, for the first time since he filed for divorce in April.

Estranged-husband Keith Papini, 38, was seen in California dropping his kids off at school before going to work, dressed in a neon green t-shirt, brown cargo pants and a brown cap with shades.

Sherri Papini is the infamous 39-year-old mother of two, who pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and one count of lying to a federal officer for her role in an epic 2016 kidnapping hoax.

She is facing several years in jail and a $300,000 fine when she is sentenced on July 11

Sherri Papini claimed she was abducted by two gun-wielding Hispanic women who starved and beat her, before she suddenly reappeared three weeks later and almost 200 miles away from where she was last seen.

No arrests were ever made in the seemingly motiveless crime that baffled investigating officers.

Papini's antics were eerily similar to those of the main character in the 2012 Gillian Flynn's smash-hit thriller novel Gone Girl, which was later turned into a movie, starring Rosamund Pike as a vanishing wife.

Sherri Papini's estranged husband Keith, 38, was pictured in California dropping his kids off at school on Wednesday before heading to work.

Dressed casually in a neon green t-shirt and a brown cap with shades, Keith was captured exiting his car.

The father of two photographed was for the first time since filing for divorce from Papini in April

On March 3, Sherri Papini was finally arrested following a six-year investigation. Police concluded that she spent the time away with ex-boyfriend James Reyes in Costa Mesa, California and inflicted injuries on herself.

Police say she tricked Reyes into harboring her by claiming she wanted to escape an abusive husband.

After 13 years of marriage, Keith filed for divorce, claiming that Sherri has 'significant mental health issues' and is 'not in a position to provide good parenting' to their two children - Tyler, nine, and Violet, seven.

DailyMail.com also obtained pictures of Sherri Papini's new Chico, California home, where she has been staying since her split.

The home is on a pot-holed, dirt road nearly 1-hour away from where Keith lives.

One woman told DailyMail.com photographers that Sherri she paid $15,000 in 2004 for the cabin.

According to divorce papers exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, Keith wants to be handed all of their property, including exclusive use of their rented home in Redding, their three cars, a Ford Majestic motorhome and a Correct Craft Wakeboard boat.

Keith is also asking to be relieved of responsibility for Papini's debts which include two unsecured loans from her mother-in-law Kathleen, 56, and 'any obligations arising from her criminal behavior'.

According to the divorce papers, Sherri and Keith split up the same day she was arrested and the documents describe how she was 'literally tackled' by law enforcement officers during the arrest outside her children's school.

'They were again traumatized,' Keith's divorce documents claim. 'After she was released from jail, she assured them that the arrest was all a mistake.

'The children have now learned that their mother lied to them about her disappearance, lied to them about how she was abused by two Hispanic women, and lied to them about her arrest.

'The fact that their mother lied to them on such a major issue is something they, and I, are having a hard time dealing with.

'We, both children and I, need time to recover and stabilize.'

Keith also goes on to describe her disappearance as 'heartbreaking', saying: 'The whole problem started in November 2016 when Sherri left our children at daycare and simply disappeared.

Sherri Papini's Chico, California home where she has been staying since her split while she awaits sentencing on July 11

One woman told DailyMail.com photographers that Sherri she paid $15,000 in 2004 for the cabin

According to divorce papers exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, Keith wants to be handed all of their property

Keith Papini is seeking sole custody of their two kids, Tyler, nine, and Violet, seven, in his divorce from estranged wife Sherri Papini (pictured in an old family photo)

'Both I, and especially our children, were traumatized by her disappearance and I spent much time and money trying to find my wife.

'The trauma inflicted on our children at the unexpected loss of their mother was heartbreaking.'

He concludes the statement by saying: 'I am asking that the court help me protect my children from the negative impact of their mother's notoriety.'

Sherri has admitted to making up her story during a court hearing where she issued a public apology for her actions.

She said: 'I am so deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so sorry for the pain I've caused my family, my friends and all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story and those who worked so hard to try to help me.

'I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done.'

According to Keith, she has already missed one scheduled visitation with her children.

Despite her detailed account of the abduction to authorities, skepticism had long surrounded the claims.

When Papini was found, she had bindings on her body and self-inflicted injuries including a swollen nose and blurred 'brand' on her right shoulder. She had other bruises and rashes on many parts of her body, ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, and burns on her left forearm.

She had told cops that the two Hispanic women had branded her on one shoulder, had cut her long blonde hair short and had broken her nose.

'She appeared to have lost a considerable amount of weight. She had been branded on her right shoulder, although the exact content of the brand was indistinguishable.

The married mother of two kept lying about it as recently as August 2020 when in fact there was no kidnapping, she admitted in her guilty plea.

Appearing before a judge in April, Papini, 39, broke down in tears as she admitted faking her own abduction six years ago

Keith filed to end their marriage after her arrest and applied to speed up the divorce process in a second filing in April

Sherri Papini is seen after she was released from Sacramento County Main Jail in March

James Reyes told police that Papini caused self-inflicted injuries while staying with him, including hitting herself to create bruises and burning herself on her arms

Papini has offered no rationale for why she did it.

Her attorney, William Portanova, said last week that he doubts even she knows.

He suggested 'a very complicated mental health situation,' and said her long-delayed acceptance of responsibility and punishment is part of the healing process.

Papini has said that she has been receiving psychiatric care for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder ever since her return - more than $30,000 worth of treatment for which she billed a state victim compensation fund and which is now part of her restitution.

'It is a mistake to assume mental illness is the cause of unusual behavior,' said Dr. Ian Lamoureux, a forensic psychiatrist and frequent expert witness who teaches at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic.

There could be a rational, if mysterious, explanation, Lamoureux said, though he cautioned that he has not examined Papini and many factors in the case remain unknown to the public.

Prosecutors say her faked kidnapping wasnt impulsive, and that she planned it for more than a year without her husband knowing. The former boyfriend told investigators they didnt have sex while she stayed with him.

Papini's organization and planning would seem to make conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression an unlikely explanation, said Lamoureux, who specializes in complicated criminal and civil cases.

She may have expected that the kidnapping hoax would bring her 'fame and fortune,' he said.

And she did benefit financially: Aside from the victim compensation, she must repay nearly $128,000 in disability payments. Separately, a GoFundMe campaign raised more than $49,000 to help the family.

As a possibly related factor, Lamoureux has researched the false hero or 'pathological hero' phenomenon that takes advantage of society's treatment of victims as heroes. Those who fake their own victimization may be seeking recognition or popularity, and if mental illness is involved it may suggest a narcissistic or histrionic personality disorder.

Another possible explanation is that she faked her kidnapping to avoid some other adverse consequence, he said, typically something like a divorce or being fired, though Papini was a stay-at-home mom.

Lamoureux said manufacturing a crisis may be a way for those with fragile egos and poor coping skills to seek to prevent the bad outcome from happening.

A court hearing on the order will take place next month

In his declaration filed last week, Keith claimed the couple's two kids were 'traumatized by her disappearance'
A British couple have recalled their holiday hell after claiming three security guards tried to snatch their youngest child from a Turkish resort.

Dean Cremin and his partner Sophie Dawes were at the bar with fellow guests at their hotel in Antalya, Turkey, when the alleged incident took place.

The couple say their two-year-old daughter, Evie, was sitting on a chair when two 'large and burly' men came over and 'started trouble'.

Ms Dawes claims a third man the placed a towel over her child's head and attempted to abduct her as he ran off, reports the Sun.

The couple said their nightmare only ended once a pair of German tourists pulled Evie aside into nearby shrubs until the drama had died down.

Speaking on Irish radio station RTE1, Mr Cremin recalled: 'I didn't know where she was - I was screaming and shouting when I saw two German girls come out of a bush who had actually taken my daughter and hid her away from it all'.

Dean Cremin (left) claims he fought off security guards who had attempted to snatch his daughter, Evie, 2, from the Turkish hotel the family was staying at

The couple said their nightmare only ended once a pair of German tourists pulled Evie aside into nearby shrubs until the drama had died down

Mr Cremin said the men made a second attempt at his daughter after she had entered a lift with another set of holidaymakers the couple had befriended.

'We ran straight to the lift and as the doors were about to close, the men saw us and ran over again and tried to pull me out while I was holding my two-year-old to drag me out', he said.

'They tried to get her (Evie) again but obviously I was just holding my own. When the doors were closing, he tried to grab her leg.

'The only thing I can think of... she's a two-year-old with really long blonde hair and blue eyes.'

Ms Dawes described their holiday nightmare as the 'worst night of our life' and shared a warning over Facebook which was shared more than 60,000 times.

She said: 'One more minute he had Evie we wouldn't ever be able to hold her again. There are so many witnesses to what happened it's actually terrifying.'

The horrifying incident, which has been relayed to the British Embassy and is being investigated by police, took place on the couple's second night of their holiday.

Dean Cremin and his partner Sophie Dawes were at the bar with fellow guests at their hotel in Antalya, Turkey, when the alleged incident took place. [File image]

Phil and Elaine Brady, another couple who were staying at the same hotel, also claim to have witnessed the attempted abduction by the 'burly' men.

Elaine recalled: 'One told me to "shut the f*** up". Phil walked over and asked was there a problem and they suddenly grabbed him to the floor and they tried to grab my children, who are 10 and 11.

'Then we were suddenly aware of a third man who tried to put a towel over one of the childrens head.

'It was just madness, there was so much panic. There were punches thrown and we just tried to get back into the hotel.'

Comparing the scenes to something from Liam Neeson's Taken series, the pair have approached the Irish Embassy and local police.
West Virginia moderate Senator Joe Manchin called the shooting in Texas 'horrific' but defended the filibuster as 'the only thing that prevents us from total insanity'

Conservative Democrat Senator Joe Manchin stood by his opposition to getting rid of the filibuster on Tuesday night, hours after a gunman slaughtered at least 21 people at an elementary school in Texas

The centrist West Virginian's opinion on the Senate maneuver has garnered new attention in the wake of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Democrats have renewed calls to pass tighter gun control laws on the federal level after the 18-year-old shooter gunned down at least 19 children and two teachers.

The oldest student victims were just 10 years old.

'It makes no sense why we can't do common-sense things to try to prevent some of this from happening,' Manchin said to reporters on Tuesday evening.

'It's just unbelievable how we got here as a society.'

He called the shooting 'absolutely horrific,' adding: 'You all know where I stand - I'll do anything I can.'

But that vow stops short of the filibuster, which Manchin claimed was 'the only thing that prevents us from total insanity.'

The filibuster is a delaying tactic used by opponents of legislation, aimed at infinitely delaying proceedings until the issue is shelved. Sixty votes are needed to overcome a filibuster - something Democrats are unable to reach with their razor-thin 50-50 Senate split.

But doing away with the filibuster has hit fierce opposition from the party's moderate wing, blocking the passage of key points of President Joe Biden's agenda like voting rights in the process.

Manchin has remained steadfast in his commitment to upholding the filibuster, despite the GOP using it to kill a bipartisan gun control bill he and Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey had pushed in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting.

Meanwhile his fellow Democrats have renewed calls to scuttle the filibuster to pass stricter gun control in the wake of the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school

A teenage gunman killed at least 19 students and two teachers using an assault weapon

Former Bernie Sanders adviser Nina Turner called Manchin out on Twitter for late last year when he voted along with other Democrats to carve out a one-time filibuster exception to take action on the debt ceiling, averting a potentially historic global financial crisis.

'Joe Manchin says he'll do anything to get gun legislation passed, then clarifies that he won't eliminate the filibuster to do so,' Turner wrote.

'Not only is it something he can do, he *did* do it to pass the military budget in December. Priorities.'

Likewise, his fellow centrist lawmaker Senator Kyrsten Sinema has also suggested that Tuesday's massacre would not move her to change positions on the filibuster.

'Despite the fact that there is always heated rhetoric here in DC, I do think there's an opportunity for us to actually have real conversations and try and do something,' Multiple outlets report the Arizona senator saying.

'People at home all across America are just, they're scared. They want us to do something.'

When asked by Punchbowl about whether her mind has changed on the filibuster, Sinema said she did not think 'that DC solutions are realistic here.'

Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema's opposition to scuttling the filibuster and passing legislation with her party's slim majority in Congress also earned backlash from Gallego

Sinema was called out over her opposition to scuttling the filibuster by her fellow Arizona Democrat, progressive Rep. Ruben Gallego.

She had written online on Tuesday: 'We are horrified and heartbroken by the senseless tragedy unfolding at Robb Elementary School in Texas and grateful to the first responders for acting swiftly. No families should ever have to fear violence in their children's schools.'

Gallego replied: 'Please just stop.'

'Unless you are willing to break the filibuster to actually pass sensible gun control measures you might as well just say 'thoughts and prayers',' the military veteran said.

Other members of their party were also moved to renew calls to pass stricter gun control laws.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tore into his Republican colleagues in remarks on the chamber floor on Wednesday, accusing them of being too influenced by the National Rifle Association to take meaningful action - even in the face of dead children.

'The leading cause of death among children is no longer a car accident, is no longer illness or malnourishment. The leading cause of death among children is a firearm. The leading cause of death of children - you hear that, my Republican colleagues - is a firearm,' the lawmaker said on the Senate floor.

He implored: 'Please, please, damn it - put yourselves in the shoes of these parents for once.'

'Maybe that thought, putting yourself in the shoes of these parents instead of in the arms of the NRA, might let you wriggle free from the vice-like grip of the NRA.'

And Senator Chris Murphy, who was in the House of Representatives when his district was forced to grapple with the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, gave an impassioned plea for action just hours after the Uvalde massacre occurred.

'What are we doing?' an exasperated and outraged Murphy asked his colleagues. 'Just days after a shooter walked into a grocery store to gun down African-American patrons, we have another Sandy Hook on our hands.'

'Our kids are living in fear every single time they set foot in the classroom because they think they're going to be next. What are we doing?'
The National Rifle Association has broken its silence on the horrific Uvalde, Texas massacre that killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school on Tuesday.

The NRA spoke out on Wednesday afternoon after mounting pressure - and fresh scrutiny on its annual meeting this Friday in Houston, less than 300 miles away from where more than a dozen families will be grieving the loss of their young children to an 18-year-old gunman.

However, the massive lobbying group attempted to divert national attention from the relaxed laws that allowed the now-deceased teen to get an assault weapon, painting him as a 'lone' and 'deranged' shooter.

'Our deepest sympathies are with the families and victims involved in this horrific and evil crime. On behalf of our members, we salute the courage of school officials, first responders and others who offered their support and services,' the NRA's statement read.

'Although an investigation is underway and the facts are still emerging, we recognize this was the act of a lone, deranged criminal.'

It ended the statement with a subtle confirmation that the marquee Houston event will move forward despite the recent tragedy.

'As we gather in Houston, we will reflect on these events, pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members and pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure.'

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre will likely attend the conference in Houston on Friday, where a marquee of national GOP stars are expected to speak

Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he still intends to speak at the annual meeting.

He, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the state's junior GOP Senator Ted Cruz came under scrutiny for being slated to speak at the pro-gun event on Friday even as more than a dozen families grieve their lost loved ones killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

'America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship,' Trump said on his app Truth Social.

'That's why I will keep my longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA Convention and deliver an important address to America. In the meantime, we all continue to pray for the victims, their families, and for our entire nation - we are all in this together!

Trump earlier in the morning said the elementary school shooting is a 'moment in time that will never be forgotten' and extended his 'grief and sorrow' for the victims of the mass slaughter.

The shooter was reportedly killed by law enforcement.

'So hard to think or report about anything else after watching the Texas school "massacre" which took place yesterday,' Trump wrote on his app Truth Social.

'Thank you to the great wisdom and bravery of our Law Enforcement Professionals, and condolences to all who are suffering so gravely with the loss of those incredible souls so close to you.'

He concluded, 'No words can express the sorrow and grief of this absolutely horrible event. It is a moment in time which will never be forgotten!'

Trump posted on his app Truth Social, ''So hard to think or report about anything else after watching the Texas school "massacre" which took place yesterday.'

Trump commended law enforcement and mourned the 'incredible souls' lost in the message on his social media platform

The NRA tweeted this on Monday night, before the shooting, about Trump's Friday appearance

Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Ted Cruz are also expected to attend the NRA gathering in Houston, taking place two days after Abbott mourned the 'horrific loss' of lives less than 300 miles away in Uvalde.

The NRA, which has for decades fiercely opposed gun control of all kinds, endorsed Abbott in his re-election bid this November against Democrat Beto O'Rourke.

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre once hailed Abbott as 'a tireless defender of the right to keep and bear arms.'

The organization touted Trump's appearance on Friday in a Twitter post made Monday night, before the shooting - its most recent tweet as of 9am ET on Wednesday.

'Just a few days left until President Trump speaks at NRAs Annual Meeting for the 6th time! Hear from Trump this Friday, May 27, 2PM in Houston, TX!' its official Twitter account boasted.

Cruz told CNN after the shooting, 'Inevitably when there's a murderer of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens.'

People sit on the curb outside of Robb Elementary School as State troopers guard the area in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24

An 18-year-old gunman killed at least 18 students and two teachers when he opened fire inside the school

The massacre, which has seen kids as young as 10 slain, has renewed calls among gun control supporters to pass more restrictions on firearm access

His post on Twitter expressing condolences for the massacre was reposted by progressive Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called out his upcoming NRA appearance.

'Arent you slated to headline a speaking gig for the NRA in three days - in Houston, no less? You can do more than pray. Faith without works is dead,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

President Joe Biden delivered a brief but powerful address in response to the shooting on Tuesday night, where he grieved for the victims and their families but also tore into gun manufacturers and lobbyists like the NRA for their opposition to 'common sense gun laws.'

'I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre,' Biden said.

Speaking from the White House Roosevelt Room with First Lady Jill Biden clad in black by his side, the president said: 'Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful innocent, second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happen - see their friends die as if they're on a battlefield, for God's sake?'

His remarks came less than two hours after Biden returned from his first presidential trip to Asia.

'As a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?' he questioned.

Biden recalled the numerous mass shootings over the last decade, including visiting Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 26 people including 20 children while he was vice president. He also remarked on the this month's mass shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York.

'I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage. I spent my career as a senator and vice president working to pass common sense gun laws,' he said.

Biden claimed the ability for a teenage gunman to be able to 'walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.'

'What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?' Biden questioned.

He then accused gun makers of spending 'two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons, which make them the most and largest profit.'

'For God's sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry,' the president said.
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TMZ expected Amber Heard to 'stop and turn and display her bruise' when she got her restraining order against Johnny Depp, a former employee of the gossip site told the court.

Morgan Tremaine, a former field assignment manager with TMZ, said that he dispatched photographers to get pictures of the actress at the court in LA in May 2016 after they were tipped off.

He said: 'The objective was to capture her leaving the courthouse and she was going to stop and turn to the camera and display the bruise.'

While Tremaine did not reveal the source of the tip that Heard would be there, he said that it came from a news producer meaning that it would have been verified.

Heard has testified that she was shocked to see photographers outside the court after a judge awarded her a restraining order against Depp.

The court has previously heard claims that Heard's team leaked the video of Depp smashing up his kitchen to TMZ.

While Tremaine did not confirm this, he said that the video sent to TMZ was shorter than the one shown to the jury.

In the version TMZ received from its anonymous tip line, there was not the part where Heard was 'sniggering at the camera', Tremaine said.

Asked by Elaine Bredehoft, one of Heard's lawyers, if Tremaine was only giving evidence to get his '15 minutes of fame', he said he stood 'to gain nothing from this.'

He said: 'I'm putting myself in the target of TMZ, a very litigious organization. I could say the same thing as taking Amber Heard as a client. I find that to be purely logical.'

Bredehoft looked taken aback while Depp's legal team laughed.

Morgan Tremaine, a former field assignment manager with TMZ, said that he dispatched photographers to get pictures Amber Heard at the LA court in May 2016 after they were tipped off

'The objective was to capture her leaving the courthouse and she was going to stop and turn to the camera and display the bruise,' Tremaine said. Heard is pictured leaving court

Heard has testified that she was shocked to see photographers outside the court after a judge awarded her a restraining order against Depp

The court heard a text sent by Depp on February 22, 2017 to his assistant. Depp wrote: 'Molly's pu**y is RIGHTFULLY MINE. Should I not just bust in and remove its hinges tonight??? I want to change her understanding of what it is like to be thrashed about like a pleading Mackerel'

A forensic photo expert testifying for Depp cast doubt on the authenticity of some of the photos of Heard's injuries that have been used at the trial.

Heard and Depp are pictured on their honeymoon in July 2015. Amber claims Johnny slapped her on this train ride on the Orient Express, but he claims he was abused and is pictured her with a bruise under his eye

Bryan Neumeister said that many of the photos showing Heard's injuries had been through an editing program.

The metadata showed that the images were last modified by Apple editing software called Photos 1.5 or Photos 3.0, a later version of the program.

One photo showed Heard with a bruise on her arm while others showed injuries to her face.

Neumeister said: 'This could not come out of an iPhone, it would go into a computer and be edited.

'In a photo editing app you can do a lot of things.'

Neumeister added that the photos were not 'anywhere near an original'.

Neumeister showed the court three versions of the arm bruise photo which were each different sizes.

He said that 'forensically they don't match' and there is 'no way to authenticate any photo'.

The images 'had to go through some type of transformation to change sizes', Neumeister testified.

Depp was cross examined by Heard's lawyer Benjamin Rottenborn who asked him about his claims regarding being punched on his honeymoon.

The court was shown photos posted on social media the day before Depp and Heard got on the Orient Express in July 2015.

They showed Depp with a mark below his left eye, the same eye that he says Heard hit him on during the trip, Rottenborn said.

Rottenborn said that the dark mark was the same

Depp protested that a 'side light' would create such an effect.

Rottenborn pointed out the photos - showing Depp holding a baby - were not taken from the side.

Depp claims: 'Light on the side will cause (eye) bone to appear sunken.'

Rottenborn said: 'Whatever mark it is, sunburn, shadow, you had that same mark before you got on the train'

Depp shot back: 'It's pretty difficult to get a sunburn on the train.'

Bryan Neumeister said that many of the photos showing Heard's injuries had been through an editing program. Neumeister showed the court three versions of the arm bruise photo which were each different sizes.

Bryan Neumeister, a forensic photo expert, cast doubt on the authenticity of some of the photos of Heard's injuries that have been used at the trial

The court was shown another copy of the photo of Depp on board the Orient Express posted on Facebook.

Depp claims: 'That looks like the eyes have been photoshopped.'

Turning to the incident in Australia, Rottenborn said that Depp was asking for cocaine and ecstasy 'within minutes' of being admitted to hospital.

Depp said he 'didn't recall that' but the court was shown texts he sent to his personal assistant asking for 'more whitey stuff' and 'e business.' Depp conceded that referred to cocaine and ecstasy.

As the testimony went on Depp became more testy and at times laughed derisively to Rottenborn.

Rottenborn read out a quote from an interview Depp gave in which he said: 'If I'm angry I have to lash out, I'm going to do it and I don't care what the repercussions are. Anger doesn't pay rent, it's got to go, it's got to be evicted.'

Depp claimed that it was 'possibly about paparazzi.'

Rottenborn asked: 'You also claimed that if you want to be with a woman sexually she's rightfully yours?'

Depp said: 'Repeat that please'. After Rottenborn did, Depp said: 'That's ludicrous.'

As Rottenborn asked to pull up another exhibit, Depp said: 'You can pull up what you like but I've never said those words, there's not enough hubris in me.'

The court heard a text sent by Depp on February 22, 2017 to his assistant.

Depp wrote: 'Molly's pu**y is RIGHTFULLY MINE. Should I not just bust in and remove its hinges tonight??? I want to change her understanding of what it is like to be thrashed about like a pleading Mackerel.

'I NEED. I WANT. I TAKE'.

Depp claimed it was 'not anything I've said' and suggested the texts were a fake as he claimed 'you could have typed it up last night.'

Depp was cross examined by Heard's lawyer Benjamin Rottenborn who asked him about his claims regarding being punched on his honeymoon

The court was shown a text Depp sent his former agent Christian Carino on August 15, 2016, which spoke referred to Elon Must as 'Mollusk'.

Musk and Heard dated for a year from May 2016, when she filed for divorce from Depp.

'She's begging for total global humiliationShe's gonna get it.She sucked Mollusk's crooked d**k and he gave her some s****y lawyers. I have no mercy, no fear and not an ounce of emotion or what I once thought was love for this gold digging, low level, dime a dozen, mushy, pointless, dangling overused flappy fishmarket.I'm so f**king happy she wants to go to fight this out!!!! She will hit the wall hard!!! And I cannot wait to have this waste of a c*m guzzler out of my life!!!' Depp wrote.

He continued the gruesome text tp his agent.

'I met a sublime little Russian herewhich made me realize the time I blew on that 50 cent stripperI wouldn't touch her with a goddamn glove. I can only hope that karma kicks in and takes the gift of breath from her. Sorry man but NOW I will stop at nothing. Let's see if mollusk has a pair. Come see me face to face. I'll show him things he's never seen before like the other side of his d*** when I slice it off.'

Asked if that was read right, Depp said yes.

'Johnny never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs.' Supermodel Kate Moss DENIES Amber Heard's claim that her then-boyfriend Depp pushed her down stairs while on Jamaica trip as she appears via video at defamation trial

Kate Moss told Johnny Depp's $100million defamation trial that he never pushed her down the stairs.

Moss, appearing briefly via live video from Gloucestershire, England, said that while on vacation in Jamaica she slipped and Depp came to her aid.

Moss said that throughout the court of their relationship (1994-1998), 'He never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs.'

The famously-private model, who rarely discusses her personal life, shut down Heard's claim the 58-year-old pushed Moss.

Heard opened the door to Moss' testimony by claiming she feared Depp would push her sister down the stairs during a violent argument. According to Heard, there was a rumor that Depp had once done the same thing to Moss and it came to her mind.

Questioned by Depp's attorney Benjamin Chew, Moss said, 'We were leaving the room and Johnny left the room before I did. There had been a rainstorm and as I left the room I slid down the stairs. I hurt my back. And I screamed because I didn't know what had happened to me and I was in pain.

'He came running back to help me, carried me to my room and got me medical attention.'

Kate Moss told Johnny Depp 's $100million defamation trial that he never pushed her down the stairs

Kate Moss, 48, who dated Johnny Depp (pictured together in 1995) from 1994 until 1998, appeared at the actor's defamation trial via live video Wednesday

Moss was at the height of her fame when she began her intense relationship with Depp who was a teen idol thanks to his roles in films like Edward Scissorhands. Both of them were notorious for their drink and drug use and became known as the 'chicest, druggiest couple in LA'

Moss was appearing as a witness for Depp during a stage of the trial known as rebuttal, where he gets to challenge Heard's allegations

According to Heard, there was a rumor that Depp had once done the same thing to Moss and it came to her mind during an argument

Moss was appearing as a witness for Depp during a stage of the trial known as rebuttal, where he gets to challenge Heard's allegations.

Moss was at the height of her fame when she began her intense relationship with Depp who was a teen idol thanks to his roles in films like Edward Scissorhands.

Both of them were notorious for their drink and drug use and became known as the 'chicest, druggiest couple in LA.'

Among their favorite hangouts was the Viper Room in Los Angeles, which Depp owned, where they partied with the likes of Jared Leto, Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron.

Moss later said that she 'cried for years' over the breakup, after which her drug use escalated and eventually led her to rehab.

After the testimony, a source close to Heard said, 'So Johnny Depp didn't abuse Kate Moss. That makes him 1 for 2 in the abuse column.'But, to date, he's 0 for 1 in the courtroom on the central issue in this case back when he lost the same exact case in England. And when the jury deliberates over the singular issue in this case - whether Amber Heard can exercise her right of Freedom of Speech - he'll be 0 for 2, no matter how much his lawyers try to distract and divert the jury's attention.'
A romance novelist who once penned a blog post entitled 'How to Murder Your Husband' has been convicted of doing just that.

Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, was convicted on Wednesday of second-degree murder for shooting dead her chef husband Daniel Brophy, 63, while he was working at the Oregon Culinary Institute in June 2018.

Police said he was shot twice, and was found dead by his students.

Prosecutors have claimed Nancy killed her husband in a scheme to collect his $1.4 million life insurance policy.

They had rested much of their case on the fact that Crampton Brophy had acquired gun pieces in the months before her husband's death - including a piece that could obscure what gun a bullet was fired from.

'She had the plan in place,' Shawn Overstreet, a deputy district attorney claimed in closing arguments last week, according to the New York Times. 'She had the opportunity to carry out this murder. She was the only one who had the motive.'

'Nancy is the only person who could have committed this crime,' he argued.

But lawyers for Crampton Brophy claimed the gun pieces were for a novel she was writing - about a woman who slowly acquired gun parts to complete a weapon and turn the tables on an abusive husband.

The defense argued Crampton Brophy and her husband were actually in a loving relationship of more than 25 years.

In the end, the five men and seven women on the jury delivered a guilty verdict after about eight hours of deliberation, according to Oregon Live.

Lisa Maxfield, one of Crampton Brophy's attorneys, said the defense team now plans to appeal.

'We were hoping [the jury] would see it as the "could've, should've, would've that we did, but they didn't,' she said.

Nancy Brophy, 71, was convicted on Wednesday of the murder of her husband

Prosecutors have claimed that she shot her husband, Daniel Brophy, right, dead in June 2018 to collect his $1.4 million life insurance policy

Brophy once penned an essay titled 'How to Murder Your Husband' in 2011 while applying to a writer's group

Daniel Brophy was killed on June 2, 2018 in a teaching kitchen at the Oregon Culinary Institute in southwest Portland, where he had worked since 2006.

His students arrived shortly afterwards, and discovered his body on the floor of a kitchen. Police said at the time he was shot twice.

But about a half an hour before his death, Crampton Brophy was caught on camera driving to the culinary institute.

Twenty minutes later, she drove away and went home to Beavertown.

Crampton Brophy testified in court that she did not remember making that trip, theorizing she may have been making a coffee run and taking notes for her new romance novel, according to the Times.

But prosecutors claim that Crampton Brophy was motivated to kill him by his $1.4 million life insurance policy, and played an audio recording to the court of her asking a detective four days later to write a letter specifically exonerating her in her husband's death so she could collect the life insurance policy.

They noted the couple was having financial problems at the time - and the fall before he died, the couple took $35,000 out of Brophy's 401K account, about half of its total amount, to pay down credit cards and catch up on the more than $8,000 they owed on their mortgage, according to KOIN.

She claimed the policy was actually worth $40,000, but investigators said she tried to claim 10 different policies that totaled $1.4 million, as well as a worker's compensation plan because he was killed on the job.

'Nancy Brophy was maintaining all those life insurance policies while continuing down a path of financial ruin,' said Overstreet.

'Well over a thousand dollars a month was being paid into these policies at a time when they were struggling to pay their mortgage.'

He said that despite Crampton Brophy and Brophy celebrating a large wedding in 1997, they did not actually legally wed until shortly before he was murdered.

The kitchen showed no signs of a break-in, and Brophy's wallet and phone were on him at the time of death.

No suspects were ever identified except for Crampton Brophy, who was arrested in September 2018 and pleaded not guilty to the crime.

Brophy was killed in a teaching kitchen at the Oregon Culinary Institute in southwest Portland, where he had worked since 2006

The prosecutors pointed to evidence that Crampton Brophy had bought a 'ghost gun' assembly kit online on Christmas Eve 2017, which Brophy himself signed for when it was delivered the next month, and his wife was traveling for work.

Unable to put the gun together, Nancy bought another gun at a Portland gun show in February 2018 and, a month later, began practicing at a gun range.

Shawn Overstreet, a deputy district attorney, claimed Crampton Brophy used a Glock pistol she bought at the gun show to shoot her husband, then swapped out the gun's barrel with an identical mechanism she bought on eBay, which prevents forensic experts from matching the spent bullets with the original slide-racking system.

Lisa Maxfield, one of two defense lawyers, said Crampton Brophy bought the guns as research for her novels.

She also said Crampton Brophy had worked as a salesperson for a variety of insurance companies and had an incentive to buy multiple policies when she changed jobs, to demonstrate her belief in the product, and because she received a commission.

Maxfield told the court the 'circumstantial case' against Crampton Brophy 'begs you to cast a blind eye to the most powerful evidence of all: love.'

She said her client had no reason to kill her husband, and her finances deteriorated after his death.

'Nancy has always been thoroughly, madly, crazily in love with Dan Brophy, and she remains so to this day,' Maxfield said at the time.

Defense attorneys also leaned on the neighborhood's video surveillance, noting that homeless people appeared to be in the area that morning.

Crampton Brophy was a struggling novelist, whose titles include Hell of the Heart, The Wrong Husband and The Wrong Cop

But the novelist, whose titles include The Wrong Husband and The Wrong Cop, previously spoke about her home life in writer forums, where she said their marriage, like any other, had its 'ups and downs'.

The blog post, which she wrote on the site Seeing Jane in 2011, began: 'As a suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, about police procedure.

It included five potential motives for wanting to kill your husband that were divided into the following categories;

'Financial: Divorce is expensive, and do you really want to split your possessions?'

'Lying, cheating b*****d: This is a crime of passion. In anger, you bash his head in or stab him with a kitchen knife.'

'Fell in love with someone else: Let's say your Church frowns on divorce. You need to be a widow, so you won't fall out of favor with your religion.'

'Abuser: This one is tough. Anybody can claim abuse. What is abuse?'

'It's your profession: Now we're talking. You already possess both skill and knowledge.

'You have the moral ambiguity necessary to carry it off.'

She also gave the reader 'options' on what their murder weapon or technique should be.

She wrote: 'Guns - loud, messy, require some skill. If it takes 10 shots for the sucker to die, either you have terrible aim or he's on drugs.

'Knives - really personal and up close. Blood everywhere. Eww.'

Crampton-Brophy had testified that she does not remember traveling toward the Culinary Institute that day, but claimed it was likely for a coffee break or to write part of her novel

Prosecutors were barred from discussing the blog post during the court hearings, after Ramras deemed the post too old to be relevant - and said that any value it may provide the trial is outweighed by the prejudice it may spark.

But as they cross-examined Crampton Brophy, the Times reports, they asked her about one theme of the post, asking her: 'If there is one thing that you know about murder, is it that anyone is capable of doing it?'

She replied that she 'absolutely' believes that, noting people can murder if they get pushed into a corner, or to protect someone or in a rage of fury.

She also noted that financial issues could be a motivating factor, but she and her lawyers claimed she did not have enough of a financial motivation to kill Daniel - noting that the life insurance policies were not exorbitantly high and she wasn't listed as a beneficiary on all of them.

Crampton Brophy also claimed a fictional version of her case would not stand up to scrutiny.

'An editor would laugh and say "I think you need to work harder on this story,"' she claimed. '"You have kind of a big hole in it.'

Crampton Brophy now faces life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for June 13.
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Comedian Ricky Gervais has hit back at critics after Twitter's 'woke brigade' turned on the comic for mocking cancel culture with jokes about transgender people, Adolf Hitler and AIDS in his new 'SuperNature' Netflix special.

The comic, 60, who has been embroiled in controversy throughout his career, kicks off the show with a warning about irony as he describes the concept of comedy to the audience as 'basically a bloke talking', before purposely failing to recall any 'funny female comedians'.

In 'SuperNature', Gervais wastes no time singling out the 'virtue-signalling' and 'dominant mobs' who are quick to criticise just to 'bring people down to raise their own status'.

But his jokes were later described as 'dangerous' material by an American LGBT rights group, while Stonewall accused him of 'making fun of trans people'.

In response, Gervais told The Spectator: 'My target wasn't trans folk, but trans activist ideology. I've always confronted dogma that oppresses people and limits freedom of expression.'

He again retorted against woke critics last night as he told The One Show that comedy should be used as a tool for 'getting us over taboo subjects so they're not scary any more'.

He said: 'I think that's what comedy is for, really - to get us through stuff, and I deal in taboo subjects because I want to take the audience to a place it hasn't been before, even for a split second.

'Most offence comes from when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target.'

He added: 'I think that's what comedy is for - getting us over taboo subjects so they're not scary anymore. So, I deal with everything. And I think we second guess the audience too much.'

Gervais' new special has received the backing of viewers for broaching controversial topics including the trans debate, racism, identity politics and Hitler - weeks after Netflix was accused of 'being infected by the woke mind virus' by Elon Musk.

Just minutes into his opening monologue, Gervais yawns to the crowd as he talks about 'those old-fashioned women, you know, with wombs'.

He later moves onto quips after transgender women and pronouns, drawing huge laughs from the crowd when he mocks up a debate over gendered toilets. He at one point references his transition to becoming 'Vicky Gervais'.

Gervais later offers a strong rebuttal to cancel culture, reminding audiences that their opinion on a comedian's work isn't necessarily the prevailing thought of everyone.

'When someone says to me: 'Oh they're not funny', even if I agree with them I say 'well you can't say that, you don't find them funny'.

'I hate when people say: 'That joke was offensive'. No, you've got to say you found it offensive. It's all about feelings, and feelings are personal.'

Turning his attention to a new brand of 'woke comedy', in which he says comics are required to sign a waiver before their sets promising not to say anything contentious, he told the audience he would rather watch American stand-up comedian Louis CK masturbate.

'Can't mention him anymore, he's cancelled. Not enough to apologise and move on', he jokes.

Comedian Ricky Gervais has hit back at critics after Twitter's 'woke brigade' turned on the comic for mocking cancel culture with jokes about transgender people, Adolf Hitler and AIDS in his new 'SuperNature' Netflix special

His jokes in 'SuperNature' were described as 'dangerous' material by an American LGBT rights group, while Stonewall accused him of 'making fun of trans people'

The comic, 60, starts the show by describing comedy to the audience as 'basically a bloke talking', before purposely failing to recall any 'funny female comedians'

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a campaign group based in the US, slammed Mr Gervais for his takes on transgender issues and homosexuality in his Netflix special

Ricky Gervais' gags which kickstarted a Twitter row Mocking up a debate over gendered toilets, Gervais starts the joke: 'They are ladies, look at their pronouns. What about this person isn't a lady? 'Well, his penis.' 'Her penis you f****** bigot'. 'What is he rapes me?' 'What if SHE rapes you?' Turning his sights onto a new branch of 'woke comedy', in which he says comics are required to sign a waiver before their sets promising not to say anything contentious, he jokes he would rather watch American stand-up comedian Louis CK masturbate. 'Can't mention him anymore. He's cancelled', he adds. Gervais later tells his audience: 'You can't predict what will be offensive in the future. You don't know who the dominant mob will be. 'Like, the worst thing you can say today, get you cancelled on Twitter, death threats, the worst thing you can say today is, 'Women don't have penises', right? 'Now, no one saw that coming. You won't find a ten-year-old tweet saying 'Women don't have penises.' You know why? We didn't think we f***ing had to!' Discussing the minorities and the demographics of Britain, Gervais points out: 'We're 5 per cent black, 5 per cent Asian. 5 per cent LGBQT. 'I'm a white, heterosexual multi-millionaire. There's less than one percent of us. 'Do I whine? No. I don't mind'. In another joke towards the end of the show in which he addresses self identity, Gervais says he supports trans rights - a remark met by cheers by a few members of the audience. He adds: 'Full disclosure. In real life, of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights and trans rights are human rights. 'Live your best life, use your preferred pronouns, be the gender that you feel that you are. But meet me halfway ladies, lose the c**k, that's all I'm saying.' Advertisement

Discussing Kevin Hart's decision to remove himself from hosting the Oscars in 2018 after historical homophobic tweets emerged, Gervais tells his audience: 'You can't predict what will be offensive in the future. You don't know who the dominant mob will be.

'Like, the worst thing you can say today, get you cancelled on Twitter, death threats, the worst thing you can say today is, 'Women don't have penises', right?

'Now, no one saw that coming. You won't find a ten-year-old tweet saying 'Women don't have penises.' You know why? We didn't think we f***ing had to!'

And in another joke towards the end of the show in which he addresses self identity, Gervais says he supports trans rights - a remark met by cheers by a few members of the audience.

He adds: 'Full disclosure. In real life, of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights and trans rights are human rights.

'Live your best life, use your preferred pronouns, be the gender that you feel that you are. But meet me halfway ladies, lose the c**k, that's all I'm saying.'

Talking to the audience about cancel culture and the transgender issues during an opening monologue, Gervais tells the audience: 'Ah women. Not all women, I mean the old-fashioned women, you know the ones with wombs? Those f***ing dinosaurs.

'I love the new women. They're great, aren't they? The new ones we've been seeing lately. The ones with beards and c***s. They're as good as gold, I love them.

'And now the old-fashioned ones say 'oh, they want to use our toilets'. Why shouldn't they use your toilets? For ladies! They are ladies  look at their pronouns!'

Acting out a discussion, he adds: 'What about this person isn't a lady? 'Well, his penis.' Her penis, you f***ing bigot! 'What if he rapes me?' What if she rapes you, you f***ing TERF w***e?'

The British comedian didn't hold back in the programme and also joked about 'taboo' subjects including Hitler, famine and AIDS.

And he has been praised for the 'zero f***s given' approach to the Netflix special.

One viewer said: 'How dare comic/actor Ricky Gervais have funny and accurate jokes about people with zero self awareness!'

Another said: 'Well, the far left mob is at it again, trying to cancel comedian Ricky Gervais for making jokes about trans people.

'I saw the bit and though the jokes were fine. Light-hearted, no hate. I'll have to hurry and watch the whole show now in case it gets removed.'

A third added: 'I'm watching #SuperNature in part because everyone is already offended.

'Being offensive is comedic currency, and the world has all but lost that perspective. Thankful Ricky Gervais doesn't give a s**t because I'm only five minutes in and I'm crying.'

Others took to Twitter to share their enjoyment of the special, which was filmed on his most recent tour, many fans rushed to Twitter to praise the comic.

One wrote: 'I'm not even 10 minutes into #SuperNature and this is hands down the funniest comedy special I've ever seen.

Another said on Twitter: 'I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud as much at a stand up show as I am currently at SuperNature. Ricky Gervais, absolutely brilliant.'

American LGBQT rights group describes transgender jokes in Ricky Gervais' 'SuperNature' Netflix special as 'dangerous' In 'SuperNature', Ricky Gervais wastes no time singling out the 'virtue-signalling' and 'dominant mobs' who are quick to criticise just to 'bring people down to raise their own status'. But the comic, 60, who has been embroiled in controversy throughout his career, faced a backlash for quips over transgender debates and single-sex toilets. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a campaign group based in the US, slammed Mr Gervais for his takes on transgender issues and homosexuality in his Netflix special. The group tweeted: 'It's full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric and spreads inaccurate information about HIV.' Stonewall later accused Gervais of 'making fun of trans people' and said 'punching down is never funny'. Their comments come despite the comic saying he was an ally of the transgender community during his one-hour Netflix special. Gervais hit back at critics while speaking on the BBC's One Show last night as he said comedy is for 'getting us over taboo subjects'. 'I think that's what comedy is for, really - to get us through stuff, and I deal in taboo subjects because I want to take the audience to a place it hasn't been before, even for a split second,' he told hosts. 'Most offence comes from when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target.' Advertisement

A second wrote: The bloke never fails! Another masterpiece from Ricky Gervais with #SuperNature. Absolute National Treasure.'

A third added: 'SuperNature was brilliant. Your comedic perspective is the perfect antidote to taking this crazy world too seriously.'

A fourth wrote: 'Howled for the last 64 minutes. Tears rolling down my cheeks. It's been worth waiting for! Just brilliant!'

Gervais' new show comes days after Netflix's recently axed of 290 staff - targeting many of the firm's wokest workers who are prolific social justice warriors on social media, it has been claimed.

The struggling streaming service has pulled the plug on several projects that were aimed at discussing race and LGBTQ issues, Variety reported, and axed the diverse employees working on and promoting them.

A total of 150 recruitment workers were fired, as well as another 70 animators, and 70 contractors working on promotional materials for the firm including social media and publishing.

Netflix claimed its latest layoffs were due to 'a slow down in revenue and decline in subscribers.' But critics online speculated that the firings were part of a wider 'woke' clear-out.

SuperNature has, though, received criticism online over the controversial topics it broaches.

One viewer said on Twitter: 'Netflix, care to comment on the bigoted hatred? Platforming hate, be it racism, homophobia, sexism OR transphobia is wrong!

'So why air Ricky Gervais' bigotry? Why encourage others to target trans people with these 'jokes'. It's NOT edgy, its NOT controversial, IT'S HATE. STOP!'

Another said: 'Ricky Gervais has a new stand up show out on Netflix today. 5 minutes in and he's making jokes about trans women attacking & raping people in public bathrooms.

'To him we exist only as a punchline, a threat, something less than human.'

A third added: 'Ricky Gervais is a disgrace, he is going to cause hate crime and ultimately the death of Trans folk. Anyone who needs to vilify minorities to get a laugh is the most evil hateful soul and seriously needs mental help.'

It comes after Jimmy Carr faced criticism in February earlier this year after it emerged that he joked about the deaths of six millions Jews in the Holocaust.

Gervais' new Netflix special SuperNature has, though, received criticism online over its controversial topics

Jimmy Carr slammed over his Holocaust joke in Netflix comedy special His Dark Material Jimmy, 49, sparked criticism in February over a clip from his Netflix special His Dark Material, which saw him joke that the 'thousands of gypsies killed by the Nazis' was a 'positive' effect of the Holocaust. In a widely shared clip from his Netflix show, Jimmy joked about the horror of the Holocaust and 'six million Jewish lives being lost'. As a punchline, he then made a disparaging remark about the deaths of thousands of gypsies at the hands of the Nazis. 'But they never mention the thousands of gypsies that were killed by the Nazis. No one ever wants to talk about that, because no one ever wants to talk about the positives,' Carr quipped to a laughing audience. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman branded the joke 'unacceptable', while Health Secretary Sajid Javid urged people to boycott the one-hour special. Jewish comedian David Baddiel, 57, was also among swathes of other people to slam Jimmy over the gag. David said: 'You can obviously tell a Holocaust joke that is cruel and inhumane and mean spirited and racist. 'Or you can tell one that targets the oppressors, or draws attention to the fundamental evil of it, or shines and light on the humanity of the victims. 'It's not the subject matter of the joke that counts, it's the specifics of the individual joke. Clearly, Jimmy Carr's was the former.' Meanwhile, Conservative MP and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries told BBC News that the gag was 'abhorrent'. Advertisement

The comedian received a barrage of uproar in over a clip from his Netflix special which saw him joke that the 'thousands of gypsies killed by the Nazis' was a 'positive' consequence of the Holocaust.

In the Netflix footage, the 8 Out of 10 Cats presenter said: 'When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy and horror of six million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine.

'But they never mention the thousands of gypsies that were killed by the Nazis. No one ever talks about that because no one wants to talk about the positives.'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman branded the joke 'unacceptable', while Health Secretary Sajid Javid urged people to boycott the one-hour special.

'Obviously, those comments are deeply disturbing and it is unacceptable to make light of genocide,' Mr Johnson's spokesman said.

They said 'mocking the atrocities of the Holocaust is unacceptable' but that it is a matter for Netflix when it comes to whether or not the special should be removed.

The spokesman added: 'We are looking at toughening measures for social media and streaming platforms which don't tackle harmful content on their platforms.

'We are looking at regulatory changes for streaming companies. We are clear that any change in legislation needs to be proportionate, to ensure freedom of speech within the law is not stifled.'

Jewish comedian David Baddiel, 57, was also among swathes of other people to slam Jimmy over the gag.

David said: 'You can obviously tell a Holocaust joke that is cruel and inhumane and mean-spirited and racist.

'Or you can tell one that targets the oppressors, or draws attention to the fundamental evil of it, or shines and light on the humanity of the victims.

'It's not the subject matter of the joke that counts, it's the specifics of the individual joke. Clearly, Jimmy Carr's was the former.'

Meanwhile, Conservative MP and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries told BBC News that the gag was 'abhorrent'.
Pennsylvania announced on Wednesday that it had ordered a statewide recount in the Republican primary race because Dr Oz and David McCormick were separated by only 937 votes out of more than 1.3 million ballots cast.

That means their vote totals differ by 0.07 percent - well within the one-half of one percent margin that triggers a mandatory recount under state law.

It sends the bitter tussle between the Trump-endorsed TV doctor and the businessman into another two weeks of tension.

Counties have until June 7 to retally the numbers, in an exercise expected to cost $1 million.

The trailing candidate has the option of accepting defeat, but in a statement McCormick made clear he would fight on.

'We are proud our campaign received nearly 418,000 votes, won 37 of 67 counties and contributed to a historic turnout with a razor thin difference between myself and Mehmet Oz,' he said.

'This narrow difference triggers an automatic recount, and we look forward to a swift resolution so our party can unite to defeat socialist John Fetterman in the fall.'

The GOP Senate primary in Pennsylvania is still too close to call and will now go to a recount

David McCormick is running 937 votes behind Dr Oz in the Republican Senate primary - after more than 1.3 million votes have been counted. That is close enough for a mandatory recount

Former President Donald Trump has raised questions about delays in reaching a result and urged Dr Oz to declare victory before the result was called

He has to pin his hopes on enough outstanding ballots to bridge the gap. The Department of State said counties had about 10,000 provisional and absentee ballots left to count.

The primary has also highlighted Republicans attitudes to mail-in voting and triggered a lawsuit.

McCormick's campaign has launched legal action to prevent the rejection of ballots lacking handwritten dates on their envelopes.

Oz's campaign accused him of trying to get 'legally rejected' ballots reinstated.

The winner will face off against Fetterman, who is recovering from a stroke, in a race that Democrats believe offers then the best chance of picking up a seat in the closely divided Senate.

Last week former President Donald Trump encouraged his pick to 'declare victory' despite the television personality only having a narrow lead over hedge funder Dave McCormick.

'Dr. Oz should declare victory,' Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social, on Wednesday. 'It makes it much harder for them to cheat with the ballots that they "just happened to find."'

The Pennsylvania race gives Trump a chance of another victory after several of his picks slumped to defeat on Tuesday. In particular, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp fended off a Republican primary challenger backed by the former president in Georgia

Former Senator David Perdue was recruited to run against Kemp by Donald Trump

He also characterized the election in Pennsylvania as a 'mess' while repeating his fraud claims from the 2020 presidential election, where he lost by only 1.2 percent to President Joe Biden in the swing state.

'Here we go again!' the former president wrote on Truth Social. 'In Pennsylvania they are unable to count the Mail-In Ballots. It is a BIG MESS.'

'Our Country should go to paper ballots, with same day voting. Just done in France, zero problems. Get Smart America!!!' he insisted in another post.

The Pennsylvania battle could deliver a win for Trump, after he suffered the embarrassment of seeing several of his favorites fall to defeat on Tuesday.

In particular, David Perdue, a former senator recruited by Trump to challenge Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, lost by about 50 percentage points.

And Mo Brooks - from whom Trump removed his endorsement after he slumped in the polls - managed to force a run-off in Alabama's Republican Senate primary.
A top doctor has called for the return of a dreaded health measure and for everyone to roll up their sleeves again amid a renewed surge in Covid-19 and influenza.

Authorities have warned of a looming triple threat - Covid, the flu season and health workers calling in sick because they've contracted one of the two with hospital systems already at breaking point days out from winter.

Victoria and NSW could follow Queensland in offering free flu shots to everyone with millions of Australians eligible for a fourth Covid vaccine from next week.

Sydney GP Kean Seng Lim echoed calls for the return of face masks as he issued a grim warning about the months ahead.

There are growing calls for the return of mask wearing amid fears of a horror winter ahead

'I think we have a big problem coming,' he told the Today show on Thursday.

'You have got the Covid and influenza viruses both coming on together.

'We do see them happening more during these winter months as people cluster closer together.

'We also have the problem where we are going to have fewer staff. It isn't just because staff are off, because they themselves are sick, but also because their kids and grandkids are sick at schools and or schools are reducing because teachers are sick and so forth and so forth because everything interconnects.'

Australian Medical Association recently announced it would welcome a move to reinstate 'moderate, but sensible' masks mandates in public indoor settings.

Dr Lim also expressed concern about the high number of patients reluctant to get Covid boosters and a flu shot.

Australia's peak vaccine advisory group has announced a further 1.5million Aussies are now eligible to get a fourth dose of a Covid-19 vaccine from May 30 as a winter precaution.

Dr Lim fears believe a lot of urgency has been lost.

Sydney GP Kean Seng Lim fears the health system will face a big problem in the months ahead

'We forget we're still in the middle of a huge epidemic and vaccines are one of our best first line protections,' Dr Lim said.

'Once the message is out there, then that starts the ball rolling and we've got to get the message out there.

'Both Covid and influenza are serious illnesses that you can be vaccinated against.

'They are passed the same way - coughing and sneezing.

'We should have going back to wear masks as well.'

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be briefed on Australia's ongoing fight against pandemic, regarded as a top priority for his newly-elected government.

Dr Lim also fears about the high level of reluctance to get Covid boosters and flu shots

He has instructed health officials to prepare a briefing on COVID-19, as one of his first domestic agenda issues to tackle following his return of Japan on Wednesday.

Interim Health Minister Katy Gallagher said there were no supply issues for the vaccines going forward.

'The reason why it has not been expanded more across the general population is based on evidence,' Senator Gallagher said.

'We have accepted the ATAGI advice in full, but the benefits of having a fourth dose for everybody are not ATAGI's view at the moment.'

Airports and public transports are among the few places where face masks rules remain
China is seeking security arrangements with island nations across the Pacific that resemble the controversial pact struck with Solomon Islands, a move that triggered concern in Australia and its allies including the United States.

The details of the proposed arrangements are contained in pre-written joint communiques that Beijing officials plan to release after meetings with island nations on Monday, documents obtained by AAP show.

The pre-determined outcome of those meetings adds an assertive new layer to China's expansion into the Pacific, a region that has been largely uncontested since the Allied victory in World War II.

China is proposing stronger security arrangements with Pacific nations and seeking cooperation to exploit marine resources. Pictured is Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong

The president of the Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, urged caution in a letter to Pacific leaders. He said that the documents' contents represented the 'single-most game-changing proposed agreement in the Pacific in any of our lifetimes'.

Chinese government representatives in Australia were contacted for comment.

The communiques, obtained by AAP, are separated into two documents.

One is concerned with the outcome of the meeting between Chinese officials and the foreign ministers of 10 Pacific nations invited to talks scheduled for May 30. The second details the five-year process to implement the supposed agreed-upon plan.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong are pictured. There are concerns over meetings held between Chinese officials and foreign officials of Pacific nations

Notably, the communiques state there is agreement to strengthen cooperation between China and Pacific nations on 'traditional and non-traditional security' to promote regional stability.

'China will hold intermediate and high-level police training for Pacific Island Countries through bilateral and multilateral means,' the document said.

China's description of the security arrangements resembles how Beijing officials described the pact with Solomon Islands, which they said was based on maintaining social order and safeguarding national security.

That security pact featured heavily in the early stages of the recent Australian election campaign amid allegations the Morrison-led government mishandled Pacific diplomacy.

China is arranging meetings with foreign ministers of 10 Pacific nations invited to talks scheduled for May 30 (pictured Chinese President Xi Jinping)

It is understood that 10 island nations with whom China has diplomatic relations are invited to attend the China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers' Meeting on May 30, the second in a new series of annual meetings.

They include Fiji, Solomons, Papua New Guinea, the Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Cook Islands and Niue. The meeting is to be held by videolink.

The first document, a 32-point outcome of the May 30 meeting, extends into almost every major facet of island life, from supporting language exchanges to combating climate change and increasing trade.

The communiques also pledge cooperation between Beijing and the Pacific nations on sensitive communications infrastructure, including cyber security, as well as customs and quarantine infrastructure.

It also stipulates that both sides have agreed to formulate a so-called marine spatial plan to 'optimise the layout of the marine economy'.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday said 'enough is enough' and he wants to completely stop the gun 'carnage' that is happening in the country.

In emotional remarks at the White House, he reminded people the Second Amendment is 'not absolute.'

'When in God's name will we do what needs to be done to, if not completely stop, fundamentally change the amount of the carnage that goes on in this country?,' Biden said.

And he snapped back at critics who are demanding their Second Amendment right to bear arms amid fresh calls for more stringent gun laws.

'The Second Amendment's not absolute,' the president said. 'When it was passed you couldn't own a cannon, you couldn't own certain weapons. There's always been limitations.'

Biden also doubled down on his call for an assault weapons ban and tore into the gun lobby once again as he signed a new executive order on policing.

President Joe Biden said 'enough is enough' and he wants to completely stop the gun 'carnage' that is happening in the country

The signing ceremony was on the second anniversary of George Floyd's death and Floyd's daughter Gianna was in the East Room of the White House for the signing.

Biden also used the occasion to link his call for stricter gun laws to the policing reform executive order he was signing.

'I'm just sick and tired, sick and tired of what's going on,' he said.

Biden last visited the scene of a mass shooting eight days ago when he went to Buffalo, New York, with wife Jill Biden. He confirmed they will go to Uvalde, Texas, after a massacre at Robb Elementary resulted in at least 19 children and two adults being killed.

'Jill and I will be traveling to Texas in the coming days to meet with the families, let them know we have a sense of their pain, and hopefully bring some, a little comfort to the community,' Biden said. 'As a nation I think we all must be there for them.'

'And we must ask, when it god's name will we do what;s needed to be done,' he said.

He did not say when they would go. Earlier Wednesday Jill Biden said planning was underway for the couple to travel there.

Biden started off his event on police reform slamming the gun lobbying. He asked 'where's the backbone' and 'where's the courage to stand up to a very powerful lobby,' which is a reference to the gun industry.

'The idea that an 18 year old can walk into a store, and buy weapons of war, designed and marketed to kill, is I think just wrong. It just violates common sense. Even the manufacturer, the inventor of that weapon thought that as well. You know, where is the backbone? Where is the courage? To stand up to a very powerful lobby?,' he said.

Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke at the event and she called for stricter gun laws to be passed.

'We must have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and pass reasonable gun safety laws. We must work together to create an America where everyone feels safe in their community, where children feel safe in their schools,' she said.

Angeline Gomez arrives to Robb Elementary school with flowers, the day after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in the school in Uvalde, Texas

People pray outside the Uvalde High School

Parishioners mourn at Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Tuesday's shooting in Texas saw gunman Salvador Ramos kill 19 children, and two adults, including special ed teacher Eva Mirales, before he was shot dead by a cop - the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012

Tuesday's shooting in Texas saw gunman Salvador Ramos kill 19 children, and two adults, including special ed teacher Eva Mirales, before he was shot dead by a cop.

Each of the victims - all aged under 11 - were killed inside a single classroom, the Texas Department of Public Safety revealed Wednesday, as authorities continue to assess the situation and identify all the victims.

Ramos, who just days before the attack and shortly after his 18th birthday, bought two AR-style rifles and paraded them on social media. He indiscriminately rained bullets on the room, before being fatally shot himself by police.

It is the deadliest elementary school shooting since the 2012 Sandy Hook killing.

'We're here today for the same purpose  to come together to say enough,' Biden said Wednesday.

He also called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Policing Act, saying his executive order should not stand in the way of the lawmaking body.

And he called on the Senate to confirm his nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, Steve Dettelbach, a former U.S. prosecutor. Dettelbach appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, the first day of his confirmation hearings.

President Biden gave an emotional speech on Tuesday night, Jill Biden at his side, about an hour after arriving back from a five-day trip to Asia.

'I'd hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this again,' Biden began. Biden was vice president during the 2012 Sandyhook Elementary massacre and visited parents there.

'As a nation we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby,' he said, raising his voice. 'I am sick and tired of it -- we have to act.'

Robb Elementary has around 500 students aged between seven and nine. It is 90 percent Hispanic.

Cops are still gauging the extent of the disaster as new victim names continue to emerge.

Of the 19 kids slain, so far, 17 have been named.
Todd Chrisley had a gay affair with his business partner who helped him commit fraud before tipping off cops after their romance went sour, a court has heard.

The reality TV star, 53, shacked up with Mark Braddock in the early 2000s before breaking it off, a judge in Atlanta was told.

Braddock testified that after the affair ended the pair stayed friends and formed a 'brotherhood.'

But it blew up in 2012 when Chrisley threw him out of his office and threatened to call the police on him, Insider reported.

The TV star has been married for 26 years to Julie, with whom he shares five children: Lindsie, 32; Kyle, 30; Chase, 25; Savannah, 24; and Grayson, 16.

Todd and Julie (pictured) are facing a slew of charges for allegedly submitting false reports to the banks and evading $2million in taxes

The family is best known for their reality show Chrisley Knows Best, which started in 2014 and is currently still on. Pictured: Todd, daughter Savannah, wife Julie, sons Chase and Kyle, his mother Faye and granddaughter Chloe

Braddock, who had to tell his own wife about the affair before testifying, turned the Chrisleys into the FBI for tax fraud and told the jury on Tuesday he did not want to be talking about his affair. Braddock has also been granted immunity.

After the affair ended, while Chrisley's former flame worked at Chrisley Asset Management, he claims an anonymous source sent text messages threatening to expose the relationship and his boss' fraud.

The alleged texts said: 'Pay cash and we'll shut up.'

Chrisley and Braddock ended up paying their blackmailer $38,000, which Braddock withdrew from the bank in four $9,500 payments, before meeting Chrisley in a parking garage.

He handed over the large amounts of cash 'in a little bag' for Chrisley to pay the blackmailer, he testified on Tuesday.

After the Chrisley's were accused by the FBI of tax invasion, Braddock told jurors his feelings for Chrisley convinced him to help them commit fraud, he testified.

The former employee created fake tax documents for the reality star and submitted them to banks and impersonated Chrisley in emails and phone calls, Insider reported.

After the two had a falling out, Braddock reportedly wanted to get back at his former lover and created fake email accounts to report the Chrisleys' criminal behavior to government and news agencies.

Todd and his wife Julie are pictured at the 52nd annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas in 2017

In his opening statements, Chrisley's lawyer Bruce Morris accused Braddock of thinking he was Todd Chrisley and had an 'obsession' with him.

Braddock has denied these claims. He also said the only time he'd been with a man was with Chrisley.

Chrisley had publicly addressed rumors about his sexuality in 2017, telling the Domenick Nati Show that the rumors didn't 'bother' him.

He didn't deny claims he is gay.

'In order for it to disappoint me, it would mean that I don't agree with someone being gay.

'I don't believe that's a choice that you make. I believe that you are the way that God has made you,' he said on the show at the time.

'I'm flattered that people think I can get laid on both ends. So, that doesn't bother me.

'And my wife certainly is flattered that as many men want her husband as there are women.

'With that being said, I'm never going to have a drought. You on the other hand might. But Todd will never have a drought.'

The Chrisley are currently on trial on charges of fraud and evading $2million in tax fraud.

Prosecutors allege that the couple submitted fake documents to banks when applying for loans, and Julie submitted a fake credit report and fake bank statements when trying to rent a house in California.

The couple then allegedly refused to pay rent on the property for a few months after they started living there in October 2014.

Additionally, Todd and Julie have been accused of using a film production company to hide their income in an effort to keep the IRS from collecting $2million in unpaid taxes Todd owed the federal government.

The couple is now believed to be worth an estimated $9million.

They are now charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, five counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of tax fraud.

Their accountant, Peter Tarantino, meanwhile, is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the US

Julie is also charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.

Their accountant, Peter Tarantino, meanwhile, is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of willfully filing false tax returns. He is set to stand trial alongside the Chrisleys.

Both the Chrisleys and Tarantino have pleaded not guilty to the charges and have been free on bond.

Between 2008 and 2012, Chrisley Asset Management managed and sold foreclosed properties. The lawsuit alleges Chrisley tricked banks into giving him and his wife large loans by convincing them they were personally worth millions.

It states the Chrisleys and a former employee 'conspired to submit false materials, such as fabricated bank statements and false personal financial statements, to financial institutions to obtain millions of dollars in loans, much of which they used for their own personal benefit.'

The lawsuit gave an example, from November 5, 2007, how the trio tricked a bank into believing the Chrisleys had $4million in an account with financial institution Merrill Lynch to obtain a loan.

The suit states, 'When the bank employee requested account statements, Co-conspirator A sent Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley a fabricated bank statement showing that Todd and Julie Chrisley had $776,509.52 on deposit at Merrill Lynch.

'In response, Todd Chrisley told his co-conspirator, 'you are a f****** genious [sic]!!! Just make it show 4 mil+.'

In reality, the lawsuit claims, the Chrisleys did not set up a Merrill Lynch account until 2008 and the account never had more than $17,000 in it.

DailyMail.com has contacted the Chrisleys' lawyer for comment.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday brought George Floyd's 10-year-old daughter Gianna on stage with him when he signed a new executive order on policing.

'Youre getting so big,' he told her.

Biden previously met Gianna in June 2020, when he attended Floyd's funeral in Houston, Texas. She was seven when her father was killed.

The president recounted how she told him her father was 'going to change the world.' He had her sit down at the desk in the East Room where he signed the executive order.

'I promise the Floyd family among others, George's name is not just going the be a hashtag. Their daddy's name will be known a long time. As a nation, we're going to ensure his legacy,' Biden said in his remarks.

The signing ceremony was on the second anniversary of George Floyd's death. He died as a police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes while other officers watched on.

President Joe Biden brought George Floyd's 10-year-old daughter Gianna on stage with him when he signed a new executive order on policing

President Joe Biden told Gianna Floyd: 'Youre getting so big'

Rev. Al Sharpton and Attorney Ben Crump at the White House for Biden's signing of a new executive order on police reform

George Floyd's brother Philonise Floyd (2nd from Right) and George Floyd's daughter Gianna Floyd (Right) watch as President Joe Biden signs the order

Gianna also was at the White House last year to meet with Biden in the Oval Office on the one-year anniversary of her father's death.

In his remarks on Wednesday,Biden called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The legislation aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in policing. It has been passed by the House but is stalled in the Senate.

Biden said he remembered his promise during the 2020 presidential campaign to enact meaningful police reform.

'Why I haven't done this executive order earlier? If I did it, I was worried I would undercut the effort to get the law passed,' he said.

The order Biden signed contains new use-of-force rules for federal law enforcement and encourages local police departments to make similar changes.

President Joe Biden hugs Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, after he signed the executive order

Vice President Kamala Harris talks with Gianna Floyd at the ceremony

Gianna Floyd was at the White House last year and pictured walking out of the West Wing

In addition to Floyd's family, relatives of Breonna Taylor were in the East Room for the signing. Taylor was killed during a fast-entry police raid of her home in Louisville, Ky.

Biden has been walking a tight rope on the issue of police reform. Progressives, in the wake of Floyd's death and the nation-wide protests that sparked up around it, wanted to go stronger, including a tightened use-of-force option, which police chiefs objected to.

It was not included in the final version Biden signed Wednesday.

The president also has been dealing with criticism from Republicans who have falsely accused him of defunding the police.

The order requires federal agencies to update their use-of-force policy, restrict the flow of surplus military equipment to police departments and restrict federal funding to police departments that did not ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants. It directs all federal agencies to create a national registry to track officers who were fired for bad conduct.
AOC has announced plans to ditch her Tesla, weeks after Elon Musk told her to stop flirting with him on Twitter.

The Green New Deal-backing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 32, told Bloomberg in an interview Wednesday that she wants to switch to an electronic car that is made domestically by unionized workers.

Currently, the only such vehicles she could consider are Ford's huge F-150 Lightning truck, which will be released later this year, or a Chevy Bolt.

The Democrat told the network that she purchased her Model 3 in 2020 around the time that the Covid-19 began.

AOC said that it was the only electric car that could get her from her Bronx-Queens district to the nation's capital on 'one, or one-and-half charges.'

AOC said that she purchased the Tesla Model 3 in order to drive from New York City to Washington DC at the beginning of the Covid pandemic

AOC said the purchased the $35,000 car was because it was the only electric vehicle that could make the drive on less than two charges

AOC's car was parked illegally near a Whole Foods in DC in May 2021

Now the proud member of the squad says: 'I would love to switch.'

AOC claimed it was because she wants to support a manufacturer with a unionized production line, but her timing has raised questions.

Just a few weeks ago, Musk jokingly told her to stop flirting with him after she took to Twitter to scold about the billionaire's planned purchase of the social media network.

AOC's Tesla Model 3 was spotted parked illegally outside a Whole Foods in Washington D.C. in May 2021.

The $35,000 Tesla with New York plates and a Congressional parking pass was pictured in a no-parking zone near AOC's luxury DC apartment on May 14, 2021, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Sources told the Free Beacon that AOC had been seen driving a white Tesla in the neighborhood.

AOC attracted Tesla CEO Elon Musk's attention with this tweet last month

Musk replied in a joking way. In April 2022, AOC announced her engagement to long-time boyfriend Riley Roberts

AOC and Riley Roberts Costume Institute Benefit celebrating the opening of In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

When asked about Tesla CEO Musk's recent declaration that he will vote Republican from now on having previously voted Democrat, AOC said: 'He's a billionaire. I could care less what he thinks.'

Musk's multi-billion dollar acquisition of Twitter is on hold while the South African-native investigate the company's user reports.

In April, when AOC tweeted about 'some billionaire with an ego problem,' Musk responded to her message jokingly saying: 'Stop hitting on me, I'm really shy.'

AOC got engaged to her long-term partner web developer Riley Roberts in Puerto Rico in April 2022.

The banter continued with AOC later screenshotting her tweet about Musk having an ego problem, writing in that message: like I said, ego problems.'

AOC justified deleting a tweet where she joked about Musk's ego

AOC has said that she wants to switch to an American-built electronic car that's made by unionized workers

Musk, whose acquisition of Twitter is currently on hold, has recently his wealth fall below $200 billion

When asked why she deleted the original tweet, AOC said: 'I try to avoid giving people with massive ego complexes like this the attention and QTs/replies they crave and are seeking (when I can help it ).'

While over on her Instagram story, AOC posted a screenshot of the 'ego problem' tweet with the caption: 'If he's looking for something to do he can pay taxes.'

Musk said in December 2021 that he would pay over $11 billion in taxes.

According to Bloomberg, other Democrats who own Tesla cars include Adam Schiff of California, David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Lisa Blunt of Rochester and Tom Malinowski of New Jersey.

Another owner is Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Tom Carper.

On the other side of the aisle, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky owns a Tesla which he has modified with a 'Friends of Coal' license plate.

He told Bloomberg: 'This is not a car company, it's a battery company. The car is just their first killer app.'

This is the fake tweet about electric cars that AOC was accused of sending in 2019

In 2019, prior to her purchase of a Tesla, a tweet from fake tweet from AOC spread while Hurricane Dorian was rampaging across Florida.

The fake message read: 'I see people are rushing out to fill up their cars for this hurricane at the gas station. This wouldn't be an issue if they had electric cars. If the power is out for a week how are they going to get gas? We need to start planning ahead and moving forward.'

According to Snopes: 'The tweet was just a fabricated barb aimed at making Ocasio-Cortez look foolish.'
Russian troops last night reached the limits of the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk  with fears relentless attacks will turn it into the new Mariupol.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had thrown all the strength it has left into attacking the Donbas region and warned: They want to destroy everything there.

With residents inside the city now trapped and enduring almost constant shelling, Severodonetsk has been dubbed the new Mariupol in reference to the southern port city levelled by Russian bombardment. Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai warned: Russian troops have advanced far enough that they can already fire mortars on the city.

Moscows army has plotted a slow but steady course deeper into Ukraines eastern Donbas region since withdrawing forces from central and northern regions to consolidate military efforts in the east.

Enduring almost constant shelling, Severodonetsk has been dubbed the new Mariupol in reference to the southern port city levelled by Russian bombardment

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai warned: Russian troops have advanced far enough that they can already fire mortars on the city

The Kremlin has seen some of its biggest successes since the first month of the invasion this week as it uses brutal siege tactics to wipe out settlements one by one.

Severodonetsk, with a pre-war population of around 100,000 people, is among key urban hubs in the industrial Donbas region on Russias list of military goals.

The coming week will be decisive, Mr Haidai said as he accused Russia of piling an insane number of troops into eastern Ukraine to erase cities and turn the tide of the war. If Severodonetsk falls, it will give the Kremlin effective control of the province.

Severodonetsk (pictured) with a pre-war population of around 100,000 people, is among key urban hubs in the industrial Donbas region on Russias list of military goals

It has been dubbed the new Mariupol in reference to the southern port city (pictured) levelled by Russian bombardment

Mr Haidai said: The invaders are killing our cities, destroying everything around. The army decided to completely destroy Severodonetsk. They are simply erasing it from the face of the earth.

But president Vladimir Putin faced a possible mutiny with separatists from the 4th Infantry Battalion of the 107th Regiment of the Donetsk Peoples Republic Army refusing to go to the slaughter.

Despite the onslaught, president Zelensky maintained that Russia would have to leave Kherson, Crimea and all occupied territories for there to be peace.
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Four men have been arrested in dawn raids over the alleged shooting death of a teenager in Sydney's west two years ago.

Omar Elomar, 18, was shot outside a park in Cabramatta Avenue, Miller, after he stepped out of his car around 11.10pm on February 15, 2020.

Emergency services rushed to the scene, but despite the best efforts of paramedics, Mr Elomar could not be saved.

Detectives from the NSW Police's State Crime Commands Homicide Squad launched Strike Force Cero to investigate Mr Elomar's death.

Sydney teen Noah Albert, then aged 18, was arrested and charged by police back in February 2020 over his alleged involvement however was acquitted of all crimes after a lengthy trial.

Omar Elomar (pictured) was allegedly gunned down in a western Sydney park on February 15, 2020

After further investigations, detectives arrested four men  aged 25, 20, 23 and 22  at homes in Bonnyrigg, Macquarie Fields, Gregory Hills, and Orange just before 6am on Thursday.

Investigators were assisted by officers attached to Central West Police District and South West Metropolitan Region Enforcement Squad throughout the operation.

All have been taken to local police stations where they are expected to be charged.

During Mr Albert's trial last year, the court heard two warring groups from Sydney's west had planned to meet at the park on the night of the alleged shooting seeking revenge over an earlier fight involving relatives, News.com.au reported.

One of the four men arrested on Thursday over the alleged shooting death of Omar Elomar is escorted into a police station

The prosecution alleged three cars full of boys and 'armed to the teeth' with weapons, including cricket bats and stumps, turned up and Mr Elomar was gunned down as soon as he stepped out of the vehicle.

The weapon used to kill Mr Elomar has never been found.

In November 2021, Mr Albert was acquitted after Justice Ian Harrison was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he foresaw the possibility of Mr Elomar's death.

'The court ultimately determined that Mr Albert's account could not be shown to be untruthful or inherently improbable and therefore may possibly be true,' a summary of the court's decision said.
Anthony Albanese has defended Tanya Plibersek for likening the incoming Opposition Leader to bald-headed Harry Potter villain 'Voldemort', arguing that Scott Morrison teased him about his appearance in the past.

Sunrise host Natalie Barr on Thursday grilled the new Prime Minister about the brutal insult made against Peter Dutton, pointing out there would be 'hell to pay' if a man mocked a female MP's looks.

Ms Plibersek, who is expected become the nation's next Education Minister following Labor historic election win, said a lot of children who have watched the films will be very 'frightened' of the former Defence Minister when they see him on TV.

'I am saying he looks a bit like Voldemort and we will see whether he can do what he promised he would do when he was last running for leader, which is smile more,' Ms Plibersek told 4BC radio.

Mr Dutton weighed into the saga on Thursday telling 2GB radio he reads similar attacks online all the time and that's 'It's water off a duck's back'.

Mr Dutton revealed to host Ray Hadley he also suffers from a rare skin condition and that he's 'not bald by choice'.

Peter Dutton (pictured), who is expected to be the next leader of the Liberal Party, has been compared to Harry Potter's archenemy Voldemort, by senior Labor MP Tanya Plibersek

WHAT DID SCOTT MORRISON SAY ABOUT THE NEW PM? Scott Morrison savaged the Labor leader at various times in the lead up to the election by slamming Mr Albanese's new appearance after he lost 18kg. Mr Morrison's original comments came at a Sky News 'town hall' meeting with voters on the NSW Central Coast in March, where told host Paul Murray: 'I'm not pretending to be anyone else. I'm still wearing the same glasses. 'Sadly, the same suits (too). I weigh about the same size and I don't mind a bit of Italian cake either. I'm happy in my own skin, I'm not pretending to be anyone else. 'And when you're Prime Minister, you can't pretend to be anyone else. You've got to know who you are, because if you don't know who you are, then how are other people going to know?' Advertisement

Barr asked Mr Albanese about whether he plans to 'pull (Ms Plibersek) into line' over the comments.

The new PM replied: 'She has already apologised'.

'There are a few comments made by the former prime minister about my appearance you might recall as part of the election campaign.

'We should not refer to people's appearance, let's discuss policy differences,' he told the program.

Mr Albanese said he's 'dead serious' about changing the way politics operates in this country but also understands that 'people make mistakes'.

'When they make a mistake they should apologise and we move on,' he said.

'That's one of the ways that we can change the way that politics operates and Tanya has done the appropriate thing here.'

Tanya Plibersek (right) is pictured with her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter (left). Ms Plibersek is under fire for a comment she made about Peter Dutton's looks

Anthony Albanese (right) has defended Tanya Plibersek on Sunrise (Natalie Barr left beside David Koch) after she likened the incoming Opposition Leader to the bald-headed Harry Potter villain 'Voldemort', arguing that Scott Morrison also teased him about his appearance in the past

Mr Albanese detailed exactly what remarks the Mr Morrison made about him in the lead up to the election.

'Scott Morrison had a whole show that seemed to be devoted into an analysis of my glasses or whether I lost weight or what I look like. We can do better than that,' he said.

He also surprised TV hosts by saying he has a good personal relationship with Peter Dutton.

'He has never broken a confidence or his word to me. That is a good place to start,' Mr Albanese said.

'I certainly have an improved relationship with the future leader of the Liberal Party, I think. If that occurs. I wish him well. I want to work across the parliament, wherever possible.'

On Monday Mr Albanese was sworn in as Prime Minister before jetting off to the Quad leaders' summit in Tokyo. Pictured left to right: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Mr Albanese has hit the ground running since storming to victory in Saturday's election.

On Monday he was sworn in as Prime Minister before jetting off to the Quad leaders' summit in Tokyo.

The regional security partnership includes Australia, the US, Japan and India and is aimed at countering Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific.

US President Joe Biden praised Mr Albanese's stamina on his first day in the job.

'You got sworn in, got on a plane and if you fall asleep while you're here, it's OK because I don't know how you're doing it,' he said.

'It's really quite extraordinary just getting off the campaign trail as well.

US President Joe Biden praised Mr Albanese's stamina on his first day in the job (pictured together at the Quad meeting)

'Congratulations on your election. When you won and I called you, we greatly appreciate your commitment on being here so soon after taking office.'

Upon his return to Australia the Prime Minister called the whirlwind trip a great success but admitted he's still getting used to his title.

'It really hit home when people start to call you Prime Minister and you realise that you are not looking around for someone else, it's actually you,' he told Sunrise.

As for Ms Plibersek, she has apologised to Mr Dutton by text message.
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A man whose hands were left unusable by scleroderma has been given a new lease of life after what is believed to be the world's first double hand transplant for the condition.

Steven Gallagher, 48, was diagnosed with scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that causes scarring of the skin and internal organs, after he developed an unusual rash on his cheeks and nose about 13 years ago, and pains in his right arm.

Doctors initially said it could be lupus, then thought it was carpal tunnel syndrome and he underwent an operation, but when the pain returned in both arms he was referred to a specialist who confirmed he had scleroderma.

The condition affected areas including his nose, mouth and hands and, about seven years ago, his fingers started curling in until they were in a fist position and he was suffering 'horrendous' pain.

When experts suggested the idea of a double hand transplant the father-of-three initially dismissed the idea but then decided to go ahead despite the risks.

Steven Gallagher, from Dreghorn, Ayrshire, is the first person in the world to have a double hand transplant after suffering from the rare disease scleroderma

Steven's hands were left unusable by scleroderma but has been given a new lease of life after what is believed to be the world's first double hand transplant for the condition

Undated handout photo of Steven Gallagher's hand after the operation

When experts suggested the idea of a double hand transplant the father-of-three initially dismissed the idea but then decided to go ahead despite the risks

The condition affected areas including his nose, mouth and hands and, about seven years ago, his fingers started curling in until they were in a fist position and he was suffering 'horrendous' pain. But he is now beginning to gain control of his new hands

He told the PA news agency: 'My hands started to close, it got to the point where it was basically two fists, my hands were unusable, I couldn't do a thing apart from lift things with two hands.

'I could not grab anything, it was a struggle to get dressed and things like that.

'When Professor Hart in Glasgow mentioned to me about a double hand transplant, at the time I laughed and thought that's space age kind of things but, after thinking about it for a wee while, I spoke more to Professor Hart, and I went down to Leeds and spoke to Professor Kay.

'They were really understanding and were really open about what might happen, that I could lose my hands altogether, they said it was unlikely but it was a risk.

'My wife and I spoke about it and came to the agreement to go for it. I could end up losing my hands anyway, so it was just a case of letting them know I was going to go with it.'

Mr Gallagher, from Dreghorn in North Ayrshire, had to undergo psychological evaluation to ensure he was prepared for the prospect of a transplant.

He then underwent the 12-hour operation in mid December 2021 after a suitable donor was found.

The hand transplant team at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, which carried out the surgery, said it is the first time anywhere in the world that hand transplantation has been used to replace hands terminally affected by scleroderma.

Mr Gallagher said: 'After the operation I woke up and it was quite surreal because before it I had my hands and then when I woke up from the operation I still had hands so in my head I never really lost any hands.

'These hands are amazing, everything has happened so quickly. From the moment I woke up from the operation I could move them.'

Steven Gallagher is pictured holding his dog Skye

More than five months on from the operation, his condition is improving and although he cannot do tasks requiring great dexterity, such as doing up buttons, he can do things like turn on the tap and fill a glass of water

The 48-year-old worked as a roof tiler and was made assistant contracts manager but had to stop work due to his condition

Steven is happy to be able to do everyday things like stroke his dog and is steadily improving the dexterity of his new mitts

He added: 'It has given me a new lease of life. I'm still finding things hard just now but things are getting better every week with the physio and the occupational therapists, everything is just slowly getting better.

'The pain is the big thing. The pain before the operation was horrendous, I was on so much pain relief it was unbelievable, but now I've no pain at all.'

Mr Gallagher, who has three daughters aged 12, 24 and 27, spent about four weeks in Leeds General Infirmary following the operation and has regular visits to hospitals in Glasgow for physiotherapy and monitoring.

More than five months on from the operation, his condition is improving and although he cannot do tasks requiring great dexterity, such as doing up buttons, he can do things like stroke his dog, turn on the tap and fill a glass of water.

The 48-year-old worked as a roof tiler and was made assistant contracts manager but had to stop work due to his condition.

'The pain is the big thing. The pain before the operation was horrendous, I was on so much pain relief it was unbelievable, but now I've no pain at all'

He is now hoping to return to some kind of work once his hands have improved enough, and is very grateful to the person and family of the donor who made the transplant possible.

The surgery involved a 30-strong team of professionals from many disciplines.

Professor Simon Kay, of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: 'This operation has been a huge team effort with input from our colleagues here in Leeds and in Glasgow.

'Having a hand transplant is very different from a kidney or other organ transplant, as hands are something we see every day and we use them in so many ways.

'For this reason, we and our expert clinical psychologists assess and prepare patients, in order to be sure that they will be able to cope psychologically with the permanent reminder of their transplant, and the risk the body may reject the transplanted hands.'
Pathologists are sounding the alarm over the low uptake of coronavirus vaccine boosters as the national immunisation group suggests a fourth dose for some Australians.

The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia says third doses are particularly low in Queensland and NSW even as COVID-19 cases rise.

'With winter commencing, it is important for everyone that they are fully up to date with all relevant vaccinations,' RCPA fellow Professor William Rawlinson said.

'The RCPA recently highlighted that it is very likely that we will experience far more influenza cases in Australia this winter. This, combined with the current, rising trend of COVID-19 cases, is likely to put an extraordinary strain on the healthcare system.'

Western Australia has the highest uptake of third doses about 80 per cent, while Queensland is the lowest at 58 per cent. Nationally, about two-thirds of eligible Australians have received a booster.

On Wednesday, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation expanded eligibility for a second booster to people with health conditions or a disability.

Previously, the fourth dose has only been available to those 65 and over, those in aged or disability care, people who are severely immunocompromised or Indigenous people aged over 50.

Acting Health Minister Katy Gallagher urged eligible Australians to get their fourth shot.
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More than 130 new indigenous settlements have been discovered north of Hadrian's Wall from the time of Rome's occupation.

Work on the 73-mile (118km) structure started in AD 122, which was to mark the northernmost border of the Roman Empire for around 20 years.

But Rome expanded further and built the Antonine Wall across the centre of what is now Scotland to defend these new gains.

This occupation only lasted for a brief period and the frontier line ultimately moved back to Hadrian's Wall.

Previous research on the region between these two walls has focused predominantly on the Roman perspective, studying the forts, roads, camps, and walls they used to control northern Britain.

Now, a team of archaeologists have set out to better understand the indigenous communities living in this frontier region.

Although part of the area had been extensively studied in the past, the team discovered 134 previously unrecorded Iron Age settlements in the region, bringing the total to over 700.

More than 130 new indigenous settlements have been discovered north of Hadrian's Wall from the time of Rome's occupation

The initial phase of their work focused on the region around Burnswark hillfort in Scotland (pictured)

The archaeologists have been expanding beyond Burnswark, studying LiDAR data (pictured) from the surrounding 579 square miles (1,500 km2) with the support of the British Academy

Although part of the area had been extensively studied in the past, the team discovered 134 previously unrecorded Iron Age settlements in the region, bringing the total to over 700

LIDAR HELPS HUNT SITES OF INTEREST FROM A DISTANCE LiDAR (light detection and ranging) is a remote sensing technology that measures distance by shooting a laser at a target and analysing the light that is reflected back. The technology was developed in the early 1960s and uses laser imaging with radar technology that can calculate distances. LiDAR uses ultraviolet, visible, or near infrared light to image objects and can be used with a wide range of targets, including non-metallic objects, rocks, rain, chemical compounds, aerosols, clouds and even single molecules. A narrow laser beam can be used to map physical features with very high resolution. The technology has helped experts discover sites much faster than using traditional archaeological methods. Advertisement

While many larger sites were already known, the survey has discovered many small farmsteads.

Experts said these were important because they represent the settlements within which the majority of the indigenous population lived.

'This is one of the most exciting regions of the Empire, as it represented its northernmost frontier, and also because Scotland was one of very few areas in Western Europe over which the Roman army never managed to establish full control,' said lead author Dr Manuel Fernandez-Gotz, from the University of Edinburgh.

Within the framework of a large Leverhulme-funded project, the team plans to examine the area from Durham to the southern Scottish Highlands.

The initial phase of their work focused on the region around Burnswark hillfort in Scotland.

This is the site of the greatest concentration of Roman projectiles found in Britain, witness to the firepower that Rome's legions could bring to bear on those who opposed them.

The archaeologists have been expanding beyond Burnswark, studying LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data from the surrounding 579 square miles (1,500 km2) with the support of the British Academy.

They said their discovery will help to paint a fuller picture of the ancient landscape, revealing often dense distributions of sites dispersed across the region with a regularity that speaks of a highly organised settlement pattern.

'The important thing about the discovery of many previously unknown sites is that they help us to reconstruct settlement patterns,' said co-investigator Dr Cowley, from Historic Environment Scotland, 'individually they are very much routine, but cumulatively they help us understand the landscape within which the indigenous population lived.'

The archaeologists are also surveying notable discoveries in greater detail using geophysics and applying radiocarbon dating to gain a more complete picture of the settlements.

Hadrian's Wall became the north-west frontier of the Roman empire and crossed northern Britain from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west

The archaeologists are also surveying notable discoveries in greater detail using geophysics and applying radiocarbon dating to gain a more complete picture of the settlements

They hope to get a clearer picture of how life changed before, during, and after the Roman occupation, gaining a more complete view of this part of Iron Age Britain.

For around three centuries, Hadrian's Wall was a vibrant, multi-cultured frontier sprawling 80 Roman miles (73 miles / 118km) coast-to-coast.

Permanent conquest of Britain began in AD 43. By about AD 100 the northernmost army units in Britain lay along the TyneSolway isthmus.

The forts here were linked by a road, now known as the Stanegate, between Corbridge and Carlisle.

Hadrian came to Britain in AD 122 and, according to a biography written 200 years later, 'put many things to right and was the first to build a wall 80 miles long from sea to sea to separate the barbarians from the Romans'.

While many larger sites were already known, the survey has discovered many small farmsteads

Experts said these were important because they represent the settlements within which the majority of the indigenous population lived

Hadrian's Wall became the north-west frontier of the Roman empire and crossed northern Britain from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west.

Built by a force of 15,000 men in under six years, it's comprised of Milecastles, barracks, ramparts and forts.

Among these are the forts of Banna, now known as Birdoswald, the town of Corbridge and the auxiliary fort of Vindolanda, to the south of the wall.

Hadrian's Wall resisted all comers in its day and defended an empire that stretched from Britain in the west to Jordan in the east.

Itwas made a World Heritage Site in 1987.

The discovery has been published in the journal Antiquity.
Fury erupted today over Government plans to allow gene-edited foods to be sold unlabelled in British supermarkets  as Scotland and Wales both vowed to reject the move.

Ministers will today introduce new legislation to Parliament that is aimed at speeding up the development and marketing of DNA-altered crops and livestock, which are sometimes referred to as 'Frankenfoods'.

It could pave the way for shelves to be stocked with vitamin D-fortified tomatoes and non-browning mushrooms by next year, while chickens that are bred to be resistant to bird flu may follow.

Environment Secretary George Eustice insisted that gene-edited products would not need to be advertised as such because they are 'fundamentally natural'.

This, however, flies in the face of Government polling which shows most consumers want labels for altered products.

Angry shoppers today demanded to be 'given a choice' on whether or not to buy produce from crops and livestock with altered DNA. One said tagging such foods was essential so 'I can choose what I put in my body'.

Campaigners say consumers shouldn't be 'tricked' and that there should be clear labels so people know what they are buying and eating.

Britain's biggest supermarkets have so far refused to confirm if they will stock the foods, despite the upcoming law change.

And environmental groups said they were 'deeply disappointed' that the Government was pushing ahead with the 'unpopular' policy.

The Bill will also only apply to England, with Scotland and Wales both opposed to the controversial technique  despite ministers actively trying to get all of the devolved nations on board.

British shoppers have slammed new government plans to allow gene-edited foods to be sold unlabelled in UK supermarkets (stock image)

A number of consumers said they 'should be given a choice' on whether or not to buy produce from crops and livestock with altered DNA, while one said tagging such foods was essential so 'I can choose what I put in my body'

WHAT ARE GENE-EDITED CROPS AND HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT TO GM PLANTS? Gene editing promises to produce 'super-crops' by altering or cutting out genes that naturally occur in plants. Unlike genetically modified (GM) plants, gene-edited (GE) crops contain no 'foreign' DNA from other species. GE crops are produced using CRISPR, a new tool for making precise edits in DNA. Scientists use a specialised protein to make tiny changes to the plant's DNA that could occur naturally or through selective breeding. GM crops have had foreign genes added to their DNA - a process that often cannot happen naturally. The US, Brazil, Canada and Argentina have indicated they will exempt GE crops that do not contain foreign DNA from GM regulations. Advertisement

Gene-editing is supported by the National Farmers Union in Scotland but Scottish ministers remain against it because they want to keep as close as possible to EU regulations.

The Scottish government said it 'remains wholly opposed to the imposition of the Act and will not accept any constraint on the exercise of devolved powers', while the Welsh government has insisted it will not ease restrictions.

A spokesperson said: 'We have no plans to revise the existing GMO Deliberate Release Regulations in Wales and will maintain our precautionary approach towards genetic modification.'

Defra said that DNA-altered products could still be sold in those countries, something that Scotland has objected to.

Mr Eustice has written to the Scottish and Welsh governments to urge them to reconsider their opposition to gene-edited foods.

The likes of M&S, Ocado, Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons and Iceland have all declined to reveal a public position on whether they plan to sell produce from crops and livestock with altered DNA.

Waitrose said it currently had 'no plans to use this technology'.

Tesco is understood to be reviewing the law change to see how it will affect the supermarket.

Responding to a backlash against proposals not to label gene-edited foods, Mr Eustice told Times Radio: 'We don't intend to label it because the thing about gene-edited food is it's simply moving a trait, for instance from one variety of wheat to another.

'So it's very unlike genetic modification, where you could be taking a gene across a species boundary.

'That means that the principle of precision breeding technologies like gene editing is they're not doing anything that couldn't occur through a natural breeding process.

'That's what makes them actually fundamentally a more precise way of doing a natural process.'

Under previous European rules, gene editing of livestock and plants was banned along with genetically modified (GM) produce  dubbed 'Frankenfood'.

But post-Brexit, the Government is keen to embrace gene editing in an attempt to reduce the need for pesticides in farming, which would make it cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

Gene editing differs from GM foods because it alters the existing DNA of a plant or animal, rather than adding DNA from different species.

But in the Government polling document on gene edited food, one member of the public said: 'I can't quite justify in my head why you would say that you should tell the consumer about one but not the other.

'I don't feel comfortable with that. There should be labelling for both, not just genetically modified.'

Of more than 2,000 adults surveyed in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 63 per cent said it was 'very important' for gene-edited food to be labelled as such.

A further 21 per cent said it was 'fairly important', while just 2 per cent said it was 'not at all important'.

Older people were more likely to think that labelling as genome edited was important. A total of 90 per cent of people aged 55-75 said was 'very' or 'fairly' important compared to 76 per cent of those aged 16-24.

Of more than 2,000 adults surveyed in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 63 per cent said it was 'very important' for gene-edited food to be labelled as such

This mock-up from the Food Standards Agency shows how gene-edited food could be labelled

The British Retail Consortium, which represents big supermarkets, said that retailers were 'supportive of the technology' but their willingness to sell gene-edited food would depend on 'customer acceptance . . . and a thorough understanding of the economic and environmental impacts'.

Announcing the new Genetic Technology Bill, Mr Eustice said it would 'speed up the breeding of plants that have natural resistance to diseases and better use of soil nutrients so we can have higher yields with fewer pesticides and fertilisers'.

Pesticides and herbicides used to treat crops often include controversial chemicals that can threaten insects and other wildlife  such as bee-killing neonicotinoids.

The new legislation will allow gene-edited crops to be approved in one year instead of up to ten.

It could also lead to the rolling out of tomato plants that are mildew-resistant to cut fungicide use or are fortified with vitamin D, as well as livestock that is resistant to disease or needs fewer antibiotics.

However, critics have called for greater transparency for shoppers, who won't be able to identify which foods are gene-edited as products will be sold without being labelled.

Bright Blue, a Conservative think tank, said consumers should not be 'tricked', while Liz O'Neill of the anti-GM campaign group GM Freeze added that there should be clear labels so people know what they are buying and eating.

Gideon Henderson, Defra's chief scientific adviser, said there were currently no plans to introduce a labelling system for gene-edited products.

'The intention at present is not to introduce a labelling system for gene-edited products which are in many cases identical to those which could be produced in other ways through traditional breeding and cannot actually be identified,' he added.

Scientists in Hertfordshire are working to bring new gene edited wheat to supermarket shelves

The new legislation could pave the way for livestock that is resistant to disease or needs fewer antibiotics, as well as bird flu-resistant chickens (stock image)

'So it will be scientifically not sensible to label them as such. But the labelling issue does remain an active question.'

Earlier this week, Mr Eustice revealed that gene-edited crop production was to be sped up in the UK to help tackle the global food crisis brought on by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian blockades are preventing the export of key goods such as oils, wheat and corn from the 'breadbasket of Europe', leading to rising food prices and shortages globally including a major threat of famine in Africa.



The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill will create a new category for gene-edited organisms to regulate them separately from GM organisms.

It will introduce new notification systems for research and marketing, and ensure information collected on precision-bred organisms is published on a public register.

The new legislation aims to speed up the development and commercialisation of crops and livestock bred with genetic editing, although the Government says it is taking a step-by-step approach by creating rules for plants first.

No changes will be made to the regulation of animals under the GM regime until measures are developed to safeguard animal welfare, the Environment Department (Defra) said.

It will also allow the importation of gene-edited foods from other countries, if they meet the same regulations.

The rule changes apply to England, so gene-edited foods can be developed and produced by English scientists and farmers, but could also be sold in Scotland and Wales.

The Government has already allowed field trials in England of gene edited crops without having to go through a licensing process costing researchers 5,000 to 10,000, although scientists have to inform Defra of their tests.

Globally, between 20 and 40 per cent of all crops grown are lost to pests and diseases.

Precision breeding has the potential to create plant varieties and animals that have improved resistance to diseases.

Crispr-Cas9 is the primary gene-editing technique and is used to edit animal and plant DNA with great precision.

It could lead to the rolling out of tomato plants that are mildew-resistant to cut fungicide use or are fortified with vitamin D (stock image)

Laser imaging showed that the increases in provitamin D3 (7-DHC) were distributed in both the flesh and peel of the 'mutant' tomatoes (MUT#2)

The hope is that as well as helping with foods, it could also be used to treat diseases caused by genetic mutations, from muscular dystrophy to congenital blindness, and even some cancers.

The first human trials of Crispr therapies are happening already, and researchers hope that they are on the brink of reaching the clinic.

However, some scientists claim to have uncovered evidence the gene-editing tool causes unwanted mutations that may prove dangerous  and is 'much less safe' than once thought.

Others remain concerned it could create 'designer babies' by allowing parents to choose their hair colour, height or even traits such as intelligence.

The Genetic Technology Bill has been widely welcomed by scientists.

Dr Penny Hundleby, senior scientist at the John Innes Centre, said: 'If we are to meet the ambitious targets of addressing the demands of a growing population without further adding to the cost of living, and while also reducing the environmental impact of agriculture, we need to embrace all safe technologies that help us reach these goals.

'Gene editing and genome sequencing are great UK strengths and through the new Genetic Technology Bill they will move us into an exciting era of affordable, intelligent and precision-based plant breeding.'

Prof Martin Warren, Chief Scientific Officer at the Quadram Institute, added: 'The Genetic Technology Bill provides a wonderful opportunity to explore ways to address the nutritional-deficiency that is found in many crop-based foods.

'Gene editing allows for the development of plants with improved qualities that normally take many years to produce using traditional breeding programs.

'The ability to increase levels of key minerals such as iron and zinc and vitamins A, B and D in plants holds significant potential as a way to improve lifelong health through biofortification.'

Researchers have already produced tomatoes with more vitamin D and tomatoes which are resistant to powdery mildew infection.

They have also identified a gene in wheat that can make it more resilient to rising temperatures.
It is a debate that has divided fast food lovers for decades  do you remove the gherkins from your burger or leave them in?

Finally scientists have settled the argument once and for all, as a study reveals that the pickled green slices actually improve the taste of the sandwich.

Oxford University food scientist Professor Charles Spence concludes that the addition of gherkins enhance the burger's taste, appearance and texture.

The acidity of the pickled cucumber cuts through the rich umami flavour of the meat, and also adds a satisfying crunch.

This comes after a survey by Professor Spence revealed that 51 per cent of Britons opt to remove the baby cucumber from their bun.

Researchers from Oxford University have concluded that the addition of gherkins enhance the burger's taste, looks and texture.

Professor Charles Spence, a Food Scientist and Experimental Psychologist, reported that gherkins increase the 'oral-somatosensory experience' of eating a burger.

WHY DO GHERKINS MAKE BURGERS TASTE BETTER? Professor Charles Spence claims that the acidity of gherkins helps cut through to the savoury burger notes. The texture of pickles also contrasts with the rest of the burger ingredients resulting in a more appealing bite. A pop of green amongst the brown and beige also makes the burger look more attractive - and the first bite of any meal is always with the eyes. The mighty crunch the gherkin adds to a bite also helps to draw attention to the mouth, making the eating experience more satisfying. Advertisement

The question of whether gherkins are an essential part of the perfect burger has been a hotly debated topic in the food world for years  along with the contentious 'pineapple on pizza' argument.

Professor Spence's report highlights a number of reasons why adding gherkins increases the 'oral-somatosensory experience' of eating a burger.

'Pickles are undoubtedly one of the most contentious additions to a burger, with the population seemingly split right down in the middle into lovers and haters,' he explained.

'But what exactly is it about burgers that make them addictive to some but abhorrent to others?

'The evidence suggests different sensory elements - the sight, sound, texture, taste, and smell - all play different roles for different consumers, but, ultimately, keeping pickles in your burger is the best way to optimise their taste.

'Their sensory properties compliment the other burger ingredients perfectly.'

This contradicts the results of a survey also conducted by Professor Spence, in which over half of the participants said they would choose to remove the pickled cucumber.

The most common reason for this decision was that they don't like the taste, cited by 23 per cent of survey takers.

Another 16 per cent don't enjoy the vegetable's texture, and 4 per cent said they've never tried pickles but don't like the idea of them.

A minority of 12 per cent even said they do like the baby cucumbers, but would rather eat them on their own.

Professor Spence claims that the acidity of the gherkins helps cut through to the rich umami - or savoury - burger notes, and helps balance out contrasting flavours.

A survey has revealed that 51 per cent of Britons opt to remove the baby cucumber from their burger bun, citing their flavour and texture as the main reasons for their aversion

Those aged 35-54 were the demographic most in favour of their addition, with 37 per cent saying they would prefer a burger with them inside.

Young people aged between 18 and 24 were the least likely to want them included.

In his report, published yesterday, Professor Spence claims that the acidity of the gherkins helps cut through to the rich umami  or savoury  burger notes, and balance out contrasting flavours.

The texture of pickles also nicely contrasts with the rest of the burger ingredients resulting in a more appealing 'bite'.

A pop of green amongst the brown and beige also makes the burger look more attractive  and the first bite of any meal is always with the eyes.

The professor also concluded that the mighty crunch the gherkin adds to a bite helps to draw attention to the mouth, making the eating experience more satisfying.

The Bob's Burgers Movie follows Bob and Linda as they try to keep their business afloat after a sinkhole appears in front of their fast food restaurant

The character of Bob originally appeared in the animated TV series Bob's Burgers, and adds gherkins to his hamburgers

Professor Spence researched published articles discussing flavour matching, sour preferences and the benefits of crunch to come to his conclusions in his reports.

The research was commissioned by 20th Century Studios ahead of the release of The Bob's Burgers Movie on Friday.

Professor Spence added: 'There is no 'right or wrong' way to eat a burger, however keeping pickles inside your burger is the best way to get the full potential out of every bite.'
A 390 million-year-old, fish-like creature with four limbs is probably not who you'd expect to find in your family tree.

But a new study has shown that the creature, called Palaeospondylus gunni, could be one of our earliest ancestors.

Fossils of the eel-like creature are abundant in Caithness, Scotland, having first been discovered there in 1890.

Experts have since found it difficult to place it on the evolutionary tree, as the Palaeospondylus was only about two inches (5 cm) long, making cranial reconstructions difficult.

Now, Shigeru Kuratani at the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research in Japan has uncovered evidence that the creature had a jaw and four limbs.

The findings place the animal at the very bottom of the family tree for vertebrates - including humans.

Palaeospondylus gunni is an ancient vertebrate that scientists believe could be one of the earliest predecessors of four-limbed creatures - including humans. Pictured: a reconstruction of the Palaeospondylus by X-ray computed tomography

Scientists at the University of Tokyo and RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research discovered cranial features that placed the Palaeospondylus into the tetrapodomorph category

Prior to these new discoveries, the creature was thought to share features with both jawed and jawless fish

Meet the family! Palaeospondylus gunni Palaeospondylus gunni is an ancient vertebrate with a flat head, an eel like body and lived on the bed of a deep freshwater lake. It fed on leaves, animal remains and other organic debris that fell to the bottom from surrounding terrestrial communities. They dates back to 390 million years ago, when the first vertebrates began making their way out of water. For these pioneering fish, the adaptation of fins into limbs facilitated the transition - later giving rise to mammals, birds and reptiles. Advertisement

Until now, the creature was thought to share features with both jawed and jawless fish.

No fossils have been discovered to suggest Palaeospondylus - which lived in the Devonian period about 390 million years ago - had teeth or dermal bones.

The creature had a flat head, eel-like body and lived on the bed of a freshwater lake in the far north east of the Highlands.

It had a strange basket-like apparatus on its snout and a well-developed cartilaginous vertebral column - but no apparent fins.

The researchers found that Palaeospondylus was most likely a member of Sarcopterygii, a group of lobe-finned fishes, due to its cartilaginous skeleton and the absence of paired appendages.

The marine organism fed on leaves, animal remains and other organic debris that fell to the bottom of the lake from surrounding land.

At the time, Scotland's landmass lay south of the equator, where central Africa is today, so the environment was hot and semi-arid.

Palaeopondylus dates back to a crucial point in history, when the first vertebrates began making their way out of water.

The adaptation of their fins into limbs facilitated the transition - later giving rise to mammals, birds and reptiles.

The researchers at RIKEN used X-rays from the SPring-8 synchrotron to generate high-resolution micro-CT scans of the fish.

Kuratani and his team carefully selected fossils in which the heads remained completely embedded in the rock to get the most accurate cranial image.

Lead author Tatsuya Hirasawa, of Tokyo University, said: 'Choosing the best specimens for the micro-CT scans and carefully trimming away the rock surrounding the fossilized skull allowed us to improve the resolution of the scans.

'Although not quite cutting-edge technology, these preparations were certainly keys to our achievement.'

Images created from fossils of the Palaeospondylus show it had a flat head, eel-like body, basket-like apparatus on its snout and a cartilaginous vertebral column

The scientists found three semi-circular canals that confirmed the creature likely did have a jaw.

'As a tetrapod, Palaeospondylus possessed an excessively small lower jaw relative to the skull and the mouth opening was retracted,' Hirasawa added.

This is seen in a group of limbless amphibians living today called caecilians.

The 'retracted' jaw, along with an unusually flat head shape, probably represented an adaptation for a bottom-dwelling habitat as it allowed for suction feeding.

The researchers also discovered cranial features that placed the Palaeospondylus into the tetrapodomorph, or four-limbed, category.

Cranial skeleton of Palaeospondylus gunni reconstructed by synchrotron radiation x-ray computed tomography from A: Dorsal view, B: Ventral view and C: Left oblique lateral view

A: Position of the cranial skeleton of Palaeospondylus embedded in rock, B: Dorsal view of cranial skeleton, C: Ventral view of the cranial skeleton, D: Separate skeletal portions

Teeth, dermal bones and paired appendages have never been associated with Palaeospondylus.

Prof Hirasawa said: 'Whether these features were evolutionarily lost or whether normal development froze half-way in fossils might never be known.

'Nevertheless, this evolution might have facilitated the development of new features like limbs.'

Professor Hirasawa added: 'The strange morphology of Palaeospondylus, which is comparable to that of tetrapod larvae, is very interesting from a developmental genetic point of view.

'Taking this into consideration, we will continue to study the developmental genetics that brought about this and other morphological changes that occurred at the water-to-land transition in vertebrate history.'

HOW DID WE DISCOVER THE PALAEOSPONDYLUS? Palaeospondylus fossils were first discovered in Achanarras fish bed in Caithness, Scotland at around 1890. They were found by amateur palaeontologists Marcus and John Gunn - cousins living near Achanarras slate quarry. Other specimens have since been dug up at the same site with a few more found at two nearby locations. The species is not known anywhere else in the world and is a unique example of the early lives of fish on Earth. Advertisement

The research was conducted with Dr Daisy (Yuzhi) Hu at the Australian National University.

The PhD graduate said: 'This strange animal has baffled scientists since its discovery in 1890 as a puzzle that's been impossible to solve.

'Morphological comparisons of this animal have always been extremely challenging for scientists.

'However, recent improvements in high resolution 3D segmentation and visualisation have made this previously impossible task possible.

'Finding a specimen as well preserved as the ones we used is like winning the lottery, or even better!'

The new findings mean that scientists could unlock a range of unknown morphological features and evolutionary history of four-limbed animals.

'Despite the investigation, it is still hard to determine what the animal was with 100 per-cent accuracy,' Dr Hu added.

'Even with this new information, long-lasting investigations with the joint effort of scientists from around the world is needed to give us the perfect answer of what actually is Palaeospondylus gunni.'
Paris Saint-Germain are willing to let Brazilian forward Neymar leave this summer if they receive a suitable offer, according to reports in France.

The Brazilian is still the most expensive player of all time after joining the French giants for 198m in 2017, but his status at the club is said to be on the wane.

And as reported by French outlet L'Equipe, his relationship with star man Kylian Mbappe - who has just signed a 650,000-a-week, three-year deal - has deteriorated to the point the club and president Nasser Al-Khelaifi are fine with letting him go.

However, European giants Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have no interest in signing the 30-year-old, and, while the French paper claims Saudi Arabia-funded Newcastle could afford him, Neymar would not want a move there.

When Neymar joined the club from Barcelona, he was one of the biggest names in the sport and Al-Khelaifi said he had 'the best player in the world' at the Parc des Princes.

While undoubtedly still a big name, Neymar has since been eclipsed by Mbappe, who has outscored him for the last four seasons, and the 22-year-old forward's bumper new deal cements his position as top dog at PSG.

Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly willing to let Brazilian Neymar (pictured) leave this summer

His relationship with star team-mate at PSG Kylian Mbappe (left) is also said to have declined

The French giants and president Nasser Al-Khelaifi (above) are fine with letting the forward go

Despite having extended his contract until the summer of 2025 - with the option of an extra season - just over a year ago, his status has reportedly fallen rapidly.

From being part of the dream front three alongside Mbappe and Lionel Messi, he only played a bit-part role this campaign, with 13 goals in 28 games in all competitions, compared to Mbappe's 39 in 46.

He has admittedly suffered recurring injuries, including ligament damage, but many at the club are aware of his 'questionable' lifestyle and feel he at least bears some responsibility for that.

Moreover, Mbappe - who was once close with his team-mate when they shared a kit supplier - has grown more distant, with L'Equipe claiming he freely taunts Neymar in private, and would not mind if the 117-cap international left. Mbappe is thought to have a say over transfers in and out as part of his new contract.

Mbappe was expected to move to Real Madrid but recently extended his contract to 2025, signing a 650,000-a-week three-year deal which cements his position as No 1 at the club

But Neymar still has three years left on a contract which pays him 3.4m per month, is happy and settled in the French capital and is the second-highest player at the club - meaning he has no real motivation to leave.

He has scored 10 goals and provided five assists since a three-month injury absence, but is still believed to rub certain people at the club the wrong way with his 'arrogant' image and mercurial character.

While Messi has not necessarily eclipsed Neymar on the pitch in his first season at the club, his work ethic and commercial value means the club are reportedly not even considering selling him.

A source in Neymar's camp told L'Equipe: 'No one contacted us to tell us that Neymar was on the market. We were pressured to extend last year. We extended. We still have several years of contract. That's all we know.'
Manchester United have reportedly joined the race to sign highly-rated Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni.

The 23-year-old has drawn the attentions of most of Europe's leading clubs after another impressive season at the Serie A giants.

According to reports from La Gazetta dello Sport, the Red Devils are not the only Premier League side's eye he has caught.

Alessandro Bastoni, 23, has featured 44 times for Inter Milan this season, scoring once

Arch rivals Manchester City and Tottenham, who have both qualified for next seasons Champions League, are reportedly interested in signing the player, who played under Spurs boss Antonio Conte during his time in Milan.

And given that United have not qualified for Europe's elite club competition, it is hard to see the sought-after Italian choosing them over the like's of City and Spurs.

New United boss Erik Ten Hag is likely to be handed a huge transfer budget to rejuvenate and repair what has become a limp and lifeless squad towards the end of the 2021/22 season.

The Dutchman has already ordered a 'full report' in order to assess who is ready to be part of his squad next year, and with the financial backing he is likely to receive from United he will not be deterred by Inter's 60million (51m) asking price.

Manchester United boss Erik Ten Hag is already an admirer of the Atalanta academy graduate

Whilst Inter are loathe to part with their better players, they are faced with similar issues to those which forced them into selling Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea last summer.

The club desperately needs to balance their books, and it is thought that though they value Bastoni highly, they are more concerned with retaining the services of star striker Lautaro Martinez.

And with several of Europe's top sides already circling, the sale of the 23-year-old defender represents a quick method of bringing in some much-needed cash to the Serie A runners-up.

Lautaro Martinez has attracted interest from Europe's elite after 29 contributions in 49 games

With United's failure to qualify for the Champions League next season, it is hard to see a reason to join them, especially when Premier League Champions City are an alternative.

Even Tottenham represent a more appealing prospect having beaten Arsenal to fourth place and are managed by Bastoni's former manager Conte who retains a close bond with the defender.

With the rebuilding project Ten Hag is faced with at the Old Trafford club he can expect it to be a tall order to convince Europe's elite players to join, but Bastoni's signature would surely be a statement of intent for what is to come.
Active shooter incidents in U.S. increase over 50 pct in 2021, FBI says

Xinhua) 10:29, May 25, 2022

LOS ANGELES, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The number of active shooter incidents in the United States in 2021 increased by more than 50 percent from the previous year, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a new report.

According to the report, released on Monday, the FBI designated 61 shootings as active shooter incidents in the country last year. In these incidents, 103 people were killed and 140 wounded, excluding the shooters.

The number of active shooter incidents identified in 2021 represents a 52.5 percent increase from 2020 and a 96.8 percent increase from 2017, said the report, titled "Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2021." Active shooter incident data reveals an upward trend for the period between 2017 to 2021.

The casualties in 2021 represent the third highest total casualty count over the last five years. The year of 2021 also saw the highest number of deaths since 2017, up by 171.1 percent from 2020 and above the average (92.3) for the period 2017-2020.

For 2021, the FBI also revealed that the agency observed an emerging trend involving roving active shooters that "specifically, shooters who shoot in multiple locations, either in one day or in various locations over several days."

The 61 incidents in 2021 were carried out by 61 shooters. Sixty shooters were male, and one was female, said the report.

The FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.

John Cohen, the former acting undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told ABC News in a Monday report that the country is seeing a trend with active shooters.

"The U.S. is in the midst of a multiyear trend where we are experiencing an increase in mass shooters who are seeking to advance their ideological beliefs or based on a perceived personal grievance," Cohen was quoted as saying.

"A growing subset of our population believes that violence is an acceptable way to express one's ideological beliefs or seek redress for a perceived personal grievance," he said.

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
Wimbledon's top officials will travel to the French Open later this week amid a glimmer of hope that some compromise might be found in the row over ranking points.

However the options are few, with no chance of Russian and Belarussian players being admitted, and any suggestion that a reduction in prize money be used as a bargaining tool completely groundless.

Outspoken Frenchman Benoit Paire insisted on Tuesday that '99%' of male players want the chance to play for points at SW19. 'I'm sorry for Russians (players) but they are the ones causing all the trouble,' he said.

Wimbeldon officials will go to the French Open to try and find a ranking points resolution

British No 2 Dan Evans expressed hope there might be a resolution, saying, 'I hear people are sitting down together.'

Bar a U-turn by the ATP and WTA tours, it is difficult to see what progress can be made.

One idea that has been discussed at SW19 is the temporary reintroduction of the grass court seeding formula, which was only abandoned in 2021, and which used past form on the surface to help determine seedings.

This could involve bringing some ranking incentive to bear for the players by using their results from Wimbledon this year to help determine entries and draws for 2023.

The tournament is effectively an exhibition event after it was stripped of its ranking points

In the background is the renewal at the end of the year of the ranking point arrangement between the ATP and Wimbledon, with the potential threat of the Grand Slams playing hard ball over developing their own system.

While Paire's figure of 99% is an exaggeration it becomes increasingly clear that a majority of the men are not in favour of what their representatives are doing.

At the WTA the women have shown less dissent, but someone definitely unhappy about it was last year's beaten finalist Karolina Pliskova, who will now forfeit her 1200 points from twelve months ago.

'It's quite bad, especially for me,' she said. 'I think it's super tough and unfair and a bad decision, that's what I think. I suppose there's not much you can do about it. I still want to go and compete there, that's for sure, I want to win and maybe get the trophy because I was quite close last year.

'But that doesn't change the thinking that I think it's completely wrong the decision.'
Ah, the honeymoon suite. Rose petals on the bed, champagne on ice and a whirlpool bath thats big enough for two. The only thing missing, in fact, is my husband.

But thats rather the point of Gretna Green these days. While it is still very much the wedding capital of Britain, averaging more than 3,500 of them a year, a revamp of its top hotels and the Famous Blacksmiths Experience  all owned by the same family  means it is hoping to attract casual tourists, not just the marriage market.

Just a mile over the border from England, Gretna itself is admittedly a blink-and-youll-miss-it sort of place.

Open to all: The Blacksmith Shop in Gretna Green is now an immersive experience, billed as Britains first dedicated love and marriage attraction. Its association with marriages began in the 18th century when an enterprising blacksmith reinvented himself as an 'anvil priest', marrying couples in his blacksmith shop - for a small fee

But its also pretty and welcoming, and is an ideal launch pad for visiting the rest of Dumfries & Galloway, where youll find such delights as the coastal artists town of Kirkcudbright and wilderness of Galloway Forest Park.

Gretna Green cemented its place in history in 1754, when a strict marriage act in England came into force, meaning no one under 21 could marry without parental consent.

Young lovers poured over the Scottish border where the rules were more lax, and arrived at Gretna Green, home to an enterprising blacksmith who reinvented himself as an anvil priest marrying couples in his blacksmith shop  for a small fee, of course.

The anvil at the Gretna Blacksmith Shop where thousands of couples placed their hands to be married between 1754 and 1940

TRAVEL FACTS Double rooms at Smiths from 130 per night; from 300 for penthouse. Famous Blacksmiths Experience from 6.95 per adult. Advertisement

Since those heady days it has weathered allegations it is a tacky, market-driven town, but the truth is that today, its simply a rural Scottish wedding destination, albeit one with a unique history.

Smiths at Gretna Green is the villages classiest hotel, and has recently had an impressive revamp. My penthouse suite had the aforementioned whirlpool bath, a stylish bedroom and living-room area, as well as a balcony overlooking rolling farmland. While some parts of the hotel still need a little TLC, the bar and restaurant is a chic, modern space serving pub favourites.

And whether youre single, newly wed or tourists on a pit stop before heading for the Scottish highlands, what you will find in Gretna is love, and lots of it.

The newly transformed Blacksmith Shop is a case in point. Now an immersive experience, it is billed as Britains first dedicated love and marriage attraction. There are letters written by fleeing lovers (one, dated 1928 and addressed to the Village Blacksmith, starts: Dear Sir, my fiancee and I have a wish to be secretly married by you... ), interactive exhibits where you can hear the stories of star-crossed lovers, and reaffirm your wedding vows with a handfasting ceremony.

The final flourish is the original anvil, where thousands of couples placed their hands to be married between 1754 and 1940.

Before visiting Gretna, Id imagined a wedding theme park, attracting the Vegas-on-an-Aldi-budget crowd. What I found was a village that maintains and preserves the love that built it. Next time, Ill bring my husband.


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These cinematic photographs will make you feel like you've stepped into the Canadian wilderness.

They were captured by Toronto-based filmmaker and photographer Andrew Budziak and take viewers on a cross-country journey through mountainous valleys and virgin forests, encountering packs of wolves, coyotes and other wild animals along the way.

Speaking to MailOnline Travel, Budziak says that every time he visits a new part of Canada he 'falls in love with it'. And his favourite time to explore the vast country is in the morning, 'when the fog burns away and the mountains become visible'.

Andrew Budziak's photographs will make you feel like you've stepped into the Canadian wilderness. This mesmerising picture of wolves crossing a river was taken in an unfenced sanctuary near the town of Golden in British Columbia

Toronto-based Budziak says that the wolves in the British Columbia sanctuary were used to humans, which helped him get close-up shots, but it also led to a scary encounter, with one wolf putting its snout on his neck

When photographing wildlife, Budziak says that he doesn't often wear camouflage but always dons a good pair of boots.

He says: 'I rarely wear actual camouflage, but I will wear colours that are neutral in the forest - greens, browns, and blacks. I have worked hard to figure out how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. It all starts with good boots. If your feet start to hurt, it's game over.'

Budziak explains that depending on the project, he could be in the wild anywhere from a few days to over a month.

Budziak reveals that wolves are clever animals  and have an almost magical ability to disappear. He says: 'Wolves are so smart. When you see them and they see you, you can tell that the wheels are turning in their head. They're figuring out the situation. What first amazed me about wolves and their smaller cousins the coyote, was how when they don't want to be seen, they can just disappear. It really is like magic. You blink and they're gone.' The picture above was taken near Golden, British Columbia

Budziak says that his trip to British Columbia gave him a new appreciation of just how powerful wolves are

He says: 'I generally stay as close to the area where I'm working as possible. This means I often stay in cabins, which I love.'

And does he have the wilderness to himself?

Budziak reveals: 'If I'm doing wildlife film work, I'm not often by myself. I travel with a small crew. If I'm doing a photo project, I'm by myself. If I'm in the deep woods, it's pretty rare to come across other people. Some of the provincial parks can be quite busy, so you're never really alone there.'

A stunning picture taken in Jasper National Park, Alberta. Budziak says that while his work was originally driven by a sense of wonder, he's now focused on communicating the importance of conservation

As for getting around, it's a mixture of ATVs, hiking and snowshoeing.

Budziak says: 'Accessing dense parts of the forest can be tricky. In the summer, there's lots of hiking. Occasionally access is only possible by ATV [all-terrain vehicle]. In the winter, I do lots of snowshoeing. I love strapping on snowshoes because you really can go anywhere.'

Before embarking on a wildlife expedition, Budziak researches his subjects carefully.

He explains: 'I want to know as much as possible about these animals. I learn a lot by talking to experts. I'll call a professor at the local university and just talk to him or her.

'Knowing the behaviour of an animal you'll be spending time with is important.'

In a bid to document wolves in their natural habitat, Budziak visited a sanctuary in British Columbia, where he had a scary close encounter.

This spellbinding picture was taken near the town of Hinton in Alberta. Budziak says his favourite time to explore the Canadian wilderness is in the morning 'when the fog burns away and the mountains become visible'

'The sense of wonder I felt as a kid walking between massive trees and swimming in beautiful lakes has never left me,' says Budziak, who took the picture above in Alberta

Budziak's dream wildlife encounter would be with a wild feline - he says he's never seen any cougars, bobcats or lynx on his photography expeditions. The picture above was taken in Jasper National Park

He reveals: 'These wolves were part of a sanctuary. That said, there were no fences and these wolves were far from "tame". [They] were more used to humans than truly wild wolves, which I thought would make things easy. It wasn't. Because they weren't afraid of me, they got really close.

'I can say in all the years working in the wild, that was one of the few times I was actually scared. I was crouched down and one of the wolves sneaked up behind me and put his snout right to the back of my neck. I could hear it breathing. I knew this wolf just wanted to smell me, but having those powerful jaws so close was terrifying. I've seen wolves before, and this gave me a new appreciation of just how powerful they really are.

'After a few seconds, the wolf decided I wasn't interesting and left. I was shaking when I stood up.'

A factory in Hinton, Alberta, standing in stark contrast to the rugged wilderness surrounding it

'I want to remind people that the wild world is very much worth protecting,' Buziak says. The picture above shows grazing bighorn sheep in Banff National Park, Alberta

Budziak reveals that wolves are clever animals  and have an almost magical ability to disappear.

He explains: 'Wolves are so smart. When you see them and they see you, you can tell that the wheels are turning in their head. They're figuring out the situation.

'What first amazed me about wolves and their smaller cousins the coyote, was how when they don't want to be seen, they can just disappear. It really is like magic. You blink and they're gone. Wolves aren't small, but when they want to, they just vanish. It's truly remarkable.'

Along with wolf antics, Budziak says some of the other challenges he faces on expeditions include the weather and determined mosquitoes.

He says: 'I do my best to remind myself that I have an awesome job and I'm not sitting in an office somewhere.

'That said, weather can make things very difficult. Bugs and humidity are a terrible mix. Psychologically, mosquitoes can break you. It's hard to focus on anything else when you're getting bitten every second.'

If he's in the deep woods, Budziak says it's pretty rare to come across other people. However, some of the provincial parks can be 'quite busy', so 'you're never really alone there'. The picture above was taken in Jasper National Park

Budziak's love of wildlife and the natural world started as a child when he spent summers with his family holidaying in Ontario's forests. He reflects: 'I developed this sense of comfort and familiarity with the woods.' The picture above was taken in Jasper National Park

Budziak's love of wildlife and the natural world started as a child when he spent summers with his family holidaying in Ontario's forests.

He reflects: 'I developed this sense of comfort and familiarity with the woods.

'The sense of wonder I felt as a kid walking between massive trees and swimming in beautiful lakes has never left me.

'I started photography when I was a teenager, but it wasn't until my late 20s that I turned the lens on wildlife. When I did, it felt incredibly natural.'

While his work was originally driven by a sense of wonder, Budziak is now focused on communicating the importance of conservation and reminding people that the wild world is 'very much worth protecting'.

Some of his more recent photos have focused on urban wildlife, showing how animals and humans inhabit the same spaces, with racoons, rabbits and foxes among his subjects.

Which of his photographs is his favourite? The coyote he captured crossing a frozen lake in Ontario can take a bow.

This is Andrew's favourite photograph - a coyote crossing a frozen lake in Ontario. Andrew says: 'It looks alone in this crazy white world. Theres something about the coyote's walk that makes it look determined. It feels powerful'

Budziak says that every time he visits a new part of Canada he 'falls in love with it'. This image was taken in Alberta

Budziak says: 'It was alone and the snow was fresh. I placed the coyote in the upper left corner of the frame. It looks alone in this crazy white world. There's something about the coyote's walk that makes it look determined. It feels powerful.'

Budziak reveals that despite all his time in the Canadian wilderness, he's never seen any cougars, bobcats or lynx  and would love to capture them.

However, he admits that the first photos of any of these animals 'will be terrible because I'll be too excited to think straight.'

To see more of Budziak's work visit his website at www.andrewbudziak.com or his Instagram page - www.instagram.com.
Ice-T and his wife Coco Austin faced backlash on social media for pushing their six-year-old daughter Chanel in a stroller.

On Sunday, the 43-year-old model shared a photo in which she and the 64-year-old rapper stood behind Chanel as she sat in a black stroller and appeared tired as she rested her head on her hand.

'A stroll through the @atlantisbahamas shops...Chanel is so over it unless theres something cool to see.. Her face transitions instantly,' Coco wrote in the caption of her Instagram post.

Backlash: Ice-T and his wife Coco Austin faced backlash on social media for pushing their six-year-old daughter Chanel in a stroller

The family of three were dressed in colorful resort wear as they posed for the mirror selfie.

The Swimsuit Illustrated cover star also included a snap in which she and her little girl smiled as they stood in front of Dale Chihuly's Crystal Gate sculpture.

The trio were vacationing at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

On vacation: The Swimsuit Illustrated cover star also included a snap in which she and her little girl smiled as they stood in front of Dale Chihuly's Crystal Gate sculpture at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas

Coco's post was quickly flooded with critical comments as numerous social media users questioned why Chanel was still being pushed in a stroller at the age of six.

'Isnt she like 6 yrs old! Should she be out of a stroller by now?!' one commenter wrote while another user remarked, 'She looks like shes over being in a baby stroller.'

'I love you coco but .. a stroller,' wrote a fan.

Critical: 'A stroll through the @atlantisbahamas shops...Chanel is so over it unless theres something cool to see.. Her face transitions instantly,' Coco wrote in the caption of her Instagram post

Questions: Coco's post was quickly flooded with critical comments as numerous social media users questioned why Chanel was still being pushed in a stroller at the age of six

Another commenter joked, 'Guys shes only 78 months old. Lets not get crazy,' while one user chimed in, 'A stroller really? Let that girl grow up.'

However, some fans rushed to defend the mother of Ice Loves Coco star, with one follower writing, 'For the people b*****g about the carriage, it is much easier to push a child in a stroller than to carry them around when they get tired.

''Especially when they are her age, it is harder to carry them alllll over the place. She is not having a melt down because she is too tired & that is a very good thing.'

Defenders: However, some fans rushed to defend the mother of Ice Loves Coco star

No big deal: 'Why are people complaining about the stroller? You going to pick her up when she gets tired? Its not like she has a bottle and a pacifier. Relax,' one fan wrote

Another defender asked, 'Why are people complaining about the stroller? You going to pick her up when she gets tired? Its not like she has a bottle and a pacifier. Relax.'

'My son is almost 6 and we go certain places where I wish I brought a wagon or stroller for him. These people are f*****g haters for no reason,' added one follower.

For her part, Coco seemed unfazed by the online attacks as she shared a bikini selfie to her Instagram page the next day.

The television personality was covered with tanning oil as she posed in hot pink thong bikini.

Her dyed pink locks were slicked back from her forehead and she rocked a pair of mirrored sunglasses as she laid on her stomach on a lounge chair.

In the caption, Coco added a series of emojis including a cocktail, a palm tree, a tropical fish and a flamingo.

Carefree: For her part, Coco seemed unfazed by the online attacks as she shared a bikini selfie to her Instagram page the next day

The Peepshow performer identified Chanel as the photographer, tagging her daughter's Instagram account next to a camera emoji.

This was not the first time that Coco has sparked controversy online. Last September, she caught heavy criticism after gushing over Chanel in a picture that showed the little one's French manicure.

The California native had gotten her daughter all ready to have her class photos taken.

'School Picture day!! For the special occasion I let Chanel do mini tips to her nails.. I love doing her hair.. my little doll baby is what I call her...,' wrote the proud mother.

Criticism: This was not the first time that Coco has sparked controversy online. Last September, she caught heavy criticism after gushing over Chanel in a picture that showed the little one's French manicure

Details: 'School Picture day!! For the special occasion I let Chanel do mini tips to her nails.. I love doing her hair.. my little doll baby is what I call her...,' wrote the proud mother

However, the French tips left the comments section divided, with some saying Chanel looked adorable and others questioning whether she was old enough to get her nails done.

Some remarked: 'To young for nails!!!!!' and: 'Breastfed w tips,' and: 'I'm sorry but no to tips and makeup at her age. Let her be an adorable little 5 year old.'

'Her lil picture day nails cute. Regardless of what these ppl say. Folks love parenting parenting other ppl kids,' wrote one defender.

Another joked: 'I just came here to see all the sad moms shaming you and giving out unsolicited advice from behind a phone screen, as usual.'

Controversy: The French tips left the comments section divided, with some saying Chanel looked adorable and others questioning whether she was old enough to get her nails done

Another controversy erupted last July when Coco revealed that she still occasionally breastfeeds Chanel, who was five at the time.

Coco told Us Weekly that in addition to solid food like 'steak and hamburgers' her daughter 'likes a little snack every now and then' of breast milk.

'Why take that away from her?' she argued. 'If she doesnt want it, all right, thats where you stop it. But Im not just going to say no.'

She declared to the magazine that 'Chanel still likes my boobs. Its a big bonding moment for a mother and your child.'

By the way: Controversy erupted last July when Coco revealed that she still occasionally breastfeeds Chanel, who was five at the time

In his wife's defense: 'News Flash! We feed Chanel FOOD... She just likes to suck moms boob every now and then... Me Too!!!' Ice-T quipped on Twitter in response to the controversy

The remarks sparked a backlash prompting Ice-T to defend his wife on Twitter by noting his own enthusiasm for her breasts.

'News Flash! We feed Chanel FOOD... She just likes to suck moms boob every now and then... Me Too!!!' he quipped.

He also snapped at one online commentator: 'Why the F are you worried about MY Child??? That's what's weird.. Now go back in the basement.'

Early in the coronavirus lockdowns last year Coco posted a snap of herself nursing Chanel, who was then four, and wrote in the caption: 'At a time when the world feels like its coming to an end.. suck up as much love as you can!'

'Suck up as much love as you can!': Early in the coronavirus lockdowns last year Coco posted a snap of herself nursing Chanel, who was then four

She assured the fans: 'At this point in nursing its just for comfort and believe me the girl loves meat so its not like she isnt eating real food... Thank you to all that understand my view.. i see most of you are so eager to side with me and I too root for you in your journey as well.. Us moms are connected.'

Coco, who boasts a 39DD bra size, began her career as a glamour model with gigs ranging from Swimwear Illustrated to Playboy.

She was at a music video shoot at the end of 2001 when she met Ice-T, who is a whopping 21 years her senior.

They tied the knot in January 2002 after a whirlwind romance that lasted less than two months and have been happily married ever since.
Candice Accola and Joe King have made the decision to end their marriage after seven years, less than two years after welcoming their second child together.

According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Tuesday, the 35-year-old Vampire Diaries actress filed for divorce due to 'irreconcilable differences' on April 28.

The legal paperwork also indicated she moved to Nashville following their breakup in January, while her ex is still living in Brentwood, Tennessee, just ten miles away.

It's over: Candice Accola and Joe King have made the decision to end their marriage after seven years, less than two years after welcoming their second child together

Earlier this year, the duo sparked separation rumors after the mother-of-two deleted any trace of her spouse, 41, from her Instagram then all other posts before April 9.

Accola was also not wearing her wedding ring in any of the recent pictures she posted, from mirror selfies in her bedroom to latest travels to Tuscany and Italy.

The Fray member has also scrubbed Accola from his social media, but kept all pictures of their two daughters Florence May, six, and Josephine June, one.

Parting ways: According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Tuesday, the 35-year-old actress filed for divorce due to 'irreconcilable differences' on April 28 (pictured in 2017 with their firstborn and his two eldest children from his first marriage)

King also shares daughters, Elise, and Ava, from his previous marriage with ex-wife, Julie King, to whom he was married from 1999 to 2011.

The former couple were introduced by her Vampire Diaries' costar Nina Dobrev after they took part in DirecTVs 2012 Celebrity Beach Bowl.

She went on to appear in the guitarist's music video for Love Dont Die back in 2014.

Living apart: The legal paperwork also indicated she moved to Nashville following their breakup in January while her ex is still living in Brentwood, Tennessee, just ten miles away

Starting over: Earlier this year, the duo sparked separation rumors after the mother-of-two deleted any trace of her spouse, 41, from her Instagram then all other posts before April 9

The Originals actress and the rocker got engaged in Florence, Italy, in 2013 after three years of dating, before tying the knot in New Orleans in October of the following year.

In August 2020, she announced her second pregnancy on the Directionally Challenged podcast, which she hosts with Kayla Ewell.

'Something I have not shared yet on this podcast is that Im actually pregnant. Ive got a bun in the oven,' Candice revealed to her listeners.

'Im a little over five months, so its been the entirety of the whole quarantine experience and everything that 2020 has brought us this year, and its been a journey to say the least,' she continued.

Newly single: Accola was also not wearing her wedding ring in any of the recent pictures she posted, from mirror selfies in her bedroom to latest travels to Tuscany and Italy

Doting dad: The Fray member has also scrubbed Accola from his social media, but kept all pictures of their two daughters Florence May, six, and Josephine June, one

The actress explained that she had sat on the news until she was 'comfortable and confident that Im in a good place in pregnancy and that, you know, my babys okay and Im okay as best as we can be. But Im finally at that place right now, which feels really good.

'I feel comfortable and confident enough to discuss it now,' she added.

Candice previously gave birth to her first daughter Florence May in January 2016.
Vanessa Hudgens partied the night away as she stepped out with pals in Los Angeles on Sunday, May 22.

The actress, 33, channeled gothic glamour in a black lace slip dress layered under an oversized black blazer.

She fastened a chunky silver chain choker around her neck and a pair of silver drop earrings dangled from her ears.

Night out: Vanessa Hudgens partied the night away as she stepped out with pals in Los Angeles on Sunday, May 22

The High School Musical star's wavy raven tresses were slicked back and swept up into a bun.

She gave her petite 5foot1inch frame a boost by slipping her feet into a pair of black platform heels.

As for makeup, Vanessa's eyelids were dusted with brown eyeshadow and she gave herself a sultry stare with smokey winged eyeliner and a pair of fluffy faux lashes.

Her lips were painted a glossy, nude shade and her already sculpted features were accentuated with a generous amount of bronzing powder and blush.

Goth glam: The actress, 33, channeled gothic glamour in a black lace slip dress layered under an oversized black blazer. She fastened a chunky silver chain choker around her neck and a pair of silver drop earrings dangled from her ears

Vanessa stowed her essentials away in a black leather fanny pack style purse and her cellphone rested inside a matching case with a beaded wrist strap.

The Princess Switch actress was joined by two of her closest friends, dancer Laura New and videographer Vince Rossi.

The trio were captured hanging outside of the popular LA bar, La Poubelle, before heading to a nearby brick wall to pose for a few Instagram-worthy snaps.

Say cheese! The Princess Switch actress was joined by two of her closest friends, dancer Laura New and videographer Vince Rossi. They wandered over to a nearby brick wall to pose for a few Instagram-worthy snaps after grabbing dinner and drinks

Hot spot: The trio were captured hanging outside of the popular LA bar, La Poubelle, before commencing their impromptu photoshoot

Vanessa, Laura and Vince gathered together to take a final selfie before getting a ride home.

Following her night out with friends, Vanessa jetted off to Rome to enjoy a 'sister trip' with her younger sister Stella Hudgens, 26.

She took her 45.5million followers along for the ride by sharing a slideshow of snaps from their first day in the City of Seven Hills.

'Yesterday my life was duller, now everything is technicolor,' captioned Vanessa, who made sure to pose in front of the famous Trevi Fountain with Stella.

Sister trip: Following her night out with friends, Vanessa jetted off to Rome to enjoy a 'sister trip' with her younger sister Stella Hudgens, 26. She took her 45.5million followers along for the ride by sharing a slideshow of snaps from their first day in the City of Seven Hills

Trendy tourist: Vanessa stunned in a bright pink coord consisting of ab-baring halter top and a pair of flared high-waisted pants

She included a number of photos of them exploring the city, as well as hanging out at their hotel.

Vanessa stunned in a bright pink coord consisting of ab-baring halter top and a pair of flared high-waisted pants.

Her hair was styled in a low bun and she accessorized with a pair of hoop earrings and a gold necklace.

Famous landmark: 'Yesterday my life was duller, now everything is technicolor,' captioned Vanessa, who made sure to pose in front of the famous Trevi Fountain with Stella

For the gram! Wanting to get in some solo glamour shots, Vanessa had Stella snap numerous pics of her sitting on a stool at what appeared to be an outdoor bar

Exploring: She included a number of photos of them exploring the city, as well as hanging out at their hotel

The Spring Breakers star completed the look with a pair of bright white sneakers and some gold aviator shades.

Wanting to get in some solo glamour shots, Vanessa had Stella snap numerous pics of her sitting on a stool at what appeared to be an outdoor bar.

Stella cut a stylish figure in a silky lilac tie-front top and a matching skirt. Her hair was worn down and she had a beaded necklace fastened around her neck.

Runs in the family: Stella cut a stylish figure in a silky lilac tie-front top and a matching skirt. Her hair was worn down and she had a beaded necklace fastened around her neck

Vanessa is seemingly getting in as much fun as she can before rehearsals for the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards kick off.

It was announced earlier this week that the California native would be hosting the awards ceremony, which will take place at Barker Hangar in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 5.

Hudgens returns to the MTV stage following a highly-acclaimed hosting stint in 2020 for the inaugural MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time special, paying homage to the biggest and best moments in film and television with irreverent award categories, memorable presentations and performances from today's hottest stars.
Helen George has said she's excited to film kissing scenes with her co-star Olly Rix after Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted.

The actress, 37, plays Trixie in the series, who recently found love with Matthew Aylward played by Olly.

Speaking at the BFI and Radio Times Television Festival at BFI Southbank in London on Sunday, Helen explained that plastic sheets had to be used during filming in the pandemic.

Eager: Helen George has said she's excited to film kissing scenes with her co-star Olly Rix after Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted

She said: 'Its so nice now restrictions have lifted. We can actually get close, hug and do proper acting.

Its two years into our relationship and were like, "nice to meet you, how do we do this?" Its so awkward.'

Meanwhile, creator Heidi Thomas revealed: 'Something interesting and rather wonderful will happen for Trixie this series. She has big news coming up.'

The series aims to mirror what life was like for the real medical team of Nonnatus House and has been a firm favourite with TV audiences.

Loved-up: The actress, 37, plays Trixie in the series, who recently found love with Matthew Aylward played by Olly (pictured together in the show)

The show returned with its 11th earlier this year that was set in the year 1967, but the show creator has since confirmed it will keep going until they've reached the next decade.

Speaking to The Mirror, Helen revealed she had spoken with creator Heidi who said she wanted to follow the timeline as the nuns existed until the early 70s.

Heidi's husband Stephen McGann, who plays Dr Patrick Turner, added: 'I think historically it has a natural, general timeline. If you stay to a level of historical accuracy, it wont go on in that form forever, because it didnt back then.'

Confirmed: Helen (pictured) revealed she had spoken with creator Heidi Thomas who said she wanted to follow the timeline as the nuns existed until the early 70s

Call The Midwives' 11th season saw Trixie find love with single dad Matthew and will also cover illnesses such as scabies, chickenpox and measles.

The popular medical drama also looked at issues that were prevalent at the time including mechanic Cyril played by Zephryn Taitte as he struggles to get a white collar job.

Call The Midwife regularly attracts more than 10million viewers making it one of the most successful shows on British TV.

But it has only ever won one Bafta award, the Radio Times Audience Award in 2013, which was voted for by members of the public.
Actor Rodger Corser is returning to television after his TV series Doctor Doctor was axed by Channel Nine last year.

He will host a reality show on Channel 10 called The Traitors, reports TV Blackbox.

Based on a successful Dutch format that has already been sold to the U.S. and Britain, The Traitors is a mystery-adventure series set in a remote location.

Comeback kid: Actor Rodger Corser (pictured on May 26, 2019, on the Gold Coast) is returning to television after his TV series Doctor Doctor was axed by Channel Nine last year

Contestants form teams to complete challenging missions, earning money for a prize pot.

Meanwhile, traitors lurk amongst them, plotting against the loyal contestants.

The Dutch and British versions used a gothic castle as their primary set.

Produced by Endemol Shine, the Australian version will be filmed in a grand hotel.

Intrigue: Based on a successful Dutch format that has already been sold to the U.S. and Britain, The Traitors (logo pictured) is a mystery-adventure series set in a remote location

Rodger said The Traitors will bring viewers plenty of excitement - even 'murder'.

'Who doesn't love a great murder mystery?' he teased in a statement.

'This... has all the intrigue and glamour of your favourite whodunnit.'

Favourite: This will be Rodger's first major TV appearance since Doctor Doctor, the comedy-drama in which he played the lead role, was axed by Nine after five seasons in 2021

The Underbelly star said contestants will need to navigate trust, betrayal and murder.

'I'm especially looking forward to watching our players pick each other off, one by one in the ultimate game of deception,' he added.

This will be Rodger's first major TV appearance since Doctor Doctor, the comedy-drama in which he played the lead role, was axed by Nine after five seasons in 2021.

He made sporadic appearances as a fill-in host for Today Extra after the cancellation.
With her sweet smile and cropped dark hair, Dame Emma Thompson's daughter looks every inch the mini-me.

And the resemblance clearly doesn't end there  as Gaia Wise followed in her mother's footsteps to make her TV debut this week.

The 22-year-old, whose father is actor Greg Wise, is starring in the latest series of BBC drama Silent Witness.

Dame Emma Thompson's daughter Gaia Wise bears a striking resemblance to her mother on her TV debut, BBC drama Silent Witness

Emma Thompson looked remarkably similar to her daughter back in 1983, with a similar shot haircut

She plays university student Jo Reynolds whose mother, the controversial health secretary, is assassinated  sparking the interest of forensic pathologists.

Gaia, who has appeared in small roles in films such as 2015's A Walk To Remember, makes her TV debut nearly 40 years after Dame Emma appeared in ITV comedy show Alfresco.

As well as acting, Gaia has also modelled and got a standing ovation from her famous parents at designer Julia Clancey's show earlier this month.

Speaking after the show, Gaia revealed to Richard Eden that she's prepared to follow her mother's example and disrobe on screen.

The mum and daughter duo appeared together at the ICON Gala last year

She said: 'If it's professionally prepared, and you've got the right kind of protection around you, then that's absolutely fine.'

Gaia has recently detailed her three-year battle with anorexia - and credited her parents for saving her life by staging an emergency intervention.

She developed anorexia aged 16 which left her so thin she was unable to even sit on a chair without it being painful. She was later admitted to rehab in 2017.

She spoke out about her illness for the first time with The Sun on Sunday, saying: 'Anorexia makes you really good at gaslighting people, making it sound like they're insane. My parents would say, 'Gaia, we heard you working out at 3am.' And I'd say, 'No you didn't, it was just the house moving. I was asleep.''

Gaia spoke of how her parents, her brother Tindy, 36, and best friend gathered together for an intervention, with Gaia agreeing to a three-month rehab stint after Greg said: 'I don't know where my child is any more.'

Catwalk: As well as acting, Gaia has also modelled and got a standing ovation from her famous parents at designer Julia Clancey's show earlier this month

Adding that it was a 'kick in the teeth' she added: 'I had to listen to the people I loved most in the world who, at the time, I'd really forgotten about, tell me what I was doing.'

She said: 'That's when I said I'd go to rehab. I went on December 29, 2017, and stayed for three months. Since then I've had a lot of therapy  and I'll always be grateful for that, because it saved my life.'

Anorexia is a serious mental illness where a person restricts their food intake, which often causes them to be severely underweight. Many also exercise excessively.

Gaia believes the anorexia was brought on when her aunt Clare, Greg's sister, was diagnosed with breast cancer and then later moved in with their family.

She said: 'I wanted to not be a problem, to be in control as everything else was falling apart. I was so focused on being thin I didn't have time to think of anything else. It drowned out everything I couldn't deal with.'

Hard times: Gaia (pictured with Greg in September) has detailed her three-year battle with anorexia - and credited her parents for saving her life by staging an emergency intervention

Greg cared for Clare before she died in 2016, aged 51.

Speaking on her time in rehab, she said that she was allowed to be angry in the therapy but that she was still exercising, which she compared to being an alcoholic having a drink.

Gaia went onto detail that as she battled the illness, she became covered in downy hair to keep her warm because she was that thin - which led to her mother Emma calling her 'little mole'.

Gaia also underwent family therapy sessions with her loved ones which involved 'a lot of screaming and crying' but credits the sessions for being the reason she 'still has a relationship with her family'.

She has now been in recovery for almost two years.

Struggles: Gaia (pictured with parents in November 2019) underwent family therapy sessions with and credits them for being the reason she 'still has a relationship with her family'

Emma is best known for roles in Love Actually and Nanny McPhee, while Greg is known for Sense and Sensibility - where the pair met in 1995 before tying the knot in 2000.

The pair fell in love after Emma's six-year marriage to Kenneth Brannagh, 56, came to an end.

As well as Gaia, the couple also have a son Tindyebwa Agaba Wise  known as Tindy  whom they adopted in 2003.

The 25th series of Silent Witness, which started on Monday, has also seen the return of Amanda Burton as pathologist Sam Ryan after 18 years.

Romance: Emma is best known for roles in Love Actually and Nanny McPhee, while Greg is known for Sense and Sensibility - where the pair met in 1995 before tying the knot in 2000

The 65-year-old actress was the original series lead when the show started in February 1996. She played Sam Ryan for 54 episodes before leaving the programme in series eight in 2004.

Emilia Fox replaced her as the show's lead that year, playing pathologist Nikki Alexander.

In this week's episode, she returned when her husband Jomo Mashaba (Hugh Quarshie) is shot dead and Dr Nikki is called to help solve the case.

The explosive opening examines a Covid-era issue, health passports and the pricelessness of a nation's health data.

Sam, who now has white blonde hair, an expensive dark suit and bold red lipstick, is prospecting in the goldmine of personal health records.

Dynamic duo: Original Silent Witness star Amanda Burton (left) met her successor Emilia Fox (right) on screen when the hit series returned this week for its 25th series

Fans last saw the character - who appeared in 54 episodes - leaving to return home to Northern Ireland to be with her family.

Miss Burton previously said being asked to return for the 25th series 'took me by surprise'.

'I was invited to come back, which was pretty gorgeous and took me by surprise,' she told the Radio Times.

'The team confirmed that it was going to be a very interesting story arc over six episodes, and if I didn't jump and do it, it would be something I would regret.'

Other members of the Lyell team include David Caves as Jack Hodgson and Genesis Lynea as Simone Tyler.
Sofia Vergara was spotted hard at work this week on the Los Angeles set of her upcoming Netflix miniseries.

The 49-year-old, who shot to global fame on the sitcom Modern Family, is stepping into the role of the infamous drug lord Griselda Blanco, aka 'Cocaine Godmother.'

She could be glimpsed arriving on the set wearing a fluttery loose-fitted dress and a face shield - before switching into her period costume.

On the job: Sofia Vergara was spotted hard at work this week on the Los Angeles set of her upcoming Netflix miniseries where she plays 'Cocaine Godmother' Griselda Blanco

Her Griselda look, which included a flashy floral blouse tucked into a wide-set pair of long denim pencil skirt, was instantly reminiscent of the 1970s.

Another one of her 1970s outfits featured an aquamarine blouse that she tucked into a high-waisted pair of bell bottom jeans.

The showrunner of her new series is Ingrid Escajeda, who has written on such TV programs as Sneaky Pete, Justified, Better Off Ted and Empire.

Griselda was previously portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones in a 2018 Lifetime movie called Cocaine Godmother.

Ready for her close-up: It was a busy say on set for the talented star

Looking fab: Her Griselda look, which included a flashy floral blouse tucked into a wide-set pair of long denim pencil skirt, was instantly reminiscent of the 1970s

Pulling a pout: Another one of her 1970s outfits featured an aquamarine blouse that she tucked into a high-waisted pair of bell bottom jeans

Jennifer Lopez is now slated play her in a movie called The Godmother co-written by The Wolf Of Wall Street screenwriter Terence Winter.

Griselda's son Michael spoke exclusively to DailyMail.com in 2020 and slammed the J-Lo film, saying: 'I just find it more than a tad offensive that they would try to do something without consulting me and my family, the remaining Blancos.'

'Cocaine Godmother' was one of Griselda's many nicknames - over the years she was also known as 'La Madrina' ('The Godmother') and 'The Black Widow.'

The character: 'Cocaine Godmother' was one of Griselda's many nicknames - over the years she was also known as 'La Madrina' ('The Godmother') and 'The Black Widow'

Family tragedy: Sofia is herself no stranger to crime in Colombia, as her elder brother Rafael was murdered there in 1998 when an abduction attempt went south

Born in Colombia in 1943, Griselda swiftly became a ruthless criminal who according to Maxim committed her first murder when she was 11 and her victim was 10.

In the 1970s she made her bones as a brutally vengeful, groundbreaking player in the Colombia-to-Miami drug trade that flowered during that decade and the one after.

Griselda married multiple times and produced four children, the youngest of whom she named - in a flash of dark humor - Michael Corleone Blanco.

In the mid-1980s Griselda was thrown in jail for three murders, two of drug dealers and one of a two-year-old boy.

Notorious: 'Cocaine Godmother' was one of Griselda's many sobriquets - over the years she was also known as 'La Madrina' ('The Godmother') and 'The Black Widow'

She was set loose in 2004 and deported to Colombia, and in 2012 a motorcyclist shot her dead outside a Medellin butcher shop.

Sofia is herself no stranger to crime in Colombia, as her elder brother Rafael was tragically murdered there in 1998 when an abduction attempt went south.

'We come from a successful family, and he knew he was a target for kidnapping,' explained Sofia, whose father was a cattle farmer.

'He always had bodyguards. Then one day he went out alone and was shot dead. I was devastated,' she added, according to the New York Post.

Origin story: Born in Colombia in 1943, Griselda swiftly became a ruthless criminal who according to Maxim committed her first murder when she was only 11 and her victim was 10
The Witch Hunts: Lucy Worsley Investigates

Rating:

Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace

Rating:

This is how Lucy Worsley describes a witches' mass: 200 women with flagons of wine, 'making merry and singing all with one voice'.

That sounds to me like a hen night on any Friday across Britain. Were these so-called witches wearing T-shirts with obscene slogans and staggering in stiletto heels?

One evening took an ugly turn, according to a Tudor pamphlet uncovered in The Witch Hunts: Lucy Worsley Investigates (BBC2).

Dismembered human limbs were tied to a cat and flung into the sea. My bet is this was no black magic ritual. Rather the bachelorettes had merely torn a male stripper apart and tried to get rid of the body.

Fans of Prof Lucy who hoped to see her dressed up in a pointed hat with a broomstick were disappointed. This documentary, the first of four delving into dark corners of British history, was a more sombre affair.

The Witch Hunts: Lucy Worsley Investigates (BBC2), the first of four documentaries delving into dark corners of British history, was a sombre affair

The presenter spent much of the episode visiting historians and exploring libraries around Scotland, where the notorious cat incident occurred in 1591.

She discovered magical amulets and charms, including a dried seed encased in silver. It was known as St Mary's Nut and was believed to help women in childbirth.

It was plain that Lucy was not in a frivolous mood from the way she sat in the back of her chauffeured car between museums, gazing thoughtfully at the countryside.

Most celebrities drive themselves on telly, usually in vintage E-Type Jags or Minis. It's pleasing to know that Prof Lucy is transported in more regal style. I hope her driver wears a peaked cap.

The tale of the witches' coven, she conceded at the start, 'all sounds absolutely bonkers'. But gradually a more serious and grim picture emerged of a clampdown on folk remedies and 'wise women' by Protestant extremists.

King James VI of Scotland encouraged the Puritans. He accused the witches, and one Agnes Sampson in particular, of conjuring a storm while he was at sea.

The torture, trial and execution of Agnes unleashed a century of witch hunts. A re-enactment of her death, with bearded men in big hats standing around scowling, looked like an outtake from BBC2's abysmal sitcom, The Witchfinder.

But some of the historic documents Lucy uncovered did prove fascinating. The list of Agnes's clients as a folk healer included several gentlewomen of note. Her cures must have been fashionable. And proof that she was tortured by inquisitors showed up in the parish accounts  with entries in the expenses ledger for wooden stocks and three-inch pins.

Presenter Davina McCall helps foundling 'ice baby' Matt Butt find his roots in Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace (ITV)

Among the records discovered by Nicky Campbell, tracing the story of foundling 'Ice Baby' Matt Butt on Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace (ITV), were lurid newspaper cuttings.

On the coldest night for years, in January 1987, Matt's mother left him in a North London phonebox with a note pinned to his knitted jacket: 'I was born on January 6. Please look after me.' DNA analysis helped to identify his father, who died nearly a decade ago. His mother was found, too, but she did not want to meet Matt.

Without any emotional reunions, I suspect his painful story would not have aired had it not been for the dramatic circumstances of his beginnings.

More uplifting was the tale of former RAF sergeant Paul Garner, who was left as a baby in toilets at a park in Abergavenny in the late 1950s. He met his two sisters and a brother, Terry, who looked more like his twin though he was ten years older.

This is what Long Lost Family does so well. Not a dry eye
Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky put on a very glamorous display as she stepped out in Sydney on Tuesday.

The 45-year-old Spanish beauty showed off her freshly-dyed brunette locks as she left her Sydney hotel ahead of promoting her new Netflix action film Interceptor in the CBD.

The Spanish beauty looked chic in a beige trouser suit as she made her way around town.

Leading lady: Chris Hemsworth 's wife Elsa Pataky put on a very glamorous display as she stepped out in Sydney on Tuesday

The Fast and the Furious star wore a blazer with a bustier top underneath.

She flaunted a deep golden tan and sported a glam makeup palette, including a smokey eye, highlighter and a nude lip.

Elsa completed her look by wearing her long dark locks out in a straight style.

Glam: She flaunted a deep golden tan and sported a glam makeup palette, including a smokey eye, highlighter and a nude lip

On the promotional trail: Elsa has been busy this week promoting her new Netflix action film Interceptor. Her husband Chris Hemsworth served as an executive producer on the film

Elsa has been busy this week promoting her new Netflix action film.

Her husband Chris Hemsworth served as an executive producer on the film.

Her role sees her playing no-nonsense army lieutenant JJ Collins, who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States.

On Tuesday's The Project, Elsa said her action hero husband, 38, didn't spare her when it came to giving advice on her fight scenes while he was an executive producer on Interceptor.

New film: Elsa's role in Interceptor, out June 3, sees her playing no-nonsense army lieutenant JJ Collins, who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States

'He was so bossy!' On Tuesday's The Project, Elsa said her action hero husband, 38, didn't spare her when it came to giving advice on her fight scenes while he was an executive producer on Interceptor

'He was so bossy!' Elsa said.

'He was just telling me, like, "This is the right angle when you punch". He was just showing me how to do it, what is the right position you have to have,' she went on.

'He has been doing it for a long time. It was great having him. He was supporting me from the beginning, from when he first read the script.

'He said, "You have to do this, it's going to be fun, you will enjoy it, I know how much you like this kind of movie".'

Elsa was then asked by the show's hosts how the pair dealt with professional disagreements on set.

'It's like your marriage, in a way, you work things out. It's different when he's an executive producer, he gives you advice, he supports you. It's easier than when we are married every day,' she said.
Today host Karl Stefanovic has acknowledged he felt snubbed by Channel Nine after his bid to front the network's election night coverage was rejected.

Stefanovic, 47, and his breakfast TV co-anchor Allison Langdon had pitched themselves for the high-profile role, but Nine turned down their offer and instead chose newsreaders Peter Overton and Alicia Loxley.

Speaking to Sam Armytage's Something to Talk About podcast on Wednesday, Stefanovic said he was 'upset' by the snub because he and Langdon, 43, had worked tirelessly interviewing the candidates throughout the election campaign.

'I was upset': Today host Karl Stefanovic (left, with Allison Langdon) has acknowledged he felt snubbed by Nine after his bid to front the network's election night coverage was rejected

'I was upset that I didn't host the election It's kind of like doing all the preliminary games for two years and then missing out on the Super Bowl,' he told Armytage, the former co-host of Channel Seven's Sunrise.

Rumours that Stefanovic and Langdon felt snubbed emerged earlier this month in The Australian's Media Diary, but these reports were not confirmed until now.

Explaining why he waited until after the election to address the issue, Stefanovic said: 'It's not something you need to articulate in a particularly public fashion.'

Candid: Speaking to Sam Armytage's Something to Talk About podcast on Wednesday, Stefanovic said he was 'upset' by the snub because he and Langdon, 43, had worked tirelessly interviewing the candidates throughout the election campaign

Options: Stefanovic and his Today co-anchor Allison Langdon had pitched themselves for the role, but Nine turned down their offer and instead chose newsreaders Peter Overton (left) and Alicia Loxley (right)

He added: 'When you've been in broadcasting as long as I have, you're going to get some gigs [but] you're not going to get them all. You think about it for a while and you go, "Other people make those decisions. I'll just stay at home and [brush it off]."'

Despite being denied the opportunity to lead Nine's election night broadcast, Stefanovic said he was 'very proud' of the way he and Langdon had covered the campaigns and polls in the weeks leading up to May 21.

'While I might be upset, you've got to put your big boy pants on and go to work the next day and get on with it,' he said.

Admission: 'I was upset that I didn't host the election It's kind of like doing all the preliminary games for two years and then missing out on the Super Bowl,' he told Armytage

Nine's election coverage was hosted by Overton and Loxley, who led a panel of experts breaking down the numbers as Anthony Albanese's Labor government triumphed in the voting booths.

The panel featured the likes of Julie Bishop, Bill Shorten, Jane Hume, Kate Ellis, Matt Canavan and Chris Uhlmann.

Loxley, who presents the afternoon news in Melbourne, stepped in to replace 2GB host Deborah Knight, who fronted Nine's 2019 election coverage with Overton.

Qualified: The Australian reported on May 2 that Stefanovic and Langdon had 'made a pitch' to host the coverage, citing their experience interviewing politicians almost daily on Today

Proud: Despite being denied the opportunity to lead Nine's election night broadcast, Stefanovic said he was 'very proud' of the way he and Langdon had covered the campaigns and polls in the lead-up to May 21. (Pictured: Stefanovic interviewing Josh Frydenberg)

The broadcast ranked below the ABC and Channel Seven in the ratings, bringing in 397,000 viewers with an additional 384,000 tuning in for the vote count.

The Australian reported on May 2 that Stefanovic and Langdon had 'made a pitch' to host the coverage, citing their experience interviewing politicians almost daily on the Today show.

Their grillings of former prime minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Mr Albanese frequently set the news agenda during the federal election campaign.

Tough questions: Their grillings of former prime minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Mr Albanese (pictured) frequently set the news agenda during the federal election campaign

On air: Nine's election coverage was hosted by Overton and Loxley, who led a panel of experts breaking down the numbers as Anthony Albanese's Labor government triumphed in the voting booths. The panel featured the likes of Julie Bishop (pictured), Bill Shorten and Jane Hume

However, Nine decided Overton and Loxley were a safer bet, with a network source telling Media Diary: 'We have an abundance of talent at the network who could have done a great job.'

It comes amid reports Stefanovic and Langdon have signed a lucrative new contracts at Nine, and are now each earning about $1.5million a year.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia last week, a senior Nine source said the pair would remain hosts of the program, which was beaten in the ratings by ABC News Breakfast for one week this month.

Cha-ching! It comes amid reports Stefanovic and Langdon have signed a lucrative new contracts at Nine, and are now each earning about $1.5million a year

Langdon, who paired up with Stefanovic on Today in January 2020, signed a new multi-year contract last year and her co-host is contracted until well into 2023.

'There's no changes,' the source told Daily Mail Australia of speculation anyone on the program would be replaced. 'No one is going anywhere. It's bulls**t.'

Stefanovic and Langdon appeared on The Kyle and Jackie O Show last Wednesday to say they were not worried about Today dropping to third place behind the ABC and the Seven Network's Sunrise earlier this month.

The co-anchors said it was normal for breakfast television ratings to go up and down, and one bad week was no cause to panic.

Today's five-city metro average viewing audience for the week commencing May 2 was 176,000. Sunrise, hosted by David Koch and Natalie Barr, pulled in 241,000 viewers followed by ABC News Breakfast with 195,000 viewers.
Sam Armytage has admitted she's been 'on air drunk' while hosting Sunrise.

The former co-anchor of Seven's top-rating breakfast show made the shock disclosure while talking to Karl Stefanovic on her Something to Talk About podcast.

'I mean, hello, we've all been on air drunk!' said the 45-year-old.

Boozy bombshell: Sam Armytage has admitted she's been 'on air drunk' while hosting Sunrise

Stefanovic, 47, was infamously still drunk when he hosted Nine's Today show the morning after a long, boozy night at the 2009 Logie Awards.

However, Sam said her inebriation wasn't so obvious, admitting: 'I was sneaky. I didn't get written up in the papers. Nobody knew.'

'Thank you, finally an admission!' replied Stefanovic, her former breakfast TV rival, before joking that her anecdote would probably lead to a flurry of headlines.

'Karl gets awful admission out of Sam: "I was drunk too! Nobody noticed,"' he laughed.

Tipsy: The former co-anchor of Seven's top-rating breakfast show made the admission while talking to Karl Stefanovic on her Something to Talk About podcast. (Pictured with Kylie Gillies)

Moving on: Armytage quit Sunrise in March last year, saying she wanted to spend more time in the country with her new husband

Armytage quit Sunrise in March last year, saying she wanted to spend more time in the country with her new husband Richard Lavender.

She said last month she couldn't be happier since swapping busy Sydney life for a quieter existence in Bowral, NSW.

'I met a divine and decent man, sweeter than the sweetest rose,' she told New Idea of her marriage to Lavender, an equestrian businessman.

'I found the love of my life at 42. How lucky am I? And I realised you do not find the happy life, you make it.'

'I met a divine man': Armytage said last month she couldn't be happier since swapping busy Sydney life for a quieter existence in Bowral with her husband Richard Lavender (left)

During the same interview, Armytage described her role at Sunrise as a 'highly scrutinised, high-adrenaline, high-pressure job'.

On her final day at Sunrise, Armytage fired off a parting shot at the 'bullying' media.

Things took a serious turn at the end of the broadcast when she broke down in tears and accused 'some aspects of the media' of treating her unfairly.

'I do want to say that I never fully understood some of the scrutiny and the snarkiness and the bullying from some aspects of the media,' she said.

Tough gig: During the same interview, Armytage described her role at Sunrise as a 'highly scrutinised, high-adrenaline, high-pressure job'. (Pictured on her last day)

'But today we move on from that, because there is a new chapter starting and it has been overwhelmingly a good experience in my life.'

She continued: 'Most of all, I thank all of our viewers. You are just wonderful people. There are so many lovely people. So many more lovely ones than the nasty ones.'

Since quitting Sunrise, Armytage has filmed a guest role on Farmer Wants a Wife and has also been recording a podcast for Stellar magazine.
He served as an executive producer on his wife Elsa Pataky's new Netflix film, Interceptor.

And on Wednesday, Chris Hemsworth was seen touching down in Sydney with an entourage via a private jet to support Elsa at a screening for the film.

Thor star Chris, 38, looked stylish in a black denim jacket and jeans as he landed with Elsa's mother Cristina Pataky Medianu and a glamorous brunette.

High flyer! Chris Hemsworth touched down in Sydney via a private jet on Tuesday with a glamorous brunette and his entourage ahead of the Interceptor film screening

Chris teamed his double denim look with a pair of black Golden Goose sneakers and a pair of stylish black shades.

He appeared in high spirits as he walked along the tarmac from the jet to a private car.

Chris, who lives in a $30million mansion in Byron Bay with Elsa, moved to Broken Hill in NSW earlier this month to film the Mad Max prequel, Furiosa.

A Hollywood star arrival: Chris teamed his double denim look with a pair of black Golden Goose sneakers and a pair of stylish black shades

Interceptor also stars Netflix's Anya Taylor-Joy from Netflix's The Queen's Gambit.

Meanwhile, Elsa has been busy this week promoting her new Netflix action film in Sydney.

Her role sees her playing no-nonsense army lieutenant JJ Collins, who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States.

Mixing business with pleasure: Chris served as an executive producer on wife Elsa Pataky's new Netflix film, Interceptor

New film: Elsa's role in Interceptor, out June 3, sees her playing no-nonsense army lieutenant JJ Collins, who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States

On Tuesday's The Project, Elsa said her action hero husband, 38, didn't spare her when it came to giving advice on her fight scenes while he was an executive producer on Interceptor.

'He was so bossy!' Elsa said.

'He was just telling me, like, "This is the right angle when you punch". He was just showing me how to do it, what is the right position you have to have,' she went on.

'He has been doing it for a long time. It was great having him. He was supporting me from the beginning, from when he first read the script.

'He said, "You have to do this, it's going to be fun, you will enjoy it, I know how much you like this kind of movie".'

Elsa was then asked by the show's hosts how the pair dealt with professional disagreements on set.

'It's like your marriage, in a way, you work things out. It's different when he's an executive producer, he gives you advice, he supports you. It's easier than when we are married every day,' she said.
So You Think You Can Dance Australia winner Jack Chambers will feature in a major role in the spectacular new stage production of the hit musical Mary Poppins.

The 33-year-old performer, who won the first season of the reality TV series in 2008, will play Bert the chimney sweep in the show, which opens at Sydney's Lyric theatre, on Thursday.

Starring as Mary Poppins is Australian is stage actor Stefanie Jones, who was hand-picked for the role by the show's English producer and co-creator, Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

Flying high: So You Think You Can Dance Australia winner Jack Chambers (pictured) will feature in a major role in the spectacular new stage production of the hit musical Mary Poppins which opens Thursday at Sydney's Lyric Theatre

Based on the famous 1964 Walt Disney movie starring Julie Andrews, the stage version promises dazzling sets, eye-popping special effects and toe-tapping tunes like Chim Chim Cher-ee.

In a display of technical wizardry, Chambers gave a preview of what fans can expect as he danced suspended in mid-air during the Mary Poppins media call at the Lyric Theatre on Wednesday.

Mary Poppins is one of the first big events to arrive in Sydney since COVID-19 restrictions threw the theatre and live scene into chaos two years ago.

The NSW government announced it was supporting the show through its tourism and event agency Destination NSW.

Toe-tapping: Starring as Mary Poppins is Australian stage actor Stefanie Jones (far left), who was hand-picked for the role by the show's English producer and co-creator, Sir Cameron Mackintosh (second-from-right) Pictured: NSW Minister Stuart Ayres (second-from-left) and Jack Chambers far right - pose on the set of Mary Poppins at the Lyric Theatre, Wednesday

NSW Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade, and Minister for Tourism, Stuart Ayres said on Wednesday that it was shows like Mary Poppins that demonstrated that Sydney was now open for business.

The London production of the Cameron Mackintosh musical returned to the West End in 2019, 14 years after it first made its debut, and was a smash hit.

Meanwhile, Chambers has built a strong career since So You Think You Can Dance.

Hand-picked: Stefanie Jones seen in the role of Mary Poppins

The talented dancer has travelled around the world starring in musicals, including touring Europe and the USA as part of Hugh Jackman's The Man. The Music. The Show.

Jack recently thanked Jackman in an Instagram post, explaining that the pair have actually been friends since his So You Think You Can Dance days before touring together in Hugh's Broadway show.

'I've been having a blast touring this ripper of a show! @thehughjackman - you are an inspiring human, professionally and personally, and I am super grateful to be up on that stage with you!' Jack wrote alongside a photo of the pair.
I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here's Maria Thattil might be out of the jungle but she's back to flaunting her wild side.

The beauty queen showed off her erotic moves on Wednesday when she shared a clip of herself at a dance class.

Maria was seen doing a number of racy moves while clad in tight-fitting activewear.

Sensual: Maria Thattil (pictured) flaunted her wild side with a raunchy routine at a dance studio on Wednesday

'Life will always be busy and people will always have an opinion on how you spend it, so I say you may as well just do the thing you want to do,' she said.

Maria added it was her first time back in a dance class in 20 years.

'I loved getting to do a class that is sensual, confident and just hot - our bodies are literally magnificent, beautiful things. How incredible is it to move?'

Mover and shaker: Maria was seen doing a number of racy moves while clad in tight-fitting activewear

Move: 'For me I loved getting to do a class that is sensual, confident and just hot - our bodies are literally magnificent, beautiful things. How incredible is it to move?' she wrote

Maria came out as bisexual on IAC, said she'd kept her sexuality hidden for a long time because there were 'many homophobic sentiments in [her] school around being a lesbian'.

She revealed to WHO magazine she's no longer scared of dating women in public, after previously admitting she was worried how it might be perceived.

'I'm no longer scared of the narrative being taken out of my hands,' she told the publication.

Speaking out: Maria revealed she's no longer scared of dating women in public, after previously admitting she was worried how others would perceive it

The model added: 'I've been dating casually for about a year, some men and some women, and I don't care anymore who sees or what they say.'

Maria, who is a second-generation Australian born to Indian immigrants, also discussed her passion for activism which has stemmed from her 'lived experiences'.

'I'll always be brown and queer,' she said. 'Activism isn't about a hashtag; it's about showing up for what you believe in every day.'
Ewan McGregor revealed that it was 'frightening' to film opposite Darth Vader while promoting his upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Tuesday on a talk show.

The 51-year-old Scottish actor during a pre-taped appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon gushed about reuniting with Hayden Christensen, 41, for the Disney+ series.

'It was frightening to see him again though. I hadn't acted with Darth Vader,' said McGregor, who starred with Hayden in the Star Wars prequel trilogy of films from 1999 to 2005.

Sci-fi star: Ewan McGregor revealed that it was 'frightening' to film opposite Darth Vader while promoting his upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Tuesday on a talk show

'And I've been acting a long time. I think I've done a lot of stuff. But the first take with Darth Vader scared the s*** out of me,' McGregor said as Fallon, 47, burst into laughter.

McGregor explained that they rehearsed and Christensen didn't have his helmet on, then he was getting made up and 'I guess they were sorting him out'.

'And then they went, ''Action!'' And I'm walking down and I hear something, I turn around and f*** Darth Vader is coming at me. I swear to god, I just about s*** my pants, really,' McGregor said.

'When you're a kid, that is probably one of the scariest villains you'll see,' Fallon said.

Franchise villain: The 51-year-old Scottish actor during a pre-taped appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon gushed about reuniting with Hayden Christensen, shown in a scene as Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi

Pre-taped episode: The show was taped before news of the tragic mass shooting in Texas

'That's it, I think. ...I was like seven-years-old again. It was really, it was really genuine fear,' McGregor said. 'I've made horror films and stuff. They're not frightening, but that was.'

McGregor in the upcoming series reprises his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi from the prequel trilogy in which primary filming for the third installment was finished in 2003.

'So it's a long time ago, but it was so fun,' McGregor said.

Together again: McGregor and Christensen are shown as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker in a still from the 2005 film Revenge Of The Sith

He also admitted that he had to relearn Obi-Wan Kenobi's accent after adapting the timbre of the late Sir Alec Guinness who originated the role in the 1977 Star Wars film.

McGregor said he had to read with other actors for two roles and they borrowed the set of The Mandalorian on a Sunday when they had a day off.

'I went to this dressing room, and there was this sort of Obi-Wan-esque costume, you know. Sort of cobbled it together and I put it on and that was sort of breathtaking after 17 years, looking in the mirror,' McGregor said.

Relearned accent: The actor admitted that he had to relearn Obi-Wan Kenobi's accent after adapting the timbre of the late Sir Alec Guinness who originated the role in the 1977 Star Wars film

'But then I went on and I started reading with these other actors, and I totally didn't have his voice at all. It was really bad. I was just sort of doing this vague English accent and it didn't sound at all like Obi-Wan Kenobi,' he said.

Fallon joked that the crew was probably wondering, 'Who the heck is this guy?'

'They were quite excited when I walked on, I could feel that they were quite excited. But then they were majorly disappointed,' McGregor cracked.

Coming soon: McGregor is shown in a still from the series Obi-Wan Kenobi premiering on Friday on Disney+

The actor said he did some homework to get the accent back.

'I just had to go back and like watch lots of Alec Guinness movies and watch all the original films. I got back into it. It was good, it was really good fun,' McGregor said.

He also confirmed that he does Jedi-type hand moves and pretends to use The Force for his own amusement.

Jedi moves: The actor also confirmed that he does Jedi-type hand moves and pretends to use The Force for his own amusement

'Yeah, I know, like an automatic door I can't help myself,' McGregor said laughing.

'In the airport, or something. You know, there's always like, in the airport, there's always automatic doors. I always do it for myself, but I also hope somebody sees me do it, you know,' he said cracking up.

Obi-Wan Kenobi will premiere on Friday on Disney+ with the first two episodes available for streaming.

'I've seen them all and I think they're really good, so I think people will not be disappointed,' McGregor said.
Donald Glover enjoyed a rare outing in Manhattan's Downtown area with his longtime partner Michelle White on Monday afternoon.

While spending some quality time with his love, who have quietly enjoyed a five-year relationship, the rapper, 38, showed off his muscular legs while rocking a pair of microscopic blue shorts and black black Adidas shirt.

The performer, who also goes by Childish Gambino, completed his sporty ensemble with a yellow bucket hat and grey sneakers with blue accents

Holding hands: Donald Glover enjoyed a rare outing in Manhattan's Downtown area with his longtime partner Michelle White on Monday afternoon

The couple were inseparable as they held hands as they walked down the street on a beautiful spring day as they enjoyed the warm weather.

For their outing, the mother-of-three, 33, sported a charcoal grey t-shirt, light-wash blue jeans, two silver necklaces and a pair of white sneakers.

As a couple they have stayed largely out of the spotlight, and the first time she was known was shortly after they welcomed their first child, a son named Legend, in 2016.

Handsome: While spending some quality time with his love, who have quietly enjoyed a five-year relationship, the rapper, 38, showed off his muscular legs while rocking a pair of microscopic blue shorts and black black Adidas shirt

When he accepted his Emmy for his show Atlanta in 2017, he thanked his 'love' and let it slip that the pair were expecting a second child.

'I want to thank Michelle, my partner, you love me even with how crazy I get,' he said before thanking his 'son' and 'unborn son.'

In January 2018 the pair welcomed their second child, a son named Drake, and in October 2020 he revealed by way of a GQ interview that Michelle had given birth to a third son named Donald.

Privacy: The Atlanta star has chosen to keep his family life out of the spotlight and it is not known when he and Michelle first began dating as her identity was only revealed following the birth of their first son in 2016; pictured 2019

'You know, I had [a kid] during the coronavirus,' Glover very casually said, before dating the birth back to the spring, as he cited seeing the George Floyd video an hour after the delivery.

He also shared that the duo had talked about adoption. 'We have three boys so I'm like, "Oh, it might be nice to be get a girl in there," he shared, calling it a 'great option.'

His latest sighting comes just two weeks after he claimed that people are creating 'boring' and less 'experimental' television and films because they are 'afraid of getting cancelled on Twitter.

Airing his thoughts: His latest sighting comes just two weeks after he claimed that people are creating 'boring' and less 'experimental' television and films because they are 'afraid of getting cancelled on Twitter; seen in 2022

This month, rapper Kidd Wes filed a federal lawsuit against Glover for copyright infringement over 'This is America.'

The suit, filed in New York, alleges the 2018 song is 'glaringly similar' to a song Kidd Wes, real name Emelike Nwosuocha, released two years earlier on Soundcloud named Made in America.'

It claims there are 'nearly-identical unique rhythmic, lyrical, and thematic compositional and performance content contained in the chorus  or 'hook'  sections that are the centerpieces of both songs.'

This Is America earned Glover Grammys for best song and best record, making history as the first rap song to win the gongs.
James Corden enjoyed a night out on Tuesday evening as he stepped out for dinner with his wife, Julia Carey, and pals in Santa Monica.

The 43-year-old cut a casual figure for the outing at Italian hotspot Giorgio Baldi, donning a pair of blue jeans and a black crew neck jumper.

The Californian outing comes as a return to the UK could be on the cards, as James is set to depart his role as host of the Late Late Show.

Night out: James Corden,43, cut a casual figure on Tuesday evening as he stepped out with wife Julia and pals for a Santa Monica dinner

The talk show host added a pair of white Yeezy trainers, as he chatted with pals outside.

Julia also kept her look low key, matching her husband in a pair of blue jeans, which she paired with a white shirt and black blazer.

The beauty, who has been married to James since 2012, added a pair of simple black loafers.

She opted for a subtle look on her glowing complexion, as her blonde tresses were scooped away from her face in a bun.

Casual: The host donned a pair of blue jeans and a black crew neck jumper, with white Yeezy trainers

Home time! James appeared to be the designated driver, as he flashed a smile to the camera while sitting behind the wheel, as the couple both appeared in high spirits

Julia was snapped waving to others as they stood outside the restaurant, while her beau stood by her side.

The pair then stepped back into their car, with James appearing to be the designated driver, flashing a smile to the camera as he sat behind the wheel.

Late Late Show host James is currently filming for his last season of the show, as he is set to step down from the role.

Planning to spend more time in the UK, he has opted to leave at the end of season eight - despite the best efforts of network CBS executives, who exclusively told DailyMail.com that they 'desperately tried to keep him for longer.'

He's out! James Corden will step down as the host of The Late Late Show at the end of next season

The star and his wife of 10 years are reportedly mulling over a return to the UK with their three children Max, 11, Carey, seven, and Charlotte, four, but they are still trying to 'figure out' what's next for the family.

An insider tells DailyMail.com that spending more time in the UK when the show ends is 'definitely on the horizon'.

James told Deadline it's been a difficult decision after enjoying such huge success.

'It's been it's a really hard decision to leave because I'm so immensely proud of the show. I'm thrilled to be extending [for a year]. I always thought I'd do it for five years and then leave and then I stayed on. I've really been thinking about it for a long time, thinking whether there might be one more adventure.'

When asked if he plans to move home, the star said he and his wife 'genuinely don't know the answer to that'.

'It's something we think about and we talk about a lot but we haven't really made a decision on that yet. That's the life side of things which we'll figure out,' he added.

'I love living here [in LA]. I love everything it's given. My family and I have never taken this incredible adventure for granted. Every day I drive down Sunset to work and I just think I'm from High Wycombe.'
Craig McLachlan has sold his Sydney apartment after dropping his high-profile defamation lawsuit.

The actor, 56, released a statement last week after the NSW Supreme Court was told he would no longer be suing the ABC, Sydney Morning Herald and actor Christie Whelan Browne.

McLachlan had been accused of touching, kissing and groping actresses without permission.

Sold: Craig McLachlan has sold his Sydney apartment after dropping his high-profile defamation lawsuit. (Pictured at the Supreme Court in Sydney on May 12)

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the former Neighbours star just sold his one-bedroom Potts Point pad for 'about $1.4million'.

The publication also claims that McLachlan and his partner, Vanessa Scammell, 'were quietly shopping [the apartment] to buyers last year for $1.6 million to $1.7 million'.

McLachlan still owns a four-bedroom property at Blue Bay on the Central Coast, which has been in his family for decades.

He received full ownership of the home in 2007 and there is no mortgage on the title, Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to McLachlan for comment.

Location: The former Neighbours star sold the one-bedroom Potts Point pad (pictured) for 'about $1.4million'

Interior: The apartment has picturesque views of Sydney's CBD

The sale comes after the actor dropped his defamation lawsuit, citing the toll it had taken on his mental health and family as the reason.

It is understood McLachlan has racked up legal bills of more than $3million from the legal fight.

He was intending to sue the ABC, Sydney Morning Herald and Christie Whelan Browne over claims he'd touched, kissed and groped actresses without permission in the Rocky Horror stage production, Neighbours, City Homicide, and The Doctor Blake Mysteries.

He wrote off the claims by Ms Whelan Browne, and those of Erika Haynatz and Erika Scundi as 'utterly and entirely false'.

Comfortable: The spacious bedroom is pictured

Classic: The brown riled bathroom is in a vintage style

He dropped the defamation suit on day first of 11 women were due to give evidence.

In withdrawing the defamation case, McLachlan said: 'The strain that this case has put on me and, more importantly, my family, has been utterly overwhelming.

'I cannot continue to place my family under that strain, and my own mental health will not withstand the continuing pressure.'

Acting Justice Carolyn Simpson discharged the jury after the actor's barrister Kieran Smark SC applied for leave to discontinue the proceedings.

Dropped: The sale comes after the actor dropped his defamation lawsuit, citing the toll it had taken on his mental health and family as the reason

The announcement came on the same day the first of 11 women were to give evidence against the actor - with Ms Whelan Browne releasing an emotional statement saying she was traumatised by the years-long legal action.

Kate McClymont - who wrote one of the stories about McLachlan for the Sydney Morning Herald - claimed he was facing a $1.1million legal costs bill for her publication alone.

Ms Whelan Browne issued a statement last Friday saying she was pleased the lawsuit was being withdrawn.

However, she said her name had been tarnished by the defamation action.
She recently enjoyed a naughty exchange with her former flame and Kourtney Kardashian's ex Scott Disick where he joked about her many 'talents.'

And model Holly Scarfone stepped out for dinner at Craig's in West Hollywood on Tuesday night after the flirty behaviour.

The Kylie Jenner lookalike and Too Hot To Handle star, 23, showed off her abs and toned legs in a crop top and racy skirt while out and about.

Stunning: Model Holly Scarfone stepped out for dinner at Craig's in West Hollywood on Tuesday night after flirting with her ex Scott Disick

The beauty left little to the imagination in the thigh-skimming mini skirt which had daring cut-out detailing on the sides as she went underwear free.

She completed her look with snakeskin-print beige shiny boots and toted a pink Gucci bag as she strutted her stuff down the pavement.

Holly wore her long brunette tresses in loose waves over her shoulders and opted for a glamorous makeup look for the evening.

Leggy: The Kylie Jenner lookalike and Too Hot To Handle star, 23, showed off her abs and toned legs in a crop top and racy skirt while out and about

The influencer - who bares a striking resemblance to Kylie Jenner - was in a reported relationship with Scott for a short time last month and recently flirted online with him.

Scott appeared in good spirits earlier this week after former girlfriend Holly posted a sizzling snap of herself modeling one of his Talentless wears.

'oh lord she's @talentless,' she captioned the photos.

'I can think of a few talents you have right off the top of my head, no pun intended,' Scott commented.

Skimpy: The beauty left little to the imagination in the thigh-skimming mini skirt which had daring cut-out detailing on the sides as she went underwear free

Holly then replied: '@letthelordbewithyou see u soon.'

It comes as come as Holly's Too Hot To Handle co-star's Harry Johnson and Cam Holmes claimed that her relationship with Scott was fake.

The Netflix stars spoke out about the new couple in an interview with Slingo, as they claimed Holly would 'milk dry' an opportunity to further her fame.

Harry, who appeared alongside Holly on season three of the saucy reality show, said: 'For me, Holly is just about it, if that makes sense.'

Style: She completed her look with snakeskin-print beige shiny boots and toted a pink Gucci bag as she strutted her stuff down the pavement

Fun: She recently enjoyed a naughty exchange with her former flame and Kourtney Kardashian's ex Scott Disick where he joked about her many 'talents'

Cam - who appeared on season two of the series - chimed in to say: 'Yeah, she loves it... She knows what she's doing and she'll do it to get where she needs to be.'

Harry added: 'Holly loves it. Imagine a cow, Holly would milk it dry - in the nicest way possible.'

When asked directly if they felt she genuinely likes Scott, Harry replied: 'Nah, no way on god's planet does she like Scott. Holly's smart. I like her, but she's smart.'

MailOnline has contacted Holly's representatives for comment.

Glowing: Holly wore her long brunette tresses in loose waves over her shoulders and opted for a glamorous makeup look for the evening

Holly and Scott were first spotted together at Nobu Malibu last month, and they travelled to Paris together not long afterwards.

After they started dating, some fans have pointed out that Holly bears a resemblance to Kylie.

However earlier this month Scott was seen as he stepped out holding hands with his newer love interest, 27-year-old model Rebecca Donaldson.

It comes just after his ex-partner Kourtney wed husband Travis Barker in a lavish Portofino ceremony over the weekend surrounded by friends and family.

Seeing double: The influencer, shares a striking resemble to Kylie Jenner, the younger sister of Scott's ex Kourtney Kardashian who he dated from 2005 to 2015 (Holly left, Kylie, right)
Sharon Osbourne made an emotional return to TalkTV on Tuesday night after spending the past couple of weeks in Los Angeles with her family.

The chat show host, 69, rushed to the US in April to be by her husband Ozzy's side after he was diagnosed with Covid-19.

Having originally planned to return to the UK after the rock star recuperated - Sharon found herself prolonging her stay after catching the virus herself and her daughter Aimee nearly lost her life in a fire.

Relief: Sharon Osbourne made an emotional return to TalkTV on Tuesday night after spending the past couple of weeks in LA with her family

She also shared how Ozzys clothes were stolen in a taxi and how her younger daughter Kelly contracted coronavirus also.

Appearing on the panel with Ian Collins, Vanessa Feltz, James Max and JJ Anisiobi to discuss the biggest stories of the day, Sharon relived the horrific chain of events.

Opening up the show, guest host Vanessa said: 'It's a huge welcome back to the studio for Sharon, who has had absolutely every single thing that a human being could possibly experience going on the past few weeks, I'm not joking.

Family: (L-R) Jack Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne and Aimee Osbourne pictured in 2010

Candid: Appearing on the panel with Ian Collins, Vanessa Feltz, James Max and JJ Anisiobi to discuss the biggest stories of the day, Sharon relived the horrific chain of events

'You've had Covid, Ozzy's had Coivd,'.

Sharon replied: 'Kelly had it, her partner. Ozzy's nurse had it, the whole house.'

Vanessa then proceeded to ask the former X-Factor judge about Ozzy being the victim of theft, asking: 'He almost had his wardrobe stolen?'

Appearing saddened and disappointed, Sharon answered: 'Yes, in a car, drove off with all his clothes for a photo shoot.'

Tough times: Sharon shared how Ozzys clothes were stolen in a taxi and how her younger daughter Kelly contracted coronavirus also

Sad news: Sharon first revealed her oldest daughter's narrow escape on Instagram in a post tagging a Los Angeles Times story about the deadly incident

Emotional: The Osbournes star wrote an emotional post on Instagram mourning the tragedy

Later in the candid chat, Vanessa mentioned Sharon's oldest daughter Aimee who narrowly escaped from a fire at an LA-based recording studio that claimed one life last week.

Reliving the panic, Sharon told the panel: 'She was trapped in the studio on the second floor and the fire was on the ground floor.

'And she couldn't get out the windows wouldn't break in the studio. And she couldn't get out it was traumatising for her really, and somebody died in the fire.'

Close call: Aimee survived a fire at an LA-based recording studio that claimed one life (Aimee pictured in 2015)

Scary times: Kelly contracted Covid while pregnant with her first child

However, it was not all doom and gloom for the matriarch during her visit stateside.

The TV star told the panel about the joy surrounding her daughter Kellys announcement of her first pregnancy and celebrating her son Jacks baby shower.

Former reality star Kelly revealed that she was pregnant with her first child earlier this month.

The 37-year-old who is currently dating Slipknot band member Sid Wilson, 45 - announced the happy news in an Instagram post.

Baby O: The TV star told the panel about the joy celebrating her son Jacks baby shower as he prepares to welcome a child with fiancee Aree Gearhart

Meanwhile Jack and his fiancee Aree Gearhart celebrated heir baby shower on Saturday.

The father-of-three gave fans a glimpse into their lavish do which Sharon also attended.

After detailing her traumatic couple of weeks across The Atlantic - Sharon said she was relieved to be back in Blighty.

Vanessa joked: 'You must have come back here for a rest at TalkTV?'

Sharon laughed: 'Oh I have. I'm like you can all deal with it yourselves, I'm out cya.'
Chris Hemsworth was every inch the Hollywood superstar as he signed autographs for his adoring fans in Sydney on Wednesday.

The Thor star, 38, stopped to sign autographs after enjoying lunch with his trainer Luke Zocchi, Lauren Phillips and her private jet tycoon boyfriend Paul O'Brien.

Chris looked stylish in a black T-shirt under a buttoned shirt and matching coloured jeans for the outing.

Hard at work: Chris Hemsworth stopped to sign autographs for adoring fans in Sydney after enjoying lunch with his trainer Luke Zocchi and Lauren Phillips on Wednesday

He completed his look with sunglasses and was all smiles as he chatted to fans after leaving the restaurant.

Chris touched down in Sydney earlier in the day for the Interceptor film screening.

He produced the action film alongside Kathy Morgan, Christopher Mapp, Robert Slaviero and Peter D. Graves.

Style: Chris looked stylish in a black T-shirt under a buttoned shirt and matching coloured jeans for the outing

Chris' wife Elsa plays the lead in action film.

She plays a soldier who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched at the United States.

The film also stars Kathy Morgan, Christopher Mapp, Robert Slaviero and ex-Home and Away star Luke Bracey.

Friendly: He completed his look with sunglasses and was all smiles as he chatted to fans after leaving the restaurant

On Tuesday's episode of The Project, Elsa said her action hero husband didn't spare her when it came to giving advice on her fight scenes.

'He was so bossy!' Elsa said.

'He was just telling me, like, "This is the right angle when you punch". He was just showing me how to do it, what is the right position you have to have,' she went on.

'He has been doing it for a long time. It was great having him. He was supporting me from the beginning, from when he first read the script.

'He said, "You have to do this, it's going to be fun, you will enjoy it, I know how much you like this kind of movie".'
Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky have one of the strongest relationships in Hollywood.

And on Wednesday, the couple looked more loved-up than ever as they stepped out in style for the Interceptor premiere in Sydney.

Chris, 38, and Elsa, 45, couldn't keep their hands off each other as they posed for photos together on the red carpet.

Romantic: Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky looked more loved-up than ever as they stepped out in style for the Interceptor premiere in Sydney on Wednesday

Elsa was all smiles in a backless black dress that clung to her slender physique.

She wore bright red lipstick and smoky eyeshadow and mascara for a sultry bombshell look.

For extra glam, she accessorised with over $474,000 worth of Bulgari gold and diamond jewels from the Italian designer's Serpenti collection.

Elsa stunned in a $19,400 ring with diamonds and emeralds, a $32,300 white gold ring with diamonds, emeralds and sapphires and a third yellow gold ring which costs over $77,000.

She also wore two $106,000 white gold bracelets with diamonds and emeralds from the range and yellow gold earrings with diamonds and rubies, which cost a staggering $133,450.

Meanwhile, Chris was dapper in a navy blazer and matching trousers.

All smiles: Chris, 38, and Elsa, 45, couldn't keep their hands off each other as they posed for photos together on the red carpet

Good times: The Spanish actress leaned into her handsome husband as they posed up a storm together for photographers

He also had a crisp white dress shirt on, which was unbuttoned at the top to reveal a glimpse of his upper chest.

A number of other celebrities also turned out to support the Netflix film.

Sydney socialite Suzan Mutesi stood out in a bright red blouse and plaid suit, with a designer clutch to accessorise.

Australian actress Nova Onas looked stylish in a ruffled off-the-shoulder mini-dress and baby pink stilettos.

Engaging: The A-list couple chatted with photographers and reporters on the red carpet

Gentleman: Chris was dapper in a navy blazer and matching trousers

TV presenter and radio host Lauren Phillips donned a purple and black suit with a Louis Vuitton handbag.

Elsa's role in the action film Interceptor, out June 3, sees her playing no-nonsense army lieutenant JJ Collins, who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States.

The Spanish actress says her action hero husband didn't spare her when it came to giving advice on her fight scenes.

Dare to bare! Elsa was all smiles in a backless black dress that clung to her slender physique

Red hot! She wore bright red lipstick and smoky eyeshadow and mascara for a sultry bombshell look

'He was so bossy!' the 45-year-old said while appearing on The Project on Tuesday night.

'He was just telling me, like, "This is the right angle when you punch". He was just showing me how to do it, what is the right position you have to have,' she went on.

'He has been doing it for a long time. It was great having him. He was supporting me from the beginning, from when he first read the script.

'He said, "You have to do this, it's going to be fun, you will enjoy it, I know how much you like this kind of movie".

'And [he told me] how destroyed you will be after, and you wont do it again,' she added with a laugh.

Star power: Sydney actress Suzan Mutesi (left) and her friend Nova Onas (right) looked stylish as they posed together

Fabulous: TV presenter and radio host Lauren Phillips donned a purple and black suit with a Louis Vuitton handbag

Elsa was then asked by the show's hosts how the pair dealt with professional disagreements on set.

'It's like your marriage, in a way, you work things out. It's different when he's an executive producer, he gives you advice, he supports you. It's easier than when we are married every day,' she said.

The Fate of the Furious star and her Thor actor husband have been married since 2010.

The power couple have three children, daughter India, nine, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, both eight.

They reside in a $30million mansion in Broken Head, near the celebrity enclave of Byron Bay.
He's known for solving the legal battles of others in the courtroom.

But Judge Robert Rinder faced his own battle on Monday, as his Apple AirPods went missing, ending up at another side of London to where he last saw them.

The barrister, 43, launched a public appeal to retrieve his earphones, which typically cost upwards of 100, taking to Twitter to offer a reward and no charges being pressed.

Lost: Judge Robert Rinder, 43, has launched a public appeal via Twitter after losing his AirPods - offering to not press charges if they are returned

He also explained that the AirPods had made their way from where he last saw them in Central London to around 20 minutes across town, near Hermitage Street.

In a now deleted tweet, Robert sarcastically quipped: 'To the kind person who has accidentally picked up my AirPods and (inadvertently assuming they are the true owners) taken them from central London to near Hermitage St W2

'Please return them for a reward .. and an undertaking not to proceed for theft by finding. and thanks'

AirPods: He launched a public appeal to retrieve his earphones, which typically cost upwards of 100, taking to Twitter to offer a reward and no charges being pressed

Social media: In a now deleted tweet, Robert sarcastically quipped: 'To the kind person who has accidentally picked up my AirPods and (inadvertently assuming they are the true owners) taken them from central London to near Hermitage St W2

Comment: Robert confirmed to MailOnline that he has bought a new pair of earphones now, but did not provide any more comment on the situation

Robert confirmed to MailOnline that he has bought a new pair of earphones now, but did not provide any more comment on the situation.

The judge recently hit headlines after travelling to war-torn Ukraine to retrieve his Strictly Come Dancing partner, Oskana Platero's, disabled grandparents at the border - after they had to flee their home following the Russian invasion.

Robert and Oksana reached the quarter-final stage of Strictly, when they competed together in 2016.

Trip: The judge recently hit headlines after travelling to war-torn Ukraine to retrieve his Strictly Come Dancing partner, Oskana Platero's, disabled grandparents at the border - after they had to flee their home following the Russian invasion

And announcing that he was making the trip, Robert tweeted: 'Oksana Platero my Ukrainian dance partner on @bbcstrictly gifted me so much. Right now her grandparents are a week into their struggle to find sanctuary in a safe country.

'I'll be trying to meet them on the border next week. They're just a few of the millions who need us.'

Upon retrieving them, he took to Instagram to share sweet snaps as they hugged, also seeing Oskana's aunt.

Emotional: Upon retrieving them, he took to Instagram to share sweet snaps as they hugged
Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky has opened up about the difficulties of marriage as she said her husband has helped her to be more patient.

The Spanish model, 45, has been married to the Australian actor, 38, for 12 years but admitted it isn't always easy as she spoke of the importance of not being 'selfish'.

She explained that she and Chris have learnt from each other throughout their marriage and said they always try to devote time to their relationship.

Romance: Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky has opened up about the difficulties of marriage as she said her husband has helped her to be more patient

She told Hello Magazine: 'It's not at all easy. No relationship is always a bed of roses and all marriages are built bit by bit, out of good moments, wonderful moments and also more difficult ones.'

Elsa went on to say that the Thor actor and their three children - India, ten, and twins Tristan and Sasha, eight - have all helped her to become more 'patient'.

'My children have taught me patience - before they came along I had none,' she added.

Although her children have taught her to be more tolerant, she admitted that she does sometimes feel 'overwhelmed' as a mother-of-three.

Family: The Spanish model, 45, has been married to the Australian actor, 38, for 12 years and they share three children - India, ten, and twins Tristan and Sasha, eight

The actress also gushed over her husband and said he always helps her with their children, saying she admires him for being a 'brilliant father'.

Elsa, who lives with her family in Australia, recently spent more than two months travelling around Europe with her three children while Chris shot in Prague for four months.

She admitted that although it was a trip of a lifetime, she isn't sure if she would do it again as she spoke of the trials of travelling with children.

The Fast and Furious star has been busy promoting her new action film Interceptor, which will be released on June 3.

Relationship: Elsa admitted that her and Chris's marriage isn't always easy as she spoke of the importance of not being 'selfish' and making time for each other

She plays a soldier who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched at the United States.

The film also stars Kathy Morgan, Christopher Mapp, Robert Slaviero and ex-Home and Away star Luke Bracey.

Her husband Chris is producing the action film alongside Kathy Morgan, Christopher Mapp, Robert Slaviero and Peter D. Graves.

On Tuesday's episode of The Project, Elsa said her action hero husband didn't spare her when it came to giving advice on her fight scenes.

'He was so bossy!' Elsa said.

Sweet: The actress also gushed over her husband and said that he always helps her with the children, saying she admires him for being a 'brilliant father'

'He was just telling me, like, "This is the right angle when you punch". He was just showing me how to do it, what is the right position you have to have,' she went on.

'He has been doing it for a long time. It was great having him. He was supporting me from the beginning, from when he first read the script.

'He said, "You have to do this, it's going to be fun, you will enjoy it, I know how much you like this kind of movie".'

Elsa was then asked by the show's hosts how the pair dealt with professional disagreements on set.

'It's like your marriage, in a way, you work things out. It's different when he's an executive producer, he gives you advice, he supports you. It's easier than when we are married every day,' she said.
Emily Ratajkowski looked effortlessly stylish as she stepped out in Cannes on Thursday

The model, 30, exuded sophistication in a zodiac inspired print midi dress as she enjoyed some down time in the French Riviera.

Emily, who was joined by her husband Sebastian Bear-McClard, looked in great spirits, flashing a smile as she arrived at the Hotel Martinez.

Ultra-chic: Emily Ratajkowski looked effortlessly stylish on Thursday, as she arrived at the Hotel Martinez in Cannes in a zodiac inspired symbol print midi dress

She teamed the fashionable ensemble with some white trainers which went perfectly with the look.

Emily's unique dress included a slit at the side which brought attention to toned legs.

Her brunette locks were parted in the middle and left fall naturally while the beauty appeared fresh-faced on the day.

Meanwhile, her producer husband Sebastian Bear-McClard cut a relaxed figure in a pair of orange joggers and white T-shirt as they arrived at the five star hotel.

Her brunette locks were parted in the middle and left fall naturally while the beauty appeared fresh-faced on the day

Comfy: She teamed the fashionable ensemble with some white trainers which went perfectly with the chic look

It's been a busy couple of days for the couple as they make the most of their time in the sun soaked location.

On Monday Emily looked breathtaking as she attended the Crimes of the Future screening during the Cannes Film Festival.

The beauty debuted a new fringe and showcased her toned frame in a busty semi-sheer lace gown as she posed on the red carpet.

The glittering gown teased a glimpse of the star's cleavage and cinched in at her trim waist with a thick black belt.

Looking good: Sebastian Bear-McClard cut a relaxed figure in a pair of orange joggers and white T-shirt as he arrived at the hotel

The racy sheer gown flashed the star's legs and underwear as she posed, showing off the garment's thigh-split detail.

Her latest appearance in Cannes comes after she recently shared a video of herself wearing men's Y-front underwear in a fun Instagram video, filmed at her New York City home.

The model was seen dancing to Calvin Harris & Disciples' 2015 club banger How Deep Is Your Love for the amusement of her 15-month old son Sylvester.

Emily - who boasts 39.3M social media followers - captioned the playful clip: 'Morning routine.'
Vick Hope flashed her huge engagement ring as she made her first public appearance on Wednesday since it was revealed she's set to wed Calvin Harris.

The Radio 1 DJ, 32, looked in great spirits and couldn't stop beaming as she attended The Podcast Show 2022 at the Business Design Centre in London.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Vick is set to marry music star Calvin, 38, after he proposed to her on his farm in Ibiza.

Happy: Vick Hope flashed her huge engagement ring as she made her first public appearance on Wednesday since it was revealed she's set to wed Calvin Harris

She looked great for the event, flashing her legs in a short leather skirt which she teamed with a pinstripe jacket.

Nice! She was sporting the stunning engagement ring

Vick completed her look with a pair of white converse and accessorised with gold necklaces and hoop earrings.

She wore her long dark tresses in her classic curly style and opted for a very natural makeup look to show off her radiant beauty.

Friends close to the couple, who made their first public appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show on Monday, say they have been an item for five months and are 'smitten' following a whirlwind romance.

Vick, who was beaming as she and the Scottish DJ walked around the London show together, has been wearing her diamond engagement ring for weeks after Calvin popped the question underneath a tree at his Ibiza farm, Terra Masia.

A source told MailOnline: 'Calvin and Vick's relationship has moved quickly but they're smitten with each other.

'They could not be happier and are already planning their wedding, which is set to take place in Ibiza, where they grew close during Vick's secret visits to the White Isle.

Romance: The Radio 1 DJ, 32, looked in great spirits and couldn't stop beaming as she attended The Podcast Show 2022 at the Business Design Centre in London

'After keeping their relationship private, they decided to go public at the Chelsea Flower Show on Monday, they want everyone to now know their happy news.'

In April, Vick shared a photo of a tree at Calvin's 138-acre farm, Terra Masia.

Calvin had previously posted the same tree, where he later proposed to Vick, on his own Instagram account.

Vick also teased an image of the couple on the beach in Ibiza by posting a picture of her feet alongside a man's foot believed to be Calvin's.

Whirlwind romance: The new couple made their first public appearance at Chelsea Flower Show on Monday (above)

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Vick and Calvin, who both declined to comment.

A source added to The Sun: 'Vick has been telling people they are going to get married in Ibiza. It's a really special place for them both now and where they want to spend their lives together.

'Vick's mum is helping her to plan the wedding and they're already putting together mood boards and plans.

'It was a shock for some people because it happened so quickly but it is obvious how happy they make each other.'

Style: She looked great for the event, flashing her legs in a short leather skirt which she teamed with a pinstripe jacket

Calvin has liked every one of Vick's Instagram pictures since January, when he showed his admiration for her bikini photos taken in Mexico.

Vick's romance with Calvin hasn't gone unnoticed by her Radio 1 co-star Jordan North, 32, who regularly teases her about their closeness live on their show.

Sparkler: The sparkling jewellery caught the eye

Calvin first pursued former Strictly star Vick, who appeared on the BBC series in 2018, ten years ago.



She revealed during her days co-hosting the Capital FM Breakfast Show in 2018 that Calvin had asked her out when she was 19 but she turned him down because she was unimpressed with his looks.

However, since his A-list makeover, which even led to an Emporio Armani underwear shoot, she admitted to regretting the decision, comparing his new look to an 'Adonis.'

Breakfast host, Roman Kemp, 29, revealed: 'Calvin Harris asked Vick out on a date when he did Acceptable in the 80s.'

Vick replied: 'He looked how he used to look, I was shallow, I was 19, and I said no and I went off with either Scouting for Girls, or The Wombats, I don't which, I thought they were going to be bigger but no, it turns out Calvin Harris was going to turn into an Adonis.'

Secret trip: Former Strictly star Vick flew out to see Calvin's 138-acre farm in Ibiza last month (pictured in January)

Stars: Also at The Podcast Show were Luisa Zissman (left) and Anna Williamson who looked happy

Stylish: Edith Bowman looked typically chic in a pink slouchy suit and white T-shirt for the event

Pose: Emily Maitlis opted for a casual look as she beamed for the cameras at the star-studded event

Stunning: Jenni Falconer showed off her great sense of style in a black jumpsuit and green heels

The look: Anna Williamson (right) looked gorgeous in a green printed dress which she teamed with white boots

Calvin reportedly split from model girlfriend Aarika Wolf in March while Vick has been publicly single since breaking up from boyfriend of four years, Tom Rosenthal.

The multi-millionaire DJ has previously dated pop stars Rita Ora, 31, Taylor Swift, 32, and Ellie Goulding, 35.

After selling his two multi-million-pound mansions in Los Angeles two years ago, Calvin snapped up a 138-acre farm called Terra Masia in Ibiza, where he now resides.

This summer, Calvin will be taking up residence at iconic Ibiza club Ushuaia, where he will be playing 14 nights from June 3 to September 2.

Suave: Jay Rayner looked dapper in a blue jacket and light blue jeans for the event
Tia Carrere attended the 47th Annual Gracie Awards Gala in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening.

The 55-year-old actress made quite the impression while walking the carpet of the star-studded event.

The Wayne's World star showed off her slender figure in a show-stopping silver gown that had one sleeve as she wore her hair up.

Showing up: Tia Carrere attended the 47th Annual Gracie Awards Gala in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening

Her big film: With, from left, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey and Donna Dixon in Wayne's World

Carrere wore a shining single-sleeve silver dress that had a mermaid finish.

The Relic Hunter star added a bit of extra glam to her look for the evening with a patterned clutch.

Her gorgeous dark brunette locks were partially tied into a bun that sat on top of her head, while two lengthy strands fell onto the opposite sides of her face.

She also shared a behind-the-scenes selfie to her Instagram account on Tuesday to give her fans a look into her preparation process for the event.

Making an impression: Carrere wore a shining single-sleeve silver dress that obscured much of her shapely form during her time at the event

Letting everyone see: She also shared a behind-the-scenes selfie to her Instagram account on Tuesday to give her fans a look into her preparation process for the event

On screen: Carrere is well known for portraying Cassandra Wong in Wayne's World and its sequel, which was released in 1993

Carrere is currently prepping for the release of the forthcoming comedy feature Easter Sunday, in which she will play Tia Theresa.

The Jay Chandrasekhar-directed film will be centered on a struggling comedian who takes his son to his dysfunctional family's gathering in the Bay Area on the holiday of the same name.

The movie will star Jo Koy and feature performances from figures such as Jimmy O. Yang, Tiffany Haddish and Eva Noblezada.

Lou Diamond Phillips is currently set to portray a fictionalized version of himself in the upcoming film.

On screen: Carrere is currently prepping for the release of the forthcoming comedy feature Easter Sunday, in which she will play Tia Theresa

Storyline: The Jay Chandrasekhar-directed film will be centered on a struggling comedian who takes his son to his dysfunctional family's gathering in the Bay Area on the holiday of the same name

Physical production on the project began in Vancouver in the spring of last year.

Sharon Cuneta was supposed to fill the role of Tia Theresa, although she tested positive for COVID-19 and the part was instead given to Carrere.

The movie's official trailer was released to the public on Universal Pictures' official YouTube account earlier this month.

Easter Sunday is currently set to be released on August 5 after having its release date pushed back from April 1.

Coming soon: Easter Sunday is currently set to be released on August 5 after having its release date pushed back from April 1

Carrere's most recent appearance in a film was as Ms. Cherry Bomb in the 2017 feature Palm Swings.

The feature was centered on a young couple whose marriage is tested when they learn that their neighbors are swingers.

The comedy movie currently holds a 44% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The actress also portrayed Cherry Bomb in the 2015 short making-of documentary Behind Palm Swings.
Will Smith was absent from an event promoting his new show Bel-Air as he continues to maintain a low-profile following his shocking slap at the Oscars.

Despite starring in the original series and serving as an executive producer on the new reboot, Smith, 53, was not pictured on the red carpet of the NBCU FYC House 'Bel Air' event Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Stars Adrian Holmes, Jimmy Akingbola, Cassandra Freeman, Akira Akbar, Jabari Banks and Coco Jones were all pictured supporting their new show on the red carpet instead.

Where's Will? Will Smith was absent from an event promoting his new show Bel-Air as he continues to maintain a low-profile following his shocking slap at the Oscars

Smith developed the new Bel-Air series with Morgan Cooper, whose fan film Bel-Air went viral in March 2019 and lead to the new series, which debuted February 13 on Peacock.

Bel-Air is based on the original series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, set in modern-day America and offering 'a new, dramatic take on Will's complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air.'

Banks stars as the new Will, who gets uprooted from the inner city and flown across the country to stay with his aunt Vivian (Freeman) and uncle Phil (Holmes) in Bel-Air.

The cast also includes Olly Sholotan as Carlton Banks, Jones as Hilary Banks, Akbar as Ashley Banks, Akingbola as Geoffrey and Jordan L. Jones as Jazz.

Showing their support: Stars Adrian Holmes, Jimmy Akingbola, Cassandra Freeman, Akira Akbar, Jabari Banks and Coco Jones were all pictured at the NBCU FYC House 'Bel-Air' event Tuesday in Los Anggeles

Reboot: Smith developed the new Bel-Air series with Morgan Cooper, whose fan film Bel-Air went viral in March 2019 and lead to the new series, which debuted February 13 on Peacock

All together now! Freeman, Akbar, and Jones shared the spotlight

Star power: Smith pictured attending the Bel-Air premiere back in February 2022, before the Oscars controversy

Smith did attend the premiere back in February with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and son Jaden.

The actor landed in the center of controversy after he slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards in March, after the comedian cracked a joke about Jada's shaved head. The Matrix Revolutions star suffers from alopecia which causes hair loss.

After the slap, Smith managed to ride out the night and won his first Academy Award for his starring role in King Richard, but he soon faced consequences within the Academy.

Showing their support: Smith attended the premiere with his son Jaden and wife Jada Pinkett Smith

Shocking moment: Smith slapped Chris Rock after the comedian cracked a joke about his wife Jada

The actor resigned from the body, meaning that he will no longer be able to vote for awards, and he was subsequently banned from all Academy events for a decade, which means he won't be able to attend the ceremony in that period, though he can still be nominated or win an award.

The star also issued an apology to Rock on social media after the incident.

Smith has kept a low-profile following the incident, though he traveled to Mumbai, India, last month to focus on spirituality, yoga and meditation, People reported.

During an interview on David Letterman's My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, which was taped prior to the Oscars, Smith revealed he hallucinated a vision of himself losing his career and fortune while on ayahuasca.

Watch the new series Bel-Air only on Stan in Australia.
Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead seemed to be enjoying married life as they stepped out for a stroll in New York just one month after their wedding.

The actor, 51, and his new wife, 37, proved they were quite the stylish pair as they headed out in the city's Soho area on Tuesday.

Ewan cut a dapper figure in white jeans and a T-shirt, which he wore underneath a smart black jacket for the outing.

Smitten: Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead seemed to be enjoying married life as they stepped out for a stroll in New York just one month after their wedding

He completed his suave look with a pair of dark boots and slung a black bag across his shoulder, while he sported a silver watch on his left wrist.

His American actress wife, 37, showcased her eye for style in a vibrant orange kimono-style coat with floral patterns.

The Scott Pilgrim vs. the World star teamed the chic look with a basic black shirt, dark wide leg trousers and a pair of black boots.

She carried her essentials in a black leather duffle bag and a white tote bag as she headed out behind her new husband.

Couple: The actor, 51, and his new wife, 37, proved they were quite the stylish pair as they stepped out in the city's Soho area on Tuesday

Her gorgeous brunette hair was cut short and fell towards her shoulders as she showed off her flawless skin wearing a light dusting of make-up.

While Mary went without a face covering on the day, her husband Ewan kept himself protected amid New York's high Covid-19 community levels.

The happy couple have been romantically involved ever since 2017, when they met while working on the third season of the crime drama series Fargo.

The outing comes after sources told People that Ewan and Mary exchanged vows at the end of last month in front of 'close friends and family'.

An insider told the publication: 'It was a small wedding for family and close friends. They had an outdoor ceremony. It was lovely and joyful.'

Looking good: Ewan cut a dapper figure in white jeans and a T-shirt, which he wore underneath a smart black jacket for the outing

'The menu was farm-to-table. They are an adorable couple. They are pretty low-key and like their canyon life. They often hike and go to the beach,' the source added.

A source told Page Six: 'They are more in love than ever  and having their first child together last year just strengthened their bond.'

Ahead of their big day, the pair's eco-canyon hideaway was spotted being prepared for their big day, with the couple covering their pool with chairs for 60 guests, indicating an intimate affair.

Trucks and other vehicles could be seen in the driveway while workmen were pictured carrying tables to the property.

A number of other tables were seen dotted around, while strings of fairy lights are hung up and outdoor heaters set up, suggesting the couple opted for an outdoor reception with celebrations heading into the night.

Romance: The happy couple have been romantically involved ever since 2017, when they met while working on the third season of the crime drama series Fargo

Ewan shares daughters Clara, 26, Esther, 21, and Anouk, 11, with ex-wife Eve. They split in 2017 after 22 years of marriage and their divorce was finalised in August 2020.

The couple, who met on the set of the TV crime drama Kavanagh QC, first confirmed their split in 2017 amid claims Ewan had been seen kissing Mary in a London restaurant.

In 2020, Mary discussed her romance with Ewan after her own first marriage ended, telling Glamour UK: 'I got divorced a couple of years ago, which was a scary, crazy thing for me because I had been with the same person since I was 18 years old, and that was what I knew.

'I was really starting new as an adult for the first time in my life. For me that was a big turning point, being okay with changing, accepting that change is a good thing and that it's okay not to know where that change is going to take you.'

Husband and wife! The outing comes after sources told People that Ewan and Mary (pictured in March) exchanged vows last month in front of 'close friends and family'

Eve was pictured without her wedding ring at around the same time.

The Star Wars actor  who blamed 'irreconcilable differences' for the split  then began dating Mary. The couple welcomed their son Laurie into the world in June.

In September, Ewan also paid tribute to Mary during his acceptance speech at the Emmy Awards, saying: 'Mary, I love you so much. I'm gonna take this home and show it to our new little boy, Laurie.

'And to my beautiful girls, who I know are watching, Clara, Esther, Jamyan and Anouk, hello to you too. Thank you very much everybody.'

The couple, who never revealed they were expecting, had their baby news announced by Ewan's daughter Clara on Instagram.
Gail Porter has opened up about her 'horrible' experience in a psychiatric unit, claiming that doctors 'didn't know what to do with me.'

In 2011, the former model was sectioned after suffering a monumental nervous breakdown - the same day she sent a text message to her boyfriend that read: 'I can't carry on. I feel suicidal.'

Speaking on Wednesday's Loose Women, the honest presenter, 51, admitted her 2020 BAFTA-winning documentary, Being Gail Porter, which centred on her mental health struggles, was 'difficult' to make because she 'doesn't really like to face it.'

'When I was sectioned, they just didn't know what to do with me': Gail Porter claimed she 'never saw a doctor' but they 'had her on watch' during her time in a psychiatric unit

She told the panel, comprising of Jane Moore, Coleen Nolan, Linda Robson and Gloria Hunniford: 'When I was sectioned, they just didn't know what to do with me. Because I was so depressed, they medicated me in the morning and evening. I was there for about 14 or 15 days and never saw a doctor once while I was there until I left.

'They had me on watch, it was horrible. There was a lady talking to god down the toilet  it was very scary.'

In another moving moment during the interview, proud mum Gail said she 'owes' her life to her 19-year-old daughter Honey, who she shares with ex-husband, Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave.

Ordeal: In 2011, the former model was sectioned after suffering a monumental nervous breakdown - the same day she sent a text message to her boyfriend that read: 'I can't carry on. I feel suicidal'

Opening up: Speaking on Wednesday's Loose Women, the honest presenter, 51, admitted her 2020 BAFTA-winning documentary, Being Gail Porter was 'difficult' to make because she 'doesn't really like to face [her mental health struggles]'

The star's personal troubles - which have included a battle with the eating disorder anorexia, post-natal depression, being diagnosed bipolar, an acrimonious divorce from her musician husband in 2004 and being left bald by the hair loss condition alopecia  have been well-documented in the past.

2011's ordeal resulted in Gail being bundled into the back of a police van and taken to a psychiatric unit where she would be sectioned and forcibly held for nearly a month.

After being taken to the Royal Free Hospital in North London, Gail's mental welfare was deemed so unstable she was placed under a 28-day section order which forced her to remain as an in-patient at the Grove Clinic, alongside paranoid schizophrenics and violent patients on suicide watch.

Been through it: The star's personal troubles - which have included a battle with the eating disorder anorexia, post-natal depression, being diagnosed bipolar, and being left bald by the hair loss condition alopecia  have been well-documented in the past

Parent: Proud mum Gail said she 'owes' her life to her 19-year-old daughter Honey, who she shares with ex-husband, Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave (the family pictured together in 2004)

On May 17 2011, three weeks into her sectioning, Gail was told she would be allowed to go home after a third doctor assessed her and decided she could continue her treatment as a day patient at the Tavistock Centre, her local mental health centre.

This she did until the end of July when she felt her condition hadn't improved enough and she decided to fly to Thailand for a two-week rehabilitation programme at the Chiang Mai clinic.

The clinic, which specialises in the treatment of addiction, offers counselling for 27 patients at a time and is set inside a luxury resort.

Gail said it was the process there that allowed her to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

On her return to the UK at the time, she said she felt better than at any period over those last two years. 'The treatment was focused on talking through our problems and looking towards the future. There was exercise every day and a programme of activities,' Gail said.

To contact the Samaritans, call 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or click here.
Joan Smalls showed off her sculpted form in a duo of photos that were shared to her Instagram account on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old supermodel was seen standing on the back of one of her friends while they spent time on the deck of a boat that had been sailing through calm waters.

The fashion industry personality also posted a selfie along with the rest of her set, and she wrote a short message that read: 'Try to capture the fantasy.'

Standing out: Joan Smalls showed off her sculpted form in a duo of photos that were shared to her Instagram account on Tuesday

Hot stuff! The 33-year-old supermodel was seen standing on the back of one of her friends while they spent time on the deck of a boat that had been sailing through pleasantly calm waters

Smalls wore a bright pink ALT Swim bikini top that showed off her toned arms and midsection during her time on the water.

The supermodel also wore a matching bottom that gave her nearly 5 million followers a look at her curvy hips and thighs.

The Puerto Rican native accessorized with a patterned bucket hat, several articles of jewelry and a stylish set of sunglasses.

Her beautiful dark red locks remained free-flowing as she enjoyed her mini-vacation.

Smalls entered the fashion industry at an early age and signed with a modeling agency in 2009.

Her look: The fashion industry personality also posted a selfie along with the rest of her set, and she wrote a short message that read: 'Try to capture the fantasy'

On record: Smalls wore a bright pink ALT Swim bikini top that showed off her toned arms and midsection during her time on the water

Stylish hat: The supermodel also wore a matching bottom that gave her nearly 5 million followers a look at her curvy hips and thighs

She has since been featured in promotional campaigns for brands such as Gucci, Moschino and Prada, among many others.

The influencer notably made appearances in several of the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows, with her most recent one being in 2016.

Smalls spoke about embarking on a career as a model during an interview with Vogue Italy, where she expressed that she had to change her professional mindset early on.

Taking in the beauty of the coastline: She also shared an image of the rocky shore

'It's hard working in an industry where you get nitpicked simply because of how you look, and you're seen as a product, so you have to detach yourself because that's where low self esteem can come in,' she said.

The model noted that she made a point of looking through her work agreements for every assignment.

'I truly saw it as a business and always made sure that I read my contracts...I'm no lawyer, but you should become comfortable with the language even if you don't know it,' she said.

Making it clear: The fashion industry personality then remarked that she wanted to show her support for other women who chose to go through IVF processes

Smalls then spoke about her decision to freeze her eggs, and noted that she noticed a trend with her contemporaries in starting families.

She stated: 'Year after year I started to think "wow I'm not ready to be a mother," and I was seeing my friends become mothers and their career paths changed.'

The fashion industry personality then remarked that she wanted to show her support for other women who chose to go through IVF processes.

'Women are becoming more open but it's still stigmatized and it's a taboo we need to talk about...yet so many of us are going through it that we need each other's support and encouragement,' she said.
Coco Austin has struck back at critics blasting her for pushing her six-year-old daughter Chanel in a stroller.

'This stroller thing trending right now about me using a stroller to push Chanel around is ridiculous! Isnt there a war & mass shootings going as we speak & you'd rather mess with my mothering? SMH,' Austin, 43, tweeted on Tuesday.

Multiple fans rushed to her defense in the comments section and were sympathetic of her decision to use a stroller.

'SMH': Coco Austin struck back at critics blasting her for pushing her six-year-old daughter Chanel in a stroller

'Why does it matter to them smh. And screw that as long as they can still fit why not? Kids get tired one and two safer in larger crowds!! As long as Chanel is fine and willing and still fits and it works for you and Ice thats all that matters!! Its ridiculous!' one person tweeted.

'Id much rather the safety of my kid(s) than to care what others have to say!! Whats the difference between this and those leashes people use. Plus you have people coming up to you all the time. And kids get tired they dont want to walk and fall asleep. Not that it matters why!' the tweeter added.

'So you push your little one in a stroller, their little legs get tired and it's alot easier than carrying them on your hip. They don't get up set or cry to go when your not ready. Haters are gonna hate. Who gives a damn what others think, she is yours do as you d*mn please,' another one posted.

'There are definitely more serious issues out there you and Ice Are great parents you all keep doing you. Chanel is her own person if she's tired & over it that's just her. People need to get over themselves and quit putting their mean comments out there. She a well adjusted child,' chimed in one Twitter user.

Hitting back: Austin reacted to the uproar in a tweet posted Tuesday afternoon

Multiple fans rushed to her defense in the comments section and were sympathetic of her decision to use a stroller

'The comments are ridiculous, 6 year olds still get tired. I just pushed my almost six year old for 3 days in Disney. There were 1000s of kids older than six getting carted around. This world we live in is backwards of what we should care about,' said another fan.

The drama all started Sunday after Coco posted a photo of her and husband Ice T out with their daughter, who was sitting in her carriage.

'A stroll through the @atlantisbahamas shops...Chanel is so over it unless theres something cool to see.. Her face transitions instantly,' Coco wrote in the caption of her Instagram post.

On vacation: The Swimsuit Illustrated cover star also included a snap in which she and her little girl smiled as they stood in front of Dale Chihuly's Crystal Gate sculpture at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas

The family of three were dressed in colorful resort wear as they posed for the mirror selfie.

The Swimsuit Illustrated cover star also included a snap in which she and her little girl smiled as they stood in front of Dale Chihuly's Crystal Gate sculpture.

The trio were vacationing at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

Coco's post was quickly flooded with critical comments as numerous social media users questioned why Chanel was still being pushed in a stroller at the age of six.

'Isnt she like 6 yrs old! Should she be out of a stroller by now?!' one commenter wrote while another user remarked, 'She looks like shes over being in a baby stroller.'

'I love you coco but .. a stroller,' wrote a fan.

Critical: 'A stroll through the @atlantisbahamas shops...Chanel is so over it unless theres something cool to see.. Her face transitions instantly,' Coco wrote in the caption of her Instagram post

Questions: Coco's post was quickly flooded with critical comments as numerous social media users questioned why Chanel was still being pushed in a stroller at the age of six

Another commenter joked, 'Guys shes only 78 months old. Lets not get crazy,' while one user chimed in, 'A stroller really? Let that girl grow up.'

However, some fans rushed to defend the mother of Ice Loves Coco star, with one follower writing, 'For the people b*****g about the carriage, it is much easier to push a child in a stroller than to carry them around when they get tired.

'Especially when they are her age, it is harder to carry them alllll over the place. She is not having a melt down because she is too tired & that is a very good thing.'

Defenders: However, some fans rushed to defend the mother of Ice Loves Coco star

No big deal: 'Why are people complaining about the stroller? You going to pick her up when she gets tired? Its not like she has a bottle and a pacifier. Relax,' one fan wrote

Another defender asked, 'Why are people complaining about the stroller? You going to pick her up when she gets tired? Its not like she has a bottle and a pacifier. Relax.'

'My son is almost 6 and we go certain places where I wish I brought a wagon or stroller for him. These people are f*****g haters for no reason,' added one follower.

For her part, Coco seemed unfazed by the online attacks as she shared a bikini selfie to her Instagram page the next day.

The television personality was covered with tanning oil as she posed in hot pink thong bikini.

Her dyed pink locks were slicked back from her forehead and she rocked a pair of mirrored sunglasses as she laid on her stomach on a lounge chair.

In the caption, Coco added a series of emojis including a cocktail, a palm tree, a tropical fish and a flamingo.

The Peepshow performer identified Chanel as the photographer, tagging her daughter's Instagram account next to a camera emoji.
The 75th Cannes Film Festival returned to the French Riviera last week, attracting a host of celebrities from around the globe.

And Andie MacDowell, 64, looked effortlessly chic as she slipped into a royal blue midi dress and oversized sunglasses departed the festivities on Wednesday.

The Tarzan actress was beaming as she arrived at Nice Airport after a fun-filled week at the most important festival in the film industry.

Elegant: Andie MacDowell, 64, looked effortlessly chic in a royal blue midi dress and oversized sunglasses as she departed Cannes Film Festival via Nice Airport on Wednesday

Andie carried a cream leather tote bag and a large flask of hot drink as she got her caffeine fix ahead of her travels.

She opted for a comfortable yet stylish pair of mustard coloured flat with a pointed toe and gold buckle.

Her grey locks were styled in stunning natural curls with plenty of volume as she sported a very subtle cheek highlight and pink lipstick.

Glowing: Her grey locks were styled in stunning natural curls with plenty of volume as she sported a very subtle cheek highlight and pink lipstick

Andie outing comes as she recalled a 'kind of crazy experience' that happened to her after the 2016 presidential election.

During an interview with Marie Claire she shared that she arrived to set 'right after Trump got elected' in 2016 and was 'really disturbed that nobody seemed to care about the vagina[-grabbing] comment.'

The St Elmo's Fire star added: 'I had gotten really sad. I went to do a job, a day's work, and I had my very first panic attack. I was getting ready to shoot something, and I turn around and it's, like, a roomful of men. Like, a sea of men.'

Sophisticated: She opted for a comfortable yet stylish pair of mustard coloured flat with a pointed toe and gold buckle

She continued: 'It flashed on something that was personal for me. And I dropped to my knees. I left the room, and went into this fake bathroom... and looked at myself in the mirror and said, "Get your s**t together."'

The Golden Globe Award winner admitted it 'freaked' her out 'not seeing any other women.'

Despite clarifying she does not 'have anything against men,' the mother-of-three said she just doesn't 'like big groups of them.'

'Since then, I've become very conscious of looking around and finding the women on set. For comfort,' the Maid star divulged.

Headed home: Andie carried a cream leather tote bag and a large flask of hot drink as she got her caffeine fix ready for her travels

MacDowell was nodding to former President Donald Trump's infamous 'grab them by the p***y' comment during a 2005 conversation caught on a hot microphone, in which he vulgarly gloated about groping and trying to have sex with women as a public figure. The clip went viral in October, 2016.

Following the rise of the #MeToo movement, an international campaign which sought to hold powerful men accountable for incidents of sexual assault, the performer stated 'there are a lot more women' on set.

When asked about working alongside some 'famously difficult actors' by the magazine, the former model joked she is 'really good with difficult men.'

'I have worked with so many difficult men!' confirmed the South Carolina native, whose mom was a music teacher and dad a lumber executive. 'I have great training, because I grew up in the South.'
Winnie Harlow looked nothing short of sensational as she hit the red carpet at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.

The model, 27, cut an elegant figure in a pale pink strapless gown which featured a full skirt as she attended the premiere of Elvis.

The beauty wasn't afraid to stand out from the crowd as she twirled in the eye catching number revealing a large petticoat.

Elegant: Winnie Harlow looked nothing short of sensational as she hit the red carpet at the 75th Cannes Film Festival

Winnie showcased her incredible modelling skills as she hit several poses for cameras.

Turning up the heat, the star opted for several dazzling pieces of jewelry including a pair of drop earrings, a necklaces and bangle.

Winnie styled her dark tresses from a side parting in stunning curls as they cascaded down her back.

Stunning: The model, 27, cut an elegant figure in a pale pink strapless gown which featured a full skirt as she attended the premiere of Elvis

Sensational: The beauty wasn't afraid to stand out from the crowd as she twirled in the eye catching number revealing a large petticoat

She seemed in high spirits at the premiere as she posed up a storm in a glamorous palette of makeup.

The film stars Austin and Tom Hanks, who plays his infamous manager Colonel Tom Parker.

There's a lot of excitement around the Elvis Presley biopic from Australia's Baz Luhrmann, who is hoping to recreate the buzz he generated when he brought the can-can to Cannes with Moulin Rouge! 20 years ago.

Glam: Winnie showcased her incredible modelling skills as she striked several poses for cameras

Incredible: Turning up the heat, the star opted for several dazzling pieces of jewelry including a pair of drop earrings, a necklaces and bangle

Fashionista: Winnie styled her dark tresses from a side parting in stunning curls as they cascaded down her back

The film chronicles the life and career of Elvis from his early days as a child growing up in Mississippi to his ascent as a rock and roll icon and movie star, along with his complex relationship with his manager.

Luhrmann served as the film's director and co-screenwriter, along with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Donner, from a story he conceived with Donner.

Elvis - who sold over 1B records - received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018 and he's been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.

Chic: She seemed in high spirits at the premiere as she posed up a storm in a glamorous palette of makeup

Elvis died, age 42, in 1977 from cardiac arrhythmia due to a toxic reaction to codeine.

Austin recently noted that he 'lost touch' with his own personality while playing the eponymous character.

He told GQ Magazine: 'You can lose touch with who you actually are, and I definitely had that when I finished Elvis  not knowing who I was.'

As well as the mental impact of playing Elvis, Austin also revealed he was bedridden for a week after falling unwell one day after wrapping up the filming in March 2021.

Austin said he was diagnosed with a virus that simulates appendicitis and said it was like his body shut down straight after filming.

He said: 'I woke up at four in the morning with excruciating pain, and I was rushed to hospital.'

Exciting: The film stars Austin and Tom Hanks, who plays his infamous manager Colonel Tom Parker

Radiant: Winnie beamed as she made her way up the stairs on the red carpet carrying her large gown

Drink break: Winnie enjoyed a Campari cocktail in the Campari Lounge, inside the Palais de Festival after walking the red carpet
Justin Long and Kate Bosworth went Instagram official on Tuesday.

In their first social media snap together, the 43-year-old actor and his girlfriend, 39, were seen sharing a pint of Guinness and smiling after catching a bit of foam on their lips while they enjoyed a romantic getaway in Ireland.

Justin shared the pictures on his account and Kate left a note in the comment section that read: 'I'm the luckiest.'

Instagram official! Justin Long posted a snap with his new girlfriend Kate Bosworth on Tuesday

Long kept it casual in a striped sweater worn underneath a black jacket during the outing.

Bosworth also stayed comfortable during the outing while wearing a white t-shirt underneath a black sweater.

The actress accessorized with several gold necklaces and her beautiful blonde locks were tied back into a tight bun.

The pair's mutual friend, Eiza Gonzalez, also left a message in the comments section that read 'I live for this duo,' and Bosworth responded by leaving several emojis directed at her pal.

Making the most of it: In the shot, the 43-year-old actor and his girlfriend, 39, were seen sharing a pint of Guinness and smiling after catching a bit of foam on their lips while they enjoyed a romantic getaway in Ireland

Happy: The latter left a sweet message in the post's comments section that read: 'I'm the luckiest'

Long and his now-girlfriend initially met while working on the Arkansas set of an unreleased movie in 2021.

The actor was previously romantically linked to figures such as Drew Barrymore and Amanda Seyfried.

Bosworth was formerly in a relationship with Orlando Bloom, although they split up in 2005.

The actress later married director Michael Polish after they met while working on the 2013 feature Big Sur, and she gained a stepdaughter named Jasper from the marriage.

Starting off strong: Long and his now-girlfriend initially met while working on the Arkansas set of an unreleased movie in 2021

However, the two split up in August of 2021, and the performer was spotted with Long later that year.

Long confirmed that he was dating someone that December, although he did not offer any specifics about the identity of his partner.

It was officially revealed that he was romantically involved with Bosworth that same month.

The actor spoke about finding love during an episode of The Viall Files, where he noted that he had come to a good place in his life just before meeting his now-girlfriend.

Staying quiet: Long confirmed that he was dating someone that December, although he did not offer any specifics about the identity of his partner

'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 said.

Although he did not specifically name Bosworth, he stated: 'And the one I had met I had found.'

Long then noted that, although he was excited about dating his girlfriend, he did want to maintain a level of privacy.

'It's weird. I want to, 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,' he said.
Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks chatted with Elvis Presley's ex-wife Priscilla Presley at the world premiere of Elvis during the 75th Cannes Film Festival in France on Wednesday.

The Elvis Presley Enterprises co-founder - who celebrated her 77th birthday on Tuesday - held on to the 65-year-old acting legend's arm as she whispered something in his ear.

Tom wore prosthetics to more authentically portray Colonel Tom Parker - The King's lifelong sole representative - in Baz Luhrmann's 157-minute biopic, which hits UK/US theaters June 24 before streaming in August on HBO Max.

Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks chatted with Elvis Presley's ex-wife Priscilla Presley at the world premiere of Elvis during the 75th Cannes Film Festival in France on Wednesday

Guest of honor! The Elvis Presley Enterprises co-founder - who celebrated her 77th birthday on Tuesday - held on to the 65-year-old acting legend's arm as she whispered something in his ear

The Dutch-born manager (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk) steered the professional and personal life of the hip-shaking sex symbol - including his first recording contract, film deal, and merchandising.

Colonel Tom Parker - who died age 87 in 1997 - also reportedly suffered from a gambling problem, took a 25% cut of Elvis' earnings, and kept him from performing overseas due to his own illegal status in the States.

'I was expecting to hear stories about the distrust [Priscilla] had for Colonel Tom Parker over these many years,' Hanks said on The Late Show in 2020.

'And she said, "No. He was a wonderful man, and I wish he was alive today. He took really great care of us." He was a scoundrel in his way.'

'Without me there'd be no Elvis Presley': Tom wore prosthetics to more authentically portray Colonel Tom Parker - The King's lifelong sole representative - in Baz Luhrmann's 157-minute biopic, which hits UK/US theaters June 24 before streaming in August on HBO Max

Mastermind: The Dutch-born manager (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk) steered the professional and personal life of the hip-shaking sex symbol - including his first recording contract, film deal, and merchandising

Died age 87 in 1997: Colonel Tom Parker also reportedly suffered from a gambling problem, took a 25% cut of Elvis' earnings, and kept him from performing overseas due to his own illegal status in the States (pictured in 1963)

Hanks said on The Late Show in 2020: 'I was expecting to hear stories about the distrust [Priscilla] had for Colonel Tom Parker over these many years. And she said, "No. He was a wonderful man, and I wish he was alive today. He took really great care of us"'

The NoCal native previously portrayed real-life, historical figures in Apollo 13, Captain Phillips, Saving Mr. Banks, Sully, The Post, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and Greyhound.

Tom opted for an all-black tuxedo to wear on the red carpet outside the Palais des Festivals in the French Riviera.

Hanks' silver hair was cut very short for the film festivities as, on May 8, he wrapped the titular role in Marc Forster's dramedy A Man Called Otto, which he also produced.

The French Legion of Honor winner also rocked an expensive-looking pair of sunglasses as he made his way through the throng of film fans, reporters, and photographers.

Biopic king! The NoCal native previously portrayed real-life, historical figures in Apollo 13, Captain Phillips, Saving Mr. Banks, Sully, The Post, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and Greyhound

Man in black: Tom opted for an all-black tuxedo to wear on the red carpet outside the Palais des Festivals in the French Riviera

Crew cut: Hanks' silver hair was cut very short for the film festivities as, on May 8, he wrapped the titular role in Marc Forster's dramedy A Man Called Otto, which he also produced

Shades: The French Legion of Honor winner also rocked an expensive-looking pair of sunglasses as he made his way through the throng of film fans, reporters, and photographers

Tom and Presley later posed with the entire Elvis clan - actress Olivia DeJonge, Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special director Steve Binder, actor Austin Butler, director Baz Luhrmann, actor Alton Mason, actress Natasha Bassett, and producer Patrick McCormick.

Hanks could be seen kissing the 59-year-old filmmaker's wife Catherine Martin - who served as producer, costume designer, production co-designer, and titles concept designer on Elvis.

The Finch actor shook hands with IMG Model Alton Mason, who made his acting debut portraying the late great trailblazer Little Richard in Elvis.

Tom shared a laugh with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor Austin Butler, who stars as none other than Elvis Presley.

Group shot! Tom and Presley later posed with the entire Elvis clan (from L-R) - Olivia DeJonge, Steve Binder, Austin Butler, Baz Luhrmann, Alton Mason, Natasha Bassett, and Patrick McCormick

Bird's eye view: There's truly nothing else quite like the Cannes Film Festival

Multi-talented: Hanks could be seen kissing Baz's wife Catherine Martin - who served as producer, costume designer, production co-designer, and titles concept designer on Elvis

Newcomer: The Finch actor shook hands with IMG Model Alton Mason, who made his acting debut portraying the late great trailblazer Little Richard in Elvis

Breakout performance! Tom shared a laugh with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor Austin Butler, who stars as none other than Elvis Presley

Hanks also managed to make Cannes Film Festival president Pierre Lescure transform his serious expression into a wide smile.

The 76-year-old Frenchman looked on amused as the seven-time Emmy winner whipped out his iPhone and began filming.

Tom wasn't FaceTiming anyone, but rather filming a selfie video.

The red carpet ceremony appeared to be taking longer than Hanks preferred as he mugged for the cameras while desperately pointing to the two watches he was wearing on his left wrist.

Wisecracking: Hanks also managed to make Cannes Film Festival president Pierre Lescure transform his serious expression into a wide smile

Action! The 76-year-old Frenchman looked on amused as the seven-time Emmy winner whipped out his iPhone and began filming

Smile! Tom wasn't FaceTiming anyone, but rather filming a selfie video
Elvis (12A)

Rating:

Blue suede shoes trod the red nylon carpet last night as an enthusiastic audience at the Cannes Film Festival arrived to see the premiere of Baz Luhrmann's keenly awaited biopic Elvis.

The film stars former Disney Channel favourite Austin Butler in the exalted title role, as the King of Rock 'n' Roll, with Tom Hanks as his overbearing manager Colonel Tom Parker.

It is rare to find Hanks playing a character practically without virtue, so it perhaps helps that he is prosthetised almost beyond recognition beneath a fat suit, sporting acres of wobbly jowls and an elongated nose, like a corpulent version of the sinister Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

At any rate, Hanks really does appear to have left the building.

A new biopic about Elvis Presley's life, called Elvis, premiered at Cannes film festival and will be released towards the end of next month

Tom Hanks looks barely recognisable in the film wearing a fat suit while sat across from Austin playing Elvis

Brian Viner says that Austin Butler gives a 'genuine virtuoso performance' as Elvis

Austin Butler attended the screening of 'Elvis' at the 75th annual Cannes film festival alongside Priscilla Presley

Kaia Gerber, Austin's girlfriend, attended the film premiere in a stunning red dress to support her partner

Those unaware that Colonel Tom was actually born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk in the southern Netherlands will be bewildered by his accent (which in truth sounds more mittel-European than Dutch), because Parker's background, and his illegal arrival in the United States at the age of 20, is referred to only obliquely.

But then he also acts as the film's narrator, and why would he emphasise his own foreignness?

Instead, he tells us snippily at the start that 'there are some who make me out to be the villain of this here story'.

It's entirely untrue, he adds, that his unrelenting demands helped to finish off his famous protege, who died aged 42 in 1977. 'I didn't kill him,' he says. 'I made Elvis Presley.'

Over two hours and 39 minutes (Luhrmann is not known for his film-making brevity) we get to draw our own conclusions.

And in fairness Parker comes across as a brilliant entrepreneur with a gimlet eye for the main chance.

Sharon Stone attended the screening looking suitably rock and roll with her tinted sunglasses

Kylie Minogue wore a black corset detailed gown and silver choker with green diamonds on the red carpet

As the film tells it, he all but invents the concept of merchandising, and even has 'I Hate Elvis' badges made alongside the 'I Love Elvis' badges  on the basis that not everyone will be a fan, so they might as well make money out of the detractors, too.

But the film's message is really that nobody except Elvis made Elvis, much as he wallows in the influences of black artists such as Big Mama Thornton (Shonka Dukureh), Little Richard (Alton Mason) and BB King (Kelvin Harrison Jnr).

Usefully, even if he looks rather more like the young John Travolta than the young Elvis Presley, Butler gives a genuine virtuoso performance that is far more than an impersonation.

Last week in Cannes it even had the stamp of approval from Riley Keough, who came to unveil her debut directorial feature War Pony, but also happens to be Elvis's granddaughter.

As she and the rest of us are well aware, there are a thousand nightclub Elvises out there who can reproduce the famous lip curl.

Sensibly, Butler doesn't attempt it, swerving away from caricature.

But he has the voice and the moves, and nails the picture's best scene, when in 1954 Elvis gives his first live performance and the girls in the audience begin to swoon.

'It vos,' declares the former fairground huckster Colonel Tom, 'the greatest carnival attraction I'd ever seen'.

Elvis's effect on them was like that of a charismatic young evangelical preacher.

And Luhrmann gives us a glimpse into another of his influences, flashing back to 1947 to show us a wide-eyed kid, in the Mississippi boondocks, watching a Christian revivalist meeting.

Yet the main focus of the film is the 23-year period between the great star's rise to fame and his sad demise, from those early recordings for Sam Phillips (Josh McConville) at Sun Studio in Memphis and moving his beloved mother Gladys (Helen Thomson) into the nearby Graceland mansion (scenes with conspicuous echoes of The Beverly Hillbillies), to making movies, joining the army, meeting Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) and the final, overweight, unhappy Vegas years.

With faint malevolence (and a degenerate gambling habit) Parker orchestrates it all, indeed the segregationist senator Jim Eastland (Nicholas Bell), who wants Presley and his 'lewd gyrations' banned, is by no means the film's primary villain.

It was clever of Luhrmann to tell the story of Elvis through the self-serving eyes of Colonel Tom and cleverer still to cast Hanks.

Moreover, a little like the 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman, if not quite as much as Luhrmann's own Moulin Rouge! (2001), this film is playfully presented, with tricksy editing, split screens, slow-mo, animation, the works  making it as much a spectacle as a story.

Will it leave you all shook up? Not quite. But it's very smartly done.

Elvis opens in cinemas on Friday June 24.
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They've been dating for two years but are rarely seen together in public.

And Lauren Phillips made a low-key entrance with her aviation tycoon boyfriend Paul O'Brien at the Interceptor premiere in Sydney on Wednesday night.

The notoriously private couple were reportedly part of Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky's entourage at the screening.

Rarely seen couple: Lauren Phillips (left) made a low-key entrance with her aviation tycoon boyfriend Paul O'Brien (right) at the Interceptor premiere in Sydney on Wednesday night

Lauren, who co-hosts the KIIS 101.1 breakfast show, donned a purple and black suit and carried a $6,800 Louis Vuitton handbag.

Paul, an entrepreneur who runs high-end aviation business AVMIN, teamed a black shirt with a grey coat and dark pants.

Action movie Interceptor, which launches on Netflix on June 3, stars Elsa as no-nonsense army lieutenant JJ Collins, who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States.

The crew: The notoriously private couple were reportedly part of Chris Hemsworth (right) and Elsa Pataky's (left) entourage at the screening

Expensive taste: Lauren, who co-hosts the KIIS 101.1 breakfast show, donned a purple and black suit and carried a Louis Vuitton handbag

Dress for success: Paul, an entrepreneur who runs high-end aviation business AVMIN, teamed a black shirt with a grey coat and dark pants

Her husband Chris serves as executive producer on the film.

Lauren and Paul, who are members of Byron Bay's celebrity set, are good friends with Elsa and Chris, who own a $40million mansion in Broken Head.

The couple began dating in 2020 while Lauren was living in Melbourne.

In crowd: Lauren and Paul, who are members of Byron Bay's celebrity set, are good friends with Elsa and Chris, who own a $40million mansion in Broken Head

Action: Interceptor, which launches on Netflix on June 3, stars Elsa as a no-nonsense army lieutenant who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the U.S.

But when Victoria's second wave of Covid took hold in July that year, the TV and radio presenter relocated to Byron and moved in with Paul.

She continued to work as Weekend Today's weather presenter from the NSW coastal town, but gave up the role in November 2021 to focus on her KIIS FM job.

Lauren was previously married to TV producer Lachlan Spark from 2017 to 2018.
Moulin Rouge headed south on Wednesday evening as Bella Hadid wore an outfit reminiscent of vintage Parisian cabaret on the French Riviera.

With resort town Cannes providing a glamourous backdrop, the American supermodel looked more than ready to do the can-can while attending the Chopard Loves Cinema dinner.

On a night of high fashion, Hadid, 25, caught the eye in a billowing floor length dress with ruffled sleeves and off-the-shoulder detailing.

Bold look: Moulin Rouge headed south on Wednesday evening as Bella Hadid wore an outfit reminiscent of vintage Parisian cabaret on the French Riviera

The overall effect was one of French music hall glamorama, and the model appeared to maximise it with a generous application of carefully contoured make-up.

She was joined at the event - held in conjunction with the annual Cannes Film Festival - by special guests Eva Longoria, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Petra Nemcova, among others.

Earlier that day Bella was looking as pretty as a princess as she stepped onto her hotel balcony in Cannes.

Here she comes: With resort town Cannes providing a glamourous backdrop, the supermodel looked more than ready to do the can-can while attending the Chopard Loves Cinema dinner

Looking good: On a night of high fashion, Hadid, 25, caught the eye in a billowing floor length dress with ruffled sleeves and off-the-shoulder detailing

Finishing touches: The overall effect was one of French music hall glamorama, and the model appeared to maximise it with a generous application of carefully contoured make-up

The model waved to onlookers and posed up a majestic storm in a romantic, champagned hued dress with silky corset style bodice.

Bella looked nothing short of extraordinary in a medieval inspired frock with numerous leg slits showing off her fabulous catwalk physique.

She worked a head full of voluminous brunette waves which she tousled about, at times piling it high onto her head as she waved joyfully to fans watching below.

In good company: Bella was joined by guests including Eva Longoria at the event on Wednesday evening

Don't mind me: But Bella was hard to miss during her latest public appearance in Cannes

Bella piled her hair high as she posed for one eager friend, who took a photo of the model with her cell phone.

It was only the latest fashionable display Bella has made since jetting into Cannes earlier this week.

Since arriving in France with her boyfriend Marc Calman on Monday, the star has already put in two show-stopping red carpet appearances.
Former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp was spotted on Tuesday with her kids while wearing a pink chin bandage.

It has been about three weeks since she had a neck lift and skin tightening procedure.

The reality TV vet has been posting and updating her recovery process to fans and followers on her social media.

Pink: Former RHOBH reality star Teddi Mellencamp was spotted out with her children in Los Angeles with her pink chin brace as she heals from a neck lift procedure

The star kept her outfit simple and casual, wearing a white sweatshirt with matching sweatpants of the same color.

To protect herself from the sun's rays, Mellencamp opted for a straw sun hat.

She had the string of the hat tied under her chin to make sure the hat stayed safe and secure.

The 40-year-old wore black sneakers to stay comfortable as she walked side-by-side with two of her children.

Still healing: The star made sure her face was protected and shielded from the sun's rays by wearing a straw sun hat

The star recently spoke with Extras Billy Bush about the neck-lift procedure and the online reaction shes received for it.

'Everybody went crazy. I mean, there was way more positive than there was negative, but I kind of wanted to point out the negative because people continuously want to know all the details, but when you give them the details, they are upset about it,' she said.

Mellencamp has not strayed from giving all the details about her procedure and the after effects. She posted photos soon after the surgery and throughout her journey thus far.

Strong and Unafraid: Although the entrepreneur has received both positive and negative comments towards her surgery, she still strives to be strong.

Before her procedure, the starlet informed her fans and followers that she would be undergoing surgery.

'The way that my neck is and with the loose skin, the only way to do it is to pull it up,' she said as she demonstrated the skin being pulled up with her fingers.

'One million percent I could leave it,' she also said but then shared that she did not want to leave it.

Before and after: The star shared what her chin looked like and why she needed the work

And she also said she was working with Dr. Sarmela Sunder, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon.

The Hollywood star has been confident and not afraid to slowly enter back into the public spotlight, even though she is still wearing a chin bandage.

Mellencamp recently uploaded a quick snap on her Instagram page to show a sneak peak of the results.

She had kept positivity throughout the process and made sure that her fans were continuously kept in the loop.
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Eva Longoria led the glamour as she attended the Chopard Love Cinema gala dinner at Hotel Martinez in Cannes on Wednesday.

The actress, 47, looked incredible in a black dress that featured a lacey bodice that showed off her ample cleavage.

The gown boasted a daringly high slit to show off her toned leg, and a belt to cinch her in at her svelte waist.

Leading lady: Eva Longoria led the glamour as she attended the Chopard Love Cinema gala dinner at Hotel Martinez in Cannes on Wednesday with Bella Hadid and Maggie Gyllenhaal

She added a touch of sparkle with some black and glittery heels, and a pair of long dangly diamond and emerald earrings.

Eva opted to wear her chocolate tresses slicked back in a sleek bun and added a pop of colour to her outfit with a bright pink lipstick.

Meanwhile, Bella Hadid wore an outfit reminiscent of vintage Parisian cabaret on the French Riviera.

Sensational: The actress, 47, looked incredible in a black dress that featured a lacey bodice that showed off her ample cleavage

Dazzling: She added a touch of sparkle with some black and glittery heels, and a pair of long dangly diamond and emerald earrings

Stunning: Eva opted to wear her chocolate tresses slicked back in a sleek bun and added a pop of colour to her outfit with a bright pink lipstick (pictured with Caroline Scheufele)

Pucker up: She greeted Bella with a kiss on the cheek who wore a very quirky ensemble

With resort town Cannes providing a glamourous backdrop, the American supermodel looked more than ready to do the can-can.

On a night of high fashion, Bella, 25, caught the eye in a billowing floor length dress with ruffled sleeves and off-the-shoulder detailing.

The overall effect was one of French music hall glamorama, and the model appeared to maximise it with a generous application of carefully contoured make-up.

Bella wore her chocolate coloured tresses in a sleek ponytail secured with a sweet white bow, with several strands styled across her forehead.

Stylish: With resort town Cannes providing a glamourous backdrop, the American supermodel looked more than ready to do the can-can

Fashion forward: On a night of high fashion, Bella, 25, caught the eye in a billowing floor length dress with ruffled sleeves and off-the-shoulder detailing

Flawless: The overall effect was one of French music hall glamorama, and the model appeared to maximise it with a generous application of carefully contoured make-up

Beauty: Bella wore her chocolate coloured tresses in a sleek ponytail secured with a sweet white bow, with several strands styled across her forehead

They were joined at the event by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who exuded elegance in a bright gold maxi skirt.

She teamed it with a beige sheer blouse that showed off her nude bra underneath and ample assets.

Her short brunette locks were artfully tousled and she added a pair of diamond earrings and finished the look off with a classic red lip.

Golden goddess: Maggie teamed her gold skirt with a beige sheer blouse that showed off her nude bra underneath and ample assets

Elegant: Her short brunette locks were artfully tousled and she added a pair of diamond earrings and finished the look off with a classic red lip

Handsome: She posed with her husband Peter Sarsgaard, who looked typically dashing in a black blazer and trousers teamed with an animal patterned black and white shirt

Princess: Earlier on Wednesday Maggie gave fans a glimpse at her outfit as she stood on a balcony in Cannes

Like Juliet: The actress looked down towards the street as she posed with her head on her hand

Strike a pose: Maggie posed up a storm in the elegant outfit while a woman took photos of her against the idyllic backdrop

Beaming: The Secretary star laughed between photos, grinning widely as she prepared for the event

She posed with her husband Peter Sarsgaard, who looked typically dashing in a black blazer and trousers teamed with an animal patterned black and white shirt.

Petra Nemcova stole the show in a billowing blue asymmetrical gown that boasted a cutout across the bust to flash a glimpse at her cleavage.

The Czech model fanned out her pleated skirt as she posed up a storm for the cameras, revealing a high slit that showed off her toned legs.

Dramatic: Petra Nemcova stole the show in a billowing blue asymmetrical gown that boasted a cutout across the bust to flash a glimpse at her cleavage

Strike a pose: The Czech model fanned out her pleated skirt as she posed up a storm for the cameras, revealing a high slit that showed off her toned legs

Fashionista: She sported silver accessories, opting for a silver bag and matching high heels and then chose blue eyeshadow around her eyes to match the hue of her dress

She sported silver accessories, opting for a silver bag and matching high heels and then chose blue eyeshadow around her eyes to match the hue of her dress.

Amy Jackson cut a very leggy figure in a pink minidress which boasted a a giant bow across the front and a long train that trailed the black carpet behind her.

She wore ruby earrings and a coordinating ring, while elevating her height in black high heels, and finishing her look with a slick of complementary ruby red lipstick across her perfect pout.

Leggy display: Amy Jackson cut a very leggy figure in a pink minidress which boasted a a giant bow across the front and a long train that trailed the black carpet behind her

Red hot: She wore ruby earrings and a coordinating ring, while elevating her height in black high heels, and finishing her look with a slick of complementary ruby red lipstick across her perfect pout

Actor Mads Mikkelsen also attended the dinner with his glamorous wife Hanne Jacobsen, sporting a black suit and matching shirt.

Hanne contrasted him in a white blazer and trousers, with a navy blue and white gingham blouse and eye-catching bright orange shoes.

Emma Weymouth dazzled in a showstopper gown, that was adorned in black sequins that glittered under the camera flashes.

The Marchioness of Bath, 35, stunned in the elegant fishtail dress that featured sheer panels that showed off her lithe figure underneath.

Dripping in expensive diamonds, Emma kept her makeup simple, sweeping a brown eyeshadow across her lids and wearing a pale pink lipstick.

Dashing: Actor Mads Mikkelsen also attended the dinner with his glamorous wife Hanne Jacobsen, sporting a black suit and matching shirt

Showstopper: Emma Weymouth dazzled in a showstopper gown, that was adorned in black sequins that glittered under the camera flashes
Ellen DeGeneres was in tears as she walked out to her beloved audience one last time, taking her final bow on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that is set to air tomorrow.

In a newly-released clip, the 64-year-old comedian emerges from behind a screen to a cheering audience, as she has always done over the past 19 seasons on the hit series.

A visibly overwhelmed Ellen could be seen struggling to hold back the tears as she stepped towards the audience, with her wife Portia de Rossi and brother Vance DeGeneres sitting in the front row.

Farewell: Ellen DeGeneres walks out in TEARS one last time... as wife Portia de Rossi cheers her on from front row of final show with guests Jennifer Aniston, P!nk and Billie Eilish

Clearly getting emotional, the TV veteran put her hand on her heart as she said 'thank you' to the crowd, as Portia, 49, could also been seen looking teary-eyed.

For her final show, which will air in full tomorrow, Ellen will be joined by A-List guests Jennifer Aniston, P!nk, and Billie Eilish.

Friends icon Jennifer was the very first guest on Ellen's show back in 2003, and this final episode marks her 20th appearance in total.

Giving it up for their gal: Ellen's wife Portia de Rossi and her brother Vance DeGeneres could be seen sitting in the front row for the final show

Going: Ellen held back tears as she put her hand on her heard amid rapturous applause

Going: It was all getting too much for the comic as she took it all in

Gone: Finally it looked as though Ellen gave in to her emotions

It has been a starry last few weeks for the show, that has featured guests including Oprah Winfrey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake, Zac Efron and Bruno Mars.

DailyMail.com first broke the news that the talk-show would be ending back in May last year, following her toxic workplace scandal that resulted in three top producers getting fired.

She confirmed the news herself shortly afterward in a statement saying: 'When you're a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged  and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it's just not a challenge anymore.'

Her biggest fans: Wife Portia and brother Vance could be seen cheering on from the sidelines

What's next: Ellen and Portia are said to be jetting off to Rwanda

Finale: Ellen walked out to her audience one last time in the final episode set to air tomorrow

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday, Ellen said that Oprah told her about the show ending: 'I won't really feel it until September, when I'd normally go back [into production].'

As the show comes to a close, the TV star will be spending time in Rwanda with her wife Portia, where she has opened an education campus helping save wild mountain gorillas.

Talking about the emotional final season, she said: 'I knew going in that this season was going to be my last season, so I really tried to take everything in. And its funny because the last couple of months I was more emotional than I was in the last week or two.'

Going out with a bang: It has been a starry last few weeks for the show, that has featured guests including Oprah Winfrey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mila Kunis

'I got really emotional about two months out, but that last week I wasnt because I really just wanted to enjoy it. I was working with [former monk] Jay Shetty a lot, too, on being present and I was. I was very present for all of it.'

The former sitcom star also told THR that a 'big juicy film role would be appealing to her now she's leaving daytime television.

She told them: 'There's definitely that opportunity, and theres been a couple of offers for that. And it just depends on timing. That would be great.'

'But then I also love doing stand-up, so I can always write another special and go out and [perform], which is [wife] Portia [de Rossi]'s preference. She really loved when we went out on what she calls, "a tour." She doesn't understand, we only went to seven cities.
Hotel heiress-turned-designer Nicky Hilton Rothschild showcased her bourgeoning bump during a photo shoot in her native Manhattan on Wednesday.

The expecting 38-year-old's famous mother Kathy Hilton told People this month that she's due to deliver her third child - a son - sometime between June 15-22.

For the eighth time this month, Nicky (born Nicholai) chose to wear blue, again confirming she's definitely having a baby boy.

Action! Hotel heiress-turned-designer Nicky Hilton Rothschild showcased her bourgeoning bump during a photo shoot in her native Manhattan on Wednesday

Rothschild bared her shoulders in a drop-sleeve maxi-dress featuring a China-style tree pattern as well as sandals.

The Nightingale Ice Cream paid partner - clutching a bouquet - got glam for the outdoor shoot with sideswept blonde locks and a fully-contoured complexion.

Nicky put on a happy face despite her vocal outrage and heartbreak over the shooting on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

'My heart hurts,' Rothschild - who boasts 2.7M social media followers - tweeted on Tuesday.

BTS: The expecting 38-year-old's famous mother Kathy Hilton told People this month that she's due to deliver her third child - a son - sometime between June 15-22

Hard at work on set! For the eighth time this month, Nicky (born Nicholai) chose to wear blue, again confirming she's definitely having a baby boy

Glowing and showing! Rothschild bared her shoulders in a drop-sleeve maxi-dress featuring a China-style tree pattern as well as sandals

Spring time: The Nightingale Ice Cream paid partner - clutching a bouquet - got glam for the outdoor shoot with sideswept blonde locks and a fully-contoured complexion

'My heart hurts': Nicky put on a happy face despite her vocal outrage and heartbreak over the shooting on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX that left 19 children and two teachers dead

Rothschild - who boasts 2.7M social media followers - tweeted on Tuesday: 'I will never understand how someone could want to hurt innocent children. Kids who had a whole life ahead of themselves. So many beautiful lives lost too soon'

'I will never understand how someone could want to hurt innocent children. Kids who had a whole life ahead of themselves. So many beautiful lives lost too soon. We must do better, America.'

The children killed were only a few years older than the Cooking with Paris guest star's two daughters - Teddy Marilyn, 4; and Lily Grace, 5 - from her six-year marriage to James Rothschild.

The 36-year-old financier was last pictured with Nicky on May 6 attending her blue bear-themed baby shower thrown by alice + olivia designer Stacey Bendet at a private residence.

'We must do better, America': The children killed were only a few years older than the Cooking with Paris guest star's two daughters - Teddy Marilyn, 4; and Lily Grace, 5 - from her six-year marriage to James Rothschild (pictured May 6)

Her other half: The 36-year-old financier (R) was last pictured with Nicky on May 6 attending her blue bear-themed baby shower thrown by alice + olivia designer Stacey Bendet at a private residence

Tickets start at $225! The Rothschilds are honorary chairs of the Boys & Girls Club of the Bellport area, and they're hosting the 19th annual Beach Ball on June 18 from 6-11pm at their Brookhaven home

The Parsons drop-out had previously launched a $198 pair of floral ballet flats as part of her collaboration with alice + olivia and French Soles for Mother's Day.

The Rothschilds - who met in 2011 - are honorary chairs of the Boys & Girls Club of the Bellport area, and they're hosting the 19th annual Beach Ball on June 18 from 6-11pm at their Brookhaven home.

Tickets start at $225 to attend the children's benefit featuring cocktails, food from Thomas Preti, live/silent auctions, and music spun by a DJ called 'Jendall Kenner.'
Skeng and his management and legal teams are working assiduously this morning to unravel the logistical challenges of jetting the popular Dancehall artist to Guyana so that he can honor his booking commitments there.

We are working on that, the flight to Trinidad is not the issue, the flight to Guyana is the issue because he has shows in Guyana too. If it is not done by the commercial airlines, we may have to charter a flight, so were looking into the various options right now, Skengs attorney-at-law Christopher Townsend told DancehallMag.

As DancehallMag previously reported, the Protocol deejay was pulled from a flight to Trinidad yesterday by police authorities after he got into a heated argument with a member of the Port Security. He was reportedly pepper sprayed. The 21-year-old artist, whose real name is Kevaun Douglas, was charged for disorderly behaviour and resisting arrest. He was offered bail and is to appear before the Kingston and St. Andrew court on June 21, 2022.

Skeng has been confirmed as the headlining act for BADERATION alongside Shaneil Muir and Young Bredda set for May 27 in Guyana.

He and two members of his entourage were expected to be on a flight to Trinidad and Tobago, where he is scheduled to perform for the first time.

The two-day event, called Revival: The Return of Dancehall was scheduled to happen this weekend at Ranch Setters in Valencia on May 28, and at Space La Nouba night club in San Fernando. Skeng was named the headliner for both dates, and those dates dont appear to be in jeopardy given that the charges are considered to be minor misdemeanors in nature.

I do not anticipate that this will affect him traveling, the offense he is charged with are not finger printable, and are petty sessions, from the conversations with the police they are petty session offenses and dont carry a jail time, Townsend said.

Townsend further remarked that Skeng is an excellent artist, extremely talented, from what I know that is in the pipeline he is going to go very far.

Skeng is the second most viewed artist in Jamaica on YouTube over the last 12 months, behind Chronic Law, according to the platforms Music Charts. His single Protocol with Tommy Lee Sparta, which Nicki Minaj has hailed as the baddest song in years, has neared 25 million views on the platform.

Heaven Passport with Intence has locked in 12 million views, Gvnman Shift has 24 million, and Street Cred (another Nicki favorite) has 11 million views on YouTube.

Skengs other recent tracks are London and Taibhan, his collab with Stalk Ashley.
New Delhi: The ED has registered a money laundering case against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and others in the alleged scam pertaining to the issuance of visa to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the home minister, officials said on Wednesday.

The federal agency has filed its case under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) taking cognisance of a recent first information report by the CBI in the same case, they said.

The case pertains to allegations of Rs 50 lakh being paid as bribe to Karti and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL), which was setting a power plant in Punjab, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR had said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will probe the possible "proceeds of crime" that could have been generated due to the alleged illegal activity, they said.

The accused will be questioned as part of the investigation, they said.

Karti Chidambaram has denied all allegations and said "if this is not harassment, not a witch hunt, then what is."
KAKINADA: Six police teams headed by circle inspectors are gathering evidence in the suspicious Veedhi Subrahmanyam death case.

It is now being alleged that Dalit youth Subrahmanyam, once the car driver of ruling YSRC MLC Anantha Udaya Bhaskar, had been murdered by the latter.

The investigation is under the overall charge of Kakinada DSP V. Bhima Rao.

The DSP told Deccan Chronicle that police teams are gathering CCTV footages from several places mentioned by Anantha Babu during his interrogation for alleged involvement in the murder.

Bhima Rao maintained that the investigation is being done in a transparent and scientific manner. All evidence will be gathered as to what really happened on the day Subrahmanyam died, he underlined.
According to family members of deceased Subrahmanyam, police are not conducting any independent investigation.

KAKINADA: Family members of Veedhi Subrahmanyam (24), who has reportedly been killed by ruling YSRC MLC Anantha Udaya Bhaskar, are planning to file a case in court that their version be heard before granting bail to the legislator.

In support of their contention, they are pointing to the Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy murder case, wherein the former MPs daughter Sunitha Reddy had filed a petition that her version be heard by the court concerned.

Currently, according to family members of deceased Subrahmanyam, police are not conducting any independent investigation. They are merely repeating what the MLC has stated in his confession statement. The family contends that in the process, police are trying to dilute and divert focus of the case. Hence, they too should be heard by the court.

The family members on Tuesday have signed court papers mentioning that Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Association (APCLA) state president Muppala Subba Rao will argue the case on main accused Udaya Bhaskar not being granted bail.

Subba Rao has forthwith met Kakinada district collector Krithika Sukla and submitted a representation to her expressing doubts over the investigation. He told her that Kakinada superintendent of police M. Ravindranath Babu or the investigation officer of the case have not probed the incident at all. They have only written what the accused has confessed to them.

The lawyer pointed out that watchman of the apartment, where police says the incident took place, has made it clear that no such thing had happened on the night of May 19.

Meanwhile, police are believed to be ignoring the previous criminal history of the MLC.

Former Amalapuram MP G.V. Harsha Kumar alleged that Anantha Udaya Bhaskar is a ganja smuggler and illegally exports Rubi Pearls. The lawyer for deceased Subrahmanyams family Subba Rao has pointed out that the accused had been a rowdy sheeter till 2019.

Subba Rao has contended that police should make the MLCs previous criminal history part of their remand report. But this is not being done deliberately in case of Udaya Bhaskar. The lawyer thus demanded that a CBI probe be ordered into the incident.

Kakinada superintendent of police Ravindranath Babu has maintained that past criminal history of the MLC will be probed only if it has some relevance to the present case.
To connect the youth with LET, Junaid had allegedly created five accounts on Facebook with different names. With these accounts, the accused used to post anti-national things and try to connect the youth and provoke them to join the LET, the ATS said. (ANI)

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday arrested a man from Pune for his alleged role in the recruitment of terrorists for the Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) network. The arrested accused has been identified as Junaid Mohammed. Junaid was produced before the special court in Pune, which remanded him to ATS custody till June 3.

The ATS has registered an FIR against four accused including Junaid Mohammed under 121 (A), 153 (A) and 116 sections of IPC and IT Act at Kalachowki police station in Mumbai.

According to the sources, Junaid, who hails from Buldhana districts Khamgaon town, was nabbed from Dapodi in Pune after his name cropped up in a terror funding case probed by the ATS.

In a press note issued by Maharashtra ATS, the agency said that on intelligence input on December 30, 2021, the probe was going on. But the FIR was registered on Tuesday. Three more accused are still at large, it said.

The ATS further said that Junaid was in touch with members of banned terrorist organisation LeT in Jammu and Kashmir. The accused was trying to recruit the youths of different states in LeT. The probe agency alleged that he was trying to take the youths to Jammu and Kashmir for training of terrorist activities.

The probe also revealed that money has been deposited to the accuseds bank account for this work, the ATS said.

The probe further revealed that Junaid had allegedly changed his sim cards 10 times. After every conversion, he had destroyed his sim card and purchased a new sim card. He used 10 sim cards of different companies. It was his modus operandi, the investigation agency said.

To connect the youth with LET, Junaid had allegedly created five accounts on Facebook with different names. With these accounts, the accused used to post anti-national things and try to connect the youth and provoke them to join the LET, the ATS said.

Junaid was produced before a court in Pune at 3pm. The prosecution told the court that as per the primary probe, the suspect has been in contact with Kashmir-based operatives of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and sought his police custody for 10 days.

The investigating officer told the court that for further probe, the ATS will take Junaid to Kashmir, a place which he had visited six times in the last two years.

Addressing the investigation officer, the court said that the probe in the case is expected to be thorough and in-depth. The court is hereby granting police custody till June 3, it said.
Quad leaders -- the Prime Ministers of India, Japan and Australia and the US President -- met in Tokyo on Tuesday. (PTI)

New Delhi: Renewing their steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient, the Quad leaders -- the Prime Ministers of India, Japan and Australia and the US President -- met in Tokyo on Tuesday for the second in-person meeting of the four-nation group. In a clear message to an aggressive China, the leaders expressed their firm opposition to any provocative or unilateral attempt to change the status quo and, in a veiled advice to Russia, called for all countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and Australias new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met in Tokyo and discussed the conflict in Ukraine and the ongoing humanitarian crisis. The Quad leaders assessed the implications of the Ukraine conflict on the Indo-Pacific region.

Mr Biden and Mr Kishida lambasted Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The US President accused Russia of trying to obliterate Ukraines culture and vowed to power the global response to the crisis as long as Russia continues the war.

On Ukraine, Mr Biden said: Were navigating a dark hour in our shared history. Russias brutal and unprovoked war against Ukraine has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe. And innocent civilians have been killed in the streets and millions of refugees are internally displaced as well as exiled. And this is more than just a European issue; its a global issue... It appears to me that (Vladimir) Putin is just trying to extinguish a culture. Hes not even aiming at military targets anymore; hes taking out every school, every church, and every natural history museum as if to try to obliterate the Ukrainian culture. And the world has to deal with it, and we are.

The US President added: The global food crisis is made worse by Russias blocking Ukraine from exporting its millions of tonnes of grain. And also, as long as Russia continues the war, the United States will work with our partners to help the global response, because its going to affect all parts of the world."

There was, however, no direct condemnation of Russia in the Quads joint statement issued later, most likely due to Indias sensitivities on the issue. But in a veiled signal to Russia, the statement said: All countries must seek peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law.

This was the fourth interaction of the Quad leaders since the first virtual meeting in March 2021, the in-person summit in Washington DC in September 2021, and their virtual interaction earlier in March this year. Australia, which will host the next summit in the coming year, also renewed its commitment to the Quad.

Hailing the Quad as a force for good with a constructive agenda, Mr Modi pointed out that the Quad has assumed an important place on the world stage. Mr Modi said: In such a short time, the Quad has assumed an important place on the world stage... Our mutual trust, our determination is giving new energy and enthusiasm to the democratic forces. Our mutual cooperation at the Quad level is giving a boost to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, which is the common objective of all of us.

He added: In spite of the adverse circumstances of Covid-19, we have increased coordination in many areas such as vaccine delivery, climate action, supply chain resilience, disaster response and economic cooperation. This is ensuring peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific. The Quad is carrying a constructive agenda for the Indo-Pacific region. This will further strengthen the image of the Quad as a force for good.

Apart from the discussions on Russia and China, the Quad partners took several important decisions on maritime information sharing, infrastructure that included possible assistance of more than $50 billion to the Indo-Pacific region in the next five years, cyber-security, space cooperation and the Quad Covid vaccine initiatives, along with a commitment to address the debt issues of countries, something that could be of direct relevance to cash-strapped countries like Sri Lanka that have a huge Chinese financial debt.

The four leaders also welcomed a new maritime domain awareness initiative, the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), designed to work with regional partners to respond to humanitarian and natural disasters and combat illegal fishing.

The Quad leaders also officially launched the Quad Fellowship, that will bring 100 students from four countries to the United States each year to pursue graduate degrees in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

In a veiled reference to Pakistan, the Quad also denounced terrorism, including cross-border terror, while denouncing terror attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and the 2016 Pathankot terror attack.

Another major decision was the launch of the Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP), with mitigation and adaptation as its two themes. According to the joint statement, the Q-CHAMP includes ongoing activities under the Quad Climate Working Group on green shipping and ports, aiming for a shared green corridor framework building on each Quad countrys input...

On vaccine cooperation, the four nations said: We welcome the progress on the expansion of J&J vaccine production at the Biological E facility in India under the Quad Vaccine Partnership... We celebrate the donation by the Quad to Cambodia and Thailand of WHO-approved Made in India vaccines, together with Quad members other vaccine related support, as an example of the tangible achievement of our collaboration.

Several decisions were also taken in the spheres of cyber-security and critical technologies involving semi-conductors, including improving the defence of the four nations critical infrastructure.

On space cooperation, it was decided that the four Quad nations would work together to create an earth observation-based monitoring and sustainable development framework.
In its place, the government is offering the newly proposed Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS), which is along the lines of OPS.  DC file image

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday held talks with representatives of its employees over the pension scheme. However, both the parties remained firm on their respective stands.

From the governments side, the meeting was attended by education minister Botsa Satyanarayana, municipal administration minister Adimulapu Suresh, government advisers Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and P. Chandrasekhar Reddy, chief secretary (Finance) Shashi Bhushan Kumar, finance secretary N. Gulzar and secretary (GAD) H. Arun Kumar.

Ministers Satyanarayana and Suresh, apart from government adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, made it clear to unions that they are ready to discuss the entire pension issue in depth taking all aspects into consideration without harming the interests of both government and employees.

The government side as a whole took the stand that it is impossible to implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). In its place, the government is offering the newly proposed Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS), which is along the lines of OPS. However, they told union leaders that they are willing to meet once again and discuss the whole issue in detail.

Reacting to the stand taken by ministers and officials, UTF president Venkateswarlu said they are strongly opposing the GPS proposal of the government. He reiterated that employee leaders are demanding implementation of the Old Pension Scheme immediately.

Venkateswarlu disclosed that union leaders reminded the government side about Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddys promise to implement OPS when the latter was leader of opposition. The leaders cited implementation of OPS by the Rajasthan government. They sought that AP government reconsider and implement the Old Pension Scheme.

Employees were represented at the meeting by AP NGO Association president Bandi Srinivasa Rao, AP Revenue Services Association president Bopparaju Venkateswarlu, AP Government Employees Union president K.R. Suryanarayana, State Secretariat Employees Union general secretary N. Prasad, STU president Sai Prasad and AP UTF president N. Venkateswarlu, apart from representatives of PRTU, RTC and drivers unions, fourth class employees' union and other unions.
Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of running away from the state to avoid meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he was ashamed to show his face to the Prime Minister. BJPs BC Morcha national president Dr K. Laxman said the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government had thrown to wind even the basic protocol to be followed when the Prime Minister visited the state.

Speaking to the media at the Begumpet airport on Wednesday after inspecting the arrangements being made for a grand welcome to Modi by BJP leaders and workers on Thursday, Laxman mocked the reason for Chandrashekar Raos absence in the city on Thursday. He said the Chief Ministers claim of having a prior appointment with former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in Bengaluru was just an excuse. Is it that hard to get an appointment with him? Should the Chief Minister of the state be not here, at least as part of the official protocol to greet the Prime Minister? Laxman asked.

He said irrespective of how hard the Chief Minister ran around the country, there were no takers for him. The reason why the Punjab Chief Minister was okay with Chandrashekar Raos visit was because he was going to give financial relief cheques to farmers families there. Meanwhile, people here were upset and angry that the Chief Minister was ignoring the local farmers, and their problems, Laxman said.

Laxman said BJP leaders and workers from Hyderabad and Secunderabad parliamentary constituencies would be at the airport to greet Modi. There are no party meetings scheduled with the Prime Minister. Though he is coming here on an official visit, it is significant for the party workers in Telangana. His visit will give them more enthusiasm and there will be only a felicitation programme, Laxman said.

The Telangana government, meanwhile, said that animal husbandry and cinematography minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav would be the Minister in Waiting for Modis visit. Yadav, along with state officials, is expected to be at the Begumpet airport to receive Modi on Thursday afternoon, and also to see him off when he, later in the afternoon, will leave for Chennai.

Modi will be in the city for a few hours on Thursday to take part in the Indian School of Business convocation.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is scheduled to visit Bengaluru on Thursday and meet former Prime Minister Deve Gowda, and his son and former Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy.

The Telangana Chief Ministers visit to Karnataka was scheduled as part of his tour to different states to discuss emerging political situations in the country, and creation of an alternate development agenda for the nation. He recently visited Delhi and Punjab where he met the Chief Ministers of both the states. In Punjab, he also distributed relief cheques to families of farmers who lost their lives in the year-long agitation against the Central government, and those who lost their loved ones in the Galwan border skirmishes with China.
Inter-service tensions have always existed in babudom but remain low-key. The oldest fault line is the perception that the government favours the IAS more than the other all-India services, especially in terms of powers and promotions, etc., in recent months though there was a growing awareness that the Modi Sarkar was actively placing officers from the IPS, IFoS and IRS services in posts traditionally held by the IAS.

However, seeing the reaction of non-IAS service officers to the recent promotion and empanelling of 25 IAS officers of the 1996 batch and two IPS officers of the 1994 batch to the rank of additional secretary, and the posting of a 1990-batch IPS officer to an equivalent designation, it seems that the rivalry has risen a notch or two.

The move, sources say, has created a gap of six years between parallel ranks in the IAS and IPS, and IPS officers are upset at this unprecedented order. According to a source, the order of appointment mentions two unusual decisions by the appointments committee. It has reportedly promoted two IPS officers Shyam Bhagat Negi (HP cadre) as additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat and Vijay Bhatia (UP cadre) as joint secretary (personnel) in the ministry of external affairs (MEA).

Being a 1990-batch IPS officer, Mr Negi has been appointed to the same position as two dozen IAS officers of the 1996 batch. Meanwhile, Mr Bhatia who is a batch senior to Mr Negi has been appointed to a junior rank. Also, it is being pointed out that there is only one IPS officer of the 1989 batch of additional director general of police rank, posted as additional secretary. The real issue apparently is that while the government has promoted 1996-batch IAS officers as additional secretaries, in the IPS cadre it has promoted the 1990-91 batches to the same post. Seniority apparently has meant little.

Still, no one is willing to step out and speak publicly on the issue, not even the IAS and IPS associations. But these inter-service tensions must be resolved at the earliest.

MHA throws the rule book at DANICS babus

The fallout of the fierce political rivalry between the AAP-led Delhi government and the BJP-ruled Centre is most often felt by the babus in both governments. Split between loyalty to the government they serve and the rulebook, it is babus who often pay the price.

Six DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service) cadre officers working with the Delhi government now face disciplinary action for failing to accept their transfer to the Lakshadweep administration and not joining duty immediately. This, after the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) bench headed by chairperson Manjula Dass, turned down their plea challenging their transfer.

In November last year, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) issued transfer orders to DANICS officers Sandeep Kumar Mishra, Sravan Bagaria, Shailendra Singh Parihar, Singare Ramchandra Mahadev, Nitin Kumar Jindal and Rakesh Kumar to Lakshadweep, but the babus immediately moved the CAT in the hope of overturning the order. They were served with a reminder earlier in February but this, too, was ignored. That has not worked. The CAT bench has now noted that there is no merit in their application challenging the transfer. It has ordered the babus to immediately report to the Lakshadweep administration. If they fail to join, the order states that disciplinary action as per rules will be initiated against them without further notice.

The unwholesome tendency of babus not reporting to the place of transfer and resorting to litigation has been viewed seriously even by the Supreme Court. The CAT order, therefore, is not surprising. The babus will have to obey or find themselves in the dock.

More changes in PMO

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuing to rebuild his team at the Prime Ministers Office (PMO). Close on the heels of the appointment of former petroleum secretary Tarun Kapoor as advisor to the PM and the induction of two additional secretaries Atish Chandra and Hari Ranjan Rao, 2004-batch IAS officer Vivek Kumar has been named private secretary to the Prime Minister.

Sources say that Mr Kumar, who was earlier a director in PMO, has been appointed at the joint secretary level. Most likely, this has been done to rectify the imbalance caused by having five additional secretaries as opposed to four joint secretaries. With Mr Kumar upgraded to the joint secretary level, the balance has been restored. He will join Hardik Satishchandra Shah who is also a private secretary to the PM.
The Biden administration has accelerated its efforts to reshape Taiwans defense systems as it projects a more robust US military presence in the region to try to deter a potential attack by the Chinese military, current and former US officials say.

Russias war in Ukraine has made US and Taiwanese officials acutely aware that an autocrat can order an invasion of a neighboring territory at any moment. But it has also shown how a small military can hold out against a seemingly powerful foe.

US officials are taking lessons learned from arming Ukraine to work with Taiwan in molding a stronger force that could repel a seaborne invasion by China, which has one of the worlds largest militaries.

The aim is to turn Taiwan into what some officials call a porcupine a territory bristling with armaments and other forms of US-led support that appears too painful to attack.

Taiwan has long had missiles that can hit China. But the American-made weapons that it has recently bought are better suited for repelling an invading force: mobile rocket platforms, F-16 fighter jets and anti-ship projectiles. Some military analysts say Taiwan might buy sea mines and armed drones later. And as it has in Ukraine, the US government could also supply intelligence to enhance the lethality of the weapons, even if it refrains from sending troops.

US officials have been quietly pressing their Taiwanese counterparts to buy weapons suitable for asymmetric warfare, a conflict in which a smaller military uses mobile systems to conduct lethal strikes on a much bigger force, US and Taiwanese officials say.

Washington increasingly uses the presence of its military and those of allies as deterrence. The Pentagon has begun divulging more details about the sailings of US warships through the Taiwan Strait  30 since the start of 2020. And US officials praise partner nations like Australia, Britain, Canada and France when their warships transit through the strait.

In ramping up its posture and language, the United States is trying to walk a fine line between deterrence and provocation. The actions risk pushing President Xi Jinping of China to order an attack on Taiwan, some analysts say. A Chinese offensive against Taiwan could take many forms, such as a full-scale sea and air assault on the main island with missile barrages, an invasion of small islands closest to Chinas southeast coast, a naval blockade or a cyberattack.

Are we clear about what deters China and what provokes China? said Bonnie S. Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The answer to that is no, and thats dangerous territory.

We need to think long and hard on how to strengthen deterrence, she said.

US officials often discuss potential deterrent actions that end up being dropped because they are deemed too provocative. In the Trump administration, National Security Council officials discussed putting US troops in Taiwan, one former official said. White House and Pentagon officials also proposed sending a high-level US military delegation to Taiwan, but that idea was killed after senior officials at the State Department objected, another former official said.

President Joe Bidens strong language during a visit to Tokyo this week tiptoed up to provocation, Glaser and other analysts in Washington said.

The president asserted on Monday that the United States had a commitment to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan  the third time he has made such remarks during his presidency. And he explicitly said he would take measures that go beyond what the United States has done in Ukraine. While Beijing could see the words as belligerent, they are consistent with the new emphasis in Washington on forceful deterrence.

On Tuesday, Biden said in Tokyo that the decades-old policy of strategic ambiguity  leaving open whether the US military would fight for Taiwan  still stands. The policy has not changed at all, he said.

Harry B. Harris Jr., a former US ambassador to South Korea and a retired admiral who led the US Pacific Command, said the United States now needed to adopt strategic clarity rather than strategic ambiguity to serve as a deterrent. China, he said, isnt holding back its preparations for whatever it decides it wants to do simply because were ambiguous about our position.

The United States has been urging allies to speak up on Taiwan in an effort to show Beijing that Washington can rally other nations against China if it attacks the self-governing democratic island. On Monday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan said at a news conference with Biden that the two leaders had affirmed the importance of peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.

In the three months of war in Ukraine, Washington has held together a coalition of European and Asian partners to impose sanctions against Russia. US officials say they hope the measures send a message to China and other nations about the costs of carrying out the type of invasion overseen by President Vladimir Putin of Russia. US officials are already discussing to what extent they could replicate the economic penalties and the military aid deployed in defense of Ukraine in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.

I want PLA officers to wake up each day and believe they cannot isolate Taiwan in a conflict and must instead face the decision of initiating a costly, wider conflict where their objectives are beyond their reach, said Eric Sayers, a former senior adviser to the US Pacific Command who is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, referring to Chinas military, the Peoples Liberation Army, by its initials.

US intelligence analysts have been studying the evolving relationship between China and Russia and the lessons Beijing might be drawing from Ukraine.

Chinese leaders face a complicated calculus in weighing whether their military can seize Taiwan without incurring an overwhelming cost.

A Pentagon report released last year said Chinas military modernization effort continued to widen the capability gap between the countrys forces and the Taiwanese military. But the Chinese military has not fought a war since 1979, when it attacked Vietnam in an offensive that ended in a loss or stalemate for China.

To take Taiwan, the Chinese navy would need to cross more than 100 miles of water and make an amphibious assault, an operation that is much more complex than anything Putin has tried in Ukraine.

And in any case, perceived capabilities on paper might not translate to performance in the field.

As we have learned in Ukraine, no one really knows how hard a military will fight until a war actually starts, said James G. Stavridis, a retired four-star admiral and former dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. China is probably not ready to take a risk of an invasion with current force levels and capabilities in terms of attacking Taiwan.

US officials are not making that assumption. They have pressed Taiwan to buy weapons systems that they deem suitable for asymmetric warfare against China. The Biden administration recently told the Taiwanese Defense Ministry not to order MH-60R Seahawk helicopters made by Lockheed Martin, and it has also discouraged orders for more M1A2 Abrams tanks.

Stavridis said the United States needed to get weapons into the hands of the Taiwanese quickly if an invasion looked imminent, with a focus on systems that would wear down Chinese offensive capabilities.

That would include smart mines, anti-ship cruise missiles, cybersecurity capability and special forces who can neutralize Chinese advance teams and air defense systems, he said.

US officials consider mobility to be critical and are encouraging Taiwan to buy mobile land-based Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Stinger anti-aircraft missiles could also be valuable for staving off the Chinese air force.

The pace of Taiwans weapons purchases has increased. Since 2010, the United States has announced more than $23 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, according to the Pentagon report from last year. In 2020 alone, authorizations totaled more than $5 billion. The sales included advanced unmanned aerial systems, long-range missiles and artillery, and anti-ship missiles.

Taiwans annual defense budget is more than 2% of its GDP. President Tsai Ing-wen has increased the annual figure by modest amounts.

Both US and Taiwanese officials say Taiwanese troops need better training, but each government wants the other to take more responsibility.

The Taiwanese troops barely have opportunities to conduct exercises with the allies, said Shu Hsiao-huang, a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, which is funded by the government of Taiwan. Military cooperation between Taiwan and the United States should be strengthened in the aspects of regional exercises and the deployment of weapons.

Glaser said Taiwan needed to create a strong reserve force and territorial defense force that can wear down an invading military, as the Ukrainians did.

The US has encouraged Taiwans military for years to talk to countries with a robust defense force, Glaser said. Taiwan has sent delegations to Israel, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, some of the Baltic States. Now the situation is far more serious and far more urgent. Theres a lot more pressure.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has written to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to urge India to acquit Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik from all charges and ensure his immediate release from prison so that he can be reunited with his family.

Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement that the foreign minister, as part of Pakistans ongoing efforts to draw the attention of the international community to the situation in Kashmir, sent the letter to Bachelet on May 24.

The letter apprises the High Commissioner, in particular, of the Indian governments ongoing attempts to persecute and repress the Kashmiris and their leadership and to implicate them in fictitious and motivated cases, according to the FO.

Read: Pakistan FM Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to visit China

The Foreign Minister urged the High Commissioner and the Human Rights Council to take immediate cognisance of Indias targeting of indigenous Kashmiri leadership through motivated cases, particularly the treatment meted out by Malik.

He asked the High Commissioner to urge India to acquit Malik from all baseless charges and ensure his immediate release from prison so that he can be reunited with his family, recuperate his health and return to normal life.

Separately, Foreign Minister Bilawal has written a letter to the Secretary-General of the OIC, Hissein Brahim Taha, apprising him of the dire human rights and humanitarian situation in Kashmir.

Malik recently pleaded guilty to all charges, including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, before a Delhi court in a case related to alleged terrorism and secessionist activities that disturbed the Kashmir Valley in 2017.

India has repeatedly told Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir "was, is and shall forever" remain an integral part of the country. It also advised Pakistan to accept the reality and stop all anti-India propaganda.

New Delhi has also told Pakistan that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Islamabad in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence.
The murder of a BJP functionary in a busy area in the state capital gave enough ammunition to Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu to attack the ruling DMK dispensation on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, especially in Chennai.

The city has reported 20 murders in as many days with at least six of them being committed on busy roads in full public view. The murders come weeks after the Chennai Police suffered a slew of setbacks following the death of a youth named Vignesh under its custody.

Balachandar, a functionary of the BJP SC/ST Wing, was hacked to death by an unidentified gang in Chintadripet off the arterial Anna Salai on Tuesday evening. The BJP functionary had at least seven cases against him, police said, suspecting personal rivalry behind the murder.

AIADMK, the principal opposition party, and BJP accused Chief Minister M K Stalin of ignoring the law and order situation in the state. Former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said the city alone saw 20 murders in two weeks and questioned whether Stalin was aware of the deteriorating law and order in the state.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai alleged that the police stations have been taken over by local DMK men who call the shots. There is no law and order. No one is safe in Tamil Nadu today. The CM has given the entire control to DMK men who are uncontrollable. Criminals are challenging the police to catch them, he said.
The government promoted Lt Gen Manoj Pande to the rank of General and appointed him Chief of the Army Staff (COAS or Army Chief) recently. This promotion-cum-appointment is a first because Gen Pande is an officer who was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers (known in the army as Engineers) and he is the first Engineers officer to be appointed COAS. Incidentally, Corps should be pronounced as core, not as corpse!

This writer, a veteran Engineers officer, has received queries from people who ask questions like: #When only a soldier can command the Army, how has an engineer been appointed as its Chief? #If an engineer can be Army Chief, why cannot a medical officer be Army Chief? #What command experience would an engineer have that can make him eligible for the post of Army Chief?

These are valid questions or doubts arising from not knowing about our Army. This brief article attempts to answer the questions.

First of all, who is a soldier? After successfully completing basic military training and taking oath to protect and defend the nation and the Constitution of India, every Jawan (Sepoy) and every Officer (Lieutenant) begins life as a professional soldier.

In order to fight battles and wars, the Army is organised into Arms and Services. There are six Arms, namely, Infantry, Armoured Corps, Artillery, Engineers, Corps of Signals, and Aviation Corps. Soldiers of these Arms are trained for their respective specialised roles, which are directly connected with combat. The actual fighting is done by Infantry and Armoured Corps soldiers, supported during combat by the other Arms.

The soldiers of the Services are trained to provide essential logistic cover in the field, to enable the Arms to fight  by the Army Ordnance Corps (AOC) providing weapons, vehicles, equipment and ammunition, the Army Service Corps (ASC) for fuel and food supplies and transport, the Army Medical Corps (AMC) for medical cover, and the Corps of Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (EME) for repair of all military hardware.

Units of all Arms and Services are commanded by officers of the respective Arms and Services. Fighting formations  Brigades, Divisions, Corps and Army Commands  are commanded by officers from the Arms. The Services do not need such formations; so, after commanding their respective units, officers of the Services are posted in headquarters of fighting formations, to advise and assist the formation commander regarding their respective Services.

Even though soldiers of these Services may also serve in a battle zone, their functioning is focussed on providing vital logistic and medical cover, without which effective combat is impossible. Thus, officers of the Services are not trained for professional exposure and experience of combat situations and deployments, and it is not possible for them to assume command of fighting formations.

Reverting to the questions concerning Gen Manoj Pandes promotion, providing some details of the role of Engineers in combat is necessary. Soldiers who are posted in the Corps of Engineers (Engineers) are primarily organised, equipped and trained for combat engineering tasks. Combat engineering tasks are executed in active combat situations, when bullets are flying, and artillery shells and bombs are exploding, to assist and support infantry and tanks to move and to fight. The tasks are such as, rapid bridge construction for immediate passage of armoured tanks and other vehicles (and later guns, reinforcements, etc.) across obstacles, or clearing safe lanes through enemy minefields, for our fighting forces to penetrate enemy defences in strength and engage with the enemy. Combat engineering tasks depend upon particular operational phases and requirements.

Some officers from Artillery, Engineers or Signals may be placed in command of fighting formations  beginning with a brigade and then division, corps and army command  if they satisfy time-tested, specific command, staff, training and performance standards. These same standards also apply to officers of Infantry and Armoured Corps. Only officers who have held these command appointments are eligible to be promoted to the rank of General, as Army Chief.

Gen Manoj Pande has had a brilliant career as a soldier, having successfully commanded fighting formations of infantry brigade, infantry mountain division, corps, joint services command and army command. In between these critical command appointments, he has held key staff appointments at different rank levels and was Vice COAS at the time of his promotion as Army Chief.

Several Engineers officers had in past years reached the rank of Lt Gen and commanded army commands, making them eligible for elevation to Army Chief. However, for one or the other reason, they were not promoted. All Army Chiefs so far have been from Infantry, Armoured Corps or Artillery. Thus, Gen Manoj Pande being promoted to the Indian Armys top appointment is a proud moment for the Corps of

Engineers.
The transgender community has hit back strongly at JD(S) Karnataka president CM Ibrahim for his transphobic comments while criticising the BJP government.

While transgender artist Manjamma Jogathi lashed out at Ibrahim for "humiliating" the community, the Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum is all set to stage a protest this evening, demanding an apology from Ibrahim.

Speaking to media persons at Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday, Ibrahim had jeeringly said that the BJP government was full of transgenders.

"I urge the people of this state to remove this mangalamukhi government. We can't even fight with this government. If they are male or female, we could fight accordingly. They are neither. They keep getting caught in scams and laugh sheepishly later," Ibrahim had said. He had made a similar statement at an event in Raichur on Monday.

In a strongly-worded response, Manjamma Jogathi, who heads the Karnataka Janapada Academy, tweeted: "You should not have humiliated the community like this. This is just a reflection on your politics. I am transgender, an artist and a Kannadiga. Society respects us..."

Meanwhile, Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum state coordinator Mallappa told DH that the members would stage a protest on Wednesday evening. "We demand an apology. Failing this, we will start protests in all districts and lay siege to his house."

He said Ibrahim had a hundred other ways to question the BJP government over its functioning. This can be done without dragging the transgender community into politics, he said.

Ibrahim, known to make foot-in-mouth statements, has come under the scanner several times for misogynistic remarks.
Released: May 25, 2022

Delaware County Council Chair Dr. Monica Taylor presented a resolution to The Foundation for Delaware County during a celebration held on May 19 at the Ellis Preserve to celebrate the organizations fifth anniversary.

The resolution was presented to Frances Sheehan, President of The Foundation for Delaware County and Dominic Pileggi, Board Chair for The Foundation for Delaware County, in recognition of the exceptional work the foundation has done over the past five years.

The Foundation for Delaware County was formed in July of 2016 with a goal to partner with nonprofits, businesses, government, and generous individuals to address the challenges in Delaware County. Since its founding, the foundation has been building a permanent civic endowment to benefit Delaware County and offers philanthropic services, convening, grantmaking, and community health programs to address unmet needs in Delaware County including those in food insecurity, affordable housing, racial inequities in birth outcomes, public health, the environment, and crisis response.

The County is extremely grateful for our partnership with The Foundation for Delaware County, said Delaware County Council Chair Dr. Monica Taylor. Over the past few years, I have worked directly with Frances Sheehan and her team on projects and initiatives that are vital to our residents including Census outreach, supporting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy outreach, supporting the County in our launching of the Delaware County Health Department and working in the community since we launched the Health Department earlier this year.

Since 2016, the Foundation has:

Distributed $9M in grants, scholarships, and charitable care

Distributed $9M in grants, scholarships, and charitable care Raised and awarded $1M through the COVID-19 Response Fund

Raised and awarded $1M through the COVID-19 Response Fund Awarded 193 grants to nonprofits

Awarded 193 grants to nonprofits Raised $100K to support 2020 Census outreach for the county

Raised $100K to support 2020 Census outreach for the county Assisted Delaware County Council in administering $3M in Delco Strong grants funded through the federal CARES Act

Assisted Delaware County Council in administering $3M in Delco Strong grants funded through the federal CARES Act Connected more than 2,600 generous individuals in Delaware County with opportunities to have an impact in their local community

Connected more than 2,600 generous individuals in Delaware County with opportunities to have an impact in their local community Served over 10,000 people each year through the foundations community health programs

Served over 10,000 people each year through the foundations community health programs Launched Housing Opportunities Program for Equity (HOPE) to address housing instability through financial assistance to families, case management, financial literacy education, and advocacy for housing reform

Launched Housing Opportunities Program for Equity (HOPE) to address housing instability through financial assistance to families, case management, financial literacy education, and advocacy for housing reform Helped to launch the Delaware County Health Department, providing both funding and counsel to the County

While the amount of donations and people served can be tracked and counted, the impact that the foundation has made on Delco residents cannot be measured and nor can their level of passion and dedication, said Taylor.

More information on the Foundation for Delaware County can be found here: https://delcofoundation.org/
SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MP has described British Government claims that legacy legislation is designed to promote reconciliation as an out and out lie.

Speaking in the House of Commons, the Foyle MP outlined a number of cases where victims of British Army, IRA, UDA and UVF murders would be denied justice.

Mr Eastwood rejected the unilateral decision by the British Government to abandon the Stormont House Agreement, an international agreement which commands the support of a majority of Assembly parties.

He said: This legislation is a gross abdication of the commitments the British Government entered into at Stormont House.

It is a breach of the international treaty between the British and Irish Governments and fundamentally, it goes absolutely against the wishes of people in Northern Ireland and against the interests of victims here.

It is made worse by the pretence from Ministers that this is about reconciliation. That is an out and out lie.

This legislation is about protecting the British state and preventing the prosecution of state forces.

The hard truth is that British soldiers and paramilitaries alike who committed murder in Northern Ireland will be shielded from justice by this legislation.

It has no political support, no support from victims and no support from human rights bodies in the North.

This is a unilateral move from a government that has given up on the principle of partnership when it comes to Northern Ireland.

They will nakedly defend their own interests, regardless of the cost to people here. The SDLP will oppose this legislation at every stage.

Amnesty International UK have also voiced their opposition to the Bill.

Grainne Teggart, Campaigns Manager for Amnesty International UK said:

Alarm bells should be ringing for all who care about the rule of law and access to justice. This bill is a de facto amnesty designed to make perpetrators of heinous crimes untouchable.

No matter how Government dress this up, the Bill is not designed to deliver for victims and promote reconciliation. Instead, it will remove victims access to the courts and send a message that they are less worthy of justice than victims of the same crimes in any other circumstances. This Bill would create a grossly unfair two-tier justice system.

If enacted, it would also set a worrying precedent internationally, giving a green light to other countries that want to deny justice to victims of human rights violations.

The Troubles bill would sound the death knell for justice for victims of the Northern Ireland conflict. It is vital that MPs stand with victims and reject the Governments move to legislate for impunity.

Michael OHare, whose 12-year-old sister Majella OHare was shot dead by a British Army soldier in 1976 on her way to church in the Armagh village of Whitecross, is opposed to the Bill saying it  and the UK Government  is adding to the trauma that he and the other families who have lost loved ones are experiencing.

He said: When youve lost a loved one, the pain lives with you every day.

My sister was a child, a sweet innocent girl whose life potential was never realised because of bullets from a soldiers machine gun.

This Bill and Government are only adding to the trauma that I and others are experiencing. The past is ever-present, we need real truth and justice for our loved ones.

I will never stop fighting for Majella. We will fight this bill. We call on MPs to stand with us."
Yet another County Derry town is to be let bereft of a bank following the announcement of its last remaining branch last week.

Ulster Bank announced the closure of its Maghera branch as part of a raft of closures, including branches in Holywood, Warrenpoint, Dunmurry, Antrim, Ballymoney, Larne, Comber and Clogher.

The news was met with disappointment in Maghera, with customers of the bank recalling in-branch encouragement to go online during recent visits.

The development also means many businesses and customers will now have to travel to neighbouring towns like Magherafelt for their banking requirements.

One local businessman told Derry Now that moving accounts presents its own problems for business.

Following the closure of another local branch, they moved their banking arrangements to Ulster Bank, only for it to now suffer the same fate.

I suppose it's shock really. Even speaking to the staff in the branch yesterday, they had only been informed the day before, he said.

We had a branch in Dungiven as well that went, so this was the only branch in any of the towns we are based in.

It's very inconvenient now; your next closest bank is in Magherafelt. We have the post office but we don't know what the arrangements will be, so it's very much up in the air at the minute.

By the time you drive to Magherafelt and try to get parked where the bank is  you could spend ten, fifteen minutes trying to get parked.

You'd be talking the guts of 50 minutes to an hour out of your day to get any sort of banking done.

Maghera's Ulster Bank branch.

He said the general migration towards online and telephone banking showed little sign of abating.

It's hard to get speaking to someone on the phone, and now you can't even get to speak to someone in the branch over the counter, he said.

If you have any queries at all, it's going to make it extremely difficult. We find it difficult, never mind someone elderly or who isn't particularly au fait with online banking.

It's not going to be ideal at all, and I'm sure there are a lot of businesses who are not too amused when they hear the news that it's gone.

The bank has been here in the town as long as I remember. It's the same story everywhere. There were two banks in Kilrea there a long time; they're both gone now too.

Mid Ulster District councillor for the area, Martin Kearney, said the closure of the bank would mark the 'end of an era' in Maghera.

The decision by Ulster Bank to close their Maghera branch is very disappointing as it is also the last remaining bank in the town, he said.

Centrally located, and a listed building, its been a landmark in the town for a long time.

As always, the closure will impact on members of the community who cant or dont use online facilities, or who might just prefer using a face-to-face banking service.

Maghera has always been a thriving centre for commercial businesses, as well as being home to many independent family businesses.

The closure of the last bank in the town is a blow for the bank staff too and there are questions about what Ulster Banks plans are for their workers.

It is doubly disappointing that this comes at a time when Maghera town centre is about to undergo a 2.5million regeneration through a Mid Ulster Council public realm scheme.

Cllr Kearney also hit out at a lack of 'meaningful action' on the part of the NI Executive to address the continuing closure of rural bank branches.

Rural communities are losing out again as a result, he added.

Towns in the county have been hit by several branch closures in recent years, with Danske bank closing its Kilrea branch in December 2020 and Limavady's Bank of Ireland branch closing in late 2021.
Spires Integrated Primary school in Magherafelt has been awarded Gold by UNICEF UKs Rights Respecting School programme.

UNICEF is the worlds leading organisation working for children and their rights. The Rights Respecting Schools Award is granted to schools that show commitment to promoting and realising childrens rights and encouraging adults, children and young people to respect the rights of others in school.

Gold is the highest accolade given by UNICEF UK and shows a deep and thorough commitment to childrens rights at all levels of school life. Spires is one of only nine schools in Northern Ireland that have received Gold.

Vice Principal of Spires IPS, Mrs Jenny McKeown said: We are immensely proud and happy to receive the Gold Award from UNICEF UK.

"The whole school community at Spires Integrated primary school have worked hard to develop and promote childrens rights in our teaching, learning and in all aspects of school life.

"Childrens rights are very much at the heart of our school. I want to thank all our wonderful pupils and staff who have shown great commitment to achieve this award recognition.

The Award recognises achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of a schools planning, policies and practice.

A Rights Respecting School is a community where childrens rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted.

The UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools initiative is aimed at schools across the UK, including those in an early years setting.

Currently, it works with nearly 5,000 primary schools, secondary schools, schools for children and young people with special educational needs and pupil referral units across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Schools have reported a positive impact on pupil behaviour, relationships and well-being by enhancing pupils self-esteem, leading to less truancy and bullying, better learning and improved academic standards.
A County Derry resident has been forced to kick a lit petrol bomb away from his door following an incident in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Detectives in Coleraine are appealing for information after a petrol bomb was thrown at a property in the Laurel Avenue area of the town in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday May 25).

"At approximately 12.30am police received a report that a petrol bomb had been thrown at the front door of the property," said a police spokesperson.

"The occupant managed to kick it away however the door was badly damaged during the incident. There were no reports of any injuries, and the item was taken away from the scene for further examination.

"Two males aged 17 and 18 have been arrested and remain in police custody.

"Enquiries are ongoing, and anyone who may have seen any suspicious activity in the area at the time, or have any information that could assist with the investigation,is asked to contact detectives on 101 quoting reference 28 of 25/05/22.

Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org."

East Derry MLA Cara Hunter has appealed for people to bring any information to the attention of the police.

"This was a shocking and reckless attack in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a built-up area of Coleraine that could have had tragic consequences," she said.

"I would appeal to anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious in the area shortly after midnight to come forward to police and assist them with their investigation."

Independent MLA for the area, Claire Sugden, also condemned the attack.

"Any kind of attack like this must be strongly and roundly condemned, Ms Sugden said.

"Those behind this targeted and cold-blooded attack must be brought to justice. It is simply unacceptable. People have the right to live without the fear of this kind of violence.

"Our communities deserve better than this and I would urge anyone with any information to contact the police on 101, using the reference number 28 of 25/05/22."
Speedy diagnosis and access to treatment for the life-threatening illness Amyloidosis is needed, a Derry woman suffering from the disease has said.

Rosaline Callaghan was speaking ahead of a major international conference on the condition to be addressed by Dr Sinead Hughes, a consultant cardiologist in Derry's Altnagelvin Hospital.

Amyloidosis is a rare and serious condition which affects the heart, digestive and nervous systems.

Dr Hughes will be speaking about the history of the T60A gene, a particular form of hereditary Amyloidosis, which is prevalent to 25 kilometres of the north west coast of Donegal. It is sometimes known as Donegal Amy. Wild-type amyloidosis is another form of the disease.

The conference, titled 'Emerging from the Shadows,' is being organised by the ATTR Amyloidosis All Ireland Support Group and the Irish Heart Foundation. It is taking place this Saturday (May 28), from 10.00am to 4.30pm, in the An Chuirt Hotel, Gaoth Dobhair.

Rosaline, a member of the ATTR Amyloidosis All Ireland Support Group who lives in Derry and has been diagnosed with the condition, emphasised the international scope of the conference, which will address healthcare professionals and patients throughout the day on early diagnosis and new treatments.

Speaking to the Derry News she said: International experts will be attending the conference, which will discuss ATTR amyloidosis, a condition characterised by a build-up of abnormal amyloid or protein deposits in one or more organs of the body.

Delays in diagnosing amyloidosis are common because the symptoms can be confused with numerous other conditions.

They may include feeling weak or tired, unexplained weight loss, swelling in the legs, ankles or feet, breathlessness, numbness, pain or tingling in hands or feet, bowel or bladder issues or difficulty in walking.

"Speakers include world-renowned experts Professor Julian Gillmore and Professor Mary Reilly, and leading professionals in the field from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, she said.

Rosaline added that the theme of 'Emerging from the Shadows' reflected a rising awareness of the condition and the emergence of new treatments, of which there were none a few years ago.

She said: We need to raise more awareness. My own condition, hereditary amyloidosis Thr60ala, is not only rare, it is all the more unusual in that it has a geographically specific origin in North West Donegal.

One medical paper suggests that one per cent of the population of that county may carry the faulty gene. Of course, not everyone who carries the gene goes on to develop the condition, but many do.

ATTR amyloidosis is rapidly progressive, and ultimately fatal without treatment. We need to ensure people can get a speedy diagnosis and access to treatment at the earliest opportunity.Professor Emer Joyce, a consultant heart function and transplant cardiologist at the Mater University Hospital Dublin and clinical professor of medicine at UCD, will address the conference on how amyloidosis affects the heart.

Professor Joyce said: Cardiac amyloidosis and specifically, ATTR-CA affects a growing population of patients encountered in our clinical practice, she said.

With the advent of contem= porary non-invasive imaging techniques, diagnostics in this field have substantially improved, allowing an earlier detection of affected individuals.

This, alongside the emergence of effective specific therapies for ATTR-CA, is expected to translate into improved outcomes, making possible a promising future for amyloid patients.

It is hoped that with dedicated funding and national support and co-ordination, Ireland can be a future leader in ATTR amyloidosis care and best practice.

Professor Sinead Murphy, consultant neurologist with Tallaght University Hospital, will cover how Amyloidosis affects the autonomic nervous system, and Professor Mary Reilly, consultant neurologist with Queens University College, will discuss the peripheral nervous system.

Professor Aisling Ryan, consultant neurologist with University College Hospital, Cork, will cover H90D, the second most common mutation of hereditary amyloidosis in Ireland.

Dr Mark Coyne, consultant haematologist in Belfast, will highlight the pathways to genetic testing for hereditary amyloidosis, and Professor Julian Gilmore, head of National Amyloidosis Centre with UCL London, will discuss a new world of treatments for ATTR amyloidosis.

Attendees will also hear from Carlos Heras-Palou, Sandra Campbell and Jean Christophe Fidalgo on a range of partnerships and alliances on the condition.

The conference is supported by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Bridge- bio, Intellia Therapeutics, Pfizer and Sobi.
A former Deputy Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council is in custody awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of historical child sexual abuse.

Jim McKeever, 63, was found guilty of eight offences against a young girl that spanned a period from August 1981 to December 1988.

The jury at Belfast Crown Court returned unanimous guilty verdicts on six indecent assault charges, and found McKeever, from Tamneyreagh Park in Eglinton, not guilty of a seventh charge.

He was also convicted on two charges of gross indecency - one unanimously and the other by a majority of ten-to-two.

McKeever, who was suspended from the SDLP when the charges came to light, will be sentenced in September.

Rejecting an application from a defence barrister, Judge Donna McColgan said as McKeever had been convicted by a jury of sexual offences against a child 'he will be remanded in custody until sentencing."'

An SDLP spokesperson said he has now been expelled from the party and called for him to resign his seat on Derry City and Strabane District Council.

In a statement the victim, who was aged between seven and 14 at the time, said nothing would 'erase" what the former SDLP councillor had done.

Following Tuesday's verdict, the victim, who wished to remain anonymous, said: Nothing is going to erase what that man done to me but today justice has been served.

If anybody has been in the same situation as me I would ask them to come forward to police and speak out.

The PSNI officer who headed the investigation paid tribute to the victim for her 'bravery' in coming forward.

Detective Constable Ruth Phelan said: This has been a very traumatic ordeal for the victim and I commend her for bravely coming forward to report to us.

I hope that her strength and confidence in the police to conduct a thorough investigation encourages other victims of child abuse who have felt silenced, to come forward too.

We have a team of dedicated detectives who are determined to bring anyone involved in any form of child abuse before the courts to answer for their crimes, no matter when they occurred.

I would continue to encourage anyone who has experienced any form of sexual abuse to contact police on 101, or in an emergency call 999.

Once youve made a report, you dont have to come into a police station, detectives can arrange to meet you at a time and place that best suits you.

McKeever, who represented the Faughan District Electoral Area, contested his first election for the SDLP in the local council elections in 1997 but failed to take a seat on that occasion.

He was then elected to Derry City Council in 2001, and subsequently re-elected in 2005.

He didnt contest the 2011 Derry City Council elections but was elected to the new Derry City and Strabane District Council in 2014, acting as Deputy Mayor from June 2016 to June the following year.
Ukraines Kyivstar is providing free fixed broadband services to families in temporary housing as a result of being displaced by the countrys ongoing war against Russia.

TeleGeography reports that Kyivstar initially began providing connectivity in a modular town consisting of around 120 temporary homes in the Sykhiv district of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. The operator has also connected around 1150 bomb shelters across Ukraine with high speed internet.

Kyvistar has called for community facilities to communicate their need for connectivity, and is also coordinating with regional administrations to deliver fixed and Wi-Fi access to more temporary settlements.

The operators fixed network division chief Serhiy Sukhoruk said: We are confident that the possibility of access to the internet will help to improve life, study, work and improve the waiting time [for displaced citizens] to return home.

In addition to repairing damage to its fixed network, Kyivstars technical teams are also implementing upgrades, with modernisation underway in several cities including Dnipro, Kyiv and Lviv, where it is now able to offer fibre broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps.
Brazil can claim its first 5G backhaul demonstration over low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, according to satellite operator Telesat and international service provider Telefonica, which have together announced the successful completion of the demonstration in Brazil and Latin America.

The testing campaign was managed alongside Telefonica Global Solutions (TGS), the Telefonica Groups satellite service provider, with the participation of its engineering teams together with those of Telesat. The Telesat Phase 1 LEO satellite layer 2 backhaul link was connected to what TGS describes as its state-of-the-art 5G test environment.

An 85cm Intellian gyro-stabilized Ka-band terminal with a 10 Watt BUC (block upconverter) connected Telefonica Global Solutions data streams to the Phase 1 LEO, validating that a small, carrier-grade terminal can achieve the desired performance to properly support a 5G backhaul network.

A variety of applications were tested across the satellite backhaul link, including upload and download speed and video streaming. Network measurements of latency, jitter and bitrate were recorded throughout the testing campaign, all meeting the functional requirements for integration with a 5G core network.

Satellite backhaul is described by Mauro Wajnberg, General Manager of Telesat Brasil, as a perfect application for Telesat Lightspeed, with the ability to deliver multiple Gbps into remote communities with transformative performance and economics.

According to Eloy Rodriguez Villa, SVP Global Wholesale Customers of Telefonica Global Solutions, performance results achieved close to fibre connectivity.
Bloomsday Family Picnic 2022

News

Join us in celebrating the 100 year anniversary of Ulysses!

To celebrate Bloomsday and the 100th anniversary of Ulysses, the Embassy of Ireland in Denmark is pleased to host a family picnic for the Irish community and friends  all ages are welcome! Join us next to the Statue of Hans Christian Andersen in Kongens Have, Copenhagen. Dont worry, well have a sign so you wont miss us!

We are delighted to have performers from Kbenhavns Shakespeare Kompagni joining us on the day, with lots of activities for children including readings, songs and interactive storytelling, and we will even have some goody bags!

You are welcome to come along with your best Joyce-inspired accessories  think straw hats, round glasses, a cane, braces, ruffled blouses, long skirts and shawls. Most importantly though just bring yourselves!

The event will be in English.

Practical information:

The event is free but you must sign up in order to confirm your attendance, including the number of children attending, to assist with our planning.

Children must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times.

Disclaimer: A photographer will be present on the day. By registering, you accept that you and your child may appear in photographs. These may be used on DFAs or the Embassys social media channels or our website. Please inform us directly if you do not want you or your children to be included in the photographs.

A photographer will be present on the day. By registering, you accept that you and your child may appear in photographs. These may be used on DFAs or the Embassys social media channels or our website. Please inform us directly if you do not want you or your children to be included in the photographs. Please bring your own blanket and lunch, the Embassy will provide some soft drinks and a little dessert.

The event will be held outdoors weather permitting, if rain is forecast we will relocate indoors and will contact you through Eventbrite to confirm the location.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/bloomsday-family-picnic-tickets-347201829017



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The demonstration was organized by people of the Afrin Canton, Kurds, Turkomen and Arabs, in the village of Wahshiye in the Shahba Canton.

The demonstration condemned the latest threats of the Turkish occupation state against the NES and the class made recently by Recep Tayip Erdogan to settle more than a million Syrian refugees in the occupied areas in northern Syria.

As demonstrators arrived at the Russian Reconciliation Center located in the village of Wahshiye in the Fafine district, Co-chair if the Berxedan IDP Camp Council Na'ila Issa read a statement:

''the fascism of the Turkish occupation state is built upon intransigence and it has never hidden its colonial aspirations in the neighboring countries based on the so called Misak I- Milli that considers NES its historical lands. Its claim to create the so called Safe Zone in NES and to build settlements in Northern Syria notably in Afrin are advanced military based inside the Syrian lands in order to create a demographic change and to commit more crimes against the Syrian people and to create sedition among components. These areas would become safe havens for terrorists to serve Turkish agendas.

On behalf of the Afrin IDPs and the people of Shahba we condemn and denounce the Turkish threat of a military operation against NES calling on the Russian Federation to put pressure on as a guarantor state and to prevent any aggression and to stop as well the so called safe zones that go in line with the demographic change in NES and Afrin.

Then a committee representing Autonomous Administration, notables and Camps Administration was formed and delivered a message to the Center on the demands of the people to exit Turkish occupation from Afrin and to stop settlements''.

L..A

ANHA
UN chief shocked by mass shooting in Texas elementary school

Xinhua) 10:37, May 25, 2022

UNITED NATIONS, May 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply shocked and saddened by the heinous mass shooting in an elementary school in Texas, the United States, said his spokesman on Tuesday.

It is particularly heart-wrenching that most of the victims are children, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a statement.

The secretary-general extends his heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims and to the entire community, said the statement.

An 18-year-old man opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday afternoon, killing 21 people, including 18 children.

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Liang Jun)
Menza published a post on her Facebook page in which she talked about the Turkish threats to NE Syria, and said: "We arrived in NE Syria and were astonished to hear Erdogan might invade it again.

"How can an invasion that targets civilians with murder, rape and kidnapping be considered a war crime in Ukraine? But it's okay when Turkey does the same here in North and East Syria!" Nadine Menza asked.

A few days ago, the head of the Turkish occupation state, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, threatened to launch new attacks on NE Syria with aim of occupying areas and carrying out new ethnic cleansing and demographic changes.

A.K

ANHA
Quad plans over $50 bn infastructure investment in Asia-Pacific

Leaders of the Quad countries  US, Japan, Australia and India  today unveiled plans to invest at least $50 billion into infrastructure projects in the region over the next five years and a maritime monitoring initiative, which is expected to bolster surveillance of Chinese activities.

In his opening remarks earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Quad has gained a significant place on the world stage in a short span of time, and it is moving ahead with a constructive agenda for the Indo-Pacific region, which will further strengthen its image of a "force for good".

He noted that the Quad member countries have increased mutual coordination in several areas of economic cooperation like supply change resilience, vaccine delivery, climate action and disaster management. "Quad grouping has ensured peace, prosperity and stability in Indo-Pacific," he added.

US President Joe Biden said that Washington would stand with its "close domestic partners" to push for a free and open Indo-Pacific region. "Russia's assault of Ukraine only heightens the importance of those goals of fundamental principles of international order, territorial integrity and sovereignty," he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has challenged the principles enshrined in the UN Charter. "We should never ever allow a similar incident to happen in the Indo-Pacific region," PM Kishida said.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also pledged more support for Pacific nations, including aid to deepen "our defence and maritime cooperation".

PM Modi also held bilateral talks with US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Australia's newly-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albaneson on the sidelines of the summit. The leaders discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, technology, defence, and people-to-people ties among their countries.

The Quad is committed to cooperation with partners in the region who share the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. We reaffirm our unwavering support for ASEAN unity and centrality and for the practical implementation of ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, the leaders stated in a joint communique.

We welcome the EUs Joint Communication on the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, which was announced in September 2021 and increased European engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. We will champion adherence to international law, particularly as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the maintenance of freedom of navigation and overflight, to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South China Seas. We strongly oppose any coercive, provocative or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo and increase tensions in the area, such as the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries offshore resource exploitation activities.

Individually and collectively, we will further strengthen our cooperation with Pacific island countries, to enhance their economic well being, strengthen health infrastructure and environmental resilience, to improve their maritime security and sustain their fisheries, to provide sustainable infrastructure, to bolster educational opportunities, and to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, which pose especially serious challenges for this region. We are committed to working together to address the needs of Pacific island partners. We reaffirmed our support for Pacific Islands Forum unity and for Pacific regional security frameworks.

Among ourselves and with our partners, we will deepen our cooperation in multilateral institutions, including at the United Nations, where reinforcing our shared priorities to reform and enhance the resilience of the multilateral system itself. Individually and together, we will respond to the challenges of our time, ensuring that the region remains inclusive, open, and governed by universal rules and norms.

We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) and also reconfirm the necessity of immediate resolution of the issue of Japanese abductees. We also condemn North Koreas destabilising ballistic missile development and launches, including multiple intercontinental ballistic missile tests, in violation of UNSCRs, and call on the international community to fully implement these resolutions. We urge North Korea to abide by all of its obligations under the UNSCRs, refrain from provocations, and engage in substantive dialogue.

We remain deeply concerned by the crisis in Myanmar, which has caused grave humanitarian suffering and posed challenges to regional stability. We continue to call for the immediate end to violence in Myanmar, the release of all political detainees, including foreigners, engagement in constructive dialogue, humanitarian access, and the swift restoration of democracy. We reaffirm our support for ASEAN-led efforts to seek a solution in Myanmar and welcome the role of Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair. We further call for the urgent implementation of the ASEAN Five Point Consensus.

We condemn unequivocally terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate that there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds whatsoever. We denounce the use of terrorist proxies and emphasize the importance of denying any logistical, financial or military support to terrorist groups which could be used to launch or plan terror attacks, including cross-border attacks. We reiterate our condemnation of terrorist attacks, including 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks. We also reaffirm UNSC Resolution 2593 (2021), which demands that Afghan territory must never again be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter or train terrorists, or to plan or finance terrorist attacks. We emphasize the importance of upholding international standards on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism by all countries, consistent with FATF recommendations. We reaffirm that in our fight against global terrorism, we will take concerted action against all terrorist groups, including those individuals and entities designated pursuant to the UNSC Resolution 1267(1999).

The Quad countries also pledged to continue to lead global efforts for Covi-19 response, with a view to building better health security and strengthening health systems.

The Summit in Tokyo is the fourth interaction of Quad Leaders. President Biden hosted the first-ever Quad summit in the virtual format in March last year, which was followed by an in-person summit in Washington in September. The Quad leaders also held a virtual meeting earlier this year in March.

In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.
Statement on Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity

We, India, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United States and Vietnam of the Indo-Pacific region, acknowledge the richness and the diversity of our vibrant regional economy. We share a commitment to a free, open, fair, inclusive, interconnected, resilient, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region that has the potential to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth. We acknowledge our economic policy interests in the region are intertwined, and deepening economic engagement among partners is crucial for continued growth, peace, and prosperity.

We recognise the Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the imperative of working closely together to ensure that economic recovery and advancement are grounded in resilience, sustainability, and inclusivity. The pandemic has also emphasised the importance of strengthening economic competitiveness and cooperation and securing critical supply chains, while stimulating job growth and improving economic opportunities, including for our workers, women, medium- and small-enterprises, and our societies most vulnerable groups.

In the long term, economic competitiveness will be largely defined by our ability to harness technology, promote innovation, participate in the digital economy, justly transition energy systems and achieve energy security, and tackle the climate crisis in a manner that produces equitable, inclusive growth and improves socio-economic welfare.

In order to prepare our economies for the future, we are launching the process to establish the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity.

This framework is intended to advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness for our economies. Through this initiative, we aim to contribute to cooperation, stability, prosperity, development, and peace within the region.

We invite participation from additional Indo-Pacific partners that share our goals, interests, and ambitions for the region. We are committed to collaborating with our framework partners in a manner that acknowledges the importance of technical assistance and capacity building, allows us to maintain a flexible approach, and delivers tangible benefits for our peoples.

Today, we launch collective discussions toward future negotiations on the following pillars. Framework partners will be engaging in such discussions on various ways to strengthen economic cooperation to achieve these goals, and we invite other interested Indo-Pacific partners to join us.

Trade: We seek to build high-standard, inclusive, free, and fair trade commitments and develop new and creative approaches in trade and technology policy that advance a broad set of objectives that fuels economic activity and investment, promotes sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and benefits workers and consumers. Our efforts include, but are not limited to, cooperation in the digital economy.

Supply Chains: We are committed to improving transparency, diversity, security, and sustainability in our supply chains to make them more resilient and well-integrated. We seek to coordinate crisis response measures; expand cooperation to better prepare for and mitigate the effects of disruptions to better ensure business continuity; improve logistical efficiency and support; and ensure access to key raw and processed materials, semiconductors, critical minerals, and clean energy technology.

Clean Energy, Decarbonisation, and Infrastructure: In line with our Paris Agreement goals and efforts to support the livelihood of our peoples and workers, we plan to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technologies to decarbonise our economies and build resilience to climate impacts. This involves deepening cooperation on technologies, on mobilising finance, including concessional finance, and on seeking ways to improve competitiveness and enhance connectivity by supporting the development of sustainable and durable infrastructure and by providing technical assistance.

Tax and Anti-Corruption: We are committed to promoting fair competition by enacting and enforcing effective and robust tax, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery regimes in line with existing multilateral obligations, standards, and agreements to curb tax evasion and corruption in the Indo-Pacific region. This involves sharing expertise and seeking ways to support capacity building necessary to advance accountable and transparent systems.

We are continuing to identify additional areas of cooperation based on consultations among partners to further our shared interests, with a view to advancing regional economic connectivity and integration. We look forward to jointly creating conducive environments to boost flows of commerce, trade, and investments amongst our economies, and to enhancing standards and access to opportunities for our workers, companies, and peoples in our combined markets.
First loves and ceili dancing are among some of the memories featured on two new An Post stamps celebrating the Gaeltacht.

The national post service unveiled the new stamps just as most Irish colleges - or Colaisti Samhraidh - prepare to reopen after the Covid-19 pandemic forced their closure in 2019.

The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, called the stamps "a wonderful way to mark the return".

She said, "A summer spent sa Ghaeltacht being immersed in our language and culture is something that many of us, myself included, will have experienced in our youth. The stamps capture so well the nostalgic memories of attending the ceili, life without smart phones, making new friends, and nurturing an appreciation and understanding of our language as a thriving, evolving, living part of Irish life.

"The return of na Colaisti Samhraidh in 2022 is another indication of the progress we are making as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is my hope that this years scolairi will relish in creating Gaeltacht memories for life."

A trip to the Gaeltacht during the summer has long been known as a common rite of passage for Irish teens, and for many marks the first solo trip away from home.

Students will come to familiarise themselves with Gaeltacht customs, such as fon poca bans, ceili dancing, sport, music, eating bacon and cabbage, and writing and receiving letters.

More than 25,000 students will visit Colaisti Samhraidh in almost 40 locations this year.

Bean an Ti in Arainn Mhoir, Co Donegal, Anna Gallagher, spoke of her delight at the stamp issue and how she is looking forward to welcoming students back this summer.

She said, "Its great that An Post is recognising the Colaisti Samhraidh, and us as Mhna Tithe. Its even nicer that we will be able to welcome the students after the long break."

Principal of Colaiste Arainn Mhoir in Donegal, Manus O Luaithairi, said, "Colaiste Arainn Mhoir is delighted to welcome Gaeltacht students back to the island after two lonely summers. The stamps show the best parts of life at the Gaeltacht, and writing and receiving letters is an important part of life for students on our summer courses. I look forward to seeing them on letters and parcels all summer long."

The stamps - designed by Dublin-based firm, Detail - are available in selected post offices, all Gaeltacht areas and online (with free delivery) here.
A US consulting firm had accounts with US defense and intelligence contracts, including a state-owned Russian firm that dealt with high technology. McKinsey & Co. worked with US agencies but dealt with Rostec, a Russian firm that made engines for missiles, according to an NBC news story.

Contracts With Russian State-Owned Firm

The consulting firm said the outlet had knowingly serviced American and Russian clients that were not seen as positive but full of impropriety; since Rostec manufactured the military products used in pounding Ukraine.

Information revealed that dealing with the firm was working with a Russian company, carrying out sensitive national security projects for Washington agencies connected with defense, reported Sputnik News.

According to an outlet, the American consulting firm's job with the Russian defense and aerospace giant had little to do with weapons systems. The firm's link to the Russian company will raise potential conflicts of interest over concerns that it has dealings with several government agencies; national security is questioned how secure it is for leading corporations.

Additionally, McKinsey had other dealings with Chinese companies, which also drew scrutiny. Consultant Scott Blackin expressed how a US consulting firm can conduct its contracts in delicate areas of the Russian defense or scientific agencies; remarked the ex-head of the US Chamber of Commerce in Russia. He added that Rostec, as one of its clients, draws attention, noted RT News.

US Consulting Firm Avoid Conflict of Interest

According to US consulting firm McKinsey spokesman Neil Grace, the firm has strict policies to avoid conflicts of interest for its US defense and intelligence contracts for a state-owned Russian firm, and its international work is kept separate from its Washington projects.

Read Also: Volodymyr Zelensky Children: Does the Ukraine President Have Kids?

He said services provided to Rostec are about commercial and operational matters and that describing this work as benefiting the military of Russia is unfair and inaccurate.

Rostec is the leading defense firm in Russia, and it has a subsidiary that controls the majority of arms exports allowed by Moscow. It did the research and development for military hardware that includes the cutting-edge Checkmate fighter. Other products are armored fighting vehicles to attack helicopters used by the Russian forces, and engines produced by the corporation are used to propel missiles used against Ukraine in the military offensive.

At the height of the US opioid crisis, the company was alleged to disregard potential conflicts of interest when advising opioid manufacturers and their federal regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, cited Sputnik News.

Last year, the company paid $573 million to cover allegations that it aided in increased opioid revenues, culminating in over 400,000 deaths as a result of substance abuse. Statements by US Senator Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) hinted the consulting firm's business practices had misgivings about its contracts abroad.

Sen. Hassan added if it was a substance-misuse crisis or working for state-owned enterprises in places like Russia and China. Expressed that the choices made will be a conflict of interest for the US government.

Former consulting firm employees moved on to influential roles in business and government. Those connected to the company include Pete Buttigieg, Sheryl Sandberg, and Susan Rice; they moved on to coveted positions in the US government.

Major clients are Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprom, and Rosneft are major firms in Russia, said NBC in court filling; but gave up on these clients after sanctions. The US consulting firm McKinsey and its US defense and intelligence contracts that include state-owned Russian firm 'Rostec' is alleged to disregard conflicts of interests but justified business dealings.

Related Article: Moscow Names Unfriendly Nations That Have Destabilized Global Security on Energy and Food With Their Sanctions

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Cllr Pearse McGeough raised the issue of water quality in mid-Louth at the Louth County Council May meeting and has asked that the local authority to seek a completion date for the works at the Greenmount Treatment Plant.

The mid-Louth councillor told the may meeting that he understands that the timeline for the completion of the Greenmount Treatment Plant is in 2025, and commented that he thought that was a long time off, in particular with ongoing issues that are affecting the mid-Louth area, including in particular Dunleer. Cllr McGeough told the members present that Irish Water "has to be told this is not good enough and it needs completion". He added that "with further ongoing issues, particularly planning applications and recent zoning in Dunleer, this is going to be a significant issue."

In response, Cllr McGeough was told that Louth County Council would seek an update from Irish Water. Following the meeting, Cllr McGeough told the Dundalk Democrat that following the recent dumping of lambs into the River Dee at Cappogue, near Dunleer, he "sought assurances about the quality of the water supply as possible contamination could have taken place due to the flow of the river."

Cllr McGeough added, in light of the contaminated water supply last year when local residents were left with undrinkable water not even fit after boiling, it is imperative that these works are completed as soon as possible.
A gunman at an elementary school in Texas has shot and killed at least 14 students and one teacher in a horrifying incident, Gov. Greg Abbott revealed on Tuesday.

The governor said that the suspect was also already dead and is believed to have been fatally shot by responding law enforcement officers. The Texas Republican's remarks came after the district reported an active shooter at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.

Texas School Shooting

The school is approximately one hour and a half west of San Antonio and teaches 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-grade students, said Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pedro Arredondo. Abbott also said that the shooter was identified to be an 18-year-old male who resided in Uvalde.

The Republican said he believed that the gunman, who he named Salvador Ramos, abandoned his vehicle before entering the school armed with a handgun and possibly a rifle. Abbott said that the suspect shot and killed the students "horrifically" and "incomprehensibly."

Arredondo noted that the shooting took place at roughly 11:32 a.m. local time but did not provide many details regarding the events. However, he confirmed that the shooter was indeed dead and said that investigators were led to believe that he acted alone, as per CBS News.

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The police chief also confirmed that there were several injuries and "some deaths" that were caused by the shooter. On the other hand, two law enforcement sources said that the alleged gunman was suspected of killing his grandmother before going to the school and shooting other people.

In a statement, Uvalde Memorial Hospital spokesperson Tom Nordwick said earlier that two people died in the school shooting and that 13 children and a man in his 40s were being treated for injuries. University Hospital in San Antonio posted on Twitter and said that they received a child and an adult from the school shooting. They added that the adult, a 66-year-old woman, was in critical condition.

According to CNN, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is the largest law enforcement agency in the area, was able to assist with the response. A CBP agent was believed to have been shot in the head but an official said the injuries were non-life-threatening.

School Shootings in the US

One bystander in the area at the time of the shooting, Isaias Melendez, was able to capture video footage of the horrifying incident. They showed scores of armed officers at the scene while other people were trying to flee the school.

The incident marks the 30th shooting at a K-12 school this year alone and excluding yesterday's shooting, there have been at least 38 shootings in K-12 schools, colleges, and universities, so far in 2022 that resulted in at least 10 deaths and 51 injuries.

Abbott said that when parents drop their children off at school, they have the right to expect that they will be able to pick them up when that school day ends. He noted that there were many families who were now mourning the loss of their loved ones, ABC13 reported.



Related Article: Attorney Suggests Going After Buffalo Shooting Suspect's 'Accomplices' as FBI Interviews Gunman's Parents

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According to an FBI search warrant application, a suspected ISIS operator in the United States was planning to assassinate former President George W. Bush.

There is a plot to sneak accomplices across the Mexican border, prompting further calls for increased border security.

George W. Bush Assassination Plot

The suspected Islamic State operative allegedly flew to Dallas in late November to scout Bush's residence. While there, he allegedly requested assistance from a squad of countrymen he intended to bring across the border. The information was obtained via an FBI search warrant application submitted on March 23 in Ohio, where the suspected operator was stationed.

The FBI allegedly detected the scheme using two informants and monitoring the individual's WhatsApp communications. According to FBI data, the suspected would-be assassin has been in the United States since 2020 and has a pending asylum application.

The suspected plotter's identity was not published since no charges were filed against him, and the paper said it was unclear if he had been apprehended. Following news of the suspected plot, some Republican lawmakers, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, turned to Twitter to demand border security reform.

In recent years, the US-Mexico border has become a contentious political issue. Former President Donald Trump sought to build a border wall to decrease illegal border crossings, but President Joe Biden halted its construction when he took office.

Meanwhile, Biden has been chastised by immigration rights organizations for debating whether to maintain some Trump-era measures, while conservatives have chastised him for not doing enough to prevent migrants from entering the country, Newsweek reported.

According to officials, Shihab, who is scheduled to appear in court on Friday, entered the country on a guest visa and submitted an asylum application in March 2021.

Shihab, who was wearing a charcoal Reebok shirt and handcuffs, was formally charged with two crimes at Tuesday's brief court hearing: helping an immigrant into the United States for financial gain and aiding and abetting Bush's attempted murder.

Read Also: House Ethics Committee To Investigate 3 GOP Members Over Alleged Financial Improprieties, Improper Relationship With Staffer

FBI Relies on Two Confidential Informants

As per USA Today, Shihab had the right, as a non-US citizen, to have the court notify the Iraqi embassy, but he chose not to. The FBI had been communicating with Shihab since April 2021, when he described his intention to transport up to six Iraqi citizens via the Mexican border in return for tens of thousands of dollars each person.

According to court filings, the conversation turned into a talk about an alleged desire to assassinate Bush by late fall when Shihab inquired about security measures at Bush's Dallas home and Texas ranch. Shihab allegedly told the informants that he wanted to be part of the actual attack and assassination of former president Bush and didn't care if he perished because he would be happy to have been involved in killing former president Bush.

The narrative seems complex and far-reaching, with international ties and allegations of high-powered connections. However, relying on confidential informants, who frequently face charges and sometimes earn tens of thousands of dollars for their information, will raise fears that the specifics will not stand up to examination in light of the failure of previous high-profile cases.

One of the informants allegedly assisted persons seeking phony immigration and identity documents, while the other allegedly engaged in people smuggling. According to the request, the suspect told an informant about his conspiracy in November of last year and inquired how to get replica or false police and/or FBI identifications and badges to assist carry out the assassination, as well as if the plotters could be smuggled out of the US afterward.

He also inquired of the source about protection at Bush's Dallas home and ranch in Crawford, Texas. He also intended to track down and assassinate a former Iraqi commander who had fled to the United States under a false name after collaborating with American soldiers during the war. According to the warrant, his intention was to utilize Mexican tourist permits to get four Iraqi nationals into Mexico before smuggling them across the border, according to Daily Mail.

Related Article: VP Kamala Harris Remains Inactive from Border Issue Discussion Despite Looming End of Title 42

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IN 1622 Cork city was roughly rectangular in shape, surrounded by the great sandstone and limestone walls that had first been erected by the Anglo-Normans.

Viewed from a distance, the town would have appeared encased in a red and white hue, which, it is suggested, gave rise to the famous Cork colours.

In the many towers rising high above the walls, bored sentries gazed vacantly at the swallows flitting out over the great marshes and sandbanks that stretched away to the east and west, swooping and diving in pursuit of mayflies. To their front, the only sound came from the plaintive cries of the waterfowl and the rustle of the wind in the bulrushes. Behind them, the low hum of the town going about its everyday affairs.

Within the city, the air resounded with the noise of deafening cart wheels, bellowing street hawkers and hammering coppersmiths, and winds brought either choking films of soot or pungent odours from nearby tanners and brewers.

'Traffic jams were frequent as the narrow medieval lanes and streets could hardly cope with the horse-drawn traffic. Excrement from horses, dogs and pigs spattered the streets, leaking dunghills abounded, and cess-pits were ever present.

The Main Street lay on a north-south axis, culminating at the northern end at the North Gate Bridge, and at the South Gate Bridge at the southern end. Both had drawbridges with protected fortifications spanning the entrances. The distance between both was (is) 630 metres, while to walk the width of Cork took only a matter of minutes. In all, the entire city covered an area of about 36 acres.

A map of Cork around 1600.

We may wonder at the temerity of our forefathers in calling such a small place a city, but then, and for centuries after, most European cities were very compact enclaves. For example, writing in 1596, one London scribe marvelled at the fact the circumference of the walls of his native place was all of two miles.

Just before noon on that fateful morning, May 31, 1622, John Coppinger, Mayor of Cork, (and distant ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales) left his house to walk the short distance to meet his city officials.

Suddenly, the clear blue skies of the warm early summer morning became pitch black, to the extent that people began to light lamps and candles in their shops and homes just to be able to see.

The low-hanging clouds that had turned day into night began to boil and roll like the contents of some fantastic witchs cauldron, and with an ear-shattering clap of thunder, the very sky appeared to drip fire and fall upon the city on the eastern side, a spot which approximates to the Daunts Square (junction of Grand Parade and Patrick Street) area today. Thatched roofs burst into flames.

Hundreds of men, women and children spilled out of their homes and workplaces onto the streets, frightened out of their wits, and began to run, inexplicably, towards the fire.

Even as they did so, a second, almighty thunderclap was heard, and the thatched roofs on the western side burst into flames too. Prisoners in the gaols spanning the bridges screamed to be released.

The entire population was now trapped between two rapidly-growing conflagrations. The deadly cocktail of ingredients necessary for a firestorm was fast falling into place. The immolation of Cork was nigh.

******

The citys fire alarm bell hung on the watchtower known as Peters Tower situated behind St Peters Church on the Main Street, but if any warning was sounded, few must have heard it.

In any case, the fires were now spreading so rapidly that any warning was futile. No worthwhile attempt, it seems, was made to organise a firefighting effort, even though the city was surrounded by water.

An illustration from the report on the fire purports to show firefighting operations during the course of the conflagration. It depicts preventers (long fire-hooks) at work pulling burning thatch from a building, and a bucket-chain working from a ladder. From the same house a child is being rescued by lowering-line.

However, as Bourne and Archer, the reports writers, make clear, such was the rapid and overwhelming nature of the conflagration that no effective counter-measures were taken.

Indeed, any such attempt to use the primitive firefighting equipment of the period - leather buckets, preventers, and brass squirts - would have been futile.

******

Fanned by the prevailing westerly wind, the process raced eastwards and soon joined up with the fires spreading west, until the whole of the city within the walls was a roaring furnace.

Roaring out of control with ever-greater strength, we may surmise the artificial wind had developed into a storm with the violence and ferocity of a hurricane.

Finally, the fires joined as one, and what previously had been individual fires now became a sea of flame with a temperature at its centre of more than 800C.

When the fires broke out, many people crowded into the stone-built churches where they expected to be safe. Here they crouched and prayed for deliverance, waiting for the horror to cease. But as the firestorm raged through the streets and lanes of thatched houses, the temperature in the buildings increased rapidly with the ingress of scorching hot air and smoke. The moment had now arrived when the people had to decide whether to stay or leave and try to find safety elsewhere.

Those who decided to try their luck indoors were in mortal danger either of suffering death from the extreme heat and lack of oxygen, or of being buried alive under collapsing buildings. Many must have peered into the street, saw everything seemed to be on fire, decided they could not get through, and withdrawn indoors.

As the blaze consumed all the available air, it was replaced by deadly carbon monoxide. Lamps and candles lit during the initial darkness, would not now stay alight.

People would have lain flat on the floors of the churches to try to breathe in the slightest trace of clean, cool air. Trying to conserve their strength, unknown to them they had begun to breathe the lethal - invisible and odourless - carbon monoxide.

Finally, they would have fallen asleep and death would have come without pain in the form of slow suffocation.

******

Outside, the streets were canyons of pushing, struggling mobs, desperately trying to save anything. Adding to the confusion,maddened animals dashed about in a torture of pain from the red blizzards of hot cinders and sparks.

It was a world reduced to fire, heat and noise, pain, fear, and despairing attempts to escape. Clouds of sparks and firebrands tumbled through the air like red-hot snowflakes.

The embers set clothing alight, burned through the flesh, and seared into faces, eyes and necks. The people beat at their hair, faces and bodies trying to smother the flames. Those who fell to the ground with sheer exhaustion spontaneously burst into flames.

Many of the luckier citizens dropped from the city walls and waded through the sucking marshes to seek refuge on Island Negay (Oilean na nGe, where the Brent geese from the Arctic migrated between November and March each year) near to todays Morrisons Island. There they huddled, wet, shocked, and terrified.

By late afternoon, most of the burned-out buildings had collapsed and all the combustible material consumed. The howling artificial wind would have gradually dropped and here and there the odd fire still burned.

When all the combustible material had been consumed, the firestorm, sated, lost its force. The heat decreased slowly. Those who had been fortunate enough to reach Island Negay watched in awe as a great mushroom cloud of smoke, dust and soot formed over the city, blotting out the late afternoon sun.

By Sunday, the smouldering piles of goods in cellars cast an unearthly red footlight on the panorama of ruin.

Gradually, hesitantly, as survivors entered their devastated city, what scenes must have presented themselves. Stark desolation met their gaze on every side. All was a burned, twisted mass, the streets and lanes full of dead bodies, many welded together by the heat and shrunken to half their normal size, like mummies with leather-like skin.

Those who had crowded into the stone-built buildings had fared little better. Succumbing to the effects of carbon monoxide, we may speculate that whole families lay dead.

******

The chronicle on the Great Fire of Cork records that more than 1,500 buildings were consumed by the flames, a figure that probably includes lesser builds like out-offices, etc.

The serious proportions the fire assumed were immediately blamed on the almost total disregard for an existing by-law that forbade the roofing of houses with thatch.

There is little doubt the blaze was one of the greatest natural disasters ever to befall the city, matched only by the Black Death of 1349.

The record speaks of many hundreds being consumed by the fire, but what does this mean? The population of the city remained fairly static at about 2,500 over a 60-year period from 1600. If only 25% of the population perished in the fire (a conservative estimate if one is to take at face value the horrors described by Bourne and Archer) this equates to a death-toll of some 625.

Superimposed on todays Metropolitan Cork with its population of 210,000, this percentage translates into an unimaginable 52,500 victims. When put in that context, only then does the scale of the catastrophe begin to sink in.

Small wonder the report circulated in London compared Cork to the city of Gomorrah, the biblical city annihilated by fire and brimstone.

******

Five months after the fire, Cork had a new Mayor - John Roche FitzPatrick - and on the night of his election, his first duty was to pledge a new by-law reaffirming the banning of thatch as a roofing material, with dire consequences for offenders. Anyone not complying would have his roof torn off and served with a fine of Forty Pounds Sterling, a sum that would have bought a modest house in 1622. The Fire Prevention Order became effective at midnight on June 23, 1623 - a date still commemorated on the Cork social calendar as Bonfire Night.

The final part in Pat Polands trilogy on the history of Cork Fire Brigade will be published later this year. Entitled Cork City Firefighters - A Proud Record: A Visual History from 1950, it has more than 200 illustrations.
CORK comedian Tadhg Hickeys acclaimed one-man show In One Eye, Out The Other comes to The Everyman for a two-night run, and the McCurtain Villas native says he cant wait to play to a home crowd.

In One Eye, Out The Other is part theatre, part stand-up comedy show, and is based loosely on Hickeys experiences with alcoholism, something he went public about while promoting the show.

I started writing the show when I was still drinking, maybe trying to find the funny side of slowly drinking myself to death, he told The Echo.

Sober now years, not in my wildest dreams did I imagine the drunken scribblings would one day make it to an international audiences and possibly help someone else who might be struggling with alcoholism.

The show tells the story of Feargal, a downtrodden but cheery man who fulfilled, as Mr Hickey puts it, his lifelong dream of becoming an alcoholic, leading the audience on a surreal journey which reviews have described variously as hilarious, cathartic and poignant.

Ive done sell-out runs in Dublin and Belfast, but Ive never done a run in Cork before and the show is completely bound up in the fabric of Cork, he said.

There are references to Sheilas Hostel, and the climactic scene is in The Lough Church, and The Lough is a big part of it, so its my surreal, drunken love letter to Cork.

I never did much travelling when I was drinking, because I was a very insular drunk, and Cork was this arena where I developed alcoholism and nearly lost my life to it and hopefully came out the other end of it.

He said this will probably be the only chance for Cork audiences to see the show, and he hoped for a good turn-out.

It would be very special to me to have a nice crowd to come and see the show, he said.

In One Eye, Out The Other plays The Everyman, Thursday, Friday June 2-3.

Details at everymancork.com.
AS if life wasnt hellish enough for Ukrainians, its sickening to consider that women and girls from the war-torn country are at risk from sex traffickers and sex buyers.

War is a magnet for sexual exploitation and seems to bring out humanitys most base instincts, victimising females.

Irelands largest escort website, Escorts Ireland, is offering men the opportunity to live out their war-inspired fantasies with Ukrainian women.

The website reported a 250% increase in interest for Ukrainian women in recent times.

In Sweden, recently, out of 38 buyers of sex who were arrested in an operation, 30 were attempting to access Ukrainian women specifically.

These and other disturbing facts emerged at a webinar last week, entitled Beyond Exploitation: Trafficking, Prostitution, Sexual Exploitation & the War in Ukraine.

One of the speakers at the webinar, Valiant Richey, a former prosecutor in Seattle and an OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe) special representative and co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Vienna, said the situation in Ukraine is merely an example.

The demand for exploitative sex is a long term challenge on a huge scale that is far beyond the time frame of this conflict.

Targeting demand, said Richey, is a crucial tool to address the under-lying root cause of the crime. Trafficking is a financially-motivated crime and the demand for sexual services motivates it.

Traffickers respond to the money paid by men for sexual services, by trafficking victims. Buyers cause harm to trafficking victims in all sorts of ways. They motivate traffickers in the first place, incentivising them to cause harm to victims.

By definition, the victims do not enter the transaction voluntarily. Rather, they become caught up in the exchange through force, coercion and deceit.

If the sex is non-consensual, its tantamount to rape.

Richey went on to say that 95% of trafficking victims experience some form of violence, the majority of which is caused by buyers.

Sex trafficking is a highly gendered crime. It disproportionately affects women and girls who account for 90% of identified victims. (And it predominantly targets women and girls of colour.)

How can sex trafficking be wiped out?

Too often, said Richey, efforts are focused only on victim identification or prosecution of traffickers. But in order to prosecute a trafficker or a protect a victim, the crime has to already have happened.

We need to find ways to prevent this from happening in the first place and that means targeting its root cause.

"If we dont address demand, the problem will never stop.

Ireland, Richey acknowledged, has adopted laws to punish sex-buying. Its a strong first step but the focus needs to be on implementing that measure.

He favours a targeted public awareness campaign, aimed at the educational sector, business, technology companies and healthcare providers.

Social media sites such as Tik Tok and Instagram are increasingly being used to advertise sexual services to young people, so to discourage them, its necessary to communicate with them on these same platforms.

Research shows that the majority of sex buyers first buy sex under the age of 25.

To counter developing a sex-buying habit, its vital to educate young men and boys about the harmful aspects of masculinity, particularly in schools and on college campuses.

In trying to combat the sexual exploitation of Ukrainian women and girls, theres a need to take into consideration certain cultural differences.

There is, said lawyer, Olena Zaitseva, from the Centre for Democracy in Kviy, Ukraine, a low level of trust among Ukrainians in law enforcers. So, when a person gets trafficked or finds themselves in a dangerous situation, theres a good chance the person wont go to the police.

Also, there is a very high level of victim blaming, not only in the population but also in state agencies.

If a sex crime is committed against a woman, she will be asked what she was wearing. And witnesses will rarely help the victim or address the police themselves.

Information materials about the law and support organisations in the countries refugees find themselves in are needed.

Diane Martin CBE, vice chair of the International Survivors of Trafficking Advisory Council, also spoke at the Webinar.

Depressingly, she said the fact that traffickers and sex buyers are targeting Ukrainian women fleeing war is not shocking to me. Before this war, Ukrainian women had been targeted and exploited by traffickers.

Just trying to navigate a dangerous journey from Ukraine to a new country is traumatising enough without women having to be on the alert for traffickers.

We must try and put ourselves in the shoes of those for whom these horrors are a reality, said Martin.

We have eyes and ears to witness what is happening. Lets not ignore Ukrainian refugees plight.

We must meet evil intentions head on, said Diane Martin.
An EU state Lithuania asks members of the bloc to form a group to escort Ukrainian grain ships through a Russian naval blockade. Ukraine has been routed in the Black Sea by the Russians and taken control of ports that have left Kyiv helplessly landlocked.

Russia Controls the Black Sea

The proposed coalition of bloc members by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis is a desperate attempt to secure the grains in the face of a shortage in the European Union, reported RT.

In an interview with the Guardian, Landsbergis clarified that he floated the idea during talks with UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in London last Monday. Truss raised Britain's support for such a confederation in principle.

Russia has rejected imposing a naval blockade on Ukraine, calling the accounts untrue and asserting that Kyiv has induced logistical problems on shipping by placing mines in its ports, cited the Press United.

The statement by the Lithuanian foreign minister described it as a coalition of willing states; armed with considerable naval power.

To Protect Black Sea Shipping Routes

He went on to say that the naval escort operation must not involve NATO and instead be a non-military humanitarian mission, not a no-fly zone, noted Good Word News.

According to the diplomat, the operation could include Britain and countries affected by grain shortages, such as Egypt.

According to the report, affected countries must be willing to take steps to feed the world, as suggested by EU state Lithuania.

Armed Ships Could Provoke Russian Fleet

Landsbergis remarked that other than civilian ships, they used armed warships or planes and both to escort Ukrainian grain ships.

Furthermore, it recommended that armed ships and planes could deter the Russian naval blockade from stopping the ships from leaving controlled Odessa and getting to Bosphorus.

Read Also: Donald Trump Net Worth 2022: Did Trump Get Richer Since Leaving the US Presidency?

However, he admitted that carrying out such a plan would necessitate demining some areas and obtaining approval from Turkey, which controls the Black Sea's entrance and might see the escort operation as escalatory.

According to the Guardian, Truss stated should concerns raised by Landsbergis are settled, Britain will be willing to provide ships for the escort expedition.

She remarked that the problem of global food security is a major concern; the UK is trying to find a desperate solution to transport the grain from the locked Ukraine ports.

Antagonizing Russia Worsens European Food Security

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that Russia and Ukraine provide about 30 percent of world wheat exports. This conflict started by dropping neutrality and starting a proxy war is the cause of a global food shortage affecting everyone.

Last Monday, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov concurred with his worry about Guterres', saying it is accurate while stressing that Russia tried everything to stop the conflict that would have this aftermath.

Blaming Western allies and NATO went hand in hand with self-inflicted pain through illegal sanctions. It is Kyiv's error to place the mines hampering shipping lanes. Peskov states Kyiv could use rail routes instead to export its grain.

Poland transports trains with weapons to Ukraine, and he mocked that if trains with weapons were not stopped, grains would not be prevented from passing.

EU state Lithuania suggested an armed escort for Ukrainian grain ships to get past an alleged Russian naval blockade would be easier; if Polish rails were used, as indicated by Peskov.

Related Article: Moscow Reports Ukraine Neo-Nazis Uses Civilians as Human Shields in Donetsk and Lugansk Republics After the Battle of Mariupol

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Peter Doyle

A violent drug addict who charged at a hospital doctor before stabbing him three times in the back with a needle taken from his own arm will be returned to prison to serve a new sentence after his original one-year jail term was more than doubled on appeal.

The Court of Appeal heard the doctor had moved to Ireland to realise his dream of becoming an emergency medicine consultant but has since given up his hopes after the attack by Stephen Ennis (32) left him "shattered".

At a hearing in February, Ennis was told the appeal court would focus on the content of probation reports and was warned that the ball was in his court if he wanted to avoid another prison term.

However, the three-judge court was told that Ennis  who has 72 previous convictions  has since been detained on drugs and shoplifting charges.

The court had previously noted that recent legislation meant attacks on medical front-line responders could attract a 40 per cent premium in sentencing.

Assault

Ennis, of Cashel Road, Crumlin, Dublin, was jailed in October 2020 after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a person providing medical care in St James's Hospital, James Street, Dublin 8, on March 7th, 2020.

However, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) later appealed the sentence on the grounds that insufficient weight had been given by Judge Martin Nolan to the harm caused to the injured party in the case.

In its submission to the Court of Appeal, the DPP said the medic was a foreign national who had been training to become an emergency medicine consultant when he first encountered Ennis in his hospitals emergency department.

The man has since opted for a career in general practice as a consequence of the assault, which he said had made him realise how vulnerable front-line healthcare workers were in the course of their duty.

In a judgement delivered by Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, she said the attack has had a profound impact on the victim and the hopes he had of pursuing his long sought-after career when he moved to Ireland.

Quashing the original sentence, she described the respondent as someone with a deep-seated drug addiction, adding that a headline sentence of four years was a suitable starting point for the offence.

She then reduced the term by one year to take into account attempts by Ennis to tackle his drug addiction following a recent return to custody, before suspending the final six months of the three-year prison term.

Ennis sentence had been quashed at an appeal hearing in February.

At that time, he was warned by Mr Justice John Edwards that the courts final decision would be very much influenced by the content of probation reports which would focus on Ennis claim he was no longer using drugs.

However, Keith Spencer BL, for Ennis, told the court on Thursday that in the intervening period his client had suffered a relapse and had been detained on drugs and shoplifting charges.

Consel said his client had not applied for High Court bail because he preferred to remain in custody as he once again tried to combat his drug addiction.

Previously, Mr Spencer said Ennis had been suffering from a deep-rooted addiction at the time of the offence.

Seizure

At the sentence hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Nolan was told Ennis had 72 previous convictions, including convictions for violent disorder, possession of drugs for sale or supply, possession of knives, burglary and begging.

Garda Ciaran O'Sullivan told Fiona Crawford BL, prosecuting, that on the day of the assault Ennis was found collapsed outside Pearse Street Garda station having a seizure and was brought by ambulance to St James' Hospital.

Gda O'Sullivan said that while in the hospital, Ennis would not stay on his trolley and was bothering nurses, before appearing to calm down.

Ennis agreed to have a blood sample taken and a doctor inserted a needle into his wrist. Ennis then withdrew the needle, held it over his head and charged towards the doctor.

The doctor ran down the corridor away from Ennis, shouting for help, but the two ended up bundled on the floor together. A healthcare worker came to the doctor's assistance, getting Ennis off of him.

The doctor was unaware that he had been stabbed three times in the back until he was informed by his colleague.

Ennis was brought back to the Garda station where he was deemed unfit to be interviewed for some time. When he was interviewed, he said he did not remember much of the incident, but admitted he had stabbed the doctor.

Gda O'Sullivan agreed with Mr Spencer, defending, that his client was a heroin addict and that the seizure was caused by withdrawal symptoms. He accepted Ennis was behaving erratically in the hospital and babbling that somebody was going to kill him.
The highly social and endangered Asian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) lives in matriarch-led groups and, in addition to foods that can be found in the wild like grasses and the roots, bark and leaves of trees, enjoys foods cultivated by humans like rice and bananas, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Unfortunately, remnants of these and other cultivated foods and their packaging can be found in garbage dumps near where the elephants forest habitat meets human communities, where hungry Asian elephants gobble up the food, plastic packaging, utensils and other garbage. The plastics and other human debris is then transported into the forests via the elephants dung.

Earlier this year, The Associated Press reported that the consumption of extensive amounts of plastic waste had killed about 20 elephants in Sri Lanka over the past eight years.

Polythene, food wrappers, plastic, other non-digestibles and water were the only things we could see in the post mortems. The normal food that elephants eat and digest was not evident, said wildlife veterinarian Nihal Pushpakumara, as The Associated Press reported.

In a new study published in the Journal for Nature Conservation, titled Plastic ingestion in Asian elephants in the forested landscapes of Uttarakhand, India, a team of scientists collected dung samples from inside and around forested areas in Uttarakhand, India, and found that the endangered Asian elephants there had been ingesting human garbage, including plastics.

Each human-derived item was identified, measured, and sub-categorized into plastic or other anthropogenic waste. About one-third (32%) of the elephant dung samples showed presence of anthropogenic waste, the study said.

Elephants disperse seeds through their dung, but when their food supply is contaminated with plastic, this natural process transports the ubiquitous and damaging pollutant into wild spaces, endangering the health of the elephants and their forest companions, reported The New York Times.

While working on her Ph.D. at Jawaharlal Nehru University, lead author of the study Dr. Gitanjali Katlam caught elephants ingesting garbage via trail cameras in the state of Uttarakhand in northern India. She and her colleagues, along with ecological research nonprofit the Nature Science Initiative, also collected dung samples.

Plastic was detected in all of the dung close to the dumps and forest near Kotdwar, located near Jim Corbett National Park. Eighty-five percent of the refuse found in the elephant dung collected there was made of plastic, mostly from plastic utensils, food containers, plastic packaging and plastic bags.

Once the plastics are brought into the forest via the elephants dung, they may be consumed by other species and fill their stomachs, causing mechanical damage, said Carolina Monmany Garzia, who was not involved with the study and works with Agustina Malizia, an independent researcher with the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina, The New York Times reported.

It has a cascading effect, said Katlam, as reported by The New York Times.

With the ingestion of plastics comes the introduction of dangerous chemicals like phthalates, polystyrene and bisphenol A to the digestive systems of the elephants and other animals.

The management of waste by the Indian government, as well as individuals taking the time to make sure that containers dont contain food waste, are both important to help keep plastic from being ingested by elephants and other animals as often, Katlam pointed out.

We need to realize and understand how the overuse of plastics is affecting the environment and the organisms that inhabit them, said Malizia, as The New York Times reported.
Nicknamed the Green Nobel Prize, the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize recognizes grassroots activists from six continents who have moved the needle on environmental issues their communities face. This years recipients led the charge on environmental justice, wildlife and rainforest conservation, plastic pollution, dams and coal projects.

These phenomenal environmental champions remind us what can be accomplished when we fight back and refuse to accept powerlessness and environmental degradation. They have not been silenced  despite great risks and personal hardship  and we must also not be silent, either. It takes all of us, Susie Gelman, vice president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, said in a press release.

Here are the six everyday environmental heroes and the impact theyve made.

Gloria Majiga-Kamoto

The 30-year-old Malawian woman has been taking on the nations largest plastic manufacturers for the past five years. Her goal: to eliminate single-use plastics in the country, CNN reports.

According to Mongabay, 75,000 tons of plastic are produced in Malawi each year, most of it thin plastic that is difficult to recycle. Plastic also clogs drains, creating pools of standing water that become breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. One study found plastic in 40 percent of cows slaughtered in one community, Mongabay reports.

To take on the root of the issue, Majiga-Kamoto worked with two other activists and civil society groups to create a grassroots campaign that pressured authorities to instate a plastic ban in Malawi. After a protracted legal battle with plastic manufacturers, the Malawi Supreme Court upheld a national ban on the production, importation, distribution, and use of thin plastics in July 2019, CNN writes.

Thai Van Nguyen

Thai Van Nguyen, 39, is the founder of Save Vietnams Wildlife, an organization that, between 2014 and 2020, successfully removed more than 1,500 critically endangered pangolins from the illegal wildlife trade, according to an announcement from the Goldman Environmental Foundation. Nguyen also started his countrys first anti-poaching unit. Since 2018, the unit has destroyed 9,701 animal traps, dismantled 775 illegal camps, confiscated 78 guns, and arrested 558 people for poaching, leading to a significant decline in illegal activities in Pu Mat National Park, the announcement said.

Pangolins are used in traditional medicine throughout China and Vietnam and are the most trafficked animal in the world, CNN reports. The Goldman Environmental Foundation estimates that more than one million pangolins have been poached worldwide in the past decade. In 2004 alone, 60 tons of live pangolins were seized in Vietnam.

The pangolin is the only scaly mammal in the world. Losing the pangolin means losing a part of the ecosystem, making it unbalanced, Nguyen told CNN.

Maida Bilal

Called the Blue Heart of Europe, the Balkans support the last free-flowing rivers in Europe, and thanks to Maida Bilal, 39, one river has a chance at staying that way. In December, 2018, Bilal led a group of women from her village, Kruscica, a small mountain village west of Sarajevo, in a 503-day blockade of dam construction equipment that led to the cancellation of permits for two proposed dams on the Kruscica River. Rivers in the region are biodiversity hubs that house nearly 70 endemic fish species and 40 percent of all endangered freshwater mollusk species on Earth, a Goldman Environmental Foundation announcement said.

The Kruscica River, which flows through the Western Balkans, is the main water source for almost 150,000 people. On Aug. 24, 2017, police attacked the protestors, including Bilal, who was struck on the head, and her 70-year-old father, who was arrested, Mongabay reports.

Kimiko Hirata

Kimiko Hiratas work focuses on her native Japan, the worlds fifth-largest carbon emitter, Mongabay reports. Hirata, 50, is the director and founding member of the NGO Kiko Network, which works to stop climate change, a Goldman Environmental Foundation announcement said. In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Hirata took a booming coal industry head-on, pressuring coal-funders, namely commercial banks, to divest from the fossil fuel.

As a result of her work, more than one-third of Mizuho Financial shareholders voted to move away from coal and more than 10 major developers made commitments to stop funding coal projects. So far, 13 planned coal plants have been canceled, which represent almost 40 percent of planned coal projects in Japan. A mammoth feat for an NGO in a country where NGOs are little respected by government and industry, Mongabay reports.

Sharon Lavigne

Sharon Lavigne, 68, is a retired special-education-teacher-turned-activist who lives in a strip of Louisiana deemed Cancer Alley  a hotbed for environmental injustice that concentrates toxic industries primarily in communities of color, The Guardian reports.

In her hometown of St James parish, Lavigne organized marches, circulated petitions, hosted town hall meetings and launched media campaigns after elected officials approved a $1.25 billion Chinese-owned plastics plant, according to The Guardian. It worked. In 2019, the company, called Wanhua, withdrew its application, Mongabay reports.

The plant would have generated a million pounds of liquid hazardous waste every year and parish council members granted permits to the company that altered zoning, allowing the plant to be built closer to homes than zoning permits, so the plant could be close to homes. The company was also exempt from paying property taxes for 10 years, said Mongabay.

Liz Chicaje Churay

Liz Chicaje Churay, 38 is a member of the Bora indigenous community that lives near Perus northeastern border with Colombia, and is responsible for protecting more than 2 million acres of the Amazon Rainforest, the BBC reports.

When her community decided that establishing a formal national park in the Peruvian Rainforest, which had been threatened by logging and mining for decades, was the best way to protect it, Chicaje Churay led the charge, Mongabay said.She and another indigenous community leader, Benjamin Rodriguez, worked with researchers, conservationists, and government officials to begin to establish the boundaries of what would become Yaguas National Park. Chicaje Churay worked with her community to map the region via satellite imagery. The park was made official in January 2018, covering a swath of peatlands and rainforest roughly the size of Yellowstone National Park. Benjamin Rodriguez was awarded posthumously, after dying in July 2020 from complications of the coronavirus, Mongabay reports.
Marketplaces Sustainability Desk Correspondent Scott Tong asked his listeners yesterday to try to imagine a ticker, or counter, that tallies all your water use: every cup of coffee, every shower, every flush. Well thats what Tong did to find out his familys water footprint.

Americans consume more water per capita than anyone else on the planet.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

But, before actually finding out how much water his family used each day, he decided to guess. He guessed 500 gallons for him, his wife and three children. He then solicited estimates via Twitter and Facebook to see what others thought a typical family of five consumed in water each day.

The median guess was 225 gallons a day with the lowest estimate at 30 and the highest at 5,000. Heres a tweet by Tong showing the responses:

Tong did a little research for context before finding out his familys water usage and learned that the United Nations estimate for a bare minimum a person needs to drink, bathe and clean is 13 gallons a day.

He also discovered that Americans consume more water per capita than anyone else on the planet and as Stanford Universitys Newsha Ajami told Tong, American water is underpriced. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the national average cost of water is $2 for 1,000 gallons.

This chart shows how the U.S. compares to other countries in domestic use of water and the tariff price in dollars per one thousand gallons:

So how much water does the Tong family use on average per day? 310 gallons according to his house water meter. And as Tong said, 310 gallons. Its not bad for an American family of five. But its a ton of water (1.15 tons, to be precise). And that one ton for one day costs $1.30. Put another way: Its about the price of one bottle of water.

Tong explores many other aspects of our water consumption in his Counting gallons: How much water do you use? segment. Listen here:

Want to calculate your water footprint? Check out the water footprint calculator on the GRACE Communications Foundations website.

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Stop the War Against the Colorado River
By Andrea Germanos

Global environmental justice campaigners heralded a Dutch courts ruling Friday that Royal Dutch Shells Nigerian subsidiary must pay punitive restitution to Nigerian villages for oil spill contamination that brought death, illness, and destruction to Nigerian farmers and communities.

After 13 years, justice! tweeted Friends of the Earth Europe.

The legal effort seeking accountability for the oil pollution in the Niger Delta, as Agence France-Presse noted, was brought forth by the Netherlands branch of Friends of the Earth, and has dragged on so long that two of the Nigerian farmers have died since it was first filed in 2008.

#Shell has today been defeated in court by Nigerian farmers. This is a hopeful day for all victims of oil companies' pollution and human rights abuses. But no victim should have to wait 13 years for justice#StopShell #HoldBizAccountablehttps://t.co/1Aa8ouJw6f  Friends of the Earth Europe (@foeeurope) January 29, 2021

One of those farmers was the father of Eric Dooh.

Finally, there is some justice for the Nigerian people suffering the consequences of Shells oil, Dooh, who became a plaintiff in the case, said in a statement.

It is a bittersweet victory, he continued, since two of the plaintiffs, including my father, did not live to see the end of this trial. But this verdict brings hope for the future of the people in the Niger Delta.

As Reuters reported,

Fridays decision went a step further than a 2013 ruling by a lower court, saying that Shells Nigerian subsidiary was responsible for multiple cases of oil pollution. The appeals judge sided with the farmers in four of six spills covered by the lawsuit and postponed a verdict in the remaining cases, where the lower court had previously found SPDC responsible.

The appeals court also held the Anglo-Dutch parent company Royal Dutch Shell liable for installing new pipeline equipment to prevent further devastating spills in the Niger Delta region, AFP added.

The devastation, as Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) has previously described, has been vast:

Between 1976 and 1991, over two million barrels of oil polluted Ogoniland in 2,976 separate oil spills. While oil production has ceased, pipelines operated by Shell still traverse the land, creeks and waterways. Leakagescaused by corroded pipelines as well as banditsmean that the area is still plagued by oil spills.

It is a painful example of corporate impunity that even when the tireless work of communities, individuals, and campaigners achieves some semblance of justice, it is rarely seen through. And nowhere is this more true than for the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta. As Michael Karikpo, from Environmental Rights Action explained to us: The price for docility in our communities and country is the loss of liberty and sovereignty to rapacious and predatory multinational oil companies like Shell. Our communities must stand up and continuously demand accountability from Shell and the international system that nurtures it.

Describing the scene in 2019 at a few of the sites affected by oil spills in the Niger Delta, FOEI added that the horror of the vast stretch of black, lifeless landscape stretching out in front of us is something that has to be seen in order to be believed.

Nigerian environmental justice advocate Nnimmo Bassey, in a tweet welcoming the new ruling, drew attention to the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, who, along with other Ogoni rights activists, was executed by the countrys military in 1995 after leading an uprising against Shells ecological damage in the region.
China and Russia held their first joint military drill since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and includes nuclear-capable bombers amid United States President Joe Biden's visit to East Asia.

The exercises are seen to be a show of force as the Democratic U.S. president was meeting with leaders from the region, said American, South Korean, and Japanese officials. The U.S. government was tracking the military exercise as Biden met in Tokyo with leaders of Australia, Japan, and India.

China and Russia's Joint Military Exercise

The three nations are part of the so-called Quad coalition that was formed in part to counter China's power in the Indo-Pacific region. The joint military activity was a significant sign that the partnership between the two superpowers of the world has not weakened despite the three-month-old war in Ukraine that has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths.

The bombers flew over the Sea of Japan on early Tuesday and continued to fly south toward the East China Sea and the Philippines Sea. The route of the aircraft was laid out by a senior American official during an interview where he spoke under the condition of anonymity, as per the New York Times.

South Korea later issued a statement confirming the exercise, adding that two Chinese military aircraft and four Russian warplanes entered its air defense identification zone off the nation's east coast without intruding into its airspace. Joint exercises involving strategic bombers are known to be complex procedures and are planned well in advance.

Read Also: Biden Gives Undiplomatic Remark To Kim Jong Un When Asked What Message to Impart During South Korea Visit

The American official also said that several U.S. agencies had evidence that Chinese naval vessels most likely took part in the country's joint military exercise with Russia. The South Korean military deployed fighter jets before the Chinese and Russian bombers entered the zone and "took tactical measures to guard against emergencies."

According to Fox News, the U.S. official argued that the exercise shows that China was continuing its military cooperation with Russia despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. He added that it shows Russia will stand with China in the East and South China Seas and not with other Indo-Pacific states.

Biden's Trip to East Asia

In a Telegram post, Russia's Ministry of Defense said that "a group of Tu-95ms Strategic Missile Carriers of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Xian H-6 Strategic Bombers of the [Chinese] Air Force conducted air patrol over the waters of the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea."

The ministry added that the flight time of the Russian strategic missile carriers was roughly 13 hours. It noted that at certain stages of the route, the strategic missile carriers were escorted by F-2 of the South Korean Air Force and F-15 of the Japanese Air Force. On Tuesday, Russia also said that there were no "violations of foreign airspace."

The joint military exercises occurred hours after Biden seemingly angered China by saying that the U.S. military would be deployed to defend Taiwan against any aggression. The Democratic president also discussed potential responses to Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine with leaders of the Quad, Reuters reported.



Related Article: China Sends Strong Warning to Joe Biden Over Controversial Taiwan Remarks: "Follow the One China Principle"

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Hundreds of bodies have been discovered buried under the rubble of an apartment building in Mariupol painting the devastating aftermath of Russia's siege on the Ukrainian city.

Workers who were digging through the ruins of the building found 200 bodies in the basement, said Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday. The discovery is the latest horror that has come to light in the ruined city that has seen some of the worst sufferings of the three-month-old war between the two European nations.

Aftermath of Mariupol Siege

The uncovered bodies were already decomposing and the stench hung over the entire neighborhood, said Petro Andryushchenko, who is an adviser to the mayor of the city. The official did not reveal when the bodies were discovered but noted that the sheer number of victims makes it one of the deadliest known attacks of the war.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting was reported in the Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland that Moscow's forces are intent on seizing. Russian military forces took over an industrial town that hosts a thermal power station and continued to increase efforts to encircle and capture Sievierodonetsk and other Ukrainian cities, as per the Associated Press.

It was reported that 12 people were killed by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region of the Donbas, said the regional governor. The governor of the Luhansk region of the Donbas said that the area was facing its "most difficult time" in the eight years since separatist fighting began.

Read Also: UK, Lithuania Strengthen Defense Partnership in Rebuke of Russian Invasion of Ukraine

In a Telegram post, Gov. Serhii Haidai said that the Russian troops were advancing in all directions at the same time. The official noted that the military forces brought over an "insane number of fighters and equipment." He said the invaders were killing their cities and destroying everything around them.

According to USA Today, the city of Mariupol has been left devastated by weeks of continued missile attacks by Russian forces. Last week, the last of the remaining Ukrainian fighters in the region surrendered, giving Moscow complete control of the city that housed 450,000 people before the war. An estimated 100,000 residents remained in the city as Mayor Vadym Boychenko claims that the Russian bombardment of the city has killed thousands of civilians.

Russia's War on Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier accused Russia of attempting to inflict as much death and destruction as possible on his country. In his nightly address, he said, "There has not been such a war on the European continent for 77 years."

The siege was estimated to have killed roughly 21,000 people, said Ukrainian authorities, who said that Russia was trying to cover up the horrors by bringing in mobile cremation equipment and burying the dead in mass grave sites.

The situation comes as Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for the last eight years and are in control of large swaths of territory. Haidai noted that the Russian military was focusing its efforts on carrying out an offensive in order to encircle the two Donbas regions. He added that the intensity of fire has increased by multiple times, Aljazeera reported.



Related Article: Ukraine Won't Give Up Territory in Ceasefire Deal With Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky Reveals Only Way to End War

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Dyson has been getting into more and more offbeat products these days, like the Zone noise-canceling headphones that blow purified air at your face. Now, the company has revealed that it has an entire division that's secretly been developing robot prototypes that do household chores.

The company didn't detail any of the models in particularly, but many look like regular robot arms adapted to do specialized home chores like cleaning and tidying. One appeared to be designed to vacuum out the seat cushions, mapping an armchair out in detail to do the job. "So this means I'll never, ever find crisps around the back of my sofa again?" the company's chief engineer, Jake Dyson, asked a researcher in a video (below).

Another robot was putting away dishes or at least placing them in a drying rack, and another was grasping a teddy bear, presumably picking up after a child. Dyson also showed off a "Perception Lab" that was all about robotic vision systems, detecting its environment and mapping humans with sensors, cameras and thermal imaging systems.

Dyson is currently on a recruiting drive, looking for around 700 engineers, which is one reason it finally decided to show off the lab (located at Hullavington Airfield, Wiltshire in the UK) after keeping it under wraps. "What you're developing counts an awful lot in terms of excitement and attracting engineers," he said. "One thing about robots, as with wearables, is that they are the future of Dyson."
In their rush to employ online learning as a COVID-19 mitigation strategy, governments across the world exposed young people to the threat of their personal data being collected and sold without their consent. In a report published on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch found that many of the apps and services governments either directly procured or recommended for remote learning as recently as 2021 were actively harvesting the data of children or were otherwise engaged in monitoring their activities.

In its study of 49 countries, the nonprofit found that 146 of the 164 EdTech products used in those places reviewed employed data practices that either put the rights of young people at risk or actively infringed on them. Those platforms either employed or had the capacity to use tracking technology to monitor their young users secretly and without their consent or that of parents. Whats more, their data was frequently sold to third-party companies.

Human Rights Watch observed 146 of the apps it reviewed directly sending or granting access to the data of their young users to 196 third-party companies, with the vast majority of that information making its way to adtech platforms. Put another way, there were significantly more advertising firms buying the data of children than there were tech companies collecting it.

In the process of endorsing and ensuring their wide adoption during COVID-19 school closures, governments offloaded the true costs of providing online education onto children, who were unknowingly forced to pay for their learning with their rights to privacy, access to information and potentially freedom of thought, the reports authors said.

Human Rights Watch points out that many of the tools governments recommended for online learning, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex, werent explicitly designed for use by children. But even those that were, such as ST Math, often employed trackers that sent data to companies like Meta and Google that could then later be used for behavioral advertising.
Senator Ron Wyden and 41 other Democratic lawmakers are urging Google to stop collecting and keeping location data that could be used against people who've had or are seeking abortions. In a letter (PDF) to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, the lawmakers referenced the Supreme Court draft obtained by Politico in which SCOTUS justices have voted to reverse Roe v. Wade. The landmark case protected the federal rights to abortion across the country, and states with trigger laws will immediately criminalize abortion if it truly gets overturned.

"[W]e are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google's current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care," the lawmakers wrote. Their issue mostly lies with how Google designed Android so that it also has to receive location data if a third-party app asks users for access to their location information. On iOS, Google can only collect information data while people are using Google Maps.

As Google reveals in its transparency reports, it routinely gets court orders, subpoenas and search warrants from law enforcement agencies looking to get their hands on user information. In the first half of 2021, for instance, the tech giant received 50,907 requests for disclosure of user information involving 115,594 accounts. A total of 82 percent of those requests resulted in the disclosure of some information.

In their letter, the lawmakers pointed out how a quarter of the court orders Google gets is for "geofence" data, which can show information on people near a particular location at a given time. They means it could be used to identify people who visit reproductive health clinics and other places that help people seek access to abortions.

The signees praised Google for being one of the first companies to require a warrant before disclosing user data, but they said it's not enough. They compared Google to Apple, saying the latter shows that it's "not necessary for smartphone companies to retain invasive tracking databases of their customers' locations." By continuing to collect location data, the lawmakers say Google is creating a digital divide, since those who can afford iPhones have greater protection against government surveillance.

They closed the letter with this plea:
Book bans are becoming more prevalent in US school libraries and classrooms, making it harder ( but not impossible ) for students to get their hands on certain texts that might expand their worldview. To raise awareness of such moves and perhaps protest the threat of literal book burning, Margaret Atwood and Penguin Random House are auctioning a one-off, "unburnable" edition of her classic dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale.

The publisher says it's "a powerful symbol against censorship and a reminder of the necessity of protecting vital stories." This copy of the book has been printed and bound in fireproof materials, including white heat shield foil pages and a phenolic hard cover. Atwood put a prototype copy to the test by trying to burn it with a flamethrower.

"The Handmaids Tale has been banned many times  sometimes by whole countries, such as Portugal and Spain in the days of Salazar and the Francoists, sometimes by school boards, sometimes by libraries," the author said in a statement. "Lets hope we dont reach the stage of wholesale book burnings, as in Fahrenheit 451. But if we do, lets hope some books will prove unburnable  that they will travel underground, as prohibited books did in the Soviet Union.

At the time of writing, the highest bid for the book stands at $48,000. The auction will close on June 7th.

All proceeds will go to PEN America to support its efforts to fight book bans across the US. In a recent report , the free-expression organization documented 1,586 bans on individual books in 86 school districts across 26 states.

Penguin Random House notes that censors' targets tend to be "literary works about racism, gender and sexual orientation, often written by authors of color and LGBTQ+ writers, as well as classroom lessons about social inequality, history and sexuality." It argued that such moves violate students' First Amendment rights and hamper education and the flow of ideas.

We are at an urgent moment in our history, with ideas and truth  the foundations of our democracy  under attack," the publisher's CEO Markus Dohle said. "Few writers have been as instrumental in the fight for free expression as Margaret Atwood.
President Joe Biden addressed the country tonight at 8:15 pm, after a shooter massacred 15 people at a Texas elementary school, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

In commemoration of the deaths, Biden directed that all flags at the White House and on government premises be flown at half-staff until sundown on May 28. The president was informed of the terrible mass shooting while flying back from his maiden trip to Asia as commander-in-chief.

Biden Orders Flags at Half-Staff Following Deadly Shooting in Texas

Biden was supposed to return late Tuesday with no activities planned. Biden was in South Korea and Japan to reaffirm the US commitment to regional partners and to send a message to China that it cannot operate unchallenged. But he's coming to the scene of his administration's bloodiest school massacre, and the deadliest since a teen shooter murdered 17 people at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in February 2018.

At least 14 elementary school pupils and one teacher were killed after an 18-year-old opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas' governor said Tuesday afternoon. Thirteen pupils are being treated at Uvalde Memorial Hospital, as is a 45-year-old man who sustained a graze, Daily Mail reported.

The president's trip to Asia last week occurred only two days after he visited with the relatives of those slain in a hate-motivated shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. Back-to-back tragedies served as sobering reminders of the regularity and heinousness of America's scourge of mass gun violence.

Biden entered the White House looking solemn, saying he will speak to the American people about the tragedy soon. In respect of the deaths, he ordered that American flags be flown at half-staff until sunset on Saturday.

Read Also: Josep Borell Reveals That EU's Weapon Stockpile Has Depleted Due To Supplying of Arms to Kiev

Lawmakers Across the US React to Tragic Texas Shooting

Vice President Kamala Harris stated that in situations like this, "our hearts shatter - but our hearts keep breaking, our sad hearts pale in comparison to other families' broken hearts." According to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden was informed about the incident aboard Air Force One by Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O'Malley-Dillon and other members of his senior team.

Biden spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from the presidential jet just before landing in Washington, offering any aid he requires in the aftermath of the tragic massacre in Uvalde, TX, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tweeted, according to NBC New York.

In a news conference on Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was the first official to announce the high death toll and disclose details on the alleged gunman. On Tuesday afternoon, Texas Senator Ted Cruz responded to the incident by tweeting his gratitude to law police and first responders for acting quickly.

The incident was described as "every parent and teacher's worst nightmare" by the state's other Republican senator, John Cornyn. Following the incident, the congressman stated that he will return to his home state.

Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat who represents a district that covers half of San Antonio, some 85 miles east of Uvalde, commented on the little town's close-knit community. Tony Gonzalez, a Republican from Texas, represents the district that contains Uvalde. Gonzalez expressed his sympathy for the community on Tuesday.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who represents the Sandy Hook neighborhood and has long advocated for gun regulation, gave an emotional address on the Senate floor shortly after the incident on Tuesday. Murphy addressed his colleagues passionately for five minutes, pushing for gun regulation. Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that words cannot express the anguish and indignation caused by today's cold-blooded shooting at Robb Elementary School.

In a tweet on Tuesday, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged for action. Meanwhile, Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey called for an end to the country's "gun violence epidemic." Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal expressed sympathy for the victims' families and added, "Enough is enough," as per Business Insider.

Related Article: China Sends Strong Warning to Joe Biden Over Controversial Taiwan Remarks: "Follow the One China Principle"

@YouTube

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Drones are everywhere these days, filming dramatic reveals and awe-inspiring scenery for social media platforms. The problem is, theyre not exactly approachable for beginners who have only ever used a smartphone. Last month, Snap debuted the $230 Pixy drone exactly for those people. It requires very little skill and acts like a personal robot photographer to help you produce nifty aerial shots.

You dont need to pilot the Pixy. In fact, you couldnt if you wanted to. Rather, it flies by itself, performing pre-programmed patterns that put the focus on you, the user. It has great potential for things like parties or tourist activities, grabbing awesome aerial shots with almost no user intervention.

Snap calls itself a camera company, but its other photo-centric products like Spectacles have met with limited success. To me, the Pixy drone holds more promise because it could help users get more interesting content than they could with a phone or regular camera. Ive had one for the last week in the French countryside, so lets see if its as versatile as I hope.

Hardware and setup

Gallery: Pixy drone hands-on: A flying robot photographer for Snapchat users | 20 Photos





































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At just 3.6 ounces (101 grams), the Pixy is small enough to throw in a bag or wear around your neck using the supplied protective case with a strap. Its pretty cute  I even heard some oohs and aahs from friends and bystanders  though it does look a little flimsy. However, it proved to be surprisingly resistant to falls and accidents, emerging from several such incidents without a scratch.

The four propellers are in a protective cowl, so they cant buzz any tree branches or fingers. On top is a start button and mode dial, with the battery compartment and charge indicator lights underneath. Youll also notice a camera on the bottom, but its strictly for detecting your hand and not taking photos or video. A USB-C port at back lets you charge the drone and transfer files to your phone or PC.

The main camera takes 2.7K video at 30 fps and 12-megapixel images. It shoots in 16:9 landscape mode, which is a bit odd considering the Snaps are vertical. However, a cropping tool in the app lets you convert your captures to portrait mode.

Steve Dent/Engadget

The first thing to do is sync it up to your account via Bluetooth by placing it in standby mode, then pressing and holding the start button. From there, Snapchat detects the Pixy and syncs everything up over WiFi. In my tests, the process was seamless on both an iPhone 12 and Samsung Galaxy S10.

Then, you set the dial to one of four flight modes: Hover, Reveal, Follow and Orbit. Theyre pretty self-explanatory, with Hover keeping the drone in place and letting you do any actions in front of it. Reveal starts tight on your face and zooms away to 10 to 30 feet in height, revealing the background. Follow tracks you around (it works best if it can see your face) and Orbit does a 360 circle at about head height and at a distance between 10 and 30 feet.

Each of those can be tweaked in the app with different flight times, distances and more. If you often use a flight mode like Reveal with a specific setting, you can save that to the Favorite dial for easy access, using the app.

In use

Steve Dent/Engadget

Once the flight pattern is selected, just hold the Pixy up so its camera can see your face and press the start button. Itll take off and perform the selected maneuver, saving video and/or photos to the 16GB of fixed internal storage. Thats enough for around 100 videos and 1,000 photos, depending on the mode and settings.

All of the flight patterns worked well, though as mentioned, the Follow mode works best if it can see your face. It doesnt detect specific people, but it did seem to lock on tenaciously to the same face even if multiple people were in a shot.

When its done, you just hold your hand underneath and itll land directly on it, which is where the bottom camera comes into play. It worked pretty reliably, but sometimes I had to move my hand around a bit to catch it or keep it from falling.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Afterwards, when you jump into the Memories section of the Snapchat app, itll tell you that you have some Pixy clips ready to import. You can also copy them over to your PC via USB-C, but you have to adjust a Snapchat setting in the Pixy section (Import via USB) first.

Once you have some clips, you can get started editing them. If you want to post on Snap, you can use the auto-crop function to convert to vertical video while centering your subjects. You can then trim the video, add music and use special Pixy AR lenses, like Flame Aura, Multiples (making three of you) and Record, an old-timey VHS tape effect. It also comes with two special speed ramp effects, Jump Cut and Hyperspeed.

Trade-offs

So far so good, but there are a number of things it cant do. To start with, there are no obstacle detection sensors at all, so if something gets in the way, the Pixy will crash right into it. Leaves and twigs didnt always stop it, but walls, branches and human bodies certainly did. Luckily, as mentioned, the Pixy is pretty tough.

Since it cant go very far or high (up to 30 feet at most) the lack of obstacle detection shouldnt be an issue for most people. To avoid any issues, though, you should test each maneuver in a wide open area to get a feel for how far away it travels.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Another significant limitation is flight time. Snap told me that the Pixy can fly for four to five minutes on a charge, or between five and 10 flights. You can buy extra batteries for $20 each, and get a portable dual-battery charger for $50. If you think youll need that extra flight time (you will), your best bet is the Pixy Flight Pack, which adds the charger and two extra batteries for an extra $20.

It also lacks a gimbal and relies strictly on electronic stabilization, so you might get some shaky footage if youre flying in a lot of wind. Speaking of which, the Pixys light weight means you cant really fly it outside at all in gusty conditions.

Image and video quality isnt amazing, but it does the job. When I showed it to a professional photographer friend, he was pleasantly surprised. The exposure levels were good, and it adjusted well when going from shade to sunlight. It worked fine indoors provided I had a reasonable amount of light.

When you open videos or photos on a PC screen, its clear that it cant compare to a smartphone or other drones, particularly in low light. But even when you reduce the resolution by cropping vertically, it looks decent on a smartphone  so its absolutely good enough for most Snapchat users.

My photographer friend took it to a wedding and he found it great for grabbing some extra shots or to show behind-the-scenes goings on. Since it requires almost no setup or piloting, all he had to do was just launch the Pixy and it would do the rest  ideal for a busy photographer if quality isnt a concern.

I enjoyed it too as a quick and easy drone and I feel like it would be something Id take with me while traveling to get some nice reveals and aerial shots. I was curious to see how it compares with other Snapchat camera products like Spectacles, and what ambitions Snap has for it, so I asked Engadget senior editor Karissa Bell, who covers social media.

If you think about what theyve done with Spectacles there was a lot of interest in the beginning, but once you start to use them theyre more of a novelty, she told me. The Pixys interesting because it really does seem to have more possibilities.

If youre somebody whos really active on Snapchat [or] making videos for Spotlight, which is their take on a TikTok-like feature, you can get really creative. But $230 is not a small amount of money, especially for younger people in Snapchats core demographic. So I think it could be more of a success than Spectacles, but there are a lot of drone companies out there if youre just looking for a drone.

In fact, it already looks like itll be a challenge to get one, as the wait time has stretched out to four whole months after pre-orders started on April 28th. That could be down to demand, but Snap CEO Evan Spiegel also told The Verge that the company should have made more.

Wrap-up

Steve Dent/Engadget

Still, it does look like Snap is onto something with the Pixy. Its not nearly as capable as pricier drones from DJI and others, but thats not really the point. Rather, its a way for social media users to get some cinematic shots without the need to be a drone expert.

You can also turn over photo and video chores to the Pixy and focus on creating your Snap content. If youre on a night out with friends, you can send it off to grab some shots without the need for a selfie stick or other gear.

Its not perfect, as battery life is pretty poor and image quality merely passable. And at $230, its also quite expensive considering that you could buy a decent drone for that kind of money  weve seen DJIs Spark Mini on sale at $250, for instance.

But Pixy isnt designed for avid drone users who might balk at that price. Its made for social media creators who might even consider it to be cheap considering what it could do for them. The reactions I saw from passersby and friends were overwhelmingly positive, with a number saying they might buy one. If thats any kind of sign, the Pixy might become a hit.
CARE-O-SENE research project will develop advanced catalysts for sustainable aviation fuels

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sasol (JSE: SOL, NYSE SSL) and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) will lead a consortium to develop and optimise next-generation catalysts that will play a key role in decarbonising the aviation sector through sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

At a ceremony at Sasol's global headquarters in Johannesburg today, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the launch of CARE-O-SENE (Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene) research project, to be funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Sasol.

Sasol joins forces with five other world-leading organisations in Germany and South Africa to accelerate the development of catalysts that are essential to produce green kerosene on a commercial scale through Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology.

"We are delighted to have been selected to lead this important project," said Fleetwood Grobler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sasol Limited. "Our expertise in FT technology and catalysts makes us the ideal partner to help Germany and the world decarbonise the aviation sector and make it sustainable over the long-term."

Prof. Dr. Bernd Rech, Scientific Managing Director of HZB adds, "CARE-O-SENE will enable us to accelerate innovation in a crucial field of green energy. This can only be achieved in a global partnership by deeply integrating fundamental research and technology development on an industry relevant scale."

Other CARE-O-SENE project partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the University of Cape Town, Department of Chemical Engineering (UCT) and INERATEC GmbH. The consortium expresses its sincere gratitude to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for supporting these important efforts.

CARE-O-SENE will run for three years and pursues the goal of setting the course for large-scale commercialisation of green kerosene production by 2025 with its research on catalysts. Catalysts are used to speed up chemical reactions, increase the yield and improve the quality of refined products. The new FT catalysts are expected to increase the fuel yield of the process to over 80 percent, thereby optimising use of resources.

Unlike conventional kerosene derived from fossil feedstocks, SAF can be made from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon dioxide sources. Developing SAF is key to a sustainable decarbonisation of the hard-to-abate aviation industry, and the main lever for net zero aviation. The underlying technology to developing SAF at scale from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon sources is FT technology, in which Sasol has been a global leader for more than 70 years.

Issued by:

Alex Anderson, Head of Group Media RelationsMobile +27 (0) 71 600 9605;alex.anderson@sasol.com

Matebello Motloung, Manager: Group Media RelationsMobile: +27 (0) 82 773 9457matebello.motloung@sasol.com

Other Press contacts:Sunna Schulz, Senior Manager Corporate Affairs Eurasia ChemicalsDirect telephone: +49 40 63684-1364; Mobile: +49 152 0835 3881sunna.schulz@de.sasol.com

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und EnergieSilvia Zerbe, Manager Public Relations:Direct telephone: +49 30 8042-42607silvia.zerbe@helmholtz-berlin.de

About Sasol:

Sasol is a global chemicals and energy company. We harness our knowledge and expertise to integrate sophisticated technologies and processes into world-scale operating facilities. We safely and sustainably source, produce and market a range of high-quality products in 23 countries, creating value for stakeholders. Our purpose 'Innovating for a better world' compels us to deliver on triple bottom line outcomes of People, Planet and Profit, responsibly and always with the intent to be a force for good. We have prioritised five Sustainable Development Goals to ensure our business is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

About Sasol's Information Privacy Policy:

We wish to inform you about the processing of your Personal Information by Sasol South Africa Limited and your rights under applicable data protection law, as interpreted and included in Sasol Information Privacy Policy.

Within our company, only Sasol Group Media Relations will receive your Personal Information to fulfil the purpose of maintaining the relationship with the receiver in his/her capacity as a member of the media. You have the right to request for the correction or deletion of your Personal Information stored by us at address: Sasol Place, 50 Katherine Street, Sandton in Johannesburg. You also have a right to restrict the processing of your Information. To exercise your privacy rights or find out more about Information Privacy Policy, kindly contact our Privacy Office on: privacy@sasol.com

HZB boilerplate

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und Energie (HZB) researches solutions for a climate-neutral society. Scientist are developing and optimising efficient and cost-effective energy materials for solar cells, batteries and catalysts. With 1200 employees, HZB is one of Germany's largest non-university research centers in the field of energy research and is a member of the Helmholtz Association. More Information: www.helmholtz-berlin.de
Migrants living on the Mexican side of the U.S. southern border had new reason to despair after an American court extended a pandemic era-protocol allowing the U.S. to immediately deport almost all asylum-seekers.
Jasper, IndianaKevin Schewe's Bad Love Tigers won the BEST SCI-FI SCREENPLAY AWARD at the BRNO Film Festival in the Czech Republic.

The Bad Love Tigers Screenplay was just released to the international screenplay circuit at the end of February 2022 and has already won 34 International Awards. It is a feel good, action-adventure, sci-fi blend of Stand by Me meets Raiders of the Lost Ark or Back to the Future meets Goonies. The strong international interest and accolades that it is generating shows its blockbuster potential to attract a global audience of all ages to the big screen.

"The Bad Love Gang and I are ecstatic and honored to win in the Czech Republic. Thank you, BFF," Kevin Schewe said.

See and Hear Kevin Schewe's Instagram Post at



https://www.instagram.com/tv/CcwKn6QPjjp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kevin L. Schewe, MD (@realkevinschewe)

Bad Love Tigers has now won 34 awards including BEST FEATURE SCREENPLAY at Filmmaker Life Awards in Hollywood, BEST STORY SCREENPLAY AWARD at The Madrid Art Film Festival, Best Feature Screenplay at the White Unicorn International Film Festival FEATURE SCRIPT AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD from the Black Swan International Film Festival, BEST SCRIPT from the New York Independent Cinema Awards, BEST THRILLER SCREENPLAY from the Adbhooture Film Festival in West Bengal, India, FEATURE SCRIPT OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD from the Royal Society of Television and Motion Picture, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FEATURE SCRIPT award at Druk International Film Festival (DIFF) in Bhutan, BEST FEATURE SCRIPT award at Hollywood on the Tiber Film Awards in Rome, Italy, BEST SCRIPT OF THE MONTH at the Watch Out International Film Festival in Philadelphia, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT award at the Tagore International Film Festival (TIFF) in West Bengal, India, BEST SCRIPT at the New Wave Short Film Festival in Munich, Germany, Best Screenwriter in a Feature Film at Onyko Film Awards in Ukraine, two screenplay awards at the Golden Wings International Film Awards, BEST THRILLER FEATURE SCREENPLAY and BEST SCREENPLAY OF THE MONTH, Best Feature Screenplay at the Sea of Art International Film Festival in Plock, Poland, Best Feature Screenwriting at the NYCinternational Film Festival, Best Feature Screenwriting at the Medusa Film Festival, Special Achievement Award at World Film Carnival-Singapore, Best Sci-Fi Screenplay at the Open Window International Film Challenge in India, Best Plot Award at the Beyond Earth Film Festival, Best Sci-Fi Feature Screenplay at the Karukrit International Film Festival in India, Best Script for Feature Film at the San Antonio Independent Film Festival in Ecuador, South America, Best Feature Film Screenplay at the Five Continents International Film Festival, Best Original Screenplay at the Naples Film Awards, Best Feature Script at the Cineville Calcutta Global Cinefest in India, Best Feature Screenplay at the Mumbai International Film Festival, Best Feature Screenplay and Best-Sci-Fi Screenplay at the Oniros Film Awards in New York City, Best Sci-Fi Screenplay at the New York International Film Awards, Best Feature Screenplay in London at the BIFF International Film Festival, Best Original Screenplay at the Rome International Movie Awards and Best Feature Screenplay Honorable Mention at the Florence Film Awards.

Bad Love Tigers, book two of twelve planned in the best-selling Bad Love Book Series, is about a dynamic group of young adventurers, known as the Bad Love Gang, who use a time machine to travel back to the World War II era, meet with President Roosevelt and embark on a perilous secret mission to protect an alien spaceship and defeat the Japanese in combat. Keeping America's deepest secret safe at Area-51 hinges on the success of their quest.

Schewe's screenplay adapted from the first book, Bad Love Strikes, has won 14 International Awards at prestigious film festivals all over the world. In Bad Love Strikes, the Gang of teens from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, accidently discovers The White Hole Project, a WWII era time machine created by Albert Einstein at the request of President Franklin Roosevelt in case the atomic bomb Manhattan Project failed. They learn how to use the White Hole Project and then design a time-travel mission back to WWII, Nazi-controlled Poland to save a group of Holocaust victims from certain death. The accurate history and edge-of-your-seat action has you rooting for this unlikely gang of misfit teenagers turned heroes!

Bad Love Strikes screenplay awards:



Best Sci-Fi Screenplay at the Los Angeles Film Awards; Hollywood Weekly Magazine Film Festival  Best Screenplay; Best Script at the Rotterdam Independent Film Festival; Best Script in a Feature Film at the Hollywood International Golden Age Film Festival; New York Tri-State Film Festival  Best Sci-Fi Screenplay; Florida Shorts Film Festival  Best Unproduced Script; Tokyo's Genre Celebration Festival  Best Feature Screenplay; Madrid Arthouse Film Festival  Best Unproduced Feature Script; Madrid International Short Film Festival  Best Script; the Seoul International Short Film Festival in Korea  Best Script; and in Munich, Germany at the New Wave Short Film Festival, where it was chosen as a Special Jury Screenplay Selection. It also garnered a Prix Royal Paris Silver Screenplay Award; the South Florida International Film Festival for Best Original Screenplay for Young Adults, and a Gold Script Writing Award for Sci-Fi Adventure from the Depth of Field International Film Festival. Bad Love Strikes screenplay has also finished as a Finalist and Semi-Finalist at 23 other international film festivals.

Watch the book trailer for Bad Love Tigers at https://bit.ly/BadLoveTigers_Trailer





Each of the Bad Love series audio books are narrated by Alan Carlson, an award-winning narrator with credits in non-fiction, academic, romance fiction and many other categories. You can purchase the audio book at Amazon's Audible.

The entire four book set is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Love-Collection-Sci-Fi-Adventure-ebook/dp/B09LPPDBMM/ or www.jancarolpublishing.com.

"If history was taught this way in school, everyone would be a scholar and educating ourselves not only about our accomplishments but the horrors of the past that should awaken and give insight to the path of a better future. A rare gem!" David Holladay, MD, 5-Stars

Watch the book trailer from Bad Love Strikes at https://bit.ly/BadLoveStrikes-Trailer




South Carolina businessman Jimmy Martin received a certificate of occupancy from the city of San Antonio for an eight-liner gaming parlor on the Northeast Side in February 2020.

The next month, San Antonio police raided the business known as Silver Bell at 4133 Naco Perrin Blvd. after deeming it an illegal gambling establishment.

It was raided a second time a year later and again this January before Martin was forced to close for economic reasons. It had 61 eight-liner amusement machines  basically slot machines.

He and his businesses responded last week by suing the city, the San Antonio Police Department and two of its vice detectives, and the state of Texas. The case highlights a gray area in Texas law, which has drawn a distinction between illegal gambling and legal amusement operations. The difference comes down to how the players are rewarded.

Martins suit isnt just about the Silver Bell. He also owns about 175 machines that had been deployed in four other eight-liner parlors  run by other operators  around San Antonio and one in Universal City. All four of the San Antonio locations were raided a total of seven times, resulting in them either shutting down or losing their leases.

Police confiscated some machines and damaged or destroyed others, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, he alleges.

Martin also faces criminal charges for gambling promotion and possession of gambling paraphernalia. Both are Class A misdemeanors, with jail time of up to one year and a maximum fine of $4,000 on each count.

Gambling?

In his suit, Martin disputes the eight-liner game rooms are illegal gambling establishments. He wants a state District Court in San Antonio to prevent further harassment and injury from the defendants.

As far as we can tell, Mr. Martin follows every state law and city ordinance to make sure his eight-liner amusement machines are not illegal gambling devices, said one of his San Antonio lawyers, Joseph L. Korbel. But still locations with his eight liners are being repeatedly raided by the San Antonio Police Department. Mr. Martins lawsuit seeks to put a stop to these raids.

City Attorney Andrew Segovia said the city had not been served with the lawsuit but defended the city and SAPD. The citys Development Services Department issues a certificate of occupancy based on the condition of the building at the time; the certificate does not regulate future operations, he said.

In short, Mr. Martins certificate of occupancy is not a license to run a gambling operation, Segovia said in an emailed statement. SAPD investigated the site and the operations after complaints were received about a potential illegal gambling operation.

Martins lawsuit comes two months after the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ruled eight-liner machines are lotteries and thus are unconstitutional machines.

The Texas Civil Justice League, which promotes tort and civil justice reform, wrote last month on its website that if the Texas Supreme Court upholds the ruling, voters will have to approve a constitutional amendment to authorize eight liners, as they have for the state lottery and charitable raffles and bingo.

Prospects of doing that any time soon appear to be dim at best, the organization said.

Other operators

In his lawsuit, Martin says criminal charges were dismissed against two other San Antonio eight-liner parlor operators. One of the charges was dropped as recently as last month because of a missing witness, the courts website shows.

Martin is represented by the same criminal defense lawyer as the other two operators. The lawyer didnt respond to a request for comment.

S.A. VOTES Voter Guide: What to know for the Texas runoff election A breakdown of key state and local races and candidates in the May 24 primary runoff.

To date, SAPD has seized and destroyed plaintiffs property through 10 raids, Martin says in his lawsuit. But each subsequent raid is based on the same set of circumstances as what led to the dismissal of prior prosecutions involving the plaintiffs amusement machines.

The first raid occurred in 2016 and the 10th happened in January, Martins suit says.

He accuses the police of first disabling surveillance cameras in the parlors and then unlawfully yanking out and slicing off electrical connections and removing parts to disable the machines.

Police also used a Jaws of Life on ATMs so they could pry open the cash containers with a crowbar, Martin alleges. They did so despite employees with keys offering to open the ATMs, he says.

Martin has estimated it will cost more than $300,000 to repair the eight liners.

Texas Penal Code restricts what may be awarded to players by amusement machines. Players can receive non-cash prizes, toys or novelties, or a representation of value redeemable for those items.

In his suit, Martin says his machines never reward players in cash, gift cards, future free plays or any other form of reward that could be considered currency. Players are awarded bulk silver or silver trinkets, with the wholesale value no more than $5 to comply with the state code, he says.

Martins claims in his suit are for interference with a contract and the taking of private property.

pdanner@express-news.net
Authorities said on Tuesday that a man suspected in the deadly weekend shooting of a New York City subway passenger, less than two months after a mass shooting on the system, was detained and charged with second-degree murder and second-degree illegal possession of a firearm.

Andrew Abdullah, 25, was detained at his lawyer's office for the death of Brooklyn resident Daniel Enriquez, 48, who was tragically shot in the chest while riding in a subway vehicle on Sunday morning, according to Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

Subway Shooting Suspect Andrew Abdullah Now in Police Custody

Abdullah was characterized as a gang member and serial offender with a criminal history extending back to 2016, including charges of felony assault, robbery, attempted murder, and an unsolved gun charge. He received a 30-month sentence for attempted murder in May 2017, and was released from jail in June 2019 and from parole in June 2021, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig.

Reuters captured Abdullah in handcuffs coming into the NYPD's 5th Precinct station, escorted by a police detective. According to Sewell, law enforcement was able to find the culprit through police canvassing, community participation, and social media outreach.

Essig said a 9-millimeter round casing discharged from a Ruger pistol was located at the site. The pistol, which was taken in Hampton, Virginia in 2019, was subsequently given at random to a homeless man, who officials questioned, he said. Enriquez, a Goldman Sachs employee, was taking a train across a bridge from Brooklyn into lower Manhattan when he was shot without provocation. At Bellevue Hospital, he was pronounced deceased, according to Reuters via MSN.

Family members of the murdered Goldman Sachs employee slammed the city, claiming officials failed to keep them secure. Abdullah, who has been detained at least 19 times since 2015, has not been formally charged in connection with the incident, but will almost certainly face murder charges.

The incident was unprovoked, according to officials, and occurred as a Q train crossed the Manhattan Bridge on its way to the Canal Street stop. Witnesses said the gunman paced around the car before pulling out a revolver and killing Enriquez in the chest.

Read Also: New York Shooting Suspect Surrenders to Police After Killing 1 Commuter, Claims Innocence Over History of 'Mental Illness'

NYPD Previously Release Abdullah After Changing His Appearance

According to law authorities, the gunman then exited the train, handing his revolver to a homeless guy who destroyed it before it was collected by police for testing. Police have stated that they will continue to send personnel to safeguard the city's vast subway system, as per Independent.

According to NYPD spokesperson John Miller, detectives stopped Abdullah as he departed the station but let him go because he had changed his look and did not meet the description of the shooter. Following the needless killing, Enriquez's family lashed out at City Hall for rampant crime in the five boroughs and the New York City subway system.

Abdullah escaped the Canal Street station following the incident and was wanted by authorities. He was released following a stolen automobile bust in April, despite Brooklyn prosecutors' request that he be kept on a $15,000 bond.

Adam Pollack, Enriquez's live-in boyfriend, told The Post on Monday that Enriquez had just lately begun riding the subway to work owing to an increase in Uber cost. Pollack, 54, said his 18-year partner commuted to his work at Goldman Sachs four days a week and loved to go into Manhattan on Sundays for breakfast and to shoot pool with pals at a nearby watering hole. According to police officials, examinations of that pistol positively confirmed it as the weapon that killed Enriquez on the metro train on Tuesday, New York Post reported.

Related Article: Texas Elementary School Shooting Suspect Revealed: Everything You Need to Know

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When youre from the border, you perceive the world from that insular vantage point with a covetous gaze out at the wider world. Yet that ineffable pang of wanderlust is wrapped around the idea that you already exist in a space that holds the entirety of our absurd and curious world.

The forcefield limned by lines, rivers and bridges feeds and fortifies the mythic stories of our lives. We are hemmed in as if stalled on a ferry boat. Access to the outer spaces, to the rest of the United States or, indeed, to Mexico come to us in a careful curation of consumption of music, television, film, art, and books.

Fernando A. Flores seems to understand these transactions, and they inform his collection of stories, Valleyesque. The book is dedicated to the RGV exiles, and exiles living in the RGV, the Rio Grande Valley. Its an enigmatic line but one so knowable to those of us from these spaces, ever on the fringes that become the center of all things.

This is a book that defies easy, canned superlatives. Each story is loaded with observations by turns hilarious, troublesome, insightful, exasperating and all too true. Thats the thing about stories layered with surrealism, when that layering is done well. It seems organic, essential.

Valleyesque By Fernando A. Flores Farrar, Straus and Giroux 208 pages, $16 See More Collapse

You get the feeling that these are precisely the ways that Flores experiences life on the Texas-Mexico border, where each side is a funhouse mirror for the other, with distortions that reveal the true colors and edges and reflect what might be hard to look at.

On ExpressNews.com: 10 recent books by San Antonio authors that youll want to read

Valleyesque pulls readers into coffee-shops, murals, stash houses, churches, and a massive warehouse of mountains of used clothing.

Chopin is in Ciudad Juarez trying to get his papers in order, recover his confiscated Pleyel piano and mourn his mothers death. Emiliano Zapata emerges in the flesh from a decal on a T-shirt.

Flores first came on the literary scene in 2018 with his debut collection, Death to the Bullshit Artists of South Texas. His 2019 novel Tears of the Trufflepig followed. Its a Border noir tale that marked the author as an artist and visionary without equal for his capacious knowledge of literature, film, and music, not to mention his incomparable prose.

Flores is not after anything except telling stories his way.

Glimmers of this insight can be seen in the story Nostradamus Baby. Yes, a man and his wife are fashioning a baby out of the earwax, which they unceremoniously collect and mold. But what stands out in the story is the main character, a writer who must ghost-write to pay the bills. About his own writing he says, I feel I can reveal more by writing stories in the tradition of hard-core, maybe weird literature, rooted in something old and unknown, and infusing it with my life and where I come from, as unintentionally as possible.

The story Queso evokes Adorno and Heidegger and their philosophical wrestling with the idea of authenticity. Is queso real? Not usually. Not even on the border. To be palatable, it must be altered, its essence destroyed, its orange plasticity pre-shredded and sprinkled on tacos of pre-made tortillas and eggs from a container.

Marcos, the storys protagonist, watches TV news and rages over the fake features of the anchors. He goes to a job interview where the boss instructs him to say kay-so and co-opt the culture.

Hijack it, he says, and sell them a back a cheaper version. An authentic experience thats better, faster than the real thing.

The 29th of April stands out for being the more conventional of the tales in this collection, and yet its far from the conventions of story topics we are used to. A woman begins telling the story of what happened on that late spring day. It is a dramatic monologue of depth and breadth, spanning generations in the colonia known as El Charco outside of the imagined border town of Doctores. The story is epic, biblical, replete with a prodigal son (or two).

The woman who is speaking shares anecdotes about the ways that violence becomes the DNA of an entire town. But she doesnt boil down the stories of the border to violence, corruption, and drugs  as too often happens. She provides the names of streets and mothers and fathers and sons and daughters. She describes their fears and idiosyncrasies. She breathes life into them by telling the story fully with a pang of melancholy.

Doesnt everyone deserve to be remembered that way? It is a genealogy of reality that only a work of fiction can manage and only a master storyteller can offer as the truth.

Valleyesque is picturesque. It is carnivalesque. It is grotesque. The ethos of the Rio Grande Valley is found in this El Chalan ride of a collection. We roll onto the ferry and see the flora and the fauna, this country and that one. There are flashes of color and explosions against a blur of sameness and familiarity we recognize only from the middle of the greenish murky river. It seems as if we are not moving, and in a moment that comes too soon, weve reached the other side feeling grateful for the long, labyrinthine ride.

Yvette Benavides is a professor of English and creative writing at Our Lady of the Lake University. She is the host of the Texas Public Radio Book Public podcast.
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In the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde Tuesday, its likely that parents are being asked piercing questions about the situation by their children. And its likely parents are struggling with how to answer.

Heres guide for talking with your children about the school shooting.

Should I bring up the shooting or wait for my child to?

Unless your child is very young, say, 6 or under, its likely theyve heard about the shootings, either from friends, by overhearing the news or even on social media.

Its better for you to lead the discussion at an age-appropriate level, rather then let someone else be their only source of information.

Just because theyre not hearing about it at home doesnt mean theyre not getting information at school or online, said Dr. Barbara Robles-Ramamurthy, a child psychiatrist and assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at UT Health San Antonio.

By gently asking questions, parents should be able to get an idea of what and how much even a young child knows about the situation.

On ExpressNews.com: 'Profound grief and broken hearts': 19 students killed in Uvalde school shooting

How much detail should I get into with my child?

It depends more on a childs maturity level than on their age, according to Dr. Elena Mikalsen, division chief of pediatric psychology at The Childrens Hospital of San Antonio.

Parents know their children best, Mikalsen said. So they should know how they typically react to bad news and unfortunate events like Uvalde.

More mature children can handle more detail, but tread carefully. Gauge your childs reaction to what they hear, and stop immediately if they seem to be growing anxious or overly concerned.

Mikalsen advises parents to be careful about how they react themselves. Children will mimic a parent who becomes overly angry and obsessed with a situation like the Uvalde shooting.

Brandon Bell, Staff / Getty Images

Parents should also gauge the accuracy of what their children are hearing at school and elsewhere, and correct any misinformation theyre receiving.

On ExpressNews.com: Uvalde teen gunman bought AR-15 style rifle day after turning 18

Should I let my child read or watch news reports on the shooting?

Younger, less mature children should probably be shielded from the news as much as possible. Even if they cant fully comprehend the situation, they will pick up on the tone of discussions, which can be upsetting.

Older, more mature children, should be allowed to follow the news  to an extent. But every child reacts differently to events such as Tuesdays shooting, so its important to ask them about their concerns and to listen carefully to their responses, rather than simply assuming you know what theyre feeling.

How should I address my childs school safety concerns?

Address their worries in an age-appropriate manner.

If a childs schoolmates are worried that their school could be next, reassure them by reiterating the safety measures you and the school are taking.

Its important that children are made to feel heard and made them feel safe, Mikalsen said. Tell them how their school is keeping them safe, whether its by posting more police officers in the school, or by closing the campus to visitors.

One school safety measure, the active shooter drills that most schools now run, can actually increase anxiety among children. While these drills provide a sense of security for some children, they can be disconcerting for others.

Ive had kids develop post-traumatic stress disorder from these drills, Mikalsen said.

Changes to these drills, such as teaching kids how to escape in an active-shooter situation rather than simply hunkering down and hiding, also have given some kids as better sense of control. Those who dont react well to these drills may need to speak to a professional therapist to help them deal with them. School counselors may be helpful in such situations.

On ExpressNews.com: 'We must do better': Politicians, celebs on Texas shooting

How much should I allow my child to follow events on social media?

You might have to set boundaries, although this should be done collaboratively, according to Robles-Ramamurthy.

Ask your child how they feel when theyre on social media, and talk to them about adjusting their time online, she said.

If, for example, they find themselves feeling sad or angry while scrolling through Twitter or Instagram, talk to them about turning off the phone or computer. Ask them to try staying offline for several hours and then going back for only 15 minutes at a time.

Try to make being online fun again by watching goofy videos on YouTube together, or rewatching a favorite movie.

Is there anything we can do proactively?

Children often want to be helpful, said Robles-Ramamurthy.

For children ages 6 to 12, that can mean something as simple as sharing their thoughts and feelings, so long as parents label that as being helpful, she said. For older children it can be supporting their peers or the community by donating money to a good cause or checking in with friends to see how theyre doing.

rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini
Rick Kern/WireImage

Matthew McConaughey issued a statement late Tuesday in response to the massacre at Robb Elementary School in his hometown of Uvalde.

"Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us," the actor said. He referred to such mass shootings as "an epidemic we can control" and called for those of all political affiliations "to do better."
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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina government's most powerful Republican elected official threw his weight fully behind Medicaid expansion Wednesday, raising the stakes for an issue lingering in state politics for a decade that could result in hundreds of thousands of low-income adults getting insured.

Senate leader Phil Berger was a longtime opponent of accepting federal funds through the 2010 Affordable Care Act to cover people that make too much money to qualify for traditional Medicaid, but too little to qualify for subsidized private plans. Opposition by Republicans has left North Carolina one of dozen states that have not accepted the match.

Berger revealed last fall he was willing to consider expanding Medicaid as part of budget negotiations. Earlier this week, Senate Republicans revealed they were considering seriously a package of health care access and insurance changes including expansion, which was disclosed Wednesday and heard in a Senate committee. A committee vote was expected Thursday.

If theres a person in the state of North Carolina that has spoken out against Medicaid expansion more than I have, Id like to meet that person," Berger said at a news conference, but now, I think (expansion) is the right thing for us to do.

Even if the measure clears the Senate, odds for full passage appear long before this years budget-adjustment session ends around July 1. House Speaker Tim Moore said there is not the time to negotiate such heavy legislation before then, and GOP colleagues in the chamber are not anxious to address it now. A House-Senate study committee looking at expansion and health care access also has not made recommendations.

Expansion has been one of the most contentious issues for years, Moore told reporters later Wednesday. I don't see an appetite for it right now.

Berger said the Senate bill contains several provisions the study committee likely would have recommended anyway, and passing the measure will give the House something else to chew on. It's possible lawmakers could reconvene later in the year.

Any final measure would go to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, an ardent expansion supporter who is encouraged to see progress on getting more people covered with health care in North Carolina, spokesperson Jordan Monaghan wrote in an email.

In his most public, comprehensive explanation to date, Berger described how he changed his mind after attempts to enact market-based insurance and health care reforms fell short.

Why now? Why this? Berger asked. First, we need coverage in North Carolina for the working poor. Second, there is no fiscal risk to the state budget moving forward with this proposal." And the Medicaid program has been overhauled in recent years so that it can handle additional consumers without creating state budget problems, he added.

The expansion proposal would likely cover 500,000 or 600,000 people. While about 2.7 million North Carolina residents are now enrolled in Medicaid, some current consumers whom the state has been required to keep on the rolls during the pandemic would ultimately be covered by expansion.

Berger said he's fairly convinced Congress won't lower the federal governments 90% share of expenses for expansion enrollees, and the bill cancels the program if that were to happen. The state would pay its share through hospital assessments and get an additional $1.5 billion over two years to treat traditional Medicaid patients  an additional sweetener for North Carolina to join.

"We are not likely to ever get a better deal than we are being offered now, said Sen. Joyce Krawiec, a Forsyth County Republican, also a former expansion opponent who is helping shepherd the measure.

The bill directs that a work requirement for expansion recipients be developed and presented to federal Medicaid regulators for approval, but its rejection would not cancel expansion. Such mandates in other states have been struck down by courts or blocked by President Joe Bidens administration.

Long-term prospects for final passage of the Senate package may have more to do with its non-expansion items. They include significant easements to the state's certificate of need laws, which regulate the expansion of health care facilities and equipment purchases, and the authorization of advanced-level nurses to work independently from physicians.

The nursing licensure changes have been sought by the profession's lobbying association. Some senators and the North Carolina Medical Society raised concerns about those provisions in Wednesday's committee meeting, citing patient safety.

Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Forsyth County Republican who with Krawiec leads the study committee and supports expansion, said in a text message Wednesday that it's important that we pass a clean expansion bill  not one that combines a number of other controversial health policy issues.

But supporters of the Senate bill said the measure must be comprehensive to ensure enough health care professionals and facilities are available to serve Medicaid patients.

Still, longtime advocates for expansion were ecstatic about the prospects their ultimate goal could soon be achieved.

I will say that I am very optimistic, said Erica Palmer Smith, executive director of Care4Carolina, after the news conference.
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This story will be updated throughout the day as information becomes available. Live updates from previous days can be found here.

7:10 a.m.:

Gov. Greg Abbott is canceling his appearance at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston today, instead traveling to Uvalde for another press conference on state resources available for those impacted by the Robb Elementary School shooting. The event will take place at 3:30 p.m., shortly after the governor was set to address NRA attendees.

The governor faced heavy criticism for his decision to attend the event following the massacre. He was scheduled to speak alongside former President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, but he will now deliver pre-recorded video remarks, Abbott spokesman Mark Miner said.

Thursday recap:

As new details emerged about the timeline of events in the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School, criticism of law enforcement response contained to spread.

Robb Elementary parents said they were standing outside the school, begging authorities to go inside and help their children.

The gunman who killed 21 people walked through an unlocked door unopposed, state troopers said Thursday.

In a significant departure from initial reports, Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Victor Escalon said the gunman didnt encounter resistance after he crashed his pickup in a ditch near the school and walked to the building while indiscriminately shooting.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro is urging the FBI to investigate the timeline.
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Just over 24 hours after the mass shooting of children and teachers in an elementary school in Uvalde, Gov. Greg Abbott addressed the media at a nearby high school there.

There was no meaningful forewarning of this crime, a tearful Abbott said at Uvalde High School, other than posts to gunman made on Facebook 30 minutes before he reached the school.

The first: Im going to shoot my grandmother.

The second: I shot my grandmother.

15 minutes later: Im going to shoot an elementary school.

On HoustonChronicle.com: AR-style rifles like the one used in Uvalde shooting often leave victims unrecognizable, experts say

(A spokesman for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said Abbott mischaracterized the shooters correspondence as a public post when it was a private message that was not discovered until after the shooting.)

Abbotts voice broke and he fought back tears. Anyone who shoots his grandmother in the face has to have evil in his heart  But it is far more evil for someone to gun down little kids. It is intolerable and it is unacceptable.

The mood of the event shifted, however, as Abbott prepared to hand the microphone to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Democrat Beto ORourke, who is running against Abbott in the November election and was sitting in the front row, stood up and interrupted the press conference, trying to make a statement as people on the stage shouted him down.

"This is on you", O'Rourke said as he approached the stage, pointing at Abbott.

Youre out of line, and an embarrassment, Patrick said.

 ... This was totally predictable, ORourke continued.

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, standing onstage behind Abbott, shouted at O'Rourke, Sir, youre out of line, later calling him a "sick son of a (expletive) who would come to a deal like this to make a political issue."

IN-DEPTH: O'Rourke's standoff with Abbott over Uvalde mass shooting marks the new era in Texas politics

Abbott tried to shame O'Rourke and had security escort him out of the building moments later.

We need to think of something other than ourselves, think of the people who have been hurt. And help those who have been hurt, Abbott said.

Other Republicans were also quick to condemn O'Rourke.

Wesley Hunt, the Republican nominee for Congressional District 38, called O'Rourke's stunt disgraceful and disrespectful to the victims.

But some commended O'Rourke for the confrontation, including State Rep. Gene Wu and a mother of a mass shooting victim in Parkland, Fla.

Also appearing at Uvalde High School, just 2 miles from Robb Elementary School where 21 have died, including 19 children, were Sen. Ted Cruz, along with House Speaker Dade Phelan.

Immediately after the shooting on Tuesday, Abbott put out a statement decrying the deaths.

Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde, Abbott said. Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering.
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The gunman who authorities say killed 21 people in a South Texas community  19 of them elementary school students  legally purchased two rifles in the days following his 18th birthday, authorities said.

Officials said they recovered the two AR-15 style rifles from the scene at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. The gunman, who had attended Uvalde High School, purchased one of the rifles from a federally licensed gun store on May 17, the day after his 18th birthday, according to authorities and Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who said law enforcement officials briefed him on the purchases.

A day later, on May 18, the gunman purchased 375 rounds of ammunition. And on May 20, he purchased the second rifle.

That's four days before Tuesday's massacre, which ended in the deaths of the students and two adults.

At 11:32 a.m., a person called police reporting a crash at the school, and a man with a gun exiting the damaged vehicle.

The man left one rifle in his truck, according to officials. He took the other and walked toward the school, also carrying a backpack containing several magazines of ammunition.

He dropped that backpack near the school entrance. But inside, investigators found seven 30-round magazines  though it's not clear if they contained live rounds.

In Texas, people who are 18 or older are legally allowed to buy long guns, such as rifles or shotguns. With few exceptions, they must be 21 to purchase a handgun.

Guns used in other shootings

Regardless of age, mass shooters in Texas, including other teens, have had little challenge obtaining firearms.

After a 2016 mass shooting in Dallas in which an Army veteran shot and killed five police officers, investigators said he had legally purchased the weapons he used either online or at a gun show. Among them was an Izhmash-Saiga 5.45 mm high-powered rifle, a variation of an AK-style military weapon.

But the Sutherland Springs shooter  and U.S. Airman  who killed 26 people in 2017 should not have been able to buy firearms from federal firearms licensees: he had received a bad conduct discharge after being convicted in 2012 for assaulting his wife and stepson.

That conviction should have prevented him from being able to legally purchase firearms. But the U.S. Air Force failed to enter that information into the National Criminal Information Center database, which meant it never showed up on a background check when he purchased the four firearms in the years after.

A year later, a 17-year-old student walked into Santa Fe ISD High School, near Houston, and opened fire. He was armed with a 12-gauge Remington 870 shotgun, a Rossi .38-caliber snub-nosed revolver, explosives, and a Molotov cocktail.

The guns were later determined to have been legally owned by his father. The gunman was later found to be mentally incompetent. He has not yet gone to trial.

A year later, an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso. He told authorities he bought the gun from a seller in Romania and picked it up at a Dallas-area store.

In all, Americans purchased nearly 20 million firearms in 2021, according to data from Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting, a slight decrease from 2020.

More on Uvalde school shooting
The mass shooting at a Texas elementary school has resulted in the deaths of 21 people so far, including 19 children.

The shooting took place at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles west of San Antonio and 275 miles west of Houston. Police said the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was believed to be killed by responding officers.

For updates on the shooting, follow live coverage from the Express-News here.

Here's everything we know about the Uvalde victims so far:

Fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles died while trying to protect her students, her aunt Lydia Martinez Delgado told the New York Times. Mireles was married and had a child of her own. She was in her early 40s and proud of teaching students who were of Latino heritage.

She was adventurous. I would definitely say those wonderful things about her. She is definitely going to be very missed, 34-year-old relative Amber Ybarra, of San Antonio, told the Associated Press.

A father identified his 10-year-old daughter, Amerie Jo Garza, as one of the children who died in Tuesday's shooting, according to CNN.

"Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby. Shes been found," Angel Garza wrote in a Facebook post early Wednesday morning. "My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please dont take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie jo. Watch over your baby brother for me."

Ten-year-old Xavier Lopez is among the children who died in Tuesday's shooting, according to a reporter from KSAT 12, a San Antonio news station. He was in fourth grade.

He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today, the boy's cousin, Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, Texas, told the Associated Press. He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.

Ten-year-old Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez is another one of the children who died in Tuesday's shooting, according to a KHOU reporter. She was in the third grade.

Another victim of the Uvalde school shooting has been identified. The Associated Press reported late Tuesday night that 8-year-old Uziyah Garcia was among the 19 children who lost their lives in the shooting.

The sweetest little boy that Ive ever known, Manny Renfro, the boy's grandfather, said. Im not just saying that because he was my grandkid.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellars path to Congress started in 2004 with a recount that put him 58 votes ahead of an incumbent after losing the first tally of a bitter Democratic primary by 145 votes.

Eighteen years later, Cuellar is hoping to avoid the same fate as the incumbent he ousted then, with progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros just 177 votes behind him in the initial tally of a fiercely contested South Texas runoff.

The votes are in, the margin will hold, Cuellar tweeted late Tuesday night with a statement declaring victory and congratulating Cisneros on a hard-fought campaign. I look forward to working with her, and all Texans of the 28th District, to help move forward and win in November.

The results, however, were unofficial, and Cisneros said the race was still too close to call.

We are still waiting for every ballot and eligible vote to be counted, she tweeted. This fight isn't over.

A recount is likely. Texas law allows candidates to request one if the vote difference is less than 10 percent of the leading candidates vote total; Cuellar had more than 22,600 votes.

The third bout between the 17-year incumbent and the 29 year old who once worked as an intern in his office was their closest match yet. The candidates drove up the margins in their respective strongholds  a pattern that emerged in the March 1 primary, when Cisneros big vote totals in counties around San Antonio helped her force a runoff with Cuellar, who did far better in counties along the border.

Cuellar drew nearly 70 percent of the vote in Webb County and more than 80 percent in Starr and Zapata counties, while Cisneros won more than 85 percent of the vote in Bexar County and more than 90 in Guadalupe.

LIVE RESULTS: Updates for key races in the May 24 primary runoff election

The race between Cuellar and Cisneros has drawn national attention as a bellwether for how voters will respond to a looming Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Cuellar is the last anti-abortion Democrat in the House. Cisneros and womens groups backing her hammered Cuellar on abortion in the final weeks of the race, framing her campaign as an effort to defeat the last anti-choice Democrat in the U.S. House.

The race also became a proxy battle between establishment Democrats and the partys progressive wing, which is hoping to capitalize on a series of primary victories.

Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders take sides

Cuellar campaigned as a steady hand who has used his perch on the powerful House Appropriations Committee to secure millions of dollars in funding for the district. He worked to brand Cisneros as too far to the left and argued that she would push policies such as cutting immigration enforcement that would cost the district jobs.

Cisneros, meanwhile, argued that Cuellars votes against his own partys bills  including on abortion rights  are out of step with the historically deep-blue district as she campaigned on universal health care and other progressive priorities.

Cuellar is backed by House leadership, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who issued a robocall for the Laredo Democrat in the final days of the race, calling him a fighter for hardworking families.

He has brought back millions of dollars to the district, Pelosi said in the call.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, campaigned in San Antonio for Cisneros  last week, telling voters she was standing with the working class as he touted her support for universal health care and more.

Progressives called out party leaders as the results rolled in Tuesday.

On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary. Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat who backed Cisneros, tweeted. Accountability isnt partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Cuellar, who voted against a bill codifying Roe v. Wade and has voted for abortion bans numerous times in Congress, issued a statement this month saying he opposes an outright ban. Groups supporting him pointed to the statement in TV ads, saying he was standing up for women at a time when they are under attack by extremists.

An FBI raid, and a homewrecker billboard

The FBI searched Cuellars Laredo home and campaign office in January, reportedly part of a wide-ranging probe relating to the former Soviet state of Azerbaijan and several U.S. businessmen. Cuellars attorney has said Justice Department prosecutors told him the congressman is not a target in the investigation.

Cuellar also faced allegations that he worked to discredit a former staffer in a sex discrimination lawsuit he settled last year. The former staffer was fired in 2018 and sued Cuellar in 2019, alleging the longtime Laredo Democrat denied her request for parental leave and fired her for poor performance when she was in her third trimester. Cuellar said in a statement that he has consistently and adamantly denied any wrongdoing in the case.

The fiercely contested runoff took a nasty turn in the final stretch, with Cuellars supporters running billboards and sending out fake newspapers to voters seeking to brand Cisneros as a homewrecker. Cuellar worked to distance himself from the tactics, saying he didnt condone them.

The candidates and outside groups supporting them spent millions to blanket airwaves in the final weeks. By early May, Cisneros had out-raised Cuellar $4.5 million to $3.1 million. Each candidate had spent more than $3 million on the race as of May 4.

Groups backing Cisneros included EMILYs List, which works to elect women, and Justice Democrats, a group that recruits progressive candidates, perhaps most notably U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Cuellar was supported by business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Mainstream Democrats, a political action committee that defends moderates against challenges from the left.

ben.wermund@chron.com
While statewide candidates commanded large leads in their primary runoffs Tuesday, most of the U.S. House, state House and state Senate races remained tight on election night.

In the Republican statewide primaries, incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton, incumbent Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian and Trump-endorsed former state senator Dawn Buckingham all cruised to easy victories on the strength of early votes.

Democratic comptroller candidate Janet Dudding handily won her runoff, as did Democratic attorney general candidate Rochelle Garza. In the Democratic primary for land commissioner, conservationist Jay Kleberg led Sandragrace Martinez by several points. And Mike Collier defeated Michelle Beckley in the partys primary for lieutenant governor, setting up a rematch against Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who came within 5 percentage points of losing to Collier in 2018.

Over the last year, I have met thousands of Texans who recognize that our state faces a crisis of competent leadership and agree that Texas needs a proven business leadernot a former shock jock radio host and partisan zealotat the helm of our state government, Collier said in a statement.

LIVE ELECTION RESULTS: Updates for key races in the May 24 primary runoff election

For U.S. House races, progressive activist Claudia Andreana Zapata defeated moderate Ricardo Villareal in her bid to run against Rep. Chip Roy in a ruby-red district this fall.

After midnight, the race between Army veteran Ruben Ramirez and progressive small business owner Michelle Vallejo was nearly a dead heat, as was the contest between Jessica Cisneros and Rep. Henry Cuellar. The latter race has gained national attention as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has endorsed Cuellar even after the congressmans home was raided by the FBI.

Vallejo led by 23 votes with all precincts reporting, well within the margin that could trigger a recount. She wrote on Twitter: Though the race is still too close to call, we are heartened by the clear path to victory.

Cuellar led the more progressive Cisneros by less than 200 votes with all precincts reporting, and he declared victory on social media. Cisneros said the race remained too close to call.

Flores leads in Senate race

On the Republican side, Navy veteran Dan McQueen beat Michael Rodriguez in the primary for Congressional District 35. Former Ted Cruz staffer Cassy Garcia defeated Sandra Whitten  with the winner facing either Cuellar or Cisneros.

In the state House District 122 race to replace Republican Lyle Larson, GOP organizer Mark Dorazio led small business owner Eliza Chan with the overwhelming majority of ballots counted.

And in the only Republican state Senate primary, former Sen. Pete Flores led home-builder Raul Reyes by double digits. The winner will face Democrat Kathy Jones-Hospod, an engineer, in the seat vacated by Buckingham when she ran instead for statewide office.

Flores declared victory online. While I have lived in and worked across much of the district, it has been a lot of new ground for me to cover, he said. New faces and lots of new friends. I look forward to representing you in the Texas Senate. I tip my hat in thanks to those who voted for me, and I extend a hand to those who did not. I am ready to do the work you have elected me to do.

edward.mckinley@chron.com
North Korea has given additional instructions to kill intruders as it battles COVID-19. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended the burial of a prominent official this week, attempting to downplay the threat of COVID-19 in his nation.

A maskless Kim Jong Un was photographed carrying the coffin of Hyon Chol-hae, a Korean People's Army marshal who purportedly mentored Kim Jong Un before he became Supreme Leader. Kim stated earlier last month that his country was in chaos because of a COVID-19 pandemic in which no one was inoculated.

Maskless Kim Jong Un Gathers Crowd For State Funeral

According to state media, 2.8 million individuals have become unwell owing to an unknown fever, yet just 68 have died since late April, an incredibly low mortality rate if the ailment is COVID-19, as expected.

The health crisis has resulted in severe lockdowns in North Korea, and some suggest that Kim Jong Un is utilizing the pandemic to strengthen his regime. Previously, the virus caused border conflict. A South Korean fisheries officer fell off his boat on North Korean seas in 2020.

Border agents allegedly shot him dead and then set fire to his body, fearing he was carrying the virus, according to Express. North Korea has limited testing capacity for so many sick individuals, but some analysts believe it is also underreporting deaths to protect Kim Jong Un from political repercussions.

According to the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Jong Un attended the burial on Sunday of Hyon Chol-hae, a Korean People's Army marshal who played a crucial role in grooming him as the country's next leader before Kim's father, Kim Jong-il, died in late 2011.

A barefaced Kim Jong-un carried Hyon's coffin with other senior officials wearing masks before throwing soil to his grave with his hands at the national cemetery in one of the country's largest state funerals since his father's death. According to a state television video, Kim and hundreds of masked troops and officials bent low at Hyon's tomb.

Thousands of other masked troops in olive-green uniforms had previously gathered in a Pyongyang square, taking off their hats and offering quiet respect before a funeral vehicle carrying Hyon's coffin left for the cemetery, according to state television. A large number of troops and residents gathered along the streets to offer their sorrow.

Kim Jong Un frequently organizes large funerals for late top officials loyal to his ruling family, displaying a human side in a suspected move to gain the country's governing elite's support and build internal unity.

Except for Kim Jong Un and the honor guards, most individuals donned masks for the burial on Sunday. The current pandemic of the North was most likely triggered by the April 25 military parade and subsequent festivities, which brought huge groups of individuals who did not wear masks.

To combat the viral outbreak, North Korea enforces a national lockdown and other strict regulations. Movement from area to the region is prohibited, but critical agricultural, commercial, and other industrial activity continued in an apparent effort to minimize harm to the country's already ailing economy, South China Morning Post reported.

Read Also: Fertilizer Shortage Could Cause Next Global Food Crisis: Why Is This Happening?

North Korea Fires Missiles After Joe Biden's Departure From Asia

Meanwhile, North Korea launched three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan early Wednesday, just hours after President Joe Biden left Asia after a five-day visit to South Korea and Japan. The launches were verified by the US Indo-Pacific Command, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Japan's Defense Minister. The White House said Biden was kept up to date on the launches when he returned to Washington on Tuesday night.

Government sources warned Biden throughout his first trip to Asia as US president that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may conduct missile or nuclear tests. Biden was asked several questions about dealing with Kim Jong Un while in South Korea.

When asked whether he had a message for North Korea's leadership, he offered reporters a pretty direct answer. During his Saturday news appearance alongside South Korea's new leader, President Yoon Suk Yeol, the president was also asked about Kim Jong Un.

Biden was asked if the US would consider delivering COVID-19 vaccinations to North Korea, which is suffering an increase in coronavirus infections. "Yes, we've offered vaccinations not only to North Korea but also to China, and we're ready to do it right away," Biden added, as per Daily Mail.

Related Article: Monkeypox Vaccine: As Cases Rise Across the US, Here's Everything You Need To Know About the Possible Vaccination

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The sisters of Giovanna Modesty Augusta Barrera cried and held on to each other as they faced their sisters killer, Daniel Calvillo, shortly before deputies led him away to begin a 40-year sentence.

Calvillo killed the rollerskater because she would not give him her cellphone.

You have no idea the emptiness you have caused. She was the reason we would smile and laugh. She will always be remembered as our hero, Gisselle Merlos, 21, told the defendant as she clung to her sister, Destiny Barrera, 24, whose own statements were barely audible through her sobs.

The sisters, along with several family members, sat in the first row of Judge Frank J. Castros 399th District Court and wore T-shirts and held signs with Giovanna Barreras picture on them.

The judge also spoke to Calvillo before he sentenced him, telling him his victim was only 24.

You cost her her life and ruined her family, Castro said.

Calvillo, who is from Piedras Negras in the Mexican state of Coahuila, was 28 when he was arrested and charged with capital murder.

As part of a plea agreement reached between prosecutor Clayton Haden and defense attorney Javier F. Oliva, Calvillo admitted to the lesser offense of murder in exchange for 40 years in the murder case and a concurrent 10 years in an unrelated robbery case.

Authorities said the shooting occurred shortly after 2 p.m. Dec. 9, 2020, in the 7600 block of Tarrasa, near Walzem Road.

On ExpressNews.com: Man indicted on capital murder count, accused of killing woman over a cellphone

Barrera had just finished rollerskating and was taking her skates off inside her car when Calvillo approached her and demanded that she hand over her cellphone. She refused, throwing the phone under the car seat, and was shot in cold blood at point-blank range, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said at the time.

Calvillo fled in a car driven by Keyana Jones, then 20. The pair were caught the next day in a traffic stop by Bexar County sheriffs deputies. Jones, now 22, is charged as a co-defendant in the case and has also agreed to take a plea on a murder charge, Bexar County District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales said.

She will be sentenced later by Castro.

The Docket: Local crime and courtroom news, delivered to your inbox weekly

It is an acceptable resolution, Gonzales said after Calvillos sentencing. It is not going to bring Giovanna back. This was a senseless killing and it has been hard on the family. They have waited for a long time for justice.

Calvillo will be eligible for parole after serving 20 years. He also faces deportation upon his release from prison.

ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
School districts across San Antonio increased security, tightened rules about what students could bring to campus and sent anguished notes to teachers, principals, and parents about how to react to a horrific situation happening 85 miles away.

An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde before noon on Tuesday, and starting that evening San Antonio schools were fielding questions from worried parents.

Students arriving onto campus Wednesday saw more police officers than normal and were advised to reach out to counselors if they needed to talk to someone.

Some districts sent counselors to Uvalde to help students directly impacted by the tragedy.

On ExpressNews.com: How to help Robb Elementary School shooting victims and families

Over the years, I have written far too many letters like this, Sarah Baray, the CEO of Pre-K 4 SA, said in an email to parents Wednesday morning. There is no way to make sense of the devastating tragedy and loss that occurred in Uvalde, Texas yesterday. Our hearts are heavy as we think about the children and families of Uvalde.

Principals at many school districts were instructed to review their safety plans, including lockdown drills and the channels set up to report any threats of violence. Virtually all of them have spent a decade improving school safety policies and practices.

It is not like we are changing anything in these next few days, said Barry Perez, the spokesperson at Northside Independent School District.  Events like yesterday serve as reminders that we have to be vigilant and we can never let our guard down.

Required Reading: Get San Antonio education news sent directly to your inbox

Earl Rudder Middle School Principal Paul Ramirez added a recap of Northside ISDs ongoing safety precautions to his weekly newsletter Wednesday. Among the reminders: no backpacks are allowed during the last week of classes.

As a principal of a campus I have a lot of feelings, but I also have to be the leader of the campus and make sure my teachers, and my kids, and my families, and everybody understand that we are all in this together, Ramirez said. Their anxiety levels rise, and they worry about whats going to happen.

In the decade since the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting in December, 2012, area schools have added bullet resistant entrances, digital video surveillance systems, lockdown drills, locked perimeter fencing, tougher classroom door hardware and more police officers.

We have safety procedures and safety protocols that we follow every single day, said Aubrey Chancellor, spokesperson for North East ISD. Unfortunately, when you have a tragedy like this, and especially so close to home, it is just a stark reminder that we need to be reviewing those safety protocols on a regular basis and really know what to do when an event such as that occurs.

On ExpressNews.com: S.A. students call for gun control at widespread school walkouts

Physical safety wasnt the only concern.

No doubt people are scared, Perez said. Situations like yesterday bring it all to the forefront. We also want to be mindful  of the emotional safety of kids.

Patti Salzmann, the deputy superintendent of San Antonio ISD, said that besides safety precautions, there is no substitute for building strong relationships with our students, families, and staff.

At Maverick Elementary School in SAISD, a Career on Wheels festival was partly why students were able to cope with the jarring reality of Uvalde hanging over them Wednesday morning, said counselor Jeanette Zuniga. The parking lot was full of music, games and inspirational talks from community leaders.

We were thinking of canceling the event but even the superintendent said go ahead, and keep doing whatever youre doing because we dont want the kids to come to school afraid, Zuniga said. I know that they did, some of them were afraid, some parents were concerned. But they knew that here at Maverick we will keep them safe.

On ExpressNews.com: How to talk to your kids about the Uvalde school shooting

Annette Anderson, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, advocates for better mental health remediation and more resources to attend more deeply to students who show signs of stress or violence.

Kids need more counselors and social workers who can listen to them  but increasing police presence on school campuses is not going to help them, she said.

Statistically, schools with more police have higher rates of suspensions or arrests of students of color, and it doesnt make kids feel safer, Anderson said. If anything it is more traumatizing for young people.

But many school districts advised principals to get out in front of their schools and make their presence felt, and that of their police, to families dropping off their kids in the morning.

We made sure the East Central Police Department was visible today, said Brandon Oliver, the East Central ISD spokesman. All campuses have an officer assigned to it, but with yesterday on everyones minds we just thought, out of an abundance of caution, we would make them even more visible today.

More effort to identify, report and act on any concerning behavior by students needs to happen before a threat is even made, said Kathy Martinez-Prather, the director at Texas State Universitys School Safety Center.

That is a common theme we have seen through a lot of these shootings throughout the decades, she said. There was someone who knew something, there was someone who had a concern or didnt report it because they didnt think it was that big of a deal or they thought someone (else) would report it.

claire.bryan@express-news.net
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San Antonio hospitals are treating seven patients who were critically injured Tuesday in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Six patients were transported from Uvalde Memorial Hospital to University Hospital and Brooke Army Medical Center, both Level 1 trauma facilities, which provide the highest level of trauma care in the region.

Two adults were sent to BAMC and are in serious condition, a military hospital official said.

Bexar County Hospital Districts University Hospital received a 66-year-old woman, two 10-year-old girls and a 9-year-old girl. The woman and one of the girls are in serious condition, while the other girls are in good condition.

On ExpressNews.com: 19 students and 2 adults killed in elementary school shooting in Uvalde

Methodist Healthcare spokeswoman Palmira Arellano said a child from the shooting is being treated at one of their hospitals and is in stable condition. Other details werent available because the patient is a minor.

Dr. Lillian Liao, pediatric trauma medical director at University Hospital and associate professor of surgery at UT Health San Antonio, got the alert on her pager at about 11:50 a.m. Tuesday from Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, which is designated by the Texas Department of State Health Services to handle mass casualties.

Liao said she had to Google the schools name, and thats when she realized that they would be coming from Uvalde and that she would have at least an hour to prepare staff for potential waves of patients.

The first patient came in just before 1 p.m. via helicopter.

It was a long time before the next patient came in, she said, which gave hospital staff an indication that there wouldnt be many survivors.

That really, you know, spoke to just sort of the tragedy at the scene and the critically injured at the scene. They were having to sort through which patients were alive and needed care, she said, referring to emergency medical services personnel.

The patients treated by University Hospital staff sustained injuries from high-velocity firearms that caused substantial tissue damage.

On ExpressNews.com: Remembering the lives lost in Uvalde

Liao said University Hospital staff has seen such injuries before, following the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting. Unfortunately, and sadly, we had experience in managing mass casualty care.

After Sutherland Springs, Liao said, we were trying to figure out what  we could do so that if and when this next incident occurs, we could try to save more lives.

One way was to focus on firearm injury prevention and education, while another way was to teach bystanders how to control bleeding so that they can help the injured before EMS personnel reach the scene.

When you have any incident like this, the police have to clear the scene before EMS can enter, Liao said. A person can bleed out in as little as five minutes.

On ExpressNews.com: Uvalde school shooting: Teen gunman bought AR-15 style rifle day after he turned 18

Another way to reduce casualties is to have whole blood stored as close to the scene as possible so that a critically injured patient can get a transfusion quickly and even before reaching a trauma center. This used to be something that would only be done in a hospital setting, but since the last mass shooting, the San Antonio region implemented a whole blood transfusion program that has saved lives.

I can say that in this incident, we feel like at least one of the patients benefited from that experience, Liao said.

University Health Foundation established a Uvalde Victims Relief Fund to support the four patients at University Hospital, including unpaid medical expenses and other needs identified by the systems social workers.

laura.garcia@express-news.net | @Reporter_Laura
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UVALDE  A gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde on Tuesday morning, making it one of the deadliest school shootings in modern U.S. history.

Salvador Ramos, 18, allegedly shot his grandmother before fleeing around 11:30 a.m. in a car that he crashed outside Robb Elementary School, a campus of 600 second- through fourth-graders in a predominantly Hispanic town 85 miles west of San Antonio, authorities said.

He got out of the wrecked car carrying one of two AR platform rifles that he legally bought the prior week, authorities said. He also bought 375 rounds of high-powered 5.56 ammunition, according to state Sen. John Whitmire, who was briefed on the incident.

Ramos was wearing body armor and carrying a backpack, Texas DPS Sgt. Erick Estrada told CNN.

The teen, who acted alone, was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was working nearby, authorities said.

My heart is broken today, Uvalde CISD Superintendent Hal Harrell said at a news conference. We are a small community. We will need your prayers to get us through this.

Fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles died trying to protect her students, her aunt Lydia Martinez Delgado told the New York Times. Mireles was a married mother in her early 40s and proud of teaching students who were of Latino heritage.

On ExpressNews.com: 'Im about to': Gunman narrated Uvalde shooting on social media

It was not immediately clear how many people, in addition to the dead, were wounded. Earlier in the day, Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there for treatment.

All patients from Uvalde Memorial Hospital have been discharged or transferred to other hospitals for higher levels of care, Chief Executive Officer Thomas Nordwick said.

In all, the hospital treated 15 patients. Some were sent to San Antonio hospitals, the rest were discharged homed.

Four patients were being treated at University Hospital in San Antonio. They included a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl in critical condition, another 10-year-old in good condition and a 9-year-old in fair condition, officials said Tuesday evening.

Brooke Army Medical Center, located on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, said it had admitted two patients from the shooting, both of whom were in critical condition.

Gov. Greg Abbott said two law enforcement officers were hit by bullets but didnt have serious injuries.

Police officers with the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District saw the shooter and tried to engage him, Estrada said. Thats when he entered the school.

The shooter shot and killed horrifically, incomprehensibly, Gov. Greg Abbott said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Late Tuesday, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Travis Considine confirmed the gunman had killed 21 children and adults.

The shooting took place just two days before the end of the school year at Robb Elementary.

On ExpressNews.com: Robb Elementary School shooting victims and the stories about each that we are learning

A chaotic scene unfolded in the afternoon at the Uvalde Civic Center, where authorities were reuniting children with their parents. Many anguished parents, several in tears, swarmed the center looking for updates.

Jessie Rodriguez, 53, left his job as a carpenter as soon as he received word that his daughters school was the target of a mass shooting.

Nobody ever called me back on details, he said.

His daughter Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, had her photo taken for picture day, he said, showing the photo on his phone.

It was also an award day at Robb Elementary, Rodriguez said. Annabelle had earned a certificate for making the A-B honor roll, said Rodriguezs fiance, Esmeralda.

Rodriguez  who hadnt seen his daughter in three months  was uneasy, fearful about how he would find his daughter.

He heard there was a 10-year-old at a hospital in San Antonio.

I was waiting for more info. Nobody called me back, he said. The hospitals closing me out right now.

ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images

Christian Soeora, 37, went straight to the school when he heard about the shooting. His daughters fourth-grade teacher told Soeora that two teachers and several students, including his daughter, escaped from behind the school and hid behind some trees.

He picked up his daughter and another relative.

He was waiting with his cousin and family at the civic center for word of a child who was still unaccounted for.

Im just worried about all these other kids, he said.

Later in the evening, President Joe Biden delivered an emotional call for new restrictions on firearms.

When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? Biden said at the White House. I am sick and tired. We have to act.

The shooting in Uvalde, a rural community of 25,000 about 80 miles west of San Antonio, came less than two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., killing 10 Black shoppers and workers in what officials have described as a hate crime.

The Uvalde shooting marks the worst elementary school shooting in Texas and the second-worst elementary school shooting in modern U.S. history, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012 that left 26 dead, including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old.

Other school shootings with significant death tolls  including the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead in February 2018  took place in high schools.

Its the second mass shooting in less than five years in the San Antonio area. In November 2017, a gunman armed with an assault-style rifle killed 26 parishioners at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, about 35 miles southeast of San Antonio.

Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde, Abbott said. Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss, and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering, the governor said, referring to his wife.

The tragedy shook educators across the state who are preparing for the end of the school year.

Our public schools should be one of the safest places for students and educators  but gunshots shattered the physical safety of the school community in Uvalde, Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina and National Education Association President Becky Pringle said in a joint statement.

We stand together during this difficult moment, sending love and healing thoughts to the victims, their families and the entire Uvalde community. We are ready to work together to ensure that students and members get the emotional and physical support they need to begin the healing process.

Public officials, both locally and nationally, mourned the senseless shooting.

It is with profound grief and broken hearts that we learn about the news coming our way this afternoon, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said. We stand united with the community in Uvalde and offer our assistance.

My heart goes out to the community and the families in Uvalde devastated by gun violence today, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio said. This is a parents worst nightmare. We need gun reform now.

A heavy police presence remained outside the school Tuesday evening, with FBI agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents coming and going from the building.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is leading the investigation, Abbott said. The San Antonio Police Department and San Antonio Fire Department sent their resources to assist Uvalde authorities.

Harrell, the Uvalde school superintendent, said classes and all school activities were canceled for the rest of the year.

Grief counseling also will be offered at the Willie de Leon Civic Center starting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, he said.

Gustavo Garcia-Siller, archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, held a prayer vigil for the victims at Sacred Heart-Uvalde on Tuesday evening.

The society is sick and the leadership has not been courageous enough to do something more radical about stopping this train, Garcia-Siller said as he left the Willie de Leon Civic Center. Someone was telling me earlier, This isnt going to be the last one. That doesn't give me any consolation. We are all going to die. But the way these children died is totally unacceptable.

Staff writers Emilie Eaton, Taylor Pettaway, Laura Garcia, Sig Christenson, Guillermo Contreras, Brian Chasnoff and Annie Blanks contributed to this report from San Antonio. Staff writer Cayla Harris contributed from Austin.

eeaton@express-news.net
As Uvalde reels from a mass school shooting, there are ways San Antonians can help.

Nonprofits and other organizations are looking for blood donations, funds for the victims' families and legal assistance.

Below are ways you can help:

Donate blood: University Health System, the largest transfuser of blood in the greater San Antonio area, is urging people to donate blood.

Related: Uvalde shooting live updates.

Your donation can help ensure we have supplies immediately available for the victims of this tragic shooting, University Health System tweeted.

Many of University Health Systems online appointments are booked through the middle of June, according to its website.

South Texas Blood & Tissue said in a news release on Tuesday that thanks to generous blood donors, we were able to send 15 units of blood to Uvalde via helicopter to be available at the site of the shooting and at the area hospitals.

Later that afternoon, the organization received a request and sent an additional 10 units of blood to a hospital in Uvalde.

Related: Uvalde school shooting: Images from the scene in Texas

South Texas Blood & Tissue is also held an emergency blood drive in Uvalde on Wednesday. The organization recently said on Twitter that its donors are experiencing a two-hour wait time and that all of its appointments were booked through Saturday.

However, the organization stressed that help would still be needed beyond that point and encouraged people to schedule and keep appointments for the following week.

"Blood supplies are at historically low levels as we begin the summer travel season, our slowest time for blood donations," the organization said on Twitter. "We also encourage you to schedule your donation when appointments are available next week and to continue donating throughout the year."

The organization encourages donors to commit to donating at least four times a year to "help us stay ready today, for the unimaginable tomorrow."

To schedule an appointment, call (210) 731-5590 or visit the website.

Donate money: Communities across the country have come together to donate money to help Uvalde.

GoFundMe is vetting these and has added verified fundraisers to a hub, which you can find here.

Among the fundraisers are those created by the victims' families to help pay for medical costs and funeral expenses. There is also a fundraiser organized by VictimsFirst, a network of survivors and relatives affected by previous mass shootings.

The organization said it started the fund to make sure that 100 percent of what is collected goes DIRECTLY to the victim base so the victims families and those wounded/injured are protected from fraud and exploitation.

You might also like: Who is Salvador Ramos, and other questions about the Uvalde school shooting

As of Wednesday morning, the majority of verified fundraisers, including an effort to raise money for funeral expenses for the family of Xavier Lopez, had exceeded their fundraising goals.

GoFundMe has also compiled advice on how to avoid scammers.

University Health System's Foundation has set up a Uvalde victim's relief fund to help support the patients and families who are being cared for at the hospital. Find more information on the foundation's website.

The Robb School Memorial Fund is an account opened at First State Bank of Uvalde for the families of Robb Elementary, according to the Uvalde Police Department.

The city of Uvalde is also accepting donations for medical expenses. If you'd like to donate, the Uvalde Police Department encourages people to send a check to the city of Uvalde, P.O. Box 799, Uvalde, Texas 78802.

Starting Wednesday, H-E-B, Central Market, Joe V's Smart Shop and Mi Tienda customers can contribute monetary donations in store at the register. Customers can make $1, $3, $5, $50, or $100 at checkout in curbside and on home delivery orders. All funds collected from the donation campaign will benefit the victims and families of Robb Elementary School.

The Community Foundation of Texas Hill Country, a nonprofit based northwest of San Antonio, has started a relief fund for the victims and their families, as well as others affected by the Uvalde shooting. You can donate on its website.

Legal aid services needed: The San Antonio Legal Services Association in a Facebook post said it is in need of volunteer attorneys who are licensed to practice in Texas.

Volunteer NOW to assist Uvalde Shooting Victims and Families with Unmet Legal Needs, the organization wrote on Facebook. SALSA will respond with pro bono assistance as called upon to do so by community partners and civic leaders over the coming weeks.

SALSA is asking qualified attorneys to email them with their areas of practice and availability through June to UvaldeResponse@sa-lsa.org.

This story will be updated when new information becomes available.

timothy.fanning@express-news.net
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The grandfather of the alleged gunman who killed 21 people in a school shooting in Uvalde yesterday said he had no idea his grandson, who lived with him, had purchased two assault style weapons or had them in his home, according to ABC News.

In an interview with ABCs Matt Gutman this morning, Rolando Reyes, 72, said he didnt know his grandson, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was in possession of two AR-15-style rifles or that they were in his house.

I didnt know he had any weapons, Reyes told ABC News. If I would have known, I would have reported him.

Since he is a felon, Reyes said it is illegal for him to be around or be in possession of weapons, according to ABC News.

According to several authorities, Ramos had purchased the weapons two days before he went on a shooting rampage at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a city of approximately 16,000 located 80 miles west of San Antonio, killing 19 children and two adults.

Reyes said, It still hasnt sunk in, knowing his grandson was the shooter who was involved in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, according to ABC News.

Authorities said Ramos was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was working nearby, according to news reports.

Ramos had purchased the two assault rifles six days after his 18th birthday, making them legal purchases, according to law enforcement officials.

Reyes said his grandson had been living with him and his grandmother because he and his mother had been having problems. He said Ramos kept to himself, spending a lot of time in his room and was quiet, seldom saying a word to him, according to ABC News.

The grandfather said his grandson hadnt been going to school for the past year and didnt graduate. Whenever he would bring the subject of school to Ramos, Reyes said to ABC News: You tell them and kids nowadays, they know everything.

Reyes said his grandson would make conversation with him sometimes when he took him to work.

When Ramos turned 18 on May 16, Reyes said his grandmother marked the occasion by taking her grandson to Applebees.

Authorities said Ramos shot his grandmother before starting his shooting spree at the elementary school, according to ABC News.

The grandmother, who was shot in the head, is undergoing surgery today. According to ABC News, Reyes believes she will survive.

Reyes said he doesnt how his grandson was able to get to the elementary school in a vehicle since he didnt have a drivers license or even know how to drive. Authorities said the alleged shooter crashed the vehicle outside the elementary school before going onto the campus.

DDeKunder@express-news.net
A few days ago, a Laredo woman went to a polling site to vote in the Texas primary runoff and asked a poll worker for a Republican ballot.

After she finished voting, the woman went back to the poll worker and asked for another ballot, because she also wanted to vote in the Democratic runoff for Henry Cuellar.

The poll worker regretfully informed the woman that youre only allowed to vote once  and you have to pick a party.

Its a story that Sylvia Bruni, the Webb County Democratic Party chairwoman, cites to illustrate her point that Cuellar, the nine-term Laredo congressman pushed to the edge of political extinction by progressive immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros, got a boost from Republicans determined to cross over and lift him to victory.

We know that a bunch of Republicans voted Democratic because theyre very, very close to the congressman, Bruni said. I have a number of friends who are Republicans who will tell me that they voted for him.

Tuesday night, with all nine counties in U.S. District 28 providing complete returns, Cuellar clung to a thin lead over Cisneros. Just before midnight, he claimed victory.

Cisneros did not concede. This election is still too close to call, and we are still waiting for every ballot and eligible vote to be counted, she tweeted.

Its often said that South Texas border politics is different; that its Democrats tend to be socially conservative, pro-business and inclined to show solidarity with law enforcement.

Nonetheless, its stunning to consider these facts about Cuellars election performance:

On the very day that a gunman killed 19 elementary-school children and two teachers in Uvalde, Democratic runoff voters in Laredo were backing a congressman who opposes an assault-weapons ban.

Three weeks after news broke that the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down legalized abortion, Democratic runoff voters in Laredo were backing the Houses lone anti-choice Democrat.

At a time when workers are asserting their power in the labor market, Democratic runoff voters in Laredo were backing the lone House Democrat who voted against the 2021 Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.

As Bruni suggested, those Webb County numbers were padded by Republicans. Then again, Cuellar has always depended on the kindness  or at least the back scratching  of Republicans.

In December 2000, Rick Perry was about to inherit the governors office from George W. Bush, who was moving on to the White House.

Perry wanted to look like a bipartisan figure and establish good will with Democratic voters, particularly Latino Democrats.

Cuellar checked those boxes for him. So Perry, in his first important move as governor-to-be, selected Cuellar to be Texas secretary of state.

That led to a weird conflict between Cuellar and another Latino Democrat from Laredo, businessman Tony Sanchez Jr., who was then angling for a shot at challenging Perry.

When Sanchez received an anonymous, threatening letter, his lawyer hired investigators to track its source. They reportedly suspected that the letter came from Cuellar and started digging into his personal life. When the story went public, Sanchez apologized to Cuellar, but Cuellar refused to accept the apology.

The beneficiary of all this Democratic infighting? The Republican governor of Texas, Rick Perry.

In January 2006, a year into Cuellars first term in Congress, Bush made a show of affectionately cupping his hands around the face of a beaming Cuellar after the presidents State of the Union address.

The move prompted Cuellars Democratic primary rival, Ciro Rodriguez, to put out a leaflet sarcastically proclaiming, George Bush thinks Henry Cuellar is chulo (cute).

Cuellar came to be perceived on Capitol Hill as the ultimate dealmaker, someone who is transactional about everything  who uses and gets used.

Thats why Democratic heavyweights such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn have come to value him. Congressional leaders generally dont like principled ideologues. They like people who can be swayed if you offer them something in return.

Cuellars deal-making skills have enabled him to bring the bacon back to Laredo, which accounts for the loyalty he built across party lines in his hometown.

Cisneros beat him by a margin of 6-1 in Bexar County, where young progressives on the East Side and the downtown area were energized by her commitment to Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and the protection of abortion rights.

If Cuellar survives, it will be because of his 69-percent haul in Webb County, which constituted nearly half of the runoff vote in District 28. And it will be because just enough Republicans crossed over to save him.

ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470
When Linda Holley was a child in Houston, shed take apart her dolls, studying them. The first time her mother saw the dismantling, she asked her if something was wrong.

No, nothings wrong, Linda answered. Im just trying to figure them out so I can put them back together.

Why would you want to do that? asked her mother.

If Im going to be a doctor, I have to learn to put them back together.

Holley couldnt know she was foreshadowing a television character with whom she would be compared decades later.

Holley was 7 when she knew she wanted a career in medicine, and she was specific about what it was she wanted to be. People would say to her, Oh, so you want to be a nurse?

Shed answer, No, I want to be a doctor. And she wanted to treat children.

Holley received her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, where she also completed her pediatric residency. In 1986, Dr. Holley and another young, Black, female pediatrician, Dr. Dianna Burns-Banks, opened East San Antonio Pediatric Care in the East San Antonio Medical Center. They were intentional in where they set up their practice.

We never wanted to be in Stone Oak, Burns-Banks said. We wanted to be on the East Side of San Antonio and serve an area which had been historically underserved and overlooked. As Black females, we felt that it was important for us to go there and let kids who look like us see somebody who looks like them and work with them.

Services Visitation for Linda Holley will be Friday at Lewis Funeral Home, 811 S. W. W. White Road, from 5 to 7 p.m. Funeral services will be Saturday at Second Baptist Church, 3310 E. Commerce St., at 1:30 p.m. See More Collapse

Other doctors couldnt understand why they would open a practice on that side of town, and it was suggested they wouldnt get paid or be paid through barter.

We wanted to prove that you could succeed taking care of people who were economically disadvantaged if you did it right, Burns-Banks said. We could relate to our patients struggles. You had to listen to them and see them as individuals, and not the stereotype thats painted.

Over the next 35 years, their practice grew to multiple offices throughout San Antonio and the name changed to South Texas Center for Pediatric Care.

But early on, when the patients were few, they would leave the office at 5 p.m. to work in the Brady Green clinic until 1 a.m., stopping on the way to eat at Lubys and share a slice of cheesecake.

Holleys husband of 38 years, Lon Taylor, said the two doctors complemented each other.

They were a great combination, he said. Diana was out front, and Linda liked to stay behind the scenes.

Between them, they treated 100,000 to 200,000 children. They also advocated for them, driving to Austin to testify before legislative committees on child-related issues, including insurance.

Holley, who collected snow globes, knew every popular animated movie and bought boxes of Girl Scout cookies by the hundreds, connected with children in magical ways, putting them at ease and making them laugh. Taylor said his wife was the person who could relate to the child before becoming the doctor whos going to fix the child.

Doc McStuffins was a TV cartoon about a 6-year-old Black girl named Dottie Doc McStuffins who makes dolls, stuffed animals and toys come alive when she puts on her stethoscope. She takes care of them in her playhouse clinic.

Taylor said a few years ago, a little girl wasnt cooperating as a nurse tried to give her a shot. She cried and pulled away until Holley walked into the room. The little girl, who was Black, looked at Holley, stopped crying, and said with excitement, Doc McStuffins!

It wouldnt be the last time that happened.

Holley was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. She died May 8, Mothers Day, at 67. Though weak, she continued to see patients, via telemedicine, until a few weeks ago.

It was her life, Burns-Banks said. It was what she loved to do, and she wanted to do it as long as she lived.

The child who took dolls apart became the doctor who helped make children whole.

cary.clack@express-news.net
Our world has again divided into the times before and after the carnage of another mass shooting.

Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, Tucson, Aurora, Sandy Hook, Charleston, Orlando, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, El Paso, Parkland, Santa Fe and Buffalo  among many others.

Now an elementary school in Uvalde, a small town about 80 miles west of San Antonio.

The time before this tragedy fell further away as the details and numbers grew as the day wore on  19 dead children and two teachers.

And the time between the befores and afters seems to be growing shorter. The massacre at the grocery store in Buffalo was May 14.

Heres a quick story from before Uvalde that hits different now in the aftermath.

On Friday evening, the Democratic candidate for governor, Beto ORourke held a veteran town hall as part of his People of Texas Campaign at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 76.

While walking to the VFW, I saw Bill Skinner, 62, standing alone on the corner of 10th Street and Avenue B. He held a pole with a black Come and Take It flag featuring an AR-15 instead of a cannon. He wore a green ball cap with an American flag and a T-shirt with the words FJB  Lets go Brandon.

Skinner told me hes kind of pro-gun and Betos kind of anti-gun, and thats why he was there. He was alone, friendly enough, not yelling. He just stood there, holding his flag as people passed by on their way to the rally.

In the warm, wood-paneled event hall, many in the crowd waved black-and-white Beto for Texas signs and others drank cold, cheap beers.

ORourke stood in front of a Texas flag as he laid out his three priorities for veterans, answered questions and schmoozed with the crowd of a couple hundred people.

As he spoke, I kept thinking of the idiom the elephant in the room. In my mind, the topic of guns loomed  especially in a room full of vets  but nobody asked ORourke the question. Not even me.

Id planned to ask but didnt stick around as he did a photo line. I reached out to his staff and got an e-mail Tuesday morning  before any of us knew about Uvalde  with a link to ORourke answering the gun question during his vet rally Monday in Killeen.

In the email, ORourke spokesman Chris Evans noted that some veterans have told Beto that the gunmen who have carried out these deadly mass shootings in Texas were better armed than they were in Vietnam.

In the clip, ORourke gave a quick preamble about the genius of America and how we can disagree but still treat each other with respect, and work to find consensus and compromise.

I dont think any civilian should own an AR-15 or AK-47  thats just how I feel on this, he said. After Buffalo, after El Paso, after Midland-Odessa, Santa Fe High School, Sutherland Springs. How many times do we have to see our fellow Americans slaughtered with one of these weapons with its high impact high-velocity rounds?

ORourke acknowledged the proud tradition of Texas gun ownership, and mentioned he owns guns before describing some commonsense gun law changes. He called for universal background checks, a safe storage law and the repeal of the permitless carry law that Gov. Greg Abbott signed despite law enforcements concerns.

To allow any Texan to carry a firearm with no vetting whatsoever has produced predictable results, he said. We now lead the nation in the number of members of law enforcement who have been gunned down.

He concluded his answer the day before Uvalde with haunting words.

We see the spike in gun violence happening so frequently that its almost numbed us. Kids dont make the headlines anymore when theyre shot and killed in their hometowns, it is happening so frequently.

We were in that moment where the last shooting had started to shrink from the headlines. We were oblivious to the next shooting on the horizon  Uvalde. ORourke would amplify those concerns after confronting Gov. Greg Abbott Wednesday.

After Uvalde is just beginning. For some it will never end, and for the rest of us, were in the time before the next shooting.

If only we could make some changes before the next after.

brandon.lingle@express-news.net
RTHK: China-Russia show of force amid Quad summit

Russian and Chinese military planes conducted joint exercises to patrol the Asia-Pacific region on Tuesday in a pointed farewell to US President Joe Biden as he concluded an Asia trip that rankled Beijing.

Japan scrambled jets after Russian and Chinese warplanes neared its airspace while Tokyo was hosting the leaders of the Quad group of countries, which includes the United States, said Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, who called the move a provocation.

It was the first joint military exercise by China and Russia since Moscow launched its attack on Ukraine on February 24, according to a US official, and it came at the tail end of Biden's four-day trip.

"We think it shows that China continues to be willing to closely align themselves with Russia, including through military cooperation," a senior administration official said, adding that such actions must be planned well in advance.

"China is not walking away from Russia. Instead, the exercise shows that China is ready to help Russia defend its east while Russia fights in its west," the official said.

Biden stressed during the trip, intended in part to counter China's growing influence in the region, that the United States will stand with its allies and partners to push for a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Beijing and Moscow declared a "no-limits" partnership just weeks before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the attack on Ukraine.

The joint patrol lasted 13 hours over the Japanese and East China seas and involved Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers and Chinese Xian H-6 jets, the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

Planes from the Japanese and South Korean air forces shadowed the Russian and Chinese jets for part of the exercise, it said.

Tokyo conveyed "grave concerns" to both Russia and China through diplomatic channels, Kishi said at a news conference.

He characterized the incident as a likely provocation by both Beijing and Moscow on a day when Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australia's newly elected leader, Anthony Albanese, were meeting in Tokyo.

"We believe the fact that this action was taken during the Quad summit makes it more provocative than in the past," he said, adding it was the fourth such incident since November.

Chinese naval vessels likely participated in the joint exercise, a US official said.

China's defense ministry confirmed the joint aerial patrol over the Sea of Japan, East China Sea and the Western Pacific and called it part of an annual military exercise.

On Monday, Biden angered China by saying he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan, but he said later US policy toward the self-ruled island had not changed. Beijing considers Taiwan an inalienable part of China that should be reunited with the mainland. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The legal team for Johnny Depp was unsuccessful in their bid to have Amber Heard's $100 million counterclaims dismissed on Tuesday (May 24), as Amber Heard's attorneys rested their case in the defamation trial.

After lawyers for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard both presented arguments concerning the countersuit, Judge Penney Azcarate noted at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Virginia that it is not her responsibility to judge the truth or weight of the evidence.

Johnny Depp's Motion To Strike Amber Heard's Counterclaim Denied

Although Johnny Depp is not mentioned in the article, Heard has previously accused the actor of assaulting her, which he denies. Amber Heard filed a $100 million counterclaim in response to Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman's claims that the actress' abuse allegations were fiction. Rottenborn's argument came after Depp attorney Benjamin Chew filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on Tuesday.

Last month, Johnny Depp testified for four days, insisting he never hit Heard and accusing her of frequently getting physically violent with him. He claimed to have had his middle finger amputated after Heard hurled a bottle at him in Australia in 2015.

Amber Heard finished her four-day testimony last Thursday, claiming she never mistreated Depp and that the actor damaged his finger by shattering a phone. She detailed other events in which Depp allegedly mistreated her, including accusing him of sexually assaulting her with a bottle in Australia.

Her lawyers rested their case on Tuesday without asking Johnny Depp to testify. The trial's closing arguments are scheduled on Friday, The Star reported.

Read Also: LOOK! Massive Asteroid Twice the Size of Burj Khalifa Will Zoom Past Earth This Week

The Truth in Amber Heard's Aquaman Role

Meanwhile, a Warner Bros official testified that Amber Heard's position as Mera in Aquaman 2 was unaffected by the claims leveled against her by ex-husband Johnny Depp. 'The Pirates of the Caribbean' actor's side launched their counter case with a video deposition from Walter Hamada, who is in charge of DC-based films. In his deposition, Hamada revealed that Heard had an option deal with Warner Bros to portray Mera in the Aquaman franchise.

He also stated that there has been a delay in casting owing to continuing conversations about recasting the character of Mera due to chemistry difficulties between Aquaman's Jason Momoa and Heard.

Hamada's testimony comes a day after Heard's representative testified that Momoa was keen about reprising her part in the upcoming sequel. Heard previously testified that her involvement in Aquaman 2 was drastically reduced due to her legal dispute with Depp. Meanwhile, a petition demanding her removal from the Aquaman sequel has over 4.5 million signatures.

Johnny Depp's Ex-Girlfriend Kate Moss To Testify in Trial

Furthermore, British supermodel Kate Moss will testify on behalf of Johnny Depp in his defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard on Wednesday. Kate Moss, 48, will testify via video connection about an event that occurred when she was walking down some steps in Jamaica. She was wearing flip-flops and slipped on the last two stairs. Johnny caught her and cared for her, a source told the New York Post.

After Amber Heard, 36, told jurors about a dispute with Depp, 58, near a staircase in the couple's Los Angeles apartment in March 2015, the cat walker was dragged into the complex court battle. Amber Heard said that she and Depp were arguing over the actor's alleged adultery when she saw him ready to push her sister, Whitney Henriquez Heard, down a flight of stairs. Heard said she punched Depp for the first time, and it was her first punch.

As JohnnyDepp smirked, his attorney, Ben Chew, turned to his staff and did a fist pump. The mention of Moss allowed Depp's team to call the model as a witness to dispute the claim. Moss, who dated Depp from 1994 to 1997, is anticipated to testify that the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star was never aggressive towards her, according to Independent.

Related Article: Billie Eilish Reveals "Depressing" Experience of Having Tourettes Syndrome; Here's How She Incredibly Makes Friends Through Her Condition

@Youtube

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Its just another day in America.

How many times can we say that? How many times can we watch another mass shooting unfold, helpless on the sidelines of a gun violence epidemic that takes more than 100 lives every day?

Tuesday, in the third-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, a gunman opened fire in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. At least 19 children and two adults were murdered. We dont yet know how many were injured. Another community has been left heartbroken and traumatized.

Im a mom to three incredible kids  all of whom are enrolled in an elementary school in Texas. This could have been them, fighting for their lives in the hospital. This could have been me, waiting desperately to learn whether my kids were alive. Then finding out they werent. I cant imagine going through this unspeakable pain, a parents worst nightmare. Im furious for the Texas families who have to go through it this week, the last week of the school year.

Shootings like this are unbearable, but they arent unexpected. Texas has some of the worst gun laws in the country  scoring an F on Giffords Law Centers Annual Gun Law Scorecard. Just last June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a dangerous permitless carry bill into law against the advice of leading law enforcement agencies. It allows anyone 21 years or older to carry a handgun in public without a permit or training. National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre sat by his side while he did so.

Abbott has been a steadfast defender of gun lobby interests in Texas for nearly a decade. In fact, the NRAs annual meeting is Friday in Houston  and Abbott is set to give remarks, as is former President Donald Trump. Im disgusted that this display of extremism is set to take place just less than 300 miles from Uvalde, three days after 19 children were murdered.

And Abbott isnt the only one fighting against the safety of Texans. The Republicans who run the Texas Legislature have spent years passing atrocious gun laws and dismantling the existing weak ones. In 2021, the Legislature kept local and state officials from enforcing federal gun laws and expanded the ability of school marshals, including teachers, to carry firearms on K-12 school grounds. As a former teacher, the idea of being armed and potentially aiming at a student, even a student in crisis, is unimaginable.

Texas lack of leadership on gun safety extends beyond the states borders: Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz have blocked robust gun safety legislation in Congress, including a universal background checks measure for every gun sale that could have saved countless lives. Their cowardice with regard to the gun lobby, and their inaction in the face of dead children and broken families, speaks volumes.

With leaders like these, Texans have watched gun homicides increase steadily over the last decade, rising more than 90 percent from 2011 to 2020. We have also had too many high-profile tragedies like those in Uvalde. In Dallas earlier this month. El Paso and Midland-Odessa in 2019. Santa Fe in 2018. Sutherland Springs in 2017. Dallas in 2016.

Abbott was elected in 2014. Since this time, Texas lawmakers have failed our children.

Gun violence is a uniquely American problem, and our states crisis is worse than most. We should all be ashamed, and more than that, we should be demanding action.

I am more motivated than ever to fight for change in our state and in our country. Texas and Americas  weak gun laws are an open invitation to tragedy.

With Republicans in charge of the Texas Legislature, it doesnt seem like thats going to change. Texas voters have the chance to alter the makeup of the Legislature this November, to elect a gun safety majority that will fight to protect our communities. We must demand change, for the safety of our children.

Shannon Flores is a native Texan and the lead gun owner organizer for Giffords Gun Owners for Safety, helping organize gun owners across the country who are concerned about gun violence.
Four years ago, after a shooting at Santa Fe High School that killed 10 people, Gov. Greg Abbott held roundtable discussions to prevent future tragedies and improve school safety.

He later released an action plan with 40 recommendations, but those recommendations, and the laws eventually passed, were notably light on gun safety measures. On this front, Abbott expressed initial openness to adopting a so-called red flag law, allowing for the temporary seizure of someones firearms if a judge believes that person is a threat to others.

Roland Gutierrez, then a state representative, championed this idea, calling adoption of a red flag law one very modest proposal and urging Abbott to take action. But the idea, despite its modesty, went nowhere. And life went on  until it stopped this week in Uvalde.

Gutierrez is now a state senator representing Uvalde, which is reeling from the murders of 19 children and two teachers, the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

The point of this parable isnt that one policy change could have prevented the Uvalde massacre. Were not saying a red flag law would have stopped the Uvalde shooter, who legally purchased two AR-15 style rifles days after turning 18 and offered little in the way of advanced warning.

No, the point is that even something as small  or modest  as a red-flag law cant be passed in Texas, and this failure to consider the role of guns in shootings is as outrageous as it is shameful.

Failing to adopt proven policies to reduce gun violence only ensures more tragedy. We can talk about hardening schools and addressing mental health across Texas and in Uvalde, as Abbott did during Wednesdays press conference, but a shooting cant happen without access to a gun.

Abbott was visibly emotional about Uvalde  the anger and empathy he expressed were palpable  but we have no faith he and other leading Texas Republicans are capable of breaking the political mold to seriously promote, much less discuss, gun safety laws. Past too often is prologue. We dont fault Beto ORourke, a Democrat who is challenging Abbott for governor, for disrupting Abbotts press conference. The outrage he expressed is felt across Texas, and the political response to each mass shooting has become a tiresome charade.

Now is the time to stop the next shooting, ORourke said. In each case we say This isnt the time. Now is the time, literally, right now. Thats why Im here.

To be clear, there is no legal right to unfettered access to guns. In the landmark 2008 Supreme Court decision District of Columbia v. Heller, Justice Antonin Scalia emphasized this point, writing, Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. (It is) not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.

As the Pew Research Center reported in 2021, an overwhelming majority of Americans support preventing people with mental illnesses from purchasing guns, making all gun sales subject to background checks, creating a federal database to track all gun sales and, yes, banning assault-style weapons.

And yet Republican lawmakers at all levels refuse to entertain these modest ideas.

People who think, well, maybe we just implement tougher gun laws, its going to solve it, Chicago, L.A. and New York disprove that thesis, Abbott said at the press conference.

On CBS News, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a San Antonio Republican whose district includes Uvalde, refused to discuss the possibility of gun safety laws, telling host Gayle King, Im happy to debate policy, but not today. Today we  my community  is hurting.

Indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton offered the coldest of comforts. We cant stop bad people from doing bad things, he said on Fox News. We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly. That, in my opinion, is the best answer.

Its actually the worst answer. No wonder Texas gets an F rating from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

If we cant talk about gun safety after a school shooting that killed 19 children, when can we have that discussion? When, exactly, is the better time?
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Former District Judge Peter Sakai is the Democratic nominee in the race for Bexar County judge.

Hell face Trish DeBerry, the Republican nominee, in the Nov. 8 general election to decide who will succeed longtime County Judge Nelson Wolff, who did not seek re-election.

The celebration for Sakais campaign at Tony Gs Soul Food was somber Tuesday night in the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde. Sakai spoke after a prayer for unity and support for families who lost loved ones in the tragedy and the community in Uvalde County, west of San Antonio.

On ExpressNews.com: County judge candidates square off in forum

My heart is breaking right now, said Sakai, a longtime childrens court judge. I know were here to celebrate, but it takes a back seat to what has happened today.

My heart breaks for the victims of this senseless act of violence, he said, encouraging about 200 people at the election gathering to donate blood if they were able.

Sakai beat State Rep. Ina Minjarez with 58 percent of the unofficial count. More than 64,000 ballots were cast in the race.

Speaking with reporters, Sakai said he was waiting to get more information on the shooting and wanted to focus his attention on mourning and grieving for Uvalde. He said Bexar County needs to be prepared for these senseless acts of violence, but he didnt offer any opinions on policy regarding guns or security.

Were getting the facts as they come in. Obviously, weve had a senseless act of violence in the community of Uvalde, and my heart goes out to those children and families, especially to those children that have lost their lives, he said.

Sakai said he believed the voters have spoken.

Theyve spoken quite clearly, Sakai said, emphasizing goals of fostering unity and providing healing for Bexar County if hes elected.

He doesnt see his campaign talking points changing much when he faces DeBerry in November. He said Minjarez ran a tough, hard campaign, and so did we.

My election is based on children and families and even more so after tonight, Sakai said.

Both candidates called for an overhaul of the states property appraisal system. They criticized DeBerry for publicly arguing with Democratic Sheriff Javier Salazar concerning staffing overtime at the jail, the acquisition of a privately donated patrol boat and a jail review that led to the sheriff and commissioners hiring separate consultants.

Sakai has framed partisan controversies as an opportunity to bring sides together, but he has said hell work to tighten up the belt on county spending and hold County Manager David Smith accountable to provide customer service to all residents.

On ExpressNews.com: Gonzalez endorses Sakai in Democratic county judge runoff

A good judge is able to analyze the fact and the law that applies in the case and then make a decision, he said in a recent interview. And thats a skill set of making decisions and being able then to explain and articulate that decision so that its put on record and people can move forward either by accepting the decision or not.

Citizens of Bexar County have made it very clear that they want someone that they know and that they have full trust and confidence in. And thats the reason why I believe my 26 years as a district court judge is going to translate into a victory as county judge, he said recently.

In the primary, Sakai, 67, led a field of four Democratic candidates with 40.6 percent of the votes, followed by 30.8 percent for Minjarez, 18.9 percent for Ivalis Meza Gonzalez and 9.7 percent for Gerardo Ponce.

Sakai has vowed to be a servant leader who will use the county judges office as a bully pulpit to advocate for appraisal and property tax reform in the Legislature and resolve a contractual dispute between musicians and management of the San Antonio Symphony.

shuddleston@express-news.net
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Nineteen children and three adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde County, Texas, on May 24, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and news reports citing the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Amid the grief and anger online as people responded to the slaying, there were baseless claims that have become unfortunately predictable in the wake of mass shootings: that this was a false flag operation.

"Those directing false flags know the emotional response from the Buffalo shooting is wearing down for the sheep," one tweet said, referencing the shooting at a grocery store with mostly Black patrons a week earlier. "So they did another one in Uvalde Texas to reinforce the response. Dont be fooled. False Flag season is here."

"As all local law enforcement including border control respond to false flag Uvalde shooting, the drugs & criminal migrants are pouring in," another said.

RELATED: 19 students and 2 adults killed in elementary school shooting in Uvalde

The situation was still developing as of May 24, but there is ample evidence that it was not a false flag.

What is a false flag?

A false flag is an incident, such as an attack, thats designed to look like it was perpetrated by one person or party, when in fact it was committed by someone else. One common and unfounded claim following mass shootings is that they are false flags devised by governments seeking to enact gun control laws.

As is typical, we expect to see similar claims emerge on more social media platforms in the coming days.

Abbott said during a press conference about the shooting that the gunman, an 18-year-old Uvalde resident named Salvador Ramos, was also dead and is believed to have been killed by responding officers. Abbott later said Ramos had been a student at Uvalde High School, and Pete Arredondo, police chief of the school district, said it appears that Ramos acted alone. Abbott also said that "it is being reported that the subject shot his grandmother right before he went into the school."

The shooting started around 11:30 a.m. At 12:17 p.m., the Uvalde school district announced on Twitter that there was an active shooter at the elementary school and that law enforcement officers were on site. When the district tweeted again two hours later, it was to say that the surviving elementary students who hadnt been taken to hospitals had been transported to the local civic center to reunite with their families.

Children and adults injured in the shooting were taken to Uvalde Memorial Hospital and University Hospital, according to news reports citing representatives of those hospitals.

For other schools in the district, the Uvalde Police Department said on Facebook that officers would be on school campuses to escort students to parents cars.

Rey Chapa told the New York Times by phone that his nephew was in the school when the shooting happened, and that he was waiting to hear from family and friends on the conditions of other children.

"Im afraid Im going to know a lot of these kids that were killed," Chapa said.

Our ruling

There is no evidence to support the claims that these killings were part of a false flag operation. This was the deadliest elementary school shooting since 26 children and educators were killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, the New York Times reported.

Claims that this mass shooting was staged or orchestrated are inaccurate and ridiculous. Pants on Fire.

Sources
Kelly West

Hours after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Gov. Greg Abbott went to a political fundraiser in East Texas on the other side of the state.

Abbotts campaign confirmed he attended a private fundraiser in Walker County in East Texas for his campaign on Tuesday night where he had been monitoring wildfires earlier in the day.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton dominated in his race against Land Commissioner George P. Bush, yet another sign that voters are willing to overlook the incumbents legal troubles in favor of a hard-right bent toward Trumpism.

Paxton had such a strong lead  he was leading in nearly every one of the states five most populous counties aside from Travis as of early voting  the AP called the race a little under two hours after polls closed.

The Paxton win signifies the Bush family legacy in holding public office is ending with George P.

Despite the ease with which Paxton cruised to victory, this has been the second-term incumbents bumpiest road to the Republican nomination to date.

On top of the still-unresolved 2015 indictment on felony securities fraud charges that followed him into his first re-election campaign four years ago, Paxton has also dealt with an ongoing FBI investigation into accusations by his former aides that he took bribes and abused his office to help a friend and campaign donor. Paxton, the states top law enforcement officer, denied all wrongdoing.

LIVE ELECTION RESULTS: Updates for key races in the May 24 primary runoff election

Those mounting legal troubles drew Paxton three competitors in the March primary who all cast him as the most vulnerable Republican running for statewide office.

They pointed to how Paxton won by the narrowest margin of any statewide official in 2018 when he faced Democrat Justin Nelson, whose campaign was squarely focused on educating voters about Paxtons brushes with the law.

Bush, who came in second this March with about 23 percent of the vote, had pitched himself as the safest Republican choice, warning that Paxton would flounder in a general election.

As a Bush campaign ad released Monday put it, honor and integrity versus corruption and criminality  that's Texas' choice for Attorney General.

The Democratic candidates for attorney general have made the same case, hoping to finish what Nelson started. Former ACLU attorney Rochelle Garza defeated former Galveston mayor Joe Jaworski on Tuesday night.

"To all of our supporters, thank you for trusting our campaign to fight for a better Texas," Garza said in a statement. "Your votes made this mom from the Rio Grande Valley the first Latina nominated to represent a major party for Attorney General of Texas."

Paxton held a watch party event on Tuesday night in Cedar Park, a suburb northwest of Austin, while Bush watched privately with family and friends, according to their campaigns.

The energy among supporters at Paxtons event was lively as early voting results streamed in, country music blasted and Fox News was displayed on a projector screen on an empty stage where Paxton was set to speak later.

Paxton maintained a lead over Bush in the polls, which have also shown that most GOP voters are not concerned about Paxtons legal troubles. Still, the same Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler poll also found that, for the first time, a plurality of voters of all parties said he lacked the integrity needed to serve as attorney general.

His focus this campaign has been to tout his prolific history of filing more than two dozen lawsuits against the Biden administration in its first year-and-a-half.

In his quest to woo a Republican electorate, Bush was always starting at a disadvantage because of his famous political familys previous clashes with the former president.

His father, Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida who Trump repeatedly insulted when the two were vying for the presidential nomination in 2016, and his uncle, former President George W. Bush, have not hid their distaste.

From Day 1 of Bushs campaign, hes sought to set himself apart from his family, handing out at his announcement party red koozies with a sketch of Trump shaking his hand and saying, This is the only Bush that likes me! This is the Bush that got it right. I like him.

Despite Bushs best efforts, Trump ultimately endorsed Paxton, who had filed a suit before the U.S. Supreme Court in December 2020 that sought to overturn the presidential election results.

A recent poll by the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation found that two-fifths of Republican primary voters said they would never vote for Bush  most of them citing him being a member of the Bush family as their reason.

Im proud of my familys contributions to Texas and America, Bush said in a campaign ad pushed out earlier this month. But this race isnt about my last name. Its about Ken Paxtons crimes.

Paxton, for his part, hasnt wasted any opportunities to align Paxton with the more moderate brand of conservatism that voters likely associate with the Bush family.

Help me end the Bush Dynasty, a Paxton campaign ad reads, with photos of himself and Trump opposite to photos of Bush and his father with the caption Choose a side.
Democratic physician Suleman Lalani on Tuesday defeated runoff opponent Vanesia Johnson in a newly drawn state House district in Fort Bend County, leaving him poised to become the first Muslim state lawmaker in Texas history.

The new district, freshly crafted during last years redistricting process, covers parts of Sugar Land, Mission Bend and unincorporated Fort Bend County. Nearly half the residents were added from another House district where Lalani was the Democratic nominee last cycle, giving him a built-in edge over his primary foes.

Lalani, if elected, would be the first Muslim to serve in the Texas Legislature, according to Rice University political science professor Mark Jones. The seat, House District 76, leans heavily Democratic, making the nominee highly favored to win the general election in November. (Democrat Salman Bhojani, a Muslim and former city councilman in the North Texas suburban city of Euless, is also favored to win a Tarrant County state House seat in November.)

Nearby, state Rep. Phil Stephenson, R-Wharton, lost his re-election bid to former Waller County Commissioner Stan Kitzman, who has secured 58 percent of the vote in a mostly rural district west of Houston, where only a fraction of the votes had yet to be counted.

Stephenson, one of the more moderate Republicans in the Texas House, was also viewed as one of his partys most vulnerable members this cycle, after his colleagues dismantled his district last year during redistricting. The newly drawn version of Stephensons House District 85 was expanded to four new counties, including Kitzmans home county of Waller, while a large portion of Fort Bend County was stripped from the district.

Gov. Greg Abbott recently endorsed Kitzman in a rare snub against a sitting state representative, signaling further trouble for Stephenson.

DeAyala-Barineau still tight

Meanwhile in Harris County, Republican attorneys Mano DeAyala and Shelley Barineau were locked in a tight runoff battle in a Texas House district in Houstons affluent and diversifying western suburbs, with less than 150 votes separating the two candidates through early voting and a fraction of Election Day results.

LIVE ELECTION RESULTS: Texas primary runoffs

DeAyala, after finishing second to Barineau in the March 1 primary, narrowly led the runoff, though it was unclear how many votes had yet to be counted. Harris County elections officials have said final results will not be released until well into Wednesday, meaning the race would almost certainly not be decided Tuesday evening.

The winner will be favored in November to succeed incumbent state Rep. Jim Murphy, a moderate Republican who is not seeking re-election in the red-leaning district.

Jalonda Jones poised to win

In Harris Countys lone Texas House Democratic runoff, Jolanda Jones, a former Houston City Council member and Houston Independent School District trustee, appeared to defeat real estate agent Danielle Keys Bess, as Jones led by nine percentage points with more than half of voting centers reporting countywide.

Jones defeated Bess in a special election earlier this month to serve out the remainder of former Democratic state Rep. Garnet Colemans current term, which runs through the end of the year. The winner of Tuesdays runoff will appear on the November general election ballot, which will then decide who fills the next two-year term starting in January.

The two Democrats are vying to represent one of the most diverse state House districts in Texas, covering Midtown, Third Ward, a majority of Montrose and other parts of Houstons urban core. It also takes in the University of Houston and a large chunk of southeast Houston along Interstate 45.

Meanwhile, in the runoff to succeed state Rep. Mayes Middleton as the Republican nominee in House District 23, GOP activist Terri Leo Wilson defeated trial lawyer Patrick Gurski, marking a major win for the Republican Partys staunchly conservative wing. Middleton, the leader of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, endorsed Wilson to succeed him in the lower chamber after running successfully for an open seat in the state Senate instead of seeking re-election.

The red-leaning district covers the city of Galveston, Chambers County and parts of Galveston County.

Wilson, a retired educator and former member of the State Board of Education, was backed by a slew of other Freedom Caucus members and was generally viewed as the more conservative of the two runoff candidates. Gurski was supported by Abbott and several law enforcement groups.

Congressional runoffs

Voters also finalized the November slate of congressional races across Harris County, with Republicans picking Houston pastor Johnny Teague to take on U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston, in her heavily Democratic seat.

Perennial Republican candidate Robert Schafranek, also running in a bright blue district, will face U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia in November after beating Julio Garza in the GOP runoff.

And in the newly drawn 38th Congressional District, Republican nominee Wesley Hunt will match up against Democrat Duncan F. Klussmann, a retired Spring Branch ISD superintendent who easily defeated runoff foe Diana Martinez Alexander on Tuesday.

The west Houston district was drawn to strongly favor Republican candidates.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian secured the Republican ticket Tuesday for reelection as the states top oil and gas regulator.

The incumbent handily defeated challenger Sarah Stogner, a West Texas oil and gas attorney who had mounted an aggressive, mostly self-funded campaign.

Stogner was the underdog in the race. Her campaign drew headlines early on when Stogner appeared semi-nude in a campaign ad, a move that roiled some fellow Republicans. She got a late $2 million ad boost from friend and legal client Ashley Watt, a rancher who has fought with Christian and the other two railroad commissioners over leaking oil wells on her property.

Christian, a financial planner and former state representative from East Texas, currently chairs the agency and is in his first term. He will face Democrat Luke Warford this November.

LIVE ELECTION RESULTS: Texas primary runoffs

I'm thankful to @TexasGOP for re-nominating me for this vital office, Christian tweeted. I look forward to continue fighting for cheap, plentiful, reliable energy, as we stand up to the Bidens radical liberal agenda.

Railroad Commission races dont often draw much attention. But the agency has come under renewed criticism since last years deadly winter blackouts. Natural gas operators regulated by the commission cut off production as demand for power spiked, creating a scarcity that helped bring in record profits.

The agencys three commissioners, all Republicans, are heavily funded by the oil and gas industry. No Democrat has held a seat on the commission since 1994.

Christian has defended gas producers, and pointed to declines in wind and solar generation during the freeze as a primary culprit, contradicting data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He wants to protect the industry from new regulations and says that helps Texans by keeping prices low.

Christian faced added controversy earlier this year when it emerged that he had overruled agency staff who warned against permitting an oil and gas waste facility near a major aquifer. Three days after voting to approve the permit in late 2020, he took a $100,000 donation from the company funding the venture.

Its a marathon not a sprint, Stogner tweeted Tuesday. Thank you to the tribe. See yall at convention.

jeremy.blackman@chron.com
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It didnt take long after ending our involvement in one forever war for us to take up what likely will be the next. We had little time to enjoy a peace dividend.

In early May, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, or SIGAR, issued its latest quarterly report, part of its duty to report to Congress on the $146 billion spent to rebuild that country.

This latest fact stood out to me: 59 percent of Afghanistans 39 million people face food insecurity, while 22 percent live in faminelike conditions. Those statistics alone tell us the national reconstruction of Afghanistan was a two-decade failure. We quickly defeated the Taliban militarily, spent 20 years holding them at bay, then left a broken country for the Taliban.

In the beginning, in the middle and even toward the end, we seemed to have bipartisan support for this forever war in Afghanistan, our nations longest. Somehow, through three presidents and many changes of leadership in Congress, we couldnt leave. I can only conclude there is strong bipartisan support for forever wars.

On ExpressNews.com: Fleeing wars terror in Ukraine, sister and brother now safe with family in San Antonio

Unlike seemingly every other person in this country, I am tremendously happy that President Joe Biden abruptly  even precipitously  withdrew troops from Afghanistan in August. I bring this up because six months after concluding one war, we have built tremendous bipartisan support for our next one.

Initially, on March 15, the Biden administration authorized $13.6 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine following the Russian invasion. Included in that figure were military packages detailed on March 15, April 13 and April 21.

On March 24, the U.S. announced an additional $1 billion in food, water and medicine.

On May 6, we upped the military aid by another $150 million.

And on May 21, Biden signed a congressionally approved $40 billion in aid to Ukraine. Only 57 House Republicans and 11 Senate Republicans opposed the bill.

This is remarkable bipartisan support for new spending.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., tried unsuccessfully to delay the $40 billion Ukraine bill. He sought to link spending on this new war to oversight of the last extended war. He proposed inserting language into the bill that would expand the role of SIGAR to oversee new spending in Ukraine. Pauls motion was defeated, with only 11 Republican senators supporting his idea.

I have plenty of critical things to say about Paul, but he is right about the need for a special inspector general for Ukraine. We need financial oversight on our forever wars. In fact, we need an anti-war faction in government. One doesnt seem to exist. Financial considerations are an important, albeit not the most important, reason to be anti-war.

On ExpressNews.com: Commentary: To abolish war, Russia must lose this one

It feels likely that the more Ukrainians resist Russia, the more we will support them financially. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently met with congressional leaders in both parties, strategically ensuring support will continue even if Republicans win majorities in the House and Senate in November.

U.S. support for the Ukraine and Afghanistan conflicts are linked in other ways. As SIGAR documents, five Mi-17 helicopters originally given to Afghanistan were turned over to Ukraine on March 11. In mid-April, as part of an announced military package, 11 more Mi-17 helicopters earmarked for Afghanistan were officially given to Ukraine. These helicopters make for a symbolic and seamless move from one war to the next.

To be clear, I am glad the U.S. and NATO allies support defending Ukrainian against a clear Russian aggressor. I am also glad the U.S. is spending treasure and material but not blood in Ukraine. Finally, I am glad that European allies also have committed treasure and material to Ukraine, rather than leaving the U.S. to underwrite the entire defense. The Ukrainians have shown remarkable bravery and success, and they have the moral high ground in this conflict.

Nevertheless, this has the beginnings of another forever war. The Taliban in Afghanistan also were terrible.

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All Im saying is that when there is bipartisan consensus in Washington to open the financial and military spigots to pour resources into a war, perhaps especially a seemingly morally righteous war, it has proven very tricky to extricate ourselves from such obligations  sometimes for decades. And the results of our investment may be extremely disappointing  at least, they were in Afghanistan.

On ExpressNews.com: Friedman: How do we deal with a superpower led by a war criminal?

We are fired up to help any way we can in Ukraine. And we are on the side of right.

But when do we get to disengage?

I hope that the Russian invasion ceases soon, limiting the horror, death and destruction to what Ukraine has already endured. But historically, Russias wars grind on for years: Grozny, Syria, Afghanistan and the Great Patriotic War 1939-1945. Initial Russian incompetence and heavy losses are not followed by Russian capitulation. Rather, Russia tends to double down and ramp up its destructive capacity, with a disregard for its own young men and its enemys people. Without regime change at the Kremlin, this has the makings of a multiyear invasion and occupation  another long war in which we subsidize the grinding conflict.

That is why financial concerns matter. If this were to last several weeks or months, tactical and strategic concerns would dominate. When it becomes a matter of years, economic effects matter as well.

We had a six-month window between one forever war and this new one. I wish it were longer. We needed a peace dividend.

Michael Taylor is a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, author of The Financial Rules for New College Graduates and host of the podcast No Hill For A Climber.

michael@michaelthesmartmoney.com | twitter.com/michael_taylor
Niche, the locally based clothing brand with a retail store at Pearl, is unusual among American apparel companies in that all of its name-brand clothing is made in the U.S.

Nilgun and Ayse Derman, the mother-daughter team who run the company, have considered shifting production abroad several times over the years, but each time they decided that any cost savings wouldnt be worth giving up control and flexibility. By keeping things close to home, they can decide quickly whether to make more of a product thats selling well or less of one that isnt.

Not everythings a winner, so we dont have to make that, we dont have to buy that, Ayse said. We make the winners, and we dont have to worry about sitting on huge inventories.

The brand is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with a series of events this spring and summer, including sewing workshops, a fashion show and a sidewalk sale.

On ExpressNews.com: S.A. fashion takes a bow  and a horn and a cello and a baton

It has its roots in Nilgun Derman Artwear, a company selling one-of-a-kind, hand-painted clothing that Nilgun  who has a background in industrial design  formed in the 1980s after immigrating to the U.S. from Turkey.

Nilgun and Ayse founded Niche in 1997 in Castle Hills. It did not have a retail location until it moved into its current space at Pearl in 2014. A short walk across the river, the company has a warehouse and distribution office in an art deco-style building on Euclid Avenue. Nilgun typically oversees design, while Ayse focuses on the business side of the company.

The brand is sold in boutique shops in cities across the U.S. This summer, Nilgun and Ayse plan to begin selling mens clothing in their store.

William Luther, Staff

They recently sat to discuss online retail, the importance of comfort in womens clothing and their decision to stop selling their clothing in Dillards department stores. The following has been edited and condensed.

Q: Why did you decide to begin selling mens clothes?

Ayse: Weve tried it in little fits and starts before, but we never had enough space. So now theres finally enough room, and theres a need here for that. All the men that come in, we want to have stuff for them and for their wives to buy for them. Theres no place (at Pearl) except Dos Carolinas, which is very specifically guayaberas, doing mens clothes.

Q: Nilgun, does your Turkish heritage influence your designs?

Nilgun: Somewhat, of course. But right now, the most important thing is that the clothing has to be comfortable for women, mature women. We get inspiration from everywhere: colors and nature and the fabric. Whatever we can find.

William Luther, Staff

Q: How did you get into fashion design?

Nilgun: I am an industrial designer. When I came to the U.S., I was working as a furniture designer in Turkey. After I came to the United States, for a while I was raising my kids. And they came to the elementary school age, and it was time for me to start working. I thought it will be best if I have my own business. At the time, I was probably a little bit naive. I thought it will be easier if I start from my home. I know how to sew. I know absolutely how to design. It can be industrial design. It can be fashion design. It can be any kind of design.

Q: Womens fashion isnt known for prioritizing comfort, right?

Nilgun: Comfort is a very important thing for me, because I wear my clothing all the time. I kind of design for myself. If Im comfortable, that means a lot of women are going to like what I am wearing. Comfortable and good-looking clothing. They have to not just be comfortable; they have to feel good when they wear it. They have to think it is something really special.

William Luther, Staff

Q: What about San Antonio? Does the local culture influence you?

Ayse: I would say the vibrancy of this area and the arts and the culture and the lifestyle here. When people wear our clothes, they always get compliments. You always look put together. But still, everyone will tell you its just comfortable to wear, it makes me feel good, and I think thats very much a San Antonio thing. I think in other places  you know, like Italians like to wear tight waistbands of wool  the look is really important and comfort can be sacrificed for that. I dont think San Antonio likes to sacrifice comfort. Also, its warm.

On ExpressNews.com: Local boutique sells fashionable masks; gives $1 from each sale to San Antonio Food Bank

Nilgun: Most of our fabrics can be worn 12 months out of the year. This is very important. But dont forget, we also sell in every other state. However, when we are buying some of the fabric, we think of San Antonio  the colors, the designs. But also I have to make some designs for everybody else too. We find the balance, somehow.

Q: What makes your clothing comfortable?

Nilgun: Well, I pretty much know  the womans body, how it forms over the years. That is very important. How it changes over the years. I know that very well  been there, done that. So I make my patterns according to the knowledge that I got over the years, and it makes it comfortable. Then I do the designs, thinking of the womans body. It is not just, it will look great on the hanger.

Ayse: We also pay attention to how the textiles themselves feel. It could look great, but if its scratchy, we dont use it.

Nilgun: We use a lot of natural fiber, and most of the fabrics we use, they are washable. And it travels well. That is very important, again, for women. It has to pack well  dont take a lot of space  and then be happy when you open your luggage.

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William Luther, Staff

Q: Do you design all of Niches clothes, or do you have other employees working on the design?

Nilgun: I have a technical designer. I make my designs, and then I give that to the technical designer. They put it in a computer, and we have all different sizes, from extra small to plus sizes  which is very important right now. Not very many designers make plus sizes. We go to 3X. They can come order here  even if we dont have it, we can make one item for them.

Ayse: Thats also a flexibility, that we manufacture in the U.S. In the 70s, more than 50 percent of clothing was manufactured in the U.S. By the mid-2000s, it was less than 5 percent. So its an extreme change in that manufacturing process. Theres a few other companies in the country that still do it here. It gives us a lot of flexibility on inventory control, obviously, but also it lets us do very fast responses, and smaller cuts and smaller runs. The special kind of things  like, someone comes in and says, Oh my gosh, I really, really want this shirt in an extra-small and pink, you only have blue. Were like, We can do the pink one, no problem.

Q: Have you considered making your clothes abroad?

Ayse: We have considered it several times over the course of the last 20 years, and we always decide not to for different reasons. One, there was a time where it was very, very beneficial cost-wise to make something in China. That cost differential is a lot less now. The shipping lead-time is a lot longer. Shipping rates  things cost me more than two-to-three times what they did pre-pandemic to ship now. Fabric or raw goods or buttons, or whatever it is. The lead times are so long, you have to project so much of what you think youre going to sell so far in advance.

Q: You didnt use to sell your clothes online, but now you do. Why did you make that change?

Ayse: That is a really interesting development. You know, we shut down the store on March 13, 2020. And by March 29, we had our online store up and going. Because not just us  every single one of our stores across the country closed as well. We have a wonderful in-house graphics person. Wed already been kind of kicking around our wholesale website, so we had done that part already. She just got on it, man.

Q: Why didnt you have an online presence before?

Ayse: There was a philosophy that you dont want to compete with your customers. For a long time, that was a thing. Its not so much a thing now. We try not to have too much overlap with what we sell to our customers. We do special colors for the Pearl, or one-run-and-done so that were not really competing at the same time with the stores. I think its OK. Ten years ago, it was way more challenging for store owners to know that their customers could go and buy from you directly. I think theres less of that now, because so many more people are just online shopping all the time.

Q: Is your clothing still sold in Dillards?

Ayse: Not since the pandemic.

Nilgun: As I get older, I am trying to set my time a little bit less and less, while shes taking over a little bit more. Dillards is wonderful, but those kinds of corporations, they want almost every month new designs, and I found myself, it is too much time-consuming for me.

Ayse: You know, the pandemic changed a lot of things. It changed the way we want to work as well. We were just working so hard, so hard, all the time. Dillards is a wonderful company. They treated us very well, and we worked with them for a very long time. But that puts you into a place where the output is kind of outpacing the amount of creativity and joy that you want to put into it, if that makes sense. It takes a while to put a collection out, and then you get some time away, and some more inspiration to go for the next seasons collection. But with a business model where you have to deliver a fresh new collection every single month, it means youre constantly turning through designs, and it becomes more of a routine and less of a creative, joyous expression of design.
Thomas Markle, the Duchess of Sussex's father, has been rushed to hospital after having a stroke. He was taken to the hospital early Tuesday morning. Karl Larsen, who co-owns a YouTube channel with Thomas Markle, verified the news.

Thomas Markle Rushed to Hospital Days Before Queen's Platinum Jubilee

Last month, Thomas Markle, 77, announced plans to visit the UK in June for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in the hopes of visiting his estranged daughter and his grandkids, Archie and Lilibet, whom he has never seen. Thomas Markle also chastised Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for not taking Archie and Lilibet with them when they visited the Queen before competing in the Invictus Games in the Netherlands last month.

Thomas Markle fabricated paparazzi images of himself in the days leading up to the couple's wedding in 2018. He was eventually unable to attend the wedding due to heart surgery, and his relationship with the Sussexes grew increasingly strained. A letter he wrote to his daughter became the focus of a contentious legal fight. In addition, Thomas Markle has stated that he hopes to see Meghan and her future husband in court as part of a defamation action launched by the duchess's half-sister.

In court filings, she claims Meghan Markle lied about her during the Sussexes' Oprah Winfrey appearance and in the Finding Freedom memoir. Samantha Markle said that this subjected her to global humiliation, embarrassment, and contempt, according to Sky.

Thomas Markle hasn't seen his royal daughter in years, although she has given countless TV interviews about her marriage to Prince Harry since joining The Firm. It's thought he hasn't met his grandkids, Archie and Lilibet.

He's also made several disparaging remarks about Prince Harry. The 77-year-old, who is divorced from Meghan Markle's mother Doria, was intending to visit the UK in the coming days to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

Read Also: Warriors vs. Mavs: Golden State Looks To Sweep Dallas But Doncic Says Series Not Over Yet

Thomas Markle Won't See Meghan Markle, Prince Harry's Children

In an interview with GB News, he stated that he hoped to spend time with the royals, particularly Prince Charles. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will also be in the UK for the festivities, accompanied by their children Archie and Lilibet. Lili, called after her great-childhood grandmother's nickname, will be visiting her father's country for the first time, as per Mirror.

In February 2019, Thomas Markle delivered the Mail on Sunday a letter reportedly written by Meghan, in which she accused him of lying about his attempts to contact her and falsely claimed she never gave him money. People claimed at the time that Meghan had urged her father to stop speaking to the media.

In January 2021, Thomas Markle informed The Sun that he is working on a documentary to find out what went wrong in his relationship with his daughter. That same month, Thomas stated that a letter Meghan wrote him following her wedding signed the end of their relationship.

Meghan called out her father during her and Prince Harry's explosive appearance with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Meghan said during the meeting that her father lied to her about talking to British media. Thomas recently stated his support for Meghan's half-sister, Samantha Markle, in her defamation case against the monarchy. "I haven't met them face to face or my grandkids, so I'd be glad to come to court and talk and defend my oldest daughter," Thomas said in a March 2022 YouTube video. Insider reported.

Related Article: [Report] Prince Andrew Visits Queen Elizabeth II Daily To Make Amends in Attempt To Return to Public Life

@YouTube

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WFO CORPUS CHRISTI Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service Corpus Christi TX

512 AM CDT Wed May 25 2022

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of central Kleberg

County through 600 AM CDT...

At 511 AM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from 8 miles southeast of Bishop to near Kenedy

County Sheriffs Office. Movement was east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects.

Locations impacted include...

Riviera Beach, Malaquite Beach and Loyola Beach.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

Torrential rainfall is also occurring with these storms and may lead

to localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded

roadways.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with these storms.

Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe

shelter inside a building or vehicle.

LAT...LON 2724 9763 2728 9765 2726 9773 2728 9778

2755 9768 2753 9721 2724 9731 2724 9735

2728 9736 2727 9737 2724 9737 2724 9740

2725 9742 2726 9742 2726 9745 2725 9749

2724 9749 2724 9750 2723 9754

TIME...MOT...LOC 1011Z 276DEG 26KT 2753 9767 2726 9777

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Kenedy County in Deep South Texas...

North central Hidalgo County in Deep South Texas...

Eastern Brooks County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 600 AM CDT.

* At 512 AM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from 9 miles east of Kingsville Naval Air Station to 8

miles southeast of Rachal, moving east at 40 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Armstrong, Encino, Sarita, Rachal, Kenedy County Wind Farms,

Norias, El Coyote Ranch Airport, U S 77 Border Patrol Station,

Kenedy County Sheriffs Office and Rudolph.

This includes the following highways...

US Highway 77 between mile markers 710 and 752.

US Highway 281 between mile markers 722 and 748.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground lightning are

occurring with these storms. Move indoors immediately.

Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can

hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
James Boyette (Courtesy James Boyette)

James Boyette considers himself a more traditional Republican, with values that, at one time, seemed synonymous with Montana government  a focus on public lands, agriculture, building strong schools and remaining focus on good governing.

His run for Congress against an already established Republican congressman was spurred on because of his wife.

She had heard him listening to news and fuming about the state of politics. She told him he had a choice: Either quit griping or be willing to do something about it. So, Boyette, a medical device representative on the far western side of what is now Montanas second Congressional district, decided to run for the United States House of Representatives.

To be completely honest, this is the last thing I even do in my life, Boyette said.

However, hes seen first hand the acrimony, distrust and dysfunction that happened after COVID-19 was politicized. Hes seen the way its upended the medical community, and hes also watched as more regulation and insurance companies have come between doctors and patient care.

When he took a look at Congressman Matt Rosendales record, he called it an eye-opening experience, where the votes the freshman Republican congressman was making didnt seem in line with a conservative, yet more moderate Montana represented.

Boyette is running against Matt Rosendale and two other Republicans, Kyle Austin of Billings and Charles Walking Child of Helena.

Leadership is about showing you care, but backing it up with action, not just complaining about things that you cant fix, Boyette said.

He said that the issues facing Montana, key to his campaign, arent aligning with the national political stage. He said addressing public lands access, a worker shortage and protecting the farming and ranching community get lost in a lot of the conversation about other topics.

He said that having lived in the Boise area before relocating to Montana made him appreciate the states strong public lands access laws, which he said are being eroded by wealthy private land owners. He said that more than 10,000 acres in and around the Boise National Forest have been essentially privatized, and worries Montana may suffer a similar fate without stronger national leadership.

Matt Rosendale will tell you hes all for protecting public lands, but he votes against constitutional rights for a clean and healthful environment, Boyette said.

He said that after listening to Rosendale speak at a Lincoln-Reagan dinner (a fundraiser for the GOP), Rosendale talked about transferring federal land to the state and private ownership, which Boyette said raised red flags about the congressmans commitment to public lands.

Part of what inspired Boyette to run was frustration with a long-running line of no votes from Rosendale. He said the Congressman seems incapable of voting on anything supported by Democrats.

He seems disconnected from reality. Hes very selfish and centered around his wants and needs, Boyette said.

He said at a recent Lincoln-Reagan dinner, Rosendale talked about how hes sitting around, waiting to get involved with legislation that helps provide solutions, but Rosendales phone doesnt ring.

And the point hits me that as a representative, he shouldnt be waiting around waiting to make it happen. You have to have initiative, Boyette said.

Farming and ranching

Boyette said stronger protections are necessary for farmers and ranchers, including more support of country-of-origin labeling.

We have the best beef in the world. Why wouldnt we want to keep that label as were exporting? Boyette said. Theres a lack of support when dealing with meat packing, processes, and procedures. Were stuck in a situation where were forced to sell cattle to multi-national corporations.

He said COVID-19 has demonstrated the problem  ranchers are getting paid 30% less for their beef while consumers are paying 20% more, leading to an artificially high profit margin for the large packing houses.

Boyette said that puts Montana in a strong position because we have the capacity and ability to raise and even produce our own food, but more federal support is needed.

But Boyette sees a Montana with much more potential than it has capitalized upon  for example biofuels and hemp could be increasingly important agricultural opportunities for the state.

So diesel is sky-rocketing, and we can address that by using a niche, right now biofuels and hemp seeds, and not only will that help our economy, but we can add higher paying jobs, Boyette said. All options should be on the table because its a matter of creating incentives, not in California, or Massachusetts, but here locally.

Healthcare system

Boyette believes that more needs to be done to let doctors practice medicine without the constant interference of insurance companies. Moreover, the cozy relationship that government institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration have with pharmaceuticals and health care disadvantages citizens.

For example, Boyette said that things like mask recommendations and additional booster shots are examples of where the government should be more independent. He said at first there was no recommendation for masks during COVID, but then warnings from the government turned personal protective equipment, like masks, into big business.

He also said that drug companies have an advantage because the government has allowed it so that pharmaceutical companies can slightly change a drug formulation and continue to charge exorbitant money for treatments that are nearly identical to those offered decades ago.

Theres nothing regulating how much they can mark up the price, he said.

Education

Boyette believes that education must be returned to an emphasis on core subjects, like math and science, without social distractions like gender or sexuality.

There needs to be more of an emphasis on academic excellence, Boyette said. We need to bring back the work ethic. Gender identity doesnt belong in school.

He said that teaching additional trades or working with technical education can help prepare students better for the workforce.

We need to prepare for what happens when they actually graduate. Were pushing kids to get by without actually teaching them, Boyette said.

And while theres been a lot of debate about the efficacy of standardized testing or large federal programs like No Child Left Behind, he said that moving away from testing may be a mistake.

For me, it helped. Testing gains insight and lets people know your level, he said.

Style and substance

Boyette said that having a person who hasnt considered politics a dream would be beneficial because it means hell have to listen more.

People with the ideas arent being given the opportunity to be heard, Boyette said. There are great ideas, but you have to be collaborative, and you need to be honest, even when the answer is not good.

He said that America needs to quit outsourcing its best ideas and start figuring out a way to incubate our best ideas in the country to produce industries that create better jobs.

Foreign policy

Boyette said that foreign policy starts with a strong military and that the Biden administrations tenure so far has been a lot of weakness.

He said that Americas exit from Afghanistan was reactive and the U.S. let the Taliban retake control. He also believes that the U.S. needs to do more to protect Ukraine and guard against China.

We need to bring back tariff protections to shore up the trade agreement and hold China accountable, he said. We need to start focusing on the humanity side of things, too. As great as money is, it doesnt make the world go around.

He said Chinas treatment of the Uyghars is a good example of how America puts its economic interests ahead of human rights.

No one wants to step on Chinas toes and we ignore them, he said. But part of being America is standing up and dont let countries walk all over. If we do, it will lead to our downfall.

He said that leadership in foreign policy has come closer to home as the Biden administration refuses to address immigration issues at the border, including drug and human trafficking.

The Daily Montanans candidate profiles for Republicans and Democrats running for Montanas two Congressional seats will run this week. The Daily Montana has reached out to candidates in this race, offering them the opportunity to speak with our reporters. The following candidates have either declined the opportunity or not responded: Al Olszewski, Matt Rosendale, Skylar Williams, Mary Todd and Ryan Zinke.

The post Boyette looks to unseat Rosendale in GOP primary by being more traditional Montana Republican appeared first on Daily Montanan.
A Missoula firefighter saved an elk calf last weekend in New Mexico while battling a wildfire.

Crews from the Missoula Fire Department were checking in the Gascon area of the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires on Saturday for residual heat. They came across the calf, who was alone in a pocket of badly burned forest, according to a post from Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires Facebook page.

"She was lying quietly in a six-inch deep layer of white ash, surrounded by the blackened remains of fir trees, Missoula firefighter Nate Sink said. The crew named it "Cinder."

Running into wildlife like this is pretty uncommon, Sink said in an interview with the Missoulian, but the efforts by locals to get Cinder rehabilitated were incredible.

Firefighters watched her for about an hour, hoping her mother would come back. When they didnt find any other adult elk tracks nearby, teams got help down the road in Upper Rociada.

Local ranchers knew what to do. Their family veterinarian recommended re-hydrating the calf with a mixture of condensed milk and water.

One of the ranchers, Lisa Bartley, said their family dog was intent on mothering Cinder.

A local fish and game officer recommended Cinder be placed in the care of the New Mexico Wildlife Center in Espanola, New Mexico, the post said.

Cinder is now safe at the Cottonwood Veterinary clinic.

She has gotten the hang of bottle-feeding, and a surrogate-mother elk at the refuge has taken on the duties of cleaning and bestowing affection on the little orphan, the post said.

Cinder will spend about four months at the clinic before being eligible for release back into the wild.

The Bartley family said theyll be glad to welcome Cinder back to the Upper Rociada area when shes healthy enough to go back into the wild.

On Tuesday, Sink said the crew was on their way home to Missoula after about two weeks of fighting fires in New Mexico.
A Montana Supreme Court ruling has blocked electronic signature-gathering for a ballot initiative that would enforce strict pollution protections along the Gallatin and Madison rivers.

Petitioners Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, Montana Rivers and the Gallatin Wildlife Association are attempting to gather the 30,180 signatures required to get proposed Initiative 191 on the statewide ballot in November. The measure would ask voters to decide whether to designate parts of the Gallatin and Madison rivers as Outstanding Resource Waters, which would give those parts of the rivers the strictest pollution protections afforded under state law. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality would be prohibited from issuing point source pollution permits that lead to any change in water quality.

Last Tuesday, the Montana Supreme Court delivered an opinion that will force the conservation groups to forgo collecting signatures electronically, at least for the time being, according to Cottonwood Environmental Law Center Executive Director John Meyer.

The groups next steps are now dependent on the result of a different Montana Supreme Court case, Meyer said. Hes asked the court to extend the deadline for signature-collecting by two months, since that process was delayed by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen early on.

While some conservation groups support the initiative, believing it will permanently protect the Gallatin and Madison rivers from pollution amid rapid growth, other conservation groups, state lawmakers and agricultural groups oppose it.

Favoring a more collaborative approach to protecting water quality, the groups fear that in practice, the initiative could detract from restoration efforts along the two rivers.

If the court does grant Meyers extension request, I-191 supporters will start to get very, very serious  putting serious money and effort into collecting signatures in-person, he said.

Depending on the availability of funding and resources, the conservation groups might hire a developer to create new software that allows voters to write their signatures manually on their electronic devices, Meyer said.

If the court chooses not to grant Meyers request for a deadline extension, the campaign for I-191 will likely be over, he said. The conservation groups could pursue the issue again during the next election cycle.

While it affects efforts to collect signatures for I-191, last Tuesdays Montana Supreme Court ruling revolved around Meyers attempt to run for Montana Attorney General as an Independent candidate in 2020.

At the time, Meyer was ineligible to participate in the primary election, so he sought to add his name to the general election ballot through Montanas petition for nomination process, the opinion of the court says.

Meyer submitted five forms to the Gallatin County Election Office in March of 2020, but the elections administrator refused to process them because the signatures were all electronic, according to the opinion.

In response, Meyer filed a lawsuit against Gallatin County Elections Administrator Eric Semerad and Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen in state district court.

He alleged that the officials had violated Montana election laws and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act by refusing to accept the signatures. The district court dismissed his complaint, and then Meyer appealed the decision to the Montana Supreme Court.

Last Tuesday, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed the district courts decision.

Justice Beth Baker wrote in the opinion of the court that neither Montana election laws nor the (Uniform Electronic Transactions Act) required the Administrator to accept electronic signatures, and Meyer failed to state a claim that would entitle him to relief.

Four justices concurred with Bakers opinion. Justices Ingrid Gustafson and Laurie McKinnon dissented from it, arguing that the court had no jurisdiction to issue a decision altogether, as the controversy was moot and no longer reviewable once the 2020 election concluded.

Moving forward, Cottonwood wont be asking the administration to accept electronic records. It will be asking officials to accept hard copies of petitions, Meyer said.

If voters sign a petition on their computer, and a hard copy is printed out and delivered to an election office, why wouldnt you accept it at that point? he said. Its going to remove any doubt for the Supreme Court that these signatures are legitimate.

Gallatin County Elections Administrator Eric Semerad and the office of Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen did not respond to requests for comments on the Montana Supreme Court ruling before Tuesdays deadline.
Editor's Note: The Sun Times made an error in the original posting of this obituary in using the wrong name for the deceased. We deeply regret the error and apologize to the family as well as our readers. Unfortunately, the error was brought to our attention after the print edition had gone to press, so will run a correction in the June 2 print edition.

In the early morning hours of July 26th 2021, in the home she shared with her daughter Nanette, Patricia Rae Folda Larson slipped her earthly bonds and returned to the welcoming arms of her creator.

Patricia reunited in heaven with her kind and loving parents Joseph and Edith Folda, fierce and loving duo sister Jody and brother-in-law Leo McInerney, beloved little brother Bill Folda, Bills sons Terry and Ricky Folda, and Daughter in law Tami Larson, wife to son David Larson.

Patricia was born January 5,1934 in Lewistown Montana. In 1940 the family of five applied for and received a homestead in the Sunny Slope area of Montana. Baby Sharon, the fourth Folda child was one of the first two babies born in the homestead area. The Folda family lived as homesteaders and farmers do, welcoming newcomers, supporting community and always helping each other.

Patricia attended a one room schoolhouse at Sunny Slope, until moving onto and completing school in Fairfield where she graduated in 1951. Patsy, as she was known, loved school, adored her family, friends and community and was well loved in return. Whatever happened, we always knew Mom and Daddy loved us and we were cared for.

After HS graduation Patricia attended The College of Great Falls in Great Falls MT and received her teaching certificate. She also spent an adventurous summer attending a teacher education program in Hawaii with three other young women from Montana. (There are stories!)

In 1957 Patricia married Mark Larson. Together Pat and Mark raised four children, David Larson, Michelle Larson, Nanette Larson and Mark J Larson, mostly in Missoula MT with a couple of stops in Iowa and Oregon.

Patricia began teaching at the age of 18 In Conrad MT and continued teaching for 39 years. A committed and engaged teacher, Mrs. Larson, till the end of her life would recount details of her many students. She was truly invested in their education and future.

After retiring from work at AON Corp in Seattle WA, Patricia moved to Spokane WA to live with son David and family. She spent 12 years joyfully helping to care for grandsons David and Nathan and traveling to Virginia to see Grands Dalton and Kenzie. While living in Spokane Patricia received a cancer diagnosis. After a prognosis of 6-18 monthsthe battle was joined.

16 years later Patricia has floated from one child and their families to another, each wanting more time. 16 extra years with children, grandkids, family and friends in Spokane, Everett, Bend, Virgina Beach, Washington DC and Tucson. What a blessing.

June of 2021 Patricias immediate family converged on Tucson. Sons David, Mark and their families traveled to spend precious time with Grandma. In the last weeks of Patricias life, nieces Kathy Olson, Pat House, Reenie McInerney, sister Sharon and husband Jim Beutler were instrumental in helping Nanette and Michelle care for Patricia at home. Their spiritual guidance, the love, kindness and joy poured into all present, especially Mom cannot be measured.

Patricia is survived by Sister Sharon (James) Beutler, son David (Patti) Larson and Davids children David J Larson and Nathan Larson, Daughter Michelle Larson, Daughter Nanette Larson and son Mark (Tina) Larson and children Dalton Cason and Kenzie Larson and many loving cousins, nieces and nephews.

June 22nd2022 will be a time to remember and celebrate Patricia Rae Folda Larson. You are invited. Patricias one request, please dont wear black. Truly, it was her wish.

St John The Evangelist Catholic Church, Fairfield, MT. 11:00am Rosary; 12:00pm Funeral Mass; 1:30pm Internment at Sunset Hills Cemetery, Fairfield MT. Luncheon will follow at St Johns Parish Hall across from the church. For anyone who would like to share memories or condolences please know family would love to hear from you at: Nanette or Michelle Larson; P.O. Box 68572; Oro Valley, AZ 85737 or patriciaraefl@yahoo.com

The family requests that memorial gifts be designated to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center for the Patient and Family Assistance fund. Memorials can be made online at www.fredhutch.org/memorial or mailed to Fred Hutch, 1100 Fairview Ave N, Mail Stop J5-200 Seattle, WA 98109. Please make sure to include Patricia Rae Larsons name when sending in the donation.
Painted rocks, photographed on Saturday, March 28, 2020 - the first day of Montanas official shutdown due to COVID. The rocks had been painted by students at Greenfield School to show the students appreciation of their teachers.
New gene editing legislation which seeks to bolster the UK's production of crops to make them more resilient has been introduced in parliament today.

The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, which has its first reading on Wednesday (25 May), will relax existing rules around gene editing technology.

The post-Brexit law change means that scientists will be able to undertake research and development using the technique.

The UK is home to some of the worlds leading research institutions in this area, such as the James Hutton Institute in Dundee.

A major departure from EU policy, the Bill will enable the UK to develop and market precision bred plants and animals.

Defra said this would 'drive economic growth and attract investment' into agri-food research and innovation in the UK.

Precision breeding technologies, like gene editing, have benefits. Scientists will help farmers develop plant varieties and animals with beneficial traits that could also occur through traditional breeding and natural processes, but in a more precise way.

For example, precision breeding techniques can produce crops with fewer inputs, including pesticides and fertilisers, which in turn improves sustainability.

However, environmental groups are critical of gene editing, as they believe the technique is only a rebranding of newer forms of genetic modification.

They call on the UK to stay aligned with the 2018 European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that classed gene editing as a form of GM.

Announcing the bill's introduction, Defra Secretary George Eustice said the UK had 'some incredible' academic centres to push forward research into the area.

"These precision technologies allow us to speed up the breeding of plants that have natural resistance to diseases and better use of soil nutrients so we can have higher yields with fewer pesticides and fertilisers."

NFU vice president David Exwood welcomed the bill's introduction, calling it a 'science-based legislative change'.

"[It] has the potential to offer a number of benefits to UK food production and to the environment and will provide farmers with another tool in the toolbox as we look to overcome the challenges of feeding an ever-growing population while tackling the climate crisis."

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) president, Mark Tufnell, added that the bill should be 'welcomed by farmers and environmentalists alike'.

He said the fragility of global and domestic food security had been exposed by recent events, such as the war in Ukraine.

Now more than ever, we need to focus on new technology that can deliver benefits for climate and the environment alongside crop and livestock production.

"These measures will play a crucial part in helping to manage our food security and strengthen our domestic supply chains.

The potential benefits are high, and the risks are no different from conventional breeding," Mr Tufnell said.
Tougher penalties for flytipping offenders and increased protection for victims contained in proposed Scottish legislation has been described as 'welcome and long overdue'.

Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) has submitted its consultation response for a proposed Members Bill in the Scottish Parliament brought forward by Scottish Conservative MSP, Murdo Fraser.

Proposals within it include improvements in how flytipping incidents are recorded as well as strict liability for those who dispose of the waste.

A national database should be created to monitor and record incidents, Mr Fraser's Bill details, so that it can be used as a tool that will aid detection and support the prosecutions of offenders.

The Member's Bill follow a Scottish government national litter and flytipping strategy consultation, which concluded in March.

SLE said the changes suggested were 'most welcome', with tougher deterrents that would provide improved tools to tackle the widescale problem.

The rural business group called flytipping a 'national shame' which became 'significantly worse during the pandemic' .

Simon Ovenden, policy adviser at SLE, said: "It will take a collective effort to tackle this blight.

"Where flytipping has occurred across local authority boundaries, there needs to be a method of collaborative working developed which currently does not exist.

"Presently, if flytipped material is proven to have been taken from one area local authority area, but tipped in another, neither authority is likely to investigate.

"And consequently no scrutiny or prosecution takes place  this needs to change and superior reporting systems can help.

As part of his proposals, Mr Fraser also wants to change legal liability so that victims of flytipping are not also legally responsible for removing the waste.

Mr Ovenden said this would also be a 'long overdue' change to the law: "This is possibly the only crime in Scotland where the victim, in this case the landowner, can be held financially responsible and threatened with prosecution for having a crime committed against them.

"If waste contains hazardous waste such as asbestos, a seven-day warning can be issued by local authorities, with the land manager additionally being threatened of possible prosecution.

"This appears to now be an established process across Scotland where the victim is made to pay, and not the offender or the local body responsible for such waste."

In the vast majority of situations, flytipping is an offence committed by two or more parties. One is the originator of the waste, be that a householder, business or perhaps even the flytipper themselves.

The second other party is the person who actually commits the flytipping offence. SLE said both should be considered jointly responsible for the crime and face the same penalties.

Mr Ovenden said the principle of the polluter pays must be adhered to: All too often, the cheap option is taken when hiring an individual or company to dispose of waste and this leads to materials being flytipped rather than being properly disposed of.

"If these changes were introduced, an onus would be placed on a waste customer to only hire a licensed contractor which would then help to drive out criminals from the industry.

"This change would also require a public information campaign to publicise the legislative change.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman from Georgia, won a GOP primary race, putting her controversial first-term performance to the test.

With her victory two years ago, Greene became a sensation of the Republican Party's far-right fringe, embracing former President Donald Trump's erroneous allegation that the 2020 election was rigged and engaging in conspiracy theories regarding COVID-19, according to a report from PBS.

In her victory address late Tuesday, the 47-year-old lawmaker showed no indications of mellowing. She pushed for President Joe Biden's impeachment, dismissing his victory as the result of "fraudulent electoral votes," compared pandemic mask and vaccination regulations to "medical tyranny," and criticized "the brutal and illegal punishment of many nonviolent January 6 demonstrators," as she did in the past.

Moreover, as per a report published by US News, she called Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnel one of the "failed leaders" of Congress. Greene also said that she is among the "majority" who pushes for the imprisonment of Hillary Clinton.

Greene said her reelection would "send a message to the bloodsucking establishment. It is we who will set the policy agenda for the next decade and not them."

"We're going to start speaking the truth more forcefully and more loudly than ever before," she added.

In November, she will face the winner of a three-way Democratic primary in the 14th District in northwest Georgia, a seat drawn to give Republicans a significant edge.

A Target of Criticism

Greene stayed on the primary ballot in Georgia's 14th Congressional District on Tuesday, despite a failed attempt by opponents to dismiss her. They said Greene incited the riot on January 6, 2021, which hindered Congress' ratification of Joe Biden's presidential win. The claims were dismissed by Georgia's secretary of state and an administrative law judge.

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Since her election in 2020, Greene has been the target of frequent criticism and resentment.

Soon after being sworn in, her committee assignments were removed from her due to social media posts concerning conspiracy theories and liking a Facebook comment calling for the assassination of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), per The Hill.

She also got banned permanently on Twitter for frequently violating the platform's rule on spreading false information about COVID-19, however, her official congressional account is still functional.

Like Trump, Greene Has Loyal Supporters

In 2018, Greene alleged in a Facebook post that the wealthy Jewish Rothschild family profited from California's wildfires and highlighted allegations of "lasers or blue beams of light" triggering the flames, prompting charges of spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories. The post is now deleted from the social media platform.

The Republican lawmaker has clashed with Democratic members of Congress, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), and spoke at a white nationalist conference earlier this year.

Greene, who has the support of former President Trump, has built a strong national following among Republicans.

Audrey Haynes, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said the controversial legislator has loyal supporters.

"Wherever she goes, there are people who cheer her on. Yet there are also those who believe she has made the district, and particularly Republicans in the district, into a joke and has little influence in the House," Haynes noted.

Related Article: President Joe Biden Addresses the Nation After Deadly Texas Shooting That Kills 14 Students; VP, Officials Condemn the 'Horrific' Incident

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The farming industry has paid tributes to Caroline Drummond, LEAF's chief executive, who has passed away following a short battle with illness.

An advocate for agricultural education and sustainable farming, Caroline passed away on Monday (23 May), a LEAF spokesperson said.

The 58-year-old was the chief executive of the educational body, which she helped oversee and develop for three decades.

She also helped develop Open Farm Sunday - the industry's annual open day initiative - into the event it is today.

Because of her efforts, Caroline was awarded an MBE in 2009 for services to the UK farming industry.

The spokesperson said: "There really are no words to express how much Caroline will be missed within LEAF and the farming industry; but most deeply by her family, to whom we extend our greatest sympathy.

"Caroline was an inspiration, and it is her passion, determination, foresight and energy that has transformed LEAF from its small beginnings 30 years ago to the globally recognised and respected organisation it is today."

Paying tribute, NFU President Minette Batters said she was 'a tour de force' within the agricultural community.

"Her sense of purpose and commitment was renowned, and for which she will be greatly missed," she said.

Caroline was first and foremost passionate about environmentally-friendly farming. She recognised how food production worked hand-in-hand with the environment and was a fantastic advocate for integrated farm management.

She wanted to share this vision with the wider public, and hundreds of thousands of people have visited farms over many years through the Open Farm Sunday initiative."

She added: "She was also the driving force behind educating young minds about where their food has come from and schools across the country have benefitted from her work.

My thoughts and sympathies are with her family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.

Tributes have also been paid to Caroline on social media by prominent industry figures.

It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of our beloved CEO Caroline Drummond MBE, who passed away yesterday.

Caroline transformed LEAF from small beginnings 30 years ago to where we are today. There are no words to express how much she will be missed. pic.twitter.com/F8y3CLhiAH  LEAF (@LEAF_Farming) May 24, 2022

Very sad to hear about Caroline. She did so much to promote farming, bringing passion and commitment. She really was an inspiration. Our deepest sympathies go out to her family.  RSPCA Assured (@rspcaassured) May 24, 2022

No words indeed to express our sense of loss. Because we all gained so much from knowing & working with dear Caroline.

Formidable, determined, persuasive, caring, inspired & inspiring, driven & driving: for us who worked with her we will continue to work for her & her vision.  Susie Emmett (@susieshoots) May 24, 2022

Sending our deepest sympathies to her family at this incredibly sad time. Caroline was a true leader, a passionate advocate for our sector and will be hugely missed my all.  NFU Horticulture and Potatoes (@NFUHortPots) May 24, 2022
Rural campaigners have launched a petition to save Welsh farmland from mass tree planting due to concerns over the future of food security in the country.

The petition urges the Welsh government and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to stop purchasing productive farmland for tree planting.

Campaigners argue that while it does bring benefits to the environment, the government and companies should not be planting trees on land which can be used for farming, claiming it threatens food security and self-dependency.

Recent purchases include 94 hectares of Brownhill farm in Tywi Valley, Carmarthenshire, to plant a memorial woodland for those who passed away due to the pandemic.

But campaigners warn that mass tree planting initiatives "threatens fragile rural communities, heritage, culture and the Welsh language."

In February, the Welsh government also announced that new woodland would be created at both the National Trust's Erddig estate in Wrexham.

Both plans involve planting at least 60,000 trees, which immediately sparked fears valuable agricultural land could be lost.

The petition also urges the government to protect farming communities from private companies, who are buying up farmland to offset their carbon emissions from elsewhere.

In the Carmarthenshire village of Cwrt-y-Cadno, Frongoch Farm was sold earlier last year to Foresight Group - a multi-billion pound private equity firm based in London.

It plans to plant thousands of trees across the valley, prompting locals to launch a fightback, arguing that the afforestation will be largely made up of conifers that could damage soil and have a negative impact on the landscape.

The petition, launched by Countryside Alliance Wales, states: "The current policy of using prime agricultural land will take agricultural land favourable for growing food out of production for generations.

"Furthermore, we are deeply concerned about the number of companies purchasing productive farmland for tree planting to offset their carbon emissions and feel that the Welsh government should further protect our communities from this practice.

It adds: "The Welsh government and Natural Resources Wales should be meeting the challenges of the biodiversity and the climate change crisis by supporting regenerative farming and working landscapes.

"Trees are part of a working landscape and can be supported through farming schemes, but it is about having the right tree in the right place and demonstrating that tree planting needs to work in harmony with food production."

The petition is now live and open to the public to sign.
Welshman Dewi Jenkins was 'top dog' again at Skipton Auction Marts latest live field-run working sheep dogs sale, with a 8,100gns (8,505) sale.

Mr Jenkins, of Talybont, near Aberystwyth, arrived on Friday 20 May with a single entry, his 18-month-old black and white bitch, Aran Kate, said to be an excellent prospect for nursery trials this year.

She is another well-bred daughter of the Ceredigon handlers main stud dog Jock, who finished eighth in this years Supreme and has been responsible for many top price Skipton-sold dogs at both live and online sales in recent years.

Jock was also the father of two 8,500gns dogs sold the previous weekend at Bala, his Skipton daughter, out of Rosewood Meg, from Alun Jones in North Wales, selling to an undisclosed Scottish buyer.

Travelling all the way down from near Inverness and making the journey well worthwhile when claiming second top call of 6,100gns (6,405) was John Macinnes, of Westford, Alness, with his January, 2020, brown and white bitch, Vhairi.

By Upland Moss, out of Liz, from Derwents JD Wood, a bitch sold out of Skipton in 2019, the stylish two-year-old, a solid all-rounder, was the first dog ever to be sold at the North Yorkshire venue by Mr Macinnes, a dyed-in-the-wool Scottish Blackface sheep farmer and shepherd who, now aged 79, says this years crop of lambs will be the last he will ever sell as retirement finally beckons.

However, the former triallist will continue to bring on and improve working sheepdogs, having trained them for many years on behalf of other people. Vhairi returned to her place of origin when sold via a telephone bid by to a contract shepherd from Inverness.

Shaun Richards, who runs Pen-y-Borough Sheep Dogs - shaunrichardssheepdogs.co.uk - at the foot of Pen-y-Ghent in Eldroth, another local handler who has regularly figured among the top prices at Skipton, was represented by a brace of bitches, also running a third on behalf of his wife Sue, the trio netting 13,900gns (14,595) in total.

First up and topping on price at 4,900gns was his main work dog, Ora, an experienced four-year-old black and white bitch by the home-bred Vic, himself a son of the breeders own Meg, whose own sire was Welshman Aled Owens renowned World Sheep Dog Trials champion Roy. Out of a well-proven dam, Rita, Ora joined familiar Skipton face Granville Fairburn, of Apperley Bridge, West Yorkshire.

Next up was Mrs Richards two-year-old black and white bitch Nell, a daughter of Hemp, from Shaps Richard Harrison, out of North Craven-based David Farradays Tiny, who also sold well via an online bid of 4,600gns, travelling to Powys in Wales with Geraint Evans.

Mr Richards third dog was a newly broken October, 2020, black and white bitch, Liz, a home-bred out of Shauns own Pen-y-Borough Whizz, since sold locally to Tossides Clive Robinson, and a daughter of Dean Addisons Elan Valley Roy. She completed a good day for the North Craven handler when going to Perthshire in Scotland with K Taylor & Sons, of Killin.

Welsh brothers Ross and Arran Games, from Talgarth in southern Powys, were both well represented with two fully broken dogs each.

The second runner for Ross, who works as an agricultural contractor and sheep shearer, and is a well-known triallist, having represented the Welsh national team, was a young improver, the November, 2020, black and white bitch, Jet, by JD Mills Venn Lock, out of R Edwards Pat. She commanded 3,900gns when catching the eye of Bangors M Jones.

The sale attracted a total entry of 44 dogs, with a solid clearance rate achieved.
Warrenton, VA (20186)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 72F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low 57F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Conti Ransomware hacked computer system of more than 1,000 victims around the world. They locked the victims' files and collected more than $150 million in ransoms to restore access.

Moreover, the ransomware gang stole victims' data, published samples on dark website and threatened to publish more unless they were paid.

They have inflicted a widespread of damage, but they still weren't sanctioned.

Isn't that surprising? Why is it so difficult to sanction ransomware groups?

Why Is It Difficult To Sanction Ransomware Groups?

According to current and former Treasury officials, putting a ransomware group on a sanctions list isn't as simple as it might seem since sanctions are only as good as the evidence behind them.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury mostly relies on information from intelligence and law enforcement agencies, as well as media reports and other sources.

But when it comes to ransomware, OFAC has typically used evidence from criminal indictments, such as that of the alleged mastermind behind the Russian-connected Evil Corp cybercrime gang in 2019.

The problem is such law enforcement actions can take years.

Michael Lieberman, assistant director of OFAC's enforcement division said that "Attribution is very difficult."

To evade sanctions and law enforcement, ransomware groups are constantly changing their names.

In fact, on Thursday, the Bleeping Computer reported that Conti Ransomware itself has "officially shut down their operation." The report, which cited information from a threat-prevention company called AdvIntel, stated that "Conti's gone, but the operation lives on."

The passing out of Conti's name gives another reason why it's hard to sanction ransomware groups: Putting a group on a list of sanctioned entities without also naming the individuals behind it or releasing other identifying characteristics could cause hardship for bystanders, as per Ars Technica.

By imposing sanctions, the federal government would cripple victimized organizations. These victimized organization might suffer disclosure of trade secrets or other sensitive information, or might have to shut down if they couldn't recover their locked files.

On the other hand, if they could pay the ransom, the hacker would supply a key to unlock the files and pledge to delete stolen data.

Read Also: Conti Ransomware Group Adds Nordex to List of Victims

How Should Victims Respond to a Ransomware Attack?

According to Ars Technica, the federal government has long discouraged the payment of ransom and in recent years has put the professionals who work with ransomware victims on notice.

The Treasury Department issued an advisory in October 2020 saying that "companies that facilitate ransomware payments to cyber actors on behalf of victims" may "risk violating OFAC regulations."

In 2021, a second advisory was issued which seemed to acknowledge that victims sometimes make payments that violate sanctions. In these special cases, victims and their representatives may receive leniency from the agency if they quickly report the incident and payment to OFAC.

Actually, a lot of victims in the past choose not to report attacks to the FBI out of fear that the intrusion would become public or the FBI would instead investigate the company itself.

With the new advisory, the Treasury Department hopes that more victims to work with law enforcement. This, in turn, could lead to more indictments and more sanctions.

This strategy of the Treasury Department seems to be working as more victims are now reporting incidents to law enforcement.

Related Article: New Ransomware Gang 'Black Basta' Emerges - Here's How To Fight Them
Deepika Padukone has taken the internet by storm with her glamorous pictures and videos from Cannes 2022. She was a sight to behold in a sequinned Sabyasachi saree, a black ArdaZaei pantsuit and a chic red gown on the three days she walked the red carpet on the French riviera. The Gehraiyaan actor is the only Indian to be on the jury of the prestigious film festival this year, and this is a great moment of pride for her many million fans and followers. Among them is her husband and leading Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh, who flew down to see his ladylove in her element. The paparazzi spotted him at the Mumbai airport on Thursday night before he left for France. He was just in time for Deepikas Louis Vuitton photoshoot, for which she paired a high-waisted pink, leather A-line skirt with a printed, white full-sleeved shirt, among two other classy looks.

The celebrity couples first photographs from a Dior event they attended together have just come in, and we cant get enough of them. They were all smiles as they posed with BAFTA-winning actor Rebecca Hall, whos also a jury member at the ongoing festival. Ranveer looked dapper in an animal print shirt. Heres hoping they keep the pictures coming!
Reddit is one of the internet's most popular online forums where everyone can find any kind of topic they're interested in.

If you can imagine it, Reddit probably has a subreddit or a forum for that.

Here are some facts about the popular online forum you may or may not know:

It Faked Its First Users

When starting an online blog or website, it's natural to see that no one will visit it at first since nobody knows about it. To do that, you'll have to rely on word of mouth and your online presence.

Although Reddit may or may not have done that, it is confirmed that its first users were fake, according to Make Use Of's article.

Apparently, Reddit's first users were its administrations submitting content under different names to create activity and online traffic.

Comments Were Not a Thing at First

Content-sharing sites or forums always have a comment section for people to leave messages to the original poster. It's how online forums work, after all.

People leave their thoughts, criticisms (constructive or otherwise), and messages to the original poster of a specific post.

However, when Reddit first started, it didn't have a comment section to speak of, with the feature taking six months to arrive on the website.

It Is the Tenth Most Used Social Networking Site in the United States

Reddit is a far cry from what it was on June 23, 2005. Thanks to the website's many new features, updates, and mobile app, it is now the tenth most-used social networking site in the US, with 18% of adults in the US saying they are Reddit users, per Pew Research Center's study in 2021.

People From the US Are Using Reddit the Most

A post from r/dataisbeautful made on September 4 showed that the US makes up 51.5% of the websites' traffic, with the UK following at 8.4% and Canada being at 8.3%. With the website being the tenth most used social networking site, it is no wonder that the statistic reached that high in 2021.

It Has More than 2.8 Million Subreddits

As previously mentioned, Reddit's various subreddits are only limited to what you can imagine, which is to say, the possibilities are endless. To be specific, Reddit manages more than 2.8 million subreddits or communities, according to Reddit Metrics.

Subreddits are where users get together to talk about the stuff that corresponds to the subreddit's title. These communities make the website's backbone and the main cause why Reddit is popular and successful.

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Reddit Users Spend Around Ten And a Half Minutes on the Website

With more than 2.8 million subreddits, it's not unheard of to spend hours on the popular online forum, but according to Similarweb, the average Reddit user typically spends 10 minutes and 23 seconds on the website per visit, which consists of visiting just over eight different pages.

Celebrities and Politicians Have Used Reddit for AMAs

An Ask Me Anything or AMA is a form of an open forum where people can ask anything to someone, regardless of the venue. Reddit just so happens to be one of, if not the most popular platform for celebrities and politicians to do so.

In fact, we've previously covered AMAs of some of the most prominent people in the world, along with Bill Gates' latest AMA. Aside from them, politicians, like former President Barack Obama, have also gone on record on Reddit's r/IAmA to host their AMAs.

Barack Obama's AMA Is The Highest-Rated Reddit Post of All Time

You may have already noticed that AMAs are of many ways celebrities and politicians use to engage with their fans or supporters, as the case may be.

One of the people who understood how effective AMAs are in connecting to the average joe is Barack Obama, whose AMA gained around 216,000 upvotes and 23,000 comments, making it one of the largest posts on the subreddit of all time.

Reddit Influenced the Stock Market and Won Against Hedge Funds

This event is a more recent one - it happened in January 2021. Gamestop, the popular video game retailer, saw its stock dipping due to hedge funds betting that it would go bankrupt and close. However, Reddit users from r/walstreetbets gathered together and bought Gamestop's stock, rescuing the company from bankruptcy while putting the hedge funds at risk of bankruptcy themselves.

One of the hedge funds that betted against Gamestop, Melvin Capital, was recently reported to have shut down and is preparing to liquidate its assets and return the money to its investors, per Engadget.

Reddit's r/AskReddit Subreddit Is the Website's Most Subscribed to Subreddit

Being an online forum gives people the freedom to talk about almost anything under the sun and even outside the Earth. This is particularly true with Reddit, whose r/AskReddit subreddit has around 8.85 million subscribers to date, per The Geek Page.

The subreddit allows people to ask about the topics they are curious about, whatever they may be. These inquiries usually involve relationships, life advice, and even horror stories.

Related Article: The Best Reddit AMAs of Celebrities in the Tech Industry
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Kartik Aaryans latest movie Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 has been a critical and commercial success. The movie went on to have a collection of around 80 crores in its first five days. Kartik Aaryan is immensely grateful and has been basking in the success of his latest movie.

The actor was seen surrounded by a sea of fans the weeknd outside the Gaiety Galaxy theatre. Commenting on the movies success, he said, "Whatever I am today, it's because of all the love and support that my fans have given to me. So when Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 got such a massive response, they were the first ones I wanted to celebrate it with."

The actor also visited the holy city of Varanasi after the huge success. A source close to Aaryan revealed that Kartik made a mannat to visit Varanasi if the film was a success. The actor visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple and performed the Ganga aarti in the evening.

The actor was joined by massive crowds who gathered to cheer the actor on. Kartik later took to Instagram to share pictures from his holy visit.

After Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 emerged as a box-office hit, Kartik Aaryan will now divert his attention to the other movies in his kitty. The actor will star next in Shehzada, Captain India, Freddy and Sajid Nadiadwalas untitled next.
Mr. India, Anil Kapoor and the late Sridevi's film arrived in cinemas on May 25, 1987, and went down in history as one of the most iconic Bollywood films. In the year of its theatrical release, it was the second-highest-grossing film and to date, it remains a crowd favourite. And it has been 35 years since the film first hit cinemas. Directed by Shekhar Kapur and backed by Boney Kapoor and Surinder Kapoor, the film also featured Amrish Puri as the memorable villain Mogambo. Mr. India's plot followed Arun (Anil Kapoor) a man who uses an invisible watch, his late fathers invention, to retaliate against a local gangster.With its brilliant concept and endlessly quotable dialogues, the film has achieved cult status over the years and a lot went into its success. But did you know that Anil Kapoor was almost not in the film? As Mr. India completes 35 years, we're rounding up 5 facts about the film we bet you didn't know:1. The lead role of Mr. India was first offered to Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan. After he declined the part, it was offered to Rajesh Khanna before Anil Kapoor took on the role. And it was definitely an inspired choice.2. Mogambo was almost played by Anupam Kher as the actor was eyed to play the villain. However, the role went to Amrish Puri who brought his A-game and owned the scary villain avatar.3. With a disappearing lead character, Mr. India relied quite a bit on special effects. The film also had some challenging action scenes, but it turns out, the makers did not leave anything to post-production. The fight sequences and special effects were done in real-time while filming.4. The large chunk of the inspiration behind Mr. India came from H.G. Wells' science fiction book The Invisible Man in which a scientist carries out an experiment that turns him invisible and is unable to reverse the procedure. The concept has been adapted several times including in the 2000 film Hollow Man.5. Acclaimed writer duo Salim-Javed had split back in 1980 but agreed to come back for one last stint which turned out to be Mr. India. This spelt great news for the film as Javed Akhtar penned the quotable line "Mogambo Khush Hua" and Bollywood movie history is richer for it.Heres wishing a happy Mr. India day to all those celebrating!
In a recent appearance in Delhi, Shah Rukh Khan showered praises on his wife, celebrity interior designer Gauri Khan. Not only did he praise her, but he also described how she has changed the aesthetic of their heritage home Mannat.For the event, Shah Rukh Khan made a return to his clean-shaven look, letting go of the rugged appearance he has been sporting for Pathaan. He was dressed to the nines in a three-piece suit and black tie. While speaking to the media at the event, he mentioned that Gauri Khan is the lady of the house and a wonderful designer. He also added that Gauri makes all the decisions when it comes to interiors in the house, and has certain rules that everyone must abide by.Shah Rukh Khan revealed that Gauri does not allow anyone to disrupt the design in the house. He further added, In my house, most of the stuff that is bought for the house is obviously bought by the lady of the house, my wife Gauri. You are not allowed to disrupt the design in the house, because she is a wonderful designer herself. But one of the few things that Im allowed to do because there is this understanding that maybe I know technology the best in the house.The actor also mentioned, Plus the aestheticsare so amazing, that nobody questions that whenever I go and buy television and put it in any room that I want or any place I wish to and this is Gods honest truth.Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan share three children, Aryan Khan, Suhana Khan and AbRam Khan. They reside at the landmark property situated in Bandstand in Bandra.The actor has many upcoming movies in the pipeline. His upcoming movie Pathaan also featuring Deepika Padukone and John Abraham will release in 2023. The actor will also be starring in Dunki which marks his first collaboration with ace filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani. He will also be starring in an untiled movie with Taapsee Pannu which will be shot extensively in Punjab.
SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Fresh-food maker Bolthouse Farms agreed to buy the brand and business of Evolution Fresh from Starbucks (SBUX) for an undisclosed amount. Evolution Fresh is a producer of primarily organic, cold-pressed, premium juice products. The transaction is expected to close later this year. The employees that support the business will also transition to Bolthouse Farms upon close of the transaction, Starbucks said in a statement. Bolthouse Farms said, through the acquisition, it will expand its beverage offerings from nutrient-dense, plant-powered juices and smoothies to include a full lineup of primarily organic cold-pressed, premium juices. Starbucks stores in the U.S. will continue to sell Evolution Fresh products. 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) - Glencore (GLCNF.PK, GLNCY.PK, GLEN.L) pleaded guilty and agreed to pay over $1.1 billion to resolve the government's investigations into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and a commodity price manipulation scheme.



The guilty pleas are part of coordinated resolutions with criminal and civil authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. Meanwhile, Swiss and Dutch investigations remain ongoing.



As per the terms of the US resolutions, Glencore will pay penalties of $700.71 million to resolve bribery investigations and $485.64 million to resolve market manipulation investigations by the Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Of the amount, up to $165.93 million will be credited against other, parallel matters, including in the UK, so that the net amount payable to the US authorities is expected to be $1.02 billion. Glencore has further agreed to pay $39.60 million under a resolution signed with the Brazilian Federal Prosecutor's Office in connection with its bribery investigation into the Group.



Glencore Energy UK Limited has also indicated that it will plead guilty to charges brought by the UK Serious Fraud Office in respect of its bribery investigation. The penalty to be paid will be determined following a sentencing hearing currently scheduled for 21 June 2022.



Glencore noted that it does not currently anticipate that the amount to be paid in respect of the UK resolution will result in the aggregate amount being paid for all of the above resolutions differing materially from the $1.50 billion provision recorded in the company's 2021 financial statements.



The plea agreements entered into by Glencore International AG and Glencore Ltd. with the U.S. Department of Justice each provide for the appointment of an independent compliance monitor for a period of three years to assess and monitor the company's compliance with the agreements and evaluate the effectiveness of its compliance programme and internal controls.







Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - General Motors Co. (GM) suffered a cyberattack last month that resulted in the exposure of customer information and allowed hackers to redeem gift card reward points. It was unclear how many accounts were affected.



The Detroit-based automaker revealed details of the incident in a breach disclosure filed with the California Attorney General's Office on May 16.



According to the data breach disclosure, malicious login activity was detected on an unspecified number of GM online user accounts between April 11 and April 29. The company identified recent redemption of customer reward points for gift cards that may have been performed without the customers' authorizations.



There is no evidence that the login information was obtained from GM itself. The company believes that unauthorized parties gained access to customer login credentials that were previously compromised on other non-GM sites and then reused those credentials on the customer's GM account, the company said in the filling.



The company disclosed in the filling that the unauthorized parties could have gained access to limited personal information of GM online or mobile application accounts, such as first and last name, personal email address, personal address, username and phone number for registered family members tied to customer's account, last known and saved favorite location information, currently subscribed OnStar package (if applicable), family members' avatars and photos (if uploaded), profile picture, search and destination information, reward card activity, and fraudulently redeemed reward points.



The stolen information did not include date of birth, Social Security number, driver's license number, credit card information, or bank account information, as that information is not stored in GM account, the company said.



General Motors disclosed in the filling that it took swift action in response to the suspicious activity by suspending gift card redemption and notifying affected customers of those issues. The company also took steps to require those customers to reset their passwords at their next log in, and it reported this incident to law enforcement.



The company recommended, as good security practices, that customers not use the same password for different accounts, and that they update any use of duplicate passwords.







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DuckDuckGo allows Microsoft advertising to track users of what it touts to be a "privacy-focused" web browser on purpose as part of its agreement with the tech giant.

DuckDuckGo

The DuckDuckGo browser, which promises its users to block tracking, is one of the recent projects the privacy-focused search engine, as per a news story by Bleeping Computer.

The privacy web browser, which attempts to be an alternative to other giant names like Google Chrome and Apple's Safari, offers both an iOS and Android app to smartphone users.

It boasts privacy features to entice users to make the big switch from their default web browser. It includes functions like third-party cookie and tracker blocking, as well as HTTPS encryption.

There are other handy options as well, such as its fire button, which allows users to clean their browsing data with a click. It also lets them enjoy beta features like its Email Protection and App Protection to prevent further tracking.

DuckDuckGo Allows Microsoft Tracking

However, according to a recent report by Tech Crunch, the privacy-centric browser turned out to have some limitations in its tracker blocking that its users have no idea about.

Thanks to a researcher who exerted the effort to check beneath the privacy browser, the hidden limits of DuckDuckGo are now out in the open.

The researcher, Zach Edwards, shared that the privacy browser blocks trackers from Facebook and Google, but it turns a blind eye to Microsoft counterparts.

Edwards tweeted that iOS and Android apps allow Microsoft trackers when visiting sites like Bing and LinkedIn, which the renowned tech giant owns.

He then tried to visit the Workplace website of Facebook, wherein he saw the mobile browser block other trackers other than Bing and LinkedIn advertising domains.

You can capture data within the DuckDuckGo so-called private browser on a website like Facebook's https://t.co/u8W44qvsqF and you'll see that DDG does NOT stop data flows to Microsoft's Linkedin domains or their Bing advertising domains.



iOS + Android proof:

 pic.twitter.com/u3Q30KIs7e    (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022

Read Also: DuckDuckGo vs. Google: Which Is the Better Search Engine for Your Privacy?

DuckDuckGo CEO Explains Why

The CEO and founder of DuckDuckGo, Gabriel Weinberg, confirmed the findings of Edwards, verifying that its privacy browser allows Microsoft trackers. He further added that its search engine, on the other hand, is not affected by the same limitations that its browser faces.

The DuckDuckGo founder threw light on its non-blocking of Microsoft trackers, saying that it is part of its syndication agreement with the firm behind Bing. The CEO further disclosed that their agreement prevents the privacy browser from "stopping Microsoft-owned scripts from loading."

For non-search tracker blocking (eg in our browser), we block most third-party trackers. Unfortunately our Microsoft search syndication agreement prevents us from doing more to Microsoft-owned properties. However, we have been continually pushing and expect to be doing more soon.  Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg) May 23, 2022

In a more recent tweet to Bleeping Computer, Weinberg assures its users that they are already attempting to fix the restrictions on its tracker blocking.

Related Article: DuckDuckGo Search Engine Now Blocks Google AMP Following Brave Web Browser's Move - Here's Why
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.




TOKYO, May 25, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi, Ltd (TSE: 6501) and Hitachi Astemo, Ltd. have developed basic technology for a thin-type inverter that achieves both energy conservation and miniaturization as a power converter (inverter) for electric vehicles (EVs). This technology simplifies power wiring by integrating power semiconductors(1) that control power supply with printed circuit boards. Compared to conventional products, the thin-type inverter reduces energy loss when power semiconductors are switched by 30% and is approximately 50%(2) smaller. The new design eliminates the need for welding of power semiconductors and power wiring, and the number of components and assembly processes required are also reduced. As a result, throughout the lifecycle of the inverter, including the production process, CO2 emissions are reduced.Hitachi and Hitachi Astemo will accelerate efforts to commercialize the thin-type inverter technology, and Hitachi will contribute to the realization of a carbon-neutral society by applying this technology to a wide range of applications, including not only EVs but also EV fast- charging systems and power transmission systems.The electrification of automobiles is rapidly advancing as the world aims towards a decarbonized society. Inverters are an essential component of EVs, converting DC power from the battery to AC power and controlling the rotation of the motor. Inverters are also important components for the effective use of energy, including fast-charging systems for EVs and power transmission systems for renewable energy. As the introduction of EVs and renewable energy increases in the future, inverters with conventional structures will require larger power semiconductors and peripheral components to control the power supply, which will increase energy loss and complicate the assembly process.Hitachi and Hitachi Astemo have been providing inverters for various applications to customers around the world and have now developed the basic technology for a thin-type inverter with a completely different structure. The features are as follows:1. Technology to integrate power semiconductors and inverter circuit components with printed circuit boardsInverters are composed of power semiconductors that turn large currents on and off, and circuit components that conduct large currents. Because power semiconductors generate heat when high current is applied, conventional structures require separate assembly of power semiconductors and inverter circuit components and their connection with wiring. As a result, the entire inverter structure is complex, making it difficult to reduce energy loss and the size of the inverter.Hitachi and Hitachi Astemo have now developed a basic technology that avoids the problem of heat generation by integrating the power semiconductors on a printed wiring substrate that incorporates the inverter circuit components. This technology simplifies the power wiring inside the inverter and reduces inductance(3), resulting in a 30% reduction in the energy loss generated when the power semiconductors switch on and off, and thus reducing heat generation. The size of the inverter is also successfully reduced by 50% compared to conventional products.2. Mounting technology to reduce the number of components and processes required for assemblyConventional inverters use many copper plate components called busbars(4) to supply large currents to power semiconductors, which must be connected by welding or other means. This required many parts and assembly processes, making it difficult to improve production efficiency. With the mounting technology, power semiconductors and circuit components are mounted on a compact, lightweight, thin printed wiring board, successfully eliminating the need for busbars. This has greatly simplified the production process, reducing the number of components and assembly steps. The technology reduces energy consumption in the production process and contributes to the reduction of CO2 emissions over the lifecycle of the inverter.(1) Semiconductors that can pass or stop a larger amount of power than ordinary semiconductors. Si (silicon) has been mainly used as a material, but the practical application of SiC (silicon carbide), which is high-performance and energy-saving, has been progressing. The structure of the newly developed product is based on Si power semiconductors, but it can also be applied to SiC.(2) Compared to Hitachi's conventional product (100kW class).(3) A value that determines the magnitude of voltage induced in the wiring of AC circuit. Large inductance leads to an increase in surge voltage and energy loss.(4) A conductor to carry a large current.The developed inverter will be exhibited at the Automotive Engineering Exposition 2022 to be held at Pacifico Yokohama from May 25, 2022.About Hitachi, Ltd.Hitachi drives Social Innovation Business, creating a sustainable society with data and technology. We will solve customers' and society's challenges with Lumada solutions leveraging IT, OT (Operational Technology) and products, under the business structure of Digital Systems & Services, Green Energy & Mobility, Connective Industries and Automotive Systems. Driven by green, digital, and innovation, we aim for growth through collaboration with our customers. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal year 2021 (ended March 31, 2022) totaled 10,264.6 billion yen ($84,136 million USD), with 853 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 370,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at https://www.hitachi.com.About Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.Hitachi Astemo is pursuing business enhancement and technological innovation through a strategic business portfolio consisting of the Powertrain & Safety Systems business, Chassis business, Motorcycle business, Software business and Aftermarket business. Hitachi Astemo is committed to creating social, environmental, and economic value by providing advanced mobility solutions that contribute to improving safety and comfort, and to environmental conservation to create a more sustainable society. By doing so, we contribute to improving Quality of Life and creating value for our OEM customers.For more information, use the enquiry form below to contact the Research & Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd. Please make sure to include the title of the article. https://www8.hitachi.co.jp/inquiry/hqrd/news/en/form.jspSource: Hitachi, Ltd.Copyright 2022 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Bermuda - May 25, 2022

Please find enclosed the presentation of Avance Gas Holding Ltd.'s first quarter 2022 results to be held on webcast/conference call today 25 May 2022 at 14:00 CET.

The webcast can be accessed at Avance Gas' website, www.avancegas.com



Attend by webcast by using the following link:



https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/3gib5uy6



Dial-in details for the conference call are:



+44 20 7192 8338 (UK and international), +1 646 741 3167 (United States) and +47 21 56 30 15 (Norway). Please quote passcode 1689957. Phone lines will open 10 minutes before the conference call.





For further queries, please contact:



Randi Navdal Bekkelund, CFO



Tel +47 22 00 48 29







ABOUT AVANCE GAS:

Avance Gas operates in the global market for transportation of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The Company is one of the world's leading owners and operators of very large gas carrier (VLGC) and operates a fleet of thirteen modern ships including two dual fuel LPG newbuidlings and four Dual Fuel LPG newbuildings due for delivery in Q4 2022 and Q1-Q4 2023. For more information about Avance Gas, please visit www.avancegas.com.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act

Attachment
Over $300m raised to date to support the next wave of disruptive and innovative food tech businesses and alternative protein technology platforms

Synthesis Capital Fund I will focus on pioneering businesses bringing high-potential technology solutions to global food system challenges

The oversubscribed fund is backed by high-profile institutional investors and corporate partners, in addition to well-known family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals

Synthesis Capital ("Synthesis"), a leading global food technology and alternative protein investor, today announces Synthesis Capital Fund I ("Fund"). With over $300m in assets under management, Synthesis now represents the largest Fund ever raised for the sector.

With this new infusion of capital, Synthesis will catalyse and support the next generation of businesses innovating across the entire food value chain. The oversubscribed Fund is anchored by private equity pioneer Jeremy Coller, through CPT Capital, with a cornerstone investment from Societe Familiale d'Investissements. The Fund also received significant commitments from Nuveen (a TIAA company), Credit Suisse Climate Innovation Fund, Sir Ronald Cohen through Dynamic Loop Capital, DisruptAD (ADQ's venture platform), The Nest, Heyi Holdings, trusts associated with the Sainsbury family, Interogo Holding (advised by IH International Advisors), WTT Investment Ltd (Tsai Family Office), and CIFF, amongst others.

This announcement coincides with the largest crisis in the global food system, but also with the most significant potential for its reinvention. The current unsustainable, animal-reliant food industry poses extensive challenges, further amplified by the global pandemic, the effects of climate change, and the rising cost of living. In addition, the collateral disruption arising from the present conflict in Ukraine is leading to inevitable further increases in food prices. The need for food system transformation is therefore more critical than ever. With recent technological breakthroughs, the food industry is now at an inflection point offering the potential to redefine our food system and feed the world in a sustainable way.

The Synthesis team brings a proven track record supporting and growing some of the most well-known start-ups and scale-ups in food technology since the sector's nascency in 2014. With a deep understanding of the industry, Synthesis is well-positioned to identify and invest in companies with the highest potential to build the future of food. The Fund will invest globally and is targeting investments in around 15 companies, with an average cheque size of $15m.

Today's announcement follows a series of successful investments already made by the Fund into both highly sought after and oversubscribed rounds in existing sector leaders, as well as promising emerging food businesses across alternative protein technology verticals. Portfolio companies to date include Upside Foods (formerly known as Memphis Meats), the leader in cultivated meat technology; Perfect Day, the first company to commercialise dairy ice-cream produced through precision fermentation and without the cow; and Redefine Meat, a plant-based pioneer which has developed proprietary and scalable 3D printing technology to create whole-cuts including steak. In addition to these alternative protein category leaders, Synthesis is also investing in platforms and enabling technologies with catalytic potential to be applied across the industry. Culture Biosciences, a "biomanufacturing-as-a-service" platform, for instance, allows customers to outsource R&D and scale up using their low-cost and scalable bioreactor farms.

Costa Yiannoulis, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Synthesis Capital said: "At Synthesis we back founders and companies with strong technical foundations and scaling potential. In order to transform our food system to feed 10 billion people by 2050, within planetary boundaries, these new food technologies and platforms are imperative. I am very excited by the level of interest we have received from investor partners in our Fund, by their strong belief in our thesis, and by the sheer growth potential of the alternative protein space in the coming decades. We already have investments in a number of game-changing companies under our belt and are well positioned, relatively early on in our deployment of the Synthesis Fund, to take advantage of the recent tech-wide market price correction, to back the food system unicorns of tomorrow."

Rosie Wardle, Partner and Co-Founder of Synthesis Capital, said: "We are now at an inflection point in the industry where real innovation is coming to bear in the food system, driven by a confluence of factors including capital markets readiness, prioritisation of sustainability and climate goals by governments and corporates, and consumer choice shifting towards healthier and animal-free foods. With deep experience in this sector, we are ready to take advantage of this significant investment opportunity, and are confident that alternative proteins will no longer be considered "alternative" in the near future. We are incredibly grateful for the support of our investor partners who share our belief in the significant potential of harnessing alternative protein technologies and platforms to transform our ailing and antiquated food system."

David Welch, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Synthesis Capital, added: "At Synthesis we believe technology is central to how we solve the huge challenges that exist within our global food system. But traditional food technology alone cannot create better versions of meat, egg, and dairy products that consumers will want to eat. The paradigm shift we are now witnessing lies with companies combining the best from food technology and modern biotechnology in new, innovative ways. This convergence of synthetic biology, tissue engineering, 3D printing, food chemistry, and other enabling technologies will allow us to transform plants, microorganisms, and animal cells into nutritious, scalable, sustainable food that tastes great, is priced competitively, and is accessible to all."

ENDS

Notes to Editor/ Background Information:

About Synthesis Capital:

Synthesis Capital is a global food technology and alternative protein investor with operations in UK, US, and Guernsey. The firm's founding team has been investing in the sector's leading companies since its emergence in 2014, developing deep expertise across the core technologies that will comprise our future food system.

With proprietary access to both the leading established players in the sector, and the next wave of high potential companies transforming the food system, Synthesis Capital Fund investments to date include Upside Foods, Perfect Day, Redefine Meat, Culture Biosciences and Arkeon Biotechnologies.

For more information, please visit https://synthesis.capital/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220524005127/en/

Contacts:

For media enquiries:

FTI Consulting

Ollie Bailey-Pratt, Valerija Cymbal

synthesiscapital@fticonsulting.com
GHENT, Belgium, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ASPIVIX SA, a developer of medical technologies to advance gynecological care, today announced positive results from its ADVANCE Women (Atraumatic Device using VAcuum Technology for CErvical Procedures in Women) study. The data confirm the usability, efficacy and safety of Carevix, an innovative, soft-suction cervical device designed as a modern and gentler alternative to a tenaculum to stabilize the cervix for the insertion of an Intrauterine Device (IUD) for contraception.

ADVANCE Women is a single-blinded, randomized, comparative study of 100 women who underwent IUD insertion with either the Carevix device or a tenaculum, the forceps-like, standard-of-care surgical instrument. Results from the study, conducted at Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), were shared at the 16th Congress of the European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health:

Women in the Carevix study arm reported significantly lower pain scores at all relevant points of the IUD procedure. Pain scores were 52% lower with the Carevix device during cervix grasping, 53% lower during cervix stabilization (traction), 30% lower during IUD insertion, and 33% lower during cervix release, compared to tenaculum use.

Women who had not given birth (nulliparous), experienced the greatest benefits from Carevix. During IUD insertion, twice as many nulliparous women in the Carevix group were free of pain compared to those in the tenaculum group, and they reported an 88% lower rate of severe pain.

Bleeding rates were 78% lower with Carevix vs. the tenaculum.

"The IUD is 99% effective in preventing pregnancies and is considered the most cost-effective birth control method available, but many women experience pain and bleeding during IUD placement, leading to the use of less effective methods out of fear of procedural pain," said Dr. Michal Yaron, ADVANCE Women investigator and Head of Outpatient Gynecology Consultations, Department of Woman, Child & Adolescent, Geneva University Hospitals. "The highly compelling results from the ADVANCE Women study demonstrate that Carevix is a promising and important alternative technology that has the potential to dramatically improve the IUD placement experience for women around the world."

"We are thrilled that the ADVANCE Women trial results affirm what ASPIVIX has envisioned since the company began - that we could re-imagine the IUD procedure by delivering a gentler approach to a century-old gynecological tool," said Mathieu Horras, Chief Executive Officer of ASPIVIX. "We are eager to partner with gynecology centers of excellence to transform IUD placement with Carevix for the estimated 90 million women worldwide who experience pain and bleeding due to the cervical tenaculum."

Carevix is limited to investigational use and not yet available commercially anywhere in the world. ASPIVIX plans to pursue regulatory approval and commercialization of its advanced-design Carevix device in Europe and the United States.

About Carevix

Carevix is an innovative, soft-suction cervical device designed as a modern and gentler alternative to a cervical tenaculum when stabilization of the cervix is needed. By leveraging suction technology to gently stabilize the cervix, Carevix delivers cervical engagement without the need to perforate the tissue. A semi-circular, anatomical pad is applied onto the delicate tissue during gynecological procedures, reducing trauma associated with pain and bleeding. Carevix is not approved for commercial use anywhere in the world.

About ASPIVIX

ASPIVIX SA is a privately held medical device company based in Renens, Switzerland, dedicated to developing modern and gentle gynecological solutions that advance women's healthcare. The Company's innovative technology, development and clinical program are supported by 4FO Venture Partners and Zurcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), HEMEX, Launchpad, Innosuisse, Le Service de la Promotion Economique et de l'Innovation, the European Union research and innovation program Horizon 2020, and visionary angel investors.

References

1 Lopez LM, Bernholc A, Zeng Y, Allen RH, Bartz D, O'Brien PA, Hubacher D. Interventions for pain with intrauterine device insertion. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Jul 29;(7):CD007373. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD007373.pub3. PMID: 26222246.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1824776/ASPIVIX_SA_1.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1824778/ASPIVIX_SA_2.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1824775/ASPIVIX_SA_Logo.jpg

Media Contact:

Andrea Albornoz

andrea.albornoz@aspivix.com
OSLO, Norway, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement published by Kalera AS (the "Company") (Euronext Growth Oslo: KAL, Bloomberg: KSLLF) on 13 May 2022 regarding the merger with its wholly-owned Luxembourg subsidiary Kalera S.A. (the "Merger").



The Merger will become effective upon publication of the minutes from Kalera S.A.'s general meeting approving the Merger in accordance with Luxembourg law. Such publication, and the effectiveness of the Merger, is expected to occur on 27 May 2022 (the "Effectiveness").

The last day of trading in the Company's shares on Euronext Growth Oslo is today, 25 May 2022. A trading suspension will be imposed by the Oslo Stock Exchange following end of trading today, and the trading suspension will remain in force until the Effectiveness. As of the Effectiveness, all of the Company's assets, rights and liabilities will be transferred to Kalera S.A., and the Company will be dissolved and have it shares delisted from Euronext Growth Oslo.

As merger consideration, the shareholders of the Company will receive shares in Kalera S.A., where two shares in the Company give the right to receive one share in Kalera S.A. The Company's shareholders will, for the purpose of calculating the number of consideration shares, have their shares rounded down to the nearest even number as Kalera S.A. will not issue fractional shares. If a shareholder already holds an even number of shares, no rounding will be made. Excess shares, which as a result of this rounding will not be allotted, will be settled in cash by Kalera S.A., and the settlement amount per excess share shall equal the volume weighted average share price for the Company's shares on Euronext Growth Oslo during the last ten trading days prior to the Effectiveness.

It is the shareholders as of the Effectiveness, as such shareholders appear in the shareholders register of the Company with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository (the "VPS") as at the day of Effectiveness (the "Record Date"), that will receive merger consideration shares in Kalera S.A.

Tentative key dates and information for the completion of the Merger is as follows:

Last day of trading in the Company's shares on Euronext Growth Oslo: 25 May 2022

Effectiveness of the Merger: 27 May 2022

Record Date for entitlement to merger consideration shares: 27 May 2022

First day of trading in Kalera S.A.'s shares: 1 June 2022

Merger consideration shares delivered through VPS: 31 May 2022

ISIN: LU242451514904

The shares of Kalera S.A. will trade on Euronext Growth Oslo under the ticker "KAL", which is the current ticker of the Company.

About Kalera

Kalera is a vertical farming company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Kalera uses technology to ensure that more people around the world have access to the freshest, most nutritious, and cleanest products available. It has spent several years optimizing plant nutrient formulas and developing an advanced automation and data acquisition system with Internet of Things, cloud, big data analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities. Kalera currently operates farms in the US (in Orlando, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Houston, Texas and Denver, Colorado), as well as in Kuwait. Additional farms are under development. More information is available at www.kalera.com.

Eric Birge

ir@kalera.com

313-309-9500
DGAP-Ad-hoc: SMG European Recovery SPAC SE / Key word(s): IPO/IPO

SMG European Recovery SPAC SE: SMG European Recovery SPAC SE launches bookbuilding



25-May-2022 / 08:48 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



AD-HOC RELEASE Public disclosure of inside information according to Article 17 para. 1 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse (Market Abuse Regulation) NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA OR JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THIS PUBLICATION. SMG European Recovery SPAC SE launches bookbuilding for up to 115 million private placement and listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and targets business combination with a company in the European real estate-related hospitality sector with a focus on lodging and leisure Luxembourg, May 25, 2022 - SMG European Recovery SPAC SE (the "Company"), a Luxembourg special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), today announces the start of its private placement of 11,500,000 units (the "Units"), consisting each of one share (a "Public Share") and one half of a warrant (a "Public Warrant"), at a price of 10.00 per Unit for an aggregate of 115 million. The Units will be solely offered to institutional investors. The private placement is expected to end on or before May 26, 2022. The Company is sponsored by SMG Holding S.a r.l. (the "Sponsor"), an affiliate of Dr. Stefan Petrikovics, Obotritia Capital KGaA (the "Co-Sponsor"), an affiliate of Rolf Elgeti, as well as certain members of the Supervisory Board of the Company. The Company was established for the purpose of acquiring one operating business in a member state of the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland in the form of a merger, capital stock exchange, share purchase, asset acquisition, reorganization or similar transaction (the "Business Combination") and plans to target a company in the real estate-related hospitality sector with a focus on the sub-sector lodging and leisure. The Company will have 15 months from the date of the admission to trading to consummate the Business Combination. This period may be extended up to two times, in each case by three months, by resolution of the Company's shareholders' meeting if the Company signs a letter of intent with a potential seller of a target within the initial 15 months. Otherwise, the Company will be liquidated and distribute substantially all of its assets to its shareholders. SMG SPAC Investment S.a r.l. ("SMG Investment"), an affiliate of the Sponsor has agreed to subscribe for 2,500,000 Public Shares and 1,250,000 Public Warrants in the form of Units in the private placement for an aggregate subscription price of 25,000,000 (the "Sponsor Investment"). The Sponsor Investment is funded utilizing a loan facility provided by ELF European Lending Fund I S.C.Sp. SICAV-RAIF, a fund managed by ELF Capital Advisory GmbH, and secured by pledges over the shares in SMG Investment and the Public Shares subscribed under the Sponsor Investment. In addition, pursuant to an investment agreement entered into between the Company and de Krassny GmbH (the "Cornerstone Investor") an affiliate of Alain Francois Marcel de Krassny, the Cornerstone Investor has agreed to subscribe for 3,000,000 Public Shares and 1,500,000 Public Warrants in the form of Units in the Private Placement for an aggregate subscription price of 30,000,000. The Company has applied for admission of the Public Shares (ISIN: LU2380749676) to trading on the regulated market (regulierter Markt) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (General Standard) and for introduction to trading of the Public Warrants (ISIN: LU2380751656) on the open market (Freiverkehr) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Borse Frankfurt Zertifikate AG). Trading of the Public Shares and Public Warrants is expected to commence on June 1, 2022. Contact: Dr. Stefan Petrikovics

Chief Executive Officer

SMG European Recovery SPAC SE

9, rue de Bitbourg

L-1273 Luxembourg

Luxembourg

contact@smg-spac.com

website: www.smg-spac.com DISCLAIMER: This publication may not be published, distributed or transmitted in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa or Japan. This publication does not constitute or forms part of any offer of securities for sale or a solicitation of an offer to purchase securities (the "Securities") or any of the assets, business or undertakings of SMG European Recovery SPAC SE (the "Company") in the United States, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Japan or any other jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. The Securities of the Company may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). There will be no public offering of the Securities in the United States. The Securities of the Company have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act. The Securities referred to herein may not be offered or sold in Australia, South Africa, Canada or Japan or to, or for the account or benefit of, any national, resident or citizen of Australia, South Africa, Canada or Japan subject to certain exceptions. The Securities of the Company may not be offered or sold in Canada absent the filing of a prospectus in Canada or in a transaction that is exempt from the requirement that the Company prepare and file a prospectus under applicable Canadian securities laws. No prospectus has been, or will be, filed with any securities commission or similar regulatory authority in Canada in connection with the offer and sale of the Securities. No securities commission or similar regulatory authority in Canada has reviewed or in any way passed upon this publication or on the merits of the Securities and any representation to the contrary is an offence. This publication does not form the basis of and should not be relied on in connection with, or act as an inducement to enter into, any contract or commitment whatsoever. Recipients of this publication who are considering acquiring Securities of the Company are reminded that any such purchase or subscription must not be made on the basis of the information contained in this publication. This publication constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation to buy securities. The listing of the Securities will be made solely by the means of, and on the basis of, a securities prospectus which is yet to be published. An investment decision regarding any securities of SMG European Recovery SPAC SE should only be made on the basis of the securities prospectus. The securities prospectus will be published promptly upon approval by the Luxembourg Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF)) and will be available free of charge on the SMG European Recovery SPAC SE website. In the United Kingdom, this publication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons who are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order"), or (ii) persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (high net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.) (all such persons together being referred to as "Relevant Persons"). This publication is directed only at Relevant Persons and must not be acted on or relied upon by persons who are not Relevant Persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this publication relates is available only to Relevant Persons and will be engaged in only with Relevant Persons. In member states of the European Economic Area the placement of securities described in this announcement is directed exclusively at persons who are "qualified investors" within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 (Prospectus Regulation). The Units are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any Retail Investor in the EEA. For these purposes, a "Retail Investor" means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments, as amended ("MiFID II"); (ii) a customer within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2016/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 January 2016 on insurance distribution, as amended, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II. Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 November 2014 on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (the "PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the Units or otherwise making them available to Retail Investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the Units or otherwise making them available to any Retail Investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation. Solely for the purposes of the manufacturer's product approval process, the target market assessment in respect of the Public Shares and Public Warrants has led to the conclusion that the Public Shares and the Public Warrants are (a) compatible with an end target market of investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties, each as defined in MiFID II, and (b) eligible for distribution to professional clients and eligible counterparties through all distribution channels permitted by MiFID II. Any person subsequently offering, selling or recommending the Public Shares and Public Warrants (a "distributor") should take into consideration the manufacturer's target market assessment; however, a distributor subject to MiFID II is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the Public Shares and Public Warrants (by either adopting or refining the manufacturer's target market assessment) and determining appropriate distribution channels. The Units are not intended, to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any Retail Investor in the United Kingdom ("UK"). For these purposes the expression "Retail Investor" means a person who is one (or more) of the following: (i) a retail client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 2017/565 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("EUWA"); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of the provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA") and any rules or regulations made under the FSMA to implement Directive (EU) 2016/97, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA ("UK MiFIR"). Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA (the "UK PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the Units or otherwise making them available to Retail Investors in the UK has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the Units or otherwise making them available to any Retail Investor in the UK may be unlawful under the UK PRIIPs Regulation. No action has been taken that would permit an offering or an acquisition of the securities or a distribution of this announcement in any jurisdiction where such action would be unlawful. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions. This announcement does not constitute a recommendation concerning the placement. Investors should consult a professional advisor as to the suitability of the placement for the person concerned. This release may contain forward looking statements, estimates, opinions and projections with respect to anticipated future performance of the Company ("forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "may," "will" or "should" or, in each case, their negative, or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on the current views, expectations and assumptions of the management of the Company and involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. Any forward-looking statements included herein only speak as at the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation, and does not expect to publicly update, or publicly revise, any of the information, forward-looking statements or the conclusions contained herein or to reflect new events or circumstances or to correct any inaccuracies which may become apparent subsequent to the date hereof, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Company accepts no liability whatsoever in respect of the achievement of such forward-looking statements and assumptions. 25-May-2022 CET/CEST The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


TOKYO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Immoral Code, a 23-minute documentary that raises important questions about how far we are prepared to let machines make decisions of life and death, was launched for online viewing on May 24.

The film, available at www.immoralcode.io, cleverly demonstrates the complexity of human decision-making and the dangers posed by autonomous weapons that could "decide" who to kill.

Immoral Code was produced by Stop Killer Robots, an international coalition of concerned civil society groups. It asks viewers to sign a petition calling for new international law to regulate autonomy in weapons systems.

The Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist network has been an international member of Stop Killer Robots since 2018. Hayley Ramsay-Jones, director of the SGI Office for UN Affairs Geneva Liaison Office and representative of the Stop Killer Robots Working Group on Intersectionality, advised the filmmakers on issues related to representation, race and gender.

She comments: "AI is not neutral. Racism operates at every level of the design process, production and implementation, and this has been shown to lead to mis-identification at alarming rates among communities of color and particularly with regard to black women."

An in-person launch of Immoral Code was held on May 19 at the Prince Charles Cinema in London's Leicester Square, followed by an expert panel stressing that we are all vulnerable and the urgent need for internationally binding legislation. SGI supported the launch, along with Amnesty International, Article 36, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

Catherine Connolly, Automated Decision Research Manager for Stop Killer Robots, who spoke on the panel, urged: "Watch and share this film! States have made international treaties to ban and regulate other weapons systems. There is no reason they can't do it in this case. What they need is the will."

Immoral Code is introduced on the recently launched SGI Action for Peace website that highlights SGI's activities as an NGO in consultative status with the UN. See https://sgi-peace.org.

SGI is also engaged in the struggle to abolish nuclear weapons. Related resources on the new website include videos of first-person accounts from victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in original Japanese sound with subtitles in Chinese, English, French and Spanish at https://sgi-peace.org/resources/testimonies-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki. The book, "Hiroshima and Nagasaki: That We Never Forget," containing 50 individual testimonies, is also freely available.

Stop Killer Robots is a global coalition of more than 180 NGOs and academic partners working to ensure meaningful human control over the use of force through the development of new international law.

The Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is an NGO in consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC since 1983. The Soka Gakkai is a diverse global Buddhist community of 12 million people that promotes peace, culture and education.

Contact:

Hayley Ramsay-Jones

SGI Office for UN Affairs, Geneva

Tel: +41-791032501

E-mail: hayley.rj[at]sgi-ouna.org
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / (TSX:NANO)(OTC PINK:NNOMF)(FRA:LBMB)

Definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Johnson Matthey Battery Materials Ltd. a Canadian entity located in Candiac, Quebec

Acquisition to include the team, facilities, equipment, land and other assets Team has more than 360 years of scale-up and commercial production know-how Team and facilities proven in supplying tier 1 cell manufacturers for automotive LFP facility and land strategically located near Montreal and operational since 2012 Facility and equipment can serve Nano One's process needs with room to expand Expedites Nano One business strategy for LFP and other battery materials



Nano One Materials Corp. ("Nano One" or the "Company") a clean technology innovator in battery materials, today announces that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Johnson Matthey (JM) Battery Materials Ltd. ("JMBM Canada") for approximately C$10.25 million. The acquisition is fully funded and is on a cash-free, debt-free basis, subject to certain working capital adjustments.

JMBM Canada includes a team with over 360 years of collective experience, including R&D, pilot to commercial scale cathode production and product qualification and quality assurance systems expertise for tier 1 automotive lithium-ion cell manufacturers.

JMBM Canada also includes a 2,400 tonne per annum capacity LFP production facility located in Candiac, Quebec occupying approximately one tenth of the 400,000 square foot property.

The transaction is expected to complete by the end of 2022, subject to JMBM Canada fulfilling contractual commitments and certain other customary closing conditions.

Nano One CEO Mr. Dan Blondal said, "The rapidly expanding need for responsibly produced cathode materials in North America presents an opportunity for Nano One to deploy its technology and become a leader. We are excited to announce our agreement to acquire JMBM Canada. Experienced employees are at the core of this deal and will help fast-track Nano One's learning curve. The facility is in Greater Montreal and strategically located in proximity to employees and their families, international airports, major port facilities and is a critical link in the mines-to-mobility initiative. This complements Nano One's technology innovation center and team in Burnaby, British Columbia, and is a perfect base for the advancement, expansion and acceleration of our commercialization strategy. We now look forward to working with our colleagues at JMBM Canada for a smooth business transition later this year and sharing our vision and plans with all stakeholders in the coming weeks and months."

Liam Condon, Chief Executive of Johnson Matthey, said, "We have worked with Nano One on a number of projects over the last year and having seen their innovations, we believe they have the potential to develop the Candiac site in the best way possible. We remain at the Candiac site until the end of the year and are fully committed to serving the needs of our customers."

The Candiac production facility was acquired by Johnson Matthey in 2015 and has been in operation since 2012. It is a supplier of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material to the lithium-ion battery sector for both automotive and non-automotive applications for a select group of customers. Strategically located in Candiac, Quebec, it has the benefit of access to a North American ecosystem which will serve the broader global community with cost-effective, resilient, and environmentally sustainable cathode materials.

About Johnson Matthey

Johnson Matthey is a global leader in sustainable technologies that enables a cleaner and healthier world. With over 200 years of sustained commitment to innovation and technological breakthroughs, we improve the performance, function and safety of our customers' products. Our science has a global impact in areas such as low emission transport, chemical processing and making the most efficient use of the planet's natural resources. Today about 15,000 Johnson Matthey professionals collaborate with our network of customers and partners to make a real difference to the world around us. For more information, visit www.matthey.com.

Inspiring science, enhancing life.

About Nano One

Nano One Materials Corp. (Nano One) is a clean technology company with a patented, scalable and low carbon intensity industrial process for the low-cost production of high-performance lithium-ion battery cathode materials. The technology is applicable to electric vehicle, energy storage, consumer electronic and next generation batteries in the global push for a zero-emission future. Nano One's One-Pot Process, its coated nanocrystal materials and its Metal to Cathode Active Material (M2CAM) technologies address fundamental performance needs and supply chain constraints while reducing costs and carbon footprint. Nano One has received funding from various government programs and the current "Scaling of Advanced Battery Materials Project" is supported by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) and the Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund of the Province of British Columbia. For more information, please visit www.nanoone.ca.

Changing how the world makes battery materials.

Company Contact:

Paul Guedes

info@nanoone.ca

(604) 420-2041

Media Contact:

Chelsea Nolan

Antenna Group for Nano One

nanoone@antennagroup.com

(646) 854-8721

Johnson Matthey:

jmpr@matthey.com

+44 207 269 8001

Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: closing of the transaction and successful completion of the definitive agreement, the execution of the Company's business strategy and plans which are contingent on partnerships, support and grants and the commercialization of the Company's technology and patents. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of terminology such as 'believe', 'expect', 'anticipate', 'plan', 'intend', 'continue', 'estimate', 'may', 'will', 'should', 'ongoing', 'target', 'goal', 'focus', 'build', 'engage', 'potential' or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made are not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events. 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 the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including but not limited to: closing of the transaction, successful and timely completion of the definitive agreement, the execution of the Company's business strategy, any future collaborations that may happen with miners, OEM's or others, the Company's ability to achieve its stated goals, the commercialization of the Company's technology and patents and other risk factors as identified in Nano One's MD&A and its Annual Information Form dated March 28, 2022, both for the year ended December 31, 2021, and in recent securities filings for the Companies which are available at www.sedar.com. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that is incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Nano One Materials Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702563/Nano-One-to-Acquire-Johnson-Matthey-Battery-Materials-Canada
Stockholm, Sweden, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yesterday, the global vaping advocacy group World Vapers Alliance delivered an open letter to the Swedish parliament urging policymakers to stop the flavour ban.

World Vapers' Alliance held another protest today to stand against the ban on vape flavours. The group marched in front of the Parliament with the slogan "Flavours help smokers quit" during parliament's session and delivered an open letter to members of parliament to urge them to vote against the ban.

Earlier this year, the Swedish government introduceda bill that would prohibit all non-tobacco vape flavours in nicotine and non-nicotine products. If approved, the bill is set to enter into force on 1 January 2023.

"I benefited first hand from vaping and managed to stay smoke free for the last few years. Like most other smokers, I tried to find a way out of cigarettes - but nothing worked for me, the patches, the gums, the inhalers. Vaping - and especially combined with flavours - was my saviour. And like me there are millions around the world who are healthier and lead a better life because of vaping," said Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers' Alliance.

According to Landl, the ban on vape flavours will have disastrous consequences on public health:

"According to Yale School of Public Health, vaping flavoured e-cigarettes are associated with a 230% increase in the odds of adult smoking cessation. If vape flavours were banned, more than 150.000 swedes could be pushed back to smoking, which goes against any public health authority."

The public is also invited to support World Vapers' Alliance's efforts to protect flavours. Visit https://worldvapersalliance.com/flavours-matter/to send a message to Swedish Members of the Parliament telling why flavours matter and should not be banned.



The press release in swedish is available here.





Attachments
Japan is sending one of its own astronauts to the moon.

President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have recently confirmed their commitment to include a Japanese astronaut in NASA's Artemis Program and the future lunar Gateway Outpost, per NASA's announcement.

The inclusion of a Japanese astronaut is part of Japan's efforts to boost its presence in space as it seeks to maintain its lead over China in a potentially new space race.

Japanese Astronaut Inclusion Facts

Although the identity of the Japanese astronaut was not shared by both world leaders, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the Japanese astronaut's inclusion in the Artemis missions and the future lunar Gateway Outpost is a reflection of the two nations' "shared values to explore space responsibly and transparently" for humanity's benefit on Earth.

He also added that under the Artemis missions, NASA intends to invest in and explore the cosmos with countries that promote science, economic opportunity, and a common set of shared values.

"With this historic announcement, President Biden is once again showing nations throughout the world that America will not go alone but with like-minded partners," Nelson said.

Japan aims to become the second nation to successfully land an astronaut on the moon, but it has yet to have a human flight program despite its role in the creation of launch vehicles and space probes. As such, it has previously depended on the US and Russia to transport its astronauts into space.

Read More: No More Snooping! Screencastify Fixed an Issue That Allowed Wedsites To Spy on Webcams

In fact, the International Space Station (ISS) hosted more people from Japan than from the US or Russia.

Should both countries go ahead with their commitment, Japan would be able to further expand its range and reach of exploration following prominent missions of the past few years, per Space.com. This commitment would also fulfill Kishida's inauguration promises in October to put a Japanese astronaut on the moon, including revising Japan's space policy to include a push to create a human flight program for a crewed landing on the moon.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan's space agency, is already looking for applicants for its astronaut corps, with it opening its first recruitment drive in 13 years in 2021. This opening attracted 4,127 applicants for the opportunity to go into space, per the Japan Times.

JAXA is also a partner to NASA in achieving the latter's goals in science and human exploration, including on the ISS and the Artemis missions.

US and Japan's Other Space Agreements

In addition to the inclusion of the Japanese astronaut in the Artemis missions, President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida have reaffirmed their countries' continued cooperation on Earth science data sharing to improve specific understanding of Earth's changing climate.

President Biden also confirmed that the US intends to provide Japan with a sample from the asteroid Bennu, which was collected from NASA's OSIRIS-Rex mission, in 2023, in return for Japan providing the US with an asteroid sample collected by JAXA's Hayabusa2 asteroid sample-return mission in 2021.

The asteroid sample collected by Hayabusa2 is from the asteroid Ryugu, which the spacecraft rendezvoused in 2018, per a separate Space.com article.

Related Article: Japan Looks To Boost Space Program  But Needs US Help To Do So
NuvoAir is collaborating with 17 NHS trusts to launch a virtual Asthma Assessment Service designed to increase clinical capacity, reduce time to diagnosis, and provide ongoing remote patient monitoring and management.

NuvoAir's Asthma Assessment Service uses respiratory physiologists and connected, award-winning home monitoring technology, such as the Air Next spirometer to assess lung function variability, and the AOS pMDI sensor to track inhaler usage and technique. Respiratory patients follow their data in the NuvoAir Home app while healthcare teams access assessment reports, gain longitudinal insights, and efficiently address care needs.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220523005860/en/

NuvoAir Asthma Service (Photo: Business Wire)

Since 2017, NuvoAir has worked with over 40 NHS trusts, enabling NHS services to manage nearly 5,000 respiratory patients. Over 20 clinical studies have demonstrated NuvoAir's ability to produce high-quality data, obtain high patient satisfaction, and reduce both scheduled and emergency in-hospital care.

The current state of asthma

May is Asthma Awareness Month and efforts are underway to educate the public on the status of asthma in the UK, where asthma deaths are amongst the worst in Europe.

Uncontrolled asthma results in over 75,000 emergency admissions and 1,000 preventable deaths each year. A recent publication in The Lancet reports, "The UK has the highest asthma mortality rates of high-income countries in younger age groups (aged 5-34 years), the highest asthma admission rates in Europe, and the highest rates of asthma symptoms globally in children. Despite major advancements in asthma management and therapies, and the introduction of care pathways, hospital admission rates continue to be higher than expected, and tragically preventable deaths from asthma still occur in young people."

Overburdened clinical services mean people with suspected lung disease have to wait too long to be diagnosed. Early in the pandemic, one in three people with lung disease waited longer than six months for a diagnosis. Today, wait times are frequently much longer, delaying needed treatment and triggering emergency hospital care.

The value of NuvoAir's Asthma Assessment Service

Dr. Louise Fleming, honorary paediatric consultant from The Royal Brompton Harefield Hospitals shares, "Home spirometry monitoring has been an invaluable tool for children with asthma during the COVID lockdowns. Such has been the success of this initiative that it is now embedded within our service. Looking ahead, there is the potential to improve the diagnosis and monitoring of asthma."

"There is good evidence that smart inhaler devices can help people with asthma remember to take their medication regularly, leading to better asthma control. The NuvoAir Asthma Service will potentially improve access to this aspect of asthma care for people with asthma, leading to fewer asthma symptoms and attacks," says Professor Peter Bradding from University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

"Innovative solutions like NuvoAir offer real potential to transform the way we diagnose and support our patients with asthma and COPD," notes Dr. Laura Wiffen, Respiratory Research Fellow from Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

NuvoAir Founder and CEO, Lorenzo Consoli shares, "We are excited to partner with the NHS and forward-looking clinicians to redesign new care pathways for people with asthma. By blending high-touch with high-tech, we are able to help patients get on the right treatment at the right time to prevent asthma exacerbations."

About NuvoAir

??With offices in Boston, US, London, UK and Stockholm, Sweden, NuvoAir is a leading virtual-first care organisation for complex disease management and decentralised clinical trials. NuvoAir delivers a more continuous, relationship-based experience to individuals with complex conditions with an initial focus on respiratory diseases. NuvoAir blends connected devices with high-touch clinical services to enable patients and their providers to proactively manage chronic conditions, resulting in better outcomes and lower costs.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220523005860/en/

Contacts:

Meera Montan

Community Engagement Director

meera.montan@nuvoair.com
COMMERZBANK AG (London Branch) - Pre Stabilisation - Allianz EUR 30.1NC10.1 Tier II

Pre-Stabilisation Notice

25 May 2022

Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

Allianz SE

EUR Benchmark Dated Subordinated Fixed to Floating Rate Tier II Notes due 05 July 2052

Launched off the Issuer's Debt Issuance Programme.

Commerzbank AG (contact: Ian Turner; telephone: +44 207 475 1817) hereby announces, as Stabilisation Coordinator, that the Stabilising Managers named below may stabilise the offer of the following securities in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU Regulation 596/2014).

The security to be stabilised: Issuer: Allianz SE Guarantor (if any): n/a Aggregate nominal amount: EUR Benchmark Description: EUR Benchmark Subordinated Fixed to Floating Rate Tier II Notes due 05 July 2052 Offer price: tbc Other offer terms: Payment date 02 June 2022, denoms 100k+100k, listing Luxembourg Stock Exchange, Expected Rating A2 (Moody's) / A+(S&P) Stabilisation: Stabilisation coordinator:

Stabilising Managers: Commerzbank AG

BNP Paribas

BofA Securities Europe SA

Citigroup Global Markets Europe AG

HSBC Continental Europe Stabilisation period expected to start on: 25 May 2022 Stabilisation period expected to end on: no later than 30 days after the proposed issue date of the securities Existence, maximum size and conditions of use of over-allotment facility. The Stabilising Managers may over-allot the securities to the extent permitted in accordance with applicable law. Stabilisation trading venue: Luxembourg Stock Exchange,

Regulated Market

In connection with the offer of the above securities, the Stabilising Manager(s) may over-allot the securities or effect transactions with a view to supporting the market price of the securities during the stabilisation period at a level higher than that which might otherwise prevail. However, stabilisation may not necessarily occur and any stabilisation action, if begun, may cease at any time Any stabilisation action or over-allotment shall be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and rules.

This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction.

This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

END
(New York, Oslo and Luxembourg, May 25, 2022) Statkraft, Europe's largest producer of renewable energy has signed a binding Heads of Terms with FREYR Battery (NYSE: FREY) ("FREYR"), a developer of clean, next-generation battery cell production capacity. The Heads of Terms is expected to be finalized as a long-term physical supply agreement, with the ambition to secure a long-term supply of renewable power under globally competitive terms for FREYR's planned battery cell production project in Mo i Rana, Norway.



The Heads of Terms and related energy services from Statkraft is projected to cover all of FREYR's currently anticipated electricity needs for the period of 2024-2031 and to ensure physical delivery of energy from the central grid in Mo i Rana to FREYR's Customer Qualification Plant ("CQP") and combined Gigafactory 1 & 2. During this period, Statkraft commits to providing up to 23 MW baseload with an accumulated delivery of 1.4 TWh over the contract period to FREYR, as well as the provision of Guarantees of Origin to document that the power is sourced from Statkraft's hydropower assets in the region.

"Our ambition is to produce clean battery cells, and a key element of our strategy is to power our operations with renewable energy. This agreement with Statkraft ensures that our production facilities in Mo i Rana will have a steady, long-term supply of hydropower from local sources - keeping our carbon footprint to a minimum as we speed forward to full operations," said Tove Nilsen Ljungquist, EVP Operations of FREYR.

"Statkraft contributes to the green shift by providing renewable power to existing customers and new industrial entrants around the world. We are happy to support the establishment of FREYR's battery cell facility in Northern Norway, enabling green jobs and use of local resources. Together with flexible hydropower, batteries are essential for a net zero future," says EVP Market & IT in Statkraft, Hallvard Granheim.

Under the Heads of Terms, the renewable energy for FREYR's production site will be sourced from Statkraft's hydropower plant "Rana". Rana is 100 percent Statkraft-owned with a capacity of 500 MW and annual generation of approximately 2,150 GWh. The proximity of Statkraft's hydropower plant to FREYR's planned production facilities in Mo i Rana is consistent with FREYR's ambition to establish its operations in areas with an ample, local supply of clean energy.

***



About Statkraft



Statkraft is a leading company in hydropower internationally and Europe's largest generator of renewable energy. The Group produces hydropower, wind power, solar power, gas-fired power and supplies district heating. Statkraft is a global company in energy market operations. Statkraft has 4,800 employees in 19 countries.

About FREYR Battery



FREYR Battery aims to provide industrial scale clean battery solutions to reduce global emissions. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, FREYR's mission is to produce green battery cells to accelerate the decarbonization of energy and transportation systems globally. FREYR has commenced building the first of its planned factories in Mo i Rana, Norway and announced potential development of industrial scale battery cell production in Vaasa, Finland and the United States. FREYR intends to deliver up to 43 GWh of battery cell capacity by 2025 and up to 83 GWh annual capacity by 2028. To learn more about FREYR, please visit www.freyrbattery.com

Investor contact:



Jeffrey Spittel

Vice President, Investor Relations

jeffrey.spittel@freyrbattery.com

Tel: (+1) 281-222-0161

Media contacts:



Katrin Berntsen

Vice President, Communication and Public Affairs, FREYR

katrin.berntsen@freyrbattery.com

Tel: (+47) 920 54?570

Lars Magnus Gunther

Press spokesperson, Statkraft AS

lars.gunther@statkraft.com

Tel: (+47) 912 41?636

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, including, without limitation, statements regarding (i) any potential benefits from the long-term physical supply agreement, including Statkraft's supply and timely delivery of electricity sourced from renewable energy assets under competitive terms, (ii) the development, timeline, capacity, and other usefulness of FREYR's planned battery cell production plants and battery development strategy and (iii) FREYR's ambition and ability to establish operations with renewable energy from local sources and keep its carbon footprint to a minimum are forward-looking and involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results.



Most of these factors are outside FREYR's control and difficult to predict. Information about factors that could materially affect FREYR is set forth under the "Risk Factors" section in FREYR's Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on August 9, 2021, as amended, and in other SEC filings available on the SEC's website at?www.sec.gov.

Attachments
Prosafe has been awarded a contract by Petroleo Brasileiro SA ('Petrobras') for the provision of the Safe Eurus semi-submersible vessel for safety and maintenance support offshore Brazil.



Similar to the recently announced Safe Notos contract award, the award has a firm period commitment of four (4) years and the commencement is end-March 2023 following on from the expiry of her current contract that commenced in October 2019. The total value of the contract is approximately USD 126 million.



The Safe Eurus is a technologically advanced and efficient Dynamically Positioned (DP3) semi-submersible safety and maintenance support vessel, capable of operating in harsh environments. The Safe Eurus can accommodate up to 500 persons, has extensive recreation facilities and a large capacity open deck area and telescopic gangway. When operating the vessel, Prosafe will have strong focus on reducing emissions through innovative energy performance monitoring and associated fuel consumption reduction.



Jesper Kragh Andresen, CEO of Prosafe says: "This award from Petrobras for the Safe Eurus comes in close succession to that recently announced for the Safe Notos. Ensuring high vessel utilisation for Prosafe in Brazil creates a robust platform to expand the regional fleet when opportunities materialise through the global agreement reached with COSCO Shipping for the Safe Nova and Safe Vega."

https://www.prosafe.com

Prosafe is a leading owner and operator of semi-submersible accommodation vessels. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with ticker code PRS. For more information, please refer to(https://www.prosafe.com)Stavanger, 25 May 2022Prosafe SEFor further information, please contact:Jesper K. Andresen, CEOPhone: +47 51 65 24 30 / +47 907 65 155Robin Laird, Director of Investor and Lender RelationsPhone: +65 81 27 21 01This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Ready Set Gold Corp. (CSE: RDY) (FSE: 0MZ) (OTC PINK: RDYFF) ("Ready Set Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Christopher Reynolds to the Board of Directors effective May 24, 2022 and announces the resignation of Mr. Christian Scovenna from its Board of Directors.

Mr. Reynolds has been investing in the natural resource sector for over 10 years delivering solutions for corporate structure, strategy, and communications for small-cap juniors. He was an instrumental part in the incubation of Lithium Consolidated Mineral Exploration, which went public on the ASX in 2017. He started his career at Longview Capital Partners in corporate development, then worked as an Investment Advisor at Mackie Research. He is currently the Founder of Progenitor Metals Corp.

The Company thanks Mr. Scovenna for his valuable contribution to the Company and wishes him well in all his future endeavours.

About Ready Set Gold Corporation

Ready Set Gold Corp. is a precious metals exploration company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under symbol RDY and the Boerse Frankfurt Exchange as 0MZ. The Company owns a 100% interest in the Northshore Gold Project, located in the Schreiber-Hemlo Greenstone Belt near Thunder Bay, Ontario which is prospective for gold and silver mineralization. The Company also owns a 100% interest in two separate claim blocks totaling 4,453 hectares known as the Hemlo Eastern Flanks Project.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

READY SET GOLD CORP.

"Alexander McAulay"

Chief Executive Officer

Email: info@readysetgoldcorp.com

CEO Direct Line: +1 (604) 365-0425

www.readysetgoldcorp.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125210
PARIS, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A.L.I. Technologies Inc. is pleased to announce that XTURISMO Limited Edition will be present at the Top Marques Monaco Show from June 8 to 12, 2022 for the global launch of the world's first practical hoverbike.

In development since 2017 by A.L.I. Technologies Inc., XTURISMO Limited Edition was born from the desire to offer a new experience and unparalleled sensations of moving through the air. With its hybrid propeller propulsion system consisting of a combustion engine and four electric motors, the XTURISMO Limited Edition is able to fly 40 minutes, and up to 100 km/h.

Although not yet approved for public use* and limited to circuit practice, the XTURISMO Limited Edition is already positioned as the new icon of the next generation of air mobility; for "those who seek new frontiers of travel".

Price: 77,700,000 JPY - US$777,000

Dimensions: 3.7m (L) x 2.4m (W) x 1.5m (H)

Weight: 300 (kg)

Units Available: 200

Website: https://www.xturismo.com/

Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPP6jQKTqCRXpAmyfZ-94VQ

*exception: it could be used by rescue teams to reach hard-to-reach areas in times of disaster.

About A.L.I. Technologies Inc.

XTURISMO Limited Edition x Top Marques Monaco 2022

Dates: June 8 to 12, 2022

Location: Grimaldi Forum 10, Av. Princesse-Grace MC 98000 MONACO

Stand: Stand F5 in the presence of Shuhei Komatsu, Representative Director Chairman and Kazuo Miura, Director.

Highlight: Inauguration and opening ceremony on June 9, 2022 from 10 to 12 a.m.

We at A.L.I. Technologies envision a society in which cars, motorcycles, and UAVs can traverse the skies freely. Our limited edition hoverbike, XTURISMO, is pioneering the air mobility industry, and will let you experience the world like never before. This is the first step to the air mobility society of the future.

Official website: https://ali.jp/en/

Interviews available (on request)

Shuhei Komatsu, Representative Director Chairman

Kazuo Miura, Director.

Availability of pilot's seat experience

MEDIA CONTACT - XTURISMO Limited Edition :

info@ali.jp

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Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced its intention to offer, subject to market and other conditions, euro-denominated senior notes of Blackstone Holdings Finance Co. L.L.C., its indirect subsidiary. The notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Blackstone Inc. and its indirect subsidiaries, Blackstone Holdings I L.P., Blackstone Holdings AI L.P., Blackstone Holdings II L.P., Blackstone Holdings III L.P. and Blackstone Holdings IV L.P. Blackstone intends to use the proceeds from the notes offering for general corporate purposes.

The notes will be offered and sold to qualified institutional buyers in the United States pursuant to Rule 144A and outside the United States pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933.

The notes have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and applicable state laws.

In the United Kingdom ("UK"), this press release is only being distributed to, and is only directed at, persons who are "qualified investors" (as defined in the Prospectus Regulation (as defined below)) who are (i) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments and who qualify as investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order") or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). Any offering of notes in the UK will only be made available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such notes will be engaged in only with, relevant persons.

In the UK, the notes described in this press release are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the UK. For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 2017/565 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended, the "EUWA"); (ii) a customer within the meaning of the provisions of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended, the "FSMA") and any rules or regulations made under the FSMA to implement Directive (EU) 2016/97 (as amended, the "Insurance Distribution Directive"), where that customer would not qualify as a professional client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA; or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in Article 2 of the Prospectus Regulation (as defined below) as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA (the "UK Prospectus Regulation"). Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended) as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA (the "UK PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the notes described in this press release or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the UK has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the UK may be unlawful under the UK PRIIPs Regulation.

The notes described in this press release are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area ("EEA"). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, "MiFID II"); (ii) a customer within the meaning of the Insurance Distribution Directive, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II; or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (as amended, the "Prospectus Regulation"). Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended, the "PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the notes described in this press release or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation.

UK MiFIR Product Governance Eligible Counterparties and Professional Clients Only Target Market Solely for the purposes of each manufacturer's product approval process, the target market assessment in respect of the notes has led to the conclusion that: (a) the target market for the notes is only eligible counterparties, as defined in the FCA Handbook Conduct of Business Sourcebook ("COBS"), and professional clients, as defined in Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended ("UK MiFIR"); and (b) all channels for distribution of the notes to eligible counterparties and professional clients are appropriate. Any person subsequently offering, selling or recommending the notes (a "UK distributor") should take into consideration the manufacturers' target market assessment; however, a UK distributor subject to the FCA Handbook Product Intervention and Product Governance Sourcebook (the "UK MiFIR Product Governance Rules") is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the notes (by either adopting or refining the manufacturers' target market assessment) and determining appropriate distribution channels.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase the notes or any other securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. This press release is being issued pursuant to and in accordance with Rule 135c under the Securities Act of 1933. The distribution of this press release may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession this announcement or other information referred to herein comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005458/en/

Contacts:

For Investors

Weston Tucker

Blackstone

Tel: +1 (212) 583-5231

tucker@blackstone.com

For Media

Matthew Anderson

Blackstone

Tel: +1 (212) 390-2472

Matthew.Anderson@blackstone.com
TAIZHOU, China, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 13, Jolywood, the global leader in N-type PV technology, announced that they will continue their strategic cooperation with Munich Re, the global giant in the reinsurance industry, at Intersolar Europe held in Munich, Germany. The two parties will continue joining forces to improve global renewable energy solutions.

Munich Re will continue to provide Jolywood with a 12-year warranty for material and a 30-year warranty for linear power output. In the three consecutive years of cooperation, the two parties aimed to jointly formulate and develop renewable energy solutions for investors and financing institutions with large-scale usage of Jolywood PV modules and provided diversified value-added services and a more comprehensive third-party support guarantee.

Munich Re, founded in 1880 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, is one of the world's leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance and insurance-related risk solutions. Munich Re conducted a comprehensive assessment and rigorous inspection of Jolywood, including an omnidirectional evaluation of Jolywood's production lines, product quality, technological strength, etc. The outcome was highly evaluated by Munich Re's team, leading to its unanimous approval of Jolywood as a trustworthy PV technology company and comprehensive underwriting services.

Andreas Dill, Head of Green Tech Solutions at Munich Re, expressed that "it has been a great achievement to work together for many years. We have a thorough due diligence process before providing reinsurance coverage which Jolywood has always passed to our satisfaction. That's why we decided to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with Jolywood. We hope our strong combination will continue to benefit the renewable energy market."

Alex Xie, Jolywood's Head of Global Marketing, said, "Jolywood is a technology company pursuing excellence with leading quality control and product quality certification systems. It is easier for our clients to obtain project financing from international financial institutions under Munich Re's endorsement. Thanks for the trust and support from Munich Re. We will work together to develop the global renewable energy business further."

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SINGAPORE, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vantage, an international multi-asset broker, has announced an enhanced product update for gold traders.

From now until the end of July, traders can trade gold (XAUUSD) without paying overnight fees. Find out more here .

This product feature enhancement is designed to provide greater convenience for gold XAUUSD traders pursuing both long- and short-term trading strategies, amid the current market volatility.

Swap-free gold trading is open to all XAUUSD traders for a 7-day period, regardless of their trading account, or trade size. It is also open to clients trading on the Vantage App. This enhancement may be extended further, subject to clients' feedback.

"Our clients are always at the heart of our business decisions, and this new product enhancement is designed to benefit gold traders seeking low-cost trading options," says Marc Despallieres. the Chief Strategy & Trading Officer at Vantage.

Despallieres notes that swap-free trades are not a new feature, but are typically limited to holders of swap-free accounts. "As the greenback continues to strengthen on the back of the Russia-Ukraine situation, we want to support traders who remain bullish on gold or seek short-term trading opportunities amid the volatility."

"This product update complements Vantage's existing offering of low spread, high liquidity, and fast execution trading, and we are confident that our traders will be able to benefit from this."

About Vantage

Vantage is a global, multi-asset broker offering clients access to a nimble and powerful service for trading CFDs on Forex, Commodities, Indices, and Shares.

With more than 10 years of market experience. Vantage now has over 1,000 employees/personnel across more than 30 global offices.

Vantage is more than a broker. It provides a trusted trading ecosystem and a faster and simpler trading platform that enables clients to take advantage of trading opportunities.

Be empowered to trade on market opportunities when you

trade smarter @vantage.

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A partnership with DMCC in January 2020 during the World Economic Forum in Davos was the precursor to the establishment of the regional Ecosystem now known as the 'Crypto Oasis'. During the May 2022 World Economic Forum in Davos, the Crypto Oasis team proudly announced that the Ecosystem has already identified 1,000+ Blockchain Organisations ahead of the 2022 target.

Key Highlights:

The Crypto Oasis Ecosystem has identified over 1,000 organisations in the UAE, a milestone that had initially been forecasted for the end of 2022.

in the UAE, a milestone that had initially been forecasted for the end of 2022. The updated target is to have over 1,500 organisations identified in the Ecosystem by end of the year.

The Middle East is proving to be a hub for Blockchain activity and it has attracted major international Crypto Exchanges in recent months.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Crypto Oasis, the expansive ecosystem of Blockchain-related organisations initiated out of the UAE, is growing faster than anticipated. The benchmark of 1,000 Blockchain organisations in the ecosystem, which had been the original expectation for the end of 2022, has already been achieved ahead of time. Reaching this milestone 7 months in advance stands representative for the growth rate across the Blockchain landscape in the Middle East.

The strength of the Crypto Oasis Ecosystem and its growth can also be attributed to excellent initiatives taken by the UAE Government, which has been welcoming and fostering the development of this new industry for many years. From the Dubai Blockchain strategy initiated back in 2016 until this year, when His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced The Dubai Metaverse Strategy last month. This latest initiative aims to increase the contribution of the metaverse sector to the Emirate's economy to $4 billion by 2030. Headed by Dubai's Crown Prince, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Dubai Metaverse Strategy also intends to ensure that the metaverse increases its contribution to 1 percent of the Emirate's GDP.

The organisations that are active in the Blockchain space can be broken down into two different kinds. Native Blockchain organisations, that have Blockchain technology as their primary focus and reason of origin, and non-native Blockchain organisations which offer services or products related to Blockchain but do not have Blockchain as their primary focus. Native organisations account for 53% of the total number and non-native organisations that have adopted Blockchain are 47%.

From Binance, Crypto.com, Kraken to XT.com, some of the largest players in the Blockchain world are now setting up in the Middle East. The entry of various major international crypto exchanges proves the region has become an international hub for Blockchain.

Ralf Glabischnig, Founder of Crypto Oasis said about crossing the 1,000 organisations threshold, "This is an exciting time for us as we exceed expectations considerably month after month. Our target for the year has been achieved already and we're anticipating exceptional growth in the future. The first months of 2022 have already shown that the key pillars of growing and building the Ecosystem are talent, capital and infrastructure. We believe we are still at an early stage but with the speed of development and growth that we see day by day across the community in this region, we look forward to further advancing the Blockchain economy in the Middle East."

As regulators in the region welcome innovation and disruption, it is simpler for Blockchain related companies to secure a license and operate. The revised expectation for the number of organisations in the UAE Ecosystem by the end of 2022 is now 1,500 organisations from the 1,000 already achieved.

The significance of Blockchain lies in its inherent transparency, trust, and immutability. The Crypto Oasis Ecosystem embodies these characteristics and offers unique value to its community. The expeditious achievement of this milestone for the Middle East has surpassed expectations as the Crypto Oasis grows and expands by welcoming new countries, organisations and aspiring entrepreneurs to this growing Blockchain Ecosystem.

About Crypto Oasis

The Crypto Oasis is a Middle East focused Blockchain Ecosystem supported by initiators of Crypto Valley Switzerland. The core elements needed for its growth are Talent, Capital, and Infrastructure. The Ecosystem's stakeholders include Investors & Collectors, Start-Ups & Projects, Corporates, Science & Research Institutions, Service Providers and Government Entities & Associations. Crypto Oasis' vision is to be one of the leading Blockchain Ecosystems in the world. Today it is the fastest growing, with more than 1,000 organisations in the UAE alone. The forecast is to identify over 1,500 established organisations across the region by the end of 2022. www.cryptooasis.ae

For more information contact:

Faisal Zaidi

Crypto Oasis

faisal@cryptooasis.ae

+971552000840

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125087
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans, assemble! Disneyland Paris will soon open its own Avengers Campus later this year, and on the amusement park's 30th anniversary, no less!

Disneyland Paris recently announced that the Avengers-inspired theme park would be opening on July 20 through a YouTube video, which has Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man (or his voice at least) as its presenter.

MCU fans can expect a lot of Avengers-themed activities that are meant to train "the next generation of heroes," as the reveal video puts it.

Disneyland Paris Avengers Campus Attractions

According to Disneyland Paris' webpage for its upcoming theme park, Marvel's Avengers Campus will open on July 20, and it will feature interactive and not-so interactive rides, attractions, and Avengers-themed restaurants and stores.

For starters, Disneyland Paris' Avengers Campus has the "avengers Assemble: Flight Force," a rollercoaster ride of sorts that lets park goers "team up with Iron Man and Captain Marvel to help them save the world from an intergalactic threat."

This particular ride has a minimum height requirement of 1.2 meters or around 3.93 feet.

Another ride, the "Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure," allows park goers to join Marvel's friendly neighborhood Spider-man in an action-packed mission while using an "innovative new tech" to sling their own web, and catch Spider-Bots before they cause total techno-havoc across the theme park.

The "Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure" ride has no minimum height requirement.

Additionally, the theme park will have on-the-ground activities, such as joining Black Panther, Thor, and their fellow Avengers as recruits to help them save the day, which could happen at any time.

Read Also: Is Batman in the 'Thor: Love and Thunder' Movie? Watch the New Trailer To Find Out!

Alternatively, park goers can simply meet their favorite Marvel superheroes as they show off their tech, armor, and their best battle stances, along with seeing them in action for yourself.

Parkgoers-turned-recruits who want to have a "training session" with their favorite heroes can do so at the Campus' training center, according to CNET's interview with Avengers Campus Creative Director Beth Clapperton of Disney Engineering.

The theme park also offers two restaurants that would help charge up recruits' bellies for their next mission. These are Tony Stark's Factory, which offers pizza, pasta, and salad along with a view of the genius playboy philanthropist's inventions, like the Iron Man suits.

Stark's Factory can also serve as a "high-tech workspace" where superheroes can come to "build and repair their gear."

On the other hand, PYM Kitchen offers good-but-unusually-sized food buffet-style, all prepared by chefs using Ant-Man and The Wasp's PYM particle "shrinking and growing" technology.

Of course, recruits can suit up and prep themselves for their heroic missions and training sessions from Mission Equipment, a boutique that features the latest W.E.B and Avengers Campus-related tech, uniforms, and weapons.

Park-goers can also go to the Avengers headquarters where they can hear Tony Stark's AI, F.R.I.D.A.Y, which is the principal character in Disneyland Paris' Avengers Campus.

Similarities With The Avengers Campus In Disneyland California

There are some similarities with the Avengers Campus in Disneyland California, Clapperton said.

Disneyland California's Avengers Campus was the first of the two to be opened, with it being available to the public on June 4, 2021, per Disneyland California's webpage for the theme park.

One of these is Spidey's W.E.B. Adventure being present on both Campuses. However, the difference between the two is that the one in Paris is meant for Disney's multilingual audience.

The architecture of Paris' campus is slightly different pragmatically speaking, so the place is not an exact replica of the California Campus.

Another piece of evidence that the two campuses are not identical is that the "Avengers Assemble: Flight Force" and the Avengers Campus training center are exclusive to the Paris Campus.

Related Article: Did You Know That Some Disneyland Opening Day Rides are Actually Still There?
LONDON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Symplicity Corporation, the global leader in student employability, wellbeing, and success, is excited to announce its newest partnership with GBSB Global Business School in Malta, Spain and online.

Globally recognised as a premiere business school teaching state-of-the-art programs at the bachelor, master, and MBA degree levels, GBSB Global Business School (GBSB) is focused on building an all-encompassing, inspiring learning environment that provides students with the necessary support, resources, and attention needed to succeed across different areas. GBSB Global continuously attracts students from across the world, with a diverse student population representing over 100 nationalities combined with dedicated faculty with real-world experience as CEOs or business owners themselves.

Having established the new Careers, Alumni, & Entrepreneurship Center (CAEC), GBSB Global has shown it is focused on its students' professional self-assessment, employability skills, and successful career launches. Aligned with its goals, this new department turned to Symplicity to ensure GBSB Global can offer a full range of services, providing students with a user-friendly, automated experience that works for all.

With Symplicity, GBSB Global can better support its students through academic and career journeys, communicate more effectively with students and employers, enhance corporate and student engagement, optimise workflows for student support, and more. Most importantly, with Symplicity's robust data gathering and automation, GBSB Global can gain better insights in student career outcomes through standardised processes and reporting.

"Together with Symplicity, GBSB Global aims to provide the best learning tools and resources available on the market to be able to prepare the real changemakers of tomorrow," said Xavier Arola, Head of CAEC and G-Accelerator Director at GBSB Global.

With the support of Symplicity CSM, GBSB Global will be able to create a solid resource database and extend its operations to support current students and alumni.

"We are beyond thrilled to welcome GBSB Global into the Symplicity network," said Thomas Jepsen, President, International of Symplicity. "By optimising its career readiness programs, all in one platform, GBSB Global will be able to enhance employability skills of its students and increase internship and job opportunities, while providing a holistic picture of a student's future career journey. GBSB Global has continued to be an innovative, global higher education institution and we are thrilled to be in its company."

About Symplicity

Symplicity is a global leader in student employability and engagement software solutions to more than 2,000 colleges and universities. Symplicity's SaaS platform supports the full student experience, including early talent recruiting, accessibility, wellbeing and behavioral intervention. These solutions empower higher education clients to enhance a student's ability to stay in school, graduate and secure a first job. Learn more at www.symplicity.com.

About GBSB Global

GBSB Global Business School is an internationally accredited business school with campuses in Spain, Malta and online that provides business education in English to students from around the world and prepares future graduates to launch a successful career globally.

GBSB Global Business School supports high standards in business education validated by numerous international accreditation bodies such as ASIC, ECBE, ACBSP. The institution is recognized for applying an innovative approach by using learning-by-doing, design thinking, simulation business games and practical company visits in the learning process.

MEDIA CONTACT

Helena Okolicsanyi

Senior Marketing Specialist

hokolicsanyi@symplicity.com


Cinia and SSH expand their cooperation in delivering cybersecurity solutions

Cinia and SSH have jointly agreed to develop and offer their Finnish and international customers advanced cybersecurity solutions. In cooperation with SSH, Cinia will provide new services for the processing and transfer of sensitive data and for ensuring access management and control, especially in maintaining security-critical infrastructure. The first solutions to be delivered in cooperation will be launched in summer 2022.

"I am very pleased that Cinia is working with us to develop better defensive security for our customers in Finland and Europe," says Teemu Tunkelo, SSH's CEO.

"Cinia's mission is to explore the new possibilities of technology, implement future solutions and thus lead Finland towards a secure digital dimension. The solutions are discovered by smoothly combining telecommunications, software, information networks and cybersecurity into functional entities. Now, together with SSH, we can build services so that they include state-of-the-art cybersecurity and surveillance from the beginning," says Ari-Jussi Knaapila, Cinia's CEO.

SSH helps its customers to protect confidential and valuable information and related systems in the digital world. SSH's solutions enable secure communication between applications and protect and audit access to systems for the people who manage them. In addition, SSH's solutions enable secure digital communication between people across country and organizational boundaries.



SSH in brief

SSH helps companies secure their business-critical digital resources when they are at rest, in motion, and in use. Globally, we have over 5,000 customers, including 40% of the companies on the Fortune 500 list, as well as large organizations from the financial, government, resale and industry industries. We help our customers secure their business in an era of hybrid cloud, distributed IT and industrial automation. Our Zero Trust-based solutions provide secure electronic communications and secure access to both servers and servers. Our experts in North America, Europe and Asia work with our global partner network to ensure the success of customer projects. The company's shares





Cinia in brief

Cinia Oy offers secure high-usability information network, cybersecurity and software solutions. Our operations are based on solid expertise in modern application development, information network technologies and critical operating environments. Cinia offers high-quality cybersecurity solutions that utilize state-of-the-art technology to protect business continuity. Our services cover the entire digital environment, from terminals to cloud services and networks to applications. Continuous observation, preparedness for and eliminating various cyber threats, as well as responding quickly to incidents, are a key part of our cybersecurity service operations in addition to consulting and training. www.cinia.fi



More information:

Ari-Jussi Knaapila

Managing director

Cinia Ltd.

+358 50 2179

aj.knaapila@cinia.fi

Teemu Tunkelo

CEO

SSH Communications Security Oyj

+358 40 5499605

teemu.tunkelo@ssh.com


Researchers are looking for sustainable options, such as recyclable materials or biomass, to substitute the constituent materials in composites which are used in various applications including electrical and information technologies.

TSUKUBA, Japan, May 25, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Researchers from Konica Minolta and the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan have developed a machine learning method to identify sustainable alternatives for composite materials. Their findings were published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials: Methods.Composite materials are compounds made of two or more constituent materials. Due to the complex nature of the interactions between the different components, their performance can greatly exceed that of single materials. Composite materials, such as fibre-reinforced plastics, are very important for a wide range of industries and applications, including electrical and information technologies.In recent years, there has been increasing demand for more environmentally sustainable materials that help reduce industrial waste and plastic use. One way to achieve this is to substitute the constituent materials in composites with recyclable materials or biomass. However, this can reduce performance compared to the original material, not only due to the features of the individual constituent materials, such as their physicochemical properties, but also due to the interactions between the constituents."Finding a new composite material that achieves the same performance as the original using human experience and intuition alone takes a very long time because you have to evaluate countless materials while also taking into account the interactions between them," explains Michihiro Okuyama, assistant manager at Konica Minolta, Inc.Machine learning offers a potential solution to this problem. Scientists have proposed several machine learning methods to conduct rapid searches among a large number of materials, based on the relationship between the materials' features and performance. However, in many cases the properties of the constituent materials are unknown, making these types of predictive searches difficult.To overcome this limitation, the researchers developed a new type of machine learning method for finding alternative materials. A key advantage of the new method is that it can quantitatively evaluate the interactions among the component materials to reveal how much they contribute to the overall performance of the composite. The method then searches for replacement constituents with similar performance to the original material.The researchers tested their method by searching for alternative constituent materials for a composite consisting of three materials - resin, a filler and an additive. They experimentally evaluated the performance of the substitute materials identified by machine learning and found that they were similar to the original material, proving that the model works."In developing alternatives, that make up composite materials, our new machine learning method removes the need to test large numbers of candidates by trial and error, saving both time and money." says Okuyama.The method could be used to quickly and efficiently identify sustainable substitutes for composite materials, reducing plastic use and encouraging the use of biomass or renewable materials.Further informationMichihiro OkuyamaKONICA MINOLTA, INC.Email: michihiro.okuyama@konicaminolta.comAbout Science and Technology of Advanced Materials: Methods (STAM Methods)STAM Methods is an open access sister journal of Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (STAM), and focuses on emergent methods and tools for improving and/or accelerating materials developments, such as methodology, apparatus, instrumentation, modeling, high-through put data collection, materials/process informatics, databases, and programming. https://www.tandfonline.com/STAM-MDr. Masanobu NaitoSTAM Methods Publishing DirectorEmail: NAITO.Masanobu@nims.go.jpPress release distributed by Asia Research News for Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.Source: Science and Technology of Advanced MaterialsCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Fintech Ideas has announced that they are taking their existing suite of marketing and fintech products into Web3. The move assumes that the Libersave voucher payment system and ITTechAV online advertising platform are soon to acquire Web3 functionality. This will enable the two industry-leading specialist platforms to sync with blockchain wallets like Metamask, and take payments onto Ethereum and Solana blockchains.

The holding company that is known for developing and operating niche fintech and marketing platforms aims to complete the rollout of the upgrades by end of Q2 2022.

Acquiring Web3 functionality

DLTs and blockchain technology boast a wide range of functionality, including decentralised data storage, as well as fast and cost-effective transaction facilitation. Fintech Ideas places its bets on the latter, stating that the added features will help to decrease the costs tied to operation of the platforms, and most importantly, streamline the user experience for its users. According to the team behind the holding company, there are no plans to release any proprietary cryptocurrencies to the market.

The Web3 inclusion that is to take up both Libersave and ITTechAV mainly concerns the backend performance of the platforms, and expands the range of payment options for the demand and supply side.

Libersave is considered to be one of the most established voucher payment systems on the market. It connects merchants to prospective customers, creating an organic demand for companies across the globe. The payments platform has already become a household name in Latin America and is now quickly gaining on its competition in EU and Asian markets.

With the Libersave DLT integration, users will be able to not only make initial transactions in cryptocurrencies but also make their voucher holding rewards withdrawable. Current Libersave users can freeze their vouchers to get a 10% bonus that can then be used to make additional purchases through the platform's network of available merchants.

"We are strong believers in Web3 technology and the benefits it brings. At the same time, Web3 is mainly accessible to tech-savvy people only, and we plan to conduct our integrations in a bid to change that. We want all our users to have access to better and faster services, and naturally, our platforms will act as the medium where this sped up adoption takes place."

Eugen Geptin, CEO of Fintech Ideas

ITTechAV on the other hand, is a display ad marketing platform that processes large volumes of online traffic for advertisers that have higher than average budgets and are capable of conducting long term campaigns. Fintech Ideas states that its marketing platform is designed to deal with hyper-scale number of requests and the added blockchain functionality will help to secure all data that is managed by the company's professional ad tools.

The marketing platform is also cross synced with Pushnoti, which is another marketing product by Fintech Ideas. Pushnoti allows advertisers to subscribe prospective clients to push notifications, which is then used in highly targeted marketing campaigns. Such deep integration across products means that Web3 functionality will at some point cover all products that come out of the Fintech Ideas financing and software development house.

About Fintech Ideas

Led by a team of seasoned professionals in fintech, investments and software development, Fintech Ideas positions itself as a holding company that builds and operates niche platform-based solutions in the finance and marketing space. All products that come out of the company's press target B2B and B2C audiences, improving on functionality that is omitted by conventional key players.

This has enabled Fintech Ideas to grow into a 200+ employee software house, spread into offices in 9 countries across the world, including Germany, USA, India, Israel, Poland, UAE, Great Britain, Switzerland and Czech Republic.

Contact - Alexander F

Contact phone number - +49 30 700 141 244

email - info@fintech-ideas.com

SOURCE: Fintech Ideas

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702646/Fintech-Ideas-Expands-its-Marketing-and-Fintech-Products-into-Web3
Integrity Initiatives International (III) and Club de Madrid announced today that 42 former Presidents and Prime Ministers are now among more than 250 eminent individuals from over 75 countries who have signed the Declaration calling for the creation of an International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC).

The Declaration advocates for a new international court to punish and deter grand corruption the abuse of public power for private gain by a nation's leaders (kleptocrats) which thrives in many countries and has devastating consequences for climate change, human rights, human health, and international peace and security, as has been made tragically evident by the war in Ukraine and the loss of staggering sums of COVID-19 relief funds to fraud.

"Grand corruption has global dimensions and cannot be combatted by the affected countries alone. This is the main reason why an International Anti-Corruption Court is needed,'' said Danilo Turk, President of Slovenia (2007-2012) and President of Club de Madrid.

The former Presidents and Prime Ministers that have signed the Declaration include the following Members of Club de Madrid:

Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of The Netherlands (2002-2010)

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2007-2010)

Kim Campbell, Prime Minister of Canada (1993)

Laura Chinchilla, President of Costa Rica (2010-2014) and Vice-president of Club de Madrid

Seung-Soo Han, Prime Minister of the Rep. of Korea (2008-2009) and Vice-president of Club de Madrid

Ricardo Lagos, President of Chile (2000-2006)

Hanna Suchocka, Prime Minister of Poland (1992-1993)

Aminata Toure, Prime Minister of Senegal (2013-2014)

The Declaration and the full list of signatories can be found here.

The campaign to establish the IACC has progressed rapidly since the first 100 world leaders signed the Declaration in support of the IACC in June 2021. Since then, working with international partners to establish the Court has become official foreign policy in both Canada and the Netherlands. The two countries, together with Ecuador and other partners, will hold a conference of ministers from many countries later this year on international efforts to tackle corruption, with particular focus on the IACC.

The Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra has asked his European Union counterparts to work with the Netherlands to establish the IACC. He stated that "by establishing an anti-corruption court the Netherlands aims to strengthen the international legal order. But to make this happen we will need the support of many other countries."

"Corruption is a great hindrance to building trusted institutions and a threat to social stability. Fighting corruption requires our strong collective commitments and efforts," said Prime Minister Aminata Toure, Prime Minister of Senegal (2013-2014) and Member of Club de Madrid.

Integrity Initiatives International, the international non-profit behind the Declaration and coordinator of the campaign for the IACC, also announced in April that a total of 32 Nobel laureates have now endorsed the IACC initiative.

"Integrity Initiatives International joins the legions of vulnerable victims of kleptocrats throughout the world in being deeply grateful to the many former Prime Ministers and Presidents who recognize that an International Anti-Corruption Court is urgently needed and who are energetically striving to make it a reality," said United States District Judge Mark L. Wolf, the Chair of Integrity Initiatives International.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005195/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Ian Lynch

ian.lynch@integrityinitiatives.org

Alejandro Hita

ahita@clubmadrid.org
Quanergy Systems, Inc., (NYSE: QNGY) ("Quanergy") a leading provider of LiDAR sensors and smart 3D solutions, announced today that Audio Technology has selected Quanergy to provide perimeter intrusion detection to reduce false alarms, provide real-time tracking and classification, all while working under any lighting conditions.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005333/en/

Quanergy Chosen by Audio Technology to Protect Military Base (Graphic: Business Wire)

Quanergy provides perimeter security to a critical military site in Egypt. The infrastructure facility is using Quanergy's M-Series sensors and its powerful QORTEX DTC perception software, which allow accurate tracking of people in complex environments. Quanergy's solution integrates a leading video management system (VMS) technology combined with Hanwha PTZ cameras to cover 7.7 km of fence. The solution allows for automatic tracking and dividing alarms in certain zones with a much higher accuracy and at longer distances than achievable with cameras alone.

"We want to deliver the highest level of protection for critical infrastructure facilities," said Emad Adly, president, Audio Technology. "Quanergy is providing a 3D LiDAR-based perimeter intrusion detection system (PIDS) to protect a critical infrastructure. They are providing this to a military facility and it is reducing false alarms. The Quanergy technology provides real-time tracking and unmatched accuracy when tracking potential threats."

"Quanergy's suite of 3D LiDAR-based perimeter intrusion detection solutions is being deployed around the world to ensure secure building access, reliable protection of key campuses and the safety of people," said Enzo Signore, chief marketing officer, Quanergy Systems. "Critical infrastructures such as data centers, energy companies, and government organizations are looking at augmenting their existing camera-based security systems with powerful 3D LiDAR solutions to enhance the safety of their assets while reducing costly false alarms."

For more information, visit www.quanergy.com.

About Quanergy Systems, Inc.

Quanergy's (NYSE: QNGY and QNGY.WS) mission is to create powerful, affordable smart LiDAR solutions for automotive and IoT applications to enhance people's experiences and safety. Quanergy has developed the only true 100% solid-state CMOS LiDAR sensor built on optical phased array (OPA) technology to enable the mass production of low-cost, highly reliable 3D LiDAR solutions. Through Quanergy's smart LiDAR solutions, businesses can now leverage real-time, advanced 3D insights to transform their operations in a variety of industries including industrial automation, physical security, smart cities, smart spaces and much more. Quanergy solutions are deployed by nearly 400 customers across the globe. For more information, please visit us at www.quanergy.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain statements that are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," "plan," "predict," "potential," "seem," "seek," "future," "outlook," "project," "will likely result" and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the unmatched accuracy of our technology and deployment of our products around the world These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results. Most of these factors are outside Quanergy's control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political and legal conditions; the overall level of consumer demand for Quanergy's products; general economic conditions and other factors affecting consumer confidence, preferences, and behavior; disruption and volatility in the global currency, capital, and credit markets; the ability to maintain the listing of Quanergy's securities on the New York Stock Exchange; the financial strength of Quanergy's customers; Quanergy's ability to implement its business strategy; changes in governmental regulation, Quanergy's exposure to litigation claims and other loss contingencies; disruptions and other impacts to Quanergy's business, as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic and government actions and restrictive measures implemented in response; stability of Quanergy's suppliers disruptions in the supply chain, as well as consumer demand for its products, in light of disease epidemics and health-related concerns such as the COVID-19 global pandemic; the impact that global climate change trends may have on Quanergy and its suppliers and customers; Quanergy's ability to protect patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights; any breaches of, or interruptions in, Quanergy's information systems; fluctuations in the price, availability and quality of electricity and other raw materials and contracted products as well as foreign currency fluctuations; Quanergy's ability to utilize potential net operating loss carryforwards; changes in tax laws and liabilities, tariffs, legal, regulatory, political and economic risks; and other risks and uncertainties indicated in Quanergy's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Quanergy's expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views only as of the date of this press release. Quanergy anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause its assessments to change. However, while Quanergy may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Quanergy specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005333/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact

Shannon Van Every

Media@Quanergy.com

Investors:

QuanergyIR@ICRinc.com
Report on the first meeting - contribution of the SAB to the pivotal phase 3 clinical trial protocol for Lybrido, to be finalized soon hereafter

AMSTERDAM, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Freya Pharma Solutions, a late clinical stage company focusing on the development of effective pharmaceutical therapies for women diagnosed with Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (FSIAD), today announced that on 30 April 2022 the first meeting of the newly installed Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) was held. The SAB, chaired by Freya's Chief Medical Officer Jan van der Mooren, consists of five independent recognized medical scientists, which together shape a highly important advisory body for the company. The SAB sees to it that the quality of research at Freya is maintained and will oversee and assess its upcoming pivotal phase 3 clinical trial protocol and execution with Lybrido.

Dr. Jan van der Mooren, Chief Medical Officer of Freya, stated: "The members of the Scientific Advisory Board are leading experts in the specific field of female sexual disorders. We are delighted to have such a strong group of individuals join our Scientific Advisory Board, providing us with objective, external perspective and quality authentication. They are thought leaders within this specific scientific community."

During its first meeting on 30 April 2022, the SAB together with the Lybrido Clinical Project Team worked on drafting the protocol for the phase 3 clinical trial to confirm the efficacy of Lybrido in women suffering from FSIAD. The protocol is expected to be ready for obtaining EMA Scientific Advice this summer.

Scientific Advisory Board

Members of the newly formed Scientific advisory Board are:

Prof. Annamaria Giraldi MD, PhD, FECSM

Professor Annamaria Giraldi is Senior Consultant in Psychiatry in the Sexological Clinic at Psychiatric Center Copenhagen and Professor of Clinical Sexology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where she also received her medical degree and PhD. Professor Giraldi has been involved in the field of sexual medicine for many years, educating medical students, nurses, physicians and psychologists in sexual medicine.

Prof. Rossella Nappi MD, PhD

Professor Rossella Nappi is Full Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Research Center for Reproductive Medicine and Director of the Reproductive Medicine, Gynaecological Endocrinology & Menopause Unit, IRCCS San Matteo Foundation, University of Pavia, Italy. Professor Nappi's major interests are psycho-neuroendocrinology of female reproductive life and women's sexuality. She has published around 350 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and international books with more than 18,000 citations.

Prof. Cobi Reisman MD, PhD, FCESM,ECPS

Professor Cobi Reisman is urologist, sexologist, lecturer, honorary professor, and currently medical director of Flare-Health institute in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, senior lecturer of Clinical Sexology at the postgraduate institute RINO-Amsterdam, Consultant at Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital Tel-Aviv and co-director of the European Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM) School of Sexual Medicine. He has more than 20 years of clinical experience focusing on sexual dysfunctions in males and females. In 1998 he received his PhD thesis on diagnostic tools and objective medical decisions. Editors of the ESSM manual of sexual medicine and EFS-ESSM Syllabus of clinical sexology, Cancer and sexuality and Textbook of rare sexual medicine conditions.

Prof. Linda Vignozzi MD, PhD, FECSM

Professor Linda Vignozzi is Associate Professor in Endocrinology at the University of Florence, Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences where she coordinates the Gynaecological Endocrinology Research Unit in the Sexual Medicine and Andrology Unit. Professor Vignozzi has written several book chapters and invited reviews in the field of male and female sexual medicine, hypogonadism and metabolic diseases, prostatic diseases, including BPH, and human reproduction.

Dr. Giovanni Corona MD, PhD, FCESM

Dr. Giovanni Corona is endocrinologist and andrologist at the Endocrinology Unit of Maggiore-Bologna Hospital, Bologna, Italy. He received an MD degree at the University of Bologna and a Board in Endocrinology and Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Florence. He received two prestigious awards, one in 2009 from the European Society for Sexual Medicine, "Excellent Award" and the second in 2013 from the International Society of Andrology, the "Young Andrologist Award". In 2015 he was quoted in the top best European 30 researchers (category "Reproductive Biomedicine" n=11) by Lab Times. He is co-author of over 250 peer-reviewed papers, different book chapters and invited reviews in the field of endocrinology and sexual medicine.

Dr. Jan van der Mooren MD, PhD, MSc, is Chairman of the SAB and Chief Medical Officer of Freya Pharma Solutions.

About FSIAD

Low sexual desire is consistently reported as the most common sexual complaint in women. As a result, many women are dissatisfied with their sex lives, which often affects their social and emotional wellbeing. FSIAD is a sexual dysfunction that is defined in the 2013 version of the DSM-5 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a publication by the American Psychiatric Association, as a persistent lack or significant reduction of sexual interest and/or arousal. Persons can be medically diagnosed after having a well-defined number of symptoms causing clinically significant distress and which have persisted for a minimum of six months. The disorder is specified by severity level and subtyped into lifelong versus acquired, generalized versus situational.

About Lybrido

A total of 20 phase 1 and phase 2a trials and large-scale phase 2b trials in 17 research sites in the US have been conducted to date. These trials have investigated the efficacy and safety of two novel on-demand pharmacological treatments that have been designed to treat two FSIAD subgroups: women with low sensitivity for sexual cues (Lybrido) and women with dysfunctional over-activation of sexual inhibition (Lybridos). Lybrido increases central sexual motivation and physiological sexual responses, such as swelling of vaginal erectile tissue and lubrication. The therapy can be taken 'on demand' and helps to increase central sexual motivation from 3 to 6 hours after intake. This treatment consists of a novel (dual-route, dual-release, fixed-dose) combination tablet consisting of a testosterone coating for sublingual administration and an inner-core component containing the phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE 5) inhibitor, sildenafil. The inner-core component is coated with a delayed-release matrix to ensure that the peak plasma concentration of the PDE 5 inhibitor coincides with the window of increased sexual motivation induced by the sublingual testosterone. Thus, this combination enables an increase in genital arousal through an increase in responsivity to sexual stimuli.

About Freya Pharma Solutions

Freya Pharma Solutions is a late clinical stage company focused on developing effective pharmaceutical therapies for FSIAD, building upon fifteen years of solid research. The company has two compounds in development, Lybrido and Lybridos, to address the range of potential causes of FSIAD. Based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Freya aims to offer patients a convenient, personalized 'on demand' solution for this recognized unmet medical need.

Please contact for further information:

Freya Pharma Solutions, Amsterdam

Marcel Wijma, Executive Director

marcel@freyapharmasolutions.com

LifeSpring Life Sciences Communication, Amsterdam

Leon Melens

T: +31 6 538 16 427

E: lmelens@lifespring.nl

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1795348/Freya_Pharma_Solutions_Logo.jpg
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Tinka Resources Limited ("Tinka" or the "Company") (TSXV:TK)(BVL:TK)(OTCQB:TKRFF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an equity subscription agreement (the "Agreement") with Nexa Resources S.A. ("Nexa") (NYSE Symbol:NEXA), the largest zinc producer in Latin America with several long-life operating mines and smelting operations in Peru and Brazil. Compania de Minas Buenaventura SAA ("Buenaventura"), an Insider of the Company, has advised it will exercise its pre-existing participation rights on the same terms and conditions.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Nexa will subscribe for 40,792,541 common shares (the "Common Shares") of Tinka at a price of C$0.22 per Common Share (the "Issue Price") for gross proceeds to Tinka of C$8.97 million (the "Nexa Subscription"), with additional pre-existing subscription rights as described below (the "Private Placement"). Prior to the Private Placement, Nexa held approximately 9% of the common shares of Tinka (see NR March 17, 2021). Upon closing of the Private Placement, Nexa will become a new insider of Tinka holding 71,343,053 of the outstanding common shares or approximately 18.2% of the Company on a non-diluted basis. Buenaventura will subscribe for 9,770,669 Common Shares in the Private Placement at the Issue Price (the "Buenaventura Subscription") for additional gross proceeds to Tinka of C$2.15 million. Upon closing of the Private Placement, Buenaventura will hold 75,614,289 common shares of Tinka and will continue to hold approximately 19.3% of the outstanding common shares of the Company on a non-diluted basis. In total, the gross proceeds of the Private Placement will be C$11.12 million. No finder's fees or commissions are payable on the Private Placement. Subject to receipt of Exchange acceptance, the Private Placement is expected to close on or about May 31, 2022.

Pursuant to the Agreement, proceeds of the Private Placement will be used for development of the Company's Ayawilca project (including significant exploration and infill drilling programs, metallurgical programs, and other technical and environmental studies), the continued early-stage exploration of the Silvia project, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The President and CEO of Tinka, Dr. Graham Carman, stated: "Tinka is thrilled to welcome Nexa as a strategic investor in the Company, joining Buenaventura and Sentient Equity Partners as our major shareholders. Nexa's strategic investment in Tinka, and the co-investment by Buenaventura, is a strong endorsement of our globally significant Ayawilca zinc project and of Peru as an important long-term mining and investment jurisdiction. Nexa is a dominant player in the zinc business in Latin America, owning three mines and a smelting operation in central Peru in close proximity to Ayawilca. The Private Placement investment highlights the potential synergies of a successful mine development at Ayawilca for all parties concerned. We look forward to kicking-off our work programs at Ayawilca as soon as possible, including the commencement of a drill program which will target new high grade resources as well as increased measured and indicated resources."

The CEO of Nexa, Mr. Ignacio Rosado, stated: "In line with our strategy and believing on the promising fundamentals for zinc and its important role in the green economy, we are pleased to announce the increase of our equity interest in Tinka. Nexa has a unique position in Peru and Brazil and we believe the Ayawilca zinc project provides us a further option to grow, complementing our portfolio and allowing Nexa to secure its relevant position in the zinc market, adding value to all our stakeholders. As we previously disclosed, Ayawilca is one of the largest zinc projects in development in Peru with excellent development potential as well as resource expansion."

Upon closing of the Nexa Subscription, for so long as Nexa owns 5% or more of the outstanding shares of Tinka, on a partially-diluted basis, Nexa will have the right to nominate one individual to Tinka's board of directors. It is anticipated that Mr. Jones Belther, Nexa's Senior Vice President of Exploration and Technology, will serve as Nexa's nominee and join Tinka's Board on closing of the Private Placement. In the event that Nexa owns 20% or more of the outstanding shares of Tinka, on a partially-diluted basis, Nexa will have the right to nominate two individuals to Tinka's board. In addition, Nexa has been granted a pre-emptive right to maintain its percentage interest in the outstanding shares of Tinka, in connection with any future issuances of Tinka securities, subject to certain exclusions.

Participation by Buenaventura in the Private Placement is considered a "related party transaction" pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is exempt from the requirements to obtain a formal valuation or minority shareholder approval in connection with the Insider's participation in the Private Placement in reliance of sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101.

All securities issued in connection with the Private Placement will be subject to a statutory four-month hold period. The Private Placement is subject to certain conditions customary for transactions of this nature, including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the Exchange.

On behalf of the Board,



"Graham Carman"

Dr. Graham Carman, President & CEO Further Information: www.tinkaresources.com

Mariana Bermudez

1.604.685.9316

info@tinkaresources.com

About Tinka Resources Limited

Tinka is an exploration and development company with its flagship property being the 100%-owned Ayawilca zinc-silver-tin project in central Peru. The Zinc Zone deposit has an estimated Indicated Mineral Resource of 19.0 Mt @ 7.15% Zn, 16.8 g/t Ag & 0.2% Pb and Inferred Mineral Resource of 47.9 Mt @ 5.4% Zn, 20.0 g/t Ag & 0.4% Pb (dated August 30, 2021 - see news release). The Ayawilca Tin Zone has an estimated Inferred Mineral Resource of 8.4 Mt grading 1.0% Sn. Tinka holds 46,000 hectares of mining claims in Central Peru, one of the largest holders of mining claims in the belt. Tinka is actively exploring for copper-gold skarn mineral deposits at its 100%-owned Silvia project. Dr. Graham Carman, a qualified person, Tinka's President and CEO and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy has reviewed and verified the technical contents of this release.

Forward Looking Statements: Certain information in this news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and expectations of Tinka as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Tinka's management. Such statements reflect the current risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including, without limitations: timing and successful completion of the Private Placement; timing of planned work programs and results varying from expectations; delay in obtaining results; changes in equity markets; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions; imprecision in resource estimates or metal recoveries; success of future development initiatives; competition and operating performance; environmental and safety risks; the Company's expectations regarding the Ayawilca Project PEA; the political environment in which the Company operates continuing to support the development and operation of mining projects; risks related to negative publicity with respect to the Company or the mining industry in general; the threat associated with outbreaks of viruses and infectious diseases, including the novel COVID-19 virus; delays in obtaining or failure to obtain necessary permits and approvals from local authorities; community agreements and relations; and, other development and operating risks. Should any one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. Although Tinka believes that assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Tinka disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Further information concerning risks and uncertainties associated with these forward-looking statements and our business can be found in our public disclosures filed under our profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com)

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE: Tinka Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702607/Tinka-Announces-C11M-Strategic-Investment-by-Nexa-and-Buenaventura
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Mawson Gold Limited ("Mawson" or the "Company") (TSX:MAW)(Frankfurt:MXR)(OTC PINK:MWSNF) reports that its majority-owned Australian subsidiary, Southern Cross Gold Ltd ("SXG"), has reported assay results from six diamond drill holes at its 100% owned Sunday Creek property, Victoria, Australia. Mawson now owns 60.3% of SXG following its recent initial public offering ("IPO") on the ASX.

Highlights for Mawson Shareholders:

SXG reports high grade gold intersections continue at Sunday Creek 17.3m @ 4.9 g/t AuEq (3.9 g/t Au and 0.6% Sb) from 214.4m in hole SDDSC031 9.8m @ 4.6 g/t AuEq (3.9 g/t Au and 0.5% Sb) from 55.5m in hole SDDSC032 Sunday Creek now contains a total of twelve 100 g/t AuEq x m intersections (Figure 1)

Further core drilled pre-IPO await assay.

Assays are pending and drilling continues, with SXG's IPO funding an expected 24 month work program

Mawson's share of SXG has a market capitalization of ~C$17.0 million based on 24 th May closing price of A$0.20 per share.

Ivan Fairhall, Mawson CEO, states: "We are very pleased to highlight Southern Cross' continued success at Sunday Creek. We consider Sunday Creek one of the best discoveries in Victoria, and thankful that results like this could be bought forward by the funding accessed by spinning-out SXG onto the ASX. Southern Cross is now well funded to continue drilling and we look forward to more assays as the Sunday Creek discovery matures.

In the meantime, Mawson focuses its attention on its maiden drill program at Skelleftea in Sweden, and PEA studies to underwrite value in its million-ounce gold equivalent inferred resource at Rajapalot in Finland.

Drill Hole Discussion

Drill holes MDDSC0027 and SDDSC031-32 were targeted to extend and infill mineralization across specific multiple north-west striking mineralized shoots in the Apollo mine area. As is typical with the Sunday Creek property, wide mineralized zones with high grade central intersections were intersected.

SDDSC031 was drilled to target mineralized shoots to the west of the Apollo shaft in a 67m gap to infill between drill hole MDDSC015A (15.3m @ 5.5 g/t AuEq (2.2 g/t Au and 2.1% Sb) from 231.4m) and drill hole MDDSC0012 (10.4m @ 7.0 g/t AuEq (5.4 g/t Au and 1.1% Sb) from 203.0m). With a 0.3 g/t AuEq over 2m lower cut SDDSC031 intersected:

17.3m @ 4.9 g/t AuEq (3.9 g/t Au and 0.6% Sb) from 214.4m (0.3 g/t AuEq over 2m lower cut), including:

With a 3m @ 0.1g/t AuEq lower cut, SDDSC031 intersected 36.0m @ 2.9 g/t AuEq (2.3 g/t Au and 0.4% Sb) from 197.7m (109 g/t AuEq * m) and included high grade mineralization:

1.4m @ 16.3 g/t AuEq (10.9 g/t Au and 3.4% Sb) from 222.7m

(10.9 g/t Au and 3.4% Sb) from 222.7m 0.4m @ 28.5 g/t AuEq (18.0 g/t Au and 6.6% Sb) from 226.3m

(18.0 g/t Au and 6.6% Sb) from 226.3m 0.3m @ 66.9 g/t AuEq (66.8 g/t Au and 0.0% Sb) from 227.3m

(66.8 g/t Au and 0.0% Sb) from 227.3m 1.5m @ 27.0 g/t AuEq (23.1 g/t Au and 2.5% Sb) from 60.3m.

SDDSC032 was drilled to test the Gladys mineralized shoots. The closest hole was historic RC hole VCRC011, located 20m in the plane of the shoot, intersected 21.0m @ 3.9 g/t Au from 37.0m. With a 0.3 g/t AuEq over 2m lower cut SDDSC032 intersected:

9.8m @ 4.6 g/t AuEq (3.9 g/t Au and 0.5% Sb) from 55.5m (0.3 g/t AuEq over 2m lower cut), including:

With no lower cut applied, SDDSC032 intersected multiple structures yielding 97m @ 0.8 g/t AuEq (0.7 g/t Au and 0.1% Sb) from surface, and included high grade mineralization:

0.4m @ 26.4 g/t AuEq (15.7 g/t Au and 6.7% Sb) from 60.3m

(15.7 g/t Au and 6.7% Sb) from 60.3m 0.3m @ 86.6 g/t AuEq (81.2 g/t Au and 3.4% Sb) from 61.5m

Drillhole MDDSC027, targeted at depth below the Apollo mine, intersected a significant cataclastic fault zone which disrupted the mineralized target. The hole hit a broad low-grade interval including 2.5m @ 0.5 g/t Au from 285.5m, 1.9m @ 0.5 g/t Au from 302.9m and 4.0m @ 0.3 g/t Au from 315.0m and is considered a near-miss hole for further drill follow-up.

Drill holes SDDSC028-29 tested a coincident gold in soil anomaly, with low grade boulders on a topographic high and a coincident 3D array IP chargeability anomaly (with higher chargeability than the main mineralized zone at Apollo). Low-grade and geologically significant gold was discovered in SDDSC029 including 0.6m @ 0.4 g/t Au from 16.0m, 1.0m @ 0.4 g/t Au from 26.0m and 1.2m @ 0.3 g/t Au from 29.8m. The source of soil anomalies above SDDSC029 could be explained in part by the presence of gold in drilling . SDDSC028, drilled 300m north-east of SDDSC029 did not intersect significant results and the source for the 3D IP chargeable anomalies remains unexplained. These indications of a parallel zone of gold mineralization located 250m north of the main mineralized area opens further opportunities for undercover parallel zones across the property that will require drill testing.

Drill hole SDDSC030 was a short hole (104.1m) to test earlier trench results located 200m east of any prior drilling (Trench 1: 14.0m at 11.5 g/t gold and 0.3% antimony including 8.0m @ 19.6 g/t gold and 0.4% antimony and Trench 2: 2m @ 4.9 g/t gold and 0.2% antimony). The single hole failed to intersect the mineralized structure and further drilling is warranted. The mineralized trend remains open and undrilled for 10km to the NE from these trenches.

Southern Cross Gold has continued to drill at Sunday Creek over the last three months during the IPO process, with drilling of 10 holes for 2,278m completed and one hole in progress. With six holes assayed and reported here (MDDSC027, SDDSC028-32), drill core from four further holes (SDD033-36) has been forwarded to the assay laboratory and geochemical assay results will be released as announcements to ASX by SXG following being received from the laboratory.

Figures 1 and 2 show plan and longitudinal section views of drill results report here and Tables 1-3 provide collar and assay data. The true thickness of the mineralized interval is interpreted to be approximately 60% of the sampled thickness. All drill results quoted have a lower cut of 0.3 g/t Au cut over a 2.0m width, with higher grades reported with a 5 g/t Au cut over 1.0m applied unless otherwise stated.

Additional information may be found in Southern Cross' news release dated 23 rd May, and on its website at www.southerncrossgold.com.au .

Technical Background and Qualified Person

C$ conversions of A$ values completed at an exchange rate of 1.10.

The Qualified Person, Michael Hudson, Executive Chairman of Mawson Gold, and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has reviewed and verified the technical contents of this release.

Analytical samples are transported to the Bendigo facility of On Site Laboratory Services ("On Site") which operates under both an ISO 9001 and NATA quality systems. Samples were prepared and analyzed for gold using the fire assay technique (PE01S method; 25 gram charge), followed by measuring the gold in solution with flame AAS equipment. Samples for multi-element analysis (BM011 and over-range methods as required) use aqua regia digestion and ICP-MS analysis. The QA/QC program of Southern Cross Gold consists of the systematic insertion of certified standards of known gold content, blanks within interpreted mineralized rock and quarter core duplicates. In addition, On Site inserts blanks and standards into the analytical process.

Gold equivalent "AuEq" for Sunday Creek is = ???? (??/??) + 1.58  ???? (%) based on assumed prices of gold US$1,700/oz Au and antimony US$8,500/metal tonne, and total year metal recoveries of 93% for gold and 95% for antimony. Given the geological similarities of the projects, this formula has been adopted to align to TSX listed Mandalay Resources Ltd Technical Report dated 25 March 2022 on its Costerfield project, which is located 54 km from Sunday Creek and which historically processed mineralization from the property.

Gold equivalent "AuEq" for Rajapalot = Au+(Co/1005) based on assumed prices of cobalt US$23.07/lb and gold US$1,590/oz. Details of Mawson's Inferred Mineral Resource can be read in the Company's news release dated August 26, 2021.

About Mawson Gold Limited (TSX:MAW, FRANKFURT:MXR, OTCPINK:MWSNF)

Mawson Gold Limited is an exploration and development company with its flagship Rajapalot gold-cobalt project in Finland now entering technical study stages to de-risk its inferred resource and exploration growth program. Alongside ongoing exploration at Rajapalot, Mawson holds an option to earn up to 85% in the Skelleftea Gold Project in Sweden. Mawson also has a significant majority interest in the ownership or joint venture into three high-grade, historic epizonal goldfields covering 470 km in Victoria, Australia, through Southern Cross Gold Ltd, which has successfully listed on the ASX. Mawson's 60.3% ownership interest in Southern Cross is escrowed until May 16, 2024.

About Southern Cross Gold Ltd (SXG)

Southern Cross Gold holds the 100%-owned Sunday Creek project in Victoria and Mt Isa project in Queensland, the Redcastle and Whroo joint ventures in Victoria, Australia, and a strategic 10% holding in the ASX listed Nagambie Resources Limited (ASX:NAG) which grants it a Right of First Refusal over a 3,300 square kilometre tenement package held by NAG in Victoria.

On behalf of the Board,

"Ivan Fairhall"

Ivan Fairhall, CEO Further Information

www.mawsongold.com

1305 - 1090 West Georgia St., Vancouver, BC, V6E 3V7

Mariana Bermudez (Canada), Corporate Secretary,

+1 (604) 685 9316 info@mawsongold.com

Forward-Looking Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Although Mawson believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate, and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Mawson cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, Mawson's expectations regarding its ownership interest in Southern Cross Gold, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates, changes in world metal markets, changes in equity markets, the potential impact of epidemics, pandemics or other public health crises, including the current pandemic known as COVID-19 on the Company's business, risks related to negative publicity with respect to the Company or the mining industry in general; planned drill programs and results varying from expectations, delays in obtaining results, equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions, local community relations, dealings with non-governmental organizations, delays in operations due to permit grants, environmental and safety risks, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Mawson's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedar.com . Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Mawson disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

Figure 1: Sunday Creek plan view showing locations of drillholes for results reported in this announcement.

Figure 2: Sunday Creek longitudinal section showing individual shoots defined to date and grad x width pierce points of drillholes. Broad arrows show indicative mineralized shoots. Greater than 100g/t AuEq * m intersections shown by red circles.

Table 1: Drill collar summary table for drillholes reported in this announcement.

Hole_ID Hole Size Depth (m) Prospect East North Elevation Azimuth Plunge GDA94_Z55 GDA94_Z55 MDDSC027 HQ/NQ 400.0 Apollo 331150 5867964 323.0 205 -65.0 SDDSC028 HQ 150.0 north IP 331550 5868090 362.5 288 -30.0 SDDSC029 HQ 220.6 north IP 331243 5868014 343.7 90 -60.0 SDDSC030 HQ 104.1 Eastern trench 331294 5867801 320.0 42 -45.0 SDDSC031 HQ 282.0 Apollo 331191 5867860 307.4 250 -60.0 SDDSC032 HQ 140.0 Apollo 331056 5867767 319.0 228 -65.0

Table 2: Tables of mineralized drill hole intersections reported in this announcement using two intersection criteria

5.0 g/t AuEq cutoff over a maximum of 1m

Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Au g/t Sb % AuEq g/t SDDSC031 115.6 115.7 0.1 8.1 4.0 14.5 SDDSC031 222.7 224.1 1.4 10.9 3.4 16.3 SDDSC031 226.3 226.7 0.4 18.0 6.6 28.5 SDDSC031 227.3 227.6 0.3 66.8 0.1 66.9 SDDSC032 60.3 60.7 0.4 15.7 6.7 26.3 SDDSC032 61.5 61.8 0.3 81.2 3.4 86.6

0.3 g/t lower cutoff over a maximum of 2m

Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Au g/t Sb % AuEq g/t MDDSC027 285.5 288.0 2.5 0.5 0.0 0.5 MDDSC027 302.9 304.8 1.9 0.5 0.1 0.6 MDDSC027 315.0 319.0 4.0 0.3 0.0 0.4 SDDSC029 16.0 16.7 0.6 0.4 0.0 0.4 SDDSC029 26.0 27.0 1.0 0.4 0.0 0.4 SDDSC029 29.8 31.0 1.2 0.3 0.0 0.3 SDDSC031 109.5 110.6 1.1 0.4 0.0 0.5 SDDSC031 115.3 115.8 0.5 2.1 1.0 3.7 SDDSC031 163.7 164.0 0.3 0.5 0.0 0.5 SDDSC031 196.1 200.0 3.9 0.6 0.1 0.8 SDDSC031 202.4 212.1 9.7 1.3 0.2 1.6 SDDSC031 214.4 231.7 17.3 3.9 0.6 4.9 SDDSC031 236.3 240.7 4.4 0.7 0.0 0.7 SDDSC032 0.0 2.2 2.2 1.0 0.0 1.0 SDDSC032 7.0 8.0 1.0 0.3 0.0 0.3 SDDSC032 24.3 25.3 1.0 0.3 0.0 0.3 SDDSC032 38.4 40.2 1.8 0.9 0.0 0.9 SDDSC032 55.5 65.3 9.8 3.9 0.5 4.6 SDDSC032 68.0 68.8 0.8 0.4 0.0 0.5 SDDSC032 74.0 78.4 4.4 0.4 0.2 0.7 SDDSC032 84.0 85.0 1.0 0.3 0.0 0.3 SDDSC032 88.0 92.7 4.7 1.2 0.0 1.3 SDDSC032 96.0 97.0 1.0 7.6 0.5 8.4 SDDSC032 101.0 102.0 1.0 0.3 0.0 0.3 SDDSC032 109.7 111.6 1.9 1.1 0.0 1.1

Table 3: Individual assays (>0.1 g/t Au) reported in this announcement.

Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Au g/t Sb % SDDSC032 0.0 0.8 0.8 1.3 0.1 SDDSC032 0.8 1.8 1.0 0.7 0.0 SDDSC032 1.8 2.2 0.4 1.3 0.0 SDDSC032 2.2 3.0 0.8 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 6.0 7.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 7.0 8.0 1.0 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 23.4 23.7 0.3 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 23.7 24.3 0.6 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 24.3 25.3 1.0 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 32.0 33.0 1.0 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 33.0 34.0 1.0 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 34.0 35.1 1.1 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 35.1 36.0 0.9 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 36.0 37.0 1.0 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 37.0 37.5 0.5 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 37.5 38.0 0.5 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 38.4 38.7 0.3 0.5 0.0 SDDSC032 38.7 39.1 0.4 0.5 0.0 SDDSC032 39.1 39.5 0.4 0.8 0.0 SDDSC032 39.5 40.2 0.6 1.4 0.0 SDDSC032 40.2 41.0 0.9 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 41.0 42.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 46.0 47.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 47.0 48.0 1.0 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 48.0 49.0 1.0 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 50.0 50.3 0.3 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 50.3 51.0 0.7 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 55.5 56.0 0.5 0.7 0.0 SDDSC032 56.0 56.4 0.4 1.3 0.0 SDDSC032 56.4 57.0 0.6 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 57.0 58.0 1.0 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 58.0 59.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 59.0 59.7 0.7 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 59.7 60.3 0.6 0.7 0.0 SDDSC032 60.3 60.7 0.4 15.7 6.7 SDDSC032 60.7 61.5 0.8 4.5 0.3 SDDSC032 61.5 61.8 0.3 81.2 3.4 SDDSC032 61.8 62.5 0.8 0.3 0.1 SDDSC032 62.5 63.5 1.0 0.9 0.1 SDDSC032 63.5 64.5 1.0 1.5 0.1 SDDSC032 65.0 65.3 0.3 0.5 2.0 SDDSC032 68.0 68.8 0.8 0.4 0.0 SDDSC032 68.8 69.4 0.6 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 71.7 72.2 0.5 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 72.2 72.8 0.6 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 72.8 73.3 0.5 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 74.0 75.4 1.4 0.3 0.1 SDDSC032 75.4 75.7 0.3 1.0 1.9 SDDSC032 75.7 76.3 0.6 1.3 0.1 SDDSC032 76.3 77.0 0.7 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 77.0 77.5 0.5 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 77.5 78.1 0.6 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 78.1 78.4 0.3 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 78.4 79.4 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 81.0 82.0 1.0 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 82.0 82.9 0.9 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 82.9 83.4 0.5 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 83.4 84.0 0.6 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 84.0 85.0 1.0 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 85.0 86.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 86.0 87.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 87.0 88.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 88.0 89.0 1.0 3.3 0.1 SDDSC032 89.0 90.0 1.0 0.5 0.0 SDDSC032 90.0 91.0 1.0 0.6 0.0 SDDSC032 91.0 92.0 1.0 0.9 0.0 SDDSC032 92.0 92.7 0.7 0.7 0.0 SDDSC032 92.7 94.0 1.3 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 96.0 97.0 1.0 7.6 0.5 SDDSC032 101.0 102.0 1.0 0.3 0.0 SDDSC032 109.7 110.7 1.0 1.6 0.0 SDDSC032 110.7 111.6 0.9 0.4 0.0 SDDSC032 111.6 112.6 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC032 115.0 116.0 1.0 0.1 0.0 SDDSC032 135.2 136.0 0.8 0.3 0.0 SDDSC031 109.5 110.1 0.6 0.5 0.0 SDDSC031 110.1 110.6 0.5 0.4 0.0 SDDSC031 110.6 111.2 0.6 0.1 0.0 SDDSC031 113.0 114.0 1.0 0.1 0.0 SDDSC031 115.3 115.6 0.3 0.2 0.1 SDDSC031 115.6 115.7 0.1 8.1 4.0 SDDSC031 115.7 115.8 0.1 2.0 0.6 SDDSC031 163.7 164.0 0.3 0.5 0.0 SDDSC031 195.7 196.1 0.4 0.2 0.0 SDDSC031 196.1 196.5 0.4 0.3 0.0 SDDSC031 196.5 197.0 0.5 1.8 0.0 SDDSC031 197.0 197.7 0.7 0.8 0.3 SDDSC031 197.7 198.6 0.9 0.5 0.2 SDDSC031 198.6 199.0 0.4 0.4 0.1 SDDSC031 199.0 200.0 1.0 0.3 0.0 SDDSC031 200.0 200.4 0.4 0.1 0.0 SDDSC031 201.1 201.4 0.3 0.3 0.0 SDDSC031 201.4 202.4 1.0 0.1 0.0 SDDSC031 202.4 203.4 1.0 0.7 0.1 SDDSC031 203.4 203.8 0.4 0.8 0.0 SDDSC031 203.8 204.7 0.9 0.4 0.0 SDDSC031 204.7 205.1 0.4 1.2 0.0 SDDSC031 205.1 205.5 0.4 4.5 0.1 SDDSC031 205.5 206.2 0.7 6.7 1.7 SDDSC031 206.2 206.5 0.3 0.3 0.1 SDDSC031 206.5 207.0 0.5 0.2 0.0 SDDSC031 207.0 207.8 0.8 0.6 0.0 SDDSC031 207.8 208.3 0.5 0.5 0.0 SDDSC031 208.3 208.7 0.4 1.8 0.3 SDDSC031 208.7 209.1 0.4 2.2 0.0 SDDSC031 209.1 210.0 0.9 0.9 0.0 SDDSC031 210.0 211.0 1.0 0.5 0.0 SDDSC031 211.0 211.6 0.6 0.6 0.0 SDDSC031 211.6 212.1 0.5 1.4 0.0 SDDSC031 213.0 213.7 0.7 0.2 0.0 SDDSC031 213.7 214.4 0.7 0.1 0.0 SDDSC031 214.4 215.0 0.6 0.5 0.0 SDDSC031 215.0 215.6 0.6 0.7 0.0 SDDSC031 215.6 216.2 0.6 2.3 0.2 SDDSC031 216.2 216.8 0.6 1.0 0.0 SDDSC031 216.8 217.6 0.8 2.0 0.0 SDDSC031 217.6 218.0 0.4 0.3 0.0 SDDSC031 218.0 219.0 1.0 0.6 0.1 SDDSC031 219.0 220.0 1.0 0.4 0.0 SDDSC031 220.0 220.4 0.4 1.2 0.0 SDDSC031 220.4 221.2 0.8 0.3 0.0 SDDSC031 221.2 221.5 0.3 3.9 0.0 SDDSC031 221.5 222.2 0.7 1.3 0.0 SDDSC031 222.2 222.5 0.3 3.0 0.9 SDDSC031 222.5 222.7 0.2 4.7 0.0 SDDSC031 222.7 223.2 0.5 15.5 0.1 SDDSC031 223.2 224.1 0.9 8.4 5.2 SDDSC031 224.1 224.4 0.3 5.2 0.5 SDDSC031 224.4 224.8 0.5 6.7 0.5 SDDSC031 224.8 225.3 0.5 4.2 0.1 SDDSC031 225.3 225.6 0.3 4.4 0.1 SDDSC031 225.6 226.3 0.7 3.3 0.1 SDDSC031 226.3 226.7 0.4 18.0 6.6 SDDSC031 226.7 227.3 0.6 5.3 1.0 SDDSC031 227.3 227.6 0.3 66.8 0.1 SDDSC031 227.6 228.1 0.5 0.1 0.0 SDDSC031 228.1 228.5 0.4 0.1 0.0 SDDSC031 228.5 228.9 0.4 2.5 3.2 SDDSC031 229.6 229.9 0.3 0.2 0.0 SDDSC031 229.9 230.6 0.7 0.1 0.0 SDDSC031 230.6 231.7 1.1 0.4 0.1 SDDSC031 236.3 237.0 0.7 0.4 0.1 SDDSC031 237.0 237.7 0.7 0.6 0.0 SDDSC031 237.7 238.3 0.6 1.3 0.1 SDDSC031 238.3 239.0 0.7 0.1 0.0 SDDSC031 239.0 239.8 0.8 0.7 0.0 SDDSC031 239.8 240.1 0.3 0.9 0.2 SDDSC031 240.1 240.7 0.6 0.8 0.0 SDDSC029 16.0 16.7 0.6 0.4 0.0 SDDSC029 19.0 20.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC029 20.0 21.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 SDDSC029 26.0 27.0 1.0 0.4 0.0 SDDSC029 29.8 31.0 1.2 0.3 0.0 MDDSC027 248.8 250.0 1.2 0.1 0.0 MDDSC027 255.6 256.4 0.8 0.2 0.0 MDDSC027 268.0 269.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 MDDSC027 285.5 286.7 1.2 0.5 0.0 MDDSC027 286.7 288.0 1.3 0.5 0.0 MDDSC027 302.9 303.9 1.0 0.6 0.1 MDDSC027 303.9 304.8 0.9 0.4 0.0 MDDSC027 304.8 305.6 0.8 0.1 0.0 MDDSC027 305.6 306.5 0.9 0.1 0.0 MDDSC027 306.5 307.4 0.9 0.2 0.0 MDDSC027 310.0 311.0 1.0 0.2 0.0 MDDSC027 315.0 316.1 1.1 0.4 0.1 MDDSC027 316.1 317.0 0.9 0.1 0.0 MDDSC027 318.0 319.0 1.0 0.7 0.1

SOURCE: Mawson Gold Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702636/Mawsons-Subsidiary-Southern-Cross-Gold-Reports-173m-49-gt-AuEq-Intersection-at-Sunday-Creek
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Taylor Wimpey plc (TW.L) said its trading remains in line with trends recently outlined at the Group's Annual General Meeting on 26 April 2022. Looking forward, the Group confirmed its financial targets comprising an: operating profit margin of 21-22%; and return on net operating assets of 30%. Taylor Wimpey noted that its dividend and capital allocation policy remains unchanged. The Board's strategic focus for Taylor Wimpey will comprise four key cornerstones of value for the business going forward: land; operational excellence; sustainability; and capital allocation. 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.
Tim Burton, iconic filmmaker behind "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), "Beetlejuice" (1988) and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005), holds his second retrospective in Korea at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Seoul is the first stop of his latest world tour, "The World of Tim Burton." / Courtesy of GNC Media



Seoul becomes first stop for the American filmmaker's new world tour



By Park Han-sol



Tim Burton, the Hollywood mastermind behind films "Beetlejuice," "Edward Scissorhands" and "Sweeney Todd," has returned to Seoul with his world of inventive eccentricity and misunderstood yet endearing misfits.



"The World of Tim Burton," held at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in central Seoul as part of its world tour, is the filmmaker's second retrospective showcased in Korea, following the first one held a decade ago at the Seoul Museum of Art.



This time, Seoul became the first stop for the traveling "Burtonesque" wonderland of horror, fantasy and comedy.





"Untitled (Trick or Treat)" (1980) Tim Burton / Courtesy of GNC Media



The director revelled in the chance of presenting his exhibition at the DDP, an amorphous and futuristic structure designed by late British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, with the building's peculiar shape complementing Burton's universe of macabre outcasts.



"It's like being in a weird funhouse or a spaceship," he noted during last month's press preview.



The show traces five decades of the evolution of Burton's artistic achievements and unique cinematic vocabulary through more than 520 pieces of original drawings, paintings, photographs and short films. It also features sculptures and site-specific installations that have brought his freaky yet adorable characters to life.





Installation view of the "Carousel Room," reminiscent of the visuals from "Beetlejuice" / Courtesy of GNC Media



With a heavy focus on his two-dimensional sketches and drawings  including spontaneous doodles made on hotel notepads and restaurant napkins during his trips across the world  the exhibition is more of an intimate look at Burton beyond his identity as a filmmaker.



Fans will get to see his drawings from childhood and early career, whose styles recall those of classic cartoonists like Edward Gorey and Theodore Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, as well as his visual homage to monster movies and German Expressionist cinema.



"I've always loved monsters and monster movies," the director once said. "I felt most monsters were basically misperceived; they usually had much more heartfelt souls than the human characters around them."





Installation view of "The World of Tim Burton" / Courtesy of GNC Media



One section is filled with his series of personal photographs that consist of oversized Polaroid prints he produced between 1992 and 1999. Their visual theme and motif form a part of his instantly recognizable vocabulary  such as an inventive mix of the carnivalesque with the grotesque and the recurring imagery of "stitching."



But of course, it would not be a Tim Burton show without a section dedicated to his iconic filmography  from his first feature "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" to the most recent movie "Dumbo."



Concept drawings, script notes, storyboards, full-scale character models and short films are sprinkled throughout the gallery to present the growth of his ideas scrawled on the pages of a sketchbook into memorable cinematic scenes  "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Mars Attacks!," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Corpse Bride."





Five sculptures inspired by Tim Burton's stories revolving around pirates and their exploits are on display at "The World of Tim Burton." Courtesy of GNC Media



After showcasing works from Burton's film, television and book projects that were halted in various stages of development and never fully realized, the show ends with a replica of the filmmaker's studio to offer a glimpse into the birthplace of his boundless imagination.



Two big cork boards placed next to each side of the desk feature artworks hinting at his recent projects in progress, including his Brazilian street art mural and upcoming comedy horror Netflix series, "Wednesday."



"I'm an adult, and I think part of the creative spirit is to maintain that sense of a child," he said.



"The World of Tim Burton" runs until Sept. 12 at the DDP.






BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks traded mixed on Wednesday, as investors assessed the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary tightening amid signs of softer U.S. growth.



Meanwhile, there were fears that the move by the U.S. Treasury Department to cut off Russia's ability to make payments on its dollar-denominated sovereign debt could push Russia closer to default.



The downside, if any, remained capped after a measure of German consumer sentiment edged up from an all-time low in May.



Market research group GfK said its forward-looking consumer sentiment index rose to -26.0 in June from a revised -26.6 in May. The latest survey was conducted from May 5 to 16.



Investors awaited the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting for more clues about the pace of tightening.



The pan European Stoxx 600 inched up 0.2 percent to 432.35 after declining 1.1 percent on Tuesday.



The German DAX and France's CAC 40 were marginally lower, giving up early gains while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up half a percent, led by gains in the mining sector.



Stellantis declined 1.2 percent. The Dutch carmaker and Samsung SDI have agreed to invest more than $2.5 billion in a joint venture to establish an electric-vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Kokomo, Indiana.



German property specialist Aareal Bank AG slipped half a percent after announcing the successful public takeover offer by Atlantic BidCo GmbH.



TotalEnergies added nearly 2 percent after Global Infrastructure Partners formed a strategic partnership with the French oil and gas company to work in the U.S. renewable energy sector.



The FUCHS Group advanced 1.3 percent after an announcement that it has taken over 28 percent of the shares in E-Lyte Innovations GmbH.



Nordex slumped almost 20 percent after the wind turbine manufacturer revised down its outlook for this year, due in part to restructuring costs and the war in Ukraine.



Miners Anglo American and Glencore both rose around 2 percent after China's central bank and banking regulator urged lenders to boost loans in the latest effort to shore up the battered economy.



Commodities firm Glencore said today it has reached deals with authorities in the U.S., Britain and Brazil to resolve corruption allegations in return for penalties.



Power company SSE soared 5 percent after reporting a sharp rise in annual profit.



Supermarket technology group Ocado lost 4 percent after it cut the sales growth target for its joint venture with Marks & Spencer Group.







Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Cision's 2022 State of the Media Report outlines the need for effective and efficient relationships between media and public relations

A vast majority of journalists (91%) say only about half the pitches they receive are relevant

LONDON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- While access to high-quality journalism and credible reporting has never been more prevalent, the pressure on the media to produce it is becoming increasingly challenging. There's now a greater need to lift output and create compelling content that drives engagement and stands out in a 24-hour news cycle.

Cision, a comprehensive communications platform helping public relations and marketing professionals around the world understand, influence and amplify their stories, has released its annual State of the Media report with responses from more than 3,800 journalists from 17 global markets. The report seeks to understand the key challenges faced in a marketplace that is rapidly evolving, and how public relations can support first-rate and trustworthy reporting.

According to the report, journalists' biggest challenge is maintaining credibility as a trusted news source (32%) and combating accusations of "fake news." A close second, journalists cite the impact that smaller staffs and fewer resources are having on their workloads. In fact, nearly three in ten journalists (29%) are filing 10 or more stories per week.

"It's no longer a journalist's job to just deliver the news, and that opens the door for professional communicators to successfully partner with the media to ensure stories are being told in a fast, effective and relevant manner," said Nicole Gulliot, Cision COO and President of PR Newswire.

What Journalists Want from PR Pros:

When it comes to the sources journalists find most useful for generating stories or story ideas, more than a third (37%) cited press releases, making it the top answer. More than three quarters (76%) want to receive press releases from brands and PR pros over any other type of content. Trends and market data rank second (63%) and nearly half (49%) want event invitations.

"Press releases still reign supreme and are the preferred method of delivering news to the media in a legitimate, thoughtful and urgent way," said Gulliot.

In order to create stronger relationships with reporters, PR pros must be aware of the following:

Accurate and sourced information : Nearly two-thirds (60%) find it inexcusable to provide anything less, given the heightened criticism for credibility and audience trust.

: Nearly two-thirds (60%) find it inexcusable to provide anything less, given the heightened criticism for credibility and audience trust. Stay on deadline : If they don't feel like PR pros are respecting their time, a significant number of journalists (22%) say they won't make time for those PR pros.

: If they don't feel like PR pros are respecting their time, a significant number of journalists (22%) say they won't make time for those PR pros. Stop the spam : The vast majority of journalists (74%) won't tolerate "being spammed with irrelevant pitches," which is all the more reason to make sure pitches are targeting the right media. In fact, only 9% of journalists say the majority of the pitches they receive are relevant.

: The vast majority of journalists (74%) won't tolerate "being spammed with irrelevant pitches," which is all the more reason to make sure pitches are targeting the right media. In fact, only 9% of journalists say the majority of the pitches they receive are relevant. Include multimedia: images, videos and infographics: 22% of journalists say publicists can make their jobs easier by providing such content in their pitches and press releases. More than half (54%) say they are more likely to cover a story if the pitch includes multimedia up front.

"When it comes to the relationship between communications industry professionals and journalists, it's all about easing the burden for the media," said Guillot. "It starts with knowing the right journalists to speak to, building a partnership based on trust, and understanding the audience you are both trying to reach together."

Cision's 2022 State of the Media Report: Insights PR Pros Need to Win Over Journalists

Report Methodology

Cision conducted its 2022 State of the Media survey throughout January and February 2022. Surveys were emailed to Cision Media Database members, who are vetted by the company's media research team to verify their positions as media professionals, influencers and bloggers. We also surveyed members of our HARO (Help a Reporter Out) database and made the survey available to media professionals in the PR Newswire for Journalists database.

This year's survey collected responses from 3,890 respondents in 17 markets across the globe: U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Portugal, China, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The survey language was translated and localised for each market and then the results were tallied together to form this global report.

About Cision

Cision is a comprehensive communications platform enabling more than 100,000 public relations and marketing professionals around the world to understand, influence and amplify their stories. As the market leader, Cision enables the next generation of communication professionals to strategically operate in the modern media landscape where company success is directly impacted by public opinion. Cision has offices in 24 countries through the Americas, EMEA and APAC, and offers a suite of best-in-class solutions, including PR Newswire, Brandwatch, Cision Communications Cloudand Cision Insights. To learn more, visit www.cision.co.uk and follow Cision-UK on LinkedIn and @CisionUK on Twitter.

Infographic - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1825818/Cision_SOTM_2022_Infographic.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1825819/Cision_SOTM_2022.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1767136/Cision_Logo.jpg

Contact Information:

For media inquiries, please contact:

Cision UK Marketing

marketinguk@cision.com
Oslo, 25 May 2022 - DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, today held its 2022 Annual General Meeting at 10:00 am in Oslo. All resolutions passed unanimously or received substantial majority shareholder approval. The minutes from the meeting are attached.



This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section

5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachment
Ermenegildo Zegna N.V. (NYSE: ZGN) ("Zegna") today announced the publication of the convocation notice for its Annual General Meeting ("AGM"), which will be held on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 2 p.m. CEST at the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Schiphol Boulevard 701, 1118 BN Schiphol, the Netherlands.

The convocation notice, explanatory notes and other AGM materials, which include Zegna's 2021 statutory audited financial statements, are available under the relevant section of Zegna's corporate website at https://www.zegnagroup.com/en/corporate-governance/general-meetings/. Shareholders may request a physical copy of Zegna's 2021 statutory audited financial statements, free of charge, through the contacts below.

In addition, Zegna's Board of Directors intends to recommend to shareholders a distribution from retained earnings with respect to the financial year 2021 of EUR 0.09 per ordinary share, resulting in a total distribution of approximately EUR 21.8 million. The distribution will be paid in US dollars based on an exchange rate that will be published on Zegna's website (https://www.zegnagroup.com/en/corporate-governance/general-meetings/) the day following the AGM. The distribution will be subject to approval by shareholders at the AGM to be held on June 28, 2022.

If the shareholders approve the proposed dividend distribution, the ex-date will be July 5, 2022, the record date July 6, 2022 and the payment date July 28, 2022.

About Ermenegildo Zegna Group

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. The Group's products are sold through over 500 stores in 80 countries around the world, of which 295 are directly operated by the Group as of March 31, 2022 (244 Zegna stores and 51 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 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/20220525005158/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
Genomic Testing Cooperative (GTC) today announced it received CE-IVD marks for its Hematology Profile Plus, Solid Tumor Plus as well as its liquid biopsy profiles for both solid tumors and hematology that are designed to provide a wide range of clinically actionable insights about a patient's tumor. The CE mark will allow GTC and its partner, TherapySelect (Heidelberg, Germany), to make available GTC's menu of DNA and targeted transcriptome profiling for patients in Europe. The Solid Tumor Profile Plus provides information on targetable mutations, fusion genes, tumor cell of origin, and the presence or absence of homologous recombination deficiency (HRD). The Hematology Profile Plus provides molecular data for selecting targeted therapy and also accurate diagnosis and classification of various myeloid and lymphoid neoplasms including gene fusions, chromosomal gains and losses, and molecular immunoprofiling. The Hematology Liquid Biopsy Profile is designed to reduce the need for bone marrow biopsy in certain circumstances. The Solid Tumor Liquid Biopsy Profile is designed for tumor-informed monitoring.

"We are excited to expand our molecular profiling offerings to Europe and to make membership in the Cooperative available internationally. This will strengthen the network and accelerate innovation by building broader knowledge-based artificial intelligence algorithms," stated Dr. Maher Albitar, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer, GTC.

Dr. Frank Kischkel, Managing Director and Scientific Director at TherapySelect stated, "We elected to partner with GTC because of the superior quality and comprehensive offering of the tests along with their commitment to innovation. GTC tests are designed with patients and best practices in oncology in mind. In addition, the co-op business model allows us to internalize the testing in our laboratories as our volumes grow in Europe. We are very excited to be GTC's authorized representative in Europe and look forward to growing our partnership."

TherapySelect will be the authorized representative in the EU to offer CE certified in vitro diagnostic medical devices. Membership in the Co-Op allows other member labs to internalize GTC testing, which now includes the EU and countries recognizing the CE mark.

About Genomic Testing Cooperative, LCA

Genomic Testing Cooperative (GTC) is a privately-owned molecular testing company located in Irvine, CA. The company operates based on a cooperative (co-op) business model. Members of the co-op hold type A shares with voting rights. The company offers its patron members a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling based mainly on next generation sequencing. The co-op model allows GTC to make the testing and information platform available to members at a lower cost because of a lower overhead. For more information, please visit https://genomictestingcooperative.com/.

About Therapy Select

TherapySelect was founded by Dr. Frank Kischkel. It is a biotech and medtech company focusing on development, clinical validation, marketing and sales of diagnostic tests for cancer patients. The company's aim is to increase patient survival and quality of life as well as to reduce costs in health care system.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005289/en/

Contacts:

Genomic Testing Cooperative contact:

Jennifer Varca

(949) 540-9421

Jvarca@genomictestingcooperative.com

TherapySelect contact info:

Tel: +49 (0)6221-8936-152 or

Email: contact@therapyselect.de
DGAP-News: FRX Innovations Inc

FRX Innovations' Nofia Sustainable Green Flame Retardants Outperforms Legacy Flame Retardants in High Growth Lithium-Ion Battery Application



25.05.2022 / 13:00

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





FRX Innovations (TSXV:FRXI) is pleased to announce that its Nofia flame retardant has been selected for its high performance level as well as its sustainability attributes in lithium-ion battery casings. Notoxicom products, powered by Nofia, were developed by Polymer Compounders Ltd of the UK and chosen by battery producer Super B of the Netherlands, for its new category of lithium-ion batteries. Nofia has recently received green certifications from the ChemForward, Green Screen and TCO organizations, which provide customers and brand owners alike, the assurance that they need not compromise on environmental safety to achieve fire safety, all the while achieving performance levels not previously possible with legacy flame retardants.

The parties involved in this groundbreaking innovation provided additional details as follows:

Super B, part of the clean energy conglomerate Koolen Industries, announced that its new lithium iron phosphate battery uses the recently launched Notoxicom grade of FR PC/ABS developed by Polymer Compounders Limited (UK).

Marten Zilvold, Product Manager at Super B, explained that, "This new development of our already successful battery range will add further to its green credentials and contribute to the continuing growth in applications such as power sports, marine, industrial and other recreational."

The new Super B battery cases have been developed with partners Kedu Polymers Industries BV, Klein Mechaniek BV (Toolmaker/Moulder) and Super B (OEM) utilizing the Moldex flow simulation software. The software was fed with measured data characterizing the excellent processing performance of Notoxicom, and the design was then optimized for the best characteristics of Notoxicom, i.e. broad temperature processing range in combination with excellent flow. The resulting lower pressures in the tool allowed the use of only one hot runner, whereas two hot runners were needed with standard FR PC/ABS.

Stephen Blair, Technical Manager at Polymer Compounders Limited, explained that this was precisely the type of sustainability-focused application that Notoxicom is targeted at, "We could not be more excited at this development. Notoxicom advances the design space where non-Halogen FR PC/ABS or FR PC/ASA can be used. Its HDT is typically 25C to 30C higher than comparable grades of FR PC/ABS, and it is firmly targeted at existing applications of ABS containing brominated flame retardants, which are being threatened in some uses by new EcoDesign regulations soon to be implemented across the EU and in other examples being deselected by ESG focused OEMs." Further information about Notoxicom can be found here: https://polymer-compounders.com/en/notoxicom-product-family/.

Marc Lebel, CEO of FRX Innovations said, "This development is fully aligned with our strategy of disrupting segments of the flame retardant polymer industry sensitive to the sustainability demands of OEM's, regulatory bodies and Green NGOs, all the while delivering performance levels not possible with legacy flame retardant products." These include applications in electric vehicles, medical equipment, and consumer electronics. All FRX's flame retardants are polymers and contain no halogens.

Additional information:

FRX Innovations: https://www.frx-innovations.com/

Kedu Polymers: https://www.kedupolymers.com/en/

Polymer Compounders Limited: https://polymer-compounders.com/en/

Super B: https://www.super-b.com/en

Contact Details

Investor Relations

Graham Farrell

+1 416-842-9003

ir@frx-innovations.com

Media Inquiries

Joseph Grande

+1 413-684-2463

joe@jgrandecommunications.com

Polymer Compounders Limited

Media Inquiries

James Houlder

+44 (0)191 378 3737

j.houlder@polymer-compounders.co.uk

Sales Inquiries

Richard Clay

+44 (0) 7932 52 03 15

r.clay@polymer-compounders.co.uk

About FRX Innovations

FRX Innovations is a global manufacturing company, producing a family of environmentally sustainable flame-retardant products that serve several large markets spanning electronics, automotive, electric vehicles (EV) and medical devices. FRX is led by a team of highly experienced business and technical professionals and is positioned to be a leader in the rapidly growing flame retardant plastics and additives market. Nofia is a registered trademark of FRX. Nofia products are manufactured at its manufacturing facility on the Port of Antwerp in Belgium, one of the world's largest chemical producing clusters. Nofia Polyphosphonates are produced using sustainable green chemistry principles such as a solvent-free production process, no waste by-products, and near 100% atom efficiency. FRX's portfolio includes an extensive patent estate. FRX has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the EPA's Environmental Merit Award, the Belgium Business Award for the Environment, and the Flanders Investment of the Year Award. FRX has also been recognized six times on the Global Cleantech 100 list.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain acts, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information in this press release may include, without limitation, statements with respect to the safety and/or efficacy of Nofia flame retardants. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

FRX Innovations

Mike Goode

+1 978-244-9500

mgoode@frxpolymers.com

25.05.2022 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


Ottawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Tourism Week returns to Canada at the end of this month to kickstart the summer travel season. From May 29 to June 4, 2022, communities across Canada will once again be celebrating the beauty of our country - from coast to coast to coast.

The seven-day awareness campaign presented by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) invites private- and public-sector tourism partners in Canada and in key countries abroad to come together to promote Canadian tourism destinations, businesses, and employees.



All members of the media are invited to attend a press conference to officially launch the event.

Please save the date!

Press Conference - Tourism Week 2022

Special Guests: The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance &

Beth Potter, President & CEO, Tourism Industry Association of Canada

Date: Monday May 30, 2022, 10:30 a.m. EST

Location: Outside of the Ottawa Visitor Centre

Address: 90 Wellington St, Ottawa Ontario

Media Contact/RSVP: msimmons@tiac-aitc.ca

After two years of enduring the hardships of the global pandemic, its economic impact, and its polarizing effects on society, TIAC believes that tourism is the best way to demonstrate to the world Canada's values as a nation - resilience, peace, diversity, and inclusivity. Our collective values are needed now more than ever on the global stage.

This year's theme of "Travel now. For work, life, and play!" emphasizes that tourism in Canada is open for business and ready to safely re-welcome travelers from all over the world, whether for pleasure or business.



To celebrate tourism, TIAC is challenging destinations, landmarks, attractions, venues and hotels to light up in green from May 29-June 4 as part of its campaign to raise awareness of the industry's economic, social, and cultural importance in Canada. Business and government leaders across the country will also be sharing videos on their social media to show their support for the industry.

Learn more about Tourism Week 2022 here.





Tourism Week, May 29-June 4, 2022

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8121/125177_tourismweek.jpg

ABOUT TIAC

Established in 1930, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) advocates on behalf of Canadian tourism businesses and promotes positive measures that help the sector grow and prosper. A not-for-profit organization, TIAC represents tourism interests at the national level, and its advocacy work involves promoting and supporting policies, programs, and activities that will benefit the sector's growth and development. TIAC's membership reflects partnerships across all industry sectors, as well as provincial, territorial, and regional tourism associations, which enables TIAC to address the full range of issues facing Canadian tourism.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125177
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Forward Water Technologies Corp. ("Forward Water" or the "Company") (TSXV:FWTC) announces that Mr. Howie Honeyman, President and CEO, as well as Grant Thornley, Vice-President of Engineering Sales will be attending the 10th Annual BlueTech Forum in Vancouver from June 6 to June 8, 2022 offered through Foresight and BlueTech Research with support from NRC IRAP's CleanTech Sector Team.

Date: June 6-June 8, 2022

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre

Link: https://www.bluetechforum.com

The BlueTech forum is a boutique industry event that is held in support of the world's leading water technologies companies, entrepreneurs, and investors from leading research centers. This event brings forth discussion on the growing water crisis and seeks out professionals from around the world to focus on accelerating the drive towards best practice in water management and net-zero carbon emissions. The Company is proud to present its patented forward osmosis solution that has the potential to significantly reduce water usage in many mining industrial use applications. President and CEO, Mr. Honeyman comments "Blue Tech Research is a leading water expertise group monitoring multiple and detailed trends and new technologies within the global water landscape. Forward Water is excited to both learn and provide insight into these viewpoints."

About Forward Water Technologies Corp.

Forward Water Technologies Corp. is a publicly traded Canadian company dedicated to saving the earth's water supply using its patented Forward Osmosis technology. The Company was founded by GreenCentre Canada, a leading technology innovation centre supported by the government of Canada. The Company's technology allows for the reduction of challenging waste streams simultaneously returning fresh water for re-use or surface release. The Company's mandate is to focus on the large-scale implementation of its technology in multiple sectors, including industrial wastewater, oil and gas, mining, agriculture and ultimately municipal water supply and re-use market sectors. For more information, please visit https://www.forwardwater.com/

About the BlueTech Forum

The BlueTech Forum has been uniting professionals in the Global Water Sector for over a decade to find solutions to the water crisis. Located in Vancouver, this unique opportunity provides those who are working at the forefront of environmental regrowth and regeneration to meet, discuss and collaborate with one another. This global forum attracts industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors for a day of water technology briefings, immersive networking, and outstanding innovation. For more information, please visit https://www.bluetechforum.com.

Mr. Howie Honeyman, Ph.D., President & Chief Executive Officer

Forward Water Technologies Corp.

howie.honeyman@forwardwater.com

Phone: (519) 333-5888

For further information please contact:

Kayla.ferderber@forwardwater.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release 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 any required regulatory approvals..

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. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements include but are not limited to impacts from the coronavirus or other epidemics, general economic conditions in Canada, the United States and globally; unanticipated operating events; the availability of capital on acceptable terms;; stock market volatility 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.

SOURCE: Forward Water Technologies Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702597/Forward-Water-Technologies-to-Participate-in-the-BlueTech-Forum
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Branded food company General Mills, Inc. (GIS) announced Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its Helper main meals and Suddenly Salad side dishes businesses to Eagle Family Foods Group, a portfolio company of Kelso & Co., in a cash transaction valued at approximately $610 million. The proposed transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, subject to regulatory approval. The transaction improves General Mills' North America Retail segment's growth profile and allows it to increase its focus on brands and categories where it has the best opportunities to drive profitable growth. Net sales for the Helper and Suddenly Salad businesses totaled approximately $235 million in fiscal 2021. The company expects the divestiture to be dilutive to its adjusted earnings per share in the range of approximately 10 to 11 cents in the first 12 months after closing, before factoring in any potential benefit from the use of proceeds from the sale. 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.
Hyundai Card CEO Chung Tae-young, right, poses with Mirae Asset Securities Chairman Choi Hyun-man after signing a partnership on launching a private label credit card, at the latter's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Hyundai Card



By Lee Min-hyung



Mirae Asset Securities will launch a private label credit card (PLCC) by teaming up with Hyundai Card sometime in the latter half of this year.



This will mark the first time for a Korean securities company to sign a PLCC partnership with a local credit card business operator. A PLCC is a special credit card issued for customers who want to receive benefits with a certain brand.



The Mirae Asset-Hyundai PLCC will be launched under the concept of "consumption for investment." When its users make payments with the card, they can receive some gift points and use them to purchase stocks.



The credit card also offers special promotional benefits. Its subscribers can receive stocks worth as much as 100,000 won as part of a "welcome gift," the two companies said.



Both companies will also keep partnering with each other to offer customer-oriented services with the help of Hyundai Card's artificial intelligence capabilities.



"We are going to offer special benefits and services to customers by highlighting the two firms' core areas of expertise," Hyundai Card CEO Chung Tae-young said. He emphasized his high expectations for the new partnership, as Hyundai Card's data technology has the potential to generate synergy with Mirae Asset's leading position in the securities industry, he said.



Mirae Asset Securities Chairman Choi Hyun-man also pledged to create new opportunities for customers expecting new experiences connecting consumption and investment.



"This is a partnership between Korea's representative securities and card companies," Choi said. "We will offer fresh experiences for customers, and keep leading the new investment culture here with Hyundai Card."



Hyundai Card expects the partnership to widen its data alliance with its PLCC partners such as E-mart, Hyundai Motor, Korean Air and Starbucks. Partners in the so-called Domain Galaxy team up with one another for joint marketing and a series of business activities.



As of May 2022, a total of 15 industry-leading companies have joined the alliance, under which Hyundai Card aims to generate business synergy by enhancing data cooperation to help the participating firms launch better products and come up with fresh business strategies.


Strategic acquisition will add approximately 8,850 acres (3580 hectares), increasing land position at the Apex project by over 1,000%;





New lands to be acquired by Kraken cover multiple historic uranium showings that extend for over 6 kilometres ("km") (3.7 miles) from the Apex mine;





Total strike length of favourable geology for uranium mineralization controlled by the Company now exceeds 13 km (8.2 miles);





Mr. Garrett Ainsworth, PGeo, former Vice President Exploration and Development for NexGen Energy, joins the Company as Chairman of the Board of Directors;





Mr. Galen McNamara, PGeo, former Senior Project Manager for NexGen Energy, joins Kraken Energy's technical advisory committee.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Kraken Energy Corp. (CSE: UUSA) (OTCQB: UUSAF) (the "Company" or "Kraken") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a share exchange agreement dated effective May 24, 2022 among the Company, Panerai Capital Corp. ("Panerai") and the shareholders of Panerai (the "Definitive Agreement"), pursuant to which, subject to regulatory approval, the Company will acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Panerai (the "Proposed Transaction"). Panerai holds a 100% interest in 8,850 acres (3,580 hectares) of lode mining claims in Lander County, Nevada surrounding the past-producing Apex uranium mine.

"This will be a transformative acquisition for Kraken Energy," said Dave Forest, Kraken's Chief Executive Officer. "Our ongoing technical review of the Apex project has suggested potential for uranium mineralization across multiple kilometres. The addition of this new land package will increase our total land position tenfold to capture that scale."





Figure 1: Expanded land position (green) surrounding the original Apex mine claims (blue). Historic uranium showings noted in yellow.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8684/125157_e550c7c094d66bbb_001full.jpg

The expanded land package covers multiple historic workings and uranium showings.

Southeast from the Apex mine area, shafts, adits and prospecting pits exist across a distance of approximately 4 km (2.5 miles). East of the Apex mine, workings are found across a distance of at least 6 km (3.7 miles). The observation of workings extending in this eastward direction conforms with historic mapping that shows radioactive mineralized fracture zones in this target area.

South of the Apex mine, Kraken has acquired claims covering two additional historic uranium showings: Buck and Johnson Canyon. These showings are located up to 3.5 km (2.2 miles) from the Apex mine area. Historic rock sampling at the Buck prospect is reported at 0.25% U308, approximately the same grade as uranium produced historically at the Apex mine.

The general trend of the acquired claim block runs northwest-southeast, following the mapped and inferred contact between Jurassic intrusive rocks and Cambrian sedimentary rocks of the Crane Canyon Formation, as well as Ordovician sediments of the Vinini and Antelope Valley Formations toward the eastern side of the land package. This granite-sediment contact is interpreted to be one of the main structures controlling uranium mineralization at the Apex mine. This contact is considered prospective along its entire length of approximately 13 km (8.1 miles), including the inferred extent under cover rocks, based on historic reports and showings.

In the central area of the claim block, the intrusive-sediment contact is covered by Tertiary volcanic rocks. Due to these rocks covering the target geology, exploration was historically sparse here. Despite the cover rocks in this area, at least two uranium showings-the Bc and Ar showing, and the 9, 18, 44 showing-have been mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey within this central zone.

On the east side of the claim block, the new claims to be acquired by Kraken pursuant to the Proposed Transaction cover several additional historic prospecting pits. The claims here also surround the past-producing Lowboy uranium mine ("Lowboy"). Lowboy is located approximately 12 km (7.5 miles) southeast of the Apex mine, roughly along the prospective intrusive-sediment contact discussed above.

Mr. Forest continued, "We're fortunate to be able to consolidate such a controlling land position in a proven American uranium district like the one surrounding Apex. This acquisition will create a district-scale play with multiple kilometres of prospective geology and structures for new uranium discoveries. We've also further strengthened our uranium team to move the project forward."

The Proposed Transaction

Pursuant to the terms of the Definitive Agreement, upon the date of closing (the "Closing Date") of the Proposed Transaction, the Company will acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding securities of Panerai in consideration for the issuance of 11,709,666 common shares of the Company (the "Payment Shares"). The Payment Shares will be subject to certain voluntary hold periods.

The Proposed Transaction remains subject to certain closing conditions including, without limitation, (a) the receipt by the Company of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals; and (b) each party's representations and warranties in the Definitive Agreement being true and correct in all aspects as of the Closing Date, and each party meeting its terms and conditions and completing its covenants and obligations as contained therein. There can be no guarantees that the Proposed Transaction will be completed as contemplated or at all.

Appointment of New Chairman of the Board, and Technical Advisor

Further to the entering into of the Definitive Agreement, Kraken is pleased to announce that Mr. Garrett Ainsworth will join the Company in the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors, and that Mr. Galen McNamara will join the Company as Lead Technical Advisor for Uranium & Technology Metals.

Garrett Ainsworth, newly appointed Chairman of Kraken, commented: "The past-producing Apex Property and associated district-scale uranium land package to be acquired has immense potential to develop mineral resources and to deliver additional uranium discoveries. The timing is right as the importance of establishing a domestic supply of uranium is becoming more and more evident. Apex and the new land package to be acquired tick all of the boxes from technical to jurisdictional, which has transformed Kraken Energy into one of the best uranium opportunities that I've seen in my career. The addition of Galen McNamara as Technical Advisor is significant for the Company in bolstering the team's technical and jurisdictional expertise."

Mr. Garrett Ainsworth is an awarded professional mining executive and geologist in the field of uranium exploration and development. He served as Vice President Exploration & Development at NexGen Energy, a $3 billion uranium development firm, during its development of one of the largest uranium deposits in the world. During his tenure at NexGen he was co-recipient of the 2018 PDAC Bill Dennis Award, and the 2016 Mines and Money Exploration Award. Mr. Ainsworth also served as Vice-President Exploration at uranium exploration firm Alpha Minerals. He managed the discovery of the Patterson Lake South high-grade uranium boulder field, and the drill discovery of the Triple R uranium deposit, which was bought by Fission Uranium for $189 million in 2013. He was the co-recipient of the 2013 AMEBC Colin Spence Award for the Triple R discovery.

Mr. Galen McNamara is an awarded professional mining executive and geologist in the uranium and silver industries, having served with NexGen Energy as Senior Project Manager for Exploration & Development. For his uranium discovery work at NexGen Energy he was co-recipient of the 2018 Bill Dennis Award, along with Mr. Garrett Ainsworth. In addition to uranium expertise, Mr. McNamara founded and serves as Chief Executive Officer of successful Nevada-focused mineral development firm Summa Silver. He also co-founded and serves as Chairman of Goldshore Resources.

About Kraken Energy Corp.

Kraken Energy is a new energy company advancing its 100-per-cent-owned Apex project, Nevada, recognized as Nevada's largest past-producing uranium mine.

On Behalf of the Board of Kraken Energy Corp.

David Forest,

CEO & Director

Corporate Office: #717 - 1030 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 2Y3

For investor relations inquiries, contact:

Kristina Pillon, High Tide Consulting Corp.

T: 604.908.1695 / E: info@krakenergycorp.com

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

The securities to be issued in connection with the Proposed Transaction have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), or under any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, or delivered within the United States, or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) or persons in the United States, absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy such securities in the United States.

This press release includes "forward-looking information" that is subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Forward-looking statements may include but are not limited to, statements relating to the Company's ability to complete the Proposed Transaction on the terms announced or at all and the business plans and operations of the Company upon completion of the Proposed Transaction. Such statements are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties normally incident to such events. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future events and that actual events or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements represent management's best judgment based on information currently available.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125157
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Royal Road Minerals Limited (TSXV:RYR) ("Royal Road" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an exploration update from its Los Milagros gold and copper district in the Mining Triangle region of Nicaragua.

The Los Milagros district forms a part of the Company's Strategic-Alliance agreement (see press release; September 6, 2017) with Hemco Mineros Nicaragua ("Hemco" a subsidiary of Mineros S.A., TSX:MSA) and is located in Nicaragua's "Mining Triangle" a highly prospective geologic terrane characterized by epithermal, skarn and porphyry-style gold and copper mines that have combined to produce in excess of an estimated 7 million ounces of gold[1], since the early 1900's. Royal Road Minerals is operator of the Strategic Alliance.

The Los Milagros district incorporates the Nueva America, Silvi and Oro Fino projects which were initially discovered by Hemco during the period 2009-2014 (see Figure 1). A total of 2502 combined grab and channel rock-chip samples have been collected from these three discrete prospect areas, as well as from various other outcrop occurrences in an area that is represented by epithermal style gold veins, gold and polymetallic mineralized brittle shear zones and copper-bearing vein stockworks. Mineralization throughout the district is hosted in Cretaceous age volcanic and subvolcanic intrusive rocks that have been folded by northwest-southeast trending fault-related folds. The average grade for all 2502 channel and grab rock-chip samples collected from the Los Milagros district is 1.0 gram per tonne gold.





Figure 1



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4008/125209_Figure1.jpg

Mineralization at Nueva America (see Figure 2) is represented by three northwest-southeast trending brittle shear zones (reverse faults) controlling gold, silver and base-metal mineralization over an average width of 10 meters and 2.6 kilometers combined strike length. Channel rock-chip results collected from across the shear zones include; 9.2 meters at 2.4 grams per tonne gold and 232.7 grams per tonne silver, 17.0 meters at 1.8 and 23.3 meters at 1.3 grams per tonne gold.

At Oro Fino, gold mineralization is hosted in folded stratabound breccia bodies and northwest-southeast trending brittle shear zones (see Figure 2). Best results from vertical channel samples across shallow-dipping breccia bodies exposed in artisanal workings are 2 meters at 188.5 grams per tonne gold, 78.1 grams per tonne silver, 2 meters at 35.5 and 1.4 meters at 28.1 grams per tonne gold.

Mapping, further channel sampling and drill preparation is underway at both Nueva America and Oro Fino. Diamond drilling is expected to commence at Nueva America during June and Reverse-circulation drilling is expected to commence at Oro Fino in August of this year.





Figure 2



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4008/125209_Figure2.jpg

Regional mapping and sampling will commence across the Los Milagros district and continue coincident with drilling at Nueva America and Oro Fino in an effort to establish a regional framework for mineralization and identify further drilling targets.

"In addition to our ongoing drilling programs at Caribe in Nicaragua and at Guintar in Colombia, we are preparing to drill Nueva America and Oro Fino and a further two projects in Nicaragua before the end of 2022" said Tim Coughlin, Royal Road's President and CEO "Laboratory turnaround times remain slow and so we are planning to move the rig rapidly from project to project, focusing the drills on the obvious initial targets and circling back to extend intercepts once analytical results have been returned from the laboratory. This requires significant coordination between our social, environmental and operations teams and we are grateful for their dedication and professionalism. As always, we depend on the goodwill and collaboration of our communities and we are thankful for their genuine interest and support, our success is their success".

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The information in this news release was compiled, reviewed and verified by Dr. Tim Coughlin, BSc (Geology), MSc (Exploration and Mining), PhD (Structural Geology), FAusIMM, President and CEO of Royal Road Minerals Ltd and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Royal Road Minerals employees are instructed to follow standard operating and quality assurance procedures intended to ensure that all sampling techniques and sample results meet international reporting standards. More information can be found on Royal Road Minerals web site at www.royalroadminerals.com

Quality Assurance and Quality Control:

Rock chip samples are collected as either continuous chip samples over one meter intervals or isolated grab samples and are prepared and assayed by independent and ISO accredited laboratories of Bureau Veritas Minerals (BVM) and their local subsidiaries. Bagged (1-meter in the case of channels) samples are collected from site and delivered to BVM sample preparation laboratories in Managua. Samples are prepared using the BVM codes PRP70-250 plus PUL85, where samples are crushed to 70% less than two millimeters, a riffle split of 250 grams is collected and then pulverized to better than 85 per cent passing 75 microns. Prepared sample pulps are then sent for analysis to BVM labs in Vancouver Canada. Gold is analyzed by fire assay with an atomic absorption finish and a measurement range of 0.005 to 10 ppm. Samples over 10-ppm gold are re-analyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish. Multielement concentrations are analyzed by four-acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. Samples over 10,000ppm Cu, Zn, Pb or Mn and 200 ppm W, are re-analyzed with four acid digestion and Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectrometer (ICP-ES). Commercially prepared standards (gold-copper pulps), blanks (pulps and coarse chips) and field duplicates are inserted into the sample stream by Royal Road Minerals for a total of 15% QA/QC to ensure sample precision. In the case of duplicate analyses of a sample, the average of both analyses is used as the final reported value. Unless otherwise stated, gold grades are not capped for calculation of length-weighted averages.

Cautionary statement:

This news release contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements") including statements relating to the Hemco-Mineros Alliance and those describing the Company's future plans and the expectations of its management that a stated result or condition will occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or developments in the Company's business or in the mineral resources industry, or with respect to the Hemco-Mineros Alliance, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include all disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that is based on assumptions about, among other things, future economic conditions and courses of action, and assumptions related to government approvals, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The words "plans", "prospective", "expect", "intend", "intends to" and similar expressions identify forward looking statements, which may also include, without limitation, any statement relating to future events, conditions or circumstances. Forward-looking statements of the Company contained in this news release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to, those related to the Hemco-Mineros Alliance, Hemco-Mineros, and the Company's plans exploration plans.

The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. There is no guarantee that the anticipated benefits of the Hemco-Mineros Alliance and the Company's business plans or operations will be achieved. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others: economic market conditions, anticipated costs and expenditures, government approvals, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with Canadian provincial securities regulators or other applicable regulatory authorities. Forward-looking statements included herein are based on the current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions of the Company management and, in part, on information provided to the Company by Hemco-Mineros, and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change.

For further information please contact:

Dr. Timothy Coughlin

President and Chief Executive Officer

USA-Canada toll free 1800 6389205

+44 (0)1534 887166

info@royalroadminerals.com

[1] Arengi et al., 2003; Technical Report on the Hemco Concession, Northeast Nicaragua, RNC Gold

Horan et al., 2021; Technical Report On The Hemco Property, Region Autonoma de La Costa Caribe Norte, Nicaragua, Report for NI 43-101

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125209


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden made an emotional plea to stand up to the dangerous gun manufacturing industry and to draft commonsense gun laws after a deadly shooting in a Texas school Tuesday.



A teenager carrying a handgun and an AR-15 rifle opened fire at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 students and two teachers.



The children were aged between seven and 10.



The teachers, identified as Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia, were shielding their students from the attacker when they were shot, reports quoting their relatives and witnesses said.



The 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, was killed by law enforcement at the scene.



It is the deadliest shooting targeting innocent school children since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, which claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 first graders.



Responding to the shooting incident at the White House on Tuesday night, President Joe Biden said he learned about the tragic news while on the aircraft returning from his Asian trip. 'And what struck me on that 17-hour flight was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.'



He said it's high time the country have the courage to deal with the crime and stand up to the gun lobbies.



'For every parent, for every citizen in this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: It's time to act. It's time - for those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget,' he told the televised briefing.



Biden recalled that when the Senate passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down, and when the law expired, mass shootings tripled.



The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong, according to the President.



'The gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons which make them the most and largest profit. For God's sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry,' Biden said, with First Lady Jill Biden, a teacher, at his side.



He added that most Americans are supportive of commonsense gun laws.



Speaking at the US Senate shortly after the tragic news broke, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy accused his fellow lawmakers of complacency and appealed to them to pass gun control law.



The latest incident of gun violence in the U.S. comes just 10 days after an 18-year-old gunman killed 10 people in a shooting at a Buffalo supermarket targeting the Black community.







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London, United Kingdom and Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - GlobalBlock Digital Asset Trading Limited (TSXV: BLOK) (OTC Pink: BLVDF) (FSE: BD4) (the "Company" or "GlobalBlock") is pleased to announce that GlobalBlock Europe, UAB ("GBE"), its European Union based and Lithuanian incorporated subsidiary is operationally ready. Effective today the Company's digital asset brokerage and trading services business is being operated by GBE. GBE is acting as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), being a virtual currency depository wallet operator and virtual currency exchange operator, and has completed all the necessary legal and regulatory steps required to operate from Lithuania, including the appointment of an experienced Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO). The Company's VASP registration and MLRO have been in place ahead of schedule and new clients continue to onboard with GBE. All existing clients have been transitioned across to GBE.

As per the Company's March 24, 2022 press release, its UK incorporated subsidiary, GlobalBlock Limited, has effective today ceased operating under the temporary registration regime in the United Kingdom.

The establishment of GBE and the transition of the business to GBE provides the Company with the certainty of business continuity and at the same time opens new potential markets within the European Union.

Rufus Round, CEO of GlobalBlock, said:

"Now that we have established our European entity in a crypto friendly and fintech centric jurisdiction, we can build upon our foundations by continuing with our technology enhancements and developing our digital asset products and services. In conjunction with this will be the rollout of our marketing activities that will focus on GlobalBlock 'service driven' offering, something that is lacking within the digital asset space and will provide us with a highly unique selling point to differentiate us favourably from the competition."

GBE is not a licensed financial services provider and is not supervised by the Bank of Lithuania. GBE is supervised by the Financial Crime Investigation Service under the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Lithuania within the scope of the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing of the Republic of Lithuania and other legislation stemming thereof.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

GlobalBlock Digital Asset Trading Limited is a publicly traded holding company (TSX Venture: BLOK) whose subsidiary, GlobalBlock Europe, UAB (https://www.globalblock.eu), is a European Union based digital asset broker that provides a personalised telephone brokerage service, trading platform and mobile app. Established by an experienced team of financial services professionals, GlobalBlock Europe, UAB acts as a trusted agent serving the digital asset needs of individuals, corporations, institutional financial firms and intermediaries, providing best execution trading and safe custody of digital assets. At this time, clients or customers based in Lithuania and the UK can be onboarded to its digital asset broker and trading services.

For further information please contact the Company at:

Rufus Round, CEO

c/o Lvovo g. 25-104, Vilnius, Lithuania

Tel. +44 20 3307 3795

info@globalblockdigital.com

https://globalblock.eu/ 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 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/125195
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Black Tusk Resources Inc. ("Black Tusk" or the "Company) (CSE:TUSK) is pleased to announce that geophysical surveying is now underway on the MoGold property located north of Val d'Or, Quebec.

Black Tusk contracted TMC Geophysique based in Val d'Or to complete deep-penetrating Pulse-EM (Time Domain Electromagnetic) survey on the MoGold property. Survey lines have been prepared by brush cutting and EM surveying has begun. The initial survey was designed to test a one kilometre square area, but has not been doubled in size to more fully cover the target geologic formation that included significant values of copper, silver and zinc returned from earlier rock sampling (See Black Tusk News Release dated 2022-03-07). The geology along the trend is interpreted to have potential for Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) mineralization (see News Release dated 2022-03-07). The zone of interest also displays magnetic features derived from the Black Tusk 2021 surveys.

Black Tusk's MoGold and PG Highway projects adjoining claims cover a total rea of 2,400 hectares. Black Tusk's geologic team, headed by Mathieu Piche who is based close to the properties, conducted reconnaissance level geological surveys with associated rock sampling over the two properties (see news release dated January 11, 2022).

Black Tusk is now designing a proposed second Pulse EM survey on Black Tusk's PG Highway claims where massive pyrite and pyrrhotite have been mapped at surface. The sulphide mineralization was discovered during the 2021 Black Tusk geologic reconnaissance. The strength of sulphide mineralization and the general geology suggest potential for hosting for VMS deposition. The proposed EM survey is to be initiated by TMC Geophysique shortly after their work is completed on the MoGold project.

Black Tusk is preparing to test the best target areas on the MoGold and PG Highway properties by diamond drilling. The drilling could commence following completion of the EM surveying.

Black Tusk exploration programs undertaken in Quebec are supervised by Dr. Mathieu Piche, OGQ, with office located north of Val d'Or. He is also a Black Tusk company director.

Cautionary Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions as of that date. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to exploration and development; the ability of the Company to obtain additional financing; the Company's limited operating history; the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations; fluctuations in the prices of commodities; operating hazards and risks; competition and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company's Prospectus dated September 8, 2017 available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions, and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Richard Penn

CEO

(778) 384-8923

SOURCE: Black Tusk Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702603/Black-Tusk-Resources-Inc-Geophysical-Survey-Underway-Mogold-Project-Quebec
[DATELINE] Tombill Mines Limited (TSXV: TBLL) (OTCQB: TBLLF) (the "Company", "Tombill"), is pleased to provide an update on its 2022 near-surface Phase 2A Diamond Drilling Program designed to comprehensively test a series of newly identified targets across its 100% controlled namesake project which encompasses our 4 mineral properties, including 2 past-producing mines, in the Geraldton gold mining district, north-central Ontario, Canada. The Company recently received additional assays from its 2021 diamond drill program for which it provides a complete review below.

Highlights of Current Phase 2A 2022 Near-Surface Drilling Program to Date

Drilling commenced mid-April; Forage FTE Drilling is the contractor for the program.

Holes TB22-002 and TB22-005 targeting the Ellis Syncline gold target situated in the north- central portion of the Tombill Main Group property have encountered significant hydrothermal alteration with associated silica-sulfide veining across a broad, isoclinally folded syncline encompassing greywacke, iron formation and albite porphyry, very similar lithologies to those found at the open-pit mine development project of Greenstone Gold Mines ("Greenstone") located a few kilometers to the east.

Hole TB22-005, which tests the southern half of the target, passed through an approximately 50 m wide zone of continuous, visually impressive sulphide mineralization in the form of disseminated and stringer pyrite hosted by banded iron formation and lesser greywacke. Somewhat weaker pyrite mineralization continues below the main alteration zone which starts 170 m down-hole.

Hole TB22-002 which tests the Ellis Syncline target about 400 m east of hole TB22-005 intersected thinly layered greywacke and banded iron formation intruded by two thick bodies of albite porphyry showing varying intensities of sericite and hematite alteration, foliation and disseminated pyrite mineralization. Quartz stringers are abundant in the deformed iron formation. Styles of rock alteration and mineralization resemble those seen in other deposits in the Geraldton district, including at the nearby Hardrock deposit currently being developed by Greenstone into one of Canada's largest gold mines.

Half-core samples generally 1.0 m in length are being collected and sent for fire assaying at the Actlabs analytical facilities in Geraldton, Ontario.

Drilling is also planned for the claim group where the past-producing Tombill gold mine is located. Between 1938 and 1942 this mine produced 68,737 oz gold at an average grade of 12.36 g/t Au. The bulk of gold resources presently known in the Geraldton district are defined around the old underground workings of the district's 10 past-producing mines.

To date, Tombill has completed 1,823 m of diamond drilling in five holes and is drilling an additional three holes encompassing approximately 1,200 m, expected to be completed by early June.

"We are delighted to see early indications of a large-scale hydrothermal system at the Ellis Syncline target, one of several near-surface targets we recently identified across the Tombill Main Group," commented Ron Burk, Strategic Advisor & Head of Exploration & Geology, "The style of mineralization observed in recent holes, especially hole TB22-005, bears similarities to the mineralization forming the gold zones that constitute the Hardrock gold deposit being developed by Greenstone to the east. Given the robust length of alteration and veining observed in this hole, we are eager to see what assays bring."





Phase 2A Near-Surface Drilling Program at Tombill Main Group



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Drill Hole Coordinates for Tombill Main Group Shallow Program 2022 Hole ID Collar Azimuth Collar Dip Length(m) Easting Northing Elevation(m) TB22-001 180 -45 21.0 501490 5503943 334.0 TB22-001A 180 -52 385.0 501499 5503943 334.0 TB22-002 350 -45 357.0 500198 5503696 334.0 TB22-003 355 -45 300.0 500493 5503781 334.0 TB22-004 20 -45 351.0 499755 5503907 340.0 TB22-005 20 -52 433.0 499734 5503713 345.0 TB22-006 8 -45 351.0 499142 5503957 345.0 TB22-007 20 -55 *400.0 499627 5503729 345.0 TB22-008 30 -45 *350.0 493730 5505580 355.0

*Proposed length of drill hole

Comprehensive Review of 2021 Talmora & F-Zone Diamond Drill Results

Deep Drilling Targeting Extensions of the F-Zone

In 2021, Tombill undertook a deep diamond drilling program to test for the extension of the F-Zone, a major gold ore zone that plunges roughly 20 degrees westward from Greenstone's Hardrock deposit onto the Tombill Main Group property.

Holes TB21-005A, -005B and -005E, three wedged holes from parent-hole TB21-005 which was collared approximately 280 m west of the eastern property boundary, all encountered strong intervals of gold mineralization including:

TBL21-005A

6.03 g/t Au over 13.3 m

Within a 30.5 m long interval averaging 2.96 g/t Au, and

A second interval of 5.04 g/t Au over 3.0 m

TB21-005B

4.31 g/t Au over 6.0 m

Within a 25.0 m long interval averaging 1.20 g/t Au

TB21-005E

5.29 g/t Au over 8.0 m

Within a 15.0 m long interval grading 3.24 g/t Au

A second interval of 13.1 g/t Au over 2.0 m

Within an interval of 11.0 m averaging 4.12 g/t Au

A third interval of 24.13 g/t Au over 1.0 m

Within a zone 3.0 m wide grading 8.52 g/t Au

Gold intercepts from these three holes are considered by Tombill to be equally robust as typical intersections of the F-Zone on the adjacent Greenstone mine property, and consequently provide strong evidence that the F-Zone remains intact and well-mineralized on Tombill's Main Group claims.

Drilling in the area immediately west of the eastern boundary of Tombill's Main Group property encountered complex geology including post-mineral faulting and post-mineral mafic dikes. Consequently, holes TB21-001 through TB21-004 failed to produce adequate tests of the F-Zone but did encounter short intervals of significant gold mineralization in the general vicinity of the intended target (see table below).

Hole TB21-008, the furthest west drill-hole of the deep drilling program and 580 m west of our eastern property boundary, is believed to have passed just below the targeted F Zone, encountering six short intervals of gold mineralization (see table below). Significantly, at depth this hole passed through 93 m of sericite-altered, anomalously gold-bearing albite porphyry interpreted to be the anticlinally folded Hardrock Porphyry, an intrusive rock mass which is spatially and perhaps genetically associated with important ore zones in Hardrock gold deposit situated a few kilometers to the east. In spite of failing to intersect robust F-Zone mineralization, the multiple gold intercepts and the weakly mineralized intrusive porphyry encountered in TB21-008 suggest the targeted gold system extends at least a further 300 m west of holes TB21-005A, 005B and -005E, or 580 m from our property boundary.

F-Zone & Associated Zones 2021 Intercepts & Grades (Assays in italics are newly reported intervals) Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Gold (g/t) TB21-001A 1191.0 1192.0 1.0 6.03 TB21-002 768.0

769.0 1.0 4.21

1203.0 1203.8 0.8 6.90 TB21-004 757.7 758.7 1.0 5.29

1242.4 1246.8 4.4 2.40 Including 1242.4 1244.5 2.1 4.50 TB21-005A 1018.5 1022.7 4.2 2.00

1078.0 1081.5 3.5 2.05

1083.0 1113.5 30.5 2.96 Including 1095.0 1108.3 13.3 6.03 Including 1095.0 1096.0 1.0 53.0

1160.0 1163.0 3.0 5.04 Including 1162.0 1163.0 1.0 13.2

1241.0 1243.1 2.1 2.75

1248.0 1250.7 2.7 2.85 TB21-005B 1195.0 1220.0 25.0 1.20 Including 1211.0 1217.0 6.0 4.31 Including 1214.0 1218.1 4.1 5.53 Including 1216.0 1218.1 2.1 11.23 TB21-005E 1071.0 1088.0 17.0 1.47 Including 1085.0 1087.0 2.0 6.08

1099.0 1101.0 2.0 2.44

1102.0 1117.0 15.0 3.24 Including 1102.0 1110.0 8.0 5.29

1128.5 1139.0 10.5 1.52 Including 1132.0 1139.0 7.0 2.00

1146.0 1157.0 11.0 4.12 Including 1152.0 1153.0 1.0 22.63 Including 1152.0 1154.0 2.0 13.10

1162.0 1165.0 3.0 8.52 Including 1164.0 1165.0 1.0 24.13

1193.0 1206.0 13.0 1.37 TB21-008 943.0 946.0 3.0 1.75

1107.0 1110.0 3 1.35

1122.0 1125.0 3 1.94

1163.0 1166.0 3 2.25

1197.0 1199.0 2 2.84

1225.0 1227.0 2 1.93





F Zone Long Section View of Deep Drilling 2021



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Drill Hole Coordinates for F-Zone Program 2021 Hole ID Collar Azimuth Collar Dip Length

(m) NAD83-Z16 Easting NAD83-Z16 Northing Elevation

(m) TB21-001 356.1 -81.8 1218.5 500,987 5,502,807 341.0 TB21-001A 356.1 -70.0 1220.0 500,987 5,502,807 341.0 TB21-002 356.0 -82.0 1452.0 501,048 5,502, 609 339.0 TB21-003 12.2 -82.0 882.0 501,072 5,502,888 341.0 TB21-004 01.0 -82.0 1391.3 501,048 5,502,609 341.0 TB21-004A 01.0 -60.0 1289.8 501,048 5,502,609 341.0 TB21-005 359.0 -85.0 875.0 500,909 5,502,915 340.0 TB21-005A 359.0 -85.0 1331.0 500,909 5,502,915 340.0 TB21-005B 359.0 -85.0 1259.0 500,909 5,502,915 340.0 TB21-005E 359.0 -85.0 1238.4 500,909 5,502,915 340.0 TB21-008 356.0 -84.0 1384.0 500,629 5,502,878 340.0

Shallow Drilling at the Talmora Mine Target

In Q4 2021, Tombill Mines undertook a three-hole, near-surface drilling program at the Talmora Mine target in the northeastern part of our Tombill Main Group. The former Talmora Longlac mine, with a 534-foot-deep shaft and minor underground development on two levels, produced less than 1,500 oz gold in the early 1940's. All three holes yielded multiple intervals of gold mineralization (see below). Of particular note, holes TAL21-001 and TAL21-002 encountered scatterings of gold mineralization over appreciable lengths, from 27 to 220 m in the former and from 55.5 to346 m in the latter. Notable mineralized intercepts include:

7.57 g/t Au over 2.0 m within a 5.5 m interval averaging 3.37 g/t Au in hole TAL21-001, and

1.65 g/t Au over 11.5 m in hole TAL21-002.

Tombill takes the view that the robust anomalism for gold encountered over long lengths in these holes is a promising indication of proximity to a larger mineralized system. Therefore, more consideration is being given to further work at the Talmora target.

Talmora 2021 Shallow Intercepts & Grade (Assays in italics are newly reported intervals) Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Gold (g/t) TAL21-001 27.0 30.0 3.0 0.35

51.0 54.0 3.0 0.73

80.0 81.0 1.0 1.02

104.0 107.5 3.5 1.35 including 106.0 107.5 1.5 2.50

117.5 118.5 1.0 1.25

133.0 138.5 5.5 3.37 including 133.5 135.5 2.0 7.57

150.0 152.0 2.0 0.68

217.0 220.0 3.0 4.63 including 218.5 220.0 1.5 6.88 TAL21-002 55.5 56.5 1.0 2.73 including 56.0 56.5 0.5 4.02

90.0 94.0 4.0 0.54 including 90.0 91.0 1.0 0.98

103.3 105.0 1.7 1.43 including 104.5 105.0 0.5 3.35

140.5 144.5 4.0 0.52 including 144.0 144.5 0.5 1.47

154.5 166.0 11.5 1.65 including 160.0 161.5 1.5 4.07

188.5 189.5 1.0 3.04 including 188.5 189.0 0.5 4.23

270.0 270.5 0.5 2.84

270.5 271.0 0.5 2.84

282.0 283.0 1.0 0.88

292.0 292.5 0.5 2.98

344.0 346.0 2.0 2.21 including 345.0 346.0 1.0 3.66 TAL21-003 170.5 172.0 1.5 1.05

215.0 216.0 1.0 1.42

224.0 226.0 2.0 1.76 including 224.5 225.0 0.5 5.36

376.0 377.0 1.0 0.89

The presence of economically significant zones of shallow gold mineralization has clearly not been thoroughly tested over most of the Tombill Main Group. The current Phase 2A Drilling Program plus the programs completed in 2021 are the first drilling in four decades on the property and have been focused on making a new discovery in this long-lived and productive gold mining district.

Drill Hole Coordinates for Talmora Program 2021 Hole ID Azimuth Dip Length(m) NAD83-Z16 Easting NAD83-Z16 Northing Elevation(m) TAL21-001 350.0 -45 308.0 501604.9 5504086 331.4 TAL21-002 334.0 -45 395.0 501607.0 5504086 335.0 TAL21-003 318.0 -45 443.0 501560.3 5504062 335.0





Talmora Long Section View Looking West 2021



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Qualified Person

Ron Burk, P.Geo, is the Company's designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has reviewed and approved its scientific and technical content.

QA/QC

Assays were performed at Actlabs accredited lab in Geraldton, Ontario. Tombill geologists insert blanks and standards into the sample stream at a rate of at least 2 per 25 core samples. A chain of custody is maintained to the assay lab. At present, the true widths of the mineralized intercepts have not been calculated.

About FTE

Founded 1987, Forage FTE Drilling specializes in a variety of drilling services in Canada, Africa, and South America. Renowned for the quality of its work, FTE Drilling ensures an unmatched response time in a safe and environmentally friendly workplace. They have recently drilled in the Geraldton district.

About Tombill

Founded 1935, by Newmont Mining and prospectors' 'Tom' and 'Bill' Johnson, Tombill (TSXV: TBLL) (OTCQB: TBLLF) owns 2 of the 10 past-producing mines in the Geraldton gold corridor, 4 claim groups, of which 3 are situated in the Geraldton gold district of north-central Ontario (about 225 km NE of Thunder Bay). Geraldton offers optimal and installed infrastructure. Holdings comprise 74 royalty-free mining claims (60 fully owned patented claims, 5 leases, 9 mineral rights only). Of these, the 51-patented claim Main Group is in the center of the Geraldton Gold District and straddles the Trans-Canada Highway; the 5-claim Ellis Group lies 4 km south of the town of Geraldton; and the original Tombill Mine group of 6-patented claims sits 10 km west-southwest of Geraldton. The Tombill Gold Mine produced 68,737 high-grade gold oz between 1938 and 1942 in the southeast corner of the claim group. The Talmora Longlac Mine, located in the northeast of the Main Group property, was built in 1941, but saw only minor production before closing in 1942 (1,406 gold oz). The Main Group borders on the property of the under-construction Greenstone Mine, which will be one of Canada's largest gold mines with production aimed for 2024.





Tombill Property Location Map





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For more information, please visit www.tombillmines.com, and contact:

Georgia Bevan

Investor Relations

Email: georgia@tombillmines.com

Tel: +1 647 493 8270

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the trading date of the Company's common shares on the TSXV. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "will" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made, and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. 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. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings by the Company with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) 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/125218
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Blackwolf Copper and Gold ("Blackwolf", or the "Company") (TSXV:BWCG)(OTC PINK:BWCGF) is pleased to announce that it has acquired the Mineral Hill Property through staking, its fourth claim group in the area, located northwest of the towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK on the Alaskan side of the Golden Triangle. The Property is contiguous with the Company's high-grade Cantoo vein targets to the north and Ascot's Premier Gold Project across the international boundary to the east, that is currently in development. The Mineral Hill Property hosts multiple gold, silver and polymetallic prospects historically explored by trenches and underground drifting. A total of 60 U.S. Federal Lode and four state of Alaska Mineral claims were staked by Blackwolf in May, 2022.

"With the staking of Mineral Hill, Blackwolf now has a five-kilometer-long trend of high-grade gold-silver prospects located adjacent to a mine currently in development, that have never been drilled or explored with modern methods and deposit models," said Rob McLeod, President and CEO of Blackwolf. "We look forward to evaluating and advancing multiple prospects on these new claims as well as drilling the adjacent Cantoo prospect during the 2022 season."

MINERAL HILL PROPERTY

Despite significant exploration activity in Canada, virtually no modern exploration has been performed in the Cantoo-Mineral Hill area since the 1930's. Bridge washouts in the early 1960s limited road access to the Properties. Blackwolf's technical team has significant experience exploring in the Golden Triangle.

Mineral Hill is underlain primarily by earliest Jurassic Hazelton volcanic rocks and associated intrusives, including Premier Porphyry. Mineralization includes multiple phases of quartz and sulphide veining associated with strong hydrothermal alteration. At the 'Top' Prospect, 18 representative and grab samples were collected in 1995 from historic trenches by US Department of Mines geologists. Samples range from trace to 48.03 g/t Au and trace to 100.8 g/t Ag, averaging 5.97 g/t Au and 23.0 g/t Ag. Ten samples assayed over 1.0 g/t Au, averaging 10.53 g/t Au and 39.7 g/t Ag. Individual samples include 48.03 g/t Au and 41.6 g/t Ag, 14.67 g/t Au and 100.8 g/t Ag and 19.75 g/t Au and 84.34 g/t Ag.

The Top Prospect is located approximately three kilometers south of the large, outcropping gold-silver veins and breccias on the Company's Cantoo Property (see Blackwolf's Press Release, Feb 23rd, 2022). Multiple historic prospects and adits occur between the Top and Cantoo targets and include anomalous copper values (chip samples include 1.1m chip at 0.17% Cu, 0.2m chip at 0.51% Cu) and gold-silver assays (1.3m chip at 2.43 g/t Au, 72.0 g/t Ag). Additionally, there is significant alluvial placer gold occurrences on the east and west side of the Cantoo and Mineral Hill Properties.

The rock samples discussed on the Mineral Hill Property are considered historic in nature and have not been verified by the Qualified Person.

FIGURE 1: Hyder area property locations with regional geology, mines and major deposits in the Golden Triangle.

FIGURE 2: Cantoo and Mineral Hill properties showing historic workings, samples, and placer gold areas.

THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

Blackwolf's Hyder Properties are located in the Golden Triangle, a regional mineral belt in Northwest British Columbia and Southeast Alaska. Significant mines and deposits in the area include: Brucejack, Premier, Big Missouri, Scottie Gold, Red Mountain, Galore Creek, KSM, Eskay Creek, Porter and Torbrit, and new discoveries by Goliath Resources and Eskay Mining. The region, centered around the towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska, has world-class metal endowment. Set in the Stikinia Paleozoic-Mesozoic island arc terrane, the stratigraphy of the area is dominated by Triassic to Jurassic rocks of the Stuhini and Hazelton Groups, respectively. Porphyry, VMS, and other intrusion-related deposits in the area are dominantly hosted in the Jurassic Hazelton Group strata associated with coeval intrusions, with commonly overprinting Eocene epithermal-style vein-dominated mineralization.

HYDER PROPERTIES

Acquired through staking in 2021 and 2022, Blackwolf has a 100% interest in its Hyder properties which are comprised of four claim groups (Texas Creek, Cantoo, Mineral Hill and Casey), totaling 4,360 hectares across 534 U.S. Federal Mining claims and four State of Alaska Mining claims. These properties are located between 10 to 20 kilometers northwest of Hyder, six kilometers south of the past-producing Granduc Copper Mine, 10 kilometers south of the past-producing Scottie Copper Mine and due west of the past-producing Premier Gold Mine, currently in redevelopment by Ascot Resources. The claims are underlain by regionally prospective Lower Hazelton volcanics and coeval Texas Creek polyphase intrusives. Very limited modern exploration has been performed in the area, with virtually none in the last 25 years.

QUALIFIED PERSON:

Jodie Gibson, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration for the Company and a Qualified Person, as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this release.

ABOUT BLACKWOLF COPPER AND GOLD

Blackwolf's founding vision is to be an industry leader in transparency, inclusion and innovation. Guided by our Vision and through collaboration with local and Indigenous communities and stakeholders, Blackwolf builds shareholder value through our technical expertise in mineral exploration, engineering and permitting. The Company holds a 100% interest in the high-grade Niblack copper-gold-zinc-silver VMS project, located adjacent to tidewater in southeast Alaska as well as the Cantoo, Casey, Texas Creek and Mineral Hill gold-silver and VMS properties in southeast Alaska. For more information on Blackwolf, please visit the Company's website at www.blackwolfcopperandgold.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Robert McLeod"

Robert McLeod, P.Geo

President, CEO and Director

For more information, contact:

ROB MCLEOD

604-617-0616 (Mobile)

604-343-2997 (Office)

rm@bwcg.ca

LIAM MORRISON

604-897-9952 (Mobile)

604-343-2997 (Office)

lm@bwcg.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements relating to the Hyder properties and the Company's future objectives and plans.Forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market volatility; the state of the financial markets for the Company's securities; fluctuations in commodity prices and changes in the Company's business plans. In making the forward looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, including without limitation, that the Company will continue with its stated business objectives and its ability to raise additional capital to proceed. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. The Company seeks safe harbor.

For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702625/Blackwolf-Stakes-the-Mineral-Hill-Gold-Silver-Property-Golden-Triangle-Alaska
AR-Enabled Technology to be Demonstrated in Microsoft Stand at Eurosatory

The trusted Manifest digital-augmentation platform from Taqtile, a leader in augmented reality (AR) based work-instruction solutions, continues to enhance the preventative maintenance, repair, training, and inspection procedures of defense organizations around the globe. Through the use of the Manifest platform for multiple armed forces the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S Air Force, New Zealand Army, Royal Australian Navy Taqtile is being relied upon as a key component of modernization and digitization strategies in the defense industry.

"Modernization isn't only about helicopters and drones and capital platforms. Taqtile's Manifest platform is a state-of-the-art upgrade to the way soldiers perform preventative maintenance on their vehicles that will save time and money while improving readiness," explains Thomas Mead, Project Manager Army Application Laboratory.

Learn about specific examples of how Manifest has been successfully deployed with defense customers, and how the technology dramatically reduces repair times and simultaneously improves operational readiness. A recent whitepaper found a 36-100% decrease in errors when tested in defense use cases.

AMC Command Chief, Shelina Frey, Chief Master Sgt., U.S. Air Force, says, "This is how today's Airmen are learning. This is a prime example of how innovation will help our Airmen meet their true potential."

Manifest enables users to complete operational procedures more consistently and accurately by decreasing maintenance crew cognitive load and stress. Personnel responsible for Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) and the preventative maintenance inspection procedures (PMCS: Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services; PMI: Preventative Maintenance Inspections) experience exceptional benefits from the Manifest platform. New service members can also be onboarded and trained faster and more efficiently, improving overall operational readiness.

Superior Security

Manifest was designed with multiple layers of security so it can be deployed within defense and governmental organizations. Secure authentication, encrypted file systems and data transmissions, together with Taqtile's top-of-the-line security practices for development and code review, deliver best-in-class compliance.

"Modernization of defense procedures and systems is a priority, one that the Manifest platform is uniquely designed to support," said Dirck Schou, CEO, Taqtile. "Manifest is an elegant, complete solution that addresses key defense concerns including security, connectivity, automation of resolution procedures, and providing AR-enhanced knowledge to deskless personnel."

Live Demonstration at Eurosatory

The Manifest AR-enabled platform will be demonstrated on the HoloLens 2 in the Microsoft stand (K350, Hall 5A) at Eurosatory in June. Attendees can author and follow routine maintenance procedures for inspecting a physical landing gear component in the booth. Schedule a demonstration at Eurosatory.

About Taqtile

Seattle-based Taqtile is revolutionizing how deskless workers do their jobs. Taqtile exists to empower and equip people with the tools they need to complete their jobs flawlessly, accurately, every time. By leveraging proven technologies, including augmented reality, 3D visualization, and real-time collaborative communication, Taqtile's Manifest platform empowers deskless workers to complete complex tasks more efficiently, completely, and safely than ever before. Taqtile is the 2020 Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner of the Year and a proud member of Fast Company's "World Changing Ideas" list for two consecutive years 2021 and 2022. For more information on Taqtile and Manifest, please visit https://taqtile.com/defense/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005245/en/

Contacts:

Ray Vincenzo

Taqtile

(206) 290-4431

ray.vincenzo@taqtile.com
Cardston, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AMK) ("the Corporation") is pleased to announce their JV partner Tudor Gold's exploration efforts have doubled for Phase l of the 2022 exploration program (the "Program") at their flagship property, Treaty Creek, located in the heart of the Golden Triangle of Northwestern British Columbia. The fully funded Program consists of a 30,000 metre (m) diamond drilling campaign that has been developed to systematically test the extension of the Goldstorm Deposit well beyond the limits that were outlined in the 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate (American Creek press release dated March 9, 2021: reported a Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of 19.41 million ounces of AuEq grading 0.74 g/t AuEq and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 7.9 million ounces of AuEq grading 0.79 g/t AuEq). In addition, exploration diamond drilling will focus on the Calm Before the Storm (CBS) and the Eureka zones (EZ or Eureka).

During the past two weeks, Tudor's crews have mobilized four more drill rigs to the site from the winter route via the Brucejack Access Road. Our drill contractors now have eight drill rigs working on three targets. Six drill rigs have commenced drilling the northern aspects of the Goldstorm Deposit as step-out exploration holes. One rig has been drilling at CBS as follow-up on last year's newly discovered gold-silver system, located 2.5 kilometres northeast of the Goldstorm Deposit. Additionally, crews have begun drilling the Eureka Zone located 800 meters southeast of the Goldstorm Deposit (Figure 1).

Ken Konkin, President and CEO, comments, "The start-up of 2022 exploration campaign has been a huge success. We are well ahead of schedule starting the step-out exploration drill holes in the northern aspects to the Goldstorm Deposit as well as initiating drill programs at CBS and Eureka. Additionally, we plan to complete a high-resolution aeromagnetic survey over our Treaty Creek and Crown claims with Terraquest Geophysics. A total of 1,600-line kilometres are expected to be flown during the next few days. This will serve as a vital mapping tool to aid continued exploration efforts throughout both properties. In addition to exploration, Tudor plans to construct an exploration access road that will connect our Lower Camp to our weather station area located 3.5 kilometers east of that camp. This route will eventually tie into the permitted access road that Seabridge Gold (Seabridge) is currently constructing from the Highway 37 junction at Glacier Creek. This will provide an all-weather road access to our project once completed. Seabridge has already completed the bridge construction for the Bell Irving River crossing at Glacier Creek.

"Our engagement efforts with local First Nations continue to develop. We have initiated contact with Nisga'a First Nations, and we have pledged follow-up meetings to ensure clear communication as the project evolves. Earlier in the year, Tudors' geologists and geotechicians held an informal Core Processing Workshop as an Open-Invite for the Tahltan community members in Dease Lake. It was a successful three-day session that included geotechnical procedures, QA/QC protocols as well core sampling and shipping procedures. We plan to continue to host these workshops in communities interested in gaining employment in the exploration sector. For many of those who attended, this was an excellent introduction to one small aspect of exploration. We are committed to include all First Nations including Tahltan, Skii Km Lax Ha and Nisga'a as part of our engagement process and we will continue to encourage participation with our future workshops to provide employment opportunities and public awareness to our industry sector."





Sulphurets Hydrothermal System

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/125185_6edd24db94112a2e_001full.jpg

Qualified Person

The Qualified Person for Tudor's news release for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 is Tudor's President and CEO, Ken Konkin, P.Geo. He has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for their disclosure contained in their news release.

The Qualified Person for this news release is James A. McCrea, P. Geo., for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101. While American Creek has not independently confirmed Tudor's information, Mr. McCrea has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this news release.

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 Corporation has an interest in the Treaty Creek property, a joint venture project with Tudor Gold/Walter Storm located in BC's prolific "Golden Triangle".

The Corporation 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 Corporation 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 Corporation 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 Corporation's planned exploration activities will be completed in a timely manner. Although the assumptions made by the Corporation 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 Corporation'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 Corporation with securities regulators.

Although the Corporation 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/125185
FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Fla., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A maturing cannabis industry has the potential for enormous growth - but only if growers, processors and retailers can minimize threats to their profitability and stability. The cannabis industry is poised for another year of huge growth in 2022, and the enterprises that will benefit the most are those best-positioned to manage risk. Additional threats and higher premiums won't inhibit industry growth, but cannabis businesses that prioritize risk management will benefit most. With legalization becoming more common, the cannabis industry has been on a roll. A recent article in HUB International projects that the U.S. cannabis industry hit a record $24 billion in sales in 2021, with expected annual sales of $70 billion by 2028. The article said: "Cannabis risks have always outpaced the availability of insurance, in large part because of its status as a federally outlawed substance and the dangers in extraction and production. But it now shares many of the same risks as other industries - catastrophic crop damage, cyber risk and a shortage of skilled workers. Some relief for the industry's financial issues may be ahead: The SAFE and CLAIM Acts, if passed, carry with them the potential to bring traditional financial resources to cannabis operations. Insurance for cannabis businesses remains expensive. Cannabis Property-Casualty coverage is also expected to rise 10% to 20. These factors of additional risks and higher insurance premiums won't inhibit industry growth, but those cannabis businesses that invest in risk management will be the ones to benefit the most." Active Companies active today in the cannabis related markets include:Item 9 Labs Corp. (OTCQX: INLB), Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (OTCQX: TCNNF) (CSE: TRUL), Verano Holdings Corp. (OTCQX: VRNOF) (CSE: VRNO), Green Thumb Industries Inc. (OTCQX: GTBIF) (CSE: GTII), Cresco Labs Inc. (OTCQX: CRLBF) (CSE: CL).

"Perhaps the biggest obstacle to cannabis industry growth is a lack of access to capital. The industry awaits passage of the SAFE and CLAIM Acts, which would allow cannabis businesses to accept loans from federally regulated institutions. Lending to the industry has been restricted because regulators have considered it a form of money laundering; the pending legislation would remove that criminal designation for banking and lending." The article continued: " large cannabis enterprises with non-cannabis subsidiaries have more access to capital than small companies. Similarly, large cannabis organizations typically have an easier time obtaining private equity investments. As a result, M&A activity will increase in 2022, as large cannabis businesses will have the means to acquire smaller competitors. What's more, expect Canadian cannabis companies - unburdened by federal restrictions - to increase their cross-border mergers and acquisitions."

Item 9 Labs Corp. (OTCQX: INLB) BREAKING NEWS:Item 9 Labs Corp. Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Sessions Cannabis, One of Canada's Largest Cannabis Retail Franchisors - Item 9 Labs Corp. (OTCQX: INLB) (the "Company") - a vertically integrated cannabis dispensary franchisor and operator that produces premium, award-winning products - announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sessions Cannabis ("Sessions"), one of Canada's largest cannabis retail franchisors.

"This is a transformative acquisition that fast-tracks our entry into the Canadian market and brings tremendous value to our shareholders," said Item 9 Labs Corp. CEO Andrew Bowden. "With an exponential increase in store count across North America, this acquisition would transition us from being a multi-state operator to an international cannabis company and the largest global cannabis franchisor. The potential to accelerate growth through both franchising and additional opportunistic acquisitions is immense. This is simply the first step to much deeper market penetration, both in Ontario and other provinces."

Founded in 2019, Sessions currently has 43 stores throughout the Province of Ontario, the majority of which are located in prime retail shopping centers, typically anchored by national tenants such as Costco, Walmart, well-known grocers, quick service restaurants and more. The Ontario-based business has a franchise system comprised of 18 franchisees, the majority of which are multi-unit owners, and plans to continue its growth across Canada with multiple openings already planned for this year. Sessions also anticipates it will continue its consistently strong performance.

Item 9 Labs Corp. acquired ONE Cannabis Group ("OCG Inc.") in March 2021, the parent company to U.S. cannabis dispensary franchise, Unity Rd. - marking the Company the first national vertically integrated cannabis dispensary franchisor. The combination of the Unity Rd. franchise system-which currently has 20-plus partners developing more than three dozen stores across 10-plus U.S. states-with Sessions makes Item 9 Labs Corp. the largest global and publicly traded cannabis franchise company.

Canada, the world's second-largest cannabis market, brought in CA$3.9 billion in cannabis sales in 2021, a 50 percent year-over-year growth, according to federal data agency Statistics Canada. Ontario is the country's largest cannabis market with CA$1.47 billion in 2021 sales. According to BDSA, the Canadian market is expected to climb to CA$4.7 billion in 2022 and nearly CA$6.3 billion by 2026.

"The Canadian cannabis market has grown tremendously over the past few years, and we have certainly felt that impact and benefitted from first-mover advantage in several markets," said Steven Fry, CEO and co-founder of Sessions, noting that Sessions' locations that have been open for more than a year see an average annual revenue of CA$2.46 million. "We have amazing multi-unit franchisees and a solid franchise system that is dedicated to their success, but to further innovate within the industry and expand our reach, we need the right partner. We believe we have found that with Item 9 Labs Corp. and their franchise brand, Unity Rd."

The Company's Chief Franchise Officer Mike Weinberger agrees with Fry that this is the perfect synergy. He added, "From the brand values and education-first approach with customers to the rock-solid franchise program Steven and his team have built, there are several similarities across Sessions and our Unity Rd. franchise brand. This is a huge opportunity for Item 9 Labs Corp. and further solidifies our mark as leaders in cannabis franchising."

The Company's merger and acquisition activities for the 2022 calendar year have ramped up quickly. Item 9 Labs Corp. acquired a dispensary license and storefront in North Denver, Colorado and recently signed an Asset Purchase Agreement ("APA") for a medicinal and recreational dispensary and cultivator, The Herbal Cure, also located in Denver. Colorado is among the top markets where Item 9 Labs Corp. is actively seeking acquisitions of cannabis dispensaries.CONTINUED Read the full Press Release for INLB at:https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-inlb

In other active company news in the markets this week:

Verano Holdings Corp. (OTCQX: VRNOF) (CSE: VRNO), a leading multi-state cannabis company, recently announced the opening of MUV Ocala on Friday, May 20, the Company's 47th Florida dispensary and 98th nationwide. MUV Ocala, located at 3701 SW College Road, is open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., local time.

MUV Ocala is located in Marion County, a rapidly growing area that experienced a population increase of 13.5% from 2010 to 2021. Ocala was also recently named the sixth fastest-growing city in the United States.

Green Thumb Industries Inc. (OTCQX: GTBIF) (CSE: GTII), a leading national cannabis consumer packaged goods company and owner of RISE dispensaries, recently reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022. Financial results are reported in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and all currency is in U.S. dollars.

"Our team delivered solid first quarter results with revenue increasing 25% over the prior year quarter. We generated our seventh consecutive quarter of positive net income of $29 million, or $0.12 per share, and Adjusted Operating EBITDA of $67 million. For the ninth consecutive quarter, we delivered positive cash flow from operations, which was $55 million in the first quarter," said Green Thumb Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ben Kovler. "We continue to have strong conviction in our core thesis and given the opportunity ahead, we will invest in markets where we know demand is coming. As I have said before, growth is not linear and there will be quarter-to-quarter fluctuations depending on when new markets open to adult-use sales as well as the timing of our infrastructure investments. Our preparations in New Jersey positioned us well for demand on Day One, and we feel confident in our playbook for future adult-use transitions."

Cresco Labs Inc. (OTCQX: CRLBF) (CSE: CL), a vertically integrated, multi-state operator and the number one U.S. wholesaler of branded cannabis products, recently released its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2022. All financial information presented in this release is reported in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("U.S. GAAP") and in U.S. dollars.

"Q1 was a solid quarter for the Cresco Labs team in a challenging environment for all consumer product categories. While our 10-state footprint saw a cumulative sequential contraction of 4.5%, we held or took market share in most of our states and outperformed the markets with our 2% decline. We understand that an emerging industry's growth trajectory is rarely linear, especially a highly regulated industry with a fragmented state-by-state structure, conflicting federal and state laws, and the addition of general macro pressures. Notwithstanding, we continue to execute with a clear and focused strategy to obtain market leadership with a portfolio of cannabis brands consumers love and a plan to get them on as many shelves as possible. The strategy remains constant, and the Columbia Care acquisition announced in the quarter simply fits these stated priorities hand-in-glove. We are pairing the best consumer brands with a broad, deep and strategic footprint," said Charles Bachtell, Co-Founder and CEO of Cresco Labs.

Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (OTCQX: TCNNF) (CSE: TRUL), a leading and top-performing cannabis company in the United States, recently announced the grand opening of its third and fourth medical dispensaries in West Virginia. Located at 4701 MacCorkle Ave. SW in South Charleston and 152 Park Shopping Center in Parkersburg, both dispensaries opened on Saturday, May 21, 2022.

Trulieve is marking the occasion with the launch of two new strains available only at these two dispensaries: Chocolope Newberry Live Budder and Pineapple Upside Down Cake Flower. The first patient served in South Charleston will be cancer survivor Rusty Williams and the first patient served at the Parkersburg location will be military veteran Jason Lowe.

Grand opening festivities throughout the day at both new dispensaries will include numerous partner giveaways, music, food trucks, deals and specials, and all registered patients will receive a 25% discount. On-site medical care specialists will be available to assist with medical card registration and certification for West Virginia patients.

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates Financialnewsmedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third- party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM was compensated forty six hundred dollars for news coverage of current press release issued by Item 9 Labs Corp. by the company. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

Contact Information:

Media Contact email: editor@financialnewsmedia.com - +1(561)325-8757
Indo-Pacific Economic Framework disappointing for lack of tariff cut plan: WSJ

Xinhua) 14:03, May 25, 2022

WASHINGTON, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is disappointing for some nations as it fails to include plans to lower tariffs, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said Monday in an article.

As U.S. President Joe Biden's approval rating dips, observers have raised doubt over the continuity of Washington's policy.

"The key problem for Biden in Asia is that he is constrained by the domestic politics of trade in the United States," Neil Thomas, a China analyst at the political risk consulting firm Eurasia Group, was quoted by the WSJ as saying.

"What countries in Asia want is precisely what Biden cannot give: greater access to the U.S. market," Thomas said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)


Korea's fintech players advised to look beyond domestic markets



By Kim Bo-eun





Fintech Association of Hong Kong Chairman Benjamin Quinlan / Korea Times photo by Kim Bo-eun

HONG KONG  Deregulation is often cited as the key to spurring innovation and the growth of markets. But the latest Terra-triggered cryptocurrency crash is shedding light on the importance of having a sound regulatory regime.



Hong Kong has developed into a fintech hub, backed by its status as a global financial center, and also by an adequate regulatory environment, the head of the city's fintech association said.



"I would say it is an 'institution-first' approach, under which the mass retail environment is guarded by having institutions first test out new innovations and then potentially relaxing regulations," Benjamin Quinlan, chairman of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FAHK), said in an interview with The Korea Times. "A case in point is Hong Kong's regulations for virtual assets, given all of the calamity, scams and potential hazards associated with the crypto industry."



Hong Kong regulators, in addition to requiring all virtual asset service providers to be licensed, have restricted investment to only professional investors. To qualify as a professional investor, an individual has to have $1 million in their portfolio.



"While a lot of retail investors might not enjoy the regulation, it's not just something that is nice to have  it is a must for institutions to participate to have regulatory clarity," Quinlan said.



Given that the necessary safeguards are in place, the association's stance is that substance or function should be prioritized over form when it comes to cryptocurrencies. The association is highly engaged in government consultations around fintech policies.



At the same time, the government has offered substantial policy support for the fintech industry through regulatory sandboxes, funding and talent innovation programs.



Hong Kong's fintech industry has, of course, mainly benefitted from the city's vast asset base as well as an investor base with high net worth, which enables large amounts of capital availability to funnel funds into new and even mature fintech projects. Businesses have been attracted to Hong Kong as it also serves as a major IPO destination.



In addition, the city has functioned for decades as an international talent hub, offering a competent human resources pool for financial services  while various aspects of the government's COVID-19 response have had an adverse impact in retaining talent.





The photo shows the Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FAHK)'s directors and co-chairs at Hong Kong Fintech Week held in November 2021. Courtesy of FAHK
JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 25, 2022, were elected to the company's Board of Directors: Jeffrey Dailey, Wendy Lane and Kimberly S. Stevenson.



"Verisk has a profound opportunity to help the insurance industry evolve in a new digital environment, integrate and activate rapidly growing data sets and achieve new levels of efficiency. With our industry knowledge, technical expertise and established client relationships, we are uniquely positioned to address their needs as an essential technology partner," Shavel said. "I'm humbled to assume the role of Verisk CEO, and I will be focused on value creation for our customers, colleagues and shareholders. This is a great responsibility and one I truly cherish."

Most recently, Shavel served as CFO and group president for Verisk. Anquillare served as COO and group president. Shavel and Anquillare have been architects and drivers of Verisk's growth, increased efficiency and an innovation agenda that has helped the insurance industry successfully turn data into actionable insights and accelerate its digital transformation.

"With a sharpened focus on serving the insurance industry, we've optimized our path toward continued growth and enhanced value creation," Anquillare said. "At such a pivotal moment for the industry, Verisk is poised to empower new opportunities for our customers and colleagues around the globe."

Shavel's replacement as CFO will be named at a later date.

Biographies for Lee M. Shavel, Mark V. Anquillare, Jeffrey Dailey, Wendy Lane and Kimberly S. Stevenson can be found here.

About Verisk

Veriskand fosters an inclusive culturewhere all team members feel they belong. For more, visit Verisk.comand the Verisk Newsroom.

###

Attachments
NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Pfizer Inc. (PFE) on Wednesday launched 'An Accord for a Healthier World' which is an initiative that aims to provide all of Pfizer's patented, high-quality medicines and vaccines available in the U.S. or the European Union on a not-for-profit basis to 1.2 billion people in 45 lower-income countries. The accord seeks to greatly reduce the health inequities that exist between many lower-income countries and the rest of the world. The accord countries include all 27 low-income countries as well as 18 lower-middle-income countries that have transitioned from low to lower-middle-income classification in the last ten years. Pfizer will work with healthcare officials in Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda to identify early insights and opportunities to ensure all medicines and vaccines can reach those in need. This will include expertise to support diagnosis, healthcare professional education and training along with supply chain management and other infrastructure enhancements. Learnings from these five countries will be applied to support the roll out for the remaining forty countries. Under the accord, Pfizer has committed to provide 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, certain cancers, and rare and inflammatory diseases. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Significant Increase in Sales Driven by Acquisitions and Robust Organic Growth

HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. (OTC PINK:SIRC), an integrated, single-source solar power, roofing systems installation and EV charging company, today provided a corporate update with recent highlights from its key divisions, while concurrently announcing record year-to-date sales of $110.0 million (preliminary, unaudited) as of May 20, 2022.

"The remarkable sales growth we have seen in 2022 as driven by effective marketing campaigns and strong operational execution across our integrated family of companies," David Massey, Chief Executive Officer of Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. "Given our rapid pace of expansion, we continue to believe our annualized sales run rate could potentially exceed $400 million by the end of 2022. Our focus to prioritize solar and EV charging segment growth will further serve to supercharge our long-term potential - I look forward to continued operational execution in the months ahead as we strive to create sustainable, long-term value for our shareholders and strive towards listing on a national exchange."

Recent Division Highlights

Roofing Division

Solar Integrated Roofing Corp.'s Roofing division experienced strong performance in the first half of 2022, with over 700 contracts signed year to date. During a recent storm in Arkansas, the Roofing sales teams sold 120 roofs, demonstrating an effective sales, targeted strategy targeting potential customers during times of need. The Roofing division had preliminary unaudited year-to-date sales of $9.3 million as of May 20, 2022.

Residential Solar Division

The Residential Solar Division's dealer network now contains over 250 independent sales teams doing business in over 40 states across the country. The division is currently projecting annual totals of 5,000 solar installs totaling over 30 megawatts for 2022. Residential Solar's preliminary unaudited year-to-date sales were $44.4 million as of May 20, 2022.

Commercial Solar Division

The Company's Commercial Solar division sustained its momentum in 2022, receiving another $13 million in commercial projects in need of development after a recent attendance at SolarCon, a leading industry conference. The division is currently working to provide an alternative energy solution to granite yards throughout Southern California, and has also entered into a co-development agreement with Lux Power to provide solar PPAs to over 15 Georgia schools. Preliminary unaudited year-to-date sales for the Commercial Solar Division were $39.3 million as of May 20, 2022.

Commercial Finance

The Commercial Finance division has over $190 million in projects from developers of alternative energy projects in need of financing solutions. The division is also working with multiple banks to secure financing options for Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. to maintain ownership of commercial projects. Recently, Commercial Finance developed a financing solution to assist churches across the country in desperate need of relief from high electric bills with a no money out of pocket option to go solar. Commercial Finance had preliminary unaudited year-to-date sales of $2.7 million as of May 20, 2022.

Electric Vehicle (EV) Division

The Company's EV division benefited from a significantly expanded near-term EV charging project pipeline. PLEMCO, part of the SIRC family of companies, was recently one of only 16 firms in the country awarded a 5-year Blanket Purchase Agreement from the U.S. General Services Administration as part of the $5 billion in federal funds allocated to electric vehicle charging installations in the Biden Administration's Infrastructure Bill. Management believes PLEMCO is particularly well positioned relative to competitors to secure contracts from the $5 billion allocation of federal funds given its long history of successful contract work with the U.S. General Services Administration. In addition, the EV division is currently working with 116 car dealerships nationwide to provide EV Charging stations for their future electric fleets. Additionally, the Company has implemented standardized cross selling processes between Commercial Solar and EV to increase aggregate sales opportunities. Preliminary unaudited year-to-date sales for the EV Division were $14.4 million as of May 20, 2022.

About Solar Integrated Roofing Corp.

Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. (OTC PINK:SIRC), is an integrated, single-source solar power, roofing systems installation and EV charging company specializing in commercial and residential properties throughout the United States. The Company serves communities by delivering the best experience through constant innovation & legacy-focused leadership. The Company's broad array of solutions include sales and installation of solar energy systems, battery backup and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to roofing, HVAC and related electrical contracting work. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.solarintegratedroofing.com or join us on Twitter, Facebook or Discord.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements made in this press release which are not historical facts contain certain forward-looking statements; as such term is defined in the Private Security Litigation Reform Act of 1995, concerning potential developments affecting the business, prospects, financial condition and other aspects of the company to which this release pertains. The actual results of the specific items described in this release, and the company's operations generally, may differ materially from what is projected in such forward-looking statements. Although such statements are based upon the best judgments of management of the company as of the date of this release, significant deviations in magnitude, timing and other factors may result from business risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, the company's dependence on third parties, general market and economic conditions, technical factors, the availability of outside capital, receipt of revenues and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the company. The company disclaims any obligation to update the information contained in any forward-looking statement. This press release shall not be deemed a general solicitation.

Investor Relations Contact:

Lucas A. Zimmerman

Director

MZ North America

Main: 949-259-4987

SIRC@mzgroup.us

www.mzgroup.us

SOURCE: Solar Integrated Roof Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702546/Solar-Integrated-Roofing-Corp-Provides-Corporate-Update-Reports-Record-110-Million-in-Year-to-Date-Sales
Boxwood's latest transaction continues its impressive momentum as a premier M&A advisor in the franchising sector

JUPITER, FL / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Boxwood Partners is pleased to announce the sale of Granite Garage Floors ("GGF" or "the Company"), a franchisor that provides customized garage floor coatings for residential and commercial customers, to Threshold Brands, a portfolio company of The Riverside Company.

Boxwood Partners, a leading boutique middle-market investment bank based in Jupiter, FL, acted as the exclusive sell-side advisor to Granite Garage Floors on the transaction. The transaction was led by J. Patrick Galleher (Managing Partner), Brian Alas (Managing Director), Madison Day (Vice President), and Colby Carter (Analyst). The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2009 by Alan Mishkoff, GGF operates through a network of 14 franchised locations across the U.S. GGF has rapidly become one of the leading concrete coating companies in the industry that focuses on residential garage floors. The Company's proven coating system upgrades concrete surfaces to "Look and Last Like Granite" in a variety of niche finishes to upgrade garage floors, basements, patios, and commercial buildings. The Company has installed over 10,000,000 square feet across 20,000 new garage floors within the broader $2 billion garage services market.

"Alan has built an impressive business, bringing an organized and professionalized approach to a highly fragmented category," said Brian Alas, Managing Director of Boxwood Partners. "The Company's unique value proposition and premium product is poised for growth within the underpenetrated garage market. In addition, GGF provides homeowners with the ability to enhance property values in a cost-efficient manner as compared to larger renovations or improvements. The partnership with Threshold will provide the Company immediate access to additional resources to accelerate the growth of their system."

"From start to finish, Boxwood went above and beyond to ensure we received the best outcome with the right partner" said Alan Mishkoff, Owner of Granite Garage Floors. "Their knowledge of the industry and expertise on transaction execution was invaluable as we navigated this process."

Lane Fisher and JoyAnn Kenny of Fisher Zucker served as legal counsel.

####

About Boxwood Partners

Boxwood Partners, LLC, is a boutique investment bank based in Jupiter, Florida with offices in Richmond, Virginia. Boxwood Partners combines a unique blend of senior-level transaction advisory, business operating experience, and proven process execution skills to give its clients a distinct advantage in the market. The firm's extensive relationships within the global capital and buyer communities (including U.S. and international private equity groups, corporations, and lenders) and other important transaction-related service providers such as consultants, attorneys, and accountants, ensure that the firm's clients receive the attention, service, and results they deserve.

For more information about Boxwood Partners, please visit www.boxwoodpartners.com.

About Granite Garage Floors

Granite Garage Floors opened its first location in South Florida in 2009, followed by Atlanta in 2010. Since then, Granite Garage Floors has started franchising and continued its expansion each year into additional locations throughout the country. The Company's goal remains the same today as it was in 2009 - offer quality industrial-grade garage flooring options to the residential and commercial market along with unmatched dedication & commitment to customer service, which has proved to be essential to their success.

For more information, please visit www.granitegaragefloors.com.

About Threshold Brands

Threshold Brands is home to a variety of franchise service companies. Their mission is simple, to open the door to a better lifestyle. Whether someone is looking to repair, maintain or enhance their home or property, or if they would like to own a business that helps people do so, Threshold Brands has what they are looking for. Threshold's family of nine brands is dedicated to being environmentally conscious, franchisee and consumer-friendly, with a strong focus on being "a best place to work." The nine brands include: Granite Garage Floors, Sir Grout, MaidPro, Men In Kilts, FlyFoe, Pestmaster Services, USA Insulation, Heating + Air Paramedics, and Plumbing Paramedics.

For more information, please visit www.thresholdbrands.com.

SOURCE: Boxwood Partners, LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702507/Boxwood-Partners-Advises-Granite-Garage-Floors-on-Its-Sale-to-Threshold-Brands-a-Portfolio-Company-of-The-Riverside-Company
BUFORD, GA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2022 / Masterbeat Corporation (OTC PINK:MSTO), a company specializing in hard, tangible asset acquisitions with an intense focus on real estate, collectible classic automobiles, and other tangible assets, is pleased to announce it will launch its Real Estate Token to fund Multi Family Developments. The Company is currently evaluating qualified potential building sites to develop its initial 300-unit multi-family asset which will have the potential to generate up to $100 million in revenues and sales.

The financial industry is experiencing a significant change in the growth of tokenization projects, tokenization solutions and services providers. SBQ will develop a tokenization platform that supports ongoing corporate management of the corporate real estate asset, as well as trading via the OTC marketplace. Other companies provide secondary trading exchanges for security tokens, custody solutions, legal services, etc. Many different pieces of the security token puzzle are now falling into place to form a more efficient, transparent, and secure blockchain based infrastructure for securities transfer, settlement and trading.

Real Estate is the biggest single asset class where tokenization can provide immediate and long-term value. Real Estate has $228 trillion in total assets that could be tokenized and block chained. One of the biggest benefits to real estate tokenization, and its holders, is the ability to reduce investment sizes by several orders of magnitude (from USD 100,000 to USD 1,000). This is made possible by the extreme automation of issuance and post-issuance processes, and it will dramatically increase the group of investors able to invest in a specific asset or fund.

Another significant benefit of tokenization is the liquidity of a real estate investment by making real estate assets tradeable. This will increase the amount of money available to invest in real estate, and on the other hand, will make the asset class more interesting for investors. Real estate assets have some properties that lend themselves nicely to tokenization - such as being relatively secure investments, requiring significant investment sums, being relatively easily comparable and quantifiable, as well as being notoriously illiquid investments.

"While we continue with our vacation style asset model, we are actively progressing with our multi family model segment. By tokenizing this more expensive asset class, we can limit company risk and move faster and more efficiently. Tokens and blockchains are the wave of the future, and SBQ can nicely marry it with our public company to further increase revenues and dividend payments," stated Josh Tannariello, CEO of Masterbeat. "Additionally, our second vacation rental asset is in the final stages of construction and is expected to close in the next few days with significant return on investment."

About MasterBeat Corp.

MasterBeat Corporation (OTC: MSTO), incorporated under the laws of Delaware, is a publicly traded company specializing in hard, tangible asset acquisitions with an intense focus on real estate, precious metals, and other tangible assets. The company believes its progressive approach to an old school model, especially in this market based on fragile earnings multiples and uncertainty, to acquire hard, tangible assets will not only offer long term capital appreciation but also deliver revenues, profits, and self-sustainability.

www.masterbeatcorp.com

info@masterbeatcorp.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934 that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events. Although we believe that the expectations and assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. Some of these uncertainties include, without limitation, the company's ability to perform under existing contracts or to procure future contracts. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties, including without limitation, successful implementation of our business strategy and competition, any of which may cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the statements. We undertake no obligation and do not intend to update, revise or otherwise publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of any unanticipated events. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will materialize. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements.

Contact:

Josh Tannariello

561-570-7050

josh@masterbeatcorp.com

SOURCE: MasterBeat Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702530/MasterBeat-Corporations-SBQ-Holdings-LLC-to-Launch-Real-Estate-Token-to-be-Backed-by-Multi-Family-Developments
The three-year $2.97 million Phase 2 STTR Study Grant through the NIH HEAL Initiative (Helping End Addiction Long-term) is providing funding specifically in the Development of KLS-13019 for Neuropathic Pain

DOYLESTOWN, PA / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Neuropathix, Inc. ("Neuropathix" or the "Company") (OTCQB:NPTX), a socially responsible pain management life sciences company, announced today that it has reached an important milestone in the company's history.

"We achieved formal revenue recognition based upon our science. This is a significant milestone for the company and it will likely continue as we move forward under the NIH-NINDS grant into years two and three. While this revenue is attributable to the grant and not the source of product sales, when you examine the nature of the grant, it means that the U.S. Government and American citizens have a stake in our science. We believe that's the best customer a company can have. It doesn't hurt to have the U.S. Government backing your technology. Especially, when you look at the funding that was given to Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna in 2020 under project warp speed to develop vaccines for COVID-19. Here too, it was all based on the science. And well after the $1 billion in funding each received to attack the scourge of COVID-19, these companies continue to expand and receive revenue from the development of their drugs discovered via government granted funds. 'Follow the science' is the popular mantra. When NIH scientists reviewed our grant application for the use of KLS-13019 in chemotherapy induced neuropathic pain (CIPN), we received an exceptional score of 20. This speaks volumes to the science behind the score. And so goes the mantra of follow the science. We believe, before long, we will get the attention of large pharmaceutical companies looking to collaborate with us as we move towards the clinic and establish our technology as a leading edge non-opioid treatment for inflammation and neuropathic pain," said Dean Petkanas, CEO of Neuropathix.

The global neuropathic pain market was valued at US$ 6.3 billion in 2019 and is forecasted to reach US$ 9.8 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 5.6% between 2020 and 2027. The increasing prevalence of cancer is expected to propel growth of the global neuropathic pain market over the forecasted period. The global opioids drug market is expected to reach US$ 31 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 2.5% from the forecasted period of 2020-2027.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number R42NS120548.

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About KLS-13019

KLS-13019 is Neuropathix patented lead clinical compound for the potential treatment of a range of inflammatatory, neurodegenerative and neuropathic pain disorders, beginning with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). KLS-13019 is a monotherapeutic non-opioid cannabinoid derivative that has been shown to prevent and reverse neuropathic pain in pre-clinical animal studies. KLS-13019 has not been reviewed or approved for patient use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or any other healthcare authority in the world. Its safety and efficacy have not been confirmed by FDA-approved research.

About Neuropathix, Inc.

Neuropathix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of a pipeline of next generation, socially responsible pain management and neuroprotective therapeutics to treat patients with significant unmet medical needs. Over the past ten years, Neuropathix has discovered, developed, and patented a global intellectual property estate, led by its lead clinical target, KLS-13019, as novel, new therapeutic agents designed to prevent and reverse neuropathic pain, reduce oxidative stress, and act as anti-inflammatory neuroprotectants. The Company's family of patented monotherapeutic molecules focuses on treating oxidative stress-related diseases, chronic pain management, and neurodegenerative disorders. The therapeutic targets include chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a chronic neuropathy caused by toxic chemotherapeutic agents; hepatic encephalopathy (HE), a neurotoxic brain-liver disorder caused by excessive concentrations of ammonia and ethanol in the brain; mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), a disorder associated with single and repetitive impact injuries; and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease associated with highly repetitive impact injuries in professional and amateur sports. Neuropathix conducts its research and development efforts at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center of Bucks County in Doylestown, PA. For more information about Neuropathix, visit www.neuropathix.com and the Company's Twitter page at @neuropathix.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This press release contains statements about expected future events, the Company's business plan, plan of operations, the viability of the Company's drug candidates, the targeted beneficial effects of KLS-13019, the Company's position, and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements, by definition, involve risks and uncertainties. The Company does not sell or distribute any products that are in violation of the United States Controlled Substances Act.

CONTACTS:

Public Relations:

Kathryn Brown

Account Supervisor

CMW Media

P. 858-264-6600

E: kathryn@cmwmedia.com

www.cmwmedia.com

Investor Relations:

Louie Toma

Managing Director

CORE IR

P: 516-222-2560

E: louie@coreir.com

www.coreir.com

SOURCE: Neuropathix, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702638/Neuropathix-Inc-Highlights-Revenue-Related-to-its-Grant-Award-with-NIH-NINDS
AXIS Capital Holdings Limited ("AXIS Capital") announced today a $250,000 endowment to INSEAD, the business school for the world, to create a research fund on behalf of former AXIS Chair of the Board Michael Butt, OBE. The Michael A. Butt Fund for Business Society by AXIS Capital will support the work of the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society.

"Michael is one of the (re)insurance industry's true trailblazers and his impact goes far beyond his many professional accomplishments. Michael is a leader who lifts people up and throughout his career he mentored and empowered countless professionals," said Albert Benchimol, President and CEO of AXIS Capital. "Michael leveraged his influence as an industry leader to advocate for insurance to play a great role in creating a more sustainable world. With this endowment, our aim is to build on Michael's legacy and inspire and enable a new generation of (re)insurance professionals to make a positive impact."

The Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society is at the forefront of aligning INSEAD with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and aspires to make INSEAD a sustainable school. To achieve this, the Institute supports research on business and society and engages with future leaders, the global alumni community and external partners.

Ilian Mihov, Dean of INSEAD and Professor of Economics, said: "With research focused on the intersection of business and society, the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society aims to bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the most intractable global issues that threaten our future. I am grateful to AXIS and to Michael Butt for their extraordinary support which allows us to accelerate INSEAD's ambition to develop business as a force for good."

Mr. Butt earned an M.B.A. from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France and served as a member of the INSEAD Board, Fontainebleau, France from 1982-2010. He was also Chairman of the INSEAD International Council from 1988-1991 and Chairman of the Development Capital Campaign from 2002-2009, later becoming a member of the Advisory Board. Mr. Butt retired as AXIS Chairman of the Board in 2020.

About AXIS Capital

AXIS Capital, through its operating subsidiaries, is a global provider of specialty lines insurance and treaty reinsurance with shareholders' equity of $5.1 billion at March 31, 2022, and locations in Bermuda, the United States, Europe, Singapore and Canada. Its operating subsidiaries have been assigned a rating of "A+" ("Strong") by Standard Poor's and "A" ("Excellent") by A.M. Best. For more information about AXIS Capital, visit our website at www.axiscapital.com.

Follow AXIS Capital on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About INSEAD, The Business School for the World

As one of the world's leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD brings together people, cultures and ideas to develop responsible leaders who transform business and society. Our research, teaching and partnerships reflect this global perspective and cultural diversity.

With locations in Europe (France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi), and now North America (San Francisco), INSEAD's business education and research spans four regions. Our 166 renowned Faculty members from 41 countries inspire more than 1,500 degree participants annually in our Master in Management, MBA, Global Executive MBA, Specialised Master's degrees (Executive Master in Finance and Executive Master in Change) and PhD programmes. In addition, more than 11,000 executives participate in INSEAD Executive Education programmes each year.

INSEAD continues to conduct cutting-edge research and innovate across all our programmes. We provide business leaders with the knowledge and awareness to operate anywhere. Our core values drive academic excellence and serve the global community as The Business School for the World. Visit our website at www.insead.edu.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005228/en/

Contacts:

Investor

Mei Zhang

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited

investorrelations@axiscapital.com

+1 212-940-3312



Media

Anna Kukowski

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited

anna.kukowski@axiscapital.com

+1 212-715-3574
LONDON and NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- uMotif today announced a new investment of $25.5m from a fund managed by Athyrium Capital Management, LP, the New York-based investment firm. The new funding will support continued scale up of uMotif's unique patient-first software platform for clinical research.

Catalysed by the Covid pandemic, the life sciences industry is increasingly adopting digital approaches for clinical and real-world research, including decentralization of trials. uMotif's unique software is available from app stores on any device, and is designed to provide pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech and Contract Research Organisation (CRO) clients with the most engaging patient data capture experience. By focusing on high quality design and modern cloud-native software, uMotif delivers high rates of data capture, patient retention, data quality and delivery speed - ultimately helping achieve faster, better trials. In an immunology study, uMotif's software engaged and retained participants so effectively, the data capture timelines were reduced by 33%, generating new insights faster.

Having deployed its software in over 30 countries globally including China and Japan, the uMotif platform powers all study designs, in all research settings. As study designs get more complex, with more burden placed on patients, uMotif helps simplify studies and delight the participants. uMotif has worked with many of the world's top pharma and biotech companies and CROs, including AstraZeneca, Abbvie and Syneos, powering unique insights and incredibly high data capture rates in excess of 90%.

The company continues to be supported by its existing investors AlbionVC and DNV, which led a Series A investment round in 2020. The new investment supports further international expansion and continued development of world-leading technologies, including unique and patent-protected solutions for pain, clinical outcome and symptom tracking. Having entered the US in 2021, and with support of a US-based healthcare investor, uMotif's North American team will significantly grow - including in sales, marketing and service delivery. This growth takes place alongside a continued focus on developing the industry's most patient-centric technology. uMotif works closely with partners to offer trial sponsors a seamless, beautiful and engaging patient-first experience to power site-based and decentralized trials.

Steve Rosenberg, CEO of uMotif said:

"We are delighted to welcome Athyrium to support our journey to be the most patient-centric platform for research. I truly believe that clinical research must put patients first, delivering more engaging research studies. With this investment from Athyrium I'm excited to grow our global capabilities to better serve our sponsors, partners and - most importantly - the patients we help take part in research."

Mark Kavulich, Partner at Athyrium said:

"Over recent years we have seen how the global eClinical market is significantly growing and quickly changing. uMotif's approach to engaging patients in research is truly differentiated, patent-protected and is built on technology ready to scale. We're excited to be joining the uMotif journey and supporting significant scale up in the coming years."

Rothschild & Co acted as financial advisor to Athyrium, and Ropes & Gray LLP acted as legal advisor to Athyrium. Bird & Bird LLP acted as legal advisor to uMotif.

About uMotif

uMotif's mission is to put patients at the center of clinical research. Designed with patients for patients, the uMotif patient-first eClinical platform powers site-based to fully decentralised clinical, real-world, and post-marketing research. By engaging patients and healthcare professionals, uMotif is trusted by global pharmaceutical companies, biotechs, CROs, and academic institutions to capture large volumes of eCOA/ePRO, symptom, and wearable device data. www.umotif.com

For Press contact:

Sally Vernon: sally.vernon@umotif.com

About Athyrium Capital Management

Athyrium is a specialized asset management company formed in 2008 to focus on investment opportunities in the global healthcare sector. Athyrium advises funds with over $4.6 billion in committed capital. The Athyrium team has substantial investment experience across a wide range of asset classes including public equity, private equity, fixed income, royalties, and other structured securities. Athyrium invests across all healthcare verticals including biopharma, medical devices and products, healthcare focused services, and healthcare information technology. The team partners with management teams to implement creative financing solutions to companies' capital needs. For more information, please visit www.athyrium.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1825278/uMotif_New_Investment.jpg
Press Release



Bill McFarland appointed as Refresco's new CFO

Rotterdam, The Netherlands - May 25, 2022 - Refresco Group B.V. ("Refresco" or "the Company"), the global independent beverage solutions provider for Global, National and Emerging (GNE) brands, and retailers in Europe and North America, today announces that Adee Packer has stepped down as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Member of the Executive Board.

Bill McFarland, CFO of Refresco North America, will be appointed as CFO for the Group, effective 1 July 2022. Bill joined the Company through the acquisition of Cott Beverages, where he was CFO since 2013, and has over 20 years of experience in the FMCG industry. Prior to his career at Cott, Bill held several finance roles at Molson Coors, an international beverage company. He has worked and lived in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

Andre Voogt, M&A Director Refresco North America, will step into the role of CFO Refresco North America, also effective 1 July 2022. Andre has been with Refresco for over 15 years, mainly in senior finance roles. When Refresco set its first steps in North America in 2016, Andre led the local finance organization. From 2018 to 2020, Andre was responsible for the integration of Cott Beverages into Refresco, and member of the North America Leadership Team.



CEO Refresco, Hans Roelofs commented:

"I am pleased to welcome Bill as our new Group CFO and member of the Executive Board. Bill and I have been working together ever since he came on board in 2018, and I look forward to working side by side going forward. We welcome Bill's financial expertise, knowledge of our business and deep understanding of the beverage industry. Together with his strong leadership skills, I am confident that Bill will continue to support delivering Refresco's strategic objectives.

"In Andre, we have found an excellent successor for Bill. Andre knows our North American business as well as the local beverage market inside out, especially considering his current role as M&A Director North America and previous experience as VP Integration. Andre is a well-respected member of the North America leadership team and has a proven track record in financial management.

"Last but not least, we thank Adee for his contribution to the Company over the past year and wish him success in his future endeavors."

Attachment
STOCKHOLM, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday 25 May, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany and Norway, Annalena Baerbock and Anniken Huitfeldt, visited sustainable battery materials producer Vianode, an Elkem company, in Kristiansand, Norway.

Vianode has developed a range of synthetic graphite products for batteries with unique performance characteristics and produced with significantly lower CO2 emissions than today's standard materials - supporting the ambitions of leading battery cell and automotive manufacturers.

Elkem Fiskaa in Kristiansand, Norway, is the site of the company's industrial pilot plant, which has been established to prepare the basis for evaluating full-scale production. A potential first full-scale plant for Vianode will produce graphite for more than 1 million EVs per year, making a significant contribution to a European battery value chain.

Helge Aasen, Elkem's CEO, together with Stian Madshus, General Manager Europe for Vianode, welcomed Mmes. Baerbock and Huitfeldt with a presentation of Elkem and Vianode and tour of the industrial pilot plant for battery materials production.

"The market for battery materials is growing at an exponential rate and developing sustainable value chains is critical for the green transformation. Vianode aims to become a leading producer of sustainable battery materials, and this represents an attractive growth opportunity for Elkem. As a leading global hub for the automotive industry, Germany is one of the key markets both for both Elkem and Vianode. We highly appreciate this visit by the two foreign ministers and the dialogue with stakeholders on building a European battery industry," says Elkem CEO, Helge Aasen.

Founded in 2021, Vianode currently has around 50 employees. The company builds on Elkem's experience in advanced material solutions as well as its in-house research and development resources. An investment decision for a potential first-phase plant is expected during the first half of 2022.

Vianode recently announced a transaction where Hydro and Altor each will acquire 30% ownership in Vianode, while Elkem will retain the remaining 40% ownership. Hydro and Altor both add significant experience and expertise in developing large-scale industrial projects in the battery value chain. The transaction is subject to formal approval by all parties and regulatory approvals, including competition authorities.

CONTACT:

For further information, please contact:

Fredrik Norman

VP Corporate Communications & Public Affairs

Tel: +47 918 66 567

E-mail: fredrik.norman@elkem.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/elkem/r/foreign-ministers-of-germany-and-norway-visit-elkem-and-sustainable-battery-materials-producer-viano,c3574639

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Lee Kyung-eun, director at Human Rights Beyond Borders and author of "The Global Orphan Adoption System," poses with her book at her office in Seoul, May 20. Courtesy of Lee Kyung-eun



Lee Kyung-eun to meet Korean adoptees during Europe book tour next month



By Jung Min-ho



If inter-country adoption truly was intended "for the best" of children born in poor countries, why doesn't anyone listen to them when they finally have a voice to say that it wasn't what they wanted?



Inter-country adoptees' access to knowledge of their origins is still denied over their biological parents' right to privacy in Korea, a nation that remains as one of the leading "baby exporters" despite being the world's 10th-largest economy today.



Lee Kyung-eun, 53, one of the most famous, indefatigable defenders of adoptees' rights and author of "The Global Orphan Adoption System," will listen to the voices of Korean adoptees in person next month during her book tour in four European cities  Amsterdam, The Hague, Copenhagen and Stockholm.



"I hope my tour will serve as a momentum for a collaborative effort between 'sending' and 'receiving' countries for adoption system reform," Lee said in a recent interview.



Lee, who has served as co-editor of the "Dialogues with Adoptees" series on The Korea Times' website for more than a year, plans to meet government officials, members of the media and human rights activists between June 8 and 30.



Her book, which was published on Nov. 30, 2021, tells how the current transnational system for adoption was born and what roles Korea played  and still plays  in developing it with case studies from around the world. It is a collection of her years of research on the topic at Seoul National University.



"Are you an adoptee, too?" This is the question she has been frequently asked.



"After receiving the same question so many times, I asked an adoptee why they would want to know it. He said when adoptees talk about their difficulties such as identity confusion, no one, not even their family members, understands them. So adoptees probably assume that I was one of them," Lee said.



Translating her research into English was an arduous work, which took more than two years. But she thought it was necessary because the most important readers of the book would be adoptees, not just from Korea but all over the world, most of whom do not read Korean.



"After publishing the book, which explains many complicated issues with much legal jargon, I was worried. I wondered  nervously  how adoptees would react to it," she said. "It did not take long for me to realize that there are many readers who understand my intention. I'm deeply grateful."



Reforming the inter-country adoption system will take many years, if not decades, because it involves different countries and, in Korea's case, the rights of Korean adoptees  holders of other citizenships  conflict with other rights. When asked about the most urgent reform area, Lee said that setting up a reasonable system for those searching for their origins here should be a priority.



"Currently, they are left without any legal support, even though Korea recognizes 'the right to know'  In reality, many seek help from private adoption agencies which have extensive discretion over how much information they can have," Lee said. "In most cases, they give up before trying."



According to the International Social Service, a nonprofit organization that supports children, Korea sent 266 children overseas through adoption in 2020. The number is the world's third largest.



Lee, former deputy secretary for the presidential office for overseas PR and former Amnesty International Korea director, established Human Rights Beyond Borders last year to "create a global movement that campaigns to defend adopted people's right to origins."


Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Satori Resources Inc. (TSXV: BUD) ("Satori" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of its 2022 Phase I drill program at Tartan Lake. A total of 10 holes (2,900 metres) were completed. Seven holes targeted the McFadden showing, an area of intense quartz-carbonate-tourmaline veining hosted in intensely sheared and deformed volcanics, approximately 1.5 kilometres south of the Main Zone.

The remaining three holes targeted the down-plunge extension of the South Zone approximately 100 meters below hole TLSZ21-05 which intersected 9.59 g/t Au over 11.75 metres, the highest value intercept ever reported at the South Zone (See news release dated October 14, 2021).

Assays for the 2022 Phase I program are expected in June 2022. The Company is currently planning its 2022 Phase II field program, which will: (i) test the extent of the new hanging wall zone identified in hole TLMZ21-12, intersecting 47.56 g/t Au over 5.8 meters, within a wider interval averaging 23.76 g/t Au over 12.6 meters - (See news release dated December 6, 2021); and (ii) conduct a ground reconnaissance program to investigate surficial geology and access to the large chargeability conductor shown in the north-west portion of the recently completed IP data (See Figure 1 below).

Jennifer Boyle, Chief Executive Officer, states that "Our focus has been to increase the mineral resource at Tartan Lake with the objective of outlining the potential to host a million ounces. Our drilling to date has successfully extended both the Main and South Zone to depth, along plunge, reporting grades and interval widths that are among the best intercepts ever reported at Tartan Lake. Our next step is to demonstrate additional mineralization distal to the two known resource areas. Based on the available data, McFadden was the most advanced target, demonstrating similar lithologies to the known gold bearing areas with promising surface results. The winter IP survey identified additional untested drill targets within the claim block that we plan to systematically test as part of our continued exploration effort. The Tartan Lake mine shut down in 1989 when the price of gold fell below USD$400, leaving behind a developed ramp system to the known mineral resource. The project has never been systematically evaluated since the closure of the mine. Tartan Lake is located in the heart of the most significant VMS district in the world, where several, high grade copper- zinc-gold deposits have been discovered and mined."

Figure 1: Induced Polarization Survey Tartan Lake Mine Project - Winter 2022



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3276/125236_18e529e24469d9e3_002full.jpg

Wes Hanson P.Geo., Director of Satori, is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved the contents of this press release.

ABOUT SATORI RESOURCES INC. (TSXV: BUD)

Satori is a Toronto-based mineral exploration and development company whose primary property is expanding the resource at the past producing Tartan Lake Gold Mine Project, located in the prolific Flin Flon Greenstone Belt, Manitoba.

The Tartan Lake Project (2,670 Ha.) is located approximately 12 kilometres northeast of Flin Flon, Manitoba, and includes the Tartan Lake Mine (1986-1989) which produced 36,000 ounces of gold before the mine was shut down due to, in part, the price of gold falling below USD$390. Remaining infrastructure includes: an indicated resource estimate of 240,000 ounces averaging 6.32 g/t Au (see news release February 23, 2017), an all-season access road, grid connected power supply, mill, mechanical, warehouse and office buildings, tailing impoundment and a 2,100 metre decline and developed underground mining galleries to a depth of 300 metres from surface. Gold mineralization is associated with anastomosing quartz-carbonate veins hosted in east-west striking, steeply dipping shear zones up to 30 metres in width. The veins vary from several centimetres to several metres in width and gold grades vary from 1.0 to +100 g/t. Satori believes the mineral resources of the project are currently limited by drill coverage.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Jennifer Boyle, B.A., LL.B.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Satori Resources Inc.

(416) 904-2714

jennifer@capexgroupinc.com

Mr. Pete Shippen

Chair, Satori Resources Inc.

(416) 930-7711

pjs@extramedium.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release of Satori contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Satori's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125236
DLT Resolution's Union Strategies lands large long-term care local in Niagara region to its YOUnified () SAAS

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / DLT Resolution Inc. (OTC PINK:DLTI), is pleased to announce its wholly owned Union Strategies Inc Subsidiary ("USI") has secured a large long-term care local in Niagara region to it's proprietary YOUnified () application.

Union Strategies Inc. works with a versatile group of locals Canada-wide, and the newest piece of business includes a long-term care local in the Niagara region with thousands of members attached to it.

It is usually the case for Locals to be excited by what YOUnified () has to offer - and this local is no different. They are eager to use our campaign 'click-to-call' feature, along with our grievance piece to utilize for their members. And with no surprise, they are extremely happy with the remote voting integration in YOUnified () and how versatile it is. They confirmed that there is no competition when it comes to it!

What is YOUnified ()?

A a software as a service (SAAS), YOUnified () combines the many required services to run the business of a union into one unified platform. YOUnified () 's goal is to assist in increasing member engagement, decrease the local's expenses, and save everyone time. With this app, Unions will have everything they require to connect with members, as well as maintain the local's needs.

Union Strategies made every effort to make this app as adaptable and simple as possible for every age demographic. Members are overwhelmingly delighted with the ease and effectiveness this platform is for them.

YOUnified () allows the union to push notify members of any, and every, important update with just a simple click of a button. You can notify members of an important meeting, election, or reminders of significant dates. In short, this app is truly made for everyone - from the Executive to the members. Some of the basic features include the following:

Call Drops

Email Blast

Text Blasts

Mailing Labels

Voting

Conference Center

Accounting

Virtual Meetings

Cloud Networking

Push notifications

IT Support

Social media

Graphics

YOUnified () holds different features for different viewers. An example being, an Executive member will have access to perform call drops, text blasts, email blasts, and everything in between, where as a member will be able to receive these important updates, connect with their Executive Board, vote on elections, purchase "swag" and much more!

About Union Strategies

USI has been providing a suite of products and services to Unions for over 10 years. The company designs, builds, and executes programs resulting in greater success for unions. Programs are designed to engage the membership, decrease expenses, and save time for a more productive business. The Company's suite includes secure electronic voting, Telecommunications, Event Management, Professional Writing, Social Media Management, Web Design, Graphic Services, and Promotional Offerings. The company is a one-stop-shop for all things union. The company has more than 130 clients that are considered "mid-market" in terms of overall size of the local with more than 450,000 members. USI operates nationally in Canada and looks to expand into the USA imminently.

Learn more at: UnionStrategiesinc.com

About DLT Resolution Inc.

DLT Resolution Inc. currently operates in three high-tech industry segments: Blockchain Applications & Cyber Security; Software As A Service (SAAS) including Electronic Remote Voting, Telecommunications; and Data Services which includes Image Capture, Data Collection, Data Phone Center Services, and Payment Processing. Its clients represent some of the top businesses from a variety of sectors. DLT Resolution helps organizations that have invoices, ledgers, statements, applications, surveys, employee and customer rewards programs and a wide range of other non-core functions benefit from data management. DLT Resolution also operates a Health Information Exchange providing the ability to request and retrieve medical information & records while meeting all of today's Security & Compliance demands for HIPAA, PIPEDA and PHIPA. Through RecordsBank, the Company offers an easy-to-use online gateway to its centralized system for patients, lawyers and insurers to retrieve and access medical records.

Learn more at: www.dltresolution.com

Disclaimer: 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 Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations or forecasts of future events, can be affected by inaccurate assumptions, and are subject to various business risks and known and unknown uncertainties, a number of which are beyond the control of management. Therefore, actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information respecting the factors that could materially affect the Company and its operations are contained in its annual report on Form 10K and Form 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: DLT Resolution Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702669/Union-Strategies-Inc-Successfully-Signs-on-Large-Long-Term-Care-Local-in-Niagara-Region-to-YOUnified-TM
Menlo Park, California, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Boulder, Colorado--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Intellabridge Technology Corporation (the "Company" or "Intellabridge") (CSE: KASH) (OTCQB: KASHF) (FSE: KASH), announced that it's CEO, John Eagleton, is presenting today at the H.C. Wainwright Global Investment Conference.

The presentation will focus on the Company's KTX platform for institutional investors, which is expected to provide support for multichain assets on Web3, DeFi token indexes, yield liquidity products, and other DeFi investment strategies. The Company plans to roll out the first version of the KTX platform in Q1 2023. Institutional investors can get on the waiting list by signing up for a Kash Treasury account on www.kash.io/treasury.

In addition, John Eagleton is available for one-on-one meetings during the conference. Registered investors are able to request a meeting with the CEO via the conference portal.

The company has also released a new corporate presentation available on www.intellabridge.com.

About H.C. Wainwright & Co.

H.C. Wainwright is a full service investment bank dedicated to providing corporate finance, strategic advisory and related services to public and private companies across multiple sectors and regions. H.C. Wainwright & Co. also provides research and sales and trading services to institutional investors. According to Sagient Research Systems, H.C. Wainwright's team is ranked as the #1 Placement Agent in terms of aggregate CMPO (confidentially marketed public offering), RD (registered direct offering) and PIPE (private investment in public equity) executed cumulatively since 1998.

For more information visit H.C. Wainwright & Co. on the web at www.hcwco.com

About Intellabridge Technology Corporation

Intellabridge Technology Corporation (CSE: KASH) (OTCQB: KASHF) (FSE: KASH) is a financial technology company with a digital investment and banking solution based on a hybrid of traditional finance and Web3 blockchain technologies that provides customers with access to decentralized financial applications with additional layers of cybersecurity and customer service. The Kash product features TradFi USD bank accounts and fiat-crypto exchange through Prime Trust, and DeFi investment solutions and yield products, with plans to offer debit cards, virtual cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay in Europe and the Americas.

The Kash platform is available on web and mobile at kash.io.

For more information on Intellabridge, visit www.intellabridge.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD of DIRECTORS

INTELLABRIDGE TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

"Maria Eagleton"

Maria Eagleton, COO

To contact Intellabridge:

Website: intellabridge.com

Phone: +1-303-800-5333

Email: maria@intellabridge.com

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements

within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively "forward-looking statements"). The use of any of the word "will" and similar expressions 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. Such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors. The Company believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. The Company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

###

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125246


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - In a key step aimed at building public trust in U.S. police force and strengthening public safety, President Joe Biden will sign an order Wednesday to advance effective, accountable policing and criminal justice practices.



The signing of the historic executive order, scheduled for 4 PM ET at the White House, coincides with the second anniversary of the brutal killing of George Floyd, a black truck driver who was choked to death during arrest by a police officer in Minneapolis.



The murder of George Floyd exposed the lack of impartial justice that American Black and Brown communities have long been experiencing.



The incident sparked one of the largest social movements the United States has ever seen, with calls from all corners to acknowledge the legacy of systemic racism in the country's criminal justice system and institutions.



After his murder, protests against police brutality, especially towards black people, quickly spread across the United States and globally. His dying words, 'I can't breathe,' became a rallying cry.



In a factsheet released by the White House, the Biden administration acknowledged, saying, 'There are places in America today where the bonds of trust are frayed or broken'. 'To heal as a nation, we must acknowledge that fatal encounters with law enforcement have disproportionately involved Black and Brown people.'



The Executive Order will enhance public trust by promoting accountability, transparency, and the principles of equality and dignity in policing and the larger criminal justice system.



The EO also requires the use of federal tools such as guidance on best practices, training and technical assistance, and grant making to support reforms at State, Tribal, local, and territorial law enforcement agencies.



The EO orders the Attorney General to establish a National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, in which all Federal law enforcement agencies must participate. The database will include records of police officers' misconduct as well as commendations and awards they received.



The EO requires steps to improve the investigation and prosecution of criminal civil rights violations.



Law enforcement agencies will be required to adopt measures to promote thorough investigation and preservation of evidence after incidents involving the use of deadly force or deaths in custody take place.



Using body-worn cameras during arrests and searches will be made mandatory.



Footage of incidents involving serious bodily injury or deaths in custody must be released as soon as possible for the public.



The new order bans the use of chokeholds and carotid restraints unless deadly force is authorized, and restricts the use of no-knock entries.



New standards that limit the use of force and require de-escalation will be set for all federal agencies.



An updated approach will be followed for recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention of U.S. police officers.



All Federal LEAs must conduct anti-bias training annually, and implement procedures to respond meaningfully to complaints of bias.



Within six months, all Federal LEAs must collect and submit on a monthly basis all data on incidents involving use of deadly force.



A new committee will be formed to propose reforms in the U.S. criminal justice system.



The Attorney General will update DOJ policy as necessary to fully implement the FIRST STEP Act.







Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



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PETAH TIKVA (dpa-AFX) - Teva Pharmaceuticals and its affiliates has reached an agreement with the Attorney General of West Virginia that settles the state's and its subdivisions opioid-related claims. Teva will provide the generic version of Narcan, valued at $27 million, over 10 years. The settlement will provide West Virginia with $75 million over 15 years in addition to $8 million in attorneys' fees and costs. Teva Pharmaceuticals stated the settlement is another critical step forward in getting life-saving treatments to people suffering from addiction to opioids. Teva noted that the company continues to actively negotiate a national settlement. 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.
CDB Aviation, a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., Limited ("CDB Leasing"), announced today the appointment of Brian Dowling as Chief Technical Officer.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220519006015/en/

Brian Dowling, CDB Aviation's newly appointed Chief Technical Officer, is a highly regarded technical expert, who has handled a broad range of complex transactions, including aircraft transitions, as well as has led LOI and lease execution and has overseen relationships with global OEM and MRO organizations. (Photo: Business Wire)

With a long-standing career spanning over four decades in the aircraft leasing and Airline Maintenance, Repair Overhaul ("MRO") industries, Dowling is a highly regarded technical expert, who has handled a broad range of complex transactions, including aircraft transitions, as well as has led LOI and lease execution and has overseen relationships with global OEM and MRO organizations.

"Brian has led our technical team during this past year, exhibiting a profound understanding of our platform's unique technical requirements," commented Patrick Hannigan, CDB Aviation's Chief Executive Officer. "It's no easy task in any environment to gauge and respond to business requirements in this area. The notable results he and his team have achieved under his leadership leave no question as to Brian's capabilities. We're thrilled to welcome him to our leadership team."

Dowling joined the company in 2017 as Head of Transitions and Transactions. While overseeing technical support to the airline marketing and aircraft trading functions, he also led technical operations in regional offices in Ireland, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. Prior to CDB Aviation, Dowling was Senior Vice President, Technical Asset Management, at SMBC Aviation Capital. Previously, he was Hangar Line Manager Senior Quality Assurance Manager with Lufthansa Technic Shannon, Aer Lingus, Dan Air, and Nigeria Airways. He started his career as Avionic Licensed Engineer at Gatwick and Dublin Airports.

Dowling is an FAA and EASA certified engineer. He earned his M.Sc. in Air Transportation Management from City University, London. He was a lecturer in CIT's Aircraft Acquisition and Finance course and is currently teaching in the Master's in Aviation program at Cranfield University.

"Leading our technical operations has offered me a superb challenge, especially in light of the aviation business' cyclical nature and the pandemic's astounding ramifications for the industry," said Brian Dowling, CDB Aviation's Chief Technical Officer. "I find the people aspect of my role most rewarding because my colleagues bring incredible ingenuity to every challenge. I look forward to furthering the efforts in support of leasing customers and, as importantly, the team here at CDB Aviation."

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, beliefs or opinions, including with respect to CDB Aviation's business, financial condition, results of operations or plans. CDB Aviation cautions readers that no forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future performance and that actual results or other financial condition or performance measures could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate only to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements sometimes use words such as "may", "will", "seek", "continue", "aim", "anticipate", "target", "projected", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "plan", "goal", "believe", "achieve" or other terminology or words of similar or analogous meaning. These statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of CDB Aviation's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results and we do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake any obligation to, and will not, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About CDB Aviation

CDB Aviation is a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., Limited ("CDB Leasing"), a 36-year-old Chinese leasing company that is backed mainly by the China Development Bank. CDB Aviation is rated Investment Grade by Moody's (A2), S&P Global (A), and Fitch (A+). China Development Bank is under the direct jurisdiction of the State Council of China and is the world's largest development finance institution. It is also the largest Chinese bank for foreign investment and financing cooperation, long-term lending and bond issuance, enjoying Chinese sovereign credit rating.

CDB Leasing is the only leasing arm of the China Development Bank and a leading company in China's leasing industry that has been engaged in aircraft, infrastructure, ship, commercial vehicle and construction machinery leasing and enjoys a Chinese sovereign credit rating. It took an important step in July 2016 to globalize and marketize its business listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX STOCK CODE: 1606). www.CDBAviation.aero

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220519006015/en/

Contacts:

Media contact: Paul Thibeau

Paul.THIBEAU@CDBAviation.aero; +1 612 594 9844
ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Startup Studio Insider, an online community for entrepreneurs to share thoughts, insights, and learnings on the startup studio model of investments has recently launched their own virtual domain startupstudios.com. This new publication will further expand on the work of both new and seasoned entrepreneurs who are intrigued by the potential of the evolving studio model to meet the needs of modern businesses growing out of bold ideas today.

The startup studio model is a concept that has attracted much attention in recent years from entrepreneurs and investors alike. Startup Studio Insider has become the latest space for the startup community to discuss the nuances and potential of the studio model in an open and insightful way.

Since Fall 2020, the Startup Studio Insider team, guided by its CEO and serial entrepreneur Craig Kronenbeger, has led the conversation on how startup studios can help to build innovative companies and provide expert insights on scaling for growth. The goal of this platform is to provide a lens on how startup studios can deliver that much-needed thought-leadership on how to identify the right opportunity, build the right product, find the right investors, and build exceptional teams to execute on ground-breaking ideas.

"For me, the common thread has always been the potential for digital channels to connect people, and I have remained vigilant about identifying new opportunities to do things in a smarter, more efficient way," said Kronenberger.

Startup Studio Insider has captured the essence of this model by featuring a wide array of startup studios from all over the world including top tier organizations like eFounders , Wilbur Labs , Builders , and Coplex , all of whom have been instrumental in catalyzing and pioneering new innovative ways to reframe this model and ensure repeatable success with the startup they launch.

To learn more about what some of the best startup studios have successfully helped launch in the past, visit startupstudios.com.

Contact:

Andrew Mitchell

Email: media@cambridgeglobalmedia.com

Phone: 404-955-7133

SOURCE: Cambridge Global

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702677/Startup-Studio-Insider-Launches-Startupstudioscom
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tuesday, top White House officials hosted a meeting with state legislative leaders on protecting U.S. women's access to reproductive health care. White House Gender Policy Council Director Jennifer Klein and White House Intergovernmental Affairs Director Julie Chavez Rodriguez chaired the meeting. State legislative leaders shared the steps they have taken so far to protect access to abortion, as well as plans to further expand care, and discussed ways the Administration can support state and local efforts. State legislative leaders who attended the meeting included California Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, California Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, Illinois Representative Anna Moeller, Illinois Senator Celina Villanueva, Illinois Senator Julie Morrison, Maryland Delegate Ariana Kelly, New York Senator Liz Krueger, Oregon Senate Majority Leader Rob Wagner, Oregon House Majority Leader Julie Fahey, Oregon Representative Andrea Valderrama, Oregon Senator Deb Patterson and Washington President Pro Tempore Karen Keiser. The discussion follows the passage of proactive reproductive rights measures in at least 10 states so far in the 2022 legislative session, including in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington. These actions to protect and expand access to reproductive health care stand in sharp contrast to a wave of abortion bans and restrictions that many other states have passed. Oklahoma is the latest among them, having passed a Bill last week that would ban abortions from the stage of fertilization, effectively prohibiting almost all abortions in the state. But at the same time, The Women's Health Protection Act, a Democrat-led legislation to codify U.S. women's reproductive rights including the right to abortion nationwide, failed to pass in the Senate after it fell short of the 60-vote threshold earlier this month. 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.
Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Antler Gold Inc. (TSXV: ANTL) ("Antler" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on acitivites on its projects in Namibia and Zambia.

Onkoshi Project, Namibia

The Company anonuced on April 13, 2022 that it and its wholly owned subsdiary, Antler Gold Namibia (Pty) Ltd. ("Antler Namibia") had entered into a binding agreement dated April 13, 2022 to acquire 90% of the Onkoshi Gold Project (the "Project") in Namibia (the "Agreement") from an arm's length vendor. The Project will be held in Antler's project generation vehicle ("Project Generator") owned 87.5% by Antler and 12.5% by Sherpa Resource Holdings Ltd. (see Antler Press Release dated March 24, 2022 for details). The Onkoshi Gold Project, previously known by the Erindi and Vredelus Projects, is considered to rank as one of the best gold targets in Namibia, arguably alongside the B2Gold's Otjikoto deposit (2004, Robertson, M.).

The Project is located approximately 140km northwest of Windhoek and covers highly prospective areas of the Damara Mobile Belt for gold and shares significant similarities to B2Gold's Otjikoto deposits. The project has had a significant amount of historical work performed over it which has successfully delineated open-ended mineralization with an interpreted combined strike length in the order of 5.5 km. A desktop review of all historic data has commenced by Project Generator. In addition, the Company has begun the environmental work which will form part of the Environmental Compliance Certificate ("ECC") application. The company has also commenced negotiations with the various surface right owners encompased by the EPL to secure access for exploration activites.

Figure 1 below shows the combined 5.5 km remanent magnetic anomaly associated with the Project. This remanent magnetic anomaly has a footprint similar in size to that of B2 Gold's Otjikoto deposit.

2004, Robertson, M., QUALIFYING REPORT AND VALUATION OF EXPLORATION PROPERTIES IN NORTH-CENTRAL AND NORTHWESTERN NAMIBIA HELD BY BAFEX EXPLORATION (PTY) LTD. Report prepared for Helio Capital Corporation, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Steffen, Robertson and Kirsten (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd.





Figure 1: Remanent magnetic anomaly defined from historical magnetic surveys have an interpreted combined strike length in the order of 5.5 km. For comparison purposes, the footprint of B2 Gold's Otjikoto deposit remanent anomaly is illustrated (note that this is a size comparison only and does not represent the actual locatity of the Otjikoto deposit).

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5124/125256_antler_figure1.png

Table 1 below contains previous drill holes reported in a NI 43-101 report completed in 2004 by Michael Robertson for Helio Capital Corporation (2004, Robertson, M) ("Helio Technical Report"). Note that the results below are historic and have not been verified by Antler.

Table 1: Summary of Rossing Uranium Ltd. best RC drill and diamond drill intersections calculated at a cut-off of 0.5 g/t Au.

Drillhole Depth (m) Intersection ERRC 18 12-23 9.53 g/t Au over 11 m ERRC 23 51-56 3.04 g/t Au over 5 m and 60-67 4.88 g/t Au over 7 m ERRC 25 26-38 3.09 g/t Au over 12 m ERD 2 11.18-23.53 5.54 g/t Au over 12.35 m ERD 3 5.92-12.34 3.27 g/t Au over 6.42 m and 70.64-75.64 12.85 g/t Au over 5 m

Significant exploration potential exists on the Project, as outlined in the Helio Technical Report and based on the initial review of the Project data by Remote Exploration Services (Pty) Ltd. ("RES") on behalf of the Project Generator, and includes:

Limited historical work over the strike extents of both the historical Erindi and Vredelus Prospects and offers immediate exploration targets;

Numerous significant gold in rock and gold in soil anomalies discovered during historical sampling campaigns were not followed up with any additional exploration work;

Historical analytical lower limits of detection for gold were in the order of 20 ppb and thus potential gold mineralisation with a surface expression of less than 20 ppb would not have been delineated by the historical soil sampling campaigns; and

Mineralisation on the Project has been shown to be conductive and magnetic and is therefore suitable for detection by both magnetic and electrical geophysical survey techniques.

Erongo Project, Namibia

The Erongo Project covers highly prospective areas of the Damara Mobile Belt for gold and overlies similar lithologies and structures as Osino Resources' Twin Hills deposit.

The Company announced on August 4, 2021 the identification of a gold in calcrete anomaly (over 5 ppb Au with a peak value of 45 ppb) supported by a coincidental magnetic anomaly in the north east portion of the C2 Ext sampling grid (Figure 2). Due to the pervasive calcrete cover thickness, this is interpreted to represent a significant gold anomaly as thick calcrete horizons usually act as barriers to soil geochemical dispersions. Based on the success of this sampling, an additional target area was defined south of C2 ("C2 S") that is underlain by significant geophysical magnetic anomalies directly along strike of the Twin Hills deposit (Figure 2). The Company has collected 1,532 soil and calcrete samples (inclusive of QAQC) from C2 S and is currently awaiting assay results.

Figure 2: Position of the C2 Ext gold in calcrete anomaly and the C2 S sampling grid underlain by significant magnetic anomalies directly along strike form Osino Resources' Twin Hills deposit.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5124/125256_antler_figure2.png

Kesya REE Project, Zambia

On August 6, 2021, the Company announced it has entered into a binding letter agreement with an arm's length vendor to acquire the Kesya Project, a greenfields rare earth project in Zambia.

The Project being acquired from the Vendor contains a carbonatite which was first identified in the 1960's in the Kafue district in southern Zambia. The Company has successfully entered into land access agreements with the various traditional authorities to allow work in the chiefdoms that are located within the boundaries of the Kesya Project. Subsequently, the Company has hired an independent environmental management firm to compile the Environmental Project Brief (EPB). This work commenced in September 2021. The initial site visit by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) has taken place.

A reconnaissance mapping and sampling campaign to attempt to verify historical exploration results has been completed over a small portion of the Kesya carbonatite. In total, 65 hard rock grab samples (inclusive of QAQC) were collected in order to preliminarily investigate historically reported total rare earth oxides grades within the carbonatite and identify areas of potential enrichment.

Samples were exported from Zambia and processed at Actlabs Canada using process code 8-REE which is a lithium metaborate/tetraborate fusion technique with subsequent analysis by ICP-OES and ICP-MS. Assay results from surface grab samples returned TREO grades of up to 0.66 % TREO along with elevated thorium and phosphorous, which are indicative geochemical signatures for a carbonatite system. All surface weathered carbonatite samples returned grade greater than 0.1 % TREO. Of note is the heavy weighting of 33 % NdPr as proportion of the TREO basket across the samples. Petrographical studies suggest an Nd rich monazite-(Nd) as the potential host of the REE deportment.

The Company plans further mapping and sampling as well as petrographic work on rock grab samples collected to date to identify the REE mineralogy association. A scout RC program is also being considered to investigate potential changes in minerology at depth.

Future Plans

The Company is currently reviewing several opportunities for Antler Gold PG as well as for the Company's wholly owned subsidiaries in Namibia and Zambia.

Qualified Person

Peter Hollick, BSc. (Hons), is a Consulting Geologist at RES and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. Mr. Hollick is a registered Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (Pr. Sci. Nat. No. 400113/93) and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

About Antler Gold Inc.

Antler Gold Inc. (TSXV: ANTL) is a Canadian company, focused on the acquisition and exploration of gold projects in Namibia, Zambia and Africa both through its wholly owned subsidiary and through Antler Gold PG, a company owned by Antler and Sherpa Resource Holdings, a company related to Remote Exploration Services, one of the premier mineral exploration contractors in Africa. Antler is currently working on the Onkoshi Gold Project as well as the Erongo Gold Project, both of which cover areas of the Central Damara Belt, and share geological similarities to the areas containing the known Namibian Gold mines (QKR's Navachab and B2 Golds' Otjikoto) as well as Osino's recent Twin Hills discovery. Namibia is recognized as one of Africa's most politically stable jurisdictions, with an extremely well-established national infrastructure.

Further details are available on the Company's website at www.antlergold.com.

Cautionary Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information, such as statements regarding the acquisition of the Onkoshi Gold Project in Namibia by Antler and future plans and objectives of Antler, including the acquisition of new projects in Africa. This information is based on current expectations and assumptions (including assumptions in connection with the continuance of the applicable company as a going concern and general economic and market conditions) that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, including risks relating to the ability to satisfy the conditions to complete transactions, exploration programmes and fund acquisitions in Africa. Actual results may differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking information. Antler assumes no obligation to update forward-looking information in this release, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking information unless and until required by applicable securities laws. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings made by Antler with Canadian securities regulators, copies of which are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please contact Daniel Whittaker, President and CEO of Antler Gold Inc., at (902) 488-4700 or Chris Drysdale, VP at +264 81 220 2439.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125256
Phoenix, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - The Stock Day Podcast welcomed DarkPulse, Inc. (OTC Pink: DPLS) ("the Company"), a company that uses advanced laser-based monitoring systems to provide rapid and accurate monitoring of temperatures, strains, and stresses. CEO of the Company, Dennis O'Leary, joined Stock Day host, Sever Copley.

Copley began the interview by asking about the Company's dark pulsing technology and how it differs from bright pulsing systems. "Dark pulsing systems generate very high resolutions," explained O'Leary. "Competitively, we can do stress, strain, and temperature on the same single mode fiber optic cable, while bright pulsing systems cannot do that," he continued. "We are leagues ahead of everything else that is out there."

"What do these sensors measure?" asked Copley. O'Leary elaborated on the many applications of dark pulsing technology, and gave the example of shifting, pressure, and increased stress in bridges and other structures.

"Are you planning on using these same sensors in the Optilan systems?" asked Copley. "Historically, Optilan was a systems integrator," said O'Leary, when discussing the Company's recent acquisition. "The model for us is to go back to legacy contracts, previous customers, and active contracts and offer the upgrade to a dark pulse system."

"What can you tell us about the Company's announcement to re-engage with Energy and Industrial Partners, LLC ("EIAP")?" asked Copley. "We're looking to acquire companies that bring revenues to the balance sheet for DarkPulse," said O'Leary, noting that the Company is also interested in bringing new products to their current offerings. "We have decided to use EIAP because of the success of the Optilan acquisition."

"What can you tell us about your strategy to increase revenue and shareholder equity going forward?" asked Copley. "Again, we are looking towards strategic acquisitions with a focus on adding revenue," shared O'Leary. "We have also looked at costs across all of our subsidiaries and are working towards consolidating duplicate processes into a central hub, which will be based in our Houston office."

The conversation then turned to the Company's Smart Cities project. "The world is moving towards smart cities, and we believe that our dark pulse sensors will be the foundational technology to add in that transformation," said O'Leary. "We are working towards a dynamic charging system, where EV drivers will actually be able to charge their vehicles while driving on the highway," he shared. "This would eliminate the need for larger, more expensive, heavier batteries."

"What could you tell us about Smart Cities Connect?" asked Copley. "That is a great forum, and we are one of the platinum sponsors," shared O'Leary, adding that the Company is planning to release its 3D user interface, which monitors a bridge structurally. "We have also started programming a user interface into a unity game engine," he continued. "We also hope to be further along with our dynamic charging system," said O'Leary, noting that the Company will be providing a keynote speech, and will also be giving away 15 VIP passes to attend the event.

To close the interview, O'Leary encouraged listeners and shareholders to keep up-to-date on the Company's updates and latest projects across their website and social media presence as they continue to expand.

To hear Dennis O'Leary's entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8089772-darkpulse-inc-discusses-its-revenue-generation-strategy-with-the-stock-day-podcast.

Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of "Stock Day," and Stock Day Media encourages listeners to visit the Company's message board at https://investorshangout.com/.

About DarkPulse, Inc.

DarkPulse, Inc. uses advanced laser-based monitoring systems to provide rapid and accurate monitoring of temperatures, strains, and stresses. The Company's technology excels when applied to live, dynamic critical infrastructure and structural monitoring, including pipeline monitoring, perimeter and structural surveillance, aircraft structural components and mining safety. The Company's fiber-based monitoring systems can assist markets that are not currently served, and its unique technology covers extended areas and any event that is translated into the detection of a change in strain or temperature. In addition to the Company's ongoing efforts with respect to the marketing and sales of its technology products and services to its customers, the Company also continues to explore potential strategic alliances through joint venture and licensing opportunities to further expand its global market position.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the "safe harbor" created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "goal," "estimate," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this news release regarding our strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans, and objectives are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: our ability to successfully market our products and services; the acceptance of our products and services by customers; our continued ability to pay operating costs and ability to meet demand for our products and services; the amount and nature of competition from other security and telecom products and services; the effects of changes in the cybersecurity and telecom markets; our ability to successfully develop new products and services; our success establishing and maintaining collaborative, strategic alliance agreements, licensing and supplier arrangements; our ability to comply with applicable regulations; and the other risks and uncertainties described in our prior filings 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 because of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Contact:

DarkPulse Solutions, Inc.

media@DarkPulse.com

1.800.436.1436

About The "Stock Day" Podcast

Founded in 2013, Stock Day is the fastest growing media outlet for Nano-Cap and Micro-Cap companies. It educates investors while simultaneously working with penny stock and OTC companies, providing transparency and clarification of under-valued, under-sold Micro-Cap stocks of the market. Stock Day provides companies with customized solutions to their news distribution in both national and international media outlets. The Stock Day Podcast is the number one radio show of its kind in America.

SOURCE:

Stock Day Media

(602) 821-1102

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125266
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Mukthar Tileuberdi at the State Department in Washington, May 20. Blinken condemned North Korea's recent missile launches, Tuesday. Reuters-Yonhap





U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned North Korea's recent missile launches, a department spokesperson said Tuesday, amid suspicions that the recalcitrant country may stage another provocation, possibly a nuclear weapon test.







North Korea has staged 16 missile tests this year that included at least three of alleged intercontinental ballistic missiles.







Blinken and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong condemned the missile launches as destabilizing provocations in a meeting in Tokyo, Tuesday (local time).







"The secretary and foreign minister expressed their concerns around ongoing developments in the region, including the DPRK's continued destabilizing provocations, and committed to continue working closely with partners and allies to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific and to strengthen the resiliency, economic opportunity, and freedom for the Pacific Island region," department spokesperson Ned Price said in a press release.






NOIDA, India, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A comprehensive overview of the Bubble Tea Market is recently added by UnivDatos Market Insights to its humongous database. The report has been aggregated by collecting informative data from various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Automated Parking System Market. The report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Bubble Tea Market at the regional levels. The Bubble Tea Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~7.7% between 2021-2027.

Request Sample Copy of this Report athttps://univdatos.com/get-a-free-sample-form-php/?product_id=18202

Market Overview

Bubble tea, also known as boba tea or pearl milk tea, is a Taiwanese tea beverage. This refreshing drink can be made using any type of tea as the base, followed by a specific ratio of milk and sweetener, or no milk at all. Because of its growing popularity, bubble tea is gaining traction in emerging markets. Furthermore, rising health consciousness and changing consumer preferences towards healthy beverages such as green tea, black tea, oolong tea, and white tea is crucial factors driving the market growth. Moreover, zero fat and low-calorie content of these beverages, as well as their rising consumption among students and the working-class population, are proliferating the market growth. Many companies are pioneering delicious bubble tea drinks across a wide market, and they're even entering the food industry.

COVID-19 Impact

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic across the world has had a tremendous impact on different spectra of society, the market for Bubble Tea no less. Returning to some likeness of normalcy depends on continued safety measures, effective diagnostic testing, and widespread vaccination. COVID-19 has caused widely documented supply chain and logistics disruptions across industries, including those in the Bubble Tea industry, which have been exacerbated during the latter portion of fiscal 2021. However, as stay-at-home restrictions were lifted in many parts of the world by the 2nd-3rd quarter of 2020, the major industry players across North America and the Asia Pacific saw an increase in demand for many of its Bubble Tea products later during fiscal 2020 owing to the resumption in the production capacity. As a result, the Bubble Tea industry experienced strong demand in the latter half of fiscal 2020.

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The bubble Tea Market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

By Type, the market is primarily bifurcated into:

Black Tea

Green Tea

Oolong Tea

White Tea

Based on the type, the market is bifurcated in Black Tea, Green Tea, Oolong Tea, and White Tea. Among these segments, the black tea segment acquired the largest share of the market and is projected to continue this trend throughout the forecast period. This is primarily due to the increasing popularity of bubble tea with black tea as a base ingredient. Along with this, the rising consumption of black tea by health-conscious consumers is likely to contribute to the segment growth Additionally, a gradual shift in consumer preference towards natural and organic food and beverage products is another crucial factor driving the demand for black tea.

However, the green tea segment is expected to experience the fastest growth during the forecast period, owing to a surge in the number of health-conscious consumers across the world. According to NCBI, the consumption of healthy and natural ingredients like green tea help in reducing weight gain when consumed regularly.

By Flavor, the market is primarily studied into:

Flavor

Creamer

Sweetener

Liquid

Tapioca pearls

Others

Based on the flavor, the market is segmented into Original Flavor, Fruit Flavor, Chocolate Flavor, and Coffee Flavor. Among these segments, the fruit flavor segment is the most prominent segment attaining the highest share in the bubble tea market. It is mainly due to the rising demand for healthy beverages along with better taste among consumers. There is numerous flavor available in the market such as mango, lychee, plum, peach, strawberry, banana, avocado, kiwi, grape, lemon, and others. The demand for fruit flavor is projected to increase significantly during the forecast period owing to its high nutritional value and presence of diversity in flavor.

Moreover, chocolate and coffee flavor are also expected to capture a substantial share in the market owing to their high popularity among all age groups. Adding chocolate flavor to tea offers various health benefits like motivating the functioning of the brain and relieving physical stress. Also, these flavors are widely adopted as healthy energy drinks, thereby contributing to the overall market growth.

Bubble Tea Market Region Segmentation Includes:

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Rest of World

Based on the estimation, Geographically, North America leads the market in 2021. This is mainly due to the consumption of flavored drinks and Bubble Tea products. Furthermore, North American countries like the U.S. and Canada are among the consumer of Bubble Tea products, thereby contributing to the market growth.

Ask for Report Customization at https://univdatos.com/report/bubble-tea-market/

The major players targeting the market include:

Coco fresh Tea & Juice

ChaTime Group

Bubble Tea Supply Inc.

Gong Cha

Sharetea

Bubble Tea House Company

Ten Ren's Tea Time

Happy Lemon

Kung Fu Tea

Tiger Sugar

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating in the global context. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Bubble Tea Market. The major players have been analyzed using different research methodologies for getting insight views on market competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and advancements in the Bubble Tea Market?

Which factors are influencing the Bubble Tea Market over the forecast period?

What are the challenges, threats, and risks in the Bubble Tea Market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Bubble Tea Market?

What are the demanding regions of Bubble Tea globally?

What will be the market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by the companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

For more informative information, please visit us athttps://univdatos.com/report/bubble-tea-market/

Browse Other Related Research Reports from UnivDatos Market Insights

Ultra High Temperature Milk Market: https://univdatos.com/report/ultra-high-temperature-milk-market/

Nut Products Market: https://univdatos.com/report/nut-products-market/

Plant-Based Protein Market: https://univdatos.com/report/plant-based-protein-market/

Dairy Products Packaging Market: https://univdatos.com/report/dairy-products-packaging-market/

Brown Sugar Market: https://univdatos.com/report/brown-sugar-market/

About UnivDatos Market Insights

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

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Company to present multiple recent Registry sub-studies driving cancer care innovation at ASCO 2022

Agendia, Inc., a commercial-stage company focused on improving outcomes for breast cancer patients worldwide by providing physicians and patients with next-generation diagnostic and information solutions to inform optimized treatment decision-making, today announced 10,000 patients have been successfully enrolled in the FLEX Registry. Agendia's unique FLEX Registry is a real-world, large-scale, prospective, observational breast cancer study (NCT03053193) intended to enable the discovery of novel genomic profiles to improve precision in the management of breast cancer.

The FLEX Registry's groundbreaking approach to cancer research is accelerating impactful data generation with its patient-centric design and national network of participating sites, allowing its investigator-initiated sub-studies to produce critical results that drive science forward. Six posters based on data from FLEX will be presented at ASCO 2022, one of which will be a poster discussion session.

"When we developed the idea for FLEX, we knew it was essential for breast cancer care but did not immediately expect this high level of engagement of the medical community in this real-world data trial," said Bastiaan van der Baan, Chief Clinical and Business Development Officer at Agendia. "Because we blazed this trail, we are ahead in data collection and already producing actionable insights. We are so proud of the FLEX Registry, which allows not only for the gathering of whole transcriptomic data from valuable tumor samples, but also expands the power of genomic insights to physicians practicing in their communities. We look forward to further partnering with physicians to continue this valuable work, and believe FLEX will advance cancer care for the better."

Since its launch in April 2017, FLEX has enrolled patients at greater than 90 global study sites, including ten National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers. Participating sites also include community hospitals to ensure inclusion of diverse populations, especially those which are often underrepresented in traditional clinical trials. Additionally, the FLEX collaborative platform allows participating investigators the opportunity to author their own sub-study protocols, as approved by the FLEX Scientific Review Committee. To date, 38 investigator-initiated sub-studies have been approved, resulting in 30 published abstracts at major oncology conferences, including those to be shared at ASCO 2022.

"The massive dataset provided by the FLEX Registry has the potential to be one of the most impactful and representative prospective breast cancer studies in recent history," said Cynthia X Ma, MD, PhD, oncologist and FLEX national principal investigator at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "Not only will the data from FLEX be valuable to clinicians like myself, but to the millions of women with breast cancer seeking clarity, guidance, and evidence-based research throughout their journey. The broad and inclusive nature of FLEX translates into findings beyond data collection, allowing for several ongoing sub-studies to be conducted to uncover new, meaningful insights to inform personalized, precise breast cancer treatment plans."

The FLEX Registry has yielded potentially practice-changing data across a wide variety of questions researchers seek to answer about breast cancer. These include:

Insights from multiple sub-studies which showed clinical and molecular differences between tumors of African American and Caucasian patients with HR+ breast cancer;

An age-related sub-study of ER+ breast cancers from women over 50 compared to those 50 and younger showed there is no substantial difference in gene expression, suggesting any observed differences in response to therapy are determined more by genomic features than by age; and

A molecular subtype sub-study showed the gene expression patterns of high-risk ER+, BluePrint Basal breast cancers are much more like IHC triple negative breast cancers than other ER+ cancers.

"It is truly remarkable how rapidly the FLEX Registry was able to enroll 10,000 breast cancer patients especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, signifying the uptick in clinical momentum to better understand the real-world impact of genomic differences among women with breast cancer," said Joyce O'Shaughnessy, MD, Director, Breast Cancer Research, Baylor University Medical Center, Texas Oncology and the US Oncology Research Network in Dallas, TX. "Under a shared vision to improve patient outcomes via personalized treatment planning, Agendia, in partnership with clinicians and researchers, is leading the charge to capture robust and valuable data that has the potential to change the breast cancer treatment paradigm for women of all backgrounds and genomic subtypes."

Open to both women and men diagnosed with stage I, II, or III cancer, including all clinical subtypes, the dataset aims to be a true representation of the entire patient population. By capturing data from patients of all ethnicities, ages, genders, and health statuses, the FLEX database provides valuable opportunities to accelerate real-world breast cancer research and has the ability to enroll less prevalent patient populations on a larger scale. This enrollment strategy enables further investigation and the potential to provide targets for treatment optimization for those patients. FLEX is currently recruiting patients for sub-studies, including one prospective study that aims to assess treatment response differences of ER+ Basal-Type tumors, in comparison to Luminal tumors, to DNA-damaging neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens.

"We're extremely proud of this landmark achievement that brings us closer to meeting our 30,000-patient goal for total enrollment in the FLEX Registry," said William Audeh, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Agendia. "At Agendia, our main goal with FLEX is to utilize the extensive genomic information present within each breast cancer to better understand the differences between breast cancer subgroups, in both clinically-defined subtypes and diverse patient populations. The genome-level insights we obtain are connected to clinical data and help us understand differences in response to therapy and outcomes. In designing FLEX's wide inclusion criteria, we're enabling researchers to access critical genomic data in a pooled database from many centers data that otherwise would have been challenging to gather via recruitment in standard clinical trials. This approach furthers our collective understanding of tumor biology, providing more specific insights to support treatment planning decisions for women with breast cancer."

After more than five years of collecting data, the FLEX Registry approaches a critical new phase of research in which Agendia will be able to generate outcomes-based analyses, develop interventional sub-studies, and extend the potential utility of liquid biopsy testing. With its centralized database, the FLEX Registry could be positioned to yield full transcriptome data to determine gene expression characteristics of tumors on a large scale, translating and qualifying these observations into clinically meaningful takeaways to help advise women with breast cancer throughout treatment planning.

About Agendia

Agendia is a mission-driven, commercial stage company focused on enabling optimized decision-making by providing physicians with next-generation diagnostic and information solutions that can be used to help improve outcomes for breast cancer patients worldwide. The company currently offers two commercially-available genomic profiling tests that help surgeons, oncologists and pathologists to personalize treatment for women at critical intervention points throughout their patient journey.

MammaPrint is a 70-gene prognostic test that, along with other clinicopathologic factors, determines a specific patient's breast cancer recurrence risk. BluePrint is an 80-gene molecular subtyping test that identifies the underlying biology of an individual breast cancer to provide information about its behavior, long-term prognosis and potential response to systemic therapy. Together, MammaPrint and BluePrint provide a holistic view of an individual patient's breast cancer, enabling physicians to objectively select the best treatment plan.

For more information on Agendia's assays and ongoing trials, please visit www.agendia.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005786/en/

Contacts:

Terri Clevenger

ICR Westwicke Healthcare PR

Tel: 203.856.4326

Terri.Clevenger@icrinc.com
The AMF sets June 10, 2022 as closing date for Green Mobility Holding's tender offer on Europcar Mobility Group

Regulatory News:

Europcar Mobility Group (Paris:EUCAR) welcomes the European Commission's decision to approve the acquisition of the company by Green Mobility Holding under its merger control procedure.

This authorization was solicited by Green Mobility Holding SA, a special purpose company owned by a consortium comprising car manufacturer Volkswagen AG, asset manager Attestor Limited and mobility products and services provider Pon Holdings BV, in connection with its ongoing tender offer for the shares of Europcar Mobility Group (the "Offer

With the last remaining condition precedent of the Offer now fulfilled, the contemplated combination between Europcar Mobility Group and Green Mobility Holding is entering its final phase, with the closing date of the initial tender offer period set by the French financial market authority (Autorite des marches financiers) on June 10, 2022 (included).

The shareholders have until this date to tender their shares to the Offer, as unanimously recommended by Europcar Mobility Group's board of directors.

In accordance with article 232-4 of the AMF's General Regulation, the Offer will be re-opened within 10 trading days following the publication of the final result of the Offer if it is successful and the 90% threshold is not reached.

As a reminder, the Offer is made at a price of 0.50 per share (including dividends), plus a potential price supplement of 0.01 per share if the threshold of 90% of the share capital and voting rights allowing a squeeze-out of Europcar Mobility Group is reached at the end of the Offer or the re-opened Offer.

In its reasoned opinion on the Offer dated September 17, 2021 and reiterated on November 15, 2021, the board of directors unanimously determined that the Offer is in the best interest of the company, its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders. This opinion was given on the basis of the recommendations of an ad hoc committee composed of a majority of independent directors and the report of Ledouble, an independent appraiser who issued a fairness opinion on the financial conditions of the Offer.

All of the information and documentation relating to the tender offer are available as follows:

Green Mobility Holding's offer document having received from the AMF the visa no. 21-499 on November 23, 2021 and the other information relating to the legal, financial, accounting and other characteristics of Green Mobility Holding can be consulted on the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and Volkswagen (https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/InvestorRelations.html); and

Europcar Mobility Group's reply document having received from the AMF the visa no. 21-500 on November 23, 2021 and the other information relating to the legal, financial, accounting and other characteristics of Europcar Mobility Group can be consulted on the websites of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and Europcar Mobility Group (https://investors.europcar-group.com/fr).

The results of the Offer will be published by the French financial market authority after the closing date.

Important notice: The information contained herein about Green Mobility Holding's tender offer is exclusively intended for persons who are not residents of the United States or in any other jurisdiction where this would constitute a violation of applicable laws and regulations and who are not physically located in the United States or in such other jurisdictions. Such information does not constitute an offer to acquire securities in the United States or in any jurisdiction in which such an offer would be unlawful.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005784/en/

Contacts:

Europcar Mobility Group
Regulatory News:

The Combined Ordinary and Extraordinary General Meeting of Transgene's (Paris:TNG) shareholders was held today (May 25, 2022) at 10:00 a.m. at the Company's headquarters (400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach Parc d'Innovation 67400 Illkirch-Graffenstaden, France).

The meeting was chaired by Hedi Ben Brahim, CEO, to approve the Company's financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021, and to vote on the other resolutions submitted for approval.

The replay of the Combined General Meeting is available via Transgene's website and here

The Combined General Meeting adopted all resolutions recommended by the Board of Directors, including notably:

Appointment of three new Directors:

Dr. Alessandro Riva, MD, and Prof. Jean-Yves Blay, MD, PhD, as independent Directors, and

Laurence Espinasse as non-independent Director;

Renewal of the following Board Members mandates: Hedi Ben Brahim and Jean-Luc Belingard as non-independent Directors;

Appointment of a new Statutory Auditor, KPMG and renewal of Grant Thornton.

Following the Combined General Meeting, the Board of Directors agreed on the following:

Separation of the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, appointing Dr. Alessandro Riva, MD, as independent Chairman of the Board, alongside Hedi Ben Brahim who continues as Chief Executive Officer;

Establishment of an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) committee comprised of Sandrine Flory (committee Chair), Marie Landel and Hedi Ben Brahim. This new committee aims to enhance the Company's ESG performance and reinforce sustainability in the Company's strategy.

Hedi Ben Brahim, Transgene's CEO, commented "I'm pleased that the separation of the roles of Chairman and CEO, leading to the appointment of Dr. Riva as independent Chairman, has been approved. I'm convinced that this evolution will strengthen our corporate governance and will be a key further step to accelerate the development of new solutions for cancer patients. In addition, I'm proud to announce the establishment of an ESG committee which further demonstrates our commitment to advance the Environmental, Social and Governance aspects of our business. In today's world, we need to make sure that we continually improve our ESG commitment. By interacting with Transgene's in-house ESG working group, this Board committee will support our sustainable and long-term strategy, reaffirming our commitment to creating sustainable value for all our stakeholders."

Dr. Alessandro Riva, Transgene's Chairman, added:"I'm delighted to be joining Transgene, an increasingly important player in the oncology space as the Company prepares for the next key steps in its evolution. Internationalization is key in this sector, and I will be particularly keen to work with our teams to reinforce the synergies between our activities in Europe and in the USA, whether they are strategic, operational, or cultural.

Transgene's Board of Directors is now comprised of the following members:

Dr. Alessandro Riva, Chairman (independent);

Hedi Ben Brahim, CEO;

Alain Merieux, Honorary Chairman;

Philippe Archinard, Director;

Jean-Luc Belingard, Director;

Prof. Jean-Yves Blay, independent Director;

Laurence Espinasse, Director;

Sandrine Flory, Director (TSGH representative);

Benoit Habert, independent Director;

Marie Landel, independent Director;

Maya Said, independent Director.

Prof. Jean-Yves Blay's ability to pursue his mandate is dependent on the authorization of the public authority to which he reports.

Detailed voting results are available on Transgene's website, under the heading Investors General Meeting.

Dr. Alessandro Riva, MD, independent Director and non-executive Chairman

Dr. Riva has nearly 30 years' experience in the Life Sciences industry and is currently CEO of Intima Bioscience which specializes in cell therapies for solid cancers. Prior to this role, he served as CEO of Ichnos Sciences and Executive Vice President (EVP), Global Head of Oncology Therapeutics and Cell Gene Therapy at Gilead Sciences, where he was instrumental in the acquisition of Kite Pharma and led its integration and growth. He also managed the US and EU approvals of Yescarta, the first approved CAR-T cell therapy for adult patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma. Prior to Gilead, Dr. Riva was EVP, Global Head of Oncology Development and Medical Affairs at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. He was President ad interim of Novartis Oncology during the acquisition of GSK Oncology. Dr. Riva currently serves on the Boards of Beigene and Century Therapeutics. He received his bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Milan and a certificate board in oncology and hematology from the same institution.

Prof. Jean-Yves Blay, MD, PhD, independent Director

Jean-Yves Blay is Professor of Medical Oncology and has been General Director of the Leon Berard Center in Lyon since 2014. He holds a PhD obtained in 1994 from the Claude Bernard University in Lyon and has been authorized to supervise research since 1996. He currently leads the LYriCAN project (integrated cancer research) at the French National Cancer Institute. Former president of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, Prof. Jean-Yves Blay is currently director of the NETSARC network accredited by the French National Cancer Institute and president of the French Sarcoma Group. At international level, he is a faculty member of the ESMO (European Society of Medical Oncology) and the SPH (Scientific Panel for Health). He has led the European Commission's Conticanet network and is currently leading the Eurosarc FP7 project. Author of more than 500 international publications, Prof. Jean-Yves Blay advises various national and international research organizations and institutions. His work has been rewarded by several prizes including that of the French National Academy of Medicine, which he joined as a corresponding member in 2014.

Laurence Espinasse, Director

Laurence Espinasse has been the Legal Director of Institut Merieux since 2021. She practiced as a lawyer for more than 15 years in the law firm MDL, of which she was a partner. Laurence Espinasse also practiced at Ernst Young where she was involved in complex legal transactions, such as M&A and Restructuring, and was appointed Mission Director from 2012 to 2013. Laurence Espinasse obtained her Professional Lawyer's Certificate (Business Law) at the Ecole des avocats Centre Sud (Montpellier, France).

About Transgene

Transgene (Euronext: TNG) is a biotechnology company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Transgene's programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing cancer cells.

The Company's clinical-stage programs consist of two therapeutic vaccines (TG4001 for the treatment of HPV-positive cancers, and TG4050, the first individualized therapeutic vaccine based on the myvac platform) as well as two oncolytic viruses (TG6002 for the treatment of solid tumors, and BT-001, the first oncolytic virus based on the Invir.IO platform).

With Transgene's myvac platform, therapeutic vaccination enters the field of precision medicine with a novel immunotherapy that is fully tailored to each individual. The myvac approach allows the generation of a virus-based immunotherapy that encodes patient-specific mutations identified and selected by Artificial Intelligence capabilities provided by its partner NEC.

With its proprietary platform Invir.IO, Transgene is building on its viral vector engineering expertise to design a new generation of multifunctional oncolytic viruses. Transgene has an ongoing Invir.IO collaboration with AstraZeneca.

Additional information about Transgene is available at: www.transgene.fr

Follow us on Twitter: @TransgeneSA

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The occurrence of any of these risks could have a significant negative outcome for the Company's activities, perspectives, financial situation, results, regulatory authorities' agreement with development phases, and development. The Company's ability to commercialize its products depends on but is not limited to the following factors: positive pre-clinical data may not be predictive of human clinical results, the success of clinical studies, the ability to obtain financing and/or partnerships for product manufacturing, development and commercialization, and marketing approval by government regulatory authorities. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors ("Facteurs de Risque") section of the Universal Registration Document, available on the AMF website (http://www.amf-france.org) or on Transgene's website (www.transgene.fr). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and Transgene undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005695/en/

Contacts:

Transgene:

Lucie Larguier

Director Corporate Communications IR

+33 (0)3 88 27 91 04

investorrelations@transgene.fr

Media Transgene:

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting

David Dible/Sylvie Berrebi

+44 (0)203 928 6900

transgene@medistrava.com
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Legend Power Systems Inc. (TSX.V:LPS) (OTCQB:LPSIF) ("Legend Power" or the "Company"), a global leader in commercial electrical system solutions, today announced it will release its Q2 2022 financial results for the six months ended March 31, 2022, on Thursday, May 26, 2022. The Company has also scheduled a conference call to provide a business update and discuss its Q2 2022 financial results for Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 11:00 AM ET (8:00 AM PT). The call will be hosted by Randy Buchamer, President & Chief Executive Officer.

CONFERENCE CALL DETAILS:

DATE: Thursday, May 26, 2022 TIME: 11:00 AM ET (8:00 AM PT) DIAL-IN NUMBERS: North America Toll Free Dial-in Number (888) 396-8049 ONLINE LISTENING https://app.webinar.net/M1O9DZP02xE CONFERENCE ID: 48955762 REPLAY: Available at: www.legendpower.com

About Legend Power Systems Inc.

Legend Power Systems Inc. (www.legendpower.com) provides an intelligent energy management platform that analyzes and improves building energy challenges, significantly impacting asset management and corporate performance. Legend's proven solutions support proactive executive decision-making in a complex and volatile business and energy environment.

For further information, please contact:

Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations

+ 1 647 503 1054

sean@sophiccapital.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities or performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Such risks, uncertainties and factors are described in the periodic filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including the Company's quarterly and annual Management's Discussion & Analysis, which may be viewed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results to not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements other than as may be required by applicable law.

SOURCE: Legend Power Systems Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702690/Legend-Power-Schedules-Q2-2022-Financial-Results-Release-and-Conference-Call
The fast-growing, award-winning US medical animation company celebrates seven years of success with the launch of a UK subsidiary.

On the eve of its seventh birthday, MadMicrobe Studios Inc is announcing the expansion of its operations into Europe.

Founded by Joel Dubin, Mitch Wishart, and Mike McIntyre, the business has become one of the world's leading medical animations studios. Renowned for its bold 'Science Meets Cinema(R)' approach, it has enjoyed unprecedented growth in recent years.

MadMicrobe has built up a strong presence in the UK and Europe. It all started with the hiring of Alan Smith, creative director UK, its first UK employee; Vincent Elsey, Commercial Director UK, joined several years later to help build the European business. This successful collaboration has led to a growth in clients and a compelling case for opening a UK-based subsidiary.

Says Alan Smith, Creative Director UK, 'We have a strong ethos of combining scientific accuracy with stunning and immersive visuals. Our growing client list is proof that our cinematic approach works and we're beyond excited about bringing our vision to even more of our European partners.'

Adds Joel Dubin, co-founder, 'We are over the moon having finally seen our plans for Vincent Elsey and Alan Smith to officially take the reins of the UK branch of our studio this week! We are looking forward to watching Vince and Alan continue to grow their already established team of talented CG artists and Science experts on their side of the pond. MadMicrobe offers a unique and dynamic take on what Medical Animation and Science visuals can be and we are excited to share our expertise with clients throughout Europe.'

MadMicrobe Studios Inc, delivers industry-leading medical animation, device animation, VR, and AR to the healthcare and broadcast industries.

View a showreel: https://vimeo.com/madmicrobe

Visit the website: https://www.madmicrobe.com/

ENDS

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005825/en/

Contacts:

To find out more, contact:

USA

Michael McIntyre

Mike@madmicrobe.com

UK

Vincent Elsey

Vincent@madmicrobe.com
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

For immediate release

25 May 2022

FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC

(the "Company")

MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES

The Company announces that it has today purchased 125,000 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 778.86p per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company.

The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 9 February 2022.

Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 2,950,340; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 222,040,963.

The figure of 222,040,963 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

For and on behalf of

Frostrow Capital LLP

Company Secretary

For further information, please contact:

Victoria Hale

Frostrow Capital LLP

Tel: 020 3 170 8732
Data from three trials of UV1 show dynamic T cell responses, lasting up to 7.5 years



UV1-specific immune responses associated with longer clinical survival

Synergy between UV1 vaccination and checkpoint inhibition





Oslo, 25 May2022: Ultimovacs ASA ("Ultimovacs") (OSE ULTI), a clinical stage leader in immune stimulatory vaccines for cancer, announced the publication of long-term follow-up data on UV1 in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC). The data show that dynamic UV1 specific immune responses last up to 7.5 years, are associated with longer survival and are enhanced when UV1 is used in combinations with checkpoint inhibitors.

"It is important to be able to share this validating data with our research and clinical colleagues through JITC. The data demonstrate highly durable UV1-induced immune responses that are associated with substantially longer overall survival and boosted by checkpoint inhibitors. This is strong support for Ultimovacs' broad Phase II program combining UV1 with checkpoint inhibitors across five different cancer indications," said Carlos de Sousa, Chief Executive Officer of Ultimovacs.

The Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer is the peer-reviewed open access journal of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer. Ultimovacs' paper in JITC reports data from three Phase I/IIa clinical trials on Ultimovacs' cancer vaccine lead UV1 in three separate cancer indications - malignant melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and prostate cancer.

The data demonstrate that UV1 vaccination leads to dynamic immune responses in patients, notably the induction of memory T cells with a cytokine profile involving the production of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates the development of a UV1-specific immune response associated with longer survival time across the three cancer types.

Adding checkpoint inhibitors boosts the potentially protective UV1 response. UV1-specific immune responses occurred earlier and more frequently in patients with malignant melanoma, where UV1 was combined with the checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab, than in patients with NSCLC or prostate cancer where no checkpoint inhibitor was involved. Around 91% of patients with malignant melanoma showed a detectable immune response within three months.

The JITC paper is available at the JITC website: "Ellingsen EB, Aamdal E, Guren T, et al. Durable and dynamic hTERT immune responses following vaccination with the long-peptide cancer vaccine UV1: long-term follow-up of three phase I clinical trials. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer 2022;0:e004345. doi:10.1136/jitc-2021-004345.

The data was also presented as a poster at the Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT) annual meeting in Mainz, Germany, 10-12 May 2022. The JITC paper and the CIMT poster can be found on the Company website.

==ENDS==

About Ultimovacs

Ultimovacs is an immunotherapy company developing immune-stimulatory vaccines to treat a broad range of cancers. Ultimovacs' lead universal cancer vaccine candidate UV1 targets human telomerase (hTERT), present in 85-90% of cancers in all stages of tumor growth. By directing the immune system to hTERT antigens, UV1 drives CD4 helper T cells to the tumor to activate an immune system cascade and increase anti-tumor responses. With a broad Phase II program in five cancer indications enrolling more than 650 patients, Ultimovacs aims to clinically demonstrate UV1's impact in multiple cancer types, in combination with other immunotherapies, for patients with unmet needs. Ultimovacs' second technology approach, based on the proprietary Tetanus-Epitope-Targeting (TET) platform, combines tumor-specific peptides and adjuvant in the same molecule and entered Phase I studies in 2021.

For further information, please see www.ultimovacs.com or contact:

Carlos de Sousa, CEO

Email: carlos.desousa@ultimovacs.com

Phone: +47 908 92507

Anne Worse, Head of IR & Communication

Email: anne.worsoe@ultimovacs.com

Phone: +47 90686815

Mary-Ann Chang, LifeSci Advisors

Email: mchang@lifesciadvisors.com

Phone: +44 7483 284 853

This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 in the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This stock exchange announcement was published by Joachim Midttun, Finance Manager at Ultimovacs ASA, on 25May, 2022 at 18:45 CET.




Krakow ER&D Centre to cater to major industries including Automotive and Hi-Tech; LTTS to ramp up the centre headcount to over 300 engineers

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a global leading pure-play engineering services company, today inaugurated its Engineering, Research and Development (ER&D) centre in Krakow, Poland, which will cater to global customers, leveraging cutting edge technologies in the Automotive, Mobility and Hi-Tech domains.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005835/en/

Seen in the picture (from right to left): Jagyan Mishra, Delivery Head (Europe) at LTTS, Abhishek Sinha, Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board at LTTS, Mr. Jerzy Muzyk, Deputy Mayor of the City of Krakow, Her Excellency Nagma Mohamed Mallick, Ambassador of India to the Republic of Poland, Mr. Lukasz Sloniowski, President of the Board at Investor Support Krakow and Rajkumar Ravindranathan, Chief Business Officer at LTTS, during the inauguration of the ER&D centre. (Photo: Business Wire)

The state-of-the-art centre will mark its expansion into Eastern Europe, contributing to the growth of regional economy, delivering cutting-edge technology, expanding workforce, and support major projects through its innovative engineering processes. The ER&D centre will cater to several major customers in Europe and North America, including a U.S. based automotive Tier 1 company.

In the new Engineering R&D Centre, LTTS will work on both software and hardware development of product lines. This centre is part of LTTS' global delivery model and is a logical extension of LTTS' Munich, Gothenburg and Jerusalem engineering centres, allowing the new centre to bring in specialized competencies along with local talent.

The ER&D centre was officially inaugurated by theDeputy Mayor of the City of Krakow, Mr. Jerzy Muzyk and Ambassador of India to the Republic of Poland, Her Excellency Nagma Mohamed Mallick, in the presence of Mr. Abhishek Sinha, Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board, L&T Technology Services.

Known for imparting first-class technical education, academic ecosystem and infrastructure, Poland provides a pool of talented engineers who are setting a benchmark in cutting-edge technology. LTTS plans to hire up to 300 engineers in the next three years for the centre. LTTS will also utilize its in-house Global Engineering Academy (GEA) to enable employees to reskill and upskill their domain knowledge and align it to customer requirements, while exploring collaboration opportunities with AGH University Krakow, Krakow University of Technology and UK-based Coventry University to expand the engineering talent pool in Poland.

Mr. Abhishek Sinha, Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board, L&T Technology Services, said, "By establishing this important centre in Poland, we aim to make our customers in Europe and North America benefit from LTTS' long-standing expertise in new age engineering and embedded technologies. We also seek to tap into the local engineering talent pool for many of our mission critical global programs, and will work

with the local administration and the academia to further develop the local ecosystem. We would also like to express our gratitude for all the support we have received from government institutions and local authorities".

Mr. Jerzy Muzyk, Deputy Mayor of the City of Krakow, commented on the inauguration, "We welcome the investments from an Engineering Services leader like LTTS. With LTTS set to contribute in important aspects like technology advancements, R&D and skill building for young engineers, I am optimistic that thelocal population will benefit greatly from this ER&D Hub".

About L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) is a listed subsidiary of Larsen Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. We offer consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 57 of the world's top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 20,800 employees spread across 17 global design centres, 28 global sales offices and 89 innovation labs as of March 31, 2022. For more information, please visit https://www.ltts.com/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005835/en/

Contacts:

Aniruddha Basu

L&T Technology Services Limited

E: Aniruddha.Basu@LTTS.com

T: +91-80-67675707
DGAP-News: Lagos Free Zone (LFZ) / Key word(s): Agreement

Falcon Corporation, ND Western & FHN Consortium Sign Gas Infrastructure Development Agreement with Lagos Free Zone



25.05.2022 / 19:14

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





PRESS RELEASE

Falcon Corporation, ND Western & FHN consortium sign Gas Infrastructure Development Agreement with Lagos Free Zone



LAGOS, Nigeria, May 25, 2022/APO Group/ - A consortium of Falcon Corporation, ND Western Midstream Limited & FHN Gas Limited, has been selected to build exclusively, own, and operate a Natural Gas distribution infrastructure network within the Lagos Free Zone (LFZ) (https://LagosFreeZone.com). To actualize this opportunity, the Consortium shall incorporate a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV): Optimera Energy LFZ Enterprise (Optimera Energy) within the Lagos Free Zone (LFZ).

The consortium parties signed a Gas Infrastructure Development Agreement with the Lagos Free Zone to formalize this engagement. The signing ceremony was held on Monday, May 16, 2022 at the Corporate Head Office of LFZ in Victoria Island, Lagos.

At the event, Mrs. Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, MD, Optimera Energy, said, "The Optimera consortium is made up of like-minded shareholders passionate about a common goal: accelerating the further growth of domestic gas utilization in Nigeria. Having reliable dedicated gas supply infrastructure installed in the LFZ adds tremendous value to existing industrial concerns and will increase the Zone's attractiveness to future customers."

Ezigbo noted that the endeavour would be a big step towards actualizing the objectives of the 'Decade of Gas' initiative, of which gas-based industrial growth is a significant part. "The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) provides the necessary regulatory environment for projects such as these to succeed in Nigeria. We look forward to working collaboratively with the Nigerian Midstream & Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in this project's development and operation phases."

"The Consortium members bring over 50 years of experience and expertise in operating across the Natural Gas value chain from upstream production in the Niger Delta to downstream distribution to industries in Lagos. Our dedicated Project Team will work diligently with a strict adherence to the highest standards of safety, operational excellence, and regulatory compliance to deliver this project on time and under budget, as we have done within our respective portfolios."

The Managing Director & CEO of LFZ, Mr. Dinesh Rathi, during his interaction with the press, remarked, "In our continued efforts at Lagos Free Zone to provide a world-class industrial ecosystem that enhances the competitive positioning of Nigeria as a manufacturing hub, our partnership with the consortium of Falcon Corporation, ND Western Midstream Limited & FHN Gas Limited, is a landmark development.

With Lekki Port's construction slated to be completed in December 2022, we needed to secure a reliable arrangement to meet the energy needs of our fast-growing tenant base, and we are confident that our partnership with the Consortium would help us realize the same. This is a unique transaction in the history of Nigeria's downstream sector wherein a consortium formed of reputable upstream, midstream, and downstream companies have come together to ensure gas supply to LFZ, the sunrise economic epicentre of West Africa. Under this arrangement, the Consortium, through their special purpose vehicle, Optimera Energy, would deliver uninterrupted piped gas by early 2024 to all the enterprises within the Lagos Free Zone. We welcome the Consortium on this collective journey towards unlocking Nigeria's true potential."

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Lagos Free Zone (LFZ).

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A street near Pyongyang station is empty, May 24. Reuters-Yonhap



North Korea reported over 115,000 new suspected COVID-19 cases Wednesday, with the total number of "fever" cases surpassing 3 million.



More than 115,970 people showed symptoms of "fever" over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters.



The death toll remained the same at 68 as the North claimed to have no additional deaths reported for the second consecutive day.



The total number of cases since late April stood at more than 3.06 million as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, of which more than 2.74 million have recovered and at least 323,330 are being treated, it added.






Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Couloir Capital is pleased to announce it has published a new research note on Ion Energy Ltd. (TSXV: ION) (OTCQB: IONGF) (FSE: 5YB). The update report is titled, "Maiden Drilling Results for Flagship Project and 2022 Drilling Work Commenced."

Report excerpt: "Off the back of our previous update report, ION has completed its maiden auger drilling program at its flagship project Baavhai Uul, reporting assay results that offer promising indications about the project's lithium potential. In addition, the program uncovered the anomalous presence of copper and nickel at the project, offering further potential for the project to be future supplier to the EV industry. Moving forward, ION has commenced maiden drilling at its other project Urgakh Naran, with early indications pointing to high-grade lithium potential. We expect that positive findings at Urgakh Naran could build upon positive results from the 2021 drilling at Baavhai Uul and build a growth platform for ION to leverage in future exploration."

The report can be accessed through Couloir Capital's portal: https://www.couloircapital.com/research-portal

About Ion Energy Ltd.

ION Energy Ltd is Mongolia's first lithium brine explorer and developer, with licences spanning a combined landmass of over 100,000 hectares. ION's flagship, 81,000+ hectare Baavhai Uul lithium brine project, represents the largest and first lithium brine exploration licence award in Mongolia. ION also holds the 29,000+ hectare Urgakh Naran highly prospective Lithium Brine licence in Dorngovi Province in Mongolia. ION is well-poised to be a key player in the clean energy revolution, positioned well to service the world's increased demand for lithium. Information about the Company is available on its website, www.ionenergy.ca, or under its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About Couloir Capital Ltd.

Couloir Capital Ltd. is an investment research firm comprised of a team of veteran investment professionals dedicated to providing world-class opportunities in the natural resource exploration and development sectors along with real and alternative asset classes and strategies.

For further information, please contact:

Rob Stitt, Managing Director, Couloir Capital Ltd.

Email: rstitt@couloircapital.com

www.couloircapital.com

Disclosure: Couloir Capital Ltd. and/or affiliated companies hold shares and warrants in ION.

A service agreement exists between the Couloir Capital Ltd. and Ion Energy Ltd.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125298
Corporate attorney Markus Bauman joins the leading data integration company as it continues its strong growth trajectory

DENVER and MANCHESTER, England, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Matillion , the leading enterprise cloud data integration platform, today announced the appointment of its General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer. Markus Bauman joins the company as it moves into a new phase of growth, having reached unicorn status late last year following its most recent Series E funding.

Bauman is an accomplished corporate attorney with years of experience in both the US and Europe working at leading international law firms and investment banks, including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. He was most recently Partner and Head of European Strategic Relations at Goodwin, a global law firm serving the technology-driven economy, of which Matillion is a client.

Specializing in technology law, Bauman brings deep expertise in corporate law and corporate finance that will be instrumental in supporting Matillion's legal and compliance function and its future growth. As a well-respected figure in the legal and finance industries, he has been frequently quoted in publications including the Financial Times, Bloomberg, and Reuters. He holds a JD/MBA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

"Serving our enterprise customers and partner ecosystem is always the top priority for Matillion. Bringing Markus onboard as our general counsel and chief legal officer allows us to better serve Matillion users and helps us continue the integrity and responsibility in which we conduct our business," said Matillion CEO Matthew Scullion. "We're delighted to welcome someone with Markus' rich experience to the role, and we're excited for him to take a central role in stewarding our continued growth in the years ahead."

"Matillion's momentum is exciting, with organizations everywhere seeking cloud-native platforms to drive success and unleash the potential of data analytics," said Bauman. "I'm honored to be joining this global team as the company strives to deliver on its vision for unified data integration, and make the world's data useful."

The appointment follows Matillion being chosen as one of the world's Top 50 Data Startups by Future, the media property of Andreessen Horowitz.

For further data transformation industry updates and perspectives, follow Matillion on Twitter @Matillion and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/matillion-limited/ .

To learn more about Matillion and its executive team, visit https://www.matillion.com/about/leadership/ .

About Matillion

Matillion makes the world's data useful with an easy-to-use, cloud-native data integration and transformation platform. Optimized for modern enterprise data teams, only Matillion is built on native integrations to cloud data platforms such as Snowflake, Delta Lake on Databricks, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, and Microsoft Azure Synapse to enable new levels of efficiency and productivity across any organization. Learn how Matillion delivers rapid returns on cloud investments for global enterprise customers at www.matillion.com .

CONTACT: matillion@inkhouse.com

Photo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1826188/Markus_Bauman.jpg

Logo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/775068/Matillion_Logo.jpg
Summary: Recently, Vidy introduced the Ethereum-based Vidy Crypto Asset. Vidy and VidyX are digital assets protected by cryptography.

Singapore, Singapore--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - In a recent development, Vidy introduced the Ethereum-based Vidy Crypto Asset. VIDYX is a new token created by Vidy. Along with the presence of VidyX, there is also a "Tradable Data Contract" (shortened to TDC). The TDC is a form of Smart Contract, where user data will be systematized, and user identity will be anonymized.





Image 1

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The VidyCoin ecosystem consists of two tokens, i.e., VIDYX (TRC - 10 Tron) and VIDY (ERC - 20 Ethereum). VIDYX is a utility token that drives tradable data contracts on the blockchain. VIDY is a platform token that provides a staking mechanism for VIDYX withdrawals, bonuses, and campaign priority access.

VIDY and VIDYX both are tokens of the Vidy project, a company that develops new media technologies. Patrick Colangelo has created the Vidy Project, providing a platform for users to generate digital assets from their activities on the internet.

The VidyX framework will also develop shops, video owners, consumers, and e-commerce. Vidy's "invisible embed layer video in keyword" technology can also seamlessly connect with websites worldwide and with high compatibility. VidyX has officially launched after two years of preparation and can be directly related to the Vidy video layer as an essential part of the Vidy ecosystem.





Image 2

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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VIDYX will be the core token on the Vidy platform, which functions as a reward token when a user watches a video. Whenever a user earns from watching a video by holding down the highlighted text, VIDYX will go directly to the user's "invisible wallet." Users can now view their earnings or use VIDYX to transact and purchase goods on sites that accept VIDYX tokens.

Furthermore, Vidy and VidyX also joined the NFT platform to expand their services in handling traditional and crypto businesses. Vidy and VidyX provide a place for internet users to make their activities automatically generate into digital assets. In the Vidy and VidyX ecosystem, users can place video ads into on-page keywords. In short, every time a user watches a video, they will get a reward. Later, users can access the video to enter the digital marketplace to exchange VIDYX for a brand coupon which can be used for redemption in physical stores.

The objective of VidyX is to decentralize the profitable areas of the global economy, named digital advertising. Therefore, VidyX generates crypto assets by watching videos and boosting internet advertising. Besides that, Vidy also brings transparency to the Digital Advertising Industry. Vidy provides a 'Prioritized Cross-Shard Data Store,' allowing advertisers to audit all digital advertising performance on their network.

Users can swap their VIDY for VIDYX anytime. Upon sending their VIDY to the Swap Address, user's VIDYX will be locked up for 2 months from the moment of transfer, and then released back to their same send address upon KYC verification at the end of the 2 months. For questions on swapping, contact through the Vidy official Telegram channel.

Intending users and potential holders must visit the https://www.gate.io/ exchanger to buy VIDY and VIDYX. For further information about the Vidy project, visit https://vidy.com/vidycoins.html. To connect with the community of Vidy Project, follow on Twitter or Telegram.

Details:

Company name: VIDY, Singapore

Contact person name: Matthew Lim

Address: 9 TEMASEK BOULEVARD #04-02 SUNTEC TOWER TWO SINGAPORE 038989

Email: matthew@vidyasia.com

Website url: https://vidy.com/vidycoins.html

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125081
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Prospector Metals Corp. (TSXV: PPP) (OTCQB: ETHOF) (FSE: 1ET)("Prospector" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has acquired a 100% interest in the Leopard Lake Property, 7,383 hectares on the boundary of the Wabigoon and Quetico sub-provinces, located 180 km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario and approximately 20km east of the past-producing Northern Empire Mine (150,000 oz. Au; 20,000 oz. Ag).

Leopard Lake Project Highlights:

District Scale - Property situated on the largely unexplored crustal scale break between the Wabigoon and Quetico sub-provinces where historic production of 4+ million oz. Au from a combination of quartz-carbonate vein systems/shears and sulphide replaced iron formation and includes porphyry-hosted vein mineralization (Figure 1).

Excellent Access - Main Provincial highway is 2 km north of the claim block and extensive network of roads and trails crisscross the property. Recent logging activities has created new access to the claim block allowing low-cost initial prospecting to be completed in 2022.

Overlooked - Very underexplored crustal-scale break/sub-province boundary between the Wabigoon (metavolcanic rock dominated) and Quetico (metasedimentary rock dominated) sub-provinces. The entire tenure is underlain by metasedimentary rocks of the Quetico Sub-Province. No previous gold exploration is recorded in this package of rocks despite close proximity to major structural zones. Exploration in the nearby Beardmore Gold Camp has focussed entirely on the metavolcanic belts and has overlooked the adjacent metasedimentary rocks.

Proven Regional Endowment - Approximately 20km east of the past-producing Northern Empire Mine (150,000 oz. Au; 20,000 oz. Ag) and within the same stratigraphic belt of the BGB (Southern Volcanic Unit; SVU).

Stated Dr. Rob Carpenter, P. Geo, Co-Chairman of Prospector: "The Leopard Lake Property offers a rare district scale opportunity in the largely unexplored portion of Ontario, with a crustal scale break that has hosted numerous robust gold deposits elsewhere. This opportunity is a great example of the PPP strategy to acquire district scale exploration projects which have been traditionally overlooked by previous folks due to technology, prevailing dogma or access."





Figure 1. Leopard Lake Project Location and Geology Map

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

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Leopard Lake Project Overview

The Leopard Lake project comprises 7,383 ha (73.83 km2) located 180 km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario and approximately 20km east of the past-producing Northern Empire Mine (150,000 oz. Au; 20,000 oz. Ag) and represents a rare opportunity to acquire previously unexplored rocks within a well-known gold district.

The Project covers a crustal-scale break/sub-province boundary between the Wabigoon (metavolcanic rock dominated) and Quetico (metasedimentary rock dominated) sub-provinces. Historical gold mines and current gold exploration camps are located throughout the Beardmore-Geraldton greenstone belt and adjacent Wabigoon sub-province in moderately to steeply dipping ductile to brittle-ductile shear zones in many types of lithologies, with various metamorphic grades, and alteration styles. The shear zones typically strike east west along the boundary of the Beardmore-Geraldton greenstone belt with the Wabigoon sub-province to the north as well as along the boundary with the Quetico sub-province to the south. The Leopard Project covers a underexplored portion of the gold bearing crustal-scale break/sub-province boundary where deformation and structures offer favourable setting for gold mineralization.

Planned Work Program

Following a digital complication and audit of the available historical data for the project, an initial prospecting program will have a strong emphasis on structurally controlled alteration zones. Localized ground physics of select targets would likely follow should targets warrant.

Leopard Lake Acquisition Agreement

Prospector has acquired a 100% interest in the Leopard Lake claim block from the vendors (John Robins, James Paterson, Daniel MacNeil, Alan Wainwright, Jeff Sundar, Ronnie Therriault, Jodie Gibson, and Grant Lockhart) for 1,250,000 shares of Prospector. There are no work commitments or royalties.

Qualified Person

The technical content disclosed in this press release was reviewed and approved by Jo Price, P.Geo., M.Sc., VP Exploration of Prospector, and a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument NI 43-101 ("NI 43-101").

About Prospector Metals Corp.

Prospector Metals Corp. is a Discovery Group Company with a business model focused on district scale, early-stage exploration of gold and base metal prospects and create shareholder value through new discoveries. The Company's focus is to identify underexplored or overlooked mineral districts which display important structural and mineralogical similarities with well-endowed mining camps. The majority of the projects acquired by Prospector occur in Ontario, Canada, which is a tier-1 mining jurisdiction with abundant overlooked geological regions with high mineral potential. Prospector engages proactively with local and Indigenous rightsholders and seeks to develop relationships and agreements that are mutually beneficial to all stakeholders.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Prospector Metals Corp.

Alex Heath, CFA

President & CEO

For further information about Prospector Metals Corp. or this news release, please visit our website at prospectormetalscorp.com or contact Dustin Zinger at 604-653-9464 or by email at dustinz@prospectormetalscorp.com.

Prospector Metals Corp. is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: discoverygroup.ca

Forward-Looking Statement Cautions:

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the Company's plans with respect to the Company's projects and the timing related thereto, the merits of the Company's projects, the Company's objectives, plans and strategies, and other project opportunities. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective,", "strategy", "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the risk of accidents and other risks associated with mineral exploration operations, the risk that the Company will encounter unanticipated geological factors, or the possibility that the Company may not be able to secure permitting and other agency or governmental clearances, necessary to carry out the Company's exploration plans, risks and uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the risk of political uncertainties and regulatory or legal changes in the jurisdictions where the Company carries on its business that might interfere with the Company's business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125309
Membership Collective Group (NYSE: MCG) announced today the appointment of Thomas Allen into the role of Chief Financial Officer, effective June 23, 2022.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005878/en/

Thomas Allen announced Chief Financial Officer, Membership Collective Group, parent company of private members club Soho House. (Photo: Business Wire)

Allen joins MCG from his current role at Morgan Stanley as a Managing Director in equity research, where he has led US Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure sector research since 2013. He was ranked in the Top 3 in the Institutional Investor All Americas poll.

Nick Jones, Founder and CEO of MCG, said: "We have got to know Thomas over the last year following our IPO. His depth of understanding of our business and the opportunities ahead of it will be of great value as we continue to grow MCG as a global membership platform. We're really excited that he will be joining the team."

Thomas Allen commented: "I am very excited to be joining MCG in what I still see as the very early stages of its growth. MCG has such a strong global brand with Soho House, which is just at the beginning of capitalizing on the huge market opportunity ahead of it. The team's experience of scaling a private membership club and expanding it into other attractive verticals has created an amazing platform for future growth, when appropriate."

Allen's role will lead all financial and investor relations functions for MCG, reporting into President Andrew Carnie.

Prior to his role at Morgan Stanley, Allen worked in Capital Markets at Bank of America.

-ENDS-

About Membership Collective Group Inc.

The Membership Collective Group Inc. (MCG) is a global membership platform of physical and digital spaces that connects a vibrant, diverse and global group of members. These members use the MCG platform to work, socialize, connect, create and flourish all over the world. We began with the opening of the first Soho House in 1995 and remain the only company to have scaled a private membership network with a global presence. Members around the world engage with MCG through our global collection of 36 Soho Houses, 9 Soho Works, The Ned in London, Scorpios Beach Club in Mykonos, Soho Home our interiors and lifestyle retail brand and our digital channels. The LINE and Saguaro hotels in North America also form part of MCG's wider portfolio.

For more information, please visit www.membershipcollectivegroup.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005878/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations

ir@membershipcollectivegroup.com



Media and Press

Jakob Hesketh

press@membershipcollectivegroup.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Mark Jarvis, CEO of Shoal Point Energy Ltd. (CSE: SHP), announced today that production testing is underway on I-T Unit #1-27, the Company's first Pratt County well in Kansas. Operator Shelby Resources has opened up two zones and is producing 50 barrels of oil per day with no water on a constricted basis. The operator plans to gradually increase production until an optimal flow rate can be established.

"This looks like a very good well," said Mr. Jarvis. "In addition to the current producing zones, there are multiple potential pay zones further up the hole. We are also evaluating several locations offsetting this well."

Shoal Point will be participating in a second prospect in the same area with a potential spud date in mid-June and has committed to participate in a third prospect after that. Each prospect will have several offset locations if successful.

About Shoal Point Energy Ltd.

Shoal Point Energy Ltd. is a public company listed on the CSE exchange under the symbol "SHP". The company is focused on oil and gas exploration in Kansas and retains its oil and gas interests in the Humber Arm Allochthon play in western Newfoundland. The company is also actively evaluating new opportunities.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Mark Jarvis Chief Executive Officer 416-637-2181 extension 310

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

Suite 203, 700 West Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. Canada, V6C 1G8

Tel: 416 637 2181





To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125302
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / AMPD Ventures Inc. ("AMPD" or the "Company"), (CSE:AMPD) (OTCQB:AMPDF) (FRA:2Q0), is pleased to provide shareholders with a preview of FY 2022 results and summary of key progress.

The exceptional team at AMPD continues to execute and build upon its plan of building a full 360-degree Metaverse company despite experiencing a challenging downturn in the technology sector markets.

HIGHLIGHTS

$1.7M in Q3 2022 revenue (Dec 2021 - Feb 2022), representing a 275% increase compared with Q3 2021.

increase compared with Q3 2021. $2.3M in YTD 2022 revenue (Jun 2021 - Feb 2022), doubling that of the same period YTD 2021.

$0.9M in forecasted Q4 2022 revenue (Mar 2022 - May 2022), doubling that of Q4 2021.[1]

$3.2M in forecasted FY 2022 revenue (Jun 2021 - May 2022), doubling that of FY 2021.[2]

Departure Lounge acquisition building upon AMPD infrastructure foundation to develop a full 360-degree Metaverse company.

FY Q3 HIGHLIGHTS

Building upon the momentum of its oversubscribed private placement towards the end of November 2021, AMPD quickly finalized the acquisition of Departure Lounge Inc., which was instrumental in building upon AMPD's position as an infrastructure provider for next generation applications to develop a full 360-degree Metaverse-focused organization.

As Joseph Morton at Equity Guru notes in an article from February 2022, the AMPD group now has both the computing infrastructure necessary to host the Metaverse - 'the levers and hydraulics and the workings behind the curtain' - but now also the 'wizard needed to run the show' as Departure Lounge adds the technologies required to access the Metaverse, the experienced creative team to help build the Metaverse, and the Web3 team to help monetize the Metaverse.

Since the acquisition, Departure Lounge has secured its headquarters, hired industry veteran, Adam Rogers, to lead its creative services team, established a Web3 team to capitalize on the opportunity represented by the intersection of Web3 and Metaverse, announced the formal launch of its partnership with volumetric capture pioneers, Metastage Inc., and entered an education collaboration agreement with the Centre for Digital Media through which it will be the keystone partner in a planned Metaverse Innovation Centre.

Buildout of the facility is progressing on schedule and is expected to be completed by mid-June with initial bookings expected shortly thereafter. Departure Lounge CEO, James Hursthouse spoke at several high-profile Metaverse conferences and events, including the Vancouver International Privacy & Security Summit (VIPSS), the Metaverse 2.0 Global Summit, and the International Spark 2022 Visual Effects Conference, building awareness and generating significant early-stage interest in the company and its services.

In January 2022, AMPD added to its roster of high caliber senior leaders with the appointment of Ian Wilms in the position of Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs. AMPD was subsequently accepted into the 'Accelerate Growth Service' program, which was established by the federal government to help support Canadian companies with high growth potential via assistance and guidance on a wide range of government programs designed to supercharge growth.

On Feb 2nd, 2022, the Company announced the expansion of The Learning Factory Digital Twin Project in partnership with Canada's Digital Technology Supercluster.

On February 9th, the Company signed an agreement with Parsec Cloud Inc., now a wholly owned subsidiary of Unity, Inc (NYSE: U), to enhance the AMPD Virtual Studio offering with Parsec's ultra-low latency streaming technology. Parsec's ultra-low latency streaming technology has been designed to enable anyone in the world to remotely interact with real-time 3D content and empowers some of the world's most inspiring and creative companies to freely work and play from anywhere, on any device, on their own terms.

AMPD Virtual Studio is an integrated suite of fully composable, private cloud-based solutions designed to create the ultimate 'infrastructure-less' studio for digital content creators and specifically addresses the opportunity represented by the ongoing transition to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). It is estimated that the virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) market will reach USD $30B by 2026, up from USD $11B in 2020, representing 17% annual CAGR growth during the forecast period.[3]

On Feb 28th, 2022, the Company signed an agreement with Versatile Media Inc. through which it will sell and support the Versatile Virtual Production System ("VPS"), a robust, end-to-end suite of technology solutions that offers many advantages over current virtual production workflows. AMPD demonstrated the incredible capabilities of the Versatile VPS to numerous global studio executives at the recent NAB Conference in Las Vegas.

Overall, the Company enjoyed strong third quarter financial results, with a 275% increase in revenue compared with the same quarter in FY 2021, with year-to-date sales for FY 2022 YTD (Jun-Feb) 104% above 2021 YTD.

FY Q4 HIGHLIGHTS

FY Q4 saw the deployment of AMPD POD base infrastructure environments to both Los Angeles and Amsterdam. PODS are designed to enable potential customers to evaluate AMPD's products and services and demand is high in both the US and Europe.

The company continued to enhance the functionality of its AMPD Virtual Studio offering through an agreement with Hammerspace, Inc. Hammerspace is a global leader in connecting global users with their shared content and applications across data center infrastructure and cloud services. Hammerspace data orchestration will be integrated with the workflow management tools in AMPD Virtual Studio to make high-performance local access to global data without making multiple copies of that data a reality. Thanks to the agreement between AMPD and Hammerspace, AMPD customers will be able to access and migrate data wherever they need it, across regions and even multiple cloud vendors. This will make the adoption of hybrid solutions easier and eliminate the need to abandon recent storage investments as part of a migration to AMPD Virtual Studio.

The strong growth in the third quarter has continued into Q4, with forecasted revenue of $0.9M, a 105% increase compared with Q4 2021, and forecasted total year sales for FY 2022 YTD (Jun-Feb) of $3.2M, doubling revenue compared with the full year FY 2021.[4]

"I'd like to thank AMPD investors and partners for their ongoing support and belief in what we are doing, even during challenging market conditions," said Anthony Brown, CEO at AMPD Ventures. "We continue to be excited about our growth and progress since the completion of the financial raise in November and look forward to sharing more exciting news in the near future."

About AMPD Ventures Inc.

AMPD is a next-generation infrastructure company specializing in providing high-performance computing solutions for low-latency applications. With state-of-the-art, high-performance computing solutions hosted in sustainable urban data centres, AMPD is leading the transition to the next generation of computing infrastructure as 'the hosting company of the Metaverse.' Through a mix of infrastructure as a service ("IaaS") and an upgraded, high-performance cloud offering, we are meeting the low-latency requirements of multiplayer video games and eSports, computer graphics rendering, artificial intelligence, machine learning, mixed reality, big data processing, and the as-yet uncharted technological developments of the coming decades.

AMPD Ventures Inc. (CSE:AMPD), through its operating subsidiaries, AMPD Technologies Inc., Cloud A Computing Inc., and Departure Lounge Inc., provides a range of high-performance computing infrastructure and technology solutions designed to host, build, and monetize the Metaverse.

Additional information about the company is available on SEDAR and on our websites at http://www.ampd.tech, http://www.dlxr.ca, and https://www.clouda.ca

For further information please contact Investor Cubed Inc.:

Neil Simon, CEO

Telephone: (647) 258-3310

Email: nsimon@investor3.ca

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

/s/ "Anthony Brown"

Anthony Brown

CEO & Director

AMPD Ventures Inc.

Telephone: 604-332-3329

Email: ir@ampd.tech

Cautionary Statement

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains statements and information that constitute 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of our management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking statements or information herein include, but are not limited, to statements or information with respect to the market's response to volumetric capture, virtual reality, Web3, and mixed reality technologies.

Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of AMPD to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical, technological and social uncertainties; uncertainties in regard to the development and direction of cloud computing solutions and virtual production; the possibility of competing superior technology; uncertain capital markets; other risks related to the inability of a party to perform its obligations, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 2A Listing Statement dated October 17, 2019 and "Risk and Uncertainties" in the Company's most recent Management Discussion and Analysis filed on SEDAR.

Although the forward-looking information is based on our management's reasonable assumptions at the date such statements are made, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. AMPD does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by this cautionary statement.

[1] All Q4 financial are forecasts, and all FY 2022 financials are unaudited.

[2] All Q4 financial are forecasts, and all FY 2022 financials are unaudited.

[3] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/17-cagr-growth-virtual-desktop-120800650.html

[4] All Q4 financial are forecasts, and all FY 2022 financials are unaudited.

SOURCE: AMPD Ventures Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/702703/AMPD-Ventures-Inc-Provides-FY-2022-Results-Preview
TORONTO, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northland Power Inc. ("Northland" or the "Company") (TSX: NPI) today announced the results of the election of Directors at its Annual Meeting ("the Meeting") held on May 25, 2022, in a virtual-only meeting format.



The total number of voting shares represented by shareholders present electronically and by proxy at the Meeting was 153,441,644, representing 66.34% of Northland's outstanding voting shares.

The nine nominees proposed by Management for election as Directors, including the new Director, Eckhardt Ruemmler, were elected. Information on each of the Director Nominees is contained in Northland's Management Information Circular dated April 13, 2022, which is available on the company's website at northlandpower.com (http://www.northlandpower.com)

The votes received were as follows:

Nominee Votes For Percent Withheld

Percent John W. Brace 148,846,827 97.26% 4,196,465 2.74% Linda L. Bertoldi 152,866,132 99.88% 177,160 0.12% Lisa Colnett 151,580,320 99.04% 1,462,972 0.96% Kevin Glass 152,465,677 99.62% 577,615 0.38% Russell Goodman 147,673,731 96.49% 5,369,561 3.51% Keith Halbert 152,479,115 99.63% 564,177 0.37% Helen Mallovy Hicks 151,163,335 98.77% 1,879,957 1.23% Ian Pearce 137,570,472 89.89% 15,472,820 10.11% Eckhardt Ruemmler 152,876,409 99.89% 166,883 0.11%

The Board of Directors accordingly fixed the number of Directors to be elected at nine and the election proceeded on that basis.

The Appointment of Ernst & Young LLP to serve as the independent auditors of Northland, and setting of their remuneration, until the next annual meeting was approved. Votes received were as follows:

Votes For Percent Withheld Percent 132,180,083 86.14% 21,261,561 13.86%

Northland's approach to executive compensation was accepted. Votes received were as follows:

Votes For Percent Against Percent 147,615,404 96.45% 5,427,888 3.55%

ABOUT NORTHLAND POWER

Northland Power is a global power producer dedicated to helping the clean energy transition by producing electricity from clean renewable resources. Founded in 1987, Northland has a long history of developing, building, owning and operating clean and green power infrastructure assets and is a global leader in offshore wind. In addition, Northland owns and manages a diversified generation mix including onshore renewables, efficient natural gas energy, as well as supplying energy through a regulated utility.

Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with global offices in eight countries, Northland owns or has an economic interest in 3.0 GW (net 2.6 GW) of operating capacity. The Company also has a significant inventory of projects in construction and in various stages of development encompassing over 14 GW of potential capacity.

Publicly traded since 1997, Northland's common shares, Series 1, Series 2 and Series 3 preferred shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols NPI, NPI.PR.A, NPI.PR.B and NPI.PR.C, respectively.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Wassem Khalil, Senior Director, Investor Relations

647-288-1019

investorrelations@northlandpower.com

northlandpower.com
CUPERTINO (dpa-AFX) - Tech giant Apple Inc. (AAPL) is reportedly discouraging its retail employees from joining unions. In a leaked video sent to employees this week, Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's head of retail and human relations, told employees about the cons of joining a union. 'I want to start out by saying it's your right to join a union, but it's equally your right not to join a union,' O'Brien said, according to audio published by Vice. 'If you're faced with that decision, I want to encourage you to consult a wide range of people and sources to understand what it could be like to work at Apple under a collective bargaining agreement.' O'Brien added that Apple is responsive to employee concerns and that a union would make it harder for corporate officials to address issues raised by workers. Although Apple hasn't publicly opposed the recent union drives in multiple retail stores across the U.S., it seems the company is discouraging its employees from organizing. Last week, the Communications Workers of America alleged that the iPhone-maker violated federal labor laws at its World Trade Center store in New York City by questioning and monitoring the store employees, stopped them from posting union fliers and made them join mandatory anti-union speeches. Currently, three of Apple's 270 stores are set to be unionized, with one store in the Cumberland Mall in Atlanta will vote to unionize with Communications Workers of America on June 2, one in Towson, Maryland will vote later in June to be organized with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Employees at the New York City store are currently collecting signatures to officially show interest in unionization. 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.
Crane Venture Partners

Crane Venture Partners, a London, UK-based early stage venture capital firm, closed its second fund, at $140 million.

Anchor LPs include Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), British Patient Capital, a Sovereign Wealth Fund and Fund of Funds.

The fund focuses on the open source, artificial intelligence, data and developer tools being used to build the worlds digital foundations. The firms partners, led by co-founders Krishna Visvanathan and Scott Sage, work as extended members of founders teams, particularly in the areas of marketing, sales and customer success.

It is expected to put 50 percent of investments in the UK, with the rest being spread across Europe, Israel and the U.S. Nearly 20 companies are already included in Cranes second fund, including Encord, Encore, Novu, Nuclia, Qovery, Restack, SeeChange and Veratrak.

Crane has tightened its investment focus while expanding its geographic reach with its second fund. The first fund included 60 percent of investments in the UK, 20 percent in Germany and 10 percent in Swiss companies.

Founded in 2015, Crane Venture Partners raised $90 million for its first fund in 2019.

FinSMEs

25/05/2022
President Yoon Suk-yeol / Yonhap



The office of President Yoon Suk-yeol strongly condemned North Korea's recent ballistic missile launches as a grave provocation Wednesday as Yoon ordered measures to ensure the U.S.' "extended deterrence" commitment to South Korea.



The presidential office released the statement shortly after Yoon presided over a National Security Council meeting to discuss North Korea's launch of three ballistic missiles, including a presumed intercontinental ballistic missile, earlier in the day.



"The participants defined North Korea's missile launches as a grave provocation that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions, raises tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia and threatens international peace, and strongly condemns this," it said in the statement.



"President Yoon ordered the thorough implementation of international sanctions against North Korea, including U.N, Security Council resolutions, based on coordination between South Korea and the United States, and in close cooperation with relevant nations and the international community," it added.



North Korea's launches came only days after Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden held a summit in Seoul last weekend and less than a day after Biden left Japan to return to Washington at the end of his first visit to Asia as president.



During the NSC meeting, the participants took note of the timing, saying the missiles were fired after Saturday's summit and before Biden arrived in the U.S.



Both Seoul and Washington had said North Korea could launch an ICBM or test a nuclear weapon during or around the U.S. president's visit to the region.



Against that backdrop, Biden reaffirmed the U.S.' extended deterrence commitment to South Korea in his meeting with Yoon, "using the full range of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities."






Finn Team Members

Finn, a Munich, Germany-based car subscription platform, raised $110m in Equity and $720m in Debt financing.

The Series B round, which valued the company at more than $500m, was led by Korelya Capital along with Keen Venture Partners, Climb Ventures, Greentrail Capital and Waterfall Asset Management. Existing investors such as White Star Capital, HV Capital, Heartcore Capital, UVC Partners, and Picus Capital also participated. The financing comes on the heels of up to $200m in asset-backed security (ABS) funding the company raised for U.S. market expansion from Waterfall Asset Management in March 2022. With its $520m EU ABS raised from Credit Suisse and Waterfall Asset Management in December 2021, this new financing brings total capital raised to $830m within the past six months.

The company intends to use the funds to advance its core technology, accelerate hiring across its global teams, and expand in the U.S. and Europe.

Led by Max-Josef Meier, CEO, Finn is a car subscription platform that provides customers the ability to subscribe to a broad selection of new cars with no down-payments  the price online includes insurance, maintenance, roadside assistance, and various term options. It offers transparency in pricing, as well as comprehensive insurance, maintenance and 24/7 customer and roadside support. The company also facilitates the transition to drive electric vehicles, and compensates the CO2 for every mile driven for all its cars.

Finn also announced the opening of its U.S. headquarters in New York City. It is currently active in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut and will offer its car subscriptions in California and Florida later this year.

FinSMEs

25/05/2022
Semperis, a Hoboken, NJ-based identity-driven cyber resilience platform for enterprises, raised over $200 million in Series C funding.

The round was led by KKR, with participation from Ten Eleven Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Atrium Health Strategic Fund, Tech Pioneers Fund, and existing investors including Insight Partners. Ben Pederson, Director on KKRs Tech Growth team, has joined Semperis Board of Directors.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate hiring across all functions globally and expand its business reach globally, as well as to research and development to drive further innovation in the identity system defense market, focusing on its Directory Services Protector platform.

Co-founded by CEO Mickey Bresman, Guy Teverovsky and Matan Liberman, Semperis provides security teams charged with defending hybrid and multi-cloud environments with tools to ensure the integrity and availability of critical enterprise directory services at every step in the cyber kill chain. Purpose-built for securing hybrid Active Directory environments, the companys patented technology protects over 50 million identities from cyberattacks, data breaches, and operational errors. The worlds leading organizations use Semperis to spot directory vulnerabilities, intercept cyberattacks in progress, and quickly recover from ransomware and other data integrity emergencies. The company operates internationally, with its research and development team distributed throughout the United States, Canada, and Israel.

FinSMEs

25/05/2022
Smplrspace Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based floor plan platform for app builders, closed a US$600k pre-seed funding.

Backers included angel investors such as Sam Marks (Coworker) and an AngelCentral syndicate led by Sam Gibb (Resolution Ventures) with participation from Shao Ning Huang (Chief Angel, Angelcentral).

Led by Wanlyn Tiberghien, Co-founder & CEO, Smplrspace provides a layout digitisation solution for software providers in the building operations space. With an API-first approach, engineering teams can layer on custom data elements within hours, reducing time from digitisation to integration in-app. Users can switch between 2D and 3D viewing options, allowing for a fully interactive and intuitive experience. The platform currently counts software providers who deploy solutions across commercial and multifamily buildings, public spaces, and connected workspaces as part of their client portfolio.

FinSMEs

25/05/2022




North Korea appears to have no intent on giving up its nuclear weapons on its own, South Korea's state intelligence chief nominee said Wednesday.







Kim Kyou-hyun, named to lead the National Intelligence Service, presented the view during his National Assembly confirmation hearing, just hours after Pyongyang launched three ballistic missiles into the East Sea amid concerns it may even carry out another nuclear weapon test soon.







"I think North Korea scarcely has a will to denuclearize on its own," Kim said.







On the COVID-19 outbreak in the North, he said people there appear not to have received vaccinations, while it remains unconfirmed whether or not leader Kim has been vaccinated.







The North seems to have received emergency medical supplies from China, he added.







Kim, formerly a veteran diplomat and senior presidential aide, voiced skepticism over the North's daily report of suspected coronavirus infections and deaths, saying, "The figures are hard to believe.







"There is no way to verify (the numbers) objectively, but it seems to be far from the truth," he said.







North Korea has claimed its outbreak of COVID-19 has been slowing down in recent days, with the total number of "fever" cases since late April standing at around 3.06 million. (Yonhap)






Unification Minister Kwon Young-se responds to questions from lawmakers at the National Assembly in Seoul, May 20. Kwon said Wednesday that South Korea will continue to seek ways to help North Korea fight against COVID-19 despite its latest military provocation. Yonhap



By Jung Min-ho



Despite North Korea's latest military provocation, South Korea will continue to seek ways to support the North's fight against COVID-19, Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said Wednesday.



"The Yoon Suk-yeol administration has maintained the stance that it would continue to find ways to help improve the lives of North Korean people, while responding strongly to its provocation," Kwon said during a seminar for inter-Korean cooperation on the pandemic at the National Assembly in Seoul.



"That's why we offered help immediately after the reports about the COVID-19 outbreak in North Korea  It's regrettable that the North chose to provoke (South Korea) instead of responding favorably to the offer," he said.



Kwon urged the North to take "the right path," saying the Yoon government will stick to the principles of its policy on inter-Korean relations.



"If North Korea continues its provocations, it will face nothing but stronger South Korea-U.S. military deterrence and additional sanctions, a message that was clear at the recent summit between South Korea and the United States," he said. "I also would like to make it clear that our government is ready to talk with the North about any subjects without preconditions."





A sign depicting a scene of medical product distribution is displayed along an empty street amid growing fears over the spread of COVID-19 in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo, May 23. Reuters-Yonhap
A pair of Albany women are barred from working as nurses in Oregon after they failed to comply with urine tests.

Emmy Brockmann, 23, failed to submit to confidential drug testing that had been a diversionary condition of her licensure, then failed to respond to a written notice that she would have her license revoked, according to the Oregon State Board of Nursing.

The state revoked Brockmanns practical nurse license May 18 when she didnt request a hearing to respond to charges she missed weekly drug screenings March 2, 11, 17, 22 and 28 with the states Health Professionals Services Program. That program serves as an alternative to discipline for nurses who are accused of causing harm, arrested, committed for mental health crises or fail a drug test.

Brockmann in 2021 surrendered a certified nursing assistant license after failing to disclose a 2019 arrest. She applied to become a licensed practical nurse in 2021, disclosing the arrest and a history of substance abuse, according to a disciplinary order filed by the nursing board.

The board in February agreed to grant the license on the condition that Brockmann test for drugs.

Brockmann was charged April 4 with first-degree child neglect when, allege prosecutors, she allowed a child younger than 16 to be in a place where controlled substances were received or manufactured, according to a case filed in Linn County Circuit Court.

A warrant was issued for her arrest when she failed to appear in court April 18.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Brockmann cant reapply for a practical nurse license for three years. She has 60 days to appeal the punishment, according to the order.

Frances Wheeler surrendered her registered nurse license after the nursing board discovered in June 2021 that Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center had fired Wheeler for allegations of high rate of narcotic administration.

Wheeler also had failed to comply with Health Professionals Services Program drug testing.

The nursing board licensed Wheeler as a registered nurse in 2013, according to state records.

Wheeler waived any right to appeal the states decision in her agreement to turn her license over.

Alex Powers (he/him) covers business, environment and healthcare for Mid-Valley Media. Call 541-812-6116 or email Alex.Powers@lee.net.

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The Lebanon Police Department has arrested a man for allegedly strangling and attempting to kill someone.

Lebanon police arrested Shawn James Leone, 21, on Monday, May 23. His hometown was not immediately available.

Court documents allege Leone intentionally tried to kill the victim on Monday in Linn County.

Leone was arraigned Tuesday afternoon, May 24 in Linn County Circuit Court on charges of strangulation and second-degree attempted murder.

During the hearing, prosecutor Ryan Lucke said Leone had allegedly threatened the victim in the past.

Judge Keith Stein appointed Arnold Poole as Leones defense attorney and set the defendant's security at $100,000. The next court appearance in the matter is scheduled for June 6.

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)  Officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met Friday in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, in a new effort to organize humanitarian assistance for strife-torn Myanmar, a goal that critics feel falls short of addressing the causes of the crisis in the military-run nation.

The meeting, which some participants joined by video, was attended by high-level representatives from Myanmar and the other nine member states of ASEAN, its external partners, United Nations specialized agencies and other international organizations. Cambodia is the current chair of ASEAN.

No details of any agreements at the meeting were released. Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who is also ASEAN's special envoy on Myanmar, said at a news conference that progress had been made, and wrote on his Facebook page that the meeting produced promising outcomes and directions.

The meeting was part of an attempt to revive a five-point consensus on Myanmar reached by ASEAN in April last year. That consensus was reached in response to violence that swept Myanmar after the military in February 2021 seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and used lethal force to quash opposition to its takeover.

The consensus calls for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among concerned parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties. Prak Sokhonn said Friday's meeting added momentum to implementing the five-point consensus. He said he would make a second trip to Myanmar in his capacity of special envoy in the next few weeks.

Myanmar initially agreed to the consensus but then made scant effort to implement it. Its stonewalling led fellow ASEAN members to block Myanmar's leaders since last October from attending major meetings of the regional grouping.

At the same time, armed resistance to military rule has increased to the extent that some U.N. experts say the country is now in a state of civil war. Myanmars military has launched large-scale operations, including air strikes in several areas of the country, generating large numbers of displaced people.

In an effort to eliminate havens for armed opponents, the governments tactics have included burning down entire villages and restricting access to essential supplies such as food.

About 924,800 people remain displaced across Myanmar as of April 25, including 578,200 people who have fled their homes as a result of conflict and insecurity since the military takeover, according to an assessment by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Humanitarian access to conflict-affected and displaced people remains heavily restricted and there are significant gaps in assistance to these communities despite continued efforts by humanitarian partners and local organizations, it said.

Even if access to those in need is eased, relief efforts face funding challenges. Myanmar is one of the regions poorest countries, and its economy has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the political upheaval, making foreign assistance an imperative.

The U.N.'s 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan seeks to reach a record 6.2 million people and requires $826 million, the world body announced last month. To date, it is only 4% funded, it said.

Critics of Myanmars military government suggest that any attempt to implement the five-point consensus is a waste of time.

ASEANs credibility depends on its ability to act in accordance with the reality of the situation in Myanmar, the non-partisan group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights said in an open letter last month to ASEAN leaders. The group cannot expect the military to abide by the terms of the Five-Point Consensus or to any international or humanitarian norm for that matter.

The lawmakers group said it is imperative that the member states escalate measures to put real pressure on the military to stop it from brutalizing its own population and turning the country into a failed state.

Measures it suggested include the suspension of Myanmars membership in ASEAN, regional travel bans for Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and members of his ruling military council, and targeted sanctions against them that include their sources of economic support. Western nations such as the United States and Britain have already implemented similar bans and sanctions.

Critics of Myanmars military believe any breakthrough toward resolving the crisis must ultimately involve the countrys National Unity Government, the main organization representing opposition forces. The group, set up by elected lawmakers who were denied their seats by the army takeover, considers itself the countrys legitimate government and has widespread public support. The countrys military leaders, however, have officially designated it an outlawed terrorist organization and refuse to engage with it.

The open letter from the lawmakers group called on ASEAN to immediately and publicly meet with the NUG, an appeal that met with a positive response on Twitter from Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. He said he had informally met via video with the NUG foreign minister ahead of a conference of ASEAN foreign ministers in February.

Saifuddin later said Malaysia would propose that ASEAN engage informally with the NUG because no progress had been made in a year in implementing the five-point consensus.

We are not proposing for ASEAN to recognize other governments, but such informal engagement may be conceivable, especially on how humanitarian aid to the people of Myanmar who are still in their country can be delivered, he said.

Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Ministry quickly rejected his proposal as irresponsible and reckless."

-

Associated Press writer Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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

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President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a National Security Council meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Wednesday, following North Korea's test launch of three ballistic missiles. Courtesy of presidential office



S. Korea, US counter by firing ground-to-ground missiles into East Sea



By Nam Hyun-woo



North Korea fired three missiles, including what appears to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), off its east coast on Wednesday, putting to test an extended Seoul-Washington deterrence against the bellicose regime pledged by President Yoon Suk-yeol and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden during their summit over the past weekend.



The South Korean government, along with the United States, responded with a show of force. Both the South Korean and U.S. militaries countered the missile launch by firing ground-to-ground missiles off the east coast, following Yoon's order to pursue "practical measures on extended deterrence and stronger combined defense capabilities between South Korea and the U.S."





Graphic by Cho Sang-won



According to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the North launched three ballistic missiles from the Sunan area near Pyongyang from 6 a.m. to 6:42 a.m.



The first missile, which was assumed to be an ICBM, flew 360 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of 540 kilometers. The second one disappeared from the radar at an altitude of 20 kilometers, while the third one, assumed to be a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), traveled 760 kilometers after ascending to an altitude of 60 kilometers.



The South Korean military reportedly believes the first missile was the Hwasong-17, which was unveiled in October 2020 and has been tested since February this year. The second and third missiles appear to have been the KN-23, also known as the North Korean version of the Russian Iskander-M.



Yoon presided over a National Security Council meeting at 7:30 a.m., and "strongly condemned the launch as a serious provocation which violates U.N. Security Council resolutions, escalates tensions on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia and threatens international peace," according to Seoul's presidential office.



During the meeting, Yoon ordered practical measures to "exercise extended deterrence," which refers to the U.S. commitment to deter or respond to adversaries' coercions or nuclear and non-nuclear military attacks on U.S. allies and partners. The leaders of South Korea and the U.S. agreed to exercise extended deterrence during their summit last weekend.



"North Korea's continued provocations will only result in stronger and swifter combined deterrence between South Korea and the U.S., and will further isolate North Korea from the international society," the government said in an official statement.



"The government is prepared to respond strongly and effectively to any North Korean provocation and will take practical steps to protect the security of South Korea and the safety of the people based on the solid South Korea-U.S. alliance," it added.





A Hyunmoo-II missile is launched from a military vehicle in an unidentified location in South Korea, Wednesday, in this photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. South Korea launched the Hyunmoo-II in response after North Korea fired three ballistic missiles earlier that day.



Following the comment, the JCS announced that the South Korean military launched a Hyunmoo-II missile and the U.S. military fired an ATACMS missile into the East Sea to display their capabilities of striking targets. An official at the JCS said the Hyunmoo-II missile was launched at around 10:20 a.m.



The JCS added that more than 30 F-15K fighters from the South Korean Air Force conducted an "elephant walk" drill, Tuesday, after it identified signs of North's missile launch. An elephant walk is an exercise involving fully-armed aircraft taxiing on the tarmac.









National Security Advisor Kim Sung-han and his U.S. counterpart Jake Sullivan, Foreign Minister Park Jin and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and his counterpart Lloyd Austin, each spoke over the telephone to discuss the allies' strategy to counter North Korea's threats.



"The Yoon government's three-pillar response to the North's military actions is comprised of clearly stating whether a projectile is a missile, rocket or ballistic missile, showing actions corresponding to the North's military movements, and finally, South Korea and the U.S. will jointly make these moves and closely cooperate with the international society," said Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the Office of National Security.





North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, walks around the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile on a launcher near Pyongyang in this photo carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency in March. Yonhap



The strong response came as North Korea launched the missiles even before Biden arrived in Washington following his Asia trip to South Korea and Japan. During his stay in Seoul, Yoon and Biden agreed to step up combined military exercises and strengthen extended deterrence against Pyongyang's threats.



The two leaders also reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to deploy strategic assets "in a timely and coordinated manner as necessary," which means long-range bombers such as the B-52H, the B-1B or the B-2 could be deployed.



According to Flightradar24, an internet-based service showing real-time aircraft flight-tracking information, a U.S. Air Force B-52H "stratofortress" long-range bomber flew over waters southeast of Japan on Wednesday afternoon.



The B-52H, which can carry 32 tons of missiles, including 12 nuclear-armed AGM-129 missiles, has been anticipated to be one of the strategic assets that the U.S. could deploy near South Korea. In February, the U.S. deployed four B-52H bombers to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, and the aircraft that flew over waters near Japan Wednesday is believed to have been one of them, sources said.



"During the summit, there have been multiple achievements in strengthening the South Korea-U.S. alliance, but the North fired missiles even before Biden returned home," an official at the presidential office said. "We believe this provocation of firing an ICBM and SRBM at the same time contains (North Korea's) strategic implication."



Experts said that Pyongyang sought to show its confidence that it could evade the South Korea-U.S. missile defense system by firing an ICBM and SRBM subsequently.



"The move seems to be North Korea showing off that it can make the Seoul-Washington extended deterrence useless, by launching missiles with various ranges and altitudes at the same time," said Prof. Park Won-gon at Ewha Womans University. "The crux of extended deterrence is the nuclear and missile defense capability. If the North fires missiles in a combination like today, the missile defense system may not be fully functional."





Air Force F-15K fighters perform an elephant walk at an unidentified air base in South Korea, Tuesday. Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.




By Jung Min-ho







More than 76 percent of people in Korea support legalizing euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide, according to a recent opinion poll.







A survey by Professor Yun Young-ho at Seoul National University College of Medicine showed 61.9 percent of respondents said they would "strongly agree" to making a law for access to the controversial medical procedure, while 14.4 percent said they would "agree."







Only 2 percent said they would "strongly disagree" with such legislation, while 21.7 percent said they would "disagree."







In the same survey conducted in 2016, about 50 percent said they would support it.







The No. 1 reason for their support in the latest poll was "the rest of life is meaningless (30.8 percent)," followed by "the right to a dignified death (26 percent)," "less pain (20.6 percent)," "less burden for the family (14.8 percent)" and "less burden for society (4.6 percent)."







Nearly 45 percent of those opposed to the procedure picked "respect for life" as their reason.







"The results show that more efforts should be made to lessen physical and mental pain for patients and help them live their lives more meaningfully," Yun said in a press release.







To another question about "well-dying," or refusing to receive meaningless life-sustaining treatments, 85.9 percent of respondents said they would support it.







Asked whether "well-dying" could be considered an alternative to euthanasia, 85.3 percent said "yes."







Worldwide, only a few countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, have legalized euthanasia under strict circumstances.






Park Jin, the top diplomats of South Korea / Yonhap



The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States strongly condemned North Korea's latest missile launches in phone talks Wednesday, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.



Foreign Minister Park Jin and his American counterpart Antony Blinken agreed to cooperate closely in a push for a new U.N. Security Council resolution against Pyongyang, as they called the North's move a "grave provocation" that will only lead to its further isolation as it threatens regional peace and stability, it added.






UofG researchers win national LOreal-UNESCO Rising Talent Awards

Two University of Glasgow researchers have been named among the six winners of the 2022 LOreal-UNESCO For Women in Science UK and Ireland Rising Talents Awards.



Dr Rachel Montgomery, an experimental nuclear physicist in the School of Physics & Astronomy, and Dr Christina Faust, a landscape disease ecologist in the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine, received their awards at a reception hosted in the House of Commons in London on Tuesday 24thMay.



The award includes a 15,000 Fellowship to support a 12-month period of research.



The UK and Ireland Rising Talents Programme is the national chapter of the LOreal-UNESCO For Women in Science partnership, which was founded in 1998. It is designed to provide flexible and practical financial support, alongside tools and support, for early career women scientists to pursue their research.



The awards are presented to outstanding women postdoctoral scientists in the fields of physical science, engineering, mathematics and computing, life science and sustainable development.



Dr Faust obtained a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University in 2016 and has conducted postdoctoral research on the environmental drivers of zoonotic disease at Oxford University, Montana State University and Penn State University. She is currently a NERC Independent Research Fellow and is supported by a University of Glasgow Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Leadership Fellowship.



Her research integrates field studies, population genetics and mathematical modelling to find nature-based solutions for mitigating zoonotic disease emergence in human populations. Her research proposal aims to identify mechanisms and key environmental features that minimise rodent viral zoonoses in restored forests.

Dr Faust said: Im very grateful to receive this award and honoured to be included among many other talented women leading their fields. The LOreal-UNESCO For Women in Science provides support for exciting new research but has also built a network of women in science across the UK and Ireland and in 50 regions around thr world. The financial award comes at a critical point in my career and will create new opportunities for me to develop my research portfolio and contribute to new areas.

"A wonderful senior female mentor at Glasgow originally encouraged me to apply. Ive been lucky to have many female role models in my science career. My school teachers encouraged my interest in science and having support early on was crucial to my choice of studies at university. I am also grateful to work in an Institute (IBAHCM) that has an Athena SWAN Silver Award and is constantly working to improve inclusion in the workplace.

"This award enables an exciting new research area for me  investigating how reforestation can be leveraged to reduce zoonotic (animal to human) disease emergence. Forest restoration is a key priority in Scotland. These policies have immense potential to prevent zoonotic emergence and I am committed to identifying the types and locations of interventions that will provide the most benefits for global health. Th mechanisms affecting viral diversity and zoonotic risk from wildlife populations during restoration activities are currently unknown, but this funding from L'Oreal-UNESCO will help address this key knowledge gap. 

Dr Montgomery received a PhD from the University of Glasgow, before being awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics. She is currently a UKRI STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow, and her research is further supported by a University of Glasgow Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith Leadership Fellowship.

Her research aims to further our fundamental understanding of the sub-atomic particles which bind together to form nuclei. She is developing new detectors to measure these particles and is particularly interested in transferring these advanced technologies to societal applications - for example, into the field of nuclear medicine.

Dr Montgomery said: I am delighted and very honoured to receive this award, which recognises and promotes the achievements of women in science. I am proud that my work contributes to a more inclusive society and the message that all people must enjoy equal opportunities and choices as equal citizens. Women scientists are leading ground-breaking research across the world. However, despite their discoveries women still only represent one third of researchers globally* and less than 4% of Nobel Prizes for science have ever been awarded to women. It is an honour to be acknowledged as one of the many researchers who are helping to change the world through scientific discovery, and who can be used as role models for younger generations of women researchers.

I would not be where I am today without the strong, positive influence of female physicists. I hope this award will likewise assist me, in my role as an ambassador for physics, in doing the same. I am also very pleased to represent my colleagues within the University of Glasgow School of Physics and Astronomy, who have supported me and who are involved in work all year round to promote, enhance and encourage women pursuing careers in science.

This award represents a wonderful opportunity for me to enhance my research profile. It further empowers my existing research independence, by enabling me to pursue an exciting new project, one which I am very passionate about. My research studies the nature of the sub-atomic particles which bind together to form atomic nuclei, the building blocks of all visible matter in our Universe. I aim to develop, for upcoming experiments, a novel instrument to map out the paths of sub-atomic particles very precisely, to measure what is happening during those experiments. The experiments seek to offer new insights into the strong force of nature binding these particles, and nuclei, together. Further understanding of the strong force will help us to learn more about how our Universe developed. I also plan to explore how this device could be used in other applications, such as particle beam dosimetry in radiotherapy. This award could now provide new opportunities and avenues for my career as a nuclear physicist. I cannot wait to start working on it and see where it leads to.



Thierry Cheval, L'Oreal UK and Ireland, Managing Director said: The 2022 Rising Talents are working on some of the biggest challenges that the world faces today including environmental and health challenges where their research advances could benefit us all. We are proud to be championing another group of exceptional For Women in Science Fellows.



James Bridge, UK National Commission for UNESCO, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary-General, said: Congratulations to the 2022 Fellows. We are very proud to be able to support these outstanding researchers to undertake the ground-breaking work that they do. There is still much more to be done to achieve true gender equality in science but it is clear that, as a global community, we must recognise and promote the achievements of women scientists.



The LOreal-UNESCO For Women in Science partnership aims to empower more women scientists to achieve scientific excellence and participate equally in solving the great challenges facing humanity.
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, May 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amid critical work planning for the refurbishment of reactors at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, members of the Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA) face a rapidly approaching strike/lockout deadline at 12:01am Eastern Standard Time on May 29, 2022. Contracts expired at the end of 2021.



As Romania plans for this important upgrade and life extension to its nuclear power plant, SPEA members want to remain laser-focused on the work we need to do to deliver stable, affordable and low-carbon electricity for Romania, said Corey Martin, Vice President of SPEA.

Additionally, Romania's Cernavoda Unit 1 is in the middle of a planned maintenance outage. SPEA members are currently on-site performing critical maintenance activities that could be stopped if there were a strike or lockout. A stoppage of any kind during maintenance would delay the unit from being brought back online for vital power production.

The work of SPEA, representing scientific, technical, engineering, and professional workers at SNC-Lavalins Candu Energy, is integral to the refurbishment and servicing of Romanias nuclear energy fleet  primarily responsible for 15 to 20 percent of Romanias energy supply. The two current reactors at Cernavoda will need to be powered down for multi-year refurbishments, while work on building two additional units takes place.

Candu Energy requires highly specialized scientific and engineering staff. We need to make sure we can keep and attract the top-tier talent we need to deliver critical refurbishment and construction work for Romanias nuclear power plant, said Martin. We are determined to do whatever it takes to reach fair, competitive agreements, and swiftly. But we need Candu Energy to bring the same focus to the bargaining table.

Romania will need to deploy more expensive, higher-emitting hydrocarbon sources of energy while refurbishments are underway. The country receives an estimated forty-two percent of energy production from coal (25 percent) and oil and gas (17 percent). To meet its climate change commitments, Romania has recognized that nuclear is a safe, reliable, and clean energy solution.

SPEA members are concerned that new management at Candu Energy threatens a return to the fractious bargaining relationship of the past, marked by a 12+ week strike shortly after SNC-Lavalin took over AECLs nuclear reactor business in 2011. After 2012, SNC-Lavalin took great pains to set out on a new direction, renewing its board and its senior executives  including a collaborative approach to labour relations, said Reza Ziaei, Specialist Resident Engineer and Vice President of SPEA. We cannot afford a return to the mistakes of the past  nor can the businesses and residents in Romania who depend on our work.



About SPEA



The Society of Professional Engineers and Associates is an independent union representing engineers, scientists, technical and administrative staff, who work for Candu Energy Inc- Nuclear division of SNC-Lavalin (formerly Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) Candu division) in Mississauga, Ontario and abroad (excluding AECL Chalk River Laboratories). Formed in 1974, SPEA is one of the oldest professional unions in Canada.

For further information contact:
NEW YORK, May 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai recently announced the creation of the Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine (CEPM), one of the first centers in the nation to bridge engineering and engineering science with medicine. This undertaking will build on a wealth of shared basic research discoveries, explore unique therapeutic innovations in cancer, Alzheimers, infectious diseases; and tissue degeneration; educate a new generation of biomedical leaders; and develop new technologies and processes that enhance patient outcomes in unprecedented ways. CEPM represents an evolution in the successful partnership between Mount Sinai and RPI, one that has secured over $70 million in shared research funding since 2013 with 90 percent of that provided by the National Institutes of Health.



The joint center located at 619 West 54th Street in Manhattan, will drive advances in point-of-care and point-of-use devices and diagnostics; microphysiological platforms for discovery and diagnosis; robotic surgery; biomedical imaging; therapeutics biomanufacturing; and artificial intelligence and machine learning applied to biomedical data. These engineering advances will improve patients quality of life by synergizing state-of-the-art expertise in research and education at the nexus of engineering and medicine.



The center was announced with a ceremonial signing at the new site.



This transformative partnership between Rensselaer and Icahn Mount Sinai recognizes that engineering and engineering science is fundamental to the understanding of biomedical phenomena and is essential to the development of the next generation of precision diagnostics and therapeutics, human health and well-being, and to the training of advanced researchers and physicians, said Shirley Ann Jackson, PhD, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Innovative research is a foundation of Rensselaer, as our students, faculty, and graduates continue to change the world through scientific and technological advances. This center will continue to fuel medical and scientific discoveries with life-changing impacts across the globe.

From highly sensitive and accurate bioimaging systems to new drug target discoveries, the major inventions that have shaped modern medicine were born out of close collaboration between engineers and clinicians, said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. The CEPM presents a bold new paradigm for that collaboration to continue that we believe will result in unprecedented advances in science, medicine, and human health. In addition, the PhD program will enable us to attract and equip a new generation of researchers with the interdisciplinary engineering and clinical skills to pursue more groundbreaking, impactful research.

The Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine grew out of the historically collaborative work by Rensselaer and Icahn Mount Sinai researchers in the field of precision medicine, a personalized approach to disease treatment and prevention based on individuals biological, environmental, and lifestyle differences. The CEPM will develop new technologies that will revolutionize the way patient care is delivered.

Engineering is the driving force for an increasing number of important medical breakthroughs, said Jonathan Dordick, PhD, Institute Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer and Co-Director of CEPM. The joint Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine is ideally positioned to integrate engineering research and education with medicine to develop new diagnostics and treatments at the individual level, making a real difference in peoples lives.

Ultimately, the outcome of CEPM will be new, transformative research projects and innovative technologies that shift clinical paradigms, said Priti Balchandani, PhD, Professor of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology, Neuroscience, and Psychiatry at Icahn Mount Sinai and Co-Director of CEPM. And we believe this collaboration will generate new start-ups and attract commercial partners who transform the technologies we pioneer into therapeutic solutions that improve health care and have life-changing outcomes for our patients and for society as a whole.

The life sciences sector is at the center of New Yorks economic and public health future, and this project represents an important step forward toward that future, said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. I want to thank Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai for their steadfast commitment to New York City. I look forward to the many critical innovations they will produce together.

Thanks to the innovative and historic partnership of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, the new Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine holds tremendous promise for biomedicine. The Center is part of the expanding and important biotech industry which is critical to our economy and the health of all New Yorkers and Americans. I look forward to supporting the Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine as it grows and makes major contributions to society, said Congressman Jerrold Nadler.

This Center will revolutionize medical practices for some of our most devastating diseases. At the core of the Citys vision for life sciences is creating opportunity for all New Yorkers, which our Mayor is working so hard to address. We have an opportunity to welcome Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to New York City, and with world-class partner, Mount Sinai, watch them change research, make discoveries, and ultimately improve patient care, saving lives, said Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development Maria Torres-Springer.

Its about helping treat people who are sick and improve the lives and care of New Yorkers, said New York City Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Andrew Kimball. New York City is proud to have these leading institutions growing innovation around life sciences on the West Side of Manhattan and helping us put the City on a path to strengthening our future talent. Ultimately, NYCEDCs goal, like this Center, is to spur new research and develop our talent to translate to new companies, jobs, medicines, and advanced technologies. As the Center continues to expand, were excited at the prospect of partnership ahead.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the first and one of the most renowned technological research universities in the nation. Rensselaer researchers are internationally recognized for their expertise in biotechnology and biomanufacturing; neuromodulation; tissue engineering, biocomputation, robotics, devices and microfabrication; and artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing.

Icahn Mount Sinai is the academic arm of the Mount Sinai Health System, which offers premier medical and research training and education, runs clinical trials with data available from nearly 4 million patients, and translates basic and biomedical research into commercial products.

The CEPM will focus on three critical research areas at the interface of engineering and medicine:

Neuroengineering , which exploits minimally invasive control and regulation of neural circuitry to target neurodegenerative diseases; brain-computer/network analysis; neuro-diagnostics; and computational neurobiology

, which exploits minimally invasive control and regulation of neural circuitry to target neurodegenerative diseases; brain-computer/network analysis; neuro-diagnostics; and computational neurobiology Immunoengineering, which focuses on developing designer immune cells; microbiome engineering; on-demand anti-infectives; and synthetic vaccines to help our bodies fight cancer and infectious disease

which focuses on developing designer immune cells; microbiome engineering; on-demand anti-infectives; and synthetic vaccines to help our bodies fight cancer and infectious disease Regenerative and reparative medicine, which encompasses on-demand personalized tissue repair and regeneration; organoids (3D tissue culture that mimics simplified organ function); and cellular reprogramming



To foster innovation, CEPM will develop a five-year joint PhD in engineering and precision medicine that will equip a new generation of researchers with the fundamental biological sciences, data analytics, and engineering knowledge and skills to pursue breakthroughs in medical science. The development of masters degrees and certificate programs will broaden the CEPMs academic mission and facilitate research that spans all aspects of disease mechanisms, data, and technologies from molecular to human dimensions. These programs include a joint PhD in engineering and precision medicine, a PhD in the School of Engineering or School of Science at Rensselaer with a concentration in engineering and precision medicine, and a PhD with a combined masters degree or certificate in entrepreneurship.

Other key leaders include Deepak Vashishth, PhD, CEPM Associate Director and Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer; and CEPM senior advisors Zahi Fayad, PhD, Director of the BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute at Icahn Mount Sinai and Scott L. Friedman, MD, Fishberg Professor of Medicine and Dean for Therapeutic Discovery at Icahn Mount Sinai.

Healthcare is a human right and everyone, no matter what zip code they live in, should have access to world class care. Today's announcement that two world class institutions have joined forces to produce the very latest in biotech research and design in New York City will further the city's growth as a biotech hub and revolutionize the future of medicine, from personalized tissue design to incision-free neurosurgery, said Council Member Lynn Schulman, Chair of the City Council Health Committee.



"I am delighted to welcome Mt. Sinai's newest medical center to the 6th Council District, which will further bolster New York City's position as an international leader in life and health sciences. The partnership between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Icahn School of Medicine will focus on some of the toughest health challenges facing us and serve as a model for medical research and innovation," said Council Member Gale A. Brewer (D-06).

A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on the image or link below:

Contact:

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Deanna Cohen

518-233-4828

cohend8@rpi.edu
Biden says U.S. should stand up to gun lobby after mass shooting at Texas school

Xinhua) 14:58, May 25, 2022

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- President Joe Biden said Tuesday night that the United States should "stand up to the gun lobby" after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas.

"I am sick and tired of it. We have to act," Biden said in emotional remarks from the Roosevelt Room of the White House. He called the shooting a "carnage."

"The gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons which make them the most and largest profit," he continued. "We have to have the courage to stand up to the industry."

At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday.

The suspect, identified as 18-year-old Uvalde High School student Salvador Rolando Ramos, was killed by responding officers.

"The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong," noted Biden, who just returned from a trip to Asia.

"What struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world," he pointed out. "These kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America."

The United States has seen at least 212 mass shootings so far this year, according to an online database that keeps a record of the country's gun violence incidents.

More than 17,000 people have died in gun-related episodes across the United States over the past five months, including approximately 640 children and teenagers.

"Tonight, there are parents who will never see their child again. Parents who will never be the same," Biden said, calling for efforts to "turn this pain into action."

"We can do so much more. We have to do more," he added.

March for Our Lives, a student-led movement supporting gun control legislation, tweeted that "you can't stop a bullet with thoughts and prayers."

"To honor those lost and save countless lives, we need action," the group wrote. "We're dying while we wait for it."

Tuesday's massacre is the deadliest American school shooting since the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, nearly a decade ago.

Uvalde, about 136 km west of San Antonio, is located near the U.S. southern border.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)




Korea's oceans minister said Wednesday that the country will not lift a ban on imports of seafood from Japan's Fukushima area for the sake of winning Japan's support for the country's push to join a major free trade agreement.







Seoul decided to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which involves 11 nations, including Japan and Australia, and has been working on due domestic procedures to submit an application.







Japan has been reluctant to agree to Korea's entry, as it has banned all seafood imports from Japan's Fukushima regions since 2013 on concerns over radiation levels following the 2011 nuclear power plant meltdown there.







"We've taken a resolute stance on the issue. We aren't considering allowing imports of Japan's Fukushima seafood as a tactic to get backing for our bid to join the CPTPP," Oceans Minister Cho Seung-hwan said during a meeting with reporters.







Cho earlier said the issue regarding regulations on fishery products was directly linked to the health and safety of the people so that it was not a matter being discussed under any international customs agreements.







Korea needs unanimous support from the 11 member states to win membership accreditation.







As for the now-expired fisheries agreement between Seoul and Tokyo, the minister vowed efforts to resume negotiations despite stark differences in their stances amid diplomatic rows stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.







The bilateral fisheries agreement has not been renewed after expiring in 2016, as the two sides failed to narrow the gap on fishing quotas and other issues.







Officials here have said that Japan's demand is closely related to Korea's sovereignty over its easternmost islets of Dokdo in the East Sea.







"Japan has not been very active in resuming talks on the agreement," Cho said. "We will continue efforts to make progress on the matter and to develop bilateral relations in a future-oriented fashion." (Yonhap)






GUANGZHOU, China and SHANGHAI, China, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WeRide, a global leading Level 4 autonomous driving technology company, announced the strategic investment received from Bosch, one of the leading automotive suppliers. The two parties have signed a strategic cooperation agreement and will jointly develop autonomous driving (AD) software. This cooperation will accelerate the process of developing Bosch Chinas advanced driving solution, moving SAE Level 2-3 AD towards mass production.







Bosch and WeRide representatives at the strategic partnership signing ceremony: Executive Vice-President of Bosch China Dr. David Xu (left 2), WeRide Co-founder & CTO Dr. Yan Li (right 2), President of Bosch Cross-Domain Computing Solutions China Mr. Yin Li (left 1) and WeRide COO Mr. Li Zhang (right 1)

WeRide ONE is a set of universal software that provides a high level of flexibility to achieve autonomous driving capabilities from SAE Level 2 to 4. Based on WeRide ONE and the advanced driving solution from Bosch China, the two parties will jointly develop data-driven intelligent driving software to provide OEM customers in the Chinese market with faster and better service and deliver SAE Level 2-3 advanced intelligent driving experiences covering various scenarios such as urban, highway, and elevated roads in China earlier.

Developed by Bosch Cross-Domain Computing Solutions China, the advanced driving solution is an intelligent driving system solution tailored for the Chinese market which comprises key technical elements such as centralized computing platforms, sensors, software applications, and cloud services. It has been designed with a future-proof scalable architecture. The solution is fully equipped with system-level safety designs encompassing functional safety, cyber security, and safety of the intended functionality, and sets out rigorous requirements for both software and hardware development processes, as well as the verification and release of systems. Adhering to the long-term development strategy of Local for Local, Bosch China continues to invest and innovate locally in key technical areas of automotive electronics and software. Together with WeRide, Bosch is set to make every intelligent driving powered by Bosch Chinas advanced driving solution safer and more trustworthy.

WeRides AD technology has been verified with over 11 million kilometers of rigorous AD test drive on open roads. WeRides innovative Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving fleets comprise Robotaxi, Mini Robobus, Robovan and Robo Street Sweeper. The four products are tested and operated day and night, traveling everywhere from central business districts (CBDs) to urban villages, from tunnels to highways, and in sunny, rainy, and snowy weather conditions. Through years of R&D and application of L4 AD technology, WeRide is now ready to develop and apply L2 and above AD technology in this new strategic cooperation. The highly flexible use of WeRide ONE, the universal software in WeRides AD solutions will enable the vehicles to achieve autonomous driving from L2 to L4.

With the increased adoption of intelligent driving technologies in new vehicles, advanced driving solutions are shaping up to be the next blue ocean for the industry. Bosch has built deep know-how in engineering R&D and technical services in this field, along with its deep-rooted local presence and experience in volume production. WeRide brings to the table its innovative capabilities in autonomous driving technology R&D, product innovation, and operation services. The cooperation between the two parties is set to accelerate the volume production of advanced intelligent driving solutions, and deliver a safer, more comfortable, and smarter driving experience in China, said Li Yin, the president of Bosch Cross-Domain Computing Solutions, China.

Tony Han, founder and CEO of WeRide, said: WeRide is always devoted to developing safe, cutting-edge and commercially viable autonomous driving solutions with the aim of empowering upstream and downstream ecosystems of the industry. Backed by over a century of continuous innovation, Bosch is a global leader in automotive technologies with profound expertise, market insight, and invaluable customer relations. WeRide and Bosch are both well positioned in this joint effort to drive the development and adoption of advanced intelligent driving technologies in China while lead the world in creating the best intelligent driving products.

Developing from L4 autonomous driving mobility to logistics and environmental services market, and evolving further into advanced driving solutions, WeRide will continue to advance towards mass production and commercialization of autonomous driving with strategic partners like Bosch in the future.

About Bosch

Mobility Solutions is the largest Bosch Group business sector. It generated sales of 45.3 billion euros in 2021, and thus contributed 58 percent of total sales from operations. This makes the Bosch Group one of the leading automotive suppliers. The Mobility Solutions business sector pursues a vision of mobility that is safe, sustainable, and exciting, and combines the groups expertise in the domains of personalization, automation, electrification, and connectivity. For its customers, the outcome is integrated mobility solutions. The business sectors main areas of activity are injection technology and powertrain peripherals for internal-combustion engines, diverse solutions for powertrain electrification, vehicle safety systems, driver-assistance and automated functions, technology for user-friendly infotainment as well as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, repair-shop concepts, and technology and services for the automotive aftermarket. Bosch is synonymous with important automotive innovations, such as electronic engine management, the ESP anti-skid system, and common-rail diesel technology.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 402,600 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2021). The company generated sales of 78.7 billion euros in 2021. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Groups strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is Invented for life. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Boschs global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. With its more than 400 locations worldwide, the Bosch Group has been carbon neutral since the first quarter of 2020. The basis for the companys future growth is its innovative strength. At 128 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 76,100 associates in research and development, of which more than 38,000 are software engineers.

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, www.twitter.com/BoschPress.

About WeRide

WeRide is a leading, commercial-stage global company that develops Level 4 autonomous driving technologies. WeRide aims to develop safe and reliable driverless solutions to make mobility and transportation safer, more affordable and accessible. WeRide is conducting autonomous driving R&D, tests and operations in over 15 cities around the world.

As the pioneer leader in autonomous technologies and services, WeRide has stepped up to the commercial stage in operations. WeRide offers an all-rounded product mix of Robotaxi, Mini Robobus, Robovan, Robo Street Sweeper and Advanced Driving Solution, providing smart services in online ride-hailing, on-demand transport, urban logistics, environmental services and advanced driving solution.

Established in 2017, WeRide is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, and has expanded its R&D and operation centers to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Anqing, as well as San Francisco in the US. WeRide has formed strategic partnerships with top-tier global OEMs and Tier 1 including Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, Yutong Group, GAC Group, Bosch, etc.

For more information, please visit:

Website: www.weride.ai; Medium: https://werideai.medium.com/; twitter/LinkedIn/YouTube: WeRide.ai.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3472adb9-fc38-448f-b00f-ddc29ad1fbff
Newark, NJ, May 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As per the report published by our research team, the global silicone rubber tape market is expected to grow from USD 1.5 billion in 2021 to USD 2.13 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period 2022-2030.

The silicone rubber tape market is growing faster due to the demand for silicone rubber tapes in the healthcare, automotive, and electrical & electronics sectors. Manufacturers primarily concentrate on delivering a unique variety of products with enhanced properties. Similarly, healthcare services, awareness concerning hygiene products, infrastructure growth, and up-gradation of electronic tools improve the need for silicone rubber tapes. The global silicone rubber tape market report delivers a holistic market evaluation.

Competitive Strategy

To enhance their market position in the global silicone rubber tape market, the key players are now focusing on adopting the strategies such as product innovations, mergers & acquisitions, recent developments, joint ventures, collaborations, and partnerships.

In SHANGHAI, April 27th, 2022, Elkem Silicones, the worlds foremost integrated silicone manufacturer, reported a plan to fund more than 100 million yuan to widen its Flagship Asia-Pacific R&I Centre in Shanghai. The development also describes one of its latest efforts to expand acquisition in China.

Get Sample Copy with TOC, Graphs & List of Figures @ https://www.marketsandresearch.biz/sample-request/301656

Market Growth & Trends

The primary driver of the silicone rubber tapes market is expanding automotive industry. In the industry, tapes containing silicon properties are primarily utilized in protection tapes and double-sided tapes. Automotive manufacturers are shifting from mechanical pins to automotive tapes with adhesive properties to decrease the weight of vehicles. Mechanical fasteners, such as bolts and screws, raise the weight of the cars, and lightweight adhesive solutions increasingly replace these products. Therefore, an expansion in the adoption of silicone rubber tapes in the automobile industry is anticipated to expand the silicone rubber tapes market. Similarly, the need for silicone rubber tapes is noticing development in the healthcare industries due to penetration of the products in the sector in growing countries and an increase in disposable income. Further, these tapes have outstanding weathering features, and they deliver resistance to arcs and zone, which is wholly expected to propel the growth of the global silicone rubber tapes market. Specific restrictions and barriers encountered will hamper the overall market growth. The factors such as fluctuating costs of raw materials and strict legal guidelines are restraining the market growth. Natural rubber, a petroleum-based derivative, is one of the primary raw materials in producing rubber tapes.

Key Findings

In 2021, the silicon rubber-based silicone rubber tape segment dominated the market with the largest market share of 63% and market revenue of 0.94 billion.

The type segment is divided into acrylic based silicone rubber tape & silicon rubber-based silicone rubber tape. In 2021, the silicon rubber-based silicone rubber tape segment dominated the market with the largest market share of 63% and market revenue of 0.94 billion. The factors can be attributed to temperature resistance properties, good holding strength, and heat insulation. These tapes deliver superior ease. They are relatively slim, adjustable, and soft, making them eligible for automobile aircraft manufacturing, accelerating the need for the segment.

In 2021, the packaging segment dominated the market with the largest market share of 21% and market revenue of 0.31 billion.

The application segment is divided into electrical & electronics, packaging, building & construction, health & hygiene, automotive and others. In 2021, the packaging segment dominated the market with the largest market share of 21% and market revenue of 0.31 billion. The factors associated with the rising demand for silicone rubber tapes in food and non-food packaging and the growing craze of online shopping in developing economies push the need for packaging.

Regional Segment Analysis of the Silicone Rubber Tape Market

North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico)

Europe (Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Rest of APAC)

South America (Brazil and the Rest of South America)

The Middle East and Africa (UAE, South Africa, Rest of MEA)

Among all regions, the Asia-Pacific region emerged as the largest market for the global silicone rubber tape market, with a market share of around 34.5% and 0.51 billion of the market revenue in 2021. The improvements in healthcare, automotive, and electrical & electronics sectors, lower raw materials, easy availability of reasonable labour for manufacturing tapes with adhesion properties, and continuing projects will push the market in the APAC region.

To Know More Additional Highlights and Key Points visit our report @ https://www.marketsandresearch.biz/report/301656/global-silicone-rubber-tape-market-2022-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2028

Key players operating in the global silicone rubber tape market are:

Yongle Tape

Yonghe Adhesive Products

Yongguan

Winta

tesa SE

Shushi Group

Nitto Denko

Luxking Group

LINTEC Corporation

JinghuaTape

Intertape Polymer

Henkel

Camat

Berry Plastics

Avery Dennison

Achem Technology Corporation

3M

This study forecasts revenue at global, regional, and country levels from 2019 to 2030. The Markets and Research have segmented the global silicone rubber tape market based on the below-mentioned segments:

Global Silicone Rubber Tape Market by Type:

Acrylic Based Silicone Rubber Tape

Silicon Rubber Based Silicone Rubber Tape

Global Silicone Rubber Tape Market by Application:

Electrical & Electronics

Packaging

Building & Construction

Health & Hygiene

Automotive

Others

To Purchase Research Report @ https://www.marketsandresearch.biz/buy-now/301656/single

About the report:

The global silicone rubber tape market is analysed based on value (USD Billion). All the segments have been analyzed on a worldwide, regional, and country basis. The study includes the analysis of more than 30 countries for each part. The report offers an in-depth analysis of driving factors, opportunities, restraints, and challenges for gaining critical insight into the market. The study includes porter's five forces model, attractiveness analysis, raw material analysis, supply, demand analysis, competitor position grid analysis, distribution, and marketing channels analysis.

Contact Us

Avinash D

Head of Business Development

Phone: 1-201-465-4211

Email: sales@marketsandresearch.biz


English French

REGULATORY RELEASE

TERM OF OFFICE AS MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF

JEAN-MICHEL GAULT

Paris, May 25, 2022

At its meeting of May 24, 2022, the Supervisory Board of Klepierre SA noted that Jean-Michel Gaults term of office as a member of the Executive Board would expire on June 21, 2022, and that he had agreed to retain his functions within Klepierre Management SNC in order to ensure a smooth transition within the teams.

The indefinite employment contract entered into between Klepierre Management SNC and Jean-Michel Gault on August 1, 1998, which had been suspended since July 1, 2016, will automatically resume on June 22, 2022. The terms and conditions of the termination of the agreement are set out on page 287 of Klepierre SAs 2021 Universal Registration Document.

The components of compensation that will be paid to Jean-Michel Gault under his employment contract as of June 22, 2022 will be duly published in Klepierre SAs 2022 Universal Registration Document.

The components of Jean-Michel Gaults compensation as a member of the Executive Board for the period from January 1, 2022 to June 21, 2022 are in accordance with the compensation policy published in the 2021 Universal Registration Document and approved by the shareholders at the last general meeting of the company. These components are detailed below.

Fixed compensation for 2022

Jean-Michel Gaults fixed compensation in respect of fiscal year 2022 will be 480,000 payable on a pro rata basis for the period from January 1, 2022 to June 21, 2022.

Short-term variable compensation for 2022

The short-term variable compensation of Jean-Michel Gault as a member of the Executive Board for fiscal year 2022 will be determined in 2023 and will be paid, pro rata temporis, for the period from January 1, 2022 to June 21, 2022, in accordance with the principles described in Section 6.2.2.2.2 (Components of the compensation for members of the Executive Board (excluding the Chairman) for fiscal year 2022, Short-term variable compensation for fiscal year 2022) of Klepierre SAs Universal Registration Document 2021.

The qualitative part of this compensation will be measured by the application of several criteria relating to the management of financial operations and the improvement of the Groups profitability, the management of tax risks, the management of the internal audit function and relations with investors.

Overall, the short-term variable compensation of Jean-Michel Gault as a member of the Executive Board for the period from January 1, 2022 to June 21, 2022, is capped at 130 % of his fixed annual compensation, as prorated over the above period.

In accordance with Article L. 22-10-34 II, paragraph 2 of the French Commercial Code (Code de commerce), the annual variable compensation due for fiscal year 2022 may only be paid after the Ordinary General Meeting of Klepierre SAs shareholders to be called in 2023 to approve the 2022 financial statements, with payment contingent on its approval by that Meeting.

Long-term incentive

The vesting of the long-term incentive plans allotted to Jean-Michel Gault is subject to compliance with performance and presence conditions, as assessed on the final vesting date of each plan concerned.

As Jean-Michel Gault will retain his status as an employee under his employment contract, which will take effect automatically as of June 22, 2022, the termination of his term of office as a member of the Executive Board does not, as such, have the effect of interrupting the vesting period for the purposes of assessing the applicable presence condition, in accordance with the rules of the plans concerned.

Severance pay

As this is a non-renewal of a mandate, Jean-Michel Gault will not receive any severance payment in respect of his corporate office.

Specific pension plan

Jean-Michel Gault has been a beneficiary of the supplementary pension plan for Compagnie Bancaires senior executives, a closed and capped plan since December 31, 2000. The termination of his corporate office does not, as such, have an impact on this scheme.

Other components of compensation

The other benefits to which Jean-Michel Gault is entitled in his capacity as a member of the Executive Board of Klepierre SA, as described on page 287 of Klepierre SAs 2021 Universal Registration Document, will cease as of June 21, 2022.

INVESTOR RELATIONS

CONTACTS MEDIA CONTACTS Arnaud Courtial, Group Head of IR and Financial

Communication

+33 (0)6 74 57 35 12  arnaud.courtial@klepierre.com

Paul Logerot, IR Manager

+33 (0)7 50 66 05 63  paul.logerot@klepierre.com

Julia Croissant, IR Officer

+33 (0)7 88 77 40 37  julia.croissant@klepierre.com Helene Salmon, Group Head of Corporate and Internal Communications

+33 (0)1 40 67 55 16  helene.salmon@klepierre.com







Wandrille Clermontel, Taddeo

+33 (0)6 33 05 48 50  teamklepierre@taddeo.fr

ABOUT KLEPIERRE

Klepierre is the European leader in shopping malls, combining property development and asset management skills. The Companys portfolio is valued at 21.5 billion at June 30, 2021, and comprises large shopping centers in more than 10 countries in Continental Europe which together host hundreds of millions of visitors per year. Klepierre holds a controlling stake in Steen & Strm (56.1%), Scandinavias number one shopping center owner and manager. Klepierre is a French REIT (SIIC) listed on Euronext Paris and is included in the CAC Next 20 and EPRA Euro Zone Indexes. It is also included in ethical indexes, such as Euronext CAC 40 ESG, MSCI Europe ESG Leaders, FTSE4Good, Euronext Vigeo Europe 120, and features in CDPs A-list. These distinctions underscore the Groups commitment to a proactive sustainable development policy and its global leadership in the fight against climate change.

For more information, please visit the newsroom on our website: www.klepierre.com

Attachment
CALGARY, Alberta, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Two top Canadian law enforcement officials reminded Canadians today that their help is critical in the search for missing children.



"Tens of thousands of children go missing in Canada every year," RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said in a video released to mark International Missing Children's Day.

"As police, we are the link to the community," she said. "But we cant be everywhere, at all times."

"The public serves as an extra set of eyes and ears for the police and is a voice for missing children," Chief Bryan Larkin, President of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said in the video.

Amanda Pick, CEO of the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC), pointed to the MCSC rescu app, which has become a vital communication tool between police and the public. Police cases of missing children are posted to the app and people with information about that child can send it through to app.

"We rely on you just as you rely on us," Lucki said. "No tip is too small to make a difference."

In 2021, federal figures showed there were 28,033 police reports of missing children and youth across Canada. The information is compiled by the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains, with data filed into the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC).

The Missing Children Society of Canada believes one missing child is one too many.

"MCSC developed rescu to make sure no missing child goes unseen," Pick said, pointing out users can access rescu.mcsc.ca online, or search MCSC rescu in the app stores.

"We need your eyes and support. On International Missing Childrens Dayand every day."

To see the video, please click below:

English: May 25 - Missing Children's Day: The One App We Can't Live Without - YouTube

French: May 25 - Missing Children's Day: The One App We Can't Live Without - YouTube

FAQ:

International Missing Children's Day.

May 25 is designated as International Missing Children Day, a day marked around the world to remember children who are missing and those who have been found. Canada also recognizes Missing Childrens Day on May 25 and it is marked in various ways across the country with events that are both public and private.

What is MCSC?

The Missing Children Society of Canada was established in 1986 in Calgary and has evolved from an organization distributing posters to find a missing child, to one embracing the latest technology to help police in the search for that child.

MCSC is a member of the Global Missing Childrens Network, an organization that includes agencies from more than 30 countries around the world. Members of the network share ideas, tools and research related to missing children and child abduction.

MCSC rescu

MCSC rescu is an easy-to-use app that contains updated information from police on missing children in Canada, downloadable to phones and other devices from Google Play and the App Store. It was developed for MCSC with help from private sector partners Esri Canada and Microsoft.

Active cases are divided by region and tips on specific cases can be submitted with one click on the app's case page. Users are also invited to share that case page with their contacts, through networks, including text, email, and other social media such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

App users can also register to receive SMS alerts on cases in their area police deem critical, but that don't meet the specific criteria required to become an AMBER Alert.

Combined, these steps are part of what is referred to as the Child Search Network.

https://rescu.mcsc.ca

CACP endorsement

In February 2021, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police officially endorsed MCSC rescu and MCSCs Child Search Network as a national system designed for use when high-risk missing children cases dont meet the strict criteria for an AMBER Alert.

For more information and to discuss missing children please call Amanda Pick, CEO, Missing Children Society of Canada at 1-403-510-6942.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/802e685e-57fd-45d6-af31-d57c9ee4b549
Stockholm, Sweden, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yesterday, the global vaping advocacy group World Vapers Alliance delivered an open letter to the Swedish parliament urging policymakers to stop the flavour ban.

World Vapers Alliance held another protest today to stand against the ban on vape flavours. The group marched in front of the Parliament with the slogan Flavours help smokers quit during parliament's session and delivered an open letter to members of parliament to urge them to vote against the ban.

Earlier this year, the Swedish government introduced a bill that would prohibit all non-tobacco vape flavours in nicotine and non-nicotine products. If approved, the bill is set to enter into force on 1 January 2023.

I benefited first hand from vaping and managed to stay smoke free for the last few years. Like most other smokers, I tried to find a way out of cigarettes - but nothing worked for me, the patches, the gums, the inhalers. Vaping - and especially combined with flavours - was my saviour. And like me there are millions around the world who are healthier and lead a better life because of vaping, said Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers Alliance.

According to Landl, the ban on vape flavours will have disastrous consequences on public health:

According to Yale School of Public Health, vaping flavoured e-cigarettes are associated with a 230% increase in the odds of adult smoking cessation. If vape flavours were banned, more than 150.000 swedes could be pushed back to smoking, which goes against any public health authority.

The public is also invited to support World Vapers Alliance's efforts to protect flavours. Visit https://worldvapersalliance.com/flavours-matter/ to send a message to Swedish Members of the Parliament telling why flavours matter and should not be banned.



The press release in swedish is available here.





Attachments
New York, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Pre Filled Syringes Global Market Report 2022" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06280874/?utm_source=GNW





The global pre filled syringes market is expected to grow from $5.67 billion in 2021 to $6.36 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.2%. The market is expected to grow to $10.46 billion in 2026 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.2%.



The pre-filled syringes market consists of sales of pre-filled syringes by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that manufacture disposable syringes supplied with already loaded medicine to be injected. The companies involved in the pre-filled syringes market are primarily engaged in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of pre-filled syringes.



The main types of prefilled syringes are conventional prefilled syringes and safety prefilled syringes.Conventional prefilled syringes contain a single-dose packet of vaccines, which has a needle fixed by the manufacturer.



The needle is for one-time use and the syringe is disposed of after application.Safety prefilled syringes contain a single-dose packet of vaccine, which is self-administrated by patients requiring regular injections at a home setting.



The syringes are manufactured using glass and plastic with single-chamber prefilled syringes, dual-chamber prefilled syringes, and customized prefilled syringes. These prefilled syringes are used for diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, anaphylaxis, cancer, thrombosis, ophthalmology, others.



The high demand for pre-filled syringes to administer COVID-19 vaccines is expected to boost the pre-filled syringes market during the forecast period.Pre-filled syringes are being preferred for administering COVID-19 vaccines to reduce the risk for needle stick infections.



To cater to the growing demand for administering COVID-19 vaccines, the companies are focusing to increase the production of pre-filled syringes.For instance, in May 2020, the US Department of Defense awarded a contract of $138 million with ApiJect Systems America for Project Jumpstart and RAPID USA, to facilitate the production of pre-filled syringes for the coronavirus vaccine.



Project Jumpstart supported the supply chain for prefilled syringes that manufacture 100 million prefilled syringes.The contract also accelerated the launch of RAPID USA to facilitate the production of 500 million pre-filled syringes by 2021.



Thus, the high demand for pre-filled syringes intended for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines is expected to fuel the market growth during the forecast period.



Product recalls attributed to factors such as breakages, leachable, defects in packaging, and contamination hindered the growth of the prefilled syringes market in the historic period.The product recall is the process of retrieving or replacing the products already in the market wherein the company bears the cost of replacing and fixing defective products, or of reimbursing affected consumers.



Product recalls affecting a market substantially as they can affect the companys performance within the market, change its financial profile, and can have a negative impact on its reputation.For instance, in 2019, Becton, Dickinson, and Company recalled BD PosiFlush SF (Sterile Field) Saline Flush Syringe 10mL because of packaging defects that impacted package integrity and potentially compromise a sterile field.



Similarly, in 2019, Biogen Idec UK recalled Avonex 30 micrograms/0.5ml solution for injection in the form of prefilled syringes due to manufacturing issues that could have potentially affected sterility of the product and have weakened the glass resulting in the possible formation of particulate matter. Therefore, the product recalls due to various factors in the manufacturing process or packaging restrained the growth of the market in the historic period.



Companies in the market are increasingly investing in connected prefilled syringes, which allow healthcare professionals to track and access data.A connected pre-filled syringe is a drug delivery device that can be connected to a smartphone that tracks data and reports to healthcare professionals accordingly.



In 2020, Biocorp launched Injay, a connected pre-filled syringe that is based on NFC technology wherein the technology helps in the transfer of data to a smartphone or specific transmitters, depending on specific use cases and environment.Similarly, in 2019, Credence MedSystems, developer of an injectable drug delivery technology, launched Connect auto-sensing injection system for any pre-filled syringes.



This enables healthcare professionals and self-injecting patients to collect data automatically and receive feedback for the dose.



The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, Africa.



The countries covered in the pre-filled syringes market are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the UK, and the USA.





Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06280874/?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, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Biochar Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The biochar market was valued at US$1,165.193 million in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.17% over the forecast period to reach a total market size of US$2,019.218 million by 2027.



Agricultural waste, wood waste, forest waste, and animal manure can be turned into biochar by heating them according to a set temperature. The main use for the product is as a soil amendment to eliminate pollutants. It prevents soil leaching, water loss, and fertiliser runoff.

A growing awareness of environmental issues, a reduction in raw material prices, and government policies for waste management are expected to expand the market. In addition to the need for high-quality organic crops to be grown, other key drivers for market growth are continuous improvements in farming practises. More than 3.1 million farmers practice organic agriculture in 187 countries.

Furthermore, 72.3 million hectares of agricultural land were developed through organic farming. More than 106 billion euros was spent on organic food and drinks in the EU in 2019. The total land area under organic farming continues to grow in the EU, covering almost 13.8 million hectares in 2019. Therefore, the growth of organic farming is ultimately boosting the market for biochar (Source: europa.eu; fao.org).



Livestock farming is largely driving biochar consumption in agricultural applications. Various livestock farming activities, including poultry farming, cattle farming, and meat production, have increased their consumption since the product provides essential nutrients and maintains the health of livestock. In 2018, 2.8 million organic farmers produced organic food.

India still boasts the most producers (1149,000), then Uganda (2109,000), and Ethiopia (204,000). There will be a huge opportunity for organic farming in the coming years as government support grows, thus, increase the market for biochar.



Growth Factors

Growing demand for organic agriculture

Since biochar can boost soil fertility and improve soil properties, it has gradually gained use in developing countries, so that crops can grow better with fewer emissions and greater strength. Because biochar balances acidic soil towards neutrality, agricultural crops and plants are able to benefit from reduced nutrient loss from the root zone and reduced fertiliser requirements. In developing countries, biochar can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions like nitrous oxide and methane, for that reason, the government encourages farmers to use it.



In 2016, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) - National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported that certified organic commodities were produced and sold on American farms in the amount of US$ 7.6 billion. Furthermore, according to the Certified Organic Survey 2016, organic farm sales in the United States increased by 23% in 2016.

International Biochar Initiative (IBI) reports that China, in terms of chemical fertiliser production, consumption, and imports, is the largest country in the world. According to an article published at the China National Research and Development Center, biochar can improve soil cation exchange capacity (CEC), which means the soil requires fewer chemical fertilizers. Therefore, as organic farming grows, the market for biochar is growing at a rapid rate.



Restraints

The major issues when applying biochar to the earth are soil erosion and contamination. These two factors can hinder the growth of the market. A high price of biochar and its feedstock restrains market growth, as does a lack of financial incentives and tax breaks, a lack of demonstration projects, and contamination of biochar.



COVID -19 insights

Through 2020, the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic - and the impact it has had on everyday lives - will have dramatic consequences for the organic industry.

Organic food is becoming the food of choice for consumers who are seeking healthy, clean foods for their families at home. As organic farming directly affects the market, as people become more concerned with the quality of organic foods during the COVID-19 pandemic, their concerns influence the market for biochar.

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

4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis



5. Global Biochar Market Analysis, By Production Technology

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Pyrolysis

5.3. Gasification



6. Global Biochar Market Analysis, By Feedstock

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Crop Residue

6.3. Food & Forestry Waste

6.4. Animal Manure



7. Global Biochar Market, By Application

7.1. Introduction

7.2. Electricity Generation

7.3. Farming

7.4. Livestock

7.5. Others



8. Global Biochar Market Analysis, By Geography

8.1. Introduction

8.2. North America

8.2.1. United States

8.2.2. Canada

8.2.3. Mexico

8.3. South America

8.3.1. Brazil

8.3.2. Argentina

8.3.3. Others

8.4. Europe

8.4.1. UK

8.4.2. France

8.4.3. Germany

8.4.4. Italy

8.4.5. Others

8.5. Middle East and Africa

8.5.1. Turkey

8.5.2. Egypt

8.5.3. Others

8.6. Asia Pacific

8.6.1. Japan

8.6.2. China

8.6.3. India

8.6.4. Australia

8.6.5. Others



9. Competitive Environment and Analysis

9.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis

9.2. Emerging Players and Market Lucrativeness

9.3. Mergers, Acquisitions, Agreements, and Collaborations

9.4. Vendor Competitiveness Matrix



10. Company Profiles

Airex Energie Inc.

SynTech Bioenergy LLC

BioFire SIA LATVIA

Cool Planet

Tolero Energy LLC

Vega Biofuels

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/fp1ghr

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Sydney, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just released, this edition of BuddeComm report outlines the latest developments and key trends in the telecoms markets. - https://www.budde.com.au/Research/New-Zealand-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?utm_source=GNW





This infrastructure has been buttressed by the countrys excellent subsea cable connectivity, which includes the Tasman Global Access Cable linking Auckland and Sydney (providing an alternative path for traffic carried by the Tasman-2 and Southern Cross cables). The company SCCN has also initiated work on the Southern Cross NEXT cable, running between Sydney, Auckland, and Los Angeles. The 12,250km system is scheduled for completion by mid-2022, and has a design capacity of 72Tb/s.



In mid-2018 the cable developer Hawaiki completed its cable linking Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii to the US west coast at Oregon. More recently, Google has started laying the 240Tb/s Topaz cable, which will link Canada (at Vancouver) with Honolulu, Sydney, and Auckland. In addition, the Chilean company Desarrollo Pais in January 2022 contracted H2 to build the 14,810km Humboldt cable connecting Valparaiso (Chile) to Auckland and Sydney. This cable is expected to be lit in early 2025.



Key developments:





Google to lay the Topaz cable connecting Canada with Honolulu, Sydney, and Auckland;

Trustpower sells its retail business to Mercury NZ for NZ$441 million;

Trilogy International sells 2degrees;

New Zealand to be connected to Australia and Chile via the 14,810km Humboldt cable in early 2025;

Chorus begins closing down copper network as it transitions to an all-fibre network;

Government allocates 3.5GHz spectrum after Covid-19 crisis forces cancellation of a planned 5G auction;

Spark extends the reach of its 5G service; stops providing PSTN services;

2degrees network covering 98.5% of the population;

Report update includes ComCom and Statistics New Zealand data for 2020, operator data to March 2022, recent market developments.



Companies mentioned in this report:





Spark New Zealand, Chorus, Vodafone New Zealand, 2degrees, Orcon, Snap, CallPlus, CityLink, Vector, NOW, Airnet, WorldxChange Communications, Vocus, Skinny, Compass, MyRepublic, Skinny, Slingshot, Trustpower, Enable Networks, Northpower Fibre and UltraFast Fibre







Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/New-Zealand-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?utm_source=GNW
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ranchero Gold Corp. (Ranchero or the Company) (TSX.V:RNCH) is pleased to provide an update of its exploration program currently underway at its 100%-owned Santa Daniela gold concessions located within the prolific Sierra Madre Occidental gold belt in Sonora, Mexico. Ranchero has successfully augmented its previous reconnaissance targeting effort in partnership with GoldSpot Discoveries (GoldSpot). New targets have been identified and previously known targets have been further refined. Initial field visits have confirmed the presence of gold in surface sampling and the development of drill targets is on-going.



Highlights

Initial identification of 47 exploration targets in addition to Maiz Azul  the Companys first gold discovery at Santa Daniela.

GoldSpots machine-learning technology has further confirmed the high prospectivity nature of the Companys extensive land package in excess of 22,200 hectares.

Nine targets have been identified as high priority targets.

Follow up field visits are underway at all locations including Rincon, San Francisco, and Yaqui Sur.

Progressing towards additional drill targets by year end in addition to drilling expected to recommence at Maiz Azul in the second half of 2022.



Bill Pincus, Chief Executive Officer and Director stated: We have successfully completed targeting based on remote image interpretation and are now actively engaged in the field sampling and mapping new areas at our flagship Santa Daniela gold project. The work completed so far has been yielding positive results and we remain on track to identify new drill targets by year-end.

The Sierra Madre Occidental, where we are actively exploring, is a prolific gold belt that hosts multiple major mining operations and significant deposits. Exploration and development activities at our Maiz Azul prospect has already confirmed our first gold discovery at Santa Daniela. The addition of new prospects allows us to demonstrate the district scale potential of the greater Santa Daniela land package and further unlock value for our shareholders.

Applying Machine Learning Technology to Santa Daniela

Initial prospects were identified by an Aster/Landsat satellite-based study conducted by Perry Remote Sensing LLC (PRS) in 2020. This work highlighted the presence of hydrothermal alteration minerals (related to possible gold deposition) at 47 separate locations (Figure 1).

Figure 1  Presence of Hydrothermal Alterations at 47 Locations

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/17fee52f-99e2-434b-8f9e-59026dc8ec88

In 2022, Ranchero contracted GoldSpot to apply their machine-learning (ML) technology to further refine reconnaissance targets and identify additional areas for follow-up visits. GoldSpot compiled data layers including:

Newly acquired ultra-high resolution Worldview-3 multispectral satellite data in addition to existing ASTER satellite data;

Regional geophysical data (magnetics) conducted by the Mexican Geological Service; and

Rock assay data from the 2,000+ samples collected by Ranchero and the projects previous operator.



These data sets were initially interpreted independently by GoldSpot experts and then integrated for the ML prospectivity analysis.

Geochemical data was interpreted to characterize primary lithology as well as mineral alteration assemblages. High resolution multispectral data was used for mineral identification, which is very effective for identifying regions of hydrothermal alteration associated with epithermal mineralization. Satellite imagery was also used to identify major structural trends (faulting).

The GoldSpot ML prospectivity analysis uses ensemble learning, whereby multiple machine learning algorithms are used simultaneously to obtain better predictive performance. The input data layers (training) included Ranchero surface mapping and surface geochemical samples, largely from the Maiz Azul area. The results are prospectivity scores, which were generated for the entire concession block. A prospectivity score is the probability that any given pixel has the same signature as those identified as a target in the training analysis.

Results of the prospectivity score analysis are shown in Figure 2. This data is further refined by analyzing the strength of the prediction. The results of this analysis yield the final targets as shown in Figure 3 where some of which coincide with the PRS Aster/Landsat interpretation.

The combination of the PRS and GoldSpot analyses together with other geologic factors has led Ranchero to prioritize nine targets (Figure 4) which are now undergoing initial mapping and sampling. New results from field work in 2022 confirm the potential exploration upside of these targets.

Figure 2  Prospectivity Score Analysis Based on Machine-Learning Technology

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c80192ba-be67-49cd-881c-d43122a41629

Figure 3: High Priority Targets Identified with Machine-Learning Technology

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/89c93a17-8944-4afc-8af9-d7694a0c14b3

Field Studies Underway at Santa Daniela

Ranchero geologists have conducted prospect site visits using the results of both the 2020 ASTER/Landsat and 2022 GoldSpot ML studies. Figure 4 shows the location of on-going site visits where encouraging results have confirmed the potential of Rincon, San Francisco, and Yaqui Sur. Field work on the remaining prospects is expected in the upcoming months.

Figure 4: Areas of Current Prospecting Activity

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/68837ced-11ef-4c03-9ee8-3d7e0e4a4757

Rincon

The Rincon prospect lies approximately eight kilometers south, southeast of Maiz Azul. It is characterized by the outcrop of volcanic agglomerate and ash units capped by more recent basalt flows. There are large areas of silica/clay alteration and numerous northwest striking quartz veins and veinlets up to 0.5 meters in thickness.

Initial rock sampling has yielded values of 0.92 g/t Au, 0.46 g/t Au and 0.16 g/t Au together with many samples with highly anomalous values of the indicator elements arsenic, barium and antimony. Ongoing activity will focus on more detailed mapping and sampling particularly in the western portion of the prospect.

Two holes were drilled by the previous operator in basalt units that Ranchero does not consider prospective. A subsequent geophysical survey (CSAMT), conducted by the operator, identified near surface resistive zones interpreted as possible hydrothermal alteration. These zones have not been tested by drilling.

San Francisco

San Francisco is located approximately four kilometers east of Maiz Azul. The prospect is dominated by a large (700 x 250 meter) dacite flow dome that is similar to the mineralized dacite body found at Maiz Azul. It displays both argillic and weak to massive silica alteration over wide areas. At higher elevations it is generally a clear silica with little iron oxide (i.e., altered sulfide). At lower elevations, the presence of iron-oxides is notable indicating that outcrops may be above a main mineralized horizon. The results of initial rock sampling have yielded anomalous gold values.

The next step of prospecting will be to expand mapping and sampling at lower elevation westward towards Maiz Azul.

Yaqui Sur

The Yaqui Sur prospect lies only two kilometers south of Alamos Golds El Yaqui mine development project. It is underlain by tuffaceous and agglomerate rock units similar to those found at El Yaqui. Limited sampling has found anomalous gold values. Ranchero geologists have recently secured approval from the local landowners to access the full prospect and this will be the focus of near-term exploration.

Next Steps

Ranchero has two active field crews focused entirely on prospect generation. The objective is to complete rock sampling and mapping on the nine priority targets. Follow-up activity on these high priority targets will be results driven but would likely include systematic sampling, detailed mapping and possibly geophysical studies with the primary goal of drill target definition.

Field visits to the remaining prospects at Santa Daniela will take place subsequent to the work currently work underway at these nine targets. Rancheros goal is to identify additional new drill targets distinct from those at Maiz Azul.

Qualified Person

Scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by William Pincus, CPG, who is a "qualified person" as defined by NI 43-101.

About Ranchero Gold

Ranchero is a gold exploration and development company currently focused on its 100%-owned Santa Daniela project located in Sonora, Mexico. The Santa Daniela project consist of a large land package in excess of 22,200 hectares within Mexicos Sierra Madre Occidental  a newly emerging gold belt. The Santa Daniela project is also near a number of major gold mining operations in the region. Maiz Azul is the Companys most advanced prospect where exploration efforts are underway.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company:

William Pincus

Chief Executive Officer and Director

303 589 3734

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 Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as expects or does not expect, is expected, anticipates or does not anticipate plans, estimates or intends or stating that certain actions, events or results  may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release include, but are not limited to, the final acceptance of the TSXV to the Transaction.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to materially differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: risks related to regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSXV. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statement will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipate in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or managements 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.
Dublin, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Healthcare Asset Management Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global healthcare asset management market reached a value of US$ 13.35 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 25.93 Billion by 2027, exhibiting at a CAGR of 11.7% 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 on different end use sectors. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Healthcare asset management involves managing and maintaining machinery, equipment, and physical assets efficiently and cost-effectively. It generally includes pumps, refrigeration, plumbing, wheelchairs, condensers, generators, compressors, mobile beds, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC), and other systems within a hospital. It saves time and money, improves asset utilization rate, locates equipment quickly, maintains appropriate inventory stock, and boosts staff communication. At present, it is widely utilized in hospitals and healthcare facilities worldwide to ensure the smooth functioning of equipment and other supplies and improve the quality of patient care.



Healthcare Asset Management Market Trends:

Due to advancements in medical devices, hospitals nowadays have numerous systems and medical equipment that require effective running and management. This represents one of the key factors catalyzing the demand for healthcare asset management to ensure that critical systems and equipment are maintained, tested, and kept in a working condition.

Moreover, the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases around the world and easy access to healthcare services are promoting the adoption of healthcare asset management to maintain a safe, clean, and well-maintained medical environment. Apart from this, the healthcare asset management system provides alerts that help reduce delays experienced by patients and staff, improve the profitability of the facility, and ensure patient satisfaction.

This, in confluence with increasing emphasis on improved quality of care, is influencing the market positively. Furthermore, leading market players are offering Internet of Things (IoT) remote monitoring and online mobile solutions that eliminate the need for printouts, reduce waste, and decrease repair time. In addition to this, the rising need to comply with strict industry standards is anticipated to drive the demand for these solutions across the globe.



Key Market Segmentation:

The publisher provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global healthcare asset management market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. Our report has categorized the market based on product, application and end user.



Breakup by Product:

Radiofrequency Identification Devices (RFID)

Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS)

Others

Breakup by Application:

Hospital Asset Management

Staff Management

Equipment Tracking and Management

Patient Management

Others

Pharmaceutical Asset Management

Drug Anti-counterfeiting

Supply Chain Management

Breakup by End User:

Hospitals and Clinics

Laboratories

Pharmaceutical Companies

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 Accenture plc, AiRISTA Flow Inc., CenTrak Inc. (Halma plc), Cerner Corporation, General Electric Company, International Business Machines Corporation, Midmark Corporation, Motorola Solutions Inc., Novanta Inc., Siemens AG, Sonitor Technologies, Stanley Black & Decker Inc. and Zebra Technologies Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global healthcare asset management market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global healthcare asset management 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 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 healthcare asset management 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 Healthcare Asset Management Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Product

6.1 Radiofrequency Identification Devices (RFID)

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS)

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 Application

7.1 Hospital Asset Management

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Key Segments

7.1.2.1 Staff Management

7.1.2.2 Equipment Tracking and Management

7.1.2.3 Patient Management

7.1.2.4 Others

7.1.3 Market Forecast

7.2 Pharmaceutical Asset Management

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Key Segments

7.2.2.1 Drug Anti-counterfeiting

7.2.2.2 Supply Chain Management

7.2.3 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by End User

8.1 Hospitals and Clinics

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Laboratories

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Pharmaceutical Companies

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Others

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 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 Accenture plc

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 AiRISTA Flow Inc.

14.3.2.1 Company Overview

14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3 CenTrak Inc. (Halma plc)

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.4 Cerner Corporation

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 General Electric Company

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 International Business Machines Corporation

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 Midmark Corporation

14.3.7.1 Company Overview

14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.8 Motorola Solutions Inc.

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 Novanta Inc.

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.9.3 Financials

14.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.10 Siemens AG

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 Sonitor Technologies

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.12 Stanley Black & Decker Inc.

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 Zebra Technologies 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/o8ywoc

Attachment
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon delivers his congratulatory remarks at a Together Day ceremony held at the ministry office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, May 20. Together Day was designated by the government as a day of national celebration in 2008, aiming to create a society where Korean and foreign national residents live harmoniously, respecting each other's cultures. Yonhap



Experts call for swift launch of immigration agency



By Lee Hyo-jin



Discussions over the possible launch of a new government agency encompassing migrant-related policies are expected to pick up speed under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, as newly-appointed Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon vowed to carry out advanced immigration policies.



Migrant experts welcomed the ministry's plan and called for the swift establishment of the immigration agency, pointing out that Korea's migration policies have already fallen behind those of other Asian countries.



During his inauguration speech on May 17, Han said, "We will establish a system to carry out advanced immigration policies, including reviewing the launch of an immigration department." On May 20, delivering congratulatory remarks at a ceremony held for foreign national residents, the minister said that his ministry will improve immigration measures to encourage talented residents of foreign nationality to become a driving force of Korean society.



The need for a separate government agency dedicated to migrant policies has long been stressed by many immigration experts and policymakers, who believe that the absence of a "control tower" agency to draft an overall policy framework is the main reason the country has failed to implement coherent immigration policies.



Currently, Korea's immigration policy is handled separately by different branches of the government: the Ministry of Labor, covering migrant workers; the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, creating policies for marriage migrants and their children; the Ministry of Education, handling international students; the Ministry of Justice, covering visa status and other administrative affairs; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dealing with ethnic Koreans overseas.



Cho Young-hee, a researcher at the Migration Research and Training Center, viewed that despite the value and contributions that migrants bring to Korean society, migrant policies have not been recognized as a key policy task in previous administrations.



"Until now, migrant issues have not been considered as important on the government's agenda. Since the enactment of the Framework Act on Treatment of Foreigners Residing in the Republic of Korea in 2007, which served as the legal basis to create migrant-related policies, measures have expanded in quantity, but not in quality," she told The Korea Times.





An immigration office in central Seoul / Korea Times file
LAS VEGAS, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asia Broadband Inc. (OTC: AABB) (AABB or the Company) is pleased to announce that the Company has begun conducting procurement assessments of mining processing and facilities equipment in meetings and demonstrations with equipment supply agents, distributors and manufacturers. The Companys management, geological and technical consultants are examining and evaluating production and facilities equipment to assess the capabilities and capacities relevant to the Companys production expansion requirements.



This is a valuable process for the Company. The extensive efforts by our team to evaluate and source the optimal production equipment for our current and future requirements are building the foundation to efficiently replicate production expansions on our other properties, declared Chris Torres, AABB President and CEO.

AABB recently began a facilities retrofit production upgrade on its mining property in the Tequila region of Jalisco, Mexico, that is expected to double the current processing capacity to 100 tons per day (tpd). Additionally, the Company is planning a large-scale expansion of its production and processing facilities to begin installation later this year. Utilizing the advances in mining equipment automation and efficiency, the larger scale facilities will have significantly increased throughput and metals extraction. The added production volume at a lower cost per ton is expected to have a substantial impact on the Companys gross profit margin going forward.

About Asia Broadband

Asia Broadband Inc. (OTC: AABB) is a resource company focused on the production, supply and sale of precious and base metals, primarily to Asian markets. The Company utilizes its specific geographic expertise, experience and extensive industry contacts to facilitate its innovative distribution process from the production and supply of precious and base metals in Mexico to client sales networks in Asia. This vertical integration approach to sales transactions is the unique strength of AABB that differentiates the Company and creates distinctive value for shareholders. Additionally, the Company has added a digital assets business segment and released its AABBG freshly minted mine-to-token gold-backed cryptocurrency within its AABB Wallet and a proprietary digital exchange AABBExchange. AABB expects its token to become a world-wide standard of exchange that is stable, secured and trusted with gold backing, while having the added benefit of demand based price appreciation. These are unique and outstanding qualities relative to other cryptocurrencies.

Contact the Company at:



Forward-Looking Statements are contained in this press release within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the Asia Broadband Inc.s (the Company) expected current beliefs about the Companys business, which are subject to uncertainty and change. The operations and results of the Company could materially differ from what is expressed or implied by the statements made above when industry, regulatory, market and competitive circumstances change. Further information about these risks can be found in the annual and quarterly disclosures the Company has published on the OTC Markets website. The Company is under no obligation to update or alter its forward-looking statements as future circumstances, events and information may change.






SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Art of Living Foundation announced today that its founder Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will meet the mayors, county supervisors, and other state leaders on June 9, 2022, to discuss the creation of resilient, happy, and safe cities and strengthen inclusivity and prosperity in the communities. The exclusive session will be facilitated by Senator Dave Cortese, representing California Senate District 15.

Currently on a U.S. tour, Gurudev addressed the Delaware State Senate and Delaware House of Representatives earlier this month where he offered his unequivocal support to make Delaware the Happiest State by committing to tackle mental health issues across all sections of the community, including students, veterans, prison inmates, physicians, and professionals. He also met the U.S. Surgeon General at George Washington University to discuss social connection, compassion, and youth mental health and spoke about ways to address the mental health crisis that the youth in America are facing.

"When government officials, volunteers, and citizens come together to address the challenges that the pandemic has brought, we can reach across our diverse communities and work collectively to create a better and brighter future for all of us," said Senator Dave Cortese. "Our mission is to improve mental health outcomes and forge partnerships to strengthen and empower our local communities."

"If each person makes their mental health a priority, we can make world peace a reality, as global peace is not possible without individual peace," said Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living Foundation. "My team and I are ready and committed to serve the entire population."

Gurudev has collaborated with heads of state, local leaders, and industry executives worldwide to solve the toughest problems of society and has created tremendous social impact. The session will address hard-hitting questions of planning and executing to ensure sustainable economic development, building resilient communities, and bringing unity.

Gurudev will also be launching the "I Stand for Peace" Bay Area campaign at the San Jose Civic on June 9, 2022, at 7 p.m. This is part of a worldwide peace-building movement that kicked off at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva earlier this year and reached the U.S. shores in May 2022. Bay Area residents can join this global movement here.

The Art of Living Foundation (AOLF) and International Association for Human Values (IAHV) have done substantial work in local communities to remove the stigma around mental health and build harmony in society.

Media Contact

Seema Kalra

Director, Social Impact Communications

seema.kalra@artofliving.org

650.666.5294

Related Images











Image 1: Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar





Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Addressing the Delaware State Senate and Delaware House of Representatives









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment
Dublin, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Electronically Scanned Array Market by Installation, Platform (Air, Marine, Land), Frequency Band, Type, Component, Range, Dimension, Array Geometry and Region (North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East & Africa and Latin America) - Forecast to 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The electronically scanned array market is estimated to be USD 7.4 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 10.4 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 7.1% from 2021 to 2026.

Growth of this market can be attributed to the rise in trade of electronically scanned array, developments in the defense sector, and national security sector.



Increasing defense expenditure of emerging economies to drive the market for electronically scanned array during the forecast period



Emerging economies, such as China and India, are investing in advanced electronically scanned arrays to prepare themselves for any battle. These economies have increased their military budgets to augment their defense powers and are procuring advanced ESA-based navigation systems for air, marine, and land platforms. The growing GDP of the countries in the last decade has further helped increase their defense budgets.



High defense budgets allow economies like China and India to spend on the development of new ships and maintenance of old ships. This, in turn, increases the demand for electronically scanned arrays.



Development of Active Electronically Scanned Array radar



Active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar technology is a module containing a new generation of transceiver modules. Software-defined radio (SDR) is used for radio communication because of its high data rates. The use of AESA technology is growing rapidly because of its enhanced reliability and affordability and is expected to replace conventional electronically scanned array in the near future. This has allowed countries such as the US, Norway, the Netherlands, India, and Israel, among others, to incorporate AESA into legacy/old systems on land, sea, and airborne platforms.



Due to its resistance to electronic jamming, low interception, high reliability, and multi-mode capability, countries around the world are adding AESA radar into their military aircraft and vessels and manufacturers around the world are working to meet demand. Incorporating AESA radar into aircraft/sea/or ground platforms will remain relevant since electronic warfare is becoming more important and without AESA, modern conventional militaries are obsolete.



In February 2022, Sweden-based SAAB AB received an order for the delivery of RBS 70 NG short-range air defense systems for the Argentine Armed Forces along with RMF-200V, an AESA tactical air defense radar for threat detection at medium and short distances, which could form the core of a low-altitude anti-air battery.



4D: The fastest-growing segment of the electronically scanned array market, by Dimension.



4D electronically scanned arrays determine the range, azimuth, height, and velocity vector of the detected object. They are expensive and are hence primarily used in autonomous tactical surveillance applications that generate high-resolution target signals. Advanced economies such as the US and Germany have invested substantially to conduct multiple-level research activities in the development of these electronically scanned arrays. The North American region is the largest market for 4D electronically scanned arrays



Thales Group (France) offers a 4D electronically scanned array for surveillance and ISR. These electronically scanned arrays provide bearing, range, elevation (3D), and an in-depth analysis of a target's Doppler signature and other characteristics with a single scan. This analysis results in a superior air and surface detection, tracking, and classification of targets.



In 2019, Thales Group secured a contract to supply next-generation 4D active electronically scanned array technology to the Royal Netherlands Army. Hensoldt AG (Germany) also signed an agreement with the German government (BAAINBw) to supply its TRS-4D naval electronically scanned array.



North America: The largest contributing region in the electronically scanned array market.



The US and Canada are key countries considered for market analysis in the North American region. Defense agencies of these countries are involved in the development of technologically advanced electronically scanned arrays. Well-established and prominent manufacturers of electronically scanned arrays, such as Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), Northrop Grumman Corporation (US), the Boeing Company (US), and Raytheon Technologies Corporation (US), are present in this region.



Electronically scanned arrays are being increasingly used in critical missions due to their accurate targeting and friend or foe detection feature that enables armies to precisely neutralize threats to ensure the safety and security of the countries.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Growth Opportunities in Electronically Scanned Array Market

4.2 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Platform

4.3 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Frequency Band

4.4 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Component

4.5 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Type

4.6 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Installation

4.7 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Range

4.8 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Array Geometry

4.9 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Dimension

4.10 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Country

5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Growth in Deliveries of Military Vessels

5.2.1.2 Emergence of Modern Warfare Systems

5.2.1.3 Increasing Defense Expenditure of Emerging Economies

5.2.1.4 Increasing Number of Radar Upgradation Contracts

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Limited Bandwidth for Commercial Applications

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Rise and Adoption of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

5.2.3.2 Geopolitical Instability

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Stringent Policies of Cross-Border Trading

5.2.5 Demand-Side Impact

5.2.5.1 Key Developments from January 2019 to January 2022

5.3 Trends/Disruptions Impacting Customers' Business

5.4 Market Ecosystem

5.5 Pricing Analysis

5.6 Tariff Regulatory Landscape

5.7 Trade Data

5.8 Patent Analysis

5.9 Value Chain Analysis of Electronically Scanned Array Market

5.10 Technology Analysis

5.11 Porter's Five Forces Model

5.12 Key Stakeholders & Buying Criteria

5.13 Use Cases

5.13.1 Development of 4D Active Electronically Scanned Array (Aesa) Radar System (Ns50) - Thales Group

5.14 Key Conferences & Events, 2022-23

5.15 Operational Data

6 Industry Trends

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Supply Chain Analysis

6.2.1 Major Companies

6.2.2 Small and Medium Enterprises

6.2.3 End-users/Customers

6.3 Emerging Industry Trends

6.3.1 Software-Defined Radar

6.3.2 Active Electronically Scanned Array (Aesa)

6.3.3 Digital Beamforming Technique in Radar

6.3.4 4D Electronically Scanned Array

6.3.5 Scalable Aesa Transmitter with Phase-Only Nulling

6.4 Impact of Megatrends

6.4.1 Digitalization and Introduction of Internet of Things (Iot) Systems in Esa-Based Airborne Radar

6.4.2 Shift in Global Economic Power

7 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Platform

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Air

7.2.1 Esa Radar Used in Aew&C Systems for Command & Coordination

7.2.2 Fixed-Wing Aircraft

7.2.3 Rotary-Wing Aircraft

7.2.4 Uav

7.3 Marine

7.3.1 Marine Electronically Scanned Array Widely Used for Navigation and Collision Avoidance

7.3.2 Commercial Vessels

7.3.3 Defense Vessels

7.4 Land

7.4.1 Increased Need for Border Surveillance Drives Land Segment

7.4.2 Fixed

7.4.3 Portable

7.4.4 Mobile

8 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Frequency Band

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Single Frequency

8.2.1 S-Band Electronically Scanned Array Radar Dominates Single Frequency Radar Market

8.2.2 Vhf Band

8.2.3 L-Band

8.2.4 S-Band

8.2.5 C-Band

8.2.6 X-Band

8.2.7 K-Band

8.3 Multifrequency

8.3.1 Used for Coherent Detection and Tracking of Moving Target Objects

9 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Component

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Transceiver Modules

9.2.1 Transceiver Modules Transmit and Receive Radio Waves of Fluctuating Frequencies

9.3 Phase Shifters

9.3.1 Phase Shifters Carry Data from Antenna Section to Signal Processing Section of Electronically Scanned Array

9.4 Beamforming Network

9.4.1 Beamforming Networks Designed to Transmit and Receive Directional Signals

9.5 Signal Processor

9.5.1 Signal Processors Gather Signals from Sensors to Provide Insights

9.6 Radar Data Processor

9.6.1 Used in Electronically Scanned Array to Separate Targets from Clutter

9.7 Others

10 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Type

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Active Electronically Scanned Array (Aesa)

10.2.1 Development of Solid-State Radar to Boost Aesa Segment

10.3 Passive Electronically Scanned Array (Pesa)

10.3.1 Wide Use of Pesa in Stealth and Covert Operations Drive this Segment

11 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Installation

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Fire Control Radar

11.2.1 Increased Use in Fixed-Wing Aircraft to Fuel Growth

11.3 Tactical Data Link Radar

11.3.1 Increasing Use in Uavs Fuels Segment

11.4 Air Traffic Control Radar

11.4.1 Rising Demand for Esa-Based Security & Surveillance Applications Drives Segment

11.5 Others

12 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Range

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Short-Range Radar

12.2.1 Used Primarily in Commercial Applications or Man-Portable Reconnaissance Missions

12.3 Medium-Range Radar

12.3.1 Widely Used Across Military Applications

12.4 Long-Range Radar

12.4.1 Used for Long-Distance and Accurate Location Tracking

13 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Array Geometry

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Linear Array

13.2.1 Linear Array Minimize Number of Elements Needed to Perform Radar Operations

13.3 Planar Array

13.3.1 Planar Array Provides Much More Flexibility Than Linear Array

13.4 Frequency Scanning Array

13.4.1 Frequency Scanning Array Uses Multi-Frequency Mechanism for Scanning

14 Electronically Scanned Array Market, by Dimension

14.1 Introduction

14.2 2D

14.2.1 2D Electronically Scanned Array Used Mainly for Air Traffic Management

14.3 3D

14.3.1 High Target Location Accuracy and Automatic Operation Modes Drive Demand for 3D Electronically Scanned Array

14.4 4D

14.4.1 4D Electronically Scanned Array Used in Autonomous Tactical Surveillance Vehicles for Accurate Target Mapping

15 Regional Analysis

16 Competitive Landscape

16.1 Introduction

16.2 Market Share Analysis of Leading Players, 2020

16.3 Rank Analysis, 2020

16.4 Competitive Evaluation Quadrant

16.4.1 Star

16.4.2 Pervasive

16.4.3 Emerging Leader

16.4.4 Participant

16.5 Competitive Scenario

16.5.1 Progressive Companies

16.5.2 Responsive Companies

16.5.3 Starting Blocks

16.5.4 Dynamic Companies

16.5.5 New Product Launches

16.5.6 Deals

17 Company Profiles

17.1 Introduction

17.2 Key Players

17.2.1 Northrop Grumman Corporation

17.2.2 Aselsan A.S.

17.2.3 Lockheed Martin

17.2.4 Raytheon Technologies

17.2.5 General Dynamics

17.2.6 L3Harris Technologies

17.2.7 Teledyne Technologies

17.2.8 Thales Group

17.2.9 Hanwha Systems

17.2.10 Saab Ab

17.2.11 Bae Systems

17.2.12 Leonardo S.P.A.

17.2.13 Israel Aerospace Industries

17.2.14 Indra Company

17.2.15 Bharat Electronics Ltd

17.2.16 Airbus Group

17.2.17 Mitsubishi Electric

17.2.18 Lig Nex 1

17.2.19 Api Technologies Corp.

17.3 Other Key Players

17.3.1 Hensoldt Ag

17.3.2 Src, Inc.

17.3.3 Telephonics Corporation

17.3.4 Vega Radio Engineering Corporation

17.3.5 Jem Engineering LLC

17.3.6 Cea Technologies

18 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/im5kch

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TORONTO, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Questrade ( www.questrade.com )  Canadas fastest growing online brokerage and #1 ranked brokerage  -- has once again been awarded the prestigious Canada's Best Managed Companies ( www.bestmanagedcompanies.ca ) designation for the 11th year in a row, retaining its respected Platinum Club status.



A year of continued success

Presented by Deloitte, the 29th year of Canadas Best Managed Companies awards celebrates the top privately-owned Canadian companies with annual revenues over $50 million, that have demonstrated remarkable leadership and their chief executives who have harnessed their talent pool to achieve measurable success during the year. To qualify for Deloittes list, the companies must show leadership on several key fronts including purpose and strategy, culture and commitment, capabilities and innovation, and governance and financials. Companies attribute their success to clearly defined organizational purpose, fostering a remote work environment, and a clear focus on employee well-being, which has led them to overcome some of historys most pressing challenges during a pandemic, while remaining competitive on the world stage. As a Best Managed company, Questrade has demonstrated it can both meet obstacles head on and help shape the countrys new future post-pandemic.

"This achievement is again an honour, particularly given the economic climate and global struggles of the past year, said Edward Kholodenko, president and CEO, Questrade. We are both blessed and grateful for our unprecedented growth and success during this time, and believe it is reflective of an ongoing commitment to our mission to help Canadians become more financially successful and secure, as well as our continued investment in technology, and ultimately, our dedicated and loyal team.

Each year, Canadian companies compete for this destination in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates the calibre of their management abilities and practices. Applicants are evaluated by an independent judging panel comprised of representatives from program sponsors in addition to special guest judges. 2022 Best Managed companies share commonalities that include (but are not limited to) putting their people and culture at the forefront, focusing on their ESG strategies and doubling down on accelerated digitization. Questrade remains among the best-in-class of Canadian-owned and managed companies, demonstrating its investment in talent, technology and innovation in a competitive and challenging environment.

The 2022 Best Managed winners exemplify innovation, adaptability, and resilience in the face of uncertainty, said Derrick Dempster, partner, Deloitte Private and co-leader, Canadas Best Managed Companies program. Over the past year, these forward-forging companies have pivoted to successfully respond to challenges and capitalize on new opportunities, leveraging industry-leading competencies to maximize their investments and drive sustainable growth.

About Canadas Best Managed Companies

Canadas Best Managed Companies continues to be the mark of excellence for Canadian-owned and managed companies with revenues over $50 million. Every year since the launch of the program in 1993, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies have competed for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates their management skills and practices. The awards are granted on four levels: 1) Canadas Best Managed Companies new winner (one of the new winners selected each year); 2) Canadas Best Managed Companies winner (award recipients that have re-applied and successfully retained their Best Managed designation for two additional years, subject to annual operational and financial review); 3) Gold Standard winner (after three consecutive years of maintaining their Best Managed status, these winners have demonstrated their commitment to the program and successfully retained their award for 4-6 consecutive years); 4) Platinum Club member (winners that have maintained their Best Managed status for seven years or more). Program sponsors are Deloitte Private, CIBC, The Globe and Mail, Salesforce, and TMX Group. For more information, visit www.bestmanagedcompanies.ca.



About Questrade

Questrade (www.questrade.com) is Canadas fastest growing and #1 rated online brokerage that is changing the Canadian financial services industry by leveraging technology to lower fees while providing a viable alternative to traditional financial investment options, thereby allowing Canadians to Keep More of their Money. As a leader and innovator in financial services, Questrade is a trusted ally that advocates for consumers, focused on improving value. With 21 years of challenging the status quo as Canada's leading, non-bank online brokerage, over $30 billion in assets under administration and more than 250,000 accounts opened every year, Questrade and its companies provide financial products and services: securities and foreign currency investment. For more information visit www.questrade.com or on Facebook and Twitter @Questrade. Questrade, Inc. is a registered investment dealer, a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).

About Questrade Wealth Management, Inc.

Questrade Wealth Management Inc. ("QWM") provides professional portfolio management services through Questwealth Portfolios ( www.questrade.com/questwealth-portfolios ). QWM is an Exempt Market Dealer, Investment Fund Manager and Portfolio Manager. QWM is a wholly owned subsidiary of Questrade Financial Group Inc.

 MoneySense magazine, 2021

For more information, contact:

Bestmanagedcompanies@deloitte.ca

www.bestmanagedcompanies.ca
CHICAGO, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Green Hydrogen Market Size was valued at USD 444 million in 2021. The mobility industry is developing vehicles that would utilize hydrogen directly in fuel cells or in internal combustion engines. Hydrogen based forklifts have already been developed and are being utilized in a few industries across Europe, APAC and North American regions. The countries are planning to more than double the number of such hydrogen-based vehicles by 2030.

Request Brochure of Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=92444177



Increasing investments by the government in establishing green hydrogen ecosystems

The governments of many developed countries are coming forward in developing infrastructure for green hydrogen. This is majorly happening in Europe followed by Asia. The development of infrastructure will facilitate manufacturers to expand their reach and capacity, which will assist them in lowering the price of green hydrogen. The involvement of the governments of the respective countries is very crucial for developing an ecosystem that accepts green hydrogen as an alternate fuel.

Report Scope of the Green Hydrogen Market

Report Highlights Details Market Size in 2021 USD$ 444 million Growth Rate CAGR of 58.0% from 2021 to 2026 Largest Market Share Europe Forecast Year 2021 to 2026 Companies Covered Siemens Energy AG (Germany), Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (Japan), Nel ASA (Norway), Linde (Ireland), Cummins Inc. (US), H&R Olwerke Schindler GmbH (Germany), Wind to Gas Energy GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), Guangdong Nation-Synergy Hydrogen Power Technology Co., Ltd. (China), Air Liquide (France), and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (US).

Regional Snapshot

Europe is the largest market in terms of manufacturing and supplying green hydrogen. In terms of volume, it accounts for a share of 58.0% of the global green hydrogen market in 2020, followed by APAC at 27%.

Europe has been investing heavily in the green hydrogen projects. The European Hydrogen Backbone project is underway to develop nearly 40,000 km of dedicated hydrogen pipeline. This is boosting the investment in green hydrogen in the region. Major automotive manufacturers in the European region, such as Porsche, Ducati, BMW, and Audi, are focusing on the downsizing concept of car engines and manufacturing lightweight and fuel-efficient engines, which will also drive up the growth of the green hydrogen market. The European Union Automotive Fuel Economy (UNEP) standard has challenged automotive OEMs to decrease carbon emissions by using lightweight materials, which is further driving the market in this region.

Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=92444177



Drivers

Increasing use of green hydrogen in the mobility industry. As the world is moving towards net zero emission goals, it is getting ready to change the way it moves.

Restraint for global green hydrogen market

High initial cost in establishing green hydrogen plant is a major market restraint. The initial cost involved with the production of green hydrogen is very high, while the lack of infrastructure to transport and store it poses an additional challenge. The fixed cost required to set up the production plant is only half the challenge while transportation of green hydrogen pose additional economical and safety challenges. On average green hydrogen costs nearly 23 times more than grey hydrogen. Application technology adds to the costs. Fuel cells cost nearly 1.5 to 2 times more than their fossil fuel counterparts. Even as synthetic fuel, the cost is nearly 57 times more than fossil jet fuel.

Opportunity for global green hydrogen market

Increasing investments by the government in establishing green hydrogen ecosystems. The governments of many developed countries are coming forward in developing infrastructure for green hydrogen. This is majorly happening in Europe followed by Asia. The development of infrastructure will facilitate manufacturers to expand their reach and capacity, which will assist them in lowering the price of green hydrogen. The involvement of the governments of the respective countries is very crucial for developing an ecosystem that accepts green hydrogen as an alternate fuel.

Challenge for global green hydrogen market

Lack of transportation infrastructure. In the present scenario, hydrogen is produced at locations where it is to be used. The lack of need for transportation has hence left the hydrogen market unexplored. Less than 8,000 km of pipeline has been installed worldwide, with 2,600 km in the US alone. With its European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) initiative, Europe plans to install 39,700 km of hydrogen pipeline by 2040. Nearly 69% of this will be repurposed natural gas lines, and the rest will be newly established. Even after these, the infrastructure seems very small compared to more than 3 million km of natural gas line in operation today.

Inquire Now: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=92444177



Related Reports:

CNG, RNG, and Hydrogen Tanks Market Research Report 2021 - 2026

Green & Bio-Solvents Market Research Report 2021  2026

Segments Covered in the Report

By Technology:

Alkaline Electrolysis

PEM Electrolysis

By Renewable Source:

Wind Energy

Solar Energy

Others (geothermal, hydropower, and hybrid of wind & solar)

By End-Use Industry:

Mobility

Chemical

Power

Grid Injection

Industrial

Others (CHP+Domestic Heat)

By Region:

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific (APAC)

Middle East & Africa (MEA)

Latin America

Speak to Analyst: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalystNew.asp?id=92444177


CALGARY, Alberta, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Connect Financial, an innovative cryptocurrency financial platform, announces today the expansion of its team and welcomes Christo Brown as its new Director of Product.

As a product director, Christo constantly manages outside forces from savvy competitors, technology innovations, user expectations, and the economic environments. As part of Connect Financial's upcoming ecosystem launch, Christo will be overseeing the platform delivery and product-related go-to-market activities and is also responsible for planning the overall product portfolio.

"I am passionate about establishing product-led organizations by integrating modern software development and product management principles. In today's era, online platforms are never complete at launch. They need to constantly evolve and adapt to how users interact with features in a constantly changing competitive environment. Especially in web3, companies need to be agile to succeed," states Christo Brown, Product Director, Connect Financial.

Christo brings 15 years of experience as a customer experience and product leader to the company. He has held several senior roles within a diverse range of startups, focusing on developing products, growth strategies and establishing product-market fit. Recently, Christo led the product expansion of subscription-based support services for the world's largest mobile device protection provider that serviced millions of customers across APAC.

Christo continued, "I am privileged to consider myself a part of the Connect Financial team. The product that we are delivering is truly innovative and will change the way customers use their cash and crypto to borrow, save and transact. I am looking forward to helping grow the Connect Financial brand alongside a talented team and a vibrant community."

About Christo

Christo has been a Product Consultant, working with early-stage startups to develop their product strategy, obtain funding and bring new products to market. Previously, he has held leadership positions in product management, content and training for companies, including Asurion, AsurePay, BT Projects and Telstra.

At Asurion, Christo was based in Singapore and played a key role in leading the launch and growth strategy for the Soluto product suite within the Asian Pacific market. Previously, he was part of the core team that launched Australia's flagship device protection product.

Christo holds a degree in Communications from Auckland University of Technology. For more information on Christo, visit his LinkedIn.

For more information, contact marketing@connect.financial.

Related Images











Image 1: Christo Brown Joins Connect Financial









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Ottawa, ON, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OTTAWA -- Trexity, a same-day, on-demand local delivery technology company, founded by former Shopify executive Alok Ahuja (and partners), announced today that it has raised $5 million in a seed round led by TELUS Ventures, with participation from New York-based Studio VC, Winnipeg-based Shindico, Jay Myers (CEO of Bold Commerce), and a number of other notable Canadian angel investors. Funding will be used to expand into new markets across Canada and North America; and increase engagement in currently serviced markets of Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, and Winnipeg.



"A business is measured by those that surround and support it, and we feel extremely privileged to be in such rarefied company," reflects Alok Ahuja, CEO of Trexity. Im incredibly proud to see how quickly weve taken this idea and molded it into a world-class platform that supports an ecosystem of thousands of merchants and couriers daily.



Several strategic hires will also be made to bolster Trexitys marketing, sales, and engineering teams. The company also announced today that Brian Martin, Investment Director and Partner, TELUS Ventures, will be joining Trexitys Board of Directors.



Were impressed with the opportunity Trexity has unlocked for local business delivery, allowing owners to not only evolve and meet the demands of a rapidly changing retail industry, but also realize new commercial avenues, said Mario Mele, Vice-president Corporate Strategy, TELUS Ventures. Given their extensive experience in this space, were confident in Trexitys founding team and their deep understanding of the needs of todays merchants.



Trexity is making on-demand local home delivery a reality for all small and medium-sized merchants. Their independent fleet of couriers earn between $25 and $30 per hour while delivering, making it the most generous delivery platform in Canada.

About Trexity

Founded in 2019 by ex-Shopify exec Alok Ahuja and LaunchFort co-founders Mathieu Bouchard and Darren Schnare, Trexity is a same-day on-demand local delivery technology platform for online and bricks & mortar businesses. The Trexity platform enables businesses of all sizes to deliver physical products in near real-time to their customers by harnessing the collective of an independent courier community. The Trexity delivery platform supports single delivery and multi-stop requirements allowing customers to scale their businesses fasterwhile keeping costs down with no extra fees or subscription requirements.

For more information please visit: trexity.com

About TELUS Ventures

As the strategic investment arm of TELUS Corporation (TSX: T, NYSE: TU), TELUS Ventures is one of Canada's most active corporate venture capital funds. TELUS Ventures invests globally in companies from Seed to Pre-IPO with a focus on innovative technologies such as AgTech, HealthTech, Connected Consumer, IoT, AI, and Security to actively drive new solutions across the TELUS ecosystem. Led by a team of experienced operators, investors, and executives, the TELUS Ventures team is passionate about creating positive social impact through financial tools and has invested in more than 100 companies since inception.

For more information please visit: ventures.telus.com

About Studio VC

Studio VC, a team of scrappy entrepreneurs and investors, actively partners with extraordinary leaders to challenge the status quo and relentlessly focus on execution. We influence outcomes of venture companies by investing capital and taking an active role in strategic planning, product feedback and business development. Our team has collectively analyzed thousands of early stage ventures, acted as change agents within large corporations, and built and exited companies. We put this experience to work for our entrepreneurs to build game-changing businesses.

For more information please visit: studio.vc

-30-

Media contacts:

Rod Zylstra, VP Marketing, rod@trexity.com, 613-277-3065

Christina Marinelli, Marketing Lead, christina@trexity.com

Tatianna Goldsney, TELUS Public Relations, tatianna.goldsney@telus.com, 587-897-7430

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LONDON and AMSTERDAM, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blockmate Ventures Inc. (TSX.V: MATE) (FSE: 8MH1) (Blockmate'' or the Company) announces the launch of 100% owned Hivello , a specialist in deployment of blockchain Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure. The first blockchain to be connected to Hivello is Helium, which provides connectivity to a decentralised IoT network that rewards participants within the network.



By joining the Hivello network, individuals and property owners can earn passive income by hosting a Hivello hotspot at their premise, similar to a homeowner renting out their room on Airbnb.

The Helium IoT blockchain network operates globally, independent of cellular network carriers and with lower power consumption. It has more than 800,000 connected hotspots that transfer data from IoT devices to the cloud using the networks LoRaWan protocol and includes customers such as Sales Force and Lime using the network.

Utilizing a proprietary algorithm, Hivello is able to maximise the earning capacity of each hotspot owned within the network, conducting location analysis powered by data science, radio frequency analysis and years of team experience. This enables potential sites to be reviewed in minutes, not hours or days.

Approved Hivello network participants are then delivered a package specifically designed for their location type which includes the best hotspot, with the best antenna and accessories based on the geographical locations IoT activity.

Hivello was co-founded by Andrew Smith who has more than 15 years of experience in online, mobile and FinTech businesses. In his most recent venture prior to co-founding Hivello, Andrew co-founded cryptocurrency payments and regtech company Banxa Holdings Inc (TSXV: BNXA) in 2014 where he served as Director of European Operations before co-founding Hivello in early 2022.

Mobile network industry representative GSMA estimates that by 2025, there will be more than 24.6 billion IoT devices connected globally.

Dom Carosa, CEO & President of Blockmate, commented, We are pleased to launch the Hivello business as our first company added to the Blockmate portfolio since completing the acquisition of Blockchain World in March 2022. Hivello is the first of many as Blockmate grows its ecosystem of blockchain projects that can be accelerated towards monetisation via access to Blockmates resources. We look forward to working closely with Andrew and the Hivello team as they expand the Hivello network of hotspots around the world.

Blockmate Ventures and Hivello Investor Briefing

On Thursday 2nd June 2022 at 11am EDT, Blockmate Ventures will host a special investor briefing to provide investors with a presentation of the Blockmate business.

The briefing will include an update from Blockmate CEO & President Dom Carosa who will also be joined by Hivello CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Smith.

Presentation topics will include:



Blockmates blockchain incubation vision and successful track record of projects

The Hivello revenue model and regional targets for IoT hotspots

An updated strategy for Blockmates asset Midpoint with ways to maximise revenue

A new consumer-focused de-fi (decentralized finance) platform

Following the presentation, Mr Carosa and Mr Smith will answer questions from investors and analysts in attendance.

Investors are invited to attend by registering here: Click-to-Register

Upon registration, a joining link will be sent to the registered email address which will also include instructions for how to attend the briefing using a computer or smart device with a valid internet connection.

Blockmate welcomes investors to join the Companys mailing list for the latest updates and industry research by subscribing at: https://www.blockmate.com/subscribe

About Blockmate Ventures Inc.

Blockmate Ventures is a Web3 incubator/venture creator focussing on businesses that utilise blockchain technology and decentralization to provide greater utility, accessibility and sustainability around everyday services. Working with prospective Founders, projects in incubation can benefit from the Blockmate ecosystem that offers tech, services, integrations, digital assets, and advisory to accelerate the incubation of projects towards monetization.

The leadership team at Blockmate Ventures have successfully founded successful tech companies from the Dotcom era through to the social media era and view Web3 technology as the vehicle for a democratised future. Learn more about being a Blockmate at: www.blockmate.com .

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dom Carosa (CEO & President)

For further information contact:

Dom Carosa, CEO & President

https://twitter.com/dcarosa

Blockmate Ventures Inc.

dom@blockmate.com

(+1-888-218-6863)

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on the assumptions, expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements contained herein. 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. Raindrop disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fe20a87c-1008-46c9-a70f-e8d6dffc86b3
Toronto, ON, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Award-winning smart HR software, BrightHR, is transforming people management for small businesses by providing leading HR and health & safety software as well as advice and support needed for owners to grow their business. BrightHR saves business owners and HR professionals valuable time and money with our innovative HR management software and removes all stress and time put into Googling answers to important and sensitive HR and health & safety related questions.

With BrightHR users can handle everyday HR taskslike logging sickness, automatically tracking/calculating vacation for employees, generating complex work shift schedules with ease, plus much moreto taking advantage of contract templates and policy documents. At its core BrightHR gives employees HR technology thats easy to use and advice thats clear, practical, and jargon-free.

BrightHR doesn't stop there. To stay committed to helping our clients grow their businesses, BrightHR is proud to recently announce Bright Exchange. Bright Exchange is a FREE marketplace and perk system that connects 4500+ BrightHR clients across Canada. It gives clients the opportunity to advertise their products and services as well as share exclusive perks and discounts with each other to help SMEs give back to their staff. This gives clients the ability to further engage employees with exciting savings and offers from other businesses.

With the cost-of-living rising, BrightHR CEO Alan Price hopes this will help clients give something back to their employees, whilst saving them money. He says: We understand that the past few years have been incredibly hard  not just for our clients, but for their employees as well. We hope this will help our clients promote what makes them unique, boost their sales, and retain their employees as we move into a brighter future.

To get started, visit exchange.brighthr.com/ca

If you have any questions or would like a demo, please contact sally.abu-samra@peninsula-ca.com

###
MIAMI, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BankLine announced a Master Licensing Agreement with Provisional Posting LLC for the distribution of a patent-pending software solution that allows Crypto-friendly banks to provide overnight availability of funds to Bitcoin ATM Operators. This innovation revolutionizes the Bitcoin ATM (BTM) industry by optimizing the rotation of capital, eliminating the "float", and increasing a BTM Operator's daily capitalization by 40% or more.

BankLine's bank-centric software solution was created by veterans of the banking industry to provide the financial institution with a robust set of back office reconciliation tools, automated reporting, and complete visibility of the cash cycle throughout the settlement process.

BankLine's BTM Operators receive overnight availability of funds, streamlining control of the cash cycle that traditionally restricts the use of the funds for as long as 14 days.

The patent-pending Provisional Posting software is engineered to be compatible with Genesis Coin, General Bytes, Bitaccess and other customized BTM software solutions.

BankLine's Technology Streamlines Business For BTM Operators

BankLine's software allows BTMs to transmit daily sales activity directly to the ODFI (Originating Depository Financial Institution) for overnight availability of funds - streamlining the entire cash supply chain. Access to overnight deposits allows BankLine's BTM Operators to reduce or eliminate the need for lending lines and related interest charges. BankLine's groundbreaking technology provides a truly interactive relationship between the Operator's BTMs and their financial institution.

What Overnight Availability of Funds Means to the BTM Industry

Overnight availability mitigates the time associated with Cash in Transit. Traditionally, cash handling involves a number of time-consuming processes. Employees spend hours manually reconciling cash as funds are processed to the BTM Operator's bank account. Provisional Credit exponentially improves the reconciliation process and increases efficiency, resulting in higher profit and corporate expansion.

President and CEO of BankLine, Mark Ochab, promises; "BankLine will continue to deliver redundant banking relationships in addition to the latest technologies and innovative services in combination with stellar Customer Service. Overnight availability of funds is a complete game-changer for the Crypto BTM industry. BankLine is pleased to be the first to implement a totally customized patent pending Provisional Posting software solution, built from the ground up for our Crypto-friendly Banking partners as well as the BTM Operators."

BankLine strives to become the ultimate end-to-end cash management and banking service solution for the Crypto BTM industry by enabling more efficient, controlled, and cost-effective services.

Steve Bessen, BankLine's National Sales Director, adds, "Streamlined control of the cash cycle, improved cash reporting from multiple locations, and faster reconciliation will give BankLine's BTM Operators a competitive edge by more efficiently rotating working capital and allowing the BTM Operator to redirect its energies toward growth and expansion."

About BankLine

BankLine is the only Crypto-friendly banking solution that offers a portfolio of redundant financial institutions willing to serve the varied needs of the Crypto industry. BankLine's network of Crypto-friendly banks and services helps mitigate the threat of bank discontinuance and provides ongoing, sustainable, and scalable banking and support services.

Each BankLine customer has a direct relationship at a FDIC insured depository institution. The accounts are titled in the business entity's name and are exclusive for the entity's activity.

By contracting with more than 300 Cash Vault facilities managed by Loomis, Brinks, and Garda. BankLine's banks currently provide service to more than 29,000 BTM locations in the continental US, Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.

In addition, BankLine's partner banks provide Over The Counter services for Online Crypto companies.

Learn more at bankline.com

About Provisional Posting LLC

Provisional Posting software was developed to integrate and automate daily deposit and cash extraction information. Electronic Data from Bitcoin ATMs (BTMs) and Armored Carriers is transmitted to the BTM Operator's bank. Provisional Posting software facilitates overnight credit and availability of funds directly to the Merchant DDA Bank Account by the following morning at 9:00am Eastern Time.

Overnight availability of funds provides BTM Operators with an accelerated rotation of working capital and increased efficiency, resulting in greater profit.

Banks utilizing the Provisional Posting LLC patent pending software eliminate the need for time-consuming manual reconciliation and posting, reduce keying errors, and more efficiently manage the CTR filing process.

Learn more at Provisional Posting

Media Contact:

Andy Benjamin

1-800-409-1647

sales@bankline.com

Related Images











Image 1: BankLine + Provisional Posting





BankLine and Provisional Posting team up to provide BTM Operators access to overnight funds









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This photo provided by Namyangju Fire Station Sunday shows the dog that mauled a 59-year-old woman to death in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of Namyangju Fire Station



A dog farm owner has been arrested and indicted on accidental homicide and other charges in connection with the death of a woman who was mauled to death by one of his dogs on the eastern outskirts of Seoul last year, prosecutors said Wednesday.



The tragic incident occurred May 22 last year, when the 57-year-old victim taking a stroll on a hill in Namyangju, about 20 kilometers east of Seoul, was attacked and killed by a large, mixed-breed dog that had escaped from the suspect's farm. The woman died of excessive bleeding a few hours after the 150-centimeter-long and 30-kilogram dog bit her neck.



At that time, police conducted an extensive investigation to find the dog's owner and found that the 69-year-old suspect was illegally breeding 49 abandoned dogs at a nearby farm. In July, police sought an arrest warrant for the suspect but a local court rejected the request, saying he denied ownership of the killer dog.



The prosecutors in Namyangju, who took over the case from police, have conducted a thorough supplementary investigation into the suspect and relevant figures before arresting and indicting him exactly one year after the incident. The arrest warrant for the suspect was approved by a court May 13.



The dog farm owner was indicted on four charges, which also included violations of the Veterinarians Act and Wastes Control Act, and evidence tampering. Prosecutors said the suspect had injected antibiotics into his dogs without a veterinarian's license and provided food waste to them as food.



The killer dog was captured and euthanized soon after the incident.



The case drew strong media attention amid growing public criticism on attacks by stray dogs on people and other animals.



Prosecutors said they will sternly deal with those caught violating animal farm and safety related regulations to prevent any such dog attack incidents in the future. (Yonhap)




VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chemesis International Inc. (CSE: CSI, OTC PINK: CADMF, FRA: CWAA) (the Company or Chemesis) is pleased to announce that it has filed a management information circular (the Management Information Circular) in respect of the Companys previously announced change of business transaction (see news release dated April 19, 2022) (the Change of Business Transaction). The Management Information Circular can be found on the Companys System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) profile at sedar.com. The completion of the proposed Change of Business Transaction remains subject to the approvals of the Canadian Securities Exchange and the shareholders of the Company. The Company further announces that the shareholders special meeting in respect of the Change of Business Transaction is scheduled for June 21, 2022 (the Special Meeting).



On Behalf of The Board of Directors

Josh Rosenberg

President

For further information, please contact Chemesis International Inc.



Investor Relations:

ir@chemesis.com

1 (604) 398-3378

Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to statements regarding the Change of Business Transaction, the Company's business, products and future of the Companys business. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance and developments to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risks that the Change of Business Transaction will not be completed as contemplated, or at all, the risks that the Company's products and plan will vary from those stated in this news release and the Company may not be able to carry out its business plans as expected. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation and does not intend to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information in this news release. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and makes no reference to profitability based on sales reported. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein.
Roseau, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The government of Dominica continues to invest in climate-resilient housing as it moves ahead with the goal of becoming the "world's first climate-resilient nation". The country, which witnessed many natural disasters over the years, is now focusing on building a resilient infrastructure capable of withstanding a natural- calamity, including category five hurricanes.

The Commonwealth of Dominica, popularly known as the Nature Isle of the Caribbean, is a small island with beautiful, mesmerizing, and stunning nature gems. The Caribbean island has witnessed several startling natural calamities, including Hurricanes and Tropical Storms.

Despite being a small island country with a population of about 70,000, Dominica is at the forefront of the war against climate change. After Hurricane Maria made landfall in Dominica in 2017 and affected around 90 percent of the infrastructure, Prime Minister Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit vowed to rebuild the country as the "world's first climate-resilient nation".

Since then, the government of Dominica has been working relentlessly to build climate-resilient infrastructures, including schools, houses, hospitals, health care centres, and shelters. The revolutionary "Housing Initiative" has been delivering climate-resilient homes to people displaced because of Tropical Erika and Hurricane Maria in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

The housing units have been developed in the various regions of the Caribbean country, including Cotton Hill, Georgetown, Jimmit, Roseau City Square, Bellevue Chopin, Castle Bruce, San Sauveur, Grand Fond, La Plaine, and Delices. At the same time, several housing units are still under construction in some areas such as Scotts Head, Eggleston, Canefield, Marigot, as well as Plat Ma Pierre.

Reportedly, the government has handed over the keys to about 1,500 families over the period of four (4) years, to the families who were displaced because of Hurricane Maria.

Prime Minister of Dominica, Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit, during an event in 2019 stated that "the government of Dominica will not rest until every Dominican has a resilient roof over their heads,".

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Reginald Austrie, congratulated and praised the efforts of the government for such development initiatives and massive investment into the housing sector.

Recently, the government of Dominica announced that an integrated community will be constructed in the Grand Bay constituency. The newly announced Grand Bay Ville Housing Development will be a master-planned concept. The housing unit will witness more than 100 standalone houses and 29 empty plots. The majority of the housing units will have three bedrooms, two toilets, and bathrooms, a kitchen with a dining room, a living room, a laundry area, as well as a porch.

The project has been undertaken by MMCE Development Ltd. Besides this, sixteen more homes are planned for Eggleston.

Earlier, in February 2022, the Salybia constituency saw the beginning of the construction of around 40 houses. The government has announced that these 40 houses will have the capacity to bear the devastating impacts caused by hurricane-force winds and seismic activities.

Meanwhile, in mid-2021, the residents of Dominica were informed about the building of around seven housing units in Marigot. The units are under-construction and soon will be handed over to the families.

While announcing the project, Gregory Riviere -Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Planning, stated that more than thirty residents of Marigot would benefit from the new homes upon completion of these housing units.

The housing units will feature three bedrooms, one living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and toilet facilities.

"It is the first time the government of Dominica has started, and of course will complete, the construction of homes for the people of Marigot. These homes will be climate-resilient and are part of the government's housing revolution project. I am glad that the Marigot people are very very happy to be part of the process," Riviere underlined.

The government of Dominica has been following the newly adopted "Disaster Resilience Strategy", which promises to provide a comprehensive plan. As per the government, the cost of funding the interventions outlined in the Disaster Resilience Strategy (DRS) is approximately US$2.8 billion.

The construction of the climate-resilient housing units has been partly or completely funded by the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Dominica.

The CBI Programme of Dominica is one of the longest-running, fastest, and most secure in the world. The programme has been top-ranked for five consecutive years by the CBI Index, published by the Financial Times' Professional Wealth Management (PWM) magazine.

Launched in 1993, the programme is renowned for its strict and robust due-diligence procedure. The government of Dominica emphasizes the overall integrity of its applicants and ensures the credibility of the applicants by hiring renowned independent third-party agencies to perform due diligence checks.

To get alternative citizenship from Dominica, the applicant can invest via two investment options: Economic Diversification Fund (EDF) and Real Estate.

Economic Diversification Fund (EDF): To apply for the alternative citizenship of Dominica, the applicant may invest in the EDF. This government fund option assists the socio-economic initiatives in the country, including the construction of climate-resilient homes, health centres, schools, playgrounds, and more.

Minimum Investment: USD 100,000

Real Estate: The applicant has to purchase a Government-approved property to invest under the real-estate option.

Minimum investment: USD 200,000

Dominica boasts its nature with 365 rivers, innumerable waterfalls, and the world's second-largest hot spring  the boiling lake. The Nature Isle of the Caribbean is undoubtedly one of the best travel destinations, which offers facilities like  hiking, bird-watching, canyoning, trekking, whale-watching, and relaxation in natural hot springs.

The beautiful nation of the Caribbean was completely devastated after the category five hurricane, Hurricane Maria. The natural disaster disturbed the livelihoods of around 90 percent of the population. After Hurricane Maria, Dominica was torn apart in the span of a single night.

Following the catastrophe caused by the hurricane, PM Skerrit pledged to build the climate-resilient nation, and soon after, the Climate Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD) was created. In May 2020, the Cabinet of Dominica approved the Disaster Resilience Strategy as an Annex to the Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan (CRRP).
Vancouver, BC, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For millions of travelers each year[1], driving throughout Europe just got easier. PayByPhone, the global leader in mobile parking payments, has today announced 470 new cities across Germany (370) and Italy (100) have been added to the companys global parking app.

PayByPhone allows drivers to pay for parking and extend parking sessions remotely via its app in many cities, as well as provide smart alerts, helping drivers avoid costly parking fines.

As people finally venture out on their long-awaited holidays, adding almost 500 cities from Germany and Italy to the PayByPhone app is just one more way were simplifying their journeys, says Andy Gruber, PayByPhones CEO. PayByPhones 50 million users can now use our app to pay for parking in big European tourist destinations like Berlin or Napoli, in addition to existing cities like Paris, London, and Amsterdam. The timing, just before the great post-COVID holiday summer of 2022, is perfect.

With the addition of Italy and Germany, drivers can now park in more than 1,200 cities, across 11 countries, making PayByPhone the only company that provides the convenience of digital parking services throughout two continents (Europe and North America) in one app at this scale.

Travel has finally rebounded with force across Europe after COVID-19, with people eager to get back to experiences theyve missed out on over the past two years.

In April 2020, we saw 86% of parking activities disappear in North America and up to a 99% drop in European countries, adds Gruber. Now, two years later, our stats show that parking activity is actually exceeding pre-COVID levels. This shows us that car travel has become even more important, as many people still prefer the safety of their own car. Travel, activities, and movement are finally back.

In Italy, for example, the company is already seeing 20% of parking happening from visitors outside of mainland Europe. Its a far cry from the early days of Covid restrictions.

Carmen Donnell, Managing Director for PayByPhone North America adds, This expansion into additional countries in Europe will help people as they take off on long-awaited holidays this summer. They wont need to worry about finding the right currency or translating parking meters; they can simply use the app and get on with enjoying their time off.

For more information, visit paybyphone.com

About PayByPhone

PayByPhones aim is simple: simplify your journey so you can focus on what matters most. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Financial Services AG, they are one of the fastest growing mobile payments companies in the world, processing more than $641 million USD in payments and over 5 million downloads per year. Available in more than 1,200 cities across the globe, PayByPhone helps millions of consumers easily and safely pay for parking without the hassles of coins, lines, or fines. Their smart, intuitive technology is at the center of their user-first approach, delivered to make everything as simple as possible. For more information, please visit www.paybyphone.com.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/tourism/business-portal/getting-know-potential-clients/usa-main-traditional-international-market_en#:~:text=Key%20data%20from%20the%20North,27%20million%20trips%20to%20Europe
Companies Mentioned in the Report: Tata Chemicals, Sequens, CIECH Group, Sisecam, Solvay, Bashkir Soda Company, Ghcl, Church & Dwight Company, Eti Soda, Barentz, N.T. Ruddock Co., Noah Chemicals, Chemische Fabrik Kalk Gmbh, Sotraga Belgium N.V, Adana Chem San A.S, Setar Kimya San. Ve Tic.Ltd.Sti, Topklass Chemical Industries, Omniasale, Oceana Minerals Nutrition Animale, Lombardi, OKCHEM



NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IndexBox has just published a new report: 'EU  Baking Soda - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights'. Here is a summary of the report's key findings.

EU Baking Soda Market Statistics

Imports 384.2 Million USD Exports 418.2 Million USD Top Importers France, Belgium, Germany Top Exporters Germany, Spain, France

The baking soda market in the European Union was estimated at approx. $730M in 2021. The market value increased at an average annual rate of +4.0% over the past decade. REQUEST FREE DATA

In value terms, the largest baking soda markets in the European Union were France, Italy and Germany, together comprising 46% of the total market. These countries were followed by Romania, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, Portugal and Austria, which together accounted for a further 46%. REQUEST FREE DATA

EU Baking Soda Consumption by Country

Baking soda consumption in the EU was estimated at approx. 1.6M tonnes in 2021. The countries with the highest volumes of baking soda consumption in 2021 were France, Italy and Germany, with a combined 56% share of total consumption. These countries were followed by Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Portugal and Austria, which together accounted for a further 36%. REQUEST FREE DATA

The countries with the highest levels of baking soda per capita consumption in 2021 were Belgium (6.34 kg per person), Italy (5.57 kg per person) and France (5.33 kg per person).

From 2011 to 2021, the most notable rate of growth in terms of baking soda per capita consumption, amongst the key consuming countries, was attained by Portugal (+8.9%), while baking soda per capita consumption for the other leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

EU Baking Soda Production by Country

After two years of growth, the assessed volume of baking soda production was approx. 1.5M tonnes in 2021. The total output volume increased at an average annual rate of +3.0% over the period from 2011 to 2021.

The countries with the highest volumes of baking soda production in 2021 were Germany, France and Italy, together accounting for 71% of the total volume. Spain, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Sweden lagged somewhat behind, together accounting for a further 24%.

EU Baking Soda Exports

In 2021, the amount of baking soda exported in the European Union surged to 899K tonnes, jumping by 23% against 2020 figures. This figure includes trade volumes between the EU countries and shipped outside the EU. Total exports indicated a resilient increase over the last decade: its volume grew at an average annual rate of +7.0%.

In value terms, baking soda exports surged to $418M in 2021. This figure includes trade between EU member countries. Total exports indicated a resilient expansion from 2011 to 2021: its value increased at an average annual rate of +7.0%.

Exports by Country

Germany represented the largest exporter of baking soda in the European Union, with the volume of exports recording 384K tonnes, which was approx. 43% of total volume in 2021. Spain (159K tonnes) held the second position in the ranking, followed by France (120K tonnes), Belgium (104K tonnes) and Italy (52K tonnes). All these countries together held approx. 48% share of total supplies. The following exporters - Bulgaria (19K tonnes) and the Netherlands (16K tonnes) - each resulted at a 4% share of total exports.

In value terms, the largest baking soda supplying countries in the European Union were Germany ($151M), Spain ($100M) and France ($49M), with a combined 72% share of total exports.

Among the main exporting countries, Spain, with a CAGR of +13.4%, recorded the highest rates of growth with regard to the value of exports, over the last decade, while shipments for the other leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

Export Prices by Country

In 2021, the baking soda export price in the European Union amounted to $465 per tonne, rising by 3.1% against the previous year. There were significant differences in the average prices amongst the major exporting countries. In 2021, the country with the highest price was Spain ($627 per tonne), while Bulgaria ($251 per tonne) was amongst the lowest. From 2011 to 2021, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Spain (+4.3%), while the other leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

Imports in the EU

In 2021, approx. 1.1M tonnes of baking soda were imported in the European Union; surging by 4.4% compared with 2020. This figure includes trade volumes between the EU countries and shipped outside the EU. In general, imports saw a resilient expansion in the past decade.

In value terms, baking soda imports stood at $384M in 2021. This figure includes trade between EU member countries.

Imports by Country

The countries with the highest levels of baking soda imports in 2021 were France (205K tonnes), Belgium (170K tonnes), Germany (122K tonnes), Italy (122K tonnes), the Netherlands (103K tonnes) and Spain (84K tonnes), together accounting for 74% of total purchases. Poland (37K tonnes), Portugal (36K tonnes), Austria (27K tonnes), Denmark (25K tonnes), Hungary (23K tonnes), the Czech Republic (19K tonnes) and Sweden (19K tonnes) followed a long way behind the leaders.

In value terms, France ($77M), Belgium ($54M) and Germany ($45M) constituted the countries with the highest levels of imports in 2021, with a combined 46% share of total supplies. These countries were followed by the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Hungary, which together accounted for a further 44%.

Among the main importing countries, Portugal, with a CAGR of +16.0%, saw the highest growth rate of the value of imports, over the last decade, while purchases for the other leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

Import Prices by Country

In 2021, the baking soda import price in the European Union amounted to $354 per tonne, increasing by 2.5% against the previous year. There were significant differences in the average prices amongst the major importing countries. In 2021, the country with the highest price was Sweden ($440 per tonne), while Spain ($269 per tonne) was amongst the lowest. From 2011 to 2021, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by the Netherlands (+3.6%), while the other leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

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

Sodium hydrogencarbonate (sodium bicarbonate).

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IRVING, Texas, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Infinite Air unveiled a company-wide re-branding, marking the re-launch of the Texas-based telecom company. Helmed by entrepreneur and native Texan Terian Eller, Infinite Air provides simple, affordable, reliable backup internet solutions for small businesses, hybrid workforces, remote workers, entrepreneurs, and more.

Thinking Outside the Big Business Box

In 2021, CEO and President Terian Eller saw an opportunity to help small businesses and individuals keep pace with the speed of commerce in this ultra-connected age. "Many enterprise-level failover internet solutions exist, but we saw a real need for an affordable, simple solution tailored to small companies and individuals that keep them connected and running smoothly when their primary connection drops," Eller says. "Backup internet is essential for small businesses because when your POS, online order platform, or credit card processor is offline, your entire business is, too."

Proud to Be Small and Woman-Owned

As the world continues to embrace hybrid and remote work and people continue to go into business for themselves, Infinite Air's backup internet solutions can help make it more possible. "Small businesses are often overlooked, and as it happens, many small businesses are owned by womenwho are also often overlooked and underestimated," Eller says. "As a woman and a business owner myself, I understand the need for simplicity and flexibility. I wanted to provide a service that helps empower fellow entrepreneurs to go after their dreams."

In fact, the Infinite Air re-brand was spurred by a desire to embody the company's focus on small businesses and entrepreneurs. "We specialize in small business failover internet solutions, but we looked and talked like big business," Eller says. "You have a true partner in us, and we want our brand to feel that way too, like we have your backbecause we do!"

How Infinite Air Works (And Why It's a Lifesaver)

Infinite Air provides an internet lifeline for small businesses and individuals, including retail, restaurants, Etsy shops, full-time remote workers, and consultants. To eliminate costly downtime, Infinite Air's backup internet solutions use best-in-class routers that instantly kick in when a user's primary internet connection drops.

From start to finish, the entire Infinite Air experience is designed specifically for the needs of small businesses and individual users. Many small business owners perform multiple roles and need a straightforward solution that works without wasting precious time or resources. All tech sets up in minutes, and 24/7 technical support comes standard with any subscription. Infinite Air is compatible with any internet service provider for additional ease of useusers can plug their new router in and go.

Infinite Air offers backup internet plans for small businesses and individuals for only $35 per month. Visit infiniteair.net to learn more.

PRESS CONTACT/MEDIA CONTACT

Mike Stevens

Vice President of Sales

mike@infiniteair.net

972-895-3060

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Image 1: Backup Internet





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ATLANTA, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wendover Housing Partners , one of the Southeasts premier multi-family housing developers, has just celebrated the grand opening of Hartland Station, a new affordable housing community in Atlanta.



Located south of downtown Atlanta at 2040 Fleet Street, Hartland Station provides much needed affordable housing to a fast-growing region and serves as a catalyst for additional investment in the Sylvan Hills neighborhood.

Finding affordable housing is a challenge almost anywhere, especially in growing metropolitan areas like Atlanta, said Jonathan L. Wolf, founder and CEO of Wendover Housing Partners. Atlanta only has 27 affordable and available homes per 100 extremely low-income renters. Our hope is that this community can provide much needed relief to residents in the area looking for a home they can both afford and feel proud of.

There are going to be 131 families that are going to get this great surge of new development, said Andre Dickens, mayor of Atlanta, during the event. Todays grand opening ceremony brings new affordable housing and quality amenities into Sylvan Hills  a wonderful Atlanta community.

The 131-unit community provides residents with both affordable housing and high-quality amenities. Hartland Station consists of one, two and three-bedroom units and features amenities such as a business center, fitness center, activity room with kitchen, splash pad and playground. Rents start at just $861 per month.

The $28 million community was made possible with help from partners including the Georgia Department of Community Affairs Department with a $945,515 Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), Invest Atlanta with $1.5 million in Housing Opportunity Bonds, and the Metropolitan Parkway tax allocation district with $1.3 million in grant funding. Financing also included $18.8 million in tax-exempt bonds.

Click here for downloadable images of the event.

For more information about Hartland Station, call 404-474-1180 or visit hartlandstation.com.

For additional information about Wendover Housing Partners, visit www.wendovergroup.com.

About Wendover Housing Partners

Headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Wendover Housing Partners, LLC is a privately held real estate development, investment and management company founded in 1995. As one of the Southeasts premier housing companies, Wendover specializes in the development of single and multi-family homes, apartment communities, senior communities, and transit-oriented development. Wendovers expansive portfolio of affordable and mixed-income developments demonstrates the companys success in creating housing opportunities in a variety of economically and socially diverse neighborhoods. www.wendovergroup.com

Media Contact

Brianna Edwards

Uproar PR for Wendover Housing Partners

321.236.0102

Bedwards@uproarpr.com
New Zealand, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FreshBooks, a cloud-based accounting software provider, announced today that it is expanding its invoicing software offering to meet the needs of New Zealand small businesses. This includes the creation of a new starter plan and competitive pricing packages with unique pricing, set in NZ currency.

FreshBooks recognizes the depth and breadth of small businesses across New Zealand. Were excited to help local owners impress their clients and get paid faster with our competitive new starter plan and invoicing software, said Dragana Ljubisavljevic, SVP of International Markets at FreshBooks. FreshBooks is listening to the passionate small business owners in New Zealand by making it easier for them to digitize their invoicing.

The expansion in New Zealand arrives as small business owners look for invoicing software that is intuitive and simple to use. FreshBooks is different because its built exclusively for small businesses, making it easier to stay on top of invoicing. The companys new starter plan in New Zealand lets businesses:

Send 2 invoices per month to up to 2 clients

Collect online payments without invoicing

Track unlimited expenses

Get paid with credit cards via Stripe & PayPal

Access their account from anywhere on iOS and Android devices

All pricing packages are being offered at new competitive rates.



The expansion in New Zealand builds on FreshBooks securing $130M in funding, bringing its valuation to over USD $1 Billion. With a mission to reach more customers in more countries around the world, FreshBooks also acquired German-based FastBill to strengthen global expansion plans.

Learn more about FreshBooks here.

About FreshBooks

FreshBooks is changing the way business owners manage their books. Its owner-first accounting platform, loved by businesses in over 160 countries, takes an easy-to-use approach to managing finances, billing, payments, and client engagement. FreshBooks, known for its 10x Stevie award-winning customer support, serves customers of all sizes from offices in Canada, Croatia, Mexico, Germany, Netherlands, and the US.
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GHGSat equips its existing satellite constellation with three more ABB-built optical sensors, increasing the frequency of observations and capacity to precisely pinpoint the source of methane emissions

ABB-built methane detection optical sensors can map industrial emissions from space at a resolution of 100 times higher than comparable technologies currently in operation

Monitoring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from space supports meeting the worlds climate change targets



MONTREAL, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian company GHGSat, which specializes in high-resolution GHG monitoring from space, launches three new ABB-built optical sensors into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, doubling capacity to monitor methane gas emissions.

GHGSats hyperspectral imaging technology accurately locates and measures methane emissions from any given industrial site on earth. The launch of three new ABB-built high-resolution methane sensors doubles the companys capacity to monitor customer sites. In addition to the three units being launched  Luca, Penny and Diako five additional units dedicated to methane measurements are under fabrication at ABB.

Space is the only location allowing emissions to be monitored freely across jurisdictions and report on improvements or otherwise. Measuring different sites with the same sensor ensures that emissions are compared consistently. Space measurements are also especially useful for sites where ground sensors are economically not viable or too complex to deploy.

GHGSat announced the initial constellation contract with ABB in October 2020, with first deliveries started in 2021. The launch of three additional units strengthens GHGSats lead in-orbit, operating the worlds largest constellation in the world dedicated to GHG emission monitoring.

According to the International Energy Agency, methane is responsible for around 30 percent of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, and rapid and sustained reductions in methane emissions are key to limiting near-term global warming and improving air quality1.

"Satellite data is critical for stakeholders globally to take immediate action for a sustainable future. The first full year of commercial operation for GHGSat satellites confirmed the impact our technology can have. Were excited to double our capacity and accelerate the change needed to make a difference for our planet, said Stephane Germain, CEO of GHGSat.

This is an exciting milestone for our team as we witness the efficiency of applying our serial production knowhow to space sensors manufacturing which in the past have been mainly one-off contracts. Our partnership with GHGSat led to a paradigm shift in the industrial space sector. Not only does this set new standards in our space offering for the private sector, which is growing at a rapid pace, but it also allows us to expand our expertise and solutions offering, said Marc Corriveau, General Manager ABB Measurement & Analytics Canada.

For more than two decades, with involvement in the Canadian SCISAT mission and the Japanese GOSAT satellites program, ABB has stood at the forefront of greenhouse gas sensing from space. ABB optical equipment already in space cumulates more than 100 years of reliable operation. Since 2003, the SCISAT sensor tracks long-term subtle composition changes in the Earth's atmosphere down to parts per trillion of more than 70 molecules and pollutants. Weather agencies across the world base their predictions on ABB equipment flying onboard the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather satellites (NPP and JPSS), which improves the timeliness and accuracy of weather forecasts for up to seven days, helping save lives through advanced warning evacuations.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABBs success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com

ABBs Process Automation business is a leader in automation, electrification and digitalization for the process and hybrid industries. We serve our customers with a broad portfolio of products, systems, and end-to-end solutions, including our # 1 distributed control system, software, and lifecycle services, industry-specific products as well as measurement and analytics, marine and turbocharging offerings. As the global #2 in the market, we build on our deep domain expertise, diverse team and global footprint, and are dedicated to helping our customers increase competitiveness, improve their return on investment and run safe, smart, and sustainable operations. go.abb/processautomation

GHGSat is a leader in high-resolution greenhouse gas monitoring from space, providing actionable emission data to businesses, governments, and regulators worldwide. With proprietary remote-sensing capabilities and patented technology, GHGSat can monitor individual facilities, offering greater data accuracy, and facilitating timely strategic decision-making insights. www.ghgsat.com





For more information please contact: Media Relations

Susannah Bosanquet

Phone: +41 43 317 71 11

Email: abb@admiralassociates.co.uk ABB Marketing Communications

Nancy Rochette

Phone: +1 418 877 2944

Email: Nancy.c.rochette@ca.abb.com



ABB Ltd

3400 rue Pierre-Ardouin

Quebec, Quebec

G1P 0B2

Canada

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e54fcacc-0584-46af-a872-4e969134b04f
NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Credit Suisse Group AG (Credit Suisse or the Company) (NYSE: CS) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and docketed under 22-cv-02477, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Credit Suisse securities between March 19, 2021 and March 25, 2022, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.



If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Credit Suisse securities during the Class Period, you have until June 28, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Credit Suisse, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services in Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. The Company offers private banking and wealth management solutions, including advisory, investment, financial planning, succession planning, and trust services, and financing and lending, and multi-shore platform solutions.

Credit Suisse has a history of business dealings with Russian oligarchs, or ultra-high net worth business leaders possessing significant political influence. For example, an article published by Financial Times on February 7, 2022, entitled Credit Suisse securitizes yacht loans to oligarchs and tycoons, cited a recent investor presentation for a synthetic securitization deal, in which Credit Suisse sold off $80 million worth of risk related to a $2 billion portfolio of loans backed by assets owned by certain of the banks ultra-high net worth clients (the Securitization Deal), which disclosed that, in 2017 and 2018, Credit Suisse experienced 12 defaults on yacht and aircraft loans, a third of which were related to U.S. sanctions against Russian oligarchs. Press reports at the time indicated that Russian billionaires Oleg Deripaska, Arkady Rotenberg, and Boris Rotenberg had to terminate private jet leases with Credit Suisse in those years.

Beginning in or around October 2021, Russia commenced a major military build-up near the Russo-Ukrainian border, in apparent preparation for an invasion of Ukraine. Although the Russian government repeatedly denied it had plans to invade or attack Ukraine, the U.S. later released intelligence of Russian invasion plans, including satellite photographs showing Russian troops and equipment near the Russo-Ukrainian border.

In November 2021, as Russias military buildup on the Russo-Ukrainian border continued, the Company entered the Securitization Deal.

Just months later, on February 24, 2022, Russian military forces invaded Ukraine. In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, Western governments including, among others, the U.S., Canada, and the European Union, imposed significant sanctions on Russia. The sanctions included, inter alia, measures targeting Russias ultrawealthy oligarchs by denying them access to the global financial system and by, in some cases, authorizing the seizure of certain of their high-value assets located outside of Russia.

Barely a week after the commencement of the Russian invasion and the retaliatory sanctions imposed by Western nations, news outlets reported that Credit Suisse had requested non-participating investors who received information about the Companys loan portfolio to destroy and permanently erase any confidential information that Credit Suisse provided to them regarding the Securitization Deal.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Credit Suisse had deficient disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; (ii) Credit Suisses practice of lending money to Russian oligarchs subject to U.S. and international sanctions created a significant risk of violating rules pertaining to those sanctions and future sanctions; (iii) the foregoing conduct subjected the Company to an increased risk of heightened regulatory scrutiny and/or enforcement actions; (iv) the Securitization Deal concerned loans that Credit Suisse made to Russian oligarchs previously sanctioned by the U.S.; (v) the purpose of the Securitization Deal was to offload the risks associated with these loans and mitigate the impact on Credit Suisse of sanctions likely to be implemented by Western nations in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine; (vi) Credit Suisses request that non-participating investors destroy documents related to the Securitization Deal was intended to conceal the Companys noncompliance with U.S. and international sanctions in its lending practices; (vii) the foregoing, once revealed, was likely to subject the Company to enhanced regulatory scrutiny and significant reputational harm; and (viii) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On March 28, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform sent Credit Suisse a letter asking the Company to turn over information and documents about a portfolio of loans backed by yachts and private jets owned by clients, potentially including sanctioned Russian individuals. In the letter, House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Stephen Lynch, chair of the Subcommittee on National Security, questioned Credit Suisses request that hedge funds and other non-participating investors destroy documents related to yachts and private jets owned by the banks clients. Given the timing of this request and its subject matter, the House Democrats wrote, Credit Suisses action raises significant concerns that it may be concealing information about whether participants in the deal may be evading sanctions imposed by the West after Russias invasion of Ukraine.

On this news, Credit Suisses stock price fell $0.21 per share, or 2.58%, to close at $7.94 per share on March 28, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com
NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of AbbVie Inc. (AbbVie or the Company) (NYSE: ABBV). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether AbbVie and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On September 1, 2021, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that final results from the safety trial of Xeljanz, an anti-inflammatory drug manufactured Pfizer Inc., established an increased risk of serious adverse events, even with low doses of Xeljanz. As a result, the FDA determined that it would require new and updated warnings for Xeljanz and Rinvoq, an anti-inflammatory drug manufactured by AbbVie, because Rinvoq share[s] similar mechanisms of action with Xeljanz and may have similar risks as seen in the Xeljanz safety trial. The FDA also indicated that it would further limit approved indications for Rinvoq as a result of these safety concerns.

On this news, AbbVies stock price fell $8.51 per share, or 7.04%, to close at $112.27 per share on September 1, 2021.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com .




The number of babies born in Korea shrank 4.2 percent in March, data showed Wednesday, pointing to the country's gloomy demographic situation and chronically low birthrate.







A total of 22,925 babies were born in Asia's fourth-largest economy in March, compared with 23,934 a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.







Yet the number was up from the previous month's 20,654 newborns, which was an all-time low.







In the first quarter of the year, 68,177 babies were born in the country, down 2.8 percent from a year ago.







Korea is struggling with a chronic decrease in childbirths as many young people delay or give up on getting married or having babies amid a prolonged economic slowdown and skyrocketing housing prices.







The country's total fertility rate  the average number of children a woman could bear in her lifetime  sank to an all-time low of 0.81 last year, down from 0.84 a year ago, the fourth straight year the rate was below 1 percent.







The number of deaths spiked 67.6 percent year-on-year to 44,487 in March amid rapid aging and the COVID-19 pandemic, marking the 13th straight month of increases. In the first quarter, the number of deaths jumped 33.2 percent to 103,363.







Accordingly, the country's population fell by 21,526 in March, representing the 29th straight month of decline.







Korea reported the first natural decline in population in 2020, as the number of deaths outpaced that of births. The country's total population declined for the first time last year, due to the low birthrate, rapid aging and a fall in incoming foreigners due to the pandemic.







Meanwhile, the number of people getting married decreased 8.6 percent year-on-year to 15,316 in March, a turnaround from a 2.2 percent increase a month earlier. In the January to March period, the figure fell 5.5 percent to 45,377.







Divorces dropped 13.1 percent to 7,882 in March, with the first-quarter tally dipping 11.2 percent to 22,377, according to the data. (Yonhap)






NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Oscar Health, Inc. (Oscar or the Company) (NYSE: OSCR) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and docketed under 22-cv-04103, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Oscar Class A common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and prospectus (collectively, the Registration Statement) issued in connection with the Companys March 2021 initial public offering (IPO or the Offering). Plaintiff pursues claims against under the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act).



If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Oscar Class A common stock, pursuant and/or traceable to the companys IPO, you have until July 11, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Oscar is a health insurance company that claims to be the first such company built around a full stack technology platform which will allow [Oscar] to continue to innovate like a technology company and not a traditional insurer.

On March 4, 2021, the Company filed its prospectus on Form 424B4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which forms part of the Registration Statement. In the IPO, the Company sold 36,391,946 shares of Class A common stock at a price of $39.00 per share. The Company received net proceeds of approximately $1.3 billion from the Offering. The proceeds from the IPO were purportedly to be used to repay in full outstanding borrowings, including fees and expenses, under Oscars Term Loan Facility ($167 million), and the remainder proceeds were to be used for general corporate purposes.

The complaint alleges that, the Registration Statement was materially false and misleading and omitted to state: (1) that Oscar was experiencing growing COVID-19 testing and treatment costs; (2) that Oscar was experiencing growing net COVID costs; (3) that Oscar would be negatively impacted by an unfavorable prior year Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) result relating to 2019 and 2020; (4) that Oscar was on track to be negatively impacted by significant Special Enrollment Period (SEP) membership growth; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants positive statements about the Companys business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

On August 12, 2021, Oscar disclosed that the Companys Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) for the second quarter of 2021 was 82.4%, an increase of 2170 basis points year-over year. The Company claimed that [t]he MLR increased to 82.4% in 2Q21 from 60.7% in 2Q20, primarily driven by meaningfully lower utilization in 2Q20 as a result of COVID-19, as well as higher COVID-19 testing and treatment costs and a return to more normalized utilization in 2Q21. The Company also disclosed that its net loss for the quarter was $73.1 million, an increase of $32.1 million year-over-year.

On November 10, 2021, Oscar disclosed that its third quarter 2021 MLR increased 920 basis points year-over-year, to 99.7%. The Company claimed that the MLR increase was primarily driven by higher net COVID costs as compared to the net benefit in 3Q20, an unfavorable prior year Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) result, and the impact of significant SEP membership growth. The Company also disclosed that its net loss for the quarter was $212.7 million, an increase of $133.6 million year-over-year.

During a conference call held the same day, Scott Blackley, the Companys Chief Financial Officer, stated: We recognized approximately $20 million of risk adjustment expense this quarter related to our risk adjustment data validation audit or RADV results. The RADV exercise is atypical this year due to COVID. It spans two years, 2019 and 2020. The majority of the RADV headwinds relate to the 2019 audit results, which were recently completed.

On this news, Oscars share price fell $4.05 per share, or 24.5%, to close at 12.47 per share on November 11, 2021.

By the commencement of this action, Oscar stock has traded as low as $5.47 per share, a nearly 86% decline from the $39.00 per share IPO price.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com
New York, U.S.A., May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez Perez-Castejon, will join UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the UN Global Compact, Sanda Ojiambo, CEOs of major corporations and other leaders from the United Nations, governments, civil society and UN Global Compact Local Networks to take stock of business progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

WHAT: United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit 2022

WHEN: 12 June 2022

WHERE: Hybrid Summit in person and online (registration details below)

Under the theme The World We Want, this year's 24-hour Leaders Summit on 12 June will take a deep dive on collective and individual evaluation of the sustainability journey from addressing global themes and trends, to the resources and tools needed to accelerate progress in business.

More than two dozen CEOs and business leaders will speak including Jon Abrahamsson Ring, Chief Executive Officer, Inter IKEA Group; Silvia Lagnado, Chief Sustainable Growth Officer, Natura &Co; Mark Kaye, Chief Financial Officer, Moodys Corporation; Esther An, Chief Sustainability Officer, City Developments Limited; Azzahraa Annuar, Director of Governance, Risk & Compliance, edotco Group; Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, Schneider Electric; Roy Bagattani, Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, Woolworths Holdings Limited; Kelvine Baggett, Chief Impact Officer, McKesson; Luz Elena Barragan Bravo, Director of Social Impact, CEMEX, Mexico; Karen Basiye, Director Sustainable Business and Social Impact, Safaricom; Conny Braams, Chief Digital and Commercial Officer, Unilever; Andrii Bulakh, Vice-President, Deputy CEO People, MHP; Edison Carlos, Sustainability Director, Aegea; Koushik Chatterjee, Executive Director and CFO, Tata Steel; Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, International Trade Centre; Alberto de Paoli, CFO, Enel; Scott Mather, CIO, PIMCO; Cherie Nursalim, Vice Chairman, Giti Group; Ibrahim Ozgur Yildirim, CEO, Kordsa; Senthilnathan Shanmugam, Group Chief Executive Officer, EFL Global; Marjorie Yang, Chair, Esquel Group, Zhang Yue, Chair and President, BROAD Group; Jan Sun, Chief Executive Officer, Trip.com Group; Maissam El Kouche, Sustainability Manager, Majid Al Futtaim-Holding; Margareth Goldenberg, CEO, Goldenberg Diversidade and Khalila Sandrah Mbowe, Chief Executive Officer, Unleashed Africa Ventures.

Other confirmed speakers include Linda Thomas-Greenfield, United States Ambassador to the United Nations; Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations; Ambassador Alexander Marschik, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations; Roberto Suarez Santos, Secretary-General of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE); John W.H. Denton, Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce; Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation; Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International; Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization; Achim Steiner, Administrator, UN Development Programme; Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme; Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action; Mary Awad Menassa, Senior Climate Action Specialist and Coordinator of UNFCCC and Adrian Pena, Minister of Environment, Uruguay.

Over 24 hours of continuous virtual programming, speakers and guests from 69 Global Compact Local Networks will discuss responsible business practices through the lens of pressing issues such as humanitarian responses to the war in Ukraine; the state of sustainability; credible climate action; reducing inequalities through collective action; transforming governance; womens leadership in decision-making; accelerating a sustainable, inclusive and just transition and bringing innovative sustainable investment instruments to market.

UN Global Compact Local Network in Thailand will host, in partnership with the UN Country Team in Thailand and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), a one-day in-person forum to inform, inspire and catalyze local and regional solutions for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement in the ASEAN region. The event will draw attendees from Global Compact Networks in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.

The Leaders Summit will also include the in-person opening of Stockholm+50 on 2 June which brings the global environmental community together in the Swedish capital for a major international environmental meeting five decades after the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. The event will provide leaders with an opportunity to draw on 50 years of multilateral environmental action to achieve the bold and urgent action needed to secure a better future on a healthy planet.

Journalists are invited to attend. This years Leaders Summit media partners are ESG News and China Business Network which will provide live updates and editorial coverage.

Media Accreditation and inquiries:

For the full programme and to register to attend please visit

https://events.unglobalcompact.org/leaderssummit22

Please contact Alex Gee gee@unglobalcompact.org
WESTPORT, Conn., May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HMG Strategy, the Worlds #1 digital platform for enabling technology executives to reimagine the enterprise and reshape the business world, is honored to be listed among the Top 10 Live and Hybrid Tech Events for 2022 across the world by Business Chief Magazine. HMG Strategys highly interactive events bring together the worlds most distinguished and innovative business technology and security leaders to discuss the most pressing leadership, innovation, strategic, cultural, technology and career challenges and opportunities that they face today  and into the future.



The recognition by Business Chief rates HMG Strategys unique and customized one-day Executive Leadership Summits among the top global technology events alongside distinguished conferences such as RSA Conference, Women in Tech Global Conference, Gartner Symposium, Mobile World Congress, Black Hat USA, Cisco Live and other well-renowned events. Business Chief cites HMG Strategys Executive Leadership Summits for delivering world-class thought leadership along with unique insights into best practicesinvolving leadership, management, technology and career development.

Our events -- just like our research model -- are peer-driven, curated and guided by the insights and commitment of the thousands of advisory board members and global technology executives across the 30+ regions where we deliver world-class thought leadership, said Hunter Muller, President and CEO at HMG Strategy. Our events are truly unique as we focus on the most critical macro-economic trends that are impacting technology leaders and fellow members of the senior leadership team to help them to lead boldly and authentically, to inspire employees and to foster a culture of trust across the C-suite, with the Board of Directors and with line-of-business leaders. We are truly humbled by and grateful for this prestigious global recognition.

One of the distinct strengths of the HMG Strategy Executive Leadership Summit model are the keynote presentations being delivered by bestselling author Stephen M.R. Covey. Covey, The New York Times and The Wall St. Journal bestselling author of The Speed of Trust, has been sharing insights at HMG Strategy CIO and CISO Summits from his latest book  Trust and Inspire  in which he discusses why a Command-and-Control leadership style no longer works and how a Trust and Inspire leadership approach can encourage employees to be more collaborative and creative and to maximize their potential.

I am delighted to be collaborating with my good friend Stephen, said Muller. In todays work-from-anywhere environment, building trust across the organization is more important than ever. As Stephen wisely notes, trust serves as a strategic multiplier in maximizing human performance and the execution of teams towards achieving its strategic goals. This is especially true in times of uncertainty and transition.

To learn more about HMG Strategys ranking among the Top 10 Live and Hybrid Tech Events for 2022, click here.

To learn about all of HMG Strategys Upcoming World-Class CIO & CISO Summits, click here .

About HMG Strategy

HMG Strategy is the world's leading digital platform for connecting technology executives to reimagine the enterprise and reshape the business world. The HMG Strategy global network consists of more than 400,000 CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, CDOs, senior business technology executives, search industry executives, venture capitalists, industry experts and world-class thought leaders.

HMG Strategys global media model generates more than one million impressions per week, providing vast opportunities for business technology leaders and sponsor partners to promote themselves and their brands.

HMG Strategy was founded in 2008 by Hunter Muller, a leadership expert who has worked side-by-side with Fortune 2000 executives with strategic planning and career ascent for the past 30+ years.

HMG Strategys regional and virtual CIO and CISO Executive Leadership Series, authored books and Digital Resource Center deliver unique, peer-driven guidance from CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, CDOs and technology executives on leadership, innovation, transformation and career ascent.

HMG Strategy offers a range of peer-led research services such as its CIO & CISO Executive Leadership Alliance (CELA) program which bring together the worlds top CIOs, CISOs and technology executives to brainstorm on the top opportunities and challenges facing them in their roles.

HMG Strategys Global Peer Actionable Insights Services Stack is a unique set of research services that are designed to keep business technology executives up to speed on the latest leadership, business, technology and global geo-economic trends that are impacting businesses and industries.

HMG Ventures is a venture capital unit thats designed to connect CIOs, CTOs, CISOs and other technology executives with innovative early-stage technology companies from Silicon Valley to Tel Aviv. HMG Ventures provides technology executives with a window into hot emerging technology companies that can help move the needle for their businesses while also offering these executives unparalleled personal investment opportunities. One early-stage investment in an enterprise-level AI-powered service management provider has generated a 100X return.

HMG Strategy also produces the HMG Security Innovation Accelerator Panel, a new webinar series thats designed to connect enterprise technology and security leaders with the most innovative technology and cybersecurity companies from across the world.

To learn more about the 7 Pillars of Trust for HMG Strategy's unique business model, click here .

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cdb15937-a640-4d44-bbd7-5be570dcac3b
NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (IIPR or the Company) (NYSE: IIPR). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether IIPR and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On April 14, 2022, Blue Orca Capital (Blue Orca) published a short report on IIPR, which it described as a marijuana bank masquerading as a REIT. The Blue Orca reported asserted, among other things, that [i]n the last 17 months . . . IIPRs loan book appears to have degraded significantly as the sector has become more competitive and IIPR stretched for lower quality tenants in search of continuing growth, that IIPRs largest tenant is a failed SPAC that appears to be in severe financial distress and was recently sued by investors, and that [u]nlike with other REITs, IIPR cannot expect to recover the lost income from defaulting tenants because it appears that the actual values of its properties are substantially below their carrying value on IIPRs balance sheet.

On this news, IIPRs stock price fell $13.76, or 7.50% to close at $169.68 per share on April 15, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com .
Alexandria, Va, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) supports President Joe Bidens executive order signed today  the second anniversary of George Floyds death  promoting police reform and creating a registry of law enforcement officers fired for misconduct.

The order is also expected to have a significant impact on state and local police, tightening restrictions on chokeholds and no-knock warrants.

Biden said this executive order will deliver the most significant police reform in decades.

It is NOBLEs opinion that the executive order demonstrates the administrations ongoing commitment to comprehensive law enforcement reforms and equal protection under the law for all Americans even in the absence of congressional action.

Since the death of George Floyd, NOBLE has supported the call for immediate action and accountability to protect our communities and delivering meaningful police reform. This executive order is critical to restoring public trust that has been breached.

The cries for justice, accountability, and law enforcement reform resounded loudly but unfortunately were not heard with the same vigor that tribalism and political polarization seem to engender within our national leaders, said NOBLE National President Frederick L. Thomas, who was at the White House for the signing.

President Bidens Executive Order reminds NOBLE of the hopes and dreams that were displayed the summer of 2020 that went unfulfilled and many communities unheard and frustrated. This is a first crucial step as we call for change on a federal level. NOBLE hopes that this executive order encourages state and local police to make every effort to make gains in the law enforcement arena that both address issues of crime and needs of our nation.

###

About the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives

Since 1976, The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) has served as the conscience of law enforcement by being committed to justice by action. NOBLE represents over 3,000 members internationally, who are primarily African American chief executive officers of law enforcement agencies at federal, state, county, and municipal levels, other law enforcement administrators, and criminal justice practitioners. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter. For more information, visit www.NOBLENational.org.

Attachments
The ruling People Power Party's candidate for North Chungcheong Provincial Governor Kim Young-hwan explains about his lake park pledge during a press conference at the provincial government's headquarters in Cheongju, May 24. Newsis



Rival parties promise to improve the interior region's infrastructure



By Ko Dong-hwan



Candidates from two major parties running for the North Chungcheong Provincial Governor seat in the June 1 local elections have each come up with a bandwagon pledge to innovate different parts of the region's infrastructure. The ruling People Power Party's (PPP) Kim Young-hwan bet on developing lakes as new tourism bases, while the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) Noh Young-min promised to introduce subway lines in one of the province's biggest cities.



Kim on Tuesday unveiled his pledge to establish clusters of parks around different lakes scattered throughout the province in order to upgrade the sites and offer them to the public as the region's new tourism zones. He said the bid was to connect areas near lakes and shape the clusters as new lake parks.



"Many people recognize North Chungcheong as the country's only province without sea," Kim, the former minister of science and ICT and the former special advisor to President Yoon Suk-yeol when he was President-elect, said during a press conference at the provincial government's headquarters in Cheongju. "We need to think outside the box and change such recognition to something better, like 'North Chungcheong with lakes,' rather than without sea."



Kim eyed different areas in the region to form four separate clusters of parks throughout the province, each with a unique theme. He said Chungju, Cheongpoong and Danyang Lakes in northern North Chungcheong can be clustered as one huge park that centers on "history and nature," while Gwesan Lake and a series of mountains in the province's middle region can be clustered as another park that specializes in forest healing and organic products.



Cheongju, the biggest city in the province that skirts Lake Daecheong, can become a pivot for a new park that fronts Cheongnamdae  a popular destination flanking Lake Daecheong which exhibits pastime resort houses used by former presidents of the country  as a new global tourism hotspot. Kim said he will mitigate regulations currently placed upon areas near Lake Daecheong as well as introduce a nature theme park near Cheongnamdae to promote it on an international level.



Pathways around Lake Daecheong, which flows in a zigzag formation to meet Keum River in southern North Chungcheong, and Mount Songri can also be clustered as another major park that will center on Korean traditional music, or "gukak," and fermented foods, a major category of Korean traditional foods, Kim proposed.



"I will make North Chungcheong a new tourism destination where visitors spend nights and money," Kim said. He added he will also seek ways to extend the stay of tourists in the province by subsidizing their travel costs.



He said the province's local specialty products and agricultural produce will be promoted to visitors and tourists to ramp up local farmers' revenue. "My pledge wouldn't be financially feasible if it were solely up to North Chungcheong," said Kim. "If I become the governor, I will do my utmost to get the central government to allocate the necessary budget to our province."





The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for North Chungcheong Provincial Governor Noh Young-min speaks during a meeting with journalists at the provincial government's headquarters in Cheongju, May 24. Newsis
It may be hard to remember, but there was a time when the National Rifle Assn. was a bipartisan organization.During the 1992 election cycle, the NRA contributed 37% of its congressional campaign donations to Democrats. Republicans got the lion's share -- 63% of the $1.8 million the group gave that year -- but it was not as if the NRA was a pseudo-wing of the party.By 2016, that had all changed.According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in political campaigns, nearly 99% of the $1 million in NRA contributions to congressional candidates in 2016 went to Republicans. The few Democrats who did get money -- Reps. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. of Georgia, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Tim Walz of Minnesota -- all have A ratings from the group.What changed? Two things, according to many of those who have followed the group.First, in the fall of 1994, the Democratic-controlled Congress -- with staunch opposition from the NRA -- narrowly passed a 10-year federal ban on assault weapons. In the two-year period leading up to the vote on the issue, the NRA increased its contributions to Republicans by about $675,000 while reducing contributions to Democrats by nearly $200,000. It was the group's largest single-cycle -- or two-year -- dip in donations to Democrats.Second, many who study the issue say, both the NRA and the Republican Party became more implacably opposed to gun regulations, while Democrats mostly favored them."It is all about playing to the arch-conservative base," said Robert Spitzer, chairman of the political science department at the State University of New York at Cortland, who has written extensively on politics and gun control. He said that since the 1994 assault weapons vote, the NRA "locked itself into a pattern of ever more apocalyptic, extremist, uncompromising rhetoric." The progression, he said, coincided with the Republican Party's own shift to the right.Spitzer said Democrats have mostly remained consistent in their positions on gun control, but there "are fewer of those so-called Blue Dog Democrats around who supported less gun control." Indeed, in the early to mid-2000s, moderate Democrats from conservative-leaning states such as Arkansas and Louisiana received NRA support, although not at the levels seen in the early 1990s, according to figures from the Center for Responsive Politics.The NRA did not respond to a request for comment about its political spending.One question now is whether the NRA's shift in contribution patterns poses a long-term threat to the group's power. A change in power in Congress, or defections by Republicans, could leave the group on the outside.The chief executive of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, seemed to be worried about the former scenario when he spoke last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "If they seize power ... our American freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever," he said. "The first to go will be the 2nd Amendment."LaPierre didn't explicitly identify "they," but the message was clear.In the weeks since a gunman killed 17 people at a South Florida high school, some Republicans -- including, at least briefly, President Trump -- have broken ranks with the gun rights group to support modest gun control legislation, such as raising the age limit for buying assault weapons and banning so-called bump stocks, which turn semiautomatic weapons into something close to machine guns.But despite a surge in mass shootings -- seven of the deadliest in modern U.S. history have happened since 2007 -- the NRA has remained mostly steadfast in its opposition to any gun control legislation.In 2012, after mass shootings at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., various proposals -- such as requiring more thorough background checks -- lost traction in Congress because of a lack of Republican support.But soon after, several blue or purple states, including Colorado, California, Connecticut and Maryland, passed some of the strictest gun laws in the country. In Colorado, the then-Democratic-controlled Legislature passed bills requiring universal background checks to buy guns, and limits on ammunition magazines. Not a single Republican supported the legislation.After Tom Sullivan lost a son, Alex, who was killed on his 27th birthday in the Aurora theater shooting, he gained a singular focus: The country needed stricter gun laws and the NRA was in the way."The NRA is about fear and stifling progress," Sullivan said. "Republicans are so concerned that the NRA will put up money to primary them that the thought of supporting gun control legislation is almost unheard of."If that has changed in recent days, it mirrors a shift in the views of voters.In a CNN/SSRS poll released days after the Florida shooting, 70% of people questioned supported stricter gun laws -- the largest share since 1993. That included 49% of Republicans, up from 30% in October, after the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas.Since the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., a slew of corporations have rushed to cut ties with the NRA. At the same time, some Republicans have pushed back against the powerful special interest group in ways that, a month ago, seemed unimaginable.Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican who lost his legs while serving in Afghanistan, recently called for a ban on assault weapons. And Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who has an A rating from the NRA, said he supports raising the minimum age for purchasing semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21. In an extraordinary televised meeting with Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday, Trump indicated support for such legislation and even suggested he would support taking guns away from citizens, and worry about the legality of such a move later."I like taking guns away early," Trump said. "Take the guns first, go through due process second."Rick Tyler, a longtime Republican political strategist and NRA supporter who has worked on several state-level campaigns, said Trump's comments were concerning."He demonstrated that he is going to sell out every member of the NRA and every law-abiding gun owner in America," Tyler said, adding that the group shouldn't worry about the handful of Republicans rebuking them.Despite declines in gun ownership nationwide, "the NRA will not lose influence," said Tyler. "If anything they will gain it because their members contribute and they vote."On Friday, following a meeting with NRA officials, the White House emphasized that Trump was committed to defending the 2nd Amendment.Still, Nathan Gonzales, editor of Inside Elections, a nonpartisan group that analyzes congressional and gubernatorial races nationwide, said that "it's really unheard of to witness Republicans so vocal in supporting legislation that the NRA opposes.""Is this a breaking point? ... Time will tell, but Republicans and the NRA have gone hand in hand for a long time," Gonzales said.In past years, Republicans have rebuffed the NRA and have faced challenges.In election cycles between 2010 and 2018, the NRA spent nearly $36.4 million in support of Republicans, while also spending about $256,000 to oppose members of the GOP in primaries, general elections and the special Senate election in Alabama last year.Former Indiana Sen. Richard G. Lugar was among the NRA's primary targets. In 2012, the group spent $169,000 in opposition to his reelection. Lugar, a Republican who had served more than three decades in the Senate, often held moderate views on gun legislation, voting in support of the assault weapons ban in 1994. He had an F rating --usually reserved for liberal Democrats -- from the NRA. Lugar lost in a primary to a candidate supported by the NRA.Earlier in the week, during the meeting about school safety and gun control, Trump highlighted the fear that some Republicans -- not himself, he said -- have when dealing with the NRA.During the meeting, Trump, who got nearly $10.6 million in support from the group in 2016, asked Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) if the bipartisan background-check bill he helped author in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting included a provision to raise the age to buy rifles from 18 to 21. (The gunman in the elementary school shooting was 20.)Toomey said it did not. "You know why?" Trump prodded. "Because you're afraid of the NRA."




Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Wednesday defended a reported nominee for the head of government policy coordination, citing his rich experience as an economic bureaucrat.







President Yoon Suk-yeol has been reportedly considering nominating Yoon Jong-won, chief executive of the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea, as the minister for the Office for Government Policy Coordination, which is in charge of assisting the prime minister.







The ruling People Power Party voiced opposition to his nomination because he worked for under then-President Moon Jae-in as a senior secretary for economy.







Asked about the ruling party's opposition, Han described Yoon as a "person of great experience," citing his long career at the finance ministry and a stint at the International Monetary Fund.







He is a seasoned bureaucrat who served various posts at the finance ministry after joining public service in 1984.







He also served as the country's ambassador to the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation in 2015, before joining the Moon administration in 2018.







Han also welcomed Samsung Electronics' plan to invest 450 trillion won ($355 billion) in semiconductor and bio science for the next five years.







South Korea's largest company made the announcement Tuesday as it seeks to further expand its business in future growth areas. The company said it will spend 360 trillion won, or 80 percent of the investment, for research and development, and talent nurturing in South Korea, especially in advanced chipmaking.







Han said the government is "encouraged" by such a massive investment plan as the government pledged to reform regulations for domestic companies to expand their investment in South Korea. (Yonhap)






Rival parties on Wednesday failed to reach an agreement on a government-proposed extra budget bill designed to support the pandemic-hit small merchants despite calls to swiftly pass the spending plan.







The representatives of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) on the parliamentary budget committee met for consultations, but their talks broke down only after 10 minutes as the two sides ran in parallel over the size of the supplementary budget.







The government earlier proposed an extra budget of 59.4 trillion won ($47 billion), with 36.4 trillion won set aside for compensating losses of small merchants hit by social distancing restrictions.







Under the proposal, some 3.7 million merchants and micro business owners will be eligible for cash handouts of between 6 million won and 10 million won each.







While the PPP backed the government's plan of 36.4 trillion won, the DPK has been demanding that the budget allocated for small businesses should be larger.







The DPK reportedly proposed spending of over 50 trillion won for small merchants, which includes a budget for retroactive coverage of their losses and emergency loan programs.







The two parties, however, are expected to continue negotiations under the table as they earlier targeted to pass the bill no later than this month.







President Yoon Suk-yeol last week called on the National Assembly to swiftly pass the bill. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo also pledged that the government will swiftly execute the extra budget once the National Assembly approves it. (Yonhap)


By John J. Metzler





"If we do not feed people, we feed conflict," warned U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressing an urgent summit on food security in the wake of the ongoing Ukraine war.



"Global hunger levels are at a new high. In just two years, the number of severely food insecure people has doubled, from 135 million pre-pandemic to 276 million today," warned Guterres. That's approximately the population of Indonesia!



Russia's war on Ukraine, coming on the heels of an uneven global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, serves as a deadly roadblock to wider food production and distribution.



For example, widespread fighting in the farm regions of Ukraine has impacted wheat production; yet shipping already produced food marooned in Ukrainian Black Sea ports, such as Odessa, actually poses the immediate challenge. Fortunately, some supplies are now being shipped from nearby Romania.



Long known and coveted as the breadbasket of Europe, Ukraine once served as a bountiful granary until Soviet mismanagement and then Josef Stalin's state terror against the once productive farmers.



Millions of Ukrainians died in the 1930s from deliberate Soviet communist policies. Since Ukraine regained sovereignty in the 1990s, the country again has become a breadbasket especially for developing countries in Africa and the Middle East.



But combine wartime shortages, shipping bottlenecks and already higher food prices and it's obvious that many countries will soon see serious shortfalls. Ukraine and Russia produce about a third of the world's wheat and barley and more than half of its sunflower oil.



Guterres implored "there is no effective solution to the food crisis without reintegrating Ukraine's food production, as well as the food and fertilizer produced by Russia and Belarus, into world markets  despite the war."



He stressed, "Russia must permit the safe and secure export of grain stored in Ukrainian ports." Ukraine's silos are filled for export, but ports are blocked by Russia's navy.



Ironically, agriculturally rich Ukraine now faces food shortages as a result of the war.



Again the United States is taking the lead to coordinate global food assistance. A State Department fact sheet cites, "We have announced over $2.3 billion in new global humanitarian food assistance since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with a particular focus on countries hardest hit by food price hikes."



U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken advised the Security Council, "As a result of the Russian government's actions, some 20 million tons of grain sit unused in Ukrainian silos as global food supplies dwindle, prices skyrocket, causing more around the world to experience food insecurity." Global food shortages remain an unintended consequence of the conflict.



Countries as varied as Lebanon, Somalia and Mali are feeling the shortages.



David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program, delivered impassioned remarks to the council that even before the Ukraine crisis, "just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, Ethiopia. And then you thought it can't get any worse, and then Afghanistan. And then when you really thought it couldn't get any worse, Ukraine."



He added these crises come in addition to the existing severe droughts in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.



Regarding Ukraine's crop, Beasley warned, "Over 36 nations get 50 percent or more of their food from this region  failure to open these ports in Odessa will be a declaration of war on global food security." He added, "It will result in famine and destabilization and mass migration around the world."



Tragically, the WFP estimated that a third of all Ukrainians are facing food insecurity.



Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reminded attendees, "Russia is not only leading its brutal war with tanks, missiles and bombs. Russia is leading this war with another terrible but more silent weapon: hunger and deprivation."



She added, "By blocking Ukrainian ports, by destroying silos, and railroads, and especially farmers fields, Russia has launched a grain war, stoking a global food crisis."



Facing this food emergency, how do we safely reopen the blocked supply chain bottlenecks at Ukraine's ports? Alternative rail and roads can't carry sufficient capacity to adjoining countries such as Poland and Romania. And there's 20 million tons of grain to ship; normally 6 million tons are shipped monthly.



While not suggested publicly, there have been whispers on the diplomatic margins about forming a NATO multinational sealift with armed convoys into the Black Sea to get the grain out.



Yet as with the controversial proposed "no fly zone" over Ukrainian land, this plan is bristling with risk and uncertain return. The clock is ticking on a resolution.





John J. Metzler (jjmcolumn@earthlink.net) is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamism  The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China."




Stellantis N.V. and Samsung SDI have executed binding, definitive agreements to establish an electric-vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Kokomo, Indiana. Targeted to start in 2025, the plant aims to have an initial annual production capacity of 23 gigawatt-hours (GWh), with an aim to increase to 33 GWh in the next few years. The total capacity would increase further as demand for Stellantis electric vehicles is expected to rise.

The joint venture company will invest more than $2.5 billion and create 1,400 new jobs in Kokomo and the surrounding areas. The investment could gradually increase up to $3.1 billion (2.9 billion). The new facility will supply battery modules for a range of vehicles produced at Stellantis North America assembly plants. Plant construction activities are scheduled to begin later this year with production operations planned to launch in the first quarter of 2025.

At the Indiana factory, Samsung SDI will be applying its technology PRiMX (earlier post) to produce EV battery cells and modules for the North America market. Last year, Samsung launched its premium battery technology brand PRiMX as an industry first and unveiled the brand at CES 2022 in January.

PRiMX cells use high-capacity and high-power battery technology with Samsung SDIs latest materials technology including high nickel cathode and silicon anode.

As part of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, Stellantis announced plans to have global annual battery-electric vehicle sales of 5 million vehicles by 2030, reaching 100% of passenger car BEV sales mix in Europe and 50% passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in North America.

Stellantis also increased planned battery capacity by 140 GWh to approximately 400 GWh, to be supported by five battery manufacturing plants together with additional supply contracts. This announcement is part of the long-term electrification strategy to invest $35 billion USD (30 billion) through 2025 in electrification and software globally.

The closing is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Tokyo should not seek UNSC permanent seat



U.S. President Joe Biden's support for Japan's bid to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is raising questions over the Asian giant's qualifications. He should have considered South Korea and other Asian neighbors about such a move.



During his summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Monday, Biden said he backs Japan becoming a UNSC permanent member, while he and Kishida recognized the need to reform the Security Council. His endorsement is likely to lend credibility to Japan's bid.



Yet Japan's permanent UNSC seat is still a remote possibility, given the difficult task of revising the U.N. Charter. Even if U.N. members succeed in rewriting the charter to pave the way for Japan and some other countries to gain permanent status on the council, any of the existing five permanent members could use its veto power to block the entry of any new member.



For this reason, Korea and other Asian neighbors, which had suffered from Japan's occupation and aggression in the early part of the 20th century, do not have to worry too much about Japan vying for UNSC permanent membership. Japan's move is nothing new, either.



The country has been floating the idea of gaining a permanent seat since 2004 when Junichiro Koizumi was prime minister. Former U.S. President George W. Bush expressed support for the idea. His successor Barack Obama also did the same during his summit with Japan's nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2015.



What matters now is that Japan is trying to make a pitch for a permanent UNSC seat on the heels of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tokyo is apparently taking advantage of growing international calls to reform the Security Council. Russia, one of the permanent members along with the U.S., Britain, France and China, was criticized for its veto of a UNSC resolution condemning its own war of aggression against Ukraine.



Germany, India and Brazil have also been jockeying for permanent status on the council. Some countries are even calling for stripping Russia of its permanent seat in response to Moscow's unprovoked war against Ukraine and its brutal war crimes. But reforming the UNSC is very difficult because it requires approval by at least two-thirds of 193 U.N. members as well as all five permanent members of the UNSC.



Nevertheless, we cannot back Japan's bid for permanent status and its move to increase its defense budget to become a regional military power. Japan was an imperial power that colonized Korea and other Asian countries. It fought against the U.S. and other allied countries during World War II. Japan has still refused to admit to and apologize for its atrocities such as wartime sex slavery and forced labor. Japan has also tried to gloss over its wartime misdeeds. It is pushing to get Sado mine, which was linked to wartime forced labor, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.



In this situation, we don't believe Japan is qualified to take over a permanent seat on the Security Council. The Yoon Suk-yeol government should send a clear message of opposition to Japan's unwelcome move.






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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an order Wednesday to fast track Russian citizenship for residents of parts of southern Ukraine largely held by his forces, while lawmakers in Moscow passed a bill to strengthen the stretched Russian army.

Putins decree applying to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions could allow Russia to strengthen its hold on territory that lies between eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists occupy some areas, and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

The Russian army is engaged in an intense battle for Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas. In a sign that the Kremlin is trying to bolster its stretched military machine, Russian lawmakers agreed to scrap the age limit of 40 for those signing their first voluntary military contracts.

A description of the bill on the parliament website indicated older recruits would be allowed to operate precision weapons or serve in engineering or medical positions. The chair of the Russian parliaments defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said the measure would make it easier to hire people with in-demand" skills.

Russian officials say only volunteer contract soldiers are sent to fight in Ukraine, although they acknowledge that some conscripts were put into the fighting by mistake in the early stages of the war.

Three months into Russia's invasion, Putin visited a military hospital in Moscow on Wednesday and met with some soldiers wounded in Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement.

It was his first known visit with soldiers fighting in Ukraine since he launched the war on Feb. 24. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited wounded soldiers, civilians and children  including at times when Russian troops were fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv.

A reporter for the state-run Russia1 TV channel posted a video clip on Telegram showing Putin in a white medical coat talking to a man in hospital attire, presumably a soldier.

The man, filmed from behind standing up and with no visible wounds, tells Putin that he has a son. The president, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, responds: He will be proud of his father, before shaking the man's hand.

Zelenskyy reiterated Wednesday that he would be willing to negotiate with Putin directly but said Moscow needs to retreat to the positions it held before the invasion and must show it's ready to shift from the bloody war to diplomacy.

I believe it would be a correct step for Russia to make," Zelenskyy told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link.

He also said Ukraine wants to drive Russian troops out of all captured areas. Ukraine will fight until it reclaims all its territories, Zelenskyy said. Its about our independence and our sovereignty.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskyy strongly rebuffed those in the West who suggest Ukraine cede control of areas occupied by Russian troops for the sake of reaching a peace agreement.

Those great geopoliticians who suggest this are disregarding the interests of ordinary Ukrainians  the millions of those who actually live on the territory that they propose exchanging for an illusion of peace, he said. We always have to think of the people and remember that values are not just words.

Zelenskyy compared those who argue for giving Russia a piece of Ukraine to those who in 1938 agreed to cede territory to Hitler in hopes of preventing World War II.

Russia already had a program to expedite the naturalization of people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two eastern Ukraine provinces that make up the Donbas and where the Moscow-backed separatists hold large areas as self-declared independent republics.

During a visit to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin indicated they could become part of our Russian family.

A Russia-installed official in the Kherson region has predicted the region would become part of Russia. An official in Zaporizhzhia said Wednesday that the region's pro-Kremlin administration would seek that as well.

Melitopol, the Zaporizhzhia regions second-largest city, plans to start issuing Russian passports in the near future, said the Russia-installed acting mayor, Galina Danilchenko.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who attended the Davos forum in person, called for friendly countries  particularly the United States  to provide Ukraine with multiple launch rocket systems so it could try to recapture lost territory.

Every day of someone sitting in Washington, Berlin, Paris and other capitals, and considering whether they should or should not do something, costs us lives and territories, Kuleba said.

Zelenskyy said his army was facing the fiercest attack possible in the east by Russian forces, which in some places have many more weapons and soldiers. He pleaded for even more military assistance from the West, without exception, without restrictions. Enough to win.

The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, accused Russia of targeting shelters where civilians were hiding in the city of Sievierodonetsk.

The situation is serious, Haidai said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press. The city is constantly being shelled with every possible weapon in the enemys possession.

Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk are the largest remaining towns held by Ukraine in Luhansk. The region is more than 90% controlled by Russia, Haidai said, adding that a key supply route for Kyiv's troops was coming under pressure despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Haidai said the road between Lysychansk and the city of Bakhmut to the southwest was constantly being shelled and that Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams were approaching.

The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said four civilians were injured when two rockets hit the town of Pokrovsk early Wednesday.

One strike left a crater at least three meters (10 feet) deep, with the remnants of what appeared to be a rocket still smoldering. A row of low terraced houses near the strike suffered significant damage.

Theres no place to live in left. Everything is smashed, Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother of two who lived in one of the terraced houses, said.

An earlier strike about a month ago blew out the windows, which were replaced with plastic sheeting. Kurbonova thinks that probably saved their lives since there was no glass flying around.

In other developments, Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol was functional again following a nearly three-month siege that ended with the surrender last week of the last Ukrainian fighters holed up in a giant steel plant. Russia now has full control of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the separatists in Donetsk planned to set up a tribunal to put the fighters on trial and that Moscow welcomes the action.

___

Elena Becatoros in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, and Jamey Keaten in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
I was approaching the top of the hill on Church Hill Road in Newtown last weekend when my 10-year-old son pointed to the U.S. flag that serves as the towns symbol, a gnomon that turns Main Street into a massive sundial.

I thought he was simply noting that the 12-by-18 foot winter flag had been replaced by its 20-by-30 foot spring sibling. Instead, he wanted to point out that it was all the way up.

Do you know what it means when its only halfway? I asked.

Yes, that someone has passed, he said.

Its now Wednesday morning and the majestic flag is back to half-staff, a symbolic bowing of Connecticuts head to mourn the 19 children and two adults killed Tuesday by a gunman at a school in Uvalde, Texas.

Its the deadliest school shooting since the one that killed 20 children and six adults down the road in Sandy Hook a decade ago. The 2,000 miles in between dont seem so very far at all since my son was born in San Antonio, which is just east of Uvalde.

He joined me Tuesday night to hear President Joe Biden address the nation. For me, it was Bidens briefest sentence that stuck. The one with just five letters and a period.

Again.

It has become a ritual. The call for prayers. The plea for gun control. The damning of the National Rifle Association. The rise in gun sales rather than the opposite. The inertia by Congress.

Weve written so many editorials calling for gun safety that it felt like every time I ran into former Stamford Mayor David Martin he would greet me with the words, Boy, you really hate guns.

Id sometimes try to explain that no, it wasnt about hating guns. My grandfather was a hunter. Ive been target shooting. But at some point the American mystique became the American cult.

I was in Meriden a couple weeks ago when I spotted a pickup truck with a sticker in the rear window of the cab. It used rifles to represent the F and the K in that ubiquitous four-letter adverb, followed by a name: Lamont.

What struck me was how much effort went into the creation of a sticker to malign the governor of Connecticut. A Biden sticker is one thing, but its a much smaller market in our little blue state. And despite holding a news conference on gun violence Wednesday morning, Lamont wasnt even the governor who shaped some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. That was his predecessor, Dannel Malloy.

As he was leaving office in 2018, Malloy acknowledged that he was never a popular governor and mentioned that he never thought he would win a second term.

But even Malloys harshest critics usually gave him credit for his grace in handling the immediate aftermath of 12/14/12. When he faced Republican Tom Foley in a rematch in 2014, we interviewed both candidates in editorial board sessions. Foley was already in a defensive position given his criticisms of firearm reforms that took place in 2013.

Foley tried to deflect the conversation with a phrase that drew ire from journalists in the room.

Were talking about something that happened several years ago, he said.

It was less than two years ago, I responded.

That was the most polite jab. My colleagues had Foley on the ropes and kept pummeling him with questions about his position on guns. We wanted to know if he supported a ban on high-capacity magazines.

Im not going to answer that question, he replied.

It has now been eight years since that editorial board, and just short of a decade since the Newtown tragedy. The United States Congress still cant seem to expand background checks on firearm sales no matter how many children are killed. Twenty in Newtown should have been enough. One should have been enough.

In Connecticut, we know where Lamont and our Democratic Congressional delegation stand on gun safety. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski released comments 26 hours after the Texas shooting. He threads the political needle by pledging to enforce Connecticuts laws and urging action in Congress on comprehensive solutions that protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners, while strengthening federal laws that prevent those who pose a risk to themselves and others from getting their hands on a gun.

Maybe David Martin was right after all. Maybe I do hate guns. But Im sick of seeing that flag lowered. It seems like a signal of surrender that the people with the guns will always win.

But its not. Its a reminder to continue the fight. Again. And again. And again ...

John Breunig is editorial page editor of the Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time. jbreunig@scni.com; twitter.com/johnbreunig. He lives in Newtown.
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Over the past six years, people have watched Gaten Matarazzo grow up before their eyes as Dustin Henderson, one of the main members of "The Party" in Netflix's "Stranger Things." However, did you know that the actor hails from the Nutmeg State?

This Friday, the Emmy award-winning show returns to Netflix after a three year break for the first part of its fourth season. The new season is currently slated to be split into two parts with the first seven episodes coming out on May 27, and the last two episodes releasing on July 1.
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Dunkin marked May 25 as the companys Iced Coffee Day with the purpose of donating $1 from every iced coffee (excluding cold brews or nitro cold brews) sold nationwide to the companys Dunkin Joy in Childhood Foundation, according to a press release.

The funds raised from Iced Coffee Day will be donated to local hospitals to support children being treated for illnesses, the company stated.

Millions of children across the country are fighting illnesses that no child should endure, Victor Carvalho, Dunkin franchisee and co-chair of the board of directors for Dunkin Joy in Childhood Foundation, said in a press release. "We want our guests to know that their purchase of an Iced Coffee on May 25 truly makes a difference and will help bring joy to kids in their communities. We look forward to helping our guests cool down for a great cause with the hardest working iced coffee in America!"

According to Dunkin's website, there are 486 store locations in the state of Connecticut.

The Dunkin Joy in Childhood Foundation was created in 2006 and has since granted over $37 million to national and local nonprofits, according to a press release. In 2021, the foundation awarded 171 grants to hospitals and other nonprofits to help bring joy to ill children.

Dunkin' Joy in Childhood benefits the following Connecticut organizations: Cheshire Community Food Pantry, Connecticut Childrens Medical Center End Hunger Connecticut, Feed Branford Kids, Foodshare, Hole In The Wall Gang Fund, Interfaith Human Services of Putnam and Yale New Haven Hospital.

The foundation also has year-round programs it supports like "Dunkin Connecting Joy," which funds to hospitals to bring gaming experiences to pediatric patients or "Dogs for Joy," which places highly trained in-residence therapy dogs in hospitals to help bring joy to kids and "serve as a critical part to a childs treatment plan," according to release.
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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Firefighters have rescued an abandoned newborn elk calf found amid the ashes of the nation's largest wildfire as calving season approaches its peak in New Mexico and fires rage across the American West.

Missoula, Montana-based firefighter Nate Sink said Tuesday that he happened upon the motionless elk calf on the ground of a fire-blackened New Mexico forest as he patrolled and extinguished lingering hot spots.

The whole area is just surrounded in a thick layer of ash and burned trees. I didnt think it was alive, said Sink, who was deployed to the state to help contain a wildfire that by Wednesday had spread across 486 square miles (1,260 square kilometers) and destroyed hundreds of structures.

It's is one of five major uncontained fires burning in New Mexico amid extremely dry and windy conditions. More than 3,000 firefighters battling the biggest blaze have made significant progress halting its growth in recent days ahead of more dangerous fire conditions forecast to return into the weekend, crew commanders said Wednesday night.

Wildlife officials in general discourage interactions with elk calves that are briefly left alone in the first weeks of life as their mothers forage at a distance. Sink says he searched diligently for traces of the calf's mother and found none.

The 32-pound (14.5-kilogram) singed bull calf, dubbed Cinder, was taken for care to a nearby ranch and is now regaining strength at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Espanola, north of Santa Fe.

Veterinarian Kathleen Ramsay at Cottonwood Rehab says she paired Cinder with a full-grown surrogate elk to be raised with as little human contact as possible.

They do elk things, they don't do people things, said Ramsay, noting Cinder arrived at a tender days-old age with his umbilical cord still attached.

Ramsay said the calf hopefully can be released into the wild in December after elk-hunting season. The strategy has worked repeatedly with elk tracked by tags as they rejoined wild herds.

The calf's rescue was reminiscent of events 70 years ago in New Mexico involving a scalded black bear cub and the fire prevention mascot Smokey Bear.

The U.S. fire-safety campaign took on new urgency in 1950 with the rescue by firefighters of a black bear cub that was badly burned by wildfire in southern New Mexico. The cub  named Smokey Bear after the mascot  recovered and lived at the National Zoo until its death in 1976.

Wildfires have broken out this spring in multiple states in the West, where climate change and an enduring drought are fanning the frequency and intensity of forest and grassland fires.

Crews battling the biggest U.S. fire in northern New Mexico took advantage of one last day of favorable weather Wednesday before hotter, drier and windier conditions are forecast to return late Thursday and continue to worsen into next week.

All across the fire, we're making a lot of really good progress over the last few days, incident commander Carl Schwope said at a briefing Wednesday night.

We do have some more critical fire weather moving in ... starting now and getting warmer and drier throughout the weekend. (But) feeling real confident that we are ahead of the curve on that, he said.

Bruno Rodriguez, an inter-agency meteorologist assigned to the fire, said gusts should continue to increase by about 5 mph (8 kph) per day, from 25 mph (40 kph) Thursday to as strong as 50 mph (80 kph) by Monday.

It's definitely going to be a critical fire weather pattern and unfortunately it's going to be fairly prolonged and persistent, he said.

__

Associated Press writer Scott Sonner contributed to this report from Reno, Nevada.
GREENWICH  Uvalde, Texas, and Greenwich, Conn., may not appear similar at first glance. A look at the U.S. Census Bureaus QuickFacts shows populations that differ by tens of thousands and median home values over $1 million apart.

But there are some similarities between these towns. They have a similar rate of home ownership, at 65.4 percent in Uvalde and 66.8 percent in Greenwich. The average household has three occupants in Uvalde, compared to 2.77 in Greenwich. And, principally, children under the age of 18 comprise just over a quarter of the population in both areas.

While separated by socioeconomic status and nearly 2,000 miles, each town is home to many families and a large public school system.

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media

On Tuesday, an 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 children and two educators in a fourth-grade classroom before he was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent.

The Greenwich Public Schools prepared for increased anxiety Wednesday among students, parents and staff after the mass fatal shooting. Administrators informed its families there would be an increased, but not intrusive, police presence at its buildings on Wednesday.

Parent Claire Fuzesi told Greenwich Time that her son, a third-grade student at Old Greenwich School, asked why a police officer was outside his school Wednesday morning when she dropped him off. She said that she explained, without going into detail, that there had been an incident in Texas.

Like Fuzesi, the majority of Greenwich parents opted to send their children to school. There was no noticeable dip in attendance from Tuesday to Wednesday, with about 95 percent of the students in class both days, according to district data.

Teaching during these tragedies is an unimaginable burden for students and staff. Its terrifying and heartbreaking to be enduring these horrific shootings over and over again, Chrissy Distel, a third grade teacher and Greenwich Education Associations vice president of communications, said in a statement to Greenwich Time.

It goes through everyones mind that it could be us; we could be next. A shooting in one school affects every school in America, she said.

The districts student support staff created documents to send to parents and teachers on how to address Tuesdays tragedy with students. It outlined for educators what level of conversation is appropriate at varying ages. Both documents said to reassure students of their safety and to listen to them, giving opportunities for them to ask questions.

Dara Johnson, the mother of third- and fifth-grade Old Greenwich students, said her children saw the news on television but were not anxious. One of her children had been afraid when a bank robber was in the news years ago, she said, but her kids felt safe going to school Wednesday.

Theyre little; they dont need to worry about that, Johnson said.

Lily Chen, mother of a second-grade Old Greenwich student, said she read the news with her daughter, who said she was scared. Chen talked to the girl about the tragedy and said it helped bring her confidence back.

Chen was talking about the issue with a friend outside Old Greenwich School before the students were dismissed Wednesday, as were other parents. They wondered whether the students had talked about the news, surprising the kids who had not heard.

School psychologists available District psychologists Fabian Agiurgioaei Boie and Alina A. Boie will be offering virtual conversations with parents from 11 a.m. to noon Friday and 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. next Wednesday to help families who want tips for discussing the Texas incident with their children. See More Collapse

School psychologists and social workers throughout the Greenwich Public Schools were available Wednesday for those who wanted to discuss their feelings, and the district office was prepared to send additional professionals if needed.

Greenwich school Superintendent Toni Jones sent an email to parents Tuesday night about the senseless and unimaginable shooting in Texas.

I want to assure our families that our security staff, along with our incredible Greenwich Police Department, will continue to do everything possible to keep your children and our entire staff in a safe environment, Jones said in the email. We consider this to be the most important aspect of our school system.

During a presentation at the Retired Mens Association of Greenwich Wednesday morning, Police Chief James Heavey said additional officers were deployed at local schools to make people feel safer.

Local law enforcement agencies can try to spot troubled individuals before they cause harm, Heavey said.

Were looking at mental health, trying to identify circumstances that might cause (an incident) to happen in advance.  Its trying to get ahead, Heavey said. Its not just one thing. Its not just access to firearms; theres a mental health aspect.

State law allows firearms to be removed from the possession of people who have shown signs of destructive or self-destructive behavior, under the so-called red flag law, the chief said. Sometimes that intervention by a family member is appropriate, he said.

The police department trains regularly for active-shooting scenarios, he said. The police department also has two school resource officers who work at Greenwich High School.

Staff Writer Robert Marchant contributed to this story.

annelise.hanshaw@hearstmediact.com
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  In June 2021, Gov. Mike DeWine ended Ohio's participation in a federal pandemic unemployment aid program ahead of a government deadline for stopping the payments.

Attorneys for the Republican governor argue he had the legal authority to do so. People who lost out on additional benefits say DeWine didn't, and should have continued them.

The Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments from both sides Wednesday. A decision isn't expected for weeks.

At issue before the court is a weekly $300 federal payment for Ohioans to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The federal government ended that program Sept. 6, but DeWine stopped the payments June 26, 2021, saying the need for the payments was over.

DeWine followed the position of business groups that said the payments were making it difficult to recruit employees, and he wasn't alone. More than two dozen other states, all led by Republican governors and legislatures, began blocking payments around the same time.

Multiple courts also backed the early termination of payments. In August 2021, an Indiana court upheld the decision by Gov. Eric Holcomb to withdraw from the program, saying the federal pandemic unemployment programs were intended to be temporary and differed from the already existing unemployment benefits system. However, the payments continued because the decision came too close to the Sept. 6 cut-off to give recipients' required notice.

In October 2021, the South Carolina Supreme Court similarly rejected a lawsuit against Gov. Henry McMaster over his early exit from federal unemployment pandemic programs.

Critics of ending the payments in Ohio and elsewhere said workers had reasons why they might not be returning to jobs.

Ending the program early stopped about $900 million in Ohio payments. The two sides disagree on whether that money could still be paid, should the court rule against DeWine.

The governor acted after hearing from businesses that said they weren't able to fill thousands of positions, Michael Hendershot, Ohio's chief deputy solicitor, told justices Wednesday.

He thought that overall, on balance for the macroeconomy of state, for the future of those businesses, that it was a decision he had to make, Hendershot said.

Just because the government channeled the pandemic dollars through Ohio didn't necessarily make them available, he added.

The attorney representing unemployed Ohioans seeking the benefits disagreed, saying the governor was required under state law to secure all available benefits related to unemployment compensation. Attorney Marc Dann said this requirement makes Ohio's situation different than other states where the termination was upheld.

DeWine was empowered to accept the benefits, but he wasnt empowered to make the policy decision to remove them, said Dann, a former Democratic Ohio attorney general.

Justice Patrick Fischer questioned whether the issue was moot so many months later, noting the governor didn't have the money, and it's unclear whether the U.S. Dept. of Labor has it either.

Dann agreed the governor didn't have the money, but still was obliged to provide it.

He acted without the constitutional and the statutory authority to turn down those funds, Dann said. As a result, the entitlement of those workers to that money remains, whether the federal government funds it or not.

GOP Justice Patrick DeWine, the governors son, recused himself to avoid the appearance of impropriety that might result from my fathers public involvement in this case.

In an unrelated pandemic issue, justices heard arguments Wednesday in the case of season passholders of amusement parks operated by Sandusky-based Cedar Fair who say they're due refunds after parks shut down early in 2020 because of the coronavirus.
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NEW DELHI (AP)  An Indian court sentenced a Kashmiri separatist leader to life in prison on Wednesday after declaring him guilty of terrorism and sedition, triggering a clash between protesters and police and a partial shutdown of businesses in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Mohammed Yasin Malik, 56, led the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, one of the first armed rebel groups in the Indian-held area, but later shifted to peaceful means in seeking the end of Indian rule.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British colonialists granted it independence in 1947. Both countries claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over its control.

Malik was arrested in 2019 and was convicted last week on charges of committing terrorist acts, illegally raising funds, belonging to a terrorist organization, and criminal conspiracy and sedition.

Before Wednesday's sentencing, dozens of Kashmiris gathered at Maliks home in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Some marched through the streets, chanting We want freedom and Go back India. Government forces fired tear gas at the marchers, who threw stones. No injuries were immediately reported.

Shops and businesses closed in the main centers of Srinagar.

Prosecutors said the judge rejected their request for a death sentence.

The government banned Malik's organization in 2019, accusing it of funding terrorism and blaming it for the deaths of minority Hindus in the Himalayan region.

Malik protested the charges during the trial and said he was a freedom fighter.

The terrorism-related charges leveled against me are concocted, fabricated and politically motivated, he said.

If seeking azadi (freedom) is a crime, then I am ready to accept this crime and its consequences, he told the judge.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned Malik's sentencing, and its Foreign Ministry said it summoned India's top diplomat in Islamabad.

Today is a black day for Indian democracy & its justice system," Sharif tweeted. "India can imprison Yasin Malik physically but it can never imprison idea of freedom he symbolizes. Life imprisonment for valiant freedom fighter will provide fresh impetus to Kashmiris right to self-determination.

In the late 1980s, Malik joined a group of young people who traveled to Pakistani-controlled Kashmir for arms training, seeking independence for all of Kashmir from India and Pakistan.

By 1989, Indian-controlled Kashmir was in the throes of a full-blown rebellion, with Malik and his comrades conducting attacks against the Indian security establishment and pro-India Kashmiri politicians.

India responded with a massive militarization of Kashmir, saying it was fighting a Pakistan-sponsored proxy war. It unleashed a brutal counterinsurgency campaign, and soldiers were given broad impunity and allowed to shoot suspects on sight or detain them indefinitely.

Malik was arrested during a raid by Indian troops in 1990 and was released in 1994. He took over control of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, shifting away from armed rebellion and seeking the end of Indian rule over the territory through peaceful political means.

In 2003, Malik and his associates began collecting signatures of Kashmiris seeking the right to self-determination. They traveled for two years to hundreds of villages and towns, gathering over 1.5 million signatures.

He helped lead an anti-India uprising in 2008 with large-scale protests that marked a shift from armed struggle to non-violent resistance. He continued to lead large public gatherings in subsequent years seeking an end of Indian rule.

Malik held several unsuccessful rounds of talks with the Indian government, including with two prime ministers. He is married to a Pakistani artist, Mushaal Hussein, and they have a 10-year-old daughter.

Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict since 1989.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a coalition of anti-Indian Kashmiri political groups, said Malik was being punished for his political beliefs and was convicted in invented cases under draconian laws.

The group urged the Indian government to release all Kashmiri political prisoners and resolve the Kashmir conflict through dialogue.

___

Hussain reported from Srinagar, India. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
GREENWICH  Lin-Manuel Miranda, the famed composer, singer, actor, lyricist and director behind the Broadway hit Hamilton, was forced to cancel his appearance Wednesday night at the Greenwich International Film Festival. But as the adage says  the show must go on.

Miranda, who was to be honored with the top award at the Changemaker Gala, is unable to attend because of an unforeseen set of health-related circumstances, according to the GIFF.

However, the gala will go forward as planned, with his father, Luis Miranda, and The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon accepting the Changemaker Award on his behalf.

Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager, a longtime supporter of the GIFF, is the emcee of the gala, which will also feature musical performances of some of Mirandas best-known works.

While we are saddened that Lin-Manuel Miranda is unable to attend (the) Changemaker Gala due to unforeseen circumstances, we are confident that the night will be a huge success, GIFF Executive Director Ginger Stickel said in a statement. Organizers were excited for the performers to take the stage in a special tribute to Miranda, she said.

Jessica Darrow, who voiced the character of Luisa Madrigal in the Oscar-winning Encanto, will perform original songs Miranda wrote for the animated film.

Warren Egypt Franklin and Renee Elise Goldsberry will perform songs from Hamilton. Goldsberry originated the role of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway musical and won the Tony Award for best featured actress.

The Changemaker Gala will take place at LEscale on Steamboat Road in downtown Greenwich, complete with a red carpet event at 6:15 p.m. with cocktails before the dinner and ceremony at 8 p.m.. The gala will be followed by an afterparty at 10 p.m. with DJ April Larkin.

The gala represents a return to in-person activities for the GIFF, which has made the gala a centerpiece of its efforts to promote both film and philanthropy.

The Changemaker Award honors Mirandas work for The Miranda Family Fund, especially in helping with the recovery in Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017.

When the award was announced in February, Miranda said, I am especially honored to receive this award from GIFF, a nonprofit that bridges the worlds of art and philanthropy  two areas I care about so deeply.

I wouldnt be where I am without the investment that arts educators have been putting into students for decades, often made possible only by the philanthropy of others. My family and I long ago made a commitment to continue that philanthropy, to open up more avenues for underrepresented artists, to diversify the field and allow far more people to be seen and heard, he said.

According to the GIFF, the Miranda Family Fund put a sustained focus on relief and rebuilding efforts in Puerto Rico and focuses on building and creating new opportunities for artists of color across all mediums.

Over the last three years, The Miranda Family Fund has invested in more than 80 emerging artists with professional training, support in the business of the arts, and access to casting directors, managers and agents.

Past honorees of the Changemaker Award include Oscar-winner Renee Zellweger, Ashley Judd, Harry Belafonte, Eva Longoria Baston, Mia Farrow, Freida Pinto, Abigail Breslin and more.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
NEWTOWN  If one thing needs be emphasized to authorities and anyone wishing to support the small Texas town devastated by Tuesdays elementary school massacre, its to listen to the people who are grieving, Sandy Hook survivors said.

A lot of people took a stand on behalf of us and our children and took liberties with using our childrens or loved ones names, and it was very traumatic and hurtful  even if it wasnt meant to be, said Michele Gay, whose daughter Josephine was among the 20 first-graders and six educators slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. It is important that people not make assumptions or jump to conclusions about anything and keep the focus on the families and the survivors and the first responders  and take the lead from them as to how to move forward.

Gay, the executive director of the nonprofit Safe and Sound Schools she founded with Alissa Parker after their daughters were slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School, is referring to Americas latest massacre of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, outside San Antonio. The circumstances of the shooting are so close to those in Newtown that some survivors here are reliving their trauma 10 years ago.

The families and educators and staff are reeling; they cant eat, they cant sleep, said Abbey Clements, co-founder of the nonprofit Teachers Unify, and a fourth-grade teacher in Newtown who hid her students in a closet as rifle shots rang over the loudspeaker during the 2012 shooting. What concerns me is (Uvalde schools) are ending the year early  where they would benefit from getting together and being invited to have conversations about how they are doing.

The author of a pioneering peer-reviewed study based on interviews of Sandy Hook families that called for better trauma education and grief treatment agreed.

It is absolutely critical to learn from the real experts  not the people who study this in school but from the people who have lived through it, said Joanne Cacciatore, a professor at Arizona State Universitys School of Social Work and the author of the 2019 study Primary Victims of the Sandy Hook Murders. It is incumbent on authorities to respond in ways that are appropriate for the primary victims that meet the needs of the primary victims.

The most important of those needs at a time like this when the families are still frozen in shock and numb with pain is to listen to their grief, Newtowns senior faith leader said.

I would encourage them to be open, to sit down as loved ones and just listen to each other, because we dont have time for each other anymore, said Monsignor Robert Weiss, the veteran pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Newtown, where Weiss prepared eight funeral masses for slain Sandy Hook children in five days. One failure of ours is we got so overloaded with love and generosity and diverting the kids attention with gifts and trips that we didnt ask them the right questions.

Weiss recalled sitting at a dinner when a Newtown high schooler affected by the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting turned to his father and said, You never asked me how I was doing after the shooting.

Tuesday in Newtown, the connection to Texas pain was so palpable that you can hear it in the silence, Weiss said.

It hits too close to home; this has been a trigger for Sandy Hook, no doubt about it, Weiss said. Seeing all the police cars and ambulances lined up on T.V. brought me back to the moment I arrived at Sandy Hook School, not knowing what was going on. It was a war zone.

Listening to the grieving

By encouraging authorities to listen to the grieving in Texas, the hope is people will understand that traumatic grief is a long-term and intensely personal struggle.

The (Texas) parents and the families right now are numb and frozen to what is happening; when I heard (news of her own daughters death) I had to catch my breath because I could feel my lungs contracting, said Jenny Hubbard, president and executive director of the nonprofit Catherine Violet Animal Sanctuary, whose daughter was slain in the Sandy Hook shooting. Its time to stop and look each other in the eye and come alongside people for the simple reason they are grieving and hurt.

The danger in making community decisions about recovery and grief resources without first deferring to families of loss and those impacted most by the tragedy is that it can fracture a town.

Thats when things become divided, said Nicole Hockley, co-founder of the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise whose son was slain in the 2012 massacre. You have to listen to members of the community and respect the impacted families; you cant assume that you know what they need or want.

Newtown was opening its ears to Texas on Tuesday. Efforts were underway to translate a pastoral letter from Weiss into Spanish to send to Sacred Heart Church in Uvalde, and efforts were underway to reach out to teachers through representatives from Newtown schools to see what help Uvalde educators need.

A Newtown college student who was in 6th grade when the Sandy Hook shooting changed his life said the best help to offer people in grief is to respect their experience.

For parents and directly-impacted family members it is about respecting the process they will go through individually and realizing it takes a long time to come to terms with it, said Jackson Mittleman, a senior at Georgetown University and the federal affairs manager for the nonprofit Newtown Action Alliance. However people (in grief) choose to respond is completely valid in its own right.

A veteran former Newtown police officer who was one of the first officers to enter Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, said it was critical for authorities to listen to the needs of first responders as well.

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre then-police Chief Michael Kehoe was worried about the mental health of his officers, he told Hearst Connecticut Media after his retirement.

Former Newtown officer Aaron Bahamonde said authorities did well to offer trauma services to first-responders.

Our officers had the ability to seek mental health therapy if they were touched by this  it was for the entire town, not just first-responders, said Bahamonde, who was released from the police department last week after 32 years based on a disability, a police union lawyer said. We were certainly at the forefront of it, but we were not the ones who were hurt the most. I was still able to go home to my family.

For families in Newtown who put their children on the bus who never came back, what helped most was quiet acts of kindness, Gay said.

Some days, meals would show up at her house. Or a neighbor would come in quietly and do the dishes. Or a friend went Christmas shopping for her.

Those things meant the world to us because all of those things you do normally every day we couldnt do  we were broken, Gay said. People would come in to serve and help us and did it in a way that was so gentle and unobtrusive that it was exactly what we needed.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
Daewoo E&C's employee healthcare program poster / Courtesy of Daewoo E&C



By Kim Jae-heun



After the Korean government decided to lift most of the social distancing rules against COVID-19 recently, people's expectations for returning to normal life have been growing. But because so many people became used to night curfews and working from home over the last two years, they are suffering from aftereffects of the pandemic, or the so-called "Corona Blues."



Corona Blues refers to depression and lethargy induced by self-isolation and social distancing.



Many office workers are experiencing emotional difficulties attributed to sudden changes in their work environment and interpersonal relationships resulting in fatigue, reduced work efficiency and depression.



In response, a number of local companies are implementing various mental health management programs for their employees.



Daewoo Engineering & Construction (Daewoo E&C) has been running its "Shim Care" mental health program since 2015. The company formed a partnership with Kangbuk Samsung Hospital to invite clinical psychology experts to company headquarters in Seoul every Wednesday, so their employees can access mental health services conveniently.



Employees can make reservations for the healthcare program to receive counseling on anything they want, including issues arising at work as well as at home.



Daewoo E&C and Kangbuk Samsung Hospital operate a separate mental healthcare program outside of the company, for employees who do not wish for their colleagues to know they are receiving help.



The Shim Care program is also available online for Daewoo E&C's employees working overseas. A psychological counselor assesses each client's condition and helps them form strategies to improve their state.



For those who are working in Africa or the Middle East  where proper medical care is either expensive or difficult to access, Daewoo E&C has opened an online clinic to diagnose employees' illness and prescribe medicine to be delivered from Korea by express mail service (EMS).



"The company understands its employees' health is equal to corporate value. It has been providing various healthcare programs to improve both physical and mental conditions of workers so that they can have the best performance output in the office," a Daewoo E&C official said.


JERUSALEM (AP)  Neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority has formally requested U.S. assistance in the investigation into the killing of a Palestinian-American reporter during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, the State Department said Wednesday.

An AP reconstruction of the May 11 killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh lends support to Palestinian witnesses who say she was shot by Israeli soldiers. But Israel and the PA each have sole possession of potentially crucial evidence needed for any final conclusion.

Israel says Abu Akleh was killed during a complex shootout between soldiers and Palestinian militants, and that only ballistic analysis of the bullet  which is held by the PA  and the soldiers guns, can determine if one of them fired the fatal shot.

The involvement of a third party could overcome the severe distrust between the sides, allowing for a full and impartial account of what happened. But there's no sign either is willing to cede control over its own investigation.

Israel has publicly called for a joint investigation with the PA, with U.S. participation.

But this week, State Department spokesman Ned Price said he was not aware of any request for assistance from either side. When asked during a press briefing Wednesday  two weeks after Abu Aklehs death  if the U.S. had been asked to participate or act as an observer, he stood by his previous answer.

We have made clear to both Israeli and Palestinian authorities that we expect the investigations to be transparent and impartial, a full, thorough accounting into the circumstances of the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, Price said.

Any American involvement would require a request from both Israel and the PA, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Hayat said Israeli officials publicly invited the United States to be part of the inquiry. He added that similar messages were passed on official channels" but declined to elaborate.

The Palestinian Authority says it is carrying out its own investigation and will share the results with international parties. It has refused to hand over the bullet or cooperate with Israel in any way, saying it doesn't trust Israel to investigate itself.

Within hours of her death, both the PA and the Qatar-based Al Jazeera accused Israel of deliberately killing Abu Akleh, but provided no specific evidence for the claim, which Israel strongly denies.

Ballistics analysis could potentially match the bullet to a specific firearm, but only if investigators have access to both. Israel and the Palestinians are unlikely to accept any conclusions reached by the other side.

Abu Akleh had spent more than 25 years covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She was a widely known and respected on-air correspondent for Al Jazeera's Arabic service, where she reported on Israel's nearly 55-year military occupation of the West Bank. She is now seen by Palestinians as a martyr to both journalism and their national struggle.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Brothers Lynn and Glenn Baker in front of a statue of their parents. J.L. Baker & Sons marked its 50th year on Guam.
A man in the parking lot of the Liberty Game Room in Maite first ignored two men arguing in the parking lot on Monday, until one of them came 
A woman accused of throwing rocks at passing cars told police that the passing cars didnt give her a ride to the pool.

Tracy Alten was charged with three counts of criminal mischief as misdemeanors after three individuals reported to police that Alten damaged their cars on Tuesday, according to a magistrates complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam.

The individuals who reported having cracked windshields and damages to their passenger door said they were driving southbound on Route 4 when Alten hit their respective vehicles with rocks as they passed, the complaint stated.

When Alten was interviewed about throwing the rocks, she said Because they didnt want to give me a ride to the swimming pool, according to the complaint.

Another charge

Alten was also charged with assault as a misdemeanor that stems from attacking a woman at Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center on March 30.

Alten was accused of punching the woman in the face, causing her to fall. A witness then saw the woman laying on the ground covering her face while Alten stood over her and attempted to punch her again, the complaint stated.
The Guam Power Authority would need about $45 million to avoid a proposed 28% increase in power bills, according to GPA General Manager John Benavente, who spoke to the governor Wednesday morning about possibly providing funding to assist power customers.

Benavente sent Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero a letter Monday, spelling out the different funding scenarios to allow GPA to pay for rising fuel costs. She called him Wednesday morning, he said.

GPA proposes a three-step increase to the customer fuel surcharge, starting July 1, otherwise it expects to be more than $70 million in the hole for its fuel costs by the end of January 2023.

I explained all that to her and asked if there was any possibility to get any assistance from (American Rescue Plan) funding, Benavente said.

The governor told him the federal American Rescue Plan money cant be used to assist GPA customers, Benavente said, But she is looking and considering other options. She didnt say, No, we cant help, but she is trying to find a way to help at least.

The governor in August gave GPA $15 million in federal pandemic funding to buy fuel to prevent a larger increase in power bills at the time. According to the governors office, the circumstances are now different.

Last year, the $15 million was an allowable use because it was COVID-related, said governors spokeswoman Krystal Paco-San Agustin. In this instance, ... the recent rise in fuel is due to the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

Some time

The Consolidated Commission on Utilities Tuesday evening voted to recommend a three-step increase in the fuel surcharge  the most expensive part of customer power bills.

A resolution will be presented to the Public Utilities Commission, which could increase the current fuel surcharge, which is 20.9 cents per kilowatt-hour, during its next meeting.

We have some time here, Benavente said, because the PUC cant address the fuel surcharge until its June 30 meeting at the earliest.

The price of fuel oil continues to rise because of limited supply and increased demand globally, according to GPA. Monthly fuel shipments that used to cost $20 million now cost more than $30 million.

Barring any other assistance (from the governor), the utility needs to generate the cash flow needed to purchase additional fuel to keep the lights on, CCU member Michael Limtiaco said at Tuesdays meeting.

Up to the PUC

Its up to the PUC, said CCU Chairman Joey Duenas.

He said if the surcharge doesnt increase July 1, it might require an even larger increase later because GPA will have lost more money on fuel purchases.

According to GPA, the power agency was a total of $31.8 million in the hole on its fuel purchases as of April 30.

The fuel surcharge, also is known as the Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause, or LEAC.

The three-step increase in the fuel surcharge would be: to 24 cents on July 1; to 27 cents on Sept. 1; and to 29.62 cents on Nov. 1. If approved, customers who use 1,000 kilowatt-hours of power would pay: $337.92 per month, starting July 1; $367.69 per month, starting Sept. 1; and $393.78 per month, starting Nov. 1.

GPA also wants permission to use as much as $10 million from its self-insurance fund to buy fuel.

Nobody around this table wants to increase anybodys power bill  nobody, Duenas said Tuesday. But at the end of the day, to keep power running, you need to pay for the oil.

Duenas noted that the base rate  the smaller part of the power bill that pays for personnel, equipment and other operating expenses, hasnt increased since 2013.

So, were living within our means. The problem is the fuel, he said.

Its obvious that the LEAC needs to be raised due to the cost of fuel, Limtiaco said. Its unfortunate at this time to do it, but the alternative is not having the cash flow to pay for fuel and the effects on the operation to the utility.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero is preparing to deliver her fourth State of the Island address as Guam continues to maintain low COVID-19 transmission levels with fewer cases and hospitalizations being reported daily.

Traditionally, the islands chief executive delivers the annual speech to tout the administrations accomplishments, as well as to outline goals and initiatives moving forward.

In last years address, Leon Guerrero spoke of her administrations initiatives such as implementing a pilot system for online business permitting and internet for all, according to a copy of the speech found online at bit.ly/3wKVjQ5.

In a letter addressed to Speaker Therese Terlaje on Tuesday, Leon Guerrero asked to give the annual speech at 6:30 p.m. June 7 at the Guam Congress Building.

Leon Guerrero and Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio have announced their intentions to seek their second term in office.

Two other teams also have announced their gubernatorial candidacy.

Former Gov. Felix Camacho and Sen. Tony Ada have announced their ticket as Republican candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.

Additionally, Del. Mike San Nicolas has announced his intention to run for governor of Guam, along with lieutenant governor candidate Sabrina Salas Matanane, a former broadcast journalist.
The Quad plays insidious tricks

By Global Times editorial (Global Times) 15:42, May 25, 2022

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

A key part of US President Joe Biden's Asia tour is the so-called Quad leaders' summit in Tokyo on Tuesday. The informal forum comprising the US, Japan, India and Australia is widely seen as an "effort to contain China." If people want to put a big question mark on the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" that Biden just launched, then they will describe the Quad which has been in operation for years with an exclamation mark.

When Quad held its first summit in Washington last September, Global Times called it a "sinister gang of Indo-Pacific to contain China." More than half a year has passed. The Tokyo summit of Quad has seen some obvious changes at the tactical level, but the international community's impression, judgment and definition of the group remain unchanged.

Compared with the Washington summit in September, there seems to be nothing out-of-line in this summit's joint statement except for issuing some specific measures. It didn't talk about the Taiwan Straits issue as the outside world expected, but focused on topics such as infrastructure construction, climate change, the pandemic fight and supply chains. Some comments even said that Quad seems to have shifted from a security architecture to an economic one, no longer engaging in building the so-called "small Asian NATO."

But this is just a smokescreen. The joint statement released after the summit said that "We strongly oppose any coercive, provocative or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo and increase tensions in the area." The actions include "the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation activities." All these are accusations that Washington has spared no effort to make on China.

In addition to these tactical "jargon," the Tokyo summit also came up with "sinister tricks."For instance, the summit launched a so-called Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness, claiming to focus on combating illegal fishing. Coincidentally, countries such as the US and Japan have repeatedly fabricated China's "illegal fishing" in distant seas. At the just-concluded US-ASEAN special summit, Washington's largest investment in the ASEAN region also went to "illegal fishing." Using a confusing "public opinion war" to provoke relations between China and Asia-Pacific countries is indeed insidious.

Washington claims that it "does not seek confrontation with China," but it has perfected its ability to say one thing but do another. In the past few years, Washington and its allies have publicly advocated the "China threat," but more and more countries have found that the real "threat" is not China, but the countries that are trying to turn the Asia-Pacific into different camps, turn it into NATO and drag it into another Cold War. As a result, Washington and Tokyo wanted to take the "curves" and pretended to use various "cooperation" as bait. Some US media commented that this was an intention to encircle China in terms of economy.

The joint statement of Tokyo summit pledged that Quad will seek to extend more than $50 billion in infrastructure assistance and investment in the Indo-Pacific over the next five years. The Quad Fellowship was launched which will bring students from Quad countries to the US each year. It would be good if all these could be implemented. But people cannot stop asking: If the US, which claims itself an Indo-Pacific country, really wants to play a constructive role, why not do it through mature mechanisms such as APEC? Washington's "big deal" is essentially to create a US-led "small circle" to hedge and disintegrate the existing development-centered Asia-Pacific cooperation mechanisms and ultimately make the Asia-Pacific region serve US interests.

The Asia-Pacific is the most dynamic region in the world, and the fundamental reason lies in that the majority regional countries insist on real multilateralism, insist on cooperation and win-win and oppose zero-sum confrontation. The IPEF that the US launched has roped in 12 founding member countries besides the US itself. But people have to ask, without the US opening its market to the other 12 countries and not lowering tariffs for each other, what's the benefit of this deal? How many Asia-Pacific countries are willing to confront China on security and decouple from China on economy?

The first sentence of the joint statement said to "renew our steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient." However, when compared to the real intention of the Quad, it is almost an insult to these beautiful words. Washington needs to and is good at using them to package and conceal its geopolitical selfishness.

Washington has launched quite a few "strategies" and "dialogues" in recent years. But most of them either went nowhere during the partisan changes, or the US withdrew and gave them up. The reason is that it always wants to fool other countries to be "cannon fodder" of its hegemony. At the same time, it tries to wrangle with the trend of the time but that efforts always end in vain.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Seats remain empty during the opening ceremony of the 28th World Gas Conference at EXCO in Daegu, Tuesday. Courtesy of World Gas Conference's National Organizing Committee



Clumsy event management develops into political dispute



By Park Jae-hyuk



The 28th World Gas Conference's National Organizing Committee apologized late Tuesday for prohibiting reporters from covering President Yoon Suk-yeol's speech at the conference's opening ceremony held that morning in the southeastern city of Daegu.



The organizer's apology came after its "embargo request" developed into a political dispute, leading to an opposition party denouncing the president's indifference to journalists outside of the capital area.



"If you visit the media center on Wednesday morning, we will sincerely ask for your forgiveness for the inconvenience caused by a working-level employee's mistake," Shin Seung-seop, an organizing committee official dispatched from the Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS), said in a letter of apology.



This is the first time for Korea and the third time for Asia to host the triennial conference which began in 1931 in London.



KOGAS, a state-owned natural gas supplier, is the conference's host partner that also chairs the organizing committee.



Three weeks prior to the opening ceremony, the organizing committee had asked reporters nationwide to preregister for the event, saying that they must arrive at the venue before 9 a.m. due to the enforcement of security policies.



However, the night before the opening ceremony, the organizer sent an urgent notice informing the preregistered reporters that they would not be able to enter the venue until 11 a.m., after the one-hour opening ceremony.



The opening ceremony was not broadcast live either, so the preregistered reporters at the venue had to rely on a press release to see what the president said in his speech.



Because the organizer mentioned "the Korean government's embargo request" in its notice, there was speculation that the presidential office had banned the preregistered reporters from covering the opening ceremony, so that only presidential office correspondents from Seoul would have access to the conference's main event.



"We do not doubt that the Korean government refers to the presidential office," minor opposition Justice Party spokesman Jang Tae-soo said in a press conference at the National Assembly, Tuesday. "Did President Yoon decide not to communicate with local communities?"



He accused the president of "stamping on" regional communities in his 17-minute speech.





President Yoon Suk-yeol, right, walks by after looking around SK E&S' exhibition booth during the World Gas Conference at EXCO in Daegu, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Park Jae-hyuk
After over two years of having its offices scattered throughout the island, the Department of Public Health and Social Services is seeking to move back into a single space, Director Art San Agustin said Wednesday.

A 2019 electrical fire displaced Public Health from its main facility in Mangilao. The fire left the agency in a state of emergency and various office spaces had to be secured to accommodate operations.

The department is moving towards a combined office rental so that all these offices will operate from a general location, whether it be a single building with multiple floors, or multiple buildings next to each other, San Agustin told lawmakers during a budget request hearing.

The move is intended to cut down on costs and make it more convenient for residents who have to drive to multiple locations for services.

Speaker Therese Terlaje questioned why Public Health wouldnt be moving back into its old office in Mangilao. She said that Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero recently announced that the Office of Veterans Affairs would be taking over the building in the next six months.

According to San Agustin, Public Health is already seeking bids on the new temporary office space, which it plans to occupy until a new medical complex and building for Public Health are completed.

It just seems that until we build the new hospital complex and put everything central that in the interim, these spaces are usable, I would think we would use them, Terlaje said.

Sen. Telo Taitague also questioned the move. She said that the Department of Public Works informed her the Mangilao building had never been condemned.

Public Health is asking for $70 million in local funds for its operations in fiscal year 2023, including $60.3 million from the general fund and $9.6 million from special funds.

New division

Meanwhile, the Division of Childrens Wellness, which Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero launched in January through executive order to meet increasing eligibility for child care programs is looking to recruit 59 new staffers.

The division will need an extra $10.3 million from the Legislature to operate.

San Agustin said that the division had been through a mix of federal funding and temporary hires. A total of 79 employees are already onboard and Public Health is authorized to provide incentive payments to try and attract homemakers, social workers and other staff.

Public Health is anticipating that around 140 more children will be entering foster care in fiscal 2023, raising the total number of children to 700. Close to 600 additional referrals to child protective services are also expected next year.

Medicaid costs

Millions in additional costs could result from a reset in the way that Medicaid costs are covered for Guam.

While the federal government has been paying for 83 cents out of every $1 spent on Medicaid services on Guam for the last few years, that number is expected to reset to the feds covering just 55 cents out of each $1 by December.

Based on the additional services that we just included under the program, we will need an additional $19 million, said Theresa Arcangel, Public Healths chief human services administrator, who added that the Centers for Medicaid Services informed the agency that no extension of the better matching rate is expected.

The agency may have to return to the Legislature to ask for the money, but it could be reduced if an unexpended $12 million from the current fiscal year are available to cover the increase.
The Guam Department of Education received positive feedback from a U.S. Department of Education official who has been meeting with Guam DOE officials and visiting public school campuses over the last week.

Chris Soto, senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, is on island to evaluate Guam DOEs request to remove the high-risk grantee status that has been in place for nearly two decades. The high-risk status was imposed because of poor management and spending of federal funds, among other things, according to PDN files.

Soto said its too soon to make any determinations.

I think its too early to say where were going to land. ... We also have to bring that back to D.C. and talk with our colleagues, Soto said. But I think what we have seen is positive. ... What weve seen so far, gives us a lot of confidence that Guam DOE is moving in the right direction.

Guam DOE has been subject to special conditions for all federal education programs it administers, including a requirement to hire a costly third-party fiduciary agent that manages $50 million to $60 million in annual federal education funding.

Guam DOEs third-party financial manager is Alvarez & Marsal, a global professional services firm known for its work in turnaround management and performance improvement of various large, high-profile businesses both in the U.S. and abroad, according to the firms website.

Soto said Guam DOE has made tremendous progress in the past decade, especially during the last couple of years.

For us, its about progress, not perfection. Were trying to be as transparent as possible when we finish this trip to give the Guam DOE a roadmap of ... what is it going to take to come off high risk finally, and also to not have a third party, he said.

First and foremost, we want the resources that go to the third party to go to kids. Thats money that should be going to schools and we want to make sure that thats happening in the future when its appropriate, Soto said.
President Yoon Suk-yeol, center, poses with businesspeople making handprints symbolizing win-win growth, during the Korea Federation of SMEs' (KBIZ) annual convention held in front of the presidential office in Seoul, Wednesday. From left are Sam Heung Heat Treatment CEO Joo Bo-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, Korea Venture Business Association President Kang Sam-kwon, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, KBIZ Chairman Kim Ki-mun, Yoon, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Korean Women Entrepreneurs Association President Lee Jeong-han, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise Chairwoman Oh Se-hee and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin. Yonhap



By Park Jae-hyuk



Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin promised Wednesday that they will support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) here to prosper together with them.



The chiefs of the nation's five largest conglomerates made the pledge at the Korea Federation of SMEs' (KBIZ) annual convention held in front of the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan District, on the occasion of the federation's 60th anniversary.



The chaebol leaders also made handprints with President Yoon Suk-yeol and the heads of the country's four lobby groups for SMEs  KBIZ, the Korean Women Entrepreneurs Association, the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise and the Korea Venture Business Association  to symbolize win-win growth.



After the ceremony, the business leaders attended a dinner with the president, the finance minister, the SMEs minister and the presidential secretaries, so that the top government officials could listen to complaints and proposals from businesspeople.



Yoon praised SMEs for being a pillar of the Korean economy, despite multiple challenges and crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chain disruptions and climate change.



"An extra budget bill, which includes 26.3 trillion won ($20 billion) to support small businesses and self-employed people, was submitted to the National Assembly," the president said. "The government will compensate (pandemic-hit) small businesses immediately after the Assembly passes the extra budget bill."



He added that the government will increase tax benefits for SME's R&D investments, for them to start new businesses as their future growth engines.





Participants applaud for President Yoon Suk-yeol's speech during the Korea Federation of SMEs' annual convention held in front of the presidential office in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
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People react outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School after a shooting, in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24. Reuters-Yonhap



A teenage gunman killed 18 young children in a shooting at an elementary school in Texas, Tuesday, in the deadliest U.S. school shooting in years.



The attack in Uvalde, Texas  a small community about an hour from the Mexican border  is the latest in a spree of deadly shootings in America, where horror at the cycle of gun violence has failed to spur action to end it.



Texas Governor Greg Abbott, addressing a news conference, said the 18-year-old gunman was believed to have shot his grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School at around noon, abandoning his vehicle and entering with a handgun, and possibly also a rifle.



The governor said the suspect, whom he named as Salvador Ramos, a local resident and a U.S. citizen, was also dead adding that "it is believed that responding officers killed him."



"He shot and killed, horrifically and incomprehensibly," Abbott said.



Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez told CNN that three adults had also died in the attack, though it was unclear if that toll included the shooter.



Footage showed small groups of children weaving through parked cars and yellow buses, some holding hands as they fled under police escort from the school, which teaches students aged around seven to 10 years old.



It was the deadliest such incident since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.



The White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in mourning for the victims  whose deaths sent a wave of shock through a country still scarred by the horror of Sandy Hook.



President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting, and was to address the nation later Tuesday.



Robb Elementary  which teaches more than 500, mostly Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students from second through fourth grade  called on parents not to pick up their children until all were accounted for.



"Students need to be accounted for before they are released to your care. You will be notified to pick up students once all are accounted for," the school said on its website soon after the attack.





President Joe Biden speaks to the nation about the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, from the White House, in Washington, May 24, as first lady Jill Biden listens on. AP-Yonhap
Page Content

 The Hawaii State Board of Education on Thursday voted 8-1 to hire Keith Hayashi to lead Hawaii's public schools as superintendent for a term to begin July 1, 2022.



Hayashi, who was tapped from his position as principal of Waipahu High School to serve as interim superintendent on Aug, 1, 2021, was one of three finalists for the permanent position. The others were Darrel Galera, former long-time principal of Moanalua High School, and Caprice Young, former president of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education.



"This means a great deal. I'm honored to have the opportunity to lead our public schools in Hawaii. I know that all of us, working together, will make a difference in the lives of each and every one of our students," Hayashi told Board members following the vote.



Hayashi served as principal of Waipahu High since 2009 and previously served as interim deputy state superintendent from MarchJune 2017 and as interim state superintendent in July 2017.



As a principal Hayashi was most recognized for transforming Waipahu High into the states leading college and career high school as the first wall-to-wall national model academy high school. Under Hayashis leadership, the school also implemented the states first Early College program, resulting to date in over 3,000 Waipahu High students earning college credits and nearly 50 students earning associate's degrees while still in high school.



Former HIDOE Superintendent Christina Kishimoto decided not to seek a contract renewal after her four-year term ended in July 2021, prompting the Board to initiate a search for a new schools superintendent. The Board received a total of 35 applicants and narrowed the list to three finalists with the help of a national consultant and an advisory group made up of more than a dozen stakeholder groups including parents, teachers, school administrators, Hawaiian education, special education, charter schools, higher education and business.



The Board for the first time conducted its interviews and deliberations on the three finalists in public session during a May 19 special Board meeting that spanned 12 hours.

Finalists were tasked with giving a 15-minute presentation outlining how they would assist the Board with developing a strategic plan and designing an implementation plan to improve student achievement and equity. In his presentation, Hayashi shared that he is "firmly committed to working together to move from responding to the pandemic, with the initial goal of keeping schools open, to accelerating purposeful learning to achieve our shared vision."

Following the performance task, finalists fielded questions from Board members related to 11 core competencies in the Board-adopted job description for the superintendent position.



Board members cited Hayashi's student-centered approach to decision making, ability to foster trust and build relationships with internal and external groups, and track record of driving innovation to benefit students. Hayashi received overwhelming support from HIDOE leaders across the tri-level system in testimony from principals, complex area superintendents and assistant superintendents.



He was also credited as the only one of the finalists to lead during the pandemic, as principal of Hawaii's second-largest high school and as interim superintendent. Hayashi led the reopening and transition from distance learning to full in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year. He has faced both criticism and praise for enforcing health and safety protocols in schools, including a universal indoor masking requirement that helps keep students in school.



The Board will finalize an employment contract for Hayashi pending a clean background check.






Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in this Sept. 18, 2018 photo. AP-Yonhap



China will seek a region-wide deal with almost a dozen Pacific island countries covering policing, security and data communication cooperation when Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosts a meeting in Fiji next week, documents seen by Reuters show.



A draft communique and five-year action plan sent by China to 10 Pacific islands ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers on May 30 has prompted opposition from at least one of the invited nations, which says it showed China's intent to control the region and "threatens regional stability."



In a letter to 21 Pacific leaders seen by Reuters, the president of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), David Panuelo, said his country would argue the "pre-determined joint communique" should be rejected, because he feared it could spark a new "Cold War" between China and the West.



Wang will visit eight Pacific island nations that China has diplomatic ties with between May 26 and June 4.



He arrives on Thursday in the Solomon Islands, which recently signed a security pact with China despite objections from Australia, the United States, Japan and New Zealand, which fear it could upset regional security and give China a military foothold in the Pacific.



China rejects this, saying the pact is focused on domestic policing and criticism by Western countries was interference in the Solomon Island's sovereign decision-making.



Asked to respond to the letter, reported here for the first time, China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular media briefing in Beijing that he was unaware of it, adding that China and South Pacific countries "are good friends and partners in mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit and common development."



"I do not agree at all with the argument that cooperation between China and the South Pacific island countries will trigger a new Cold War," he said.



Wang's visit would "consolidate mutual political trust, expand practical cooperation, deepen people-to-people ties and jointly build a closer community of destiny among China's Pacific island countries."



The FSM government, which has a defence agreement with the United States as well as an economic cooperation agreement with China, declined to comment to Reuters on the letter.



New Vision



A region-wide agreement covering security and trade between China and Pacific islands would represent a shift in Beijing's focus from bilateral relations to dealing with the Pacific on a multilateral basis, and would likely increase the concern of Washington and its allies.



China circulated the China-Pacific Island Countries Common Development Vision draft document, as well as a five-year action plan, ahead of the meeting in Fiji.



It states China and the Pacific islands will "strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of traditional and nontraditional security."



"China will hold intermediate and high-level police training for Pacific Island Countries through bilateral and multilateral means," the document says.



The action plan outlines a ministerial dialogue on law enforcement capacity and police cooperation in 2022, and China providing forensic laboratories.



The draft communique also pledges cooperation on data networks, cyber security, smart customs systems, and for Pacific islands to "take a balanced approach" on technological progress, economic development and national security.



Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, which is barred from 5G networks run by several U.S allies, has been repeatedly thwarted in attempts to build submarine cables or run mobile networks in the Pacific by Australia and the United States, which have offered rival bids for the sensitive infrastructure, citing national security.



The communique also proposes a China-Pacific Islands Free Trade Area, and support for action on climate change and health.



In his letter to other leaders, Panuelo said the communique would draw Pacific islands that have diplomatic relations with China "very close into Beijing's orbit, intrinsically tying the whole of our economies and societies to them".



Panuelo highlighted the risk of being caught in conflict as tensions rise between the United States and China over Taiwan.



"The practical impacts, however, of Chinese control over our communications infrastructure, our ocean territory and the resources within them, and our security space, aside from impacts on our sovereignty, is that it increases the chances of China getting into conflict with Australia, Japan, the United States and New Zealand," he said.



China's provision of customs systems would lead to "biodata collection and mass surveillance of those residing in, entering and leaving our islands," he added.



He was also critical of Australia's lack of action on climate change.



New Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged this week to increase climate financing to Pacific islands, saying climate change was their main economic and security challenge.



"China has made its intentions clear," Australia's foreign minister, Penny Wong, said when asked about the Reuters report.



"So too are the intentions of the new Australian government. We want to help build a stronger Pacific family. We want to bring new energy and more resources to the Pacific."



Wong, who travels to Fiji on Thursday, has pledged to increase opportunities for Pacific island citizens to work and migrate to Australia. (Reuters)


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Musicians unite to stage concert for Ukraine

Several well-known Hendersonville musicians have come together to stage a "Stand With Ukraine" concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Tickets are $25.

The concert will feature guest speakers along with performances by well-known Western North Carolina artists Aaron Burdett, Mare Carmody & Ellen Trnka, Tom Fisch, Jeff Michels Folkadelic Jam and special Ukranian guest performer Yulia (Julia) Kashirets.

Produced by John Ariatti and Tom Fisch, the concert will raise money for the International Rescue Committee (www.rescue.org) and Razom (razomforukraine.org).

The International Rescue Committee's team has quickly deployed to neighboring Poland, where they are working with partners to assist arriving refugees. They are also working with partners inside Ukraine, supporting the evacuation of women and children and providing emergency aid to people who had to flee their homes.

Razom (which means "together" in Ukrainian) is working with volunteers and partners in the US, Poland and Ukraine to address the emergency medical needs of people in Ukraine. Their focus is on getting tactical medical kits (first aid) to the people who need them. To effectively distribute these supplies quickly, they are also providing certain non-medical supplies that enable the distribution of the aid through accurate communication and navigation.

Tickets can be purchased at hendersonvilleconcertforukraine.eventbrite.com. Those who cant attend and would like to donate may mail a check made out to Razom Inc. or International Rescue Committee, to Concert For Ukraine PO Box 271 Flat Rock, NC 28731. For more information email hvilleconcertforukarine@gmail.com.
A UKRAINIAN family have finally arrived in South Oxfordshire after waiting almost two months for visas.

Anna Goldenberg, 37, and her children Mariia and Mark were welcomed to Swanston Field, Whitchurch, on Saturday evening by their host Judi Green and her family.

Mrs Green, a teacher, who applied to sponsor the family on March 22, had almost given up hope of the family being allowed into Britain, as reported in last weeks Henley Standard.

But they were finally granted their visas late last week and travelled here from Poland, where they had been staying in a hostel after fleeing Ukraine in March, leaving behind Mrs Goldenbergs husband Oleg, 39. He is now helping to provide humanitarian aid on the front line.

A friend from Reading had told the family about the UK sponsorship scheme and put them in contact with Mrs Green, who had registered her interest in helping Ukrainians.

Mark, six, went to school for the first time at Whitchurch primary on Tuesday after being given a uniform by one of Mrs Greens neighbours.

His mother said he was looking forward to making friends but was worried about his English.

Mariia, 13, started on Thursday at Langtree School in Woodcote, where Mrs Greens son, Jimmy, also 13, goes.

Mrs Green, 45, and her husband Matt, 45, have two other children, May, 15, and Jennifer, 11. Mrs Goldenberg, who was an art teacher in Ukraine, said she was grateful to the Greens and to the British people for welcoming Ukrainians and ensuring their safety.

She said that finally being here was like something out of a fairy tale.

English culture is inside our hearts, she said. We have always listened to British music  I came in a Rolling Stones T-shirt. Weve read books from English authors  its a part of our childhood.

We love English films and tea with milk and oats for breakfast like in Sherlock Holmes. The Beatles is our favourite band. My grandfather knows all their songs. The nature here is beautiful. Its different than in Ukraine. The grass is greener here  literally.

The family had a stroll by the River Thames on Sunday, which Mrs Goldenberg said reminded her of the English textbooks they used in school in Ukraine.

She said she and the children had felt lonely over the past eight weeks in Warsaw, having driven there from their home in the countryside near the capital, Kyiv.

The drive out of Ukraine was like a war film with dead animals in the streets and lots of people with guns, she said.

They stayed at a friends house for two-and-a-half weeks, thinking they would be granted visas quickly but then had to move to the hostel. Mrs Goldenberg said: The shelter wasnt for living. The water tasted like metal, it was so cold and the kitchen was really small.

They went to the visa centre in Warsaw five times to try to find out what the delay was but nobody knew how to help.

Mrs Goldenberg was able to find a few small jobs as a photographer to make some money but this meant the children couldnt leave their hostel room or even open the door to anyone while she was out.

She said: I was scared and worried at first about the other people in the hostel. There were men staying there and I have a 13-year-old daughter and a small boy but then we learned they were good people.

We became a community in the hostel  people would knock on the door and offer us dishes, offer us borscht soup. We would get together and tell stories.

The men, old and young, worked so hard all day  they would leave really early in the morning and get back really late at night after doing building work.

Mrs Goldenberg hated the fact that her children werent at school learning and mixing with other children.

She would do maths with them, read books and draw with them on the walls of the hostel room.

Mrs Goldenberg said: Maybe the drawings will give the next refugees that stay in the room some happiness and some hope. She tried to keep her children occupied by visiting the museums in Warsaw on the one day of the week that admission was free.

She said the museums were super and very good for her children but they did also have some negative experiences.

Mrs Goldenberg said: It was my mistake going to the war museum. It had interactive areas and when there were sounds of bombs, it scared my children.

There was also the museum of money where one guy rang a bell and it made Mariia have a panic attack. She cried for 15 minutes.

When the visas came through for the children, Mrs Goldenberg didnt think it was real.

She said: I didnt believe it. Id lost the hope that we would come here. I had a dead feeling inside. Now the family are in the process of filling out more forms and Mrs Goldenberg hopes to find a job.

Mrs Green said: Im so relieved and grateful to everyone who helped make this happen.

I really felt like Id let them down. It was breaking my heart that I couldnt get them here and Im so glad theyre out of that hostel now and safe here with us.

The kids get on so well and its great that Mariia and Mark can start at their new schools and settle in.

Theres a lot of paperwork to fill out and things to do but the main thing is theyre here.
US military-led insect project feared to be weaponized and risks global food security, especially in rival countries near its bio-labs

By Shan Jie and Fan Wei (Global Times) 15:45, May 25, 2022

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has led to a global food crisis, at a time of climate change, pollution, and other threats to the food supply. In the predictable future, food problems will be a permanent fixture in the world, while conflicts arising from "wars on crops" will also become an international issue of great concern.

Since 2016, the advanced military research institute in the US proposed a defense program, known as the "Insect Allies," which it said was to confront potential food supply risks. However, the Pentagon uses insects to deliver a "genetically engineered virus" that could affect crop growth by altering which genes the plants express, media reported.

After being announced, the plan has received wide criticism from scientists and experts around the world, warning that the Insect Allies might open an easily weaponized technological "Pandora's box."

The intentions of the Pentagon are also in question - is it really to save humanity from starvation, or will it, on the contrary, deliberately cause a humanitarian crisis in order to serve some "military aims."

Experts reached by the Global Times said the Insect Allies is turning this concern into a real potential danger. "Why do they use insects as carriers? Why does the US build bio-labs near other countries like Russia? When the Pandora's Box is opened, a series of disasters will follow," said an expert.

However, this is just a tip of the iceberg as a project with a potential biological weapons threat. In addition to the Insect Allies program, the US has conducted biological experiments around the world in said notorious "bio-labs" disregarding human safety and natural ethics while blatantly violating the "Biological Weapons Convention."

Insects become 'bioweapons'

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency in the United States Department of Defense responsible for developing high-tech military applications.

Ever since DARPA announced the Insect Allies in the name of preventing disaster and increasing productivity, controversies surrounding the proposal have never stopped swirling.

According to the DARPA website, the program is pursuing "scalable, readily deployable, and generalizable countermeasures" against "potential natural and engineered threats" to food supply with the goals of preserving the US crop system.

It states that the program, "by applying targeted therapies," seeks to mitigate the impact of incursions, including naturally occurring threats to the crop system and "threats introduced by state or non-state actors," which can quickly jeopardize national security.

The Insect Allies program aims to transfer modified genes to plants through insect vectors along with the plant viruses they transmit, which involves three technical areas - viral manipulation, insect vector optimization, and selective gene therapy in mature plants, according to DARPA.

To achieve this goal, the $45 million project has founded at least four research institutes, the media reported previously.

It is reported that one of Insect Allies' experiments in 2017 involved maize and tomato plants and dispersal insect species including leafhoppers, whiteflies, and aphids.

However, DARPA's concept and the intention behind it have hardly convinced scientists. As early as in April 2018, an article on Science warned that the crop-protecting insects from Insect Allies "could be turned into bioweapons."

"If successful, the technique could be used by malicious actors to help spread diseases to almost any crop species and devastate harvests, they say. The research may be a breach of the Biological Weapons Convention," read the Science article, quoting European scientists.

"The program may be widely perceived as an effort to develop biological agents for hostile purposes and their means of delivery," the critics noted.

Germany's Max Planck Institute also indicated that the Insect Allies "could easily be misused for developing biological weapons."

In a critical review published in January 2022 on Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, scientists noted that "the combination of a virus-induced genetic modification of crop plants in the field using genetically modified insect vectors poses a greater risk than the hitherto existing use of genetically modified organisms."

In 2019, Forbes listed Insect Allies on the list of "Tech Ethics Issues We Should All Be Thinking About." "Is this a biological weapon? Will it motivate other countries to develop the technology in defense? " Forbes asked.

Zhang Jie, an expert from the Institute of Plant Protection under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), told the Global Times that the possibility of using insects as vectors for harmful bacteria and viruses to attack crops and cause a food crisis not only exists, but also has a lot of room for expansion.

He said that three main crops - rice, wheat and corn - all have deadly viruses, bacteria, or fungi. In reality, targeted pests, such as rice planthoppers and wheat aphids, can carry different viruses to infect the crops, causing huge losses.

"It would be deadly to transform an insect into a bioweapon, because until now, viruses in crops have been very difficult to control. Once an infected crop develops symptoms, it is almost impossible to save. And the virus keeps variating, creating even more difficulties in prevention," Zhang said.

Zhou Huanbin, Zhang's colleague who studies genome editing, told the Global Times that in the gene editing of crops, some principles must be followed, one of which is to minimize the risk of uncontrolled spread of gene-edited crops.

Also concerning the controllability of the project, Gregory Kaebnick, an ethicist at the Hastings Center bioethics research institute in New York, was quoted by AP as saying that once they are introduced into the fields, insects and microbes "might be impossible to remove." He warned that the Insect Allies technology could "end up being destructive."

Biological Weapons Convention violations

The Insect Allies plan has been labeled as a "biological weapon" by Western scholars since the day it was announced, triggering a big discussion in Western academic circles and the media about whether the plan violates the United Nations' Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).

"Because of the broad ban of the Biological Weapons Convention, any biological research of concern must be plausibly justified as serving peaceful purposes. The Insect Allies program could be seen to violate the Biological Weapons Convention, if the motivations presented by DARPA are not plausible," the Max Planck Institute article noted.

As the cornerstone of international biological arms control, the BWC was ready for signing in 1972 and went into effect in 1975, with more than 180 state parties.

However, the US first pushed for the striking down of the BWC, but later became the only country to oppose the establishment of a multilateral verification mechanism for the convention.

"To use insects as a vector to spread diseases is a classical bioweapon," Silja Voeneky, a professor of international law at the University of Freiburg in Germany, told The Washington Post.

According to Voeneky, in this program, using insects as a key feature is "particularly alarming, because insects could be deployed cheaply and surreptitiously by malevolent actors."

Her worry is echoed by Chinese military expert Song Zhongping, who also called the Insect Allies technology a "typical form of biological weapons."

"It could reduce crop yields in targeted countries and artificially create food crises there. Then it loses its independence in the food sector and might become dependent on US food exports, including genetically modified food, which is part of biological warfare," Song said.

Song believes that the US really needs to explain why insects are to be used as vectors in this research, especially as insects could quietly disseminate viruses into crops in other countries.

"It is not difficult to understand why the US will set up biological laboratories around rival nations, because only in these places can the labs ensure the localization of the species they use in experiments," he said. "For instance, it would be problematic if they bring American insects to a lab in Ukraine and release them in Russia."

Long history of insect vector use

The Insect Allies program is just one of many instances in which the US' research was accused of causing dire consequences around the world especially through the use of biological laboratories.

The US openly admitted that it runs 336 biological laboratories in 30 countries around the world, including 26 in Ukraine. However, the contracts suggest that the US has signed contracts with 49 countries, way more than it had admitted to.

The Pentagon has a long history of using insects as disease vectors. According to a partially declassified 1981 US Army report, US biological warfare scientists conducted multiple experiments on insects.

In the 1980s, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases came up with experiments to see "if sand flies and mosquitoes could be vectors of Rift Valley Virus, Dengue, Chikungunya, and Eastern Equine Encephalitis." The US Army researched their potential as bio-weapons, according to Bulgarian investigative journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva.

Under a US Army operation codenamed May Day in the same decade, Aedes Aegupti mosquitoes were dispersed through ground based methods in Georgia state of the US. The mosquitoes are alleged to be the vectors of dengue, chikungunya and the Zika virus.

Gaytandzhieva also revealed that the Pentagon has allegedly performed entomological warfare tests in countries such as Georgia and Russia.

In 2014, the US-built Lugar Center near Tbilisi, capital of Georgia was equipped with an insect facility and launched a project called "Raising Awareness about Barcoding of Sand Flies in Georgia and Caucasus." Two other programs were also undertaken at the center in the following years.

As a result, Tbilisi has been infested with biting flies since 2015, which have developed non-typical behavior from what they have previously exhibited, such as the newly emerged flies surviving indoors year-round, and being also highly resistant to cold.

The biting flies were also found in nearby Dagestan region of Russia.

Moreover, while conducting research into deadly viruses and bacteria, the US was unable to ensure the security of its biological laboratories. The Pentagon admitted in 2015 that since 2003, live samples of anthrax were mistakenly sent from the Dugway Proving Ground military base near Salt Lake City, Utah, to all 50 states as well as nine countries, including the UK, South Korea, and Germany.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
The African Development Bank Groups Board of Directors has approved a $1.5 billion Emergency Food Production Facility to help tackle the global food crisis sparked by the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

The funds will help 20 million African farmers produce an extra 38 million metric tons of food to address growing fears of starvation and food insecurity on the continent.

The Bank, which is Africas only AAA-rated financial institution, has consistently maintained this credit rating by all major global credit rating agencies.

The emergency food production package comes as the African Development Bank gathers in the Ghanaian capital of Accra for its 2022 Annual Meetings this week. Delegates will take stock of the Banks projects, which have impacted the lives of 335 million Africans in the last five years, while looking ahead to new challenges and opportunities.

Overcoming Africas challenges includes building back from Covid-19. Early in the pandemic, the Bank provided a crisis response facility of up to $10 billion to African countries to help overcome its social and economic impacts. It also launched a $3 billion Covid-19 social bond on the global capital markets, at the time, the highest ever US dollar denominated social bond. According to the Banks president, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, this helped provide social protection to about 30 million vulnerable people.

Adesina said: Our rapid Covid-19 response facility helped stabilize African economies. It helped train 130,000 health workers, and provided advisory support for 300,000 small and medium sized businesses.

Discussions at the African Development Bank Group Annual Meetings in Accra will also cover a range of topics including climate change, where the Bank, together with former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the Global Center on Adaptation, is mobilizing $25 billion to support climate adaptation and resilience.

The meetings will also include substantive discussion on providing increased financial support to women entrepreneurs. The Banks Affirmative Action for Women In Africa is one of its flagship programs.

Adesina said: With the support of President Emmanuel Macron and G-7, our Affirmative Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) is raising $5 billion for women businesses. In 2021, we paid out $483 million to financial institutions to lend to women businesses. We will lend $500 million for women in 2022.

In highlighting these successes, Adesina dismissed recent critics of the Banks management. He points to an independently conducted survey by a global human resources firm, which found high levels of satisfaction (85%) among bank staff.

The Bank head says: Our achievements, exceptional management, good governance systems, and delivery of the Bank cannot be denied or misrepresented based on externally fabricated untruths, distortions, misinformation, and a deliberately orchestrated campaign of calumny to attempt to tarnish our image.

We will tell our story. We will not be defined by mischief-makers, lies and biases. We are proudly African.

The African Development Bank has 81 stakeholder countries who support its work. 3,000 participants are expected to attend this weeks Annual Meetings in Accra.

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Direct bookings are critical to many hoteliers bottom lines, said Adam Harris, CEO and Co-Founder of Cloudbeds. Yet, many operators dont have the marketing budget, time or skills to compete effectively against the major players. Cloudbeds Amplify makes it easy for lodging businesses to win new customers without the hassle. They can leverage the technology and expertise used by big brands without needing big budgets.

Cloudbeds Amplify, part of the companys comprehensive hospitality management platform, addresses some of the most pressing pain points for the industry, including profitability and the high cost of customer acquisition.

Marina Moretti, owner of O de Casa Hostel & Bar in Sao Paulo, who joined the pilot program earlier this year, stated, "As an owner, digital marketing is not my specialty. I have always viewed it as complicated, but it is quickly becoming a necessity to operate a lodging business in todays market. With Cloudbeds Amplify, the team made the process easy by handling the entire setup and management. Thus far, we've driven 57 additional bookings through our website that might otherwise have been booked via OTAs - without requiring any additional time or effort from myself or staff."

To support the expansion of its hospitality platform and the launch of Cloudbeds Amplify, the company recently made several strategic moves, including the acquisitions of AdsHotel and Odysys. AdsHotel, formerly owned by D-Business based in Venice, Italy, is the leading ad tech platform designed for hospitality, offering independent hotels a platform to manage metasearch and programmatic advertising to boost direct bookings. Odysys, based in Bend, Ore., is a specialist marketing firm offering a flexible all-in-one marketing platform to independent lodging businesses.

Learn more about Cloudbeds Amplify at cloudbeds.com/join-cloudbeds-amplify.

About Cloudbeds

Cloudbeds is the hospitality industry's fastest-growing technology partner, powering seamless operations for properties of all sizes and types across the globe. Its award-winning Cloudbeds Hospitality Platform seamlessly combines operations, revenue, distribution and growth marketing tools with a marketplace of third-party integrations to help hoteliers and hosts grow revenue, streamline operations and deliver memorable guest experiences. Cloudbeds was named No. 1 PMS and No. 1 Hotel Management System by Hotel Tech Report in 2022, and has been recognized by Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 in 2021. For more information, visit www.cloudbeds.com.
The internationally renowned brand, ELLE, is excited to announce its debut into the hospitality world with the launch of ELLE Hospitality, which comprises two new boutique concepts Maison ELLE and ELLE Hotel. The bold new venture marks an important step in the brand's lifestyle and experiences evolution, as it is the first of its kind from a global media group. Owned by French Lagardere Group, ELLE has its headquarters in Paris, where the first Maison ELLE is scheduled to open this fall.

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As the brand continues to look beyond its core publishing business and expands globally in the world of experiential services, the introduction of ELLE Hospitality aims to address their customers desires with lifestyle-focused destinations and stylish accommodations, through the two new concepts, Maison ELLE and ELLE Hotel - that are soon to be explored by today's savviest of travelers, who seek to be hyper-connected to the places and communities they visit.

Another sector of ELLE that blends their icon brand in the scene of interior design is ELLE DECOR.

Whitney Robinson, Founder of Whitney Robinson International says l "I have always had a deep appreciation and admiration for the iconic ELLE brand, and was honored to be the Editor in Chief of ELLE DECOR USA. Over the past two decades, I have been fortunate to work with the most coveted names in design, architecture, hospitality, and fashion, and am delighted to participate in this new adventure."

Central to the brand's DNA and heritage, ELLE Hospitality celebrates women, design and craftsmanship, while conscientiously adapting to the environment and culture of each location where they are.

ELLE's venture into the hospitality industry will become a revival of their existing magazine experience. These hotels will play a strong role in immersing the guests into everything ELLE demonstrates throughout their iconic magazines.

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ACTUR in Mexico - ACTUR is a real estate developer that also provides a platform for lifestyle hospitality and development investment in Mexico.

STUDIO V in Europe - The newest hospitality group in partnership with esteemed Valotel group dedicated to brands' conception and unique experiences with a focus on design and development of meaningful living spaces.

Whitney Robinson International in Middle East- it is the world's first 360 design-driven hospitality and real estate development company. The firm specializes in collaborations with the world's most prestigious names in architecture, art, interior design, and fashion.

The first Maison ELLE - in partnership with Studio V, who will own and operate the hotel under the guidance of leading hotelier, Pascal Donat, President of French hospitality group, Valotel - is set to open in Paris, France in the fall of 2022 in the 17th district of Paris, near the Arc de Triomphe. It will have 25 guestrooms and suites and a spa. Future openings are planned in Paris, France and also across Europe and China. Maison ELLE, as a concept, aims to provide an accessible and convenient, home-from-home in the heart of its city, for the fashion-forward traveler who is eager to experience it authentically. It is positioned to be affordable for the consumer, who have the flexibility to enjoy anything from a weekend break, to live and work remotely for an extended stay. ELLE brand loyalists and new followers alike, will check into an urban hideaway, styled with chic decor and design influenced by the latest trends, and met with a highly personalized level of service. "Beyond the hotels themselves, our guests look for meaning and a sense of belonging. That's why today, bringing to life a brand's emotional connection with the consumer, through hospitality experiences and design, is central to our approach with Maison ELLE", says Pascal Donat, CEO of Valotel and Studio V.

The first ELLE Hotel in partnership with ACTUR, will open in the summer of 2023 in Jalisco, Mexico, where the convergence of an eco-conscious, luxury lifestyle community is currently under development.

This thrilling project is coming to a pristine stretch of Mexico's Pacific coast and is setting a new precedent for land development by making environmental protection and sustainability a top priority.

The project's CEO, Ricardo Santa Cruz, believes we are all "land stewards" and states that "everyone involved in the project is part of a family that is committed to the same goals. We all have a social responsibility to improve the quality of life of our neighboring communities and to safeguard the environmental preservation of the land in which we are living".

The innovative spirit of ELLE will be reflected through its high-end hospitality concept where artistic designs and craftsmanship come to life, centered around cultural immersion that allows for a regenerative retreat for all. Central to its design concept, ELLE Hotel is leveraging local talent from aspiring female designers and artisans to imagine its guestrooms, suites and communal spaces.

Together with ACTUR, the ELLE Hotel is collaborating with the local community in Jalisco across Mexico on the intricacies of the design, which are soon-to-be unveiled. Beyond creating luxurious accommodation, it aims to bring a sense of balance, inspired by its natural surroundings and culture, in order to create a retreat that binds mind, body, and soul in a one-of-a kind paradise. The goal is also to establish curated connections: emotional ones with people, within the community, and meaningful ones with ELLE and its products that reflect the distinctive offerings of the brand.

"We are thrilled to launch ELLE into the world of hospitality. Our brand's success to date has been thanks to our innovation, our special relationship with women and we are proud to continue to challenge the status quo, as we enter a new era of travel. Our two concepts, starting with the openings of Maison ELLE in Paris and ELLE Hotel in Mexico will present exciting gateways that will allow guests to see the destinations through a new lens and through ELLE's vision" says Constance Benque, Chairman of ELLE International and CEO of Lagardere News.

About ELLE Hospitality

ELLE Hospitality offers global experiences as a partner for a better life through its two branches of Maison ELLE and ELLE Hotel. The two branches both serve to provide an authentic stay in the lifestyle segment of the hotel industry. Maison ELLE features boutique hotels around city centers all over the world, with convenience and practicality at its heart that still provides personalized levels of service. ELLE Hotel provides a more high-end, experiential destination focused on being a regenerative retreat in a paradise place away from the urban life. ELLE Hotel will work with and involve local women across all levels from artisans to designers, empowering the female community further. Find out more about ELLE Hotel at http://www.ellehospitality.org

About Lagardere Group

Lagardere Group, owner of the ELLE & ELLE Decoration brands, is a global leader in content publishing, production, broadcasting, and distribution. These powerful brands leverage its virtual and physical networks to attract and enjoy qualified audiences. Lagardere Active Enterprises is the dedicated business unit of the Lagardere Group in charge of the brands' extension programs inside the ELLE International company. Their scope is vast with 45 editions of ELLE and 29 editions of ELLE DECOR worldwide. In 80 countries, ELLE is a powerhouse brand with a non media presence that contains more than 150 licensees such as, three ELLE Cafe licenses, 2 ELLE Salon licenses and 1 ELLE Spa license.
As the COVID-19 pandemic moves through unpredictable ups and downs, intent to travel continues to climb higher. Unhindered by continued news about variants or by rising airfares and hotel rates, travel intent has reached a level that would have been high before the pandemic46% of Americans are planning a trip involving stays in hotels or other types of paid lodging. Young Americans are traveling the most, but those over 55 are also dropping some of their hesitance to return to the roads and skies in greater numbers.

Health worries have declined as a factor in deciding whether to travel. Many still embrace measures to mitigate the spread of the virusfrom masking on airplanes to choosing destinations and attractions that allow for social distancing. But the pandemics effects on travel plans appear to be fading.

Financial concerns have some staying home, but those who do plan to travel are prepared to increase their budgets. Nearly three in 10 travelers plan to spend more than they did in 2019, and high airfares and room rates are the number 1 reason why (figure 1).

Source: Deloitte Development LLP

US-based properties, carriers, and destinations stand to attract the lions share of travel spend, as just 15% of Americans (27% of travelers) plan to take an international flight. High international airfares could be a factor, along with unpredictable entry and exit regulations and the possibility of ending up stranded overseas after testing positive for COVID-19. The US hospitality industry has a busy summer ahead, with 67% of travelers planning hotel stays, and 16% planning rental stays (figure 2).

Source: Deloitte Development LLP

As Americans return to travel in greater numbers, a new group is establishing itself as an emerging force: the untethered worker, or laptop lugger, who plans to mix some work into their vacation. Travelers in this group tend to be younger and of a higher-income group. They plan to take more and longer trips, but thats just the beginning of the clear differences this group is beginning to exhibit.

To delve deeper into insights and to learn more about air travel behavior, lodging choices, demographic trends, in-destination plans, and much more, download the slide deck.

A representative sample of 4,233 Americans took this survey between March 23 and 30, 2022. Of those, 2,546 qualified as travelers. A smaller subset of 1,960 who were staying in paid lodging, rather than only with friends and relatives, completed the longest version of the survey.

About The Deloitte Transportation, Hospitality & Services (THS)

The Deloitte Transportation, Hospitality & Services (THS) team helps companies drive growth in the technology-driven, rapidly evolving hospitality and leisure industry. Travel and hospitality industry trends include changing customer expectations, technology modernization, risk mitigation, and more.

About Deloitte

Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500 and more than 7,000 private companies. Our people come together for the greater good and work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today's marketplace  delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthier society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Building on more than 175 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte's more than 345,000 people worldwide connect for impact at www.deloitte.com.

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the "Deloitte" name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.

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RIYADH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the Future Hospitality summit (May 24, 2022) Sophos Hotels SA, one of the leading third party Hotel operator in Europe, and AIMS Hospitality a subsidiary of AIMS Holding one of the foremost investors in the hospitality Sector in Saudi Arabia, announced on signing a Memorandum of understanding to launch and develop the first international independent Hotel Management company in KSA, and have initially agreed on developing and operating several properties located in Jeddah and Makkah cities that comprise over 2000 keys

Fernand Donnet, President and CEO of Sophos Hotels said, I would like to thank the ministry of investment for easing the process of obtaining the service license for Sophos Hotels in KSA , We are thrilled to expand our business and to invest in the Saudi hospitality market which is witnessing one of the fastest & highest growth rates in the world, and to build long term partnership with AIMS Hospitality, together will reciprocate our expertise and further enhance our reach in this fast-growing market, as well as across the entire GCC region.

Muhammed Al Amir, CEO of AIMS Hospitality added, Saudi Arabia redefined its tourism and hospitality sectors under Saudi Vision 2030, which increased demand for international expertise in hotel management, We are looking forward to building a trustworthy partnership with Sophos Hotels which shall transform a great combinate, of the Swiss hospitality expertise and local know how to create the ideal Hotel Management model.

More about Sophos Hotels

Sophos Hotels SA was founded in 2006 in Switzerland and is currently developing and operating over 40 independent and internationally branded hotels around the world, with a diversified portfolio featuring classic luxury, lifestyle upscale and midscale hotels, ski and beach resorts, Its business model extends flexible terms of management agreement to investors, who shall be relieved from day-to-day operations hassles and obtain high operational profit margin, Simultaneously the brands have confidence with the certainty that the hotel will be efficiently run under an experienced third party, who will maintain the brand image and standards.

Sophos Hotels SA has built through the decades strategic relationships with several prominent international brands such as: Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and Wyndham.

For more information:www.sophoshotels.com

About The Bench

The Benchhas established a legacy for delivering world-leading investment forums and conferences in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The key principle behind these platforms has remained "dealmaking'. Transforming the way business connect, Bench has developed a reputation for creating innovative and high-impact meeting spaces for the industry.

For over two decades - government leaders, tourism ministries, global travel & tourism associations, the world's most influential hospitality brands, hotel owners & investors, renowned restaurant groups, airlines & aviation authorities, destination developers, asset managers, financial groups and consultants  have been participating in The Bench's events for their respective objectives. These include AHIC, AHIF, GRIF, FHS, AHF, SHIC, IDEEA, AviaDev and RENEW where industry players showcase their brands, position themselves as thought leaders or innovators, and connect with the right opportunities and knowledge.

Learn more on thebench.com

About MEED

Launched on International Women's Day 1957, the Middle East Economic Digest, MEED, is a well-known and trusted brand used by governments and businesses operating in the region.

Encompassing a business intelligence service, digital media, publications and events MEED provides exclusive daily news, data and analysis. We are responsible for keeping our audiences of subscribers, registered users and event attendees informed, helping to facilitate decision making and connections.

Our marketing solutions team provides clients with access to our audiences. We partner with local and international companies who need to reach our high-value communities. In consultation with our clients we utilise tried and tested methods to target and engage decision makers to announce and explain, lead and grow and to contact and convert business leaders into customers.

MEED is wholly owned by data and intelligence company GlobalData Plc which means that our marketing solutions clients are also able to access a network of over 13m digital users per month across 18 different sectors.

FHS Saudi Arabia

Date: 24-25 May 2022

Location: Riyadh Airport Marriott Hotel, Riyadh, KSA

Sponsors: Dur Hospitality as Strategic Partner; Tourism Development Fund (TDF) as Enablement Partner; Accor, Construction Products Holding Company (CPC), Hilton, Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Hotel Group and The Red Sea Development Company as Platinum Sponsors; Diriyah Gate Development Authority, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, NEOM, Rotana, Royal Commission for AlUla, and Taiba Investments as Emerald Sponsors; Aleph Hospitality, CBRE, Colliers, Compass Project Consulting, ELAF Group, ENVI Lodges, GG&Grace International, Insignia, Interior 360, Keane, Knight Frank, Leslie, Louvre Hotels Group, LXA, MAPAL, OBMI, Sophos Hotels SA, SSH, STR, The Indian Hotels Company Limited and Voltere as Gold Sponsors; Deutsche Hospitality, HVS and Katch as Silver Sponsors.

FHS Middle East

Date: 19-21 September 2022

Location: Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE

Sponsors: Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts as Host Sponsor; Tourism Development Fund (TDF) as Enablement Partner; Accor, Dur Hospitality, Hilton and Radisson Hotel Group as Platinum Sponsors; Emaar Hospitality, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, NEOM, Rotana, SMIT Morocco and Taiba Investments as Emerald Sponsors; Aleph Hospitality, CBRE, Colliers, Compass Project Consulting, ENVI Lodges, Insignia, Interior 360, Ishraq Hospitality, Knight Frank, Louvre Hotels Group, LXA, MAPAL, Minor Hotels, OBMI, QUO, SSH, STR, The Indian Hotels Company Limited and Voltere as Gold Sponsors; Deutsche Hospitality, HVS and Katch as Silver Sponsors.

Anne Bleeker

In2 Consulting

+971 56 603 0886

The Bench
On May 17, Duetto took part in an insightful webinar that explored how hoteliers can use tech to maximize upselling opportunities. Erik Tengen, Co-Founder of upselling tool Oaky; Guido Salvatori, Senior Director of Integrations at Duetto; and Deniel Frey, VP of Revenue Management at H-Hotels.com, came together to discuss how the recent partnership between Oaky and Duetto can help hotels boost guest spend by more than 40%.

Introducing Duetto And Oakys Partnership

The webinar, entitled: Optimizing Your Tech Stack For Total Profitability, followed last months announcement that Duetto and Oaky - the hospitality markets best in class Revenue Strategy and Upselling platforms (Hotel Tech Report, 2022) - entered a strategic partnership to deliver analytically-powered, highly targeted upgrade offers to guests. The integrated solution connects Duetto Open Pricing, room type pricing, and brand strategies with Oakys highly personalized upselling platform to yield up to 45% higher guest spend per upgraded night, while also creating an overall better guest experience in the process.

Speaking about the partnership during the webinar, Tengen said: Upselling should deliver the right deal to the right guest at the right time. And what we are able to do now, with our integration with Duetto, is also to do it at the right price, in fact, not even the right price, the perfect price. It's an incredibly exciting innovation, a step forward for us as a business, and for upselling as a category.

What Was Covered

The webinar was well attended by nearly 200 registrants and covered points such as:

Why an RMS is crucial for maximizing revenue

How upsell tech can bring your revenue strategy to the next level

Best practices on combining the two to bring unparalleled results

How H-Hotel has used Duetto and Oakys combined tech to see amazing results

Turning Problems Into Solutions

After introductions from the three panelists, the discussion turned to how a pain point being experienced by H-Hotels - Germanys largest family-owned hotel group - helped lead to the partnership between Oaky and Duetto.

Frey explained how, coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, H-Hotels was simply fighting for survival. He said: Were a family business with no investors to back us and so we were fighting to keep our hotels in the market. We were counting every single cent, across every single channel.

Two of these channels were Oaky and Duetto, both of which Frey had been working with successfully for several years. However, hed noticed snags arising due to the lack of integration between the two products, especially around the number of upgrade request rejections they were seeing. After speaking to Tengen and Salvatori, it became clear that they needed to align the upsell and room pricing strategy to streamline the whole process and increase revenue.

The Results Didnt Disappoint

Two H-Hotels properties - the Hyperion Hamburg and the Hyperion Dresden - were used as pilot hotels for the new integration. These hotels were chosen because of their large number of room types. And the results didnt disappoint, with Hamburgs room upgrade supplements increasing by 45% and Dresdens by 42%.

When we started the pilot I was very impressed by the very first results, especially when it came to the rejection rate, said Frey. Now there's hardly any reason to reject requests because the front office team can plan accordingly. They can just approve the request automatically by empowering this feature, and so the rejection rate has dropped and the revenue has increased.

He added: It was an eye-opener and we are happy with the results.

When you co-innovate, great things happen! said Salvatori.

After several questions from the audience, the event concluded with mutual thanks between Tengen, Salvatori, and Frey. Salvatori said: Thank you to Oaky for this partnership, it is one of the best. It was about the hotels (H-Hotels) pain point and how we could solve it together. As an industry, we need more of that. It shows what we can unlock and Im excited to see what the future holds. And thank you to H-Hotels for bringing your pain point to us and allowing us to work on solving it.

How The Integration Works

The guest receives an Oaky pre-arrival email which directs them to a landing page to see upgrade offers. The landing page delivers tailored offers to the guest, populated with dynamic rates calculated by Duetto based on check-in / check-out dates. Room upgrade supplements are calculated for all available room types based on the propertys proven Duetto rate strategy and data.

Missed the webinar? Dont worry, the event can still be watched on-demand. Simply register here: https://go.duettocloud.com/optimize-tech-stack-profitability.

About Duetto

Duetto delivers a suite of cloud applications to simplify hospitality revenue decisions and allow hoteliers to work smarter, increasing organizational efficiency, revenue, and profitability. The unique combination of hospitality experience and technology leadership drives Duetto to look for innovative solutions to industry challenges. The software as a service platform allows hotels and casino resorts to leverage real-time dynamic data sources and actionable insights into pricing and demand across the enterprise. More than 4,000 hotel and casino resort properties in more than 60 countries have partnered to use Duetto's applications, which include GameChanger for pricing, ScoreBoard for intelligent reporting, and BlockBuster for contracted-business optimization. Duetto is backed by investors Warburg Pincus, Icon Ventures, Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, and Spectrum 28.

In January 2022, Duetto was voted as the Best Revenue Management System in the HotelTechAwards 2022.

For more information, please visit https://www.duettocloud.com/.

Sarah McCay Tams

Director of Content, EMEA

View source
The Shepherd Hotel is more than an up-and-coming hospitality brand. Its an inspirational, purpose-driven company committed to providing exceptional guest experiences while changing the lives of an under-engaged portion of the population. The property has selected Above Property Services (APS) as their technology partner to deliver an integrated, easy-to-use CRM and PMS designed to simplify hotel operations and create an empowered, inclusionary workplace.

The first hotel, which opens this Spring in Clemson, South Carolina, is expected to employ over 40 individuals with intellectual disabilities between the hotel and restaurant operations, constituting about 40 percent of the entire hospitality team. The hotel is partnering with Clemson LIFE program by providing hospitality training and gainful employment to students and alumni.

Rick Hayduk, a seasoned luxury hotel leader with over 30 years of experience, was inspired to create The Shepherd Hotel brand in honor of his daughter, Jamison, who has Down syndrome. With the help of Rich Davies, a third-generation real estate developer and involved Clemson alum, The Shepherd Hotel was created to positively impact the lives of others, specifically, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who industries like hospitality have historically overlooked.

To bring this idea to life, The Shepherd Hotel needed to find a technology solution that not only offered a simple yet powerful user experience but could also offer seamless implementation during periods of growth. Powered by microservices architecture, Above Propertys Hotel In A Box solution is completely customizable, easy to use, and provides unlimited scalability, making APS the perfect partner to bring this new but extraordinary concept to the hospitality industry.

The Shepherd Hotel is an extraordinary place, shares Hayduk. By working with local universities that have inclusionary post-secondary programs, we stand to have an incredible impact on the employment outcomes for people with disabilities. To make this concept a reality, we knew technology would be the key to success. By streamlining the operational tasks associated with hospitality roles, such as guest check-in at the front desk and minimizing keystrokes required to accomplish key tasks, we open up the industry to notoriously underserved members of the population that can be incredible additions to the workforce.

When vetting prospective solutions, Hayduk noted that the focus was on selecting a vendor that could offer a long-term partnership and a truly seamless, cloud-based, and integrated user interface. Ive been in the industry for a long time, and legacy technology has always felt a bit like a house of cards, explains Hayduk. Its negative technical equity, in a sense. Youre often playing with stacked technology that is anything but seamless and may act as a bottleneck to future growth. Everything is plug and play with APS  there is nothing fragmented about it, unlike many of the other platforms we considered. From a simplicity and integration standpoint, APS appears to be in a league of its own.

Since APS cloud-based platforms run on a microservice architecture that consists of loosely-coupled services and applications, clients like The Shepherd Hotel are offered unparalleled flexibility and ease-of-use, without the vendor fees, upgrade fees, training fees, integration fees, and operational headaches commonly associated with legacy technology.

The Shepherd Hotel is bringing a very unique and meaningful concept to life, and we couldnt be more thrilled to be a part of it, shares Aaron Shepherd, CEO, and Co-Founder of APS. Simplifying and streamlining hospitality processes that have historically been constrained by legacy infrastructure has always been our goal, but to partner with a brand that aims to positively impact so many lives is truly incredible. We look forward to the inevitable success of The Shepherd Hotel and the growth and evolution of the brand that will surely follow.

Speaking to the upcoming launch and plans for the future, Hayduk explains that The Shepherd Hotel group plans to expand its training program to graduates with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Hospitality is one of the hardest-hit industries coming out of the pandemic with regards to employment, and we can help to address this while also ushering in a new era of workplace inclusion, says Hayduk. Using APS technology, we can offer our staff complete ease of use from an operational standpoint and ensure continued brand consistency and excellence as we grow.

About The Shepherd Hotel

The Shepherd Hotel is an upscale, independent boutique hotel located in downtown Clemson, SC. The lobby of the 67 room hotel is shared with the Delish Sisters restaurant, a new fast casual concept created by three South African sisters with a flair for international tastes found in an all day menu. The hotel and restaurant partner with Clemson Universitys LIFE program where students with intellectual and developmental disabilities are preparing for competitive employment and independent living. Shepherd Hotels looks to continue its mission in gainfully employing individuals with intellectual disabilities and partnering with universities with an Inclusionary Post Secondary Education program.

About Above Property Services (APS)

Above Property is leading the charge to deliver innovative, scalable, and services-oriented platforms for the global travel industry and other related verticals. We think differently, and we are constantly innovating. Above Property Services (APS) offers the only platform that can evolve seamlessly in response to industry demands, with credit to a microservices architecture that empowers continuous development and refinement.

Built from the ground up, the APS ecosystem empowers continuous development and refinement of your critical business processes via a unique microservice architecture. Designed for performance, flexibility, security, and stability, the future-proof framework is up and running quickly, delivering a scalable, cost-effective solution that can work with or replace your existing tools and investments. APS is a platform that adapts to you  not the other way around.

Powering both large and small companies, we understand the industry's challenges in the past, and we have developed a platform that is suited for the future.

Steve Lapekas
Riyadh - The Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) is back in Saudi Arabia this week, bringing together government leaders, hospitality investors, owners, and operators for the redesigned 2022 edition of the event at the Riyadh Airport Marriott Hotel.

Under the theme Reimagined Horizons, the two-day conference programme at FHS Saudi Arabia addressed the future of hospitality, hotel development, destination impact, aviation, sustainability, restaurant investment and human capital in the Kingdom. With change and innovation as key drivers of the future, the Lead the Change pitch competition was designed to celebrate the industrys changemakers.

A special open mic session led by judges Tim Peck, Chairman OBM International, and Rohan Ranade, Associate Vice President Real Estate & Development for the Indian Hotels Development Company Limited (IHCL), saw nine finalists take the stage for three minutes to present how they are a change leader in the hospitality industry through their innovations, leadership, or sustainable practices.

Finalists covered a wide range of topics from changing the way hotel management agreements are done in the region, the importance of developing a culture of collaboration to drive growth, and how the hospitality industry can be elevated by sensory experiences, to keeping food production and consumption as close as possible, and the opportunity to enrich the guest experience by combining physical and virtual reality experiences as part of a hotels service offering.

The judges, with the help of delegate votes in an open poll, named Sally Alkatat, Senior Manager Development Middle East & Africa at IHG Hotels & Resorts, the winner of the Lead the Change competition at FHS Saudi Arabia.

Change starts with setting an ambitious vision. To lead it, we have built a comprehensive journey of small yet innovative steps towards it by predicting investors and guests behaviours throughout. We manifested those future needs in launching new brands and adapting our hotels operations across Saudi and the region to align with KSA's vision of sustainable tourism. Our journey focuses on implementing leading innovations with sustainable footprint and a zero-carbon emission target inspired by global successful practices in the hospitality and other industries, Sally said in her pitch.

The Finalists

Bani Haddad  Founder & CEO of Aleph Hospitality

Sally Alkatat  Senior Manager Development Middle East & Africa at IHG Hotels & Resorts

Sarah Jane Grant  Director at LXA

Rahaf Alaish  Student at the Glion Institute of Higher Education

Atul Chopra  Founder & CEO of Fresh On Table

Abdullah Al Muslemani  CEO of Crown & Co

Gauthier Guillaume  CEO & Creative Director at GG & Grace International

Kristina Zanic  CEO at Kristina Zani Consultants

Olivier Ponti  Vice President at ForwardKeys

About The Bench

The Benchhas established a legacy for delivering world-leading investment forums and conferences in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The key principle behind these platforms has remained "dealmaking'. Transforming the way business connect, Bench has developed a reputation for creating innovative and high-impact meeting spaces for the industry.

For over two decades - government leaders, tourism ministries, global travel & tourism associations, the world's most influential hospitality brands, hotel owners & investors, renowned restaurant groups, airlines & aviation authorities, destination developers, asset managers, financial groups and consultants  have been participating in The Bench's events for their respective objectives. These include AHIC, AHIF, GRIF, FHS, AHF, SHIC, IDEEA, AviaDev and RENEW where industry players showcase their brands, position themselves as thought leaders or innovators, and connect with the right opportunities and knowledge.

Learn more on thebench.com

About MEED

Launched on International Women's Day 1957, the Middle East Economic Digest, MEED, is a well-known and trusted brand used by governments and businesses operating in the region.

Encompassing a business intelligence service, digital media, publications and events MEED provides exclusive daily news, data and analysis. We are responsible for keeping our audiences of subscribers, registered users and event attendees informed, helping to facilitate decision making and connections.

Our marketing solutions team provides clients with access to our audiences. We partner with local and international companies who need to reach our high-value communities. In consultation with our clients we utilise tried and tested methods to target and engage decision makers to announce and explain, lead and grow and to contact and convert business leaders into customers.

MEED is wholly owned by data and intelligence company GlobalData Plc which means that our marketing solutions clients are also able to access a network of over 13m digital users per month across 18 different sectors.

FHS Saudi Arabia

Date: 24-25 May 2022

Location: Riyadh Airport Marriott Hotel, Riyadh, KSA

Sponsors: Dur Hospitality as Strategic Partner; Tourism Development Fund (TDF) as Enablement Partner; Accor, Construction Products Holding Company (CPC), Hilton, Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Hotel Group and The Red Sea Development Company as Platinum Sponsors; Diriyah Gate Development Authority, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, NEOM, Rotana, Royal Commission for AlUla, and Taiba Investments as Emerald Sponsors; Aleph Hospitality, CBRE, Colliers, Compass Project Consulting, ELAF Group, ENVI Lodges, GG&Grace International, Insignia, Interior 360, Keane, Knight Frank, Leslie, Louvre Hotels Group, LXA, MAPAL, OBMI, Sophos Hotels SA, SSH, STR, The Indian Hotels Company Limited and Voltere as Gold Sponsors; Deutsche Hospitality, HVS and Katch as Silver Sponsors.

FHS Middle East

Date: 19-21 September 2022

Location: Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE

Sponsors: Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts as Host Sponsor; Tourism Development Fund (TDF) as Enablement Partner; Accor, Dur Hospitality, Hilton and Radisson Hotel Group as Platinum Sponsors; Emaar Hospitality, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, NEOM, Rotana, SMIT Morocco and Taiba Investments as Emerald Sponsors; Aleph Hospitality, CBRE, Colliers, Compass Project Consulting, ENVI Lodges, Insignia, Interior 360, Ishraq Hospitality, Knight Frank, Louvre Hotels Group, LXA, MAPAL, Minor Hotels, OBMI, QUO, SSH, STR, The Indian Hotels Company Limited and Voltere as Gold Sponsors; Deutsche Hospitality, HVS and Katch as Silver Sponsors.

Anne Bleeker

In2 Consulting

+971 56 603 0886

The Bench
Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), producer of Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC), announces the exceptional startups to receive awards at E20X Dubai held May 25, 2022 at HITEC Dubai, co-located with The Hotel Show at the Dubai World Trade Center.

HFTPs E20X startup pitch competition gives passionate startups the chance to gain valuable industry exposure and recognition by presenting their cutting-edge technology designs to a panel of expert judges and audience of HITEC attendees including hospitality CIOs, angel investors and serial entrepreneurs. The E20X judges panel will decide which startup receives the top E20X Judges Choice Award and $2,500 USD prize, while HITEC attendees determine the E20X Peoples Choice Award winner by voting for their favorite startup through the HFTP Events mobile app (available soon in the Apple and Google Play stores).

During the E20X Dubai 2022 competition, eTip won the E20X Judges Award, S-Rate won the Judges Choice Semi-Finalist Award, and Turpal was chosen by HITEC attendees to receive the Peoples Choice Award.

A sincere thank you to everyone involved for putting on such an engaging event in one of the worlds best cities for hospitality, said Robert Petteruti, co-founder of eTip. It feels great that eTip continues to be recognized as a truly customer-obsessed organization with immense care for the wide variety of staff and employers who continue to enjoy our products benefits. And as we continue to bring eTip to businesses across the world, were so grateful for the opportunity at E20X to meet like-minded people unified by the mission to enrich hospitality with the latest and greatest ideas and innovations.

Learn more about the winning startups and all the E20X Dubai participants on the E20X website.

To coincide with the successful competition that just took place in the United Arab Emirates, eight new hospitality technology startups have just been selected to pitch their innovative business concepts during the upcoming E20X competition at HITEC North America in June. Exclusively sponsored by PROVision Partners, the E20X Orlando pitch competition will take place on the HITEC Headliner stage Wednesday, June 29, 2022, beginning at 8:30 a.m. inside the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida USA. All registered HITEC attendees are welcome to attend.

The 2022 E20X Orlando participating startups include:

Celebrating 50 years in 2022, HITEC is the worlds largest and oldest hospitality technology conference. This world-class event attracts thousands of attendees and hundreds of industry solution providers, bringing together the brightest minds and hottest technologies from across the globe to one place. Attendees gain access to essential education, top hospitality industry experts and the resources to find cost-effective ways to improve company bottom lines. HITEC Orlando will be held June 27-30, 2022 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida USA. Learn more at www.hitec.org.

For more information regarding E20X, email [email protected].

About HFTP

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), established in 1952, is a hospitality nonprofit association headquartered in Austin, Texas USA with offices in United Kingdom, Netherlands and Dubai. HFTP is recognized as the spokes group for the finance and technology segments of the hospitality industry with an international network of members and stakeholders. HFTP uniquely understands the industry's pressing issues and assists its stakeholders in finding solutions to their challenges more efficiently than any organization. HFTP offers expert networks, educational resources, career development programs, research, leadership opportunities and conferences and events. HFTP Is the publisher of the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI). For more information about HFTP, visit www.hftp.org. For the latest news, visit the HFTP News page at news.hftp.org and the HFTP Connect blog at blog.hftp.org.

Melissa Trevino

Meetings Manager

HFTP
According to the most recent Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), Europe ends 2022s first quarter with 1,781 projects/277,290 rooms. An 8% decrease by projects and an 11% decrease by rooms year-over-year (YOY).

Projects under construction stand at 875 projects/141,304 rooms, at the end of Q1 22, while projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months stand at 443 projects/65,611 rooms. Projects in the early planning stage are at 463 projects/70,375 rooms, projects in this stage are up 5% by projects and down 1% by rooms YOY.

Similar to other regions around the world, the past two years have been challenging for Europes hospitality industry. And now, with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the hotel construction pipeline in Europe is again experiencing timeline delays as developers put projects on hold and cease development activity in these countries. The rate of new hotel openings in Europe has dropped significantly over the last three quarters. Last year, at Q2 21, new hotel openings reached a record-high of 169 hotels/24,472 rooms; as many hotels that were delayed during COVID were pushed through and completed. However, at the end of Q1 22, this number dropped to 60 new hotel openings, accounting for 8,931 rooms. This is still above the regions lowest new hotel opening point, which occurred during the peak of COVID in Q2 20, in which only 37 hotels/6,871 rooms opened.

Even with the ongoing Russia and Ukraine conflict, there are encouraging signs for the hotel industry in Europe. Several countries and those that are popular tourist destinations have seen a steady increase in business and leisure travel demand in recent months. As we move into the summer season, the rise in travel and hotel demand is expected to continue to trend upward.

According to LE analysts, the top countries in Europes Construction Pipeline by project count at Q1 22 are the United Kingdom with 328 projects/48,207 rooms, Germany with 266 projects/47,004 rooms, and France with 161 projects/18,981 rooms. Next, with 125 projects/14,880 rooms, is Portugal, followed by Poland with 82 projects/11,693 rooms.

The European cities with the largest number of hotel projects in the construction pipelines, at the close of the quarter, are London with 85 projects/13,777 rooms, Dusseldorf with 47 projects/8,969 rooms, Paris with 41 projects/6,461 rooms, Istanbul with 33 projects/6,795 rooms, and Lisbon with 33 projects/3,773 rooms.

Franchise companies with the largest construction pipelines at Q1 close are Accor, with 272 projects/37,320 rooms, and Marriott International, with 205 projects/32,087 rooms. Hilton Worldwide follows with 188 projects/27,790 rooms, then InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 155 projects/21,219 rooms. These four companies account for 46% of the projects and 43% of the rooms in the total pipeline.

The leading brands in the hotel construction pipeline for these four companies are Accors Ibis brands with 96 projects/11,615 rooms, Hilton Worldwides Hampton by Hilton brand at 74 projects/11,144 rooms, IHGs Holiday Inn Express with 62 projects/8,906 rooms, and Marriott Internationals Moxy brand with 48 projects/8,237 rooms.

During the first quarter of 2022, Europe opened 60 new hotels with 8,931 rooms. At this time, and barring any further conflict escalation, LE analysts expect another 359 new hotel projects to open accounting for 53,930 rooms, for a year-end total of 419 new hotel projects/62,861 rooms to open in 2022. LE analysts forecast 468 new hotel projects, with 65,712 rooms, to open in 2023.

About Lodging Econometrics (LE)

For nearly 25 years, Lodging Econometrics (LE) has been the industry-leading provider of global hotel intelligence and decision-maker contact information. LE custom-builds business development database programs for hotel franchise companies looking to accelerate their brand growth, hotel ownership and management companies seeking to expand their real estate portfolios, and lodging industry vendors interested in increasing their sales. To learn more about our business development programs, contact us: +1 603.431.8740 or [email protected]lodgingeconometrics.com.

Hannah Paoletti

Media Relations Manager

+1 603 427 9556

Lodging Econometrics
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Elon Musk has to wonder if he squatted on his spurs by moving to Texas from California.

Teslas stock price has plummeted 40 percent, hes launched an ill-considered attempt to buy Twitter, and Gov. Greg Abbott is deleting supportive tweets, trying to avoid getting caught up in allegations Musk engaged in indecent in-flight behavior.

The whole Gone To Texas thing isnt working out for the worlds wealthiest man.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: The rich do not pay taxes like you and me, but they should

For those who didnt learn Texas History, our state had a reputation in the early 1800s for welcoming people fleeing law enforcement, debt collectors, illicit lovers, and all manner of scams. Frederick Law Olmsted wrote in his 1857-book Journey Through Texas that authorities would write GTT next to the names of known scoundrels on the lam and on the doors of their abandoned homes.

Musk did not exactly flee California, but it was close. He initially defied public health orders to shutter the Fremont Tesla factory to slow COVID-19. He then sued the county for not lifting the order in May 2020 and announced plans to relocate Teslas headquarters.

On Oct. 7, 2021, Musk announced the Tesla factory in Austin was the new home office. The companys stock peaked at $1,243.49 in November. This weeks, TSLA has traded in the mid-$600s, and some analysts think it will go lower.

Teslas descending stock price makes Musks purchase of Twitter more difficult if he even thinks its still a good idea. I wonder if Rocket Mans thinking is clouded by his weekly chats with Abbott, smoking weed with Austin-based podcaster Joe Rogan, or hanging out on the Boca Chica launchpad with Kanye West.

Musk began purchasing Twitter stock in January. But he rapidly changed his mind about accepting a board seat and decided to buy the joint.

Then he priced it as if it were a joint. His offer of $54.20 referenced 4:20, which according to legend, is an optimal time for a toke. Suppose the stock was actually worth $50 a share, which would be high, adding $4.20 to make a joke cost $4.1 billion.

Twitters share price this week hovers around $37. He offered $44 billion for a company that Wall Street values at $27.8 billion.

Investors doubt hell seal the deal. Musk recently said the transaction was on hold until Twitter can explain how many accounts are automated bots rather than people.

Musk said if 25 percent of the accounts are bots, hell expect a 25 percent discount. A quarter off $54.20 would be $40.65 a share, a more reasonable price. But who wants to bet he wont suggest $42 a share?

The real reason for the fuss is Musks net worth has dropped by about $124.20 billion since November. Most of his money is tied up in Tesla stock, so he borrows against it to buy things like Twitter. The lower value, the less money he can borrow.

Since moving to Texas, Musk has also found himself more entangled in politics. Abbott told CNBC that he talks to Musk weekly and that he approves of the states conservative policies, including an abortion ban. Tesla, meanwhile, has promised to fly women to other states if they need an abortion.

In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party, Musk tweeted on May 18. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold.

Musk did not mention that a Business Insider reporter had recently contacted SpaceX about a $250,000 legal settlement to silence a flight attendant who accused Musk of exposing himself and propositioning her. Republicans have a better history of overlooking such things than Democrats.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Texas Blackout left scars on businesses, but other disasters lurk ahead

After Business Insider posted the story on May 19, Musk wrote: The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens - this is their standard (despicable) playbook - but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech.

Abbotts campaign Twitter predictably voiced support for Musk: .@elonmusk picked the right state to move to. But then someone deleted the tweet seven minutes later, the Dallas Morning News reported. Campaign officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Musk claims to support free speech, but hes not releasing his employees from their non-disclosure agreements. He also tried to buy off a man who tracks Musks private jets on Twitter. Rocket Man is not a fan of free speech about him.

People can debate whether Musk has changed since moving to Texas or if only his luck has changed. But the new Texans wealth and reputation have definitely taken a turn.

Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and politics.

twitter.com/cltomlinson

chris.tomlinson@chron.com
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When it comes to staying healthy, those hours spent with eyes shut are just as important as our time awake, says Dr. Ruckshanda Majid, co-medical director of the Memorial Hermann Sleep Center.

We spend a third of our lives asleep, she says. We need to focus on our own sleep health.

Majid also serves as associate professor of pulmonology and sleep medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston.

People can get so focused on career and the hustle of daily living that quality sleep can get lost in the mix.

Unfortunately, I dont think people understand how important sleep is, she says.

In fact, Dr. Randall Wright, neurologist at Houston Methodist, said a lack of sleep can lead to memory loss and contribute to dementia.

I look at four categories of health  how we eat, how we move, how we sleep and how we interact socially, he says. If any of those four are off, we wont be healthy.

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And lack of sleep, Wright adds, can negatively impact the other quadrants. For instance, without rest, exercise becomes a challenge. Not sleeping can also affect mood.

Healthy eating can also become an obstacle. Appetite regulating hormones  leptin and ghrelin  are both influenced by sleep.

If we dont sleep, it affects everything else, Wright says. We tend to think of sleep as a luxury. Its really a necessity.

Dr. Puneet Patni, a pulmonary, critical care, sleep medicine physician at Kelsey-Seybold, says that the amount of sleep needed is not set in stone.

Some people get fixated on getting eight hours of sleep, he says. And people can be over-stressed about it.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends seven to nine hours for adults, while seniors over 65 need slightly less, between seven and eight hours.

Some individuals require more  and others, less, Patni says. Still, the average range does not vary more than a couple of hours.

Its kind of a bell curve, but its fairly narrow, he says.

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Age can be a factor in how many hours are needed on the pillow. For instance, newborns sleep constantly, Patni points out.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine states that children ages 6 through 12 should average between nine and 12 hours, while teenagers, ages 13 to 18, should get eight to 10 hours.

While it might seem like teens are sleeping more, Patni says that their schedules actually tend to shift at that age  and they may stay awake later.

One thing is for certain, however. Getting the right amount of rest is essential.

You clearly cant do without it, Patni says. Sleep definitely affects everything.

Counting sheep

Catching the right amount of Zs can be difficult for a number of reasons.

Theres a huge percentage of the population that are sleep deprived, Patni says. Those are the people who are burning the candle at both ends.

He has patients who know they need more sleep, but with the demands of their careers and families find it increasingly difficult to carve out eight hours in bed.

Then, there are people who have the time but simply struggle to nod off or stay asleep  or both. This common sleep disorder is known as insomnia.

A lot of peoples main complaint is I cant sleep, Patni says.

While having a few sleepless nights here and there is common, problems arise when it becomes chronic or affects daytime function, including workplace issues, trouble concentrating and mood disturbances.

The underlying causes can range from poor sleep habits to lack of exercise, as well as anxiety and depression.

And thats really important to recognize, Patni says. You want to address the underlying cause.

He adds that disturbed sleep can begin during a time of grief  say a lost job, death of a loved one or divorce  and then perpetuate afterward.

You can get into a cycle where you are spending time in bed but not sleeping, Patni says.

Bringing activities into bed, including a meal or a laptop, can prevent restful sleep.

Fighting insomnia often starts with creating healthy sleep habits, like eliminating noise and light, Wright says.

For instance, while any light can prevent a good nights sleep, blue light, emitted from ever-present phone and tablet screens, is the most disruptive. That light wakes us up, Wright says.

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He adds that scrolling through social media before bed can result in heightened anxiety, another sleep inhibitor.

Binge-watching shows can even disturb a normal sleep routine. Wright suggests reserving 35 to 45 minutes before bedtime to wind down. Do the same pattern every night, he says.

That can include lowering the lights, turning off the TV, silencing the phone, reading a book, listening to relaxing music and cooling the room.

Sleep disorders

Patients perceptions of how much they are sleeping can be off.

People with insomnia or restless sleep often feel like they didnt sleep at all, Patni says. And sometimes theres the perception that if they are tossing and turning, they literally did not sleep.

Thats usually not the case. For some patients, an underlying disorder can prevent them from feeling rested, even if theyve been in bed for hours.

Thats when a sleep study can help  where technicians observe a patients sleep patterns throughout the night. Patnis patients are seen for full sleep observation and analysis when needed at the Kelsey-Seybold Sleep Center.

Patients could have periodic limb movements disorder, which affects 4 to 11 percent of the population, according to the Sleep Foundation. Individuals with the condition suffer jerking or twitching of their limbs during sleep, which disturbs their rest, even if they do not wake up.

Sleep apnea  a disorder when breathing stops and starts during sleep  is the most common disorder Patni sees at his clinic.

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If symptoms are present for sleep disorders, patients should seek help from their doctors. For example, those with sleep apnea might wake up with a headache or acid reflux. They might snore loudly and find themselves gasping for air or choking in the night. And those with restless leg syndrome might experience deep pain in their limbs.

Sleep disorders often go undiagnosed, Majid says. She sends patients to the Memorial Hermann Sleep Centers as a critical step to help.

One disorder she treats often is narcolepsy, which is characterized by an overwhelming drowsiness during the day.

These individuals are often labeled as lazy or nonproductive, Majid says. Through no fault of their own, they cant stay awake. And often, no one believes them.

She added that it can sometimes take a decade before diagnosis. Then once patients are treated, they have a whole new lease on life.

Take symptoms of sleepiness during the day seriously, Majid says. Maybe theres something more to your symptoms.

One common misdiagnosis she sees is insomnia for what actually is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder.

In these patients, their inner clock is simply different than others. They struggle to go to sleep at night and feel more awake and productive in later hours.

She has methods to help patients adjust their circadian rhythms, while others accept having a different schedule and adjust their hours accordingly. Chronotype is the current buzzword to describe this phenomenon, Wright says. Its the natural inclination to sleep during certain hours.

The four chronotypes include people who are night owls and morning larks.

Catching Zs

Majid often asks to speak to the bed partners of her patients to learn more about their sleep habits. That person can often help her pinpoint an area of concern. Once the disorder is identified, it can be a game changer in the patients overall health.

Majid, Patni and Wright all rely on cognitive behavioral therapy for treatment, which involves developing healthier habits, as well as changing negative thoughts and behaviors.

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Often, an in-depth interview is the best way to start. Patni asks how the patient sleeps, what they do at night and how they feel during the day. Do they nap? Exercise? Drink alcohol? How much caffeine is part of their routine?

It involves getting a basic framework, Patni says.

There is a role for medications for some people, he added, as long as they understand concerns and take precautions. Individuals 65 and older have a higher risk with pharmaceuticals.

For insomnia, Majid says that some have success with melatonin pills, while the verdict is still out as to whether any science supports its use. She avoids prescribing medications like Ambien for long-term treatment of insomnia. I feel like it is a Band-Aid, she says.

And Majid would rather look deeper to help resolve underlying causes.

It just takes a little more time with each patient, she says.

Lindsay Peyton is a Houston-based writer.
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A bout with sepsis nearly killed Wayne Moorehead. Four amputations and six years later, hes ready to find a new way to walk again.

Moorehead first suspected food poisoning from dinner the night before in July 2018. When he told his wife, Barbara Moorehead, that he would call in sick, she insisted on heading to a doctor.

By the time he arrived at the clinic near his home in Alexandria, La., he was already beginning to turn blue.

They did a CT scan, but they couldnt find out what was wrong, he said.

He was sent him home with anti-nausea medication, but his condition worsened. That evening he was in the emergency room. Soon after being admitted, Moorehead went into septic shock, a life-threatening infection that explained his low blood pressure.

Moorehead was transported to a hospital in New Orleans, where doctors continued to search for the cause. All the while, his hands and feet were no longer getting the blood supply they needed, which would continue for weeks.

When doctors could not diagnose Moorehead, they suggested he return to Alexandria, but his wife and their daughter, Christmas Day LeBlanc, were determined to find another option.

The best hospital we could find, thats what we were looking for, Moorehead said. We ended up going to Houston Methodist.

Thats where the root cause of his sepsis was identified: a strep infection of the heart.

By then, however, it was too late to save his limbs. Five weeks had passed since symptoms started.

Moorehead, now 52, underwent two surgeries to remove his arms and legs in September 2018. His amputations were above the knee and above his elbow.

They were dead, he explained. And I knew they werent coming back. I needed to get going and get started with my new normal.

Moorehead received prosthetic devices for his arms that helped, and his recovery journey was well underway at Memorial Hermann TIRR.

There was just one problem.

The socket prosthetics for his legs werent working. Simply putting the heavy prosthetics on was also a challenge. Once on, the sockets were hot and would pinch his skin and muscles.

Its difficult for me to walk in the sockets, he said.

Moorehead describes his gait as more like a waddle. The devices weigh about 12 pounds each, which he has to lift with the remaining part of his leg.

Its like pushing a car, once you get it going, its not easy to stop, Moorehead said. I would crash a lot and then fall.

More often than not, he decided to stick with his wheelchair instead of bothering with the sockets.

Then he discovered two things that would change his outlook. The first was osseointegration, a procedure that grafts a metal rod into the bone, which extends out of the skin. A prosthetic device then snaps directly onto the metal.

The second was Memorial Hermanns orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Doherty, who also serves as assistant professor of orthopedics at UTHealths McGovern Medical School.

Hes the only one in the region doing osseointegration, Moorehead said.

And Doherty was right there in Houston, where Moorehead was already in therapy.

A whole new option

The earliest archaeological evidence of a prosthetic device is a toe, found in Egypt in the tomb of a mummy, dating between 950-710 B.C. There are even earlier references to prostheses in Indian texts from 1400 B.C.

There are paintings and records about prosthetics in ancient Greece, Doherty said.

Fast-forward a couple of thousands of years, and there have been amazing advances in prosthetics, he said. But the way we attach them is the same. And its clearly the weak link in the whole system.

Socket prosthetics, which attach to the remaining limb stump with a fitted socket, have long been the standard.

Often, they work just fine, but its trickier when an amputation is above the knee, where there is more tissue to fit into the socket, Doherty said. And that can result in chafing, blisters and falling.

Because the soft tissues are enveloped inside the socket, bones can lose their support and adopt an abnormal position, he said. This can lead to loss of muscle function and balance. In the long run, patients can face chronic pain in the leg, hip or lower back, as well as joint arthritis and degeneration.

Its like wearing a very poor-fitting shoe, Doherty said.

In fact, he said that about 75 percent of above-the-knee amputee patients have significant issues with the traditional socket prosthetic. It can rub a wound on them, which can get infected, he said. Redness, friction and pain often result.

Osseointegration eliminates those concerns.

The procedures origins can be traced to 1969 with Dr. Per-Ingvar Branemark, a Swedish professor at the Institute of Applied Biotechnology, University of Goteborg. He discovered that living bones could connect with titanium rods.

Since then, the concept has been used in knee and hip replacements, as well as dental work.

Rickard Branemark continued looking into his fathers research and applied it to amputees in the 1990s.

Osseointegration has since become an option for prosthetic surgery in Europe and Australia.

Doherty learned about osseointegration in 2017 and said he was immediately intrigued. He went to Sydney, Australia, for three months to observe Dr. Munjed Al Muderis in surgery.

The two went to Baghdad to treat Iraqi soldiers who lost their limbs fighting ISIS.

A year after he returned to Texas to start practicing medicine, the Food and Drug Administration approved osseointegration in 2020.

Doherty was eager to incorporate the technique in the treatments he offered patients, becoming the first in the region and in Texas.

Currently, only two sites in Texas  and just a handful in the nation  perform osseointegration.

Pop it on and go

Osseointegration requires two separate procedures  one surgery implants a metal rod into the bone, almost like a large screw, and the second creates a hole, or stoma, where the metal can protrude.

In between the two operations, the patients bone grafts to the titanium rod. Three months is reserved between surgeries for the initial connection, allowing it to become mature enough to begin bearing weight, Doherty said.

After the second procedure, patients heal for about a month before they begin physical therapy. Eventually, they can then simply snap the prosthetic leg onto the piece of metal in their leg.

It locks into the device, which is already implanted, Doherty said.

Curtis Kindred, a resident of Deer Park, underwent his second surgery about a year ago.

His amputation was in September 2017, after an injury at work, and he started using a socket prosthetic the following year.

Because he often works outdoors as a safety coordinator, its not uncommon that the socket will start to slip off, due to the heat and sweat.

Thats why Kindred was interested in osseointegration when he learned about the option. He scheduled his first surgery in February 2021, soon after the FDA approval.

They open up your leg and have to start with a clean slate, he said. Then they drill into your femur.

For the next couple of months, Kindred was in a wheelchair. Then, he returned for his second surgery in May 2021. After two more months, he began one-hour sessions of weight-bearing exercises each day.

He would position a chair next to a scale and start placing up to 10 pounds of his weight on the prosthetic leg. After a week, he went up to 20 pounds, then moved up to 50 pounds.

Once you get up to full weight, youre able to put on your leg, Kindred said.

Using the socket did not require the same strength, and he said hes is still in the process of building back his muscles.

Already, osseointegration has helped him better navigate the job site.

I dont have to worry about my leg slipping out, Kindred said. I dont have chafing, redness or soreness. And getting ready now only takes two minutes instead of 15.

The method is not for everyone, he said. Other amputees may not want to undergo surgery again or have the protruding metal rod and stoma that the process requires.

For Kindred, however, it was well worth it.

I would absolutely recommend it, he said. I was just tired of dealing with the pain all of the time. It was always a burden, taking the leg on and off. Now, all I have to do is pick up my leg, pop it on and go.

Looking up again

Osseointegration is currently approved by the FDA only for above-the-knee amputations. Doherty said that the process would also be ideal for above the elbow and thumb prosthetics in the future.

As we do more and more of these, it will give us the opportunity to study it more extensively and find techniques to optimize the surgery, he said.

Currently, candidates are often war veterans or those who have suffered a traumatic injury to their legs, Doherty said. Patients who have amputations after being treated for tumors or bone cancers can also use this method.

Because the bone grafts to the metal attaching to the prosthetic, the patient has more of a sense of feeling while walking called osseoperception. For instance, patients can tell what kind of surface they are walking on  or if they step on a rock, Doherty said.

Its a similar concept to a cochlear implant, he said. The same kind of thing happens. Your perception changes.

Patients also have a better sense of balance, he added. With the socket, amputees have to constantly concentrate on the ground.

With this, their eyes come up, Doherty said. They watch the world again. It helps them enjoy walking more.

Often, his patients have been in wheelchairs for years before osseointegration.

Its often the first time in years that they have walked, Doherty said. Its one of the most rewarding things Ive ever been a part of  watching this transformation occur.

Doherty said the revolutionary procedure puts us on the cusp of achieving things that once only seemed like fiction. The prosthesis literally becomes an extension of the skeleton. Think Bionic Man or Terminator.

Its really the forefront, the cutting edge, Doherty said. Were getting to participate in something patients cant find anywhere else. And even just a few years ago, we werent ready to do this.

Doherty has performed 10 osseointegration surgeries so far.

Moorehead is the second bilateral amputee on the list. His first surgery was completed in early January, and the second was in April. He is looking forward to starting physical therapy at TIRR again.

Im ready, Moorehead said.

The 30 minutes it used to take to put on the socket prosthetics will be reduced to about two minutes with the new system.

It will be a lot more incentive to get up and move around, he said. I will just feel better.

He broke into a grin imagining the possibilities.

This is Wayne 2.0, he said. Its a new me. Were doing things, and were going places.

Peyton is a Houston-based freelance writer.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP)  Authorities in a rural Mississippi county are stunned and perplexed after finding a tiny, isolated church vandalized with abortion rights slogans.

Its mystifying, you know? said St. Elmore Armistad, a deacon at Mt. Avery Missionary Baptist Church in southeastern Lowndes County.

The graffiti include Keep your laws off my body and Girls just want to have fundamental human rights.

They don't have anything to do with the church, where about five people regularly attend services, Armistad told The Commercial Dispatch.

We dont preach abortion, he said. We preach Jesus Christ. It just dont add up.

Armistad, 73, said everything was fine on Sunday. He went to the church Monday afternoon and the sides and back of the brick and wood building were covered by graffiti in black, pale blue and pink.

Why us? Thats the first thing I wondered, he said. You hear about things like that happening other places, but you dont get a grip on it until it happens to you.

Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins characterized the vandalism as odd, noting that the church, east of Columbus near the Alabama line, was in the middle of nowhere on a road that sees little traffic.

He said investigators are seeking suspects on what will likely be a vandalism charge. Whether it will be a misdemeanor or a felony depends on the estimated amount of the damage, which Hawkins said he doesnt have yet.

Why there? he said. Why that church? Why use that to send a message?

Armistad said he believes the church was chosen because it is so isolated.

I think they picked us because they knew they could get away with it, he said. Theres nobody close by to kind of keep an eye on things.

Hawkins asked anyone with information about the vandalism to contact his office or Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers.

Armistad said, Were trying to find out what it will take to get rid of it. Its in different colors, and on the wood and the brick, too.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Lamenting a uniquely American tragedy, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden delivered an urgent call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman shot and killed at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school.

Biden spoke Tuesday night from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bracketed by mass shootings in the U.S. He pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure  and bitterly blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

'When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden said with emotion. Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?"

With first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children  though not to gun violence  spoke in visceral terms about the grief of the loved ones of the victims and the pain that will endure for the students who survived.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away, Biden said. Theres a hollowness in your chest. You feel like youre being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out.

He called on the nation to hold the victims and families in prayer  but also to work harder to prevent the next tragedy, Its time we turned this pain into action," he said.

At least 19 students were killed at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, according to local officials. The death toll also included two adults. The gunman died after being shot by responding officers, local police said.

It was just a week earlier that Biden, on the eve of his overseas trip, traveled to Buffalo to meet with victims' families after a racist, hate-filled shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

The back-to-back tragedies served as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world," Biden said, reflecting that other nations have people filled with hate or with mental health issues but no other industrialized nation experiences gun violence at the level of the U.S.

"Why? he asked.

It was much too early to tell if the latest violent outbreak could break the political logjam around tightening the nation's gun laws, after so many others  including the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 26, including 20 children  have failed.

The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong," Biden said. He has previously called for a ban on assault-style weapons, as well as tougher federal background check requirements and red flag laws that are meant to keep guns out of the hands of those with mental health problems.

Late Tuesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer set in motion possible action on two House-passed bills to expand federally required background checks for gun purchases, but no votes have been scheduled.

Biden was somber when he returned to the White House, having been briefed on the shooting on Air Force One. Shortly before landing in Washington, he spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and offered any and all assistance needed, the White House said. He directed that American flags be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims in Texas.

His aides, some of whom had just returned from Asia with the president, gathered to watch Bidens speech on televisions in the West Wing.

Id hoped when I became president I would not have to do this, again," he said. "Another massacre.

In a stark reminder of the issue's divisiveness, Biden's call for gun measures was booed at a campaign event in Georgia hosted by Herschel Walker, who won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Speaking at an Asian Pacific American event that was intended to celebrate Biden's Asia trip, Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier that people normally declare in moments like this, our hearts break  but our hearts keep getting broken ... and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families.

We have to have the courage to take action ... to ensure something like this never happens again, she said.

Echoing Biden's call, former President Barack Obama, who has called the day of the Sandy Hook shooting the darkest of his administration, said, Its long past time for action, any kind of action."

Michelle and I grieve with the families in Uvalde, who are experiencing pain no one should have to bear, he said in a statement. Were also angry for them. Nearly ten years after Sandy Hookand ten days after Buffaloour country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that have shown no willingness to act in any way that might help prevent these tragedies.

Congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation ever since the bipartisan effort to strengthen background checks on firearm purchases collapsed in the aftermath of the 2012 shooting.

Despite months of work, a bill that was backed by a majority of senators, fell to a filibuster  unable to to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to advance.

In impassioned remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who represented Newton, Connecticut, in the House at the time of the Sandy Hook massacre, asked his colleagues why they even bother running for office if theyre going to stand by and do nothing.

Im here on this floor to beg  to literally get down on my hands and knees  to beg my colleagues, he said.

Murphy said he was planning to reach out to Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn after the two had teamed on an 2021 effort to toughen background check requirements that never became law. He said he would also reach out to Texas other Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

I just dont understand why people here think were powerless, Murphy said. We arent.

Cornyn told reporters he was on his way to Texas and would talk with them later. Cruz issued a statement calling it a dark day. Were all completely sickened and heartbroken.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who sponsored gun legislation that failed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate after Sandy Hook, said, Were just pushing on people who just wont budge on anything.

It makes no sense at all why we cant do commonsense things and try to prevent some of this from happening, he said.



Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Michael Balsamo, Alan Fram and Farnoush Amiri contributed.
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  By now it's as predictable as the calls for thoughts and prayers: A mass shooting leaves many dead, and wild conspiracy theories and misinformation about the carnage soon follow.

It happened after Sandy Hook, after Parkland, after the Orlando nightclub shooting and after the deadly rampage earlier this month at a Buffalo grocery store. Within hours of Tuesday's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, another rash began as internet users spread baseless claims about the man named as the gunman and his possible motives.

Unfounded claims that the gunman was an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally, or transgender, quickly emerged on Twitter, Reddit and other social media platforms. They were accompanied by familiar conspiracy theories suggesting the entire shooting was somehow staged.

The claims reflect broader problems with racism and intolerance toward transgender people, and are an effort to blame the shooting on minority groups who already endure higher rates of online harassment and hate crimes, according to disinformation expert Jaime Longoria.

It's a tactic that serves two purposes: It avoids real conversations about the issue (of gun violence), and it gives people who don't want to face reality a patsy, it gives them someone to blame, said Longoria, director of research at the Disinfo Defense League, a non-profit that works to fight racist misinformation.

In the hours after the shooting, posts falsely claiming the gunman was living in the country illegally went viral, with some users adding embellishments, including that he was on the run from Border Patrol.

He was an illegal alien wanted for murder from El Salvador, read one tweet liked and retweeted hundreds of times. This is blood on Bidens hands and should have never happened.

The man who authorities say carried out the shooting, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, is a U.S. citizen, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news conference on Tuesday.

Other social media users seized on images of innocent internet users to falsely identify them as the gunman and claim he was transgender. On the online message board 4Chan, users liberally shared the photos and discussed a plan to label the gunman as transgender, without any evidence to back it up.

One post on Twitter, which has since been deleted, featured a photo of a trans woman holding a green bottle to her mouth, looking into the camera, headphones hanging from one ear.

BREAKING NEWS: THE IDENTITY OF THE SHOOTER HAS BEEN REVEALED, claimed the user, saying the shooter was a FEMBOY with a channel on YouTube.

None of that was true. The photo actually depicted a 22-year-old trans woman named Sabrina who lives in New York City. Sabrina, who requested her last name not be published due to privacy concerns, confirmed to The Associated Press that the photo was hers and also said she was not affiliated with the purported YouTube account.

Sabrina said she received harassing responses on social media, particularly messages claiming that she was the shooter. She responded to a number of posts spreading the image with the misidentification, asking for the posts to be deleted.

This whole ordeal is just horrifying, Sabrina told the AP.

Another photo that circulated widely showed a transgender woman with a Coca-Cola sweatshirt and a black skirt. A second photo showed the same woman wearing a black NASA shirt with a red skirt. These photos didnt show the gunman either  they were of a Reddit user named Sam, who confirmed her identity to the AP on Wednesday. The AP is not using Sams last name to protect her privacy.

Its not me, I dont even live in Texas, Sam wrote in a Reddit post.

Authorities have released no information on the gunman's sexuality or gender identification.

Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar fit both unfounded claims about Ramos in a single now-deleted tweet that also misspelled his name. Its a transsexual leftist illegal alien named Salvatore Ramos, Gosar tweeted Tuesday night.

Gosars office did not return a message seeking comment.

In some cases, misinformation about mass shootings or other events are spread by well-intentioned social media users trying to be helpful. In other cases, it can be the work of grifters looking to start fake fundraisers or draw attention to their website or organization.

Then there are the trolls who seemingly do it for fun.

Fringe online communities, including on 4chan, often use mass shootings and other tragedies as opportunities to sow chaos, troll the public and push harmful narratives, according to Ben Decker, founder and CEO of the digital investigations consultancy Memetica.

It is very intentional and deliberate for them in celebrating these types of incidents to also influence what the mainstream conversations actually are, Decker said. Theres a nihilistic desire to prove oneself in these types of communities by successfully trolling the public. So if you are able to spearhead a campaign that leads to an outcome like this, youre gaining increased sort of in-group credibility.

For the communities bearing the brunt of such vicious online attacks, though, the false blame stirs fears of further discrimination and violence.

Something as seemingly innocuous as a transphobic comment on social media can spark an act of violence against a transgender person, said Jaden Janak, a PhD candidate at the University of Texas and a junior fellow at the Center for Applied Transgender Studies.

These children and adults who were murdered yesterday were just living their lives," Janak said Wednesday. They didnt know that yesterday was going to be their last day. And similarly, as trans people, thats a fear that we have all the time.

___

Swenson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writers Angelo Fichera and Karena Phan contributed to this report.

More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings
NEW BOSTON, N.H. (AP)  Authorities have released the names of a police officer and security guard who fired at a man who died near the New Boston Space Force Station earlier this month.

Michael Foley, 33, of Massachusetts, was shot to death May 13 on an access road to the station, which tracks satellites and assists with tracking of commercial space launches.
CHARDON, Ohio (AP)  An Ohio woman who dumped the body of her newborn son in woods after giving birth in 1993 was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 15 years.

A jury convicted Gail Eastwood Ritchey, 51, of murder in early April in northeast Ohio's Geauga County. Ritchey's attorney argued at trial the baby was stillborn while a prosecutor said an autopsy showed the child had drawn breaths.

Ritchey, 51, appeared at Tuesday's hearing via a remote link from the Geauga County Jail at defense attorney Steven Bradley's request because of COVID-19 concerns. Bradley said Ritchey would not speak before sentencing because of a planned appeal of her conviction.

She has lived an exemplary life in the last 30 years, Bradley told Judge David Ondrey, noting the numerous letters of support from friends and family submitted to the court.

Ondrey told Ritchey before sentencing that her newborn didn't deserve what happened to him and that she took the easy way out by putting the boy in a garbage bag and tossing it into a wooded area where his body was mutilated by animals and dragged onto a rural road.

Newspaper carriers found the corpse in March 1993. County residents paid for the burial of the boy they named Geauga's Child.

Ondrey said he struggled with Ritchey's explanation that she was young, afraid and fearful of telling her strict father she was pregnant. He noted that Ritchey told detectives at the time of her arrest in July 2019 that she had disposed the body of another newborn in a field in Cuyahoga County in 1990 or 1991.

I think you knew what to do because you had done it before, Ondrey said. Calling you a monster who deserves life imprisonment is not an exaggeration.

Jurors did not hear her confession about the first newborn death because Ondrey said it would prejudice the jury, WJW-TV previously reported.

Ritchey was identified as the childs mother after a Geauga County sheriffs detective submitted DNA to a public genealogical website, created a family tree of 1,400 relatives and finally narrowed the search to Ritchey, who told investigators it was her baby. She was arrested in June 2019.

Bradley said at trial that Ritchey put the newborn in a garbage bag after delivering the child at a home where she worked as a nanny. She put the bag in the trunk of her car. Days later, she drove a group of girls from the church where she was a youth leader to a weekend retreat, snuck away, and left the bag in a wooded area.

Ritchey never told anyone she was pregnant, Bradley said, and did not realize when she sat down on a toilet at her employers home that she was about to give birth.

Ritchey later married the newborns father. They have three adult children.
Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

H-E-B is committing $500,000 to support the victims and families of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

The grocer will also provide meals and enable shoppers at its various stores -- H-E-B, Central Market, Joe Vs Smart Shop and Mi Tienda -- to make donations at the cash register or at checkout for curbside and home delivery orders.
The National Rifle Association will move forward with its annual meeting this weekend in downtown Houston, three days after a gunman opened fire on a South Texas classroom, killing 21 people, including 19 children.

NRA PROTESTS: Houstonians plan multiple protests at NRA convention in wake of Uvalde shooting

Here is what you need to know:

When is Trump speaking?

Amid calls to cancel the event, a defiant President Donald Trump reasserted his intention Wednesday to headline the gun lobby groups annual meeting.

The former president will deliver the keynote address Friday at 2 p.m. in what the NRA is calling a celebration of Second Amendment rights. A number of high-profile Texas Republicans also plan to attend.

America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship. Thats why I will keep my longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA convention and deliver an important address to America, Trump said in a statement Wednesday morning.

What will Trump say?

Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer

While it is unclear how Trump will address the specifics of Tuesdays school massacre in Uvalde, his five previous speeches to the gun advocacy organization provide some clues.

The former president spoke at five consecutive NRA annual meetings between 2016 and 2020, rarely hewing to a strict script in lengthy speeches that meandered through a range of topics, including his thoughts on drug prices, the border wall and Kanye West. But he was unequivocal on the issue of guns.

In his 2019 speech in Indianapolis, Trump praised states that allow teachers to carry guns in the classroom.

NRA CONVENTION IN HOUSTON: Guns are banned at Houston NRA conference where Trump is speaking  but it's not because of Uvalde

More than 30 states now allow teachers that are highly trained to carry guns in the classroom to protect themselves and to protect their students, who they love, he said.

He also said NRA members were under threat from Washington: Far-left radicals in Congress want to take away your voice, your jobs, your rights, and they especially want to take away your guns."

At the 2018 convention in Dallas, he reassured NRA members that gun law reform would fail.

Your Second Amendment rights are under siege, but they will never ever be under siege as long as I am your president, he told a cheering crowd.

Who else will speak at the convention, and when?

In addition to Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz are expected to speak Friday afternoon during what NRA bills as its leadership forum between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Sen. John Cornyn was still listed on the NRA website as a speaker, but his office said that he would be unable to attend due to an unexpected change in his schedule that occurred prior to the Uvalde shooting. Staffers were unable to elaborate on the conflict.

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw also backed out following the shooting and said he instead intended to travel to Ukraine.

Are protests planned?

Yes. Protests are set to begin at noon Friday at Discovery Green  across from the George R. Brown Convention Center where the NRA Convention will be held. Black Lives Matter Houston, Indivisible Houston, Moms Demand Action and the Harris County Democratic Party have said they will be mobilizing.

Houston Mayor Turner offered few details Wednesday when asked about the city's plan to manage protests on Discovery Green, but said his administration "will endure there are safe zones for everyone involved."

What is the purpose of the NRA?

Brett Coomer/Staff photographer

Founded in 1871, the National Rifle Association of America initially sought to promote rifle marksmanship. It is now the largest gun rights advocacy group in the U.S. and is known for its efforts to quash gun reform.

In the late 20th century, advocates often invoked a slogan the organization made famous on bumper stickers and commercials starring actor Charlton Heston, who served as the organization's president for five terms: "I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands."

How is the NRA perceived by gun reform advocates?

As mass shootings have become more commonplace in the 21st century, opposition to the NRA has grown. Survivors of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, formed the March For Our Lives movement to end gun violence and spoke at protests around the country. Sandy Hook Promise, founded by parents who lost children in a 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, trains students and adults to recognize signs of potentially violent behavior.

Following mass shootings, the NRA's longtime CEO Wayne LaPierre frequently labeled shooters, during media appearances, as "lone actors" and gun rights activists as "opportunists" who "exploit tragedy for political gain." He often said it was best to let families grieve. It was too soon to talk about changing laws.

Isn't the NRA in bankruptcy proceedings?

The NRA declared bankruptcy early last year while it was under investigation by the New York Attorney General's office. The group said it would reincorporate in Texas to avoid potential prosecution.

What is the "NRA Institute for Legislative Action?"

The Institute for Legislative Action, or ILA, is the NRAs lobbying arm. Known as the most powerful gun lobby in the U.S., the institute spends millions of dollars each year on donations and efforts to influence legislation. The lobbying group is credited with promoting the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, and pushing to roll back the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Besides speeches, what happens at the NRA convention?

From Thursday to Sunday, the convention center will host firearms manufacturers in roughly 14 acres of exhibition space showcasing guns and gear from across the rifle industry.

The convention center on Wednesday was already plastered with signs celebrating the group's 150th anniversary. Banners promoting gun sponsors and gun giveaways hung from the rafters, while a giant NRA billboard loomed over Highway 610 South.
OnScene.Tv

A man fatally shot his roommate Tuesday night at an apartment complex in northwest Houston, according to authorities.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting around 9:40 p.m. at Villa Nueva apartments on the 5300 block of West Gulf Bank Road and found a man shot in his torso, Houston police said.
OnScene.Tv

Houston police shot and injured a man early Wednesday who opened fire while officers were investigating a report that he was trying to kill himself, authorities said.

Officers were dispatched to the 4500 block of Warm Springs around 2:35 a.m. on a wellness check and began investigating the outside of the residence while waiting for back up, Houston Police Department Asst. Chief Ban Tien said. The man earlier told 911 calltakers that he wanted to kill himself, police said.
Houston Chronicle

A 10-month-old child who was found in a hot vehicle last Friday outside a southwest Houston home died of hyperthermia, according to Galveston County officials.

The baby, identified as Adalyn Birdow, was found in a car seat in the sweltering vehicle around 1:30 p.m. in the 5100 block of Ingomar Way. She was rushed to a Brazoria County hospital in Pearland but did not survive.
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A Seabrook man pleaded guilty Wednesday for his actions during the 2021 Capitol insurrection in Washington, according to a news release from the the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia.

Christian Cortez, 28, pleaded guilty in Washington to a felony charge of civil disorder and will be sentenced on Aug. 31, the release stated.

Authorities said Cortez and Benjamin Larocca, also of Seabrook, traveled to Washington from Texas to attend a rally on Jan. 6 near the Washington Monument, according to court documents. After making their way to the Capitol from the rally, they joined insurrectionists in breaching a secured area by climbing the stairs and entering into the Capitol's upper west terrace.

Both men then entered the Parliamentarian door and were inside the Capitol building for about 13 minutes before law enforcement prevented them from proceeding further into the building, court records state.

Uvalde School Shooting: Abbott says 'evil' Uvalde gunman shot grandmother in face

The men then joined another group of rioters attempting to break down the Capitol's north doors when Cortez allegedly stepped in front of the doors officers were trying to seal and began swearing at them while calling them "oath breakers," court documents added.

Cortez was sprayed with a chemical irritant but refused to move and yelled at the officers, according to the documents. Both men were arrested on March 26, 2021 in Seabrook.

Cortez faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, the press release stated.

Larocca, 28, pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor charge of engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with the intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business, the release added.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, over 800 people have been arrested for crimes related to the breach. The total includes 250 people who were charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement during the incident.

Joel.Umanzor@chron.com
Shock and devastation spread Tuesday among educators across the Houston region and state in the immediate wake of a mass shooting at an Uvalde elementary school that resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers.

Gov. Greg Abbott said the suspected shooter, an 18-year-old, was killed. He was believed to have been killed by officers responding to shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles west of San Antonio and 275 miles west of Houston.

Police at Houston ISD, the state's largest school system, were "evaluating safety measures on our campuses and will adjust accordingly," Superintendent Millard House II said. There were no current threats, he added.

"Our hearts ache as we share in the grief and pain of the Uvalde community. Robb Elementary children, teachers, staff, and families experienced what no one should, let alone at a place we trust is safe for our children," House said. "I will hold my children a little tighter when I see them as I'm sure many of you will as well. Let us hold the families of those who have lost loved ones just as tightly in our thoughts and send them the strength to get through this unimaginable pain."

Zeph Capo, the president of Texas AFT and a former board member of Houston schools, called for "legislation that addresses some of the most basic requirements for ensuring that unstable people dont take the lives of our children and teachers."

"The only thing that could break our hearts further is to allow these .. beautiful souls to become yet another set of numbers in someones stats folder," Capo said in a statement. Nineteen "children will never graduate. A teacher wont go home again. Countless others are wounded for the rest of their lives. Now is the time for change."

The National Association of Social Workers Texas Chapters said schools should be safe, supportive havens for students.

"We encourage the Texas Legislature to review the steps it takes to obtain a firearm in Texas, and explore all avenues that strengthen school safety and help prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future," the association said in a statement.

In the meantime, Conroe, Spring and other area districts said they plan to increase police presence in response to the shooting. Spring is also banning backpacks thru the end of the school year.

Friendswood ISD posted a picture on Twitter that read, "Our hearts are with Uvalde."

Aldine, Spring and Spring Branch ISDs made similar statements.

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said he hopes the nation has not grown numb to these mass tragedies.

My heart is aching for all the families in Uvalde, Texas who are living through every parents greatest fear and worst nightmare: a shooting in their childrens school," he said. "As a parent, I am filled with grief for the families and students; concern that as our schools move past pandemic closures, the fear of shootings has become all too real once again; and anger at the lack of will by many to pass legislation that can protect our children."

The Department of Education will offer all federal resources to help the Robb Elementary School community recover, he said.

I spent the formative part of my career in a Connecticut elementary school. I will never forget the ripple effect of fear and heartbreak that spread among students and teachers in the aftermath of the horrific Sandy Hook shooting. We must unite as a country against this senseless cycle of violence, act immediately to protect our children, and make sure that every child and every educator feels safe in our schools, he said.

alejandro.serrano@chron.com
Norma Gonzalez didnt plan to be in Houston this weekend. The immigration advocate was going to be in Corpus Christi for a conference with other professionals in her field, to strategize about how they could best work together to serve their community.

Instead, Gonzalez, 26, will be at Discovery Green on Friday protesting the National Rifle Associations upcoming convention. Headlining the event are former President Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz and other high-ranking Texas Republicans who plan to speak in support of gun owners rights just three days after a gunman armed with an AR-15 killed 19 children and two adults in Uvalde.

EXPLAINER: What to know about the NRA convention in Houston, days after the Uvalde school shooting

Shell be thinking of her cousins who are teachers in San Antonio and Harlingen, and her nieces and nephews who go to school every day unsure of what theyll face.

Its really important that I stand with my city because every time this happens its closer and closer to home, and you never know when itll be somebody you know, Gonzalez said, after tweeting out a list of protests scheduled in hopes she could encourage others to join her.

Fridays protest at noon on Discovery Green  across from the George R. Brown Convention Center where the NRA Convention will be held  is being organized by Black Lives Matter Houston, Indivisible Houston, Moms Demand Action and the Harris County Democratic Party.

Ashton Woods, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Houston, said that the organizers will make space for survivors of gun violence to speak to the supporters and convention attendees. He said elected officials will likely make remarks as well. He also hopes to turn the event into a mass voter registration event.

Theres some audacity to be having that convention in the City of Houston, and its a slap in the face to Texans not just because of what happened (Monday) but because once upon a time, Harris County was deeply conservative, and thats not the case anymore, Woods said.

FIEL Houston, an immigrant advocacy group, will join the protest and is planning an action for 1 p.m. directly in front of the convention center, at 1001 Avenida De Las Americas. Previous demonstrations, however, such as the Indigenous protest against the World Petrol Congress, have been moved to fenced off areas on the sidewalk between Discovery Green and the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL, said he has informed the Houston Police Department of the planned protest. He said the mobilization is critical because of the groups solidarity with the majority population of Uvalde.

NRA CONVENTION: Guns are banned at Houston NRA conference where Trump is speaking  but it's not because of Uvalde

We want to do a direct action right in front of the convention center. We want to be seen, said Espinosa. This was a highly Latino community, and we want to make sure their voices are heard and our community gets to express that frustration that weve felt for so long.

Houston police said they are aware of the planned protests and will make zones available to protest in, and referred questions about protests to the Discovery Green Conservancy.

Woods, of Black Lives Matter Houston, said that he is coordinating with the Conservancy for Fridays protest, which the Conservancy confirmed, and does not anticipate any issues.

Were not there to incite anything, were just there to make the (NRA) uncomfortable and run them out of Houston, Woods said.

The League of United Latin American Citizens is also hosting a protest outside the convention centers main entrance at 10 a.m., and a Houston interfaith group is planning to gather for prayer and a march at 1 p.m.

On Thursday, a protest led by the John Cornyn Houston Office Protest group is planned for 3:30 p.m. at City Hall to demand that Mayor Sylvester Turner cancel the NRA Convention.

If the city can determine that protests are illegal gatherings and disperse them, then why cant it declare an NRA convention with Trump and Cruz a center of insurrection and domestic terrorism? said Neil Aquino, an organizer of the protest.

I dont understand how domestic terrorists and insurrectionists preaching replacement theory get use of the convention center in the most diverse city in America, Aquino said.

A petition to cancel the convention, organized by the Cornyn protest group had garnered over 6,300 signatures by Wednesday afternoon. Over 1,600 people signed a similar petition created by a local physicians group.

Turner pushed back on those requests at a City Council meeting on Wednesday, arguing that the event had been booked for over two years and that the city was contractually obligated to move forward with it or face lawsuits.

Trump, Abbott and Cruz were still booked to speak at the convention as of Tuesday evening. And the NRA was holding its ground.

Our deepest sympathies are with the families and victims involved in this horrific and evil crime, the NRA said in a statement. As we gather in Houston, we will reflect on these events, pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members and pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure.

sam.kelly@chron.com
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A man accused of starving and beating his girlfriends 8-year-old twin daughters, one of whom died from complications from malnutrition and blunt force trauma, was ordered held on a combined $3 million bail, a judge on Wednesday decided.

Ruben Moreno, 29, is jailed on three charges, capital murder of a child and two counts of injury to a child, causing serious bodily injury, in connection to the abuse aimed at Melanie Mendoza and her surviving twin sister. Both girls were born with the birth defect microcephaly, where a baby's head is much smaller than normal, according to Child Protective Services records.

Melanie died Dec. 21, 2020, after being rushed to a hospital for nausea and losing consciousness. An officer called out to investigate the death noted that she looked to be extremely underweight and small for her age.

Her twin survived and gained 11 pounds while away from her mothers care. She and Melanie weighed less than 30 pounds at the time of her death.

Judge Ana Martinez in the 179th District Court ordered that bail for each of Morenos charges be set at $1 million  an amount that prosecutors suggested.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Bodycam footage shows Houston police officer react in surprise after fatally shooting man

Morenos defense attorney, Mario Madrid, had recommended that the judge set the bail at a combined $1.5 million  acknowledging that while his client has family in Houston, he would likely be unable to afford that amount.

Court records show that Moreno is to be kept separate from his girlfriend, Soledad Mendoza, the mother of the twin girls, in the Harris County Jail. The two started dating in 2020 after she and her children moved to Houston from San Antonio.

Prosecutors said they believe the abuse against the twins started years earlier in San Antonio. CPS workers in 2018 opened a case into the family. The girls at that time were failing to gain a healthy weight and doctors noted their concerns in medical records dating back to 2014.

Mendoza was repeatedly warned that the twins were below the normal growth for children their age, according to authorities.

Police also said they believe that Moreno and Mendoza forced the twins into trash bags and would lock them in a closet. Both, forced to wear diapers, were often denied food and scavenged for food scraps in their garbage can, according to court records.

Prosecutors noted that the twins siblings, ages 12, 10 and a newborn, showed no signs of abuse.

nicole.hensley@chron.com
TY WRIGHT, STR / New York Times

Former President Donald Trump will address the National Rifle Association Friday in Houston, and attendees will not be permitted to bring firearms to the speech in deference to Secret Service rules that were in place before Tuesdays school shooting in South Texas that killed 19 children and two teachers.

Per the U.S. Secret Service, firearms, firearm accessories, knives, and other items will not be permitted in the General Assembly Hall at the George R. Brown Convention Center during the former presidents speech, the NRA said in a statement on its website earlier this month. Attendees also will be required to pass through metal detectors upon entering the assembly, the group noted.
UVALDE  Kelly Baker snipped long green stems on Wednesday morning at her small floral shop and tucked white carnations, hydrangeas and larkspurs into a basket for a man whose daughter was murdered at school.

Meanwhile, the phones at The Flower Patch on Getty Street near downtown kept ringing and ringing.

Baker, 44, picked up a call.

Flower Patch, she said from her busy work station. Its been a rough morning.

Its been a day since a gunman slaughtered 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Live updates from the deadly school shooting in Uvalde

Now, as heartbreak and devastation ripple through the tight-knit community, the florist and her small team are preparing for a daunting task. They must fill a cascade of orders from grieving friends and family members, coordinate with people offering help from across the country and create floral arrangements for the impending funerals and memorials for scores of small children.

These babies, their lives are gone  and its tragic, Baker said. And then having to put flowers on babies caskets - thats just something no one should ever have to do.

Florists from San Antonio, just east of here, and beyond are stepping in to help with the overwhelming demand. People were on their way to Uvalde with flowers in hand.

The outpouring is insane, Baker said. Ive already had four florists call me and say Were driving down. Were just going to donate our time.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Uvalde school shooting: What we know about the 21 victims, including 19 kids, so far

Another florist asked Baker what kind of flowers she wanted and told her shed be there with the supplies after lunchtime. I said Anything  Ill take anything, Baker said.

The shop was not expected its once-a-week shipment of flowers until Thursday, she said, and they do not have enough flowers to meet the needs of the community.

Typically, the start of summer vacation marks a slowdown for the flower industry, Baker said. A wall-to-wall calendar in her shop marks important upcoming holidays with a red asterisk. There was nothing significant expected between Mothers Day and Memorial Day.

We werent prepared for this, she said. Of course, you cant prepare for this. I dont have a clue. I just know Im going to keep doing what Im doing and hope that its the best we can do for these families.

Baker, whose blonde hair was pulled back in a bun as she worked, said she bought the floral shop roughly 10 years ago after leaving a career in accounting.

Mary Frances Zavala, meanwhile, began working at the shop a month ago. It was a dream job, she said, and her teenage daughters loved that she came home smelling like flowers. Still, she was learning even as she pitched in with the unprecedented task at hand.

Baker and Zavala said they heard reports about the deadly shooting on Tuesday through text messages before media outlets began reporting on the massacre. They saw police swarm to the scene.

Since then, Baker said she has seen the faces of the missing or dead children in wrenching Facebook posts and recognized some of the familys last names.

It is such a small town, she said. If I dont know the mom or the dad  I usually know the aunt or the cousin or the grandmother.

Zavala felt the same way. Eva Mireles, a teacher slain in the shooting, was an acquaintance who went to the same gym, Zavala said.

She loved to run - she was always running, Zavala said. We would see her on the street.

Zavala said some of her family members are teachers at Anthon Elementary School, located less than 3 miles from the gunmans destination.

So you know, she said, it could have been any of us.

anna.bauman@chron.com
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Mayor Sylvester Turner resisted calls Wednesday to cancel the NRA's annual meeting in Houston in light of the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, saying the city had a contractual obligation to move forward with the event that he said has been booked for more than two years.

The city could face lawsuits if it backed out now, the mayor said during a City Council meeting Wednesday morning.

On HoustonChronicle.com: 'My heart is broken': At least 19 students, 2 adults killed in elementary school shooting in Uvalde

The National Rifle Association addressed the deadly school shooting for the first time Wednesday afternoon calling it "the act of a lone, deranged criminal."

"As we gather in Houston, we will reflect on these events, pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members, and pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure," the gun advocacy group said in a statement.

Turner did not mention President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to attend, but questioned why Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz agreed to speak at a gathering of gun advocates so soon after the deadly shooting that killed 19 children and two adults.

"You can't pray and send condolences on one day and go and champion guns on the next," the mayor said, referring to Abbott and Cruz. "That is wrong."

On HoustonChronicle.com: Beto O'Rourke confronts Abbott during news conference on Uvalde mass shooting: 'This is on you'

The meeting is set to take place at the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown, beginning Thursday and lasting through Sunday. About 55,000 people are expected to attend, according to Houston First, the government corporation that oversees the convention center.

Former President Donald Trump will address the National Rifle Association on Friday, and attendees will not be permitted to bring firearms to the speech.



Trump reasserted on Wednesday that he is still going to attend.
As Uvalde reels from the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, there are ways Texans can help.

Nonprofits and other organizations are looking for blood donations, funds for the victims' families and legal assistance.

Below are ways you can help:

Donate blood

University Health System, the largest transfuser of blood in the greater San Antonio area, is urging people to donate blood.

Your donation can help ensure we have supplies immediately available for the victims of this tragic shooting, University Health System tweeted.

Many of University Health Systems online appointments are booked through the middle of June, according to its website.

South Texas Blood & Tissue said in a news release on Tuesday that thanks to generous blood donors, we were able to send 15 units of blood to Uvalde via helicopter to be available at the site of the shooting and at the area hospitals.

Later that afternoon, the organization received a request and sent an additional 10 units of blood to a hospital in Uvalde.

South Texas Blood & Tissue is also holding an emergency blood drive in Uvalde on Wednesday. The organization recently said on Twitter that its donors are experiencing a two-hour wait time and that all of its appointments were booked through Saturday.

However, the organization stressed that help would still be needed beyond that point and encouraged people to schedule and keep appointments for the following week.

Donate money

Communities across the country have come together to donate money to help Uvalde.

GoFundMe is vetting these and has added verified fundraisers to a hub, which you can find here.

Among the fundraisers are those created by the victims' families to help pay for medical costs and funeral expenses. There is also a fundraiser organized by VictimsFirst, a network of survivors and relatives affected by previous mass shootings.

The organization said it started the fund to make sure that 100 percent of what is collected goes DIRECTLY to the victim base so the victims families and those wounded/injured are protected from fraud and exploitation.

As of Wednesday morning, the majority of verified fundraisers, including an effort to raise money for funeral expenses for the family of Xavier Lopez, had exceeded their fundraising goals.

GoFundMe has also compiled advice on how to avoid scammers.

University Health System's Foundation has set up a Uvalde victim's relief fund to help support the patients and families who are being cared for at the hospital. Find more information on the foundation's website.

The Community Foundation of Texas Hill Country, a nonprofit based northwest of San Antonio, has started a relief fund for the victims and their families, as well as others affected by the Uvalde shooting. You can donate on their website.

Legal aid services needed

The San Antonio Legal Services Association in a Facebook post said it is in need of volunteer attorneys who are licensed to practice in Texas.

Volunteer NOW to assist Uvalde Shooting Victims and Families with Unmet Legal Needs, the organization wrote on Facebook. SALSA will respond with pro bono assistance as called upon to do so by community partners and civic leaders over the coming weeks.

SALSA is asking qualified attorneys to email them with their areas of practice and availability through June to UvaldeResponse@sa-lsa.org.
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UVALDE  An 18-year-old high school student opened fire on a South Texas elementary school Tuesday, killing at least 19 students and two teachers in what now stands as the deadliest school shooting in state history.

Salvador Ramos allegedly shot his grandmother, before fleeing around 11:30 a.m. in a car that he crashed outside Robb Elementary School, a campus of 600 second through fourth graders in a predominantly Hispanic town 85 miles west of San Antonio, authorities said.

He got out of the wrecked car carrying one of two AR platform rifles that he reportedly legally bought the prior week, authorities said. He also carried 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, according to State Sen. John Whitmire, who was briefed on the incident.

UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING: Everything we know about the 21 Uvalde victims so far

The teen, who acted alone, was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was working nearby, authorities said.

My heart is broken today, Uvalde CISD Superintendent Hal Harrell said at a news conference. We are a small community. We will need your prayers to get us through this.

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles died trying to protect her students, her aunt Lydia Martinez Delgado told the New York Times. Mireles was a married mother in her early 40s and proud of teaching students who were of Latino heritage.

Other victims have not yet been identified. In addition to those killed, Uvalde Memorial Hospital Chief Executive Officer Thomas Nordwick said they treated 14 patients who either remained, went home or were transferred to other hospitals for higher levels of care. Eleven were children.

EDITORIAL: Gov. Greg Abbott says 'never again.' Don't fall for it, Texans.

Four patients  including a 66-year-old woman and 10-year-old girl in critical condition  were being treated as of Tuesday night at University Hospital in San Antonio. Brooke Army Medical Center, located on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, said it also admitted two patients in critical condition. The grandmother, who worked for the school as recently as 2020, survived the shooting at her home, authorities said.

Ramos entered Robb Elementary School at 11:32 a.m. and shot and killed horrifically, incomprehensibly, Gov. Greg Abbott said. The governor said two law enforcement officers were hit by bullets but not seriously injured. Seven 30-round magazines were found at the school.

ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images Jon Shapley/Staff photographer The unspeakable tragedy in South Texas now stands as the deadliest school shooting in state history.

A chaotic scene unfolded Tuesday afternoon at the Uvalde Civic Center, where authorities reunited crying children and parents. They included 53-year-old Jessie Rodriguez, who left his job as a carpenter to look for his 10-year-old daughter, Annabelle Gaudalupe Rodriguez.

It was picture day at the campus, which was just days from summer break, he said, showing the photo on his phone.

FACT CHECK: Was the Uvalde school shooting a false flag? No.

Christian Soeora, 37, also went straight to the school when he heard the news. He picked up his daughter and another relative. She escaped with two teachers and several other students from behind the school and hid behind some trees, her fourth-grade teacher told Soeora.

Im just worried about all these other kids, Soeora said.

The shooting in Uvalde came less than two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., killing 10 Black shoppers and workers in what officials have described as a hate crime. It marks the worst elementary school shooting in Texas and the second-worst elementary school shooting in modern U.S. history.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 left 26 dead, including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old. Four years ago, 10 were killed at a shooting at Santa Fe High School.

Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in Gods name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies? Its time to turn this pain into action, President Joe Biden said in a speech late Tuesday.

Grief and anger over the crime and what should be done around gun policy was felt in Houston and throughout the state. Public officials from both sides of the political aisle emailed statements and wrote comments on Twitter. A group also gathered for a candlelight vigil in Houston.

The deadly massacre took place just before the National Rifle Associations convention is scheduled to take place this weekend at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The building was covered with banners promoting gun sponsors and gun giveaways during the four-day event.

William Luther/San Antonio Express-News

Attorney General Ken Paxton asked for prayers. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz on television accused Democrats and the media of politicizing mass shootings, according to Twitter. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn issued a statement calling the shooting every parent and teachers worst nightmare.

Asked Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Twitter: How much longer will we be willing to put the interests of the gun lobby over the lives of innocent people? Asked Mayor Sylvester Turner in a statement: How many more children must lose their lives from senseless gun violence?

Houston ISD Superintendent Millard House II said in a statement that students and staff at Robb Elementary had experienced what no one should, let alone at a place we trust is safe for our children. He said he would hold his children a little tighter and send the families in Uvalde who lost loved ones strength to get through this unimaginable pain.

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Resident Linda Morales, 66, stayed glued to the TV. The Houston resident attended Robb Elementary as a child. She was shocked by the events rocking her hometown, a close-knit community where she said mothers typically walk their kids to school.

When is it going to stop? Morales said.

A heavy police presence remained outside the school Tuesday evening, with FBI agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents coming and going from the building. Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is leading the investigation, Abbott said.

Emilie Eaton, Taylor Pettaway, Laura Garcia and Sig Christenson contributed to this report from San Antonio. Cayla Harris contributed from Austin. Anna Bauman, Nora Mishanec, Alejandero Serrano and Ben Wermund also contributed to this report.

eeaton@express-news.net
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The mass shooting at a Texas elementary school has resulted in the deaths of 21 people so far, including 19 children.

The shooting took place at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles west of San Antonio and 275 miles west of Houston. Police said the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was believed to be killed by responding officers.

For updates on the shooting, follow the Houston Chronicle's live coverage here.

Here's everything we know about the Uvalde victims so far:

Fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles died while trying to protect her students, her aunt Lydia Martinez Delgado told the New York Times. Mireles was married and had a child of her own. She was in her early 40s and proud of teaching students who were of Latino heritage.

She was adventurous. I would definitely say those wonderful things about her. She is definitely going to be very missed, 34-year-old relative Amber Ybarra, of San Antonio, told the Associated Press.

A father identified his 10-year-old daughter, Amerie Jo Garza, as one of the children who died in Tuesday's shooting, according to CNN.

"Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby. Shes been found," Angel Garza wrote in a Facebook post early Wednesday morning. "My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please dont take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie jo. Watch over your baby brother for me."

Ten-year-old Xavier Lopez is among the children who died in Tuesday's shooting, according to a reporter from KSAT 12, a San Antonio news station. He was in fourth grade.

He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today, the boy's cousin, Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, Texas, told the Associated Press. He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.

Ten-year-old Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez is another one of the children who died in Tuesday's shooting, according to a KHOU reporter. She was in the third grade.

Another victim of the Uvalde school shooting has been identified. The Associated Press reported late Tuesday night that 8-year-old Uziyah Garcia was among the 19 children who lost their lives in the shooting.

The sweetest little boy that Ive ever known, Manny Renfro, the boy's grandfather, said. Im not just saying that because he was my grandkid.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Sacrificial lamb has become such a cliche over the years for a person unduly persecuted or punished that we rarely think of the real-life precedent for the venerable figure of speech.

Sacrificial lamb. In ancient Jewish tradition, a community would symbolically place its sins on the back of an animal, often a goat, and the people would either drive the animal into the wilderness or cut its throat in ritual sacrifice. The chosen creature symbolically freed the people from their sins. Christians adapted the custom as metaphor, seeing in Jesus life and death a sacrifice that took away the sins of the world.

In this country, and in this time, true believers in another sphere also believe in sacrificial lambs.

Those who misread the U.S. Constitution to guarantee an absolute and inviolable right to own a weapon crafted for killing also accept ritual sacrifice  metaphorically, of course, but uncomfortably close to bloody reality.

The innocent come in many forms: kindergarten kids in a Connecticut school, country-music concertgoers in Las Vegas, small-town churchgoers in Sutherland Springs, Walmart patrons in El Paso, grocery shoppers in Buffalo, N.Y., and now, at least 19 elementary-school children and two teachers in Uvalde.

No other industrialized nation tolerates such aberrant sacrifice as the cost of adherence to an abstract principle. No other nation accepts the loss of innocent life as mere collateral damage.

Wailing over the blood of our sacrificial lambs, we engage in ceremonial tears and hand-wringing, but in due time, priests of the gun remind us that nothing, absolutely nothing  other than, of course, more guns  can be done to save the lives of the innocent. No change in the law, no matter how modest, can be enacted to repudiate our obeisance to the gun and its holy writ, the Second Amendment to the Constitution. So they tell us.

Heres our own U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz playing his accustomed ceremonial role: Today is a dark day, the Texas Republican said in a statement. In Twitter posts, Cruz said the nation has seen too many of these shootings but did not immediately call for any specific policy proposals to help prevent little Uvalde kids and their counterparts around the country from being slaughtered. The states junior senator  renowned for frying bacon on the barrel of an AR-15 in a campaign ad, and for hauling in more than $440,000 in lifetime donations from the gun rights lobby, the most in Congress  is scheduled to speak at the National Rifle Associations annual meeting in Houston on Friday.

It's noteworthy that discussions about reforming gun laws were relatively meager in the wake of the Buffalo mass killing. (Buffalo was last week, remember?) A race-obsessed teenager wielding a weapon of war ambushes a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood, killing 10 people and injuring three more. We mourn, briefly, but since we are not the one dead, to paraphrase the poet Robert Frost, we turn to our affairs.

Whether the horror of what has happened to fourth-graders in a pleasant, little town on the western edge of the Hill Country will jolt us back into a sense of shared humanity  and clear-eyed resolve  is an open question. After all, children have served as sacrificial lambs before.

This editorial board hates to admit that we are not entirely immune from the malignant pessimism about gun reform that seems to have infected even true believers in democratic change. At times, its as if, after so many horrific incidents, we all have taken to heart the pronouncements of the gun priests: In a nation of 335 million people and 400 million guns, nothing can be done (except to amass more guns).

One of the few reforms to receive even cursory attention in the wake of the Buffalo massacre was the efficacy of so-called red-flag laws (in large part because New Yorks didnt work). These laws have gained favor in recent years, and are on the books in 19 states  but not in Texas, of course.

Red-flag laws allow family members, law enforcement, school officials or other third parties to ask a court to temporarily remove a persons guns if theyre concerned about the guns being misused. If a judge, after a due process hearing, finds the person to be a danger to himself or others  raising a red flag, in other words  he or she must surrender all firearms to the police for a specified period of time. The person also cant buy or sell guns during that time.

State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, filed red-flag legislation last session. The measures failed to get out of committee, just as they had failed the two previous sessions. In 2021, the mass of lawmakers were more interested in making sure their fellow Texans  including a troubled 18-year-old in Uvalde  could carry guns without licensing or even training. That law passed, with great fanfare.

[Uvalde] is exactly what the red-flag law would have addressed, Whitmire told us on Tuesday afternoon. Im angry, frustrated and saddened. When are people going to demand that we take action? And red-flag laws are just a small step.

Like most reforms, they arent silver bullets. Even though the 18-year-old in Buffalo underwent a mental-health evaluation last year after revealing he was contemplating murder-suicide, officials did not refer him to the courts for a red-flag hearing, since his remark wasnt considered specific enough for authorities to act. As a result, there was nothing to indicate to the small-town gun-shop owner who sold the teen his AR-15 like rifle the sale should be questioned.

Still, these laws are a tool most experts agree are likely to save lives. A Connecticut study, as reported by the New York Times, estimated that the states red-flag law prevented one suicide for every 10 to 20 people subjected to gun seizures. A 2019 California study found it was used in mass-shooting threats 21 times.

Allison Anderman, senior counsel for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, insisted in an Associated Press story that the studies proved the law worked, even if absolute proof is elusive.

Its very hard to prove a law is effective based on things not happening," she said.

Even though polls regularly show that Texans support red-flag measures, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton and their cohorts in the Legislature prefer a silencing-the-lambs approach. Better to sacrifice 19 here, a dozen there, than to break with firearms fundamentalists in unholy thrall to the NRA. Until voters break with that sort of firearms foolishness, innocent lambs will continue dying.

We share the anger and frustration of Texans, and all Americans, who are fed up with elected leaders who prioritize their own political hides over those of the innocents left vulnerable by their lax gun laws. But despair leads nowhere. So we continue to hope for a new day in Texas and elsewhere. We urge Texans to rise up in protest, lawmakers of conscience to take action, and new voters to join the legions of citizens who will make a stand in November against the extremism in this state that is smoothing the path for the next predictable, preventable tragedy.
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Another mass shooting. This time at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. It was predictable and perhaps even preventable.

Texans want safe schools and reasonable improvements to gun control and mental health policies, but state policymakers have failed to enact common-sense policies that would save lives.

The trauma endured in the Uvalde community was predictable because Texas has already witnessed too many mass shootings in schools, churches and retail stores without any meaningful policy changes to date. The Uvalde school shooting was also the 27th school shooting this year.

Four other mass shootings stand out and should have brought about significant policy changes. In 2019, a 21-year-old racist from the Dallas area drove to El Paso and killed 23 people. A few weeks later, another mass shooting killed 8 people in Midland-Odessa. In 2018, 10 adults and students were killed and 13 were injured by a 17-year-old student at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area. In 2017, 26 people were killed at a Sutherland Springs church  the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history.

In the wake of the El Paso shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott said, Our goal is to make sure we do everything we can to make sure a crime like this doesnt happen again. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said on Fox News he was willing to take an arrow from the National Rifle Association for strengthening background checks. Unfortunately, the Texas Legislature went in the opposite direction and made it legal for individuals to carry handguns without a license or training in 2021.

Days after the Santa Fe shooting, Abbott presented a 40-page list of recommendations to improve school safety, including providing mental health evaluations that identify students at risk of harming others. Yet, many of these recommendations were never implemented, and the events in Uvalde suggest that many schools are not safer.

Mass shootings keep happening amid broken political promises. And most Texans report a desire for reform. Overall, almost 60 percent of Texans oppose unlicensed carry, and almost half of Texas voters would make gun laws stricter if they could. Only 18 percent of Texans oppose criminal and mental health background checks.

The failure to listen to the public consensus on gun control is also made worse by a broken school finance system. A recent analysis revealed that Texas was among the bottom three states nationally (with Alabama and Mississippi) for funding adequacy at the district level. Consequently, although the Legislature passed mental health laws after the Santa Fe shooting, many Texas schools lack a full-time school counselor who can conduct mental health assessments, work with teachers to implement a mental health program for the school, and provide counseling to students and families in need.

These policy failures are unacceptable. As education researchers, we have been in hundreds of schools across the state and interviewed and worked with teachers, principals, superintendents and school counselors. They care deeply about their students, and they need help.

We hope the horrific events at Robb Elementary School compel state policymakers to enact common-sense reforms. They can start by reviewing state policies that allow teenagers to access weapons.

Policymakers should also address the lack of mental health support within schools. In many rural contexts like Uvalde, schools can be an important community hub for health care and mental health support. Additional investments can be made to ensure every school has a school counselor and student caseloads do not exceed 250 students.

In addition, the state can provide additional funding for training school counselors, providing additional professional development for all school personnel on mental health, and assisting schools and community organizations in implementing research-informed community and school violence prevention programs.

We all want a safer Texas where children and adults do not need to live in fear of the next mass shooting. Gun violence is complicated and each case is unique, but we need state policymakers to support our schools and enact common-sense gun control policies to prevent the next mass shooting.

David DeMatthews is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at The University of Texas at Austin. Carleton Brown is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Services at The University of Texas at El Paso.
Within the last two weeks, the country has seen the two deadliest mass shootings of the year, both committed by 18-year-olds. The motive for Tuesdays attack on elementary school children in Uvalde, Texas, is still unknown. But the motive for the Buffalo attack appears clear from the online screed left by the accused attacker. Influenced by the great replacement theory, he sought to kill as many Black people as he could. Ten died.

This is terrorism by definition: the use of violence to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence government policy. In the United States, it is often accomplished using semiautomatic weapons.

Permissive gun laws and easy access to firearms make the United States a prime target for firearms-based terrorist attacks like the one in Buffalo. They subject the population to the constant threat of mass shootings like the one in Uvalde, where 19 children and two adults were fatally shot. Whether that shooting ultimately meets the statutory definition of terrorism or not, it certainly has terrified people nationwide, raising fears yet again that children are at risk, even in their schools, by a violence abetted by the ready availability of semiautomatic weapons.

In Buffalo, the shooter was armed with a semiautomatic assault rifle. Officials have yet to say if the Texas shooter used a semiautomatic weapon or weapons; news media have reported that he bought two of them for his recent 18th birthday.

Along with dozens of former national security and law enforcement officials, I warned about the dangers of unfettered access to firearms in a brief filed with the Supreme Court in the latest gun case to come before the justices, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

That pending case concerns restrictions on carrying concealed firearms. But whether the gun is concealed or not, there is no question that the ready availability of guns in the United States challenges not only public safety but also national security. The United States must treat the easy access to semiautomatic weapons as the national security threat it is.

Foreign terrorist organizations have long urged their followers to take advantage of lax U.S. gun laws to plan attacks in the United States.

In 2017, an Islamic State propaganda video featured a reportedly American fighter, wearing fatigues and a holstered pistol, urging sympathizers in the United States to take advantage of the fact that you can easily obtain a rifle or a pistol in America and spray the infidels with bullets. A prominent American Al Qaeda recruit urged potential recruits in a 2011 video to go down to a gun show at a local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle without a background check and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for? The people who killed 14 in San Bernardino, Calif., in 2015, and 49 in Orlando, Fla., in 2016  and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State  committed their carnage using semiautomatic firearms.

As the attacks make clear, these types of military-style weapons are not used only by those who commit mass shootings in the name of foreign terrorist groups.

The person accused of the Buffalo shooting got out of his vehicle in front of the Tops supermarket looking as if he were entering a war zone. He wore body armor, tactical gear and a helmet. He carried a Bushmaster XM-15 semiautomatic rifle, modified to hold high-capacity magazines. He had a shotgun and a rifle in his car for backup.

But he didnt need the backup weapons to quickly shoot four people in the parking lot, killing three of them. He didnt need them to kill a security guard inside the store whose own firearm was no match for the body armor. Nor did he need them to shoot several other people inside the store. The semiautomatic assault-style rifle, reportedly purchased at a small gun store for less than $1,000, was all he needed to commit his massacre.

Other attackers who espoused white-supremacist beliefs, like the man charged with killing 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, and another accused of killing more than 20 people at a Walmart in El Paso in 2019, used semiautomatic firearms. So did the white-supremacist gunman who killed nine Black worshipers at a church in South Carolina in 2015.

Military-style weapons and gear are also the calling cards of extremist private militias in the United States, whose anti-government ideology and insurrectionist view of the Second Amendment has driven a rise in intimidation and coercion.

Unauthorized and unlawful, these private militias encourage their members to own assault-style rifles. They often wear military-style equipment (similar to the Buffalo shooting suspects) and train in paramilitary techniques. Armed militia members have forced their way into state capitols in Boise, Idaho, and Lansing, Mich. They have usurped the role of law enforcement, purporting to protect the First Amendment rights of protesters at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, and engaging in vigilante border patrols in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Militia members were among those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, seeking to disrupt the counting of the Electoral College votes, and were reportedly prepared to call on a heavily armed Quick Reaction Force just outside Washington.

The concealed-weapon case awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court presents the first significant Second Amendment issue to be considered by the justices since 2008. Although it involves a challenge to the validity of New Yorks longstanding concealed-carry restrictions, the arguments advanced by the challengers, if accepted, could call other gun-safety restrictions into question. The signatories of the national security brief  including former career and politically appointed national security officials, were united in urging the court to consider the national-security and public-safety threats posed by easy access to firearms.

This warning is not new.

Nicholas Rasmussen, a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, warned as he was stepping down in 2017, We find ourselves in a more dangerous situation because our population of violent extremists has no difficulty gaining access to weapons that are quite lethal. And in early 2021, Christopher Wray, the F.B.I. director, told a Senate committee that racially motivated violent extremism was the biggest chunk of our domestic terrorism portfolio overall, with militia violent extremists trending.

Second Amendment absolutists are fond of saying, The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. But a security guard at the Tops supermarket  a 30-year veteran of the Buffalo police  had a gun. He used it. But it was no match for body armor and an assault weapon. National security and public safety require far more than a good guy with a gun. They require effective regulation over access to these weapons.

Mary B. McCord, the executive director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center, was the acting assistant attorney general for national security from 2016 to 2017 and a federal prosecutor for 20 years. This article originally appeared in the New York Times.
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Former Army Capt. Alexandra del Moral Mealer defeated attorney Vidal Martinez Tuesday in the Republican Party primary runoff for Harris County judge, setting up a showdown against incumbent Democrat Lina Hidalgo in November.

The race is expected to draw statewide and national attention, with Republicans hoping to capitalize on a favorable political climate to deny Hidalgo a second term as chief executive of Texas largest county.

Mealer, a 37-year-old investment banker making her first run for elected office, immediately staked out a wide lead over Martinez when elections officials posted early voting and absentee results shortly after 7 p.m. She finished with more than 75 percent of the vote, according to final, unofficial results.

Mealer was generally favored headed into Tuesdays election, having collected 29.5 percent of the vote during the first round of the primary to lead a field of nine GOP candidates. Martinez finished second, with 26 percent, putting the two in a runoff because neither secured a majority of the votes.

ELECTION RESULTS: Texas Primary Runoffs

Hidalgo, facing five other candidates in the Democratic primary, won outright with 70 percent of the vote.

As in the first round, Martinez and Mealer spent most of the runoff bashing Hidalgo, focusing on the felony indictment of three of the county judges current and former aides and a local rise in homicides during the last two years.

Hidalgo has defended her staffers, who have denied any wrongdoing. She has also defended the countys approach to fighting violent crime, pointing to several steps the county has taken in response, while also noting crime rates have increased across the nation.

There has also been plenty of acrimony between the two Republican candidates, with Martinez, 67, criticizing Mealer for moving to Houston full time about six years ago. He has contrasted that with his longer ties to the city, during which he has served on numerous boards and commissions, including Houston Methodist, the Port of Houston Authority and the Greater Houston Partnership.

Martinez, a former federal prosecutor, has also argued that he would be more effective at winning Latino support during the general election, noting that Mealer does not speak fluent Spanish.

Martinez expanded on that line of attack in the closing moments of a forum last month, when he displayed a photo of Fidel Castro, signed by the former Cuban dictator and inscribed to Mealers late grandfather, former Spanish language film journalist Armando del Moral. Martinez said Democrats would find and use the photo against Mealer in the general election, weakening her support among Latino voters.

The comments were met with jeers and audible groans from the crowd, and they stirred backlash from Republicans who previously had been on the sidelines of the race  including influential conservative talk radio host Michael Berry, who took to the airwaves to accuse Martinez of playing identity politics and running a losing, desperate campaign.

Mealer was generally viewed as the favorite heading into election day, having outraised and outspent Martinez during the runoff after being outspent 3-1 during the first round. She recently secured the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Houston resident thought to hold significant sway among the hyper-partisan runoff electorate.

Mealer graduated from West Point in 2007 and rose to the rank of Army captain, specializing in defusing bombs as an explosive ordnance disposal officer. After her military service, which included stints in Kandahar and Bagram, Afghanistan, she received business and law degrees from Harvard University.

Originally from Sacramento, Calif., she and her husband moved to Houston full time in 2016; she since has worked in investment banking, most recently for Wells Fargo, handling oil and gas transactions.

Like Martinez, Mealer has pitched a vision for the job of county judge centered on returning to Harris Countys traditional focus on public safety and infrastructure  instead of the more expansive role Hidalgo has established through climate change, early childhood development and immigration initiatives. Mealer has said renewing the countys focus on those core functions would free up funds for more law enforcement spending.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
After a string of late nights and early mornings marred past Harris Countyelections, officials in charge of counting votes on Tuesday night said operations went better than expected, which lays the groundwork for votes going forward.

This is what happens with a well executed plan, said Isabel Longoria, Harris County elections administrator.

Even a late challenge to some of the procedures by the Harris County Republican Party did not slow the counting  though it did make for a longer line of cars in the NRG Park lot.Local GOP and Harris County officials traded dueling briefs to the Texas Supreme Court, which on Wednesday still had not returned an opinion on the procedures used for the election.

The legal challenge looming, volunteers just kept counting. The final of 520 ballot boxes used for the election came through the door of NRG Arena at 12:30 a.m Wednesday, to cheers from the 100 or so volunteers remaining in the building. While late at night, the boxes came hours earlier than the last one for recent elections. That meant officials had an unofficial but final tally of all 188,000 votes cast by 1:40 a.m.  eight hours earlier than the May 7 countywide election.

We certainly think this went smoothly, said Leah Shah, spokeswoman for the county elections office. Credit goes to the county workers who made sure we were fully staffed and able to deliver results.

POLL WATCHERS: Harris County GOP sues to halt election ballot counting plan hours before polls close

The day started gloomy, along with the showers that midday swept across Houston. GOP officials bucked a plan by Longoria to deputize election workers to collect the ballots.

She sold it as it will make it easier for the judges, but we are not confident, in fact our lawyers think it is illegal, to hand it off, county Republican chairwoman Cindy Siegel said on Tuesday.

In a flurry of legal filings, the county lawyers defended the practice, calling it both voluntary and allowable under the law. Lawyers for the Republicans said the instructions precinct officials were given did not make the system sound optional, and chided the use of constables or other law enforcement as election transporters  saying it intimidated some poll workers reluctant to comply.

County officials have said should the supreme court say they cannot deputize people to ferry ballots under the current system, they will devise another system but it will not affect Tuesdays results.

It seems neither did many Republican precinct judges choosing to deliver their own ballots to NRG. Though in many cases the GOP votes showed up later than the Democratic ballots from the same location, counting and collection were not severely affected.

Each party had 260 locations, which they shared, meaning election counters at NRG Arena had to receive 520 ballot boxes. Those started trickling in by 8 p.m. and flooding in by 9 p.m., with around 300 volunteers  mostly county workers  waiting for them.

I will be a happy girl if we get everything in by 1 a.m., Longoria said around 10 p.m..

By 11 p.m. the long line of cars was in the rear-view mirror.

On the official count, five ballot boxes were listed as outstanding at 11:45 p.m., which quickly ticked down. By that time, election officials said they were confident the process worked  and will work again in November if allowed and needed.

We absolutely think this is scalable to a larger election, Shah said. You can argue that if we rely on the drop-off and do not have one party not participate, it could have gone even faster.

Speedier elections, and a lack of controversy, however, have not been the norm for Harris County. For four years, under various election leaders, tallies on Election Day and procedures have faced various obstacles. Voters in 2018 waited in absurdly long lines at some polling locations as results inched in that night. The 2020 election led to sparring legal challenges between state and local officials over COVID pandemic changes approved by then-Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins to allow drive-thru voting, 24-hour polling locations and some by-mail ballots.

Longoria, the countys first elections administrator after county officials removed the job from the clerk, oversaw the March 1 primary that had numerous issues at local precincts and processing problems  including a revision five days later that 10,000 ballots were mistakenly left out of the final count.

The March primary led to Longoria resigning, effective July 1. Tuesday was her final election.

dug.begley@chron.com
About 40 people gathered Tuesday night in Houston for a candlelight vigil for the 19 students and 2 adults killed in Uvalde. Most in the crowd were elected officials, individuals who have been affected by gun violence and gun control advocates.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said she was en route to Washington when reports emerged about the shooting.
Less than 24 hours after Attorney General Ken Paxton clinched the Republican nomination for his re-election, the Texas State Bar sued him Wednesday over his dishonest attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The short, four-page lawsuit, filed in district court in Paxtons hometown of Collin County, contains identical claims to those in litigation filed earlier this month against Paxtons top deputy, First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster. Paxton violated the bars rules of professional conduct by including false and misleading statements, according to the association.

His allegations were not supported by any charge, indictment, judicial finding, and/or credible or admissible evidence, and failed to disclose to the Court that some of his representations and allegations had already been adjudicated and/or dismissed in a court of law, the suit reads, referring to a number of voter fraud claims that had already been debunked at the time Paxton filed his petition.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Texas Bar seeks to discipline both AG Paxton and a top aide over attempt to overturn 2020 election

The four battleground states that Texas sued  Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin  were then forced to spend time, money and other resources responding to these claims, the suit said.

Texas 2020 suit before the U.S. Supreme Court was almost immediately tossed for lack of standing, and former President Donald Trumps own Justice Department found no evidence of fraud that could have changed the elections outcome.

The suit against Paxton does not specify what type of punishment the bar recommends for him, but possible sanctions range in severity from a warning to disbarment.

Wednesdays legal action came as a result of five complaints filed by private citizens, including Gary Ratner, a Maryland attorney and co-founder of the group Lawyers Defending American Democracy, and Kevin Moran, a Democratic Party activist in Galveston.

Its a very strong complaint by the bar, said Jim Harrington, a Texas lawyer who co-signed Ratners complaint and who founded the Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit that advocates for voting rights. I think they hit the nail on the head, and hopefully well see justice as a result of that.

Neither the attorney generals office or his campaign staff i mmediately responded to requests for comment. Paxton has from the beginning framed the bar inquiry as a partisan witch hunt.

I stand by this lawsuit completely, Paxton said on Twitter earlier this month, referring to the election results challenge. I am certain that the bar will not only lose, but be fully exposed for what they are: a liberal activist group masquerading as a neutral professional association.

Texas bar: Ill see you and the leftists that control you in court, he added. Ill never let you bully me, my staff, or the Texans I represent into backing down or going soft on defending the Rule of Law  something for which you have little knowledge.

RELATED: AG Ken Paxton's attempt to influence judges draws a Texas Bar complaint from an Austin attorney

Under the state bars rules, disciplinary suits are filed in the county in which the attorney primarily practices. If theres more than one, the bar files in the county where the attorney lives  Paxton indicated Collin County. Similarly, the suit against Webster was filed in his hometown of Williamson County. That determination is up to the subject of the suit, according to the rules.

Also per the bars rules, these suits are heard by an appointed judge from another district.

In Paxtons case, it will be Judge Casey Blair of Kaufman County, a Republican elected in 2014. Websters case will be heard by Judge John Youngblood of Milam County, also a Republican who was first appointed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2011 and first elected in 2012.

taylor.goldenstein@chron.com
SETH HERALD, Contributor / AFP/Getty Images

President Donald Trump reasserted on Wednesday that he is still going to Houston on Friday for the National Rifle Associations annual meetings despite the deadly mass shooting in Uvalde.

Trump released a statement to the media on Wednesday morning saying he still plans to attend the convention.
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 : Japan deploys Lu Wei's order to lift a rock and hit itself in the foot

: BBS  (Tue May 24 21:29:21 2022, )



Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun English network reported on August 3 that Japan's

defense ministry will deploy the missile force of the land self defense

force on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture by the end of 2022 to counter

the increasingly active Chinese navy in the first island chain. 6park.com

The News quoted an official of Japan's defense ministry as saying that the

size of the force expected to be deployed on Ishigaki Island is 500 to 600

people, one of which will be equipped with shore to ship missiles and

surface to air missiles, and the other is a police force that can respond to

armed raids and large-scale natural disasters at the first time. 6park.com

Taiwan media pay attention to the location of Ishigaki Island and Taiwan,

and analyze that Ishigaki Island, which deploys anti-ship and air defense

missiles, is about 300 kilometers away from Taiwan. The missile range will

cover North Taiwan in order to "deter China". Lu Lishi, a Taiwan military

expert, told Deutsche Welle that this is part of Japan's "archipelago

defense plan" all along. If it is combined with Taiwan's "Xionger" or "

xiongsan" and the harpoon missile to be obtained from the United States, it

can prevent China from breaking through the first island chain. "Japan's

real purpose is to include the surrounding sea areas and islands, including

Taiwan, into its defense plan through the US Japan Security Treaty," he said

6park.com

The so-called "first island chain" extends from Kyushu to the southwest to

Taiwan and is located in a strategic position starting from the Kuril

Islands in the north and Borneo in the south. At present, Japan has deployed

missiles on three southwest islands with a total length of 1200 kilometers,

including Amami island in Kagoshima Prefecture, Okinawa Island and Miyako

Island. The deployment of missiles on Ishigaki Island is to once again

strengthen the defense network of the first island chain. 6park.com

In addition, the Japanese defense ministry is also planning to install

electronic warfare forces on the US island by the end of 2023 and build a

new self defense force base on MAG island.

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 :WWW  mitbbs.com [FROM: 103.]


Adams Fire District Rejects Bylaw Change Prompted by Lawsuit

ADAMS, Mass.  Members of the Fire District voted 13-11 to oppose a proposed bylaw amendment that would have made customers pay some fees directly to the town.

The district voted down Article 11, which would have enacted changes to the fees and other bylaws, at its annual meeting on Tuesday. Thirteen of the remaining 14 articles were approved, with one, for special committee reports, tabled because there were not reports.

The proposed change to the fire protection and street lighting fees resulted from a class-action lawsuit last year against the district. A Superior Court judge found that the district did not have the authority to charge for anything other than water, according to an 1873 act by the Legislature. The suit, filed by Catherine Foster, is asking for refunds of fees for services.

Voters did approve Articles 13 and 14 that authorized and agreement to a settlement and to appropriate $600,000 from surplus revenue to pay as part of the settlement.

"The wording [in the bylaw] has changed. Fire protection and street lighting will be collected by the town of Adams and not the fire district," Prudential Committee Chairman Thomas Satko said.

The change in the bylaws read: "All bills for fire protection and street lighting shall be paid semi-annually at Town Hall. See the Town of Adams for their collection policies."

Fire Chief John Pansecchi said the fees would be a separate line item from the rest of the town's tax bill. While $30,000 is in the district's budget for a town collection fee, Satko said there was not currently an agreement on what a collection fee could be.

Other proposed bylaw changes included updates to the annual meeting article and the addition of stipends for department staff.

Foster, who attended the meeting, voiced concern over proposed changes to the annual meeting, saying it legally had to be posted in Cheshire because the district has customers there. The Prudential Committee said they would discuss the matter and make corrections if needed in the future.

"I can tell you I have an email from the assistant attorney general saying that this meeting had to be posted there," Foster said.

Article 8 authorized the treasurer to borrow $625,000 for a new fire engine. Satko said the truck will not be ready until fiscal 2024.

"The Fire Department had a committee, they researched trucks, they came up with a truck and what they're doing is basically it's getting in line to get a truck in there," he said.

Pansecchi said, if the district waited, the truck would likely go up in price.

"We're probably looking at $700,000-plus next year coming in asking for it," he said.

The annual meeting also approved $100,000 to replace a radio read meter; appropriating $503,193.20 for the general fund; appropriating $1,526,177.86 for the district enterprise fund and appropriating $40,000 to its reserve fund.

Article 12 allowed members of the Prudential Committee to sell timber.

About half the members left partway through the meeting to respond to a fire.
A new single-family home is under construction on Maple Avenue on a parcel acquired by Williamstown's Affordable Housing Trust. The trustees are seeking proposals from landowners interested in selling their land for the purpose of subsidized housing.

Williamstown Seeking Volunteers, Property, Greenhouse Gas Lowering Ideas

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The town is looking for your time, your ideas and, if you can spare it, your land.

Monday's Select Board meeting featured appeals to community members on several different fronts.

The board asked residents to consider service on town boards and committees. A representative from the grassroots Carbon Dioxide Lowering (COOL) Committee invited community members to share thoughts on Wednesday about how the town can meet its net zero greenhouse gas emission goal. And the Select Board's representative on the Affordable Housing Trust publicized that body' effort to acquire a home or buildable lot in town.

"The request for proposals for the town to buy land for affordable housing purposes has gone out," Andy Hogeland said. "If anybody out there knows of any vacant land or even buildings that might be suitable for affordable housing and someone would be willing to sell them to us, the Trust would be delighted to hear from you."

It is the second time since the trust was created in 2012 that the trustees have solicited offers to sell land. In 2015, it bought parcels on Summer Street and the corner of Cole Avenue and Maple Street. The latter has one new owner-occupied home and a second single-family home under construction by Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity.

The COOL Committee, following on the heels of a successful effort to get annual town meeting support for a net zero resolution in 2021, is holding an online forum on Wednesday evening from 7 to 8:30 to solicit input about how to attain that goal.

"Wednesday night, we're holding a community meeting to talk about the town's net zero initiative, a plan to reduce our carbon emissions," Wendy Penner told the Select Board. "This is a partnership of the COOL Committee, the town of Williamstown and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. We'd love to have as many people as possible, especially our elected officials.

"If you go to coolwilliamstown.org , there's a place where you can register on Zoom. That way you can have the link and have it in your calendar. You can do it in advance or right at the time of the meeting."

Monday's Select Board meeting was to have been the first after the annual town meeting. But town meeting on May 17 voted to adjourn to June 14 at a larger venue, the gymnasium at Mount Greylock Regional School, out of concern for potential spread of the novel coronavirus.

On Monday, Janice Loux, who petitioned Berkshire Superior Court to stop the May 17 meeting, withdrew her complaint after a judge allowed the meeting but mandated attendees wear face coverings. Loux has requested the Board of Health, which chose not to issue a mask mandate prior to May 17, consider doing so for the June meeting.

While the town meeting business waits until June, the town election results saw newly-elected Select Board member Randall Fippinger on Monday attend his first meeting in that post.

The board's annual reorganization vote saw Hugh Daley take over as chair from Hogeland, Jeffrey Johnson elevated to vice chair and Jane Patton installed as secretary.

Fippinger, who served as a community representative on the town's Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee prior to his election to the Select Board, stays on the DIRE Committee, now filling the Select Board's ex officio spot on the diversity panel. Hogeland will continue as the Select Board's rep to the Affordable Housing Trust, and Patton will remain in the Select Board's seat on the Community Preservation Committee.

Hogeland used his last meeting as chair of the board to put out an plea for residents to serve on other boards and committees that are appointed either by the Select Board or the town manager.

"I think we've all been eager to increase participation in different forms of town government," Hogeland said.

He noted that most of the volunteer positions have terms that expire on June 30, and proposed that the Select Board promote the availability of offices again at its June 13 meeting and at the resumed town meeting the next night. He suggested a deadline of June 21 for interested residents to submit paperwork so that the board will have time to learn about applicants before its June 27 meeting.

Hogeland pointed out that while incumbents typically are reappointed, newcomers also are considered when terms expire. And he specifically asked incumbents whose terms are running out to make their intentions known so extra effort can be made to recruit committee members if vacancies are expected.

Committees and boards that have members' terms expiring this June 30 include the Affordable Housing Trust, Agricultural Commission, DIRE Committee, Municipal Scholarship Committee, Planning Board (associate member; the main five-member board is elected), 1753 House Committee, Board of Health, Conservation Commission, Council on Aging, Historical Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals (alternate). In addition, the town offices of fence viewer and alternate representative to the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission have occupants whose terms are expiring this summer.

In other business on Monday, the Select Board agreed to write the town's representatives on Beacon Hill to express concern about a reform to the Cannabis Control Commission's enabling legislation that is making its way through the Legislature. Specifically, a provision of the bill could impact the Host Community Agreements between municipalities and pot businesses.

Williamstown, which has an HCA in place with its one cannabis retailer, is asking that any reform legislation that passes allow such agreements to stay in place through its existing expiration date.
North Berkshire Summer Business Pilot

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  1Berkshire in, partnership with the North Adams Chamber of Commerce and proAdams, announced the launch of the Pop Up, North Berkshire program heading into Summer 2022.

This program, funded through a one-time grant award from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, will support and supplement the establishment of up to 4 pop up businesses between the downtowns in the Town of Adams and the City of North Adams from July through September.

"In downtowns across the country, the establishment of pop up business communities to improve tenancy, and create a critical mass of offerings, has become a high impact best practice," Benjamin Lamb, 1Berkshire Director of Economic Development said. "We are excited to be piloting this type of injection of activity and commerce to the area this summer and are thankful to have such supportive collaborators in the effort with the North Adams Chamber and proAdams."

The program will allow businesses an opportunity to become established and test their offering in the local market, with the potential for more permanent operations following the summer. The program provides an injection of capital, along with technical assistance and permit navigation

To date, three of the four businesses have been selected and are in the process of getting ready for summer operations, these include:

WallaSauce - North Adams - Owned and operated by Sarah DeFusco and Kirby Casteel, WallaSauce is a locally produced streetwear brand focused on minimizing waste while simultaneously exploring self-expression through clothing, merchandise, and creative thinking. They will be opening a retail storefront in the City to both sell their products and produce their items in a prominent downtown space.

The Adams Incubator - Adams - Owned and operated by Yina Moore, The Adams Incubator is a conceptual co-working, art retail, and small event venue that will pair with the redevelopment of the Adams Theater. By providing a coworking space in downtown Adams, the Adams Incubator will offer an array of amenities to individuals seeking an office, a space to innovate, and a community of professionals, while also putting on programming.

Secret Sun Tanning Salon - Adams - Owned and operated by Jason Nocher, Secret Sun Tanning Salon will be housed in an updated downtown space offering tanning options to the local market. By creating another service offering on a main downtown corridor, Secret Sun will help draw increased and new traffic and customers to the area.

An additional fourth business will be identified and supported for opening in North Adams in the coming weeks.
Name: Zeki Turedi

Company: CrowdStrike

Job title: CTO, EMEA

Date started current role: August 2020

Location: London

Zeki Turedi, CTO - EMEA at CrowdStrike, an influential, tenacious and highly motivated cybersecurity leader with professional experience specialising in Endpoint and Network Cyber Security, as well as extensive Incident Response & Forensic knowledge within Law Enforcement and the private sector. Turedi acts as a trusted advisor and strategist for organisations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He focuses on assisting them to lower and manage cyber risk as well as build their cyber maturity and future. At CrowdStrike, Turedi also focuses on technology strategy and innovation reporting into the Worldwide Chief Technology Officer. Turedi's insights and subject matter expertise are frequently shared via media outlets such as the BBC, The Times, LBC, WIRED plus many others. He has also been published on several occasions including the journal on 'Issues in Cybercrime, Security and Digital Forensics'.

What was your first job? Working for myself as a graphic designer. I later got into web hosting and servers. It allowed me to learn many different skills, most importantly programming.

Did you always want to work in IT? Yes, I've predominantly worked in computing. I've spent a lot of time using computers to develop outcomes. This blossomed my interest in computer programming, essentially, making the graphics do exciting things. I've thoroughly enjoyed IT from the get-go.

What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? I was predominantly self-taught for many parts of my career. I decided after college to go to university. I studied digital forensics and network security. It was essentially the first generation of cybersecurity and led nicely into my current career.

Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? If so, discuss. From university, I got deeper into enjoying cybersecurity. One of the best things I did was taking a year internship, working for the local police authority in their high-tech crime unit. I was amongst some extremely intelligent individuals who spent a lot of their time teaching me about what they really enjoyed. My passion for this area definitely came from that experience. So, no. Not too many detours.

What type of CTO are you? I think for us at CrowdStrike, everything we do is about making sure we deliver to our customers. So, for me, I am a customer-centric CTO. I want to make sure that whatever we're thinking about doing, whatever we're planning on, we're taking feedback from and listening to our customers. But, at the same time, we're spending a lot of time understanding their problems and coming up with a way to take our expertise and make their lives easier and better.

Which emerging technology are you most excited about the prospect of? I think, in the cybersecurity world, we have such a vast amount of new technology that can make things much more efficient. AI and machine learning are standouts. But what we're also doing at CrowdStrike is looking at old problems which we may have had difficulty solving and taking on a brand-new approach by using these new technologies. Our mission is to essentially, solve the unsolvable.

Are there any technologies which you think are overhyped? Why? I think we're at a junction now where we may have realised that certain types of technologies may no longer be fit for purpose or need a massive evolution. This industry continually evolves , and we will always have new acronyms. We need to make sure to look past the naming conventions and remember the problems that we're trying to solve and ensure technologies are actually solving the problems we have in front of us. We will always see new products. Some will look cool and shiny but won't actually solve our real needs.

What is one unique initiative that you've employed over the last 12 months that you're really proud of? Something that CrowdStrike as a whole has really taken onboard and something that I'm making sure we're utilising as a part of our teams is internships. These helped me at the beginning of my own career and were some of the best things I ever did to give my career a head-start. It gave me the opportunity to learn a tonne and shape where I ended up today. So, I'm proud that we can replicate that in my company and within my own team.

Are you leading a digital transformation? If so, does it emphasise customer experience and revenue growth or operational efficiency? If both, how do you balance the two? In everything that we do at CrowdStrike, we have to emphasise customer experience. As an organisation, we're all about putting the customer first and making sure we're building efficiencies in the long term. Our one core mission statement as an organisation is to stop breaches, and we will do anything possible to deliver on that promise.

What is the biggest issue that you're helping customers with at the moment? Fundamentally, our customers come to us to stop breaches, which will always be our core focus. But, the security landscape is incredibly complex and ever-growing, so our second job is to minimise the scale and volume of IT and business risks and make the lives of our customers much, much easier.

How do you align your technology use to meet business goals? This ties back into the previous questions. We spend a lot of time making sure our technology is built for our customers. We sit down with our customers of all shapes and sizes, maturity and understanding, not just with the most senior individuals but also with the analysts and engineers, understanding their goals, needs, risks and issues. It's a big piece of work and a lot of information to process. Every piece of data is vital, and the output of that is we can bring highly successful products to market.

Do you have any trouble matching product/service strategy with tech strategy? Not at all. It takes time doing that pre-work and making sure whatever we are designing, developing, and bringing to market continuously has a feedback loop into those customers, new and old. We also make sure that we can frequently reiterate, based on that feedback, and combine that with the expertise and great minds we have here at CrowdStrike. This means we can always bring to market something that our customers love - and this iterative process, and thus the resulting product, is ahead of our competitors from a market perspective.

What makes an effective tech strategy? Simply one that can actually be utilised straight away. Something tangible and effective - fitted to the reality of the situation.

What predictions do you have for the role of the CTO in the future? When you look into the cybersecurity market itself, we are dealing with a sophisticated ever-growing threat landscape and changes from a geopolitical perspective. It is an extremely fast-paced industry. We have to be decidedly agile while staying innovative all of the time. It's about making sure we can adapt to those changes, predict them, and drive that in our product development and overall tech strategy. Those that keep to these mantras will see the greatest success, in the long-term.

What has been your greatest career achievement? It's hard to say as it is continuously changing as we go. I've loved every single moment of it. I think being the regional CTO at CrowdStrike is my greatest achievement - giving me the chance to work with many talented individuals and experts across the cybersecurity field.

Looking back with 20:20 hindsight, what would you have done differently? No. I think there is always an opportunity to learn continuously, but I don't believe I'd want to do anything different, in hindsight.
Nine journalists and media workers working for Nisir International Corporation and Ashara, both Youtube Channels in Ethiopias northern Amhara region, were arrested when local authorities raided the offices of the two media outlets on 19 and 20 May and confiscated media equipment.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned in the strongest terms possible these acts of harassment and intimidation of journalists and media workers who were simply doing their job.

According to local reports, the offices of media outlets Nisir International Corporation and Ashara were raided because of their reports on the activities of a local volunteer militia known as Fano. Four employees from Nisir, mainly journalists and media workers were arrested by security forces and local police and two of them are believed to be detained in a prison in Bahir Dar, while the other two are believed to be held in the town of Gayint, about 160 Kilometers from Bahir Dar.

On the other hand, five journalists and media workers from Ashara media outlet who were arrested at their studio in Bahir Dar on 26 May are held in a detention centre outside of the city. Local media reported that over 4000 people suspected of crimes have been arrested in an ongoing enforcement operation.

The Head of the Amharas Peace and Security Bureau said in a statement, The Government will continue in a reinvigorated manner this peacekeeping work.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) expressed concern about the spate of arrests that had netted  journalists and other social activists and lamented that these arrests were unlawful as they did not follow basic human rights principles.

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger, said that since the crisis erupted in the Tigray region in 2020, there has been a systematic pattern of repression by the Ethiopian Government to silence the media. Journalists have been killed with impunity, tortured and harassed in the region in other to stop them from doing their work and to deny the Ethiopian public from receiving the terrible news of killings, plunder and rape from the frontlines. We call on the Ethiopian Government to release the nine media workers arrested on 26-27 May unconditionally, return every equipment that was seized from Nisir and Ashara and to compensate them for any damage to their studios."
Following the arrest of photojournalist Mohammed Fawzi on Monday 16 May, a total of 26 journalists remain imprisoned in Egypt, according to the IFJ. President Abdelfatah El-Sisi announced in April the relaunch of the "Presidential Pardons Committee'', tasked with reviewing the cases of prisoners and recommending their release, but this latest arrest renders the president's initiative meaningless. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on the Egyptian authorities and the Presidential Pardon Committee to release the imprisoned journalists.

Fawzi was arrested on 12 December 2018 and accused of undermining national security, he was kept in detention until 19 February 2020 when the charges against him were dropped.

The IFJ is also concerned about the fate of Tawfiq Ghanem, a retired journalist arrested on 21 May 2021 on charges of joining a terrorist group, who needs urgent health care.

The detentions are part of a pattern of arbitrary arrests of Egyptian journalists, activists, academics and critics. Twenty five other journalists are imprisoned in Egypt. All of them were arrested from 2015 onwards and fifteen of them were accused of belonging to a terrorist group or spreading false information.

Most of these journalists are in prolonged and indefinite pre-trial detention. This is the case of Hisham Fouad, who has been detained since 25 June 2019. Some of these pre-trial detentions have been extended beyond the maximum period allowed by Egyptian law.

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: "All of these journalists have been subjected to procedural irregularities, including denial of access to their lawyers, excessively long pre-trial detention, denial of medical care and non-compliance with judicial procedure. Tawfiq Ghanem and the other 25 journalists must be released immediately".
According to the recent Kaspersky survey conducted among senior non-IT management and business owners, 73% of firms cant handle a ransomware attack alone or with the help of regular IT service providers. To offer in-house cybersecurity teams and InfoSec professionals an opportunity to expand their analytical skills in the incident response domain, Kaspersky has designed a new Windows Incident Response training course.

Over recent years the lack of skilled technical staff who can detect and respond to complex incidents, along with a lack of visibility across infrastructure and consistent management, have been the biggest challenges for businesses in dealing with complicated cyber threats.

The recent global study by Kaspersky titled How do business executives perceive ransomware threat? confirms that most firms (73%) will have to seek the help of external incident response providers in the event of a ransomware attack. This is despite the fact that 66% of respondents consider there to be a high possibility of these attacks on their organization.

It is also likely that companies who have never experienced a ransomware attack overestimate the skills of their regular security providers and in-house IT teams. The statistics show that organizations that have previously been exposed to such threats rely less on their existing resources.

For companies looking to improve the expertise of their in-house digital forensics and incident response teams, as well as for IT security practitioners looking to upgrade relevant skills, Kaspersky has expanded its online expert training portfolio. The Windows Incident Response training was developed by experts from the companys Global Emergency Response Team (GERT) with more than 12 years experience in the field.

During the course, which is heavily focused on practical skills, Ayman Shaaban, Digital Forensics and Incident Response Manager and Kai Schuricht, Senior Incident Response Specialist, will take students through incident detection using the example of a real-life REvil ransomware case.

By the end of the course IT security practitioners will know how to identify and respond to a cyberincident and will be able to differentiate APTs from other threats, as well as studying various attack techniques and a targeted attack anatomy through the Cyber Kill Chain. Participants will master evidence acquisition, all phases of incident detection, log file analysis, network analysis and the creation of IoCs, and also get introduced to memory forensics.

Students will be granted access to a simulated virtual working environment with all the necessary tools, including ELK stack, PowerShell, Suricata, YARA, and more, to practice IR techniques.

Incident Response capabilities require specialized skills to verify and handle threats in a timely manner, as well as to minimize the damage from an incident. Since no one is immune to a cyberattack, and it becomes increasingly more difficult to prevent a security perimeter penetration, remediation and the knowledge and experience of how to respond are more in demand than ever before. adds Kai Schuricht, Senior Incident Response Specialist at Kaspersky.

Responding to complex incidents and uncovering attack steps is a huge challenge for InfoSec experts. Within this new course weve concentrated GERT knowledge gained from handling security incidents for Kaspersky customers around the globe. Our aim was not only to provide extensive theory around the subject, but to also provide real applied skills through end-to-end ransomware case investigation. comments Ayman Shaaban, Digital Forensic and Incident Response Manager at Kaspersky.

The self-guided training course includes 40 video lessons and 100 hours of virtual lab time for hands-on learning. The estimated training duration is 15 hours, but participants will have six months of access to the platform to finish the training.

More information about the Windows Incident Response course is available via this link.
The EdVision Summit that gathers leaders in the education technology industry, such as Lenovo and its partner Microsoft, along with members of the academe in the region to discuss best practices for the modern classroom, was successfully held on March 24th. Twenty-four speakers from seven markets, including the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and the United States, joined the Summit and expressed their thoughts on the future of education. It was attended by over 1,200 educators and stakeholders in the region with almost 700 coming from the Philippines.

This years Lenovo EdVision Summit focuses on the need for change in the quickly-evolving educational landscape, calling on educators and technology leaders to improve learning pedagogies and technologies based on the evolving reality of the classroom and the workplace.

Evolving approaches to teaching and learning are critical to ensuring that our students are ready for the rapidly changing world they will graduate into, said Delia DeCourcy, Senior Global Education Solutions Manager, Lenovo United States.

Following the plenary discussion by DeCourcy, there were five panel discussions and two workshop sessions for educators to fully immerse themselves and understand the learnings shared by EdTech leaders and members of the academic community.

Beyond providing smart devices for educational use, learning pedagogies and education solutions need to evolve alongside the changing classroom and the eventual work environment that students will later join.

Launched in 2020, the Lenovo EdVision program was launched to hone the digital literacy and skills among students and provide resources and support to teachers to enable them to build their skills and capabilities in digital teaching. The program offers distance learning solutions with technology such as Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Education, for schools and industry partners to promote digital transformation of education.

The program was recently updated to provide a more seamless hybrid classroom experience that offers the next level Lenovo Smart Education solutions. Hybrid learning is not just about taking classes online. Students need powerful, innovative technologies that empower them to learn more effectively, collaborate better, without compromising on security. With a focus on M365 platform, the updated iteration of the program delivers students a more engaging learning experience. It also builds a community for educators to exchange their insights and strategies to navigate hybrid classrooms.

Micheal Ngan, General Manager, Lenovo Philippines stressed the importance of the collaboration between hardware and software in addressing the challenges of online learning. We work with Microsoft to certify our educators in the Philippines to raise their digital skills. So far, weve trained and certified almost 500 educators and thats something we plan to carry on, Ngan said.

To resolve the expertise gap in hybrid learning, Ngan explains that the solution must go beyond hardware and presents the Lenovo EdVision program as a way for hardware and software to work together and enhance the current learning experience. Furthermore, Lenovo underlines the importance of working with educators to design products that meet the rigors of e-learning.

We are committed to being a trusted partner for educational institutions as they continue on their digital transformation journey, especially with the demand and necessity for online learning. Weve learned a lot from two years of distance learning and were applying what weve learned into the solutions and services we offer in order to better serve our partners in delivering quality education, Ngan adds.
When David Heath launched the New York City-based Bombas in 2013, he didn't have a company in mind. Just a mission.

He saw a Facebook post from the Salvation Army saying socks were the number one most requested item at homeless shelters, and it immediately gave him a cause. He'd soon have a hook, too. At the time Bombas was coming online, Toms Shoes--now just Toms--was pioneering the buy-one-give-one model in which the company donated a pair of shoes to a child in the developing world for every pair purchased. Heath realized he could apply the premise to socks and the homeless population.

"Here's an item of clothing that I've never spent more than a few seconds a day thinking about," said Heath, CEO and co-founder of Bombas, during a conversation with Inc.'s Diana Ransom. "And yet this is an item that's perceived as a luxury good for over 650,000 people living here in the U.S."

When Heath and Bombas co-founder Randy Goldberg first launched the campaign on online platform Indiegogo, they led with their mission. The duo raised $25,000 on day one and $150,000 in their first month. While the one-for-one model has worked for them (the company recently donated its 65 millionth pair of socks), Heath knows that it has to work within the constructs of the unit economics, especially for consumer-oriented companies.

Heath produces orders for charity and for profit at the same factory, which allows the company to purchase at scale, driving the price down to where Bombas can maximize its profits. Naturally, efficiencies like this can be difficult to replicate for products that are more expensive and laborious to make, such as jewelry or cars. But again, if you can make the economics work, there are certainly some benefits to the model, such as customer loyalty, a differentiation in the market, and a strong brand mission that can help retain talent and create a thriving company culture.

It's also worth noting, Heath said, that the model continues to net the company positive attention from would-be employees, which any founder should factor in when deciding whether to pursue the one-for-one model.
Members of the community gather for a prayer vigil in the wake of a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. Photo: Getty Images

Once again a shooting took the lives of innocent schoolchildren. This time in a small, rural town in Texas.

On May 24, a reported 21 people--19 students and two teachers--were killed in a shooting by an 18-year-old local high school student at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. It's the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 when 26 people, mostly 6- and 7-year-olds, were killed. As of Tuesday, there have been at least 213 mass shootings in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive. A mass shooting is defined as one in which four or more people were injured or killed, not including the shooter.

You may be wondering what you can do to help. From donating a portion of profits to charitable organizations to encouraging employees and customers to call local officials to spur gun reform and address mental illness, here are some suggestions.

Support the victims and victims' families in Uvalde

If you're in the San Antonio area, University Health System, the largest transfuser of blood in the area, is encouraging community members to donate blood to hospitals and centers to support those still in critical condition. GoFundMe has established an online hub of verified fundraisers supporting victims and loved ones affected by the shooting, which includes a fundraiser organized by VictimsFirst, a network of survivors and relatives affected by previous mass shootings, to provide victims' family members with no-strings-attached cash payments. The San Antonio Legal Services Association is seeking volunteer attorneys who are licensed to practice in the state of Texas, according to a Facebook post.

Call your local and state officials

If you're in a state with a senator who is against gun control laws, ask individuals to call and ask that they support the Background Check Expansion Act, legislation introduced by Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. That bill, if passed, would expand federal background checks to all gun sales. Under current federal law, unlicensed or private sellers are not required to conduct a background check prior to transferring a firearm.

Choose the right partners

Your business can take a stand against gun violence, by checking what policies your clients have on selling firearms. Several financial institutions, such as Citibank, Bank of America, and BlackRock, all announced plans in 2018 to refuse to work with or fund gun manufacturers that sell military-style firearms for civilian use or sell guns without completing background checks.

Cut all ties to the NRA

In the past few years, companies including Delta Air Lines, FedEx, Hertz, and Best Western, among others, have ended their discount partnerships with the National Rifle Association. Previously, these companies offered discount programs to the powerful gun lobby. If you want to similarly cut ties, make sure to take a look at your current programs and those of your clients, as they may also support the organization. While there are many reasons why a person may take the lives of others, easy access to guns certainly makes it easier--and the NRA is nothing if not in favor of improving that access.

Support your employees

Raising awareness with your employees and consumers on the impact of gun violence is one way to show them support. If you don't already have mental health benefits, make sure employees and their families who are victims of gun violence have access to them. Businesses can also offer educational and volunteer opportunities for employees with local gun violence prevention partners.
Chinese, Indonesian FMs hold phone conversation

Xinhua) 16:20, May 25, 2022

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday held a phone conversation with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi at the latter's request.

During the conversation, the two sides focused on exchanging views on the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Bali, and agreed to strengthen communication and coordination to promote the success of the summit.

China firmly supports Indonesia in hosting a successful G20 Summit, said Wang, adding that since the beginning of this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indonesian President Joko Widodo have had two phone conversations and reached important consensus.

As global governance has entered the "Asian moment," Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia will host important multilateral conferences respectively, and China is also preparing for the BRICS Leaders' Meeting, he said.

China fully supports and actively echoes the recent joint statement issued by the three countries, which has sent a unified voice for Asia to strengthen solidarity and jointly meet challenges, said Wang, calling on Asian countries to play an active role in peaceful and stable development of the region and the world at large in the face of the turbulent international situation.

President Joko Widodo has reiterated that since its inception, the G20 has been an economic forum, not a political one, and China fully agrees with him on this point, said Wang.

Noting that the UN Security Council is the right platform for discussing political and security issues, Wang said the G20 should stick to its focus on macroeconomic policy coordination and fulfill its due missions.

China firmly supports Indonesia in exercising the G20 rotating presidency, removing interference to achieve goals set in the agenda and steering the G20 toward the right direction, which also meets the common expectations of the overwhelming majority of G20 members and the international community, Wang added.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue, calling on the international community to make joint efforts to cease fire, resume peace talks and rebuild peace.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
A FUEL crisis is looming as major dealers say they are struggling to stock up because of foreign currency shortages, which they say are threatening their viability.

Fuel dealers say they may be forced to halt operations as the country buckles under a foreign currency crunch.

Some of the major fuel players reportedly facing serious challenges are Total, Engen, Puma, Zuva and Glow Petroleum.

The forex shortages are causing delays in making telegraphic transfers (TTs) for fuel purchases, officials said.

This has given rise to corruption as smaller fuel players under the Direct Fuel Import (DFI) Group and fuel smugglers are now taking advantage of the situation.

One chief executive of a major fuel dealer, who refused to be named, said: We are failing to quickly import fuel because our TTs take forever to get cleared, and the fuel prices keep changing every week. We were struggling when we sold fuel in local currency and had to wait for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to give us foreign currency.

At that time, we went for weeks without fuel, yet we had to pay rent and our staff. That is the reason Caltex, Shell and Mobil left this country. We are in trouble.

Energy ministry secretary Gloria Magombo said her office was investigating the matter.

We would need to understand why there are these frequent stock-outs together with the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera), and thereafter, I can give you a comprehensive report, she said.

The smaller indigenous fuel players under the DFI Group are said to be paying hard cash upfront for supplies.

DFI Group secretary-general Bart Mukucha said fuel supply routes had largely remained normal despite the war in Ukraine.

The Zimbabwe forex auction had no money from the beginning and doesnt create money. It only allocates the little thats there. We find money elsewhere and our plan is to get funding from the diaspora. We then convert it to fuel, Mukucha said.

He said DFI also had credit lines.

Meanwhile, in its weekly report, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) said the local currency market for fuel was now extinct as the fuel sector had fully dollarised.

The publishing of Zimbabwe dollar prices of fuel in Zimbabwe is now ceremonial as this ZWL fuel market has become extinct. The fuel sector has fully dollarised thanks to the introduction of the DFI scheme by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in 2019 at the peak of fuel shortages in Zimbabwe, which saw motorists in long winding fuel queues, Zimcodd said.

The energy regulator (Zera) should always strive to strike a balance between the affordability of fuel and profit margins of businesses, not the current set-up that is disproportionately tilted towards the latter. Also, the government should further reduce taxes and levies it is collecting on imported fuel, Zimcodd added, while urging government to come up with investor-friendly policies that promote oil and gas exploration and full-swing petroleum mining. Newsday
We answer key questions around the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), implications for member countries, and whether it will be able to counter Chinas economic dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. We also compare the scope and approach of the IPEF framework with the mega trade arrangement, RCEP, which includes China and many IPEF member countries but not India or the US. Ultimately, the fate of the IPEF will be based on concrete incentives, otherwise present support and interest for the US initiative will soon fade away. Here, US intentions to keep trade provisions off the negotiating table and instead focus on labor, environmental, and digital trade standards may be major obstacles to the IPEFs success.

What is the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework?

On May 23, 2022, India along with 12 other countries joined the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) that seeks an open, inclusive, interconnected, and secure Indo-Pacific for sustainable growth of the region. India sees this framework as crucial for continued growth, peace, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and intends to deepen economic engagement among partners in a free, open, and inclusive manner.

The new framework, which is perceived as an economic correlative of the US Indo-Pacific strategy, is not a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), as clarified by the US. Instead, its a loose framework that brings together 13 countries to shape rules on key focus areas like the digital economy, trusted supply chains, clean economic growth, corporate accountability, and anti-corruption.

The IPEFs framework can therefore be objectively seen as a move by the US to strengthen its foothold in the region and to check Chinas vast influence. The lack of details, however, has given cause to much speculation about the IPEF being merely geopolitical theatre. Most countries in the IPEF are members of the Asia-Pacific trade treaty  the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)  through which they are set to become even more economically integrated with China. They are also part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which seeks to make trade facilitative infrastructure and regional connectivity investments. So, if the US is not promising a trade treaty or access to its own markets under IPEF, a question that wont go away easily is whats in it for the countries located in the region.

What is the purpose of the IPEF?

The IPEF seeks to strengthen economic partnership among participating countries in the Indo-Pacific region to enhance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness. The member countries will now discuss how to actually achieve these goals and strengthen economic cooperation.

Steered by US President Joe Biden, the IPEF framework is touted as US bid to balance its security provider role in the region by reclaiming a larger role in the economic sphere. This move is also more pertinent as it allows the US to regain some credibility following former US president Donald Trumps sudden decision in early 2017 to pull out of the painstakingly negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

How will the IPEF function?

The IPEF has identified four broad modules where it intends to bolster cooperation and build synergies with member countries. They are:

Fair trade : In the field of trade, the member countries will build high-standard, inclusive, free and fair trade commitments and develop creative approaches in trade and technology policy to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

: In the field of trade, the member countries will build high-standard, inclusive, free and fair trade commitments and develop creative approaches in trade and technology policy to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Supply chain resilience : The nations have resolved to make supply chains more resilient and integrated, with measures to mitigate the impact of disruptions and crisis by improving the transparency, security, and sustainability. In particular, talks will take place on access to semiconductors and critical minerals.

: The nations have resolved to make supply chains more resilient and integrated, with measures to mitigate the impact of disruptions and crisis by improving the transparency, security, and sustainability. In particular, talks will take place on access to semiconductors and critical minerals. Infrastructure and decarbonization : The members will accelerate development of clean energy technologies and build resilience to climate impacts. The nations are looking at technology sharing and ways for easy access to finance to meet goals outlined in the Paris Agreement.

: The members will accelerate development of clean energy technologies and build resilience to climate impacts. The nations are looking at technology sharing and ways for easy access to finance to meet goals outlined in the Paris Agreement. Tax and anti-corruption: The IPEF member countries intend to promote competition by enforcing robust tax, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery regimes to curb tax evasion and corruption in the Indo-Pacific.

IPEF not a traditional trading bloc

It has been clarified that unlike traditional trade blocs, the IPEF will not negotiate tariffs or market access, and the framework will merely focus on integrating member countries in the four modules described above. There will be no binding commitments regarding market access characteristic of trade deals like the RCEP or free trade agreements. Instead, IPEF focuses on increasing regulatory coherence between the member nations.

Which countries are members of the IPEF and why have they joined this US-led framework?

The member countries backing the initiative include:

India

US

Australia

Brunei

Indonesia

Japan

Malaysia

New Zealand

Philippines

Singapore

South Korea

Thailand

Vietnam

The fact that these members jointly account for 40 percent of the global GDP, could result in significant economic engagement. As per Gu Xiaosong, Dean of the ASEAN Research Institute of Hainan Tropical Ocean University, inclusion in the IPEF framework would bring some economic benefits to ASEAN members in terms of investment and trade. For instance, Vietnam might enjoy some policy bonuses under the framework to further strengthen its textile and digital exports to the US. Some ASEAN members have joined the IPEF owing to the US grip on many core technologies, such as chips and software. ASEAN members are also concerned about the possible US exclusion in the region  a balanced presence of major powers is considered ideal and could contribute to more stable regional relations.

Member countries have cited different rationales for joining the IPEF, depending on their local requirements and larger goals.

South Korea decided to join IPEF to diversify and stabilize the countrys supply chains amid fast-changing global trade circumstances. South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, in a statement, noted, going through the COVID-19 pandemic, how to strengthen the resilience of supply chains to better respond to such issues as climate change, the pandemic and supply chains has emerged as a key trade issue. This is why we are to participate in the IPEF.

decided to join IPEF to diversify and stabilize the countrys supply chains amid fast-changing global trade circumstances. South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, in a statement, noted, going through the COVID-19 pandemic, how to strengthen the resilience of supply chains to better respond to such issues as climate change, the pandemic and supply chains has emerged as a key trade issue. This is why we are to participate in the IPEF. Malaysia has joined IPEF in hope of new opportunities to explore and enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as strengthening supply chain resilience, the digital economy, and clean energy. Senior Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali suggested that IPEF could act as a broad structure for collaborative resolution of issues through cooperation, capacity building and technical assistance.

has joined IPEF in hope of new opportunities to explore and enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as strengthening supply chain resilience, the digital economy, and clean energy. Senior Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali suggested that IPEF could act as a broad structure for collaborative resolution of issues through cooperation, capacity building and technical assistance. Philippines has welcomed the initiative with the intention of opening up the countrys economy to the maximum. Incoming president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., reiterated that he will place importance on the new framework.

has welcomed the initiative with the intention of opening up the countrys economy to the maximum. Incoming president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., reiterated that he will place importance on the new framework. Vietnam, too, has joined the initiative, hoping for it to bring substantial benefits. However, it has exercised caution in terms of having more discussions. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has said that Vietnam will continue discussions with ASEAN members and relevant countries, to clarify cooperation in order to make the framework effective. Chinh highlighted the need to adjust the growth model and economic linkage to be more sustainable and more self-resilient to make the most of internal power and external resources.

Which countries have been excluded from the IPEF?

The Biden-led IPEF excludes China and some Southeast Asian countries  Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, who are perceived to be firmly pro-China.

Taiwan, which has been lobbying for IPEF membership, ever since it was first proposed in October 2021, too, was excluded despite bipartisan support for its membership in the US because of its importance in the supply of semiconductors. This is likely because Taiwans inclusion would materially change longstanding US foreign policy on China, triggering consequences that nobody is prepared for  especially in the wake of the situation in Ukraine.

What is the next course of action for the IPEF?

It is expected that after the IPEFs formal announcement on May 23, negotiations in each of the four modules will soon follow. All 13 participating countries will be allowed to choose in which of the four areas they want to pursue deals  without having to commit to all of them.

It is speculated that the parameters for the negotiations will be put in place over the following two months. Once that happens, the US will likely close deals with the relevant member country within 12 to 18 months, which shall further be submitted to the respective local governments for ratification.

However, the IPEF will provide for ambitious labor and environmental standards and create new guidelines for how data flows between countries. A White House fact sheet states, IPEF will enable the United States and our allies to decide on rules of the road that ensure American workers, small businesses, and ranchers can compete in the Indo-Pacific.

This statement mentioning American workers has raised questions on the intentions of the US to bring equitable prosperity to the Indo-Pacific region. Also, the stakeholder countries may not be in a position to align with the US on labor and environmental reforms.

How will IPEF membership impact India?

India was initially reluctant to join the IPEF, rather keener on having a bilateral trade pact with the US and plurilateral agreements under the Quad instead. However, an understanding has since been reached. During Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamans visit to the US in April, 2022, both sides came to agree that this type of cooperation would serve US-Indian interests. This announcement comes in the backdrop of Indian exporters having benefited from a move by the US and the EU to de-risk supply chains by reducing their reliance on China for essential imports. So, while immediate benefits cannot be linked directly to the IPEF membership, it may be assumed that Indias complicated relationship with China will drive its foreign and trade policy engagement. Further, India is not part of the RCEP but is still keen on increasing its economic association with the Indo-Pacific.

Experts however caution that India would need to assess its stance very clearly when discussing issues like e-commerce and data localization, which the US is aiming to address through the framework. India has so far declined to enter discussions on multilateral rules for e-commerce and its data localization requirements have been criticized by the US as creating barriers to digital trade.

What are the challenges surrounding the success of IPEF?

While the initiative may seem opportune, in its current format, the IPEF will not be able to dilute or counter Chinas economic dominance in the region. This is owing to the lack of direct incentives offered. There has been no discussion to expand market access to member countries.

Additionally, many stakeholders have expressed concern that through this framework, the US might try to dominate the rules and standards of digital technologies like artificial intelligence and 5G. However, these US-framed rules of digital trade and technology might not suit local jurisdictions of the member countries.

Besides, it is unlikely that ASEAN countries will decouple from China and the existing pattern of supply chain division, given the deep integration of their economies with that of China.

How is China responding to IPEF?

While addressing the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on May 23, 2022, Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi Wang affirmed that the Asia-Pacific region is where China lives and thrives. Without mentioning IPEF, Wang has retorted that Beijing will advance Chinas accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement to counter the new trade and economic initiative of the Quad alliance. China has also offered higher cooperation to the Indo-Pacific region with better BRI projects and investments.

Beijing will strengthen dialogue and cooperation with other Asia-Pacific countries to implement the Global Security Initiative (GSI), widely seen as Beijings initiative to counter the Quad alliance, which it describes as Asian NATO, along the lines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which clubs Western countries under a security umbrella.

Will the IPEF impact how the RCEP works?

China is presently pushing for comprehensive free trade in the Asia Pacific, especially with the operationalization of RCEP. On the other hand, the IPEF has little to offer to Asian economies by way of tangible economic benefits, such as opening up US market access to Asian exports. There are trade related incentives or tariff reduction provisions in the framework, which countries in the region desire. However, some experts predict that the framework could emerge as an eventual alternative to the RCEP. This is all conjecture at present and will depend on US leadership, regional compulsions to secure stability in Asian supply chains, and Chinas own economic behavior and status.

It is interesting to note that list of member countries of IPEF somewhat overlaps the RCEP. But that is just where it might end. In 2019, India pulled out of the RCEP, citing concerns about a potential surge in imports from China under the regional pact.

Bilateral trade of IPEF member countries with US and China
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A bright sunny day turned into a nightmare on Tuesday after a gunman reportedly opened fire at an elementary school in South Texas. The devastating mass shooting killed 14 students, and one teacher before the suspect himself died, as confirmed by Governor Greg Abbott.

Reuters

According to Abbott, the gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, apparently was killed by police officers responding to the scene. Two officers at the scene were struck by gunfire, though their injuries have not been reported as 'serious.'

Authorities said the suspect acted alone. Official details on the circumstances of the midday shooting remain sketchy immediate aftermath of the violence, which unfolded at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, about 80 miles west of San Antonio.

#UPDATE | An 18-year-old shooter shot and killed 14 students and 1 teacher. Shooter himself is deceased believably by responding officers: Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a presser https://t.co/bM0EY8b3Y7 pic.twitter.com/PpRqcw9zBJ  ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2022

"He shot and killed horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher. Mr. Ramos, the shooter, is deceased, and it's believed that responding officers killed him," Abbott told a news briefing.

US | Deadliest school shooting since the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. This is in Uvalde, Texas- a small town with not more than 20,000 people: CNN quotes Texas Governor Greg Abbott pic.twitter.com/IxznpHKUqW  ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2022

According to CNN, the gunman drove up to the school and entered with a rifle and a handgun.

This shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde which has also left a dozen hospitalized marks the 27th school shooting this year.

This devastating news comes just 10 days after a shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. claimed the lives of 10 people.



Reuters

The student body at the school consists of children in the second, third, and fourth grades, according to Pete Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, who also addressed reporters.



Texans are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime & for the community of Uvalde.



Cecilia & I mourn this horrific loss & urge all Texans to come together.



I've instructed @TxDPS & Texas Rangers to work with local law enforcement to fully investigate this crime. pic.twitter.com/Yjwi8tDT1v  Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 24, 2022

University Hospital in San Antonio took to Twitter to confirm that it had received two patients from the Uvalde shooting, one child and one adult.

Both patients, a 66-year-old woman, and a 10-year-old girl, were listed in critical condition.

Update on the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde: at University Hospital, one patient, a 66-year-old woman, is in critical condition.



The other patient is a 10-year-old girl, also in critical condition.  University Health (@UnivHealthSA) May 24, 2022

The shooting at an elementary school in Texas is another horrific incident in the recent history of mass shootings in U.S. schools.

All the cases have shocked the world, reigniting the fierce debate between advocates of tighter gun controls.

Agencies

The shooting in Texas was one of the deadliest at a U.S. school since a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children from five- to 10-years old, in a rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December 2012.

In another horrific case, in 2018, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 students and educators.

(This is a developing story, more details to be added.)

(For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.)
Thirty-year-old crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, who is the CEO & Founder of crypto exchange FTX, says he could spend $1 billion or more in the 2024 US election, as per a CNBC report.



If this comes true, he would easily become the biggest-ever political donor in a single election.

The crypto billionaire said in a podcast interview released yesterday, that he expects to give north of $100 million in the next presidential election and has a soft ceiling of $1 billion.

His spending likely to be on the higher end reportedly if former President Donald Trump runs again, as per the report.

shutterstock

Also Read: Taxing The Richest! US President Joe Biden Proposes New Minimum 20% Tax On Billionaires

Sam Bankman-Fried, whose net worth is currently around $10 billion as per Bloomberg Billionaires Index, says he has already given away more than $200 million to various causes. He laos cautions that his political plans are still in flux and will be contingent on what the landscape looks like.



In the podcast, as per CNBC, the crypto billionaire said I would guess north of $100 million. As for how much more than that, I dont know. It really does depend on what happens. Its really dependent on exactly whos running where for what. [$1 billion] is a decent thing to look at as a  I would hate to say hard ceiling, because who knows whats going to happen between now and then  but at least sort of as a soft ceiling.

That amount of money would be unprecedented and shatter existing records several times over, at least if it was all spent as so-called hard money, which includes donations to candidates, parties, super PACs and other groups who have to report to the Federal Election Commission, as per CNBC report.

The most hard money any individual has spent in any election cycle was reportedly $218 million in 2020 by the late Republican casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, according to Washington based nonprofit organization Open Secrets.

In recent years, the Adelsons have competed to be the biggest donors in the country with Democratic billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, who have each spent between $75 and $150 million in the last three elections (not including the money they spent on their own presidential campaigns in 2020).

Beyond those well-known names, even mega-donors typically top out around $40 to $60 million per election cycle, so even $100 million, which is the lower limit of his range, would put Bankman-Fried among a tiny handful of the countrys biggest donors, as per CNBC report.

business-insider

Also Read: Meet The 'Crypto Robinhood' Who Plans To Give Away His Billion-dollar Fortune

Questioning The Crypto Billionaires Increased Political Involvement

Critics question the motives behind Bankman-Frieds increasing involvement in politics, noting that the crypto industry has been stepping up its lobbying in Washington as lawmakers and regulators look to apply new rules to the largely unregulated industry that has likely destroyed more fortunes than it has made.

Hes one of several crypto donors who have started spending large amounts of money in politics seemingly out of nowhere, just as the industry comes under scrutiny.

And Bankman-Frieds biggest political investment so far did not pay off. He spent at least $12 million backing a little-known Oregon congressional candidate who ended up getting crushed in a Democratic primary last week.

In the podcast interview, Bankman-Fried reportedly said he would do it a bit differently if he could do it again, but fundamentally stood by the decision to intervene in the race, saying he always viewed it as a low-probability, high-reward situation.

If youre donating to political races that you think your candidate are 99% to win, youre almost certainly doing something wrong, he said, since the candidate doesnt need the help. You should be donating such that you think you have a pretty substantial chance of losing, and I stand by that.

Bankman-Fried has reportedly already spent at least $20 million so far this year supporting candidates in Democratic congressional primaries who have pledged to push the U.S. government to invest in stopping the next pandemic.

Bankman-Fried is an adherent of Effective Altruism, a utilitarian philosophy which promotes ideas like earning lots of money in order to give it all away.

Also Read: US President Directs Splitting Afghanistan's Frozen Funds With 9/11 Victims, Country Calls It An 'Injustice'

For the latest and interesting financial news, keep reading Indiatimes Worth. Click here
THE opposition MDC Alliance, led by Douglas Mwonzora, has resolved not to contest any by-elections following humiliating defeats in recent by-elections, NewsDay has learnt.

The party said it would only contest the 2023 general elections and has not fielded a candidate for the Masvingo West ward 21 by-election set for June 25.

The seat fell vacant following the death of Zanu PF councillor Tinago Mupinga on March 24.

MDC-A chairperson Morgan Komichi was yesterday evasive, and could not give the reason the party failed to field a candidate.

Komichi referred questions to the partys secretary for elections Gandhi Mudzingwa whose number was not reachable.

During the March 26 and May 6 by-elections, Mwonzoras party failed to get any council or parliamentary seat out of the contested 133. This was despite the MDC-A having caused the vacancies after it recalled more than 40 MPs and more than 80 councillors affiliated to Nelson Chamisas Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party.

The three candidates nominated for the June 25 by-elections are Zanu PFs Chenjerai Mumbire, CCCs Onias Mawarire and Sister Nhando, an independent candidate.

In a statement yesterday Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana confirmed the by-election.

It is hereby notified in terms of section 125(4) of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) that at the close of the sitting of the nomination court on Monday May 9, 2022, the candidates listed in the schedule were duly nominated for election as councillor in ward 21 of Masvingo RDC (rural district council). Accordingly, polling shall take place on Saturday June 25, 2022, Silaigwana said.

Political analysts told NewsDay that Mwonzoras party was avoiding further embarrassment.

Political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said: If they are going by empirical evidence of past performance, their instinct is that they are not fielding until they get their numbers correct. But that is the wrong strategy because if you dont contest then you are exposing your weaknesses.

Another political analyst Effie Ncube said: They are obviously saving themselves from the obvious embarrassment that is going to come should they field a candidate. Their party is no match to the CCC, and people have moved to Chamisa. There is no question about that. The MDC Alliance has lost the show.
This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync.

Insurance producers have to follow different standards of care when it comes to serving their clients. While deception and fraud are never OK, depending on the situation, simply being honest about an insurance product doesnt cut it.

For most of U.S. insurance regulatory history, insurance producers have been held to a similar standard of care as other retail industries. Basically, dont be a shyster.

Insurance producers are the experts when it comes to helping individuals protect just about everything from their home and car to their pets and family members. But some types of coverage have a different risk and impact than others.

Consider a businesss fire coverage. You have a coverage range in mind, and a rate you want to pay, and your insurance producer can help you find the intersection of the two that works for your businesss budget. You dont probably expect the producer to talk through long-term, in-depth visions of your businesss future, or read through the ins and outs of the policy. Sure, the provisions and exclusions are important, but at the end of the day, youre more concerned that you have a product in place than you are that its the most bestest perfect one. This is simply because the chances of a fire are small in the scheme of all the risks your business will face.

Policies that will almost certainly be used, though, like annuities or permanent life insurance, for instance, are a little more critical at a personal level. And when it comes to choosing the right types and amounts of coverage for these complex policies, people rely even more deeply on their agents to give them guidance  not simply to put any old plan into place.

In these examples, its understandable that an insurance producer selling a business fire policy will be held to different standards than one selling a permanent life insurance policy. Insurance producers are generally expected to meet a standard of care for their clients, but what does that really mean? Lets discuss a few of the standards insurance producers are held to, and what these standards mean for their clients.

1. Suitability

The vast majority of insurance agents are held to the suitability standard. This means agents are expected to only recommend the products that are suitable to their clients objectives, budget, and timeline. The insurance producer must conduct a thorough investigation of their clients suitability information before making any suggestions, and there must be a reasonable basis to believe the consumer has been informed of all policy features and transaction outcomes.

When does suitability apply?

The suitability standard governs most insurance sales, but in the last few years, life insurance producers selling annuity products have been moved to somewhat stricter standards. Setting those aside, suitability standards apply pretty much the rest of the time. Basic transactional deals, producers, adjusters, brokers  all should be operating with the understanding that they cant recommend products outside of a clients means and objectives. A client with a stated insurance need of $5 million shouldnt be insured for a $20 million policy, even if they can afford a higher premium. On the other hand, an insurance producer shouldnt recommend a low-cost policy to someone who clearly needs more coverage than it provides.

How is the suitability standard regulated?

The suitability standard is largely regulated by state courts. Much of the standard comprises judicial rulings and common law understanding of what is fair and expected.

Brokers: Brokers often hold themselves out as being impartial fiduciaries, acting in a clients best interest. Yet, depending on what state theyre in and very specific nuances, that might be true  or not.

For instance, Texas judicial rulings make it clear that producers are only ever held to a suitability standard.

2. Best interest

The term best interest is used in multiple fields including the medical, legal, and financial industries. When it comes to the financial industry, best interest means that agents will set aside their own personal beliefs and biases for the good of the client at all times.

This is a fairly new standard for the insurance industry, and one weve decided to put in its own category based on the NAICs Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation, the newest draft of which was adopted in 2020. Dont let the name fool you: The most recent draft of the NAICs regulation advocates a higher standard than suitability.

The NAIC Model Regulation requires insurance agents selling annuities products to act in the best interest of their clients in order to effectively address all client needs at the time of the transaction. That means making sure that the benefit to the client is a higher priority than the benefit to the producer.

For a peek at what this standard looks like in practical application, go ahead and check out our breakdown of Mississippis adoption of the NAIC model. Some of the key differences that the best interest standard brings into the picture:

Producers have to mitigate conflicts of interest

Producers have to find not just a suitable product, but one that is the best fit

Producers have to provide ongoing services to the customers

Producers have to thoroughly document why they have recommended a specific annuity product

When does the best interest standard apply?

The best interest standard is for agents selling annuities, because these transactions could serve the insurers financial interests over those of the customer. When it comes to annuities, the best interest standard provides consumers with an extra layer of protection.

How is the best interest standard regulated?

The NAICs model regulation is being adopted in waves by states across the country, quickly becoming the law of the land. Additionally, the Department of Labor (DOL)s fiduciary rule might also apply here, but its actually an area of intense debate and interest, so, hold your breath and well dive into that in the fiduciary section.

3. Fiduciary

The last standard well cover is the fiduciary standard. While there is some confusion over the difference between the fiduciary and best interest standard, most regulatory bodies agree the fiduciary standard goes above and beyond both the suitability and best interest standard, making it the highest standard of care.

In a fiduciary standard, you make the decisions for your client as if you were the client. You assume responsibility for their well-being and personal circumstances as if they were your own.

The DOL fiduciary rule, or, if you prefer the proper name, the Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02, Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees, holds insurance producers to a fiduciary standard when they sell annuities. This is a strong area of disagreement, though. The Securities and Exchange Commission (or, the SEC, which has a standard similar to the NAIC model, but from the securities side of the industry) and the NAIC both explicitly state that a best interest standard isnt a fiduciary standard. The DOL explicitly disagrees.

So, what gives? The NAIC and SEC argue that a fiduciary duty is a standard that is fixed  once youre a fiduciary, youre always a fiduciary. Their standpoint is that, if a best interest standard holds only for a certain set of products or situations, then its not the same as a fiduciary standard. The DOL argues that this is a circumstantial use of the fiduciary standard.

How will we know whos right? In classic American style, probably well find out if it ever goes to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, if we were insurance producers, we wouldnt test it to find out.

When operating under the fiduciary standard, professionals not only recommend products that are appropriate and in the customers best interest, but there is also the question of would you buy this product if it was your own money?. Basically, the insurance professional would only suggest products that they themselves would purchase were they in the customers position.

When does the fiduciary standard apply?

According to the DOL, the fiduciary standard applies to producers selling annuity products.

Brokers: According to the state of California, the fiduciary standard also applies to brokers.

If youre looking for more reading on the subject, Plaintiff Magazine featured an interesting column with citations from states that each handle it differently, with decisions from Louisiana, Illinois, and New Jersey all pointing to brokers needing to follow a fiduciary standard.

Another twist: Dually licensed insurance professionals might also hold a Series 65 license, which obligates them to a fiduciary duty in securities matters. If a client who sees that professional for securities advice also asks them about insurance, at what point do they stop being a fiduciary? The DOL fiduciary rule is a forward step, but these situations still have plenty of gray areas to explore.

How is the fiduciary standard regulated?

The DOLs fiduciary rule and judicial concern regulate the fiduciary standard and its implementation across insurance producers across states.

Agents owe customers a certain standard of care

The bottom line is that sometimes insurance is purely transactional, but the more of an impact it might have on a client, the higher the standard of care the insurance producer should consider.

Annuities in particular are an area to watch moving forward, and brokers should be particularly concerned about regional variations in standards of care.

Do you know which standard youre being held to? If you dont, check with a regulator or lawyer. You dont want to use what we call the fool around and find out method.

Along with responsibility to clients, insurance professionals have a responsibility to operate in compliance with a whole host of different rules and regulations. AgentSync can help prevent regulatory violations before they happen. If youre interested in reducing costs and compliance risks at your agency, see AgentSync in action today.

Topics Lawsuits
Traffic at the Port Authority of New York and New Jerseys bridges and tunnels has returned to pre-pandemic levels, partly due to changes in traveling habits, the agencys Executive Director Rick Cotton said.

At the bridges and tunnels, the volumes have recovered to pre-pandemic levels or actually slightly above, Cotton told Bloomberg Television on Monday. I think youd have to say that there has been somewhat of a shift of people preferring to drive in cars as opposed to using public transportation.

In April, the Port Authoritys four bridges and two tunnels handled a total of 10.1 million eastbound vehicles, the same level as April, 2019. Last month showed a 4% increase over March, when comparing average daily traffic. Automobile traffic was up almost 5%, while truck traffic was down nearly 5% compared to March, according to the Port Authority.

PATH is still having a slow recovery, with train ridership stuck at about 50% of pre-pandemic levels, the authority said. PATH trains had 3.5 million riders in April.

We havent seen much movement in those numbers, Cotton said.

In the last 24 months, we have seen $3 billion of revenue disappear, the executive director said. The Port Authority is self sustaining from the revenues it collects, rather than from significant levels of tax income from its two sponsoring states or federal money, except for special grant funding.

Safety Concerns

Commuting to work has dropped as the work-from-home phenomenon took hold during the pandemic, cutting into PATH revenues and travel from the regions airports. Cotton said safety and security on public transportation is also a concern for travelers.

Security and safety is really the highest priority that the Port Authority has, has been in the past and particularly today, Cotton said. The Port Authority, with a 2,000-person police department, has put its force on the highest alert since a fatal shooting Sunday aboard a New York City subway train.

A man died after being shot on a Q train heading into Manhattan from Brooklyn. The victim, Daniel Enriquez, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. employee, was traveling to a brunch, a typical weekend activity in New York City.

Janno Lieber, MTAs chief executive officer, called the shooting a random and cold-blooded act of violence, during a monthly subway and bus committee meeting on Monday. The assailant remains at large.

About the photo: Vehicles in traffic after exiting the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken, New Jersey, U.S., on Thursday June 17, 2021.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics COVID-19 New York
TEACHERS have given government a one-week ultimatum to address their salary grievances or face a crippling strike action beginning June 1.

In a letter seen by NewsDay, which was handed to government on Tuesday by the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz), the educators said they were tired of unfulfilled promises.

Artuz said failure to comply with their demand for United States dollar salaries and improved working conditions would force them to embark on a collective job action as provided for under section 65(3) of the Constitution.

In an interview yesterday, Artuz president Obert Masaraure said: We are determined for an industrial action, unless our grievances are addressed, and we officially handed our letter to government on Tuesday.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima declined to comment on the issue, saying he was out of the country and had not yet seen the letter.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou pledged unity with Artuz.

Our belief is that we need to be united as teachers and approach the government as a united front. If nothing happens, we are also going on industrial action as we are not happy with the deductions on teachers payslips. We are under-paid, he said.

PTUZ secretary-general Raymond Majongwe added: The government is taking too long to address our grievances. I believe it is now good at infuriating teachers. I believe Finance minister Mthuli Ncube is a victim of forgetfulness. If they fail to meet our demands this coming June, we will demonstrate as provided by the Constitution.

Ncube last week told Parliament that a salary demand of US$540 by teachers was misleading, saying the educators used to earn half of the amount in 2018. Newsday
Exxon Mobil Corp. has lost another round in its fight to stop states from pursuing claims that it has deceived investors and the public regarding its products and climate change.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has affirmed a trial court order denying Exxon Mobils anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss Attorney General Maura Healeys lawsuit against the company over its climate-related positioning. Exxon Mobil claimed the lawsuit infringed on its free speech right.

The states high court rejected the oil giants argument that the attorney generals lawsuit involves its right to petition the government and thus should be dismissed under the states anti-SLAPP (strategic litigation against public participation) statute.

Exxon and other energy firms also failed in another bid to have a similar case brought by the state of Rhode Island moved to federal court. On May 23, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld previous rulings that Rhode Islands climate-based complaint must be heard in state, not federal, court.

The Massachusetts high court agreed with Healey that the anti-SLAPP statute is not enforceable against civil actions brought by law enforcement.

Healey sued the oil giant in 2019, alleging it has been misleading Massachusetts investors about the fossil fuel-driven climate change risks to its business and deceptively advertising its fossil fuel products to consumers. The ruling means the case can proceed.

Exxons repeated attempts to stonewall our lawsuit have been baseless, and this effort was no different, Healey commented. We look forward to proceeding with our case and having our day in court to show how Exxon is breaking the law and to put an end to the deception once and for all.

A state Superior Court had previously also refused to block the attorney generals lawsuit. It did so on the basis that at least one of the counts in the complaint did not involve petitioning.

The state Supreme Court, however, based its dismissal of Exxons motion on an analysis of the laws history and language that it found makes it clear that the anti-SLAPP law applies to private entities but not to civil enforcement actions by the government.

There is no suggestion in the legislative history that it was meant to address government enforcement actions. Furthermore, unlike private litigants, government actors decisions to prosecute claims are subject to the First Amendment and other constitutional protection, the court noted.

Energy Firms Lose Challenge to Remand of Baltimore Climate Suit to State Court

Healeys complaint alleges that Exxon has made factual misstatements and failed to disclose information related to its products and their impact on the climate. Also, her complaint alleges that some of the oil companys marketing and promotional materials misled consumers and that its so-called greenwashing campaigns wrongly implies that Exxon Mobil is taking steps to solve climate change and reduce carbon emissions.

Exxon Mobil has denied the allegations.

Exxon Mobil Loses Bid to Stop States Climate Change Probes

The energy firms have been stymied in their efforts to get the climate suits heard in federal courts.

In the Rhode Island case, the federal appeals court was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to review the matter of whether the case belongs in federal or state court for a second time. The Supreme Court said the court should review it in light of its own recent ruling concerning a similar case brought by the city of Baltimore (BP p.l.c. v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore), a remand and opinion requiring courts of appeals to review all of a defendants removal grounds, not just some.

In the wake of the Supreme Court remand in the Baltimore case, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed its April decision that sent Baltimores climate change lawsuit against more than 20 energy firms back to state court.

After reviewing all of the oil firms arguments for removal to federal court, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals earlier this week similarly affirmed its remand of the Rhode Island case to state court.

In March, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Exxon could not sue Healey in federal court because it was pursuing the same case in Massachusetts state courts.

In addition to suits by Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Baltimore, energy firms face climate suits brought by Connecticut, Minnesota, the District of Columbia and Delaware along with the cities of Annapolis, Charleston, New York and Honolulu.

The opinions have dealt only with jurisdiction issues and not with whether the municipalities or states will ultimately fail or succeed in proving their claims under state laws.

Topics Lawsuits Energy Oil Gas Massachusetts
Russia has so far deflected much of the impact of sanctions on its oil trade but the insurance industry threatens to throw a spanner in the works unless Moscow and its customers can plug a gap left by Western underwriters.

Insurers from Europe and the United States, which dominate the international marine market, are curtailing coverage for Russian oil tankers, industry sources say, to avoid breaching sanctions imposed in the wake of Moscows invasion of Ukraine. Even non-Russian vessels are now at risk of being dropped by Western insurers if they carry Russian crude.

The moves by Western insurers could undermine Moscows recent success in rerouting supplies of crude from Europe and the United States to Asia, accelerate the decline in its European business and blow a bigger hole in energy markets as restrictions ensnare the worlds second-biggest crude exporter.

EU to Weaken Russia Oil Sanctions, but Keeps Plan to Prohibit Insurance of Shipments

The pullback is expected to hit over June and July, when policies that were withdrawn this month in anticipation of tougher European Union restrictions fully expire, four shipping and industry sources told Reuters. They declined to be named because of the sensitivity of discussing Russian-linked business.

There is an ongoing pressure for international marine insurers to not cover shipping companies worldwide for carrying Russian oil, said Maria Bertzeletou, an analyst at Greece-headquartered Signal Maritime Services, a leading manager of oil tankers.

Turmoil or a short-term hiatus on marine insurance cannot be ruled out.

Ships are commercially required to have protection & indemnity (P&I) insurance, which covers third party liability claims including environmental damage and injury. Separate hull and machinery policies cover vessels against physical damage.

While insurance companies based in countries that are big buyers of Russian oil might be able to step in, their ability to cover potentially huge policy risks by getting their own insurance policies from reinsurers also looks set to be hit.

Just as the marine insurance market is dominated by Western firms, the global reinsurance market is dominated by U.S. and European companies that now need to heed a broad range of sanctions targeting Russian shipping interests and banks.

It will be challenging now to identify a reinsured claim that would not in some way be caught by those sanctions, said Mike Salthouse, head of claims at North, a member of the International Group, an association of insurers who provide P&I insurance to around 90% of ocean-going ships.

Government Guarantees?

Without reinsurance, an insurer writing a policy for an oil tanker would likely need a government guarantee to cover potential liabilities that could run into billions of dollars.

There are probably insurers in Russia that are capable of writing third party liability and reinsurance programs that could then be backed by a sovereign fund from China or Russia or a combination of both, said Salthouse, who is also chairman of the International Groups sanctions sub-committee.

That is technically possible. It depends on what the political will is and what markets Russia will focus its cargoes on.

For now, customers in India and China are picking up cargoes of Russian oil shunned in the West, and cheaper because of it, according to industry data and traders. Russian oil exports were back to their pre-invasion average in April, according to a report this month from the International Energy Agency.

In the absence of Western insurers, Russia is turning to local insurance companies including the countrys No. 4 provider Ingosstrakh, according to three of the industry sources.

Reuters could not determine whether the Russian government or any other sovereign state had given or planned to give privately-owned Ingosstrakh any financial guarantees. Russias economy and transport ministries and Ingosstrakh did not respond to requests for comment.

India, a longtime ally of Moscow, has been snapping up Russian crude. Its share of Russian oil exports has jumped to 10% from zero since the start of this year, according to the IEA.

New Delhi does not see insurance being a barrier to future purchases because Ingosstrakh has the liability for any hazards that occur on the seas, according to a senior government official.

India recognizes the insurance cover including P&I by Ingosstrakh so there will not be any problem as long as the ships meet port entry rules. Since we dont recognize U.S. sanctions so we will accept Russian ships. Our liability will arise only after discharge of the vessel, said the official, who declined to be named.

China, the worlds biggest oil importer, is also ramping up purchases of oil from Russia at bargain prices, according to shipping data and oil traders who spoke to Reuters.

But Chinese insurers looking to take on business that was previously covered by their Western counterparts would likely need a sovereign guarantee, according to the three industry sources.

It wont be a commercially viable decision for any Chinese insurer to take over the insurance coverage from the European companies, said Leonard Li, a partner with management consultancy company Oliver Wyman.

Chinese companies do not have much experience or knowledge of this sector, he added.

Chinese government officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Running Scared

There is precedent for governments to step in to guarantee the maritime risks associated with shipping sanctioned goods.

In 2012, Japan used a sovereign liability guarantee to help bring in cargoes of Iranian oil after Western insurers cut cover due to sanctions before a nuclear deal was reached with Tehran.

A Japanese official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the legislation passed in 2012 was strictly for Iranian oil imports and new rules would need to be approved for any guarantees covering Russia.

Two Japanese government officials including the first source said they were not aware of any discussion of such backup plans.

Japanese insurers are still providing cover for tankers carrying Russian oil as long as they are not linked with companies on sanctions lists, a Japanese industry source familiar with the situation said.

The source added that if the UK and other Western reinsurance companies stopped offering cover, then insurers in Japan would also likely do the same.

A complex patchwork of U.S., EU and British sanctions have prohibited Russian-owned or flagged ships from calling at ports or engaging in new trading contracts, raising capital or securing new insurance cover from companies operating in those jurisdictions.

There is no ban on insuring foreign owned ships that carry Russian oil but it is being considered as part of a new European Union package of restrictions, which would also include an embargo on importing Russian oil.

In the meantime, the insurance industry is self-sanctioning ahead of any possible future restrictions and Russias maritime sector is seeing the wind down of multiple services, including ship certification by leading foreign providers  vital for accessing ports and securing insurance  shipping companies pulling out and ship engine makers suspending training on their equipment.

Private businesses are going harder and higher than governments ever would, because they are running scared of activist investors and shareholders, said Ross Denton, head of international trade at law firm Ashurst.

(Additional reporting by Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo, Francesco Guarascio in Brussels, Selena Li and Xie Yu in Hong Kong, Beijing buro; editing by Carmel Crimmins)

Related:

Topics Russia Energy Oil Gas
Chinas ruling Communist Party has expelled a former chief accountant of state-controlled PICC Property and Casualty Co. from the party, accusing him of illegal activities and taking bribes, the anti-graft watchdog said on Wednesday.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) opened an investigation into Shen Dong in December, when he was removed from his post as vice president at the insurer.

CCDI said in a statement on its website that it had found Shen had seriously violated Communist Party discipline, conducted illegal activities, and was suspected of taking bribes.

Reuters sought comment from PICC Property and Casualty representatives, but a telephone call and email were unanswered.

President Xi Jinping has stepped up efforts in recent years to weed out corrupt Communist Party officials in the financial sector.

Last week, the CCDI said it was investigating Sun Guofeng, former head of the central banks monetary policy department, for suspected serious violations of discipline and laws.

In February, the anti-graft watchdog concluded an inspection of institutions including the central bank, the banking and insurance regulator, stock exchanges, commercial banks and asset-management companies, in the countrys first coordinated inspection of the sector since 2015.

(Reporting by Jason Xue and Andrew Galbraith; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Topics Property Casualty Property China Casualty
This edition of International People Moves details appointments at AXA XL, Howden and MS Amlin.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

AXA XL Names Benet Global Chief Underwriting Officer, Succeeding Bewlay

AXA XL has named Libby Benet to the role of global chief underwriting officer (GCUO), succeeding Nancy Bewlay, who recently assumed leadership of AXA XLs global reinsurance operation.

Benet joined AXA XL in 2020, assuming the new role of chief underwriting officer for Cyber, tasked with closely monitoring the cyber risk portfolio and exposure from an aggregated global product view. When AXA XL implemented its new operating model, she expanded her role, assuming global chief underwriting officer responsibilities for all financial lines, including cyber. She is based in New York.

Prior to her tenure at AXA XL, Benet managed her own consultancy where she assisted insurance company clients in the development and implementation of new insurance products and consultation on the set up of underwriting and claims systems and feedback on reinsurance purchasing. Her insurance career also includes positions with Beazley, General Reinsurance and Zurich.

Benet is a graduate of Towson University and the University of Baltimore School of Law. She is a member of the Maryland State Bar as well as a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP US) and Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) through the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Given the GCUOs responsibility for underwriting governance, pricing, risk aggregation and global product strategy, this is a big role to fill, and Libby is well prepared for it, said AXA XL CEO Scott Gunter.

***

Howden Hires Marshs Neild to Lead UK Cyber Retail Practice

Howden, the London-based international insurance broker, announces the appointment of Sarah Neild as head of UK Cyber Retail. Neild will report to David Rees, and will be based in London.

Neild joins Howden from Marsh and brings with her over 30 years of experience in the cyber market. She has held senior positions in the cyber, media and technology specialist teams at Marsh, where she is currently a senior vice president, working across a broad range of sectors including broadcasters and telecommunications companies. Neild will strengthen Howdens existing cyber proposition for the benefit of its clients.

Neild will join Howden in November once her contractual obligations have been fulfilled.

This is another significant senior hire for Howden, following the January appointment of Adam Reed to head Howdens large and complex risk team, which services major corporates primarily in the FTSE 100/250. Previously, Reed spent more than six years as global client relationship director for Willis Towers Watson, according to his LinkedIn profile. Between 2007 and 2015, Reed was a senior relationship officer for Marsh.

***

MS Amlin Taps Compres Margetts for Strategy Team

MS Amlin Underwriting Ltd. (MS AUL), the Lloyds re/insurer, announces the appointment of Rob Margetts. Margetts will join MS AUL in the coming months, and will report to Martyn Rodden, director of Strategy & Transformation.

In his new role, Margetts will help develop and implement a range of strategic initiatives identified by the business, following a strategic review by MS AULs executive team in 2021. This includes plans across current and legacy portfolios, as well as supporting MS AULs longer-term strategic ambitions, working with parent company Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI) and U.S.-based sister company MS Amlin Distribution Holdings.

He brings more than two decades of industry experience in the re/insurance market and joins from legacy specialist, Compre, where he has spent six years. He started at Compre as the head of M&A, responsible for executing all transactions, before becoming head of Lloyds in 2020, overseeing all operational aspects of the relationships with Compres managing agent and Lloyds of London, as well as leading the development of new business opportunities.

Prior to Compre, Margetts held several roles at Aviva, both within its UK General Insurance business as the head of Strategic Capital Management and head of Capital Management, with Aviva Group. Margetts also spent a decade in the re/insurance consulting space, including eight years at KPMG.

Topics Cyber Mississippi AXA XL
Glencore Plc said on Tuesday it anticipates paying up to $1.5 billion to settle accusations of bribery and market manipulation, as authorities in the United States, Britain and Brazil announced that three of the companys subsidiaries were pleading guilty to crimes.

The miner and commodity trading giant agreed to pay more than $1 billion in the United States and Brazil, with Glencore representatives also appearing in courts in the United States and Britain on Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said a $1.1 billion accord with the U.S. will resolve both a decade-long scheme to bribe foreign officials across seven countries and separate criminal and civil charges alleging one of the companys trading arms manipulated fuel oil prices at two of the largest U.S. shipping ports.

This represents the Justice Departments largest criminal enforcement action to date for a commodity price manipulation conspiracy in oil markets, Garland said at a press conference.

We will continue to investigate, disrupt and hold accountable corporations that break our laws.

The company said it expects a final global settlement, including a future fine in Britain, not to exceed the $1.5 billion it set aside in its reserves in February to resolve the probes relating to operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Venezuela.

Glencore has resolved the previously disclosed investigations by authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil into past activities in certain Group businesses related to bribery, it said in a statement.

Any final resolution would wrap up a multi-year U.S. and British investigation that has dogged the Swiss-based multinational, which still faces corruption and bribery investigations by other countries including Swiss and Dutch authorities.

In Brazil on Tuesday, prosecutors said Glencore will pay $29.6 million directly to state-run oil company Petrobras in compensation for defrauding the company and roughly $10 million to authorities in civil penalties.

The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which opened a corruption investigation in 2019 code-named Operation Azoth, said on Tuesday it had exposed profit-driven bribery and corruption across oil operations in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and South Sudan.

Glencore Energy (UK) Ltd, which said Tuesday it would plead guilty to all the charges at a hearing at Londons Westminster Magistrates Court, will be sentenced on June 21.

The SFO alleged that Glencore agents and employees paid bribes worth over $25 million for preferential access to oil, with approval by the company.

Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, called the bribery scheme staggering.

Glencore paid bribes to secure oil contracts. Glencore paid bribes to avoid government audits. Glencore paid bribes to judges to make lawsuits disappear, he said.

As part of the resolution with the United States, Glencore is also required to hire two separate independent compliance monitors.

In March 2021, former Glencore oil trader Emilio Jose Heredia Collado pleaded guilty in San Francisco, California, to manipulating a key oil price benchmark, while former Glencore trader Anthony Stimler pleaded guilty in New York in July 2021 over his role in a scheme to bribe Nigerian officials.

However, none of the companys top executives have faced charges to date. U.S. Justice Department officials told reporters on Tuesday their investigations remain ongoing.

Spotlight on Corruption, a public interest group, welcomed the charges on Tuesday, but said it was essential that those responsible for the wrongdoing, including senior executives and the parent company, are held to account.

(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley and Clara Denina in London and Sarah N. Lynch in Washington. Additional reporting by Tyler Clifford in Washington, Jonathan Stempel in New York, Gram Slattery in Rio de Janeiro and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; editing by Maju Samuel, Paul Simao, David Gregorio and Richard Pullin)

Topics Mining
AXA XL has named Libby Benet to the role of global chief underwriting officer (GCUO), succeeding Nancy Bewlay, who recently assumed leadership of AXA XLs global reinsurance operation.

According to AXA XL CEO Scott Gunter, Given the GCUOs responsibility for underwriting governance, pricing, risk aggregation and global product strategy, this is a big role to fill, and Libby is well prepared for it. Libby has done an impressive job working with our regional underwriting teams to support their disciplined underwriting, improve pricing, and manage our aggregate exposure in support of our profitable growth. Libbys proven leadership, market insight and portfolio management experience will continue to prove valuable in her new expanded leadership role.

Benet joined AXA XL in 2020 assuming the new role of CUO for Cyber. When AXA XL implemented its new operating model, she assumed GCUO responsibilities for all financial lines, including cyber.

Prior to AXA XL, Benet managed her own consultancy where she assisted insurance company clients in the development and implementation of new insurance products and consultation on the set up of underwriting and claims systems and feedback on reinsurance purchasing. Her insurance career also includes positions with Beazley, General Reinsurance and Zurich.

Resilience Hires Ho to Lead Cyber Underwriting in Canada

Resilience, which provides cyber insurance and security solutions to mid-market enterprises to help them holistically evaluate, manage, and quantify their cyber risk, continues its global expansion with the addition of Miki Ho as head of underwriting for Canada. Ho will lead the companys Canadian business growth, reporting to Kevin McGowan, SVP  head of underwriting strategy, North America. The strategic addition reflects the MGAs continued success with the Insure + Secure model.

Mikis extensive commercial insurance and business development experience is well-regarded across the industry and will help us grow our presence in Canada, said McGowan.

Ho has spent the majority of his career focused on cyber insurance working with broker partners to find creative cyber risk transfer and risk management solutions for clients facing complex risks. He most recently led the business development team in Canada for Coalition but brings experience from a broad industry network.

Topics Underwriting AXA XL
Verisk said it appointed Lee M. Shavel to CEO and Mark V. Anquillare to president following the companys annual shareholder meeting. Shavel was also elected to the Verisk Board of Directors.

Three new independent directors, nominated by the company, were elected to the companys Board of Directors: Jeffrey Dailey, Wendy Lane and Kimberly S. Stevenson.

In February Verisk announced Scott G. Stephenson, chairman, president and CEO, would be retiring following the companys 2022 shareholder meeting.

Verisk has a profound opportunity to help the insurance industry evolve in a new digital environment, integrate and activate rapidly growing data sets and achieve new levels of efficiency. With our industry knowledge, technical expertise and established client relationships, we are uniquely positioned to address their needs as an essential technology partner, Shavel said. Im humbled to assume the role of Verisk CEO, and I will be focused on value creation for our customers, colleagues and shareholders. This is a great responsibility and one I truly cherish.

The Remaking of Verisk as an Insurance-Focused Firm (Again) Is Underway

Most recently Shavel served as CFO and group president for Verisk. Anquillare served as COO and group president. Shavel and Anquillare have been architects and drivers of Verisks growth, increased efficiency and an innovation agenda.

Shavels replacement as CFO will be named at a later date.

Verisk serves the insurance, energy, real estate and financial services industries. It is the leading provider of statistical, actuarial and underwriting data for the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry.

Verisk was established to serve as the parent holding company of Insurance Services Office, Inc. upon the completion of the initial public offering in 2009. ISO was formed in 1971 as an advisory and rating organization for the property/casualty insurance industry to provide statistical and actuarial services, develop insurance programs, and assist insurance companies in meeting state regulatory requirements.

Over the past decade, Verisk has entered new markets, placed a greater emphasis on analytics, and pursued acquisitions. Among its acquisitions are Data Driven Safety, ACTINEO, Jornaya, Franco Signor, FAST, BuildFax, Genscape and Keystone Aerial Surveys, Rulebook, PowerAdvocate, Sequel, LCI, Fintellix, G2 , Greentech Media, Validus-IVC, MAKE, MarketStance, Arium, Healix Risk Rating, The GeoInformation Group, Analyze Re, Risk Intelligence Ireland, Emergent Network Intelligence and 4C Solutions.
A Florida House committee and the state Senate wasted little time Tuesday in approving sweeping property insurance bills, leaving only the full House of Representatives to cement the changes on Wednesday, which would likely ending the special session two days early.

The question for some lawmakers now is: Will a $2 billion, premium-free state fund to be established by the legislation, provide enough reinsurance relief to salvage some struggling insurers one week before reinsurance renewal deadlines. A few representatives and insurance industry leaders said no  that as many as four carriers will still not be able to afford complete reinsurance programs and will face rating downgrades. The Legislature will be asked to act once again.

Theres been a rumor that well be back here again in a few weeks, said state Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa. I hope not.

Rep. Matt Willhite, D-Wellington, questioned if $2 billion is enough for the Reinsurance to Assist Policyholders, or RAP program, as it is known. If the bill is signed into law, the taxpayer-backed fund would be a one-time-only layer of reinsurance below what the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund covers. Participating carriers would be required to immediately pass the savings, perhaps as much as 4%, on to policyholders.

Willhite noted that the cat fund, with more than $15 billion in reserves, already plans to increase premiums by 12% this year, potentially signaling that the RAP would one day also need more funds.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, who sponsored the reform bills, seemed unaware of the cat fund premium increase. But he assured colleagues that $2 billion would be sufficient for the RAP program and that it would provide needed relief for most troubled insurers in the state.

Contacted earlier, the head of the Demotech rating firm said that the legislation, including the RAP program, is not enough for insureds or insurers.

Game-changing legislation was needed to dramatically and precipitously reduce litigation, and to be a greater benefit to consumers, President Joe Petrelli said in email. However, those types of changes might be considered later in 2022.

Despite the concerns, the House committee approved its version of the bills Tuesday evening, after four hours of testimony and debate. Rep. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach was the only committee member to vote against it, despite sharp comments from others about the lack of rate relief for homeowners.

The omnibus bill, HB 1D, is very similar to SB 2D, which passed the state Senates second reading earlier Tuesday by a vote of 30-9. Both bills would create the RAP fund, end plaintiffs attorney fee multipliers except in rare instances, limit bad-faith awards unless claimants prove a breach of the insurance contract, ban the awarding of legal fees to assignees in AOB cases, grant insurers attorney fees when suits are dismissed, and would allow separate roof deductibles in HO policies.

Plaintiffs attorneys testified that the fee multipliers already are rarely invoked by judges. But insurance defense lawyers said not so, that judges often fail to follow case law rules and apply the multipliers unnecessarily, adding thousands of dollars to the costs of claims.

The bills also would provide grants for home wind-mitigation and would call for more scrutiny and more reporting from regulators. The measures also would keep insurers from refusing to write policies on homes with roofs less than 15 years old.

Another set of bills would loosen the Florida building code, which now requires that when roofs have suffered damage to at least 25% of the surface, the entire, contiguous roof area must be replaced. The House committee and the full Senate on Tuesday also approved those code bills. An amendment approved by the Senate on Tuesday clarified that if a roof has been repaired, the age of the roof would be determined by the oldest building permit for a repair job.

The full Senate could give final approval to both pieces on Wednesday morning, followed by the full House later in the day, officials said. Some lawmakers marveled at the speed of the proceedings at the special session, while others complained that it had not allowed for full vetting of the bills.

The House hearing and Senate floor debate highlighted a number of problems in Floridas insurance and regulatory environments. Some representatives criticized the Office of Insurance Regulation for not doing enough to examine rate requests and looming insolvencies, but pointed out that the agency has a 21% vacancy rate. Commissioner David Altmaier, after the House committee hearing, said that more staff may not allow the agency to do much more, but would mean less work for overworked, existing employees.

Rep. Joseph Geller, D-Aventura, offered an amendment that would block insurers from canceling homeowner policies while a claim or claim litigation is still pending. Policyholder attorney Ron Haynes, representing the Florida Justice Association, told the committee that he has had several clients who have seen that happen to them. Other insurers wouldnt pick them up, forcing the homeowners to endure expensive force-placed policies.

Trumbull, the bill sponsor, said that barring policy cancellations could be seen as unreasonable, since an insurance company may need to cancel a policy for other reasons during a protracted litigation period. Gellers amendment was voted down by the committee.

On the Senate side, Sen. Gary Farmer, a vocal Democrat who is retiring this year, urged members to vote against the bill. He argued that the OIR already has the authority to do more to improve the Florida market, such as enforcing a state law that requires national auto insurers in the state to also sell homeowners policies.

Topics Lawsuits Florida
After addressing Floridas insurance crisis, lawmakers on Tuesday quickly approved another piece of legislation they did not get to during the regular session in March  a revamp of condominium laws that would require more frequent inspections, more reserved funding for repairs, and more reporting of structural conditions.

The insurance industry should love this because now theyll have data on the buildings, and they can see which condos are not being maintained, said Travis Moore, a lobbyist and consultant for the Community Associations Institute. He spoke in favor of HB 5D on Tuesday.

The condo reform bill was added to the special sessions agenda at the last minute this week. The House Appropriations Committee, after hearing four hours of testimony and debate on a property insurance reform package, quickly endorsed the condominium bill Tuesday night by a vote of 29-0. The full Senate earlier in the day had added the language as part of its version of the insurance crisis bill.

Both chambers are expected to reconcile the measures today and send them to the governor.

The condominium law changes have been demanded for months, after the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo near Miami Beach collapsed June 24, 2021, killing 98 people. The 40-year-old condo had just begun some much-needed and long-awaited repairs when the collapse occurred.

The reform measure, if signed into law, will require structural inspections of all residential buildings three stories or higher  statewide  30 years after construction, then every 10 years after that. For buildings that are within three miles of the coast, the inspections must be done after 25 years and then every seven years. Currently, only two South Florida counties require regular inspections.

The new bill also would make building inspection reports available to unit owners and local building officials.

Perhaps most importantly, condominium associations would, after December 2024, no longer be able to easily waive reserve funding requirements from unit owners. Currently, condo associations in Florida have been able to postpone collecting payments for needed repairs with a simple majority of condo board members present at board meeting, Moore explained.

The bill provides that effective December 1, 2024, a unit-owner controlled association may not waive collecting reserves or collect less reserve funds than required for items that are required to be inspected in a structural integrity reserve study for an association building that is three stories or higher in height, a legislative analysis of the bill explains. In addition, unit-owner controlled associations may not use such reserve funds for purposes other than their intended purpose.

The bill also would require condo associations to conduct reserve studies every 10 years.

Before a developer turns over control of an association to unit owners other than the developer, the developer must have a structural integrity reserve study completed for each building on the condominium property that is three stories or higher in height, the analysis reads.

This is a very good piece of legislation, said Rep. Joseph Geller, D-Aventura.

We were able to accomplish  not just for Surfside families but for all Floridians that live in condominiums  a product that they should be proud of, because I think we accomplished our goal, which is one step closer to making sure what happened in Surfside never happens again, bill sponsor Rep. Daniel Perez, R-Miami, told Florida Politics.

After the tower collapsed 11 months ago, some insurance companies have balked at writing new condo insurance while others have demanded more inspection reports. In coming years, insurers will have more access to more-frequent reports, supporters of the bill said.

Topics Legislation Florida Condominium
Answers

Global market trend 2022-2027 Will the German Chancellor visit to Africa to buy gas affect the market for the temperature controlled in Germany by Newsintegra927

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday began his first trip to Africa as president, seeking to buy Senegalese liquefied natural gas to make up for the shortfall caused by reduced energy imports from Russia.

Germany has started negotiations with Senegal on gas exploitation and LNG supplies, Scholz said at a joint press conference with Senegalese President Marki Sall on Tuesday.

Mr Sall said Senegal was ready to supply liquefied natural gas to the European market. He expects Senegal's LNG production to reach 2.5 million tons next year and 10 million tons by 2030.

Senegal's border with Mauritania is rich in natural gas. A German government official said Sunday that Germany could help Senegal explore gas fields. The gas partnership between Senegal and the United Kingdom will be led by BP, and first supplies are not expected until next year, the Associated Press reported.

Scholz is scheduled to visit Niger later on Friday before leaving for South Africa on Wednesday evening, a visit that will focus on the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Since Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine on February 24, the United States and European Union countries have imposed several rounds of severe economic sanctions on Russia, and are preparing to gradually reduce and even halt the import of Russian energy. But since Russia is now the EU's biggest supplier of gas and crude oil, the backlash from sanctions against Moscow has made the EU's position more difficult.

Germany, Europe's largest economy, intends to wean itself off Russian gas but is expected to remain dependent on Moscow for most of its energy supplies until mid-2024.

In addition to Germany, Italy, which is highly dependent on energy imports, is also looking to Africa. Last month two Italian government ministers travelled to Luanda, Angola's capital, and Brazzaville, Congo's capital, in search of gas supplies.

Market Analysis of temperature controlled

Industry competition and marketization degree: relay industry development is more mature, the market competition is more sufficient, major producing countries including China, the United States, Japan, Germany, etc., including the United States, Japan, Germany enterprise occupies most of the high-end relay market share, is mainly used in industrial automation control, automotive, communications, aerospace and other fields. The output of relays of Chinese enterprises accounts for about half of the global output of relays, but they are mainly medium and low-end products, which are mainly used in household appliances, electricity, automobiles and other fields.

Basic principles and classification of temperature controlled

Basic concept and principle of relay: relay is a control component that automatically disconnects when the input parameters (such as electricity, magnetism, light, heat, sound and so on) in the circuit reach a specified value, which can make the output parameters of the circuit change in a predetermined step. In circuits, relays mainly control, protect, regulate and transmit information. The relay has an induction mechanism that reflects external input parameters, an executive mechanism that realizes "on" and "off" control of the controlled circuit, and an intermediate comparison mechanism that compares, judges and converts the size of the input.

As a control element, relays have the following functions:

(1) Expand the control range, such as multi-contact relay control signal reaches a certain value, according to the different forms of the contact group, at the same time open and close the multi-circuit;

(2) amplification, such as sensitive relay, intermediate relay, etc., with a very small amount of control, can control a large power circuit;

(3) comprehensive signals, such as when multiple control signals are input into the multi-winding relay in a specified form, after comparison and synthesis, to achieve the predetermined control effect;

(4) Automatic, remote control, monitoring, such as the relay on the automatic device and other electrical appliances together, can form a program control circuit, so as to realize automatic operation.

In the competition of the temperature controlled market, enterprises in the United States, Japan and other developed countries constantly consolidate their dominant position in the global market by establishing technical standards, controlling core technologies, strengthening the integration of industrial chains, and firmly mastering the dominance of technical standards and international rules. In recent years, in order to further strengthen the core competitiveness, enterprises in the United States, Japan and other developed countries continue to expand temperature controlled products and speed up technology integration. Their business scope has broken through simple relay manufacturing and developed to industrial control, system integration and other fields. The key to the competition in the high-end field has developed from the competition of quantity to the competition of the basic research and development of new relays, key materials, special equipment and other core products.

The raw material of the temperature controlled

The temperature controlled cost of relay is mainly determined by raw materials, which are mainly iron, silver, copper and other metals, accounting for about 74.4% of the production cost, labour and manufacturing costs accounting for 13.7% and 11.9% respectively, silver, copper and iron materials accounting for 36%, 21% and 7% of the raw material cost respectively. The price of three raw materials has a certain impact on the profitability of the whole industry. In addition to the main metal raw materials of the temperature controlled, engineering plastics and enamelled wire are also important components of relays, and the overall supply of raw materials is stable at present.

The application domain of the temperature controlled

The rapid development of temperature controlled emerging relays. The application field of relays has changed from traditional application fields, such as household appliances and power automation control equipment, ships and new energy. Relay products have been transformed from low-end products to high-end products, such as high-voltage DC relay, high-performance industrial control relay, low-power energy-saving relay, new-generation communication relay, high-frequency relay, relay control components and other high-performance relays. The value chain of the relay industry is constantly extending to the high-end. In terms of product performance, it is developing towards the direction of more sensitive (low power consumption), smaller volume and higher performance (such as high-frequency relay).

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Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020
The 11th World Potato Congress will be held in Ireland for the first time this year, from May 30 to June 2.

The Irish Potato Federation has announced that the four-day event taking place in Dublins RDS will feature more than 60 speakers and is set to be attended by up to 1,000 delegates from over 60 countries.

Alongside a host of Irish experts, international speakers at the event will include European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, who will deliver a presentation on Europes Green Deal; QU Dongyu, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN will discuss the potato in a changing world; and president of the Polish Potato Federation Tomasz Bienkowski will speak about the impact of the war in Ukraine on the global potato industry.

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, who will officially open the congress, said it is a "great privilege" for Ireland to host this unique event.

"Seeing leaders in the global potato sector come to Ireland is a testimony to the industry we have here," Mr McConalogue said.

"The potato industry, like many others, has undergone changes and challenges over the last number of years, but central to the success of our sector has been our commitment to quality and dedication to excellence."

Michael Hoey, president of the Irish Potato Federation, added: "Although it was delayed by a full year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, in many ways the event has become even more relevant as the global agri-food industry grapples with issues such as food security, global supply chain issues and the continued drive towards more sustainable food production systems."
This past weekend, to celebrate International Day for Biodiversity, I was lucky to do something that I had wanted to do for years: visit the Burren in County Clare during the month of May.

Because the rocky limestone terrain gets so dry in summer, many of the flowering plants that grow in this unique place have to flower and set seed early in the year, before the drought-like conditions in high summer get the better of them.

Spring gentian in the Burren, Co Clare. Picture: Donal Hogan, Burrenbeo

I was awed by the strikingly intense blue of the Spring gentians  a plant with an Arctic-Alpine distribution and one of the most iconic of Burren wildflowers.

Nearby I got to wonder at the dense-flowered orchid  a species normally found around the Mediterranean that is native also in the Burren.

I was excited to see a few bee orchids, whose flowers imitate a fly in order to entice passing flies to land in the hope of finding a mate, but instead end up pollinating this delicate little orchid.

I got to admire the gorgeous big flowers of mountain avens growing bountifully from stark grey limestone pavement. Bloody cranes bill, another Arctic-Alpine plant, wooed me with its big, startlingly pink flowers.

Bee orchid at the Burren

These botanical oddities have fascinated naturalists for centuries. Nowhere else do Arctic and Alpine species grow alongside flowering plants normally only found in the Mediterranean, sharing habitat amid the clints and grykes of the dramatic limestone pavement.

I have never seen the likes of the orchids growing in abundance. Of the 27 orchid species that occur in Ireland, 22 are found in the Burren.

Cattle feeding on winterage pasture in the Burren, County Clare. Picture: Donal Hogan, Burrenbeo

Boireann means rocky place in Irish. Its a fitting name for this region of dramatically sweeping expanses of exposed limestone bedrock, high limestone hills, and unique farming methods adapted to the unusual characteristics of the terrain.

Transhumance is a term I remember from school-level geography, where cows, goats or sheep are moved to summer pastures in mountainous areas when the weather warms and the grasses begin to grow on upland pastures.

But in the Burren, this approach is reversed. Cattle are brought to higher pastures in autumn, where the limestone holds onto the heat and cattle are comfortable through the winter months.

'Winterage'

Winterage is a unique part of Irelands cultural heritage and has also been key to the survival of the incredible wild flowers of the Burren, which are free to grow through the spring and summer without being all eaten off by cows.

In this way, grazing livestock and wildflowers alternate in a seasonal cycle that has been in place for thousands of years.

Not only do the rare and unusual plants thrive in Burren, but relatively common wildflowers grow abundantly too.

Primroses, cowslips and dainty little wild violets are everywhere, boosted by the long growing season. The abundance and variety of wildflowers, sedges, and different wild grasses in turn support many butterflies, moths, bees and other invertebrates who depend on these flowering plants to complete their own life cycles.

Pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly only lives in The Burren. Picture: Donal Hogan, Burrenbeo

So over the weekend I also saw a wealth of butterflies too. Some have very specific habitat requirements, needing particular combinations of light and shade, warmth, shelter, a variety of grasses and particular larval food plants for the young.

I saw beautiful wood white with its powdery white body and wings, one of Irelands rarest butterflies. I was stunned at the exquisite patterning on the wings of the marsh fritillary butterfly, Irelands only legally protected butterfly species. I was amazed by the intricately pattered pearl-bordered fritillary which has pearls marking the underside of its wings and lives only in the particular conditions in The Burren.

Cultural heritage

Because the traditional winter grazing is such an intrinsic part of our cultural heritage, and crucial for maintaining the biodiversity of the Burren, innovative approaches have been developed to maintain and support these farming practices here.

Where the traditional winterage grazing is discontinued, under-grazing of upland areas results in the encroachment of hazel.

Oceanic hazel woodlands are a wonderful habitat in their own right, although hazel encroaching over such species-rich grasslands, filled with rarities, is a conservation challenge, turning the special winterage grazing pasture into something different, at the expense of the rare plants so loved and celebrated of the Burren. In turn, the diversity and abundance of butterflies, moths and bees, among others, diminishes in response.

Anja Murray: mountain avens at the Burren

Multiple challenges pose a threat to the continuation of the rich biodiversity here. Between 1970 and 2000, there was a 73% increase in the stocking levels of cattle in the Burren, sustained by a jump in the use of fertilisers. The impact of this on the Burrens natural environment and built heritage was significant.

The number of people employed in agriculture also dropped by half in the same time period. In tandem with the increasing intensity, winterage grazing practices were being abandoned.

Local supports

In response, a number of pieces of ecological, sociological and agricultural research took place in the Burren during the early 2000s, resulting in the development of innovative new conservation approaches of the Burren Life Programme.

Many elements have made the programme such a resounding success, including a principle of locally developed and targeted agricultural supports which celebrate local people, place and tradition.

Results based payments are available to participating farmers, who are paid according to the habitat quality of each field in the scheme. Payments for results are calculated by multiplying the field score by the field size by a given rate thus higher scores mean bigger payments.

This gives the farmer the flexibility to choose the actions that are most suited to their land and their needs, on a qualitative rather than prescriptive basis.

Today, the Burren Life Programme is often cited as a model for how local Agri-Environment support schemes everywhere should work.

Jewel in the crown

The Burren is often described as one of the jewels in the crown of Irish biodiversity. It seems an appropriate birthplace for a novel approach to agrienvironment supports that have huge potential to save much of Irelands farmland biodiversity.

The results-based scheme developed by Burren Life is now being rolled out in other pilot programmes in different parts of Ireland, including Locally Led Agri-Environment Schemes in regions with hen harriers and freshwater pearl mussels.

The results-based approach offers hope for successful conservation measures that work better for both farmers and for biodiversity.

The Burren has also been described as an 'ark of biodiversity'  it carries the seeds of a recipe for recovery for sensitive and declining farmland habitats everywhere.
The mother of a young woman with spina bifida who died a week after developing breathing difficulties while being hoisted from her bed to a wheelchair has settled a High Court action over her death.

Jessica Bingham, who was cared for in her Dublin home, was 21 years of age when she died.

The settlement the details, which are confidential, are without an admission of liability.

Senior counsel Bruce Antoniotti SC, instructed by Jamie Hart, solicitor, said the case was before the court for the division of the statutory mental distress payment only.

Jessica Bingham, 21, of Ballyogan Crescent, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, died on December 10, 2014.

Her mother, Lisa Algan, of the same address, had sued the HSE and home care provider Resot Limited, trading as Contact Care, with offices at The Grange, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.

Jessica had in 2012 spent a number of months in hospital after an episode of respiratory failure.

She was diagnosed as suffering from obesity hypoventilation syndrome and was later admitted to the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire for assessment.

The young woman was then allowed to reside at home provided she had two home carers.

It is claimed two carers attended at Jessicas home on December 3, 2014. A nurse had also attended to carry out routine wound care.

It was claimed that during the course of a transfer from her bed to a wheelchair using a hoist and sling and with one carer present, Jessica suffered respiratory arrest.

It was alleged that ineffective attempts to resuscitate Jessica were made while she was in the wheelchair and a neighbour had administered chest compressions after she was placed on the ground.

Jessica was transferred to hospital by ambulance and she was declared dead on December 10, 2014.

There was, it was claimed, an alleged failure to provide any adequate nursing or home care regarding Jessicas medical condition and her risk of respiratory failure.

It was also claimed there was an alleged failure to provide a safe system of home nursing care and home care, including the transfer from her bed to a wheelchair, bearing in mind the young womans medical condition and her need for oxygen therapy.

There was also, it was contended, an alleged failure to treat in time or at all Jessicas respiratory failure.

All the claims were denied.

Jessicas mother had told a 2016 inquest into her death her daughter had a busy life, attending college and visiting local schools as a disability advocate.

Jessica grabbed life by both hands. She was attending college and she visited local schools to give talks on disability to transition year students, Ms Algan said.
A teenager suffered the most terrifying day of his life in a violent armed raid at his home when he was bundled into his bathroom and forced to hand over 50,000 in cash from the family safe.

Now one of the gang involved in this criminal escapade is to fly out of Ireland and return to Lithuania and have the balance of a three-year sentence suspended.

Judge Helen Boyle noted from the evidence of Detective Garda Diarmuid ONeill at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that Gytenis Miliauskas had been arrested in Germany last December on a European arrest warrant in relation to this part in the crime. He was taken back to Ireland where he has been in custody awaiting sentence.

Gardai will take him from Cork Prison to Dublin Airport on Friday evening for him to fly back to Lithuania. On doing so, the balance of his three-year sentence will be suspended. He gave an undertaking not to return to Ireland for at least 14 years.

The teenage victim of the crime said that the attack that dated back to December 12, 2015, was the worst night of his life.

In a victim impact statement read on his behalf by Det. Garda ONeill, he said: Three men burst in the door and pushed me to the floor putting a coat over my head. I was in a massive panic. I felt something sticking into my shoulder. They shouted, If you move, I shoot.

I could hear my home being ransacked. I genuinely thought they were going to kill me. One of these guys had what I believe to be a Taser  when the lights were off the crackle would come and I could see the blue lights.

These guys then kicked me into the bathroom and locked me in there. I had to wait 20 minutes. They told me if I left they would kill me.

I will never forget the cold sweat and panic. I still feel it to this day. There is not one day since that this doesnt go through my head.

Miliauskas was one of two getaway drivers involved with the gang on this night. They got away with over 50,000 from the safe at his home in Midleton, County Cork.

Ray Boland, defending, said the 34-year-old had a girlfriend and four children back in Lithuania. Unfortunately, he got involved in this after two weeks in Ireland, Mr Boland said. Judge Boyle said that an aggravating factor in the case was that the accused fled and left the jurisdiction in 2015.

Mr Boland said Miliauskas had the most minor part in these offences. He was the getaway driver. He was outside with a walkie-talkie. He obviously knew something nefarious was going on.

Case background

The background to the case was that an armed gang broke into a house in Midleton, forced the teenager to the floor, put a jacket over his head, barricaded him into a bathroom and snatched 50,000 in cash from a safe.

Miliauskas pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary on December 12, 2015, at a house in Midleton, Co Cork.

Detective Garda ONeill said that on the night of December 12, 2015, three men entered the home at the address in Midleton, carrying hand guns and a Taser and forced the young man living there to the floor. They put a jacket over his head and took 50,000 in cash from a safe.

The three males placed the young man in a downstairs bathroom and barricaded the door and left in the vehicle which was nearby. The accused was the getaway driver.

A second member of the gang who drove a later part of the getaway was previously given a similar sentence.
I was supposed to do this two months ago. But now I finally feel actually ready.

Payton Gendron wrote these words in an online diary days before carrying out a deadly racially-motivated mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

On May 14, he drove three hours from his home to a predominantly black area upstate to kill 10 people, injuring three others, and broadcast his attack from a helmet-mounted camera on the internet on the video live-streaming platform Twitch.

Prior to the attack, Gendron published a manifesto online outlining his motives and preparations for the massacre, firearm specifications, and detailed his path towards radicalisation on the internet.

Notably, the document is replete with references to racist conspiracy theories that promote white supremacy, blame immigrants and minority populations for societal problems and spread hatred against people of colour.

The events of this past weekend demonstrate how conspiracy theories intersect with extremist ideologies and can lead people towards violence.

This attack fits into a recent history of atrocities carried out in Oslo, Pittsburgh, Christchurch, El Paso and Halle, all of which bear many similarities  white men, radicalised by conspiracy theories warning of their races imminent replacement, targeting minority communities in an act of retribution.

Mainstreaming replacement theory Central to the Buffalo manifesto, much of which was directly lifted from the Christchurch manifesto, is the obsessive discussion of something called the Great Replacement theory. This is a racist, white supremacist conspiracy theory that contends that pure white people are being replaced by impure non-white people in a deliberate and sinister process of migration and demographic change covertly enabled by various liberal forces like left-leaning politicians, NGOs, the mainstream media or alleged Jewish elites. Antisemitism runs rife in these beliefs also. Today, its proponents can be found at the peak of media and politics in Europe and North America. A woman pays her respects at the scene of the mass shooting at a supermarket, in Buffalo, New York. Picture: AP /Matt Rourke In the US, a New York Times investigation found that Tucker Carlson promoted the argument that a cabal of elites want to force demographic change through immigration in more than 400 shows on Fox News, the most-watched cable news network in the country. Republican lawmakers have warned of similar fears and the right-wing extremists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 chanted You will not replace us. In Europe, Hungarys returning prime pinister Viktor Orban used his inaugural speech this week to lambast the great European population replacement programme. Frances Marine Le Pen, Italys one-time deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, and the German and Spanish far-right political parties, AfD and Vox, have all supported the theory too.

Path towards violence

Terrorism, as a political strategy, is used to attempt to create or accelerate change in society.

There is not one easy, neat explanation for why someone becomes radicalised or commits an act of terror, though often a persons perceived loss of status or a feeling that their community is coming under existential threat can play a significant role in radicalisation.

Other factors include upbringing, mental health, a sense of isolation or low self-esteem, among many other characteristics that are under continuous research.

What conspiracy theories do, quite succinctly, is offer people someone to blame for their own perceived problems, someone who is not like them, someone to pin their victim status on.

In his manifesto, Gendron spoke of inhabiting online forums like 4chan, where conspiracy theories and hate go hand in hand.

On 4chan, people of colour are routinely denigrated and portrayed as invaders or parasites, misogyny is championed and white nationalism and white supremacy are not just discussed but promoted through long diatribes, racist infographics and memes. Violence and conflict are often encouraged.

Conspiracy extremist overlap

Gendrons online diary and manifesto contained many claims about perceived black-orchestrated injustices and crimes against white people and referenced his time on 4chan where he says he first learned that the white race is dying out.

We must remember that extremists usually write these materials with a view to making them public, garnering coverage and manipulating how their actions are represented by the media and online users. Everything he produced was propaganda.

Why? Because, as Canadian extremism researcher Amarnath Amarasingam explains, the attack operates as a book launch.

Without the attack, the manifesto is just the ravings of a deranged maniac. Its the attack that pushes out the manifesto, making it 'required reading'."

It is hopefully clear by now how conspiracy theories, extremist ideologies and acts of violence overlap, and that concepts that amplify ethnic and cultural differences between white and non-white people have long been cited to justify violence.

This sort of thinking is not new and Buffalo is not an isolated act of hate, but more of a copycat.

It has intrinsic links with Oslo, Christchurch and other terror attacks carried out by white men who believe the white race is under threat.

Interventions

As reporting continues to emerge, it seems there were numerous warning signs and potential moments of prevention or intervention missed by those around Gendron.

Enrique Owens, a cousin of Roberta Drury, wears a T-shirt with her photograph on it before her funeral service last Saturday. Picture: AP /Lauren Petracca

He wanted to be arrested and taken alive to see the fruit of his labour create the change in society he wishes for.

This is likely why modern violent extremists livestream their attacks online, as it forces people to pay attention and to experience the attack in a visceral way.

It appears that only 22 viewers actually watched the stream before it was taken down by Twitch but it only took one person to download and archive portions of the footage.

Like the manifesto, it now lives on in copies that are spread privately and publicly and have received hundreds of thousands of views when shared on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

While it is practically impossible to fully eliminate the footage or the manifesto from the internet, this is why it is crucially important to hold platforms and technology companies to account and ensure this material, fuelled by a dangerous mix of conspiratorial and extremist ideologies, is not allowed to roam free in spaces where they can receive maximum exposure or serve as inspiration or instruction for another violent extremist.

Ciaran OConnor is an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, working in the Research and Policy unit
US President Joe Biden has called for new restrictions on firearms in America after a gunman massacred at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school.

Among those killed are teacher Eva Mireles, Uziyah Garcia, 8, Ellie Lugo, Nevaeh Bravo, teacher Eva Mireles, Xavier Lopez, 10, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, Amerie Jo Garza, and Elijah Cruz Torres, 10.

In an emotional address to his nation from the White House, Mr Biden pleaded for action to curb gun violence after years of failure  and blamed firearms manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

He said: When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? The US leader spoke just hours after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, 85 miles west of San Antonio, killing at least 19 children and two adults.

It is Americas deadliest school shooting since 20 children and six adults died at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in late 2012.

The gunman  identified by officials as Salvador Ramos, who lived in the community  was killed by law enforcement responding to the massacre. Texas governor Greg Abbott said one of the two adults killed by the gunman was a teacher.

UVALDE, TX - MAY 24: People become emotional at the City of Uvalde Town Square during a prayer vigil in the wake of a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. Picture: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

With US first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the US president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children, spoke in visceral terms about the grief being suffered by the victims loved ones and the pain that will endure for the students who survived.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away, Mr Biden said.

Theres a hollowness in your chest. You feel like youre being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out. He called on the nation to pray for the victims and families  but also to work harder to prevent the next tragedy. Its time we turned this pain into action, he said.

For every parent, for every citizen, we have to make it clear to every elected official: Its time for action.



We can do more. We must do more. pic.twitter.com/VDe0Wc7YT8  President Biden (@POTUS) May 25, 2022

Just one week earlier, Mr Biden had travelled to Buffalo in New York state to meet with victims families after a racist gunman killed 10 black people at a grocery store.

The back-to-back tragedies serve as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

The Texas gunman barricaded himself inside a classroom shooting anyone that was in his way, an official said on Wednesday.

Police and others responding to the attack broke windows at the school in an effort to allow students and teachers inside to escape, said Lt Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

He said that all the victims were in the same classroom.

Families waited hours for word on their children. At the town civic centre where some gathered, the silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wailing.

Many of the wounded were rushed to Uvalde Memorial Hospital, where staff members in scrubs and devastated victims relatives could be seen weeping as they walked out of the complex.

It is not immediately clear how many people were wounded, but Uvalde Police chief Pete Arredondo said there were several injuries.

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 24, 2022. Picture: STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

Earlier, Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

The attack on the school began about 11.30am. The gunman had already shot his grandmother, according to Lt Olivarez. After fleeing that scene, he crashed his car at the school and made his way inside.

Lt Olivarez said that when local and state officers responded they heard gunshots  and were shot at themselves.

The shooter was able to make entry into a classroom, barricaded himself inside that classroom and again just began shooting numerous children and teachers that were in that classroom having no regard for human life Just began shooting anyone that was in his way, he said.

At that point we had a tactical law enforcement arrive that were able to able to make forcible entry into that classroom. They were met with gunfire as well but they were able to shoot and kill that suspect.

These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world  why? Mr Biden asked in the White House.

The president reflected that while other nations have people filled with hate or with mental health issues, no other industrialised nation experiences gun violence at the level of the US.

The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong, Mr Biden said, adding: Id hoped when I became president I would not have to do this, again. Echoing Mr Bidens call, former president Barack Obama, who has called the day of the Sandy Hook shooting the darkest of his administration, said: Its long past time for action, any kind of action.

Across the country, parents are putting their children to bed, reading stories, singing lullabiesand in the back of their minds, theyre worried about what might happen tomorrow after they drop their kids off at school, or take them to a grocery store or any other public space.  Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 25, 2022

US congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation ever since the bipartisan effort to strengthen background checks on firearms purchases collapsed in the aftermath of the 2012 shooting.

Despite months of work, a bill that was backed by a majority of senators fell to a filibuster  unable to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to advance.

UVALDE, TX - MAY 24: Members of the community gather at the City of Uvalde Town Square for a prayer vigil in the wake of a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. Picture: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

In impassioned remarks on the US senate floor on Tuesday, senator Chris Murphy, who represented Newton, Connecticut, in the house of representatives at the time of the Sandy Hook massacre, asked his colleagues why they even bother running for office if they are going to stand by and do nothing.

He said: Im here on this floor to beg  to literally get down on my hands and knees  to beg my colleagues. Mr Murphy said he was planning to reach out to Texas Republican senator John Cornyn after the two had teamed up on an earlier background check bill that never became law. He said he would also reach out to Texas other Republican senator, Ted Cruz.

I just dont understand why people here think were powerless, Mr Murphy said.

We arent.

Thoughts and prayers are not enough.



After years of nothing else, we are becoming a nation of anguished screams.



We simply need legislators willing to stop the scourge of gun violence in America that is murdering our children.  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 24, 2022

The teenage gunman had hinted on social media that an attack could be coming, according to state senator Roland Gutierrez, who said he had been briefed by state police.

He noted that Ramos suggested the kids should watch out, and that he had bought two assault weapons after turning 18.

Before heading to the school, Ramos shot his grandmother, Mr Gutierrez said. Other officials said later that the grandmother survived and was being treated, through her condition was not known.

Investigators believe Ramos posted photos on Instagram of two guns he used in the shooting, and they were examining whether he made statements online alluding to the attack in the hours before the assault, a law enforcement official said.

Officers were serving multiple search warrants on Tuesday night and gathering telephone and other records. Investigators were also attempting to contact Ramos relatives and were tracing the firearms.

Texas school shooting victims: (Top left to right) Uziyah Garcia, 8, Ellie Lugo, Nevaeh Bravo, teacher Eva Mireles, (Bottom left to right) Xavier Lopez, 10, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, Amerie Jo Garza, Elijah Cruz Torres, 10.

The attack began at about 11.30am local time (5.30pm BST), when the gunman crashed his car outside the school and ran into the building, according to public safety officials.

A resident who heard the crash called 911, and two local police officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter.

Both officers were shot, though it was not immediately clear where on the campus that confrontation occurred, or how much time elapsed before more authorities arrived on the scene.

Meanwhile, teams of Border Patrol agents raced to the school, including 10 to 15 members of a Swat-like tactical and counter-terrorism unit, officials said.

One Border Patrol agent who was working nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade.

The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, the law enforcement source said.
US president Joe Biden has blasted a radical draft Supreme Court opinion that would throw out the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade abortion rights ruling that has stood for half-a-century and warned that other rights, including same-sex marriage and birth control, were at risk if the court followed through.

The court confirmed the authenticity of the leaked draft, which was dated to February, and Chief Justice John Roberts said he had ordered an investigation into what he called an egregious breach of trust. A court statement emphasised that the draft was not the justices final word.

Opinions often change in the drafting process, and a final ruling had not been expected until the end of the courts term in late June or early July.

Joe Biden speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One (Evan Vucci/AP)

A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states, spark new efforts in Democratic-leaning states to protect access to abortion, and potentially reshape the contours of this years hotly contested midterm elections.

The draft was published by the news outlet Politico late on Monday.

Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One, Mr Biden said he hoped the draft would not be finalised by justices, contending it reflected a fundamental shift in American jurisprudence that threatened other basic rights like access to birth control and marriage.

He added: If this decision holds, its really quite a radical decision.

My statement on the reported Supreme Court decision draft. pic.twitter.com/Kt3bP0kzqU  President Biden (@POTUS) May 3, 2022

He said the basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that the court does not overturn Roe.

If the court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nations elected officials at all levels of government to protect a womans right to choose, Mr Biden said.

And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November. At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice senators and a pro-choice majority in the house to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.

Although past efforts have failed, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he intended to hold a vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he intended to hold a vote (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)

This is as urgent and real as it gets, Mr Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday.

Every American is going to see on which side every senator stands.

Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the courts secretive deliberation process, and on a case of such importance.

Roe was egregiously wrong from the start, the draft opinion states. It was signed by Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the courts six-three conservative majority who was appointed by former president George W Bush.

The report comes amid a legislative push to restrict abortion in several Republican-led states (Alex Brandon/AP)

The document was labelled a 1st Draft of the Opinion of the Court in a case challenging Mississippis ban on abortion after 15 weeks, a case known as Dobbs v Jackson Womens Health Organisation.

The draft opinion in effect states there is no constitutional right to abortion services and would allow individual states to more heavily regulate or actually ban the procedure.

We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled, it states, referencing the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v Casey that affirmed Roes finding of a constitutional right to abortion services but allowed states to place some constraints on the practice.

It is time to heed the constitution and return the issue of abortion to the peoples elected representatives.

The Supreme Court confirmed the authenticity of the leaked draft (Anna Johnson/AP)

The draft opinion strongly suggests that when the justices met in private shortly after arguments in the case on December 1, at least five voted to overrule Roe and Casey, and Justice Alito was assigned the task of writing the courts majority opinion.

Votes and opinions in a case are not final until a decision is announced or, in a change brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, posted on the courts website.

The report comes amid a legislative push to restrict abortion in several Republican-led states  Oklahoma being the most recent  even before the court issues its decision.

Critics of these measures have said low-income women will disproportionately bear the burden of the new restrictions.

The leak jumpstarted the intense political reverberations that the high courts ultimate decision was expected to have in the midterm election year.

New York will always be a place where abortion rights are protected.



Just as the Statue of Liberty lifts her lamp tall in our harbor, New York will never stop fighting for whats right  unafraid and undeterred.  Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) May 3, 2022

Already, politicians on both sides of the aisle were seizing on the report to fundraise and energise their supporters on either side of the issue.

An AP-NORC poll in December found that Democrats increasingly see protecting abortion rights as a high priority for the government.

Other polling shows relatively few Americans want to see Roe overturned.

People on both sides of the issue quickly gathered outside the Supreme Court waving signs and chanting, following the release of the Politico report.

Reaction was swift from elected officials in Congress and across the country.

Earlier tonight Politico claimed to have an initial draft of the Dobbs decision. The contents of the article & veracity of linked opinion can't be verified. AG Fitch made this statement: We will let the Supreme Court speak for itself and wait for the Courts official opinion.  Lynn Fitch (@LynnFitchAG) May 3, 2022

In a joint statement from Congress top two Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mr Schumer said: If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past 50 years  not just on women but on all Americans.

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said in a statement: We will let the Supreme Court speak for itself and wait for the courts official opinion. But local officials were praising the draft.

This puts the decision making back into the hands of the states, which is where it should have always been, Mississippi state representative Becky Currie said.

Until now, the court has allowed states to regulate but not ban abortion before the point of viability, at around 24 weeks.
At least three people have been killed in a stabbing attack near Tel Aviv, Israeli medics said.

Police said they suspect it was a militant attack and that the killer fled in a vehicle.

Security forces set up road blocks in the area around where the stabbings occurred, in the town of Elad, and a helicopter could be seen hovering over the area.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said three people were killed and four others were wounded, two of whom were in serious condition.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, praised the attack and linked it to violence at a holy site in Jerusalem but did not claim responsibility for it.

Palestinian women take part in Eid al-Fitr prayers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem (Mahmoud Illean/AP)

The storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque cant go unpunished, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said. The heroic operation in Tel Aviv is a practical translation of what the resistance had warned against.

Israel marked its Independence Day on Thursday, a festive national holiday in which people typically hold barbecues and attend air shows.

Israeli-Palestinian tensions have soared in recent weeks, following a series of attacks in Israel, military operations in the occupied West Bank and violence at the holy site in Jerusalem.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam and is built on a hilltop that is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

It lies at the emotional heart of the conflict, and Palestinians and Israeli police have clashed there repeatedly in recent weeks.

Israeli police entered the site to clear away Palestinian protesters on Thursday, after Jewish visits that had been paused for the Muslim holidays resumed.

As the visits resumed, dozens of Palestinians gathered, chanting God is greatest.

Scuffles broke out when the police went to arrest one of them. Police fired rubber-coated bullets on the sprawling esplanade as some Palestinians sheltered inside the mosque.

The police could later be seen just inside an entrance to the barricaded mosque.

The police said they responded to dozens of people who were shouting incitement and throwing stones, and that one police officer was slightly injured.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said two Palestinians were taken to a hospital after being struck with batons.

Unlike in previous confrontations, Palestinian witnesses said there was no rock-throwing initially.

Some of those who sheltered inside the mosque began throwing stones and other objects when police entered the building, witnesses said.

Under informal arrangements known as the status quo, Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there.

In recent years, they have visited in ever-increasing numbers with police escorts and many have discreetly prayed, angering the Palestinians as well as neighbouring Jordan, which is the custodian of the site.

The Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to eventually take over the site or partition it.

Israel says it is committed to maintaining the status quo, and accuses the Islamic militant group Hamas of inciting the recent violence.
Ukraines president has said Russia must pull back to its pre-war positions as a first step before diplomatic talks, a negotiating line that Moscow is unlikely to agree to anytime soon.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he currently sees no willingness on the part of Russia to resume earnest negotiations on ending the three-month war.

At the beginning, there was an impression that we can move ahead, that there would be a certain result or some outcome of those talks. But it all has stalled, Mr Zelenskyy said through an interpreter via video link to attendees at this years World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

He expressed a willingness to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin directly, but stressed that Moscow needs to make clear its willingness to engage in serious talks.

The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.



The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 25 May 2022



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/5IjDUc7yXO



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/jgqwCWcHDP  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) May 25, 2022

They should demonstrate at least something like steps withdrawing their troops and equipment to the position before the 24th of February, the day Russias invasion began, he said. That would be a correct step, first step in negotiations.

Mr Zelenskyy also made clear that Ukraines aim is to regain all of its lost territory.

Ukraine is not going to concede our territory. We are fighting in our country, on our land, he said.

Russia, which has gradually narrowed its own military goals in Ukraine amid fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces, might be playing for time, Mr Zelenskyy added.

Tombs of people who died after the Russia invasion in Bucha cemetery, on the outskirts of Kyiv (AP)

A regional governor in eastern Ukraine said that at least six civilians have been killed by the latest Russian shelling in a town at the epicentre of fighting.

Luhansk region governor Serhiy Haidai said that another eight people have been wounded in the shelling of Sievierodonetsk over the past 24 hours. He accused Russian troops of deliberately targeting shelters where civilians were hiding.

The town is located in in Ukraines eastern industrial heartland of Donbas, where Russian forces have been pressing their offensive despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for eight years and hold large swathes of territory. Sievierodonetsk and neighbouring cities are the only part of the Donbas Luhansk region still under Ukrainian government control.

Residents live in a subway station still used as temporary shelter in Kharkiv (AP)

Injuries were also reported from the eastern town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region on Wednesday morning.

Pokrovsks administration head, Ruslan Trebushkin, said in a Facebook post that the damage caused and the number of injured were still being assessed.

One strike left a crater at least three metres deep. A row of low terraced houses near the strike suffered significant damage, with roofing tiles blown off, door frames ripped from the walls and pieces of concrete scattered around.

Theres no place to live in left, everything is smashed, said Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother-of-two who lived in one of the terraced houses.

A boy plays in front of houses ruined by shelling in Borodyanka (AP)

The windows had been blown out by an earlier strike about a month ago, and they had replaced them with plastic sheeting. That, she said, probably saved their lives as at least there was no glass flying around.

On Tuesday, Mr Zelenskyy said the countrys forces in the region faced a difficult situation.

Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there, he said in his nightly address to the nation. Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk  the occupiers want to destroy everything there.

A solution to getting wheat out of Ukraine for export does not appear to be imminent.

British military authorities say Ukraines overland export routes are highly unlikely to offset the problems caused by Russias blockade of the Black Sea port of Odesa, putting further pressure on global grain prices.

The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.



The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 25 May 2022



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/nYJGqHGoUQ pic.twitter.com/rq82WgaKji  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) May 25, 2022

The UKs Ministry of Defence, in an update posted on Wednesday morning, said there has been no significant merchant shipping in or out of Odesa since the start of the Russian invasion.

The MoD said the blockade, combined with the shortage of overland shipping routes, means that significant supplies of grain remain in storage and cannot be exported.

Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol has become functional after three months of fighting.

The military has completed clearing the port of land mines and it has been made fully operational, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.

Russian forces have taken full control over Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, after the last Ukrainian defenders at the giant Azovstal seaside steel plant laid down their weapons.
Burma Almost 170 Civilians Massacred by Myanmar Regime Since July 2021

The remains of the vehicles in which 49 civilians were burned alive by junta forces on December 24, 2022 in Hpruso Township, Kayah State. / AFP

The Myanmar regime has murdered almost 170 people in five separate massacres since July 2021, with most of the killings taking place in Sagaing Region, said the human rights minister of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG).

On Tuesday, U Aung Myo Min said that regime forces committed massacres in Sagaing and Magwe Regions, as well as in Kayah, Chin and Shan states .The victims included children and women.

Sagaing, Magwe, Chin and Kayah are strongholds of the resistance movement, with fighting occurring daily between junta forces and resistance groups and ethnic armed organizations.

The military regime has responded with extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests during raids, and by torching and looting civilian homes.

The minister said 15 villagers were killed on July 11 last year in Sagaings Kani Township. Further murders took place in three other villages in Kani on July 26, 27, 28 and 31, taking the number of civilians massacred in the same area to over 40.

Killing a number of unarmed people in the same place or at the same time is no longer merely a human rights violation. It is a crime against humanity, ethnic cleansing and a war crime. Violators will be heavily punished, said U Aung Myo Min.

The NUG has also recorded 48 civilians murdered in Sagaing between February and May this year. The total number of people massacred in the region reached more than 84 as of May 2022.

Sagaing massacres in 2021

Regime forces killed over 40 villagers in Kani Township on July 2021. 15 people from Yin and Kone Thar villages were murdered on July 11, 2021, with the remaining victims from Yin Village, Kyaut Taw Thaik Village and Taung Pauk Village killed over four consecutive days at the end of July.

Around 10 people, including teenagers aged from 14 to 17, were killed by junta forces on December 7, 2021 in Done Taw Village in Salingyi Township.

48 Sagaing residents killed from February to May 2022

The NUG reported that eight bodies were found in Badai Village in Myinmu Township, and that five people were burned alive by regime forces on February 3, 2022. In the same month, two daughters and a mother were killed in Kale Township.

Four people  3 fighters from a Peoples Defense Force and one villager  were burned alive at Oat Pho Village in Ye-U Township on March 1.

Another 28 bodies were found in Mohntaipin Village in Ye-U Township on May 12, some of them had been burned.

BBC Burmese reported that junta troops came to Mohntaipin Village and arrested over 50 civilians on May 10, and that 31 burned bodies were discovered in Mohntaipin and Inpin villages on May 12.

11 Chin State civilians murdered on January 6, 2022

Regime forces detained and killed 11 civilians in Matupi Township on January 6, 2022.

Kayah State Massacre of 49 villagers including Save the Children staff

Some 49 villagers including woman, children and two staffers from Save the Children were burned alive in seven vehicles on December 24, 2021 by regime forces in Hpruso Township.

On December 25, Save the Children confirmed that two of their staff were killed and condemned the attack by the Myanmar military.

Nine men in Shan State burned alive

On April 19, 2022 nine men from Paeyintaung Village in Ywangan Township in Shan State were burned alive.

Some 1,861 people have been killed since last years coup, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). An AAPP staff member told The Irrawaddy that some of the almost 170 people massacred who are listed by the NUG are not on AAPP lists, meaning that the number of people killed after the coup is likely higher than 1,861.

We are contacting the NUGs Ministry of Human Rights and will request them to send us the exact list. We will update our information after we get the data, said the AAPP staffer.

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Burma Ethnic Armed Group Criticized for Holding Talks With Myanmar Regime

NMSP vice chair Nai Aung Min shakes hands with junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

The New Mon State Party (NMSP) has been heavily criticized by the Mon community after the ethnic armed organization (EAO) held talks with Myanmars military regime.

While the countrys major EAOs rejected the juntas recent offer of peace talks as neither genuine nor all-inclusive, the NMSP became the second EAO, after the Restoration Council of Shan State, to meet with coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in the Myanmar capital Naypyitaw.

Established in 1958, the NMSP is one of the oldest EAOs in Myanmar. The group signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in February 2018 and is now largely inactive.

An ethnic Mon woman from Mon State in southern Myanmar said that by choosing to hold talks with the regime, the NMSP has abandoned not only Mon people but also the whole country.

It is obvious which direction they are taking. I think we are seriously lagging behind in this revolution. I think Mon politicians are serving their own interests with enormous ego, said the woman.

The NMSP delegation was led by vice chair Nai Aung Min, joint general secretary Nai Win Hla and central executive committee member Nai Banyar Lel. They held talks on Monday with Min Aung Hlaing, his deputy Soe Win, General Mya Tun Oo, Lieutenant-General Moe Myint and Lieutenant-General Yar Pyae.

At the meeting, the regime agreed in principle to the establishment of a federal democratic union and the adoption of a Mon State charter, NMSP spokesperson Nai Aung Ma Ngae told The Irrawaddy.

The two sides also agreed to solve political problems through political means to achieve peace in Myanmar, added Nai Aung Ma Ngae.

We agreed to solve the ongoing political crisis through dialogue step by step. We will first talk with the ten NCA signatories, and then with stakeholders including political parties. It will take some time, said the NMSP spokesperson.

However, the junta-controlled newspaper Myanma Alin did not mention the adoption of a Mon State charter in its report on the talks.

Ko Agga, one of the leaders of the Mon State Revolutionary Organization, which was established last year after the militarys coup, said that the NMSPs leaders are making themselves and the party notorious.

He said that while political dialogue is desirable, now is not the right time to hold talks with the regime.

This revolution has emerged because the crisis cant be solved by political means. Dialogue will work only when it is all-inclusive with EAOs and the National Unity Government. While the revolution is gaining momentum, the talks offered by the regime are unrealistic and cant be trusted, said Ko Agga.

NMSP spokesperson Nai Aung Ma Ngae insisted that the talks with the junta were a political necessity for the Mon people, who number around 1.1 million in Myanmar.

Executive members of the party discussed what is pragmatic for us and the political necessities of our people. We have consulted with and sought approval from relevant political parties and monks to attend the meeting, he said.

Despite some agreement at the meeting between the NMSP and the regime, it is unlikely that the Mon people will be granted self-determination, said a political analyst.

A few days ago, [junta spokesman] Major-General Zaw Min Tun said that the military will uphold the 2008 Constitution. So self-determination is unlikely for the Mon people. They will never be able to enjoy self-determination and autonomy under the 2008 Constitution, he said.

One ethnic affairs analyst said the that any charter for Mon State is unlikely to be adopted until after the general election which the regime plans to hold next year.

It is a long way away because the matter will first be decided at the parliament that will emerge after next years election. Then a referendum is also needed to make the change. If the regime wants to stay within the framework of the 2008 Constitution, Mon people will not get what they want. No federal country can be built under or by amending the 2008 Constitution. Replacing it with a new constitution is the only way, he said.
Burma Thousands Displaced by Myanmar Junta Arson Attacks

A Myaung village on fire. / CJ

More than 5,000 people were displaced by junta raids and arson attacks between May 18 and 22 in Myaung Township, Sagaing Region, according to the Civilian Defense and Security Organization in the township.

Some 400 houses from 18 villages were torched by junta soldiers and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militias.

Ko Nwe Oo of the organization said: They cut off phone lines using jammers and fired mortar shells before entering villages to prevent ambushes and mine attacks from the peoples defence forces [PDFs].

Around 200 junta soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militia members first raided Pann Nyo village on May 18, where they also torched religious buildings.

More than 100 houses, a pagoda, religious hall and monastery were torched in Min Tan on May 21, said residents.

Min Tan has turned into a ghastly sight after the fire. They didnt even spare the monastery, said Ko Nwe Oo.

Junta troops that raided Myaung villages were reportedly armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers, machine guns, mortars and drone jammers.

A witness from Pan Nyo village said: There were people in civilian clothes beside the troops entering our village. There were around 200 of them. They fired mortar shells as they entered the village. They searched each house and torched fine houses and those with silos.

The PDFs said they can only help civilians escape the attacks because they are outgunned and outnumbered by junta troops.

Residents are facing many hardships due to deliberate arson attacks by the regime. A villager was shot dead in Nyaung Kar Yar and three Pauk Chaung villagers were injured, according to the security organization.

Regime troops also set fire to the Nwe Oo Yaungni clinic run by the Myaung Medical Team providing health care to displaced civilians. Pharmaceuticals and the staff quarters were destroyed.

Two people were injured when a junta vehicle fired on pedestrians in Myaung town on May 19.

The regime is targeting civilians to frighten them into staying away from the PDFs, said Ko Nwe Oo.

As they cannot defeat the PDFs, they are torching houses. They think PDFs exist because of support from villagers. And they also want to harm the people who reject military rule. They think that the revolution will be hit hard and cease if they torch villages.

Homeless people in Myaung are short of food and suffering from monsoon rain and wind, he said.

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Guest Column Please Don't Call Myanmar Military Tatmadaw

Myanmar military troops on parade in 2018. / The Irrawaddy

Im not a military expert, just someone who loathes my countrys military. So it is unsurprising that I am struggling to come up with the correct name to use for the current Myanmar military.

My job, which includes writing reports, periodical analysis and preparing briefs for international donors and audiences, requires me to learn hundreds of military terms. My supervisor, a native English speaker, has helped me out a lot, but we still have a big disagreement over what term to use for the army of coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

For me, there are two especially troubling terms used to describe the military. The first is Tatmadaw, which in the Burmese language means Royal Armed Forces and was the name used for Burmas army in the pre-colonial era when Burma was ruled by a monarchy. Royal is understood as glorious in Burmese culture. Using the phrase the Myanmar military, also known as the Tatmadaw became the norm for many analysts and so-called Burmese experts. But the unscrupulous use of Tatmadaw by many external analysts hurts our hearts. The word is too good for Min Aung Hlaings army, who are just a group of armed men killing their own people. There is nothing royal about the actions of the present-day Myanmar Military.

The second troubling term is the use of Myanmar or Burmese before the word military. For those who are familiar with Myanmar, Myanmar or Burma both refer to the Bamar, the largest ethnic group in the country. However, in the post-1988 period, the military regime deliberately propagated the word Myanmar as an overarching term representing all ethnic groups. It was an outright fabricated attempt. The ethnic minorities, some of whom have their own armies, never accepted it. The ethnic armies, who have fought the military regime for decades, use the term Burmese army, meaning the armed forces fighting for the Burmese, or Bamar, people.

I, though, have never felt that the military represents the Burmese people or the country. The military are their own self-interested group and it is only its propaganda machine that presents the military as representing the country. At the same time, it controlled the state for six decades and it is undeniable that the military is mostly manned by Bamar people, and so pushes a Burmese Buddhist ideology.

As a Burmese person, I always felt ashamed when my ethnic friends referred to the Burmese army, as I felt that they were saying that my army was committing all those atrocities in ethnic regions. But I was powerless to change the name. Many of my fellow Burmese have also naively accepted the name. But since last years coup, many Burmese people have been given the unwelcome opportunity of seeing the true, evil face of the military, with some of them now fighting back against the military.

Now, we Burmese are not using the term Tatmadaw and are just referring to the armed forces as Sit-tat, or military, with no reference to glory. Some people are also referring to the military as Sit-kwe, or dog soldiers, a reference to the military being dogs who only obey their masters. It is derogatory, but I feel it is the most correct term for them. Many Burmese are saying that we have our own military now, the Peoples Defense Forces led by the National Unity Government. We found an alternative military to replace the old one.

But reading news reports for the international audience, who might have little knowledge of the background of Min Aung Hlaings brutal military, some still use Tatmadaw. It is worth noting that using the militarys preferred term is helping the military regimes propaganda by ignorantly accepting them as a glorified and representative actor of Myanmar. Far better to use Sit-tat, if you want to be a neutral reporter.

Instead of the term Myanmar Military, the most suitable term would be murderous military, which captures the true nature of Min Aung Hlaings army. It is also important that reporters add an explanation describing how the military launched a coup and deposed the elected government, as well as how it is committing war crimes against the population.

I humbly ask international readers to make an effort to understand the current situation. And the first step in doing that is to use the correct terms for the military.

Desmond studies international development with a focus on peace processes and transitional issues.
Commpete, an organisation representing some Australian challenger telecommunications brands, congratulated Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Party on their victory in the federal election.

Commpete says it wishes to recognise the re-election of Michelle Rowland and looks forward to working with her as the likely Minister for Communications. Commpete appreciates the many years of commitment to the telecommunications sector Rowland has demonstrated as a Shadow Communications Minister, ably supported by her team of advisors.

Commpete says it strongly supports a Labor commitment to reform the telecommunications sector. Real opportunities exist for the incoming Labor Government including;

mobile competition policy;

optimisation of spectrum allocations for broad, efficient usage for the best interests of consumers and business; and

the importance of decisions relating to NBN ownership as a significant piece of critical public infrastructure and the impact a potential sale would have on our nation.

Commpete chair Michelle Lim said: The incoming Labor Government has incredible opportunity to create a more inclusive sector which comprises a diverse mix of new entrants, strong independent dynamic challengers as well as established incumbents. Commpete and our members are looking forward to working together with the new Government throughout the next term.

On behalf of our members I wish to thank Minister Paul Fletcher and Minister Bridget McKenzie for their hard work and ongoing engagement with Commpete. The important journey to boost communications access and quality services in regional Australia will continue and must include further measures to encourage big business to the bush, and also create a framework for the sector to ensure greater choice, value, competition and affordability. Doing this will ensure no-one, anywhere in Australia, is left behind, Lim continued.

The journey to reform regional communications and competition begun under the previous government when it kickstarted development of open access competition in regional Australia. Further initiatives supported by Commpete included policy and funding mandates encouraging neutral host models, the Regional Communications funding boosts, commitment to blackspots programs and their review, and funding 800km of regional mobile deployment under an open access regime.

We thank the outgoing Government, welcome the new Government and look forward to working with industry in the many exciting changes afoot. Commpete will continue to work with all Government bodies and regulators on both, social and economic policy settings to frame important future reforms by a Labor government, said Lim.
GUEST OPINION: When you trade CFDs , you are essentially speculating on the price movement of an underlying asset, which means that you are effectively betting on whether the asset price will go up or down. While CFDs can be a very lucrative way to trade, it also comes with certain risks.

CFDs are popular in Dubai because they allow traders to speculate on the price movement of an asset without actually owning the asset, which means that you can trade on a wide variety of assets, including stocks, indices, commodities, and currencies. CFD trading is also leveraged, which means you can control a significant position with relatively small capital.

What is CFD Trading?

CFD trading involves the speculation of prices of underlying assets. The complete form of CFD is Contract For Difference. In simple terms, CFDs can be defined as an agreement between two parties to exchange the difference in the value of a particular asset at the closing and opening time of the contract. It is a derivative product that helps traders profit from falling and rising markets without owning the underlying asset.

For example, if you think that the price of gold will fall in the future, you can sell gold CFDs, and if your speculation turns out to be correct, you will make a profit. Similarly, if you think that gold prices will rise in the future, you can buy gold CFDs and make profits.

What are the risks associated with CFD trading?

Here are the main risks associated with CFD trading:

Risk of losing all your money

The first and perhaps most apparent risk is that you could lose money if your speculation turns incorrect. If the asset price you are trading moves in the opposite direction to what you were expecting, you will make a loss, which all traders need to be aware of, and you must never trade with money that you need for other important payments in your business or personal budget.

Counterparty risk

Another risk you are bound to encounter is the risk of losing some money if the market moves against you, also known as counterparty risk. It remains a significant factor in your overall profitability.

Risk of fraud and theft

Another risk is fraud or theft. Unfortunately, there have been several cases where unscrupulous brokers have taken advantage of unsuspecting investors. It is vital to trade with reliable and reputable firms adequately regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

Political instability

Finally, there is also the potential for political instability in Dubai, leading to sharp market swings. While this is relatively unlikely at present, it is something that you should be aware of if you are considering trading in this region.

CFDs are leveraged

Another risk associated with CFD trading is that of leverage. When you trade CFDs, you essentially borrow money from your broker to trade, which can magnify your profits and losses, so it is essential to be aware of this before starting trading.

CFDs are not regulated in the same way as traditional investing

Finally, it is also worth noting that CFD trading is not regulated in the same way as traditional investing, which means that there is no guarantee that you will be able to recover your money if things go wrong. Make sure that you research any broker you are considering using carefully before committing to trade with them.

Conclusion

While there are risks associated with CFD trading in Dubai, traders can mitigate these by choosing a reputable broker and being aware of the potential political risks. You can trade safely and profitably in this exciting market with careful planning and research. Beginner traders interested in CFD trading should contact a reputable and experienced online broker from Saxo Bank and trade on their demo account before investing real money. Traders can also practice different trading strategies on the demo account.

Disclaimer: The information in this article should not be considered financial advice or a recommendation. ITWire suggests that before acting on any financial information, you should consult your qualified financial adviser, who will consider your objectives, financial situation or needs.
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The war in Ukraine took a starring role on the opening night of the 75th Cannes Film Festival and it has rarely been far out of frame since
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
Johnson City, TN (37604)

Today

Partly cloudy in the morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers later in the day. Thunder possible. High 72F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Chance of a shower or two during the evening, followed by partly cloudy skies late. Thunder possible. Low 57F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Johnson City, TN (37604)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. Thunder possible. High 73F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

A shower or two around the area early, then partly cloudy overnight. Thunder possible. Low near 55F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
China further lowers cost of COVID-19 nucleic acid tests

Xinhua) 16:39, May 25, 2022

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- China has asked local authorities to further lower the price of COVID-19 nucleic acid tests to no more than 16 yuan (about 2.4 U.S. dollars) per person for a single test.

The price for batch testing, which combines samples from up to 10 people in a single test, should be no more than five yuan per person, said a circular made public by the National Healthcare Security Administration on Wednesday.

The administration requires all provincial-level regions to complete the price adjustment by June 10.

The move is part of the government's efforts to reduce the cost of nucleic acid testing, an important means to facilitate regular epidemic response.

The nucleic acid test price in China has dropped over the past years from more than 120 yuan per person for a single test to no more than 60 yuan in September last year, 40 yuan in December, and 28 yuan in April this year.

The administration also encouraged measures, including centralized procurement of detection reagents, to secure a continuous and reasonable decline in the testing price.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Monticello, IL (61856)

Today

Showers this morning becoming less numerous during the afternoon hours. High 67F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low 51F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.
China faced new accusations Tuesday that it was sanctioning abuses of Uyghurs at the highest levels, as a vast document leak came out during a controversial visit by the UN rights chief.

The ruling Communist Party is accused of detaining over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-western region of Xinjiang as part of a years-long crackdown the United States and lawmakers in other Western countries have labelled a genocide.

China vehemently denies the allegations, calling them the lie of the century.

Michelle Bachelet is expected to visit the Xinjiang cities of Urumqi and Kashgar on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of a six-day tour.

She met Foreign Minister Wang Yi who expressed the hope that this trip would help enhance understanding, according to a readout of the meeting released late Monday.

In its report of the meeting, state news agency Xinhua said Bachelet congratulated China on its important achievements in economic and social development and in promoting the protection of human rights.

Bachelets spokesperson did not confirm to AFP what was said outside the opening comments.

The United States reiterated its view that Bachelets visit was a mistake after the release of thousands of leaked documents and photographs from inside the system of mass incarceration.

Reported by a consortium of media, including the BBC and Le Monde, the Xinjiang Police Files showed top leaders in Beijing including President Xi Jinping calling for a forceful crackdown.

The files, leaked by an anonymous source to academic Adrian Zenz, also included a 2017 internal speech by Chen Quanguo, a former Communist Party secretary in Xinjiang, in which he allegedly orders guards to shoot to kill anyone who tries to escape.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was appalled by the latest allegations.

It would be very difficult to imagine that a systemic effort to suppress, to detain, to conduct a campaign of genocide and crimes against humanity would not have the blessing  would not have the approval  of the highest levels of the PRC government, Price told reporters, referring to the Peoples Republic of China.

 Pressure on Bachelet 

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the evidence showed that Bachelet must take a hard look at these faces and press Chinese officials for full, unfettered access  and answers.

Britain and Germany also voiced outrage.

In a call to her counterpart, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for a transparent investigation into the shocking reports and new evidence of very serious human rights violations in Xinjiang, said a German foreign ministry statement.

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin called the report the latest example of anti-China forces smearing Xinjiang.

Earlier this month, a leaked police database obtained by AFP listed the names and details of thousands of detained Uyghurs.

Uyghurs have raised doubts about Bachelets presence if the trip is as highly controlled as expected.

Nursimangul Abdureshid, a Uyghur living in Turkey, said she was not very hopeful that her trip can bring any change.

I request them to visit victims like my family members, not the pre-prepared scenes by the Chinese government, she told AFP.

Another Uyghur, Jevlan Shirememet, called on Bachelet to help him contact his mother, whom he has not seen for four years.

The Turkey-based 31-year-old  from the provinces northern reaches near the border with Kazakhstan  also said he hoped Bachelet would venture further than her itinerary.

I dont know why she cant visit these places, he told AFP.

 Promises on access 

Regional capital Urumqi is home to many of the government agencies believed to be behind the campaign China has described as a crackdown on religious extremism.

The city of four million has a sizeable Uyghur community and was the site of deadly ethnic clashes in 2009 as well as two attacks in 2014.

Kashgar  home to 700,000 people  lies in the Uyghur heartland of southern Xinjiang.

An ancient Silk Road city, it has been a major target of Beijings crackdown, researchers and activists say, with authorities accused of smothering the cultural hub in a high-tech security blanket while bulldozing Uyghur homes and religious sites.

Bachelet on Monday gave assurances about her access to detention centres and rights defenders during a virtual meeting with the heads of dozens of diplomatic missions in China, according to diplomatic sources.

Caroline Wilson, the UKs ambassador to China, was on the call and tweeted that she stressed the importance of unfettered access to Xinjiang and private conversations with its people.
Russian troops are advancing in eastern Ukraine, pounding key cities and aiming to destroy everything there, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, as Moscow signalled it was digging in for a long war against its neighbour.

As the war entered its fourth month on Wednesday, Russian forces were relentlessly bombarding the industrial city of Severodonetsk while attempting its encirclement, a key goal of recent fighting in the Donbas region.

Zelensky mourned the thousands of Ukrainian men and women who have perished since the start of the Russian invasion while renewing calls for heavy weapons from foreign partners, saying arms for Kyiv were the best investment in stability in the world.

Sergiy Gaidai, governor of the eastern region of Lugansk, said Severodonetsk was being hammered by air strikes, rockets, artillery and mortars in a bid to solidify control over the province and move further into Ukraine.

The situation is very difficult and unfortunately it is only getting worse, Gaidai said, describing what he termed a full-scale offensive in all directions in a video on Telegram.

The Russian army has decided to completely destroy Severodonetsk. They are simply erasing Severodonetsk from the face of the earth, he said.

Thousands of troops were sent to capture Lugansk region, Gaidai said, adding that the bombardment of Severodonetsk was so intense it was too late for its 15,000 civilians to leave.

In Moscow, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made it clear Russia was settling in for a long war.

We will continue the special military operation until all the objectives have been achieved, he said, using Moscows name for the war.

In his daily address to the nation late Tuesday, Zelensky called the situation in Donbas extremely difficult.

All the strength of the Russian army which they still have was thrown there for the offensive, Zelensky said. The occupiers want to destroy everything there.

Supplying Ukraine with rocket-propelled grenades, tanks, anti-ship missiles and other weapons is the best investment in preventing future Russian aggression, Zelensky said.

The longer this war lasts, the greater will be the price of protecting freedom, not only in Ukraine, but also in the whole free world.

 Three months of mass heroism 

Western funds and weapons have helped Ukraine hold off its neighbours advances in many areas, including the capital Kyiv.

Russia is now focused on expanding its gains in eastern Donbas, home to pro-Russian separatists, as well as the southern coast.

In the village of Yakovlivka, 55-year-old Ukrainian soldier Andriy hid in a ditch as shells fired by encroaching Russians whistled past.

Our guys have stopped firing back, he whispered after glancing up and down the road.

We do not want to provoke them, because then the Russians will start shooting at us even harder.

Speaking to regional counterparts from the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, Russias defence chief Shoigu blamed his countrys slow advance on a deliberate attempt to avoid civilian casualties.

We are not rushing to meet deadlines, the secretary of Russias Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, added in an interview.

Zelensky dismissed Moscows claims, saying Russia has suffered heavy losses in the war, including nearly 30,000 soldiers.

These have been three months of war crimes by the Russian occupiers. Three months of shelling, destruction, siege. And three months of mass heroism by the people who are defending their own land, their country.

But Kyiv says it needs more help.

The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said delays in getting arms to the frontline had left Kyiv catastrophically short of heavy weapons.

However, he expected a turning point by August, he told news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.

The United States, meanwhile, announced that an exemption allowing Moscow to pay foreign debts with dollars in Russia would end at 0401 GMT Wednesday, two days before the countrys next debt service payment was due.

 It is just war 

Russias Defence Ministry said the waters of the port in Mariupol  a strategic southern city that fell after a devastating siege  had been demined and that operations were under way to restore the port infrastructure.

But mayor Vadym Boychenko, speaking to Davos via video-link, warned that 100,000 people were without water, food and electricity, and warned disease risked further fatalities.

About 400 kilometres (240 miles) west of Mariupol, the capital of Ukraines Kherson region  which has the same name  appeared to be largely spared the ravages of a war that has left much of the country ruins.

The region has been fully controlled by Russian forces since early in the war, and Moscow-backed officials continued to push for formal annexation  even as residents expressed concerns about the future.

People are very apprehensive, trolleybus driver Alexander Loginov, 47, told AFP from the cabin of his vehicle, during a press trip organised by the Russian defence ministry.

But day-to-day life remains marked by uncertainty, as Loginov told AFP about the instability  especially over payment of salaries as Ukrainian banks are closing.

To be honest, it is just war, Loginov added, using a term Russia has outlawed in favour of special military operation.

Many people dont yet understand what has happened.

burs-ar/wd/md/bgs/cwl/dhc
Moscow said Wednesday it would be premature to consider a prisoner swap with Kyiv before Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered to Russian troops stand trial.

Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Moscow would consider a prisoner swap with Kyiv after the surrendered Ukrainian fighters are appropriately convicted, sentenced.

Before that, all talk of an exchange is premature, Rudenko told reporters as quoted by Russian news agencies.

Last week, hundreds of Ukrainian defenders of the strategic port city of Mariupol in the countrys southeast surrendered after holding out at the citys Azovstal steelworks for weeks.

Among the Ukrainian fighters who gave themselves up were members of the Azov regiment, a former paramilitary unit which has integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces.

Russia describes the unit, which has had previous links to far-right groups, as a neo-Nazi organisation.

On Monday, a Kyiv court found Russian serviceman Vadim Shishimarin guilty of war crimes for killing an unarmed civilian and sentenced him to life in prison.
Majorities have imposed a narrative that has decided to privilege a totalizing and univocal tone, constricting differences, the multi-causality of the conflict, its actors and impacts and the plurality of testimonies, commissioner Carlos Ospina wrote in a private letter to Father Francisco de Roux, who presides Colombias Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), an entity in charge of clarifying what happened throughout 52 years of armed conflict in the country. Ospina, a retired major, resigned on May 2, just two months before the unveiling of the final report of the Commission where he worked for three and a half years.

His departure got a cold reaction from the TRC. Our substantive response to the demands for truth () will be the final report, it replied in a terse statement. It also deleted Ospinas profile from its website. In various spaces, both private and public, Father de Roux has underscored that theyve heard all the voices of Colombian society and are now seeking the greatest possible fairness and plurality as they identify the historical, political and ethical responsibilities during conflict, in his words not to divide, but to build together.

The TRCs final report should be published on June 28, a week after the second round of the election that will choose President Ivan Duques successor.

Narrow truth on the guerrillas

Major Ospina left with a public slam, with interviews in two media outlets whose coverage of the transitional justice system resulting from the 2016 peace agreement has been openly critical. In them, the military officer emphasized two messages: that the state will appear in the report as the main responsible for the armed conflict and that many truths about the role of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) will be missing.

The greatest responsibility that the report will present concerns the state, its institutions, the public forces and businessmen. Very little will be seen on other actors in the conflict, on the guerrillas, he said. This means, in his opinion, that it will not be a complete truth, but a narrow one.

His resignation came in the midst of the presidential election, but for more than a year, his tensions with the other 10 commissioners  who make decisions collegially using a system of votes and dissents similar to that of high court justices  with whom he rarely agreed, had been public. In addition, the major  who spent 21 years in the army and was part of an association of military victims  had decided not to write any of the 10 chapters of the report, opting instead to give 11 documents of his own, to be built-in the report.

In these texts, as described to us by three people who have read them and found his questions valid but his research poor, Ospina develops some of his theories that he feels the Commission did not take seriously. On one hand, the combination of all forms of struggle by Marxist guerrillas such as the FARC, who used legal and illegal methods simultaneously in their attempt to seize power. On the other hand, he was interested in alleged interference in Colombia since the 1920s from leftist powers such as the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and even Enver Hoxhas Albania, whose influences, according to him, are fundamental to understand the guerrillas actions.

A military at the table

Although Ospina had less investigative experience than his colleagues, his presence on the TRC was symbolic. It was part of a decade-long conscious effort by the Colombian state to include respected military and police leaders in peace negotiations and, more recently, in the transition. That had been a lesson from previous failed peace talks: the military must be made participants in any negotiated solution so that they do not become obstacles.

In the talks with FARC that led to the peace deal, two of the six original government negotiators were retired generals: Jorge Enrique Mora had been commander of the Armed Forces and Oscar Naranjo, director of the National Police. President Juan Manuel Santos included two other generals, Fredy Padilla and Eduardo Herrera Berbel, in failed talks with the still active ELN guerrilla. This model was emulated in the transitional justice system, where Ospina was elected to the TRC and Camilo Suarez, who came from the military criminal justice system, as a special peace tribunal magistrate.

Although six persons who work in the TRC or have closely followed its work agree that Ospinas departure was inevitable, several fear that it could end up tarnishing two years of outreach efforts with the military and police, which had some success in achieving dialogue spaces with members of the security forces  and at least much more than with other sceptical sectors such as businessmen. In total, since 2019, the Commission conducted 14,360 interviews with 27,931 people, 145 of which were with members of the security forces, according to the institution. During that period, it received 158 reports from military institutions, retired military personnel and victims organizations.

That trust-building had been achieved, as Justice Info recounted, after a year-long process that included private conversations facilitated by the TRC with militaries who played an active role in transitions in Chile, Nigeria and The Gambia. Even 5 percent [of military members who committed crimes], as you say, will stop you from participating? General Javier Urbina, a former member of Chiles Truth Commission, told his Colombian colleagues.

Following Ospinas departure, questions from the military and police have resurfaced as to whether their voices will be incorporated into the report. The intention to listen to victims of the security forces sought more a validation than a real exercise of truth-seeking, 50 associations of veterans said in a letter last Thursday.

Father Francisco de Roux, who chairs Colombias Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), promises that its final report, due at the end of June, will do everything to not divide, but build together.  Comision de la Verdad de Colombia

A new round with Uribe

A second episode reinforced that fear. A week ago, on May 10, in the middle of the TRCs public hearing on false positives in Soacha, which Justice Info narrated this Monday, Commissioner Alejandro Valencia said that these extrajudicial executions were war crimes and crimes against humanity committed as part of a government policy.

His words caused several simultaneous earthquakes. Former president Alvaro Uribe, whose term in office coincided with the peak of these homicides as well as their decline after 2008, announced criminal proceedings against the commissioner for what he called slanderous statements against the government I presided over and cited Major Ospinas resignation as proof of the TRCs left-wing bias, in a new chapter of his stormy relationship with a Commission he had welcomed into his home a year ago for a controversial interview.

Uribe accused Valencia of politically favouring opposition candidate Gustavo Petro, in the midst of an election in which the former presidents party carries the burden of an unpopular government. Although the nine-month extension granted by the Constitutional Court to the TRC last year sought to prevent it from becoming an electoral punching bag, the episode undermined that promise.

Disclosing findings ahead of the report

But perhaps what caused the most outrage was that Valencia presented his explosive speech, without consulting the other commissioners, as a preview of the final product. Justice Info learned that for some of the commissioners, he had breached the spirit of their internal agreement on waiting until after elections to address sensitive issues.

Another commissioner, feminist lawyer Alejandra Miller, came to Valencias defense, saying that his speech was the result of a rigorous process of investigation by the TRC. Although, to date the Commission has not presented its findings on these to the Colombian people.

Not even the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the judicial arm of transitional justice that has a macro-case focusing on these crimes and that established the universe of 6,402 victims between 2002 and 2008, has gone that far.

In its first two indictments, it accused 25 military officers with regional command of war crimes and crimes against humanity, for being part of criminal organizations embedded within military units. But the tribunal  which deals with criminal and individual responsibilities, as opposed to the Commission which deals with collective ones  has been very careful with the terms it uses to describe the criminal phenomenon. In their decisions, justices speak of a body count policy and an explicit incentives policy, but never of state or government policies.

Society expectations

Another concern rises: what will the final report say about crimes committed by the FARC?

The Commission was created as a result of the peace deal with that guerrilla group and one of its effects is that its former commanders and rank-and-file members have come forward to speak up, as have thousands of its victims. In Colombias innovative transitional justice model, the FARC will only receive more lenient sanctions in the JEP if they meet three conditions: owning up to their responsibility, redressing their victims and telling the truth.

The tribunal has made significant progress in one of its two cases against FARC, establishing that 21,396 people were kidnapped by the guerrillas over two decades and charging seven of its former leaders with war crimes and crimes against humanity. After accepting the charges in writing, they will do so in public and facing their victims next week in Bogota.

Hence, an important part of Colombian society expects the truth about crimes committed by the guerrilla to carry weight in the TRCs report.

One of the already TRCs most remarkable achievements, the museum exhibition Traces of Disappearance, makes forensic reconstructions of three episodes of the armed conflict through models, maps and 3D videos. The exhibition revolves around the armys violent retaking of the Palace of Justice in downtown Bogota in 1985, following a takeover by the former M-19 guerrillas that turned all of its occupants into hostages. In the states disproportionate response, the military were responsible for the murder and forced disappearance of dozens of persons, including several supreme court justices. Alongside that episode, the exhibition  led by commissioner Valencia  documents paramilitary-led land dispossession in the banana-growing Gulf of Uraba and, more tangentially, how armed actors, including FARC, turned the Amazonian territory of the Nukak into a theatre of war.

Although it was very well conceived, nothing similar was thought concerning FARC and that raises questions, one person who has worked with the TRC told Justice Info. In his view, the exhibition would have been more robust if it had also included an episode of clear FARC responsibility, such as the 1998 takeover of the city of Mitu or the 2003 car bomb at Bogotas El Nogal club.

A report in its labyrinth

Although these episodes have raised alarms in the TRC, the answers will only be seen when the final report is unveiled.

According to three people with first-hand knowledge, each of the ten chapters of the report is between 400 and 600 pages, with some surpassing 1,000. That means that the entire report will easily exceed 5,000 pages. Aware of the length of the document, a few weeks ago the commissioners agreed that there will be an additional chapter called Findings and recommendations, which will focus on a dozen significant highlights of the conflict, and paired up with the TRCs suggestions to Colombian society on how not to repeat a humanitarian tragedy that has already left 9.2 million victims. This is the text that they hope most citizens will read, although they will have to reach a consensus on it word by word.

That will be a Herculean task, in a group of commissioners diverse in backgrounds and perspectives, in which two competing narratives coexist. As one person who has followed their work says, there is one side that believes that the report should be nuanced and capable of providing a truth with reconciliatory potential, while another feels that their task is a report of resounding and shocking truths that will hopefully shake the foundations of the country and bring about change.

Voices of alarm have come from many quarters and that has hit home. The risk [of blind spots] is there, but so is the concern [of correcting them], says a person who has interacted with the TRC in recent months, stressing that several commissioners have been calling for the importance of seeking greater comprehensiveness and balance. In a little more than a month Colombians will know if these warnings have been heeded.
Russias invasion of Ukraine will have a long-term negative impact on security around the Baltic Sea, a regional grouping of countries said Wednesday.

Foreign ministers of countries in the Council of the Baltic Sea States made the joint statement at their first meeting in nine years, held without Russia.

The organisation last met in 2013 as meetings were suspended after Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The heads of diplomacy of 10 countries bordering the Baltic Sea  Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden  met on Tuesday and Wednesday in Kristiansand in southern Norway, accompanied by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Russia  which was suspended from the council on March 3 and withdrew on May 17  did not attend the meeting.

The Russian aggression is entirely incompatible with the cooperative model of international relations in the Baltic Sea Region, has a long-term negative impact on regional security, and is contrary to the rules-based international order, the ministers said in a joint statement.

The Councils relations with Russia and Belarus will remain severed until cooperation under the fundamental principles of international law has become possible again, they added.

The group reiterated its support for Ukraine, with ministers saying they were ready to engage in a strong partnership of cooperation and reconstruction.

In addition, they gave their backing for investigations into alleged war crimes and stressed that Russia and its accomplice Belarus bear full responsibility for the war of aggression.

Last week, two Baltic states, Finland and Sweden  the only remaining non-NATO members of the Council  officially applied to join the trans-Atlantic military alliance.

The Baltic region has also seen increased military activity in recent weeks, with major exercises in Denmark, Estonia, Poland and Sweden in May alone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that the West remained divided over the extent of its support for Ukraine in its defence against Russias months-long invasion.

In his second online video appearance during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelensky repeated that his country needed more weapons to repel the Russian army.

Unity is about weapons. My question is, is there this unity in practice? I cant see it. Our huge advantage over Russia would be when we are truly united, Zelensky told a traditional Ukraine Breakfast event on the sidelines of the WEF.

Washington and European countries have poured billions of dollars worth of arms into Ukraine to help the countrys outgunned forces beat back the better-armed Russian invaders.

Kyiv has called for greater support, membership in the US-led NATO military alliance, and for a no-fly zone to be imposed over the country.

At the opening of the Davos summit on Monday, Zelensky called for more weapons and maximum sanctions against Russia, including an oil ban and an end to all trade with the country.

On Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukraine was grateful for support from US President Joe Biden but said resolve was lagging closer to home.

We are on the European continent and we need the support of a united Europe, he added.

Zelensky specifically named neighbouring Hungary, which has voiced opposition to a European Union-wide embargo on Russian oil, another key Ukrainian demand.

Hungary is not as united as the rest of the EU, Zelensky said.

He also pointed to a lack of consensus over Swedens and Finlands historic bid to join NATO, which has been called into question by Turkey.

Is there this unity regarding the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO? No, no. So, is there a strong joint West? No, the Ukrainian leader said.

Appearing in person at the same Davos event, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine wants the West to to finally accept the idea that the ultimate goal of this war should be the victory of Ukraine.

Even some very good friends of Ukraine who help us really a lot, theyre still hesitant, Kuleba said.

 Kill Russian exports 

What is the end goal of their support to Ukraine? Is it not to allow Russia to win? Is it not to allow Ukraine to fail? No, the goal should be very simple and clear: Ukraine must win, full stop, period, he said.

Kuleba also called on the West to step up sanctions to kill Russian exports.

Every dollar and euro Russia makes on this trade is then invested on upholding the Putin regime and in keeping the Russian machine of war crimes running, he said.

Addressing concerns over Ukraines inability to ship wheat and grains due to a Russian sea blockade, Kuleba held little hope that Western nations would offer naval escorts.

If NATO didnt close the skies over Ukraine in the most tragic moments of the war  why should they dare to close (the) Ukrainian sea to allow the free passage of vessels with Ukrainian agricultural products? he said.

I would wholeheartedly welcome the decision but I just dont see the stamina and the bravery to take all the risks associated with this operation.
Ukrainian prosecutor Roman Petrenko inspects the remains of Russian rockets that fell on the popular Gorky Park in the countrys second city Kharkiv.

Petrenko, a prosecutor from the citys Shevchenkivsky district, is wearing a gilet with War Crimes. Kharkiv written in large white letters.

Kharkivs peaceful Gorky Park is full of winding alleys and has a small amusement park, with pavilions and a Ferris wheel. It is reputed to be one of the best parks in Ukraine.

Gorky Park was hit by around 50 shells in three months of war.

Prosecutors took up the case to ensure that the park could be open without the public being at risk and, above all, determine whether the attacks constitute a war crime.

Even if there were no victims, hitting civilian targets, civilian infrastructure, trying to kill civilians and destroy cultural heritage, are considered war crimes, Petrenko said.

An error can happen once or twice, but there are 56 hits recorded, he said.

Its not an accident. They were targeting the park.

With a team of deminers, assistants, court officials and municipal workers, the prosecutor notes down each crater.

He has the ammunition dug up after an inspection by deminers, then photographs it, writes it down and determines the angle of fire and the origin of the weapon.

The shells also hit a small theatre and a closed restaurant in the park.

The shrapnel even reached and damaged bronze sculptures of children scattered around the park.

A duo of American deminers from the Bomb Techs Without Borders NGO advise their Ukrainian counterparts at the scene.

For John Culp, a retired US soldier, there was no doubt the Russians were targeting the park deliberately.

We are in Gorky Park With its paths, its stages etc We are investigating the fact that many rockets and shells were fired in and near the park.

There is no military target here. It was done knowingly to cause terror and fear among the civilian population, he said.
The Gambian government said Wednesday it is willing to prosecute former dictator Yahya Jammeh for a myriad of crimes committed by the regime during his more than 20-year rule.

The Ministry of Justice said in a statement that it accepted all but two of the 265 recommendations made by the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), notably the prosecution of ex-President Yahya Jammeh, for a myriad of crimes committed between 1994 and 2017.

The former dictator is living in exile in Equatorial Guinea, which has no extradition treaty with The Gambia.

The ministry also accepted recommendations to prosecute alleged perpetrators named by the truth commission, including senior officials.

Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said in a press conference that he would create a special prosecutors office and a special court inside The Gambia with the option of holding sittings in other jurisdictions.

Impunity is a kind of incentive that we are not prepared to serve perpetrators. Those who contemplate committing gross human rights violations must also have no doubt that one day society will hold them accountable for their actions, Jallow said.

Their resolve to commit these atrocities cannot be stronger than our collective will as a society to hold them to account.

The truth commission found that 240 to 250 people, including AFP journalist Deyda Hydara, were killed by the state during the eccentric ex-leaders rule. Established in 2017, it heard chilling testimony from nearly 400 people before ending in May 2021.

Rights activists accuse Jammeh, who turned 57 on Wednesday, of committing a litany of crimes, from using death squads to raping a beauty queen and sponsoring witch hunts.

The former president has also been accused of administering phony HIV treatment programmes and of the massacre of some 50 African migrants in 2005.

In a report released in November after two delays, the commission recommended prosecuting the former president and 69 other alleged perpetrators. The government had until Wednesday to respond.

Jammeh was forced into exile in early 2017 after his shock electoral defeat to current President Adama Barrow and a six-week crisis that led to military intervention by other West African states.

Barrow, who was re-elected in December, last year formed a political alliance with Jammehs former party.

Though the ex-dictator himself rejected the deal, Barrow then nominated two known Jammeh supporters as speaker and deputy speaker of parliament.

 Important and meaningful step forward 

For Fatoumatta Sandeng, spokeswoman for the Jammeh2Justice campaign, a coalition of victims groups, Wednesdays white paper is just the next step in a long healing process.

Her own father, Ebrima Solo Sandeng, a member of the opposition United Democratic Party, was tortured and killed by security services in 2016.

Truth and reconciliation commissions have been launched in many countries, she said, adding that their recommendations are often ignored.

The most important work right now is to make sure the recommendations are respected, implemented, and you dont just put it aside like other commissions.

Reed Brody, a lawyer with the International Commission of Jurists who works with Jammehs victims, called the ministrys response to the truth commission an important and meaningful step forward.

Now the government will have to demonstrate with concrete actions to an increasingly sceptical public that it actually has the determination to bring the perpetrators to book, he said.

Laws still have to be enacted, a court has to be established, cases have to be prepared, and Yahya Jammeh has to be brought into custody.
Here are the key dates in the tiny West African country of The Gambia since 1994, when dictator Yahya Jammeh seized power in a bloodless coup.

The Gambian government said Wednesday it was willing to prosecute him for crimes committed during his more than 20-year rule.

 1994 coup 

On July 22, 1994, Yahya Jammeh, aged 29, leads a group of young army officers in the overthrow of president Dawda Jawara and bans political activity.

On September 26, 1996, he wins a presidential election but observers express doubts about the transparency of the vote.

He is re-elected in 2001, and then again in 2006 at an election rights groups dismiss as undemocratic because of repression of the media and of government critics.

In 2011 he wins 70 percent of the vote at an election main opponent Ousainou Darboe says is bogus, fraudulent and preposterous.

 Coup foiled 

On December 30, 2014 Gambian soldiers launch a coup bid while Jammeh is abroad, but it is foiled.

The coup is led by Gambian opposition members based in the United States.

 Opposition mobilises 

In April 2016, a leader of the main opposition UDP party, Solo Sandeng, is arrested with several other people during a demonstration to demand political reforms. He dies in detention.

Two days later authorities crack down on protests over his death, sparking new demonstrations and arrests.

Several opposition officials, including the head of the main opposition UDP party Darboe, are jailed for their part in the protests but are released a few months later.

 Jammeh rejects vote 

In December 2016 presidential elections, opposition candidate Adama Barrow beats Jammeh by less than 20,000 votes.

Jammeh rejects the result of the election and demands a new vote. Thousands of Gambians flee the country fearing violence.

 Barrow sworn in 

Neighbouring Senegal grants Barrow protection and he is sworn in as president at the Gambian embassy in Dakar on January 19, 2017.

With troops from the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ready to force Jammeh out, he finally agrees to go into exile in Equatorial Guinea after six weeks of crisis.

Barrow arrives back in the capital Banjul to a jubilant welcome to begin the nations first democratic transfer of power.

 Truth commission 

In December 2017, a South Africa-style Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) is set up to investigate claims that Jammehs regime used death squads, arbitrary arrests, torture and forcible disappearances against political opponents.

The commission hears testimony from nearly 400 people.

It recommends that Jammeh and his accomplices be brought before an international court.

Barrow has six months to implement its recommendations.

In December 2021, Barrow is re-elected.

In April 2022, he chooses two of Jammehs former allies as president and co-president of the newly elected parliament.

 Government moves to prosecute Jammeh 

On May 25, the Gambian government says it is ready to prosecute Jammeh for a myriad of crimes committed during his rule.

It is unclear however whether Jammeh will face justice as there is no extradition accord between The Gambia and Equatorial Guinea.
So Ji Sub's "Dr. Lawyer" is directed by Lee Yong Seok. It is his first drama with the medical law genre. As he explores a new realm, he curates the work with an actor in mind whom he knows will give justice to the role. Read to know more!

'Dr Lawyer' Director Lee Yong Seok Reveals Personal Pick To Portray Han Yi Han

MBC's upcoming Friday and Saturday drama "Dr. Lawyer" starring So Ji Sub, Im Soo Hyang, and Shin Sung Rok is a work created by director Lee Yong Seok.

"Dr. Lawyer" follows the story of a doctor-turned-lawyer who lost everything due to a malpractice. He then becomes a lawyer to clean his name, and defend doctors who were accused of false medical practice.

In the drama, So Ji Sub plays the lead role of Han Yi Han. He's a man with integrity and a high moral compass.

Director Lee Yong Seok revealed that he wanted So Ji Sub to play the part. Due to their bond since the beginning of their debut as actor and director, he wants to meet him again.

The director admits that he was grateful knowing that the actor was interested, as he's the only actor in mind that perfectly fits the role.

"The words "doctor" and "revenge" don't go well together, but I want to see the end of the story of Han Yi Han, and become a lawyer and seek revenge," Lee Yong Seok shared.

Through So Ji Sub's excellent acting chops, the director believes that the drama and new acting role will be given justice.

Director Lee Yong Seok's Thoughts While Working On 'Dr Lawyer'

When asked about what kind of drama "Dr. Lawyer" is, director Lee Yong Seok confesses that it's a difficult challenge.

The complex nature and fusion of a medical and courtroom drama is enticing. To challenge himself, he wants to try doing a genre that he has never done before.

Lee Yong Seok produced and directed many great works such as "Haechi," "The Great Seer" and more. With "Dr. Lawyer," he will widen the genres of dramas he can do.

What To Expect From So Ji Sub's 'Dr Lawyer'

Since "Dr. Lawyer" is a revenge drama, the main things to anticipate is the backstory of Han Yi Han (So Ji Sub), how and what pushed him to become a lawyer and more.

In particular, the ensemble of characters including Im Soo Hyang and Shin Sung Rok will carry a dramatic and emotional story that many people will enjoy.

Director Lee Yong Seok guarantees to captivate viewers through intense passion and sensuous directing as he reunites with So Ji Sub after a long time.

"Dr. Lawyer" airs for the first time on Friday, June 3 at 9:50 p.m. KST on MBC. Watch the teaser here, in case you missed it:

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Fans and viewers couldn't help but to share their excitement as idol-actress BLACKPINK Jisoo is officially tapped as the new face of Cartier!

'Snowdrop' Star BLACKPINK Jisoo Chosen As Cartier's New Global Ambassador

Conquering both the idol stage and small screen, BLACKPINK Jisoo is now more than ready to take on the global industry!

On Tuesday, May 24, French luxury jewelry and watch brand Cartier announced the "Snowdrop" actress' addition to the family as their newest global ambassador!

Arnaud Carrez, the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Cartier, stated that the luxurious brand wants to embody the magnetic aura of the panther, which was the main reason why they were drawn to the idol-actress.

"With her self-assured style, she is perfect to be the voice of the new generation of creatives with a burning desire to show their talents," he added. "She has creative freedom and she never limits herself."

Meanwhile, BLACKPINK Jisoo shared her delight in becoming a part of Cartier's grand journey. She sees this opportunity as an honor that holds meaning.

"As a member of the Panthere community, I am ready to show unique and distinctive colors," BLACKPINK Jisoo said, raising anticipation. In particular, the idol-actress will be joining Cartier Panthere along with current impressive global ambassadors like Emma Chamberlain, Mariacarla Boscono, Annabelle Wallis and Ella Balinska.

'Snowdrop' Stars BLACKPINK Jisoo, Jung Hae In Upcoming Projects, More

After their intense chemistry in the controversial black comedy series "Snowdrop," BLACKPINK Jisoo and Jung Hae In gained more fans and solidified themselves as new generation actors.

Currently, BLACKPINK Jisoo is gearing up for an upcoming comeback with her fellow members Jennie, Rose and Lisa. As for solo career, the actress stated in an interview with Rolling Stones that she's not ready to go about her own just yet. However, she will continue her acting journey and diversify her filmography.

On the other hand, "Snowdrop" male lead Jung Hae In just finished his principal filming for his upcoming drama "Connect."

Jisoo is the only member of @BLACKPINK who hasn't released solo music, though theres buzz she might sometime this year. #BLACKPINKxRollingStone



Read more here: https://t.co/lNkBgl3GlE pic.twitter.com/WASa7TFXRP  Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) May 23, 2022

Jung Hae In works alongside Go Kyung Pyo and Kim Hye Jun in the Takashi Miike-directed series.

The drama centers around the mystery of a man who feels a certain connection with the person who receives his organ, after being taken away by organ hunters.

"Connect" is scheduled to air some time in 2022. In addition to that, Jung Hae In will reprise his role in the sequel of his international hit Netflix series "D.P.," which is expected to air in early 2023.

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Following the conclusion of "My Liberation Notes" and "Tomorrow," new dramas like "Doctor Lawyer," "Eve," and more are making their small screen debut starting this week!

Keep on reading to know more about the soon-to-be-released series on primetime.

'Kiss Sixth Sense'

This romance series starting the last week of May will be headlined by Yoon Kye Sang, Seo Ji Hye, and Kim Ji Suk. The story centers around Hong Ye Sul, a lady who can see the future when she kisses someone. Unexpectedly, she kisses the neck of her boss Cha Min Hoo and sees them in bed together.

"Kiss Sixth Sense" will have its first day broadcast on May 25 on Disney+ Korea and will have a total of 10 episodes.

'Doctor Lawyer'

MBC is bringing So Ji Sub back with the medical-legal drama "Doctor Lawyer." He will act as Han Yi Han, an elite surgeon who graduated from the top best medical school in Korea. He specializes in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery. But after one tragic surgery, Yi Han's life started to change.

Joining him are Lim Soo Hyang, who plays the role of Geum Seok Young and Shin Sung Rok as Jaden Lee.

The series takes over MBC's Friday-Saturday 10 p.m. (KST) slots, which were previously occupied by the fantasy series "Tomorrow." "Doctor Lawyer" will premiere on May 27.

'Eve'

Supposedly, tvN's revenge drama is about to air on May 25, but the broadcasting company then announced that its scheduled premiere is moved to June 1. "Eve" follows the intriguing story of a chaebol family with a 2 trillion krw divorce lawsuit that shocks the whole nation. The center of the lawsuit is Lee Ra El ( played by Seo Ye Ji), the only daughter of the elite family.

"Eve" will occupy the Wednesday-Thursday slots at 10:30 p.m. (KST) on tvN. The much-anticipated series is expected to have Lee Sang Yeob, Park Byung Eun, and Yoo Sun as the main cast alongside female protagonist Seo Ye Ji.

'Why Her?'

Another legal drama is gaining explosive reactions from the fans and viewers, as SBS' forthcoming series "Why Her?" starring Seo Hyun Jin, Hwang In Yeop, Bae In Hyuk, and Heo Jun Ho is about to debut on primetime this June 3.

It tells the complicated journey of Oh Soo Jae, a young lawyer who is driven by the desire to win cases and punish the evils who enjoy injustices in society.

She then meets the law student Gong Chan when she gets demoted to work as a prosecutor in a law university.

"Why Her?" will have its simultaneous broadcast every Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m. (KST) on SBS.

Which among these upcoming K-Dramas are you looking forward to watching? Tell us in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
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Elizabeth Tomlin, a Catholic author and general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, will be a guest speaker at the annual convention of the Catholic Womens League of Canada, to be held in Kelowna this summer.
The Kenosha Unified School Board held a moment of silence in honor of the children and adults killed during a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday.

Interim Supt. Bethany Ormseth opened Tuesday evenings scheduled meeting with remarks about those killed, wounded and impacted by the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Nationally, our thoughts go out to the families impacted by the shooting at the elementary school in Texas today, Ormseth said.

It is incomprehensible to me that someone could shoot elementary-aged students, staff and law enforcement who were just going about their day. It is hard to read about a tragedy like this and not think about our families, our students and our schools.

Unfortunately, Ormseth said, we live in a time where we have to practice for events like this.

KUSD has procedures in place that we practice in hopes that we never have to use, Ormseth added. I would like to thank our teachers, principles, staff and law enforcement who keep us safe as we stand with Robb Elementary in Texas.

Ormseth then asked those in attendance for a moment of silence for reflection.

School Board President Yolanda Adams expressed similar sentiments.

I also want to offer our sincere condolences to the family of all the students involved in the recent shooting today at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Adams said. Very sad, devastating, and of course heartbreaking when for all of us when you think of children going through this type of horror.

An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at the Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children and two teachers, officials said.

It was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since a gunmen killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago. And it came just 10 days after a gunman in body armor killed 10 Black shoppers and workers at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in what authorities say was a racist attack.

Email sent to families

On Wednesday afternoon the school district sent an email to parents and guardians of students.

Our nation has once again experienced a senseless act of violence that impacts all of us in various ways, the email reads. Together we mourn the loss of innocent lives while keeping the families of Robb Elementary at the forefront of our minds.

We understand and appreciate that our families will handle if and how they choose to discuss this tragedy with their children in their own way.

Should parents or guardians choose to speak with their child about gun violence, the district provided a list of helpful links in the email that may help them better broach the topic with young people.

The district also said staff will watch for students who may be showing signs of needing support and connect them with counselors who are available and ready to assist them.

The district has also offered support to our staff who are likewise processing this inexplicable tragedy, the email reads. In addition, KUSD reviews our emergency operating procedures annually, is in the process of implementing a visitor management system to be completed prior to the 2022-23 school year, has updated our threat assessment process, and our staff and students review ALiCE lessons and hold safety drills twice each year.

The district is recommending parents or guardians with questions or concerns to contact their childs school office for support.

 The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Mark Lewis, who served as the publisher and president for the Wisconn Valley Media group, has been promoted to president of the Tulsa World Media Group.

After nearly 13 years here, Lewis is leaving southeastern Wisconsin and the Wisconn Valley Media Group, which includes The Journal Times in Racine, Kenosha News and Lake Geneva Regional News.

I have enjoyed all the years I have spent in Racine. I have raised three kids there and will always feel like its home. I will miss all the people who I have come to know as friends and I believe southeastern Wisconsin has a bright future ahead of it, Lewis said.

Lewis started as the publisher of The Journal Times in 2009 and when Lee acquired United Communications Corp (UCC) in 2019 he went on to lead the Kenosha News and Lake Geneva Regional News.

I am proud and impressed with the leadership he exhibited during the acquisition of UCC, and bringing Kenosha and Lake Geneva into the Lee family, said Chris White, the president of Lees Western Media Group.

Mark has earned this promotion. During his work, Mark developed a reputation for delivering outstanding performance and for developing strong, high-performing teams, White continued in announcing the promotion.

During his tenure with the Wisconn Valley Media group, Lewis was actively involved in the community.

He was chairman of the board for Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce (RAMAC), vice chairman for the Racine County Economic Development Corporation, on the board for the Wheaton Foundation and served on administrative services for Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Racine.

He also served as president for Goodfellows, a nonprofit that focuses on youth activities including providing assistance to Tex Reynolds Toys for Tots program, which provides donated toys to children in need during the holidays.

Going forward, Clint Wiedholz will continue to oversee advertising in Racine and Rob Ireland will continue to oversee advertising operations in Kenosha and Lake Geneva.

Stephanie Jones will be overseeing news as the southeastern Wisconsin regional editor, working directly with Adam Rogan, The Journal Times news editor, and John Sloca, the Kenosha News news editor. Jones is the Lake Geneva Regional News editor and former Journal Times editor.

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Workers in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector receive the highest average annual earnings in the country.

That's according to the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) release on the value chain analysis of the ICT sector, which found workers in the sector received 8.5 billion in wages in 2019.

According to IDA Ireland, the country has gained a reputation as being the heart of ICT in Europe, and the industry employs over 37,000 people.

Senior statistician at the CSO, Michael Connolly, described the analysis as cross-cutting and drawing on areas such as census, business, labour market and macro economic data.

He said, "[The sector] generates more wages paid in Irish households than labour intensive areas such as hospitality or construction. The ICT sector has a highly educated workforce: almost two thirds had a college degree or higher. The wage levels may also be explained by the fact that it is also a very productive sector: the value added per hour worked is exceptionally high.

"However, the sector does have a significant gender imbalance. Only 32% of workers in the ICT sector are female. Among Telecommunication Engineers this falls to a low of just 5% women. While large foreign multinationals dominate the job market, domestic companies employed almost half (40,746) of those (90,766) employed in the sector.

Approximately 63% of the ICT workforce had a third level qualification or higher, which is among the highest in the overall economy.

The analysis reveals ICT imports and exports amount to a quarter of the GDP for Ireland as a whole.

Mr Connolly continued: "The large foreign multinational ICT companies are making large profits here, most of which flow out to their owners, but they paid almost 4bn in taxes in 2019 before their profits flowed out. As well as their wages paid, they also show some spill over of expertise with domestic firms.

"Analysis also shows that around 20% of people who change jobs in the ICT sector go between the foreign multinationals and domestic enterprises."
A Conservative former Northern Ireland secretary has urged the Government to look again at proposals that would prevent inquests and civil actions related to the Troubles.

Julian Smith warned of an unfair cut-off point, and highlighted that consent is vital when dealing with legacy issues.

Speaking in the Commons yesterday (Tuesday May 24) as MPs debated the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, he said, "Today many victims feel that they have been hit by a double whammy with this Bill. Their route to justice cut off, and at the same time their route to the truth restricted.

Mr Smith also raised concerns over the Governments plans for a new independent commission for information recovery.

He said: I urge the Government to look at again at the independence and investigatory powers of this body to ensure that it can guarantee victims a full and thorough investigation of their case that is legally compliant.

The shutting down of civil cases and of inquests, and the way it is done through this Bill, is also a source of much anger and worry.

Civil actions have provided an effective mechanism for victims to obtain discovery and reparations.

Mr Smith also said he acknowledged the inquest system has used significant resources often without conclusions, but added: I urge the Government to also look at this. There must be a fairer way of at least completing the current work programme, and avoiding such an unfair cut-off point.

He went on: On investigations and on inquests, I therefore urge the Government to pause and to listen to the voices of our valued Irish partners in the GFA (Good Friday Agreement), to Northern Ireland parties, and to the victims and survivors.

I hope too that the Government will reflect on how it can reframe this Bill in order to gain the trust required to help deliver a resolution.

I am deeply uncomfortable by the idea of voting for a Bill that will formalise immunity for those who have committed murder and other crimes, but I do however acknowledge that in the range of policy options that the Government is faced with, none are straightforward, he added.

Elsewhere in the debate, DUP MP Ian Paisley (North Antrim) said changes to the Bill are necessary, warned it may undermine the rule of law and said it failed the Northern Ireland test of getting any sense of consensus whatsoever.

Veterans will be getting a crumb off the table and the crumb off the table is blue-moulded and will not taste very good, he said.

Criticism also came from Alliance Party deputy leader Stephen Farry, who described the Bill as unworkable and incompatible with the principles of justice.

The difficulty we have here is that this debate is based around a false narrative of vexatious investigations or prosecutions, which simply does not stack up under scrutiny, he said.

He warned the legislation could end up re-traumatising victims as people are seeing the potential prospects, slim as it may be, of justice being knocked out over their heads.

While SDLP leader Colum Eastwood (Foyle) said: The pretence from this Government that this is about victims or reconciliation is frankly an out-and-out lie.

He added: This is an overt attempt to close down access to truth and justice for the victims of our conflict. It rips up the Stormont House Agreement, an agreement that people have bought into and it does not have the support of the parties in Northern Ireland. It has absolutely no support from victims groups in Northern Ireland.

Conservative former defence minister Johnny Mercer told the Commons: There are no winners in legacy, it is a mess. The whole thing is a disaster but we have to do what we can to bring some sort of end and finality and truth to this process for the victims, and that is what I want colleagues to focus on.

The Plymouth Moor View MP later added: People will get away with things they should not get away with. We can bemoan that all we like, we can make speeches, we can speak to our home crowd as much as we like, it is never going to change. Everybody knows it is true.
Following the brutal shooting at a Texas school that left at least 19 children dead, US President Joe Biden has called for new restrictions on firearms in America.

In an emotional address to his nation from the White House, Mr Biden pleaded for action to curb gun violence after years of failure  and blamed firearms manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

He said: When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?

The US leader spoke just hours after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, 85 miles west of San Antonio, killing at least 19 children and two adults.

It is Americas deadliest school shooting since 20 children and six adults died at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in late 2012.

The gunman  identified by officials as Salvador Ramos, who lived in the community  was killed by law enforcement responding to the massacre. Texas governor Greg Abbott said one of the two adults killed by the gunman was a teacher.

With US first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the US president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children, spoke in visceral terms about the grief being suffered by the victims loved ones and the pain that will endure for the students who survived.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away, Mr Biden said.

For every parent, for every citizen, we have to make it clear to every elected official: Its time for action. We can do more. We must do more. pic.twitter.com/VDe0Wc7YT8  President Biden (@POTUS) May 25, 2022

Theres a hollowness in your chest. You feel like youre being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out.

He called on the nation to pray for the victims and families  but also to work harder to prevent the next tragedy. Its time we turned this pain into action, he said.



The archbishop of San Antonio, Gustavo Garcia-Siller, comforts families outside the Civic Centre following a deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas

Just one week earlier, Mr Biden had travelled to Buffalo in New York state to meet with victims families after a racist gunman killed 10 black people at a grocery store.

The back-to-back tragedies serve as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

Hours after the attack, families were still awaiting word on their children.

Outside the town civic centre, where families were told to await news about their loved ones, the silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wailing.

Across the country, parents are putting their children to bed, reading stories, singing lullabiesand in the back of their minds, theyre worried about what might happen tomorrow after they drop their kids off at school, or take them to a grocery store or any other public space.  Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 25, 2022

Many of the wounded were rushed to Uvalde Memorial Hospital, where staff members in scrubs and devastated victims relatives could be seen weeping as they walked out of the complex.

It is not immediately clear how many people were wounded, but Uvalde Police chief Pete Arredondo said there were several injuries.

Earlier, Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world  why? Mr Biden asked in the White House.

As a nation we must ask: When in Gods name will we stand up to the gun lobby? When in Gods name will we do what needs to be done? Im sick and tired of it. We have to act.  President Biden (@POTUS) May 25, 2022

The president reflected that while other nations have people filled with hate or with mental health issues, no other industrialised nation experiences gun violence at the level of the US.

The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong, Mr Biden said, adding: Id hoped when I became president I would not have to do this, again.

Echoing Mr Bidens call, former president Barack Obama, who has called the day of the Sandy Hook shooting the darkest of his administration, said: Its long past time for action, any kind of action.



People react outside the Civic Centre in Uvalde, Texas, following the massacre

US congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation ever since the bipartisan effort to strengthen background checks on firearms purchases collapsed in the aftermath of the 2012 shooting.

Despite months of work, a bill that was backed by a majority of senators fell to a filibuster  unable to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to advance.

In impassioned remarks on the US senate floor on Tuesday, senator Chris Murphy, who represented Newton, Connecticut, in the house of representatives at the time of the Sandy Hook massacre, asked his colleagues why they even bother running for office if they are going to stand by and do nothing.

He said: Im here on this floor to beg  to literally get down on my hands and knees  to beg my colleagues.

Mr Murphy said he was planning to reach out to Texas Republican senator John Cornyn after the two had teamed up on an earlier background check bill that never became law. He said he would also reach out to Texas other Republican senator, Ted Cruz.

I just dont understand why people here think were powerless, Mr Murphy said. We arent.

Thoughts and prayers are not enough. After years of nothing else, we are becoming a nation of anguished screams. We simply need legislators willing to stop the scourge of gun violence in America that is murdering our children.  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 24, 2022

The teenage gunman had hinted on social media that an attack could be coming, according to state senator Roland Gutierrez, who said he had been briefed by state police.

He noted that Ramos suggested the kids should watch out, and that he had bought two assault weapons after turning 18.

Before heading to the school, Ramos shot his grandmother, Mr Gutierrez said. Other officials said later that the grandmother survived and was being treated, through her condition was not known.



People leave the Uvalde Civic Centre following a shooting earlier in the day at Robb Elementary School

Investigators believe Ramos posted photos on Instagram of two guns he used in the shooting, and they were examining whether he made statements online alluding to the attack in the hours before the assault, a law enforcement official said.

Officers were serving multiple search warrants on Tuesday night and gathering telephone and other records. Investigators were also attempting to contact Ramos relatives and were tracing the firearms.

The attack began at about 11.30am local time (5.30pm BST), when the gunman crashed his car outside the school and ran into the building, according to public safety officials.

A resident who heard the crash called 911, and two local police officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter.



A vigil takes place for the victims

Both officers were shot, though it was not immediately clear where on the campus that confrontation occurred, or how much time elapsed before more authorities arrived on the scene.

Meanwhile, teams of Border Patrol agents raced to the school, including 10 to 15 members of a Swat-like tactical and counter-terrorism unit, officials said.

One Border Patrol agent who was working nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade.

The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, the law enforcement source said.
A war of words erupted over the Government's housing policy in the Dail with Sinn Feins Pearse Doherty asking the housing minister Darragh O'Brien what planet he is living on.

However, Minister O'Brien hit back, saying Deputy Doherty and Sinn Fein "opposes everything".

In the Dail earlier today, Deputy Doherty raised the Governments new housing initiative, known as Croi Conaithe, which sets out to support the building of apartments for sale to owner-occupier households in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.

The planned scheme aims to bridge the current viability gap where the cost of building apartments in these cities is higher than the market sale price.

The scheme plans to deliver up to 5,000 apartments by 2026.

The new State subsidy will see developers secure up to 144,000 in funding for each apartment they build outside the Dublin area.

The Government claims that increasing the supply of owner-occupier apartments frees up housing in the rental sector and can reduce pressure on the rental market, in turn alleviates pressure on our social housing waiting lists.

However, Deputy Doherty said three recent reports had outlined the failures of Government policy on housing.

He said "extortionate rents continue to soar" as the number of rental properties available decrease. He said the minister was "failing spectacularly".

He said the Govt has a "bonkers scheme" which will give 450 million of tax payers money to developers to build apartments. Deputy Doherty said only those earning the highest salaries will be able to afford these apartments.

"The question needs to be asked again Minister, what type of planet are you living on with this type of scheme?" Deputy Doherty said.

Minister O'Brien said the Government had a 'Housing For All Plan, which is funded to the tune of 4bn a year, "which is working" and is "very serious" about increasing supply and delivering affordable homes.

The minister said the proof that the Government's was delivering could be found in the fact that this year would have the highest number of commencements since 2007.

He described the Government's scheme Croi Conaithe as a "targeted measure" which ensures that people can get to own their apartments.

"People can actually own apartments in our five major cities across this country," Minister O'Brien said.

"Your narrative on every issue is to oppose, oppose, oppose," Minister O'Brien said to Deputy Doherty.

He said they are delivering more social housing this year than had ever been delivered in the history of the State.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Areas of dense morning fog. Partly cloudy skies. High 79F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

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A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low near 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
Young people inject fresh impetus into rural areas of Chinas Xinjiang

People's Daily Online) 17:09, May 25, 2022

Many young people are fully leveraging the latest technologies and their talents in the rural areas of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, making farm production more efficient and injecting a fresh impetus into the regions countryside.

Aerial photo taken on April 19, 2022 shows a seeding machine guided by the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System working in a cotton field in a farm of a division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo/Xinhua)

A young team with an average age under 30 has been busy working in an experimental cotton field in Yuli county in Xinjiang. Here new technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies are being applied to the farm work. Mechanization and a more precise management approach have been adopted for sowing seeds, field management and harvesting.

Mo Xiaoyu, 29, from central China's Hunan Province, is a professional photographer for the team. She has worked alongside the engineers on the team and helped to replace the old irrigation facilities used in the cotton fields with intelligent ones, as well as building an automated system for fertilization and irrigation, which is supported by remote control, after completing several trials.

The sensors installed in the field measure indexes such as the moisture and pH of the soil in real time. After studying these figures, the system adjusts the amount of water and fertilizers, and sends them to the roots of the seedlings. In addition, AI technology can measure the growth and identify diseases and pest problems among the cotton by analyzing the photos captured by unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs), explained Ai Haipeng, a 32-year-old member of the team, who added that an unmanned farm could reduce the cost of agricultural production, and also provides a reference point for pursuing a more scientific kind of field management.

Our goal for this year is to produce 400 kilograms of cotton per mu (about 0.07 hectares), with unmanned operations covering 80 percent of the all the management procedures, said Ling Lei, another team member.

Born in the 1990s, Qiu Changwei from Ganhezi town, Wusu city, Tacheng Prefecture in Xinjiang, works on promoting the use of agricultural UAVs for spraying pesticides with his company, hoping to work towards emancipating farmers from their laborious tasks.

To assure the farmers, he demonstrated how the UAVs can spray defoliant for major cotton growers and several cotton cooperatives located in the township. A UAV doesnt cause damage to the seedlings like conventional pesticide spraying machines. More importantly, its more efficient. It can finish the workload in a 1,000 mu cotton field in one day, said Qiu proudly. He added that many farmers are willing to have a try.

Qiu plans to introduce some agricultural helicopters, and further expand his companys business for spraying pesticide to include grasslands and forests.

Luo Hui, a young entrepreneur who was also born in the 1990s, established a company to help local farmers sell their agricultural products. Luo, who had tried various means to explore sales channels while still in college, established an e-commerce company in 2015 which sells local specialties such as apples from the Aksu Prefecture, pears from Korla, and red dates from Hotan.

Relying on our strengths in e-commerce is not enough to realize greater development, remarked Luo, who started to develop the whole business from scratch, beginning with building a processing plant in 2019.

The integrated mode, which covers production, processing, packaging, shipment and sales, makes us independent from original equipment manufacturers, creates more job opportunities, and allows me to adjust the production capacity according to the need of the market, said Luo confidently.

So far, the maximum daily orders for Luos company on all major e-commerce platforms has exceeded 70,000. And his company plans to build another plant this year, which is expected to generate even more jobs.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Seen here is a sign identifying Fort Bragg Army Base. Named for Confederate General Braxton Bragg, the base has recently been listed for possible renaming.
What we know about the deadly Texas shooting that left 19 children and 2 adults dead




Korea will temporarily allow visa-free entry for group tours from Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Mongolia through an international airport in Yangyang, the justice ministry said Wednesday.







Starting June 1, travelers in group tours from Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia arriving at Yangyang International Airport on the east coast can also stay in the country for up to 15 days without a visa, officials said.







Group tours from Mongolia will be allowed such a visa-waiver program starting Oct. 1, they added.







The program, which is aimed at boosting local tourism and the regional economy in Gangwon Province, will be carried out until May 31, 2023, with the possibility of it being extended every year depending on the result.







The tourists should be fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus and can travel in the greater Seoul area and Gangwon Province, the ministry said.







The tourists must also be booked through travel agencies recognized by the embassies of each country. (Yonhap)










The government has come up with a set of measures to strengthen human rights protection at detention centers for illegal immigrants, including adopting a supervisor in charge of overseeing possible violations, officials said Wednesday.







The justice ministry issued a public notice on its push for a partial revision of laws and regulations governing the procedure of detaining illegal immigrants and the use of protective gear for foreigners in custody.







The move comes after a ministry investigation showed that a Moroccan man was mistreated while being detained in a solitary confinement room at an immigration processing center in Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, last June.







Under the revision, the ministry will adopt a system to install a commissioner to investigate possible rights violations and report such violations to superiors.







Also, a rope will not be used while detaining illegal immigrants, the ministry said. Protective ankle gear, helmets and chairs were newly added to the list of protective gear.







The revision also clearly states that such protective gear cannot be used for the purpose of punishment, officials said.







Also, the revision states the period that an inmate is put in solitary confinement should be limited to a maximum of 72 hours, with the possibility of extending the period one more time.







The justice minister also must review an inmate's formal objection to such solitary confinement orders, and possibly lift the order after reviewing the case, officials said.







The inmate from Morocco in his 30s filed a petition with the national human rights watchdog, claiming he was mistreated. Surveillance footage showed he was kept with his hands tied for more than four hours, wearing headgear and tied with box tape and cable ties. (Yonhap)






By Kim Won-soo





The summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol took place merely a dozen days following President Yoon's inauguration. Some may think it was a natural prelude to the Quad summit in Japan. But the symbolism attached to it cannot be overlooked. As the first stop in his very first presidential trip to Asia, there is more to President Biden's visit to Korea than meets the eye.



Over the seven decades since the Korean War, the Korea-U.S. alliance has evolved significantly, reflecting both changes in international geopolitics and the rise of Korea from a war-stricken, impoverished country to one of the world's most advanced economies.



I would argue the alliance has now entered a third phase: the first phase (1.0) saw South Korea significantly dependent upon the United States from 1953 to the late 1980s while the second phase (2.0) showed a more balanced partnership between the two with a particular focus on the Korean Peninsula from the 1990s until early this year.



Last year's joint statement issued by former President Moon Jae-in and President Biden depicted Korea-U.S. relations as a "comprehensive partnership." This time it was upgraded to a "global comprehensive strategic partnership." The alliance 3.0 is a more mature relationship with global interests beyond the Korean Peninsula.



Thanks to the great work done by the two presidents, the Korea-U.S. alliance has been rebooted. But that was the easy part compared to the challenges expected to arise in the years ahead. The hard part is yet to come.



Here are the three challenges that will require our most urgent attention. They are listed in descending order of difficulty.



First and foremost comes China. China was the odd man out in President Biden's visit to Asia. Most striking in the joint statement issued after the summit was the omission of any references to China. Ironically, the omission rather highlights the importance of China for President Biden. Of course, Beijing reacted negatively to his visit. Managing China's reactions and shielding Korean businesses from the potential fallout will be the most immediate and challenging task for the Yoon government.



Second, while the joint statement frequently brought up the North Korea threat, it failed to grab much attention from the media due to both the inertia from the prolonged stalemate and the increased predictability of Pyongyang's provocations. North Korea may intend to bide its time before deciding on the next course of action vis-a-vis the Yoon government. Or North Korea may well be preoccupied with the sudden spread of the coronavirus which is estimated to be far beyond their response capability.



Nevertheless, President Biden's visit produced several policy changes that would likely upset North Korea, including the resumption of Korea-U.S. joint military exercises and the decision not to mention in the joint statement of the inter-Korean and the U.S.-North Korea summits that took place during the Moon government.



North Korea could resort to further provocations to express its disapproval. Responding to Pyongyang's provocations will become increasingly difficult for South Korea, as China, North Korea's main patron, is expected to be less forthcoming toward the U.S. and South Korea.



Third, South Korea's relationship with Japan needs to be repaired. Given the sensitivity of the issues involved, improving Korea-Japan relations will require domestic political heavy-lifting on both sides. Relatively speaking, this will be much easier to manage than the other challenges with China and North Korea. This should be done as quickly as possible, as it will help both South Korea and Japan strengthen their trilateral coordination with the U.S. in dealing with future contingencies in the region.



Additionally, South Korea urgently needs to prepare for two likely sources of friction. First, the South Korean government needs to make it clear to Beijing that it desires an open, inclusive, and rules-based future for the Indo-Pacific region. Especially, the rationale for its decision to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework must be explained clearly: It would be far more beneficial to shape the rule building at the start of the IPEF than joining it later once the rules have been set by others.



Second, various channels of communication with North Korea, including the hotline, must remain open at all times. As a first step to confidence building, South Korea could make a compelling offer of medical assistance to North Korea.



South Korea can also urge the U.S. to reopen the dialogue with China so that they can manage contingencies and explore common ground on the issues of mutual concern such as climate change and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) terrorism.



Korean diplomacy stands at a tipping point. The next five years will be critical for the future of the Korean Peninsula and the region. In that regard, President Biden's early visit to Korea marks an important and promising beginning to a renewed Korea-U.S. relationship. As a result of the summit, the Korea-U.S. alliance 3.0 is getting started as a value-based global partnership.



Translating the shared vision for the alliance 3.0 into reality will inevitably come with a number of hurdles in global and regional politics. Overcoming those hurdles requires creative thinking and consistent diplomacy. The wisdom of the South Korean government is called for now more than ever.





Kim Won-soo (wsk4321@gmail.com) is the former under secretary-general of the United Nations and high representative for disarmament. As a Korean diplomat, he served as secretary to the ROK president for foreign affairs as well as for international security. He is now the chair of the international advisory board of the Taejae Academy (Future Consensus Institute) and the chair professor of the Kyung Hee University.


By Choe Chong-dae





Ever since Korea opened its doors to the outside world in 1876, many foreigners have entered Korea through the port city of Jemulpo, or modern Incheon. One such foreigner was Polish merchant Friedrich A. Kalitzky (1872-1934), who landed and lived in Korea for decades until his death. Today, his tombstone depicting Konigsberg, his birthplace, stands at the graveyard of Chemulpo Foreigners' Cemetery in Incheon.



My interest in Polish culture stemmed from contact with Polish members of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC). In the early 1980s, I had the pleasure of meeting the Polish NNSC delegates during a reception held at the NNSC Swedish Camp in Panmunjeom. At that time, Poland had not yet established diplomatic ties with Korea as it was under a socialist regime. However, I could still establish common ground with them and learned about a distinguished Polish writer named Waclaw Sieroszewski (1858-1945).



As a well-known Polish writer and renowned ethnographer, Sieroszewski's interest in Korea led him to journey to this country in October 1903, which coincided with a turbulent period preceding the collapse of the Korean Empire. Throughout his travels over several months, Sieroszewski observed a wide range of Korean aspects such as culture, customs, education, politics and religion, to include shamanism. Based on diverse experiences and impressions of Korea, he published an account titled "Korea: Klucz Dalekiego Wschodu" (Key of the Far East) in 1905. It is an interesting impressionistic and eyewitness account of Korea which played an important role in introducing the country to an unfamiliar European audience. The book even portrayed Donghak (Eastern Learning, later known as Cheondo-gyo), an influential early modern native religion of Korea. In 1906 he also wrote the novel "Ol-soni, kisan" which is based on Korean life in the late 19th century.



The account was translated into Korean in 2006 under the title of "Korea in the Fall of 1903: Travels to the Korean Empire by Sieroszewski, Russian Scholar." He was called a Russian scholar because Poland was under the Russian regime until the Republic of Poland was established in 1918. Of note is that a recent book, titled "World Writers Who Loved Korea: Modern and Contemporary Korea Blossomed in the World" by professor Choi Chong-ko, mentioned Sieroszewski's account of Korea.



More recently, books published in Poland have focused on North Korean orphans and drew great attention from Polish readers. There is also a documentary film titled "Kim Ki-dok" (2006), which is produced by Jolanta Krysowata, a Polish journalist and filmmaker. It portrays the life of the North Korean orphan Kim Ki-dok, a 13-year-old girl who lived in Poland after the Korean War. Sadly, she passed away due to leukemia and is buried in Osobowicki Cemetery in Wroclaw. The film also depicts a North Korean supervisor falling in love with a beautiful Polish woman, who gives birth to a baby. However, when their affair is revealed to the public, he is forced to return to North Korea, leaving behind his lover and their newborn. In 2016, Krysowata went on to remake the documentary "Kim Ki-dok" with Patrick Yoka to shed light on the plight of thousands of North Korean orphans.



Starting during the 1950-53 Korean War, thousands of North Korean orphans were sent to live in Poland for care and education from 1951 to 1959. Despite the difficult circumstances, they lived under the humanitarian guardianship and nurturing eyes of hundreds of Polish teachers and doctors. They came to regard Poland as their second home and further familiarized themselves with Polish culture and customs. They developed a powerful connection and fascination with the country, so much that they would reminisce about this unique experience throughout their lifetimes after being returned to North Korea in 1959.



I wish that both Sieroszewski's account of modern Korea and the documentary film continue to strengthen cultural bridges between Korea and Poland.





Choe Chong-dae (choecd@naver.com) is a guest columnist of The Korea Times. He is president of Dae-kwang International Co., and director of the Korean-Swedish Association.


Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore talks at Ivy Tech Community College in Kokomo, Ind., May 24, about Stellantis and Samsung SDI planning to invest over $2.5 billion in a joint venture to produce Lithium-Ion batteries for electric vehicles, and what it means to the local community. The plant will be built on a 142 acre lot southeast of the Stellantis Kokomo Engine Plant. AP-Yonhap





Samsung SDI said Wednesday it was investing $1.29 billion in an electric vehicle battery plant to be built in the U.S. state of Indiana in a joint venture with Stellantis N.V.







Samsung SDI will own a 51 percent stake in the $2.5 billion joint venture company set up with the Chrysler parent, and its investment could increase to as much as $1.57 billion over the long term, it said in a regulatory filing.







The two companies may boost their investment in the project to as much as $3.1 billion, the South Korean company said.







The two companies signed a binding agreement in Kokomo, Indiana, Tuesday (local time), to establish the manufacturing facility in the Midwestern state by 2025, Samsung SDI said in a press release.







The construction will start later this year, with the production expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025.







The plant will supply lithium ion battery cells and modules for electric vehicles produced at Stellantis' assembly lines in North America. It initially aims to have an annual production capacity of 23 gigawatt hours (GWh) and plans to increase this to 33 GWh in the coming years.







Samsung SDI will apply its latest premium technology, launched under the brand name of PRiMX, to produce EV battery cells and modules, it said.







The two companies agreed in October to form a joint venture to build what would be the first U.S. battery cell plant for the South Korean battery maker.







Samsung SDI has foreign operations in China, Hungary, Malaysia and Vietnam, and runs a battery pack assembly line in the U.S. state of Michigan. (Yonhap)






Angola, IN (46703)

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Mostly cloudy skies this morning followed by thunderstorms during the afternoon. High 68F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

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Mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms mainly during the evening. Low 53F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

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Mostly cloudy early, then thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 67F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

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Rain showers this evening with clearing overnight. Low 52F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

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Rain showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing for the afternoon. High 67F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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Auburn, IN (46706)

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Mostly cloudy this morning with thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 69F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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LIGHTSUM releases their new mini-album "Into The Light". The girl group held a media showcase to commemorate their latest release at Blue Square in Seoul on May 24.

Check out LIGHTSUM's "ALIVE" official MV here!
According to a Korean news outlet, HYBE Labels and Source Music has no plans of removing Kim Garam from LE SSERAFIM's line-up.

Keep on reading for all the details.

HYBE Labels Allegedly Has No Plans to Remove Kim Garam from LE SSERAFIM

On May 24, The JoongAng shared an article concerning LE SSERAFIM's current situation amid member Kim Garam's school violence allegations.

In their report, an industry representative stated that HYBE Labels and Source Music has no plans of removing Kim Gram from LE SSERFIM. Additionally, they noted that the label is not considering any plans for the group to continue as five.

This is considered highly problematic, even to the industry representative. They noted that HYBE Labels repeated attitude of not accepting fans' criticism and changing has caused distrust towards the company to grow.

The industry representative noted that fandoms nowadays take school violence, sexual assault, and sexism seriously. Because of that, HYBE Labels' best course of action would be to remove Kim Garam from LE SSERAFIM.

However, internet users have already been suspected the label did not want to remove the idol from the group. While LE SSERAFIM is performing on music shows as five members, they are not posting on social media. People speculated it was because the label wanted to reduce LE SSERAFIM's digital footprint while Kim Garam is on hiatus.

What do you think of the situation? Tell us in the comments below!

Brief Run-Down on LE SSERAFIM Kim Garam's School Violence Allegations

After Kim Garam was revealed as a member of LE SSERAFIM on April 5, a former schoolmate immediately took to social media and online community forums to accuse her of school violence.

ALSO READ: Lawyer Asks How Kim Garam Was Selected To Join LE SSERAFIM Despite THIS Reason

Soon, other classmates accused the idol of being a bully. They accused her of talking to people rudely, bossing people around, and using physical violence. In addition, others claimed she made inappropriate comments, smoked, and drank underage.

Other allegations claim that she insulted other idols, such as IVE and Sakura, who she debuted with. It is alleged that after her debut was confirmed, she tried to clean up her past by apologizing and removing school violence from her record.

Despite the allegations and proof, Kim Garam debuted with LE SSERAFIM on May 2. Then, on May 19, through Daeryun Law, Victim A revealed the results from a school violence committee hearing with Kim Garam as the perpetrator.

HYBE Labels and Source Music defended Kim Garam and announced she was taking a hiatus to "heal her wounded heart." On May 23, it was announced by Daeryun Law that HYBE Labels are in discussion with them for a private settlement.

For more K-Pop news, follow and subscribe to KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Alexa Lewis
EAST TROY  Seventy-six years after it last carried passengers, and after a nomadic Wisconsin afterlife, Mississippi Valley Public Service Streetcar 56 has returned to East Troy for restoration and operation.

Very few people even knew this car still existed, said Ryan Jonas, president of the East Troy Railroad Museum. But one of our volunteers remembered the car and reconnected with the cars most recent owner  a former volunteer who had planned to restore the car in his backyard near Port Washington. Because of the demands of his business, and later his failing health, the restoration never happened.

Car 56 is a 46-seat, 19-ton streetcar manufactured by the St. Louis Car Company in 1916 for the Wisconsin Railway Light & Power Company, which operated the streetcar systems in La Crosse and across the Mississippi River in Winona, Minnesota.

In 1926 the company changed its name to the Mississippi Valley Public Service Co., which was the name on Car 56 when the streetcars were discontinued in 1945.

The car has been stored outdoors under tarps for the last 20 years, but inspections showed that the car is complete and restorable, with the frame and steel sides solid and in good condition.

Today the car is tucked away in one of the East Troy Electric Railroads storage barns, waiting its turn in the restoration line.

Last year the railroad completed restoring North Shore Car 761. This year, the restoration team has already completed restoration of Chicago Elevated Car 4439 and is working on North Shore Merchandise Dispatch Car 228 and South Shore Car 107.

To support the restoration projects or the East Troy Railroad Museums operations, people can donate using PayPal or a credit card at www.easttroyrr.org/donate.html.

Checks can be made out to East Troy Railroad Museum and sent to East Troy Railroad Museum, P.O. Box 943, East Troy, WI 53120.

The museum operates 14-mile round trip train rides from its historic East Troy depot and museum to Indianhead Park in Mukwonago, with a stop at the popular Elegant Farmer store and deli.

It is celebrating 50 years of riding the rails through Southeast Wisconsins Kettle Moraine countryside.

The not-for-profit museum is operated, maintained and managed by over 130 volunteers dedicated to engaging visitors in the heritage of electric interurban railways and trolley systems through restoration, preservation and operation of historic Equipment.

For more information, visit www.easttroyrr.org or call 262-642-3263.

An article about the museum also appears in the June 2022 edition of Welcome Home.
Several Lake Geneva area communities are having Memorial Day ceremonies to remember those who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

The following Memorial Day ceremonies are scheduled Monday, May 30.

There are parades, observances and speeches planned in Lake Geneva, Genoa City, Elkhorn, East Troy, Williams Bay, Burlington, Darien and other communities.

Following are the Memorial Day events at some of these places.

Burlington

Observance sponsored by the Marine Corps League will be at 9 a.m., at Veterans Park at Echo Lake, 595 Milwaukee Ave.

The Burlington Veterans Honor Squad will be at the waterfront. Boy Scout Troop 336 will lay a wreath in the water to honor veterans who lost their lives at sea. The Honor Squad will fire a volley of three.

From there, participants will proceed to the monument and bed of crosses in the park, where a chaplain will recite a prayer and place a wreath. The Honor Squad will fire another volley of three.

Services will continue at Burlington, St. Marys and St. Charles cemeteries.

Darien

The Wilkins-Kelly American Legion Post 450 and Color Guard will march at 10 a.m. from the Darien Public Works building, 323 W. Madison St., to the Darien Cemetery, Highway 14.

At the cemetery, flags will be set and there will be prayers, a firing squad and guest speakers. The Womens Auxiliary will set a wreath.

Those who attend the ceremony are also invited to attend other post ceremonies that day at cemeteries in Fairfield and Allens Grove.

Delavan

The approximately mile-long Memorial Day parade starts at 9 a.m. It begins at the corner of Main Street and Walworth Avenue, heading down Walworth onto 7th Street to Spring Grove Cemetery, where there will be a ceremony at the Civil War Memorial Monument.

If rain, the ceremony will occur at Phoenix Middle School.

East Troy

The American Legion Loomis-Martin Post 188 and East Troy VFW Post 7501 have a Memorial Day observance at 11 a.m.

Elkhorn

A Memorial Day parade in Downtown Elkhorn starts at 10:30 a.m., followed by a special service in Veterans Park by the memorial.

Genoa City

The Sponholtz-Deignan American Legion Post 183 will host a program at 10 a.m. at Brookwood Elementary School, 630 Kossuth St.

Participating in the program are area Boy and Girl Scouts, the Genoa City Lions Club and the Brookwood band. Pat Holder will recite the order that created Memorial Day and the poem In Flanders Field.

After the program, participants will head to the Broken Spoke Tavern and Eatery, 332 Fellows Road, where there will be a casting of the wreath in Nippersink Creek.

Lake Geneva

Memorial Day parade starts at 10 a.m., at the corner of Broad and Wisconsin streets, near Horticultural Hall. It proceeds down Broad to Wrigley Drive, ending at the Brunk Pavilion in Flat Iron Park.

A short ceremony will follow, featuring performances by Lake Geneva Middle Schools sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade and the Badger High School marching bands and the Country Gentlemen.

If the parade is rained out, there will be a ceremony instead at the Lake Geneva Middle School gym at 10:15 a.m.

Lyons

Memorial Day service 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Williams Bay

Geneva Lake VFW Post 2373 has a parade and ceremony starting at 10:30 a.m.

The parade kicks off at Clover and Cherry streets, leading to the Veterans Memorial on East Geneva Street, in Edgewater Park.

The Williams Bay High School Band, Choir and History Club; the Williams Bay Historical Society, Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy and numerous other organizations are expected to participate.

A 25-minute ceremony is set for 11 a.m. at the memorial. There will be a wreath-laying ceremony and a reading of In Flanders Field. The Williams Bay High School Band will play The Star-Spangled Banner, On Wisconsin and Taps. The high school choir will also perform.

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Global IP authority & former top IAS officer Dr Pushpendra Rai joins the advisory board of the Centre for Innovation in Public Policy

New Delhi [India], May 25 (ANI/PNN): Former IAS officer Dr Pushpendra Rai, a renowned global authority on intellectual property, has joined the advisory board of the Centre for Innovation in Public Policy.

CIPP is an NCR-based think-and-do policy tank whose mission is to design and build practical, new-age implementable solutions for the largest public good.

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Dr Rai's joining comes a week after the announcement of Dr Ganesh Natarajan, a renowned technology futurist, business builder and entrepreneurship mentor, coming to CIPP's advisory board.

Dr Rai was earlier Director with the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva, and headed the Intellectual Property and Economic Development, Division.

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Between 1999 and 2015, he coordinated WIPO's activities and studies related to intellectual property and economic development, implemented programs to assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition, made strategic use of the intellectual property for development, and developed synergistic strengths with other international organizations and specialized agencies. He also headed the Organization's Asia-Pacific office in Singapore for a couple of years.

A self-funding agency of the United Nations with 193 member states, WIPO is the leading global forum for intellectual property (IP) services, policy, information and cooperation.

Before joining WIPO in 1999, Rai worked for several years in policy formulation and implementation as an IAS officer in the Government of India at the union and state levels. His varied public policy and governance contributions have included economic development, energy management, international trade and cooperation, and intellectual property rights.

He last served the Government of India as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Industry, in which capacity he supervised the office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.

He was the Secretary of the National Expert Group on IPRs; Chairman of the National Committee for Amendment of Patent Rules; Member Secretary, Foreign Investment Promotion Council; Alternate Director for India at the Asian Productivity Organization and Nodal officer for India for two disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the area of TRIPS.

For several years, he represented India in various bilateral and multilateral economic and trade negotiations.

"CIPP is extremely privileged and fortunate to get the opportunity to have a stalwart like Dr Pushpendra Rai joining our advisory board," said K Yatish Rajawat, Founder - of CIPP.

"Dr Rai has few peers and equals in public policy strategy and implementation at global, country, state and local levels. CIPP looks forward to Dr Rai's mentorship at all levels of our organization."

"To ensure that intellectual property (IP) becomes an important tool for public policy, India has to adopt creative, strategic approaches for the optimal implementation of value-added public policies," said Dr Pushpendra Rai.

"In CIPP's think-and-do model, I see the prospect of innovative, practical solutions being offered to address public policy challenges. I look forward to helping CIPP's diverse team of expert Fellows, and a new generation of public policy professionals bring about positive, impactful change that benefits all sections of society."

The Centre for Innovation in Public Policy is a think-and-do tank whose mission is to build the best implementable solutions for the largest public good through collaboration and alliances between the social sector, government, the private sector, and civil society. CIPP aims to be the glue that stitches these alliances together and forges a common platform for them to perform.

To bring about impactful change in agriculture, industry, and financial inclusion, CIPP has been involved with state and central governments to improve existing policies - proper implementation and bridging the gap between administrative goals and on-ground policy impact.

To join India's most happening think-and-do public policy team, please visit the "Openings" page on our website for internship opportunities.

This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 25 (ANI/PRNewswire): The International Gemological Institute-IGI, graded three lab grown diamonds of 27.27carat, 20.24 carat and 15.16 carats grown at Greenlab Diamonds LLP as a part of their project towards "sustainable and affordable luxury."

With the constant advancement in technology coupled with companies aiming at creating diamonds that can be both affordable yet feel opulent, is the future of next-generation buying.

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Greenlab's top-notch expertise and modern techniques have truly created a benchmark, even more, surpassing their very own standards.

Om, the marquise step cut 27.27 carat diamond was named, after the vision Greenlab has to project India to become the leading name in the lab grown arena, making Om the world's largest lab grown polished diamond.

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Namah, the pear rose cut 15.16 carat diamond has been beautifully polished and named, flaunting its beauty to the buyer.

Om and Namah, together are the world's largest lab grown polished diamonds with absolutely no colour enhancement also known "As Grown"

Since diamonds have always been a dream for most women, Shivaya a 20.24 carat emerald cut diamond is exactly what a woman would dream of- perfectly shaped to exude charm and elegance.

"Lab grown diamonds are for everyone. Cultivating better diamonds; sustainable and affordable luxury that nurtures people and the planet," said Sanket Patel, partner at Greenlab.

"We want to display it to the world at JCK for consumers to experience the product. They will be on display at booth no 8131 Labon LLC. Our workmanship is what makes us different from the rest and we invite our fraternity members to witness the same," he added.

IGI is the global pioneer in the field of lab grown diamond certification. Today, the grading institute certifies almost 85 per cent of the world's diamonds produced in the lab grown category.

"IGI has been our certifying partner from the very beginning and their advanced technology and research pursuits are commendable," said Sanket Patel, Partner GreenLab Diamond LLP.

"We are happy to partner with Greenlab's project for sustainably produced opulence. With IGI's revolutionary technology onboard, it has become easier to grade lab grown diamonds for the evolution of the lab grown category, worldwide. We look forward to more such path-breaking pursuits considering the opportunities that are yet to be explored in this segment," said Tehmasp Printer, President & MD, IGI India.

The lab grown diamond segment has witnessed a surge in millennials and Gen Z expressing their interest in experiencing what it offers.

This calls for industry players to accept and experiment within the category further. Research at IGI focusses on creating ways to grade these created diamonds to ensure consumer confidence and growth.

This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Amaravati, May 25 (PTI): Normalcy was restored on Wednesday in Amalapuram town in Andhra Pradesh that witnessed widespread arson in protest against the move to rename the new Konaseema district after B R Ambedkar.

Also Read | Waghdoh, Maharashtra's Oldest Tiger, Dies of Old Age at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.

We have registered seven cases and taken over 40 miscreants into custody. We have deployed a force of over 2,000 personnel under the supervision of two Additional Directors General of Police. The situation remains normal in the district now, State Director General of Police K V Rajendranath Reddy told PTI.

He said the police were investigating into what exactly triggered the violence on Tuesday.

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We are analysing the CCTV footage and other evidence. We will bring the guilty to book, the DGP added.

The move to rename the newly-formed district triggered arson in Amalapuram on Tuesday evening, with the protestors opposed to the name-change setting the houses of State Minister P Viswarupu and a ruling YSR Congress MLA P Satish on fire.

Some buses were also set ablaze in the town while over 20 police personnel, including senior officers, were injured in stone-pelting by the mob.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 Cr P C were clamped in the town to quell the mobs and restore order.

Today, protesters tried to stage dharnas in Amalapuram, Ravulapalem, Ambajipeta, Kandriga and other places, but the police foiled the attempt.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Patna, May 25 (PTI) An all-party meeting will be chaired by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar here next week to discuss the modalities for conducting a state-level census of castes, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said.

He also said a missive to the effect has been sent to all political parties to send their representatives for the meeting scheduled on June 1.

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"The meeting will be held at the chief minister's secretariat at 4 pm. Hopefully, all parties will attend and provide their inputs based on which the cabinet will pass the requisite order," Chaudhary said.

The demand for a fresh caste census has stirred the political atmosphere in Bihar for some time. Initially, parties were of the view that it be conducted by the Centre. The last census of castes was held way back in 1921.

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An all-party delegation, headed by the chief minister, had also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year to press the demand. However, the Union government finally expressed its inability to undertake the headcount of social groups other than the Dalits and the tribals.

This was resented by the numerically powerful OBCs, who dominate politics in Bihar, especially since the 1990s when the Mandal Commission recommendations were implemented.

It was, therefore, demanded that if the Centre was reluctant to do the needful, the state get a headcount of castes done at its own expense. Kumar, who is himself an OBC and product of the Mandal era, agreed to the demand.

The issue has, however, been hanging fire, apparently on account of the ambivalence shown by the BJP in the wake of its central leadership having turned down the demand for a national caste census.

Nonetheless, the BJP leadership has been at pains to underscore that it has never been opposed to a caste census and that its members had supported two resolutions passed by both houses of the state legislature, previously, in favour of the demand.

Against this backdrop, the state BJP president has also come out with a tweet explicitly stating that his party will be attending the meeting convened by the state government on June 1.

Meanwhile, the development has provided the opposition RJD with an occasion for some chest-thumping.

Caste census became an issue after it was raised by our leader Tejashwi Yadav. His initiative had resulted in the delegation, of which he was a part, meeting the PM. And his relentless pursuit of the matter has forced the state government to stop dragging its feet and move forward," RJD leader Shyam Rajak said.

A few days ago, the chief minister had indicated that the meeting could take place on May 27, though some parties, not all had agreed to the same.

The date may have got deferred in view of the fact that the major parties in the state, the CM's JD(U), BJP and RJD, currently have their hands full with biennial elections to five Rajya Sabha seats.

The parties are yet to come out with names of their respective candidates, which they must before May 31, the last date of filing of nominations.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kochi, May 25 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday sought to put up a brave face after senior leader and former union minister Kapil Sibal quit the party, saying its space is large in the national polity and many leaders joining the grand old party in various states is not being taken note of. AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal said eight former MLAs joined the party in Haryana two days ago, and lamented that such fresh developments were not getting prominence. He was responding to PTI's query on the continuing trend of leaders leaving the national party even after the 'Chintan Shivir' held in Rajasthan recently. Venugopal said Sibal, who filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha as an independent supported by the Samajwadi Party from Uttar Pradesh today, has not said anything against the Congress ideology in his resignation letter. He declined to comment when asked whether Sibal left the party eyeing only a Rajya Sabha seat as the Congress has no seats in its kitty to accommodate the senior leader.

The Congress leader, however, refused to comment on other queries like the implications for the party following Sibal's resignation.

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Earlier, talking to reporters here on the fresh exit, Venugopal said, "the space of the Congress is very broad". Venugopal said there will be a complete revamp of the party very soon, as more young faces would be inducted in line with the decisions arrived at during the party's conclave. He said the Congress will continue to take on the BJP government, "which has unleashed central agencies including Enforce Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) after their opponents to eliminate them politically".

"There may be setbacks. We will take lessons from them and we will overcome," Venugopal said, and asserted that the Congress is the one and only party which is capable of taking on the BJP at the national level. Announcing that he had resigned from the Congress last week, Sibal on Wednesday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha as an independent supported by the Samajwadi Party.

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(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, May 25: A witnesses in a money laundering case against Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik has stated before the ED that fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim is based in Pakistan's Karachi city, while another witness said he was told that Dawood would send Rs 10 lakh to his siblings every month.

The statements of the two witnesses are part of the charge-sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Malik in the money laundering case pertaining to a property of Dawood Ibrahim.

In his statement before the probe agency, Alishah Parkar, son of the gangster's sister Haseena Parkar, said Dawood Ibrahim is his "mamu" (maternal uncle) and used to reside on the 4th floor of Dambarwala Building (Mumbai) around 1986.

"After 1986, I heard from various sources and family that Dawood Ibrahim is in Karachi, Pakistan. I was not born when Dawood Ibrahim moved to Karachi, and I or my family members are not in touch with him," he told the ED. ED Summons Two Sons, Wife of Nawab Malik in Money Laundering Case.

Alishah Parkar further stated that occasionally during Eid, Diwali and other festive occasions, Dawood Ibrahim's wife "is in touch" with his wife and sisters.

Another witness, Khalid Usman Shaikh, has stated before the ED that "(Iqbal) Kaskar (Dawood Ibrahim's brother) told me that Dawood would send money through his men."

"He (Kaskar) said he too would get Rs 10 lakh every month. On a couple of occasions, he showed me wads of cash and said he'd received the money from Dawoodbhai, the witness told the ED.

Malik (62), a senior NCP leader, was arrested by the ED on February 23 this year in the money laundering case and is currently in jail. The ED's case is based on an FIR filed recently by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Ibrahim, a designated global terrorist and a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, and his aides under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

(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], May 25 (ANI): Karnataka Congress general secretary Kavitha Reddy on Monday lashed out at her party for not promoting women empowerment while picking candidates for the June 3 Legislative Council elections.

Reddy said that social justice is irrelevant and incomplete without gender justice in political representation.

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In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Reddy wrote, "All men who get MLA/MP ticket will not win, so winnability question is ONLY for women? Men with all resources also have lost elections, but the question on resources is ONLY for women? Social justice is irrelevant/incomplete without Gender justice!"

"Why is Indian National Congress ignoring 50 per cent of the population? Is there no representation for women in our Assembly, Council, or Parliament at all? Is it no entry for women?" the post read.

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The state Legislative Council elections will be held on June 3. The election is necessitated as the term of office of seven members expires on June 14.

Meanwhile, the BJP has announced four candidates for the Legislative Council polls. The BJP has picked senior leaders Laxman Savadi, S Keshava Prasad, Hemalatha Nayak and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy for contesting the polls. (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, May 25 (PTI) With an eye on the 2024 parliamentary elections, the BJP kick-started a week-long campaign on Wednesday to strengthen the organisation and boost outreach activities in around 74,000 electoral booths across the country where it is relatively weak.

BJP president J P Nadda on Wednesday addressed a 'Booth Empowerment Campaign' event at the party headquarters here, the party said in a tweet.

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The meeting was attended by several Union ministers and leaders from across the country.

The campaign will continue till May 31.

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To steer the campaign, the BJP has formed a committee chaired by party vice president Baijayant Panda. Party vice president Dilip Ghosh, general secretary CT Ravi, and the party's Scheduled Caste (SC) Morcha head Lal Singh Arya are its members.

The party has identified around 74,000 booths across the country that are to be strengthened under the campaign.

All party MPs have been asked to strengthen 100 weak booths in their respective constituencies and a 30-member team will be formed for the purpose, party sources said.

Similarly, party MLAs have been given the task of strengthening 10 weaker booths in their constituencies, sources said.

The BJP's Rajya Sabha MPs have been given the responsibility of strengthening polling booths in those Lok Sabha constituencies where the party lost, sources said.

The weaker booths have been identified on the basis of the results of the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and state assembly polls, they said.

These booths have been divided into various categories on the basis of demography, organisational strength and other aspects, they said.

As part of this campaign, BJP leaders will have to form a team, train them and then carry out outreach activities in the area that comes under these weaker polling booths, sources said, adding that special focus will be on beneficiaries of various government schemes.

The broader idea behind this exercise is to expand the BJP's footprint and increase its tally in the next Lok Sabha elections, they said.

A similar exercise was initiated by the BJP in 2016 and the party had identified around 115 constituencies in six states -- Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala -- and the Northeast. The party had never been able to win these constituencies till that time.

Party leaders believe as a result of this exercise, the BJP improved its position substantially in Odisha and West Bengal and increased its tally in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Rudraprayag/Rishikesh, May 25 (PTI) Four more pilgrims died in Kedarnath on Wednesday while three others were flown to AIIMS-Rishikesh in an air ambulance for treatment after they were taken ill.

Rudraprayag's Chief Medical Officer B K Shukla said 38 pilgrims on way to Kedarnath since its opening on May 6 have died because of cardiac and other health problems.

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Pilgrims to Kedarnath who died on Wednesday were identified as Rishi Bhadauriya, 65, from Gwalior, Shambhu Dayal Yadav, 66, from Guna in Madhya Pradesh, Kamalnath Bhatt, 60, from Uttar Pradesh and Changdev Janardan Shinde from Kolhapur in Maharashtra

Meanwhile, three pilgrims including two women were airlifted to AIIMS-Rishikesh for treatment after they complained of breathlessness.

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They have been identified as Munni Devi, 49, from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, 60-year-old Savitri Devi from Guna and 65-year-old Tara Chand from Nagpur in Maharashtra.

(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], May 25 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Central Government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought direction to declare that the song 'Vande Mataram', which played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with 'Jana-Gana-Mana' and have equal status.

The Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Sachin Datta on Wednesday while issuing a notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Law and Justice and others, also expressed displeasure with the petitioner for going to the press (media) for publicising the matter even before listing.

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The Court has listed the matter for November 9, 2022.

The plea also sought direction to the Centre and State Governments to ensure that 'Jana-Gana-Mana' and 'Vande Mataram' are played and sung in all schools and educational institutions on every working day and also to frame guidelines in the spirit of the Constituent Assembly resolution dated January 24, 1950, read with the Judgment passed by the Madras High Court and Supreme Court of India.

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The petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, practising lawyer and BJP leader stated that India is a Union of States and not an association or confederation of States. There is only one nationality i.e. Indian and it is the duty of every Indian to respect 'Vande Mataram'. "In order to keep the country united, it is the duty of the Government to frame a National Policy to promote-propagate 'Jana-Gana-Mana' and 'Vande Mataram'. There is no reason why it should evoke any other sentiment as the both are decided by Constitution makers."

"The sentiments expressed in 'Jana-Gana-Mana' have been expressed while keeping the State in view. However, sentiments expressed in 'Vande Mataram' denote the nation's character and style and deserve similar respect. Sometimes, 'Vande Mataram' is sung in such circumstances which are not permissible and can never be countenanced in law. It is the duty of every Indian to show respect when 'Vande Mataram' is played/sung," said the plea.

"'Vande Mataram' was the whole nation's thought and motto when India gained independence from British rule during the independence movement. Large rallies, fermenting initially in major cities, worked themselves up into a patriotic fervour by shouting the slogan Vande Mataram'. The British, fearful of the potential danger of incited populace, at one point in time, banned the utterance of 'Vande Mataram' in public places and imprisoned many independence activists for disobeying the proscription," the plea said.

Rabindranath Tagore sang 'Vande Mataram' in 1896 at the Calcutta Congress Session. Dakshina Charan Sen sang 'Vande Mataram' five years later in 1901 in another Congress Session at Calcutta. Sarala Devi Chaudurani sang 'Vande Mataram' in Benares Congress Session in 1905. Lala Lajpat Rai started a journal called 'Vande Mataram' from Lahore, the plea stated. (ANI)

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New Delhi, May 25 (PTI) IndiGo on Wednesday reported a net loss of Rs 1,681 crore in the quarter ending March due to Omicron wave, high fuel costs and weakening rupee.

This year's Q4 loss was 46.6 per cent more than the loss incurred by the airline in the corresponding period a year ago, the airline's statement mentioned.

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India's largest airline's total net loss of 2021-22 was Rs 6,161 crore as compared to Rs 5,806 crore net loss that it incurred in 2020-21, it mentioned.

The total income of India's largest airline in Q4 of 2021-22 was Rs 8,020 crore, which was 28.9 per cent more than the corresponding period a year ago, the carrier's statement noted.

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IndiGo's load factor (occupancy rate) in the quarter ending March was 76.7 per cent as compared to 70.2 per cent recorded in quarter ending March during the last year, it said.

Fuel prices in Q4 of 2021-22 increased by 61 per cent compared to the same period last year, it mentioned.

The airline's CEO Ronojoy Dutta said, This quarter has been difficult because of the demand destruction caused by the Omicron virus in the first half."

Although traffic rebounded and demand was robust during the latter half of the quarter, the airline was challenged by high fuel costs and a weakening rupee, he mentioned.

"We believe IndiGo is best positioned to maximise revenue in a recovering market. As we work to return the airline to profitability, we are focused on maintaining our cost leadership position and continuing to build the most efficient network in the region, he noted. PTI DSP

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 25 (ANI): Kapil Sibal, who has resigned from Congress, said on Wednesday that it is important to be an independent voice in the country, adding that he will work towards forming an alliance of Opposition against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government.

Deepening the crisis in Congress further, Kapil Sibal, a prominent face of the G-23 group of the dissenting leaders, has informed that he resigned from the party.

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The former Union Minister filed nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections as an independent on Wednesday in Lucknow backed by the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Speaking to ANI, Sibal said, "I will not say anything about Congress. I have resigned. So it is not appropriate for me to say anything about Congress. It is not easy to leave a relationship of 30-31 years. In the past, only a few came to House by getting elected independently, especially in Rajya Sabha. I have got a big opportunity and it has been given to me by Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, Azam Khan. I will raise the issues of the country in the House."

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Sibal filed his nomination papers from Uttar Pradesh in the presence of the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and other party leaders in Lucknow. Sibal is retiring from the Rajya Sabha on July 4.

"I had tendered my resignation from the Congress party on May 16. It is important to be an independent voice. While staying in Opposition we want to create an alliance so that we can oppose the Modi government. We want the flaws of the Modi government to be known to the people in 2024. I will put my efforts fir that," he said.

"I am deeply grateful to Akhilesh ji for his support. I also wish to convey my gratitude to Azam Khan. I always wanted to be an independent voice in the country. I am glad Akhileshji understands why that is so. I am no more a serious Congress leader," he added.

Sibal is likely to get elected to the Upper House as the SP has 111 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

"Today Kapil Sibal filed nomination. He is going to Rajya Sabha with SP's support. Two more people can go to the House. Kapil Sibal is a senior lawyer. He has presented his opinions well in the Parliament. We hope he will present opinions of both SP as well as himself," Akhilesh Yadav told ANI.

Notably, Sibal had been critical of the Congress high command on various issues and has been demanding sweeping reforms in the party, including elections for the post of the Congress president.

Sibal had made "ghar ki Congress" remark during an interview in which he had also said that he was not surprised by results in five state elections and that the leadership should have worked out a plan for the party's rejuvenation. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Satara (Maharashtra) [India], May 25 (ANI): After a political row over the grave of Aurangzeb in Aurangabad, the Maharashtra government has increased security around the tomb of Afzal Khan in the Satara area of Aurangabad in Maharashtra.

In a conversation with ANI today, Satara Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar Bansal said, "Afzal Khan's tomb has been a restricted area since 2005. It's having the restriction of section 144 of CrPC. An additional police force has been deployed at the spot."

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"Additional Police force deployment to the spot was part of a routine process in which the force visits all sensitive places in the district to assess the security arrangements there. This time, an assessment by forces was made in Mahabaleshwar where they visited Pratapgarh and Afzal Khan's tomb," he said.

The ongoing row started after AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi recently paid tributes at the tomb of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Khuldabad. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which has been demanding a ban on loudspeakers in mosques, condemned the move and asked the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra to take action against Owaisi while warning to take 'action' on its own.

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Raj Thackeray on Sunday said at a rally, "Afzal Khan who was killed by our Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. His tomb is there and is being offered flower garlands on his grave by the people of a particular community. The Maharashtra government is sitting quietly on this issue. If the state government does not demolish this grave, then MNS party workers will demolish it soon."

Amid the controversy over an AIMIM leader's recent visit to Mughal ruler Aurangzeb's tomb in Aurangabad city of Maharashtra, the MNS chief appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre to change the name of Aurangabad to Sambhaji Nagar and to bring the Uniform Civil Code.

Thackeray also took a swipe at NCP chief Sharad Pawar who had addressed a rally braving rain before the Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2019. Thackeray said, "We were planning a gathering in an open space, but considering the possibility of rain, we decided to hold it indoors."

He further stepped up an attack against the NCP chief and said "If Sharad Pawar feels that Aurangzeb is a Sufi saint, what can I say? Apparently, Afzal Khan didn't come to kill Shivaji Maharaj. He had only come to expand his kingdom. Then, did Shivaji Maharaj come in between? Why are you changing history for your convenience?"

Historically, Mughal ruler Aurangzeb was constantly building pressure on Adil Shahi to go for a war against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and defeat him. Shahi sent Afzal Khan, who was a general who served the Adil Shahi dynasty.

In 1659, despite being outnumbered and outgunned by Afzal Khan's men, Shivaji led his army to victory over the troops of the Bijapur Sultanate, in what came to be known as the Battle of Pratapgarh. This triumph marks the beginnings of the Maratha Empire. Synonymous with Marathi pride since then, Shivaji became a household name. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], May 25 (ANI): National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday sought the death penalty for Yasin Malik, a separatist leader from Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the NIA court reserved the order and will pass judgment on sentencing today itself at 3:30 pm

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He was convicted by the NIA Court on May 19.

On May 10, Malik had told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him that including Section 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act) and 20 (being a member of terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the IPC.

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Meanwhile, the Court formally framed the charges against other Kashmiri separatist leaders who are accused in the case, including Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, Md Yusuf Shah, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Md Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Abdul Rashid Sheikh and Naval Kishore Kapoor.

On March 16, the NIA Court had ordered the framing of charges against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, Kashmiri separatist leaders including Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam and others under various sections of UAPA in a case pertaining to the terrorist and secessionist activities that disturbed the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The court had also ordered the framing of charges against Kashmiri politician and former MLA Rashid Engineer, Businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Bitta Karate, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Avatar Ahmad Shah, Naeem Khan, Bashir Ahmed Bhat, alias Peer Saifullah and several others under various sections of IPC and UAPA including criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, unlawful activities, etc.

According to the NIA various terrorist organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) etc., with the support of ISI of Pakistan, perpetrated violence in the valley by attacking civilians and security forces. It was further alleged that in the year 1993, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) was formed to give a political front to secessionist activities.

The NIA also stated before the court that this has been done for funding separatist and terrorist activities in J&K and as such, they have entered into a larger conspiracy for causing disruption in the valley by way of pelting stones on security forces, systematically burning schools, damage to public property and waging war against India.

On this information, the Ministry of Home Affairs directed the NIA to register a case. Accordingly, the present case was registered by NIA for offences u/s 120B, 121, 121A of IPC and sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 38, 39 and 40 of UAPA.

The NIA further added that during the investigation it was also revealed that APHC and other secessionists instigate the general public, especially the youth, to observe strikes and to resort to violence especially stone pelting on the security forces. This was done to create disaffection amongst the people of Jammu and Kashmir towards the Government of India.

It also submitted that the investigation has revealed that the secessionists were mobilizing funds from all possible sources to fuel unrest and support the ongoing secessionist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The secessionists were getting funds from Pakistan, funds from Pakistan based terrorist organizations and from local donations. (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 [India], May 25 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Wednesday heard the arguments on the bail plea of Umar Khalid, an accused in the larger conspiracy of Northeast Delhi riots under stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Khalid's counsel questioned the trustworthiness of the statement given by the witness on the point of meeting Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi at the office of the Popular Front of India at Shaheen Bagh.

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The Court said that the veracity of witnesses is tested at the stage of the trial, and they are at the stage of bail.

A special bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar is hearing the appeal filed by Umar Khalid.

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He has challenged the order passed by the trial court denying bail to him. The matter is listed for hearing on Monday as the special bench will not be assembled on Thursday and Friday. The petition of Sharjeel Imam is also listed for Monday.

Senior Advocate Tridip Pais, appearing for Umar Khalid, began his arguments by raising questions about the veracity of the prosecution witness and the statement given by him. He mentioned the instances of the meeting on January 8, 2020.

Pais argued the said instances are mentioned in two FIRs. One is registered at Khajuri Khas police station in which Umar Khalid is on bail. Another one is connected with the larger conspiracy.

The witness gave two statements before the police in the case registered at Khajuri Khas. In another case, he gave one statement before the police and another before the court. The witness did not mention the incident of the alleged meeting at the PFI office in the statement given on 21 May 2020.

A few days before my arrest he deposed on 27 September about the meeting of Tahir, Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi, Pais argued.

He further argued that in May, the witness did not mention the meeting, but in September he mentioned it.

"He gave another statement a month later that is different from the previous one. This witness did not speak about the incident when he was first interrogated on 25 May, 2020," Pais argued.

Senior Advocate also questioned the testimony of protected witness Saturn which was recorded on August 7, 2020 before the court.

Pais said that what the prosecution has done is trying to match the details of incidents and alleged that the accused persons planned a conspiracy. Even they did not figure it out in the same mobile tower location area.

He also referred to the finding of the Sessions Judge who said that the allegation of this meeting between Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi solely based on one testimony is not worthy.

Pais discarded the allegation of a secret meeting at a secret place by submitting that the secrecy of the meeting is busted from the fact that they got the photograph of the meeting from Facebook.

Justice Mridul remarked, "What is the fact that the prosecution is trying to establish? That three of you met. How can we test the veracity of Saturn's statement? You are asking us to conduct a mini-trial. We can't test the veracity of the statement."

Pais submitted that he is clearly showing two statements, neither of them stands at variance with the other.

This case pertains to large scale violence in Northeast Delhi in February 2020, in which 53 people died and hundreds were injured. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], May 25 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday condolences deaths in an accident in Ganjam district of Odisha.

The Prime Minister also prayed that those injured in the accident recover at the very earliest.

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"I am deeply pained by the loss of lives due to a tragic accident in Odisha's Ganjam district. In this tragic hour, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray that those injured recover at the very earliest: PM @narendramodi," tweeted Prime Minister's office today.

At least six tourists were killed and several others were seriously injured in a road accident near the Durgaprasad area in Ganjam district late on Tuesday night.

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Pradhan, a fire officer, who was present at the site of the incident, said, "Six people were killed and over 40 injured after a bus overturned near Kalinga Ghat in Ganjam last night."

"Tourists from West Bengal were returning from Daringbadi. It must have happened due to brake failure," the fire officer said.

Taking note of the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted, "Our administration is coordinating with Odisha officials for a speedy postmortem of the dead, treatment for the injured and their return. Rushing a high-level team led by Principal Secretary, Disaster Management and MLA Udaynarayanpur to Odisha." (ANI)

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Chennai, May 25 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi would dedicate to the nation completed projects and lay the foundation stone for 11 projects, including a highway project between Bengaluru and Chennai, totally worth over Rs 31,000 crore during his visit here on Thursday.

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While the BJP is geared up to accord a warm welcome to Modi, the state police department has made tight security arrangements.

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This is the first official visit of Modi to Tamil Nadu after DMK captured power last year from archrival AIADMK. The DMK chief, M K Stalin assumed office as Chief Minister on May 7, 2021.

The Prime Minister would dedicate to the nation 5 projects worth over Rs 2,960 crore, in the presence of Governor R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The 75 km long Madurai-Teni (Railway Gauge Conversion Project), in southern Tamil Nadu, built at a cost of over Rs 500 crore, would facilitate access and give a boost to tourism in the region, an official release said.

The 30 km long third railway line between Tambaram-Chengalpattu here, built at a cost of about Rs 590 crore, would pave the way for operating more suburban services.

The 115 km long Ennore-Chengalpattu section and 271 km long Thiruvallur-Bengaluru section of ETBPNMT (Ennore-Thiruvallur-Bengaluru-Puducherry-Nagapatinam-Madurai-Tuticorin) natural gas pipeline, built at a cost of around Rs 850 crore and Rs 910 crore respectively, would facilitate supply of natural gas to consumers as well industries in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The programme at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, would also witness inauguration of 1,152 houses constructed as part of the Light House Project-Chennai, built at a cost of Rs 116 crore under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban.

Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of 6 projects, worth over Rs 28,000 crore.

The 262 Km long Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway would be built at a cost of over Rs 14,870 crore.

It would pass through the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and help reduce travel time between Bengaluru and Chennai by 2-3 hours.

The 4 lane double decker elevated road connecting Chennai Port to Maduravoyal (NH-4), of about 21 KM, would be built at a cost of over Rs 5,850 crore ensuring round the clock movement of cargo vehicles to Chennai port.

The ??94 km long 4 lane Neraluru to Dharmapuri section of NH-844 and 31 km long 2 lane with paved shoulders of Meensurutti to Chidambaram section of NH-227, at a cost of around Rs 3870 crore and Rs 720 crore respectively, would help provide seamless connectivity in the region.

The foundation stones would be laid for the redevelopment of five railway stations in Tamil Nadu, Chennai Egmore, Rameswaram, Madurai, Katpadi and Kanniyakumari.

This project would be completed at a cost of over Rs 1,800 crore, and is being undertaken with a view to enhance convenience and comfort of passengers by providing modern amenities.

The Prime Minister would also lay the foundation stone of a Multi Modal Logistic Park at Chennai worth around Rs 1430 crore. It would provide seamless intermodal freight movement and also offer multiple functionalities.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Davos [Switzerland], May 25 (ANI): ReNew Power, a leading name in the renewable energy sector, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka government in the presence of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai at the World Economic Forum meet, held at Davos to invest Rs 50,000 crore over the next seven years in the state.

Bommai termed the pact a milestone in the Renewable Energy sector of Karnataka.

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"The company intends to set up production units in Renewable Energy, Battery Storage and Green Hydrogen over the next seven years in two phases. In the first phase, Rs 11,900 crore would be invested in the ongoing projects in the state and they would be operationalised in the next two years", said Bommai.

"In the second phase, the company plans to invest Rs 37,500 crore to set up Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen units over the next 5 years. The projects spread over two phases would create employment opportunities for about 30,000 persons", Bommai said.

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ReNew Power is the biggest company in the renewable energy sector of India and it has implemented over 120 wind, solar and hydropower projects spread over nine states of the country. The company is generating about 12 Gigawatts of power through its plants in the country. It has a strong presence in Karnataka.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Bommai met Chairman and CEO of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Bharti Mittal. The latter has expressed keen interest to set up a Mega Data Centre in the state. Bommai assured all the support from the state government to make it a reality.

The Chief Minister also held talks with George Oliver, the CEO of Johnson Controls on investment opportunities in Karnataka.

Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani, IT, BT Minister CN Ashwathnarayan, Additional Chief Secretary in the department of Industries EV Ramana Reddy, CM's Principal Secretary N Manjunath and Commissioner in the department of Industries Gunjan Krishna were present. (ANI)

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Srinagar, May 25 (PTI) Terrorists shot at and injured a women and her minor nephew in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district on Wednesday, officials said.

"At about 8 pm, terrorists fired upon a woman, identified as Amreen, near her residence at Hushroo in the Chadoora area of the district," an official said.

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He said Amreen was critically injured in the incident and was shifted to the Chadoora hospital.

The nephew of the woman, Farhan Zubair, also got injured in the incident, the officials said.

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The area has been cordoned off and a hunt launched to nab the assailants.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Brussels [Belgium], May 25 (ANI): A conference on "Islamism and Human Rights in Pakistan" was held in Flemish Parliament at Leuvenseweg in Brussels on Tuesday.

The conference was attended by Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, exiled chair of the United Kashmir People's National Party(UKPNP), Sardar Nasir Aziz Khan, central spokesperson of UKPNP, Sardar Amjad Yousaf, President of UKPNP Europe, and Sikandar Abbas, Vice President of UKPNP a mong others.

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At the press conference, Jamil Maqsood, Central Secretary of the commitee on foreign Affairs of UKPNP spoke that instead of framing a Constitution, all Pakistan did was adopt resolutions. However, although a Constitution was framed in 1973, Pakistan continued to exploit minorities due to which their population in the country has dipped to three per cent.

Maqsood further added that when Pakistan introduced the Blasphemy Law in 1973, it was used against Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians. Hindu women were abducted and married off to Muslims. Recently, two Sikh youths were killed in Peshawar. There are laws which are used against minorities to threaten and usurp their property, he alleged.

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Faza ur Rehman, President of the Institute of Research and Strategic Studies, stated that Pashtuns were used as sacrificial goats in Pakistan. They were being forced to fight other people's wars in Afghanistan. Rehman claimed that thousands of extrajudicial killings of the Pashtun and Baloch people were conducted by the Pakistan Army as means of eliminating terrorists and the Taliban.

Rehman condemned Pakistan for using radical Islam ideology to target its adversaries in the Pashtun community.

Sardar Nasir Aziz Khan said that Pakistan was using PoK as a terror launchpad. Jehadi organizations are being trained in these areas while Pakistan is aiding them in terrorism in the name of fighting terror, he said, adding that the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan proves this fact.

Further, the UKPNP Central spokesperson stated that presently women madrassas are being financed, promoted and even encouraged where the female population is being radicalized paving the way for a larger impact on the whole generation of radicals in the coming years. He urged the people living in the PoK, not to fall prey to Pakistan's tool of radical Islam ideology. (ANI)

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Tunis, May 25 (AP) Rescue teams searched Wednesday for dozens of people reported missing after a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Europe capsized off Tunisia's coast.

The International Organisation for Migration said 30 people were rescued and 75 people were unaccounted for after the boat sank off the city of Sfax in southern Tunisia. One body has been recovered, authorities said.

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Mourad Turki, a Sfax courts spokesperson, told The Associated Press that the people rescued were between the ages of 18 and 40 and of various nationalities, including Bangladeshi, Egyptian, Moroccan and Cameroonian.

The number believed to be missing was provisional and could increase, Turki said. The search continued Wednesday, according to International Organisation for Migration spokesperson Esma Rihane.

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The boat reportedly departed from Zuwara in north Libya on Sunday night. According to the Sfax National Guard, the vessel ran aground 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the island of Kerkennah, off Tunisia's coast.

Zuwara serves as a departure point for migrants attempting to reach southern Europe by sea. Last July, a boat carrying 127 migrants from Zuwara sank off Zarzis, a port in southern Tunisia, leaving 43 people missing.

The non-governmental organisation Open Arms conducted a Tuesday night rescue mission in the area of the Mediterranean Sea referred to by the UN migration agency.

Dramatic photos and videos from the Spanish maritime rescue group showed dozens of people in the water and clinging to the side of an upturned boat. It was not immediately clear if the group's mission involved the same boat as the one reported by IOM.

Head of mission Gerard Canals said the organisation was alerted of a possible vessel in distress late Tuesday and located the boat after four hours of navigation.

A wooden boat with over 100 people was left adrift very close to the Tunisian territorial waters...It was overcrowded Canals said. During the rescue operation, the wooden boat capsized but we managed to take these 110 people on board on different life rafts that we deployed during the night.

The Open Arms rescue ship is looking for a safe port to disembark, he said.

We need the authorities to act immediately," Canals said. "The weather will deteriorate very soon and we (do not have enough) space, food or water to provide the people on board.

The central Mediterranean, which connects Libya and other North African countries to Italy and Malta, is the world's most dangerous migration route, according to the IOM.

The UN agency estimates that more than 1,500 people died or went missing in that part of the sea in 2021 and more than 500 have perished so far this year. (AP)

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Fayetteville, May 25 (AP) Former reality TV star Josh Duggar will return to federal court on Wednesday, where a judge could sentence him to up to 20 years in prison for receiving and possessing child pornography.

Prosecutors are seeking a maximum sentence for Duggar, whose large family was the focus of TLC's 19 Kids and Counting reality show. His lawyers have asked the court in Fayetteville, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, to send him to prison for five years.

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Duggar was arrested in April 2021 after a Little Rock police detective found child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar. Investigators testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.

TLC cancelled 19 Kids and Counting in 2015 following allegations that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. Authorities began investigating the abuse in 2006 after receiving a tip from a family friend but concluded that the statute of limitations on any possible charges had expired.

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Duggar's parents said he had confessed to the fondling and apologised. After the allegations resurfaced in 2015, Duggar apologised publicly for unspecified behaviour and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.

Months later, he publicly apologised for cheating on his wife and a pornography addiction, for which he then sought treatment.

In seeking a 20-year sentence, prosecutors cited the graphic images  and the ages of the children involved  as well as court testimony about the alleged abuse of Duggar's sisters.

Duggar's past behaviour "provides an alarming window into the extent of his sexual interest in children that the Court should consider at sentencing, federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

This past conduct, when viewed alongside the conduct for which he has been convicted, makes clear that Duggar has a deep-seated, pervasive, and violent sexual interest in children, and a willingness to act on that interest the court filing said.

Prosecutors also noted that Duggar's computer had been partitioned to evade accountability software that had been installed to report to his wife activity such as porn searches, according to experts.

There is simply no indication that Duggar will ever take the steps necessary to change this pattern of behaviour and address his predilection for minor females, prosecutors wrote.

Duggar has maintained that he's innocent and that he intends to appeal, his attorneys wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

Duggar accepts that he is before this Court for sentencing and that this Court must impose a penalty, his attorneys wrote. That is justice. But Duggar also appeals to this Court's discretion to temper that justice with mercy.

On Tuesday, US District Judge Timothy Brooks  who will sentence Duggar on Wednesday  denied Duggar's request for an acquittal or a new trial. (AP)

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Davos, May 25 (PTI) India's wheat exports are less than 1 per cent of the world trade and the government's decision to regulate the outbound shipments of the food grain will not affect global markets, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.

He said that India will continue to allow exports to vulnerable countries and its neighbours.

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The minister said that India "never-ever" was a traditional player in the international wheat market.

Until two years ago, India did not even export wheat, Goyal said, adding the country started exports with a modest 2 million tonnes and last year it was about 7 million tonnes.

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"Basically, this was a little surplus that we found available and that got sold. Even within that it was largely in the last 2 months after the war situation developed between Ukraine and Russia," he said here at a session at the World Economic Forum.

Further, the minister said that this year around "we were expecting our production to go by about 7 or 8 per cent (but) sadly we had a very severe heat wave in most parts of north India and wheat had to be harvested early and we have lost production".

"India wheat exports are less than 1 per cent of world trade and our export regulation should not affect global markets. We continue to allow exports to vulnerable countries and neighbours," he added.

On May 13, the government banned wheat exports to control rising domestic prices and meet the foodgrain requirement of neighbouring and vulnerable countries.

However, wheat exports are allowed on the basis of permission granted by the government to other countries to meet their food security needs and based on the request of their governments.

The export shipments for which irrevocable Letters of Credit (LoCs) have been issued on or before May 13 was also allowed. India's wheat exports stood at 7 million tonnes, valued at USD 2.05 billion, in 2021-22 fiscal on better demand for Indian wheat from overseas. Of the total wheat exports, around 50 per cent of shipments were exported to Bangladesh in the last fiscal.

On wheat crop, Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja, on May 14, said that it was likely to be around 105-106 million tonnes in 2021-22 crop year (July-June) as against the earlier projection of 111.32 million tonnes.

In the previous crop year, it was at little over 109 million tonnes.

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Manila (Philippines), May 25 (AP) Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was proclaimed the next president of the Philippines by a joint session of Congress on Wednesday following a landslide election triumph 36 years after his dictator father was ousted in a pro-democracy uprising.

The Senate and House of Representatives also declared that his separately elected vice presidential running mate, Sara Duterte, had won by a wide margin.

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She is the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, whose turbulent six-year term ends on June 30.

They will lead a nation battered by COVID-19 lockdowns, crushing poverty, gaping inequality, Muslim and communist insurgencies, crime and political divisions further inflamed by the May 9 election.

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Marcos Jr., a 64-year-old former governor, congressman and senator, has refused to acknowledge or apologise for massive human rights violations and plunder under his father's strongman rule and has defended his legacy.

When they take office, Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte will likely face demands to prosecute her father over thousands of killings of mostly poor suspects under his yearslong crackdown on illegal drugs. The deaths are currently under investigation by the International Criminal Court.

Marcos Jr. received more than 31 million votes and Sara Duterte more than 32 million out of more than 55 million votes cast in the election. It was the first majority presidential victory in the Asian democracy in decades.

During the campaign, they avoided controversial issues and focused on a call for national unity, although their fathers' presidencies opened some of the most volatile divisions in the country's history. Marcos Jr. appealed to be judged not by my ancestors, but by my actions.

Sen. Imee Marcos, the president-elect's sister, thanked those who voted for her brother after what she described as years of humiliation.

We're very grateful for a second chance, she told reporters before the proclamation. Our family went through a lot, she said, citing all sorts of cases and ridicule against them.

In Marcos Jr.'s campaign headquarters, supporters waved Philippine flags, flashed the victory sign and held a streamer congratulating him and Sara Duterte.

Still, both have been hounded by their fathers' reputations.

Riot police used a water cannon and shields to prevent a few hundred activists from marching to Congress to oppose Wednesday's proclamations, injuring at least 14 protesters, the left-wing group Bayan said. It said the forceful dispersal could be a portent of things to come.

Last week, human rights activists submitted a petition to the Supreme Court against Marcos Jr.'s eligibility, citing his past tax conviction. They asked the court to block his proclamation, but no such order was issued. The complaint was earlier dismissed by the Commission on Elections.

His father was forced from power by a largely peaceful People Power uprising in 1986 and died in 1989 while in exile in Hawaii without admitting any wrongdoing, including accusations that he, his family and cronies amassed an estimated USD 5 billion to USD 10 billion while he was in power.

A Hawaii court later found him liable for human rights violations and awarded USD 2 billion from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

His widow, Imelda Marcos, and their children were allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991 and worked on a stunning political comeback, helped by a well-funded social media campaign to refurbish the family name.

Marcos Jr. will take over a deeply divided country with many reminders of the resistance against his strongman father.

Along metropolitan Manila's main avenue, democracy shrines and monuments erected after Marcos' downfall stand prominently. The anniversary of his ouster is celebrated each year as a special national holiday, and a presidential commission that has worked for decades to recover ill-gotten wealth still exists.

Marcos Jr. has not explained how he will deal with such remainders of the past.

What happens to all the monuments that commemorate all those lives lost? What happens to all those monuments that celebrate our collective victories? asked Pio Abad, a Filipino artist who opened an art exhibit last month focusing on the extravagant lifestyle of the Marcoses when they were in power amid the country's appalling poverty.

History is at stake and that is probably, for me, one of the largest things at risk, Abad 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)
Islamabad, May 25 (PTI) Pakistan on Wednesday condemned the sentencing of Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik by an Indian court in a terror funding case, saying Islamabad will continue to provide all possible support to the Kashmiris.

A Delhi court on Wednesday handed out life sentence to sentenced Malik, one of the foremost separatist leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, saying the crimes were intended to strike at the "heart of the idea of India" and intended to forcefully secede J&K from Union of India.

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In a tweet, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said "India can imprison Yasin Malik physically but it can never imprison the idea of freedom he symbolises. Life imprisonment for valiant freedom fighters will provide fresh impetus to Kashmiris' right to self-determination."

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who had written to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet asking her to urge India to acquit Malik from all charges, "strongly" condemned the sentencing.

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"Pakistan stands with Kashmiri brothers and sisters, will continue to provide all possible support in their just struggle," he said in a tweet.

Pakistan Army Spokesperson Major General Babar Iftikhar also condemned the life sentence given to Malik on what he called "fabricated charges."

He said such "oppressive tactics cannot dampen the spirit of people of Kashmir in their just struggle".

The Foreign Office summoned the Indian Charge d'Affaires here and conveyed Pakistan's strongest condemnation of the sentence given to Malik.

It said that the international community must take immediate stock of the "aggravating situation" in Kashmir and press India to fulfill its obligations under the international humanitarian law and the Charter of the United Nations.

The Foreign Office in a statement earlier said that the foreign minister, as part of Pakistan's ongoing efforts to draw the attention of the international community to the situation in Kashmir, sent the letter to Bachelet on May 24.

The Foreign Minister urged the High Commissioner and the Human Rights Council to take immediate cognisance of India's targeting of indigenous Kashmiri leadership through motivated cases, particularly the treatment meted out by Malik.

Separately, Foreign Minister Bilawal has written a letter to the Secretary-General of the OIC, Hissein Brahim Taha, apprising him of the dire human rights and humanitarian situation in Kashmir.

India has repeatedly told Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir "was, is and shall forever" remain an integral part of the country. It also advised Pakistan to accept the reality and stop all anti-India propaganda.

New Delhi has also told Pakistan that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Islamabad in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence.

(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], May 25 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday arrived at the Air Force Station, Palam, Delhi after participating in the Quad Leaders' Summit as part of his two-day tour in Japan.

The Summit in Tokyo is the fourth interaction of Quad Leaders since their first virtual meeting in March 2021, in-person Summit in Washington D.C. in September 2021 and virtual meeting in March 2022.

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At the Quad Summit, PM Modi highlighted India's consistent and principled position on the need for cessation of hostilities, resumption of dialogue and diplomacy.

PM Modi, along with the leaders of the Quad nations, took part in the fourth interaction of the leaders, which saw criticism of Russian military action in Ukraine, from Australia, Japan and the United States.

Also Read | Chinese, Russian Fighter Jets Hold Joint Aerial Patrols in Sea of Japan, East China Sea, West Pacific Amid QUAD Conclave.

During the summit, the leaders reiterated their shared commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and the importance of upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of disputes.

They exchanged perspectives on developments in the Indo-Pacific and the conflict in Europe.

On the sidelines of the Quad Summit, Prime Minister on Tuesday had bilateral meetings with US President Joe Biden and new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He will also have a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

On the first day of his visit to Japan on Monday, the Prime Minister had a series of engagements. He participated in the event to launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity and chaired a business roundtable in Tokyo. He also interacted with members of the Indian community. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Colombo, May 25 (PTI) Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed Finance Minister of the debt-ridden country on Wednesday by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, an official statement said.

Wickremesinghe, 73 was sworn in as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stability and National Policies.

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The five-time prime minister was re-appointed to the job on May 12 following the political circus precipitated by the unprecedented economic crisis in the island's history.

He replaced Mahinda Rajapaksa who resigned to make way for his brother's plan to appoint an all-party interim government to handle the economic crisis.

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Wickremesinghe's office said during the two weeks he had been at the helm. He re-established the island's foreign relations, took steps for constitutional reform with the draft of the 21 amendments to the constitution, ensured fuel supplies and has been making preparations for an interim budget.

Wickremesinghe with just his seat in the 225-member assembly relies on all political parties to support him in his immediate task of reviving the ailing economy.

Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy in mid-April saying it was unable to meet its international debt payments this year.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Davos [Switzerland], May 25 (ANI): Maharashtra Department of Education on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Byju's Institute at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland's Davos to provide modern education to the students of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

Mumbai Guardian Minister Aditya Thackeray signed the agreement in the presence of Industry Minister Subhash Desai and other dignitaries.

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As per a press release of the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation, the agreement will make the BYJU'S learning app and other services available to BMC students for free.

The Byju's Institute will also provide training to the teachers who are continuously imparting knowledge in the municipal schools. (ANI)

Also Read | WEF 2022: India Committed to Support Africa in COVID-19 Vaccination, Says Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Amaravati, May 25: A herd of wild elephants trampled a farmer to death in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district on Wednesday, the latest casualty in the growing man-animal conflict near the forest bordering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Subrahmanyam was killed when the tuskers attacked him in his field at Indira Nagar area in Palamaner mandal early morning. The farmer died on the spot. The incident triggered protest by villagers, who alleged that the forest department failed to take action despite several wild elephants foraying into the area.

The protestors staged a sit-in on the highway, leading to a traffic jam. They wanted the district collector to come there and give them an assurance. They, however, dispersed after senior police officials pacified them. MP: Woman Trampled to Death by Wild Elephants, Houses Damaged in Dindori.

Villagers claimed that as many as 150 elephants have entered into Andhra Pradesh from the forests of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the last few months but no action was taken to control the menace. They said the jumbos were not only destroying their crops but also attacking and killing them.

The protestors said there was information about the movement of a herd of elephants for the last 15 days but the officials took no action. They said neither the forest department was doing anything nor allowing them to install electric fencing.

"If an animal dies in our fields, the forest officials register a case and even snatch our lands but now when the animals are killing us, they are silent," said a farmer.

This is the third such incident in the district in the last two months. On March 31, a herd of wild elephants trampled a 52-year-old farmer to death at Tanjavur village of Yadamarri mandal near Tamil Nadu border

A speech and hearing impaired farmer, who was relieving himself at a pond near his fields after finishing night vigil, was killed in the attack. Earlier, a 38-year-old farmer was killed in the attack by a herd at a remote village in Sadum mandal.

A herd is said to be on the prowl across Paradarami-Yadamarri forest belt. The incidents of wild elephants from Koundinya wildlife sanctuary straying into Palamaner and Kuppam ranges sandwiched by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have increased during the last two years.

According to wildlife experts, lack of fodder in the reserve forests and sanctuary is driving the tuskers to stray far away from their habitats. The incidents of pachyderms reaching the plain areas even about 200 km away from the tri-state junction have created concern among people. Villagers alleged that despite repeated appeals, the authorities have not taken any action but whenever elephants die they are being blamed. Assam: Three Killed in an Attack by Herd of Wild Elephants in Goalpara.

Elephants are dying of electrocution in the region. Last month, a 20-year-old elephant was electrocuted in Punganoor forest range near Cherukuvaripalle area in Sadum mandal. The female elephant was killed when it accidentally bit a power cable while grazing a ragi crop in a farm. Forest officials blamed the farmer, who raised ragi crop, for running the cable close to the ground for motor connection. In February, a young tusker was electrocuted near Madhavapuram village abutting a forest area while trying to uproot an electric pole.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 25, 2022 04:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, May 25: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned Karti Chidambaram to join the probe in connection with a fresh case lodged against him and others for allegedly helping Chinese nationals getting visas by flouting rules.

"Karti has been summoned to appear on Wednesday by 11 a.m. at our New Delhi based headquarters," said a CBI source. Karti's Charted Accountant S. Bhaskararaman is currently on custodial remand of the CBI and there are possibilities that Karti might be confronted with him.

The CBI has recovered 65,000 emails in the matter, which will be used as evidences. Similarly, a sales deed, recovered during raids, is also considered crucial in the case. The deed is of a property bought in Jor Bagh and its power of attorney is in the name of Bhaskararaman, whereas the property was bought by Karti and his mother. Karti Chidambaram Denies Visa Scam Allegations, Calls Them 'Fabricated'.

According to the FIR, a Mansa (Punjab) based private firm, Talwandi Sabo Power Limited, took help of a middleman and allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh to get the visa issued for Chinese nationals, which would help the firm in completing a project before the deadline.

"The private firm was in the process of establishing a 1,980 MW thermal power plant the work for which was outsourced to a Chinese company. The project was running behind its schedule. In order to avoid penal actions for the delay, the said private company was trying to bring more and more Chinese professionals to its site for which it needed project visas over and above the ceiling imposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs," said a CBI official.

The official said that for the said purpose, the representative of the private company approached a person based in Chennai through his close associate and thereafter they devised a back-door strategy to defeat the purpose of visa ceiling by granting permission to re-use 263 project visas allotted to the said Chinese company.

In pursuance of the same, the private company submitted a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking approval to re-use the project visas allotted to this company, which was approved within a month and permission was issued to the company.

"A bribe of Rs 50 lakh was allegedly demanded by the private person in Chennai through his close associate which was paid by the Mansa-based private firm. The payment of said bribe was routed from the private firm to the person in Chennai and his close associate through a Mumbai-based company as payment of 'false' invoice raised for Consultancy and out of pocket expenses for Chinese visas related works. The Mumbai-based company was never in any kind of work relating to visas rather it was in an entirely different business of industrial knives," added the official. It has been alleged that senior Chidambaram helped Chinese in getting visas by flouting rules.
The baby was declared dead after being born, following which her family decided to bury her at Hollan village. However, when they were returning to the hospital, local people objected to the burial, forcing the family to dig out the grave nearly an hour later.
Andhra Pradesh | Heavy police force deployed in Amalapuram town in Konaseema amid protests by residents over changing of district name. Several had resorted to stone-pelting and set fire to vehicles targeting police, MLA's house. At least 20 policemen were also injured. pic.twitter.com/KTGW1cm4Fa ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2022

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
ED in the chargesheet said that both the sons and wife of Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik were summoned for interrogation, but none of them appeared. Nawab Malik's wife was summoned twice, his son Faraj Malik was summoned 5 times in connection with a money laundering case: ED ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2022

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
Lithuania ready to treat wounded Ukrainian service members.



Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said on May 24 that in the coming weeks, Lithuania will accept Ukrainian soldiers for rehabilitation, according to a statement published on the ministrys website. The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 24, 2022

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
Toronto, May 25: Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand, on Tuesday, announced a donation of 20,000 artillery rounds of 155 mm North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) standard ammunition, including fuses and charge bags, to support Ukraine's military.

"Canada stands with Ukraine and its people as they resist Putin's illegal and unjustifiable assault. Today's announcement is another example of our unwavering commitment to provide Ukraine with the comprehensive military aid it needs to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence," Anita Anand, Minister of National Defence of Canada, said.

The ammunition has been sourced from the United States at a cost of up to $98 million and work is underway to get this much-needed aid expedited and delivered to Ukraine as quickly as possible, a Canadian news release stated. Texas School Shooting: 18 Students Among 21 Shot Dead at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; Teen Gunman Dead.

"To keep supporting Ukraine's military as they continue to fight Russia's illegal invasion, we're sending them more military equipment," the Canadian Prime Minister tweeted, informing the global communities about the aid.

This ammunition will be fired from guns, including M777 howitzers, that Canada and its allies have donated to Ukrainian forces, and for which Canadian Armed Forces members provided training to their Ukrainian Security Forces counterparts. Poland Formally Cancels Gas Contract With Russia Ahead of Schedule.

The Canadian soldiers are providing training in such areas as tactics, improvised explosive device disposal, sniping, reconnaissance and medicine

Following the announcement of USD 500 million in new funding for military assistance to Ukraine in Budget 2022, the Government of Canada continues to pursue additional military support to meet Ukraine's immediate and longer-term requirements.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Fourteen children and a teacher were reported dead on Tuesday following the Texas school shooting that occurred in the city of Uvalde.

The number of fatalities in Tuesday's tragedy was confirmed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

"The state of Texas is in mourning with them for the reality that these parents are not going to be able to pick up their children," Abbot underscored, per ABC News.

Abbot also claimed that the shooter was dead and is believed to have been killed by officers who responded at the scene, according to a CBS News report.

The identities of the casualties were not mentioned by the authorities.

According to CNBC, the mass casualty incident was reported to the authorities around 11:30 a.m. The shooting was reportedly no longer active on Tuesday afternoon.

The shooting was known to occur in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. The said area is located 83 miles west of San Antonio. The school reportedly teaches second, third, and fourth-grade students, Uvalde CSID Police Chief Pedro Arredondo highlighted.

Meanwhile, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took to Twitter to announce that President Joe Biden was briefed about what happened in Uvalde, Texas.

His prayers are with the families impacted by this awful event, and he will speak this evening when he arrives back at the White House.  Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) May 24, 2022

She then added that the president extends his prayers to the families affected by the tragedy.

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Robb Elementary School Shooter Identified

Texas Governor Gregg Abbott noted that the gunman in the recent Texas school shooting was an 18-year-old male who is also a resident of Uvalde City.

Multiple senior law enforcement sources identified the shooter as Salvador Ramos. Abbott added that Ramos is believed to leave his vehicle and entered the school with a handgun and possibly a rifle.

Two law enforcement confirmed that Ramos had a handgun and an AR-15 assault weapon. The shooter also had high-capacity magazines.

"He shot and killed, horrifically and incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher," the Texas governor underscored.

The Uvalde CSID police chief also stressed that the investigation tells them that the shooter acted alone on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, multiple law enforcement also confirmed that Ramos, the alleged shooter, was also suspected of killing his grandmother before opening fire on the school.

The motive for the shooting in Uvalde, Texas is still unclear.

Other Victims of Texas School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas

There were other victims of the shooting on Tuesday, aside from the 15 who died following the tragedy.

Uvalde Memorial Hospital CEO Tom Nordwick claimed that at least 13 children were taken to their emergency room. The CEO noted two were transferred, and one is pending a transfer.

Customs and Border Protection agents reported responding at the scene. However, one of their agents was shot in the head. The said agent, who was not named, has been hospitalized and is now in stable condition.

Abbott also claimed that two officers were also struck when they exchanged gunshots with the shooter. Both officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Update on the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde: at University Hospital, one patient, a 66-year-old woman, is in critical condition.



The other patient is a 10-year-old girl, also in critical condition.  University Health (@UnivHealthSA) May 24, 2022

Meanwhile, University Health in San Antonio tweeted that they are treating a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl. Both are in critical condition.

South Texas Blood and Tissue said that it sent at least 15 units of blood to Uvalde on Tuesday in the aftermath of the Texas school shooting.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Texas School Shooting | Robb Elementary in Uvalde on Lockdown After Active Shooter Report - From KENS5: Your San Antonio News Source
President Joe Biden addressed the nation hours after the Texas school shooting and blamed the gun lobby for the incident that killed over a dozen people.

New York Post reported that Biden made the remarks from the White House just before 9 p.m. Tuesday.

"As a nation, we have to ask when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?" the president said.

Biden went on to say that since he stood up at a grade school in Connecticut, where a gunman killed at least 26 people 10 years ago, there have been 900 incidents of gunfire reported on school grounds.

The president then urged lawmakers to improve gun laws across the United States in light of the school shootings.

"We can't and won't prevent every tragedy, but we know [gun laws] work and have a positive impact," Biden noted, adding that mass shootings went down when the Assault Weapons Ban was passed in 1994. However, the president said the law expired in 2004, and mass shootings across the country tripled.

The president noted that the idea that an 18-year-old can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons was "just wrong."

Biden added that gun manufacturers have the largest profit after spending two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons.

"For God's sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry," the president said.

READ NEXT: Texas School Shooting Leaves 14 Children, 1 Teacher Dead; Suspect Identified and Killed

U.S. Senators Debate Over Gun Laws After Texas School Shooting

The Texas school shooting has sparked a fiery debate among senators regarding gun laws and violence in the U.S. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy on Tuesday criticized his fellow lawmakers for failing to keep the Americans safe.

"What are we doing? There have been more mass shootings than days of the year. Our kids are living in fear every single time they set foot in the classroom because they think they're going to be next. What are we doing?" Murphy said in a speech.

Murphy then urged his fellow senators to find a way and pass laws that could make incidents like the Texas school shooting less likely to happen. However, Texas Senator Ted Cruz said restrictive gun laws would not work in such incidents.

"Inevitably when there's a murderer of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens," Cruz told CNN.

It can be recalled that a bipartisan bill called H.R. 8 was passed in the House of Representatives in 2019. However, the said bill was left untouched in the Senate for more than two years.

Under the said bill, a background check will be needed in purchasing firearms, so the individuals prohibited from possessing guns will not be able to obtain firearms.

In addition, this bill would also make it unlawful for anyone who is not a licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer to transfer a firearm to anyone who is not licensed to have it.

Texas School Shooting Update: Death Toll Rises to 21

The death toll of the Texas school shooting on Tuesday rose to 21, according to Department of Public Safety Sgt. Erick Estrada, CNN reported.

The fatalities were reportedly composed of 19 students and two adults. The assailant, identified as Salvador Ramos, opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Ramos was shot dead by responding law enforcement.

A former classmate of Ramos revealed that the shooter texted him photos of a firearm he had and a bag full of ammunition days before the attack. The friend also said that others taunted Ramos in his class for the clothes he wore and his family's financial situation.

READ MORE: Johnny Depp Lawsuit: DC Chief Hits Amber Heard With Harsh Reality of Poor Chemistry With Jason Momoa in 'Aquaman'

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Texas School Shooting: Biden Takes Aim at Guns in Address to Nation After "Another Massacre" - From Global News
New details emerged Tuesday on the murder of Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood Army specialist who was killed in 2020 by a fellow soldier.

According to Daily Mail, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) confirmed that Aaron Robinson killed fellow soldier Guillen after she saw a photo of Robinson's married lover, Cecily Aguilar, on his phone.

KWTX reported that a newly released court document filed by the Texas DPS revealed the motive in Guillen's murder. The document included information from interviews with Aguilar.

It was filed this year in a "Second Motion to Suppress" meant to exclude evidence obtained in the case. According to reports, the document stated that when asked why Robinson killed his fellow soldier, Aguilar said Guillen noticed the lock screen on Robinson's phone that contained Aguilar's picture.

After seeing her picture on Robinson's phone, Aguilar told investigators that Robinson hit the female soldier in the head with a hammer. Aguilar said Robinson was worried about getting in trouble for violating the Army's fraternization rules since she was still married to another soldier.

Investigators believe that after bludgeoning Guillen to death with a hammer, Robinson removed her body from an armory at Fort Hood in Texas and dismembered her, and then buried her remains on April 22. Investigators also learned that Robinson was the last person Guillen spoke with before she met her demise.

Authorities, who interviewed some individuals, said Aguilar's husband reportedly suspected the affair. However, the "Army Criminal Investigations Division would not do anything about it."

READ NEXT: Texas School Shooting Update: Pres. Joe Biden Blames Deadly Incident on 'Gun Lobby'; Death Toll Rises to 21

Cecily Aguilar's Involvement in Vanessa Guillen's Murder Case

Cecily Aguilar is the only person charged in Vanessa Guillen's murder case. Aguilar has been indicted on 11 counts by a federal grand jury for her involvement in Guillen's death.

The 11-count indictment includes charges of accessory after the fact, conspiracy to tamper with documents, issuing false statements, and destruction of records in a federal case.

The indictment came down last July 13 or a month after a Texas judge denied Aguilar's motion, asking that her confession be thrown out. Aguilar was accused of helping Aaron Robinson in dismembering and hiding the body of Guillen.

Guillen's family lawyer, Natalie Kwaham, earlier said that Robinson needed help in disposing of Guillen's body. This was when he contacted his girlfriend, Aguilar.

Both of them allegedly used a machete to dismember the body parts of the deceased Fort Hood soldier. They then hid Guillen's body in a Pelican case and dumped it in the Leon River area. Aguilar's role includes destroying the body of Guillen, as well as issuing false statements in the federal case.

A court indictment read that Aguilar corruptly alters, destroys, mutilates, and conceals any record, document, and object with the intent to impair its availability for use in an official proceeding.

Cecily Aguilar was arrested in June last year. On the other hand, Robinson took his own life when confronted by police after Guillen's remains were discovered.

Vanessa Guillen's Death

Vanessa Guillen went missing for months until some of her remains were found buried in a shallow grave along the Leon River in June 2020.

Contractors working on a fence along the Leon River discovered what appeared to be human remains. Guillen's bones, hair, and other remains were reportedly found.

It was earlier reported that Aaron Robinson even attempted to burn Vanessa Guillen's remains with his girlfriend. Cecily Aguilar has pleaded not guilty to all charges against her. She could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, with a maximum fine of $250,000.

READ MORE: Johnny Depp Lawsuit: DC Chief Hits Amber Heard With Harsh Reality of Poor Chemistry With Jason Momoa in 'Aquaman'

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: New Document Reveals Motive Behind Vanessa Guillen's Murder - From KHOU 11
Steel prices have been steadily on the decline in the last few weeks as prices for raw materials dropped on the global market, according to the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA).

VSA reported prices for iron ore have gone down to US$139 per tonne, a $16 decrease from prices at the beginning of April, and a $71-73 decrease from the record-breaking prices reported in May 2021 at $210-212 per tonne. Meanwhile, prices for steel scrap have also seen a significant drop to $530 per tonne, a $94 decrease from early April. Hot-rolled coil has fallen to $797 per tonne, an $81 decrease.

Since the beginning of the year, demand for steel in the domestic market has been high as economic recovery was in full swing. Steelmakers, taking full advantage of robust demand, also raised their prices on the pretext of higher input costs of imported raw materials.

However, a sharp fall in demand in China due to extensive social distancing measures employed by Chinese authorities in recent months has forced Vietnamese steelmakers to lower prices to clear their inventory, bringing steel down to an average of VN18.25-18.50 million per tonne.

Hoa Phat steel has gone down by VN4.6-8.0 million per tonne, Viet uc steel by VN5.1-7.6 million, Thai Nguyen steel by as much as VN8.1 million per tonne.

According to owners of metal stores in Ha Noi, while steel has gone down from its over-VN20 million per tonne mark in March, it remained quite high compared to the end of 2021. Recent price drops have not managed to bring steel down to the previous price level after four consecutive price hikes since the beginning of the year.

Vietnamese steelmakers together produced more than 11.4 million tonnes of steel during the first four months of 2022, a 2 per cent increase from the same period last year. Of which, 10.6 million tonnes were sold, a 4 per cent increase year-on-year with 2.5 million tonnes exported.

According to the VSA, for the time being, Vietnamese makers were able to meet all domestic demand. However, the country could only supply 20-30 per cent of raw materials, making Vietnamese steel prices largely dependent on the global market.

By the association's estimate, Viet Nam will have to import as much as 18 million tonnes of iron ore, and 6.5 million tonnes of scraps and coking coal in 2022.

In the short run, cheaper steal would mean the country's much-needed infrastructure projects could now progress with less pressure from soaring material prices, of which steel alone typically accounted for 20-30 per cent. VNS
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A Laois Offaly District Court judge has told a defendant who said he needed his car for work that she hears that every week.

Arindam Nandi (33) 40 Tara Grove, Wellpark, Galway, pleaded guilty to the offence which took place on August 13, 2021 when Mr Nandi was stopped at Frankford, Kilcormac by Garda Brendan Kenny.

He was asked for his driving licence and insurance but failed to produce and his vehicle was seized.

Solicitor Donal Farrelly said Mr Nandi was 33 years old and worked in digital marketing. He had bought the car online that day and didnt have time to get it insured. He had a full driving licence. He was three and a half years in Ireland. He had no previous convictions and had handed in his licence to last Wednesdays court.

He told Judge Miriam Walsh at Tullamore District Court that he needed his car.

But she told the defendant that everyone who needs a car needs to have insurance.

She was about to disqualify him but Mr Farrelly and Mr Nandi pleaded with her not to. She imposed a fine of 600 and took into consideration failure to produce.
Laois Offaly Minister and Senator Pippa Hackett believes the much anticipated 84.5m Just Transition fund will open this year.

She is calling on Local Authorities and Eastern & Midlands Regional Authority to start briefing communities on accessing the EU Just Transition funding.

The Midlands is targeted for an investment of over 84.5m from an EU wide fund for regions recognised as being worst affected by the move from fossil fuels.

The fund will likely open later this year, once the funding programme is approved by the EU, and runs up to 2027. There is an element of the funding which is front loaded, the New Generation EU fund, meaning that it needs to be spent sooner than 2027 but I have received clarification from Minister Ryans team that Member States have up to three years from the year of commitment to spend and reclaim the EU JTF allocation. While this is considerably longer than some reports I have heard, it is still a tight timeframe and we need our ducks in a row. The benefit will only be as strong as the projects proposed, said Minister Hackett.

She stated that: The window we have for climate action is short and daunting but, especially in the Midlands, it is also very exciting. It is an opportunity for us to define our identity for decades ahead, for the voices of those most often marginalised to be included and, through community renewable energy projects, to democratise ownership of energy. Thankfully, through the EU Just Transition Fund, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to invest in our vision."

"Time for planning projects which will be eligible for funding is now: These are projects which create jobs, upskill and train, enhance the Midlands as a place to live, work and visit and contribute to environmental sustainability including renewable energy, said Minister Hackett.

She noted that there is a strong role for Local Authorities and the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly to brief and support project proposers. I have written to them to ask that they start briefing communities, individuals and businesses on the draft programme as soon as possible. I am calling on communities to grasp the nettle, to plan for projects and to be courageous, there are many supports available to you, including your public representatives.

Minister Hackett is excited to see what projects community and private proposers will come up with. If the recent National Just Transition project ideas are anything to go by, the next EU Just Transition funded projects will bring jobs, vibrancy and a more socially inclusive society and I am very excited to play a small part in supporting this. I will continue to work with my Government colleagues to do just that, she concluded.
There were 57 complaints from Offaly people to the Office of the Ombudsman in 2021 which made up just over 1.4% of the total number of complaints made last year.

Ombudsman Ger Deering said the number of complaints received across Ireland reached a record high in 2021 with 4,004 people contacting his office.

Mr Deering, who was raised in Laois and has worked locally, said that complaints about local authorities accounted for the largest proportion of the increase, with 1,290 complaints - an increase of 45% on 2020. These mainly related to housing and planning issues.

The role of the Ombudsman is to investigate complaints from people who feel they have been unfairly treated by certain providers of public services, these include government departments, local authorities, the HSE, public hospitals, publicly funded third level education institutions, public and private nursing homes and direct provision accommodation centres. The services of the office are free to use.

One example of a complaint received was from Norah who complained to a private nursing home when her mother was found on her own, with facial injuries, around three kilometres from her nursing home. Her mother was in her late 70s and had dementia. The nursing home initially refused to engage with Norah or her family saying that they could not make a complaint on behalf of her mother. Norah brought her case to the Ombudsman when the private nursing home refused to provide a written response to her complaint.

When the Ombudsman sought information from the nursing home as part of his investigation, it said it was not obliged to respond to his Office. Once the Ombudsman clarified that under the Ombudsman Act 1980, the nursing home was obliged to provide his Office with the information, it provided the information, but continued to refuse to write to the family. The Ombudsman pointed out that the home was in breach of its own complaints policy by not responding in writing.

It became apparent to the Ombudsman that the nursing home had already carried out an investigation into the incident, and that it had made a number of recommendations aimed at avoiding the situation arising in the future. However, the nursing homes investigation was not carried out in accordance with its own complaints policy

As a result of the Ombudsmans intervention the nursing home wrote to Norah apologising for the incident. However, it continued to refuse to respond to Norah in writing to the issues raised in her complaint. The Ombudsman provided a full written account of what had happened on the day of the incident to Norah, and her family. He has also spoken with the Department of Health, with a view to having the requirement for private nursing homes to provide written responses to complaints put on a statutory basis

Before complainants bring their complaints to our Office they must first take steps to resolve their complaint with the public service provider concerned.

Another example was when a man complained to the Ombudsman when Tipperary County Council said that his two businesses would be assessed as one for the Governments COVID-related business Restart grants. The Council said that as his two businesses were linked, and shared the same tax number, the man would be entitled to one grant only in respect of his two operations.

The Restart scheme provides that businesses can be entitled to more than one grant if they have separate rated properties or operating from a number of properties. The Ombudsman noted that the Council had issued separate rate demands in relation to the mans two businesses and their activities were quite different in nature. In addition, the businesses were registered separately with the Companies Registration Office. The Ombudsman asked the Council to review its decision. The Council awarded the man an additional 3,100 in respect of his second business.
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Fish are the reason why Laois County Council has to get the green light from a national agency in Dublin before it can fix a bridge in the Slieve Blooms which has been causing problems for two decades.

The local authority has told councillors it has to go to An Bord Pleanala with an application to fix a bridge in the mountains.

The update was given to Cllr Seamus McDonald, Fianna Fail, who raised the issue with council officials at a recent meeting.

He tabled a motion calling on the council give a progress report on the bridge at Rearyvalley.

Mr. Edmond Kenny, District Engineer, replied in writing.

Repairs to the structure and river channel are proposed. Due to the extent of the works proposed and the sensitivities of the river an application to An Bord Pleanala will be required. Ecologists have been engaged to undertake a fish survey to inform the application. This survey will be completed in June. The Elected Member will be kept informed of the progress of this scheme, he said.

Cllr McDonald, thanked the engineer for his reply but felt the situation has dragged on for too long.

This has been going on for 20 years but the bridge condition is deteriorating rapidly, he said.

He said local dairy farmers are concerned about the situation because of the need for trucks to use the bridge to collect milk.

Cllr Paddy Bracken, Fianna Fail, backed his colleague.

It has been on the agenda for many years. There is progress but it needs to be done. It is a very serious issue, he said.

The issue was raised at the recent Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District meeting.
Progress is being made in relation to the council taking two Stradbally housing estates in charge, a recent meeting was told.

Cllr Paschal McEvoy asked for an update on when The Orchard and Cill Beg Manor Housing Estates would be taken in charge.

In response, Evelyn Brownrigg, A.O Planning at Laois County Council stated that for The Orchard, Water Services have prepared the relevant documentation required by Irish Water for the taking in charge process. These and other documents / drawings when finalised will be submitted to Irish Water for their consideration. On confirmation from Irish Water that there is no objection, the Council will then proceed to advertise the taking in charge process.

In relation to Cill Beg Manor, she stated that: Repairs have been carried out to the footpaths and the public lighting. The plastering of a boundary wall remains to be finished. It is anticipated that this work will be completed within the next four to six weeks. On completion of the boundary wall and submission of as constructed drawings by the developer, the Council will then be in a position to proceed with the request to have the estate taken in charge.

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Cllr McEvoy described the story behind The Orchard as absolutely strange but he said the Director of Services Gerry Murphy had given a commitment to progress the estate. If we can get these two estates done before the end of the year, Ill be happy, he remarked.

Cllr McEvoy said the residents probably wouldnt be pleased to hear that timeline, but he understood how long these processes could take and believed that timeframe would be satisfactory.
Safety issues at Naas General Hospital will be raised by a Kildare TD following the airing of a Prime Time special last night detailing alleged sexual abuse in the hospital.

In the programme, a man, known by the pseudonym Ryan, claimed that one Dr Pathmadevan Rathnam repeatedly molested him during inappropriate examinations on dates in 2010 and 2011.

The programme followed a separate Prime Time investigation, which aired back in November last year and detailed alleged sexual abuse from one Dr Aamir Zuberi at NGH, who has since returned to his native Pakistan.

Similarly, Dr Rathnam has returned to his native Malaysia.

Reada Cronin TD, Sinn Fein

Commenting on the programme, Sinn Fein TD Reada Cronin said: "Like everyone in North Kildare, I was horrified by Prime Time Investigates last night: my heart goes out to Ryan and his family."

"The fact this case was known by the HSE when another case arose, raises serious questions about the culture of safety at NGH and I will be raising this with the Minister."

"Furthermore, I believe when a doctor is struck off, this information should be clearly and readily available to the public on searching."

She added that it is her view that in order to create and maintain a culture of safety for the public, she believes it is not sufficient that a name simply does not appear in this database.

Ms Cronin continued: "This is another difficult day for the great people working at NGH and they are in my thoughts."

"The HSE talks constantly and expensively about learning lessons  they have that luxury - but what actual lessons are learned at all?"

NGH STATEMENTS

In a statement to RTE, Naas General Hospital said: "On the day the first complaint was received [February 28, 2011], the Hospital convened a serious incident review meeting and "decided to suspend the doctor from duty with immediate effect pending the outcome of a Trust in Care process The doctor has never returned to work since his suspension"

"The Hospital notified the allegations to the Irish Medical Council, HSE Child Protection Services and An Garda Siochana in April 2011".

This was more than a month after it received the first complaint.

Before Gardai questioned Dr Rathnam, he left Ireland. However, Ryan was not told by Naas Hospital or the Gardai that Dr Rathnam had left the country, only learning of the fact from his solicitor, and said that for a year he lived in fear of bumping into him in the supermarket or on a street."

Naas General Hospital also told RTE Investigates: "The lack of ongoing communication and follow up is not in line with the standard of practice nowadays we acknowledge this was not adequate [and] The Hospital would like to sincerely apologise to those involved"
A UCD student has described witnessing a cyclist being run over and killed by a large construction truck at a junction on Dublin's N11 Stillorgan road near Donnybrook.

Nineteen-year-old Harry Boland from Leeson Park in Donnybrook died on April 18th 2018 when the truck, driven by David Morrisey (29) struck him at the junction of the N11 and Greenfield Park opposite RTE.

Mr Morrisey of Glendale Meadow, Leixlip, Co Kildare is on trial in the Dublin Circuit Court where he has pleaded not guilty to driving without due care and attention, thereby causing Mr Boland's death on April 18th 2018.

A witness to the accident, Quentin Guillemot, then a civil engineering student from France attending UCD on placement, described walking down Greenfield Park towards the junction in the mid-afternoon and seeing a truck and a cyclist on the N11 waiting for the traffic lights to change.

The cyclist was to the left of the truck, said Mr Guillemot.

"The lights went green, the cyclist was going straight and the truck was turning left to Greenfield Park," he told the jury and Judge Elma Sheahan, saying that he was "very near" to see what happened.

"The first contact [between the truck and the bike] was with the handle bars that touched the left hand of the truck first, before [the bike was] destabilised by the left side of the truck. The cyclist fell beneath the [truck] . . . As the truck was still going left, the cyclist went right between the 2nd and 3rd row of wheels."

Cross examined by Garnet Orange SC for Mr Morrisey, Mr Guillemot said he was "certain" there had been contact between the handlebars of Mr Boland's bike and the truck, a DAF Rigid Truck owned by a civil engineering and plant hire company.

"The truck destabilised him by gently touching his [handle] bars," said Mr Guillemot.

"It was an evasive action [by the cyclist] that went wrong," countered Mr Orange. Ok, the witness replied with a shrug.

Earlier, another witness, Jason McMahon, a cyclist travelling immediately behind Mr Boland, described seeing Mr Boland waiting at the lights, in the cycle lane to the left of the truck.

"It wasn't long after that that the lights went green and the bike went first, slightly ahead of the truck, and I did notice the indicator going on the truck at that stage," he said.

"The truck began to turn, impacting the cyclist, the left front corner of the truck as it turned. The truck continued slowly for a few meters before the driver would have realised what had happened and then it came to a standstill.

"I did think as I stopped that the cyclist in front was in a precarious position. He was in between the truck and the kerb and there might not be good visibility from the truck's point of view."

Mr Orange suggested that Mr Boland moved off from the lights first and, when he realised the truck was turning, took evasive action. Mr McMahon disagreed, saying the front corner of the truck hit Mr Boland's bike first.

Another witness, Grainne Butler, was waiting in her car at the top of Nutley Lane, looking across the junction towards Greenfield Park. She saw a cyclist waiting at the lights on the opposite side of the truck from where she was when they changed.

"I don't know how but the cyclist fell off his bike and the truck turned," she told prosecuting counsel, Michael Hourigan BL.

"I saw [the cyclist] come around the corner from the Stillorgan side and, looking straight across at the junction, and I saw the cyclist fall, I saw him go.

"I saw the truck come around directly after this. The truck came around and I felt he didn't see the cyclist and progressed up the road a very short distance."

An off-duty Dublin Fire Brigade paramedic, plus a doctor, gave emergency assistance before a passing ambulance was flagged down. A HSE ambulance arrived and took Mr Boland to St Vincent's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The trial continues tomorrow.
Four Kildare students have won top prizes in this years 68th Texaco Childrens Art Competition.

They were: Ross McHale (17), from Patrician Secondary School, Newbridge; Nevindi Weerasinghe Kulatunga (11), from Mercy Convent Primary School, Naas; Sophia Lumingkit (11), from Scoil Mhuire Senior, Newbridge and Chloe Tighe (11), a pupil at Scoil Bhride, Naas.

All were winners of Special Merit Awards for artworks that Final Adjudicator, Professor Gary Granville said displayed high levels of skill and creativity.

No stranger to the Competition, Ross also won a Special Merit Awards in 2020 and 2018.

The Texaco Childrens Art Competition is popularly regarded as the longest-running sponsorship in the history of arts sponsoring in Ireland, with an unbroken history that dates back to the very first Competition held in 1955. This year, as has been the case throughout its life, it has been a platform on which young artists from Kildare and counties throughout Ireland have had their talents recognised and their creativity commended.

From 31st May to 30th June, Belfasts Royal Ulster Academy of Arts is hosting an exhibition of the top 126 winning paintings in this years Competition. Admission is free and the Academy is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9am-5pm.
Medical scientists who have been protesting outside Naas General Hospital have agreed to suspend strike action.

The decision is in line with a recent mandate put out by the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association (MLSA).

A spokesperson with the MLSA said in a statement that this was done following an invitation to all negotiating parties to attend the Labour Court today.

They explained: "Hospitals will endeavour to resume appointments and procedures as quickly as possible tomorrow; inevitably, there will still be some cancellation of inpatient and day surgery and outpatient appointments across hospitals.

"Hospitals will contact patients directly to advise them on any updates or changes to arrangements for tomorrow."

They added that routine GP testing and testing services for patients already in hospital will resume tomorrow.

BACKGROUND

Last week, medical scientists nationwide agreed to take part in a strike, which was motivated by n frustration over long-standing pay and career development issues, according to the MLSA.

A further two strikes were planned for Tuesday, May 24 and Wednesday, May 25.

The planned action involved the withdrawal of routine laboratory services from 8am to 8pm on both days, affecting routine hospital and GP services across the country.

Yesterday's action went ahead as planned, with medical scientists protesting outside Naas General Hospital.

Joining them on the day was fellow medical scientist and Green Party councillor for Naas, Colm Kenny, who told the Leader about how much the MLSA have emphasised the importance of pay parity.

Cllr Colm Kenny, Green Party

He explained: "There is a different group of scientists, biochemists, mainly in the older Dublin hospitals such as St James and the Mater but its important to note that we are doing the exact same job as them."

"Prior to benchmarking, we werent linked to the same pay scale as biochemists, and it was accepted that we should have been linked to it (the same pay scale) about 20 years ago"

'IT IS LESS ATTRACTIVE TO COME INTO THIS PROFESSION'

Cllr Kenny, who has 28 years of experience in the field, continued: "However, we have lost that pay parity, by about 8 per cent.

"It is less attractive to come into this profession (compared to other medical professions): we are 20 per cent down in posts, and we are finding it hard to fill them in."

He added that a number of his party colleagues have shown him support, and further said some of them have been involved in industrial action in the past and have given him advice.

Cllr Kenny also explained that the group has received some public support, with many cars passing by beeping their horns at them in solidarity.

Today, he updated the Leader by saying that Phil Ni Sheadghda of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has expressed support for their cause.
The recently cleaned and restored Sean MacDiarmada monument sparkled in the bright sunshine for the 2022 commemoration of the life and times of our national hero Sean MacDiarmada.

There was a big attendance at the commemoration, which was scaled back significantly due to the continuing challenges posed by Covid. A well-drilled colour party marched from the church to the monument to signal the start of proceedings.

Michael Colreavy introduced and chaired proceedings throughout. Wreaths were laid by Maura and Rosa Mylonas (grand-niece and great grand-niece of Sean Mac Diarmada) on behalf of the MacDiarmada family; Padraig McSharry laid a wreath on behalf of Sinn Fein and Maureen Cullen on behalf of the organising committee.

There was a period of contemplation and reflection with a decade of the rosary to remember all who died in the cause of Irish freedom, and all of those who helped organise or attended previous commemorations but were unable to do so now because of illness or death. The rosary was led as Gaeilge by Kiltyclogher native James Dolan.

Cllr. Padraig Fallon read the Proclamation of Independence followed by the main oration by recently re-elected MLA for Fermanagh / South Tyrone Jemma Dolan. Jemma recalled the life and very difficult times of Sean MacDiarmada, and made the point that we all must use every peaceful avenue to achieve MacDiarmadas vision  a free, independent, fair and prosperous Republic of Ireland where every citizen is treated with respect.

She paid particular tribute to the many people from Leitrim, Sligo, Donegal and further afield who helped out with canvassing for the elections, and said that their support and actions ensured the re-election of the three Sinn Fein MLAs in Fermanagh / South Tyrone and - indeed  the assistance provided throughout the 6 counties that ensured a historic Sinn Fein victory.

Martin Kenny TD then addressed the assembled crowd on an urgent issue facing people in the immediate north Leitrim area, but also throughout Ireland  Gold and Base Metal mining. He noted that Minister Eamon Ryan had authorised prospecting licences for extensive lands throughout north Leitrim, despite extensive local objection and the opposition of elected Leitrim County Councillors. He stated that we must all do whatever we can to stop this plundering of our natural resources to fill the pockets of the already wealthy at the expense of our people.

Michael Colreavy thanked all who had helped organise and who participated in the commemoration. He paid particular tribute to Seamus Shanley and Padraig McSharry who worked tirelessly to help organise the event; to Ciaran Rock, Patricia McCaffrey, Joe Sheerin and all members of the Community Council for their unstinting support for the event.

He thanked Ciaran Rock for arranging to have the excellent Selton Hill Ambush exhibition in the Heritage Centre in Kiltyclogher and for arranging to have the MacDiarmada cottage at Corranmore open for the afternoon of the commemoration and  indeed  for guided tours throughout the year.

Michael finished by thanking everyone who attended and expressing the hope that we will be able to revert to a full programme of events again in 2023.

The commemoration concluded with a spirited rendition of the National Anthem by Dubeck Carroll.
The UK Government has confirmed that it will introduce today (Wednesday May 25) legislation that aims to protect the Irish language in Northern Ireland to the House of Commons.

Under proposed plans for language and identity, the Irish language would be granted official status in Northern Ireland, which campaigners hailed as historic.

The Northern Ireland Office said that the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Bill would aim to deliver a balanced package of measures for Northern Ireland on identity and language, fulfilling the commitments set out in New Decade, New Approach.

It will provide for the recognition and protection of the Irish language and the development of the Ulster Scots and Ulster British tradition, the department said in a statement.

The draft laws propose creating two commissioner roles  one for the Irish language and another for the Ulster Scots/Ulster British tradition.

An Office of Identity and Cultural Expression will also be established as part of the Bill, to promote cultural pluralism and respect for diversity.

Separate to the Identity and Language Bill, the UK Government also announced that it is granting Ulster Scots recognition as a National Minority under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities  a status already granted to Irish, Welsh, Scots and Cornish.

The UK Government is also providing 4 million to An Ciste Infheistiochta Gaeilge  the Irish Language Investment Fund.

Legislative protections for the Irish language in Northern Ireland were a key plank of the New Decade, New Approach agreement that restored powersharing in January 2020 after a three-year impasse.

They were included in a broader package of cultural laws proposed for the Northern Ireland Assembly that was stalled amid continued political contention over the matter.

Last June, the UK Government pledged to pass the legislation at Westminster to break an impasse between Sinn Fein and the DUP over its introduction in the Stormont Assembly.

However, the Government failed to bring forward a Bill before its own self-imposed October deadline last year.

During his visit to Northern Ireland last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to deliver on the cultural package.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis said the Bills introduction represents a significant milestone, not just in the continued delivery of New Decade, New Approach, but in laying down a new cultural framework for the people of Northern Ireland.

This legislation is carefully balanced, as negotiated by all parties, to ensure everyone in Northern Ireland benefits.

Not only will the legislation faithfully deliver on the measures within New Decade, New Approach, it will also, importantly, ensure the principles of respect and tolerance, as stated in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, continue to be realised.

Representatives from the Irish language organisation Conradh na Gaeilge welcomed the news.

President of Conradh an Gaeilge Paula Melvin said: We want to pay tribute to all of those activists and community pioneers who have been advocating for language rights down through the years. This day belongs to them.

But lets be clear, this is only the beginning of the legislative journey for this Bill. Painful experience with the British Government has taught us to take nothing for granted. Until we see this Bill fully enacted and indeed implemented in practice, we will continue to push ahead with the campaign.

Advocacy manager with Conradh na Gaeilge Conchur O Muadaigh said its campaign was nearly there.

We will have an Irish language act. That legislation will, however, fall short of the commitments given to us at St Andrews, especially when tested against the Welsh model.

It remains, however, a historic advancement in our campaign for language rights and we welcome it as a significant staging post on our journey for equality here.
Steven Matthews TD, Green Party Spokesperson on Planning and Local Government and Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage has launched the Committees report on urban regeneration, including key issues around derelict and vacant buildings.

Deputy Matthews stated; The blight of derelict and vacant properties across the country is obvious for everyone to see, while at the same time we are in the midst of a housing crisis. The report published today contains 39 recommendations covering penalties for vacancy and dereliction with reasonable exceptions, compulsory purchase orders and supports to assist building owners to refurbish and re-use their properties. Critically, the report recognises the wider needs of urban regeneration including public transport, jobs, housing and climate  all the requirements for restoring our town centres that will make them attractive and vibrant places for people to live.

I also will also be introducing a bill to the Dail to address these very matters and to tighten up the Derelict Sites Act. For far too long planning and development has focused on sprawling, greenfield and one-off housing that is car dependent and extremely costly in provision of infrastructure, transport, and services. This area is complex and cannot be solved overnight but I look forward to working with Ministers Darragh OBrien and Pascal Donohoe in relation to progressing the recommendations within the report and the bill.

One of the main recommendations in this report is that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Local Authorities should develop dedicated units to concentrate on vacancy and dereliction with proper data collection.

Francis Duffy TD, Green Party Spokesperson on Housing and member of the Housing Committee said; While it is estimated that there are up to 132,000 vacant properties in the country, we need to develop a full picture of Irelands vacant and derelict housing. This would include a centralised, publicly accessible Derelict Sites Register that Revenue would use to apply taxation measures. A Vacant Homes Tax, with reasonable exemptions will also be applied by Revenue, with the income generated by both taxes being used to acquire, refurbish and provide affordable secure homes to live within our towns.

Urban regeneration and a Town Centres First approach is a long-standing area of Green Party policy.
The Minister for Agriculture has announced his intention to launch a 3million scheme to aid the development of Ireland's seed potato sector.

The scheme is expected to accelerate capacity within the sector and improve production, storage and marketing infrastructure and ensure supply of high quality seed potato material produced domestically.

It comes following the UK's exit from the European Union (EU), which resulted in the prohibition of seed potato imports from Great Britain post-Brexit.

Announcing the scheme yesterday (Tuesday May 24), Minister Charlie McConalogue said, "In recognition of the challenges faced by the Irish potato sector in fulfilling its annual demand for access to high grade seed potato following the exit of the UK from the EU, I am delighted to announce approval of the scheme for this highly specialised farming activity.

"This presents a timely opportunity for the Irish seed potato sector to develop capacity and expand to ensure a reliable supply of domestically produced high grade seed potato material, with the support of the dedicated Seed Certification Service provided by my department and the Tops Potato Centre in Donegal."

Delighted to announce this seed potato scheme with Minister @McConalogue. This is a positive step in contributing to shorter supply chains & sector sustainability in a domestic industry synonymous with our country. Read more here:https://t.co/nr66Xj0S8I #Brexit #Potatoes pic.twitter.com/MO9aXwy6xF  Pippa Hackett (@pippa_hackett) May 24, 2022

Funding for the scheme will come from Ireland's allocation of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund (BAR).

The minister continued: "There is great potential in reviving the domestic seed potato sector. I am committed to seeing it thrive once more once there is leadership from within the sector too. I believe we can restore the industry to its heyday nationally."

Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity with special responsibility for horticulture, Senator Pippa Hackett, welcomed the news.

She said, "This scheme will be a hugely positive step in contributing to shorter supply chains and sector sustainability in a domestic industry that is synonymous with our country.

"Ireland is the only EU Member State designated a high health status under EU legislation for the growing of seed potatoes. Investing in the sector to facilitate increased availability of domestically produced high grade seed stocks for Irish ware growers is vitally important to protect our high health status and ensure the potato industry grows to its full potential."
At a logging site in the forest, workers load a truck with rosewood to transport to Bamako. EIA

Regimes change, but trafficking remains. The illegal trade in rosewood to China continues despite successive national and international regulations, according to a new investigation by the US NGO Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), released on May 18.

The military junta that toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020, denouncing widespread corruption, has not disrupted well-established practices which see prized rosewood leave Mali for China, where it is used to make luxury furniture. Testimonies gathered by the EIA from Chinese sponsors and their intermediaries in the country describe firmly established circuits from the cutting sites to the Ministry of Water and Forests. The latter is continuing to issue export permits in violation of restrictions placed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES).

In 2017, rosewood  Pterocarpus erinaceus to use its scientific name  was listed in Appendix 2 of the Convention. This requires the country to verify that the wood taken to supply foreign markets does not impair the species' ability to regenerate sustainably and that it comes from legal harvesting areas.

The junta lifted the monopoly on timber exports previously enjoyed by the Generale Industrie du Bois (General Timber Industry, or GIB)  a former state-owned enterprise  and opened it up to four other operators. This decision was not accompanied by a reorganization of the sector. EIA reproduced in its report several CITES certificates issued in 2021 without the required information. The trade embargo imposed in January by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to sanction the coup does not seem to be an obstacle either.

More on this topic Subscribers only 'Mali's departure from the G5 Sahel signs de facto the organization's death warrant'

Third largest supplier country

On February 22, the Togolese government intercepted 157 containers with 27 tonnes of timber at Port of Lome that had been transiting through Senegal from Bamako. GIB  the main company implicated in the EIA report  was the shipper. When questioned by Le Monde, its managing director, Aboubakrine Cisse, was surprised by the accusations. "Our merchandise was in the port of Dakar before the embargo began and it was in possession of the proper CITES certificates, as it should be. It is not me who issues them but the administration of water and forests. I have never been contacted by an NGO to answer any questions."

The exploitation of rosewood began in the early 2000s in the southwestern part of the country, in the Sikasso region, before progressing towards Kayes in the west and the Senegalese border. Cutting has exploded since 2015. According to statistics from CITES, Mali is the third-largest supplier of timber to China, after Sierra Leone and the Gambia.

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From left, Catherine Barnes, MS Design Teacher, Mikka Meyers, MS Language Arts and Literature Teacher, Canon Montgomery, and his parents, Porter and Scott Montgomery.

Canon Montgomery, an eighth-grade student at Boulder Country Day School in Gunbarrel, was recognized by the SIFMA Foundation as the Fall 2021 State Champion for Colorado in the InvestWrite competition.

InvestWrite is the culminating activity of The Stock Market Game, an online game in which students invest and manage a hypothetical $100,000 portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and cash. For the Fall 2021 competition, students researched and determined an investment portfolio based on a prompt to predict the future and then wrote an essay describing the reasoning of their portfolio choices.

Montgomery chose to focus on the future of the wind turbine industry, beating out thousands of other students competing in the middle school division.

Facilitated by The SIFMA Foundation and its volunteer judges, this nationwide essay competition bridges classroom learning in math, social studies, and language arts with the practical research and knowledge required for saving, investing and long-term planning.

BCD teachers Catherine Barnes, Design Teacher, and Mikka Meyer, Language and Literature Teacher, combined efforts to assign and inspire their students through the InvestWrite challenge, submitting those essays they felt were the best to the competition. Barnes and Meyer were honored alongside Montgomery by the SIFMA Foundation during a virtual presentation held at BCD on March 31, 2022.

Montgomery was surprised to hear of his winning and was presented with the State Champion trophy in front of all his schoolmates during a Middle School Townhall at Boulder Country Day.
This house in Quiet Retreat was built by a family from Ukraine in 1931.

The area around in and around Niwot, known as the Left Hand Valley, has deep agricultural roots dating back to the late 1800s in the early settlement days of Colorado

Pioneer families such as the Caywoods, Williamses and the Goulds turned the prairie land into productive soils, producing wheat, sugar beets, and alfalfa. Many farms started alongside the nearby railroads and Niwot became a farming town, even having it;s own dairy and creamery.

Many homes were built on farmland in the early 1900s, including the beautiful farm house at 7007 Quiet Retreat in Niwot, which was originally on farmer John Guess White's 160-acre patent, issued in 1897, according to a cultural resource inventory completed in 2005 by the Colorado Historical Society.

The land was sold to Anton Fladung in 1917. Fladung had emigrated from Poninskoi, Russia in 1908, moving to Kansas and later to Colorado. Many Germans living in Russia's Ukraine province emigrated to Colorado and became railroad workers and farmhands, and were

instrumental in the growth of the sugarbeet industry. The home was built on the property in 1931, according to county records.

A 1994 cultural resources survey notes that Idell Leinweber, a longtime Niwot resident, "remembers visiting one of the Fladung girls and getting a tour of the main floor. The entire family lived in the basement of the house. The main floor was only for show, much like the parlors of early homes that were only used for company visits."

Descendants of Anton Fladung farmed the land through the 1970s, according to the survey. Portions of the land were later sold to the St. Vrain Valley School District and the Niwot Sanitation District, with the remainder of the property platted into a subdivision in 1995.

Today the home is a beautiful 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom farmhouse with a wood burning fireplace, on a 1.3 acre lot, still zoned for agricultural use. As the world is in turmoil with the Russia/Ukraine crisis, it is comforting to know that Niwot was as welcoming a hundred years ago as it is today.
THE UL Hospitals group has welcomed the suspension of today's scheduled strike action by members of the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association.

The MLSA, which is in dispute with the HSE over pay and career progression, has suspended the third day of its planned industrial action after accepting an invitation to attend the Labour Court for exploratory talks.

MLSA General Secretary Terry Casey said the Union will enter the Labour Court process in good faith and with commitment to resolving the severe recruitment and retention issues in the laboratory sector.

The MLSAs Executive Committee met (yesterday afternoon) and has agreed to accept the Labour Courts invitation. We will remain focused on what is required to achieve a sustainable work structure for Medical Scientists, patients and the Irish health service.

Services at all six of of UL Hospital's sites - in Limerick, Ennis and Nenagh - were impacted yesterday and on May 18 during the first two days of the Industrial action and there will be some further disruption today.

Commenting on the suspension, a spokesperson for ULHG said: "We are currently making every effort to reinstate as many procedures as possible in University Hospital Limerick, University Maternity Hospital Limerick, and Ennis, Nenagh, St John's and Croom Orthopaedic Hospitals. Patients should follow the most recent communication they have received in relation to their appointment."

UL Hospitals says all GP laboratory services will operate as normal today and that it is working to reschedule all procedures and appointments which have been impacted to date.
Availability of over 10,000 places on further and higher education courses under the Springboard Plus (Springboard+) initiative has been announced.

The news came today (Wednesday May 25) from the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, who confirmed a total of 10,697 places on 275 courses at institutions across Ireland.

Springboard+ courses are from Level 6 (certificate) to Level 9 (masters) on the National Framework of Qualifications and are delivered by public and private higher education providers around the country.

Minister Harris said, "As we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and in the current economic climate, where new technologies and business practices are on the rise and issues such as climate change must be urgently addressed, lifelong learning is essential to ensure employability, meet societal needs and enable personal fulfilment.

"Upskilling is important for everyone in employment, regardless of their occupation or current skill levels. Springboard+ and the graduate conversion courses under the Human Capital Initiative are a key part of the governments strategy to ensure we are planning for the future skills needs of our economy, which is critical to delivering on our ambitions as a nation."

Today, we are announcing over 10,500 free higher education courses under the Springboard+ 2022.



These courses are in areas of growth including health innovation, retail and creative industries.



Log onto https://t.co/tNj35yngj0 for further details pic.twitter.com/AacNYydgk4  Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) May 25, 2022

The courses are in areas of new and emerging technologies, including cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, climate and sustainability, construction, energy, health innovation, logistics, online retail and creative industries.

Now in its twelfth year, almost 100,000 people have benefitted from the Springboard programme to date.

Funding for the programme is allocated from the National Training Fund on an annual basis, with 41.4 million ringfenced for Springboard+ for the calendar year 2022.

Over 330 million has been spent on Springboard+ since 2011.

Minister of State for Skills and Further Education, Niall Collins, also commented on the news and said, "Springboard+ training programmes provide people who are unemployed, those looking to return to the workforce and those in employment with a great opportunity to upskill or reskill in areas in which employers need skilled workers.

"I am particularly pleased that courses provided under Springboard+ 2022 will continue to be delivered in a flexible manner, in excess of 95% of the courses will be delivered in a flexible format which will enable more people to engage in upskilling and reskilling around the country."

Courses are free for people who are unemployed, previously self-employed and returning to the workforce.

Courses are also free for employed people on NFQ Level 6 courses. For employed participants on courses NFQ level 7 to 9, 90% of the course fee is funded by the state, with students required to contribute just 10% of the fee.

Applications will open this afternoon and a helpline for applicants will be available on 1800 303523 from early June.
Irelands social protection minister said there should be no one in the country who cannot put bread on the table, but refused to commit to any further supports before the budget.

Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys said she understood householders and families are struggling with the rise in cost of living, and urged those in difficulty to contact their local welfare officer.

The Government has refused to confirm whether it will bring in further measures to help relieve the financial pressure on families and householders before Octobers budget.

Last week, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said the Government is working on proposals to target the rising cost of childcare and public transport.

Mr Varadkar said there are areas in the cost-of-living crisis where the Government can do more.

Ms Humphreys said she will speak to stakeholders next month about how the government can target those who are most in need.

Of course as Minister for Social Protection Im always going to be looking for support and as I said the budget will target those who are most in need, she said on Wednesday.

For people who find themselves in really difficult circumstances, we have the Urgent Needs Payments.

That is the states safety net for anybody that finds themselves in difficulty.

There should be nobody in this country that cant put bread on the table.

The social protection office is there to help you.

Thats what we want to do and if anybody has difficulty, go to the local community welfare officer and I really want to get that message out there.

Thats what were here to do. Were here to help people.

The government has come under pressure to bring in more measures to help people who are struggling with higher prices of food, transport and general day-to-day living costs.

Ms Humphreys said the government has invested two billion in supports since February.

We know that its difficult out there and we know that people are facing choices, choices that they have to make in terms of their income, she added.

We have brought in a lot of supports. In terms of my own department we brought in that 125 euro lump sum last March for the fuel allowance, and only last week we paid another 100 euros in a lump sum for the fuel allowance.

We have the 200 euro electricity credit and then of course the reduction in the cost of the diesel and the excise duty on the diesel and on the petrol.

We have done a lot and well certainly be looking at this as we start now to prepare for the budget in October.

She added: I know its difficult, certainly but what Im saying for specific instances where people are find themselves in huge difficulty, the community welfare officer is there.
Dolans Presents are reporting a huge demand for this years Live at the Docklands concert series which returns to Limerick this June Bank Holiday weekend.

US chart-toppers The National have sold-out their Limerick date. Jenny Greene and the RTE Concert Orchestra and Limericks own Hermitage Green complete the line-up for the concert series with limited tickets still available.

Developed by Dolans Presents, Live at the Docklands will be hosted on Limerick Docks. The events will be hosted in a specially erected Marquee with a capacity for up to 4,000 people.

First developed in 2019, the eagerly awaited Live at the Docklands event was put on hold due to Covid-19 but is once again set to firmly become one of the key annual dates in Limericks event calendar.

Speaking this morning, Mick Dolan said: Dolans Presents have always strived to be more ambitious when it comes to the planning of large-scale events that put the city on the map.

The introduction of Live at the Docklands in 2019 was warmly welcomed and supported by Limerick audiences. Covid-19 put a hold on plans for the past two years but we are now ready to present the next phase of this series. We have invested heavily in our programming and are determined to continue to develop our off-site production spaces under the brand of Dolans Presents.

Working closely with Shannon Foynes Port Company, Dolans Presents have once again identified the area of Limerick Docks located just off Atlas Avenue as a location for the Live at the Docklands series.

2FM's Jenny Greene and the RTE Concert Orchestra play Live at the Docklands in Limerick on June 3rd along with some very special guests. The collaboration has gained a reputation for giving fans an unparalleled live experience. They debuted on the Rankin's Wood stage at Electric Picnic in 2016, with the DJ and the 48-piece orchestra featuring live performances of 90s club classics.

The event was one of the highlights of the 2019 Live at the Docklands series playing to a sell-out Limerick audience.

Hermitage Green, one of the most successful bands to emerge out of Limerick in recent years complete the Live at the Docklands series playing one of their biggest capacity venues on June 4th.

We believe Live at the Docklands has the potential to grow substantially in the coming years, Mick Dolan added.

With good planning, programming and marketing we are determined to develop the Live at the Docklands concept into one that becomes an annual event that attracts significant audiences to Limerick from across the country are further afield, Mick Dolan added.

Limited tickets for Jenny Greene and the RTE Concert Orchestra on June 3rd, and Hermitage Green on June 4th are still available and can be purchased now from www.dolans.ie. Early booking is advised to avoid disappointment.

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The government's wheat procurement dropped by 53% so far in the 2022-23 marketing year as compared to the year-ago period due to aggressive buying by private players for export purposes, reported PTI , quoting officials.

According to the news agency, wheat procurement by government agencies has remained lower in all key growing states of Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The Punjab government's procurement of wheat fell to 96 lakh tonnes so far, when compared with 132 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

Similarly, wheat procurement in Haryana declined to 40 lakh tonnes from 84 lakh tonnes, while that of Madhya Pradesh dropped to 42 lakh tonnes from 118 lakh tonnes during the comparable period.

In Uttar Pradesh, wheat procurement fell sharply to 2.64 lakh tonnes in the 2022-23 marketing year against 33 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

In the case of Rajasthan, procurement was just 1,010 tonnes compared to 16 lakh tonnes in the comparable period, the sources added.

The rabi marketing year runs from April to March but the bulk of procurement ends by June. An all-time high of 433.44 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured in the previous marketing year. However, only 182 lakh tonnes of wheat have been procured by the government so far this year.

On 13 May, the government banned wheat exports to control price rise. It announced some relaxation to its order last week following much criticism.

The government said that wherever wheat consignments have been handed over to Customs for examination and registered into their systems on or before 13 May, such consignments would be allowed for export.

It also allowed a wheat consignment headed for Egypt, which was already under loading at the Kandla port.

Wheat production is estimated to decline to 106.41 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June) from a record 109.59 million tonnes in the previous year, as per the third estimate of the agriculture ministry.

With inputs from agencies.
It has been less than a decade since 26 people, most of them children, were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary, and barely 10 days since the last major U.S. mass shooting made national news in Buffalo. And now, yet again, the nation faces the senseless deaths of a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. At least 19 children and two adults were killed on Tuesday in a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, according to the Associated Press.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott identified the shooter as Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old man who lived in Uvalde. According to Abbott, Ramos entered the school with a handgun and possibly a rifle. Despite previous reports to the contrary, authorities say Ramos was not wearing any body armor, but was wearing a plate carrier vest.

JUST IN: Gov. Greg Abbott gives an update on the school shooting in Uvalde. INFO: https://t.co/rhVwftZh2Y pic.twitter.com/4JSRU5FQlR  CBS Austin (@cbsaustin) May 24, 2022

The shooter drove up to the school  which educates second, third, and fourth graders  at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time, crashing his car in a nearby ditch. He got out of the car with his weapons. Thats when he attempted to enter the school, where he was engaged by law enforcement. And unfortunately he was able to enter the premises. And then from there, thats when he entered several classrooms and started shooting, Estrada told CNN.

Hours after the shooting, some parents were still unable to locate their children. Help me find my baby, wrote Jennifer Lugo with three crying emojis as news broke about the shooting. If anyone hears or sees anything please let me know, she later added, posting a photo of her daughter, Ellie, smiling in a lilac t-shirt, in a photo taken earlier in the day. Everyone is telling to check places I cant leave !!!!! Please HELPPPPP !!! Ryan Ramirez said he was attempting to locate his daughter. I called all the hospitals and nothing, he said in a Facebook post. Speaking to ABC News, Father Brandon Elrod stated hed been searching for his 10-year-old daughter for hours. She may not be alive, he said, holding back tears. This is just evil, Rey Chapa, an uncle to one of the school children, told the New York Times Im afraid Im going to know a lot of these kids that were killed.

By early evening, one adult victim of the shooting at Robb Elementary had been identified as fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles, 44. Its all just hitting me. Its crazy, Johnny Delgado, Mireles cousin, told Rolling Stone. She was the most outgoing and generous person, always happy. Shed do anything for all the kids she taught and all my little cousins and nieces and nephews.

On Tuesday evening, President Joe Biden issued a call for Congress to pass commonsense gun legislation while addressing the nation from the White House upon returning from a trip to Asia. When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? said the president. He added: Its the time to turn this pain into action. For every parent, for every citizen of this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country, its time to act. Its time for those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget. We can do so much more  we have to do more. Biden also ordered flags flown at half-staff at the White House and other public buildings until May 28 as a mark of respect for the victims of Tuesdays shootings.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) laid the groundwork for future votes on two pieces of legislation that would strengthen background checks for gun purchases. The bills passed the House last March, and Tuesdays move would allow the bills to go straight to the floor for a Senate-wide vote. The effort is unlikely to pass, however, unless Democrats reform the filibuster, a tool Republicans have used to stymie gun control measures in the past.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has said he supports the legislation but is not willing to amend the filibuster to pass it.

 William Luther/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA May 24, 2022, Uvalde, Texas, USA: Law enforcement officials work Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at Uvalde High School after a shooting was reported earlier in the day at nearby Robb Elementary School.  William Luther/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA

During a press conference on Tuesday evening, Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief of Police Pete Arredondo said there is no other suspect in the killing, and that the presumed sole shooter is dead. CISD Superintendent Dr. Hal Harrell said that counseling would be available and that the district has canceled school for the rest of the year.

The Newtown Action Alliance, the gun-violence prevention organization that launched after 20 children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, issued a statement saying, We are devastated. Our hearts are breaking for Robb Elementary & Uvalde families & community. We are angry. These shootings are preventable but those whose stood with the NRA after Sandy Hook nearly 10 years ago did absolutely nothing to prevent these tragedies. We need change.

A representative for the Uvalde Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

Uvalde CISD issued an alert on Twitter of an active shooter at Robb Elementary at around 12:15 p.m. local time. Law enforcement is on site, the district said, adding a couple hours later that students were being taken to a nearby civic center to be reunited with their parents.

Uvalde, a town with a majority Latino population and near the border, has had numerous Border Patrol agents participating in the investigation.

The Robb Elementary shooting occurred three days before the National Rifle Associations annual meeting is scheduled to launch in Houston, Texas. Gov. Abbott is slated to be among the speakers, along with former President Donald Trump, Texas two senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, as well as Dan Crenshaw, the rep for the states second congressional district.

The Uvalde mass shooting comes just 10 days after 10 people were killed in Buffalo at a supermarket, in what authorities said was a racially-motivated incident. The Buffalo killings marked the 198th mass shooting in the U.S. and at that time was the deadliest of 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Updated: May 24, 10:46 p.m. ET

Additional reporting by Ryan Bort and Kara Voght
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Douglas Carter Beane, the Tony Award-nominated playwright behind The Nance and The Little Dog Laughed, has signed with Verve for representation in all areas.

Beane is one of the most prolific and celebrated writers in the theater business, having seen many of his works produced to great acclaim both on and off Broadway. He has moved seamlessly between genres and subject matter, from straight plays to musicals, often injecting a drawing-room wit and sophistication into the material.

Beanes plays include As Bees in Honey Drown, The Closet, Shows for Days, Mr. & Mrs. Fitch, The Country Club and Music From a Sparkling Planet. The Little Dog Laughed, a send-up of Hollywood and show business, earned a Tony Award nomination for best play in 2007.

As a book writer of musicals, Beane has received four Tony Award nominations, having been recognized for his contributions to the Broadway revival of Rodgers & Hammersteins Cinderella, as well as for the Broadway shows Sister Act, Xanadu and Lysistrata Jones. In addition, he won the Drama Desk Award for outstanding book of a musical for Xanadu, a stage musical adaptation of the 1980 cult film of the same name.

Beane continues to be represented by The Gotham Group and attorney Stephen Breimer.

Formed in August 2020 under veteran theater agent Chris Till, Verves theater group has grown, despite the ongoing pandemic, to represent the likes of Tony Award-winning writers Greg Morrison (The Drowsy Chaperone), Nick Stafford (War Horse), Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann (Urinetown, The Sting), and Tony Award-winning director John Doyle (Sweeney Todd, The Color Purple). Following Tills hire, Verve continued their expansion in New York with the hire of publishing agent Noah Ballard and podcast agent Elise Bergerson.

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Michael Lebowitz has been hired as head of development and production for Maroon Visions, the independent production company founded by antiracist scholar and author Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.

Im enthusiastic to welcome Michael to Maroon Visions and partner with him to free the narrative, Kendi said. Hes an uber talented and courageous champion of creators and stories that historically have not been championed. I look forward to working alongside him to make gripping television and film that transforms minds and societies.

In his role, Lebowitz will be responsible for sourcing, packaging and pitching new ideas for television, film and documentary productions, with a focus on finding stories centering marginalized communities. He will also begin overseeing projects currently in development at Maroon Visions, including a Netflix documentary feature and an ESPN+ series in pre-production. He will be based out of Los Angeles. Maroon Visions is currently under a first-look deal with Boat Rocker,

Lebowitz joins Marron Visions after having served as director of original series at 21 Laps. During his tenure there, he sold the Unsolved Mysteries revival series to Netflix, as well as other shows such as I Am Not Okay with This and The Future Of. Previously, Lebowitz worked at The Firm, APA and CBS Studios, and got his start as a production assistant on Shark Tank.

Kendi first established Maroon Visions last year, as a production banner focused on centering marginalized people experiences through television and film. The company currently has a first-look deal with independent company Boat Rocker to develop and produce projects for television.

Kendi and Maroon Visions are represented by WME.

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The audience at the Cannes Film Festival was trembling for Austin Butler as the King in Baz Luhrmanns world premiere of Elvis.

The film received an uproarious 12-minute standing ovation, the longest of this years festival so far.

As the the cheers went on and on, a teary-eyed Butler hugged an equally-emotional Priscilla Presley, who flew to the South of France to give her blessing for the movie about her late husband.

The Warner Bros. musical drama had Cannes spontaneously erupting into applause as Butler recreated some of Presleys greatest hits including Jailhouse Rock, Blue Suede Shoes and Suspicious Minds.

Elvis is one of the biggest titles to screen at Cannes, with a star-studded carpet that included Sharon Stone, Shakira, Kylie Minogue, Diplo, Jeremy O. Harris and Italian rock band Maneskin.

It wasnt only celebrity power lighting up the red carpet, either: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav ditched his Sun Valley uniform of chinos and tech vests and cleaned up in black tie  slicking his hair behind the ear, perhaps as an homage to the King. The mogul walked the stairs with super producer Gail Berman, who shepherded Luhrmanns latest, and was seated in the auditorium beside Butlers girlfriend, model Kaia Gerber. Warner Bros. Pictures Group boss Toby Emmerich was also part of the executive group on the ground.

At the films lush after-party, Zaslav was taken aback by the reception to the film. He told Variety that the evening prior, Butler screened the film for the first time, with girlfriend Gerber, and both were in tears.

The audience at the Palais was particularly enamored with actor Alton Mason, who plays Little Richard. In an earlier scene where Presley parties with fellow legend BB King, newcomer Mason dazzled with a performance of Tutti Frutti, complete with acrobatic dance moves. Mason, who began as a model and dancer, earned mid-screening applause.

With the audience still on its feet, Luhrmann hugged his cast members and was clearly moved by the audiences warm reception of Elvis. Taking the mike while brushing tears from his eyes, he recalled his first experience in Cannes for Strictly Ballroom.

Ive had a bit of an epiphany because 30 years ago, my wife and I made a little film called Strictly Ballroom, but on our film we had one exhibitor who gave us one screen, and he saw the film and he left before it finished and said, That is the worst film I have ever seen and you have ruined the career of [Pat Thomson], who played the mother.

Continued Luhrmann: Anyway, we went up the coast and I had very long hair and we were staying in a trailer park and I was saying, This film thing is never going to work out, so I started shaving my hair off. And I got a call on the telephone and it was a French man, and I was holding a tin bucket above my head because the night before someone had been killed by a coconut that fell out of a tree. And on the phone, a voice said, Hello, my name is [former festival director] Pierre Rissient, I am from the Cannes Film Festival, and we have seen your film and we would like to offer you a 12 oclock screening in the PalaisAnd at the end of the [screening in Cannes], I remember a security guard came overand he grabbed me and said, Monsieur, from this moment, your life will never be the same again.'

As he embraced current festival director Thierry Fremaux, Luhrmann said that when COVID hit and Elvis was shut down, it felt like it was never going to happen.

But for the bravery of [Tom Hanks] to come back, and the bravery of this cast and this crew to go on through COVID and to finish this film, and we are back in Cannes, and to see these streets so full of people who love movies, of every form of life and every background and every kind of movie, theres so much more about what this place means and what it means to be back in the cinema. And for that, we are eternally grateful, Cannes. All I can say is: Merci beaucoup, merci beaucoup, merci beaucoup.

Luhrmanns films are often over-the-top and extravagant affairs, which is exactly the vibe Warner Bros. brought to the directors Elvis world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The studio surprised premiere attendees with a concert on the beach following the films debut screening.

Luhrmann introduced guest DJ Diplo, who debuted an original song from the Elvis soundtrack featuring Swae Lee and Butler. Italian glam rock band and Eurovision winner Maneskin also performed its single from the soundtrack at the Majestic beach club bash, where Butler and Gerber danced the night away.

Also present at the party was an ambassador from the Walt Disney Company, Peter Rice, chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content. He tipped his hat to Warner Bros. and likened the film to an aria.

The performance was preceded by an electrifying drone show with lights outlining Elvis figure, name and motto TCB, accompanied by music.

Elvis marks Luhrmanns first feature directorial effort since 2013s The Great Gatsby, which also world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Butler stars in the title role opposite Tom Hanks as Elvis infamous manager Colonel Tom Parker; Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla; recent The Power of the Dog Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee as country legend Jimmie Rodgers; Yola Quartey as Sister Rosetta Tharpe; and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as B.B. King.

Prior to the Elvis world premiere at Cannes, the movie earned rave reviews from three of the music icons family members: Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley, and granddaughter Riley Keough. Lisa Marie called the film nothing short of spectacular, adding, Austin channeled and embodied my fathers heart and soul beautifully. In my humble opinion, his performance is unprecedented and finally done accurately and respectfully. If he doesnt get an Oscar for this, I will eat my own foot.

Keough told Variety at Cannes that she started crying within the first five minutes of watching Elvis, adding: I could feel how much work Baz and Austin put into trying to get it right. That made me emotional immediatelyI felt honored they worked so hard to really get his essence, to feel his essence. Austin captured that so beautifully.

Warner Bros. is opening Elvis in U.S. theaters on June 24. The film joined Top Gun: Maverick as the two Hollywood tentpoles to world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

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Indian actor Jackie Shroff (Sooryavanshi) will play the lead in Singapore-France-India co-production Slow Joe, it was revealed at the Cannes Film Market.

Shroff will play the late Indian musician Joseph Manuel Da Rocha, known as Slow Joe, a former heroin addict and drug dealer who was born in Mumbai, was disowned by his family, heartbroken at 50 and who moved to Goa and cleaned up. On a trip to Goa in 2007, Lyon-based French musician Cedric de la Chapelle met Joe, now a frail 64-year-old who was making ends meet as a hotel room broker. Joe, also a poet and musician, sang for de la Chapelle, who was captivated by his voice and recorded some of his a cappella songs.

Back in France, de la Chapelle played Joes songs for music producer Olivier Boccon-Gibod of Horizon Musiques, who was also entranced. Over trips to Goa, de la Chapelle and Joe set up the music group Slow Joe & The Ginger Accident. The songs arranged by the group were played for Jean-Louis Brossard, director of the Transmusicales, one of the biggest French music festivals, at Rennes. As a result, Joe went to France and the group performed at the 2009 Transmusicales, which was a big success.

In 2011, Slow Joe & The Ginger Accident released their first album Sunny Side Up, and the success of the album was reflected by a sell-out tour of France, followed by Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium and India. In 2014, when Joe was 71, a second album, Lost for Love, was released to critical acclaim. By early 2016, the group had performed at over 250 concerts. In May 2016, when Joe was 73, he had a fatal heart attack. Let Me Be Gone, the groups third album was released posthumously, in Feb. 2017.

The project will be an English, French and Konkani language biopic produced by Sreyashii Sengupta for Darpan Global (Singapore) and co-produced by de la Chapelle and Boccon-Gibod for Horizon (France). Olivier Rohde, who has production manager credits on French blockbusters The Intouchables and Heartbreaker, will serve as executive producer via his company Filming France alongside Souvikk Dasgupta for Oriizon Global (India). The project is seeking another French co-producer and is looking to attach a French director.

Shroff said: Slow Joe was the humblest of men but he was the richest: he made freedom his treasure. He is an extraordinary and inspiring character, and his music and life lived, immediately touched my heart.

Sengupta said: A film like Slow Joe comes once in a lifetime just like the man himself. While I never met Joe, as Ive delved into his life through the experiences of Olivier and Cedric I have grown to love and adore a man who was one with the Universe. Uninhibited and with an intensity that can engulf the senses through his life and his voice. I am positive this film will be a winner across borders just like Joe was.

De la Chapelle said: The first time I met Slow Joe in Goa in 2007, I wanted to introduce him to all my friends. This movie is about bringing the amazing man he was to the world.

Boccon-Gibod commented: Slow Joe was a gift to all who knew him. I was lucky to produce his music. Now we want to share his strong presence and soul with everyone through the film. And this international collaboration, led by Darpan Global in Singapore, is the apt symbol for a man who has always been borderless.

Rohde said: As the French executive producer for such an empathetic film like Slow Joe I see it as a chance and positive challenge just like I did for The Intouchables and Heartbreaker.'

Dasgupta added: Slow Joe touched hearts and so will the film. One of the most moving stories that travels from India to France through music and about a man who just wanted to sing through his soul. Such a film was just waiting to be made, especially now when the world needs stories of hope and positivism.

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Matthew McConaughey has issued a statement responding to news of a mass shooting at an elementary school in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas. The massacre has left at least 19 students and two adults dead, with several more being treated in local hospitals for injuries sustained during the incident.

The actor offered a response on Tuesday evening through social media, extending his prayers to those impacted by the tragedy and calling Americans to action to combat the epidemic of gun violence.

As you all are aware there was another mass shooting today, this time in my home town of Uvalde, Texas, McConaugheys statement begins. Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us.

The true call to action now is for every American to take a longer and deeper look in the mirror, and ask ourselves, What is it that we truly value? How do we repair the problem? What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state, and neighborhood tomorrow? McConaughey continues. We cannot exhale once again, make excuses and accept these tragic realties as the status quo.

While McConaugheys statement did not explicitly join the reignited wave of calls for stricter gun control legislation in the U.S., the actor calls the countrys recurring news of mass shootings an epidemic we can control.

Whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better, the statement continues. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured.

A screen actor for more than three decades, McConaughey had considered a campaign in Texas gubernatorial race last year before ultimately deciding against running for political office. McConaughey had never declared whether he would run for office with a particular political party or as an independent.

President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Tuesday night regarding the Uvalde, Texas shooting, saying that there have been over 900 incidents of gunfire reported on school grounds I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And dont tell me we cant have an impact on this carnage.

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Olivia Rodrigo surprised fans by bringing out Alanis Morissette on Tuesday night during her first of two shows at Los Angeles Greek Theatre.

The duo sang Morissettes 1995 hit You Oughta Know from her debut album Jagged Little Pill, with Morissette taking the first verse and Rodrigo belting out the second. It was a slap in the face/ How quickly I was replaced/ And are you thinking of me when you fuck her? Rodrigo sang as she danced around with Morissette before launching into the songs famed chorus together.

Alanis Morissette joins Olivia Rodrigo on stage in L.A. to perform You Oughta Know. #sourtour pic.twitter.com/PR5WU3CcqO  Variety (@Variety) May 25, 2022

Thats truly the craziest thing that ever happened to me, Rodrigo said after the performance. Shes such an angel.

Rodrigo has somewhat mirrored the beginning of Morissettes career, with both reaching meteoric fame in their late teenage years and being open about heartbreak in their songwriting. The two have connected on those topics, even interviewing each other for a Rolling Stone cover last year. Morissette isnt the first guest Rodrigo has brought out during her tour  in Toronto, Avril Lavigne joined the 19-year-old on stage to sing her 2002 hit Complicated.

During Tuesday nights show, Rodrigo also spoke out about the elementary school shooting in Texas. Though Im so excited to be here tonight, Im so, so devastated about the shooting that happened in Texas today. We should never have to worry about our safety or our lives in places that are dedicated to our learning and growing. Im so heartbroken that this is the reality were living in, and we need stricter gun control laws.

During her L.A. concert, Olivia Rodrigo advocates for stricter gun control in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting: Im so heartbroken that this is the reality that were living in. https://t.co/uatO1Q5GEv pic.twitter.com/3pmj0ZzOE1  Variety (@Variety) May 25, 2022

Rodrigo is in the midst of her first-ever tour after releasing debut album Sour in May of last year. Catapulting off the success of her first single Drivers License, Sour is certified triple-platinum and awarded the singer three Grammy awards in April.

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SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched Us, they May 24 series finale episode of This Is Us.

Though the series finale of This Is Us gave fans a chance to say goodbye to almost every member of the extended Pearson family in some way or another, Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown) played the most pivotal part of any character in the shows final installment.

In the future timeline set on the day of Rebeccas (Mandy Moore) funeral, Randall was finding out hes going to have a grandson by his daughter Deja, who plans to name the baby William after Randalls biological father (played by Ron Cephas Jones), making the decision along with his wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) that he will run for President of the United States, and promising his siblings Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) they will all stay connected.

In the past, Randalls younger self (Lonnie Chavis) and Kevin learn to shave from his father Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) on a lazy day in, and little Randall looking at Jack, as Jack looks at his family, is the last frame of the entire series. That shot comes immediately after one of older Randall watching his whole family spending time together after Rebeccas funeral.

Variety spoke with Brown about shooting the final episode, where it leaves Randall, and why he thinks This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman chose to focus a large portion of the ending on his characters future.

What was it like seeing that scene between you and Ron Cephas Jones as William that was filmed back in Season 1 and banked for the finale?

Watching it as an actor was like, Oh, my God, we shot that Season 1. It sort of, like, took my breath away and made me appreciate this dude named Fogelman all that much more in that he was able to find a way and a theme to incorporate that scene that made sense. Theres this continuation of life and William fits into that as well; he was the grandfather for his children and now hes gone. And now Randall is about to be the grandfather for his daughter, who didnt even get a chance to meet William, but she knew him because she knows me. I feel that sometimes when I look at my children, Im like, I know you guys have never met my dad, but youve met me. So in some shape or form or fashion, you have met him. It just goes back to [Kevins] whole painting thing again, and how everybody imprints upon your life, and even though they are physically gone, their imprint is still there.

What was your reaction to the news that Randall is having a grandson?

Im so happy for that dude. It was something he was sort of excited about when they were first looking to adopt. And the research that we did found its an easier transition bringing someone in of the same sex than bringing someone of the opposite sex because your natural-born children could have this feeling, if theyre both of the same sex, that maybe Dad feels incomplete in us and that he needed something in a boy. So it was actually in their research, which Randall and Beth obviously did, that this was actually a more seamless transition, in terms of us opening up our family. So I was so excited for him. And I think it was something in the air. Dan just had a little boy, Mandy just had a little boy, Chris Sullivan just had a little boy. How great would it be for this real-life father of two boys, TV-dad of three girls to finally have a little testosterone in the crib. I was very excited.

Randall tells his siblings he and Beth are deciding if theyll go for the deep-fried Oreos at the Iowa State Fair, a clear indication hes considering running for president and meeting with the key players in the midwest that could help him get elected and the Democratic National Committee. What did you think of the end of Randalls journey being a bid for the presidential race, and do you think hell win that election?

The arc is really exciting for someone who has always wanted to be of service. Specifically to the Black community, but I think hes the kind of person who just cares about people and peoples well-being. So that type of person occupying public office in the highest office encourages me because I think he is relatively egoless. Relatively. It still takes a little bit of chutzpah to say, I should run this country. Thats probably just a healthy sense of self, and an appropriate one in the case of Randall. Not one that Sterling K. Brown shared, not a job I want by any stretch of the imagination. But for Randall Pearson, that excites me. Do I think hell win? He had that conversation with his mom where he said, If I run for Senate, and if I win, I dont know where itll end. And she said, I know exactly where it would end. So I have hope that the people at the Iowa State Fair may take a shine to this quirky, yet charismatic dude and recognize that he has the best intentions of the country at heart. I would like to say, yes. Id like to say yes and if, somewhere down the road, we happen to revisit the Pearson family in some shape or form or fashion, well get a chance to find out the answer to that question firsthand.

The finale has a large focus on Randall, including the final frame being Young Randall looking at Jack in the past. Why do you think Randall was the key member of the Big Three for the series finale?

A lot of Season 6 was about Kate and her relationship with Toby, and then finding closure in that, and then this new relationship that she has with Phillip; and then for Kevin, officially releasing Madison to find love for herself and then be like, OK, who is it that I want to share my life with now? Those were two huge storylines, and Im hoping that folks are satisfied. A lot of folks were upset about how Katoby ended, but I think knowing that theyre still a part of each others lives and that just because that relationship ended didnt mean that the love went away, hopefully folks can find some sort of solace in that. Randall, at this point in time, the nature of his relationship with his mom, and the fact that he has been the parent for the longest period of time sort of made it a fitting encapsulation of, if Jack was the patriarch of this family and its inception  even though, all respect to Miguel, but he is part of our most critical and founding moments  then Randall is sort of the patriarch in modern times. Even though Kevin has his kids now, Randalls been doing it for a little bit longer to the point where he can now have a grandchild. I think thematically, his storyline and the space that he occupies in the family sort of helps to bring the fullness of the circle of life into realization for the show. He is watching his mother pass away, as he is also watching his daughter in the presence of baking and cooking and creating life. The dichotomy of old and new life is very present for Randall here.

What was the final scene you shot with Susan Kelechi Watson as Beth and Randall?

The last worst-case scenario was the last scripted scene, which Susan kills. Literally had me crying from laughing so hard. That was the last scripted scene. Then the last scene between us was at the funeral house, and Randall is sitting by himself and he looks about to exit, and his wife is waiting for him in the back of the church and they hold hands and they leave together. That was the last, last scene. And it was pretty fitting, because we spent a lot of time just holding hands. And any time Sterling as Randall held Sues hand as Beth, I just felt loved. And so it was a wonderful time to receive that love, saying goodbye to your mom.

What does it feel like for This Is Us to be over?

I watched Episode 618, and I cried like a baby because I thought the show was good and I thought we ended well. And thats what you hope for as somebody who remembers different series finales, fondly and otherwise, you hope to be in the category of the former. And so I had that feeling and then I had this feeling of like, its all done, Ill never get a chance to do this again. And I felt painfully sad. And I called Dan and just told him, You did it. You actually got a chance to see something through from beginning to end, and said, How do you feel? And I think he may have still had a few edits and post-production things, like VFX scenes to put in, but he said, I feel good. I got a chance to do what I wanted to do. But hes already told us, and you hear it echoed in the show, just appreciating what it is while youre still in the presence of it, so that you dont spend all your time thinking, I wish I had actually enjoyed that more. I think it made us all collectively, especially for the last four or five episodes, be like, Weve got to soak this shit in. And so I feel like we did that, and Im still real sad.

I love everybody that I got a chance to go to work with for the past six years and the story that we collectively got to tell. Theyll still be a part of my life, but not like its been. Im sad. I really am sad. I miss everybody. I miss reading his words. And as Im working on something new, I think its possible to be in two places at the same time. Like Randall was mourning his moms passing and celebrating his grandsons arrival, Im working on something else and Im so happy to be creating and putting something new into the world, and Im just plain sad that my show is over.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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The top IEFTA (Intl. Film Talent Assn.) award for docs-in-progress at the Cannes Film Markets documentary-focused industry sidebar Cannes Docs has gone to Twice Colonized by Lin Alluna.

The film was developed by the Circle Women Doc Accelerator, a training program for female-identifying documentary filmmakers.

The win marks a hat-trick for Circle since they started their partnership with Cannes Docs in 2020: previous IEFTA Docs-in-Progress Award laureates at the industry event include Beauty of the Beast by Anna Nemes, produced by Circle 2018 alumna Agnes Horvath-Szabo, and Centanni by Circle 2020 alumna Maja Prelog, produced by Rok Bicek.

Twice Colonized tells the story of renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter who has led a lifelong fight for the rights of her people. When her youngest son unexpectedly passes away, Aaju embarks on a personal journey to bring her colonizers in both Canada and Denmark to justice.

It is produced by Emile Hertling Peronard for Anorak Film (Greenland/Denmark) in co-production with Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Stacey Aglok MacDonald for Red Marrow Media (Nunavut, Canada) and Bob Moore for EyeSteelFilm (Canada).

Receiving the award, Alluna thanked the Circle team and her films main character: I want to thank Aaju, a lawyer and activist who generously shares her life story and bares her soul for us to learn from her. We hope you will be inspired by her like we are.

Handing out the prize, jury member Gugi Gumilang, executive director at In-Docs, said: The project really struck a chord with the jury for its outstanding empathetic storytelling as it explores a strong woman who wants to change herself and the world. The film walks an emotional tightrope and asks us broader questions around our culpability in systems of inequality.

Each year, Cannes Docs partners with leading festivals and organizations from around the world to showcase a selection of docs-in-progress for industry decision makers at the Cannes Film Market.

The eight showcases this year were presented by the New Zealand Film Commission; Telefilm Canada, in partnership with Hot Docs and the Montreal Intl. Documentary Festival; Docudays UA in cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute; the Circle Women Doc Accelerator; Scandinavian Films, the umbrella organization of the Danish Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation, Icelandic Film Center, Norwegian Film Institute and Swedish Film Institute; the Palestine Film Institute; Japan Docs in partnership with Toyko Docs; and Chiledoc, financed by ProChile and the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage.

At a special ceremony earlier in the day, Doc Alliance, the network bringing together seven of Europes leading documentary film festivals  CPH:DOX (Denmark), Doclisboa (Portugal), DOK Leipzig (Germany), FIDMarseille (France), Ji.hlava IDFF (Czech Republic), Millennium Docs Against Gravity (Poland) and Visions du Reel (Switzerland)  announced the winners of its 15th Doc Alliance Awards.

Winners were A Night of Knowing Nothing, the debut feature of Indian director Payal Kapadia, which won last years Golden Eye for best documentary in Cannes, and In the Billowing Night by Erika Etangsale for best short. Both were nominated by the Intl. Film Festival Marseille. Special Mention went to The Eclipse by Natasa Urban, nominated by CPH:DOX, where it picked up the top Dox:Award this year.

The DAE (Documentary Association of Europe) Award went to Listening to the World by Yelizaveta Smith, part of the Ukraine Showcase.

It tells the story of Iva, who hears nothing of the world around her because of a disability. An art curator and human-right activist trying to find her place in the world and make it hear her, she is forced to evacuate bombed Kharkiv when the war breaks out. She flees to Germany, where she, her son and thousands of other Ukrainians try to find peace.

Canadian doc-in-progress Yintah, by Michael Toledano, Jennifer Wickham and Brenda Michell, picked up the Think-Film Impact Award, and the Alphapanda Award went to Malqueridas by Chilean director Tana Gilbert.

The new Al Jazeera Documentary Award, which comes with a cash prize of 15,000, went to Bye Bye Tiberias by Lina Soualem, the daughter of Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass, who left her native village in Galilea to follow her acting dream in France. Camera in hand, Soualem questions her mothers bold choices and the way the women in her family have influenced her life.

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Danish-Iranian director Ali Abbasis boundary-pushing serial killer thriller Holy Spider has been acquired by U.S. sales and distribution company Utopia for North America.

Based on a real Iranian crime case, Holy Spider  which made a major splash when it premiered in the Cannes competition on Sunday  is about a family man named Saeed (Mehdi Bajestani) who becomes a serial killer as he embarks on his own religious quest to cleanse the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of street prostitutes.

Pic chronicles a killing spree in the streets of Mashhad, where 16 prostitutes were found dead from 2000 to 2001. A local journalist, Rahimi (Zar Amir-Ebrahimi), is trying to crack the case as she grows frustrated by the polices apathy toward finding the murderer. But in one of many twists in this drama, the identity of the serial killer is revealed early on  hes a war veteran, a seemingly normal family man who spends his nights picking up women on his motorcycle and brutally strangling them in his home as a religious cleansing ritual.

The film, which was shot in Jordan after being denied permission to shoot in Iran, features nudity, sex and graphic strangling scenes but not gratuitously or with an intent to provoke, simply as a way to depict events as they took place, the director has underlined.

Abbasis previous film Border won the top Un Certain Regard prize in Cannes 2018 and scored two Oscar nominations.

Holy Spider, which has been praised by critics, is produced by Sol Bondy and Jacob Jarek. Production companies are Profile Pictures and One Two Films, and the co-producers are Nordisk Film Production, Wild Bunch International, Film i Vast, Why Not Productions, ZDF/ARTE, and ARTE France Cinema.

The deal was negotiated by Danielle DiGiacomo on behalf of Utopia and CAA Media Finance and Eva Diederix on behalf of Wild Bunch International. Abbasi is represented by CAA.

Utopia is owned by Robert Schwartzman and Cole Harper. The companys recent titles include Independent Spirit Award winner Shiva Baby by Emma Seligman; Dasha Nekrasovas Berlin pic The Scary Of Sixty-First; and Cinema Eye Award winner El Planeta from Amalia Ulman.

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Courtesy/Webb County Sheriff's Office

A man has been arrested for assaulting his girlfriend with a gun and pointing the firearm at another person, according to an arrest affidavit.

Cristobal Rodriguez-Mendez, 30, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police also charged him with two counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of marijuana after authorities discovered narcotics at his residence.
Courtesy/Webb County Sheriff's Office

A man exposed the tip of his private part to a woman in public, according to the Webb County Sheriffs Office.

Arturo Breceda-Razo, 36, was arrested on the charge of indecent exposure.
In one of the most discussed races across the nation, Henry Cuellar and Jessica Cisneros still found themselves neck and neck late Wednesday night as the longtime incumbent looked poised to eke out a win and advance to November's general election.

Cuellar declared victory at around midnight on Tuesday night, although no major media outlet had yet given him the win as of Wednesday night. Cuellar had a 177-vote edge, racking up 22,694 votes to Cisneros' 22,517.

If Cuellar does officially get the nod, a big reason will be the performance of Webb County. The longtime incumbent picked up more than 3,000 votes there from the previous March election, tallying 14,305 votes compared to Cisneros' 6,548. The performance put to rest any doubts the area might have had about reelecting the lone anti-abortion Democrat in Congress in the wake of the leaked report that the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Meanwhile, Cisneros spoke at her watch party event at Ghost House Cantina Bar & Grill. She stated Tuesday night the race was still too close to call. She dominated Greater San Antonio winning nearly 86% of Bexar County and 91% of Guadalupe County.

The night was also not without some added drama. At Cuellar's gathering of local officials and supporters, one of his representatives addressed the media present at around midnight claiming that the congressman said all media could go speak to him except for Laredo Morning Times.

A different representative of Cuellar expressed his displeasure earlier in the night with LMT's story from this past weekend as it asked the FBI for official confirmation the nine-term incumbent had indeed been cleared of any wrongdoing from the January FBI raid of his home and office. The bureau refused to clear Cuellar to LMT, as the story cited that entering Election Day, the only person who had stated on the record that Cuellar was not the target of an investigation was his own lawyer, Joshua Berman.

Upon hearing that LMT would not be allowed to attend the session with Cuellar, other media members were irked by the decision and sent over all the congressman's comments in response.

In the wake of this year's close race, Cuellar compared it to his first win in 2002 against Ciro Rodriguez, which was another nail-biter.

"When I won the first time, I did win by 57 votes, so yes this is a landslide," Cuellar said. "First of all to my opponent, I wish her the best. She ran a good race, and again I think it is clear that a lot of people told us that we could not win this race, and we won this race. That's because of the good people of the 28th that stood up and said that they wanted me to go back as their member of Congress."

The congressman also said that he does not know if Cisneros will ask for a recount or any other action she may take, but he affirmed his legal team is ready for any challenge.

Cuellar and Cisneros met in March with the congressman tallying 23,552 votes and the challenger getting 22,745. As Cuellar had only 48.5% of the vote, the two went to a runoff. The third challenger at that time, another progressive candidate like Cisneros in Tannya Benavides, had 2,289 votes herself.

The official winner of the Democratic nomination will eventually advance to November's general election where they will face off with Cassy Garcia. The Republican won a runoff Tuesday by defeating Cuellar's opponent last year in Sandra Whitten.

Cuellar also commended Garcia for her victory Tuesday. He stated he has gotten to know her and considered her to be a nice individual and someone who is easy to talk with.
A very controlling woman landed behind bars after authorities said she would not allow her wife to leave the apartment, according to an arrest affidavit.

Norma Hilda Pena, 61, was arrested on the charges of assault, family violence and unlawful restraint.

At about 7:02 p.m. May 19, police responded to a report of two women hitting each other in the 500 block of East Saunders Street. On arrival, officers encountered two women in the 3700 block of Lexington Avenue. One woman, 38, was crying and appeared to be in distress. Police identified the other as Pena.

Once separated, the woman stated she and Pena have been arguing all week. She added that Pena got upset because she got a procedure done to her face.

She added that Norma (Pena) is very controlling and wants to know everything she does and everywhere she goes, states the affidavit.

The woman added that she and Pena have been together for 16 years and that they got married last year. Both agreed to meet to talk about their problems.A verbal argument escalated. When the woman tried to leave, Pena got in front of her and started to push her away from the front door because she did not want her to leave.

Multiple times she tried to leave but Pena would not allow her. Pena also took away her phone, so she was unable to call for help.

After a struggle, the woman managed to go outside the apartment. Pena then grabbed on to her and pulled her down. The woman made it to the front gate, where a person saw them in a struggle and called police.

Authorities said the complainant had redness to her chest area and a scratch to the left side of her chest. She also had bruises on her arms. She stated the scratches occurred during the struggle while the bruising occurred the day before, states the affidavit.

Pena also spoke to police. Pena stated she started arguing with her wife because she lies to her. She stated that the argument escalated when she wanted to leave. Pena stated she pushed her because she did not want her to leave, according to court documents.
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On Tuesday, Webb County residents had their final chance to vote as they participated in Election Day for the races from the primary that required runoffs.

A total of 51 people decided to run for local offices in Webb County during 2022. And during the primary election, a total of nine local offices were contested. Most of these positions were decided beforehand, but in the May runoff, eight individuals were still waiting to see their fate.
Locals once again went out to vote for the primary runoff elections, and among the recent statewide races was a Democratic showdown for State Board of Education, District 1.

After the votes came in, Melissa N. Ortega was named the victor as she pulled out the win over Laura Marquez.

Ortega finished with a 57.5% advantage tallying 31,971 votes, while Marquez had 42.5% with 23,669 votes.

Locally, Webb County also chose Ortega by nearly the same margin as unofficial results had her at 58.25% with 9,907 votes compared to Marquez at 41.72% with 7,091 votes.

I was excited, I was elated, Ortega said in a phone call Wednesday night. I was a little bit relieved to get to this part but Im also ready for the challenge to go on to the general election. I feel a huge sense of responsibility to all of the constituents and my family and friends and educators all over.

Her victory in the primary though came on the day of a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde which left 21 dead including 19 children.

Uvalde is in District 1 and the tragedy was heavy on Ortegas heart throughout the day after her win.

It was also bittersweet because of what just happened in Uvalde, she said. Uvalde would be one of the counties that I would be involved in supporting in this role for District 1, so I was happy about the voter turnout but I was, I guess, really disheartened with whats going on and for parents.

Im a parent of three daughters, I cant even imagine dropping them off and not getting them back that day, so I cant even imagine what the parents are going through, and I pretty much cried all morning, which was awful, so I had a lot of people sending me texts saying, Congratulations, but I was completely beside myself all morning because I just kept reading the news and I dont know, I guess it was a bit bittersweet.

The current representative for the State Board of Education District 1 is Georgina Cecilia Perez. She will remain in her position through January 2023. Perez represents 40 counties in west Texas along 900 miles of the Texas-Mexico border.

She endorsed Ortega to take her position prior to her departure.

Yeah I can work at a school district, or yeah I can work at a university but its not enough, Ortega said. I want to do more and so when she told me that she wasnt planning on running this next term and that (she) was willing to endorse me and support me and encourage me, thats when I was like, Yes. I didnt need to think about it, it was something that I was ready (for). Im at the point in my career where this is my next step so it means the world to me.

In March's primary election, Ortega collected 46.1% by picking up 42,212 votes, while Marquez was behind her at 35.5% with 32,523 votes. Omar Yanar was third at 18.4% with 16,817 votes.

In the primary, Webb County had also previously voted for Ortega at 46.75% with 7,181 votes, ahead of Marquez at 38.18% with 5,865 votes.

The general election is set for Nov. 8. Ortega will now move on to face Republican nominee Michael Travis Stevens, who won 63.7% of the vote in March to advance.

I just really want to thank all the voters, Ortega said. I really want to thank everyone who voted for me and who put their faith in me and really I want to do good. I want to make sure that I represent everyone well and Im going to do my best to fight for this next general election so that I can be the person to be helping and representing out area.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Lamenting a uniquely American tragedy, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden delivered an urgent call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman shot and killed at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school.

Biden spoke Tuesday night from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bracketed by mass shootings in the U.S. He pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure  and bitterly blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

'When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden said with emotion. Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?"

With first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children  though not to gun violence  spoke in visceral terms about the grief of the loved ones of the victims and the pain that will endure for the students who survived.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away, Biden said. Theres a hollowness in your chest. You feel like youre being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out.

He called on the nation to hold the victims and families in prayer  but also to work harder to prevent the next tragedy, Its time we turned this pain into action," he said.

At least 19 students were killed at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, according to local officials. The death toll also included two adults. The gunman died after being shot by responding officers, local police said.

It was just a week earlier that Biden, on the eve of his overseas trip, traveled to Buffalo to meet with victims' families after a racist, hate-filled shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

The back-to-back tragedies served as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world," Biden said, reflecting that other nations have people filled with hate or with mental health issues but no other industrialized nation experiences gun violence at the level of the U.S.

"Why? he asked.

It was much too early to tell if the latest violent outbreak could break the political logjam around tightening the nation's gun laws, after so many others  including the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 26, including 20 children  have failed.

The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong," Biden said. He has previously called for a ban on assault-style weapons, as well as tougher federal background check requirements and red flag laws that are meant to keep guns out of the hands of those with mental health problems.

Late Tuesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer set in motion possible action on two House-passed bills to expand federally required background checks for gun purchases, but no votes have been scheduled.

Biden was somber when he returned to the White House, having been briefed on the shooting on Air Force One. Shortly before landing in Washington, he spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and offered any and all assistance needed, the White House said. He directed that American flags be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims in Texas.

His aides, some of whom had just returned from Asia with the president, gathered to watch Bidens speech on televisions in the West Wing.

Id hoped when I became president I would not have to do this, again," he said. "Another massacre.

In a stark reminder of the issue's divisiveness, Biden's call for gun measures was booed at a campaign event in Georgia hosted by Herschel Walker, who won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Speaking at an Asian Pacific American event that was intended to celebrate Biden's Asia trip, Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier that people normally declare in moments like this, our hearts break  but our hearts keep getting broken ... and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families.

We have to have the courage to take action ... to ensure something like this never happens again, she said.

Echoing Biden's call, former President Barack Obama, who has called the day of the Sandy Hook shooting the darkest of his administration, said, Its long past time for action, any kind of action."

Michelle and I grieve with the families in Uvalde, who are experiencing pain no one should have to bear, he said in a statement. Were also angry for them. Nearly ten years after Sandy Hookand ten days after Buffaloour country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that have shown no willingness to act in any way that might help prevent these tragedies.

Congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation ever since the bipartisan effort to strengthen background checks on firearm purchases collapsed in the aftermath of the 2012 shooting.

Despite months of work, a bill that was backed by a majority of senators, fell to a filibuster  unable to to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to advance.

In impassioned remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who represented Newton, Connecticut, in the House at the time of the Sandy Hook massacre, asked his colleagues why they even bother running for office if theyre going to stand by and do nothing.

Im here on this floor to beg  to literally get down on my hands and knees  to beg my colleagues, he said.

Murphy said he was planning to reach out to Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn after the two had teamed on an 2021 effort to toughen background check requirements that never became law. He said he would also reach out to Texas other Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

I just dont understand why people here think were powerless, Murphy said. We arent.

Cornyn told reporters he was on his way to Texas and would talk with them later. Cruz issued a statement calling it a dark day. Were all completely sickened and heartbroken.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who sponsored gun legislation that failed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate after Sandy Hook, said, Were just pushing on people who just wont budge on anything.

It makes no sense at all why we cant do commonsense things and try to prevent some of this from happening, he said.



Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Michael Balsamo, Alan Fram and Farnoush Amiri contributed.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  China wants 10 small Pacific nations to endorse a sweeping agreement covering everything from security to fisheries in what one leader warns is a game-changing bid by Beijing to wrest control of the region.

A draft of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press shows that China wants to train Pacific police officers, team up on traditional and non-traditional security" and expand law enforcement cooperation.

China also wants to jointly develop a marine plan for fisheries  which would include the Pacific's lucrative tuna catch  increase cooperation on running the region's internet networks, and set up cultural Confucius Institutes and classrooms. China also mentions the possibility of setting up a free trade area with the Pacific nations.

Chinas move comes as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a 20-person delegation begin a visit to the region this week.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price expressed concern Wednesday about Chinas intentions, saying Beijing might use the proposed accords to take advantage of the islands and destabilize the region.

We are concerned that these reported agreements may be negotiated in a rushed, nontransparent process, Price told reporters. He warned that China "has a pattern of offering shadowy, vague deals with little transparency or regional consultation in areas related to fishing, related to resource management, development, development assistance and more recently even security practices.

Price added that agreements that include sending Chinese security officials to the nations "could only seek to fuel regional international tensions and increase concerns over Beijings expansion of its internal security apparatus to the Pacific.

Wang is visiting seven of the countries he hopes will endorse the Common Development Vision  the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

Wang is also holding virtual meetings with the other three potential signatories  the Cook Islands, Niue and the Federated States of Micronesia. He is hoping the countries will endorse the pre-written agreement as part of a joint communique after a May 30 meeting in Fiji he is holding with the foreign ministers from each of the 10 countries.

Micronesias president, David Panuelo, has told leaders of the other Pacific nations his nation won't endorse the plan, warning it would needlessly heighten geopolitical tensions and threaten regional stability, according to a letter from Panuelo obtained by the AP.

Among other concerns, Panuelo said, the agreement opens the door for China to own and control the region's fisheries and communications infrastructure. He said China could intercept emails and listen in on phone calls.

Panuelo called the Common Development Vision the single most game-changing proposed agreement in the Pacific in any of our lifetimes and said it threatens to bring a new Cold War era at best, and a World War at worst.

Panuelo declined to comment on the letter or the proposed agreement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Wednesday he didn't know about Panuelo's letter.

But I dont agree at all with the argument that cooperation between China and the South Pacific island countries will trigger a new Cold War, he said.

Like some other countries in the Pacific, Micronesia is finding itself increasingly caught between the competing interests of Washington and Beijing.

Micronesia has close ties to the U.S. through a Compact of Free Association. But it also has what Panuelo describes in his letter as a Great Friendship with China that he hopes will continue despite his opposition to the agreement.

The security aspects of the agreement will be particularly troubling to many in the region and beyond, especially after China signed a separate security pact with the Solomon Islands last month.

That pact has raised fears that China could send troops to the island nation or even establish a military base there, not far from Australia. The Solomon Islands and China say there are no plans for a base.

The May 30 meeting will be the second between Wang and the Pacific islands' foreign ministers after they held a virtual meeting last October.

Those who follow China's role in the Pacific will be scrutinizing the wording of the draft agreement.

Among its provisions: China will hold intermediate and high-level police training for Pacific Island countries.

The agreement says the countries will strengthen cooperation in the fields of traditional and non-traditional security and will expand law enforcement cooperation, jointly combat transnational crime, and establish a dialog mechanism on law enforcement capacity and police cooperation."

The agreement would also see the nations expand exchanges between governments, legislatures and political parties."

The draft agreement also stipulates that the Pacific countries firmly abide by the one-China principle, under which Taiwan, a self-ruled island democracy, is considered by Beijing to be part of China. It would also uphold the non-interference principle that China often cites as a deterrent to other nations speaking out about its human rights record.

The agreement says that China and the Pacific countries would jointly formulate a marine spatial plan to optimize the layout of the marine economy, and develop and utilize marine resources rationally, so as to promote a sustainable development of blue economy.

China also promises more investment in the region by mobilizing private capital and encouraging "more competitive and reputable Chinese enterprises to participate in direct investment in Pacific Island countries.

China also promised to dispatch Chinese language consultants, teachers and volunteers to the islands.

The AP has also obtained a draft of a five-year action plan that's intended to sit alongside the Common Development Vision, which outlines a number of immediate incentives that China is offering to the Pacific nations.

In the action plan, China says it will fully implement 2,500 government scholarships through 2025.

In 2022, China will hold the first training program for young diplomats from Pacific Island countries, depending on the pandemic situation, the draft plan states, adding that China will also hold seminars on governance and planning for the Pacific nations.

In the draft action plan, China says it will build criminal investigation laboratories as needed by the Pacific nations that can be used for fingerprint testing, forensic autopsies, and electronic forensics.

China also says it will also spend an additional $2 million and send 200 medics to the islands to help fight COVID-19 and promote health, and promises to help the countries in their efforts to combat climate change.
BEIJING (AP)  Chinese leader Xi Jinping defended his country's record to the top U.N. human rights official on Wednesday, saying each nation should be allowed to find its own path.

Xi, who heads the ruling Communist Party that allows no political opposition and strictly limits speech, criticized countries that he said lecture others on human rights and politicize the issue.

Through long-term and persistent hard work, China has successfully embarked on a path of human rights development that conforms to the trend of the times and suits its own national conditions, Xi told U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet in a video call, according to an online report by state broadcaster CCTV.

Bachelet is in the middle of a six-day visit to China that includes stops in Xinjiang, a remote northwestern region where the Chinese government has been accused of human rights violations and genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups. Her trip has been criticized by the U.S. and others, who think that China will limit whom she can talk to, stage manage her trip and use it for propaganda purposes.

The CCTV report didnt mention Xinjiang or the Communist Partys often harsh treatment of dissidents and activists and ethnic groups in Tibet and Inner Mongolia.

Xi laid out the Communist Partys long-held position on human rights, which argues that China should find its own path and not completely copy the models of other countries and rejects outside criticism as interference in its domestic affairs. It also says that bettering the lives of people is the most important human right for developing countries, and points to Chinas success in lifting people out of poverty.

On the issue of human rights, there is no perfect utopia, he was quoted as saying. We dont need masters that dictate to other countries, let alone politicizing and turning the human rights issue into a tool, practicing double standards and interference in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of human rights.

Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said it had been valuable to have direct talks with Xi and senior Chinese officials on human rights issues and concerns in China and globally, a tweet from her U.N. office said.

For me, it is a priority to engage with the government of China directly, on human rights issues, domestic, regional and global," she said in her opening remarks at the meeting. For development, peace and security to be sustainable  locally and across borders  human rights have to be at their core.

China's Foreign Ministry and CCTV quoted Bachelet as telling Xi she admired Chinas efforts and achievements on poverty and human rights, but her office said she didnt say that.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday in Washington that the United States does not expect China to allow the access Bachelet would need to get an unmanipulated view of the human rights situation in Xinjiang.

We think it was a mistake to agree to a visit under these circumstances where the high commissioner will not be granted the type of unhindered access, free and full access that would be required to do a complete assessment and to come back with a full picture of the atrocities, the crimes against humanity, and the genocide ongoing in Xinjiang, he said.

Bachelet started her trip in Guangzhou, a city in southeastern China, where she met Foreign Minister Wang Yi and had a video conference with Du Hangwei, the vice minister of public security. Her itinerary also includes the cities of Kashgar and Urumqi, both in Xinjiang.

In a speech to students at the Institute for Human Rights at Guangzhou University, she noted that young people are influencing debate on issues such as equality, climate action and human rights and are holding governments and businesses accountable for their actions.

A fundamental ingredient for youth to be able to play that role is an open civic space where they can voice their opinions and seek change, she said, according to a U.N. text of her speech.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The head of the Food and Drug Administration faced bipartisan fury from House lawmakers Wednesday over months of delays investigating problems at the nation's largest baby formula plant that prompted an ongoing shortage.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf laid out a series of setbacks in congressional testimony that slowed his agencys response, including a COVID-19 outbreak at the plant and a whistleblower complaint that didnt reach FDA leadership because it was apparently lost in the mail.

Califf testified before a House subcommittee investigating the shortage, which has snowballed into a national political controversy and forced the U.S. military to begin airlifting supplies from Europe.

The shortage largely stems from Abbotts Michigan plant, which the FDA shut down in February due to contamination issues. Under fire from Congress, parents and the media, Califf gave the first detailed account Wednesday of why his agency took months to inspect and shutter the plant despite learning of potential problems as early as September.

The FDA's response was: Too slow and there were decisions that were suboptimal along the way, Califf told lawmakers.

The FDA and President Joe Biden face mounting political pressure to explain why they didnt intervene sooner to head off the supply crisis.

Why did it take an onslaught of national media attention for the Biden administration to act with a sense of urgency required to address an infant formula shortage? asked Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Virginia, the committee's ranking Republican.

Califf said the agency had been trying to monitor formula supplies since 2020 when COVID-related disruptions first emerged, but regulators have limited visibility into company supply chains.

The House panel also heard from three formula manufacturers, including a top Abbott Nutrition executive who apologized to parents for the shortage.

We let you down, said Abbott vice president Christopher Calamari. We are deeply sorry.

Calamari repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether any employees were disciplined or fired over the problems at the plant, which included standing water, a leaky roof and damaged equipment.

FDA staff began honing in on Abbott's plant last fall while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula from the facility. The four cases occurred between September and January, causing hospitalizations and two deaths.

The FDA planned to begin inspecting the Sturgis, Michigan, plant on Dec. 30, according to Califf's testimony. But Abbott warned that about a dozen plant employees had tested positive for COVID-19 and requested a delay. As a result, the FDA didn't begin its inspection until Jan. 31.

After detecting positive samples of a rare-but-dangerous bacteria in multiple parts of the plant, the FDA closed the facility and Abbott announced a massive recall of its formula on Feb. 17.

We knew that ceasing plant operations would create supply problems but we had no choice given the insanitary conditions, said Califf, calling the problems shocking and unacceptable.

Abbott and the FDA have reached an agreement to reopen the plant next week, under which the company must regularly undergo outside safety audits.

Califf also struggled to explain delays in following up on a whistleblower complaint alleging numerous safety violations at Abbotts plant, including employees falsifying records and failing to test formula before shipment.

Several FDA staffers reviewed the complaint in late October when it was sent to a regional FDA office, but an interview didn't take place until two months later, in part due to the whistleblower's scheduling conflicts.

Senior FDA officials eventually received the complaint via email, but not until February due to an isolated failure in FDAs mailroom, likely due to COVID-19 staffing issues, according to the FDA testimony. A mailed copy addressed to then-acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock has still not been located.

Political outrage over the shortage has landed squarely on the FDA and Califf, who was confirmed to the FDA role for a second time in February. The problems have escalated into a political firestorm for the White House, which has invoked the Defense Production Act and emergency import measures.

The FDA contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Feb. 11. about a potential shortage, just days before Abbott's recall, according to FDA's timeline.

Califf said the FDA requested new authorities, funding and staff to track supply chain data that could have helped get ahead of the problem, but noted Congress has not provided them.

Several lawmakers raised longstanding concerns that the FDAs food program  which oversees most U.S. foods except meat, poultry and eggs  is underfunded and needs restructuring.

The program has a convoluted leadership structure in which there is a director of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and a separate deputy commissioner for food policy and response." The deputy commissioner has more of a safety focus, but has no direct authority over food center staff nor field staff who inspect company plants.

Both officials testified Wednesday, along with Califf.

When Rep. Nanette Diaz-Barragan, D-Calif., asked who is in charge of food safety, Califf and food center director Susan Mayne gave extended answers, describing different roles and responsibilities.

I dont think theres one person that is responsible, Diaz-Barragan responded. I just think it goes to show there needs to be restructuring and it needs to be more clear whos ultimately responsible.

Later Wednesday afternoon, Abbott's Calamari told lawmakers his company plans to build extra capacity and redundancies into its supply chain to avoid future disruptions. He reiterated the company's point that the FDA has not drawn a direct link between the illnesses reported in infants and bacteria samples collected from its plant.

After the company restarts production next month it will be able to produce more formula than before the recall, he noted.

Were going to learn from this. Were going to get better as a result of this," Calamari said.

Executives from Reckitt and Gerber also testified on their efforts to boost production.

___

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.
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UVALDE, Texas (AP)  Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman's rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.

Go in there! Go in there! nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in.

Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building.

Upset that police were not moving in, he raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders.

Lets just rush in because the cops arent doing anything like they are supposed to, he said. More could have been done.

They were unprepared, he added.

Minutes earlier, Carranza had watched as Salvador Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch outside the school, grabbed his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shot at two people outside a nearby funeral home who ran away uninjured.

Officials say he encountered" a school district security officer outside the school, though there were conflicting reports from authorities on whether the men exchanged gunfire. After running inside, he fired on two arriving Uvalde police officers who were outside the building, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine. The police officers were injured.

After entering the school, Ramos charged into one classroom and began to kill.

He barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Department of Public Safety told CNN. It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.

All those killed were in the same classroom, he said.

Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told reporters that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when Ramos opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him, though a department spokesman said later that they could not give a solid estimate of how long the gunman was in the school or when he was killed.

The bottom line is law enforcement was there," McCraw said. They did engage immediately. They did contain (Ramos) in the classroom.

Meanwhile, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said the Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.

Carranza said the officers should have entered the school sooner.

There were more of them. There was just one of him, he said.

Uvalde is a largely Latino town of some 16,000 people about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the Mexican border. Robb Elementary, which has nearly 600 students in second, third and fourth grades, is a single-story brick structure in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.

Hundreds packed into bleachers at the towns fairgrounds for a vigil Wednesday and the crowd swelled so big some stood around the speakers on the dirt arena. Some cried. Some closed their eyes tight, mouthing silent prayers. Parents wrapped their arms around their children, as the speakers lead prayers for healing.

Before attacking the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at the home they shared, authorities said.

Neighbor Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives across the street and has known the family for decades, said he was puttering in his yard when he heard the shots.

Ramos ran out the front door and across the small yard to the truck parked in front of the house. He seemed panicked, Gallegos said, and had trouble getting the truck out of park.

Then he raced away: He spun out, I mean fast, spraying gravel in the air.

His grandmother emerged covered in blood: She says, Berto, this is what he did. He shot me. She was hospitalized.

Gallegos, whose wife called 911, said he had heard no arguments before or after the shots, and knew of no history of bullying or abuse of Ramos, who he rarely saw.

Investigators also shed no light on Ramos' motive for the attack, which also left at least 17 people wounded. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Ramos, a resident of the small town about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, had no known criminal or mental health history.

We dont see a motive or catalyst right now, said McCraw of the Department of Public Safety.

Ramos legally bought the rifle and a second one like it last week, just after his birthday, authorities said.

About a half-hour before the mass shooting, Ramos sent the first of three online messages warning about his plans, Abbott said.

Ramos wrote that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman. In the last note, sent about 15 minutes before he reached Robb Elementary, he said he was going to shoot up an elementary school, according to Abbott. Investigators said Ramos did not specify which school.

Ramos sent the private, one-to-one text messages via Facebook, said company spokesman Andy Stone. It was not clear who received the messages.

Grief engulfed Uvalde as the details emerged.

The dead included Eliahna Garcia, an outgoing 10-year-old who loved to sing, dance and play basketball; a fellow fourth-grader, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming; and a teacher, Eva Mireles, whose husband is an officer with the school districts police department.

You can just tell by their angelic smiles that they were loved, Uvalde Schools Superintendent Hal Harrell said, fighting back tears as he recalled the children and teachers killed.

The tragedy was the latest in a seemingly unending wave of mass shootings across the U.S. in recent years. Just 10 days earlier, 10 Black people were shot to death in a racist attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.

The attack was the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

Amid calls for tighter restrictions on firearms, the Republican governor repeatedly talked about mental health struggles among Texas young people and argued that tougher gun laws in Chicago, New York and California are ineffective.

Democrat Beto ORourke, who is running against Abbott for governor, interrupted Wednesday's news conference, calling the tragedy predictable. Pointing his finger at Abbott, he said: This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. ORourke was escorted out as some in the room yelled at him. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin yelled that ORourke was a sick son of a bitch.

Texas has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the nation and has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years.

I just dont know how people can sell that type of a gun to a kid 18 years old, Siria Arizmendi, the aunt of victim Eliahna Garcia, said angrily through tears. What is he going to use it for but for that purpose?

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the Second Amendment is not absolute as he called for new limitations on guns in the wake of the massacre.

But the prospects for reform of the nations gun regulations appeared dim. Repeated attempts over the years to expand background checks and enact other curbs have run into Republican opposition in Congress.

The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston, with the Texas governor and both of the state's Republican U.S. senators scheduled to speak.

Dillon Silva, whose nephew was in a classroom, said students were watching the Disney movie Moana when they heard several loud pops and a bullet shattered a window. Moments later, their teacher saw the attacker stride past.

Oh, my God, he has a gun! the teacher shouted twice, according to Silva. The teacher didnt even have time to lock the door, he said.

The close-knit community, built around a shaded central square, includes many families who have lived there for generations.

Lorena Auguste was substitute teaching at Uvalde High School when she heard about the shooting and began frantically texting her niece, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary. Eventually she found out the girl was OK.

But that night, her niece had a question.

Why did they do this to us?" the girl asked. Were good kids. We didnt do anything wrong.

___

Bleiberg reported from Dallas. Acacia Coronado, Eugene Garcia and Dario Lopez-Mills in Uvalde; Ben Fox, Michael Balsamo, Amanda Seitz and Eric Tucker in Washington; Paul J. Weber in Austin; Juan Lozano in Houston; Gene Johnson in Seattle; Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

___

More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings
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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)  Zimbabwe has opened an international conference to try to win international support for its campaign to be allowed to sell its stockpile of seized ivory.

If the southern African country is not permitted to sell off its 130 tons of ivory, estimated to be worth $600 million, officials warn it may quit the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES.

The three-day conference started Monday at Hwange National Park, the country's largest wildlife park which is in southwestern Zimbabwe. Representatives from 16 African countries, as well as Japan and China, major consumers of ivory, are to attend the gathering, said officials.

Last week envoys from some European Union countries, Britain, the United States and Canada were guided through heavily guarded vaults in Harare that are filled with piles of elephant tusks to win international support for legal sales of the ivory.

Zimbabwe's effort to sell that ivory is controversial with many conservation groups opposing it, saying any sale of ivory encourages poaching of the pachyderms.

The conference is sending a dangerous signal to poachers and criminal syndicates that elephants are mere commodities, and that ivory trade could be resumed, heightening the threat to the species, said a coalition of 50 wildlife and animal rights organizations from across the globe in a joint statement issued Monday.

Southern African countries have twice been permitted to sell off their ivory stocks to Japan and China in 1997 and 2008 and those limited sales resulted in a sharp escalation in poaching across the continent, said the letter.

Legalizing the ivory trade, including by authorizing another one-off sale could have similarly disastrous consequences, the groups said.

Zimbabwe argues that its elephant population is growing rapidly at between 5% to 8% per year, a rate it says is unsustainable. Zimbabwe says it desperately needs the funds from the sales of the ivory to manage its elephant population, which it says has grown to a dangerous size.

Zimbabwes estimated 100,000 elephants are double the carrying capacity of its national parks, say parks officials. The overcrowded elephants are destroying the trees and shrubs that are vital for them and other wildlife.

Neighboring Botswana has the worlds largest elephant population with more than 130,000. Together Zimbabwe and Botswana have nearly 50% of the worlds elephants. The two countries say they are struggling to cope with the booming numbers.

Opposition is coming from Kenya and other members of the African Elephant Coalition, whose 32 members are mostly East and West African countries that have fewer elephants. They argue that reopening legal international trade in ivory trade, even for a single auction, would result in increased poaching.

CITES banned the international ivory trade in 1989 to curtail poaching. In addition to banning ivory sales, CITES in 2019 also imposed restrictions on the sales of wild elephants caught in Zimbabwe and Botswana, a move that pleased some conservationists but dismayed officials struggling to manage their overcrowded parks.

There is a flourishing illegal trade in ivory in which international syndicates fund poachers to kill elephants and saw off their ivory tusks. The ivory is then smuggled overseas, where there is a demand for ivory for jewelry and trinkets.

Increased poaching and loss of habitat have made Africas elephant populations more endangered, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said last year.

Zimbabwe and Botswana say they are ill-equipped to deal with poachers without the money from ivory sales, especially because earnings from tourism have dwindled due to COVID19 related travel restrictions since 2020.
A Longford mother has spoken of her determination to ensure her brave 12-year-old son gets the life-changing treatment he needs while battling a rare, debilitating illness.

Courageous and much loved Jonatan Safiak is continuing to fight the onset of ataxia telangiectasia (AT), a rare genetic disorder neurodegenerative disorder that affects the nervous system, immune system, and other body systems.

The Pirates of the Caribbean enthusiast is hoping to be one of the first to take part in a clinical trial in Australia later this summer aimed at providing Jonatan with the best possible chance in living with the illness into the future.

Since he was a toddler, Jonatan has encountered problems with his balance and co-ordination and has been before umpeen specialists in a bid to get to the root of his ailments.

His mother, Aneta, told of her heartbreak when Jonatans diagnosis was confirmed three months ago after the St Johns NS pupils symptoms became steadily more noticeable around the start of Irelands Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.

I asked his medical team for an urgent review...and many months later that request was finally listened to and Jonatan was admitted to a hospital where a lot of things had been queried and a final diagnosis was confirmed in March this year, she said.

Like any devoted mother would do, Aneta together with her husband, began researching about an illness for which there is no cure.

The family also set up a GoFundMe page in a bid to secure Jonatans place in international research and trial studies while also paving the way for more physio, occupational and speech therapies.

Children with AT are usually wheelchair-bound by the time theyre aged 10, struggling to breathe at 15 years old, and likely to die of cancer by the age of 25.

Aneta, who unintentionally became the centre of a media frenzy in 2019 when she confronted journalist Gemma ODoherty in Longford for sharing a photo of Jonatan online, fought back tears as she told of her determination in ensuring her eldest child receives the best treatment possible.

There is something about Jonatan that makes him really so special to many people and he is so very loved, said an emotional sounding Aneta.

I am trying to mange my expectation and not allow myself to be too hopeful but at the same time it has been more than 2 months after the diagnosis was confirmed to us and so far we only got one letter "you're on the waiting list to see a geneticist" not even an actual appointment, while my son is getting worse by an hour.

It is clear to me I need to grab help where this help is or where there is at least a glimpse of it.

Given the enormous strides and efforts Aneta and the wider Safiak family have made over the past number of months that help will, by the grace of God, come sooner rather than later.
Around 2,000 people who suffer from alopecia can benefit from a 500 grant towards the cost of a hairpiece or wig.

The government grant will go to people who suffer hair loss due to illness, and will include hair loss resulting from cancer and forms of alopecia.

People with alopecia could spend upwards of 1,000 a year on headpieces and wigs.

The Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said the 500 grant will go some way to helping people buy hairpieces.

Minister @HHumphreysFG announces new 500 grant towards cost of hairpiece, wig or hair replacement Grant designed to support people who suffer hair loss due to illness Initiative expected to benefit around 2,000 people during first year Read more https://t.co/WQWt8tCC3K pic.twitter.com/Xh6rBAaR9i  Department of Social Protection (@welfare_ie) May 25, 2022

Paddy Pender, of Alopecia Ireland, said wearing wigs helps people with alopecia mix with others in a more normal way.

I would go through at least one wig a year, most people go through many more because they wear them when they go out, Ms Pender said.

It helps us to get out and about and helps us to mix and mingle with others in a more normal way, because our normal is bald which can be fashionable, but most of the time it is not.

Being bald is very uncomfortable, it brings lots of other problems with it.

There is a lot of taboo around it and we would like people to come forward and acknowledge they have it and share what it is like. We have support groups around the country.

Its not just about the person, its about the family as well. We saw the whole furore around Will Smith. It has a knock-on effect on the family life and that may driven him to do what he did. It wasnt right but at the same time I can see why families would be upset with unwanted comments and ridicule.

The wigs help us go out and feel normal but it is an extra expense.

Ms Humphreys said people needed financial relief from having to buy wigs.

I said we need to change this, we need to recognise that alopecia is a life-long condition and we should be doing something about it so we looked at extending the benefits treatment scheme that we have, the Fine Gael minister added.

We will provide a grant for people who have alopecia to help them towards the purchase of a hair piece, or a head covering of 500.

They will be treated the same as those who get benefits for dental treatment, for hearing aids or for eye tests.

Its an important step that we recognise this life-long condition and there is also a certain taboo around alopecia as well, some people are afraid to talk about it or afraid to say they have this condition.

So, we want to give them support.
Community, Charity & Cause

By Chris Boyle Published: May 25 2022

NYS Senator Anna Kaplan, NYS Senator John Liu & Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti host huge "Stop Asian Hate with Education" rally.

Senator Anna M. Kaplan (D-North Hills) and Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti (D-Port Washington) recently hosted a rally in Great Neck attended by hundreds of local residents and students to speak out against the rising tide of anti-Asian hate and violence, and to call for the passage of legislation in the New York State Legislature, S.6359/A.7260, that would combat Asian hate through improved education. The event was held during AAPI Heritage Month, and at a time when hate and violence targeting Asian Americans has skyrocketed since the pandemic era.

"Asian American history is American history, and it's important that every student learn it," said Senator Anna M. Kaplan. "At a time when extremists and white supremacists are trying to tell us that diversity is a bad thing, we reject the idea that diversity shouldn't be taught and celebrated in our schools, and we're rallying today because more needs to be done to ensure our kids learn about the history and contributions of Asian Americans. The more we know about our rich history, and the better we understand the journey of our neighbors, the closer we can be as a community. It's time to empower our community with knowledge, and fight hate together with education."

Assemblywoman Gina L. Sillitti said Our rally today in Great Neck demonstrated the incredible community support for Asian American history to be taught in our classrooms and included in our textbooks. Through education we can begin to change minds, break barriers and stereotypes, and finally start to chip away at the hate and racism towards Asian Americans. Education may not bring about the fastest results, but it will bring about the longest lasting ones.

Senator John Liu, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on NYC Education and sponsor of S.6359A, said, Todays rally in support of teaching Asian American history and civic impact was made so much stronger by the voices of our young students who know that the best way to stop hate is through education. Teaching Asian American history and civic impact in our public schools will help to end the harmful stereotypes, such as the model minority myth and the perpetual foreigner syndrome, which have plagued Asian Americans for generations. Many thanks to Senator Anna Kaplan, Assembly Member Gina Sillitti, and all of the student advocates who continue to come together and get involved to support this effort.

Anti-Asian hate has skyrocketed since the pandemic, with racist language like "kung flu" and "the China virus" demonizing Asian Americans and making them the targets for hate and violence. According to the NYPD, Anti-Asian incidents have increased by 343%, and according to the Pew Research Center, one third of Asian Americans fear someone might threaten or physically attack them, leading them to feel unsafe, and change habits in their daily lives.

The Asian American History Bill, S.6359/A.7260, sponsored by Senator John Liu (D-Queens) and co-sponsored by Senator Kaplan and Assemblywoman Sillitti would require elementary and high schools across New York State to provide instruction in Asian American history and civic impact. The bill seeks to combat a lack of understanding and knowledge of Asian Americans, which has contributed to the recent increase in hate crimes against people of Asian descent, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. Teaching students about the historical contributions of Asian Americans will help foster respect and understanding of Asian Americans, and allow Asian Americans to see themselves reflected as an important part of the history and culture of this country.
Crime

By Long Island Published: May 24 2022

Inigo Philbrick was sentenced today to 84 months in prison in connection with a multi-year scheme to defraud various individuals and entities in order to finance his art business.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that INIGO PHILBRICK, an art dealer specializing in post-war and contemporary fine art with galleries in London, United Kingdom, and Miami, Florida, was sentenced today to 84 months in prison in connection with a multi-year scheme to defraud various individuals and entities in order to finance his art business. U.S. District Judge Sydney H. Stein imposed todays sentence.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: Inigo Philbrick grew his purportedly successful art business by collateralizing and reselling fractional shares in high dollar contemporary art. Unfortunately, his success was built on brazen lies, including concealed ownership interests, fake documents, and even an invented art collector. When the house of cards fell apart, Philbrick fled for a remote island in the Pacific, leaving many of his victims without recourse. For his extensive fraud, Philbrick is now sentenced to a substantial prison term.

According to the allegations in the Complaint, Indictment, and statements made in court:

From approximately 2016 through 2019, to finance his art business, PHILBRICK engaged in a scheme to defraud multiple individuals and entities in the art market located in the New York metropolitan area and abroad. PHILBRICK made material misrepresentations and omissions to art collectors, investors, and lenders to access valuable art and obtain sales proceeds, funding, and loans (the Fraud Scheme). PHILBRICK knowingly misrepresented the ownership of certain artworks, for example, by selling a total of more than 100 percent ownership in an artwork to multiple individuals and entities without their knowledge; and by selling artworks and/or using artworks as collateral on loans without the knowledge of co-owners, and without disclosing the ownership interests of third parties to buyers and lenders. PHILBRICK furnished fraudulent contracts and records to investors to artificially inflate the artworks value and conceal his scheme, including a contract that listed a stolen identity as the seller.

Over the years, PHILBRICK obtained over $86 million in loans and sale proceeds in connection with the Fraud Scheme. Artworks about which PHILBRICK made these fraudulent misrepresentations in furtherance of the Fraud Scheme include, among others, a 1982 painting by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat titled Humidity, a 2010 untitled painting by the artist Christopher Wool, and an untitled 2012 painting by the artist Rudolf Stingel depicting the artist Pablo Picasso.

By in or about the fall of 2019, PHILBRICKs Fraud Scheme began to come to light as various investors and lenders learned about the fraudulent records PHILBRICK had provided and the material misrepresentations and omissions he had made. By in or about mid-October, a lender officially notified PHILBRICK that he was in default of approximately a $14 million loan, and by November 2019, various investors had filed civil lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions regarding PHILBRICKs Fraud Scheme in connection with various artworks. At around the same time, PHILBRICKs art galleries in Miami and London closed, and PHILBRICK stopped responding to legal process. PHILBRICK fled the United States shortly before public reporting began about the lawsuits. A fugitive, PHILBRICK resided in Vanuatu from approximately October 2019 until he was arrested there on June 11, 2020, in connection with this case.
Local News, Arts & Culture

By Long Island Published: May 25 2022

A recent study shows New York Millennials have shockingly poor awareness and understanding of the events of the Holocaust;

Today, the New York State Senate passed the Holocaust Education Bill, S.121B, with unanimous support. The bill by NYS Senator Anna M. Kaplan (D-North Hills) and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) would ensure that students across New York are receiving a meaningful education on the Holocaust as required by existing State law. The bill passed the New York State Assembly with unanimous support earlier this week, and having now passed both houses of the Legislature, will be sent to Governor Kathy Hochul for her consideration.

Senator Anna M. Kaplan said With antisemitism on the rise, and Holocaust misinformation exploding around the world, its never been more important that we learn the lessons of the Holocaust, and ensure our next generation knows about our history, no matter how dark or difficult the conversation may be. Its why Ive fought tirelessly to pass the Holocaust Education Bill, and Im thrilled to be able to pass it today so that we can ensure we Never Forget. As we celebrate the passage of this vital legislation today, Im so grateful for my partnership with Assemblymember Nily Rozic, for the leadership of Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and for the countless advocates and organizations who fought alongside me since day one of this important effort. To everyone who helped make this happen, thank you.

A recent study by the nonprofit Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) revealed disturbing findings about Holocaust knowledge among New Yorkers ages 18-39, including that 58% cannot name a single concentration camp, 19% believe that Jews caused the Holocaust, and 28% believe the Holocaust is a myth or has been exaggerated. In each of these three metrics, New York had the worst score of any state in the US.

Legislation introduced in the New York State Senate and Assembly by Senator Kaplan and Assemblywoman Rozic, S.121B/A.472C, would address the problem by ensuring that New York students are learning about the Holocaust in school, something that 90% of the general population considers 'important' or 'somewhat important' according to a recent study by the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

The bill, S.121B/A.472C, would:
Local News, Travel & Local Attractions

By Long Island Published: May 25 2022

Navy Helicopter Landing at Eisenhower Park Saturday, May 28

Nassau County Executive Bruce A. Blakeman announced that Nassau County will once again host a Navy Helicopter Landing in Eisenhower park on Saturday May 28 from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM as part of the Fleet Week 2022 activities in New York City.

A combined team of U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) members from Virginia Beach, Va. and Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron SEVEN (HSC-7), known as the Dusty Dogs, from Norfolk, Va. will present a fast rope demonstration showing how a four-member EOD team can be inserted via a U.S. Navy MH-60S helicopter into an area too dangerous for a ship to navigate, while another MH-60S provides security. After the air and land demonstration, helicopters will land and be available for public tours!
JOHANNESBURG, May 25 (Reuters) - Atlantic Lithium will enter talks with Ghana's Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) over potential investment in the lithium-focused exploration company, it said on Wednesday.

The London-listed company, which has lithium projects in Ghana and Ivory Coast, made the announcement after Ghana news site Citi Newsroom reported on Tuesday that the parties had begun discussions.

Atlantic said talks had yet to start with the fund responsible for managing Ghana's mining royalties and equity stakes in mines.

The MIIF plans to invest up to $60 million this year in companies in Ghana and further afield, the fund's chief executive told Reuters in March.

Atlantic Lithium was previously known as IronRidge Resources. IronRidge changed its name and demerged its gold assets into a separate company at the end of last year to focus on battery material lithium. (Reporting by Helen Reid Editing by David Goodman)
DUBAI, May 25 (Reuters) - Oman's finance ministry said its external funding requirements for the year have already been met, according to a presentation for investors reviewed by Reuters.

"Oman may strategically undertake domestic funding exercise(s) to develop its yield curve," the ministry said. (Reporting by Yousef Saba; Editing by Toby Chopra)
(Alliance News) - Prudential PLC said Wednesday it has appointed Manulife Financial Corp executive Anil Wadhwani as its new chief executive following the retirement of Mike Wells.

Shares in FTSE 100-listed Prudential were down 0.3% in London on Wednesday morning at 1,005.50 pence each.

Wadhwani currently serves at Toronto-headquartered Manulife Asia president and CEO.

The company operates in Canada and Asia as Manulife and in the US primarily through its John Hancock Financial unit.

"Anil Wadhwani is a global financial services leader with more than 30 years' experience, predominantly in Asia, combining strategic vision and execution in some of the world's biggest companies. Most recently, as CEO of Manulife's Asia region, he successfully grew and transformed its diversified and multi-channel business with significant market share gains in many key markets and making it the company's largest source of core earnings," Pru explained.

Prior to Manulife, Wadhwani spent over two decades at Citigroup Inc.

He will take up the role on February 25, 2023.

Wadhwani is stepping into the role after Mike Wells retired earlier this year, with Mark FitzPatrick currently sitting as interim CEO.

Pru added: "The internal promotions of Mark FitzPatrick to interim group CEO, James Turner to chief financial officer and Avnish Kalra to chief risk & compliance officer, demonstrate our bench-strength and focus on operational delivery.

"The group continues to benefit from broad based and experienced local leadership teams who are deep rooted in their markets. These teams will continue to build capability to serve the group's customers and enhance the group's franchise."

Pru also noted Asia & Africa CEO Nic Nicandrou will step down, with the company deciding to leave the role unfilled going forward.

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@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 Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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ASA International Group PLC - Weybridge, Surrey-based microfinance lender - Says ASA Pakistan receives Microfinance Banking licenses from the State Bank of Pakistan. "This is a very important development for the Group. Once we receive the approval to use the licence, it finally will enable us to further strengthen and expand our business in Pakistan by mobilising savings in addition to loans over time," says Chief Executive Officer Dirk Brouwer.

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Tekcapital PLC - the London-based intellectual property investor - Raises GBP2 million from placing of 8.0 million shares at 25 pence each, undertaken by its broker SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP. Will use funds for building inventory of MicroSalt, SaltMe crisps, and wireless chargers for Lucyd Lyte smartglasses, as well as capital expenditure to enhance Guident's remote monitoring and control centre.

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East Star Resources PLC - gold and copper exploration company focused on Kazakhstan - Starts helicopter electromagnetic survey at Rudny Altai volcanogenic massive sulphine licenses in Eastern Kazakhstan. Expects it to take 40-50 days, with data and technical review and targeting to follow. "HEM surveying is highly effective in direct detection of conductive sulphide deposits in which large conductivity contrasts exist between the orebodies and host rocks. It is the same style survey that was used to discover Havieron, the Greatland Gold and Newcrest gold-copper discovery in Western Australia," says Chief Executive Officer Alex Walker.

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Eleco PLC - London-based construction software specialist - In the four months ended April 30, revenue drops to GBP8.9 million from GBP9.3 million a year before, as recurring revenue is up 8% year-on-year to GBP5.4 million, making up around 60% of total revenue. Profit is in line with expectations, firm says. Confident of delivering results in line with market expectations for 2022. "As previously stated, our total reported revenue growth will temporarily soften during our transition to higher value and predictable recurring revenue. We are operating in a very exciting and attractive market and our software is key to meet the growing demands of the built environment, which is under pressure to deliver projects more efficiently and supporting the broader ESG agenda," the company says.

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Franchise Brands PLC - Manchester-based owner of ChipsAway, Willow Pumps and Metro Rod brands - Plans to integrate direct labour organisations across UK, to "harmonise" some of Filta UK's DLO business with Willow Pumps. "There are considerable synergies and opportunities in the range of core services of the two DLO businesses, as well as with the Metro Rod franchise network, in particular pump servicing, drainage and fats oils and grease management. These services are very complementary in terms of the customer base, with significant opportunities to cross-sell the now extended range of services to all existing and new customers," the firm says. Will buy out earn-out consideration for its acquisition of Willow Pumps by giving cash payment of GBP1.3 million to its former managing director.

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River & Mercantile Group PLC - London-based asset manager - Following FCA approval for its takeover by Assetco PLC, its last day of trading is expected to be June 13, with the acquisition becoming effective the day after, and RMG shares to be cancelled on June 15. Confirms intention to return GBP190 million to its shareholders via B share scheme, with a record date of June 1.

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Gresham House Energy Storage Fund PLC - London head-quartered battery storage fund - Intends to raise GBP150 million in the issue of new shares at 145p each, will use proceeds to fund its existing pipeline. Jefferies International Ltd is the sole global coordinator, bookrunner and financial adviser for the transaction.

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Kromek Group PLC - Sedgefield, England-based detection technology supplier - Receives order worth USD695,000 from a US federal entity for its D3S-ID wearable nuclear radiation detector, to be delivered in the coming months. The order is a repeat order, having already been awarded a USD1.6 million two-year contract last September. "Being awarded a repeat order for this product from this important customer is a great endorsement. With the volatility of the current geopolitical environment, we are receiving heightened demand for our CBRN solutions, from new and existing customers, as governments become increasingly aware of the need to enhance their real-time threat monitoring," says Chief Executive Officer Arnab Basu.

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Evgen Pharma PLC- Cheshire, England-based drug development company - Announces collaboration with Francesco Marampon, a professor at the Universita Sapienza di Roma to investigate potential radiosensitisation effects of its lead asset, SFX-01. "This new collaboration with Prof. Marampon's group aims to gain further insights into the striking effects seen with SFX-01 in combination with radiotherapy. If radiosensitisation is a feature of SFX-01, this could be an important step forward in the treatment of cancers requiring radiotherapy," says Chief Executive Officer Huw Jones.

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Mineral & Financial Investments Ltd - Cayman Islands-based investment company - Says Ascendant Resources completes over USD9.0 million of project expenditures at Lagoa Salgada project and paid M&FI subsidiary TH Crestgate an additional USD1.0 million. This fulfils the first phase of earn-in conditions to increase its effective ownership interest from 25% to 50% in the Lagoa Salgada VMS project in Portugal, the company says. "We are thrilled by the outcomes of the development work conducted at Lagoa Salgada since Ascendant's involvement through its earn-in agreement reached in August 2018 with TH Crestgate, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of M&FI. On the exploration front, we believe the yield of tonnage to resources has been exceptional which suggests significant resource growth still to come and on the technical front we are seeing better results than initially expected across the board," says Chief Executive Officer Jacques Vaillancourt.

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Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd - British Virgin Islands-based gold development company focused on Korea - Applies for two-year extension at the exploration period of mining permit at Batangas Gold project in the Philippines. !The company's Batangas Gold Project has been under care and maintenance since 2016. In recent months there have been strong indications of a more favourable policy in the Philippines towards responsible mining and which has now presented an opportunity for the company to revive the gold project," the firm explains.

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Arbuthnot Banking Group PLC - London-based private and commercial lender - Says has seen a strong start to the year, as the Bank of England base rate rises are expected to contribute to increased revenue. Loan balances including leased assets at April 30 were up 3% from the end of 2021 to USD2.06 billion. Assets under management were USD1.35 billion, broadly flat from the end of December.

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By Elizabeth Winter; elizabethwinter@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Tullow Oil PLC's Chief Executive Rahul Dhir, said on Wednesday at the company's annual general meeting that the company had seen a strong operational performance in the year.

Dhir said that the oil and gas company began the year in discussions to address our debt maturities. He said that now, thanks to asset sales, cost savings and some help from oil prices, the company was able to reset its capital structure with a USD1.8 billion bond issue.

Since then, Tullow has recorded strong operational performances in Ghana and Gabon, though it noted some issue as its joint venture project in Kenya.

At its operated assets in Ghana, the company noted improvements in floating production storage and offloading uptime, gas offtake and water injection rates.

It also notable production growth at its Jubilee well where average daily production climbed to 90,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of the year from 70,000 barrels of oil per day at the start.

In Gabon, the company said it has continued to deliver stable production and have matured several prospects around the Simba and the Tchatamba South licences that can sustain and increase production.

In Kenya, the company said it has been working with its joint venture partner to revise its development to target more resources, higher production and reduce project unit costs.

Tullow explained that the plan has been restructured as it was a "commercially difficult" project. It continued that it is working with potential partners to reduce its stake in the project to be "more in line with a company of [its] size".

Elsewhere, Tullow said it retains material positions in emerging basins in Guyana and Argentina. It added that it expects to spud a well in Guyana imminently and anticipated to announce the results from the well in the third quarter of 2022.

Shares in Tullow Oil were up 1.6% at 55.10 pence on Wednesday morning in London.

Phuthuma Nhelko joins the company as non-executive chair, replacing Dorothy Thompson who left the board last year. The company also appoints Jonathan Swinney as its new chief financial officer. Swinney will join from oil and gas company Enquest PLC later this year.

Tullow Oil will publish a trading statement on July 13.

By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The UK's No 10 is bracing for the publication of Sue Gray's full report into Downing Street parties in Whitehall during the coronavirus lockdown.

The senior civil servant's report is expected to be heavily critical of the culture in No 10, which led to the repeated violations of Covid restrictions.

Potentially damaging further details, including the names of some of those who attended gatherings, are also due to be published.

Officials impacted by the Gray inquiry, including those to be named, were written to ahead of its publication, allowing them to have a chance to respond before it was finalised.

It is believed the report could be published on Wednesday, however the BBC said on Tuesday evening the senior civil servant will hand in her completed report that day, with the decision over its publication date being left up to No 10.

A Downing Street press conference is expected to be held after her findings are made public.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to address the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories on Wednesday. He is also due to address the Commons.

According to an earlier, shortened version published in January, Gray's investigation analysed events from May 15, 2020 to April 16, 2021.

The full publication into the parties was sidelined as the Metropolitan Police conducted its own partygate probe, dubbed Operation Hillman.

The force concluded its investigation on May 19, with 126 fines being issued in total to 83 people.

Johnson received one for an event held on his 56th birthday and was told he would face no further action over other gatherings covered by the inquiry.

Earlier this week, two new photographs apparently depicting separate gatherings at Downing Street were published.

Images obtained by ITV appeared to show Johnson raising a toast and drinking wine at a gathering held to mark the departure of former spin doctor Lee Cain on November 13, 2020.

The Mirror meanwhile published a picture showing a man standing at a table with nine bottles of wine and prosecco, which was claimed to have been taken at a gathering to mark the final press briefing Johnson's former official spokesman James Slack on November 17, 2020.

On Tuesday evening, the BBC broadcast a Panorama programme which featured three anonymous individuals describing in detail what they witnessed at regular rule-breaking events during coronavirus restrictions.

They said events were "every week", with invitations for press office drinks listed in the diary as "Wine-Time Friday".

On Tuesday, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wrote to the acting head of the Metropolitan Police Stephen House to explain the force's decisions over partygate after pictures emerged of Johnson drinking at a gathering for which he was not fined.

By Isobel Frodsham, PA

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Cloudy skies during the morning hours followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. High near 80F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Showers and thundershowers during the evening giving way to periods of light rain overnight. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Cloudy this morning. Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 79F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 62F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
BEIJING, May 24 -- The air forces of China and Russia conducted a routine joint aerial strategic patrol in the airspace over the waters of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean on May 24, said an announcement released by the Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China on Tuesday.

The militaries of China and Russia staged the routine joint aerial strategic patrol in accordance with their annual military cooperation plan, said the announcement.
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About five miles south of Big Rapids, the crafters at Galloup Guitars are busy repairing guitars, producing custom builds and guiding the next generation of luthiers.

A luthier is a maker of stringed instruments. For those interested in honing those skills, the Galloup School of Guitar Building and Repair serves as a Mecca of sorts.

"People that show up in this environment... they don't want to leave," said owner Bryan Galloup. "It's a little oasis in the middle of nowhere."

Galloup moved to Big Rapids from his hometown of Reed City in the early 1980s to work with legendary luthier Dan Erlewine. When Erlewine accepted an offer to work at Stewart-MacDonald, a giant in the world of luthery, Galloup took over the business. At that time he focused on repair.

"People would say, 'Hey, I'll pay you money to come up and learn,'" Galloup said. "And then I decided to open a school, which seemed innocent enough."

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Over the years, the number of students admitted per two-month term steadily increased. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the school had 26 students, Galloup said. This past term, about 20 students from around the world were enrolled.

Three years ago, one of those students was Tom Dalia. After studying biology at Southern Connecticut State University, Dalia learned that wasn't the path for him.

"I think I spent more time at the local music store than I did actually going to class," said Dalia, who now operates all computer-controlled machery at Galloup Guitars.

When he started luthery classes at the school, Dalia formed close bonds with his classmates, who were also his roommates. Those roommates traveled to Michigan from Taiwan, South Africa, Japan and Philadelphia.

"All of the guys that I lived with, they kind of become your little family here," he said.

There is a steep learning curve for students. The school offers four main courses, through which a student can advance as they continue their training. Each student builds one custom guitar per term, choosing between acoustic, archtop acoustic or electric.

"I remember, my arms were hurting so bad from everything that we were doing that I would go home and just lay with my arms on pillows," Dalia said.

One critical decision that students must make during the design phase is which types of wood the instrument will be made of.

Different species of lumber produce different tonal qualities in a finished instrument. Galloup has developed a passion for sourcing rare woods from around the globe. Some of the wood in Galloup's personal collection have been saved since 1974.

"For any luthier, they'll tell you that their wood supply is their bank," Galloup said. "And almost, it's like when I build a guitar out of this, it's like someone's taking one of my babies."

Galloup explained that although the students are focused on their final product, the instruments themselves are not the end goal.

"How many students we've trained since 1984, I don't know. But we are definitely the No. 1 school in the world for guitars," Galloup said. "They aren't here to build guitars  they're the project. The guitars are only a tool to develop their skills."
WFO MIDLAND/ODESSA Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Midland has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

East central Lea County in southeastern New Mexico...

Southwestern Gaines County in western Texas...

* Until 445 PM CDT/345 PM MDT/.

* At 347 PM CDT/247 PM MDT/, a severe thunderstorm was located 7

miles southwest of Humble City, or 11 miles west of Hobbs, moving

southeast at 25 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Hobbs, Eunice, Monument, Nadine, Humble City, Eunice Airport, Lea

County Regional Airport, Industrial Airpark and Oil Center.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM MDT/7 PM CDT/ THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected.

* WHERE...Portions of southeast New Mexico and western Texas,

including the following counties, in southeast New Mexico, Lea. In

western Texas, Gaines.

* WHEN...Until 600 PM MDT /700 PM CDT/.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 248 PM MDT /348 PM CDT/, Doppler radar indicated heavy

rain due to thunderstorms. Minor flooding is ongoing or

expected to begin shortly in the advisory area. Between 1 and

1.5 inches of rain have fallen.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Nadine.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

East central Crockett County in west central Texas...

* Until 445 PM CDT.

* At 349 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 14 miles southwest

of Ozona, moving northeast at 35 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Ozona around 420 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Us-

190 Near The Crockett-Sutton County Line and I-10 Near The Crockett-

Sutton County Line.

This includes Interstate 10 between Mile Markers 352 and 379.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
Dr. David Kulber, a hand surgeon who reconstructed Jonny Depp's finger after he lost the top of it during a fight with Amber Heard in Australia in 2015, testified via live video on Tuesday. Depp testified that Heard threw a shattered vodka bottle at him. Heard has denied the allegations.

Depp had a pin in his finger and a soft cast holding two of his fingers in place after his first surgery. "He had a fracture of his finger with soft tissue loss so we reconstructed his finger," said Dr. Kubler.

He stated that he treated Johnny Depp for several months because it was a severe injury that necessitated several visits to clean up the tissue and infection.

An attorney for Depp inquired. Kulber inquired as to whether the actor could have grabbed someone while wearing the cast. He replied that he could try, but he wouldn't be very successful.

He was asked this because Amber's legal team was attempting to make it appear as if Johnny hit or destroyed Amber's belongings while his hand was in a cast.

Dr. Kulber's testimony was crucial because he was the doctor who actually treated Johnny. The previous surgeon who testified did not have any actual experience or had anything to do with Johnny's treatment.

Johnny Depp's finger injury

Yesterday, Dr. Richard Moore testified that Depp could not have lost the tip of his finger during a domestic fight in the way he had recounted.

One of several key points of contention in the civil case is Depp's serious injury to his middle finger, which occurred during a March 2015 row in Australia between Depp and Heard during their brief marriage.

Depp testified at trial that he was injured when Heard threw a smashed vodka bottle at him. Heard has stated that she was not present when the injury occurred, but that it occurred on a night when an enraged and inebriated Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.

Dr. Moore testified that Depp's description was unlikely, owing in part to the fact that his fingernail was still intact. Moore, who did not treat Depp, stated that the fingernail was exposed - as Depp described his hand being palm-down - and would have been damaged.
New York, US (PANA) - On Africa Day, the world celebrates the diverse and dynamic continents enormous promise and potential, the UN chief said in an upbeat message to mark the day on Wednesday
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba, has instructed the Ministry of Local Government to assess the damage caused by Tuesday's fire at a petrol station in the Al-Malti area of the eastern city of Benghazi to enable payment of compensation to those victims
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He called on all countries to commit to achieving the 70 percent vaccination coverage as soon as possible, while prioritizing the vaccination of all health workers, all over-60's and everyone at increased risk.he said. Also, countries need to restore essential health services as rapidly as possible, and work with communities to build trust."The pandemic is not the only crisis in our world," he said, echoing the theme of the 75th WHA "Health for Peace, Peace for Health," and announced that the conference agenda will also include complex humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen."More even than pandemics, war shakes and shatters the foundations on which previously stable societies stood. It deprives whole communities of essential health services, leaving children at risk of vaccine preventable diseases. Indeed, war, hunger and disease are old friends," he deplored.WHO has verified 373 attacks on health facilities or personnel in 14 countries and territories so far this year. The attacks have claimed the lives of 154 health workers and patients and injured 131."Attacks on health workers and health facilities are a breach of international humanitarian law. But they are also an assault on the right to health," said Tedros.including the appointment of a new WHO director-general for the next five years. The incumbent chief Tedros is currently the only candidate.Source: IANS
New York, US (PANA) - Over-consumption in the worlds richest countries is creating unhealthy, dangerous and toxic conditions for children globally, according to a new report published on Tuesday by the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, one of the only anti-abortion Democrats remaining in Congress, faced the toughest reelection fight of his career in a primary runoff against progressive Jessica Cisneros that could offer clues over how much abortion rights could animate voters in the 2022 midterms.

Early Wednesday, the race was too early to call. Cuellar was leading Cisneros by 175 votes, or 0.38 percentage points, out of 45,209 ballots counted as of 2 a.m. ET Wednesday. There likely remain a small number of absentee, provisional and late-arriving mail ballots left to count.

The winner will face Cassy Garcia, who won the Republican runoff for the seat.

Cuellar has come under increased attacks from abortion rights groups over his position in the weeks since a leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion draft showed the justices are poised to overturn a constitutional right to abortion, which has been in place for 50 years. It would then be up to the states to regulate abortion, unless Congress codifies into law the right to abortion access.

In March, Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration attorney, forced the runoff after she came within 1,000 votes of Cuellar, a nine-term incumbent, in the primarily Hispanic district with a large Catholic population. Cuellar has received support from fellow Democrats in Congress, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It is our fundamental freedoms on the line, Cisneros told reporters last week. I am more than happy to do what we can to make sure we are delivering on the promises Democrats successfully ran on in 2020.

In the closing weeks, abortion rights groups poured money and resources on the ground and across TV in South Texas, where Cuellar has been in office for 17 years and beat Cisneros in the primary two years ago. Progressive leaders including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, have also come to Texas to campaign with Cisneros.

That has made the runoff another test of whether progressives can topple other moderate, establishment-oriented candidates. Cuellar's unapologetic defense of gun rights and support of the oil and gas industry, which is a major employer in his district that runs from San Antonio to the border with Mexico, are also out of step with many Democrats. The runoff came the same day that an 18-year-old gunman killed at least 19 children at an elementary school in a district neighboring Cuellars.

Cuellar came under scrutiny in January after FBI agents searched his house in the border city of Laredo as part of an investigation related to the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. His lawyer said last month that federal authorities informed him that Cuellar was not the target of the investigation. The FBI and a spokesman for the U.S. attorneys office in Washington had declined to comment.

Ocasio-Cortez slammed the House Democratic leadership for supporting Cuellar in the race.

On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary. Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted late Tuesday. Accountability isnt partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership.

But Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said Cuellar has a better pulse on South Texas, where the GOP is taking a bigger swing in 2022 after decades of writing off the region as a Democratic stronghold.

The new optimism by Republicans along Texas' border with Mexico comes after several counties showed a dramatic increase in support for GOP candidates in 2020.

What the progressives in Washington, D.C., dont understand is that much of our Hispanic population in South Texas is pretty conservative, sort of from a cultural standpoint, Cornyn said last week. And I think Henry fits that district and that temperament and that attitude very well.

___

Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, FBI data shows that people of Asian descent increasingly have been targets of racially motivated attacks.

"Hate crimes have spilled over to affect the community in dramatic ways. People feel scapegoated and blamed for the pandemic," said Dr. Howard Kyongju Koh, the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

That has fueled a rise in anxiety and depression in a population that is already one of the least likely to access much-needed mental health services, according to the nonprofit Mental Health America.

Koh, who is a former U.S. assistant secretary for health and of Korean descent, has written extensively about racially motivated violence against Asian Americans and its health consequences. A recent article he co-wrote in the journal Health Affairs cites national polls from 2020 and 2021 in which more than a third of Asian adults in the U.S. said their mental health worsened during the pandemic, with 58% saying reports of violence against other Asian people affected their mental health.

In 2019, just 9%-10% of U.S. adults of Asian descent reported mental health issues, according to federal statistics. A 2021 survey by the Asian American Psychological Association showed the level at more than 40% since the arrival of COVID-19. Among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults in the AAPA survey, 38% reported symptoms of depression or anxiety.

But according to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health, Asian Americans are 60% less likely and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders three times less likely to receive mental health services than their white peers. When they do seek help, according to the AAPA, they face challenges: 62% of Asian Americans and 41% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders diagnosed with mental health conditions said they needed assistance accessing care.

The effects of not getting that help go beyond the psychological, potentially causing long-lasting harm to their hearts.

Research published in January in the journal BMJ Open linked living in areas with high levels of hate crimes to a greater risk for heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. Studies also show a strong association between anxiety and depression and a higher risk for heart disease.

Structural inequities are among the reasons people of Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander background may not get the help they need. Research, for example, is limited by minimal funding  just 0.17% of the National Institutes of Health research budget is committed to studying health effects on Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) adults.

Then, there is the problem of aggregation of data under such a broad umbrella. "This population is extremely heterogenous, covering about 100 languages and 50 ethnicities," said Koh. "The term 'Asian American' is about as useful as the term 'European American.'"

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, roughly 24 million people of Asian descent lived in the United States in 2020, with roots in more than 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. With an additional 1.6 million Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, AANHPI individuals make up about 7% of the U.S. population.

One reason people in Asian American communities are less likely to use mental health services stems from how they determine when a problem rises to the level of needing professional assistance, said David Takeuchi, an associate dean for faculty excellence and professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. Takeuchi has been researching how Asian American adults address mental health issues and how the pandemic has impacted their need for services.

"If it's more an emotional problem and not a physical illness, they may see it as something they can work through, unless it interferes with functioning of daily life," he said.

Stigma also plays a role, Koh said. "People may feel pressure to live up to a model minority stereotype and experience some sense of shame and stigma when they are not able to do so," he said. "Stoicism may also be a factor for some who then only seek help when symptoms are severe."

But stigma doesn't affect only the individual, Takeuchi said. In his research, which is not yet published, he found Asian American adults were concerned about embarrassing their family if they sought mental health services. If family members consented, he said, "they were more likely to see a specialist."

People in Asian American communities also may face language barriers and lack confidence in their ability to navigate the U.S. health care system, Koh said.

"We have a system that is hard to navigate for anybody," he said. "And they may not feel the clinicians who are assigned to them are sensitive to their issues."

When they do get help, it's more likely to be through community service agencies, such as local and national nonprofit organizations or university-based counseling and referral services, than through private providers, Takeuchi said. Over the past decade, those agencies have stepped up efforts to spread information about their services, but the pandemic has stretched resources thin.

Asians Do Therapy is one initiative that grew out of the need for a more culturally relevant approach to mental health services. The website highlights the therapy experiences of Asian American celebrities and others and offers tips on how to find an appropriate therapist, questions to ask to make sure it's a good fit, and advice on how to find free or reduced-fee services. The Asian Mental Health Collective provides a national directory of Asian American therapists and a list of related resources, such as human service and mental health agencies that can provide support.

Takeuchi said many agencies offer help, "but people just may not know about their existence. There have been a lot of informational campaigns, but it remains a major issue."

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Justen Watkins, self-proclaimed leader of the white nationalist group, The Base, was sentenced to up to six years in prison on charges of conspiring to train for civil disorder and felony firearm on Tuesday in a Tuscola County courtroom.

Watkins faced charges for his role in an incident in which he and two other men reportedly broke into two former Michigan Department of Corrections sites in Caro.

Watkins, 25, of Bad Axe, was sentenced to 32 months to four years for conspiring to train for a civil disorder and a mandatory consecutive two years for felony firearm by Judge Amy Gierhart of the Tuscola County Circuit Court.

One of the charges filed against Watkins  conspiring to train for a civil disorder  marked the first time a defendant has faced the felony in Michigan's history, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessels office.

"The tragic event in Buffalo that resulted in 10 people being murdered and another three injured is an example of why we must prosecute and pursue these types of crimes to deter others from contemplating such acts of violence," Nessel said. "Securing these convictions on the conspiracy to train for civil disorder creates a historic precedent in our state's court system and conveys the real danger domestic terrorism poses here and around the country.

"Today's sentencing is recognition by the court of the serious nature of these crimes and demonstrates the willingness of our justice system to hold accountable those who commit crimes in the name of overthrowing our government or perpetuating racist ideologies. I appreciate the work of our law enforcement partners at all levels to help bring these criminals to justice."

The cases resulted from joint investigations by the Michigan State Police Caro Post and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Joint Terrorism Task Force.

In October 2020, Watkins was charged in connection to a December 2019 incident in which a Dexter family was terrorized at their home after Watkins used intimidation tactics and posted messages to other members of The Base targeting the home.

Watkins faced the following charges in Washtenaw County in that case: gang membership, a 20-year felony; unlawful posting of a message, a two-year felony and/or a $5,000 fine; and using computers to commit a crime, a four-year felony and/or $5,000 fine.

Following the authorization of the Washtenaw County charges, the involved agencies found evidence of Watkins and two other members of The Base  Thomas Denton and Tristan Webb  entering two former and vacant Michigan Department of Corrections sites in the city of Caro a few weeks prior to the charges being filed.

The men assessed the properties as potential future training grounds for hate camps, which is what the group named their paramilitary firearms training exercises.

The charges, co-prosecuted with Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark Reene, were the following in Tuscola County against Watkins: one count of larceny in a building, a four-year felony; one count of gang membership, a 20-year felony; one count of conspiracy to train with firearms for a civil disorder, four-year felony; and one count of felony firearm, two-year felony.

Founded in 2018, The Base, which is the literal translation of "Al-Qaeda" in English, is a white supremacy gang that openly advocates for violence and criminal acts against the U.S., and purports to be training for a race war to establish white ethnonationalist rule in areas of the U.S., including Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The group also traffics in Nazi ideology and extreme anti-Semitism.

Watkins claims to be the leader of The Base and reportedly ran a "hate camp" for members of the group at a farmhouse northeast of Bad Axe, where he led tactical and firearms training for participants with the goal of being prepared for the violent overthrow of the government.
New York, US (PANA) - For the first time, a Zimbabwean peacekeeper has been chosen to receive the prestigious 2021 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, UN Peacekeeping announced on Tuesday
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed restrictions that would block plans for a copper and gold mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay region, the latest in a long-running dispute over efforts by developers to advance the mine in a region known for its salmon runs.

Critics of the Pebble Mine project called the move an important step in a years-long fight to stop the mine. But John Shively, the CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, which is pursuing the mine, called EPA's proposal a political maneuver and a preemptive effort to veto the project.

The EPA in a statement said the proposal would bar discharges of dredged or fill material into the waters of the U.S. within the mine site footprint proposed by the Pebble partnership.

The federal agency said it took into account information that has become available since it previously proposed restricting development in 2014, including new scientific analyses and a mine plan from the Pebble partnership that was submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of a permit application.

The Pebble partnership, owned by Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., is appealing a 2020 corps decision that denied approval of a key permit for the project in southwest Alaska. Leaders of the Pebble partnership had seen as favorable to the project an environmental review from the corps that was released several months before the rejection decision.

The corps' Pacific Ocean Division is handling the appeal. A division spokesperson, Luciano Vera, earlier this month said the corps did not have a timeline for releasing a decision but was committed to working as efficiently as possible to reach an objective and fair decision on the merits of this appeal.

Casey Sixkiller, the EPA's administrator for the region, said Bristol Bay supports one of the worlds most important salmon fisheries. The EPA has said the Bristol Bay region supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world and that it also contains significant mineral resources.

Clearly, Bristol Bay and the thousands of people who rely on it deserve the highest level of protection, Sixkiller said in a statement.

The fight over the project has spanned several presidential administrations.

The EPA during the Obama administration proposed restrictions on large-scale mining in the region but they were never finalized. The Pebble partnership called those proposed restrictions unfair, saying they were based on hypothetical mine plans and that the project should have a chance to go through the permitting process.

There was litigation, and the parties in 2017 during the Trump administration reached a settlement in which the EPA agreed to initiate a process to suggest withdrawing the proposed restrictions. The agreement gave the Pebble partnership time to file a permit application with the corps, which it did.

In 2019, the EPA withdrew the proposed restrictions, removing what it called an outdated, preemptive proposed veto of the Pebble Mine. That move was challenged in court. The EPA last year asked a judge to vacate the withdrawal decision and send the matter back to the agency for further consideration. The request was granted.

The EPA said it will accept public comments on its latest proposal through July 5 and plans to hold public hearings.

Shively, the Pebble partnership CEO, said the Pebble project "remains an important domestic source for the minerals necessary for the Biden Administration to reach its green energy goals and if it blocks Pebble it will have to seek minerals to meet its goals from foreign sources, which simply do not have the same environmental standards as we do.

Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, in a statement, said he encouraged Alaskans "to support a full permitting process, responsible resource development and good jobs for our state by commenting against the EPA proposal.

Critics of the proposed Pebble Mine have been pressing the EPA to provide protections for the Bristol Bay region. President Joe Biden as a candidate in 2020 said if elected he would protect Bristol Bay.

As stewards of these lands and waters since time immemorial, our people welcome this step towards permanent protections for our waters and way of life, said Alannah Hurley, executive director for the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, a tribal consortium that has fought the Pebble project. Todays announcement by the EPA is a good start in this effort.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington state Democrat, in a statement commended the EPA for advancing permanent Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay. She said she urged the agency to move swiftly to finalize the actions.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  An Iraqi man who came to the United States two years ago and applied for asylum hatched a plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush in retaliation for casualties against his compatriots during the Iraq war, the U.S. government announced Tuesday.

Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, 52, also schemed to smuggle other Iraqis into the U.S. from Mexico to aid in the plot, after which they'd be smuggled back out through Mexico, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Columbus.

Shihab insinuated he had contacts with the Islamic State group, but it did not appear the plot came close to materializing, with confidential informants briefing the FBI from April 2021 through this month, the complaint said.

Shihab was ordered held without bond by federal Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers during a short hearing in court Tuesday. Deavers scheduled a detention hearing for Friday.

Shihab was not required to enter a plea. Soumyajit Dutta, a federal public defender representing Shihab at the hearing, declined to comment. If convicted, Shihab could face up to 30 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

Freddy Ford, the chief of staff at the 75-year-old former president's office, said, President Bush has all the confidence in the world in the United States Secret Service and our law enforcement and intelligence communities.

Shihab worked at restaurants in and around Columbus and also at a market in Indianapolis where he had an apartment, the government said.

Shihab told a confidential informant that he assisted in the killing of American soldiers during the Iraq War, and said he and others wished to kill former president Bush because they felt that he was responsible for killing many Iraqis and breaking apart the entire country of Iraq, the complaint said.

Shihab traveled in February to Dallas, where he took video of the entrance gate to the neighborhood where Bush lives, and also traveled to Detroit in November to investigate smuggling Iraqi nationals into the U.S., the government said.

Shihab met a confidential informant a Columbus hotel room in March to examine weapons and U.S. border patrol uniforms, according to the complaint. Shihab allegedly planned to use a Columbus car dealership to help transfer money from an Islamic State official into the U.S.

Last fall, Shihab accepted thousands of dollars for what he thought was payment for him to smuggle another Iraqi citizen into the U.S., according to the complaint, but the transaction was entirely coordinated by the FBI.
MECOSTA  Veterans of Foreign Wars organizations are staples of many communities, and in Mecosta County the Albert Schiffer Post 2335 and Auxiliary celebrated a major milestone in reaching 90 years of serving the community.

The celebration was hosted at the VFW Hall, at 1050 W. Main St., in Mecosta.

The evening included a welcome from post commander Derrick McCall and a ceremony in which members were awarded pins for years of membership, with some receiving blankets for special positions served. Pins were distributed by McCall and master of ceremonies Phillip Lundie.

McCall said the chance to celebrate the posts members and their dedication was memorable.

It's just it's kind of an honor for me to be the commander of this post, McCall said. Ninety years for this post in this community is huge. There are not very many posts out there as old as ours that has been continuous. Our veteran outreach is really strong, it's really nice to get out there and support the Veterans if they need help from the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization. They know that they can turn to us for anything that they need.

Celebrations of the anniversary included the unveiling of the original flag of the post which will remain on display in the building, as well as a cornhole tournament for members in attendance.

MORE PHOTOS See more photos of the Mecosta VFW 90th anniversary at bigrapidsnews.com. See More Collapse

According to the official VFW website, the original VFW organization traces its roots to 1899 when Veterans of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection formed local organizations to assist them in securing medical care and other benefits. Some of the groups banded together and in 1914, formed the VFW, which received a congressional charter in 1936.

Membership in the VFW is open to any individual who meets three requirements. The individual must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. national; be currently serving in the armed forces of the United States or have received an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions; and be currently serving in or have completed service in a war, campaign, or expedition on foreign soil or in hostile waters.

The Mecosta County VFW is known for its weekly all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts, bingo nights, and serving as a space for community members and Veterans to gather.

McCall said he hopes to continue leading the post as a resource for Veterans of the future as well as the past.

We're trying to grow our posts and get as many members as we can, McCall said. Our older members are dying off now, so we're trying to get our younger Iraq war veterans and stuff like that. Unfortunately, the hard part with that is that they're all working still. We are trying to get that out there that this isn't just an old person's club. We want to get some of these younger guys in here to continue this on for maybe another nine years. It'd be great.

For more information on the Albert Schiffer Post 2335 and Auxiliary, visit the organizations Facebook page at facebook.com/VFWPost2335.
A semiconductor career and apprenticeship program, recently approved by state economic development officials, aims to create more good-paying jobs and address a shortage in the semiconductor workforce.

The program named the Semiconductor Career and Apprenticeship Network Program was announced by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a press release on Tuesday, explaining the Michigan Strategic Fund approved $1.5 million in grant money to be used to plan and develop the program.

"As global demand for semiconductors continues to grow, Michigan is poised to be at the center of semiconductor and battery manufacturing and R&D efforts nationwide," Whitmer said in the release. "Michigan is one of only three states that will be launching planning work to define curricula to support employers in the semiconductor industry. With this new apprenticeship program, along with our global manufacturing and automotive R&D leadership, we are leading the charge."

The demand for power semiconductors is rapidly increasing as automakers enter the electric vehicle market and telecommunication companies expand 5G capabilities.

Getty Images

The Semiconductor Career and Apprenticeship Network Program grant will provide $1.5 million in funding to the SEMI Foundation, an arm of the global microelectronics industry association SEMI.

The SEMI Foundations mission is to "support economic opportunity for workers and the sustained growth of the microelectronics industry," according to its website.

"SCAN is a critical program that will provide economic opportunity and mobility to Michigan residents and support the health of the microelectronics industry by addressing its significant workforce challenges," Shari Liss, executive director of the SEMI Foundation, said in the release.

The program is set to include two phases. Phase One will focus on "the workforce ecosystem by engaging key microelectronics employer partners, end users in the auto and manufacturing space, educational partners and key workforce development partners," according to the release.

Phase Two will focus on "customization through conducting extensive discovery and focus groups with employers to confirm job roles, skills and competencies needed to successfully build and diversify a robust and knowledgeable incoming workforce."

Additionally, Michigans automotive industry, which is home to nearly one-fifth of U.S. auto production, purchased nearly $35 million in products and services from Michigan semiconductor companies in 2020, according to the state.

That builds on Michigan's leadership in semiconductor research and development and testing due in large part to the states talent and processes supported by Hemlock Semiconductor, KLA in Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, the top global institute for semiconductor training.
Photo Provided Coleman Lions Club

Lions Clubs International sponsors an annual Peace Poster contest for students ages 11 to 13. The 2021 theme was We Are All Connected.

In November, Coleman seventh grader McKayla Stillwell was awarded a certificate and check for $50 from Coleman Lions Club as this years local winner. Her poster was then entered in the District contest with 42 clubs.
A new degree program at Saginaw Valley State University will prepare students for the growing field of computer engineering. The SVSU Board of Control approved adding a new Bachelor of Science in computer engineering degree. Students may begin enrolling in the program, offered through SVSUs College of Science, Engineering & Technology, for the fall 2022 semester.

The computer engineering field continues to be stable, and qualified employees are consistently in high demand, said Rajani Muraleedharan, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates an average of roughly 4,500 job openings each year over the next 10 years. Computer engineers work in a variety of fields, including analysis, design, manufacturing, testing and research and development.

Muraleedharan said employers in Michigans Great Lakes Bay Region support the creation of a computer engineering major.

Our electrical and computer engineering advisory board unanimously supported the program initiative and provided valuable feedback on its design, she said.

The advisory board includes professionals from a number of regional companies, including Consumers Energy, General Motors, Halla Mechatronics, Hemlock Semiconductor, Magna International, Means Industries, Nexteer Automotive, Savant Group and Wineman Technology Inc.

Muraleedharan added that community need also factored into the decision to offer the new major.

By adding the new program, we can offer a computer engineering degree to students who prefer the size, proximity and cost of SVSU, she said. Increasing demand for computer engineers is driven, in part, by growth in the automotive, electric aviation, Industry 4.0 (the industrial internet of things) and health care sectors, which are well-represented in the region.

National accreditors also encouraged SVSU to develop the new program.

During the 2017 accreditation visit by ABET, the chair of the committee recommended that SVSU consider a Bachelor of Science in computer engineering degree program, said Andrew Chubb, dean of the College of Science, Engineering & Technology. The ABET committee recognized that SVSU already had the courses and faculty in place  including faculty who perform research in emerging technologies  making this degree program a natural fit. This new program will open up a whole new sector of industry for SVSU graduates.

The computer engineering curriculum is supported by the departments of chemistry, computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, physics and philosophy. Nearly all of the courses required for a major in computer engineering are already offered at SVSU through the electrical engineering and computer science departments. One new course  a modification of a course previously offered in the electrical engineering program  is being added to SVSUs course offering.

For more information about the computer engineering program at SVSU, visit www.svsu.edu/ computerengineeringbs/.
The former home of Thumb Home Real Video in Bad Axe will be getting new life soon, this time as a tobacco shop.

A Gaylord Michigan based chain called Wild Wild West Tobacco is scheduled to open there in a few weeks, with management hoping to have it open before the Fourth of July weekend.

We offer big city selection without big city prices, said Robin Tachoir, the director of operations. It used to make us mad when to get a cigar, we would drive an hour and a half and pay more.

The first Wild Wild West Tobacco location opened in 2015. Tachoir said their target markets are smaller areas of around 3,000 to 5,000 people who live a ways away from bigger cities.

We pretty much have everything across the board, Tachoir said. I cant think of anything we dont offer. If we dont have a specific brand or style, were more than happy to order it.

Wild Wild West Tobacco currently has 52 locations across Michigan and two in Wisconsin. Along with Bad Axe, the chain plans on opening new locations in Haslett and Hastings. Tachoir said that Bad Axe is the type of community the company is looking to get involved in, being the same size as her hometown and about an hour away from the Bay City-Saginaw area.

Tachoir also pointed how they try to be involved with community events wherever their locations are, whether its Toys for Tots, cancer benefits, or a fundraiser for a family that had something go horribly wrong. That all depends on the store manager and what they want to do to help.

Locations usually look to have between two and five employees, depending on if they are full-time or part-time. Those interested can call Wild Wild Wests offices at 231-437-3010.

Were your friendly neighborhood tobacco shop, Tachoir said. We want to be the Cheers of tobacco.
Update at 7 a.m., Wednesday, May 25:

At least 19 children and two teachers were killed after a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, west of San Antonio, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The alleged gunman  identified by officials as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School  is dead, authorities said.

In a press conference Tuesday evening, Uvalde CISD Chief of Police Pete Arredondo said the investigation is ongoing, and once more information is available, police will release it to the public and hold a press conference.

University Health tweeted it's treating a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl who are both in critical condition, as well as a 10-year-old girl who's in good condition and a 9-year-old girl who's in fair condition.

Update at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 24: University Health San Antonio received four patients from the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. A 66-year-old woman remains in critical condition. Health officials are also treating two 10-year-old girls. One of them is in critical condition while the other girl is in good condition.

Health officials sent an update that it is also treating a 9-year-old girl who's in good condition.

Update at 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 24:

The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed to The Texas Tribune that 18 children and three adults were killed during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde County on Tuesday, May 24.

In a press conference, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District said schools are closed and done for the year. The district said it will have grief counselors available for support. The district also confirmed the 18-year-old shooter is dead.

If families are looking for their loved ones, officials are asking them to head to the reunification centers at 300 East Main Street and 1025 Garner Field Road in Uvalde.

Update at 3:45 p.m., Tuesday, May 24:

Texas Governor Greg Abbott confirmed 14 students and one teacher were killed in the school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde on Tuesday, May 24. Abbott confirmed the 18-year-old male shooter is dead, and police officers are believed to have killed him. The shooter was a resident of Uvalde.

"He shot and killed horrifically and incomprehensively," Abbott said of the shooter, who he said is believed to be Salvador Ramos.

Abbott said Ramos abandoned his vehicle and then entered the school with a handgun and possibly a rifle.

University Health tweeted it has received two patients from the shooting, a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old child. Both are in critical condition.

Below is Abbott's statement:

"Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde. Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering. We thank the courageous first responders who worked to finally secure Robb Elementary School. I have instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers to work with local law enforcement to fully investigate this crime. The Texas Division of Emergency Management is charged with providing local officials all resources necessary to respond to this tragedy as the State of Texas works to ensure the community has what it needs to heal."

Check back for updates

Update at 3 p.m., Tuesday, May 24:

The Uvalde Memorial Hospital confirmed on its Facebook page that two individuals arrived at the hospital dead after the active shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde on Tuesday, May 24. The hospital also stated that 13 children were received via ambulance and buses for treatment.

Uvalde Memorial Hospital confirmed to ABC News that two children had died from presumed gunshot injuries in the incident.

Two individuals were transferred to University Health. University Health tweeted that it has received two patients from the shooting, one child and an adult. The two are being evaluated.

University Health tweeted that it has received two patients from the shooting, a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl. Both are in critical condition.

"Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde," Abbott wrote in a statement. "Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering."We thank the courageous first responders who worked to finally secure Robb Elementary School. I have instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers to work with local law enforcement to fully investigate this crime. The Texas Division of Emergency Management is charged with providing local officials all resources necessary to respond to this tragedy as the State of Texas works to ensure the community has what it needs to heal.

Update at 2 p.m., Tuesday, May 24:

The active shooter suspect at Robb Elementary in Uvalde is in police custody as of 1 p.m., according to a Facebook post from the Uvalde Police Department.

The Uvalde County Sheriff's Office told CBS News that a teacher at the school has been shot. University Health tweeted that it has received two patients from the shooting, one child and an adult. The two are being evaluated.

The Uvalde Memorial Hospital also wrote on its Facebook page that it is caring for several students in the emergency room. The hospital is asking immediate family members to report to those students on the second floor in the cafeteria. It's also asking anyone who isn't a family member to refrain from coming to the hospital at this time.

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District tweeted at 2:16 p.m. that parents are encouraged to pick up their children at the civic center. The district has canceled all campus activities, events, and after-school programs.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus tweeted that SAPD has sent resources, including an EAGLE, SWAT and crime scene investigators, to the active shooter incident in Uvalde. SAPD stated the scene remains active and its resources are on standby if they are needed.

"Our hearts and prayers are with the Uvalde community," SAPD tweeted.

Original story:

An active shooter alert was sent out on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 24, for Robb Elementary with a heavy law enforcement presence. Uvalde CISD officials said in a tweet at 12:17 p.m. that there is an active shooter situation at Robb Elementary. They are asking parents and families for cooperation by not visiting the campus.

School officials have set up an area for parents to reunite with their children. Students are being transported to the Willie DeLeon Civic Center. Parents can be reunited with their kids at that location.

The scene remains active. Officials say more information will be shared as soon as possible. The rest of the district has also been placed under a Secure Status.

Robb Elementary is located at 715 Old Carrizo St. in Uvalde, which is 85 miles west of San Antonio.

This is a developing story.
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MIDDLETOWN  The head of Middletown Public Schools has activated the districts crisis team, and police have increased their presence at the citys 10 schools following Tuesdays elementary school shooting in Texas.

Authorities say the incident, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, has resulted in the deaths of 19 students and two teachers.

In a letter sent to parents Tuesday evening, Acting Superintendent of Schools Alberto Vazquez Matos encouraged them to step away from the news and turn toward your children. After all, its these unique, remarkable and brilliant young people that light our collective path forward.

These 4,800 students are what pushes us to do and be better each and every day, he added.

Vazquez Matos said the loss of young lives results in a particularly profound grief, one that seems incomprehensible. I think this is because its the loss of hope, of promise, and of the future.

Our member teachers are numb, and our own families are worried, Janice Pawlak, president of the Middletown Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1381, said in a statement. These past three years have been emotionally draining and traumatic for the Middletown schools community.

Yet, here we are; teaching and acting as if everything is OK. Some kids know about yesterdays massacre in Texas, while others are not yet aware, said Pawlak, a third-grade educator at Wesley Elementary School.

Teachers have been having a particularly difficult time in the wake of the incident, she said.

Some of our members are breaking down emotionally. As their elected union leader, their colleague and their friend, I am concerned for their individual well-being, Pawlak said. Ensuring they get the support they need is my top priority now and in the dark days ahead.

Middletown Police Chief Erik Costa has assigned officers to every school in the district and implemented increased patrols in the surrounding areas, he said.

The Middletown Police Department has no information to suggest that our students and/or faculty are in any specific danger. This is a precautionary measure to ensure public safety, and it is meant to allow students and faculty to feel safe during school hours, Costa said in a statement.

Those who have questions about police activity in the schools, can call 860-638-4000 and ask to speak to a shift supervisor or front desk officer.
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Mass shooters have killed hundreds of people throughout U.S. history in realms like stores, theaters and workplaces, but it is in schools and colleges where the carnage reverberates perhaps most keenly  places filled with children of tender ages, older students aspiring to new heights and the teachers planting the seeds of knowledge, their journeys all cut short.

If a mass shooting is defined as resulting in the death of four or more people, not including the perpetrator, 169 people have died in 14 such events connected to U.S. schools and colleges  from 1999's Columbine High School massacre to Tuesday's shooting in Texas. That's according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, and to other AP reporting:

ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, May 2022, 21 dead

An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two adults, officials said. Law enforcement killed the attacker.

OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL, November 2021, 4 dead

A sophomore student is accused of killing four people and wounding others at his school in Oxford, Michigan, near Detroit. His trial is set for September. His parents are charged with involuntary manslaughter; authorities say they ignored warning signs.

SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, May 2018, 10 dead

A shooter opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. The 17-year-old suspect has been charged with murder.

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL, February 2018, 17 dead

An attack left 14 students and three staff members dead at the school in Parkland, Florida, and injured many others. The 20-year-old suspect was charged with murder.

UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, October 2015, 9 dead

A man killed nine people at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, and wounded nine others, then killed himself.

MARYSVILLE-PILCHUCK HIGH SCHOOL, October 2014, 4 dead

A 15-year-old used text messages to draw several cousins and friends to his cafeteria table at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington state. He fatally shot four of them before killing himself.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA, May 2014, 6 dead

A 22-year-old college student frustrated over sexual rejections fatally stabbed or shot six students near the school in Isla Vista, California, and injured several others before he killed himself.

SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, December 2012, 27 dead

A 19-year-old man killed his mother at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, then went to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first graders and six educators. He took his own life.

OIKOS UNIVERSITY, April 2012, 7 dead

A former nursing student fatally shot seven people at the small private college in East Oakland, California. He died in prison in 2019.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, February 2008, 5 dead

A 27-year-old former student shot and killed five people and wounded more than 20 others at the school in DeKalb, Illinois, before killing himself.

VIRGINIA TECH, April 2007, 32 dead

A 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007; more than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.

WEST NICKEL MINES AMISH SCHOOL, October 2006, 5 dead

A 32-year-old man entered an Amish schoolhouse near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, dismissed the boys, bound the girls, and fatally shot five of them before killing himself. Five others were wounded.

RED LAKE HIGH SCHOOL, March 2005, 9 dead

A 16-year-old student killed his grandfather and the man's companion at their Minnesota home, then went to nearby Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a teacher and a security guard before shooting himself.

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL, April 1999, 13 dead

Two students killed 12 of their peers and one teacher at the school in Littleton, Colorado, and injured many others before killing themselves.
DARIEN  The deaths of three Darien High students in recent months have devastated the school community, local officials said this week.

Darien High sophomore Hayden Thorsen died last week, local officials said, further shaking a school community still coping with the deaths of two other teens since March.

This is the third student that the school has grieved in the past two months, Darien Schools Superintendent Alan Addley said in a statement. The pain of losing these beautiful young lives is unbearable. It is devastating for the families, the school and the town. Our school community is understandably hurting from these tragic losses of life.

Thorsen died by suicide, according to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Our entire school community is shaken by this tragedy and we will need to support one another as we mourn this unthinkable loss, Darien High Principal Ellen Dunn wrote in a message to the school community.

Thorsen is the third Darien High School student who has recently died.

Matthew McEvoy, 17, also died by suicide in March, the medical examiners office said, and 16-year-old Henry Farmer died from a medical complication in April.

Darien Police Lt. Jeremiah Marron said they are investigating the two suicides, but do not believe they are connected.

When we have two incidents of this type, and in the time frame it took place, it is incumbent upon us as investigators to closely examine the circumstances to ascertain if there are any potential connections, Marron said. As of this date, other than the fact that these two young residents attended the same school and were of the same age, the Darien Police Department has not identified anything to suggest that these two tragedies are related.

In her message, Dunn shared a link for mental health crisis intervention services, and said those whose children need immediate support should call 211.

Addley said the school is working closely with medical health professionals, the town and other agencies to support our students in the grieving process and to support their ongoing mental health.

As we support our student body, we remember and honor the lives of the young students who passed and continue to extend our heartfelt condolences to the parents and families of the three students. he said.

Following Thorsens death, Darien High had a delayed opening Monday when Dunn said school faculty discussed how to address the situation with students. The school also postponed its junior prom, which had been scheduled for Saturday, to June 4.

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline can be reached 24/7 at 800-273-8255.
The Navy has released its investigation into the underwater crash of the submarine USS Connecticut, concluding that "an accumulation of errors and omissions" committed by a "weak team" led to the service's first major submarine mishap in decades.

The heavily redacted report paints the picture of a ship led by officers who failed to learn from their mistakes and did not hold the crew to high standards. Investigators observed that "in the absence of external oversight or evaluation," the ship's leaders "failed to maintain day-to-day standards."

While on deployment in the Pacific Ocean, the Connecticut struck an unidentified seamount or underwater mountain on Oct. 2, 2021. The submarine sailed to Guam and eventually returned to its homeport of Bremerton, Washington, on Dec. 21.

Read Next: Marine Corps Considers Abandoning Parris Island Amid Rising Extreme Weather Threats

The report, submitted to Navy leaders Oct. 29 and finalized by Navy leadership on April 11, recommended nonjudicial punishments for six people: the boat's commanding officer, Cmdr. Cameron Aljilani; his second on command, Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Cashin; both of the ship's navigators; the officer of the deck ;and the junior navigator at the time of the incident. The recommended charge for all the sailors was dereliction of duty, and improper hazarding of a vessel for everyone but Cashin and the junior navigator.

Investigators suggested that "the administrative chain of command initiate detachment for cause" for all of the sailors except the junior navigator.

The ship's senior most enlisted sailor, Chief of the Boat Cory I. Rodgers, was recommended for administrative counseling.

All of the other sailors' names were redacted in the report on privacy grounds.

In the months leading up to the submarine's deployment, investigators noted that crew issues were already showing. In July 2020, the squadron that oversees all three of the Navy's advanced Seawolf-class submarines wrote Aljilani a formal "letter of performance" for "inadequate supervisory oversight, ineffective accountability practices, and superficial self-assessment.".

Then, in February 2021, Aljilani's bosses wrote him a "letter of instruction" that told him to "address the command's overall performance, lack of improvement, and reluctance to accept feedback."

Amid these troubles, the submarine hit a pier in April while mooring at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego. The submarine did additional safety training before leaving San Diego to try and get at the failures that led to the incident, but a later investigation "revealed degraded standards in navigation, planning, poor seamanship, and ineffective command and control."

Despite this track record, the squadron decided the mooring incident "represented an anomalous performance and not systematic failure." Still, on May 25, 2021, the squadron again formally counseled the boat's commander as well as the executive officer, navigator and assistant navigator over the incident.

Two days later, on May 27, the Connecticut deployed -- ahead of schedule, according to the released report.

Much of what the submarine was doing leading up to the grounding is redacted, with the Navy citing national security reasons. The original report was classified at the Secret level -- the middle level out of three in the classification system -- and not to be shared with any foreign nationals.

The report does explain that, about a day before the crash, on Oct. 1, the sub's leadership began making plans for a "humanitarian evacuation transit" toward Okinawa. Typically, these evacuations are to offload crew who have family matters like childbirth to attend to.

The new, temporary route took the submarine over poorly surveyed areas of the ocean, something Aljilani and his navigator were aware of, according to investigators.

"[Aljilani] incorrectly believed MATT data was available and in use in the area where Connecticut was transiting," the report explained.

MATT data are classified, digital maps specifically designed for submarines. "Where MATT coverage exists, MATT is the recommended and preferred navigation product ... for subsurface navigation," the report explained. Plus, the assistant navigator knew about but didn't use a feature on the ship's digital chart system to highlight surveyed and non-surveyed areas.

"The [commanding officer] did not conduct a detailed review of the route," the report said, noting that the "temporary route passed through surveyed and unsurveyed areas on the chart."

As the ship began to take this new route, issues with the ship's depth-sensing sonar cropped up, as well. The unredacted portions of the report reveal that there were at least three separate instances during which the sailors on the bridge didn't have accurate measurements of the Connecticut's actual depth. In each of those instances, the junior sailor in charge of those readings failed to take appropriate action, investigators added.

Eventually, the team on the bridge began to note a series of discrepancies between the depth data they had from instruments and the information from the navigation charts prepared for the temporary route.

In some of the last unredacted entries before the collision, the report said that "[Aljilani] was unaware of the ship's proximity to the navigation hazard" and that "the [officer of the deck] stated he was concerned with the shallower-than-expected soundings but that he did not assess a need to take aggressive action."

"The [officer of the deck] did not consider ordering a lower speed."

The last entry said that "the sonar supervisor identified a trace near the bow" but determined it was likely an animal.

After the grounding, which the report notes occurred in international waters on the afternoon of Oct. 2, the crew reported "severe degradation" from the sonar array and took steps to surface the submarine. Once on the surface, the boat struggled to stay fully afloat since it couldn't completely empty its ballast tanks.

Eventually, the submarine was ordered to Guam, where it arrived on Oct. 8, 2021. News of the collision was first reported by USNI News the day before.

Although the Navy's initial statements and the report both note that 11 sailors were injured by the collision, the report adds more detail, including that the two most serious cases were a scalp laceration and concussion symptoms, as well as a fractured shoulder suffered by the officer of the deck at the time of the crash.

"During the transit to Guam, Connecticut identified seven Sailors who would benefit from mental health treatment," the report said. "During his interview, the [ship's corpsman] stated that number grew to approximately 50 Sailors."

The report is very tight-lipped about the damage to the submarine, redacting the entire section outlining the damage, save for a line about cost estimates being unavailable. In other sections, investigators noted that the boat's "bow dome" -- the front of the submarine that protects the sensitive sonar dome -- detached during the voyage to Guam, and divers found rocks in two of the submarine's main ballast tanks once it arrived.

The conclusions explain that while "no single action or inaction caused this mishap ... it was preventable."

"It resulted from an accumulation of errors and omissions in navigation planning, watchteam execution, and risk management," investigators added.

Specifically, the report observes that the failure to properly plan the route the day of the collision played a significant role in the mishap.

"The navigation review team, including the CO [commanding officer], failed to identify and properly mark at least ten charted hazards to navigation in the vicinity of the grounding," it said.

In addition to the navigation review team, investigators faulted the watch team at the time of the collision for not recognizing the area was hazardous and taking more actions to ensure the ship's safety. Although the report acknowledged the submarine was having issues with one of its depth-measuring sonars, investigators concluded that, even if it had been working properly, "it would not have prevented this grounding."

The blame, according to investigators, lay with several members of the Connecticut's leadership and the watch team that day.

Aljilani "failed to evaluate and mitigate risk, and he abdicated his responsibility to conduct an effective review of the voyage plan for the day of the grounding." Cashin, his second in command, "did not question the ship's voyage plan or identify watchteam errors."

The ship's two navigators were both faulted for directly contributing to the grounding. The lead navigator -- an officer -- should have reviewed the new route. Meanwhile, the assistant navigator -- a senior enlisted sailor -- "most egregiously [told a junior sailor on watch that day] to remove a 'stay out' area around a navigation hazard along the planned track."

According to a letter on the report written by the commander of the Navy's Pacific Fleet, Adm. Samuel Paparo, and dated April 11, 2022, the punishments for all six sailors blamed in the report have been carried out -- though the requests to push them from the Navy are all pending.

The letter states that the recommendation for Rodgers is complete but added that he has a pending request to be removed from the Navy, apparently suggesting that the master chief is being punished beyond what investigators recommended.

The report also suggests that the Navy look into how it trains and certifies submarine leadership, adding that "although the Connecticut [leaders] were fully qualified for their assignments, this was a particularly weak team."

A statement from the Navy on the release of these documents noted that there were a total of 28 corrective actions -- "of which 14 actions are complete, 13 actions are in progress, and 1 action is enduring."

"In implementing these significant improvements, the Navy will become a more effective fighting force," the statement added.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Navy Sub Crews Told to Stand Down After Preventable Collision in the Pacific
The Navy has unveiled a plan to cut its energy emissions in half by the end of this decade and reach so-called "net-zero" status by 2050. Yet for all of the plan's bold ideas and innovations, there's one aspect that remains conspicuously unaddressed -- the scores of ships and planes that burn fuel anytime they operate.

Instead, the plan released this week focuses on increased vehicle fuel efficiency and setting up new energy systems such as microgrids to become less dependent on fossil fuels and harden the Navy against the growing effects of climate change, which is increasingly threatening coastal bases with flooding and extreme weather.

The Navy plan is the latest move by the military to underscore its commitment to tackling climate change under President Joe Biden, who has put the issue front and center after it was largely pushed aside by the previous Republican administration.

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"For the Department of Navy, this is existential," Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro wrote in the opening lines of the strategy document. "If we do not act, as sea levels rise, bases like Norfolk Naval Base and Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island will be severely tested in their ability to support their missions."

As part of the new strategy, the Department of the Navy will aim to make its ground vehicles, including large trucks such as the Marine Corps' seven-ton Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement, more fuel efficient.

The Navy's ambitious overall goal is to be buying "100% zero-emission vehicles by 2035, including 100% zero-emission light-duty vehicle acquisitions by 2027," according to the strategy publicly released by the service.

It also plans to install more microgrids -- small-scale power systems -- on installations. The independent systems are seen as a way to provide renewable power to bases and also shield from disruptions to the broader electrical grid. On Tuesday, the Marine Corps announced that one of its logistics bases in Albany, Georgia, became the first net-zero installation in the Department of Defense. That means the base is generating more energy than it consumes "by implementing a range of climate friendly solutions," Del Toro said in the announcement.

However, the Navy strategy is notably silent on what it plans to do about the ships and planes that are its largest consumers of fossil fuels and biggest emitters of climate change-driving pollution.

Data from the Department of Defense showed that the Navy and Marine Corps accounted for 30% of all energy used for operations by the military in 2014. Sea and air assets made up almost equal portions of that figure.

The top consumer that year was the Air Force, with 57% of all military energy usage -- and almost entirely on air operations. During this time, the military was heavily involved in fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and began the drawdown of troops from Afghanistan.

"In fiscal year 2014, DoD consumed 87.4 million barrels of fuel enterprise-wide to deploy and sustain worldwide missions," the 2016 report explained, before adding that while much of it "can be attributed to operational tempo in U.S. Central Command, the Department's weapons platforms and equipment also are demanding more energy, albeit with ever increasing combat capability."

Despite the huge consumption, a 2019 study by Brown University found that the military's overall greenhouse gas emissions have actually declined since 1975, when they were at around 110 million metric tons per year, to just under 60 million metric tons in 2018.

The new strategy does say that the Navy "will continue to explore hybrid and advanced propulsion options for all ships including future frigates and destroyers, and other classes of ships," without going into more detail.

This would not be the Navy's first foray into making its ships more environmentally friendly. The Obama administration and former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus attempted to transition ships and planes to biofuels, an alternative to fossil fuels that could reduce the impacts to climate change.

Also driven partly by rising fuel prices, a 2011 Department of Energy announcement said that "by 2016, the Navy plans to deploy a Great Green Fleet powered entirely by alternative fuels."

Later Navy materials scaled back on that promise. By 2016, the plan was as much about energy conservation measures like hull efficiency modifications as it was biofuels.

On Monday, speaking to reporters in advance of the strategy's rollout, Meredith Berger, the assistant secretary of the Navy for environment, installations and energy, said that the service is still "working with industry to understand what other types of low-emission fuel alternatives are out there" and could be used.

"The driving element is always making sure that the Navy and Marine Corps meet mission," Berger said.

Now, the conversation about making warships green is being framed as something to strive for, just not right now. "We see a lot of potential, and future ships are contemplating more of these energy-efficient drives," Berger said.

Despite its vagueness about ships and planes, the strategy is a statement on the Navy's belief that climate change is a serious threat to the service. Berger said that San Diego, home to several major naval bases and a Marine Corps boot camp, is being "highly impacted." She added that Norfolk, home to the Navy's largest naval base, has been seeing more flooding.

"If temperatures continue to rise, the oceans will get warmer, creating more destructive storms requiring our fleets and Marine Corps forces to increase their operational tempo to respond," Del Toro wrote in the strategy memo.

"Bold climate action is a mission imperative" for the Navy, and "in this decisive decade, we have no other alternative," according to Del Toro.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Marine Corps Considers Abandoning Parris Island Amid Rising Extreme Weather Threats
Eighty-one years after he was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Seaman First Class Wilbur F. Newtons remains returned to his hometown in Missouri.

Members of Newtons family felt relieved and finally at peace when his remains, identified through DNA testing, arrived at Kansas City International Airport on Tuesday to a Navy guard and water salute from two fire trucks.

It is very moving for the family, said Jane Perkins, the daughter of Newtons first cousin. Weve hoped, weve always wondered, but nobody really knew before now.

Newton died Dec. 7, 1941 in the attack on Pearl Harbor while stationed aboard the U.S.S. Oklahoma, according to his obituary. His remains had been interred in Hawaii along with other unidentified servicemen since 1941.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency used dental and anthropological analysis to identify Newton after his maternal first cousin and her two sons gave the Navy samples of their DNA in 2012. Newton was accounted for on Oct. 21, 2021  nearly 80 years after his death.

Robin Deeds, the son of Newtons oldest living relative, said that while he knew his father had a first cousin who died at Pearl Harbor, he didnt know Newtons name until his father learned that his remains were identified.

After eighty years, you give up after a certain amount of time, Deeds said. I want to thank his cousins that gave the DNA because if it hadnt been for for those three, we wouldnt be here today.

Newton will be buried in his family plot in Mound City, Missouri, which also holds the remains of his parents and two of his three sisters.

When we found that marker, we knew we had found where he belongs, Perkins said.

Newton was born on Sept. 23, 1912, in Polk, Nebraska. His family settled in Mound City when he was seven years old.

According to his obit, Newton joined the U.S. Navy in May of 1940 for a six-year enlistment after previously joining the Civilian Conservation Corp in Leavenworth and working for The Works Progress Administration in San Francisco.

During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Newtons ship sustained multiple torpedo hits, causing it to capsize. Newton and 428 of his fellow crewmen died  few survived. Newton was 29 years old when he died.

The American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains from the U.S.S. Oklahoma in 1947, but were only able to identify 35 of the men at the time, according to the DPAA.

The unidentified remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. They stayed there for 68 years before the DPAA exhumed the unknown remains for testing in 2015.

For his service, Newton received the American Defense Service Medal, a Purple Heart, and the Gold Star pin, among other honors.

Navy sailors Julie Mota Herrera and Elizabeth Gronau-Young, both second class petty officers, said they were honored to take part in the ceremony on Tuesday.

You could be in the Navy all your life and this is definitely the most honorable thing, Gronau-Young said. Especially in our day and age where we dont really see war time, this is something we get to do, to honor who weve lost.

A service for Newton will be held at United Methodist Church in Mound City at 10 a.m., May 28 followed by a military ceremony at Mount Hope Cemetery. Pettijohn & Crawford Funeral Home will be open for the community to pay their respects from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 26 and 27.

The family requests memorial donations to the Mound City United Methodist Church, Mound City American Legion cemetery fund, or the Mound City Kiwanis Club. Please forward all donations to Pettijohn & Crawford Family Funeral Service, P.O. Box 174, Mound City, MO 64470.

2022 The Kansas City Star. Visit kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraine's president said Wednesday that Russia must pull back to its pre-war positions as a first step before diplomatic talks, a negotiating line that Moscow is unlikely to agree to anytime soon.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he currently sees no willingness on the part of Russia to resume stalled negotiations on ending the three-month war.

Speaking by video link to attendees at this years World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy expressed a willingness to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin directly, but stressed that Moscow needs to make clear it too is ready to shift from the bloody war to diplomacy.

"Its possible if Russia shows at least something. When I say at least something, I mean pulling back troops to where they were before Feb. 24," the day Russias invasion began, he said. "I believe it would be a correct step for Russia to make.

Zelenskyy also made clear that Ukraine wants to drive Russian troops out of all captured areas.

Ukraine will fight until it reclaims all its territories, he said. Its about our independence and our sovereignty.

Russia, which has gradually narrowed its own military goals in Ukraine amid fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces, might be playing for time, Zelenskyy added.

A regional governor in eastern Ukraine said that at least six civilians have been killed by the latest Russian shelling in a town at the epicenter of fighting.

Luhansk region Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Wednesday that another eight people have been wounded in the shelling of Sievierodonetsk over the past 24 hours. He accused the Russian troops of deliberately targeting shelters where civilians were hiding.

The town is located in Ukraines eastern industrial heartland of Donbas, where Russian forces have been pressing their offensive despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for eight years and hold large swaths of territory. Sievierodonetsk and neighboring cities are the only part of the Donbas Luhansk region still under Ukrainian government control.

The head of the Donetsk regions military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said two rockets which hit the town of Pokrovsk early Wednesday morning injured four civilians, who were treated in hospital.

One strike left a crater at least three meters (10 feet) deep, with the remnants of what appeared to be a rocket still smoldering. A row of low terraced houses near the strike suffered significant damage, with roofing tiles blown off, door frames ripped from the walls and chunks of concrete scattered around.

Theres no place to live in left, everything is smashed, said Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother-of-two who lived in one of the terraced houses. The windows had been blown out by an earlier strike about a month ago, and they had replaced them with plastic sheeting. That, she said, probably saved their lives as at least there was no glass flying around.

Zelenskyy acknowledged late Tuesday that his countrys forces in the region faced a difficult situation.

Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there, he said in his nightly address to the nation. Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk  the occupiers want to destroy everything there.

In a further sign that Moscow is trying to bolster its stretched military machine in Ukraine, Russian lawmakers passed a bill which scraps the age limit of 40 for those signing their first voluntary military contracts.

The chair of the parliaments defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said the measure would make it easier to hire people with in-demand specialisms. A description of the bill on the parliament website indicated older recruits could be suited to operate precision weapons or to serve in engineering or medical roles.

Russian authorities have said that only volunteer contract soldiers are sent to fight in Ukraine, although they have acknowledged that some conscripts were drawn into the fighting by mistake in the early stages.

Separately, President Putin has issued an order to allow a fast track to Russian citizenship for people in two southern regions of Ukraine which are largely held by Russian forces.

Putins decree, dated Wednesday, could allow Russia to strengthen its control over the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. They form part of a land connection between eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin last week visited both regions and indicated they could become part of our Russian family. A Russian-installed official in the Kherson region has predicted the region could become part of Russia.

Russia already has a program for fast-track naturalization of people living in two regions of eastern Ukraine claimed by Russia-backed separatists.

British military experts, meanwhile, say a solution to getting wheat out of Ukraine for export doesnt appear to be imminent.

Ukraines overland export routes are highly unlikely to offset the problems caused by Russias blockade of the Black Sea port of Odesa, putting further pressure on global grain prices, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said.

In an update posted Wednesday morning, it noted that there had been no significant merchant shipping in or out of Odesa since the start of the Russian invasion.

The ministry says that the blockade, combined with the shortage of overland shipping routes, means that significant supplies of grain remain in storage and cant be exported.

Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol has become functional after three months of fighting.

The military has completed clearing the port of land mines and it has been made fully operational, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday.

Russian forces have taken full control over Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, after the last Ukrainian defenders at the giant Azovstal seaside steel plant laid down their weapons.

Konashenkov said the Russian military had also used long-range air- and sea-launched missiles to destroy the production facilities of a key Ukrainian maker of aircraft engines, Motor Sich, in Zaporizhzhia.

The company specialized in helicopter engines, which were also used to equip the Russian helicopters before supplies were halted following Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula.
The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.

The consequences of a U.S.-China war over Taiwan need to be understood:

A president suffering from an occasional case of verbal diarrhea about political infighting is an embarrassment. A president repeating loose comments about international affairs is dangerous.

For the third time, President Joe Biden declared a new U.S. policy toward Taiwan, only to have his officials insist that nothing has changed. That might mollify the public, but other nations, especially the People's Republic of China, aren't fooled.

On his trip to East Asia, intended to convince friends and allies that Uncle Sam can walk and chew gum at the same time, the president's statement roiled the region. When asked if he would defend Taiwan, he responded "yes," adding that "it's a commitment we made." His words circled the globe at warp speed, appearing to yet again repudiate the policy of "strategic ambiguity," by which Washington refused to clarify its position toward a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

Since the Carter administration dropped diplomatic ties with Taiwan, legally the Republic of China, and recognized the PRC, America's defense ties with Taipei have been ambiguous. Washington retains unofficial diplomatic ties with the island state and is committed by law to sell the latter defensive weapons. However, Taiwan enjoys neither a defense treaty, as possessed by Japan and South Korea, nor any other formal military commitment. Making U.S. policy a straightforward "maybe."

The Strategy of Strategic Ambiguity

In theory, the uncertainty and possibility of forfeiting U.S. support are supposed to deter Taipei from recklessly challenging Beijing. At the same time, the PRC is supposed to avoid taking military action, lest Washington decides to intervene. Voila, America achieves the best of both worlds. However, the opposite result also is possible. The Taiwanese might believe eight decades of cooperation in war and peace mean the U.S. would intervene on the former's behalf. And the Chinese might decide that no rational American president would risk Los Angeles for Taipei.

In fact, strategic ambiguity looks like an excuse to avoid deciding. As long as policymakers need not give a clear yes or no, they need not clearly decide yes or no. And they can simply hope the contingency never arises.

China is Not Ambiguous About Reunification

However, this strategy is becoming increasingly untenable. There is no sign of an imminent Chinese military action, but noted by the Quincy Institute's Michael Swaine: "this possibility cannot be discounted over the longer term if present trends continue." Beijing's patience appears to be diminishing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has inveighed against the issue being "passed on from generation to generation." The PRC has increased diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan, while the brutal crackdown in Hong Kong suggests the Xi government has given up citing the special administrative region as an example to negotiate voluntary reunification.

Moreover, time may not be on China's side. The PRC faces serious demographic, economic, and political problems, which are being increasingly aggravated by the Xi regime's zero COVID policy. Beijing officials are aware that pro-PRC sentiment in Taiwan is vanishingly small, especially among the young. Finally, of the many possible lessons of Russia's attack on Ukraine, the most important for Xi might be the importance of a quick victory.

Time for the U.S. to Take a Position?

As a result, U.S. policymakers should know their mind. If China acts, they need to be ready to respond. That could mean marshaling diplomatic and economic power around the globe against Beijing. That could mean indirectly striking Chinese interests  for instance, interdicting trade with and air travel to the PRC. Most seriously, that could mean directly intervening against Chinese military forces. Whatever the case, Washington should be ready to act, or not act, and not be caught unprepared if Beijing strikes.

Most importantly, the issue should be discussed now. The largely unstated consensus within the Beltway appears to be that of course, Washington should intervene. To most foreign policy professionals it is inconceivable that America would not respond militarily. The main disagreement of late is over whether strategic ambiguity should be replaced with strategic clarity  by stating a firm military commitment, as the president seemed to do.

Is America Ready for Strategic Clarity?

However, the American people should be consulted, starting now, Admitted Rep. Michael McCaul, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "I don't know how many Americans would want to go to war over a tiny island they know nothing about," he said. And if they fully understood the cost of defending Taiwan from China  the possibility of conventional defeat and nuclear disaster  they might firmly oppose doing so.

If a crisis explodes, the president should be prepared to act and Congress should be prepared to vote. Most importantly, the latter should fulfill its constitutional responsibility and debate a declaration of war, necessary for a presidential decision to intervene militarily. Such a momentous decision requires an informed citizenry.

Taiwan is China's most important strategic objective, outside of protecting the mainland. Beijing leadership, along with most Chinese including younger generations  which I have found to be profoundly nationalistic even when otherwise liberal  believe Taiwan to be part of China. The island was stripped from the decrepit Chinese empire by Japan in 1895 and returned after the latter's defeat in 1945. In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party overthrew the ROC and ousted the Nationalist Party government, which fled to Taiwan. Backed by the U.S. military, the ROC maintained a separate existence but gradually lost the diplomatic game as most of the world, including America, formally accepted only "one China" and recognized the PRC.

For the mainland leadership, reuniting the two  meaning subordinating Taiwan to the PRC  is the final step to end "the Century of Humiliation" in which China suffered foreign invasion and occupation. The only comparable U.S. experience in terms of nationalism at its most raw is the American Civil War, in which northerners refused to allow secession. After the eleven southern states seceded over slavery, the national government fought over the union, and some 750,000 Americans, roughly eight million in today's terms, died in the process.

U.S. policymakers want to believe that America would triumph. Some, such as former defense secretary and CIA director Leon Panetta, simply assume that the threat to intervene would suffice to protect Taipei and that the PRC would back down. All the U.S. must do is declare its willingness to act, and the Chinese leadership will retreat to Zhongnanhai, heads hung low, and accept American suzerainty forevermore.

Others either believe that America would win, or they just ignore the possibility of losing. Believing it imperative that Washington act, they ignore the likely consequences. Everything simply must turn outright.

Alas, fighting the PRC over Taiwan would be nothing like America's recent military experience. Iraq and Afghanistan were cakewalks compared to high-intensity war against the well-armed and highly motivated People's Liberation Army, generously stocked with missiles and an expanding nuclear arsenal. At its worst, air and naval combat between the U.S. and PRC would take Americans back to World War II's Pacific war, which surely no one wants to relive, with a possible nuclear twist if such weapons were used against America.

And Beijing appears ready for war, if necessary, though that certainly is not its preference. The PRC desires a negotiated surrender by Taiwan. If it comes to war, some PRC officials don't believe the U.S. would fight, leading to the infamous taunt that America would not risk Los Angeles for Taipei. And that is a fair assumption based on any normal balancing of interests. Taiwan matters far more to China than America. Imagine the PRC announcing that it was prepared to defend Cuba from U.S. aggression. That would seem equally ludicrous to Washington, especially having seen the Soviet Union retreat in a comparable situation six decades ago.

However, most Chinese leaders appear to be more realistic, preparing for U.S. intervention. Beijing benefits from the tyranny of distance  Taiwan is about 100 miles from the mainland, roughly as far as Cuba from the U.S. In contrast, Taiwan is more than 7,000 miles from the American mainland and about 1.700 miles from Guam, the closest U.S. possession. Washington is at a significant disadvantage since it is easier and less costly to deter than project power. Ominously, the U.S. usually loses war games of a Taiwan conflict.

Although Washington is developing strategies to overcome the PRC's anti-access/area-denial capabilities, it would be difficult for the U.S. to prevail even with access to allied bases in the region. Ground facilities and naval forces would be vulnerable to missile attacks. Moreover, despite Tokyo's tougher attitude toward China and Seoul's new conservative government, there is no guarantee that if war loomed either would join the U.S. Doing so would turn them into military targets and guarantee enduring enmity from the PRC. The allies would be especially reluctant to act if they believed Washington was at least partially responsible for igniting the crisis.

Escalation seems inevitable. China could scarcely avoid hitting Guam, a U.S. possession loaded with military facilities, and Okinawa, a Japanese island filled with American bases and personnel. The U.S. would inevitably target mainland installations, a couple of scores of which could be used to support an invasion of Taiwan. Both sides would face strong pressure to retaliate in turn. A recent wargame suggested that Beijing likely would brandish nuclear weapons early in any conflict, with potentially disastrous results.

Ultimately, the U.S. could find itself devoting much of its military budget  at a time of rapidly increasing deficits as America's population ages  to combatting a rising, distant adversary in its own neighborhood over interests it considers to be vital. And in doing so Americans would be courting a greater chance of nuclear conflict than even during the Cold War. In short, the American people could find themselves risking national bankruptcy and destruction to confront this one contingency: defending Taiwan from China.

The more than 23 million people of Taiwan deserve to set their own destinies. They have created a democratic policy, market economy, and vibrant society. However, risking their homeland is a high price for Americans to pay, too high. War with China means personnel killed, planes downed, ships sunk, and bases bombed. War with China also means the possibility of nuclear-tipped missiles hitting American cities. And even a U.S. victory likely would be transitory, as China could retreat and prepare for another round, rather like Germany between World Wars I and II.

Better to seek a regional modus vivendi, which ensures that Taipei eschews claims of independence and military relationships with other nations, while Beijing reduces military threats and affirms peaceful reunification.

Washington also should consider the lessons of Ukraine: arming and training Taiwanese forces, preparing global sanctions in response to an attack, and developing asymmetric military responses. The goal should be to put the greatest responsibility on Taiwan while raising the price more for China than for America.

The president's inability to control his mouth is dangerous. Failing to consider the full consequences of war with China over Taiwan is worse. And expecting Americans to accept without debate the costs and risks of full-scale combat with the PRC is a political crime. The Biden administration should address all three issues before the Taiwan Strait becomes the world's latest crisis.

A 1945 Contributing Editor, Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy and civil liberties. He worked as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and editor of the political magazine Inquiry. He writes regularly for leading publications such as Fortune magazine, National Interest, the Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Times. Bandow speaks frequently at academic conferences, on college campuses, and to business groups. Bandow has been a regular commentator on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. He holds a JD from Stanford University.

This article originally appeared on 19fortyfive.com.
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Before Arthur MacArthur was 20 years old, he had already fought in several significant Civil War battles and survived being shot in the chest, his life likely spared by a packet of letters and a Bible placed close to his heart.

Almost two decades before his more famous son, Douglas, was born, MacArthur was a war hero and the recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Missionary Ridge.

"I'm surprised more people don't know about him,'' James Zobel, an archivist and historian at the MacArthur Memorial museum in Norfolk, Virginia, told Military.com.

Arthur MacArthur always wanted to be a soldier. When he was only 16 and living in Wisconsin, he approached several company commanders from one regiment that passed through Milwaukee in July 1861, pleading to join. He was declined by all, with one politely telling him that he should focus on being a better student than soldier. MacArthur is said to have replied, "I propose to do both, sir."

A year later, MacArthur lied about his age and, with the help of his father, a judge, was appointed the adjutant of the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. A military career that lasted until 1909 started inauspiciously as MacArthur's abilities -- his youth and eagerness conspiring against him at times -- were doubted by superiors. MacArthur was determined, though, and began to prove himself, starting at the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky in October 1862 and then at the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee a few months later.

Then came Missionary Ridge on Nov. 25, 1863. Coming off being defeated soundly at Chickamauga, Union troops were surrounded as Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's forces lay siege to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Bragg's intent was to cut off the Union's supply lines and force it to surrender.

Soldiers were starving, with rations limited to "four cakes of hard bread and a quarter pound of pork every three days."

Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant -- recently placed in command of all Union forces in the West -- acted decisively, replacing Gen. William Rosecrans with Gen. George Thomas, and opening the Cracker Line to get more food to the troops.

Arthur MacArthur's military career lasted nearly five decades and began in the Civil War. His son, Gen. Douglas, is one of the U.S. Army's greatest generals.

Grant had another big concern. Worried about Gen. William T. Sherman's forces north of Missionary Ridge, he sought to relieve pressure on them by providing a distraction. Grant commanded Gen. Thomas Wood's men to attempt to seize the Confederate rifle pits at the base of the ridge. They weren't instructed to go any farther, but once they left themselves vulnerable to enemy artillery, staying put was not advisable.

Against orders, they charged up Missionary Ridge.

"Grant and those guys didn't want it to happen," Zobel said. "They only wanted to go to the lower part of [the ridge], but then they started taking all those potshots, and everybody was like, 'Oh, we can't even sit here. We have to go up this thing.'"

During the charge, the standard bearer of the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry went down -- accounts vary about whether he was killed or not -- and dropped the unit's flag. Fueled by instinct and adrenaline, MacArthur, an 18-year-old first lieutenant recently hospitalized with typhoid fever, grabbed the flag and ran full speed at the Confederates. After one hour of intense battle, MacArthur was the first Union soldier to summit Missionary Ridge.

"Alone between the two erupting lines, [MacArthur] was wounded twice on his way to planting the regiment's flag in almost the exact midpoint of the Confederate fortifications,'' according to the nonprofit American Battlefield Trust. "The men of the 24th surged after him and 15,000 more Union troops took heart and followed, rising up and smashing the Confederate center."

Missionary Ridge was the culmination of three battles on successive days that put Chattanooga and its key rail lines in Union hands and helped lay the groundwork for Sherman's Atlanta Campaign a year later. One southern soldier referred to the setback as "the death-knell of the Confederacy."

As for MacArthur, he was brevetted as a colonel in 1864, earning the moniker "the Boy Colonel." Besides his wounds at Missionary Ridge, MacArthur was injured during the Atlanta Campaign and was shot in the shoulder and knee at Franklin, Tennessee, in 1864.

MacArthur was bestowed the Medal of Honor for his actions at Missionary Ridge in 1890. He died while speaking at a reunion of the 24th in 1912. He was 67.

"At the podium he began, 'Your indomitable regiment ...' before collapsing," according to one account. "Moments later, he was dead. The old men of the 24th wrapped his body in the flag hanging on the wall, the flag he had carried to the top of Missionary Ridge as a teenager."

-- Stephen Ruiz can be reached at stephen.ruiz@military.com.

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Frontrunner Vaccine Will Affact the Price of Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target - 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 Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target 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 Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target 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 Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target 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 Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target will increase to a certain extent.

Due to changes in consumer demand, import and export conditions, and various investigations on the development of Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target, the cost of Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target is constantly changing. Taking into account the current market macroeconomic parameters, value chain analysis, channel partners, demand and supply, the cost of Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target will also be affected to a certain extent. It is estimated that the cost of Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target will increase slightly from today to next week.

The market trend of Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target?

The global Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Targetmarket is constantly changing. The latest Global Market Report provides clear and accurate statistics and market estimates of the global Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target target market. The report includes an analysis of the different factors driving the market growth. It includes market drivers, constraints, opportunities and trends. This report is written by experienced and knowledgeable market analysts and researchers. It is an amazing compilation of important research that explores the competitive landscape, segmentation, geographic expansion, and revenue, production and consumption growth of the global Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target target market. In addition, the report provides a series of different market segments and applications that can promote market development during the forecast period. In-depth information is based on historical milestones and current trends. In addition, the Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target market report also covers development policies and plans, manufacturing processes and cost structures, marketing strategies, and then analyzes top Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target producers, distributors, marketing channels of Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target, potential buyers and Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target History of development. The report also lists import and export, supply and consumption data as well as costs, prices, revenue and gross margins by region.

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The world's leading Magnesium Silicon Alloy (MgSi)-Sputtering Target target market report contains research on competitive dynamics. It also has a specific awareness that can help you choose the right business execution and steps. Market reports systematically display information in the form of organizational charts, facts, charts, statistics and graphs, which represent the status of related transactions on global and regional platforms. In addition, the report also includes the entire business chain, through which the growth rate and decline rate of specific industries in the market can be analyzed. The report also describes the total cost of manufacturing the product and analyzing its assembly process. In addition, the report also includes major developments in the market. The report involves value chain analysis and represents the workflow in the market. In addition, the market is classified by category, process, end-use industry and region. The report divides the market based on geographic location.

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The oil price has dived, will the foaming agent follow it?

On the 18th, international oil prices "dived" sharply, creating the most significant drop in nearly 20 years. At the close of the day, the cost of light crude oil futures delivered in April on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $ 20.37 per barrel, a decrease of 24.42%. The price of London Brent crude for May delivery closed at $ 24.88 per barrel, a reduction of 13.4%, The most substantial decline since June 2002 and November 2003, respectively. As of the evening of the 19th Beijing time, Brent crude was reported at the US $ 26.02 per barrel; the price of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was reported at the US $ 24.40 per barrel. "Middle East Economic Network," said on the 19th that the situation of international oil prices hovering at a low level is unlikely to change in the short term.

International oil prices have continued to fall, and Gulf oil-producing countries have been severely damaged, while some states in the world with significant demand for oil are good news.

Petroleum contains a large number of alkanes, naphthenes, aromatics, unsaturated hydrocarbons, and is the raw material for many chemical industrial products such as solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics. Including a part of the synthetic foaming agent, raw materials are also made by petroleum refining. This time the price of oil is reduced, the production cost of the factory that processes the fat will be relatively reduced. From the perspective of the entire market, the prices of various refined oil products will follow. The most obvious is gasoline and diesel. Their costs have been significantly reduced. Then there is the cement foaming agent. As a widely used additive in the construction industry at present, the foaming agent is widely accepted with excellent performance. As the price of raw materials dives, the market for foaming agents will fluctuate, and the costs of some foaming agent for cellular lightweight concrete will be reduced. Friends who want to start foaming agents, it is time. If you need a foaming agents, please contact email: info@cie-china.org





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Frontrunner Vaccine Will Affact the Price of Terbium Dysprosium Iron (Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.9)-Granules - 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 Terbium Dysprosium Iron (Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.9)-Granules 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 Terbium Dysprosium Iron (Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.9)-Granules 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 Terbium Dysprosium Iron (Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.9)-Granules 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 Terbium Dysprosium Iron (Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.9)-Granules will increase to a certain extent.

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Rumors indicate that One Corner star Patapaa Amisty has divorced his German wife Liha Miller.

The couple got married in an official ceremony in January last year.

They had their traditional rites before proceeding to have a white wedding that took place at Agona Swedru in the Central Region.

Unconfirmed revelations however have it that the couple hasnt met face to face despite being blessed with a baby together.

Some say Liha has been spotted in Ghana and Nigeria shooting skits and chilling in clubs without her husband.

The rumors keep increasing following Patapaas silence.

Speaking on Accra-based radio station Adom FM, the musicians father, Kwesi Amoah rubbished the speculations indicating that the couple is still married legally.

He called on the media to refrain from pushing the rumor.

Patapaa is yet to speak on the issue as several attempts to reach him by Adom FM proved futile.
Dr Akinwumi Akin Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, says it is time Africa stops begging other countries for food.

He noted that there is no dignity in Africathe Continent, known for its rich natural resources, youthful population, and occupying about 20 percent of Earth's total land areato depend on others for food sovereignty.

As such, he said, the time had come for the continent to bring together, the needed support and resources including agricultural technologies, to produce enough to ensure that Africa was food sufficient.

Dr Adesina, said: Africa does not need bowls in hand; Africa needs seeds in the ground and mechanical harvesters to harvest bountiful food produced locally. Africa must feed itself with pride. There is no dignity in begging for food.

We all agreed it is time to support Africa to produce its food. It is time to have food sovereignty. Food aid cannot feed Africa, Dr Adesina added.

He said this during the opening of the 2022 Annual Meetings of the AfDB Group, in Accra.

The Bank is leading on securing Africa's food supplies in the face of climate change, he said.

The AfDB President stated that its Feed Africa strategy, launched six years ago, was achieving incredible success, as it had already benefitted over 76 million farmers with access to improved agricultural technologies.

Additionally, its flagship programme, Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) has delivered climate smart seeds to 12 million farmers in 27 countries in two years.

Also, the Bank, has developed the Africa Emergency Food Production Plan, a $1.5 billion strategy, to tackle the looming food crisis in Africa from the Russian-Ukraine war through the production of food rapidly.

The plan is expected to produce 38 million metric tonnes of food, including wheat, maize, rice, and soybeans, with a total value of $12 billion additional food production.

On his part, President Akufo-Addo, said: We must light-up and power Africa to enable her feed herself, integrate and industrialise. It is time we worked to address the structural barriers to our development.

This is because the rising food prices disproportionately affect African families, as food consumes some 40 percent of household income, compared to less than 20 percent in advanced economies.

Aside this, he said, We must also deal with 'tax-dodging' and illegitimate commercial transactions by multinationals, which account for sixty percent of the US$88 billion of illicit financial flows from the continent annually, and other relationships which inhibit our development.

President Akufo-Addo emphasised that: The confluence of rising challenges and expectations require that together, we act with sustained conviction. Our support will be critical to building the Africa we want.

GNA
Gas leakage at a gas filling station opposite the National Police Training School (NPTS) at Tesano has forced the diversion of traffic on the Accra-Achimota Highway from Avenor through to the Industrial Area.

This is contained in a public notice issued by the Ghana Police Service on its social media pages.

In the statement, the Police add that traffic has also been diverted from Apenkwa along the Achimota Highway through the North Industrial Area.

Police personnel deployed to the scene are working with officers from the Ghana National Fire Service to manage the situation.

The Police advise that all approaching motorists follow directives from officers and adhere to all aforementioned traffic arrangements.

Below are details of the public notice issued by the Ghana Police Service:

Traffic on the Accra-Achimota Highway has been diverted from Avenor through to the Industrial Area due to a gas leakage at a gas filling station opposite the National Police Training School (NPTS), Tesano.

Traffic has also been diverted from Apenkwa along the Achimota Highway through the North Industrial Area.

The Ghana National Fire Service and Police personnel are currently at the scene and managing the situation.

All approaching motorists are advised to follow Police directives and adhere to these traffic arrangements.

Further update will be communicated in due course.
The United States on Tuesday voiced alarm over Ethiopia's targeting of journalists in a sweep of arrests in the northern Amhara region.

State Department spokesman Ned Price saluted a continued cease-fire and progress in sending humanitarian aid into the war-battered north but called as well for "protection of press freedom, online and offline."

"We are deeply concerned about the narrowing space for freedom of expression and independent media in Ethiopia, including a troubling increase in reports of harassment, detention, arrests of journalists, media professionals and activists," Price told reporters.

"We strongly urge the government of Ethiopia and regional authorities to uphold the rule of law and provide all applicable procedural safeguards for any individual arrested," Price told reporters.

Media companies said at least nine of their workers were arrested, with two outlets covering Ethiopian affairs on YouTube channels reporting that their studios were raided in recent days.

Authorities in Amhara, the second-most populous region in Ethiopia, said more than 4,000 people suspected of crimes had been arrested in an ongoing enforcement operation.

Ethiopia is a historic ally of the United States but President Joe Biden has increasingly applied pressure, including suspending valuable trading privileges, in outrage over the government's rights record in the war that broke out in late 2020 with Tigrayan rebels.

Biden's tough approach has angered some Ethiopian-American groups, which accuse him of bias.

But one group, the American Ethiopian Public Affairs Committee, on Tuesday also condemned the arrests in Amhara as "not consistent with democratic values."

"These actions could tarnish the progress made by the Ethiopian government in steering the country towards peace, democracy and the rule of law," it said in a statement.
Under the auspices of World Health Organisation (WHO) and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) UK, the National Ambulance Service has trained 320 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) on oxygen therapy for critically ill Covid-19 patients.

The WHO and DHSC-sponsored program was held in Kumasi that catered for the northern zone.

The EMTs were equipped with the requisite skills on how to handle medical emergencies that poses threat to life.

In his remarks, Mr. Patrick Avevor, Technical Officer in charge of Public Health Security, at WHO Ghana said, officials at WHO are excited to partner National Ambulance Service to implement this capacity building training, adding that National Ambulance Service played a major role during the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in Ghana.

He said supporting NAS to equip its staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to handle COVID-19 patients was in the right direction.

Opening the ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer for National Ambulance Service, Prof Ahmed Nuhu Zakariah, commended the WHO and the Department of Health and Social Care for their support to the Service to train its staff.

We extend our appreciation and profound gratitude to WHO and the Department of Health and Social Care UK for this kind of sponsorship, and this will help to raise the EMS systems in Ghana up to the level of international standards.

He deplored the EMTs not to underestimate the training, because this are serious technicalities you need to know about Oxygen Therapy.

Emergency Oxygen Therapy is very essential to stabilize patients in the Pre- hospital assessment and treatment.

It helps to improve tissue perfusion and reduce hypoxaemia, with the overall goal of preventing tissue and organ damage.

The topics that were treated were Respiratory System Emergencies, Adequate and Inadequate Breathing, Management of Severe and Critically ill Covid-19 patients.

Others were Airway management, the use of Supraglottic Airway devices, Oxygen Therapy and among others

Source: National Ambulance Service
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
There is no way Nana Akufo Addo can convince Ghanaians that he is unaware of Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, an NPP leader known as Sir John, acquiring land in the Achimota Forest.

Portions of the Achimota forest have already been shared by the NPP's big gurus, so Akufo Addo and his family, Ken Ofori-Atta, Gabby Otchere-Darko, and others are likely to have portions there, but now that Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie's will has exposed them, they will stage a plan to deceive Ghanaians they don't know about it.

Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, like the corrupt, deceitful, and cunning Akufo Addo, who said "God didn't make us poor, bad leadership did," while dehumanizing and insulting John Mahama, openly insulted both the late John Atta-Mills and John Mahama, calling the latter a thief. After his death, he is now seen as a thief whose interest lies in amassing wealth, rather than caring for ordinary Ghanaians.



A thorough inquiry will establish that Akufo Addo and his family, as well as Ken Ofori-Atta, Gabby Otchere-Darko, and others, own land in the Achimota Forest. Never take my words for granted.

My loyal readers will recall that in several of my articles, I stated that time will tell when more scandals will hit Akufo Addo and that one of the reasons I find it difficult to support him is that, aside from the hate, hypocrisy, and tribalism tearing the president apart, tribal bigots, including writers and journalists, are causing more harm to the president.

Imagine that, despite all of the crimes and corruption scandals that have plagued Akufo Addo's government since he took office more than five years ago, many Ghanaian authors, journalists, columnists, and judges are unable to see the major challenges that have brought the country to its knees.

But then along comes a writer who publishes an article claiming that John Mahama can only further damage Ghana and cannot rebuild it. You see how some writers are harming themselves and why are many people no longer interested in reading what they write?

To create the impression of being a talented writer, you should first write about the damage the president has caused to our beloved Ghana, and then offer the required recommendations or strategies to help the country recover.

It is not necessary to come out and tell Ghanaians that Mahama will further damage the country when this very president, whom so many people despise, departed Ghana in the best possible way, avoiding the hardships, high unemployment, and crime that have engulfed the country.

From the moment Nana Akufo Addo became president, his lifestyle, corruption, arrogance, hatred, pride, and ineptitude, without regard for regular Ghanaians, were enough to convince me that this is the type of president who will destroy our country, and I decided not to support him.

Since former Ghanaian leader John Mahama has been deemed corrupt, I will not waste my time writing about him. As a result, writing about the current president, Nana Akufo Addo, who is in power and in charge of the state's daily operations.

As a result, I established beyond a reasonable doubt that Akufo Addo will cause misery for regular Ghanaians because he is an opportunist rather than a leader. The tumultuous political events, unparalleled sufferings, and the economy's collapse are not only my witnesses, but they also validate everything I've said and written about Akufo Addo in the past and now.

He sat at home, frustrated and hungry for power, practicing the correct words to deceive Ghanaians, and he won the 2016 presidential election, but not the 2020 election, because the majority of Ghanaians have learned he is a liar, incompetent, and super corrupt than John Mahama.

Why would you continue to support a president who has cut more sods than any president in Ghana's political history, yet can't see any development, a president who has amassed so much debt and sunk the country without any accountability?

I value myself, so I would not follow or trust a president who told Ghanaians Mahama was a liar and thief while stealing $330 million from COVID funds and telling Ghanaians the World Bank only offered $100 million.

How and why would any rational person support a president who can't even investigate or speak about deaths in his own country but can speak about George Floyd's death in America, a president who sent criminals after a woman he had an affair with to rob her belongings in order to avoid being exposed, and a president whose name has been mentioned in a murder crime involving an NPP politician?

"I bequeath my piece of land that I jointly hold at the Achimota Forest in the name of DML Limited to Elizabeth Asare Boateng, who is domiciled in the USA at the time of making this will forever," says Sir John in his will.

You're all toothless dogs who bark every day as though you want to keep robbers out of our homes when in reality; you make political theft so easy. I need to tell Ghanaians the truth, nothing but the truth, that neither Akufo Addo nor the NPP government can do anything for ordinary Ghanaians today or in the future because the goal of this government is to collect riches, they dont even have a plan.

The following days or months under Akufo Addo's presidency will be the most traumatic in Ghana's political history. Hardships will worsen, the unemployment rate will rise, and commodity prices will become unaffordable. More importantly, the president will be embroiled in numerous scandals following the NPP.

The NPP government is floundering; they see that they have failed Ghana, and they have no chance of winning any elections in 2024. What they are doing now is giving ordinary Ghanaians hope that they care about them, but not this time, because even the most uneducated Ghanaians living in the most remote parts of the country without electricity are crying out for a savior, and Jean Mensah will not make the same mistakes she did in 2020.
It's the first queer play to be staged in Tunisia -- director Essia Jaibi's latest work aims to challenge conservative attitudes in a country where same-sex acts are punishable by prison terms.

"Flagranti" (or "In the Act"), which premiered at a city-centre theatre in the capital at the weekend, deals with "a reality that we pretend not to see", Jaibi told AFP.

The work, co-produced by LGBTQ rights group Mawjoudin (translating to "we exist"), is played by six mostly amateur actors aged between 23 and 71, reflecting a decades-long struggle for gay rights in the North African country.

Infused with black humour, it tells the stories of people who have suffered violence at home, in the workplace and in public.

Tunisia is seen as relatively liberal on social issues compared with other Arab countries, but nevertheless imposes sentences of up to three years in prison for "sodomy" for both men and women.

The country saw a rise in public LGBTQ rights activism in the years following its 2011 revolution that kicked off the Arab Spring uprisings.

Tunisian director Essia Jaibi works with actor Aymen Zouaoui. By FETHI BELAID (AFP)

But despite years of efforts, rights groups say the community is still vulnerable, with as little as a photo on a telephone potentially leading to arrest, physical violence and anal examinations.

The notorious Article 230 of the penal code saw 59 people jailed between early 2020 and last October, according to Mawjoudin.

The play, inspired by real events, "talks about a taboo subject, a reality that in Tunisia we keep pretending not to see, which this show is trying to bring to the public's attention," Jaibi said.

Mawjoudin member Karam Aouini said the play aims to challenge "discriminatory" mentalities and campaign for an end to a "backward law", as well as promote queer art.

The NGO also organised Tunisia's first queer cinema festival in 2018.

'Historic moment'

The two-hour play deals not only with LGBTQ issues, but also other problems facing all Tunisians: police and judicial corruption, impunity and the brain drain as people leave to seek better economic prospects in Europe and elsewhere.

When the play ended, the audience erupted into a storm of applause.

"Flagranti" deals not only with LGBTQ issues, but also other problems facing all Tunisians: police and judicial corruption, impunity and the brain drain as people leave to seek better economic prospects in Europe and elsewhere. By FETHI BELAID (AFP)

For audience member Alay Aridhi, 27, the event was "a historic moment" for Tunisia.

"Holding an event like this in an Arab, Muslim country isn't easy," he said. "It seems we can now tell these stories."

Salim, a 24-year-old member of the LGBTQ community, said the play had touched him deeply.

"I saw my life on the stage. It was overwhelming, I had a lump in my throat," he said.

Rights groups are continuing to campaign for an end to Article 230, first introduced by French colonial administrators in 1913.

But with parliament dissolved and the country in political turmoil after President Kais Saied's power grab last year, no such move is on the radar for now.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture has condemned Tunisia's use of anal tests.

The country in 2017 committed to ending the practice, but it has continued nonetheless.

The play aims to challenge "discriminatory" mentalities and campaign for an end to a "backward law", as well as promote queer art. By FETHI BELAID (AFP)

In December, two men were found guilty of same-sex acts after they refused to undergo such examinations -- seen by judges as proof of their guilt.

The Tunisian president, whose July power grab allowed him to issue laws and seize control of the judiciary, has said he is opposed to jail terms based on sexual orientation -- but also to the full decriminalisation of homosexuality.

Actor Hamadi Bejaoui, who portrayed a doctor named Adam in the production, described it as a "harsh experience that shows a human being crushed".

But despite this, he remains determined.

"We will not back down. The fight continues!" he said.
25.05.2022 LISTEN

The Minority in Parliament has indicated readiness to support government's initiatives aimed at averting an attack by terrorists.

The West African sub-region has been a hotbed for terror activities in the past few years.

Intelligence also suggests that Ghana is a target of terror groups operating in Africa.

The Minority group says it recognises the need for all stakeholders to come on board to sensitize citizens on terrorism. It has thus thrown its weight behind the campaign.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, the Ranking Member of the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, James Agalga, encouraged citizens to be vigilant.

This is not the first time such an initiative is being rolled out to counter the threat of terrorism. I remember that not too long ago, we converged at this same venue for the launch of the National Security Strategy. Even before then, sometime in 2019, this same outfit once again spearheaded the launch of the National Framework for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism.

All these initiatives are geared towards protecting the country against threats of terrorism. Terrorism is real, and we can only combat it when we work collectively. That is why members of the Minority have come on board and are fully committed to winning the fight against terrorism.

The Ministries of National Security and Information launched the See Something, Say Something campaign to create awareness among citizens. This follows threats of a possible terrorist attack on Ghana.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, the Ranking Member of the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, James Agalga encouraged citizens to be vigilant.

The West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism in its latest report warned that Ghana is at high risk of terrorism following pockets of civil, political, and social unrest in parts of the West African subregion.

It said threats of violent extremism are heavily descending towards coastal states from the Sahel regions and that Ghana may not be spared, for that matter, given happenings in its neighbouring countries.

Factors such as chieftaincy and ethnic disputes, land conflicts, marginalization of vulnerable groups, and high youth unemployment make Ghana very susceptible to threats of terrorism, the West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism noted.

citinewsroom
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has urged capital markets in West Africa to develop regulatory policies to protect investors from systemic risks.

He expressed the belief that the development of regulatory policies would avert arbitrariness, promote risk sharing and encourage more competition to ensure tangible outcomes.

Vice President Bawumia gave the advice when he opened the 2021 West Africa Capital Markets Conference in Accra on Tuesday.

He said the time was ripe for Africa to build and develop strong capital markets to help finance the provision of public goods, provide capital for entrepreneurs and for private sector development.

The two-day biennial conference brought together participants from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to share ideas and strategise to enhance the capital market.

It was organised by the West Africa Securities Regulatory Association (WASRA) on the theme: Deepening and Strengthening the Capital Markets across West Africa through Effective Regulation".

The Vice President was of the conviction that technical regulatory actions that met sound prudential principles and practices would ensure a successful capital market integration.

He, therefore, urged the WASRA and its members to make the best use of the tools presented by the International Organisation of Securities Commission to build coherent supervisory frameworks and well-established channels of communication across countries.

"The infrastructure side of capital market integration requires that WASRA supports the member jurisdictions in the implementation of its standards through a range of initiatives," Dr Bawumia said.

The Vice President attributed the disruptive effects of the global economy to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

He called for profound rethinking to ensure effective financial supervision, noting that the pandemic had brought in its wake new business models, products, and services on technological innovations worldwide.

"There is enormous potential for greater competition, interoperability, operational efficiency through cost saving and also improved risk management, he added.

Dr Bawumia further called for the strengthening of the bonds of economic cooperation to unravel growth and change the narrative of a continent endowed with both natural and human resources yet clinging on to the strings of aid.

To change the narrative, capital markets should work towards integration and adoption of technologies that deal with regulatory and compliance requirements effectively.,

Dr Bawumia encouraged the WASRA to take advantage of the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which was launched this year, to facilitate the payment of transactions in local currency among countries in the West African sub-region to facilitate the integration process.

He urged them to capitalise on the African Continental Free Trade Area to reduce the incidence of poverty and enhance long-term growth.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, in a speech read on his behalf, said Ghana's capital market started operations more than 30 years ago with nine companies.

It had made major strides with about 38 listed companies, with a market capitalisation of over GHc64 billion on equity bars and GHc187 billion on outstanding securities on the Ghana fixed income market as at March 2020.

The total trade volume from January to March 2022 was over 280 million shares valued at GHc300 milion, representing an increase of 39.68 per cent and 96. 77 per cent, respectively.

At the end of 2020 when COVID-19 was biting hard, the stock market recorded one of its most successful years in volume trade of 695 million shares, the second highest in the exchange's 30-year history whiles value traded was 575 million, the third highest, Mr Ofori-Atta said.

GNA
US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer on Wednesday said it would sell its patented drugs on a not-for-profit basis to the world's poorest countries, as part of a new initiative announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The time is now to begin closing this gap" between people with access to the latest treatments and those going without, chief executive Albert Bourla told attendees at the exclusive Swiss mountain resort gathering.

"An Accord for a Healthier World" focuses on five areas: infectious diseases, cancer, inflammation, rare diseases and women's health -- where Pfizer currently holds 23 patents, including the likes of Comirnaty and Paxlovid, its Covid vaccine and oral treatment.

"This transformational commitment will increase access to Pfizer-patented medicines and vaccines available in the United States and the European Union to nearly 1.2 billion people," Angela Hwang, group president of the Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group, told AFP.

Five countries: Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda have committed to joining, with a further 40 countries -- 27 low-income and 18 lower-middle-income -- eligible to sign bilateral agreements to participate.

"Pfizer's commitment sets a new standard, which we hope to see emulated by others," Rwanda's President Paul Kagame said.

But he added that "additional investments and strengthening of Africa's health systems and pharmaceutical regulators" would also be needed.

Seven years behind

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said 'the time is now to begin closing this (drug access) gap'. By Fabrice COFFRINI (AFP)

Developing countries experience 70 percent of the world's disease burden but receive only 15 percent of global health spending, leading to devastating outcomes.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, one child in 13 dies before their fifth birthday, compared to one in 199 in high-income countries.

Cancer-related mortality rates are also far higher in low and middle-income countries -- causing more fatalities in Africa every year than malaria.

All this is set to a backdrop of limited access to the latest drugs.

Essential medicines and vaccines typically take four to seven years longer to reach the poorest countries, and supply chain issues and poorly resourced health systems make it difficult for patients to receive them once approved.

"The Covid-19 pandemic further highlighted the complexities of access to quality healthcare and the resulting inequities," said Hwang.

"We know there are a number of hurdles that countries have to overcome to gain access to our medicines. That is why we have initially selected five pilot countries to identify and come up with operational solutions and then share those learnings with the remaining countries."

'Very good model'

Specifically, the focus will be on overcoming regulatory and procurement challenges in the countries, while ensuring adequate levels of supply from Pfizer's side.

The "not-for-profit" price tag takes into account the cost to manufacture and transport of each product to an agreed upon port of entry, with Pfizer charging only manufacturing and minimum distribution costs.

If a country already has access to a product at a lower price tier, for example vaccines supplied by GAVI, a public-private global partnership, that lower price will be maintained.

Hwang acknowledged that even an at-cost approach could be challenging for the most cash-strapped countries, and "this is why we have reached out to financial institutions to brief them on the Accord and ask them to help support country level financing."

Pfizer will also reach out to other stakeholders -- including governments, multilateral organizations, NGOs and even other pharmaceuticals -- to ask them to join the Accord.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates said the Pfizer agreement is 'going to help get medicines out'. By Fabrice COFFRINI (AFP)

It is also using funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance work on a vaccine against Group B Streptococcus (GBS), the leading cause of stillbirth and newborn mortality in low-income countries.

"This type of accord is a very good model, it's going to help get medicines out," Gates told the Davos conference, adding that "partnerships with companies like Pfizer have been key to the progress we have made" on efforts like vaccines.
A French court convicted six people on Tuesday for harassing a teenager online over her anti-Islam videos in a case that sparked debate about freedom of expression, blasphemy, religion and hate speech in France.

The girl, known as Mila, was forced to change schools and accept police protection due to threats to her life after videos in which she insulted Islam went viral in January and November 2020.

The court handed sentences ranging from a three-month suspended prison term to four months with an electronic bracelet to the two men and four women, aged 19 to 39.

The six were ordered to pay damages of 3,000 euros each to Mila.

"Their conviction was necessary," said Mila's lawyer Richard Malka, adding he felt no satisfaction at seeing them sentenced.

"My only satisfaction would be if Mila were able to lead a normal life [...] and that is not the case."

In the first video posted on Instagram in January 2020, Mila responded to personal abuse from a boy who she says insulted her about her sexuality "in the name of Allah".

She launched into an expletive-laden rant against Islam along with other explicit comments about Allah deemed highly offensive to practising Muslims.

She published a second video with similar content in November of the same year.

Mila's lawyer says she received over 100,000 extremely virulent messages in response to the videos, with one person writing that Mila deserved "to have her throat cut", while others threatened sexual assault.

In July 2021, a French court convicted 11 people for harassment and handed suspended sentences, with some ordered to pay damages of 1,500 euros.

The case has received widespread public attention because it touches on hotly contested issues in France, including cyber harassment, the right to blaspheme and attitudes to religious minorities.

(with AFP)
The Electoral Commission (EC) says it will not hesitate to sanction political parties, which fail to meet regulatory requirements, including having presence in two-thirds of the country.

The sanctions will include revoking the license and expunging the names of non-compliant political parties from the EC's records.

Mrs Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, speaking during a visit to the national office of the Conventions People Party (CPP) explained that the exercise was not witch hunting but was inline with its mandate.

She was welcomed by Madam Akosua Frimpomaa Sarpong Kumankumah, the Chairperson of CPP and other party officials.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Political Parties Act,2000( Act 574), the EC is mandated to undertake an inspection of offices of all the 30 registered Political Parties at the National, Regional and District levels .

The inspection mission, which included Dr Bosman Eric Asare, the Deputy Chair in Charge of Corporate Services and Mr Samuel Tettey, Deputy Chairman in Charge of Operations and other staff are to ascertain if the parties were functioning and meet the requirements by Act 574.

As part of the checklist, the team interacted with the staff of the party and inspected office equipment, including computers.

She stated that there were about 20 political parties registered and 12 more applications pending.

Indeed, the EC recognized that Ghana was a growing democracy with other challenges. However, there were many political parties that had no presence at all, others were having challenges. The Commission will take a decision on the outcome of this exercise, she said.

Madam Kumankumah commended the Commission for embarking on the exercise to ensure sanity.

She said that the CPP had offices nationwide, however, some of the leases for the offices had expired and were taking steps for renewals.

Madam Kumankumah urged the EC to extend some support to the political parties to function well.

The team also visited the Progressive People's Party, but could not hold a long meeting because their offices were flooded.

The broad objective of the inspection is to ascertain whether political parties registered by the EC meet the provisions as stipulated in the law.

The specific objectives are to find out whether the political parties have presence and functional offices at the district, regional and national levels, whether the internal organization of these parties are consistent with democratic principles and the sources of funding these parties.

GNA
The Mozambican President, Mr Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, will on Wednesday, May 25, address Ghana's Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, the Speaker, said on Tuesday.

The Speaker made the disclosure in Accra at the beginning of the Second Sitting of the Second Session of the Eighth Parliament.

He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had written to the Members of the House to accord President Nyusi the opportunity to address them.

The House was expecting the Mozambican President by 1015 hours, he said, and urged all members to be seated by 1000 hours at the latest, when they would start proceedings before his arrival.

President Nyusi's address to Parliament forms part of his four-day official state visit to Ghana.

In a related development, during sitting on Tuesday, Speaker Bagbin received a delegation of the Zambian National Assembly, led by its Speaker, Madam Nelly Butete Kashumba Mutti.

The delegation is in Ghana on a benchmarking visit to learn and share experiences and knowledge with the Members of Ghana's Parliament.

It seeks to learn about the in-depth workings of Parliament and to create a platform for networking.

Mr Bagbin said Parliament and the National Assembly of the Zambia needed to learn from each other and see how further they could improve and deepen the cordial relations between the two countries.

GNA
The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei will be arraigned before a court today, May 25, 2022.

In a 'Contract for sale' expose by investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, the former PPA boss was cited for corruption and subsequently sacked by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

A press release issued by the Officer of the Special Prosecutor last week announced that the embattled Adjenim Boateng Adjei has been charged with eight counts of using public office for profit.

He is also charged with nine counts of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has charged the former Chief Executive Officer of Public Procurement Authority, Adjenim Boateng Adjei with eight (8) counts of using public office for profit and nine (9) counts of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract, part of a press release signed by Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng said.

In that release, the Special Prosecutor disclosed that the brother-in-law of Adjenim Boateng Adjei has also been charged with one count of using public office for profit.

The release said the two persons will be arraigned before the High Court (Criminal Division), Accra today for the case to be heard.
The Ga Traditional Council has set up a committee of eminent chiefs and stakeholders to probe the release of portions of the Achimota Forest Reserve to the Owoo family.

The Ga Traditional Council disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday, 24 May 2022.

The Committee was set up by the Ga Mantse, who is also the President of the Ga Traditional Council, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II.

According to the Ga Traditional Council, its attention has been drawn to news of the release of portions of the Achimota Forest the Owoo family and matters arising thereafter.

The Council stated: A report on the findings and consequent actions will be made available to the General Public.

In a related development, some 14 civil society organisations want the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the de-gazetting of 361 acres of the Achimota forest reserve.

They are Civic Response, A Rocha Ghana, Nature and Development Foundation, EcoCare Ghana, Viridis Environmental Consult, Kasa Initiative Ghana, and the Ghana Wildlife Society.

The others are Advocates for Biodiversity Conservation, Forest Watch Ghana, 350 Ghana Reducing Our Carbon, United Force for Development, Rights Advocacy Initiative Network (RAIN), Tropenbos Ghana and KCODEC.

They want CHRAJ to expose any situation of conflict of interest and reveal any procedural flaw in the alleged allocation of lands in the forest as well as the Sakumono Ramsar site.

The CSOs said: Ghanas forest reserves should be protected in perpetuity for the purposes for which they were gazette.

Loss of any amount of forest reserve or other protected areas, no matter how small, should never be allowed, CSOs noted.

In their view, the de-gazetting of some of the Achimota forest sets a very bad precedent for Ghanas other protected areas.

The reversal of these transactions on the bases of conflict of interest will send a strong message to other public officers who might be tempted in future to use their position to grab state property, the CSO said.

Meanwhile, pressure group OccupyGhana has written to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Jinapor, in relation to the recent reclassification of the Achimota forest reserve in specific and the general phenomenon of returning government lands to their former owners, saying there is evidence of how some of these lands have been quietly sold to government and party officials.

Since sending that letter to you, we have had further cause to believe that this state of affairs is worse and much wider than is apparent, a statement issued by the group on Monday, 23 May 2022 stated, adding: We are also concerned that there might have been serious instances of conflict of interest and conflict of duty involving government officials and other government actors, concerning those lands.

We, therefore, write to demand that you revoke or suspend the operation of the Forests (Cessation of Forest Reserve) Instrument, 2022 (EI 144) and the Forests (Achimota Firewood Plantation Forest Reserve) (Amendment) Instrument, 2022 (EI 154) forthwith, the group insisted.

Instead, it noted, We demand a full public inquiry under Chapter 23 of the Constitution into the matter of the Achimota Forest Reserve.

The government has been explaining that it is returning 361 acres of peripheral lands bordering the forest reserve to the custodial owners, being the Owoo family.

It recently emerged that some of those lands were captured as an inheritance in the will of the late CEO of the Forestry Commission, Mr Kojo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John).

Read OccupyGhanas full statement below:

23 May 2022

Abu Jinapor, MP

The Honourable Minister

Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources

Accra

Dear Sir:

RE: OCCUPYGHANA LBG DISAGREES WITH ANY FURTHER RELEASE OF ACHIMOTA LANDS

In our letter to you dated 18 May 2022 on the above-entitled matter, we conveyed our vehement disagreement with the alleged plans to return substantial portions of the Achimota Forest Reserve to its former owners.

Regarding the general matter of returning government lands to former owners, we stated as follows:

There is also evidence of how some of these lands have been quietly sold to government and party officials.

Since sending that letter to you, we have had further cause to believe that this state of affairs is worse and much wider than is apparent. We are also concerned that there might have been serious instances of conflict of interest and conflict of duty involving government officials and other government actors, concerning those lands.

We, therefore, write to demand that you revoke or suspend the operation of the Forests (Cessation of Forest Reserve) Instrument, 2022 (EI 144) and the Forests (Achimota Firewood Plantation Forest Reserve) (Amendment) Instrument, 2022 (EI 154) forthwith.

Instead, we demand a full public inquiry under Chapter 23 of the Constitution into the matter of the Achimota Forest Reserve.

While the Achimota Forest Reserve issue requires immediate attention, we further demand a similar inquiry into all alleged return of government lands to former owners that have occurred under the Fourth Republic. The purpose of the inquiries would be to reverse any illegal acts perpetrated, and improper gains made, by government officials under the guise of returning lands.

Yours in the Service of God and Country

OccupyGhana LBG

classfmonline.com
RTHK: ICBM said to be among missiles fired by North Korea

North Korea fired three missiles, including one thought to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Wednesday, after US President Joe Biden left Asia following a trip in which he agreed to new measures to deter the nuclear-armed state.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the three missiles were fired in less than an hour from the Sunan area of the North's capital, Pyongyang, where its international airport has become a hub of missile tests.

The first missile launched on Wednesday appeared to be an ICBM, while a second unidentified missile appears to have failed mid-flight, the JCS said. The third missile was a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), it said.

In response, the United States and South Korea held combined live-fire drills, including surface-to-surface missile tests involving the US Army Tactical Missile System and the South Korea's Hyunmoo-2 SRBM, both militaries said.

"Our military's show of force was intended to highlight our resolve to firmly respond to any North Korean provocations, including an ICBM launch, and our overwhelming capability and readiness to conduct a surgical strike on the origin of the provocation," the JCS said in a statement.

North Korea has conducted a flurry of missile launches this year, from hypersonic weapons to test firing its largest ICBMs for the first time in nearly five years. It also appears to be preparing for what would be its first nuclear test since 2017.

US and South Korean officials had recently warned that North Korea appeared ready for another weapons test, possibly during Biden's visit, which was his first trip to Asia as president and included a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul.

"North Korea's continued provocations will only result in even stronger, faster South Korea-US deterrence, and bring deeper isolation upon itself," Yoon's government said in a separate statement.

A White House official said that Biden, who departed Japan on Tuesday evening, had been briefed on the launches and would continue to receive updates.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also agreed to step up diplomatic efforts to reinforce extended deterrence and facilitate a new UN sanctions resolution in a phone call, Seoul's ministry said.

In Seoul over the weekend, Biden and Yoon agreed to hold bigger military drills and deploy more US strategic assets if necessary to deter North Korea's intensifying weapons tests.

But they also offered to send COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea as the isolated country battles its first confirmed outbreak, and called on Pyongyang to return to diplomacy.

There had been no response from Pyongyang to the diplomatic overtures or offers of aid, Biden said at the time. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Medical worker Sha Ming (2nd L) from east China's Anhui Province takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a community in Shanghai, April 4, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

HEFEI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The last group of 691 medics returned from Shanghai to Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, on Monday after they finished their mission in the metropolis.

In a period of 53 days, medics from Anhui provided treatment to a total of 10,303 patients infected with COVID-19, according to the provincial health commission.

"We have received more than 100 thank-you letters from people of all ages, including English letters from foreigners," said Wang Tianping, deputy leader of the Anhui medical team to Shanghai.

A total of 5,582 medics had been sent from Anhui to Shanghai to help fight the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

Shanghai reported 58 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 422 local asymptomatic cases on Monday, the municipal health commission said Tuesday.
The Ghana Police Service (GPS) has announced that the Accra-Achimota highway has been opened to traffic after sorting out the gas leakage issue.

The security agency on Tuesday night issued a press release to advise motorists using the highway to be cautious due to gas leakage at Tesano.

For safety reasons, the Police diverted traffic from the Accra-Achimota highway from Avenor through to the Industrial Area.

Traffic on the Accra-Achimota Highway has been diverted from Avenor through to the Industrial Area due to a gas leakage at a gas filling station opposite the National Police Training School (NPTS), Tesano.

Traffic has also been diverted from Apenkwa along the Achimota Highway through the North Industrial Area, a Ghana Police Service public notice said last night.

After working with personnel from the National Fire Service, the situation has been sorted for the Accra-Achimota highway to be opened to traffic.

The situation has been normalised and the road has since been opened to normal traffic flow.

We thank all road users on that stretch for their cooperation, the latest public notice from the Ghana Police Service has said.
25.05.2022 LISTEN

Veteran broadcaster, Kwasi Kyei Darkwah, popularly known as KKD has put blame on the doorsteps of leadership in the country for the perennial flooding in the capital.

Since last weekend several parts of the country, especially in the capital, Accra were flooded.

Peoples homes were affected and some roads were rendered unusable for motorists.

Speaking on GTV on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, Kwasi Kyei Darkwah lamented the persisting problem whenever it rains, insisting that the citizenry cannot be blamed.

According to him, people in leadership have failed and it is about times those who are not performing are fired.

I don't blame citizens anymore. I blame leadership. We have elected people into positions of authority. They have appointed some of us into positions of authority. Those who are not doing the work should go, KKD said in an engagement on GTV today during the Breakfast show.

"The ace broadcaster continued, Leadership is not working. If leadership is not working then it goes back to the Bob Marley song - When the cats away, the mice will play.

To address the age-old flooding issue, the Minister for Works and Housing, Hon. Asenso-Boakye has charged heads of Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies to ensure strict enforcement of planning and building laws to help mitigate the countrys problem.

I urge you to support Governmental efforts by maintaining proper solid waste practices. I have called on MMDAs to strictly enforce planning and building laws to help mitigate flooding in the country, Hon. Asenso-Boakye said as reported by the Ministry of Information.
A faster and deeper integration of Capital Markets is crucial if the West Africa sub-region is to recover from the double hits of the Covid 19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, Vice President Bawumia has stated.

Speaking at the second edition of the biennial Conference of the West Africa Markets Conference (WACMaC), organized by the West Africa Securities Regulators Association (WASRA) in Accra on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 Vice President Bawumia said such integration would not only facilitate cross-border trade, but also help raise the needed capital for local development.

A well-integrated West Africa Capital Market can accelerate the mobilization of resources for Sub-regional and continental infrastructure needs which is estimated by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to be about $130-$170 billion a year (AfDB, 2019 report). This can be supported or supplemented by funds raised across the region and the continent.

An integrated capital market can also help to attract capital and stem the rapid tide of capital flight from Africa which has hit unprecedented proportions. In this case, capital will begin to work within the continent as bankable projects would be initiated locally, he explained.

Among others, regional integration of capital markets in the West African Community should stimulate intraregional securities trade and investment, providing alternative sources of financing, and supplementing commercial banks, which dominate the regional financial sector with low competitiveness, Dr Bawumia emphasised.

Deeper and more liquid markets could support both foreign and local currency capital investments in physical and social infrastructure, he remarked.

The Vice President warned, however, that the necessary regulatory measures must be put in place to ensure the growth and sustenance of the integrated capital market.

To have a successful capital market integration there ought to be important technical regulatory acts that meet the need for consensus on sound prudential principles and practices. Importantly, there is a need to develop regulatory policies that protect investors, improve the efficiency of markets, and protect the markets from systemic risk.

The development of regulatory policies at the system level should avoid regulatory arbitrage, facilitate risk-sharing, and encourage more competition that results in tangible outcomes.

Nevertheless, The benefits of economies of scale to be derived from the integration of the capital markets in West Africa cannot be overemphasized. The more we integrate and develop our capital markets, the more we will support a robust and uniform economic renaissance on the continent, along with the transition to a broader, more diversified, sustainable, and digitalized economy.

The Government of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who also is the current chairman of ECOWAS, pledges our unflinching commitment to work in concert with the other Governments in the sub-region to support the integration agenda for the Capital markets in West Africa.
Members of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and the Amhara Special Forces stand guard in the town of Lalibela in Ethiopia's Amhara region, January 27, 2022. Reuters/Tiksa Negeri

25.05.2022 LISTEN

Ethiopian authorities should immediately release all recently arrested journalists and media workers and ensure that authorities cease harassing members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

Authorities have arrested at least 11 journalists and media workers since May 19 in Amhara state and the capital Addis Ababa as part of a broader crackdown that the state government calls a law enforcement operation that has resulted in the arrest of over 4,500 people for allegedly illegal activity.

Those detained include five journalists and media workers of the privately owned YouTube channel Ashara Media, four journalists and media workers of the YouTube channel Nisir International Broadcasting Corporation, Meskerem Abera, the founder and editor of private broadcaster Ethio Nekat Media; and Solomon Shumeye, the founder and owner of private broadcaster Gebeyanu Media.

With the latest arrests of at least 11 journalists and media workers, its one step forward and three steps backward in Ethiopia and shows, yet again, that the government has no regard for press freedom and the right of citizens to information from a plurality of independent media sources, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator. Authorities should immediately release all of them without charge and ensure that Ethiopian journalists can report without fear of arbitrary detention, repression, and censorship.

At about 5:30 p.m. on May 19, Amhara police raided the studio of Ashara Media in the Amhara state capital of Bahir Dar and arrested five employees, according to news reports, Elias Debasu, the director of Ashara Media, and Blen Techane, the wife of journalist Gashaye Negusse, who spoke to CPJ by phone. The arrested are:

Gashaye Negusse, journalist

Getenet Yalew, journalist

Habtamu Melese, journalist

Daniel Mesfin, a camera operator and video editor

Kelemu Gelagay, a camera operator and video editor

During the raid, police did not show a warrant and confiscated office equipment, including laptops and external hard drives, Elias told CPJ. Blen, who was able to briefly visit the detained journalists, said they were transferred to a prison in the small northern town of Nefas Mewcha, about 185 kilometers (115 miles) from Bahir Dar, on the morning of May 20 and are now being detained without access to family or lawyers.

Ashara Media recently covered the governments crackdown on Fano, an armed militia in Amhara state, the detention of government critics, and a public demonstration about housing concerns, according to CPJs review.

Separately, around 5:30 p.m. on May 19, Amhara police raided the office of Nisir International Broadcasting Corporation and detained three of its employees and another employee on May 20, according to news reports, an outlet statement, and a person familiar with the events who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. CPJ is not publishing the names of the four employees as the outlet fears it will compromise the journalists and their families safety.

During the raid, police seized equipment, such as computers, memory cards, and external hard drives, and detained two of the employees in Bahir Dar and the other two in Nefas Mewcha, according to a person familiar with the events. The outlets statement indicates that the employees were editors, reporters, and other supporting staff.

CPJs review of Nisirs content shows reports on the governments actions on the Fano militia, press statements from an opposition political party, and the recent revocation of accreditation and expulsion of The Economists Ethiopia correspondent Tom Gardner.

On May 20, Addis Ababa police detained Gebeyanu Medias Solomon at the Addis Ababa Police Commission, according to news reports, which cited Solomons lawyer and a family member. Solomon appeared in court on May 21 for allegedly making media statements that incited people to violence and creating discord between the federal and Amhara state governments, according to the VOA report.

CPJs review of Solomons recent work indicates he was critical of the governments fiscal policy, the impact of the war in northern Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian governments increasingly authoritarian approach to dealing with dissidents.

On May 21, Ethiopian security officers detained Ethio Nekat Medias Meskerem at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa as she traveled from Bahir Dar, according to news reports, her lawyer Henok Aklilu, and her husband Fitsum Gebremichael, who spoke with CPJ by phone. Henok told CPJ that Meskerem was detained at Addis Ababa Police Commission and charged with crimes of incitement of public violence through her media appearances, adding that she appeared in court on May 23 and May 24. Her next appearance is scheduled for June 6.

Ethio Nekat Medias coverage features news about Amhara state, a message by Meskerem to an Ethiopian military general appealing to him to side with the Fano militia and the people amid what she described as a looming crackdown, and a segment in which Meskerem defended the need for the Fano militia in the state.

In a May 20 press statement, the Federal Government Communication Service vowed to continue to take decisive measures against those engaged in illegal activities, intentionally causing public alarm and turmoil, as well as those who are working to cause violence and disturbance among the public under the disguise of journalism and media work.

CPJ emailed Justice Minister Gedion Timothewos Hassebon, Federal Police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi, the Addis Ababa Police Commission, Amhara Police Commission, Amhara State Communications, and Amhara National Regional State Prison Commission but did not receive any replies.

Separately, Desu Dula and Bikila Amenu of the Oromia News Network appeared in court on May 24 and their case was adjourned to June 3, according to a news report. CPJ has documented their months-long detention and called for their immediate release.
Police on Tuesday searched the Paris office of US management consultancy McKinsey as part of an investigation into suspected tax fraud, the financial prosecutor's office said.

The investigation into the U.S. management consultancy was triggered after the French Senate in March alleged that the firm was not paying corporate taxes in France.

McKinsey denies any wrongdoing.

"The company cooperates fully with public authorities, as it has always done," McKinsey said in a statement, in which it confirmed Tuesday's raid.

"McKinsey reaffirms that it complies with the French tax and social rules applicable to it."

Senate report

A report by the French Senate in March said French ministries more than doubled spending on outside consultants from 379 million euros in 2018 to 894 million euros last year.

The report also said that McKinsey, which has been present in France since 1964 and has its office on Paris' prestigious Champs-Elysees, had not paid corporate taxes in France over the last ten years.

Rather it used a system of tax optimisation through its Delaware-based parent company.

The tiny state of Delaware is renowned for being an on-shore tax haven in the US.

McKinsey at the time referred to its statement that said its French arm had paid out 422 million euros in taxes and social charges from 2011 to 2020.

McKinsey affair

The use of private consultants by President Emmanuel Macron's government emerged as an unexpected issue ahead of the presidential election in France in April which Macron won.

The opposition had accused Macron's government of spending too much on international consultancies that pay little or no tax in France.

In early April, on hearing the probe had been launched, Emmanuel Macron told French television he was shocked by the accusations of tax evasion.

According to an investigation by online news outlet Mediapart Macron had close personal ties to McKinsey, claiming the US consultancy had worked for Macron for free when he was economy minister in 2014.

The search of McKinsey's Paris office comes less than three weeks before parliamentary elections in France in which Macron is seeking a majority to be able to carry out reforms in his second term.

He faces opposition notably from a left-wing coalition (NUPES), members of which have sought to paint him as "president of the rich".

(with Reuters)
TRAGEDY STRUCK last Sunday when a man believed to be 27 years died onboard United Airlines 997 aircraft in the middle of the Atlantic.

The deceased, identified as Daniel Toffey Jnr, from Jomoro in the Western Region, was said to be onboard the flight with his father, Daniel Toffey Snr when the incident occurred.

The man was said to have died as a result of a suspected case of pulmonary embolism.

Reports indicated that the deceased travelled to Ghana with his father and mother to attend the funeral of his mother's relative.

His mother, after the funeral, stayed behind while father and son took the lead home to Pataskala, Ohio  a suburb of Columbus.

They left the country Sunday evening around 11pm and were expected at arrive at Washington Dulles early Monday, reported DNT, an online portal in Bermuda.

The report indicated that while on the Atlantic, Toffey Jnr, kept telling his father, he could not breathe.

After having sat for a while, the victim was said to have attempted to stand up to go and use the restroom when his movement became shaky and was soon gasping for air.

One young lady shouted we need a doctor, we need a doctor. At that moment, what appeared to be a sixth sense got the senior father to jump from his business class area and rushed to the scene although the flight crew instructed everyone to remain in their seats, the report said.

The report indicated that as a result of the tragic incident, the flight was diverted to Bermuda, where all 178 passengers were lodging at Grotto Bay Resort pending their continued travel to Washington.

Jesse Lasuer, a neighbour at business class told DNT how the deceased father was holding up in spite of the monumental loss. Although he is holding up just fine, you can just see the pain in his eyes, the report quoted Lasuer.

Meanwhile, Junior Toffey was scheduled to launch his album on June 4, with Joe Mettle scheduled to attend in Columbus.

Daily Guide
Farmers in Kogi and Benue expressed awe at the large sizes and number of roots produced by the new cassava varieties developed by the NextGen projectBaba-70 and GameChangeras they pull the crop to see what was below the ground during a farmers field day/ product launch.

They spoke about the difference between the new varieties and the old ones, saying Baba 70 and Game Changer yielded more than local varieties which they were used to. Some took a few stems to plant on their fields, saying they would love to adopt the new varieties.

The new varieties, Game Changer, Baba 70 and Poundable, were part of the varieties released in 2020. When cultivated with good agronomic practices and weed control, the new varieties produce more than 30 tons per hectare instead of the current national average yield of eight tons per hectare.

According to the breeders, while Game Changer can produce 32 tons per hectare, Baba 70 can produce 38 tons per hectare. It was also proven that the new cultivars were drought-tolerant and resistant to the virus diseases of cassava.

Speaking at the event, Dr Ismail Rabbi, a molecular geneticist and plant breeder with IITA, stated that years of consumer preference studies were conducted before releasing the varieties. In addition to high yield and stress tolerance, we found that these varieties are suitable for several agro-ecologies. Farmers, processors and consumers love these varieties because they were high-yielding, stress-tolerant, disease-resistant and had the right food properties, he said.

For Dr Mercy Diebiru-Ojo, who heads IITA GoSeed, the varieties would help raise the livelihoods of farmers. I am confident that farmers who adopt these varieties will make more profit and improve their livelihoods. These varieties are also a huge contribution to food security, she added.

As part of the launch, farmers and processors were taken to the field where the varieties were planted alongside an old improved variety, TME 419, 11 months ago and managed by Crest Agro. After an assessment of the field as well as the plant architecture, the farmers participated in harvesting some of the roots to compare with TME 419.

There was also a demonstration of the processing of the new varieties to prove that their dry matter and starch contents were high and of great food value. Attendees witnessed the entire process from the farm to the table where they consumed garri, eba and fufu, chips and chinchin made from the two varieties. The meals were consumed with vegetable and egusi stew made with cassava leaves.

Speaking on the field, Dr. Vishnuardhan Banda, Product Manager for Crop Variety Development, IITA, expressed joy that the farmers and processors were happy with the new varieties and eager to plant them on their farms. He, however urged them to always send feedback on the performance of the varieties to the researchers.

His words: We want you to work with us. You are very important in the process of crop improvement. You are the farmers and the first consumers. We urge you to always tell us how these varieties are performing on your various farms. You have seen that these are very good varieties but we know that in years to come, you would need something new. Just keep giving us feedback about farmers' choices and complaints, and we the breeders will be working with that information to give you new and better products.

Ambassador Jaiyeola Lewu, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, and now a farmer, was present at the event. While commending the NextGen project and the IITA and NRCRI scientists, he described the varieties as game changers in the agricultural sector, saying farmers will benefit immensely from them. He urged the project leaders to ensure that the products were available and accessible to the farmers who need them.

In his response, Dr. Godwin Atser, the Advocacy, Outreach and Promotions Lead of the IITA Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System, Phase 2 (BASICS-II) project, who spoke on behalf of Prof. Lateef Sanni, the Project Manager, stated that the BASICS-II project would use its seed system model (BASICS model) to ensure that farmers get access to new and improved varieties.

His words: There is no gainsaying that farmers need new and improved varieties to improve their livelihoods, ensure food security and contribute to economic development. That is why we created the BASICS model, which links Cassava Breeding Programs with Early Generation Seed Companies like IITA GoSeed and Umudike Seed to multiply the foundation seeds that are passed on to cassava seed entrepreneurs who produce certified seeds for onward dissemination to farmers.

The farmers field day/ product launch in Kogi took place on 19 while in Benue it took place on 23 May 2022. Among those who attended the event in Kogi were farmers, processors, and representatives from Kogi State Ministry of Agriculture, Kogi State Agricultural Development Program, Nigeria Cassava Growers Association and other public and private sector stakeholders. IITA and NRCRI scientists were also in attendance.

The NextGen Cassava Project is being implemented by Cornell University, New York, in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI).
The former CEO of Public Procurement Authority, Agyenim Boateng Adjei, and his brother-in-law, Francis Kwaku Arhin, have both been granted bail in the corruption prosecution by the High Court (Criminal Court 3 Division).

The two pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of use of public office for profit, a charge that comes under the ambit of the office of the Special Prosecutor.

The Court thus admitted them to a bail sum of GH5 million with 2 sureties each. The sureties are each to deposit their national IDs with the Court's registry.

Mr. Agyenim Boateng has also been ordered to deposit his passport with the court until the final determination of the case.

Francis Kwaku Arhin, on the other hand, has been allowed to retain his passport on compassionate grounds.

Lawyer for the former PPA CEO, Kwame Acheampong Boateng, in an interview with the media after court proceedings on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, expressed worry that the case has already been prejudiced against his client in the media space.

But he says he is confident that the Court will do justice to the case.

The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyabeng, on the other hand, who led an army of lawyers on the case, told the media he believes in the strength of his case.

Meanwhile, the court has directed the parties to file all documents they would be relying on within four weeks.

The case has been adjourned to June 28, 2022.

citinewsroom
More than 100 activists tried to block oil giant TotalEnergies' annual general meeting in central Paris on Wednesday to protest the energy firm's climate policies and continued presence in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. But investors approved a controversial shareholder resolution by 88.89 percent.

Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Alternatiba protesters handcuffed themselves to each other and impeded shareholders' access to the building, claiming that TotalEnergies is not doing enough to fight climate change.

"It is no longer possible for the old world to serenely meet to validate projects that are destructive to the climate, human rights and peace," the French branch of Friends of the Earth said on Twitter.

Activists unfurled a five-metre long banner saying, "no retreat, no general assembly", a reference to the energy firm's presence in Russia, where it runs liquified gas extraction projects.

A spokesperson for Greenpeace France told shareholders and media kept outside the venue that they demanded an end to new oil and gas projects and the group's withdrawal from Russia.

The meeting at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in central Paris was eventually declared open by TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne, but with the venue almost empty as so few shareholders had been able to enter.

He said that the AGM could go ahead "as a certain number of shareholders are present".

Social media posts showed riot police using tear gas to prevent protestors blocking access to the venue.

'Too passive'

TotalEnergies is aiming for net-zero carbon emissions by mid-century and has pledged to reduce emissions of its petroleum products by 30 percent compared to 2015.

Earlier on Wednesday, the group announced it had bought a 50-percent stake in the US renewables producer Clearway Energy Group, as it seeks to expand its portfolio in the sector in the United States.

Investors approved by 88.89 percent the controversial shareholder resolution on the French company's climate plans.

Some had announced in advance that they would vote against.

A group of shareholders representing 0.78 percent of the giant's capital deposited a resolution  that was rejected  asking for the group to respect the Paris climate deal, which seeks to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius and if possible 1.5 degrees.

"There are shareholders who recognise the climate emergency but on the whole they are still too passive," Greenpeace France campaigner Edina Ifticene told AFP.

On Tuesday, oil giant Shell's general assembly in central London was suspended for two hours due to disruption from climate change activists.

(with newswires)
A former Lands and Natural Resources Minister Inusah Fuseini, has said in a statement that: For the records, the Afari-Dateh Committee recommended that only 118 acres of the peripheral portions of the Achimota Forest be returned to the Owoo Family, instead of the 193 acres the Kufuor Administration had agreed to grant the family.

According to him, during his tenure as the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, I sought cabinet approval for the implementation of the committees recommendations and was granted same. This was the only portion of land that I had the capacity by reason of the delegated authority given to me by the executive President to grant to the pre-acquisition owners of the land.

I am unaware and unconnected to any subsequent attempts to vary the initial grant of 118 acres to the pre-acquisition owners of the land as alleged by the current minister of Lands and Natural Resources. I could not have varied the initial grant because I am fully aware of the implications of Article 58 of the Constitution of Ghana and could not have placed myself in that awkward position, he noted in a statement issued on Wednesday, 25 May 2022.

It bears repeating that I was not a party to the alleged extension of the initial grant of 118 acres to the Owoo Family. My letter of 4th April 2014 to the Lands Commission was in respect of the original grant of 118 acres of land to the Owoo family as captured in the last paragraph of the said letter. That letter read together with the original Lease executed by the Forestry Commission in favour of the Owoo Family will leave no doubt in the mind of anyone reading those two documents that they are referrable to the same 118 acres of land granted the Owoo Family pursuant to a cabinet directive. I could not have acted otherwise, he added.

Portions of the Achimota forest reserve were recently declassified so that 361 acres could be returned to the pre-acquisition owners, the Owoo family.

The decision has raised a lot of debate in the country.

Read Mr Fuseinis full statement below:

DECLASSIFICATION OF PORTIONS OF ACHIMOTA FOREST RESERVE AND MATTERS ARISING.

My attention has been drawn to a press release by the Ministry for Lands and Natural Resources dated May 24, 2020 and captioned RE: ACHIMOTA FOREST MATTERS, in which the Ministry sets out in historical chronological order events surrounding the acquisition and subsequent releases of portions of the Achimota Forest to the Owoo Family consequent on petitions submitted to President Kufuor, the second President under the Fourth Republic and other Presidents thereafter.

The press release contains some incorrect assertions and plain misrepresentation of facts skewed against my person and the role l played as Minister for Lands and Natural Resources between the period January 2013 to June 2014. I shall attempt to state the true facts of the matter which came before me and the decisions I took on same during my stewardship at that Ministry.

Prior to the 2008 general elections, the acquisition of State Lands by elements within the then NPP/Kufour government and some appointees in the public and civil service became a major national and political issue. Mention can be made of the International Student Hotel land which now houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the La Wireless land which now houses the AU village and the sale of government bungalows to government appointees and sympathizers, one of which was challenged in court.

This was a matter of considerable public interest and concern then, as it is presently. So when President John Evans Atta Mills assumed the reins of government, a total ban was imposed by the government on the sale or alienation of State Lands to enable the government to restore some sanity in the administration of public lands.

It is also important to state that the Achimota Forest reserve which until recently stood at 495 hectares was facing serious encroachment. There was therefore the need to protect the Forest from further encroachment. It was the view of the NDC that the best way to protect the Forest was to turn same into an Ecotourism facility as experience shows that the encroachment into the Forest is precisely because it has been lying fallow. The 2012 manifesto with which the NDC sought the mandate of the people of Ghana bears ample testimony to the avowed intention of the NDC to protect the Achimota Forest reserve from further encroachment by turning it into an Eco Park.

As said earlier, I assumed the mandate to steer the affairs of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in February 2013 with a clear directive to take steps to convert the Forest into an Ecotourism facility. I set up a Strategic Committee headed by my able deputy Hon. Babara Serwa Asamoah to look at the most prudent and feasible way we could implement this manifesto promise. I reviewed the various petitions from the Owoo Family and recommendations from Committees set up to consider those petitions. Let me state categorically that apart from the Strategic Committee I set up to implement the NDCs manifesto promise, all other committees on the Achimota Forest Reserve up until the time I assumed office pre-dated me.

The Committee set up under President Kufuor recommended that 193 acres (not 90 acres as claimed by the current Minister of Lands and Natural Resources) of the Achimota Forest be returned to the Owoo Family with the plan to covert the forest into a second central business district for Accra. This fact has been corroborated by Kwame Gyan Esq., a legal consultant in the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for the period 2001 to early 2009 on Joy News. Indeed, he was the witness of the government of Ghana to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Owoo family at the time Hon. Esther Abena Dapaah was the Minister. This MOU was signed sometime in August 2008 but could not be implemented because the NPP lost the 2008 presidential elections.

For the records, the Afari-Dateh Committee recommended that only 118 acres of the peripheral portions of the Achimota Forest be returned to the Owoo Family, instead of the 193 acres the Kufour Administration had agreed to grant the family. I sought cabinet approval for the implementation of the committees recommendations and was granted same. This was the only portion of land that I had the capacity by reason of the delegated authority given to me by the executive President to grant to the pre-acquisition owners of the land.

I am unaware and unconnected to any subsequent attempts to vary the initial grant of 118 acres to the pre-acquisition owners of the land as alleged by the current minister of Lands and Natural Resources. I could not have varied the initial grant because I am fully aware of the implications of Article 58 of the Constitution of Ghana and could not have placed myself in that awkward position.

It bears repeating that I was not a party to the alleged extension of the initial grant of 118 acres to the Owoo Family. My letter of 4th April 2014 to the Lands Commission was in respect of the original grant of 118 acres of land to the Owoo family as captured at the last paragraph of the said letter. That letter read together with the original Lease executed by the Forestry Commission in favour of the Owoo Family will leave no doubt in the mind of anyone reading those two documents that they are referrable to the same 118 acres of land granted the Owoo Family pursuant to a cabinet directive. I could not have acted otherwise.

The 4th April 2014 letter was addressed to the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission to accept for registration the lease granted the Owoo Family by the Forestry Commission which allocated to them only 118 acres of the peripheral portions of the Achimota Forest Reserve on compassionate grounds.

I welcome and support calls from the general public for the reversal of the declassification of portions of the Achimota forest reserve as contained in E.I 144 and for an independent enquiry to be launched into these matters to ascertain the truth.

Thank you.

Signed,

Hon. Alhaji Inusah Fuseini

Former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources

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CDD-Ghana's foremost anti-corruption campaign, Corruption Watch has petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) calling for an investigation into the alleged acquisition of state lands by the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John.

In the Will of the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Forestry Commission that went viral on social media, he owns lands at the Achimota Forest as well as the Ramsar site in Sakumono which are protected lands.

This Corruption Watch says it is important to get to the bottom of the matter.

It is as a result of this that it has petitioned the Office of Special Prosecutor to look into the matter.

On Tuesday, May 24, 2022, Corruption Watch Ghana petitioned the Special Prosecutor to investigate the alleged acquisition of several acres of State lands situated within the Achimota Forest and at Ramsar sites in Sakumono by three artificial and two natural persons, parts of a press release from the group has confirmed.

Among other things, Corruption Watch is specifically requesting the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate whether the Republic of Ghana owned the said lands at the time of their alleged acquisition by Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Jakaypros Limited, Fasoh Limited, DML Limited, and Charles Owusu.

It also wants the OSP to investigate and find out who authorized the alleged sale or purchase of the lands and whether the interests in the lands have been registered.

Find more in the Corruption Watch press release below:
The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, says his outfit has ample evidence to effectively prosecute the former Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Adjenim Boateng Adjei.

According to him, they have a strong case that will ensure that Mr. Adjei and his brother-in-law, Francis Kwaku Arhin are punished for corruption.

I have my firm conviction that we have every evidence to see the accused prosecuted on procurement breaches [charges]. The accused persons are the former Chief Executive of the PPA and his brother-in-law Their pleas were taken. The pleaded not guilty, and the court has given directions as to how the trial will proceed so in a months time well be back to comply with the court proceedings, he said.

Kissi Agyebeng stressed that the Office of the Special Prosecutor will continue to do its work to ensure that corruption is reduced to the barest minimum in the country.

As I said during my vetting, Im going to make corruption very costly, he added.

Meanwhile, the two suspects have been granted bail in the corruption prosecution by the High Court (Criminal Court 3 Division).

The two who are facing 18 counts of use of public office for profit have been admitted to a bail sum of GH5 million with 2 sureties each.

The sureties are each to deposit their national IDs with the Court's registry.

Mr. Agyenim Boateng has also been ordered to deposit his passport with the court until the final determination of the case.

The case has been adjourned to June 28, 2022. Mr. Adjei was charged with eight counts of using public office for-profit and nine counts of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract.

Background These charges are the culmination of investigative work by journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni.

In his investigation, a company known as Talent Discovery Limited (TDL), owned by Mr. Adjei, was getting government contracts through restricted tendering and selling those contracts to others for profit.

The contracts were public works contracts awarded by the Ministry of Works and Housing, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Special Development Initiatives, Ministry of Inner-City & Zongo Development, and the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority.

According to the facts of the case, Mr. Adjei once altered the decision of the PPA Board in favour of Talent Discovery Limited.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor probed the corruption concerns that emerged, while the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice looked into the conflict of interest aspects of the case.

After investigating Mr. Adjei, CHRAJ found him guilty of conflict of interest, saying the money accrued in his accounts since assuming office in 2017 stood at GHS 14.8 million from his four Dollar and Euro accounts held at two banks .

According to CHRAJ, Mr. Adjei could not satisfactorily explain the source of the large volumes of excess wealth that passed through his bank accounts between March 2017 and August 2019.

The Special Prosecutor also noted that Mr. Adjei amassed fantastic funds in his bank accounts within a very short time.

The First and Second Accused perversely benefited pecuniarily through the use of public office for-profit and influencing the public procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage.

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It is widely known that African researchers are dramatically underrepresented in academic journals. But it's still astonishing to see this reality starkly represented in numbers.

For the past eight years we have run the Research, Policy and Higher Education (RPHE) programme, a research and peer-support scheme with Rwandan scholars, through the Aegis Trust. As part of our work, we've analysed 12 leading journals in disciplines relevant to our researcher cohort. We found that from 1994 until 2019, of the 398 articles focusing on Rwanda that appeared in these journals, only 13 were authored or co-authored by Rwandan scholars. That's just 3.3%. This amounts to 25 years of post-genocide literature almost entirely devoid of Rwandan voices.

In 2019, the flagship area studies journal African Affairs published its first-ever article by a Rwandan. The author, Assumpta Mugiraneza (writing with Benjamin Chemouni) is supported by the RPHE programme. Four of the journals we examined  Journal of Modern African Studies, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, Journal of Peace Research, and Conflict, Security and Development  regularly publish articles on Rwanda. But they are yet to publish a single Rwandan writing on their country.

What explains this level of exclusion? One factor is prejudice on the part of journal editors and peer reviewers, which Rwandan colleagues have encountered for years. It was the need to overcome systemic biases and to amplify the voices of Rwandan scholars in global academic and policy debates that led us to establish the RPHE programme in 2014.

Since we launched, experienced Rwandan and non-Rwandan researchers have worked closely with 44 Rwandan authors selected through four competitive calls that generated more than 400 research proposals. The programme has also organised regular theory, methods, writing and publishing workshops for hundreds of participants in Kigali, supporting the wider Rwandan research community.

It is starting to bear fruit.

A body of scholarly work

Our website, the Genocide Research Hub, has just posted the 21 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters that have so far emerged from the programme. It is a rigorous process to reach this point. The authors first produced working papers and policy briefs . These were honed through discussions with their programme colleagues and at public events in Kigali and London . Only then were they submitted to peer-reviewed journals. Over the next year, these working papers will generate a further tranche of academic publications.

Collectively, these pieces represent an important body of scholarly work on various themes. These include ethnicity, indigeneity, migration, citizenship, gender relations and language politics. Authors also delve into debates over younger generations' inherited responsibility for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

The publications highlight the impressive research being conducted by Rwandan authors, who for too long have been sidelined in debates about Rwanda and other conflict-affected societies.

Numerous barriers

Rwandan authors face numerous barriers. Some are domestic and widely acknowledged. The country aims to become a regional high-tech hub. So, the Rwandan government emphasises science, technology, engineering and maths subjects. This has led to the chronic under-funding of the social sciences.

Like their colleagues across East Africa, Rwandan academics' enormous teaching and administrative loads leave little space for research and writing.

Less recognised, however, are the power dynamics in global academic and policy circles. International journal editors, peer reviewers and research funders routinely exclude Rwandan voices. This is driven by a pervasive view that Rwandan authors based in Rwanda cannot produce independent and rigorous research in such a repressive political environment.

These structural biases need to be systematically addressed if institutions and publications based in the global north are serious about the decolonising knowledge agenda .

The significance of the academic publications produced through the RPHE programme, though, is not simply that they were written by Rwandans. Crucially, these authors have begun to reorient the substance of scholarly debates about Rwanda and broader peace and conflict issues.

Our calls for proposals asked Rwandan researchers to independently determine the themes and methods of their research, reflecting their deep knowledge of the political, social, cultural, historical and linguistic context. By doing so, they've introduced new themes, angles and insights that greatly enrich the academic literature.

New insights

To take one example, two journal articles by Richard Ntakirutimana  a member of the Rwandan Batwa community  highlight the challenges the Batwa have faced since the Rwandan government placed them under its Historically Marginalised Peoples banner in 2007. This category includes guaranteed parliamentary representation for women, people with disabilities, Muslims and the Batwa. But it conflates Batwa concerns with those of other marginalised communities in Rwanda.

Many Batwa are highly wary of researchers. But Ntakirutimana was able to conduct extensive interviews with members of the community near the forests bordering Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. His respondents roundly criticised the Historically Marginalised Peoples framework. They demanded government policies tailored more specifically to the plight of the Batwa. Researchers explore perspectives beyond the capital city, Kigali, giving voice to various Rwandan communities' experiences. Phil Clark

When Ntakirutimana presented his research at an RPHE conference in Kigali , his findings generated vociferous push-back from Rwandan policymakers. His work, and that of other authors from the programme who have presented at public events, challenges a widespread perception of Rwanda as a closed political system in which independent research and public debate on politically sensitive topics are almost impossible. The RPHE's conferences bring together scholars, journalists and policymakers to discuss research and scholarship about Rwanda. Aegis Trust/Flickr

Meanwhile, across a wide range of topics and disciplines, the articles published by other RPHE researchers explore an overarching theme largely ignored by non-Rwandan authors: the prevalence of intra-family and inter-generational conflicts since 1994.

These researchers focus on genocidal legacies and the impact of post-genocide social transformation in intimate family spaces, which are difficult for non-Rwandan researchers to access. Their work thus provides vital perspectives on less visible features of Rwandan society.

A gradual shift

The highly talented Rwandan social science research community is beginning to gain the global platform it deserves. This shift is vital for Rwandan researchers. It benefits others, too, by producing fresh insights and challenging the structures that for years stymied these critical voices. More initiatives of this kind are essential if calls to decolonise knowledge are to become more than comforting blandishments.

Nicola Palmer receives funding from the British Academy and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Felix Mukwiza Ndahinda, Jason Mosley, Phil Clark, and Sandra Shenge do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

By Felix Mukwiza Ndahinda, Honorary Associate Professor, College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Rwanda And

Jason Mosley, Research Associate, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford And

Nicola Palmer, Reader in Law, King's College London And

Phil Clark, Professor of International Politics, SOAS, University of London And

Sandra Shenge, Director of Programs, Aegis Trust
The Gambian government said Wednesday it is willing to prosecute former dictator Yahya Jammeh for a "myriad of crimes" committed by the regime during his more than 20-year rule.

The Ministry of Justice said in a statement that it accepted all but two of the 265 recommendations made by the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), "notably the prosecution of ex-President Yahya Jammeh, for a myriad of crimes committed between 1994 and 2017".

The former dictator is living in exile in Equatorial Guinea, which has no extradition treaty with The Gambia.

The ministry also accepted recommendations to prosecute alleged perpetrators named by the truth commission, including senior officials.

Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said in a press conference that he would create a special prosecutor's office and a special court inside The Gambia with the option of holding sittings in other jurisdictions.

Map of Gambia. By afp (AFP)

"Impunity is a kind of incentive that we are not prepared to serve perpetrators. Those who contemplate committing gross human rights violations must also have no doubt that one day society will hold them accountable for their actions," Jallow said.

"Their resolve to commit these atrocities cannot be stronger than our collective will as a society to hold them to account."

The truth commission found that 240 to 250 people, including AFP journalist Deyda Hydara, were killed by the state during the eccentric ex-leader's rule. Established in 2017, it heard chilling testimony from nearly 400 people before ending in May 2021.

Rights activists accuse Jammeh, who turned 57 on Wednesday, of committing a litany of crimes, from using death squads to raping a beauty queen and sponsoring witch hunts.

The former president has also been accused of administering phony HIV "treatment" programmes and of the massacre of some 50 African migrants in 2005.

Jammeh was forced into exile in early 2017 after his shock electoral defeat to current President Adama Barrow. By JOHN WESSELS (AFP)

In a report released in November after two delays, the commission recommended prosecuting the former president and 69 other alleged perpetrators. The government had until Wednesday to respond.

Jammeh was forced into exile in early 2017 after his shock electoral defeat to current President Adama Barrow and a six-week crisis that led to military intervention by other West African states.

Barrow, who was re-elected in December, last year formed a political alliance with Jammeh's former party.

Though the ex-dictator himself rejected the deal, Barrow then nominated two known Jammeh supporters as speaker and deputy speaker of parliament.

'Important and meaningful step forward'

For Fatoumatta Sandeng, spokeswoman for the Jammeh2Justice campaign, a coalition of victims' groups, Wednesday's white paper is just the next step in a long healing process.

Her own father, Ebrima Solo Sandeng, a member of the opposition United Democratic Party, was tortured and killed by security services in 2016.

"Truth and reconciliation commissions have been launched in many countries," she said, adding that their recommendations are often ignored.

The truth commission found that 240 to 250 people were killed by the state during Jammeh's rule. By MUHAMADOU BITTAYE (AFP)

"The most important work right now is to make sure the recommendations are respected, implemented, and you don't just put it aside like other commissions."

Reed Brody, a lawyer with the International Commission of Jurists who works with Jammeh's victims, called the ministry's response to the truth commission "an important and meaningful step forward".

"Now the government will have to demonstrate with concrete actions to an increasingly sceptical public that it actually has the determination to bring the perpetrators to book," he said.

"Laws still have to be enacted, a court has to be established, cases have to be prepared, and Yahya Jammeh has to be brought into custody."
The Nkoranzaman Youth Association, the umbrella body of the youth of Nkoranza in the Bono East region, has formally petitioned the Inspector-General of Police to step up efforts at ensuring that all those who contributed to the disappearance of their colleague, Albert Donkor, about two weeks ago, are brought to book.

They are also calling for thorough investigations about the shooting of Victor Owusu by the Police during their demonstration to register their displeasure over Albert Donkor who died in Police custody.

We also plead with you to kindly make sure such incidence which has happened to our departed brothers never happen again either in Nkoranza or any part of Ghana, they stated in their six-point petition jointly signed by Sampson Konadu, Chairman of the Association and Prince Nyarko, the PRO.

Recall policemen

Members of the association further appealed to the IGP to recall his men and women who were evacuated from Nkoranza following the incident to return to their duty posts to continue with their work, saying; We plead with you to bring them back to make the people of Nkoranza have adequate security and safety.

The Nkoranza youth assured the IGP that they are peace-loving and have been co-existing peacefully with the police over the years, explaining that we love our police personnel and until this incident, there has not been any problem between any youth and the police.

The group also called on the IGP to, as a matter of urgency, install close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in and around the various Police stations in the country but that of Nkoranza should be as soon as possible.

Background

Early last week, the youth of Nkoranza poured onto the streets in their numbers in protest against the alleged abduction and subsequent killing of their colleague, Albert Donkor, by the Police.

In the process, the youth attacked the Nkoranza Municipal Police Headquarters and freed at least six suspects in custody.

The Police in response fired live bullets into the crowd which resulted in the death of one person while several others injured and rushed to the St. Theresas Catholic Hospital in the town.

A security reinforcement from Techiman could not deter the youth from throwing stones and clubs at the officers, after destroying property, including vehicles, at the police headquarters.
25.05.2022 LISTEN

Himalayan Cataracts Project (HCP), a USA-based Non-profit-making Organisation together with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the St. Marys Hospital at Drobo in Bono Region have organized free surgery and screening for over 300 people in the Jaman South district and other neighboring districts who are suffering from cataract.

The beneficiaries, who were mainly the elderly, could not hide their excitement for the exercise, which they confessed, could have caused them huge sums of money to undergo such screening and surgery in Ghana.

They were particularly happy that HCPs timely intervention had saved many of them from going blind gradually as a result of the disease.

They therefore appealed to them to extend such a programme to other districts in other parts of the country to save millions of people who are facing the same health conditions.

Nana Kwarteng Afari ll, the Drobo Famanhene who spoke on behalf of Omanhane of the Drobo traditional area, commended Himalayan cataracts project, the Ghana health service and St. Marys Hospital at Drobo for organizing the exercise for the people for free and described the gesture as timely.

Nana Kwarteng Afari noted that cataract is quite common in Jaman South and appealed to the organizers to consider coming back periodically to drastically reduce or possibly eliminate the disease finally from the area.

Andrew Bediako, the Jaman South Municipal Chief Executive also commended HCP, GHS and St. Mary Hospital for organizing the exercise for free for the people.

The Country Director for HCP, Dr. James A. Addy, added that a research conducted by his organisation shows that cataract account for almost 54.8% of people who suffering from blindness.

He mentioned some of the causes of cataract as throwing an object into the eye, diabetes, high blood pressure and walking through scorching sun often.
25.05.2022 LISTEN

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said since 2017, his government has spent an amount of 450million to curb floods in the country.

He stated that the money was spent on the Flood Control Programme and has resulted in reduced incidents of flooding in, especially, Accra.

Mr Akufo-Addo said these at the commissioning of IHC BEAVER 50 dredger and marine equipment at Adjei Kojo near Ashaiman in the Grater Acra Region.

He said I did raise concerns at the beginning of my address about the flooding situation in Accra. Government, since 2017 has spent some 450million cedis on the flood control programme which has resulted in the reduced incident of flooding in the major flood prone areas in Accra.

Parts of Accra got flooded after a downpour on Tuesday May 24.

About twenty were rescued by the Greater Accra Regional Directorate of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) on during the heavy downpour. The victims were rescued in areas such as Dansoman, Odorkor and Dzowulu.

The Greater Accra Regional NADMO Director, Archibold Cobbina, made the revelations in an interview with 3FM's Sunrise on Tuesday hosted by Alfred Ocansey.

A lot of areas have been flooded. Areas like Ledzokuku, some parts of Tema, Sakaman, parts of Spintex road, Odorkor, Circle, Kaneshie First Light, among others, he explained.

Mr. Cobbina said about twenty people have been rescued around Dansoman, Odorkor, Dzowulu but others are also in other parts for the same rescue mission.

What we are trying to do is recuse them.

The NADMO Director noted that when they see that it is raining, that is where people bring out refuse and dump them into the raining waters.

People have dumped refuse right in the middle of the road at Sakaman.

---3news.com
The President of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has warned all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) that they will be held accountable for all breaches that result in damages caused by flooding.

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony of Dredge Masters IHC beaver 50 dredger and marine equipment meant for maintaining rivers, canals, and other inland waterways at Adjei Kojo off the Santeo  Ashaiman road in Accra, today Wednesday 25 May 2022, the President said he will not allow the selfishness of some people to cause harm to others.

Unhappy with the recent flooding incidents in the country, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo used the opportunity to direct all MMDCEs to remove all obstructions to the free flow of water and developments along waterways in the city with immediate effect.

and that is putting all MMDCEs on notice that youll be held accountable for any breaches that result in damage from flooding. As President of the republic I will not allow the selfish interest of the few to jeopardize the collective futures of the rest of us, the President stressed.

In addition to the directive, President Akufo-Addo has charged all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure that developers strictly comply with the laws of the nation.

The President further admonished MMDAs to see to it that any member of their staff that issues permits to developers who build structures in unauthorized locations are not made to go scot-free but punished to serve as a deterrent to others.
Panellists at the 2022 Turkiye-Africa Media Summit have observed that journalists in Africa are struggling and depressed and must be supported.

They noted that the level of depression in the media profession continued to be swept under the carpet with mental health issues among journalists going unreported.

The panellists said the poverty level on the continent was huge, with journalists and media workers, who were changing lives and societies being among the poorest though described as the fourth estate of the realm.

"Journalists shape lives and societies and bring about social change and must be supported and empowered to live and work in sound mind and body," they stressed.

The panellists recounted challenges journalists and media workers faced during the peak of COVID-19 and said many lost their jobs, some died having had COVID-19 in line of duty, with many more enduring abuses and attacks.

"Even before COVID-19, many media houses were distressed. COVID-19 worsened the situation, especially for print media houses.

"As a result, there's decline in content quality, television programmes becoming just talk shows and digital journalism, copy and paste," they stated.

The panellists called for contextualisation of information and support for media workers, especially those in the state media to fight fake news, misinformation, disinformation, "terror-propaganda" and to defend democracy and nation states.

Earlier, Professor Fahrettin Altun, the Director of Communications, Republic of Turkiye, called for experience sharing in media and communication to fight "terror-propaganda."

He said Turkiye would support efforts at fighting discrimination, climate change and the promotion of good African practices in Turkiye and around the world.

Prof Altun also stated the readiness of Turkiye to support African journalists to tell African stories that would promote nation states and socioeconomic development.

Other topics discussed were: "Journalism under digital siege," "Women in Journalism," and "Challenging conventional narratives of African storytelling."

The Summit is being attended by hundred journalists from Africa and representatives from Turkey's official institutions, non-governmental organisations, think-tanks, media and private sector.

GNA
President Nana Akufo-Addo has been selected to chair the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), an international partnership of countries highly vulnerable to a warming planet.

President Akufo-Addo takes over as Chair, following the end of Bangladesh's two-year term as Chair of the Forum, which serves as a South-South co-operation platform for participating governments to act together to deal with global climate change.

The President, in his remarks, congratulated Bangladesh, and, in particular, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, for the leadership that has been demonstrated these past two years on the vexed issue of global climate.

Your successes in leading the Climate Vulnerable Forum and V20 are a credit to Bangladesh, and represent a service done to all vulnerable nations. Ghana is, indeed, honoured to take up the mantle of Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, and will do all she can in defense of the world's most climate threatened nations, he said.

Describing Climate Change as the biggest threat to the realisation of the SDGs the President said it has become an issue of grave concern to leaders across the world, especially for those of us classified as vulnerable nations, as it has considerable impact on the fundamentals required for our survival on earth.

For the sake of our and succeeding generations, we have a solemn duty to take immediate, bold and concrete steps to protect global climate from warming beyond unbearable limits, he said.

The President continued, It is for this reason that Ghana will follow in the footsteps of the CVFs previous presidents in being a voice for the voiceless. As Chair of the CVF, Ghana will pursue the call for major emitters to strengthen their 2030 mitigation targets in order to bring the 1.5-degree Celsius target, on which our survival depends, within reach.

As Chair of the Forum, President Akufo-Addo assured that Ghana will make the increment of adaptation financing a major priority, as well as help to unlock the Loss and Damage Fund, which will provide compensation to vulnerable developing countries for the losses and damages that they face as a result of climate impacts.

Excellencies, not only will we work to help make the CVF Global Parliamentary Groups Charter a reality, but we will also expand CVF membership, particularly in Africa. When Ghana takes over the presidency of the V20 Ministers of Finance of the CVF later this year, we will continue to champion all of the V20 Group's key priorities on unlocking finance for climate action, reducing the financial protection gap, and working for an international financial system that is fit-for-purpose to fight the climate crisis, he stressed.

With Bangladesh creating its own Climate Prosperity Plan, President Akufo-Addo assured that we will take forward this important programme. We plan to take climate actions that are bold and make sense for our development as we seek to emerge prosperous.

He reaffirmed Ghana's commitment to work expeditiously on our own ambitious Climate Prosperity Plan. We call on all partners in the global community to lend full support to this development, as well as the realization of our vulnerable nations valiant efforts to develop prosperity plans.
Majority of Igbo who over time displayed extreme hatred for Muhammadu Buhari, are now begging, salivating, groveling and threatening him to support Igbo for Presidency. This hatred dates back to 2007. Since then marketing Buhari to the average Igboman is a difficult exercise, including to my colleagues in the clergy, activism, media or the masses.

Rev Obinna Akukwe is saying ' good morning to Ndigbo' .Today all the fabled friends of Ndigbo in PDP, the party they followed for sixteen years, have abandoned them.

Buhari does not hate Igbo people  Ohanaeze Ndigbo Chieftain, Ozobu

In the upcoming PDP primaries, Peter Obi, Igbo's brightest chance will come a distant fourth or fifth. The PDP they supported since 1999 have betrayed them. They are set to give ticket to Atiku. Now Igbo are begging Buhari to use consensus magic to give them presidency.

The Goodluck Jonathan, whom they jettisoned zoning to support in 2011 and 2015, is negotiating for a ticket in APC.

Two foremost government critics who instigated so much hatred against the North,Muslims, Fulani, Hausa, Buhari and APC, in the persons of Femi Fani Faypde and Reno Omokri, are now working for Buhari, Atiku, North, Fulani', Hausa, and APC.

Igbo's are now begging northern leaders, Emirs, to lobby Buhari for a ticket.

We fluffed a golden opportunity on the altar of senseless hatred. Igbo's hated Buhari. They see him as an Islamist, terrorist who wants to either use the Fulani's to take over their land, or force them to be shouting 'Allahu Akbaru' instead of ' Praise the Lord'

I have argued over the years that this pathological hatred for Buhariwill backfire oneday.. Sorry to disappoint you, Rev Obinna Akukwe does not share that hatred for Buhari. As a matter of fact, I was among some youth who mobilized in Abuja to confront the Obasanjo PDP Presidential Rigging Machine of 2003, after Buhari and Okadigbo promised Mass Action. I have insisted that Buhari chickened out of that protest over an election he won, and Obasanjo introduced massive rigging into Nigeria's President.

Igbo hatred for Buhari is baseless. Buhari and Ojukwu had alliance in 2003; I still have details of that alliance. Buhari made Chuba Okadigbo his running mate in 2003 election. In 2007, Buhari made Edwin Ume-Ezeoke his running mate. During these two periods, Igbo's rejected him and his Igbo running mates.

I have evidences that Buhari won the 2003 and 2007 elections, but Obasanjo and northern elites, on two occasions, conspired to deny him the presidency. Therefore, Igbo haters of Buhari have northern elitist corroborators. I wrote about this in 2011, in a piece titled ' Going Going Gone! Nigerian Northern Elites and the Auctioning of Buhari'

In 2015, Buhari wrote letter to Ohanaeze Ndigbo for negotiations on what Igbo want, ahead of 2015 polls. Ohanaeze Ndigbo under Gary Igariwey refused to invite Buhari for negotiations; instead they collected N5 billion naira from Jonathan for endorsement. I still have a copy of that letter Buhari wrote to Ohanaeze.

In 2019, Buhari wrote another letter, asking Ohanaeze to present Igbo demands ahead of re-election; Nnia Nwodo hid the letter, and ran to Atiku for settlement.

Ndigbo in Buhari's first tenure has no representative in the National Security Council, an avoidable oversight. However. Igbo was made Minister of State Petroleum, a super ministry equal in influence to the three given to Raji Fashola, and Rotimi Amechi.

Buhari gave Igbo Foreign Affairs, Labour, Science and Technology and Education to South East. South East had four substantive ministers while some zones had only two.

Buhari ensured that Godwin Emefiele, another Igbo, was the first Nigerian whose tenure as CBN governor was renewed for another five years. He also made an Igbo the Deputy Governor CBN.

Buhari accelerated the completion of Second Niger Bridge, after Obasanjo, Yaradua and Jonathan played politics with the bridge for sixteen years.

Therefore, that hatred is grossly unfounded. Other Presidents have not done more than Buhari for Ndigbo.

Ndigbo hated him before he became President. Nnamdi KANU since 2014, before Buhari became President has called him a terrorist, child rapist who raped Aisha into marriage. Later, after his arrest, and jumping bail, he said Buhari is dead. Buhari is dead. Jubril-al- Sudan is the clone, according to him.

Buhari as a human being, being maligned, abused, ridiculed, has the right to feel bad.

Today, all the friends Ndigbo relied upon have abandoned them. PDP have abandoned them. Jonathan, Atiku, Fani Kayode, Reno Omokri and other influencers have left them in the cold.

Rev Obinna Akukwe has been a Buharist since 2003, with no apologies. However, I have criticized Buhari's policies that are incorrect, and it is in public domain. I have also warned his aides about consequences of certain policies.

Therefore, from insider knowledge, its obvious that the only person that can help Ndigbo now is Muhammad Buhari, the man they love to hate.

Can Buhari help Ndigbo ? Igbo Parades credible persons including Ogbonnaya Onu,, Rotimi Amechi, Rochas Okorocha, Godwin Emefiele, Dave Umahi and Emeka Nwajiuba Buhari can ignore the hateful disposition of Ndigbo and extend his hand to salvage this sinking ship called ' Igbo Presidency 2023'

( Rev Obinna Akukwe, columnist, activist, [email protected], @obinnaalukwe, is the Director General of Igbo Mandate Congress IMC, Vice Chairman BOT, Igbo Think Tank ITT))
Dear His Excellency President Nana Addo.

Sir, in respond to your clarion call for us the Citizenry to be constructive citizens and not spectators, I hereby write to you in particular and the citizenry in general, on a pertinent National issue, precisely the burden with Dual Citizenship. As you are fully aware, Dual Citizenship holders are prohibited by the Constitution of Ghana from holding Public Policy Making Offices or very sensitive Public Offices in Ghana. This problem caused a causality to the membership of Parliament I guess in 2009, in the person of the late Hon Adamu Sankande and is likely to cause further causalities of the membership of the current Parliament thus it has become or may become a very hot topical subject in the public discourse. Hence the public need to be well educated on that matter to prevent future problems with these provision of the Constitution.

I heard last week that to forestall future casualties especially to the Membership of Parliament who may be holders of Dual Citizenship, the Member of Parliament of Akim Oda, Hon Kennedy Osei Nyarko reportedly placed or he is to place before Parliament a Citizenship Amendment Bill presumably to amend both Article 94(2) of the 1992 Constitution which prevents a Ghanaian Citizen by birth or decent owing allegiance to another Country from being a Member of Parliament therefore all offices which has the same requirement like the President of Ghana, the VP, the Speaker, a Deputy Speaker and members of the Public Services Commission and as provided at Article 8 (2) of the 1992 Constitution which prohibits person with dual citizenship from holding any of the following offices: (a). Ambassador or High Commissioner (b) Secretary to the Cabinet; (c). Chief of Defence Staff or any Service Chief; (d). Inspector-General of Police; (e). Commissioner, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service; (f). Director of Immigration Service; and (g). Any other office specified by an Act of Parliament.

Mr President as you are fully aware, both the 1969 and 1979 Constitutions of Ghana did not allow for Dual Citizenship at all and the 1992 Constitution which also embodies popular Sovereignty before 1996 or initially also prohibited Dual Citizenship at Article 8 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, hence Dual Citizenship was not part of our vocabulary before 1996. This was to prevent a divided loyalty and allegiance, which are not divisible because you cannot serve two masters at the same time.

Mr President, It was for this reason that among others that when you were the Attorney General in the first regime of President Kofour caused the Citizenship Act 2000 (Act 591) to be promulgated and as stated therein, among other provisions of the Citizenship Act 2000 (Act 591) Section 16 (2) of Citizenship Act 2000 (Act 591) fortified Article 8 (2) of the 1992 Constitution as amended in 1996 and it also fortified Article 94 (2) of the 1992 Constitution when it expanded the list of Offices which Dual Citizenship cannot hold to include (a) Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court; (b) Commissioner of Custom, Excise and Preventive Service; (c) Director of Immigration Service;(d) Commissioner, Value Added Tax Service; (e) Chief Fire Officer; (f) Chief Director of a Ministry; (g) the rank of a Colonel in the Army or its equivalent in the other security services; and (h) any other public office that the Minister may by legislative instrument prescribe.

Unfortunately in a suite Asare Vrs Attorney General (J1 6 of 2011) [2012] GHASC 31 (22 May 2012) the Supreme Court of Ghana declared Act 2000 ((Act 591) as unconstitutional the whole or some aspect of it on the ground it conferred excessive, unnecessary and unreasonable power in excess of Parliaments authority on the Minister of the Interior to ban dual citizens from holding any public office that the Minister may prescribe. According the Court, this delegated Ministerial authority is subject to abuse and would not have the protective process of Parliamentary debates which attend the passage of a Bill into an Act. But fortunately, the Supreme Court of Ghana by unanimous decision agreed with the then Attorney General (Hon Mr Martin Amadu), that one cannot serve two masters at the same time. So both Article 8 (2) and 94 (2) were upheld or authenticated by Supreme Court of Ghana as within the powers of the Constitution.

Mr President, as you are aware, the permissibility of Dual Citizenship in our Constitution as amended in 1996 by Parliament was to grant Ghanaians in the Diaspora only to retain their Ghanaian Citizenship for the acquisition of citizenship of other countries by Ghanaians so as to take advantage of opportunities in those Countries but not to dilute the sanctity or the Sovereignty of the State of Ghana. Since the acquisition of Citizenship of another Country will require swearing of an Allegiance to the Country (the Constitution and laws of the Country), this in effect or in real sense tantamount to almost a hidden disabling or denouncing the allegiance of the previous Country that is Ghana (which was done during the acquisition of a passport) because the wording of the Oath of Allegiance is clearly made to sound so and per the Holy Bible at Mt 6:24 26 which says, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Hence No one can serve two masters at the same time.

Mr President, the ban of holders of dual citizenship from becoming Members of Parliament, therefore the President and VP of Ghana, the Speaker and his two deputies, member of the Public Service Commission, IGP, CDS, the Chief of Security Services, Ambassadors etc was for a very good National Interest to protect the Sovereignty of Ghana and National Interest therefore not negotiable because no one can serve two masters at the same time. Mr President, it is very interesting to remind you that you as the Attorney General in the President Kofours era made it clear that no one should be allowed to serve two Masters at the same time. So please in your own words do not allow anyone to serve two masters at the same time, do not spoil your legacy Sir.

Mr President, it anticipated that this stand may be made clear to the citizenry by the differences between Nationality and Citizenship as submitted or explained below to enrich the public discourse.

So, Mr President, in an attempt to do so, let me walk through the memory lane on Nationality and Citizenship, this is so with the view to dealing with the bone of contention that is the burden of dual Citizenship.

According to some authorities or entrenched democratic nations like the UK and USA, there is a vast difference between Citizenship and Nationality.

That Citizenship is defined internally within each country to mean a status that supposedly allows the person full political, economic, social and legal rights in the country. That is to say Citizenship means that you have full political, economic and social rights with Responsibilities and Privileges to participate in the affairs of a Nation and also the Nation has the full right to deal with you or control you or use or call to defend the Country against an enemy. This means that one is guaranteed the right to vote, the right to own properties, the right to work, and the right to live in the country and it also provides the country the full rights over the person or to control you or use to combat an external enemy and could be the border Country. So imagine the Army Commander of the Ukraine Army is also a citizen of Russia for that matter a Dual Citizenship holder. .

Citizenship is legally acquired after fulfilling the eligibilities of becoming a citizen of any country, hence Citizenship is a legal or juristic concept, approved by a government of a country when certain legal requirements are met especially swearing of an oath of allegiance to the Country to authenticate or meet the other requirements for granting Citizenship. So, Citizenship is not a right because it is given to one by legal means by a Government as a political status and the Government can deny or accept the request or the holder too can renounce the citizenship after meeting the requirement to do so and if and only if he or she is duly issued with a certificate to legally certify the separation between the affected person and the affected State same as the divorce of the marriage by Court or ordinance. When a person becomes a citizen of the state, he or she may be required to pay taxes to the State like USA, he has the right to vote, to work, to reside and he may be free to take an active part in the running of the country. Citizenship may be obtained by Birth, by Heritance and by grant through Marriage and Naturalization or Citizen by Parliament as in Article 9 (Citizenship Laws by Parliament) of the 1992. Citizenship is man made by the choice of the individual which may be legally accepted by the affected State.

Nationality on the other hand, implies where you are born or place or origin of birth and or where your parents were born, hence it is based on the right of the Soil (Jus Soli) that is birthright hence a natural phenomenon. Also Nationality is obtained by birthright (DNA) from your parents or grandparents (Jus Sanguinis or by blood or by descent) hence also a natural phenomenon. For both ways, one may say it is given to you by Almighty God because it is innate or natural phenomena that is a place of birth or from birth place of parents or ancestors.

Nationality by descent or inheritance is normally automatic (natural) and not dependent on any action by the person or a State. Example American Samoa which is not one of the 55 States of USA is a land or territory of USA by default, so people born in American Samoa are automatically USA nationals at birth, but unless they have a USA citizen parent or born in USA, or granted Citizenship of USA, they are not USA citizens at birth nor Naturalized USA Citizens ( that is if not granted USAs citizenship by Marriage or Naturalization), they are therefore termed as Non-Citizen USA Nationals They are allowed to hold USA passports, not require to pay tax to USA when leaving outside or incomes obtained made outside USA. They can live and work in the US without restriction, but they cannot vote or enjoy privileges of a USA citizen.

As stated the USA has two types of Nationals namely Citizen-Nationals, these are persons who are issued with USA Passport or qualified to hold USA Passport and are required to pay tax to USA and Non-Citizen Nationals also with USA Passport or qualified to hold it but do not pay tax to USA. But both can enter and exit USA with only passports of USA, hence making the Citizens--Nationals and Non-Citizens-National of USA to be covered by laws and protection of USA because of holding of the passport of USA.

In some Latin American countries, for example Mexico, nationality (Nacionalidad) is acquired at birth, but citizenship (Ciudadania) is limited to those who have turned 18 or 21 years. So children under 18 years are non-citizen nationals of the country (Mexico). It should also be noted there are 5 classes of British nationals in addition to a British citizen, these including British Overseas Territories citizen, British Overseas citizen, British subject, British National (Overseas), and British protected persons. They all hold British passports but have different rights; some of them do not have right of abode in the UK.

So one may have multiple Nationality by birth (wherever you are born you are automatic national of that Country due to the right of the soil granted by God) or Nationality by descent or inheritance since one also gain ones Nationality (by blood or DNA) from ones parents. For example a woman who decides to rush to the USA to give birth to her baby as done of late by some of our Politicians and others, this may lead to the baby to acquire Dual or multiple Nationalities that of Ghana and USA etc.

A child born in USA is automatically a USA Citizen because citizenship is granted to him or her by the USA s Constitution and by the American Constitution he or she is a National of the State of USA where he was born and Citizen of federal state of USA. Hence, before the ruling of or interpretation by the Supreme Court of USA, some Americans were of the view that for a person to be qualified as a candidate for the President of USA or a President of USA, the candidate must be one who was born within USA to at least one parent who is a national of USA as a means to ensure full Allegiance. This is no more a requirement as explained below.

Due to the complex situation and terms of the USA Constitution/laws, the USA Supreme Court ruled by interpretation of the Constitution that a child born in any of the States of the United States of America, he or she must automatically be a National of that particular State say New York and he or she is automatically granted citizenship of USA by virtue of his valid USA birth Certificate because an amendment of the Constitution of USA ratified by Congress stipulates that All persons born or naturalized in the USA and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the USA and of the State of USA wherein they reside in USA (federate State). That is how, senator Obama got qualified and was elected as the 44th President of USA.

Mr President, I am of the strong view that since, the USA immigration rules require that USA Citizen can only exit USA and enter USA with USA passport only, so upon critical thinking one may say this sounds like a nullification of the concept of dual citizenship in USA for instance if Paa Kwasi Ndoum entered USA with USA passport, the Ghanaian Embassy in USA cannot afford any consular help to Paa Kwasi Ndoum if he is to be drafted to go and fight in Ukraine etc because he holds USA Citizenship. An interesting story was when one Chinese National (a pure Chinese by birth and descent) was to face a case of corruption but when he produced a Passport or Citizenship of USA, Chinese Authorities stopped the prosecution and deported him immediately to USA.

It is also of interest to note that Section 349 of the USA Immigration and Nationality Act specifies several conditions under which a USA citizenship may be lost. These include, serving as an Officer in a foreign countrys military service, or serving in the armed forces of a country which is engaged in hostilities against the USA, working for a foreign government (in policy making political office) without permission and maybe when working outside USA and fail or refuse to pay tax from your income earned to the USA.

Hence, most Nations or States with the exception of China and some other nations adopted the term Citizenship and on the basis of constitutional provisions and set the criteria which determine who can be the Citizens of the country, so that it provides the country, rights over the person. Thus the State provides protection of the nation from other nations to the person. So for obvious technical reasons and for the avoidance of ambiguity, most Countries including Ghana opted for the term Citizenship in their Constitutions and Laws instead of the term Nationality.

Mr President, if you could please recollect, on 26 November 1985, some unusual incident happened which involved the trading of nationals from the same country that was Ghana by the PNDC and USA when the PNDC stripped the Citizenship of eight Ghanaian nationals then allegedly as suspected spies for USA and expelled them to USA, in exchange for a Ghanaian national by name Michael Soussoudis from serving a 20-year prison from a sentence imposed by a federal judge in Alexandria. The eight Ghanaian nationals were freed from detention and stripped of their citizenship (may be it was based on the suspended 1979 Constitution which gave the PNDC a clue of the possibility of renunciation of Citizenship and not Nationality which is natural) and deported or evacuate them to USA. This sounds like the story of the Chinese suspect for corruption and was immediately deported or expelled to USA when he showed a USA Passport as stated above.

So, it is normally said that the nationality, hence the DNA or origin of a person once acquired cannot be changed or taken back, while the citizenship of a person can be changed or taken back. Hence a citizen of the United Kingdom (same as a British citizen) may have a nationality of USA or Hong Kong or England (English) or Scotland (Scottish) or Wale (Welsh) or Ireland (Irish) or Ghana, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, South Africa etc. But by Administrative procedures and not by legal means, British citizens who are Nationals from Nigeria, Ghana, Hong Kong cannot or may not occupy certain Offices like the Prime Minster etc though they may be Members of the British Parliament. But their fellow citizens who are Nationals of Canada, USA, England (English) Scotland (Scottish), Wale (Welsh) Ireland (Irish) and Australia can easily occupy certain Offices like the Prime Minster in UK etc. So every Country has it rule for her pride and sovereignty.

Literally speaking, a person is a citizen of the country where he/she is born and one of the parent or grandparent is or was a Citizen of that Country but you can become a citizen of some other country or countries by applying for it or them and upon meeting the required criteria including the default rule of habitual residence beyond five years, ability to speak a local language, a before swearing an Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution/laws of the Country then approval may be granted. Hence Citizenship, is a legal term we acquire as result of legal procedures formalized/ legalized by swearing an Oath of Allegiance.

Nationality is acquired by birth of origin/heritance or DNA hence from God and normally connotes permanent allegiance birth, your allegiance to where you are born is from date, so unless going for some public policy making office etc you are not required to swear an Oath of Allegiance to Ghana to confirm that you are as a National. Citizenship is acquired by law from a Country and connotes personal acceptance to swear an oath of allegiance which in effect cancels the previous oaths since in theory or legally the wording of the Oath of Allegiance indicates allegiance to one State and the obedience of the Constitution and the laws of the last Country (check the Oath of Allegiance and common sense will tell that your last Oath of Allegiance basically renounced your previous Citizenship because you cannot serve two Masters at the same time). Hence for those who do not know this they are hereby educated that the framers of the 1992 Constitution use Oath of Allegiance and not Citizen in Article 94 (2) for the burden or complexity the risk associated with Dual Citizenship, and the reason that by your Oath of Allegiance you are simply saying that you cannot serve two masters at the same time.

This legal arrangement with a citizen and a State involved is akin to relationship in a wedded marriage, once you choose to do a wedding in a Court or by an authorized pastor, either spouse or both parties have the right to enjoy a peaceful marriage to the exclusion of others and when the other partner sees her spouse in bed with a trespasser he or she can take a legal action against both transgressors (the spouse and the other person for transgressing the Oath of the marriage). Hence you can only freely do so when you are legally issued with a divorce certificate. Hence renunciation of citizenship is therefore complete if and only if a certificate has been issued and 24 hours has elapsed upon receipt of the Renunciation Certificate, since you cannot be made to be a Stateless person.

Once again Nationality is an ethnic or racial concept involving DNA. On the other hand, citizenship is a legal or juristic concept involving paperwork. A person's nationality remains the same throughout his lifetime as it is inherited. However, a citizenship can be changed. As stated, all British Nationals including British National Overseas (BNO) are qualified to be issued with UK passports. But only British citizens have the automatic right to live and work in the UK.

In the Constitution of the USA, Nationality refers to the status of a person as belonging to one of the 55 States which are members of the Federal State of USA, whereas citizenship connotes Responsibilities and Privileges like the payment of taxes etc to USA, right to vote, service in the Military and the holding of a bundle of civic rights, generally including the right to live and work in USA / wherever you are located in the World you must pay tax to USA, once you undertake your Responsibilities including payment of tax to USA ready to serve in the USA Military you are a Citizen of a USA.

But, if you are a citizen of both the U.S.A and a country with mandatory military service, you can lose your U.SA. Citizenship under certain circumstances, such as if you serve as an Officer in a foreign military that is engaged in a war against the U.S.A. Also in the USA, depending on your career path, dual citizenship can be a disadvantage, especially, if you are seeking a position with the U.S government or your job requires access to information that is considered classified by the U.S. government, having dual citizenship may bar you from gaining the security clearance you need for this type of employment due to the use of subtle or delay tactics with long or complex bureaucratic or administrative process (obstacles or problems) instead of legal means due to the Supreme Court of USA rulings in favour of some Dual Citizenship holders.

Ex-President Obama and Ex-President JJ Rawlings had dual Nationality by blood or birthright and not by choice. They were qualified to be President of their respective Countries because they were qualified as citizens of their Countries. Flt Lt JJ Rawlings enrolled in Ghana Airforce as a Ghanaian and became the President of Ghana because he held only One Citizenship that is Allegiance to Ghana.

The champion of the noxious bill and his cohorts should do proper research to understand issues of the heritage relationship between Great Britain and USA. Prime Minister Boris Johnson of UK is a national of UK by descant and National of USA by birth, because he was born in New York hence of National of New York and had USA Citizen by birth but on becoming Prime Minister of UK he renounced the USA Citizenship including the reason to avoid paying tax to USA. . UK also shared heritage with Australia, hence one should not be surprised that Lady Julia Gillard from UK became the 27th Prime Minister of Australia, UK also shared a heritage with Canada etc and lastly, UK also shared a heritage with South Africa.

Mr President I know you appreciate and acknowledge the huge financial contributions by Ghanaians in the Diaspora and it was this reason among others that part of the 1996 Amendment of the Constitution was amended to help them acquire paper to stay and work in their new environment but once they want to occupy Policy making offices or as IGP, CDS and Chiefs of the three Services of the Military etc, there must not be dual citizenship holders. The 1992 Constitution seeks to protect National Interest, you cannot serve two master at the same time hence the Sovereignty of Ghana is not negotiable nor for sale.

The proponents for the amendment must learn that Countries like India, Israel etc which introduced and exploited and are still exploiting and enjoying huge benefits of their Diaspora Bonds and other Foreign Direct Investment or revenue from Nationals living outside, do not joke with the issue of Allegiance, Loyalty, Patriotism or Sovereignty of their States or the supremacy of their Constitutions and laws, so there is no way India or Israel will allow persons with dual citizenship to become a member of a local Assembly or Council members and as such dual citizenship holders in Israel or India cannot or shall not be member of Parliament of Israel or India. They may only do so after renunciation of their Dual or Foreign Citizenships.

The Diaspora Bond is not a tax but an investment for them. So the current Constitutional provision must be upheld, preserved, defended and protected by you per your Oath of Office as President.

Mr President some School of thought say that since renunciation means the loss of the accrual benefits to be gained with dual citizenship, also the issue of the possibility one may not be elected and that since renunciation takes a long time to execute to its logical conclusion, they therefore advocate that we should retain Article 8 (2) of the Constitution but amend only Article 94 ((2) so that renunciation of Dual Citizenship is initiated when one is either cleared by the Electoral Commission to compete in the Election so that by the time he or she is elected he would have received the renunciation certificate or we should make it when one is duly elected as MP-elect. This last one maybe a problem since he or she must swear his or her Allegiance to the Constitution.

Their arguments according to is due to the huge contributions by Ghanaians in the Diaspora. It should be made known to all that, the economy of North Korea which has been on UN sanctions for a very long time is buoyant or resilient because of the returns and investments from North Koreans living outside that Country but North Korea for the sake of Allegiance, will not sell the sovereignty of North Korea by allowing Dual Citizenship holders of that Country to occupy some key appointments include President, Member of Parliament, the CDS, Service Commanders same as stipulated in the Constitution of Ghana. So Mr President do not sell the sovereignty of Ghana for monetary consideration. The Sovereignty of Ghana is not for sale nor did negotiable, must it be upheld protect, preserved, and defended by you.

Mr President, issues of espionage or selling of sensitive information, security intelligence or coming out with a Policy to favour another Country or a powerful Nation like USA using her strength or muscle to get her Citizens with Dual Citizenship to cooperate with them, since a US Citizens is bound by law to do so issue of disloyalty to the weaker and or nation cannot be over-emphasized. Also a Citizen with Dual Citizenship, always has a plan B (Contingency Plan) in his brief case or armpit to run away to his second Country when the Kitchen is too hot due a political conflict or a natural disaster or an economic debacle or problem or crime attributed to him. Or case of a conflict etc his Country especially, the USA may evacuate him or her and other Citizens of USA like what happened in Afghanistan. An eye opener is Hon Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum, Mr Adjumanwura and his business in the USA paying tax to USA whether in Ghana or USA.

Mr President, as the Head of State, Head of Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ghana, you have sworn to uphold, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution or the Sovereignty of Ghana at all times, so, please do not succumb for monetary consideration or this unacceptable acts of the said member of Parliament to making an attempt to amend the Constitution of Ghana to allow Dual Citizenship holders to occupy Offices which both Article 8 (2) and Article 94 (2) of the 1992 Constitution bars them from doing so because you cannot serve two masters at the same time .

Mr President, since no one can serve two masters and be equally faithful to them at the same time. Hence a Dual Citizenship holders cannot be faithful to two Countries at the same time. Allegiance is to one Country and not dual or multiple Countries.

Mr President, we are in Country with short memories (with apology to Ex-President Mahama) the issue of the two Guantanamo Bay Detainees of Yemen decent, who are now Citizens of Ghana both by default rule of the long habitual residence and by the application of the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees/the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, wherein members of the UN are required as far as possible to facilitate acquisition of citizenship by naturalization, hence they have so far acquired Citizenship by Naturalization granted by Ghanas Parliament using Article 9 (Citizenship Laws by Parliament) of the 1992 Constitution

Mr President, I wish to end with a very thorny issue of immigration or interesting story as food for thought for you, your cabinet, the Hon Speaker, the Hon MPs and the general public especially the CSOs. These two Guantanamo Bay Detainees of Yemen decent who by default rule, they cannot be Stateless, so they are now citizens of Ghana which I am sure they were granted by the law that is Citizen by Parliament as in Article 9 (Citizenship Laws by Parliament) of the 1992. By the Constitutional provision as Naturalized Ghanaians they cannot be elected as the President of Ghana since they are not Citizens of Ghana by birth or natural Ghanaian or Ghanaian National by birth or by descent (by DNA) as Article 62(a) of the Constitution requires.

They cannot also be voted as Member of Parliament because they purely of Yemen descent or Nationals, hence they owe permanent allegiance to Yemen granted by God and because it is permanent it, does not require taking an oath because that is their mother Country by God or DNA. But their Children if any born in Ghana with a Ghanaian woman or National are automatically Ghanaians by Birth, because he or she was either born in the soil of Ghana (jus Soli) to Ghanaian DNA or National or by descent or acquired birthright citizenship by blood or DNA) to at least to one of her parents or grandparents who was or is a Ghanaian (Citizen of Ghana). This Child will be automatically be national of both Ghana and Yemen by birthright. Ghana Citizens by birth or National do not acquire their Citizenship by swearing an Oath. But if with Dual Citizenship he is a Citizen of Ghana qualified to stand and be elected as President or appointed as VP if and only if he denounces his Dual Citizenship in a Court by an Oath Allegiance or Affidavit to confirm as such. Hence need for swearing of Affidavit or need for taking the Oath of Allegiance to confirm Citizenship.

So, let say the Child happens to leverage his status and acquire Citizenship right from Afghanistan or Yemen and thus holding Dual Citizenship. So, Mr President, are the affected Hon MPs saying that he as both Dual Citizen of both Ghana and Yemen should be elected as Member of Parliament or the President of Ghana or appointed as the IGP or the CDS, that is if what some of the Parliamentarians are seeking goes through successfully to allow persons with Dual Citizenship to keep it whilst holding such high offices of policy making. Hence, the issue must be critically examined for them to come out with the control measures to cure any associated risk.

Mr President Growing up in Ghana, kids who had dual homes which were not very far from each other were found to be very truant and ideologically bad; because when they commit a crime, they normally run to the other house or Country just like how Hon Collins Dauda (my fellow Nabia of Navrongo Secondary) brothers did by running to Burkina Faso when he was sometimes ago wanted in connection of a crime, which it was alleged he committed during one of our National Elections. So, Mr President to occupy a high office of Policy making or the IGP or CDS, one must declare ones Allegiance to only Ghana so denunciation of the dual Citizenship must be done before one can stand for and become a Member of Parliament etc. So Article 8 (2) and Article 94 (2) must be retained.

So Mr President, once again please do not let monetary considerations to cloud your normal good thinking, Sir with your good work, do not destroy your good legacies as a show boy (Game Changer) of Ghana, a leader with determination, competency who sees obstacle as an indication he is on the right path and keeps to his words etc. So please, Sir do not sell the Sovereignty of Ghana by accepting this obnoxious bill to be made a law in Ghana, Please use your Veto Powers by not signing it into law

Yours Citizen, Sir.

Major Mohammed Bogobiri (Rtd)
Chamber of Cement Manufacturers Ghana (COCMAG) has cautioned cement manufacturers/producers in the country to adhere to fair trade practices to promote the cement industry.

With the current intense competition within the cement industry in Ghana, the Chamber of Cement Manufacturers Ghana, the legally registered and recognised body that promotes and protects the interest of its members, says it upholds competition but rather frowns on unfair competition as a result of unfair trade practices.

According to the Chamber, it is mindful of cement quality in a bid to protect the integrity of buildings and infrastructures in the country, and as the mouthpiece of the cement industry and representing same on all matters relating to the industry, it will not, therefore, hesitate to expose any manufacturer/producer who is found the culprit in any form of unfair trade practices.

The Executive Secretary of COCMAG, Rev. Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah, who issued the statement on behalf of the Chamber, noted that the cement industry is a strategic one in the economy as such its visibility and protection from unfair trade practices will always be championed by the Chamber.

In view of its sensitivity and strategic nature, the Chamber has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) on addressing critical issues concerning local cement production, and we are in full support of the move by the Minister of Trade and Industry to come out with a regulatory regime to govern the Cement industry in Ghana.

The Chamber has vowed to promote and maintain a positive image and prominence for the cement industry in Ghana, the statement read.

Rev. Dr. Dawson-Ahmoah, pledged that in a bid to sanitise and establish fairness in the cement industry in order to create healthy competition among members of the industry, the Chamber will therefore not associate itself with certain trade malpractices such as: Compromising the quality for survival (production of substandard cement), Supply of underweight bagged/bulk cement products, Violation of Environmental Protection matters at the Ports and Factories, disregard of inbound and outbound road safety standards, pollution, axle load, etc., tax evasion in any form (VAT, Withholding Tax, Corporate tax, etc), Unethical marketing/sales activities and compromising the health and safety principles to which the Cement industry should adhere to.

Rev. Dawson-Ahmoah assured members of COCMAG of the Chamber's continuous support to ensure their adequate growth and capacity building, and as such urged them not to hesitate to contact the Secretariat on any issue impeding their operation.

The Chamber of Cement Manufacturers of Ghana (COCMAG) is currently the umbrella industry association which was set up in 2015 by members of the Cement Manufacturers in Ghana. Current members include Ghacem Cement, Diamond Cement Group, CIMAF Ghana Ltd., Continental Blue Internation (CBI) Co. Ltd and Dzata Cement.

Other manufacturers who are mostly of Chinese origin are yet to be admitted by the Chamber and it will be in their own interest if they joined especially now that the enforcement of fair trade practices is rigorously going to be enforced and non-complaints will not be spared, advised Rev. Dr. Dawson-Ahmoah.

Source: Chamber of Cement Manufacturers of Ghana
The Accra High Court trying the ten persons over high treason charges has on Tuesday admitted the three cautioned statements of Donya Kafui, alias Ezor.

Kafui, one of the accused persons, objected to statements being tendered into evidence with the reason that he gave them under duress.

Kafui, who is accused of manufacturing weapons for the alleged coup plot through Mr Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu, his counsel, objected to the statements and after a mini trial it was detected that Kafui voluntarily gave his statements in Twi and thumb-printed same.

The High Court on Wednesday, May 18, 2022 ordered the defence counsel for Kafui and prosecution to file written submission by Thursday, May 19, 2022 in respect of the mini trial.

Prosecution complied but counsel for Kafui failed, later, he filed an application for extension of time on the grounds that they did not have a certified true copy of the proceedings.

The Court decided that the application for extension of time had no merit as the Court was under no obligation to receive submissions from lawyers before delivering judgement.

The Court ruled that hearing commenced on June 8, 2021, where Prosecution called the two independent witnesses.

They both indicated that they were present when Kafui volunteered the statements and denied that he insisted that he demanded to volunteer the statement in Ewe, stating that if he had indicated that he intended to volunteer the statement in Ewe, provisions would have been made for that.

"The fact that an independent witness is a law enforcement officer is irrelevant so long as that independent witness understands the language and speaks English," the Court added.

"The pros has shown sufficiently that they complied with Section 120 of the Evidence Act and the cross-examination by Adawudu did nothing to case of the prosecution."

The failure by Kafui to adduce evidence did not help his cause, the Court shall admit the three cautioned statements of Kafui which were objected to, the Court noted.

In a related development, Mr Anthony Lartey, defence Counsel for Johannes Zikpi, objected to the admissibility of the confession statements of his client on grounds that they were not voluntarily given.

The first one dated October 21, 2019 was personally written down by the investigator for Zikpi to sign. The second statement also on the same date was dictated by the investigator for Zikpi to write and sign what he dictated, defense counsel stated.

Additionally, the purported independent witness did not certify on the face of the impugned confession statements that their contents were fully understood by Zikpi as required by law, Mr Lartey said and prayed that the said statements be rejected.

Ms Winnifred Sarpong, representing the Attorney General, in a rebuttal, said there was no basis for the objection, explaining that Zipki wrote the statements himself and the story made up by his counsel that the statements were dictated to him was false.

She said there was no law which states that an investigator could write a statement for an accused person.

What the law is against is when an accused person is forced to write a statement or append his signature which is not what counsel for the accused person is saying, she continued.

The Court has also ruled that a mini trial be conducted on that objection.

Kafui and Zikpi, a signaler, employee of the Ghana Armed Forces are standing trial with eight others.

They are Dr Frederick Mac Palm, Bright Alan Debrah, Colonel Samuel Kojo Gameli, Warrant Officer Class two Esther Saan, Corporal Sylvester Akankpewu, Lance Airforce Ali Solomon, Corporal Seidu Abubakar and Assistant Commissioner of Police Dr Benjamin Agordzo , all facing charges of conspiracy to commit high treason, abatement and others.

They have all denied their respective charges.

GNA
Now, this is the story of Konadu.

Konadu (not real name) was a farmer who owned a cocoa farm. She met her husband, Jojo (not his real name) and along the line, they gave birth to 3 children. Konadu was also a businesswoman. She traveled to Ivory Coast and left her farm in the care of her husband. When she came back, her husband had expanded the farm and it was doing quite well.

However, there was a problem. Her husband refused to hand over the farm to her. After many months of misunderstanding, the matter was finally brought before the chief, who gave a ruling. Despite the intervention, Jojo refused to honor the terms prescribed by the chief.

The matter was finally taken to court. The court ruled that since the couple had children, the farm should be divided into three parts. One part will go to the husband, the other to the woman while the other part was to be used to take care of the children. A series of misunderstandings erupted when Jojo sacked the children from their portion of the farm, arguing that they had no right over it.

Konadu decided to confront him on the farm and the matter escalated. Jojo beat her up mercilessly, and she sustained several degrees of cutlass cuts on her body. In retaliation, Konadu ambushed Jojo on his way from the farm and hit him with a stick at the back of his head. He collapsed on the spot. She realized she might have hit him a bit too hard when she noticed bloodstains on the stick she had used.

She rushed to inform her brother about the incident. The two immediately reported the incident to the police who came to meet Jojo in a pool of blood. While rushing him to the hospital, Jojo died on the way.

This was the beginning of Konadus woes.

The story of Konadu is sad and revealing. Sad because of the circumstances that landed her on death row in Ghana. Revealing because it throws light on the need to reconsider death as a form of punishment for certain crimes. This is important because the death sentence law in Ghana does not give room for Judges to consider specific circumstances that lead to the death of an individual.

For example, if judges had the opportunity to consider specific circumstances that lead to the loss of life, many on death row could have been charged with offenses such as manslaughter.

This is however not the case in Ghana because the Criminal and Other Offences Act 1960 (Act 29) prescribes the mandatory death penalty for certain offenses and bars judges from considering specific circumstances that may have mitigatory effects in each case before them.

There are many more people on death row in Ghana with similar stories. Konadus story is a clear case of Gender-Based Violence, which she suffered at the hands of her husband, Jojo.

Although the circumstances that led to the death of her husband could be attributed to a pre-determined plot to hurt him, her intention was not to kill him. The fact that she reported the incident to the police immediately, and the man died on the way to the hospital were enough reasons for the judge to have commuted her sentence to life imprisonment or other sentences apart from the death penalty.

In October 2021, Isaiah Andrews of Cleveland, Ohio, was found not guilty after spending 45 years in prison for the death of his wife in 1974. Andrews is now 83 years old, and he is free to live his life after spending 45 years of his life in prison while he was innocent.

Ricky Jackson spent 39 years on death row, having been convicted in 1975 for the murder of Harold Frank. Ricky was just 18 years old when he was convicted after 12-year-old Eddie Vermon testified that he saw the attack. Prosecutors dropped the charges against Ricky when Eddie Vermon recanted and admitted that he did not witness the crime at all.

The possibility of wrongfully convicting an innocent person to death is evidence of the unreliability and arbitrariness of the death penalty. Konadu is now 83 years, and she has spent more than 40 years on death row. She was sentenced to death when she was 42 years and has since not seen her children.

Today, Konadu is weak, her eyesight is failing and she is battling with her health. As an old woman, she has become too weak to even fend for herself. Even if she were a hardened criminal or murderer, an 83-year-old woman with poor vision, who can barely walk or move cannot be considered a danger to society.

If I were killed, it would be better than being here, one inmate told Amnesty International.

Currently, 165 people are on death row in Ghana. No executions had taken place since 1994 but the law continues to be applied as a mandatory sentence as contained in the Criminal and other Offences Act.

We need to Abolish the death penalty.

By Redeemer Buatsi

Youth Leader/Activist,

Amnesty International Ghana
The Gambian government said Wednesday it will prosecute former dictator Yahya Jammeh for murder, rape, torture and other alleged crimes committed under his more than 20-year rule.

The Ministry of Justice said it accepted all but two of the 265 recommendations made by a commission that probed alleged crimes committed by the state under the despotic former leader from July 1994 to January 2017.

Jammeh is living in exile in Equatorial Guinea, which has no extradition treaty with The Gambia.

The government said it would prosecute all 70 alleged perpetrators named in the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission's twice-delayed report, including former vice president Isatou Njie-Saidy and members of the so-called "Junglers" hit squad.

"For 22 years, Yahya Jammeh ruled The Gambia with an iron fist," the government wrote in a white paper.

"During his regime, extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, enforced disappearances, and numerous grievous human rights violations became part and parcel of his military Junta."

Abdoulie Fatty, a former local legal consultant for the commission, called the government's decision "unprecedented".

Map of Gambia. By afp (AFP)

"This level of acceptance of recommendations by government is extraordinary," he said.

"The fact that there is strong emphasis for the prosecution of Jammeh and those who bear the greatest responsibility sends a strong message that government is serious about pursuing him and ensuring that he's held accountable for his crimes."

The government said it was developing a "prosecution strategy" and would set up a special court located within The Gambia, with "the option of holding sittings in other countries".

The truth commission had recommended prosecuting Jammeh and his accomplices in an internationalised tribunal in another West African country.

"Impunity is a kind of incentive that we are not prepared to serve perpetrators," Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said in a speech Wednesday.

"Their resolve to commit these atrocities cannot be stronger than our collective will as a society to hold them to account."

'Not much choice'

The truth commission found that 240 to 250 people, including AFP journalist Deyda Hydara, were killed by the state during the eccentric ex-leader's rule.

Rights activists accuse Jammeh, who turned 57 on Wednesday, of a litany of crimes, from using death squads to sponsoring witch hunts.

The former president has also been accused of administering phony HIV "treatment" programmes and of the massacre of some 50 African migrants in 2005.

Jammeh was forced into exile in early 2017 after his shock electoral defeat to current President Adama Barrow. By JOHN WESSELS (AFP)

The commission recommended prosecuting the former president and 69 other alleged perpetrators. The government had until Wednesday to respond.

Jammeh was forced into exile in early 2017 after his shock electoral defeat to current President Adama Barrow and a six-week crisis that led to military intervention by other West African states.

Barrow, who was re-elected in December, last year formed a political alliance with Jammeh's former party and nominated two known Jammeh supporters as speaker and deputy speaker of parliament.

"Barrow and his government know that the world is watching, [so] they did not have much choice but to accept the TRRC recommendations," said Nana-Jo N'dow, the founder of an NGO that campaigns against enforced disappearances and summary executions, whose own father disappeared in 2013.

"The question now is whether Barrow follows through on these recommendations, and swiftly."

'Important and meaningful step forward'

Michele Eken, a West Africa researcher with Amnesty International, said she hoped the justice ministry will have enough resources to "do the job properly".

"The fact that the minister held a press conference and reassured victims and civil society is a positive step and we really hope that the minister will stay its course," she said.

The government said it would prosecute Jammeh for the rape of the beauty queen Fatou Jallow, the murder of journalist Hydara and the unlawful disappearances of other victims.

The truth commission found that 240 to 250 people were killed by the state during Jammeh's rule. By MUHAMADOU BITTAYE (AFP)

For Fatoumatta Sandeng, spokeswoman for the Jammeh2Justice campaign, Wednesday's announcement is just the next step in a long healing process.

Her own father, Ebrima Solo Sandeng, a member of the opposition United Democratic Party, was tortured and killed by security services in 2016.

"Truth and reconciliation commissions have been launched in many countries," she said, adding that their recommendations are often ignored.

"The most important work right now is to make sure the recommendations are respected, implemented, and you don't just put it aside like other commissions."

Reed Brody, a lawyer with the International Commission of Jurists who works with Jammeh's victims, said the government must follow up with concrete actions.

"Laws still have to be enacted, a court has to be established, cases have to be prepared, and Yahya Jammeh has to be brought into custody," he said.
Aspiring Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Chairman Odeneho Kwaku Appiah (COKA) has pledged to serve the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on all fronts.

He said never will he ever disappoint the delegates and members of the party in the region.

According to him, he is going to serve as the chairman for the entire Ashanti Region and not only Kumasi should delegate give him the mandate.

Speaking at a press briefing today ahead of the NPP Regional Executives Elections on Friday, COKA stated that under my chairmanship, we are going to work together, think together, decide together, vote together, suffer together, enjoy together, and solve our issues and differences together. This is what makes my idea different. What unites us is bigger than what divides us."

He added, Im not going to be a chairman for Kumasi; Im going to be a chairman for Ashanti Region.

Chairman Odeneho stated that he is going to work hand in hand with all party members, thus from the grassroots to the top.

Speaking directly to the NPP delegates, Odeneho said; Delegates, if you want practical and reasonable help, instead of empty words: this is the idea for you, then COKA is the man.

"Delegates!!!! If you want a leader with vision, passion, devotion, hard work, and love, Vote for COKA. If you want promises you can trust, then COKA.

"Delegates, my leadership will show you love and respect, I will not abandon you, I will not leave you to your own resources; I will not stand taller than you. I will do whatever I think is right, not what my mind directs me.

"My opponents may have (maybe) good ideas, but can they deliver?"

Read full statement below:

Good Morning members of the Media

I thank you all for being here this morning, I cannot tell you how moved I am to be with you today on the great stress to fight for the future of our party to restore trust and confidence in the Ashanti Region NPP as a whole.

My name is Odenho Kwaku Appiah, aka COKA, I have passed through all the party ranks, and this makes me the best candidate for this chairmanship race. My political work started as political campaigner I was a chairman for Concern Citizen Association, pressing for development in Ashanti region and beyond, as Ward Organizer for Subin Constituency, as Government Appointee to Bekwai District Assembly, as Regional Financial Secretary for Ashanti Region under chairman F. F. Fanto and as Constituency Chairman for NPP Afigya Kwabre South for many years till now.

Delegates, these experiences show that I understand the political environment and I am ready to take the position of chairmanship in the region.

Delegates , Now as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, those who accept politics of "Anything Goes". Let me say to them, there is only one NPP, that is what I am fighting for, unified NPP.

Delegates, the policies I set out today are rooted in the day-to-day concerns of the party members. And today, I lay before you a reasonable plan for my chairmanship that starts with assuring the party members; fair, accountable, successful party, also a better and fair future for all.

Delegates, every statement of policy needs to have an idea at it(s) heart.

The basic principle that has pushed my idea is something I have always believed in.

This is not a promise, it is a plan.

Working together with you, we can change our party for good.

We will do and run our party differently together, for once.

We have learned from our mistakes, NOW!!! and NOW!!! we are going

to try something newI believe:

We can turn anger into hope!!!

Frustration into ambition!!!!!!!!!

Hopeless into chance for everyone!!!!!

Delegates!!!! There is room for everybody to leave happily, under my chairmanship, I plan to create welfare and youth trust to assist those need in the region, trust me delegates, this is possible, I will do it

!!!!!!, I will do it !!!!!!,

I am not going to be a chairman for Kumasi,

I am going to be a chairman for Ashanti Region.

These are promises, you can trust.

My idea recognises that the party has changed.

Delegates!!!!! Under my leadership as a chairman, I will restore trust back

in the party, I plead with you to trust me.

Delegates!!!! Under my chairmanship, we are going to work together, think together, decide together, vote together, suffer together, enjoy together, solve our issues and differences together. This is what

makes my idea different.

What unite us is bigger than what divide us, we are all working for one common goal, we have a party to manage and to protect to win power in 2024 (election)

Delegates, I am very positive that we can leave the party better than we found it for our future generation.

This is a promise you can trust.

Delegates!!!!!!! If you want a practical and reasonable help, instead of empty words: this is the idea for you, then COKA is the man.

Delegates!!!! If you want a leader with vision, passion, devotion, hard work and love, Vote for COKA. If you want promises you can trust, then is COKA.

Delegates!!!!! my leadership will show you love and respect, I will not abandon you, I will not leave you to your own resources; I will not stand taller than you. I will do whatever I think is right, not what my mind directs me.

My opponents may have (maybe) good ideas, but can they deliver? Delegates!!!! under my leadership we will always think about the future for all, I will bring hope alive to the party, make our dreams come true, and meet the ambition of the party.

Delegates!!!!! you need to make the right decision now, the right choice now for our future generation in Ashanti Region as a whole.

Delegates, in building the future, I will do all my best to fight with all my strength, energy and resources to work with you to achieve our party goals and objectives. The vote from Ashanti Region is important for our party, lets not under estimate this, we need a strong, competent, confident, strategic and wise leader like myself to lead the region.

Delegates!!!!! I will use my energy, skills and resources to deliver the best to achieve lasting results. I am passionate about uplifting the party better than we found it now.

Delegates, my beliefs to have true meaning, I will live with them, not just most of the time but all the time. Not just for myself, but for us all.

Delegates!!!!! I belief that fairness is not just about the distribution of rewards, but the distribution of responsibilities, fair rules applied to all. Delegates!!!! Please let me tell you, if anybody tells you that it does not matter who wins the regional chairmanship election; because they are all the same, just ask that person:

Which chairman stands for democratic principle and offer democratic change?

Which chairman believes in Accountability, Respect, Integrity, Stewardship?

Which chairman doesnt use insult to solve problems?

Which chairman has done more party work and understand the party structures, the grassroots and understand the environment we are going to work?

Delegates!!!!! We want a Chairman who will keep our strategies secret.

Delegates!!!!! We want a Chairman who will discuss social and economic policies not a leader who will show and talk about his wealth, who created that wealth?, Is you who created it for him, you put him in power.

The answer is COKA  the Chairman with the plan for the future.

Delegates!!!!!! I say to you today: the future will be progressive; COKA is in the fight for our lives  and it is the fight for our future.

I have faith in the delegates and our party members.

I am confident that, together, we can make the future of our beloved party brighter; and can be both sustained and shared.

I am confident in the vision and the values that it will lead us to 2024 election victory.

I am confident in the team I will lead and the policies I promise.

I have to remember that you voted me to power, therefore I will always stay closer to you.

I will always come to you, live and learn with you. Love and serve you. I will plan with you and build on what you know. I will encourage all party members to be active in discussing all our major issues together and I will constantly examine, review and correct my actions to maintain unity in the party.

Delegates, I belief in politics of hope and politics of care, if there is a child that cannot get food to eat, that matters to me. If there is an old woman or old man, who cannot get money to buy medicine, that makes me feel bad. If there is a young man or young woman, who cannot get a job to buy his or basic needs, that breaks my heart, even if he/she is not my relative.

It is my basic belief that, I am my brother's keeper, or my sister's keeper, working together will allow us to achieve our individual dreams.

Do we want to practice politics of selfish or do we want to practice politics of hope? I believe in politics of hope and call on you for hope.

GOD IS OUR ONLY HOPE!!!!!! GOD BLESS GHANA!!!!!! GOD BLESS NPP!!!!!
"Delegate, under my leadership we will always think about the future for all, I will bring hope alive to the party, make our dreams come true, and meet the ambition of the party.

"Delegates, you need to make the right decision now, the right choice now for our future generation in Ashanti Region as a whole.

"Delegates, in building the future, I will do my best to fight with all my strength, energy, and resources to work with you to achieve our party goals and objectives. The vote from Ashanti Region is important for our party, lets not underestimate this, we need a strong, competent, confident strategic, and wise leader like myself to lead the region.

"Delegates, I will use my energy, skills, and resources to deliver the best to achieve lasting results. I am passionate about uplifting the party better than we found it now.

These were the assurances from Chairman Odeneho aka COKA as hes widely known and said he believes the future will be progressive; a progress he said isnt a promise but a plan to salvage the party from its lost glory.

"The fight is for our lives  and it is the fight for our future. I have faith in the delegates and our party members.

I am confident that, together, we can make the future of our beloved party brighter; and can be both sustained and shared," he added.

Read full statement below:

Good Morning members of the Media

I thank you all for being here this morning, I cannot tell you how moved I am to be with you today on the great stress to fight for the future of our party to restore trust and confidence in the Ashanti Region NPP as a whole.

My name is Odenho Kwaku Appiah, aka COKA, I have passed through all the party ranks, and this makes me the best candidate for this chairmanship race. My political work started as political campaigner I was a chairman for Concern Citizen Association, pressing for development in Ashanti region and beyond, as Ward Organizer for Subin Constituency, as Government Appointee to Bekwai District Assembly, as Regional Financial Secretary for Ashanti Region under chairman F. F. Fanto and as Constituency Chairman for NPP Afigya Kwabre South for many years till now.

Delegates, these experiences show that I understand the political environment and I am ready to take the position of chairmanship in the region.

Delegates , Now as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, those who accept politics of "Anything Goes". Let me say to them, there is only one NPP, that is what I am fighting for, unified NPP.

Delegates, the policies I set out today are rooted in the day-to-day concerns of the party members. And today, I lay before you a reasonable plan for my chairmanship that starts with assuring the party members; fair, accountable, successful party, also a better and fair future for all.

Delegates, every statement of policy needs to have an idea at it(s) heart.

The basic principle that has pushed my idea is something I have always believed in.

This is not a promise, it is a plan.

Working together with you, we can change our party for good.

We will do and run our party differently together, for once.

We have learned from our mistakes, NOW!!! and NOW!!! we are going

to try something newI believe:

We can turn anger into hope!!!

Frustration into ambition!!!!!!!!!

Hopeless into chance for everyone!!!!!

Delegates!!!! There is room for everybody to leave happily, under my chairmanship, I plan to create welfare and youth trust to assist those need in the region, trust me delegates, this is possible, I will do it

!!!!!!, I will do it !!!!!!,

I am not going to be a chairman for Kumasi,

I am going to be a chairman for Ashanti Region.

These are promises, you can trust.

My idea recognises that the party has changed.

Delegates!!!!! Under my leadership as a chairman, I will restore trust back

in the party, I plead with you to trust me.

Delegates!!!! Under my chairmanship, we are going to work together, think together, decide together, vote together, suffer together, enjoy together, solve our issues and differences together. This is what

makes my idea different.

What unite us is bigger than what divide us, we are all working for one common goal, we have a party to manage and to protect to win power in 2024 (election)

Delegates, I am very positive that we can leave the party better than we found it for our future generation.

This is a promise you can trust.

Delegates!!!!!!! If you want a practical and reasonable help, instead of empty words: this is the idea for you, then COKA is the man.

Delegates!!!! If you want a leader with vision, passion, devotion, hard work and love, Vote for COKA. If you want promises you can trust, then is COKA.

Delegates!!!!! my leadership will show you love and respect, I will not abandon you, I will not leave you to your own resources; I will not stand taller than you. I will do whatever I think is right, not what my mind directs me.

My opponents may have (maybe) good ideas, but can they deliver? Delegates!!!! under my leadership we will always think about the future for all, I will bring hope alive to the party, make our dreams come true, and meet the ambition of the party.

Delegates!!!!! you need to make the right decision now, the right choice now for our future generation in Ashanti Region as a whole.

Delegates, in building the future, I will do all my best to fight with all my strength, energy and resources to work with you to achieve our party goals and objectives. The vote from Ashanti Region is important for our party, lets not under estimate this, we need a strong, competent, confident, strategic and wise leader like myself to lead the region.

Delegates!!!!! I will use my energy, skills and resources to deliver the best to achieve lasting results. I am passionate about uplifting the party better than we found it now.

Delegates, my beliefs to have true meaning, I will live with them, not just most of the time but all the time. Not just for myself, but for us all.

Delegates!!!!! I belief that fairness is not just about the distribution of rewards, but the distribution of responsibilities, fair rules applied to all. Delegates!!!! Please let me tell you, if anybody tells you that it does not matter who wins the regional chairmanship election; because they are all the same, just ask that person:

Which chairman stands for democratic principle and offer democratic change?

Which chairman believes in Accountability, Respect, Integrity, Stewardship?

Which chairman doesnt use insult to solve problems?

Which chairman has done more party work and understand the party structures, the grassroots and understand the environment we are going to work?

Delegates!!!!! We want a Chairman who will keep our strategies secret.

Delegates!!!!! We want a Chairman who will discuss social and economic policies not a leader who will show and talk about his wealth, who created that wealth?, Is you who created it for him, you put him in power.

The answer is COKA  the Chairman with the plan for the future.

Delegates!!!!!! I say to you today: the future will be progressive; COKA is in the fight for our lives  and it is the fight for our future.

I have faith in the delegates and our party members.

I am confident that, together, we can make the future of our beloved party brighter; and can be both sustained and shared.

I am confident in the vision and the values that it will lead us to 2024 election victory.

I am confident in the team I will lead and the policies I promise.

I have to remember that you voted me to power, therefore I will always stay closer to you.

I will always come to you, live and learn with you. Love and serve you. I will plan with you and build on what you know. I will encourage all party members to be active in discussing all our major issues together and I will constantly examine, review and correct my actions to maintain unity in the party.

Delegates, I belief in politics of hope and politics of care, if there is a child that cannot get food to eat, that matters to me. If there is an old woman or old man, who cannot get money to buy medicine, that makes me feel bad. If there is a young man or young woman, who cannot get a job to buy his or basic needs, that breaks my heart, even if he/she is not my relative.

It is my basic belief that, I am my brother's keeper, or my sister's keeper, working together will allow us to achieve our individual dreams.

Do we want to practice politics of selfish or do we want to practice politics of hope? I believe in politics of hope and call on you for hope.

GOD IS OUR ONLY HOPE!!!!!! GOD BLESS GHANA!!!!!! GOD BLESS NPP!!!!!
Ghana has signed a US$69.88 million renewable energy agreement to boost electricity access in the next four years.

Under the agreement about 6,890 households, 6,001 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and 6,890 public buildings will be connected to electricity.

About 1,350 schools and 500 health centres would also benefit from the project, which would include the design, engineering, supply, construction, installation, testing and commissioning of mini grids and standalone systems.

Seventy communities across nine Island districts through mini grids, 505 communities in 11 districts through standalone solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the country.

The Scaling-up renewable energy Programme (SREP), is to close Ghana's 12.8 percent electricity reach deficit by increasing access to clean and reliable energy and support socio-economic development.

It is to also help reduce public sector electricity debt as well as bills for SMEs and households, while supporting the implementation of environmental, climate and social management plans of the country.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance signed the protocol agreement with Dr Akinwumi Akin Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group.

He also signed the financial agreement of the project with Mr Dominique Paravicini, AfDB's Governor for Switzerland.

Speaking at the signing of the agreement, Mr Ofori-Atta, said the project: Dovetails fittingly into an urgent global agenda and demonstrates our country's commitment to enhance the economic and social viability of low carbon investments.

It is also in support of the country's commitment to create new energy-efficient markets and stave-off a future energy crisis by achieving energy sufficiency.

The project also: Fully align with the Government's overarching ambition of increasing the contribution of Renewable Energy in the generation mix to 10 percent by 2030 while achieving our emission reduction targets, he added.

Mr Ofori-Atta indicated that the project would provide stable and cheaper electricity to hundreds of people across the country and usher in new economic opportunities, particularly for women in rural areas.

On his part, Dr Adesina noted that the project would support Ghana in meeting its renewable energy requirement on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and build a resilient economy.

This project will increase access to clean and reliable electricity services and support low carbon socio-economic development of Ghana. It will directly support Ghana's efforts in building resilience to socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This would be done through the provision of electricity to healthcare centres, Island communities, enable the refrigeration of vaccines and testing facilities for COVID-19.

The project will facilitate the self-sufficiency of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), through rooftop solar power generation and storage under the net metering component, he added.

Mr Paravicini, said that the signing of the agreement showed Switzerland's continuous support to bring sustainable and affordable electricity to households and businesses.

SREP would be implemented between 2022 and 2025, under three components; the first would comprise of the development of 38 mini grids and standalone solar PV systems for 2,000 SMEs, 1,350 schools, 500 health centres, and 400 communities.

The second component, which is net metering, aims at up-scaling existing project to about 12,000 units of roof-mounted net-metered solar PV systems to reduce public sector electricity debt and bills for SMEs and households.

The final component would be the supervision of works including operating cost for SREP Project Implementation Unit, Distribution Utility, and the implementation of environmental, climate and social management plans.

GNA
The Ofaakor Circuit Court, has remanded four young men into Police custody for allegedly stealing a Toyota RAV 4 vehicle belonging to a businesswoman who deals in car rentals.

The accused persons, Atta Buadu Aduabaa Junior, businessman, 38; John Aduabaa, unemployed, 20, Lenus Sabeind, electrician, 27 and Wilson Ntow Anoff, supervisor, 35, rented the car and allegedly appropriated it with a report that it had been stolen from them.

Charged with stealing, their pleas were not taken when they appeared before the court presided over by Mr Ebenezer Osei Darko on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Charles Annobil, said on Thursday, May 19, 2022, Aduabaa Junior rented the grey car with registration number GR 4991  22 from the victim and complainant, Madam Aisha Mensah's company to be used in Accra, to be returned on Sunday, May 22, 2022.

Rather, Aduabaa Junior sent the vehicle to Sefwi Bekwai in the Western North Region and when the operatives of the rental company who were tracking the vehicle called to query him, he disconnected one of the trackers in the car.

The prosecutor said Aduabaa Junior later sent the car to Kasoa Kings Town and disconnected the remaining two trackers with the help of the three other accused persons.

Chief Inspector Annobil told the court that on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, Aduabaa Junior went to the Police Station with a report that the car he rented had been stolen from his premises.

He said the Police upon receiving the report immediately followed up to the scene and found out that his house was fenced and gated.

He said the Police further observed that the main gate and its padlock was intact, without any damage but the padlock was opened with the key in it and left outside of the house.

Chief Inspector Annobil said the Police also discovered that the key in the padlock was the only key the accused persons had and so he was arrested based on that.

The accused persons would be re-arraigned on Wednesday, June 08, 2022.

GNA
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
The management of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has debunked claims that government will no longer pay caterers who prepare meals for pupils in the public schools.

Some caterers under the programme have been on strike following their demand that the government increase the feeding grant allocated to each child.

They also want their arrears paid.

In a notice to all GSFP caterers, the management stated: Government will, at all times, honour its obligation of paying caterers for meals provided for pupils in every academic term".

Caterers who will cook for the pupils, including this 2nd term of 2022, will receive their payment as expected.

The management noted: Only caterers who will fail to cook for the term will not be paid, and those who will fail to cook for a number of days shall suffer a deduction of non-cooking days.

It added: It is, therefore, not true that caterers who will cook for beneficiary children will not be paid.

Meanwhile, the management has assured caterers under the programme that, it is working assiduously on their request for increment in the feeding grant and the payment of their arrears.

---classfmonline.com
Dr Kaderi Noagah Bukari, Research Fellow at the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), has identified massive youth unemployment as bait for extremist incursions in Ghana.

He said the re-emergence of coup d'etats in the sub-region put Ghana at a higher risk of violent extremism, noting that, the rate of unemployment in the country was 'alarming' in the wake of recent terrorist threats."

"Ghana needs to address youth unemployment issues that is exacerbated by harsh socio-economic conditions and have become a 'ticking time bomb'," Dr. Bukari observed in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.

He said the commitment to maintain national peace should not be limited to only the security agencies but a collective national responsibility by all well-meaning citizens to ensure peace, tranquillity and harmony prevailed at all times.

Dr Bukari described as 'erroneous' the notion that the country was immune to violent extremism due to the appreciable level of peace among citizens and decades of democratic gains.

The recent youth uprising in parts of West Africa, he said, were indicative of how frustrated unemployed youth could unleash mayhem in otherwise stable countries to retard development efforts.

Accordingly, he reiterated the urgent need for Ghana to take a cue from recent political uproar in the sub-region and address critical factors that could trigger violent extremist activities in the country.

Key among such factors prevalent in Ghana are; pervasive corruption, protracted chieftaincy feuds particularly in Bawku, heightened political tensions and clashes between citizens and the police.

"Terrorists always look for already volatile situations to exploit it," he noted.

Giving some solutions to the unemployment challenge, Dr Bukari called for a strong and responsive institutional system, particularly at the local level, to address the socio-economic challenge and inequalities to help nip the possible emergence of activities of extremists in the bud.

He reminded Ghanaians of the need for them to support the national campaign on "if you see something, say something" as part of efforts to help deal with the terrorism threats in the West African sub-region.

This means any person who noticed anything unusual on security, should inform the various agencies by dialing 999 (toll free) or using any of the security agencies phone numbers or social media handles.

For those who do not want to be identified for fear of being labelled as snitchers, complaints could be lodged anonymously.

On job creation, Dr Bukari urged the Government to formulate a well-defined national policy on job creation that could effectively tackle the problem and also channel resources to assist students to acquire technical and vocational skills to enable them become self-reliant.

The Government must also offer tax reliefs and other incentives to encourage more indigenous private sector players to train young people to equip them with the skills needed to accelerate the country's industrialization agenda to create jobs.

For the youth, particularly students, Dr Bukari encouraged them not to look down on vocational and technical education, since it had the potential to help them to become self-employed after school.

He urged parents to encourage their children to take advantage of skills training in many institutions in the country.

GNA
The President and CEO of Alltech at the 38th annual Alltech ONE Conference held in Lexington, Kentucky USA said if we do not invest more in protecting theplanet, development cannot be sustainable and Ghana will not eradicate hunger or achieve the vision 2050 Goal.

Our belief is that agriculture has the greatest potential to positively influence the future of our planet, to provide nutrition for all and to help rural communities thrive and replenish our planets resources, said Dr. Mark Lyons, President and CEO of Alltech.

He added, From protecting pollinators, to improving soil fertility and building resilience to the effects of climate change, biodiversity is fundamental to addressing global hunger. But the clock is ticking. We need to increase our investments to protect our planet before it is too late. Our future depends on it.

Alltech announced a commitment to focus on the planet, proactive conservation, management and restoration of natural ecosystems and biodiversity to contribute to addressing the challenges of climate change, food and water security, and human health.

Reducing is not enough; we must do something different, our belief is that agriculture has the greatest potential to positively influence the future of our planet, to provide nutrition for all and to help rural communities thrive and replenish our planets resources, said Lyons.

Author, Founder and CEO of One Green Thing, Mrs. Heather White said there are three steps to make climate action a joyful daily practice.

First, think beyond your age and listen, secondly, find your unique role, and third, apply the daily practice of sustainability. The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our time, and we all have a unique role to play.

"I believe that no individual can solve the climate crisis, and that much of the burden is on the shoulders of corporations and policymakers who tend to vote against the planet.

"I think individual actions do matter, and contribute to a desperately needed cultural change which will help relieve our kids' feelings of eco-anxiety.

What will your legacy be? Because together, we can create a Planet of Plenty. Thirty years from now, what can we create together that will stop our future loved ones in their tracks and create a moment of breathtaking gratitude?

Business leader, campaigner and co-author of Net Positive Mr. Paul Polman explained that Net Positive is a new way of doing business which puts back more into society, the environment and the global economy than it takes out.

Organisations that take a Net Positive approach share an ambition to grow their brand, have strong financial performance and attract the brightest talent.

"I think what you (Alltech) are doing and what you are referring to as the Planet of Plenty is an important vision where you bring together the key principles of consumer health, environmental health and also animal health where you leverage, obviously, very important technology, where you call out the importance of sustainable farm management, where partnership is engraved very high in your philosophy.

"Its time for business leaders to build net positive companies that profit by fixing the worlds problems rather than creating them."

Mayor of Lexington, Mrs. Linda Gorton said she is excited about the wonderful ideas introduced by Dr. Mark Lyons, President and CEO of Alltech and his partners for the Agricultural Value chain across the globe.

I am pushing 1 million dollars into this a Planet of Plenty agenda and its my hope that Kentucky will become the hub of Agriculture in the United States in a few years."

"Together, we have the nerve to work together for a Planet of Plenty, said Mayor of Lexington, Mrs. Gorton.

The 2022 Alltech conference brought together 2,000 international delegates in person, with an additional 5,000 participating virtually. The world class event brought inspiring keynote speakers and more than 100 industry leaders to the stage, sharing valuable insights in live workshops and focus tracks and uncovering the challenges and opportunities in agriculture, business, health and wellness, and professional development.
May 25, 2022

Ukraine Propaganda - BBC Tries To Sell Telegram Rumors That Make No Sense

Do they really think that the people are dumb enough to believe such shit?

Russian media: retired Russian major general killed in skies over Ukraine

Which 'Russian media' one might asks:

A [Russian] fighter has been shot down in the skies over Ukraine, and Kanamat Botashev, a retired Major General of the Russian Air Force, was killed. Source: Russian edition of BBC with reference to Botashov's three former subordinates Details: Subordinates who had kept in touch with Botashev after leaving the service agreed to comment on condition of anonymity for reasons of personal safety.

Oh, the 'Russian media' is in fact the Russian language site of the BBC World Service which is financed and directed by the British government's Foreign Office. The same BBC World Service which since March has suspended its operation in Moscow and which had its its website blocked in Russia.

That BBC World Service will surely have reliable sources for making such nonsense claims:

One of Botashev's former colleagues confirmed that a retired general was carrying out missions in a Su-25 aircraft in Ukraine. In one of the Russian Telegram channels, this participant reported on Botashev's death ...

'Russian Telegram channels' are anonymous and also widely used by Ukrainians. They are often unreliable.

The picture above is somewhat curious too. Its resolution is too low to read the name patch of the pictured officer who does totally not look like 63 year old retired man.

The plane the Ukrainians allegedly shot down was a Su-25 ground attack aircraft. Why then is the 'retired Major-General Botashev', should he actually exist, pictured in front of an Su-34, a supersonic fighter-bomber. According to Tineye the photo was first published on May 23 by a news site in Tbilisi, Georgia. There is no metadata in the picture and I am unable to find any caption for it.

The whole story makes absolutely no sense:

It is unclear how the 63-year-old retired general found himself at the controls of the Su-25 in Ukraine.

...

Botashev commanded a regiment of the Guards Air Base in Voronezh. His military career came to an end in June 2012, when he was accused of crashing a Su-27 fighter near Petrozavodsk. The general asked his friend-colonel to let him fly a Su-27, a flight permit he did not have.

So the dude was kicked out of the military? He hasn't flown military planes for 10 years? Somehow he steals an Su-25, which he probably did not know how to fly, and gets shot down over Ukraine? Yeah, that makes totally sense ...

What will the BBC World Service editors try to sell us next? Bridges?

Posted by b on May 25, 2022 at 16:03 UTC | Permalink

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U.S. Antitrust growing FAANGS?

Experts believe that Big Techs stewardship over large pools of user data confers substantial advantages. They point to the feedback loop conferred on Big Tech through its network effects described earlier. The OECD notes that the dominant platform may not do anything that can be properly qualified as anti-competitive, and yet the feedback loop can reinforce dominance and prevent rival platforms from gaining customers.

Consequently, many argue that todays Big Tech companies exert monopoly power that can block competitors and disadvantage users in ways that would not have been permissible for most of the 20th century. Europe once again leads the charge against Big Tech on this front. The EUs proposed Digital Markets Act seeks to blacklist certain anticompetitive business practices that allegedly have allowed Big Tech to exploit their size and entrench their position as gatekeepers. The Act is expected to come in to force at the end of 2022 once approved by both the European Parliament and Council.

The U.S. has taken some steps towards addressing Big Techs power. We first discussed this in our July 2021 Insight10 where we identified Lina Khans appointment to chair the U.S. competition regulator as well as a raft of bills introduced in the U.S. to amend anti-trust law to make enforcement easier.

However, despite Europes proposals and U.S. tentative steps to curb Big Techs power, the limited antitrust risk premium built into these firms valuations suggests that few believe todays tech titans will be brought to heel. On a longer-term basis, we are less sanguine than the market. For instance, over the next 3-4 years, we believe that antitrust developments could hurt the growth prospects for Big Tech companies, particularly when it comes to M&A, which is likely to face intense scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic.

Governance Growing Pains

Taken together, the recent strengthening of antitrust and privacy enforcement has grown out of these companies perceived failure to self-regulate. The failure to self-regulate may reflect a culture where leadership often goes unchallenged. Indeed, decision-making power is often heavily concentrated, with founders exerting significant influence on strategy, be it through force of personality or corporate shareholding structures.

Dual class stock, which is prevalent in tech, entitles the owner(s) of certain shares to exercise voting rights at levels that exceed their claim on cash-flow rights. Some believe that this allows a founder or founder group to focus on a more beneficial long-term strategy, rather than being constrained by short-term considerations.

Consequently, investors will have to grapple with certain trade-offs. They must assess not only the nature of the shareholdings, but also the nature of the company, industry and controller. And while we agree that simplified control structures may be beneficial in a companys early growth stages, they place enormous power in the hands of leadership and the select few employees to whom leaders delegate key responsibilities.

Given the size and complexity of Big Tech organizations we believe that this concentrated power in should be recognized as a risk. This is exacerbated by the increasing frequency with which these companies find themselves in the regulatory spotlight. Structuring decision-making processes to move away from the narrow views of the few, to incorporate more diverse perspectives, could help to mitigate some of these regulatory and reputational risks.

The Investment Outlook for Big Tech

While Big Tech has enjoyed a relatively unhindered rise to prominence, the headwinds are getting stronger. In the near term, the macro backdrop of slowing growth, ongoing inflationary pressure and subsequent rising nominal and real rates means that we generally expect developed market growth stocks like Big Tech to underperform.

Over the next couple of years we expect that a more challenging operating environment, in the shadow of regulators and competition authorities on both sides of the Atlantic, may limit Big Techs growth potential upon which its valuations depend.

As outlined throughout this piece, many of the biggest risks facing Big Tech are related to the S pillar within ESG. Issues around privacy and social responsibility may not be considered material for a traditional investor, however, an approach that fully integrates ESG could help gain a more thorough understanding of what drives the risks for Big Tech. Given that these companies are the largest constituents in major equity benchmarks, such as the S&P 500, both active and index investors should consider the potential impact of these ESG risks.
William Luther/AP

GoFundMe is launching a streamlined, verified way to help Uvalde with monetary donations following the Robb Elementary school shooting in which at least 21 were killed on Tuesday, May 24. The hub is intended to be a centralized place to hold fundraiser efforts that have been verified as legitimate.

It will be continuously updated as more fundraisers are vetted and verified. The hub can be found here.
Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian moved a step closer to retaining his seat on the commission, handily defeating Sarah Stogner in Tuesdays runoff election.

Statewide, Christian received a total of 453,485 votes or 66.03 percent of the vote as of press time, compared to 233,253 or 33.97 percent for Stogner.

In Midland County, he received 3,616 votes compared to 1,616 for Stogner.

Christian now faces Democrat Luke Warford in November.

It has been the honor of my life to serve as our states 50th Railroad Commissioner, Christian told the Reporter-Telegram by email. I am thankful to Texas Republicans for re-nominating me for this vital office. I look forward to continuing to fight for cheap, plentiful, reliable energy as we stand up to the Biden administrations radical liberal agenda.

In the March primary, Christian received more votes than his Republican opponents  Stogner, Tom Slocum Jr., Dawayne Tipton and Marvin Sarge Sommers, who was killed in a car accident in Midland County weeks before the election. Christian received 765,187 votes compared to Stogner, who received 245,272 votes. But that was not enough to cross the 50 percent threshold, forcing the runoff.

Christian, who was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1996, was first elected to the Railroad Commission in November 2016.
A Michigan Tech students 3D model of an iconic Upper Peninsula iron mine helps researchers visualize and measure the energy storage potential that awaits in abandoned hard-metal mines.

Keweenaw Energy Transition Lab (KETL) team member Jacob Chizeks three-dimensional solid model of Negaunees Mather B mine facilitated our detailed design and analysis of a Pumped Underground Storage Hydropower (PUSH) system. Chizeks work was important for many reasons, but most key was how the model allowed the team to create more precise estimates of the mines size and form. The increased accuracy made the entire PUSH study better because team members could work from very realistic estimates of the mines size, capacity and layout.

Jacob Chizeks research interests include grid-scale energy storage solutions. (Image Credit: KETL)

Chizek, an undergraduate majoring in mechanical engineering, was already skilled in computer modeling, particularly CAD and SolidWorks. Hed worked up 3D drawings of objects before, but those were always widgets hed imagined himself. Hed never done anything like this: make a three-dimensional solid model of a mine that could provide accurate volumetric estimates, using engineering blueprints and maps from the 1960s-1980s.

He started by tracing digital maps of a real 3D environment, then importing those sketches and overlaying them at the correct scale. Then he added volumes atop the flat plots.

One of the many maps Chizek used to create a 3D mine model; this is a 1942 depiction of the Mather Mine Shaft looking east courtesy the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. (Image Credit: EGLE, KETL)

An undated aerial of the Mather B Mine. (Image Credit: Michigan Technological University Archives).

His resources were a mosaic of snapshots that research team members took of historic maps in the collections of the Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum in Ishpeming and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energys (EGLEs) Oil, Gas and Minerals Division Upper Peninsula Geological Repository archive in Gwinn, Michigan.

The Power to Visualize Sustainable Energy Storage

Since this project did not allow for formal digitization of all the underground maps, Chizek worked between a few critical maps  drawn at different times to different scales  at a time. He worked with plan views, cross sections and schematic profiles. Using supplemental details from the largest maps, his 3D model captured the extent of the mines underground workings.

His model provided more precise measures of the volume of water in the flooded mines different levels, which the team used to compare different PUSH designs options: Whats the largest turbine that can fit into the Mather Bs existing shaft? What if we designed the system to pump water up the Mather A shaft, then drop it down through a turbine and into the lower reservoir through the Mather B shaft? What if we used the entire mine as a lower reservoir and built a surface pond? What if we designed a very small system, using only the Mather B shaft? In each case, the team could calculate the volume, head and flow capacity of these designs.

Because Chizek could geolocate his underground model, connecting it to the surface, the research team could also visualize the relationship between the under- and aboveground features, including existing power lines, streams and waterways, buildings and other area mines.

Chizeks modeling work enables additional technical analysis, including heat transfer, water flow, and volume and capacity for systems like geothermal HVAC, low-temperature geothermal power and aqueous mineral reclamation. It also supports a range of cultural, historic and scientific communication. When the team held a public meeting to share a preview of their findings with the residents of Negaunee, Chizek shared his model with the audience, including some veteran miners from Mathers operating days. He found his model was very popular! People stood around his large monitor, sharing stories and pointing at the screen, talking about things they remembered, places theyd been underground, and those areas theyd never seen.

Chizeks model might make it possible for the Cliffs Shaft Mining Museum to create an exhibit or video, aid in planning by the cities of Negaunee and Ishpeming, and enrich public interactions on social media. We will see what develops!

Diving Deeper into the Potential of Old Mines

The next step in this process might be to create an ultra-high-scale model of the mine workings. That would require the quality digitization of dozens of large-scale maps held by EGLE and the Cliffs Shaft Museum, then hundreds of person-hours of time tracing and building the model. But, it would result in the most detailed model possible without draining the mine to complete a modern survey and scan of current conditions. Another Enterprise team at Michigan Tech has also started brainstorming ways to use a remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicle (ROV, AUV) to scan old flooded mines and build new 3D models of current conditions without the expense and environmental risk of pumping the mine dry or risking human lives through survey of those dangerous places.

Autonomous underwater survey robots would be very powerful tools for PUSH design, but are still mostly science fiction. Meanwhile, Chizeks model is an excellent resource for the team and provides a needed tool for the research team to evaluate PUSH potential in a given location. When organizations begin planning closed-loop, underground pumped hydro facilities, having the best possible model will be essential to the best designs of the highest-value utility assets.

About the Author Timothy Scarlett scarlett@mtu.edu

906-487-2359 Research Interests Historical and Industrial Archaeologies

Creativity and Work Process

Archaeometry and Conservation Sciences

Remote Sensing, Survey, and Geospatial Sciences

Community-based scholarship, public science/humanities

Heritage, Placemaking, and Culture Building Researcher Profile

Worldwide today, there are only a few pumped underground storage hydropower facilities being designed. All of these are in working mines approaching their end of life, as in EPV Energy's Pyhasalmi Mine in Finland. Design teams working with modern mines have the working 3D models of the mining engineers. But hundreds of abandoned mines around the United States  and thousands around the world  could be adapted for PUSH systems. Assessing those legacy mines will require the kind of modeling Chizek did for Mather.

Chizeks contributions were initially supported by our grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and his work continued thanks to a student research grant from Michigan Techs Great Lakes Research Center. A member of MTUs Supermileage Systems Enterprise, where he works on the engine subteam, Chizeks research interests also include grid-scale energy storage solutions. He found the modeling exercise gave him time to imagine other potential innovations for energy storage in flooded and abandoned mines.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, the University offers more than 125 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta speaks during a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 28, 2022.
ARENZVILLE  Isaac French loves his family, his business  Isaac's Coffee Shop in downtown Arenzville  and watching the weather report on TV.

But not just any weather report. Cheryl Lemke's weather report. On Friday, French, 23, got to meet his idol, Newschannel 20's chief meteorologist. The experience left him almost speechless.

"He knew she was coming," said Sally Stock, French's aunt, who helps at his coffee shop. "When she stepped out of the car he was like, 'Oh, my god, she's really here'."

French, who has Down syndrome, has always loved the weather. Learning about storms and seeing weather-related numbers are at the top of his list of favorite things about it.

"Isaac has always been a big fan of the weather," Stock said. "If someone fills in for (Lemke), he's not happy."

It wasn't just French and his family who met Lemke at his coffee stand; it was a good chunk of Arenzville's population, including the mayor.

"There was a lot of people that came out," Stock said. "They wanted to meet Cheryl, but a lot of them also wanted to see Isaac meet her. They just love him."

Lemke didn't just happen to visit Arenzville for another story and stop for coffee. She was there specifically to visit one of her top fans.

"We pulled into town and saw all the cars lined up and we were like, 'This must be the place'," Lemke said Tuesday. "You could see his eyes were beaming."

Lemke said she started receiving messages through social media that "probably started a few weeks ago"  messages such as "Boy, it would make his day."

They didn't stop.

"People kept bombarding me," Lemke said.

After talking with her news director, they found a reason to get Lemke to Arenzville, presenting the opportunity to visit her top fan  French.

"It was over the top," she said of how welcoming everyone was. "It brought a smile to his face and mine."

While with French, Lemke and her cameraman shot some video, which aired late Friday and on Saturday on Newschannel 20. They also took photos and presented French with a bag of goodies.

"Oh, boy," Lemke said of what French said, adding that it's one of his favorite expressions.

Seeing her nephew's dream come true was something special for Stock, too. But it wasn't just meeting Lemke; it was the entire event.

"They came to support Isaac," Stock said. "She and her cameraman were so gracious, so nice."

Lemke's career as a meteorologist has spanned many years, but meeting Isaac is something she will always cherish.

"It was definitely one of my top experiences," Lemke said. "That melted my heart."

Lemke also was awarded a key to Arenzville while in town. A proclamation also officially designated May 20 as Cheryl Lemke Day in Arenzville.

"It was so jubilant," she said.
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TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  Rescue teams searched Wednesday for dozens of people reported missing after a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Europe capsized off Tunisia's coast.

The International Organization for Migration said 30 people were rescued and 75 people were unaccounted for after the boat sank off the city of Sfax in southern Tunisia. One body has been recovered, authorities said.

Mourad Turki, a Sfax courts spokesperson, told The Associated Press that the people rescued were between the ages of 18 and 40 and of various nationalities, including Bangladeshi, Egyptian, Moroccan and Cameroonian.

The number believed to be missing was provisional and could increase, Turki said. The search continued Wednesday, according to International Organization for Migration spokesperson Esma Rihane.

The boat reportedly departed from Zuwara in north Libya on Sunday night. According to the Sfax National Guard, the vessel ran aground 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the island of Kerkennah, off Tunisia's coast, although it was unclear exactly when.

Zuwara serves as a departure point for migrants attempting to reach southern Europe by sea. Last July, a boat carrying 127 migrants from Zuwara sank off Zarzis, a port in southern Tunisia, leaving 43 people missing.

In a mission separate from the Tunisian navy's ongoing search, the non-governmental organization Open Arms conducted a rescue operation late Tuesday in an area off the coast of Tunisia.

Dramatic photos and videos from the Spanish maritime rescue group showed dozens of people in the water and clinging to the side of an upturned boat.

Head of mission Gerard Canals said the organization was alerted of a possible vessel in distress late Tuesday and located the boat after four hours of navigation.

A wooden boat with over 100 people was left adrift very close to the Tunisian territorial waters....It was overcrowded Canals said. During the rescue operation, the wooden boat capsized but we managed to take these 110 people on board on different life rafts that we deployed during the night.

The Open Arms rescue ship is looking for a safe port to disembark, he said.

We need the authorities to act immediately," Canals said. "The weather will deteriorate very soon and we (do not have enough) space, food or water to provide the people on board.

The central Mediterranean, which connects Libya and other North African countries to Italy and Malta, is the world's most dangerous migration route, according to the IOM.

The U.N. agency estimates that more than 1,500 people died or went missing in that part of the sea in 2021 and more than 500 have perished so far this year.

____

Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
There has been a large response from the entire country this morning following the aftermath of the elementary school shooting in Texas.

The death toll currently sits at 19 students according to the San Antonio Express-News and two adults. The 18-year-old male suspected shooter is dead and allegedly shot his grandmother before making his way to the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

A town of about 15,000, Uvalde is located 83 miles southwest of San Antonio. Tuesday's school shooting is the country's deadliest since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

Elected officials at every level are expressing their sorrow and positions on what's occurred, and Illinois is no different. Here is what elected officials are saying in response to the deadly attack.

Senator Dick Durbin post his thoughts and a video to Twitter.

Senator Tammy Duckworth expressed her remarks in two different tweets four hours apart.

U.S. Representative Darin LaHood represents Illinois' 18th and serves on the House Intelligence Committee.

U.S. Representative Rodney Davis called the shootings "pure evil."

U.S. Representative Mary E. Miller released this statement expressing her prayers and support for the Second Amendment:

Chris and I are grieving for the families in Uvalde as they face this unimaginable loss, and we are praying for the Lord to comfort and guide the entire Uvalde community through this dark time.

It's shocking that President Biden would use this tragedy to make a political speech last night, where he called on Congress to respond by restricting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens who had nothing to do with this tragedy. I support securing our schools, funding the police departments that were defunded, and prosecuting criminals instead of releasing them.

I will continue to support the Second Amendment rights of my constituents in Illinois to defend their homes and their families in the same manner that President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Schumer defend their homes and their families.

U.S. Representative Mike Bost released a statement Wednesday afternoon:

Tracy and I join the rest of our nation in mourning the innocent lives lost in Uvalde, Texas. Our hearts break for the children and teachers taken from their loved ones in such a sudden and devastating way.

As the details of this senseless tragedy are investigated, we must continue working to address Americas mental health crisis and ensure that the bright futures of innocent lives are not prematurely extinguished at the whims of madmen.

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton took to Twitter Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker called the shootings "enraging."
A fire Monday at a North East Street duplex is the third suspicious fire this year at a vacant house in Jacksonville.

Police Lt. Doug Thompson said the fire at 607 N. East St. about 4 p.m. Monday is the third since March.

"The connection is that all these fires are at abandoned residences," Thompson said.

The fires are being investigated by Jacksonville Police and the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office.

Thompson said there were people seen in the area at the time of the fire, however, it is not clear if they were inside the duplex.

Fire Chief Doug Sills said the investigation has determined a point of origin, but the cause is undetermined. The fire is being considered suspicious.

On May 1, firefighters fought a blaze at a vacant house at 320 Farrell St. The house did not have any utilities connected and firefighters were investigating the cause.

According to Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott & Cass Counties, a person was seen arriving and then leaving the residence just before the fire was reported. The person was described as between 5 foot 8 and 6 feet tall, wearing black pants, a navy blue hooded sweatshirt and a black mask. A race or gender could not be determined.

A fire March 24 in the 600 block of North Fayette Street was also considered suspicious and took place at a vacant house.

"There have been three [suspicious fires] in 2022 and they've all been vacant homes," Thompson said.

Thompson said it is not yet determined if the fires are connected.

"If you see someone entering a home you know to be vacant, call the police department," Thompson said. "If you see someone suspicious in the area and you know a residence is abandoned and there should not be people there, call the police."

Thompson said anyone with information can contact the Jacksonville Police Department at 217-479-4630. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crimestoppers online, by calling 217-243-7300 or by texting 274637 with "payout" as the first word of the text.
CARLINVILLE  A Staunton man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for predatory criminal sexual assault.

Macoupin County Judge Joshua A. Meyer on Monday sentenced Jerry E. Shafer, 36, of Staunton. Shafer had pleaded guilty Dec. 14 to a sole count of predatory criminal sexual assault, according to State's Attorney Jordan J. Garrison.

Shafer must serve 85% of his sentence and will not be eligible for parole until 2037.

A report was made to Staunton police in January 2019 that a man forced a minor under age 13 years to touch his penis. Shafer was arrested Sept. 26, 2019.

Meyer noted Shafer had a position of trust and authority with the minor and abused that position.

"You were the monster under the bed," Meyer told Shafer. "You violated the (minor's) trust."
Produce and Bakery Giveaway: 9 a.m., noon, Jacksonville Food Center, 316 E. State St. Free | For Morgan County residents.

Story Time: 10 a.m., Jacksonville Public Library, 201 W. College Ave. Free | Stories and a craft. For more information, call 217-243-5435 or email clangdon@jaxpl.org.

Free Noon Meal: 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m., The Salvation Army, 331 W. Douglas Ave. | Meals in to-go containers can be picked up at side door.

Walking for Wellness: 12:30-3 p.m., First Christian Church, 2106 S. Main St. Free | Indoor walking program offered year-round Monday-Thursday. For more information, call 217-243-6445.

Commodity Food Distribution: 1:15 p.m., The Salvation Army, 331 W. Douglas Ave. Free | For income-eligible residents of Morgan County. Bring proof of residence and a box for food.

Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen: 3:30-4 p.m., Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen, 105 E. Dunlap St. Free | Serving meals to go for anyone in need.

Community Walking Group: 3:30 p.m., Boyd Hospital Wellness Center, Eighth and School streets, Carrollton. Free for wellness center members, $1 for non-members. | For more information and to sign up, all Dawn at 217-942-6946, extension 1352.

County Line Dance Club Class: 6:30 p.m., The Hangout Bar & Grill, 901 W. Superior Ave. $5.

Bible Talk:7 p.m., Jenkins Education Complex, 409 Hardin Ave. | Sign language interpretation available. For more information, call Dana Jacobsen at 224-422-0217 or Kamela LiaBraaten at 309-415-1933.

Thursday

Farmers Market: 7 a.m.-noon, Pathway Plaza, 1905 W. Morton Ave. Prices vary. | Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday through Oct. 31. Link card accepted.

Produce and Bakery Giveaway: 9 a.m.-noon, Jacksonville Food Center, 316 E. State St. Free | For Morgan County residents.

JACIL KIP Cafe: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Jacksonville Area Center for Independent Living, 15 Permac Road. | Featured speaker Heidi Estabrook, outreach librarian, will discuss what the Jacksonville Public Library has to offer. Lunch at 11:30 a.m. Presentation begins at 12:15 p.m., followed by Q&A. Reservations required by calling Julie at 217-245-8371.

Free Noon Meal: 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m., The Salvation Army, 331 W. Douglas Ave. | Meals in to-go containers can be picked up at side door.

Walking for Wellness: 12:30-3 p.m., First Christian Church, 2106 S. Main St. Free | Indoor walking program offered year-round Monday-Thursday. For more information, call 217-243-6445.

Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen: 3:30-4 p.m., Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen, 105 E. Dunlap St. Free | Serving meals to go for anyone in need.

Climate Change Through the Ages: 6:30-7:30 p.m., Illinois State Museum virtual event. Free with registration. | Guest speaker is Lincoln Land Community College geology professor Samantha Rief. Registration required at bit.ly/ISMClimateTalk. For more information, go to illinoisstatemuseum.org.

Grafton Music in the Park: 7-9 p.m., The Grove Memorial Park, corner of Market and Main Street, Grafton. Free | Live music by Scott and Karl. Bring lawn chair or blanket. Concert series every Thursday through Aug. 11. For more information, go to riversandroutes.com.
One after another, they used some form of the term settled law. Roe v. Wade had been settled nearly 50 years ago.

Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett enunciated. Even Samuel Alito chimed in earlier.

During her Senate confirmation hearings, conservative Barrett openly said ones own views arent part of the equation in the ruling, insisting: Its not the law of Amy. Its the law of the American people.

Perhaps perjury should be in order, when Supreme Court nominees tell the country that a law is settled then do a 180-degree turn as soon as they have a chance to overturn it. And if they didnt legally lie, the nominees were at least disingenuous.

Or maybe its us. Perhaps, we simply understood that settled means done deal, especially when 70% of the American people believe abortions legality. But settled is like saying pleading the Fifth.

Senate confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court surely will never be the same.

All you have to do is bluff, play the system to the max. Now, look where we are.

Donald Trump and his wingman, Mitch McConnell, also deserve a medal in this imbroglio. First, McConnell, as Senate majority leader, refused to even hold hearings in 2016 on Merrick Garland, a Barack Obama nominee for the court to replace deceased Justice Antonin Scalia. McConnell cited it was an election year in which the Senate was a different party than the presidents (Obama), so the American people must decide.

Yes, McConnell was making it up as he went along.

Trump won the 2016 election, and Gorsuch was subsequently nominated by the new president and Garland was history. Trump added Kavanaugh (replacing Anthony Kennedy) and Barrett (replacing liberal stalwart Ruth Bader Ginsburg) ... the latter in an election year. Thats why even conservative Republicans tolerated Trumps boorish and outlandish behavior for four years  because of his hand in the federal judiciary.

OK, yeah, let McConnell or Alito determine a womans right to choose. Is there a new American motto: In nothing we trust?" as the high court is viewed with skepticism.

Can you trust justice nominees during the confirmation hearings? Can you trust McConnell during the nomination process, when he said anything and used any kind of logic to block Garland from Senate hearings? Can you trust any institution from leaks?

For instance, the White House steadfastly denied a New York Times report that the United States was leaking intelligence to help Ukraine target Russian generals and sink the Russian ship Moskva in the Black Sea. Just as the abortion news issue was conveyed through a leak reported by Politico.

As Robert Cottrol, law professor at George Washington University, said: We have a class of people in this country  smart, educated  in which the rules dont seem to apply to them. What would have happened, for instance, in 1944, if this new crew had leaked to the Germans that the Allies were invading Normandy. (Remember, the Allies merely deluded the Nazis into thinking the invasion was set for Calais, the shortest route across the English Channel for D-Day, instead of the longer distance that was Normandy.)

On May 13, Justice Clarence Thomas, speaking before conservative groups in Dallas, angrily expressed his displeasure regarding the leak to Politico, saying he has to look over his shoulder and this kind of infidelity weakens trust and raises suspicion.

Speaking of infidelity and that shoulder, what about Ginni? As in Thomas wifes involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and her role in the Stop the Steal movement.

Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion (7-2) in Roe v. Wade with five conservatives joining two liberals, will be forever known for one word: abortion. Its in the first sentence of his obituary in 1999 (he served on the court from 1970 to 1994). And as The New York Times stated, even in retirement, Justice Blackmun regarded Roe v. Wade with pride and a fierce attachment. In 1986 before a group of law students, he said, If it goes down the drain, Id still like to regard Roe v. Wade as a landmark in the progress of the emancipation of women.

As Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar explained on ABCs This Week, This is just wrong, and that is part of why Justice Blackmun, who is a Republican-appointed justice, no less, made that thoughtful decision, looked at the Constitution and said, the right to privacy includes the right for women to make a choice like this.

Blackmun was nominated by President Richard Nixon in 1970.

Now look whats happened.
LiDAR (light detection and ranging) has documented 26 settlement sites, including two remarkably large, of the Casarabe culture in the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia. The discovery challenges the view of Amazonia as a historically pristine landscape, but was instead home to an early urbanism created and managed by indigenous populations for thousands of years.

During the Late Holocene epoch, pre-Hispanic agriculturalists in the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia, transformed seasonally flooded Amazonian savannahs into productive agricultural and aquacultural landscapes.

The Casarabe culture developed in this region between around 500 CE and 1400 CE, spreading over an area of 4,500 km2.

We long suspected that the most complex pre-Columbian societies in the whole basin developed in this part of the Bolivian Amazon, but evidence is concealed under the forest canopy and is hard to visit in person, said University of Exeters Professor Jose Iriarte.

Using LiDAR data, Professor Iriarte and his colleagues documented in detail the two large settlement sites and 24 smaller sites of the Casarabe culture, of which only 15 were previously known to exist.

They found an unprecedented array of elaborate and intricate structures unlike any previously discovered in the region, including 5-m-high terraces and 21-m-tall conical pyramids.

Crucially, the researchers maintain that these settlements were constructed and managed not at odds with nature, but alongside it  employing successful sustainable subsistence strategies that promoted conservationism and maintained the rich biodiversity of the surrounding landscape.

Our LiDAR system has revealed built terraces, straight causeways, enclosures with checkpoints, and water reservoirs, Professor Iriarte said.

There are monumental structures are just a mile apart connected by 965 km of canals long raised causeways connecting sites, reservoirs and lakes.

LiDAR technology combined with extensive archaeological research reveals that indigenous people not only managed forested landscapes but also created urban landscapes, which can significantly contribute to perspectives on the conservation of the Amazon.

This region was one of the earliest occupied by humans in Amazonia, where people started to domesticate crops of global importance such as manioc and rice. But little is known about daily life and the early cities built during this period.

These ancient cities were primary centers of a regional settlement network connected by still visible, straight causeways that radiate from these sites into the landscape for several kilometers. Access to the sites may have been restricted and controlled, said University of Exeters Dr. Mark Robinson.

Our results put to rest arguments that western Amazonia was sparsely populated in pre-Hispanic times.

The architectural layout of Casarabe culture large settlement sites indicates that the inhabitants of this region created a new social and public landscape.

The scale, monumentality and labor involved in the construction of the civic-ceremonial architecture, water management infrastructure, and spatial extent of settlement dispersal, compare favorably to Andean cultures and are to a scale far beyond the sophisticated, interconnected settlements of Southern Amazonia.

The teams results appear today in the journal Nature.

_____

H. Prumers et al. Lidar reveals pre-Hispanic low-density urbanism in the Bolivian Amazon. Nature, published online May 25, 2022; doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04780-4
Australias government urges China to remove trade barriers View Photo

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australias new government has urged China to lift trade sanctions if it wants to reset a bilateral relationship that plumbed new depths under the previous administration.

The Chinese premiers congratulatory letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his election victory was widely seen as a relaxation of Beijings two-year ban on high-level government contact with Australia. Premier Li Keqiang said China was ready to work with Australia to development the bilateral relationship.

But Albanese said it was China, not Australia, that had changed since his center-left Labor Party was last in power in 2013.

China has created a series of official and unofficial trade barriers in recent years to a range of Australian exports worth billions of dollars including coal, wine, barley, beef and seafood.

It is China that has placed sanctions on Australia, Albanese told reporters Tuesday at a Tokyo summit that he attended with President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

There is no justification for doing that and thats why they should be removed, Albanese added.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers also called for China to immediately lift trade barriers between the free-trade partners.

We would certainly like to see those sanctions and those tariffs lifted. They are damaging our economy. They are making life harder for some of our employers and workers here in Australia and so obviously we would like to see those measures lifted, Chalmers said on Wednesday.

China has announced its Foreign Minister Wang Yi would soon visit the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor in a 10-day trip.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong was expected to fly to Fiji on Thursday, a day after returning to Sydney from Japan as the new government hastens to counter Chinese influence in the South Pacific, The Australian newspaper reported. Wongs office did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

Before Albanese and Wong boarded a plane to return to Australia from Tokyo, he thanked Australian voters who, in Saturdays election, gave him the extraordinary honor of representing Australia at important international forums.

I will always act with integrity. I will always act with honesty in my dealings with other leaders and our friends and partners, Albanese said, in comments that could be aimed at his predecessor, Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

During a National Press Club speech last week, Albanese blamed Morrison for damaging relationships with other countries.

He said Morrison misled the United States that Labor supported a secret plan to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered with U.S. nuclear technology. In fact, Albaneses party wasnt told of the plan until the day before it was announced in September.

Albanese also accused Morrison of leaking to the media personal text messages from Emmanuel Macron to discredit the French presidents complaint that Australia had given no warning that a French submarine contract would be canceled. Macron also accused Morrison of lying to him, and French Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault described the leak as a warning to other world leaders that the Australian government could weaponize their private communications.

By ROD McGUIRK

Associated Press
Davos updates | VW: Supply chain woes ease; orders backed up View Photo

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  Executives with German automaker Volkswagen say at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that supply chain problems exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war are easing but theyre dealing with a huge backlog of orders.

Audi board member Hildegard Wortmann says the VW-owned brand has its highest level of orders at the moment, but customers are facing wait times of about year or more.

Chairman Herbert Diess says Volkswagen is seeing a clear improvement through summer on the supply of microchips it needs for its vehicles.

Diess says the automaker has no plans to pull out of Chinas Xinjiang region, where it has for years operated a factory and showrooms, despite repeated reports of abuses against ethnic Muslim groups there.

He says that while the companys Xinjiang operations are a negligible part of its overall China business, we think that we would worsen the situation for the people working in this plant and most importantly for the entire region if we would pull out.

Diess says being present in Xinjiang means VWs standards are respected and it can control the situation. He didnt elaborate.

___

The head of the World Trade Organization said that leaders in developed nations will need to have the courage to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

At a separate session Wednesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also called for countries to avoid export restrictions on food as Russia prevents shiploads of Ukrainian grain from getting to poorer countries.

On a climate panel, she says its tough to tell voters that theyre not going to have gas for heating and cooking. But sometimes if youre a brave leader, you have to have the courage to tell people that these are the tough choices we have to make.

Okonjo-Iweala also says the COVID-19 pandemic showed that rich nations do have the funding to deal with global emergencies, raising questions for poorer countries who were promised $100 billion to combat climate change.

In a panel on trade, she says 25 million tons of grain from Ukraine need be evacuated and another harvest is coming next month. She says, This food crisis is real and we must find solutions.

Europe is helping with land routes to get grain to ports in Poland other countries, and officials say there are talks on creating secure sea corridors.

Okonjo-Iweala says 22 WTO members have export restrictions, which she hopes to lower to avoid price spikes that exacerbate the problem.

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Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is calling for stronger gun legislation in the wake of the mass shooting in Texas that killed 21 people, mostly children.

Speaking on a climate panel Wednesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Gore said the latest mass shooting represented a uniquely American form of devastation.

Gore, who shared a Nobel Peace Prize with the U.N.s top body of climate scientists for their work on climate change, made the remarks on the panel on greenwashing, or businesses claiming to be environmentally friendly when they are not.

Gore also made a parallel between the failure to pass comprehensive gun control legislation in the U.S. with the seeming inability of Congress to pass major climate change legislation. He said lobbying and vested interests are able to maintain the status quo.

Gore says, Our democracy has been paralyzed, bought, captured. It has to stop.

___

Both Ukrainian and European Union officials have pointed out how Europe is sending massive amounts of funding to Ukraine amid Russias invasion, while still fueling Vladimir Putins war machine by buying Moscows oil and and natural gas.

European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said on a trade panel at the World Economic Forum gathering that the EU needs to act on energy if it wants to get at the heart of financing for Putins war.

Otherwise, he said Wednesday, We are in somewhat of a paradoxical situation where we are providing massive support to Ukraine with one hand and then we provide financing to Putin to continue its war with another hand. So this clearly needs to stop.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba echoed the thought in separate comments at Davos. He says Europe has learned Russia uses energy as a weapon and that its important to diversify.

He added, After three months of fighting, my message is simple: kill Russian exports.

___

Israeli President Isaac Herzog is calling on other nations to consider a renewable Middle East as a resource for sustainable food, water and energy solutions.

At the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Herzog appealed Wednesday for a new partnership with nations in Europe, Asia and Africa modeled in part on the economic agreements Israel has struck with four Arab nations.

He says such new links would expand a zone of understanding, despite wide gaps and conflicting narratives about a surge in violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

Herzogs speech comes amid international criticism of Israels conduct, including over the recent killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin.

A reconstruction by The Associated Press lends support to assertions from Palestinian authorities and her colleagues that the bullet that killed her came from an Israeli gun.

Herzog, asked after his speech about Abu Aklehs death, called it a very tragic event but said there could be a few scenarios. Thats an apparent reference to Israels insistence that Abu Akhleh could potentially have been killed by a Palestinian bullet.

___

Financial officials at the World Economic Forums annual gathering in Davos say Russias war in Ukraine has been a major setback to the global economic recovery.

Gita Gopinath, IMFs first deputy managing director, said on a panel Wednesday about global growth that a confluence of shocks are hitting the world.

She says theres a cost-of-living crisis as prices of fuel, food and other commodities soar. On top of that, central banks are raising interest rates to tackle high inflation, China is seeing a slowdown amid COVID-19 lockdowns and the real estate sector is facing weaknesses.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde says the war in Ukraine has revealed that the problems are especially acute in Europe.

On a panel called European Unity in a Disordered World?, she said, Europe is 20% more open to global value chains vulnerabilities than other global markets. Because of that, Lagarde says, its not surprising that the breaking down and the bottlenecks of global value chains affect European companies and us more than others.

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The World Economic Forum has unveiled an initiative to develop the metaverse, a virtual reality construct that many tech companies are betting will be the next big thing for the internet.

The metaverse will merge virtual life with real life and create endless new playgrounds and workspaces for users equipped with virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices.

The forum said Wednesday that it will work with businesses, regulators, civil society and academic experts to help define and build the metaverse. The focus will be on governing the metaverse as well as how to create economic and societal value.

In a panel talk on the metaverse, Facebook parent Metas chief product officer, Chris Cox, says he envisioned the need for standards and governance. Meta is betting big on the metaverse as the next big source of the companys growth.

He says there will probably be something like a ratings system for movies, music and other content in the metaverse so parents and young people can have some sense of what the rules are in the environment that theyre going to walk into.

Cox compared it to walking into a bar versus a playground, which each have a different expectation of the rules that govern those places.

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A top Saudi official has touted a dual strategy of increasing oil production capacity for export abroad while advocating for a domestic reduction of emissions in line with Saudi Arabias net-zero pledge.

Saudi Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal al-Ibrahim said on a panel at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that these two points do not contradict each other.

He said Wednesday that focusing on climate change without focusing on energy security could lead to more countries burning the dirtiest kind of coal in a time of need.

Climate activists and many scientists and energy experts argue otherwise, advocating for an immediate end to greater investment in fossil fuels to keep global temperatures from rising further.

Al-Ibrahim says energy demand from oil will continue to increase and that higher prices and revenue from oil will help the country reach its 2060 net-zero targets quicker.

___

The World Economic Forum and leaders of some of the worlds largest businesses are announcing the expansion of a partnership aimed at propelling green technologies.

The First Movers Coalition includes businesses that make major purchases around green technologies and down their supply chains. The idea is to send market signals that lead to more investing and scaling up of technologies like green steel, green hydrogen and carbon capture.

On Wednesday, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry was joined by Bill Gates, Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff, Google Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat and several others to announce in Davos that the number of companies had gone from more than 30 to 55.

Sweden, India, Japan, Denmark, the United Kingdom and other countries also joined the partnership, first launched by the U.S. and World Economic Forum.

Gates says so many green products carry a price premium compared with established fossil fuel technologies and that the way you get rid of that is scale up the production.

The worlds top climate scientists warn that greenhouse gas emissions must be sharply reduced this decade to keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 F) since pre-industrial times.

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The CEO of Ukraines largest private energy company says it wont buy any energy from Russia as long as hes in charge and insists the European Union can start making up for its dramatic mistake of growing dependent on Russian oil and natural gas by buying energy from Ukraine.

Maxim Timchenko of DTEK Group told The Associated Press at the World Economic Forums gathering in Davos that consumption of its services in Ukraine has dropped 35% since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. He says some of that excess electricity could be shipped to Europe.

Millions of Ukrainians fled their homes during the war, which also has upended business operations and their electricity needs.

Hours before the war erupted, DTEK disconnected from the grids of Belarus and Russia as part of a test run, and Timchenko says it hasnt restored the connection. In mid-March, he says the company synchronized with the EU grid  but only in emergency mode.

He says that doesnt allow the country to get revenue from exporting electricity and that Ukraine needs this revenue to support financial stability of our energy system.

___

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that his country will not give up its land to end Russias war.

Speaking by video link Wednesday at a Ukrainian breakfast during the World Economic Forums gathering in Davos, Zelenskyy said he didnt believe Russian president Vladimir Putin fully understood what was going on in Ukraine.

Responding to a question from CNNs Fareed Zakaria about whether it was possible to negotiate an end to the conflict, Zelenskyy said through a translator that Ukraine is not going to concede our territory. We are fighting in our country, on our land.

He added that its a war not against anybody but for our land, for our freedom, for our independence, and for our future.

As a first step to diplomatic negotiations, Zelenskyy says Russia would need to demonstrate its desire to engage in talks and should demonstrate at least something like steps withdrawing their troops and equipment to the position before the 24th of February, when the invasion began.

___

Pfizer says it will provide nearly two dozen products, including its top-selling COVID-19 vaccine and treatment, at not-for-profit prices in some of the worlds poorest countries.

The drugmaker announced the program Wednesday at the World Economic Forums annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, and said it was aimed at improving health equity in 45 lower-income countries. Most of the countries are in Africa, but the list also includes Haiti, Syria, Cambodia and North Korea.

The products, which are widely available in the U.S. and the European Union, include 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, some cancers and rare and inflammatory conditions. Company spokeswoman Pam Eisele says only a small number of the medicines and vaccines are available in the 45 countries.

Eisele says New York-based Pfizer will charge only manufacturing costs and minimal distribution expenses. It will comply with any sanctions and all other applicable laws.

This month, the head of the World Health Organization called on Pfizer to make its COVID-19 treatment more widely available in poorer countries.
Turkey demands concrete steps to back Nordics NATO bids View Photo

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  A senior Turkish official insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials Wednesday that Turkey would not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankaras objections.

We have made it very clear that if Turkeys security concerns are not met with concrete steps in a certain timeframe the process will not progress, Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference after the talks in Ankara that lasted about five hours.

Kalin is the spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a senior presidential aide.

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO last week, in a move representing one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russias war in Ukraine that could rewrite Europes security map.

Turkey has said it opposes the countries membership in the Western military alliance, citing grievances with Swedens  and a to a lesser extent Finlands  perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey views as security threats.

The PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by several of Turkeys allies, has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey, a conflict that has cost the lives of tens of thousands people.

The Turkish government also accuses Finland and Sweden of imposing arms exports restrictions on Turkey and refusing to extradite suspected terrorists.

Turkeys objections have dampened Stockholms and Helsinkis hopes for joining NATO quickly amid Russias invasion of Ukraine and put the trans-Atlantic alliances credibility at stake. All 30 NATO members must agree on admitting new members.

The Swedish and Finnish delegations met with Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation was led by state secretary Oscar Stenstrom, while Jukka Salovaara, the foreign ministry undersecretary, headed up the Finnish delegation, Turkish officials said.

Kalin said Turkeys proposal to lift arms export limits was met with a positive attitude by the Swedish and Finnish delegations.

He added that talks would continue once the Nordic governments had responded to Turkeys demands.

Turkey also expects the extradition of 28 terrorism suspects from Sweden and 12 from Finland, Kalin said, adding that there was no legal or judicial basis not to extradite them. Turkish state media had previously said Turkey demanded the extradition of 33 suspects from the two countries.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said following a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Stockholm that her country wanted to clarify claims that have been floating around during discussions with Turkey.

We do not send money or weapons to terrorist organizations, Andersson said.

During a news conference with the Estonian prime minister later Wednesday, Andersson said that in these times, it is important to strengthen our security.

She said Sweden has a constructive dialogue with Turkey and that Stockholm was eager to sort out issues and misunderstandings and questions.

Michel, who is scheduled to head to Helsinki from Stockholm, said it was a pivotal moment for Sweden and we fully support your choices.

Turkey this week listed five concrete assurances it was demanding from Sweden, including what it said was termination of political support for terrorism, an elimination of the source of terrorism financing, and the cessation of arms support to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it.

The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.

Turkey said that it has requested the extradition of Kurdish militants and other suspects since 2017 but hasnt received a positive response from Stockholm. The Turkish government claimed Sweden had decided to provide $376 million to support the Kurdish militants in 2023 and that it had provided them with military equipment, including anti-tank weapons and drones.

Finland has received nine extradition requests from Turkey in a recent period covering over three years, Finnish news agency STT said Wednesday, citing data from the Finnish justice ministry. Two people were extradited while six of the requests were rejected. A decision was pending regarding one other case.

Speaking Tuesday before a meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia had left Sweden and Finland no choice but to join NATO.

She said Germany would support the two countries membership, calling it a real gain for the military alliance.

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Andrew Wilks in Istanbul, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report.

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

By SUZAN FRASER

Associated Press
Jamy William Gray View Photo

Groveland, CA  A Groveland man is accused of breaking several windows, among other items, of a relative.

When Tuolumne Sheriffs Deputies arrived at a property in the area of Powder House Street off Highway 120 in Groveland around 2 p.m. on Friday for a report of vandalism, the suspects had already left the scene. The victim told deputies that he and his relative, 49-year-old Jamy Gray, got into an argument. He stated that Gray had broken out the rear window of a vehicle at the residence. The victim added that throughout the past week, Gray had shattered several windows and damaged doors in his residence, as well as broken a BBQ. Sheriffs officials noted that the estimated cost of the damage totaled over $6,000.

Gray was spotted on foot a short distance away from the scene and was handcuffed. A search of his backpack uncovered drug use paraphernalia. Gray was arrested for felony vandalism and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia. He was placed on a $10,000 bail.
Sarah Lande (1st L) and Wanxiang America Corporation President Ni Pin (C, Front) sign the agreement of the "Sarah and Roger Lande Scholars" Program in Muscatine, Iowa, the United States, on April 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Xu Jing)

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently replied to a letter from Sarah Lande, a friend of his in the U.S. state of Iowa.

In his letter, Xi noted that he visited the beautiful state of Iowa twice, and has forged an indissoluble bond with the city of Muscatine.

The Chinese and American people are both great people, Xi said, adding that their friendship is not only a valuable asset, but also an important foundation for the development of bilateral relations.

The Chinese people are ready to keep on joining the American people in strengthening friendly exchanges, pushing forward mutually beneficial cooperation, and jointly promoting the well-being of the two people, Xi said.

He encouraged Lande and his other old friends in Muscatine to continue sowing the seeds of friendship and making new contributions to the friendship between the two people.

A Chinese master teaches students to write Chinese calligraphy during the 2016 Muscatine Chinese Culture Week at Muscatine High School in Iowa, the United States, Nov. 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

Sarah Lande received Xi, then party secretary of Zhengding County in China's Hebei Province, when he visited the city of Muscatine in 1985. During his visit to the United States in 2012, Xi, then Chinese vice president, went to Lande's home again to meet his old American friends.

Recently, Lande wrote a letter to Xi, extending gratitude for Xi's precious friendship with old friends and expressing the hope that the two countries would continue deepening people-to-people and cultural exchanges and enhance understanding and mutual trust.

With the letter, Lande enclosed a copy of her memoir "'Old Friends': The Xi Jinping-Iowa Story" as a gift.
Burn marks discovered on the 50,000-year-old eggshell fragments several years ago suggested the first Australians cooked and ate large eggs from extinct birds, leading to fierce debate over the species that laid them. According to a new analysis of ancient protein sequences from the eggshell, the ancient eggs came from Genyornis, a giant flightless mihirung that became extinct between 30,000 and 5,000 years ago.

Fossil records show that Genyornis stood over 2 m tall, weighed between 220-240 kg, and laid melon-sized eggs of around 1.5 kg.

It was among the Australian megafauna to vanish a few thousand years after humans arrived, suggesting people played a role in its extinction.

The earliest robust date for the arrival of humans to Australia is some 65,000 years ago.

There is no evidence of Genyornis butchery in the archaeological record, said Professor Gifford Miller, a researcher in the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

However, eggshell fragments with unique burn patterns consistent with human activity have been found at different places across the continent.

This implies that the first humans did not necessarily hunt these enormous birds, but did routinely raid nests and steal their giant eggs for food.

Overexploitation of the eggs by humans may well have contributed to Genyornis extinction.

While Genyornis was always a contender for the mystery egg-layer, some scientists argued that a more likely candidate was Progura, another extinct bird, much smaller, weighing around 5-7 kg and akin to a large turkey.

The initial ambition was to put the debate to bed by pulling ancient DNA from pieces of shell, but genetic material had not sufficiently survived the hot Australian climate.

Professor Miller and colleagues were able to compare the sequences in ancient proteins to those of living species using a vast new database of biological material: the Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) project.

Progura was related to todays megapodes, a group of birds in the galliform lineage, which also contains ground-feeders such as chickens and turkeys, said Professor Beatrice Demarchi, a researcher in the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology at the University of Turin.

We found that the bird responsible for the mystery eggs emerged prior to the galliform lineage, enabling us to rule out the Progura hypothesis.

This supports the implication that the eggs eaten by early Australians were laid by Genyornis.

The researchers point out that the Genyornis egg exploitation behavior of the first Australians likely mirrors that of early humans with ostrich eggs, the shells of which have been unearthed at archaeological sites across Africa dating back at least 100,000 years.

While ostriches and humans have co-existed throughout prehistory, the levels of exploitation of Genyornis eggs by early Australians may have ultimately proved more than the reproductive strategies of these extraordinary birds could bear, said Professor Matthew Collins, a researcher in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge.

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Beatrice Demarchi et al. Ancient proteins resolve controversy over the identity of Genyornis eggshell. PNAS, in press; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2109326119
Pictured from left to right: Diana Harford, Stacy Wheat, Troy Ashton, Cathy Parker, Brian Thomas, Andi Thomas, Lisa Rico, Tracy Rasmussen. View Photos

Sonora, CA  The Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) has honored two local school administrators.

Earlier this month, Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools Director of Technology and Infrastructure Services, Troy Ashton, and Superintendent/Principal Wynette Hilton of Big Oak Flat Groveland Unified School District were both honored by the association at an annual awards ceremony. The awards honor administrators and community leaders who are doing extraordinary work to support Californias students. Ashton was awarded the 20212022 ACSA Technology Administrator of the Year for Region 7.

Cathy Parker, Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools, gave this praise to Ashton, Troy constantly trains and reminds staff on how to protect not only the infrastructure of the entire internet of all schools in the county, he also helps us understand how our individual actions impact the ability of all students and staff to access the tools we need to achieve.

Hilton was awarded Superintendent/Principal of the Year.

Wynette is a gifted administrator. She has the ability to wear so many hats and make it look effortless to everyone looking in. She has been an amazing and inspiring mentor and has pushed me out of my comfort zone, seeing the potential in me that I did not at first see in myself. I could not think of a more deserving person to receive a Supt/Principal of the Year award, touted Nickie Lamm, the Principal of Don Pedro High School.

Each year, the recognition program hands out 21 Administrators of the Year awards and five special awards, which are given to exceptional educational leaders and one school-community partnership program.
Palestinian teen shot dead in Israeli raid on West Bank View Photo

JERUSALEM (AP) 

Health authorities said a 16-year-old Palestinian died early Wednesday after being wounded during clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, the latest in a wave of violence that has persisted for months.

The Palestinian health ministry said Ghaith Yamin was wounded by a gunshot to the head and died at a hospital. Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, reported that the clashes erupted when Jewish worshipers, escorted by the military, arrived at a shrine on the outskirts of Nablus city to pray.

At least 15 Palestinians were wounded by live fire, according to Wafa, during the clashes near Josephs Tomb, a frequent flashpoint site. Some Jews believe biblical Joseph is buried at the site, while Palestinians say its the tomb of a Sheikh.

On Tuesday, Israeli authorities said they have foiled a wide-ranging plot by Palestinian militant Hamas group to shoot a member of parliament, kidnap soldiers and bomb Jerusalems light rail system during a surge of violence that has left dozens dead in recent weeks.

The police and Shin Bet security services said in a statement that five Palestinian men from east Jerusalem had been arrested for allegedly planning a shooting attack against far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir and other targets at a time of heightened tensions in the flashpoint city.

The suspects, authorities said, had planned the attacks last month, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to destabilize the area around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Authorities said a drone was found, intended to be armed and used in an attack on Jerusalems light rail, which sees daily crowds of commuters and tourists.

They identified the plot leaders as Hamas militants Rashid Rashak and Mansur Tzafadi, who delivered many fireworks, flags and Hamas videos to east Jerusalem neighborhoods last month during Ramadan. Security forces also seized a camera to be used to photograph abductees, cash and other equipment.

The statement did not say how close they came to carrying out the plot. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

The arrests came at a time of heightened violence between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police in east Jerusalem, much of it concentrated at a contested holy site. Israel also has stepped up military activity in the West Bank in recent weeks in response to a series of deadly attacks inside Israel.

Next week, Israeli ultranationalists plan to march through the main Muslim thoroughfare of the Old City.

The march is meant to celebrate Israels capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel subsequently annexed the area in a step that is not internationally recognized. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Also inflaming tensions is the death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during a firefight in Jenin. A reconstruction by The Associated Press lends support to assertions from both Palestinian authorities and Abu Aklehs colleagues that the bullet that cut her down came from an Israeli gun.

Any conclusive answer is likely to prove elusive due to the severe distrust between the two sides, each of which is in sole possession of potentially crucial evidence.
Turkish FM makes rare visit to Israel as nations mend ties View Photo

JERUSALEM (AP)  Turkeys foreign minister visited Israel on Wednesday as part of ongoing efforts to improve ties between the two countries, which have often been bitterly divided in recent years over Turkeys support for the Palestinians.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the first official visit to Israel by a Turkish official in 15 years, said that normalizing ties with Israel and addressing disagreements in a constructive manner will contribute to a peaceful resolution to the Mideast conflict.

He prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, a major holy site at the heart of recent unrest in the region. It is the third holiest site in Islam and is built on a hilltop that is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

Cavusoglu said talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog had helped calm tensions in Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended in early May.

Working on a positive agenda can also help us to address our disagreements in a more constructive manner, Cavusoglu told reporters.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, speaking at the same press conference, said the two countries have always known how to return to dialogue and cooperation.

Nations with long histories always know how to close one chapter and open a new one. That is what we are doing here today, he said.

Turkey, beset by economic troubles, has been trying to end its international isolation by normalizing ties with several countries in the Mideast, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Cavusoglu also met with Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank, where he reiterated Turkeys support for their struggle for an independent state alongside Israel.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state. There have been no serious peace talks for more than a decade.

We believe that normalization of our ties will also have a positive impact on peaceful resolution of the conflict, Cavusoglu said.

He also visited Yad Vashem, Israels Holocaust memorial, on Wednesday.

Turkey and Israel were once close allies, but relations grew tense under Erdogan, who is a vocal critic of Israels policies toward the Palestinians. Turkey has also embraced the Islamic militant group Hamas, which Israel and Western countries view as a terrorist group.

The countries withdrew their ambassadors in 2010 after Israeli forces stormed a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, which has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas seized power there in 2007.

Nine Turkish activists were killed. Israel apologized to Turkey for the deaths under a U.S.-brokered agreement, but reconciliation efforts stalled.

Turkey recalled its ambassador in 2018 after the United States recognized Jerusalem as Israels capital, prompting Israel to respond in kind. The two countries have not reappointed their ambassadors.

The latest attempt at a rapprochement has been led by Herzog, Israels mostly ceremonial president, who visited Turkey in March, becoming the first Israeli leader to do so in 14 years.

Herzog spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, the same annual gathering where Erdogan famously stormed off the stage after a sharp exchange with Israels then-President Shimon Peres about Gaza in 2009.

Taking questions after his speech, Herzog acknowledged that the process with Turkey was not a lullaby of Romeo and Juliet, but based on mutual interests. He also referenced the earlier exchange at Davos.

We have our ups and downs with Turkey, Herzog said. Im very pleased that I have an open, frank dialogue with President Erdogan which is leading in the right direction.

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Associated Press writer Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

By JOSEPH KRAUSS

Associated Press
Delgado becomes 1st New York Lt. governor with Latino roots View Photo

NEW YORK (AP)  Democrat Antonio Delgado was sworn in as New Yorks lieutenant governor Wednesday, becoming the states first person of Latino heritage to serve in statewide office.

Delgado, who identifies as Afro-Latino, is taking on the largely ceremonial role in the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who selected him for the job. It was previously held by Brian Benjamin, who resigned following his arrest in April for federal corruption charges, which he has denied.

Delgado, 45, will also be Hochuls running mate in this years gubernatorial election.

Hochul, speaking at a ceremony in New York City before Delgado was sworn into office, said he shares her views of what it means to be a public servant.

It means being a good listener, but not just listening to peoples concerns passively, but translating those concerns into real action. Thats when public service manifests itself and achieves its full potential, she said.

Delgado, who was joined by his wife and twin 8-year-old sons at the ceremony, gave a short speech in which he said his path to politics was not meticulously plotted out.

He is a Rhodes Scholar who, after earning a Harvard law degree, pursued a rap career before becoming a litigator at a New York City law firm.

I heard some chuckles out there, he said as he recounted his foray into hip hop. I followed my heart. Like Im doing now.

He said that though he spanned two different careers, in two very different environments, a diversity of experience will help him bridge divides.

As leaders we need to listen and work hard and find common ground and be effective. Thats my commitment, he said.

He spoke about the shooting at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday and said nothing was being done on the national level to protect children like his from gun violence, and he said America was at a moment where too many lives and the foundation of democracy were at stake.

The very fabric of our nation is on the line, he said.

The two-term congressman represented the Hudson Valley and the Catskills and was the first person of color representing upstate New York in Congress. He had campaigned for the U.S. House on universal access to Medicare, creating good jobs and eliminating tax loopholes for the rich.

Delgados move to leave Congress and join Hochuls administration comes in an election year in which the states congressional maps were redrawn as part of the decennial redistricting process.

The timing sets up a dual-track process to replace Delgado, in which a special election would be held for his sprawling House seat, New Yorks 19th Congressional District, on Aug. 23, with the winner holding office for the rest of the year.

But that same day, the state will hold primary elections for Congress under the new political maps, which shifted boundaries and political matchups throughout the state.

That has left some quirks in campaigning, like Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, a Democrat, who announced he will seek to win the Aug. 23 special election for the 19th District, but on the same day, compete in a Democratic primary for the 18th District.

Delgado grew up in Schenectady and lives in Rhinebeck.

By MICHELLE L. PRICE

Associated Press
Greene, McBath win US House races; Cuellar in tight runoff View Photo

WASHINGTON (AP)  One of the last remaining anti-abortion Democrats in Congress was facing his toughest primary challenge yet in Tuesdays runoff, while a staunch gun safety advocate ousted her House colleague in a fierce member-on-member congressional primary in suburban Atlanta.

Meanwhile, in northwest Georgia, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conspiracy-peddling provocateur, sailed to victory despite facing a handful of GOP primary challengers in her Republican-leaning district.

For both Republicans and Democrats, Tuesdays primary elections in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota and Texas pitted members of the partys activist base against more moderate candidates. The races offer a glimpse of what the next Congress could look like.

Here are a handful of races to follow:

THE LAST ANTI-ABORTION HOUSE DEMOCRAT

Moderate Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, a nine-term incumbent, is a perennial target for progressives. But so far the anti-abortion congressman has prevailed in a series of close races in the largely Hispanic district that stretches from the Rio Grande to San Antonio.

Whether his winning streak will continue was not clear early Wednesday as Cuellar was locked in a close race against Jessica Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration attorney and abortion rights supporter who once interned in Cuellars Washington office.

The race was too early to call Wednesday morning.

The race is Cisneros second attempt at ousting Cuellar, whom she lost to by 4 percentage points in 2020. She came within 1,000 votes of Cuellar in Texas March primary, forcing Tuesdays runoff.

Heading into the night, it appeared she had a new edge after a recently leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion draft showed the justices poised to overturn the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that grants a constitutional right to abortion.

Adding to Cuellars headwinds, the FBI earlier this year raided his home in the border city of Laredo. Though Cuellars attorney says he had been exonerated, the issue was enough of a liability that his allies sent out direct mail ads with a mock newspaper headline proclaiming him cleared.

The winner will face Cassy Garcia, who won the Republican runoff for the seat.

BRING IT ON, LIARS

For the vast majority of Vernon Jones nearly three-decade-long Georgia political career, he was a Democrat. But this year, the scandal-plagued politician reinvented himself as a pro-Donald Trump Republican and jumped in the race for an open House seat that stretches from the Atlanta suburbs to Athens.

Hell, they even call me the Black Donald Trump! Jones tweeted after entering the race while challenging his rivals to Bring it on, liars!

Jones is one of the most prominent Black politicians to endorse Trump and spoke at the 2020 Republican convention. He even had Trumps endorsement. Jones will go to a June 21 runoff against Mike Collins, a trucking company president whose father, Mac Collins, was a former Georgia congressman, on Tuesday. Neither crossed the 50% threshold needed to win outright.

Collins has already telegraphed that Jones considerable baggage will be an election issue.

As DeKalbs executive, Jones faced investigations over his expensive security detail, and a woman accused Jones of raping her in late 2004. She dropped the charges but never recanted. Jones said they had a consensual sexual encounter. A grand jury later alleged that as CEO he was part of an endemic culture of incompetence, patronage, fraud and cronyism.

MEMBER ON MEMBER PRIMARY

After the 2020 census, Georgias Republican-dominated Legislature redrew the boundaries of Democratic Rep. Lucy McBaths suburban Atlanta district, transforming it into a GOP stronghold. They also redrew another Atlanta-area swing seat, making Democratic Rep. Carolyn Bourdeuxs district solidly Democratic.

So McBath, a nationally renowned gun-safety advocate, went district shopping  and decided to challenge Bourdeaux, a college professor in her first term. And on Tuesday, McBath ousted her colleague-turned-rival, boosted by $4 millions in ad spending by the gun safety lobby, as well as a cryptocurrency billionaire.

McBath ran on a compelling personal story. Shes a Black woman whose son was killed by a white man during a dispute over stereo volume in 2012. Ever since her first election in 2018, McBath has made passing gun legislation through Congress her rallying cry.

Its a message that took on added poignancy Tuesday after an 18-year-old gunman entered a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children.

We are exhausted, all of us, McBath told supporters late Tuesday. We are exhausted because we cannot continue to be the only country in the world where we let this happen again and again and again.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE

Marjorie Taylor Greene has been a lightning rod for controversy since her 2020 election to Congress. Barely a month into her term, she was stripped of her committee assignments after social media posts were unearthed showing she had endorsed calls to assassinate prominent Democrats.

But her provocations havent ebbed since then. And thats apparently what voters in her conservative northwest Georgia district like about her.

On Tuesday, they overwhelmingly voted to send her back for a second term, dispatching a field of five GOP challengers, including a health care consultant who marketed herself as a no-nonsense conservative alternative.

Even before Greene was first elected, her antics enraged Democrats  and made her a rising Republican star.

In the short term, Democrats decision to strip Greene of her committee assignments reduced her influence in a chamber where the hard work of legislating is what builds power and influence.

But if Republicans win back the House majority in November, as history suggests they may, she could still come out ahead. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who is in line to become House speaker, has said she wont just get her committee assignments back; shell likely receive a promotion.

MINNESOTA DUMPSTER FIRE

When Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn died of kidney cancer in February, his widow, former Minnesota GOP chair Jennifer Carnahan, said her husbands wish was for her to succeed him and represent southern Minnesota in Congress.

The GOP primary race did not shape up that way, with Carnahan trailing in a distant third. The Associated Press has not yet called the race.

Even before announcing her bid, Carnahans friendship with a GOP donor who was federally indicted for sex-trafficking minors sparked a firestorm. Then a recording surfaced last year in which she said, Jims gonna be dead in two years. So be it. Last week, she was sued by her deceased husbands family as they attempted to recoup money they loaned him for cancer treatment, which they say she was supposed to pay back to them.

The drama, which local GOP officials have likened to a dumpster fire, allowed two other candidates to surge ahead.

Former state lawmaker Brad Finstad held a slim lead over state Rep. Jeremy Munson early Wednesday. But the race was too early to call.

The winner will face former Hormel Foods executive Jeff Ettinger, who won the Democratic nomination.

By BRIAN SLODYSKO

Associated Press
After Texas shooting, Conn. senator begs for gun compromise View Photo

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A U.S. senator who came to Congress representing the Connecticut community where 26 elementary school students and educators were killed nearly a decade ago begged his colleagues Tuesday, as the latest school shooting unfolded, to pass legislation addressing the nations gun violence problem.

The mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km) away from Newtown, Connecticut, felt all too familiar to residents and officials who saw many similarities to the attack by a lone gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

A gutted Sen. Chris Murphy took to the Senate floor Tuesday and demanded that lawmakers accomplish what they failed to do after 20 children, mostly 6 or 7 years old, and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut died on Dec. 14, 2012. Congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation since the collapse of a bipartisan Senate effort in the aftermath of that massacre.

What are we doing? Murphy asked. The Democrat, who represented Newtown during his time as a U.S. congressman, urged his colleagues to find a compromise.

Im here on this floor to beg  to literally get down on my hands and knees  to beg my colleagues. Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely, he said.

I just dont understand why people here think were powerless, Murphy told reporters later. We arent.

He said he was working with colleagues  and reaching out in particular to Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas  to see if they could muster any bipartisan support for gun violence legislation.

Though the party of Democratic President Joe Biden has slim control of Congress, bills on gun violence have been stymied in the face of Republican opposition in the Senate.

Last year, the House passed two bills to expand background checks on firearms purchases. One would have closed a loophole for private and online sales; the other would have extended the background check review period. Both languished in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome objections from a filibuster.

Tuesdays tragedy in Texas appeared similar to the Sandy Hook shooting, where a 20-year-old man shot his way into the locked school on Dec. 14, 2012, then killed 20 first graders and six adults with an AR-15-type rifle purchased legally by his mother. He killed himself as police arrived. Before going to the school, he fatally shot his mother at their Newtown home.

My son never came home from Sandy Hook. My heart bleeds for Texas as I relive Dylans murder, Sandy Hook parent Nicole Hockley wrote in an op-ed for USA Today.

In February, the families of nine Sandy Hook victims reached a $73 million settlement in a lawsuit against the maker of the rifle used in the shooting. The case against Remington, filed in 2015, was closely watched by gun control advocates, gun rights supporters and manufacturers because of its potential to provide a road map for victims of other shootings to sue firearm makers.

The families and a survivor argued the company should have never sold such a dangerous weapon to the public. Theyve said their focus is on preventing future mass shootings by forcing gun companies to be more responsible with their products and how they market them.

I hope that more people stand up and demand action and demand change and stop just accepting the tweets of thoughts and prayers. Thats not going to save lives. Its not going to bring people back, said Erica Lafferty, daughter of Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, the slain principal of Sandy Hook.

Its really just a gun lobby talking point and something that people feel that they need to say in lieu of action, she told The Associated Press.

Lafferty, program manager at Everytown for Gun Safety and an advocate for universal background checks, said she decided a couple years ago to step back from talking to the media following what became a succession of mass shootings.

On Tuesday, struck by the familiarity of the aerial news shots of an elementary school and the fact the victims included children as young as second grade and educators like her mother, Lafferty thought shed try to digest what had happened in Texas privately as well.

It didnt work.

I think that lasted maybe five minutes before I hear my moms voice in my head: `Get off your butt, kid. This is definitely your time, Lafferty said.

Advocacy groups that formed after Sandy Hook also expressed dismay as news of the shooting spread.

For the past decade, we have warned all Americans, including elected politicians across the nation, that if a mass shooting can happen in Sandy Hook then it can happen anywhere, Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance, said in a written statement.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, tweeted how the senseless violence will stop only when Congress matches thoughts & prayers with action.

Murphy acknowledged the problem of gun violence wont be solved overnight. But, he said, it can be addressed.

I understand my Republican colleagues will not agree to everything that I may support, but there is a common denominator that we can find, Murphy said. But by doing something, we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing, shooting after shooting.

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Mascaro reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer David Collins contributed to this report.

By SUSAN HAIGH and LISA MASCARO

Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  A gun and a loaded magazine were found in a second-grade students desk at a California school after other students alerted the staff that a classmate had brought the weapon, officials said.

The incident happened Tuesday at Edward Kemble Elementary in Sacramento, the Sacramento City Unified School District said in a statement to families.

School staff called police who secured the weapon and opened an investigation, the statement said.

We are grateful that this incident did not result in a tragedy such as those that districts have experienced, including todays tragic and senseless mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, the school district said. This is due in large part to the bravery and awareness of the students who came forward and alerted staff at Kemble today.

In Texas, an 18-year-old gunman on Tuesday fatally shot 19 children and two teachers before law enforcement officers killed him.

The Sacramento school district said the incident involving the second-grader was a reminder of the importance of the districts mantra to students of See something, say something when something seems wrong in school settings.

Sacramento police did not immediately return a telephone message Wednesday seeking more information about the event.
ATLANTA (AP)  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was a top target of former President Donald Trump, has won the Republican primary as he seeks reelection.

Raffensperger beat three challengers, including Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who had criticized his handling of the 2020 election. It was not immediately clear which Democrat he would face in November.

What I have found is that every Georgian wants safe and secure elections with the right balance of accessibility with security. Thats where Georgia voting is today, Raffensperger told reporters late Tuesday after declaring victory.

Raffensperger was among Trumps chief targets when the former president turned his wrath on top Georgia officials for not taking steps to overturn his narrow election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the state. Trump insisted without proof that victory had been stolen from him through widespread voter fraud.

In a now-notorious January 2021 phone call, Trump suggested Raffensperger could find enough votes to overturn President Bidens victory. That led a prosecutor in Atlanta to open an investigation into whether Trump and others tried to illegally influence the states election. That investigation is ongoing.

If you dont understand what happened in the election of 2020, heres what happened -- 28,000 Georgians skipped the presidential race and yet voted down ballot in other races, Raffensperger said.

Hice fully embraced Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and objected to Georgias electoral votes being counted for Biden. State and federal officials, including Trumps own attorney general, have said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. The votes in Georgias presidential election were counted three times, and each tally confirmed Bidens victory.

All three challengers in the GOP primary  Hice, former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle and former probate and magistrate judge T.J. Hudson  criticized Raffensperger's handling of the 2020 election, saying he caused Georgians to lose confidence in the system.

Raffensperger punched back, staunchly defending his record and insisting that Georgia's elections are fair and secure. He also made prohibiting noncitizens from voting  a platform popular with conservative Republicans that is already enshrined in Georgia law  a centerpiece of his reelection campaign.

Trump's obsession with his election loss and his unproven claims of widespread fraud have put a spotlight on down-ballot secretary of state races around the country.

Asked by a reporter if his victory was a direct rebuke of Trump, Raffensperger said, No, I think its a direct compliment to the goodness of my fellow Georgians.

On the Democratic side, State Rep. Bee Nguyen, who occupies the seat formerly held by Democratic gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, advanced to a runoff.

It was too early to tell which of the other four Democratic candidates she will face in the June 21 contest. They are Floyd Griffin, a state senator and former mayor of the city of Milledgeville; Michael Owens, former Cobb County Democratic Party chairman; John Eaves, former Fulton County Commission chairman; and Dee Dawkins-Haigler, a former state representative from DeKalb County.

Nguyen's campaign put out a news release early Wednesday saying her dominant position makes it clear that she's best positioned to beat Raffensperger.

Georgians deserve a Secretary of State who will fight for the right of every eligible voter to make their voices heard at the ballot box, regardless of their party affiliation, zip code, or the color of their skin," Nguyen said. "Im running to be Secretary of State because our basic civil liberties begin at the ballot box.

Nguyen has served in the state House since winning a 2017 special election to succeed Abrams in a district that includes parts of DeKalb County just east of the Fulton County line and some parts of the city of Atlanta. Nguyen is also a vice chair of the state Democratic Party.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  A Sacramento County resident who recently traveled to Europe may have the first confirmed case of the monkeypox virus in California, officials said Tuesday.

Confirmation for the monkeypox virus is pending with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state public health department said in a news release. The patient had traveled to areas in Europe where cases of monkeypox have been confirmed. The patient is isolating at home.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an order Wednesday to fast track Russian citizenship for residents of parts of southern Ukraine largely held by his forces, while lawmakers in Moscow passed a bill to strengthen the stretched Russian army.

Putins decree applying to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions could allow Russia to strengthen its hold on territory that lies between eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists occupy some areas, and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

The Russian army is engaged in an intense battle for Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas. In a sign that the Kremlin is trying to bolster its stretched military machine, Russian lawmakers agreed to scrap the age limit of 40 for those signing their first voluntary military contracts.

A description of the bill on the parliament website indicated older recruits would be allowed to operate precision weapons or serve in engineering or medical positions. The chair of the Russian parliaments defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said the measure would make it easier to hire people with in-demand" skills.

Russian officials say only volunteer contract soldiers are sent to fight in Ukraine, although they acknowledge that some conscripts were put into the fighting by mistake in the early stages of the war.

Three months into Russia's invasion, Putin visited a military hospital in Moscow on Wednesday and met with some soldiers wounded in Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement.

It was his first known visit with soldiers fighting in Ukraine since he launched the war on Feb. 24. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited wounded soldiers, civilians and children  including at times when Russian troops were fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv.

A reporter for the state-run Russia1 TV channel posted a video clip on Telegram showing Putin in a white medical coat talking to a man in hospital attire, presumably a soldier.

The man, filmed from behind standing up and with no visible wounds, tells Putin that he has a son. The president, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, responds: He will be proud of his father, before shaking the man's hand.

Zelenskyy reiterated Wednesday that he would be willing to negotiate with Putin directly but said Moscow needs to retreat to the positions it held before the invasion and must show it's ready to shift from the bloody war to diplomacy.

I believe it would be a correct step for Russia to make," Zelenskyy told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link.

He also said Ukraine wants to drive Russian troops out of all captured areas. Ukraine will fight until it reclaims all its territories, Zelenskyy said. Its about our independence and our sovereignty.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskyy strongly rebuffed those in the West who suggest Ukraine cede control of areas occupied by Russian troops for the sake of reaching a peace agreement.

Those great geopoliticians who suggest this are disregarding the interests of ordinary Ukrainians  the millions of those who actually live on the territory that they propose exchanging for an illusion of peace, he said. We always have to think of the people and remember that values are not just words.

Zelenskyy compared those who argue for giving Russia a piece of Ukraine to those who in 1938 agreed to cede territory to Hitler in hopes of preventing World War II.

Russia already had a program to expedite the naturalization of people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two eastern Ukraine provinces that make up the Donbas and where the Moscow-backed separatists hold large areas as self-declared independent republics.

During a visit to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin indicated they could become part of our Russian family.

A Russia-installed official in the Kherson region has predicted the region would become part of Russia. An official in Zaporizhzhia said Wednesday that the region's pro-Kremlin administration would seek that as well.

Melitopol, the Zaporizhzhia regions second-largest city, plans to start issuing Russian passports in the near future, said the Russia-installed acting mayor, Galina Danilchenko.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who attended the Davos forum in person, called for friendly countries  particularly the United States  to provide Ukraine with multiple launch rocket systems so it could try to recapture lost territory.

Every day of someone sitting in Washington, Berlin, Paris and other capitals, and considering whether they should or should not do something, costs us lives and territories, Kuleba said.

Zelenskyy said his army was facing the fiercest attack possible in the east by Russian forces, which in some places have many more weapons and soldiers. He pleaded for even more military assistance from the West, without exception, without restrictions. Enough to win.

The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, accused Russia of targeting shelters where civilians were hiding in the city of Sievierodonetsk.

The situation is serious, Haidai said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press. The city is constantly being shelled with every possible weapon in the enemys possession.

Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk are the largest remaining towns held by Ukraine in Luhansk. The region is more than 90% controlled by Russia, Haidai said, adding that a key supply route for Kyiv's troops was coming under pressure despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Haidai said the road between Lysychansk and the city of Bakhmut to the southwest was constantly being shelled and that Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams were approaching.

The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said four civilians were injured when two rockets hit the town of Pokrovsk early Wednesday.

One strike left a crater at least three meters (10 feet) deep, with the remnants of what appeared to be a rocket still smoldering. A row of low terraced houses near the strike suffered significant damage.

Theres no place to live in left. Everything is smashed, Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother of two who lived in one of the terraced houses, said.

An earlier strike about a month ago blew out the windows, which were replaced with plastic sheeting. Kurbonova thinks that probably saved their lives since there was no glass flying around.

In other developments, Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol was functional again following a nearly three-month siege that ended with the surrender last week of the last Ukrainian fighters holed up in a giant steel plant. Russia now has full control of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the separatists in Donetsk planned to set up a tribunal to put the fighters on trial and that Moscow welcomes the action.

___

Elena Becatoros in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, and Jamey Keaten in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
The challenge for every single Sri Lankan is how they are going to live tomorrow, as nothing about it is certain today.

by Raj Gonsalkorale

A shortage of medicine caused by an economic crisis in Sri Lanka could soon cause deaths, doctors said, as hospitals are forced to postpone life-saving procedures for their patients because they do not have the necessary drugs  Reuters

In a news item titled as above, Reuters have bared what many in Sri Lanka know about and fear. It is very bad for cancer patients, said Dr Roshan Amaratunga. Sometimes, in the morning we plan for some surgeries (but) we may not be able to do on that particular day ... as (supplies) are not there. If the situation does not improve quickly, several patients would be facing a virtual death sentence, he said.

A government official working on procuring medical supplies said about 180 items were running out, including injections for dialysis patients, medicine for patients who have undergone transplants and certain cancer drugs. The official, Saman Rathnayake, told Reuters that India, Japan and multilateral donors were helping to provide supplies, but it could take up to four months for items to arrive.

Sri Lanka imports more than 80% of its medical supplies but with foreign currency reserves running out because of the crisis, essential medications are disappearing from shelves and the healthcare system is close to collapse.

Referring to the ubiquitous queues for petrol and cooking gas, Dr VasanRatnasingam, a spokesman for the Government Medical Officers Association, said the consequences for people awaiting treatment were so much direr.If patients are in a queue for drugs, they will lose their lives,

In this dire situation, the country appoints more cabinet ministers. Political parties like the SJB, JVP, the TNA, SLMC and some other political parties keep jockeying to be ahead in the political race to continue the system that produces them and talk of conditional support for a national unity government. When people are faced with the situation described in the Reuters news item, when they look for firewood to cook their next meal, when they live in the dark for hours every day, these political parties and their priorities are a disgrace to the country. Capable people like Dr Harsha De Silva, Eran Wickramaratneamong others, should be in the cabinet to help take Sri Lanka out of the mess it is in, not some failed politicians who have been given posts.

The challenge for every single Sri Lankan is how they are going to live tomorrow, as nothing about it is certain today. The challenge for the politicians is to work together to give some hope to the people about tomorrow.

Sri Lanka probably needs an immediate infusion of say USD 10 Billion to have that better tomorrow, to import drugs, gas, diesel, and food and to begin living in the light. Export industries have to commence production, the tea industry has to be rejuvenated, small scale traders and industrialists have to recommence their businesses, the hotel industry has to be revived and tourists need to come back, and foreign remittances have to resume.

As the Prime Minister is attempting to do, friendly nations have to be canvassed to participate in a national emergency strategy to infuse the critically needed foreign exchange to do all of the above. All political parties must support such a strategy as a priority and not bicker in and outside the Parliament and organize protests.

Negotiations with the IMF for a longer-term strategy of debt restriction and emergency support must continue but Sri Lankans must know this is not going to happen tomorrow. Restructuring the countrys present debt and potential additional debt that will have to be incurred, (current overseas debt reportedly 56 billion USD) and this, shown as a per capita figure will be USD 2666 or in rupees at todays exchange rate, Rs 1,013,333. This is saying every Sri Lankan (taken as 21 million people) living in the country today owes Rs 1,013,333 each in foreign debt from the time of their birth. Once debt levels increase, these figures too will increase. The question that should be asked is why a newborn carries a debt of this magnitude and what wrong he or she has done to acquire this sad legacy.

This is the legacy left behind for the country by its political leaders. People should not be fooled by the political parties who are giving false hopes to people and leading them to protest marches and even instigating violence. This is treachery. Neither should the people endorse moves by the government to show that life is normal and they can have as many cabinet ministers as they wish. Life is not normal and what is needed is a small (say 10 members) emergency cabinet to manage the emergency faced by the country.

In regard to the medicine shortages, while several countries, India in particular, and individuals and organizations locally and overseas, have helped in raising funds and dispatching supplies, the health department needs to identify a list of items desperately needed, and what might be needed in the next few months. This is easily compiled for the State sector by the health department as they know what is available or not in public hospitals, what is the warehouses, and what is needed. This is yet to happen. Besides this, countries that manufacture drugs in the region like India, Bangladesh, Turkey, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia should be contacted to assist in supplying the countrys needs for the next 12 months. What is needed is a planned approach and not ad hoc begging arrangements. There needs to be a degree of certainty and not the uncertainty that prevails day in and day out today. If there is such a plan, it will help donors, individuals, and organizations to fit into such a plan.

As regards the private sector, perhaps some funds could be released to procure items from a list of critical items that could be prepared by a committee of experts and /or the arrangements relating to the public sector could be extended to cover such essential items for the private sector.

Neither the President, government ministers or the opposition leader, his parliamentarians nor other opposition political parties seem to have any empathy with the millions of people who are undergoing untold suffering and simply pursuing their own self-interests. No wonder people have given up on them and any hope for the future of the country. To the Prime Minister's credit, he seems to be the only politician showing some genuine interest in finding a solution to the critical situation faced by the country.
Congressman Jodey Arrington released the following statement today following news of a mass shooting at a school in Uvalde that killed 15.

The elementary school shooting in Uvalde is an unfathomable evil and absolutely heartbreaking for all involved. There will be more information and time for discussion in the days ahead but, for now, we must pray for these families.
A gunman shot and killed close to two dozen people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on the afternoon of May 24. Uvalde is a town of about 16,000 people about 85 miles West of San Antonio.

Here are five things to know about the mass shooting.

19 children and two adults are dead

As of Wednesday morning, 19 children and two teachers are dead as a result of the shooting, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The elementary school is home to about 600 second through fourth graders.

Multiple survivors are being treated at local and regional hospitals, although the exact number of victims has not yet been released.

Each of the 19 students and two teachers were from the same fourth-grade classroom, according to reporting from NPR.

The suspected shooter is also dead

The suspected shooter, an 18-year-old male who attended Uvalde High School, was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent, according to NPR. During a press conference, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the shooter abandoned his vehicle and entered the school with a weapon. Abbott also said the shooter allegedly shot his grandmother before going to the school.

The suspect is believed to have acted alone

The suspected shooter acted alone, according to law enforcement. The suspect bought at least two assault rifles shortly after his 18th birthday, State Sen. State Sen. Roland Gutierrez told CNN Tuesday evening, following a briefing from Texas Rangers.

This is one of many recent mass shootings in Texas

The Uvalde shooting is one of eight mass shootings to take place in Texas over the last 13 years. The recent string of mass shootings in the state began in 2009 with the Fort Hood Army base shooting where a psychiatrist killed 13 and injured 31 during the attack.

Other recent shootings include the Texas First Baptist Church shooting in Sutherland Springs, which left 26 killed and 20 injured in 2017, the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018, where 10 were killed and 13 injured, and the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting that resulted in 23 victims killed and 25 injured.

Texas politicians reacted to the news

Politicians across the state of Texas responded to the news of the shooting, expressing sympathy and calling for action. Abbott posted a statement on Twitter saying he and his wife Cecilia mourn the horrific loss and urging Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering.

Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde, Abbott wrote in the tweet.

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez, whose district represents Uvalde and Robb Elementary School, tweeted that his heart breaks for the city of Uvalde. He accompanied his tweet with a verse from the Bible stating, Children are a gift from the Lord.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke posted a series of tweets on Tuesday afternoon about the shooting. Our broken hearts are with Uvalde, ORourke first tweeted. The candidate then posted multiple tweets discussing gun policies in Texas and urged the governor to withdraw from the National Rifle Associations convention being held in Houston on May 27-29.
City of Plainview

The Plainview-Hale County Health Department has six back-to-school vaccination clinics planned throughout the summer and the first are in June.

The clinics are free and will be at the Health Department, 111 E. 10th St. from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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LONDON (AP)  An investigative report released Wednesday blamed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other senior leaders for allowing boozy government parties that broke the U.K.s COVID-19 lockdown rules, and while Johnson said he took full responsibility for the breaches, he insisted he would not resign.

Revelations that Johnson and his staff repeatedly flouted restrictions they imposed on Britain in 2020 and 2021 have fueled outrage in the country and led to calls from opponents for Johnson to step down over the scandal known as partygate.

Most lawmakers in Johnsons governing Conservative Party have stood by him for now, and its not yet clear if senior civil servant Sue Grays report will change that, despite its detailed descriptions of alcohol-fueled bashes in the building where the prime minister both lives and works.

Gray investigated 16 gatherings attended by Johnson and his staff while U.K. residents were barred from socializing, or even from visiting sick and dying relatives, because of coronavirus restrictions.

Grays report concluded that the senior leadership team ... must bear responsibility for a rule-breaking culture. She said there had been failures of leadership and judgment" in the prime ministers 10 Downing St. office.

Those in the most junior positions attended gatherings at which their seniors were present, or indeed organized, she said.

A separate police investigation resulted in fines for 83 people including Johnson  making him the first British prime minister found to have broken the law while in office.

Speaking to lawmakers after the report was published, Johnson said he took full responsibility for everything that took place and was sorry  but denied he knowingly break any rules. He said he was humbled and had learned a lesson but it was now time to move on and focus on Britain's battered economy and the war in Ukraine.

Critics, some of them in the Conservative Party, have said Johnson lied to Parliament about the events. Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament are expected to resign.

Johnson denied lying. He insisted that when he told Parliament last year no rules were broken and there were no parties, it was what I believed to be true.

Johnson attended several events mentioned in Grays report, including a June 2020 birthday party for which he was fined 50 pounds ($63). He told a news conference: I believed that they were work events."

British media and opposition politicians have found that hard to square with staff members' accounts of bring-your-own-booze parties and regular wine time Fridays in the Downing Street office amid the pandemic.

Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said Gray's report was a catalogue of criminality and that Johnson's government had treated the sacrifices of the British people with utter contempt."

Gray's mandate did not allow her to mete out punishment. Much of her 37-page report is devoted to a detailed account of the events, including a May 2020 party in the Downing Street garden to which the Prime Minister brought cheese and wine from his flat and a party the next month at which one individual was sick and there was a minor altercation between two other individuals.

At another party held the night before the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, revelers in the garden broke a swing belonging to Johnsons toddler son Wilf and partied until 4 a.m.

The report includes emails and WhatsApp messages suggesting that staff members knew they were breaking the rules. One invitation was changed from Wine and Cheese Evening to End of Year Meeting with Wine & Cheese. On another occasion, a staffer warned that journalists would be in the building for a news conference and people should avoid walking around waving bottles of wine."

In measured civil service language, Gray slammed the behavior of those involved. She said there were multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff, branding that unacceptable.

Many will be dismayed that behavior of this kind took place on this scale at the heart of government," Gray wrote. The public have a right to expect the very highest standards of behavior in such places and clearly what happened fell well short of this.

Johnson has clung to power despite the scandal, partly because Russias invasion of Ukraine has diverted public and political attention. Some Conservatives argue would be rash to push Johnson out now, whatever his flaws.

Conservatives also have tried to rebuff criticism by pointing out that Labour's Starmer also faces a police investigation for having a beer and a takeout curry with colleagues in April 2021. He insists the meal was part of a working day and broke no rules but has said he will resign if fined by police.

Now that Gray and the police have finished their investigations, Johnsons fate is in the hands of the Conservative Party, which has a history of throwing out leaders who become liabilities. Tory lawmakers say they have received angry messages from voters, and many are uncomfortable defending serial rule-breaking.

Johnson faces an inquiry by a House of Commons standards committee over whether he lied to Parliament. And Gray's conclusions could revive calls from Conservative lawmakers for a no-confidence vote in the leader who won them a big parliamentary majority in 2019. Under party rules, such a vote is triggered if 15% of party lawmakers  currently 54  write letters calling for one.

If Johnson lost such a vote, he would be replaced as Conservative leader and prime minister. Its unclear how many letters have been submitted so far, though one more was submitted Wednesday. Conservative lawmaker Julian Sturdy said, I am now unable to give the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt and feel it is now in the public interest for him to resign.

Johnson got a warm reception from Tory lawmakers at a private meeting in Parliament Wednesday evening. Attendees described him as solemn and conciliatory.

He fully gets the mood, said legislator Jonathan Gullis.

But another Conservative, Tobias Ellwood, said in the House of Commons that Johnson had lost his support.

A question I humbly put to my colleagues is, are you willing day in and day out to defend this behavior publicly? he said.
California Pizza Kitchen

California Pizza Kitchen's presence in San Antonio is down to a single slice. After 12 years at the Alamo Quarry Market, the restaurant has closed, leaving only a sole San Antonio location off Huebner Road.

Scott Hargrove, spokesperson for the California pizza company with more than 200 locations worldwide, says the restaurant was closed as of Sunday, May 22. He did not say if CPK has more San Antonio locations in the works.
When world-famous chef Aaron Franklin texted Nicola Blaque a few months ago, the Jerk Shack owner was surprised.

"I know people know about me, but I don't think people know about me," Blaque says. "It was like, 'Whoa, Aaron Franklin knows how to reach me.'"

Franklin is, in addition to being a James Beard Foundation Award-winner and the owner of perhaps the country's most famous barbecue joint, the co-founder of Hot Luck, the vaunted DIY food and music festival. Franklin books his guest chefs for the event on a whim, often via text, and without a hint of formality.

Blaque, who also owns Caribbean street food restaurant Mi Roti, says that just two years ago, she cooked at a food event and was a few booths down from Franklin, who didn't yet know who she was. Much has changed since then, as Jerk Shack has become a San Antonio institution, serving up beef patties, jerk chicken, coco honey butter rolls, and other Caribbean cuisine that reflects the pride she has in her Jamaican upbringing.

Courtesy, Jason Risner

In fact, Blaque was compelled to open the restaurant in 2018 after returning to Jamaica for her aunt's funeral. That week, she ate some of the best jerk chicken of her life. When she returned to San Antonio, and realized that there were only four Caribbean restaurants in the entire city, she says she felt a calling from beyond the grave.

"It was my aunt speaking to me," she says, "telling me to keep going."

After she finished at the Culinary Institute of America, that's just what she did. Just one year after opening, Eater named Jerk Shack to its Best New Restaurants list.

Blaque says once she got off the call with Franklin  who told her that she could cook whatever she wanted  she scoured the Hot Luck website to see what others had done in years past and got with her team to come up with an idea. When asked about what that idea might be for Al Fuego, the massive flagship event held at Wild Onion Ranch on Saturday, May 28, the Jerk Shack chef isn't giving anything away.

"It'll be Caribbean inspired," she says, laughing.

Blaque tries to cook dishes that aren't already on the Jerk Shack menu and never cooks the same thing twice at events like Hot Luck. She says that this enables her to use food festivals as a tool to draw folks into the restaurant to show what she has to offer.

"I just want to explore Caribbean food and showcase what Caribbean food can be in Texas," she says. "I've done tacos. My last event, we did a Caribbean-inspired ceviche. I use it to tie multiple cultures together."

The chef says that she's excited about Hot Luck because it's an opportunity to interact directly with the customer in a live setting. At Al Fuego, attendees pay a flat fee and walk from booth to booth, sampling dishes and chatting up chefs.

"I love it," Blaque says. "It's inspiring to my staff too, because they get to see, firsthand, the one-on-one connection with the customer and hear like, 'Oh my gosh, this is great.'"

Courtesy, Jason Risner

Blaque says that getting the call-up from Franklin feels like a validation of sorts, even if she is already confident in her abilities as a chef.

"I'm finally picked for the A-team," she says. "I want to show up and I want to really impress I don't want to give nobody any guesses on what I'm doing. I'm finally here to play and I'm ready to show y'all my skills."

Blaque says she's excited to show off what she can do and make new connections while she's in Austin, particularly because she sees how small her circle is in the industry.

"I'm a minority chef, I'm a female chef," she says. "In San Antonio, there are very few of us. I want the pool of people like me to get bigger and to see more of us at these types of events."

She also agrees that San Antonio doesn't get its due as a major food city in the way that Houston or Austin does.

"I don't know what it is. I don't know where the disconnect is," Blaque says.

She mentions the national notoriety she has received, from publications like GQ and Southern Living. She points to multiple James Beard-nominated chefs from San Antonio. Regardless, she says, the city doesn't get the same kind of love that others might with equivalent accolades.

"I'm hoping with us being tied to larger events like Hot Luck, it brings more exposure to the great cuisine that we're doing here in San Antonio," Blaque says. "And that our chefs are just as capable as any other chef in any other major city."
SEATTLE (AP)  Alaska Airlines pilots have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a future strike if current contract negotiations with management and federal mediation efforts fail.

The Air Line Pilots Association said Wednesday that almost 96% of its members cast mail-in votes and that 99% of those authorized the unions leaders to call a strike if necessary and when permitted after a prolonged process managed by the National Mediation Board, The Seattle Times reported.

Following an informational picket in April by 1,500 off-duty pilots, the vote may increase pressure on Alaska Airlines management to come to a contract settlement. The union has been stalled for years trying to negotiate a contract that addresses work rules, scheduling flexibility and career security.

In a memo to the pilots, Capt. Will McQuillen, council chairperson of the pilots association's Alaska unit, said the vote provides union negotiators an important tool to help achieve your goals.

He said it also sends a clear message that you are unwilling to fall further behind your peers at other major airlines.

After a management request, the pilots union and company officials are meeting again this week. The union told its members it will report to them Friday on the outcome of those talks.

A strike, however, cannot happen soon.

Federal legislation governing national transportation workers mandates that before they can strike, the National Mediation Board must decide that additional mediation efforts would not be productive and must offer an opportunity to resolve the contract through arbitration. That could take months.

If either side declines the arbitration, a further 30-day cooling off period is required before strike action.

A spate of Alaska Airlines flight cancellations over the past two months were not because of labor action by the pilots but were caused by a general pilot shortage.

Alaskas management misjudged how many newly hired pilots would graduate from its training school this spring. The airline cut its flight schedule in response and said the situation should substantially improve in June.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  Prosecutors wrapped up their case and the defense called no witnesses Wednesday in the trial of a man accused of killing his wifes coworker after he discovered they were texting, and then forcing her to behead him.

The judge also denied a defense request to dismiss the case against Armando Barron. His lawyer cited insufficient evidence for the case to go to the jury and conflicting testimony; the prosecution disagreed.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday in the Keene, New Hampshire, courtroom.

Prosecutors allege Barron assaulted his wife, Britany Barron, the night he discovered she had been texting with her coworker, Jonathan Amerault, then used her cellphone to lure him to a park just north of the Massachusetts state line in September 2020. They allege he beat and kicked Amerault, forced him into his own car and shot him three times.

Armando Barron pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping and other charges. His lawyers argue that his wife shot Amerault, which she denies.

Britany Barron had testified last week that after Amerault was shot, she was then forced to drive the car 200 miles (322 kilometers) north to a remote campsite. There, she said, she was forced to behead Amerault and dispose of his body.

Testimony on Wednesday focused mostly on cellphone tower records. They showed Amerault's device moving from his home in Keene at about 11:15 p.m. to a park in Rindge the night of Sept. 19, 2020, and then staying put for a little over an hour, intelligence analyst Tracey Flaherty testified.

Eventually, Amerault's phone and Britany Barron's phone were making connections to a tower near the park at the same time, at about 11:40 p.m., Flaherty testified.

She said that Amerault and Britany Barron's phones both started moving from the park at about 12:50 a.m. on Sept. 20, 2020, and eventually connected with a cell tower near the Barrons' home in Jaffrey a few miles away.

At about 1:13 a.m., a text was sent from Britany Barron's phone to Amerault's, saying Hey, just woke up what did you need," while both devices were still connected to that same tower, Flaherty testified.

Amerault's phone stopped communicating with cell towers at 1:53 a.m. on Sept. 20, Flaherty testified.

Britany Barron's phone, meanwhile, and a cellphone used by another family member in the Barron household were shown moving north starting at about 3:30 a.m. and connecting with the same cell towers, eventually stopping about 200 miles north in Errol at about 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 20.

Records also show that numerous calls were made from the family member's phone to Britany Barron's phone during that time period, Flaherty testified.

When questioned by the defense, Flaherty testified that cellphones are designed to connect to towers that have the best signal, not necessarily to towers that are the closest.

She also said she was not provided with a phone number indicating that it belonged to Armando Barron.

Britany Barron pleaded guilty last year to three counts of falsifying evidence and was released from jail on parole last month.

The Associated Press had not been naming the couple in order not to identify Britany Barron, who said she suffered extreme abuse. Through her lawyer, she recently agreed to the use of her name.
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MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was proclaimed the next president of the Philippines by a joint session of Congress on Wednesday following a landslide election triumph 36 years after his dictator father was ousted in a pro-democracy uprising.

The Senate and House of Representatives also declared that his separately elected vice presidential running mate, Sara Duterte, had won by a wide margin. She is the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, whose turbulent six-year term ends on June 30.

They will lead a nation battered by COVID-19 lockdowns, crushing poverty, gaping inequality, Muslim and communist insurgencies, crime and political divisions further inflamed by the May 9 election.

With his 92-year-old mother, Imelda Marcos, his wife, family and siblings beside him, Marcos Jr.'s hands were raised by the Senate president and House speaker in a plenary hall bedecked with a huge Philippine flag to applause from the audience, which included diplomats.

I'm humbled, he later told reporters. I thank our people and, beyond that, I promise you that we may not be perfect but we will always strive to perfection.

"I ask you all pray for me, wish me well. I want to do well because when the president does well, the country does well," he said, without taking any questions.

Marcos Jr., a 64-year-old former governor, congressman and senator, has refused to acknowledge or apologize for massive human rights violations and plunder under his father's rule and has defended his legacy.

When they take office, Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte will likely face demands to prosecute her father over thousands of killings of mostly poor suspects under his yearslong crackdown on illegal drugs. The deaths are currently under investigation by the International Criminal Court.

Marcos Jr. received more than 31 million votes and Sara Duterte more than 32 million out of more than 55 million votes cast in the election. It was the first majority presidential victory in the Asian democracy in decades.

During the campaign, they avoided controversial issues and focused on a call for national unity, although their fathers presidencies opened some of the most volatile divisions in the countrys history. Marcos Jr. appealed to be judged not by my ancestors, but by my actions.

Sen. Imee Marcos, his sister, thanked those who voted for him after what she described as decades of ridicule and oppression."

Were very, very grateful for a second chance, she told reporters before the proclamation. Our family went through a lot and after 1986, we faced all sorts of cases, ridicule and oppression" for nearly four decades.

In Marcos Jr.s campaign headquarters, supporters waved Philippine flags, flashed the victory sign and held a streamer congratulating him and Sara Duterte.

Still, both have been hounded by their fathers reputations.

Riot police used a water cannon and shields to prevent a few hundred activists from marching to Congress to oppose Wednesdays proclamations, injuring at least 14 protesters, the left-wing group Bayan said.

Ferdinand Sr. tortured a lot of people, many were killed and many are still missing up to now. There is no justice for their families. Many starved and that was also the same in Dutertes period, protester Mimi Domingo said.

Last week, human rights activists submitted a petition to the Supreme Court against Marcos Jr.s eligibility, citing his past tax conviction. They asked the court to block his proclamation, but no such order was issued. The complaint was earlier dismissed by the Commission on Elections.

His father was forced from power by a largely peaceful People Power uprising in 1986 and died in 1989 while in exile in Hawaii without admitting any wrongdoing, including accusations that he, his family and cronies amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion while he was in power.

A Hawaii court later found him liable for human rights violations and awarded $2 billion from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

Imelda Marcos and her children were allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991 and worked on a stunning political comeback, helped by a well-funded social media campaign to refurbish the family name.

Along metropolitan Manilas main avenue, democracy shrines and monuments erected after Marcos downfall stand prominently. The anniversary of his ouster is celebrated each year as a special national holiday, and a presidential commission that has worked for decades to recover ill-gotten wealth still exists.

Marcos Jr. has not explained how he will deal with such remainders of the past.

What happens to all the monuments that commemorate all those lives lost? What happens to all those monuments that celebrate our collective victories? asked Pio Abad, a Filipino artist who opened an art exhibit last month focusing on the extravagant lifestyle of the Marcoses when they were in power amid the country's appalling poverty.

History is at stake and that is probably, for me, one of the largest things at risk, said Abad, whose activist father was detained after the dictator imposed martial law in 1972.

___

Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report.




Everett's Epic Ford is no more as dealer sells





Michael Whitney photo



The empty lot at Epic Ford as seen Wednesday, May 18.



EVERETT  The cars are all gone from Epic Ford as the dealership shut down earlier this month.

It leaves Everett currently without a dealer for the No. 3-selling automaker in America.

The Ford dealership was owned by Swickard Auto Group, an Oregon-based company.

The real estate and the business have been sold, and the company cannot discuss the transaction, said Greg Gates, a vice president at Swickard. The company has various car dealerships in Washington and four other states.

Land assessors records at the county have not revealed the new landowner.

Epics phone line directs people to nearby Ford dealers such as Bickford Motors of Snohomish.

Prior to Swickard taking over, the dealership at 52nd Street and Evergreen Way was Brien Ford for decades.

Among all categories of retail for the citys sales tax revenue, auto sales in Everett represent about 28%. In city limits, the city has dealers selling new Toyotas, Chevrolets, Dodges and Chryslers, Hondas, Hyundais, Kias, Nissans, Volkswagens, GMCs and Buicks. The Mazda dealer is just outside city limits.

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HONOLULU (AP)  A high school prom in Hawaii where masked dancers weren't allowed to touch. A return to virtual city council meetings in one Colorado town after the mayor and others tested positive following an in-person session. A reinstated mask mandate at skilled nursing facilities in Los Angeles County after 22 new outbreaks in a single week.

A COVID-19 surge is underway that is starting to cause disruptions as the school year wraps up and Americans prepare for summer vacations. Many people, though, have returned to their pre-pandemic routines and plans, which often involve travel.

Case counts are as high as theyve been since mid-February and those figures are likely a major undercount because of unreported positive home test results and asymptomatic infections. Earlier this month, an influential modeling group at the University of Washington in Seattle estimated that only 13% of cases were being reported to U.S. health authorities.

Hospitalizations are also up and more than one-third of the U.S. population lives in areas that are considered at high risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Northeast has been hit the hardest.

Yet vaccinations have stagnated and elected officials nationwide seem loath to impose new restrictions on a public that's ready to move on even as the U.S. death toll surpassed 1 million people less than 2 1/2 years into the outbreak.

People probably are underestimating the prevalence of COVID, said Crystal Watson, public health lead in the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Securitys Coronavirus Resource Center. I think theres a lot more virus out there than we recognize, and so people are much, much more likely than they anticipate to be exposed and infected.

A major metric for the pandemic  the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in the U.S.  skyrocketed over the last two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The figure was about 76,000 on May 9 and jumped to nearly 109,000 on Monday. That was the highest it had been since mid-February, when the omicron-fueled surge was winding down.

Deaths are still on the decline and hospital intensive care units arent swamped like they were at other times during the pandemic, likely because vaccinations and immunity from people who have already had the disease are keeping many cases less severe.

The nature of the disease has changed. Two years ago I was seeing a steady flow of bad pneumonia cases. Now we are in a situation where people should be able to avoid that outcome by taking advantage of vaccines, pre-exposure prophylaxis (for high risk), and early anti-viral therapy, Dr. Jonathan Dworkin, a clinical infectious diseases physician in Hawaii, said by email.

In Hawaii, which once had one of the nation's lowest rates of infection, hospitalization and death, new cases are surging among the states 1.4 million residents. The University of Hawaii will again require masks indoors across its 10-campus system beginning Wednesday.

With cases climbing for eight straight weeks, Hawaii has the second highest infection rate of any state, trailing only Rhode Island. But because positive home test results aren't counted in official data, Hawaii's health department estimates that the case count is actually five or six times higher.

Despite its surge, visitors have been flocking to Hawaii's beaches, especially in recent months.

Yaling Fisher, owner of Hawaii Aloha Travel, said bookings to the islands haven't slowed during the surge. On the contrary, they've increased.

Even now we are still busy, she said. We dont see any cancellations.

Samantha Hanberg, who was in Hawaii this week with her newlywed husband, said the couple left their masks at home in California when they left for vacation. She said she contracted COVID-19 early in the pandemic and subsequently got fully vaccinated, so she too feels safe.

Nobody wants to get sick, but its definitely not at the forefront of my thought process anymore, she said, snacking on shave ice on Waikiki Beach. "Im to the point now where I just I want to go back to living and enjoying life, and not being so worried.

Officials initially shut down Hawaiis tourism industry by requiring all incoming passengers to quarantine. They shifted to a testing requirement and then a vaccination exemption before dropping all restrictions in March.

Hawaii was the last state in the nation to drop its mask mandate, though it remains the only state to require all public school students to wear masks while indoors  a rule that will remain in effect throughout the summer and possibly into the next school year.

Nearly two years after California Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed the nation's first statewide stay-home order, the state formally shifted to an endemic approach in February. Like Hawaii and many other states, its weekly infection rate has risen dramatically of late.

The new surge led the school districts in Pacific Grove and Berkeley to reinstate their indoor mask mandates, while an outbreak at a Northern California long-term healthcare facility had sickened 26 residents and 10 staff members by Monday.

Some Northeastern school districts have also revived their mask mandates, including those in Philadelphia and Providence, Rhode Island.

However New York, which was once the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic, doesnt seem likely to follow suit. The city is dealing with another surge in cases, but Mayor Eric Adams has all but ruled out bringing back a citywide mask mandate unless hospitals get inundated again.

The city's school district jettisoned its practice of closing classrooms if multiple students test positive, merely recommends that masks be worn and even abandoned its requirement that students need to be vaccinated to attend prom.

___

Dazio reported from Los Angeles.

___

Find more of the AP's pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  Razor clam fisheries in parts of the Cook Inlet area will remain closed for sport and personal use this year, continuing a years-long trend of closures as the clam population has struggled to regain numbers.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says eastern Cook Inlet beaches from the mouth of the Kenai River to the southernmost tip of the Homer Spit are closed to clamming through the end of 2022, Anchorage TV station KTUU reported.
Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

Texas Governor Greg Abbotts press conference addressing the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde and law enforcement response efforts was interrupted by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke. O'Rourke got into a heated exchange with Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas House Speaker Rep. Dade Phelan, and other officials about the lack of action to prevent these types of tragedies.

About 15 minutes into the press conference that began at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25, ORourke, who appeared to be sitting in the front row, approached the stage and berated the leaders. In a video posted on NBC News live stream, you could hear ORourke yelling, This is on you until you choose to do something.
Oliver Helbig/Getty Images

A high school student in Richardson was arrested on Wednesday, May 25, for possessing an AK-47-style pistol and replica AR-15-style Obreeze rifle near a school zone, according to the Richardson Police Department. Richardson is a suburb northeast of Dallas.

Police received a phone call from a business in the 1500 block of East Spring Valley Road about a man holding what appeared to be a rifle. Police say he was seen walking toward Berkner High School at 1600 East Spring Valley Road.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday he was not sure whether he would attend the National Rifle Associations annual meeting in Houston this week, which will take place days after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at a Uvalde elementary school on Tuesday.

As far as future plans are concerned, listen, Im living moment-to-moment right now, he said when asked about the convention during a news conference updating the public on the shooting. My heart, my head and my body are in Uvalde right now, and Im here to help the people who are hurting.

Abbott, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are scheduled to attend the event but none of their offices have commented on their attendance since the shooting unfolded on Tuesday. Former President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to speak, said Wednesday he still plans to attend.

America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship, Trump said in a statement. Thats why I will keep my longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA Convention and deliver an important address to America. In the meantime, we all continue to pray for the victims, their families and our entire nation  we are all in this together.

On Wednesday, the NRA issued a statement expressing its deepest sympathies for the victims of this horrific and evil crime and saluting the school officials and first responders who responded to the shooting.

Although an investigation is underway and facts are still emerging, we recognize this was the act of a lone, deranged criminal, the statement read. As we gather in Houston, we will reflect on these events, pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members, and pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure.

The group did not immediately respond to questions about whether it would alter plans for the meeting or if any more speakers had withdrawn from the event. After the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, the NRA opted to scale down its convention which was scheduled to happen days later and a few miles away.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was slated to speak at the convention but his team told news outlets on Tuesday the Republican had notified the NRA he would not be attending because of an unexpected change in his schedule that now required him to be in Washington for personal reasons.

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, was also slated to speak but is now touring the reopened U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, which had shut its doors prior to the start of the Russian invasion of the country in February. Crenshaw plans to visit with members of the Ukrainian parliament to discuss the $40 billion in aid Congress approved for Ukraine. A spokesperson for Crenshaws office said the congressman will not be back in time to speak for the NRA convention.

Neither lawmaker cited the shooting as a reason for their withdrawal from the event, but gun control advocates and Democrats are calling on Texas lawmakers to withdraw from the convention.

Governor [Greg] Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekends NRA convention and urge them to hold it anywhere but Texas, Beto ORourke, the Democratic nominee for governor said in a statement on social media Tuesday night.

The speaking engagement leaves Texas Republicans in a tricky political situation. The public is still reeling from the brutal killing at a small-town elementary school, the first major event of this kind in Texas since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. But the Texas GOP is closely tied to the NRA and its advocacy for loose gun ownership policies.

After a shooting at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 that killed 23 people, Patrick, a staunch ally of the NRA, appeared ready to take on the gun rights group, saying he was willing to take an arrow to require background checks for stranger-to-stranger gun sales.

I'm a solid NRA guy," he told The Dallas Morning News at the time, "but not expanding the background check to eliminate the stranger to stranger sale makes no sense to me and ... most folks."

But when the opportunity to push the policy through came in the 2021 legislative session, Patrick abandoned any support for the plan, instead helping the Legislature loosen the requirements for carrying a handgun in public.

The state allows people with concealed handgun licenses to carry handguns into public university buildings in Texas. Last year, the Legislature passed a controversial law that allowed people to carry a handgun in public without a license or training. The bill had been beaten back many times before because of public safety concerns.

But gun advocates have exerted considerable pressure on GOP officials to loosen gun laws. And the relationship between state leaders and the NRA is symbiotic.

In 2021, the NRA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a bid to reorganize the nonprofit in gun-friendly Texas in what experts saw as a move to avoid an aggressive lawsuit being pursued by the attorney general in New York. Prosecutors there accused the NRA of fraudulently using the groups funds for decades and aimed to put it out of business.

A bankruptcy judge ultimately dismissed the NRAs case, but not before Abbott enthusiastically welcomed the group to move to Texas.

Welcome to Texas  a state that safeguards the 2nd Amendment, he tweeted.

Texas gun culture is rooted in many of the states responses to mass shootings. In 1991, a gunman killed 23 people at a Lubys Cafeteria in Killeen. Suzanna Hupp, one of the shootings survivors who lost both of her parents in the killing, later said she had left her .38 revolver in her car because she feared she would lose her chiropractors license if she was caught carrying it in a restaurant. Her testimony pushed the Legislature to pass a law that allowed Texans to carry concealed weapons. She was later elected to the Texas House in 1996.

In 2017, another gunman killed 27 people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. After the shooting, Stephen Willeford, a resident and former NRA firearms instructor, engaged the shooter in a firefight and pursuit, which ended with the shooter crashing his vehicle. Police eventually found the shooter with three gunshot wounds, including a self-inflicted one to the head.

In recent years, the Legislature has responded to mass shootings by providing money to research mental health problems, which they say is a key factor in the killings. Theyve also pushed to arm more teachers and school officials with weapons to respond to shootings.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
SERGIO FLORES/AFP via Getty Images

Gov. Greg Abbott attended a fundraiser for his reelection campaign Tuesday night in East Texas, hours after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school over 300 miles away in Uvalde. His campaign says he is postponing all political activities going forward.

Abbott went to the fundraiser after visiting Taylor County  another part of the state  to survey the state's wildfire response there. While holding a news conference there, he gave an update on the Uvalde shooting, which had just happened.
UPDATE: President Joe Biden pled with United States Congress members to pass "common sense gun laws," saying "we have to do more" on Tuesday evening in response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School that left at least 18 children and three adults dead.

"To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away, Biden says, sending his condolences and prayers to parents of the students who were killed.

He says he heard the news on Air Force One while returning from a trip to Asia, and going on to say he noticed that these type of mass shootings in the United States don't happen at the same frequency anywhere else in the world.

"I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. Dont tell me we cant have an impact on this carnage," Biden says. "Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in Gods name is our backbone?"

Since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 which left 26 victims dead, the president says more than 900 shooting incidents have happened at the country's schools.

"Its time to turn this pain into action," Biden said.

Original story follows below.

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on the deadly Robb Elementary School mass shooting in Uvalde that killed 14 students and one teacher on Tuesday, May 24. Biden directed that American flags be flown at half-staff through sunset of Saturday, May 28, in honor of the victims.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted that Biden was briefed on the shooting by Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O'Malley-Dillon and other members of his senior team aboard Air Force One.

"President Biden has been briefed on the horrific news of the elementary school shooting in Texas and will continue to be briefed regularly as information becomes available," Pierre stated in the tweet. "His prayers are with the families impacted by this awful event, and he will speak this evening when he arrives back at the White House."

White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield tweeted that Biden spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from the presidential plane "to offer any and all assistance he needs in the wake of the horrific shooting in Uvalde, TX."

Biden is set to address the nation at 7:15 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, about an hour after his return to the White House.

Just one week ago, Biden was in Buffalo, New York to visit the families of 10 Black victims killed at a shooting in a supermarket.
San Antonio is reeling from the aftermath of the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting that claimed the lives of at least 19 children and two adults on Tuesday, May 24. The tragedy occurred about 80 miles west of San Antonio in a close-knit community that has countless ties to the Alamo City.

As San Antonio rallies support for our neighbor in the form of monetary and blood donations, and even stuffed animal donations, a few local businesses are also offering specials with proceeds giving back to the community.

El Remedio

Joshua and Martha Palacios, the husband-wife owners of San Antonio's popular birria business, are heading to Uvalde to feed parents of victims and whoever needs a warm meal. The business owners are parents of three children, two of which are in elementary school. Joshua Palacios says his role as a parent and a business owner pushed him to help. He says all he's felt since opening El Remedio is support from San Antonio and surrounding cities and it was a no-brainer that he'd want to give back.

"This hit so close to home. These innocent children didn't have to leave us like this," he tells MySA. "It's devastating that these parents can't take their kids home."

El Remedio will be set up at the Civic Center in Uvalde and Joshua Palacios plans on driving around to give out food to whoever needs it. He spoke to MySA while the birria he's planning on distributing cooked. He plans on heading to the town by 11:30 a.m. and will stay out there throughout the day.

"It's our responsibility and our priority to give back and be there for our community, just the way they're there for us," he says. "It's the least we can do. We're going to go out and support and give them a plate to eat, because I'm sure the last thing on their minds is eating. So we're going to be there. We're going to serve as many places as possible."

While the Palacioses are on the ground, the couple wants the city to know that their aid is a reflection of the city and represents San Antonio as a whole.

"When El Remedio gives back, that's all San Antonio," Joshua Palacios says. "It's not Josh, it's not Martha, it's San Antonio because El Remedio wouldn't be El Remedio without San Antonio. We wouldn't be able to do this without San Antonio."

Jeepney Street Eats

The food truck that's part of the Sari Sari brand also fed Uvalde on Wednesday. In a post, Sari Sari owners Camille and Adrian De Los Reyes say that they were contacted by the Spurs and World Central Kitchen to help feed the community.

"Our entire Sari Sari family is with you during this difficult time. We are a family owned and operated business. We have three children ages 9, 7, and 4 years old. This is such devastating news," the business owners say in a post.

Stuffed Animal Drive

A series of local businesses have banded together to run a stuffed animal drive for children affected by the shooting at Robb Elementary. Drop off any gently loved stuffed toy beginning on Thursday, May 26 at Indy Coffee, Alley Cat, Gold Coffee, Southtown Vinyl, Jaime's Place, Folklores Coffee House, Alley Cat, Friends of Sound, or the Lighthouse Lounge.

The official hours of the stuffed animal drive have not yet been announced.

"While we know a stuffed animal is not going to fix this problem, we all agreed that any item of comfort is a necessity at this time. If you have children, you know how much a huggable item is crucial during moments of rest, stress and sadness," wrote Gold Coffee in a social media post.

Amaretti Coffee

In the hours following the mass shooting, the Broadway coffee shop announced that 100% of profits earned for Wednesday, May 25, and Thursday, May 26, will go to Uvalde. The coffee shop is also boosting a verified online fundraiser launched by VictimsFirst to help Uvalde.

Shop owner Nirav Amarnath tells MySA the proximity of Uvalde to San Antonio pushed him to respond. He hopes other San Antonio businesses show solidarity by donating or helping like Palacios.

"I would want someone to do the same for me if I was ever put in this situation," he says.

You can find Amaretti Coffee at 1800 Broadway. Hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Chismosa's Cantina

The Northside hangout is offering an enchilada plate special for $10 on Wednesday. All proceeds will benefit Uvalde, the post says. Those interested in picking up a to-go plate are asked to text 210-970-2549. Customers will be asked to prepay for their orders via Zelle or CashApp.

Chismosa's is located at 14355 Blanco Road.

The Wicked Wich

The sandwich shop is accepting preorders for original and premium sandwiches until noon on Wednesday for Thursday pick-ups. All proceeds will be donated to the funeral funds of the Uvalde victims. Customers are asked to direct message their orders on the Instagram page, @thewickedwichsa.

San Antonio Food Bank

On Wednesday, the San Antonio Food Bank announced that it would be providing meals to educators and counselors at SSGT Willie De Leon Civic Center in Uvalde.
Northside Independent School District has lifted the modified lockdowns that were placed at two of its schools after receiving reports of a suspicious person who may have had a gun nearby, according to district officials.

Barry Perez, the executive director of communications at Northside ISD, told MySA that Sul Ross Middle School and Esparza Elementary School were placed on the modified lockdowns at about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25.
The day after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg spoke about the tragedy in an interview with Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Sewell Chan.

Chan asked Nirenberg what message he would like to send to lawmakers in Washington D.C. from the perspective of cities in Texas. The mayor representing a city just 85 miles east began by offering support to the people of Uvalde.

"It's important for us to recognize that there is a significant and collective trauma that is being experienced in our communities," Nirenberg said. "Certainly in Uvalde, where families are grieving. Our focus needs to be on wrapping our arms around them and making sure we can help them in any ways necessary."

He then elaborated on the pain of experiencing repeated gun violence in the state.

"In the last 10-15 years as we've endured mass shooting after mass shooting and children dying in schools in multiple cities ... it would be one thing to say, 'Let's make it better in Texas,'" Nirenberg said. "At the very least, don't make it worse. State leadership in this state have been hell-bent on making it worse. I and every other voter in the state of Texas needs to demand an answer."

Responding to a question regarding armed security guards and teachers at schools, a talking point that has been repeated by elected officials like Attorney General Ken Paxton in the last 24 hours, Nirenberg was blunt.

"If more guns in our community made us a safer community," he said, "the United States would have been the safest community in the world a long time ago."
Several Texans, including politicians, are reacting and tweeting about the Uvalde school shooting on Tuesday afternoon, May 24. The Uvalde Memorial Hospital confirmed that two individuals arrived at the hospital dead after the shooting at Robb Elementary. The hospital also said that 13 children were received via ambulance and buses for treatment.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott confirmed that 14 students and one teacher were killed in the shooting and that the suspected gunman, Salvador Ramos, 18, was also killed by police.

Ina Minjarez, a lawyer and a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives representing District 124 in San Antonio, tweeted out a statement following the school shooting.

"I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the two children whose lives were lost and the families of the more than a dozen students injured at the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde," the statement reads. "I hope and pray for their swift and complete recovery."

Other San Antonio politicians including San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and former mayor Julian Castro shared their thoughts on Tuesday afternoon following the shooting.

"Uvalde is experiencing the sickening aftermath of a horrific mass shooting," Nirenberg wrote on Twitter. "At least 14 children and a teacher are gone. Pray for the lost, their families, and Uvalde. San Antonio has sent mass casualty resources to the region and will do all we can to help our neighbors heal."

"Fourteen CHILDREN dead," Castro tweeted. "Absolutely devastating. My heart goes out to the Uvalde community. This is not normal or inevitable. Children and parents should NEVER be accustomed to this violence. We must, MUST act on gun legislation."

Texas Senator Ted Cruz wrote on Tuesday he and his wife Heidi are "lifting up in prayer for the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde."

"We are in close contact with local officials, but the precise details are still unfolding," Cruz tweeted. "Thank you to the heroic law enforcement and first responders for acting so swiftly."

San Antonio Spurs players Tre Jones and Lonnie Walker IV took to social media about the news. Jones wrote on Twitter, "Prayers out to all the families involved in the school shooting at Robb Elementary." "Seems like a weekly thing in this country. Don't know what else needs to happen for something to change. Kids go to school and aren't even safe."

Walker IV wrote on Twitter, "Prayers for Uvalde, Texas. When will this end this breaks my heart. Something has to change.. children, grocery stores, this is sickening."

Other athletes including LeBron James, Laurie Hernandez, and Alex Morgan also took to Twitter to react to the latest shooting.

"My thoughts and prayers goes out to the families of love ones loss and injured at Robb Elementary School in Ulvade, TX," James tweeted. "Like when is enough enough man!!!" These are kids and we keep putting them in harms way at school. Like seriously 'AT SCHOOL' where it's suppose to be the safest!"
San Antonians are being asked to donate blood to help the community of Uvalde. The city, about 80 miles west of San Antonio, saw at least 14 students and one teacher killed at an elementary school shooting on Tuesday, May 24.

At least two victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary  a 66-year-old woman and 10-year-old girl  were transported to University Hospital and are in critical condition. The hospital system is asking residents to donate blood.

"Your donation can help ensure we have supplies immediately available for the victims of this tragic shooting," University Health says online.

The donor room has availability for the remainder of the week. Those interested in giving blood can set up an appointment here or by calling 210-358-2812.

The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center is also accepting donations. Appointments can be set up here or by calling 210-731-5590. STBTC says thanks to blood donors, they were able to send 15 units of blood to Uvalde via helicopter to be available at the site of the shooting and at area hospitals. They then sent another 10 units of blood when it was requested by a Uvalde hospital.

"We will continue to work with hospitals in the area to make blood available as it's needed and to rebuild their supply for other patients in need," STBTC says in a statement.

An emergency blood drive will also be held in Uvalde on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Herby Ham Activity Center. That drive has been filled up with appointments.

According to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the reported 18-year-old male shooter is believed to have been killed by police. The shooter was reportedly a resident of Uvalde.

San Antonio school districts have responded to the tragedy by reassuring parents that the safety of their respective campus communities are prioritized. South San ISD sent a letter to parents saying that backpacks will be banned for the next two days.
After a gunman killed at least 19 children and two faculty members at Robb Elementary Schoool in Uvalde, families throughout the U.S. are navigating the ripples of the tragedy. San Antonio's proximity to the shooting  about 80 miles to the east is an added layer of trauma. Residents are experiencing the suffering first hand on social media and many have connections to the neighboring community.

San Antonio students may have walked onto campuses that looked much different than earlier this week as many districts responded to the tragedy by heightening security and banning backpacks.

Barbara Robles-Ramamurthy, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in the Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, is offering a range of advice for people processing the shooting, from parents helping children navigate the violence to anyone grappling with mourning the loss of innocent lives.

Overall guidance for parents

Robles-Ramamurthy wants parents to know it's "totally OK to feel uncertain and unsure about how to talk about this because this is just so not normal." She says it is important that parents and caregivers check in on their children in response to the shooting. Robles-Ramamurthy offers a five-step approach, which follows.

She says it's important to listen to what children know before reacting. Asking open-ended questions like "What do you know," "What have you heard," and "What questions do you have?" will help guide adults in their response.

Robles-Ramamurthy wants adults to consider the developmental stage of children in mind in their response. What a teenager needs to hear may be different from what a Pre-K student should know.

She also suggests giving children information "little by little," allowing them time to ask questions as opposed to "dumping" news on them.

Children should also know that adults are available for questions that they may have at a later time, Robles-Ramamurthy says.

Lastly, she advises parents to set the stage for their children by reminding them that emotions are not linear and equipping them with ideas on how to manage their feelings.

Advice for parents with children who have access to social media

With the news of the shooting and other traumatic events unfolding on social media, parents may want to shield their children by limiting screen time or taking phones away altogether. Robles-Ramamurthy says navigating this kind of situation is "tricky," because isolation can be detrimental.

She suggests collaborating with kids to figure out when online connection is helpful and when intervention is needed. Because the conversations between parents and children on phone usage can cause tension, Robles-Ramamurthy suggests having another trusted adult like a relative, friend, or faith leader on hand that can help navigate questions with the child.

For parents who are uneasy about sending their children to school

She says traditionally therapists guide parents to teach against avoiding things that cause fear. However, Robles-Ramamurthy says the situation is difficult because it's "new territory." She says she's a proponent of mental health days if families can ensure a safe at-home environment.

"If kids are feeling extremely overwhelmed and they think that being at school would be harmful to their overall wellbeing and the parents have the ability to be with them, that can be an option," she says.

If parents are unable to provide a caregiver at home and the family believes the school is a safe space, then parents should share that with kids. She says it ultimately comes down to parents' resources.

She says it's important to remind children that in this moment they are physically safe and work with them to bring a sense of psychological safety to their minds. She also tells parents to encourage students to seek help when they need it.

For San Antonians grappling with the 'close to home' feelings

Robles-Ramamurthy is telling the residents to give themselves space to grieve.

"It's kind of like when a relative that you don't see often has died but you still feel that pain and the ripple that it causes for the rest of the family that still affects you," she says. "Allow yourself to feel that grief and that pain of that loss that we have experienced. Don't ignore those feelings."

She says that in times of trauma it's also important to foster a sense of connection and support one another. A city-hosted vigil for Uvalde is taking place on Wednesday night, May 25, at Main Plaza. San Antonio restaurants are also offering ways for residents to pitch in on relief by buying food.
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Editor's Note: This report is from 2018. Follow us here for live updates on the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde.

Two teenagers were arrested last week after authorities discovered their plan to commit a mass shooting at a junior high school in Uvalde, according to the Uvalde Leader-News.

The teens, aged 13 and 14, are now facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder and have been booked into a juvenile detention center in Del Rio.

RELATED: 'They were pretty mean': Teen accused of fatally stabbing neighbors gave interview before arrest

According to the Leader-News, the teens had originally planned to carry out the shooting on April 20, 2022, which would coincide with the Columbine shooting anniversary during their senior year of high school, but one of the suspects persuaded the other to commit the shooting this year at Morales Junior High, where the 14-year-old was a student.

The teens allegedly created a list prioritizing which students they would kill and planned to steal their neighbors' weapons. They planned to detonate explosive devices at the beginning of the attack, hunt down and kill the students on their list and then indiscriminately kill as many students as they could before committing suicide.

Police have not said the teens actually acquired any weapons.

They appear to have been inspired by the Columbine shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and often referred to each other using those names, the Leader-News reports.

"One of the students had numerous writings and drawings which depicted weapons capable of causing mass destruction," according to a news release from the Uvalde Police Department obtained by the newspaper. "He wrote about being 'God-like' and killing police and other persons. He had an academic analysis of one of the Columbine shooter's journal."

RELATED: Mugshot: Suspect in 10-hour S.A. standoff known as 'Asian Jade'

A student at Morales Junior High learned of the plan and reported it to school officials, who then notified law enforcement authorities.

With the assistance of the Texas Rangers, the Uvalde Police Department was able to identify the two suspected teens and arrest them. According to the Leader-News, authorities are still processing evidence, including messages regarding the attack that the two suspects sent each other through school-issued iPads.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns
Josie Norris / San Antonio Express-News

Former District Judge Peter Sakai is expected to be the Democratic candidate on the ballot in November for Bexar County Judge, according to results from the Bexar County Elections Department.

Results had Sakai take 58% of the vote over his opponent, state Rep. Ina Minjarez, on Tuesday, setting him up to face Republican candidate and former county commissioner Trish DeBerry in November.
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service San Angelo TX

846 PM CDT Tue May 24 2022

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of east central Jones

and Shackelford Counties through 930 PM CDT...

At 846 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near

Mccarty Lake, or near Albany, moving east at 50 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and half inch hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

Albany, Lueders, Moran, Fort Griffin, Ibex, Mccarty Lake, Big Country

Baptist Assembly, Us-283 Near The Callahan-

Shackelford County Line and Us-180 Near The Shackelford-

Stephens County Line.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

west central Texas.

LAT...LON 3252 9910 3251 9949 3252 9962 3296 9962

3296 9909

TIME...MOT...LOC 0146Z 268DEG 44KT 3270 9936

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN

MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northwestern Williamson County in south central Texas...

Burnet County in south central Texas...

* Until 945 PM CDT.

* At 848 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Bluffton, or

7 miles northwest of Buchanan Dam, moving east at 50 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable

tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,

roofs, and outbuildings.

* Locations impacted include...

Georgetown, Burnet, Marble Falls, Kingsland, Bertram, Serenada,

Buchanan Dam, Leander, Liberty Hill, Florence, Inks Lake State

Park, Georgetown Dam, Watson, Oatmeal, Briggs, Sun City, Lake

Victor, Mahomet, Sunnylane and Longhorn Cavern State Park.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Large hail, damaging winds, and continuous cloud to ground lightning

are occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is

one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder,

you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 915 PM CDT

FOR NORTHERN LLANO COUNTY...

At 850 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Bluffton, or

near Buchanan Dam, moving east at 50 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable

tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,

roofs, and outbuildings.

Kingsland, Llano, Buchanan Lake Village, Castell, Field Creek, Baby

Head, Stolz, Lone Grove, Bluffton, Valley Spring and Tow.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
Wellie, even though the private equity industry is famed for its brazenness, KKR has managed to take it to a new level. KKR is trying to get the presiding judge in its long-running Kentucky Retirement Systems lawsuit, Mayberry v. KKR, along with a related suit that may get a green light, on behalf of so called Tier 3 beneficiaries (in a defined contribution plan) removed. This is an astonishingly aggressive move, and to add insult to injury, KKR has gone about it in a procedurally improper manner.

Weve embedded the key filings at the end of this post: KKRs Affidavit for Designation of Special Judge, the Opposition to Affidavit for Designation of Special Judge (this one by Michelle Lerach; there may also be one from the Kentucky Attorney General, but I have not succeeded in finding it) and the Order Remanding by the Kentucky Supreme Court. If you want the quick version, read the Lerach filing.

As an aside, note that none of the other defendants, most importantly Blackstone, has joined KKR in this action.

If you are new to this many-chaptered saga or want a refresher course, see the posts below or have a gander though the major filings here:

Lawsuit Against Blackstone, KKR/Prisma, PAAMCO, Kentucky Retirement System, and Others Has Major Implications for Public Pension Funds

Misunderstanding Public Pension Fund Implications of Thole v. US Bank and Mayberry v. KKR

Mayberry v. KKR: Pitched Battle as Attorney General and Defendants Try to Block Tier 3 Plaintiffs Pursuing Claims Aggressively

Kentucky Retirement System Litigation Against KKR, Blackstone, PAAMCO et. al. Takes New Class Action/Civil RICO Twist

Hoist on His Own Petard? Kentucky Attorney Generals Apparent Plan to Settle Landmark Pension Case Mayberry v. KKR Likely to be Undermined by Discovery

Decisions Finally Coming in Long-Running Battle with Hedge Fund Titans in Kentucky Pension Case, Mayberry v. KKR

Back to the new drama. Recall that the defendants, KKR, Blackstone, PAAMCO, and a host of smaller fry, managed to lodge an appeal even before meaningful discovery was underway. The defendants lost on all issues except standing. Between the time of the original filing and when Mayberry v. KKR got to the Kentucky Supreme Court, an appellate court decision and a US Supreme Court decision had the effect of changing the standing rules. The original plaintiffs were not allowed to replead standing (which is pretty irregular). The state attorney general instead intervened (even though he had years to take up the case and arguably cannot properly represent all the interested parties). The original plaintiffs counsel took up a narrower case that would still fly under the new standing rulings, based on the harm suffered by Tier 3 defined contribution plan participants.

So out of the blue comes this KKR filing. KKR has long had its knickers in a twist over personal jurisdiction, the idea that it has enough of a business nexus with Kentucky over this case for Kentucky courts to have jurisdiction. Kentucky is not a good place for fund managers like KKR to do bad things because Kentucky has strict and extensive statutory fiduciary duty requirements. That means, among other things, that any investment agreement language that attempted to weaken or contract out of fiduciary duties would be legally void.

The plaintiffs argued that not only were KKR entities liable but so were KKR founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts personally, based on the unusual governance structure of KKR, which makes it their personal instrumentality despite it nominally being a public company. The trial court judge, Philip Shepherd, bought that argument. It survived appeal, due among other things, KKR having made extensive visits to Kentucky and advising Kentucky Retirement Systems while also pitching its business and then devising and managing a custom hedge fund, and KKRs description of its management structure and Kravis and Roberts rights in SEC filings.

KKR is trying to get Judge Shepherd removed from the case due to some material on his campaign website that KKR argues shows bias. A lawyer friend did groan and said talking about a current case was not such a hot idea. However, despite KKR attempting to depict the website information about the Mayberry v, KKR case as prominent, its apparently shown as one of 18 news clips, and not formatted to make it more noticeable than the others. The opposition brief cites precedents, relying on the First and Fourteenth Amendments, that judges are allowed to discuss their record when campaigning.

The other substantive beef is that the news clip on the Shepherd campaign website indicates that he did his own research during the trial. Frankly, he would have been remiss not to. The plaintiffs filings contained many excerpts and screenshots from SEC filings. It would seem important to at least spot check them to make sure they werent altered digitally and/or taken out of context.

Here is the guts of the opposition argument:

The actual legal issues, after the smoke has been cleared, are:  Did Judge Shepherd commit error by conducting his own online review of certain materials available to the general public, principally filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission?

 Should the KKR Parties have raised the alleged error with Judge Shepherd in the first instance to permit the Court to consider and rule on their objections?

 Did the KKR Parties waive their right to seek relief in connection with the alleged error by failing to raise them with Judge Shepherd? The answers, as explained below, are:  Judge Shepherd did not commit error  and even if he did, it was inconsequential and curable.

 The KKR Parties could and should have raised the alleged error with Judge Shepherd and sought to have them cured. They did not do so, apparently because they opted instead for the nuclear option.

 By failing to bring the alleged errors to the attention of the Court, the KKR Parties waived appellate review including through this disqualification procedure.

A final issue is that even if KKRs beefs were legitimate, they should have asked Judge Shepherd to consider recusing himself rather than trying to blow him out of the water. As you can see below, the Kentucky Supreme Court agreed with that argument and sent the affidavit back to Shepherd.

Sadly, this litigation is proving to be an exercise in how to use motions practice to prevent discovery. Keep in mind this case was first filed in December 2017
Yves here. On the one hand, its a step in the right direction to see some policy thinkers grappling with the issue of aging and the rising need for long-term care. On the other hand, the thinking is still blinkered. First, its fuzzy at best on the fact that some elderly people can still get by at home with part-time care (it talks about different levels of need but its not clear if these are all within institutional settings or not). Of course, they might live longer that way. Second, there are also community options that could be integrated with part-time care. For instance, in Italy, one town I visited briefly had what amounted to a day-time elder care center, a sitting room with a TV, hot and cold drinks, light snacks, reading material, game boards, and a nice view. It looked comfy and the door was open, so I suspected they also welcomed people from the hood stopping by to visit if they had the time and inclination.

I suspect it was designed just like child day care, for working families that had an elderly parent at home and were worried about leaving them alone all dayor maybe the older relative was extroverted and wanted to be out with other people.

Third, however, this post fails to acknowledge that proper long-term care violates Lamberts second rule of neoliberalism: Die faster! The US discovered with the advent of long-term care insurance that funding an industry of retirement centers did keep older people healthier and therefore living longer.

Fourth, it does not consider the impact of long Covid on disability and therefore long-term care demand. Its not hard to imagine a lot of people will either stop working earlier than expected and/or will have to go to part-time work.

By Rainer Kotschy, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and David Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Originally published at VoxEU

Declining fertility rates and longer life expectancies are producing an ageing global population. This column investigates the challenges that rapidly ageing societies pose to systems of long-term care. To avoid shortages in the workforce, the long-term care industry should endeavour to improve working conditions while also recruiting workers from a larger pool. Investing in disability prevention and rehabilitation are also promising avenues to absorb pressure from growing long-term care needs.

Declining fertility rates, increases in life expectancy, and the progression of large-sized cohorts into older age are driving rapid population ageing globally. In developed and emerging countries, this phenomenon  among myriad health and economic concerns  will raise disability prevalence in the population and dramatically increase the need for long-term care (LTC). Combined with a reduction in informal care (driven by the erosion of traditional family structures) and the widely varying coverage of public social security benefits and private insurance, most developed countries will see a growing dependence on long-term care to provide post-acute care following a hospital stay (Costa-i-Font et al. 2017). An ageing populace that increases demands on public healthcare systems while simultaneously reducing the number of contributors to said systems exacerbates these challenges.

Figure 1 Population ageing in selected countries

Note: The figure depicts in % the share of persons aged 65+ and 80+ in the total population. All displayed countries are ageing, but the speed of ageing differs considerably across these countries.

Source: authors calculations, see Kotschy and Bloom (2022) for details and data sources.

Existing healthcare structures are not designed to meet recipients long-term care needs and are ill-equipped for the looming surge in demand. Some countries have implemented social long-term care insurance to facilitate their citizens access to adequate care. However, even those systems face considerable challenges in light of population ageing, thus requiring extensive policy reform. Japan, for example, introduced a Long-term Care Insurance Program in 2000; by 2011, long-term care expenditures had doubled from four to eight trillion yen, with government projections forecasting a continued increase to 20 trillion yen by 2025 (Shimizutani 2013). Addressing these challenges by reforming care policy is particularly tricky because measuring informal care has historically been difficult, and because previous reform attempts prove that informal care decisions are sensitive to government subsidies (Costa-i-Font 2018, Barczyk and Kredler 2018). Specifically, when formal care is subsidised but the policy does not anticipate citizens taking advantage of these subsidies, LTC markets will be overwhelmed while informal care converts to formal care. Therefore, reform-minded policymakers must be knowledgeable about the long-term care needs of their constituents, highlighting the importance of health and retirement surveys. To that end, we employed the U.S. Health and Retirement Study and two of its harmonised sister studies  the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing  to determine the share of frail elderly, defined as those aged 65+ and those aged 80+ who have at least two limitations in their activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL).

Figure 2 Share of elderly with disabilities in selected countries

Note: The figure depicts the share in % of persons aged 65+ and 80+ with at least two limitations in ADL or IADL. Values for the United Kingdom refer to England. The figure shows that countries differ considerably with respect to disability burden and that this burden increases significantly with age.

Source: authors calculations, see Kotschy and Bloom (2022) for details and data sources.

Examining 30 developed countries, we found that 14.5% of those aged 65+ have two or more limitations in ADL or IADL, which increases to 31.7% for those aged 80+ (Kotschy and Bloom 2022). While these developments are worldwide concerns, the trends display considerable heterogeneity across countries: Southern and Eastern Europe, for example, are ageing very quickly and have a substantial associated disability prevalence among the elderly. Combining projections of demographic composition with the disability share roughly approximates prospective care demand. This projection exercise suggests an increase in care demand of 47%, ranging from 33% to 75% across countries (Kotschy and Bloom 2022).

Figure 3 Projected demand for long-term care in selected countries

Note: The figure shows the projected increase in care demand, as measured by the share of the population composed of persons aged 65+ with at least two limitations in ADL or IADL in %. The figure reveals considerable differences in this increase, depending on the speed of ageing and the prevalence of disability among the elderly.

Source: authors calculations, see Kotschy and Bloom (2022) for details and data sources.

Ageing-Related Challenges for the Supply, Quality, and Costs of Care

Beyond the question of how governments and consumers will pay for increasing long-term care needs is the simple question of whether supply will be sufficient to meet the burgeoning demand. While the number of care workers increased in roughly half of OECD member states between 2011 and 2016, that growth has kept pace with ageing in only a few countries (OECD 2019). To avoid shortages in the long-term care workforce, the industry should endeavour to improve working conditions (offering better pay, enhanced career advancement trajectories, and the use of respite care to provide temporary relief for primary caregivers) while also recruiting workers from a larger pool, including the specific targeting of training for the unemployed, for foreign workers, and for men, who are typically underrepresented in the field. Some countries have made strides in these domains. Germany, for example, has launched policies to improve working conditions and is attracting foreign workers through international collaborations with its Federal Employment Agency (Federal Ministry of Health 2021). Japan has channelled unemployed workers to the long-term care sector, helping the country add 320,000 care workers in a five-year period (OECD 2020). And in Israel, more than half of the long-term care workforce was born elsewhere (Asiskovitch 2013). Unsurprisingly, these countries are among the few where care worker staffing has kept up with the pace of ageing.

The field might suffer growing pains during this workforce expansion if the quality of care suffers for reasons that include the lowering of educational requirements and the scarcity of competition. Potential solutions include licensing professional care workers, as they do in South Korea, or regulating the tasks that care workers can perform, as they do in Israel (OECD 2020). Germany, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea have enhanced training and mentoring programmes to improve long-term care workers education (OECD 2020). In addition, Germany has emphasised geriatric training in its nursing curricula. While competition among suppliers is theoretically a boon to curb costs and secure quality, it likely has modest beneficial effects because effective competition is limited in the context of ageing, where demand outpaces supply (see Yang et al. 2021 for a literature review).

If the long-term care workforce does not grow fast enough, informal care must assume most of the care, which can reduce labour supply as friends and family forgo employment to provide care. This development can inadvertently counteract policies that promote female participation in the workplace, as women typically provide most informal care. Policymakers should be encouraged to pursue potential relief measures designed to reduce the economic burden for informal caregivers, such as supporting direct cash payments from recipients and providing social security contributions.

Population ageing also imperils access to adequate care, as it increases the demand for cognitive, dementia, and psychological services. Current benefit assessments and eligibility requirements do not necessarily reflect the heterogeneity in disability and likely overemphasise physical functioning. Some long-term care systems have implemented different care levels based on physical, mental, and cognitive functioning, with a focus on differentiation with respect to care needs. In Japan, beneficiaries are sorted into one of five care levels; in the Netherlands, they receive benefits based on care needs that are organised by functional domains (Joshua 2017). Because equity is an important component of access, long-term care systems should include means-testing or social support for the least affluent to provide equitable access to care. One feature the aforementioned countries share is compulsory long-term care insurance, financed by payroll contributions (Germany and Israel) or by a combination of payroll contributions and taxes (Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea). As access to care is codified as a legal right motivated by the concept of human dignity (e.g. Nordenfelt 2004), governments might face legal and ethical challenges if they fail to provide universal access to care.

Finally, reform attempts inevitably encounter a trade-off between care quality and costs, often rooted in policies designed to determine eligibility criteria: deciding whether to grant benefits to more beneficiaries or to grant more benefits per person. More efficient service provision is essential to containing costs of the growing use of LTC services. This approach can be addressed through market power, as in Israel, or by decentralising service delivery and putting provision in the hands of local municipalities, as in the Netherlands (Hasson and Dagan Buzaglo 2019, Maarse and Jeurissen 2016). Integrating general healthcare and LTC services, such as aligning admission criteria for LTC facilities and hospitals, could address service gaps and overlaps.

Policy Implications

Population ageing will increase the demand for long-term care. Investing in disability prevention and rehabilitation are promising avenues to promote wellbeing and to absorb pressure from growing long-term care needs. Such initiatives are not quick fixes, but implementing them could create the necessary momentum to address health challenges. The more successful the prevention efforts, the lower the cost and the demand for LTC services, with increased individual wellbeing conferring benefits that could reverberate throughout the health and economic landscapes (Bloom et al. 2018). While most of the countries investigated for this study support rehabilitation programmes, robust prevention initiatives are rare; Japan is an exception, having implemented a preventive strategy at the community level while emphasising community activities and meeting places that can foster the personal autonomy of an ageing populace (Yamada and Arai 2020). Germany and the Netherlands, meanwhile, aim to promote telecare and the redesign of living environments to encourage healthy, independent ageing (European Commission 2019).

As the Figure 4 shows, prevention efforts to reduce the burden of disability still constitute a small portion of health expenditures. However, prevention efforts  along with boosting rehabilitation spending, bolstering LTC worker recruitment, enhancing LTC efficiency, and ensuring equity of access  could mitigate the effects of an ageing population and provide fiscal relief for stressed LTC systems. A stronger emphasis on illness prevention in reform agendas seems highly desirable.

Figure 4 Preventive care spending by government and compulsory schemes as a share of national health expenditures in 2018

Note: The figure shows that preventive care spending amounts to only a small portion of national health expenditures, ranging between 1% and 3% in most countries.

Data source: OECD.Stat (OECD 2022), extracted on 27 April.

See original post for references
(Natural News) Host Dan Happel and investigative journalist Mitchell Nicholas Gerber talked about the cruelty of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the May 17 episode of Connecting The Dots on Brighteon.TV.

Specifically, they discussed the infamous organ harvesting program in China.

Happel said the organ harvesting program in China is targeting a group called Falun Gong. (Related: Mike Adams and Mitchell Nicholas Gerber discuss communist Chinas organ harvesting of Falun Gong members  Brighteon.TV.)

The leaders of the CCP are the ones orchestrating this whole program against Falun Gong and other political enemies as a way to make a ton of money off this and at the same time to get rid of their opposition, Happel explained.

This cruelty shows exactly how cheaply these people hold human life. To them, humans are not souls. They are a commodity and they are a biological commodity rather than being a spiritual commodity. And thats why theyve targeted the Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, which is also called Falun Dafa, is a controversial Chinese spiritual movement founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992. The philosophy of Falun Gong emphasizes truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Gerber said the Falun Gong practitioners incorporate a simple mind and body meditation and exercise practice. He added that aside from being spiritual, Falun Gong is very natural, organic and similar to Tai Chi and yoga.

The practice initially enjoyed support from CCP officials, but by the mid-to-late 1990s the government increasingly viewed Falun Gong as a potential threat due to its size, independence and spiritual teachings.

Negative coverage of Falun Gong began to appear in the state-run media around that time.

Practitioners usually responded with public demonstrations. The scale of protests grew until April 1999, when over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered near the central government compound in Beijing to request legal recognition and freedom from state interference. That demonstration is viewed by many as the main reason behind the persecution that followed.

Falun Gong members sent to state hospitals for state-sanctioned organ harvesting program

Gerber related that the CCP launched a brutal campaign to demonize the spiritual movement and turn public opinion against it. He added that members of Falun Gong were sent to state hospitals to become part of the state-sanctioned organ harvesting program.

Happel said Falun Gong is a group of healthy people who practice meditation and healthy lifestyles, which made them ideal candidates for organ harvesting. According to Happel, a battle between good and evil is happening. He added that evil people like the members of the CCP are trying to take over the world and intend to destroy humanity.

Gerber agreed and added that Falun Gong outnumbered the number of people in the CCP system by 30 million. The investigative journalist also noted that the organ harvesting trade in China has been going on since the 1960s. He urged the viewers to expose the CCP and support the Falun Gong, which has been fighting peacefully against this terror.

He also mentioned that the allegations against the CCP have all been verified to be true. The CCP and the Peoples Liberation Army are sending hundreds and thousands of innocent Falun Gong practitioners to state hospitals to cut their organs out of their bodies and sell them throughout the world, he said.

Follow CommunistChina.news for more China-related news.

Watch the full May 17 episode of Connecting The Dots below. You can catch Connecting The Dots with Dan Happel every Tuesday at 5-6 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Christians in China being targeted and killed for organ harvesting

Undercover investigators expose mass forced organ harvesting in communist China

UN human rights experts express shock and dismay at forced organ harvesting in China

China holding Muslims in concentration camps to sell their organs in massive organ harvesting scheme

DAFOH demands end to CCPs illegal organ harvesting practices

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Britannica.com
(Natural News) The shooting of 13 people at a supermarket in Buffalo this weekend was ugly. Press coverage was uglier. Democrat New York Governor Kathy Hochuls reaction was ugliest.

(Article by Don Surber republished from DonSurber.Blogspot.com)

Hochul announced she will use this tragedy to launch a Speech Police to attack those who say things she does not like. Her semi-automatic assault on our rights follows the advice of Democrat Rahm Emanuel.

He wrote in the Wall Street Journal after Obamas election, You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.

Then he became Obamas first chief of staff before moving on to being mayor of Chicago, which made him even richer than being a congressman did.

Hochul issued an edict to seize the weapons of people who write mean tweets. She has no flying monkeys so shes sending the state police.

She announced, The horrific and despicable act of terror committed by a white supremacist this past weekend in Buffalo showed that we as a country are facing an intersection of two crises: the mainstreaming of hate speech  including white nationalism, racism and white supremacy  and the easy access to military-style weapons and magazines.

This is a wake-up call and here in New York we are taking strong steps to directly address this deadly threat. Today, I issued Executive Orders to devote substantial resources and focus toward combating the troubling surge in domestic terrorism by identifying radicalized individuals and tracking their threats amplified on social media, and further empower State Police to keep guns away from dangerous people. I am also issuing a referral letter to the Attorney General to investigate social medias role in the Buffalo shooting, and am calling for the passage of several pieces of legislation that will help law enforcement get more guns off the street.

She went on to call it an epidemic, which is the fashion for todays fascists.

Of course, white supremacists are not the top threat to black people in America. Black thugs are. We all know this. I write posts denouncing this. No one cares because America has a long history of ignoring black-on-black crime. What happens in Shinetown (and I am using the polite term) doesnt matter. The 19th century word has given way to South Chicago but the attitude remains unchanged.

The New York Times reported on February 15, These Policies Were Supposed to Help Black People. Theyre Backfiring.

The story said, While all New Yorkers are affected by rising crime, the brunt of the increase is borne by Black New Yorkers. In 2020, Black New Yorkers, who make up about 24% of the citys population, were the victims in 65% of murders and 74% of shootings. They were also the largest racial demographic among victims of felony assault and rape.

NYT could not bring itself to admit that black New Yorkers overwhelmingly commit those murders of black people.

It did say, But this strategy is harming Black New Yorkers. By aiming for racial equity in criminal justice rather than focusing solely on deterring and responding to crime, policymakers seem to have neglected the foundational purpose of law and order. What has followed  a sharp rise in victims of crime, who remain disproportionately Black, and a slight increase in the percentage of Rikers Island inmates who are Black  is a racial imbalance of a more troubling kind.

I agree.

And that explains why Democrats who instigated those policies that backfired seized the Buffalo Massacre to push the blame on white people in general and white supremacists specifically. No one cares about-black-on-black crime.

As James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University in Boston, told NYT, Clearly, if its black-on-black, we dont get the same attention because most people dont identify with that. Most Americans are white. People think, Thats not my world. Thats not going to happen to me.

However, black politicians dont care about black-on-black crime.

Oh sure, they are making a big deal about the Buffalo Massacre.

Democrat Attorney General Letitia James told ABC, We pray for their families. But after we prayafter we get up off of our kneesweve got to demand change. Weve got to demand justice. This was domestic terrorism, plain and simple.

But James has ignored the daily domestic terrorism which leaves black people afraid to leave their homes. Instead, she wasted time harassing President Donald John Trump in a nonsensical investigation of his finances.

And Governor Karen, er, Kathy Hochul is using the death of 10 people by a white supremacist as an excuse to repeal the First Amendment, which protects our God-given right of free speech.

She always wanted to do this. She has waited for the opportunity to seize control of social media. If only she were as dedicated to protecting black people from murder.

Read more at: DonSurber.Blogspot.com
(Natural News) The Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) isnt a natural disaster. A recent report by the Expose, called it as one of the most manipulated infectious disease events in history.

It is characterized by countless lies perpetuated by government bureaucracies, medical associations, medical boards, the media and international agencies.

Despite proof that other treatments could save lives, there have also been many instances of intrusions into medical practice such as attacks on medical experts. Doctors who refused to follow orders and harm their patients have had their medical careers destroyed and non-qualified individuals with money, power and influence continue to have their say when it comes to healthcare.

Politicians, hospital administrators and federal bureaucrats are now recommending medical treatments based on special forms of care and prevention that are ineffective like the use of respirators and a series of harmful RNA vaccines instead of accurate and scientifically-based or experience-based information.

Protocols enforced are not being formulated based on the experience of the physicians treating the largest number of patients successfully, but instead by individuals and bureaucracies that have never treated a single patient like Dr. Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), state public health officers and hospital administrators.

The mainstream media, medical societies, state medical boards and Big Tech social media platforms claim that they are the only reliable source of information amid the pandemic. Meanwhile, entire websites have been removed and the careers of experienced clinical doctors and scientific experts in the field of infectious diseases have been demonized as they tried to share their knowledge on how to combat COVID-19 effectively.

The data from these health experts have also been called misinformation and dangerous lies even though they cite information from top experts in the fields of virology, infectious diseases, pulmonary critical care and epidemiology. (Related: Federal judge: Twitter must explain why it CENSORED journalist Alex Berenson, who exposed many unpopular truths about COVID.)

These blackouts of truth continue even when this information is supported by scientific citations from qualified medical specialists.

Dr. Peter McCullough, a respected expert in his field, has successfully treated more than 2,000 patients with coronavirus using a protocol of early treatment that other experts have ignored. Despite his success, he has been targeted, especially by those who benefit from COVID-19 vaccines.

Early this year, McCullough warned that the official pandemic narrative fiercely guarded by the establishment media and social media censors is completely crumbling.

McCullough has had his work published in peer-reviewed journals, where he reported an 80 percent reduction in hospitalizations and a 75 percent reduction in deaths, thanks to early treatment. Instead of trying to replicate his success, McCullough is attacked by information controllers who have yet to treat one patient.

In the entire history of medical care, early treatment of infections has been prioritized when it comes to saving lives and preventing severe complications. But these medical organizations and federal minions instead focus on attacking anyone who tries to initiate such treatment by threatening to void their license, removing hospital privileges, shaming and event threatening arrests.

COVID-19 research also being censored and retracted

Doctors and scientists who are also active in research have also been ordered to retract their scientific papers from journals when their work deviates from the accepted COVID-19 norms  even when they are already printed.

Under normal circumstances, a submitted paper or study is reviewed by experts in the field via a peer review. These reviews help weed out any errors before publication.

This means that unless there is fraud or another major hidden problem is discovered after the paper has been printed, the paper remains in the scientific literature.

During the pandemic, many scientific papers written by experts in the field are being retracted from major medical and scientific journals even after publication. Upon checking, these papers were written by authors who tried to question the accepted dogma by the controllers of scientific publications, especially when concerning the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Many of these journals rely on advertising by pharmaceutical companies for their revenue. In most cases, these powerful pharmaceutical companies used their influence on the owners of these journals to remove articles that question the safety of their companies products.

Read more related news at MedicalCensorship.com.

Watch the video below for COVID-19 truths that you need to hear.

This video is from the mylivingbranch channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Military doctor says she was ordered to cover up wave of covid vaccine injuries in servicemen.

South African doctor: Severe COVID an allergic reaction to SPIKE PROTEIN nanoparticles.

Doctor admits we were all wrong about COVID mandates.

German doctor confirms: Covid vaccines are the cause of excess mortality.

Sources include:

Expose-News.com

ClarkCountyToday.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde recently called for more regulations on cryptocurrencies after claiming that they have no real value.

Lagarde made these comments during an appearance on the Dutch television program College Tour. She said: I am concerned for people who have no understanding of the risks, who will lose it all and who will be terribly disappointed, which is why I believe that [cryptocurrencies] should be regulated.

The comments come as the cryptocurrency market is experiencing a significant drop in value across the board. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest and most valuable cryptocurrencies, have halved in value from their peaks late last year. (Related: Bitcoin price briefly falls below $26,000 as crypto sell-off erases more than $200 billion from the market.)

At the same time, cryptocurrencies are facing tougher scrutiny from governments around the world worried about the dangers decentralized financial networks pose to their more centralized financial systems.

I have said all along the crypto assets are highly speculative, very risky assets, said Lagarde. My very humble assessment is that it is worth nothing, it is based on nothing, there is no underlying asset to act as an anchor of safety, said Lagarde.

Lagarde has in the past spoken in favor of global regulations on cryptocurrencies. In January, she told Reuters that Bitcoin has been used for money laundering and that measures need to be enacted to prevent this.

She called Bitcoin a highly speculative asset that groups have used to conduct some funny business and some interesting and totally reprehensible money laundering activity.

A member of the shows audience told Lagarde that they invested 7,000 euros ($7,506) in ADA, the internal cryptocurrency of the blockchain platform Cardano. As of press time, one ADA token is worth roughly 50 cents. That hurts, said Lagarde.

When asked whether Lagarde invests in cryptocurrency, she said she does not hold any crypto assets because she wants to practice what she preaches. But she learns all she can about the cryptocurrency market after one of her sons, against her advice, invested in crypto.

Hes a free man, she said.

Lagarde supportive of digital euro project despite crypto criticisms

Despite her criticism of cryptocurrencies and her support for more regulation in the crypto market, Lagarde is still very supportive of the ECBs digital euro project, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that may be fully implemented in the next four years.

She claimed that, with the backing of the ECB, she can guarantee that the digital euro will be vastly different from cryptocurrencies.

Other ECB executives have already voiced their concerns regarding cryptocurrencies, including the central bank investing heavily in its own digital currency assets.

Fabio Panetta, member of the ECB executive board, said last month that cryptocurrency assets are creating a new Wild West. He drew parallels to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008 which led to the Great Recession.

Many other central banks are already working on their own virtual alternatives to cash in on the rapid growth of digital currencies.

As of March 2022, nine countries and territories have officially launched CBDCs. Another 80 countries have launched initiatives and projects to implement CBDCs in their jurisdictions, including the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada.

The United States is investigating whether launching a Federal Reserve-backed digital currency can improve the domestic payments system, increase transaction efficiency and reduce costs. President Joe Biden has already directed federal agencies to evaluate the kind of infrastructure that needs to be built to support the issuance of an American CBDC.

Learn more about cryptocurrencies at CryptoCult.news.

Watch this episode of the Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, talks about how, even though cryptocurrency is crashing, people should still learn how to use it.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Domino effect: TerraUSD collapse sends Bitcoin, Ethereum crashing.

David Morgan warns: Dollar crash looms as cryptocurrency collapse shocks speculators.

CoinDesk outs Terra stablecoin founder as the same person behind failed Basis Cash experiment that crashed and burned.

If Coinbase goes bankrupt, all of its users funds could disappear.

Bitcoin investors continue to take a bath as leading cryptocurrency tanks.

Sources include:

GreatGameIndia.com

Bloomberg.com

CNBC.com

Investopedia.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Host Dunagun Kaiser and guest Joel Salatin discussed the possibility of having food insurance policies in the U.S. during the May 22 episode of Liberty and Finance.

These are concerning times and people need to be paying attention to where their food is coming from, Kaiser said.

Salatin, on the other hand, noted that large food producers will face unprecedented issues going forward, and mega facilities are in a non-resilient, vulnerable spot when it comes to producing food for the United States.

Whether it is about storing food, creating relationships with local farmers or starting to produce food in their own homes, Americans need to take actions to protect their families when food scarcity becomes a reality. Some people believe that to address food security concerns, there is now a need for food insurance.

Salatin, a farmer and lecturer, said he is trying to see what food insurance would look like and what model can be used to offer something like it.

If this happens, it could turn the food industry upside down. Normally, people would approach food producers to say they will provide a market for their products or give a minimum price that they can count on. But a food insurance model would entice farmers to go to top bidders who are willing to put money on food stability. (Related: Russia-Ukraine war will further worsen global food shortage as poor nations face starvation, unrest.)

Kaiser likened the possibility of having food insurance to travel insurance: People who are willing to pay extra for their comfort, safety and stability are also likely to pay extra to ensure that they get food directly from farmers year-round.

The current crisis has demonstrated that Americans may have over-optimized for efficiency by relying on concentrated centers of food production. To strengthen resilience, it is necessary to diversify supply chains  especially for critical goods. This will require improved access to services across borders that are essential to the production and transportation of agricultural products.

Greater access to financial services that are essential for all types and sizes of businesses could position farmers to prepare and respond to disruptions. Similarly, financing the logistical infrastructure to bring products to markets can also help manage the predictability of demand.

Global food shortages loom due to a variety of issues

President Joe Biden said in March that the world will experience food shortages due to the war between Russia and Ukraine. The price of sanctions was not just imposed upon Russia, but on a lot of other countries as well, including the U.S. and Europe.

At the G-7 summit in Brussels, Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed increasing agricultural production to try to make up for shortfalls. Biden also said that hes urging all nations, including those in Europe, to drop trade restrictions on food exports.

Biden and leaders of top U.S. allies are also exploring how to keep Russias invasion of Ukraine from causing a spike in global hunger as the war increasingly disrupts supplies of wheat and other goods from these regions.

Moreover, the food shock in Ukraine has been devastating: Grain and sunflower oil in storage from last years harvest cant be shipped due to the war and port closures. Shelling and fuel shortages may also interfere with spring planting and the fertilizers that farmers need to apply to the wheat crops as they emerge from dormancy.

Infrastructure damage, labor shortages and the continuing conflict could also compromise the summer harvest and transportation of whatever is produced.

Separately, an opinion column pointed out that the rising food prices are ringing alarm bells for households all over the world. U.K. food banks are already at their busiest and supermarkets in Italy have reported panic buying. In Iraq, there have been bread price protests.

Food costs and fertilizer prices were already high before the war, but have now reached record levels amid the drop in Russian supply. More expensive natural gas, which is a crucial ingredient in fertilizer-making, has led European fertilizer factories to scale back their production. (Related: Global hunger crisis on the horizon as US, Britain, Australia, others deliberately demolish their own food production.)

With all these problems on a global scale, creating a model for food insurance may not be a bad idea.

Visit FoodCollapse.com for more news related to food shortages.

Watch the video below to know more about food shortages, insurance and resources.

This video is from the Liberty and Finance channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

World Alternative Media: Global food shortage is part of Great Reset agenda.

Global food shortage caused by war in Ukraine serves globalist Great Reset agenda.

Agricultural Economy Barometer flashes warning signs over global crop crisis (and looming famine).

Destroying the food supply is the PLAN: Australia trashes fresh avocados while infant formula shipped to US border as Americas own babies go hungry.

Global food scarcity to cause 20+ million refugees from Africa to flee to Europe  mass migration.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

WeForum.org

FarmPolicyNews.Illinois.edu

FT.com
(Natural News) [We want] an unrelenting stream of immigration. Non-stop. Non-stop. Folks like me [of] Caucasian European descent, for the first time in 2017 well be in an absolute minority in the United States of America. Absolute minority. Fewer than 50 percent of the people in America, from then on, will be white European stock. Thats not a bad thing. Thats the source of our strength.

Joe Biden

The idea that  whites will not be the majority [in our country]  [is] an exciting transformation of the country, 

-Anderson Cooper, interview with Univisions Jorge Ramos, Aug. 2019

(Article by Richard McDonough republished from TheBlueStateConservative.com)

Many members of the Democrat Party and the news media are appalled that Tucker Carlson and other Republicans have supported the allegedly racist Great Replacement theory that the Democrats are using immigration to replace the white population in the United States by a non-white population. CNNs The Lead with Jake Tapper solemnly warns that this fringe theory is taking over the Republican Party. Even late-night comics like Seth Meyers, important for the adolescent vote, are shocked, appalled and virtue-signaling because no one ever said any such thing. No one, of course, except such fringe figures as Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Ron Brownstein, Jennifer Rubin, Julien Castro, Anderson Cooper, Medi Hasan, John Berman, James Acosta, Julien Castro, Don Lemon and a host of other of our betters among the unaccountable Democrat-media elites.

Roland Martin even ventured overseas to BBC World News to brag about the plan.

Youre seeing white Americans who cannot stand the fact that America is changing, that the emerging majority are going to be Latino, African American, Asians, and Native Americans  But lets all be honest. You all have been dealing with this in Europe. People have been complaining about African immigrants coming in. You have white populations decreasing  We are seeing white folks in this country radicalized by Fox News, because they are listening to conservative radio and all theyre hearing about is  that they [non-whites] are replacing us [whites].

Martin, lest one forgets what one is dealing with, used to have a job on one of CNNs regular virtue-signaling slots until, referring to a television commercial of David Beckham in his underwear, he made the crude violent homophobic remark that if anyone gets excited about that ad you should smack the ish out of him! In addition, in 2016, the perpetually aggrieved Martin leaked CNN town hall questions to former DNC Chair Donna Brazile, who then leaked them to Hillary Clintons camp. Its called cheating.

At the end of his remarks, Martin states that white folks are being radicalized because they hear about replacement theory on Foxnews and conservative talk radio, apparently forgetting, not, evidently, being a Rhodes Scholar, that he had just a few sentences earlier bragged about the decrease in white populations in the United States and Europe due to mass immigration. Actual coherence is not as important as blathering in certain quarters.

Similarly, Democrat and news media darling Stacy Abrams explicitly claimed that the path to Democrat victories is via voters of color, pointing out that the percentage of the white vote in Georgia decreased from almost 80% in 2002 to about 60% in 2018 as the percentage of voters of color increased from about 25% in 2002 to about 40% in 2018. Abrams has also described undocumented (illegal) immigrants as part of the blue wave that would sweep her to victory in November 2018. Since a blue wave refers to a surge in Democrat voters, this is an invitation for illegal aliens to vote in elections and an admission that she expects illegals to vote her into office.

Further, Jennifer Rubin, who used to pretend to be a Republican but now finds it more profitable to pretend to be a Democrat, explained in Aug. 2021, that Census data shows [that the]  number of White people falls.  This is fabulous news. In Nov, 2020, Rubin, one recalls, displayed her bitter and vengeful grasp on reality, and on herself, when she expressed her wish that the Republican Party would burn down with no survivors.

Since the Lefts standard toolbox is playing word games, it is important to point out that the original meaning of the expression the great replacement derives from the theory by gay French author Renauld Camus theory that Jewish elites were planning to replace white Europeans by Muslims and Africans. Upon realizing this, Camus left the socialist party because he refused to change civilization.

No serious Republican has endorsed this extreme racist French theory that there is a Jewish plot to replace white Americans with Muslims and Africans (racist because it involves Jewish plots and refers to specific races and religions). Republican objections to the Democrat plan would be exactly the same if Democrats were importing blonde-haired blue-eyed yodeling Scandinavians to shift the US electorate to the Left. In medieval scholastic terminology, what Republicans object to is only per accidens, not per se (accidentally, not essentially) about race. Republicans object to the importation of a political persuasion, not a specific race, into the country in order to achieve political power. It is only the Democrats explicit racist plan to use persons of color to shift the demographics to secure their hold on power that brings race into the issue!

In other words, if Republicans in a given state outnumber Democrats by a few percentage points, the demographics can be shifted leftward by a massive surge of illegal immigration of precisely the sort visible now at our Southern border as a consequence of Bidens open border policy. If anyone has any doubt about the Biden administrations intentions, note that at the same time that he opens the southern border to virtually anyone who wants to enter illegally, his HHS Secretary Mayorkas, by a miraculous coincidence, denied entry to Cubans who, having experienced the joys of socialism first hand, vote Republican by substantial margins when they become US citizens.

The Democrat-media colluders may, therefore, correctly claim that Camus French great replacement theory is racist. However, since Republicans are not referring to that extremist French theory but to the oft-expressed fabulous and exciting Democrat plan to use mass immigration to shift demographics to influence U.S. elections, these Democrat-media colluders commit a fallacy of equivocation when they describe Republican criticisms of their plan as racist. Republican claims are simply based on what Stacy Abrams, old Joe himself, and many other Democrats and media colluders have explicitly said.

If the Democrat-media colluders wish to claim that they are not using mass immigration to shift the demographics in the United States to favor Democrats in elections, they might want to stop bragging about doing precisely that. In addition, they will want to have Joes handlers write in big red letters on his teleprompter that although his 2015 C-Span speech pandering about the replacement of white people by people of color was the old talking point, the new talking point is that the Democrats and their media colluders never did what they are on tape repeatedly bragging about doing. For, thanks to old Joes arrogance and incompetence, the citizenry is now awake to the plan. And if there is anything that is destructive of democracy, and a violation of a governments responsibility to its citizenry, it is a political Partys program to import new voters from abroad because it cannot persuade its own citizens to vote for its overwhelmingly unpopular and destructive policies.

Read more at: TheBlueStateConservative.com
(Natural News) On Feb. 2, the city of Miami cashed out its cryptocurrency MiamiCoin for the first time, depositing $5.25 million into city coffers. Miami mayor Francis Suarez hailed it as a historic moment and predicted the cryptocurrency could one day even replace municipal taxes as the governments primary source of funding.

(Article by Scott Nover & Camille Squires republished from QZ.com)

MiamiCoins creator, an organization called CityCoins, has been no less enthusiastic, portraying the coin as a financial experiment that will empower citizens with a community-driven revenue stream while spurring new digital city services.

Miami is not the only city with big cryptocurrency dreams. CityCoins announced a similar cryptocurrency for New York in November 2021, and plans to release a coin for Austin, Texas, soon. Other cities have launched their own crypto ventures: Fort Worth, Texas, for example, will soon be running bitcoin mining rigs in city hall.

But only Miamis mayor has thrown his full endorsement behind a CityCoin-branded cryptocurrency so far. After promoting MiamiCoin to residents and investors since its launch in August, the city of Miami received millions of dollars through its agreement with CityCoins.

Over the last nine months, however, MiamiCoin has lost nearly all of its value, falling about 95% from its September peak to just $0.0032 as of May 13. Its rapid descent has burned investors on the way down, muting the dreams of Miamis city leaders, and possibly raising red flags for regulators now investigating cryptocurrency transactions.

Miamis mayor is CityCoins biggest booster

MiamiCoin is the first in what CityCoins, a Delaware-based company with a mailing address in a Los Angeles strip mall, has promised will be a series of US city-branded cryptocurrencies. New York City mayor Eric Adams tweeted his approval of NYCCoin on Nov. 8, shortly after his election, welcoming CityCoins to the global home of Web3 (Web3 is a crypto-optimist idea of a decentralized internet built on blockchains and cryptocurrencies). But Adams hasnt spoken of NYCCoin since taking office on Jan. 1 of this year, and the coin has fallen 68% since then. Meanwhile, Philadelphias government has explored the CityCoins idea, but announced in April it would not proceed.

Miami has forged ahead, though. In October 2021, it signed a gift agreement with CityCoins, allowing Miami to receive proceeds from the coin. The city does not own or manage the cryptocurrency, however. (Suarez has caveated in public statements that the city is only a legal beneficiary.)

At the outset, the arrangement benefited both Suarez and CityCoins. CityCoins has needed the backing of big-city mayors as it promotes more cryptocurrencies. And Suarez, a rising Republican star with national electoral ambitions, has made it clear he believes MiamiCoin can burnish his own image as a pro-tech politician.

At the opening plenary for the annual Bitcoin conference in Miami on April 6, Suarez called himself the most bitcoin-friendly mayor on the planet, touting his plan to let city employees receive their salaries in bitcoin. After teasing the possibility of a 2024 presidential campaign, he laid out what he called a vision for bitcoin America 2024, asserting that the next US president had to be a pro-bitcoin candidate.

By carving out this political lane, Suarez has increased his appeal to the deep-pocketed Silicon Valley libertarians and cryptocurrency disciples he has recruited to relocate to Miami over the last two years. In 2020, Miami attracted 15% more tech workers in 2020 compared to before the pandemic, while a record $4.6 billion in new venture capital investment poured into its tech sector in 2021.

Emails between CityCoins and Miami officials, obtained by Quartz through a freedom of information request, reveal a close partnership to promote MiamiCoin to the local tech community. The documents show Patrick Stanley, who identifies himself in interviews and on social media as a CityCoins contributor and community lead, was the most frequent point of contact for city officials.

In one email on Oct. 8, 2021, Stanley pushed city officials to recruit tech representatives to build trust within the Miami tech scene. This weekend [Miami chief innovation officer Mike Sarasti] is going to try to find some names of people in the local area that can establish trust locally, Stanley wrote. This will get a lot of pushback in Miami unless there is an OG Miami tech crew who can bridge the gap, referring to established, trusted figures in the citys tech community.

We dont want crypto anarchy

Stanley has been at the helm of a number of projects based on blockchain technology. Those include Stacks, a company that created the infrastructure MiamiCoin now depends on. He started CityCoins with the promise that it would generate income for local governments and spur tech innovation among city residents.

While crypto advocates typically preach independence from state and financial institutions, Stanley sees government and crypto as natural partners. We dont want crypto anarchy, he said in a phone interview with Quartz. Its more like, crypto civilization. Our whole goal is to increase happiness, health, and wealth for citizens. Were not a replacement for governments, we want to increase state capacity.

No models currently exist for how US cities can incorporate cryptocurrencies into their economies and government operations. But Stanley argues that MiamiCoin will be used for local business transactions, facilitate software development, and even one day furnish a source of a universal basic income for residents. Stacks is also running an accelerator program for CityCoins, and recently accepted 11 new companies to build gaming, educational, and financial apps for its cities.

Even as MiamiCoins price plummets, Stanley insists that it can and will have practical applications soon. In an interview, he acknowledged legitimate criticisms of cryptocurrencies, a space rife with scams, deceit, and puffery, but insisted CityCoins is an exception, a rare crypto product with transformative potential. One type of person thinks that everything in crypto is a scam, Stanley told Quartz. Another type of person thinks ninety-nine percent of crypto is a scam but one percent is insanely important. Im in that latter group. Bitcoin, Stacks, Ethereum, CityCoins. That all falls in that one percent of projects that are not only not scams, but incredibly important.

A few regulatory wires the Mayor has tripped

Since MiamiCoin still exists in an unproven regulatory gray area, CityCoins and Miami are wary of setting off alarms with the US Securities & Exchange Commission, which has prosecuted cryptocurrencies as unregistered securities in the past.

One email obtained by Quartz shows that CityCoins was concerned about raising flags with the federal government. On Oct. 6, 2021, Kara Miley, an outside press representative for CityCoins, sent an email to Suarezs chief of staff saying the mayor had caused problems in his media appearances talking about MiamiCoin.

We need to get an hour with the Mayor for a comms training session on CityCoins and MiamiCoin. Its great that he is doing press but he would greatly benefit from an hour session with Patrick on how to best communicate the project. There are a few regulatory wires the Mayor has tripped in recent interviews and its really important for the sustainability of the project that he is better prepared. We really care about the Mayor and his role in making MiamiCoin a successits critical that we get time with him as soon as possible.

Representatives from the Miami mayors office did not respond to multiple requests for comment about MiamiCoin. Stanley defended MiamiCoin in an email to Quartz, arguing that Miley had mistakenly overstated the concerns, and that Suarez was well within his bounds during interviews. Miley told Quartz that she sent the email to Suarezs team out of an abundance of caution, but he had not in fact tripped any [regulatory] wires.

John Reed Stark, a former chief of the SECs Office of Internet Enforcement, said the email itself is a red flag for regulators searching for potential wrongdoing. The SEC could very easily see an email like this, become concerned, open up a formal investigation, and issue subpoenas to everyone as to whats going on, he said by phone.

If the SEC investigates and determines that MiamiCoin is, in fact, an unregistered security, CityCoins and the City of Miami could be forced to return investors money. Were the SEC to find that anyone involved made misleading public statements about MiamiCoin, the agency could implicate the organizers in securities fraud.

The SEC has already sued companies over cryptocurrencies it deems are unregistered securities. Its not a stretch to argue that residents of crypto-using municipalities also need protections, just like investors. Their fiscal future is in jeopardy if a municipality is committing any sort of fraud or any sort of registration violation, Stark says.

What is MiamiCoin?

So far, MiamiCoin remains a purely speculative asset. Neither the city itself nor private merchants appear to accept the cryptocurrency in exchange for goods or services. CityCoins was able to point to one potential city project (proposed but not yet implemented) involving a city contractor that would use the cryptocurrency to reward residents for reporting incorrectly parked rideshare scooters to the citys 311 phone service.

Instead, MiamiCoin has primarily served as a volatile asset that makes money for the city government based on its value among investors who mine and trade it on the crypto market.

Anyone can theoretically purchase MiamiCoin on an exchange or mine new tokens by paying to enter a digital lottery in which new tokens are issued. The cryptocurrencys value rises and falls based on demand from these speculative investors or miners. A wallet reserved for the municipal government automatically receives 30% of the money wagered on mining the cryptocurrency. So far, the coin has brought in $5.25 million. The citys wallet of unclaimed money, once topping $15 million reserved in a different cryptocurrency called STX, has fallen to less than half that amount.

In February, Miami city commissioners voted to allocate earnings from MiamiCoin to rental assistance for Miami residents whose rents have increased by more than 20% in the past year. More than 800 qualified residents could receive $1,000 per month for six months, according to the Miami Herald.

CityCoins also recently introduced a way for token holders to propose and vote on suggestions for how the city might use revenue from the cryptocurrency. Stanley told Wired he hoped the voting feature would entice people who actually live in a coins namesake city to buy the currency.

Trading and mining MiamiCoin

MiamiCoin is unlikely to catch on, if only because it is so hard for the average citizen to obtain. Most major cryptocurrencies are traded on popular exchanges such as Coinbase or Binance, but MiamiCoin is listed on just one exchange, OkCoin, the 26th-largest exchange by volume, according to CoinMarketCap. This means even seasoned crypto holders would likely need to create a new account in order to access MiamiCoinand without a large number of traders or the liquidity of the big exchanges, it could be challenging for investors to cash out.

Mining MiamiCoin is even harder to do. MiamiCoin relies on the Stacks (STX) cryptocurrency infrastructure, a blockchain protocol that lets web developers build applications on top of the bitcoin blockchain. Stacks, where Stanley was once an executive, has raised $94 million in funding since 2019.

After registering with Stacks and acquiring STX tokens, prospective miners must bid hundreds of dollars worth of STX on blocks of MiamiCoin via the website MineCityCoins.com. By wagering more STX, miners can increase their chances of winning a block, not unlike a raffle in which buying tickets increases ones likelihood of winning a prize. Once a miner wins the block, the city of Miami gets 30% of the bids paid in STX.

Is crypto a good investment for Miami?

Stanley said its too early to judge MiamiCoins value, emphasizing that the coin is still in its infancy. Its crawling right now, Stanley told Quartz on April 6. We want to see it walk. We want to see it run. Eventually, he says, it could mature into an open-source app ecosystema mini ethereum for Miami-based projects, comparing it to the popular blockchain, which has enabled the rise of decentralized applications and nonfungible tokens.

But critics say Miamis embrace of MiamiCoin diverts city resources, including employee time and attention, from immediate problems such as income inequality and housing affordability.

I wish local leaders would approach cryptocurrencies by asking what problems are we trying to solve and are the risks greater than the benefits, says Brookings Institution fellow Tonantzin Carmona, who formerly worked as the policy chief for the Chicago City Clerk and as a director of the Office of New Americans in the Chicago mayors office.

Carmona draws a straight line between the endorsement of risky, unregulated assets like cryptocurrencies and financial products like payday loans and subprime mortgages. She sees it as part of the legacy of predatory inclusion, offering low-income people access to the financial system but on risky, exploitative terms that may burn vulnerable individuals. Proponents argue that crypto will lead to financial inclusion, but that access comes at a cost that compromises the benefits, says Carmona. Cryptocurrencies are volatile, theyre risky, complex, and the space is ripe with scams, frauds, and hacks.

That is precisely the scenario that played out in El Salvador, the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. Individual citizens have lost money making bitcoin transactions. The entire nations economy has been compromised in the eyes of international creditors. The International Monetary Fund, which is negotiating with El Salvador over a $1.3 billion loan, issued a report in January strongly urging the country to drop bitcoin as legal tender.

Even if MiamiCoin users dont get burned, the reserve funds in the citys wallet will eventually dry up if people lose interest in the currency. While some see the MiamiCoin arrangement as a cant-lose proposition for the city, the money will stop flowing to government coffers if the underlying utility or ongoing speculation doesnt bolster the price, says Michael Bloomberg, an urban technology researcher at Cornell Tech. People will stop mining the coin if they cant make money off of it, and the only way they make money off of it is convincing greater fools to participate.

In Florida, that reality may be sinking in. This February, as MiamiCoins price tanked to less than half of one cent, Suarez conceded to the Miami Herald that the project might fail. Innovation doesnt always work, he told the newspaper. But Suarez still appears to believe in the power of cryptocurrencies to transform local government, touting the impact this technology will have on democracy, while speaking at a Miami tech conference on April 19.

For his part, Stanley is not worried about MiamiCoins price collapse. He feels that with more buy-in from investors and developers, the price will eventually recover. (CityCoins users recently voted to change the rate at which new quantities of coins are released, a move expected to bolster its price.) We have seen this movie before and the market is a little behind what is happening and what is to come, he wrote by email in April. The score will take care of itself. No serious stakeholder expects their investment to go up and to the right, and we are patient.

Stanley, who has mined MiamiCoin himself (he didnt disclose how much he holds), says he is breakeven on the investment. He doesnt plan to sell.

Read more at: QZ.com
(Natural News) The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Monday, May 23, that the monkeypox outbreak traced its roots to homosexual men who attended rave events in Europe. At least 200 individuals had been affected by the disease.

Dr. Rosamund Lewis, who runs the WHOs smallpox research, said: Weve seen a few cases in Europe over the last five years, just in travelers, but this is the first time were seeing cases across many countries at the same time in people who have not traveled to the endemic regions in Africa.

The U.S. has confirmed at least two cases in New York City and in Massachusetts, with a third case being investigated by officials in Florida.

The monkeypox virus itself is not a sexually transmitted infection, but the WHO said the recent surge in cases is linked to men having sexual contacts with other men. The organization did note that anyone can contract the disease.

Andy Seale, who advises WHO on HIV, hepatitis and other sexually transmitted diseases, said that many other diseases can be spread through sexual contact, such as cough and colds, but it does not mean that they are in the category of sexually transmitted diseases. Monkeypox, like the flu, is not considered an STD.

While most of the known cases in Europe have been among men who have sexual contact with other men, anyone can be infected through close contact with an infected person, their clothing or even their bedsheets. Scientists say it will be difficult to figure out if the spread is being driven by sex or merely close contact.

Mike Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London, said: By nature, sexual activity involves intimate contact, which one would expect to increase the likelihood of transmission, whatever a persons sexual orientation and irrespective of the mode of transmission.

Monkeypox spread at rave events in Europe

Dr. David Heymann, who chaired a meeting of the WHOs advisory group on infectious diseases, said that the leading theory to explain the spread of monkeypox was sexual transmission at events held in Spain and Belgium. The virus has not previously triggered widespread outbreaks beyond Africa, where it is endemic in animals.

We know monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with the lesions of someone who is infected, and it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission, he said. (Related: Monkeypox spreads at massive LGBT filth festival in Europe)

Its very possible there was somebody who got infected, developed lesions  and then spread it to others when there was sexual or close physical contact, Heymann went on, adding that these international events seeded the outbreak around the world, and into the U.S. and other European countries.

Andrea Ammon, the director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said that the likelihood of further spread of the virus through close contacts, such as sexual activities among persons with multiple sex partners, is considered high.

This marks a significant departure from the typical spread pattern of the disease in Central and Western Africa, where people are mainly infected by animals such as rodents and primates.

Belgian officials said they would implement a 21-day quarantine for individuals who contracted monkeypox. Germany already has four confirmed cases from the events that took place in Spains Canary Islands and in Berlin, according to a government report.

Heymann pointed out that this is not a similar disease to Wuhan coronavirus. It can be slowed down as it does not spread in the air and there are already vaccines that protect against it. (Related: New engineered pandemic: US buys millions of vaccines as monkeypox outbreak hits Europe and North America.)

Monkeypox symptoms include fever, body aches and rashes. Although it is related to the smallpox virus, it is typically less severe and is notably distinguished from smallpox by the appearance of swollen lymph nodes during its symptomatic phase. Following that, a swollen rash spreads to the inside of the mouth, hands and feet.

Visit Outbreak.news for more updates about the spread monkeypox.

Watch the video below for more information about the origins of the 2022 monkeypox outbreak.

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

US developing lethal, new genetically engineered viruses, including MOUSEPOX and MONKEYPOX will these be used to demand MORE JABS in the name of public safety?

RIGGED: Government spends $119 million for monkeypox vaccines following ONE confirmed case in US.

Monkeypox spreads at massive LGBT filth festival in Europe.

Same Wuhan lab linked to covid recently tampered with monkeypox strains.

Here we go again: MONKEYPOX is the next scariant being unleashed on the world to demand vaccine compliance.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

APNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) As many parts of the world begin to return to a new post-pandemic normal, were starting to see signs of those who profited from Covid trying to position other illnesses as the next big disease to fear. Although monkeypox may be getting all of the headlines right now, some believe it is actually bird flu that could take Covids crown.

Also known as avian influenza or H5N1, research into bird flu has long been funded by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates, and that should be the first clue that something bad could be brewing. Its not just the money they and others have been throwing at H5N1, however, that is concerning  its the fact that theyve been funding research developing a pathogen of bird flu that is capable of infecting humans in controversial gain of function experiments.

In an interview with CenterPoint in March, former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield made the startling claim: I believe the great pandemic still in the future, and thats going to be a bird flu pandemic for man. Its going to have significant mortality in the 10 to 50 % range. Its going to be trouble.

Given that natural bird flu is not harmful to humans, this comment certainly raised some alarm bells. In early April, a highly pathogenic bird flu strain devastated American chicken and turkey flocks, resulting in the slaughtering of millions of animals, but it has been something that cannot be transmitted from person to person in the past.

So why have the U.S. and other nations been stockpiling H5N1 vaccines, with one jab by Audenz being marketed for 2022? And how does this tie into the fact that the first ever positive case of H5N1 in a person was identified at the end of last month in the U.S.?

Is a new pandemic on the horizon?

All signs point to human bird flu being created in a lab, and the fact that Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates have both had a hand in funding gain of function research with this very goal in mind does not bode well for any of us. Some of this research, in fact, has been carried out in Ukraine biolabs with funding from the Pentagon.

The two have both funded work by Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka identifying mutations in different bird flu viruses that could have pandemic potential. Fauci has been funding his work since 1990. In one experiment, the researcher mixed the bird flu virus with Spanish flu virus to create a deadly respiratory virus capable of human transmission. He has also created an airborne hybrid of bird flu and swine flu that can completely evade the human immune system and leave people completely defenseless against it.

Fauci has also been funding the work of a team of Dutch researchers, under the guidance of virologist Ron Fouchier, who are creating an airborne version of avian flu using genetic engineering and the serial infection of ferrets.

In other words, researchers have been hard at work manipulating bird flu to find ways to make it airborne and capable of causing infections across species. This type of work was so concerning that the American government temporarily banned it in 2014, although that ban was lifted in 2017. The ban wasnt enough to deter researchers anyway, as Fauci continued funding gain of function research on different coronaviruses during that time in China.

Could we be facing a future where a weaponized bird flu capable of wiping out half the planets population could be released to infect the masses and scare everyone into getting dangerous and profitable vaccines?

Sources for this article include:

En-Volve.com

ChildrensHealthDefense.org
(Natural News) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday, May 20, released new data showing a total of 1,268,008 reports of adverse events linked to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.

The reports were submitted between December 14, 2020 and May 13, 2022 to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in America.

Despite the alarming number of cases linked to coronavirus vaccines, the CDC signed off on a third booster dose for children aged five to 11.

The VAERS data shows a total of 28,141 reports of deaths, which points to an increase of 173 over the previous week; and 230,364 serious injuries, which has gone up by 1,887 compared to the previous week.

Overall, there were 6,859 additional total adverse events reported to VAERS over the previous week.

With the exception of foreign reports to VAERS, 817,538 adverse events were reported in the U.S. between December 14, 2020, and May 13, 2022. The reports include 12,961 deaths and 82,544 serious injuries.

Foreign reports refer to reports foreign subsidiaries send to vaccine manufacturers in the country. Under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, if a manufacturer is notified of a foreign case report that describes an event that is both serious and is not documented on the products labeling, the manufacturer is required to submit the report to VAERS.

Out of the 12,961 deaths in the U.S. reported as of May 13, 16 percent occurred within 24 hours of vaccination; 20 percent occurred within 48 hours of vaccination; and 59 percent occurred in individuals who experienced an onset of symptoms within 48 hours of inoculation. (Related: The HighWire: COVID booster drives in other countries contributed to HIGHER MORTALITY rates.)

Around 581 million coronavirus vaccine doses had been administered in the U.S. as of May 13. This includes 343 million doses of Pfizer, 219 million doses of Moderna and 19 million doses of Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

Every Friday, VAERS publishes vaccine injury reports received by a specified date. All reports submitted to VAERS must then be investigated thoroughly before a causal relationship can be confirmed. However, VAERS has historically been shown to report only one percent of actual vaccine adverse events.

Meanwhile, VAERS data for five- to 11-year-olds as of May 13 revealed that:

There had been 10,745 adverse events, along with 279 cases rated as serious and five reported deaths.

There had been 22 reports of myocarditis or inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis or inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. Over the previous week, reports of myocarditis and pericarditis had been removed by the CDC from the VAERS system in this age group without any explanation provided.

There had been 43 reports of blood clotting disorders.

CDC vaccine advisory panel endorses Pfizer booster dose for kids aged 5 to 11

On Thursday, May 19, the CDCs independent vaccine advisory panel endorsed a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages five to 11.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendation. This means healthcare workers can now start administering the third dose of COVID-19 boosters.

The ACIP recommendation came two days after the FDA granted Pfizers request for emergency use authorization (EUA) of a single booster dose for the same age group after claiming that the third shot should be administered at least five months after the initial two-dose primary series with the Pfizer vaccine.

The FDA granted the EUA without meeting with its vaccine advisory panel of independent experts to discuss Pfizers data on children aged five to 11. Instead, the authorization was based on a study subset of only 67 children who exhibited higher antibody levels a month after being given a booster dose.

Along with the small study subset for the Pfizer booster, the FDA granted EUA for the boosters even though data indicated showing higher infection rates among fully vaccinated children in the five-to-11 age group compared to unvaccinated children.

Additionally, there are still no studies testing the efficacy of the vaccine against the current dominant BA.2 COVID-19 variant. There are also two new studies that reveal that for vaccinated individuals who are infected with the omicron variant, the infection provides better protection against future infections than a second booster dose.

The FDA said it did not identify any new safety concerns and that the children in the trial experienced the same mild side effects others did after getting a booster dose.

A subset of only 67 children is too small to effectively detect potential adverse events like myocarditis. It also remains to be seen how rapidly any protection provided wanes because trial participants were not followed beyond 28 days.

Visit Vaccines.news for more news related to COVID-19 vaccines.

Watch the video below to know how COVID-19 booster doses diminish the immune system.

This video is from the Rick Langley channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Latest CDC data shows 106 children died, 48,033 suffered adverse reactions following COVID-19 vaccination.

COVID-19 vaccines more likely to kill people than save lives, research reveals.

Scientist warns: mRNA vaccines will continue killing people, and those who survive will be NWO puppets  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

CDC.gov

PHMPT.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) In the wake of the mass shooting yesterday in Uvalde, Texas, we must remember that on the very same day, over 2,700 human babies were murdered in America via abortion factories, according to reliable abortion estimates.

The same Leftists who demand abolishing the Second Amendment by falsely claiming it will stop shootings also celebrate the mass slaughter of human babies as theyre being born or even after theyre born, via post-birth abortions that the Left celebrates. (See Abortions.news for full coverage.)

Dont pretend for a second that the Left cares about the lives of children.

What they care about is stripping armed Americans of their last remaining line of defense against tyranny: The Second Amendment. Left-wing Marxists and tyrants know that if they can successfully take away firearms from the American people, they can then run whatever totalitarian scenarios they want, including rounding up conservatives and throwing them into concentration camps under the cover of an outbreak.

If Americans give up their guns, the radical left-wing fascists will treat the American people in the same way Australias government treats their citizens: Like prisoners in a giant prison camp.

Australia has just announced two years in prison for anyone breaking covid rules.

South Australia Labor Covid Madness Fines of up to 70k and 2 years jail for any individuals breaking Covid RulesWelcome to Covid1984 pic.twitter.com/Le3lQe6zho  ????????????? (@risemelbourne) May 23, 2022

Firearms in the possession of citizens gives pause to tyrants. This is the entire point of the Second Amendment  the idea that if the government becomes too tyrannical and dangerous, that armed citizens might put a stop to the government terrorism being carried out against the people. Thats why the Founders included the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

Never give up your guns. Not under any circumstances. To do so is to surrender to a murderous regime of criminals and tyrants.

The REAL cause of mass killings and murderous rage

The real cause behind mass killings in America is abundantly evident: Programming of kids through pop culture (media, Hollywood, music, violent, graphic video games), indoctrinating them with themes of satanism, self-mutilation (transgenderism), baby killing via abortion and invoking emotional rage against others. And if a child or teen begins to wake up and think outside the box, they get dosed with psychiatric drugs to keep them in line.

These are all things which are taught by the political Left in America today. The message to children and teens is crystal clear: Your life doesnt matter at all. (This stands in contrast to the conservative, pro-Christian message which is that Every life matters, including yours.)

So if murder and self-mutilation is the message being pounded into the heads of children and teens, should be really be surprised when this twisted, demonic culture produces mass murderers who recognize no value in the lives of the innocent?

Our own government values no life at all. They invest in bombs and weapons of war. They set up false flag operations to murder innocent children in order to score political points (Oklahoma City bombing, anyone?). The FDA harvests the organs of murdered babies to use in medical experiments, all funded by your taxpayer dollars. Dont pretend for a second that the government values life and wants to protect the innocent. They murder the innocent on a routine basis in order to enrich and empower themselves.

Get full details on all this and more in todays uncensored, sometimes outrageous Situation Update podcast via Brighteon.com:

Brighteon.com/7a0f8663-f8fd-4ed5-8522-8cd5ea34efc0

Discover more information-packaged podcasts each day, along with special reports, interviews and emergency updates, at:

https://www.brighteon.com/channels/HRreport

Also follow me on:

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(Natural News) For years, Chinese leaders have sounded bellicose warnings over Taiwan, pledging to bring the island democracy back within Beijings fold voluntarily or by force, if necessary.

And for just as long, Taiwanese leaders have essentially ignored or rejected Chinas statements.

But now, China has become infinitely stronger than at any time in modern history, essentially mimicking Japans rise in the 1920s and 1930s, and as such, it is becoming clearer that Beijing is set to make good on its decades-old pledge to unify its renegade province.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Chinese Communist leaders have essentially warned the countrys monied elite to divest themselves of assets in the West after sanctions were placed on oligarchs and other wealthy Russians following Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

Specifically:

Chinas Communist Party will block promotions for senior cadres whose spouses or children hold significant assets abroad, people familiar with the matter said, as Beijing seeks to insulate its top officials from the types of sanctions now being directed at Russia.

The paper seemed to suggest, however, that the move was more related to internal politics:

The ban, outlined in an internal notice by the partys powerful Central Organization Department, could play a role in Chinese leader Xi Jinpings efforts to increase his influence at a twice-a-decade leadership shuffle scheduled for later this year.

But that makes no sense, given that Chinese assets held throughout the West are also seen as strategic, since everything Bejing does is geared at enhancing the regimes power, as well as Chinas technological prowess.

The directive, which was issued in March, bars spouses and children of ministerial-level officials from holding, either directly or indirectly, any real estate overseas or shares in companies and entities registered overseas, according to the sources who spoke to the WSJ.

Senior officials and members of their immediate families would also be barred from setting up accounts with overseas financial institutions unless they have legitimate reasons for doing sosuch as study or workthe people said, the paper reported further.

Leading cadres, especially senior cadres, must pay attention to family discipline and ethics, Xi told the partys top disciplinary agency in January. He added that officials must lead by example in managing their spouses and children properly, being a dutiful person and doing things in a clean way.

Senior officials are required to sign pledges declaring that they are complying with the new rules, which would ostensibly give Xi more leverage over the countrys ChiCom elite ahead of the partys 20th Congress, which is scheduled for late this year.

Xi is expected to win a third five-year term as head of the party while also stacking his leadership roster with people he can trust so that he can bolster his status as the most powerful leader in China over decades. The compliance pledges will give Xi leverage over any official who is found to be in violation of the overseas assets rules, making them liable for serious offenses including being disloyal and dishonest to the party.

Since taking power in 2012, Mr. Xi has waged a high-profile campaign to fight corruption and curb displays of extravagance among officials, saying that the party faced an existential battle against moral decay within its ranks, the WSJ noted further.

The new rules on overseas assets may be framed as an anti-corruption tool by Xi, but the real meaning behind them is clear: Once war with Taiwan begins  now that Joe Biden has pledged to defend the island  the Chinese leader knows assets will be frozen and sanctions will economically cripple the ChiCom elite, which could also lead to rebellion at home.

War drums are beating in Asia.

Sources include:

WSJ.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Aaron Salter Jr., a security guard at the Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo who was killed in the recent mass shooting, had reportedly just patented a new type of vehicle engine that runs on water instead of gasoline.

Describing his invention as a newly discovered energy source, Salter, just prior to his death, had been working on and speaking publicly about environmentally sustainable vehicles that have the potential to replace existing ones that rely on either internal combustion (gas) or battery-powered (electric) engines.

Salters LinkedIn profile reveals that one of his main passions in life was coming up with a free energy transportation solution. In a YouTube video, he demonstrated how his 2010 Ford F-150 truck operated using an AWS Hydrogen Fuel System, which is based on water.

So were going to do four experiments today for the patent examiners, Salter, an ex-cop, said in the video while proudly displaying his Police Benevolent Association shirt.

What my system has done is take advantage of the residue thats produced by electrolysis, he further explained. So were going to actually start this vehicle without electrolysis  Im a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Salters video is still available for viewing on YouTube below:

Was Aaron Salter Jr. targeted by the deep state for coming up with a free energy solution to gas- and electric-powered vehicles?

Back in 2016, Salter uploaded a post to Facebook explaining his position at AWS Hydrogen Technologies, LLC. It modestly read that Salter was excited to have started this company, believing that it is fully possible to power vehicles with water.

 I believe I can change the way we power [our] cars, boats, generators, and it comes from water, he wrote, calling the technology rehydrated hydrogen.

And we can get one step closer to helping [our] planet rid itself of these dangerous hydrocarbons that are damaging [our] Ozone and causing global warming to [our] planet.

In other words, not only is the technology clean, running on abundant and virtually free water, but it also helps to clean the air of pollutants that already exist. Talk about a win, win situation.

It is because of this technological discovery that some believe Salters untimely death to be suspicious. Was he targeted by the industries that stand to lose, should Salters invention have gone mainstream? (Related: The FBI often stages terror attacks, so this hypothesis is not that far-fetched.)

It turns out that Salter is hardly the first person to mysteriously die not long after discovering and unveiling a new system that runs on water rather than fossil fuels or electricity.

Stanley Meyer had also come up with a water-powered motor technology right before he suddenly and strangely died while dining at a Dennys restaurant with two Belgian investors.

Meyer started choking during the meal, ran outside and claimed he had been poisoned just before he died, reports Baxter Dmitry for Newspunch.

You can watch a video below of Meyer explaining his technology:

Some now believe that Salters biggest mistake was filing for a patent on his technology. It was not long after this occurred that he turned up dead in a mass shooting.

If you figure out a way to beat the oil companies, you have to open source it to the world and never apply for a patent, says ImpairedDifinity. Because they will crush you and bury your patent somehow.

In the comment section at Newspunch, someone added that he recalls a story where they murdered hundreds on a ship called the Titanic in order to kill three men who were in the way of creating the Federal Reserve.

More related news about FBI false flag attacks can be found at FalseFlag.news.

Sources for this article include:

Newspunch.com

YouTu.be

NaturalNews.com

YouTu.be
(Natural News) The smoking gun documentary by Dinesh DSouza about how the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump is now showing in 400 theaters nationwide.

Jeffrey InTheMatrixxx Pedersen and Shannon ShadyGrooove Townsend reminded the public of the films theater release on May 20 during the May 18 episode of Matrixxx Grooove: Jeff and Shady on Brighteon.TV.

The 2000 Mules features highly experienced election analysts who use both data and video to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Democrats conspired to pull off the greatest election theft in the history of the United States. And worse, this could happen again and again until the elections become completely meaningless. The film showed how people or mules carried fake ballots to the drop boxes, which put them in the system and got them counted.

Theres no debunking happening because you cant debunk evidence, Pedersen said.

During the show, Pedersen played a clip of the documentary showing mules picking up ballots and running them to multiple drop boxes. Some of the mules are wearing gloves.

Dropped it. Lets get rid of the gloves afterwards. Why do you wear gloves? Fingerprints anyone? This is a felony, Pedersen commented while watching the clip.

Townsend agreed: The government has not presented this video. They are just making claims in the media so that they can weaponize their side against us. The media is just generating left-leaning talking points 24/7. And so you know, that debunk is nowhere to be found, he said. (Related: Fact checking the fact checkers: Debunking APs 2000 Mules hit piece.)

This is a well-done documentary. And it is well-documented. And it does change the results of the election in favor of Donald J. Trump.

Investigative journalist says ballot trafficking rampant during 2020 presidential election

Uncover DC investigative journalist Wendi Strauch Mahoney reinforced the claim of the film 2000 Mules that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

According to Mahoney, ballot trafficking was rampant in five states namely Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia  particularly in the cities of Atlanta and Philadelphia.

Ballot trafficking is a criminal enterprise and it has been for a long time. The mules were not aware that they were doing an illegal activity and thought that they were just doing their job,  she said.

Mahoney said in the May 12 episode of Keep The Republic with Dr. Daniel Bobinski on Brighteon.TV that hiring numerous ballot traffickers or mules to drop in five to 20 ballots can help you steal the election. She noted that in one day, the mules would visit many non-government offices and various drop boxes.

She also slammed Associated Press (AP) for trying to disprove the documentarys claims.

AP said it failed to prove that at least 2,000 mules were paid to illegally collect ballots and deliver them to drop boxes in key swing states ahead of the 2020 presidential election, mainly because the findings are based on false assumptions about the precision of cellphone tracking data and the reasons that someone might drop off multiple ballots, according to experts.

I have a lot of the data because of the interviews that Ive done [with Catherine Engelbrecht], and Ive written so many stories on it. Im very familiar with a lot of it. I have video myself. I have some of their documents that have not been released, Mahoney said. Engelbrecht is the founder of True the Vote, which trains volunteers to monitor elections and report incidents of voter fraud.

Polling company Rasmussen Reports also disagreed with the AP report. Using state-of-the art technology, the film convincingly makes the case that the 2020 presidential election was perhaps the most unsecure election ever and was stolen from former President Donald Trump, the company tweeted.

Visit VoteFraud.news for more news related to election fraud.

Watch the full May 18 episode of Matrixxx Grooove: Jeff and Shady below. Catch new episodes of the program Mondays to Fridays at 12-1 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

2000 Mules documentary by Dinesh DSouza finally reveals PROOF that 2020 election was completely stolen from Trump.

2000 mules full of must-see surprises.

Here it is! Widespread election fraud revealed in report.

True the Votes Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips claim US intelligence began tracking Americans after 2020 election Geo tracking fence was set up around Capitol before Jan 6 to catch people likely to attend Trump rally [VIDEO].

Sources include:

Brighteon.com 1

2000Mules.com

Brighteon.com 2

UncoverDC.com
(Natural News) Right on cue, the biotechnology industry is seizing upon the new manufactured food crisis to push for more genetic engineering in global agriculture.

In order to solve the broken food supply chain, says George Eustice, Great Britains Environment Secretary, gene-edited crops will need to be grown and their yields brought to market as quickly as possible.

In just a few months, the British Parliament is expected to vote on approval for gene-edited food, which Eustice claims will benefit both producers and consumers, despite warnings from scientists about unknown health effects.

Because Russia invaded Ukraine, Eustice maintains, gene-edited crop production needs to increase at warp speed in order to tackle the global food crisis that is rapidly unfolding.

As you may have seen, many major producers of food crops, including both Ukraine and Russia, are no longer exporting their goods to countries that have traditionally relied upon them for imports. Consequently, food shortages are occurring that threaten to starve hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people in the coming months and years.

According to the Daily Mail (UK), the bill in Britain would allow farmers to grow more genetically engineered (GMO) crops that are supposedly resistant to disease or that require much less water or fertilizer than natural crops.

Precision technologies allow us to speed up the breeding of crops that have a natural resistance to diseases and climate change, better use of soil nutrients so we can have higher yields with fewer pesticides and fertilisers, Eustice told The Telegraph (UK) in a statement.

Water scarcity is a coming challenge with climate change, and this technology could therefore be imperative to global food security.

Check out the below video from Brighteon.com about gene-edited crops in Ukraine:

Is it starting to feel like everything is false flag to usher in the Great Reset?

Gene-edited crops, by the way, are technically in a different category than the GMO crops that have already been in use for several decades. These new ones involve alterations to their existing, as opposed to the adding of, DNA from different species that occurs with the older varieties.

They are all still Frankenfood, just to be clear. It is just that there is a new kind of Frankenfood being unleashed in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, which once again suggests that this whole thing was engineered as a catalyst to implement these new technologies.

In order to sell the idea to the British public, which seems to be much more resistant to GMOs than Americans, Eustice introduced the bill during the current crisis.

With food and gas prices soaring, the British public is more likely to feel a sense of desperation about their countrys food supply. Wanting to maintain self-sufficiency amid growing protectionist measures in many countries, now is the time for the biotechnology industry to strike while the iron is hot.

Just last week, in fact, the industry received a boon from the Bank of England, which warned of apocalyptic food prices in the coming months. The solution to this is more GMOs, apparently.

As early as next year, gene-edited Frankenfood could start appearing on grocery store shelves in England, should the bill pass. Eustice expects his bill to get Royal Assent this year, which he says will enable the issuance of a marketing authorization for gene-edited seeds.

Therell probably be some of these crops that are already available and bred in other parts of the world, Eustice is quoted as saying .So its possible that we could have some of these crops  ready to be deployed during the course of next year.

More related news stories about gene-edited crops can be found at GMO.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Extreme drought conditions in the American Southwest have prompted the government of New Mexico to approve a new cloud seeding operation in some parts of the state.

The Interstate Stream Commission (ISC), reported ABC 7 Amarillo, gave the green light for southeast portions of New Mexico to be chemtrailed through geoengineering, the goal being to create artificial rainclouds to saturate the land.

We have rivers drying and farmers having to fallow, or give up seasons, said Hannah Riseley-White, Deputy Director of the ISC. So, there is real concern about what the future holds if this drought persists several years more.

Last month was the second-driest April for New Mexico in the last 128 years. Yearly rain cycles vary, so it is not all that out of the ordinary, per se. Still, the situation is dire for the states farmers.

We go through our phases. We get a lot of rainfall in the summer during our monsoon season if we are in the right pattern, said Storm Search 7 Meteorologist Corbin Voges.

Then there is the opposite end of that where we have our drought conditions, like what we are in right now, where we just do not get those good events with surplus totals in rainfall.

Chemtrails could become a permanent fixture in New Mexico to fix its weather and climate woes

Desperate times call for desperate measures, apparently. And in this case, those desperate measures include pumping the atmosphere with silver iodide, which creates ice crystals that the experts hope will produce more rainfall where it is needed.

ABC 7 Amarillo wrote that this may sound like magic, but that it is actually proven by science.

So, what this does, is its basically like a sponge. Maybe that sponge isnt completely soaked, but it does have some water in it, Voges explained.

That silver iodide kind of acts like you hand squeezing that sponge, and just trying to get as much moisture out of the atmosphere as possible.

A Texas-based company called Seeding Operations and Atmospheric Research (SOAR) will be managing New Mexicos cloud seeding operations, which will affect the counties of Chavez, Curry, De Baca, Lea, Quay and Roosevelt.

Its pretty dire straits, Riseley-White added.

Carlsbad irrigation district is still at half of their normal irrigation allotment for this time of year. So, to the extent that this could help them get a little bit closer to a normal allotment would be beneficial.

Because New Mexico continues to face extreme fires and drought conditions, there is a possibility that cloud seeding operations will become a permanent fixture of the states weather system as opposed to just an emergency measure for the current season.

I would anticipate well get an increasing number of applications for cloud seeding, Riseley-White added.

Many of our readers will recall that even just a few years ago, the idea of cloud seeding was considered to be wild conspiracy nonsense. The official story was that geoengineering does not exist, and that chemtrails are just contrails that persist longer than normal for some apparent reason.

Now it is being openly talked about by the media as a solution to climate change, which is an interesting and surprising development that has not gone unnoticed by many.

Here in Las Vegas after summer is done, full of planes with chemtrails, its really quite upsetting, wrote someone at Natural News about how chemtrails have been sprayed for years in nearby Nevada.

Usually within a day or two, tornadoes and storms happen throughout the Midwest and eastern U.S. I think its linked.

More news stories about geoengineering and chemtrails can be found at GeoEngineering.news.

Sources for this article include:

ABC7Amarillo.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Major supermarkets are set to prohibit payment using cards or cash, instead requiring people to scan their faces or fingerprints. Such a manner of payment fits perfectly into an Orwellian surveillance society.

Payments giant Mastercard paved the way for this new system, launching a biometrics payment program for retailers. Users checking out goods at the cashier will need to scan their face or palm to authenticate payment. Their biometric data can then be matched to a bank account stored on file, automatically deducting the purchase amount once the transaction is confirmed.

A spokesman for the company defended the new system, saying: No more fumbling for your phone or hunting for your wallet when you have your hands full. The trusted technology that uses your face or fingerprint to unlock your phone can now be used to help consumers speed through the checkout. (Related: Mastercard rolls out payment system that uses FACIAL RECOGNITION technology.)

The biometrics payment program was piloted in five branches of the St. Marche supermarket chain, all in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. Mastercard partnered with local Brazilian startup Payface to make the system a reality. According to the New York-based financial services firm, more trials in Asia and the Middle East are planned  with a view to a global rollout later in 2022.

Mastercard Cyber and Intelligence Solutions President Ajay Bhalla said: Our goal with the new program is to make shopping a great experience for consumers and merchants alike, providing the best of both security and convenience. The way we pay needs to keep pace with the way we live, work and do business, offering choice to consumers with the highest levels of security.

When the pandemic happened, we saw that everybody went digital and consumers embraced new technologies. Consumers all over the world actually asked for that [solution] for their shopping [and] their retail experiences, he added. All the research that weve done has told us that consumers love biometrics.

Biometrics payment is not without its risks

Despite its purported convenience, biometrics payment is not without its risks  with the Daily Expose elaborating on some of these.

All the digital ID and data-gathering systems are vulnerable to security breaches. Because of the potential for cyber breaches, hacks in the future could [be] even larger and put entire systems at risk, the conservative outlet said. It also cited the 2017 Equifax breach, where the personal data of more than 150 million people in three countries was compromised.

Aside from potential security breaches, the Daily Expose also cited the possible influence of algorithms and artificial intelligence in biometrics payment systems.

The rise of artificial intelligence also means that as data from digital ID systems is gathered, algorithms are being built that may have a major impact on people. These systems  are neither transparent in operation nor clear even as to who or what is building them, and for what purposes, it said.

It may be, in the future, that people will find they no longer have consumer options such as low-cost bank loans due to the decisions of algorithms whose working are not transparent to the public.

Lawyer Suzie Miles also warned of additional risks that come with using biometrics as a payment system.

Mastercard [itself has] recognized the data and security concerns that come with the use of biometrics. A password can be changed, your smile and wave cannot. If biometric data is hacked, then the risk of fraudulent activity could be considerably higher than current payment methods, she told the Guardian.

She also expressed fear that the facial recognition systems will collect and store data that can be used to monitor and track people.

While it seems [that] Mastercard [has] taken steps to protect and encrypt this data, as biometric payments become more commonplace, the use of such data is likely to evolve. It will inevitably become harder to protect individuals right to privacy.

Watch the video below about Mastercard wanting to track users based on their heartbeat and vein patterns.

This video is from thedeadgene channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Amazon now requiring marketplace sellers to submit video for a facial recognition database.

Facial recognition will soon identify shoplifters and ban them from stores; experts say its ripe for abuse.

Minority Report: NYPD unveils plan to deploy drone fleet that will soon use facial recognition to scan citizens on the streets.

Chinese government using facial recognition tech that can identify people even when theyre wearing coronavirus masks.

Facial recognition company Clearview AI admits data breach exposing its ENTIRE clientele, including over 600 law enforcement agencies.

Sources include:

Expose-News.com

BlacklistedNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) An Israeli man in his 30s has been hospitalized in Tel Aviv with the first suspected case of the monkeypox virus. The man previously visited Western Europe, where there had been dozens of cases of the disease.

The patient was reported to be in good condition and under isolation and close monitoring at Ichilov Hospital. The Israeli Ministry of Health also asked people returning from abroad who have experienced fevers or a blistering rash to contact their doctors immediately.

Monkeypox cases outside Africa are limited and normally associated with travel to the continent or with the importation of infected animals. Thus, the number of cases detected outside the continent in the past week had scientists on high alert. It already surpassed the number detected outside the continent since 1970, when the virus was first identified to cause a disease in humans.

At least eight European countries have reported cases of the virus, mostly among sexually active men who presented for diagnosis at STD clinics.

By Friday, May 20, there had been 20 reported cases in the U.K., which declared an emergency. France, Germany and Belgium also have confirmed cases. Meanwhile, Spain and Portugal confirmed their own cases on Wednesday, May 18, and infected individuals were also confirmed in Sweden and Italy.

The U.S. reported its first case in a man from Massachusetts who recently traveled to Canada, which in turn has reported two confirmed monkeypox cases and 17 suspected cases. The disease was also reported in Australia.

Other suspected cases are being monitored. The U.S. government has already purchased millions of doses of a smallpox vaccine that was approved for use against monkeypox back in 2019. While the virus itself is incurable, the Department of Defense already signed a $7.5 million contract for doses of the antiviral drug, tecovirimat. (Related: Federal government purchases two million doses of smallpox drug in preparation for bioterrorism attack.)

The World Health Organization held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss monkeypox.

What is monkeypox?

Monkeypox normally starts with flu-like symptoms, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and exhaustion. Chickenpox-like rash with pustules then appear on the hands and face, with the symptoms manifesting within one to two weeks after infection. Those who are infected typically recover within a few weeks.

Researchers first detected the disease in laboratory monkeys in 1958 (thus, the name monkeypox). The virus was thought to transmit from wild animals such as rodents to people, or from infected people. There are only a few thousand cases that occur in Africa in an average year, usually in the western and central parts.

Jay Hooper, a virologist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland, said monkeypox is no SARS-CoV-2  the virus responsible for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It does not transmit from person to person readily, and because it is related to the smallpox virus, there are already treatments and vaccines ready to curb its spread.

Unlike COVID-19, which spreads through tiny airborne droplets called aerosols, monkeypox is thought to spread from close contact with bodily fluids, such as saliva from coughing. This means that a person with monkeypox is likely to infect far fewer close contacts than anyone with COVID-19.

Researchers in Portugal already uploaded the first draft genome of the virus that was detected in their country. However, virologist Gustavo Palacios said it was still a very early draft, and more work is needed to draw any definitive conclusions. (Related: FDAs forgotten freezer contains dozens of biological agents.)

What they found so far from the preliminary genetic data is that the virus is related to a viral strain predominantly found in Western Africa and causes milder forms of the disease. It has a low death rate of about one percent in poor, rural populations compared to the one that circulates in Central Africa. However, it does not give definitive data on how it is causing outbreaks, and whether or not the viruses detected in various places are linked to one another.

For monkeypox to be detected in people with no connection to one another suggests that it may have been spreading silently.

Follow Outbreak.news for more updates on the spread of monkeypox.

Watch the video below for more information about monkeypox and its likelihood of becoming the next pandemic.

This video is from The Last American Vagabond channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

US developing lethal, new genetically engineered viruses, including MOUSEPOX and MONKEYPOX will these be used to demand MORE JABS in the name of public safety?

First case of rare monkeypox virus reported in Singapore  heres what you need to know.

Could Merck unleash a SMALLPOX pandemic to strip mine even more plague profits off the American people?

Vaccine tyranny throughout history: Caribbean slave owners infected women and children with smallpox to make them stronger.

The SMALLPOX BIOWAR  globalists prepare perfect scheme to cover up vaccine deaths and cancel mid-term elections by unleashing a new, deadly epidemic.

Sources include:

RT.com

Nature.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) A Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) testing smart device sends data results immediately to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other federal and state health agencies.

The device in question is called Cue. According to its website, the smart device provides reliable, easy-to-use COVID-19 tests with PCR-quality results delivered right to your mobile device in 20 minutes. No lab visits. No lines. No second guessing your results.

But Cues website failed to mention the fact that the results of the tests are sent to the CDC and other relevant federal and state agencies.

The Cue Health Mobile Application (Cue Health App) automatically reports test results according to the reporting guidelines of the appropriate public health authorities, reads one of Cues fact sheets.

The smart devices privacy policy further states that the users acknowledge that the company has the right to share personal health information with the CDC and other federal and state agencies as required for public health surveillance and related purposes. (Related: FLASHBACK: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla fantasized at World Economic Forum in 2018 about feeding people Wi-Fi microchip drugs.)

The data that the Cue app sends to the CDC and other government agencies is vulnerable to alteration.

Ken Gannon, a security consultant, last month intercepted data sent by the Cue app before the test results could be sent to the mobile phone of a user. Gannon found that he could change the test result from negative to positive or vice versa.

Cue has allegedly fixed this issue since Gannon exposed the flaw. Even if this is true, it still highlights an important issue in fully digital health platforms.

Cue not attracting any customers due to hefty price tag

Despite a massive marketing campaign that included a Super Bowl commercial featuring Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot and company executives bragging about the tests 97.8 percent accuracy, Cues high-tech business model is still failing in part due to the massive price tag attached to buying these smart devices.

A reusable Cue device will cost customers $249. A pack of three non-reusable tests is $195. While prices of normal PCR COVID-19 tests vary, they are usually only around $100, with results taking up to 24 hours to be transmitted to customers. Costlier tests can provide quicker results.

Cue, on the other hand, is remarkably expensive. Even the companys cheapest pricing, yearlong subscriptions of $480 for 10 tests and discounted Cue smart devices for $149, are still costlier than antigen tests which Americans can procure at little to no cost.

These prices dont even include the ability to contact physicians via the app, which is another $900 for an annual subscription, to certify the validity of test results for travel or other purposes.

Cues price puts it out of reach of many potential consumers. This method of attracting revenue does not seem to be working, especially since health insurance companies, most of whom generally cover lab-based PCR tests and rapid antigen tests, do not reimburse policyholders for Cue tests.

More signs that Cues business model is failing can be seen in the stock market. Cue is a publicly traded company, and in its stock market debut last September share prices were $22. As of press time, a share costs $5.16, which represents a 74.2 percent drop in value.

Charles Rhyee, an analyst for the Wall Street investment firm Cowen, noted that it is possible Cues trajectory will follow the trend of other companies that experienced an early boom during the pandemic but are now failing as the world slowly returns to normal.

The company is already looking like Peloton, and a lot of that feeling is already baked into the price of the stock, he said.

Peloton, a company that sells exercise equipment, experienced an upswing in sales early in the pandemic as people purchased exercise equipment to stay fit at home. It has lost nearly 90 percent of its stock value since last year as gyms reopened.

Learn more about technology being used to track people at Surveillance.news.

Watch this episode of The American Journal on InfoWars as host Harrison Hill Smith talks about how the European Unions COVID-19 passport mandate is paving the way for the creation of a global surveillance control grid.

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Not just another tracking device: Hand-implanted MICROCHIP includes ANTENNA used for tracking payments, people and possibly nanoparticles from COVID-19 injections.

Vaccine passports pave the way for digital identity system, warns Nick Corbishley.

You can now be vaccinated based on your social scores gathered by newly patented digital surveillance technology.

Worlds largest biometric digital ID program Aadhaar tracks medications, vaccines, purchases and all movement of 1.3 billion people in India.

Chipped smart masks that are traceable and trackable are the ultimate globalist control mechanism.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

Fortune.com

Finance.Yahoo.com

Brighteon.com
A small group of researchers from Thailand, Finland, and China discovered that there is a big and active arachnid trade on the internet.

The group discusses their research into arachnid commerce via the internet and the potential consequences of so many of the critters being sold throughout the world in an article published in the journal Communications Biology.

Arachnid Diversity

Arachnids are a very diversified but poorly understood species of invertebrates. The variety of spiders, scorpions, and harvestmen is extensively recorded, but the diversity of other orders is unknown.

Although only a few spider genomes have been annotated, genomic data is already being used in phylogenetic studies at the species and higher taxonomic levels.

Also Read: Puppies to Mantises: Study Shows a Shifting Trend for Pet Keepers as People Shows Interest in a More Diverse Market

Wildlife Trading

Wildlife trading is a crucial cause of biodiversity loss, as the researchers point out-when species are captured and traded, their numbers in the wild decrease.

They also point out that while certain traded animals receive much attention, others, such as invertebrates, are frequently overlooked by the press and social media. The researchers wanted to understand better the worldwide commerce of one species of invertebrate in particular: arachnids.

The researchers went to the source to discover more about the worldwide spider trade: internet postings. They found around 1,264 species for sale or trade due to their efforts. Because they did not track sales on social media platforms, they believe there are considerably more for sale than they discovered.

The bulk of the species for sale was not recognized as being traded by any governing or regulating organization.

Hence all sales were lawful, according to the researchers. They also discovered that vendors who possessed spiders with more colorful attributes-features that usually signal rarity-seemed to get a higher reward.

They also point out that the majority of the specimens they encountered belonged to species with extended lifespans, which is another feature that might put a species in jeopardy.

A Serious Threat

According to the researchers, the massive number of sales poses a serious threat to the survival of many species, particularly those that are already endangered due to other factors such as habitat degradation.

The bulk of specimens they identified online were from the wild, implying that they are not being raised for sale, which adds to the strain on those left behind. According to the team, most of the material used to characterize specimens for sale was also erroneous.

They believe that further research is needed to fully assess the impact of such a large trading sector on arachnids.

Arachnid Dispersion Biology

Arachnid dispersion biology exhibits various patterns, many of which are clade-predictable. As a result, certain clades have become classic instances of vicariant biogeography, while others, such as those sailing on silken sails, maintain active gene flow patterns across continents.

By working together, arachnids can help us better comprehend the Earth's biogeographic history and the emergence of complex biodiversity hotspots.

Related Article: Exotic Pets Are Now Becoming 'TikTok Stars,' But Experts Warn of Unseen Dangers

For more news about the latest animal trends, don't forget to follow Nature World News
Palestinian beekeepers collect honey from beehives at an apiary during the annual harvest season in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 9, 2022. (Photo : Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

A recently found lethal pathogen might jeopardize the world's bee colony, according to a renowned expert.

Honeybee Population Threatened by Wing Virus

Lecturer Dr. Robert Paxton of Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg (MLU) in Halle, Lower Saxony, Germany, claims that the current type of the Misshapen Winged Infection has the ability to destroy off beehive colonies worldwide, according to Science Daily's recent report.

Paxton is the department head of General Zoology at the institution. The world-famous specialist on bee and forest bee ailments alerted that the deformed Wing Virus is likely the greatest hazard to bee colonies straight today.

Moreover, the biology study has demonstrated that the innovative, extremely infectious modified version is massacring bee hives rapidly. The pathogen version, one that creates major harm to the organisms' wings prior to actually assassinating them ultimately, was already spotted by a worldwide collective of investigators who were assessing pathogen varieties for over past two decades.

As per NewsWeek, the modified form of the pathogen is scattered by varroa mites which are usually regarded as among of the serious challenges to bee colonies in the globe. These parasites infiltrate colonies and breed by depositing eggs on pupa.

Mites do not simply transfer diseases; they also consume bee pupa as Paxton cautioned. If the mite species is not recognized and handled quickly, the beehive will suffer to the illnesses and malformations produced by the parasites.

According to the most recent MLU study, the current platform has supplanted its forerunner in Europe - and is rapidly expanding in other places. MLU experts reviewed 3,000 distinct records to discover whether places are presently influenced by the novel variety.

The data reveals that the latest variety is currently the dominant strain in Europe, and we worry it is just a temporary fix until it forces its way all across the globe.

The novel form, known as DVW-B, was discovered throughout Europe and Africa in the recent century. It first appeared in North and South America in 2010. DVW-B made its way to Asia in 2015.

Also read: Rare Two-headed Snake Defies Odds of One in 100 million, Survives 17 Years

Honeybee Community

According to Paxton, the different invention has spread to all regions excluding Australia. The biologist said that the lack of the varroa parasite to develop itself on a larger scale may be the cause.

Basic, fundamental cleanliness practices for the swarm are crucial for beekeepers when it concerns to safeguarding their communities against the varroa parasite. Bees are the greatest essential organism for people and the ecosystem.

Paxton formerly worked as an instructor and scholar in Insect Ecology at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during 2003 and 2010. He has formerly conducted a study in universities in Wales, Sweden, and Mexico.

Pollinators are gregarious winged invertebrates notable for their wax-based perpetual colony structures, enormous populations, and excess cultivation and preservation.

There are only eight extant beehive varieties, with a maximum of 43 variations. Nevertheless, bees are only a minor subset of the over 20,000 recognized genera of bee.

Science Direct also posted that the western honeybees (Apis mellifera) are the most well-known honey bee, having been tamed for nectar extraction and agricultural breeding. The eastern bee (Apis cerana), which lives in South Asia, is the sole known farmed honeybee.

The varroa parasite, inappropriate pesticide use, building activities, and monocrop cultivation are all regarded serious dangers to honeybee survival.

Related article: Sibling Cannibalism: Wasp Babies Eat Their Siblings




Stephanie Pearson, the author of the new book 100 Great American Parks, defines parks as places of refuge, reflection, conservation, and community in her National Geographic article.

The U.S. National Park Service, established in 1916, manages more than 420 units, including 63 national parks, covering 85 million acres. Some parks protect valuable and endangered habitats. Other parks commemorate important events in our history, and still, others provide a tranquil place for visitors. Notable American parks include historic sites, wildlife refuges, and congressionally designated wilderness areas. But each place has the potential to inspire.

The American South cradles parks that reveal surprising natural and social histories of places in Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and other places. Pearson noted that visitors of American parks are rewarded with vivid stories of Native heritage, civil rights heroes, and ecological marvels.

Atchafalaya National Heritage Area

Louisiana's Atchafalaya National Heritage Area highlights the Atchafalaya Basin, which spans 14 of the state's 64 parishes. It is home to ancient oaks and towering cypress trees along bayous, swamps, and backwater lakes, all clustered around the Atchafalaya River, which comes from the Choctaw word hacha falaia, or "long river."

The complex cultural history of the Atchafalaya began about 6,000 to 2,500 years ago when the first Native Americans lived along the natural levees and bayous that once formed the traditional floodplain of the Mississippi River.

Buffalo National River

The Buffalo River in Arkansas is the first national river in the United States, a designation that protects it from industrial uses and other encroachments that would alter the natural character of the waterway. The 135-mile national river portion features dramatic limestone and sandstone bluffs, more than 500 caves, over 100 miles of hiking and equestrian trails, and 12 species of fish.

Despite its protected status, the Buffalo is still tagged as a vulnerable eco-park. In 2019, the nonprofit organization American Rivers ranked Buffalo as the eighth most endangered river in the country. The reason is a 6,500-head hog farm, also known as a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO), located on a hill overlooking Big Creek, which is one of the river's main tributaries. In June 2019, the state reached an agreement with the hog farm to close the facility. Governor Asa Hutchinson announced a permanent moratorium on industrial operations in the watershed.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Visitors to North Carolina's Outer Banks look forward to the roaring surf, a secluded beach, and a cool dip in the Atlantic Ocean. The three sandy islands of Bodie, Hatteras, and Ocracoke, parts of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, offer this peaceful respite or a restorative space. They are also a haven for five species of sea turtles, nesting colonies of shorebirds, and a herd of banker ponies. Legend has it that the ponies are descended from animals that shipwrecked sailors found in the 16th or 17th century.

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park spans a few blocks on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia. It once was the thriving heart of the city's Black community, which was known as Sweet Auburn. The National Historical Park features the most formative places in the young King's life.

The park, a four-hour drive southwest in Alabama is the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, where King led nonviolent supporters of all races to fight for black suffrage, and is also the final resting place of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

Read also: In a Biodiversity Hotspot, Park Rangers Employ Butterflies To Assess Temperature of the Globe

Gulf Islands National Seashore

The Gulf Islands National Seashore stretches 160 miles from Florida's Santa Rosa Island in the east to Mississippi's Cat Island in the west and spans two states, including seven islands and portions of the mainland. The 13 unique areas range from historic Civil War-era forts to wild white quartz sand beaches accessible only by boat. It has emerald coast waters, magnificent white beaches, fertile marshes and historical landscapes.

Cumberland Island National Seashore

The ghosts of the past haunt the shifting sand dunes, salt marshes, coastal forests, and miles of pristine beaches of Cumberland Island National Seashore on Georgia's largest and southernmost barrier island.

For centuries, people have inhabited this 18-mile-long island, from the original Indigenous residents to the Timucua people and Spanish missionaries to formerly enslaved Blacks to wealthy industrialists.

Related article: Celebrating Yellowstone's 150th Birthday: Take a Look at the History of this Iconic National Park
Although Houston's hurricane season begins next week, officials began monitoring a low-pressure region in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday.

It was the first national forecast released by the National Hurricane Center for 2022.

Hurricane in Houston this week

The low-pressure system has now moved inland and was over south-central Alabama on Monday morning.

It is forecasted to continue moving overland on Monday but will not develop into a tropical storm.

However, significant rains are expected in certain towns across the southeastern United States during the next day or so.

The hurricane season begins on June 1, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will announce its forecast for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season on Tuesday.

According to NOAA, 14 to 21 storms will become large enough to be named. Forecasters predicted six to 10 hurricanes, three to six of which will have sustained winds of more than 110 miles per hour, as per Houston Public Media.

If the forecast is true, this will be the eighth year in a row with more storms than usual, by far the longest stretch in recorded history.

Although storms can form outside of these dates, the Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1 and finishes on November 30.

NOAA revised its definition of a typical hurricane season last year to reflect the new normal of climate change.

It now considers "above-average" hurricane seasons to include more than 14 named tropical storms, rather than 12.

To put things in perspective, the record-breaking 2020 hurricane season generated 30 named storms. Not all hurricanes make landfall, but when they do, the devastation may be massive.

Storms that originate over the Atlantic Ocean and proceed toward the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico endanger hundreds of millions of people in the United States.

Many people live far from where hurricanes usually make landfall, and as a result, they may have a false feeling of security.

Also Read: Atlantic Hurricane Season in the United States May Come Earlier than Expected: Weather Forecast

Wednesday morning brings a chilly front

This spring, an unusually warm ocean current is also pushing towards the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to unleash a big and deep blob of hot water during hurricane season.

This would produce a dangerous hurricane breeding ground, increasing the likelihood of a big storm hitting Mexico or the United States. The Gulf Coast.

Tuesday Evening Outlook:

The rest of the day will be gloomy and overcast, with temperatures in the 70s.

Additional storms are likely later today, although they will be scattered.

The next series of storms is expected to arrive tonight, as per Click2Houston.

Forecast for Wednesday:

A cold front is expected to arrive Wednesday morning. Storms may have enough force to cause severe weather and street flooding.

As the cold front approaches, damaging winds, a tornado or two, and hail are probable.

Storms will move in quickly, bringing strong to destructive gusts of 40mph or more, as well as heavy rain along the line.

Total Rainfall:

The cold front will bring heavy rain on Wednesday morning. Most will get one to two inches of rain, but some isolated locations may get more, resulting in street flooding.

However, because to the speed with which the cold front is moving, we do not anticipate significant flooding.

Related article: 2021 Pacific Hurricane Season: Tropical Storm Carlos is Third Storm to Form in Gulf of Mexico
Storm warnings and flood warnings have been issued for the city of Lismore, New South Wales, by Australian meteorological authorities for the entire week.

The weather officials are warning Lismore residents they could be hit by renewed flooding as torrential rain continues in the northern part of the state.

It can be recalled heavy rain over recent months triggered widespread flooding across Australia, particularly in Queensland and New South Wales, prompting large-scale evacuations and disruption in Lismore and other cities and towns across Eastern Australia during the said period.

Lismore Flood Warning

The Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) on Tuesday, May 24, issued a final flood warning for the Wilsons River in Lismore, indicating that although the water level has reached a minor flood level (4.20 meters), succeeding weather risks are still expected to continue.

The BoM issued a weather forecast that further rain is expected in Lismore and its surrounding areas across New South Wales on Thursday and Friday, May 26 and May 27, which may cause renewed flooding at Wilsons River.

Flooding at the said river is critical since the overflow of water levels beyond its capacity may put nearby communities in Lismore at risk.

Earlier this year, this has also been the case when floodwaters breached a so-called "levee" at the Wilsons River on March 30, leading to evacuations in northern New South Wales, which affected thousands of residents.

On the other hand, the BoM also provided other creek and river systems in the region that are also at risk of overflowing should a renewed heavy downpour envelop the state in the coming days:

Leycester Creek in Rock Valley

Leycester Creek in Tuncester

Teraenia Creek in The Channon

Coopers Creek in Ewing Bridge Corndale

Wilsons River in Eltham

Wilson River in Woodlawn

Also Read: After Losing His Home from Flood, Australian Man Saves 16 People and 5 Dogs

NSW Storm Warnings

The looming threat of renewed flooding in Eastern Australia comes as the weather forecast on Monday, May 23, started to predict more rainfall from the New South Wales coast to the Queensland border.

Due to the close proximity of the inclement weather in Queensland, a flood watch has been issued on its southeastern region.

It was also earlier this week when the BoM initially issued an initial flood warning for Lismore and some parts of the north coast such as the Richmond River at Coraki and Bungawalbin.

According to James Taylor of the BoM, some parts of the northeast, including Kingscliff, had received over 100 millimeters of rain, as cited by ABC News.

The BoM issued storm warnings as well, emphasizing the rain could still reach over the weekend from Monday.

There is a chance Australia could experience higher rainfall totals in areas surrounding the coastal fringe which could continue until Thursday and Friday, according to BoM Meteorologist Jordan Notara, as cited by The Guardian.

2022 Australia Flooding

During previous weather events this year, a total of five people have been reported killed in Lismore due to the flash floods in February and March, according to Lismore City News.

The flooding during the first quarter of 2022 also witnessed the reported deaths of more than a dozen people and the flooding of thousands of homes and businesses in New South Wales and Queensland.

Related Article: Eastern Australia: Second Major Flooding Hits New South Wales and Queensland; Evacuation Orders Issued
Severe storms and torrential rain with flooding are expected for areas in the southern, central, and eastern regions of the United States, according to the latest weather forecast of the National Weather Service (NWS).

This comes as a large, slow-moving storm system is spotted over the said trajectory.

The system will reportedly bring severe storms accompanied by potential tornadoes across Texas first and then to the Ark-La-Tex region.

Heavy rain with flooding is also expected from the south-central Plains into the Lower Mississippi Valley.

The renewed storm system comes weeks and months after related severe weather events have battered the Central US region and its surrounding areas.

These events were marked by the occurrence of a tornado outbreak, as well as the downpour of large hail and heavy rain showers.

General US Weather Forecast

The Weather Prediction Center (WPC) of the NWS is monitoring the developing storm system, which can bring thunderstorms and heavy rain with the risk of flooding, moving from the Central US to the Eastern US.

Due to the looming threat, it issued its latest severe storm weather forecast on Tuesday, May 24.

The severe storm weather alert will be valid from Wednesday to Friday, May 25 to May 27.

The weather advisory contains the following general weather forecast for the US:

Severe storm forecast

Fire weather forecast

Cold weather forecast

During this period, the NWS WPC highlights the storm system is not the only weather hazard affecting the country.

Instead, extreme heat will also expand in the Western US, increasing the risk of fire weather conditions for some portions of the Southwest US.

Meanwhile, cold weather continues to blanket the Mid-Atlantic region following record-breaking high temperatures last week.

Also Read: Potent Storm System: Severe Weather Puts 75 Million People at Risk Along Eastern US in the Coming Days

Low-Pressure System

The WPC projects the storm system or low-pressure system over the Southern Plains will move northward into the Mississippi Valley as part of the short-range weather forecast.

A large mass of air will spread over the valley and areas in the east.

A warm front and a cold front will be trailing behind the system which can promote the production of showers and thunderstorms, the US weather agency explains.

The following states in the Mississippi Valley can be affected by the severe weather:

Arkansas

Illinois

Iowa

Kentucky

Louisiana

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

North Dakota

Tennessee

Wisconsin

South Dakota.

In line with this forecast, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) of the NWS says severe thunderstorms are still possible from west-central Texas into the Gulf Coast and Ark-La-Tex region until Tuesday night.

Severe wind gusts are likely the highest threat in the said regions.

Meanwhile, large hail is possible in areas leading up to the Rio Grande Valley, the SPC says.

New Mexico Fire Weather

The SPC also underscores the dangers brought by critical fire weather conditions such as soil moisture, extreme heat, air humidity, and wind patterns as fuels for the growth and spread of wildfire in New Mexico, Texas, and other areas in the Western US.

In New Mexico, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) report said that the state has suffered the continuance of blazes from major wildfires for almost two months already, burning a total of more than half a million acres.

These wildfires include the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire and Black fire.

Widespread evacuation and disruption have been reported throughout the period.

Due to the provided details of the fire weather threats by the SPC, the mentioned wildfires are possible to increase in coverage and intensity in the coming days.

Related Article: US: Potent Storm System Can Develop Into a Tropical Depression Off the Coastal Atlantic
Sweden's government has stated that it plans to carry out a large-scale wolf slaughter this year, potentially halving the present population of roughly 400 animals, violating EU rules.

"We observe that the wolf population is expanding every year, and we want to ensure that we can get down to the goal set by parliament with this cull," Swedish rural affairs minister Anna-Caren Satherberg told the public broadcaster SVT.

Growing Disagreement

"We can see that the amount of disagreement has grown while the level of acceptance has decreased," Satherberg said, adding that the government has requested the state environmental protection agency to review the population's appropriate size.

If the population was to stay sustainable and not be reduced by inbreeding, the agency had previously predicted that wolf numbers in Sweden should not fall below roughly 300, with fresh arrivals from outside the nation supplementing the population regularly.

Also Read: Wolf Slaughter: Wolf Hunting Laws May Have Driven Gray Wolves Back to Endangered Species List

Swedish Wolves

In Sweden, there are about 400 wolves. The wolf is a protected species that may not be killed unless it threatens human life or property. The moose is the primary food source for the wolf.

The Swedish parliament has voted to reduce the wolf population to 170 individuals, the lowest number in the range of 170 to 270, which would allow the nation to satisfy the EU's species and habitats directive conservation standards.

After a 1789 statute permitting commoners to hunt devastated the deer and moose populations, wolves began to feed primarily on cattle, leading to a decline in wolf numbers in Sweden. By the mid-nineteenth century, they had gone from the south and were thought to be extinct.

Three wolves from the Russian-Finnish population relocated to southern Sweden in the 1980s, establishing a new Swedish-Norwegian population of roughly 480 animals in 40-odd packs. The great majority of which are found in central Sweden.

While Sweden must satisfy its EU duties on safeguarding endangered animals, Satherberg said she also backed individuals "who live where wolves exist, who suffer social anxiety, and those who have cattle and have been harmed."

According to conservationists, a population of 300 is the absolute minimum, although Sweden's ecosystem could easily sustain a population of 1,000. They accuse the government of caving into the powerful hunting lobby in the nation, which claims that wolves prey on moose and pose a threat to hunters' dogs.

The WWF is opposed to a significant cull, according to Benny Gafwert, a predator specialist, and parliament's figure of 170 is "not founded on any scientific data."

"Unexpected things can happen in wild populations," he told SVT. "A level of 170 is way too low." "We have a genetics problem with wolves, and the smaller the wolf population, the greater the influence of genetic status variations."

Other Nordic Countries Doing the Same

This winter, Finland will join Sweden and Norway in slaughtering wolves to limit their numbers, despite conservation organizations urging the European Union to intervene.

In Sweden, hunters have already killed most of their yearly goal of 27 wolves, while Finland is planning to kill 20 wolves in its first "population control cull" in seven years.

Norway will kill nearly 60% of its wolves this winter - 51 animals - to keep its wolf population to a maximum of three breeding pairs, with animals living between Sweden and Norway confined to four to six breeding pairs.

Conservationists accuse Nordic countries of creating the most unfavorable environment for wolves in Western Europe and breaking EU legislation protecting the animal, which has made a recovery in recent years but is still endangered in many countries.

Related Article: A Third of Wisconsin's Wild Wolves Killed in 60 Hours After Being Removed From Endangered List

For the most recent news about animal conservation, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Nvidia unveiled high-performance computing (HPC) reference designs and new water-cooling technology for its GPUs at the annual Computex tradeshow in Taipei, Taiwan.

The reference designs employ Nvidia's forthcoming Grace CPU and Grace Hopper Superchips, due next year. Grace is an Arm-based CPU  Nvidias first for the server market. Hopper is Nvidias next generation of GPU processors.

Read more: Highflying Nvidia widens its reach into enterprise data centers

There are two superchips: the Grace Superchip, which combines two Grace CPU dies connected with the chipmaker's super high-speed NVLink-C2C interconnect tech; and the Grace Hopper Superchip, which features one Grace CPU connected to one Hopper GPU, also connected directly to the CPU by NVLink-C2C.

These are part of Nvidias HGX line for large HPC deployments, where compute density is the order of the day. They come in 1U and 2U designs with two HGX Grace-Hopper nodes or four HGX Grace nodes in a single chassis. All four come with BlueField-3 networking processors.

The four designs are:

Nvidia HGX Grace Hopper systems for AI training, inference and HPC

Nvidia HGX Grace systems for HPC and supercomputing with a CPU-only design

Nvidia OVX systems for digital twins (virtual copies of physical objects) and collaboration workloads

Nvidia CGX systems for cloud graphics and gaming

These new reference designs will enable our ecosystem to rapidly productize the servers that are optimized for Nvidia-accelerated computing software stacks, and [they] can be qualified as a part of our Nvidia-certified systems lineup, said Paresh Kharya, director of datacenter computing, in a conference call with journalists.

Nvidia already has six partner vendors lined up to release systems in the first half of next year: Asus, Foxconn, Gigabyte, QCT, Supermicro, and Wiwynn.

Liquid cooling for GPUs

On the cooling front, Nvidia is acknowledging what gamers have known for some time: Its GPUs run very hot, and water cooling is a viable alternative to air cooling.

Nvidias current air-cooled 3000 series GPU is up to three inches thick. The actual board with the GPU on it is only a few millimeters thick, with the heatsink and fan making up the difference and making them extremely unwieldy and difficult to insert in a tight space.

So Nvidia is taking a cue from hard-core gamers playbooks: Its removing the heatsink and fan and replacing it with a much slimmer water block, similar to the water-cooling technology used on CPUs. Water is piped in, cools the water block over the processor, and then is pumped away to be cooled. (See an example of that here.)

The result is a liquid-cooled PCIe card for Nvidias current flagship server GPU, the Ampere A100, that will be available in the third quarter of this year. Nvidia has a similar plan for the A100's recently announced successor, the Hopper-powered H100, due next year. More than a dozen server makers are expected to support the liquid-cooled A100 PCIe card later this year, including ASUS, Gigabyte, Inspur, and Supermicro.

The water block is much slimmer than the heat sink, and thats key. The heat sinks are so large they block the PCI Express slot right next to it. With the water block, a second card can be placed in the system.

Liquid cooling has been around since the mainframe era, and it's widely used today to cool the world's fastest supercomputers. We typically support these deployments with our high-performance HDX platforms. However, now even the mainstream enterprise data centers are looking at options for liquid cooling in their data center infrastructures, said Kharya.

Kharya claimed that liquid cooling will allow data centers to provide the same level of performance as data centers with air cooling on the same cards while consuming up to 30% less power, according to the results of recent tests Nvidia conducted with Equinix.

Jetson for the edge

The company also announced broader deployment of its low-power Jetson AGX Orin platform with systems from more than two dozen partner vendors targeted at edge and embedded applications. Jetson is a low-power edge design with AI processing in mind.

Jetson AGX Orin was announced earlier this year during Nvidias GTC show. Its a developer kit with a single-board computer based on an Arm CPU with 12 Cortex-A78AE cores and an Ampere A100 GPU.

Nvidia claims 6,000 customers are building Jetson platforms, and to address the growing demand for them the company announced four new reference designs of varying memory configurations, available later this year.
A VLAN is a logical subnetwork of devices in a broadcast domain that is partitioned by network switches and/or network management software to act as its own distinct LAN. Switches that support VLANs give network managers the ability to create flexible virtual network segments that are independent of the underlying physical wired or wireless topology.

VLANs operate at either Layer 2 (data-link layer) or Layer 3 (network layer), depending on the design of the network. Several different network protocols support VLANs, most notably Ethernet and Wi-Fi.

What are the benefits of VLANs?

VLANs deliver several benefits. The most basic advantage is that devices can be moved from one VLAN to another without network managers having to rewire the network. Another advantage is that VLANs help organizations overcome bottlenecks by reducing Layer 2 traffic. VLANs also boost security by limiting the devices that are able to access any given VLAN.

VLANs can also be used to isolate user groups. For instance, a VLAN can be created to provide guest access on a Wi-Fi network, isolating contractors and other third parties to a subnet with limited resources. Or a network manager could create a VLAN for a particular department, such as HR or finance.

The history of VLANs

Virtual local area networks (VLANs) have been around for decades, invented by W. David Sincoskie in the 1980s while at Bellcore. After the 1982 antitrust breakup of the Bell System, Bell Communications Research (now iconectiv) was established to create a new company out of the northern New Jersey Bell Labs assets. More commonly known by its nickname Bellcore, this Baby Bell attracted most of its early staff from the pool of former Bell Labs employees.

In 1984, Sincoskie, a former Bell Labs computer engineer, joined Bellcore to work on IP telephony. Sincoskie set up the first Ethernet LAN at Bellcore, and, trying to figure out how to break through bottlenecks to scale up capacity, Sincoskie developed the first VLANs.

The problem Sincoskie faced was that Ethernet is a broadcast medium in which the signal from the host is broadcast to all networked devices, which then must process the received frames, whether relevant to the device or not. This results in high CPU overhead per device, while also clogging the network with unnecessary traffic.

Moreover, at the time, there was no proven way to connect multiple Ethernet networks. IP routing was one possible solution, but the drawback was that IP routing was slow and expensive.

Sincoskie sought a cheap, fast alternative with low CPU overhead, which led him to transparent bridging. Unfortunately, this approach created new problems, namely turning central switches into bottlenecks that limited scalability.

Sincoskie invented VLANs to overcome the bottleneck issue. His concepts were eventually included in Ethernet standards, such as IEEE 802.1Q in 1998, which outlined the concept of the Ethernet VLAN. Later additions to the standard (IEEE 802.1ad IEEE 802.1ah) added mechanisms, such as nested VLAN tags, to facilitate easier bridging and improve scalability.

How do VLANs work?

Without VLANs, issues associated with the design of broadcast networks (congestion, high CPU overhead, poor security) can metastasize quickly because Ethernet infrastructure gear, such as hubs and routers, enable network managers to create interconnected networks made up of multiple physically separate LANs. For example, a business may have a separate LAN for each department and link them together with hubs connected to a centralized Ethernet switch.

Traditionally, VLANs are defined at the port-level of an Ethernet switch. Switches offer the benefit of allowing the interconnected network to be partitioned into smaller domains, but since these are all still broadcast domains, the switch serves as a bottleneck that limits overall capacity.

VLANs give network managers the ability to create virtual domains that lump together devices that frequently communicate with one another, reducing congestion and CPU overhead, while also improving security by limiting the number of devices that may access any given VLAN. To handle traffic going from one VLAN to another, most networks are designed to pass that traffic off to routers.

Through network management software, each device in a VLAN is given a VLAN ID and assigned to a VLAN group. This means that devices can be in any of the physical LANs connected to the switch, yet they may be segmented and isolated into a VLAN group that functions as if it were a physically connected LAN.

To move a device from one VLAN to another, a network administrator simply moves the device to a different port on the switch or assigns it to a new VLAN through network management software, depending on the design of the network.

Static vs. dynamic VLANs

Static VLANs are manually configured and port-based with each port on a switch representing a VLAN. In a static VLAN, when a device connects to a port, it is automatically assigned to that VLAN group.

In contrast, dynamic VLANs (sometimes called MAC-based VLANs) rely on a policy server that maintains a database of MAC addresses and the appropriate VLAN for all networked devices. The policy server provides VLAN-to-MAC mapping, which makes it possible for users to move within a network and connect to any switch while still maintaining the appropriate VLAN configuration.

Dynamic VLANs are extremely flexible, but the drawback is that continuously maintaining the policy server for current VLAN-to-MAC mapping requires too much manual overhead to be practical for most organizations.

New uses for VLANs

In the 2000s, the data center became the focus of the virtualization trend. As servers, storage, and desktops were virtualized, new vendors like VMware began to compete alongside incumbents, such as Cisco.

As virtualized data center infrastructure started to become the norm, traditional VLAN concepts were refreshed to support more complex networks. As Forrester Research analyst Robert Whiteley explained it, The network architecture going forward has to be in lock step with server, storage, and desktop [virtualization]. The network historically has been plumbing that everything rode on top of. Now it is becoming the new backplane.

To support virtualized environments, networks flattened and began to lose the clear boundaries between the core and the edge, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down. As a result, VLANs can be used in new ways. For instance, Layer 2 switches can pass virtual machines (VMs) from one data center to another, while keeping them on the same VLAN.

What is a VXLAN?

As more IT resources are virtualized, containerized, and moved to the cloud, network virtualization has had to evolve to keep up. While traditional VLANs will continue to be used to manage local resources and for use cases such as Wi-Fi guest networks, large cloud-scale networks require newer technologies, such as VXLANs.

Traditional 802.11Q networks are able to support just over 4,000 VLANs, but in virtualized data centers, this isnt sufficient. The problem is that each VM requires an independent IP and MAC address, which to networking gear looks not like multi-tenant VMs on one server, but rather as an exponentially greater number of individual servers.

Moreover, as digital transformation efforts spread throughout the economy, VM migrations also put stress on traditional VLANs. Managing dynamic VM migrations without service interruption requires that the IP addresses and running status of each VM remains unchanged, meaning that dynamic migrations can only be achieved within the same Layer 2 domain, which may span regions.

Facilitating dynamic VM migrations and establishing isolation in multi-tenant environments, which may include tens of thousands of tenants or more in large cloud data centers, cannot be achieved with traditional VLAN technology.

To overcome this new bottleneck, Cisco, VMware, and Arista Networks teamed up to create a new VXLAN standard to handle cloud-scale traffic.

VXLANs rely on encapsulation technology to isolate different virtual LANs, creating a logical tunnel that joins devices on the VXLAN together through MAC-in-UDP encapsulation. This technique creates a Layer 2 network overlay on Layer 3 by encapsulating Ethernet packets in IP packets. In other words, each Layer 2 packet is given a VXLAN header, which is then encapsulated into a UDP IP packet that is transmitted over the Layer 3 network.

VXLAN encapsulated packets are routed over the network just like IP packets, and VXLAN-capable switches can support as many as 16 million VLANs. To facilitate dynamic VM migrations, VXLANs create a virtual tunnel between two Layer 2 switches, turning the underlying IP network into one Layer 2 network. Thus, VMs can move anywhere but appear to the infrastructure as if they are staying within the same VLAN.

As virtualization technology continues to evolve, the lines will blur between VLANs, VXLANs, and adjacent virtual LAN and WLAN technologies, such as SDN and SD-WAN. If current trends hold up, VLAN capabilities will increasingly be absorbed into other software-defined networking technologies, as virtual networks of all stripes continue to move away from manual configurations to policy-based ones.

(Jeff Vance is an IDG contributing writer and the founder of Startup50.com, a site that discovers, analyzes, and ranks tech startups. Follow him on Twitter, @JWVance, or connect with him on LinkedIn.)
Sheikh Hasina.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked the authorities concerned to lay utmost emphasis on protection of the environment during adaptation and implementation of any development project in Bangladesh.

Everybody has to pay attention with highest priority to the environment during executing any development project. Projects have to be implemented with keeping the option of protecting reservoirs, allowing adequate green space and rainwater harvesting, she directed.

The prime minister passed the directives while witnessing architectural designs of different development projects at her official residence Ganabhaban, said a press release of the PMs press wing.

She also directed the authorities concerned to keep vigilance so that no industrial establishment is constructed here and there. Industrial establishments will be set up in specific industrial zones in each area. Unplanned industrial establishments cannot be built at random places and this issue must be taken seriously, she added.

Emphasizing on increasing diversity in building industrial enterprises, the prime minister said that agro-processing and information technology devices related industries should be given highest priority.

The head of the government also stressed increasing exports and to this end, she mentioned about providing subsidies to small industries.

Chief whip of parliament Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury, Awami League publicity and publication secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap, Prime Minister's Office senior secretary Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah, housing and public works secretary Md Shahid Ullah Khandaker and concerned officials were present.

The development projects presented before the PM are - construction of multi-storied residential buildings for government officials and employees in Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar proposed by Ministry of Housing and Public Works and RAJUK, construction of Sheikh Hasina International Convention Center at Shibchar on the Jazira side of the Padma Bridge, conservation of flood flow zone at Turag River and compact township development and Keraniganj waterfront smart city construction.
Logo of the Bangladesh Election Commission.

The Election Commission will invite all political parties to send their technical team for scrutinising the electronic voting machines.

Chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said this on Wednesday following a meeting with a host of technical experts at Nirbachon Bhaban.

After a close analysis of the EVMs, it would be decided how many constituencies will have the electronic voting system in the 12th parliamentary polls, he said.

We have hold talks with the experts as they are more aware of it than us. The commission will have more meetings in this regard with stakeholders including the political parties, said Habibul.

The specialists told us that there was no way to manipulate the system. We should trust them as they are skilled at it, the election commissioner pointed out.

He said that the commission would send letters to the political parties to know their objections, if any, about the use of EVM.

They [political parties] are raising objections about the electronic voting system at different programmes. We will ask them to share their scepticism with us to address the issues, continued the election commissioner.

The commission will make its utmost efforts to solve the entire problem for gaining trust of all.

Emerging from the meeting, former Shahjalal University of Science and Technology professor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal said that EVM is an excellent machine and the chances of its manipulation are remote.

From the technical point of view, it is virtually impossible to manipulate the EVM. One can see only what is inside the EVM before it starts operating, he added.

Whether anyone believes it or not depends on them. But I will ask all political parties to facilitate creation of a new Election Commission by choosing to use EVM which will benefit all.

BRAC University Professor M Kaykobad said that no machine could be trusted entirely.

He, however, said that he did not see any scope of manipulation when it came to using EVM.

Everything is customized in such a way that it is not possible to manipulate it if one wishes so, he added.

Among others, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology professors Matin Saad Abdullah and Mohammad Mahfuzul Islam, Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory managing director Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin and Sena Kalyan Sangstha chairman Mohammed Saidul Islam were present in the programme.
The police detained 10 people after the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party activists and the police locked in a clash in front of the party office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka on Wednesday evening.

The police said that the BNP activists vandalised two buses.

BNP activists brought out a torch procession at about 8:30pm protesting against the prime minister"s remarks about BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.

Dhaka Metropolitan Polices Motijheel zone assistant commissioner Abul Hasan said that the BNP activists vandalised two buses during the procession.

Police tried to stop them when BNP activists attacked on police that ensued a clash.

Two policemen were injured in the clash, AC Hasan said.

He said that they detained 10 people from the spot after the incident and police were verifying their identities and roles in the incident.
The flash flooding in the north-eastern districts has left a massive task for the authorities to rehabilitate the affected communities, particularly those in the flood-torn countryside, who had their arable land underwater.

Local government officials fear that it could be weeks before a large number of farmers could return to their normal life because of water stagnation in the vast swathes of arable land, some of which are still being inundated with water gushing inside through breaches in flood protection embankment.

The road communication is also left in a mess, with a large are of earthen country roads washed away by the flooding while metalled roads damaged beyond usability.

At least three culverts have been washed away in Sylhet and Sunamganj while many bridges became inaccessible after their approach roads were damaged in the flooding that started on May 12 following days of extreme rain upstream across the border.

The cultivation of the next crop is going to be delayed as long as fields remain underwater, said AKM Faysal, upazila nirbahi officer, Zakiganj.

A vast swath of arable land in five unions under the upazila remained submerged in water as the river Kushiyara continued to flow through them via a large breach caused by the onrush of water from upstream.

The Water Development Board began repairing the breach on Tuesday after the onrush of water from upstream mountainous range reduced.

The repair may take three more days, said Faysal.

Floodwaters reached deep into the interior of Zakiganj upazila through the breach. The authorities said that they had no means to help people drain or pump out water.

The water will have to dry on its own, said the UNO.

Fenchuganj upazila nirbahi officer Shima Sharmin said that floodwater receded from neighbourhoods but many fields still lay submerged deep in floodwater.

Aus cultivation is likely to be delayed but we cannot say how long, she said.

The situation is likely to worsen with the arrival of monsoon, due in about two weeks, with spells of heavy shower all over Bangladesh.

The district relief and rehabilitation office in Sylhet said that about 35,000 families were still stranded in floodwaters in six upazilas with nearly 1,100 people still unable to return to their home.

The Local Government Engineering Department and Roads and Highways estimated that they might need about Tk 400 crore in putting road communication back in order in Sylhet alone, reported New Age staff correspondent in Sylhet.

Nearly 500 kilometres of road have been damaged, said Roads and Highways executive engineer in Sylhet Mustafizur Rahman.

We estimate that Tk 70 crore will be needed to bring back the damaged roads in shape, he added.

The LGED estimated that a Tk 200 crore would be needed to repair a 267-kilometer damaged road.

About 140-kilometre road was damaged in the Sylhet City Corporation area causing an estimated loss of Tk 100 crore, according to Nur Azizur Rahman, chief engineer of the city authority.

Many roads in the city corporation remained buried under the layers of mud carried along by floodwaters.

The city dwellers were spotted walking through the mud while the city authorities did not take any initiative for its removal.

Electricity supply was restored to about 1.5 lakh people who had been without electricity in suburban areas since the flooding engulfed the city eight days ago.

The flooding was triggered by the heavy rain upstream across the border in India, particularly after the severe cyclonic storm Asani that dispersed massive clouds over the skies of north-east India and Bangladesh.

Extreme rains began on May 9 in parts of the catchments of the rivers in north-eastern Bangladesh and continued through May 21.

So much water was dumped by the rain that it sent rivers such as the Surma and the Kushiyara flowing over their historic water levels at five points in Sylhet and Sunamganj.

Floodwater engulfed over 80 per cent of Sylhet district at the peak of flooding.

The Surma, the Kushiyara and the Someswari still flowed above their danger marks at three points in Sylhet and Netrokona, said Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.

There was no rain in most of Bangladeshs upstream areas such as Sikkim, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur in the 24-hours until 9:00am Bangladesh time on Wednesday.

The other rivers in the country would keep falling, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said, adding that 66 out of the 109 river gauging stations reported fall in their water levels in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

The mild heat wave that swept parts of Bangladesh over the last two days retreated.

The countrys highest daily maximum temperature of 37.2C was recorded at Khulna on Wednesday.

A heavy rain occurred in Dhaka division on Wednesday with Bangladesh Met Office predicting thunder showers at many places in five of the eight divisions including Dhaka through Wednesday.
Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday urged the people of the country to wake up to end the misrule of the Awami League government.

Addressing a discussion, he said that the people must get out of the misrule, fascism, injustice and repression that engulfed entire Bangladesh.

Jatiyatabadi Sangskritik Foundation organised the programme at the national Press Club marking the 123rd birth anniversary of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

The poet is now very relevant in the current context of Bangladesh, he said.

We have to cross the inaccessible mountain and dangerous gigantic desert being imbued with his poems to overcome the current crisis in the country, he said, adding that the government turned into repressive one.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia is now under house arrest while the partys acting chair Tarique Rahman is in exile outside the country, he said.

Cases have been filed against 35 lakh pro-democracy people in Bangladesh, Fakhrul said.

Referring to the Bangladesh Chhatra Leagues attack on the leaders and activists of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal at Dhaka University on Tuesday, the BNP leader said that people still needed to see that women are being subjected to extreme torture on the university campus.

He urged the young generation to wake up and awaken others to overcome the current situation in the country.

He requested the politicians to read Nazrul more to get inspiration for courageously serving the nation without bowing to others.
Monirul Islam. -- Collected photo.

Special Branch chief additional inspector general Monirul Islam helped the United States department of justice over a trial of an alleged ISIS recruiter in a New York court, officials said.

Monirul, the first senior police officer to visit the US since the country imposed sanctions on seven serving and former commanders of the Rapid Action Battalion in December, left the country on May 14.

He is scheduled to return home today.

Monirul on May 22 wrote on his verified Facebook profile that he was visiting the United States after five years to assist in a case filed with the US court related to the killing of two US citizens in the Holey Artisan attack in July 2016.

He informed that the New York district court prosecuted one Mirsad Kandic along with seven Bangladesh condemned convicts over the killing of two US citizens.

In November 2019, the anti-terrorism tribunal in Dhaka awarded the death sentences to seven individuals for their role in the Holey Artisan killing.

I came in New York as the attorney of the case sought my cooperation, wrote Monirul, who formerly served as the polices counter-terrorism head.

Monirul could not be communicated over his phone as he was travelling from New York.

When approached, the police headquarters spokesman, deputy inspector general Haider Ali Khan, refused to comment.

The counter-terrorism and transnational crime unit led the investigation into the Holey Artisan attack that saw 29 people, including foreign nationals, police officials and five extremists killed on July 1-2, 2016.

ISIS claimed the responsibility for the attack, though the Bangladesh government always maintained that the attack was carried out by a faction of home-grown extremist outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.

Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York is scheduled to hold proceedings today against Kandic, a former Brooklyn resident charged in the US with aiding Islamic State.

According to the New York court document, Kandic allegedly recruited 20,000 individuals from around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Reuters reported in November 2017 that Kandic was extradited to the US from Bosnia to face charges as an ISIS recruiter.

Kandic, who was arrested in Bosnia in 2017, pleaded not guilty at a court hearing in Brooklyn. He has been in custody since then.
The court of Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge on Wednesday set August 3 for submitting a probe report in a case filed against former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and his brother Ananta Kumar Sinha over allegedly owning a three-storied house in the US bought through laundered money.

Judge KM Imrul Qayesh passed the order as investigation agency Anti-Corruption Commission failed to submit the report Wednesday.

The ACC on March 31 filed the case under sections 4 (2) and 4 (3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act and section 5 (2) of the Anti-corruption Act.

According to the case documents, Ananta bought the house for his brother at a cost of around Tk 2.40 crore. As the ACC couldnt identify any legal source of the money paid for the home, it believes that the money was earned illegally or laundered from Bangladesh.
In his opening address at the 78th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific on Monday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi lauded the dynamic regional cooperation that has created the "Asian miracle".

But he warned that the region is at a crossroad and what has been achieved needs to be "cherished and guarded".

That is because Washington has its sights set firmly on the Asia-Pacific, and wherever the United States exerts its presence, it causes tensions, political turmoil and war. This has been a common pattern verified by political and military crises all over the world.

Thus US President Joe Biden's remarks about Taiwan on Monday in Japan are deeply dangerous.

When meeting the media in Japan, he explicitly stated that the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it were ever attacked by the Chinese mainland.

Despite the fact that a White House official said that Biden's remarks did not reflect a policy shift for the US, a view echoed by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, what Biden said is not conducive to easing the tensions across the Taiwan Straits, as it will only further embolden the secessionists on the island.

His words have also further damaged the political trust between China and the US, as they are a gross violation of the consensus consecrated in the three joint communiques signed between China and the US, which were the foundation for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and slyly distort Beijing's stance on reunification to portray it as wantonly coercive.

It is true that China will never allow any forces to split Taiwan from the motherland or do anything to make the island a de facto "independent country". But Beijing has always affirmed that it prefers to pursue a peaceful solution to the Taiwan question. And if there is any hope for peaceful reunification, why should the mainland use military force to fight a war which will be detrimental to the interests of Chinese people on both sides of the Straits?

Biden should be judicious in his choice of words if he is going to try and stamp the US' authority on the region. For his remarks once again highlight Washington comfort-clings to the dregs of its Cold War mentality like an alcoholic nursing the final drops in his last bottle.

Like those alcoholics who appear to be functional, Washington may be able to convince some to overlook the damaging dependency that provides a crutch for its distress. But that will only enable it, and in doing so feed its ego as a troublemaker.

That would likely spell disaster for cross-Straits and broader peace and stability, because if the use of military force becomes the only means for realizing reunification, it would be stupid to think that China will not do it for fear of intervention by any other country.


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Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
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The spread of COVID-19 has been a significant challenge for healthcare systems around the world. Physicians have faced an unprecedented workload, and the dependency on digital solutions to ease the entire landscape became more relevant than ever.

Telehealth. Image Credit: Nattakorn_Maneerat/Shutterstock.com

In this article, we will explore how digital medicine, medical monitoring and telemedicine provided a solution to COVID and what this landscape will look like after the pandemic.

In touch 24/7: how COVID-19 re-energized telehealth

Telemedicine is a service that uses digital technologies to provide medical care at a distance and to connect doctors. The capabilities of this technology have been known and developed for a long time.

This service grants access to healthcare providers for people living in remote regions and the ability to conduct online consultations - these are just a few of its advantages.

The introduction of telemedicine within the healthcare industry has been a staple and priority across many countries since the pandemic began.

What is telepsychiatry?

Telepsychiatry is an innovative healthcare practice that applies telehealth to the field of psychiatry. Essentially, we are talking about conducting a psychiatric examination and providing therapies using telecommunication technologies, such as video conferencing.

While psychiatry has traditionally been one of the branches of medicine least affected by technological change, recent advances in videoconferencing technology have proven effective in bringing professional mental health care to underserved populations for various reasons.

Digital methods used in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness

Telehealth and telepsychiatry have significant potential to change the future of clinical practice and expand the work of clinicians and researchers. We now have technology that can help monitor a patient's mood and behavior virtually all of the time they're not in the clinic. Such evaluation can provide more objective and quantitative data about patients.

Research has already advanced in "digital data collection" about how a user interacts with a particular "smart" device, such as a smartphone, and how they interact with the outside world. For example, background data is collected as individuals go about their normal lives (passive data), such as call/message logs, the user's GPS movements, or their on-screen keyboard typing characteristics. Data may also be collected when the user is explicitly asked to complete a task, such as completing a mood diary or a memory test (active data).

The new direction of telehealth

The COVID-19 pandemic forced doctors and specialists to look at telehealth from a new angle and greatly accelerate its implementation around the world. The most important condition for containment of the virus was the restriction of social contacts: today, literally everyone could do their bit by simply staying at home.

Technology allowed people experiencing moderate symptoms to avoid visiting a doctor and receive care remotely. With the spread of the virus, telemedicine takes on another benefit. Patients who suspect they have COVID-19 may not endanger others by visiting a doctor.

A virtual bridge between patients and doctors

Both major healthcare tech companies and medical start-ups have mobilized to fight coronavirus. For example, new technology has been developed to enable online screenings and handle high volumes of requests related to COVID-19. This solution works as the patient completes an online questionnaire about their condition first.

Doctors then determine how severe the symptoms are based on the results and take appropriate action. People who fall into the high-risk group are called by call center specialists to clarify additional information. If an employee determines that a person needs urgent medical attention, they are referred to a clinic. This technology has been used in various countries.

Telehealth. Image Credit: elenabsl/Shutterstock.com

While the solutions and benefits listed above relate primarily to the interaction between the doctor and the patient, the concept of telemedicine is not limited to this. Equally important is the use of digital technologies to share data between physicians inside and outside healthcare facilities. In the context of COVID-19, the digitalization of intensive care units came to the fore.

In many patients, coronavirus 2019 led to the risk of complications in the form of severe forms of pneumonia. People often required hospitalization and many were transferred to intensive care units (ICUs). The number of such cases around the world exceeded the expectations and authorities were seriously concerned by the fact that the availability of beds and vital equipment was limited. No less critical was the shortage of staff and the professional burnout of employees.

Digitization helped here. Intelligent information systems for ICU allowed resuscitators to provide remote support to colleagues who work directly in the department. For example, some developed technology used high-definition cameras, telemetry, predictive analytics, data visualization and automated reporting to do this. Special algorithms monitor possible deterioration in the condition of patients. Thanks to this, specialists quickly begin to act in critical cases. And if, on the contrary, there are improvements, doctors may notice that the intensive care bed can be freed up for other patients.

The role of AI in remote image analysis

Digital resuscitation is not the only telemedicine technology important in the fight against coronavirus. For a qualitative diagnosis of COVID-19, ultrasound, CT and X-ray studies are needed. Therefore, radiology professionals also face increased workloads. If a medical institution lacks staff, teleradiology comes to the rescue.

For example, when the main focus of the pandemic was in Wuhan, local hospitals used a smart solution that recognizes signs of pneumonia caused by COVID-19 on CT scans of the lungs.

The AI-powered program helped screen patients and prioritize direct examination of those present with warning symptoms. Of course, the application is not capable of making a diagnosis on its own. However, with its help, doctors can isolate the patient in time, as well as diagnose faster.

References

Alexandrov AW, Alexandrov AV (April 2020). "Innovations in Prehospital Stroke Management Utilizing Mobile Stroke Units". Continuum. Minneapolis, Minn.

Audebert H, Fassbender K, Hussain MS, Ebinger M, Turc G, Uchino K, Davis S, Alexandrov A, Grotta J, et al. (PRESTO Group) (December 2017). "The PRE-hospital Stroke Treatment Organization". International Journal of Stroke.

Mansour, Omar; Tajanlangit, Matthew; Heyward, James; Mojtabai, Ramin; Alexander, G. Caleb (2020-11-17). "Telemedicine and Office-Based Care for Behavioral and Psychiatric Conditions During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States". Annals of Internal Medicine.

Alexander, G. Caleb; Tajanlangit, Matthew; Heyward, James; Mansour, Omar; Qato, Dima M.; Stafford, Randall S. (2020-10-02). "Use and Content of Primary Care Office-Based vs Telemedicine Care Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US

Further Reading
Microbubbles can assist with localized drug delivery in a patient's body by popping at a target site to create enhanced permeability of tumor blood vessels. By temporarily increasing the porosity of the blood vessels, the microbubbles can create a means for coinjected anti-cancer drugs to preferentially leak into the tumor for treatment.

Naomi Matsuura, of the University of Toronto, and her team are adapting microbubbles to become more potent tools for cancer therapy. By shrinking the bubbles and directly loading them with anti-cancer drugs, the bubbles can lower the dose of free drug that is injected and diffuses into nontumor tissue in the body. This results in more targeted treatment and fewer side effects for the patient.

Matsuura will discuss her team's results in her presentation, "Ultrasound-stimulated, drug-loaded bubbles for cancer therapy," as part of the 182nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. The session will take place May 24 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern U.S.

The team loaded taxanes, a commonly used anti-cancer drug, onto the bubbles. Because the drug is hydrophobic, it avoids water and sticks to the bubble easily, avoiding any leakage into the bloodstream or surrounding tissue until the bubble is stimulated by ultrasound.

They plan to extend the bubbles to carry other types of drugs as well, but the drug loading tends to be lower and less stable for hydrophilic materials.

We are also modifying the pattern of the sound waves in a way that makes the anti-cancer drug more potent in comparison to a regular intravenous drug injection," Naomi Matsuura, University of Toronto

"If we can combine lower side effects from direct drug loading with a more potent effect of the drug by modifying systems that are already in place for patients, we have a chance to make an impact on the outcomes of cancer patients in a relatively short period of time."
Emotion-recognition among people with disorders such as Parkinson's disease or schizophrenia may be affected by changes in the levels of dopamine in the brain, say researchers at the University of Birmingham.

Dopamine is a chemical messenger - often known as the 'happy hormone' - that carries signals controlling mental and emotional responses in the brain.

Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders are known for their links with low or disrupted dopamine levels that causes those affected to struggle with a number of social skills. This is the first time, however, that a positive connection has been made between dopamine and the ability to recognize emotions in others.

In a new study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, a team in the University's Centre for Human Brain Health showed that manipulating levels of dopamine affected emotion recognition. More specifically, the research showed that while people with low baseline levels of the chemical messenger became better at emotion recognition after receiving a dopamine boost, those with higher baseline levels actually became worse.

The ability to recognize emotions in others is fundamental to our everyday social interactions and this is often atypical in people with neurological disorders. Our research shows that dopamine medication - even in small doses - can affect these abilities. That has important implications for fine-tuning a patient's medicine regime to ensure a balance between controlling their symptoms and preserving social functions." Dr Bianca Schuster, Lead Author

In the study, the team worked with 33 healthy male and female individuals and assessed their baseline dopamine levels. This was done by testing people's working memory, a well-recognized proxy for dopamine levels that avoids invasive brain imaging.

Individuals were asked to gauge the emotions of a series of figures in three different video clips in two separate tests. In the first they were given a dose of haloperidol, a drug affecting brain dopamine levels which is commonly used to treat schizophrenia, and in the second they were given a placebo. The figures were seen walking, in outline only, and in three different gaits and postures, denoting angry, happy and sad emotions.

Participants with a lower working memory, and so assumed lower baseline levels of dopamine, improved their emotion recognition under haloperidol, whereas those with a higher working memory became worse at emotion recognition under the drug.

"Individuals with low baseline dopamine also slowed their own walking pace under haloperidol, and so we think the effects of the drug on movement and emotion recognition are connected," says Dr Schuster. "It is not yet clear, however, why the drug actually impaired emotion recognition in the participants with high baseline dopamine. It's likely that timing and movement are not the only mechanisms that are important."

More work needs to be done to confirm whether these results predict the effects of dopamine in other emotion recognition tasks.
Many zoonotic diseases are sensitive to changes in climate as a result of shifting habitats that introduce contact between humans and new species, as well as alterations in temperature and precipitation patterns. In a recent Viruses study, researchers discuss correlations between the emergence and spillover of bat-borne diseases and climate events and changes.

Study: Climate Anomalies and Spillover of Bat-Borne Viral Diseases in the AsiaPacific Region and the Arabian Peninsula. Image Credit: by-studio / Shutterstock.com

About the study

Ten bat-borne viruses that emerged in either the Asia-Pacific region or Arabian Peninsula between 1990 and 2020 were investigated in the current study. These viruses included four belonging to the Coronaviridae family, as well as three Paramyxoviridae, two Reoviridae, and one Rhabdoviridae viruses.

Nine of these viruses were detected in humans, whereas the swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) was found in swine populations. Livestock were involved as intermediate hosts in the emergence of both Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV).

Most viruses emerged in a single geographic area, except for NiV, which originally emerged in Malaysia in 1998, followed by India in 2001, and the Philippines in 2014. Both NiV and HeV regularly spilled into Bangladesh and Australia following their initial emergence.

Five of the emergence events occurred during the La Nina cooling event, while four occurred during the warming El Nino phase. The other three emergence events occurred during neutral phases.

(A) Map showing the locations of the emergence of bat-borne viruses in the AsiaPacific region and the Arabian Peninsula (see Table 1) and the bat reservoir of each virus. Virus names are colored according to the ENSO phase at the time of their emergence: neutral phase (black), cool-phase La Nina (blue), or warm-phase El Nino (red). (B) Variations of the NINO 3.4 index characterizing the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) retrieved from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, https://www.noaa.gov, accessed on 17 May 2022) from 1990 to 2020. Red and blue threshold lines indicate warming El Nino or cooling La Nina climate anomalies, respectively. Arrows indicate the emergence time of new bat-borne viruses in the AsiaPacific region and the Arabian Peninsula (see Table 1). Virus names are colored according to the ENSO phase at the time of their emergence: neutral phase (black), cool-phase La Nina (blue), or warm-phase El Nino (red).

Study findings

Residual autocorrelation function (ACF) and wavelet analyses revealed strong seasonal patterns of temperature and rainfall in Bangladesh and Australia during the emergence of both NiV and HeV.

Cross-correlation analysis of these two spillover events showed that there were significant correlations with climate variables. More specifically, NiV spillover events correlated with monthly rainfall, temperature, and land surface temperature anomalies, with intervals of one month, one month, and ten months, respectively. No significant correlation was found between spillover events of NiV and El Nino events.

Comparatively, HeV showed correlations with El Nino index values, monthly rainfall and temperature, as well as land surface temperature anomalies, with intervals of seven months, one month, zero months, and three months, respectively.

Two logistic regression models were constructed based on the lag values obtained by the cross-correlation analysis. The model of recurring spillover events of HeV in Australia retained rainfall as a variable but had no significant effects.

Temperature, land surface temperature anomalies, and El Nino index values were also included. Rainfall had a significant effect in the model for spillover events of NiV, whereas land surface temperature anomalies, mean temperature, and the El Nino index did not.

Structural equation modeling was used to confirm the results for HeV. This analysis showed significant correlations between recurring spillovers and mean monthly temperatures, anomalies in land surface temperature, and El Nino values.

The same variables were used for NiV, although some were non-significant. Moreover, this analysis revealed that spillovers of NiV in Bangladesh only correlated with mean monthly temperature changes, whereas rainfall had no effect. Notably, these findings contrasted those reported in the previous model.

Event coincidence analysis was then used to test the hypothesis that outbreaks of bat-borne viral diseases were preceded by El Nino/La Nina climate events. To this end, a random association between the emergence of these diseases and climate events was reported. Notably, a non-random association was observed with a significant value precursor coincidence rate when the Australian bat lyssavirus and NiV were excluded from the analysis.

The same analysis was also used to explore possible associations between El Nino values and NiV outbreak events, once again showing a random statistical relationship. Non-random significant relationships were only observed if a lag of three months was used, thus suggesting a global lag of the climate events.

The relationship between these climate events and HeV outbreaks in Australia was significant, as demonstrated by the seven-month lag period estimated in the cross-correlation time-series analysis.

Time series and residual autocorrelation function (ACF) with significant auto-correlation values in dashed lines (left column) and wavelet power spectrum (right column) from January 1993 to June 2020 (330 months) of (A) monthly temperature in Bangladesh, (B) monthly rainfall in Bangladesh, (C) monthly temperature in Australia, (D) monthly rainfall in Australia, and (E) NINO 3.4 index values decomposed in smooth trend and seasonal effect. Wavelet power values increased from blue to red, and black contour lines indicate a 5% significance level.

Conclusions

The current study has revealed that the spillover patterns of several bat-borne viruses are strongly impacted by climate variability, each of which is associated with different time lags. In particular, NiV spillover events are likely altered by unknown factors; however, these events are significantly affected by winter temperature, along with a potential correlation with rainfall.

While no relationship was observed between El Nino or La Nina events and NiV spillover, the same was not true for the spillover of HeV in Australia. In fact, many HeV outbreaks were preceded by these climate events. Significant correlations were also found between other sources of climate variability and HeV spillover, including temperature and land surface temperature anomalies.

As climate modeling suggests, El Nino events will increase in frequency and intensity in the future. Therefore, further investigation is urgently needed to determine the risk that these events will pose for the emergence of more diseases.
Degraded acoustic signals can make hearing difficult for anyone, but differences in cognitive abilities, age-related changes, and the use of cochlear implants may exacerbate the problem. If it is more challenging to hear, it is also exhausting to communicate.

In her presentation, "Aging effects on listening effort in cochlear-implant users," Kristina DeRoy Milvae will discuss the results of two experiments that examined impacts on listening effort. The session will take place May 24 at 12:50 p.m. Eastern U.S. at the 182nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel.

The first experiment measured how changes in acoustic signal degradation affected listening effort in younger and older adults with normal hearing. Pupil dilation was used as a proxy for listening effort. As people age, highly degraded signals can result in listeners needing to exert even more effort.

In the second experiment, Milvae and her team tested how individual differences in working memory scores affected listening effort in cochlear implant users. Lower working memory scores did not predict increased listening effort.

A better understanding of listening effort gives a more holistic picture of how we hear. Measures of listening effort can help us to better understand the cochlear implant listening experience and help the scientific community to work toward evidence-based approaches to improve listening effort in populations with hearing loss." Kristina DeRoy Milvae, Researcher

The team's results emphasize the importance of developing practices to reduce listening effort. Milvae sees three potential paths forward: technological advances in cochlear implants to improve signal clarity, secondary cochlear implants for some users, and aural rehabilitation measures.

"With a cochlear implant, one may be able to better communicate in a noisy restaurant than without. It may take some effort, but with that effort comes the social interaction that was not possible before," she said. "What is clinically important is to help those who are constantly in a state of high listening effort, which could lead to fatigue and reduced quality of life, because they will want to avoid these social situations."
An international team led by a University of Toronto researcher has found that an antibody detectable in blood predicts severe Crohn's disease and is detectable up to seven years prior to disease diagnosis.

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the intestine, for which simple and effective biomarkers prior to diagnosis are lacking. A blood test could provide a quick, cost-effective and non-invasive way to assess risk for complicated Crohn's, which may enable preventive strategies before subclinical inflammation leads to chronic symptoms.

"Our team identified a serological biomarker for Crohn's disease that also participates in its pathogenesis and occurs years before the disease shows its full clinical spectrum," said Arthur Mortha, an assistant professor of immunology in U of T's Temerty Faculty of Medicine, who coordinated the study with Professors Jean-Frederic Colombel and Sacha Gnjatic at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and an international team of researchers from France and Portugal.

"The current arsenal of therapeutics that causes relieving remission in Crohn's patients is good but suffers limitations. A biomarker or predictive indicators to guide interventions are a clinical need," said Mortha, who holds the Tier 2 Canadian Research Chair in Mucosal Immunology. "In addition, our characterization of this biomarker suggests it is a suitable therapeutic target for intervention and maybe even prevention."

The journal Gastroenterology published the findings today.

The biomarker for complicated Crohn's disease is an antibody produced by antibody-secreting cells in the gut. These antibodies prevent communication among intestinal immune cells by binding and blocking the function of a protein called a cytokine. This cytokine -; Granulocyte Macrophage-Colony Stimulating Factor -; sustains immune balance in the intestine by promoting protective and anti-microbial immunity.

Mortha and his colleagues showed that in a large subset of Crohn's patients, these antibodies neutralized the protective effects of the cytokine and disrupted intestinal homeostasis. Those changes were detectable in the blood of patients years before diagnosis and led to a weakening of the immune system that over time resulted in damage to the lower part of the small intestine -; a condition known as complicated ileal Crohn's disease.

The researchers used blood samples from the U.S. Department of Defense Serum Repository to identify and characterize the biomarker. They studied samples collected annually over a decade from 220 military personnel who developed Crohn's and compared them to patients with ulcerative colitis and hundreds of healthy controls.

The biomarker strongly predicted risk for complicated ileal Crohn's, although not all patients with the antibody showed the exact same form and severity of the disease, which Mortha said highlights the multi-factorial nature of the condition. The biomarker was present in about a quarter of patients who developed Crohn's.

Importantly, the team also found they could preserve the protective effects of the cytokine by manipulating its biochemical features. Engineered versions of the cytokine with improved biochemical features can be made practically invisible to the antibodies, Mortha said.

Our system allows us to see how the antibodies in each patient specifically neutralize the cytokine. We are now engineering cytokines that can escape neutralization by these antibodies within individual patients." Arthur Mortha, assistant professor of immunology, U of T's Temerty Faculty of Medicine

This approach could enable highly personalized therapies that reverse the paralyzing effects of the antibodies and restore immune balance in the intestine, Mortha said.

Crohn's disease affects about 0.3 per cent of the world's population, and its incidence is increasing. In Canada, which has one of the highest rates of Crohn's, more than 135,000 people live with the condition, which can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss and anemia, among other symptoms.

"Maintaining a strong gut immune system is essential to control the commensal microbes living in our intestine," said Mortha, who completed doctoral studies in Germany and postdoctoral training in New York before setting up his lab at U of T in 2016.

"It's mind-blowing that our mucosal immune system is capable of sustaining a defense against the enormous numbers of microbes in the gut, and that we're not in complete agony," Mortha said. "The past decade has taught us a lot about the modes of communication used by our gut immune cells to establish a healthy balance at this interface. It is now time to bring what we have learned to use."
A new retrospective study of seven patients diagnosed with monkeypox in the UK between 2018 and 2021, suggests that some antiviral medications might have the potential to shorten symptoms and reduce the amount of time a patient is contagious. The cases analyzed in the study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, represent the first instances of in-hospital transmission and household transmission outside of Africa, as well as reporting the patient response to the first off-label use of two different antiviral medications - brincidofovir and tecovirimat - to treat the disease.

The study found little evidence that brincidofovir was of clinical benefit but concluded that further research into the potential of tecovirimat would be warranted. The authors also report detection of monkeypox virus in blood and throat swabs. As optimum infection control and treatment strategies for this disease are not yet established, data from the study could help inform global efforts to further understand the clinical features of the disease as well as transmission dynamics.

As public health officials are trying to understand what is causing the May 2022 monkeypox outbreaks in Europe and North America - which have affected several patients who reported neither travel nor an identified link to a previously known case - our study offers some of the first insights into the use of antivirals for the treatment of monkeypox in humans. Although this latest outbreak has affected more patients than we had previously encountered in the UK, historically monkeypox has not transmitted very efficiently between people, and overall the risk to public health is low." Dr Hugh Adler, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, lead author on the paper

"The cases reported in our study, in addition to the recent outbreaks, highlight the importance of maintaining a collaborative network of centers on standby to manage sporadic, outbreaks of high consequence pathogens, such as monkeypox. The cases we observed were challenging and resource-intensive to manage, even in the high-income setting of the UK. With international travel returning to pre-pandemic levels, public health officials and healthcare workers around the world must remain vigilant to the possibility of new cases of monkeypox," says Dr Nick Price of Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, senior author on the paper.

They add: "Until now, monkeypox has been a rare, imported condition in the UK and the NHS High Consequence Infectious Diseases Network has treated all seven of the UK's confirmed cases until 2021. Outbreaks outside of Africa are unusual but in recent days, significant outbreaks have been reported in several European countries, including the UK, and further afield globally. Clinical trial data is lacking and we are pleased to share some of our collective experience in managing this previously rare and sporadic condition."

Monkeypox, a close relative of the smallpox virus, is a rare disease classified as a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) by the UK Health Security Agency [2]. There are currently no licensed treatments for monkeypox and there is limited data on the duration of its contagiousness, with the incubation period ranging from five to 21 days. Patients typically stay in isolation in a specialty hospital to prevent spreading the virus to others.

Monkeypox is spread via animal-to-human transmission, typically from an animal bite or eating improperly cooked meat. In rare cases, the virus can spread via human-to-human transmission. The first human case of monkeypox was reported in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo [3] and rarely occurs outside central and western African countries. To date, there has been little research into cases of monkeypox in high-income countries.

The reported symptoms of monkeypox include fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes. Complications have also been reported, including inflammation of the lungs, inflammation of the brain, sight-threatening inflammation of the cornea, and secondary bacterial infections. Published mortality rates vary greatly, from between 1-10% in the Congo Basin, and less than 3% in Nigeria. Most deaths from monkeypox occur in children and people living with HIV.

Of the seven UK monkeypox cases analyzed in this study, four were imported from West Africa with three further cases occurring due to human-to-human transmission within the case clusters. The study authors observed clinical data alongside laboratory results from blood tests and nose-and-throat swabs to describe the duration and clinical features of monkeypox in a high-income setting. Researchers also reported patient response to antiviral medications developed to treat smallpox - brincidofovir and tecovirimat - which have previously demonstrated some efficacy against monkeypox in animals.

Between 2018 and 2019, four patients observed in this study were treated for monkeypox in HCID units in England. Three of these cases were imported from West Africa. The fourth case occurred in a healthcare worker 18 days after initial exposure to the virus and was the first example of monkeypox transmission in a hospital setting outside of Africa.

The initial three patients were treated with brincidofovir seven days after the initial onset of the rash. Brincidofovir was not observed to have any convincing clinical benefit in treating monkeypox and alterations in liver blood tests were observed. The researchers note that it is not known whether brincidofovir administration earlier in the course of disease or at a different dosing schedule would have yielded different clinical outcomes. Despite this, all three patients, plus the fourth hospital transmission patient, made a full recovery.

Three further cases of monkeypox were reported in the UK in 2021 in a family traveling from Nigeria, with two of these cases being the first examples of household transmission outside of Africa. One of these cases occurred in a child, who was observed carefully due to the association of a higher likelihood of mortality from monkeypox in children. Fortunately, this individual experienced mild illness and fully recovered.

One of the 2021 UK patients was treated with tecovirimat and experienced a shorter duration of symptoms and upper respiratory tract viral shedding than the other cases in this cluster. However, the authors note that conclusions are unable to be drawn on antiviral effectiveness against monkeypox in such a small cohort, calling for further research into antivirals to treat this neglected tropical disease.

All patients experienced mild disease and were treated in a hospital setting for infection control purposes and not due to the severity of the infection. No patients experienced the commonly recognized severe complications of monkeypox such as pneumonia or sepsis, however, one patient experienced a mild relapse six weeks following hospital discharge, and another patient developed a deep tissue abscess that required drainage. Patients were also found to experience low mood, likely stemming from isolation in HCID facilities.

"During previous outbreaks of monkeypox, patients were considered infectious until all lesions crusted over. In these seven UK cases, viral shedding was observed for at least three weeks following infection. However, data on infectivity remains limited, and is an important area for future study," says Dr Catherine Houlihan, of the UK Health Security Agency and University College London, one of the co-authors of the paper.

The authors acknowledge some limitations with this study, primarily its observational nature and the small number of cases analyzed. The researchers were also unable to confirm positive monkeypox PCR test results with laboratory samples of the virus, meaning that ongoing shedding of contagious virus was unable to be verified.
Processes in the human body could turn groups of harmless immune cells into ruthless killers, capable of attacking other cells infected with viruses or parasites, and potentially tumor cells, a new study reveals.

Gamma delta T cells were previously thought to be 'pre-programmed' to recognize and destroying other rogue cells, but it now appears there are strong similarities between some types of the cells and well-known 'adaptive' subsets of conventional T cells.

An international group of researchers from the UK, Australia, China, Netherlands and USA - led by the University of Birmingham - today published its findings in Cell Reports, noting strong similarities to conventional adaptive 'killer' T cells.

Human gamma delta T cells have typically been assumed to be pre-programmed, however our study shows that at least in blood, some types mirror the behavior of conventional T cells  suggesting they can be 'trained' to become extremely potent killers once they recognize aberrant target cells - including those infected with viruses, parasites, or possibly tumor cells. Our discovery has implications for efforts to develop gamma delta T cells as novel cellular therapies. We hope that it will change the way scientists think about these cells and how they might contribute to the treatment of cancer and infectious disease." Ben Willcox, Senior Co-Author, Professor, University of Birmingham

Funded substantially by a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award, the group examined the profile of gene expression in human gamma delta T cells  showing the cells in a much more 'adaptive' light.

Gamma delta cells exist alongside alpha beta T cells and B cells in vertebrates. Researchers have discovered that select human gamma delta T cells appear to transform their pattern of gene expression to activate a 'killer' program  dependent on their exposure to abnormal target cells, with successful recognition of such targets likely a key factor triggering this transformation and subsequent attack.

An extremely strong similarity to conventional adaptive killer T cells suggests that the unique contribution of gamma delta T cells is not the type of response they ultimately mount  such as killing a target cell - but that they are able to recognize abnormal target cells in a very different way.

This suggests that they can mount unconventional adaptive responses in situations when conventional adaptive T cells cannot:

Lead author Jack McMurray, from the University of Birmingham, commented: "There are a number of scenarios in which gamma delta T cells may be uniquely suited to respond, due to their unconventional recognition capabilities. These include particular microbial, parasitic and viral infections, and potentially some cancers.

"Our research provides a basis for ongoing studies to understand how such unconventional adaptive gamma delta T cell responses are triggered, and also for efforts to harness such responses to develop new and more effective treatments for infections and cancer."
City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States and a national leader in providing cancer patients with best-in-class, integrated supportive care programs, has received a $10 million gift from The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation. The partnership between City of Hope and The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation will support City of Hope's efforts to give patients across its cancer care system expanded access to its evidence-based supportive care medicine offerings and to advocate for establishing supportive care as a standard practice for cancer care in the United States.

Beginning at intake, City of Hope's supportive care program provides cancer patients with comprehensive physical, psychological, social and practical support services that improve outcomes and enable them to maximize their personal and family strengths. Offerings include care navigation, survivorship programs, specialists in cancer and aging, psychological and spiritual counseling, pain management, and integrative medicine like yoga, massage, meditation and more.

"Cancer diagnoses and treatments bring tremendous stress to families, with challenges that are uniquely personal. Providing patients with access to supportive care programs has a direct impact on their treatment outcomes and our ability to deliver value-based medical care. It results in a reduction in the length of inpatient stays, hospital readmissions and ICU stays, and an improved quality of life and patient satisfaction," said Robert Stone, City of Hope's president and chief executive officer and the Helen and Morgan Chu Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair. "We are grateful for the ongoing and generous support and partnership of The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation. Together, our vision is to lead the way in expanding supportive care programs to cancer patients and their families early in their road to recovery -; no matter where they live or where they receive care."

As a leader in the field, the Department of Supportive Care Medicine at City of Hope was the first in the United States to fully integrate across supportive care specialties and into the patient's clinical care and is one of the largest programs of its kind today. City of Hope's evidence-based supportive care model has been outlined at academic meetings and in textbooks as exemplary; yet, despite its proven benefits, supportive care programs are not widely available at cancer centers and hospitals around the country. City of Hope has heard the call of patients and providers and is working to train experts and expand access to evidence-based supportive care programs.

The gift supports two focus areas: (1) Bolster City of Hope's efforts to train providers in delivery of supportive care, drive research to inform care guidelines and develop digital, scalable tools that can be easily adapted by other health care providers; and (2) expand supportive care by convening and educating stakeholders, including patients, policymakers, insurance companies and health care providers on the importance of establishing supportive care programs as a standard practice for cancer and other life-threatening conditions.

Our shared belief at The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation and at City of Hope is that supportive care should be an essential part of cancer care for every patient and family. Having lost two close friends -; women I referred to as sisters -; to breast cancer, I've seen firsthand the immense toll that cancer takes on patients and their loved ones, and I have come to understand the relief that truly integrated and meaningful supportive care can provide. Our aim is to leverage the power of our partnership with City of Hope to propel and advance supportive care medicine in oncology for all cancer patients. With scalable care models and training, this gift will amplify over time, expanding access to the best supportive care programs to cancer patients who have otherwise often faced racial, gender, age, economic and geographical barriers." Sheri Biller, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation President

Audrey Haberman, CEO of The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation added, "It is equally important to us to evolve the supportive care model within City of Hope's expanded cancer care system and also improve access for patients and their families so that wherever they go for cancer treatment, they have access to high-quality supportive care programs that improve their lives and outcomes."

Because more than half of all cancer patients and nearly 70% of cancer survivors are older than 65, City of Hope has focused on leading the national effort to improve cancer and aging care with personalized treatment based on the individual's age.

"Older populations, people of color and economically disadvantaged communities face unique burdens and barriers to cancer care. Supportive care programs can level the playing field in health equity, giving all patients the care they deserve," said Edward Kim, M.D., M.B.A., professor of medical oncology and physician-in-chief at City of Hope Orange County. "We work with patients and their loved ones, from the very beginning, to understand their greatest concerns and challenges. Then we tailor our support to meet the specific needs of patients and family members at every step along the way."

The efforts to expand access to City of Hope's supportive care programs will encompass patients in the organization's recently acquired Cancer Treatment Centers of America sites, contributing to City of Hope's goal of democratizing cancer care and extending world-class care to more patients, families and communities.

An earlier donation from The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation supported the creation of the Sheri & Les Biller Patient and Family Resource Center at City of Hope's Los Angeles campus, which serves as a hub to facilitate easy access to supportive care programs. Later this year, City of Hope will open a second Sheri & Les Biller Patient and Family Resource Center on its new campus in Irvine, California.

The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation's philanthropic partnership with City of Hope has also supported programming, including patient navigators, the development of City of Hope-led trainings for health care professionals throughout the country, and City of Hope's SupportScreen technology, a touch-screen application that asks patients a wide range of questions to address physical and psychosocial concerns common to their diagnosis.

"Nearly 15 years ago, Sheri and Les Biller saw an unmet need to better support patients and families on their cancer journey. Their visionary generosity helped City of Hope build on one of the best supportive care medicine programs in the country -; a compassionate, integrated model now deeply embedded in our culture," said Kristin J. Bertell, chief philanthropy officer at City of Hope. "Now, they are leading the way once more with a gift that will accelerate our efforts to reach more people than ever before. For that, we are truly grateful."
Colonoscopies performed with computer-aided detection, or artificial intelligence, (AI) saw an increase in the overall rate of detection of adenoma, or cancerous and precancerous polyps, by 27 percent in average-risk patients, according to new data presented today at the Digestive Disease Week Annual Meeting.

The results of the prospective, randomized, multicenter study, led by clinician-scientist Aasma Shaukat, MD, MPH, at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and published online in the journal Gastroenterology, found that when AI was used during a screening colonoscopy, the adenoma per colonoscopy rate increased significantly by 22%, from .82 to 1.05. This research further suggests that AI can be an efficient tool for gastroenterologists and endoscopists to incorporate into their procedures to reduce the number of polyps missed and left behind in the colon, many of which can be precancerous.

Our findings add to the growing amount of literature that shows using computer-aided technology during an endoscopy procedure can improve the quality of exams performed and improve outcomes for our patients. Several software technologies are currently available for clinicians and incorporating the use of these resources will only enhance the care we provide our patients and improve the quality of exams we as physicians are able to perform." Dr. Aasma Shaukat, the Robert M. and Mary H. Glickman Professor of Medicine and Gastroenterology and Director of Outcomes Research for the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Colonoscopy is considered the most effective test for colorectal cancer screenings and prevention as the procedure reduces the incidence and mortality through early detection. During a colonoscopy, a doctor inserts and threads a narrow, flexible tube called a colonoscope into the rectum and through the entire colon, or large intestine. The colonoscope is equipped with a small camera at its end that allows the doctor to visualize and examine the lining of the colon and rectum as they withdraw the scope. If the physician identifies an abnormal growth or polyp during the procedure, they will remove it and have it sent to pathology for a definitive diagnosis.

While the procedure is effective, results vary depending on the skill of the physician performing the exam and an estimated 30 percent of polyps are missed during a traditional procedure. In an effort to improve quality and efficacy researchers are working with artificial intelligence platforms to act as a second set of eyes for the endoscopist. A computer-aided detection was developed for the identification of colorectal polyps during high-definition white-light colonoscopy procedures. The device analyzes the colonoscope video feed in real time to identify potential polyps and identify areas of concern on the monitor that the endoscopist can look at in real time, thus improving the results of the procedure.

Study details

For the study, 22, skilled, board-certified gastroenterologists performed colonoscopies on 1,440 patients during January 2021  September 2021, who were randomized to receive either a standard colonoscopy or a colonoscopy using computer-aided detection software. All patients included in the study were over the age of 40 and were undergoing a screening or surveillance colonoscopy, but who had not had a previous colonoscopy within the last three years. 677 patients were randomized to the standard arm and 682 into the computer-aided arm. The number of polyps found using a computer-aided colonoscope was 1.05 compared to .82 [MOU1] and there was no decrease in the true histology rate indicating the polyps of concern were all removed.

"Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States and it is one of the few cancers that can be prevented if caught early," said Dr. Shaukat. "Our mission remains to improve and enhance the quality and efficacy of the colonoscopy across the board to provide the best care for patients."

The researchers acknowledge that long-term follow up studies are needed to further evaluate the benefit of computer-assisted devices on clinical outcomes.

In addition to Dr. Shaukat, other researchers involved with the study are David R Lichtenstein, MD, Samuel C Somers, MD, MMSc, Daniel C Chung, MD, David G Perdue, MD, MSPH, Murali Gopal, MD, Daniel R Colucci, BS, Sloane A Phillips, MBA, Nicholas A Marka, MS, Timothy R Church, PhD, and William R Brugge, MD, for the SKOUTTM Registration Study Team. The study was funded by Iterative Scopes, Inc.
In a recent research paper posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, scientists explored the safety of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) BNT162b2 vaccine in children under five years of age.

Study: Safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Children below 5 Years (CoVacU5)  an Investigator-Initiated Retrospective Cohort Study. Image Credit: Volodymyr Maksymchuk / Shutterstock

Background

The efficacy and safety of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) BNT162b2 vaccine have been evaluated in more than 2,500 adolescents and children aged 5 years. Nevertheless, the European Medicines Agency has not yet authorized using COVID-19 vaccinations in children under five years, while investigations testing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in this age range are underway. Off-label COVID-19 vaccinations in children under five years are lawful in Germany following the acquisition of informed consent from legal guardians/parents. However, it is at the risk of legal guardians, healthcare professionals, or parents.

The SARS-CoV-2 advisory board of the German government announced on February 17, 2022, that in the event of a pandemic, the wellbeing of children must be prioritized, including systematic initiatives to examine potential adverse effects associated with the COVID-19 vaccines. Yet, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in children under five years is uncertain presently.

About the study

In the current study, the scientists retrospectively assessed the safety of the SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 vaccine administered off-label in children aged less than five years in Germany from April 14 to May 9, 2022. The study was named CoVacU5, an investigator-launched retrospective cohort research comprising children under the age of five enrolled for COVID-19 vaccination in ambulatory care centers in Germany.

Inclusion criteria comprised registering in a database for a minimum of one dose of BNT162b2 given before the age of five years and receiving informed consent from a legal representative/parent to partake in the current study's survey. Eligible subjects were identified using electronic registration systems of 21 ambulatory care institutions and two countrywide layperson-embarked SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaigns in Germany. Exclusion criteria included duplicate replies with clashing sex, age, height, or weight without specifying whether the children were triplets or twins and respondents who did not have an authentication code as evidence of the invitation.

CoVacU5 documented short-term safety information from one to three shots of three to 10ug BNT162b2 vaccination in children aged zero to less than five years. Co-primary outcomes of the study were the incidences of 11 kinds of symptoms after vaccination with bivariate assessments and regression models controlling for sex, age, height, and weight. General reactions, vaccination-site symptoms, skin changes, fever, any cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, nervous, or pulmonary system, gastrointestinal tract, throat/neck/ear symptoms, psychological issues, or vulnerability to infections were among the symptom categories. In addition, non-SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations used on-label acted as controls via an active-comparator approach.

Results and conclusions

According to the study results, there were 7806 children in this research, indicating a response rate of 41% out of 19,000 enrolled children. Moreover, 338 children were immunized with the first shot of the BNT162b2 vaccine between zero and one year, 1272 between one and two years, and 5629 between two and less than five years.

Symptoms reported after BNT162b2 vaccine administration according to age group and dosage. Frequencies of retrospectively reported symptom categories occurring after the first vaccination (upper panel) or the second vaccination (lower panel) with BNT162b2.

A 10 g BNT162b2 dosage was linked more commonly to injection-site symptoms versus lower doses. Hence, this must be accounted for in upcoming dosage-finding techniques in this age range and carefully evaluated against possible immunogenicity improvements at larger dosages.

The likelihood of any musculoskeletal, injection-site, otolaryngological, or dermatological symptoms was somewhat higher following BNT12b2 versus non-SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations. On the other hand, the BNT162b2 vaccination reduced the likelihood of general reactions and fever. Furthermore, ten symptoms needing hospitalization were described only at BNT162b2 doses greater than 3ug. Besides, no serious adverse events (SAEs) were documented in the children vaccinated with the 3ug BNT162b2 vaccine. Moreover, no deaths were reported in this study.

Conclusions

According to the authors, this was the first study showing that the SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 vaccination has a self-documented safety profile equivalent to non-COVID-19 vaccinations in a large group of children under five years. They stated that even after the ongoing phase 1/2/3 trials of BNT162b2 are completed, these results may be valuable in safety considerations for personal decision-making and might supplement data awaited from prospective licensing investigations for expert advice regarding BNT162b2 vaccines in this age range

Overall, the study findings showed that in the current group of children under five years of age, symptoms recorded following the SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 vaccination were equivalent to those reported after on-label non-COVID-19 vaccinations. The team mentioned that in addition to the information of the ongoing industry-funded BNT162b2 phase 1 to 3 trials undertaken in this age range, CoVacU5 enhances the available information on COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in children under five years due to the large sample size and multiple doses studied.

*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.
A modest, tan building sandwiched between a gas station and a small apartment house near this Western city's downtown has become an unexpected focal point of America's abortion debate, just weeks before Wyoming could outlaw the procedure.

Inside, a nonprofit is renovating the space into a clinic that, beginning in June, would be the only one in Wyoming to provide procedural abortions. The Casper clinic also would become the closest option for people in what the nonprofit's founders describe as an "abortion desert," extending into western Nebraska and South Dakota.

Outside, on a recent Thursday, more than 100 abortion opponents gathered for a prayer vigil on the sidewalk along a busy five-lane street. A smaller group of vocal abortion rights advocates assembled nearby.

The protest groups congregate weekly as work to open the clinic continues, despite an imminent U.S. Supreme Court decision expected to reverse constitutional protections for abortion rights provided by the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade. A recently passed "trigger law" in Wyoming would take effect days after such a ruling, banning most abortions in the state.

Teens, young adults, parents with small children, and seniors silently held signs emblazoned with Bible verses or slogans, such as "Abortion hurts women," during the recent vigil.

One man walked through the crowd yelling anti-religious slogans, while a group of teens took a less confrontational approach to counter the vigil's message by chanting "My body, my choice."

Several drivers passing by honked in support of the anti-abortion group or yelled expletives and, "It's my body!"

The opposing groups of demonstrators don't see eye to eye on much, but they seemed to agree on one thing: They're surprised the clinic is opening in Wyoming, an overwhelmingly Republican state where 70% of voters supported Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election  the highest percentage of any state.

"I never thought I would see an abortion clinic come to Wyoming, let alone Casper, just because it is more conservative," 39-year-old Robin Holmes said during the vigil.

Holmes wore a custom T-shirt and held a homemade poster, both saying "Unborn Lives Matter." She said her daughter became pregnant in her teens but decided against abortion and is now raising the child.

Rikki Hayes, who supports the new clinic, found a piece of cardboard on her way to the vigil and held it up after writing "Mind your own business!"

"I didn't think in a million years that we, in Casper, would ever get one. We're in Wyoming," said Hayes, a 21-year-old coffee shop manager.

The idea to open a clinic in Casper came from Wyoming activist Christine Lichtenfels. She shared her suggestion with Julie Burkhart, a Colorado resident and veteran of the national abortion rights movement

The only other Wyoming clinic offering abortions is in Jackson, a five-hour drive west of Casper and near the Idaho border. It offers only medication abortions up to 10 weeks of gestation.

"I just thought, 'Gosh, why can't we get something in Casper?' It's the perfect location, pretty much in the center," Lichtenfels said.

Burkhart agreed and founded the nonprofit Wellspring Health Access in May 2021 to open the clinic and plan other projects aimed at expanding access to abortion. Lichtenfels is an attorney and board member of Chelsea's Fund, a nonprofit that provides financial assistance for Wyoming residents seeking abortions. She said taking a day or more to travel to an appointment creates logistical and financial burdens for many people.

"You have a job, maybe you've got kids, so you've got to find kid care," Lichtenfels said. "Maybe you don't have a great car, maybe you don't have a car. Or maybe the roads are closed."

Casper, with a population of about 59,000, is a three- or four-hour drive north or south from the nearest clinics  one in Billings, Montana, and another in Fort Collins, Colorado. It's also relatively close to regions of neighboring states without abortion services.

Some people in western South Dakota seeking abortions now drive five hours to clinics in Montana or Colorado. If they stay within South Dakota, they must travel four hours to Sioux Falls, where they face a three-day waiting period.

When organizers began planning the clinic, Wyoming had fewer abortion restrictions than many other Republican-controlled states.

Wyoming allows abortion up to viability (about 24 weeks) and has no ban on telemedicine abortions. It has no mandated waiting period, doesn't require doctors to read specific information to patients, and doesn't require patients to view an ultrasound. Still, the state remained largely devoid of abortion services.

Then, in March, Wyoming became the 13th state to pass a "trigger law." The law would make abortions illegal five days after Roe v. Wade is overturned, with exceptions in cases of pregnancies involving rape, incest, or risk to the mother's life.

Similar laws are on the books in Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. Policy watchers expect Montana and Nebraska lawmakers also will pursue abortion bans. That means many people from this region would need to drive or fly to other states for abortion services if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

No matter what the U.S. Supreme Court decides, the public debate will continue in Wyoming, both sides say.

Burkhart said legal challenges could slow Wyoming's trigger law from taking effect. Even if the state outlaws abortion, she hopes the clinic will stay open to offer its other services, such as gynecology, testing for sexually transmitted infections, family planning, and gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ patients.

She also expects Wellspring Health Access will explore ways to help people in states with abortion bans find services in neighboring states, including opening clinics near state borders or bringing mobile clinics or telemedicine services to those areas.

Burkhart said it may also be possible to bring mobile clinics into states with abortion bans, to screen, prep, and enroll people for out-of-state appointments.

Local anti-abortion activists say that even if Wyoming bans abortion, their campaign won't end. Bob Brechtel is a Republican former state legislator who helps organize the weekly prayer vigils outside the Casper clinic.

"Rule of law is important, but what's more important is that we do have people who are accepting and understanding of our purpose to defend human life at all stages," he said.
Leading the way since 1947 with automation and innovation in centrifugation, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences announces a series of events to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Highlights include the launch of the Allegra V-15R Benchtop Centrifuge, along with the industrys highest-volume vertical rotor  the VTi 50.1  and a contest to find the oldest centrifuge produced by the company.

Image Credit: Beckman Coulter Life Sciences - Flow Cytometry

The companys first centrifuge model, the Spinco Model E, revolutionized the industry when it hit the market in 1947, and was a critical component of the Meselson-Stahle Experiment.1 That 1958 project invented the density gradient technique, which is a fundamental pillar of biology and semiconservative replication of DNA.2 The Meselson-Stahle Experiment, which earned a Nobel Prize, successfully demonstrated that DNA strands are synthesized to match when separated.

Creating instruments and solutions that provide these breakthrough moments is what drives us every day at Beckman Coulter Life Sciences. Were humbled and gratified knowing weve helped labs around the world accelerate answers. While we have enjoyed looking back at our progress, were aggressively focused on our future to ensure were exceeding customer expectations for the next 75 years and beyond -- with innovative products that continue to reduce manual and often error-prone steps in laboratory workflows. Walter Mitchell, Director of Product Management for Centrifugation.

The evolution of the companys legacy in centrifugation continues with the Allegra V-15R Benchtop Centrifuge. Featuring 10 rotor configurations and 50 programmable runs, along with a comprehensive selection of adapters, this recently launched instrument can perform a variety of workflows and applications  from cell and blood separation to high-throughput screening. Achieving a gravitational force of up to 20,412 x g and speeds up to 13,500 rpm, the Allegra V-15R is still a quiet companion in the lab, registering 55 dBA at max speed. Its also up to 28% smaller than comparable models. More information can be found at https://becls.co/allegraV15r.

The company also just launched the highest-volume vertical rotor on the market: the VTi 50.1, featuring a volume capacity of 468 mL and the ability to hold 12 tubes of up to 39 mL each. With the shortest pathlength, vertical rotors are the best option for self-forming density gradient separations, as they provide higher resolution and can achieve it in up to half the time of other rotor types. The VTi 50.1 vertical rotor can reach a maximum speed of 50,000 RPM and is designed for use in Optima Series ultracentrifuges.

The companys diamond year celebration also includes a campaign to find its oldest centrifuge thats still in use. From now until June 30, 2022, customers in the United States are eligible to submit information to enter the contest. One winner will be chosen and will receive a 50% discount off the purchase price, up to $50,000, of new centrifugal hardware. Registrants must submit the serial number of their workhorse centrifuge to be eligible. Complete contest information, including terms and conditions, can be found at becls.co/3LkZIhS.

Centrifuges have been in use commercially since the mid-1800s, with the invention of a machine to separate milk and cream for the dairy industry. In 1942, Edward Pickels invented the first electrically driven vacuum centrifuge and founded Spinco, later purchased by the former Beckman Instruments, which continues the legacy and commitment to quality and innovation of Beckman Coulter Life Sciences today.

References
CN Bio, a leading Organ-on-a-chip Company (OOC) that designs and manufactures single- and multi-organ microphysiological systems (MPS), today announced the appointment of Dr. Paul Brooks as Chief Business Officer.

Image Credit: Photo Smoothies/Shutterstock.com

Key to the next stage of the Companys growth, Paul will be responsible for shaping the companys commercial business strategy and leading the expansion of its global commercial organization.

Paul is an experienced C-suite level executive with over 25 years in the life science industry building businesses and leading high-performance research, product development, marketing, and sales teams to develop and commercialize new biotechnology technologies. He joins CN Bio from Horizon Discovery, a PerkinElmer Company, where he led the strategic and operational transformation of its business units as Head of Business Operations & Managing Director, driving revenue growth across its service, product, and licensing businesses.

Paul not only has experience across a range of large, globally-recognised life sciences businesses, but also driving growth within smaller teams. He has a very strong track record and is well placed to help us grow commercially, moving us forward with our organisational strategy and goals. We are proud to have him joining the team and look forward to working together, enabling us to drive innovation in the sector by bringing more products to market. Dr. David Hughes, Chief Executive Officer, CN Bio

Paul held various management roles at Sigma-Aldrich; acquired by Merck Group in 2015 to form MilliporeSigma, where he joined the leadership team as Head of Discovery Research Services & General Manager and led the successful formation of its global-leading product and service portfolio for drug discovery research. In 2016, he relocated back to the UK as Chief Commercial Officer & Executive Director and Board member at Oxford Genetics, driving the rapid scaling of the synthetic biology start-up company and commercialization of its technology.

Paul has a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Wales, a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and an MBA from University of Nottingham Business School.

Dr. Paul Brooks, Chief Business Officer, CN Bio, commented: The potential within the Organ-on-a-Chip space to revolutionise drug discovery is remarkable. CN Bio is demonstrating these possibilities with its next-generation PhysioMimix microphysiological technology, not only to accelerate the accurate and reliable development of new therapeutics, but also critically reducing researchers dependence on animal models. Its an exciting time to be joining CN Bio at an important inflection point in its history, and Im eager to work alongside the team to help realise this potential.
In a recent study posted to Preprints with The Lancet*, researchers assessed the effectiveness of two orally administered antiviral medications, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, and molnupiravir, in decreasing hospitalization and deaths among real-world non-hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in Hong Kong.

Background

Preventive and therapeutic strategies for COVID-19 have evolved rapidly ever since the COVID-19 pandemic commenced in 2020. Initial studies have emphasized treating severe COVID-19 among hospitalized patients; however, the most recent COVID-19 therapeutics are aimed at decreasing COVID-19 incidence and preventing the development of severe outcomes (hospitalizations and deaths) among non-hospitalized patients.

Two orally administered antiviral medications, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir and molnupiravir, have been authorized for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 among adult patients with a high risk of disease progression based on the MOVe-OUT clinical trial findings. However, knowledge on whether the antiviral medications would demonstrate comparable effectiveness in the real world is lacking.

About the study

In the present retrospective cohort study, researchers compared the real-world effectiveness of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir and molnupiravir in preventing COVID-19 progression (hospitalizations and deaths) among non-hospitalized severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-positive patients.

The study participants comprised non-hospitalized SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals who attended designated outpatient clinics between February 16 and March 31, 2021. Patients hospitalized at the first appointment or those who received both the orally administered antiviral medications were excluded from the analysis.

Data were obtained from the clinical data analysis and reporting system (CDARS) database managed by the hospital authority (HA) of Hong Kong. The primary endpoint was COVID-19-associated hospitalization and the secondary endpoint was a composite endpoint comprising invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) usage, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and deaths. The clinical characteristics of the participants were balanced by propensity score (PS) weighting.

Comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension were identified on the basis of laboratory tests, medications, and ICD-9-CM (International classification of diseases, ninth revision, clinical modification) codes. Complete SARS-CoV-2 vaccination was described as double BNT162b2 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccination or triple CoronaVac inactivated SARS-CoV-2 whole-virion vaccination.

Additionally, high-risk non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients 60 years of age without comorbidities or <60 years of age with comorbidities were considered for subgroup analysis. Cox models along with weighted hazard ratio (HR) were used for the analysis.

Results

At first, 94,167 SARS-CoV-2-positive participants were identified who were appointed to the designated outpatient clinics during the study period, from which the researchers excluded participants who were hospitalized during the first outpatient appointment (n=271) and who received both nirmatrelvir/ritonavir and molnupiravir medications (n=13). As a result, 93,883 participants were considered for the analysis, of which, 83,154 (89%), 4,921 (5%), and 5,808 (6%), and participants were oral antiviral non-users, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir drug users and molnupiravir drug users, respectively.

In comparison to oral antiviral non-users, those who used antiviral drugs were elder with more comorbid conditions, lesser full vaccinations, and a greater number of previous year hospitalizations. Compared to nirmatrelvir/ritonavir users, molnupiravir drug users were older with more comorbid conditions, lesser full vaccinations, and more previous year hospitalizations.

After PS weighting, the usage of molnupiravir was not associated with a lower hospitalization risk than the oral antiviral non-users (weighted HR 1.2). On the other hand, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir usage was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization than oral antiviral non-users (weighted HR 0.8) and molnupiravir drug users (weighted HR 0.7). The cumulative incidence of the primary endpoint (hospitalization) for the 30-day follow-up period were 5%, 5%, and 4% among antiviral non-users, molnupiravir drug users, and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir drug users, respectively.

Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir usage (weighted HR 0.8) or molnupiravir usage (weighted HR 1.1) were not associated with a lower risk of IMV usage/ICU admissions/deaths in comparison to oral antiviral non-users. Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir usage was also not associated with a reduced risk of developing the secondary endpoints compared to molnupiravir drug users (weighted HR 07). The cumulative incidence of the secondary endpoint (IMV usage/ICU admissions/deaths) for the 30-day follow-up period was 0.5%, 0.4%, and 0.6% among oral antiviral non-users, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir drug users and molnupiravir drug users, respectively.

After PS weighting, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir usage (weighted HR 08) but not molnupiravir usage (weighted HR 1.2) was associated with lower hospitalization risks than oral antiviral non-users. However, neither molnupiravir nor nirmatrelvir/ritonavir usage reduced the risk of the secondary endpoint in comparison to non-users. In the subgroup analysis, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir usage but not molnupiravir usage was associated with lower hospitalization risks than non-users.

Conclusion

Overall, the study findings showed that nirmatrelvir/ritonavir usage was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization but not molnupiravir usage among non-hospitalized SARS-CoV-2-positive patients in the real world. However, both the antiviral medications did not reduce the risk of COVID-19-associated IMV usage, ICU admissions, and deaths.

*Important notice

Preprints with The Lancet 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.
(Newser)  In one of the more viral videos to emerge during nationwide protests in 2020 surrounding George Floyds death, two college studentsMessiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrimwere tased and pulled from their car by Atlanta police. The very next day, then-Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms fired two officers and placed three on administrative leave; soon after, all six officers involved were charged by DA Paul Howard with various crimes, including aggravated assault. This week, almost two years after the incident, Cherokee District Attorney Samir Patel announced that he was dropping all charges, reports the AP, saying in a statement that police acted "within the scope of their legal authority" and he was "unable to find probable cause to prosecute the officers."

Patel was appointed by the state district attorney after Howard failed to be reelected and the incoming Atlanta DA cited actions by her predecessor that made it "inappropriate" to take the case. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, although the video sparked "widespread condemnation during the social reckoning over officers use-of-force against Black people," both Bottoms and Howard were heavily criticized for firing and charging police so quickly. The two fired officersIvory Streeter and Mark Gardnerhad their dismissals overturned in February 2021 by the Atlanta Civil Service Board, which said the city had failed to follow its own personnel procedures.

Attorneys for Young and Pilgrim said in a statement that their clients "are incredibly disappointed and disheartened by the decision announced today  The world witnessed the outrageous and unjustified level of violence perpetrated against these college students. How can a broken arm and 25 stitches be deemed the appropriate response for an alleged curfew violation?" In his statement, Patel said the "officers use of force was the direct result of Mr. Young and Ms. Pilgrims resistance to and noncompliance with officers instructions." Per Fox5, Patel also said, I wholeheartedly believe that Georgia has made significant progress in how our communities and police work together. (Read more Atlanta stories.)
(Newser)  The depth of the problem surprised almost everyone, but the themes revealed in Sundays bombshell report on sexual abuse and coverups within the Southern Baptist Convention are not new to Christa Brown. She says she was sexually abused as a child by a minister, and she has been fighting for decades to bring light to the issue. Prompted by a motion Brown posted on Monday, the SBCs Executive Committee voted Tuesday to publish a previously secret database of people accused of committing abuse. Per the Washington Post, the committee also voted to issue a public apology and direct rebuke of former General Counsel August Boto.

"I'm grateful for what we saw today, truly. I am also waiting and hoping for real action and not just words," Brown said, according to the Post. "Not words, not lament, not thoughts and prayers, real meaningful action that will help survivors." The decision to release the list was made during a Zoom meeting of the 68-member board that serves as the administrative arm of the SBC. During the meeting, interim committee President Willie McLaurin said: "Now is the time to change the culture. We need to be proactive in our openness, in our transparency from this moment forward."

The committee's statement of apology focused on a 2006 letter in which Boto decried Brown's use of "hyperbole, argumentative language, strident tones, [and] pejorative adjectives" and said "continued discourse between us will not be positive or fruitful." That letter is seen as emblematic of a systemic, longstanding dismissiveness and hostility toward abuse survivors by SBC leaders. Per the Tennessean, the committee said in its apology that it "rejects this sentiment in its entirety and seeks to publicly repent for its failure to rectify this position." According to Kentucky Today, SBC counsel says the list will be reviewed prior to release, "with names of abuse survivors, names of potential confidential witnesses, and uncorroborated allegations of abuse redacted." (Read more Southern Baptist Convention stories.)
(Newser)  Families waited in near silence Tuesday afternoon at a civic center in Uvalde, Texas, to learn whether they'd lost a child in the shooting at Robb Elementary School. Some of them sat outside, appearing stunned, the Washington Post reports, staring blankly. Border Patrol agents ringed the site, which was to have been used for voting in a primary runoff Tuesday. One man reached by phone said his nephew is a student at the school but was not injured. But Rey Chapa, 42, was waiting to hear about other children and checking social media for news about them, per the New York Times. "I'm afraid Im going to know a lot of these kids that were killed," he said.

President Biden planned to address the nation about the shooting at 8:15pm EDT, aides said, adding that he had talked to Gov. Greg Abbott to offer assistance, per the AP. Members of Congress issued statements of mourning. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was "horrified and heartbroken" by the crime but suggested no changes in law or policy. GOP Sen. Susan Collins called for "red flag laws" intended to keep weapons away from violent people. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin urged "common sense" changes to curb mass shootings. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, where the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 killed more than two dozen people, spoke emotionally in the Senate, per CBS News. "I am here on this floor to begto literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues" to do something, Murphy said.

Sen. Ted Cruz called it "a dark day" in a statement but suggested no action. The Texas Republican is scheduled to speak Friday at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston. Biden ordered flags on federal buildings lowered "as a mark of respect for the victims." In Uvalde, Ryan Ramirez could not find his daughter, a fourth grader, at the school or the reunification location. "Nobodys telling me anything, he told KSAT in San Antonio, adding, "I'm trying to find out where my baby's at." A witness who rushed to the school after hearing gunshots said he saw a little girl "full of blood" and parents screaming. "They were just little kids," Derek Sotelo said. "They didnt mean no harm." (Read more school shooting stories.)
(Newser)  US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated five challengers Tuesday in a GOP primary race that tested how her conservative Georgia constituents judged her turbulent freshman term, the AP reports. Greene, 47, became a celebrity of the Republican Party's far-right fringe with her election two years ago as she embraced former President Trumps false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and engaged in conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. Greene spoke at an event organized by a white nationalist where the crowd chanted Putin! after Russias invasion of Ukraine and launched other partisan attacks that critics said promoted racism and violence. She will face the winner of a three-way Democratic primary in northwest Georgias 14th District, a seat drawn to give Republicans a huge advantage, in November.

Greene remained on the primary ballot Tuesday in Georgia's 14th Congressional District after a failed effort to disqualify her by opposing voters. They argued Greene engaged in insurrection by encouraging the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that disrupted Congress certification of Joe Bidens presidential victory. Georgia's secretary of state and an administrative law judge dismissed the claims. More from Tuesday's primaries:

Georgia: Gov. Brian Kemp won the Republican gubernatorial primary, beating Trump-backed challenger David Perdue. He will face Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams in a rematch of the 2018 election. More on his win here.

Gov. Brian Kemp won the Republican gubernatorial primary, beating Trump-backed challenger David Perdue. He will face Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams in a rematch of the 2018 election. More on his win here. Georgia: Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger also fended off his Trump-backed challenger. More on his win here.

Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger also fended off his Trump-backed challenger. More on his win here. Georgia: Herschel Walker won the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, for his seat in a contest that could decide which party controls the Senate.

Herschel Walker won the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, for his seat in a contest that could decide which party controls the Senate. Arkansas: Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders won the Republican primary for Arkansas governor. More on her win here.

Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders won the Republican primary for Arkansas governor. More on her win here. Alabama: Gov. Kay Ivey turned back eight primary challengers to win the Republican gubernatorial nomination without a runoff Tuesday after an unexpectedly tough race, the AP reports.

Several other Trump-backed candidates won their races as well; CNN USA Today , and NPR are among the outlets offering comprehensive live coverage. (Read more Election 2022 stories.)
(Newser)  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp did more than just fend off a challenger backed by former President Trump in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesdayhe got more than triple the votes former Sen. David Perdue did, and an extensive piece at Politico looks at how Kemp "crushed Trump" in the race despite many worrying that Trump's vendetta against Kemp would end his political career. After Kemp refused to go along with Trump's insistence that he overturn the state's 2020 presidential election results, Trump spoke out against him, campaigned with Perdue, appeared in campaign ads for Perdue, and spent millions of his own PAC dollars supporting Perdue. But, according to more than a dozen strategists, donors, and party officials involved in Kemp's campaign, Kemp was able to do much more.

He got even former Perdue advisers, donors, and other allies to back him (putting some of them in positions of power before Perdue even launched his campaign) and passed legislation that brought pro-Trump voters back around to his side. (The AP lists some of those, including a law allowing most state residents to carry guns without a permit and a "heartbeat" abortion ban.") Kemp ultimately raised more than six times more money than Perdue; Politico says he "effectively [shut] down his fundraising reservoir," and even some former Perdue donors advised Perdue to drop out of the race. The Republican Governors Association, which supports incumbent GOP governors, also cut ties with two well-known Republican consulting firms and a finance director for working with Perdue. For the full piece, see Politico. Kemp faces Democrat Stacey Abrams in the general election, in a rematch of 2018. (Read more Brian Kemp stories.)
(Newser)  Sen. Chris Murphy came to Congress representing the Connecticut community where 20 first-graders and six educators were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Prior to taking office as a senator in 2013 less than a month after the massacre, he represented Newtown, Conn., where the school was located, in the House of Representatives. Almost a decade later, after 19 young students and two adults at a Texas elementary school were gunned down by a teenage shooter in a chillingly similar attack, Murphy gave an impassioned and heartbroken speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. "Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senatewhy do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authorityif your answer is that as this slaughter increases, as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing?" he said, per the New York Times.

Pleading for action on gun control, which he has spent much of his time in Congress trying in vain to get passed, he asked his colleagues repeatedly, "What are we doing? What are we doing?" Angrily pointing to the lack of congressional action amid seemingly unending mass shootings in the US, he asked, "Why are you here if not to solve a problem as existential as this?" He added, per NBC News, "Im here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues. Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely." Later, in comments to reporters, he added of his Republican colleagues, "Spare me the bulls--- about mental illness. We dont have any more mental illness than any other country in the world. You cannot explain this through a prism of mental illness, because we dontwere not an outlier on mental illness. Were an outlier when it comes to access to firearms and the ability of criminals and very sick people to get their hands on firearms. Thats what makes America different."

That point had been made in his floor speech as well: "This only happens in this country and nowhere else," he said. "Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day. Nowhere else do parents have to talk to their kids as I have had to do about why they got locked into a bathroom and told to be quiet for five minutes just in case a bad man entered that building. Nowhere else does that happen except here in the United States of America. And it is a choice. It is our choice to let it continue." By failing to do something about it, he said, lawmakers are "sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing, shooting after shooting." Video of the speech was shared widely on social media. (Read more Texas stories.)
(Newser)  Sarah Sanders won the Republican nomination for governor in Arkansas on Tuesday, putting her on a clear path to lead a solidly red state where former President Trumps popularity has overshadowed questions about his administration's credibility that she faced during her time as White House press secretary. Sanders won the GOP primary for the office her dad, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, held for a decade after a race where she shattered fundraising records. Sanders bombarded the states airwaves with TV ads invoking the former president and going after his favorite targets, including President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Sanders headed into the primary virtually assured of the nomination, and she remains a heavy favorite in the general election in a state that hasnt elected a Democrat governor since 2010. Nuclear engineer and ordained minister Chris Jones won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday's primary, the AP reports.

During her victory speech Tuesday, Sanders didn't mention Trump or Biden and invoked the shooting of at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school as a "stark and humbling reminder of just how precious life is." "Every single life has value and the most vulnerable among us should be those that we are fighting for and protecting the most," Sanders said. "I can assure you that in my administration, that's exactly what we will do. We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, they're as safe as they are in the classroom, the workplace, the nursing home, because every stage of life has value." Sanders joked Tuesday night about her shift from press secretary to nominee. "When I worked at the White House, nobody ever cheered when I went up to the podium," she said. "This is different, but I like it a whole lot better."

Sanders in her ads embraced Trumps endorsement of her as well as his rhetoric, promising to use the states top office to fight Biden and the "radical left," something thats awfully hard to find in a state where no Democrat holds statewide or federal office. She also invoked one of Trumps favorite targets, the national news media. "As White House press secretary, I never had to worry about the far left and their allies at CNN or the New York Times defining me," Sanders says in one TV spot. "Because I have a creator who's already done that." But she danced more delicately around some of Trumps biggest grievances, especially his lies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Sanders in interviews has stopped short of calling the presidential election stolen, unlike Trump-endorsed candidates in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and elsewhere, who have run on his false claims. Sanders said she thinks Trump has the right to call the election stolen, though she said she can't say how much fraud there was in 2020. (Read more Sarah Huckabee Sanders stories.)
(Newser)  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was a top target of former President Trump, has won the Republican primary as he seeks reelection, the AP reports. Raffensperger beat three challengers, including Trump-endorsed US Rep. Jody Hice, who had criticized his handling of the 2020 election. Raffensperger was among Trumps chief targets when the former president turned his wrath on top Georgia officials for not taking steps to overturn his narrow election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the state. Trump insisted without proof that victory had been stolen from him through widespread voter fraud.

In a now-notorious January 2021 phone call, Trump suggested Raffensperger could find enough votes to overturn Bidens victory. That led a prosecutor in Atlanta to open an investigation into whether Trump and others tried to illegally influence the states election. That investigation is ongoing. Hice embraced false claims about the 2020 election being stolen and objected to Georgias electoral votes being counted for Biden. The other two candidates in the Republican primary were former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle and former probate and magistrate judge TJ Hudson, both of whom also criticized Raffensperger's handling of the 2020 election. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, also a subject of Trump's ire, trounced his Trump-backed challenger on Tuesday as well.

(Read more Georgia stories.)
(Newser)  As more details emerge on Tuesday's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where the death toll has been updated to include 19 children and two adults, the Houston Chronicle reports that the National Rifle Association's annual meeting is set to take place a few hours away this weekend. The gathering at Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center, set to take place Thursday through Sunday, is expected to draw 55,000 people, according to the government firm that operates the center. Among the Republicans scheduled to speak are Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, as well as former President Trump. "Make plans now to join fellow Second Amendment patriots for a freedom-filled weekend for the entire family as we celebrate Freedom, Firearms, and the Second Amendment!" the group's website reads. Some, including Democratic Texas Rep. Sheila Lee, are calling on the NRA to cancel the event. "It's not the time," she noted Tuesday. More on the shooting:

A congressman's rage: Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona had a curt message for the firearms group, per the Daily Beast. "F--- you @NRA," the US Marine combat veteran tweeted Tuesday evening. Gallego also responded angrily to a news report about Cruz noting that some were trying to "politicize" the shooting and push for new gun-safety laws. "F--- you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered," Gallego wrote. "Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless."

'Sad update': Family members waiting in anguish at a nearby civic center in Uvalde for news of their loved ones were asked "one by one" to provide DNA swabs to help identify the injured and dead, a KHOU reporter noted. Citing Interpol, Insider reports that DNA is often used to identify disaster victims when bodies are "not immediately identifiable."

Family members waiting in anguish at a nearby civic center in Uvalde for news of their loved ones were asked "one by one" to provide DNA swabs to help identify the injured and dead, a KHOU reporter noted. Citing Interpol, Insider reports that DNA is often used to identify disaster victims when bodies are "not immediately identifiable." Shows of support: Those who've been through mass shootings themselves offered messages of solidarity on Tuesday, per CNN. There is "an army of survivors" to help the Uvalde community get through this, says Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the 2018 Parkland massacre. Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan, 6, was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, advised parents who lost a child in Tuesday's massacre that they can find joy in life again: "It's possible, but it sure as heck isn't easy. I have a surviving son who I love with my whole life. He brings me joy."

Those who've been through mass shootings themselves offered messages of solidarity on Tuesday, per CNN. There is "an army of survivors" to help the Uvalde community get through this, says Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the 2018 Parkland massacre. Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan, 6, was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, advised parents who lost a child in Tuesday's massacre that they can find joy in life again: "It's possible, but it sure as heck isn't easy. I have a surviving son who I love with my whole life. He brings me joy." More on the shooter: Multiple sources offer details to the Washington Post on what they know about the gunman, an 18-year-old who was killed by police at the scene of the shooting. Friends and family say he came from "a fraught home life" and had experienced bullying over having a stutter and lisp. He's said to have started posting images of firearms on his social media about a year ago.

Multiple sources offer details to the Washington Post on what they know about the gunman, an 18-year-old who was killed by police at the scene of the shooting. Friends and family say he came from "a fraught home life" and had experienced bullying over having a stutter and lisp. He's said to have started posting images of firearms on his social media about a year ago. More on the victims: Among those killed in Uvalde were fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles, a mom of one who an aunt tells ABC7 had worked for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District for 17 years. Also dead were three fourth-graders: 8-year-old Uziyah Garcia, described by his grandfather as the "sweetest little boy that I've ever known," per the AP; Xavier Lopez, 10, whose mom was with him at the school at an awards ceremony just hours before the shooting, per KSAT; and Amerie Jo Garza, 10, whose dad told ABC News in a statement: "My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don't take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie Jo."

(Read more Uvalde mass shooting stories.)
(Newser)  North Korea launched three missiles Wednesday morning, including an intercontinental ballistic missile, according to the South Korean military. The tests came on the heels of President Biden's visit to the region earlier this week. The first launch was probably a Hwasong-17, the largest known ICBM in the North's arsenal; however, per the New York Times, it flew only 224 miles, "indicating that North Korea did not want to launch the missile on a full ICBM trajectory over the Pacific while Mr. Biden was in the air on his way back to Washington." The second missile evidently failed, disintegrating at an altitude of 12 miles, and the third was a short-range missile fired into the ocean.

The South Korean and US militaries responded by test-launching surface-to-surface missiles of their own, officials from the South said, in order to demonstrate their "swift striking capability to deter further provocations from North Korea." South Korea's air force also conducted an "elephant walk," positioning 30 fully armed F-15K fighters on a runway as a show of force. According to CNN, Japanese officials said they detected at least two of North Korean missiles, one of which landed "just outside of Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone."

Additionally, South Korea reported evidence that the North has been testing a high-explosive nuclear detonation device, a sign that the North could be "near the last preparation stage for a nuclear test," also per CNN. It would be the nation's first nuclear test since 2017. The Times notes that North Korea suspended missile and nuclear testing back in 2018 prior to a summit between Kim Jong Un and then-US President Trump. The two failed to reach an agreement on how to dismantle the North's nuclear program; the hermit kingdom resumed ICBM testing this March. Per the BBC, the North also tested ballistic missiles on May 12, "the same day that Mr. Kim declared an emergency" over a suspected COVID outbreak. (Read more North Korea missile launch stories.)
(Newser)  Monkeypox has found its way to the Arabian Peninsula. The BBC reports that the United Arab Emirates is the first Gulf state to record a case, which was detected in a traveler who recently visited West Africa, the virus's usual domain. So far this year, the World Health Organization has identified 237 confirmed or suspected cases outside Africa, including in many European countries, as well as in Australia and at least three US states. Israel also reported its first case earlier this week. The WHO has linked many cases to raves in Belgium and Spain. Health officials say the virus can be contained with the right protocols and that the risk of widespread outbreak remains low.

Per the AP, UAE officials said little about the patient and declined to disclose where in the nation's seven sheikdoms the case occurred, but they are "taking all the necessary measures" to contain it. Slovenia and the Czech Republic are the latest European nations to report cases. According to Al Jazeera, Slovenian health officials found it in a man who recently returned from Spain's Canary Islands; his symptoms were mild and he did not require hospitalization.

Officials expect to contain the outbreak quickly and are telling anyone who was in contact with the infected individual "to be on alert for the next 21 days." Czech officials reported a case at the Prague Military University Hospital but declined to give details, other than to say, "It was only a question of time, we have been expecting this for days." (Existing smallpox vaccines are effective against monkeypox.)
(Newser)  As America grieves for the families of those killed in the Uvalde mass shooting, Nicole Hockley expresses a different kind of grief: a knowing one. Her son Dylan was murdered nearly 10 years ago in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and she writes that she knows "the unspeakable pain" the parents of the students who were killed are feeling right now. "I also know what they will endure for the rest of their lives." In a piece for USA Today, Hockley writes that she's heading to the Texas town to help in whatever way she can. "I will try to talk [the families and community] through the unimaginable darkness of this moment. And let them know that while it will cast shadows over the rest of their lives, even in the shadows, there can be hope."

For the Sandy Hook families, the hope manifests as an effort to work to stop gun violence from claiming more children's lives. "The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that our country can move forward and take action if we have the courage and resolve to do so," Hockley writes. Erica Leslie Lafferty, whose mother was killed at Sandy Hook, also spoke of the shadows, per the Guardian: "These families in that community are walking into hell and there is definitely a network of people out there who have lived it, who are stepping up to support them ... But it's not going to just go away. Not for the families, not for the community. It's life-changing. It's devastating. It's traumatizing, and every single time it happens, it brings it back like it was yesterday.

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the Parkland school shooting, spoke to the Uvalde families on MSNBC Tuesday night: "You're going to go through pain. It's not right, and it shouldn't be. But I am here for you, and others will be here for you. You will be OK. You will find a path forward. But for the next bunch of days and weeks you have to get through this, this horror. Because people failed ... they f---ing failed our kids again." Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose daughter Ana Grace was killed at Sandy Hook, spoke about gun reform on CBS Mornings: "Action is faith. Action is love." (Read more Uvalde mass shooting stories.)
(Newser)  In the wake of Tuesday's mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, details are emerging about the gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos. While Newser is focusing its coverage on the victims and other aspects of the aftermath, this file encompasses what's currently known about Ramos. Some of the common themes: He had few friends, he'd been bullied in school over a stutter, he had a volatile relationship with his mother, and he was fascinated with guns. Coverage:

Profile: Perhaps the most complete profile at the moment is in the Washington Post. Santos Valdez Jr., 18, says they were friends until Ramos' behavior deteriorated. He recounts how Ramos cut up his own face with knives, saying he did so for fun. Another acquaintance, Stephen Garcia, says: "He would get bullied hard, like bullied by a lot of people. ... Over social media, over gaming, over everything." Garcia adds that Ramos took particular grief after posting an image of himself on social media with black eyeliner. The story reports that Ramos had a stutter and a lisp and was mocked in school. He had largely dropped out and wasn't on track to graduate high school. It adds that he sometimes shot random people with a BB gun while with another friend.

Perhaps the most complete profile at the moment is in the Washington Post. Santos Valdez Jr., 18, says they were friends until Ramos' behavior deteriorated. He recounts how Ramos cut up his own face with knives, saying he did so for fun. Another acquaintance, Stephen Garcia, says: "He would get bullied hard, like bullied by a lot of people. ... Over social media, over gaming, over everything." Garcia adds that Ramos took particular grief after posting an image of himself on social media with black eyeliner. The story reports that Ramos had a stutter and a lisp and was mocked in school. He had largely dropped out and wasn't on track to graduate high school. It adds that he sometimes shot random people with a BB gun while with another friend. Co-workers: The New York Times interviews a night manager at a local Wendy's who says Ramos worked there about a year before quitting a month ago. He "went out of the way to keep by himself," says Adrian Mendez. "You know how my guys talk to each other and are friendly? He wasn't like that. No one really knew him." Another co-worker, however, says Ramos liked to joke around, per the Times.

The New York Times interviews a night manager at a local Wendy's who says Ramos worked there about a year before quitting a month ago. He "went out of the way to keep by himself," says Adrian Mendez. "You know how my guys talk to each other and are friendly? He wasn't like that. No one really knew him." Another co-worker, however, says Ramos liked to joke around, per the Times. Home life, guns: Both of the above stories report that Ramos regularly got into heated altercations with his mother, some of which drew a police presence. Ramos would often stay with his grandmother, who authorities say he shot before his assault on the school.

A text: A former classmate tells CNN that Ramos texted him photos of a gun and ammo days ahead of the attack. "He would message me here and there, and four days ago he sent me a picture of the AR he was using ... and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds, probably like seven mags," says the teen, who wished to remain anonymous. "I was like, 'bro, why do you have this?' and he was like, 'Don't worry about it.' ... He proceeded to text me, 'I look very different now. You wouldn't recognize me." Other stories also recount Ramos' posts of or about guns.

A former classmate tells CNN that Ramos texted him photos of a gun and ammo days ahead of the attack. "He would message me here and there, and four days ago he sent me a picture of the AR he was using ... and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds, probably like seven mags," says the teen, who wished to remain anonymous. "I was like, 'bro, why do you have this?' and he was like, 'Don't worry about it.' ... He proceeded to text me, 'I look very different now. You wouldn't recognize me." Other stories also recount Ramos' posts of or about guns. Neighbor: Eduardo Trinidad tells KPRC a familiar thing: that Ramos kept to himself. "My nephew worked with him at Burger King and he was kind of like a loner, you know." (It wasn't immediately clear if Ramos also worked at Burger King or if the neighbor confused the fast-food restaurants.)

Eduardo Trinidad tells KPRC a familiar thing: that Ramos kept to himself. "My nephew worked with him at Burger King and he was kind of like a loner, you know." (It wasn't immediately clear if Ramos also worked at Burger King or if the neighbor confused the fast-food restaurants.) Social media: The Daily Beast digs into reports that Ramos was posting on Instagram and TikTok in the days and even hours before the attack. A message on TikTok read, "Kids be scared IRL." Ramos also appears to have sent direct messages to a female teen hours before the attack with images of guns. The girl says she barely knew him and seemed confused by the messages. However, authorities haven't confirmed whether the accounts belonged to Ramos.

(Read more Texas mass shooting stories.)
(Newser)  Uvalde, Texas, is represented by US Rep. Tony Gonzales, and the Republican joined CBS Mornings on Wednesday to talk about the horrors that unfolded there Tuesday. "It was such a horrific scene that many of the children could not be identified and they had to use DNA and other avenues to identify children," he said. "Imagine you're a parent and you can't even identify your child. So this is what our community is dealing with. I am a parent, I'm a father of six, and it hit me pretty hard yesterday." Gayle King was quick to push Gonzales on his own legislative history, pointing out that he has voted against two gun reform bills, including one that called for expanded background checks. She asked him if he was reconsidering his stance.

He said that today is not the time to debate gun control. "I'm happy to debate policy, not today. I mean, today, we, my community is hurting. You know, politicians like to divide us. Leaders unite us and we need to be united right now as Americans because what happened in Uvalde, Texas, can happen anywhere, and we have to be united in protecting our children against that." King said her thoughts were also with the survivors and victims, but she pushed him again, saying no one is doing anything. "If not now to debate it, [to] discuss it," when?

Gonzales responded by saying he grew up some 30 miles away. "This is home. These people I know, these are my community. I represent them. I love them. Right now, we need love." King retorted, "We need change." He went on to discuss the need for mental health facilities. In a subsequent interview with King, Sandy Hook parent Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose daughter Ana Grace was killed, took issue with Gonzales' comments: "He talked about faith and love as if ... we had these extremes: faith and love or action. Action is faith. Action is love." Newsweek notes that Gonzales initially responded to news of the shooting with a tweet that included a Bible verse and got a flurry of tweets in response that surfaced his previous comments on voting against gun control measures. (Read more Uvalde mass shooting stories.)
(Newser)  Beto O'Rourke briefly brought a press conference by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the Uvalde mass shooting to a dramatic halt on Wednesday. O'Rourkea Democrat challenging the Republican Abbott for governoraccused Abbott of being weak on gun control. Watch the video here. "The time to stop the next shooting is now, and you are doing nothing," O'Rourke yelled at one point, per Axios. "This is on you," he added before being escorted out. "Someone needs to stand up for the children of this state, or they will continue to be killed."

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin shouted that ORourke was "out of line," per the Dallas Morning News. "I cant believe youre a sick son of a b---- who would come here to make a political issue." Sen. Ted Cruz could be heard shouting, "Sit down" to O'Rourke. After regaining the mic, Abbott declared that "there are family members crying as we speak." He added that it's time to "put aside personal agendas, think of somebody other than ourselves." (Read more Beto O'Rourke stories.)
(Newser)  With every Pennsylvania county reporting its unofficial count in the Republican primary for Senate, 902 votes separate Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick. That's close enough that state law triggers a recount, Secretary of State Leigh Chapman announced Wednesday. Counties have until noon June 8 to turn in their totals, CNN reports. The winner will face Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the fall, in a race that will help decide which party controls the Senate. Chapman acknowledged the national interest in the election, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I want to emphasize that this automatic recount is intended to ensure that the count is accurate and that there is confidence in the results and outcome," she said.

The current count has Oz, the former TV doctor endorsed by former President Trump, with 419,365 votes and McCormick, former director of a hedge fund, with 418,463. Recounts are required in Pennsylvania when the margin is 0.5% of the total cast or less. Since the law took effect in 2004, seven recounts have now been triggered in the state. Only three took place (this will be the fourth), because candidates waived their right to a recount in three of the contests. None of the recounts changed any outcomes. In this case, McCormick could have called off the recount but didn't.

Ballots without a date on them, or an incorrect date, have become an issue. There are 860 of them, and McCormick has sued to have them counted. Oz's campaign is opposed to that, saying that counting those ballots could do long-term damage to Pennsylvania elections, per CNN. A hearing in the suit is scheduled for Tuesday. Chapman said the lawsuit won't affect the counties' process. "Our guidance will enable counties to arrive at an accurate count no matter what the courts decide." (Read more Pennsylvania primary stories.)
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has affirmed that Bahraini citizens will remain a top priority, being the main pillar of the development process.

HM the King commended the efforts of the governors and the role of the governorates in fostering the spirit of national unity, citizenship, communication, cooperation and coexistence between all social components.

This came as His Majesty received at Safriya Palace yesterday Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulrahman bin Rashid Al Khalifa on the occasion of the issuance of a royal decree appointing him as Capital Governor.

Shaikh Rashid took the legal oath before HM King Hamad. His Majesty congratulated him, lauding his experience and competence, wishing him every success in assuming his national responsibility. He directed the new Capital Governor to work on catering for all the needs of people in the governorate and upgrade the services provided for them.

Shaikh Rashid extended utmost thanks and gratitude to HM the King for the royal trust and valuable directives, pledging to spare no effort in serving the kingdom and its people and wishing His Majesty abundant health and happiness.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The High Criminal Court has heard the two separate cases involving seven defendants accused of human trafficking, five of whom are implicated in the first case, and the other two in the second.

According to court files, the first defendant sexually assaulted a woman and forced her to be a prostitute, while also inviting the other four to have sex with her in order to compel her. The woman was able to file a case against them, which resulted in their arrest and trial.

Meanwhile, one victim is also implicated in the second case, and she was rescued by her countrys embassy in Bahrain, which filed a complaint at a local police station after learning that she was locked up in an apartment and forced into prostitution.

The woman was enticed into the Kingdom by the prospect of working as a waiter at a highend restaurant. She was, however, imprisoned in an apartment and forced to have sex with strangers in exchange for cash, which the two collected.

I was told to pay BD2,000 or else have sex with strangers. My passport was seized and I was locked up in the apartment, the victim told prosecutors.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Y.K. Almoayyed & Sons (YKA), the sole distributor of Nissan vehicles in Bahrain, opened its renovated Nissan showroom this week. Located in Sitra, the showroom implements Nissan Retail Concept, the globally consistent brand experience, offering an improved facility design, seamless service process, and a digital environment that responds to diversifying expectations and lifestyles.

The grand inauguration was in the presence of Miyamoto Mayasuki, the Ambassador of Japan to Bahrain, Farouk Almoayyed, Chairman of Y.K. Almoayyed & Sons, Board of Directors of Y.K. Almoayyed & Sons, Thierry Sabbagh, President of Nissan Saudi Arabia and Managing Director of Nissan Middle East, local and regional Nissan executives and guests.

Taking centre stage was Ariya, Nissans first-ever EV crossover that made its first appearance in the country exclusively for the inaugural showroom event. The Ariya symbolises Nissans forward-looking journey into the future of electrification and sustainable mobility.

Thierry Sabbagh, President of Nissan Saudi Arabia and Managing Director of Nissan Middle East, said, With the Sitra showroom paving the way for other outlets in Bahrain, we look forward to continue working alongside our trusted partners at YK Almoayyed & Sons to keep delivering superior customer experiences.

Farouk Almoayyed, Chairman, YKA, said: With customer service as the focus of everything we do, the new showroom draws on the potential of both technology and superior design aesthetics, ensuring that every visit is memorable for our customers.

With its open floor plan, from the minute customers arrive, they are welcomed into a relaxing and engaging environment where they can interact with staff in the comfortable customer lounge as they familiarise themselves with the products.

The Nissan showroom, in its new avatar, is located in Sitra. With an ample number of visitor car parking slots, The new showroom opens from Saturday to Thursday from 8 am to 7:30 pm.
South Korean media suspect that North Korea's multiple launches on Wednesday of different kinds of ballistic missiles may have been aimed at showcasing its ability to hit targets with different ranges.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North fired three ballistic missiles from near Pyongyang toward the Sea of Japan on Wednesday morning.

The JCS said the first one, launched at around 6 a.m., is believed to have been an intercontinental missile, which travelled about 360 kilometers while reaching an altitude of 540 kilometers. A senior government official suspected the missile is the North's new model Hwasong-17.

North Korea then launched a short-range missile at 6:37 a.m., but it failed.

The third, also believed to have been a short-range one, was fired five minutes later. The JCS says it traveled 760 kilometers reaching an altitude of about 60 kilometers.

There are views that the last two were an upgraded version of Russia's Iskander missile.

South Korean media reported an analysis that North Korea wanted to show it has a range of missiles which can attack either the US, Japan and South Korea by breaking their missile-defense systems.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup condemned the launches as a grave provocation in a telephone conversation.

They confirmed that they will strengthen the US military's "extended deterrence" capabilities that include nuclear weapons for protection of allies.
CANNES, France (AP)  When the Cannes Film Festival audience stood to applaud James Gray's richly observed autobiographical drama Armageddon Time," about the director's own 1980s childhood in Queens, Gray's voice quivered as he addressed the crowd.

Its my story, in a way, said Gray. And you guys shared it with me.

It took every last bit of control not to burst out into tears," Gray said, still recovering the next day in Cannes. Its been a really strange journey making the film and my father died two months ago of COVID. The whole process has been fraught and filled with emotion.

Armageddon Time, starring Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong, has stirred Cannes like no other American film at the festival this year. Gray's movie, which Focus Features will distribute in the U.S. later this year, has been received as a tender triumph for the New York filmmaker of The Immigrant and Ad Astra" not just for his detailed excavation of his childhood but for how the film reexamines his own white privilege growing up  how race and money can tip the scales in the formative years of young people.

Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) is a sixth-grader modeled after the 53-year-old Gray in a middle-class Jewish family. At school, Paul's friend Johnny (Jaylin Webb) is a Black kid with fewer advantages, who's treated differently than Paul. When Paul's family elects to send him to a private school, the gap only grows. Connections to today's inequities aren't hard to decipher. At the private school, Jessica Chastain makes a cameo as Maryanne Trump, sister to Donald and an assistant U.S. attorney.

For Gray, Armageddon Time is period film about now, and a coming home after two far-flung films in the Amazon-set The Lost City of Z and the space adventure Ad Astra."

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AP: When did Armageddon Time start formulating in your head?

GRAY: I was at an art exhibit in Los Angeles five years ago. Painted on the wall it said: History and myth begin in the microcosm of the personal. I had made this film before this where I went into space. It was a very difficult movie to make and a very difficult movie to complete. The end result was not fully mine. That was a very sad experience for me. I wanted to try to rediscover my love for the medium and why I wanted it do it in the first place. I said, "Screw it, Ill make the most personal film I can.

AP: You've called 1980 one of the most pivotal years in American history. Is that because of the election of Reagan?

GRAY: People dont remember that he campaigned in Philadelphia, Mississippi, which is where Goodman, Schwerner and Cheney were killed by the Klan. And he started talking about states rights. He knew exactly what he was doing. I understand he didnt come out and say the N-word. He didnt come out and be Trump completely. But that was his purpose. I feel like that was planting the seeds for a kind of corporatist, me-first, top-down, frankly rooted in racism idea of American capitalism that hasnt left us fully since. When you propose a system which is all about money, it has the basis of oppression built into it. It didnt start with slavery. It started with the indigenous people who were basically vaporized. Were very good at genocide.

AP: These aren't the normal inward-looking themes of memoir films.

GRAY: All of this is about what the actual economic structure of the country is. I felt that that would have power in a context thats very small, which is a kids transfer from a public school to a private school and how we all do our part to (expletive) things up. In other words, Im going to make this ethical compromise now. Im going to contribute to ethical compromise just a little bit.

AP: Were you thinking any of this when you were living through it as a kid?

GRAY: When I was a kid I never thought about the levels of capitalism, how if someone is up there, that means somebodys gotta be down there. I knew 48 kids in a class, somethings wrong. But heres the thing: Why is it not a source of utter rage in our country that public education in our country is financed by local property taxes? They should be burning down state legislatures because of that. The system makes itself very happy by basically saying: Lets make a superhero movie but put a trans person in it. Thats fine. Thats excellent, whatever. But that doesnt solve the problem. You have to look at the system itself and understand that it is based on the brutal oppression of one group to survive.

AP: Your film received an enthusiastic reception here in Cannes. Have you thought about how it will be received stateside?

GRAY: Im sure there will be people who hate the movie. But as an American, I feel a particular sense of loss that we as filmmakers are not as willing to confront the ideas of class. One of the most amazing things about what Francis Ford Coppola did in that movie is how it presents such a vivid picture of the rot of capitalism. Look at Jaws. That mayor will keep the beaches open no matter what.

AP: Were the Trumps actually involved in your private school experience?

GRAY: They sure were. If I had my high school yearbook, I would show you the board of trustees which had Frederick Christ Trump in the picture. He would walk the halls of the school. His daughter (Maryanne) gave a speech to the school which I had my brother recount the best he could and then I recalled the best I could and we compared notes. They were very similar.

AP: You're a filmmaker considered a classicist devoted to a personal kind of filmmaking for the big screen. Do you ever feel like one of a dwindling breed?

GRAY: Its my obligation to continue trying to do the work that Im doing. Not out of ego or any feeling of Im the best or anything but because the type of cinema that I like, Id like to think theres at least somebody out there that likes it, too. And who is speaking for them? The question is: Are you going to pursue with passion what it is you dream about, what you hope for? Or are you going to give in? Id love to be richer or more powerful or whatever. But if its not to be, Im OK with that. Id rather just pursue my dreams.

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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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For more Cannes Film Festival coverage, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  A fresh foods manufacturer says it is expanding production in the Southeast with plans to invest over $42 million in a North Carolina production facility which will create more than 200 jobs, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday.

Hans Kissle Co. will build a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing site in Apple Creek Corporate Center just outside of Gastonia, Cooper said in a news release.
Some Bakersfield residents are concerned about potential explosions after a state agency found that six idle oil wells near homes were leaking methane in the past several days.

State and regional inspectors found concentrations of methane in the air around some of the wells at levels considered potentially explosive and environmental activists in the region are worried that other chemicals may also be leaking from the wells that could pose a threat to public health.

But Uduak-Joe Ntuk, head of the California Geologic Energy Management division of the California Department of Conservation, the agency that oversees wells and confirmed they were leaking, said in a statement that the leaks were minor in nature and do not pose an immediate threat to public health or safety.

Residents and environmentalists in the region first became concerned when they were alerted by Clark Williams-Derry, an energy analyst, that two wells were hissing within a few hundred feet of homes. He was visiting the area on May 10 with a French documentary crew that's working on a film about cleaning up oil and gas infrastructure around the globe.

One of them was leaking, it was making an audible hiss, Williams-Derry told the Associated Press. And I was like what the hell is going on?' I thought these things were supposed to be essentially sealed.

On May 17, an inspector from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District measured the concentrations of methane in the air surrounding the leaking wells, Jaime Holt, chief communications officer with the district, said in a statement to the Associated Press.

The agency wouldn't confirm the concentrations of methane they found. But a letter sent to the states oil and gas regulators by a coalition of environmental groups said the inspector found that methane levels in the air around one of the wells was 20,000 parts per million (ppm) and at least 50,000 ppm around the other well.

Those two wells have since been sealed, Ntuk said in a statement on Friday, but while inspectors were checking to make sure the seals on those wells stopped the leaks, they found four more idle wells leaking.

Three of the four wells had methane concentrations of 50,000 ppm in the air surrounding them, according to a report from the state. The other well had a methane concentration of 6,000 ppm.

Methane is potentially explosive at air concentrations of 50,000 ppm, according to federal guidelines.

Riley Duren, an international methane expert and research scientist at the Arizona Institute for Resilient Environments and Societies and Research, Innovation and Impact, said that methane concentrations of 50,000 ppm can imply "an extreme and potentially hazardous event."

CalGEM said in their report on the four additional leaks that they were notifying the owner/operators of the wells, Sunray Petroleum, to repair the leaks and that they briefed the Bakersfield Fire Department. But environmental advocates in the region said the response by regional and state authorities did not go far enough.

The response... (shows) complete disrespect for the safety of this community, said Nayamin Martinez, director of the Central California Environmental Justice Network and a resident of the area, in a statement.

CalGEM said there was no reason to alert the public of the leaks, but advocates in the region disagree. In the days following discovery of the leaks, Cesar Aguirre, senior community organizer for the Central California Environmental Justice Network, canvassed the neighborhood surrounding the wells to notify residents.

Aguirre said he was warning residents about the potential of an explosion or fire in their community, but also about other possible pollution, like acute levels of ozone or smog, that might be forming around the leaking wells. Methane itself is usually non-toxic to humans, but a 2021 report from the United Nations points out ozone pollution is tied to methane emissions.

Methane is a health precursor, which means that it never shows up alone, Aguirre said. So if there's methane, there's definitely other scary chemicals that are floating around with it.

David J.X. Gonzalez, lead author on a recent study on the distribution of abandoned wells in urban areas, echoed some of Aguirre's concerns and said the leaks are an urgent public health issue. He pointed out there are thousands of other idle wells spread throughout the state.

Researchers have found that methane emissions from abandoned wells, which are disproportionately located in Black and Latinx neighborhoods, likely means other air toxics are being emitted too, which can cause birth defects, neurological damage, impaired hearing, and some cancers, he said in a statement.

The neighborhoods near the leaking wells are between 20% and 70% Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 Census.

The coalition of groups pushing for the wells to be sealed hope the discovery of these leaks pushes the state to take action to ensure other idle wells throughout the state aren't leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The leaking wells represent damage to the climate as well along with the health concerns.

We... hope this will spur CalGEM to move swiftly to address the tens of thousands of other idle or near-idle wells across the state to prevent these types of accidences in the future, they said at the end of the letter.

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Follow Drew Costley on Twitter: @drewcostley.

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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.

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This story was first published on May 24, 2022. It was updated on May 25, 2022 to correct the spelling of the name of Jaime Holt of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.
BERLIN (AP)  A German court on Wednesday sentenced a woman who posed as a doctor to life in prison for causing the deaths of several people she treated.

Judges at the regional court in Kassel said the evidence showed the 51-year-old woman, whose name was not given in line with German privacy rules, used a forged license to obtain employment as an anesthesiologist.

The judges determined that three patients died as a result of treatment errors, while others suffered serious damage, German news agency dpa reported. They sentenced the woman on three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.

The judges cited the special gravity of the crimes, making it more difficult for the woman to be released from prison after 15 years. That's the amount of time people given life sentences in Germany must serve to be considered for possible release.

Prosecutors accused the woman of having wrongly dosed anesthetics and of having failed to treat blood poisoning at a hospital in Fritzlar, a town near Kassel. She is also said to have been responsible for hours of oxygen deprivation as well as damage to the cardiovascular system and organ failure in patients, dpa reported.

The prosecutors claimed that the woman acted on the basis of an excessive need for recognition.

After working at the Fritzlar hospital from 2015 to 2018, the woman moved to a clinic in northern Germany. Officials from a regional medical association flagged discrepancies in her records, and she eventually turned herself in for employment fraud. The Hesse Medical Association and her former employer also reported her.
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  A gun and a loaded magazine were found in a second-grade student's desk at a California school after other students alerted the staff that a classmate had brought the weapon, officials said.

The incident happened Tuesday at Edward Kemble Elementary in Sacramento, the Sacramento City Unified School District said in a statement to families.
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NEW YORK (AP)  A man accused of randomly murdering a fellow passenger on a New York City subway train made his first appearance in court Wednesday, where his lawyer urged the judge and the public not to rush to judgment.

Andrew Abdullah, 25, was ordered held without bail in the death of Daniel Enriquez, 48, who was shot on his way to Sunday brunch in Manhattan.

The gunman wore a hooded sweatshirt and a mask that concealed his face, but police said they used security cameras to track the killer after he fled the station, including footage that showed him shedding the clothing that initially hid his identity.

Abdullah's lawyer, though, said in court that five of six witnesses brought to a police lineup could not identify him as the shooter.

Tensions are running high right now in the city and this is the time to make sure our civil liberties are protected even more, said Kristin Bruan, the Legal Aid Society attorney who represented Abdullah at his first court appearance.

Bruan said her client has been "cooperating fully" and had been in "constant communication with authorities as soon as he learned he was being sought.

Throughout the court appearance, Abdullah looked ahead as he stood in blue sweatpants, a gray t-shirt and with a white mask with his hands handcuffed behind him. He was led away immediately after the hearing ended. The next court date was set for this coming Wednesday.

The shooting, which witnesses told police appeared to be unprovoked, came amid a disturbing rash of gun violence in which people have targeted strangers.

Last month, a man who authorities said had traveled from Philadelphia shot 10 people on a subway train in Brooklyn. On May 14 police say a gunman motivated by racial hatred killed 10 Black shoppers and workers at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

News of the mass shootings in New York was quickly overshadowed by another attack that killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas.

A prosecutor, Nicole Blumberg, described Abdullah as a man with a long history of violent crimes who pulled out a loaded handgun on Sunday as he paced the last car of a Q line train heading from Brooklyn to Manhattan and fired one shot at the center of Daniel Enriquezs body.

She said the other passengers scattered to the sides of the subway car, praying for the life of their fellow passenger and hoping they would not be the next victim.

Blumberg said that after killing an innocent man, Abdullah told the other passengers to put their cell phones away and that they would be getting off at the next station.

The prosecutor said Abdullah fled the train after it pulled into Manhattans Canal Street station, handing his gun to a stranger on the subway stairs. The gun was later recovered by police.

Abdullah's lawyer, Bruan, said she plans to make a bail application at a later date. She said there were flaws in the way the lineup was conducted. Besides the fact that five of six witnesses could not identify Abdullah at all, the lone person who could said that Abdullah was wearing a hat during the attack, the lawyer said.

Authorities have outlined other evidence. Abdullah was stopped by police as he left the area around the station and showed his identification, but was allowed to leave because he wasn't then wearing the hooded sweatshirt witnesses had described, officials have said.

Enriquez worked for the global investment research division at Goldman Sachs and lived in Brooklyn.

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Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.
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ATLANTA  State Rep. Bee Nguyen is advancing to a runoff in the Democratic primary for Georgia secretary of state.

It was too early to tell which of the other four Democratic candidates she will face in the June 21 contest. They are Floyd Griffin, a state senator and former mayor of the city of Milledgeville; Michael Owens, former Cobb County Democratic Party chairman; John Eaves, former Fulton County Commission chairman; and Dee Dawkins-Haigler, a former state representative from DeKalb County.

Nguyen has served in the state House since winning a 2017 special election to succeed Stacey Abrams in a district that includes parts of DeKalb County just east of the Fulton County line and some parts of the city of Atlanta. Nguyen is also a vice chair of the state Democratic Party.

With former President Donald Trump and his allies pushing false claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia, Nguyen has highlighted her work to debunk false narratives. All five Democratic candidates have championed voting rights and criticized a sweeping election law passed by Republicans in the General Assembly in 2021.

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Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas and Minnesota are holding primary elections Tuesday.

HERES WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:

 Kemp wins Georgia GOP governors race in stinging rebuke of Trump

 Georgia US Senate race will pit Warnock against Walker

 Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger defeats Trump ally

 Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wins GOP primary in test of her divisive politics

 Unopposed Stacey Abrams still a target in Republican primary

 Texas Attorney General Paxton defeats Bush in GOP runoff

 Ex-Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders wins GOP bid for Arkansas governor

Follow all AP stories on the midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

ATLANTA  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was a top target of former President Donald Trump, has won the Republican primary as he seeks reelection.

Raffensperger beat three challengers, including Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who had criticized his handling of the 2020 election.

Raffensperger was among Trumps chief targets when the former president turned his wrath on top Georgia officials for not taking steps to overturn his narrow election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the state. Trump insisted without proof that victory had been stolen from him through widespread voter fraud.

In a now-notorious January 2021 phone call, Trump suggested Raffensperger could find enough votes to overturn President Bidens victory. That led a prosecutor in Atlanta to open an investigation into whether Trump and others tried to illegally influence the states election. That investigation is ongoing.

Hice embraced false claims about the 2020 election being stolen and objected to Georgias electoral votes being counted for Biden.

The other two candidates in the Republican primary were former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle and former probate and magistrate judge T.J. Hudson.

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ATLANTA  Businessman Mike Collins and Vernon Jones, a former Democrat endorsed by Donald Trump, will compete in a runoff election to decide the Republican nominee for an open congressional seat in Georgia.

Collins and Jones were the top finishers out of eight Republican primary candidates running in the 10th District east of Atlanta. Both contenders fell short of winning a majority of the vote, forcing a runoff June 21.

The race for the conservative-leaning seat drew a crowded field after Republican Rep. Jody Hice announced he was forgoing reelection to challenge Georgias secretary of state  a race Hice jumped into with Trumps blessing.

Collins owns a trucking company and is the son of former U.S. Rep. Mac Collins, who died in 2018.

As a Democrat, Jones served in the Georgia legislature and as the elected CEO of Atlantas DeKalb County before switching parties last year and becoming an outspoken Trump supporter. Jones dropped out of the governors race to campaign for Congress at Trumps behest. The former president had already endorsed a challenger to GOP Gov. Brian Kemp.

The GOP winner will run in November against the victor of a five-candidate Democratic primary.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala.  County official Dale Strong and former Huntsville school Superintendent Casey Wardynski have advanced to a runoff in the Republican primary for the congressional seat given up by U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama.

Both ran on issues that are reliably popular among Alabama Republicans: support for gun rights, opposition to abortion and support for former President Donald Trump and his policies.

Brooks gave up the position to run for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Richard Shelby. The winner of the June 21 runoff will face the Democratic nominee in the reliably Republican district in November.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala.  Kathy Warner-Stanton has won the Democratic nomination in north Alabamas heavily Republican 5th Congressional District.

Warner-Stanton, who worked as a computer specialist for the federal government before moving to the private sector, defeated Charlie Strong. Warner-Stanton will meet the GOP nominee in the fall race to succeed U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who gave up the seat to run for Senate.

Strong was a first-time candidate with experience in the car rental industry.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala.  Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has turned back eight primary challengers to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination without a runoff in a race that pushed her far to the right.

Ivey, 77, is seeking her second full term and will meet whoever emerges from a Democratic primary of six poorly financed candidates in November.

Facing a challenge from candidates who portrayed themselves as more conservative, Ivey repeated former President Donald Trumps false claims about election theft and pulled a pistol out of her purse in a TV commercial.

Ivey was catapulted to the states top office when Robert Bentley resigned in 2017. She easily won her full term in 2018.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala.  Alabamas Republican primary for U.S. Senate is going to a June runoff between Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks after neither candidate captured a majority of the vote.

The winner of the runoff will face the Democratic nominee in November to determine who will represent the reliably Republican district as the successor to retiring GOP Sen. Richard Shelby.

Britt is Shelbys former chief of staff and the former leader of the Business Council of Alabama. Brooks is a six-term congressman from north Alabama. Former President Donald Trump initially endorsed Brooks in the race but withdrew that endorsement in March.

The two edged out Mike Durant, a businessman best known as the helicopter pilot shot down and captured in the events chronicled in Black Hawk Down.

Shelby, one of the Senates most senior members, announced last year that he would not seek reelection in 2022, igniting a messy GOP primary at a time when the national Republican Party is trying to chart a direction after Trumps departure.

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ST. PAUL, Minn.  Former Hormel Foods CEO Jeffrey Ettinger has won a Democratic primary to finish the term of a Minnesota congressman who died in office.

Ettinger, a political newcomer who had far outraised several rivals, easily prevailed Tuesday in a field that included Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who was an ethics lawyer during President George W. Bushs administration.

Hell face the winner of the Republican primary in a special general election Aug. 9 to complete the term of Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died of cancer in February. The southern Minnesota district is mostly rural and agricultural, with the exception of the cities of Rochester and Mankato, and leans Republican.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who won the Republican primary for Arkansas governor, called the fatal shooting of 18 children at a Texas elementary school a stark and humbling reminder of just how precious life is.

Sanders, who has opposed gun control efforts, mentioned the shooting during her victory speech Tuesday night in Little Rock after winning the primary. Sanders is heavily favored in the general election in solidly red Arkansas.

Every single life has value and the most vulnerable among us are the ones we should be fighting for and protecting the most, Sanders said. I can assure you that in my administration, thats exactly what we will do. We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, theyre as safe as they are in the classroom, the workplace, the nursing home, because every stage of life has value.

Sanders didnt mention her former boss, former President Donald Trump, or former President Joe Biden during her victory speech. Sanders had focused heavily on national issues with ads that went after Biden and Democrats on issues like inflation. Nuclear engineer and ordained minister Chris Jones won the Democratic nomination to run against Sanders.

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ATLANTA  Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock have opened their contest for Senate in Georgia with sharp attacks.

During a speech to supporters in Atlanta on Tuesday, Walker accused Warnock of being a rubber stamp for President Joe Biden who was responsible for inflation, crime and other problems in the country.

In a statement, Warnock Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks said Walker has a pattern of lies, exaggerations and outright bizarre claims that show he is not ready to serve Georgia in the Senate.

Warnock and Walker won their respective primaries handily on Tuesday, setting up what is expected to be a fierce general election contest that could decide which party controls the Senate.

___

ATLANTA  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp celebrated his primary victory without mentioning former President Donald Trump, who had endorsed former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in the governors race.

Conservatives across our state didnt listen to the noise. They didnt get distracted. They knew our record of fighting and winning for hard working Georgians, Kemp told supporters at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta.

He thanked Perdue for a nice phone call earlier in the evening and for his support. He then turned his attention to his upcoming rematch with Democrat Stacey Abrams.

Our battle is far from over. Tonight, the fight for the soul of our state begins to make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor or the next president, Kemp said.

He attacked Abrams woke agenda and said shes not interested in Georgia and just wants to use the state as a steppingstone to the White House.

___

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  Sen. John Boozman has won the Republican primary in Arkansas, fending off efforts by challengers on the right after relying heavily on his endorsement from Donald Trump and the states top GOP figures.

Boozman defeated three rivals in Tuesdays Republican primary. Three Democrats were seeking the partys nomination for Boozmans seat in Tuesdays primary.

The soft-spoken two-term senator had Trumps backing, which featured prominently in every ad and mailer, and had adopted a more combative style during his reelection bid. Boozman is in the line to chair the Senate Agriculture Committee if Republicans win control of the Senate and he had the backing of groups like the National Rifle Association.

But his challengers had tried to portray the incumbent lawmaker as not conservative enough. They included former NFL player Jake Bequette, who had the support of a super PAC that spent more than $1.5 million on ads supporting his bid and attacking Boozman.

Conservative activist Jan Morgan and pastor Heath Loftis also sought the nomination.

___

ATLANTA  U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath has defeated fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux in a Georgia primary race between two incumbents who became rising stars after flipping districts long held by Republicans.

The contest in metro Atlantas 7th Congressional District cost Democrats one of the two Georgia lawmakers who had picked up House seats for the party since 2018.

McBath elected to run for Bourdeauxs seat rather than stand for reelection in the neighboring 6th District, which she had represented for two terms. McBath left her former district after the Republican-controlled state legislature redrew it to be more conservative.

Bourdeaux, who was seeking a second term, said she was shocked by the challenge from a colleague she had called a sister. McBath said her decision was driven by her desire to keep advocating for gun safety in memory of her teenage son, who was fatally shot in 2012.

In the November election, McBath will face the winner of Republican primary between five candidates.

___

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  Nuclear engineer and ordained minister Chris Jones has won the Democratic nomination for governor in Arkansas as he mounts an uphill bid for the extremely red states top office.

Jones defeated four rivals in Tuesdays primary, winning the majority needed to claim the nomination without a runoff. Hell face Republican Sarah Sanders and Libertarian nominee Ricky Dale Harrington in the November election.

Jones is among dozens of Black Democrats running for office in areas that former President Donald Trump won. Arkansas has never elected an African American to statewide or federal office before.

He launched his campaign last year with an online video last year that quickly went viral. In the video, Jones talked about his faith, love of science and his familys history in the state.

Jones is running to succeed Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is barred by term limits from seeking reelection and is considering running for president in 2024.

___

ATLANTA  Former Sen. David Perdue said he called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to congratulate him on his victory in the Republican gubernatorial primary.

Perdue had been recruited by Donald Trump to challenge Kemp, who had attracted the former presidents wrath for rejecting his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. But Perdue never gained much traction in the race and was easily beaten by the incumbent Tuesday.

Perdue said he would work to ensure Kemp beats Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams in the November election, a rematch of their contest four years ago.

Everything I said about Brian Kemp was true, but heres the other thing I said was true: Hes a much better choice than Stacey Abrams. We are going to get behind our governor, Perdue said.

We are going to do everything we can to make damn sure Stacey Abrams doesnt take over this state and let the woke mob take over our beloved children and grandchildren, he said.

___

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has won the Republican nomination for governor in Arkansas after a campaign where she focused primarily on national issues and criticizing President Joe Biden.

Sanders defeated former talk radio host and podcaster Doc Washburn, who mounted a longshot bid for the GOP nomination in Tuesdays primary. Five Democrats were also seeking their partys nomination for governor in Tuesdays primary.

Sanders was endorsed by her former boss, former President Donald Trump, and shattered fundraising records since entering the race last year. Sanders, the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, blanketed the state with ads targeting Biden on issues like inflation and vowing to fight the radical left.

Shes running to succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is barred by term limits from seeking reelection and is considering a run for president in 2024.

Trump had publicly encouraged Sanders to run for governor when she announced in 2019 she was leaving the White House to return to her home state.

___

AUSTIN, Texas  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is again the GOP nominee for his job in a primary runoff victory over Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush.

Bush is the only member of his famous family still in office, but the loss means he will now exit in January. That will leave the Bush dynasty out of elected office for only one of the few times in the last 40 years.

The coming end of the Bush era  at least for now  came at the hands of a two-term incumbent still dogged by a 2015 felony indictment and a separate FBI investigation into accusation of corruption. But importantly in Texas, Paxton had the backing of Donald Trump  the former president who has mocked and antagonized the Bush family on his way to taking their mantle as the GOPs standard-bearer.

Paxton, who has denied wrongdoing, is now within reach of a third term in Texas, where a Democrat hasnt won statewide office in nearly 30 years.

___

ATLANTA  U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated five fellow Republicans in a Georgia primary that tested conservative voters tolerance of the first-term congresswomans divisive politics.

Greene, a celebrity among the GOPs right-wing fringe, will be on the ballot again in the November general election. She will face the winner of a three-way Democratic primary in northwest Georgias 14th District, a seat drawn to give Republicans a huge advantage.

Jennifer Strahan and other Republican challengers sought unsuccessfully to convince voters that Greenes combative rhetoric and willingness to embrace baseless conspiracy theories did little to benefit her constituents.

Greene raised more than $9 million to defend her seat and spent more than $6.6 million in the primary fending off attacks from within her own party. She remained on the ballot after voters mounted a failed effort to disqualify her by claiming she encouraged the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and riots that disrupted Congress certification of Joe Bidens presidential victory.

___

ATLANTA  Georgias Republican attorney general has defeated a GOP primary challenger who entered the race with the backing of former President Donald Trump.

Unofficial election returns show Attorney General Chris Carr winning the Republican nomination over John Gordon, who largely campaigned on Trumps baseless allegations of widespread election fraud.

Gordon said he wanted an investigation into the 2020 election and blamed Carr for not doing enough. Carr said flatly that Trump and Georgias two Republican senators lost that election and there was no need to investigate.

Appointed to the attorney generals office by the governor in 2016, Carr is seeking his second full term. He counts his top achievements as prosecuting human trafficking, securing a $636 million opioid settlement, and defending the 2021 Georgia voting law.

___

ATLANTA  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has defeated his Donald Trump-backed challenger David Perdue after a furious push by the former president to punish Kemp for not overturning the 2020 election results.

Kemps victory on Tuesday sets up another general election race against Democrat Stacey Abrams, who was unopposed in her primary. The November rematch of their 2018 contest is likely to be one of the nations most expensive and closely watched.

Perdue was courted by Trump to enter the race as retribution for Kemp not going along with the former presidents effort to overturn his defeat in Georgias 2020 election. Perdue embraced Trumps election lies, opening two debates between the candidates with the claim that the 2020 balloting was rigged and stolen. Election officials found no evidence of fraud after multiple reviews.

Kemp survived the challenge by using the power of his incumbency to push a raft of legislation through Georgias Republican-controlled legislature. He signed measures that cut taxes, allowed people to carry concealed handguns without permits and helped ban transgender girls from high school sports.

The governor also tapped bountiful state coffers to give pay raises for public employees and announced two large electric vehicle factories.

___

ATLANTA  Football great Herschel Walker, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, won Georgias GOP Senate primary.

Walker defeated five fellow Republicans, including Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black and former Trump administration official and Navy veteran Latham Saddler.

Walker is a political newcomer but has nearly unmatched name recognition in Georgia from his days as a college football running back. He led the University of Georgia football team to a national title during the 1980 season and won the Heisman Trophy in 1982.

Trump, a close friend of Walkers, backed his run despite questions about Walkers business dealings and history of violence against women. Walker has been open about his long struggle with mental illness and acknowledged violent urges.

He won the primary despite skipping debates with his Republican opponents and making some gaffes.

___

ATLANTA  U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock won Georgias Democratic primary as he seeks to hold on to his Senate seat in the upcoming midterm elections.

Warnock defeated beauty industry professional Tamara Johnson-Shealey.

The junior senator and pastor is seeking a full, six-year term in the Senate after winning a special election in 2021 for the final two years of former Republican Sen. Johnny Isaksons term. Republicans believe Warnock is vulnerable and are targeting his seat in their efforts to regain a Senate majority.

Warnock is the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. On Capitol Hill, he has attacked Republicans push for tighter voting rules as Jim Crow in new clothes.

In Georgia, he has stressed his work in bringing home funding for health care, national security research and other projects. He has also highlighted his efforts to try to cap the cost of insulin and temporarily suspend the federal gas tax.

___

ATLANTA  Stacey Abrams has won the Democratic nomination for Georgia governor after narrowly losing the 2018 race to current Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

Abrams became a star in the Democratic Party after her first gubernatorial election and ran unopposed in this years primary. She has become a leading advocate for voting rights and is credited with laying the organizational groundwork for Joe Biden to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia in 28 years.

Abrams is likely to face either Kemp or former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in a November contest that is gearing up to be one of the nations most expensive and closely watched.

The centerpiece of Abrams platform is a call to expand Medicaid to all adults. But she is also highlighting her support for abortion rights and opposition to state laws abolishing the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public.

Abrams has showed the ability to raise millions, but Republicans have raised the specter of her becoming governor to try to unify a party fractured by former President Donald Trumps attempts to unseat Kemp.

___

ATLANTA  Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor, says she expects the personal attacks to continue as she moves toward the general election in November.

Abrams was asked at a news conference Tuesday in Atlanta about a comment the day before from Republican rival David Perdue, who said Abrams had been demeaning her own race with remarks she had made. She turned the conversation back to Perdues opponent, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who is leading in polls and fundraising.

I had an inelegant delivery of a statement that I will keep making  that is Brian Kemp is a failed governor who doesnt care about the people of Georgia, Abrams said.

On the eve of Tuesdays primary, Perdue took a shot at Abrams remarks Saturday at a Democratic dinner. She had said, I am tired of hearing about being the the best state in the country to do business when we are the worst state in the country to live, and went on to explain that when Georgia has dismal rankings for mental health access and maternal mortality, then youre not the No. 1 place to live.

She is demeaning her own race when it comes to that, Perdue said Monday in an interview with conservative radio host John Fredericks and former Trump adviser Peter Navarro.

Abrams said she expects Republicans to continue to attack her personally.

I have listened to Republicans for the last six months attack me, but theyve done nothing to attack the challenges facing Georgia, Abrams said.

___

AUSTIN, Texas  Tuesdays primary runoff election in Texas will test how much weight the Bush family name still carries in Americas biggest red state in the race for attorney general.

But George P. Bush, whos challenging embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Republican nomination, says Tuesdays vote isnt about family dynasty.

Speaking in Austin after casting his ballot, Bush says the election is about doing the right thing and supporting the right people for the right offices.

Paxton is the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation over accusations of corruption, and hes still awaiting trial on securities fraud charges after being indicted in 2015.

Bush, who now serves as Texas land commissioner, called Paxton a crook ... who continually abuses his office.

Bush forced a runoff against Paxton during a crowded four-way primary election in March. But he still trailed Paxton by 20 points in the March election, underscoring Paxtons continued political durability in Texas.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The United States' top negotiator for Iran nuclear talks made the case to lawmakers Wednesday for sticking with what may be a last try for a deal reimposing limits on Irans nuclear development, despite Iran closing in on completing a bomb-capable nuclear program.

Rob Malley, President Joe Bidens envoy to negotiations aimed at getting the U.S. and Iran back in a breached 2015 Iran nuclear deal, faced lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Some Democrats on the committee joined Republicans in saying it was past time to break off talks and move to tougher means to block Iran from taking the final, technical steps needed to build a bomb.

Biden has made a priority of returning the U.S. and Iran to the nuclear pact, abandoning what his administration says was a failed get-tough strategy by President Donald Trump. Failing to do so would be a politically damaging setback to his foreign policy agenda and risk a dangerous escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

Malley acknowledged to lawmakers the chances of success were tenuous in what the administration depicts as a final push to try close an agreement.

The accord would ease punishing international sanctions on Iran in exchange for Iran accepting limits and oversight of its nuclear work.

Malley underlined to lawmakers that the administration still believed Irans nuclear program was less of a threat inside a deal than outside of one.

How long is this going to go on? Sen. James Risch of Idaho, the committees top Republican, demanded of the often slow-moving, off and on talks.

For the Biden administration, we are prepared to get back into the JCPOA for as long as our assessment is that its nonproliferation benefits are worth the sanctions relief, Malley responded.

Iran jumped back into building its nuclear capacity after Trump in 2018 pulled the U.S. out of the international nuclear deal negotiated with the Obama administration.

The many opponents of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action increasingly argue Irans progress since then toward the ability to weaponize what it says is a civilian nuclear program means its too late for any accord to block Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said last week that Iran has amassed about 40 kilograms (about 90 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

I think we must prepare for the increasingly obvious reality we face in 2022  a return to the 2015 nuclear deal is not around the corner, and I believe it is not in the U.S. strategic interests, committee chairman Bob Menendez, one of the lawmakers of Bidens own party opposed to the Iran nuclear deal, said.

We need to tackle what comes next, Menendez said.

Biden has insisted the U.S. will never allow Iran to take the final steps toward attaining nuclear programs.

Malley repeated that the administration and its allies are preparing options if talks fail. The administration has declined to detail publicly what steps it would take to knock offline Irans centrifuges and other nuclear gear, much of it deep underground and well-defended against airstrikes.

Being at the table doesnt mean were waiting. Were not waiting, were acting, Malley told lawmakers.

Democratic lawmakers in support of the negotiation effort argued that giving up on peaceful pressure and negotiations now to move to military strikes against Irans nuclear program would be dangerous, and likely futile.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., urged U.S. leaders to resist what he called the siren song of the option of Israeli warplanes to move against the nuclear targets of Iran, Israel's top opponent.

Its difficult to bomb knowledge out of existence, added Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., suggesting Iran would only rebuild its program after strikes. And the risk of spillover of a regional war is significant.

Malley promised lawmakers on Wednesday that the administration would allow Congress to review any deal that does come out of talks. That answered a demand of Menendez and other hard-liners on the nuclear accord. Lawmakers could try to block any new deal, but could face a presidential veto.

The talks to get Iran and the U.S. back into compliance with the nuclear deal appeared to have reached agreement on all but the final points of the accord itself by late winter. But talks deadlocked since then in part over Irans demand for the United States to lift a terrorist designation on the countrys paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

European diplomacy over the past several days is believed to have persuaded Iranian leaders to drop that demand. It was a politically untenable one for the Biden administration, which is eager to show U.S. conservatives and ally Israel it remains vigilant against Irans efforts to build strength and influence in the Middle East.

Even as Malley urged more time for the talks, the Biden administration announced new sanctions Wednesday against Iran, among what Malley said were about 150 sanctions designations targeting Iran by the Biden administration. Wednesday's sanctions hit what the U.S. said was an operation by a current Revolutionary Guard official and a former one to smuggle oil in violation of international sanctions.
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CASPER, Wyo. (AP)  An abortion clinic set to open next month in conservative Wyoming was damaged in a fire early Wednesday that police believe was deliberately set  possibly by someone seen running away from the building carrying what appeared to be a gas can and a bag.

The blaze damaged the inside of the building under renovation to house the clinic in Casper, the second-biggest city in a state where opposition to abortion is widespread.

The clinic, which also planned to provide other health care services for women, had been set to open in June.

A person who called authorities before dawn saw someone running from the building with what appeared to be a gas can and a black bag, police said in a Facebook post. Investigators were reviewing video footage from the area in hopes of identifying the suspect or generating a suspect description, police said. No injuries were reported.

Julie Burkhart, the clinics director, said clinic organizers had been receiving harassing emails and telephone messages. The building had video cameras that were functioning, and police were given access to them, she said.

Whether youre against abortion or support abortion rights, youre not going to make abortion go away, said Burkhart, a former associate of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider who was shot and killed in a Wichita, Kansas, church in 2009.

Protests have been held this spring by abortion opponents at the future clinic site, and signs opposing abortion were visible Wednesday in a window of an apartment next door to the building.

Wyoming is one of 13 U.S. states with a so-called trigger law that would immediately outlaw abortion if the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized it nationwide is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. A leaked draft of a ruling suggests that will happen soon.

Police temporarily closed off the street where the small building is located as officers investigated. Several of the building's windows were broken, and smoke damage was visible around one shattered window.
As details emerged about a deadly mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., took to the U.S. Senate floor for an emotional plea to colleagues about the necessity of federal gun reform.

Im here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here, Murphy said. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that makes this less likely. I understand my Republican colleagues may not agree to everything that I may support, but there is a common denominator that we can find.

During his five-minute speech, Murphy described how the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown had devastated children there. He recalled students using a safe word in class to indicate that they were having recollections of the shooting and needed to leave the room.

Sandy Hook will never, ever be the same, Murphy said. This community in Texas will never, ever be the same.

At several points during his speech Tuesday, Murphy asked rhetorical questions of his colleagues, wondering why they wanted to be Senators if not to prevent the murder of children. He closed his remarks asking, Why are we here? What are we doing?

Since the Sandy Hook shooting nearly a decade ago, Murphy has emerged as one of Congresss most ardent and passionate supporters of legislation to restrict access to guns. While most national Democrats support measures such as universal background checks for gun ownership, Republicans have repeatedly blocked gun control measures, citing what they see as a near-absolute right to own a firearm.

In his speech Tuesday, Murphy said he didnt expect gun control laws to end mass shootings or altogether eliminate gun violence but would represent at least an attempt to address the problem.

It will not solve the problem of American violence by itself, but by doing something we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing shooting after shooting, he said.

After the speech, Murphy told reporters that he had reached out to Texas Republican John Cornyn and that he would explore whether theres any appetite for some common sense legislation, according to Axios.

alex.putterman@hearstmediact.com
KPMG in Canada launches this year's search for Canada's leading tech entrepreneur

TORONTO, May 25, 2022 /CNW/ - Applications are now open for Canadian start-ups to vie for the title of Canadian Tech Innovator of the Year and the opportunity to compete against global peers at the KPMG Private Enterprise Global Tech Innovator competition, KPMG announced today.

The competition is open to Canadian entrepreneurs who can demonstrate to a panel of industry professionals that they have developed innovative technologies, established business models, and the potential to scale-up globally.

"The search is on for technology disruptors and influencers who are helping to reshape the world with their ideas," says Sunil Mistry, partner, Enterprise and Technology, Media and Telecommunications, KPMG in Canada. "Whether your start-up is tech-enabled, tech-led, or tech-driven, we encourage you to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to take your business to the next level. It's a simple way to make important connections and gain recognition among some of the most-trusted advisors, industry leaders, and influencers in Canada."

Applicants who have been shortlisted will have the opportunity to be recognized as one of Canada's most successful technology innovators and participate in exclusive networking opportunities among industry specialist and influencers and private equity investors.

The competition will be held in three phases between May and August: country-level semi-finals, country-level finals, and global finals. The winner of the Canadian Tech Innovator competition will compete against the winners from other participating countries in the global finals later this year, where they will pitch their growth plans to an international judging panel and receive global recognition in the KPMG Private Enterprise's "2022 Winners Report".

Last year, the global competition attracted nearly 700 competitors from 18 countries. Victoria-based start-up Certn won the Canadian title and competed virtually at the Web Summit in Lisbon, where Brazilian AgriTech company Krilltech ultimately won the KPMG Private Enterprise Global Tech Innovator crown.

This year the competition has expanded to include 22 countries and territories:

Africa

Brazil

Canada

China

Colombia

Denmark

Germany

India

Ireland

Israel

Japan

Mexico

Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Spain

Taiwan

Turkey

United Kingdom

United States

Does your company have what it takes?

If you have ambitious growth plans and are looking for an opportunity to showcase your technology, it's time to take the next step by entering the KPMG Private Enterprise Global Tech Innovator competition.

Applications are now open and close on June 27, 2022.

The contest is open to legal residents of Canada who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory of residence and who are not partners, employees or subcontractors of KPMG LLP or in any way affiliated with the Competition.

Applicants will be measured against a set of objective criteria and chosen by a panel that included third parties to ensure independence in the selection of winners.

About KPMG in Canada

KPMG LLP, a limited liability partnership, is a full-service Audit, Tax and Advisory firm owned and operated by Canadians. For over 150 years, our professionals have provided consulting, accounting, auditing, and tax services to Canadians, inspiring confidence, empowering change, and driving innovation. Guided by our core values of Integrity, Excellence, Courage, Together, For Better, KPMG employs more than 10,000 people in over 40 locations across Canada, serving private- and public-sector clients. KPMG is consistently ranked one of Canada's top employers and one of the best places to work in the country.

The firm is established under the laws of Ontario and is a member of KPMG's global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a private English company limited by guarantee. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. For more information, see home.kpmg/ca.

SOURCE KPMG LLP

For further information: Sonja Cloutier-Bosworth, National Communications & Media Relations, KPMG in Canada, (416) 777-8175, [email protected]
Public feedback will inform plan to position Canada for success in the bioeconomy

OTTAWA, ON, May 24, 2022 /CNW/ - Over the past years, Canada has built renowned world-class strength in genomics research. This, along with our strong public health care system, diverse ecosystems, and abundant natural resources and food sectors, has positioned Canada as a leader in genomics technologies and innovations.

Today, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced the launch of public consultations for the upcoming Pan-Canadian Genomics Strategy. The consultations will provide the government with valuable insights on the development of a strategy aimed to enhance federal investments in genomics and advance the commercialization and adoption of genomics to cement Canada's position as a leader in research and innovation.

Canadians are invited to review the consultation paper and to provide input through an online survey. The government will also host targeted roundtables with stakeholders across academia, not-for-profit organizations and the private sector. The online consultations and the roundtable discussions are running from now through to June 24. A summary report of the findings will be published later this year.

Genomics is the science that aims to help us better understand the entire set of genetic information encoded in DNA and related molecules. Also, genomics has played a significant role in helping Canada fight against the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. tracking and sequencing, diagnostic devices, and mRNA vaccines and therapeutics) and is instrumental in addressing climate change, food and energy security, precision health, environmental protection and economic recovery.

Quotes

"The Government of Canada recognizes that genomics is a key technology instrumental in responding to the national and global challenges of our time. This is why our future Pan-Canadian Genomics Strategy will help cement Canada as a leader in genomics research and commercialize our genomics innovations and technologies, all while creating many important benefits for Canadians and positioning Canada for long-term success in the bioeconomy."

 The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

Quick facts

The consultations will focus on priority theme areas, which include: Canada's genomics landscape  opportunities and challenges Developing, retaining and attracting talent Optimizing the management, standardization and utilization of genomics data Driving the commercialization and use of Canadian genomics technology and innovations Adopting genomics in key sectors  health, environment, clean tech, food and natural resources

Budget 2021 provided nearly $400 million to support the creation and implementation of a Pan-Canadian Genomics Strategy, including: $136.7 million over five years, starting in 202223, to Genome Canada for challenge-driven programming $2.7 million for a joint ISED-National Research Council of Canada secretariat to provide dedicated support for the development and implementation of the strategy $260.3 million to support the strategy's activities

to support the creation and implementation of a Pan-Canadian Genomics Strategy, including:

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Stay connected

Find more services and information at Canada.ca/ISED.

Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on social media.

Twitter: @ISED_CA, Facebook: Canadian Innovation, Instagram: @cdninnovation and LinkedIn

SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

For further information: Laurie Bouchard, Senior Manager, Communications, Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, [email protected]; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, [email protected]
VICTORIA, BC, May 25, 2022 /CNW/ - As Canada works towards recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, investments in our airport infrastructure continue to be crucial to maintain safety, security, and connectivity for travellers, workers and communities. Government of Canada investments also help ensure Canada's aviation industry is well-positioned to recover from the impacts of the pandemic.

Today, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Annie Koutrakis, on behalf of the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, announced more than $4 million in new funding to help Victoria International Airport recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and to support continued air services and important transportation infrastructure projects at the airport.

The airport will receive more than $1.3 million from Transport Canada's Airport Critical Infrastructure Program for upgrades to the lighting for the approach to Runway 09. The work will include:

installation of new land-based and water-based lighting systems, with the water-based fixtures being structurally reinforced to withstand impacts from barges that work in the area; and

reconfiguration and extension of the existing floatplane dock to accommodate the new lighting system.

In addition to funding for the infrastructure projects, the Government of Canada also provided the airport with over $3 million from Transport Canada's Airport Relief Fund to help it maintain continued airport operations and essential air services for residents and workers in Victoria and surrounding communities.

Quotes

"The Victoria International Airport is a key transportation hub not just for Victoria, but for much of Vancouver Island. It connects us with family and friends, helps us discover new destinations, and is a pivotal trade corridor for many Victoria businesses. This funding will enhance airport safety for travellers, air crews and airport workers, while supporting jobs and our regional economy."

Annie Koutrakis

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

"As we move forward with the safe and gradual return of activity in the aviation sector, in a way that continues to support the health, safety, and security of all Canadians, it will be imperative that we continue to ensure a vibrant and competitive Canadian air sector. These critical investments will allow the Victoria International Airport to invest in the infrastructure and tools needed to help re-invigorate the aviation industry and allow Canadians to feel safe and secure when they travel."

The Honourable Omar Alghabra

Minister of Transport

Quick Facts

The Airport Critical Infrastructure Program, launched in May 2021 , will provide $571.2 million in funding over five years to airports for eligible infrastructure projects related to safety, security, connectivity to mass transit systems, or testing and screening related to COVID-19 and its variants.

, will provide in funding over five years to airports for eligible infrastructure projects related to safety, security, connectivity to mass transit systems, or testing and screening related to COVID-19 and its variants. The Airport Relief Fund, launched in May 2021 , provided $64.8 million in funding in 2021-2022 for targeted airports whose 2019 revenues were less than $250 million .

Associated Links

Transport Canada is online at www.tc.gc.ca. Subscribe to e-news or stay connected through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to keep up to date on the latest from Transport Canada.

This news release may be made available in alternative formats for persons living with visual disabilities.

SOURCE Transport Canada

For further information: Contacts: Laurel Lennox , Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, Ottawa, [email protected]; Media Relations, Transport Canada, Ottawa, 613-993-0055, [email protected]
Gros Morne National Park, and Port au Choix, L'Anse aux Meadows, and Red Bay national historic sites are pleased to welcome visitors for the 2022 visitor season. Gros Morne National Park is open year-round with the various visitor facilities and campgrounds opening at different times. We encourage visitors to check out the website for Gros Morne National Park for more details. Port au Choix , L'Anse aux Meadows , and Red Bay national historic sites all open on June 1, 2022.

Gros Morne National Park :

Choose your own adventure in Gros Morne! There are hiking trails for all levels and opportunities to explore the geological wonders that make this landscape a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Learn about the culture and traditions of the Mi'kmaq people of central Newfoundland at Miawpukek: The Middle River exhibit at the Discovery Centre in Woody Point .

at exhibit at the Discovery Centre in . While construction work is underway on the new Gros Morne Visitor Centre, Parks Canada is pleased to welcome visitors to the temporary visitor centre location on the Rocky Harbour waterfront, at 31 Main St North.

Port aux Choix National Historic Site:

Discover the mysteries and remarkable ingenuity of four ancient cultures that once inhabited Port au Choix. Visitors can tour the Visitor Centre exhibits.

Hike the limestone barrens and coastlines to view the Sacred Burial Ground, ancient settlements, and rare arctic wildflowers.

At the Point Riche Lighthouse, view (from a distance) the caribou herd that frequent the site each year.

The Seal for All Seasons program will return in 2022.

L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site:

Discover the fascinating archaeological remains of the only known Viking settlement in North America . Explore the UNESCO World Heritage site, discover original artifacts at the Visitor Centre exhibits, watch the film, take in a guided tour of the archaeological site, and meet the interpreters at the Viking Encampment living history program. Keep your camera close, as moose, whales, and unique vegetation can all be discovered from the scenic trails that hug the coastline.

. Explore the UNESCO World Heritage site, discover original artifacts at the Visitor Centre exhibits, watch the film, take in a guided tour of the archaeological site, and meet the interpreters at the Viking Encampment living history program. Keep your camera close, as moose, whales, and unique vegetation can all be discovered from the scenic trails that hug the coastline. The Test of Tykir escape room is re-opening this season. Are you ready to prove yourself as a clever member of Leif Eriksson's crew? Reservations are recommended. You can find further information on the website.

crew? Reservations are recommended. You can find further information on the website. Our evening program, Sagas and Shadows, returns this season to L'Anse aux Meadows . Gather around the skali ("kitchen") in one of the reconstructed sod buildings and prepare for an evening of heroic and tragic tales from the Viking Sagas.Reservations are recommended. You can find further information on the website.

Red Bay National Historic Site

Visitors can discover the incredible history of Red Bay from our knowledgeable interpreters and the exhibits at the Visitor Interpretation Centre.

from our knowledgeable interpreters and the exhibits at the Visitor Interpretation Centre. Saddle Island, a short (4-5 min) boat ride away in Red Bay Harbour , takes visitors back in time to a place where Basque whalers once ran a massive operation. A trail winding around the island takes the visitor through a series of archeological sites which dot the landscape. We have recently installed a new floating dock and a new bathroom facility on Saddle Island to make your visit more accessible and comfortable.

, takes visitors back in time to a place where Basque whalers once ran a massive operation. A trail winding around the island takes the visitor through a series of archeological sites which dot the landscape. We have recently installed a new floating dock and a new bathroom facility on Saddle Island to make your visit more accessible and comfortable. Check out the new storytelling program on Saddle Island in July and August called Away with the Whalers. Visitors can experience the culture of the Basque whalers who had established a port at Red Bay in the 16th century. Reservations are recommended. You can find further information on the website.

Gros Morne National Park, and Port au Choix, L'Anse aux Meadows, and Red Bay national historic sites provide the perfect setting for memorable and safe experiences. Whether they're looking for adventure, fun for the whole family, a chance to explore nature and history, or a break from the everyday, there are countless unique experiences to suit every visitor's needs.

The health and safety of visitors and employees are of the utmost importance and Parks Canada continues to follow the advice, guidance, and requirements of public health authorities and experts to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The Parks Canada website provides detailed information on what visitors can expect, how to prepare for a visit, and what services may be available. Visitors are asked to plan ahead by checking the website before they travel, to respect the guidance of public health experts, and to follow all signage and direction from Parks Canada employees.

Quotes

"As Canadians, we are fortunate to live in a country with such diverse landscapes and rich history. Every one of the protected areas within the Parks Canada network of sites is a perfect gateway to discovering, learning about, and connecting with natural and cultural heritage. As summer approaches, I encourage all Canadians to get out and explore locations such as Gros Morne National Park, and Port au Choix, L'Anse aux Meadows, and Red Bay National Historic Sites, as they walk in the footsteps of history and enjoy the important physical and mental benefits of being outdoors."

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault

Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada

"Parks Canada prides itself on providing visitors with high quality and meaningful experiences across the country. The Parks Canada team works extremely hard to ensure that each and every person leaves with memories that will last a lifetime. We are excited to welcome new and returning visitors back to Gros Morne National Park and Port au Choix, L'Anse aux Meadows, and Red Bay National Historic Sites this season, to help them create new memories and discover everything that these treasured places have to offer."

Ron Hallman

President and Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada

Quick Facts

Gros Morne National Park consists of 1,805 square kilometres of wilderness on Newfoundland's west coast. Its natural beauty and a unique, geological showcase earned Gros Morne UNESCO World Heritage status in 1987. It stretches inland from the Gulf of St. Lawrence coastline through lowlands where waterways meander towards the Long Range Mountains and Tablelands.

consists of 1,805 square kilometres of wilderness on west coast. Its natural beauty and a unique, geological showcase earned Gros Morne UNESCO World Heritage status in 1987. It stretches inland from the Gulf of coastline through lowlands where waterways meander towards the Long Range Mountains and Tablelands. Indigenous peoples have lived all over Newfoundland and Labrador since time in memorial. On the west side of Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula, at Port au Choix National Historic Site, you'll find the crossroads of 6000 years of human history. The sea's bounty drew Maritime Archaic people, the Dorset people, the Groswater people and recent Indigenous people here long before Europeans arrived.

and since time in memorial. On the west side of Great Northern Peninsula, at Port au Choix National Historic Site, you'll find the crossroads of 6000 years of human history. The sea's bounty drew Maritime Archaic people, the people, the Groswater people and recent Indigenous people here long before Europeans arrived. At L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site - at the tip of Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula - lies the first known evidence of European presence in the Americas. Here Norse expeditions sailed from Greenland , building a small encampment of timber-and-sod buildings over 1000 years ago. Against a stunning backdrop of rugged cliffs, bog, and coastline, discover the fascinating archaeological remains of the Viking encampment, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

Great Northern Peninsula - lies the first known evidence of European presence in the Americas. Here Norse expeditions sailed from , building a small encampment of timber-and-sod buildings over 1000 years ago. Against a stunning backdrop of rugged cliffs, bog, and coastline, discover the fascinating archaeological remains of the Viking encampment, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. In 2013, Red Bay National Historic Site, the most complete example of early industrial-scale whaling in the world, was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List for its outstanding universal value. During the mid-16th century, large numbers of right and bowhead whales drew whalers from the Basque region of Spain and France to the Strait of Belle Isle , where they established a major whaling port at Red Bay .

and to the Strait of , where they established a major whaling port at . The Parks Canada Discovery Pass provides unlimited admission for a full year to over 80 destinations across the country. Visitors can purchase their Parks Canada Discovery Passes online, on-site, and at partner retailer locations across the country.

Related Links

SOURCE Parks Canada

For further information: Kaitlin Power, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 819-230-1557, [email protected]; Media Relations, Parks Canada Agency, 855-862-1812, [email protected]; Ellen Gormley, A/Public Relations and Communications Officer, Western Newfoundland and Labrador Field Unit, 709-458-8627, [email protected]
The governments of Canada and British Columbia announce a major investment for French-language postsecondary education in British Columbia.

VANCOUVER, BC, May 25, 2022 /CNW/ - Education is key to ensuring the equality of our two official languages in the education system, from early childhood to postsecondary. To support official language minority communities and maintain the vitality of the French language, we need to work with partners and invest in the French education system, particularly postsecondary institutions.

Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, announced more than $4.7 million in funding to support French-language postsecondary education in British Columbia. The minister was accompanied by Kelli Paddon, Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for ChilliwackKent; Yvon Laberge, President of College Educacentre; Kevin Hall, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Victoria; and Dr. Joel Castonguay-Belanger, head of the French department at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and board member of the Centre de la Francophonie.

In collaboration with the University of Victoria, College Educacentre and UBC, this investment will support a three-year capacity-building project that will improve French-language academic opportunities through new programs and courses, particularly French teacher education and development. It will also better serve Francophone students by offering more academic support and enhanced cultural activities.

In addition, the project allows postsecondary institutions to demonstrate the strong presence of the Francophone community through greater access to information and resources in French on campus and online.

The project will also support cultural programming and increased coordination and networking between educational partners and community organizations. The Government of Canada is investing $2,605,384 in this project over three years while the Government of British Columbia is investing $2,113,260 over the same period, for a total of $4.7 million.

The project is funded under the CanadaBritish Columbia Agreement on Minority-Language Education and Second Official-Language Instruction (20202021 to 20222023).

Quotes

"After launching the national consultations to renew the Action Plan for Official Languages yesterday, I know how important it is to continue investing in postsecondary education. Today's investment will better serve the educational needs of British Columbia's Francophone community and will increase the visibility of French on campus by adding the resources and support needed."

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

"French is deeply rooted in Canadian history and that's why we are proud to support our post-secondary institutions to offer new programs, like the University of Victoria's French Teacher Education Program and exciting cultural activities in French at the University of British Columbia's campuses with Francophone guests, events and workshops linked with class instruction. We're investing in post-secondary institutions so that French-speaking learners can pursue an education in both of Canada's official languages."

The Honourable Anne Kang, British Columbia Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Training

"We recognize the importance for school districts to recruit French-speaking teachers and respond to the growing demand for French programs in schools. Through this three-year federal and provincial funding partnership, we are working together to invest in French-language post-secondary education programs so more students can study and train to become French-language teachers in B.C."

The Honourable Jennifer Whiteside, British Columbia Minister of Education, Skills and Training

"At a time when it is more difficult to attract and retain employees, this funding will help solidify our institution's base, which is growing. Also, le College Educacentre collabore is working with le Conseil scolaire francophone to respond to the growing need for specialized French educational aids in B.C. This financing allows us to meet the need, by developing programming for and by the community, that will train students for the current demands of the profession."

 Yvon Laberge, President of College Educacentre

"We are grateful for the Government of Canada and Government of British Columbia's commitment to supporting UBC faculty and students in preserving the French language, increasing French academic opportunities and building capacity for the Centre de la Francophonie's program. With this funding, UBC researchers and faculty will be able to increase student resources in French and online, advance cultural programming and increase the visibility of the Centre de la Francophonie to coordinate and network between educational partners and community organizations

 Santa J. Ono, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of British-Columbia

"This investment advances the University of Victoria's role in better serving the academic and education needs of British Columbia's Francophone community. We are proud to be a catalyst for cultural programs that reflect the richness of our region and reinforce the links between postsecondary institutions and community organizations."

 Kevin Hall, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Victoria

Quick Facts

Funding for this project is provided through the Official Languages Support Programs, which aims to enhance the vitality of English- and French-speaking minority communities and promote the English and French languages in Canadian society.

Budget 2021 provides $121 million over three years (20212022 to 20232024) to support high-quality post-secondary minority-language education. This new investment will be made primarily through existing intergovernmental cooperation mechanisms to help provinces and territories address pressing needs and help stabilize the post-secondary minority-language education sector.

On March 1, 2022, the Government of Canada introduced an enhanced bill promoting the substantive equality of Canada's official languages, in order to adapt the Official Languages Act to a changing society. Among other objectives, the bill aims to address the decline of French in Canada, clarify and strengthen the section of the Official Languages Act dealing with the promotion of official languages, and support official-language minority communities.

The University of Victoria is one of Canada's leading research-intensive universities with more than 22,000 undergraduate and graduate students and ranked first among Canadian comprehensive universities in the 2019 2021 Times Higher Education Global University Employability Ranking for preparing career-ready students.

College Educacentre is the only French-language college in B.C. Its courses and programs are offered online and only in French. Established in 1976, the college has operated as a non-profit organization since 1992.

The University of British Columbia is ranked 34th in Times Higher Education World University Rankings and one of three Canadian universities in the top 50.

Associated Links

Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages

Budget 2021

Action Plan for Official Languages 20182023: Investing in Our Future

Official Languages Support Programs

University of Victoria

College Educacentre

University of British Columbia

SOURCE Canadian Heritage

For further information: For more information (media only), please contact: Marianne Blondin, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, [email protected]; Media Relations, Canadian Heritage, 819-994-9101, 1-866-569-6155, [email protected]
The Bihar government has decided to hold an all-party meeting in Patna on June 1 to discuss the issue of caste-based censuses.

The Bihar government has decided to hold an all-party meeting in Patna on June 1 to discuss the issue of caste-based censuses.

Bihars Education Minister, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, confirmed the news. He stated that the meeting for the caste-based census has been agreed upon by all political parties.

Our Chief Minister has already stated that a meeting on the caste-based census will take place in Patna very soon. The date has now been set as June 1. Every party has agreed on a date, and we hope that the leaders of all parties will provide valuable suggestions on this issue, Chaudhary said.

The meeting will be held at 4 Desh Ratna Marg in Patna at 4 p.m., Chaudhary said.

Nitish Kumar previously stated that he supports a meeting on May 27. Except for the BJP, all parties in Bihar, including the RJD, JD-U, Congress, left parties, HAM, and AIMIM, agreed on a caste-based census. The BJP was stuck with its central leaderships decision not to conduct a caste-based census in the country.

Despite this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already stated that states are free to conduct caste-based censuses at their own expense.

As Nitish Kumar stands firm in his decision to conduct a caste-based census in Bihar, the BJP stepped down on Monday and expressed its support for the issue. The BJP think tank believes that if they oppose caste-based censuses in Bihar, Nitish Kumar will break with the BJP and form a government with the RJD.
In a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Kapil Sibal was one of 23 dissenters who called for a complete overhaul of the party's leadership and organisation.

Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal announced his resignation from the Congress today, just moments after filing his nomination papers for Rajya Sabha as an independent candidate backed by the Samajwadi Party.

I resigned from the Congress party on May 16, Kapil Sibal declared, astounded the media with information that had remained hidden since the Congress Chintan Shivir, or strategy meeting, a week ago.

When confronted with questions, he remarked, I am no longer a serious Congress leader.

This is the fifth high-profile departure from Congress in five months. Mr Sibal resigned a day after the Congress held a brainstorming session to discuss a strategy for the partys revival following a string of crushing election defeats.

As an independent candidate, I have filed my papers. It is critical to have an independent voice in parliament. People will believe that if an independent voice speaks up, it is not affiliated with any political party Sibal stated.

Sibal, a senior Congress leader, was among the G-23, or group of 23 dissenters, who called for a complete overhaul of the partys leadership and organisation in a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi two years ago.

In recent months, he had also been vocal and increasingly harsh in his criticism of the Gandhis leadership.

His term in the Rajya Sabha expires in July. In 2016, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh as a Congress candidate supported by the states ruling Samajwadi Party. With only two MLAs in the UP assembly, the Congress cannot elect anyone to the Rajya Sabha from the state.

In the presence of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Sibal filed his nomination papers.

The Samajwadi Partys decision to back Sibal is seen as a payback for his efforts as party MP Azam Khans lawyer.
BJP leaders Kapil Mishra and Amit Malviya, as well as Union minister Kiren Rijuji, were among those who attacked Gandhi, labelling him Corbyn's "overseas collaborator" in their dislike for India.

The BJP chastised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday for meeting British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in London. The BJP chastised the Congress MP for allegedly endorsing the anti-India views of the UK MP on foreign soil.

The remarks sparked outrage on social media when BJP leader and Union law minister Kiren Rijiju shared a photo of Gandhis meeting with Corbyn and accused the former Congress president of betraying his country.

Again.. Rahul Gandhi meets UK MP and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who is known for his hatred and dislike for India, advocates Kashmirs secession. Or how long and how much one can go on against ones own country, Rijiju penned.

Again.. Rahul Gandhi meets UK MP and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who is known for his hatred and dislike for India, advocates Kashmirs secession.



For how long and how much one can go on against one's own country? pic.twitter.com/74KgaeZKBB  Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 24, 2022

Similar sentiments were expressed by BJP leader Kapil Mishra and IT cell head Amit Malviya, who referred to Gandhi as Corbyns overseas collaborator for his disdain for India.

Jeremy is well-known for his visceral dislike of India, his support for Kashmirs secession, and his unambiguous anti-Hindu stance. Gandhi has finally found an overseas collaborator who, like him, denigrates India with impunity According to Malviya.

The Congress Party defended Gandhis meeting with Corbyn, sharing photos of the Labour leader with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questioning whether he, too, supported the anti-India views of the UK Labour leader and MP.

Am amazed as to how dearest friends in TV Media have to bend over backwards to serve the idiotic agenda of Government and ilk of Kapil Mishra, said Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.
While the Quad leaders were meeting in Tokyo, Japan scrambled jets as the warplanes approached its airspace.

Russian and Chinese military planes conducted joint exercises near Japan on Tuesday, while leaders of the Quad group of countries met in Tokyo, according to Japans defence minister, who called it provocation.

Two Chinese bombers joined two Russian bombers in the Sea of Japan and flew together to the East China Sea, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters on Tuesday.

According to the defence ministry, the planes did not violate Japanese airspace.

While Tokyo was hosting the leaders of the Quad group of countries  the United States, India, Australia, and Japan  Japan scrambled jets as the warplanes approached its airspace.

The Quad summit brought together US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Australias newly elected leader, Anthony Albanese, in the Japanese capital to counter Chinas influence in the Asia Pacific.

The so-called Quad bloc issued a joint statement warning against attempts to change the status quo by force, as fears grow that China will invade self-ruled Taiwan.

However, no direct references to Russia or China were made in the joint statement.

Biden enraged China on Monday by saying he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan, but he later stated that US policy toward the self-ruled democratic island had not changed. Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territory that should be reunited with the mainland.

South Koreas military said it scrambled fighter jets after at least four Chinese and four Russian warplanes entered its air defence identification zone (ADIZ), but the planes did not fly into its airspace.

There are no international laws that govern ADIZs, so countries can unilaterally demand that foreign aircraft take special steps to identify themselves.
BEIJING, May 25  "We firmly oppose official exchanges and military ties in any form between the United States and China's Taiwan region. Seeking 'Taiwan independence leads nowhere but to a dead end, and so does supporting Taiwan independence," said Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense on Wednesday.

Senior Colonel Tan Kefei made the remarks when asked by the press whether the latest joint combat-readiness alert patrol and combat training exercise in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island held by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is a stern warning against the recent collusion activities between the United States and the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces.

Snr. Col. Tan pointed out that Taiwan is a part of China and the Taiwan question brooks no external interference. The PLA Eastern Theater Command has recently organized joint war-preparedness alert patrol and combat training exercises involving troops of multiple services and arms in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island, and these are necessary actions taken targeting the US-Taiwan collusion and conforming to the need of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, said Tan.

The U.S. side has repeatedly made explicit commitments that it sticks to the one-China policy and does not support "Taiwan independence". However, for a period of time, the U.S. side has intensified its efforts to play the "Taiwan card" with the attempt to use it to contain China, which will inevitably put the situation in jeopardy, Tan stated.

The PLA is on high alert and ready to take all necessary measures to resolutely thwart any external forces' interference and secessionist attempts for "Taiwan independence" , said the spokesperson.
With the weather warming up and outdoor dining and drinking back on track, there's no better time to check out one of Connecticut's rooftop bars.

Treehouse at Oyster Club Mystic Treehouse at Oyster Club in Mystic, Conn. Catherine Dzilenski/ Idlewild Photo Co. The treehouse-style rooftop bar atop Oyster Club is a popular summertime destination for oysters and cocktails, in addition to dishes from the locally-driven, sea-to-table menu in the downstairs dining room. 13 Water St., Mystic 860-415-9266

SoNo Sky Rooftop Norwalk SoNo Sky Rooftop opened on August 9, 2019 at the new Residence Inn by Marriott on Main Street in Norwalk. To celebrate opening weekend, the bar offered half-price beer, wine, and cocktails Friday and Saturday. SoNo Sky Rooftop The SoNo Sky Rooftop is a cocktail bar atop the Residence Inn by Marriott that overlooks South Norwalk. 41 S Main St, Norwalk (203) 229-1234)

High George at the Blake Hotel New Haven A finished view of High George, released Monday. The Blake / Contributed photo High George at the Blake Hotel is a three-season destination rooftop space atop the Blake Hotel that overlooks the city skyline. 9 High St., New Haven 203-390-5192

Rooftop120 Glastonbury Rooftop120 in Glastonbury. Rooftop120 The four-season rooftop patio offers specialty cocktails, shareable plates and bar fare, flatbreads, tacos and sandwiches. 120 Hebron Ave., Glastonbury 860-430-9989



Mix at Sift Bake Shop Mystic Mix at Sift Bake Shop in Mystic. Winter Caplanson Sift Bake Shop added a rooftop bar to its space two summers ago, introducing savory small plates, stylish desserts and pastry-inspired cocktails along with beer and wine. 5 Water St., Mystic 860-245-0541

Sign of the Whale Stamford As part of its grand opening weekend, Sign of the Whale held a VIP reception and charity event Friday, August 15, 2014 at its new Stamford location. The roof-top bar opened on Harbor Point Road on Thursday, August 14, 2014. Proceeds from Friday's event went to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation. Were you SEEN at Sign of the Whale on Friday, August 15? Michelle Russo / Hearst Connecticut Media Group The rooftop bar is now fully open. 6 Harbor Point Rd, Stamford (203) 883-8282

Fortina Stamford After work crowds gathered on the rooftop of Fortina, a restaurant at 120 Washington Blvd., in Stamford, Conn., that is popular with many millenials who live and work in the area. Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media The "Fortina Yacht Club" is the rooftop bar that offers a limited food menu of burgers, lobster rolls and pizza slices. 120 Washington Blvd, Stamford (203) 703-9080

Evaritos Mexican Kitchen & Bar Norwalk Evaritos Mexican Kitchen & Bar in Norwalk Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media Evaritos Bar Zorro rooftop menu features unique margaritas, cocktails and frozen drinks, raw bar, tacos and tostadas. 16 North Main St., South Norwalk 203-939-1620

Vesta Rooftop Bethel La Zingara Ristorante in Bethel. Because of COVID restrictions La Zingara has reduced the amount of seating in the restaurant. Governor Ned Lamont recently announced plans to ease those restrictions., Bethel, Conn. Friday, March 5. 2021. H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media Formerly called Ecco, brick oven pizza and farm-to-table food are served on the roof of La Zingara. 8 P T Barnum Square, Bethel, CT 06801 (203) 744-7500

Cava Restaurant Southington A wreath hangs from a wall in what has been transformed into the Queen of Hearts Room of Cava Restaurant in Southington. Arnold Gold Cava  known for its elaborate Christmas decorations and themed displays like its recent Harry Potter room  introduced a Mediterranean-inspired outdoor bar atop its roof four years ago. 1615 West St., Southington 860-628-2282

Elm City Social New Haven Pat Williams, general manager of Elm City Social, is photographed in the restaurant on College Street in New Haven on March 10, 2020. The New Haven St. Patrick's Day Parade has been postponed because of concerns about the coronavirus. Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media The restaurant features artisanal cocktails that are served on a rooftop patio. 266 College St, New Haven (475) 441-7436,

The Elbow Room West Hartford The Elbow Room Google Maps The Elbow Room, with casual fare (bar snacks, flatbreads and burgers), draft beer and cocktails, has an enviable rooftop perch overlooking West Hartford Center. 986 Farmington Ave, West Hartford (860) 236-6195
For school veterans  the teachers, administrators, police and parents who have been around at least long enough to remember the Dec. 14, 2012, shootings that killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Newtowns Sandy Hook Elementary School  the chilling conversations were having now are all too familiar.

Even more chilling is the fact that were still having them nearly a decade later  and a full 23 years after the April 20, 1999, massacre that killed 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Even those too young to remember Sandy Hook, or who werent in positions of school responsibility or leadership back then, were struggling Wednesday to wrap their heads around a shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

How do you teach about all that to sixth-graders? To fourth-graders?

Do you teach it at all to even younger children?

I am having a flash back to Sandy Hook in Newtown, CT situation, over 10 years ago when so many children were senselessly slaughtered, wrote New Haven Superintendent of Schools Illine Tracey in a morning email to the school district community. Now, to hear of the same carnage in a Texas elementary school caused my heart to sink.

I can just imagine the excruciating pain of the families and community, Tracey wrote. The sense of loss must be unbearable. People die daily, but when things like this happen, especially to children and staff in the manner in which it occurs, is painful and we are left to ask why.

Beyond that, As a mother, there is a certain feeling in my gut, she wrote.

Then, not too long ago 10 black folks were senselessly murdered in a (Buffalo, N.Y.) supermarket, Tracey wrote. What is happening in our world? Should we continue to be angry and hateful? This type of thing, if it is not severe mental health, is coming from a place of hate and anger and is just ... evil. We are not safe anywhere, not even in church.

Please let us keep hope, love one another, and be kind and compassionate, Tracey said.

For DaJohn Jett, who teaches sixth grade at New Havens Augusta Lewis Troup School, the Texas shooting was the big topic of conversation today at school, he said Wednesday afternoon.

Jett, 30, who grew up in Hamden and now lives in Meriden, is old enough to remember Sandy Hook but was not teaching then. He was managing group homes in Wallingford.

I remember it coming over the radio, he said. I couldnt even believe that it was here ... in Connecticut  and I definitely didnt think that it was in an elementary school.

He once was hopeful that positive change would have come out of Sandy Hook, but said that with each shooting, I lose hope.

If nothing would happen after innocent 5- and 6-year-olds were killed, nothing could ever happen to cause change, Jett said, although he said he hopes that with the latest shooting taking place in Texas, perhaps it might change some peoples minds.

While there have been a number of school shootings in the years since Newtown, Tuesdays news didnt feel the same.

In part, thats because it felt like almost a carbon copy of Sandy Hook, Jett said.

It was a little different this morning  I think more so for the teachers, he said. It was heavy on our hearts this morning. Both sixth-grade classes met together, led by the other teacher. I didnt think that many of the kids would have known what went on. But surprisingly, a lot of the kids were aware.

At one point, the teachers asked, How many of you have a sibling whos in second, third or fourth grades, and many did, Jett said. Thats when the tone changed  they started to realize that that could have been my brother or sister.

Why does it keep happening? I think the big piece of it is the access  the fact that you have states now where you dont even need a permit, Jett said. Its no problem buying a gun that you dont even need unless youre going to kill someone.

Troup first-grade teacher Kristina Crivellone said that as a teacher  and especially as a teacher where tragedy like this has already hit so close to home (Sandy Hook)  its impossible not to feel this to your core. You cannot detach from it, emotionally. Because you cant help but to process it as something that could be happening to you  your school, your kids, your families. It haunts you.

I dont know what the right way is to go about it, but we have to do better with mental health for our students, Crivellone said. It has to be something thats happening constantly  proactively. It cant just be services in place for those identified or visibly struggling. Too much is falling through the cracks.

Many officials also are parents who couldnt help but think about the unimaginable when they heard the news.

Last night, I hugged my two kids a little tighter, said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker in a statement released by his office. This morning, I gave them an extra kiss before sending them off to school.

There are at least 19 children in Uvalde, Texas whose parents cant hug or kiss them anymore, Elicker wrote. We also lost two adults and there are more in the hospital still who are in the fight of their lives. How many more must die in our schools, in our supermarkets and in our streets before the U.S. Congress acts to help address this carnage?

Cities and states can only do so much, Elicker said. This is a national crisis and it demands a national response. Enough is enough.

Locally, the New Haven Police Department is in contact with our state and federal intelligence partners, and out of an abundance of caution we are increasing the police presence at our schools, Elicker said.

West Haven Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro has seen a lot of things in his 36 years as an educator. But at some point, he does the only thing he can with the TV in his office as detail after detail and special report after special report scroll by.

I turn it off, Cavallaro said in a phone call. I cant watch it all day.

Cavallaro spoke with police Sgt. Patrick Buturla, who supervises West Havens school resource officers, and were increasing our presence in the schools, Cavallaro said. We are putting a letter out reassuring parents that were prepared to discuss the incident if students want or need to. But depending on the age, it is not something that were definitely bringing up  not to first-grade students, for example.

As a superintendent, honestly, I think about this stuff all the time, Cavallaro said. It weighs on you  like what can we do to make the schools safe?

West Haven has continued to tighten its schools over the years. Up until three or four years ago, we never had security guards at our elementary schools, but now, we have two security officers at our elementary schools, Cavallaro said. We have metal detectors at Bailey (Middle School) and West Haven High School. We use them for most of our extracurricular events. Would like to increase the number of our school resource officers.

Things have changed dramatically over the years, Cavallaro said. But at the end of the day, if somebody wants to do something, these are difficult things to stop from happening.

Buturla, who also is the WHPDs public information officer, said theres no words for what happened in Texas Tuesday, but its an eye-opener. It can happen anywhere.

Tuesdays latest school mass shooting is just a reminder to us ... do our regular training. Things are ever-changing in this world, so we adapt to the most recent events, he said. This isnt going to change our training at this time.

But as the one overseeing the school resource officers, You want to make sure, especially as a supervisor, that the people who work for you and the people youre supposed to keep safe ... that youre doing everything you can. ... I think that these types of moments remind you why we train so hard, why we have to maintain readiness.

East Haven Superintendent of Schools Erica Forti and Hamden Superintendent of Schools Jody Goeler also reached out to their respective communities Wednesday.

Forti said she was saddened and disheartened by the tragic school shooting that occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. This horrific event understandably leaves students, staff, and families with many questions and concerns about the safety of schools in our country.

Please know that we are and will continue to make every effort to ensure our students have the support and resources they need as they process what has occurred, Forti wrote. Our social workers, school psychologists, and guidance counselors stand by ready to support our students in any capacity necessary.

In addition, East Haven police are monitoring school campuses during their daily routine patrol and we are working closely with Police Chief Lennon, our school resources officers, security guards, principals, and staff to keep the safety of our schools as a top priority, she wrote. Together, let us find comfort in our school communitys strength, resilience, and commitment to being there for each other at this trying time.

The East Haven Police Department said in a Facebook post, Let us pray for the victims of yesterdays mass shooting tragedy. Senseless violence perpetrated by people who want to hurt as many innocent people as possible is one of the biggest threats to our country. There are many different views surrounding the issue but one thing is for sure; we want our children to feel safe and secure at school.

We are proud of the open, positive dialogue we have with our school system and consistently meet with teachers and administrators to develop best practices in an attempt to stay prepared for the worst, the statement continued. We will continue this dialogue and encourage parents to join the conversation too.

Parents / Guardians: If you observe distant behavior, dark behavior, revenge fantasies, or any other behavior that concerns you, do not overlook it, the EHPD cautioned. You can prevent a possible tragedy before it happens. You are the first line of defense.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
HARTFORD  A somber Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday joined a survivor of the Sandy Hook School shooting, gun-safety advocates, members of Congress and state lawmakers in calling for long-delayed national gun-safety legislation in the wake of the Texas school massacre.

Lamont, whose efforts to further expand Connecticut gun-control measures were thwarted during the recently completed session of the General Assembly, stopped short of calling for a special order to bring state lawmakers back to the Capitol this year, but said he is contemplating the possible strategy.

Id like to think that we could have done a better job in Connecticut, Lamont said. Especially when it comes to those ghost guns, which are either hand-made or purchased with untraceable parts. If we cant outlaw that, were in trouble.

Asked directly whether he would for call a special legislative session, the governor said Im not there yet. Let me think about that. Maybe the world has changed. Let me talk to a couple of the legislators.

State Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, co-chairman of the legislative Judiciary Committee, told reporters on Wednesday that Lamonts proposal to limit the monthly purchase of guns and put further restrictions on so-called ghost guns failed during the recent short, three-month session amid promises of Republican promises to eat up the calendar through prolonged debate.

It was made abundantly clear very early in the session that there was almost no Republican support for those proposals and that they were going to be filibustered, Stafstrom said, following the news conference. We had a public hearing on those bills that lasted until 2 in the morning. Literally certain members of the Republican Party filibustered a public hearing on those bills, let alone actually bringing them to a vote. In a short legislative session, there simply wasnt the ability to get it done.

The problem even in Connecticut the issue of gun-safety legislation has become more partisan over the last few years, Stafstrom said.

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, in a statement Wednesday said that major gun-safety legislation won bipartisan support in recent years, including a 2019 law named in honor of Ethan Song of Guilford, who accidentally shot himself to death in an acquaintances house.

Over the last decade members of our General Assembly have worked in a bipartisan fashion to strengthen safety in our schools, implement gun storage regulations such as Ethan's Law, adopt legislation focused on mental health and most recently children's mental health, and to enable municipalities to use qualified retired police officers to serve as security guards in school districts, Candelora said in a statement. The essence of our processthat members of our legislature talk to one anotheris something I think members of Congress can learn from as they examine the totality of the truly evil acts committed in Texas.

Lamont stressed at the news conference that the nation would be a lot safer if Connecticuts bipartisan 2013 law adopted after the Newtown slaughter, were expanded nationally. Connecticut already mandates background checks for gun buyers in the state, has banned military-style weapons, introduced new requirements for gun storage and has a red flag law.

I look at these crimes, I look at these mass shootings, and theyre somewhat uniquely American, which is tragic, Lamont said on the State Capitols north steps. I love America, but this should not be our curse. He noted the similarities in the shootings in Newtown, with its upcoming 10th anniversary in December, and Uvalde, Texas.

Lieutenant Gov. Susan Bysiewicz recited each name of the 20 first graders and six adults killed in Newtown. Then Mary Ann Jacob, who was a library aide at Sandy Hook Elementary School, relived the terror of that December morning.

How can we still be having the same conversation about access to guns? Jacob asked. I was huddled in a closet with 18 9-year-olds and three of my colleagues that day when gunfire shattered the peace of Sandy Hook School, Yesterday, I was right back in that closet, remembering the fear and horror we experienced trying to be brave to the kids we were with, while we were more frightened than wed ever been in our lives. We had no idea at that time that we would become the single worst mass shooting in modern history.

She said that other survivors of the shooting rallied together to help the Sandy Hook school community back then and over the ensuing years.

How many more kids have to die in our schools before our federal lawmakers will act? Jacob said. We all deserve to be safe in school, at the grocery store, at our place of work, and in our neighborhoods, no matter our race, immigration status or zip code.

Po Murray, chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance, said gun-safety advocates have been begging for action for 10 years, as Republicans in the U.S. Senate have blocked legislation that would create universal background checks; prohibit military-style rifles; mandated safe storage and other bills.

Its time for Congress to take action, Murray said. Until members of Congress fear voters more than the gun lobby, they wont act. There are numerous organizations here and nationally and you can contact Congress right now.

Other countries have mental health issues, said U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, whose 5th Congressional District includes Newtown. Other countries have gun violence issues. But other countries act decisively at the moment where anything happens and ensures that it never happens again.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  A week after U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost his primary election, a federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a trial judge's decision that had blocked North Carolina's elections board from examining whether he should be disqualified from running for reelection.

A panel of judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling from District Judge Richard Myers, who had determined that a section of the 14th Amendment addressing insurrection and serving in Congress didn't apply to Cawthorn. Voters who filed a formal challenge to Cawthorn's candidacy pointed to how the first-term Republican spoke at the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Cawthorn denies participating in an insurrection.

The decision lost some urgency, however, because Cawthorn lost his May 17 primary in the 11th Congressional District to state Sen. Chuck Edwards. The court ruled even after Cawthorn's attorney suggested last Friday the appeal was moot because election officials would certify the primary result in early June, meaning his name will not appear on the November general election ballot.

In an opinion footnote, Circuit Judge Toby Heytens wrote the rulings were filed anyway because the results aren't yet official, leaving to Myers any decision on whether to dismiss the case. Tuesday's ruling, however, could inform how other challenges are handled by states in the future. Similar challenges have been filed against members of Congress in other states who have been strong supporters of former President Donald Trump, including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group that assisted with the Cawthorn challenge, called Tuesday's decision a major victory. A spokesperson for Cawthorn didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The North Carolina voters who filed the challenge cited the section that declared no one can serve in Congress who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same. The amendment, ratified three years after the Civil War ended to deal with ex-Confederates, does allow Congress to pass laws that can remove such restrictions.

Writing the prevailing opinion among the three judges, Heytens wrote that Myers got it wrong in March when he wrote that an 1872 law that removed office-holding disqualifications from most ex-Confederates also exempted current members of Congress like Cawthorn.

Arguments that since the law removed office-holding disqualifications from all persons whomsoever meant it applies to future legislators were misplaced, according to Heytens. The circuit judge said the past-tense language clearly meant it applied to those whose constitutionally wrongful acts occurred before its enactment.

Given that the 1872 law still prevented top Confederate officials like its former president Jefferson Davis from serving again, Heytens wrote, the notion that the 1872 Congress simultaneously deemed any future Davis worthy of categorical advance forgiveness seems quite a stretch.

Still, the judges express no opinion about whether Representative Cawthorn in fact engaged in insurrection or rebellion or is otherwise qualified to serve in Congress, Heytens added.

James Bopp, an attorney for Cawthorn, argued before the panel on May 3 in Richmond, Virginia, that the Constitution leaves the decision on whether someone is disqualified to serve in the U.S. House with the elected body itself  not the states. While Heytens wrote that the also panel didn't rule on whether the Constitution gives Congress that responsibility, his colleagues weighed in.

Circuit Judge Jim Wynn wrote that the Constitution does give states broad powers to regulate candidates and ballot access. Circuit Judge Julius Richardson said Myers' court lacked jurisdiction to handle the case to begin with, saying determining a House member's qualification is a "privilege and duty given only to the House itself.

Free Speech for People also helped file the challenge against Greene, who was on Tuesday's primary ballot in Georgia. While a federal district judge allowed the challenge there to continue, a state administrative law judge found that they did not present sufficient evidence to back their claims that she had engaged in insurrection. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger accepted those findings and said Greene was qualified to run. An appeal is pending.

The appeals court also agreed that Myers should have allowed at least one voter filing the candidacy challenge to intervene in the lawsuit, which was actually filed by Cawthorn against the State Board of Elections.

__

Associated Press writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Mary Ann Jacob recalled being huddled in a closet with 18 children and three other staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown nearly 10 years ago as a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six staff members in a hail of bullets that stunned Connecticut and the nation.

Yesterday, I was right back in that closet, Jacob told a crowd Wednesday during a news conference seeking more federal legislation to prevent further mass shootings like Sandy Hook and the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 elementary school students and two staff members were killed.

The Texas shootings are reverberating through schools in Connecticut, leaving teachers and staff again fearful of returning to work much like the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy, according to officials with the Connecticut Education Association, the states largest teachers union.

This brings back a terrible remembrance of Sandy Hook in schools throughout the state, said Donald Williams, the unions executive director. Williams said his organization was looking to provide more mental health support for teachers and students as the state legislature recently recognized that schools need more social workers and clinical staff.

But Joslyn DeLancey, vice president of the union, said its still too early to tell which districts may need help and staff members need more resources on how to discuss tragic events with students in an age-appropriate way.

Its hard, Im not going to sugarcoat it, said DeLancy, a Darien fifth-grade teacher who is on a leave of absence. A significant number of educators had to talk themselves into going to work today, just as you had a significant number of parents who didnt want to say goodbye to their children.

The magnitude of Tuesdays shootings committed by a lone male teen with an AR-15 in light of the Sandy Hook tragedy can seem like the world is on fire, said Dr. Javeed Sukhera, chair of Psychiatry for Hartford HealthCares Institute of Living.

But it also provides an opportunity for educators and others to show their humanity and help students by allowing them to experience their feelings, Sukhera said. While every feeling wont have a fix, Sukhera said, allowing children and staff to acknowledge their concerns will help children process their fears.

Teachers cant pretend like they arent being affected by the this and not lean into their humanness, he said. They need to allow children to express their concerns and feelings and be role models.

The Institute of Living is often called on to provide support and advice to school officials dealing with tragedies, Sukhera said. Since the impact of the shooting is still unfolding throughout Connecticut, no school districts have yet requested help, he said. We are prepared to provide educators and administrators the support they need, he said.

Dr. Andre Newfield, chair of psychiatry at St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport, said mass shootings like Uvalde have enduring effects on their communities and survivors, who may develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

Theres no greater violence than perpetration of violence against children, and when theres a mass murder of children all in one place in a sacred institution like a school, it doesnt matter how big or small or strong or weak a community is, theyre going to have a major reckoning to deal with, he said.

Newfield recommended that parents of young children in Connecticut think carefully about how, or whether, they discuss the shooting.

For the younger kids who dont have access to this firsthand, I dont think you discuss this, he said. I wouldnt want to instill fear in my children in going to school and having to think about, is there a shooter hiding around the corner? Theres just no way they could possibly process that.

If children ask, Newfield said, parents can emphasize the rarity of school shootings and reassure them that school remains a safe place.

While mass shootings at schools are rare  one estimate claims that in 40 years there has been 19 mass school shootings, meaning three or more people were killed in addition to the gunman  state officials asked local superintendents to review their safety and security plans and to contact the states Mobile Crisis system through 211 if teachers or students have difficulty dealing with the Uvalde shootings.

The state Department of Education has contacted the Connecticut Intelligence Center and the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to monitor safety issues and provide support to districts, CSDE Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker said in the letter to superintendents issued Wednesday.

As the academic year draws to a close, we want to make sure that those who might need help coping with this traumatic event find the assistance they need, Russell-Tucker said.

The letter also provided links to national materials on how to explain traumatic events to children and state and resources on trauma, violence and grief in the aftermath of mass shootings.

But theres more work to do, including considering federal gun legislation, DeLancey said.

Were at a loss that something like this could happen again, she said.

Teachers need to feel safe in their jobs so they can make students feel safe, DeLancey added.

We had teachers who were at Sandy Hook and now work in other districts going to school today remembering that moment of that day, she said.

The state also needs to make it easier for children, their parents and educators to get help before a tragedy occurs, she said. We need our schools to feel safe and joyful, DeLancey said. I cant say that they feel that way now and that is just devastating.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Mary Ann Jacobs name.

Staff writer Alex Putterman contributed to this story.
NEW HAVEN  The city school district will pay nearly all full- and part-time staff a financial incentive to stay in the district, or come work there.

All current full-time employees  except for Superintendent of Schools Iline Tracey and eight other top district administrators  will get $1,000 in their last paycheck in June as long as they were working in the district as of May 1.

Part-timers will get $500 in their last paycheck of the academic year if they were with the district as of May 1.

The same incentive will be awarded a second time, in June 2023, for all employees who still are working in the district as of Jan. 1, 2023.

The district employs about 3,200 full-timers and 800 part-timers. The price tag over two years will amount to $7.2 million, which will come out of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.

Awarded to help schools combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal grant cant be used for salaries, but can be used to both retain and recruit staff.

Tracey said the plan has been approved by the state Department of Education.

We have been listening to our state and following what has been happening across the state of Connecticut, Tracey said. Staff members have been working hard through the pandemic  helping the district continue to float and not sink.

The only district employees who will not get the bonus  in addition to Tracey  are her four assistant superintendents, chief of staff, chief financial officer, chief of operations and director of communications, according to Justin Harmon, the districts spokesman.

The plan won unanimous support from the Board of Education this week. It comes on the heels of similar incentives being doled out in Hartford, Bridgeport, Stamford and other school districts that are trying to retain staff during a national staffing storage.

New Haven Public Schools, which normally has a turnover rate of about 150 teachers each year, will surpass that this year, officials said. Administrative turnover and retirements also have been constant.

Teacher Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, said her members certainly welcome the ESSER bonus.

The last two years have been some of the most challenging of our careers and the recognition of the stress weve experienced means a great deal to us, Blatteau said in an email.

In addition to the bonuses, Blatteau said the district needs to deliver substantial raises for educators in the coming years and give them a seat at the table when it comes to decision-making.

We were some of the few (New Haven Public School) employees to take a pay freeze during this pandemic, Blatteau said. And too many neighboring districts are making competitive offers to teachers that we cant refuse.

Board member Darnell Goldson, who fought hard last year to raise the minimum wage for part-time staff, praised the incentive plan.

I wish it was more, Goldson said. He added that he liked that it is coming from a federal grant and not local tax money.

Board Vice Chair Matt Wilcox called the funding source important to point out, particularly as the district is still nursing a deficit in its general fund for the current fiscal year.

I do support this, Wilcox said. I am happy to do this. ... This is a big chunk of money.
Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

NEW HAVEN  The city and its veterans organizations will hold two Memorial Day wreath-laying ceremonies this Sunday, organizers said.

New Haven and area residents are invited to attend two traditional wreath-laying ceremonies and programs, VFW New Haven Post 12150 and American Legion New Haven Post 210 said in a Facebook post.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Paul J. Becker, University of Dayton and Art Jipson, University of Dayton

(THE CONVERSATION) The recent grocery store mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, is placing a spotlight on white supremacy.

Eighteen-year-old Payton Gendron drove three hours from his home in Conklin, New York, to the Tops grocery store on May 14, 2022, and shot 13 people  most of them Black  killing 10 shoppers. Gendrons gun had racist expletives written on it, and his 180-page online manifesto also repeated key elements of replacement theory.

This conspiracy theory, with roots in French nationalism of the 20th century, falsely warns that Western elites and Jews are bringing immigrants into a country to replace white people.

Since the shooting, several Republican politicians and commentators have used language that echoes this idea.

For example, Missouri Senate candidate Eric Schmitt, the state attorney general, said in May that Democrats are fundamentally trying to change this country through illegal immigration.

As scholars of white supremacy, white nationalism and extremism, we think it is important to understand what replacement theory means and how it shapes various white supremacist conspiracies, which motivate violent extremism.

Our research shows that this once-fringe theory has been gaining traction in the U.S. over the past few decades. It is necessary to understand the various elements that lead people to commit domestic violent extremism in order to stop it from happening. Here are three key points about replacement theory to keep in mind.

What is replacement theory?

Those who believe in replacement theory think there is an organized, conspiratorial effort across all levels of society to establish a great replacement of white people, white civilization and white culture.

For those who accept this false idea, the threat poses an existential danger to white identity and society.

Four out of 10 Americans identify as nonwhite, and the numbers of white people in the U.S. are expected to continue to decline, according to U.S. Census projections.

That ultimately means less influence and power over time for white people. Replacement theory believers think that they must correct the declining influence of white voters and white identity through whatever means they can.

One key element of replacement theory targets immigrants, and the belief that immigrants are part of a plot to replace the political power and culture of white people living in Western countries.

But the theory isnt just about immigrants. Like the rest of white supremacist ideology, replacement theory also extends to Jewish people and Black people, seeing them as inferior and a threat to white people. The Buffalo shooter targeted victims in a predominantly Black neighborhood, and because they were Black.

Whats the history of replacement theory?

Replacement theory traces back to the early 20th-century writings of French nationalist Maurice Barres, who warned of a new population of immigrants that would take over and ruin our homeland.

The idea of a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world was articulated in the antisemitic document The Protocols of Elders of Zion, first published in 1903 in Russia, and then moving west into Europe and the U.S. Replacement theory also guided the Nazis genocide of 6 million Jewish people during World War II.

In the 1960s and 1970s, many American white supremacists, like Klu Klux Klan leader Thomas Robb, reiterated replacement ideas in their racist political advocacy. White supremacists generally believe white people are superior to all other people.

In the 1980s, Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke, white supremacist Don Black and others centered conversations about replacement theory in the U.S. on immigration and the idea that immigrants will reshuffle demographics, eventually replacing white people.

Throughout the 1990s, racist skinhead groups and the growing online networks of white supremacists also promoted variations of the replacement theory to justify their politics and violence.

Around this time, the internet became a main forum for recruiting more white supremacists. And one of the common ideologies shared across online groups and forums was a replacement narrative  now closely tied to immigration.

Many white supremacist and nationalist groups and leaders in the U.S. continue to embrace replacement narratives. This conspiracy theory has become a standard element of white nationalism that motivates violence in the U.S. and across the globe. A shooter who killed at least 50 Muslim people at mosques in New Zealand in 2019, for example, wrote about an alleged assault on European people.

Is this now gaining popularity in the U.S.?

Conspiracy narratives, like the replacement theory, often find fertile ground during a period of cultural change.

As the U.S. population becomes more diverse, replacement narratives have moved from the margins of extremism into the mainstream.

A May 2022 Associated Press public poll found that about 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. believes an effort is underway to replace U.S.-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gains.

The Buffalo shooting is only the latest deadly incident in which a violent perpetrator was motivated by the replacement theory  and it is unlikely to be the last. The shooters decision to livestream his rampage could motivate other extremists to hurt others, some experts say.

The violent extremist who attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 targeted Jewish people and killed 11. The shooter in the attacks at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 wanted to target Hispanic people, and killed 23.

The replacement theory also featured during a white supremacist Unite the Right rally in August 2017, when hundreds of white nationalists protested the removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia. They marched and chanted, You will not replace us and Jews will not replace us. A 21-year-old white supremacist also drove his car through a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/replacement-theory-isnt-new-3-things-to-know-about-how-this-once-fringe-conspiracy-has-become-more-mainstream-183492.
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ATLANTA (AP)  President Joe Biden and three former presidents paid tribute Wednesday to late Veterans Administration chief and U.S. senator Max Cleland, who lost limbs while serving in Vietnam.

Biden called Cleland a hero who exemplified the best of the American spirit.

Former President Barack Obama said Cleland was someone who defied impossible odds to become one of our nations finest public servants.

Max wore the physical and emotional scars of war, but he never lost his drive to do right by the people of Georgia and Americans everywhere, Obama said.

Obama, Biden and former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were not present, but sent letters that were read by Carters grandson, Jason Carter.

Cleland died of congestive heart failure in November at the age of 79, but his memorial service was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cleland was a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam when he lost his right arm and two legs while picking up a fallen grenade in 1968. He blamed himself for decades, until he learned that another soldier had dropped it. He also spent many months in hospitals that were ill-equipped to help so many wounded soldiers.

Speakers at the Atlanta church recalled how Cleland struggled to get up each morning and dress, but still remained buoyant and jovial.

He was a man defined not by what had happened in his life, but he was defined by courage and maybe even more than that by one principle: to make a better world," former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said. He lived that everyday. Yes, he had his demons but he dealt with them in a positive, inspirational way that set a model for all of us.

Hagel, a Republican, said Cleland's example was especially important today amid the country's political polarization. Cleland was a Democrat.

Because he never let that division or polarization ever affect his personal relationships, his love of his country, his love of his friends and brothers, Republican or Democrat, Hagel said.

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and fellow Vietnam veteran John Kerry also sent a written tribute in lieu of attending in person.

Kerry said Cleland came to Iowa in 2003 during Kerry's presidential run and lifted up his flagging campaign staff, telling them if they didn't go out and knock on doors in the three-foot snow drifts he would do it himself.

And he told them, If you see my wheelchair tracks in the snow and they stop, start digging, Kerry said.

Other men would not have recovered from the tragedy Cleland suffered in Vietnam, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes said. He called Cleland a force of nature.

His disabilities became his strengths. His struggles became our inspiration, Barnes said. After all these years, Im still amazed at his sacrifice and service, and I was always humbled to be in his presence.

Fellow veterans cheered when Carter appointed Cleland to lead the Veterans Administration, a post he held from 1977 to 1981. The VA and the wider medical community recognized post-traumatic stress disorder  what had previously been dismissed as shell shock  as a genuine condition while Cleland was in charge, and he worked to provide veterans and their families with better care.

Cleland left Washington after Carter lost reelection, and in 1982 was elected Georgias Secretary of State, a post he held for a dozen years. Then he won the Senate seat of the retiring Sam Nunn.

Historian Douglas Brinkley, a friend of Cleland's, said Cleland never forgot a single Vietnam vet his entire life.

"He wanted to know their back stories, who they dated, how their lives were changed, where they were getting their medical treatment, Brinkley said.

Brinkley called on the veterans administration to honor Cleland with a memorial in Washington.
When it comes to Israel, The Associated Press reporting is propaganda rather than news, and the coverage of the killing of Palestinian reporter Shireen Abu Akleh is a classic example of this anti-Semitic pattern (May 12). The reports information is based almost entirely on stories by Al Jazeera reporters who are Palestinian advocates and who are notorious for spreading not only misinformation but outright lies. Regrettable as her death may be, reporter Akleh was one of them, despite APs efforts to virtually sanctify her in this article. She was a Palestinian propagandist whose coffin was draped with a Palestinian flag and whose mourners chanted Islamist slogans about shedding blood.

Whether she was killed by an Israeli or a Palestinian bullet is unknown because the Palestinian Authority has refused to allow Israeli scientists to examine the bullet, and has furthermore refused to participate in a joint and impartial Israeli-Palestinian-U.S. investigation. None of these inconvenient facts were in the AP article.
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GUILFORD  The Guilford Green will be filled with the sounds of children at play during the 2022 Little Folks Fair.

The Little Folks Fair is scheduled for Saturday, June 4 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Guilford Green, rain or shine. With donkey rides, inflatables, games, train rides, food, live entertainment and a magician, children of all ages are welcome for a day of fun.

Since 1956, the Community Nursery School (CNS) has hosted the Little Folks Fair as the main fundraising event for the cooperative nursery school. Parents organize, create and run the day-long event.

When you look back at pictures from decades and decades ago it does not look that much different, which I think is wonderful, said Rachel Daniels, director of Community Nursery School.

The fair has been on hiatus over the last two years, due to COVID.

Daniels talked about bringing the event back to the community.

Its so exciting because the fair has been a Guilford tradition for a really long time and it was really apparent last year when we didnt have it  the impact that this event on the school and the community, she said.

Its like a bonding experience for our current families working together to put this event on, she added. Its a really sizeable event. It is a ton of fun, it is a lot of work and there is just a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.

Jessica Herrington remembers going to the fair as a community member, prior to joining the school as a parent.

I liked the idea of being part of a school that had a co-op program, where parents could be involved, said the board member and parent.

I couldnt believe that all of the parents at CNS participated in organizing and running the fair and I wanted to be part of something like that, she said.

This year, Harrington will be working in the headquarters tent, helping to share information about the school for prospective families and students.

The fair is the schools biggest fundraiser, raising about $10,000 for financial aid and special programs for the school.

Daniels said the need for financial aid has never been greater because so many families have been impacted financially over the last couple of years.

Daniels is excited to have the fair return to the green this year.

Its special, sort of in its simplicity, she said.  Its just a day to celebrate the school and the community and for kids to have a good day with their family.

Tickets are children (over 2 years old) $3 and adults, $4. Visit https://www.guilfordcns.org/littlefolksfair for discounted presale tickets.

Community Nursery School is at 262 Sachems Head Road, Guilford, phone: 203-453 5500; email: guilfordcns@gmail.com; website: mguilfordcns.org.
Apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has expressed outrage over the gruesome killing of a Northern woman, alongside her fo...





Apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has expressed outrage over the gruesome killing of a Northern woman, alongside her four children in Anambra State.





It was reported that in the latest orgy of violence in Anambra State, the woman and her children were murdered by unknown gunmen.





Reacting through a statement made available to newsmen by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, OYC, the group said it was heartbreaking to learn of the unprovoked killing of the woman and the innocent children.





While describing it as unjustifiable, the OYC President-General, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike said it was barbaric and satanic to kill a woman and her children in such a manner.





Okwu, who wondered the crime they committed, noted that even in war situations, women and children are spared. There is, therefore, no justification for the brutal murder of the woman and her children.





We are saying for the umpteenth time that what is happening in Anambra State is an ill wind that would blow no one any good. Whoever is behind the dastardly killing and mindless maiming going on in Anambra State should cease henceforth. There is no issue that cannot be ironed out in a round table.





Our people are not known to be cannibals and this is why we are still deeply amazed over what is taking place in Anambra State. The sanctity of human lives must be respected and preserved.





Ndigbo also sympathize with the family of the deceased and urge the Northerners not to engage in any form of retaliation as it would mean playing into the hands of those who want to set the country ablaze.





He, however, urged Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State to employ tact in handling the security situation in the State, stressing that, this is not a time to talk tough but to go into the inner chambers and talk to the right people.
Mai Mala Buni, Yobe governor, says Rotimi Amaechi, presidential hopeful, will ensure the continuity of the good that Nigerians currently enj...

Mai Mala Buni, Yobe governor, says Rotimi Amaechi, presidential hopeful, will ensure the continuity of the good that Nigerians currently enjoy.

Speaking when he hosted Amaechi at the government house in Yobe on Monday, Buni said countries that have advanced got to where they are because of the continuity of policy and programmes.

The governor said the presidential hopeful has the support of the All Progressives Congress (APC) delegates in Yobe.

We need continuity and consolidation with innovation to ensure that what we are enjoying today as a nation would at least continue, because we cannot afford to start afresh, we cannot afford to risk having a new hand, he said.

Your Excellency, you will agree with me that most of the developed nations were developed as a result of continuity of policy and programmes, an unbroken chain of leadership. In Nigeria, a two-time Director General of a Presidential campaign and one of the most trusted and active members of cabinet, who has always been there for Mr. President to kickstart everything that will move the nation forward because all the campaign promises are on his fingertips, is fit.

Like I said earlier, ordinarily you shouldnt have come. You know we granted a waiver to President Buhari in 2015 not to come, so we would have granted same to you, but as customary, you are here to interface with the delegates without taking the delegates for granted.

Let me use this opportunity to thank you for the newly designed railway line which you took to my house.

The design for the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line that goes up to Goneri, from where we turn into Damaturu, and from Damaturu to Gashua, and all the other areas you have touched. The history of the Buhari government cannot be complete without your name. We, here in Yobe appreciate you and we are always in support of you.

On his part, Shehu Hashimi, Emir of Damaturu, said based on Amaechis track record, he would deliver good governance if elected president.

I know much about you, I know the experience you have and the challenges you have gone through, the Emir said.

With your track record, when you become the president, you will deliver as expected. I pray that you will be supported by Nigerians to be the president of this country.
Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra and presidential hopeful, has resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He disc...

Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra and presidential hopeful, has resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He disclosed his intention to resign in a letter addressed to the party.

The former governors decision to leave the PDP comes days before the partys presidential primary is scheduled to hold.

In the letter dated May 24, 2022, and addressed to the PDP national chairman, Obi said recent developments in the party do not support constructive contributions.

I am writing to intimate you of my resignation from the Peoples Denocratic Party (PDP), which was conveyed to the Chairman of Agulu Ward 2, Anaocha LGA, Anambra, effective Friday 20 May, 2022, the letter reads.

Consequently, I am by this letter informing you of my withdrawal for the PDP Presidential Primaries.

It has been a great honour to contribute to nation-building efforts through our party. Unfortunately, recent developments within our party make it practically impossible to continue participating and making such constructive contributions.

Our national challenges are deep-seated and require that we each make profound sacrifices towards rescuing our country. My commitment to rescuing Nigeria remains firm, even if the route differs.

I wish to thank you personally for your graciousness and leadership. I wish you well and best of luck in the service of country.





I have resigned my membership in the Peoples Democratic Party. - PO. pic.twitter.com/bi4u0u3jmm  Peter Obi (@PeterObi) May 25, 2022





Obi has, however, not announced if he will join a new party to contest the presidency in the general election, but it appears he will soon.
The presidency has taken steps to douse tensions in the southeast, warning citizens with discerning minds that a viral video showing some cr...

The presidency has taken steps to douse tensions in the southeast, warning citizens with discerning minds that a viral video showing some cruel images of killings may not be factual.

Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, sounded the note of warning in a statement on Wednesday, saying the Presidency wishes to caution against any knee-jerk reactions, the creation of panic, disruption of lives and livelihoods, or even retaliatory violence following the viral videos of the alleged killings of non-indigenes by the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and its mother group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

According to the presidency, expert agencies are now verifying the factuality and veracity of the claims that accompany the horrid pictures being circulated.

He said, We call on all citizens to avoid hasty steps or conclusions that could exacerbate the situation, and on the contrary keep to a line of conduct that will help the law to take its proper course.

The Presidency also cautions the public against the indiscriminate sharing of posts on social media so as to deny vested interests who seek to divide us and create disturbance the chance to do so.

In the issuance of his very strong condemnation of these wild, barbarous and wanton killings of innocent people in the South-East as well as the other parts of the country, which he described as deeply distressing, President Muhammadu Buhari warns the perpetrators of these acts to expect tough response from the security forces.
Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Company (Heisco) said it has won a KD1.8 million ($6.4 million) tender floated by Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy.

The scope of work includes the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of four high-voltage transformers at the Doha East Power Generation and Water Distillation Station in Kuwait.

A major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracting company, Heisco was set up in 1974 to initially meet the demands of the shipping and maritime industry in the Northern Gulf, but soon it expanded its operations to meet the challenges of emerging markets.

Today, Heisco has become one of the leading industrial companies in Kuwait having made a major contribution to the development of the country's commercial and industrial infrastructure.

The company, which got listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange in 1984, caters to a wide range of sectors such as oil and gas, petrochemicals, power, shipbuilding and repair, dredging and marine construction in addition to civil construction, maintenance and other industrial services including heavy industry projects.-TradeArabia News Service
Detained former Imo State Governor, Anayo Rochas Okorocha is to remain in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFC...

Detained former Imo State Governor, Anayo Rochas Okorocha is to remain in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) till Monday, May 30, when he will be arraigned in court over the N2.9 billion money laundering criminal charges brought against him by the Federal Government.

Okorocha, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is to be arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja on the date.

He was forcefully arrested on Tuesday in his Abuja residence by operatives of the EFCC after over nine hours of siege on the residence.

EFCCS legal department sources revealed on Wednesday that the anti-graft agency arrested Okorocha as a proactive measure to make him appear in court following his persistent refusal to honour court to take his plea in the money laundering charges.

Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja had on Monday, March 28, threatened to strike out the N2.9 billion money laundering charges against Okorocha should the Federal Government fail again to cause his appearance in court.

The judge had threatened to throw out the charges following the inability of the Federal Government to serve charges on Okorocha as required by law.

At the March 28 proceedings, the Federal Government, for the second time through its counsel, Mr Cosmos Ugwu, had told Justice Ekwo that he has not been able to see Okorocha and serve him with the charges.

The cousel had informed the court that Okorocha had been evading service, but that he would make efforts and would continue to make efforts until he succeeds in serving the former Imo State Governor with the court papers.

He had subsequently applied for another adjournment to enable EFCC do everything within its power to serve the court papers, in line with provisions of the law.

His excuse for not being able to reach Okorocha did not go down well with the Judge who reminded him that same story was played out on February 22 when Okorocha ought to have taken his plea.

Justice Ekwo had said categorically that he was not going to continue to take flimsy excuses from the EFCC and would not help it to do its job.

The judge grudgingly granted the request for the second adjournment and warned the EFCC to demonstrate seriousness or else, the case would be struck out.

EFCCS sources informed our correspondent at the Federal High Court premises that the anti-graft agency was forced to apply force against Okorocha as he allegedly refused bluntly to honour invitation extended to him thrice to appear at the Commissions office in Abuja just for purpose of serving him the charge.

EFCC is a civilized organization and would not take laws into its hand but suspects, especially highly placed ones should always try as much as possible to respect the law and due process so that the law can protect them.

Arraignment in court is not a death sentence, so no one should take court for a ride or for granted. In Nigeria today, suspects can only run but cannot hide as in the case of Senator Okorocha, he said.

The source, who did not want his name mentioned, said that nobody would be allowed to bail the Senator until after his appearance and arraignment in court on Monday.

Efforts to get EFCCS lawyer, Mr Cosmos Ugwu comment on the matter were unsuccessful.

The Federal Governments charges against Okorocha dated January 24, 2022, was signed by one A.O Ikota on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Okorocha, who is currently a Senator representing Imo West in the National Assembly, is to face trial alongside six others in the N2.9 billion money laundering criminal charges.

The Senator is being put on trial by the Federal Government on 17-count charges involving criminal diversion of public funds and properties.
The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has slammed the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the violent nature of its p...





The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has slammed the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the violent nature of its political activities.





This is as the Osun PDP stated that any attempt to blame it for the attack on the campaign train of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola would be a sign of desperation taken too far.





The party, which made this known in a statement signed by Sunday Bisi, Director-General, PDP State Campaign Council, and made available to newsmen on Tuesday, also warned the ruling party not to turn the State into a war zone.





The PDP, while sympathising with the injured journalists who were covering the Oyetola electioneering campaign, alleged that the Osun APC had a history of violent attacks due to their intra-party feud.





According to the statement, The State APC has unenviable records of more than ten intra-party violent incidents involving gun assaults and deployment of factional thugs openly endorsed by various forces within the party.





We wonder why Senator Ajibola Bashiru is engaging in a blame game.





We call on the APC not to compound the challenges facing the good people of Osun State. The least Governor Oyetola could do for Osun State is to leave in peace when he is voted out in July. His deliberate arming and sponsoring of thugs is reprehensible. His plan to sew police uniforms for miscreants is the height of irresponsible state conduct.





As a party, we assure the general public that our members have nothing to do with the incident. It is a known fact that the PDP, unlike the APC do not harbour thugs.





Osun PDP alleged that its findings of what transpired on Monday revealed that trouble started when loads of thugs in the company of Governor Oyetola tried to intimidate the people of Gbongan by shooting sporadically into the air.





However, the people of Gbongan refused to be intimidated and mobilized to counter what seemed like a needless attack on them by hauling stones at the convoy, he claimed.





The party, which acknowledged that the attack was unfortunate and avoidable, added that it was shameful that Governor Oyetola and the APC chose the dishonourable route of blaming the PDP in order to hide the truth.





We must warn that our party will not tolerate ridiculous lies against it. We want to alert the general public to be wary of APCs shameless antics to curry undeserved sympathy. Our party is peace-loving and we have demonstrated this much in the last twelve years as an opposition.





We call on security agencies to investigate and reveal the truth about the incident. We also stress the need for security agencies to ensure the protection of all citizens of Osun State and not just members of the APC, the statement concluded.
A Nigerian socio-political activist, Aisha Yesufu has said President Muhammadu Buhari lacks the constitutional power to sack the Central B...

A Nigerian socio-political activist, Aisha Yesufu has said President Muhammadu Buhari lacks the constitutional power to sack the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Rumours making the rounds on social media indicate that the governor who had indicated an interest in contesting for president under the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC has been sacked.

NigerianEye has been unable to verify the rumour as of press time.

Reacting to the rumoured reports, the Activist said the president may need to go through legislative processes before sacking the apex bank governor.

In a tweet on her official Twitter handle, Aisha, however, said she would love the governor to be sacked over the alleged politicisation of his office.

She wrote, In as much as I would love @GodwinIEmefiele to be sacked for all his incompetence, failure and politicisation of his office, the President cannot SACK a CBN Governor!

There is a process and that process must be followed. It is called Rule of Law.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 66F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 66F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Trimble, a leader in construction technology, is at the Digital Construction Conference 2022 in Cairo to meet the major stakeholders of the Egyptian construction industry and encourage them to adopt its groundbreaking technologies and innovations while working on mega infrastructure projects in the country.

As a Silver Sponsor of the event, Trimble is bolstering its reach in the region. The solution provider aims to maintain a wider outreach of BIM and construction tech via skill development, embedding a corporate digital culture, and having all project teams complying to standardized processes for optimal construction project delivery.

The two-day event saw Trimbles experts presenting and lecturing on important topics among eminent construction stakeholders, including officials from the government and municipalities, major project owners, contractors, engineers, property developers and other industry professionals.

Trimble, which has been in the technology industry for more than 40 years, is sharing its insights on the construction market development at the event.

Tareq Masri, Director of Sales and Channel at Trimble Solutions, Middle East, was a prominent speaker in the leadership panel discussion titled Formulating a Sound Digital Roadmap for an Agile and Profitable Construction Business at the event.

"We are excited to be part of the event and look forward to sharing knowledge with the industry stakeholders. Egypt is witnessing a massive growth in construction sector and our intent will be to demonstrate, with real examples, how construction technology can empower them to do their jobs effectively and productively," remarked Masri.

"Construction has become an important and competitive business across the region and Trimble is well equipped to aid stakeholders navigate their way to building quality projects, profitably, sustainably and with utmost safety," he added.

According to him, Egypt has been maintaining a consistent growth in its construction sector. The development has been seen after the increase in government investments towards environmentally sustainable, energy-efficient infrastructure that is driving the growth for Egypts construction and infrastructure sector, he noted.

"Egypt is witnessing a massive growth in construction sector and our intent is to demonstrate, with real examples, how construction technology can empower them to do their jobs effectively and productively," he added.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Rain likely. Thunder possible. High near 70F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Overcast with showers at times. Low 57F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. Thunder possible. High near 70F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Overcast with showers at times. Low 57F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Female role models and mentors are essential components for professional success for women in family businesses in Saudi Arabia, says a new KPMG study.

KPMG, a leading provider of audit, tax, and advisory services in Saudi Arabia, has released The Power of Women in Family Business publication, sharing different perspectives of women leaders in the Kingdom and discussing their challenges, opportunities, and successes working in their family business.

The publication came as a joint project between KPMG Private Enterprise & Family Business and the firms Inclusion, Diversity & Equity (IDE) team, and was based on fourteen extensive interviews with women leaders in family businesses.

The publication put the insights into four themes, which emerged during the interviews conducted: the role of women in family business, leadership styles, sustainability and succession, unique opportunities and mandatory legislation that affects womens opportunities within the business.

Our overarching goal is to understand more about the impact changing demographics have on women in family businesses and their influence on the success of their businesses and their families. This publication provides enlightening and encouraging insights, especially for women in family business, commented Kholoud Mousa, Partner and Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Equity at KPMG Professional Services.

According to the publication, mentorship and networking are essential components of professional success, regardless of gender. In Saudi Arabia, with the increasing participation rates of women in the workforce, finding a mentor, especially a female mentor, can be a daunting task. Women who were the first to enter the workforce and work in family businesses have gone through many challenges and are strategically placed to manage this dilemma.

Nevertheless, most women interviewed have agreed that the correct mentor may sometimes be critical to getting management and leadership roles within the family business particularly.

It can be difficult, especially for women new to the workforce in Saudi Arabia, to find a female mentor. It is thus incumbent upon existing women leaders to seek out promising young women who could use the help of a mentor but may not know how to find one, said Buthainah Albaity, Director, Private Enterprise & Family Business at KPMG Professional Services.

She stated that these women bring about transformation in their organisations and society at large by becoming role models and mentors for younger women who will contribute to the future talent pool.

According to referenced KPMG Womens Leadership Study, 67% of women reported that they would learn the most important lessons about leadership from other women. Hence, they trust that engaging with female leaders will assist them.

Women worldwide want to freely communicate with like-minded businesswomen in similar positions who wish to develop and thrive. They feel that such participation will enable them to exchange ideas and build relationships, Albaity said.

The publication also discusses leadership and management styles and concludes that every individual has a unique approach to leadership, but there are no distinct differences in the characteristics of a leader between men and women. Although personalities differ, the attributes of a leader are shared by all leaders.

It also touches up upon equal chances, pay, and promotion which enables female leaders to grow and prosper driven by their desire. Additionally, family businesses with diverse board members provide tremendous value to the firm and the market since they diversify in gender, ethnicity, and age, allowing them to have a collective experience with additional value.

More women entering leadership positions at family businesses normalises the idea of having women in C-suite roles, concluded Kholoud Mousa. Such an environment spreads into non-family businesses and opens the door for other women to assume leadership positions. - TradeArabia News Service
Spend some time around Frank Brigtsen and you may hear one of his favorite aphorisms.

Brown is the color of flavor, hes fond of saying, and hes also a master at proving it through deep dark gumbo, pecan meuniere sauce and smoky andouille gravy at his Riverbend restaurant, Brigtsens.

But away from the skillet, Brigtsen takes things deeper, especially when discussing the students he teaches and the staff that he trains, and what really stirs his roux.

I want them to know we can make a big difference in the world through the power of food. That's our medium, he said during a quiet afternoon before service at Brigtsens.

The role of mentoring is central to the veteran chef. He practices it at his own restaurant and also as an instructor in a specially designed culinary course at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, and as the chef-in-residence for the culinary program at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.

I think it comes from his need, his devotion to continue the culture of our food, said Dana Touhy, founding chair of NOCCAs culinary program.

Hes a storyteller and hes such a keeper of how our food has developed, the people behind it, the way its merged to represent all of us at the same time. Thats what he shares with our students, and every minute they get to spend with him is invaluable.

Brigtsen is this years recipient of the Ella Brennan Lifetime Achievement in Hospitality Award, presented by the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience. Hell be honored at a gala at the Four Seasons hotel on June 7 as the weeklong wine festival gets underway (see details here).

Cajun mentor, Creole masters

The award is named for the late matriarch of the Commanders Palace family, and that has special resonance for Brigtsen.

It was Ella Brennan who first hired Paul Prudhomme to lead the Commanders Palace kitchen, and it was Prudhomme who in 1973 hired Brigtsen, then 24, for his first serious restaurant job.

Chef Paul gave me a choice, Brigtsen recalled. He said I can give you a job as a broiler cook, you'll earn good money and we'll expect a lot from you. Or you can start as an apprentice, get paid less and expect a lot from me.

Prudhomme became this young cooks mentor, not just his boss, and the relationship grew. Brigtsen joined Prudhomme when he opened K-Pauls Louisiana Kitchen, soon to become known around the world. In time, it was Prudhomme who urged Brigtsen to follow his dream and open his own restaurant, and he gave his protege cash, business resources and other help to make Brigtsens Restaurant a reality, opening in 1986.

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But Brigtsen says today that through his years at Commanders Palace he also was in the hands of many mentors, the other cooks and chefs who ran different aspects of the kitchen and took time to teach him what they knew.

I realized that this is how Creole culinary heritage has been passed down for generations, not in culinary schools but in kitchens, Brigtsen said. There is this circle of great Creole chefs who passed it down one person to another, just as it's always been done. I always felt like I was part of this continuum of great Creole cooking in that way.

Compelled by crisis

This has long informed his approach to training in his own kitchen. But the idea of continuity and the shared culture flowing through cuisine came into alarmingly sharp peril after Hurricane Katrina, when the future of New Orleans restaurants and the relationships knitted between local food people were cast into doubt.

Compelled to do more, Brigtsen approached Nicholls, home of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, with a proposal.

I didnt want a job, I wanted a way to share what I knew, what Id learned from the others, with the next generation coming up, he said.

This led to a custom-made course in Acadian and Creole cuisine at the school, which Brigtsen leads each fall, leaving his restaurant to make the weekly outing to Thibodaux.

As a chef, hes one of the best, said John Kozar, director of Nicholls' culinary program. He gives the students a good expectation of what working in the restaurant industry is going to be like, he gives them that reality. He has so many life lessons to share.

Blackened and true

And those lessons continue to accrue, through the hard times that have racked the hospitality industry and changes that keep rippling through it. The steep increase in costs for food and staffing has been the latest crisis, one shared by many across the industry.

But from a takeout-only model in the early phases of the pandemic, Brigtsens Restaurant long ago switched back to full service  with Brigtsens wife Marna and family members at the door, and with the blackened fish the chef learned direct from Prudhomme, the barbecue shrimp with calas he insists stays on the menu, with the catfish he prides himself on sourcing down the road from Des Allemands all back in play.

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Theres also the perspective Brigtsen strives to show his staff and his students through their work.

What I tell them is let's make some good memories tonight, he said. A lot of people in the kitchen don't see the dining room, they don't see the joy they give to their guests, which is the key to hospitality. But I want them to see the difference we do make. What we do is restore people's spirits. You create a bubble of joy for them while they are enjoying food and wine with their family and friends. That is the power of food.
OCHSNER HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN: The Nathanson Family Foundation has donated $2.5 million to the Ochsner Hospital for Children to support the expansion of its congenital heart defect program, led by cardiac surgeon Dr. Benjamin B. Peeler. The donation will also support expanding the fetal cardiology clinic at Ochsner Baptist.

SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA VETERANS HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: Fernando Rivera, CEO of the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, has received two national awards: the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive, the highest annual award for senior executives in federal service; and the 2022 Veterans Health Administration John D. Chase Award for Executive Excellence in Health Care, a joint award offered by the Society of Federal Health Professionals and the Veterans Health Administration.

LSU HEALTH NEW ORLEANS COUNSELING: Kimberly Frazier, an associate professor of clinical rehabilitation and counseling at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Allied Health Professions, has been sworn in as president of the American Counseling Association. Frazier holds a Ph.D. in counselor education from the University of New Orleans. Her research focuses on pediatric counseling, culture-centered counseling interventions and training, systemic oppression and trauma.

LSU HEALTH NEW ORLEANS NEUROLOGY: Dr. John England, chairman of the neurology department at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, has been chosen as president-elect of the Association of University Professors of Neurology, which he is expected to lead from 2024 through 2026. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Neurological Sciences, the official journal of the World Federation of Neurology, and is also editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of the Neurological Sciences.
A defendant in a 2021 Central City killing has pleaded guilty to four armed carjackings dating from 2020, including one that deprived a Lyft driver of her car.

Wayne O'Neal, 20, of New Orleans faces at least 28 years in prison - and potentially a life sentence - for four counts each of carjacking and using a gun in a crime of violence.

New Orleans police arrested O'Neal on Nov. 23, 2020, in connection with the carjacking of a Lyft driver 11 days earlier, according to criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The driver told police she had taken two customers from the 3200 block of Toledano Street to the 800 block of St. Andrew Street, where one of them pointed a gun at her head and said, "Bitch, put the car in park and get out." She ran off, and the robbers drove away in her 2018 Kia Sorrento.

Investigators said they identified the phone used to book the ride, and through questioning determined that O'Neal and a minor had used an unwitting acquaintance's phone to arrange the trip.

Glock under the bed

When O'Neal was arrested, police found a Glock semi-automatic pistol under the bed in his apartment. He admitted to being in the car with the minor the night of the carjacking, but he said it was the minor who pulled the gun, according to the complaint.

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The other charges to which O'Neal pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court involved the:

May 15, 2020, carjacking of a 2009 Ford F-150 in the 1500 block of South Dupre Street

June, 15, 2020, carjacking of a 2019 Nissan Kicks in the 1800 block of South Salcedo Street

June, 27, 2020, carjacking of a 2011 Infiniti at the Discount Zone convenience store at 6711 Chef Menteur Highway.

Judge Sarah Vance is scheduled to sentence him Aug. 10.

Court records are unclear on whether O'Neal bonded out of jail between his arrest in the carjacking case and his subsequent indictment.

But separately, he is charged in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court with conspiracy, second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in the May 30 shooting death of a 17-year-old at the intersection of Thalia and South Robertson. Police found surveillance video showing O'Neal at the scene of the shooting, prosecutors said in the federal complaint, and identified him as a suspect.

His arraignment in the murder case is scheduled Thursday.
A sheriff's deputy responding to a business burglary call in rural St. Tammany Parish confronted a 13-year-old boy who shot him in the back during a struggle early Wednesday morning.

The deputy was able to help apprehend the suspect before being rushed to a Mandeville area hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said.

Initially, authorities feared the worst and were preparing for the prospect that Deputy Kenneth Doby, a four-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, would have to be airlifted to a hospital in New Orleans.

But Doby was released from a Mandeville area hospital later Wednesday, the Sheriff's Office said.

'We're lucky'

"We're lucky," St. Tammany Sheriff Randy Smith said. "This could have really been a tragedy."

Doby was shot while investigating a reported business burglary at the Backroads Mercantile on Louisiana 1083 in the Waldheim area north of Abita Springs.

Doby was shot in the back "just below his bulletproof vest," Smith said. The wound "was through and through," Smith said, meaning the bullet passed through Doby's body.

"He's young and tough," Smith said.

Later Wednesday, the 13-year-old male suspect was booked into the Florida Parishes Juvenile Justice Center on multiple counts, including attempted first-degree murder, resisting an officer with violence, battery of a police officer, illegal possession of a handgun, simple burglary and possession of stolen goods.

"From what they tell me during the interview he didn't show any remorse," Smith said of investigators' questioning of the teen.

Burglary at convenience store

The Sheriff's Office said Doby was patrolling an area around 3 a.m. near Louisiana 21 and Louisiana 1083 as a burglary alarm at a convenience store came in. Smith said the Sheriff's Office gets a "number of alarms" from the store, and deputies never know what they'll find when they respond.

In this instance, deputies found a store window shattered and saw a person walking away along La. 1083. When they tried to question that person, he struggled with them and at some point during that struggle, authorities say he shot Doby with a handgun.

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Pete Tulli, who has owned the general store for 18 years, said that it has never been a target for crime until the last month, when there were several attempted burglaries that resulted in broken windows.

But no burglar had ever entered the store before Wednesday morning, he said. He was notified of the break-in at 2:30 a.m. and immediately left his home in Big Branch for the store, where he found a window broken and some cigars missing. He estimated that $15 in merchandise was stolen.

Tulli said he had heard the cigars were found on the suspect.

At mid-morning Wednesday, Tulli was preparing to reopen the store, which he said has almost exclusively local customers. It had been closed earlier because it was a crime scene, he said.

He said he assumes that the suspect lives in the area, since he is so young and was on foot. "I don't know who, obviously," he said.

Smith said Doby joined the Sheriff's Office after stints working for the Tangipahoa and Washington parishes sheriff's offices.

The Sheriff's Office has been inundated with requests from the public about how to help Doby, according to a news release, with many asking about blood donations.

While Doby was not expected to need blood, the release said that the Blood Center was setting up a blood drive to benefit him Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court's elections training room on the first floor of the St. Tammany Parish Courthouse parking garage in downtown Covington.

The Blood Center will open an account in Doby's name and $10 will be put into the account for every blood donation made in his name.

Blood donations can also be made at any of the Blood Center's nine locations and donors should specify that they are making a replacement donation of Deputy Kenneth Doby's behalf.

Watch the update from the sheriff. (Can't see the video? Click here.)

Staff writer Carlie Kollath Wells contributed to this story.
Bahrain was re-elected Vice-Chair of the Bureau of the Executive Council of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (Alecso).

The unanimous re-election is a new testimony to Bahrain's achievements and outstanding work during the previous term of the Council, headed by Saudi Arabia, reported BNA.

Participants in the Alecso conference in the Tunisian capital Tunis have recommended the leading roles by Saudi Arabia as chair and Bahrain as vice-chair as well as their efforts to strengthen the organization's programs and partnerships in the Arab world.

Dr Lubna Khalifa Sulaibikh, Secretary General of the Bahrain National Commission for Education, Science and Culture, who represented Bahrain at the conference, praised Alecso's endeavours to confront the Covid-19 pandemic.

She also hailed the adoption of a road map by the Council that consolidated Alecso's strategic role and status.
Pfizer, one of the world's premier biopharmaceutical firms, has launched a groundbreaking initiative to supply medicines and vaccines on a not-for-profit basis to 1.2 billion people in 45 lower-income countries.

Through An Accord for a Healthier World, initiative Pfizer aims to supply all of its patented, high-quality medicines and vaccines available in the US or the European Union.

The accord seeks to greatly reduce the health inequities that exist between many lower-income countries and the rest of the world, the company said.

Overcoming obstacles

As we learned in the global Covid-19 vaccine rollout, supply is only the first step to helping patients. We will work closely with global health leaders to make improvements in diagnosis, education, infrastructure, storage and more. Only when all the obstacles are overcome can we end healthcare inequities and deliver for all patients, said Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla.

The accord countries include all 27 low-income countries as well as 18 lower-middle-income countries that have transitioned from low to lower-middle-income classification in the last ten years. Pfizer will work with healthcare officials in Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda to identify early insights and opportunities to ensure all medicines and vaccines can reach those in need.

This will include expertise to support diagnosis, healthcare professional education and training along with supply chain management and other infrastructure enhancements. Learnings from these five countries will be applied to support the roll out for the remaining forty countries.

Quick and efficient

Pfizer will also collaborate with Accord participants to identify quick and efficient regulatory pathways and procurement processes to reduce the longer amount of time it can take to make new medicines and vaccines available in these countries.

Under the accord, Pfizer has committed to provide 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, certain cancers, and rare and inflammatory diseases.

Making these medicines and vaccines more readily available has the potential to treat non-communicable and infectious diseases that claim the lives of nearly one million people each year in these countries and chronic diseases that significantly impact quality of life for at least half a million more . As Pfizer launches new medicines and vaccines, those products will also be included in the accord portfolio on a not-for-profit basis.

The accord also aims to establish faster access to Pfizers future pipeline medicines and vaccines on a not-for-profit-basis to the 45 countries, particularly those that treat diseases that disproportionately impact global health.

Funding from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

To further this commitment, Pfizer, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is advancing work on the development of vaccine candidates for the prevention of Group B Streptococcus (GBS), which is a leading cause of stillbirth and newborn mortality in low-income countries. They are also discussing opportunities to support Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine development, another maternal vaccine.

Everyone, no matter where they live, should have the same access to innovative, life-saving drugs and vaccines, said Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Accord for a Healthier World could help millions more people in low-income countries get the tools they need to live a healthy life. Pfizer is setting an example for other companies to follow.

"Rapid and affordable access to the most advanced medicines and vaccines is the cornerstone of global health equity. Pfizers commitment under the Accord program sets a new standard in this regard. Combined with additional investments in strengthening Africas public health systems and pharmaceutical regulators, the Accord is an important step toward sustainable health security for countries at every income level, said Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda.

Quality healthcare for all

"We must continue to strive for quality healthcare for all people to live longer, stronger and healthier lives," said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana. "It will require strong cooperation between the public and private sectors. We are proud to join this Accord to work together on this important goal."

Senegal proudly supports the launch of An Accord for a Healthier World to improve health equity and outcomes for the people of our country and across the world, said Macky Sall, President of Senegal. Together, we will work for a better world.

"The great thing about this Accord is that it helps low-income countries without violating their dignity and agency as people, for it is a true partnership that involves both Pfizer and countries like Malawi sharing the burden of costs and tasks in the production and delivery of supplies that will save millions of lives. This is how all global problems should be tackled, said Lazarus Chakwera, President of Malawi.

Closing the health equity gap

"It is the time to close the health equity gap," said Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda. Uganda is proud to join the Accord, and we are committed to working with Pfizer and all Accord partners to find new ways to address access challenges."-- TradeArabia News Service
Xiaomi has unveiled the Redmi Note 11 SE in China, where it retails for at least CNY 1,099 (~US$165). However, it seems that Xiaomi has taken the POOC M3 Pro 5G and slapped a Redmi logo on the back, with the pair even sharing identical designs.

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Xiaomi has introduced the Redmi Note 11 SE in China, which launches alongside the Redmi Note 11T Pro and the Redmi Note 11T Pro Plus. While the Redmi Note 11T series are brand-new, the Redmi Note 11 SE appears to be a re-branded POCO M3 Pro 5G that Xiaomi first released a year ago this month. For some reason, Xiaomi has even re-used the POCO M3 Pro 5G's design, although it has omitted the POOC Yellow colourway.

Hence, the Redmi Note 11 SE measures 161.81 x 75.34 x 8.92 mm and weighs 190 g. Also, Xiaomi equips the handset with a MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset, a 6.5-inch IPS display and a 5,000 mAh battery that supports up to 18 W fast charging. Incidentally, the display operates at 1080p with a 90 Hz refresh rate and offers a 1,500:1 contrast ratio. Moreover, Xiaomi equips the Redmi Note 11 SE with the same 48 MP primary, 8 MP front-facing and two 2 MP depth and macro cameras that the POCO M3 Pro 5G has.
Bahrain Real Estate Investment Company (Edamah) has signed a 10-year lease agreement worth $7 million with Trident Warehousing for an 8,137-sq-m facility at Sitra Industrial Park.

Edamah, the real estate arm of the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, said the agreement was signed with the support of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB).

As per the deal, Edamah will be working with Trident Warehousing and their business associate Hoover Circular Solutions, to create a facility that is suitable for their technical and operational requirements in order to increase their efficiency and production capability and support the delivery of the supply chain to their customers.

Hoover CS is a leading provider of sustainable packaging and fleet management solutions based in Texas, US.

Edamah Chairman and Mumtalakat CEO Khalid Al Rumaihi said: Edamah continues to contribute to the economy of the Kingdom through projects that are aligned with Mumtalakats investment strategy. The industrial park will play an important role in the development of both the industrial and logistics sectors in Bahrain which will reflect in the economic growth of the country."

CEO Amin Al Arrayed said: "We are pleased to sign this agreement with Trident Warehousing to facilitate their operations in Bahrain, where they will be well-placed to take advantage of Bahrains strategic location and world-class logistics infrastructure."

Ahmed Sultan, the Executive Director of EDBs Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics Sector, said: "Manufacturing is a key component of Bahrains economic recovery plan. There is an increasing demand for industrial facilities, and we are happy to have supported Edamah and Trident in this partnership."

Sitra Industrial Park includes a number of facilities for industrial, commercial, and logistical use, with the option of tailoring facilities according to tenants requirements.

The 87,382-sq-m park will initially expand to include an additional 8,000 sq m in the near future to accommodate the increasing demand in this industrial sector.

A major player in the real estate sector, Edamahs diverse portfolio spans retail, hospitality, commercial and industrial properties across the kingdom. It aims to drive sustainable economic growth while also creating benefits for local communities.-TradeArabia News Service
One of the most hyped recent economic development projects in Northwest Indiana has met a sudden, swift and unexpected end.

Texas-based Corsicana Mattress Co. recently opened a new $8.6 million bed-in-a-box factory that would have employed up to 350 workers in LaPorte and was described as "one of this year's most exciting announcements." The company took over an abandoned warehouse where it planned to make 1,500 boxed-bed mattresses a day to allow for same-day shipping nationwide.

A ribbon-cutting celebration just took place in March.

But employees were told this week Corsicana was closing two plants, including the newly opened factory at the Midwest Manufacturing Supercenter at 755 South 500 West in LaPorte.

"This is upsetting news, thats for sure," LaPorte County Commissioner Shelia Brillson Matias posted on social media. "Sad news that employees were told yesterday that Corsicana LaPorte would be closing and from what we are hearing, this is one of two plants being closed in the U.S. due to loss of demand, high material costs and difficulty finding employees."

She said the community needs to help displaced workers "find good family-wage jobs."

Matias also noted no public money has been lost or put at risk.

"On the positive side, this long-vacant 180,000 square-foot facility  empty and dilapidated for 20-plus years  has been updated, modernized and is ready for another manufacturer to set up shop."

Matias, LaPorte County Council President Randy Novak and Economic Development Director Tony Rodriguez talked to the Corsicana CEO on the phone.

Corsicana is reconsidering its industry footprint after acquiring rival Symbol Mattress of Virginia in April in a deal that creates the nation's largest manufacturer of mattresses under $1,000. The merged companies planned to employ 1,300 at 16 manufacturing sites nationwide.

"While sharing my concerns, the conversation was detailed regarding their current business outlook and focused on the industry-specific facts that have negatively affected this plant. Corsicana LaPorte is impacted by the recent sale of the entire company, a corporate reorganization, and reduced consumer spending," Matias posted. "The CEO had great things to say about our workforce; it's clear we cannot change their business-driven decision but we now need to focus on these employees. We will work on helping these folks to find good jobs here in LaPorte County."

Corsicana and the public relations firm it commissioned to help promote the ribbon-cutting did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The company had hired only about 45 workers, Rodriguez said.

"While it was a highly unfortunate decision, it's just fortunate it happened in this economic environment where almost all of the advanced manufacturing employees who were displaced will be able to find work as quickly as possible," he said. "Our key going forward is to see that they are treated as appropriately as possible. We're still in discussions with the company and the specifics and possible consideration of future investment."

LaPorte County also will be able to market the recently renovated property to other companies at a time when such inventory is in short supply, Rodriguez said.

"It's a 180,000-square-foot modern manufacturing facility that's been fully renovated and could become available on the market soon," he said. "We'll look to find a new business ASAP, which shouldn't be hard in this market. Manufacturers are seeking to make investments, which bodes well for the remarketing of that property. COVID has ignited an investment boom in American manufacturing as a result of the supply chain issues, and that bodes extremely well for the future of that property."

Corsicana also has a 100,000 square-foot flat-packed mattress factory in Aurora.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. gave Corsicana $2.3 million in conditional tax breaks for the LaPorte factory in exchange for the job creation and investment. The tax breaks were structured to be contingent on hiring and continued employment, so the company would not reap the benefits if it falls short of its employment goals.

Corsicana Mattress was founded in 1971 and is now one of the largest U.S. manufacturers in the mattress industry. It makes memory foam, innerspring and hybrid mattresses, such as the NightsBridge, Early Bird, Renue, American Bedding and Sleep Inc. brand names.

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A federal appeals court has declined to disturb an Indiana Supreme Court ruling, later codified into state law, declaring the shoreline of Lake Michigan is, and always has been, owned by the state for the enjoyment of all Hoosiers.

In a 3-0 decision, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said Wednesday the three lake-adjacent property owners in the town of Porter who claim their holdings include a private beach on Lake Michigan lack standing to challenge the Indiana high court ruling and statute in federal court.

Circuit Judge Diane Wood, writing for the federal appeals court, said Raymond Cahnman, Randall Pavlock and Kimberley Pavlock failed to establish their beach property was "taken" by the state because the 2018 Gunderson v. State ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court clarified they never owned a private beach on Lake Michigan.

The Gunderson decision held that Indiana owns  and has since statehood in 1816  the land under Lake Michigan and the adjacent shoreline up to the ordinary high-water mark.

That mark is defined as the line on the shore established by the fluctuations of water and indicated by physical characteristics, such as a clear and natural line on the bank, shelving or changes in the soil's character.

The 4-0 Gunderson ruling was codified in 2020 as House Enrolled Act 1385, along with the right of Hoosiers to use the shoreline for walking, fishing, boating, swimming and any other recreational purpose for which Lake Michigan ordinarily is used.

The law enacted by the Republican-controlled General Assembly also specified Lake Michigan-adjacent private property owners are not entitled to exclusive use of the beach or the water.

Wood said that even if the Porter plaintiffs owned the entire shoreline near their homes, the individuals they sued, including the governor, attorney general and the directors of the Department of Natural Resources and State Land Office, have no authority to convey title to land the Indiana Supreme Court and the General Assembly say belongs to the state.

Moreover, she observed a federal appeals court lacks the authority to overrule a state supreme court.

"It is state property law itself, rather than any action by the state parties, that is adverse to the owners' claims," Wood said. "We would be unable to hold that their property was taken without also holding that Gunderson was wrongly decided."

"In effect, their theory of the case would have us sit in appellate review of the Indiana Supreme Courts decision about state property law  a role that would sit uneasily next to the (U.S.) Supreme Courts exclusive statutory authority to review the decisions of state courts in civil cases."

Records show the Long Beach Lakefront Homeowners Association appealed the Gunderson ruling directly to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2018.

The nation's high court turned away the case without comment in February 2019, seemingly content to leave the Indiana Supreme Court ruling as the final word on Lake Michigan beach ownership.

Chris Kieser, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, the California-based property rights law firm representing the plaintiffs, did not say whether they plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 7th Circuit decision.

"We are disappointed in the outcome and we are considering our next steps with our clients," Kieser said.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Munster native, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

Last year, when U.S. District Court Chief Judge Jon DeGuilio initially rejected the beach ownership claims of the Porter plaintiffs, Rokita said: "The court's decision affirms what we always knew to be true  that the shoreline of Lake Michigan belongs to every Hoosier for their use and enjoyment."

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Federal officials say they have secured a guilty plea from the eighth and final defendant involved in a southwest Michigan-based cocaine ring that was feeding the illegal drug into northern Indiana.

Adrian Romero Antunez, 35, a Mexican national in the United States on a tourist visa, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine, according to the United States Department of Justice.

The ring centered around New Buffalo, Michigan, resident Ivan Huerta Hernandez, 33, who through conduits in Mexico, was supplied by sources in Chicago, including Antunez, officials said.

"Huerta Hernandez then distributed cocaine to dealers in West Michigan and Northern Indiana," the DOJ said.

Approximately 90 federal, state and local law enforcement officers executed arrest and search warrants on the morning of Nov. 3, 2021 in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, federal officials said.

"Investigators seized over 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, approximately $100,000 in cash, six vehicles linked to cocaine trafficking, and two firearms," officials said.

Mark Totten, United States attorney for the Western District of Michigan, said, "The guilty pleas in this case represent a significant victory against a transnational drug trafficking conspiracy."

"My office is committed to combating large-scale traffickers who bring these poisons to the Western District of Michigan," he said. "This prosecution demonstrates the power of pooling the resources of federal, state, and local governments."

"Drug trafficking organizations do not recognize political boundaries and we must continue to work together to combat drug trafficking organizations across Michigan, the Midwest and the United States," Totten said.

Those who have pleaded guilty in connection with the drug ring are Juan Martinez Camarillo, 37, and Santiago Cardenas, 41, both of Michigan City; Manuel Eudave, 54, of LaPorte; Donald James Rogers, 62, and Hernandez, both of New Buffalo; Marcus Jemel Johnson, 41, of Benton Harbor, Michigan; Antunez, of Chicago; and Henry Shavar Nichols, 41, of Greenville, South Carolina.

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VALPARAISO  A 24-year-old Portage man, nabbed with dozens of videos and photographs of child sexual abuse material, told investigators he began viewing the items online after becoming bored with adult pornography, according to newly filed charges.

Patrick Alaniz acknowledged he has a problem but said he has been able to control his urges after deleting the child pornography earlier this year, police said.

"He stated that he became disgusted with himself and realized that what he was doing was wrong," a charging document says.

Alaniz, who was booked into the Porter County Jail on Tuesday afternoon, is charged with five counts of possessing child pornography, including three counts that carry a potential sentence of one to six years behind bars if convicted, a court document shows.

The Indiana State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force said it began investigating the case after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Dropbox, which provides online file saving/sharing services, identified Alaniz as the user suspected of uploading child pornography, police said.

Investigators said they discovered dozens of sexual images and videos in the account involving children.

State police obtained a search warrant and stopped Alaniz on Tuesday in his vehicle and took possession of a cell phone, records show. They took Alaniz back to his home where other family members cooperated with police.

Alaniz at first said he had no idea why he was being investigated and denied using any online file storing services, police said.

"He stated that he viewed pornography on a daily basis," a charging document says.

After claiming he must have been "hacked," he admitted to following a link that led him to child pornography on Dropbox, police said. He admitted to viewing the material and said he used a Dropbox account to store child pornography.

Alaniz reportedly told investigators he deleted the material earlier this year and is no longer in possession of any child pornography.

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HAMMOND  Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Thomas McDermott Jr. is canceling all of his campaign events for the foreseeable future after testing positive for COVID-19.

The five-term Hammond mayor said he found out Tuesday night he was exposed over the weekend to a person who tested positive for the coronavirus.

McDermott said despite having no COVID-19 symptoms, and being fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19, he decided to test himself for COVID-19 Wednesday morning and it came back positive.

"As a result of my positive test, in the interest of the public safety, I am cancelling all campaign related events until I test negative and have been cleared by my medical team," McDermott said.

McDermott was scheduled to campaign Wednesday night in New Albany and Thursday night in Connersville as part of the Indiana Democratic Party's town hall speaker series.

He said he hopes his positive COVID-19 test reminds Hoosiers the virus is still out there, and he urged individuals age 5 and up to get vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible to minimize their chances of hospitalization or death from COVID-19.

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Drydocks World has signed a contract with Malaysia-based Yinson Production to upgrade, refurbish, and convert a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

The contract with Yinson Production, which designs, constructs, and operates industry-leading production assets for the offshore oil and gas industry  covers conversion and life extension services, as well as refurbishment for the FPSO Atlanta at Drydocks World-Dubai.

The upgraded FPSO will be delivered in the third quarter of 2023 to Brazilian independent oil and gas company Enauta at the offshore Atlanta Field in the Santos Basin.

FPSO vessels are vital to offshore oil operations, receiving crude oil and other liquids from subsea reservoirs and separating it into natural gas and oil with processing facilities onboard.

The FPSO project with Drydocks World will be fully operational by 2024 and support Yinson Productions goal of producing up to 50,000 barrels of oil per day from the field.

It also reinforces the long-term viability of the of Made in the UAE solutions.

Drydocks World CEO Captain Rado Antolovic said: "Signing a contract for this prestigious project reflects our proven technical capabilities and track record. Our expertise in refurbishment, conversion and upgrading FPSO vessels allows us to support Yinson Production in its commitment to improving global access to stable energy sources."

"We are pleased to enter a new partnership with Yinson and pave the way for a long-term business relationship," he stated.

David Hamilton, Project Manager for Yinson Production, said: "The competitive bidding process for this project was rigorous. Selecting Drydocks World outlines the importance of finding a partner with capabilities in upgrading and enhancing FPSO vessels. We look forward to delivering the Atlanta FPSO to Enauta in 2023 and reaffirming our commitment to making energy stable and affordable across the world."

The technical scope of work for the 18-month project at the Drydocks World-Dubai shipyard includes production engineering, procurement of bulk material, construction as well as support for onshore commissioning.

Additionally, the redeployment scope of the project includes steel renewal, piping refurbishment, tank coating, refurbishment of equipment, and the upgrade of an FPSO for operation at the Atlanta field in the Santos basin, Brazil.

This includes life extension and installation of new equipment in order to utilize 100% of produced gas and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.
CROWN POINT  A defense attorney for a Whiting man on trial this week in a triple murder case told jurors the state's case hinges on the credibility of a co-defendant who expects to see two murder counts against him dismissed in exchange for his testimony.

The defendant, James H. Higgason III, 52, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of murder in the bludgeoning deaths of Jerod "Buddy" Hodge, 18, of Chicago; Elva Tamez, 36; and Timothy W. "Midnight" Ross, 16, of Calumet City, on Jan. 18, 1998, inside a home in the 4600 block of Torrence Avenue in Hammond.

Higgason's co-defendant, David L. Copley Jr., 47, of Franklin, Indiana, is expected to be the state's star witness during Higgason's trial this week.

Copley pleaded guilty in October to one count of murder linked to Hodge's death and agreed to a 45-year prison sentence.

Matthew Fech, who is representing Higgason along with attorney Mark Gruenhagen, said prosecutors want jurors to put their faith in Copley.

"A man who admitted to a witness that he was lethal with a board and he beat them to death," Fech said.

The defense attorney told jurors the evidence would show Copley and someone else killed Tamez, Hodge and Ross, but it would not be clear that that someone else was Higgason.

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Keith Anderson told jurors they would hear two phone calls between Higgason and Copley, which were recorded by police in 1998, in which Higgason denies the killings but says, "They might give us the electric chair."

During the calls, Higgason told Copley not to go to the police and said he didn't want to discuss anything over the phone, the deputy prosecutor said.

Copley was expected to testify he and Higgason left the house with drugs and money after the killings, he said.

DNA analysis in 2008 was inconclusive with regard to Copley and Higgason, Anderson said.

However, DNA analysis had improved by 2020, when evidence was resubmitted to a state lab, he said.

Results showed strong support for Copley being a contributor to DNA under Tamez's fingernails and more moderate support for Higgason also being a contributor, Anderson said.

The defense urged the jury to pay close attention to testimony from a DNA analyst with Indiana State Police.

One of the first witnesses called by Deputy Prosecutor Jovanni Miramontes was Linda F. Hodge, the mother of Jerod "Buddy" Hodge.

Linda Hodge testified she was making Sunday dinner when several people arrived at her Chicago home and told her three bodies had been seen at the home on Torrence Avenue in Hammond.

She called 911 and told a dispatcher, "They say it's my son."

Hodge said she no longer remembers who came to her home. She denied knowing any of the people police initially developed as possible suspects.

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HAMMOND  The city has approved a development agreement that will fill the iconic Bank Calumet building with apartments and commercial space.

During a Monday night meeting, the Hammond City Council unanimously approved a development agreement with the Michigan City-based NWI Hohman LLC. The $24 million project will bring 100 market-rate apartments and 10,000 square feet of commercial space to the historic building, which is located at 5231 Hohman Ave. The mixed-use development will include a fitness center and a co-working lounge.

As part of the development agreement, NWI Hohman will receive an incentive of $5 million in Tax Incremental Financing revenue from the city. The developer will also get $150,000 through the Hammond's facade rebate program, which will primarily go toward converting the upper floors to housing. Councilman Pete Torres, D-2, said Hammond will also be contributing city-owned land to the project for offsite parking.

The apartment complex is part of Hammond's larger downtown redevelopment, which began in 2018 when the city hired renowned planner Jeff Speck to help "reimagine" the area.

"(The Bank Calumet building) was identified by urban planner Jeff Speck as the most significant building in downtown Hammond to preserve and redevelop," Torres said.

Originally built in 1924, the nine-story bank tower was Hammond's largest homegrown financial institution for decades. Then in 2006, First Midwest Bank, which was recently absorbed by Old National Bank, bought it out. First Midwest closed the building in 2015. The 112-foot-tall structure has been vacant ever since.

The development agreement comes after the city announced a $25 million apartment complex is coming to an underutilized parking lot off Hohman Avenue. Called Rimbach Square, the development will have 208 market-rate units, a bottom floor filled with commercial space and an outdoor plaza.

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CEDAR LAKE  A narcotics investigation resulted in a search warrant and four arrests at a Cedar lake residence.

During the search, a pit bull at the house attempted to attack officers and the dog was shot, police stated.

At 9:15 a.m. Tuesday the Lake County Sheriffs Department Drug Task Force, Lake County Sheriff's SWAT team and the Cedar Lake Police Department executed a narcotics search warrant in the 7200 block of W. 129th Lane.

Two residents of the Cedar Lake house, Ty Pozza, 30, and Jordan Fletcher, 20, were taken into custody, said Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr.

Police also arrested Kerri Olson, 43, Cedar Lake, and Andraya Mathis, 30, of Schneider. Martinez said each individual faces criminal charges of dealing a controlled substance.

Authorities began investigating after receiving information that methamphetamine was being dealt from the residence. A total of seven people were detained during the search, including the four arrestees.

Police reported as the search of the residence was ongoing, a pit bull in a fenced area in the backyard became extremely aggressive and broke the leash securing it. The dog then escaped from the fenced area and attempted to attack officers, authorities said.

"The animal lunged at officers, threatening to attack at least three times before officers were forced to shoot and kill the dog," Martinez said. "Three other dogs at the home were not injured."

A total of 10 grams of suspected methamphetamine, a long gun, needles and scales were found and confiscated from the residence, police reported. Police alleged the suspects may have tried to destroy the narcotics upon officers' arrival.

We remain committed to investigating and pursuing people who sell drugs throughout Lake County, Martinez said. And I am extremely proud of the hard work and cooperation of the officers who worked on this case. ... It was truly unfortunate for officers to have to put an animal down at the scene of this search warrant. Officers believed the animal posed an imminent danger."

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A severe shortage of baby formula has prompted the Federal Trade Commission to begin an inquiry into the industrys consolidation and whether online resellers have taken advantage of desperate families struggling to find formula.

The F.T.C. is launching a public inquiry to identify the factors that contributed to the shortage or hampered our ability to respond to it, Lina M. Khan, the agencys chair, said in a statement on Tuesday. Learning from this experience can help determine how we can minimize the risk of similar shortages in the markets for other life-sustaining products.

The agency said it would examine patterns of mergers and acquisitions to better understand how the industry  which is now dominated by four manufacturers  became so concentrated and how that consolidation should inform future merger reviews. The F.T.C. will also examine federal regulations and trade barriers that prevent foreign companies from entering the infant formula market.

Federal officials are also seeking public input about instances in which families believe they have been scammed when trying to buy formula or been forced to pay exorbitant prices from online resellers.
It is sobering to see the results of this study again confirming the breadth of organ dysfunction and the scale of the problem, said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the research.

The study evaluated electronic medical records for nearly two million people  comparing those who had been infected with the coronavirus with those who were not. The most common post-Covid conditions, regardless of age, were respiratory problems and musculoskeletal pain.

The risk of post-Covid patients aged 65 and older developing the 26 health conditions the study evaluated was between 20 percent and 120 percent greater than people who didnt get Covid. Those aged 18 to 64 had a 10 percent to 110 percent greater risk than uninfected people of developing 22 of the health conditions. But in that age group, Covid survivors were no more likely than uninfected people to develop most mental health conditions, substance use disorders or strokes and similar cerebrovascular conditions.

Dr. Al-Aly said the study results can potentially translate into millions of people with new diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, neurologic problems. These are lifelong conditions  certainly manageable, but not curable conditions.

The study analyzed records of 353,164 people who were diagnosed with Covid-19 in the first 18 months of the pandemic, beginning in March 2020. It compared them with the records of 1.64 million people who had a medical visit in the same month in which the Covid patients were diagnosed but did not become infected with the coronavirus during the study period, which ended on Oct. 31, 2021.
On a Friday in March, Abigail Glaum-Lathbury was making her way through the Gucci store on Fifth Avenue, browsing items from a collaboration with Balenciaga called the Hacker Project. The collection was conceptual, a way of exploring the ideas of originality and authenticity in the fashion industry. There were bags whose interlocking Gs had been replaced with back-to-back Bs and jackets on which Gucci had been printed in Balenciagas house font  codes that, in their countless reinterpretations, have remained some of the clearest and most coveted markers of luxury.

Ms. Glaum-Lathbury picked up a Balenciaga-purple stretch top emblazoned with Guccis trademark green-and-red stripes. Its $2,700 price tag suggested quality and craftsmanship: fine fabrics, perfect seams, hand-embroidered details. But the shirt was made from polyester; the stripes, Ms. Glaum-Lathbury noted, had been digitally printed on the bias of the fabric. It looked a bit like a counterfeit, which was the whole point: The designers were trying to make consumers think about value.

A sales clerk approached her and asked: Do you make clothes? Designers, he said, are the only people who look so closely at the garments in the store. No one inspects the stitching, he said.

Ms. Glaum-Lathbury, 38, is a clothing designer, though her own small and short-lived label folded nearly a decade ago. Now she is an associate professor of fashion design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and occupies her off hours with personal and conceptual projects examining the qualities that make a garment desirable.
WASHINGTON  A shaken and emotional President Biden declared that it is time to turn this pain into action Tuesday night as he addressed the nation following the slaughter of 18 elementary school children and a teacher in Texas.

Its just sick, he said of the sorts of weapons that are easily available in the United States.

Mr. Biden spoke for just seven minutes, giving voice to the grief and anger and frustration of many Americans, asking: Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?

The president took direct aim at gun manufacturers and their representatives in Washington, urging politicians to stand up to the power they wield. But he made no specific gun control proposals nor called on Congress to vote immediately on legislation.

The gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons, which make them the most and largest profit, Mr. Biden said. For Gods sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry.
Senator Chris Murphy was a young United States representative from Connecticut when he stood at a firehouse in 2012 with families from his district as they learned that their children, all first graders, had been shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

On Tuesday, nearly 10 years later, he stood on the Senate floor in anguish as yet another American city learned that children in elementary school had been gunned down.

What are we doing? What are we doing? Mr. Murphy demanded of his colleagues, imploring them to take action on gun control.

Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senate  why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authority  if your answer is that as this slaughter increases, as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing?
Harry B. Harris Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and a retired admiral who led the U.S. Pacific Command, said the United States now needed to adopt strategic clarity rather than strategic ambiguity to serve as a deterrent. China, he said, isnt holding back its preparations for whatever it decides it wants to do simply because were ambiguous about our position.

The United States has been urging allies to speak up on Taiwan in an effort to show Beijing that Washington can rally other nations against China if it attacks the self-governing democratic island. On Monday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan said at a news conference with Mr. Biden that the two leaders had affirmed the importance of peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.

In the three months of war in Ukraine, Washington has held together a coalition of European and Asian partners to impose sanctions against Russia. U.S. officials say they hope the measures send a message to China and other nations about the costs of carrying out the type of invasion overseen by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. U.S. officials are already discussing to what extent they could replicate the economic penalties and the military aid deployed in defense of Ukraine in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.

I want P.L.A. officers to wake up each day and believe they cannot isolate Taiwan in a conflict and must instead face the decision of initiating a costly, wider conflict where their objectives are beyond their reach, said Eric Sayers, a former senior adviser to the U.S. Pacific Command who is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, referring to the Peoples Liberation Army.

The statement from the Chinese army on Wednesday described Chinas drills near Taiwan as a solemn warning to the United States and Taiwan. The spokesman for Chinas Eastern Theater Command, Senior Col. Shi Yi, said in an online statement: It is hypocritical and futile for the United States to say one thing and do another on the Taiwan issue.

U.S. intelligence analysts have been studying the evolving relationship between China and Russia and the lessons Beijing might be drawing from Ukraine.

Chinese leaders face a complicated calculus in weighing whether their military can seize Taiwan without incurring an overwhelming cost.
One informant told Mr. Shihab that he could help him contact organizations that smuggled immigrants into the United States, and obtain false immigration and identification documents, according to the warrant application.

Mr. Shihab told a second undercover informant that he could help him bring undocumented immigrants into the United States, with the help of the first informant.

Late last year, Mr. Shihab told the first informant, who he thought was a smuggler, that four Iraqi citizens he intended to sneak into the United States were members of ISIS who would help him kill Mr. Bush, according to the warrant application. The men would need to be brought into the country via Brazil.

One of those men was the secretary of an ISIS financial minister, Mr. Shihab told the informant, and he planned to use a car dealership in Columbus to funnel money from the secretary into the United States, according to court papers, which gave a detailed accounting of Mr. Shihabs interactions with the informant.

Mr. Shihab told the informant that he had connections to ISIS, including work with terrorist groups to kill many Americans in Iraq from 2003 to 2006, and that he transported vehicles and weapons from Syria into Iraq to supply terrorist groups.

He also said that he was related to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the man who helped turn the Islamic State into a global terrorist network and who died in 2019 after he detonated a suicide vest to evade capture by the U.S. government.

Mr. Shihab asked the informant what kind of security Mr. Bush had at his house in Texas, and whether four or six people would be enough to carry out the assassination, according to court documents. He also asked the informant if he could obtain fake police or F.B.I. identification badges that could be used as part of the plot.
Bahrains Labour Fund (Tamkeen) has signed a new strategic cooperation agreement with the American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC), a global organisation specialised in company turnaround, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and improving non-performing enterprises as well as enterprises that are performing below their full potential.

AIAC brings decades of turnaround expertise and will provide advisory support as part of Tamkeens recently launched Business Turnaround programme that aims to empower enterprises to transform their business models in response to major organisational, market, technology and financial challenges and opportunities, a statement said.

The Business Turnaround programme is among the 16 programmes Tamkeen launched recently as part of an organisation-wide strategic transformation plan which focuses on creating greater impact for the national economy in response to market needs.

Husain Mohamed Rajab, Chief Executive of Tamkeen emphasised Tamkeens commitment to empowering enterprises in Bahrain and helping them become key contributors to the national economy.

He said: The effect of supporting productivity and sustainability of private sector enterprises will generate positive impact for the national economy, further driving the national priorities outlined in the governments economic recovery plan.

He added: This strategic cooperation with AIAC will provide enterprises eligible for the programme with advisory services that include understanding the business performance as well as its potential and a turnaround implementation plan to enhance their business and operation models and optimise them to achieve higher productivity and sustainable growth. The outcome of these services will enable enterprises to get on a path of recovery and growth, enhancing their competitiveness both locally and internationally, and helping them get closer to reaching their full potential.

The American Industrial Acquisition Corporation boasts over two decades of experience in turning around enterprises and enabling them to survive and thrive. They are practitioners experienced in evaluating underperforming businesses and developing strategies tailored to their needs to enhancing productivity and success.

Peter Graham, Managing Director COO, Asia, AIAC, said: We are very impressed with the strategic vision of Bahrains government and the mandate of Tamkeen to empower Bahraini individuals and private sector enterprises. It is a great initiative by Tamkeen to tailor programmes and build partnerships for enterprises in all sizes and through all their development stages. AIAC portfolio consists of 78 manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia across different sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare and renewable energy. We look forward to deploying our groups expertise across many sectors with the objective of turning around Bahraini businesses that would contribute significantly to the Kingdom of Bahrains economy.

Earlier this year Tamkeen embarked on a strategic transformation journey that encompassed the entire organization and resulted in the launch of a line-up of objective-driven support programmes and a transparent and enhanced assessment process. The new programmes were developed following a series of consultation sessions with representatives from various sectors and thus cater to the market requirements, it said.

The transformation initiative focuses on creating greater impact for the national economy in response to market needs.

Tamkeen will continue to launch programmes and initiatives that serve its main mandate of empowering Bahrainis to become the first choice of employment and enabling private sector enterprises to be key drivers of economic growth, the statement added.  TradeArabia News Service
Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Republican official who famously rebuffed former President Donald J. Trumps requests to find enough votes to help him overturn the 2020 election, defeated a Republican primary challenge on Tuesday.

Mr. Raffensperger, who serves as Georgias top elections official as secretary of state, won his G.O.P. primary against Representative Jody Hice, a Republican congressman who voted to overturn the 2020 election and who was backed by Mr. Trump.

The Associated Press called the victory for Mr. Raffensperger, who was able to win back the trust of Republican voters in Georgia by promoting himself as a champion of election integrity and rebutting falsehoods made by Mr. Trump and his allies about the 2020 election. His victory amounted to a repudiation of Mr. Trumps attempts to weaponize 2020 election falsehoods into political success in 2022.

Mr. Raffensperger did not mention Mr. Trump by name in his victory remarks on Tuesday night, but he made a clear reference to him. Not buckling under the pressure is what the people want, Mr. Raffensperger said.
Mr. Abbott said that the shooter was a resident of the same county where the shooting took place, that he attended high school there and that he had acted alone. He entered the elementary school with a handgun and possibly a rifle, the governor said.

It was not immediately clear whether the shooting took place in one classroom or several and officials did not release the names or ages of the students killed or of the teacher. At least three children  a 9-year-old and two 10-year-olds, one in critical condition  were taken to University Health, a hospital in San Antonio, for treatment.

Officials were looking into whether the gunman, whom they identified as Salvador Ramos, had been targeting the school or whether he ended up there by chance, according to a law enforcement official, who requested anonymity to describe the investigation that he cautioned was still unfolding. The gunman appeared to have crashed a pickup truck through a barrier at the school before heading inside, the official said. At least two law enforcement officials who had tried to engage the gunman were injured in the shooting, neither seriously, the official said.

Marsha Espinosa, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said at least one agent with the U.S. Border Patrol was wounded after responding to the shooting at Robb Elementary School. Upon entering the building, Agents & other law enforcement officers faced gun fire from the subject, who was barricaded inside, she wrote on Twitter.

Shortly before the massacre, a 66-year-old woman was shot in her home in Uvalde, the official said, and later airlifted to a San Antonio hospital with gunshot wounds. The official said the woman appeared to have been the gunmans grandmother and had been shot before the shooting at the school; both shootings, and the connection between them, remained under investigation.

The shooting took place just after 11:30 a.m. For much of the afternoon, as word spread, anguished parents were instructed by the district to stay away from the school. Please do not pick up students at this time, the school district instructed parents, directing them to a local civic center. Students need to be accounted for before they are released to your care.

Parents and relatives scrambled for any information as news of a shooter at the school turned into the realization that so many children had been killed.
Texas has long had some of the least-restrictive gun laws in the United States, priding itself as a state with responsible gun owners  more than a million  even with its recent history of mass shootings.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a wide-ranging law in 2021 that ended the requirement for Texans to obtain a license to carry handguns, allowing virtually anyone over the age of 21 to carry one. The landmark law made the state one of the largest to adopt a constitutional carry law that basically eliminates most restrictions on the ability to carry handguns.

Mr. Abbott described the bill last year as the strongest Second Amendment legislation in Texas history.

It is unclear what type of weapon or weapons the gunman, whom the authorities identified as an 18-year-old, used in the Uvalde shooting.
Though shootings at schools quieted during the beginning of the pandemic, when schools across the country shut down, they began again in earnest last year as society reopened and more students returned to learning in person.

Before Tuesday, there had been 26 shootings at schools so far this year, resulting in six fatalities, according to a tally by the news outlet Education Week.

And there are indications that instances of gunfire at schools have been increasing. Education Weekly recorded 34 school shootings last year, an increase from before the pandemic. The outlet tallied 24 school shootings each in 2019 and 2018.

Most shootings on school grounds do not result in mass fatalities, but mass shootings at schools have been among the highest profile in a nation ravaged by gun violence.

In 2018, 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., giving a platform to high school students who became activists. That same year, 10 people were killed in a shooting at Santa Fe High School, in Santa Fe, Texas.
OTTAWA  Quebecs legislature on Tuesday passed a law to reinforce the primacy of the French language, limiting access to public services in English and enhancing government powers to enforce compliance, despite objections from some of the provinces English speakers, Indigenous people and members of other linguistic minorities.

The provincial government says the law is needed to preserve the status of Quebec as the largest French-speaking enclave in the Americas, while critics call it an attempt to create a monoculture within a proudly multicultural country. The national government says that about 85 percent of Quebecs more than 8 million people speak French as their primary language.

Expanding on existing language law, the legislation provides that immigrants to Canada who settle in Quebec will not be able to deal with the government in English or other languages more than six months after their arrival.

Most small and medium-size businesses will require government certification that they operate in French, as larger companies have for years. And the new law will raise the bar that a company must meet to justify requiring that new workers speak or read languages other than French.
PALERMO, Sicily  Until recently, this city was infamous as one of the worlds organized crime capitals. Warring mobsters gunned down rivals in the streets and built ugly high-rise apartments with public funds while much of the historic center was left to crumble.

Palermo authorities have since managed to clamp down on the Mafia, and the city, Sicilys capital, feels like a very different place today. Anti-Mafia posters are a common sight on the fronts of buildings, and the streets now throb with tourists. But Palermos bounceback is fragile, and many remain wary that the Mafia could stage a comeback.

A key point in Palermos turnaround was the murder of Giovanni Falcone, a judge who pioneered new methods to combat Mafia influence and paved the way for the restoration of law and order. The Mafia had its revenge in 1992, killing Falcone in a bombing that horrified residents and united them against the mob.
Obviously Gus Van Sants 2008 film Milk exposed the story to many more people.

Gus actually came to Harvey Milk in San Francisco, and he borrowed a few things from us, like Tosca. Which was in there because the night before Harvey Milk was murdered, he went to San Francisco Opera, and what was performed? Tosca. It was a very literal thing. But we turned the opera into a place of pilgrimage and revelation for him. So that and some other things we did are in the film.

What exactly has changed about the opera?

I started to look at it with all these years of experience in between  not trying to make it more refined or sophisticated, just thinking about how to deploy the resources, and not waste any time. I think the running time of the music is now an hour and 50 minutes, and it was an almost three-hour evening when we did it in the first run. At San Francisco Opera there were something like 80 or 85 players, and in St. Louis there will be about 66; and at Opera Parallele, about 31. It can now be done by small or large companies.

The music is freer now, and more organic, and yet completely recognizable as what we wrote. The bones are the same, but the meat is different; its leaner and more fluid and more direct, with more rhythmic clarity. Theres nothing to take you away from the thrust of the narrative and the music.
Bob Day Afternoon (Season 2, Episode 2)

The first season of Bobs Burgers felt like a writing staff trying to find its sense of humor. This is the shows first great episode, a chapter that finds Bob embroiled in a bank robbery undertaken by a hapless criminal named Mickey (Bill Hader). The Belchers will try to turn anything into publicity, which is what happens when Bob realizes that the hostage-taking criminal wants burgers from his restaurant. Its also an early example of how often Bobs storytelling hinges on miscommunications that lead to a Belchers being thrust into the role of an ordinary hero in an extraordinary situation.

An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal (Season 3, Episode 5)

There are several strong holiday-themed episodes that could make the list, but this Thanksgiving episode tops them all. Its a formative chapter for the playfully manipulative Calvin Fischoeder (Kevin Kline), the Belchers landlord, who offers the family free rent for five months if they pretend to be his family for the holiday. Class issues often elevate the best episodes of Bobs; this one demonstrates both how much the Belchers could use the free rent and their unwillingness to sacrifice family unity to get it. It also features The Thanksgiving Song, one of the greatest songs from a show known for its clever music. It was even covered by the rock band The National.

Broadcast Wagstaff School News (Season 3, Episode 12)

By this point, the writers knew what made the Belchers funny, producing several fantastic chapters in the first half of the third season. This one rises above many strong contenders from this period by highlighting the Belcher children and the array of personalities at their school, Wagstaff, which is under the threat of a serial defecator known as the Mad Pooper. It also really allows the awkward eldest child, Tina (Dan Mintz), a chance to shine when her superiors at the school news station try to bury the story, forcing her to skirt journalistic ethics to break it. Its a perfect example of how the writing on this show can use juvenile premises to craft smart comedy.
19 children killed in elementary school shooting

A gunman killed at least 19 children and two adults yesterday at Robb Elementary School, an elementary school in the rural Texas community of Uvalde, west of San Antonio, officials said, in the deadliest American school shooting since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary a decade ago.

The gunman, whom the authorities identified as an 18-year-old man who had attended a nearby high school, was armed with several weapons, officials said, adding that he died at the scene. It was not immediately clear whether the shooting took place in one classroom or several. Officials did not release the names or ages of the students or adults killed.

The tragedy comes just 10 days after the mass killing of Black shoppers in a grocery store in Buffalo, in what was one of the deadliest racist massacres in recent American history. Together, the shootings deepen a national political debate over gun laws and the widespread prevalence of weapons in the U.S.

Address: Speaking from the White House last night, President Biden grew emotional as he reflected on the massacre and called for action. Where in Gods name is our backbone, the courage to do more and then stand up to the lobbies? he said. Its time to turn this pain into action.
Nineteen children were murdered in Uvalde, Texas, yesterday. They were elementary school students, attending their last week of classes before summer vacation, when an 18-year-old gunman came through the door and began shooting.

He also killed two adults, including a teacher, and appears to have shot his grandmother in her home before going to the school. At least three kids are in critical condition.

By now, the story of American gun violence is unsurprising. Mass shootings happen frequently. The list from just the past decade includes supermarkets in Buffalo and in Boulder, Colo.; a rail yard in San Jose, Calif.; a birthday party in Colorado Springs; a convenience store in Springfield, Mo.; a synagogue in Pittsburgh; churches in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and in Charleston, S.C.; a Walmart in El Paso; a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis; a music festival in Las Vegas; massage parlors in the Atlanta area; a Waffle House in Nashville; a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.; and a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.

Even school shootings happen often enough that we know some of the names: Sandy Hook Elementary School, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Oxford High School, Santa Fe High School, Columbine High School. Robb Elementary School in Uvalde has joined this horrific list.
55 confirmed, 503 asymptomatic cases reported in Shanghai

By:Zhao Chunyuan | From:english.eastday.com | 2022-05-23 18:55

Shanghai reported 55 newly confirmed local COVID-19 cases and 503 new asymptomatic cases at a municipal government press conference on May 23. On May 22, 1 new death was reported in Shanghai. She was an elderly patient aged 93 years old.

On May 22, 3,019 patients were discharged from hospitals or makeshift hospitals after recovering or having completed their medical observation period.

Up to May 22, 3,751,300 people aged 60 and above had been vaccinated against COVID-19 in Shanghai at a rate of over 64.51 percent, with 9,617,700 shots dispensed, according to the municipal government press conference.
SNC-Lavalin, a global construction and project management group, said it has been awarded a four-year project management office (PMO) and engineering design review services contract by the Saudi Electric Company and The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Corporation to support the Saudi-Egypt power grids project.

The first large-scale high voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection in the Middle East and North Africa region, the Saudi-Egypt power grids project is being set up at an investment of $1.8 billion.

SNC-Lavalins PMO mandate includes supervising the design and execution of the project, and involves supervision of contractors throughout the engineering, construction and commissioning phases.

The project will be led by the companys regional expertise in the Middle East and supported by its global HVDC Center of Excellence in Canada.

"For more than half a century, SNC-Lavalin has established a proven track record in the clean power market by delivering some of the most complex HVDC interconnection projects around the world," remarked Ian L Edwards, the President and CEO of SNC-Lavalin.

"Our unrivalled engineering capabilities and understanding of the energy market are coupled with the highest quality standards and latest technologies to ensure we deliver sustainable power solutions to our global clients and the communities they serve," he added.

The region's top HVDC interconnection will extend 1,300 km from Egyptian capital Cairo to Saudi city of Madinah, with an intermediate point located in Tabuk city.

Given the long distance involved and the fact that the two countries use different electric frequencies, the interconnection will use HVDC technology to allow for total control of the power flow in either direction.

Once complete, the Saudi-Egypt Interconnection project will allow the two countries to exchange up to 3 GW of electricity at peak times, powering upward of 20 million people.

"With over 50 years presence in the Middle East, we have established a track record of delivering flagship power projects across the region," remarked Karl Matalani, Vice-President, Power, Middle East at SNC-Lavalin.

Since the 1970s, SNC-Lavalin has established itself as a world-renowned engineering provider for HVDC systems. Its global team consists of highly experienced HVDC specialists and project delivery teams supported by a network of top industry experts.

"Our first-in-class global HVDC engineering team, deployed in several regions around the world, is honoured to oversee the implementation of such an impressive length of network across a challenging geographic landscape that includes both land and sea," he stated.

"In 2010, we had also successfully completed the front-end engineering and design mandate for the Saudi-Egypt power grids project," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
A deadly school shooting in Texas

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed on Tuesday in a single classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Officers fatally shot the 18-year-old gunman at the scene. Here are live updates.

The gunman also wounded several more children. Before entering the school, he shot his grandmother.

Authorities have identified all the victims. Amerie Jo Garza, 10, was a jokester, always smiling, her father said. Eva Mireles, a teacher, loved those children, her neighbor said.

Background: The massacre is the second-deadliest school shooting on record in the U.S., only surpassed by the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 children and six teachers a decade ago. I guess its something in society we know will happen again, over and over, a Sandy Hook father said.

National context: The massacre amplified an anguished debate over firearms legislation and the nations stupefying record of gun violence. Before the pandemic, the U.S. had more guns than citizens, and the pace of gun buying has risen. So has the toll of gun violence, especially on children.
Chinese cities and provinces have turned to regular mass coronavirus testing, even in the absence of a local Covid-19 outbreak, raising concerns about the economic toll.

The 99 million residents of central Henan Province will be required to take P.C.R. tests every other day by June. In the eastern province of Zhejiang, drivers are tested at highway exits before they can enter. Beijing, which has a small outbreak, is among the cities now requiring a test to get on the subway or enter any public place.

The zero Covid approach to contain the highly infectious Omicron variant risks increasing economic stress and further irking a population that has been protesting the countrys strict lockdowns. Even so, officials are sticking with it. The strategy has appeared repeatedly in official announcements and state media in recent weeks.
After Uvalde

The horrific school shooting yesterday in Uvalde, Texas, has ramped up the intensity of the national debate over gun control and the emotions around it.

The gunman killed 21 people, including 19 children, making this the deadliest shooting at a U.S. elementary school since the 2012 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. Because he turned 18 this month, the gunman was able to legally purchase two AR-15-style rifles in Texas, The Houston Chronicle reported.

Soon after the shooting, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, moved to clear the way to force votes on legislation that would strengthen background checks for gun buyers. Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, said he was horrified and heartbroken by the shooting. But he and other Republican lawmakers gave no signal that they might drop their longstanding opposition to tighter gun laws, even though polls show that Americans overwhelmingly support such measures.

With the Senate divided 50-50, any legislation on guns would have to draw the support of all Democrats and at least 10 Republicans to advance. The Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has said he still supports the legislation on background checks that he and the Republican Senator Pat Toomey introduced after Sandy Hook, but yesterday he said he did not favor eliminating the filibuster to pass such a bill.
In the immediate aftermath of the Uvalde shooting, the second-deadliest school shooting on record, Democratic lawmakers cleared the way to force votes on legislation that would strengthen background checks for gun purchasers, which have previously been blocked by Republicans. Weve been burned so many times before, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said of previous attempts to negotiate a bipartisan compromise on gun safety laws, suggesting that this latest attempt will also face long odds.

The increase in gun-related stocks on Wednesday was a stronger reaction than the one that followed the attack at a Buffalo grocery store last week, when many of these companies shares initially went up but ended the day little changed in the first trading session after the shooting. After the 2012 attack in Newtown, Conn., the deadliest school shooting, many gun stocks fell in the days after.

Stocks are going up because people think there is going to be a spike in gun sales, not because they think there will be new restrictions, says Alex Barrio, the director of advocacy for gun violence prevention at the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress. Its a bet on fear.

Gun sales have gone up sharply during the pandemic, setting new monthly records as some feared that the coronavirus outbreak could lead to civil unrest. That wasnt necessarily a boon for some firearms companies, with Remington filing for bankruptcy in mid-2020 for a second time in two years, struggling to pay its debt and hefty legal fees. In February, the families of nine Sandy Hook school shooting victims settled a lawsuit for $73 million with Remington, which made the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack. It was one of the largest and most significant settlements to date, as federal immunity for gunmakers provides a strong shield from litigation.

Gun control advocates recently petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and regulate the firearms industry as it has done with the tobacco industry, accusing companies of deceptive advertising practices. The State of New Jersey is pursuing a lawsuit against Smith & Wesson for the way it markets its products, seeking the release of internal documents.
With 45 million borrowers owing it a total of $1.6 trillion, the federal Education Department is effectively Americas largest consumer bank. And like any bank, it sees some of its loans go bad when borrowers cant pay.

But unlike any other lender, the federal government keeps those bad debts around in perpetuity.

There is no simple way for the department to write off those loans, and student debt is nearly impossible to shed in bankruptcy. Over the years, it has piled up into an enormous problem: More than seven million people, one of every five borrowers with payments due, have defaulted and failed to pay, sometimes for decades. Those borrowers live under the shadow of punitive collections tactics, while the government throws good money after bad.

Now the freeze on student loans that started early in the pandemic is giving the government its best shot in a generation to address the problem. Before the pause ends, the Biden administration plans to offer defaulted borrowers the chance to restore their loans to good standing. That will allow those borrowers to get into payment plans they may actually be able to afford.

Advocates view the novel move as a way to deal with very stale debts  especially if its paired with the kind of large-scale loan forgiveness that President Biden says he is considering. Should Mr. Biden use an executive action to forgive $10,000 per borrower in student debt, he would wipe out the balances of more than 4.6 million people who were behind on their payments before the pandemic, according to Education Department data sent to Congress last year.
The future of fossil fuels and the fight against climate change in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis has been a major topic this week in Davos. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said she hoped to see an agreement among countries in the European Union to sanction Russian oil in the coming weeks.

Speaking on the main stage at Davos on Tuesday, Ms. von der Leyen said there was no doubt that we are witnessing how Russia is weaponizing its energy supplies.

Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, a crucial vote for potential climate legislation in the evenly divided Senate, told a crowd in Davos that fossil fuels  the burning of which is driving climate change  must be part of the solution.

The United States of America has an abundant supply of natural gas and oil, Mr. Manchin said, adding, We can use our fossil and the cleanest technology humanly possible to make sure that we are reliable, we have reliability and we have security.

Mr. Kerry on Tuesday sat on a panel with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua. The two later met privately  the first face-to-face meeting between the top negotiators of the worlds two biggest climate polluters since the global climate summit last year in Glasgow.

Understand the Latest News on Climate Change Card 1 of 3 Hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects an above normal Atlantic hurricane season this year. If that plays out, it would make 2022 the seventh consecutive year with an above-normal season. Extreme heat. Global warming has made the severe heat wave in Pakistan and India  now in its third month  hotter and much more likely to occur in the future, according to scientists. The researchers said that the chances of a heat wave in South Asia like this one have increased by at least 30 times since preindustrial times Warming oceans. A new study found that if fossil fuel emissions continue apace, warming waters could trigger ocean species loss by the year 2300 that is on par with the five mass extinctions in Earths past. But reining in emissions now could drastically reduce those extinction risks, researchers found.





Speaking on the sidelines at the conference, Mr. Kerry called the meeting constructive. He acknowledged that the broader disagreements between Washington and Beijing were having an impact on climate talks. But, he said, we are trying very hard to maintain capacity for serious progress because the world cant make progress without China and the United States working on this.

Its imperative we continue to work together, he added.

In a joint interview, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Brende said they believed it was still possible to meet the current need for more oil and natural gas to replace Russian energy while still significantly cutting fossil fuel emissions over the next decades.
These are the most difficult mornings: the sun rising after senseless acts of violence, shining on beds that werent slept in, that wont be slept in again.

There are 19 dead schoolchildren in Uvalde, Texas, as of this writing, along with two dead adults and the dead 18-year-old gunman. Several other children were injured in the shooting on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School, including a 10-year-old in critical condition. The gunman also shot a 66-year-old woman whom authorities said was his grandmother. She, too, is in critical condition.

Its exhausting and seemingly endless, as my colleague David Leonhardt wrote a few hours ago for The Times: The list from just the past decade includes supermarkets in Buffalo and in Boulder, Colo.; a rail yard in San Jose, Calif.; a birthday party in Colorado Springs; a convenience store in Springfield, Mo.; a synagogue in Pittsburgh; churches in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and in Charleston, S.C.; a Walmart in El Paso; a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis; a music festival in Las Vegas; massage parlors in the Atlanta area; a Waffle House in Nashville; a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.; and a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.

And Im here to tell you what to cook right now?

Food plays a central role in our reaction to tragedy, to death and grieving. Its why casseroles appear on the doorsteps and countertops of those experiencing it, why we feel the urge to roast chickens or assemble lasagnas when the news is grim. Food is comfort of a sort, and fuel as well, for anger and sorrow alike. We cook to provide for those we love and for ourselves. In the activity itself we strive to find relief, strength, resolve.
Last week, President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to increase formula production and authorized the use of aircraft to speed shipment of infant formula to the United States from overseas. The first military plane carrying 500,000 bottles of formula arrived in Indianapolis from Europe on Sunday.

During the hearing, Xavier Becerra, the secretary of Health and Human Services, tweeted that 60 tons of baby formula had just arrived on U.S. soil. He posted a photo of the first lady, Jill Biden, in front of the FedEx plane delivering an overseas shipment on Wednesday.

The F.D.A. said last week that it set up a streamlined process for foreign baby formula manufacturers to send their products to the United States. On Tuesday, it announced that it approved one companys application to send two million cans.

Mr. Biden has also signed legislation into law broadening the types of formula that can be purchased using benefits from the federal food aid program for women and babies, which cleared both chambers of Congress with few objections. A House-passed emergency $28 million measure to boost staffing for the agency, however, has stalled as some senators question whether the money will adequately address the shortage.

We dont want anybody to be short of baby formula or anything, said Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Lets see if we need it  the answer is not always money. The answer is good government and market forces.

It is unclear what other legislative steps Congress will take. But as pleas from desperate parents searching for formula flooded Capitol Hill, lawmakers hastily scheduled hearings to interrogate both Dr. Califf and top industry executives over the failures that led to the shortage.

Two more hearings are scheduled for this week, with House Appropriations subcommittees summoning a panel of experts on Wednesday and Dr. Califf set to appear before the Senates Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday.

Emily Cochrane contributed to this report.
The package arrived, unbidden, two days into New York Citys lockdown in March 2020. We were adapting to our new life, prowling through the apartment at all hours. I was trying to figure out how to hand-stitch masks using old jeans and shoelaces. I wasnt sure what to do with the mail  whether we should let it sit for a few days, so any trace of the virus would die off (we knew so little back then)  but when I saw the address on the package, I couldnt wait, and I swabbed it down with disinfectant wipes and tore it open.

It was biscotti. Ten dark, perfect biscotti, studded with cashews. They came with a note from the baker: He was closing up shop because of the lockdown, cleaning out the kitchen, and when he saw he had one packet of biscotti left, he thought I should have them. They were my favorite, he remembered.

Is it ridiculous to cry over a cookie? I ate each one as if it were the last, and then it was the last, and they were gone.

Its strange to me now, but I was not always a lover of biscotti. (Forgive me, Italy.) Which is to say, I didnt entirely understand them. Their name comes from the Latin biscoctus, or twice cooked, a technique long used to help grain-based foods last longer; Roman legionnaires marching into battle subsisted for months on rations of bucellatum, twice-baked biscuits. For biscotti, the dough is rolled into logs and given a spell in the oven, then cooled, sliced and slotted back in. The second turn in the oven essentially sucks them dry and gives them that signature crunch. Sometimes too much crunch: The versions I first encountered were flinty and left me with a mouthful of dust.
This heartfelt comedy-drama feels like a movie you should have heard more about  the most recent directorial effort by Phil Alden Robinson (Sneakers, Field of Dreams), featuring one of the Robin Williamss final performances, and a stellar supporting cast that includes Mila Kunis, Melissa Leo and a Game of Thrones-era Peter Dinklage. Williams is the title character, an eternal curmudgeon who discovers he has mere minutes to live, and must set right all the relationships hes burned down in recent years. Robinson has some trouble settling on a consistent, successful tone, and the occasional vignette doesnt land. But Williams is wonderful, conveying the characters furious rage and endless regret with equal aplomb, and the circumstances of his own passing mere months after its release lends extra pathos to his journey.
Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) and Wego, a leading online travel marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), have launched a campaign to drive tourism to the kingdom.

Wego will work closely with BTEA to attract more travellers to the country in line with the governments strategy for 2026 which aims to bring over 14.1 million tourists to the kingdom, said a statement from Wego.

The campaign will shed light on the things to do in the country for all types of travellers including solos, couples, and families as well as the key destinations to explore. It will be promoted on all Wegos marketing channels and it aims to convert searches to bookings.

Mamoun Hmedan, Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director, MENA and India, Wego, commented: We continue to partner with tourism boards to promote tourism recovery and attract more travelers to the destinations in the new norm in 2022. Were proud to collaborate with Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority. This partnership further strengthens our commitment to our customers to offer them the best destinations to visit.

Dr Nasser Qaedi, the CEO of the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority, said: The launch of our partnership with Wego reinstates our drive to increase international footfall into the Kingdom and it comes at the right time as the island is filled with fantastic events and activities for tourists to enjoy.  TradeArabia News Service
The police almost caught him minutes after the train arrived at the Canal Street station and Abdullah  who had faced several gun-related offenses in the last six years and pleaded guilty to a weapons charge tied to two Harlem gangs in 2018  made his way to the street. He was stopped by transit officers who were searching for a gunman described as wearing gray sweatpants and a black hoodie.

When the officers encountered him, Abdullah had taken off the hoodie, so they saw only the orange-red T-shirt that had been underneath and concluded that he did not match the description, said James Essig, the chief of detectives. They let him go, but later, when they saw the T-shirt peeking out around the collar of the hoodie in security camera images, they realized he had been their man, said John Miller, deputy commissioner for public information.

The police have said that Abdullah stunned a car full of passengers on Sunday when he pulled out a 9-millimeter handgun and fired at Enriquez. Abdullah had been pacing and muttering to himself as the Q train made its way across the Manhattan Bridge, the police said. Abdullah and Enriquez, who was on the way to meet his younger brother for brunch, had had no interaction before Abdullah fired one shot at Enriquezs chest, the police said.

Abdullah slipped out in the chaos when the train pulled into the Canal Street station and handed the gun to a homeless man, two law enforcement officials said.

Lamor Miller-Whitehead, the bishop of Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches, said he had spoken with Abdullahs relatives as the suspect contemplated surrendering. He said the family had told him Abdullah suffered from mental illness, mental health challenges.
Tom Kean Jr., a New Jersey Republican locked in the states most competitive congressional race, has refused to debate his primary opponents.

He has avoided talking to most reporters.

And he has dodged questions about whether he agrees with the Republican National Committees characterization of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol as legitimate political discourse.

Mr. Kean, the scion of a storied political family, has adopted what appears to be a core strategy as he tries to avoid alienating moderate swing voters while facing challengers from the right: to keep his mouth, basically, shut.

Im calling it the vow of silence, said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.
A voucher program designed to reduce homelessness in New York City has been hamstrung by the discriminatory practices of landlords and real estate agents who have turned away people relying on subsidies to pay rent, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday.

The lawsuit, which accused more than 120 real estate companies, brokers and property owners across the city of engaging in the illegal practice, comes as New York City is struggling to move people out of shelters or off the streets and into homes, and reflects how voucher discrimination may be undermining nationwide efforts to address homelessness and segregation.

As part of a monthslong sting operation, investigators with a nonprofit watchdog group, the Housing Rights Initiative, posed as prospective tenants. The investigators made thousands of inquiries seeking to rent homes using a special city voucher for people struggling with evictions and homelessness. But in recorded phone calls, text messages and emails, which were shared with The New York Times, the investigators were repeatedly told that landlords did not rent to such voucher holders.

It is illegal in New York City, and in a growing number of places across the nation, for landlords to refuse to accept applications from tenants who depend on vouchers. The defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, include well-known firms such as Douglas Elliman and teams associated with Re/Max and Coldwell Banker, in addition to dozens of individual brokers and landlords.
The city announced on Tuesday that, since February, it had persuaded nearly 1,400 homeless people living in the subway to go to shelters. It did not say how many stayed in shelters, a number that is typically smaller: In January, two-thirds of those who went from subways to shelters left by the end of the month.

At the same time, fears over the coronavirus have not gone away. About 79 percent of subway riders who had not returned to trains said that social-distancing concerns were among the top factors keeping them away, according to a customer survey conducted last fall.

Michelle Lim, 39, lives in Manhattan and stopped taking the subway for nearly two years during the pandemic. She and her husband started biking or walking everywhere and bought Citi Bike memberships.

I started going distances that I previously would have never thought were bikeable, she said.

Ms. Lim, who is Asian, said she was also nervous about the possibility of violence on the subway, especially given the rise in random attacks on Asian residents.

You cant get sucker punched on a bike, she said.

The M.T.A. is also facing a potential existential crisis after huge revenue losses during the pandemic. An infusion of state and federal money helped the agency stave off a deficit that is expected to reach $2 billion in 2026.

But its largest funding source is money collected from customers. Once government pandemic aid runs out, transit officials could face pressure to raise fares or to cut service. Subway leaders worry about setting off a transit death spiral, where cuts to service make transit a less convenient option for the public, prompting further drops in ridership.
As she drove away, she could not help wondering: Am I going to see my son again?

All of it is senseless, Ms. Davis said. Were not safe anywhere, it just makes you want to stay home and lock yourself up and not go out for anything.

The Texas shooting also rekindled the long-smoldering grief around the devastating shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a decade ago that left six staff members and 20 children dead, some as young as 6 years old.

Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son, Jesse, was killed in the Sandy Hook shootings, said learning about every mass shooting is like a punch in the gut every single time that reactivates the pain and grief.

For me, it never gets easier, Ms. Lewis said. Especially because theyre all preventable. Its so difficult to lose a child and you always have that pain.

In New York City, even with some of the strictest gun laws in the country, some parents said they were on high alert after the Texas shooting, the massacre in Buffalo, and a mass shooting on a crowded subway car in April, in which a gunman opened fire during rush hour in a subway car in Brooklyn, shooting 10 people and injuring at least 13 more.

The feelings are just everywhere at this point, said Victor Quinonez, whose 11-year-old daughter attends a school in Brooklyn. Its anger, its frustration, its sadness.

Its just difficult because theres absolutely a sense of vulnerability for everybody in this country, because you cant control what people do, he said.
Welcome back to Summer in the City.

Memorial Day is only days away, so were back with suggestions for summer fun. From now until Labor Day, my fellow Metro reporter Michael Gold or I will be in your inbox talking about our favorite spots to eat, socialize and relax around New York. And, bonus!: This summer, we also have Korsha Wilson joining us  shes a wonderful food writer and podcast host who will be highlighting food, drinks and restaurants that are worth trying.

This year, we thought it would be fun to start off with a summer bucket list. These are just suggestions, of course, so feel free to adapt or swap things out as you please. Wed also love to see your progress, so dont hesitate to reach out to us with tips, questions and photos at summer@nytimes.com. (We might feature some of our favorite ones in upcoming newsletters.)
The judge understands statistics, he understands prevalence, but were getting him to rule against nearly twice as many people as are actually responsible, Kamenica said.

The courtroom scene shows the power of being able to control information that is conveyed. If the plaintiff were just spewing cheap talk, he would always simply claim guilt, but such empty claims would never provide any information to a rational judge. The ability to commit to what type of information will be generated is a powerful tool, Kamenica said.

Now for some other applications of Bayesian persuasion:

The paper about lying politicians that came out this month is by Florian Ederer of the Yale School of Management and Weicheng Min of Yales economics department. Politicians would have no incentive to lie if fact-checkers caught 100 percent of their lies, the authors write, but if the probability of catching a lie is sufficiently low, a politician will compensate for the fact-checking by lying even more. The sender (in this case, a politician) noises up the information environment, Ederer said in an interview. (You might think that lying doesnt fit into a Bayesian persuasion framework, but Ederer says it can fit as long as the politician commits to sending a truthful or an untruthful message with a certain probability that can depend on the state of the world.)

Persuading With Anecdotes, a working paper issued in April 2021, says that its rational for nonexperts to obtain their information from people who are poorly informed but have similar preferences rather than from experts whose preferences may differ from their own. Experts have a vast stock of anecdotes and may choose ones that steer people toward their beliefs, says the paper, which has five authors, two from Microsoft, one from the University of California, Berkeley, one from the University of Michigan and one from Princeton. That explains a lot of what you see on social media.

The triumph of the silly anecdote is what you get when talk is cheap. That is not Bayesian persuasion. In the Bayesian case, the authors find, a sender of information wont cherry-pick anecdotes but rather will choose an unbiased and maximally informative communication scheme. Thats reassuring. Unfortunately, the Bayesian situation is rare.

Penelope Hernandez of the University of Valencia in Spain and Zvika Neeman of Tel Aviv University in Israel wrote a 2019 paper, How Bayesian Persuasion Can Help Reduce Illegal Parking and Other Socially Undesirable Behavior. They assume that if the likelihood of getting a ticket is below some threshold, people will park illegally. Assuming that the budget for enforcing parking rules is fixed, they write, it makes sense to give up on enforcing the rules at certain times and places and focus the budget on others. In an interview, Neeman said drivers could get a red signal on their phones when an enforcement agent is close and either a red or a green signal when the agent is far away. Drivers would be told, in all honesty, that the red signal might be a false alarm, but it would still induce them to park legally.

Bayesian persuasion hasnt been widely embraced by policymakers. In practice, people are probably less than fully Bayesian rational, and certainly, probably not as Bayesian rational as assumed in this paper, the paper by Hernandez and Neeman concedes.
Banning or restricting protest silences necessary dissent and closes off an avenue to shine a light on injustices, to get the attention of government officials and the public. The role of any public servant is to listen and respond to the concerns of all the citizens we serve, particularly those whose voices and perspectives are marginalized. In cases where people are dismissed, silenced or blocked from seeking change at the ballot box or through a breakdown of other democratic norms and institutions, protest may be the only means to effect change. In those cases, peaceful acts of dissent or civil disobedience can be enormously powerful.

Its also important to recognize, however, that not all protests are successful at prompting change. I expect that those who gathered outside my home also felt shut out from power when they screamed at me that night. But showing up at my home to shout falsehoods about an election because they didnt like the results did not help their cause. Many were there because theyd been lied to, told by people with immense power  including the departing president  that the 2020 election was stolen, though it was not.

Days later, a colleague told me of hearing that Mr. Trump had suggested in a White House meeting that I should be arrested, charged with treason and executed. (After I discussed this on NBC News recently, a spokesman for Mr. Trump accused me of lying.) These protesters attempted to bully me into abdicating my duty to protect the will of the people of Michigan. But the people who made me fear for my family that night also emboldened me to do my job with integrity.

In national coverage of the incident, people saw an angry group, some of them armed, outside the home of a woman and her young son. A month before the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, it was an early and alarming demonstration of how far some were willing to go to try to undermine a fair election.

A protests success is partly a matter of its effect. The march in Selma made a huge difference to the country. The bullying outside my home failed miserably.

The success or failure of the abortion rights protests outside the justices homes isnt clear. They were cheered on and defended as peaceful by many who were similarly upset by the Supreme Courts likely new position on Roe v. Wade. But still, the targeting of individual officials at home opened the protests up to criticism, which distracted from their important cause.

I will always advocate the power, and critical importance, of peaceful protest, which is a right that must be protected, even if it means protesters can sit peacefully or shout menacingly outside the homes of elected and appointed officials like the Supreme Court justices  or me and my family.
While I still support the right to bear arms, I believe we can borrow from regulated sectors that deal with other deadly devices. Why is it harder to obtain a drivers license than it is to buy automatic high-caliber rifles?

While my conservative counterparts across the country fight fervently to protect unborn babies, I worry that we are missing the mark by failing to protect our kids already on the playground.

Along with the majority of Americans, I challenge my elected officials to finally do something about this violent and very preventable social epidemic. I believe its time to pass sensible bipartisan legislation that requires more checks for those wishing to own any weapon capable of killings like this.

Chase Rigby

Newport Beach, Calif.

To the Editor:

All schoolteachers in this country should go on strike until sane gun laws are enacted. Enough is enough.

Nancy R. Brewster

Plymouth, Minn.

To the Editor:

Re An Emotional Biden: Why Do We Keep Letting This Happen? (news article, May 25):

President Biden is right to express sympathy for the families of the children killed in Ulvalde. Hes right to express outrage on behalf of the American people who are tired of senseless gun violence. Hes right to say, We have to act.

But thats weak tea. Of course we have to act. But how?

The president must tell the American people what to do to compel a recalcitrant Congress to act. Please, Mr. President, tell me and my fellow Americans what to do. In concrete terms. Ill do it, and so will many others.

Bradley Kemp

Lawrence, Kan.

To the Editor:

In response to the latest episode of gun carnage in our country, President Biden implored the nation to turn this pain into action. He asks when will we have the courage to stand up to the gun lobbies.
In an email, Huber wrote that there is a very simple alternative to explain growing partisan animosity:

People pick which party to be in on the basis of issues, (and) animosity is based in policy disagreement. We know people disagree about stuff, and of course that is the basis of politics. If we all agreed, we wouldnt need a political system to manage our disagreements. But, disagreement neednt be elite driven or linked to being in a tribe; it might just be that we have preferences.

Huber elaborated:

Because the parties are clearly defined ideologically, we tend on average to (correctly) assume that the mass publics views are also linked to their partisanship. So if I want to understand why people are affectively polarized, it is because they are correct that on average Republicans and Democrats disagree about issues, and not just random issues, but the issues that lead us to pick which party we belong to. I wouldnt call that tribal  that sounds like issue-based politics.

Orr contended in an email:

Several experiments have successfully manipulated feelings toward people from the opposing party and found no effects on anti-democratic attitudes or other predicted consequences of affective polarization. These results imply that affective polarization might not be as inherently dangerous as many researchers previously assumed. I dont mean to downplay the harm caused by partisan-motivated violence or dismiss efforts to combat blind partisan hostility, but a widespread failure to be upset by some of the things our fellow U.S. residents are trying to accomplish through politics can also put people in physical danger.

In an effort to clarify the relationship between ideological and affective polarization, I queried a number of political scientists and received some thoughtful responses.

Sean Westwood of Dartmouth stressed the importance of sorting:

Sorting argues that citizens and elites proactively move themselves to parties that best capture their views. By consequence this should reduce the prevalence of misaligned senators like Joe Manchin. Sorting makes the parties more cohesive and moves the party toward more extreme positions on average, increasing ideological polarization. Evidence for sorting among elites is very strong. The best way to think of this, I think, is that sorting causes polarization.

What, then, about affective polarization?

Affective polarization is more widespread than principled ideological polarization among voters. Even voters entirely ignorant of the policy positions of their party can develop an emotional attachment to co-partisans and a negative view of the opposition.

Unfortunately, Westwood continued,

We dont really know where affective polarization comes from or why it is surging. Some argue that it comes from ideological sorting, but this isnt very satisfying because many people have affective preferences and are simultaneously unable to correctly identify the policy positions of the parties.

How do sorting, ideological polarization and affective polarization interact?

Sorting among elites makes it less likely for more conservative voices to exist within the Democratic Party and for more liberal voices to exist in the Republican Party. This makes the parties more ideologically cohesive and more likely to adopt more extreme policy positions, increasing ideological polarization. This is magnified by the lack of centrists running for and winning office. Polarization is the consequence of the complementary phenomenon of growing ideological cohesion among the parties and fewer moderates to temper the movement of parties to ideological extremes.

At the same time, Westwood argues:

Voters are becoming more affectively polarized. The connection between elite ideological polarization and citizen affective polarization seems credible on face value, but evidence to support such a relationship is very hard to come by. This is what makes research on the causes of affective polarization so important and our current understanding so frustrating. I would see ideological polarization and affective polarization as two parallel and related phenomena, but with different antecedents and different effects on behavior.

Yphtach Lelkes, a professor of communications at the University of Pennsylvania, addressed my queries from a different angle, emphasizing ideological constraint:

With the risk of sounding overly academic, researchers sometimes say polarization can be thought of as a loss of dimensionality in the issue space. That is, if I knew your position on abortion, I didnt necessarily know your position on health care. Among elites, the dimensionality of the issue space has completely collapsed. If I know where a senator stands on abortion, I know where that senator stands on health care, gun rights, immigration, etc.

Political scientists, he continued,

have long argued that a sign of the disconnect between the mass public and elites is that the mass publics attitudes are multidimensional (knowing where someone stands on abortion doesnt necessarily tell me where they stand on health care), while elites attitudes are unidimensional.

That is changing, Lelkes argued, citing the work of Chris Hare in the paper I already mentioned: Hare (who knows a ton about this stuff) has recently shown that public opinion is now collapsing onto one dimension.

Affective polarization can have substantial real-world consequences.

James Druckman, Samara Klar, Yanna Krupnikov, Matthew Levendusky and John Barry Ryan, of Northwestern, the University of Arizona, Stony Brook, the University of Pennsylvania and Stony Brook, studied partisan responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in their 2021 paper, Affective polarization, local contexts and public opinion in America, and found:

For worry about Covid-19 and support for Covid-19 policies, the marginal effect of animus is significant and negative for Republicans in counties with few cases; the confidence intervals for the other marginal effects overlap with zero. Increases in animus are statistically significant only for Republicans in counties with low cases, suggesting that, for worry and support, partisan gaps are largely a function of Republicans with considerable animus towards Democrats.

Gary Jacobson, of the University of California, San Diego, summarized the evolution of polarization in his emailed reply:

Over the past four decades, largely in response to the more sharply differentiated alternatives presented by the national parties and their leaders, voters have sorted themselves into increasingly distinct and discordant political camps. As partisan identities, ideological leanings, and policy preferences have moved into closer alignment, individuals political attitudes have become more internally consistent and more distinct from those of partisans on the other side, leaving ordinary Republicans and Democrats in disagreement on a growing range of issues.

Political cleavages that once split the public in diverse ways, Jacobson continued,

now tend to coincide. Affective reactions to parties and candidates have diverged, largely because of partisans growing antipathy toward the other partys adherents and leaders. Widening demographic differences between the parties identifiers  differences in race, age, sex, religiosity, education, community and marital status  have also contributed to partisan tribalism, as has the increasing partisan homogeneity of the states and districts.

Sorting, in Jacobsons view,

is a primary source of affective polarization. If people on the other side are consistently wrong on all the important political questions, youll find it harder to like or respect them. This is especially the case if some of the issues have a large moral component (abortion, civil rights), where the other side is viewed as not just misguided but immoral, even evil.

Demographic sorting by race, education and geography contributes to affective polarization by clarifying who is us and who is them, Jacobson wrote: The more the parties appear to be differentiated by morality and identity, the more intense the partisan conflict and the greater the likelihood of violence.

Jacobson was not sympathetic to the findings in Fowlers Moderates paper:

My analysis is orthogonal to the findings of Moderates. Fowler et al. find that electorate is largely moderate in ideology, but they have little to say about how their findings relate to the data (like Hares) that regularly find that Americans have become increasingly divided along party lines on ideology, issues, and party affect, and so forth.

Jacobson stressed that the authors of Moderates

are all first-rate scholars and their methodological skills far surpass my own, so I take the empirical work seriously. But they havent yet related it to the wider literature or explained why so many centrist voters seem unable to elect centrists, or why it is when there is a national tide running against a party, its mostly moderates who lose.

As a sign of the schisms in the American electorate, Jacobson recalled a defeated congressman complaining that voters showed their desire for moderating national politics by voting out all the moderates.

There is another key factor underpinning growing polarization and the absence of moderate politicians.

Most legislative polarization is already baking into the set of people who run for office, Andrew Hall, a political scientist at Stanford, wrote in his book, Who Wants to Run: How the Devaluing of Political Office Drives Polarization: Indeed, when we look at the ideological positions of who runs for the House, we see the set of all candidates  not just incumbents  has polarized markedly since 1980.

This trend results from the fact that since the winning candidate gets to influence ideological policies in increasingly polarized legislatures and the Congress, the ideological payoffs of running for office are not equal across the ideological spectrum. As a result, when costs of running for office are high or benefits of holding office are low, more moderate candidates are disproportionately less likely to run.

In other words, polarization has created its own vicious circle, weeding out moderates, fostering extremists and constraining government action even in times of crisis.

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Iraqi charged for plotting murder of US Prez Bush

Washington, May 25 (UNI) US Justice Department has charged an Iraqi citizen for aiding and abetting plot to murder former President George W Bush.

A resident of Ohio's Columbus, Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, 52, was arrested by FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force agents on Tuesday.

He had entered the US in September 2020 on a visitor visa, and in March 2021, he filed a claim for asylum with United States citizenship.

The Department said that the charging document has alleged Shihab of exchanging money with others in an attempt to illegally bring foreign nationals to the US.

"In August 2021, Shihab allegedly intended to help who he thought was another Iraqi citizen enter the United States for a fee of $40,000. Shihab provided specific instructions on how he would smuggle the person into the United States after 60 days.

"In October and December 2021, Shihab accepted tens of thousands of dollars for the purported smuggling. In reality, the individual was fictitious, and the interaction was coordinated under the direction of the FBI," it said.

The document also alleged that Shihab was planning to smuggle four additional Iraqi foreign nationals into the United States for the purpose of killing former President George W. Bush in retaliation of Iraqi deaths during "Operation Iraqi Freedom."

In furtherance of the assassination plot, Shihab allegedly traveled to Dallas in February 2022 to conduct surveillance of locations associated with the former President, the document added.

UNI RNJ
The United States has become ungovernable not because of political differences or protest or a lack of civility but because this is a country unwilling to protect and care for its citizens  its women, its racial minorities and especially its children.

When politicians talk about civility and public discourse, what theyre really saying is that they would prefer for people to remain silent in the face of injustice. They want marginalized people to accept that the conditions of oppression are unalterable facts of life. They want to luxuriate in the power they hold, where they never have to compromise, never have to confront their consciences or lack thereof, never have to face the consequences of their inaction.

Gun violence is one of the problems with which they need not concern themselves because they believe these calamities will never affect them or their families. Instead, these politicians talk about protecting our Second Amendment rights  and they have reimagined the Second Amendment as something that will accommodate whatever the gun lobby wants, rather than what the Constitution actually says. With a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, the continued reinvention of the Second Amendment will likely flourish, unchecked.

When asked for solutions, Republicans talk about arming teachers and training them to defend their classrooms. We hear about how good guys with guns will valiantly stop mass shootings, even though there have been good guys with guns at several mass shootings and they have not prevented these tragedies.

These politicians offer platitudes and prayers and Bible verses. But they do not care to do what must be done to stop the next gun massacre or the average of 321 people shot a day in the United States  including 42 murders and 65 suicides. It is critical that we state this truth clearly and repeatedly and loudly. That we dont let them hide behind empty rhetoric. That they know we see through their lies. They must know that we know who they truly are.
But even when Israel agrees to conduct an investigation, it often seems the outcome is all but predetermined. After an uproar over the Israeli militarys open-fire policy during protests in Gaza in 2018 and 2019, which resulted in the deaths of more than 200 mostly unarmed Palestinians, Israel opened investigations into the deaths. In a review of the investigations, BTselem, an Israeli human rights group, and the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights criticized the inquiries, saying that such investigations are part of Israels whitewashing mechanism, and their main purpose remains to silence external criticism, so that Israel can continue to implement its policy unchanged.

Just last month Israels Supreme Court rejected a request by human rights organizations to reopen an investigation into the killing of four children playing on a beach in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike during the 2014 war, upholding a decision that had deemed it a tragic accident. Yet again, no one was punished.

Only in rare instances do Israeli troops face imprisonment. Take the case of Elor Azaria, a soldier who was captured on video shooting an incapacitated Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay on the ground in Hebron in 2016. Despite visual evidence that he shot a defenseless human being, Mr. Azaria served only nine months in prison. Some Israeli cabinet members welcomed his release, and a few said his record should be wiped clean.

When Shireen was killed, there was an immediate uproar. Her colleagues and other witnesses came forward to say that Israeli soldiers had shot her and her producer. Israeli officials were quick to deflect blame. On the day of the attack, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett repeated claims that Shireen might have been shot by a Palestinian  an assertion quickly debunked by BTselem. An army spokesman even made the chilling claim that Shireen and her colleague were armed with cameras. Only belatedly did Israel acknowledge that she may have been hit by Israeli fire.

Two days after she was killed, Shireen was buried in East Jerusalem. During the funeral procession, Israeli police beat mourners and pallbearers, nearly causing them to drop her coffin. Police seized the Palestinian flag from it and her hearse.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that the United States was deeply troubled by the images. In a recent letter, 57 U.S. lawmakers have demanded that the State Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation begin an investigation into Shireens death. In response, Michael Herzog, Israels ambassador to the United States, said that Israeli troops would never intentionally target members of the press. This appears to be an attempt to absolve Israel of any wrongdoing.

The United States and the rest of the international community must ensure that there is full accountability for her death. For too long, Israeli political and military leaders have fostered an environment in which Israeli soldiers apparently consider the lives of Palestinians disposable. The very least that I, others who loved her and those who care about justice and fundamental human decency can do is demand that those responsible be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
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jane coaston

Its The Argument. Im Jane Coaston.

archived recording 1 Say his name! archived recording 2 George Floyd! archived recording 1 Say his name! archived recording 2 George Floyd! archived recording 1 Say his name! archived recording 2 George Floyd! archived recording 3 Demonstrations were largely peaceful across the United States overnight, as hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to protest the killing of George Floyd. archived recording 4 A passionate movement for justice is finding itself swept under the feet of rampaging and destructive mobs who have sown chaos in cities across the country. archived recording 5 What do you want? archived recording 6 Justice! archived recording 5 When do you want it? archived recording 6 Now! archived recording 5 What do you want? archived recording 6 Justice! archived recording 5 When do you want it? archived recording 6 Now!

jane coaston

Its been two years since George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis. An estimated 15 million people protested in the summer of 2020. And whether you remember the crowds with their hands up or the images of burning police cars, it felt like, for a moment, that all that outrage and energy might lead to change. And then, well, here we are now. So, today, were talking about protesting. Whats the right way to do it? Is there a right way to do it? And how can we tell if its successful? To think through these very big questions, Im joined by my friend, David French. Hes a senior editor at The Dispatch and a contributing writer for The Atlantic.

david french

And a recovering free speech attorney.

jane coaston

As a former free speech attorney, David knows better than anyone, in America, when youre upset, you can pretty much say whatever you want. But he does think theres a point where a protest can go too far.

david french

Maybe its hard to conceive of how dangerous it is until youve been put in a position where you know people know where you live. And they dont just disagree with you in the way that faculty panels disagree. They hate you. They hate you.

jane coaston

My other guest today is opinion columnist Charles Blow. He says that drawing neat boundaries around whats acceptable protest isnt so simple, partly because protesters themselves arent so simple.

charles blow

Theres so many motives in the boots on the street, and theyre not always aligned. And we see them all marching in the same direction, holding some of the same signs, and we assume that they are all completely aligned. [MUSIC]

jane coaston

So, Charles, you wrote a big piece this last week about the public memorials to George Floyd that went up all over the world during the protests in 2020. And that piece is largely about where the momentum from those protests is gone. So to you, what have been the successes of the movement, and what have been the failures?

charles blow

There are quite a few, actually, changes on the local and state level, policy changes. And that should not be overlooked that without Black Lives Matter, without those protests, those things would likely not have happened. Also, on a personal level, there are a lot of people who experienced some sort of personal awakening or conversion or commitment to or re-commitments of their lives to egalitarianism and possibly anti-racism or however you define that. The problem was that, which is often the case, it fell short of federal policy. The federal police reform bill fell apart, did not pass. Federal legislation guaranteeing voter protections did not pass. And that stings a lot, particularly for younger people. Im 52 years old in August. And Ive seen enough cycles and read enough history to know that people sometimes wait you out. And they wait for an opportunity not to act rather than to act. But therefore, a lot of young people who were in that moment and did a lot of work, and still do a lot of work and did a lot of marching and did a lot of educating, who believe that they were on the precipice of something that was going to be transformational, and they are taught by the American system that that was not what America wants to do, not now, not ever. That every time that it has been changed, it has been grudging. It has often come after massive bloodshed. And so, the failure was on the national level.

jane coaston

David, what did you make of the protests as they were unfolding? And did you think that they were going to lead to more significant changes at the time?

david french

I did not expect a national political change for reasons that are both rooted in the history of the issue and that go beyond the history of the issue to the dysfunction, sort of, of Congress itself. As far as the protests, what I saw was a cycle that occurred. And just to be clear, to sort of locate where I am, I am in a very, very red America. So I am in a suburb of Nashville that I think my neighborhood is something like 85 percent Republican. So Im talking every day, and the people I communicate with every day are folks who voted for Trump, white evangelicals. And I noticed a cycle, and it went like this  shock at what happened to George Floyd, revulsion at what happened, a brief window of openness to communication, followed by shock at the violence of the protests, and then culminating in where we are now, with what you might call a degree of very, very zealous, what is called anti-wokeness. And so, there was a complete move from open to closed in the space of slightly less than a year, to the point where, right now, in my school district, in the school district where I live, there was a group called Moms for Liberty that was trying to ban from the early elementary education program the book, Ruby Bridges Goes to School, and the Norman Rockwell painting, The Thing We All Live With, which I thought was kind of the perfect expression of the total full cycle in how, now, minds have been completely closed in many quarters as part of this movement towards anti-wokeness.

jane coaston

Right, so instead of leading to significant changes, it led to the closing of communication.

david french

It led to changes, all right, like anti-CRT laws.

jane coaston

One thing I keep thinking about is that when we talk about the Civil Rights movement, which I think, for laypeople, is generally viewed as being an extraordinarily successful form of protest, it didnt feel that way at the time. If you were there for Bloody Sunday, or you were there in protests previous, if you were one of the people who is marching outside of theaters that played, Birth of a Nation, in 1915, if you were involved in the Civil Rights movement up until about 1962, even 1963, I mean, what the success rate of your protest looked like would feel very different. Stonewall didnt feel like a successful protest. It felt like a terrifying event where the cops had come again. And you see this in protest movements throughout history, where only now do you look back and think, it worked, you won. It was successful. Well, it doesnt feel that way at the time. And so, I think my question for both of you is, what is the point of a protest? And how should we think about whether or not a protest is successful?

charles blow

Yeah, Im glad you brought it back to the definition of the word, success, because that is the crucial thing here. The Montgomery bus boycott did not change the law, right? That didnt change until the Supreme Court stepped in and said, this is unconstitutional. You cant do it. Montgomery was not going to budge. Walk all you want, right? But do we look back and say, that was unsuccessful? I think a lot of times, what protest does is that it crystallizes and defines the parameters of morality on an issue. It is a narrative setting or changing event. What policymakers, voters, whomever, do with that changing of the narrative, crystallizing of a concept, is another almost separate step. The protest is a way of giving language to frustration, rage, disappointment, discomfort. And when protests do that, they are, in fact, successful.

david french

Yeah, Im going to agree with something Charles said about how a protest, by its very nature, can expose or highlight the existence of an issue, so that if you dont have a platform, if you dont have a column in The New York Times, if you dont have a 10-minute segment on a TV news show, how are you going to expose something that you believe the public and public officials must pay attention to, something you believe is an injustice? And one of the ways to do that is a protest. Also, in some ways, also, I think this can be overblown because its hard to truly persuade with a protest because theres not a lot of real long conversation going on, but there are ways in which a protest can inspire and persuade. Then theres another thing that protest does. And one thing that protest does is it can punish. It can inflict pain on a person for something that you believe they deserve pain. And thats where you see some of the response to. So, for example, the lockdown protests or anti-mask protests, there wasnt so much a desire to persuade. The issue was about as exposed as it could possibly be. But they wanted people to suffer. They wanted people to suffer for what they had done. And in that sense, that form of protest, it doesnt necessarily work to change the mind or heart of the person whos being punished. But a protest can almost always make someone feel discomfort, to some extent. If your goal is to punish, you can almost always punish in some way, which is why I would say its so alluring to some people to want to engage in it. They know they can create discomfort.

jane coaston

I mean, but I would say that in some ways, that the idea that a protest  I think that protest is, in general, intended to be a discomfort  to make the viewer uncomfortable in some way. I think that gets at the idea of civility, not even really focusing on what youre protesting, but on the means by which youre protesting. So, David, you were tweeting about a recent Washington Post editorial about protests at Supreme Court justices homes after the Dobbs draft decision was leaked. And the editorial argued that private homes should be off-limits. And I am curious, David, as someone who is opposed to abortion, do you think that if this were a different scenario in which the draft decision had said, Roe forever, more abortion, do you think that National Review and Andrew McCarthy and a host of other people would be as offended by protests taking place outside Supreme Court justices homes?

david french

I think my former colleagues at National Review would be much more likely to be consistent. As far as the broader right, no, because where were they during these Covid protests at peoples homes? Where were when school board members were being protested at home? So it is a near constant that we are, A, both aware of misconduct or what we perceive to be misconduct from the other side than we are of our own side because its not reported in our friendly media necessarily. And the right-wing media is not replete with stories of open carrying protesters outside of, say, election workers home, right? But I think that what were talking about here is an increasing pattern of protests getting more up close and more personal into removing that sort of professional personal barrier. And as somebody whos had people come to my home, and Ive been protested at work in the sense of going to give a speech at a college and protesters showing up, and theres just a profound difference between the two things. And even if somebody ends up being peaceful, theres something that you immediately know when someone comes to your house. Its that people who dont like me know where I live. And sure, person A, B and C outside the door may be just annoying. But what about the next person? And to me, it is a profoundly disquieting thing. And its not just disquieting to the object of the action, say, me. What about my kids? What did they do to anybody? What about neighbors? And I get that what people are trying to accomplish here is to try to pressure or trying to intimidate. But I have a real problem when the efforts to pressure have a blast radius that reaches to innocent parties. And Ive been a free speech lawyer my entire career until I became full-time in journalism. And Im very leery of passing laws to limit peaceful protest. So a lot of what Im talking about is a moral argument against going to a persons home, as opposed to a blanket legal argument.

jane coaston

Charles, what do you think? What should be the boundaries of protest? And who should set those boundaries? And how should we think about that?

charles blow

Well, I refuse to set the boundaries. Its not a place that I feel comfortable. I think that there is a moral relativism on most issues, including on the issue of protest. However, if you believe that what a person is doing is harming other people, innocent people, there is a moral relativism that springs up inside that person. And they may choose a tactic that they would not choose about any other lesser free speech issue. And it is not really my place, I dont believe, to try to figure out where that moral relativism kicks in. If I am being oppressed and tortured and I rise up and I kill the person whos oppressing and torturing me, killing is wrong. However, there is a moral relativism in that equation, right? And so, I just  I feel like we should discuss it in that frame, and at least, for me, not feel like I have to draw red lines. Im just saying that in the frame of discussion, we have to discuss how morality becomes relative, even in acts of protest.

david french

So I would say in the absence of an immediate self-defense situation, we should not be placing people in reasonable fear for their personal safety, for their lives, for the safety of their families, or place innocent bystanders in reasonable fear for their safety. I feel like as a minimum 

jane coaston

I think, David, you have touched on my tripwire, which is the reasonableness standard under the law, especially because that seems to be like, well, a reasonable person  Im like, I have not yet met one.

david french

Well, you have two guests right here on this podcast.

jane coaston

Youre doing a real tribute to the concept of being reasonable, but please continue.

david french

So, for example, I think if there are people who are armed walking around outside your house, and they have visible AR-15s, it is reasonable for me to believe that I might be in danger physically, and the people of my household might be in danger and my neighbors might be in danger. And so, I think if you just begin with that as a line, I do not want to do something that would cause a reasonable person to believe that theyre in physical danger or their familys in physical danger or their neighbors are in physical danger, is going to go a long way towards diffusing some of this more up close and personal protest. Because the bottom line is, you create that sensation. You create that feeling. And that is inherently destabilizing on multiple fronts. One, it creates a danger of deadly physical confrontation. And the other thing is, if you are achieving policy goals like trying to stop an impeachment of a president through personal threats and through acts of intimidation  well, let me not say threats because threats would be unlawful. Acts of intimidation are menacing. In many ways, you start to wonder, how much is this undermining democracy itself? The people might want one thing, but if a group of people can menace a public official with enough ferocity that they can undermine the will of the people, youre really beginning to undermine the notion of democracy itself. And I know thats not the only axis under which democracy is undermined, obviously. But it is one of them.

charles blow

But taking that frame, democracy has been undermined for hundreds of years. Of course, groups of citizens have menaced public officials in this country for hundreds of years.

david french

Its been wrong for hundreds of years.

charles blow

But Im saying, but if that is your framing of democracy, then when have we had it?

david french

Well, we have had real problems in our democracy. But the fact that past performance of menacing has distorted the democracy, I dont think is a justification for continued menacing, or its metastasization, if I pronounced that correctly, in the current political moment, where menacing has really gained, I think, momentum.

charles blow

Weve had a democracy of about the last 50 years of about, whatever how many, 200 or 300 years. Thats when Black people were allowed to vote. So we never had this democracy. Thats when I started to pull my hair out when people start talking about a democracy that never existed. But then, even if we take the frame that theres nothing that the Supreme Court could do that would justify us going to their houses and protesting, theres a lot of decisions that I think would have justified it. It just didnt happen. People werent free enough to do it. I mean, when they made that Dred Scott versus Sandford decision, they should have been outside in front of their houses, because what that did, in effect, was to allow years more of killing and maiming and torture of Black people, right? So Im just saying, the intellectual frame, for me, is not that it cannot ever be justified because it makes them feel unsafe if they do things that put other people in positions that they are unsafe.

jane coaston

Right, I want to go back for a second and respond to Davids idea of what we find menacing. I remember during some of the protests of 2020, there were African-Americans holding guns in locations across the country where its legal to do so. And some people, for some reason, found that menacing, perhaps more so than a group of white people doing the same. So I think about that a lot. But again, David, Im curious about  and it seems like you did find that menacing, but I am curious, when we get into these debates about the appropriateness of protests, the debates about when to protest and when not to protest, Im concerned that essentially, were telling people that your concerns have to rise to this particular level before you are permitted to do so. If the Supreme Court were to overturn  I dont know  overturn Loving or overturn Obergefell, I would be outside their homes. I would be. Because my parents probably would be, too, because they are a product of Loving v. Virginia. And Im sure, David, there would be decisions in which you would contemplate going outside a Supreme Court justices home, too, perhaps. And Im curious as to if the issue is so important, if the issue is so critical, then it feels as if the policing the means of protest seems to be policing how you think about that issue.

david french

Is it, though? I mean, so if there was an issue that would lead me to get outside someones home, it would be Roe, which has led to death on a very large scale. But Im not outside peoples homes. There have been pro-life protesters whove taken a different approach and have, in fact, menaced, and sometimes gone beyond menacing, people who work at abortion clinics or abortion doctors at their homes. And I think thats wrong. I think thats wrong. And so, my issue is not a bright line home or no home because homes occur in a million different places. It is, am I attempting to intimidate and menace, or am I not? And so, the issue that I have with this is, we are beginning to move in a situation where menacing and intimidation is a more  and I realize in times past in America, its been much worse. Its been much worse. But is the trend right now up or down? And at least in a lot of the spaces I inhabit, the trend is up, and it is deeply disturbing. [MUSIC]

jane coaston

Weve talked about why the success of a given protest is difficult to measure and whether protests should make us uncomfortable and how much. I want to talk now about when protests meet politics and how our two major parties respond to protests. And well start with you, David, because I think theres an interesting shift taking place in the way that the right sees and thinks about protests, because were seeing more direct protesting, the U.S. Capitol riot being one example. Do you see that?

david french

So I think there has been a shift, but the shift in the sense of whats old is new again. So if you were going to go back and youre going to look at the George Wallace style of populism, if youre going to look at, for example, protests that you saw against bussing or against integration, you saw people in the streets. You saw a very rowdy sort of kind of populism. And then, the Republican Party, over time, became more mainstream, more Chamber of Commerce. And Chamber of Commerce types, they dont hit the pavement, right? They dont get out into the streets. But what you saw with Trump coming along is, you saw Trump connecting again with that rowdy populist right. It was in his rallies where you would see violence in the rally itself. During the Trump administration, we began to see more people on the Right and the far-right actually in the streets. You began to see street battles, for example. And then all of this culminated  well, culminated may be the wrong word because it could be just the beginning of another bad phase. But all of this, for the time being, sort of culminated in the January 6 moment. And right now, on the right, what you see is the people who are more in your face, who are more willing to hit the streets, are the dominant social force in grassroots politics right now on the right. And the people who reject that form of politics or reject that form of activism, they get scorched.

jane coaston

Right, it seems as if the type of protest outrage, it seems to work very effectively on Republicans because they are terrified of it, in a way that it doesnt seem to work on Democrats quite in the same way.

charles blow

Yeah, I guess, yes and no. I mean, you did see a lot of Democratic politicians hewing closer to Black Lives Matter during the height of the protests. I remember the famous Kente cloth kneeling in the Capitol moment.

jane coaston

That was embarrassing for everyone. That was 

charles blow

Right. So 

jane coaston

That was a bad time.

charles blow

But even on policy, you heard more talk of it. But what happened was that you have the most popular person in the Democratic Party, who is a centrist, and that is Barack Obama, and the people around him telling Democrats, pull it back. And you had the president of the United States also telling people to pull it back. They said it basically in the form of saying, defund the police is a horrible slogan. They would say that. Dont say that. People are afraid. And then you had Biden himself stand up in State of the Union address and say, we dont need fewer police. We dont need to defund the police, we need more police. And so, the difference among Democrats and Republicans is that the most popular person in the Republican Party is Donald Trump. And the most popular person and figures in the Democratic Party are more center left. And so, the gravitational pulls within the parties are different, not necessarily that they would naturally respond differently to protest.

david french

Well, I do think if youre talking about Republicans, the Republican culture, for a long time, sort of has been built up around this idea that they are against us, right? And were seeing this come out in more extreme ways in kind of the constant grievance and persecution complex you see in right-wing media. But your average Republican politician was sort of built from the ground up to understand that the Left is coming for me. Thats sort of like the easy courage of the right, is, I dont care what The New York Times editorial page thinks about me. But then what happened in the Trump era was the ferocity of the attacks from the right against Republican politicians so that it has now sort of entered the stuff of legend that, look, on midnight, January 6, there were an awful lot of Republicans who were ready to get rid of Donald Trump once and for all. And then they got afraid. And so, one of the not so hidden realities of life on the right in opposition to Trump is this notion that you will be made to pay. And the way youll be made to pay is not merely, youre going to be tweeted about, or that somebody is going to give you a thundering denunciation on Fox. Its that somebody might show up at your house, or somebody might show up at your kids school, or you might have an ugly, ugly encounter in normal life out in your own community. And that has had a profound effect on the way in which people conduct themselves and conduct politics on the right. And anyone who will tell you otherwise is just gaslighting you because that level of threat and that level of intimidation and menace has become sort of the background noise of right-wing politics in the age of Trump.

jane coaston

Charles, on that point, do you think that the right has been better at metabolizing outrage into specific policy outcomes? Because one of the things I think about with what happened in 2020 was that you had people who were like, we want criminal justice reform, and they got, we will kneel while wearing Kente cloth. There was an element of performativity that I think really outraged me and outraged a lot of other people. But I think that you see a lot of performativity taking place on the right, but then it turns into state level policy. It turns into, we are going to ban C.R.T., whatever that means, or were going to pull Ruby Bridgess book from school libraries.

charles blow

I think some of those things are operating simultaneously, but theyre not the same, right? So there are mainstream Republican conservative thinkers who have wanted the policies, some of the policies that we now see, for decades. And they are riding a wave to get it. And one of the waves that they ride is a C.R.T. because it animates people to get the right politicians to enact the policy. But what they want is to limit the voter participation. What they want is to stack the deck of judges on the federal level in ways that they desire. Those are the big, decades long, long view policy perspectives of old school Republicans. They just see that the C.R.T. thing makes people very excited.

jane coaston

Its convenient.

charles blow

Yes, its a vehicle. Trump made people very excited. He was a vehicle. He would literally take their list of judges, literally take the list, and say, I will appoint from this list. Like, thats all they wanted. So I think it would be kind of shortsighted to say they know how to marshal outrage. No. That there is a citadel of big brain conservative thinkers who are sitting back, saying, something is flashing over here. It can help us with our long-term objectives. And they let it ride. Are they people who believe in all the craziness of Trump? No. Are they people who believe that C.R.T. is the bane of our existence and the end of the world? No. They want judges. They want big policy objectives. And theyre using that.

jane coaston

I just keep thinking about how  I keep going back to March for Life, which I think will be termed to be a successful protest movement. But if you were attending March for Life in 1993 right after the Planned Parenthood decision, youd be like, we failed. This isnt working. Why are we even doing this? And Im curious, Charles, as to, do you have any final thoughts on protest and the nature of protests?

charles blow

Well I just would reiterate the one line that a successful protest does not always lead to definitive policy change that is successful protest. First of all, it is for the people who are participating, right? They feel like they need to say something about something that they disagree with or upset about. And they get a chance to do that. On the personal level, that is a successful outlet for them. Collectively, it is saying to anyone watching, whether they be in person or on television or the world, that this is a topic that we, whoever is here, how many other people that is, a lot of people, care about and that you should care about, too. And whether or not people end up caring about it, engage with the topic or not, they have made their statement, and they have defined what it is that they are discussing. And that is as a free speech exercise. That is a success. And so, I think that we need to think about the next step, which is policy, as, in fact, a separate step with a separate leg and a separate shoe. But this shoe is giving voice.

jane coaston

David, Charles, thank you so much for your time.

charles blow

Thank you.

david french

Thank you, Jane, as always. [MUSIC]

jane coaston
The Food and Drug Administration last week announced authorization of a third Covid vaccine dose  a single booster  for children 5-11. This comes as parents of kids under 5 still wait for vaccine authorization for their children, after months of hard-to-decipher announcements, from both the F.D.A. and pharmaceutical companies. According to reporting from Sharon LaFraniere in The Times at the end of April, the F.D.A. said that it understood the urgency of protecting children under 5, and that it would act quickly if the data support a clear path forward following our evaluation.

The if is doing a lot of work in that statement. But in any event, the F.D.A. will look at the data and consider emergency use authorization for the preschool and toddler set in June. On Monday, Pfizer-BioNTech announced that a three-shot regimen was found to elicit a strong immune response, with a favorable safety profile similar to placebo, in children 6 months to under 5 years, making it seem more likely that this authorization would be granted. The F.D.A. will also review Modernas application for a vaccine for children under 6 years at the same time.

I dont want to downplay this  its good news! But I do want to point out that even though authorization looks to be drawing near, the long wait has left damage in its wake. Some parents of small children are beyond frustrated and feel abandoned by the institutions that they feel have contributed to the lag. As my Times Opinion colleague Zeynep Tufekci explained last month, Some frustrations and setbacks may have been unavoidable, but some seem due to officials making unjustified assumptions about the public and relying on overly narrow and even outdated measures of vaccine benefits.

For parents, this drawn-out approval process has meant that their kids have had to endure successive Covid waves without the additional protections that the vaccines may provide against serious illness and hospitalization. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, During Omicron variant predominance beginning in late December 2021, U.S. infants and children aged 0-4 years were hospitalized at approximately five times the rate of the previous peak during Delta variant predominance. (Overall, Covid tends to be less severe for children than for adults.)
On Sept. 9, Selam Gebrekidan, one of our colleagues on the project, traveled with me and Matt to southeast London to meet Victor Bulmer-Thomas, a British expert on Caribbean economies, and show him the spreadsheet. As I opened my laptop in his dining room, I felt nervous, fearing he would dismiss our tabulation as mere guesswork.

To our relief, he enthusiastically approved it.

I spent the next few weeks sharing my screen in online meetings with scholars who have studied Haitis debt. I showed them the spreadsheet and carefully detailed, cell by cell, my sources, and I listened to them place our numbers into historical perspective. A total of six academics, including the Haitian scholars Gusti-Klara Gaillard and Guy Pierre, vetted our tabulation.

The work, however, was far from over. The challenge then became to understand how paying out 112 million francs over decades had affected Haiti, and what kind of loss to its economic development that payout represented over time. One way to do so was to determine how much this money would be worth today had it remained in Haiti.

Some economists had tried to do just that in a research paper published in August, using a broad estimate of Haitis debt, so I drew from their methodology. I assumed that if that money had stayed in the Haitian economy, it would have, at a minimum, grown at a rate of return equal to Haitis real gross domestic product growth between 1825 and today.

Using estimates of Haitis G.D.P. in the 19th century that were provided by Simon Henochsberg, a French banker who studied Haitis public debt for his master thesis, I calculated the average annual growth rates, computed them with Haitis annual payment flows and found that the double debt could have added $21 billion to Haiti over time.

I spent weeks making video calls and exchanging long emails with economists like Ugo Panizza and Rui Esteves of the Geneva Graduate Institute to test the methodology  and being gently corrected on various formula errors. Matt and I also went to present our findings at the Paris School of Economics, where researchers grilled us.

We shared our analysis with 15 leading economists and financial historians. All but one agreed with our $21 billion estimate. Some said that it was within an acceptable range; others found it conservative and said that the long-term losses to Haiti might actually be higher.
A steep driveway leads to the house, where vines cling to the walls and towering trees cast shade. Past several steps and a front patio, a wood door opens to the living space, which has a brick fireplace, tile floors and beamed ceilings. Continuing back, the dining area has several wood cabinets against the old stone walls. Stairs near the dining table ascend to two large bedrooms, one with a vaulted ceiling.

From the living room to the right is a rudimentary eat-in kitchen with a tile countertop. A bathroom and a room with antique milling machinery are also on the ground floor, toward the back. The house is not equipped for all-season dwelling and needs to be modernized, Ms. Vela said, adding that its power comes from a generator, there is no refrigerator, weak internet access, and the municipal water hookup needs work.

What seduced us the most about this property is its unique location, with these reddish mountains in the background, and the river that carries water all year round, making it a very attractive and charming place, she said of the agencys listing.

The home is enveloped by the mountains of Aragon, along with rivers, orchards, medieval villages and an abundance of black truffles. Torre de Las Arcas, the village nearest to the house, is tiny, with a population of 35, while Montalban, with about 1,200 residents, is 10 miles southwest. The provincial capital, also called Teruel, is known for its Mudejar architecture, a style combining Gothic and Islamic aesthetics. Zaragoza Airport is 90 miles north.
Boeings Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth on Wednesday after a largely successful uncrewed test flight that included four and a half days docked at the International Space Station.

It was a picture-perfect landing, Steve Stich, manager of the commercial crew program at NASA, said during a news conference a couple of hours later. The test flight was extremely successful. We met all the mission objectives.

Starliner, which Boeing developed for NASA, provides the space agency with a second transportation system for taking astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, has been flying astronauts to the space station on its Crew Dragon spacecraft for a couple of years.

Streaking across the sky over the Pacific Ocean, then crossing over Mexicos Baja California Peninsula, Boeings capsule parachuted to a landing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The conclusion of the this test flight comes after a couple of years of setbacks and sets the stage for the next Starliner mission, which is to have astronauts aboard.
Brissa Ortega and Devin Joll havent decided on the best way to inform some 35 of their friends, relatives and co-workers that they are no longer invited to the couples wedding in November.

Ms. Ortega, 33, a product marketing analyst at the software security company Synopsys, and Mr. Joll, 34, at first planned to marry in August 2020. They had invited about 80 guests via phone and word of mouth before postponing the event because of the pandemic, telling any who asked that they planned to reschedule.

After considering new dates in August 2022, as well as in April 2023, the couple settled on Nov. 27. While replanning their wedding, they noticed a spike in prices charged by many vendors, Ms. Ortega said. To reduce their expenses, she and Mr. Joll, who live in Santa Clara, Calif., whittled down their guest list to around 45 people before booking their venue, a resort in Californias Napa Valley, earlier this month.

Now that they have secured a location, they face a conundrum: how to inform the uninvited  or whether to tell them at all. I dont think for the time being we are going to say anything, Ms. Ortega said, just because it is going to be such a small wedding compared to the event they had postponed.
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif.  Robert Reeves, 78, spends most days lounging by the pool, taking in the low-desert sun with his friends and neighbors. The four of them talk about whats new  recovery from a recent corrective foot surgery, some chronic inflammation issues  and record videos for social media, where theyve amassed millions of followers as the Old Gays.

On a blistering afternoon earlier this month, Jessay Martin, 68, headed across the street for the usual poolside confab, stopping to grab a Bud Light Seltzer Pineapple from the fridge on his way out to the patio. There, he sat down in a stuffed armchair beside a well-endowed wooden sculpture of the male form and rubbed sunscreen into his bald pate as the group discussed the days video concept: an outfit transformation set to the rapper Jack Harlows single First Class.

I need to wear my pretty underwear for this, Mr. Martin said. I need to have my ruffles on my rump.

It wasnt like the first drag video they did, Bill Lyons, 78, said as he took a sip from his milk chocolate Ensure. He raised his eyebrows, then said in a stage whisper: Bob didnt wear any underwear.
It was what Mr. Agrawal could do given the circumstances. Thats because of all the top jobs in tech, the 38-year-old is in what may be the most impossible one.

The Indian-born executive, a protege of the Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has been in charge of the company only since November. He was expected to turn Twitter around after years of missed growth and financial goals. But Mr. Musk swooped in within months, essentially turning Mr. Agrawal into a lame duck who must manage a restive work force and deal with Twitters mounting economic challenges before he is likely to be booted from the company.

Theres no one in the world who would want to be in those shoes, said Bob Sutton, an organizational psychologist and professor at Stanford University.

Yet even as Mr. Agrawal grapples with the situation, he faces a soft landing. If Mr. Musk removes him as chief executive, Mr. Agrawal stands to make $60 million, according to securities filings. (In November, he was granted a compensation package of an annual salary of $1 million, plus bonuses, as well as restricted stock units and performance-based stock units valued at $12.5 million.)

Mr. Agrawal appeared at Twitters annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, which was held virtually. He and other executives said they could not discuss the terms of the deal, which shareholders will vote on at a later date, until the transaction closed. They also fielded shareholder questions on Twitters products, misinformation, and the importance of diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Islamabad, May 25 (UNI) Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday tweeted in support of JKLF chief Yasin Malik after he was sentenced to life by a court in New Delhi for terrorism and made critical comments against Indian democracy and judicial system.







Sharif described Malik, who is known to have killed many innocent people in Kashmir, as a "valiant freedom fighter" and said the sentence awarded to him "will provide fresh impetus to Kashmiris' right to self-determination".







It is a black day for Indian democracy & its justice system, the Pakistan Prime Minister tweeted after the sentence was awarded by an NIA court to Malik, a terrorist who was convicted on May 19 after he pleaded guilty to all the charges in connection to a 2017 case related to terrorism and secessionist activities.



"India can imprison Yasin Malik physically but it can never imprison idea of freedom he symbolises," Sharif added.



Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Pakistan stands with Kashmiri brothers and sisters and will continue to provide "all possible support in their just struggle'.



In a tweet, Zardari said: "Strongly condemn unjust sentencing of Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik in a sham trial. India can never silence Kashmiris voice for freedom and self-determination. Pakistan stands with Kashmiri brothers and sisters, will continue to provide all possible support in their just struggle."



Former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif called the verdict a tragic act and demanded international and human rights organisations to speak out.



"Illegal actions against Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Yasin Malik are a tragic act. Such actions cannot deprive the Kashmiri people of their rights. All international and human rights organizations must speak out," Nawaz Sharif said.



UNI MYK AKK
The repetition of horror numbs the mind: Only 11 days ago there was Buffalo, with a man driven by racism gunning down 10 people at a supermarket. The next day another angry man walked into a Presbyterian church in Laguna Woods, Calif., and killed one person and wounded five others. And now, Uvalde, Texas  a repeat of what was once thought unfathomable: the killing of at least 19 elementary school children in second, third and fourth grades.

I guess its something in society we know will happen again, over and over, said Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.

The misery mounts, and yet nothing changes, leaving Americans with little more to do than keep lists, mental spreadsheets of death that treat events like Uvalde as just another morbid tally with superlatives like second-deadliest shooting in an elementary school.

Each event evokes some atrocity from the past, the exact details of each shooting growing more indistinct by the year: The latest death toll of 21 at Robb Elementary School in Texas surpasses the shooting in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, when 17 people were killed. It falls short of the deadliest school shooting  26 people killed at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn.

These are the mathematics of American gun massacres.

All three school shootings  Newtown, Parkland and now Uvalde  have eclipsed Columbine in 1999, when such events still had the power to shock the nation.
Josh Duggar, a onetime star of the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, about a large family guided by conservative Christian values, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on Wednesday for downloading child sexual abuse imagery.

The sentencing, in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Ark., concluded Mr. Duggars downfall from the eldest sibling on one of the most popular cable reality shows to a convicted criminal, capping a reversal that began with his arrest in April 2021.

Prosecutors said that, in May 2019, Mr. Duggar installed a password-protected partition on the hard drive of his desktop computer at his used-car lot in Springdale, Ark., to avoid software that detects explicit images of children.

Mr. Duggar, 34, who is married with seven children, downloaded around 600 photographs and seven videos of violent child sexual abuse, according to a sentencing memorandum filed this month by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Arkansas.
Katie Beckett became one of several children  like Ryan White, who contracted H.I.V. through a blood transfusion, and Amber Tatro, who was born with spina bifida  whose health struggles in the 1980s made them human-interest celebrities, the subjects of nightly news coverage, sympathetic newspaper profiles and, ultimately, state and federal legislation.

Katie and her mother used their sudden media exposure to push for changes in government policy that would move the focus of long-term care away from institutions and toward a family-centered approach. That development has helped millions of children live significantly longer lives than they might have in the past.

When we have those who are directly affected at the table and able to share our stories, were able to put a human face on these issues, Elena Hung, a co-founder of the disability-rights group Little Lobbyists, said in a phone interview. Were going to have all the data, all the policy analysis, all the experts speaking on these issues, but it really doesnt bring it home until we can see who is directly affected, and humanize those issues. I think Julie and Katie did that expertly.

Ms. Beckett did not stop once her daughter returned home, just before Christmas in 1981. She left her job as a junior high school social studies teacher to care for Katie and work as an activist full time. She traveled the country, lecturing, lobbying and teaching parents of children with disabilities how to advocate for change in their communities.

She testified before Congress, wrote opinion articles and co-founded the group Family Voices, a nonprofit organization that supports families of children with disabilities. She was also a leading figure behind the Family Opportunities Act, a 2005 law that further expanded Medicaid coverage for such families and created a series of programs to help those families engage with one another.

Even after Katie died, in 2012, Ms. Beckett continued her activism. She helped lead the charge in 2017 against Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and turn Medicaid into a program of block grants to states  two moves that could have meant drastic reductions in funding for families on Katie Beckett waivers.

Its unacceptable to Katies memory and to people with disabilities across the country that the services I fought so hard for are now being threatened by Republican members of Congress, she wrote in a 2017 article for the website of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The state investigation found a current of racism and disrespect for the public that it said continued well after Mr. Floyds death on May 25, 2020, when he was handcuffed and pinned to the ground under the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, for more than nine minutes. Three other officers were on the scene, two of whom helped hold Mr. Floyd down.

For nearly a year afterward, despite pledges to end race-based policing, the department used covert social media accounts to surveil Black leaders in the city, the investigation found. At the police academy last year, trainers used racist tropes in training exercises and eliminated existing lessons about dealing with communities of color, the investigation found.

As protests broke out in the city in the days after Mr. Floyds murder, two officers were caught on camera punching and kicking a prone Black man. None of the other officers present appeared to intervene.

Perhaps no other case has captured the shortfall between promises and outcomes more poignantly than that of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man who was shot to death by a Minneapolis police officer in February during a no-knock raid  conducted in search of another man  in the early morning. Mr. Locke was asleep on the couch with a handgun.

During his re-election campaign last year, Mr. Frey claimed to have banned the execution of no-knock warrants, which allow the police to make such entries unannounced. In the public outcry over Mr. Lockes death, it turned out that the mayor had not barred officers from obtaining no-knock warrants but had begun requiring them to announce themselves before entering even if they had one. The video of the Locke shooting showed officers calling out Police! as they crossed the threshold.

After the shooting, the mayor revamped the no-knock raid policy yet again, this time requiring a 20- to 30-second waiting period before entry that makes it one of the most restrictive in the country, according to DeRay Mckesson, the executive director of Campaign Zero, a group focused on reducing police violence, which helped craft that policy and others.
Tuesday was a booming repudiation of former President Donald J. Trumps relentless preoccupation with the 2020 election. In Georgia, his voter-fraud-focused choices for governor and attorney general were roundly defeated, while his pick for secretary of state lost to a man who stood up to those false claims two years ago.

But it would be a mistake to interpret these results as a wholesale rejection of Mr. Trump himself. His gravitational pull on Republican voters warped every one of Tuesdays primaries, shaping candidates positions and priorities as they beat a path to Mar-a-Lago.

It was a bittersweet evening for progressives, who remain in suspense about the fate of their challenger to a conservative Democratic incumbent in Texas. But in another House race in the Atlanta suburbs, the partys left flank ousted one of the unbreakable nine Democrats who balked at President Bidens social spending plans.

Here are a few key takeaways from this weeks primaries, among the most consequential of the 2022 midterm cycle:

Republican governors are standing up to Trump. And winning.

David Perdue, a wealthy former senator recruited by Mr. Trump to challenge Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, told reporters in the races final days that despite his poor standing in polls, I guaran-damn-tee you were not down 30 points.
The gunman who fatally shot 19 children and two adults in a Texas elementary school was a high school senior who frequently missed school and struggled to get along with classmates, acquaintances said on Tuesday as they tried to make sense of the massacre.

The 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, who died at the scene, had few friends at Uvalde High School, his classmates said.

Jeremiah Munoz was a senior at the high school four years ago when he bonded with Mr. Ramos, then a freshman, over their shared love of video games, particularly Fortnite and Call of Duty. Mr. Munoz, 22, said that even back then, he recalled students picking on Mr. Ramos, deriding his clothes or making crude references to his mother or sister.

Charlie Marsh, a 17-year-old in the same grade as Mr. Ramos, said that she had heard people call him names, including a homophobic slur, but that she thought he was provoking people rather than being bullied.

Over the weekend, Mr. Ramos had sent a photograph of two black rifles to Mr. Munoz, similar to one he had posted on his Instagram account.

Graduating seniors from Uvalde High School had visited the elementary school on Monday and high-fived the students, who are in second through fourth grade, as part of the high schools senior week. One student who participated said on social media that Mr. Ramos had not attended.
On Wednesday, new details emerged about the gunmans movement ahead of the attack. The gunman shot his grandmother at her home less than a half-mile away from Robb Elementary School on Tuesday, according to preliminary investigatory documents described by a state police official. The woman, who survived but was wounded, made her way across the street to a neighbors home for help, the official said.

The gunman then took a pickup truck that was registered to his grandmother, the official said. After driving at high speed, he crashed into a barrier outside the elementary school. The local police in Uvalde received a 911 call around 11:30 a.m. that a truck had crashed and a man had emerged with a long rifle and a backpack.

At the school was at least one armed law enforcement officer from the Uvalde school district. That officer exchanged gunfire with the gunman, but the gunman was able to get past the officer, the official said, citing the initial reports.

The gunman then entered through a south door at the school. After he was inside, two officers from the Uvalde police department arrived on the scene, engaged the gunman and were immediately met with gunfire, the official said. Both were shot.
Among the countless chilling details to emerge from the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday was this: The authorities had asked parents waiting in agony for news about their children to give DNA samples.

The request suggests that some of the 19 children who were killed may have been so severely wounded and grouped so closely together that they were difficult to identify, according to experts in medical forensics.

All of the dead and injured were in one classroom at Robb Elementary where the gunman had barricaded himself, Lt. Chris Olivarez, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman, told CNN.

The gunman had also purchased two AR platform rifles and 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, which is often used in the military, the authorities said.
The shipwreck brings the total number of deaths in the central Mediterranean Sea this year to over 650, according to the I.O.M., a figure similar to the one from the same period last year.

We are consistent, said Mr. Di Giacomo. People keep dying exactly like last year.

In a separate incident late Tuesday, a boat from the Spanish N.G.O. Open Arms, which operates search and rescue operations at sea, found another boat in trouble near Tunisian territorial waters, the N.G.O. said on Twitter. The organization said its personnel tried to distribute life vests to the passengers, who numbered more than 100, and called for help to Italy and Malta, but as they waited for a response, the overcrowded, wooden boat, that had already taken on water, capsized, and the migrants fell at sea.

The organization said it rescued the migrants from the water, but officials were not sure if some of them went missing.

It was night, and we couldnt know for sure if there were any corpses or not, said Laura Lanuza, a spokeswoman for the N.G.O., adding that the migrants had departed from the Libyan port of Abu Kammash and were headed to Italy. It was a really dramatic situation.

On Wednesday, 110 migrants were on board the organizations Astral sailing boat, but Gerard Canals, the organizations head of operations, said they did not have space, food or water for all of the people on board.
And just as thousands of children in America are doubtless doing today, I had imagined that pain when I was still a child myself. After the Columbine massacre, my classmates and I talked about the fact that our tall urban school building had only two staircases, two main exits, and how that meant a mass murderer would just have to pull a fire alarm and then wait at the door for half of the school to be ushered into the sight of his gun. Though I kept up a shallow teenage bravado during the conversation, I imagined my sister and I going to different exits. I imagined only one of us making it out.

In all of those instances, the disaster I imagined never came to pass. I was more fortunate than the families in Uvalde, in Sandy Hook, or in Parkland.

But there is still a cost to living in a country where children are taught that school is a place where they might be trapped and murdered; to living in a country where being a schoolteacher means making a Secret Service-style commitment to hurl oneself in front of a speeding bullet. The imagining, the fear, is a cost in and of itself.

I dont live in the United States right now. Today my older daughter goes to a primary school that does not have any active-shooter drills, and is not learning that her school is a place where she needs to fear being killed. My younger daughters day care never taught her to hide silently in a dark room so that a shooter would not find her. They do not have to wonder if their school will be the next one after Uvalde. I do not have to soothe the fear that would bring. They get a little more innocence as children. I get a little more peace as their mom.

That is a benefit that most Americans cannot access, because of choices that American governments have made.
Islamabad, May 25 (UNI) After several hours of drama across Pakistan amid Imran Khan's long march on Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government and PTI have reportedly agreed to hold jalsa instead of long march.



The meeting between both parties were held following Supreme Court's directions.



According to Geo News, the two sides after a meeting that lasted for two and half hours agreed on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) holding a jalsa instead of a long march.



However, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb has said no agreement has been reached between the government and the PTI.



Earlier in the day, the PTI leaders clashed with the police in Lahore. The police had to fire tear gas to disperse the PTI members when they removed barriers placed by the police to block the routes ahead of the partys planned Azadi March towards Islamabad.



Law enforcement was on high alert and the government has given instructions to take all possible measures to stop the PTI's Azadi March, Geo News reported.



UNI RNJ
The Peoples Liberation Army of China on Wednesday described organizing combat drills in the waters and airspace around Taiwan to send a blunt message to the United States over its collusion with Taiwan.

Chinas announcement was short on details, and ambiguous as to whether such drills had taken place recently or were still to come. But it came a day after China and Russia sent bombers over the seas in northeast Asia, their first joint military exercise since Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

China insists that Taiwan is a part of its territory and cannot exist as a sovereign nation. Russias war in Ukraine has made U.S. and Taiwanese officials acutely aware that an autocrat can order an invasion of a neighboring territory at any moment. During a visit to Japan on Monday, Mr. Biden said that the United States had a commitment to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it were ever attacked by China, drawing a firm line at a time of rising tensions.

China has increased its incursions near Taiwan over the past year. Last week, on the day that Mr. Biden arrived in Asia, China sent 14 aircraft into the islands air defense zone. Under Mr. Biden, the Pentagon has divulged more details about the sailings of American warships through the Taiwan Strait. Some analysts have worried that could lead to an accident that could trigger conflict.
MALIHABAD, India  No fruit in India is as universally loved and as eagerly anticipated as the mango, which, for one brief window each year, cools and sweetens the long days of summer.

Mangoes are added to kebabs, used to sour dishes and pureed with mint to make refreshing drinks. Connoisseurs argue fervently about which of Indias dozens of varieties  each with a distinct flavor, color and texture  are best, and disagree politely about the correct way to eat the fruit: by cutting it into slices, or by sucking the juice straight from the top.

But this year, this centuries-old ritual is imperiled. As blistering heat has struck northern India weeks earlier than usual, mango crops have been devastated, threatening a way of life for the thousands of small farmers who grow the fruit and the millions more who consume it.

The heat wave is a vivid example of the challenge India faces in ensuring its food security as the effects of climate change worsen, compounding its difficulties in raising agricultural productivity to international standards to feed a growing population of nearly 1.4 billion.
The world over, mass shootings are frequently met with a common response: Officials impose new restrictions on gun ownership. Mass shootings become rarer. Homicides and suicides tend to decrease, too.

After a British gunman killed 16 people in 1987, the country banned semiautomatic weapons like those he had used. It did the same with most handguns after a 1996 school shooting. It now has one of the lowest gun-related death rates in the developed world.

In Australia, a 1996 massacre prompted mandatory gun buybacks that saw, according to some estimates, as many as one million firearms melted into slag. The rate of mass shootings plummeted from once every 18 months to, so far, only one in the 26 years since.

Canada also tightened gun laws after a 1989 mass shooting. So did Germany in 2002, New Zealand in 2019 and Norway last year.
President Vladimir V. Putin visited wounded soldiers on Wednesday and announced a raft of new social welfare measures and military benefits  an apparent effort to show Russians that he was aware times were tough as the war in Ukraine entered its fourth month.

The Kremlin released brief clips of Mr. Putin, dressed in a white gown and flanked by Defense Minister Sergei K. Shoigu, greeting patients at a military hospital in Moscow. It was the presidents first time visiting the wounded since the start of the war, but his words were sparse: Hell be proud of his dad, Mr. Putin told a patient with a 9-month-old son.

Later, Russian state television showed Mr. Putin meeting senior government officials at the Kremlin. He directed them to increase payments to service members deployed in Ukraine and to double the child care allowance for women in the military.

He said that while the military doctors he met on Wednesday had assured him that they have all they need, the government should promptly, quickly and effectively respond to any needs in the medical care of wounded soldiers.
BILOHORIVKA, Ukraine  Out on the riverbank, the scene of mayhem unfolded under a baking spring sun: blown-up tanks, the detritus of pontoon bridges, heaps of branches shorn off by explosions and the bodies of Russian soldiers, some half buried in the mud.

In the forest, a short walk revealed bits of torn Russian military uniforms hanging from trees, an eerie reminder of the troops who died violently here.

The failed river crossing that took place at this spot over several days in early May was one of the most lethal engagements of the war for the Russian army. Its forces had sought to surround Ukrainian soldiers in the nearby town of Sievierodonetsk  but instead became surrounded themselves, boxed in by the river and a Ukrainian frontline. At least 400 Russian soldiers died, mostly from artillery attacks.

As the war grinds across the rolling plains and forests of Eastern Ukraine, the maneuvering of troops has in large part evolved into attempts at entrapment. But as the deadly encounter at the bridge illustrated, the tactic comes with grave risks.
An investigation released on Wednesday found that Prime Minister Boris Johnsons office frequently violated Britains coronavirus restrictions, adding to pressure on his government.

The report, compiled by a senior British civil servant, Sue Gray, included evidence that Mr. Johnson had attended a birthday party held for him, in violation of his own governments Covid rules, in 2020.

It also found that dozens of people had attended parties that were outlawed under Britains social-distancing rules at the time.

An earlier, redacted version of the report described an office culture in which alcohol use was rampant. The full report released on Wednesday said that Downing Street had changed some of its practices to address that issue.
LONDON  Prime Minister Boris Johnson presided over a disorderly workplace in which there were widespread violations of coronavirus restrictions, according to a long-awaited government investigation released on Wednesday that is a moment of reckoning for the scandal-scarred British leader.

The report, by a senior civil servant, Sue Gray, included photographs of Mr. Johnsons raising a glass at a birthday party held in his honor, an event that breached the rules and for which he paid a police fine. It noted that 83 people violated the rules at parties, during which some drank heavily, fought with each other and damaged property.

Still, the report did not deliver any particularly explosive new information about Mr. Johnsons behavior, and even credited Downing Street with changing some of its practices to address an office culture that Ms. Gray described in an earlier, redacted version of her report as lacking leadership and marinated in alcohol.

Ms. Gray did not recommend punishment for those who violated the rules. But she pointedly noted that junior employees could have reasonably expected that the parties were legitimate since they were also attended by their superiors. That suggested that Mr. Johnson and other senior figures deserved the majority of the blame for the rule-breaking.
At the funeral in Tehran for a colonel in Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps, thousands of mourners packed the streets around the cemetery chanting Death to Israel and calling for revenge for his killing.

The commanders of the Guards and the Quds Force  the powerful unit within the Guards responsible for operations outside Irans borders  were both in attendance, hinting at the colonels importance.

Col. Sayad Khodayee, 50, was fatally shot outside his home on a quiet residential street in Tehran on Sunday when two gunmen on motorcycles approached his car and fired five bullets into it, according to state media. Iran has blamed Israel for the killing, which bore the hallmarks of other Israeli targeted killings of Iranians in a shadow war that has been playing out for years on land, sea, air and in cyberspace.

We will make the enemy regret this and none of the enemys evil actions will go unanswered, Gen. Hossein Salami, the commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, said in a speech on Monday. A member of Irans National Security Council, Majid Mirahmadi, said the killing was definitely the work of Israel, and warned that harsh revenge would follow, according to Iranian media.
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, a 10-year-old known as Lexi, was an honor roll student at Robb Elementary School who loved TikTok, dreamed of being a lawyer and was the student every teacher wants, said her mother, Kimberly Rubio.

On Tuesday morning, Lexi, a fourth grader, had just received a good citizenship award and an honor roll award for getting all As. Later that day, all of her familys joy was ripped away, Ms. Rubio said. Lexi was among the 21 people killed  19 students and two teachers  at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in the countrys deadliest school shooting in a decade.

Image Alexandria Aniyah Rubio Credit...

We talked about womens rights, and she was a budding feminist, said Ms. Rubio, 33, her voice breaking at times.

Lexis parents said they had waited until the last moment to name her, deciding on something that would stand out when called at a high school graduation.

She was my baby, Ms. Rubio said. I dont want anybody else to go through this.

The heart of our life

Layla Salazar was an energetic girl who had just won three first-place ribbons for athletics at school and was already planning summer sleepovers with her friends at her grandparents house, her grandfather Vincent Salazar said.

My granddaughter was one that loved everything about life, and they took it away from her, Mr. Salazar said in an interview in front of his home in Uvalde on Thursday. They took her away from us. How do you mend a broken heart from a family as close as we had?

Image Layla Salazar Credit...

Relatives from across the country have come to Uvalde to be with the family as they grieve, Mr. Salazar said, filling the home after the loss of a little girl whose absence could not be felt more strongly.

Layla, to our family, was the heart of our life.

When asked his name by a reporter, Mr. Salazar paused.

I was Grandpa  I was Layla Salazars grandpa. That was what she called me, was Grandpa.

A joy and a light

Irma Garcia, a teacher of more than two decades, was known as a steadfast optimist in her family. She would crack jokes at gatherings in Uvalde, Texas, sing her favorite classic rock tunes during parties and help her nephew, John Martinez, with homework.

Shes always been optimistic about everything, and just so loving with the people in her life, said Mr. Martinez, 21, a student at Texas State University.

On Tuesday, he and his family had gathered to process the news from the authorities: Ms. Garcia had been killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Image Irma Garcia Credit...

When the authorities went inside the classroom moments after the shooting, Mr. Martinez said, they had found her body there, embracing children in her arms pretty much until her last breath.

She had treated her students as if they were her own children, he said, so it had been easy for loved ones to possibly picture her putting her life on the line.

Ms. Garcia  or Tia Garcia, as Mr. Martinez referred to his aunt in Spanish  was like a second mom to her nephews and students, he said.

She brings a joy and a light to the room.

Her husband of 24 years, Joe Garcia, died two days after the shooting of a heart attack. He had gone to her memorial on Thursday morning to drop off flowers, ruptured by the grief of losing the love of his life, Mr. Martinez said.

They just want their sister back

Jailah Silguero, 10, was the youngest of four children, the baby of her family, her father said. She loved going to school and seeing her friends. Jailah had told her father, Jacob Silguero, 35, on Monday night that she wanted to stay home on Tuesday. It was uncharacteristic of her, and by morning, Mr. Silguero said, she seemed to have forgotten about it. She got dressed and went to school as usual.

I cant believe this happened to my daughter, my baby, he said.

He added, Its always been a fear of mine to lose a kid.

Image Jailah Silguero Credit...

Mr. Silguero and the family were getting ready to go to a funeral home on Wednesday after having spent hours at the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center the day before waiting for information about Jailah. Officials asked the family to give a DNA sample using a swab.

I figured after the DNA swab test, it was something bad, he said. About an hour later, they called to confirm that she had passed.

Jailahs siblings are taking it hard, Mr. Silguero said: They just want their sister back.

Jailah Silguero was among 21 people  19 children and two adults  killed in the massacre on Tuesday.

Two cousins in one class

Jackie Cazares and Annabelle Rodriguez were cousins in the same classroom at Robb Elementary School. Jackie, who had her First Communion two weeks ago, was the social one, said Polly Flores, who was Jackies aunt and Annabelles great-aunt. She was outgoing; she always had to be the center of attention, Ms. Flores said. She was my little diva.

Image Jackie Cazares Credit...

Annabelle, an honor roll student, was quieter. But she and her cousin were close, so close that Annabelles twin sister, who was home-schooled, was always jealous, Ms. Flores said. We are a very tight family, she said. Its just devastating.

A little girl who loved her friends

Amerie Jo Garza was a friendly 10-year-old who loved Play-Doh.

Amerie Jo was full of life, a jokester, always smiling, her father, Alfred Garza III, said in a brief phone interview. She did not talk a lot about school but liked spending time with her friends at lunch, in the playground and during recess. She was very social, he said. She talked to everybody.

Amerie Jos extended family had gathered in the room when the Texas Rangers broke the horrible news late Tuesday.

The familys loss came after losing several loved ones to Covid-19 over the past two years.

Image Amerie Jo Garza Credit...

We were finally getting a break, nobody was passing away, Mr. Garza said. Then this happened.

Mr. Garza, who works at a used car dealership in Uvalde, said he was on a lunch break when Amerie Jos mother told him she could not get their daughter out of the school because it was on lockdown.

I just went straight over there and found the chaos, he said. He recalled seeing cars backing up on the streets, with parents trying to enter the school to find their children. Police cars were everywhere.

At first, he said, he did not think that anyone had been hurt. Then he heard that children had died. For hours, he awaited word about his daughter.

I was kind of in shock, he said, after hearing from the Texas Rangers. When he got home, he started to go through her pictures. Thats when I kind of had the release, he said. I started crying and started mourning.

She brought the neighborhood together

Eva Mireles, who was in her 40s, loved teaching the children at Robb Elementary School, most recently fourth grade. Neighbors described her as a good-natured person who was usually smiling.

She brought the neighborhood together, said Javier Garcia, 18, who lived next door. She loved those children.

Image Eva Mireles Credit...

A cousin by marriage, Joe Costilla, 40, who lives down the block, said that outside of work Ms. Mireles liked to run marathons and was very athletic. We were always hanging together  barbecues  she was a wonderful person, he said, holding back tears. They had planned to get together over Memorial Day weekend.

Mr. Costillas mother, Esperanza, rushed to his home to console her grandchildren, ages 14 and 10, who knew her well.

They are taking it really hard, she said. She was the kind of teacher everybody loved.

Audrey Garcia, 48, the mother of a daughter with Down syndrome named Gabby, recalled Ms. Mireles as a transformational teacher in her childs life.

Gabby is 23 now, with a high school diploma under her belt. Ms. Mireles had been her third-grade teacher. It was only a couple of years earlier, Ms. Garcia said, that schools in the Uvalde area had begun integrating children with mental disabilities into regular classrooms.

It was new for teachers in that area, Ms. Garcia said. Ms. Mireles, she said, threw herself into the work. She used every teaching method she knew to help Gabby reach her highest potential, she said. She never saw that potential as lower than anyone elses in her classroom.

Tough guy

Jose Flores, 10, had a pink T-shirt that said: Tough guys wear pink. His grandfather George Rodriguez called him my little Josesito and kept a photograph of the boy in his wallet.

Mr. Rodriguez, who also lost a niece in Tuesdays shooting, attended counseling at the civic center in Uvalde but said it had offered him little reprieve from the pain. They were beautiful, innocent children, he said.

Image Jose Flores Credit...

On the honor roll

Xavier Lopez, 10, made the honor roll on the day he was killed. He was eager to come home and share the news with his three brothers, but his grandparents said Xavier decided to stay at school to watch a movie and eat popcorn with his classmates.

They remembered Xavier as an exuberant baseball and soccer player who had a girlfriend at school with whom he chatted away on the phone.

Image Xavier Lopez Credit...

Leonard Sandoval, 54, Xaviers grandfather, stood outside the familys home on Wednesday trying to make sense of the incomprehensible. Why? he asked. Why him? Why the kids?

A special, special boy

Manny Renfro said his 9-year-old grandson, Uziyah Garcia, was a special, special boy who loved video games, football and brought joy to their family.

I stand in grief, he said in a brief phone interview. I dont sleep. I dont eat.

Image Uziyah Garcia Credit... Manny Renfro, via Associated Press

When their family was notified by the authorities on Tuesday that Uziyah was among the victims, his mother cried and cried, and the family was hysterical, Mr. Renfro said.

I wept, he said. He was just a typical kid.

A doll

Eliahna Ellie Garcia was just a few days shy of turning 10, her father, Steven Garcia, said in a brief phone interview.

He had been looking forward to being the D.J. at Ellies birthday party this summer, he said in a Facebook post, adding that she had been a doll and was the happiest ever.

Image Ellie Garcia Credit...

Two days after his daughter was killed, Mr. Garcia said he was too deep in grief to share his memories of her but wanted to thank people for their prayers.

We miss her, he said.

In his Facebook post, he wrote to Ellie: Please try and stay by our side, amor.

So much potential

Andrea Cruz said her husbands niece was Eliahna Torres, 10, one of the victims of the tragedy.

Image Eliahna Torres Credit...

She was an amazing young girl with so much potential, she wrote in a text message. She was a leader and loved by all her family.

A helpful brother

Euodulia Orta, 30, confirmed that her nephew Rojelio Torres, 10, died in the shooting.

Were still trying to cope with it, she said. We dont know what to do.

Image Rojelio Torres Credit...

Her nephew was the second-oldest of four children, and he always helped out his siblings, she said.

He was a loving person, she added. He loved his siblings.

Reporting was contributed by Richard Fausset , Jack Healy , Eduardo Medina , Christina Morales , Josh Peck , Campbell Robertson , Edgar Sandoval , Alex Traub and John Yoon .
Pakistan: PTI leaders Ijaz Chaudhry, Mehmood ur Rasheed arrested ahead of 'Azadi March'

Islamabad, May 25 (UNI) The police on Tuesday arrested PTIs Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, Punjab senior leader Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed and other party workers ahead of Azadi March set to begin on Wednesday, The News reported.

The government has decided to stop PTIs Azadi March despite, the PTI chairman Imran Khan and other party leaders vowing to reach Islamabad for the 'Azadi March'.

Condemning the police action, Shafqat Mehmood tweeted that the police had raided his house without a search warrant.

Later PTI the spokesperson claimed that Senator Ejaz Chaudhry had also been arrested and shifted to an unknown location.

Meanwhile, police also launched a crackdown on PTI's Sindh leadership and arrested several workers. In the wee hours of Wednesday, police raided Karachis Shah Rasool colony area and arrested five PTI workers including local party leader Pervaiz Khan. The police said the arrested PTI workers were planning to gather at Teen Talwar for the protest.

The PML-N government justified the move and said that they have decided to stop Imran Khan's Azadi March in Islamabad in order to maintain the law and order situation.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that, the federal cabinet has decided not to let PTI go ahead with its long march in order to avoid the spread of "fitna" and "fasad."

UNI ACL1156
America has been shaken  once again  by mass shootings. On May 14, a gunman killed 10 people in a supermarket in Buffalo. On Tuesday, at least 19 children and two adults were killed in Uvalde, Texas. It was the deadliest shooting at an elementary school since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary.

This essay originally ran in 2017, after a shooter killed 26 people in a Texas church. But the issue is still tragically relevant, and will remain so until America tightens its gun safety policies.

America has more guns than any other country

The first step is to understand the scale of the challenge America faces: The U.S. has more than 300 million guns  roughly one for every citizen  and stands out as well for its gun death rates. At the other extreme, Japan has less than one gun per 100 people, and typically fewer than 10 gun deaths a year in the entire country.

Guns per 100 people Among developed countries, the United States has by far the highest rate of firearms ownership. 120.5 United States 34.7 Canada 27.6 Switzerland 23.1 Sweden 19.6 France 19.6 Germany 14.5 Australia 14.4 Italy 7.5 Spain 4.6 England, Wales 0.3 Japan Gun murders per 100,000 people Americas private arsenal is five times as lethal as Canadas, and 30 times worse than Australias. 3.4 United States 0.6 Canada 0.4 France 0.4 Sweden 0.3 Italy 0.2 Switzerland 0.1 Australia 0.1 Germany 0.1 Spain 0 England, Wales 0 Japan Guns per 100 people Among developed countries, the United States has by far the highest rate of firearms ownership. 120.5 United States 34.7 Canada 27.6 Switzerland 23.1 Sweden 19.6 France 19.6 Germany 14.5 Australia 14.4 Italy 7.5 Spain 4.6 England, Wales 0.3 Japan Gun murders per 100,000 people Americas private arsenal is five times as lethal as Canadas, and 30 times worse than Australias. 3.4 United States 0.6 Canada 0.4 France 0.4 Sweden 0.3 Italy 0.2 Switzerland 0.1 Australia 0.1 Germany 0.1 Spain 0 England, Wales 0 Japan Sources: Small Arms Survey, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.  Ownership rates are for 2017. Murder rates for the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia and Spain are from 2016; otherwise, the latest available rates are used.

We have a model for regulating guns: automobiles

Gun enthusiasts often protest: Cars kill about as many people as guns, and we dont ban them! No, but automobiles are actually a model for the public health approach Im suggesting.

We dont ban cars, but we work hard to regulate them  and limit access to them  so as to reduce the death toll they cause. This has been spectacularly successful, reducing the death rate per 100 million miles driven to less than one-seventh of what it was in 1946.

Deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled 8 1968 First federal safety standards for cars 6 4 2021 1.33 2 1946 2021 Deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled 1968 1950 First federal safety standards for cars First seatbelt offered in an American car 8 1974 55 m.p.h. national speed limit 1993 Car safety ratings introduced 6 1978 Tennessee is first to require child safety seats 1999 Airbags, invented in 1951, become mandatory 4 2000 Mandatory reporting of defects by carmakers 2021 1.33 2 16 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  Note: Data for 2021 is preliminary.

The liberal approach is ineffective. Use a public health approach instead.

Frankly, liberal opposition to guns has often been ineffective, and sometimes counterproductive. The 10-year ban on assault weapons accomplished little, partly because definitions were about cosmetic features like bayonet mounts (and partly because even before the ban, such guns were used in only 2 percent of crimes).

The left sometimes focuses on gun control, which scares off gun owners and leads to more gun sales. A better framing is gun safety or reducing gun violence, and using auto safety as a modelconstant efforts to make the products safer and to limit access by people who are most likely to misuse them.

What would a public health approach look like for guns if it were modeled after cars? It would include:

Background checks 22 percent of guns are obtained without one. Protection orders Keep men who are subject to domestic violence protection orders from having guns. Ban under-21s A ban on people under 21 purchasing firearms (this is already the case in many states). Safe storage These include trigger locks as well as guns and ammunition stored separately, especially when children are in the house. Straw purchases Tighter enforcement of laws on straw purchases of weapons, and some limits on how many guns can be purchased in a month. Ammunition checks Experimentation with a one-time background check for anybody buying ammunition. End immunity End immunity for firearm companies. Thats a subsidy to a particular industry. Ban bump stocks A ban on bump stocks of the kind used in Las Vegas to mimic automatic weapon fire. Research smart guns Smart guns fire only after a fingerprint or PIN is entered, or if used near a particular bracelet.

If someone steals my iPhone, its useless, and the same should be true of guns. Gun manufacturers made child-proof guns back in the 19th century (before dropping them), and its time to advance that technology today. Some combination of smart guns and safe storage would also reduce the number of firearms stolen in the U.S. each year, now about 200,000, and available to criminals.

We also need to figure out whether gun buybacks, often conducted by police departments, are cost-effective and help reduce violence. And we can experiment more with anti-gang initiatives, such as Cure Violence, that have a good record in reducing shootings.

Fewer guns = fewer deaths

It is true that guns are occasionally used to stop violence. But contrary to what the National Rifle Association suggests, this is rare. One study by the Violence Policy Center found that in 2012 there were 259 justifiable homicides by a private citizen using a firearm.

Estimated share of households with guns, by state Hawaii Mass. U.S. AVERAGE: 32% OF HOUSEHOLDS HAVE GUNS R.I. N.J. N.Y. Del. States in red have gun death rates above the national average of 10.5 per 100,000 people. Conn. Ill. Calif. Fla. Md. Wash. N.H. Ind. Ohio Co. Pa. Iowa Minn. Ariz. Nev. N.D. Mich. Va. Ore. N.M. N.C. Tex. S.C. Neb. Kan. Ga. Mo. Okla. Wisc. La. Ky. Utah Ala. Maine Tenn. S.D. W. Va. Ark. Alaska Vt. Miss. Idaho Mont. Wyo. 20% 40% 60% 80% Estimated share of households with guns, by state Hawaii Massachusetts Rhode Island U.S. AVERAGE: 32% OF HOUSEHOLDS HAVE GUNS New Jersey New York Delaware States in red have gun death rates above the national average of 10.5 per 100,000 people. Connecticut Illinois California Florida Maryland Washington New Hampshire Indiana Ohio Colorado Pennsylvania Iowa Minnesota Arizona Nevada North Dakota Michigan Virginia Oregon New Mexico North Carolina Texas South Carolina Nebraska Kansas Georgia Missouri Oklahoma Wisconsin Louisiana Kentucky Utah Alabama Maine Tennessee South Dakota West Virginia Arkansas Alaska Vermont Mississippi Idaho Montana Wyoming 20% 40% 60% 80% Note: There is no hard data on gun ownership in the United States. This household gun ownership proxy was created by taking a weighted average of the percentage of suicides committed with a firearm  a widely used proxy for firearm ownership  and the hunting license rate in each state. It improves upon earlier models by accounting for the prevalence of hunting rifles, which are typically not used in suicides. The new proxy improves the correlation with survey-measured gun ownership from 0.80 to 0.95, suggesting increased accuracy. Source: Michael Siegel, Boston University School of Public Health

Lax laws too often make it easy not only for good guys to get guns, but also for bad guys to get guns. The evidence is overwhelming that overall more guns and more relaxed gun laws lead to more violent deaths and injuries. One study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that a gun in the house was associated with an increased risk of a gun death, particularly by suicide but also apparently by homicide.

Gun law grades and gun death rates The Giffords Law Center finds that states where guns are more regulated tend to have lower gun death rates. In its grading system, the strongest gun regulations get an A; the weakest, an F. Gun deaths per 100,000 people AK 25 States with F gun law grades MS WY NM AL LA MO SC TRENDLINE 20 AR MT TN OK WV GA NV AZ 15 KY IN KS CO OH ID MD TX OR ND MI UT FL VA SD NC PA WA NH ME IL WI DE NE 10 VT MN IA CA Stronger gun laws are correlated with lower death rates CT RI 5 HI NJ MA NY 0 10 20 30 40 50 Stronger laws Weaker laws Gun law strength (rank) Gun deaths per 100,000 people AK 25 States with F gun law grades MS WY NM AL LA MO SC TRENDLINE 20 AR MT TN OK WV GA NV AZ 15 KY IN KS CO OH ID MD TX OR ND MI UT FL VA SD NC PA WA NH ME IL WI DE NE 10 VT MN IA CA Stronger gun laws are correlated with lower death rates CT RI 5 HI NJ MA NY 0 10 20 30 40 50 Stronger laws Weaker laws Gun law strength (rank) Gun deaths per 100,000 people AK 25 States with F gun law grades MS WY NM LA AL MO SC 20 AR MT TRENDLINE TN OK WV GA NV AZ 15 KY IN KS CO OH ID TX MD FL ND OR UT MI SD NC VA PA NH NE ME IL WA WI 10 DE VT MN IA CA Stronger gun laws are correlated with lower death rates CT RI 5 HI NJ MA NY 0 10 20 30 40 50 Gun law strength (rank) Stronger laws Weaker laws Source: Giffords Law Center  Data as of March 2021.

In 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas tweeted that he was embarrassed that his state was ranked second (behind California) in requests to buy new guns, albeit still with one million requests. Lets pick up the pace Texans, he wrote.

Abbott apparently believes, along with the N.R.A., that more guns make a society more safe, but statistics dispute that. Abbott should look at those charts.

Mass shootings are not the main cause of loss of life

Critics will say that the kind of measures I cite wouldnt prevent many shootings. The 2017 shooting in Las Vegas, for example, might not have been prevented by any of the suggestions I make.

Thats true, and theres no magic wand available. Yet remember that although it is mass shootings that get our attention, they are not the main cause of loss of life. Much more typical is a friend who shoots another, a husband who kills his wife  or, most common of all, a man who kills himself. Skeptics will say that if people want to kill themselves, theres nothing we can do. In fact, it turns out that if you make suicide a bit more difficult, suicide rates drop.

Here are the figures showing that mass shootings are a modest share of the total, and the same is true of self-defense  despite what the N.R.A. might have you believe.

EACH SYMBOL REPRESENTS 500 GUN DEATHS IN 2016 AN ESTIMATED 22,000 GUN SUICIDES ABOUT 11,760 HOMICIDES OTHER CAUSES DEATHS IN MASS SHOOTINGS: 456 VICTIMS KILLING PERPETRATORS IN SELF-DEFENSE: 589 1.6% 1.2% SHARE OF ALL GUN DEATHS: EACH SYMBOL REPRESENTS 500 GUN DEATHS IN 2016 AN ESTIMATED 22,000 GUN SUICIDES ABOUT 11,760 HOMICIDES OTHER CAUSES VICTIMS KILLING PERPETRATORS IN SELF-DEFENSE: 589 DEATHS IN MASS SHOOTINGS: 456 1.6% 1.2% SHARE OF ALL GUN DEATHS: Source: Gun Violence Archive

Tightening gun laws lowered firearm homicide rates

For skeptics who think that gun laws dont make a difference, consider what happened in two states, Missouri and Connecticut. In 1995, Connecticut tightened licensing laws, while in 2007 Missouri eased gun laws.

The upshot? After tightening gun laws, firearm homicide rates dropped 40 percent in Connecticut. And after Missouri eased gun laws, gun homicide rates rose 25 percent.

Connecticut after 1995 law tightening licensing requirements Estimated change in rate of gun homicide 40% Estimated change in rate of gun suicide 15% Missouri after 2007 repeal of license requirements Estimated change in rate of gun homicide +25% Estimated change in rate of gun suicide +16% Connecticut after 1995 law tightening licensing requirements Missouri after 2007 repeal of license requirements Estimated change in rate of gun homicide 40% +25% Estimated change in rate of gun suicide 15% +16% Source: Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

One of the lessons of gun research is that we often focus just on firearms themselves, when it may be more productive to focus on who gets access to them. A car or gun is usually safe in the hands of a 45-year-old woman with no criminal record, but may be dangerous when used by a 19-year-old felon with a history of alcohol offenses or domestic violence protection orders.

Yet our laws have often focused more on weapons themselves (such as the assault weapons ban) rather than on access. In many places, there is more rigorous screening of people who want to adopt dogs than of people who want to purchase firearms.

In these two states, the laws affected access, and although theres some indication that other factors were also involved in Connecticut (and correlations dont prove causation), the outcomes are worth pondering.

There is a shocking lack of research on guns

Theres simply a scandalous lack of research on gun violence, largely because the N.R.A. is extremely hostile to such research and Congress rolls over. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did try to research gun violence, Congress responded by cutting its funding.

Here is the American toll from four diseases and firearms over the years 1973-2012  and the number of National Institutes of Health research grants to explore each problem over that same time.

N.I.H. research awards Disease Number of cases Rabies 65 56 Polio 266 212 Cholera 400 129 Diphtheria 1,337 89 Firearms injuries 3 >4 million Number of cases Disease N.I.H. research awards Rabies 65 89 Polio 266 129 Cholera 400 212 Diphtheria 1,337 56 Firearm Injuries 3 >4 million Source: University of Chicago Crime Lab

The right type of training could go a long way

One approach that could reduce the abuse of guns is better training. As a 13-year-old farm boy in Oregon, I attended a N.R.A. gun safety class (which came with a one-year membership to the N.R.A., making me an N.R.A. alum who despises what that organization has become). These classes can be very useful, and audits found that more than 80 percent cover such matters as checking the gun to see if its loaded, keeping ones finger off the trigger until ready to fire and being certain of the target.

Yet the audits also suggest that trainers are more likely to advocate for the N.R.A. or for carrying guns than for, say, safe storage. This is a missed opportunity, for all classes should cover the risks of guns and alcohol, the risks of abuse with suicide and domestic violence, the need for safe storage, and so on. Heres what researchers found that the gun classes they audited between 2014 and 2016 actually covered:

NOT DISCUSSED PERCENT OF CLASSES WHERE DISCUSSED Trainers encouraged gun carrying 81% 19 Encouraged gun ownership 76 24 Prevent unsupervised access by children 70 30 Encouraged gun use for self-defense 69 31 60 40 Ricochet 60 40 Theft prevention Encouraged membership in gun-rights group 56 44 Legal ramifications of shooting in self-defense 55 45 53 47 Child access laws Recommendation: when not in use, store unloaded 50 50 Recommendation: use gun only as last resort 45 55 Young children and gun accidents 55 45 70 30 Decision-making in crises Theft is important source of firearms used in crime 80 20 Techniques for de-escalating threats 85 15 Recommendation: report stolen firearms 90 10 Watch for signs of suicide in household members 90 10 90 10 Domestic violence risk Topic discussed Percent of classes where discussed Not discussed Trainers encouraged gun carrying 19 81% Encouraged gun ownership 24 76 Prevent unsupervised access by children 30 70 Encouraged gun use for self-defense 31 69 Ricochet 40 60 Theft prevention 40 60 Encouraged membership in gun-rights group 44 56 Legal ramifications of shooting in self-defense 45 55 Child access laws 47 53 Recommendation: when not in use, store unloaded 50 50 Recommendation: use gun only as last resort 55 45 Young children and gun accidents 55 45 Decision-making in crises 70 30 Theft is an important source of firearms used in crime 80 20 Techniques for de-escalating threats 85 15 Recommendation: report stolen firearms 90 10 Watch for signs of suicide in household members 90 10 Domestic violence risk 90 10 Source: David Hemenway, Injury Prevention  The classes studied, some of which were required by law, took place in 7 Northeast states.

A way forward: On some issues, majorities agree

It may sometimes seem hopeless to make progress on gun violence, especially with the N.R.A. seemingly holding Congress hostage. But Im more optimistic.

Look, we all agree on some kinds of curbs on guns. Nobody believes that people should be able to drive a tank down Main Street, or have an anti-aircraft gun in the backyard. Ive been to parts of northern Yemen where one could actually buy a tank or an anti-aircraft gun, as well as fully automatic weapons  and that areas now embroiled in a civil war  but fortunately in America we have agreed to ban those kinds of weaponry.

So the question isnt whether we will restrict firearms, but where to draw the line and precisely which ones to restrict.

Check out these polling numbers as a basis for action on gun safety:

Agree with the following: Households with no guns Gun households 50% Background checks for all gun buyers 93% 96% Preventing mentally ill from buying guns 89 89 Nationwide ban on the sale of guns to people convicted of violent crimes 88 85 Barring gun purchases by people on no-fly or watch lists 82 84 Background checks for private sales and at gun shows 77 87 Federal mandatory waiting period on all gun purchases 72 89 Ban on modifications that make a semi- automatic gun work like an automatic gun 67 79 A ban on the sale of guns to people convicted of violent crimes would reduce gun violence 61 75 New gun laws will not interfere with the right to own guns 57 71 Congress is not doing enough to reduce gun violence 56 81 Creating a federal database to track gun sales 54 80 A ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines (10+ bullets)* 52 77 Households with no guns Gun households Agree with the following: 50% 93% Background checks for all gun buyers 96% 89 Preventing the mentally ill from buying guns 89 Nationwide ban on the sale of guns to people convicted of violent crimes 88 85 Barring gun purchases by people on no-fly or watch lists 82 84 Background checks for private sales and at gun shows 77 87 Federal mandatory waiting period on all gun purchases 72 89 A ban on modifications that make a semi- automatic gun work like an automatic gun 67 79 A ban on the sale of guns to people convicted of violent crimes would reduce gun violence 61 75 New gun laws will not interfere with the right to own guns 57 71 Congress is not doing enough to reduce gun violence 56 81 Creating a federal database to track gun sales 54 80 A ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines (10+ bullets)* 52 77 Sources: Pew Research Center survey conducted in March and April (questions on mental illness, no-fly lists, background checks for private sales and federal database); Quinnipiac University National Poll conducted Oct. 5-10 (all other questions)  *A Pew Research Center survey found only 44 percent of gun owners favored such a ban.

Looking ahead, Im optimistic that there can be progress at the state level, and some of the necessary research funding will come from private foundations. Maybe some police departments will put in orders for smart guns to help create a market.

But the real impetus for change will come because the public favors it. In particular, note that 93 percent of people even in gun households favor universal background checks for gun purchases.

This is the blunt, damning truth: The latest shooting was 100 percent predictable.

After each such incident, we mourn the deaths and sympathize with the victims, but we do nothing fundamental to reduce our vulnerability.

Some of you will protest that the immediate aftermath of a shooting is too soon to talk about guns, or that it is disrespectful to the dead to use such a tragedy to score political points. Yet more Americans have died from gun violence, including suicides, since 1970 (about 1.4 million) than in all the wars in American history going back to the Revolutionary War (about 1.3 million). And its not just gang-members: In a typical year, more pre-schoolers are shot dead in America (about 75) than police officers are.

Yes, making America safer will be hard: There are no perfect solutions. The Second Amendment is one constraint, and so is our polarized political system and the power of the gun lobby. Its unclear how effective some of my suggestions will be, and in any case this will be a long, uncertain, uphill process.

But automobiles are a reminder that we can chip away at a large problem through a public health approach: Just as auto safety improvements have left us far better off, it seems plausible to some gun policy experts that a sensible, politically feasible set of public health steps could over time reduce firearm deaths in America by one-third  or more than 10,000 lives saved each year.

So lets not just shed tears for the dead, give somber speeches and lower flags. Lets get started and save lives.
An Indian man was recently ousted as the cause of frequent power outages in his native village, as he always cut the power in the entire settlement whenever he wanted to see his girlfriend.

For weeks, the people of Ganeshpur, a small village in eastern Bihars Purnia district, had to put up with frequent power outages that only seemed to occur a few hours after sunset. No one seemed to know what was causing the problems, as the power company had not reported any power grid malfunctions, and none of the neighboring villages were dealing with similar issues. Exasperated, many in the villages started paying attention to the time when the outages occurred and came to the conclusion that power always went down after dark. They started to suspect foul play and came up with a plan to investigate

Photo: Travis Grossen/Unsplash

One night, after the electricity went out as it often had over the past weeks, a number of Ganeshpur residents formed a search party and decided to search the village for answers. After combing the streets, they reached the village schoolyard where they discovered two lovers trying to keep their relationship secret. As it turns out, the man, who happened to be an electrician, was so desperate to keep their love a secret that he cut the power for 2-3 hours a night every time they met, just so people wouldnt see them.

After admitting to sabotaging the entire village for weeks, the naughty electrician was reportedly beaten up, then tonsured and paraded through the streets as punishment. Luckily, the story does have a happy ending, sort of. After finding out about their secret romance, the village elders basically forced the two lovers to marry.

The man was married to the girl in the presence of the Sarpanch and other village council members, villager Marar Ram Murmu told Tribune India.

Photo: Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

The marriage reportedly saved the electrician from legal repercussions, as no charges were filed against him, according to local police officer Vikas Kumar Azad, who said: We have come to know about the incident but will act once we receive a complaint.

Ah, the things we do for love, am I right?
WPP has partnered with the Black Equity Organisation, which launched May 24, to advance equal opportunity and justice for Black people in the UK.

Its Hill+Knowlton Strategies (PR), Landor & Fitch (branding, visual identity), Oglivy (advertising), GroupM and Mindshare (media strategy, planning, investment) will provide pro bono services to BEO.

Karen Blackett, GroupM UK CEO and WPP UK Country Manager, serves as a founding trustee of BEO.

She said BEO will serve as a national strategic voice for Black people in Britain and WPPs support and funding will help it drive real change.

WPPs racial equity program, a $30M three-year funding effort to back internal inclusion programs and external groups, has contributed to BEO.

Sky, Open Society Foundations, Lankelly Chase and law firms such as Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Herbert Smith Freehills and Slaughter & May are also supporting the new venture.
Donald Trump is among the luminaries who are slated to speak at the National Rifle Associations Institute for Legislative Action Leadership Forum on May 27.

The event will be the first annual meeting of the gun group since the outbreak of the pandemic.

It also will be the first session since the latest mass shooting at a school in the US.

The NRAs meeting will take place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, which is 277 miles away from Uvalde, TX, where 19 young kids and two teachers were slaughtered on May 24.

The 18-year-old gunman had an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun. He is dead.

Trumps appearance will be the sixth time that he has addressed the NRA.

Embattled NRA head Wayne LaPierre has praised the ex-president for championing the right to keep and bear arms.

The ex-president also came through for the NRA during the COVID-19 lockdown by declaring firearms and ammunition retailers critical infrastructure, which encouraged states to reopen gun stores that had been forcibly closed.

During his May 24 address to the nation, president Joe Biden asked how much longer will America be willing to live with the carnage resulting from mass shootings.

We have to ask, when in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby, said Biden.

Trump, who has trotted out the nonsensical arming teachers strategy as the solution to solving the school shootings pandemic, undoubtedly will offer his thoughts and prayers to the victims and family members of the Robb Elementary School killings.

But the Good Lord has been overwhelmed with prayers from anguished Americans wracked with pain over the untimely deaths of their children, who were sent off to what are supposed to be safe spaces: schools.

There have been 14 mass shootings at US schools and colleges since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 that left 13 dead, according to the Associated Press.

A total of 169 people died and scores of others were injured at murder scenes such as Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Santa Fe High School, Red Lake High School, Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University, West Nickel Mines Amish School and Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The time of thoughts and prayers is long past. Action by Republicans is required to stop the mayhem.

As Biden said, show some spine.

Texas governor Greg Abbott and senator Ted Cruz also will speak at the NRA event.

Cruz has offered up his own thoughts and prayers for the Robb Elementary School victims.

Heidi and I are lifting up in prayer the entire Uvalde community during this devastating time and we mourn the lives that were taken by this act of evil. None of us can imagine the anguish the parents in Uvalde are going through. Our hearts go out to them.

Save your meaningless statement for the next slaughter, Ted. You will just have to replace Uvalde with the name of the next massacre site.
A JUDGE at Tullamore District Court told a defendant who said he needed his car for work that she hears that every week.

Arindam Nandi (33) 40 Tara Grove, Wellpark, Galway, pleaded guilty to the offence which took place on August 13, 2021 when Mr Nandi was stopped at Frankford, Kilcormac by Garda Brendan Kenny.

He was asked for his driving licence and insurance but failed to produce and his vehicle was seized.

Solicitor Donal Farrelly said Mr Nandi was 33 years old and worked in digital marketing. He had bought the car online that day and didnt have time to get it insured. He had a full driving licence. He was three and a half years in Ireland. He had no previous convictions and had handed in his licence to last Wednesdays court.

He told Judge Walsh he needed his car. Everyone who needs a car needs to have insurance, she told the defendant.

She was about to disqualify him but Mr Farrelly and Mr Nandi pleaded with her not to. She imposed a fine of 600 and took into consideration failure to produce.
THE HSE has apologised to an 82-year-old woman who waited 11 hours to be seen by a doctor at the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore.

The woman was taken by ambulance to the A&E unit of the hospital and according to her daughter Pearl Barnes she was assigned a cubicle. Ms Barnes said the date was May 21 at 12.10pm.

"A nurse advised us that it would be approximately 4 hours before a doctor would be available to see Mam. 8 hours later at 9.20pm a nurse informed us it would be at least another 2 hours before a doctor would be available," said Pearl.

"It was not just my elderly mother that was waiting hours to be seen. I personally am ashamed and frankly angry that this is what our health service feels is acceptable. If you brought an animal in pain to a veterinary practice would they be left for 9 plus hours for a vet to help them? I do feel the public needs to be aware that perhaps the Irish attitude of "ah it will be grand" will not help change how our health system currently works.

"I personally feel that perhaps it is time for people to be more outspoken about their experiences of how they are being treated," said Pearl.

A statement from HSE said: "The hospital would like to apologise to the lady and her mother for the lengthy waiting time to be seen in our Emergency Department.

"The Hospital was very busy on Saturday, 21st of May 2022 with a significant number of patients categorised as urgent requiring immediate care and treatment. This contributed to the overall wait time of patients and for that we would like to apologise to those who waited longer than anticipated.

"There were over 120 presentations to our Emergency Department on Friday and a further 80 presentations to our Emergency Department on Saturday, the acuity of patients was extremely high. This put extra demand on our Emergency Department service and therefore increased waiting times.

"The Hospital endeavours to see all patients as quickly as possible, however, sometimes this is a challenge. The Hospital is continuing to work to reduce waiting times, in particular for persons aged 75 years and to improve the unscheduled care pathways for patients through a range of initiatives internally and by working with our community care colleagues in the Midlands."
There were 44 complaints from Offaly people to the Office of the Ombudsman in 2021.

Ombudsman Ger Deering said the number of complaints received across Ireland reached a record high in 2021 with 4,004 people contacting his office.

Mr Deering said that complaints about local authorities accounted for the largest proportion of the increase, with 1,290 complaints - an increase of 45% on 2020. These mainly related to housing and planning issues.

The role of the Ombudsman is to investigate complaints from people who feel they have been unfairly treated by certain providers of public services, these include government departments, local authorities, the HSE, public hospitals, publicly funded third level education institutions, public and private nursing homes and direct provision accommodation centres. The services of the office are free to use.

One example of a complaint received was from a woman called Norah who complained to a private nursing home when her mother was found on her own, with facial injuries, around three kilometres from her nursing home.

Her mother was in her late 70s and had dementia. The nursing home initially refused to engage with Norah or her family saying that they could not make a complaint on behalf of her mother. Norah brought her case to the Ombudsman when the private nursing home refused to provide a written response to her complaint.

When the Ombudsman sought information from the nursing home as part of his investigation, it said it was not obliged to respond to his Office. Once the Ombudsman clarified that under the Ombudsman Act 1980, the nursing home was obliged to provide his Office with the information, it provided the information but continued to refuse to write to the family. The Ombudsman pointed out that the home was in breach of its own complaints policy by not responding in writing.

It became apparent to the Ombudsman that the nursing home had already carried out an investigation into the incident, and that it had made a number of recommendations aimed at avoiding the situation arising in the future. However, the nursing homes investigation was not carried out in accordance with its own complaints policy.

As a result of the Ombudsmans intervention, the nursing home wrote to Norah apologising for the incident. However, it continued to refuse to respond to Norah in writing to the issues raised in her complaint. The Ombudsman provided a full written account of what had happened on the day of the incident to Norah, and her family. He has also spoken with the Department of Health, with a view to having the requirement for private nursing homes to provide written responses to complaints put on a statutory basis

Before complainants bring their complaints to our Office they must first take steps to resolve their complaint with the public service provider concerned.

Another example was when a man complained to the Ombudsman when Tipperary County Council said that his two businesses would be assessed as one for the Governments COVID-related business Restart grants. The Council said that as his two businesses were linked, and shared the same tax number, the man would be entitled to one grant only in respect of his two operations.

The Restart scheme provides that businesses can be entitled to more than one grant if they have separate rated properties or operating from a number of properties. The Ombudsman noted that the Council had issued separate rate demands in relation to the mans two businesses and their activities were quite different in nature. In addition, the businesses were registered separately with the Companies Registration Office. The Ombudsman asked the Council to review its decision. The Council awarded the man an additional 3,100 in respect of his second business.
A group of Irish students have been chosen to present their idea of an inhabitable space settlement at an international space conference in the United States.

Fifth year physics students at St Flannan's College in Ennis, Co Clare - Naem Haq, Adam Downes, Cian Pyne, Jack O'Connor and Garabhan Monaghan - won the NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest after going up against 17,000 other students from 22 countries.

They will showcase their 'Mag Mell' design at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Washington DC this week.

The talented youngsters set off from Shannon Airport today (Wednesday May 25), where they reportedly received the VIP treatment in the Presidential Lounge.

Speaking at the airport - which sponsored their flight to Washington DC - their physics teacher John Conneely said, "This is a wonderful opportunity. We are so proud of our students for winning the grand prize out of 17,000 students from 22 countries. We are incredibly grateful to Shannon Airport for the support.

It is quite fitting that we are travelling from Shannon to the International Space Development Conference. Our students were thrilled to get the VIP treatment with a reception in the airport Presidential Lounge where they go to sign the guest book along with the likes of Astronauts Chris Hatfield and Al Worden, one of only 24 people to have flown to the moon!

According to the team's submission, they named the settlement after a mythical land in Irish mythology - Mag Mell - which translates from Irish as 'delightful' or 'pleasant plain'.

The basic shape of their design is a half-cut rotating torus with six spokes and a central hub which can rotate at a different rate of rotation to the outer rim.

As well as residential and commercial hubs - or villages - the team also designed multi-level farms suspended from ceilings which they called 'Agri-Areas'.

The airport's Operations and Commercial Director, Niall Maloney, said the airport was "delighted" to host the team from St Flannan's.

He said, They represent the incredible talent and innovative young minds coming from this region who are making an impact on the world stage. Shannon Airport and its campus were the brainchild of an innovative and entrepreneurial mind of a young Brendan ORegan, and we are proud to support Naem, Adam, Cian, Jack and Garabhans richly deserved achievement."

The team's full design can be viewed by clicking here.
Boris Johnson is facing growing pressure from Tory MPs to quit in the public interest, amid warnings he will lose the next election.

Former minister Tobias Ellwood and backbencher Julian Sturdy described partygate as a distraction during a challenging time for Britons.

Mr Sturdy, Conservative MP for York Outer, said the Sue Gray report showed Mr Johnson has presided over a widespread culture of disregard for the coronavirus regulations.

STATEMENT ON SUE GRAY REPORT Following the publication of the full Sue Gray report, I feel it is now in the public interest for the Prime Minister to resign. pic.twitter.com/oXfkb7KmrS  Julian Sturdy MP (@JulianSturdy) May 25, 2022

In a statement posted on Twitter, he said: Questions are now being raised about whether the Prime Minister misled Parliament when asked about these events.

Talking to constituents, it is clear discussions about parties in Downing Street remain a damaging distraction at a time when our country faces massive challenges with war returning to Europe, a global cost of living crisis, and our recovery from the pandemic being more important than ever.

This is clearly a time when we cannot have any doubt about the honesty, integrity, and personal character of the Prime Minister.

While I thought it important to wait for the conclusion of the Metropolitan Police investigation and the publication of the Sue Gray report, I am now unable to give the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt and feel it is now in the public interest for him to resign.

Conservative former ministerial aide Angela Richardson said the scandal has eroded public trust in politicians and reflects badly on us all.

I am clear that had this been a report about my leadership, I would resign, the Guildford MP wrote online.

Mr Ellwood was heckled by fellow Tory MPs in the Commons chamber as he questioned whether they could continue to defend Mr Johnsons behaviour.

The MP said of the report into lockdown-busting parties in No 10: This is a damning report about the absence of leadership, focus and discipline in No 10  the one place where you expect to find those attributes in abundance.

Ive made my point and my position very clear to the Prime Minister: he does not have my support.

But a question I humbly put to my colleagues is are you willing day in and day out to defend this behaviour publicly?

Can we continue to govern without distraction given the erosion of the trust with the British people?

And can we win the general election on this current trajectory? Im being heckled by my own people.

If we cannot work out what were going to do, then the broad church of the Conservative Party will lose the next general election.

But my question to the Prime Minister is very clear, on the question of leadership: can he think of any other prime minister whod have allowed such a culture of indiscipline to take place under their watch and if it did would they not have resigned?

Mr Johnsons immediate fate is in the hands of Conservative MPs, and whether enough of them chose to write letters to trigger a vote of no confidence.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries told TalkTVs The News Desk that Mr Johnson would absolutely win such a challenge.

Back in the Commons, Mr Johnson focused his answer on his prospects of winning the next election.

He said: I think the answer is overwhelmingly and emphatically yes, we are going to go on and win the next general election because were going to get on with the job.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who accused Mr Johnson of adopting a sinister pattern of evasion, appealed to Tory MPs to oust the PM.

He said: I hope they will bear in mind the now infamous Government advert featuring a desperately ill Covid patient, it said: look into her eyes and tell her you never bend the rules.

If they dont submit a letter, if they dont remove this Prime Minister, how will they ever, ever look at their constituents in the eye ever again?

Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said: In this farce of a parliamentary system its now all down to Tory MPs for them to grow a backbone and oust this moral vacuum of a Prime Minister.

Will he spare them the trouble and resign?

Mr Johnson replied: No.

Conservative MP John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) asked Mr Johnson if he believed his statements on partygate in the Commons had passed the test of reasonableness.

He said: I believe both leaders have a lot to answer for with regards to this issue. The British army teaches you, or certainly believes at its very core, that you serve to lead and you lead by example.

Given the extent of rule-breaking in Number 10, does he believe that what he has said to the House since about their being no rule-breaking passed the test of reasonableness?

Mr Johnson restated his argument that he believed he was attending work events.

Conservative former cabinet minister Robert Jenrick (Newark) said it was now time to turn a page and spoke of the actions of brilliant civil servants to create the shielding programme in the early stages of the pandemic.

He said: These achievements and others should mean that nothing in this report is a stain upon the character of the thousands if not hundreds of thousands of civil servants whether in Number 10, other government departments or across the country who helped steer this country through the pandemic.

Secondly difficult though this is to say for many, with a war in Europe, with an economic crisis, with the challenges this country faces, is it not really true that it is now time to turn a page and for this country, our politics and this House to move forwards.

SNP Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) said there had been no attempt at remorse from Mr Johnson, adding: Surely if he was half the man that he thinks he would summon that self-respect and just go.

Labour MP Afzal Khan (Manchester Gorton) said his mother, father-in-law and mother-in-law died from Covid-19, adding: The laws broken by the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and others were not victimless crimes.
Sinn Fein has accused the Irish Government of failing spectacularly on housing.

The partys finance spokesman Pearse Doherty lambasted Minister for Housing Darragh OBrien in the Dail on Wednesday, accusing the Government of failing to tackle the housing crisis.

Extortionate rents continue to soar with the number of rental properties now at an all-time low.

Off-the-wall house prices that are up again, beyond the reach of ordinary workers and families and the scourge of homelessness now is returning to the shameful pre-Covid-19 levels.

Sinn Fein is leading real change across Ireland. We are standing up for workers and families as the cost of living rises, and working to fix our health service. We are working together to build a better and brighter future for all who share this island. pic.twitter.com/YT6hHiCqZI  Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) May 25, 2022

And we now hear that your targets for housing are under serious threat due to spiralling construction costs.

By any objective measure minister, your approach is failing and you are failing spectacularly, Mr Doherty said.

On your watch, Minister, things have gone from bad to worse.

Mr Doherty took aim at specific Government policies, referring to the new Croi Conaithe scheme to support the building of apartments for owner-occupiers.

The scheme has proved controversial, with opposition parties calling it a giveaway to developers.

And amid this social catastrophe, what do we get from you as Housing Minister?

A ban on rent increase in and evictions?

No. A serious ramping up of direct delivery of genuinely affordable homes?

No. An initiative to cut rents. Not on your watch.

What we get instead is a bonkers scheme where youre going to give 450 million euro of taxpayers money to developers to build apartments where there will be no reduction in the prices that would be charged for homeowners. It is absolutely off the wall stuff, Mr Doherty told the housing minister.

Mr Doherty told the Housing Minister that he had personally told the Dail last week that the purchase price for the apartments in the scheme would be 250,000 euro.

The Sinn Fein TD cited an unpublished document circulated between developers and the Housing Agency, which he said contradicted that claim.

It is straight from the old Fianna Fail playbook that destroyed the housing system at the start, when you were last in Government, Mr Doherty said.

Mr OBrien rejected idea it was secret document.

This is a targeted measure to support homeownership in our five major cities across the country, where the supports goes directly to the homeowner, Mr OBrien said.

We will be launching an open for people who are stuck in that rental trap, stuck in that affordability trap.

He also said that the Governments shared equity scheme will help thousands of young and not so young people bridge the gap between the finance that they have and the finance that they need.

He said the Government was delivering more social homes this year than ever before.
Mumbai, May 25 (UNI) The BSE Sensex on Wednesday recovered 220.08 points at 54,272.69 in opening session on the strength of FMCG, Finance, Health Care and Bankex stocks.



The Nifty too rose 47.70 points at 16,172.85.



The Sensex registered days high and low at 54,379.59 and 54,219.57 points respectively.



The Nifty registered days high and low at 16,223.35 and 16,172.65 points respectively.







The Mid cap fell 0.19 per cent and Small Cap by 0.11 per cent.



In 30 scrips, 19 advanced while 11 declined.



The gainers were IndusInd Bank by 2.44 per cent to Rs 920.40, Nestle India by 1.71 per cent to Rs 17,482.10, Ultracemco by 1.62 per cent to Rs 5964.10, Kotak Bank by 1.58 per cent to Rs 1910.50 and ICICI Bank by 1.25 per cent to Rs 12518.55.



The losers were Asian Paints by 2.70 per cent to Rs 3003.10, Tech Mahindra by 2.37 per cent to Rs 1072, TCS by 1.94 per cent to Rs 3224.40 and HCL Technology by 1.20 per cent to Rs 980.



UNI NV PRT
Irelands Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has said that in advance of the Budget, a cost of education options paper will be published that will show the options to increase or decrease investment in higher education.

The minister of the day will have to explain heres why I picked this, heres why I didnt pick that, he said.

The Minister was speaking at the launch of a policy document that seeks to better link up third-level courses with post-Leaving Cert courses, and to better fund the higher education sector.

Mr Harris said that if they get the additional investment they are seeking in Budget 2023, they will need to complete a series of actions that go alongside that funding.

He said two of the actions that could be done quickly is to include traineeships in the Central Applications Office (CAO) forms, and to increase the number of post-Leaving Cert nursing courses.

He said that in many cases, if students do not get the CAO points they need from their Leaving Cert to attend their preferred college course, there is usually a post-Leaving Cert (PLC) course they can take to help them get to third-level.

That is not as true as Id like it to be in relation to nursing, he said to reporters in Dublin on Wednesday.

There are not enough places, in my view, set aside in higher education for people coming from further education route, and I think thats an area in which we can make really tangible progress.

When asked what targets had been set for university places being set aside for PLC graduates, Mr Harris said there wasnt.

Im not naive to think that were going to just replace the system in relation to points and certainly not in the short term. But I do believe passionately that we can create alternative pathways to run alongside that.

He said the challenge we have in this country in terms of upskilling and reskilling is massive.

Education is no longer going to be something that people do for a binary period of time in their life. Its going to be something people need to dip in and out of.

The way I look at it is we have 307 million euros to invest in the system, weve to see the pace at which we can invest, thats a matter for the estimates. Theres three budgets left in the lifetime of this government. I think we can do a lot of progress, nearly close the gap during those three years.

In return for instalment of investments, there would be milestones agreed through the Funding our Future Implementation Group, chaired by Mr Harris, Professor Anne Looney and Professor Tom Collins, and who held their inaugural meeting today.

From September, Mr Harris said the government levy of 250 euro to attend a post-Leaving Cert course would be abolished.
A TALENTED local writer from the Wordsmiths group recently had her gifts recognised in a major competition.

A big congratulations to our very creative Wordsmiths member Karen Slammon Fleming on winning the Irish Independent 'write a short story in just six words' competition recently, said PRO of the group Phil Newton.

Karen is one of our very gifted writers and it's no surprise to us that she is entering and winning competitions, added Phil.

Karen entered the competition six weeks ago for the first time and was more than surprised to hear she had won a prize. I won a 30 book voucher, said Karen. Her six words were 'A grave now held her secrets'.

This is not the first success for Karen as she has had her writing published on writing.ie. In addition she won a prize in conjunction with the publication of popular author Geraldine O'Neill's book 'The House on Silver Street'.

One of Karen's poems was also commended at the Ballybunion Arts Festival.

Meanwhile Phil Newton said: Over the past few weeks Tullamore Wordsmiths have enjoyed meetings again in our beloved Tullamore Library, our birthplace and the birthplace of our first book 'Whisperings'. We have been enjoying the challenge of prompts, and even the bigger challenge of free writing and we look forward to wonderful creative activities over the summer period. Once again our sincere congratulations to Karen, and looking forward to celebrating many more successes with her.

Tullamore Wordsmiths would also like to extend our sincere condolences to international author, Geraldine ONeill and to her family on the recent ascension of her Dad, Teddy ONeill to his heavenly home. Mr ONeill was a lovely man and a great chat, who loved life and had time for everyone. A pleasure to meet on the street when he was in Tullamore.
There were 44 complaints from Offaly people to the Office of the Ombudsman in 2021. Ombudsman Ger Deering said the number of complaints received across Ireland reached a record high in 2021 with 4,004 people contacting his office.

Mr Deering said that complaints about local authorities accounted for the largest proportion of the increase, with 1,290 complaints - an increase of 45% on 2020. These mainly related to housing and planning issues.

The role of the Ombudsman is to investigate complaints from people who feel they have been unfairly treated by certain providers of public services, these include government departments, local authorities, the HSE, public hospitals, publicly funded third level education institutions, public and private nursing homes and direct provision accommodation centres. The services of the office are free to use.

One example of a complaint received was from Norah who complained to a private nursing home when her mother was found on her own, with facial injuries, around three kilometres from her nursing home. Her mother was in her late 70s and had dementia. The nursing home initially refused to engage with Norah or her family saying that they could not make a complaint on behalf of her mother. Norah brought her case to the Ombudsman when the private nursing home refused to provide a written response to her complaint.

When the Ombudsman sought information from the nursing home as part of his investigation, it said it was not obliged to respond to his Office. Once the Ombudsman clarified that under the Ombudsman Act 1980, the nursing home was obliged to provide his Office with the information, it provided the information, but continued to refuse to write to the family. The Ombudsman pointed out that the home was in breach of its own complaints policy by not responding in writing.

It became apparent to the Ombudsman that the nursing home had already carried out an investigation into the incident, and that it had made a number of recommendations aimed at avoiding the situation arising in the future. However, the nursing homes investigation was not carried out in accordance with its own complaints policy

As a result of the Ombudsmans intervention the nursing home wrote to Norah apologising for the incident. However, it continued to refuse to respond to Norah in writing to the issues raised in her complaint. The Ombudsman provided a full written account of what had happened on the day of the incident to Norah, and her family. He has also spoken with the Department of Health, with a view to having the requirement for private nursing homes to provide written responses to complaints put on a statutory basis

Before complainants bring their complaints to our Office they must first take steps to resolve their complaint with the public service provider concerned.

Another example was when a man complained to the Ombudsman when Tipperary County Council said that his two businesses would be assessed as one for the Governments COVID-related business Restart grants. The Council said that as his two businesses were linked, and shared the same tax number, the man would be entitled to one grant only in respect of his two operations.

The Restart scheme provides that businesses can be entitled to more than one grant if they have separate rated properties or operating from a number of properties. The Ombudsman noted that the Council had issued separate rate demands in relation to the mans two businesses and their activities were quite different in nature. In addition, the businesses were registered separately with the Companies Registration Office. The Ombudsman asked the Council to review its decision. The Council awarded the man an additional 3,100 in respect of his second business.
New Delhi, May 25 (UNI) SpiceJet Limited and Credit Suisse AG have signed and concluded the settlement and consent terms with regard to the pending dispute between the two parties,it was reported on Wednesday.







The settlement and consent terms, which was executed on May 23, 2022, has also been filed before the Supreme Court of India for final orders, a statement from the company said on Wednesday.







SpiceJet had already provided Bank Guarantee of US $5million on the direction of Madras High Court in the matter and there is no adverse financial liability on the company.







The settlement involves payment of certain amount upfront and balance amount over a mutually agreed timeline.







The settlement with Credit Suisse follows SpiceJets settlements and performances therein with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (DHC), Boeing, CDB Aviation, BOC Aviation and Avolon and provides an impetus to normalisation, growth and expansion of the airline.







Credit Suisse had dragged SpiceJet to the Madras High Court last year after the latter failed to make payments of over $24 million to the former.



UNI AKM ACL
Oneindia 23 May 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Japan on Monday with a warm welcome by the Indian Diaspora. Modi will attend the Quad..
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As Russia concentrates its attack on the east and south of the country, residents of the Kyiv region are attempting to return to their lives.
Brittney Griner's wife is urging Joe Biden to get more involved in the WNBA star's case in Russia ... hoping that'll ultimately help bring home the love of her life. Cherelle Griner made the plea to the President during a sitdown interview with
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian troops were looking to destroy key cities in eastern Ukraine. He urged foreign partners to help Kyiv end the conflict with heavy weapons. Follow DW for the latest.
The Council of Baltic Sea States, an regional grouping on Russias doorstep, has come together to condemn the invasion of Ukraine  and present Germany with a new test of leadership.
Victims groups are furious that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson refuses to step down despite a damning report on illegal Downing Street parties during the country's strict pandemic lockdowns.
More than 300 Ukrainians who arrived in Winnipeg on Monday are now setting off on the complex  if not more streamlined than usual  process of settling in after fleeing their homes amid the ongoing Russian invasion.
Mid-Day 27 May 2022

This was the first time he addressed the tragedy as Tuesday`s show had already been taped before news broke of the shooting at Robb..
SeattlePI.com 26 May 2022

BERLIN (AP)  Western allies are considering whether to allow Russian oligarchs to buy their way out of sanctions and using the..
A Texas city mourns after a gunman killed 19 children, it's the second anniversary of George Floyd's death and more news to start your Wednesday.


European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told Euronews the EU has to open its doors to countries fighting for the principles of the union.
The Prince of Wales has spoken out about the nightmare situation in Ukraine during a trip to Romania to meet refugees who..

Belfast Telegraph 25 May 2022
Watch VideoRussia claimed to have captured Mariupol on Friday in what would be its biggest victory yet in its war with Ukraine,..

Newsy 21 May 2022
Newsy 27 May 2022

Watch VideoThe tragic shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday has already reignited a discussion around what can be done to prevent..
It is the first time in 15 years that a top Turkish official has visited Israel. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Ankara is ready to help efforts to facilitate "dialogue" between Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will meet armed forces personnel in Bosnia and Herzegovina to re-affirm the UK's commitment to peace and stability in the western Balkans.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was expected to announce early this morning whether she has secured a meeting with US President Joe Biden on her US trip. Ardern's morning was spent in Washington DC meeting US Senators, including Republican...
The Senate also unanimously passed the bill Tuesday, meaning it is now ready to go to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
BANG Showbiz 27 May 2022

The Duchess of Sussex visited the memorial for the victims of the second deadliest school mass shooting in US history.
Pope Francis and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine were among the officials who offered their condolences after another mass shooting in the U.S.
A school teacher in Uvalde, Texas is mourning the death of her 10-year-old niece who was killed in Tuesday's mass shooting at an elementary school. (May 25)


George Soros has warned that the conflict in Ukraine could spiral into a Third World War that ends western civilisation.Soros, the billionaire investor and advocate of European integration, said that the conflict had "shaken Europe...
Students at some of China's top universities are reportedly required to master swimming as it is considered an essential survival skill.
New COVID variants that might evade current vaccines are a greater threat to global public health than the monkeypox outbreak, the chief executive of Pfizer has told Sky News.
Celebrating the International Day for Biological Diversity at Guangzhou Zoo

By:Zhao Chunyuan | From:english.eastday.com | 2022-05-23 18:57

May 22 was the International Day for Biological Diversity with this year's slogan being "building a shared future for all life". People in Guangzhou participated in celebrating this event to show their support for conserving the Earth's biodiversity at Guangzhou Zoo.

(Source: chinanews.com)
Wibbitz Top Stories 26 May 2022

What Can America Do About , Far-Right Extremism?.

America has been inundated with

mass shootings as of late.

America..
TOPSAIL ISLAND, N.C. - Just in time for summer, David Dean's new suspense thriller OBX is now available in paperback to independent booksellers on IngramSpark. OBX (ISBN: 979-8-218-00862-8) is set in the popular beach destination of North Carolina's Outer Banks and introduces readers to NC State Bureau of Investigation Agent Michael Francis as she investigates the murder of an influential politician's staffer, right in the middle of a campaign. The struggling 
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Tereasa Nims.

Tuesday, May 24

1:54 p.m. - Deputies conducted a traffic stop in Greendale Township. Deputies contacted a 57-year-old man driver. Upon further investigation, it was discovered the man didn't have a valid driver's license. He was issued a citation. A report is being sent to the prosecutor.

10:13 p.m.  Police were called to the 6100 block of Jefferson Avenue for a fireworks complaint.

10:04 p.m. - Deputies received a fail to pay complaint in Coleman. A clerk reported $26 worth of gasoline was stolen from a Coleman gas station. There are no suspects.

8:41 p.m.  Police responded to Isabella Street and Currie Parkway for a crash.

8:05 p.m.  A 47-year-old Midland woman was cited for an open container of alcohol after a traffic stop in Midland.

8:05 p.m. - Deputies were dispatched to a Warren Township business for a 34-year-old woman who failed to pay for $56.69 of gasoline. The business wished not to press charges against the woman. Deputies contacted the woman, who agreed to pay for the gasoline.

7:42 p.m. - A deputy spoke with a 39-year-old Edenville Township woman regarding questions related to a neighbor issue.

7:27 p.m.  Police were called to the 800 block of Eastman Avenue for a verbal domestic.

4:35 p.m. - Traffic complaint, Jerome Township report of kids riding dirt bikes on private property and throwing gravel onto Dague Rd. The kids advised that they would sweep the rocks off the road.

4:24 p.m. - A deputy was dispatched to check on a 13-year-old Edenville Township girl after she had made some suicidal comments the day prior and the office was unable to contact anyone today. The deputy contacted the girl and her 50-year-old guardian. The girl admitted to making comments the day prior but denied being suicidal today. She did admit to struggling with her emotions and the guardian had already contacted Central Michigan Health to begin working towards getting her some assistance. The deputy advised the medical office of the findings.

12:06 p.m.  A deputy was dispatched to a Jerome Township location regarding a woman walking through yards possibly looking for scrap metal. The area was checked but the subject and her vehicle were not located.

10:31 a.m. - The Coleman Community Schools resource officer issued a minor in possession citation to a 14-year-old male student at Coleman Jr/Sr High School for possession of a nicotine vapor device.

10:56 a.m. - A 19-year-old woman had questions regarding obtaining a personal protection order against a 38-year-old Edenville Township woman.

9:04 a.m.  Police were called to the 1400 block of Rodd Street for a hit and run property crash.

7:15 p.m. - Deputies were sent to a Jerome Township residence to check on the 45-year-old woman resident. She had not shown up for work, which was unusual, and they were unable to contact her. Deputies contacted the woman, who advised she forgot she was supposed to work today. She was all set and was going to contact her employer.
MANISTEE COUNTY  Manistee County is currently seeking applicants for a soil erosion sedimentation control inspector for the 2022 season.

The Manistee County Board of Commissioners approved a request for proposal for the position at its most recent monthly meeting for May.

Language approved by the board states that the inspector would earn $20 per hour for approximately 16 hours per week, according to minutes from the May 17 meeting.

The position would run until Nov. 15, for a total contract worth up to $10,000.

Commissioner Richard Schmidt said in the meeting that the county has contracted with erosion inspectors in past years.

We kind of played with this a few years back  but for us it's new, Schmidt said at the meeting.

County controller/administrator Lisa Sagala also noted that funds were available in the budget for such a position.

We had a temporary contract  to do the same service, she said, adding the money is there.

Certified soil erosion sedimentation control inspectors typically respond to complaints from the public regarding things like erosion control, stormwater runoff and related problems, according to the Michigan Department of Great Lakes and Energy website.

To do this, the inspectors collect information and research complaints to determine the validity of alleged violations.

Sediment is a pollutant that can run off into rivers, streams and wetlands.

Construction sites can strip the topsoil that helps slow runoff, thereby increasing the risk of erosion. Grading and moving of soils at these sites can make them more likely to discharge sediment, according to an article on estormwater.com.

Sediment control is aimed at minimizing the movement of materials that can become displaced by rain and carried as stormwater runoff.

Erosion ordinance

The board also adopted changes to its soil erosion and sedimentation control ordinance.

County planner Mike Szokola presented the board with the revised ordinance which was last amended in August 1984. It was originally adopted by resolution in December 1974.

Szokola said there were major revisions to the ordinance because several entities listed in it no longer exist and the appeals portion was no longer legal by the states standards.

The County Planning Commission had unanimously supported a motion for the approved draft at its April 25 meeting.

We felt that was the time for the planning commission to come forward and develop a new ordinance, Szokola said at the meeting.

Counties must designate a county agency or conservation district as the county enforcing agency responsible for administration and enforcement of soil erosion and sedimentation control ordinance in the name of the county.

Currently, the Manistee County Planning Department oversees this program. Municipalities may elect to provide soil erosion and sedimentation control within their jurisdiction by adopting an approved ordinance and must also designate a municipal agency to implement the Part 91 program in the name of the municipality, reads part of a letter by Manistee County Planning Commission chair, Mary Becker-Witt to the county board.

Part 91, Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, provides for the control of soil erosion and protects adjacent properties and the waters of the state from sedimentation.

Counties or municipalities may determine that the ordinance used to adopt Part 91 requires revision, Becker-Witt stated in the letter.

Szokola reported that one change to the ordinance may help out homeowners.

One of the things that we ran into consistently  is a lot of contractors not pulling their permits .. and a lot of homeowners were not aware that they were responsible for pulling the permits and that the fines and fees actually fall on them, Szokola said.

Those fees he said are around $2,500, or double the cost of the permit.

As part of that, we put a stipulation into the new ordinance that we can actually go after the contractors for this, he said.

This change, Szokola said, was supported by the Manistee County Conservation District, and a letter of support for the draft ordinance had been received by EGLE.

Now that the ordinance change has been approved, Szokola said it would go back to EGLE for final approval.
Three Kings Cavalcade 2023

The Ministry of Culture and the Three Kings Cavalcade Committee have today announced that the 2023 Three Kings Cavalcade will take place as customary on the 5th January 2023.

In a press conference, it was confirmed that the 64th Three Kings Cavalcade will take place on the Eve of the Epiphany, despite it not being able to do so for the last two years, due to the Covid pandemic.

The Committee, which is supported by Gibraltar Cultural Services, is calling on the community to make this event the biggest and best cavalcade in its history. By launching this annual event in May, the Organizers encourage more participants to ensure we have a minimum of 25 floats this time round.

The Committee and GCS will be working hard and will look at the possibilities of providing as many trailers as required and are also confident that they will be able to provide some financial assistance and a covered area for the building of floats.

President of the Three Kings Cavalcade Committee, Eric Abudarham GA, said: We are appealing to the whole community to support the event and consequently we appeal to Government Departments, Government owned companies, Private companies, Housing Estates, Schools, Youth Service, Clubs and group of friends to participate and provide Gibraltar with a much-needed memorable cavalcade after its 2-year absence.

The Minister for Culture, The Honorable Prof. Dr John Cortes said: Everyone loves the Three Kings Cavalcade. Which of us in Gibraltar doesnt have memories of la cabalgata going back to our childhood? For two years the community, but most especially our children, have been robbed of this event, the one that wrapped up the Christmas period. We must ensure that the next Three Kings Cavalcade more than makes up for this. So, lets make it happen!
Kladys Castellon prays during a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

Kladys Castellon prays during a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

An 18-year-old gunman shot and killed close to two dozen people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on the afternoon of May 24. Uvalde is a town of about 16,000 people about 85 miles West of San Antonio.

As a mark of respect for the victims, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden proclaimed "that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, May 28, 2022."

Photo provided/Manny Renfro/AP

Biden spoke Tuesday night from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bracketed by mass shootings in the U.S., according to The Associated Press. He pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure  and bitterly blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

"When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden said with emotion. "Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?"

Tuesday's shooting marks the 27th school shooting this year.

Under Biden's proclamation, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered the U.S. and Michigan flags within the State Capitol Complex and upon all public buildings and grounds statewide to be lowered to half-staff immediately on Tuesday, May 24 through Saturday, May 28.

"My heart breaks for the students, teachers, staff, and families of Robb Elementary School," Whitmer said in a Tuesday press release. "The death of multiple students and the shooting of many others is horrific. Our state is in mourning alongside the parents who had their children taken from them today and the entire community in Uvalde, Texas."

Whitmer also encouraged Michigan residents, businesses, schools, local governments and other organizations to display the flag at half-staff in the release. To lower flags to half-staff, flags should be hoisted first to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The process is reversed before the flag is lowered for the day.

Authorities said Wednesday the gunman barricaded himself inside a single classroom and "began shooting anyone that was in his way."

Law enforcement officers eventually broke into the classroom and killed the gunman, who used an AR-style rifle. Police and others responding to Tuesdays attack also went around breaking windows at the school to enable students and teachers to escape, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety said on NBCs "Today" show.

Olivarez told CNN that all of the victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary.

The killer "barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom," he said. "It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter."

"Michigan stands with Uvalde after the deaths of children and teachers at Robb Elementary School," Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II said in a Tweet. "We must all wrap our arms around this community, and our own children, as we mourn this senseless loss."

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel also expressed she was heartbroken in a Tweet on Tuesday, explaining that she will do everything in her power to "end this epidemic of violence."

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson sent out a string of Tweets after the shooting.

On Wednesday, Michigan State Police stated "there are no known threats to our schools at this time, now serves as a good reminder to keep vigilant."

Additionally, the MSP website offers school safety resources, including emergency operations plans, firearm safety, mental health guidance, Michigan's OK2SAY program and more.

The video below, produced by VOX in 2016, explores America's gun problem.
A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd one week before the second anniversary of his death.

Thomas Lane admitted he intentionally helped restrain Floyd in a way that created an unreasonable risk and caused his death. He is scheduled to be sentenced on the state charge on Sept. 21.

Photo provided/ Hennepin County Sheriff's Office/AP

As part of Lanes plea agreement, a more serious count of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder will be dismissed, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

Lane and former Officers J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao have already been convicted on federal counts of willfully violating Floyds rights. While they have yet to be sentenced on the federal charges, Lanes change of plea means he will avoid what could have been a lengthy state sentence if he was convicted of the murder charge.

On May 25, 2020, a different ex-Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for approximately nine minutes on a street in Minneapolis as he repeatedly said he couldn't breathe. The killing, captured on widely-viewed bystander video, led people to protests around the world against racial injustice.

Lane, who is white, and Kueng, who is Black, helped restrain Floyd, who was handcuffed. Lane held down Floyds legs and Kueng knelt on Floyds back. Thao, who is a Hmong American, kept bystanders from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint, according to reporting by the AP.

All three are free on bond; the state trial scheduled for June is expected to proceed for Kueng and Thao.

Additionally, President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order on policing on Wednesday, the second anniversary of Floyds death, according to three people familiar with the matter, the AP reported.

Protests in Michigan over racial injustice continue two years after Floyd's murder, and are still met with hatred.

In April, Michigan State Police released footage of a Black man being fatally shot in the back of the head by a Michigan police officer during a struggle over the officer's Taser following a traffic stop.

The footage led protestors to take to the streets across Michigan, similar to when the footage of Floyd's death was released.

But not everyone is for equality.

A Michigan man was charged with hate crimes after he allegedly intimidated supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement by leaving handwritten notes and nooses around his community, the Department of Justice said.

Kenneth Pilon, 61, has been charged with six counts of interfering with federally protected activities for incidents dating back to June and July 2020  which is when the wave of nationwide protests began after the murder of George Floyd.
Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News

UVALDE, Texas (AP)  The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about a shooting at a Texas elementary school. AP has published a corrected version of the story to reflect that state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said the gunman shot his grandmother before going to the school; he did not say the gunman killed his grandmother.

Read the corrected version here.
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One of the deadliest school shootings has left families mourning in Texas.

A gunman shot and killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on the afternoon of May 24. Uvalde is a town of about 16,000 people about 85 miles West of San Antonio. Across the United States, local schools are prompted to re-engage with safety measures in the wake of mass shootings.

A day that follows a school shooting in another community across America, according to Midland Police Chief Nicole Ford, is a day that brings "extra caution and increased visibility" before the local community.

According to the Midland Public Schools district, local emergency responders and education leaders meet on a monthly basis to review school safety and items, like safety and response plans as well exercises.

Midland Public Schools Superintendent Michael Sharrow said the district has put in numerous protocols, practices, plans and devices in attempt to harden our targets, increase response time and have a systematic approach if an event occurred.

Sharrow said MPS is exploring a potential add-on to the district's existing camera surveillance system. He explained the add-on would identify "guns and alerts administration and police immediately." When asked about the potential camera system, Ford said that related technology is improving everyday.

"As new stuff comes out, it makes me really happy to know that our partners are looking at everything that they can in order to help keep our kids safe," she said.

A few examples of MPS safety measures, provided by Sharrow, include: student resource officers, alert-lockdown-inform-counter-evacuate (ALICE) protocols, door boots, secure entrances, card access readers, door locking automation, regular scheduled safety drills, Raptor response communication and alert system, high tech camera automation system, mental wellness programs, mental health programs and social workers and the "OK to Say" system.

State hotline: OK2SAY Midland area schools, students, educators and community members are encouraged to report any instances of threats, bullying, or harmful behavior to Michigan's OK2SAY hotlines. Anyone can report tips confidentially on criminal activities or potential harm directed at students, school employees, or schools. OK2SAY is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 8-555-OK2SAY (855-565-2729); texting OK2SAY (652729); or emailing OK2SAY@mi.gov. See More Collapse

MPS School Resource Officers of the Midland Police Department have a familiar business day, following another school shooting, Ford said, "unless there's a threat or an incident occurring." Ford said officer visibility can help mitigate a potential threat of violence and  ideally  brings peace to residents.

"Basically they patrol the interior of the school, versus the exterior," she said.

Bullock Creek Schools Superintendent Shawn Hale explained the district has implemented regular safety drills, alert-lockdown-inform-counter-evacuate (ALICE) training, allowing only one entry point during the school day, visitors required to buzz in to the main office and participating in security trainings.

"We are in a continual state of looking for way to add additional layers of security," Hale said.

Michigan Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Rice said the Texas shooting is the 27th school shooting in the United States this year.

"On an afternoon when we were celebrating Potterville Elementary School, discussing childrens mental health with school and district staff, community, and children, and promoting the value of childrens mental health supports, a tragedy struck a Texas elementary school, said Rice. Six months ago, it was Oxford. A week and a half ago, it was Buffalo. Where will it strike next?"

State Board of Education President Dr. Casandra Ulbrich said schools must be sanctuaries of learning and growth and not targets for people with ready access to weapons intent on killing children and terrorizing our communities.

Families should not fear sending their children to schools dreading that they may not be coming home at the end of the day, Dr. Ulbrich said. What happened in Texas yesterday, in Oxford earlier this year, and in dozens of other schools across our nation over the past 10 years is infuriating as much as it is sad.

While legislatures focus their attention on trying to make our schools fortresses against these senseless invasions by killers, greater focus needs to be narrowed to passing stronger gun laws and providing more mental health services for people struggling with their inability to live and function in a civil and peaceful society. This needs to be done quickly so no more communities and families suffer the painful loss of their children.

As of Wednesday morning, 19 children and two teachers were confirmed dead, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The elementary school is home to about 600 second through fourth graders. Multiple survivors are being treated at local and regional hospitals, although the exact number of victims has not yet been released.

"Our schools in our nation, state or local area will never be able to 'guarantee' safety but we (the district and community parters) are constantly reviewing and prepping to prevent and respond to these events," Sharrow wrote in a statement to the Daily News.

State school officials encourage use of hotline

Schools, students, educators, and community members are encouraged to report any instances of threats, bullying, or harmful behavior to Michigans OK2SAY hotlines. Anyone can report tips confidentially on criminal activities or potential harm directed at students, school employees, or schools.

OK2SAY is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 8-555-OK2SAY (855-565-2729); texting OK2SAY (652729); or emailing OK2SAY@mi.gov.

Specially trained technicians receive the tips and filter the information to the appropriate agency to provide a timely and effective response. For more information, go to the State of Michigan's website and search "OK2SAY."

Related content Michigan officials 'heartbroken' for Uvalde shooting victims

Latest updates on the shooting: Texas shooter's grandmother in critical condition

The suspect bought at least two assault rifles shortly after his 18th birthday, State Sen. Roland Gutierrez told CNN Tuesday evening, following a briefing from Texas Rangers. The shooter's grandfather, Rolando Reyes, said he learned from a neighbor that his wife had been shot and that his grandson "had taken off." The grandmother is hospitalized in critical condition, reported ABC News on Wednesday.

This is one of many recent mass shootings in Texas

The Uvalde shooting is one of eight mass shootings to take place in Texas over the last 13 years. The recent string of mass shootings in the state began in 2009 with the Fort Hood Army base shooting where a psychiatrist killed 13 and injured 31 during the attack.

Other recent shootings include the Texas First Baptist Church shooting in Sutherland Springs, which left 26 killed and 20 injured in 2017, the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018, where 10 were killed and 13 injured, and the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting that resulted in 23 victims killed and 25 injured.
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Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba, says preparations for parliamentary elections will start from June, suggesting that elections will take place at the end of this year
The WCO COVID-19 Project, launched in July 2020 with the financial support of the Government of Japan, released the third edition of its newsletter, themed Promotion of modern and digital Customs for efficient disaster relief operations. In addition to dealing with IT tools and disaster management, the bulletin also touches upon the latest activities carried out by the WCO Secretariat to underpin the priorities set by the WCO COVID-19 Action Plan, listing specific objectives and measures to mitigate the pandemic, with special attention given to facilitation and compliance matters.

The health crisis and other natural disasters that recently hit different parts of the world, such as the tsunami that struck Tonga in January 2022, confirm once again the important role played by Customs in facilitating the movement of the critical supplies and in ensuring efficient coordination with the numerous actors involved in the importation of relief shipments during humanitarian operations. COVID-19 also sped up the digitalization of global trade-related procedures, including Customs ones, making it a priority to guarantee supply chain continuity without compromising on the safety and lawfulness of commercial flows.

The pandemic showed the international community that the future is uncertain and it is of the utmost importance to be well prepared to deal with unpredictable scenarios. For this reason, the WCO COVID-19 Project focused this edition of its newsletter on natural disaster preparedness and how Customs can make the most of the existing technology to tackle humanitarian crises in a timely and well-ordered way.

Readers will gain insight into the technical support provided by the COVID-19 Project to beneficiary countries, including Angola, Comoros, Madagascar and the Dominican Republic, which requested capacity building assistance to improve their disaster relief legal framework, significantly enhancing their ability to respond to emergency situations. The newsletter also delves into the training that can help border agencies and stakeholders adequately prepare for disruptive events, such as simulation exercises, and provides an overview of the excellent results achieved by WCO Members in the fight against illegal flows of COVID-19 related goods, including through the improvement of online communication systems.

This newsletter follows two other editions published by the COVID-19 Project in November and June 2021, dealing with the facilitation of COVID-19 vaccines and the best practices implemented by Members to tackle the challenges stemming from the pandemic, respectively.

The newsletter is available here

Other editions and additional information on the WCO COVID-19 Project are available here
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - The Tunisian coast guard on Wednesday recovered a body and rescued 24 migrants, while 75 others are missing following the sinking of a boat of illegal migrants that sailed from Zouara, Libya
New York, US (PANA) - Time is short for Sudan to reach a solution to its protracted political crisis, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council on Tuesday, warning that if the impasse is not urgently overcome, the consequences will be felt beyond national borders, impacting a whole generation
Photo: (Photo : MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

A cop mom has been relieved from duty after she used a taser on her kids, who are 12, 11 and 8 years old, as a tool for disciplining them.

Reports from Daily Mail cited that the children of Deputy Constable Xochitl Ortiz, 34, who is from Texas, told their father of the abuse and stated that they "do not feel safe" living with their mom. The father, who is in the process of divorcing Ortiz, then filed an abuse complaint against his ex-wife with the Harris County District Court in April.

The father's lawyers alleged that the kids, who are all boys, "made consistent statements of abuse" when assessed by child protection workers, prompting the arrest of their mother on Wednesday, May 18. She was subsequently fired from her job.

Following her arrest and removal as a member of the police force, Ortiz made her first court appearance to listen as the judge laid out the charges against her. Court records show that the taser was actually owned by Ortiz's boyfriend, Christopher Worthington, who also works as a police officer.

As of press time, Worthington has not yet been arrested nor charged in court. However, he has been relieved from his duties as well because he violated the police force's policy.

Read Also: Police Arrest Declarence McGhee for Attempting to Kidnap Infant from Babysitter in Broad Daylight

Cop Mom Maintains Her Innocence

Per ABC 13, the cop mom used a taser on her children's buttocks, hands and shoulders while her boyfriend watched. The allegations indicated that the mom pushed the taser on her children's skin before activating it to the maximum, inflicting so much pain.

According to Axon, the company that makes the stun guns, the mom likely conducts drive-stunning, a type of aggressive pain compliance option. This technique can make the subject recoil in pain in an attempt to evade the taser.

Originally, Ortiz was held for a $450,000 bond but this amount was lowered to $150,000 after she presented her financial situation in court. However, prosecutors insisted on the bond to protect her kids.

If she is able to pay the bail money, she is banned from coming in contact with her sons, her ex-husband and her boyfriend. She has been ordered to keep a distance of 200 feet and is not allowed to drink alcohol nor have any guns in her possession, including toy guns. Russell Allan Neumann, the lawyer for Ortiz, said that his client has maintained her innocence and will fight the case in court.

This Cop Mom's Priority is Her Daughter

In Atlanta, a cop mom is dedicated to her job in the community but she told Fox 5 News that her top priority will always be her daughter. Angelina Singh comes from a family of cops thus she loves her job as an enforcer of peace and order.

However, Singh said the most important part of her work is when she gets home to be with her child. Raising her is challenging for a cop mom who has a 12-hour shift and no days off some of the time. But the working mother said she has some help from her extended family and friends who make sure that her daughter is looked after while she watches over the streets.

Related Article: Buffalo Mass Shooting: Mom Learns Daughter Died in Racist Attack on Facebook; Fire Chief's Mom Also a Victim
Photo: (Photo : TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Foodbank managers in the U.K. have raised a worrying observation about the number of kids risking food poisoning because their parents turn off the fridge or freezer at night to try and save money on utility bills.

Simon Fann, who runs Truro, a food bank in Cornwall, has received reports from schools in the area whose students are sick with food poisoning. Apparently, they have no choice but to eat spoiled food because their parents are doubling down on the use of appliances to lower their power consumption. The kids are also coming to school wearing soiled and unwashed clothes because their parents want to economize the use of washing machines, Fann told The Times.

Emma Revi of the Trussel Trust, another charity, has also been told of family situations where parents skip their meals so that their children will have more share of the food. Like Fann, she is also aware of moms or dads who are turning off their essential appliances at home so that their budget could go to other expenses given the current high cost of living.

Read Also: 4 Penny-Pinching Tips from the Pros to Save Money on Groceries

It's Going to Get Worse

A survey from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) showed that today's economic situation is raising food insecurity among average families and it's still likely to get worse in the months to come. Some of the parents who skip meals are also likely going to eat food items that are beyond the expiration date, thus they are also raising their risk of having stomach issues.

However, many parents who try to cut back on the use of essential appliances do not realize that shutting down the fridge or freezer isn't actually going to save money. Energy Saving Trust expert Aled Stephens said that modern freezers or fridges are designed to be kept "on" at all times for efficiency. It will actually take more energy for these appliances to turn inside cold when the parents switch on the fridge in the morning again.

Some desperate parents, on the other hand, are at fast-food restaurants in the evening to use as their dining room, living room, or bathroom so they won't have to use the appliances in their houses. They buy unhealthy Happy Meals for their children for dinner and then stay more for a few hours to watch TV because of the free wifi. Then, before they leave McDonald's or similar fast-food chains, the kids brush their teeth and lightly clean up themselves in the public bathroom before they head home to sleep.

Fuel Bank Foundation head Matthew Cole told The Guardian that their team has also observed more families at leisure centers because they can use the facilities for free. Jo Gilbert of a consumer group said that the cost of energy or utility deals will no longer afford parents to handle their bills with a debt repayment plan. Instead, Gilbert said that the government needs to step in to manage this crisis.

The Same Crisis in the U.S.

The energy bill or utility crisis is not exclusive to the U.K. as U.S. families are also struggling to pay their power bills. According to CNN Business, millions of Americans are actually accumulating debt to pay for their utilities.

If these families lose electricity at home due to non-payment, then the problem will also impact their food supply and other essentials. Thus, some states are taking steps to help with these utility debts by rolling out recovery funds.

Related Article: $5,500 Stimulus Check and Energy Relief Check Approved in the Senate for Alaskans
Photo: (Photo : MICHAEL LATZ/DDP/AFP via Getty Images)

A shortage of life-saving cancer drugs for kids, called Vincristine, has been impacting patients, doctors and hospitals across the U.S. long before the supply chain issues were problematic due to the pandemic.

In a report on CBS News, journalist Bill Whitaker talked to patients, their parents and doctors about their problems with acquiring Vincristine, a very important and useful life-saving cancer drug for children with leukemia. This was considered a low-cost medication, amounting to just $5 per dose, but it was a very effective treatment.

Mom Cyndi Valenta said that she didn't understand why a vital drug for kids with cancer was short in supply. Valenta's son Jonathan, has been trying to manage an aggressive form of leukemia for many years. When there was no alternative drug for Vincristine, she and many other parents in the same boat had to scramble back and forth at different resources to find the medication.

This was in 2019 when Jonathan was still in the middle of his chemotherapy. He has since been in remission. However, Whitaker recently unraveled the real reason for the low supply.

Read Also: Father With Sick Daughter Learns He Has Incurable Neurofibromatosis After Doctors Saw Their Birthmarks

Vincristine Not Profitable for Pharmas

In his expose on "60 Minutes," Whitaker's interviewed guests revealed that pharma companies manufacturing Vinchristine made a business decision to stop production because the drug was not profitable.

Ross Day, a former director of a health services company that negotiates medicines for hospitals with pharmaceutical industries, said that it might seem like a misstep in the business decision because these companies are not operating at a loss. However, Bill Simmons, a former generic drug executive, pointed out that pharma companies are also not charities.

Day and Simmons went through a diagram to explain how the acquisition of medications works. In Vincristine's case, the manufacturers ended up raking just a fraction of the cost because of the middlemen and distributors. Thus, from a business standpoint, it was the "least profitable drug" the industry experts said.

However, many families pushed back on the pharma companies when word got out that production for the life-saving cancer drugs for kids will soon end. A petition was launched to appeal to the government to ensure that this doesn't happen.

The appeal received more than 214,000 signatures, prompting the pharma companies to walk back on their earlier decision to stop production after lawmakers approved the Mitigating Emergency Drug Shortages (MEDS) Act.

Drug Shortages at Risk Again

However, another looming low supply of vital drugs could become another problem for the U.S. government. According to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, the recent closure of a California plant by Teva, one of the largest generic drug makers in the world, has cut off the supply of 24 kinds of generic sterile injectable drugs and five essential medications in the market by as much as 15 percent.

The California plant had to shut down in May 2022 because of various breaches of operations that may have contaminated the supply. In fact, over 2.5 million of these medications were recalled in October 2021 for the possible presence of molds. Some of these are treatments for schizophrenia, cancer, arthritis, pediatric diabetes, and ailments in muscles.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the End Drug Shortages Alliance (EDSA) have been working with other manufacturers to double up on their production of these essential drugs. They have also recommended wholesalers handle their supply and distribution carefully to ensure that the medications will remain readily available.

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Photo: (Photo : Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

A Minnesota mom, who was just awarded custody of her six-year-old child, was arrested for allegedly killing the young boy and stuffing his body in the trunk of her vehicle. Police found the lifeless body of Eli Hart in the trunk of his mother's Chevy Impala when they made a traffic stop in Mound, Minnesota, on the morning of Friday, May 20.

Cops arrested Julissa Thaler after they noticed blood on the interior of her car. According to a report by WCCO, Orono Police Department officers were called around 7 a.m. on Friday to a suspicious car, which was driving on its rim with the vehicle's back window smashed out.

Police then spoke to the woman who was driving the car and found blood inside the vehicle after she performed a traffic stop at Shoreline Drive and Bartlett Boulevard. They then discovered the body of the young boy after performing a search on the vehicle.

Court failed Eli Hart by handing mother custody rights

According to the report, Eli's father, Tory Hart, made several complaints about the 28-year-old suspect's drug and mental health problems but was ignored by the courts. Despite Hart's complaints, Thaler was awarded full parental custody of Eli just 10 days before the child's body was discovered. Hart's fiancee Josie Josephson told Fox9 in an interview that the court failed Eli by handing the boy to his mother despite her substance abuse and mental health issues.

Josephson said that no matter how many cries they cried, no matter how many warning signs there were, the court still ignored them. Family court documents also reveal that several social workers were concerned with the mental health of Thaler, as well as her unstable living situation and criminal history.

One document that was shared by a WCCO-CBS Minnesota reporter on social media platform Twitter noted that Thaler has a hearing in June regarding the theft of pharmaceuticals and she received numerous traffic infractions for speeding or using a phone while driving.

Another document also surfaced noting that Thaler was jeopardizing her son's relationship with his biological father, despite the fact that Tory seemed to be a stabilizing force in the young child's life.

Read Also: Operation Fly Formula: Baby Milk to be Flown in The US through Military Contracted Planes

Bond between Eli Hart and his dad was powerful from the start

According to the boy's one-time foster mother, Tory was not able to have a relationship with his son Eli until the beginning of last year due to Thaler's efforts to block him from the kid's life.

The foster parent said the bond between dad and son was powerful from the very start. She wrote on a GoFundMe page that Eli fell in love with his father and loved spending time with him, according to a report by the New York Post.

She said that Tory was excited to make up for all the lost years and was thrilled to start teaching Eli how to ride a bike with no training wheels and fish. That won't happen now with Tory unfortunately now planning for his son's funeral instead.

Related Article: President Biden Invokes Defense Production Act to Address Baby Formula Shortage in the U.S.
Photo: (Photo : Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A British dad left his partner of 10 years after falling in love with the Ukrainian refugee their family had taken in. Tony Garnett applied to be part of the U.K. Government's refugee scheme, but the 29-year-old grew impatient with the long process. Instead, he joined Facebook groups where Ukrainians were looking for sponsors.

This is where Sofiia Karkadym found Garnett. The 22-year-old Ukrainian fled her home in the city of Lviv after Russia invaded their country. Karkadym arrived in the United Kingdom on May 4 after figuring out the logistics and went on to live with Garnett, his partner Lorna and their six and three-year-old daughters in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Garnett told The Sun in an interview how he and Karkadym "just clicked" and got on really well immediately after she arrived in the U.K. The pair's instant connection was partly because he could speak Slovakian, which is similar to the Ukrainian language.

Tony shocks Lorna with decision to leave with Sofiia

Garnett and Karkadym started chatting in a language Lorna did not understand, with the pair staying up late to watch TV after she had gone to bed. They also went to the gym together regularly. Tony and Sofiia both claimed that although they were getting on brilliantly at this time, it was completely innocent and no more than that.

Garnett said he would come home to a meal cooked by Karkadym, with her telling him how lucky Lorna was to have him. Lorna was angry about the deepening relationship between the two and eventually asked Sofiia to leave the family's home. However, Lorna was shocked when Garnett told her that if Sofiia was leaving, he was going with her.

Within ten days of Karkadym's arrival, the new couple left the house and moved in with Garnett's parents. According to Metro, Garnett and Karkadym had started looking for a property together and had begun the process for a permanent visa for the latter.

Read Also: Wife of Bruce Willis Admits Caring For Family is Taking a Toll on Her Mental Health After Aphasia Reveal

Karkadym insists she is not a homewrecker

Garnett said that he was so sorry for what Lorna was going through. He reiterated that this was not her fault and was not about anything she did wrong. Karkadym said in an interview that as soon as she saw Garnett, she fancied him. She said their relationship has been swift, but this is their love story.

Karkadym said she knows people will think badly of her, but it happens. She has no regrets, though, as she could see how unhappy Garnett was in his previous relationship. According to the Mirror, Karkadym was adamant that she was not a homewrecker and that Lorna drove them to be together with the constant suspicions.

Lorna had told reporters earlier this week that she had reservations about letting a stranger into her home, but she decided it was right to help the people of Ukraine. That decision proved costly for Lorna, with her relationship now in tatters.

Related Article: Vancouver Dad Spreads Love After Only 1 Kid Attended His Autistic Son's Birthday Party
Photo: (Photo : Vidal Balielo Jr. from Pexels)

When you are a parent, life can feel overwhelming and difficult. The job of parenting is one of the hardest things to do in life. It is also one of the most rewarding things you can do. Being a parent comes with its fair share of challenges and pressures, but when you take care of yourself, the whole process is a lot easier. If you aren't doing a good job taking care of yourself, though, then you won't be able to care for your children. Whatever your situation, below are some tips for parents to do a better job taking care of themselves.

Sleep Enough and Rest Well

As a parent, it feels like there is never enough time. You probably find yourself lacking sleep, tired, and worn down. One of the most important things you can do for yourself is to get adequate rest. Sleep is so important and getting enough time to rest will leave you in a better mood, feeling refreshed and positive.

Not only should you make sure to get enough sleep, but you should also be getting quality sleep. Your rest should be fulfilling. It should leave you recharged. If you are sleeping but don't feel rested afterward, try cutting out the caffeine or avoiding screens before bed. It's imperative that you get enough rest as a parent, so you have enough energy for your kids.

Heal Your Body

Whether you are spending hours a day at a desk or have been in a car accident, you should take the necessary steps to heal your body. Are you dealing with pain and discomfort? You could need a new mattress, or to invest in an ergonomic chair. When you've been injured, physical therapy could be necessary.

It doesn't matter whether you live in a small town and need Phoenixville physical therapy or are looking for the best physical therapist in Seattle, you should do whatever you can to mend yourself and heal. Don't just deal with pain and injuries. Do what you can to feel better.

Exercise Often

When you have kids, you might feel like you don't have enough energy to exercise, but this is counter-intuitive thinking. When you work out often, you will have more energy than you would if you didn't. Working out frequently will help you feel better and become healthier.

As you work out more regularly, your energy will be boosted. You will feel better for your children while providing a good example for them. However you look at it, exercise is essential for a good, happy life. To be healthy for yourself and your children, you should always exercise more often. You will have more energy, you will be healthier, and you will feel better for yourself and for your children.

Eat Better

Another thing that you need to do is eat better. So many parents comfort themselves with food. When you eat poorly, you don't have energy and you will feel bad. You should eat plenty of vegetables, lean proteins, and grains. Avoid excess sugars and carbohydrates. It is better to eat healthy fats than sugar. It doesn't matter what you are doing in your day-to-day life, eating well is pivotal. You will live longer and feel better. It is important to show your children that you should eat well and that it's imperative to treat your body well.

Care For Your Mind

Finally, it's very important to care for your mind. Whether you are working through trauma, are struggling with depression, or need some time for yourself, taking care of yourself includes your mind. Spend time with yourself. Go out into nature. Attend therapy. Practice yoga. Spend time with friends. You can also meditate and practice mindfulness. It's vital to take care of both your body and mind. Whether you are struggling with a mental health disorder or just need your time, taking care of yourself is difficult without showing care for your mind.

Parenting isn't easy, but there are plenty of ways that you can overcome the stress and difficulties of the job. You need to take care of yourself. Whether that means caring for your mind, eating well, exercising frequently, healing pain and injuries, or getting enough sleep and rest, if you don't take care of yourself you will have a hard time taking care of others.
Photo: (Photo : BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Births bumped up last year, but the number of babies born was still lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic. The slight one percent increase recorded was a bit of a rebound from 2020, the first year of the COVID pandemic, which witnessed the most significant one-year drop in U.S. births in nearly 50 years.

That being said, there were still about 86,000 fewer births in the U.S. last year than in 2019, according to a government report released on Tuesday, May 24. Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine, told NBC News that U.S. births are still not returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Jamieson added that U.S. births had declined for more than a decade before COVID-19 struck, and she would expect the small and modest decreases to continue.

The increase reflects pregnancies postponed due to the pandemic

Officials think last year's increase reflects births from pregnancies in the United States that had been put off during the uncertain early days of the COVID pandemic. Brady Hamilton of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that deliveries were way down in January 2021, but the numbers improved as the year went on, with much of the increase seen in older moms.

Hamilton, the lead author of the new report, added that these are postponed births. The report is based on a review of nearly all birth certificates issued in the United States last year.

According to newly released CDC data, the U.S. birth rate went up for the first time since 2014. According to a report by Axios, U.S. births had been declining by an average of 2 percent every year since 2014 and plunged 4 percent in the early phase of the COVID pandemic from 2019 to 2020.

Read Also: Mom Gives Birth to Baby in the Middle of Frontier Airlines Flight to Orlando; Names Her Daughter Sky

Increased 2021 U.S. birth rate spanned all age groups over 25

More than 3.6 million babies were born in the United States in 2021, a 1 percent increase from 2020. Last year, the increased birth rate spanned all age groups over 25 while dropping for women aged 15-24 and remaining the same in the 10-14 age bracket.

The percentage of premature births also recorded its highest reported level since representative national data became available, according to the CDC data. The rise in preterm birth rates, defined as less than 37 weeks in gestation, comes amid a spike in pregnancy-related death. It is another sign of health disparities weighing especially hard on communities of color.

Birth rates rose 3 percent for white women and 1 percent for Hispanic women last year. But they fell 4 percent for Native American and Alaska Native women, 3 percent for Black women, and 1 percent for Asian women.

The overall cesarean delivery rate also increased from 31.8 percent in 2020 to 32.1 percent in 2021. There could be multiple reasons for the trend lines that emerged last year, including access to care, the underlying health of the mother, the use of fertility treatments, and socioeconomic factors, according to ABC News.

Related Article: Kentucky Mom Delivers Own Baby By the Roadside While Her 5 Kids Watched
Photo: (Photo : Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for MTV)

Coco and Ice-T's parenting decisions are theirs to make, but that is not stopping netizens from weighing in on their controversial methods. Coco Austin recently shared some pictures of her family's vacation on her verified social media accounts, according to Page Six.

Her 6-year-old daughter, Chanel, can be seen in one of the photos sitting in a stroller, looking a little bored. She was then seen smiling in the next picture, showing the young girl posing with her celebrity mother in front of what appears to be a sculpture that resembles ice shards.

People immediately pounced on Coco's post, jumping into the comments section to express their feelings about Chanel sitting in a black pram and looking exhausted.

Coco blasted for having six-year-old kid in a stroller

One person told Coco that she might be her last baby, but she must let her grow up. The netizen wrote that she has a six-year-old smaller than Coco's and hasn't been in a stroller in years. Another person asked Coco, "Isn't she like 6 yrs old?" The netizen argued that she should be out of a stroller by now.

Coco posted other photos from their tour of the hotel, and the stroller is nowhere to be seen. Dr. Jay Lovenheim, a pediatrician in West Orange, New Jersey, just laughed when asked by TODAY Parents for his take on the stroller controversy.

Lovenheim voiced his support for Coco in the controversy, saying that this should be a non-issue. Lovenheim noted that he has been to Disney World several times with his kids, and they always put them in a stroller, even their older child, who could barely fit in the seat.

Read Also: Mom Betzabeth Perez Gives Birth in Elevator on Mother's Day; Medical City Security Guard Comes to Her Rescue

Coco is no stranger to controversy about her parenting methods

Lovenheim said that kids get tired at theme parks and big resorts because it is a lot of walking and it is hot. Lovenheim added that pushing them in a stroller keeps the kids fresh, and they can always use it when they need breaks. He said that it is better for everyone involved.

There is a good chance that Coco won't respond to her critics. The 43-year-old model, who has been married to the "Law & Order: SVU" actor since 2005, does not appear to care what people think about her parenting choices.

Coco grabbed the headlines last year when she revealed that she was still breastfeeding Chanel. She made the revelation in an interview with Us Weekly, saying that then five-year-old daughter Chanel still likes her boob. Coco justified her decision, saying that her daughter wants a little snack every now and then and that it is more of a bonding between the mother.

Related Article: Murder Mystery in South Carolina as Four Teens Shot Dead Within Hours in Small City of Newberry; Investigation Still Ongoing
Thomas Markle has been rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke.

The 77-year-old TV lighting director - who is the father of the Duchess of Sussex - is currently receiving urgent medical treatment at a hospital in the US.

Samantha Markle, his daughter, told MailOnline: "My father is recovering in hospital. We ask for privacy for the family, for his health and well-being. He just needs peace and rest. Godspeed. We are praying. He just needs some rest."

Thomas was poised to fly to the UK later this week, as he planned to be in London for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

However, he will now be unable to make the trip and will instead continue his recovery in hospital.

Thomas was initially treated at a hospital in Mexico, but he's now recovering at a medical center in Chula Vista, California.

A source told The Sun: "He went to hospital in Mexico where he lives and they later moved him via ambulance across the border to a hospital in San Diego on a gurney and with an oxygen mask.

"His son Thomas Jr was already with him in Rosarito and is in San Diego now.

"His daughter Samantha is flying in from Florida to be with him too."

Meanwhile, Thomas recently revealed he was looking forward to travelling to England and meeting members of the royal family.

Thomas didn't attend his daughter's wedding to Prince Harry in 2018, as he was recovering from heart surgery - but he was keen to thank Prince Charles for walking her down the aisle.

He said: "I'm going to show my respect for the Queen and I'm going to make sure that the Queen understands that my entire family respects the Queen and the royals.

"We admire them and we want them to know that's how we feel about them and that's how we feel about England.

"I would like to meet with Prince Charles and thank him for walking my daughter down the aisle, and also to meet and talk with him because I think we have a lot in common now."
Photo: (Photo : Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)

May 24 was supposed to be a happy day for the Garza family. Ten-year-old Amerie Jo Garza was named into the honor roll at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, with a small ceremony scheduled on Tuesday morning to recognize her achievement. Amerie Jo was captured in a photo beaming with pride as she held up a colorful school certificate.

Little did they know that the photo taken at around 10 a.m. would be the last picture of Amerie Jo alive. NBC News reported that she was among the 19 children shot dead at the school.

Two teachers also died in the tragic shooting in the city of Uvalde, located about 90 minutes west of San Antonio. The gruesome massacre comes just days after another deadly mass shooting transpired in Buffalo, New York, amid a rapid rise in active shooter incidents in the United States.

Amerie Jo Garza was shot dead while dialing 911

Amerie Jo's grandmother, Berlinda Irene Arreola, was emotional when talking to the Daily Beast about the shooting. She said in the interview that her grandchild was "super-outgoing" and a "teacher's pet" who liked doing well in school. Arreola paid tribute to Amerie Jo, who she said was fatally wounded while dialing 911.

Arreola wrote in a text message that her granddaughter was shot and killed for trying to call 911, and she died a hero trying to get help for her and her classmates. Amerie Jo attempted to call for help after the 18-year-old gunman suddenly entered their school with several weapons.

It was not just Arreola who spent an anguished day struggling to find out anything about Amerie Jo as other family members also tried to get some news about the missing child. Her distraught stepfather, Angel Garza, even took to Facebook to inquire about Amerie Jo.

Read Also: Murder Mystery in South Carolina as 4 Teens Shot Dead Within Hours in Small City of Newberry

Angel Garza heartbroken after daughter's senseless death

He posted a message on social media before 8 p.m. local time, writing, "I don't ask for much or hardly even post on here, but please It's been 7 hours, and I still haven't heard anything on my love. Please fb help me find my daughter."

Garza, who had raised Amerie Jo with her mother since she was a young baby, returned to Facebook shortly after 11 p.m. local time with the news that his child was one of the victims of the mass shooting.

Garza issued a statement to ABC News, writing, "My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don't take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you, Amerie jo."

Authorities told Arreola that the gunman went to the school and told the children, "You are going to die." Arreola said Amerie Jo had her phone with her at the time, and she called 911. Instead of grabbing the phone and breaking it or taking it from her, the killer shot her.

The 18-year-old suspect was identified as Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School. He ended up dead after the mass shooting.

Related Article: New York Mom Prepares to Bring Home Miracle Baby After 12 Years of Heartbreak With 6 Miscarriages
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For years, Microsoft OneNote has allowed you to record the audio of a meeting, then take notes, syncing the audio to your inked or typed notes for later review. Now Microsoft is doing that feature one better by adding transcription, too.

Microsoft also unveiled sweeping aesthetic and functional changes that are coming to OneNote, part of a plan to unify the OneNote apps in Windows. Microsoft has said previously that it will begin phasing out the UWP version of the app, also known as OneNote for Windows 10, while adding new features to the version of OneNote that ships with Office.

Whats exciting, however, is that for students (and workers, too) OneNote will soon perform the heavy lifting. Part of the challenge of listening to a lecture is trying to grasp the points being made, while following the argument, while also taking notes as future reminders and teaching aids. Drawing and typing notes are certainly helpful, but theyre distracting, too. What OneNote will do is return to what made it great: record the audio, then transcribe the audio, then sync it to the notes that you took as the lecture took place. Microsoft is also promising the return of ink replay, another cool feature that originally surfaced in 2016. Like the transcription, ink replay should, like a movie, allow you to rewind your inked notes.

Microsoft

In addition to transcription, youll also have the option of dictating notes into OneNote as well, a feature thats becoming more common across Windows and Office. Microsoft will also be bringing its AI-driven transcription punctuation into OneNote, too, which will help with editing the transcribed text.

OneNote will be pulled into the Windows 11 visual aesthetic, with rounded corners and the Mica look and feel, which will incorporate your Windows theme and wallpaper colors into the app window. Functionally, though, youll see other improvements as well: a simplified toolbar, which can afford more space to your content and less to the toolbar; and a small dot that will appear next to OneNote pages with unread changes. It seems likely that these will appear in pages youve shared with other collaborators. Thats improved too, with more granular controls over whats being shared with someone else  individual pages or an entire notebook.

Small dots will indicate which OneNote notebook pages have unreviewed changes. You can also see the Windows 11 aesthetic here as well. Microsoft

Microsoft promised that youll see drawing tools that are more consistent with other Office/Microsoft 365 apps, like Word and PowerPoint. While youve always been able to drag photos into a OneNote page, Microsoft is also trying to smooth this experience, so that you can quickly snap a photo with a Surfaces rear camera, for example, and then drop it into a page.

Microsoft is also promising common-sense ways in which to organize your notebook pages, such as by letter or the date in which they were modified. Previously, moving pages around was largely a manual chore. Microsoft is also providing more granularity to share notebook pages, too.

Microsoft is also simplifying the OneNote toolbar ribbon. Microsoft

Finally, youll also be able to update OneNote in the background, so that you wont have to wait for more updates to take place before you can begin inking.

Not all the changes are immediately available, however. As of today, you should see the new notebook page sorting, the background updates, and some of the inking tools. Members of the Office Insider program will be able to see the improved camera photo capture if they sign up, as well as improved sharing (Heres how to join the Office Insider program.)

Unfortunately, some of the cooler features of OneNote, such as the transcription and ink replay, are coming soon, Microsoft explained in a blog post. As someone who works with OneNote regularly, they cant come soon enough.
One of the fastest-growing retail brands in electronic and home appliance products in Ghana, The Makers Electronics Company Limited, has won the Outstanding Customer Service Award, Electronics category, at the 2022 Ghana-West Africa Business Excellence Awards.



The 5th edition of the awards organised by KN Unique Communications, held at the plush Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, provided a platform to recognize individuals and companies that create a friendly atmosphere to welcome investors and significantly play a role in the development of the business economy in Ghana, and other respective companies in West Africa.



The CEO of the company, Mr. Stephen Essoun, was accompanied by two ambassadors of The Makers Electronic brand, namely, IBK a seasoned radio and television personality and actor Papa Nii also known in showbiz circles as Osophagus. Mrs Akua Saah Essoun COO of the company was engaged with normal duties which saw her absence as well as Fidel Nana Kwabena Essoun (Junior Makers). Fameye and Comedian OB Amponsah were out of the country Germany and South Africa respectively.



Speaking on the award, which is the fifth award his company has received in barely two years of the company's existence, he said, "I am happy to receive this award but more focused on physical expansion. It feels great to be appreciated on a worthy course. We will continue to serve the good people of Ghana with the best in consumer electronics and home appliances. By the special Grace of God, we have three more branches currently under way bringing our total to eight for now.

Soon we will be all over Ghana."



Mr. Essoun, who is also the CEO of Hi-Lynks Communications, an organisation he's run for nearly a decade, added that, "Our good works will surely speak for us on this journey. I will urge all to buy from The Makers Electronics Company Ltd, as we stand tall in the sale of quality but affordable home appliances and consumer electronics. Our products and prices, customer services as evidenced by this current award is second to none."



More about the WABEA



The Ghana - West Africa Business Excellence Awards by West Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Strategic Accountancy Africa provides a platform to recognize individuals and companies that create a friendly atmosphere to welcome investors and/or play a significant role in the development of various sectors in Ghana and West Africa at large



The Awards recognizes the industrys merits and sets a benchmark for excellence, whilst rewarding innovative ideas that have pushed the boundaries of what is possible.



The Awards recognizes excellence in industries, sectors and individual/personality excellence.



The 2022 Awards celebrated the outstanding achievements of organizations and individuals in the West Africa business region.



The purpose of the award is also to bring together business players and recognize achievements from local and international companies involved in various sectors.

The Makers Electronics story



In barely one year and six months of its operations, The Makers Electronics Company Limited has 5 branches, three within the Greater Accra Region, and two in Kumasi and Takoradi respectively. The company is expanding currently with three additional branches in Accra to bring the total to 8.



The company is still working on extending its branch network to make its services readily available in many parts of the country.



Mr. Essoun, who is also the CEO of Hi-Lynks Communications, an organisation he's run for nearly a decade, added that,







Other Awards



The Chief Executive Officer of The Makers Electronics Company Limited, Stephen Essoun, was on Friday, April 29, named the 'Young Achiever of the Year', 2022, at the Ghana CEO Vision and Awards.



On the same Friday, April 29, 2022, The Makers Electronics also picked up two separate awards at the Responsible Business and Leadership Excellence Awards, 2021, held at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra.



The Makers Electronics picked up the Responsible Electronics Retail Company of the year for 2021, and the Responsible Emerging Electronics Brand of the year 2021.



The RBLEA, which covers the areas of banking, aviation, information technology, telecommunication, manufacturing, and retail sectors, mainly recognizes companies and individuals for their performance in the previous year.



The Makers Electronics Company Limited in 2021, received the Promising Company of the Year award at the Ghana Business Awards.



The awardees at the 2022 WABEA were selected through a rigorous competitive process, with an independent Awarding Board that determined the final list.



Members of the Awarding Board are HRM Okatakyei Nana Asafo Boakye III, Ruler of Sanzule Nzemah Kingdom.



Tiguidanke Camara, Chairperson of Tigui Mining Group (TMG), Simeon Freeman, Chairman of Consolidated Group Inc, and Patrick Nana Asiedu - Director, Strategic Accountancy Africa.



Other companies that picked awards on the night include Total Petroleum Ghana PLC, B-Plus, Zenith Bank Ghana Limited, Blowchem Industries Limited, Starlife Assurance Company Limited, Bui Power Authority, ADK Consortium, Edmark International Ghana, and Gaso Petroleum Limited.



The others are Ethiopian Airlines, Emirates Airline, Eko Energies, Enterprise Transitions, Alpha TND Limited, Ghacem Limited, Interplast Limited, Appointed Time Screen Printing, Omega Risk Solutions and Newlife Homeopathic Hospital.



The rest are United Bank for Africa, Vanguard Assurance, Bayport Financial Services, SONA Group Nigeria, Renergy Power Solutions Nigeria, Rocksters Roofings Systems Limited, Sunshine Healthcare Limited, and QGMI Construction.

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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Plastic surgery is becoming more popular than ever before. 15.6 million cosmetic procedures were performed during 2020, even while the pandemic was raging. In 2022, its expected that these numbers will be even greater. Dr. Obaid Chaudhry is an experienced plastic surgeon, and hes working hard to raise the bar higher in aesthetic medicine for the next year and beyond.



Dr. Obaid Chaudhry attended the Royal College of Surgeons for his MD before doing a residency at one of the most prestigious colleges in the country for integrated plastic surgery. He then had an aesthetic fellowship in Manhattan, which is one of the most well  known locations in the world.



Hes a leader in performing Brazilian butt lifts, smooth sculpt, breast fat transfer, Lipo 360, and body sculpting. I love helping people feel better about how they look, said Dr. Obaid Chaudhry. I have a love of patient care and am excited to study human anatomy to perform these procedures to the best of my ability every time.



Dr. Obaid Chaudhry is now working hard to revolutionize the field of plastic surgery. He came up with the SmoothSculpt process, which has had a huge impact on the aesthetics community. He also uses Lipo 360 for all of his procedures. Its full body lipo rather than just being used in one area to create a more congruent look for the whole body.



He also performs Brazilian butt lifts differently from any other surgeon in a way thats safer and produces a better result. He never uses syringes and considers it archaic to do so. I want my patients to feel happy with their outcomes, and I think that these techniques are the way of the future, said Dr. Obaid Chaudhry.



Over time, the aesthetic surgery industry has changed dramatically, and the results are being felt throughout the world. Dr. Obaid Chaudhry is one of the leading surgeons in the field, and his revolutions in the industry will improve patient outcomes in 2022 and beyond.









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African countries raised an objection on Tuesday to a U.S.-led proposal to reform the International Health Regulations (IHR), a move delegates say might prevent passage at the World Health Organization's annual assembly.



If Africa continues to withhold support, it could block one of the only concrete reforms expected from the meeting, fraying hopes that members will unite on reforms to strengthen the U.N. health agency's rules as it seeks a central role for itself in global health policy.



The IHR set out WHO members' legally binding obligations around outbreaks. The United States has proposed 13 IHR reforms which seek to authorise the deployment of expert teams to contamination sites and the creation of a new compliance committee to monitor implementation of the rules.



The draft proposal yet to be formally decided is seen as the first step in a broader IHR reform process and would aim to change article 59 that would speed up the implementation for future reforms from 24 to 12 months.



But the African group expressed reservations about even this narrow change, saying all reforms should be tackled together as part of a "holistic package" at a later stage.



"The African region shares the view that the process should not be fast tracked...," Moses Keetile, deputy permanent secretary in Botswana's health ministry, told the assembly on Tuesday on behalf of the Africa region.



Diplomats said that African objections may be a strategy to seek concessions on vaccine and drug-sharing from wealthier countries who were seen to be hoarding supplies during COVID-19.



"We find that they are going too quickly and these sorts of reforms can't be rushed through," said an African delegate in Geneva who was not authorised to speak to the media.



The U.S. mission in Geneva did not respond to a request for comment.



Several other countries expressed broad support for the idea of IHR reforms, without giving specifics. Iran and Malaysia also expressed reservations.



One diplomat following the discussions "They don't agree but it's not a disaster. It's a multilateral process so you can't force things through."



The negotiations will run alongside talks on a potential pandemic treaty, raising concerns over duplication. "Several developing countries have said that the WHO has too many platforms for negotiation, and it is simply not manageable," said Nithin Ramakrishnan, consultant for the Third World Network.



Since the U.S. IHR proposal, Russia has also submitted draft revisions, diplomats say. This assembly is expected to officially launch IHR reform discussions, which may last up to two years.













Source: REUTERS









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The Western Region Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has dismissed reports of a case of monkeypox in the Region.



There were reports that the re-emerging disease has been recorded in the Ahanta West District.



An individual reported to a facility in the Ahanta West Municipality in the Western Region with blisters, a statement from the Directorate on Tuesday, May 24 indicated.



Initial assessment of the case is not suggestive of monkeypox, the statement signed by the Western Region Health Director, Dr Yaw Ofori Yeboah, confirmed.



It, however, indicated that further investigations will be carried out.



The Directorate, consequently, announced heightened surveillance in order to detect any suspected cases.



Though common in remote parts of the Central and West Africa, the disease has recently been recorded in nine European countries including Spain, UK, Germany and France as well as in the US, Canada and Australia.

Source: 3news









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Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz has questioned South Africa's neutral stance about the war in Ukraine at a meeting with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on the last leg of a three-nation visit to Africa.



Pretoria has abstained from UN resolutions condemning Russia's actions.



Asked why, President Ramaphosa said it was only through negotiation and dialogue that a resolution could be reached.



While Chancellor Scholz said he understood that different countries had different views, he called Russia the aggressor in a "brutal war".



Despite this, both leaders stressed the importance of the relationship between their countries, with Chancellor Scholz saying it is one he wants to nurture.



The two leaders are expected to outline trade partnerships, particularly in the field of alternative energy.



Germany is South Africa's second-largest trading partner.

Source: BBC









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Police in Nigeria say they are tracking down gunmen who killed at least 12 people, including a pregnant woman and her four children, in the south-eastern state of Anambra.



The police have blamed the increasing violence in the region on Biafra separatists.



A community leader told the BBC that the pregnant woman and her children were returning home on a motorcycle taxi when gunmen ambushed them in the Orumba area.



Several other people were also shot dead in separate incidents on Sunday evening. Police say they are investigating.



The killings have sparked outrage on social media.



They happened a day after mutilated bodies of a local politician and his aide were discovered a week after they were abducted.



The worsening violence in south-eastern Nigeria is being blamed on a banned separatist group - the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) - which is campaigning for a breakaway state in the region.



The group has denied involvement in some of the attacks.



Security forces are also grappling with various armed groups carrying out killings and kidnappings in other parts of Nigeria.



In the north-east of the country, more than 30 people were reported either killed or kidnapped in an attack in Borno state last Sunday.



Militants from Boko Haram and an IS-linked group are active in that region.



The widespread insecurity is a major concern ahead of elections due to take place in February next year.

Source: BBC









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The United States has said it is concerned about recent mass arrest of journalists and community activists in Ethiopia.



In a statement shared on its social media platforms, the US Embassy in the capital, Addis Ababa, said that it shared calls made earlier by the state-affiliated Ethiopian Human Rights Communication (EHRC) for the authorities to respect the rule of law and adhere to due process.



At least 10 journalists and media personalities have been arrested in the past week in Addis Ababa and the countrys second-most populous region, Amhara.



On Monday, the authorities in Amhara announced that they had arrested more than 4,500 individuals in a campaign they said was aimed at enforcing law and order in the region.



According to the EHRC, many of the detainees were held without proper court warrants and it had been difficult for some family members to find where their loved ones were being kept.

Source: BBC









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Civil Society Group, Occupy Ghana, has commended Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, for initiating an independent audit on the specific acreage of the Achimota Forest lands that have been de-gazetted.



According to the group, much as it appreciates and commends the Ministers attempt to uncover the truth through the intended independent audit, there is a need for a Commission of Inquiry.



The President should set up the Chapter 23 Commission of Inquiry, failing which we expect Parliament to unanimously resolve or the Council of State to advise that a Commission be appointed.



The Ministers audit may constitute evidence to be provided to the Commission, Part of a statement issued by Occupy Ghana said.



It described a clarification on the matter given by the Minister in a press statement on 24th May, 2022 and titled Achimota Forest that sets outs a history of the Achimota Forest Reserve and the various attempts to return lands that were validly acquired by the state almost a century ago, to pre-acquisition owners as laudable.



The issue, according to Occupy Ghana, is a grave matter of public interest and therefore the independent audit and its stated remit will not suffice.



It noted that evidence abounds on how some of these lands have ended up in the hands of government officials and their privies.



It even appears that some of these officials-beneficiaries were involved in the processes leading to the alleged return of lands.



In the face of such apparent conflict of interest and conflict of duty as are outlawed by article 284 of the Constitution, we are not certain that a mere independent audit would suffice.



We think that, in accordance with article 278 of the Constitution, the President should be satisfied, or the Council of State should advise, or Parliament should request, that a Commission of Inquiry be appointed, the group said.



Ghanaians, the statement said, need to be informed of all returns of state lands to pre-acquisition owners since the 4th Republican Constitution came into being on 7th January 1993.



And stressed there is no better way of doing this than by establishing a Commission of Inquiry appointed under Chapter 23 of the 1992 Constitution with the powers, rights and privileges of a High Court or a Justice of the High Court at a trial specified in Article 279.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has commissioned two ultra-modern IHC Beaver 50 dredgers and marine equipment of Dredge Masters Limited (DML), a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC).



Unveiling the dredging equipment at the parking yard of DML at Adjei Kojo in Ashaiman, Accra on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, the President said this new fleet of DML will not only help curb the yearly flooding in Accra but also improve marine lives.



He commended Dredge Masters for their continuous role in supporting his government's quest to find a permanent fix, especially to the perennial flooding in parts of Accra.



He indicated that dredging companies have traditionally contributed to coastal protection.



"For us in Ghana, Dredge Masters has made significant contributions in this area, and the introduction today of the two ultra-modern IHC Beaver 50 dredgers means that Ghana, within the West African market, has her own indigenous company which can dredge to a depth of 16 metres," he disclosed.



With this development, the President pointed out that Ghana will not need to look outside anymore when it comes to the dredging of dams, reservoirs, ports, harbours and land reclamation activities.



According to him, since 2017, his government has invested GHC450 million in various flood-control measures, all in an effort to end flooding in the capital city.



Climate change, he said, was already in Africa, noting that this was being witnessed in the unprecedented floods in West Africa, depletion of forests, and vastly altered rain patterns that are threatening agriculture production and food security among others.



"All these are undermining Africa's ability to grow and develop to bring prosperity to its people," he said.



He reaffirmed that his administration was committed to creating an enabling environment not only for the private sector to survive but also to thrive.



President Akufo-Addo used the chance to charge all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to ensure regular desilting of drains and gutters within their jurisdictions to allow the free flow of water during the rainy season.



In this regard, he urged them to lead in the demolition of all unauthorised structures built on waterways.



"Any MMDCE who fails to carry out this exercise across the country would be held accountable," he sternly warned.



The Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, in a brief remark, lauded DML's contributions towards fighting flooding in Accra.



While admitting that flooding in Accra has become an annual ritual which continues to pose grave risks to lives and properties, he admonished Ghanaians to desist from practices that further compound the phenomenon.



"We remain committed to partnering with DML to address the flooding problem in Accra and other parts of the country," he assured.



For his part, the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiama, announced that his ministry will seek a very strong collaboration with DML to develop the Volta Lake to inure to the benefit of the people of the region and the country as a whole.



In his welcome address, the Executive Chairman of the JGC, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, indicated that the IHC Beaver 50 is ultra-modern dredging equipment, which is a top of the range equipment for dredging in the world.



He said these two beavers come to augment the already existing fleet of DML.



"Dredge Masters Limited is introducing these Ultra- Modern IHC Built Cutter Suction Dredgers 5014/16 (Named Akua Boahenmaa and Abena Ayinfua) and associated Marine equipment which brings the capability of dredging up to 16 meters deep and the capacity to carry out large scale reclamation."



...The total investment by the company in all marine equipment stands at 54 million Euros," he revealed.



The dredgers, he explained, can undertake mega projects at ports and harbours, reservoirs and dams, reclamation of lands from sea, environmental and climate change mitigation works and flood control.



According to Dr. Siaw Agyepong, Dredge Masters Limited started with the acquisition of four ultra-modern amphibious dredgers from Aquamec.



"These dredgers along with long boom excavators, barges and earth moving equipment dredged from Odaw Channel to the Korle lagoon (from Caprice to the sea) to restore hydrological capacity of the channel. The fleet has been augmented with two more amphibious dredgers, long booms and other equipment over the years. Today, we have over 70 units of various dredging equipment," he further disclosed.



He assured of his dredging company's commitment to quality, sustainability, environmental protection and upholding high standards.



"The company is also fully committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in all its endeavours," he added.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The Ministry for National Security has launched a citizens' awareness campaign aimed at protecting the country against terrorist attacks.



The campaign, dubbed: "See something, say something", encourages the public to be vigilant of the activities of suspicious characters and report such activities and characters to the security agencies.



The launch forms part of the ministry's border counter-terrorism strategy aimed at sensitising the public to terrorism threats and encouraging the citizenry to collaborate with state security agencies to reduce the threat of terrorism in the country.



What to do



As part of the campaign, a toll-free number  999  has been provided for citizens to swiftly report suspicious activities to state security authorities or use the emergency contacts and social media platforms of the Ghana Police Service to draw the attention of state agencies to unusual activities within their communities.



Where mobile connectivity is a challenge, locals are to report suspicious activities to their local police, traditional leaders, opinion leaders, heads of faith-based organisations and leaders of political parties who could expedite action to arrest any threat of terrorism attack situation.



Some celebrities and media personalities, including Kofi Kinata, Kwame Sefa Kayi, Dzifa Bampoe, Gifty Adorye, Nana Aba Anamoah and Rev. Dr Lawrence Tetteh, have been appointed ambassadors for the campaign.



Assurance



Addressing the gathering, the Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, said terrorism threat in the sub-region had evolved to a point where reliance on only conventional tactics and strategies to combat it was ineffective.



Recent developments, he observed, indicated that the attacks perpetrated in the region and the Sahel had been highly unconventional.



The timing of the rollout of the campaign, he said, had, therefore, been informed by the need to implement more preventive measures following recent events in the West African region.



The minister explained that the involvement of the citizenry to support the state security with information on happenings in their localities, where the terrorists were likely to hide and commit their outrageous crimes, was essential and also made it easy for the state security agencies to identify and subsequently arrest such criminals with ease.



No panic



He assured the public that the state security was working tirelessly to protect them against any such attacks.



"The campaign is not aimed at creating panic among the citizenry but rather bolster the confidence of the public to swiftly report suspicious activities in their communities to the relevant state security agencies," he explained.



Mr Kan-Dapaah said a campaign against any misinformation that sought to create unnecessary fear and panic among the citizenry would also be run alongside the See something, say something campaign.



"We count on the public to take ownership of the campaign to support the state security agencies to reduce the threat of an attack on Ghana,'' he said.



Prime target



The Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, said Ghana remained a peaceful and stable nation, in spite of its location in a volatile sub-region.



That, he said, was evident in the recent Global Peace Index which ranked the country the first in West Africa, second in Africa and 38th in the world.



However, Mr Osafo-Maafo said, the security situation in the sub-region was rapidly deteriorating due to the threat and spread of terrorism and violent extremism.



"Ghana faces the risk of a spillover, as data from the global terrorism index indicate that the Sahel region has become the epicentre of terrorism and violent attacks. The risk of possible terrorism attacks is further compounded by the recent southward drift of terrorism from the Sahel region to coastal West Africa," he said.



More worrying, he noted, was the fact that the countrys neighbours along the Gulf of Guinea, namely, Togo, Benin and Cote dIvoire, as well as landlocked Burkina Faso on the northern border, had been severely hit by terrorist and extremist groups in recent times.



Desire to control resources

Mr Osafo-Maafo said terrorist group attacks were underpinned by terrorists desire to take control of resource-rich areas in the sub-region and gain access to the high seas of the Gulf of Guinea to perpetrate illegal mining, partly to generate funds to support their heinous activities



"This makes Ghana a prime target because of its gold resources and access to the Gulf of Guinea. The fact that we have not been attacked yet does not imply that we are eternally immune from the terrorists," he said.



Deliberate actions



The Senior Presidential Advisor pointed out that deliberate actions and a conscious effort by the state security agencies and all persons within the country were required to keep the terrorists away.



"If we are going to succeed in this fight, everybody must get involved," he said while admitting that the primary responsibility of the state was to protect the citizenry against threats that could adversely affect and threaten lives and livelihoods.



Mr Osafo-Maafo said the government continued to support the ministries of National Security, Defence and Interior and other relevant state authorities to implement measures towards safeguarding the state against terrorism and violent extremism.



Call on media



The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said total mobilisation of the public would make the response robust.



The campaign, he said, would get the people to understand the nature of the threat and understand their role in helping to assist the security and intelligence agencies to respond appropriately.



He urged the media to use their various platforms to engage the public and deepen understanding of the role they could play to win the battle against terrorism.



Clarion call



The Deputy National Security Coordinator, Edward Kwaku Asomani, said the activities of terrorists and extreme violent groups undermined the security of a country and rendered states ungovernable and could trigger humanitarian crisis.



"The campaign should be regarded as a clarion call on all citizens to play their role in protecting the nation while keeping the security agencies accountable in the fight against terrorism," he added.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, the King of the Ga State has called on the assemblies to enforce local building regulations to curb the perennial flooding in Accra.



Many parts of the capital have been inundated with floodwaters within a spate of four days following hours of downpour recorded on Saturday and Monday.



The Ga State, in a statement issued and copied to the Ghana News Agency, in Accra, on Tuesday, said it was worried about the perennial flooding situation in Accra.



It said local authorities must enforce all building regulations, especially where those on waterways, to address the problem.



Let us find a medium to long-term solutions to this perennial problem. Let us enforce the building regulations, especially where waterways have been blocked, it said.



The statement also urged the government to strengthen public institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), to enable them to provide relief and recovery to victims effectively.



The statement also called for the regular desilting of drains and waterways to allow the free flow of water.



It sympathised with persons affected by the floods.



I call on all and sundry to be in a state of preparedness and take proactive steps where possible to minimize the effect of floods, the statement added.

Source: GNA









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Parliament must place premium on the passage of the Gender Equality Law, otherwise known as Affirmative Action Bill, into law.



According to Abantu for Development, a non-governmental organisation, the delay in passing the bill, which was drafted 11 years ago, had contributed in very substantial ways to the countrys inability to secure comprehensive and improved conditions for the majority of citizens, especially women.



Ghana needs an Affirmative Action Law that will promote total inclusiveness, political pluralism, genuine democracy and good governance, the Resource Mobilisation and Sustainability Manager of Abantu, Hamida Harrison, said.



She spoke at a media dialogue in Accra on the role of the media in reinforcing advocacy for the passage of Ghana's Affirmative Action Bill into law.



Ms Harrison said the political parties in the country saw the bill as a threat to power and power sharing, hence the deliberate delays by various governments in passing it.



Ghana has completed the draft bill that has been awaiting submission to Parliament for a considerable time now. Anytime we ask about it, we are told it is with Cabinet. What is holding it there? she quizzed.



Ms Harrison stated that Parliament had listed the bill three times as one of the items to be discussed but that never materialised.



The question of government sitting on the bill is very critical to the mainstreaming of women into positions of leadership, which is unacceptable to all of us, she stated.



Failure of political parties



Ms Harrison pointed out that in both the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) regimes, women had failed to make the equality mark in elections and appointments to positions of leadership in government.



It is not one political party that has failed the women of this country but all. All these parties have not been very fair, faithful and accountable to the promises they made to women. The late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills promised before becoming President that 40 per cent of his government appointees would be women, but that never materialised. The highest was 21 per cent.



We remember in the first presidential address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, he said affirmative action was his priority, but here we are today, almost ending his second term and nothing has happened, she stated.



Ms Harrison said from national to local and institutional levels, the number of appointments and nominations of women historically was failing to address the magnitude of gender inequality.



Quoting figures to buttress her point, she said out of the current 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), only 38 were women, increasing the number by only two from the first term of President Akufo-Addo.



Role of media



Ms Harrison called on the media to play a pivotal role in educating, shaping public opinion, setting the agenda, as well as influencing the government to push the bill to Parliament for it to be passed.



Media practitioners who spoke, called on civil society organisations to be aggressive in their approach in getting the bill passed.









Source: Graphiconline.com









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The International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) have finished conducting a Pre-Election Assessment Mission (PEAM) as part of their overall observation of Kenyas 2022 general elections.



The pre-election assessment which began on May 16 and ended on May 20, 2022, made some interesting recommendations ahead of Kenyas polls slated for August 9, 2022.



Among the recommendations, the delegation urged Kenyas Government to ensure timely financial transfers to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to ensure effective preparations, including voter education campaigns.



It further urged the Kenyan Parliament to urgently address the issue of pending electoral law amendments  either expediting their review or stating no further reforms will be entertained prior to the August polls to remove confusion or suspicion of attempts to manipulate the process.



The assessment delegation comprised Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana; James Lahai, the National Coordinator of National Election Watch (Sierra Leone); Nicole Rowsell, Acting Vice President of the National Democratic Institute (USA); and Yomi Jacobs, Resident Program Director of the International Republican Institute in Kenya (Nigeria).



The delegation conducted its activities in accordance with the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation, which was launched in 2005 at the United Nations, and in compliance with the laws of the Republic of Kenya. All activities were conducted on a strictly nonpartisan basis and without interfering in the election process. The delegation met with a wide array of election stakeholders, including the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), political parties, civil society, business associations, media representatives, religious leaders, the judiciary, and government actors. The delegation expresses its appreciation to everyone with whom it met for sharing insights from which the mission benefited greatly.



IRI and NDI are nonpartisan, nongovernmental, nonprofit organizations that support and strengthen democratic institutions and practices worldwide. The Institutes have collectively observed more than 200 elections in more than 50 countries over the past 30 years. NDI and IRI will conduct a second pre-election assessment mission to assess progress toward key recommendations before Kenyas general elections are scheduled for August 9, 2022.



The delegation also urged IEBC to build trust among the electoral contestants and public confidence in the electoral process and also develop and disseminate a clear methodology with appropriate safeguards on the collation, transmission, and declaration of results.



The delegation further urged all political actors to demonstrate commitment to ensuring peace before, during, and after elections, by publicly endorsing and adhering to the electoral code of conduct, and other peace pledges.



Refrain from hate speech, cyberbullying, and inciting violence by supporters, including gender-based violence, and cooperate with institutions to investigate incidents, the mission advised in a statement.



The Kenyan media was also urged to Provide election coverage in accordance with the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism and Offer the use of their platforms for civic and voter education programs and information.



Provide coverage of candidate debates, to inform citizens and promote an issue-based campaign, it further advised.













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The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has kickstarted its internal elections as it gears up for the 2024 general elections.



The party has held its constituency elections and will on Saturday, May 28, have elections at the Regional level where the delegates will elect Regional executives.



The party's Regional elections will be followed by national elections and subsequently go into their main primaries to elect a flagbearer for the party.



Already, two leading names of the party have come up for the flagbearer position; Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Minister of Trade, Alan Kyerematen's camps have been pitching their candidates for the Presidential candidate slot.



As the NPP prepares for the national elections which comes off in July this year, some strong names have been mentioned to occupy various positions from National Chairman to General Secretary among other positions.



Joining the Tuesday edition of Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme as a panelist, Managing Director of State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea, noted to be one of the finest politicians and winning the hearts of rank and file of the NPP, was asked whether he will go for the General Secretary position of the party as rumors have it that he will be contesting the elections.



Nana Akomea is a four-time Parliamentarian for Okaikoi South from 1997 to 2013, a former Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, a former Information Minister and a former Deputy Tourism Minister as well as a former National Communications Director of the NPP.



Some supporters of him believe it will be a "cool chop" for him should he contest the General Secretary position.



Opening up to the host of the programme, Kwami Sefa Kayi, Nana Akomea stated emphatically that he has no intention to contest the position, explaining that he is focused on his job as STC Boss.



"There has been a lot of pressure . . . but at this time, I don't have enthusiasm for it," he responded.



He backed all the candidates of the NPP with his prayers.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The Office of the Special Prosecutor has charged the failed nominee for the position of Chief Executive of Juaben Municipal Assembly, Alexander Kwabena Sarfo-Kantanka with Twenty-Six (26) counts of corruption.



In November 2021, the Juaben MCE nominee went berser after he was rejected by assembly members at the end of an exercise for his confirmation.



He was captured in a secretly filmed video, demanding a refund of the bribe money he allegedly paid to some assembly members.



According to the Special Prosecutors findings, Mr. Sarfo-Kantanka gifted the elected members of the Assembly GH5,000 each.



He is said to have also gifted the Government appointed members GHS2,500 each to influence their conduct in the performance of their duty as voters.



After looking into the matter, the Special Prosecutor has charged and processed Alexander Sarfo-Kantanka for court.



In a press release signed by Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng, it has been announced that the embattled MCE is facing 26 counts of corruption.



The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has charged the nominee for the position of Chief Executive of Juaben Municipal Assembly, Alexander Kwabena Sarfo-Kantanka with Twenty-Six (26) counts of corruption in respect of a public election - arising out of two public elections conducted in September and November 2021 for the confirmation or otherwise of his nomination, parts of the Special Prosecutor press release reads.



"Mr. Sarfo-Kantanka will be arraigned before the High Court (Criminal Division), Kumasi on Wednesday, June 1, 2022."

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Lawyer Maurice Ampaw is asking the Special Prosecutor (SP), Kissi Agyebeng to prosecute all politicians for giving out money and goodies during election times.



He said that will only justify his bogus interest to arraign before court corruption allegations against the failed nominee for the position of Municipal Chief Executive for Juaben in the Ashanti.



Alexander Kwabena Sarfo-Kantanka wanted to be the Municipal Chief Executive for Juaben in the Ashanti Region.



He was nominated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo but was rejected on the first and second occasions by the Assembly Members.



It later emerged in a video, where he was heard demanding a refund of a GH1000 he paid to an Assembly Member after he was rejected during the confirmation vote.



It was alleged that he paid money to some Assembly Members for his endorsement, yet they voted against him.



However, Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng upon investigations charged the beleaguered failed MCE with 26 counts of corruption.



He said Alexander Kwabena Sarfo-Kantanka will be arraigned before the High Court in Kumasi on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.



But Maurice Ampaw noted that the reason for charging the failed MCE is totally useless.



I have seen politicians giving huge monies and goodies during an election, are they in court now? he questioned  adding, this is bogus.







Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Commissioners Leanne Fitch, Michael MacDonald, chair, and Kim Stanton, left to right, attend the Mass Casualty Commission inquiry into the mass murders in rural Nova Scotia on April 18/19, 2020, in Truro, N.S. on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Lawyers for some of the families killed during the rampage have been instructed to boycott hearings over the commission's decision to limit testimony by some senior RCMP officers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
Trevali Mining Corp. logo is seen in this undated photo. Trevali Mining Corp. says the bodies of four workers missing since its Perkoa Mine in Burkina Faso flooded last month have been found. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Trevali Mining Corp. *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Justice Minister David Lametti makes an announcement in Ottawa on Monday, May 16, 2022. Lametti says his government is not ruling out a court challenge to a recently adopted Quebec language law, but he says it will depend on how the law is implemented. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, provides an update on the Government of Canada's actions and investments to support Indigenous communities regarding the ongoing impacts of residential schools during an announcement in Ottawa on Monday, May 16, 2022. Federal Justice Minister David Lametti says his government will join a court challenge to Quebec's religious symbols law if it reaches the Supreme Court. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
888poker XL Spring Series Marches Forwards; Crowns Freezeout Champions

May 25, 2022 Matthew Pitt Editor

Another three 888poker players became poker champions on May 24 in the $1.5 million guaranteed XL Spring Series. All three events were freezeouts, a format that is something of a rarity in the modern online poker world. All three events were well attended, going to show the freezeout format is still popular with tournament grinders.

Romania Claims an XL Spring Series Title

The fifth numbered event of the XL Spring Series was a $215 buy-in tournament that saw 170 entrants create a $34,000 prize pool that the top 30 finishers shared.

$574 was the least any of the nine finalists could walk away with, and was the sum Brazilian Vinicius "viinig" Camargo Goncalves banked after his untimely demise in ninth place. New Zealand's "CrackFiend15" busted in eighth and won the tournament's last three-figure sum, namely $782.

Each of the surviving players were now guaranteed to take home four-figure prizes ranging between $1,071 and $7,622. British duo "33betwizkid" and Michael "HyperX." Skeldon crashed out, leaving the tournament short-handed.

Malta's "Its0kay," winner of an XL Spring Series event a couple of days ago, saw their latest deep run end in fifth place, a finish worth $2,026. Then came the exits of "henninh0" and "Emil8915," which left "vigge1111" of Sweden heads-up against Romania's "cretzzuu93." It was the Romanian who came out on top and who banked $7,622 in prize money, resigning their Swedish opponent to a $5,440 consolation prize.

888poker XL Spring Series Guarantees $1.5 Million This May

XL Spring #05 - $25,000 Freezeout Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 cretzzuu93 Romania $7,622 2 vigge1111 Sweden $5,440 3 Emil8915 Sweden $3,886 4 henninh0 Germany $2,794 5 Its0kay Malta $2,026 6 Michael "HyperX." Skeldon United Kingdom $1,468 7 33betwizkid United Kingdom $1,071 8 CrackFiend15 New Zealand $782 9 Vinicius "viinig" Camargo Goncalves Brazil $574

leon_dies10 Wins Mini Freezeout

The $55 buy-in $10,000 guaranteed Mini Freezeout proved popular with 888poker's players, with 307 of them creating a guarantee-busting $15,350 prize pool. Argentinian "leon_dies10" reeled in the lion's share of the prize pool, $2,961 to be exact, after they came out on top from a fiercely-fought final table.

In addition to the champion, the top four finishers saw their $55 investment swell to more than a thousand dollars. Fourth-place finisher and 888poker regular "algsxr" of Canada walked away with $1,129 while "55luckbox777" of Mexico saw $1,559 head to their account after falling in third.

The runner-up, "fosterkane," received a bankroll-boosting $2,142 for their efforts.

Sxmon Secures 888poker XL Spring Series Opening Event Title

XL Spring #06 - $10,000 Mini Freezeout Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 leon_dies10 Argentina $2,961 2 fosterkane Thailand $2,142 3 55luckbox777 Mexico $1,559 4 algsxr Canada $1,129 5 Dr_rutger Sweden $822 6 Zwonka420 Sweden $607 7 Patsharpe United Kingdom $446 8 D1scoPanda Austria $331 9 dkfdyulr Ukraine $245

Night Owls Enjoy The Late Freezeout

Each XL Spring Series tournament has a late edition that shuffles up and deals at 9:00 p.m. BST, giving 888poker's customers the chance to save their session. "pivnoypuzec" did exactly that when they triumphed over 139 opponents in the $10,000 Late Freezeout event, turning their $109 into $3,255 from their home in Montenegro.

Like the Mini Freezeout, the top four finishers won four-figure sums. British pro Ben "xLIVEPROx" Warrington was the first of this quartet to win more than a grand; $1,202 was paid to him. "DANNY442" scooped the $1,680 third-place prize, while Brazilian grinder "TeTeuEx" walked away with $2,331 after falling at the final hurdle.

Brazil's julianopk10 Takes Down 888poker Spring Series Triple Threat

XL Spring #07 - $10,000 Late Freezeout Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 pivnoypuzec Montenegro $3,255 2 TeTeuEx Brazil $2,331 3 DANNY442 Canada $1,680 4 Ben "xLIVEPROx" Warrington United Kingdom $1,202 5 ObisNutrank Sweden $845 6 vargass20 Brazil $609 7 briciu36 United Kingdom $442 8 rf1008 Brazil $323 9 vireiadulto7 Brazil $236

XL Spring Series Event Scheduled For May 25

Another three XL Spring Series events are scheduled for May 25, each of them being progressive knockout tournaments. At 7:00 p.m. BST, there is a $109 buy-in $30,000 guaranteed PKO followed by a $16.50 buy-in mini edition an hour later that comes with $12,000 guaranteed.

A $33 buy-in $10,000 late edition rounds off the day from 9:00 p.m. BST.

Time (BST) Event Buy-in 7:00 p.m. XL Spring #08 - $30,000 PKO $109 8:00 p.m. XL Spring #09 - $12,000 Mini PKO $16.50 9:00 p.m. XL Spring #10 - $10,000 Late PKO $33

Get Involved in the XL Spring Series an 888poker Welcome Bonus

Now is the perfect time to join 888poker if you have not already done so. Download 888poker via PokerNews, create your free account, and 888poker will give you a free $88 worth of cash game and tournament tickets  this is a free 20 for residents of the United Kingdom  just for reaching this stage.

Your first deposit is matched 100% up to $400 in the form or a releasable bonus. You have 90 days to release as much bonus as you can. Contact 888poker support for more details.
Super Stephen Chidwick Denies Tony G Triton Madrid Short Deck Title

May 25, 2022 Matthew Pitt Editor

Stephen Chidwick got his hands on a Triton Poker title plus a massive 1,800,000 payday after he denied Antanas "Tony G" Guoga in the 100,000 No-Limit Hold'em Short Deck event at the Triton Poker Series Madrid festival. Chidwick's impressive victory came only a few days after he finished second to Michael Addamo in 75,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed tournament, a result that banked the popular Brit 1,291,414 after a heads-up deal.

Chidwick has now won more than $5 million during 2022, and is now ranked fourth in poker's all time money listing, leap-frogging both David Peters and Erik Seidel, with $42,746,701 in earnings.

Thirty-eight unique players purchased 28 re-entries between them and created a 6,000,000 prize pool that the top eight finishers shared. Michael Soyza was the first player heading for the cashier's desk. After losing some chips to Danny Tang, Soyza moved all-in with ace-nine of spades 665,000 and Chidwick re-shoved for 1,125,000 with pocket tens. The five community cards ran out void of aces or flushes, and Soyza busted in eighth for 240,000.

The final table's two American stars, Seth Davies and Isaac Haxton were the next players eliminated. Davies will count himself unlucky after committing his stack with ace-king on an ace-king-nine flop and getting a call from the ace-queen of Mikita Badziakouski. The turn and river came a jack and a ten to improve Badziakouski to a Broadway straight.

Tang's pair of red queens lost to the suited king-queen of Chidwick when the latter flopped a straight. Tang doubled up but lost a coinflip with jacks against Badziakouski's ace-queen on the first hand back after the dinner break.

Then came the demise of Richard Yong; Tony G did the damage. First, Tony G doubled through Chidwick, then through Yong, before his jack-eight came from behind against ace-eight to relieve Yong of his remaining chips.

Heads-up was set when Badziakouski, who won 50,000 NHLE 7-Handed event earlier in the series of 1,340,000, fell in third. The Belarusian was left nursing a short stack after a clash with Chidwick did not go to plan. Badziakosuki pinned his hopes on queen-ten but he could not get there against Tony G's ace-six, and he had to make do with the 840,000 third-place prize.

Tony G held the chip lead but Chidwick got fortunate when his king-queen hit a queen on the river to beat his opponent's dominating ace-king. After an intense battle, the final hand saw Tony G all-in with ace-queen against Chidwick's ace-king. No help arrived from the board, leaving Tony G with no chips but a 1,350,000 runner-up prize. Chidwick collected 1,800,000

Event #12: 100K Short Deck Main Event Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Stephen Chidwick United Kingdom 1,800,000 2 Antanas "Tony G" Guoga Lithuania 1,350,000 3 Mikita Badziakouski Belarus 840,000 4 Richard Yong Malaysia 640,000 5 Danny Tang Hong Kong 490,000 6 Isaac Haxton United States 380,000 7 Seth Davies United States 305,000 8 Michael Soyza Malaysia 240,000

Career-Best Score For Denmark's Henrik Hecklen

Henrik Hecklen got his hands on a career-high score of 2,170,509 when he came out on top of a 93-strong crowd in the 100,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event. Hecklen's previous largest prize weighed in at $1,284,260, his reward for a runner-up finish in a $100,000 Super High Roller at the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Now his biggest cash tips the scales at the equivalent of $2,293,679.

Hecklen has had a busy couple months, cashing three times at EPT Prague, going deep in the UKIPT London Main Event, and cashing in a 50,000 buy-in event at the Triton Poker Series Madrid festival. What a way to round out May, with a 2,170,509 payday.

Sam Greenwood's quest for this title ended when his pocket kings lost to the pocket eights of Kevin Paque courtesy of an eight on the flop. Alfred DeCarolis, Brazilan Bruno Volkmann, and Finnish legend Patrik Antoinus were the next players who bowed out. Antoinus lost a coinflip with pocket sevens against the ace-ten of Aleksejs Ponakovs; he collected $558,000 for his sixth-place finish.

Team PokerStars' Sam Grafton was the next player to find himself without any chips. Grafton's shove with pocket fives came at the worst possible time because Orpen Kisacikoglu was dealt a pair of aces in the small blind. The UK-based Turkish businessman's rockets remained true, and Grafton was gone, albeit with 716,000 to show for his efforts.

Ponakovs lost most of his stack when he flopped a flush against the sneakily played pocket aces of Kisacikoglu which ultimately because a full house. Ponakovs crashed out at the hands of Hecklen soon after.

The remaining three people were guaranteed seven-figure hauls. Kevin Paque claimed the 1,134,000 third-place prize when he made attempts to rectify his short stack by jamming with ace-five. Unfortunately for Paque, Hecklen looked him up with the superior ace-jack.

Hecklen held a narrow lead over Kisacikoglu and the heads-up duo looked at the numbers for a deal. After a little haggling, which included Hecklen asking for more than what ICM offered, the duo settled on figures they were happy with, and left 80,000 to play for in addition to a Jacob & Co watch.

The final hand saw Kisacikoglu initially limp in with pocket fours but then push all-in after Hecklen three-bet. Hecklen instantly called with pocket kings. An ace-high board was safe for the Dane's cowboys and he became the biggest winner of the Triton Poker Series Madrid festival so far.

Event #9: 100K NL Hold'em Main Event Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Henrik Hecklen Denmark 2,170,509* 2 Orpen Kisacikoglu Turkey 2,016,491* 3 Kevin Paque Netherlands 1,134,000 4 Aleksejs Ponakovs Latvia 888,000 5 Sam Grafton United Kingdom 716,000 6 Patrik Antonius Finland 558,000 7 Bruno Volkmann Brazil 440,500 8 Alfred DeCarolis United States 344,000 9 Sam Greenwood Canada 260,500

*reflects a heads-up deal

Full Triton Poker Series Madrid Results

Michael Addamo triumphed in the opening event of the festival and made it two titles when he outlasted 62 opponents in the 75,000 No-Limit Hold'em 7-Handed tournament. The second win came with 1,152,086 after a heads-up deal with fellow elite grinder Chidwick.

Event Entrants Prize pool Champion Prize 20,000 NLHE 8-Handed 90 1,800,000 Michael Addamo 478,000 30,000 NLHE 7-Handed 93 2,790,000 Paul Phua 740,400 20,000 NLHE Short Deck Ante Only 62 1,240,000 Chris Brewer 372,000 25,000 NLHE Short Deck Ante Only 68 1,700,000 Rui Cao 497,000 50,000 NLHE 7-Handed 101 5,050,000 Mikita Badziakouski 1,340,000 75,000 NLHE 8-Handed 63 4,725,000 Michael Addamo 1,152,086* 50,000 NLHE Short Stack Ante Only 57 2,850,000 Chin Lim 855,000 100,000 NLHE Main Event 93 9,300,000 Henrik Hecklen 2,170,509* 50,000 NLHE 8-Handed Turbo 37 1,850,000 Laszlo Bujtas 630,000 25,000 PLO 34 850,000 Tom Dwan 290,000 100,000 NLHE Short Deck Main Event 60 6,000,000 Stephen Chidwick 1,800,000

Images courtesy of Triton Poker /Joe Giron
Moncks Corner, SC (29461)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 78F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Some clouds. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 67F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Carnival Cruise Line will pull its full-time, year-round pleasure ship out of Charleston when its contract with the State Ports Authority expires at the end of 2024 to make room for redevelopment of Union Pier Terminal on the peninsula.

The SPA said on May 25 that it will not renew its deal with the company, which calls the Holy City its home port for the Sunshine, a ship sailing to and from the Bahamas and other Eastern Caribbean destinations about 70 times a year, or about once every five days.

The maritime agency that owns and operates the Port of Charleston will continue to operate a cruise terminal at Union Pier, but only for occasional ships making short-term stops.

Those abbreviated visits, known in the industry as ports of call, account for only about one-fifth of all cruise passengers visiting Charleston. Carnival likely would be among the lines making ports of call after its contract expires, the SPA said.

"We will work with the ports authority to explore future opportunities in Charleston," said Carnival spokesman Matt Lupoli. "In the meantime, it is business as usual, and we look forward to seeing our guests aboard Carnival Sunshine through 2024."

The SPA said it will abandon plans to redevelop an existing warehouse into a new cruise terminal at the north end of the pier and withdraw all permit applications. The proposed project has been tied up in court for years in lawsuits filed by conservation and historic preservation groups that are opposed to cruise ships docking on the lower peninsula.

Chris DeScherer of the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents the groups suing the SPA, said they're "still learning the details of what has been decided" and will issue a statement later.

Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg called the SPA's decision "great news for our city, and for our citizens' quality of life."

"We're grateful to the port for taking this critically important step, and we look forward to continuing to work with SPA to make Union Pier a beautiful and vibrant part of the city of Charleston," Tecklenburg said.

The Coastal Conservation League said it also needs more time to study the SPA's decision.

"While we are optimistic about what appears to be a new direction for the future of the cruise industry in Charleston, we look forward to learning more about the implications of this decision," said spokeswoman Diane Knich.

The group, which also represents conservation and preservation groups, said it supports a limited port of call business, especially for smaller ships, as long as they do not stay overnight.

"We look forward to our voices being considered in the larger Union Pier redevelopment project," Knich said.

The SPA has been getting zoning and permitting in place to sell Union Pier for private development. As that plan evolved, it became clear that it would prohibit the new terminal and a year-round, full-scale cruise business, said Jim Newsome, the agency's president and CEO.

"We've decided to do a non-maritime redevelopment of the entire Union Pier footprint, with the exception of the existing cruise terminal, and doing that is just not compatible with a home-port operation," Newsome said. "We just don't have a place to park cars once we do that, so it doesn't work to do both. And we believe it's the right step for us business-wise to do a full-scale redevelopment."

He declined to speculate about how much Union Pier would fetch in a sale.

Newsome calls the long-planned redevelopment of the roughly 74-acre Union Pier site, sandwiched between Concord and Laurens streets along the waterfront, a "transformational opportunity for the city of Charleston and the Lowcountry."

"It opens up the entire eastern side of the waterfront to the people of South Carolina and Charleston," Newsome said, adding that he hopes a property deal can be struck before Carnival's departure. "We really would like to move this along, and we believe the city will be quite cooperative on that effort. I think our interests are aligned to get it done as quickly as we can."

The sale would add tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars to the SPA's budget at a time when the maritime agency is paying for roughly $2 billion in improvements  including its year-old Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston and an assortment of expensive cargo-handling equipment  at its container terminals to keep big containerships visiting the port.

Putting Union Pier in private hands would also be a windfall for local and state tax rolls. As a state agency, the SPA pays no taxes on the Union Pier land.

On the other hand, the SPA is giving up a year-round cruise business that's been a small but lucrative part of the agency's budget since Carnival based its Fantasy cruise ship year-round at Union Pier in 2010. The SPA has few cruise-related expenses but clears about $100,000 a month from the operations.

The SPA in 2020 hired Los Angeles real estate developer Lowe to create a master plan for the property and obtain all the necessary city zoning changes. The company, which owns Wild Dunes Resort on the Isle of Palms, is also developing a luxury hotel at the Concord Street site of the SPA's former headquarters building just south of Union Pier.

Once the process is completed, the SPA plans to auction Union Pier to a bidder providing "the highest and best use" for the land.

Lowe has said it plans to make an offer.

The cruise industry was hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with voyages from Charleston idled between mid-March 2020 until December 2021. During their last full year of operations in 2019, pleasure ships hosted a total of 213,081 passengers at Union Pier. Since cruising resumed in December, the SPA terminal has hosted 73,422 passengers.

"It is amazing to see the continued growth of Charlestons tourism economy, and Carnival is proud to have been a part of it since 2010," Lupoli of the cruise line said.

The ports authority said it will continue to abide by a voluntary limit of no more than 104 cruise ship visits a year and no visits from ships carrying more than 3,500 passengers as the Union Pier redevelopment proceeds.
The latest restaurant venture from chef Nico Romo is ready to welcome diners.

Italian-concept Laura will open June 1 at 101 N. Main St. in downtown Summerville.

The new Flowertown restaurant, inspired by the culture and cuisine of Romo's grandmother  the eatery's namesake  will be open nightly for dinner at first with Saturday lunch and Sunday brunch added later.

Dinner hours will be 4-10 p.m. daily. All-day Saturday service will run noon-10 p.m. starting June 11. Sunday brunch from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. is set to start July 3.

Romo bought the property in 2019 for $500,000, according to Dorchester County land records, with plans to open earlier, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted those plans.

Nico Hospitality Group also operates Bistronomy on the Charleston peninsula and Nico|Oysters and Seafood in Mount Pleasant.

The 6,000-square-foot restaurant includes an indoor bar as well as an outdoor dining area with a bar.

Now serving

A second West Ashley location for a sandwich and ice cream shop is welcoming customers.

Ye Ole Fashioned Cafe & Ice Cream Parlor had a soft opening open May 23 in the outparcel space formerly occupied by Famous Toastery at 1319 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. in Ashley Landing Shopping Center. A grand opening is set for 11 a.m. June 10 with a ribbon-cutting and special offering of buy one scoop, get one free.

Rolando Ravelo said this will be his first location as a co-owner after working in two other Ye Ole Fashioned sites for a few years. Hours will be 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday.

The other West Ashley location is at 474 Savannah Highway.

Ye Ole Fashioned also operates two restaurants in Summerville and one each in Goose Creek, Mount Pleasant and North Charleston. Famous Toastery closed last year after opening in 2018.

Opening soon

A new restaurant plans to open soon on Charleston's upper peninsula.

Heavy's Barburger is slated to open in June in the former Tattooed Moose space at 1137 Morrison Drive.

It's the product of John Haire and Brandon Stewart. The business is named for Haire's grandfather, who was called "Heavy."

"Heavy's will be a neighborhood burger joint ... smashin' burgers & shakin' margaritas," Haire said. "Our menu will also include creative sandwiches, fresh salads and a full bar. "

It will be open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily with later hours on weekends.

Tattooed Moose moved earlier this year to 4845 Chateau Ave., one block off East Montague Avenue in North Charleston.

Gassing up

A new gas station and convenience store is planned at the corner of a heavily traveled West Ashley intersection where a bank once operated.

Savannah-based Parker's Kitchen plans to build a 3,800-square-foot shop with 12 fueling stations under a canopy at Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and Ashley River Road where Wells Fargo Bank closed more than a year ago, according to site plans.

The 1-acre parcel is across the street from a Circle K convenience store and gas station.

In the details

A new car detailing business is now open in West Ashley.

Palmetto Suns Detailing is at 1856 Belgrade Ave., off Wappoo Road. It's open by appointment from 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

The company was founded by Heath Hudgins and Van Patterson. Patterson, with 15 years of car restoration experience, is the day-to-day operator.

The professional-grade shop specializes in car detailing, paint correction and ceramic coatings.

"We consider ourselves a true detailing business rather than a carwash masquerading as a detailing shop," Hudgins said. "What we do can't be done with the tools and materials in someone's garage."
Columbia, SC (29201)

Today

Locally heavy thunderstorms in the morning will give way to lots of sunshine late. High 86F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 63F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Thunderstorms. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 79F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

A few clouds. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 65F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Williamsburg County citizens now have the option of heading to the voting booths earlier than June 14 thanks to a newly passed state law.

The law, which was signed by Gov. Henry McMaster in mid-May received bipartisan support grants two-weeks of excuse-free early voting. The law replaces an old system that had a month long absentee voting period that required people wishing to vote early to provide a reason.

The new law requires counties to have at least one, and no more than seven early voting centers that will be open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting May 31 until June 10. Williamsburg County will have two centers open, the Alex Chatman Auditorium located at 147 West Main Street in Kingstree and the JJ Mitcheom Community Center located at 2233 Hemingway Highway in Hemingway.

Voting by mail is still allowed, but only for a list of qualified voters. The allowed list includes people with disabilities, those 65 and older, military personnel, and vacationers gone for the entire voting span.

Absentee applications must be requested by phone, mail or in person, the county website says. Online, fax and email requests are no longer allowed. Additionally, all applications must be submitted by June 3. Applications must also be returned by mail or in person. All information on absentee ballots is available on the Williamsburg County Voter Registration website under the absentee voting tab.

ID cards are still required for in-person voting (as well as absentee). Acceptable forms of photo ID are a drivers license or DMV ID card, a military ID, voter registration card with photo or a passport.

The only contested election related to all of Williamsburg County is the County Supervisor race between incumbent Tiffany Cooks and challenger Kelvin Washington. Much of Williamsburg County, along with parts of Florence and Berkeley counties will be voting on State House District 101, a race between incumbents Cezar McKnight and Roger Kirby and William Terry Wallace, who is challenging the two sitting lawmakers. Kirby was drawn out of his previous district as a result of the redistricting process that happens every decade. The last contested election is for County Council District 7 where incumbent Carolyn Lemmon is being challenged by Jackie Bradley-Hailes.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Thunderstorms with locally heavy downpours. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 81F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 70F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
GOOSE CREEK  Police are investigating after a charter school employee found a man shot to death in the parking lot.

Goose Creek police officers received a 911 call around 6 a.m. May 25 reporting a body had just been found in the parking lot of the Mevers School of Excellence. The public school off Henry E. Brown Jr. Boulevard serves kindergarten through eighth grades.

The caller, a school staff member, had just arrived for work, Capt. James Brown said.

Officers arrived on scene and secured the area. The victim was identified as a 31-year-old man. Authorities were withholding his name until his family members could be notified, Brown said.

The incident occurred before the school opened, and no students were present. The students and staff members were never in danger, and the victim had no affiliation with Mevers, Brown added.

The school's principal decided to switch to an emergency e-learning day after being notified of the homicide investigation.
ROCK HILL  It's been 18 months since President Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection, but a recent survey of South Carolina voters shows his support among Republicans remains strong.

A Winthrop University poll released May 25 shows that Trump (89 percent favorability) is even more popular than South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (80 percent) and former Gov. Nikki Haley (82 percent) among the state's GOP voters, a sign the former president's impact on the party is enduring.

His influence on American politics has also been a divisive one. While a vast majority of Democrats have an unfavorable view of the former president  and believe President Joe Biden was elected fairly  77 percent of Republicans said he wasnt, despite a comprehensive review of voting results that found zero evidence of the widespread fraud Trump alleged in the months after the 2020 election.

Belief, or at least desire to publicly express belief, in the premise that the outcome of the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent remains a major partisan point of division," Winthrop Poll Director Scott Huffmon said in a release presenting the findings. "While no widespread fraud was found, it remains a touchstone of Republican identity in South Carolina to vocally express doubt.

The poll, which has a 3.4 percent margin of error, was conducted using a general population sample of nearly 900 people over several weeks in April. Questions focused on enduring, long-term topics that will likely be front and center entering the 2022 midterm elections, Huffmon said, with a particular focus on partisan divisions and race relations.

The Trump effect

At the center of Winthrop's polling was the question not only of Trump's popularity but also how that factored into support for other politicians in the state as questions have begun to swirl around the power of his endorsement.

Trump-aligned Republicans like McMaster and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott all maintained significantly high ratings with Republican voters but poor favorability numbers with Democrats, with respective disapproval ratings of 88 percent and 69 percent, respectively, among the opposite party.

South Carolina Republicans who had previously pushed back against Trump, like Haley  his United Nations ambassador  enjoyed much lower disapproval ratings among Democrats. The poll showed her unfavorable ratings with Democrats at 53 percent. Others who had previously pushed against Trump, like U.S Sen. Lindsey Graham, suffered with both parties.

While Graham's approval rating among Republicans remained a healthy 65 percent, it was still substantially lower than that of his colleagues, while his disapproval ratings among Democrats remained in-line with Trump's allies in the state.

"The only times in the past few years where you've seen Lindsey Graham's approval ratings get higher among Republicans, the only time you really see it shoot up, is when he's done something to really help Trump  the Kavanaugh hearings, for example," said Huffmon, who's also a political science professor at Winthrop. "Right around the time of the Kavanaugh hearings, there was a spike in Lindsey Graham's approval ratings among Republicans."

Divisions on race

The poll also examined the public's attitudes on race, which played out in heated discussions in the Statehouse this year on how race is taught in public schools and the state's lack of a hate crime law.

A near two-thirds majority of South Carolinians said they were familiar with so-called "critical race theory," the study of structural inequities in society due to systemic racism that has become a catch-all term for race-centric lessons. Of that number, nearly half supported laws to ban its teaching in public schools, with the divide almost cleanly split on partisan lines.

On racial lines, nearly half of all White respondents supported a ban, while 65 percent of Black respondents did not.

A similar story played out in questions about the symbolism of the Confederate battle flag, which flew on the Statehouse grounds until 2015, when then-Gov. Haley pushed for its removal in the wake of a white supremacist gunning down nine Black parishioners at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church.

Though only one-third of respondents favored leaving Confederate monuments untouched, just 43 percent of residents said the flag reminded them of white supremacy and conflict, compared with a total of 70 percent of Black residents.

Those results were consistent with a previous 2019 survey of residents in 11 Southern states about their attitudes toward the rebel flag. Huffmon said the results of both questions seemingly affirm that race remains a political issue as well as a social one.

"When you take a racial issue and the parties are more polarized on it than the races, that to me was a fascinating finding," he said.

A conservative state

But the poll also underscores that South Carolina  which remains a critical player in national politics  trends more conservative than the country as a whole.

Where polling from firms like Gallup show President Biden's favorability rating hovering at around 40 percent nationally, according to its latest poll, his approval rating in South Carolina is substantially lower in Winthrop's polling, at 32 percent. Meanwhile, his approval rating among Democrats was roughly five points lower in South Carolina than the national average.

"If a Republican is popular in the country, they're going to be a little more popular in South Carolina," Huffmon said. "And if a Democrat is unpopular in the country, they're going to be a little more unpopular in South Carolina."
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
COLUMBIA  A Texas Democrat in perhaps his toughest bid ever to keep his seat in Congress is thanking South Carolina's Jim Clyburn for helping push him past his progressive challenger.

By early May 25, the race between Rep. Henry Cuellar  a rarity in Congress as an anti-abortion Democrat  and opponent Jessica Cisneros remained too close to call, with the incumbent leading with a razor-thin edge of .38 percentage points.

But Cuellar had already taken to Twitter to declare victory in his re-election fight to continue representing Texas' largely Hispanic 28th district, which stretches from downtown San Antonio to the southern border. And he wanted everyone to know who to thank for his victory. Chief among them was Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House, who had traveled to the state to campaign on his behalf.

Clyburn's support of Cuellar has since been pegged by political observers as emblematic of the open warfare between Democratic party leadership and the younger, progressive wing of the party, which backed Cuellar's 28-year-old opponent.

Cuellar, an 18-year veteran of the U.S. House, is one of his party's most conservative members for his stances on guns and abortion.

He's struggled to survive in recent primaries as the Democratic platform has shifted increasingly to the left. Two years ago, he defeated Cisneros by just 3 percentage points. This year, she outraised Cuellar by $1.3 million.

But Cuellar is also popular in his district, which President Joe Biden won by just 5 points in 2020.

Clyburn, credited with saving Biden's campaign with a South Carolina primary endorsement that catapulted his nomination, has sought to hold the line as Democrats fight to maintain their slim majority in Congress.

Holding Cuellar's district is all that matters, Clyburn said, particularly with Democrats facing a stiff headwind to maintain that majority as they enter the 2022 midterms.

"You have to win two contests to serve in the Congress," Clyburn told The Post and Courier on May 25. "First, you've got to get the nomination of your party. And then you have to win a general election against your opponent. And much of my consideration, much of the consideration of the leadership, is not just to prevent a primary, but to win a general."

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To that end, Clyburn said, keeping Cuellar in office is a necessity. Cuellar's district was recently targeted for increased investment by the National Republican Congressional Committee, citing it as a possible opportunity to flip the district from Democrat to Republican control.

But progressives in the party see Clyburn's backing of Cuellar  who once garnered national attention as Congress' only Democrat with an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association  as a betrayal of the party's values during a critical time in American history.

Progressive leaders campaigning for Cuellar's opponent have included New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who on social media tied Cuellar to a Texas school shooting May 24 that left at least 21 dead and a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. If justices rule as a leaked draft opinion indicates, legislatures across the country will be setting the rules on abortion.

"On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted late May 24. "Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it. Accountability isnt partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership. Congress should not be an incumbent protection racket and sadly it is treated as such by far too many."

But in a highly polarized Congress, Clyburn  whose job as majority whip is to garner votes for bills  stressed the necessity of keeping the Democratic coalition together.

Even an imperfect member of the party, he said, is still someone he could use to help advance the party's agenda.

"He is one of my most dependable chief deputy whips who helps me to get the kind of votes we needed to get these bills across the finish line," Clyburn said of Cuellar.

He named Biden's infrastructure package as a primary example, noting that six progressive members of his party  including Ocasio-Cortez  voted against the bill. Cuellar, he said, helped whip 13 Republican votes to salvage it.

"Six of the so-called 'Squad' voted against it," Clyburn said. "And they would have killed the bill if we didn't get those other votes. And Cuellar was the one that did it."
When Lynz Piper-Loomis abruptly dropped out of Charleston's high-profile Republican congressional primary by walking off a debate stage on live TV, it came after Republican Katie Arrington reportedly approached her at least five times to get out of the race.

Piper-Loomis, who endorsed Arrington on May 23 as she announced her exit from the 1st Congressional District field, said in an interview nearly two weeks before the debate that Arrington had repeatedly urged her to rethink moving forward in the GOP contest.

Until their Monday night debate, Piper-Loomis was one of two GOP challengers running to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Charleston, with Arrington being the other.

"If she didn't think I had a platform to stand on, she wouldn't have been begging me, offering me a formal invitation to get out of the race," a defiant Piper-Loomis said of Arrington after a May 12 Dorchester County Republican Party forum.

Asked when and how Arrington asked her to drop out, Piper-Loomis said, "It was five, five attempts, and I did request one time to meet with her to finally figure out after we had met to see what was going on."

In recalling one of those conversations, Piper-Loomis said that when she asked Arrington why she was approaching her so much, Arrington replied, "You're the only person in this race that has a great platform."

"And she wanted to offer me an opportunity. She was going to create a job for me with sex trafficking and border security," Piper-Loomis said in the same interview.

Reached for additional comment May 24, Piper-Loomis said her decision to leave the race under the lights of the debate was about standing with the candidate she thinks has the best shot at unseating Mace in the June 14 Republican primary.

She also denied there was any exchange for her departure, adding that she and Arrington never discussed putting her on the campaign payroll, money or specific jobs.

"It is shocking that Katie Arrington would be caught making a quid pro quo offer to another candidate to drop out and support her. Thats called a bribe," said Maces campaign manager, Austin McCubbin.

"Our own staff had witnessed one such conversation with Katie trying to convince Lynz to drop out; its just shocking she would resort to an illegal bribe," McCubbin said. "Katie Arrington cannot be trusted."

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Piper-Loomis compared her exit to that of Dr. Ben Carson's, who in 2016 ended his own presidential bid as a way of clearing a path for Donald Trump to become the GOP's 2016 presidential nominee. After the election, Trump appointed Carson secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"There's no quid pro quo here," Piper-Loomis told The Post and Courier. "When you figure out you're on the same page, and my numbers are so low, what does that do? It just pulls away from what we can do together."

Piper-Loomis is now one of two Republicans who have dropped out of South Carolina's 1st Congressional District race and endorsed Arrington by saying they see her as the best person to both defeat Mace in the GOP primary and to win the seat in the November general election.

Minutes before candidate filing closed in late March, Army veteran Ingrid Centurion announced she was suspending her campaign due to family health issues, and would also be endorsing Arrington. But Piper-Loomis' dramatic departure and endorsement has transformed the Republican primary into a head-to-head, two-woman race  even though Piper-Loomis' name will still appear on the ballot.

In a May 24 phone interview, Arrington called Piper-Loomis "my hero." Arrington also said it would be "insulting" for anyone to characterize Piper-Loomis' departure as any sort of political deal.

"I hope that no one would even think that of somebody that's going to take that kind of chutzpah and stand up at the stage and drop the mic like she did that she's going to get paid off. That's a heinous kind of comment or inference to make," Arrington said.

When asked if she had tried at least five times to get Piper-Loomis out of the race, Arrington neither confirmed nor denied it.

"I told her repeatedly that I thought that she was a better representative for the state's issues without a doubt, without a doubt. And I stand by that," Arrington said. "I have nothing negative to say about it, just that I think that she was much more focused on states' rights issues."

Arrington said she hopes Piper-Loomis will join her on the campaign trail as a volunteer, like Centurion has done. This grassroots coalition of former candidates is a new reality for Arrington, who in 2018 did not receive the endorsement of outgoing U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford after she defeated him in a contentious GOP primary. She went on to lose in the general election to Democrat Joe Cunningham, marking the first time in nearly 40 years that the seat flipped out of Republican control.

"It's a beautiful, amazing feeling to know that I'm not alone," Arrington said on the same day Trump appeared in a video, where he reiterated his support for Arrington and called her "really fantastic."
In 2018 Richard Painter was a candidate contending for the Democratic nomination to run for the Senate seat held by the appointed (and since elected) Democratic incumbent Tina Smith. He ran for office while holding an endowed chair at the University of Minnesota Law School (my alma mater).

Painter had identified himself as a Republican when he served in the Bush (43) White House counsels office and when he endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in the 2016 election. Until Painter announced his candidacy for office in 2018, Painter held himself out as a Republican in connection with his many media appearances disparaging Trump on the cable channels after the 2016 presidential election.

Painter had aspirations for elective office. As recently as April 2018, Painter was unsure whether he would seek Smiths seat as a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent. Once he declared himself a Democratic candidate that month, I posed 10 questions to Painter upon the announcement of his candidacy. I posed the questions by email at his invitation after I asked him for an interview.

I never heard back from Painter. Was it something I asked? My question number 2 was: You have held yourself out as a Republican during your career and at the time you endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in the fall of 2016. When did you first identify yourself as a Democrat?

I find Painter good for comic relief. I had a hard time following Painters train of thought in the tweet below, for example, but Painters former Bush administration colleague Shannen Coffin emailed this helpful comment on it: Free stuff. Thats what the Declaration of Independence was all about.

What was the point of the Revolution if subjects of the British Crown get single payer health care and university education at a fraction of what it costs us and we are stuck with a President guilty of treason, bribery and other crimes, and a Congress unwilling to get rid of him?  Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) May 16, 2018

Incidentally, when a conservative attorney friend of mine recently asked development staff at the law school whether they had any conservatives on the faculty  I was imploring my friend to quit supporting the law school  the staffer identified Painter. In other words, no.

The beat goes on. With the death of Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn this past February, Minnesotas First District congressional seat is open. Painter ran for the DFL nomination in yesterdays special primary. With all precincts reporting, I regret to report that Painter came in third, pulling only 9.1 percent of the vote.

Turnout in the highly competitive Republican primary roughly doubled that on the Democratic side, with state rep. Brad Finstad edging out state rep. Jeremy Munson by 400 votes in a crowded field. The winning candidate in the splintered Republican field attracted more votes at 40 percent of the GOP total than the winning candidate on the Democratic side with over 64 percent of the DFL total.

Two marijuana legalization candidates will be on the ballot in the August 9 special election. Coincidentally, Painters fantasies about winning elective office make me wonder what he is smoking.
We are still processing the tragedy yesterday in Uvalde, Texas. The Associated Press has just posted the story Gunman kills 19 children, 2 adults in Texas school rampage with the latest information as of this morning. (The comparable Reuters story is here.) The scene is still being processed and the count may or may not be final.

At the moment we can only pray: pray that the facts will be known, pray that the injured will recover, pray that the memory of the murdered children will live on, pray that the families of the victims find consolation in their faith and in the memories of their loved ones, and pray for our troubled country.

Losing loved ones in something like the ordinary course of life is hard enough. Losing children to insane mayhem is something else. Seeing video of adults weeping and comforting each other brings it home in a way with which any parent can identify. It hurts.

But for the heroic deeds of law enforcement it could have been worse. The attacker was killed by a Border Patrol agent who rushed into the school without waiting for backup, according to a law enforcement official, according to the AP story. The story reports:

One Border Patrol agent who was working nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about it. The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, the law enforcement official said.

More here. While we pray for the kids and their families, we can thank God for men such as the elite Border Patrol agent and others who intervened. They saved a lot of lives.

We are apparently fated to have our heartbreak and sorrow aggravated by a certain breed of politicians. The breed finds the moment of unspeakable tragedy fit to undertake histrionic displays and hysterical lectures promoting their favored causes. Among this number is President Biden, who could have met the moment but chose not to. He failed it. The White House has posted the transcript of his remarks here.
I was skeptical that the Sussman prosecution would tell us much that is new, but some significant nuggets have come out. Like this one: FBI brass were fired up about now-debunked Trump-Russia ties.

FBI leaders, including then-Director James Comey, were fired up about a potential connection between the Trump campaign and Russia  which ultimately was proven false, text messages and court testimony revealed Tuesday. On Sept. 21, 2016, two days after Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann gave then-FBI General Counsel James Baker info about a supposed digital back channel between the Trump Organization and Moscow-based Alfa Bank, agent Joe Pientka texted colleague Curtis Heide: People on 7th floor to include Director are fired up about this server.

So there was zero evidence of any connection between presidential candidate Donald Trump and the Alfa Bank, or any other Russians of note, and all one of Hillary Clintons lawyers had to do was waltz into the Bureau with some fabricated data and FBI Director James Comey and others were fired up. The lust to defeat the interloper Trump and elect Hillary Clinton is palpable.

Did you guys open a case? Reachout [sic] and put tools on? Pientka asked. If not I will call Dan as Priestap says its [sic] not an option  we must do it.

That is, did they open a case to investigate presidential candidate Trump? Failing to do so is not an option, evidence be damned. And one wonders what tools were to be put on the case.

[R]oger, Heide replied. we are opening a [counterintelligence] case today. Later in the day, Pientka told Heide that a unit would be assigned to the case shortly, adding, go forth and conquer.

That is, go forth and conquer the rebel Donald Trump, who was standing up for the American people against the swampof which the FBIs political leaders are charter members.

The FBI almost immediately began lying about Sussman:

Two days later, Heide and fellow FBI agent Allison Sands drafted an electronic communication to investigators incorrectly stating the Justice Department had referred the matter to the FBI on Sept. 19, the day Sussmann met with Baker.

In fact, it wasnt DOJ, it was the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign. But this lie strikes me as curious. If the FBI really believed that Sussman was acting as a disinterested, concerned citizen, why didnt it just say that the investigation was prompted by information from a concerned citizen? Why lie, unless key people within the Bureau knew that Sussman was acting for the Hillary Clinton campaign, and the purpose of the FBIs investigation was to help Clinton get elected?

In any event, the agents charged with the investigation quickly concluded that Trumps purported link to Alfa was bogus:

Despite the enthusiasm of their bosses, rank-and-file agents quickly became convinced the data handed over by Sussmann was worthless. Last week, FBI supervisory agent Scott Hellman testified of the white paper: I thought perhaps the person who drafted this document was suffering from a mental disability.

Well, that is pretty strong! So why did the investigation continue?

When asked by prosecutor Jonathan Algor why he kept up with the investigation if he believed there was no evidence to back it, Heide answered: Headquarters told us that not investigating the matter was not an option.

It was not an option because James Comey and other top FBI officials were determined to help Hillary. They expected to be rewarded when she inevitably won. They were shocked when the upstart Trump won instead, and immediately set about undermining his administration, which they did with all of the skill you would expect from seasoned political infighters.

It is a disgusting story, which inevitably raises the question: can the FBI be salvaged? I have a friend, recently retired from the Bureau, who says that a large majority of agents are honest, and the FBI was betrayed by a dozen politicians at the top, starting with James Comey. That may be true. But public confidence in what once was regarded as Americas premier law enforcement agency is so shaken that one wonders whether it makes sense to abolish the FBI and start over.




JAKARTA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- An Indonesian expert has spoken highly of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as it is beneficial to her country's development.







Produced by Xinhua Global Service




Eighteen aspirants are jostling for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket in Plateau State, the state Publicity Secretary of the party, John Akans, said on Wednesday in Jos, the state capital.

Mr Akans told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the PDP was set for the governorship primaries scheduled to hold at Langfield Events Centre in Jos.

The publicity secretary said a total of 621 delegates would elect the PDP governorship candidate for the 2023 election.

All is set for the election, the Electoral Committee headed by PDP North Central Vice Chairman; Mr Theophilus Shan, is already on ground.

We had a very successful State House of Assembly, House Representatives and Senate primaries across the state that produced candidates for state and federal constituencies as well as the Senate.

Winners have emerged and losers have accepted their fate and have agreed to work for PDP success in the general elections.

The success was achieved largely because of the transparent nature of the entire process.

We hope to achieve the same success in the governorship primary today, he added.

The state Organising Secretary, Yakubu Chocho, told NAN that the local organising committee had met with the aspirants on Tuesday night.

We assured them that we will not do anything that will tarnish the image of anybody.

We pleaded with them that whoever wins, the rest should join hands with him so that PDP can win the governorship seat, he said.

The governorship aspirants include Jonathan Akuns, Latep Dabang, Dauda Gotring, David Paradang, Timothy Golu, Kefas Ropshika, Ephraim Dewa and Jack Pam.

Others are Shadrack Best, Caleb Mutfwang, Bagudu Hirse, Satu Jewun, Mazadu Bako, Vincent Nanle, John Sura, Jeremiah Gushop, Alexander Ladan and Alfred Damiyal.

(NAN)

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
As the two major political parties in Lagos State, the APC and the PDP, hold their governorship primaries this week, analysts say the ruling APC remains on course to continue its dominance in the state.

While the PDP had fixed its governorship primaries for Wednesday, May 25, the APC aspirants will slug theirs out a day later.

With little or no action from the other political parties in the state, the 2023 governorship election in Lagos State will be, as has been the tradition for about two decades, a contest between the two major parties.

In the APC, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu will contest for the partys ticket against two aspirants  Olawale Oluwo and AbdulAhmed Mustapha.

The PDP has more aspirants for the partys ticket: Ade Dosumu, AbdulAzeez Adediran, David Kolawole, Olanrewaju Jim-Kamal, Adedeji Doherty, and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.

APCs three-horse race

On paper, the ruling party in the state will see three aspirants battle to clinch its ticket.

In reality, Mr Sanwo-Olu might as well be the consensus aspirant. Having received the endorsements of the partys leader in the state, Bola Tinubu, and the Governance Advisory Council (GAC); it is almost impossible for any of the other aspirants to pull an upset.

We have a brilliant governor at the helm of affairs, who is supported by his deputy to build an unbreakable team that has raised the bar of excellence in governance in Lagos, Mr Tinubu said while endorsing the governor and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, earlier this month.

I specially thank Dr Hamzat, who has been a very good assistant and a pillar of support to the governor.

Sanwo-Olu with Hamzat has raised an impenetrable team. I commend both of you and all members of the cabinet. You have all done wonderfully well and I must say that I am very proud of you.

Mr Tinubu and the GAC  which is also controlled by Mr Tinubu  are the most powerful figures in the Lagos APC. And once they take a position, every other party member in the state falls into line.

In 2018, when they endorsed a relatively unknown Mr Sanwo-Olu against a sitting governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, the former won the controversial APC primary with a margin that was embarrassing to the governor: 970,851 to 72,901 votes.

Four years earlier, Mr Tinubu had tacitly supported Mr Ambode, a former accountant-general of the state, before the primaries and he won a landslide, polling about 60 per cent of the delegates votes to beat 12 other aspirants.

Political watchers say if the Tinubu-GAC wind could sweep away a sitting governor with the agility of mountain goats; the duo of Messrs Oluwo and Mustapha stands zero chance when the two power brokers have thrown their weight behind a sitting governor.

Yet, the two aspirants remain unperturbed, promising a fight to the finish on the day of the primaries.

Mr Mustapha told journalists at a press conference that he picked the governorship forms because Mr Tinubu was very explicit that all the positions are open and everybody is free to contest.

He dismissed Mr Tinubus endorsement of the governor and his deputy, saying it was just in recognition of the work they had done.

The national leader is a democrat to the core. He is a man that is receptive to ideas and he will not be a party to stifling new ideas.

Two days after Mr Mustaphas press conference, Mr Oluwo held his where he said he would restore the dignity of Lagos State, if elected as governor.

Mr Oluwo, a close ally of Mr Ambode, angrily resigned his position as the commissioner for energy and mineral resources in 2018 after the APC dealt the former governor a humiliating defeat at the primaries.

Mr Mustapha also retired from the ministry of energy and mineral resources as a permanent secretary, last year.

But while Mr Mustapha spent nearly an hour after his speech at his press conference, answering questions from journalists; Mr Oluwo declined to field questions from reporters.

PDPs house of commotion

The PDP in Lagos is notorious for its in-fighting, particularly during election seasons, prompting speculations that the party is populated by APC moles.

For the party to present a formidable fight in 2023, it has to find a solution to its never-ending internal crisis.

As the day of the partys primaries draws near, some aspirants are concerned about the integrity of the process.

I have some reservations, to be honest with you, but I cant speak confidently on them just yet because the ground is still not clear, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, one of the aspirants, told PREMIUM TIMES.

I dont want to be crying wolf.

Perhaps, the most interesting part of the Lagos PDP governorship primaries is that a major front-runner defected from the rival APC barely four months ago.

AbdulAzeez Adediran, the convener of the Lagos4Lagos Movement, joined the party last January and two months later, declared his intention to run for governor on the PDP platform.

At his declaration in March, Mr Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, said the APC reign in the state had come to a terminal point.

There is a terminal point for everything and the terminal point of APC in Lagos is 2023. We were the APC, we have created that implosion in APC and we are now in PDP.

PDP has been doing between 30 per cent and 34 per cent in every election year. So, the 20 per cent which PDP needs to cross that threshold is what we have brought in from APC to PDP.

Ade Dosunmu, an aspirant, was the partys candidate in 2011 when they lost to the then incumbent governor, Babatunde Fashola. The margin of loss that year remains the widest margin of defeat in the states gubernatorial election since 1999.

Mr Dosunmu represented the party again in 2015 in the Lagos Central senatorial election. He lost to the APCs Oluremi Tinubu.

Adedeji Doherty, another aspirant and a founding member of the party in the state, was the state chairman in 2019 before a court removed him two years later.

Mr Jim-Kamal, who is also aspiring for the ticket, said the party has been losing elections in the state because of imposition.

The best way to go in stemming all these problems is for the party to go for elective primaries in Lagos State like we did in the congress, said Mr Jim-Kamal, the chief executive officer of Arco Petroleum and Petrochemical, during his declaration in March.

I opted out in 2015 when I discovered somebody was to be imposed on us.

David Kolawole, popularly known as Dakova, is also aspiring for the partys ticket.

Analysts say if the PDP in the state can put their house in order, and with a key APC member now in their fold, they might stand a chance of causing an upset at the poll in 2023.

A source within the PDP told PREMIUM TIMES that if Mr Adediran wins the guber ticket, it would throw the party into a crisis.

It will cause disaffection within the party, said the source who preferred not to be named because he is not authorised to speak.

We are talking about someone who came to the party last month. A lot of us will not work for him.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Terrorists Wednesday morning broke into the rectory of Saint Patrick Catholic Church, Gidan Maikambo, in the Kafur Local Government Area of Katsina State, kidnapping two reverend fathers and two boys, authorities said.

The terrorists are yet to make any demand or communicate with the Catholic Diocese as of the time of filing this report.

Christopher Omotosho, the director of social communications at the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, who confirmed the incident in a statement, however urged the public to pray for the safe return of the abductees.

As at midnight of today, 25th May, 2022, gunmen broke into the rectory of St. Patricks Catholic Church, Gidan Maikambo, Kafur LGA of Katsina State, Mr Omotosho said.

 The parish priest and his assistant Rev. Frs. Stephen Ojapa, MSP, and Oliver Okpara and 2 other boys in the house were kidnapped.

No information as to their whereabouts. Kindly pray for their safety and release.

The spokesperson for the Katsina State Command of the Nigeria Police, Gambo Isah, did not answer or return multiple calls seeking his comment for this story.

The Katsina abduction came two weeks after another Catholic priest was kidnapped in Akwa Ibom, South-South Nigeria.

Alphonsus Uboh was abducted from his parsonage at Saintt Pius X Parish, Ikot Abasi Akpan, in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of the state, on May 9, with his abductors later demanding N100 million ransom.

The 48-year-old was freed four days later after his church paid an unspecified amount of ransom.

Before the Catholic priests abduction, another clergyman was also seized in the oil-rich state less than three weeks earlier.

John Okoriko, the founder of Solid Rock Kingdom Church, was abducted in Ibekwe Akpanya, a distance less than 10 kilometres from where Catholic priest Alphonsus Uboh was kidnapped.

Mr Okorikos abductors also demanded N100 million ransom for his release.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Former deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has withdrawn from the governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Charles Asogwa, the director-general of Ikeoha Campaign Organisation (ICO) disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

ICO is the campaign organisation of Mr Ekweremadu .

We wish to inform our supporters and Nigeria that the former deputy president of the senate and foremost governorship aspirant in Enugu State, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, will not be participating in the PDP governorship primary election scheduled for this Wednesday, May 25, 2022, Mr Asogwa said.

Although no reason was given for the withdrawal of the lawmaker, it is not unconnected with the existing cold war with Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and the leadership of the state chapter of the PDP over battle for the partys governorship ticket in the state.

Mr Ekweremadus withdrawal came just a few hours to the Wednesdays governorship primaries of the party in the state.

The PDP is the ruling party in the state.

Cold war

Mr Ugwuanyi and the leadership of the party in the state had maintained that they would respect the existing zoning arrangement in the state in the spirit of equity, justice and fairness.

The party, recently, announced that it had zoned the governorship to Enugu East District.

But Mr Ekweremadu, who hails from Aninri, in Enugu West District, has repeatedly kicked against the zoning arrangement insisting that there was no such agreement in the state.

On April 30, the party conducted its congresses across the various wards in the state where the three-man delegates emerged from each ward for the on-going primaries of the party.

However, some loyalists of the lawmaker approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, and sought to nullify the election of the delegates.

But the court did not rule in their favour.

The court ruled, on Tuesday, that the ward congresses held for the election of three-man delegates from the 260 wards in the state remained valid and that the list should be used to elect the candidates contesting for the 2023 elections.

During Sundays primary elections of the party to elect candidates for the House of Representatives and state assembly, all the aspirants from Mr Ekweremadus camp lost in the exercise.

Irked by the development, the lawmaker organised a parallel PDP congress where the aspirants were elected.

Recent alleged moves to dump PDP

The lawmaker reportedly met with the state leadership of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) over a possible switch to the opposition party in the state.

The details of the meeting with APGA are still sketchy, but PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the meeting ended in a stalemate as the both parties could not reach any agreement.

Also, earlier on Tuesday, indications emerged that Mr Ekweremadu might defect to the All Progressive Congress (APC) to contest the partys governorship ticket for the 2023 general elections.

Late the same day, Mr Ekweremadu was spotted at the campaign office of the chairman of Abuja chapter of the APC holding talks in what appeared to be a last-minute effort to join forces with the APC to unseat PDP in the 2023 general election in the state.

Before now, the APC had only Uche Nnaji as the consensus candidate for the 2023 governorship election in Enugu State. But the imminent entry of Mr Ekweremadu into the party may bring a fresh twist, with Mr Nnaji expected to bow out of the race for the lawmaker.

The lawmakers visit came hours after news filtered that the state governor, Mr Ugwuanyi had anointed Peter Mbah as his successor ahead of Wednesdays governorship primaries in the state. Mr Mbah is from Enugu East, which is favoured to produce the next governor in accordance with the said zoning arrangement.

Mr Ekweremadu has been in the Senate since 2003.

Uche Anichukwu, the lawmakers media aide, did not respond to calls and text message seeking comments from him on the speculated defection of his principal to the APC.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
About 98 per cent of Nigerian women are left out of formal credit markets, unable to obtain loans from formal financial institutions like banks, a new report has said.

Only about 45 per cent of adult Nigerians borrow at all from the formal sector, said the report by the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Gender Centre of Excellence a centre established to be a resource centre and knowledge hub on advancing womens financial inclusion in Nigeria.

Low education, limited decision-making power, and being in a rural area exacerbates these issues and expose women to financial limitations, it said.

The GCE supports efforts to enhance the capacity of the Nigerian financial inclusion ecosystem to design, implement and sustain policies, products and services that are gender-responsive. It also works on initiatives that serve the needs of the unbanked or underbanked populations, particularly low-income women.

The aim of the study was to explore the gender differences in womens access to credit services in Nigeria and identify potential opportunities to increase womens access to these services.

Data used for the analysis were drawn from years of lending data from banks, held by the Central Bank of Nigeria-licenced Credit Registry, as well as survey data by the Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA).

Trust Deficit

The analysis found that 98 per cent of Nigerian women were left out of the formal credit market, and found that only 45 per cent of adult Nigerians borrow at all, ostensibly because many informal borrowers lack trust in formal institutions, are not aware of credit products at-market, or believe they lack the qualifications for a loan.

The study also found that young women aged between 18 and 25 performed better than their male counterparts on a variety of indicators, including account activity, and borrowing.

These women will benefit from more complex financial products that can encourage them to plan for future financial health, it said.

These women require more time to become comfortable with financial products. As such, bundling services with existing platforms like mobile banking and savings groups can address on-boarding challenges.

The report also found that gender norms and household dynamics can shape womens access to finance.

Not Getting Loans

The analysis reflects experiences shared by women farmers with PREMIUM TIMES about their difficulty in getting credit from formal sources such as banks.

Elizabeth Onyeri, a maize farmer in Pegi, a community in Abuja, said in 2021 after she could not secure the CBN-backed NIRSAL loan for farmers, she got a professional auditor to audit her farm, preparatory to submit a stronger application. She was still not given credit.

When she went to a commercial bank, she was turned down too, because of her low account balance.

I went to Access Bank last year to ask a question about the loan but I was told I wasnt qualified due to my account balance, she said.

The banker told me to come back a few months later but I already lost interest, she said.

Another farmer, Dunmola Sodeke, who owns Omodun farms in Lagos, said despite multiple attempts, she too could not get credit. She started her business using personal savings, and support from her father.

Policy Direction

Access to credit is considered a key element and indicator of financial inclusion, which Nigeria has struggled for years to improve.

A study in 2008 by EFInA, a development finance organisation, revealed that about 53.0 per cent of adults were excluded from financial services. By 2010, efforts to deepen financial inclusion as a vehicle for economic development improved in Nigeria as the exclusion rate reduced to 46.3 per cent.

In 20212, the Central Bank of Nigeria launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy aimed at further reducing the exclusion rate to 20 per cent by 2020.

The bank outlined its targets to include: adult Nigerians with access to payment services increasing from 21.6% in 2010 to 70% in 2020, while those with access to savings should increase from 24.0% to 60%; and Credit from 2% to 40%, Insurance from1% to 40% and Pensions from 5% to 40%, within the same period.

In 2020, the target was not achieved as only 67.5 million of the 105.5 million adult population were financially included in the year, meaning only 64 per cent were included by the end of the year from 63.2 percent in 2018, representing a marginal growth of 0.9 percent.

Some of the challenges identified included lack of required documentation, low levels of financial literacy, lack of close-proximity service points, high service fees, opposition from banks, technology-related challenges, among others.

The new report by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Gender Centre of Excellence said financial service providers need to make the case for why credit is an important part of financial health and resilience.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Like other states in the South-east region, the political atmosphere in Enugu State is tense as the governorship primaries of the three major political parties in the state begin.

But unlike in some states in the region such as Abia and Ebonyi where controversies surround the three-member delegates elections, those held in Enugu State have been less contentious, especially in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling party in the state.

Apart from the camp of former deputy president of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, whose members are accusing the party hierarchy of manipulating the delegates election against them, there are no dissenting voices against the emergence of the delegates in the state.

The lawmakers loyalists had approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking to nullify the election of the delegates, but PREMIUM TIMES confirmed from a source within the camp that they lost the court case on Tuesday, May 24.

The court ruled that the ward congresses held for the election of the three-member delegates from each of the 260 wards in the state remained valid and that the list should be used to elect the candidates contesting the 2023 elections.

Date for primaries

While the PDP holds its governorship primaries today, the All Progressive Congress (APC) has scheduled its own for Thursday.

The All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), on the other hand, will hold its primaries on May 29.

PDP: Aspirants and their chances

The ruling party in Enugu, initially, had about 18 aspirants jostling for its 2023 gubernatorial ticket, but two of them were disqualified during the screening exercise.

Of the remaining 16, only four are considered major contenders. They are a former commissioner for environment, Chijioke Edeoga; former deputy senate president, Mr Ekweremadu; former commissioner for finance, Peter Mbah, and former Minister of Power, Barth Nnaji.

A zoning debate had raged in the state but appeared to have been buried recently, although Mr Ekweremadu has been challenging the existence of the arrangement.

In 2021, the three senatorial zones in the state  Enugu East, Enugu West and Enugu North  held separate rallies where they endorsed the zoning arrangement in the state.

The districts had separately agreed that it was the turn of Enugu East District to produce the next governor in line with justice, equity and fairness. The state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who attended the rallies, favours the arrangement.

But Mr Ekweremadu, who hails from Aninri in Enugu West District, repeatedly kicked against zoning, arguing that there was no such agreement in the state.

The party has, however, zoned the ticket to Enugu East District, even as the lawmaker went ahead to purchase the partys expression of interest and nomination forms.

The former power minister, Mr Nnaji, had attempted to sell his candidacy on the basis that it would balance zoning and competence, but the PDP did not think the professor of mechanical and industrial engineering has the political clout to garner votes in the general election.

Given his calmness in the states political space and not-so-active involvement in state politics, the former minister is unlikely to clinch the ticket.

Elsewhere, the people of Isi-Uzo, a local government area in Enugu East District, have been clamouring for a power shift to the area in 2023 on the basis that the area has long been shortchanged in the power-sharing formula in the state.

Ka Isi-Uzo Jee- meaning, Let Isi-Uzo rule- became the hashtag for agitation for the power shift.

The council area was included in Enugu East District some years back, although the people have cultural affiliations with Nsukka, a local government area in Enugu North District.

The coast had appeared clear for Mr Edeoga, who hails from Isi-Uzo Council Area. He had been anointed as successor-designate by the governor to, according to sources, heal the wounds of the perceived marginalisation of the Isi-Uzo people.

But Mr Ugwunayi reportedly made a U-turn on Tuesday and decided to pick Mr Mbah as his final choice ahead of the primaries.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that tensions generated by the governors choice of Mr Edeoga may have informed his decision to shop for another successor-designate.

Although Isi-Uzo belongs to Enugu East District where the party had zoned the governorship ticket, stakeholders protested the choice of the council area, arguing that Isi-Uzo is culturally linked to Nsukka, which is in Enugu North District, where the incumbent governor, Mr Ugwuanyi, hails from.

According to some of the stakeholders, giving power to an Isi-Uzo man means that Nsukka is still in power.

The governor received heavier knocks when information went public that the former commissioner is Mr Ugwuanyis cousin, though they come from different local government areas and senatorial districts.

The governor was said to be jittery that opposition parties could accuse him of trying to install his family member in Enugus Lion Building Government House and, more importantly, use the accusation against the partys candidate and his (Mr Ugwuanyi) senatorial ambition in 2023.

Some observers also contend that a former governor of the state, who is also a serving senator, pressured the governor to jilt the former environment commissioner and handpick Mr Mbah, who hails from Nkanu East in Enugu East Senatorial District.

A top politician from Mr Ugwuanyis camp confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday morning that the governor had settled for Mr Mba as his successor.

As of this morning, the lot is on Peter Mbah, the source said.

A few hours later, a newspaper reported that a respected elder statesman and former governor of old Anambra State, Jim Nwobodo, had declared Mr Mbah as Governor Ugwuanyis successor. Although it was not clear if he was speaking for the PDP, there are indications that the elder statesman held talks with the governor before the declaration.

Ekweremadus survival efforts

During Sundays PDP primaries to elect candidates for the House of Representatives and state assembly, all the aspirants from Mr Ekweremadus camp lost in the exercise.

Irked by the loss, the lawmaker organised a parallel PDP congress where the aspirants were elected.

But with looming legality questions on the exercise, Mr Ekweremadu, a professor of law, began hunting for an alternative political party on Tuesday, about 24 hours before the scheduled PDP governorship primaries in the state.

Although Mr Ekweremadu reportedly had an interface with APGA recently over a possible defection to the party, PREMIUM TIMES learnt, that the lawmaker later struck a deal with the APC to make a sensational switch to the party along with his loyalists and members of his camp.

APGA: Aspirants and chances

For APGA, four aspirants have been cleared to contest for the partys governorship ticket in the state.

The four aspirants are Donatus Ozoemena, Emeka Nnamani, Donatus Udeh and former minister of information, Frank Nweke (Jnr.).

Not much is known about the trio of Ozoemena, Nnamani and Udeh, given that they are new entrants into the states political environments.

However, Mr Nweke is said to enjoy the support of many party faithful given that he is a known face in politics, particularly at the state level.

Despite defecting to the party in late March from PDP, the former Enugu State chief of staff was speedily cleared by the partys screening committee, barely one month after.

Also, while Mr Nweke is believed to be a grassroots politician, his co-aspirants are perceived to be people without a history of service in top political positions. This could be another reason for the wide acceptance of the 56-year-old politician in the party.

APC: Aspirants and their chances

About 24 hours ago, the APC had only Uche Nnaji, a consensus candidate, for the 2023 governorship election in the state.

But with the imminent defection of Mr Ekweremadu into the party from PDP, the situation has taken a new twist.

Although this newspaper could not get the details of the lawmakers deal with the APC, there were indications that he could be given an automatic APC ticket to contest the 2023 governorship election in the state.

Given that the APC does not enjoy acceptance in the South-east (compared to some other regions of the country), especially in Enugu State, Mr Ekweremadu will face a serious battle to unseat the PDP and end its 23-year dominance in the state in 2023.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the two leading political parties in Ebonyi State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), are enmeshed in internal squabbles.

The cracks in both parties started with the zoning of the governorship position to two senatorial zones instead of one, which caused a lot of tension and attracted widespread condemnation.

The cracks further widened following the acrimonious election of the state executive committees of both parties and resultant court cases which have seen the party chairmanship positions change hands.

The delegates election of both parties and the alleged hijack of the two parties by a few stakeholders have worsened the crisis in both parties.

Throw into the mix the expected emergence of a former Secretary to the State Government as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance(APGA), then we have a potentially thrilling governorship contest in our hands in Ebonyi.

Power rotation brouhaha

Ebonyi like every other state has three senatorial zones

Ebonyi North has four local government areas  Izzi, Ebonyi, Abakaliki and Ohaukwu  while Ebonyi Central also has four council areas which are Ikwo, Ezza South, Ezza North and Ishielu.

Ebonyi South has five council areas namely Afikpo South, Afikpo North, Ivo, Ohaozara and Onicha.

The entire Ebonyi Central and North zones, which came from the old Enugu State at the time of the creation of the state, were known as the Abakaliki bloc.

The entire south zone was carved out of the old Abia State.

The two blocs, the Abakaliki bloc and the southern bloc, banded together to fight for the creation of the state.

This led to a charter of equity in which they allegedly agreed to share power between the two blocks. The charter of equity was not signed but leaders of the two blocks reportedly agreed on it in principle, much like the gentleman agreement of the northern Nigeria and southern Nigeria political leaders in 1999 to rotate the presidency between the two zones.

However, the Abakaliki bloc was divided into two senatorial zones in 1999 with Governor Sam Egwu from the minority clan of Mgbo/Izhia in Ohaukwu becoming the first governor of the state.

When Mr Egwu was about to leave, he struck an agreement with the elites to rotate power to the Central zone after which it will go to the South.

Thus Governor Martin Elechi, from Ikwo, a major clan in the Abakaliki bloc, succeeded Mr Egwu. He served out his second term and handed it over to Governor David Umahi from the South who will conclude his second term in 2023.

Clannish politics

With Mr Umahis tenure ending and the three zones having held the governorship position, it was expected that power revert to the Ebonyi North zone where it started in 1999.

However, stakeholders from Ebonyi Central, particularly the Ezza clan, started clamouring for the position to be thrown open to the entire Abakaliki bloc comprising the North and Central zones.

They piled so much pressure on the political class that both parties acquiesced to their demands by zoning the position to the entire Abakaliki bloc.

The situation has caused bad blood between the two major clans of Izzi from the north zone and Ezza from the central zone.

The Izzi, Ezza and Ikwo (also in the Central zone) are the three major clans in the Abakaliki bloc.

While the Izzi are predominantly in three local government areas of Izzi, Abakaliki and Ebonyi in the north, the Ezza are predominantly in Ezza North and South council areas in the Central zone.

They also make up a very sizable part of Ishielu in the Central zone and Effium town in Ohaukwu Local Government Area in the North zone.

Ikwo clan is predominantly found in the Ikwo Local Government Area, the most populous local government area in the state, as they were said to have refused to be divided into three or more local government areas during the creation of the state.

Following the zoning to the entire Abakaliki bloc, many aspirants from the two blocks declared interest in the governorship position, especially from Ezza and Izzi clans.

In PDP, 13 governorship aspirants were screened and cleared to take part in the primaries.

They include Ifeanyi-Chukwuma Odii; Obinna Ogba who is a senator, Austin Igwe-Edeze and Adaeze Nwuzor, a professor and the lone female aspirant.

Others include a senator, Fidelis Nwankwo; Paulinus Igwenwagu; three members of the House of Representatives, Sylvester Ogbaga, Chukwuma Nwazunku and Anayo Edwin; Austin Nwazunku; Chris Usulor; Emmanuel Eze, and Sunday Opoke.

Messrs Ogba, Edwin, Usulor and Igwenwagu are from Ebonyi Central while the rest except Mr Odii are from the North.

Mr Odii, a Lagos businessman, is the only candidate from the South. He said he joined the race because he does not believe in zoning as it tends to sometimes breed mediocrity and also because the Central zone does not want to respect the zoning arrangement already in place by allowing the North to have its turn.

In the APC, many candidates declared interest in the governorship position but only a few later purchased the forms, because of the acrimonious zoning of political offices by the party in the state.

The party had set up a zoning committee chaired by Governor Umahis brother, Austin Umahi. The committee began work by calling for memoranda from stakeholders on how all the positions should be zoned.

It was still in the process when Governor Umahi held separate meetings with the two major clans, Izzi and Ezza, during which he urged them to go and harmonise and produce two aspirants each for the position.

The Ezza clan stakeholders quickly agreed on Mr Umahis Secretary to the State Government, Kenneth Ugbala and a senator, Julius Ucha.

On their part, Izzi stakeholders at their first meeting could not come to a consensus, leading to the adjournment of the meeting. At the said meeting, the stakeholders also agreed that traditional rulers should be neutral in the whole process.

However, the traditional rulers quickly announced their endorsement of the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Francis Nwifuru. This was quickly followed by political office holders and appointees of government who also endorsed Mr Nwifuru.

This led to an uproar by other aspirants, other vested interests and stakeholders from the clan who opposed the endorsement.

They accused the state government of masterminding and backing Mr Nwifuru, even as they demanded a level playing field for all aspirants.

While this was going on, the Ezza clan met and narrowed their choice to only the senator, Mr Ucha, who has represented Ebonyi Central twice in the Senate.

But Mr Umahi quickly announced the House Speaker, Mr Nwifuru, as not only the preferred choice of the Izzi clan but also his anointed successor. Unsurprisingly, his decision was also ratified by the zoning committee.

This did not go down well with other aspirants, especially Mr Ucha and the Chairman of Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Elias Mbam.

Umahis defection, exclusion of old APC members raises dust

In November 2020, Governor Umahi, who won his election under the platform of the PDP, defected to the APC and was handed the structure of the party by the national leadership.

The governor dismantled the old leadership of the party and installed his trusted allies who had defected with him to the party.

This led to the appointment of Stanley Emegha and a few other trusted allies into the State Working Committee(SWC) of the party in an acting capacity.

Mr Emegha would later be elected alongside other fellow defectors into the SWC in a substantive capacity last year in an acrimonious election.

The governor also installed his allies into the leadership of the party in the local government and ward levels to the chagrin of old APC members in the state.

Also, the governor was accused of not carrying the old APC along in appointments into his cabinet, as he appointed only the former chairman of the party, Eze Nwachukwu, into the cabinet.

The zoning/anointing of candidates for various state and National Assembly positions also seemed to have favoured Mr Umahis loyalists and excluded old APC members.

The old APC members protested the alleged injustices to the national leadership. Mr Umahi, in order to placate them, nominated three old APC members as commissioners to fill vacant seats created by the exit of his trusted allies who resigned to contest in next years election.

Despite the governors move to placate them, many of the old APC members have vowed to work against him and the party in the general election as they claimed that he reneged on agreements they had with him prior to his joining the party.

PDP House of Commotion

However, the opposition PDP in the state appears even to be worse-hit by internal strife in the lead up to the state primaries.

First was the controversy that trailed the election of Tochukwu Okorie as its state chairman late last year.

Silas Onu, his opponent and former spokesperson of the party, challenged the election in court and in April, the High Court in Abuja sacked Mr Okorie and ordered that Mr Onu be sworn in.

After some delays, Mr Onu assumed the leadership of the party and has been at war with stakeholders whom he accused of being responsible for his inability to clinch the chairmanship position during the election.

This led to the split in the party as some stakeholders and aspirants, including Mr Odii and former governor and senator, Mr Egwu, sided with Mr Onu while others are said to be with Mr Okorie.

The split led to the ward and LGA congresses being botched three times. The two factions eventually held separate congresses and produced different lists of delegates.

Another twist was added to the crisis as the appeal court on May 23 ordered that all parties maintain the status quo prior to the High Court ruling that sacked Mr Okorie.

In other words, the court effectively sacked Mr Onu, albeit temporarily, and reinstated Mr Okorie.

The decision forced the PDP to cancel the ward congresses presided by Mr Onu and the other faction, which had already become another matter for court arbitration and fixed May 24 for a new one.

But that too did not hold as the party leadership elected to shift the congress due to the myriad of court cases bedevilling the party in the state.

The emergence of a third force

The myriad crises bedevilling the APC and PDP may have given rise to the emergence of a third force.

Mr Umahis former SSG, Bernard Odoh, a professor, announced his governorship bid under APGA last month. He is fast gaining popularity and watchers believe he has an outside chance if the two leading parties continue on the path of self-destruction.

But despite being seen as having one of the best manifestos for the state, Mr Odoh is said not to have a proper structure in the state on which he can ride to victory.

Umahis plan B

Messrs Mbam, Nwifuru and Edward Nkwegu will slug it out for the APC governorship ticket.

Mr Nkwegu was the candidate of the Labour Party in 2015 who gave Mr Umahi a tough challenge.

He is said to be the one the Umahi administration would turn its support to if the resistance against Mr Nwifurus candidacy does not abate. This and other factors will make the coming election captivating in the South-east state.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
When the immediate former governor of Zamfara, Abdulaziz Yari, accepted an invitation to a meeting at the national headquarters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, he knew that the outcome of the meeting would determine the fate of the ruling party in the banditry-ravaged state.

If he had gone ahead with his plan to defect from the party to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the situation within the two parties would have been different.

Mr Yari and another faction leader, Kabiru Marafa, a former senator, reached an agreement with Governor Bello Matawalle that may allow the APC to go into the next general elections as a united party.

Ironically, a do or die dispute between Messrs Yari and Marafa was the undoing of the APC in the 2019 elections. Both politicians could not agree on the modalities for party primaries, resulting in Mr Marafa going to court to challenge the list of candidates produced by the then governor, saying the list was not the product of valid primaries.

INEC agreed with Mr Marafa and the Supreme Court eventually voided the victory of all the partys candidates in the general elections, the development that allowed the runner-up governorship candidate of the PDP, Mr Matawalle, to be declared as governor.

Mr Matawalles defection in June last year to the APC, however, brought the two old foes, Messrs Yari and Marafa, together in resistance against the partys declaration of the governor as the leader of the party in Zamfara.

Mr Matawalle is understandably excited that the reconciliation with the old APC leaders will enable him to use a stone to kill two birds.

First, he wants to end the internal crisis in the APC which could have seen Messrs Yari and Marafa prodding a candidate against Mr Matawalle at the primary election.

Secondly, he has stopped the duo from crossing over to the PDP to increase the opposition partys chances of wresting the seat from him.

Without strong contests, the primaries in both leading parties in the state appear set to be mere formalities.

APC

Despite all the factions agreeing to support Mr Matawalle for a second term following the reconciliation, a youth leader in the APC, Abdulmalik Gajam, will challenge him at the primary.

Probably banking on the wealth and political clout of his father, Garba Gajam, the aspirant has rebuffed entreaties to him not to contest against the incumbent.

But the young businessman, who is also the President of a group, Youths Liaison Motivity (YLM), has very slim chances of winning the primary, such that some political pundits have said Mr Gajam is contesting to draw attention to himself for the future or position himself for appointment by the governor after 2023.

The APC state executive committee, which has control over most of the delegates, is led by Tukur Danfulani, a loyalist of Mr Matawalle.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that some stakeholders, especially from the governors camp, have been putting pressure on Mr Gajam to withdraw from the race, with a promise to refund the N50 million he paid for the nomination forms.

Even if Mr Gajam stands his ground to contest, he is certain to lose because the party is now firmly in Mr Matawalles control.

A political reporter in the state, Abdul Balarabe, agreed that Mr Gajams prospects at the primary are bleak but said the young man could be betting on the eventuality of Mr Matawalle somehow running into trouble over pre-election matters, in which case he as the only other contestant would be the beneficiary.

PDP

Like APC, the PDP has only two strong aspirants seeking its ticket for the governorship election as other aspirants have withdrawn for the man endorsed by party chiefs.

The main contestants are Abu Nakwada and Dauda Dare. But the latter, a former Executive Director at the First Bank and a defector from the APC, has won the endorsement of party leaders and appears set to be coronated at the primary.

General Ali (Gusau) asked every aspirant to shelve their ambitions and support Dauda Lawal Dare, who has shown interest, a top member of the party, who asked not to be named, told this newspaper in a telephone conversation on Tuesday.

It shows that General has now learnt his lessons because he would have imposed his son, Mahdi Ali, on the party but he didnt, he said.

Mr Ali was recently impeached as deputy governor by the Zamfara State House of Assembly for alleged financial misconduct and other irregularities. But he and most observers attributed his impeachment to his refusal to join Governor Matawalle in abandoning the PDP for the APC.

Despite the stakeholders anointment of Mr Dare, a former House of Representatives member, Ibrahim Shehu-Bakauye, also picked the form for the governorship race.

Mr Shehu-Bakauye is a son of a popular businessman and agriculturalist in the state. While he has the support of some party members, especially at the grassroots, he does not have the financial muscle to seriously bother Mr Dare.

The anointment of Mr Dare by the stakeholders, led by Mr Gusau, will work against Mr Shehu-Bakauye. The old general, Mr Gusau, is the main financier of the PDP and its leader in Zamfara and his decisions are rarely challenged in the party.

All the party leaders are loyal to Mr Gusau. The party chairman, Baka Mande, a former military governor of Nasarawa State, was one of Mr Gusaus proteges in the military and was believed to have been installed as the party chairman by the ex-National Security Adviser.

The two other aspirants, Messrs Madawaki and Nakwada, have withdrawn for Mr Dare, therefore increasing the odds against Mr Bakauyes nomination.

Mr Dare also has the support of the two members of the House of Representatives from the state, Kabiru Yahaya (Anka/Talata Mafara) and Sulaiman Abubakar (Gumi/ Bukkuyum).

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Residents of Lambar Tureta and other communities in Tureta Local Government Area of Sokoto State have blocked the federal highway linking Zamfara with Sokoto and Kebbi States in protest over increasing attacks blamed on bandits.

Local sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the attacks have escalated in recent weeks.

Even yesterday, we saw them on several motorcycles crossing over to the Shagari town side. Villages are constantly attacked at will by the bandits with no or little from the security agents, Lawali Tureta, a former staffer of Government Secondary school Lambar Tureta said.

He said security agents take too long before responding to calls for help during attacks.

Mr Tureta said youths of the town decided to block the road to attract the governments response to their call for help.

Another resident of the community, Attahiru Salihu, said he joined the protest in solidarity with the suffering of the people.

He said, Even yesterday around 1 a.m. bandits attacked a hamlet just outside our town, killed some of the people there and abducted many. Yet there was no response from the authority concerned.

Motorists going to Sokoto or Kebbi States were forced to wait for several hours while others had to shelve their journey.

Tijjani Sulaiman, a medical doctor who was resuming work in Sokoto from Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State, said someone alerted him before he got stuck in the traffic caused by the protest.

I left my home town Talata Mafara, around 6:10 a.m. and reached Lambar Tureta, where I found all the road blocked, with smoke coming everywhere from the road, and environ.

I kept moving to the centre of the scenario to confirm exactly what was going on, and why the road was blocked? Then I heard a voice from one resident saying theres no road for you Malam, better go bypass and follow Bush to take you out, he said.

Mr Sulaiman later told PREMIUM TIMES that he waited for hours before he finally passed through the road.

Premium Times gathered that soldiers and policemen had to intervene before the youths dispersed and the road was cleared to allow vehicles through.

The Sokoto Police Command spokesman, Sanusi Abubakar, didnt respond to calls and SMS sent to him on the protest or the attacks.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
As Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State seeks re-election for another four years on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he and his supporters will be even more closely monitoring the primary of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governors supporters under the aegis of Abdullahi Sule Amalgamated Support Groups, had purchased the N50 million APC expression of interest and nomination forms for Mr Sule.

Declaring his intention to run for a second term in Lafia, Mr Sule thanked his supporters who purchased the forms for him.

Some of these people who are barely making a living came together and raised the funds to buy the nomination and expression of interest forms for me to re-contest for the 2023 governorship election.

This gesture is very touchy and important to me, so I cannot turn down their request. Therefore, I hereby declare to re-contest as governor in the 2023 election, he said.

Mr Sule made the remarks against the backdrop of accusations that he wanted to renege on his promise in 2015 to serve a single term. A video clip had gone viral following evidence of his interest in reelection, showing him making the promise to serve as governor for only four years.

Nevertheless, Fatima Abdullahi, a former wife to the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, also picked the nomination forms and is poised to challenge the governor at the APC primary.

Ms Abdullahi, a medical doctor, is, however, not seen by many as an obstacle to the renomination of the governor by the APC.

PDP Primary

The PDP has three main contenders: Labaran Maku, a former minister of information; David Ombugadu, the 2019 PDP governorship candidate and former House of Representatives member, and Nuhu Angbazo, a retired army major-general.

A former deputy governor, Solomon Ewuga, and a former senator, Suleiman Adokwe, had withdrawn from the race, leaving the former three to slug it out at the primary on Wednesday.

Having been out of government at the state and federal levels for a while, the main hurdles before the opposition party are funding and disunity.

Apart from having a candidate who can finance his own campaign, being able to stand the test of litigation during and after the election is a factor the delegates may consider in making their choices.

Mr Maku had in April returned to the PDP after eight years in the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), where he was the National Secretary until his return to the party.

With the return of Mr Maku, the PDP looks prepared to give the APC a run for its money.

People in the state, including members of the ruling APC, are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the PDPs primary election.

The three contestants are from the same local government area, Nasarawa Eggon in the Nasarawa North Senatorial District where Governor Sule is from.

For the past eight years, the opposition parties in the state had been divided, leading to the defection of Mr Maku to APGA. Disputes had always arisen over the nomination of candidates. If the opposition candidates work together, observers believe they could pose a huge threat to the ruling APC.

This time around, the three PDP aspirants have pledged to accept the outcome of the primary and support the winner.

Here are the aspirants to watch;

Abdullahi Sule

The sitting governor is a favourite for nomination by his party. But in the general election, he will bank on his record in the last four years, unlike in 2019 when he rode on the achievements of former Governor Tanko Almakura.

One of the factors that may favour the governor is his incumbency and the state resources it brings to his disposal.

Another factor is the dominance of the APC in the state. The party currently holds the three senatorial seats, four out of five House of Representatives seats and at least 20 of the 24 seats in the states House of Assembly.

However, one major factor that may count against the governor is a supposed rift between him and his benefactor and predecessor, Mr Almakura, who lost out in the race for the seat of APC National Chairman in March.

Generally, most people, particularly the opposition, see the governor as failing so far to match the performance of his predecessor.

Labaran Maku

A former unionist, journalist, commissioner, deputy governor and minister and until recently the Secretary of APGA, Mr Maku is one of the leading aspirants in the PDP.

Many consider him to have benefited the most from the PDP, among other Nasarawa politicians; enjoying appointments from governments of the party until he dumped it for APGA in 2014.

After losing the PDP governorship ticket to Yusuf Agabi, Mr Maku jumped ship into APGA to run on the ticket of the party against the then Governor Al-Makura and the PDP in 2015. He did the same in 2019.

Going by the result of the last two gubernatorial elections where he came second and third respectively, Mr Maku is certainly an aspirant to reckon with.

While some PDP leaders believe his departure from its fold was a show of ingratitude to the party, others believe his return adds value to their efforts to unseat the ruling APC from the Shendam Road Government House in Lafia next year.

Mr Maku enjoys the support of party chieftains such as former FCT Minister, Mr Ewuga.

The fact that he is a Christian and from the Northern zone gives him a very good chance of defeating the incumbent

However, standing in Mr Makus way is the aspiration of his party members from the same ethnic group, local government area and zone.

David Ombugadu

Davematics, as he is fondly called, was the candidate of the PDP in the 2019 governorship election.

He is a former two-term member of the House of Representatives representing Akwanga/Nasarawa Eggon/Wamba Federal Constituency.

He defeated a former minister and grassroots politician, Mr Ewuga, and others to pick the ticket for the 2019 election but lost the general election.

He is believed to be backed by Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, and the state working committee of the PDP under the leadership of Francis Orogu.

Mr Ombugadu first won his Reps election in 2011 under the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) before defecting to the PDP prior to the 2015 general elections.

It is, however, believed that the popularity that earned him the PDPs governorship ticket in 2019 has reduced due to the emergence of the other two aspirants.

Angbazo

Regarded as a newcomer in Nasarawa State politics, the major-general who retired a year ago has become a force to reckon with.

He is the immediate past General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3 Division of the Nigeria Army, Jos.

Mr Angbazo is the son of one of the first-class traditional rulers in the state, Aren Eggon, the traditional ruler of the Eggon people.

The only survivor of the 2006 Benue military plane crash, Mr Angbazo is seen even by supporters of Messrs Maku and Ombugadu as a good candidate.

With the withdrawal of Mr Ewuga from the race, Mr Angbazo has been courting his supporters to boost his chances.

One of his major supporters is Suleiman Adokwe, the immediate past three-term senator representing Nasarawa South.

His deep pocket is another key factor that may work in his favour.

His father, the Aren Eggon, was the treasurer of the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) that ruled old Plateau State under late Governor Solomon Lar between 1979 and1983.

Mr Angbazos security and technical know-how may be a huge asset in tackling the insecurity in the state if he wins the PDP ticket and is eventually elected governor.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Predicting the outcome of the governorship primaries of the two leading political parties in Oyo State may not be too difficult for close observers of events in the state in the last few weeks.

While seven aspirants will take part in the primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state on Thursday, two leading aspirants stand out with their intimidating credentials.

But in the states ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Seyi Makinde is certain to coast home to renomination, despite the challenge of a former deputy governor of the state.

The contests are among familiar foes in both parties, which have a similar history of internal crises.

However, a political analyst in the state, Biodun Ogidan, said the PDP has been more stable in recent times and better organised than the main opposition APC.

Those contesting for the APC ticket include the partys candidate in 2019, Adebayo Adelabu; the senator representing Oyo Central, Teslim Folarin; and two governorship aspirants in 2019, Azeez Adeduntan and Akeem Agbaje.

Others are a senior lawyer, Niyi Akintola; Chairman of the board of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Adeolu Akande, and a new entrant into the party, Hakeem Alao.

But in reality, the fight is between Messrs Folarin and Adelabu because their political antecedents place them high above the rest.

Both have considerable followings and popularity within Ibadan, the state capital and largest voting bloc in the state. They both are well-grounded politically, and have deep pockets.

A political reporter in the state, Musiliudeen Atanda, added that the two aspirants can also match each other in political enforcement, or thuggery as he called it.

The APC appears to be emerging from its perennial crisis ahead of the 2023 elections. The realisation that they have to fight together to have any chance of recovering power seems to have tempered the inclination of the leaders for intra-party duels.

The crisis in the former ruling party in the state dated back to the 2018, when two groups held parallel local government congresses and a state congress. That division obviously contributed to the partys loss in 2019, especially in the governorship election.

The APC has since suffered from being out of government in the state in the last three years.

Following the disastrous showing at the polls in 2019, and after several reconciliation attempts had failed, there is a renewal of hope in the party.

However, a bitter primary may again burn out the partys energy for the governorship election proper.

No one will be stepping down for anyone as you can see, let them go to the primaries and slug it out. Whoever emerges as winner will be seen by all, a party member, Toba Olusegun, said.

Mr Folarin is believed to control APC leadership in the state. He is a long serving senator with entrenched political structures.

Mr Adelabu came close to victory at the last governorship election, which brought Governor Makinde of the PDP to power.

Although the setting in which he got the ticket for the last election has changed, Mr Adelabu believes that he has the majority of the partys delegates behind him.

In September 2018 when the APC held its governorship primary in Ibadan, most of the aspirants angrily withdrew in the last minute. Their fingers were pointed at the then Governor Abiola Ajimobi who they accused of imposing Mr Adelabu, who had just retired from the Central Bank of Nigeria, as the flag bearer.

Mr Adelabu was virtually nominated unopposed but the setting is completely different now.

He is financially strong, possesses academic and bureaucratic experience and is popular in his area. But he is deficient in the Amala politics, which drives the flow of power, when compared to Mr Folarin, Mr Adebayo, the journalist who covers political events in Oyo State, said.

But as you can expect of the APC in Oyo, trouble looms in an allegation that the delegates list was manioulated. PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately verify the allegation. However, this has become a recurring feature in nearly all the primaries of the party so far.

Gbolarunmi dares Governor Makinde

In the PDP, Governor Makinde and Hazeem Gbolarumi will on Wednesday slug it out. However,beating the governor to the ticket seems too high a mountain to climb for the challenger who has vowed to sack Mr Makinde from office.

Speaking on a programme on Radio Fresh FM 105.9, on Tuesday, Mr Gbolarumi said he would win the primary. The former deputy to the late Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala said Mr Makinde has failed to carry along other members of the party who brought him to office.

His campaign did not dispute the performance of Mr Makinde as governor. In fact, he said the governor has performed well in the last three years and that he would continue from where Mr Makinde would have stopped if he becomes governor.

Not many people consider his ambition as serious enough to seriously bother the governor.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Taiwo Adisa, said in politics, no opponent is a walkover, but his principal has the following of the delegates and the party structure in the state.

According to Mr Adebayo, The outcome is predictable: we can be sure Gbolarumi will not win.

That should sound sweet in Mr Adisas ears too.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Kaduna State is the political hub of Northern Nigeria and the former capital from which the late Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, administered the defunct Northern Nigeria as premier.

The state continues to play a significant role in the politics of the North and of Nigeria in general, so interest in its internal politics spread far beyond its boundaries.

Kaduna in the millennium

The state is sharply divided along ethnic and religious lines. Since it became a state in 1967, Kaduna has had 20 governors, nine of them democratically elected while the others were soldiers.

Until the 2019 election, the state had been governed by an unwritten principle that when the governor is a Muslim, the deputy would be a Christian and vice-versa.

In 2019, Governor Nasir El-Rufai broke that tradition when he picked a Muslim woman who was his commissioner of health, Hadiza Balarabe, as his running mate.

2023, many candidates

The APC in Kaduna has managed to avoid a major crisis in the run up to the 2023 elections, unlike the case in previous cycles. This is perhaps because most of the adversaries of Governor El-Rufai have fled the party.

From the look of things, the partys primary is going to be a coronation for the governors anointed aspirant, Uba Sani, who is currently serving as a senator.

The senator is a close ally of Mr El-Rufai, previously serving as the governors adviser on political matters between 2015 and 2019.

Declaring his governorship bid at the APC state secretariat along Ali Akilu Road on March 22, Mr Sani said he was out to consolidate the legacy of the governor.

Mohammed Dattijo, Mr El-Rufais former chief of staff, had also declared interest in the ticket but the governor asked him to step down for Mr Sani.

Confirming his withdrawal from the gubernatorial race to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Dattijo said he will contest for the Kaduna North senatorial seat, which is presently occupied by Mr Sani.

Hurdles before Uba Sani

However, despite his governors backing, the APC primary may not be a cakewalk for Mr Sani.

A former member of the House of Representatives and President Muhammadu Buharis in-law, Sani Shaaban, is challenging Mr Sani in the primary. Obviously, he is not happy about the endorsement of his opponent by the governor.

I cannot be part of any anointment of a candidate. My children bought the N50 million form to contest. That is not a joke. I will fight for the seat at the primaries, he said after Mr El-Rufai named his horse in the race.

Mr Shaaban expects support from politicians close to his in-law, the president. His son is married to Mr Buharis last daughter, Hanan Buhari.

A family source told this newspaper he believed that Mr Shaaban will get a strong backing from the presidency.

But as things stand, it is safe to project that it will be Mr Sanis day at the APC primaries.

PDPs many aspirants

The PDP has many aspirants in its gubernatorial race. And unless the party shows dexterity in managing the primary, it may lose some of the losers to other parties after the event.

Among the aspirants is Isah Ashiru, a former member of the House of Representatives who flew the partys flag in 2019 but lost to Governor El-Rufai at the secondary election. Many observers believe he remains the man to beat at the primary.

The owner of Baze University, Abuja and a former senator, Datti Baba-Ahmed, is also running. He is a popular figure in Kaduna politics and his candidature will bother the APC if he clinches the PDP ticket.

A former governor of Kaduna State, Ramalan Yero, who lost his reelection bid to the APC in 2015, has also returned. He has campaigned vigorously among delegates and other stakeholders for the primary.

There is also the former Accountant-General of the state during the Ahmed Makarfi governorship, Yunusa Saeed.

The popular senator, Shehu Sani, who lost his senatorial seat in 2019 to Uba Sani of the APC, is also in the race for the PDP ticket. Mr Sani decamped to the PDP from the PRP to contest for the governorship seat. He had been in the APC before defecting to the PRP following incessant quarrels with Governor El-Rufai

Another aspirant is a former boss of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Sani Sidi. Mr Sidi lost to Mr Ashiru at the PDP primary in 2019 and decamped to the APC. In late 2021, however, he returned to the PDP.

PDP in the race

According to Hassan Mamman, a PDP chieftain in Kaduna,

it will be a disaster for the PDP not to win Kaduna in 2023.

I said disaster because this is the right time for us to take the governorship from the APC. But from the look of things, if we are not careful, the choice of candidate will give us away so cheaply to the opposition.

Obviously, the APC will have a serious problem choosing a candidate, so we should put our house in order and choose the right person.

Mr Mamman urged a former governor of the state, Ahmed Makarfi, to play a role to ensure the primary is successful.

Makarfi is the godfather of PDP in Kaduna. His choice will surely be the partys choice. All delegates should rally around him because he has always been with the party in the state since 1999. He is well respected, the politician said.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Governor Udom Emmanuel preferred successor, Umo Eno, Wednesday, won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary in Akwa Ibom State.

Mr Eno, a former commissioner for lands and water resources in the state, scored 993 votes to clinch the party ticket for the 2023 governorship election.

His closest defeat rivals, Onofiok Luke, and Akan Okon, tied on three votes each in a primary that recorded two void votes from the 1,018 delegates accredited for the exercise.

With the victory, Mr Eno will fly the PDP flag as the gubernatorial candidate of the party in the state in March 2023.

Declaring the winner, Philip Shuaibu, the deputy governor of Edo State and chairman of the governorship primary, said Mr Eno satisfied the conditions of the party guidelines and has been declared the winner.

In his victory speech, Mr Eno, who became emotional, promised to consolidate on the achievements of Mr Emmanuel.

He thanked the governor for seeing what others could not see in him and extended hands of fellowship to other aspirants to join him to build the party and the state.

A total of 14 aspirants including one woman were cleared to participate in the primary held at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State.

Two aspirants, however, refused to participate in the election.

Bassey Albert, a serving senator, refused to participate in the primary citing existing court order.

The second aspirant, Mr Luke, a serving House of Representatives member, who also refused to participate in the primary, cited the inability of the statutory delegates to vote in the primary.

Section 84 (8) of the Electoral Act 2022 excludes other categories of party members from party in the primaries.

Mr Luke said the statutory delegates whom the Electoral Act 0222 excluded from voting in the primary constitute his largest support base, and therefore he would not take part in the primary.

The Federal High Court in Abuja had directed parties in the suit challenging the Akwa Ibom PDP ad-hoc delegate list to maintain status quo antebellum pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

The suit which was scheduled for hearing Wednesday (today) is reported to have been adjourned to June 1, for further hearing.

Mike Igini, the Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner, led other officials of the Commission to monitor the primary.

Heads of security agencies in the state were also on ground to monitor the election and provide security at the venue

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
An Ekiti State Chief Magistrate Court in Ado Ekiti has remanded a suspected internet fraudster, Opeyemi Ayeni, for allegedly murdering a police officer, Olakunle Adeeko.

The magistrates order was in response to a request for the suspects remand at the Nigeria Correctional Service, Ado Ekiti, for the offence.

Mr Ayenis car allegedly hit the officer at Okesa area of Ado Ekiti. Mr Adeeko was hospitalised, and he died afterward.

In his ruling, Magistrate Dolamu Kay-Williams said: I found the prosecutors application to remand the defendant genuine. The defendant is hereby ordered to be remanded at the Nigeria Correctional Centre, Ado Ekiti.

The police prosecutor, Samson Osobu, said remanding the defendant in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service will allow the police to complete their investigation.

He added that the duplicate case file will also be forwarded to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.

According to the charge, the defendant was reasonably suspected to have committed murder of a police officer, Adeeko Olakunle, at Okeyinmi area of Ado Ekiti, on the 15th May, 2022, contrary to section 234 of the Criminal Laws of Ekiti State, 2021.

I am into internet fraud a.k.a. Yahoo. I was coming from Adebayo area of Ado Ekiti on that day, I hit the deceased around Okeyinmi Street, when he was trying to cross to the other side of the road, read the confessional statement credited to the defendant.

He was rushed to the hospital where he died.

The case was adjourned to the 13th of July, 2022, for mention.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
About 40 million additional people in sub-Saharan Africa could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030 due to climate change, a new report by Mo Ibrahim Foundation, a political leadership and public governance think-tank in Africa, has revealed.

The report titled The 2022 Forum Facts & Figures: The Road to COP27: Making Africas Case in the Climate Debate and launched on Wednesday, highlights the need for greater consideration of Africas specific position within the global debate on climate change.

39.7 million additional people in sub-Saharan Africa could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030 due to climate change, more than in any other world region, the report noted.

Established in 2006, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation is a non-governmental organisation with a focus on the critical importance of political leadership and public governance in Africa.

The Foundations 2022 Forum Facts & Figures launched exactly six months ahead of the forthcoming Conference of the Parties (COP27) to be held in Egypt later this year and just after the conclusion of COP15 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Cote dIvoire, provided a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and prospects of the global climate crisis from Africas perspective.

The research highlights Africas consistent resource potential, and that the continent possesses all the key assets to accelerate the global transition to a green and sustainable economy.

However, the report explained that for this potential to be effectively and efficiently delivered in the best interest of people in Africa, the continent will need to break from the natural resource curse, and focus on leveraging financial resources, strengthening governance frameworks and natural resource management.

Key findings

According to the report key findings, Africa is the least responsible world region for climate change, accounting for 3.3 per cent of total global carbon emissions since 1960, but the impact of climate change is already hitting the continent harder.

In 2020, the whole of Africas per capita carbon emissions were ten times lower than North Americas, the report said.

The report highlights that between 2010 and 2022, the number of people affected by drought amounted to at least 172.3 million, and that the ones affected by floods amounted to at least 43.0 million.

It said the ten most climate vulnerable countries globally are in Africa.

According to the report, Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change due to pre-existing development challenges that exacerbate climate impact and lower resilience.

The report noted that climate change is forecasted to push an additional 78 million people into chronic hunger by 2050 and that over half of these people are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Without climate action, sub-Saharan Africa is expected to see the displacement and migration of up to 85.7 million people, equivalent to 4.2 per cent of the continents population, the report said.

The research found that 600 million people in Africa currently lack access to electricity and that more than 930 million lack access to clean cooking fuels, making Africa the continent with the lowest rates of energy access globally.

Most climate vulnerable countries in Africa are showing governance deficits, the report added.

Reacting to the report, Mo Ibrahim, founder and chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, was quoted to have said, As the least industrialised continent, Africa has contributed the least to the global climate crisis, yet it is suffering the most from its consequences.

Mr Ibrahim said Africa has the potential to be at the heart of a sustainable future for both the continent and the world.

As we now head towards COP27, to be hosted on the continent, he said it is vital that Africas unique position is better understood and taken into account.

Leaving Africa out of the equation not only hinders efficient climate action, but it also threatens global development and security prospects, Mr Ibrahim said.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola, and the acting comptroller-general of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Isah Idris, have told the newly inducted 548 cadets of the agency that the overriding reason for their employment is the security of the Nigerias territorial borders.

They reiterated the point in a statement issued on Wednesday and signed on behalf of Mr Idris by the NIS public relations officer, Amos Okpu, an assistant comptroller of immigration.

Mr Okpu said the duo spoke on Tuesday during the passing out parade of the cadets at the Immigration Training School in Kano, Kano State.

He said the parade was held for the 47th Superintendent Basic Course cadets after an intensive six-month period of physical drills and academic training.

Border security

Delivering his message to the cadets, Mr Aregbesola said the integrity of Nigerias borders is the responsibility of the NIS, and urged the new recruits to have it in their minds that securing Nigeria against trespassers, aggressors and interlopers is their primary responsibility.

The minister, who was the parade reviewing officer, was represented by a commissioner at the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB), Emmanuel Bassey, a major general, retired.

He said; Your engagement into the Nigeria Immigration Service reaffirms the governments commitment to strengthening our internal security of which our borders are an integral part. Without secure borders, no security measure can work. External criminally minded persons can infiltrate the country and escape at will, if the borders are not well secured. Deadly diseases are spread also from one country to the other through cross border movements. This is why national borders were shut in the wake of the outbreak of the COVID-19 in 2020, completely grounding the aviation industry and other modes of international transportation.

Even the economic security of a people is threatened when borders are not properly manned.

As you have been taught, your main mission is to man the nations borders. Every other assignment is secondary. This must settle in your innermost being and resonate in your archetype: to keep the bad people away from our country and encourage the good people to come in. No harm must befall our nation on your watch.

He urged them to be disciplined, even as he quoted the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, that the strength of any military organisation lies not in its size but in its discipline.

Technology to the rescue

On his part, the acting comptroller general, who has consistently emphasised the massive number of illegal routes to the country, said the adoption of technology by his agency remains the best strategy to adequately man the borderlines.

Mr Idris, who encouraged the new cadets to improve their technical and technology skills, said the ongoing deployment of the electronic-border management system will soon phase out the challenges currently identified with the system.

He said; We are retooling our border security structures following the adoption of the eBorder project which would demand massive deployment of human and ICT logistics for effective border security operations across control posts.

We shall complement this with reinvigorated patrols at the border flanks with the aim of keeping away undesirable migrants. As you graduate out of this institution today, I assure you that you will be needed at the forward operations bases and the border control posts to offer your contributions to our fatherland.

Mr Isah added that the agency is also upgrading the combat readiness of the border patrol personnel especially with the recent training exercise for 250 personnel in Sokoto State.

He said many of them have been successfully deployed to border formations across the country.

Just as I mentioned earlier, we are placing huge premiums on border security and to this end I have commenced operational visits to our border control posts with my recent visit to some of our blue border formations in Akwa Ibom State. We shall continue with this effort, especially with the e-Border project, he added.

Sanction regime

Meanwhile, the officials also advised the new cadets to shun corrupt practices and be hardworking. They said as the agency values and rewards integrity and commitment to work, it does not spare the rod when its men are found wanting.

The acting comptroller general said; It is instructive to inform you that we have strong consequence management mechanisms in place to attend to all forms of conduct/activities. While good conduct and performances will be handsomely rewarded, poor conduct and other offences against discipline will receive their due sanctions in line with extant public service rules and paramilitary ethics.

He, therefore, urged the cadets to shun all forms of sharp practices and corruption.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Fabian Okonkwo, a senatorial aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Abia North Senatorial District, says he will not step down for a serving senator, Orji Kalu.

Mr Okonkwo, at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja, was reacting to a report that he had stepped down for Mr Kalu, the Senate Chief Whip and a former governor of the state.

The aspirant said that instead of him stepping down for Mr Kalu, he expected the serving senator to step down for him and concentrate on his earlier presidential ambition.

l, Fabian Okonkwo, have not withdrawn for anybody, including Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu, for the senatorial race in Abia North.

Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu should come and let us go for the primaries; if he wins at the primaries, l will congratulate him and support him at the main election, he said.

Mr Okonkwo said that he had not seen Mr Kalu in the last four years and had not discussed anything with him.

Consensus is not discussed behind any aspirants back and the party cannot force anybody to withdraw from the race under a suspicious condition.

The party primary is on May 28 and nothing can be done with me until the day of the primaries or thereafter.

I cannot withdraw for anybody, he should withdraw for me, the aspirant insisted.

Mr Okonkwo said if Mr Kalu is still interested in the presidential ambition, he should go ahead and withdraw from the senatorial race.

(NAN)

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Some members of the APC in Somolu, Lagos State, have kicked against Rotimi Olowos fifth representation at the Lagos State House of Assembly.

Mr Olowo represents Somolu Constituency 1 at the assembly.

The members at a rally on Wednesday trooped out displaying placards with various inscriptions like O to Ge, No to 20 years direct, liberation 4 Somolu Constituency, Somolu rejects Olowo, Thank You Olowo, 16 years Direct is Ok, Somolu says No To 16+ 4=20, and Rotimi Olowo is our Hero.

An aspirant, Babatunde Oladejo, vying for the Somolu state constituency 1 seat, said some chieftains, leaders, and members of the party desired a change of representation.

According to him, Mr Olowo has represented them well at the assembly for 16 years but there is a need to allow a new person to inject new ideas.

Mr Oladejo said: Nobody is fighting with Olowo. We just want him to step down and hand the baton of leadership to another person.

We urge him to leave and give another person an opportunity to represent us and bring in fresh ideas.

We understand the fact that no one is perfect, so we are not looking at his mistakes to judge him. All we want is a person to manage the seat effectively for us.

An APC leader in the area and a former Chairman, Somolu Local Government Area, Gbolahan Bagostowe, while addressing the gathering, expressed the same views that a new person should represent the area

Mr Bagostowe said that Mr Olowo had contributed his own quota to the development of the constituency, and therefore, should allow other people to come on board.

People like Sen. Bola Tinubu and Mr Babatunde Fashola represented and served the people for just two terms respectively and they did well, he said.

A ward leader, Abraham Joshua, said that members wanted a more inclusive government where their demands would be met based on what each ward needed.

We gave our full support to Olowo while representing us at the assembly, but insisted that everything that has a beginning must have an end, he said.

Also, Oluwatosin Lasisi urged Mr Olowo to shelve his ambition of going back to the assembly for the fifth time.

According to her, there is a need for him to heed to the peoples advice, saying Somolu has been peaceful and will not want any act of thurgery when their demands are not met.

We have tried for him in the last 16 years, We dont want him to represent us for 20 years.

We want new people who can bring in new methods of governance, but it has to be with positive impacts, Mrs Lasisi said.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Mr Emmanuel Ogidi, the Chairman, PDP Electoral Committee for Lagos State Governorship primaries.

Four out of the six governorship aspirants of the PDP in Lagos State have withdrawn from the race.

Their withdrawal was announced by the Chairman of the Lagos PDP Electoral Committee/Returning Officer, Emmanuel Ogidi, while addressing journalists at the venue of the governorship primaries in Ikeja GRA.

Mr Ogidi said that Olanrewaju Jim-Kamal, Adedeji Doherty, Ade Dosunmu, and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour had stepped down.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governorship aspirants remaining in the race are Olajide Adediran (Jandor) and David Vaughan.

The accreditation of ad hoc delegates has kicked off as of the time of filing this report.

The voting is, however, yet to start.

NAN reports that the special congress is holding at the Haven Ground by Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral, Ikeja GRA, to choose the partys flag bearer for the 2023 governorship election in Lagos state.

Security personnel were strategically positioned at various entrances around the premises of the venue.

Several patrol vehicles and Armoured Personnel Carrier were also stationed at the access roads leading to the venue.

Some of the security agencies at the venue are the Nigeria Police, State Security Service (SSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Police Bomb Squad, and private security among others. (NAN)

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Segun Sowunmi, a former spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday, emerged the governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun.

The chairman of the electoral committee, Abayomi Daniel, announced Mr Sowunmi the winner of the election after the votes were counted.

Mr Abayomi said Mr Sowunmi contested against two other aspirants, Jimi Lawal and Ladi Adebutu, who were not physically present but were represented by their agents at the primaries.

According to him, Mr Sowunmi polled 555 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mr Lawal, who scored 30 votes while Mr Adebutu polled 15 votes.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the election was held at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abeokuta.

According to Mr Daniel, a total number of 778 delegates were accredited, 702 votes cast, while three votes were voided.

By the power conferred on me by the national leadership of our great party as the chairman electoral committee of the PDP governorship primary election in Ogun, I declare Segun Sowunmi winner of the election, haven polled the highest number of votes and he is hereby returned and elected, Daniel said.

Mr Sowunmi in his acceptance speech commended members of the party for their support and promised not to let them down.

He called on other aspirants to work together with him to secure victory for the party in the 2023 general elections.

I humbly accept the nomination as candidate of the PDP in Ogun.

I thank all the delegates, I thank all relevant authorities and the security for their efforts.

I am particularly impressed by the orderly manner of the primaries.

It is the beginning of a new dawn in the PDP and a sure step toward a defining moment in our beloved Ogun, he said.

NAN, however, reports that a parallel governorship primary election is ongoing at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta.

NAN, however, reports that Messrs Adebutu and Lawal are present at the venue of the parallel election. (NAN)

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The vice-chancellor of University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abdul-Rasheed NaAllah, has appealed to members of the institutions alumni association to support the ongoing rebuilding efforts of the management and staff of their alma mater.

Mr NaAllah made the request when he met with the members of the executive committee of the association during a recent visit to the United States of America (USA).

A statement issued by the head of information and university relations, Habib Yakoob, said Mr NaAllahs visit to the U.S. was to meet relevant stakeholders and discuss areas of support.

The statement added that the vice-chancellor also tasked the alumni association, and its partner- King Baudouin Foundation, an America-based independent organisation, to contribute to developing and lifting the university to greater heights.

The vice-chancellor explained to the alumni that the government funding is not enough to upgrade the university, the statement further added.

The statement reads in parts: We are working to upgrade the ranking of the University of Abuja to a world-class university; this cannot be done without academic and infrastructural development and creating a better enabling environment for our students.

As a public university, we cannot rely on the federal government alone for funding. We need to mobilise funds and there are no better people to come to than the alumni.

He appealed to the alumni association and its partner to consider supporting the students activities centre, providing books to the library and giving scholarships to deserving students.

Mr NaAllah said the management of the university was doing its best to provide sound education to the populace including the working class and ensure that the students are well behaved.

Our Centre for Distance Learning is among the best in Nigeria. Also, we have launched drug-free clubs and counselling services as we are working round the clock to help and rehabilitate the affected students, he said.

In New York

Similarly, during his visit to New York City, the vice-chancellor also held a parley with another group called the UniAbuja Love and Light Alumni Association, encouraging them to support the university that had invested in them and contributed positively to whatever they have become today.

The vice-chancellor also met with Nigerias permanent representative and of Nigeria mission to the United Nations (UN), Tijjani Bande, a professor.

The two academics also discussed areas of possible collaborations towards advancing the quality of education in the country, and the university in particular.

They met in Manhattan, in New York.

Pledge

Meanwhile, in her response, the president and founder of UNIABUJA Alumni Association in the US, Ekeleoma Chuku, said they would provide infrastructure and other support to enhance the learning environment on the campus.

She said, We are happy to partner with the King Baudouin Foundation. We want the foundation to support our alma mater and the good policies of the vice-chancellor, Prof NaAllah.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
A report into the lockdown parties held in Downing Street has blamed senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, and says they must bear responsibility for this culture.

The long-awaited Party Gate report by Sue Gray, second permanent secretary, published on Wednesday, said the events, many of which should not have been allowed to happen, were attended by leaders in government.

The events that I investigated were attended by leaders in government. Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen, Mr Gray said. He added that it is also the case that some of the more junior civil servants believed that their involvement in some of these events was permitted given the attendance of senior leaders.

The report investigated 16 alcohol-fuelled gatherings attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff in 2020 and 2021 while the United Kingdom was barred from socialising under coronavirus restrictions.

Many will be dismayed that behaviour of this kind took place on this scale at the heart of government, the report said. The public have a right to expect the very highest standards of behaviour in such places and clearly what happened fell well short of this.

PREMIUM TIMES in January reported how Mr Johnson came under fire for attending a party in Downing Street during the lockdown in the UK in 2020. Mr Johnson had said he believed the gathering was a work event.

Addressing parliament on Wednesday, the prime minister said, I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch, adding that the report demanded political and official leaders take ultimate responsibility and of course I do.

He referred to the gathering as a short lunch time gathering.

Mr Johnson, however, has yet to show signs of heeding calls from critics to resign over the issue.

Although calls for his resignation had died down following the Russia-Ukraine war, Mr Grays report will most likely reawaken calls for his resignation.

For Mr Johnson to resign, a vote of no confidence will have to be passed after 15 per cent of party politicians, about 54 people, write letters calling for one.

Chiamaka Okafor is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The serving House of Representative member representing Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency, Tajudeen Yusuf, on Tuesday, defeated Dino Melaye, n the re-run election to pick the Kogi West Senatorial ticket of the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the election, held on Monday, ended in deadlock as both aspirants scored 88 votes respectively.

However, during the runoff election on Tuesday, Mr Yusuf scored 163 votes while Mr Melaye scored 99 votes, dashing the latters dream of returning to the Senate in the 10th National Assembly.

Stephen Onoji, who was the Returning Officer. announced the result on Tuesday.

Speaking to journalists shortly after he was announced the winner, Mr Yusuf extended the olive branch to his co-contestants and urged them to join hands with him to win the general election.

He commended the peaceful conduct of the primaries and promised to continue with his good work if elected at the general election.

In his remarks, Mr Melaye congratulated Mr Yusuf on his victory in the rerun election, saying the primary had been fought and won.

The primary has been fought and won. I congratulate Hon. Yusuf and thank all those who voted on the first and second ballot for me.

The gang-up is unimaginable but l give God praise. God bless you all, Mr Melaye said.

NAN reports that Mr Melaye, who represented the district as a senator from 2015 to 2019, was defeated by the incumbent, Smart Adeyemi of the All Progressive Congress (APC), in a re-run senatorial election in 2019.

Mr Adeyemi, who hails from the same Ijumu Local Government Area as Mr Melaye, is a three-term senator in the National Assembly.

Mr Adeyemi represented the zone from 2007 to 2015 under the platform of the PDP but was defeated by Mr Melaye in 2015. He later defected to APC before he (Adeyemi) clinched the seat again in 2019 after a rerun election ordered by the court.

In Kogi East, Victor Adoji, won the PDP senatorial seat with a total of 177 votes, defeating Aminu Suleiman who scored 54 votes. Ubolo Okpanachi scored 42 votes while Isaac Mohammed Alfa scored 20 votes.

The senatorial primary in Kogi central was yet to be concluded as of the time of filing this report.

In the same vein, Shaba Ibrahim, also picked Lokoja/Kogi Federal House of Representatives PDP ticket.

In the state House of Assembly primaries in Kogi central, Ovurevu Abara emerged in Adavi; Mohammed Haruna Ganaja, in Ajaokuta; while Ajanaku Tijani Umar emerged in Okene II State Constituency.

A former publicity secretary of the Kogi PDP, Bode Ogunmola, picked the ticket for Ogori-Magongo, while Onivehu Musa Siyaka emerged in Okehi for state assembly respectively.

(NAN)

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Nigerias Vice President and an All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant in the 2023 election, Yemi Osinbajo, has called for understanding and tolerance among Nigerians.

Mr Osinbajo stated this in Sokoto when he paid a courtesy visit to the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar III, on Monday.

He said Nigerias strength lies in its unity and diversity, noting that if different faiths and ethnic nationalities would work together with the nations interest, the country would be taken to greater heights.

He explained that the country must stay united because our unity is the basis of our success and prosperity. If we are not united, our country will be wasted.

Mr Osinbajo described the challenges as surmountable, and that is what governments are working on everyday.

Responding, Mr Abubakar prayed for success of the vice president and asked Allah to guide him through the process.

In an interview with journalists after interactive meeting with APC stakeholders, Mr Osinbajo said if elected as President, he would ensure that programmes, policies and projects of President Muhammadu Buhari will be sustained.

According to him, his experience as Nigerias vice president in the last seven years under Mr Buhari has placed him in high pedestal to lead the country from 2023.

I met privately with the stakeholders, mostly delegates of the APC, and we had very good interactions.

We discussed a wide range of issues, including economy, security, education and health care and others, Mr Osinbajo said.

(NAN)

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Chima Williams, has been named among the seven winners of this years prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.

Other winners of the prize include Niwat Roykaew (Thailand), Marjan Minnessma (the Netherlands); Juliet Vincent (Australia); Nalleli Cobo (United States); Alex Luciatante, and Alexandra Narvaez (Ecuador).

The Goldman Prize is awarded annually to environmental heroes from each of the worlds six inhabited continental regions.

The Goldman Environmental Prize honors the achievements and leadership of grassroots environmental activists from around the world, inspiring all of us to take action to protect our planet, according to a statement released by the Goldman Environmental Foundation.

The Prize was founded in 1989 in San Francisco by philanthropists and civic leaders Rhoda and Richard Goldman.

In 33 years, the prize has had an immeasurable impact on the planet.

To date, 213 winners have been honoured, including 95 women from 93 nations.

While the many challenges before us can feel daunting, and at times make us lose faith, these seven leaders give us a reason for hope and remind us what can be accomplished in the face of adversity, said Jennifer Goldman Wallis, Vice President of the Goldman Environmental Foundation.

He added: The prize winners show us that nature has the amazing capability to regenerate if given the opportunity. Let us all feel inspired to channel their victories into regenerating our own spirit and act to protect our planet for future generations.

Mr Williams, who became ERA/FoENExecutive Director in October 2020, won the award based on his work with two Niger Delta communities to hold Royal Dutch Shell accountable for environmental damage caused by a spill from its facilities into the communities between 2004 and 2007.

On the 29th January 2021, after 13 years of legal proceedings, the Court of Appeal sitting in The Hague, Netherlands, the home country of Shell, ruled in favour of three Nigerian farmers from two communities in two states of the Niger Delta  Eric Barizaa Dooh of GoiCommunity of Rivers State; Fidelis Oguru and Alali Efanga both from Oruma Community of Bayelsa State.

The court ruled that not only was Royal Dutch Shells Nigerian subsidiary responsible for the oil spills but, as the parent company, Royal Dutch Shell also had an obligation to prevent the spills.

The ruling was the first time a Dutch transnational corporation has been held accountable for the violations of its subsidiary in another country, opening Shell to legal action from communities across Nigeria devastated by the companys disregard for environmental safety.

A previous Nigerian winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize is Ken Saro-Wiwa, the late playwright and environmentalist who was executed by the Nigerian government in 1995. The Cross River-based environmentalist Odigha Odigha also got the award in 2003 for his work in protecting Nigerias remaining rainforests.

Usually, the award is conducted in-person at a ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House, United States, but this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the prize will be awarded virtually and broadcast online.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The Minority leader of the Nigerian Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has withdrawn from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primaries in Abia State, less than 24 hours to the exercise.

Mr Abaribe disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

He accused some persons of planning to use imaginary three-man ad-hoc delegates in the primaries to the exclusion of the partys statutory delegates despite the fact that the Independent National Electoral Commission has stated that the party had yet to conduct its ad-hoc delegate election in the state.

Mr Abaribe regretted that his attempts to emancipate the state from what he termed the drudgery of imposition and godfatherism have been frustrated by the selfish ambition of unnamed persons to maintain wicked governance in the state.

Accordingly, I, Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe, will not be part of this charade. I am therefore withdrawing from the exercise, which means that I will not be part of the PDP governorship election that holds in Abia State, he said.

The lawmaker explained that going ahead to participate in the primaries would amount to endorsement of an illegality that is already being challenged in the courts.

The senate minority leader, who described the implication of the partys position as grave, however, urged his supporters to be calm in the face of the development.

I therefore, ask all our people, our teeming supporters and Ndigbo to remain calm, keep the faith and wait for the new direction, which will be announced soon, Mr Abaribe added.

Background

Mr Abaribe has been in a lingering battle with the leadership of PDP in the state.

The party had zoned its governorship ticket to Abia Central and Abia North Senatorial Districts in the state.

The current governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, who is completing his second term in office, i 2023, hails from Abia South, as Mr Abaribe.

The PDP is the ruling party in the state.

Mr Abaribe was zoned out in the new party arrangement. The senator swiftly condemned the decision, describing it as an attempt to engage in imposition of a candidate in the state.

The senate minority leader is from Abia South, the senatorial district ignored by the party.

Also, the lawmaker, alongside six other aspirants, have been challenging the purported election of three-man delegates for the primaries which the party claimed took place on May 6.

The aspirants had protested the list reportedly submitted to the National Working Committee of the party by the state governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, describing it as a nullity.

It is unclear the political party the lawmaker would be joining in order to continue his governorship ambition although PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Abaribe was holding talks with the All Progressive Grand Alliance over a possible switch to the party from PDP, in the state.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The number of prisoners executed in sub-Saharan Africa more than doubled in 2021, largely a result of death sentences passed on al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, reports Amnesty International.

But while the number of those either sentenced or actually put to death during the year rose, most countries which have not yet abolished the death penalty did not carry out any executions. Prisoners were executed in only three of 28 nations surveyed.

Thousands of prisoners still sit on death row around the continent, most of them in Nigeria. In some countries, no one has been executed for up to 30 years.

These are among the findings of Amnestys annual report on the worldwide use of the death penalty in national courts.

The human rights NGOs report said 33 executions were reported in Africa in 2021, as against 16 the previous year.

Twenty-one people were executed by firing squads in Puntland, Somalia, on the same day in June after being convicted in three separate trials of acts of terrorism and membership of al-Shabaab. Six other people remained on death row in the country at the end of 2021. Eleven people were executed in the whole of 2020.

Reported executions in South Sudan rose from two to nine last year, as did the number of death sentences passed by courts, which increased from six to 10. At least 334 people ended the year under the sentence of death.

Botswana was the third country which carried out the death penalty in 2021. Three were executed  the same as the previous year. Six people were sentenced to death, and six remain on death row.

At least 5,843 people across the continent are imprisoned under the death sentence, 3,036 of them in Nigeria  one of the highest numbers recorded in any nation worldwide, Amnesty reports. Fifty-six of those were sentenced in 2021.

Former British colonies have the highest numbers of people living under death sentences:

Kenya (601)

Tanzania (at least 480 but where no executions have been carried out since 1994)

South Sudan (more than 334)

Zambia (257)

Ghana (165)

Uganda (more than 135)

Sierra Leone (117)

Sudan (more than 95)

Zimbabwe (66)

Malawi (37)

Outside those nations, the highest numbers on death row are in Cameroon (more than 250), Mauritania (183 but where no executions have been carried out since 1987) and the Democratic Republic of Congo  where recorded death sentences imposed in the courts increased from 20 in 2020 to 81 last year but where no one has been executed since 2003.

More than 48 people are on death row in Mali, 12 of them for an attack on a community in which dozens were killed.

At least 16 people are recorded as being under sentence of death in Liberia and one in Ethiopia. However, the Amnesty report says the media reported that a military court also sentenced an undisclosed number of soldiers to death for conspiring with Tigrayan forces in that nations civil war.

But steps were taken in 2021 towards abolishing the death penalty in Sierra Leone, where parliament unanimously passed an act ending it; in Ghana, where the move is being discussed in parliament, and in the Central African Republic (CAR), where no one has been executed since 1981 and a parliamentary committee has recommended formal abolition.

Deprose Muchena, Amnestys director for East and Southern Africa condemned death sentences in Somalia, South Sudan, and Botswana.

The persistent use of the death penalty goes against regional trends in sub-Saharan Africa and the world, where many countries are moving away from this cruel, inhumane and degrading form of punishment, he said.

Across the world, Amnesty reports that as Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, judges imposed at least 2,052 death sentences in 56 countries  an increase of nearly 40 per cent over 2020. But the number of executions actually carried out was the second-lowest figure recorded since at least 2010. The statistics do not include China, North Korea and Vietnam.

Read the full report

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned proceedings in the trial of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Mr Kanu is being prosecuted by the Nigerian government for treasonable felony and terrorism  offences he allegedly committed in the course of his secessionist campaigns.

The trial judge, Binta Nyako, on May 18, adjourned the suit until May 26, after she rejected Mr Kanus bail request.

In a statement on Wednesday, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, one of the lawyers to Mr Kanu, announced the postponement of the case.

He said the trial has been adjourned to June 28 for a hearing and ruling on an application by the IPOB leader, challenging the arrest warrant that was issued against him by the court when he jumped bail.

Please be informed that we have just received communication from the Federal High Courts Registrar, notifying us that the Court will no longer be sitting tomorrow, 26th May, 2022, on Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanus case.

According to the Registrar, this is because His lordship, Justice Binta Nyako is indisposed, and as such, the matter is now adjourned to the 28th day of June 2022 for Ruling/Hearing, Mr Ejiofor said in the statement.

He urged IPOB supporters to maintain restraint, as you have always done.

Previous hearing

At the last sitting, the court struck out an amended six-count charge that the government prosecutor, K.E. Kaswe, filed against the IPOB leader.

Mr Kaswe withdrew the amended charge after his futile efforts to get Mr Kanu re-arraigned on the new set of charges.

Earlier, the judge dismissed the defendants bail request on the grounds that Mr Kanu violated the bail conditions earlier granted him.

Mr Kanu who was first arrested in 2015 over his separatist activities has been re-arraigned before three different judges of the federal court in Abuja since the first set of charges were filed against him and his former co-defendants on December 18, 2015.

He was rearrested and forcibly returned to Nigeria from Kenya in June 2021, which his lawyers termed extraordinary rendition.

But delivering her ruling, the judge said Mr Kanus arrest in Kenya and extradition to Nigeria were in compliance with her order in 2018 for Mr Kanus arrest to face trial after he jumped bail in September 2017.

There is a bench warrant for the arrest of the defendant (Mr Kanu). He is a fugitive that is wanted in court. The bench warrant survives until he is brought to court, Mrs Nyako had said.

However, in his argument before the judge, Mr Kanus lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, said the IPOB lawyer did not jump bail.

Mr Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said Mr Kanus hometown Afaranukwu Ibeku in Abia State, was invaded by the Nigerian military where 28 people were mowed down during the invasion.

In order to avoid being killed by the invading forces, he said, Mr Kanu escaped for his life.

He urged the court to vacate the order of arrest that was issued against Mr Kanu.

Below are the full details of the seven sustained charges and the eight counts that were struck out by the court:

SUSTAINED CHARGES

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mrs Nyako, in a ruling on April 8, validated the federal governments forceful return of Mr Kanu from Kenya to face the charges pending against him in Nigeria.

The judge ordered that the case proceeds to trial on Counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13 and 15.

Five of the sustained charges have to do with alleged acts of terrorism, including professing to be a member and leader of IPOB, a proscribed organisation, issuing inciteful and deadly threats against individuals, and issuing directives, among others.

Count 15 has to do with the illegal importation of a radio transmitter he declared as used household items in violation of section 47 (2) (a) of the Criminal Code Act. Cap, C45 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

Full details of the counts:

Count 1

The prosecution alleged that Mr Kanu, of Afara Ukwu, Umuhahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, as a member of and leader of proscribed IPOB sometimes in September 2021, committed an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people by allegedly making a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria with intent to intimidate the population, threatened that the people would die and that the whole world would standstill. The offence is said to be punishable under section 1(2)(b) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2015.

Count 2

The prosecution accused him of committing an act in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria within the jurisdiction of the court with intent to intimidate the population, and issued a death threat against anyone who flouted his sit-at-home order.

Mr Kanu allegedly ordered that whoever flouted the order should write his/her will, and as a result banks, schools, markets, shopping malls, and fuel stations domiciled in the eastern states of Nigeria must not open for business. Citizens, and vehicular movements, in the eastern states of Nigeria, the prosecution said, were grounded as a result of the sit-at-home order.

The prosecution said the offence is punishable under section 1(2)(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Amendment Act (2013).

Count 3

The prosecution also alleged that on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021 within the jurisdiction of this court, Mr Kanu professed himself to be a member and leader of IPOB, a proscribed organisation in Nigeria.

This, the prosecution, said was an offence contrary to and punishable under section 16 of the Terrorism Prevision Amendment Act 2015.

Count 4

M Kanu also, allegedly, on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria inciting members of the public in Nigeria in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people to hunt and kill Nigerian security personnel.

The offence, according to the prosecution, is punishable under section 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013.

Count 5

Mr Kanu, also on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, allegedly made a broadcast, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, inciting members of the public in Nigeria to hunt and kill families of Nigerian security personnel.

The offence is said to be punishable under 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013.

Count 13

Mr Kanu alleged, between 2018 and 2021, made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria with the intent to incite violence, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, and directed members of the public to burn down every federal facility in Lagos resulting in major economic loss to the federal government.

The alleged offences, the prosecution says, are punishable under section 1(2) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Amendment) Act 2013.

Court 15

The prosecution also alleged that on diverse dates between March and April 2015, Mr Kanu was illegally imported into Nigeria and kept in Ubulisluzor in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, a radio transmitter known as Tram 50L concealed in a container of used household items which he declared as used household items.

The alleged offence was said to be contrary to section 47(2)(a) of Criminal Code Act CapC45 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

STRUCK OUT CHARGES

Counts 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 14 struck out by the judge are all terrorism charges relating to his alleged inciting broadcast between 2018 and 2021.

The said broadcasts allegedly incited members of the public to harm or kill security personnel, and destabilise the fundamental political and economic structures of Nigeria by inviting members of the public to stop the Anambra State elections.

He also allegedly incited members of the public to destroy or burn down transport and other public facilities in Lagos.

He also allegedly gave a sit-at-home order and threatened violence against anyone who violated the order.

The offences were said to be punishable under Section 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013.

Section 6

Mr Kanu was alleged to have, on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, inviting members of the public in Nigeria to attack officers of the Nigeria Police Force.

The offence is said to be punishable under Section 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013.

Section 7

Mr Kanu also allegedly made a broadcast, in 2018 and 2021, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, inviting members of the public in Nigeria to kill officers of the Nigerian police officers.

The alleged offence, according to the prosecution, is similarly punishable under Section 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act.

Section 8

The prosecution similarly alleged that, between 2018 and 2021, Mr Kanu made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria, directing members of IPOB, a proscribed organisation, to manufacture bombs.

The act, the federal government says, is an offence punishable under section 1 (2) (f) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.

Count 9

The prosecution also alleged that between 2018 and 2021, Mr Kanu made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, with the intent to destabilise the fundamental political and economic structures of Nigeria, invite members of the public to stop the Anambra State elections.

The offence is said to be punishable under section 1 (2) (h) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.

Count 10

The prosecution also alleged that on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, Mr Kanu made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, with the intent to destabilise the fundamental political and economic structures of Nigeria, invite members of the public to destroy public facilities.

The offence was said to be punishable under section 1 (2) (h) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.

Count 11

Also, between 2018 and 2021, Mr Kanu allegedly made a broadcast received and heard in Nigerian, with the intent to intimidate the population of Nigeria, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, threatening members of the public not to come out on Monday, May 31, 2021.

This alleged offence, the prosecution says, is punishable under section 1 (2) (h) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.

Count 12

Mr Kanu, also between 2018 and 2021, allegedly made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria within Nigeria, inviting members of the public to stage a violent revolution in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people.

The offence also allegedly violates and is punishable under section 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention) Amendment Act 2013.

Count 14

The IPOB leader, also on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, allegedly made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria with the intent to incite violence in furtherance of an act of terrorism against the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its people, directed members of the public to destroy public transport system in Lagos resulting in major economic loss to the government.

The prosecution says the alleged offence is punishable under section 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Deputy Senate President and sole All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant for the governorship of Delta State, Ovie Omo-Agege, Wednesday, released his manifesto detailing how he would rebuild the state if elected governor in 2003.

In a statement, Mr Omo-Agege described the 60-page manifesto as The EDGE to Build a New Delta (BAND), which according to him, covers critical areas of governance that would drive his governments agenda.

The primary election of the APC will be conducted on Thursday.

Mr Omo-Agege is from the Delta Central Senatorial District, which is favoured to produce the next governor of the state in line with the unwritten zoning arrangement in the state.

The incumbent governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, hails from the northern senatorial district.

The deputy senate president said, EDGE encapsulates Employment and Empowerment, Good Governance, Development and Enduring Peace and Security. It is a product of profound thought based on my practical experience both in the Executive and Legislative arms of government. Having served as Secretary to the Delta state government, and as a senator, and now as Deputy Senate President, I am privileged to have a panoramic view of the issues of governance.

He pointed out that It is these experiences I am bringing to bear on my plans for Delta state. Yes, governance is tough, but it is not all rocket science. So we are going to engage with vigour on all fronts, and build a brand new Delta.

Mr Omo-Agege said he was motivated by a desire to arrest receding hope among Deltans and build a state where the peoples future is brighter than their past.

I will address our scary unemployment rate by prioritizing public investment in agriculture and tech-driven entrepreneurship. My plan as stated in our manifesto will change the business ecosystem of the state and create an investment-friendly charter that makes access to funds and infrastructure a natural way of life.

Human capital development, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, housing and other labour-intensive interventions are at the core of our agenda. We shall establish a Delta State Employment, Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Programme (DEEP), and facilitate the establishment of cluster industries in each of the 25 LGAs of our state.

We will deliberately create an enabling environment for industries and manufacturing. Establish technology hubs, set up small business loan guarantee schemes, promote skills acquisition and set up a Career Development Centre for Deltans.

As part of our plans to promote ease of doing business, well undertake institutional and process reviews, remove red tape and bureaucratic bottlenecks, improve infrastructure, and re-engineer our peace and security strategies while establishing a one-stop repository of business knowledge and information, he said.

Mr Omo-Agege said his administration would guarantee the rights of women and invest their unique energy to drive social and economic development in the state.

He said he would also initiate a youth development program that moves them away from the hopelessness of today, connect them to creative endeavours and generate energies for honourable work.

He said while making aggressive investments in modern infrastructure capable of opening up the total economic energies of our people, the administration would lift the state out of a mono-economic dependency by launching diversification into tech and business incubation.

Our agenda is to build a compassionate state that guarantees support for the vulnerable among us, and ensures that our people live in peace and security, free from harassment, intimidation and militancy, Mr Omo-Agege said.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
A former Jigawa lawmaker, Bashir Adamu, Tuesday, announced his withdrawal from the Jigawa State governorship contest.

Mr Adamu, in a letter dated 24th May sent to the chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, stated that his decision to withdraw from the race followed an agreement reached among the aspirants.

In the letter, Mr Adamu wrote: That I am one of the gubernatorial election candidates in Jigawa State, have purchased the expression of interest and nomination form and I have also been screened accordingly.

That, as a very loyal member, who is sincerely concerned about the unity and progress, peaceful coexistence of the people of Jigawa State and the country at large;

Having consulted widely and in order to allow people to prevail, I hereby withdraw from the contest as a reconciliation gesture for the progress of the party.

As a Muslim with complete submission to the will of the Almighty Allah, I wish the party a very successful primary election in Jigawa State and I pray that whoever is the person who will fly the partys flag in the forthcoming 2023 election a resounding victory for the party InshaAllah, Mr Adamu wrote.

Due to Mr Adamus withdrawal from the race, only two aspirants  Sale Shehu, a former Minister of State for Works, and Mustapha Lamido, a businessman  are left in the race.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants in the state, on Tuesday, held a meeting with the aim of choosing a consensus candidate ahead of the partys primaries.

Auwal Sankara, the new media aide to Governor Mohammed Badaru, in a statement, said his principal is meeting the aspirants in a closed-door meeting.

He said all the nine aspirants attended the meeting.

The Governor summoned the aspirants to produce a consensus candidate amongst them, ahead of the primary elections, Mr Sankara said.

The APC governorship aspirants include Ahmed Mahmoud; Ahmed Zakari; Ibrahim Hassan; Umar Namadi; Sani Garin-Gabbas; Aminu Kani; Sabo Nakudu; Adam Mukhtar; and Farouk Aliyu.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The number of Nigerians studying in the United Kingdom (UK) has risen from 13,020 in the 2019/2020 academic session to 21,305 by the 2020/2021 session.

The figure, which amounts to an almost 64 per cent increase within a year, is confirmed by data from the UKs Higher Education Statistics Agency.

The UK has also witnessed a 13.08 per cent increase in the international student enrolment at the postgraduate level between 2019/20 and 2020/21.

The country currently houses 605,130 students in the 2020/2021 session, up from 556,625 in the previous academic session.

Alma Miftari, a representative of Erudera, a higher education search platform, believes that the unprecedented rise in the number of Nigerian students in the UK is due to the prestigious reputation of UK universities, their history, quality education, and the multicultural environment they offer.

She said: The UK is the second most popular study destination in the world, counting 605,130 international students by the last academic year, the highest it ever had. The reputation of universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, and the UK higher education system continues to engross ambitious people who want to make a bigger impact

Right after the UK, the top other countries Nigerians choose are The United States, Canada, Malaysia, Ukraine, South Africa, and Germany.

However, the United Kingdom remained the worlds second most popular study destination among international students, just after the US, with 605,130 international students during the 2020/2021 academic session.

Although the UK and the United States (US) are destination choices for many Nigerian students, the US witnessed a decrease in enrolment this year as a result of COVID19 vaccination protocols.

Nigerian students in the UK

The number of Nigerian students in the UK has always been on the increase, but the latest increase rate is unprecedented.

For instance, the number rose from 10,685 in the 2017/18 session to 10,810 in 2018/19 and 13,020 in 2019/20 before 21,305 students during the 2020/21 academic sessions.

The data also revealed that Nigeria is the third non-EU country with the most students in the UK with 21,305 students currently enrolled in UK institutions, ahead of the United States with 19,220 students.

China and India with 143,820 and 84,555 students respectively have the highest number of students in the UK.

Right after Nigeria, other African countries with high number of students in the UK by the last academic year are Egypt (3,260), Ghana (2,795), Kenya (2,640), South Africa (2,060), and Morocco (1,265).

According to the data, over 21,000 Nigerians are settled majorly across England (16,980) Scotland (2,655) Wales (935) Northern Ireland (740).

Right after the UK, the top other countries Nigerian choose are The United States, Canada, Malaysia, Ukraine, South Africa, Germany, etc.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Nigeria has the highest number of African students in the U.S., with 12,860 students enrolled in the 2020/2021 academic year.

This is despite a 6.6 per cent decrease from 13,762 students in the previous 2019/2020 academic year, resulting from the stringent COVID19 vaccination protocols in the US at the beginning of the year.

According to Erudera, the three top subjects of study for international students in the UK were Business and Management, Engineering and Technology, and Social Sciences.

Erudera noted that the largest number of international students in the UK study Business and Management (177,715). Engineering and Technology is the second most chosen subject of study for international students in the UK with 63,375 students.

Social Sciences and Computing rank third and fourth respectively in the number of international students enrolled in such disciplines.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The South-east Council of Traditional Rulers and Igbo Archbishops and Bishops on Peace and Conflict Resolution have expressed their support for the alignment of presidential aspirants from the region ahead of 2023.

The group also insisted that it is the turn of the South-east to produce the countrys president in 2023 in the spirit of equity and fairness.

Seven presidential aspirants from the South-east under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) had, on Sunday, resolved to support any aspirant from the region who gets the partys presidential ticket for the 2023 general election.

The decision came about a month after their counterparts in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took similar decision to ensure the emergence of a candidate from the region ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

In a statement, on Tuesday, jointly signed by the chairman of the group, Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, and its Secretary, Chibuzo Raphael Opoko, a representative of the Igbo Bishops, the group commended the aspirants for the decision.

It also thanked Nigerians from other regions of the country who have shown support for the regions quest to produce a president in 2023 just as it frowned against those allegedly frustrating the efforts.

Some individuals have been de-marketing the south-east region and their presidential aspirants, thereby undermining the shared goal of a president of Nigeria from the South-east region in 2023.

The joint body is guided by a moral compass in calling the attention of those actively undermining the aspirations of all Nigerians (who are supporting the regions presidency quest) to demonstrate and harness inclusiveness, equity and merit through the emergence of candidates from the South-east region, that they act against moment of history, the group stated.

While recalling that the region has been supporting candidates from other regions of the country since 1999, the group appealed to other regions of the country to reciprocate the gesture by supporting candidates from the South-east in their various political parties presidential parties.

We insist that truth should speak for itself alone: it is the turn of the South-east and we call on all Nigerians and especially the delegates at the presidential primaries to select one of the South-east candidates as the flag bearer for their party in the forthcoming election.

Each is qualified and each will lead in the tradition of past presidents, as a leader for all. Their antecedents promise a leadership that will change the tide and reverse the dwindling fortunes of Nigeria, it added.

Background

There have been calls from the South-east leaders that the region should be allowed to produce a president for the first time in 2023.

Some leaders of the region have argued that the emergence of a Nigerian president from the South-east would end the Biafran agitation and the insecurity in the region.

Both the ruling APC and the opposition PDP, the two dominant political parties in Nigeria, have been under pressure to pick their presidential candidates from the South-east.

The APC has yet to take a formal decision on zoning its presidential ticket to the region, while the PDP has thrown its ticket open.

The two parties have scheduled their presidential primaries to be held in May with over 11 aspirants from the South-east in the race for the parties tickets.

While PDP slated its primaries to hold from May 28 to May 29, the APC fixed its primaries for May 29 to May 30.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The governor of Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle, has asked the Nigerian military to take the fight to the doorstep of the bandits terrorising residents of the state and the entire North-west region of the country.

Mr Matawalle was speaking when he received a team of members of the Army War College of Nigeria who visited him on Tuesday.

The governor told the military to take the fight to the bandits rather than wait for the bandits to strike before responding.

While admitting the military is overstretched and in need of modern equipment, he said more is expected of it.

We understand that the military is overstretched due to the multiple security challenges facing the country as a result of which all the men in the service are currently engaged, he said.

As part of efforts to boost the capacity of the military, the governor said retired military officers should be re-engaged.

He said the Federal Government should continue in its drive to buy more modern equipment for the military.

The leader of the team, U.U Bassey, a major general, commended Governor Matawalle for the support he renders to officers in the state.

He said the military will do all it can to end the security challenges of the country.

The team gave the governor an award of excellence.

Zamfara, like in other areas in Nigerias North-west region, is convulsing under the attacks by gunmen locally called bandits who attack mostly rural communities and travellers.

These bandits have been blamed for killing thousands of people. They have also abducted many more in what is shaping to become one of the worst kidnap-for-ransom syndicates in the history of the country.

In the face of the failure of the government to protect residents of the area, many communities have set up vigilante groups to protect residents from attacks by 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 Hausa communities in the area.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
A former member of the House of Representatives, David Ombugadu, has clinched the gubernatorial ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nasarawa State.

The Chairman of the partys electoral committee in the state, Bature Musa, announced Mr Ombugadu as the winner of the governorship primary election held on Wednesday in Nasarawa, Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state.

Mr Musa said Mr Ombugadu polled 247 votes to defeat Nuhu Angbazo, a retired major general, who scored 203 votes.

Having secured a total of 247, I thereby, declare Hon. David Ombugadu the winner of the Nasarawa State Governorship primary election, he said.

He said a total of 450 delegates were accredited and all voted in the election.

Reacting in an interview with journalists, Mr Ombugadu attributed his victory to God and promised to work hard to ensure that PDP takes over governance in the state in 2023.

Also reacting to the result of the primaries, Mr Angbazo accepted the outcome, describing the conduct as free and fair.

I want to make it very clear that the organisation of the whole process was very transparent. It was done in a way that there is no need for me to think otherwise, he said.

He pledged to work closely with Mr Ombugadu to ensure victory for PDP in the general election.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Labaran Maku, a former Minister of Information and an aspirant had earlier withdrawn from the contest before voting began.

(NAN)

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Given what Africa has been through, including egregious human rights violations by imperialistic forces, nodding in approval as defenceless people are bombed out of their homes is not something to celebrate under any circumstances. Being neutral is also not an option since it is at odds with the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which takes a moral high ground on territorial integrity, respect for human rights and the rule of law.

This war is about ethnic superiority  we need to understand this. This was the passionate declaration of a Belarusian citizen I met at Zigzag cafe in Kyiv during my recent visit to Ukraine as part of Amnesty Internationals fact-finding mission. The blackened scars on Kyivs once-pristine buildings exposed the war in a tone that reminded me of the horrors of Rwanda. Yes, and they have always called us little Russians, was the response from a Ukrainian, whose apartment building adjoined one that was destroyed by Russian missiles.

As an African, imperialism makes me nervous and I am absolutely terrified of neocolonialism, as I was born in Zambia, which was colonised by Britain and gained its independence in 1964. Ukraine may be far removed from the hinterland of Kalomo in southern Zambia, where my ancestors came from, yet something about what is happening in Ukraine feels terrifyingly familiar.

Terror, terror and more terror has been unleashed on Ukraine since Vladimir Putin decided to send his troops and warships to annex Donetsk and Luhansk in the eastern part of the country. Like others around the world, Africans are well aware of the catastrophe this war has wrought, yet many support Vladimir Putin or are ambivalent about Russias invasion. There are historical reasons for this ambivalence, including the friendships forged between African nations and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. These are legitimate explanations that cant be ignored, yet they are also increasingly redundant or even outright dangerous if such associations do not shift.

Whether we like it or not, the Russia-Ukraine war has significant downstream impacts, and nowhere will these be felt more harmfully than in Africa, which is home to the largest percentage of people living in poverty globally. As the conflict escalated, we learnt that more than 15,000 African students were enrolled at Ukrainian universities. Some have already abandoned their studies in Medicine and other fields due to the war and returned home. We cannot underestimate their potential future contributions to their home countries. There was outrage over the treatment of black Africans  which was acknowledged by Ukrainian authorities  who tried to flee Ukraine when the war broke out on February 24. But this is the tip of the iceberg.

Africa risks going down a rabbit hole if it ignores the impact this invasion is likely to have on our continents freedoms and development. By supporting an invasion of a sovereign country or nodding in puffed-up approval based on the assumption that Ukraine chose to align its values with the West, those in support of the aggression are essentially saying it is okay for Putin to attack as long as they attack people we dont agree with. By this logic, it is fine for someone to invade a persons home if they believe that person aligns themselves with a neighbour the invader disagrees with. By this logic, choice does not matter  might does.

Africans need to understand that Russian aggression is as immoral and harmful as Western colonialism or imperialism; that attacks on civilian objects in Borodyanka and Bucha are as catastrophic as the decimation of Hereros by Germans in the 1900s, and that the siege of Mariupol is as savage as the continued attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

This fragile rationale is an affront to the values of freedom that any rights-respecting society must maintain or aspire to. The nostalgic value of Russias support for some liberation struggles in Africa may be misplaced considering Moscows interest in the continent has always been tangential, despite the Soviet Unions significant footprint in Africa during the Cold War. One must remember that Ukraine once formed part of the Soviet Union. Russias interest now should be seen as the actions of a country that seeks to limit the influence of other hegemonic powers, such as the U.S. and China.

Russias interest has always been to maintain its prestigious position as a global power. It has become notorious in recent years for propping-up oppressive regimes in Africa, including in Libya, Sudan and Zimbabwe, in order to neutralise freedoms. What is different between Russias approach and the Wests thirst for global hegemony?

During the African liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s, while Cuba took the moral high ground and fought Western imperialistic forces by sending ground troops and other technical and material support, the Soviet Union (including Ukraine) took a measured approach to minimise risk by providing political, economic and technical aid to friendly countries. It acted out of a desire to counter the influence of others, not an undying love for the African people. It still does.

Africans need to understand that Russian aggression is as immoral and harmful as Western colonialism or imperialism; that attacks on civilian objects in Borodyanka and Bucha are as catastrophic as the decimation of Hereros by Germans in the 1900s, and that the siege of Mariupol is as savage as the continued attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In Bucha and Borodyanka, I saw the rubble still piled up. Rubble that might take weeks, months or even years to clear. Lives will continue to be lost or forever damaged. This is the story of many Africans. Africa must not forget its history. The continent paid in blood and lives to be free from the yoke of colonialism. It should condemn Putins belligerence. It must not remain indifferent to the suffering of millions of Ukrainians. Such pain still continues in Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, the DRC, Central African Republic, Mali the list goes on.

While we may not like the racism exhibited by Europeans, even by Ukrainians, taking a stand and condemning Russia should not be synonymous with standing with Ukraine hook, line and sinker, or supporting the West. Taking a principled stance and condemning human rights violations under any circumstances is right, regardless of the colour of peoples skins or where they come from.

It is frustrating to see Africans enthused by their politicians engagement in whataboutism. Some have supported decisions not to support the UN resolution to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine. In doing so, they join Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Russia and Syria, all countries whose authorities have dubious human rights records.

Given what Africa has been through, including egregious human rights violations by imperialistic forces, nodding in approval as defenceless people are bombed out of their homes is not something to celebrate under any circumstances. Being neutral is also not an option since it is at odds with the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which takes a moral high ground on territorial integrity, respect for human rights and the rule of law. The Act also recalls the heroic struggles waged by our peoples and our countries for political independence, human dignity, and economic emancipation. With such lofty recollections, it is, therefore, contrarian to engage in the whataboutism that has characterised the war on Ukraine.

In its latest briefing, He is Not Coming Back, Amnesty International documents the vicious executions of civilians and war crimes committed by Russian forces in the northwestern areas of Kyiv Oblast. The stories in the report are as harrowing as they are unbelievable. There is nothing in those attacks that supports Putins statement before he sent his troops to invade Ukraine, in which he said: Our policy is based on freedom, the freedom of choice for everyone to independently determine their own future and the future of their children.

While we may not like the racism exhibited by Europeans, even by Ukrainians, taking a stand and condemning Russia should not be synonymous with standing with Ukraine hook, line and sinker, or supporting the West. Taking a principled stance and condemning human rights violations under any circumstances is right, regardless of the colour of peoples skins or where they come from.

Muleya Mwananyanda is Amnesty Internationals Deputy Director for Research in southern Africa. She recently returned from Ukraine as part of Amnestys delegation to the country, where she witnessed first-hand human suffering as a result of Russias invasion and war of aggression.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Governorship primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday following protests by four of the five aspirants contesting the election.

The protesting aspirants, Sani Kutigi, Sidi Abdul, Abdulrahman Gimba and Abubakar Jankara, insisted that delegates must identify themselves properly before they could be accredited.

A total of 800 delegates were expected to elect the partys governorship candidate.

The four aspirants took the decision that all delegates must identify themselves properly after an emergency meeting they held in one of the offices at the PDP secretariat, venue of the election.

Mr Jankara, who spoke on behalf of the aggrieved aspirants, conveyed their decision to the Chairman of the electoral panel and Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.

The protesters insisted that delegates must present means of identification, which should be a national drivers licence, a national identity card or international passport.

Efforts by Mr Ewhrudjakpo to pacify the aspirants to agree that the delegates be identified by the chairmen of their respective local governments failed.

The four aspirants also intimated the head of the security team at the venue, Adedeji Taiwo, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, who advised them to put their complaint in writing.

Mr Ewhrudjakpo later informed journalists that he had directed all delegates to get means of identification and shifted the exercise to Thursday.

(NAN)

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has denied reports circulating the internet that a plane crashed in the Ikeja area of Lagos State.

On Wednesday, several reports surfaced that a plane crashed in Ikeja, causing panic among road users.

But the airport authority, in a statement on its Twitter handle, said that the plane was being transported to a new buyer.

In the videos shared online, the wingless plane was tied and transported on a flatbed trailer.

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria would like to inform the general public to disregard the news making the rounds on social media about an alleged crash at Ikeja Airport, the statement read.

The aircraft was sold by the owner to a buyer, who was taking it to its final destination.

In June 2013, Lagos residents witnessed a similar occurrence of an aircraft being transported along the road in Mangoro.

Many social media users believed that the plane had crashed until the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) waded in to debunk the rumours that a scrap aircraft was being evacuated from the Murtala Mohammed Airport en route to Badagry.

WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello's Roadmap to Hope 2023
Eskute's new Polluno Pro E-City Bike is an upgraded version of the brand's highly popular Wayfarer Pro, which debuted on the market in 2021. The Polluno Pro features a sleek single tube design that looks great on the road, as well as an eMTB-grade 250W Bafang M200 mid-drive motor that enables riders to tackle new terrains with ease.

Riders can go further and faster thanks to a top-notch 36V 14.5Ah integrated battery system with Samsung cells. With 522Wh of capacity, the Polluno Pro's battery lasts an impressive 80 miles on a single charge and delivers long-lasting performance on the go. The built-in dual speed and torque sensor also manages the power delivered to the pedals with a maximum torque of up to 65 N.m and top speeds of 15.5mph. This smart drive management system precisely measures the force applied to the pedals and commands the motor to engage only when necessary - allowing commuters to conserve energy and enjoy a more convenient riding experience.

Eskute's partnership with Geekbuying is a testament to the company's vision to build an accessible brand that celebrates a free, active and sustainable way of life. Since launching in 2021, Eskute has taken the global e-bike market by storm and achieved outstanding sales and market performance with its high-quality, cost-effective electric bicycles. In April 2022, the brand debuted its new rear-mounted Polluno Electric City Bike, which sold out within a month of its launch and continues to be in high demand. When Eskute announced it would also unveil its new Polluno Pro in 2022, Geekbuying signaled its interest in distributing the product and the two brands partnered together for the global launch of the commuter e-bike.

"We are thrilled to launch our new Polluno Pro Commuter Electric Bike on the Geekbuying platform. Geekbuying strictly vets all products before listing them on their website, and the fact that the Polluno Pro has met Geekbuying's stringent selection criteria cements Eskute's product advantages and the strength of our brand in the market. By partnering with Geekbuying, we hope to provide consumers with more active and green transportation options," said Alan, CEO of Eskute.

The new Polluno Pro is available now on Geekbuying at the discounted price of 1899, which is 100 lower than RRP. Consumers will also enjoy fast delivery between 5-8 working days and rest easy knowing their new electric bike has a two-year warranty in Europe, with a three-year warranty in Spain.

To take advantage of Polluno Pro promotion, visit the Geekbuying website. Alternatively, visit Eskute's website to learn more about the Polluno Pro.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1822450/Geekbuying_x_Eskute.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1728588/Eskute_logo_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Eskute
SINGAPORE, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Synechron, Inc. , a leading digital transformation consulting firm, has been named a Certified Great Place to Work in Singapore. Synechron achieved this prestigious certification based on direct feedback from its Singaporean employees. Overall, 95% of those employees deemed the company a best place to work, as compared to 53% of employees at a typical global company.

A notable 100% of Singaporean employees said that Synechron enables them to take time off from work when necessary and that management is approachable and easy to talk to. Further, they believe their customers would rate the company's services as 'excellent'. Additionally, 95% of Synechron's employees enthused that when joining the company, they were made to feel welcomed, and received the resources and equipment they needed for their jobs.

This is Synechron's third recent great employer award, as judged by its employees. This certified Great Place To Work in Singapore award follows its recent award as Global Best Places to Work for 2022 this past March, and as a Great Place To Work in Amsterdam certified award winner in December 2021.

Avtar Matharu, Head of Synechron APAC, commented, "Synechron is honored by this recognition, and proud of our amazing group of talented employees who work every day to successfully implement integral, industry-leading solutions. This team has contributed greatly to the exponential growth that Synechron has experienced across the APAC region, and globally." He added, "Our passion and drive fuel our Singapore team to continue innovating and proves that working together we can accomplish amazing things."

Mihir Shah, Managing Director, Head of Europe, Middle East and APAC at Synechron, commented, "We are incredibly proud of our people, our culture and our work ethic, all being recognized. This, combined with our previous best employer awards, are testament to our wonderful teams and the tenacity and passion they bring to their jobs every day."

Synechron has always sought ways to recognize, support, and provide its 14,000 global employees with the tools to build their careers. Of note, Synechron has provided no-cost access to the Udemy 24/7 online learning and development platform and on-site and virtual trainings that provide opportunities to reskill/upskill. Synechron also champions its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and CSR programs across all offices globally.

To see more about Synechron's Great Place To Work in Singapore certified award 2022, please visit: https://greatplacetowork.com.sg/gptwcertified/synechron/

About Synechron:

Synechron is a leading digital transformation consulting firm focused on the financial services industry and is working to Accelerate Digital initiatives for banks, asset managers, and insurance companies around the world. Synechron uniquely delivers these firms end-to-end Digital, Consulting, and Technology capabilities with expertise in wholesale banking, wealth management, and insurance as well as emerging technologies like Blockchain, AI, and Data Science. Based in New York, the company has 22 offices around the globe, with over 10,000 employees producing over $650M+ in annual revenue. For more information on the company, please visit our LinkedIn community or our website.

For more information, please contact:

Rashmi Joshi

Associate Director - Marketing and Communications

Synechron

E: rashmi.joshi@synechron.com

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1510767/Synechron_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Synechron
FIA Global, one of India's leading online banking and financial services platform and the go-to remittance solution for the Nepali migrant labour force, predicts rapid growth in Nepali remittances in 2022

NEW DELHI, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FIA Global, one of India's leading online banking and financial services provider with over 50 million customers, has been the platform of choice for Nepali migrants to send money back home.

In the last quarter, FIA has witnessed an increase in remittances to Nepal on its digital-remittance platform, iRemit. As the name suggests, iRemit is an online platform that helps customers remit money and has been the one-stop remittance platform for Nepalese workers in India to remit funds  from 'sachet' amounts to maximum permissible  back home to their families and friends.

FIA's digital-remittance platform does over 13,000 transactions every month, with a majority of Nepali users living and working in Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh. FIA also supports close to 2 Lakh recipients in Nepal for whom it is a point of loyalty and trust that they place on the channel.

During the pandemic, migrant labourers were left stranded with no access to money or the option to relocate to their natives. The process of remitting money amid restrictions was likely observed to be a long haul. That was the foremost problem they had to be contended with.

But a lot has changed in the post-world of pandemic. On slow emergence from the pandemic, the economy is now on the path of growth again. Businesses in India have started to gather momentum and are recruiting from the migrant pool, including Nepali workers. Understanding the dynamic nature of the jobs and economy, the workers are more aware this time and would prioritise money remission more than ever. Learning from past scenarios, they will remit frequently to ensure that their families need to have access to money in troubled times.

One of the predominant challenges of remitting money is to find the nearest branch of one's respective banking partner amid the hassles of urgency. The second problem is the question of trust. Building trust is something FIA remitters work on. They work on digital receipts that are automated and keep the customer apprised on the process and time-taken for the remittance to happen. Each transaction is completed before moving onto the next customer. Usually, the FIA agent belongs to the community he or she services and that makes it all the more easier to build customer loyalty and trust.

FIA's digital platform, FINTAP eliminates all these challenges and has gained the trust and loyalty of the Nepali migrant labourers who are able to remit money home even from remote areas of India on a daily or weekly basis.

FIA has partnered with Prabhu Bank and Global IME Bank in Nepal for a seamless flow of remittances. FIA's platform also offers human intervention to support and address the queries of users in their native language.

Rahul Yajnik, Sales head, FIA Global  Financial Inclusion commented, "Personal remittances have contributed nearly 25% to Nepal's GDP in the last five years, according to the World Bank. FIA's digital-remittance model indicates the necessity of a reliable, easily accessible platform that enables and empowers people across borders to send and receive money with confidence. Our model ensures that the remitter and receiver are not disadvantaged in any way due to challenges related to literacy, awareness or language."

These workers also have a latent need for other financial services, such as health insurance, life insurance, accident insurance, and more. Financial institutions in both countries are leveraging this data to offer additional sachet financial services, such as insurance or small loans, which are customisable, based on the requirements of these workers.

About FIA Global

FIA Global is India's leading fintech, providing digital solutions to the unbanked and underbanked in India.

FIA partners with financial institutions and banks to create awareness, promote and enroll people in remote parts of the country into its financial services programs. Financial institutions can customize their products and services based on the needs of their customers, including low premium and seasonal EMI-based products.

FIA's network of Business Correspondents has helped bring doorstep banking and financial services to 95% of India covering more than 75,000 villages and is making financial inclusion simple and a part of every Indian's reality.

FIA was founded in 2012 and has since received funding from the World Bank & the Millennium Alliance consortium. For more information on FIA's array of financial services and solutions, please visit https://fiaglobal.com/

SOURCE FIA Global
In partnership with Lexus India, guests travelling on JAL's Business Class from now till 18 May 2023, will be able to enjoy a complimentary airport transfer after arriving at Bengaluru Airport to the destination of their choice within 75km radius. Guests simply need to inform about their travel in advance and a luxurious Lexus will await their arrival at Bangalore airport to chauffeur them safely and comfortably to their desired destination.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Kenichi Takano - Director, Japan Airlines Bengaluru, said, "At a time when international travel is gradually returning, Japan Airlines is extremely happy to be partnering with like-minded companies such as Lexus. As a Japanese company, JAL understands the essence and importance of embracing Omotenashi. It is our hope that this additional service will provide our customers with a seamless travel experience."

Commenting on this collaboration; Naveen Soni, President- Lexus India, said, "We at Lexus India have always believed in providing our guests with an unmatched experience of comfort &luxury; associating with an airline that shares similar values, our idea is to provide a smooth and luxurious experience to our guests, together. Hospitality at its finest with efforts crafted solely for an unforgettable experience."

ABOUT JAPAN AIRLINES

Japan Airlines was founded in 1951 and launched nonstop flights between Bengaluru and Tokyo in 2020 . JAL currently operates weekly return flights from Bengaluru and Tokyo Narita. A member of the oneworld alliance, the airline now reaches 368 airports in 63 countries and regions together with its codeshare partners. Awarded as one of the most punctual major international airlines and a certified 5-Star Airline by Skytrax, JAL is committed to providing customers with the highest levels of flight safety and quality in every aspect of its service, and aims to become one of the most preferred and valued airlines in the world.

ABOUT LEXUS

Lexus launched in 1989 with a flagship sedan and a guest experience that helped define the premium automotive industry. In 1998, Lexus introduced the luxury crossover category with the launch of the Lexus RX. The luxury hybrid sales leader, Lexus delivered the world's first luxury hybrid and has since sold over 2 million hybrid vehicles. (as of the end of Dec,2021)

A global luxury automotive brand with an unwavering commitment to bold, uncompromising design, exceptional craftsmanship, and exhilarating performance, Lexus has developed its lineup to meet the needs of the next generation of global luxury guests and is currently available in over 90 countries worldwide.

Lexus associates/team members across the world are dedicated to crafting amazing experiences that are uniquely Lexus, and that excite and change the world.

Website: www.lexusindia.co.in

Facebook: @LexusIndia

Instagram: @lexus_india

#ExperienceAmazing #LexusNX

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1825822/Lexus_Associates_with_JAL.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1743961/Lexus_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Lexus India
RALEIGH, N.C., May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After backing NASCAR driver Timmy Hill at the Charlotte ROVAL from 2018 to 2020, including an appearance in the 2019 Memorial Day Weekend Xfinity Series race, LeithCars.com is excited to be back onboard with Hill as he prepares for Friday night's North Carolina Education Lottery 200.

Hill Motorsports no. 56 Toyota Tundra paint scheme for NASCAR Truck Series race at Charlotte on May 27th, 2022.

Friday night's race, however, will be the first time that Leith has partnered with Hill's own race team, Hill Motorsports, having previously sponsored the number 66 Toyota Camry and Supra NASCAR Xfinity cars, driven by Timmy Hill for MBM (Motorsports Business Management). Hill co-founded his own racing team in 2019 to compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with his brother, Tyler Hill, fielding a pair of Chevrolet race trucks.

"We made the switch over to Toyota this season, we've been very pleased with it," said Hill, in a recent interview for Leith's Zero to 60TV series. "Our Toyota Tundra Pro's, they've come out beautifully. I always love working with Leith Cars and enjoy having them on our cars, or in this case, our truck. For this race, we love Memorial Day Weekend and what it represents. We'll have a patriotic scheme on the truck, and we look forward to incorporating Leith Cars into that scheme and really having a great race in Charlotte."

"We're really happy to be back onboard with Timmy, especially at Charlotte Motor Speedway," said Mark Arsen with Leith. "Timmy's been having some top-20 finishes in the new Tundra, so we're looking forward to what the team can do Friday night."

The green flag will drop on Friday night's truck race at 8:30 pm ET and will be broadcast on FS1, The Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM.

LeithCars.com is one of the largest automotive groups in North Carolina. A family business created in Raleigh, Leith Cars has been serving the Triangle community for over 50 years, incorporating over 1,900 North Carolinians into its family. The number one place to buy vehicles in the Raleigh metro area for five years running, according to a Marshall Marketing Survey, the auto dealer has 39 franchise locations throughout the state. For more information, visit www.leithcars.com.

Media Contact:

Mark Arsen

919-832-3232

[email protected]

SOURCE LeithCars.com
CHICAGO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "3D Cell Culture Market by Type (Hydrogel, ECM, Hanging Drop, Bioreactor, Microfluidics, Magnetic Levitation), Application (Cancer, Stem Cell, Toxicology, Tissue Engineering), End User (Pharma, Biotech, Research, Cosmetics), Region - Global Forecast to 2027", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is valued at an estimated USD 1.3 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 2.6 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 15.6% during the forecast period.

Browse in-depth TOC on "3D Cell Culture Market"

204  Tables

39  Figures

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The growth of this market is mainly driven by factors such as the increasing focus on developing alternative methods to animal testing, growing focus on personalized medicine, increasing incidence of chronic diseases, and the availability of funding for research. On the other hand, a lack of infrastructure for 3D cell-based research and the high cost of cell biology research are expected to restrain the growth of this market during the forecast period.

The Scaffold-based 3D cell cultures subsegment accounted for the largest share of the type segment in the 3D cell culture market in 2021.



Based on type, the market is segmented into scaffold-based 3D cell cultures, scaffold-free 3D cell cultures, microfluidics-based 3D cell cultures, and magnetic & bioprinted 3D cell cultures. Scaffold-based 3D cell cultures accounted for the largest share in 2021. The advantages of scaffolds in 3D cell culture, such as structural rigidity, the availability of attachment points, and support, have greatly driven the preference for scaffold-based 3D cell cultures and ensured the large share of this segment.

The Cancer & stem cell research subsegment accounted for the largest share of the application segment in the 3D cell culture market in 2021.



Based on application, the market is segmented into cancer & stem cell research, drug discovery & toxicology testing, and tissue engineering & regenerative medicine. Cancer & stem cell research accounted for the largest market share of the market in 2021. The increasing prevalence of cancer and significant funding initiatives for cancer research from the government and the private sector are major factors driving the growth of this application segment.

The Pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies subsegment accounted for the largest share of the application segment in the 3D cell culture market in 2021.



Based on end users, the market is segmented into pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, research institutes, the cosmetics industry, and other end users. Pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies accounted for largest share of the 3D cell culture market in 2021. The presence of many pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, rising R&D spending, and the growing preference for alternative testing models over animal techniques are the key market drivers in this end-user segment.

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The Asia Pacific region is the fastest-growing region of the 3D cell culture market in 2021.



Based on region, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. In 2021, North America dominated the market, followed by Europe. The increasing incidence of cancer and a well-established pharmaceutical & biotechnology industry are key factors supporting the growth of the North American market. The APAC market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Key players in the 3D Cell Culture market include Thermo Fisher Scientific (US), Merck KGaA (Germany), Corning Incorporated (US), Lonza Group AG (Switzerland), Avantor Inc. (US), Tecan Trading AG (Switzerland), REPROCELL Inc. (Japan), 3D Biotek LLC. (US), Emulate Inc. (US), CN Bio Innovations (UK), Synthecon Incorporated (US), and InSphero AG (Switzerland).

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Browse Adjacent Markets: Biotechnology Market Research Reports & Consulting

Browse Related Reports:



Regenerative Medicine Market by Product (Cell Therapies (Autologous, Allogenic), Stemcell Therapy, Tissue-engineering, Gene Therapy), Application (Wound Care, Musculoskeletal, Oncology, Dental, Ocular), Geography - Global Forecast to 2025

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/regenerative-medicine-market-65442579.html

Cell Culture Market by Product (Consumables (Media, Serum, Reagent, Vessels), Equipment (Bioreactor, Centrifuge, Incubator)), Application (Vaccines, mAbs, Diagnostics, Tissue Engineering), End User (Pharma, Biotech, Hospital) - Global Forecast to 2026

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cell-culture-market-media-sera-reagents-559.html

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Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

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MarketsandMarkets INC.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
WEST OMAHA, Neb., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pedego Electric Bikes, an award-winning electric bike company with sixteen unique models, and over 200 brick and mortar stores, welcomes its newest store in West Omaha, Nebraska. This Pedego store is independently owned and operated by Lester Snyder and is the first and only store in the state.

Photo download:

http://www.kcomm.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Lester.png

Image Caption: Store owner Lester Snyder

Snyder is a local entrepreneur, owning five med spa service facilities and two alternative therapy centers. Snyder has seen firsthand the growing popularity of e-bikes and has enjoyed the benefits of electric biking. He knew W. Omaha would serve as the perfect location for a Pedego store where he could seek to provide health services that would allow customers to best understand how to incorporate and enjoy physical activity at their own pace, gain new health benefits and enjoy the outdoors. Opening a Pedego store has allowed Snyder to share his goal.

"Prioritizing living a healthy lifestyle is a vital puzzle piece to living a fulfilling life," said Lester Snyder, owner of Pedego West Omaha. "Even the smallest change such as getting on a bike can boost your mood, bring friends and family together, enjoy the outdoors and positively impact your body in the meantime. I look forward to many successful years serving my community with this great product I truly love and believe in."

While electric bikes have been designed as a leisure tool, using the pedal-assist modes have been a useful tool in injury rehabilitation. These rehabilitation claims are supported through brain studies such as this Science Daily and Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology at Oxford. With regular e-bike outings, users may see improvements related to blood pressure, balance, flexibility and increased energy.

Headquartered in Orange County, California, Pedego Electric Bikes has found great success in their non-franchise brick and mortar retail model over the past 13 years, and continues to hit the throttle on opening physical stores. Pedego has built a brand on a complete line of class-leading electric bikes, from cruisers to fat tire trail bikes, an industry leading 5-year warranty and a network of locally-owned dealers available for customization and regular on-site servicing. With Pedego's independent store growth, they are creating economic local growth in a profitable and booming industry.

Pedego has a unique culture of business leadership and has cultivated a massive community of Pedego enthusiasts. "Everything electric is just hot," says Don DiCostanzo, CEO of Pedego. "We are a lifestyle brand contributing to economic growth and entrepreneur opportunities. Whether it be a fun family activity, a serious sport, to reach personal health goals or for electric transportation, Pedego has an option for any activity that most everyone can enjoy - no matter the ability."

Pedego West Omaha is now open for business and will be celebrating its grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Jul. 30, 2022.

Pedego West Omaha also offers rental bikes perfect for riding the Paths of Discovery, allowing riders to take full advantage of Omaha's sophisticated system of interconnected paved trails. In an effort to even further integrate themselves into the community, the store will also be partnering with and attending the Radler Bike Festival in June, where they will be volunteering to help riders and support the Arbor Day Foundation.

To find a Pedego store near you please visit www.pedego.com/dealers .

About Pedego West Omaha

Pedego West Omaha is located at 14440 F Street Ste 109 Omaha, NE 68137, and offers e-bikes for rental and purchase, as well as bike mechanic service and to suit all Pedego e-biking needs. Their business hours are 11am-7pm Tuesday through Friday, Saturday 10 am-5pm, and Sunday 12pm-5pm. To learn more about Pedego's full-range lineup of electric bikes and try one for free, contact [email protected] or call (402) 905-1401.

About Pedego Electric Bikes

Founded in 2008, Pedego is the leading brand of electric bikes in North America. Pedego is famous for premium quality, five-star local service, and an industry leading five year warranty. A complete line of 16 electric bike models are available at over 200 locally-owned Pedego stores that offer sales, rentals, tours, accessories, and service. Visit www.pedego.com to find a store and try a Pedego.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Rachel Devany

KCOMM

[email protected]

SOURCE Pedego Electric Bikes
American Century Investments' impact investing survey shows growth of greenwashing concerns and individuals' willingness to sacrifice returns for impact

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The appeal of impact investing has reached all-time highs in the fifth impact investing survey by global asset manager American Century Investments. Respondents were surveyed at the end of 2021 in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. Responses reflected rising interest in impact investing compared to results going back to 2016 in the U.S, to 2019 for the UK and 2020 for Germany. Australia was new to the 2021 survey.

"We see a rising demand across geography, generation and gender, along with favorable economics and a supportive political and regulatory environment that will drive changes and advances in sustainable investing over the coming year," said Sarah Bratton Hughes, senior vice president and head of ESG and sustainable investing for American Century Investments.

Appeal of impact investing increases across geography, generation and gender

In the United States, 61% of respondents found impact investing appealing, up from 51% in 2020. Similarly, the appeal in the United Kingdom rose to 63%, up from 48% in 2020. The appeal in Germany increased from 35% in 2020 to 44% in 2021. The lower appeal of impact investing by German respondents relative to the other countries was driven by the statistically significant larger share who reported they didn't know if it was appealing or not (35%) compared to the U.S. (17%), UK (17%) and Australia (18%). Statistically similar shares of respondents in the U.S. (22%), UK (20%), Germany (21%) Australia (24%) indicated they found impact investing unappealing.

The majority of respondents in the U.S. (61%), UK (63%) and Australia (57%) found impact investing appealing, with appeal even higher among millennials (66%) and Gen Xers (64%) in the U.S.; millennials (67%) in the UK; and millennials (68%) and Gen Xers (60%) in Australia. While baby boomers generally found impact investing less appealing than the overall population, their interest increased year over year in each country surveyed again. The appeal of impact investing increased 10 points to 55% for American baby boomers, increased 29 points to 63% for UK baby boomers and increased 6 points to 32% for German baby boomers.

Impact investing gained appeal for men and women over the years surveyed. In the United States, appeal was up to 63% for men (from 57% in 2020) and 59% for women (from 46% in 2020). In the UK, appeal was up to 66% for men (from 48% in 2020) and 60% for women (from 48% in 2020). In Germany, appeal was up to 50% for men (from 40% in 2020) and 38% for women (from 29% in 2020). In all four countries, women were less likely than men to say impact investing was unappealing.

Environment the largest concern internationally, while health care topped American concerns

The top cause for respondents in the UK (34%), Australia (30%) and Germany (34%) was the environment and climate change, whereas in the U.S. the top concern was health care and disease prevention and cures (25%).

As an asset manager with an impact on global health, American Century Investments has a unique perspective on sustainable investing. More than 40% of American Century dividends go to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a world-class biomedical research organization with an equity stake in American Century.

"With the Stowers Institute as our controlling owner, doing good for the world comes from doing well for our clients. Over the last 22 years, we have generated more than $1.87 billion for their medical research as we work to generate returns for our clients. With our history and culture, we are better positioned than anyone in the industry to help clients navigate sustainable investing that can do good for the world while helping our clients prosper with purpose," said Jonathan Thomas, president and chief executive officer of American Century.

In its 2022 environmental, social and governance (ESG) outlook, American Century identified those top concerns among those surveyed, as well as empowerment (labor), sustainable living (food crisis) and digitalization (cyber), as areas that would dominate the ESG space in the coming year and beyond.

"Our approach to ESG and sustainable investing focuses on the opportunities within the areas of empowerment, sustainable living, environment, digitalization and health care to innovate solutions, address critical challenges and transform society. These important themes shape our research agenda, engagement and proxy voting activities to not only contribute to transforming society but doing so while delivering superior, long-term, risk-adjusted returns," said Bratton Hughes.

Alpha plus: Sustainable investing as an alpha generator

A significant, and increasing, share of people are willing to sacrifice returns for a positive impact. In the U.S., 38% of respondents reported a willingness to sacrifice returns for a positive impact, up from 33% in 2020. A staggering 50% of U.S. millennials are willing to sacrifice returns for a positive impact, with similar numbers in the UK (49%) and Australia (45%).

"In our view, this trade off isn't necessary and isn't the future of sustainable investing. Sustainable investing is more than just a risk mitigator. We believe it's an alpha generator. This is alpha plus: sustainable and impact strategies have the potential to provide market-beating returns coupled with societal and environmental alpha," said Bratton Hughes. "We expect this alpha-plus approach to appeal to the majority of people who are either unsure or unwilling to sacrifice returns for a positive impact."

Greenwashing concerns also continue to increase, but don't deter appeal

Concerns about greenwashing continue, with half or more of respondents in the U.S. (50%), UK (58%), Germany (50%) and Australia (51%) believing greenwashing has increased. Despite this, less than half of respondents in the U.S. (44%), UK (39%), Germany (38%) and Australia (39%) reported greenwashing influenced their interest in impact investing.

"We expect greenwashing not only to remain a concern, but to expand beyond environmental or climate claims to claims related to all Sustainable Development Goals. The combination of regulatory pressure, investor demand and industry cooperation will help drive clarity, consistency and transparency across the sustainable investing space," said Bratton Hughes.

Survey methodology

Impact investing is financial investments designed to have a positive impact on society, while providing potential long-term returns. The 2021 survey was conducted among a representative sample of 1,008 U.S. adults, 1,003 UK adults, 1,016 adults in Germany, and 1,006 adults in Australia 18 years of age and older from November 17-19, 2021 in the U.S. and November 16-21, 2021 internationally. The study was fielded using ENGINE's Online CARAVAN Omnibus Survey. The results from the survey were weighted by age, sex, geographic region, race and education to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the adult U.S., UK, Germany and Australia. Previous years' survey results can be found here.

Infographic: 2022 American Century Impact Investing Infographic

About American Century Investments

American Century Investments is a leading global asset manager focused on delivering investment results and building long-term client relationships while supporting research that can improve human health and save lives. Founded in 1958, American Century Investments' 1,400 employees serve financial professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors from offices in New York; London; Frankfurt; Hong Kong; Sydney; Santa Clara, Calif.; and Kansas City, Mo. Jonathan Thomas is president and chief executive officer, and Victor Zhang serves as chief investment officer. Delivering investment results to clients enables American Century Investments to distribute over 40 percent of its dividends to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a 500-person, non-profit basic biomedical research organization. The Institute owns more than 40 percent of American Century Investments and has received dividend payments of $1.87 billion since 2000. For more information about American Century Investments, visit americancentury.com.

When portfolio managers incorporate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into an investment strategy, they consider those issues in conjunction with traditional financial analysis. When selecting investments, portfolio managers incorporate ESG factors into the portfolio's existing asset class, time horizon and objectives. Therefore, ESG factors may limit the investment opportunities available, and the portfolio may perform differently than those that do not incorporate ESG factors. Portfolio managers have ultimate discretion in how ESG issues may impact a portfolio's holdings, and depending on their analysis, investment decisions may not be affected by ESG factors.

2022 American Century Proprietary Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved

Contact: Justin Emily Wills

(816) 340-4062

SOURCE American Century Services Corporation
SAN RAMON, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumin Digital announced today that Tennessee-based Ascend Federal Credit Union (Ascend) has signed a multi-year agreement for Lumin Digital's cloud-native platform for online and mobile digital banking solutions. Lumin Digital will support Ascend's more than 244,000 members and more than $3.7 billion in assets once the credit union goes live on the platform in June 2022.

Ascend Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in Middle Tennessee, is focused on helping its members become the best financial stewards they can be. From providing basic financial education to more comprehensive tools like videos, interactive lessons and calculators, Ascend has been a trusted financial partner in Tennessee for more than 70 years.

Lumin Digital, a cloud-native digital banking platform, provides credit union members with a tightly integrated and customized experience that matches larger financial institutions' offerings. Focusing on service, user experience, safety, and security through sophisticated automation, Lumin Digital helps credit unions and financial institutions drive better engagement with their users through personalized recommendations and communication in the areas of spending insights, financial advice, fraud alerts, and savings goals. Lumin enables credit unions to provide users with real-time updates and new features that add value and simplify everyday banking.

"Since day one, Ascend Federal Credit Union has been committed to providing our members with the financial tools and offerings that help create high level financial literacy and we believe everything offered as part of Lumin Digital's platform does just that," said Caren Gabriel, President and CEO of Ascend Federal Credit Union.

"Lumin and Ascend share a vision that community-based credit unions need to be responsive to the individual needs of members to foster loyalty and provide effortless experiences in today's constantly disruptive, digital-first world," said Jeff Chambers, founder and CEO of Lumin Digital. "It's exciting to partner with such a forward-thinking credit union. Our proprietary financial tools and unique technology stack will help create a more secure, comprehensive and superior digital experience for Ascend and its members now and well into the future."

Lumin Digital continues to drive innovation in the digital banking space, differentiating itself through technology built for human connection. Lumin Digital's offering provides seamless integration to a wide array of tools and capabilities, including card services, rewards management, and data analytics to provide a member-centric experience.

About Lumin Digital

Lumin Digital is a PSCU-majority-owned fintech company specializing in digital banking solutions. Through a fundamentally different approach to technology, service, and people, we're creating the next generation of financial solutions each and every day. Lumin helps credit unions and financial institutions build and deploy next-gen digital experiences that help to continually serve, engage, and grow their membership base. While other platforms are partially adapted or retrofitted for the cloud, Lumin is 100% cloud-native. It was built specifically for the cloud environment, allowing us to more fully realize the advantages it offers. It's a difference that financial institutions and their users will see and feel almost immediately. For more information, visit lumindigital.com .

About Ascend Federal Credit Union

With more than 244,000 members and more than $3.7 billion in assets, Ascend Federal Credit Union is the largest credit union in Middle Tennessee and one of the largest federally chartered credit unions in the United States. Based in Tullahoma, Tenn., the member-owned financial institution offers banking, loan, retirement and investment services from its 27 branches, more than 55,000 free ATMs worldwide, online banking portal and mobile app. The credit union's mission is to serve by offering financial literacy education and giving back to its community in a variety of ways  including being the naming rights sponsor of Ascend Amphitheater, downtown Nashville's premier open-air live music venue at Metro Riverfront Park. Ascend is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration. For more information, visit ascend.org.

SOURCE Lumin Digital
Event attendees included representatives of the Wake County Government Board of Commissioners, Town of Morrisville, and Morrisville Chamber of Commerce, as well as local business leaders and Azzur Group partners including Azzur's construction partners for the Morrisville location: Barker Construction Group and Angstrom Technology.

The Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand Morrisville location is the company's fourth cleanroom facility. Its three current locations are in Waltham, MA; Burlington, MA; and Vista, CA. All have been selected for their proximity to established or growing life sciences business areas. (Morrisville is minutes from the celebrated Research Triangle area of North Carolina.)

Every Cleanrooms on Demand provides turnkey cleanroom and laboratory space for GMP manufacturing. In addition to on-demand cleanroom facilities, these carefully selected locations also offer a range of cGMP "wraparound services," from materials management and storage to asset management and supply chain solutions.

Additionally, Azzur Group's portfolio of businesses  Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand, Azzur GMP Advisory and Consulting services , Azzur Labs , and Azzur Training Center  allows companies to scale their science businesses responsibly and with phase-appropriate compliance, without being overburdened by the expense of facility ownership and maintenance. This allows companies to focus their energy on their science and efficiently and safely bringing their innovations to market. Research Triangle Park is the first U.S. biotech hub in which all four Azzur Group businesslines are centrally located, offering clients the necessary services needed to start, scale, and sustain their GMP organizations.

The Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand business model came about in 2018, when Azzur Group's client base in Cambridge encouraged the company to create cleanroom facilities in locations previously underserved with state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing capabilities. "Over these past years, we've helped advance the expansion of the life sciences industry in many fast-growing markets," said Joel Gates , Senior Director of Operations, Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand Raleigh. "We're proud to be doing the same in the Research Triangle area."

"The development of important therapies and treatments depends on access to the best laboratory facilities for entrepreneurial pharma and biotech companies. Our model allows our clients to focus on science, while we provide vital services to help their business grow," Gates added.

Azzur Group plans to open additional Cleanrooms on Demand facilities in locations across the U.S. over the next two years.

For more information about Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand, visit Azzur.com/cleanrooms .

About Azzur Group

From Discovery to DeliveryTM, Azzur Group provides the life science community full life-cycle solutions for all their GxP needs. From Azzur Cleanrooms on DemandTM facilities, to our labs, training centers and consulting offices across the nation, Azzur Group helps organizations start, scale, and sustain their growing enterprises. With nearly four decades of service to the life science community, we have become a trusted partner to the world's leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and healthcare companies, as well as their supply chain. Follow us on LinkedIn . For more information, visit Azzur.com .

Location

Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand

1101 Shiloh Glenn Drive

Morrisville, NC 27560

SOURCE Azzur Group, LLC
Known for more than 50 years as Piercing Pagoda, the company rebranded to "Banter by Piercing Pagoda" in August 2021, focusing on those passionate about expressing their individuality. As part of the Signet Jewelers portfolio, Banter by Piercing Pagoda caters to Gen Z and millennial customers who express themselves boldly through their personal style. The 'SayGAY' nameplate necklace is the brand's affirmative declaration to merge both style and passion during Pride Month, and year-round.

"At Banter by Piercing Pagoda we're passionate about inclusivity and self-expression. Offering the SayGAY nameplate necklace further empowers our customers to live and love freely," says Kecia Caffie, President, Banter by Piercing Pagoda. "We're thrilled to partner with IGBP again and create a product that allows consumers to make a statement and wear their beliefs."

With a footprint spanning four continents and six major languages, the It Gets Better Project reaches millions of young people through inspiring media programming, educational resources, and international affiliates.

"Partnering with Banter by Piercing Pagoda for Pride Month for the second year in a row feels right, as this time we were able to team up on a piece of jewelry that encompasses how we feel about the current political climate," said Jimmy Ancheta-Tilley JR., Associate Director of Development at IGBP. "LGBTQ+ youth need supporters and allies who are not afraid to speak, and wear, their feelings freely, and the creation of this SayGAY nameplate helps us all celebrate our unique selves this month, and for forever."

The limited edition SayGAY nameplate necklace will be available online at Banter.com between 6/1 and 6/30. Banter by Piercing Pagoda will donate $149.00 per "SayGAY" necklace purchased up to a maximum donation of $25,000, to the IOLA Foundation dba: It Gets Better Project to support its General Operating Fund.

ABOUT BANTER BY PIERCING PAGODA

Banter by Piercing Pagoda remains the leader in ear and other piercings. As the nation's largest specialty kiosk retailer, Banter by Piercing Pagoda's history is one of serving and satisfying customers with an extensive selection of popularly priced 10K and 14K gold chains, charms, bracelets, rings, and earrings, as well as a variety of silver and diamond jewelry. Visit www.banter.com to view Banter by Piercing Pagoda's latest styles or to find a location near you. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram, Pinterest , and YouTube.

ABOUT IT GETS BETTER PROJECT

The It Gets Better Project is a 5013 nonprofit organization that strives to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ youth around the globe. Created in 2010 as the result of one of the most successful viral video campaigns in YouTube's history, the It Gets Better Project provides critical support and hope to LGBTQ+ youth around the world by leveraging the power of media to reach millions of people each year. The project has expanded its origins in storytelling and media to include educational resources through It Gets Better EDU and reached 19 countries outside of the U.S. through It Gets Better Global.

The project has garnered support from President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with numerous celebrities including Kelly Clarkson, Gabrielle Union, Zachary Quinto, MJ Rodriguez, Josie Totah, and Gigi Gorgeous. More than 750,000 people have taken the It Gets Better pledge to share messages of hope and speak up against intolerance. Please visit www.itgetsbetter.org for more information, and join the conversation on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter at @ItGetsBetter; Facebook.com/ItGetsBetterProject; and YouTube.com/ItGetsBetterProject.

Media Contact:

Nike Communications Contact: Lauren O'Connor

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (646) 654-3425

It Gets Better Project Contact: Ross von Metzke

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Banter by Piercing Pagoda
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. , May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As the conflict in Ukraine continues to rage on, and with no end in sight, many people are looking to social media for ways to provide life-saving aid to those in need. Beverly Hills Real Estate financier Jon Sodeif is one of these special humanitarians leading the way.

Sodeif's Instagram @444mortgage is actively engaging support for Ukraine thru its impressive social media audience, helping to raise over 1 Million Dollars for non-profit charities such as @SavetheChildren and @CareOrg .

Real Estate Financier Jon Sodeif at Office Real Estate Financier Jon Sodeif at Office

"Although I have never been to Ukraine, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to help by using my social media platforms, both personal and professional, to bring awareness to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. And most importantly, help raise funds for its most vulnerable victims, the women, children, and elderly. Being in an industry that provides housing options for families, the thought of this many people suddenly being without a home, food, or safety is heartbreaking," states Sodeif.

"I am very grateful to my family, friends, clients, and colleagues for the outpouring of care and concern for this crisis. While I cannot be there on the ground to deliver help personally, I can utilize my voice @444mortgage to help spread the word and raise funds for charities like @savethechidren , delivering aid to children and families directly impacted by this devastating conflict," adds Jon.

@444mortgage plans to continue to promote its fundraising efforts for Ukraine to its loyal followers of over 200K across all social media platforms.

About Jon Sodeif

With over 20 years of experience in the Real Estate industry, Jon Sodeif has worked as a successful agent, developer, and consultant on numerous projects. With Sodeif's expansive knowledge of the different Real Estate Market sectors, he can navigate any obstacles that may arise through the acquisition to the lending procedure.

"I have seen many people waiting on the sidelines for the perfect investment opportunity, and many different market trends come and go. However, my experience has been that buying Real Estate is not only the best, quickest, and safest way, but the only way to become wealthy if done correctly," says Sodeif.

Sodeif's professional credo assures that his past, present, and future clients always have the best financing possible. "I always want to leave my clients in a better financial state at the end of each transaction than when we started together," says Jon.

Jon Sodeif is originally from San Francisco and now resides in Beverly Hills, Ca. His first-hand knowledge of the multi-faceted landscape of California Real Estate makes him a true expert in his field. His passion for the business drives him to excellence as he makes his clients' Real Estate dreams become a Real Estate reality.

About Save the Children:

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Since our founding more than 100 years ago, we've changed the lives of more than 1 billion children. In the United States and worldwide, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn, and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children  every day and in times of crisis  transforming their lives and the future we share.

https://www.savethechildren.org/

About CARE.ORG :

CARE works around the globe to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. We seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice, where poverty has been overcome, and all people live with dignity and security.

https://www.care.org/

For more information, additional comments, and interview requests, please email [email protected]

Media contact:

Jessica Stanley @444mortgage.com

[email protected]

(800)444-6678

SOURCE Jon Sodeif
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kharon, a data and analytics company providing organizations with intelligence at the intersection of global security and commerce, today announced a partnership with Binance, the world's leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, and Neterium, an API-native and cloud-native screening provider. Through this partnership, Binance will utilize Kharon's industry-leading data and analytic platform in order to enhance its sanctions screening and broader KYC controls. Kharon's data will be delivered into Binance's transaction screening environment in partnership with Neterium. The collaboration will contribute to the further development of data solutions dedicated to advancing the capabilities of cryptocurrency trading platforms to detect and prevent activity by illicit actors.

Binance averages $24 billion USD in crypto trade volume every 24 hours. To meet the needs of operating the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance is leading the crypto industry in developing a world class cryptocurrency compliance program through the utilization of the most advanced know-your-customer, sanctions, and risk solutions. Kharon's data and Neterium's technology, delivered through Binance's screening technology, allows Binance to enhance its service to their global clients, while addressing increased risk and regulatory requirements.

Chagri Poyraz, Global Head of Sanctions, Binance: "As we continue to maintain and build the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, we are committed to building an industry-leading compliance program. Working with Kharon and Neterium allows us to leverage Kharon's best in-class data with Neterium's innovative technology to address our risk."

Howard Mendelsohn, Chief Client Officer, Kharon: "Virtual asset service providers require the highest quality data and technology to support their compliance programs. Partnering with Binance to provide data and analytic tools is a critical development to address expanding regulatory expectations and mitigate risk."

Florence Vicentini, Chief Commercial Officer, Neterium: "We are delighted to partner with Binance as Neterium specializes in very high scalability and high complexity use cases. Binance's demanding compliance processes precisely require the level of performance and flexibility that our APIs were designed to offer"

About Kharon:

Kharon is a leading provider of risk management solutions driven by proprietary research and data analytics. Kharon rigorously investigates and curates complex data at the intersection of global security and commerce, powering financial crimes compliance, sanctions, export controls, supply chain, and other risk management operations. Through our unique approach, Kharon's multilingual subject matter experts and data scientists generate enriched data covering the commercial networks of restricted actors and their related parties. Kharon is founded and led by former senior officials of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and experienced software engineers.

About Neterium:

Created in 2017, Neterium is an API-native Regtech, specializing in watchlist screening software. Its mission is to reinvent financial crime prevention by offering unparalleled performance and superior efficiency. Neterium is led by a team of industry experts in the Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) field. Neterium provides innovative Software-as-a-Service solutions, combining the benefits of latest technologies with in-depth financial crime compliance knowledge. Neterium teams up with partners and clients to add advanced screening capabilities to their platforms and solutions.

About Binance:

Binance is the world's leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider with a financial product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchange.

SOURCE Kharon
The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps was activated to send blood to the hospitals in and around Uvalde, Texas. Tweet this

As part of their on-call week, the following community-based blood centers have rushed blood to the region: SunCoast Blood Centers; Carter BloodCare, The Community Blood Center (Appleton, WI), The Blood Connection, The Blood Center (New Orleans, LA); Vitalant; Rock River Valley Blood Center; Community Blood Center of the Ozarks; Miller-Keystone Blood Center (Bethlehem, PA) and LifeServe Blood Center.

"Our hearts are broken by this senseless tragedy," said Scott Bush, CEO of SunCoast Blood Centers. "We have mobilized our team to support the needs of local patients and hospitals in South Texas."

Today's activation marks the fourth time since its inception in September 2021 that the BERC Network has been called upon to provide blood during a national emergency.

"There are no words to express how deeply saddened we are about the loss of so many innocent lives," said The Blood Connection President & CEO, Delisa English. "Because of BERC, we are at least able to help the people of South Texas and their local blood center. Times like these remind us of why we continuously urge our community to donate blood."

The blood from BERC Network of blood banks is being sent to South Texas Blood and Tissue, the steward of the local blood supply in that part of Texas.

About the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps

The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC), a collaborative effort of 30 community blood centers, was founded in 2021 to meet immediate transfusion needs when faced with large scale emergency situations that require blood transfusions. These blood centers commit to collecting extra units on a rotating "on call" schedule to create an available supply of blood for emergency needs.

SOURCE Blood Emergency Readiness Corps
Closes Second Value-Add Multifamily Fund at $215 Million and Holds First Close on Multifamily Development Funding Vehicle with Target of $160 Million

INDIANAPOLIS, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Buckingham Companies ("Buckingham"), a vertically integrated, full service real estate company, announced today it closed its second real estate fund, the value-add Buckingham Multifamily Fund 2 (BMF2), at $215 million. This follows the firm's inaugural BMF 1 Fund, also using a value-add strategy of acquiring multifamily and mixed-use properties located in surging U.S. secondary markets in the Midwest and Southeast.

Additionally, Buckingham announced the first closing of a new multifamily development funding vehicle with a target of $160 million. The funding vehicle is intended to target ground-up construction of amenitized, workforce multifamily properties in vibrant U.S. secondary markets throughout the U.S. BMF2 and the new development funding vehicle plan to collectively acquire or develop over $1 billion in value of multifamily assets over the next three years.

Buckingham Multifamily Fund 2 (BMF2)

BMF2 closed and achieved 100% reinvestment participation from previous fund investors in Buckingham Multifamily Fund 1 (BMF1), Buckingham's flagship fund, which closed in May 2018. Investors in Fund 2 include large American and non-U.S. public and private institutional investors. Fund 2 has a continued focus on multifamily markets in the Midwest and Southeast and has already allocated 45% of its commitments to multifamily communities in four cities. Continuing its value-add investment thesis for Fund 2, Buckingham will increase asset value through management efficiencies, property upgrades, interior/exterior renovations, and improved amenities.

Bradley B. Chambers, CEO of Buckingham Companies, said, "We are thrilled to have the continued support of current best in class limited partners, and we welcome our new LP partners in BMF2. Their support recognizes the exceptional track record and operational excellence of the Buckingham team and is a validation of our investment strategies. Multifamily continues to provide compelling risk-adjusted returns. We see ongoing opportunities ahead for well-located multifamily housing for these new vehicles."

Buckingham Multifamily Development Funding Vehicle

Buckingham has partnered with LaSalle Global Partner Solutions on investing in the development of workforce housing. The development funding vehicle's portfolio is planning to invest in six new ground-up construction multifamily development projects located in growing secondary markets, including Raleigh-Durham, Louisville, and Denver. Two projects have broken ground upon the development funding vehicle's first close, in Raleigh-Durham and in Denver's northern suburb of Loveland, CO.

Buckingham has a 38-year track record of delivering high-quality apartments via its fully integrated platform with an in-house team. The development funding vehicle's strategy is centered on Buckingham's proprietary development model focused on cost efficiencies, speed to market, and delivering elevated design and amenity packages in growing housing markets in need of high-quality multifamily housing.

"We're thrilled to be partnering with Buckingham and benefiting from their experience in all areas of the multifamily sector. They have an exceptional track record over a very long period of time which is an obvious fit for our clients and capital," said Andy Buchanan, Senior Vice President of LaSalle Global Partner Solutions.

About Buckingham Companies

Founded in 1984, Buckingham Companies is a fully integrated real estate investment firm specializing in the development, acquisition, management, and construction of multifamily, mixed-use, commercial and hospitality projects across the United States. Buckingham currently owns or manages a portfolio of over $2.6 billion of real estate for its own account and institutional partners. Buckingham has managed more than 125 properties, more than 28 million square feet, and over 25,000 rental units nationwide. The Indianapolis-based company has approximately 350 employees. Additionally, the affiliated Buckingham Foundation annually supports more than 50 nonprofit and civic organizations through philanthropic outreach in the areas of affordable housing, community and economic development, and arts and culture. For more information, visit www.buckingham.com.

For more information on Buckingham investment opportunities, please contact Sourav Goswami, Managing Director, Strategic Capital Partnerships at Buckingham | [email protected]

Media Contacts:

Lambert

Lisa Baker, 603-868-1967, [email protected] or

Caroline Luz, 203-656-2829, [email protected]

SOURCE Buckingham Companies
NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bureau Veritas today announced Merrissa Pires has been appointed as Vice President of People and Culture for North America, effective immediately. Pires is responsible for leading human resources and strengthening corporate culture at Bureau Veritas for 6,500 employees in 160 locations across North America.

Merrissa Pires

Pires will advance the company's commitment to creating a culture centered in appreciation, safety, and, most of all, respect for its employees. Pires will report directly to Shawn Till, EVP and CEO of Bureau Veritas North America, whose goals also include embracing two-way communication with employees and taking measurable action to achieve diversity.

"Merrissa has a keen ability to engage and build trust while being transparent, which proves her unwavering passion and commitment to putting people first," said Shawn Till, EVP and CEO, Bureau Veritas, North America. "Her knowledge will be invaluable to the Bureau Veritas family as we seek to create a people-centered culture and humanize how we approach every aspect of our work."

In March, Bureau Veritas announced five key performance indicators (KPIs) that the organization will use to measure its success as it strives to become a global leader in corporate social responsibility. Among these is a commitment to ensuring that, by 2025, 35% of senior leadership positions at Bureau Veritas are occupied by women.

"I am excited to join Bureau Veritas as we write the next chapter in our 200-year legacy," said Merrissa Pires, Vice President of People and Culture, Bureau Veritas, North America. "Our work is powered by people who embody our company's mission of shaping a world of trust. In order for us to make meaningful progress, we must lead by example, and I am eager to shape a corporate culture where we put our people at the heart of what we do. Which will in turn drive the success of our business."

Pires comes to Bureau Veritas with more than fifteen years of human resources experience across various industries, including commercial, manufacturing, and research and development. Her vast experience in mergers and acquisitions, leadership and development, and change management, along with her ability to scale quickly, has fostered her passion for people.

Pires holds a B.A. in Communications from William Paterson University of New Jersey.

About Bureau Veritas

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in laboratory testing, inspection and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has close to 80,000 employees located in nearly 1,600 offices and laboratories around the globe. Bureau Veritas helps its 400,000 clients improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.

Bureau Veritas is listed on Euronext Paris and belongs to the CAC 40 ESG, CAC Next 20 and SBF 120 indices.

Compartment A, ISIN code FR 0006174348, stock symbol: BVI.For more information, visit www.bvna.com, and follow us on Twitter (@bureauveritasNA) and LinkedIn.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Alison Underdown

+1 713 303 7483

[email protected]

SOURCE Bureau Veritas
"It was our goal to have the flag up in time for Memorial Day as a tribute to veterans. We are very close to military bases and feel this is something small we can do to simply thank our military for their service," stated Robert Parker, Senior Project Manager for Cape Fear Solar Systems.

The 51 kW solar system designed in the shape of an American flag will power operations at Cape Fear Solar Systems' warehouse, located at 901 South Front Street. While the solar panels are visible from the street, the view is best from the air as well as by vehicle when approaching Wilmington from the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.

"Our staff and community are really excited about our new headquarters. Cape Fear Solar Systems is the only local solar company in the area, and we feel it is important to have a visible storefront. With all the air traffic and military planes flying above Wilmingtonit only made sense that we honor our U.S. Military," explained Cassandra Barba, Director of Marketing and Communications for the company.

Cape Fear Solar Systems owner and CEO, John Donoghue had a vision of their warehouse with solar panels designed as an American flag over 5 years ago, and today that dream is finally a reality. Cape Fear Solar will move into their new warehouse in September. However, the construction will continue as later phases of the project include a 4-story office building, a 2-story net-zero demonstration home, a solar-covered electric vehicle charging station, and several solar-powered multi-family structures.

Cape Fear Solar Systems has been empowering home and business owners with energy independence for 15 years throughout southeastern North Carolina. The company is known in the region for their commitment to quality and ethical practices and has won several awards, including the Better Business Bureau Award of Excellence, the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce's Coastal Entrepreneur Award, the Wilmington Greater Business Journal's Coastal Entrepreneur Award, and many others.

About Cape Fear Solar Systems, LLC

Cape Fear Solar Systems is currently ranked as the number one installer in southeastern North Carolina by Solar Power World. Established in 2007, the company has designed and installed nearly 3,500 local solar systems to-date. Cape Fear Solar's pride is in its team, providing the highest quality of craftsmanship, products, and material. Additionally, customers receive unlimited post-installation support. Cape Fear Solar offers turnkey energy systems such as photovoltaic (solar electric) panels, home batteries, and electric vehicle charging stations for residential and commercial customers. To learn more about Cape Fear Solar visit www.CapeFearSolarSystems.com.

SOURCE Cape Fear Solar Systems
BANGALORE, India, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chitosan Market is Segmented by Type - Pharmaceutical Grade, Food Grade, Industrial Grade, by Application - Water and Waste Treatment, Food and Beverages, Healthcare and Medical, Agriculture and Agrochemicals, Cosmetics and Toiletries, Others. Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast 2022 - 2028. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Chemicals Industry Category.

Chitosan Market size is estimated to be worth USD 95 million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 125.5 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 4.8% during the review period.

Major factors driving the growth of the Chitosan Market are

Rising demand for wastewater treatment products to remove impurities such as heavy minerals and phosphorus coupled with increasing use in the cosmetics, food & beverages, medical & pharmaceuticals, and agrochemicals applications will drive the growth of the market.

The personal care industry will boost the chitosan market as it is the main ingredient in hair care, skincare, and dental care products.

Browse The Table Of Contents And List Of Figures At: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-35P2415/global-chitosan

TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF THE CHITOSAN MARKET

Water pollution is a major problem around the globe. Wastewater generated from industries contains contaminants such as dyes, and heavy metals that flow into water bodies without any treatment.

Commercially available sources for water treatment are either too costly or environmentally unfriendly. Bio-based chitosan flocculents are cheaper, easily available, non-toxic, biocompatible, and have good absorption capability.

They effectively remove harmful substances such as fungi, microorganisms, heavy metals, dyes, salts, radionuclides, and fluoride. The widespread application is going to drive the growth of the chitosan market during the forecast period.

Chitosan is used for clarification, preservation, encapsulation, and as an intelligent packaging solution for dairy-based drinks, fruit juices, and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. It coagulates the anionic suspended particles such as pectin, and proteins to increase the turbidity and homogeneity of clarified juices. Chitosan is also an efficient anti-cholesterol additive. The growing food and beverage industry will thereby drive the growth of the chitosan market in the coming years.

The rising pharmaceutical industry will propel the global chitosan market forward in the subsequent years. The chemical is used in wound healing, drug carrier, obesity treatment, and as a scaffold in tissue engineering. There is a growing interest and research on chitosan and its derivatives in the biomedical sector.

Agrochemicals increase crop yield. However excessive use can lead to degradation of soil quality, rivers, and loss of ecological balance. Chitosan has the potential to stimulate plant growth and provide protection against harmful microorganisms.

It positively impacts the growth of roots, shoots, and leaves of several crop plants and is an efficient fertilizer. The use of chitosan in controlled agrochemical release will boost the agricultural sector which in turn will spur the growth of the chitosan market during the forecast period.

The cosmetics sector will bolster the global chitosan market. The compound is used in sunscreens, UV protection creams, surfactants, moisturizers, and as an antimicrobial agent. It is used extensively in hair gels, shampoos, colorants, rinses, sprays, tonics, and lotions. Other prominent uses include teeth, gums, plaque reduction, and oral hygiene.

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CHITOSAN MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Based on product type, the industrial-grade segment is expected to dominate the chitosan market share with 67% during the forecast period. It is a low-cost grade chitosan used widely in wastewater treatment and agrochemical applications.

Based on application, the water and wastewater segment will witness significant growth as chitosan has excellent biodegradability, biocompatibility, non-toxicity, and absorption capabilities which makes it ideal for the treatment of wastewater.

Based on region, Asia-Pacific will grow the highest in the chitosan market share with 51% due to huge demand from several end-user industries in emerging economies such as China and India. Europe and North America follow at a total share of 42%.

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Market By Region

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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Key Companies:

Primex

Qingdao Yunzhou Biochemistry

Norwegian Chitosan AS

Ningbo Zhenhai Haixin

KitoZyme

BIO21

Vietnam Food

NovaMatrix

Golden-Shell Pharmaceutical

YSK

Weikang Group

Jiangsu Aoxin Biotechnology

KIMICA Corporation

Jiangsu Shuanglin

Mirae biotech

Jinan Haidebei Marine

Meron Group

Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals

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SIMILAR REPORTS:

Click here to see related reports on Chitosan Market

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SOURCE Valuates Reports
Ware founded WestCMR in his Largo home office on May 20th, 1997. He didn't start hiring employees until 2009, but the company grew substantially shortly after his first hire. From its first home in Seminole, FL, which the company outgrew quickly, WestCMR moved to its current Clearwater campus on Howard Court in 2012. In 2014, WestCMR broke ground on an 11,000 square foot expansion at their Howard Court location, and in 2020, Ware acquired an adjacent building to prepare for even more growth. Today, WestCMR counts over 60 employees, with plans to grow to a team of 80 by 2027.

"None of the accomplishments of the last 25 years would have been possible without the team we assembled," added Ware. With big plans of growth far into the future, WestCMR is hiring! To see open positions and to apply, visit www.westcmr.com/careers.

About West Coast Medical Resources

Since 1997, West Coast Medical Resources has helped hospitals and surgery centers with cost savings and recovery on their unused surgical supplies. Proudly employing 60 of healthcare's best, WestCMR boasts competitive wages and unparalleled benefits, as well as a strong emphasis on community and philanthropy. In 2021, WestCMR was recognized as the Business Excellence Award winner by AMPLIFY Clearwater.

For more information, contact Camille Hebting, Public Relations & Content Marketing Specialist, at [email protected].

SOURCE West CMR
"We continue to expand our capacity and investment in Puerto Rico with the opening of this special facility, which enhances Crowley's LNG capabilities across diverse industries," said Tom Crowley. "Our LNG solutions allow industrial and commercial clients to plan, monitor and produce their own energy while protecting their business from potential threats such as power outages or natural disasters."

Over the course of several years, Crowley has fostered strong, transparent relationships with government and business leaders of Puerto Rico allowing the company to play a pivotal role in supplying cost-efficient, sustainable fuel sources to the island's leading sectors.

"As Puerto Rico moves forward on its quest to transform its dated and fragile electric generation system into a first-class energy network, the use of alternative and transitional fuels like LNG will be critically important in helping build resiliency and reliability into the system," said Pedro Pierluisi, Governor of Puerto Rico. "Crowley's new LNG Loading Terminal in Penuelas will foster much needed new economic activity for municipalities in the island, and it will also position Puerto Rico's industrial and commercial sector on a fast-track path toward economic growth by providing reliable and environmentally friendlier energy solutions. My administration is pleased to join in today's milestone celebration, which further solidifies Crowley's long history of serving the Puerto Rico market."

The facility will significantly grow Crowley's service capabilities in Puerto Rico, delivering more than 94 million gallons of LNG annually. When operating at full distribution capacity, it will help power an aggregate of 120MW in cleaner energy while helping to reduce carbon dioxide and sulfur emissions.

"The inauguration of Crowley's new LNG Loading Terminal marks an important step toward the diversification of Puerto Rico's energy industry, allowing us to maximize the use of alternative fuels like LNG to usher the island into a new era of cleaner energy," said Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner. "The investment in these state-of-the-art facilities will also afford Puerto Rico the opportunity to play a strategic role in LNG national security efforts while leveraging new LNG technologies and economic development opportunities."

Functionally, from Penuelas, operators will load natural gas in its liquid form onto 10,000-gallon ISO containers for over-the-road transport to customer facilities around the island. Upon arrival at the customer's site, the LNG will be re-gasified and used for power generation and energy consumption.

About Crowley

Crowley is a privately held, U.S.-owned and -operated maritime, energy and logistics solutions company serving commercial and government sectors with more than $2.5 billion in annual revenues, over 170 vessels mostly in the Jones Act fleet and approximately 7,000 employees around the world  employing more U.S. mariners than any other company. The Crowley enterprise has invested more than $3 billion in maritime transport, which is the backbone of global trade and the global economy. As a global ship owner-operator and services provider with more than 130 years of innovation and a commitment to sustainability, the company serves customers in 36 nations and island territories through four business units: Crowley Logistics, Crowley Shipping, Crowley Solutions and Crowley Fuels. Additional information about Crowley, its business units and subsidiaries can be found at http://www.crowley.com.

About LNG

LNG facts from the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas (CLNG):

Functionality

LNG, or liquefied natural gas, is natural gas that is cooled to -260 Fahrenheit until it becomes a liquid and then stored at essentially atmospheric pressure. Converting natural gas to LNG, a process that reduces its volume by about 600 times allows it to be transported. Once delivered to its destination, the LNG is warmed back into its original gaseous state so that it can be used just like existing natural gas supplies.

When returned to its gaseous state, LNG is used across the residential, commercial and industrial sectors for purposes as diverse as heating and cooling homes, cooking, generating electricity and manufacturing paper, metal, glass and other materials. LNG is not stored under pressure and it is not explosive. LNG vapors (methane) mixed with air are not explosive in an unconfined environment. When exposed to the environment, LNG rapidly evaporates, leaving no residue on water or soil.

Reduced Emissions Science

Because of its environmental characteristics, increased use of natural gas has driven billions of tons in carbon dioxide (CO2) savings in the United States. As nations seek to reduce their emissions and provide cleaner air, many will turn to LNG as a natural gas source. The U.S. Energy Information Administration attributes 25-year lows in CO2 emissions to greater use of natural gas along with renewables. Because of natural gas, the United States has led the world in CO2 reductions.

SOURCE Crowley Maritime Corporation
Cumulus' integrated platform combines multiple digital Central Nervous System (CNS) measurement tools with AI analytics

The platform enables real-world, longitudinal assessments of disease progression to accelerate CNS clinical trials

CNS-101 and CNS-102 studies will assess the platform in early-stage Alzheimer's Disease (AD) dementia, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) patients

BELFAST, Northern Ireland, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cumulus Neuroscience, a global digital health company, announces the start of two validation trials  CNS-101 and CNS-102  supported by a group of leading global pharma companies and Innovate UK. The studies will investigate the potential benefits of Cumulus' integrated physiological and digital biomarker platform in quantifying cognitive decline over time in patients with dementia, across AD, ALS and FTD.

Brian Murphy, Cumulus Neuroscience's Chief Scientific Officer, said: "Current standard measurement tools for dementia, such as clinician administered scales, only give a snapshot in an atypical environment and can suffer from day-to-day variation and other measurement errors. As such, they limit the precision and ability to measure an effect in current CNS clinical trials. Previous field-testing with dementia patients has shown that Cumulus' platform is suitable for at-home use, and so these studies are a great opportunity to assess its potential in providing more precise, longitudinal measures of cognitive decline. Our technology is already being used in clinical trials of new treatments for Alzheimer's, and these studies will provide additional validation of its sensitivity to change over time."

Cumulus' approach has been guided by nine of the world's leading pharma companies and combines a varied set of CNS measurement domains  including neurophysiology, speech, cognition, sleep and mood  within a single, consolidated digital platform accessible via a hand-held tablet device and time-linked to a functional EEG measure of brain activity. The platform combines these measurements with advanced AI and data analytics techniques. This facilitates repeated at-home assessment to gather longitudinal data and more accurately discern subtle trends in disease progression. This greater precision is designed to accelerate clinical trial pathways and improve outcomes in the development of new medicines for CNS disorders.

The UK multi-site CNS-101 study will assess the feasibility of using these repeated digital measures at home in patients with early-stage AD dementia compared with healthy controls. 120 participants will use the platform at home over the course of one year, and data will be compared with standard assessments typically used in AD dementia clinical trials.

The CNS-102 study, run in collaboration with Professor Orla Hardiman of Trinity College Dublin and Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital, will assess at-home use of the platform for a period of up to 37 weeks in individuals with ALS and FTD matched with healthy controls. The data obtained at-home will be compared with a standard measure typically used in clinical trials for tracking change in ALS and FTD, and with standardised neuropsychological measures of cognitive function.

Dr Kinan Muhammed, Chief Investigator of the CNS-101 study at the lead site at Oxford University Hospital, said: "We're pleased to be working with Cumulus to investigate ways to improve measurement in these devastating diseases. The platform is specifically designed to address several key parameters in the assessment of CNS disease progression. The frequent at-home approach to sampling data is intended to lower patient burden and could improve the sensitivity and success rate for future clinical trials in dementia."

About Cumulus Neuroscience

Cumulus Neuroscience has created the next-generation, gold standard integrated physiological and digital biomarker platform for measuring functional brain health. Uniquely, it combines neurophysiological monitoring (EEG) time-linked with a range of assessment tools for frequent at-home use. In clinical trials it provides critical data and insights to accelerate the delivery of more effective central nervous system (CNS) therapies to patients.

Our innovative platform has been designed in collaboration with leading global pharmaceutical companies to greatly improve the speed, robustness and cost-effective execution of neuroscience clinical trials by allowing better and timely assessment of drug candidates earlier in development, with the aim to provide an industry-wide standard for real-world measurement of disease progression and treatment response.

Our platform has been developed to capture large amounts of real-world lab-quality data through time across multiple behavioural and physiological domains by tracking physiology, functions and symptoms in the patient's home. The platform also provides cutting-edge AI-based data analysis allowing it to provide the best and most cost-effective assessment of CNS treatment outcomes.

Cumulus Neuroscience is confident that it can play an important role in assisting its pharma and biotech partners to develop transformational therapies to address multiple important neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, where treatment options are extremely limited.

The Company is supported by highly experienced specialised investor the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) as well as LifeArc and Future Fund, together with a world-class Scientific and Technical Advisory Board.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Cumulus Neuroscience

Brian Murphy, CSO & Co-Founder

[email protected]

Tel: +44 28 9264 6600

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting

Frazer Hall, Evelyn McCormack, George Underwood

[email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 9571

SOURCE Cumulus Neuroscience
MIAMI, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary journalist and former Miami Mayor, Tomas Regalado conducted an exclusive interview with Donald J. Trump for Mega TV.

The former president of the United States received Regalado at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where they talked about everything without escaping any topic.

The current economy, the gasoline crisis, the political situation in Latin America, the elimination of sanctions by the current president, Joe Biden, in Cuba and Venezuela; immigration, the border, his political aspirations and the possibility of becoming president again, were some of the issues that Regalado and Trump delved into.

"Mega is keeping its word of being the channel where politics is decided by offering the first interview to a national television network," said Tomas Regalado of his exclusive.

The interview, which will be seen on June 2 at 10 PM, will be broadcast in its entirety and exclusively through MEGA TV/ WSBS Channel 22 throughout the South Florida market, in Orlando, Florida, its affiliated stations and its channel MEGA TV Puerto Rico, and on its national DIRECTV signal, AT&T U-verse and Verizon Fios.

After the interview, Tomas Regalado will have in his TV studio a prestigious group of guest analysts who will share their opinions on the issues discussed during the exclusive meeting at Mar-a-Lago.

About Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc.

Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (SBS) owns and operates radio stations located in the top U.S. Hispanic markets of New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, and Puerto Rico, airing the Tropical, Regional Mexican, Spanish Adult Contemporary, Top 40 and Urbano format genres. SBS also operates AIRE Radio Networks, a national radio platform of over 290 affiliated stations reaching 95% of the U.S. Hispanic audience. SBS also owns MegaTV, a network television operation with over-the-air, cable and satellite distribution and affiliates throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, produces a nationwide roster of live concerts and events, and owns a stable of digital properties, including La Musica, a mobile app providing Latino-focused audio and video streaming content and HitzMaker, a new-talent destination for aspiring artists. For more information, visit us online at www.spanishbroadcasting.com.

Contact:

Marlene Maseda

[email protected]

Conchita Oliva

[email protected]

SOURCE Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc.
New results expand mineralization at the Paciencia Vein to over 300 metres where it remains open at depth and along strike

Second zone at Paciencia Oeste Vein now defined over 200 metres where it remains open at depth and along strike

HOLE PPRC-22-36:

3.96 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 37.67 g/t silver over three metres downhole (mDH) within a broader zone of 0.92 g/t gold and 8.61 g/t silver over 31 mDH at the Paciencia vein

HOLE PPRC-22-24:

5.53 g/t gold and 47.1 g/t silver over one metre and 2.78 g/t gold and 75.6 g/t silver over two mDH within a broader zone of 0.72 g/t gold and 19.38 g/t silver over 25 mDH at Paciencia Oeste vein

HOLE PPRC-22-28:

4.02 g/t gold and 26.9 g/t silver over two mDH within a broader zone of 1.45 g/t gold and 12.59 g/t silver over nine mDH at Paciencia Este vein

Astra's CEO, Brian Miller commented: "Astra's maiden drill program has accomplished two important goals at Pampa Paciencia. First, we have identified two high-grade shoots within the Paciencia Vein system, both of which remain open along strike and at depth. Second, we have made blind vein discoveries which demonstrates the effectiveness of the Company's geologic model and exploration methods. Early indications suggest that we could be in the upper levels of the gold mineralization with significant room to grow beneath these shallow intercepts. Astra will next complete a Phase 2 program to expand these open interstections and explore for new vein structures."

Drill Results Discussion

Pampa Paciencia is a 3,840 hectare road-access low-sulphidation epithermal (LSE) gold-silver project located within an active mining district less than 15 kilometers from two major mines (Sierra Gorda and Spence) and five kilometers from the Faride LSE mine (Figure 5).

Astra has completed property wide mapping and sampling, geophysical surveys, and localized trenching and in doing so, has defined a vein boulder field over approximately 75% of the project area. The veins do not outcrop as the majority of the project area is covered by a thin layer of gravels and caliche but the vein float can be used to identify areas of high prospectivity.

Most drilling focused on the 1.4 km long Paciencia Vein system located in the North Zone, which is comprised of Paciencia Oeste, Paciencia, and Paciencia Este vein segments (Figures 3 & 4). The Company previously reported results for 11 of 29 drill holes (May 2nd news release) which were from the Paciencia Vein, and the holes reported herein are for the remaining 18 drill holes as follows:

Paciencia Vein  1 hole

Paciencia Oeste  9 holes

Paciencia Este  3 holes

Geophysical Targets  2 holes

15 Vein/Central Zone  3 holes

Two mineralized shoots are being defined at Paciencia and Paciencia Oeste, where quartz texturing and geochemistry indicates that these two shoots could be higher elevations of the mineralized precious metals horizon. Both shoots are open along strike and at depth. Hole PPRC-22-36 from the Paciencia Vein further extended one mineralized shoot to the east while a second shoot is being defined by shallow drilling at Paciencia Oeste (Figures 1 & 4).

Drill holes at Pacienca Oeste and Paceincia Este intercepted thick (10 - 20 metres true thickness) vein structures which occurred in shallow drill holes approximately 15 to 25 metres below surface, with one hole reaching 75 metres below surface in Paciencia Oeste. Detail interpretation shows one to two parallel branches in both veins, with higher grades located in the more vertical portion of the Paciencia Oeste vein, as was also detected in Paciencia vein segment (Figure 2 and 3D Movie).

The three vein segments along the Paciencia Vein System are separated by ENE-striking faults that were interpreted with geophysical magnetics and confirmed with trenching. Plan map (Figure 4) and an integrated longitudinal section (Figure 1) clearly show this continuous but segmented nature of the Paciencia Vein System, and the presence of two high grade mineralized shoots with similar behaviour (45 SE plunge) which are both open along strike and at depth.

Geochemical results (Table 1) show the variation in the of Ag:Au ratios in the Paciencia Vein System, with an average Ag to Au ratio of 47 in the higher grade portions of the Paciencia Oeste vein, that decrease to 16 in Paciencia vein, and to 4 in Paciencia Este vein. Preliminary results for the two blind geophysical vein discoveries returned Ag:Au ratios of 61 and 2 in Geophysical targets 2 and 1, respectively (Figure 4). Company geologists believe this further demonstrates the potential for finding Au-rich veining in the eastern portion of this vein network and/or at depth.

Drilling at Geophysical targets 1 and 2 resulted in the discovery of two blind veins (Figures 3 & 4). Geophysical target 1 intercepted two parallel structures composed of a 1 meter Mn-rich quartz vein and 3 meters limonitic breccia with anomalous precious metals (2m @ 0.28 g/t Au equivalent). Geophysical target 2 intercepted a shallow 14 meters thick structure composed by a chalcedonic quartz vein and limonitic breccias reporting similar anomalous results (5m @ 0.14 g/t Au equivalent). Additional drilling will be required to find the hidden mineralized shoots that may be associated with these new vein discoveries.

The remaining three holes in the Central Zone confirmed thin (up to 2m thick) chalcedonic vein and veinlet structures hosted in the Paleocene andesites which overlay the Cretaceous granitoids. Drill holes did not reach sufficient depth to intersect the more competent granitoid rock where thicker veins develop as indicated by field mapping. These results indicate a shallow system elevation and deeper drilling is required to properly test the Central Zone targets.

Exploration Program Discussion

2,981 metres of RC drilling were completed in thirty holes between February and March 2022 at Pampa Paciencia. These mostly concentrated on defining the strike and depth continuity of the Paciencia Vein System in the North Zone with three holes were drilled to test veins at depth in the Central Zone and two holes tested geophysical targets in the North Zone (Figure 1). A total of 1,233 samples, including blanks, duplicates and standards, were sampled and sent to ALS lab in Santiago, Chile.

The drill program was completed for ~C$650,000 of all-in costs highlighting the ability to complete cost-effective exploration at low elevations in Chile.

Eleven historical holes had been drilled previously on the property and Astra's geologists continued with the numbering system, so holes PPRC-22-12 to PPRC-22-41 are the thirty holes completed by Astra Exploration.

Drill Hole From

(m) To

(m) Length (m) Aueq_80 (ppm) Au (ppm) Ag (ppm) PPRC-22-23 - Paciencia Oeste 16 38 22 0.76 0.57 15.32 including 20 37 17 0.91 0.69 17.23 and including 20 24 4 1.31 0.88 34.62 and including 29 33 4 1.08 0.93 11.82 PPRC-22-24 - Paciencia Oeste 10 35 25 0.96 0.72 19.38 including 1 14 23 9 1.69 1.21 38.62 and including 15 20 5 2.36 1.66 56.14 and including 15 17 2 3.73 2.78 75.60 including 2 33 34 1 6.12 5.53 47.10 PPRC-22-25 - Paciencia Oeste 10 26 16 0.50 0.33 13.71 including 10 17 7 0.94 0.67 21.76 and including 1 11 14 3 0.91 0.75 12.00 and including 2 16 17 1 2.33 1.12 96.00 PPRC-22-26 - Paciencia Oeste 12 17 5 0.17 0.12 4.50 PPRC-22-28 - Paciencia Este 26 36 10 0.46 0.41 3.81 including 31 32 1 2.08 1.92 13.10

56 65 9 1.61 1.45 12.59 including 56 61 5 2.69 2.44 19.72 and including 59 61 2 4.36 4.02 26.90 PPRC 22-29 - Paciencia Este 48 52 4 0.20 0.15 3.60 PPRC-22-30 - Paciencia Este 46 58 12 0.54 0.51 2.65 including 1 46 49 3 0.90 0.86 2.93 and including 46 47 1 1.68 1.65 2.10 including 2 53 55 2 0.99 0.94 3.65 and including 54 55 1 1.37 1.33 3.20 PPRC-22-31 - Paciencia Oeste 29 42 13 1.41 1.13 22.34 including 32 40 8 2.19 1.80 31.50 and including 36 37 1 3.96 3.43 42.20 PPRC-22-32 - Paciencia Oeste 14 27 13 0.34 0.19 12.09 including 19 22 3 0.75 0.27 38.00 PPRC-22-33 - Paciencia Oeste 21 34 13 0.41 0.29 9.51 including 27 32 5 0.80 0.59 17.04 and including 30 32 2 1.01 0.76 19.30 PPRC-22-34 - Paciencia Oeste 22 24 2 0.18 0.10 6.20 PPRC-22-35 - Paciencia Oeste 61 88 27 0.51 0.24 21.86 including 1 61 62 1 1.95 1.19 60.30 including 2 76 82 6 1.24 0.54 55.67 and including 78 80 2 1.82 0.83 78.65 PPRC-22-36 - Paciencia 55 86 31 1.03 0.92 8.61 including 57 67 10 2.14 1.94 16.35 and including 1 57 60 3 4.42 3.96 37.67 and including 2 74 75 1 4.62 4.42 15.70 PPRC-22-37 - Geophysical target 1 81 83 2 0.28 0.27 0.65 PPRC-22-38 - Geophysical target 2 18 23 5 0.14 0.08 4.88 PPRC-22-39 - 15 Vein No significant results





PPRC-22-40 - 15 Vein 56 57 1 0.32 0.20 9.60 PPRC-22-41 - 15 Vein 52 53 1 0.15 0.09 5.20

Table 1: Summary of the gold and silver geochemical results from Phase I drilling program.

Sampling Procedures

Drill samples were sampled, bagged, and tagged by Astras geologists and then delivered to the ALS sample preparation laboratory in Santiago. Samples were prepared with PREP 31B code, and then analyzed with fire assay for gold (Au-AA24), acid digestion for silver (Ag-AA62), and multi elements by ICP (ME-ICP61). Gold overlimits were analysed by gravity method (Au-GRA22).

Qualified Person Statement

The technical data and information as disclosed in this report has been reviewed and approved by Darcy Marud. Mr. Marud is a Practicing Member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario and is a qualified person as defined under the terms of National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About the Company

Astra Exploration Inc. is an exploration company based out of Vancouver, BC. Astra is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of epithermal gold-silver properties in Chile and is building a portfolio of high-quality projects. Astra's current focus is the development of the Pampa Paciencia Project. Additional information is available on the Compnay's website at www.astra-exploration.com

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby and/or geologically similar properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company's properties.

This news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When or if used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to the Company's business activities; exploration on the Company's properties; and marketing initiatives. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation: development of the industry in which the Company operates; risks associated with the conduct of the Company's business activities; risks relating to reliance on the Company's management team and outside contractors; currency fluctuations; risks regarding the failure to generate sufficient cash flow from operations; laws and regulations governing the industry in which the Company operates; the ability of the communities in which the Company operates to manage and cope with the implications of COVID-19; the economic and financial implications of COVID-19 to the Company; operating or technical difficulties; employee relations, labour unrest or unavailability; stock market volatility; conflicts of interest among certain directors and officers; lack of liquidity for shareholders of the Company; litigation risk; and other risk factors disclosed in the Company's public disclosure documents available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

SOURCE Astra Exploration Limited
SALT LAKE CITY, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- England Logistics, one of the nation's top freight brokerage firms, has been awarded Best of State 2022 in the Business Services  Freight/Logistics division. This is the ninth Best of State award for the company.

The Best of State Program annually recognizes outstanding companies in ten divisions. Each application is reviewed by an esteemed panel consisting of volunteer judges considered industry leaders or experts in the division they are selected to judge.

"We're proud to be honored by Best of State," stated Jason Beardall, chief executive officer of England Logistics. "We strive each year to ensure continued betterment in everything we do. This program recognizes Utah businesses that share that passion and we're thrilled to be among them."

A complete list of the winners can be viewed at www.bestofstate.org/winners2022.html.

About England Logistics

England Logistics offers a vast portfolio of non-asset-based transportation solutions, including full truckload services, intermodal, dry and temp-controlled LTL, parcel, and complete supply chain management. The company has been recognized multiple times as one of the 50 Best Companies to Sell For by Selling Power magazine, ranked in the Training Top 100 by Training magazine, and awarded numerous Stevie Awards by the American Business Awards. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, the company also has offices nationwide. For more information, visit www.englandlogistics.com .

Contact:

Wendy Barclay

England Logistics

801.656.4718

[email protected]

SOURCE England Logistics, Inc.
Exoprise receives high scores in application monitoring, SaaS app monitoring, network monitoring, ISP monitoring, and synthetic testing criteria for Microsoft 365, SaaS, and third-party VoIP apps

WALTHAM, Ma., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Exoprise, a leading Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) solutions provider, announced that the company has been featured as a monitoring vendor in The Forrester Now Tech: End-User Experience Management, Q2 2022 report. The Now Tech report focuses on the need for business IT leaders to employ end-user experience management (EUEM) solutions to reduce workplace technology-related disruptions, improve employee productivity, and measure employee experience from every endpoint location.

Forrester defines EUEM as "A set of client-side capabilities that helps operations pros manage the daily technology experience of employees by collecting and analyzing telemetry data from employee devices, apps, networks, identity, and user feedback. These agent-based solutions reside on the endpoint itself and help operations identify and proactively remediate degradation in technology experience."

The Forrester report evaluated Exoprise according to fourteen different criteria with high scores in application monitoring, network and ISP monitoring, SaaS app monitoring, and synthetic testing. Based on the scores collected, Forrester's research placed Exoprise in two different and suitable EUEM market segments (monitoring suite and specialist tool). Other vendors within the same category received only one segment.

"We are excited to be part of Forrester research, positioning us as a leading DEM solution for today's distributed workforce," said Exoprise CEO Jason Lieblich. "Modern companies are becoming borderless, making it difficult for IT to monitor the digital experience of employees without any visibility into endpoint, application, and network performance. Only Exoprise's Better Together Synthetics and RUM solution increases employee productivity and manages a superior digital experience through full visibility into remote collaboration, cloud app migration, and complex networking."

Exoprise Network DEM solutions include:

1. Deep Network Tracing and Remote Collaboration Telemetry  IT monitors low-level UDP connection and endpoint performance when users engage with collaboration apps in any network.

2. Latency and Packet Loss Detection  Exoprise Service Watch real user monitoring (RUM) collects latency, jitter, and response time for network applications such as Teams, Zoom, and WebEx.

3. Hop-by-hop Diagnosis for Streaming Apps  Visualize hop-by-hop packet flow from any endpoint, whether home or a corporate LAN, and pinpoint networking issues.

4. Predict Networking Issues Before They Happen  Gather observability, monitoring, and crowd-sourced data to predict user experience problems before they occur.

5. Proactive Outage Detection  Get visibility beyond the endpoint. Exoprise detects service outages in real-time and flags issues outside IT's control.

6. Optimize Third-Party Cloud Service  Whether your company uses Microsoft 365 or internal SaaS apps, Exoprise monitor all synthetic transactions to optimize application delivery.

The report importantly includes Exoprise customer, BCD Travel, which monitors employee experiences with Microsoft 365 and Teams in all regions, enabling complete coverage and maximizing productivity.

"Due to Covid, our IT model has shifted from primarily supporting call center operations to supporting a significantly larger virtual environment. That was when we became interested in better measuring digital experiences from the end user's perspective. Synthetic sensors in our central data centers collect performance data on Microsoft 365, but we wanted an even more complete picture. Together with a real user monitoring on-demand solution, we can better understand the issues of our users at any geographic location," said Kevin Santos, Senior Director of IT, Network Operation Center, BCD Travel.

Read more in the latest Exoprise whitepaper about the combination of RUM and synthetics to ensure the best digital employee experience for streaming, collaboration, and VoIP apps such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and WebEx. Better Together: Combine Real User Monitoring with Synthetics

Additional Resources

About Exoprise

Exoprise enables IT teams to effectively deploy and manage its monitoring solution and mission-critical, cloud-based applications and services. CloudReady provides real-time performance visibility from behind the firewall to the cloud and back with synthetic monitoring. Service Watch provides location-independent end-user experience insights for SaaS and third-party web applications with real user monitoring. By leveraging proactive network path diagnostics, real user experience metrics, actual app usage data, and crowd-sourcing data analytics, organizations now have visibility, speed, and agility to assure the best cloud service performance easily. Visit Exoprise at www.exoprise.com, on Twitter @exoprise, and LinkedIn.

Media Contact

Sid Kumar

Director of Product Marketing at Exoprise

+1 781.209.5653

[email protected]

SOURCE Exoprise
Geek+ AMRs have allowed Bergler to fully automate picking operations in their highly anticipated logistics center

ERLENSEE, Germany, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Geek+, the global leader in AMR technology, is pleased to announce that German third-party logistics provider Bergler Industrieservices has put their faith in Geek+'s Picking and Put-away solution, now fully operational in Bergler's new logistics center in Erlensee, not far from Germany's transportation hub, Frankfurt.

Bergler's success is derived from providing top-quality logistics services, including order fulfillment and returns management, for German and international e-commerce actors. To modernize their picking and put-away processes, Bergler opted for Geek+'s P-800 picking AMRs and sophisticated warehouse management system. With the picking process automated, Bergler can leverage their considerable advantages and know-how to offer top-of-the-line service to their clients.

This know-how is based, among other things, on experience from the production sector, allowing Bergler Industrieservices to offer its customers value-added services such as component assembly, quality control, packaging, and much more in addition to handling typical fulfilment tasks.

The automated order picking system is therefore a great help for the around 40 employees who have been assembling, packing, and shipping a large number of orders for customers of various e-commerce operators every day since moving to the 11 000m2 Erlensee site in 2019. Bergler's warehouse employees are now front and central in both the inbound and outbound operations and enjoy much more comfortable conditions. The P-800s bring the racks to the operator at the workstation, then return the racks to an optimized position based. This saves countless hours that would otherwise be spent walking through the vast site.

Saverio Carella, Sales Director DACH at Geek+, said: "We have greatly enjoyed working with Bergler to make this project a reality. Together, we have achieved a modern logistics center that represents the best of what AMR technology and expertise have to offer. Bergler, their employees, and their customers all stand to benefit from this modernization."

Thanks to the integration of advanced robotics technology, not only is picking faster, more comfortable, and more accurate, but storage density is also much higher, thanks to the AMRs' low profile and modest space requirements. This allows Bergler more freedom to scale up their operations and expand their business horizons.

Bergler CEO Raimund Bergler said: "The Geek+ robotics solution is something we have been looking forward to for some time now, and we're thrilled with the results. The picking robots allow us to embark on a new phase in our development and ensure that we continue to guarantee our customers an extremely high level of service."

Geek+ is once again very proud to have enabled an independent third-party logistics provider to scale up their operations and deliver new levels of quality. The AMR leader stands ready to assist Bergler in making the most of their newly expanded capacities.

About Geek+

Geek+ is a global technology company leading the intelligent logistics revolution. We apply advanced robotics and AI technologies to realize flexible, reliable, and highly efficient solutions for warehouses and supply chain management. Geek+ is trusted by over 500 global industry leaders and has been recognized as the world leader in autonomous mobile robots. Founded in 2015, Geek+ has over 1500 employees, with offices in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, and Singapore.

For more information, please visit: https://www.geekplus.com/

SOURCE Geek+
WASHINGTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Guidehouse, a leading global provider of consulting services to public sector and commercial clients, is pleased to announce that WashingtonExec has selected John Saad, partner and leader of the firm's National Security Segment (NSS), as one of the Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2022.

For this prestigious listing, WashingtonExec identified distinguished leaders who are contributing to executing the mission at the Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement agencies. Those recognized have achieved significant milestones and goals with the support of strong leadership, teams and processes, and they possess the know-how to navigate the complexities of the national security landscape.

Committed to safeguarding the American people, Guidehouse consistently delivers innovative, technology-driven solutions to various intelligence and law enforcement organizations from a team of specialists, including former senior federal officials and industry-recognized experts.

Saad leads Guidehouse's National Security Sector, which encompasses the firm's work across the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, the U.S. Department of State and the Intelligence Community. Saad and his team are seeing a huge demand for the type of services Guidehouse offers, the combined management and technology capabilities and continued growth in the national security space. Talented individuals and access to key contract vehicles will allow Guidehouse to meet clients where they are and bring them that end-to-end capability it delivers.

"John is always committed to excellence. He's got a tremendous command of this domain, and the professional team he built at Guidehouse is a testament to his strong leadership and vision," said Scott McIntyre, Chief Executive Officer at Guidehouse. "He is a capable, accomplished leader who delivers results. With integrity and humility, he is constantly seeking to find new, creative ways to deliver increased value to his clients."

"It's a true honor to be recognized among this remarkable group of leaders who are all working hard to support one of the government's most important missions: to secure and defend our nation," said Saad. "I believe that to serve our clients with innovation and quality, you need to surround yourself with exceptional individuals that a have passion for the missions we serve, coupled with deep technical expertise needed to impact the mission."

Saad serves as the Chairman of the Board of directors for the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council as well as a Board Member for the American Red Cross NCR. He is a Senior Fellow at the Virginia Tech Hume Center for National Security and Technology and a member of the Industry Advisory Board for the George Washington University STT MBA Program.

For more information about Guidehouse's National Security segment, please visit: https://guidehouse.com/capabilities/industries/national-security.

About Guidehouse

Guidehouse is a leading global provider of consulting services to the public sector and commercial markets, with broad capabilities in management, technology, and risk consulting. By combining our public and private sector expertise, we help clients address their most complex challenges and navigate significant regulatory pressures focusing on transformational change, business resiliency, and technology-driven innovation. Across a range of advisory, consulting, outsourcing, and digital services, we create scalable, innovative solutions that help our clients outwit complexity and position them for future growth and success. The company has more than 13,000 professionals in over 50 locations globally. Guidehouse is a Veritas Capital portfolio company, led by seasoned professionals with proven and diverse expertise in traditional and emerging technologies, markets, and agenda-setting issues driving national and global economies. For more information, please visit www.guidehouse.com.

Media Contact:

Guidehouse

Cecile Fradkin [email protected]

SOURCE Guidehouse
RICHMOND, Va., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hilb Group announced today that it has acquired a book of commercial property & casualty (P&C) and surety bond business in its Tri-State region of operations. The new commercial lines business will be serviced through William H. Connolly & Co. in Montclair, New Jersey, and the surety business will be serviced by Wharton Surety Consultants in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Additionally, Scott Kuzmic, an experienced commercial P&C and surety producer, will join Hilb Group to ensure seamless operations and to build on the company's related expertise.

"We are pleased to welcome Scott Kuzmic and to benefit from his experience and reputation of expert customer service," Hilb Group CEO Ricky Spiro said. "Equally important, we look forward to demonstrating our continued commitment to clients through innovative resources and offerings in the Tri-State region and beyond."

William H. Connolly & Co. is an insurance and risk management brokerage, providing primarily property and casualty insurance products, to a wide variety of businesses, healthcare organizations, educational institutions, professional firms, not-for-profit and social service agencies, individuals, and families. The agency joined Hilb Group in December 2020.

Wharton Surety Consultants develops innovative solutions to the surety bond needs of a diverse range of industries including highway construction, commercial and residential building construction, and roofing. The agency joined Hilb Group in December 2021.

About Hilb Group: The Hilb Group is a leading property and casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and advisory firm headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Hilb Group is a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm. Hilb Group seeks to grow through strategic acquisitions and by leveraging its resources and expertise to drive organic growth in its acquired agencies. The company has completed more than 130 acquisitions and now has over 100 offices in 22 states. Hilb Group is rated as one of the Fastest Growing Brokers by Business Insurance, a Top P/C Agency by Insurance Journal, and one of America's Fastest Growing Private Companies in the Inc. 5000. For more information on Hilb Group's growth as well as career opportunities, please visit our website at http://hilbgroup.com.

Media Contact:

Peter Lobred

804.548.4629

[email protected]

M&A Contact:

Ryan Havermann

804.414.6508

[email protected]

SOURCE The Hilb Group, LLC
DUBLIN, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Healthcare BPO Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global healthcare BPO market reached a value of US$ 25.72 billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach a value of US$ 44.59 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 9.10% 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. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Healthcare business process outsourcing (BPO) refers to a strategy adopted by healthcare organizations for selecting and delegating with the third-party vendors to execute specific business-related operations. It aids in processing claims, analyzing patient data and enrollment, performing strategic planning, and managing accounts, business acquisition and billings.

This, in turn, assists healthcare firms in reducing errors and unauthorized data access, improving workflow, and providing quality services to the patients at reduced operational costs. At present, healthcare BPO is categorized based on its varying service types, such as front-end and backend.



Healthcare BPO Market Trends

The significant expansion in the healthcare sector, along with the increasing prevalence of various cardiovascular diseases, mostly amongst the rising geriatric population, represents one of the prime factors driving the healthcare BPO market toward growth. This, in turn, is facilitating the growth in the number of hospital admissions across the globe.

Additionally, the rising awareness amongst the consumers regarding the availability of varying health insurance plans and telehealth services is further supporting the market growth. In line with this, rapid technological advancements and the integration of cloud-based BPO solutions in hospitals and clinics for implementing global service delivery models at cost-effective rates are acting as other growth-inducing factors.

Moreover, numerous favorable initiatives undertaken by the government bodies of several nations for adopting BPO strategy for verifying insurance plans, filling, claiming, examining codding errors and ensuring data security due to the escalating instances of data breaches is contributing to the market growth. Other factors, such as extensive utilization of electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) for recording patient health information, along with significant collaborations amongst key players, are creating a positive outlook for the market.

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Accenture plc, Cognizant, GeBBS Healthcare Solutions, Genpact, International Business Machines Corporation, IQVIA, NTT Data Corporation, Omega Healthcare, Parexel International Corporation, Tata Consultancy Services, WNS (Holdings) Limited and Xerox Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global healthcare BPO market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global healthcare BPO market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the payer service?

What is the breakup of the market based on the provider service?

What is the breakup of the market based on the pharmaceutical service?

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 healthcare BPO 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 Healthcare BPO Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Payer Service

6.1 Human Resource Management

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Claims Management

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Customer Relationship Management

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Operational and Administrative Management

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Care Management

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast

6.6 Provider Management

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 Provider Service

7.1 Patient Enrollment and Strategic Planning

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Patient Care Service

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Revenue Cycle Management

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Pharmaceutical Service

8.1 Manufacturing Services

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Research and Development Services

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Non-clinical Services

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 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 Accenture plc

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 Cognizant

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 GeBBS Healthcare Solutions

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.4 Genpact

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 International Business Machines 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 IQVIA

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 NTT Data 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 Omega Healthcare

14.3.8.1 Company Overview

14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.9 Parexel International Corporation

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.9.3 SWOT Analysis

14.3.10 Tata Consultancy Services

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 WNS (Holdings) Limited

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.11.3 Financials

14.3.12 Xerox Corporation

14.3.12.1 Company Overview

14.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.12.3 Financials

14.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/m3g3ho

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
CARE-O-SENE research project will develop advanced catalysts for sustainable aviation fuels

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sasol (JSE: SOL, NYSE SSL) and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) will lead a consortium to develop and optimise next-generation catalysts that will play a key role in decarbonising the aviation sector through sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

At a ceremony at Sasol's global headquarters in Johannesburg today, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the launch of CARE-O-SENE (Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene) research project, to be funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Sasol.

Sasol joins forces with five other world-leading organisations in Germany and South Africa to accelerate the development of catalysts that are essential to produce green kerosene on a commercial scale through Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology.

"We are delighted to have been selected to lead this important project," said Fleetwood Grobler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sasol Limited. "Our expertise in FT technology and catalysts makes us the ideal partner to help Germany and the world decarbonise the aviation sector and make it sustainable over the long-term."

Prof. Dr. Bernd Rech, Scientific Managing Director of HZB adds, "CARE-O-SENE will enable us to accelerate innovation in a crucial field of green energy. This can only be achieved in a global partnership by deeply integrating fundamental research and technology development on an industry relevant scale."

Other CARE-O-SENE project partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the University of Cape Town, Department of Chemical Engineering (UCT) and INERATEC GmbH. The consortium expresses its sincere gratitude to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for supporting these important efforts.

CARE-O-SENE will run for three years and pursues the goal of setting the course for large-scale commercialisation of green kerosene production by 2025 with its research on catalysts. Catalysts are used to speed up chemical reactions, increase the yield and improve the quality of refined products. The new FT catalysts are expected to increase the fuel yield of the process to over 80 percent, thereby optimising use of resources.

Unlike conventional kerosene derived from fossil feedstocks, SAF can be made from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon dioxide sources. Developing SAF is key to a sustainable decarbonisation of the hard-to-abate aviation industry, and the main lever for net zero aviation. The underlying technology to developing SAF at scale from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon sources is FT technology, in which Sasol has been a global leader for more than 70 years.

Issued by:

Alex Anderson, Head of Group Media Relations

Mobile +27 (0) 71 600 9605;

[email protected]

Matebello Motloung, Manager: Group Media Relations

Mobile: +27 (0) 82 773 9457

[email protected]

Other Press contacts:

Sunna Schulz, Senior Manager Corporate Affairs Eurasia Chemicals

Direct telephone: +49 40 63684-1364; Mobile: +49 152 0835 3881

[email protected]

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und Energie

Silvia Zerbe, Manager Public Relations:

Direct telephone: +49 30 8042-42607

[email protected]

About Sasol:

Sasol is a global chemicals and energy company. We harness our knowledge and expertise to integrate sophisticated technologies and processes into world-scale operating facilities. We safely and sustainably source, produce and market a range of high-quality products in 23 countries, creating value for stakeholders. Our purpose 'Innovating for a better world' compels us to deliver on triple bottom line outcomes of People, Planet and Profit, responsibly and always with the intent to be a force for good. We have prioritised five Sustainable Development Goals to ensure our business is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

About Sasol's Information Privacy Policy:

We wish to inform you about the processing of your Personal Information by Sasol South Africa Limited and your rights under applicable data protection law, as interpreted and included in Sasol Information Privacy Policy.

Within our company, only Sasol Group Media Relations will receive your Personal Information to fulfil the purpose of maintaining the relationship with the receiver in his/her capacity as a member of the media. You have the right to request for the correction or deletion of your Personal Information stored by us at address: Sasol Place, 50 Katherine Street, Sandton in Johannesburg. You also have a right to restrict the processing of your Information. To exercise your privacy rights or find out more about Information Privacy Policy, kindly contact our Privacy Office on: [email protected]

HZB boilerplate

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und Energie (HZB) researches solutions for a climate-neutral society. Scientist are developing and optimising efficient and cost-effective energy materials for solar cells, batteries and catalysts. With 1200 employees, HZB is one of Germany's largest non-university research centers in the field of energy research and is a member of the Helmholtz Association. More Information: www.helmholtz-berlin.de

SOURCE Sasol
VANCOUVER, BC, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (the "Company") - (TSX: ITH) (NYSE American: THM) announces the results from its 2022 Annual General and Special Meeting of shareholders held in Fairbanks, AK, USA on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 ("Meeting").

At the Meeting, the Company's shareholders elected the following individuals as directors of the Company, with all receiving a majority of the votes cast, as follows:

Director Votes For Votes Withheld Anton Drescher 120,784,904 (87.02%)

18,009,216 (12.98%) Karl Hanneman 138,466,542 (99.76%)

327,577 (0.24%) Stuart Harshaw 135,604,942 (97.70%)

3,189,178 (2.30%) Marcelo Kim 136,095,437 (98.06%)

2,698,683 (1.94%) Stephen Lang 135,640,108 (97.73%)

3,154,012 (2.27%) Christopher Papagianis 138,436,185 (99.74%)

357,935 (0.26%) Thomas Weng 138,482,671 (99.78%)

311,449 (0.22%)









The shareholders re-appointed the current auditors, Davidson & Company LLP, Chartered Accountants, as auditors of the Company for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 and authorized the directors to fix their remuneration.

The shareholders approved, on an advisory non-binding basis ("Say on Pay"), the compensation paid to the Company's executive officers (89.18% majority).

The detailed proxy voting on all resolutions submitted to the shareholders at the Meeting is contained in the "Report of Voting Results" for the Meeting which will be available under the Company's profile on SEDAR and on the Company's website or upon request by contacting the Company at 1-855-428-2825.

About International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. controls 100% of the Livengood Gold Project located along the paved Elliott Highway, 70 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

On behalf of

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

(signed) Karl L. Hanneman

Chief Executive Officer

This news release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.

SOURCE International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.
Global companies must work together to create new markets for a net-zero future Tweet this

"Global companies must work together to create new markets for a net-zero future. As a founding member of the First Movers Coalition Johnson Controls made a commitment to purchase 10 percent near net-zero carbon steel by 2030, and today welcomes new members, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Salesforce, to the Coalition, creating an unprecedented demand signal for cleantech," said George Oliver, chairman and CEO Johnson Controls. "Only through joint collaboration we are creating unprecedented market demand for the near-zero or zero-carbon technologies needed for net-zero by 2050."

Led by the World Economic Forum and the US government, the First Movers Coalition targets sectors including aluminium, aviation, chemicals, concrete, shipping, steel, and trucking responsible for 30% of global emissions  a proportion expected to rise to over 50% by mid-century without urgent progress on clean technology innovation.

The companies  whose market cap represents about $8.5 trillion across five continents  have sent the largest market signal in history to commercialize emerging clean technologies by making unprecedented advance purchase commitments by 2030 for near-zero carbon steel, aluminium, shipping, trucking and aviation as well as advanced carbon dioxide removal solutions.

Reducing emissions to net-zero by 2050 is possible if the right technologies are brought to commercial scale within the next decade.

"On behalf of the whole team at Johnson Controls, it is our great honor and pleasure to be counted among the founding partners of the First Movers Coalition. Let us salute Secretary John Kerry and the leadership of the World Economic Forum for launching this innovative partnership, and historic expansion today," said Katie McGinty, vice president and chief sustainability and external relations officer at Johnson Controls. "This is exactly the kind of "working together"business and government, togetherthat the world so needs and that we know is an unbeatable combination. The toughest problemslike decarbonizing hard to decarbonize sectorswither in the face of formidable partnerships, and we believe, transform them into opportunities."

Among the earliest industrial companies to report carbon emissions and pledge emission reductions, Johnson Controls continues to make tremendous progress  committing to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2040  ten years ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement goal. By 2030, the company aims to cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 55 percent and Scope 3 emissions by 16 percent. These ambitious 2030 emissions reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.

Additional information on the First Movers Coalition can be found here and to read more about Johnson Controls commitment to sustainability, please visit: https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/corporate-sustainability/environment

About Johnson Controls

At Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI), we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet.

Building on a proud history of more than 135 years of innovation, we deliver the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through OpenBlue, our comprehensive digital offering. Today, with a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the world`s largest portfolio of building technology and software as well as service solutions from some of the most trusted names in the industry. Visit www.johnsoncontrols.com for more information and follow @Johnson Controls on social platforms.

SOURCE Johnson Controls International plc
SEATTLE, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2020, KaJ Labs pledged to contribute $50 million over 10 years to non-profit organizations that support racial and social justice. On the second anniversary of that pledge, KaJ Labs announced that the organization will distribute a portion of its funds from the 2020 Social & Racial Equality Justice pledge to the NAACP and the National Homelessness Law Center.

KaJ Labs

Distributions will be made in Litho and USD fiat. The monetary awards also coincide with the 2nd year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. KaJ Labs is committed to awarding $50 million over 10 years to African-American non-profits working to make core changes.

KaJ Labs will allocate an additional $40 million over a 10-year period to non-profit groups working toward racial justice and equity in the U.S. The funds will come from Litho's social responsibility vault.

"I think blockchain, specifically true DeFi applications, will play a big role in removing bias in several of our daily human interactions," said Joel Kasr. "By building decentralized, trustless services and products, we truly believe we can take bias out of lending, leasing, short-term credit, fundraising, investing, and many more business sectors that impact our daily lives."

KaJ Labs launched the Lithosphere.network to address several bottlenecks hindering mainstream Web3 adoption but also as a means of addressing deep rooted bias & empowering underrepresented communities globally. This donation reaffirms KaJ Labs' commitment to social justice and equality, along with Lithosphere's position and allocation of Litho towards social responsibility causes and philanthropy.

Lithosphere's first distribution of funds to the NAACP and the National Homelessness Law Center is part of its ongoing commitment to social and racial justice causes. The platform will provide donors, volunteers and nonprofits with greater accessibility, more flexibility, and faster transactions to further the missions of social justice and equity.

About KaJ Labs

KaJ Labs is a decentralized research organization focusing on Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technology. We're driven to create innovative products that work for the greater good around the globe.

About Lithosphere

Lithosphere is a next-generation platform for cross-chain decentralized applications powered by AI and Deep Learning.

Media Enquiries

Juliet N.

Phone: (707)-622-6168

Email: [email protected]

KaJ Labs Foundation

4730 University Way NE 104-#175

Seattle, WA 98105

Website: https://kajlabs.org

Website: https://lithosphere.network

SOURCE KaJ Labs
INDIANAPOLIS, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) plans to expand its manufacturing footprint in Indiana by investing $2.1 billion in two new manufacturing sites at Indiana's LEAP Lebanon Innovation and Research District in Boone County.

These new facilities will expand Lilly's manufacturing network for active ingredients and new therapeutic modalities, such as genetic medicines, and represent the company's dedication to strengthening its portfolio of potentially life-changing treatments.

"More than 146 years after our founding, Lilly remains committed to investing and innovating in Indiana," said David A. Ricks, Lilly's chair and CEO. "These new sites will add capacity in support of our growing pipeline of innovative medicines, while also creating more high-tech jobs for Hoosiers. We are pleased to be a founding investor at the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District."

Over the past eight years, Lilly has delivered 17 new medicines, including tirzepatide (approved by the FDA as Mounjaro) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, and aims to introduce four potential new medicines in the next two years. These new sites will support increased demand for existing Lilly products and play a key role in bringing Lilly's robust clinical pipeline to patients around the world.

The proposed project is expected to create up to 500 new Lilly roles with an additional four indirect jobs for every Lilly position created, based on industry data. An estimated 1,500 construction jobs will be required while the facilities are being built.

"Lilly has been an anchor in Indiana's economy for generations, and this announcement means they will continue to be here for generations," said Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb. "I am incredibly proud Lilly continues to make exciting investments in Indiana that will better the lives and opportunities of Hoosiers for decades to come. And in turn, the very research and pharmaceutical manufacturing spearheaded here in our state will improve lives worldwide."

Lilly's most recent expansion in Indiana was announced in 2019 and capped a series of investments in research and manufacturing in and around Indianapolis. Those investments totaled more than $2.5 billion over five years and have created additional manufacturing jobs bringing the total current number of Lilly manufacturing employees in Indiana to more than 3,700.

The investment in Boone County is contingent upon local zoning and annexation approvals. Lilly is partnering with several organizations throughout the project, including the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

About Lilly

Lilly unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world. We've been pioneering life-changing discoveries for nearly 150 years, and today our medicines help more than 47 million people across the globe. Harnessing the power of biotechnology, chemistry and genetic medicine, our scientists are urgently advancing new discoveries to solve some of the world's most significant health challenges, redefining diabetes care, treating obesity and curtailing its most devastating long-term effects, advancing the fight against Alzheimer's disease, providing solutions to some of the most debilitating immune system disorders, and transforming the most difficult-to-treat cancers into manageable diseases. With each step toward a healthier world, we're motivated by one thing: making life better for millions more people. That includes delivering innovative clinical trials that reflect the diversity of our world and working to ensure our medicines are accessible and affordable. To learn more, visit Lilly.com and Lilly.com/newsroom. C-LLY

This press release contains forward-looking statements (as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) about planned capital investments in new manufacturing sites and reflects Lilly's current beliefs and expectations. However, there can be no assurance that Lilly will successfully complete the planned manufacturing sites or that Lilly will otherwise execute its strategy as planned. There are substantial risks and uncertainties in the manufacturing process, development, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products which could impact the launch of potential new products or the overall commercial success of our products. For further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, see Lilly's most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.

SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company
ARLINGTON, Va., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is deeply saddened by the horrific and avoidable school shooting that occurred yesterday in Uvalde, Texas. The mass killing of at least 19 children and two adults at the elementary school impacts all of us. It impacts the mental health of our entire country.

We say the shooting in Uvalde could have been avoided because the nation has failed to act. Littleton, Newtown, Parkland, Blacksburg, Orlando, Las Vegas and most recently Buffalo have been the scenes of mass shootings over the years. Each time, nothing is done, and another tragedy ensues. We should all be free to send our children to schools, to shop for groceries or attend events without the danger of gun violence.

Mental illness is not the problem. It is incorrect and harmful to link mental illness and gun violence, which is often the case following a mass shooting. Pointing to mental illness doesn't get us closer as a nation to solving the problem and doing so leads to discrimination and stigma against those with mental illness  who are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. People across the globe live with mental illness, but only in the U.S. do we have an epidemic of senseless and tragic mass shootings.

Gun violence is a public health crisis. We urgently need common sense approaches to end gun violence in this country. We all want an end to this senseless violence and trauma, so we need to come together as a nation to find meaningful and sensible solutions.

We are here, ready to help the nation address its trauma. You can connect to your local NAMI. The NAMI HelpLine can be reached at 1-800-950-6264 or [email protected], and available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.  10 p.m. ET, to provide support, answer questions and find local resources.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness.

Join the conversation at nami.org | facebook.com/nami | instagram.com/namicommunicate | twitter.com/namicommunicate #Together4MH

SOURCE National Alliance on Mental Illness
Two classic Santa Fe art shows to unite and present both live and free online virtual events this summer Tweet this

An expanded, enhanced, and interactive Virtual Show runs August 11-31.

Opening Celebration & Benefit For SWAIA/Indian Market

Thursday, August 11 | 6:00  9:00 p.m.

Show Dates & Times

Friday, Saturday & Sunday, August 12, 13 & 14

11:00 a.m.  5:00 p.m.

Location

El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, New Mexico

555 Camino de La Familia / Santa Fe Railyard

Objects of Art & American Indian/Tribal Santa Fe 2022

This year the show adds "Tribal" to the title as this crucial element will have four major tribal exhibitors from all over the continent to exhibit in Santa Fe for the first time in nearly a decade: Joshua Dimondstein, Mark Eglinton, Mark Johnson, and James Stephenson. Longtime show participants from the tribal world to return are Dancing Threads and Caravanserai.

The 2022 show will be more inclusive than ever as it presents original and unique material from contemporary to historic times: paintings, sculpture, and fine art of all kinds, furniture, books, fashion, jewelry, textiles, and tribal, folk, American Indian, African, and Asian artsingular master objects of art from around the world.

Morris and Martindale will produce two special exhibitions for the show: Variations On A Loom, Master Navajo Weavers from Crystal Trading Post During the J.B. Moore Era and Looking Forward Through The Past: Contemporary Native American Art.

The show further includes a featured gallery presentation of mesmerizing Australian Aboriginal Master Artists hosted by Natalie Holubnytschyj of Australian Aboriginal Art Gallery in her first trip abroad since Covid-19. Fazakas Gallery will present an art installation by multidisciplinary Cree-Metis sensation Jason Baerg hot off his huge success at Art Toronto.

Virtual Objects of Art & American Indian/Tribal Santa Fe

The new, state-of-the-art, virtual show platform designed specifically for Objects of Art Shows will at least double the number of exhibitors and offers easy navigation and special features for exhibitors, collectors, and patrons. Opening day of Virtual Objects of Art & American Indian/Tribal Santa Fe is a benefit for IC22, and the Virtual Show is then free.

CONTACT: www.objectsofartshows.com

SOURCE Objects of Art Shows
Perception Point Recognized as Leader and Innovator in the Cyber Security Cloud/SaaS Category

TEL AVIV, Israel , May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Perception Point , the leading provider of advanced threat prevention across digital channels, announced today that The Globee Awards, organizers of the world's premier business awards programs and business ranking lists, has named Perception Point a winner in the Annual 2022 Disruptor Company Awards. Perception Point was named a Grand Trophy winner and was also named a Gold Globee winner for Disruptor Company in the Cyber Security/SaaS category. These prestigious global awards recognize disruptive technologies and innovative solutions that are transforming consumer experiences everywhere.

Perception Point's holistic threat prevention solution, powered by multiple layers of static and dynamic detection engines , offers a comprehensive, advanced cybersecurity solution across an organization's main attack vectors: email, web browsers, cloud collaboration channels, and proprietary apps. The company's next-gen SaaS solution detects all threats, such as APTs, zero-days, phishing, malware , BEC , ATO, impersonation attacks, and spam, in both Windows and Mac, up to 40x faster than other solutions on the market, dynamically scanning 100% of content within seconds. Perception Point's offering also includes an all-inclusive managed Incident Response Service composed of cyber security experts who efficiently analyze and manage incidents, reducing companies' SOC team resources by up to 75%, while the service also drives continuous optimization of systems' detection rates.

Perception Point recently announced the acquisition of Hysolate, a next-gen web isolation platform operating at the endpoint level, to expand its offering to encompass web security. The solution provides strong isolation capabilities to standard browsers with patented VM-based isolation technology. Perception Point's portfolio is game-changing in its ability to isolate, detect, and remediate web-based cyber threats transparently to the end-user without impacting their workflow.

"It gives us great pride to have won the Globee Award for the third time in two years and be recognized alongside some of the top cyber security players in the market," said Karen Krivaa, CMO of Perception Point. "The rise of digitization, the shift toward remote working and the growing usage of services in the cloud have made it more complex for organizations of all sizes to adequately protect themselves without compromising their productivity. Perception Point's cloud-native, multi-layered offering uniquely provides the three necessary components for holistic cybersecurity protection  isolation, detection, and remediation  in an easy-to-deploy and seamless manner to mitigate threats while supporting our customers' business needs."

In March 2022, the Globee Awards recognized Perception Point as a Gold Globee Winner for the Hot Security Company of the Year in the Cloud/SaaS category, and previously, in 2021, the Globee Awards recognized Perception Point as a Winner in the Disruptor Company of the Year (Cloud/SaaS) category.

See the complete list of 2022 winners here: https://globeeawards.com/disruptor/winners/

About Perception Point

Perception Point is a Prevention-as-a-Service company for the fastest and most accurate next-generation detection and response to any content-borne attack across email, cloud collaboration channels, and the web, including cloud storage, cloud apps and proprietary applications, and web browsers. The solution's natively integrated incident response service acts as a force multiplier to the SOC team, reducing management overhead, improving user experience and delivering continuous insights; providing proven best protection for all organizations.

Deployed in minutes, with no change to the enterprise's infrastructure, the patented, cloud-native and easy-to-use service replaces cumbersome legacy systems to prevent phishing, BEC, spam, malware, Zero-days, ATO, and other advanced attacks well before they reach end-users. Fortune 500 enterprises and organizations across the globe are preventing content-borne attacks across their email and cloud collaboration channels with Perception Point.

To learn more about Perception Point, visit our website , or follow us on LinkedIn , Facebook , and Twitter .

Media Contact

Ben Crome

Headline Media

[email protected]

+1 914 336 4922

SOURCE Perception Point
Fast-Growing Infrared Sauna Franchise Opens with High Membership Demand in Santa Monica, Seeks New Investors in Los Angeles County

SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Perspire Sauna Studio , the rapidly-growing infrared and red light therapy (RLT) sauna franchise, has just opened their first studio in Los Angeles County, located at 924 Montana Ave. The new studio opened with 455 founding member reservations almost four times the average for a new opening. As a result of this positive response, the brand is currently seeking new franchisees in Los Angeles County.

"We could not be more pleased that the Los Angeles area has opened their arms to our unique wellness services," says first-time studio owner Kelly Koklas. "I changed careers from the mortgage and marketing industries to join a brand that is truly making a difference in the lives of its clients. Perspire Sauna Studio has something for everyone with lasting benefits to meet individual health needs. With such a great community response, we're excited to serve as many of our neighbors as possible."

Los Angeles County is primed for further success and development of the Perspire Sauna Studio brand with a regional demand and appreciation for health and wellness. The brand is already preparing for another new studio in the area; located in South Bay, the new Torrance, CA studio will open the first weekend in June. Using the Santa Monica studio as just one example, the brand clearly speaks to a fitness-focused community of residents. In addition, the company has already shown that densely populated areas tend to demand their particular services, as seen already in areas like Chicago, Charlotte and Atlanta.

Perspire Sauna Studio is currently seeking single-unit and multi-unit franchisees interested in new career opportunities or those looking to diversify their current portfolios. Combined with the 39 franchises awarded year to date, Perspire has signed 93 franchise agreements with 23 studios currently open and 24 in development.

"New entrepreneurs like Kelly are interested in our brand because we offer something that resonates with their community," says Lee Braun, Founder, and CEO of Perspire Sauna Studio. "Our studios meet the needs of residents looking to add to their fitness routine or simply relieve stress after a long day. Based on the positive response to the studio in Santa Monica, this creates a timely opportunity for other Los Angeles-area entrepreneurs to succeed with our brand."

Founded in 2010 in Southern California, Perspire Sauna Studio is committed to elevating the mind and body wellness of its guests, offering an experience that is personalized to each individual. The brand's advanced full spectrum infrared sauna technology, along with its medical-grade and high-intensity red light therapy (RLT) bar, are what set it apart in the industry. The experience has demonstrated the ability to improve sleep, boost immunity, burn calories, reduce inflammation, and simply offer a space for people to allow their minds and bodies to feel better. Across the 23 open studios, more than 1 million sauna sessions have been hosted since the company's founding.

To learn more about Perspire Sauna Studio and franchising opportunities, please visit https://www.perspiresaunastudio.com/franchise.

About Perspire Sauna Studio:

Perspire Sauna Studio is the fastest-growing infrared sauna and red light therapy franchise in the U.S. The science-based, technology-driven, and wellness-seeking company provides guests a modern-day experience to a centuries-old practice, allowing their body and mind to feel refreshed after each session. Founded and led by CEO Lee Braun, Perspire's goal is to expand to major markets throughout the U.S. to further instill its vision of making infrared wellness accessible to all.

Founded in 2010 and based in Southern California, Perspire Sauna Studio currently offers franchise opportunities to qualifying entrepreneurs. For more information, please visit www.perspiresaunastudio.com , and follow the brand on social media @perspiresaunastudio. For franchising information, please contact Cory Lyons, [email protected] .

Media Contact: Bailey Feldman, Fishman Public Relations, [email protected] or 847-945-1300

SOURCE Perspire Sauna Studio
Research shows vape enthusiasts who look for superior devices with long-lasting flavor prefer Fume and Loy products. Tweet this

Research shows that vape enthusiasts who look for superior devices with long-lasting flavor prefer both Fume and Loy products. Notably, both brands offer numerous options to consumers, allowing for many flavor choices. In addition to the five existing Fume vapes and two Loy models, QR Joy teased its latest product, the Fume Unlimited, which offers the capacity to deliver an astounding 7,000 puffs of mouth-watering flavor in 17 varieties.

"Fume and Loy are popular with consumers and retailers alike thanks to the quality of the vapes and innovative flavors we offer with both brands," said QR Joy's CEO. "The Alternative Product Expo was an excellent opportunity to expand our presence on the international stage."

"We were very happy with the turnout and the response we had to our products, including the new Fume Unlimited," he continued.

QR Joy's presence in Colombia follows their recent success at the CHAMPS East Coast event earlier this month. The Medellin show is one of three Alternative Products Expo events held each year and the only one outside the U.S., which offers exhibitors an opportunity to expand their market and engage with customers and wholesalers on an international level.

Next up for QR Joy is the CHAMPS Chicago Show on June 7-9, where the company plans to launch Fume Unlimited officially.

About QR Joy

QR Joy is a Florida-based corporation renowned for patented electronic cigarette devices of the highest quality and most tantalizing flavors. With multi-million dollar brands such as Fume, a global success with consumers built on extensive market research, QR-Joy focuses on what customers want. QR Joy's years of industry experience, combined with a process that stresses continuous improvement, results in a best-in-class vape product that competes globally. There's guaranteed excellence inside when the QR Joy name is on the label. For more information, visit www.FumeVapors.com .

About Fume

Fume, an authentic QR Joy product available in over 30 smooth and delicious flavors, is the vape industry's most sought-after product. Built with the consumer in mind, Fume Vapes' sleek design, medical-grade technology, and increased puff capacity quickly cornered the mult-million-dollar vape market. Today, the Company boasts one of the largest consumer bases in the vaping industry, due in no small part to its cadre of innovative and popular products, including the Fume Extra, Fume Ultra, Fume Infinity, and Fume Mini. With Fume continuing to corner the market, America's vaping pastime is poised to be renamed "fuming." For more information, visit www.FumeVapors.com .

About Loy

Founded in 2008, Loy is an authentic technology-based vaping manufacturer grounded in research and development. The Company's rapid rise to prominence in the million-dollar vaping industry is due, in no small part, to the market-oriented and customer-centric ideals behind its most popular products, including the Loy XL and XXL, both available in 28 incredibly satisfying flavors. With a global consumer base and an annual export volume that accounts for 80% of the Company's products, Loy's prominence in the vaping industry continues to rise. For more information, visit www.LoyVapor.com .

SOURCE QR Joy Inc.
"Cecilia is more than our Chief Human Resources Officer; she's an empathetic leader and a fearless champion for our 50,000 colleagues," said Steve Rusckowski, Chairman, CEO and President. "She has a unique ability to connect with everyone in the organization, from a board member to our newest phlebotomist working in a patient service center. I'm grateful for what Cecilia has done for Quest Diagnostics, and for the support she has given me as a trusted advisor."

Ms. McKenney joined Quest Diagnostics in 2018 and has been an advocate for inclusion, innovation and well-being. During a challenging time when our colleagues were providing vital COVID-19 testing to the nation, Ms. McKenney championed several initiatives to support employees and their families, from financial resources to mental health programs.

"I am incredibly honored to receive this award on behalf of the entire Quest team," said Ms. McKenney. "It's easy to bring passion to the workplace when you love the people you work with and the role your company gets to play in empowering better health for the millions we serve."

In 2014, HRO Today introduced the CHRO Awards, honoring those CHROs with the capabilities to adapt to a competitive business environment in order to deliver the insight needed for HR transformation. The CHRO of the Year award and Lifetime Achievement award and Award recognizes CHROs that help drive workforce initiatives through innovation with measurable excellence in employee engagement and retention to prove it. These CHROs are responsible for providing leadership to ensure talent acquisition and retention, business growth, and a culture that can lead in a global workforce.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors, and improve health care management. Quest annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our nearly 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. Learn more at www.QuestDiagnostics.com.

SOURCE Quest Diagnostics
IMEX, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is an exhibition specifically designed for MICE industry which draws 14,000 visitors from 170 countries and more than 70,000 business meetings. Expectations for this year are very high as attention is being paid to how different or similar international events, which have been canceled for the past two years due to the pandemic, will be this year comparing to the previous years.

The Seoul Tourism Organization prepared joint marketing activities with the participating Seoul MICE Alliance members, including group presentation sessions to expand potential clientele to come to Seoul for their MICE events. Buyers can reserve a PSA meeting with eight SMA members- Channel K, Euras Tech, People & Value, Grand Hyatt Seoul, Lotte Hotels Seoul, Sofitel Ambassador Seoul, VIAGEM, Communistar -beforehand through the official website or drop in during the event.

Also, STO prepared fun and engaging events created from globally popular K-contents, such as drama series including Squid Game to attract the attention of MICE organizers: Dalgona carving time, chimaek (chicken + beer) networking time, writing Korean names on traditional Korean fans, and taking photos with K-pop stars who lead Hallyu culture worldwide.

PARK Jin hyeok, director of the Seoul Convention Bureau said, "We expect our participation in this year's IMEX exhibition will be a meaningful rebooting of Seoul's standing as a complete MICE venue. With experienced and knowledgeable Seoul MICE Alliance members, we will continue our overseas marketing to enhance its position as the best MICE city in the world."

SOURCE Seoul Tourism Organization(STO)
In Celebration of Pride Month, Shinesty Shows Support for LGBTQ+ Community with New Intimates Collection

DENVER, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Shinesty, the leading online retailer that specializes in notoriously fun and eye-catching apparel for every occasion, today announced a new partnership with Discovery's Naked and Afraid actor, Jake Nodar. Joining the Shinesty brand as Guest Art Director, Nodar curated this year's 2022 Pride Collection. Launching to market ahead of the June month, together both Shinesty and Nodar are excited to debut the new line in celebration and support of the LGBTQ+ community this Pride month and beyond.

The new collection is comprised of Shinesty's best-selling Men's Ball Hammock Underwear, Women's Thong, Cheeky, Bikini, and Boyshort Underwear, as well as Swim Briefs, featuring the new, Pride-inspired prints. Influenced by Shinesty's love of tongue-in-cheek humor and retro inspired glam shots, the Pride Collection's prints play on terminology frequently used within the LGBTQ+ community, media, and culture with a fun Shinesty twist.

"I chose to work with Shinesty on this collection, because I've never found a clothing company that has such a similar vision to me  have fun, be weird, be you!" said Jake Nodar, Shinesty Guest Art Director. "I always feel like my true self when I'm wearing Shinesty. Working on this collection has been so much fun, and getting to work with such a talented creative team and see the whole process from concept to stunning undies has been so amazing."

Crafted with MicroModal material that is breathable, ultra-comfortable, and 3X softer than cotton, the Pride Collection is available in styles for both men and women, including four new Men's prints; The Knot Tonights, The Bear, The Swollen Tentacle, The Bona Fide Pride, three new Women's prints; The Knot Tonights, The Scissor Sisters, The Bona Fide Pride, and a limited-edition pair of The Boca Raton Rainbow Swim Briefs; a twist on Shinesty's Daytona Dong Sarong. What's more, 15% of proceeds from the collection will be donated to support the LGBTQ+ community.

"We are thrilled to partner with Jake for this collection," said Chris White, CEO and Co-Founder of Shinesty. "Jake fully embodies our brand mission to encourage the world to take itself less seriously and we immediately knew we wanted to partner with him on a Pride collection that was both authentic to Shinesty and the LGBTQ+ community. This collection allows us to show our support not just during Pride Month, but all year long."

The Pride Collection will be available for purchase beginning today, Wednesday, May 25th exclusively on Shinesty.com, with inclusive sizes ranging from S-5X for men and XS-2X for women. For more information on Shinesty and to stay up-to-date on the collections, please visit Shinesty.com, and follow @ShinestyThreads on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

About Shinesty

Shinesty, known for its bestselling Ball Hammock Pouch Underwear and irreverently designed women's underwear line, is the leading apparel brand with one singular mission: forcing the world to take itself less seriously. Founded in 2014 by Chris White and Jens Nicolaysen, the brand creates products that bring the wearer's sense of humor to the surface, all while delivering standout comfort and quality.

SOURCE Shinesty
Southern California connection to the highly anticipated Tom Cruise film includes scenes filmed in Ridgecrest and San Diego areas.

RIDGECREST, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The highly anticipated release of Top Gun: Maverick will include a tribute to local military service members with their families at a special red-carpet screening in Ridgecrest on Thursday, May 26, 2022, ahead of the wide-release of the film on Friday.

Top Gun: Maverick, Starring Tom Cruise. Courtesy: Paramount Pictures Charles Robert Cass among the service members honored on a "Hallway of Heroes" during the Top Gun: Maverick premiere in Ridgecrest, California ahead of the Memorial Day Weekend 2022.

Ridgecrest Cinemas will be pulling out all the stops with a red-carpet world premiere event for the sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise. A reception ahead of the film includes a meet and greet of crew members who participated in the filming. Ticket proceeds will benefit the Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert (HSUMD) Historic USO Building.

"We want to recognize the importance of military life in the region and honor those who have served. Memorial Day is a treasured tradition, and we don't want to forget those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country," says Kari Crutcher, Ridgecrest Regional Film Commissioner.

A "Hallway of Heroes" will be placed along the red carpet to honor military service members with roots in Southern California. The exhibit will then move to the Historic USO Building as part of its permanent collection.

This film is a meaningful project for Tom Cruise, an avid enthusiast of aviation, bringing up all the emotions of reuniting some of the original cast and crew. The film picks up 30 years after the events of the original Top Gun, with Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell working at the prestigious United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program he attended in the original film. He then must navigate the increasingly complex world of drone warfare as he mentors a new generation of Navy pilots.

"I wasn't ready to make a sequel until we had a special story worthy of a sequel and until technology evolved so, we could delve deeper into the experience of a fighter pilot," Cruise insisted. He designed a unique boot camp for the actors, who went through three months of training  underwater evac training, aerial aviation training to build up spatial awareness inside the aircraft, and flights in the back of the F-18 to pull Gs.

"The actors also had to learn how to run the cameras because they have to direct themselves when they're up in the jet," said producer Jerry Bruckheimer. "From cinematography to lighting to acting while flying, those actors had the experience of a lifetime."

Contact:

Kari Crutcher

[email protected].com

760-608-9550 direct

SOURCE Ridgecrest Regional Film Commission
LONDON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kendamil is in advanced discussions with the FDA to become the first international manufacturer to export significant quantities of non-medicated infant formula to the USA under Joe Biden's 'Operation Fly Formula' to address the ongoing formula shortage crisis in the USA.

Kendamil is a brand of Kendal Nutricare, a family owned, Queen's Award-winning manufacturing business based out of the English Lake District, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kendamil is the only British made baby milk, supporting hundreds of dairy farms across the UK by sourcing its milk fresh from Red Tractor Accredited farms. Kendamil is the highest-reviewed baby milk in the UK (Trustpilot, social media) its fame built on viral word-of-mouth from parents praising its British provenance and unique natural recipe, which uses whole milk as its main ingredient and source of fat versus the industry standard of 100% vegetable oils. Kendamil also addresses growing consumer demand for more sustainable, ethical, natural products, through avoiding palm oil in their recipes and using plant based Omega-3 over the conventional choice of fish oil (derived from offal). Kendamil offers organic and conventional cow formulas, along with goat formula (which would be a first in the USA where, unlike in Europe, no goat milk is today certified for sale to infants under 1 year old).

Kendamil has been in discussions with the FDA for a number of weeks since news first broke of the formula shortages and the measures announced from the Biden Administration to bring international brands into the USA. Following a meeting between Ross McMahon, CEO of Kendal Nutricare and the Prime Minister Boris Johnson at a Spring Showcase event at 10 Downing Street on the 9th May, communications were opened between US authorities and the British Department of International Trade. Kendal Nutricare was among the first to respond to the FDA's call for assistance from international manufacturers, with Kendamil's English packaging and fully nutritionally-compliant recipe (including iron levels) ensured the brand was fast-tracked relative to other European brands. The factory in Kendal is capable of producing c. 10 million cans of 900g formula per year and though today is operating at c. 50% of its total capacity, given exponential demand from the UK, Europe, Asia and now the US, plans are in place to more than double the site's capacity by 2024. Kendal Nutricare expects to ship 100 trucks to the USA over the next 6 months, however management have made clear they will continue to prioritise their core markets and existing customers and so do not expect any impact on its existing markets or supply for UK parents, who today can purchase the award-winning Kendamil range in over 5,000 stores nationwide.

Kendamil is the UK's fastest growing formula brand with 900% growth in UK sales over the past 12 months (compared to an overall infant formula market sales decline of 10% - The Grocer). Since its launch in 2016, the brand has rapidly scaled to sell in over 35,000 stores across 40 countries and four continents globally, making it one of Europe's 1,000 Fastest-Growing Companies (Financial Times) and scooping prestigious awards including the Grand Gold Monde Selection Award for Quality, the Queen's Award for International Trade and becoming a Fast50 Food and Drink company. The brand first received international recognition when it was reported that the Royal family had elected to wean Prince Louis using Kendamil formula. Since then, the brand has grown rapidly and organically, driven by word-of-mouth and online testimonials with thousands of parents citing Kendamil's more natural taste and smell relative to other formulations. Although Kendamil started primarily as an export brand, having once accounted for over 10% of the UKs food export business to China, rapid growth in its domestic market mean the UK now accounts for 50% of the company's sales.

Ross McMahon, CEO of Kendal Nutricare commented: "We have received the call for assistance from the FDA and Kendamil stands ready to act. The urgency of the situation and scale of the US opportunity will justify Kendal Nutricare doubling our capacity for Kendamil by 2024, increasing British dairy exports from Cumbria, creating more local jobs and providing long-term security for British dairy farmers."

Kendal Nutricare expects to meet the needs of at least 150,000 US households during the import period, fuelled by a unique, high-quality formulation at a cost competitive price when compared to existing incumbent and start-up brands.

Ross McMahon added: "The relationship between the UK and USA is very strong and we look forward to bringing the highest-quality formula to US parents, while supporting British jobs, local farming and organic dairy".

SOURCE Kendamil
Visit 42Q in Hall 4 Booth #E31 during Hannover Messe and Learn How to Jumpstart Digital Factory Transformation Using 42Q's Digital Factory Starter Kit

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 42Q , a leading provider of cloud manufacturing solutions, today announced availability of its cloud-based manufacturing execution system (MES) in AWS Marketplace, a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors that make it easy to find, test, buy and deploy software that runs on Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS). As manufacturing organizations seek digital transformation, access to 42Q in AWS Marketplace provides a one-stop shop for managing operations with real time visibility into factory data that increases efficiency, improves product quality and lowers costs. 42Q will be demonstrating the solution in Hall 4 at Booth #E31 during Hannover Messe in Hanover, Germany from May 30 to June 2, 2022.

Manufacturers face a high degree of operational complexity during the production of products. They must effectively manage materials, components, product designs, production processes, regulatory requirements and worker activity to deliver high quality products on time. 42Q is a comprehensive and proven cloud-based MES that operates between an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and manufacturing equipment in a factory to track and streamline these activities. Organizations can configure and use 42Q for real-time visibility into factory floor data, end-user analytics and reporting for instant visibility and improved decision making.

42Q is offering its Digital Factory Starter Kit as a 90-day trial to AWS Marketplace customers. The solution includes 42Q's Business Intelligence toolkit for real-time data visualization of manufacturing operations and can be configured to meet specific requirements of an advanced manufacturing operation in as little as two weeks.

"In today's highly competitive environment, manufacturing organizations must make data-driven decisions faster than ever before," said Wellington Giolo, VP of Business Development and Strategic Alliances at 42Q. "42Q in AWS Marketplace provides key stakeholders with data analytics that help them quickly take decisive action to improve their operations. We're proud to be one of the first MES providers in AWS Marketplace."

42Q is also a certified AWS Industrial Software Competency Partner , enabling companies in process and discrete manufacturing industries to increase the pace of product innovation, while decreasing production and operational costs in their value chain.

In addition to conducting demonstrations at its own booth during Hannover Messe, 42Q will also be participating in joint activities with AWS in Hall 5 at Booth #A54.

About 42Q

42Q is a leading provider of cloud MES solutions, implemented in manufacturing facilities across more than 20 countries. Our mission is to deliver scalable, flexible and easy to implement manufacturing solutions to our customers. Our management team has extensive experience with the architecture, development and implementation of advanced MES and manufacturing automation systems deployed across a broad range of vertical markets. 42Q is a business unit of Sanmina Corporation. For more information on 42Q, please visit www.42-q.com and follow the company on LinkedIn.

Media Contact

Noel Bilodeau

408-439-2140

[email protected]

SOURCE 42Q
Newest acquisition integral to Acacia's strategy to address the growing shortage of skilled talent to lead and support digital transformation initiatives

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Acacia Group, values-driven operational investors in digital transformation businesses, announced today that it has acquired The Baer Group, a specialist in high-end technology services supporting major commercial and public sector organizations. The acquisition is central to Acacia's strategy of building businesses adept at helping government and commercial organizations access the agile technical talent and services they need to deliver digital transformation. The Baer Group will form a new platform business within the Acacia portfolio.

Craig Dawson, Co-founder and Partner with Acacia, said: "Global demand for the best technical talent is at an all-time high and will only continue to grow. The team at Baer, who are exceptionally well regarded by their clients, oversees an expansive network of consultants and developers highly skilled in enabling clients to exploit the full commercial and mission potential of digital transformation. We see immediate opportunities for Baer to support the clients of current Acacia companies with their demand for skilled technical talent. We will also invest in expanding the scale and breadth of Baer's network of talent to grow its current blue-chip customer base. Baer has a bright future as part of the Acacia family. We're delighted to welcome them to the team."

The Baer Group was established in 1997 in Atlanta as an SAP preferred services provider. Since then, the company has become a trusted partner to Fortune 500 companies across key markets including life sciences, consumer products and retailbolstering their digital transformation strategies with consultants and developers specializing in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), cloud integration and data transformation. Baer also works closely with federal systems integrators, supporting U.S. government programs with specialist resources and subject matter experts. Today, Baer's project teams specialize in a wide range of enterprise platforms, including SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, ServiceNow, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.

Peter Aaron, President of The Baer Group, said: "As a new platform within the Acacia portfolio, we're creating new possibilities for our company and new opportunities for our people. Together we have ambitious plans that will enable us to grow in scale and boost our value to clients. We will be expanding and diversifying our technical capabilities and product partnerships, growing our team and strengthening our ability to deliver on an international scale. Acacia shares our commitment to building teams of highly skilled and motivated people around a culture of innovation. That shared philosophy will serve us well as we continue to grow Baer as a destination employer for the best talent in the industry."

The rationale for Acacia's acquisition of Baer stems from its direct experience of the growing challenges organizations face in attracting and retaining the best technical talent in a post-pandemic world. Skilled people are seeking greater career opportunity, diversity and flexibility. These dynamics, combined with the shortage of experienced engineers and developers, make it more challenging and costly for large organizations to sustain in-house technical teams. Such organizations are increasingly turning to businesses like Baer for specialist support.

The Baer acquisition builds on Acacia's 2020 acquisition of TradeHelm, a world-class nearshore software development business based in Argentina. TradeHelm now forms part of a highly successful global delivery capability for MajorKey Technologies, a digital transformation business within the Acacia portfoliomeeting growing client demand for more agile and cost-effective software development capabilities.

7 Mile Advisors served as exclusive advisors to The Baer Group for this transaction.

About The Acacia Group

The Acacia Group is a values-driven technology investment firm. We build businesses that benefit from and deliver digital transformation, creating the conditions for strong and sustainable growth. We empower skilful leaders, shape collaborative cultures, nurture exceptional talent, develop differentiated IP, and build distinctive brands. As independent sponsors, we can focus on creating great businesses with hands-on support for our management teams. This way, we enable the companies in our portfolio to reach new heights of achievement. For more information, visit The Acacia Group or follow us on LinkedIn.

About The Baer Group

The Baer Group delivers comprehensive technology services in support of enterprise digital transformation projects. We work to align the best technologies, processes and people to fuel the commercial growth and mission success of our private and public sector clients. Through a combination of our highly experienced staff, our proven best practices, and access to world-class talent, we deliver an approach tailored to the unique needs of each client, with industry-leading expertise across a wide range of enterprise technology platforms including SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, ServiceNow, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. For more information, visit The Baer Group or follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:

Nisha Patel

Inspire Agency on Behalf of The Acacia Group

[email protected]

864-384-2403

SOURCE The Acacia Group
First participant enrolled in multi-center prospective, observational, case control study with target enrollment of >5,000

Initial institutions include City of Hope and Cleveland Clinic

TORONTO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Adela, Inc., focused on the detection of cancer and other high-morbidity, high-mortality conditions through a blood test, has enrolled the first participant in a multi-center study supporting the development and validation of its genome-wide methylome enrichment platform for the early detection of cancer. Adela's platform efficiently captures genome-wide methylome information from small quantities of cell-free DNA and applies machine learning to detect and classify underlying disease.

The CAMPERR study is a prospective, observational, case-control study enrolling over 5,000 participants at multiple centers across the United States. The study will enroll participants with types of cancer that represent >90% of cancer incidence and >85% of cancer mortality1, as well as age- and gender-matched controls without a diagnosis of cancer. The study will support the development and validation of Adela's multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test. The study will also include longitudinal sampling on a subset of participants to support development of Adela's platform for measuring minimal residual disease (MRD) and detecting recurrence.

"We are excited to collaborate with leading institutions and investigators to conduct this high caliber study supporting the development of a best-in-class MCED product," said Anne-Renee Hartman, Chief Medical Officer at Adela. "The CAMPERR Study has been rigorously designed to ensure that Adela's MCED test will be generalizable at population-scale and clinicians can have high confidence in the test performance characteristics. In addition to incorporating age and gender-matching for controls, the study will include broad geographic representation and enroll participants with co-morbid conditions."

The CAMPERR Study is currently enrolling participants at City of Hope, a cancer research and treatment organization, and Cleveland Clinic. Additional institutions will be added.

"I am encouraged by initial data suggesting that Adela's platform has the potential for robust detection of Stage I and II disease across many cancer types, including such lethal cancers as kidney, pancreatic, lung, and primary brain tumors" said Dr. Greg Idos, Principal Investigator for the CAMPERR Study at City of Hope. "I look forward to further evaluating the potential of the platform for the early detection of multiple cancer types through the CAMPERR Study."

Adela has also collaborated with University Health Network's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to explore the ability of Adela's platform to detect multiple types of early-stage cancers in several patient cohorts.

Adela is developing its technology initially for use across the cancer continuum for detection, diagnosis, and management, and will expand the technology in the future to other conditions beyond cancer. Adela's technology has the potential for detection of early-stage cancer with unprecedented sensitivity and classification of the underlying disease, including tissue of origin and histologic subtype. Increased detection of cancers in early stages when they can be more effectively treated can lead to better outcomes.

About Adela

Adela is focused on the detection of cancer and other high-morbidity, high-mortality conditions through a routine blood test. The company's genome-wide methylome enrichment platform captures information from small quantities of cell-free DNA and applies machine learning to detect and classify underlying disease. The platform specifically isolates the highly-informative (methylated) regions of the genome through a high-affinity enrichment process, enabling it to more efficiently capture broad genomic information and preserve it during sequencing compared to other platforms that use enzymatic or chemical treatment (bisulfite conversion). The technology is initially being developed for use across the cancer continuum for detection, diagnosis, and management, and in the future will be applied to other conditions beyond cancer. Adela's investors are F-Prime Capital, OrbiMed, Deerfield Management, Decheng Capital, and RA Capital Management. Find more information at adelabio.com

About CAMPERR

The CAMPERR Study ( c fMeDIP-seq A ssay M ulticenter P rospective Observational Validation for E arly Cancer Detection, Minimal R esidual Disease, and R elapse) is a prospective, observational, case-control study enrolling over 5,000 participants at multiple centers across the United States. The study will enroll participants with types of cancer that represent >90% of cancer incidence and >85% of cancer mortality1, as well as age and gender-matched controls without a diagnosis of cancer. The study will include longitudinal sampling on a subset of participants. Cancer types include brain, breast, bladder, cervical, colorectal, endometrial, esophageal, gastric, head and neck, hepatobiliary, leukemia, lung, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, renal, sarcoma, and thyroid. These cancers were selected based on the prevalence and/or mortality to maximize the potential impact for patient outcomes. The study will support Adela's efforts in both early detection of cancer and measuring minimal residual disease (MRD). Additional information about the study is available on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05366881).

1 Siegel, R.L., Miller, K.D., Fuchs, H.E., Jemal, A., 2022. Cancer statistics, 2022. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 72, 733. doi:10.3322/caac.21708

SOURCE Adela
Surge in use of renewable energy sources is boosting growth prospects in the advanced energy storage market

Asia Pacific is expected to gain profitable avenues due to increased efforts for the development of power distribution infrastructures

ALBANY, N.Y., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global advanced energy storage market is estimated to attract growth at a CAGR of 5.7% during the forecast period, 2021-2031, as per a study by Transparency Market Research (TMR).

In the recent years, there has been increase in the availability of a wide range of options for the storage of energy including battery storage, pumped hydro, thermal storage, and flywheel storage. Of them, battery storage is being increasingly used for the photovoltaic systems. Though the product is comparatively expensive, it is still in high demand owing to its ability to provide many advantages such as improved dependability, safety, and overcharge protection. Moreover, the demand for thermal storage devices is being rising in the recent years owing to their cost-effective nature. These factors are leading to promising sales opportunities in the global advanced energy storage market.

The advanced energy storage market in Asia Pacific is projected to gain lucrative prospects during the forecast period due to many factors such as rise in the developments in the power distribution infrastructures, specifically in many developing nations including India, South Korea, and China.

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Players operating in the global advanced energy storage market are increasing the utilization of different renewable energy sources in order to generate energy and fulfilling the increasing demand for electric power. Moreover, they are seen increasing cash in-flow toward R&Ds to offer improved products, notes a TMR study on the advanced energy storage market.

Advanced Energy Storage Market: Key Findings

Government authorities of many developing nations across the globe are increasing initiatives pertaining to the energy storage. For instance, several governments are providing benefits such as tax relaxations and introducing favorable regulations associated with the storage of energy. Moreover, they are offering incentives on the use of energy generated utilizing renewable sources of energy. These factors are leading into prominent sales growth opportunities in the global advanced energy storage market.

Many developed and developing nations around the world are integrating renewable sources of energy in their energy generation policies in order to fulfill the rising electrical power demands. In addition, government authorities are focusing on the redevelopment of their policies pertaining to energy consumption and generation. These efforts are likely to drive the sales prospects in the global advanced energy storage market in the years ahead.

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Players in the global advanced energy storage market are focusing on addressing several critical issues including surge in the costs of latest energy storage technologies such as thermal energy storage, hydrogen storage, liquid air energy storage. Moreover, they are also taking initiatives to highlight the need for the development of global standards pertaining to the use of these technologies. These factors are expected to play key role in the development of the advanced energy storage market during the forecast period.

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Advanced Energy Storage Market: Growth Boosters

Increasing investments on renewable energy sources across the globe are propelling the advanced energy storage market

Surge in awareness among global populace about greenhouse gases and CO2 emissions is favoring the sales growth of the market

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Advanced Energy Storage Market: Key Players

Some of the key players profiled in the report are:

EDF Renewables

AES Corporation

Maxwell Corporation

Schneider Electric

INEOS Group AG

LyondellBasell Industries N.V.

Green Charge Networks LLC

SAFT S.A.

NEC Corporation

S&C Electric Company

Dynapower Company LLC

Beacon Power LLC

EOS Energy Storage

Advanced Energy Storage Market Segmentation

Technology

Pumped Hydro

Battery Storage

Flywheel Storage

Thermal Storage

Others

Application

On-Grid

Off-Grid

Micro Grid

Others

Energy & Natural Resources Industry battles Tangible Impact of Economic and Cultural changes, Explore Transparency Market Research's award-winning coverage of the global Energy & Natural Resources:

Energy Storage as a Service Market - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/energy-storage-as-a-service-market.html

Thin-Film Solar Cell Market - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/thin-film-solar-cell-market.html

About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research is a global market research report company providing business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyze information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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SOURCE Transparency Market Research
On track to double growth in 2022, a global leader in time-critical logistics continues to expand into new geographies and markets

CARLSBAD, Calif. , May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Airspace, the technology company revolutionizing time-critical logistics, today announced it has closed on additional funding totaling $70 million. This round is led by DBL Partners and co-led by Telstra Ventures and HarbourVest Partners and brings total funding to date to $138 million. Funding will be leveraged to accelerate market penetration in Europe and further expand into Asia. In addition, the company will continue to build out its core business while also launching new service lines such as expedited freight, and will expand into new customer verticals such as semiconductor, automotive & cleantech.

The growth plans come with a renewed focus on sustainability, which is a core value for many Airspace customers. This was a key driver for partnering with DBL Partners, a firm uniquely focused on the 'second bottom line' which is a company's social, environmental, and economic impact. DBL Partners, Telstra Ventures, and HarbourVest were joined by existing investors Scale Ventures, Defy Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, and Prologis Ventures.

"We're thrilled to announce this new round of funding, which will help us capitalize on the immense opportunity in the time-critical logistics industry," said Nick Bulcao, co-founder and CEO at Airspace. "As we grow, our AI and machine learning platform only gets better, allowing us to better predict and dynamically respond to the challenges of critical logistics. With supply chain disruptions continuing to impact countries worldwide, no time in history has time-critical shipping & logistics been so essential to ensuring these complex and sensitive shipments reach their destinations on time. With these additional funds, we'll be able to expand into new geographies and industries, reliably delivering critical packages when time is of the essence, in the most environmentally conscious way possible."

As part of the company's latest funding announcement, Ira Ehrenpreis, Founder and Managing Partner at DBL Partners, and Joel Hwang, Principal of HarbourVest, have been appointed to Airspace's Board of Directors.

Time-Critical Logistics Market Explodes Due to Global Supply Chain Disruptions

The market for time-critical shipping has exploded in the wake of global supply chain disruptions and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.98% and surpass $32.46 billion by 2030. Airspace is widely regarded as a global leader in time-critical logistics, making shipping faster, safer, and more transparent than ever through people, service, and technology. Incredibly, the company is able to track over 16,000 touchpoints throughout the course of a time-critical shipment, allowing Airspace to understand and anticipate every possible outcome for a given shipment.

Time-critical shipments are particularly difficult to deliver given the complexity of routing, tracking, and dynamically adjusting as conditions change. As a result, as much as 33 percent of time-critical packages are lost or delayed en route. The supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic have only exacerbated these challenges, resulting in unprecedented challenges for shippers looking for reliable delivery of packages that matter the most. These include medical deliveries such as organ transplants and life-saving medications, critical components for broken-down machinery, sensitive inventory, and more. Airspace has revolutionized the industry, ensuring that critical package deliveries are more resilient to disruptions, because they leverage a deep layer of AI and machine learning technologies to predict and adapt to every possible obstacle to on-time delivery. Airspace provides real-time data and transparency on every shipment, enabling companies to track their critical shipments with precision.

Airspace provides shippers with the visibility & flexibility to optimize their logistics decisions based on the factors that matter the most to them. To that end, many of the company's largest customers are increasingly focused on sustainability and ultimately becoming carbon-neutral. "Airspace is unique in its ability to provide complete transparency into the carbon footprint of time-critical deliveries, enabling customers to optimize routes with the least possible environmental impact," said Ira Ehrenpreis, Founder and Managing Partner at DBL Partners. "By optimizing for speed and transparency, as well as sustainability, Airspace is building a true double bottom line company."

Funds to Support Geographic and Product Expansion

Airspace has been building momentum over the past six years, growing 110% in 2021 and opening offices in Carlsbad, CA, Dallas, Amsterdam, and Stockholm. This summer, the company's newest office location will open in London. Airspace now has more than 300 employees and has completed over one million shipments. It serves numerous Fortune 500 companies that include industry leaders in healthcare, aerospace, semiconductor, and automotive manufacturing.

Airspace is on pace to double in size again in 2022 by focusing on two key areas:

Geographic expansion: Over the past two years, Airspace has enjoyed tremendous success in Europe , and the region now accounts for more than 10% of revenue, up from 1.5% in 2020. The company now services 134 countries globally.

Over the past two years, Airspace has enjoyed tremendous success in , and the region now accounts for more than 10% of revenue, up from 1.5% in 2020. The company now services 134 countries globally. Product expansion: Historically, Airspace has been focused on critical small parcels, but now allows customers to ship critical packages of any size. As such, they've experienced tremendous interest and growth in time-critical freight shipments. "Our goal is to be able to ship the most packages to any destination, regardless of size," Bulcao said.

These efforts have unlocked Airspace's ability to serve global enterprise customers in new and diverse verticals, including High Tech, Automotive, and Clean Technology. "With an NPS score of 60  far exceeding the industry average by 40 points or more  and a 99.8% monthly retention rate, Airspace's reputation speaks for itself and will help to drive additional revenue moving forward," Bulcao said.

"Airspace continues to dominate the market segment with impressive and steady growth since its inception, and we anticipate the company's plans for expansion across geographies and verticals to propel that growth further," said Mark Sherman, Managing Partner at Telstra Ventures. "Their ability to combine exceptional human capital with advanced AI technology is what sets them apart from competing market players, and enables them to fill the essential need for time-critical logistics."

About Airspace

Based in Carlsbad, Calif., Airspace was founded in 2016 and has grown to be the leading global delivery network for time-critical logistics. The company was recently named to the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50 list. Airspace makes shipping faster, safer, and more transparent than ever through people, service, and technology. From real-time, data-driven notifications to tracking over 16,000 touchpoints within a shipment, Airspace surfaces more information than any other provider, increasing the velocity and transparency of the supply chain. To learn more about Airspace, please visit www.airspace.com.

Follow Airspace on Twitter and LinkedIn.

MC: Rob Kerpatrick | 5045125502 | [email protected]

SOURCE Airspace
New initiative aims to provide humanitarian aid and medical supplies to the citizens of Ukraine

AUGUSTA, Ga., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- America's Warrior Partnership (AWP) and Help Ukraine 22 announce an alliance to fight the humanitarian disaster in Ukraine caused by the ongoing Russian invasion. The partnership enables AWP to join the efforts of Help Ukraine 22 in connecting humanitarian aid and supplies to the people of Ukraine through Ukraine Serve, a customized version of WarriorServe , an existing technology platform developed by AWP.

"What's happening right now in Ukraine is a tragedy on a massive scale. As a veteran-serving organization, standing by when a crisis occurs is not in our DNA," said Jim Lorraine, president and CEO of America's Warrior Partnership. "We are thrilled to be partnering with Help Ukraine 22 and playing our part to help the millions of innocent civilians who have been displaced by this war."

WarriorServe is a proprietary technology platform built on SalesForce that is customizable to an organization's needs and structure when people, resources, and solutions need to be connected. AWP's team of technical experts quickly assessed the dire needs of the situation in Ukraine and created a customized version of the platform for Help Ukraine 22 to use to connect supplies to Ukrainians in the middle of the war zone.

"Our partnership with AWP has been an immediate force multiplier in terms of efficiency and effectiveness in delivering humanitarian aid to Ukrainians in need," said Brian Medford, director of Help Ukraine 22.

Over 14 million people have been displaced since the conflict in Ukraine began in late February, according to the United Nations. More than 6.3 million people have fled to neighboring countries, with Poland receiving around 3 million of those refugees alone.

Help Ukraine 22 provides both financial and humanitarian support by working with a network of reliable partners in the United States, the European Union and Ukraine. As of May 6, AWP's Ukraine Serve platform has helped to connect 65 non-governmental agencies and delivered $1.25 million in humanitarian aid and medical supplies to 167,000 Ukrainians.

For more information on America's Warrior Partnership and their collaboration with Help Ukraine 22, subscribe to America's Warrior Partnership newsletter by visiting https://www.americaswarriorpartnership.org.

About America's Warrior Partnership

America's Warrior Partnership is committed to partnering with communities to prevent veteran suicide. We fill the gaps between veteran service organizations by helping nonprofits connect with veterans, their families, and caregivers. Our programs bolster nonprofit efficacy, improving their results, and empowering their initiatives. Increasing the quality of veterans' lives, thus helping to end veteran suicide.

About Help Ukraine 22

Help Ukraine 22 is a humanitarian aid effort led by a team of American and Ukrainian experts that fills gaps in immediate assistance for Ukrainians in need through its "Operation Palynytsya" initiative. Help Ukraine 22 operates through an organizational supply chain powered by Ukraine Serve. Learn more at www.helpukraine22.org

SOURCE Americas Warrior Partnership
"There is a beautiful and intentional juxtaposition found in the varying historic districts on Miami Beach that invites visitors to explore our history while enjoying modern accommodations, experiences and hospitality services," says Steve Adkins, Chairman of the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority (MBVCA). "We are dedicated to celebrating Miami Beach's eclectic mix of architectural style and preserving it to honor our design roots that reflect the many cultures and artistic influences that make our destination aesthetically-unique."

Recently, a number of Miami Beach's iconic landmarks have been recognized including the reinvention of the signature lifeguard stands by William Lane and boutique hotel newcomer, Esme, tucked away from the cobblestone streets of Espanola Way. It's easy for architecturally -minded travelers looking to immerse themselves in all-things-design, no matter their style, at almost every turn on Miami Beach. To help visitors find their way through the variety of options, the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority is sharing a few stand outs that fuse the elements of iconic style with top-notch service to deliver a travel-worthy itinerary.

Architecture abounds at The Shelbourne South Beach, a property that dates back to the 1940's exuding timeless luxury, elegance and original Art Deco design. As a stylish playground, guests can expect a dose of oceanside glamour with pops of color and interesting angles to enjoy, even from the property's pool and diving platform. After check-in, visitors can check-out the beach and revel in Miami Beach's reimaged lifeguard stands and naturally, take a selfie to share the design love. More than a place for lifeguards to stay watch to keep visitors safe, these beachside landmarks feature striking abstract shapes and bold colors that enhance their oceanfront location.

While Miami Beach is known for incredible Art Deco style, Mediterranean Revival is not to be missed. From Gianni Versace's masterpiece on Ocean Drive to restaurants and storefronts featuring handmade tile and metal intricacies, travelers can sign up for a walking tour curated by The Miami Design Preservation League showcasing architectural highlights made popular on Miami Beach in the 1920's and 1930's. And, no day is complete on Miami Beach without a classic cocktail or mocktail. Design-lovers can check out the new Lapidus Bar at The Ritz-Carlton South Beach. The property was built in 1953 by iconic architect Morris Lapidus, known as the pioneer of Miami Modern style. Evoking a glamorous era feel, the bar is located in the hotel's lobby and part of a recent $90 million renovation, bringing the design elements of the past together with five-star service.

"Miami Beach is truly an open-air museum experience, providing visitors a design history lesson without them even knowing - from hotels and restaurants to cocktail lounges and even our post office," adds Grisette Marcos, Executive Director of the MBVCA. "As a destination to discover, travelers can choose from a number of self and guided tours to learn how the diverse make up of our community can be seen and appreciated through our city's stand-out architecture."

A collection of design-forward experiences, places to stay and dine and a guide of architectural landmark recommendations can be accessed by downloading the free, award-winning Experience Miami Beach App. Travelers in need of more design inspiration can follow @experiencemiamibeach on Instagram and Facebook.

CONTACT: Private Label Marketing, [email protected]

SOURCE Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority
Building on recent Nimbix acquisition, suite delivers industry-first federated supercomputing services, adds dedicated Atos BullSequana as-a-service offerings

PARIS and IRVING, Texas, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Atos today launches Nimbix Supercomputing Suite, a set of flexible and secure high-performance computing (HPC) solutions available in an as-a-service model. Atos' Nimbix Supercomputing Suite includes two new offerings including industry-first federated supercomputing-as-a-service and dedicated bare metal services, providing customers with added agility for their compute-intensive workloads and expanded consumption models.

As industry analysts have predicted, HPC in cloud computing will continue to grow at double-digit rates through 20251. With the launch of Nimbix Supercomputing Suite, Atos provides customers around the world with one of the broadest HPC and supercomputing portfolios, from hardware to bare metal-as-a-service to the democratization of advanced computing in the cloud and across public and private data centers.

Industry's First Federated Supercomputing-as-a-Service

The new suite offers the industry's first federated supercomputing-as-a-service, Nimbix Federated, a novel approach for the federation of large-scale machines and clouds along with managed services to enable collaborative scientific computing. For the first time, both public and private infrastructure operators will be able to leverage each other's resources. This Federated as-a-service offer provides a unified service console to manage all compute zones and regions in a public or private supercomputing ecosystem.

Nimbix Dedicated Supercomputing

Established in the marketplace is the Atos BullSequana X series of HPC servers that are designed to provide maximum flexibility and efficiency covering the widest possible spectrum of applications. Delivered through the newly launched suite, Atos offers HPC bare metal-as-a-service (BMaaS) to complement its line of hardware and providing customers the full experience of dedicated infrastructure and services with on-demand scalability, convenience, and agility.

"With the launch of Atos' Nimbix Supercomputing Suite, we continue to firmly reinforce our global leadership in high performance computing, taking on the performance and cost-effective advantages enterprises are seeking for their data-driven environments. Also, thanks to our longstanding expertise in multi-, hybrid cloud built into our newly launched offerings, customers can integrate their HPC workflows in the most comprehensive as-a-Service portfolio in the industry; including seamless integration with any hyperscale CSPs," said Emmanuel Le Roux, Group SVP, Head of HPC AI & Quantum, Atos.

Additionally, the suite continues to enable Atos customers to derive value from data with powerful analytics and machine learning inference capabilities, also allowing access to the latest GPU, CPU, IPU, FPGA, and Quantum technology.

The new supercomputing suite will offer on-demand, elastic pay-as-you-go consumption models or reserved capacity in dozens of regions around the world. Customers can continue to access the Nimbix Cloud as a pay-per-use model or through federated or dedicated supercomputing services.

"This is an exciting announcement, bringing the breadth of Nimbix service offerings to the full range of Atos solutions. Cloud continues to grow across all of enterprise computing, but especially in HPC and AI, the primary goal is still reaching new insights. The range of Nimbix Supercomputing Suite allows organizations to choose the type of cloud-immersed deployment that makes the most sense, depending on the workflow, whether it's utility computing on-demand, federating workloads across multiple clouds, or simply converting on-premises systems to cloud models of accounting and operations. This is a trend we've definitely got our eyes on going forward, and Atos' complete range of services should get a lot of attention," said Addison Snell, CEO, Intersect360.

ISC 2022

Atos is a platinum sponsor at ISC High Performance 2022, the international conference for HPC, machine learning and data analytics taking place in Hamburg, Germany, May 29 through June 1. Come discover Atos portfolio and meet its experts at booth #D409. In addition, Atos Global Head of Solution Marketing and Portfolio of HPC and Quantum Eric Eppe will present a session on harnessing exascale with AI-augmented hybrid computing on June 1 at 2pm.

For more information on Nimbix Supercomputing Suite, visit atos.net/Nimbix.

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 111,000 employees and annual revenue of c.  11 billion. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high-performance computing, the Group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 71 countries. A pioneer in decarbonization services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonized digital for its clients. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea), listed on Euronext Paris and included in the CAC 40 ESG and Next 20 Paris Stock indexes.

The purpose of Atos is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

1Source: Intersect360 Research forecasts cloud computing will continue to grow at double-digit rates through 2025.

SOURCE Atos
Located in the heart of the city at 11 Bond Street, SHOWFIELDS brings together mission-driven, design-minded brands and artists from around the globe. Built to engage and inspire the journey of discovery through revolving experiences, SHOWFIELDS creates a stage for immersive storytelling to unlock new offline channels for growth.

The brand's most beloved AURA Rituals - Shampoos, Conditioners and Masques featuring the brand's popular hair goal combinations and aromas - will be available for purchase directly from SHOWFIELDS, alongside a selection of pigmented Masques in a variety of trend-forward fantasy colors and signature hair care accessories. Customers will also have the option to order their own personalized Ritual virtually via a custom QR code available in the branded space. Their unique Ritual will be made-to-order at AURA's HQ and shipped directly to their door.

"One year ago we introduced AURA to the world - a sister brand of our beloved eSalon custom hair color. Today we're thrilled to be bringing AURA to life at SHOWFIELDS' unique retail experience," said Vera Koch, Vice President of Global Marketing, AURA. "As a personalized hair care brand rooted in cutting-edge technology, we've always focused on pushing innovation forward and evolving our products for our customers. We know SHOWFIELDS will provide us with the platform to tell our story and share our spirit of endless possibilities with new audiences."

AURA can be experienced at SHOWFIELDS in New York City beginning Monday, May 23, 2022 through September 19, 2022. For more information, please visit www.AURAHAIRCARE.com and showfields.com.

About AURA:

AURA is a transformative approach to hair care, with personalized premium Shampoos, Conditioners and Masques for all hair types, delivered straight to your door. AURA's mission is to design personalized hair care rituals that transform every mirror moment into one where individuals see their unfiltered, effortless beauty and the endless possibilities in the world around them. AURA's products are designed to evolve with customers over time, allowing them to easily change their goals, aroma and pigment selection. AURA was launched in January 2021 by the makers of award-winning custom hair color company eSalon and is powered by breakthrough technologies and AI advancements that create endless possibilities in pigment and ingredient combinations. For more information about AURA, please visit www.AURAHAIRCARE.com .

About SHOWFIELDS:

Launched in 2018, SHOWFIELDS is a 14,000 square-feet four story flagship brick-and-mortar retail concept located on 11 Bond Street in New York City that brings digitally native brands to life with customized flagship spaces, creating a destination for consumers to engage with their favorite brands. The store plays host to the founders, artists, and creators of the most innovative brands and art of tomorrow. Founded by entrepreneurs Tal Zvi Nathanel and Amir Zwickel, SHOWFIELDS provides a genre-defying experience that combines retail, art exhibitions and community, featuring an array of direct-to-consumer brands from the wellness, home and fashion spaces alongside dedicated food, drink and event programming. For more information, visit www.showfields.com or follow along on social media @showfields_nyc .

Press Contact:

Dara Toulch

Ballantines PR

[email protected]

SOURCE AURA
HOUSTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Axiom Space, a leader in human spaceflight currently building the world's first commercial space station, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Italian government to further their existing collaboration, including the potential for the development of space infrastructure integrated with the future Axiom Station. The agreement was signed by the President and CEO of Axiom Space, Michael Suffredini, and Italy's Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition, Vittorio Colao, on 19 May in Rome, Italy.

The President and CEO of Axiom Space, Michael Suffredini (left), and Italys Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition, Vittorio Colao, (right) sign a MOU in Rome. The agreement furthers the Italian government's and Axiom Space's existing collaboration, including the potential for the development of space infrastructure integrated with the future Axiom Station, the world's first commercial space station.

While the MOU is exploratory in nature, areas of cooperation outlined in the agreement include mutual definition of potential user requirements as well as technological solutions and operational concepts for an Italian module that could later be developed and integrated into the Axiom Space Station. The project could take the form of a public-private framework with the governance and business models developed over time. Other areas of cooperation include collaborative development and implementation of research supporting space exploration and technology, including advanced materials, pharmaceuticals, on-orbit manufacturing, space security, aerospace medicine, simulation and robotics, and other areas of mutual interest as determined by the two parties, as well as training and mission operations.

The MOU  a first-of-its-kind approach between the Italian government and a private international corporation - is the latest effort between Italy and the Houston-based Axiom Space. Earlier this year, Axiom announced Italian Air Force (ItAF) Colonel Walter Villadei as the company's first international professional astronaut. He is currently in training in Houston. Col. Villadei has been selected by Axiom as a backup on the Ax-2 mission, and an initial agreement has been signed for a reservation on a mission targeting late 2023. Based on ItAF's significant competencies in the field of astronautics, modeling and simulation, and aerospace medicine, such a mission will allow the implementation of multidisciplinary scientific and technological experiments from the Italian research and industrial community and will further strengthen the relationship being established under the MOU just signed.

Together, these agreements between Axiom and Italy demonstrate the promise and viability of business to government (B2G) relationships that can help grow and expand the commercial space economy across multiple industries and market sectors. A Joint Working Group, composed of representatives from Axiom and institutions and industrial representatives appointed by the Italian Government, will pursue the implementation of the MOU.

"As one of the first European countries invested in the International Space Station, this agreement with the Italian government will bring an experienced partner to Axiom Station, helping to open a new paradigm as we build this next generation microgravity platform in low Earth orbit", said Michael Suffredini. "The MOU is a significant addition to Axiom Space's long-standing relationship with Italy and reflects our shared commitment to expand global access to space and grow the LEO economy while advancing science and technology to benefit all of humanity."

Axiom Station will provide the international community with a modern, efficient, and cost-effective space infrastructure that enables microgravity research, further technological developments, and operations to continue seamlessly after the ISS end of life. The collaboration between Axiom and Italy will harness microgravity for the development of advanced scientific research, innovative technologies, on-orbit manufacturing, and space exploration.

"The agreement intends to deepen cooperation for the development and implementation of projects in the aerospace sector[it represents] the enrichment of the excellent and historical bilateral relations between the United States and Italy, with cooperation also in the field of commercial space flight seen as an opportunity to develop a new chapter of the human presence around the Earth and on the Moon for the benefit of the whole humanity", according to a statement released by the Italian government.

The agreement with Italy adds to Axiom Space's list of recent accomplishments in its efforts to grow the commercial space industry. Earlier this month, Axiom Space celebrated the groundbreaking at the company's new, long-term headquarters at Houston Spaceport, which will be home to the development and construction of Axiom Station. Axiom Space also recently welcomed home the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) crew after successfully completing the first all-private astronaut mission to the ISS. The company has also signed agreements with several nations, including Hungary and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fly on future space missions.

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.

SOURCE Axiom Space
American rapper, Coi Leray who recently released the official video with Nicki Minaj, "Blick Blick'' , will perform at Pride Houston 365 LGBT+ Celebration Festival followed by the Parade on Sat, June 25. The Festival will take place at Houston City Hall, 901 Bagby Street beginning at 1 pm. And "Finally" coming to the stage is American Female R&B/Soul/Pop/Dance/House singer-songwriter CeCe Peniston. While pandemic restrictions altered events in 2020 and 2021, the 2019 Pride Celebration was attended by about 800,000 participants in downtown Houston, making it the third-largest Pride celebration in the nation. Organizers expect this year's attendance to exceed previous years, and tickets are now on sale via their NEW website pridehouston365.org/events . Other local performers include DJ Rocabye, Angelina DM Trailz, DJ Uri, Marium Echo and DJ Panda.

"Pride represents so much more than an annual parade for our community  and as of 2022, we're expanding the celebration to 365 days a year," said Thasia Madison, Co-President of Pride Houston 365. "A year-round approach also means more opportunities to raise critical funds for grants, youth scholarships, including the Monica Roberts Scholarship Fund."

As always, the Pride Houston 365 Parade is free  unless you prefer VIP seating, cooling-off bathrooms, and open bar privileges, in which case, Celebration VIP packages start at $200. General admission to the Festival is free for children 12 years old and younger and for seniors 60 years and older. For attendees between the ages of 13 to 59, general admission to the Festival will cost around $3 USD - $10 USD. Pricing for the Main Stage Festival experience and VIP packages will vary.

"In addition to welcoming the return of celebrating Pride in-person, we are also rallying together and organizing our continued fight for equality in spaces where LGBTQ+ rights remain under threat in Texas, said Kendra Walker, Co-President of Pride Houston 365. "Representation matters and we are thrilled to bring Houston this epic celebration of Pride, acceptance and love. We are family and have faced challenges before today and we will not stop using our voices and colorful rainbows to soar above discrimination and show the world who we are."

During the official Kickoff party held at JR's Bar & Grill, Deborah Duncan, host and senior producer of Great Day Houston on KHOU 11 announced the official Grand Marshals and hosted the event.

Please congratulate any of the winners, if you see them around town.

Honorary: BRANDON WOLF

Trendsetter: HATCH JR; The Montrose Center

Ally: DANIELLE HOUSTON, MSPH

Non-Binary/Non-Confirming: JULIANN LOSEY

Female Identifying: ISABEL LONGORIA

Male Identifying: TRAVIS TORRENCE

ABOUT PRIDE HOUSTON 365

Pride Houston 365 is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has organized the official Houston LGBT Pride Celebration since 1978. A volunteer-led organization, it is dedicated to providing an environment of service, value, diversity, and equity to all members of Houston's LGBTQIA+ community year-round. Under new leadership in 2022, Pride Houston rebranded to Pride Houston 365 with a new logo that inspires an expanded business model that celebrates Pride all year and is dedicated to raising funds for youth scholarships. Learn more at PrideHouston365.org.

Media Contact:

Heather Taylor

[email protected]

SOURCE Pride Houston 365; Mad Hat Maven
Brikl aims to grow awareness around the term 'MicroStores' as it continues to scale.

LEUVEN, Belgium, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brikl , the world's leading MicroStore e-commerce technology partner for custom and promotional businesses and suppliers, has acquired MicroStores.com following its extensive rebranding effort. This domain acquisition will build awareness of the importance and benefits of Brikl's MicroStore technology to an industry plagued by time sinks, legacy technology, and manual processes.

Brikl

Brikl has solidified its market-leading presence over the last six months with 300% growth year on year. Its newest office in Cincinnati, Ohioa highly celebrated metro area in the USA for business expansionand its recent incorporation were also symbolic of its strategic ambitions for a North American market takeover.

This growth reflects the increasing demand from custom and promotional businesses to automate highly time-consuming operations. Brikl's MicroStore platform has gained increasing attention due to its leading-edge e-commerce features engineered to grow sales and future-proof operations.

"As the company continues to scale, we want MicroStores to be known as the driving force behind the success of custom and promotional businesses. Our technology is already disrupting the industry, but now we're seeking to convey its benefits to people who have never heard of Brikl before," said Suz Pathmanathan, Brikl's VP of Marketing.

"We want MicroStores.com to be an educational hub and a standalone brand with its own logo and storytelling. While Brikl will be an integral part of its narrative, the MicroStores term deserves as much attention as the technology is currently getting, and we're excited to be spurring this awareness forward".

Brikl, the leading next-generation MicroStore software platform, was founded in 2016 by Maarten Boone, Tobias Meixner, and Jason Reinhardt. Their vision was to streamline the way businesses sell custom products online by allowing them to set up MicroStores in under 15 minutes and expedite the design process through placeholders, bulk embellishment, and 3D visualization. For more information, visit www.brikl.com .

Media Contact:

Suz Pathmanathan

+31638261680

[email protected]

SOURCE Brikl
This market research report extensively covers building information modeling market segmentations by the following:

Type - Software and services

The software sector will gain considerable market share in building information modeling. BIM software is a three-dimensional design program that can help with design optimization in the domains of architecture, construction, plant, and civil engineering. BIM models virtualize the entire lifecycle of a project, from conception to completion. When BIM is implemented, projects can be completed faster, cheaper, and with less environmental effect. During the projected period, the BIM market will rise because of the widespread use of BMI software.

Geography - North America , Europe , APAC, Middle East and Africa , and South America

North America will account for 40% of the market's growth. The United States is the most important market in North America for information modeling. The market in this region will grow more slowly than the market in other regions.

will account for 40% of the market's growth. is the most important market in for information modeling. The market in this region will grow more slowly than the market in other regions.

Over the forecast period, the rapidly growing urban population and rising government spending will aid the expansion of the building information modeling market in North America .

Get more insights into this market's growth with a detailed analysis of the top regions, View our Sample Report!

Building Information Modeling Market Dynamics

Market Driver

One of the major factors driving the expansion of the building information modeling (BIM) business is the rise of the work-from-home concept. Engineers and builders can use BIM software to manage customer contracts, project management, sales, and other activities from afar. Many builders and owners believe that now is an excellent opportunity to upskill laborers and teach basic foundation understanding of digital technologies to boost efficiency. As a result, the building information modeling (BIM) industry will rise over the forecast period.

Market Trend

The primary building information modeling market trends driving growth are increased urbanization and infrastructure initiatives. A new era of design and construction has arrived, thanks to digital design tools, computer-controlled manufacturing, computer-controlled connectivity, and interconnection. BIM has significant advantages over prior technologies like paper-based design and modeling, as well as CAD systems, which drives its adoption.

Market Challenge

One of the issues restricting the growth of the building information modeling (BIM) sector is the construction industry's low digitalization rate. Large-scale construction projects are typically seen to take longer to finish and go over budget, resulting in lower contractor profits. Construction project performance management is insufficient, and supply-chain processes are still crude. During the projected period, such constraints will limit the growth of the building information modeling (BIM) market.

Our reports cover all the major factor that drives a market along with the challenges. To get a detailed understanding of the market trend, Click here to BUY Now!

Building Information Modeling Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 19.14% Market growth 2022-2026 $ 8.42 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 18.36 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution North America at 40% Key consumer countries US, Japan, China, UK, and France Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled 4M SA Advanced Software Engineering Systems, ABB Ltd., ACCA software Spa, AECOM, Asite Solutions Ltd., Autodesk Inc., AVEVA Group Plc, Bentley Systems Inc., Cadsoft Corp., Dassault Systemes SE, GRAITEC Innovation SAS, Hexagon AB, Nemetschek SE, Pinnacle Infotech Inc., Planner, Planon Shared Services BV, Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG, The Beck Group, and Trimble 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.

Building Information Modeling Market Segmentation

Type

Software



Services

Geography

North America



Europe



APAC



Middle East And Africa



South America

Download Sample Report: to know additional highlights and key points on various market segments and their impact in coming years.

Building Information Modeling Market Vendor

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:

4M SA Advanced Software Engineering Systems

SA Advanced Software Engineering Systems ABB Ltd.

ACCA software Spa

AECOM

Asite Solutions Ltd.

Autodesk Inc.

AVEVA Group Plc

Bentley Systems Inc.

Cadsoft Corp.

Dassault Systemes SE

Find out the top market vendors, their competition and how they excel in the Building Information Modeling Market in our latest Sample Report. Download our Detailed Sample Report.

Product Insights and News

Asite Solutions Ltd . - The company offers building information modeling such as BIM Escalator which provides designers, engineers and contractors a set of BIM and CAD tools.

. - The company offers building information modeling such as BIM Escalator which provides designers, engineers and contractors a set of BIM and CAD tools. Autodesk Inc. - The company offers building information modeling such as AEC Collection which provides designers, engineers and contractors a set of BIM and CAD tools supported by a cloud based common data environment that facilitates project delivery from early stage design through to construction.

- The company offers building information modeling such as AEC Collection which provides designers, engineers and contractors a set of BIM and CAD tools supported by a cloud based common data environment that facilitates project delivery from early stage design through to construction. AVEVA Group Plc - The company offers building information modeling such as AVEVA Bocad which provides class leading productivity in structural steelwork, enabling consistently rapid, high quality design, fabrication and construction, for on time, on-budget delivery of a high-quality project.

Do reach out to our analysts for more customized reports as per your requirements. Speak to our Analyst now!

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Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Type



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on 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 between 2021 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 Type

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Type

5.3 Software - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Software - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Software - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Software - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Software - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Services - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Services - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 37: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 38: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 40: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 42: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 43: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 44: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 45: 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 46: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 50: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 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 (%)

7.9 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 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 (%)

7.11 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 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 Asite Solutions Ltd.

Exhibit 89: Asite Solutions Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 90: Asite Solutions Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 91: Asite Solutions Ltd. - Key offerings

10.4 Autodesk Inc.

Exhibit 92: Autodesk Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 93: Autodesk Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 94: Autodesk Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 95: Autodesk Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 96: Autodesk Inc. - Segment focus

10.5 AVEVA Group Plc

Exhibit 97: AVEVA Group Plc - Overview



Exhibit 98: AVEVA Group Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 99: AVEVA Group Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 100: AVEVA Group Plc - Segment focus

10.6 Bentley Systems Inc.

Exhibit 101: Bentley Systems Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 102: Bentley Systems Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 103: Bentley Systems Inc. - Key offerings

10.7 Dassault Systemes SE

Exhibit 104: Dassault Systemes SE - Overview



Exhibit 105: Dassault Systemes SE - Product / Service



Exhibit 106: Dassault Systemes SE - Key news



Exhibit 107: Dassault Systemes SE - Key offerings

10.8 Hexagon AB

Exhibit 108: Hexagon AB - Overview



Exhibit 109: Hexagon AB - Business segments



Exhibit 110: Hexagon AB - Key news



Exhibit 111: Hexagon AB - Key offerings



Exhibit 112: Hexagon AB - Segment focus

10.9 Nemetschek SE

Exhibit 113: Nemetschek SE - Overview



Exhibit 114: Nemetschek SE - Business segments



Exhibit 115: Nemetschek SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 116: Nemetschek SE - Segment focus

10.10 Schneider Electric SE

Exhibit 117: Schneider Electric SE - Overview



Exhibit 118: Schneider Electric SE - Business segments



Exhibit 119: Schneider Electric SE - Key news



Exhibit 120: Schneider Electric SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 121: Schneider Electric SE - Segment focus

10.11 The Beck Group

Exhibit 122: The Beck Group - Overview



Exhibit 123: The Beck Group - Product / Service



Exhibit 124: The Beck Group - Key offerings

10.12 Trimble Inc.

Exhibit 125: Trimble Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 126: Trimble Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 127: Trimble Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 128: Trimble Inc. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 129: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 130: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 131: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 132: Research methodology



Exhibit 133: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 134: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 135: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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SOURCE Technavio
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CarePredict, the leading digital health company purpose-built to meet the demands of senior care and the recipient of the 2021 Argentum Best of the Best Awards, today announced the addition of Chris Winkle to its Board of Directors. Winkle, a seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience growing businesses in the Senior Living and Healthcare industries, is joining CarePredict to guide its exponential growth.

Chris Winkle joins CarePredict's Board of Directors

"We are delighted to welcome Chris to CarePredict's Board of Directors," said Satish Movva, CEO and Founder, CarePredict. "Chris joins us at an exciting time as we continue to rapidly expand our presence in Senior Living with our innovative and proven platform that is transforming Occupancy rates and Workforce optimization. His strategic insights and industry knowledge will be extremely valuable as we revolutionize Senior Care."

Winkle most recently led Sunrise Senior Living for over seven years as its CEO and COO. Sunrise operates 280 senior living communities in the USA and Canada. Previously, Winkle was the CEO of MedQuest and Mariner Healthcare in the Diagnostics and Post-acute industries.

Winkle is currently on the Board of Direct Supply, which delivers solution-driven platforms designed to enhance the lives of millions of seniors. Winkle served till recently on the Board of Argentum, the leading national trade association representing companies that own and operate professionally managed senior living communities in the U.S.

At CarePredict, Winkle serves on the Board of Directors along with Founder and CEO Satish Movva; Investors Greg Madden of SV Health Investors, Sanket Parekh of Secocha Ventures and Dean Hatton of Las Olas Ventures; Physician Entrepreneur Dr. Marc Loev and Sanjay Khosla former President of Kraft Foods and former Board Director of BestBuy.

"I can't overstate the impact CarePredict is having on our industry," Winkle said. "Beyond increasing occupancy and optimizing staffing, their AI-Powered platform is paving the way for value-based care to significantly improve health and wellness in Senior Living."

About CarePredict:

CarePredict's mission is to help caregivers of seniors take timely action in any care setting. Based on the science that changes in daily activities and behavior patterns precede health declines, CarePredict autonomously understands these patterns and alerts caregivers on changes that warrant attention. We provide a unique multi-function platform that caters to senior living operators, value-based care systems, providers of RPM/CCM services and families. CarePredict has been proven in a peer-reviewed and published study to reduce hospitalizations by 39 percent, falls by 69 percent and improved length of stay by 67 percent in Senior Living.

CarePredict is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

For more information, visit http://www.carepredict.com, email [email protected].

Media contact:

Subhashree Sukhu

Marketing Director

[email protected]

1-800-608-7188 ext 526

SOURCE CarePredict
SINGAPORE, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 22, Singapore has set up the first overseas investment fund with Chinese Baijiu industry as the targeted industry investment, which will be invested in China Liquor Limited (CHINA LIQUOR).

China Liquor Limited (CHINA LIQUOR), established in Singapore, is an international professional operator of alcoholic beverages. Presently, it has 419 registered shareholders. The paid in capital of the company is 450 million SGD, and the book net current assets are about 460 million SGD. The core business of China Liquor Ltd. is wholesale and retail. As a central purchaser, it purchases liquor products from global manufacturers. By 2022, the company has invested in and established 13 wholly-owned subsidiaries with wholesale as the main business model in China and 19 holding, equity participation, shareholding and cooperative sales companies with wholesale and retail as the main business model in the world.

Ms. Chenhan Xiaoying, founder of Jingying international group and Executive Director of CHINA LIQUOR, said that this is the first ABS supported by Chinese Baijiu products by China liquor. The Fund established will invest in the production of Baijiu products which issued as ABSwhich is the first product of CHINA LIQUOR "the aged Longfeng liquor". The initial issuance plan of ABS is divided into two types, one is listed and publicly traded, and the other is unlisted and traded. The board of directors determines the subsequent issuance mode of ABS according to the trend of asset securities trading price.

According to Chenhan Xiaoying, by the end of 2021, with the help of the largest shareholder, China Liquor co, Ltd. had gathered 100 suppliers in the Baijiu industry, and operated more than 4000 products, initially realizing the company's strategic core competitive advantage of "the most varieties, the lowest price, the best quality, the most professional and the widest network". The company's total share capital has increased from more than 80 million shares to 460 million shares, and the net value of the company's assets in balance sheet has increased from more than 80 million SGD to 460 million SGD. The average annual growth rate of assets has reached about 125% even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the vigorous development of the domestic consumer market, Chinese Baijiu Private Equity Investment FundSingapore has found investment opportunities with broad development space for the Chinese Baijiu industry.

In January 2022, the Ministry of industry and information technology issued a document saying that the consumer goods industry department of the Ministry of industry and information technology studied and drafted the guiding opinions on accelerating the construction of modern light industry system (Exposure Draft).It is proposed to cultivate a number of international well-known brands in wine making and other fields. Encourage powerful enterprises and light industries with Chinese cultural characteristics such as arts and crafts and Baijiu to "go global", and accelerate the establishment of international brands through mergers and acquisitions.

As one of the world's six major distilled spirits, Chinese Baijiu has not been widely recognized in the world as other spirits. According to the data, in 2021, the overseas recognition of Baijiu was less than 1%. It can be said that the internationalization of Baijiu has a long way to go.

Chenhan xiaoying believes that under the guidance of macro policies, overseas Chinese businessmen will actively act as connectors and builders. With the joint effort of Chinese people globally, the international status and recognition of Chinese Baijiu industry has seen a significant increase, and will welcome a more significant development opportunity in the international market.

Mr. WU GUO LIANG, executive director and chairman of Chinese Baijiu Co., Ltd., believes that in the past five years, Chinese Baijiu has been imperceptibly accepted by the world. In financial cities such as New York, Tokyo and London, Baijiu has not only been drunk, but also paid attention to the role of its financial instruments. As an international financial and financing center, Singapore is also the most dynamic capital market in Asia. We are concerned about the development of Chinese Baijiu, which contains unlimited possibilities. Its financial and asset attributes will grow into a new investment and economic highlight of Singapore in the future, and promote the development of Singapore as an international financial Service Center in the future. At the same time, Baijiu will also become a "key" to effectively help China integrate into the world financial market.

Mr. Kang Wee Teck, founding partner of ALTAGE CAPITAL said that in the past few years, the acceptance of Chinese Baijiu in the world, especially in ASEAN, has gradually increased. It is expected that in the next decade, the rise of China's middle class will bring a bonus period for Baijiu consumption. At the same time, as the value and financial attribute of financial assets, Baijiu has special significance and broad capital market prospects as a bottom asset in the global investment market, which lacks high-quality assets.

Professor WU WEI, founding dean of Nanyang Graduate School of public relations, Nanyang University of technology, said that Chinese Baijiu culture has a long history and has been deeply imprinted in the blood of Chinese people. There is no feast without wine. The state banquet, family banquet and University banquet are inseparable from the contents of the cup. Wine culture is an important part of Chinese excellent traditional culture. With the changes of the times and economic development, China's wine culture has gradually evolved into a unique political culture and human culture, which has penetrated into all aspects of society.

SOURCE CHINA LIQUOR LIMITED
Aerial photo taken on Dec. 17, 2019 shows a train at the Naivasha Inland Container Depot in Kenya. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

Kenyan women locomotive drivers say that the Mombasa-Nairobi passenger train service provides them with career development opportunities, revolutionizing mobility and commerce along its corridor, and advancing gender equality in its core operations.



NAIROBI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- While growing up in a farming village in north-western Kenya, Tabitha Kiplimo had to defy entrenched gender stereotypes to prove that career success was not a preserve of her male peers.

The 30-year-old electrical engineering major was recruited by the contractor of the 480-km Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) soon after graduation, where her skills and agility proved to be a valuable asset.

According to Kiplimo, an internship with China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) which was constructing the modern railway line gave her a platform to hone her skills besides improving cross-cultural interaction.

Prior to the launch of the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR commuter train service on May 31, 2017, Kiplimo went to China to undertake a two-month course in locomotives' operations, marking a milestone in her career growth.

Passengers are seen on the train to Mombasa at Nairobi station of Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Nov. 22, 2021. (Photo by Jessie Kosgei/Xinhua)

"We trained on critical aspects of operating a locomotive including signaling, the braking system and engine," Kiplimo told Xinhua during a recent interview. "The training has been continuous and we feel adequately skilled to steer the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR passenger train as its contribution to the country's economic transformation becomes abundantly clear."

Kiplimo said that driving the modern passenger train under the supervision of a Chinese instructor since the middle of 2017 has been an exciting experience. She admitted that little did she anticipate that she would one day find herself in an otherwise male-dominated field while crediting her parents, tutors and Chinese instructors for nudging her to go the distance irrespective of setbacks.

"So I feel honored to be part of the pioneering group of female SGR locomotive drivers. It is an inspiration to young girls whom I believe are equal to the task when they grow up," she said.

Currently promoted to a mid-level managerial position by the SGR operator, Kiplimo said in the last two months, she has been handling some elevated tasks like data analysis. She revealed that she will soon be working at the locomotive dispatch office where she will be handling technical tasks, a reaffirmation of her steady career growth nearly five years since becoming a locomotive driver.

Ahead of the fifth anniversary since its launch, the Mombasa-Nairobi passenger train service besides revolutionizing mobility and commerce along its corridor has also advanced gender equality in its core operations, according to Shallom Waweru, a female locomotive driver in her late 20s.

A train arrives at Nairobi station of Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Nov. 17, 2021. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

Waweru majored in education and Chinese language at a public university and in 2016 soon after recruitment by CRBC, she went to China for rigorous training on all aspects of locomotive operations.

"The training in China revolved around theory and practice as relates to operating a locomotive and when we came back in 2017, we joined the newly launched SGR locomotive as drivers," said Waweru.

Waweru insisted steering the locomotive under supervision for nearly five years has been a rewarding experience, and her curiosity, agility and fortitude have paved the way for steady career mobility.

Waweru is still driving the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR passenger train, but she has been bestowed some managerial tasks including coordination. The team spirit that is highly valued by her employer has created a conducive environment for female locomotive drivers to thrive, said Waweru, adding that she looked forward to mentoring young girls to venture into technical fields.

"As I continue to perfect my knowledge and skills in locomotive operations, I look forward to transferring the same expertise to young girls. They should be encouraged to plunge into careers that are of technical nature," said Waweru.

She confessed that she toyed with the idea of becoming a locomotive driver at a tender age while growing up in a rural village in south-eastern Kenyan plains, having watched old wagons being hurtled along a nearby meter gauge railway.

As for Elizabeth Wanjala, a Chinese language major in her late 20s, joining the ranks of the first group of female SGR locomotive drivers in 2017 paved the way for career growth and financial independence.

Wanjala went to China in early 2017 to undergo a three-month training on locomotive operations and when she returned to Kenya, she started driving the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR passenger train, under the supervision of Chinese instructors.

Passengers get off the train at the Mombasa station in Mombasa, Kenya, July 13, 2020. (Photo by Feng Dong/Xinhua)

"It is a great honor to be among the first group of female SGR locomotive drivers in the country and look forward to the growth of our railway economy," said Wanjala.

Having been elevated to a mid-level managerial post, Wanjala said that her responsibilities have expanded to include planning and coordinating with other locomotive drivers. 
HARMON Five Points Offers New Approach to Single-Family Living in Historic Charlotte Neighborhood

Fourth BTR Community Under Development as Part of Joint Venture

CHARLOTTE, N.C. and NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Crescent Communities and Pretium today announced the closing of land for the development of HARMON Five Points, the fourth build-to-rent (BTR) community under development, and second community in Charlotte, as part of their previously announced joint venture and commitment to invest $1 billion in new single-family build-to-rent communities across 14 key strategic growth markets. Construction for HARMON Five Points is expected to commence in June 2022 with first units slated to be delivered in early 2023.

"We are thrilled to announce our fourth development in partnership with Pretium and our second build-to-rent community in the Charlotte market," said Tony Chen, Managing Director of Single-Family Build-to-Rent at Crescent Communities. "HARMON Five Points will offer new construction housing supply to the Historic West End neighborhood, and as a result, will provide housing options in an infill setting to accommodate the migration and population growth that Charlotte has experienced over the past several years. This community highlights our commitment to growing strategically in Charlotte, and we look forward to sharing more updates soon."

HARMON Five Points will be a 76-home BTR community, offering residents the option to rent three-bedroom townhomes with outdoor balconies, private garages, and driveways. Residents will have access to dedicated communal spaces such as a fire pit with outdoor lounge seating and a lawn area for gatherings and pets. The community is adjacent to Five Points Park, located two miles from Uptown, and is walking distance from the Gold Line Streetcar and Stewart Creek Greenway.

"In partnership with Crescent, we have already acquired land and are developing four BTR communities in the southern United States, including 323 homes, since forming our joint venture in September," said Matt Johnston, Managing Director and Head of Build-to-Rent at Pretium. "Crescent Communities shares our commitment to having a long-term, positive impact on our communities by developing new, quality, healthy homes for residents. By continuing to invest in desirable communities like HARMON Five Points, we are offering residents the choice to rent high-quality, single-family homes while increasing the supply of move-in ready homes across the country."

HARMON Five Points will be located at 360 Seldon Drive, Charlotte, NC and will be built by DRB Group. Additional partners include lender Atlantic Union Bank, landscape architect LandDesign and architectural review by 505Design. Progress Residential, Pretium's leading single-family rental management services platform, will provide leasing and property management services.

Additional details surrounding HARMON Five Points will be announced at a later date. A rendering is available here. Forthcoming imagery and logos are available upon request.

About Crescent Communities

Crescent Communities is a nationally recognized, market-leading real estate investor, developer and operator of mixed-use communities. We create high-quality, differentiated residential and commercial communities in many of the fastest growing markets in the United States. Since 1963, our development portfolio has included more than 77 multifamily communities, 24 million square feet of commercial space and 60 single family master-planned communities. Crescent Communities has offices in Charlotte, DC, Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. Our residential communities are branded NOVEL, RENDER and HARMON by Crescent Communities and our industrial developments are branded AXIAL by Crescent Communities.

About Pretium

Pretium is a specialized investment firm focused on U.S. residential real estate, residential credit, and corporate credit. Pretium was founded in 2012 to capitalize on secular investment and lending opportunities arising as a result of structural changes, disruptions, and inefficiencies within the economy. Pretium has built an integrated analytical and operational ecosystem within the U.S. housing, residential credit, and corporate credit markets, and believes that its insight and experience within these markets create a strategic advantage over other investment managers. Pretium's platform has more than $40 billion of assets and employs approximately 4,000 people across 30 offices, including London and Dubai. Please visit www.pretium.com for additional information.

Crescent Communities Media Contact

Lauren Alligood

205-383-8450

[email protected]

Pretium Media Contacts

Jon Keehner / Lyle Weston / Erik Carlson

Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher

212-355-4449

[email protected]

SOURCE Pretium
Alongside Cyber Security Juggernaut, CYPFER's CEO, Daniel Tobok

TORONTO and MIAMI, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Daniel Tobok, CEO of CYPFER, has appointed Ed Dubrovsky as Managing Director consulting and threat intelligence operations.

Dubrovsky is a 30-year veteran of the cybersecurity and technology industries with a unique technical, business, entrepreneurial and educational background. Dubrovsky has helped thousands of organizations of all sizes and industries recover from devastating cyberattacks and consulted to management boards, executives, legal counsel and insurance carriers on resilience and risk mitigation methodologies.

CYPFER executives and cybersecurity professionals regularly work with the world's prominent insurance carriers, leading law firms and Fortune 1000 organizations.

"Clients will be delighted that Ed has agreed to join me, to help build the team at CYPFER," said CEO Daniel Tobok. At CYPFER, Ed will be responsible for strategy, execution, innovation and growth.

"Personally, I am excited and grateful that Ed is joining us. I have nothing but admiration and respect for him. Ed is exceptionally skilled and dedicated to our combined vision of making a difference in our industry and is my 'wing-man'," added Tobok.

"I am excited to be joining a tremendous team at CYPFER. Working together with Daniel once more under a cohesive and strategic vision is incredible. I have no doubt that under Daniel's leadership and razor-sharp vision, CYPFER will grow to become the elite global cybersecurity team the market is in dire need for. In building CYPFER, one of my main mantras is: belief in a common purpose, responsiveness, and agility. Clients who have been the victims of ransomware need to get up-and-running as soon as possible. We're going to make that happen for them," said Dubrovsky.

When cyber-threats and attacks are at an all-time high, radical reinvention and collaboration across investigation and restoration work streams is critical to support rapid recovery.

"We're going to change how ransomware recovery and post-breach remediation are delivered to clients. We will always focus on people and their families, the truly most important parts of any organization," says Dubrovsky.

Dubrovsky brings with him a wealth of industry knowledge and experience. Dubrovsky has led international security consulting practices and advised many organizations as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), COO and as trusted adviser to Boards and senior executives alike.

Dubrovsky holds Bachelors and MSc degrees in information systems from Athabasca University and an MBA from Schulich Business School at York University. Dubrovsky holds several technical certifications including CISSP, OSCP and PMP.

Dubrovsky is a practitioner, author and threat intelligence analyst frequently working on various articles across traditional media and is a sought-after speaker. Dubrovsky is a member of the cybersecurity advisory board of Toronto's York University and is one of the curriculum developers within the program in the subjects of network security engineering and security assessments. He was featured in the media as the lead instructor for the CS1030 (Security Engineering) and CS1050 (Security Assessment) core advanced courses.

"The opportunity to provide agile recovery capabilities to organizations hit by cyberattacks is of paramount importance. The global digital pandemic is bound to continue and cause severe damage to organizations across industries, and I plan to introduce an approach that will not only expedite recovery, but also lower overall business interruption costs across the board," concludes Dubrovsky.

About CYPFER

CYPFER is a market leader in ransomware post-breach remediation. CYPFER's five core services include:

Founded in 2019, CYPFER is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company employs 40+ people and has immediate plans for 30 new hires in Q3.

SOURCE Cypfer
A Recent Study Shows that Subaccount Investors Consistently Outperform the Average Investor

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study conducted by DALBAR found that equity investors in variable annuity subaccounts trade less than the average equity investor and have earned consistently more as a result.

This important research breaks through common objections to variable annuities with the overall results of higher returns. Variable Annuity Subaccount Investors were found to avoid negative behaviors and were therefor, more successful than their mutual fund investor counterparts.

The study found that in 2021, the Average Equity Subaccount Investor outperformed the average equity investor by a whopping 3.50%. While the S&P earned 28.71%, the average equity investor, who typically underperforms the index, earned only 18.39%. However, the Average Equity Subaccount Investor registered a 23.44% return in 2021; capturing much more of the market returns than the average equity investor. Last year's outperformance by equity subaccount investors was consistent with the recent trend in which the Average Equity Subaccount Investor has outperformed the Average Equity Mutual Fund Investor in every one of the last 13 years.

"People in the annuity business have felt for years that assets within variable annuity subaccounts are more sedentary than assets in mutual funds or ETFs. The notion that annuities can improve investment behavior is not new, but until recently there wasn't much research to support it. Our examination of subaccount investors shows quite clearly that their retention rates are higher, and returns are higher as well." said Cory Clark, Chief Marketing Officer at DALBAR.

The study suggests that investors in subaccounts are more patient and offers its measure of retention rates as support for this assertion. The Average Equity Subaccount Investor has exhibited retention rates up to 1.38 years longer than the Average Equity Mutual Fund Investor since 2000. Over that time, retention rates for subaccount investors averaged over 9 months longer than equity mutual fund investors.

DALBAR, Inc. has a 45-year history and is recognized by industry and government as an independent third-party expert in the business of providing audits, evaluations, ratings, and due diligence. DALBAR certifications are recognized as a mark of excellence in the community of financial services in general and specifically for retirement plans.

SOURCE DALBAR, Inc.
Dallas Venture Capital (DVC) US & India funds jointly plan to deploy approximately $130 million in the next 4-5 years. Tweet this

"We are overwhelmed by the response to our DVC Fund II and particularly delighted to onboard several institutional investors, family offices, prominent founders, and executives into the fund," said Dayakar Puskoor, Managing Director of DVC. "The extensive due diligence performed by our strategic investors has sharpened our investment thesis. The continued guidance of our strategic investors and advisors are going to help us create differentiated value for our portfolio companies," added Puskoor.

"We partner with our portfolio companies as mentors offering strategic guidance during the most important phase of the start-up's journey to accelerate their revenues from $1 million to beyond $10 million through our time tested and honed DVC Advantage program leveraging our network of venture partners and advisors," said Abidali Neemuchwala Co-founder & Director of DVC. "Our experience and familiarity with both US and India enable us to bring exceptional operational and growth strategies to our portfolio companies," added Neemuchwala.

The DVC Advantage is focused on start-up companies' needs in multiple areas such as product & technology strategy, executive mentorship, corporate governance, business development, and talent acquisition. DVC is committed to helping portfolio companies transform their growth journey by providing strategic guidance across product, domain, strategy, customer success and growth, or financial specific matters.

DVC has begun deploying its fund and has already invested in four start-ups as announced earlier  Lucy.ai, Rollick, Citylitics, and Disprz. DVC has a healthy pipeline of companies and plans to, on an average, invest in one company per quarter for total of approximately 20-25 companies over the next 4-5 years. DVC's typical investment stage is post-product market fit and its initial capital is focused on enabling the start-ups to scale through its DVC Advantage Program.

DVC is also currently raising a separate fund in India, DVC India Fund 1, to provide opportunities to Indian investors and has raised $25 million of its $50 million target. The focus in India is on institutional investors, family offices and high net worth individuals focused on participating in the flourishing Indian deep technology B2B SaaS sector. The US and India funds together plan to deploy approximately $130 million in the next 4-5 years.

About Dallas Venture Capital

DVC is a Dallas TX, US and Hyderabad, India based venture capital firm investing in cloud infrastructure, B2B SaaS, AI/ML, mobile, XR and other emerging technologies. In addition to providing capital and financing needs, our investment philosophy centers around guiding business development, product, and technology strategy for our portfolio companies through the 'DVC Advantage' program to achieve successful outcomes. Operating from both the US and India, DVC creates a bridge that connects two of the largest start-up ecosystems in the world. DVC is co-founded by Dayakar Puskoor, a pioneering Dallas based venture capitalist with a record of investments in 25+ companies and 9 exits to date, and Abidali Neemuchwala, the former CEO of Wipro Ltd.

For more information, visit www.dallasvc.com or write to [email protected] or [email protected].

Media Contact - [email protected]

SOURCE Dallas Venture Capital
SAN DIEGO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Raving and Quick Custom Intelligence (QCI) announced that QCI will be the Title Sponsor of the Casino Marketing & Technology Conference and the Host Player Development Conference. The conference will be held at the South Point Casino Hotel & Spa in Las Vegas, July 12th -14th 2022. The conference is the longest running event dedicated to casino marketing and the technology that drives the gaming industry.

Deana Scott, CEO of Raving, said, "Not only are we thrilled to be bringing back an industry event that has informed and motivated thousands of operators since 2003, we are pleased to welcome the market-leading data solutions company Quick Custom Intelligence as the Title Sponsor of the Casino Marketing & Technology Conference. Attendees that have been to a Raving conference expect valuable and candid conversations around the industry's toughest issues. They want current data and tools in a format that sparks conversation and sharing. We're back and we will deliver as promised this July."

Andrew Cardno, CTO & Co-Founder of QCI said, "The Casino Marketing & Technology Conference is an industry leading event where thought leaders from across the industry are able to collaborate, develop ideas and share best practices. The learnings shared at the CMTC provide an invaluable toolset for developing effective marketing plans in this volatile marketplace."

ABOUT RAVING

Raving was founded in 1998 and is a Native-owned, women-managed organization. For over two decades, Raving has partnered with over 152 Tribal Nations and enterprises and 71 commercial properties along with First Nations throughout Canada and internationally in Europe and Asia. From years on the casino floor, we understand all aspects of your gaming and resort operations and the challenges and sticky situations gaming executives face. We pride ourselves on building custom programs tailored to your needs, utilizing evidence-based methodologies to identify the root cause and create lasting solutions.

Our team of over 20 strategic partners, all experienced gaming and hospitality professionals, support Tribal organizations and commercial casinos worldwide in strategically improving their overall operations. Raving produces several events and publications including Raving Host and Player Development Conference; Raving NEXT: Indian Gaming Analytics and Marketing Conference; Casino Marketing and Technology Conference; Tribal Gaming & Hospitality Magazine. Visit www.betravingknows.com to subscribe to our publications or contact Daniel Wood [email protected], 775-329-7864 to find out more about Raving's products and services.

ABOUT QCI

The QCI Platform aligns player development, marketing and gaming with powerful real-time operational tools developed for the gaming and hospitality industries. QCI has installed their ground-breaking, highly configured software in 55 casino resorts in North America and in over 3,000 sites worldwide. QCI products provide tooling for gaming operators managing over $10 billion in annual gross gaming revenue, these products are built on the QCI Platform, a best-in-class on-premise, hybrid or cloud-based technology that enables fully coordinated activities across gaming or hospitality operations. This data-driven software allows for quick, informed decisions in the ever-changing world of the casino industry and assists casinos in their efforts to optimize resources and profits, manage marketing campaigns and increase customer loyalty. QCI was founded by Dr. Ralph Thomas and Mr. Andrew Cardno. Based in San Diego, QCI also has offices in Las Vegas, St. Louis, Dallas & Phoenix.

SOURCE Quick Custom Intelligence
SAN DIEGO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Diagenta presented its point-of-care diagnostic platform at the International Global Off-Site Care conference at Aulani Resort on Oahu, HI. The conference brought together international Rotary Clubs to advance Global Telemedicine. To address the needs of underserved populations, Diagenta has aggregated the low-cost but capable diagnostic devices into one kit enabling remote physical examination, on-site blood and urine analysis, basic instrumental exams along with point-of-care ultrasound imaging. The kit fits into a backpack and integrates with telemedicine and electronic patient record systems enabling secure and well-organized information flow.

Diagenta's founder and CEO, Gelena Lifchitz commented, "We are honored to be a part of Rotarians' effort to spread the benefits of telemedicine worldwide to provide high quality care to the underserved using affordable technology. Our aim was to build a hospital-grade portable diagnostic solution for less than $7K, that could be deployed by social and community workers, caregivers and just family members, bringing a new level of precision to telehealth."

Dr. Gregory Pecchia, attended the company's booth, "We recognize that as technology evolves, it becomes more and more practical to connect patients with medical specialists who are not nearby and in fact may be in a distant country. Availability of reliable physical, laboratory and imaging data at the time of a telehealth encounter is crucial. Remote consults from medical specialists to local doctors can save lives and bring practical solutions to medical problems faced by patients no matter where they happen to live".

For Global Off- Site Care: https://globaloffsitecare.org/

For Diagenta: https://www.diagenta.com/

Contact:

Teresa Sunder Prince, BD

Director of Diagenta

+1 858 775 61 07

[email protected]

SOURCE Diagenta
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GeoBlue, the leader in high-tech, high-touch health insurance solutions for the globally mobile, announces the appointment of Diego Fernandez as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective June 13, 2022.

Diego Fernandez Appointed President and CEO of GeoBlue

Alan Krigstein, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GeoBlue said: "The board and I are excited to have Diego in place as GeoBlue's next CEO. From his time as interim CEO and as a board member, Diego knows and understands the company. Combined with his vast experience in the international healthcare industry and his relationships with both Bupa and our Blue Cross Blue Shield plan partners, he is the ideal fit to lead GeoBlue into the next chapter of its history."

In addition to serving on GeoBlue's board, Fernandez had been with Bupa since 2011, where he served in a number of roles in Sales, Finance and as President and CEO of Bupa Global Latin America since 2019. As Bupa Global Latin America's CEO, Diego planned and executed a comprehensive market strategy to successfully ignite growth and profits. Prior to Bupa, Diego was Cigna International Taiwan's Chief Operating Officer and Cigna Healthcare Spain's COO/CFO and Director/Assistant Director for Latin America. After starting his career as a financial analyst with Credit Lyonnais, he was administrative director of Torcuato Di Tella University in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Diego Fernandez, President and CEO of GeoBlue said: "I am so excited to be coming back to GeoBlue as the President and CEO after spending the last few years as a member of its board. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the market awareness and demand for our products are even greater. I'm confident that GeoBlue is poised to capitalize on this and continue to be the market leader for high-tech, high-touch health insurance solutions for the globally mobile. As GeoBlue marks its 25th anniversary in business, I am honored to lead the team into this next chapter of growth."

Fernandez holds an MBA in Strategy and Finance from the University of Rochester, New York, and a bachelor's degree in Accounting from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Media Inquiries:

Lynn Pina, Chief Marketing Officer, GeoBlue

[email protected] | +1- 610-263-3061

About GeoBlue

Owned and backed by 15 Blue Cross Blue Shield companies and Bupa Global, GeoBlue is the trade name for the international health insurance programs of Worldwide Insurance Services, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, GeoBlue's purpose is to simplify the international healthcare experience for the globally mobile. GeoBlue members have access to one of the largest care networks in the world, coupled with high-tech, high-touch services that enable them to fulfill their international aspirations. Whether it's executives doing business in Tokyo, students studying in Spain, or tourists traveling the world, the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield brand is always within reach. To learn more, visit about.geo-blue.com.

SOURCE GeoBlue
Revenue-generating End-user Segments

The in-wheel motor segment will have significant market share growth during the forecast period. The demand for electric two-wheelers for in-city use is increasing. This is expected to boost the demand for in-wheel motors during the forecast period. Some of the major vendors in India that provide in-wheel drive motors include Sona Comstar and EMF Innovations Pte Ltd.

Electric Two-wheeler Motor Market: Driver and Trend

The increasing sales of electric two-wheelers in India is driving the growth of the electric two-wheeler motor market in India. The demand for electric two-wheelers in India is growing significantly. The market has seen the emergence of companies such as Ola Electric, Simple Energy, Bounce Infinity, Tork Motors and Ultraviolette. The rising price of oil in the country is also fueling the demand for electric two-wheelers.

The growing movement of multi-speed transmission in electric two-wheelers is a trend in the market. Drivetrain manufactures such as Ather Energy are planning to develop multi-gear transmission, which delivers high efficiency in suburban roads and highways. EVs with multi-gear transmission technology will have increased vehicle range in terms of distance traveled on one charge. All these benefits will encourage OEMs to the adoption of multi-gear transmission in electric two-wheelers.

Technavio helps businesses create strategies to make the most of future growth opportunities. View a Sample Report Now!

Electric Two-wheeler Motor Market: Key Vendor Offerings

Compage Automation Systems Pvt. Ltd. - The company offers TVS iQube scooter that delivers a convenient , personlised, connected and eco-friendly experience.

The company offers TVS iQube scooter that delivers a convenient , personlised, connected and eco-friendly experience. Dana Inc. - The company offers low- to high-voltage IPM, SR, SRIPM and induction electric motors.

The company offers low- to high-voltage IPM, SR, SRIPM and induction electric motors. EMF Innovations Pte Ltd. - The company offers electric two wheeler motor such as BLDC hub motor.

The company offers electric two wheeler motor such as BLDC hub motor. Entuple E-Mobility Pvt. Ltd. - The company offers Hub-Motor e-Powertrains, Mid-Motor e-Powertrains, Heavy Duty e-Powertrains.

The company offers Hub-Motor e-Powertrains, Mid-Motor e-Powertrains, Heavy Duty e-Powertrains. Konmos Technologies Pvt. Ltd. - The company offers electric vehicle motors that features low noise, durable bearing, compact size.

Reasons to Buy Electric Two-wheeler Motor Market Report:

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026

Detailed information on factors that will assist electric two-wheeler motor market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the electric two-wheeler motor market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the electric two-wheeler motor market across APAC

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of electric two-wheeler motor market vendors

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Electric Two-wheeler Motor Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Decelerate at a CAGR of 32.28% Market growth 2022-2026 2446.03 thousand units Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 46.81 Regional analysis APAC Performing market contribution India at 100% Key consumer countries India and Rest of APAC Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Compage Automation Systems Pvt. Ltd., Dana Inc., EMF Innovations Pte Ltd., Entuple E-Mobility Pvt. Ltd., Konmos Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Physics Motors Technology Pvt. Ltd., Rotomotive Powerdrives India Ltd., SONA BLW Precision Forgings Ltd., Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd., and TSUYO Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for forecast period, Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 01: Parent market



Exhibit 02: Market characteristics

2.2 Value chain analysis

Exhibit 03: Value chain analysis: Global automotive components and accessories market

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 04: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 05: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021 - 2026

Exhibit 06: India - Market size and forecast 2021 - 2026 (thousand units)

- Market size and forecast 2021 - 2026 (thousand units)

Exhibit 07: India market: Year-over-year growth 2021 - 2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 08: Five forces analysis 2021 & 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 09: Bargaining power of buyers

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 10: Bargaining power of suppliers

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 11: Threat of new entrants

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 12: Threat of substitutes

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 13: Threat of rivalry

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 14: Market condition - Five forces 2021

5 Market Segmentation by Product

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 15: Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 16: Comparison by Product

5.3 In-wheel motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 17: In-wheel motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 (thousand units)



Exhibit 18: In-wheel motor - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Mid-drive motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 19: Mid-drive motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 (thousand units)



Exhibit 20: Mid-drive motor - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 21: Market opportunity by Product

6 Market Segmentation by Vehicle type

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 22: Vehicle type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Vehicle type

Exhibit 23: Comparison by Vehicle type

6.3 E-scooter - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 24: E-scooter - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 (thousand units)



Exhibit 25: E-scooter - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.4 E-motorcycle - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 26: E-motorcycle - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 (thousand units)



Exhibit 27: E-motorcycle - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Vehicle type

Exhibit 28: Market opportunity by Vehicle type

7 Customer landscape

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

Exhibit 30: Impact of drivers and challenges

8.3 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 31: Vendor landscape

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 32: Landscape disruption



Exhibit 33: Industry risks

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 34: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 35: Market positioning of vendors

10.3 Compage Automation Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 36: Compage Automation Systems Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 37: Compage Automation Systems Pvt. Ltd. - Product and service



Exhibit 38: Compage Automation Systems Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.4 Dana Inc.

Exhibit 39: Dana Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 40: Dana Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 41: Dana Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 42: Dana Inc. - Segment focus

10.5 EMF Innovations Pte Ltd.

Exhibit 43: EMF Innovations Pte Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 44: EMF Innovations Pte Ltd. - Product and service



Exhibit 45: EMF Innovations Pte Ltd. - Key offerings

10.6 Entuple E-Mobility Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 46: Entuple E-Mobility Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 47: Entuple E-Mobility Pvt. Ltd. - Product and service



Exhibit 48: Entuple E-Mobility Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.7 Konmos Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 49: Konmos Technologies Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 50: Konmos Technologies Pvt. Ltd. - Product and service



Exhibit 51: Konmos Technologies Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.8 Physics Motors Technology Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 52: Physics Motors Technology Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 53: Physics Motors Technology Pvt. Ltd. - Product and service



Exhibit 54: Physics Motors Technology Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.9 Rotomotive Powerdrives India Ltd.

Exhibit 55: Rotomotive Powerdrives India Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 56: Rotomotive Powerdrives India Ltd. - Product and service



Exhibit 57: Rotomotive Powerdrives India Ltd. - Key offerings

10.10 SONA BLW Precision Forgings Ltd.

Exhibit 58: SONA BLW Precision Forgings Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 59: SONA BLW Precision Forgings Ltd. - Product and service



Exhibit 60: SONA BLW Precision Forgings Ltd. - Key offerings

10.11 Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 61: Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 62: Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 63: Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 64: Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. - Segment focus

10.12 TSUYO Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 65: TSUYO Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 66: TSUYO Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. - Product and service



Exhibit 67: TSUYO Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 68: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.3 Research methodology

Exhibit 69: Research Methodology



Exhibit 70: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 71: Information sources

11.4 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 72: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
This Third ONR grant to Elemental continues to enable project deployments in communities most affected by climate change

HONOLULU and EAST PALO ALTO, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Elemental Excelerator, a global nonprofit funding the deployment of climate technologies, today announced a new multi-year commitment from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to expand its mission to redesign the systems behind climate change. This commitment of $32.5 million over five years brings the total funding from ONR to more than $90 million. This is the third installment of ONR funding to advance technology commercialization and first-of-a-kind project deployments.

"This grant from the Navy is a vote of confidence in our ability to select technologies and design projects that transform the systems behind climate change," said Dawn Lippert, CEO, Elemental Excelerator. "The Navy's five-year commitment enables us to bring new private and philanthropic funders to the table who are increasingly stepping up to invest in equitable climate solutions."

"We are excited to leverage this groundbreaking federal funding to mobilize a growing network of ambitious foundations, corporate leaders, and private investors to work together to de-risk climate technologies, grow a more diverse climate workforce, and build on the nearly $7 billion in follow-on funding that our work has inspired to date," said Melissa Uhl, Chief Growth Officer, Elemental Excelerator.

"This award is proof that federal funding can help bring major private sector investments into the fight against climate change," said U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, Hawai'i. "Elemental is a groundbreaking organization, leveraging funds to identify and incubate new climate solutions, and ultimately scale those solutions around the globe."

In May 2022, the Department of the Navy released its climate strategy, Climate Action 2030 , which sets the objective of building a climate-ready force through two performance goals: building climate resilience, and reducing the climate threat. The Department will work with a range of stakeholders, including Elemental, to meet these goals.

"The purpose of the grant to Elemental Excelerator is to leverage private sector innovation to help the Department of the Navy reach climate goals while strengthening our maritime dominance," said Deborah Loomis, Senior Advisor for Climate Change to the Secretary of the Navy. "Grants like this one help ensure that tomorrow's climate innovators are able to secure the resources they need to create the solutions we need."

While Elemental's work began in the use of the accelerator model with climate-focused startups, the organization has grown to now encompass a wide array of teams transforming the climate tech landscape, including:

Elemental Policy Lab , a team of policy experts and fellows focused on bridging the gap between policymakers and technology on local, regional, and national levels

, a team of policy experts and fellows focused on bridging the gap between policymakers and technology on local, regional, and national levels Elemental Navigator , a group of corporate members that collaborate with Elemental's pipeline and portfolio companies to make investments, identify acquisition opportunities, pilot first-of-a-kind projects, and roll out project deployments at scale

, a group of corporate members that collaborate with Elemental's pipeline and portfolio companies to make investments, identify acquisition opportunities, pilot first-of-a-kind projects, and roll out project deployments at scale EDICT (Empowering Diverse Climate Talent), a comprehensive internship and education program to create a diverse pipeline of talent for the climate sector - and empower organizations to create inclusive cultures

(Empowering Diverse Climate Talent), a comprehensive internship and education program to create a diverse pipeline of talent for the climate sector - and empower organizations to create inclusive cultures A dedicated Equity and Access team, which builds local partnerships with community organizations and supports project development to benefit startups and ensure frontline communities are receiving equitable funding for climate solutions through work like the Square Partnerships Model

To date, Elemental has invested in more than 130 climate technology startups worldwide, pioneered and published a model for embedding equity and community in technology deployments, deployed 100+ projects, celebrated more than 20 exits across its portfolio, and built a platform for scaling equitable, market-driven solutions to climate change. The climate tech nonprofit is currently evaluating applicants for its 11th cohort of investments, with 15-20 companies to be named in October 2022. Each company will receive $300,000 to $600,000 in funding for strategy or project-specific work. More than 500 companies from 46 countries applied to participate in this year's cohort, with 52% of all applicants having a CEO from a traditionally-excluded race or gender.

About Elemental Excelerator

Elemental Excelerator is on a mission to redesign the systems at the root of climate change. Elemental fills two gaps that are fundamental to addressing climate change with the urgency required by funding first-of-a-kind projects for climate technologies in real communities and embedding equity and access into everything climate-related. Since launching in 2009, Elemental has invested in over 130 growth-stage companies and celebrated more than 20 exits, funded more than 100 technology projects, and built a platform for scaling equitable, market-driven solutions to climate change.

To learn more or find out how your organization can get involved with Elemental, visit elementalexcelerator.com .

Media Contacts

Tom Biro | Director of Media Relations, Elemental Excelerator

[email protected]

+1.862.485.0711

SOURCE Elemental Excelerator
The acquisition takes Dstny to the next level in customer engagement, enabling companies to employ Artificial Intelligence and data in their customer experience operations with minimum effort.

BRUSSELS, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dstny, the European leader in business communications, announced the acquisition of Tactful AI, a technology start-up based in the UK and Egypt, that provides a cutting-edge intelligent customer experience platform. The acquisition extends Dstny's products portfolio and helps companies enhance customer engagement operations across modern digital and traditional voice channels.

"With Tactful onboard, we are not only strengthening ourselves with next-generation Customer Engagement technology, we are also adding an excellent team to our group," says Daan De Wever, CEO Dstny Group.

As competition increases, businesses are competing mainly on customer experience. Tactful's Unified Customer Experience Platform (UCX) is an AI and data-centric solution that empowers business users to manage, engage, and understand the customer journey across multiple touchpoints. It includes a complete omnichannel digital contact centre, multilingual conversational chatbots, and conversational analytics.

"Tactful and Dstny share the same vision to bring employees and customers together through interactive communications tools. We both believe we can positively impact people's lives even better together. By joining Dstny, we are excited to accelerate our go-to-market strategy and bring even more value to our customers," Mohamed Elmasry, co-founder, and CEO of Tactful AI.

With the out of the box, no-code AI-powered automation engine, any organisation can employ AI and data in their customer experience operations with minimum effort regardless of its technical capacity.

"Our M&A strategy is all about product and revenue synergies, not cost synergies like you often see elsewhere. In that way, we grow faster as joint companies, and our customers get access to more and better products much faster. Tactful is a perfect match in every way, and we are excited to start working together," says Chris Parker, Dstny Group.

For further information

Christian Hed  CMO Dstny

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +46707187603

About Dstny

Dstny is a leading European provider of cloud-based Business Communications. The company aims to simplify the everyday lives of more than 2,3 million users today: the interactive tools in Business Communications are delivered asa-service and bring employees and customers together across all communication formats (voice, video, chat, and other).

The Dstny tools are natively mobile-first, locally adaptable, easy to use, and easy to integrate, for companies, partners, and service providers. By combining innovative technology with close relationships with partners and service providers, and with strong local teams, Dstny can deliver the best possible user experience and make the latest applications accessible to companies across Europe.

Headquartered in Brussels, Dstny has 800 employees in 7 European countries (Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, UK) and an annual turnover of nearly 190 million in 2021.

More info: www.dstny.com

About Tactful

Tactful is a leading and private technology company based in the UK, with a presence in EMEA. Tactful offers omnichannel and AI-powered customer experience software to help businesses thrive by enabling meaningful and effective engagement with their customers across touchpoints. Tactful UCX is a comprehensive customer experience platform that incorporates all technologies and tools businesses need to deliver the best customer experience, reduce costs, and boost customer loyalty and sales.

More info: www.tactful.ai

SOURCE Dstny
EvoNexus, RBC, and Franklin Templeton seek early-stage fintech applicants for Silicon Valley FinTech Incubator. Tweet this

Alongside EvoNexus, Franklin Templeton and RBC consider startups, focused on, but not limited to, the broad applications of cryptocurrency (from storage to payments to asset tokenization), the NFT landscape, driving ESG-minded investment decisions, democratizing access to traditionally hard-to-enter asset classes, protecting assets through innovative cybersecurity measures, and utilizing AI to make smarter and more timely investment decisions.

"Our 3-year partnership launching the fintech incubation program with Franklin Templeton and EvoNexus in California, has yielded significant value through introductions to early-stage ventures that would have otherwise not appeared on our radar screen," states Eddy Ortiz, VP of Innovation & Solution Acceleration at RBC. "The EvoNexus incubation program provides startups with the tools they need to engage with RBC in areas of interest that matter to us."

"Startups benefit from Franklin Templeton's expertise in running and scaling a global asset management business. Additionally, they can learn a lot from our experience with the regulatory environment," said Joe Boerio, EVP, Chief Risk & Transformation Officer at Franklin Templeton. "Conversely, we learn from the startups, gaining understanding of their new methods, techniques and abilities to approach a market in a very different way."

The Silicon Valley FinTech Incubator sits on the San Mateo campus of Franklin Templeton. Franklin Templeton provides startups in this incubator a minimum of $150,000 (SAFE) in seed funding.

About RBC

Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 88,000+ employees who leverage their imaginations and insights to bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada's biggest bank, and one of the largest in the world, based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our 17 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 27 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com.

We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/community-social-impact.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 155 countries. Franklin Templeton's mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company offers boutique specialization on a global scale, bringing extensive capabilities in equity, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has 75 years of investment experience and approximately $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, 2022. For more information, please visit franklinresources.com.

About EvoNexus

www.evonexus.org

CONTACT: Eugenia Wilson, [email protected]

SOURCE EvoNexus
Mobile access was a driving factor this year with data showing the use of QR codes more than tripled** and mobile-device views continued to hold strong at 15 percent, as employers push communications to reach employees wherever they work. The highest engagement rates by industry were found in the Construction vertical with 96 percent, followed by Information Technology at 89 percent, and Government and Municipalities at 84 percent.

Digital Postcards are an offering unique to Flimp and provide a simple, yet compelling, way to serve up benefits information and multimedia content that tracks engagement. These cost-effective, "mini-microsite" experiences, are built on Flimp's cloud-based platform and come with tracking capabilities for measuring employee engagement. Digital Postcards are particularly engaging for educating employees on benefits and details related to open enrollment. Pushing OE details out to employees is seamless, as Flimp's Digital Postcards can be distributed through multiple channels such as email, text, QR code, URL links and embed code.

OE Engagement Report Highlights at a Glance:

--Average Engagement Rate: 72%

--Average Time on Content: 3 minutes, 9 seconds

--Total Campaigns: 212

--Total Targeted Employees: 704,958

--Total Actions Taken: 569,900 (includes video views)

--Average Response Rate: 1.5 actions per view

--Average Mobile Views: 15%

Employee Engagement Rates by Industry:

--Construction: 96%

--Information Technology: 89%

--Government/Municipality: 84%

--Banking and Financial Services: 71%

--Education: 70%

--Healthcare: 69%  up from 54% in 2020

--Recreation, Hospitality and Tourism: 51%

--Manufacturing: 49%

--Consumer Products and Retail: 48%

"With hybrid and remote work becoming the new normal, it's no surprise that there was an increase in demand for communicating with our Digital Postcards for OE benefits education to mobile devices," said Wayne Wall, CEO and founder of Flimp Communications. "This year, in particular, we saw a significant increase in employers using our Digital Postcards to push targeted benefits messages and videos to employees via text and QR code, and we expect this trend to take off even further in 2022 as our clients look for new ways to improve engagement with employees, not only during the open enrollment period, but year-round."

Notable trends in open enrollment communications include:

--Digital Postcards outperform email alone with an average engagement rate of 72 percent. While email is still a necessary means of communication, engagement rates increase dramatically when used to distribute Digital postcard content. Digital Postcards can also be distributed via text, QR codes, or web links.

--Video education is here to stay. More than half of the campaigns included in this report used supplemental educational videos in their OE Digital Postcards. Videos are the preferred method of learning for many employees and allow for self-paced education.

--Decision-support tools are an important component of OE communications. When campaigns included a decision-support tool, average engagement rates jumped to 77 percent.

--QR codes made a big comeback. Requests tripled from 2020 and were included in 15 percent of all OE campaigns (up from 10 percent in 2020).

Some of the world's most recognized brands leveraged Flimp Communications' solutions for open enrollment in 2021 including American Diabetes Association, California Pizza Kitchen, New Balance, NPR, and United Rentals.

Download Flimp Communications' Open Enrollment 2021-22 Case Study and Trends Report here: https://www.flimp.net/2021-22-Open-Enrollment-Report-Industry-Benchmarks-Takeaways-Best-Practices

For more information or to sign up for a communication-strategy session in advance of open enrollment, visit: https://www.flimp.net/contact.

About Flimp Communications

Flimp Communications is a leader in HR, benefits and employee communication. Through its powerful, customizable Flimp 360 solution, the company provides virtual communication solutions including software, decision-support tools, workforce texting and interactive digital content to employers, HR consultants, insurance carriers, and healthcare providers. With offices in Boston, MA, Denver, CO, Vero Beach, FL, and Burlington, VT, Flimp works with over 750 corporate clients, including many Fortune 500 companies. The award-winning employee-communications platform enables users to create, distribute and track interactive video and branded multimedia content without any programming or IT resources for corporate, internal and employee communications. For more information, please visit: www.flimp.net.

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE Flimp Communications
Friday Health Plans Raises $120 Million in New Funding to Support Enrollment Growth. Tweet this

"More people are finding value in our simple, practical health plans designed for people who don't get insurance through their employer," said CEO of Friday Health Plans, Sal Gentile. "We are built specifically to give them great health benefits and superior service  all at an affordable price. And we're able to do this because we focus solely on serving this growing consumer segment."

Friday currently serves more than 330,000 members across seven states with an estimated $1.95 billion in gross premium revenue for 2022. Most of Friday's health plans include unlimited $0 primary care visits, $0 mental health counseling, free generic drugs and free telehealth visits. Consumers can purchase the plans on the national or state-based health exchanges, through brokers, or directly on Friday's website.

"Having worked with the management team at Friday for a number of years, we have observed their expertise in bringing affordable health protection to a growing number of people. We are excited about supporting the future growth prospects of the company through this capital round," said Tom Spreutels, Managing Partner at Leadenhall.

Friday Health Plans was started in 2015 by Sal Gentile and David Pinkert, two health technology industry veterans. After the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the pair wanted to start a simpler, friendlier health insurance company, better designed for consumers not receiving health insurance from their employer.

With headquarters in Denver, Colorado, Friday has grown exponentially in the Affordable Care Act space through acquisition and organic growth. The company has expanded its employee base to more than 600 people across the country, with operations centers in Alamosa and Pueblo, Colorado.

About Friday Health Plans: Friday Health Plans is purpose-built specifically for people and who buy their own health insurance. The company focuses on overall simplicity to offer affordable health plans with benefits that help members stay healthy and cover them if they get sick or hurt. Operational efficiency, top-notch customer service, and smart technology are core to Friday's consumer-centric approach. All insurance plans and services are offered and administered through licensed subsidiaries of Friday Health Plans, Inc. For more information and to find a health plan, visit www.fridayhealthplans.com.

About Leadenhall Capital Partners:

Leadenhall Capital Partners is a UK-based institutional investment manager focused on making investments in insurance related opportunities, with ca. USD 6bn of assets under management. Established in November 2008, Leadenhall Capital Partners has made over 150 investments in life and health insurance related risks and has supported companies at various stages of their growth cycle. Leadenhall has the expertise to identify promising investment opportunities whilst also backing companies which may provide access to attractive life and health risks for its investment portfolios. Investments are made across the capital structure. For additional information on Leadenhall please visit www.leadenhallcp.com

SOURCE Friday Health Plans
More than 20 million children worldwide could benefit from palliative care, but access to such services remains an issue.1

ROME, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Eternal City is ready to host the leading international pediatric palliative care specialists from May 25 to 29. Two years after the pandemic, the Maruzza Lefebvre Foundation is organizing the "5th International Maruzza Congress on Paediatric Palliative Care" (https://www.childrenpalliativecarecongress.org/congress-2022/), an international event that brings together health professionals from all over the world, engaged in assisting minors suffering from incurable diseases of high and medium care complexity. The three-day conference is dedicated to scientific research, training and exchange of knowledge with a distinct purpose: to provide doctors and nurses the most recent updates, in order for them to deliver the best possible care to children and families living with a diagnosis of incurability.

This year, exactly ten years after its very first edition, the Congress will focus on the theme of listening. "Listen, really listen" is in fact the connecting theme of all those attending and giving presentations. How to listen to a child who cannot express their needs? How to manage the expectations and desires of families? What challenges does the clinical team face when healing is not an achievable goal? Listening is the answer; a listening that sometimes requires methods that transcend verbal communication.

With the intent to highlight the many ways communication can develop, the opening ceremony will showcase the White Hands Choir and the Quadracoro, and feature a concert that can be enjoyed by all, even individuals with disabilities who cannot speak or hear.

The International Conference is fundamental towards the dissemination of innovative approaches and novel technologies, presenting new international standards of care and proposing specific practices for humanitarian crises, such as the ongoing situation in Ukraine.

Franca Benini, Chair of the Conference and Director of Paediatric Palliative Care, Pain Service Department of Women's and Children's Health, University of Padua, Italy: "These last two years have been really difficult and exhausting for everyone. They were especially so for our little patients, their families and all health professionals who have assisted them throughout their history of illness. The "5th International Maruzza Congress on Pediatric Palliative Care" represents the will, the opportunity and the need to start over, to finally pick up where we left off, and in person, as debate and involvement between experts in pediatric palliative care is fundamental, in order to share knowledge, projects, ideas together with critical issues and problems. Our mission is a common one, and we believe that the most correct and up-to-date indications can be drawn from discussion and a common effort to respond in the best possible way to the numerous needs that an incurable disease in a child entails: needs that have an important impact on a clinical level but also on a psychological, social, spiritual and ethical one. "

PEDIATRIC PALLIATIVE CARE. There are 22 million infants, children and adolescents worldwide who are affected by incurable diseases and would benefit from pediatric palliative care. The World Health Organization defines pediatric palliative care as " the active total care of the child's body, mind and spirit, which also involves giving support to the family." Its purpose is to improve the quality of life of young patients and their families, and in the vast majority of cases the home is the best place to provide such care, but for cultural, affective, educational and organizational reasons, pediatric patients rarely benefit from such an approach.

MARUZZA LEFEBVRE D'OVIDIO FOUNDATION. Since 1999 the Foundation has been involved in the field of pain therapy and pediatric palliative care for minors suffering from incurable diseases. Today the Maruzza Foundation is a leading national and international organization in the field of Palliative Care. For further information www.fondazionemaruzza.org

International Standards for Pediatric Palliative Care: From IMPaCCT to GO-PPaCS https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885392421007119 Benini et al - Volume 63, Issue 5, May 2022 , Pages e529-e543

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1560312/Fondazione_Maruzza_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Fondazione Maruzza
DUBLIN, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Sterilization Services Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global sterilization services market reached a value of US$ 3.36 billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach a value of US$ 4.86 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.10% 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.



Sterilization refers to the process of eliminating and reducing all forms of microorganisms present in the environment. It consists of various procedures, including heat, chemicals, irradiation, high pressure and filtration that kill spores, microbes, and viruses. Gamma, electron beam radiation and ethylene oxide (ETO) are some of the commonly used sterilization methods. Sterilization services are widely used to kill all forms of bacteria and fungi, thereby ensuring a clean environment, which, in turn prevents the transmission of germs and other diseases. As a result, they are widely used in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.



Sterilization Services Market Trends

Significant expansion in the healthcare industry across the globe is creating a positive outlook for the market. The rising instances of hospital-acquired infections and the rising number of surgical procedures requiring high-intensity infection prevention and control is favoring the market growth.

Moreover, the sudden outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is positively impacting the market growth as there has been an increase in concerns toward virus transmission, which has enabled individuals to practice routine and improved hygiene and preventive measures. Besides this, sterilization services are being widely adopted in medical equipment, such as reusable hemodialysis machines, respiratory care devices and surgical instruments, to prevent pathogen transfer, which is contributing to the market growth.

Additionally, various product innovations, such as low-temperature sterilization systems that offer expanded instrument capability, shorter cycles, improved materials compatibility and eco-friendly properties, is providing an impetus to the market growth. Other factors, including the increasing geriatric population that is more prone to chronic diseases and the implementation of various government initiatives to ensure a high degree of infection prevention, are anticipated to drive the market toward growth further.

Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being B. Braun Medical Ltd, Belimed AG (Metall Zug AG), BGS Beta-Gamma-Service GmbH & Co. KG, E-BEAM Services Inc, Fortive Corporation, Medistri SA, MMM Group, Noxilizer Inc., Sotera Health Company, Steris Corporation and Stryker Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global sterilization services market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global sterilization services market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the method?

What is the breakup of the market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the mode of delivery?

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 sterilization services 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 Sterilization Services Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Method

6.1 Ethylene Oxide Sterilization

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Gamma Sterilization

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Steam Sterilization

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Electron Beam Radiation Sterilization

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Others

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Type

7.1 Contract Sterilization Services

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Sterilization Validation Services

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Mode of Delivery

8.1 Off-Site Sterilization Services

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 On-Site Sterilization Services

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End User

9.1 Hospitals and Clinics

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Medical Device Companies

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Others

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 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 B. Braun Medical Ltd

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.1.3 SWOT Analysis

15.3.2 Belimed AG (Metall Zug AG)

15.3.2.1 Company Overview

15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3 BGS Beta-Gamma-Service GmbH & Co. KG

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4 E-BEAM Services Inc

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5 Fortive Corporation

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 Medistri SA

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7 MMM Group

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 Noxilizer Inc.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9 Sotera Health Company

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9.3 Financials

15.3.10 Steris Corporation

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 Stryker Corporation

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11.3 Financials

15.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pa4va2

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Good Dogg Beverage Company Signs Distribution Deal with Black River Traders, Inc, Bringing Good Dogg Premium Hard Seltzer to the state of New Jersey Beginning in June of 2022

MELBOURNE, Fla., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Good Dogg Beverage Company (Good Dogg) - a purpose-driven brand - has signed a new distribution agreement to bring its line of premium hard seltzers to the state of New Jersey beginning in June of 2022. The philanthropic efforts of the beverage company are seen through its Leverage the Beverage program, which provides funding for children with rare diseases to have access to the support of a trained service dog.

The partnership with Black River Traders, Inc., a specialty beer and wine distributor based in Flanders, New Jersey, is the latest in a series of agreements securing distribution for Good Dogg Beverage's Premium Hard Seltzers across New Jersey.

Mike Carleton, the Sales Director for Black River Traders, said about the partnership, "We are extremely excited to bring on a product like Good Dogg, which not only tastes and looks great but is also actively doing fantastic things for the community around them."

"We are excited to expand our products into the great state of New Jersey this summer," said Good Dogg Beverage Company CEO and Founder, Tony Venturoso. "Our partnership with Black River Traders allows us to bring our premium products to New Jersey while creating the opportunity to give back."

Good Dogg also aims to make a difference in the communities of New Jersey, helping pair children with rare diseases to service dogs to enhance their quality of life. The company is excited to partner with Black River Traders to make a difference in the communities Black River currently serves.

"The unique way Good Dogg Beverage is already investing in local communities is exciting," says Jason Kane, CEO of Liquid Opportunities. "The partnership between Black River Traders and Good Dogg Beverage brings great seltzer to New Jersey and the opportunity to create a lot of good at the same time. There is a lot of excitement here."

About Good Dogg Beverage Company

Good Dogg Beverage Company is a purpose-driven, premium seltzer brand on a mission to make a difference in the lives of others through their Leverage the Beverage program. The company gives a portion of every sale of its hard seltzer and 100% of the profits of its merchandise sales to ensure children with rare diseases have access to service dogs.

Good Dogg Premium Hard Seltzer, The Official Hard Seltzer of Dog Lovers, comes in four flavors: Orange Mango, Black Cherry, Cucumber Lime, and Dragonfruit. Good Dogg seltzers have 90 calories, 0 carbs, 0 sugar, and are 4.5% ABV. Visit gooddoggbeverage.com to learn more about how you can join Good Dogg on its mission to Leverage the Beverage.

SOURCE Good Dogg Beverage
BANGALORE, India , May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Hardware Security Modules Market is Segmented by Type (General Purpose HSMs, Payment HSMs, HSMaaS) and By Application (Industrial and Manufacturing, BFSI Government, Others) : Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2028. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Computers & Electronics Category.

The Global Hardware Security Modules market size is projected to reach USD 2208.3 million by 2028, from USD 1089 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 10.5% during 2022-2028.

Major factors driving the growth of the Hardware Security Modules market

The growing concern about data security in all data-sensitive companies around the world is a major factor driving the growth of the hardware security module market.

Furthermore, strict data security compliances are expected to increase the demand for hardware security modules, propelling the market forward. Furthermore, the hardware security modules market is expected to benefit from an increase in the demand for effective cryptographic key management.

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TRENDS INFLUENCING HARDWARE SECURITY MODULE MARKET

The Hardware Security Module Market is expected to grow due to the increasing adoption of Hardware Security modules in the BFSI sector. In banking and other industries, the hardware security module (HSM) is widely used to protect sensitive information by handling key management, key exchange, encryption, digital signatures etc. Specialized HSMs used in the payment card industry are known as bank hardware security modules or card payment system hardware security modules. As a result, these HSMs can perform both standard hardware security module functions as well as specialized functions required by transaction processing and industry compliance standards.

A Hardware security module can help companies that handle payment card data comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Any company that needs to encrypt and protect sensitive data, such as those in the healthcare, energy, or payment industries, can benefit from an HSM. Rather than keeping keys in a virtual environment, organizations can store cryptographic data in specific hardware that has been thoroughly verified and approved by independent laboratories. These modules have a security-focused operating system with highly limited access via a network interface regulated by internal rules. The entire system is designed to safeguard and conceal encrypted data. It can also generate random (entropy) keys and generate digital signatures at a high rate. A centralized key management design has the benefit of expediting key management in large enterprises. This aspect is projected to propel the growth of the HSM market.

The Hardware Security Module market is expected to grow due to the increased use of Hardware Security Modules in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Unsecured manufacturing processes can result in the production of unauthorized units that can be sold on the black market, either with genuine branding or under a different name. This puts the company in jeopardy in terms of finances and reputation. The level of security provided by HSMs is unrivaled. Tamper-resistant or tamper-evident devices are available. If someone tries to break into the device, the HSM records the attempt and alerts the appropriate personnel. This level of security can be difficult to achieve with the software. Manufacturers around the world rely on HSMs and data encryption solutions to address today's high-tech manufacturing security challenges.

The defense and government departments are crucial to any country's development. These departments have access to highly sensitive information such as personal information about citizens, court hearing records, and secret information about the army, air force, navy, and other armed forces. To protect the confidentiality of sensitive data, these organizations must use future-proof data encryption solutions. A Hardware Security Module (HSM) is one such device that can easily meet these data security requirements. As a result, the growing demand for Hardware Security Modules from government agencies is expected to propel the HSM market forward.

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HARDWARE SECURITY MODULE SHARE ANALYSIS

BFSI is expected to be the most profitable segment based on application. Banking and financial institutions created a huge demand for hardware security modules to protect the payment process using credit and debit cards from major companies such as Mastercard and Visa.

Based on region, Europe is expected to be the most lucrative region in the Hardware security module market. The region's thriving BFSI, IT & Telecommunications, medical and life sciences industries, as well as the automotive industry, provide opportunities for the market. The region's adoption of 4G LTE technology, as well as ongoing developments and smaller deployments of 5G infrastructure, are expected to increase demand for network security hardware security modules in the IT and telecommunications sectors.

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Key Players

Thales

Entrust Datacard

Utimaco

ATOS SE

Marvell Technology Group

Westone Information Industry Inc

Ultra Electronics

Synopsys, Inc

Futurex

Keyou

Exceet Secure Solutions GmbH

Beijing Dean information technology

Securosys

Yubico

Sansec

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SIMILAR REPORTS:

- The global Hardware Encryption market size is projected to reach USD 149750 million by 2028, from USD 28970 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 25.9% during 2022-2028.

- The global IoT Security market size is projected to reach USD 6328.4 million by 2027, from USD 1732.8 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 20.3% during 2021-2027.

- The global lawful interception market size was valued at USD 2.69 Billion in 2020, and is projected to reach USD 22.64 Billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 23.7% from 2021 to 2030.

- The global security testing market size was valued at USD 6.25 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 36.78 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 19.2% from 2021 to 2030.

- The global Security as a Service market size is projected to reach USD 16920 million by 2028, from USD 6758.8 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 13.5% during 2022-2028.

- The global Perimeter Security market size is estimated to be worth USD 124860 million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 186330 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 6.9%.

- The global Security Information and Event Management market size is projected to reach USD 6436.2 million by 2027, from USD 3938.3 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 6.8% during 2021-2027.

- Global Cloud Hardware Security Module Market Insights and Forecast to 2028

- Global Network Attached Storage (NAS) Hardware Market Research Report 2022

- Global Automotive Hardware Security Module Market Research Report 2022

- Global Home Security Solutions Market Insights and Forecast to 2028

- Global Cyber Security for Space and Defense Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global Auto Cyber Security Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global Defense Cyber Security Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

Click here to see related reports on Hardware Security Module Market

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NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On a mission to improve the aging-at-home experience, insurance product and solution innovator HCG Secure , today announced the launch of a groundbreaking and affordable hybrid life and long-term care (LTC) insurance product, Home Life Secure, designed for the majority of Americans without any long-term care protection. The solution is the first of its kind, combining financial security with critical care navigation resources for in-home and senior living care and a residual benefit intended to cover any final expenses for their family.

The product distinguishes itself from existing hybrid Life and LTC insurance solutions with a simplified medical underwriting process, affordable and guaranteed premiums, higher acceptance rates, will and trust planning tools, and integrated relevant planning and support solutions for policyholders as they age.

" 92% of Americans have health insurance and yet only 10% have some form of long-term care insurance. When the average out-of-pocket cost of in-home care ranges from $61,000 and up, short and long-term care insurance is no longer a "nice to have" but a must for every American. We designed Home Life Secure to be the most accessible way for the widest range of Americans to maintain financial security as they age," said Tom Beauregard, CEO of HCG Secure. "Many individuals are shocked to learn Medicare only covers 10% of long-term care needs while the cost of traditional plans and its qualification requirements put it out of reach for most. No one should go into debt, lose savings, or their livelihood simply for aging or having an aging loved one."

From a study conducted by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) , 15 million seniors are financially insecure and more than 65% of Americans will require some form of care as they age. The cost of care is steep as nursing home care can cost in excess of $90,000 per year.

"The consequence of coverage gaps and the inaccessibility of pricing can be profound, from reducing retirement savings to eliminating wealth for future generations," said Christopher Vojta, MD, Healthcare Advisor. "The industry is shifting to offering patients a much broader set of home and hospice care options as they age, reducing system costs and aligning with people's desires to avoid institutional care."

The home is an oasis and aging individuals want the option to stay independent. According to estimates by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 75% of Americans say they want to age at home. To help their employees prepare for retirement, some employers are taking steps to include LTC insurance in their benefits packages.

Craig Maloney, Chief Commercial Officer of Benefitfocus states, "As a benefits administration provider for employers and health plans, we are seeing significant interest in long-term care solutions. Some of the traditional LTC insurance models are costly and difficult to access. We are excited to work with HCG Secure and believe its unique product lines will help drive greater value to individuals and their families while enhancing employer benefit offerings."

Home Life Secure is underwritten by Guarantee Trust Life, an AM Best A- Rated Mutual Insurer. Policies are designed to be accessible and affordable with coverage amounts ranging from $10,000-$150,000. The vast majority of individuals are expected to qualify, even if they have a medical condition, such as Type II Diabetes. If someone decides to purchase a policy at 55 years of age, they can choose a policy starting at a minimum of $35 per month. Immediately, they can start using the complimentary care navigation resources to plan or coordinate care for themselves or loved ones. If they were to suffer an ailment, the policy would be triggered and they will start receiving accelerated benefits. If they are fortunate and long-term care is not needed, their family will then receive the benefit at the time of passing to cover final expenses and/or be distributed to their loved ones.

As an added benefit, Home Life Secure comes with yearly access to Total Well-Being, a comprehensive assessment that scores your overall well-being in the areas of Life, Health, and Money. Based on results, policyholders gain valuable insights and suggested improvements on how to age with confidence  especially, as their needs begin to evolve.

About HCG Secure:

HCG Secure was founded by healthcare and insurance veterans who all individually have experienced the challenges of supporting loved ones through their aging process. Collectively, they wanted to bring their decades of experience and build solutions directly serving the consumer and minimize the hardships that come with having an aging loved one. HCG Secure innovates with the end customer in mind  providing individuals and families with the resources, support, and navigation to age confidently. They partner with forward-thinking employers, financial services firms and healthcare providers to reach the widest range of Americans with solutions that can be tailored to each Member's future home care needs. For more information, visit www.hcgsecure.com.

HCG Secure operates as Home Care Genie.

Media Contact:

Liang Zhao

505-720-6933

[email protected]

SOURCE HCG Secure
Collaborative community DATAcc releases a new set of resources to incentivize and support inclusion in digital measurement product development and deployment

BOSTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Digital Health Measurement Collaborative Community (DATAcc) , a collaborative effort hosted by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) , announced a new set of open-access resources to guide inclusivity in the development and deployment of digital health measurement products. In doing so, DATAcc's 46 member organizations offer some of the first tangible solutions for the industry to bridge the gap between recognizing the need for inclusivity with digital health measurements and making inclusivity a standard practice. A free, public launch event is being held today at 11 a.m. ET, during which the experts from the DATAcc Steering Committee and project team will further detail these two suites of products.

"Collaborative communities like DATAcc are tackling important issues within the medical device ecosystem," said Anindita Saha, assistant director of the Digital Health Center of Excellence in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "The DATAcc community collectively agreed that their first priority project should focus on establishing inclusivity as a foundation of digital health measurement. The resources created by DATAcc provide product developers and clinical users with tools to help realize the promise of digital health measurement."

"Our industry has a history of admiring the lack of inclusion in medical product development and healthcare, yet has been slow to act," said Jennifer Goldsack, CEO of DiMe. "Digital health measurement offers the opportunity to redefine health and disease, inform an improved understanding of disease burden, and improve access to better healthcare. We are enormously proud of the DATAcc community for insisting that their inaugural resources support the industry in establishing new digital tools, measures, and their applications that address long-standing health disparities and inequity, helping move our industry from 'should do' to 'how to'."

The new resources sit within two sets of toolkits: one for developing digital health measurement products, and the second for deployment. The first toolkit features everything digital measurement product developers need to take an inclusive approach - providing the supporting tools and research that they need to take them from initial concept through the regulatory approval process.

The Market Opportunity Calculator: This model provides tangible numbers quantifying the opportunity  clinically and financially  of taking an inclusive approach to digital measurement product development. It is an interactive tool, much like an online mortgage calculator, where users can look at major health conditions along different vectors of inclusivity (race, income, education, and age) and compare current state to future state.

This model provides tangible numbers quantifying the opportunity  clinically and financially  of taking an inclusive approach to digital measurement product development. It is an interactive tool, much like an online mortgage calculator, where users can look at major health conditions along different vectors of inclusivity (race, income, education, and age) and compare current state to future state. The Digital Measurement Product Development Process: Modeled after the FDA Device Development Process , this tool describes, for the first time, the inclusive approach to developing a digital measurement product. Decision points throughout the development process are layered with key steps and considerations to ensure that an inclusive approach is taken at each phase.

Modeled after the , this tool describes, for the first time, the inclusive approach to developing a digital measurement product. Decision points throughout the development process are layered with key steps and considerations to ensure that an inclusive approach is taken at each phase. The Library of Evidence: To support industry putting the inclusive development process into action, this "heat map" resource combines over 85 resources that demonstrate instances of quantified benefits, across vectors of inclusion, in areas both directly and indirectly related to digital health measurement products.

The second toolkit helps guide care and research teams, patients, community organizations, planning teams, and tech support teams on how to take an inclusive approach when deploying digital health measurement products in healthcare and research. The new Digital Measurement Product Deployment Toolkit includes a Quick Start Guide to Community Partnerships, Guidance on Inclusive Communications, End User Bill of Rights, Support Call Flowchart, and an annotated list of resources that includes organizations that specialize in inclusion and links to curated resources.

"DATAcc's new resources will provide technology manufacturers with the powerful data they need to develop products and target communities that are in need of access," said Rene Quashie, VP of Health at CTA. "Technology plays a critical role in improving our lives and DATAcc's toolkit is a great step toward further inclusion and access to healthcare."

Today's launch also marks the one-year anniversary of DATAcc. As it enters its second year, the community will consider the next most pressing issues to tackle in order to advance our shared vision of high quality digital health measurement for all. Top topics under consideration include health data rights, data governance, and data standardization and harmonization.

DATAcc welcomes new members to its community annually through an open call period beginning in June 2022. Interested organizations can sign up for an information session here .

About DATAcc: Hosted by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), the Digital Health Measurement Collaborative Community (DATAcc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, pre-competitive collaboration comprising the broad and inclusive range of stakeholders necessary to modernize the way we measure and define health and disease using digital approaches and technologies. Together, this collaborative will develop and demonstrate best practices and advance harmonized approaches to speed the fit-for-purpose use of digital health measurement to improve lives and minimize harm. DATAcc is one out of 12 collaborative communities in the U.S. and launched one year ago in May 2021. Apply to join the community !

About the Digital Medicine Society: At DiMe, our commitment to fully integrating experts from all of the disciplines comprising digital medicine is unwavering. From regulators to white-hat hackers, ethicists to engineers, and clinicians to citizen scientists, we are proud to welcome all experts committed to ensuring that digital medicine realizes its full potential to improve human health. Join us !

Media Contact: Carla English, [email protected]

SOURCE Digital Medicine Society (DiMe)
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Heritage Petroleum Company Limited, a limited liability company organized under the laws of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago ("Heritage", the "Company" or "we"), today announced that US$537,189,000 aggregate principal amount (the "Tendered Notes"), representing approximately 94.20% of the outstanding 9.75% Senior Notes due 2026 (the "Notes") issued by Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited ("TPHL") and guaranteed by the Company, Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited and The Guaracara Refining Company Limited ("Guaracara"), were validly tendered and not withdrawn prior to 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on May 24, 2022 (the "Expiration Date") in accordance with Heritage's Company's Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement dated April 27, 2022 (the "Statement"), pursuant to which the tender offer and consent solicitation were made. This amount includes US$536,136,000 in aggregate principal amount of the Notes, representing approximately 94.02% of the outstanding Notes, that were validly tendered and not validly withdrawn prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on May 10, 2021 (such date and time, the "Early Tender and Consent Date"), and which settled on May 12, 2022 (the "Early Settlement Date").

Holders that validly tendered their Notes after the Early Tender and Consent Date but prior to the Expiration Date, and whose notes are accepted, will receive a total consideration of US$1,025.63 per US$1,000 principal amount of Tendered Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest up to, but excluding the final settlement date, which is expected to be on May 26, 2022 (the "Final Settlement Date"). The Company intends to purchase and pay for the Tendered Notes delivered (and not validly withdrawn) after the Early Tender and Consent Date and at or prior to the Expiration Date on the Final Settlement Date. In addition, the Company will pay accrued and unpaid interest on the principal amount of such Notes, from the most recent interest payment date on such Notes to, but not including, the Final Settlement Date. If the tender offer is not consummated, no such payments will be made.

All conditions described in the Offer to Purchase for the acceptance for purchase and payment for the Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) pursuant to the Tender Offer were satisfied or waived on or prior to the Expiration Date. On the Final Settlement Date, the Company intends, but is not obliged to, issue a notice of redemption with respect to any notes that remain outstanding following the Final Settlement Date, in accordance with the terms of the indenture governing the Notes (the "Indenture"). Such notes are scheduled to be redeemed on June 28, 2022, in accordance with the terms of the Indenture.

As previously announced, on the Early Settlement Date, holders of the Notes who validly tendered and did not validly withdraw their Notes at or prior to the Early Tender and Consent Date received for each US$1,000 principal amount of Notes tendered, an amount in cash equal to US$1,075.63, which included an early tender participation payment of US$50.00 per US$1,000 principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest up to, but excluding the Early Tender and Consent Date.

The Company retained Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC to serve as the dealer manager and solicitation agent for the tender offer and consent solicitation. Questions regarding the tender offer and consent solicitation may be directed to Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC at Attn: Liability Management Group, +1 (800) 820-1653 (toll-free), +1 (212) 538-2147 (phone).

D.F. King & Co., Inc. acted as the information agent (the "Information Agent") and depositary (the "Depositary") for the Offer.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements which may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, including, without limitation, changes in our business or acquisition strategy or planned capital expenditures, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

About Heritage

Heritage Petroleum Company Limited is a limited liability company organized under the laws of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Heritage was incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago on October 5, 2018 and is primarily engaged in exploration, development, production and marketing of crude oil. Heritage's sole shareholder is TPHL, a national oil and gas company established in Trinidad and Tobago and our ultimate parent is the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. TPHL is the result of a reorganization undergone by the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited on December 1, 2018, that resulted in a new corporate structure and a reconfigured business, to ensure financial viability. Heritage is the dominant oil producer in Trinidad and Tobago and its production amounted to 58% of Trinidad and Tobago's total crude oil production for 2021.

SOURCE Heritage Petroleum Company Limited
Two employee benefits industry experts bring key insights to further elevate Holmes Murphy's differentiated services.

MINNEAPOLIS, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Holmes Murphy is pleased to announce the additions of Nathan Cassin as Pharmacy Director and Nick Karls as Compliance Director to its ever-growing Employee Benefits team as they work to share their knowledge and expertise with Holmes Murphy clients across the nation.

In addition to his decade of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Cassin is well-respected as a financial thought leader and negotiator. His expertise in financial analysis, strategic consulting, and contract language will lead to financial savings and best-in-class pharmacy contracts for Holmes Murphy clients.

Prior to joining Holmes Murphy, Cassin served as the Vice President of Pharmacy at Aon. During his time there, he focused on industrywide trend analysis, served as the leading consultant for Aon's foremost clients, and managed the operations and delivery team. His consulting experience includes work on behalf of both public and corporate plan sponsors, as well as coalitions seeking to improve the quality of prescription drug benefits, while lowering consumer costs. Cassin also previously held additional leadership positions at Aon.

"We are thrilled to be able to bring Nathan's unique perspective to the Holmes Murphy team," said Charisse Vaughn, Senior Vice President, Employee Benefits at Holmes Murphy. "The combined depth and breadth of his financial expertise in the pharmaceutical industry are going to play a vital role in our constant efforts to create savings for our clients."

As Compliance Director, Karls will create tremendous value for Holmes Murphy clients by keeping them abreast of the ever-frequent changes within the employee benefits regulatory landscape. His experience in employee benefits compliance will allow Holmes Murphy to stay on the leading edge in the industry and demonstrate the company's commitment to exceeding client expectations.

Prior to joining Holmes Murphy, Karls led the Regulatory and Legislative Strategy Group at a national brokerage. In this position, Karls led a team of attorneys and compliance specialists, with the goal of using compliance services as a way to acquire and retain clients for the brokerage. He has also been nationally recognized for his expert understanding of compliance topics and has been a frequent speaker on subjects such as the Affordable Care Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and COBRA.

"Nick's deep understanding of regulatory compliance will prove invaluable to Holmes Murphy clients," said Vaughn. "I am confident that Nick will steer each and every one of our clients' employee benefits regulatory strategies with a steady hand. I'm excited to see how both Nick and Nathan build on the great work already being done within our employee benefits expertise team and the opportunities they can create for our clients."

About Holmes Murphy

"Caring for Your Unique Potential is Our Soul Purpose." That statement is the core of how we do business. We ask the tough questions, avoid the easy path, believe fully in caring for the unique challenges of our clients, impact the industry through innovation, and leverage our greatest assets  the hearts and minds of our people  to advocate on behalf of our clients. That's our approach to risk management and benefits consulting, and it's worked for us since our inception in 1932. As an independent brokerage, we serve clients in every industry and of almost every size, with the ultimate goal of providing exceptional service and caring for our clients' unique potential. We are also the co-founder and co-owner of BrokerTech Ventures, the industry's first broker-led convening platform and accelerator. For more information, visit www.holmesmurphy.com. You can also follow us on Twitter.com (@holmesmurphyins) or on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

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Adam Scheurenbrand

515.205.4080

[email protected]

SOURCE Holmes Murphy
With the aid of Open Kitchens, the meal delivery service which has helped DFSS provide 5 million meals for the Chicago seniors over the course of the last year, aging residents will enjoy a complete lunch featuring freshly-baked Home Run Inn pizza.

The joint effort will continue to feed Chicago seniors through a distribution of 2000 pizzas, allowing them to pick up and take and bake their own pizzas at home during the month of May.

"Our great-grandparents would be proud," says Gina (Perrino) Bolger, Senior Vice President and fourth-generation family member of Home Run Inn.

"They were visionaries and laid the groundwork for us to give back to the community over the past 75 years," says Dan Costello, CEO of Home Run Inn.

"We are grateful for Home Run Inn's ongoing support to those experiencing food insecurity in Chicago, which recently began with giving away pizzas to our many homeless shelters," says DFSS Commissioner Brandie Knazze. "During Older Americans Month we are proud to feed seniors as we honor their deep-seated contributions to the communities."

The 2022 partnership between Home Run Inn and City of Chicago Department of Family and Support Services is distributing 10,000 pizzas throughout the year to Chicagoans experiencing homelessness, Chicago Seniors and low-income families.

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https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yt4eb8wy666hcq7/AAAopCQI7lQpNR-bnt1KfLY5a?dl=0

ABOUT HOME RUN INN

Home Run Inn is considered Chicago's very own thin crust pizza known for its irresistible flavor, hand-pinched buttery crust, zesty sauce, plentiful cheese and homemade sausage. The small tavern of the 1920's was named Home Run Inn in 1947. Now, the company has 9 pizzerias throughout the Chicagoland area and frozen pizza sold in more than 40 states. Home Run Inn also is currently the official pizza of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field and sold at Chicago's Midway International Airport. Still family-owned and operated, Home Run Inn ranks among the top 10 in pizza brands sold nationally and number one in the Chicagoland area. For further information, visit www.homeruninnpizza.com.

ABOUT DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND SUPPORT SERVICES (DFSS)

DFSS works with community partners to connect Chicago residents and families to resources that build stability, support their well-being, and empower them to thrive. As the 5th largest City agency and one of the largest social service funders in Chicago, DFSS provides direct services at six Community Service Centers, six Regional Senior Centers, and through partnerships with 360 community-based organizations across the city. In total, DFSS services and funding supports over 400,000 vulnerable Chicagoans each year.

Connect with DFSS on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn

Learn more about DFSS at www.chicago.gov/fss

ABOUT OPEN KITCHENS

Open Kitchens is a a family-owned food service company serving Chicagoland since 1969. Offering a wide variety of food services for a wide range of companies who need assistance in operating their food service, Open Kitchens serves meals on wheels, daycare meals, onsite management, school meals and catering. They have partnered with Chicago institutions like Public Schools, the City of Chicago, and the Arch Diocese of Chicago to support city-wide food-access. For further information, visit https://www.openkitchens.com

Contact: Janie Goldberg-Dicks, President of Margie Korshak Inc.; [email protected]

SOURCE Home Run Inn Pizza
HGI is the third iteration in Hubert Humphrey's trilogy of building large and revolutionary companies. A transformational industry leader, Humphrey has been instrumental in influencing how agents sell insurance for more than 40 years. Humphrey began his career at A.L. Williams, where his drive and determination helped propel the company to become the nation's leading distributor of life insurance. Humphrey and his wife, Norma, next founded World Marketing Alliance, Inc., supporting a salesforce of more than 430,000 and becoming the top marketer of variable universal life and variable annuities. The couple then created World Leadership Group, Inc. (WLG), which became one of the nation's fastest-growing mortgage and real estate firms by utilizing Humphrey's proven motivational systems and training.

In 2014, Humphrey founded HGI, which recruits and trains advisors who serve the life insurance needs of thousands of families and continues to grow at a record-breaking pace. Their team has expanded to include nearly 10,000 licensed agents across the U.S. and Canada. With their impressive growth in 2022, HGI advisors will secure more than $100 million in annual life insurance premium and over $200 million in annual annuity premium. Over the last three years, these HGI advisors have secured more than $25 billion in face amount for the clients they serve.

"The name Hubert Humphrey is synonymous with success. He is a well-known pioneer and legend in our market, whose inspirational leadership and guiding influence has been felt across the industry for decades," said Bryan W. Adams, Co-Founder and CEO of Integrity. "That an icon of this caliber would choose to align the future of his company with Integrity further emphasizes the significance of our mission. Hubert understands how to build a business  but even more importantly, he shares Integrity's passion for transforming people into leaders, as evidenced by the strong team at HGI. Their unwavering enthusiasm and commitment to helping Americans from all walks of life secure financial freedom and peace of mind will be incredible assets to Integrity's partner network. The opportunity for the Integrity team to learn from a mentor like Hubert, who has helped shape the industry as we know it today, is unmatched. With Hubert and HGI at our side, Integrity will continue innovating the industry from top to bottom."

"The test of true leadership is if you are building something that truly lasts," shared Hubert Humphrey, Founder & CEO of HGI. "With Integrity's best-in-class resources and deep industry relationships, HGI will continue to grow and prosper for many years to come. As a leader in the inspirational marketing business, HGI strives to motivate entrepreneurs to take control of their future and help more Americans find the financial security they need. Though we have a proven track record of success several times over, I am always looking to the future and seeking ways to accelerate our progress. We still have much to accomplish, which can only be achieved by combining our capabilities and expertise with Integrity's world-class technology, systems and resources. I consider this partnership to be the capstone of my career and I'm grateful to share this achievement with Integrity."

HGI's proven systems and Humphrey's trailblazing perspective and motivational guidance will greatly benefit Integrity's network of partners. This rapidly expanding group of leaders and legends is working to innovate insurance by developing and optimizing processes that improve the insurance and financial services experiences  and better protect the life, health and wealth of Americans.

Through collaboration among visionaries across industries, Integrity has built a platform of holistic offerings that encompasses a breadth and depth of proprietary technology and resources previously unavailable to agents. Strategic partnerships include marketing and advertising through nationally-renowned ThomasARTS, comprehensive quoting and enrollment systems through CSG Actuarial, ongoing product development through AIMC, third-party administration services through IAS, data and analytics through DEFT Research and lead generation capabilities through Mail Pro Leads.

HGI will also propel its next stage of growth by leveraging Integrity's wide range of best-in-class administrative business functions. All Integrity partners receive access to these industry-leading platform of shared services, which encompass People & Culture, Technology & Innovation, finance, legal and compliance.

Additionally, HGI employees will receive meaningful company ownership through the Integrity Employee Ownership Plan.

"When we set out to transform the industry, we realized our goals would be best achieved by partnering with leaders whose far-reaching vision and relentless hard work have paved the way for our success," explained Steve Young, Chairman of Integrity's Board of Directors. "We are honored to welcome Hubert Humphrey, one of the true legends in our business, and the entire HGI team to the Integrity family. Through contributions to our mutual success, this partnership will benefit every stakeholder and strengthen our combined ability to help Americans prepare for the good days ahead. This is a historic day for both Integrity and HGI, and a milestone we'll remember together for years to come."

For more information about HGI's decision to join Integrity, view a video at www.integritymarketing.com/HGI.

About Integrity Marketing Group

Integrity, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a leading distributor of life and health insurance, and provider of innovative solutions for wealth management and retirement planning. Through its partner network, Integrity helps millions of Americans protect their life, health and wealth with a commitment to meet them wherever they are  in person, over the phone and online. Integrity's cutting-edge technology helps streamline the insurance and financial planning experience for all stakeholders. In addition, Integrity develops products with carrier partners and markets them through its distribution network of agencies, brokerages and RIAs throughout the nation. Integrity's nearly 6,000 employees work with more than 450,000 agents and advisors who serve over 10 million clients annually. In 2022, Integrity will help carriers place more than $12 billion in new sales and oversee more than $20 billion of assets under management and advisement through its RIA and broker-dealer platforms. For more information, visit www.integritymarketing.com .

About HGI

HGI is an independent marketing company that is bringing Wall Street to Main Street. No matter what financial challenges clients may face, HGI has the experience and resources to create a successful financial plan. Their experienced agents have taught clients about the "Circle of Safety." In these unprecedented financial times, it is important to help clients preserve their capital, while seeking long-term growth and appreciation. HGI's associates are among the most educated and well-trained in the industry. For more information, visit www.hgicrusade.com.

SOURCE Integrity Marketing Group, LLC
Company Focusing on Hiring Top Talent to Address Strategic Growth Initiatives

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hylant, a leading full-service insurance brokerage serving markets across the United States, announced today that Carman Baines has been hired as client executive.

Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baines will play a critical role in driving new business wins for the family-owned company and delivering outstanding service to existing client partners. With more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, she will serve within the sales arm of the brokerage  a key area accelerating new and organic growth for Hylant's services.

"We are incredibly excited for Carman to join the growing Hylant team," Jeff Lumpp, Hylant president, said. "I know that her industry expertise will contribute to the unique collaboration among our colleagues, members, client partners and vendor partners to create strategies that set the bar in developing and managing all facets of our benefit programs. Carman's diligent and positive attitude will help us further our mission to strengthen and protect the businesses, employees and communities we are privileged to serve."

"When the opportunity to become part of Hylant came about, the move was a no-brainer for me," Baines said. "The idea of working with an amazing service team that is tenured and has had virtually no turnover over the past several years speaks to the company's unique dynamic that always puts employees and clients first."

The addition of Baines as a client executive happens alongside recent appointments in executive, transactional and cyber risk-related areas of the business as the company continues to expand its service offerings and expertise to better serve the growing needs of Hylant clients.

"I am thrilled to be joining Hylant during this meaningful period of growth and innovation for the company," Baines said. "The family-like culture will allow me to jump in, roll up my sleeves and get to work on making a difference for the team and our clients in creative, solution-based ways."

Baines previously served as Vice President, Employee Benefits at USI Insurance Services. She studied Business Administration and Management at Davenport University and Grand Rapids Community College.

For more information about Hylant and its expansive team of subject matter experts, visit https://www.hylant.com/about/.

About Hylant

Founded in 1935, Hylant is one of the largest privately held insurance brokerages in the United States, renowned for serving clients as business partners and trusted advisors. We offer complete risk management services; captive consulting and management services; employee benefits brokerage and consultation; merger, acquisition and complex business transaction consultation services; loss control; healthcare management; and insurance solutions for businesses and individuals nationally and internationally.

Hylant is a founding member of BrokerTech Ventures, the first accelerator program and investor group designed specifically to incubate technologies and drive innovations that benefit insurance brokers and clients. Named 13 consecutive years to the "Best Places to Work in Insurance" list, we have aggressive growth plans and are actively seeking caring people to help us make the world a better place for the clients and communities we serve.

Media Contact:

Darby Dame

[email protected]

269-870-5956

SOURCE Hylant
Collaboration will focus on three key pillars: Natural Language Processing (NLP) including Arabic, AI applications in the healthcare industry, and sustainability

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI)the world's first graduate, research university dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI)has announced plans for a strategic collaboration with IBM (NYSE: IBM ). Senior leaders from both organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at advancing fundamental AI research, as well as accelerating the types of scientific breakthroughs that could unlock the potential of AI to help solve some of humanity's greatest challenges.

Professor Eric Xing, President of MBZUAI, delivered short remarks, as did Jonathan Adashek, IBM's Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, and Saad Toma, General Manager, IBM Middle East, and Africa. The agreement was then signed by Sultan Al Hajji, Vice President for Public Affairs and Alumni Relations at MBZUAI and Wael Abdoush, General Manager IBM Gulf and Levant.

"We're excited to to be among the first research universities in the MENA region to host a Center of Excellence for AI research and development with technology and expertise from a world-leading technological giant like IBM. This center will provide highly valuable resource and collaborative environment to our faculty and students to broaden their work in AI. IBM has a long history of technological innovation, and we look forward to joining their latest efforts in our region and together advance AI technology and commercialization for mutual good," MBZUAI President, Professor Eric Xing said.

Saad Toma, General Manager, IBM Middle East and Africa, said: "This collaboration will help drive innovations in AI which is critical for the future of business and society. We're bringing together some of the brightest minds across both the industry and academia, while reinforcing IBM's commitment to promoting knowledge and skills in critical areas for the UAE's development, where the use of technologies like AI is fundamental."

Central to the collaboration is the establishment of a new AI Center of Excellence to be based at the university's Masdar City campus. The Center will leverage the talents of IBM researchers, in collaboration with MBZUAI faculty and students, and will focus on the advancement of both fundamental and applied research objectives.

The initiative seeks to develop, validate, and incubate technologies that harness the capabilities of AI to address civic, social, and business challenges. Further, the collaboration aims to provide real-life applications, particularly in the fields of natural language processing, as well as AI applications that seek to further climate and sustainability goals, and accelerate discoveries in healthcare.

IBM will provide targeted training and technologies as part of the initiative, which supports the university's vision to be a global leader for advancing AI and its application for the good of society and business. For example, through the IBM Academic Initiative , IBM will provide MBZUAI students and faculty with access to IBM tools, software, courseware and cloud accounts for teaching, learning, and non-commercial research. In addition, through the IBM Skills Academy program, MBZUAI will have access to curated AI curricula, lectures, labs, industry use cases, design-thinking sessions, and an AI Practitioner certification.

The planned relationship is subject to the parties reaching definitive agreements.

About IBM

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs, and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity, and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

About Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI)

MBZUAI is a graduate, research university focused on artificial intelligence, computer science, and digital technologies across industrial sectors. The university aims to empower students, businesses, and governments to advance artificial intelligence as a global force for positive progress. MBZUAI offers various graduate programs designed to pursue advanced, specialized knowledge and skills in artificial intelligence, including computer vision, machine learning, and natural language processing. For more information, please visit www.mbzuai.ac.ae

For press inquiries, please contact:





Nicholas Demille Jumana Akkawi Associate Director of Communications at Communications Director, IBM Middle East MBZUAI and Africa and Central Eastern Europe [email protected] [email protected]



Aya Sakoury

Head of Communications at MBZUAI

[email protected]







SOURCE IBM
CHANHASSEN, Minn. , May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Analytics, the notice administrator for the Wells Fargo & Company 401(k) Plan Class Action, announces the following:

LEGAL NOTICE

If you participated in the Wells Fargo & Company 401(k) Plan since March 13, 2014, you could get a payment from a class action Settlement.

A federal court authorized this notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.

Read this notice carefully. Additional information is available at www.wellsfargoerisasettlement.com or call toll free at 844-485-2675 or email [email protected].

A settlement of $32,500,000.00 has been proposed to resolve claims by Former and Current Participants in the Wells Fargo & Company 401(k) Plan (the "Plan"), and who invested in certain Plan investments ("Challenged Funds") since March 13, 2014 through the date on which the Settlement may become final. The Challenged Funds are: WF State Street Target CITs; WF Causeway CIT; WF Federated CIT; WF Stable Value Fund; WF Emerging Growth MF; and WF 100% Treasury Money Market Fund.

The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota has authorized this notice. Before any Settlement recovery is made, the Court will have a hearing to decide whether to approve the Settlement.

Capitalized terms not defined in this notice are defined in the Settlement Agreement available at www.wellsfargoerisasettlement.com.

Who Is Included?

Current and Former Participants in the Plan who invested in the Challenged Funds since March 13, 2014 may be eligible to receive a share of the Qualified Settlement Fund based on a Plan of Allocation, which is available at www.wellsfargoerisasettlement.com.

What Is This Case About?

The lawsuit, Becker v. Wells Fargo, No. 20-cv-02016 (KMM/BRT), a proposed class action, alleged that the Defendants breached their fiduciary duties and committed prohibited transactions under ERISA in connection with the selection and retention of the Challenged Funds as investment options in the Plan. A more complete description of what Plaintiffs claimed is in the Complaint, which is available at www.wellsfargoerisasettlement.com. Defendants deny they did anything wrong.

What Does the Settlement Provide?

Under the Settlement, Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $32.5 million dollars into a Qualified Settlement Fund. Once amounts for expenses associated with administering the Settlement, taxes, tax expenses, as well as any Court-approved attorneys' fees, litigation expenses, and Case Contribution Awards to the Named Plaintiffs are subtracted, Settlement Class members will receive payments from the remaining "Net Settlement Fund." The Net Settlement Fund will be allocated to Settlement Class members who invested in at least one of the Challenged Funds ("Affected Settlement Class members"). Former Participants must have a recovery that is $5.00 or more to receive payments, in accordance with the Plan of Allocation, given the expense associated with paper check distribution and tax form distribution or effectuating a rollover. The Plan of Allocation is available at www.wellsfargoerisasettlement.com.

How Much Will My Payment Be?

Payments to Affected Settlement Class members will be calculated by the Settlement Administrator as follows: For each Affected Settlement Class member, the Settlement Administrator shall determine a "Final Individual Dollar Recovery," which is the aggregate recovery for all Challenged Funds in which they invested, which is based on (i) each Challenged Fund's percentage of alleged Total Losses during the Class Period and (ii) each Affected Settlement Class member's pro rata share of Net Settlement Fund amount allocated to each of the Challenged Funds. A complete description of how payments will be made is available on the settlement website, www.wellsfargoerisasettlement.com.

How Do You Ask for a Payment?

Affected Settlement Class members do not have to submit claim forms to receive Settlement recovery. Settlement recoveries will be automatically distributed to Affected Settlement Class members in the following manner if the Court approves the Settlement.

"Current Participants" are Plan participants who have a positive balance in their Plan account. The Settlement recovery for Affected Current Participants will be deposited directly into their Plan accounts in accordance with their investment elections for future contributions. If no investment elections for future contributions are on file, the payment will be invested in the Plan's qualified default investment alternative, State Street Conservative Target Retirement Non-Lending Series Funds. For payments into Current Participants' Plan accounts, taxes will not be withheld.

"Former Participants" are individuals who had an active Plan account since March 13, 2014, but currently do not have an account with a positive balance. Former Participants do not have to submit a claim to receive a payment under the Settlement; rather they will receive payments under the Settlement directly in the form of a check with applicable 1099 taxes withheld. However, any Former Participant who would prefer to have their Settlement recovery rolled over into a qualified retirement plan account or individual retirement account may elect that rollover option by filling out an electronic form available at www.wellsfargoerisasettlement.com by July 21, 2022. For payments effectuated as a rollover, taxes will not be withheld. Because the form of payment that you elect may have certain tax consequences, you should consult with a tax advisor. The Settlement Administrator will provide information about the Settlement and will not provide financial, tax or other advice concerning the tax consequences of the payment of a Settlement recovery. You therefore may want to consult with your financial or tax advisor.

What Are My Other Options?

If the Court approves the Settlement, you will be bound by it and will receive whatever Settlement recovery you are entitled to under its terms. You cannot exclude yourself from the Settlement, but you may notify the Court of your objection to the Settlement for any requested attorneys' fees, expense reimbursement or Case Contribution Awards. If the Court approves the Settlement, it will do so under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(1) and/or 23(b)(2), which do not permit opt outs from the Class.

The Court will hold a hearing in this case on August 10, 2022, to consider whether to approve the Settlement. At the hearing, the Court will also consider the request by the lawyers representing all Settlement Class members for attorneys' fees, and expenses spent litigating the case and negotiating the Settlement, as well as the Case Contribution Awards to the Settlement Class Representatives for their time participating in the case. You may ask to appear at the hearing, but you do not have to. Objections are due by July 21, 2022. Information about how to object may be found in Q&A Nos. 19-21 of the Class Notice (long-form version) available at www.wellsfargoerisasettlement.com.

For information, please visit www.wellsfargoerisasettlement.com , call at 844-485-2675 or email [email protected].

SOURCE Analytics
PITTSBURGH, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I wanted to create a simple accessory to assist you when removing a credit card or ID card from your wallet," said an inventor, from Newark, N.J., "so I invented the CARD TAB. My design ensures that your cards can be easily accessed when needed."

The invention provides an easier way to retrieve a credit/debit card from a wallet. In doing so, it eliminates the need to struggle. As a result, it saves time and effort. It also can be used with a driver's license, medical insurance card, etc. The invention features a novel design that is easy to apply and use so it is ideal for the general population. Additionally, it is producible in design variations.

The original design was submitted to the New Jersey sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 20-NEJ-115, 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
LUXEMBOURG, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ardagh Group ("Ardagh") has today announced that the location of its previously-announced first glass production facility in Brazil will be at Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. The state-of-the-art facility will supply sustainable glass packaging to leading customers in the growing Brazilian market. Production is expected to commence in the first half of 2024 and, when operational, the facility will provide approximately 300 high quality jobs.

The new glass production facility will be co-located in Juiz de Fora with a new multi-line beverage can manufacturing facility being built by Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. ("AMP"), Ardagh's 75%-owned subsidiary. This facility will supply sustainable aluminum beverage cans to leading customers in Brazil, complementing AMP's existing three plants in Jacarei (SP), Alagoinhas (BA) and Manaus (AM).

Ardagh's strong focus on sustainability and the advancement of its ambitious ESG goals will underpin both new investments, which will be among the Group's most environmentally efficient facilities. Following the completion of both investments, Ardagh's presence in Brazil will consist of five production facilities employing more than 1,650 people.

Paul Coulson, Chairman and CEO of Ardagh, said, "These important investments form part of Ardagh's multi-year business growth investment program and support the growth plans of leading brand-owners. Since the Group's entry into the Brazilian beverage can market in 2016, we have consistently invested to grow our business. Following completion of these two investments in Minas Gerais, Ardagh will provide sustainable metal and glass packaging under long-term contracts to our customers in each of Europe, North America and Brazil, as well as sustainable glass packaging in Africa".

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 annualised sales of approximately $10 billion.

SOURCE Ardagh Group S.A.
Amy Coleman of Microsoft and Donna Morris from Walmart  and their teams  are HR Heroes in every sense Tweet this

Early in the pandemic, Microsoft built an Emergency Remote Operations Model , where more than 80% of retail store employees who were now working from home signed up to provide virtual training for customers.

, where more than 80% of retail store employees who were now working from home signed up to provide virtual training for customers. To boost employee wellbeing  emotional, financial, physical, and psychological  Microsoft raised the profile of and added to associated support resources. It:

Modified sick days to include "Sick and Mental Health Time";



Added leave for parents struggling with kids out of school; and



Offered all employees five "wellbeing days".

A new hybrid workplace flexibility model provides employees with flexibility to support individual work styles, and balance business needs.

provides employees with flexibility to support individual work styles, and balance business needs. Microsoft's HR team also took a leadership role in working with engineering and product design to develop Microsoft Viva, an employee experience platform that helps reimagine company culture, employee wellbeing, knowledge sharing, and learning for the hybrid work world.

that helps reimagine company culture, employee wellbeing, knowledge sharing, and learning for the hybrid work world. In just one year, Viva has reached more than 10 million monthly active users and is used by more than 1,000 paid customers to help address challenges like employee burnout and retention.

Also taking away a well-deserved HR Hero award, was Walmart. Donna Morris, Chief People Officer at Walmart, accepted the accolade for her team's unwavering focus on its associates:





To support their ongoing career growth , Walmart is covering 100% of college tuition for U.S. associates to ensure access to debt-free education.

, Walmart is covering 100% of college tuition for U.S. associates to ensure access to debt-free education. Additionally, the retailer provides on-the-job retail skills training through Academies, and continued, and even accelerated, this focus throughout the pandemic.

Wage investments for its front-line associates continues, most recently with its truck drivers, who can now earn $110,000 in their first year. Walmart store managers earn an average salary of $210,000 .

in their first year. Walmart store managers earn an average salary of . To support emotional well-being , the team provides access to no-cost counseling sessions and additional mental health services to all associates. And during the early part of the pandemic, Walmart established a first-of-its-kind COVID leave policy.

, the team provides access to no-cost counseling sessions and additional mental health services to all associates. And during the early part of the pandemic, Walmart established a first-of-its-kind COVID leave policy. Inclusion is a fundamental part of Walmart's strategy as well, and the company is committed to making Walmart a place where everyone feels they belong.

is a fundamental part of Walmart's strategy as well, and the company is committed to making Walmart a place where everyone feels they belong. As part of its broader efforts to address and accelerate change relating to systemic racism in society, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation committed $100 million over five years through Walmart.org's Center for Racial Equity.

over five years through Walmart.org's Center for Racial Equity. To ensure associates have the best experience and digital tools to do their job, the company also provided 750,000 Samsung smartphones at no cost to its front-line staff.

Josh Bersin, global HR research analyst and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company, said:



"I am delighted to have been able to present the very first HR Hero awards to Amy and Donna  two trailblazers in their field  at this ground-breaking event. Irresistible 2022 is the first in a series of new forums at which HR professionals from around the world can share experiences about how they can and must adapt  now that employees' expectations and needs are both acute and complex, centering around a genuinely differentiated work experience. Our HR Heroes have clearly demonstrated their commitment to and success in delivering that.

"Amy Coleman of Microsoft and Donna Morris from Walmart  and their teams  are HR Heroes in every sense, and I am sure we will all join in celebrating their very tangible achievements in transforming organizational culture, in their thoughtful reinvention of the employee experience, and in a sensitive reframing of wellbeing and inclusion that is truly fit for purpose at the current time."

Irresistible 2022, running May 23-25, is the first event of its kind. Hosted at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, the employee-centric global HR event has brought together HR leaders from the world's top brands to candidly discuss their experiences of how they adapted and reinvented the employee experience, and to share pioneering best practice, as workplaces around the world continue to reinvent themselves in the face of lasting disruption triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

About The Josh Bersin Company

The Josh Bersin Company provides a wide range of research and advisory services, including a corporate membership program, to help HR leaders and professionals tackle the ever-evolving challenges and needs of today's workforce. The firm's research team covers all topics in HR, talent, and L&D, including diversity, equity, and inclusion; employee experience; remote and hybrid work; wellbeing; HR strategy and capabilities; learning and career mobility; HR technology; organization design and development; and talent acquisition and mobility. With the Global Workforce Intelligence (GWI) Project, The Josh Bersin Company also serves to expand its support of market-leading businesses by helping them navigate the challenges of industry convergence while remaining future-focused.

Under the company's umbrella is the Josh Bersin Academy, the world's first global development academy for HR and talent professionals and a transformation agent for HR organizations. The Academy, which has seen more than 50,000 program enrollments since its 2019 launch, offers content-rich online courses, a carefully curated library of tools and resources, and a global community that helps HR and talent professionals stay current on the trends and practices needed to drive organizational success in the modern world of work. Visit www.joshbersin.com or email [email protected].

SOURCE The Josh Bersin Company
"I want to give thanks to Attorney Owens. Twenty-four years ago in the Fall of 1998 you came and spoke to our class," said President Thomas K. Hudson, J.D. "I was a student here at Jackson State University and just during that short time you poured something into us and into me that I feel sparked everything that you're seeing here today. It's that life of service, that legacy of excellence. We're just so thankful it culminated in this moment where we can have the Bob Owens Pre-Law Center that we needed when we were students here."

In keeping with the university's strategic plan to foster student success through student-centered programs, the Bob Owens Pre-Law Center's premiere program will be the Bob Owens Pre-Law Academy. The academy will serve as an accelerated and interdisciplinary boost to prepare students for the LSAT exam and the difficulties of Law School. The center will bring together new program delivery models and challenging initiatives that will aid JSU students interested in attending top-tier law schools.

"We envision Jackson State as a major pipeline for law schools around the country, for this to be accomplished we'll need each of you to be ambassadors for JSU and the Bob Owens Center," expressed Owens.

The Bob Owens Academy will focus on implementing preparatory programs, special projects, events and co-curricular activities. The undergraduate academy welcomes students from various studies to apply if they possess a serious desire to work in the field of law.

"The center does not promote any particular major. A student with a strong academic record and a strong interest in pursuing law will be considered," said KB Turner, Ph.D., dean of the College of Liberal Arts. "Research shows that students with a background in biology, physics, history, and English tend to also be accepted at compatible rates as those students with degrees in social sciences, like political science or criminal justice."

JSU alumnus Charles Irvin, Ph.D., will serve as the advisor for the Bob Owens Pre-Law Center. During the ceremony Irvin praised Owens and his family for investing in the future generations of lawyers who will graduate from Jackson State and pursue law degrees. Irvin also spoke about his plans to lead students of the Bob Owens Academy to success.

"Establishing a successful pipeline means those students need to be ready and what does it mean to be ready? It's rigor, it's exploration, exposure, advantage detail and yield. You're going to need a certain GPA and you're going to need a certain LSAT score those are practical implications that we'll deal with," stated Irvin.

Attorney Owens stands as one of the nation's legal luminaries. He is the founding partner of Owens Moss law firm, a fixture on West Street in Jackson, Miss. Owens' firm has been listed in the Martindale-Hubbell's Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, which includes only the most distinguished law practices. For almost five decades, Owens has quietly garnered countless million and multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements on behalf of egregiously wronged clients. However, he cites his greatest professional satisfaction as working at Central Mississippi Legal Services where he was the managing attorney handling consumer and civil rights cases. Owens was successful in litigating cases involving constitutional rights of pretrial detainees, ensuring their civil and humane treatment.

Owens has been recognized with some of the highest awards in the legal profession, including the Jack H. Young Sr. Award for the lawyer contributing the most to the profession; the R. Jess Brown Award; and the NAACP of Mississippi Lawyer of the Year Award.

After graduating from Jackson State University, Owens earned his juris doctor degree from Florida State University College of Law. He is married to the esteemed Chancery Court Judge, Denise Sweet Owens, who attended George Washington University School of Law. They have four children  Selika is a pediatrician and the other three are lawyers: Bobby (Northwestern School of Law), Brittany (Harvard School of Law), and Jason (University of Chicago Law School).

The Owens endowed gift represents a synthesis of his love for Jackson State University, his respect for the legal profession, and his hope that the highest aspirations of lawyers yet to come will be realized. The first class of the Bob Owens Academy will enroll in Fall 2022.

SOURCE Jackson State University
ST. PAUL, Minn., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson // Becker, PLLC is a nationwide products liability law firm with experience representing victims of pressure cooker explosions. The firm has represented over 500 clients who have been severely burned by exploding pressure cookers designed and sold by numerous manufacturers.

Johnson//Becker filed this Complaint on behalf of Richard Riggs, a resident of Alabama, alleging that Instant Brands, Inc., the manufacturer of the Instant Pot pressure cooker, misrepresented the safety of their pressure cookers.

Mr. Riggs's Instant Pot pressure cooker exploded while under pressure. As a result of the explosion, Mr. Riggs sustained severe thermal burns. According to the Complaint, the Instant Pot is marketed as having "safety mechanisms" which are supposed to prevent the unit from both building pressure if the lid is not closed properly, as well as the lid from being removed until all the pressure is released. However, Mr. Riggs alleges that the Instant Pot pressure cookers contain defects which allow unsuspecting consumers to remove the lid while the cooker is still under pressure causing the scalding hot contents to be projected from the unit.

This suit is filed by Michael K. Johnson, Kenneth W. Pearson and Adam J. Kress of Johnson // Becker, PLLC. Michael K. Johnson is a founding partner of Johnson // Becker, PLLC. Michael, Ken and Adam exclusively handle injury cases, with an emphasis on national products liability litigation, including cases involving burn injuries from defective products.

Questions about an Instant Pot Lawsuit? Contact a Johnson//Becker lawyer today for a free case review.

If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective Instant Pot pressure cooker, you may want to speak with the lawyers at Johnson//Becker. We are actively filing new Instant Pot pressure cooker lawsuits across the country, and you may be entitled to financial compensation for your defective pressure cooker injuries.

We offer a free case evaluation. To learn more about Johnson // Becker's product liability cases, or to arrange a free, no obligation case review, please visit Johnson // Becker at https://www.johnsonbecker.com/product-liability/pressure-cooker-lawsuit/, https://www.johnsonbecker.com/product-liability/instant-pot-pressure-cooker-lawsuit/ or contact Johnson // Becker directly at (800) 279-6386.

SOURCE Johnson // Becker, PLLC
In this new role, Ms. Biggie will develop and strengthen relationships and optimize partnerships with external counterparties, helping leverage the firm's strengths across its various asset classes, including equities, fixed income, liquidity, alternatives and solutions, taking a holistic view of how broker relationships are managed.

"Carissa's deep experience in this field means that she brings an expert eye for managing the complexities and synergies that are involved with broker relationships," said Kristian West, Head of Investment Platform for J.P. Morgan Asset Management. "Optimizing these relationships delivers benefits for the firm as well as our clients, and we look forward to the value Carissa will add to our management team."

Ms. Biggie joins J.P. Morgan from Prudential Financial, where she covered top global financial institutions for the Enterprise Strategic Relationship Management team. Previously, she spent 16 years with Goldman Sachs Asset Management in a variety of roles, including as a global relationship manager overseeing all broker relationships in trading, financing and prime brokerage, and COO of Global Risk Management and Central Trading. Prior to that, she was a project manager for J.P. Morgan Asset Management's Alternatives business.

About J.P. Morgan Asset Management

J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with assets under management of $2.6 trillion (as of 3/31/2022), is a global leader in investment management. J.P. Morgan Asset Management's clients include institutions, retail investors and high net worth individuals in every major market throughout the world. J.P. Morgan Asset Management offers global investment management in equities, fixed income, real estate, hedge funds, private equity and liquidity.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management is the marketing name for the asset management business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its affiliates worldwide.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading financial services firm based in the United States of America ("U.S."), with operations worldwide. JPMorgan Chase had $4.0 trillion in assets and $285.9 billion in stockholders' equity as of March 31, 2022. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management. Under the J.P. Morgan and Chase brands, the Firm serves millions of customers in the U.S. and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients globally. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com

SOURCE J.P. Morgan Asset Management
TORONTO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Khiron Life Sciences Corp. ("Khiron" or the "Company") (TSXV: KHRN) (OTCQX: KHRNF) (Frankfurt: A2JMXC), the global medical cannabis leader expanding throughout Latin America and Europe, today announces that it will host a Conference Call on Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time to discuss its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022. The Company will press release its financial results prior to the Conference Call. These filings will be available for review on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com

Khiron invites individual and institutional investors, as well as advisors and analysts, to attend the Company's First Quarter 2022 Conference Call, followed by a Q&A session.

Webcast Details:

DATE: Tuesday, May 31th, 2022

TIME: 10:00am ET

PRESENTERS: Alvaro Torres, Khiron Chief Executive Officer and Director, Swapan Kakumanu, Khiron Chief Financial Officer, and Franziska Katterbach, President of Khiron Europe.

FORMAT: Live 45 minute presentation & Q&A session

REGISTER LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VVgAryILSl-W9at7iftkCQ

About Khiron Life Sciences Corp.

Khiron is a leading global medical cannabis company with core operations in Latin America and Europe. Leveraging wholly-owned medical health clinics and proprietary telemedicine platforms, Khiron combines a patient-oriented approach, physician education programs, scientific expertise, product innovation, and focus on creating access to drive prescriptions and brand loyalty with patients worldwide. The Company has a sales presence in Colombia, Germany, UK, Peru, and Brazil and is positioned to commence sales in Mexico. The Company is led by Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alvaro Torres, together with an experienced and diverse executive team and Board of Directors.

Visit Khiron online at investors.khiron.ca

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/khiron-life-sciences-corp/

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Khiron undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of Khiron, its securities, or financial or operating results (as applicable). Although Khiron believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, such forward-looking statement has been based on expectations, factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Khiron's control, including the risk factors discussed in Khiron's Annual Information Form which is available on Khiron's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and is made as of the date hereof. Khiron disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

SOURCE Khiron Life Sciences Corp.
"Consumers around the world are not only becoming more comfortable with online and mobile purchases, they're becoming more demanding of retailers and coming to each transaction with higher expectations," said Brad Wiskirchen, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Kount. "Businesses understand that these consumers want a frictionless, personalized, and satisfying omnichannel experience at every touchpoint. But, with the rapid growth of e-commerce, criminal activity is also growing and businesses need the tools, data, and know-how to detect and prevent fraud."

Data from the United Nations Conference on Trade Development indicates that the percentage of internet users who made purchases online increased from 53% in 2019 to 60% following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. These numbers are expected to grow, with research firms predicting that global e-commerce sales will exceed $5 trillion USD in 2022, and surpass $7 trillion USD by 2025. At the same time, worldwide e-commerce payment fraud is expected to exceed $200 billion by 2025. Kount's expanded global footprint has been designed in direct response to this growing need.

"Equifax has a unique understanding of the identity verification requirements of each of the 24 countries we serve worldwide," said Lisa Nelson, President of International at Equifax. "Expanding availability of solutions based on the Kount Identity Trust Global Network to additional markets will arm more businesses around the world with the advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning-driven capabilities needed to fight digital fraud and enhance customer experience."

The result of a strong patent portfolio, the Kount Identity Trust Global Network uses AI and both supervised and unsupervised machine learning to link trust and fraud data signals from 32 billion digital interactions, 17 billion devices, and five billion annual transactions across 200 countries and territories. As more signals are collected and combined with Kount's AI-driven analytic insights, they become more predictive, helping to prevent digital fraud and protect against account takeovers in real time while enabling personalized customer experiences.

Since its founding 16 years ago, the Kount vision has evolved to meet market needs by not only delivering best-in-breed digital trust and fraud prevention solutions but to deliver unmatched digital enablement capabilities that help businesses innovate, grow, and thrive.

Kount was acquired by Equifax in 2021 and is part of the company's U.S. Information Solutions business unit. Kount solutions are available now in Australia, Argentina, Chile, Peru and the U.K. To learn more about Kount, visit www.kount.com .

ABOUT EQUIFAX INC.

At Equifax (NYSE: EFX), we believe knowledge drives progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial institutions, companies, employers, and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by more than 13,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit Equifax.com .

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Kate Walker, for Equifax

[email protected]

Erik Warila for Kount, an Equifax company

[email protected]

SOURCE Equifax Inc.
CHICAGO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Leap Partners Holdings LLC ("Leap Partners"), a Nashville-based HVAC and plumbing consolidation platform and a portfolio company of Concentric Equity Partners ("CEP"), announced the acquisition of George Plumbing, LLC ("George Plumbing"), a residential and commercial plumbing business located in Hartselle, Alabama. Leap Partners has acquired George Plumbing from and is partnering directly with the owner and industry veteran Greg George, who will remain with the company in his current leadership role for the long-term future. George Plumbing represents Leap Partners' third acquisition in the last 60 days after the acquisitions of Conditioned Air Solutions in northern Alabama and Scenic City Heating & AC in eastern Tennessee.

Led by two home-service veterans, John Cerasuolo (CEO) and Patrick Ritter (CFO), Leap Partners is a Nashville-based home services company seeking to find, acquire, and combine many of the best businesses in residential and small-commercial HVAC, plumbing, and electrical services across the Southeast.

When asked why he chose to partner with Leap Partners, Greg of George Plumbing said, "What really sold me was when John explained I could continue to lead my team while Leap Partners would take over things like payroll, accounting, and marketing. Finding partners like John and Patrick who have experience with these areas of the business that eat up all my time has been a relief."

Jonathan of Scenic City Heating & AC also said, "I chose Leap Partners because I wanted to be part of the team. Owning and running a small business can be lonely. Now, whenever I need help or have a question, I have a list of people I can call for help or advice. I reached a point with my company where I felt I was being pulled in a lot of different directions. I felt like a jack of all trades but a master of none. Now I can focus on the few parts of the business I really enjoy and feel will make the biggest impact on my employees and customers."

"Our team is inspired by all of the devoted, talented, and inspirational business owners like Jonathan and Greg we have been fortunate to meet and work with," said John Cerasuolo. "We are excited to keep up our fast pace of growth so we can continue to help owners like Jonathan and Greg spend more time doing what they love."

CEP and Leap Partners are actively seeking to partner with additional HVAC, plumbing, and electrical service businesses primarily in the Southeast. If you're aware of HVAC and plumbing businesses that are looking for a financial / strategic partner to enable future growth, please contact us.

About Concentric Equity Partners:

Concentric Equity Partners is a private investment firm that partners with leading middle market companies by providing capital and strategic advisory services to accelerate long term value creation. Concentric's approach is simple: support entrepreneurs and operators by providing the resources required to achieve extraordinary results. The firm's investment team is made up of individuals with distinguished track records as operators and professional investors across a variety of growth oriented middle market companies.

Concentric Equity Partners is the direct investing arm of Financial Investments Corporation, a private asset management firm and family office with over $2 billion in investment commitments under management. Financial Investments Corporation was founded in 1994 by father and daughter Harrison and Jennifer Steans and has been partnering with private companies for more than 25 years.

For more information on Concentric Equity Partners, visit https://www.ficcep.com/.

About Leap Partners:

Leap Partners is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The company is working to connect the best small and medium-sized HVAC, plumbing, and electrical service businesses in the Southeast to build a world-class employer and service-provider of choice with industry-leading customer satisfaction and employee engagement.

For more information on Leap Partners, visit https://www.theleappartners.com/.

SOURCE Concentric Equity Partners
Live Audio Webcast Available on June 1, 2022, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:20 p.m. ET

RESTON, Va., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, will participate in the Bernstein 38th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference being held in New York, NY

Roger Krone, Chief Executive Officer, will engage in a question and answer "fireside chat" on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, at 2:30 p.m. ET.

A live audio webcast of the event will be available on the Leidos Investor Relations website at http://ir.leidos.com. A replay of the webcast will be available following the presentation at the same link listed above for one year afterward.

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.

CONTACTS:





Media contact: Investor Relations: Melissa Lee Duenas Stuart Davis 571.526.6850 571.526.6124 [email protected] [email protected]





SOURCE Leidos
Ms. Buckingham is recognized for her leadership including instituting a first-in-the-nation security initiative that became the model for current TSA programs following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

WILMINGTON, Mass., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Liberty Defense Holdings Ltd. ("Liberty" or the "Company") ( TSXV: SCAN ) ( OTCQB: LDDFF ) (FRANKFURT: LD2), leading technology provider of detection solutions for concealed weapons and threats, is pleased to announce that it has added Virginia Buckingham to its board of advisors.

"Ms. Buckingham has an impressive track record of driving the successful deployment and adoption of new technologies focused on improving public safety, health, and peace of mind," said Bill Frain, CEO of Liberty Defense. "Her expertise spans multiple key areas that are essential for the widespread deployment of Liberty's portfolio of technologies."

Ms. Buckingham previously served as vice president of corporate affairs for Pfizer, CEO of the Massachusetts Port Authority, held several prominent roles for two Massachusetts governors, and has also held other key executive positions.

The Massachusetts Port Authority operates three airports, the shipping and cruise terminals in the Port of Boston, and the Commonwealth Flats anchor development sites in Boston's Seaport District. During her time as CEO there, she successfully led the expansion of Logan Airport's capacity, reduced airport congestion, and opened direct shipping between China and Boston.

She also led the recovery efforts for Logan Airport following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was the first airport executive to call for federalization of airport security, and instituted a first-in-the-nation security initiative that became the model for current TSA programs.

"Liberty Defense has a portfolio of technologies that are in the advanced stages of development, and have the potential to significantly improve the effectiveness, experience, and operations of security for a range of public spaces," said Virginia Buckingham. "I am pleased to be joining the team as an advisor to assist the company as it moves toward commercialization and the potential widespread adoption of its technologies in airports, government buildings, ports of entry, places of worship, event venues, and beyond."

Liberty's security detection technologies include:

The HEXWAVE walkthrough portal, which uses millimeter wave, 3D imaging, and artificial intelligence to detect all types of concealed metallic and non-metallic weapons. This system is planned to begin beta-testing in the field beginning Q3 this year





The next generation of High-Definition Advanced Imaging Technology (HD-AIT) millimeter-wave body scanning technology that is planned for deployment as an upgrade for current TSA checkpoint screening technologies in airports





An award-winning shoe screening technology that makes it possible to eliminate the need to remove shoes when moving through airport security or other secure areas

For updates and news, please visit the Company website to subscribe to email alerts or follow Liberty Defense on social channels.

On Behalf of Liberty Defense

Bill Frain

CEO & Director

About Liberty Defense

Liberty Defense ( TSXV: SCAN , OTCQB: LDDFF , FRANKFURT: LD2) provides multi-technology security solutions for concealed weapons detection in high volume foot traffic areas and locations requiring enhanced security such as airports, stadiums, schools, and more. Liberty's HEXWAVE product, for which the company has secured an exclusive license from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as a technology transfer agreement for patents related to active 3D radar imaging technology, provides discrete, modular, and scalable protection to provide layered, stand-off detection capability of metallic and non-metallic weapons. Liberty has also recently licensed the millimeter wave-based, High-Definition Advanced Imaging Technology (HD-AIT) body scanner and shoe scanner technologies as part of its technology portfolio. Liberty is committed to protecting communities and preserving peace of mind through superior security detection solutions. Learn more: LibertyDefense.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. Although Liberty believes, in light of the experience of their respective officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate, that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and information in this press release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the parties can give no assurance that such statements will prove to be correct. Such statements and information reflect the current view of Liberty. There are risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause Liberty's actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements and information. Such factors include, among others: currency fluctuations; limited business history of the parties; disruptions or changes in the credit or security markets; results of operation activities and development of projects; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general development, market and industry conditions. The parties undertake no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of their securities or their respective financial or operating results (as applicable).

Liberty cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. When relying on Liberty's forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Liberty has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraph will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents the expectations of Liberty as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Liberty does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

SOURCE Liberty Defense Holdings Ltd.
NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Madison International Realty, a leading real estate private equity firm, announced that it has invested in the recapitalization of Cologix, one of North America's leading network-neutral interconnection and hyperscale edge data center companies. Madison's investment is part of a total $3 billion recapitalization led by Stonepeak, an alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets. The total transaction represents one of the largest single asset continuation vehicles raised in digital infrastructure to date.

Based in Denver, Colorado, Cologix is one of the largest private interconnection and hyperscale edge platforms in North America with a carrier-dense ecosystem of more than 600 networks, 300 cloud providers and 29 onramps. Cologix operates more than 40 digital edge and ScalelogixSM hyperscale edge data centers in 11 North American markets, providing colocation and connectivity solutions to over 1,600 customers. Earlier this year, Cologix completed a $1.65 billion asset-backed securitzation.

"We are excited to partner with Cologix and Stonepeak in this transaction," said Ronald Dickerman, Madison International Realty Founder and President. "Cologix is well capitalized and fits our criteria as an innovative, dynamic company in the rapidly growing digital infrastructure sector, which is investing to meet the tremendous demand of the digital economy."

"Madison's participation will help support our ongoing growth as we move forward with our plans to develop and acquire additional digital edge and Scalelogix data centers in current and new markets across North America," said Cologix Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Fathers. "We are targeting the strategic expansion of our platform to fulfill the increasing demand from cloud and network providers as well as digital enterprises."

"Madison is excited about the timing of our investment in the recapitalization of Cologix, given the growth prospects of the company and their commitment to ESG and sustainability initiatives," added Kyle Torpey, Madison International Realty's Head of US Investments.

Forecasts indicate robust growth for the data center industry. By one measure, the hyperscale data center market, which exceeded $20 billion in size in 2020, is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 15 percent from 2021 to 2027, according to data from Global Market Insights.

About Madison International Realty

Madison International Realty (www.madisonint.com) is a leading liquidity provider to real estate investors worldwide. Madison provides equity capital for real estate owners and investors seeking to monetize embedded equity, to replace capital partners seeking an exit and to recapitalize balance sheets. The firm provides equity for recapitalizations, partner buyouts and capital infusions; and acquires joint venture, limited partner and co-investment interests as principals. Madison invests in secondary transactions and focuses on existing properties and portfolios in the U.S., U.K., and Europe. Madison has offices in New York, London, Luxembourg, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, where the firm operates under the name of Madison International Realty GmbH.

About Cologix

Cologix provides carrier- and cloud-neutral interconnection and hyperscale edge data centers and services across North America. Cologix is the interconnection hub for cloud service providers, carriers and a rich ecosystem of partners who want to deploy applications at the very edge across Canada and the U.S. With a growing portfolio of next generation facilities that meet the unique requirements for hyperscale growth with deep connectivity, Cologix offers massive scale and tailor-made data center solutions to accelerate customers' digital transformation. For on-demand connectivity for scale and control, Cologix Access Marketplace provides fast, reliable, self-service provisioning. For a tour of one of our data centers in Ashburn, Columbus, Dallas, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Minneapolis, Montreal, New Jersey, Silicon Valley, Toronto or Vancouver visit Cologixmailto: or email [email protected]. Follow Cologix on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Stonepeak

Stonepeak is a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets with approximately $48.5 billion of assets under management. Through its investment in defensive, hard-asset businesses globally, Stonepeak aims to create value for its investors and portfolio companies, and to have a positive impact on the communities in which it operates. Stonepeak sponsors investment vehicles focused on private equity and credit. The firm provides capital, operational support, and committed partnerships to sustainably grow investments in its target sectors, which include communications, energy transition, transport and logistics, and social infrastructure. Stonepeak is headquartered in New York with offices in Austin, Hong Kong, Houston, London and Sydney. For more information, please visit www.stonepeak.com

SOURCE Madison International Realty
HOUSTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Through aligned goals and shared values, Memorial Hermann Health System is proud to have Houston Baptist University (HBU) join the system as a strategic partner in its Anchor Mission initiative to address social determinates of health in Southwest Houston.

Last year, Memorial Hermann announced its commitment to become an Anchor Institution in neighborhoods in Southwest Houston and Greater Heights, further aligning their institutional and operational resources with their system's community-centered vision. Through programs aimed at local hiring, local purchasing, impact investing and social determinates of health advocacy, Anchor Institutions work to address underlying economic and racial disparities to create more equitable health outcomes. HBU has joined Memorial Hermann as a partner in this mission, specifically focused on neighborhoods in Southwest Houston where HBU's main campus and the Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital campus are both located.

"We are thrilled to welcome HBU as a partner in our mission to further address social determinants of health throughout the region, and specifically on initiatives impacting our communities in Southwest Houston," said Carol Paret, SVP and Chief Community Health Officer for Memorial Hermann. "Our work as an Anchor Institution is exciting, and their support and partnership will help us reach more neighborhoods and achieve an even greater impact."

As part of a growing collaboration of more than 70 leading health systems across the country, including Memorial Hermann, the Healthcare Anchor Network utilizes the "Anchor Mission" model to build more inclusive and sustainable local economies. As a system, Memorial Hermann already contributes hundreds of millions of dollars annually through supporting the uninsured and underinsured, school-based health centers, neighborhood health centers, community resource centers, park revitalization projects, mental health crisis clinics and more. Through last year's additional multi-million-dollar investment, the system is addressing social and economic factors in specific neighborhoods, including housing and employment, which ultimately contribute to health outcomes.

"Our campus is proudly nestled in the heart of Southwest Houston, and we are dedicated to supporting our local infrastructure, economy, and most importantly, our community and neighbors," said Dr. Robert B. Sloan, President of HBU. "We could not think of a better partner than Memorial Hermann and we are proud to join their efforts to address the disparities in our neighborhoods that lead to poor health outcomes, among other social inequities."

The Anchor Mission model is built on the foundation that sustainable health can only be achieved within a community by meeting essential needs and addressing factors that affect social determinants of health. Memorial Hermann hopes to forge additional partnerships with key collaborators across Greater Houston to implement programs and initiatives that improve the financial security of residents across the region, strengthen the local economic ecosystem, and address conditions that drive poor health outcomes in specific neighborhoods, including initiatives to improve housing conditions and access.

"Together, HBU and Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital have a substantial footprint in Southwest Houston," said Malisha Patel, SVP and CEO for Memorial Hermann Southwest. "Memorial Hermann's vision is to create healthier communities, now and for generations to come. With partners like HBU, and hopefully many others who will join us in the near future, that vision can more quickly become a reality as organizations come together to address social disparities, help restore local economies, make a meaningful impact and ultimately improve the health and well-being of individuals and families," said Patel.

Media Contact:

George Kovacik

(281) 841-7119

[email protected]

SOURCE Memorial Hermann Health System
Usage of Microbial Biosurfactants in Enhanced Oil Recovery to Push Sales Past US$ 24.3 Mn by 2032

Fact.MR's in-depth analysis on the global microbial biosurfactants market provides readers with a 360-degree view for the forecast period of 2022 to 2032. The report further highlights crucial information about latest trends, opportunities, restraints, and drivers across segments including product type, applications, and regions

NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global microbial biosurfactants market size is anticipated to exceed US$ 16.5 Mn in 2022, exhibiting growth at a CAGR of 3.9% during the forecast period (2022 to 2032).

As per the report, sales in the microbial biosurfactants market are expected to reach a valuation of US$ 24.3 Mn in 2032, going up from US$ 16.1 Mn in 2021. Rising demand for cost-effective, yet robust microbial biosurfactants is likely to create opportunities for key players in the market.

Increasing usage of microbial biosurfactants in pharmaceutical, oilfield chemicals, and detergent manufacturing is set to drive the market. The implementation of stringent norms by government bodies to ban the usage of toxic chemicals for reducing environmental pollution will augment demand in the market.

Besides, growing usage of microbial biosurfactants in the agriculture sector to manufacture agricultural chemicals and maintain a better soil quality is expected to spur growth. The ever-increasing population and ongoing urbanization are projected to push the need for more crops worldwide.

For more insights into the Market, Get a Sample of this Report!

https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=7333

As per the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), food grain production in India reached a record of 296.65 million tons during the 2019-20 crop year. The government of India has already set a target to increase the total production output by 3.9% during FY 2021-22. On account of this, the requirement of microbial biosurfactants for improving soil quality is expected to increase in the forthcoming years.

Apart from that, increasing utilization of microbial biosurfactants, such as rhamnolipids in cosmetics and personal care products is anticipated to propel growth. Rhamnolipids are capable of preventing wrinkles, curing burn marks, and healing skin diseases. Their relatively low cost is making them a preferred option among manufacturers.

The ingredient is also used as a natural emulsifier and surface-active agent in shampoos, laundry products, and soaps. High demand for novel products with dual degree effects, such as dandruff cleaning and hair smoothing shampoos is likely to augur well for the market.

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. microbial biosurfactants market is likely to record a CAGR of 4.7% in 2032 and hold nearly 28.4% share in 2022.

China is projected to generate the second-largest market share of 12.1% in 2022 and register a considerable CAGR of 4.3% by 2032.

is projected to generate the second-largest market share of 12.1% in 2022 and register a considerable CAGR of 4.3% by 2032. By product type, the mannosylerythritol segment is set to hold 28.6% of the total market share in the forthcoming years.

Based on application, sales in the industrial and institutional cleaners segment are expected to grow at a 4.4% CAGR over the forecast period.

The overall valuation of the personal care segment was US$ 564.4 Bn in 2020 and it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% in 2032.

Growth Drivers:

Increasing usage of microbial biosurfactants in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) for improving the recovery of petroleum from oil wells is likely to drive growth.

Rising inclination of consumers from chemical-based synthetic products to organic or bio-based cleaning products is anticipated to propel growth.

Restraints:

Each organism creates a blend of congener molecules with various characteristics, which makes the downstream process expensive and difficult.

Industries in emerging economies are yet to see an added value in converting bio-based products as one-to-one replacement of traditional products is uncommon.

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Competitive Landscape:

Leading players operating in the global microbial biosurfactants market are focusing on signing new contracts and collaborating with other companies worldwide to co-develop novel products and distribute them in the market to gain a competitive edge. Meanwhile, some of the other key players are investing huge sums in research and development activities to discover new ingredients for fulfilling the high demand.

For instance,

In March 2022 , Unilever, multinational consumer goods company based in the U.K., launched its latest Positive Beauty Growth Platform to bring together academic institutes, start-ups, and scaleups present in the field of cosmetic ingredients, packaging, and formulations. The company aims to work in collaboration with academia, partners, and suppliers to find new solutions that can replace non-biodegradable beauty packaging, formulations, and products.

, Unilever, multinational consumer goods company based in the U.K., launched its latest Positive Beauty Growth Platform to bring together academic institutes, start-ups, and scaleups present in the field of cosmetic ingredients, packaging, and formulations. The company aims to work in collaboration with academia, partners, and suppliers to find new solutions that can replace non-biodegradable beauty packaging, formulations, and products. In March 2021 , BASF, a renowned chemical and biotech company headquartered in Germany , signed a new biosurfactant agreement with Holiferm and Allied Carbon Solutions (ACS). Under the agreement, Holiferm will help manufacture and develop fermentation-derived ingredients with potential use in personal care products and industrial formulators. In partnership with ACS, the company will develop a unique sophorolipid-based ingredient named BioToLife.

Key Companies Profiled by Fact.MR

AGAE Technology

Jeneil Biosurfactant

Saraya Co., Ltd.

AkzoNobel

BASF

Ecover

Evonik

Innospec

More Valuable Insights on Microbial Biosurfactants Market

In the latest study, Fact.MR offers a comprehensive analysis of the global microbial biosurfactants market for the forecast period of 2022 to 2032. The report also provides key factors such as recent developments and growth drivers influencing the sales in microbial biosurfactants market through detailed segmentation as follows:

By Product Type:

Rhamnolipids

Sophorolipids

Mannosylerythritol

Other Product Types

By Application:

Household Detergents

Industrial & Institutional Cleaners

Personal Care

Oilfield Chemicals

Agricultural Chemicals

Other Applications

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

East Asia

South Asia & Oceania

& Oceania MEA

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Key Questions Covered in the Microbial Biosurfactants Market Report

What will be the demand outlook of microbial biosurfactants market in 2022?

What will be the growth rate of the global microbial biosurfactants market during 2022-2032?

Which are key drivers bolstering the growth in microbial biosurfactants market?

Which are the factors hindering the growth in the microbial biosurfactants market?

Which region is expected to exhibit the fastest growth in the global microbial biosurfactants market during 2022-2032?

Explore Fact.MR's Coverage on the Chemicals & Materials Domain

Disinfectant & Antimicrobial Chemicals Market: Increasing concerns regarding the transmission of various diseases, such as hepatitis and AIDS is likely to propel the usage of disinfectants and antimicrobial chemicals. In addition, rising demand for these chemicals in food and beverage manufacturing companies to maintain safety during food processing is likely to aid growth.

Antimicrobial Protection Additives for Adhesives Market: Ongoing infrastructural development and construction projects in emerging economies is anticipated to augment the demand for antimicrobial protection additives in future. Also, increasing requirement of these additives in the automotive industry is likely to bode well for the global market.

Antimicrobial Polyamide Textiles Market: As per Fact.MR, the global antimicrobial polyamide textile market is expected to showcase growth at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2021 to 2031. Urgent need to prevent Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) to save lives of patients is a major factor that is anticipated to accelerate the market.

About Fact.MR

Fact.MR is a market research and consulting agency with deep expertise in emerging market intelligence. Spanning a wide range  from automotive & industry 4.0 to healthcare, chemical, and materials, to even the most niche categories. 80% of Fortune 1000's trusts us in critical decision making.

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SOURCE Fact.MR
ATLANTA, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This MobiDev quarterly report shows the highlights of Q1, 2022 in numbers. The company monitors and analyzes the results in several areas of business performance: team stability and results of hiring, current projects delivery, business indicators and other events that influence the company performance.

hiring speed meet us on events

Compared to Q1, 2021, the hiring speed grew by 209%. During Q1, 2022, the company hired 65 new employees, with the record in March - 32 colleagues have joined our teams. MobiDev attributes this great result both to the hard work of the recruiting team, and the work of MobiDev mentors who supervised and led their internships. The MobiDev team grew by 24.9% in Q1, 2022 compared to Q2, 2021.

Throughout Q1 the company has made 64 releases on their ongoing projects. Half of them - 32 - took place in March. The operating revenue grew by 13% compared to the same period last year.

During this period the company has also gained 8 new clients, which is a 14% increase compared to the same period last year, and started 12 new projects with their existing clients.

On March 21st, the company physically opened MobiDev's R&D and Business Development center in Lodz, Poland to establish a new business unit and boost engineering hiring processes in the EU.

As for other activities, the company actively participated in international IT events:

EU-Startups Summit 2022

World AI Cannes Festival

MWC Barcelona

Axis Innovation Israel

B2B Expo & Conference for e-commerce service providers

In the upcoming period of Q2/Q3 MobiDev team is planning to visit the following events:

VivaTechnology 2022 ( Paris , June 15-18 );

, ); TechBBQ 2022 ( Copenhagen , September 14-15 );

, ); World Summit AI ( Amsterdam , October 12-13 );

, ); Saastock ( Dublin , October 17-19 );

, ); TechDay ( New York , November 15 ).

You can book a meeting with MobiDev's representative on any of the events.

More detailed information about the MobiDev Q1 Company Report can be found at:

https://mobidev.biz/mobidev-q1-2022-company-report

MobiDev is an engineering company that creates software solutions, implementing AI, machine learning, augmented reality and IoT. It has business units in Atlanta (US) and Sheffield (UK); and R&D centers in Lodz (Poland) and Chernivtsi (Ukraine). There are over four hundred engineers across locations. The company serves US, Canadian, European and Israeli businesses, helping create and launch new software products and evolve existing ones.

Media contact:

Nana Hrytsenko

[email protected]

888-380-0276

SOURCE MobiDev
DALLAS, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nanoscope Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing gene therapies to treat retinal degenerative diseases, today announced that Naveed Shams MD, PhD, and Thomas Ciulla MD, both of whom have extensive executive leadership experience at pioneering ophthalmology companies, will serve as advisors to the Company's Board and Management.

"We are extremely pleased to have these distinguished leaders join our team of advisors. Their deep experience and long list of accomplishments in the ophthalmology space will play a key role in providing guidance to support our clinical and corporate strategy. We look forward to leveraging their expertise as we advance of Nanoscope's groundbreaking platform of optogenetic therapies," said Nanoscope's Co-Founder and CEO, Sulagna Bhattacharya.

"By delivering light-sensitive molecules into retinal cells, Nanoscope is advancing a unique gene therapy approach to restoring vision in people suffering from various inherited retinal degenerative diseases, including Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), Stargardt, and dry AMD," said Dr. Shams. "Their unique and creative approach to treating blinding eye diseases and strong clinical data to date shows potential to revolutionize how we treat retinal degenerative diseases and improve patient outcomes. I hope to contribute to the rapid advancement of this platform as the Company completes its ongoing Phase 2b study in RP and looks to rapidly expand into other indications."

"Multi-Characteristic Opsin, or MCOs, have the potential to address all forms of retinal degeneration and are applicable for patients suffering from complete or partial damage to the retina," said Dr. Ciulla. "Nanoscope has already begun to demonstrate the tremendous potential of this approach, including extraordinary efficacy and good tolerability in severely visually impaired individuals. I look forward to working with their world-class team in seeing the potential of this approach fully elucidated in the clinic."

Dr. Shams was most recently the Chief Science Officer at ProQR Therapeutics and previously served as President and CEO of Santen Inc, and Global Head of R&D at Santen Pharmaceuticals, a global ophthalmology company, for over a decade. He has over 25 years of global drug development experience across start-ups and large multinationals, including Novartis and Genentech/Roche. At Genentech, Dr. Shams helped to establish the Ophthalmic Clinical R&D Group and led the development of Lucentis through approval. Prior to joining industry, Dr. Shams was on the Faculty at the Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Shams holds an MD from Dow Medical College and a PhD in microbiology/immunology from the University of South Carolina. He also completed a fellowship in wound healing and corneal transplantation at Harvard University.

Dr. Ciulla has 25 years of executive management, clinical research and academic leadership experience. He has served as Chief Medical Officer since 2018 and also Chief Development Officer since 2020 at Clearside Biomedical, which pioneered the development of the first FDA-approved suprachoroidal therapy (Xipere). At Spark Therapeutics, he led medical strategy through approval and commercialization of Luxturna (voretigene), the first FDA-approved gene therapy for a hereditary retinal disease, which involved novel functional vision endpoints, complex genetic testing paradigms, and new administration procedures. Prior to Spark, he served as VP-Clinical Strategy at Ophthotech (now Iveric Bio), where he contributed to the design of the successful Phase 2/3 trial of Zimura in Geographic Atrophy (GA). He holds a BA in chemistry from Harvard University, an MD from University of California, San Francisco, Medical School and an MBA from Indiana University. He completed residency at Harvard Medical School, retina fellowship at Tufts Medical School, and is a board-certified ophthalmologist and retina specialist.

About Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc.

Nanoscope Therapeutics is developing gene-agnostic, sight restoring optogenetic therapies for the millions of patients blinded by retinal degenerative diseases, for which no cure exists. The company's lead asset, MCO-010, is presently in Phase 2b multicenter, randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled clinical trials in the U.S. for retinitis pigmentosa (NCT04945772) with top line data expected Q1, 2023. The company has also initiated a Phase 2 trial of MCO therapy in Stargardt patients. MCO-010 has received FDA orphan drug designations for RP and Stargardt. The pipeline also includes therapy for GA.

Investor Contact:

Argot Partners

212-600-1902

[email protected]

SOURCE Nanoscope Therapeutics
WASHINGTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Students from Arizona will have an opportunity this week to hear from astronauts aboard the International Space Station. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Sen. Mark Kelly will participate in the call. The Earth-to-space call will air live at 1:35 p.m. EDT Friday, May 27, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will answer prerecorded video questions from students at Tarwater Elementary School in, Chandler, Arizona. Tarwater students are continuing a conversation about space to inspire students' interest in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math subjects and careers.

The event will be virtual. Media interested in covering should contact Chandler Unified School District Director of Community Relations Terry Locke at: [email protected] or 480-812-7650.

Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance, and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Astronauts living in space on the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Near Space Network Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS).

For more than 21 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. As part of the Artemis program, NASA will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars. Inspiring the next generation of explorers  the Artemis Generation  ensures America will continue to lead in space exploration and discovery.

See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

SOURCE NASA
WASHINGTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 2, to discuss the hardware, technology demonstrations, and science experiments, including a new climate research investigation, headed to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's 25th commercial resupply mission for NASA. Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on the agency's website.

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, June 9 at 10:45 a.m. to launch its cargo Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

One of the primary payloads aboard the cargo flight is the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation or EMIT. This tool will identify the composition of mineral dust from Earth's arid regions and analyze dust carried through the atmosphere from deserts to see what effects it has on the planet, further advancing NASA's data contributions to monitoring climate change.

The media call also will highlight experiments studying the aging of immune cells and the potential to reverse those effects during post-flight recovery, an investigation of how sutured wounds heal in microgravity, and a student experiment testing a concrete alternative for potential use in future lunar and Martian habitats.

Teleconference participants include:

Kirt Costello , NASA's chief scientist for the International Space Station Program Research Office

, NASA's chief scientist for the International Space Station Program Research Office Dr. Robert Green , principal investigator for the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT)

, principal investigator for the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) James Wall and Jocelyn Hoang Thai from the Stanford student experiment, Biopolymer Research for In-Situ Capabilities

and from the student experiment, Biopolymer Research for In-Situ Capabilities Dr. Monica Monici, principal investigator of the Suture in Space study

Dr. Sonja Schrepfer , principal investigator for the Immunosenescence experiment

, principal investigator for the Immunosenescence experiment Dr. Janet Jansson , principal investigator of the DynaMoS investigation

To participate in the call, media must contact Gina Anderson at least two hours prior to the start of the call for dial-in details at: [email protected].

The public can submit questions on social media using #AskNASA.

Cargo resupply from U.S. companies ensures a national capability to deliver critical science research to the space station, significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct

new investigations at the only laboratory in space.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and enables research not possible on Earth. NASA recently celebrated 21 years of continuous human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, which has hosted 258 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leaps in exploration, including future human missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

Members of the public can attend the launch virtually and receive mission updates. To participate, members of the public can register for email updates to stay up to date on mission information, mission highlights, and interaction opportunities.

For launch countdown coverage, NASA's launch blog, and more information about the mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/spacex

SOURCE NASA
--Decentralized, startup-friendly swap at RadioShack.org accommodates thousands of trades within two months of initial launch; Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) also announces crypto-forward redesign of RadioShack's consumer-facing ecommerce channel.

MIAMI, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Total trading volume has reached approximately $40 million in the two months since RadioShack.org went live as a decentralized, startup-friendly cryptocurrency swap, announced RadioShack.

Thousands of tradersas well as many startups eager to add new tokens on the exchangeclearly see the value in leveraging the high visibility of RadioShack.org, said Alex Mehr, the president of Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV). The Miami-based REV licensed its RadioShack brand to be used as a cryptocurrency swap platform.

Alex Mehr: "The swap is adding two or three new tokens every week, and we continue to see robust interest among gaming-token startups, in particular. They understand that the RadioShack brand is congruent with their own play." Retail Ecommerce Ventures

"The launch of RadioShack Swap has been extremely well received, with daily trading volumes averaging anywhere from $500,000 to $2 million," he said. "The swap is adding two or three new tokens every week, and we continue to see robust interest among gaming-token startups , in particular. They understand that the RadioShack brand is congruent with their own play."

That visibility is further amplified by the popular social media channelstens of millions of views on the likes of Discord, Telegram, Twitter, Instagram and YouTubeof globally known REV Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Tai Lopez.

So far, about 10,000 traders have used RadioShack Swap to exchange established and emerging cryptocurrencies. The RadioShack swap is currently available on four different blockchains: Ethereum mainnet, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain and Avalanche Network. The swap fee is just 0.1 percenta third of what other decentralized exchanges typically charge, according to Mehr.

"People want to maintain control of their own crypto assets and be the stewards of their own private keys," Mehr noted. "But in addition to the security benefits that accrue from decentralized, peer-to-peer trading, RadioShack Swap offers additional safety protections. For example, RadioShack has measures in place to make it a little harder for scammers to dupe people with fake versions of popular tokensa perennial problem elsewhere."

For startups, the liquidity model at RadioShack Swap has proven a strong draw as well, Mehr added. It allows startups to add liquidity for their project token without having to load up on a massive amount of a collateral token (such as USDC or ETH).

Meanwhile, the team is in the final stages of executing a technology-forward redesign of RadioShack.com (which is a separate company that operates traditional brick and mortar and ecommerce). "We're updating the look and feel to be smarter and cooler, with digital products like storage wallets and NFTs as well as crypto merch by amazing artists," Lopez said. "The crypto scene is bursting with creativity, and we're thrilled to make RadioShack.com a central marketplace and consumer-facing hub."

REV acquired the iconic RadioShack brand and related assets in November 2020. The company has also relaunched Pier1 Imports, Dressbarn, Stein Mart, Linens 'n Things, and Modell's Sporting Goods, to name a few, as Internet-only brands.

About Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV)

REV was founded by Alex Mehr and Tai Lopez in 2019 as a means for giving life to businesses that struggled to succeed in the age of ecommerce. With unrivaled experience in digital marketing and advertising, principally on YouTube and Facebook, they create thriving online stores where physical-first operations previously failed. For more information, please visit: https://www.retailecommerceventures.com/

Media Contacts: At Jaffe Communications, (908)-789-0700, Elisa Krantz, [email protected], or Bill Parness, [email protected].

SOURCE Retail Ecommerce Ventures
CLEVELAND, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- One of America's top cancer doctors with a national and international reputation for cancer research will lead the new Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center as well as the Division of Hematology.

Koen van Besien, MD, PhD, comes to UH Seidman Cancer Center from New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he has been Director of the Stem Cell Transplant Program and an attending physician. He is also a Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

Dr. van Besien will lead the Wesley Center for Immunotherapy at UH Seidman Cancer Center, a cellular therapy facility that generates CAR-T, NK cell and other cellular-based therapies. Physician-scientists engage in groundbreaking research and bring new, life-extending immunotherapy treatments to patients. UH experts are creating cells for treatment in just eight days - an innovation that allows UH Seidman Cancer Center physicians to deliver life-enhancing therapy more quickly than previously possible.

With an established reputation for clinical research and care, Dr. van Besien has made numerous contributions to the field of cellular therapy and stem cell transplantation. Most recently, he has focused on methods to extend the use of transplantation to more patients in need. His group has recently reported the first successful transplant for a patient with HIV and leukemia using a haplo-cord graft - a unique procedure developed by his team. The patient remains free of HIV and leukemia more than four years after transplant.

Dr. van Besien is Editor in Chief of the Journal of Leukemia and Lymphoma and a member of the editorial review boards of the journals Bone Marrow Transplantation and Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. His NIH-supported research has been published in more than 300 peer-reviewed papers.

Dr. van Besien completed medical school and clinical training at College ND de la Paix in Namur and the University of Leuven, both in Belgium. He holds a PhD from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. He completed his hematology/oncology fellowship at Indiana University and in Bruges, Belgium. Dr. van Besien has served on the faculty of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He also directed transplant programs at the University of Illinois for four years and at the University of Chicago for a decade.

He is fluent in five languages: English, Dutch, German, Spanish and French.

Dr. van Besien joins UH Seidman Cancer Center on July 15.

About University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center/Cleveland, Ohio

UH Seidman Cancer Center is the only freestanding cancer hospital in Northeast Ohio, where all clinicians and staff are dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer while researching new and innovative treatment options through clinical trials. Nationally ranked cancer care is also available to patients through the 11-county region at 16 community-based locations. Our UH Seidman specialists make up 14 cancer-specific teams focused on determining integrated care plans tailored to patient's needs. UH Seidman Cancer Center is part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University, one of 52 comprehensive cancer centers in the country. Patients have access to advanced treatment options, ranging from a pioneering stem cell transplant program founded more than 40 years ago and a wide range of immunotherapy to the first and only proton therapy center in northern Ohio for adults and children. Go to UHhospitals.org/Seidman for more information.

About University Hospitals / Cleveland, Ohio Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 23 hospitals (including five joint ventures), more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices in 16 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system's flagship quaternary care, academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Oxford University and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. The main campus also includes the UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, with more than 3,000 active clinical trials and research studies underway. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national ranking surveys, including "America's Best Hospitals" from U.S. News & World Report. UH is also home to 19 Clinical Care Delivery and Research Institutes. UH is one of the largest employers in Northeast Ohio with more than 30,000 employees. Follow UH on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit UHhospitals.org.

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise(TM). For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com.

SOURCE University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
Melody Birmingham will join the company as NiSource's executive vice president and chief innovation officer, responsible for the company's transformation office, information technology, communications, customer, aviation, real estate, corporate security and supply chain management. Birmingham joins from Duke Energy, where she served as senior vice president and chief administrative officer responsible for information technology, enterprise security, administrative services, and the supply chain organization. Prior to that, she served as state president of Duke Energy's Indiana operations, with responsibilities for the state utilities' financial performances and customer experiences, in addition to rates and regulatory strategy, government affairs, community relations and economic development.

"With more than 25 years of executive and leadership experience, Melody brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to NiSource," said Lloyd Yates, president and CEO of NiSource. "Melody is well-known and highly respected in the utility sector, particularly in Indiana, one of our largest operating territories, and will play a pivotal role in the company's transformation as we continue to evolve and grow with the changing energy needs of our customers and communities."

Birmingham holds a Bachelor of Science degree in organizational leadership and management from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration from Strayer University. She completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. In 2016, Birmingham was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, Ind.

William (Bill) Jefferson is also joining NiSource's leadership team as executive vice president, operations, and chief safety officer. Jefferson will oversee emergency response, engineering and asset management, environmental health and safety, field operations support, major projects, operational excellence, work management, and contractor support.

Jefferson joins NiSource from STP Nuclear Operating Company, where he served as site vice president. Prior to that, he served as plant general manager and operations director for STP. Earlier in his career, he served as vice president, transmission maintenance and construction at Duke Energy, and also served as vice president of the Harris Nuclear Plant for Progress Energy and vice president of the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear plants for Florida Power and Light.

Jefferson also served in several roles of increasing responsibility with Exelon Generation Company / PECO Energy Company, including plant manager at Susquehanna Electric Company, senior manager of plant engineering at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, and manager of reactor services at PECO Nuclear.

Jefferson has more than 35 years of experience in the utility industry. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in nuclear engineering from Purdue University. He attended the Duke Fuqua Advanced Management Program and earned a senior reactor operator's license from Peach Bottom nuclear plant.

"Bill brings a depth of knowledge in the areas of safety and operational excellence from the nuclear segment -- one of the safest, most stringent, in the world," Yates said. "With his addition, we plan to drive operational excellence and safety to world-class levels at NiSource and our operating companies."

Once Jefferson joins, Chuck Shafer will lead health, safety and environmental execution, reporting to Jefferson.

The company also announced that Melanie Berman, the company's senior vice president and chief human resources officer, has been elevated to the executive leadership team, also effective July 1.

"Since joining the company, Melanie has distinguished herself to be a leader of the highest caliber," Yates continued. "With more than 20 years of experience managing large-scale change, Melanie will have an important voice at our leadership table as the company navigates and evolves through the energy transition."

Since joining NiSource in June 2021, Berman has partnered with the leadership and the Board's Compensation and Human Capital Committee to develop a talent strategy, encompassing acquisition and development of talent, succession planning, and executive compensation, at a time when attracting and retaining top talent is critical. In addition, Berman has significantly increased the company's change management capabilities.

Berman joined NiSource from The Michaels Companies, where she served as executive vice president and chief human resources officer. Prior to that, Berman held the position of vice president of human resources at Anthem in Dallas, TX. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany, and a Master of Science in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Baruch College.

Following the additions of these leaders and roles, the NiSource Executive Leadership team will consist of the following members:

Shawn Anderson , SVP Risk and Chief Strategy Officer

, SVP Risk and Chief Strategy Officer Melanie Berman , SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer

, SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer Melody Birmingham , EVP and Chief Innovation Officer

, EVP and Chief Innovation Officer Donald Brown , EVP and Chief Financial Officer

, EVP and Chief Financial Officer Kim Cuccia , SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

, SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary William Jefferson , EVP Operations and Chief Safety Officer

, EVP Operations and Chief Safety Officer Pablo Vegas , EVP and Group President, NiSource Utilities

"All of the changes we are announcing today are designed to drive clearer lines of accountability across the organization, and to drive excellence in everything we do," Yates concluded.

About NiSource

NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI) is one of the largest fully regulated utility companies in the United States, serving approximately 3.2 million natural gas customers and 500,000 electric customers across six states through its local Columbia Gas and NIPSCO brands. Based in Merrillville, Indiana, NiSource's approximately 7,500 employees are focused on safely delivering reliable and affordable energy to the customers and communities we serve. NiSource is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index  North America. Additional information about NiSource, its investments in modern infrastructure and systems, its commitments and its local brands can be found at www.nisource.com. Follow us at www.facebook.com/nisource, www.linkedin.com/company/nisource or www.twitter.com/nisourceinc. NI-F

SOURCE NiSource Inc.
How do you milk a microbe? Non-GMO Project, farmers have concerns about synbio dairy Tweet this

"Synbio dairy products are GMOs because they are created by genetically engineering a microbe like yeast to excrete milk proteins," said Megan Westgate, founder and executive director of the Non-GMO Project, North America's most relied-upon non-GMO authority. "That's the definition of unnatural."

The synbio process forces cells to produce novel proteins that mimic natural ingredients like casein and whey. The possible risks include:

Significant biohazardous waste.

The accidental release of new GMOs into the environment.

Continued reliance on fossil fuels for GMO growth media and the incineration of waste.

Synbio dairy could also put traditional dairy farmers and farmworkers out of business.

The synbio dairy industry is rapidly expanding with a significant infusion of investment. According to the biotech industry's Good Food Institute, nearly $2 billion has been invested in developing "precision fermented" products like synbio dairy in the past year alone.

"GMOs pose a threat to the land, environment, and family farms, and I don't think GMOs have a place in our farming and food system," says Albert Straus, Founder/CEO of Straus Family Creamery. "As the first Non-GMO Project Verified Creamery in North America, we are committed to organic farming."

Straus adds, "Organic farming practices protect the environment, address animal welfare, build soil health and provide nutritious food while revitalizing rural communities. Organic dairy farming and milk production are the foundation for a carbon-neutral dairy farming model that we'll achieve on my farm by 2023."

The Non-GMO Project is launching a first-ever, dairy-focused campaign during National Dairy Month to bring awareness to the agricultural and environmental threat of synbio dairy. An industry webinar, consumer education, and media kit for brands and retailers will support the June campaign, "How Do You Milk a Microbe?" The campaign asserts that natural, organic and non-GMO dairy is better than synbio dairy for consumers, farmers, and the planet. Research shows that natural and traditional dairy, produced regeneratively, can sink carbon into the ground while building biodiversity and healthy soils.

Manufacturers of synbio dairy also claim to be pro-climate, but the evidence is slim. "Given that their patents reference the need for large amounts of feedstock, it's clear the industry is just ramping up demand for more GMO seed and cheap GMO crops. This reinforces the loss of biodiversity through monocultures and pesticides, while reducing the vitality of our rural communities by concentrating wealth in corporations, " warns Alan Lewis, Vice President at Natural Grocers. "The dependence on petrochemical fertilizers and tillage releases tremendous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. The same cows that synthetic biology wants to replace with 'sustainable' fermentation vats are actually critical to recapturing carbon via healthy pasture lands."

On June 16 at 10 am PST, the Project will host an industry webinar [register here] , including Megan Westgate, Albert Straus, Alan Lewis and Errol Schweizer, author, journalist and former leader of the national grocery program at Whole Foods Market. Panelists will share insider insights on synbio dairy and address questions regarding misleading synbio dairy claims.

The Non-GMO Project is a nonprofit organization committed to preserving and building sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers and providing verified non-GMO choices. As the market leader for GMO avoidance, the Project offers North America's most rigorous and trusted third-party verification for non-GMO food and products.

Contact: Hans Eisenbeis, [email protected] 360.255.7704 x4

Sasha Bernstein Skon, [email protected] 203-536-4987

SOURCE Non-GMO Project
NEW DELHI, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The study undertaken by Astute Analytica foresees a tremendous growth in revenue of the market for North America solid tires market from US$ 387.9 Million in 2021 to US$ 540.1 Million by 2027. The market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% during the forecast period 2022-2027. In terms of volume, the market is registering a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period.

Request Sample Copy of Research Report @ https://www.astuteanalytica.com/request-sample/north-america-solid-tires-market

Solid tires are extremely stable, puncture-resistant, and maintenance-free and also have a high loading capacity and are extremely economical. Solid tires are also called airless tires that can be manufactured on a frame or metal wheel structure. Moreover, tires provide a footprint, called a contact patch, which is designed in order to match the weight of the vehicle with the bearing strength of the surface that it rolls over.

On the basis of assembly type, the made-on frame/wheel segment holds the largest share and is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Moreover, in terms of vehicles, the forklifts segment dominated the solid tires market in 2021 as they are made out of solid rubber. Whereas airport passenger boarding bridges are anticipated to project the second highest CAGR over the forecast period. Furthermore, by application, the warehouse machinery segment holds a significant share in the market in 2021. Whereas the military vehicle segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR in the market over the forecast period as they are built with off-road capabilities. In addition, North America solid tires market had witnessed a slight decline in 2020, post the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic due to a massive dip in commercial activities and retail spending.

The major factor responsible for the growth of the North America solid tires market includes the ongoing construction activities in the region and escalating demand from various applications. Moreover, the increase in demand for solid tires with rising in military spending creates a lucrative growth opportunity in the market. Furthermore, the rise in technical material development in tire manufacturing on account of growing insistence on lower emission levels, along with preference to buy eco-friendly products is creating a huge demand for solid tires and significantly creating a lucrative growth trend in the market. Also, the increasing concern regarding ride safety and avoiding road accidents majorly caused by tire punctures become the major trend for the market growth in the near future. However, the availability of solid tire substitutes (pneumatic tires and others) is expected to inhibit the growth of the North America solid tires market.

North America Solid Tires Market Insights

The U.S. holds the major share in the North America solid tires market in 2021 owing to increasing construction activities as well as warehouses in the country. Also, the U.S. is anticipated to project the highest CAGR in during the forecast period. Increasing industrialization, growing vehicle production & sales, and increasing construction activities across various countries within this region including the US and Canada fuel the growth of the market. Moreover, Midwest U.S. is expected to project the highest market share over the forecast period.

Strategic Outlook of Key Market Players

Industrial Rubber Company has an extensive distribution system and after-sales service. It enables customers to grab the rapidly technologically advanced product in the industry and connect all aspects of transportation and logistics such as trucks, drivers, back office, fright, and assets.

Trelleborg AB is a polymer technology-focused engineering firm. The company's strategy is to secure leading positions in selected segments. This means that the company seeks segments, niches, and product categories that by virtue of the Group's market insights, core capabilities, and offering of advanced products and solutions provide market leadership.

Trident International Pvt. Ltd., operates in different domains such as developing, manufacturing and distributing industrial and off-highway tires and tracks. The company focuses on product development and improving its capabilities for establishing a strong footprint in the domestic and global markets.

Raw Materials used in Solid Tires

Natural Rubber- Natural rubber is the main raw material used in manufacturing tires owing to its properties for being good for tear and fatigue crack resistance. The natural rubber is mixed with acids and liquid latex that drips from the bark of certain tropical and subtropical trees, which causes the rubber to solidify. The physical and chemical properties of these rubber polymers determine the performance of each component in the tire and its overall performance such as rolling resistance, wear, and traction.

Natural rubber is the main raw material used in manufacturing tires owing to its properties for being good for tear and fatigue crack resistance. The natural rubber is mixed with acids and liquid latex that drips from the bark of certain tropical and subtropical trees, which causes the rubber to solidify. The physical and chemical properties of these rubber polymers determine the performance of each component in the tire and its overall performance such as rolling resistance, wear, and traction. Synthetic Rubber- Synthetic rubber has a wide application in tire manufacturing, it is synthesized from polymers found in crude oil. For the manufacturing of tires, this rubber has to be processed with chemicals to solidify then pressed, squeeze out excess water, and form the rubber into sheets. They are non-oil resistant, low-cost materials that can be used in the production of several rubber products. Moreover, styrene-butadiene, Neoprene are examples of synthetic rubber.

Synthetic rubber has a wide application in tire manufacturing, it is synthesized from polymers found in crude oil. For the manufacturing of tires, this rubber has to be processed with chemicals to solidify then pressed, squeeze out excess water, and form the rubber into sheets. They are non-oil resistant, low-cost materials that can be used in the production of several rubber products. Moreover, styrene-butadiene, Neoprene are examples of synthetic rubber. Steel- In the tire manufacturing process, steel wire is used in the tire belts and beads, and the plies for truck tires. The belts under the tread help to stiffen the tire casing and enhance the wear performance and tire handling. The bead wire is coated with special alloys of bronze or brass and anchors the tire and locks it onto the wheel.

Competitive Insight

North America Solid Tires Market is highly competitive in order to increase its presence in the marketplace. Some of the key players operating in the North America solid tires market include Continental AG, Ecomega Europe Industries, Industrial Rubber Company, Global Rubber Industries, Maxam Tire, Nexen Corporation, Sentry Tire, and Rubber LLC., Setco Solid Tire and Rim Assembly, SimpleTire, Michelin, Trelleborg AB, Trident International P Ltd., Industrial Rubber Tires, LLC and PT ARAMI JAYA among others.

Segmentation Overview

North America Solid Tires Market is segmented based on assembly type, vehicle, application, and country. The industry trends in the solid tires market are sub-divided into different categories in order to get a holistic view of the North America marketplace.

Following are the different segments of the North America Solid Tires Market:

By Assembly Type segment of the North America Solid Tires Market is sub-segmented into:

Made on Frame /Wheel

Made on Rim

By Vehicle segment of the North America Solid Tires Market is sub-segmented into:

Forklift

Tractor

Crane & Lifts

Container Trailer

Airport Passenger Boarding Bridges

Others

By Application segment of the North America Solid Tires Market is sub-segmented into:

Construction Machinery

Warehouse Machinery

Agriculture Equipment

Military Vehicles

Air & Sea Ports Machinery

Others (Transport)

By Country segment of the North America Solid Tires Market is sub-segmented into:

North America

U.S.



Canada

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About Astute Analytica

Astute Analytica is a global analytics and advisory company which has built a solid reputation in a short period, thanks to the tangible outcomes we have delivered to our clients. We pride ourselves in generating unparalleled, in depth and uncannily accurate estimates and projections for our very demanding clients spread across different verticals. We have a long list of satisfied and repeat clients from a wide spectrum including technology, healthcare, chemicals, semiconductors, FMCG, and many more. These happy customers come to us from all across the Globe. They are able to make well calibrated decisions and leverage highly lucrative opportunities while surmounting the fierce challenges all because we analyze for them the complex business environment, segment wise existing and emerging possibilities, technology formations, growth estimates, and even the strategic choices available. In short, a complete package. All this is possible because we have a highly qualified, competent, and experienced team of professionals comprising of business analysts, economists, consultants, and technology experts. In our list of priorities, you-our patron-come at the top. You can be sure of best cost-effective, value-added package from us, should you decide to engage with us.

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SOURCE Astute Analytica
MIAMI, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading providers of Switchable Glass and Film, SmartGlass Technologies (SGT) recently explored how companies can help workers feel better about returning to the office despite two years of working from home. Citing a recent North American survey of over 1600 workers*, SGT found that employees really miss controlling their workday in a variety of ways. From choosing a workstation, managing the lighting and sound levels, setting the temperature, to flexible hours, employees are desperate for some control.

Courtesy of Smart Glass Technologies Smart Glass Technologies workers install smart glass.

"For today's office workers, it's all about personalization and control," said William Turcan, principal owner at SGT. "Instead of offices, or other fancy perks, what workers really want is better air quality, access to natural light, and the ability to personalize their workspaces. They want to work out of an environment that's best for them. And the only way to do that is to put them in the driver's seat."

SGT offers one important solution that can help businesses provide their employees with maximum individual comfort. SGT installs Smart Film in windows in offices, healthcare facilities, and other properties across the country. Once installed, this film turns traditional windows into surfaces that block 98% of harmful UV rays and 95% of infrared radiation. And Smart Film can be adjusted from transparent to opaque, with several shades in between.

"Once a company installs Smart Film, it has the option to give employees full control of the privacy," said Turcan. "Each window can be adjusted not only through switches and dimmers installed throughout the office, but also through workers' smartphones as well. So, by just unlocking their phone, employees can adjust the brightness of any window near them. The windows can be made opaque to allow for maximum privacy, or employees can choose to make windows more transparent to bring in more natural light. All at the touch of a button."

Proven to minimize the effects of external temperatures from affecting office interiors, Smart Film helps offices save on heating and cooling costs. For example, in 2020, SGT installed Switchable Smart Film in the Allstate Insurance office in New Jersey to offer the company additional privacy options in its conference rooms and reduce energy costs. The company installed a total of 200 sq/ft of Smart Film in the Allstate office, and the entire job took just two days.

Another company came to Smart Glass asking if it could install Smart Film throughout its entire office in less than a week. The company was on the verge of a major deal and wanted Smart Film installed so its potential partners could see it was a firm that stayed on top of the latest innovations.

"Our team can install Smart Film quickly, with little to no disruption to a company's day-to-day activities," Turcan said. "And not only does it save energy costs, it's something that catches people's attention. It can certainly be used as a tremendous marketing tool. The Smart Film benefits for companies and organizations are endless."

To view the benefits of Smart Film products in greater detail, or to read the latest news in Smart Glass innovations, visit the company online. Or follow SGT on social media: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Houzz, Pinterest.

*https://www.bisnow.com/south-florida/news/commercial-real-estate/smart-glass-technologies-studiob-112919

About Smart Glass Technologies

Founded in 2018, Smart Glass Technologies is an exclusive dealer for Smart Glass Group, the fastest growing manufacturer of switchable privacy Smart Film and Smart Glass in the North American market. With the widest variety of design options and superior quality switchable privacy glass, Smart Glass Technologies is a global leader in self-adhesive PDLC film (Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystal) and photochromic self-tinting window technology. Learn more at: www.SmartGlassTech.us.

Media Contact:

William Vasile Turcan

+1(786) 472-6712

[email protected]

SOURCE Smart Glass Technologies
Rise in number of hospitals, surge in investments in OR equipment, and increase in patient preference for minimally invasive surgeries drive the growth of the global operating room equipment market.

PORTLAND, Ore., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Operating Room Equipment Market By Type (Anesthesia Machines, Electrosurgical Devices, Multi-parameter Patient Monitors, Surgical Imaging Devices, Operating Tables, Operating Room Lights, Surgical Navigation Systems), By End User (Hospitals, Outpatient Facilities, Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs)): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2030." According to the report, the global operating room equipment industry generated $16.4 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach $27.4 billion by 2030, witnessing a CAGR of 5.3% from 2021 to 2030.

Download Sample PDF at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/4237

Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities

Rise in number of hospitals, surge in investments in operating room (OR) equipment, and increase in patient preference for minimally invasive surgeries drive the growth of the global operating room equipment market. However, high costs associated with OR equipment and unfavorable healthcare reforms in some countries hinder the market growth. On the other hand, regulatory approvals for different OR equipment and untapped potential in emerging countries create new opportunities in the coming years.

Covid-19 Scenario

The demand for operating room equipment increased considerably during the Covid-19 pandemic, due to rise in Covid-infected patients requiring ventilator support and anesthesia.

In addition, operations performed in operating rooms increased during the pandemic, which, in turn, raised the demand for operating room equipment in hospitals and clinics.

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The operating tables segment to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period

Based on type, the operating tables segment accounted for the highest market share in 2020, contributing to nearly one-third of the global operating room equipment market, and is expected to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. This is due to surge in number of surgical procedures and surge in patient preference for minimally invasive surgeries. However, the multi-parameter patient monitors segment is estimated to witness the largest CAGR of 6.9% from 2021 to 2030, owing to rise in incidence of chronic diseases and increase in number of surgical procedures.

The hospitals segment to maintain its lead position throughout the forecast period

Based on end user, the hospitals segment contributed the highest market share in 2020, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global operating room equipment market, and is expected to maintain its lead position throughout the forecast period. This is attributed to large number of patients visiting hospitals for treatments regarding neurological, cardiovascular, and orthopedic disorders. However, the ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) segment is expected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 6.5% from 2021 to 2030, owing to untapped potential of emerging countries and technological advancements in OR equipment.

North America to maintain its dominance in terms of revenue by 2030

Based on region, North America held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2020, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global operating room equipment market, and is expected to maintain its dominance in terms of revenue by 2030. This is due to significant rise in investments and increase in number of partnerships and acquisitions. However, Asia-Pacific is estimated to register the fastest CAGR of 6.1% during the forecast period, owing to Increase in demand for OR equipment and surge in awareness about minimally invasive procedures in the region.

Leading Market Players

Steris Corporation

Stryker Corporation

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Getinge Group

Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.

Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA

General Electric Company

Medtronic, Plc.

Mizuho SOI

Karl Storz GmbH & Co. Kg.

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"We have also published few syndicated market studies in the similar area that might be of your interest. Below are the report title for your reference, considering Impact of Covid-19 Over This Market which will help you to assess aftereffects of pandemic on short-term and long-term growth trends of this market."

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Pawan Kumar, the CEO of Allied Market Research, is leading the organization toward providing high-quality data and insights. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
The school's marketing team was recognized internationally for its video production.

MIDLAND, Pa., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Creativity is reaping rewards across the nation for the PA Cyber marketing team.

This month, the school's marketing team received international recognition in two awards programs for creative excellence in its video work. The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA) awarded PA Cyber five of its highest honors in the 28th annual Communicator Awards, while the 43rd annual Telly Awards recognized the school with two Silver Tellys and three Bronze Tellys.

PA Cyber was recognized with 5 Award of Excellence awards from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts in the 28th annual Communicator Awards.

With more than 4,000 entries received from across the U.S. and around the world, the Communicator Awards is one of the largest and most competitive award programs for marketing and communications professionals. The annual competition honors the best digital, video, podcast, marketing, mobile and print work the industry has to offer. Other winners to receive this honor include Forbes, The Walt Disney Company Europe & Africa and Mattel.

This year, PA Cyber was recognized for two commercials, a documentary and a staff holiday video:

More than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents were received in the Telly Awards, the premier award honoring video and television across all screens.

This year, PA Cyber was recognized for a commercial and a documentary:

Moments in History - WWII Told by a Sailor

Silver Telly, Online General - History



Bronze Telly, Online General-Documentary: Individual

Innovation Delivered

Silver Telly, Regional TV General - Not-For-Profit



Bronze Telly, Regional TV Craft - Editing and Regional TV General - Schools/Colleges/Universities categories

"For a school marketing team to win such distinctions, it is truly an honor," said Scot Rutledge, director of marketing and communications for PA Cyber. "We strive to create communication that relates to our students while also educating the public on the importance of school choice. We are humbled and honored to receive accolades from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts [AIVA] and the Telly Awards."

The Communicator Awards are judged by the AIVA, an assembly of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media. Please visit communicatorawards.com to view the full winners list.

The Telly Awards are judged by an industry body of more than 200 leading experts, including advertising agencies, production companies and major television networks. To view a full winners list, visit www.tellyawards.com/winners.

About PA Cyber

Serving students in kindergarten through 12th grade, the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School (PA Cyber) is one of the largest, most experienced, and most successful online public schools in the nation. PA Cyber's online learning environments, personalized instruction methods, and choices of curricula connect Pennsylvania students and their families with state-certified and highly qualified teachers and rich academic content that is aligned to state standards. Founded in 2000, PA Cyber is headquartered in Midland (Beaver County) and maintains a network of support offices throughout the state. As a public school, PA Cyber is open for enrollment by any school-age child residing in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and does not charge tuition to students or families.

Media Contact: Jennie Harris

[email protected]

724-313-5842

SOURCE The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School (PA Cyber)
WAPATO, Wash., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pace International, a leading provider of sustainable postharvest solutions and technologies for the fresh produce industry, is pleased to welcome its newest Pacific Northwest Account Manager, Garrett Babst.

As an Account Manager, Babst will work directly with customers to ensure satisfaction, meet and exceed budgeted sales revenue goals, and pull Pace products through distribution. He will be based in Wenatchee, Washington and serve the greater Yakima, Washington region, and Canada.

"We're pleased to have Garrett join us at Pace International," said Marcelo Masoero, Senior Global Sales Director, Pace International. "His knowledge and extensive experience in the agriculture industry is unparalleled and will help us achieve our goal to provide exceptional service that results in greater efficiencies and higher packouts."

Most recently, Babst served as the Packaging Sales Manager at Northwest Wholesale Inc., after being promoted from Sales Representative. Over the course of his career, he gained experience throughout the agriculture industry as a Sales Representative and Account Manager with Decco, Fruit Packer Supply and AgroFresh.

"Garrett is a proven sales professional with exceptional account management experience. Throughout his career, he has established strong customer partnerships that have led to an outstanding track record of delivering business results. We are thrilled to add his expertise to our roster at Pace, where we deliver the best solutions to help each customer achieve their goals," added Masoero.

About Pace International LLC

Pace International LLC is a subsidiary of Valent BioSciences LLC, a Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. business. Pace collaborates with growers, packers and agricultural organizations to develop innovative solutions to enhance, protect, and preserve fruit and vegetable quality and freshness. Pace is the leading global provider of sustainable postharvest solutions and technologies, equipment and technical services to maximize efficiencies in packing operations and increase the freshness and value of harvested crops. For more information, visit the company's website at paceint.com .

About Valent Biosciences LLC

Headquartered in Libertyville, Illinois, Valent BioSciences LLC is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. Valent BioSciences is the worldwide leader in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of biorational products, with sales in 95 countries around the world. Valent BioSciences is an ISO 9001 Certified Company. For additional information, visit the company's website at valentbiosciences.com .

SOURCE Pace International
According to survey results, an impressive 90% of Paradigm employees said the organization is a great place to work. Tweet this

Great Place to Work Certification is an employer-of-choice recognition program based exclusively on employee reporting of workplace experience and trust. This highly regarded certification is recognized worldwide by organizations as a benchmark for identifying and recognizing the top tier workplace cultures. During the extensive process, organizations are assessed on various categories including credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie.

"It's incredibly gratifying for Paradigm to be recognized thanks to the advocacy of our own team members," said Karen Jones, Chief Human Resources Officer, Paradigm. "It is a clear affirmation of our commitment to a supportive, caring, and collaborative company culture. Building a diverse team dedicated to meaningful, people-focused work is what has enabled Paradigm to achieve truly life-changing results for 30 years and counting."

According to research conducted by Great Place to Work, compared to national averages, employees working at a Certified company are:

93% more likely to look forward to coming to work

4.5 times more likely to find leadership they consider great, and

2 times as likely to be paid fairly.

Learn about the people-focused culture and opportunities for meaningful work at Paradigm.

About Paradigm

Paradigm is an accountable specialty care management organization focused on improving the lives of people with complex and catastrophic injuries and diagnoses. The company has been a pioneer in value-based care since 1991 and has an exceptional track record of generating the very best outcomes for patients, payers, and providers. Deep clinical expertise is the foundation for every part of Paradigm's business, including its risk-based clinical solutions, case management services, high-value specialty networks, home health, and payment integrity programs.

Paradigm is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, with offices across the U.S. For more information, please visit www.paradigmcorp.com.

Media Contact

Ronda Clement

VP of Marketing

[email protected]

(727) 488-9345

SOURCE Paradigm
Pathfinder Ventures owns Pathfinder Camp Resorts Agassiz-Harrison and Pathfinder Camp Resorts Parksville, while also owning the contract to operate Fort Camping in Fort Langley. The total amount of bookable sites between all three resorts, including hard-roofed accommodations, is 324 sites. Pathfinder also owns 10 mobile home lots at its Vancouver Island location that have been at 100% occupancy since acquiring them in Winter 2020.

Fully Operational May Long Weekend

Victoria Day long weekend is the unofficial kick off to summer camping. This is Pathfinder's first Victoria Day long weekend with all three of its parks in full operation. "We are excited to see all of our parks at maximum capacity this May long weekend. This is a great sign of things to come for our summer business," says Stan Duckworth, COO at Pathfinder Ventures.

Opening USA Border Bears No Impact

This is the first Victoria Day long weekend since 2019 where Canadians have had the chance to travel across the border and camp elsewhere. Pathfinder's Founder & CEO, Joe Bleackley says, "the fact that people have the option to travel south this May but have still chosen to stay with our resort speaks to the quality and value we are providing our guestsand the strong reputation we plan to maintain and build through the summer and beyond."

About Pathfinder Ventures

Pathfinder Ventures Inc. is developing a network of premier branded, upscale and family-friendly RV parks and campgrounds under the "Pathfinder Camp Resorts" name. Pathfinder currently has three camp resorts located in B.C. and is focused on growing its network through both acquisitions and new construction. The Corporation is taking advantage of the rapidly growing market of Canadians who want to experience the great outdoors in an RV.

On behalf of the board of directors of the Corporation:

Joe Bleackley

Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Director

Pathfinder Ventures Inc.

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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Forward-Looking Information Cautionary Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the future operations of the Corporation and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of the Corporation, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Corporation's expectations include risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Corporation with securities regulations.

The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Corporation. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any forward-looking statements that are contained or incorporated in this press release.

In the case of RV, this news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are particular to RV and are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe RV's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that RV or its management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to RV, RV provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, RV's objectives, goals or future plans, statements, its projected revenues and earnings, and anticipated future growth in new markets. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, the ability of the RV to successfully implement its development strategy and whether this will yield the expected benefits; competitive factors in RV's industry sector; the success or failure of product development programs; currently existing applicable laws and regulations or future applicable laws and regulations that may affect RV' s business; decisions of regulatory authorities and the timing thereof; Covid-19 related risks, availability of properties; the economic circumstances surrounding RV's business, including general economic conditions in Canada, the US and worldwide; changes in exchange rates; changes in the equity market; inflation; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; and those other risks disclosed in the filing statement or other disclosure document prepared and supplied on sedar. Although RV believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. RV disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

SOURCE Pathfinder Ventures Inc.
A new tour, Top of the Tower Tour, is a guided tour that includes access to the historic Operations Building, the Firehouse Exhibit, and an elevator ride to the upper cab of the control tower  the pinnacle of the tour with 360-degree views of the Pearl Harbor aviation battlefield from 168 feet high. Historic videos and pictures in the upper cab show the impact and aftermath of the attack that gives a new understanding of the "day which will live in infamy."

The bottom of the Operations Building is anchored by the Preserving our National Treasure exhibit, researched and fabricated by U-Haul, which explores the history of the building and tower in WWII and beyond. The exhibit also shares the WWII story of U-Haul founders, L.S. "Sam" and Anna Mary Carty Shoen, a family story of service and ingenuity.

"The Ford Island Control Tower stands as a symbol of resilience and peace, standing watch over this hallowed ground," said Elissa Lines, Executive Director of Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. "It's time for the world to witness Pearl Harbor from an aerial perspective."

The Ford Island Control Tower officially opens for operations on May 30, 2022, in honor of Memorial Day. The restoration process began in 2012 and cost more than $7 million to date. Spanning 10 years, the effort included: restoring historic windows and walls, replacing 53 tons of steel in the tower itself to stabilize the structure, and updating ceiling, flooring, electrical conduits, lighting, restrooms, and office space. Air conditioning was also added.

The latest stage to be completed, the refurbishment of the historic elevator, provides access from the ground floor to the upper control cab. With funding from the Schoen family of U-Haul and mechanical expertise from Otis Elevator Company, the elevator lift system was repaired and updated as needed to both preserve the historic elements of the 1940s era equipment and ensure safe operations. The elevator will allow visitors to ascend 15 stories to the upper cab exhibit and observation deck. A final project, restoration of remaining exterior windows, is slated for later this year.

"From the tower, it's easy to imagine the thunderous rain of bombs and bullets coming down, erupting in fire, chaos, and death," says Rod Bengston, Director of Exhibits, Restoration, and Curatorial Services. "Now, however, visitors will also be able to grasp a sense of peace and tranquility that comes from the historic view."

According to Bengston, designer of the exhibit in the upper control cab, the following sites can be seen from the tower:

Battleship Row, where eight U.S. Navy battleships (USS Arizona , USS Oklahoma , USS West Virginia , USS California , USS Nevada , USS Tennessee , USS Maryland , and USS Pennsylvania ) were bombed and damaged, with four sunken;

, USS , USS , USS , USS , USS , USS , and USS ) were bombed and damaged, with four sunken; Military bases and airfields at Hickam, Wheeler, Bellows, Ewa , Schofield, and Kaneohe , where 188 U.S. military aircrafts were bombed;

, Schofield, and , where 188 U.S. military aircrafts were bombed; Ewa Plains, where the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service initiated the attack;

Hospital Point, where the USS Nevada was beached;

was beached; The Ford Island runway, surrounding shipyards, and historic buildings

The Pearl Harbor National Memorial featuring the USS Arizona Memorial, as well as the Battleship Missouri Memorial, and the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum.

Funding for the multi-phase, decade-long restoration of the Ford Island Control Tower was powered by generous donations from the State of Hawaii, Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust, Freeman Foundation, Historic Hawaii Foundation, James Gorman Family Foundation, OFS Brands, Dave Lau and Sharon Elske, Alexander "Sandy" Gaston, Robert A. and Susan C. Wilson Foundation, The R.K. Mellon Family Foundation, CDR and Mrs. Edward P. Keough, Larry and Suzanne Turley, and the U.S. Department of Defense, and many other individuals and corporations.

For tickets and information, visit www.pearlharboraviationmuseum.org or call (808) 441-1000. Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Complimentary access to the Museum is via the shuttles that run every 15 minutes from the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center at 1 Arizona Memorial Place.

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum is located on America's WWII aviation battlefield, one of the few places in our country's nearly 250-year history where America was attacked by a foreign enemy on its own soil. From the strafing marks on our grounds to the incredible views of the most famous battleship in American history, the view from the tower is not to be missed.

Click here for photos, video, logo, and b-roll.

ABOUT PEARL HARBOR AVIATION MUSEUM

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum is located on Historic Ford Island, where bombs fell during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Walk the Pearl Harbor battlefield where the attack began, enter the bullet-scarred hangars, and see the control tower and aircraft of the battle, including a Japanese Zero and the B-17 Swamp Ghost. Hear the stories of World War II heroes and their response to the attack that changed our nation and world. Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum's mission is to steward America's first World War II aviation battlefield. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that depends on membership, volunteers, and donations for support. To join, volunteer or support, visit www.PearlHarborAviationMuseum.org.

SOURCE Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum
Ariel Rivera advocates for long-term reauthorization with key reforms, including greater transparency in Risk Rating 2.0

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) needs a long-term reauthorization and key reforms, according to testimony provided on May 25 before the House Financial Services Committee by the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA).

Testifying on behalf of PIA was Ariel Rivera, founder and agency principal of Deer Insurance Agency, an independent insurance agency located in Jacksonville, Florida. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Rivera has over 18 years of experience in the industry and currently sells flood insurance both through the NFIP and the private market. He also serves as Secretary of the national PIA.

Rivera addressed a broad range of issues regarding the flood program, including PIA's support of Risk Rating (RR) 2.0; the NFIP's need for a long-term reauthorization; the importance of a continuous coverage provision; the benefits of creating an affordability framework; and the need for greater rate transparency.

Risk Rating 2.0

PIA strongly supports RR 2.0 because it will make the NFIP more solvent while also providing policyholders with more accurate information about their properties' flood risk. With better information, we hope property owners will learn more about their risk of flood, engage in mitigation efforts where needed, and, ultimately, purchase flood insurance that matches their risk.

However, Rivera said, the RR 2.0 system lacks sufficient transparency.

"The rating engine was designed to take in data from agents and produce a rate, so the system does not show how it arrives at a particular rate," he said. "Agents cannot see what effect any single data point has, making it nearly impossible for them to walk policyholders through the system's process of building an increased rate. Policyholders deserve to understand how their data is being used to calculate their premiums, whether mitigation efforts could change those premiums, and how existing mitigation efforts are accounted for in the new system.

"Independent agents are the face of the NFIP, and our expertise and personal attention to our clients are vital assets to the program. The lack of transparency in the rating engine makes our work harder because it leaves us with frustrated clients and incomplete information. Better information about how rates are produced would help us maintain the level of service we are accustomed to providing and would improve the customer experience. Increased transparency will lead to an increase in the flood insurance take-up rate all over the country, which will further strengthen the NFIP."

Long-Term Reauthorization

The program's most recent five-year reauthorization expired on September 30, 2017, nearly five years ago. Leading up to that deadline, Congress was unable to agree on reforms to the program. As a result, the NFIP briefly lapsed three times within a three-week period in early 2018. Since the 2017 deadline, the NFIP has been subject to around 20 extensions of varying lengths, and its current extension will expire on September 30, 2022.

"The series of short-term extensions over the last five years has been extremely disruptive for everyone associated with the NFIP, including policyholders," Rivera said. "Even if the program does not lapse, the federal government and every facet of the insurance industry incurs costs associated with preparing for a lapse as the NFIP's next expiration date approaches."

Continuous Coverage

Rivera noted that the inclusion of a continuous coverage provision in any reauthorization is one of PIA's top priorities. Continuous coverage would allow policyholders to move between the private market and the NFIP without penalty. "We were gratified to witness the bipartisan support this provision garnered in the 2019 committee vote and appreciate its inclusion in the draft legislative text associated with today's hearing."

A Robust Affordability Framework

PIA stated that, to increase the take-up rate, particularly in high-risk areas, the NFIP needs an affordability framework with means testing to ensure that flood insurance is not out of reach for those who need it most. PIA is committed to the creation of an affordability framework to ensure that existing NFIP policyholders are not priced out of their homes as their rates increase along the glide path toward full risk.

"Because agents are in regular communication with existing and prospective policyholders, they are already seeing the effects of RR 2.0 increases in some of the communities they serve," Rivera testified.

Greater Rate Transparency

Consumers and agents need more information about how the new methodology's rating factors combine to calculate NFIP premiums, especially in the context of mitigation efforts. Reauthorization should include provisions demanding greater rate transparency from FEMA, including information about how the rating engine builds a rate and how rating factors may be used to increase or decrease a rate. Everyone invested in the future of the NFIP would benefit from understanding how the system is intended to work.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez's National Flood Insurance Program Administrative Reform Act of 2022 includes provisions that would strengthen disclosure requirements for NFIP policies, and PIA supports these provisions.

Agent Advisory Council

PIA also advocated for the creation of an Agent Advisory Council housed within FEMA, but independent of the agency, which could provide FEMA with agents' recommendations to enhance the customer experience.

In conclusion, PIA's Rivera urged Congress to work toward a long-term NFIP reauthorization that will attract and retain policyholders and provide everyone associated with the program the certainty they need to remain in the business of flood insurance.

"We support the NFIP because it provides critical flood coverage to residential and commercial property owners, and we support Risk Rating 2.0 because it provides property owners with a more accurate estimate of their flood risk than was previously available to them," said Rivera. "This additional information will help property owners make sound decisions about how to protect their investments. Plus, the progress toward risk-based rates will enable the NFIP to rebuild its long-term financial stability for the first time in nearly twenty years."

Complete PIA Testimony

Founded in 1931, PIA is a national trade association that represents member insurance agents and their employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance but specialize in coverage of automobiles, homes, and businesses. PIA's web address is www.pianational.org.

SOURCE National Association of Professional Insurance Agents
ALLENTOWN, Pa., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) will host a virtual Investor Day on June 9 beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the company's business strategy and long-term financial outlook. The event follows completion of PPL's strategic repositioning today with the company successfully closing on its acquisition of The Narragansett Electric Company.

During the Investory Day, management will review PPL's overall strategy, clean energy strategy, capital investment plans, and plans to achieve competitive long-term earnings per share and dividend growth while maintaining one of the strongest balance sheets in the U.S. utility sector.

Investors and analysts may access the event through the Investor Relations section of the company's website at https://pplweb.investorroom.com. The accompanying slides will be posted along with the webcast and will be made available prior to the start of the event. A replay of the event will also be available on the Investor Relations section of the company's website within 24 hours after the event concludes.

About PPL Corporation

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL), based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is a leading U.S. energy company focused on providing electricity and natural gas safely, reliably and affordably to 3.5 million customers in the U.S. PPL's high-performing, award-winning utilities are addressing energy challenges head-on by building smarter, more resilient and more dynamic power grids and advancing sustainable energy solutions. For more information, visit www.pplweb.com.

Note to Editors: Visit our media website at www.pplnewsroom.com for additional news about PPL Corporation.

Contacts: For news media: Ryan Hill, 610-774-5997

For financial analysts: Andy Ludwig, 610-774-3389

SOURCE PPL Corporation
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quad-C Management ("Quad-C"), a leading middle market private equity fund, announced the final close of its latest fund, Quad-C Partners X, L.P. Fund X wrapped up with total commitments of approximately $1.7 billion, compared to $1.1 billion for Fund IX.

Quad-C is grateful to have had strong support from its existing investor base and welcomes several high-quality new domestic and international limited partners to Fund X. As has been a tradition since its early days, Quad-C is fortunate to have had over $115 million of Fund X's capital committed by individual investors, with nearly $70 million coming from owners and managers of current and former Quad-C portfolio companies. Fund X will be invested by a growing team of 23 investment professionals, supported by an exceptional administrative and accounting staff.

Similar to Quad-C's prior funds, Fund X will invest in leading middle market companies in partnership with owners and managers with enterprise values between $100 million and $500 million. As evidence of our continued focus on founder owner recaps in the middle market, 16 of the 27 platform investments in Funds VIII and IX were companies in which Quad-C was the first institutional investor. All deals had significant rollover investments by the management teams and founders and fell into Quad-C's targeted industry verticals. Fund X is currently 20.6% invested.

Ropes & Gray LLP advised Quad-C on the fundraise. The firm did not work with a placement agent.

ABOUT QUAD-C

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, Quad-C is a middle market private equity firm focused on investing in well-established business and consumer services, food and beverage and consumer products, healthcare, industrials, specialty distribution and transportation/logistics companies. Over its long history, Quad-C has invested approximately $4 billion in more than 75 companies. The Quad-C team is committed to partnering with entrepreneurs and management teams to accelerate growth and create long-term value. www.quadcmanagement.com

SOURCE Quad-C Management, Inc.
STOCKHOLM, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Annual General Meeting 2022 of RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ) was held only through postal voting in accordance with temporary legislation. The following resolutions were adopted.

It was resolved to re-elect Carl Filip Bergendal, Johan Lof, Britta Wallgren, Hans Wigzell, Lars Wollung and Johanna Oberg as Board members of the company and to re-elect Lars Wollung as chairman of the Board.

The Annual General Meeting adopted the balance sheets and income statements and discharged the members of the Board and the CEO from liability. It was resolved that the accumulated profit, amounting to SEK 139,190,000 be brought forward and balanced in the new accounts.

It was resolved that remuneration to Board members who do not receive a salary from any Group company, shall amount to SEK 840,000 to the chairman of the board and SEK 300,000 to each of the other Board members elected by the general meeting and that SEK 100,000 shall be paid to each of the members of the audit committee.

It was resolved that the auditor's fees be paid in accordance with approved invoicing and to re-elect the auditing firm Ernst & Young as auditor.

The Annual General Meeting also approved the Board's remuneration report for 2021.

More information and complete documentation relating to the Annual General Meeting is available at www.raysearchlabs.com.

CONTACT:

For more information, please contact:

Johan Lof, founder and CEO, RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ)

Telephone: +46 (0) 8 510 530 00

[email protected]

Bjorn Hardemark, interim CFO, RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ)

Telephone: +46 (0) 709 564 217

[email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/raysearch-laboratories/r/bulletin-from-the-annual-general-meeting-2022,c3574387

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/1102/3574387/1584651.pdf RaySearch Press Release May 25, 2022

SOURCE RaySearch Laboratories
Within days of consuming Jif Peanut Butter, Mr. Agnew suffered from painful abdominal cramps, diarrhea, headaches, and fatigue, all symptoms of salmonellosis. He was forced to seek significant medical treatment, including being hospitalized for six days, before doctors confirmed that he had contracted salmonella poisoning. He is still recovering from his illness.

State health officials interviewed Mr. Agnew and determined that he was part of the Jif Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak.

J.M. Smucker Company has recalled all jars of Jif peanut butter with lot codes 1274425  2140425. Lot codes are found alongside the best-if-used-by date on each jar.

Ron Simon & Associates Prosecuting the Jif Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak

Food safety attorney Ron Simon has been a national leader in food safety litigation, having represented thousands of salmonella victims, including the victims of the two recent nationwide peanut butter salmonella outbreaks. These include the ConAgra Foods Inc. Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter outbreak in 2006-2007 and the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) outbreak in 2008-2009, which was responsible for nine deaths and over 700 illnesses. The PCA outbreak also led to a 28 year prison sentence for the CEO of Peanut Corporation of America.

In both outbreaks, Mr. Simon's clients were compensated for their injuries with settlements totaling millions of dollars.

Peanut Butter Salmonella Claim Center Established

Mr. Simon and his law firm have established a Peanut Butter Salmonella Claim Center to assist victims in the J.M. Smucker Company Jif Peanut Butter Outbreak. The Salmonella Claim Center can be reached toll-free at 1-888-335-4901 or online at https://ronsimonassociates.com/.

About Ron Simon & Associates

Over the last 25 years, Ron Simon and his colleagues have prosecuted thousands of food poisoning cases for victims across the United States. His work has resulted in numerous upgrades to food safety procedures in Fortune 500 companies and in legislation designed to protect consumers from dangerous foodborne pathogens.

Mr. Simon and his clients have been featured on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and virtually all other major television networks and print media. Mr. Simon and his firm have collected over $750,000,000 for their clients. He regularly publishes articles about food safety and litigation at www.foodpoisoningnews.com which are read by viewers in over 180 countries.

More information about salmonella is available at https://www.ronsimonassociates.com/foodpoisoning/salmonella-lawsuit/.

CONTACT: Anthony Coveny, 281-851-9343, [email protected]

SOURCE Ron Simon & Associates
"Guardian's vision is to challenge the status quo in every way, rejecting the model of disposable, unsafe kids bikes. We make the safest bikes, ones kids LOVE to ride, built with unmatched quality and safety standards."

Guardian Bikes is a fast-growing startup backed by investor Mark Cuban. Yet with 6-12 month lead times, the current bicycle supply chain cannot keep up with its rapid growth.

In April 2020, Cuban challenged Guardian CEO Brian Riley to develop a new type of bike factory utilizing robotic automation in the United States.

"Guardian Bikes mission is to make the safest kids bikes, sold direct to customers' door, with an incredible customer experience. We do that through first principles innovation across a variety of areas from our patented award winning SureStop brake system, to our RideSizer software, to our proprietary packaging and 99% assembled home delivery. Our next step is our biggest innovation yet, a highly automated factory right here in the U.S.A." , founder and CEO Brian Riley has said.

Guardian Bikes has chosen Sam Markel to lead its U.S. facility. "The Midwest has a deep history of automotive manufacturing that we will leverage to bring innovation into our new facility in Indiana. We are creating the sourcing, operations, and manufacturing leaders in the region that will excel Guardian's growth path," Markel says.

In addition to the investment in the local economy, moving to the USA will have a significant impact on its carbon footprint. Each container's journey to the USA emits about as much C02 as an average passenger vehicle emits over a year.

Its first semi-automated USA assembly run bagan May 2022 for their newest product, the 12" Guardian Balance Bike , with all other Guardian Bikes to begin in August.

More details about the factory build out can be found at guardianbikes.com .

About Guardian Bikes

In 2007, Brian Riley's grandfather had a head-over-handlebar accident after grabbing his front brake too hard, resulting in several broken vertebrae. Riley was inspired to develop something for bikes to eliminate the possibility of head-over-handlebar accidents. In 2013, the award-winning invention, SureStop brakes, were brought to market. In 2017, Guardian Bikes with SureStop brakes were introduced to America by landing a deal on Shark Tank with entrepreneur Mark Cuban. In 2022, Guardian Bikes are in homes all across America and its 99% accurate RideSizer tool has been used by hundreds of thousands.

SOURCE Guardian Bikes
Joe joined Sharp in March 2021. He is responsible for all aspects of the SBS direct sales division of SIICA, including sales, service, operations, and administration. Joe's leadership has made an immediate impact in leading Sharp's U.S. branches to significant revenue and profit growth, helping them to innovate and drive go-to market strategies. Additionally, Joe and his team work regularly with nonprofit organizations in New Jersey, including local chamber and education boards.

The 2022 NJBIZ ICON Awards recognize leaders over the age of 60 in industries such as accounting, health care, education, financial services, technology, commercial real estate and more for work throughout their careers  not just in their respective fields, but in the state's larger business community as well.

"We are thrilled that Joe O'Malley has received this distinguished award from NJBIZ," said Mike Marusic, President and CEO, Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America. "This well-deserved achievement validates Joe's outstanding leadership skills and success that he's brought to Sharp over the past year, as well as his unwavering commitment to our local community."

The list was officially announced on May 18 on the NJBIZ website and the honoree event will take place in Somerset, NJ on June 28.

About Sharp Electronics Corporation

Sharp Electronics Corporation is the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Sharp Corporation. Sharp is a worldwide developer of one-of-a-kind home appliances, networked multifunctional office solutions, professional displays, and smart office technologies. Sharp has been named to Fortune magazine's 2020 and 2022 World's Most Admired Companies List, ranking the world's most respected and reputable companies. Sharp's headquarters in Montvale, NJ has been named a "Best Places to Work in NJ 2021" by NJBIZ, a leading New Jersey business publication.

About Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America

Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America, a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation. markets Sharp's Simply Smarter business products and solutions, such as professional displays, laptops, desktop monitors and a full suite of copier and printer solutions, that can help companies manage workflow efficiently and increase productivity so they can work smarter. SIICA markets its products through a vast network of independent dealerships as well as its through its direct sales division Sharp Business Systems (SBS). By accelerating collaboration, improving efficiencies, digitizing workflows, and increasing information security, Sharp strives to help businesses achieve Simply Smarter work through technology that is smart and easy to use. For more information on Sharp's business products, visit our website at business.sharpusa.com.

Become a fan of Sharp business products on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram and watch us on YouTube .

Peppercomm for Sharp

Paul Merchan

212.931.6172

[email protected]

SOURCE Sharp Electronics Corporation
WACO, Texas, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In late 2021, Turner and his wife, then UBS broker Stephanie L. Turner, joined Stifel, Nicolaus, & Co. She is still with that firm although Robert left after just several months in early 2022. (While at UBS, the two of them reportedly oversaw $900M in customer assets and made about $3M in yearly revenue.)

In April 2022, UBS filed a lawsuit against Robert Turner accusing him of allegedly defrauding nearly two dozen investors of more than $17M. The firm, which said that it has already paid $5.7M to three of its clients related to this alleged scheme, wants the Turners to pay the rest. UBS also filed a FINRA arbitration case against Robert Turner.

SSEK Law Firm represents investors against the broker-dealer and/or their financial advisor whose negligence, misconduct, or failure to supervise allowed their customers to become the victims of investment scams. If you are a former customer of UBS broker Robert Turner who sustained losses and you would like to find out whether you may have grounds for a FINRA arbitration claim, call our broker-dealer negligence lawyers at (800) 259-9010 today.

Alleged Investor Scam Went On For Over Two Decades, Claims UBS

In its lawsuit, UBS contends that Robert Turner and a friend from college, Mark Woodward, solicited customers with whom he had personal or familial ties and persuaded a number of them to invest in their alleged "sham" company Fairfax Financial Corporation.

UBS contends that Turner engaged in selling away, which means he sold this investment without the firm's approval or authorization. But that doesn't mean the brokerage firm has no alleged liability in its former financial advisor's alleged misconduct.

Broker-dealers have a duty to not only properly supervise their registered representatives but also to prevent, identify, or stop financial advisor misconduct from happening while protecting their clients' assets.

Seasoned Broker Misconduct Lawyers Representing Investors Against UBS

Over the years, SSEK Law Firm has gone up against UBS on behalf of investors who have been bilked by their financial advisors. We have obtained damages for them. Please contact our broker misconduct attorneys today.

Throughout the US, call SSEK Law Firm at (800) 259-9010. In Texas, call (713) 227-2400 in Houston or (214) 613-5306 in Dallas.

Media Contact:

Mathew Brown-Watson

[email protected]

SOURCE Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Below is a statement by United States Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran on today's shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas:

"Just over a week ago 10 people were killed in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York; today 14 children and a teacher were killed in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. What will it be next week?

"The nation's mayors stand with Mayor Don McLaughlin at this difficult time. We send our condolences to the families of the children and the teacher who were killed. We cannot begin to understand their grief or that of the entire Uvalde community. We hope that those who were injured will recover and that the residents of Uvalde and all those affected by this tragedy will soon be able to begin the healing process.

"Mayors have tried to pass municipal ordinances to make their cities safer, but in many cases their efforts have been thwarted by their state legislature and their governor. Texas, like many states, has made it easier for residents to buy and carry guns. We call on Texas and all states to pass common sense gun legislation to protect their residents, especially our children.

"We've said it before and we'll say it again, this should not be happening in our country. What is it going to take for Congress to do something about it? How many young children  babies  must be murdered? Bipartisan gun safety legislation that could help to prevent such shootings was passed by the House of Representatives over a year ago and remains stalled in the Senate. The Senate must take up this legislation and pass it now."

About the United States Conference of Mayors -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are more than 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

SOURCE U.S. Conference of Mayors
Revenue growth was due to an increase in sales in Strauss Coffee, the Health & Wellness segment and Strauss Water; operating profit decline was largely due to the recall incident in the Confectionery Division and the adjustment plan at Sabra's manufacturing plant

PETAH TIKVA, Israel, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This morning, Strauss Group (TASE: STRS) published its financial statements for the first quarter of 2022, which were materially impacted by the Confectionery Division recall made by the Company at the end of April2. The Company reported approximately NIS 2.2 billion in revenue, reflecting approximately 11.5% organic growth excluding FX effects, but recorded an deterioration of approximately 64.7% in operating profit, which totaled approximately NIS 102 million, and a sharp decline of approximately 79.2% in net income attributable to shareholders, which amounted to approximately NIS 43 million in the quarter.

Strauss Group President & CEO, Giora Bardea, commented: "Along with growth in the Group's international coffee business, including a recovery in business activity in Ukraine, continued growth in the Group's water company in Israel and in China, and growth in all activities in Israel, the Group is dealing with complex challenges in Sabra and in the confectionery business in Israel. Strauss is a strong group that has experienced difficult times and crises in the past. Its resilience has always enabled it to not only exit these situations successfully, but to grow from them and emerge a better company. The challenge include operational, financial and marketing aspects. I am convinced that the resilience of our brands, finances and people will enable us to successfully overcome and return to activity and growth in the near term.

The process of restoring activities at the Nof Hagalil plant is fully underway. We are making every effort to complete this process well within the timeframe defined by the Ministry of Health, with the aim of resuming the production of our beloved confectionery brands as soon as possible.

At the same time, the Company continues to implement its work plans and to further its strategic priorities, with an emphasis on innovation in our activities in FoodTech through "The Kitchen Hub". In line with our strategy and after winning the tender for the establishment of a second FoodTech incubator, we are presently launching "The Kitchen Hub 2" with international partners. As of the date of the report, the fair value of the Group's holdings in the incubator companies is approximately NIS 412 million, compared to approximately NIS 149 million in the corresponding period last year."

Strauss Israel The impact of the recall in Q1 2022 was reflected in a decrease of approximately NIS 60 million in the Fun & Indulgence segment sales. The Health & Wellness segment, which includes, among others things, the dairies, Yad Mordechai and the Food Division, grew by approximately 4.8% to NIS 669 million. Total sales by Strauss Israel in the quarter, including the negative impact on the Confectionery Division, amounted to c. NIS 975 million, an increase of approximately 0.1% compared to the corresponding period last year, and an operating loss of approximately NIS 15 million.

Strauss Coffee benefited from a strong first quarter, with approximately 32.6% growth following increased sales by the International Coffee segment as well as the Israel Coffee segment, and operating profit increase of approximately. 7% to approximately. NIS 105 million. The coffee business in Brazil, Poland, Romania and Serbia experienced double-digit growth in the quarter in local currency, and the business in Israel grew by approximately 2.7%. Sales in Russia and Ukraine declined by approximately. 13.3% in local currency as a result of the war between the two countries. In March, business operations in Ukraine were partially resumed and have steadily increased in the second quarter.

Sabra, which produces and markets refrigerated dips and spreads in North America, concluded the first quarter with a drop of approximately 32.4% in sales, which amounted to approximately NIS 97 million (reflecting 50% ownership), and an operating loss of approximately NIS 15 million (50%) due to disruptions in its manufacturing operations arising from the plant's adjustment plan. As products were not supplied to the market, Sabra (leader of the hummus market in the US) lost market share, which declined from approximately 61.7% to 45.8% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the corresponding period last year. In the past few weeks, the company resumed partial production and sales. The company estimates that full production capacity will be restored in the second half of 2022 and estimates that the operating loss in the second quarter will amount to approximately USD 15 to 17 million (for 50% ownership), of which approximately USD 6 to 8 million is nonrecurring.

Strauss Water finished the first quarter with approximately NIS 183 million in revenue and an increase of approximately 7.5% compared to last year, due to growth in the customer base and sales of new appliances in Israel. The company's operating profit was approximately NIS 25 million, an increase of approximately 15.5% following sales growth in Israel and an improvement in net profit in the water company in China, which grew by approximately 47.6%.

In Q1 2022, two FoodTech incubator companies from "The Kitchen" completed funding rounds, following which the Group recognized a profit of approximately NIS 20 million. On March 31, 2022, the fair value of the investments in incubator investees was approximately NIS 412 million, compared to approximately NIS 149 million on March 31, 2021.

Non GAAP Figures (1)

First Quarter

2022 2021 Change Total Group Sales (NIS mm) 2,272 2,061 10.2% Organic Sales Growth excluding FX 11.5% -0.4%

Gross Profit (NIS mm) 662 812 -18.5% Gross Margins (%) 29.1% 39.4% -1030 bps EBITDA (NIS mm) 194 373 -48.2% EBITDA Margins (%) 8.5% 18.1% -960 bps EBIT (NIS mm) 102 289 -64.7% EBIT Margins (%) 4.5% 14.0% -950 bps Net Income Attributable to the Company's

Shareholders (NIS mm) 43 206 -79.2% Net Income Margin (Attributable to the

Company's Shareholders) (%) 1.9% 10.0% -810 bps EPS (NIS) 0.37 1.77 -79.2% Operating Cash Flow (NIS mm) -124 178 -169.8% Capex (NIS mm) (2) 77 63 22.2% Net debt (NIS mm) 2,107 1,843 14.3% Net debt / annual EBITDA 1.8x 1.4x 0.4x

(1) The data in this document are based on the company's non-GAAP figures, which include the proportionate consolidation of jointly controlled businesses and do not include share-based payment, mark-to-market at end-of-period of open positions in the Group in respect of financial derivatives used to hedge commodity prices and all adjustments necessary to delay recognition of gains and losses arising from commodity derivatives until the date when the inventory is sold to outside parties, other income and expenses, net, and the tax effect of excluding those items, unless stated otherwise.

(2) Investments include the acquisition of fixed assets, investment in intangible assets and proceeds from the sale of fixed assets.

Note: Financial data were rounded to NIS millions. Percentages changes were calculated on the basis of the exact figures in NIS thousands.

Financial data were rounded to NIS millions. Percentages changes were calculated on the basis of the exact figures in NIS thousands.

Non GAAP Figures (1)



First Quarter

Sales

(NIS mm) Sales

growth

vs. prior

year Organic

sales

growth

excluding

FX EBIT

(NIS

mm) NIS

Change

in EBIT %

Change

in EBIT EBIT

margins Change in

EBIT

margins vs.

2021 Sales and EBIT by Operating Segments and Activities









Strauss Israel:















Health & Wellness 669 4.8% 4.8% 82 6 7.2% 12.2% +20 bps Fun & Indulgence (2) 306 -8.8% -8.8% -97 -150 -285.9% -31.8% -4740 bps Total Strauss Israel 975 0.1% 0.1% -15 -144 -111.8% -1.6% -1480 bps

















Strauss Coffee:















Israel Coffee 215 2.7% 2.7% 47 -12 -19.4% 21.8% -600 bps International Coffee (2) 781 44.2% 49.1% 58 18 45.9% 7.5% +10 bps Total Strauss Coffee 996 32.6% 35.8% 105 6 6.9% 10.6% -250 bps

















International Dips & Spreads:













Sabra (50%) (2) 97 -32.4% -30.8% -15 -31 -194.9% -15.5% -2650 bps Obela (50%) (2) 21 -3.5% 5.1% -2 1 18.9% NM NM Total International Dips & Spreads 118 -28.6% -26.3% -17 -30 -226.1% -14.3% -2240 bps

















Strauss Water (2) 183 7.5% 7.7% 25 3 15.5% 13.8% +100 bps Other 0 NM NM 4 -22 -85.1% NM NM Total Group 2,272 10.2% 11.5% 102 -187 -64.7% 4.5% -950 bps

(1) The data in this document are based on the company's non-GAAP figures, which include the proportionate consolidation of jointly controlled businesses and do not include share-based payment, mark-to-market at end-of-period of open positions in the Group in respect of financial derivatives used to hedge commodity prices and all adjustments necessary to delay recognition of gains and losses arising from commodity derivatives until the date when the inventory is sold to outside parties, other income and expenses, net, and the tax effect of excluding those items, unless stated otherwise.

(2) Fun & Indulgence figures include Strauss's 50% share in the salty snacks business. International Coffee figures include Strauss's 50% share in the Tres Coracoes joint venture (3C)  Brazil  a company jointly held by the Group (50%) and by the local Sao Miguel Group (50%). International Dips & Spreads figures reflect Strauss's 50% share in Sabra and Obela. Strauss Water EBIT figures include Strauss's share in Haier Strauss Water (HSW) in China (49%).

Note: Financial data were rounded to NIS millions. Percentages changes were calculated on the basis of the exact figures in NIS thousands. Total figures for International Dips & Spreads were calculated on the basis of the exact figures for Sabra and Obela in NIS thousands.

Condensed financial accounting (GAAP) First Quarter

2022 2020 Change Sales 1,511 1,509 0.1% Cost of sales excluding impact of commodity hedges 1,054 878 20.1% Adjustments for commodity hedges (2) 1

Cost of sales 1,052 879 19.6% Gross profit 459 630 -27.2% % of sales 30.4% 41.7%

Selling and marketing expenses 324 321 1.0% General and administrative expenses 107 104 2.9% Total expenses 431 425 1.5% Share of profit of equity-accounted investees 45 *42 8.8% Share of profit (loss) of equity-accounted incubator investees 8 *26 -69.0% Operating profit before other expenses 81 273 -70.4% % of sales 5.4% 18.1%

Other income (expenses), net (28) 4

Operating profit after other expenses 53 277 -80.7% Financing expenses, net (14) 3 -513.3% Income before taxes on income 39 280 -86.1% Taxes on income (8) (59) -87.2% Effective tax rate 19.4% 21.1%

Income for the period 31 221 -85.8% Attributable to the Company's shareholders 14 203 -93.0% Attributable to non-controlling interests 17 18 -2.8%

Note: Financial data were rounded to NIS millions. Percentages changes were calculated on the basis of the exact figures in NIS thousands.

Conference Call

Strauss Group will host an investors' conference in Hebrew on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 at 14:30 (Israel time) with the participation of company management to review the financial statements of the company for the first quarter of 2022, at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, 2 Ahuzat Bayit St., Tel Aviv.

Strauss Group will also host a Zoom conference call in English on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 at 17:00 (Israel time) (15:00 UK, 10:00 EST) with the participation of company management to review the financial statements of the company for the first quarter of 2022.

Meeting URL: https://strauss-group.zoom.us/j/95210723518?pwd=NkdFaDBpL21oQXQ3YTZXeVFPQjlydz09 Meeting ID: 952 1072 3518 Password: 703713

A recording of the calls will subsequently be available on the company's website at:

https://ir.strauss-group.com/company-presentations/conference-call-recordings/

The financial statements of the company for the first quarter of 2022 and the presentation that will accompany the conferences will be available prior to the conference calls on the following websites:

http://www.tase.co.il

http://www.magna.isa.gov.il

http://ir.strauss-group.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=92539&p=irol-irhome

For further information, please contact :

Daniella Finn Director of Investor Relations Strauss Group Ltd. 972-54-426-2636 972-3-675-2545 [email protected] Osnat Golan VP Communications, Corporate Brand & Sustainability Strauss Group Ltd. 972-52-828-8111 972-3-675-2281 [email protected]



Shlomi Sheffer External Communications Director Strauss Group Ltd. 972-50-620-8000 972-3-675-6713

[email protected]



1 Organic growth, excluding foreign currency effects.

2 Since the recall incident occurred after the date of the statement of financial position, which, according to IFRS, necessitates adjustment, the Company adjusted its financial statements for Q1 2022 accordingly.

The data in this document are based on the company's non-GAAP figures, which include the proportionate consolidation of jointly controlled businesses and do not include share-based payment, mark-to-market at end-of-period of open positions in the Group in respect of financial derivatives used to hedge commodity prices and all adjustments necessary to delay recognition of gains and losses arising from commodity derivatives until the date when the inventory is sold to outside parties, other net income and expenses, and the tax effect of excluding those items, unless stated otherwise.

SOURCE Strauss Group Ltd.
New Research Shows One in Five US Jobs Supported by Ad Industry

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- New research validates the powerful impact of advertising in driving the US economy. A new study, commissioned by The Advertising Coalition and conducted by IHS Markit, found that advertising generated $7.1 trillion in sales activity and supported 28.5 million US jobs last year.

The study found that the total impact of advertising and its multiplier effects represented 18.5% of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and supported nearly one-fifth of all American jobs in 2020.

The Advertising Coalition

Further, those positive economic impacts were projected to continue to grow quickly, rising to $9.5 trillion in sales activity by 2026. This would support 31.9 million domestic jobs, increases of 34% in sales activity and 12% in jobs.

"This important study proves what we've known all along," said ANA CEO Bob Liodice. "The advertising industry is an engine of growth for the American economy and holds an unparalleled role across the country in sparking, sustaining, and stimulating economic activity that keeps our communities vital and dynamic."

The study was the first analysis of the economic impact of advertising by IHS Markit on behalf of The Advertising Coalition in seven years. The last research showed the industry driving $5.1 trillion in consumer sales and supporting 20 million US jobs in 2014.

The current study examined advertising spending in the U.S. and the cascade of contributions to the economy, such as advertising to stimulate sales, purchases of goods and services throughout the supply chain, and the re-spending of wages by employees in the advertising industry. The IHS Markit research was commissioned by The Advertising Coalition, an organization comprised of media companies and national trade associations representing advertising-centric members.

"Advertising is not a luxury, but an absolute necessity. Businesses large and small, national and local depend on advertising to communicate with consumers, drive sales and growth. The IHS study demonstrates what we have long known, that as businesses succeed and grow, so does the vibrant American economy," stated Steve Pacheco, President and CEO of the American Advertising Federation.

The research discovered every dollar of ad spending supported nearly $21 of sales, on average, and advertising helped generate $13.5 million of sales activity per minute. The study also found that for every million dollars spent on advertising, 83 American jobs were supported across a broad range of industries throughout the economy, with the average salary for jobs supported by advertising was $73,000, 12% above the national average.

"Advertising helps sustain the creation of quality journalism that keeps communities across America informed, healthy and vibrant," said David Chavern, President and CEO of the News Media Alliance. "Advertising is essential to continued access to quality news and information."

"Advertising drives economic growth - this simple fact has always been true. As the country continues to recover from the economic impacts of COVID, lawmakers must do everything they can to support this fragile recovery," remarked Marla Kaplowitz, President and CEO, 4A's.

"The recent study by IHS Markit clearly demonstrates the link between advertising and growth - and the link between the full deductibility of advertising as a business expense and same growth."

The study also examined the economic impact of changes to the tax treatment of advertising, with advertising expenditures currently fully deductible in the year they occur. The study looked at how proposals to allow 50% of advertising expenditures be deductible in the year they occur and the remaining 50% to be amortized over five and 10-year periods would have impacted economic activity in the years 2021-2026 had they been adopted in 2020.

Under a five-year amortization plan, 2.6 million jobs and more than $680 billion in sales activity would have been unrealized relative to the untaxed forecast in 2021. Under a 10-year amortization plan, in 2026 there would be 1.6 million jobs and $490 billion in sales activity that would go unrealized due to the change in tax treatment of advertising.

"America's broadcasters keep our communities and our economy strong by connecting consumers to the products and services they need, while helping local businesses grow," stated National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt. "As an integral part of the advertising industry, local radio and television stations strongly support policies that encourage businesses to advertise, which creates jobs and helps communities thrive."

The IHS Markit study can be found here.

Contact:

Andrew Weinstein

202-667-4967

[email protected]

SOURCE The Advertising Coalition
BALTIMORE, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Success for All Foundation is proud to announce that the organization was chosen as a Maryland Leads Partner to support Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in the state in two areas: Tutoring and the Science of Reading.

Maryland Leads is the Maryland State Department of Education's new grant initiative designed to support Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in utilizing more than $150 million in federal funds to target a wide variety of schools' needs to increase student achievement.

Success for All Foundation

Maryland Leads is a new grant initiative designed to support Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in utilizing federal funds to overcome the learning loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerate student learning to narrow opportunity and achievement gaps, and provide more targeted support for historically underserved students and their communities.

"We are proud to be chosen as an approved partner by the Maryland State Department of Education for this important initiative. We look forward to working with Maryland's school districts to accelerate student learning and to set students on the path for a lifetime of success," said Julie Wible, Executive Director, Success for All Foundation.

Success for All has a 35-year proven track record of increasing student achievement in under-performing districts and supporting schools to overcome great challenges.

"We are pleased to see the MDSDE take action to address learning loss and focus their funding on programs that are proven to close achievement gaps. Now that we are an approved partner, we have the opportunity to work with MD districts to implement our proven programs and help build schools that thrive," said Ms. Wible.

Success for All has been a national leader in The Science of Reading for more than 35 years. The Success for All program was developed with the goal of using the best science available to ensure that students have excellent instruction and other essential supports so they will learn the critical skills of reading and have the tools they need to succeed as students.

Success for All Tutoring is a proven, web-based literacy skills accelerator for below-level students in grades 1-8. Success for All Tutoring has two levels: elementary and middle. The elementary level improves students' phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. The middle school level improves students' overall fluency by concentrating on building vocabulary and comprehension.

About Success for All Foundation

Founded in 1987 and based in Baltimore, Success for All Foundation's mission is to develop and disseminate research-proven educational programs to ensure that all students from all backgrounds achieve the highest level of academic success.

For information, go https://www.successforall.org/

Makayla McDonald

(410) 616-2394

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

SOURCE Success for All Foundation
Scholars will discuss the impact of the Russian invasion on higher education and the role of religious communities in peacebuilding and aiding internally displaced persons

CLAREMONT, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

WHAT: Claremont McKenna College professors will join Ukrainian scholars, administrators, clergy, and students to discuss:

The Crisis in Higher Education during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine : The impact of the war in Ukraine on higher education teaching, student learning, recruitment, and survival in a period of national crises. (Day 1, May 25 )

Religious Communities in Peacebuilding, Social Service Work, and in Aiding Internally Displaced Persons: The role of Ukrainian Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslims, and NGO and other leaders in peacebuilding, social service work, and aiding internally displaced persons. (Day 2, May 26 )

WHEN: Wednesday, May 25 and Thursday, May 26, 9:30 to 11:30 AM PDT, both days.

WHO: Claremont McKenna College Prof. Gaston Espinosa and Ukrainian Scholars Sergiy Makovsky, Denys Kuzmin, and Volodymyr Dalsky will lead discussions on the impact of the Russian invasion on higher education and the role of religious communities in peacebuilding and aiding internally displaced people.

The two-day event builds on more than a decade of research and visits made by Espinosa to Ukraine, where he has carried out interviews, given university lectures, and organized a major conference in 2020 on the role of religion in the Ukrainian struggle for independence, democracy, and society and on the growing influence of Ukrainian Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim, and Protestant Evangelical and Charismatic churches in Ukrainian politics and society.

Claremont McKenna College Dean Shana Levin, Kopiika Valeriy of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and Viktor Glebov of I.I. Mechnikov National University of Odesa will offer opening remarks at both symposia on May 25 and 26.

REGISTRATION: Both events will be on zoom. Registration is required to participate

May 25 : Crisis in Higher Education during the Russian Invasion: Registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdsB-dwVB3F1xOyI6mRHIi8mhibPgKRsIX-MNVYO_AhaXWX_g/viewform



Symposium Zoom link: https://cmc-its.zoom.us/j/85779455757

May 26 : Role of Religion in Peacebuilding, Social Service Work, and Aiding Internally Displaced Persons: Registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1nZ-Dm3MmzqNf-pmC5nQnsxd_AormwQIfJbOY_e3owno/edit



Symposium Zoom link: https://cmc-its.zoom.us/j/83338249660

MEDIA: Media RSVP is required and online registration is required. Please contact Gilien Silsby 213-500-8673.

SOURCE Claremont McKenna College
BROOKLYN, N.Y., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- May 21, at 25 Kent in Brooklyn, Mama Glow hosted their second DOULA EXPO, a festival celebrating birth work, policy change, and centering organizations rooted in solutions in maternal health.

Jillian Hervey of the electronic music duo, Lion Babe, in conversation on the main stage with Latham Thomas, founder of Mama Glow at the 2022 DOULA EXPO by Mama Glow. Jillian performed her hit single "Treat Me Like Fire."

The Doula Expo by Mama Glow gathered 700+ doulas, birthing individuals, caregivers, families, non-profits, and women's health brands, under one roof for a day of education, community-building, business development, and self-care. The day kicked off with a New Orleans style brass band that greeted attendees outside ahead of the ribbon cutting by Mama Glow founder Latham Thomas. Karyn Parsons, best known for her role at Hillary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was an emcee.

The 16,000 square foot open floor-plan was completely transformed and as guests filled the space at 10:30 AM, they were transported to into what felt like a massive living room, a jungle of plants and florals, plush seating, and 12 foot booths including: Nurtafol, Irth App, Mahmee, Ovia Health, Boram, and Carol's Daughter, and banners including: Hum Nutrition, Hugh and Grace, and the Citywide Doula Initiative, and lounge spaces, including: Kate Spade New York Wellness Lounge, March of Dimes 'Listening Lounge', Kin Euphorics Beauty Bar, Mama Glow and the Bobbie Infant feeding Lounge.

Brooklyn Borough President, Antonio Reynoso delivered the opening remarks on the MainStage, "I made the commitment to outfit our Brooklyn public hospitals with state of the art birthing centers in an effort to reduce the mortality rate of Black women during childbirth," said Reynoso, who appointed the first members of his Maternal Health Task Force in April 2022.

Immediately following the Borough President, was District 33 Council Member, Lincoln Restler, "We must prioritize reproductive justice and that means centering doulas and midwives in the birth process," said the council member.

Later in the day, the NYC Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams made official remarks via video and echoed, "This movement is already shifting policy including changes to how the city supports doula services which will help bring care into communities and lower the economic barriers that are preventing some pregnant people from seeking critical care."

The Expo stage was lively with policy driven conversations, exploring how transformational advocacy and can improve care outcomes along the reproductive continuum, moderated by Stacey Brayboy, SVP of Public Policy and Government Affairs at the March of Dimes.

A potent fireside chat about the impact of the Black maternal health crisis on Black fathers, between radio personality Charlamagne tha God and Charles Johnson IV, maternal health activist and founder of 4 Kira 4 Moms, was deeply moving. Charles shared the tragic story of his wife Kira Johnson, who died after a routine C-section as a result of medical negligence, "It's not enough for Black women to survive childbirth they need to thrive," said Johnson.

Jillian Hervey of the electronic music duo, Lion Babe, joined Latham Thomas in conversation about her own birth journey and the importance of doulas during postpartum, she shared "having doula support in the 4th trimester was critical as I was still transforming, healing, and becoming my new self." Lion Babe performed two songs, closing out her set with "Treat Me Like Fire."

Carol's Daughter founder Lisa Price promoted the Love Delivered , campaign in partnership with the Mama Glow Foundation , which provides doula services for Black families in need in 5 major U.S cities.

Bobbie, an organic US-based infant formula company addressed the current formula crisis and committed 1,000 cans of infant formula to the Mama Glow Foundation to support impacted families in need.

Learn more at www.DoulaExpo.com & www.MamaGlow.com

Media Contact:

Thomas Rasmussen

718-510-4015

[email protected]

SOURCE Mama Glow
Achieved record quarterly net revenues of $10.58 million , a 96% increase from Q1 2021, and a 12% increase from Q4 2021

, a 96% increase from Q1 2021, and a 12% increase from Q4 2021 Improved gross margin (before changes in fair value) to 35% from 32% in Q4 2021, and from 1% in Q1 2021

Continued to decrease costs, with general and administrative expenses of $3.92 million , a 14% decrease versus Q4 2021

, a 14% decrease versus Q4 2021 Subsequent to March 31, 2022 , amended the secured revolving facility (the "Revolver Loan"), increasing the term portion by $4.0 million to $24.0 million

TORONTO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (the "Company" or "TGOD") (CSE: TGOD) (OTC: TGODF), a sustainable global cannabis company, reports its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022. These filings are available for review on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. All financial information is provided in Canadian dollars except where otherwise indicated.

Management Commentary:

"We continued our momentum from Q4 2021 with strong Q1 2022 results, including another record month in March. These results can be attributed to the launch of new products and our existing products gaining further traction, affirming the strategic approach we have taken," commented Sean Bovingdon, CEO of TGOD. "In addition to continuing to increase our retail distribution by investing in building relationships with the retail cannabis chains to expand distribution, we are preparing for future growth. We remain on track to achieve breakeven EBITDA on a monthly basis in Q2 and are pursuing opportunities for additional cultivation for 2023 to meet the strong demand for our products, specifically our premium flower. We continue to have strong conviction in our potential to achieve significant growth quarter over quarter, as we remain focused on quality and consistency, as well as continued cost discipline and execution to build a strong and sustainable organization and brands that consumers love."

First Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights:



Three months ended

Three months ended

March 31,

2022 March 31,

2021 Variance to

Q1-2021 ($) Variance to

Q1-2021

(%)

December

31, 2021 Variance

to Q4-

2021 ($) Variance

to Q4-

2021 (%) Net Revenue 10,575 5,389 5,186 96%

9,466 1,109 12% Cost of sales 6,868 5,348 1,520 28%

6,432 436 7% Gross profit (loss) before changes in fair value

of biological assets 3,707 41 3,666 8941%

3,034 673 22% Gross profit (loss) % before changes in fair

value of biological assets 35.05% 0.76%





32.05%





















Realized fair value adjustment on sale of

inventory (2,435) (1,530) (905) 59%

(2,535) 100 (4%) Unrealized gain on changes in fair value of

biological assets 4,305 3,321 984 30%

4,368 (63) (1%) Gross profit (loss) 5,577 1,832 3,745 204%

4,867 710 15% Gross profit (loss) % 52.74% 34.00%





51.42%





The Company:

Achieved record quarterly net revenues of $10.58 million , a 96% increase from Q1 2021, and a 12% increase from Q4 2021. The quarter-over-quarter increase in revenue is in line with the Company's forecast and can be mainly attributed to the launch of premium flowers (Cherry Mints & Maple Kush ), launch of Pre-rolls, and Highly Dutch Organic flower gaining traction in 2022. With Acosta Canada Corp, providing direct store support as well as budtender and consumer education, in addition to the new listings accepted in key markets for January 2022 , the Company achieved significant increased revenues in key markets. The Company has also invested in building relationships with the retail cannabis chains to expand distribution in the past six months.





, a 96% increase from Q1 2021, and a 12% increase from Q4 2021. The quarter-over-quarter increase in revenue is in line with the Company's forecast and can be mainly attributed to the launch of premium flowers (Cherry Mints & ), launch of Pre-rolls, and Highly Dutch Organic flower gaining traction in 2022. With Acosta Canada Corp, providing direct store support as well as budtender and consumer education, in addition to the new listings accepted in key markets for , the Company achieved significant increased revenues in key markets. The Company has also invested in building relationships with the retail cannabis chains to expand distribution in the past six months. Improved gross margin (before changes in fair value) to 35% from 32% in Q4 2021, reflecting higher net revenues due to sales mix of products moving towards premium flower. The Company believes gross margin and net revenue in Canada will continue to increase as it sells proportionately more premium flower, which should result in achieving breakeven adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (" Adjusted EBITDA "). (1)





will continue to increase as it sells proportionately more premium flower, which should result in achieving breakeven adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (" "). General and administrative expenses (" G&A ") decreased to $3.92 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 , a 14% decrease in comparison to $4.57 million for Q4 2021. In comparison to Q4 2021, G&A expenses decreased by $0.65 million which is primarily a result of the reduction in overall office expenses and the reduction of termination benefits that were incurred in the prior quarter.





") decreased to for the three months ended , a 14% decrease in comparison to for Q4 2021. In comparison to Q4 2021, G&A expenses decreased by which is primarily a result of the reduction in overall office expenses and the reduction of termination benefits that were incurred in the prior quarter. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $2.24 million for Q1 2022, representing a 57% improvement of $2.93 million compared to Q1 2021 as a result of the Company's increase in revenue and continued cost cutting initiatives as well as a sales mix with premium flower accounting for 27% of overall sales versus 19% in the previous quarter.





for Q1 2022, representing a 57% improvement of compared to Q1 2021 as a result of the Company's increase in revenue and continued cost cutting initiatives as well as a sales mix with premium flower accounting for 27% of overall sales versus 19% in the previous quarter. As of March 31, 2022 , the Company had positive working capital of $19.01 million (including non-cash contingent consideration liability of $4.78 million ).

Key Initiatives:

The Company expanded its production base to meet increasing consumer demand by adding cultivation at the facility in Valleyfield, Quebec (" Valleyfield "). The Company expects Valleyfield to add 2,500 to 3,000 kgs of flower annually while remaining the production facility for hash products.





(" "). The Company expects to add 2,500 to 3,000 kgs of flower annually while remaining the production facility for hash products. On March 10, 2022 , the Company announced that it had agreed with its Canadian lender for the Revolver Loan to: (i) increase the overall Revolver Loan limit by $5 million to $30 million ; (ii) allow certain eligible inventory to be included as collateral; and (iii) relax certain non-financial covenants; subject to the satisfaction of various conditions set out therein. In exchange, the Company issued 500,000 common shares of the Company (" Common Shares ") to the lender at a price of $0.10 per Common Share. All other terms under the Revolver Loan remained the same.





, the Company announced that it had agreed with its Canadian lender for the Revolver Loan to: (i) increase the overall Revolver Loan limit by to ; (ii) allow certain eligible inventory to be included as collateral; and (iii) relax certain non-financial covenants; subject to the satisfaction of various conditions set out therein. In exchange, the Company issued 500,000 common shares of the Company (" ") to the lender at a price of per Common Share. All other terms under the Revolver Loan remained the same. Since October 2021 , the Company has been engaged with advisors for the sale of Company's entity in Poland , HemPoland S.p.a. Z.o.o. ( "HemPoland"), which was deemed non-core to future operations and the Company strategy. The Company received a non-binding competitive offer subsequent to Q1 2022. The Company anticipates completing the sale of HemPoland within the coming months.

Key Updates Subsequent to the Quarter:

On April 29, 2022 , the Company announced that the Revolver Loan was amended and restated, whereby the lender agreed to: (i) increase the overall Revolver Loan limit from $30 million to $34 million , through providing an additional advance of $4 million (ii) increase the term portion of the Revolver Loan from $20 million to $24 million (iii) amend the EBITDA financial covenant (as defined in the Revolver Loan agreement) to take effect on June 30, 2022 , (iv) remove the covenant requiring a $4 million prepayment through funds raised by the sale of HemPoland and (v) introduce certain prepayment fees in the combined amount of 2% of any prepayments, subject to the satisfaction of various conditions set out therein.





, the Company announced that the Revolver Loan was amended and restated, whereby the lender agreed to: (i) increase the overall Revolver Loan limit from to , through providing an additional advance of (ii) increase the term portion of the Revolver Loan from to (iii) amend the EBITDA financial covenant (as defined in the Revolver Loan agreement) to take effect on , (iv) remove the covenant requiring a prepayment through funds raised by the sale of HemPoland and (v) introduce certain prepayment fees in the combined amount of 2% of any prepayments, subject to the satisfaction of various conditions set out therein. On May 17, 2022 , the Company announced it raised additional working capital through asset sale of its leasehold improvements at the Puslinch facility (the "Transaction") with the landlord (the "Landlord") for $3 million (the "Consideration"). $2 million of the Consideration will be paid to the Company in cash, and $1 million of the Consideration will settle previous loans advanced to the Company by the Landlord, including all accrued interest and transaction costs thereon. In connection with the Transaction, the Company has also agreed to an increase in rent of $25,000 a month for the remainder of the lease term on the Puslinch facility of approximately 19 years.

Investor Conference Call to Discuss First Quarter Results :

Management will host a conference call with analysts on May 26, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the results. Participants may access the call by dialing 416-764-8688 (Toronto) or 1-888-390-0546 (North America); Conference ID 81358956. For those unable to participate on the live call, a playback will be available for one week after the conference call using this URL:

https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1550743&tp_key=fff6b3ddd0

About The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.

The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (CSE: TGOD) (OTC: TGODF) is a sustainable, global cannabis company with a focus on innovation, quality, consistency, integrity and transparency. By leveraging science and technology, TGOD harnesses the power of nature from seed to sale. The Company is committed to cultivating a better tomorrow by producing its products responsibly, with less waste and impact on the environment. In Canada, TGOD serves the recreational market with a brand portfolio including The Green Organic Dutchman, Highly Dutch Organics, Ripple by TGOD and Cruuzy brands, and the medical markets in Canada, South Africa, Australia, and Germany. All cannabis utilized in products for The Green Organic Dutchman and Highly Dutch Organics brands is grown through a certified organic process, which includes living soil, filtered rainwater, sunlight, and natural inputs.

TGOD's Common Shares and certain warrants issued under the indentures dated December 19, 2019, June 12, 2020, October 23, 2020 and December 10, 2020 trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") under the symbol "TGOD", "TGOD.WS", "TGOD.WR", "TGOD.WA", and "TGOD.WB" respectively. TGOD's Common Shares trade in the U.S. on the OTCQX under the symbol "TGODF". For more information on The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd., please visit www.tgod.ca.

(1) Non-GAAP Measures, Reconciliation and Discussion

This press release contains references to "Adjusted EBITDA" which is a non-international financial reporting standards ("IFRS") measure (a "Non-GAAP Measure"). Management defines Adjusted EBITDA as loss for the period, as reported, adjusted for deferred income tax recovery, foreign exchange gains and losses, finance costs, accretion expenses, finance income, share of loss on investments in associates, revaluation of contingent consideration, loss (gain) on disposal of assets, impairment of investment in associates, impairment (reversal of impairment) charge for non-financial assets, loss on derecognition of investment in joint venture, impairment loss on remeasurement of disposal group, loss on assets held for sale, debt modification, acquisition related costs, change in fair value of investments, realized fair value adjustment on sale of inventories, unrealized gain on changes in fair value of biological assets, share based compensation, depreciation and amortization. This measure does not have any standardized meaning according to IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies.

Management believes Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information as it is a commonly used measure in the capital markets to approximate operating earnings. The Company provides the Non-GAAP Measure as supplemental information and in addition to the financial measures that are calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS. The Non-GAAP Measure is also presented because management believes such measures provide information which is useful to shareholders and investors in understanding its performance and which may assist in the evaluation of the Company's business relative to that of its peers. Management believes the Non-GAAP Measure is a useful financial metric to assess the Company's operating performance on a cash basis before the impact of non-cash items, and on an adjusted basis as described above. However, such Non-GAAP Measure should not be considered superior to, as a substitute for or as an alternative to, and should only be considered in conjunction with, the most comparable Non-GAAP Measure.

Reconciliations of the Non-GAAP Measure is presented in the Company's management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2022 (the "Q1 MD&A"). The Non-GAAP Measure should not be considered superior to, as a substitute for, or as an alternative to, and should be considered in conjunction with the IFRS financial measures presented in the Company's financial statements. For more information, please see "Non-GAAP Performance Measures" in the Company's Q1 MD&A, which is available under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.

Cautionary Statements

This news release includes statements containing certain "forwardlooking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law ("forwardlooking statements"). Forward looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, statements about future net revenue and gross margin, statements about future Adjusted EBITDA, statements about future production quantity and timing, statements about the offering of any particular products by the Company and statements regarding the future performance of the Company, statements about future development, growth and delivery of products, and statements about the level of demand for TGOD's products. Forwardlooking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "should", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forwardlooking statements throughout this news release. Forwardlooking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties (including market conditions) and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forwardlooking statements, including those risk factors described in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form filed with Canadian securities regulators and available on the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information or forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forwardlooking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

Neither the CSE nor the CSE's Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of CSE) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.
HELSINKI, Finland, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dual Miners ( www.dualminers.com/ ) have crossed the $45million USD mark on orders and pre-sales. The newly introduced mining rigs by Dual Miners have surpassed what we currently have in the cryptocurrency market. The reason is not farfetched; they have made mining distinctive and easy with this innovation. What makes it even easier is the installation manual that comes with the machine. You don't have to be a veteran in technology to understand how it works.

Due to advances in ASIC chip technology, Dual Miners Ltd has developed three solutions that are pre-configured for ease of use and promise a return on investment in as little as one month. The company, which is led by some of the most experienced specialists in the Cryptocurrency mining industry, is based in the United Kingdom.

According to a corporate statement, the company's current offerings include DualPro, DualPro Max, and the most recent DualPremium, all of which are designed to support lucrative operations on the blockchain of choice.

Founded in London, Dual Miners is a chip design and manufacturing company that has offices in Finland, South Korea, and Australia in addition to its home base in the United Kingdom. It has a number of teams with in-depth knowledge on a variety of topics, including Blockchain technology and technological design, among others.

Consumers can purchase graphics processing units from the company, which also provides crypto wallet development services. The company has offices on three different continents. The fact that Dual Miners has accumulated a substantial amount of market experience has earned it a reputable reputation in the Blockchain business.

So as a result, Dual Miners will pay the costs of shipping as well as import tariffs, allowing consumers to spend no more than the cost of the gadget and yet receive everything they need to get started without incurring additional expenditures.

Concerning Dual Miners

Founded in 2015 with the intention of developing and marketing the world's first leading dual Cryptocurrency miners that use either SHA-256 or Scrypt technology, Dual Miners bills itself as the world's first dual mining company. The company claims to be the world's first dual mining enterprise. With the DualPro, we set out to give greater power at a lower cost than had previously been possible in the industry. Dual Miners is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and has offices in several other cities across the world, including the United States. The company's website, www.dualminers.com , provides additional information on the company and its products.

More information can be found at www.dualminers.com

Media contact:

Micheal scott

[email protected]

(+358) 41 4001034

SOURCE Dual Miners
SAN DIEGO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Two Elite Advisors at Independent Financial Group, LLC (IFG) have been ranked best in state among America's 2022 Top Women Wealth Advisors by Forbes in collaboration with SHOOK Research, and nationally among the Top Wealth Advisor Moms for 2021 by Working Mother and SHOOK Research. The advisors are Mary Huntley of Prescott, Arizona (AZ) and Kathy Keadle of Augusta, Georgia (GA).

"Mary Huntley and Kathy Keadle have worked hard to build their successful practices while raising families and thriving as women advisors in the profession. IFG is proud to support them and their organizations in pursuing their professional goals," said David Fischer, IFG Co-Founder. "On behalf of myself and the entire IFG team, I want to congratulate Mary and Kathy on these dual accomplishments."

"It's exciting to be recognized as a woman advisor because there is still a significant lopsidedness in the industry," said Mary. "I believe that radical change is on the way," said Kathy, adding that "women advisors are bringing a more holistic understanding of wealth to the industry" by centering their clients' goals and building close relationships.

As working moms, Mary and Kathy have refined their approach to financial advising:

"Being a working mom requires that you are present in any situation, be it parenting or meeting with clients," said Mary. "My clients understand that I am right there with them and bringing the same kind of focus I do when I'm present with my children." Kathy finds it affirming to hear how her children describe her job to others: "they see that I'm taking care of other people and their families and that I am making an impactful difference for others."

Both Mary and Kathy expressed that IFG's commitment to independence for its advisors has enabled them to thrive: "IFG is so family-oriented that I never feel like I have to choose between being a mom and my work," said Mary, adding, "it's not just independence, it's empowerment." Kathy said IFG has "never not allowed me to think outside the box" or "not approved something I wanted to do just because it has never happened before." In 2020, IFG was ranked #4 in highest percentage of women representatives among independent broker-dealers by Financial Planning Magazine.1

Mary is a Certified Financial Planner and serves as Head of Cambium Wealth and Legacy Strategies. A 20-year financial services industry veteran, she and her team joined IFG in 2014. Mary currently serves on the Arizona Community Foundation of Flagstaff Board of Advisors and has previously served on various local public and private boards, including the Camp Verde Chamber of Commerce, YES The ARC, Yavapai County Community Foundation, Flagstaff's STEM City, Zoning, and Ordinance Review Committees. Mary earned her B.A. in Biology from William Jewell College before starting her career in financial planning.

Kathy is the Founder of Keystone Financial Services, Inc. and has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Since 2005, Keystone Financial Services has worked with power company employees throughout the Southeast, specializing in the intricacies of power company employees' pensions and savings plans. She is also the Founder of Keystone Foundation for Financial Education, a non-profit providing financial literacy to underserved communities. Kathy holds the Certified Financial Educator designation and earned her degree from The University of Georgia.

America's Top Women Wealth Advisors Methodology

The Forbes ranking of America's Top Women Wealth Advisors and Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State, developed by SHOOK Research, is based on an algorithm of qualitative data, learned through surveys and interviews conducting in-person, by telephone and virtually to evaluate best practices, level of service, investing models and compliance records as well as quantitative data, such as revenue trends and assets under management. All advisors have a minimum of seven years' experience. Portfolio performance is not a criterion due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK receive a fee in exchange for rankings. For more information, see www.shookresearch.com .

Top Working Mom Wealth Advisors Methodology

SHOOK Research considered women advisors with a child 21 or younger still living at home. The ranking algorithm is based on qualitative measures derived from telephone and in-person interviews and surveys: service models, investing process, client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations, etc.; 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. Rankings are based on the opinions of SHOOK Research, LLC. Neither SHOOK nor Working Mother receive compensation from the advisors or their firms in exchange for placement on a ranking. For more information, see shookresearch.com.

About Independent Financial Group

Independent Financial Group, LLC (IFG) is a privately-held independent broker-dealer based in San Diego, California. Founded in 2003, IFG provides an array of business solutions supporting more than 640 independent financial professionals across 389 offices nationwide. IFG was named among the "Fastest Growing Private Companies in the US" by Inc. 5000 in 2020 for the eighth time since 2010. San Diego Business Journal ranked IFG "#12 Among the Largest Private Companies in San Diego" in 2020. To learn more about IFG, visit ifgsd.com.

1 Salinger, Tobias. "IBD Elite 2020: IBDs with highest percentage of women advisors." Financial Planning. July 6 2020. Accessed May 2, 2022. https://www.financial-planning.com/list/ibd-elite-2020-ibds-with-highest-percentage-of-women-advisors.

Media Contact:

Pamela Saunders

IFG

(800) 269-1903

[email protected]

SOURCE Independent Financial Group
Solution demonstrates trend in cars moving from mechanical handles to seamless touch user interfaces for car entry

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Touch HMI sensor and solution leader, UltraSense Systems and diversified Japanese multinational company, Asahi Kasei announced a collaboration for the development of a door & canopy entry/closure system for Asahi Kasei's Demo Car called the AKXY 2 which will debut at Japan's Automotive Engineering Exposition in Yokohama, Japan from May 25-27, 2022.

Asahi Kasei's AKXY2 Demo Car is a futuristic look into future mobility based on the evolving needs of our society. True to Asahi Kasei's 100 years of innovation in the material industry, their concept car includes creative new technologies that will add value to OEMs and end car users. These innovations include those from strategic portfolio companies including UltraSense Systems with promising technologies that are actively being adopted by car makers.

The UltraSense Systems entry/closure system is a touch module consisting of its novel multi-mode ultrasound and Z-Force TouchPoint Z sensor along with proprietary algorithms to trigger the opening and closing of the door and canopy lift system. The module is contained in an enclosure with a touch surface of 2mm of aluminum. Both ultrasound and force sensing are used to detect a finger press even with a glove, moisture or surface contaminant. Six access modules are placed around the AKXY2 to for easy entry or opening of the door and/or canopy to view the many Asahi Kasei interior innovations.

"We are excited about the adoption and showcasing of our touch solution for the entry/closure system by Asahi Kasei in their latest Demo Car," said Daniel Goehl, Chief Business Officer of UltraSense Systems, "the future of car entry and interior user interfaces are seamless touch interactions. We are well positioned with our multi-mode sensors and proprietary software to provide a scalable solution for the multitude of automotive use cases."

"We are amidst both a changing society and a revolution of the automotive industry, and the needs of end car users are changing. 'The senses' is a major theme of AKXY2 and I think those who have a chance to experience the vehicle at trade shows will realize how the look of its futuristic design, the touch of the textiles, and the sound-proof atmosphere of the cabin meet these evolving needs," said Masahiro "Masa" Morizumi, Manager of New Business Development, Mobility and Industrial SBU. "The collaboration with UltraSense Systems demonstrates how Asahi Kasei is taking action to incorporate the latest technologies in products today, along with how we support our investment portfolio companies."

AKXY2 can be experienced at trade shows around the world in 2022

(List tradeshows that AKXY2 will be a part of below.)

Detroit Auto Show: September 2022

K: October 2022, Dusseldorf, Germany

CES 2023: January, Las Vegas

Learn more at the AKXY 2 website.

https://asahi-kasei-mobility.com/en/akxy2/

About the Asahi Kasei Corporation

The Asahi Kasei Group contributes to life and living for people around the world. Since its foundation in 1922 with ammonia and cellulose fiber businesses, Asahi Kasei has consistently grown through the proactive transformation of its business portfolio to meet the evolving needs of every age. With more than 44,000 employees around the world, the company contributes to a sustainable society by providing solutions to the world's challenges through its three business sectors of Material, Homes, and Health Care. Its Materials sector, comprised of Environmental Solutions, Mobility & Industrial, and Life Innovation, includes a wide array of products from battery separators and biodegradable textiles to engineering plastics and sound solutions. For more information, visit www.asahi-kasei.com.

About UltraSense Systems Inc.

UltraSense Systems is the leader in Human Machine Interface (HMI) solutions providing a suite of sensors, subsystem modules, full products and software focused on pioneering Smart Surfaces with rapid product integration capabilities. The Company's core competency in delivering multi-sensory silicon and modules integrate functions that include touch, haptic and lighting with extensive software algorithms and Machine Learning for a comprehensive user experience. The core silicon supplies sensor fusion capabilities through novel multi-physics detection and feedback for hard and soft surfaces, including metals, glass, plastics, wood, and leather for indoor and outdoor use cases. A global company headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, and Europe, the company has raised $38M from investors including Robert Bosch Ventures, Artiman Ventures, Abies Ventures, Sony Innovation, Sparx Group and Asahi Kasei.

Media Inquiries

ATTN: Daniel Goehl

UltraSense Systems Inc.

[email protected]

https://www.ultrasensesys.com.com

Europe Media Inquiries

ATTN: Sebastian Schmidt

Asahi Kasei Europe GmbH

[email protected]

http://www.asahi-kasei.eu

SOURCE UltraSense Systems
DULUTH, Ga., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fernando J Bianco presented the data from the clinical study on EchoLaser for TPLA (transperineal laser ablation) at AUA in New Orleans (May 13-16). The study was conducted by URN (Urology Research Network) in Miami. TPLA is a new ultra-minimally invasive treatment for BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia). In the office setting, EchoLaser for TPLA proved to be feasible and safe. The 3 and 6 months follow-ups showed a sustained improvement in over 80% of the patients. Furthermore, erectile function and ejaculation were preserved.

"Our company was finally able to showcase EchoLaser at AUA, after several cancellations of past editions of this important congress due to Covid-19; I am glad that in conjunction with our physical presence at AUA, Dr. Bianco presented data from his trial," said Joe Williams, CEO of National Ultrasound, exclusive USA distributor of Elesta (manufacturer of Echolaser).

"EchoLaser is a clinically proven technology supported by a growing number of studies in different European countries and China. Results presented by Dr. Bianco are the first USA data. In a few weeks, patients in the USA will have easier access to this treatment; in fact, effective July 1st, a new CPT code will be available for "Transperineal laser ablation of benign prostatic hyperplasia, including imaging guidance". Reimbursement from commercial payers is critical to ensure a broad adoption in the USA and the new CPT specific code is therefore very important" added Fabio Andreola, CEO of Elesta.

National Ultrasound announced its exclusive partnership with Elesta, a manufacturer of the Elesta Echolaser EVO, in 2020. The Elesta Echolaser EVO is an ultrasound machine series with micro-invasive procedures. It is currently the only micro-invasive treatment option that doctors can use in the United States.

The Elesta Evolaser EVO comes with disposable fiber optics and introducer needles. The Echolaser Smart Interface (ESI) provides real-time guidance and verification during a procedure. Multiple laser sources allow professionals to tailor treatment for the patient.

To find out more about the Elesta Echolaser EVO or to get a quote on the machine, we invite medical professionals and oncologists to visit our website at http://www.nationalultrasound.com . The experts can discuss the potential machine and laser options suited to your medical facility.

Media Contact: Joe Williams, (770) 551-8797

SOURCE National Ultrasound
RICHMOND, Va., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- George C. Freeman, III, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Corporation (NYSE:UVV), announced today that the Company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of seventy-nine cents ($0.79) per share on the common shares of the Company, payable August 1, 2022, to common shareholders of record at the close of business on July 11, 2022. This increase indicates an annualized rate of $3.16 per common share and a yield of approximately 5% based on the $60.22 closing price on May 23, 2022.

Mr. Freeman noted, "Increasing our dividend remains a key tenant of our capital allocation strategy. We have raised our common dividend every year since 1971. This is our 52nd consecutive annual dividend increase, and I am very proud of this achievement."

The Board of Directors set the date of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders as Tuesday, August 2, 2022. It will be held at 11:00 a.m. at the Company's headquarters building. The Board of Directors set the record date for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders as June 7, 2022.

Universal Corporation (NYSE: UVV), headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a global business-to-business agri-products supplier to consumer product manufacturers, operating in over 30 countries on five continents. We strive to be the supplier of choice for our customers by leveraging our farmer base, our commitment to a sustainable supply chain, and our ability to provide high-quality, customized, traceable, value-added agri-products essential for our customers' requirements. We find innovative solutions to serve our customers and have been meeting their agri-product needs for more than 100 years. Our principal focus since our founding in 1918 has been tobacco, and we are the leading global leaf tobacco supplier. Through our plant-based ingredients platform, we provide a variety of value-added manufacturing processes to produce high-quality, specialty vegetable- and fruit-based ingredients as well as botanical extracts and flavorings for the food and beverage end markets. For more information, visit www.universalcorp.com.

SOURCE Universal Corporation
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vectrus, Inc., (NYSE: VEC), a leading global government services company, announced that company management will address the Jefferies IT Services Summit, on Wednesday, June 1, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time.

A live audio webcast of the briefing will be available at

https://wsw.com/webcast/jeff233/vec/1686714 and be available for replay for 90 days afterward.

About Vectrus:

For more than 70 years, Vectrus has provided critical mission support for our customers' toughest operational challenges. As a high-performing organization with exceptional talent, deep domain knowledge, a history of long-term customer relationships, and groundbreaking technical expertise, we deliver innovative, mission-matched solutions for our military and government customers worldwide. Whether it's base operations support, supply chain and logistics, IT mission support, engineering and digital integration, security, or maintenance, repair and overhaul, our customers count on us for on-target solutions that increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve readiness, and strengthen national security. Vectrus is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., and includes about 8,100 employees spanning 205 locations in 28 countries. In 2021, Vectrus generated sales of $1.8 billion. For more information, visit the company's website at www.vectrus.com or connect with Vectrus on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Contact Information

Mike Smith, CFA

[email protected]

(719) 637-5773

SOURCE Vectrus, Inc.
"The Old Glory Relay is symbolic of our belief that veterans are our most resilient citizens," said Mike Erwin, Team RWB Executive Director. "As we pass the American Flag from one supporter to the next over its 3,100-mile journey, we display consistent support that connects thousands of Americans."

Supporters of all abilities can register to participate in a segment of the relay in Washington D. C., Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama. Participants may also move an American flag in their local community by registering as a virtual participant.

"Airbus is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the Old Glory Relay and to support this incredible effort that will connect veterans from across the country," said Daryl Taylor, Vice President and General Manager of the Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility in Mobile, Alabama. "A significant portion of our workforce at Airbus served our nation in uniform, so we are especially honored to partner with The World Games 2022 to show our admiration and support for veterans."

BMW, the official vehicle of Old Glory Relay, will lead participants along the route in a specially designed X5 45e. You can follow the flag with the official Old Glory Relay Route Tracker, brought to you by BMW at bmwogrtracker.com .

"It's going to be an incredible moment of national unity to watch veterans bring the American flag into the Opening Ceremony in front of a live, global audience as our country plays host to thousands of athletes and fans from every corner of the world," said Nick Sellers, CEO of The World Games 2022.

Learn more about the Old Glory Relay at teamrwb.org/ogr .

About Team Red, White & Blue

Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB) is a nonprofit organization forging the nation's leading health and wellness community. Founded in 2010, Team RWB supports veterans through their health and wellness journeys by offering real-life and virtual opportunities to build a healthier lifestyle. For more information about Team RWB and its 200,000 members visit teamrwb.org.

Contact: Margaret Britten

[email protected]

SOURCE Team Red, White & Blue
Group is funded by Nova Ukraine in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The neighbors refer to her as a local good witch. Like Baba Yaga from Slavic fairy tales, she rolls eggs on plates to tell fortunes, warns of diseases, and removes evil marks. After the Russian invasion, however, Galina Stepanivna did more than tell fortunes. She cooked for Ukrainian soldiers fighting in one of the war's fiercest battles in the village of Moshchun, north of Bucha.

House in Moschun damaged by Russian artillery Helping Hand volunteer assesses the damage in Galina Stepanivna's house

When artillery fire hit her home, Stepanivna was hiding in the cellar. The roof of the house collapsed and a shockwave threw her across the room. She survived but others did not. "A boy was torn to pieces so bad, only his leg was found," she said. Stepanivna and her husband fled.

On March 21 Ukrainian forces liberated Moshchun. Stepanivna returned to find all her belongings gone and her home in ruin. She asked the authorities for help and was told they will rebuild  but only after the end of the war.

"But where do we live until then?" she asked. "In a dog house?"

Fortunately for Stepanivna, rescue came  but not from the government. A volunteer crew of construction workers, funded by the San Francisco-based nonprofit Nova Ukraine, go home to home, assessing the damage and rebuilding homes. They call themselves "Helping Hand" and work in villages and cities in the outskirts of Kyiv, such as Bucha, Irpin, Moshchun, and Gostomel.

"In Moshchun, not a single building was left standing," said Sergey Stetch, a small business owner who founded the group. "It's a small village of 250 buildings, nearly all of them totaled. People cannot evacuate forever. They dream of coming home but they return to ashes."

Construction work is not all Helping Hand does. After Ukrainian forces liberated Bucha Helping Hand became the first volunteer group to enter this city. "What I saw will leave a deep mark on me for life," recalls Stetch. "A formerly peaceful town with bright life, now in ruins, strewn with the bodies of the dead. But we have no right to lose heart or give up."

Helping Hand removes debris and alerts authorities to unexploded ordnance not removed by the military. They also supply food through field kitchens and restore generator power.

The need for assistance far outpaces Helping Hand's ability to provide it. In particular, the volunteers need heavy equipment such as cranes, bulldozers and excavators. Local companies refuse to lease this equipment due to the risk of damage from explosives.

Nova Ukraine is looking for donations of lumber, construction materials, and heavy equipment.

Full interview with Sergey Stetch here .

About Nova Ukraine

Nova Ukraine is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine and strengthening the country's democracy.

Contact: Maria Simbirsky

[email protected]

650-283-5991

NovaUkraine website

SOURCE Nova Ukraine
Water Quality Monitoring Equipment Market: Driver

The increasing pollution adversely affecting the quality of drinking water is one of the drivers in the market. Changes in climatic conditions can be attributed to the increasing pollution and have led to frequent droughts, storms, and floods. As a result, the repair and retrofitting activities of utilities are slowed or delayed. Utilities should cater to the demands of end-users in such situations. Therefore, various utilities are adopting water quality monitoring systems. Government initiatives have increased the need for efficient water quality sensors and associated systems and equipment. Thus, the global water quality monitoring systems will witness growth during the forecast period.

For more details about other drivers impacting the market growth, View our Sample Report

Water Quality Monitoring Equipment Market: Segmentation by Application

Based on application, the market has been segmented into groundwater, drinking water, wastewater, aquaculture, and others. The groundwater segment will have significant market share growth during the forecast period. Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water for humans. It is also utilized for agriculture.

Water Quality Monitoring Equipment Market: Segmentation by Geography

Based on geography, the market has been segmented into North America, APAC, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America. APAC will have significant market share growth during the forecast period. The demand from the aquaculture segment will drive the water quality monitoring equipment market growth in APAC during the forecast period. Market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in other regions. China and Japan are the key countries in the water quality monitoring equipment market in APAC.

Water Quality Monitoring Equipment Market: Major Vendors

Agilent Technologies Inc.

The company offers water quality monitoring equipment such as EPA 200.8 Water Analyzer, which is an integrated package of hardware, software, consumables, professional services, and documentation.

Atlas Scientific LLC

The company offers water quality monitoring equipment such as WaterFeature8, which is designed for integration into municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment control systems. It is used for real-time process monitoring of up to 8 sensor channels.

Campbell Scientific Inc.

The company offers water quality monitoring equipment that is used in many natural and industrial environments, including streams, watersheds, wells, caves, water and wastewater treatment plants, aquaculture operations, landfills, and processing plants. These systems include Campbell data loggers and a large variety of sensors and communication peripherals customized for each application.

Danaher Corp.

The company offers water quality monitoring equipment that is designed to simplify analysis by offering sophisticated on-line instrumentation, accurate portable laboratory equipment, high-quality prepared reagents, complete easy-to-follow methods, and lifetime technical support. These systems include remote diagnostics and a Portable Parallel Analyzer to simplify field measurements.

Evoqua Water Technologies LLC

The company offers water quality monitoring equipment such as Hydraclam Water Quality and Pressure Monitors, which are battery-powered purpose-built systems for monitoring water quality parameters within the potable water distribution system.

Along with the market data, Technavio offers customizations as per the specific needs of companies. Speak to our Analyst for a Customized Report

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Water Quality Monitoring Equipment Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 5.45% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 1.21 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 4.88 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution APAC at 34% Key consumer countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled Aeron Systems Pvt. Ltd., Agilent Technologies Inc., Atlas Scientific LLC, Campbell Scientific Inc., Danaher Corp., Environmental Holdings Pty Ltd., Evoqua Water Technologies LLC, General Electric Co., Geotech Environmental Equipment Inc., Hanna Instruments United States Inc., HORIBA Ltd., Hydro International Ltd., In Situ Inc., Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas SL, Metex Corp. Ltd., National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd., Optiqua Technologies Pte Ltd., RS Hydro Ltd., Sea Bird Scientific, Stevens Water Monitoring Systems Inc., 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 the forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Application



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 between 2021 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 Application

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Application

5.3 Groundwater - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Groundwater - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Groundwater - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Groundwater - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Groundwater - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Drinking water - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Drinking water - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Drinking water - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Drinking water - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Drinking water - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Wastewater - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Wastewater - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Wastewater - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Wastewater - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Wastewater - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Aquaculture - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 40: Chart on Aquaculture - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Aquaculture - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 42: Chart on Aquaculture - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Aquaculture - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.7 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 44: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 46: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.8 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 48: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 49: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 50: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 52: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 58: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 60: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 74: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 75: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 76: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 77: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 86: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 87: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 88: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 90: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 91: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 92: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 93: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 94: 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 95: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 96: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 97: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 98: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 99: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 100: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Agilent Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 101: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 102: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 103: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 104: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 105: Agilent Technologies Inc. - Segment focus

10.4 Atlas Scientific LLC

Exhibit 106: Atlas Scientific LLC - Overview



Exhibit 107: Atlas Scientific LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 108: Atlas Scientific LLC - Key offerings

10.5 Campbell Scientific Inc.

Exhibit 109: Campbell Scientific Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 110: Campbell Scientific Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 111: Campbell Scientific Inc. - Key offerings

10.6 Danaher Corp.

Exhibit 112: Danaher Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 113: Danaher Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 114: Danaher Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 115: Danaher Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 116: Danaher Corp. - Segment focus

10.7 Evoqua Water Technologies LLC

Exhibit 117: Evoqua Water Technologies LLC - Overview



Exhibit 118: Evoqua Water Technologies LLC - Business segments



Exhibit 119: Evoqua Water Technologies LLC - Key news



Exhibit 120: Evoqua Water Technologies LLC - Key offerings



Exhibit 121: Evoqua Water Technologies LLC - Segment focus

10.8 General Electric Co.

Exhibit 122: General Electric Co. - Overview



Exhibit 123: General Electric Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 124: General Electric Co. - Key news



Exhibit 125: General Electric Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 126: General Electric Co. - Segment focus

10.9 HORIBA Ltd.

Exhibit 127: HORIBA Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 128: HORIBA Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 129: HORIBA Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 130: HORIBA Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 131: HORIBA Ltd. - Segment focus

10.10 In Situ Inc.

Exhibit 132: In Situ Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 133: In Situ Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 134: In Situ Inc. - Key offerings

10.11 Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas SL

Exhibit 135: Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas SL - Overview



Exhibit 136: Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas SL - Product / Service



Exhibit 137: Libelium Comunicaciones Distribuidas SL - Key offerings

10.12 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Exhibit 138: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 139: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 140: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 141: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 142: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 143: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 144: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 145: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 146: Research methodology



Exhibit 147: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 148: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 149: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com

SOURCE Technavio
For large enterprise websites, multi-brand businesses with numerous domains, and agencies managing multiple client websites, effectively managing technical SEO and website health at scale poses significant operational difficulties. With the addition of Monitor Hub, the Deepcrawl platform solves an array of challenges relating to multi-site and large-scale technical SEO management by providing a centralized command center, collated trend tracking across multiple domains or projects, and customizable alerts.

Geared toward efficiently managing websites at scale, Monitor Hub highlights trends and fluctuations in websites' technical health metrics and notifies users of new site changes that impact performance and traffic  so digital teams can quickly identify issues and action necessary changes.

Customizable dashboards in Monitor Hub help digital teams collate metrics across multiple projects and provide a global view of site changes and technical health and performance trends in one place. Users can tailor their dashboard views with metrics from over 200 built-in reports to focus on the data that holds the most impact for their specific needs.

Overlaying multiple projects' data for any given metric allows users to easily compare performance and trends across multiple site sections or domains and learn what's working bestand what needs attention. This trend data can help teams stay on top of technical issues and secure further investment in SEO and website projects to prevent downward-trending metrics from becoming critical, ongoing, and traffic-draining mistakes.

Monitor Hub's tailored alerts empower users to act quickly when a new site change may negatively impact organic search performance and traffic. Alerts can also integrate with popular work-based communication platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams.

In addition to streamlining digital operations for enterprise brands, Deepcrawl's Monitor Hub also makes the job of SEO and digital marketing agencies far easier. Agencies can now track all of their client websites in one place and glean new insights into which efforts are working best.

"Managing websites at scale is a major challenge for digital teams. Multiple teams working across numerous sites or a large site with lots of key sections, like different geographies, makes it almost impossible to stay on top of changes. If SEO and technical issues go unnoticed, they can have a serious impact on organic search traffic and therefore revenue and brand awareness. Monitor Hub simplifies site management with customizable alerts and a new view of actionable insights across multiple domains or projects in one place", said Deepcrawl CEO Craig Dunham .

"Deepcrawl was founded by technical SEOs with an extensive understanding of the day-to-day challenges faced by professionals in this field. We understand the complexity involved in getting actionable website intel that can really move the needle for larger business goals by driving cost effective organic growth. Our team is constantly innovating to address the latest developments in search and website health and we're excited to introduce a new set of enterprise solutions in Monitor Hub."

About Deepcrawl

Deepcrawl is a website intelligence platform  a 'command center' for website technical health. It helps businesses scale their digital operations by bringing together the teams, data, and insights required for high-performing, revenue-driving websites. Powered by its world-class web crawler, Deepcrawl exposes technical and structural issues that exist inor are about to be introduced toyour site and helps you prioritize and fix them. Take command of your website's health with Deepcrawl and realize your website's full commercial potential. For more information, visit https://www.deepcrawl.com .

Photo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1825826/Monitor_Hub_Deepcrawl.jpg

SOURCE Deepcrawl
WELL's M&A Program is ramping up with multiple signed and actionable LOIs demonstrating its ability to execute on highly accretive capital allocation opportunities.

WELL forms Provider Solutions Business Unit combining WELL EMR Group, Billing & RCM, and Digital Apps businesses into a robust practitioner enablement platform led by industry veterans Adam Hutton and Paulo Gomes .

WELL launches comprehensive operating cost optimization initiative designed to derive greater synergies to improve operating cashflow

VANCOUVER, BC, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) (OTCQX: WHTCF) (the "Company" or "WELL")  a practitioner focused digital health company that is positively impacting health outcomes by leveraging technology to empower healthcare practitioners and their patients globally, is pleased to provide a number of key business updates including a ramp-up in the Company's M&A program and the formation of its Provider Solutions Business Unit.

WELL is Ramping up M&A and Increasing Its Efforts to Grow and Produce Cashflow:

Following the completion of its recent oversubscribed bought deal private placement led by several large institutional investors, WELL confirms that it is ramping up its M&A program with multiple signed and actionable letters of intent ("LOIs"), demonstrating the Company's ability to execute on highly accretive capital allocation opportunities.

"We recently made the timely and important decision to add significant cash to our balance sheet. Additionally, WELL has a long-dated debt maturity schedule, all vendor takebacks have been retired, and we will continue to generate excess free cashflow beyond any interest or earnout payments." said Hamed Shahbazi, Founder and CEO of WELL. "Our stronger financial position comes at a time where acquisition valuations have fallen and the expected returns on capital allocation have improved. This added liquidity gives WELL the ability to aggressively pursue its goal of increasing intrinsic value on a per-share basis"

A multi-disciplinary team at WELL is collaborating with all functional group and business unit leaders to identify cost optimizations and margin enhancement opportunities that can translate into improvements in operating cashflow.

Amir Javidan, WELL's COO added, "Notwithstanding our profitability and growth which on a combined basis is industry leading within the tech-enabled healthcare industry, we are also embarking on a sweeping operating cost review and optimization initiative. The combined effect of our organic and inorganic growth opportunities and focus on operating cost efficiency will deliver tangible value to WELL shareholders.

Eva Fong, WELL's CFO added, "WELL's business continues to operate very well as our business unit leaders are delivering tangible value to healthcare practitioners across our network and allowing them to focus on what matters-patient care. We are increasingly becoming an indispensable and critical piece of healthcare ecosystem in North America that is relied upon by thousands of healthcare practitioners who are delivering millions of patient visits per year. We recently raised guidance for WELL's annual revenue to over $525 million for the current fiscal year. We look forward to updating our stakeholders and demonstrating our strong performance in the coming days and weeks."

Formation of Provider Solutions Business Unit and Key Management Updates

WELL is pleased to announce the formation of its new Provider Solutions Business Unit, which combines the previous WELL EMR Group, Billing and RCM and several Digital Application businesses into a one single practitioner enablement platform. This consolidation is designed to simplify the relationship healthcare providers have with WELL and better promote the breadth and depth of WELL's practitioner enablement platform.

WELL's new Provider Solutions Business Unit encompasses companies and brands including AwareMD, Intrahealth, Oscar Pro, DoctorCare, and CognisantMD. It will comprise of tools and technologies including electronic medical records (EMR), practice management, productivity applications, back-office billing and revenue cycle management, and WELL's apps.health ecosystem. With close to one in four Canadian doctors currently being served by WELL's practitioner focused businesses, the new Provider Solutions Business Unit will further support the onboarding of WELL's technology solutions, positively impacting improved health outcomes by better equipping and empowering healthcare practitioners and their patients.

This integrated offering will not only support in simplifying the relationship we have with our growing network of over 21,000 doctors and healthcare practitioners across the country, but it will also allow WELL to continue to grow our market share through a unique and unified platform offering.

The unit will be run by the current managing directors of DoctorCare, Adam Hutton and Paulo Gomes. Paulo Gomes, founder of DoctorCare, has a deep understanding of the challenges doctors face when running a medical practice, including workflows, technologies, and HR. He has spent his entire career working with primary care physicians in the EMR, pharmaceuticals, and physician services industries. Paulo is also the co-founder of Khure Health, a company that helps primary care doctors identify high-risk patients for rare diseases to help them get on a proper care pathway. Prior to providing operational direction at DoctorCare, Adam Hutton was Vice President of Adoption and Strategic Partnerships at the Ontario Telemedicine Network. He is a proven entrepreneur having started and grown previous health services companies that now support thousands of physicians across Canada.

"Since WELL's inception, we have built our toolkit of tools for practitioners across numerous technology verticals. Moving forward, we have a compelling opportunity to bring the suite of tools to market in a single platform," said Paulo Gomes, Managing Director of WELL Provider Solutions.

"Paulo and I see meaningful opportunities to leverage the apps.health ecosystem, improving the attach rate of services among existing customers, and expanding our platform to new practitioners with a more unified, enterprise grade salesforce," remarked Adam Hutton, Managing Director of WELL Provider Solutions.

WELL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

Per: "Hamed Shahbazi"

Hamed Shahbazi

Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Director

About WELL Health Technologies Corp.

WELL is a technology enabled healthcare company whose overarching objective is to positively impact health outcomes to empower and support healthcare practitioners and their patients. WELL has built an innovative practitioner enablement platform that includes comprehensive end to end practice management tools inclusive of virtual care and digital patient engagement capabilities as well as Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) and data protection services. WELL uses this platform to power healthcare practitioners both inside and outside of WELL's own omni-channel patient services offerings. As such, WELL owns and operates Canada's largest network of outpatient medical clinics serving primary and specialized healthcare services and is the provider of a leading multi-national, multi-disciplinary telehealth offering. WELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "WELL" and trades on the OTCQX under the symbol "WHTCF". To learn more about the Company, please visit: www.well.company .'

Forward-Looking Information

This news release may contain "Forward-Looking Information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including, without limitation: information regarding DoctorCare's future plans, the new Provider Solutions Business Unit and its positive impact in healthcare, and WELL's future M&A transactions. Forward-Looking Information is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, and contingencies. Forward-Looking Information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "will", "could", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or "continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-Looking Information involves 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 such Forward Looking Information and, which are not guarantees of future performance. WELL's statements expressed or implied by Forward Looking Information are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and conditions, many of which are outside of WELL 's control, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Forward-Looking is Information qualified in its entirety by inherent risks and uncertainties, including: direct and indirect material adverse effects from the COVID-19 pandemic; adverse market conditions; risks inherent in the primary healthcare sector in general; regulatory and legislative changes; that future results may vary from historical results; inability to obtain any requisite future financing on suitable terms; any inability to realize the expected benefits and synergies of acquisitions; that market competition may affect the business, results and financial condition of WELL and other risk factors identified in documents filed by WELL under its profile at www.sedar.com , including its most recent Annual Information Form. Except as required by securities law, WELL does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.

SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp.
Health system to utilize AI-powered Biovitals [email protected] platform to deliver inpatient-level care within patients' homes with plans to offer additional remote patient monitoring for post-acute and chronic conditions

BOSTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Biofourmis , a Boston-based global leader in virtual care and digital medicine, has announced its engagement with Wise Health System to launch a continuum-wide care-at-home initiative. Wise Health System is a four-hospital, integrated care network in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

Wise Health System will launch the effort with a home hospital program leveraging Biofourmis' [email protected] end-to-end solution that combines artificial intelligence (AI)-based remote patient monitoring technology and clinical support services.

Wise Health System has nearly 200 beds across its four-hospital campus, with over 200 physicians and more than 2,000 employees. The health system is launching a hospital at home program with Biofourmis as part of its progressive healthcare delivery philosophy, to enable participation in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS') Acute Hospital Care at Home program, for which it has already earned a waiver. Hospitals participating in the CMS program can "admit" patients with certain conditions to their homes instead of a hospital and receive the same reimbursement as if the patient were located in a medical facility.

"Wise Health System is rapidly building a comprehensive network of specialized services and offerings to meet our region's current and future healthcare needs, and hospital at home aligns with that mission," said Kimberly Cantrell, Director of Care Management. "Not only does Biofourmis' [email protected] solution offer real-world results that support its efficacy, but it is a truly turnkey solution that will enable our care system to reduce costs, improve outcomes and enhance the patient experience."

The Biofourmis [email protected] solution enables hospitals and health systems to quickly deploy a home hospital program that delivers inpatient-level care within patients' homes. It includes clinical care services and non-clinical services such as program management, operations, supply chain and revenue cycle management. Biofourmis originally co-developed Biovitals [email protected] with Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard teaching hospital, for use in Brigham's Home Hospital Program. Patients participating in the program had 70% lower readmission rates, a 32% increase in physical activity and 38% lower costs than patients admitted to hospital facilities, according to a study of the program published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

For Wise Health System's hospital at home program, select patients who are medically eligible for hospital admission will be asked if they would prefer to be admitted to their home instead. Patients who choose this option will receive a Biofourmis-powered Virtual Bed Kit containing a wearable biosensor that enables continuous monitoring of multiple physiological signals, a blood pressure cuff and a digital tablet pre-loaded with the patient-facing Biovitals [email protected] app for communicating by video and text with the care team and viewing a dashboard of their vital signs and other data captured from devices.

Clinicians will visit patients in their homes at least twice daily to conduct in-person examinations, assessments and other testing as needed. [email protected] enables clinicians to remotely monitor patients' physiological signs, including any that may require intervention based on a personalized baseline developed through AI and machine learning. The FDA-cleared Biovitals Analytics Engine offers care teams through desktop or mobile devices a real-time look at patients' disease trajectory. The AI-powered insights, which have been demonstrated to improve outcomes in clinical trials, help identify clinical decompensation at an earlier stage to prevent a serious medical adverse event that could result in an emergency department visit and/or transfer to a hospital facility.

Based on Wise Health System's experience with its hospital at home program, additional remote patient management programs for post-acute and chronic care may be added in the future using complementary solutions from Biofourmis' modular Biovitals platform.

"Organizations across the country such as Wise Health System are recognizing that care virtualization and inpatient-level care-at-home are gaining acceptance as preferred options by providers and patients due to improved outcomes," said Kuldeep Singh Rajput, CEO and founder of Biofourmis. "We are looking forward to working with Wise Health System as they transition to safely and effectively delivering more types of care to patients in their homes that improve experience while reducing costs for the hospital."

About Biofourmis

Biofourmis, based in Boston, is a global leader in providing advanced technology and clinical support for [email protected] and digital therapies. We are driven by a passion to personalize care and predict clinical worsening before it happens. Our clinically validated platform, powered by machine learning and advanced analytics, enables better healthcare, maximizes the effectiveness of high-value drugs, and lowers costs across the entire care continuum. For more information, visit www.biofourmis.com and follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter and YouTube .

Media Contact:

Tara Stultz

Amendola Communications for Biofourmis

440.225.9595

[email protected]

SOURCE Biofourmis
DUBLIN, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Automotive Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Industry Report, 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

UWB got initially utilized in the military field, and began to be commercially applied after the release of criteria for UWB commercialization in 2002. In 2019, Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) listed UWB as the next-generation vehicle security access technology, conducing to the massive availability to mobile devices.

In July 2021, CCC officially issued the CCC3.0 standards, which clearly proposes that the combination of UWB and BLE (Bluetooth) wireless technologies enables passive keyless entry and engine start through compatible mobile devices.



CCC Digital Key 3.0 will bring better user experience by implementing UWB connectivity to add hands-free, location-aware keyless entry and location-aware capabilities.



To date, a number of Chinese and foreign OEMs have begun to deploy UWB technology. To ensure the safety of the passive entry system, Range Rover Evoque has started to employ UWB technology since 2018; all NIO ET7 models delivered in early 2022 support the UWB key positioning function (leveraging UWB+Bluetooth+NFC fusion technology), and the upcoming NIO ET5 also plans to carry UWB technology.



In addition, BMW, Hyundai, etc. all plan to launch models outfitted with UWB digital key in 2022, and the UWB digital key will usher in mass production.



Enthusiastically promoted by NIO, Great Wall Motor, Land Rover, BMW and other OEMs, UWB is projected to be available onto millions of passenger cars, accompanied by a sharp fall in the cost of single car. UWB technology will be eventually a standard configuration of intelligent connected vehicles, connecting vehicle to everything.



BMW: In 2021, BMW unveiled the new BMW iDrive system, which is equipped with UWB technology for the first time, and upgraded the mobile car key technology to Digital Key Plus in line with CCC 3.0 communication standards.



BMW Digital Key Plus will be first installed on the BMW iX, which can unlock/lock the doors automatically, but which currently only supports Apple devices with the Apple U1 chip.



In the future, BMW will continue to cooperate with Apple and CCC to develop the digital key 3.0 criterion based on UWB technology, formulating a new technical standard for the global automotive industry.



Measureless UWB derivatives attract the inrush of companies

UWB is still in its infancy in the automotive sector, and it is now used mainly in unconscious entry by UWB digital key. In the future, OEMs hope to open up a smart mobility ecosystem through UWB digital keys, and derive more personalized applications, such as UWB-based automotive AVP, car sharing and car payment.



Besides, UWB-based smart phones are increasingly accessible. In the future, if the mobile phone and automobile UWB technology potential markets are connected through, UWB application-based industry chain ecosystem will become a blue sea market.



It is because UWB can derive a broad industry ecosystem that the companies concerned have begun to actively deploy UWB technology.



Auto parts system suppliers: promote the OEM deployment of UWB technology for mass production

KOSTAL: With the mass production and delivery of NIO ET7, KOSTAL's UWB digital key has been truly spawned. KOSTAL has developed an exclusive communication protocol for UWB digital key system, which is compatible with CCC protocol, so that the company's products can suit the wireless communication criteria of different OEMs, which is conducive to popularizing mass production.

HELLA: In June 2021, Hella rolled out a smart vehicle entry system based on UWB technology. When the car owner is within a distance of 50 meters, the car will automatically detect and identify his/her mobile device; when the owner is within two meters of the car, the car is automatically unlocked; however, the engine can only be started when the smartphone is in the car. The technology will be in mass production within two years, says Hella.

TsingCar: Relying on R&D accumulation of the parent company TSINGOAL in the UWB field, TsingCar has successfully developed a UWB digital key solution, enabling UWB-based tailgate kick, in-cabin liveness detection, and UWB-based high-precision positioning and navigation AVP function.

Kunchen: Kunchen has built public parking lots based on UWB technology in Shanghai, and plans to cover Chengdu, Beijing, Guangzhou and other cities. Also, the company integrates UWB module and RTK module to form an indoor and outdoor fusion positioning box, which transmits the fusion coordinate data to the car and supports AVP.

Jingwei Technology: It provides proprietary UWB chip modules, positioning hardware & software and system solutions. Notably, Great Wall Motor's ORA Haomao is equipped with the "Find ME Mobile Connect & Positioning System" of Jingwei Technology.

Tech companies: From mobile phones to automobiles, joint efforts are being made to foster a UWB industry chain ecosystem.

Apple: Beginning in 2020, Apple included the new Car Key feature as an integral of iOS 13.6. When the iPhone holder approaches the car, the signal transmitted by the UWB transmitter on the iPhone will be received by the UWB antenna on the vehicle. The central processing unit then calculates the distance and specific location of the mobile phone around the car according to the signal field strength and direction provided by the UWB antenna, so as to make a targeted response.

Xiaomi: In 2020, a UWB-based garage car-finding solution was released by Xiaomi. When the car is parked in the garage, the UWB anchor interacts with UWB module in the car to be positioned, and the UWB anchor can obtain the distance and location of the car as well as identification information of the car's UWB module and send the information to UWB server. According to the position of UWB anchor in the garage, the server can obtain the parking position of the car by calculating the distance and position between multiple anchors and the car to be located, and store it in the UWB server.

Also, Xiaomi officially announced its entry into car manufacturing in 2021, and successively established Xiaomi Auto Co., Ltd., Xiaomi Auto Technology Co., Ltd., etc. Expectedly, Xiaomi Auto will use the self-developed UWB technology in the future.



Automotive Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Industry Report, 2022 highlights the following:

UWB positioning technology, UWB system features, UWB industry policies and standards as well as UWB application, etc.;

UWB industry chain, market size, market pattern, technical trends, etc.;

UWB use in varied scenarios (digital key, autonomous driving positioning, indoors parking lot, smart traffic lights);

Influential automotive UWB chip suppliers and their UWB product lines;

Influential automotive UWB system solution integrators and their UWB solutions & application.

Key Topics Covered:



1. UWB Industry Overview

1.1 UWB Positioning Method

1.2 UWB System Features

1.3 UWB Industry Policies and Standards

1.4 UWB Application

1.5 Necessity of UWB Application



2. Status Quo and Development Trends of UWB Market

2.1 UWB Industry Chain

2.1.1 UWB Industry Chain Map

2.1.2 UWB Supply Chain Players

2.1.3 Major Foreign UWB Technology Providers (I)

2.1.4 Major Foreign UWB Technology Providers (II)

2.1.5 Major Foreign UWB Technology Providers (III)

2.2 UWB Market Size

2.2.1 Global UWB Market Size

2.2.2 Global Passenger Car UWB Market Size

2.2.3 China UWB Market Size

2.2.4 China Passenger Car UWB Market Size (I)

2.2.5 China Passenger Car UWB Market Size (II)

2.3 UWB Market Pattern

2.3.1 UWB Basic Technology Market Structure

2.3.2 Market Structure of UWB Application Solutions

2.3.3 Difficulties in Chinese UWB Industry

2.4 UWB Technology Trends

2.4.1 UWB Digital Key Applications on a Rise

2.4.2 The Fusion of UWB+Bluetooth+NFC Will Become the Mainstream Solution of Digital Key (I)

2.4.3 The Fusion of UWB+Bluetooth+NFC Will Become the Mainstream Solution of Digital Key (II)

2.4.4 Collaborative Application of UWB and V2X

2.5 UWB Cost Status

2.5.1 UWB Application Cost Is High

2.5.2 UWB Hardware Cost

2.5.3 Vehicle UWB Hardware Reuse Reduces Usage Costs



3. UWB Application Scenarios

3.1 UWB Application Scenario 1: Digital Key

3.1.1 Course of UWB Application in Automobile

3.1.2 UWB Can Improve Digital Key Security

3.1.3 UWB Digital Key Layout in Vehicle (I)

3.1.4 UWB Digital Key Layout in Vehicle (II)

3.1.5 Passenger Car UWB Digital Key Installation

3.1.6 UWB Use in NIO Cars

3.1.7 Great Wall Motor's UWB Precise Positioning Technology

3.1.8 BMW UWB Technology Application

3.1.9 Advantages of BMW Digital Key

3.1.10 Tesla UWB Technology Application

3.1.11 Hyundai UWB Technology Application

3.1.12 Jaguar Land Rover UWB Application

3.1.13 Land Rover Range Rover UWB System Topology

3.2 UWB Application Scenario 2: Autonomous Driving Positioning

3.2.1 Availability of UWB High-precision Positioning Technology onto Passenger Cars

3.2.2 Advantages of Selecting UWB for Autonomous Vehicle AVP Technology

3.2.3 Volkswagen's Application of UWB Technology (I)

3.2.4 Volkswagen's Application of UWB Technology (II)

3.2.5 Great Wall ORA's UWB-based Positioning for Autonomous Driving

3.2.6 Kunchen's Open Road Blind Spot Coverage Based on UWB

3.3 UWB Application Scenario III: Indoor Parking Lot

3.3.1 Underground Parking Lot UWB Positioning System (I)

3.3.2 Underground Parking Lot UWB Positioning System (II)

3.3.3 Integrated Deployment Solution of UWB and V2X in Parking Lot

3.3.4 Kunchen's UWB-based AVP Parking Lot Deployment Solution

3.3.5 Application of Jingwei Technology's UWB Technology in Parking Lot

3.3.6 Exploration of Business Model of Underground Parking Lot Based on UWB

3.3.7 Qianxun SI's Indoor And Outdoor Integrated Positioning Technology Based on UWB

3.4 UWB Application Scenario 4: Intelligent Transportation

3.4.1 Composition of UWB Positioning System

3.4.2 Application of UWB in Viaduct (Overpass) Scenario

3.4.3 Application of UWB in Tunnel Scenario

3.4.4 Application of UWB in Overtaking Scenarios on Large Curves

3.5 UWB Application Scenario 5: Industrial Scenarios

3.5.1 Summary of UWB Application in Industrial Scenarios (I)

3.5.2 Summary of UWB Application in Industrial Scenarios (II)

3.5.3 Volkswagen Smart Factory UWB Positioning Solution



4. UWB Chip Suppliers

4.1 NXP

4.1.1 UWB Solution

4.1.2 UWB Product Line

4.1.3 UWB IC for Automobile

4.1.4 UWB IC Architecture for Automobile

4.1.5 UWB-based Car Intelligent Access Control System

4.2 Microchip

4.2.1 Automotive UWB Chips

4.2.2 UWB Chip ATA5352

4.2.3 UWB Chip ATA5350

4.3 ST

4.3.1 UWB Business

4.3.2 UWB Product: BAL-UWB-01E3

4.3.3 UWB Product: B-UWB-MOD1

4.3.4 UWB Product: B-UWB-MOD1

4.4 Qorvo

4.4.1 UWB Business

4.4.2 UWB Product Line

4.4.3 UWB Technology Strength

4.4.4 UWB Technology for Automotive Use

4.5 3db Access AG

4.5.1 UWB Chips

4.5.2 UWB Chip Application

4.5.3 Partnership with Renesas

4.6 Apple

4.6.1 UWB Solution for Automobile

4.6.2 Keyless Entry Patents

4.6.3 U1 Chip Series

4.7 Xiaomi

4.7.1 UWB Technology Layout

4.7.2 Garage Car-finding Solution based on UWB Positioning Technology

4.7.3 Method of Implementing Garage Car-finding Solution

4.7.4 Xiaomi Auto Business

4.8 Others

4.8.1 UWB Business of NewRadiTech

4.8.2 UWB Business of Wenzhou Yanchuang IoT Tech

4.8.3 PATEO Deployment of UWB Digital Key



5. UWB Solution Integrators

5.1 KOSTAL

5.2 Bosch

5.3 Samsung

5.4 Continental

5.5 World Peace Industrial Group (WPI)

5.6 Kunchen

5.7 Jingwei Technology

5.8 TsingCar

5.9 TSINGOAL

5.10 Shenzhen Sunway Communication Co., Ltd.

5.11 ZLG

5.12 Others



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/aogqan

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

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SOURCE Research and Markets
WINCHESTER, Va., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yount, Hyde and Barbour (YHB) is pleased to share, effective July 1, 2022, we will acquire Glass Jacobson, PA, a Maryland based tax, accounting, and management consulting firm.

"We are excited to welcome the Glass Jacobson team to the YHB family. We expect their team's capabilities will enhance our already rapidly expanding reach into the Maryland/DC Market." says Scott Moulden, Managing Partner of YHB. "YHB and the Glass Jacobson team share the same values of empowering clients and communities with world class service. This also affirms our commitment as a premiere firm in the Maryland market."

Glass Jacobson was established in 1962 with a rich history of serving clients throughout the Baltimore-Washington greater DC metro area. Glass Jacobson offers a myriad of services, focusing on tax, audit, and consulting services. By providing these services under one roof, they have allowed clients to make smart and concise decisions for their businesses and lives.

"We are eager to join the YHB team. Together, we will be able to provide greater resources to our clients and communities. Our mission to empower the future is steadfast when joining YHB. We will be providing the same excellent solutions that our clients have become accustomed to, with the addition of new and exciting advancements," said Edward J. Jacobson, Managing Director, and Firm President of Glass Jacobson.

As an established Regional Leader, the newly combined teams will strengthen YHB's foothold as a multiregional accounting firm with offices spanning across Virginia and Maryland. The addition of Glass Jacobson to YHB also expands its expertise in wealth management as YHB and Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors, LLC will form a joint venture, to better provide a unified client experience.

The Glass Jacobson acquisition will bring 6 principals and an additional 54 staff members to the YHB team, bringing the Firm's headcount to nearly 300 employees. These new team members will continue to work out of the former Glass Jacobson offices, both in Owings Mills and Rockville, raising the YHB office count to 11 offices throughout the region.

About YHB: We are all about you. At YHB we are dedicated to finding custom solutions to help you thrive. As a leading CPA and advisory firm, we work with some of the most innovative and passionate leaders and organizations across the region. Established in 1947, we offer clients comprehensive accounting, auditing, tax, wealth management and risk advisory services. In addition to serving individuals, estates and trusts, the firm has extensive experience in working with both public and private businesses.

Please direct all media inquiries to Jeremy Shen at 540.662.3417 or [email protected]

SOURCE Yount, Hyde and Barbour
Participants of the round table also included Zhu Ning, Deputy Dean and Professor of Finance, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Jonathan Krane, Chief Executive Officer of KraneShares, John Tuttle, Vice-Chairman and Chief Commercial Officer of NYSE Group Inc. and Marcos Troyjo, President of New Development Bank.

Acceleration of digital transformation in the healthcare sector boosts value-driven growth

In recent years, China's healthcare industry is undergoing a transformation from informatization to digitalization to intelligentization, to establish a value-based healthcare system. During the session, Ms. Gong said that the digitalization of the healthcare industry in China is continuing to accelerate, with areas such as public health management and new drug research and development. She believes that in the long run, the value of a company depends on the value that it can provide for the industry, and based on the clear growth fundamentals of the healthcare industry, Yidu Tech remains very optimistic about the future of the healthcare intelligence industry.

Healthcare Intelligence helps reduce costs and increase efficiency

China's elderly population aged 60 and above has exceeded 260 million. Ms. Gong believes that the application of healthcare intelligence will effectively address the problems associated with an aging population, driving cost reduction and efficiency. Ms. Gong mentioned that by utilizing data insights to optimize new drug R&D design and apply intelligent patient screening, Yidu Tech has helped a partner developing rare diseases drugs to shorten their clinical phase II by about 20 months.

This year's meeting brought together nearly 2,500 dignitaries and experts from around the world to discuss how to develop long-term policies and strategies to revitalize the global economy. Brge Brende, President of the WEF, said that China has made a huge contribution to global economic growth and its stable economic growth is of great significance to global recovery.

SOURCE Yidu Tech
ZeroAvia is already well advanced in plans to certify its ZA600, 600kW powertrain for smaller, 10-20 seat aircraft, with entry into service planned for 2024. Concurrently, the company is working on ZA2000, a 2-5MW modular powertrain which targets support for 40-80 seat turboprops by 2026. The ZA2000RJ powertrain will expand this technology to enable passengers to fly in zero-emission regional jets as early as the late 2020s.

This agreement places the CRJ Series aircraft as a frontrunner for the earliest operations using true zero-emission engines. Over 2,000 CRJ Series aircraft have been built since the launch of the program, effectively establishing itself as the backbone of regional aviation in the United States.

This expanded agreement follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the parties at the end of last year .

Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos where he has been discussing the pathway to sustainable aviation, Val Miftakhov, CEO and Founder of ZeroAvia, said: "There are hundreds of CRJ Series aircraft in daily operation across North America, transporting millions of passengers. All these flights can and should be zero-emission well before the end of this decade. This agreement is a giant step forward in delivering hydrogen-electric engines to the regional jet segment."

The agreement is the first for MHIRJ's Aerospace Engineering Centre (AEC) in the hydrogen propulsion field. MHIRJ's Aerospace Engineering Centre aims to provide engineering, design and certification services to third parties using the wide expertise and experience of its engineering team.

Hiro Yamamoto, President and CEO of MHIRJ, said: "We are very excited about this agreement with ZeroAvia as it furthers two important goals for MHIRJ. The first is to continue to grow our AEC business through working with other companies and using our vast engineering expertise to advance this state-of-the art project. The second benefit is that we are part of the value chain in bringing innovative sustainable technology into the regional space."

In the last quarter of 2021, ZeroAvia secured partnerships and funding with major airlines Alaska Air Group and United Airlines to accelerate the development of its ZA2000 engine, the largest of ZeroAvia's current powertrain platforms. This announcement with MHIRJ closely follows ZeroAvia's expansion of its Hollister location in California and a deal with Shell for hydrogen supply, as well as the opening of a new facility at Paine Field in Washington State in January.

About ZeroAvia

ZeroAvia is a leader in zero-emission aviation, focused on hydrogen-electric propulsion solutions. Initially targeting a 500-mile range in the 10-20 seat aircraft used for commercial passenger transport, cargo, agriculture, and more, the company is also working to scale up its powertrain technology for large turboprops and regional jets. Based in the UK and USA, ZeroAvia has already secured experimental certificates for its two-prototype aircraft from the CAA and FAA, passed significant flight test milestones, secured a number of key partnerships with major aircraft OEMs and major global airlines, and is on track for commercial operations in 2024. The company's expanding UK operations are supported by grants from UK's Aerospace Technology Institute and Innovate UK, and ZeroAvia is part of the UK Government's Jet Zero Council. For more, please visit ZeroAvia.com, follow @ZeroAvia on Twitter , Instagram , and LinkedIn .

About MHI RJ Aviation Group

MHI RJ Aviation Group (MHIRJ) provides comprehensive critical operational, engineering and customer support solutions including maintenance, refurbishment, technical publications, marketing and sales activities for the global regional aircraft industry. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, and bolstered by an Aerospace Engineering Centre, MHIRJ's network of service centers, support offices and parts depots are positioned in important aviation hubs in Canada, the U.S. and Germany. A wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., MHI RJ Aviation Group includes MHI RJ Aviation ULC (Canada), MHI RJ Aviation Inc. (U.S.A.) and MHI RJ Aviation GmbH (Germany).

WE ARE HIRING. Visit www.mhirj.com/en/careers to know more.

For more information about MHI RJ Aviation Group, please visit: www.mhirj.com

*CRJ, CRJ Series and MHIRJ are trademarks of MHI RJ Aviation ULC or its affiliates.

SOURCE ZeroAvia
Vast Resources PLC (AIM:VAST) said it entered into an agreement with Open Joint Stock Company Talco to process the tailings produced at Takob mine in Tajikistan.

The agreement is a separate and additional project to the Takob joint venture project announced by AIM-traded Vast on May 3.

READ: Vast Resources joins new project in Tajikistan

The funding for the Talco project, which may be up to U$20mln, will be provided by Central Asia Minerals and Metals Ore Trading FZCO on the same or similar terms as the companys existing Takob joint venture project.

Vast said its joint venture partner, Formin TJK, has started surveying, soil sampling and preliminary drilling on site at the tailings facility. Formin reported visible signs of lead, zinc and precious metals, including gold, silver and platinum group metals, in the tailings facility.

Initial surface survey results compiled by Formin show that there is a minimum of 1 million tonnes (Mt) and up to 3.3Mt of tailings. The depth of the tailings will be determined once drilling is completed, Vast said.
British Airways (BA) owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG) (IAG) looks set to be the latest FTSE 100-listed company in the firing line over excessive executive pay.

A significant revolt at IAGs annual meeting in June is expected, Sky News reported, with chief executive Luis Gallego's large share awards the main cause of investors' ire.

The airline owner relied on millions of pounds of taxpayer support during the pandemic, suspended dividends, sold shares to investors to raise funds and sacked thousands of staff.

IAG was also heavily criticised for its refund approach during the pandemic as well as other customer service issues at BA including recently more IT outages and widespread flight cancellations.

Glass Lewis, a major proxy agency that advises investors on how to vote at company meetings, has come out against IAGs pay policy saying the plan to raise Gallegos maximum share award under its restricted plan to 150% of salary from 100% was "misaligned with the stakeholder experience.

IAG claimed its chief executive has seen a significant remuneration reduction in the last two years.

"He did not receive his long-term incentive (2018 and 2019) and his 2020 bonus, [and he] decided to forego his 900,000 bonus in 2021 in addition to undertaking voluntary salary reductions in 2020 and 2021, it added.

FTSE 350 chief executives to earn 63 times average workers in 2022

Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO), GSK PLC and Pearson PLC (LSE:PSON) have all recorded heavy voting against remuneration resolutions in recent weeks.

IAG shares retreated 1.5% to 125.3p on Tuesday.
FTSE 100 lost some of its early sparkle as results from a host of household names proved a mixed bag. SSE was good, M&S OK and Ocado disappointing was the early verdict. The blue -chip index was 30 points up at 7,714 early on.



Marks & Spencer said it will be closing 48 of its stores in Russia due to its continued invasion of Ukraine. The FTSE 100 company also warned that sales growth would slow as the cost-of-living crisis worsens.



Chelsea FCs takeover by Todd Boehly has been given the green light by the UK government. In a statement, the government said it reached a position where we could issue a licence that permits the sale.



Railway workers voted overwhelmingly in favour of a national strike following a vote by the RMT union. 89% out of 40,000 voted in favour of the strike.



Among the small caps, Synairgen said it is working in haste on new trials as it remains encouraged that its lead drug still has potential for patients over the past year with severe viral lung infections At year-end, its cash balance stood at 33.8mln.



Gulf Keystone Petroleum unveiled a US$50mln special dividend and announced that the Kurdistan regional government has now settled outstanding invoices from November 2019 to February 2020. Shares were up as much as 10%.



Kromek has won a repeat order worth US$695,000 from a US federal entity for wearable nuclear radiation detector. The order follows on from a US$1.6m two-year contract from the same customer last September.
David Minchin tells Proactive it is returning to the Tai prospect because it is the key to unlocking a new helium province in Tanzania. With all the work we've done, it's our best and lowest risk prospect. We know that it's got excellent quality reservoirs and importantly we know we've had multiple helium shows from basements practically all the way up. All we need to do now is flow gas to the surface.
24 May 2022

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP

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Clipper Logistics has left the Main Market following a Cash takeover.

Whats cooking in the IPO kitchen?

According to news reports, The Very Group, is looking to float after calling off their plan for a 4bn IPO last year due to a volatile market. The ecommerce group is owned by the Barclays family. According to the Sunday Times, the retailer has offered incentives to senior leaders at the firm for pulling off a flotation, which the Barclays family now hope to get underway in mid-2023.

Psych Capital PLC, intends to list on the AQSE Growth Market. Psych operates the Psych Platform (a business-to-business networking platform), that is developing the Blossom Database pursuant to a third party licensing arrangement. The Company also has an investment of 426,000 common shares in Awakn, a Canadian NEO Exchange listed psychedelics research and clinical group, with operations in the UK and Europe. Psych is developing the Blossom Database pursuant to a third-party licensing arrangement, and Psych will work to develop an artificial intelligence platform that will provide biotech companies advanced clinical data that will be able to fast-track drug development and loop back the real-world data, in a centralised database, to provide feedback on molecules and associated therapy programmes. Due 30th May 2022.

Altona Rare Earths, the AQSE listed mining exploration Company focused on the evaluation, acquisition and development of Rare Earth Elements mining projects in Africa, intends to join the Main Market. Admission to trading of the Company's Ordinary Shares on the AQSE Growth Market will be cancelled simultaneously with Admission. It is also proposed that on Admission, the Company will change its EPIC from Altona Rare Earths Plc (AQSE:ANR) to REE. The Company also seeks to raise funds to finance its current and future rare earths mining projects in Southern and Eastern Africa. Due May 2022.

Banquet Buffet

Accsys Technologies (AIM:AXS) 125.25p 241.4m

The fast-growing and eco-friendly company that combines chemistry and technology to create high performance, sustainable wood building products, today announces that it proposes to raise gross proceeds of approximately EUR20m (approximately EUR19m net of expenses) by way of a Placing and Subscription of new ordinary shares of 0.05 euro cents nominal value each in the Company at a price of 145 euro cents (123 pence). The net proceeds of the Issue will be used to strengthen the Company's balance sheet, increase liquidity headroom and fund additional costs to complete the Arnhem Plant Reactor 4 (R4) capacity expansion. The Issue will also provide increased working capital in FY23 to support the wider Accsys organisation in what is a pivotal year, as the equivalent of an additional 60,000m3 of new capacity projects are due to come online in the next three months, increasing the total capacity at Group level to 120,000m3.

Advanced Medical Solutions Group (AIM:AMS) 281.5p 608.2m

The specialist in tissue-healing technologies, has received FDA 510(k) approval for LiquiBand XL, a new device that can close longer wounds than existing LiquiBand products. The device consists of a surgical mesh which is used to close the wound and LiquiBand glue which is used to strengthen the closure and prevent infection. Product launch into the US is expected in the third quarter of 2022. The device has been used successfully on a variety of orthopaedic procedures in multiple territories since its European approval in 2021 and has received very positive feedback in terms ease of use, efficacy and reduced pain and scarring in comparison with other closure methods such as stapling. The addition of LiquiBand XL to AMS' Advanced Wound Closure portfolio is an important step in the development of this franchise. It provides access to a new $60m, long wound sealant market in the US but also increases the overall strength of the LiquiBand portfolio, as it completes the range of applications available, significantly improving the company's ability to win new contracts and bundle products.

Evgen Pharma PLC (AIM:EVG) 3.85p 10.6m

The Clinical stage drug development company developing sulforaphane-based medicines for the treatment of cancer and other indications, announces a collaboration with Prof. Francesco Marampon, of Universita Sapienza di Roma (La Sapienza) to investigate potential radiosensitisation effects of the Company's lead asset, SFX-01. The aim of radiosensitisation is to make tumour cells more sensitive to radiation therapy and through this, to improve effectiveness. SFX-01 is a patented composition of synthetic sulforaphane and alpha-cyclodextrin. Previous studies of the compound have shown an increase in sensitivity of cancer cells to radiotherapy in its presence. This was observed in in vitro and in vivo models of glioblastoma. Results of the study were published in a peer reviewed journal, Pharmaceuticals, in 2021 (Colapietroet al2021). The collaboration with La Sapienza seeks to evaluate the radiosensitisation effects of SFX-01 in a different tumour type and to provide further insights into its mechanism of action. In vitro experiments will investigate the ability of SFX-01 to increase the sensitivity of cells to radiotherapy and allow the use of lower radiation doses. Factors that will be investigated include the inhibitory effects of SFX-01 on cell metabolism, focusing on proliferation, cell cycle distribution and induction of death.

Franchise Brands PLC (AIM:FRAN) 139.5p 181.2m

The international multi-brand franchise business, provides details of its plans to integrate the Group's direct labour organisations in the UK following the acquisition of Filta Group Holdings PLC in March 2022. The acquisition of Filta allows the Group to offer a wider range of drainage, pump, plumbing and fats, oils and grease management services to commercial customers. In order to maximise the opportunity to grow, the Board believes it is important to streamline the way the Group's businesses operate and collaborate. As such, the Board has identified advantages to harmonising some of Filta UK's DLO business with Willow Pumps in order to unlock further market opportunities in the B2B division. There are considerable synergies and opportunities in the range of core services of the two DLO businesses, as well as with the Metro Rod franchise network, in particular pump servicing, drainage and fats oils and grease management. These services are very complementary in terms of the customer base, with significant opportunities to cross-sell the now extended range of services to all existing and new customers. These synergies will provide a number of opportunities to enhance performance and customer service and grow revenue and profits for the enlarged group. In order to realise the efficiencies as quickly and efficiently as possible, without constraints or impediments, the Board has determined that the best course of action is to now buy out the earn-out consideration for the acquisition of Willow Pumps that was agreed in October 2019, rather than wait until the earn-out period ends on 31 December 2024.

Kromek Group PLC (AIM:KMK) 12.75p 55.1m

The developer of radiation and bio-detection technology solutions for the advanced imaging and CBRN detection segments, announces that it has received an order from a US federal entity for the Group's D3S-ID wearable nuclear radiation detector. The order is worth $695k and is to be delivered in the coming months. This is a repeat order for the D3S-ID from this customer, following the award of a $1.6m two-year contract in September 2021. The D3S-ID is designed to enable first responders, armed forces, border security and other CBRN experts to detect radiological threats such as dirty bombs, radioactive contamination and smuggling of radioactive substances. It is a wearable gamma neutron RIID (radioisotope identification device) that the Group believes is one of the fastest and most accurate isotope identification devices in its class on the market. Kromek's D3S platform, comprising the Group's range of D3S products, is widely deployed as a networked solution to protect cities, buildings, or critical infrastructure.

Marlowe PLC (AIM:MRL) 892p 854.9m

The leader in business-critical services and software which assure safety and regulatory compliance, announces that it has acquired Cedrec Information Systems Limited, a leading digital platform providing Environmental, Health and Safety data & information, for an enterprise value of up to 3m. Headquartered in Gateshead and established in 1994, Cedrec provides data, information and legislative insights to approximately 1,000 customers who subscribe to its SaaS platform to manage their environmental and health & safety compliance processes. Following the acquisition of Barbour EHS from Informa PLC (LSE:INF) in July 2021, the addition of Cedrec to Marlowe will deepen Marlowe's EHS Intelligence proposition and further increase the Group's SaaS Annual Recurring Revenues. In the year to 30 April 2021, Cedrec generated revenues of 1.3m and adjusted EBITDA of 0.45m. Net assets as at 30 April 2021 were 1.2m. The Acquisition consideration consists of an initial payment of 2.4m, and subsequent deferred consideration of 0.6m which will be payable after 12 months based on the completion of certain integration objectives. The Acquisition consideration will be settled in cash and funded from Marlowe's existing cash resources.

SDX Energy (LON: SDX) 8.25p 16.9m

The boards of directors of Tenaz and SDX have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended share-for-share combination between Tenaz and SDX. The Combination is to be implemented by means of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement between SDX and the Scheme Shareholders under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006, with the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of SDX being acquired by Tenaz. Under the terms of the Combination, each Scheme Shareholder will be entitled to receive: 0.075 New Tenaz Shares for each 1 SDX Share. The Combination represents a value of approximately 0.10 per SDX Share based upon the Tenaz TSX Closing Price of C$2.19 per Tenaz Share on 24 May 2022, being the latest practicable date prior to the date of this Announcement. Tenaz is focused on the acquisition and sustainable development of energy assets capable of returning free cash flow to shareholders. Since the recapitalisation of a publicly-traded Canadian entity in late 2021, Tenaz has targeted the acquisition of conventional and semi-conventional oil and gas assets in international markets.

Tekcapital PLC (LSE:TEK) 26.5p 37.5m

The UK intellectual property investment group focused on creating valuable products from investing in university technologies that can improve the quality of life, announces that it has raised a total of 2m (c.US$2.5m) before expenses, in an oversubscribed placing from existing and new shareholders, by way of the issue of, in new ordinary shares of 0.4 pence each in the Company, at 25 pence per share. The net proceeds of the Placing will primarily be used to accelerate the growth of the Company's portfolio companies. Key Highlights: 2m (US$2.5m ) before expenses was raised by means of a fundraise through the issue of, in aggregate 8,000,000 Placing Shares at 25 pence per Placing Share. Funds raised will be used as follows: 0.4m to build commercial inventory of MicroSalt and SaltMe crisps, 0.4m to build inventory of wireless chargers for Lucyd Lyte smartglasses, 0.3m to provide CAPEX to enhance Guident's remote monitoring and control centre with AI software features, the remainder of the funds raised will primarily be for additional working capital.

Tekmar Group PLC (AIM:TGP) 38.5p 23.5m

The provider of technology and services for the global offshore energy markets announced the award of a significant new contract to provide an integrated engineering solution, including Cable Protection Systems, for an offshore wind farm project in the US. The contract is expected to be delivered in 2023. Alasdair MacDonald, CEO of Tekmar Group, said: "This landmark contract award strengthens our position in the US offshore wind market and represents an important milestone in expanding our geographical presence, a key driver of our growth strategy. The contract builds on our encouraging recent contract momentum, including the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, and highlights Tekmar's range of in-house engineering capabilities to address complex engineering challenges and de-risk cable protection projects. We look forward to delivering on our part of this project. "

Windward Ltd (AIM:WNWD) 120p 99.6m

The Maritime AI company, announced today that it has partnered with the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration (SLMARAD), an open registry which operates and governs the Sierra Leone flag registry. This is the first flag registry to sign with Windward, representing an expansion into a new area of the maritime industry. SLMARAD will use Windward's AI-powered platform to screen all existing and incoming vessels in its registry, allowing the administration to maintain a high quality of registrants and ensure the safety of life at sea and protection of the marine environment. Ami Daniel, Co-Founder & CEO of Windward said: "We are excited to work with the Sierra Leone flag registry to improve its screening processes and reputation in the global trade community. The AfCFTA agreement has increased the economic potential of Africa in maritime trade and ensuring the safety and reputation of vessels sailing under African flags is essential to conduct trade on a global scale."

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Newfield Resources Ltd (ASX:NWF) has sold its first diamonds from its Tongo Mine in Sierra Leone with the sale yielding US$1.44 million (A$2.05 million) at an average price of US$269 per carat.

A tender process saw 5,330 carats sold with the sale managed by the largest independent diamond and gemstone tender and auction house, the Bonas Group.

There was strong demand for the diamonds across 15 lots offered and further sales are planned during the year as production continues at the mine.

We are delighted to announce the results of our recent diamond tender from the Tongo Diamond Mine," Newfield executive director Karl Smithson said.

"There was strong demand across the board for our product, which comprised of predominantly quality gem diamonds. This demand for high-quality diamonds is reflected in the high average price of US$269 per carat achieved,

This high diamond value realised, coupled with the high mining grades of 2.7 carats per tonne previously reported, is very encouraging and demonstrates the potential of the Tongo Mine to be a high grade and high-value diamond mine.

"The production from the Tongo Mine continues to deliver encouraging results and we anticipate being able to offer further goods to the market for sale as 2022 progresses.

About the sale

Diamonds ranged from single stones of up to 9 carats to -7 DTC sieve run-of-mine production. A total of 100 companies viewed the goods with 411 bids.

All lots were sold and generated US$1,435,405 in gross revenue, at an average price of US$269 per carat.

The parcel sold included 203 carats of goods previously mined (but not sold) from a now discontinued alluvial operation in Sierra Leone.

Excluding these goods, a total of 5,128 carats were sold from the Tongo Diamond Mine, realising US$1,343,889 at an average price of US$262 per carat. This average price per carat comfortably exceeds the +1.18mm modelled diamond price of US$222 per carat for the Tongo Mine that Newfield previously reported.
Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) has welcomed an upgrade by Bryah Resources Ltd (ASX:BYH) to the previous base metal mineral resource estimate (MRE) within the Australian Vanadium Project deposit at Gabanintha Project in central Western Australia from 31.3 million tonnes to 36 million tonnes.

AVL holds the rights to vanadium, titanium, iron ore, cobalt, chromium, uranium, lithium, tantalum and manganese, while Bryah holds the rights to nickel, copper and gold, among other minerals.

Working together to maximise recovery

AVL is a major shareholder (4.8%) of Bryah and both companies are working together to maximise the recovery of metals from this world-class vanadium-titanium-magnetite (VTM) deposit, with Bryah taking the lead on further studies relating to the base metal recovery circuit.

Nickel, copper and cobalt are all critically important, high value energy metals vital for the global transition to electric vehicles.

The collaboration between Bryah and AVL has been assisted by a Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) grant to AVL of A$49 million to progress critical minerals. BYH is named as a collaborator under the MMI application.

15% increase in MRE

This updated base metals indicated and inferred mineral resource represents a 15% increase on the previous figure, to 36 million tonnes at 766 parts per million (ppm) nickel, 212 ppm copper and 231 ppm cobalt.

The indicated portion of the resource, 16.1 million tonnes at 762 ppm nickel, 212 ppm copper and 231 ppm cobalt, is in the high-grade vanadium zone within the three planned open pits of AVLs vanadium project described in its bankable feasibility study.

The VTM deposit, which has a proposed 25-year mine life operation, is roughly 11.5 kilometres long within the project area. Most of this is sitting on a mining lease, which was granted in 2020.

Battery metal value can be realised

With AVL having completed a BFS and looking toward production, BYH can now realise the value of its battery metals.

During AVLs feasibility studies, flotation test-work of non-magnetic tails from the vanadium beneficiation produced sulphide concentrates that contained up to 6.3% base metals including up to 2.02% cobalt, 2.58% nickel and 1.70% copper.

AVL has now completed a bankable feasibility study on the vanadium resource at the project.

Progressing strongly toward vanadium production

Commenting on the updated mineral resource estimate, Bryah CEO Ashley Jones said: With AVL progressing strongly toward vanadium production; completing the BFS and being granted a A$49 million grant from the government, Bryah also comes a step closer to realising value in its mineral rights.

We are very pleased to report a substantial increase of 15% in the base metals mineral resource within the high-grade vanadium-titanium-magnetite deposit at Gabanintha. The indicated and inferred mineral resource has increased from 31.3 million tonnes to 36 million tonnes at 766 ppm nickel, 212 ppm copper and 231 ppm cobalt.

Metallurgical test-work from 2018 and 2022 indicates that a significant non-magnetic nickel-copper-cobalt rich sulphide tailings stream would come from the plant following magnetic separation of the vanadium-bearing magnetite concentrate.

We know that the vanadium ore beneficiation process effectively concentrates the sulphide minerals in the tail, enabling further concentration by flotation methods.
Suvo Strategic Minerals Ltd (ASX:SUV) has signed a non-binding cooperation agreement with Xiamen C&D Inc subsidiary C&D Logistics Group to negotiate deals for the supply of kaolin.

The companies will start the negotiations once test results have confirmed the suitability of kaolin material for use in C&Ds processes and products.

Following evaluation, Suvo and C&D will work together to develop and grow specific kaolin product markets, to develop long-term relationships with downstream customers in a range of industries, products and locations.

Under the agreement, Suvo and C&D will seek to negotiate an offtake agreement, with a target minimum offtake of 80,000 tonnes per annum of hydrous calcined kaolin.

Looking ahead, this agreement helps underpin processing capacity expansion works underway at SUV's Pittong operation in Victoria and future development of its WA-based Gabbin project.

Significant milestone

Suvo non-executive chairman Henk Ludik said: This cooperation agreement with C&D marks a significant milestone in supporting Suvos strategic growth plan.

The agreement helps underpin the expansion works currently taking place at our Pittong operation, with the potential to lead to a minimum offtake of 80,000 tonnes per annum of hydrous calcined kaolin.

The investment we are making in our Pittong expansion reflects the surging demand being seen globally for high-quality kaolin products.

The agreement also comes after the recent successful bulk sample production of High Reactivity Metakaolin from our Gabbin deposit, which allows us to carry out meaningful discussions with potential global partners, such as C&D.

In addition to enhancing production, Suvo also remains focused on achieving better ESG outcomes, which will be realised through more energy-efficient operations, rehabilitation practices and producing metakaolin products to help decarbonise the cement and concrete industries.

Agreement summary

The agreement is conditional on sample trials matching technical datasheets supplied from products extracted from the companys Pittong mine

Products delivered under any offtake agreement could be produced from the companys existing Pittong operation and/or other kaolin projects.

Under the agreement, C&D has also requested Suvo to provide 12 additional product samples of hydrous clay from its Pittong operations for further evaluation.

Pending the outcome of this evaluation, Suvo and C&D could negotiate further offtake agreements for other kaolin related products that meet the buyers specifications. Suvo and C&D will continue to negotiate in good faith to enter into any further contracts.

What is next?

C&D Logistics Group Co Ltd is the minerals division of Xiamen C&D  a Global Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of circa US$100 billion and almost 30,000 employees

This agreement marks another milestone in the companys ongoing work to scale up the Pittong operations, where an expansion project is underway to more than double its current annual plant capacity to ~60,000 tonnes through the installation of new press decks and automated equipment.

Also, Suvo is progressing work at its Gabbin deposit, 215 kilometres northeast of Perth, Western Australia, where the company recently produced a bulk sample of High Reactivity Metakaolin.
The chief executive of Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (AIM:HIK, OTC:HKMPF), Siggi Olafsson, has stepped down from the role, with a permanent replacement yet to be found.

The British injectable medicine business announced today that Olafsson had resigned from the post and from Hikmas board of directors after four years in the role.

Hikmas former chief executive Said Darwazah will temporarily replace Olafsson in the interim before a new chief executive is appointed.

They have initiated a search for a new chief executive, a spokesman told Proactive on the phone, who was unable to give an estimation of when Olafsson might be replaced.

Olaffson will leave the company on 24 June 2022.

The announcement comes just days after the company held an extraordinary general meeting on 20 May 2022 where shareholders agreed to approve the conversion of the merger reserve to a distributable reserve.

Hikma is on a strong footing and well positioned for future growth, the new interim CEO Darwazah said in a statement.

Last month, the company announced it had completed its acquisition of Custopharm Inc. from Water Street Healthcare Partners following approval from the US Federal Trade Commission.

The merger is expected to boost its research and development capabilities, particularly in the United States, and expand its product portfolio.

In a separate statement in April, it denied rumours that it had entered into a licence agreement with Opiant Pharmaceuticals (OPNT).

Hikma reported solid growth in 2021 after its sales rose 9% following solid performance from its three assets. It reported $2.55bn of revenue for the year ending 31 December 2021, up from $2.34bn the prior year. Part of its promise to shareholders was to deliver $300 million through a share buyback scheme.

The company's share price was down 1.55% at 8.09 am this morning compared to the closing price yesterday of GBX 1,758.50.
The Pringle North property is situated within the prolific Uchi Subprovince, one of the most metal endowed greenstone belts in the world by square kilometre

Jim Pettit has been through many market cycles, so the mining veteran isnt particularly concerned as Aben Resources (TSX-V:ABN, OTCQB:ABNAF), the exploration company he heads, kicks off its 2022 exploration season amid heightened market volatility.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Aben is focusing on two projects this year - the 2,387-hectare (ha) Slocan graphite project, 34 kilometres (km) northwest of Castlegar in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, and the Pringle North gold project, which consists of five contiguous mining claims covering approximately 1,881 ha 60 km north of Red Lake in Ontario.

Both require capital, though not a lot, and Pettit said Aben is able to look past the current market volatility, with a fundraising likely to take place later this summer.

I have age on my side, so Ive seen it before. This is as severe as it's going to get, I think, as far as the general market correction, Pettit said in an interview with Proactive. After 2008, we saw this mountain being climbed for the last several years, and now it has fallen off the cliff. And it is just a matter of time to see how long the downward trend will be. Aben happens to be at a price where its not that affected by it because it was sitting at 5c anyway, and I'm redirecting the focus of the company to the new gold project and the new graphic project.

Gold lacklustre despite turmoil

Pettit pointed out that gold hasnt reacted as many would have expected to the market turmoil, with the flight to safety targeting the US dollar instead. Graphite prices have also been depressed, unlike other commodities that are used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EV). Graphite, he noted, is the single largest component of such batteries.

The EV market is hugely successful and right now they probably cant make cars fast enough because they just dont have the supply chain down pat, Pettit said. Theres a lot of people out there starting to talk about graphite and how it is going to have a run.

Slocan graphite project

The mining veteran said Aben got a very good deal when it acquired the Slocan graphite project from Eagle Plains Resources Ltd in November 2021. It is easy to access and benefits from a high-voltage transmission line within 1.2 km of the property boundaries, has an extensive network of forestry roads on and around the property, and is in close proximity to an existing graphite processing plant and facilities located 1.5 km west of the property, owned by Eagle Graphite Corporation.

While it needs more testing and drilling, he said graphite mineralization was initially discovered in logging road exposures in the late 1990s. Ground and airborne geophysical surveys were completed in the project area in 2000 and 2010 respectively, with both surveys indicating strong conductive anomalies that correlate well with surface mineralization and are interpreted to extend along strike and down-dip of known occurrences.

A limited number of documented samples have been taken across the Tedesco horizon and analysed for carbon graphite ranging from trace values to grades of up to 3.36% and 4.43%.

Its got that potential large flake, high-quality graphite, Pettit said. Theres a great big anomaly that runs 2 kilometres long, and the original sampling was sort of around the edges of this anomaly and that's where they were coming up with some of these large flakes. Im just waiting for the right time to raise the money to do it so, we'll go in and probably by the beginning of fall have a drill program ready to go.

He reckons it will cost about $100,000 for the initial fieldwork to identify the drilling targets at the Slocan Graphite Project.

Its not going to be expensive because you can drive right up to it, he said. At our gold project in Red Lake, were budgeting $200,000 to go in and do the fieldwork there too because you dont just go in and drill in Red Lake. Your targets are quite deep-seated, so you start with till sampling, rock sampling and mapping in a big way. All the permitting is being put in place. We just don't know where we're going to go drill yet. Thats what the work this summer is for.

Pringle North gold project

Like Slocan, Pettit said the company likely got a good deal with Pringle North. He had been eyeing the prolific Red Lake Gold Camp for some time, having worked in the area since the 1990s, when he received a call from Perry English, a well-known prospector in the area. English also sold claims to Great Bear Resources Ltd in 2015, which currently form part of their Dixie Lake gold discovery holdings.

He called me up and said I got some ground here you might be interested in, Pettit recounted. I got lots of people to look at it as I know a lot of people in Red Lake, and so we jumped on it. Its not onerous, its typical of Perry. Its a great deal.

The Pringle North property is situated within the prolific Uchi Subprovince, one of the most metal endowed greenstone belts in the world by square kilometre, according to Aben. Like the Balmer-Confederation unconformity of the Red Lake Gold Camp and the LP Fault of the Great Bear Resources Dixie Project, the South Arm structure is a recognized third deep-seated tapping seismic structure.

Pettit noted that the area is included in Ontarios Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry (MNDM) Recommendations for Exploration 2020-2021 for its deep-seated structural similarities that are associated with the Red Lake Gold Camp and the Great Bear Resources Dixie Project. Age determination dates the volcanic-sedimentary belt at 2.94Ga and assigns it to the Balmer Assemblage. This is significant as the Balmer hosts the majority of the major gold mines in the Red Lake camp.

We've got a large block of that right in the middle. Its completely staked out, Pettit said. The government is very, very active in getting explorers in there to map this thing. Its got a lot of work from the past from the likes of Agnico Eagle sampling it and its all available to us.

Pettit said a government geophysics survey was conducted at the end of last summer while contractors were in the area and Aben will probably now spend a month sampling and mapping based on information available to the company.

Similar to the graphite project, its inexpensive to get in for the first year and you figure what youre going to do that year, Pettit said. Youre either going to find another project or youre going to push it forward and drill.

Strategic minerals

While the market volatility isnt helping, driven by the large stocks that were overpriced for some time as quantitative easing overtook market fundamentals, Pettit is pragmatic, saying the damage has already been done now that the US Federal Reserve has applied the brakes.

In our industry, we're at the bottom of the heap; were the highest risk on the venture exchange, Pettit said. But we still do what we do and so I will probably have to raise some money at some point this summer.

However, the Government of Canadas Budget 2022 includes a new federal Critical Minerals Strategy, with a total of $3.8 billion in proposed funding to support its launch and implementation, and a new critical mineral exploration tax credit, which will help.

The proposed investments focus on the development of specified priority critical mineral deposits. They are also aimed at contributing to the development of Canadas zero-emissions vehicle value chain, including batteries, permanent magnets and other components.

That could go some way to helping Aben develop the Slocan graphite project as North America tries to take a share of the market that is currently dominated by China.

Pettit said theres growing demand for natural graphite, rather than synthetic graphite which is not exactly green to produce.

Also, theres only one graphite mill in western North America, and it is a kilometre away from Slocan.

We drive right past it to get into our property. Its got the power; its got everything you need, Pettit said. Theres always been graphite in the Kootenays and north. Theres always been evidence of it. We just need to get in there and start working.

Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com
Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) said it agreed to pay penalties of up to US$1.5bn to settle widespread investigations into alleged bribery, manipulation and corruption.

The Anglo-Swiss commodity trading and mining company said on Tuesday that it had cooperated with a series of investigations into its conduct that were carried out by authorities in the US, UK and Brazil.

The FTSE-100 company has so far agreed to pay regulators about US$1.06bln in penalties, excluding any further charges brought from ongoing investigations by Swiss and Dutch authorities, and said it will plead guilty to UK charges relating to the Serious Fraud Offices bribery investigation with the amount expected to be determined next month.

Glencore set aside US$1.5bn in its 2021 financial statement to pay the anticipated charges. Yesterday it reiterated that it expects this amount to cover total penalties, including the UK payment, in connection with bribery and corruption investigations.

"Glencore today is not the company it was when the unacceptable practices behind this misconduct occurred, said Kalidas Madhavpeddi, who took over as chairman last July.

Glencore agreed to pay US authorities about US$1.02bn in net charges relating to bribery and market manipulation investigations brought by the US Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

It also agreed to pay about US$39.6mln to settle bribery charges from Brazilian authorities following state investigations into Brazilian state-owned energy company Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) (Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)) over the "Operation Car Wash" probe.

Glencore also faces ongoing investigations by Swiss and Dutch authorities over failing to have sufficient measures in place to prevent alleged corruption.

The company said it has taken remediation actions such as disciplining staff accused of wrongdoing and has updated its board and management team. It appointed a dedicated head of compliance in 2020.

We acknowledge the misconduct identified in these investigations and have cooperated with the authorities, said chief executive Gary Nagle.

This type of behaviour has no place in Glencore, and the board, management team and I are very clear about the culture that we want and our commitment to be a responsible and ethical operator wherever we work.

We have taken significant action towards building and implementing a world-class Ethics and Compliance Programme to ensure that our core controls are entrenched and effective in every corner of our business."

Glencore's shares were up 2.1% in mid-morning trading at 530.5p, outperforming the FTSE 100.
Goodbody Health Inc (AQSE:GBDY, CSE:GBDY, OTC:SCNNF) cheered its highest quarterly profit to date, driven by a 276% jump in year-on-year revenues generated through its patient testing operations.

The company said it experienced a strong continuation of bookings for Covid PCR tests during the first quarter and as a result, the companys transition to wellness testing has moved back into the second and third quarters.

It noted that Covid testing is now tailing off and, with wellness testing coming later due to the success with PCR, the subsequent quarters will no longer be as strong as previously envisaged.

"The strategic direction of the group remains clear, said executive chairman Geremy Thomas.

We will continue to grow both our diagnostic and wellness services as well as the network of partners with which we operate. The ongoing Covid testing revenue in Q1 was positive but also delayed our diversification and growth plans, however they are still very much on track.

First-quarter revenue amounted to 5.17mln, versus 1.38mln in the same period of 2021, leading to a 268% rise in gross profit up to 2.6mln. The company reported a net comprehensive profit of 100,000, versus a 920,000 loss in Q1 2021, and marked earnings (adjusted EBITDA) at 230,000 versus a 340,000 loss last year.

In terms of operational highlights, Goodbody noted the growth of its clinic network, which tallied 180 at the end of the quarter, and said more than 100 of the clinics have now been supplied with Abbott machines used to test blood for heart health and diabetes within 10 minutes. In total, the companys offering now comprises some 45 tests.

Goodbodys CBD business meanwhile advanced with its products being added to regulators' novel food list.

The Phytovista Laboratories unit in the UK also secured a Home Office licence to handle controlled substances, adding it to a small number of labs accredited in the UK to carry out specialist activities handling up to Schedule 1 controlled drugs.
Pathfinder owns Pathfinder Camp Resorts Agassiz-Harrison, Pathfinder Camp Resorts Parksville, and the contract to operate Fort Camping in Fort Langley

Pathfinder Ventures (TSX-V:RV) Inc has announced a strong start to the summer camping season with all three of its RV camp resorts in British Columbia, Canada, reaching 100% occupancy over the Victoria Day long weekend.

Pathfinder owns Pathfinder Camp Resorts Agassiz-Harrison, Pathfinder Camp Resorts Parksville, and the contract to operate Fort Camping in Fort Langley, totalling 324 bookable sites across the three locations.

The company noted that the Victoria Day long weekend, which fell on May 20-23 this year, was the unofficial kick-off to summer camping.

Pathfinder chief operating officer Stan Duckworth said the company was excited to see all its parks at maximum capacity over the May long weekend, which marked the companys first Victoria Day long weekend with all three of its parks in full operation.

This is a great sign of things to come for our summer business, Duckworth said.

The company noted that this was the first Victoria Day long weekend since 2019 where Canadians had the opportunity to travel across the border to the United States and camp elsewhere.

The fact that people have the option to travel south this May but have still chosen to stay with our resort speaks to the quality and value we are providing our guests and the strong reputation we plan to maintain and build through the summer and beyond, said Pathfinder CEO Joe Bleackley.

Pathfinder Ventures (TSX-V:RV) operates a network of premier branded, upscale, and family-friendly RV parks and campgrounds.

Contact Emily at emily.jarvie@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her @emilyjjarvie
Atlantic Lithium Limited (AIM:ALL), which is developing the Ewoyaa lithium project in Ghana, has confirmed that it was approached by Ghanas Minerals Income Investment Fund, and accordingly has signed a non-disclosure agreement

The NDA allows the two parties to enter into discussions regarding a potential investment into the company from the MIIF, although at this stage no discussions have yet occurred.

The disclosure comes in the wake of recent press speculation.

Separately, the company reiterated its plans to consider a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a blood diagnostics device developed by ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL, OTCQX:ANPCY) that can identify metastatic breast cancer in patients.

UK-based biotech company Angles Parsortix technology is the first product ever to be cleared by US regulators that harvests cancer cells from a blood sample.

It offers the possibility of non-invasive biopsies that analyse patient blood samples rather than removing cells as part of a surgical procedure. The patented Parsortix technology has been cleared for use on metastatic breast cancer and is fully owned and developed by the company.

The new technology could usher in a new era of personalised cancer treatment, according to Angles founder and chief executive Andrew Newland.

Weve very pleased that the pharma services business we set up last year has started to gain significant traction already, he said on a call with analysts on Wednesday afternoon.

Newland expects that initial monetisation of the newly accredited technology is likely to come from its pharmaceuticals business before the technology is adopted more widely in a clinical setting.

The company is in discussions with a number of larger medtech companies over licensing the product and sending samples to its laboratories, he said on the conference call.

These potential contracts, some of which he said are with billion-dollar revenue pharma, represent potentially several thousand samples taken over a number of years.

Alongside its licensing business, Angle is building two clinical laboratories that are expected to have capacity to generate between $50m and $100m of revenue on an annual basis, Newland said.

Its clinical arms in the UK and US are designed to demonstrate and offer commercial viability for its blood diagnostics products.

Newland said it expects to have the first product offering in place by the end of the year.

While most of its customers will use the technology as part of exploratory usage, Newland said he hopes they will become a critical part of future cancer trials and that specialist hospitals will send blood samples to its labs.

The pharmaceuticals services business that Angle set up last year has begun to gain significant traction already, he said, securing five independent customers which are interested in targeting proteins in blood samples.

Although currently a relatively niche market in the biotech space, the so-called global liquid biopsy market is estimated to grow to more than $100 billion per year in the US.

Julie Lang, chief of breast surgery at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, said: " With this regulatory clearance we can now obtain repeat biopsies periodically to provide up-to-date information to guide treatment decisions, improving care and minimising invasive procedures for these patients."

Nearly 2.3mln new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year and Angle estimates that its technology could address a market of US$500mln in the US each year alone.

Shares in Angle rose 59% to 156.5p.
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Nano One Materials CEO Dan Blondal joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has made a major acquisition. signing a definitive agreement to buy Johnson Matthey Battery Materials out of Quebec for 10.25 million Canadian.

Blondal telling Proactive this company has a combined 360 years of experience, including R&D, pilot to commercial scale cathode production and product qualification and quality assurance systems expertise for tier 1 automotive lithium-ion cell manufacturers.
Berlin, May 25 : The German Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has extended its general Covid-19 vaccination recommendation to children between the ages of 5 and 11 with only one vaccine dose.

The committee's official recommendation has been updated as a "precautionary measure" because another Covid-19 wave is projected to hit Germany in the autumn or winter, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement by STIKO.

Germany's Professional Association of Pediatricians (BVKJ) and other scientific societies welcomed the announcement. The new recommendation looks beyond the current situation and "anticipates the further development of the pandemic," their joint statement said.

Until now, Covid-19 vaccination in this age group has only been recommended for those with pre-existing conditions or for high-risk contacts.

Twenty-two per cent of the 5.3 million children aged between 5 and 11 years in Germany have already been vaccinated at least once, according to the RKI.

In April, the German Bundestag (lower house of Parliament) rejected a proposal by the government to make Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for adults aged 60 years or older.

A vaccine mandate for all adults above the age of 18 was not up for vote because the proposal failed to win enough political support.

According to RKI data, 22.4 per cent of the population in Germany remain unvaccinated. There is still no licensed vaccine available in the country for children under age four.
Budapest, May 25 : Hungary's Parliament has amended the country's constitution to enable the government to introduce a special legal order and declare a state of emergency in case of an armed conflict, war or humanitarian disaster in a neighbouring country.

The legislation was approved with 136 votes for and 36 against, Xinhua news agency reported.

Currently, Hungary's constitution authorises the government to declare a state of emergency, referred to as a "state of danger", "in the event of a natural disaster or industrial accident endangering life and property, or in order to mitigate the consequences thereof".

Under the changes, the government will have the power to suspend some laws or deviate from their stipulations to ensure the security of residents, their assets, as well as the stability of the national economy.

The Constitutional Court, if requested, must review the measures taken by the government.

The 10th amendment of the country's constitution was initiated by Justice Minister Judit Varga and will enter into force on November 1, 2022.
Seoul, May 25 : North Korea fired three ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, just a day after US President Joe Biden wrapped up his Asia trip highlighting America's security commitment to Seoul and Tokyo.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at around 6 a.m., 6:37 a.m. and 6:42 a.m., respectively, which marked the North's 17th show of force this year, Yonhap news agency reported.

"While reinforcing monitoring and vigilance activities, our military, in close cooperation with the United States, is maintaining a full readiness posture," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

The launches followed speculation that the North could conduct an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or nuclear test to bolster its military presence and tighten national unity amid Covid-19 outbreaks and economic woes.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said Wednesday's missile launches highlight the "destabilising impact of the DPRK's illicit weapons programme." DPRK stands for the North's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We are aware of the multiple DPRK ballistic missile launches today and are assessing and consulting closely with our allies and partners," it said in a press release. "The US commitment to the defence of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad." On Tuesday, Biden concluded his first Asia trip since his inauguration early last year.

During a summit with President Yoon Suk-yeol on Saturday, Biden reaffirmed the US "extended deterrence" commitment to South Korea using the "full range of US defence capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defence capabilities." To deal with rising North Korean threats, the two leaders agreed to expand the allies' combined exercises and reactivate a key deterrence dialogue. Biden also reaffirmed the US' commitment to deploying its strategic military assets "in a timely and coordinated manner as necessary." Earlier this month, the North launched what was thought to be an ICBM and then an apparent submarine-launched ballistic missile -- in a move seen as an effort to diversify its nuclear delivery vehicles.
Washington, May 25 : US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the "horrific news" of the elementary school shooting in Texas, according to the White House.

Biden "will continue to be briefed regularly as information becomes available", Xinhua news agency reported, citing a tweet by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

"His prayers are with the families impacted by this awful event, and he will speak this evening when he arrives back at the White House," Jean-Pierre announced.

At least 14 students and one teacher were killed when a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, according to officials.

The perpetrator -- identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos -- is deceased and is believed to have been neutralized by responding officers.

Biden has ordered that the flags at the White House, federal buildings, and military posts be flown at half-staff "as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence", according to a proclamation.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Washington, May 25 : A gunman killed 18 students and one adult at an elementary school in Texas in a second mass shooting in the US in the last 10 days.

The gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, first shot his grandmother, who is alive but in critical condition, before hitting Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 83 miles west of San Antonio in Texas, with two assault rifles that he had bought shortly after he turned 18 recently. He was killed by law enforcement officers.

His motive had not been ascertained yet.

A white gunman, also 18, had opened fire at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York on May 14, killing 10 African Americans. He gave himself over to law enforcement. He was motivated by racism and had intended to kill African Americans and chose a grocery frequented by them for his carnage.

"As a nation, we have to ask: When in God's name we are going to stand up to the gun lobby. When in God's name we do (that) we all know in our gut needs to be done," US President Joe Biden in remarks to the nation from the White House. He learnt of the shooting on the flight back from Tokyo.

Biden said of the visit that he was struck by the fact none of these other nations experienced these shootings, with such frequency.

Biden went on to say, with frustration and anger: "Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen, with the kind of frequency they happen in America. Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?" Gun control laws introduced in Australia, whose Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among the leaders Biden met in Tokyo, after a 1996 massacre that left 36 people dead is now cited as the gold standard world over and has been used as a model. It has been discussed in the US as well.

The Tuesday shooting was the 27 school shootings in the US in 2022, according to Education Week, which tracks these incidents. There have been 212 mass shootings this year.

The Washington Post has said 300,000 school students have been exposed to gun violence at school since the worst of them all, the Columbine school shooting, in 1999 in which 13 people were killed. In some of the worst school massacres 20 first-graders and 6 adults were killed at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut in 2013 and 17 students and staff in 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

Gun violence is a politically sensitive issue in the United States. Calls for commonsense controls peak after every incident of mass shooting and peter out after a while as the powerful gun lobby pushes back with its army of supporters among lawmakers, policy circles and media.
Kanpur : , May 25 (IANS) The process of sealing of properties of a slain gangster Vikas Dubey and his relatives, has begun.

According to official sources, property worth Rs 50 crore has been sealed. Nearly 653 sacks of foodgrains of the slain gangster kept in the Panchayat Bhawan in the tehsil auditorium were also auctioned.

Most of the seized properties are agricultural land. Tehsildar Bilhaur, who is a receiver, has sealed and deposited the keys in the 'malkhana' of the police station.

The court of district magistrate Neha Sharma had recently issued an order to confiscate the properties of the slain criminal Vikas Dubey in Kanpur, Lucknow and Kanpur Dehat worth about Rs 67 crore. Tehsildar Bilhaur was made a receiver.

The tehsildar sealed the properties of Vikas Dubey, his father Ram Kumar Dubey, wife Richa Dubey, their sons Akash Dubey, Shantanu Dubey, brother-in-law Dinesh Kumar Tiwari, sister Chandrakanti, Rekha Dubey and a close friend Govind Saini.

The police have locked the houses of the gangster and his relatives.

Tehsildar Bilhaur, Laxmi Narain Bajpai, said that the agricultural land in Khodan, Rampur Sakhrej, Basen, Bhiti, Bikru, Sakarwa and plots in Chaubepur Kalan and Malou have been sealed.

The agricultural land has been sealed by installing wooden logs with a red ribbon all around.

Similarly, 10 vehicles, including two cars, two tractors, trolley, thrasher, rotavator, motorcycle, cultivator have been sealed and dispatched to the Chaubepur police station.

Regional food officer Hemant Kumar, meanwhile, said that in the auction process, 608 bags of wheat and 45 bags of rice were auctioned for Rs 1.5 lakh. The price of the food grains was Rs eight lakh in the market but due to the poor upkeep they have been damaged.

Reminders will be sent soon in Kanpur Dehat and Lucknow so that other properties can also be auctioned.

Vikas Dubey , the main accused in the massacre of eight police personnel on July 3, 2020, was shot dead in an encounter with the police, a week after the incident.
Ankara, May 25 : Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has demanded a "written agreement" from Finland and Sweden on steps to end their "support for terrorism" if they want to join the NATO.

Cavusoglu's remarks on Tuesday came a day before Turkey will hold consultations with the two Nordic countries in Ankara on their NATO bids, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We expect them to end support for terrorism and to lift defence restrictions," Turkey's NTV broadcaster quoted the Minister as telling reporters on his flight to Palestine and Israel.

"They said: 'We can take concrete steps.' We want a written agreement," the Turkish Minister said, adding Ankara demands "assurances" in a signed agreement.

A four-way meeting can be held by the three countries with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in this regard, said Cavusoglu.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the Turkish Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal will meet with Finnish and Swedish officials on Wednesday.

Turkey has so far been the only NATO member which objects to the NATO bids by Sweden and Finland, citing the two countries' support to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian branch of PKK.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades.

Turkey also accuses the two countries of harbouring members of the Gulen Movement which Ankara says is behind a failed military coup attempt in 2016.

Moreover, Ankara demands Sweden and Finland end their arms exports bans imposed following the country's cross-border military operation into northeast Syria in 2019.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Lagos, May 25 : Nigerian police said a group of gunmen launched an attack on a village in northwest Nigeria's Katsina state, killing at least 12 villagers and injuring several others.

The gunmen, locally known as bandits, raided the Gakurdi village in the Jibia local government area of Katsina on Tuesday morning, said Gambo Isa, the police spokesperson in Katsina, while addressing media in the city of Katsina, the state capital.

"The bandits arrived in the village on four motorcycles and started shooting sporadically, and the situation caused panic in the village, which made residents scamper for safety," Isa said, adding the 12 people killed were all shot in farms outside the village.

He said the gunmen also burned some farmlands and rustled flocks of cattle belonging to the locals, Xinhua news agency reported.

He added that security forces were immediately deployed to the area to prevent further attacks.
Los Angeles, May 25 : The Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 75th anniversary with a group of no less than 120 stars and filmmakers from all over the world, including Jake Gyllenhaal, Paolo Sorrentino, Isabelle Huppert, Diane Kruger, Guillermo del Toro, Jacques Audiard, Melanie Laurent, Gael Garcia Bernal and Nicolas Winding Refn.

Some of them, notably del Toro, took part in a symposium earlier Tuesday to discuss the new challenges that cinema is facing today, reports 'Variety'.

The roster of talents on the ground at the gala ceremony also included the bevy of stars and filmmakers presenting films at this year's festival, including Kristen Stewart, Lea Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen and David Cronenberg ('Crimes of the Future'), among many others.

Cannes general delegate Thierry Fremaux and president Pierre Lescure took turns calling each guest to join them on stage with a thunder of applause.

The guests posed for a Cannes family portrait, and Garcia Bernal then took the microphone and sang "Ella" by Jose Alfredo Jimenez with del Toro.

Fremaux opened the ceremony saying a few words about the resilience of cinema and the importance of Cannes in promoting the moviegoing experience.

"Cinema is not dead! Cinema is alive and will never die," said Fremaux, stirring cheers and applauses.

Lescure, for whom this year marks the last edition as Cannes president, received the first standing ovation of the evening and made a speech talking about the legacy of the film festival.

Former Warner Bros. top executive Iris Knobloch will soon succeed him as festival president.

The ceremony was followed by the world premiere of Louis Garrel's "L'innocenta in which he stars opposite Roschdy Zem and a lavish dinner prepared by Christian Sinicropi, the chef of the Palme d'Or restaurant, at the Marche Forville in Cannes' old town.

Latest updates on Cannes Film Festival 2022

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, May 25: As Eurasia becomes a hotbed of strategic alliances amid growing geopolitical uncertainty stretching from Afghanistan to Ukraine, the US has dispatched a high-level delegation on a five-day visit to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan to strengthen its relations with the Central Asian countries.

Led by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, the US contingent began its tour of Central Asian states from the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Monday and held meetings in Uzbekistan on Tuesday.

The group also comprises of National Security Council's Senior Director for Russia and Central Asia Eric Green, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia Rebecca Zimmerman, US Agency for International Development Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia Anjali Kaur, and the US International Development Finance Corporation's Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Naz El-Khatib.

The US Department of State said the aim of the delegation's visit is to strengthen US relations with the region and "advance collaborative efforts" to create a more connected, prosperous and secure Central Asia.

In his first meeting of the tour, Donald Lu discussed current issues of the Kyrgyz-American relations as well as regional and global agenda, with the country's Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev.

As Moscow and Beijing continue to show massive interest in the region, Washington stressed on the importance of building practical cooperation that can have a positive impact on Kyrgyzstan's socio-economic development and also considered the possibility of increasing investment cooperation.

"The parties considered the issues of minimising the negative impact of international sanctions on the economy of Kyrgyzstan and the necessity to intensify assistance in strengthening border security. Separately, they noted the importance of interaction between the countries in the framework of the 'C5+1' platform," said the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry.

In Tashkent on Tuesday, the American delegation met with Uzbekistan Foreign Affairs Minister Vladimir Norov as both sides discussed the current state and prospects of Uzbek-US relations in various fields.

"The American side praised the changes taking place in Uzbekistan under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as well as the practical and open foreign policy of our country. It was noted that the US government is ready to actively support the reform process in Uzbekistan," said the Uzbek Foreign Ministry in a statement on Tuesday.

While discussing the preparation for their next Strategic Partnership Dialogue in Washington, both countries said they are interested in continuing cooperation in the form of 'C5+1' in order to achieve concrete results in the fields of infrastructure, energy, transport, environmental protection and climate change.

"Uzbekistan's efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, to promote long-term peace in the country and promote projects aimed at its economic recovery were praised," the statement added.

The US Assistant Secretary and the accompanying delegation will now travel to Tajikistan to meet with senior officials and participate in US-Tajikistan Annual Bilateral Consultations to promote economic ties and strengthen security cooperation.

They will conclude their visit after holding discussions with senior Kazakhstani officials and civil society leaders in Nur-Sultan.

The Biden administration's renewed focus on the region comes immediately after Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation vowed to raise cooperation to a "qualitatively new level of allied relations" to counter "a wide range of modern challenges and threats".

On May 16, even as Moscow's 'special military operation' continued in the neighbouring Ukraine, the leaders of the CSTO member states, including Presidents of Belarus (Alexander Lukashenko), Kazakhstan (Kassym-Jomart Tokayev), Kyrgyzstan (Sadyr Japarov), Tajikistan (Emomali Rahmon) and the Armenian Prime Minister (Nikol Pashinyan), had converged at the Kremlin to intensify their partnership.

Interestingly, Mirziyoyev had a telephone conversation with the Russian President Vladimir Putin while the US delegation was holding discussions in Tashkent on Tuesday.

Uzbekistan said the telephone conversation between the Presidents of the two countries was held in the "spirit of openness, trust and friendship as always" as the sides discussed issues of further development of Uzbek-Russian strategic partnership and allied relations, expansion of multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

"The leaders of Uzbekistan and Russia stressed the importance of deepening cooperation between the business community and the effective use of the great potential of interregional ties," the top Uzbek leadership highlighted while noting that the trade turnover between the two countries has increased by 40 per cent.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
New Delhi, May 25 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the Centre's stand on a plea seeking directions for 'Vande Mataram', a poem which had played a historic role in the struggle for India's freedom, to be "honoured equally" with 'Jana Gana Mana' and be given an "equal" status.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay sought direction to respondents, including the Central government and Delhi government to ensure that 'Jana Gana Mana' and 'Vande Mataram' are played and sung in all schools and educational institutions on every working day.

Issuing notice in the matter, a division bench presided over by Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Sachin Datta directed the central government to file its response within six weeks.

After hearing the submissions of Upadhyay, the bench posted the matter for November 9.

During the course of the hearing, the petitioner submitted that there are no guidelines and 'Vande Mataram' is being played in distorted manner which is contrary to the statement made by Dr Rajendra Prasad in the Constituent Assembly.

The PIL contended that on January 24, 1950, Constituent Assembly Chairman Dr Rajendra Prasad said: "There is one matter which has been pending for discussion, namely the question of the National Anthem. At one time, it was thought that the matter might be brought up before the House and a decision taken by the House by way of a resolution. But it has been felt that, instead of taking a formal decision by means of resolution, it is better if I make a statement with regard to the national anthem.

"Accordingly, I make this statement. Composition consisting of the words and music known as 'Jana Gana Mana' is the 'National Anthem of India', subject to such alternations in the words, as the Government may authorise as occasions arises; and the song 'Vande Mataram', which has played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with 'Jana Gana Mana' and shall have equal status with it. I hope this will satisfy the members." The plea stated that 'Vande Mataram' is the symbol of our history, sovereignty, unity and pride. If any citizen by any overt or covert act shows disrespect to it, it would not only be an anti-social activity but it would also spell doom to all our rights and very existence as a citizen of a sovereign nation. Every citizen must therefore not only refrain from any such activities but also do his best to prevent if any miscreant tries to show any disrespect to 'Vande Mataram'.

"We must be proud of our Nation, our Constitution, National Anthem and National Flag and put national interest above our personal interests and only then will we be able to protect our hard-earned freedom and sovereignty. It is the duty of the executive to frame a national policy to promote and propagate 'Vande Mataram'," it read.
'Take it or leave it moment... for NSCN (IM)', says key Naga leader Azo Nienu. Image Source: IANS News

'Take it or leave it moment... for NSCN (IM)', says key Naga leader Azo Nienu. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 25 : As things move towards a possible realisation that there has been enough delay and now time to settle for a pragmatic solution and peace, a key Naga legislator Kuzholuzo Azo Nienu says by inking the 2015 Framework Agreement, the potent NSCN (IM) group had "sealed their fate" and virtually endorsed the Constitution of India.

"The moment the NSCN-IM signed the August 3, 2015 Framework Agreement...sealed their fate vis-a-vis Constitution of India. It was signed by interlocutor R.N. Ravi on behalf of the Government of India and in other words this pact is itself within the framework of Indian Constitution," Azo Nienu told IANS.

He explained, "if it was already within the Indian Constitution, one thing is certain Naga Sovereignty is ruled out".

It also rules out other demands like 'integration' of all Naga contiguous areas and also a separate Flag.

In this context, he said the Core Committee of Nagaland state legislators and ministers -- Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Deputy CM Yanthungo Patton, former CM T.R. Zeliang and he as NPF legislature party leader would meet at Kohima on Wednesday (May 25) and workout future plans and strategies to meet NSCN-IM leaders and convince them to see reason and accept an early Solution.

Former Nagaland Chief Minister S.C. Jamir has also recently maintained that it ought to be understood properly that all 'agreements' made by the Government of India with both the groups, NSCN-IM and NNPG, have to be "incorporated in the Constitution of India".

"When things are so clear, so my moot point is in the Naga spirit, I think they (Naga underground leaders) should adhere to the signature they have appended willingly and knowingly in the agreement," Jamir had told IANS.

Notably, on May 20, the NSCN-IM stated in a press release in Dimapur that -- "We understand the pressing situation where people are over burdened with multiple factions and taxations and which can only see the end once early Naga solution materializes".

It also asserted that it would be erroneous to imply that the NSCN-IM is opposed to an "early solution".

Recent developments have rekindled hope of an early Solution and more so as elections in Nagaland are due by Feb-March 2023.

Azo Neinu also said in the given context, the stance taken by the Government of India is to be appreciated as they have decided to allow the use of the Naga flag for cultural programmes.

"In fact, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) or Home Minister (Amit Shah) are willing to visit Nagaland and also hoist the Naga flag for any cultural event. I must appreciate as a regional politician often taking a stance against BJP but I can tell you, the Government of India has also gone all out to accommodate the request and demand of Naga leaders".

Therefore, he said, it is high time -- "for NSCN-IM to say whether they take it or leave it".

The NPF legislature party leader said his party wants an early solution and also passed a resolution on the issue in a meeting at Kohima on Tuesday (May 24).

Sources say during separate meetings with peace emissary A.K. Mishra and one key NSCN-IM leader in Delhi recently, the Core Committee led by Chief Minister Rio also made it clear that a solution to the long pending Naga issue is a must to end a culture of intimidation and extortion in Nagaland.

On this, Azo clarified further -- "We told them how long can Nagas continue with extortion?" In fact, the extortion menace is almost a mini industry for the disgruntled elements in Nagaland and Naga inhabited areas.

Earlier this year, Assam Rifles DG, Lt. Gen. P.C. Nair had also said that wherever AFSPA was diluted or withdrawn, the areas saw 'rise in extortion'.

In fact, even NSCN-IM and other Naga groups under NNPG have also expressed concerns about extortion in the past.

In an election campaign speech in Naga-dominated Senapti in Manipur, Chief Minister Rio also had spoken against extortion virtually echoing the concerns flagged off by former Nagaland Governor R.N. Ravi.

Rio had said in February this year, "There should be no violence in our society.... There should be no extortion," and went on to add, "The burden is too much." "Burden is so much on the common people. We have to seriously think, otherwise there is no future".

It is worth mentioning that the NSCN-IM has convened a key meeting of all its key leaders and regional representatives on May 31 to decide on the fate of Naga peace talks which had begun during the stint of I.K. Gujaral as Prime Minister in 1997.

It is expected the Core Committee of state legislators led by CM Rio will also meet NSCN-IM top guns including general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah by May 28-29 or before May 31.

R.N. Ravi as the interlocutor and Nagaland Governor had made significant contributions in the peace process.

In fact, Azo says, "Even NSCN-IM leaders maintain that to an extent the offer from Ravi for Naga Territorial Councils in Naga inhabited areas of Manipur and other Northeastern states was a good offer. It was perhaps better than what present emissary A.K. Mishra is making it now".

"Ravi had proposed that central funds would be provided directly to the territorial councils; but in new methodology, the emissary (Mishra) has said funds would be routed through respective state governments. This discontentment too will be hopefully addressed now," Azo added.

(Nirendra Dev is a New Delhi-based journalist. He is also author of books, "The Talking Guns: North East India" and "Modi to Moditva: An Uncensored Truth". Views are personal.)
New Delhi, May 25: Has the Quad eventually found its footing--to cut down Chinese hegemony in the Indo-Pacific and simultaneously bring development and tech benefits to the countries in a vast region that ranges from east Africa to the Pacific. In their joint statement, the four nations promise to work on peace and security, health and climate change, infrastructure and technology.

The second in-person summit, also the fourth meeting overall, of the Quad leaders--Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese of Australia, Narendra Modi of India, Fumio Kishida of Japan, and President Joe Biden of the US, has accepted the global turmoil that is devastating nations and now sharpens its focus to reducing "human and economic pain".

China and the rule of law Not taking its eyes off China, the four-member Quad has underlined its commitment to the Info-Pacific region, stressing on "the principles of freedom, rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force, any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, and freedom of navigation..." Within this region, China has grabbed territory in India, browbeaten countries like Taiwan through its Air Force, used its Navy to push back Vietnamese and Philippine vessels from their own waters and laid claim to islands in the South China Sea.

Mentioning peace and stability in their joint statement, the four nations mention their support for the south-east Asian nations, Pacific island countries want a "complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolutions".

Taking into account Indian sensitivities, the joint statement condemns terrorism and mentions the terror attacks on India--26/11 in Mumbai and Pathankot in 2016, both of which had heavily-trained terrorists pushed in by Pakistan.

Maritime Domain Awareness and HADR Another initiative that will have an impact on China is the launch of the maritime domain awareness initiative--the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), which will not only curb illegal fishing but also respond to humanitarian and natural disasters. The IPMDA will work in Indo-Pacific nations and cover the Indian Ocean, south-east Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Covid-19 and vaccines Talking about the pandemic that devastated societies and nations, the four nations said they have collectively pledged nearly $5.2 billion to the global COVAX facility and delivered over 670 million doses worldwide. They have promised to keep the supply open, improve global health and strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

Infrastructure and debt The Quad plans to extend more than $50 billion in infrastructure and investment in the Indo-Pacific in the next five years. They will also address the issue of mounting debt in the region through the 'Quad Debt Management Resource Portal'.

Once again the mention of debt is related to China because of its debt diplomacy and expensive infrastructure traps that have sucked out the financial resilience of small nations in Asia and Africa which are now struggling to pay mounting loans for infrastructure that does not deliver.

Climate change issues With mounting concerns over worsening environment, the Quad grouping has launched "the 'Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package' with "mitigation" and "adaptation" as its two themes". The joint statement covers the entire gamut of climate issues--raising climate finance, strengthening clean energy supply chains and engaging with the Pacific island countries.

Emerging technologies and space In this field the four countries say that they will focus on harnessing critical and emerging technologies for prosperity and security. The Quad will look at 5G technologies and those that go beyond 5G and address vulnerabilities in global semiconductor supply chains.

The Quad also seeks to address "challenges such as climate change, disaster preparedness and response, and sustainable uses of oceans and marine resources through space technologies and applications". The four-member countries' plan to collaborate with each other in field of space and improve public access to Earth observation satellite data and applications.

The four leaders now plan to meet in Australia in 2023. During the course of the year they plan to hold regular meetings of their Foreign Ministers.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Lucknow, May 25 : The Lucknow University Teachers' Association (LUTA) has written a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking action against the culprits involved in the "unfortunate" attacks on Dalit Professor Ravi Kant Chandan on the campus on May 10 and 18.

The LUTA has urged the chief minister to order an FIR on the complaint given by the professor on May 10.

The letter reads, "Indecent behaviour and sloganeering by some people with Lucknow University teacher Ravi Kant Chandan is objectionable and the teachers' body requests action against those who create unrest on the campus." The LUTA chief Vineet Kumar Verma said a group of students and others heckled Ravi Kant on the campus and raised objectionable slogans against him, using indecent language.

The videos were available on social media, he said, adding the incident vitiated the academic environment of the university.

"It is extremely worrying that no action has been taken so far against anyone involved in this incident. The police did not even register the FIR on the basis of a complaint given by Ravi Kant whereas an FIR was registered against the teacher on the complaint by a student," the letter further said.

The LUTA chief said that due to lack of action against the accused, chaos on the campus increased and on May 18, a student attacked Dr Ravi Kant who had already expressed apprehension that he may be attacked.

This incident had strained the teacher-student relations in the university. Due to these incidents, university teachers were worried about their safety, said the letter.
Washington, May 25 : Amid the recent scare of monkeypox spreading rapidly to over a dozen countries, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has dispelled fears saying that the virus doesn' spread via air as Covid-19.

The CDC noted that the monkeypox virus transmission requires close contact with an infected person, CNBC reported. Although it can spread through respiratory droplets as well, but not nearly as easily as Covid-19, they said.

A monkeypox patient with lesions in their throat or mouth can spread the virus through respiratory droplets if they are around someone else for an extended period of time. However, the virus does not spread easily that way, Dr Jennifer McQuiston, a CDC official was quoted as saying.

"This is not Covid," McQuiston said, adding "Respiratory spread is not the predominant worry. It is contact and intimate contact in the current outbreak setting and population." For example, nine people with monkeypox took lengthy flights from Nigeria to other countries without infecting anyone else on the planes, according to McQuiston.

"It's not a situation where if you're passing someone in the grocery store, they're going to be at risk for monkeypox," she said.

It is primarily spread through sustained physical contact such as skin-to-skin touch with someone who has an active rash, CDC officials said. The virus can also spread through contact with materials that have the virus on it like shared bedding and clothing.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the current outbreak of the monkeypox virus is primarily spreading through sex among men, as seen in several cases in many European countries, particularly the UK and Spain.

While the virus itself is not a sexually transmitted infection, which are generally spread through semen and vaginal fluids, the most recent surge in cases appears to have been spread among men who have sex with other men, WHO officials said, emphasising that anyone can contract monkeypox.

The lesions that characterise monkeypox are the source from which the virus spreads, and people are most infectious when these lesions appear on the skin, Dr John Brooks, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC's division for AIDS prevention, was quoted as saying.

However, Brooks said front-line health-care providers should use the standard precautions for infectious diseases when treating a patient with monkeypox, including wearing a N95 respirator mask, gloves and a gown if contact with the patient is particularly close.

The WHO has identified about 200 confirmed or suspected cases. No-associated deaths have been reported so far. While the global health body has warned of a surge in cases even as surveillance increases, it has assured that the virus is also containable.

Latest updates on Monkeypox Virus Outbreak

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Mumbai, May 25 : On 50th birthday of director-producer and his friend Karan Johar on Wednesday, Bollywood diva Kareena Kapoor Khan shared a throwback picture and said that she wants to celebrate by dancing like never before.

Kareena shared an old photograph posing with Karan on Instagram. In the image, the two seem to be trying to pout.

Taking a dig at their own pout game, Kareena captioned the image: "I don't know are we pouting? sucking our cheeks in well what the hell.. it's us you and me me and you..forevera love like no other. Let's dance tonite like never before acause it's my sweethearts birthday Happy 50 @karanjohar No one like you." Karan and Kareena's close friend and renowned designer Manish Malhotra commented on the picture: "Karan Bebo." The picture currently has over 66,000 likes on the photo-sharing website.

On the work front, Karan is gearing up for the release of his upcoming production 'Jug Jugg Jeeyo', while Kareena awaits for 'Laal Singh Chaddha' starring Aamir Khan.
Srinagar, May 25 : A so-called faith healer was arrested on Wednesday along with two other persons following the death of a woman after she was beaten up by him in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district.

The incident happened Tuesday night.

Police sources said that a woman, named Souby Jan of Damhal Hanjipora village in Kulgam district, was beaten up by the faith healer apparently to exorcise her at the her parental home in Hanjipora Kachdoora village Shopian district.

"She was shifted to the hospital where she succumbed.

"In addition to the faith healer identified as Zakir Ahmad Naik of Qazigund, the victim's husband and a disciple of the faith healer have also been arrested," sources said.
Seoul, May 25 : The top diplomats of South Korea and the US have condemned North Korea's latest missile launches in their phone talks on Wednesday, according to Seoul's Foreign Ministry.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and his American counterpart Antony Blinken agreed to cooperate closely in a push for a new UN Security Council resolution against Pyongyang, as they called the North's move a "grave provocation" that only leads to its isolation and threatens regional peace and stability, it added.

It remains unclear whether the UN panel will adopt additional sanctions on Pyongyang, which many say depends primarily on the positions of the veto-wielding permanent members of China and Russia, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, the North lobbed an apparent intercontinental ballistic missile and two other ballistic ones into the East Sea, the South's military said.
Ramallah, May 25 : The Palestinian Authority (PA) has urged the US to remove the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) from the lists of terror classified by the US Congress, a senior Palestinian official said.

The PA addressed an official letter to the US administration, calling on it to remove the PLO from the lists of terror, Hussein al-Sheikh, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said in a press statement.

"We expressed our shock and our absolute rejection of the persistence of this unjust and unfair classification of the Palestinian people who live under the occupation while the Israeli terrorist organisation Kach was removed from those lists," Al-Sheikh added.

The Palestinian request comes days after US State Department announced that it removed five extremist groups believed to be no longer active from its list of foreign terrorist organisations, including the Israeli "Kach" organisation, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Palestinians accuse the organisation of being responsible for killing and wounding dozens of worshipers at the Ibrahimi mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron in 1994 and being behind the incitement to kill and displace Palestinians.

In 1987, the US Congress declared the PLO a "terrorist organisation" and prohibited it from opening any of its office in the US.

Despite the decision, the Congress allowed US Presidents to issue an exemption with their consent, which every US President has done since the signing of the Oslo interim peace agreement between the PLO and Israel in 1993, except former President Donald Trump.

In September 2018, the Trump administration closed the PLO office in Washington D.C. and its banking accounts to pressure the Palestinians to stop working with the International Criminal Court against Israel.
Seoul, May 25 : South Korea's Vice Defence Minister Shin Beom-chul has attended a virtual session of a US-led forum on support for war-torn Ukraine, his Ministry said.

Hosted by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, Monday's session of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group involved officials from nearly 40 countries. Participants discussed the situation in Ukraine and joint efforts to aid the country, according to the Ministry on Tuesday.

Shin condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an "act that runs counter to the principle of the UN Charter" and explained Seoul's efforts to support the country, including its shipment of humanitarian and non-lethal aid, Yonhap news agency reported.

He also said President Yoon Suk-yeol's administration will consider ways to make additional contributions "in consideration of our responsibilities and role as a global pivotal state".

The Yoon administration has promoted the slogan "global pivotal state," in a show of its commitment to playing an active role in tackling regional and global challenges.

The multilateral dialogue was launched in April to discuss effective ways of providing aid to Ukraine. Among the participating countries are Japan, New Zealand and members of the NATO.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
NAGPUR:2 Dreaded Maoists - Suman R. Mattami alias Madhuri, & Sitaram B. Atram alias Ramsingh, with a Ra.6-Lakh bounty each on their heads, surrendered before Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police ANKIT GOYAL. Image Source: IANS News

NAGPUR:2 Dreaded Maoists - Suman R. Mattami alias Madhuri, & Sitaram B. Atram alias Ramsingh, with a Ra.6-Lakh bounty each on their heads, surrendered before Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police ANKIT GOYAL. Image Source: IANS News

NAGPUR:2 Dreaded Maoists - Suman R. Mattami alias Madhuri, & Sitaram B. Atram alias Ramsingh, with a Ra.6-Lakh bounty each on their heads, surrendered before Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police ANKIT GOYAL. Image Source: IANS News

Nagpur, May 25 : Two dreaded Maoists, including a woman -- with a combined bounty of Rs 12 lakh on their heads -- laid down arms before the Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police Ankit Goyal, an official said here on Wednesday.

They are: Suman R. Mattami, 34, alias Madhuri alias Bhuri, and Sitaram B. Atram, 63, alias Ramsing, with both having a reward of Rs 6 lakhs each for their scalps.

Madhuri was recruited in 2002 as a Maoist at the tender age of 14 with the Kasansur Local Organisation Squad (LOS) where she worked for 10 years, then joined the Bhamragad LOS and for the past 10 years was a Permili Area Committee Member.

She was directly involved with four murders, 21 encounter killings, seven cases of arson, five other offences and was among the most wanted Maoists in the region.

Ramsing was recruited as a Aheri LOS Member in 2005 and worked with several dalams, including as a Deputy Commander, and was last the Area Committee Member with Bhamragad technical dalam.

His track record shows involvement in one murder, one encounter and one other offence, but was part of the skirmishes with security forces in Kasampalli, Gundurwahi, Hikker, Aldandi and Asha-Nainguda.

During her surrender, Madhuri cited exploitation, discrimination, forcible marriage with other Maoists, no promotions and male colleagues running away during encounters with security forces leaving the women to handle the show.

Justifying his decision to lay down arms, Ramsing said that senior Maoists usurp all the monies that are collected through extortion rackets, the rebels exploit tribal youths, the Reds are fast losing support among the masses, married Maoists are not allowed to live independently, seniors order the junior cadres to kill civilians merely on suspicion of being an 'informer', and life in the jungles was very tough without security or even medical help available in emergencies.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Ankit Goyal said that now the surrendered duo will get the benefit of all government schemes to help Madhuri and Ramsing lead a normal life in the social mainstream.

In the past 30 months, at least 49 hardcore Maoists with crores of rupees rewards have given themselves up and are leading normal lives, and Goyal appealed to more wayward Maoists and misguided youths to surrender and join the social-national mainstream.
Seoul, May 25 : The South Korean government will review the issue of whether to maintain its economic sanctions imposed on North Korea in 2010 for a deadly naval attack, mindful of President Yoon Suk-yeol's stated practical approach, a unification Ministry official said.

The remark came on Tuesday as Seoul marked the 12th year since the sanctions were applied on the North after the latter sank the South Korean warship Cheonan in a torpedo attack, which killed 46 sailors.

Under the sanctions, known as the 'May 24 Measures', almost all inter-Korean exchanges are banned except for the Kaesong Industrial Complex and humanitarian aid projects, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The May 24 Measures can be reviewed in accordance with a principles-based and practical approach," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

He stressed, however, that the government's stance on maintaining sanctions on the North remains unchanged for now.

Earlier on Tuesday, a group of South Korean businessmen who used to be involved in inter-Korean economic projects urged the government to lift the sanctions.

"Since the measure went into effect 12 years ago, over 1,000 businessmen are living miserably, with several having gone bankrupt or turned into delinquent borrowers," they said during a press conference held in front of the Ministry building in Seoul.
Guwahati: Students wade through a waterlogged road after heavy rains at Chandmari in Guwahati on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. (Photo: Anuwar Hazarika/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Guwahati: Vehicles wade through a waterlogged road after heavy rains at Chandmari in Guwahati on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. (Photo: Anuwar Hazarika/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Guwahati, May 25 : An inter-ministerial Central team of six members will be on two-day visit to the flood-ravaged Assam beginning Friday to assess the damage to the properties, crops, loss of lives and other aspects of the deluge, officials said on Wednesday.

Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that the team, led by Ravinesh Kumar, Financial Advisor, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of the Home Ministry, would visit Cachar, Dima Hasao, Darrang, Nagaon and Hojai districts to assess the extent of loss caused by rain-induced floods and landslides.

After the field visit on Friday and Saturday, the team would hold meetings with the state government officials.

The situation in Assam, where the pre-monsoon floods have affected large parts of the state since May 13, continued to improve for the fourth day on Wednesday, but still around 5.80 lakh people in 18 districts are affected. The death toll has risen to 27 till early on Wednesday.

Of the 27 deaths, 21 died in floods and remaining in landslides in different districts.

ASDMA officials said that at least 5,80,145 people, including 1,15,208 children, of 1,374 villages have been affected in 18 of the state's 34 districts.

According to the ASDMA release, 64,098 hectares of crop areas (under 45 Revenue Circles) remained affected in flood-hit areas.

In all, 81,712 people are staying in the 346 relief camps, while the district administrations have also opened 182 relief distribution centres in all the affected areas.

Of the 18 flood-affected districts, the worst-hit were three - 3,46,291 people were affected in Nagaon alone followed by 1,77,954 people in Cachar and 40,941 in Morigaon district.

The Army, the Indian Air Force, the Assam Rifles, various para-military forces, the National Disaster Response Force, and the State Disaster Response Force, Civil Defence along with the district administrations, continue to work round the clock to rescue the stranded people and to provide relief to the marooned men, women and children.
New Delhi, May 25 : The government on Wednesday claimed that India has become the largest producer of sugar in the world in the year 2022-23, more than Brazil, while it would be the second largest exporter of sugar.

Sugar production in 2018-19 was 332 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) after discounting diversion of 3 LMT for ethanol; in 2019-20, it was 274 LMT (after discounting diversion of 9 LMT for ethanol); in 2020-21, the production increased to 310 LMT (after discounting diversion of 22 LMT for ethanol) and for 2021-22, it is 335 LMT (after discounting diversion of 35 LMT for ethanol).

The production of sugar has increased and so has sugar exports. In sugar seasons 2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20, only about 6.2 LMT, 38 LMT & 59.60 LMT of sugar was exported. "In sugar season 2020-21 against target of 60 LMT, about 70 LMT have been exported. In the current sugar season 2021-22, against the projected 100 LMT exports, contracts for export of about 90 LMT have been signed, about 82 LMT sugar has been dispatched from sugar mills for export and approximately 78 LMT have been exported. Export of sugar in current sugar season 2021-22 is the historically highest," Subodh Singh, Joint Secretary, Food, told media persons.

About 80 per cent of sugar is produced in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka and because the two states south of Narmada are nearer to the ports, export takes place more from these states.

Earlier, late last night, the government has restricted sugar export up to 100 LMT from June 1 till October 31, 2022 with a view to maintain the domestic availability and price stability during the sugar season 2021-22 (October-September).
Bhopal, May 25 : A man has been arrested for assaulting a sadhu and forcefully cutting his hair in Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa district, State Home Minister Narottam Mishra said here on Wednesday.

Minister Mishra condemned the incident saying that those insulting Sadhus should be taught a tough lesson.

In a video doing rounds on social media, a man can be seen dragging a sadhu to a hair salon in a busy market in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh and cut his hair.

After verifying the authenticity of the viral video, district police said that the incident took place in the tribal zone of Patajan village of the district. The man assaulting the sadhu has been identified as Praveen Gaur, a hotelier.

"Police have taken quick action after verifying viral video and the accused has been arrested. I have directed police to take strict action against the accused so that no one could dare to do such a thing further in the state, Mishra said.

According to police, the incident took place on Sunday. However, the action came after a video of the incident surfaced on social media on Tuesday. Police claimed that the incident occurred after an altercation broke out between the sadhu and the accused.

Suddenly, Praveen Gaur became furious and started abusing the sadhu. He then dragged the sadhu to a nearby hair salon, picked up a pair of scissors and chopped off his 'jata' (hair).

Police said that no complaint was registered by the sadhu and he was not present in the city after the incident. "We are looking for the sadhu so that a formal case can be registered based on his complaint," Khalwa police station in-charge Parasram Dabar said.

He further informed that based on the video, a case has been registered against the accused.
United Nations, May 25 : Captain Abdelrazakh Hamit Bahar of Chad, who was killed as a peacekeeper in Mali, is honoured with the United Nations' highest award for valour for his courage, a UN spokesman said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will present the honour at a ceremony to his family on Thursday, the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, said the UN chief's Spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday.

It is only the second time the UN Security Council-authorised Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage has been awarded, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Abdelrazakh made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of peace," said UnderSecretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

"We mourn his loss alongside his family, colleagues and the nation of Chad. His selfless service serves to inspire us all and we are proud to honour him." Abdelrazakh's willingness to risk his own life to save others exemplifies the courage and dedication of the more than 1 million peacekeepers who have served on the frontlines of conflict since 1948, Lacroix said.

It also highlights the increasing danger peacekeepers face as they carry out their vital work in some of the world's most challenging environments.

Abdelrazakh served in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, as the Deputy Commander of the Chadian Special Forces Company beginning in January 2021, the Spokesman said.

He was deployed at the Aguelhok Super Camp in northeast Mali when attacked by an armed terrorist group attempting to seize the base and its outposts.

"Abdelrazakh led a bold counterattack to defend the camp, protect the lives of his colleagues and prevent any civilian casualties," Dujarric said.

"While attempting to secure the perimeter, Captain Abdelrazakh noticed armed assailants entering a house near the camp. Determined to ensure that they did not harm colleagues and the civilian population, he single-handedly led an operation to clear and secure the house. In doing so, Captain Abdelrazakh was shot and killed." The medal was named in honour of Captain Mbaye Diagne. He saved hundreds of lives while serving as a UN peacekeeper in Rwanda in 1994 before being killed in action.

The award was established in 2014 by the Security Council as an official award to recognise uniformed and civilian peacekeepers who demonstrate exceptional courage.
Beijing, May 25 : China has asked local authorities to further lower the price of Covid-19 nucleic acid tests to no more than 16 yuan (nearly $2.4) per person for a single test.

The price for batch testing, which combines samples from up to 10 people in a single test, should be no more than five yuan per person, said a circular made public by the National Healthcare Security Administration on Wednesday.

The administration requires all provincial-level regions to complete the price adjustment by June 10, Xinhua news agency reported.

The move is part of the government's efforts to reduce the cost of nucleic acid testing, an important means to facilitate regular epidemic response.

The nucleic acid test price in China has dropped over the past years from more than 120 yuan per person for a single test to no more than 60 yuan in September 2021, 40 yuan in December 2021, and 28 yuan in April 2022.

The administration also encouraged measures, including centralised procurement of detection reagents, to secure a continuous and reasonable decline in the testing price.
Mumbai, May 25 : The Mumbai Police on Wednesday decreed that wearing helmets would be compulsory for pillion riders of two-wheelers and warned of strict action against violators.

In a notification, the Mumbai Police Traffic Department said the rule will be effective after 15 days after which the traffic police will crack the whip against those flouting the new rules.

According to the notification issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police Raj Tilak Roshan, it has been observed that most two-wheeler riders and even the pillion riders in Mumbai do not wear helmets and violate the traffic department norms and provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

Presently, such offenders attract a fine of Rs 500 for riders without helmets and suspension of their driving license for up to three months or both under the Act.

After two weeks, the same penalty shall be imposed even on the pillion riders not wearing a helmet, warned the fresh notification issued Wednesday.
New Delhi, May 25 : In a joint operation, the Special Cell of Delhi Police and Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday arrested a notorious gangster of the Jitender Gogi-Deepak Boxer gang after a brief exchange of fire in the national capital.

The arrested accused, identified as Sandeep alias Baasi, received a bullet injury during the encounter.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Jasmeet Singh said on May 24, a specific information was received about the location of Sandeep.

A team of STF/Meerut of UP Police, who had earlier arrived in the office of Special Cell, were also associated with the raiding party.

A joint team was deployed near the informed location and around 5.00 a.m. in the morning, Sandeep was spotted near Shani Bazar Xing.

"He was signalled to stop by the police, but instead he dropped the bike and fired three rounds towards police," the DCP said.

The police also retaliated and Sandeep got wounded in his right leg on the knee.

He was immediately rushed to Raja Harish Chander hospital for treatment and later, to Safdarjung hospital.

Sandeep was previously arrested in four criminal cases including one of murder and three others in Delhi.

He has disclosed that he was presently wanted and absconding in six heinous crimes including of sensational shootouts, murders, dacoity, robbery, assault & firing on police, abduction, car-jacking etc in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Haryana.
New Delhi, May 25 : Kapil Sibal is the fifth high profile exit from the Congress this year as he parted ways with the party and filed his Rajya Sabha nomination as independent candidate with Samajwadi Party backing from the state of Uttar Pradesh. Prior to Sibal, former Punjab Congress Chief Sunil Jakhar had left the party only to join the BJP.

Sibal, however, did not comment on the Congress after he quit but said that it was not an easy decision to take. It ended the three decade long relationship with the party, he said.

Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and ex Union Minister R.P.N. Singh too parted ways with the Congress and lately Hardik Patel, the Gujarat Congress working president, too left the party.

Sunil Jakhar after joining the BJP had said that it was not easy to break 50 years of relationship with the Congress. "From 1972 to 2022, my three generations considered Congress as their family. Stood with the party in every good and bad time. But an attempt was made to suppress my nationalist voice in the Congress. I was given a notice for speaking in the interest of Punjab and the country," he said.

Gujarat Patidar leader Hardik Patel too has hit out at the party on hindutva issue and alleged that the Congress party is working to hurt the sentiments of the people. It always tries to damage the faith of Hindu religion.

Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar was upset with the party leadership and parted ways saying, "I was feeling uncomfortable, helpless and ignored for the last many months and I understood that now I am not needed in the party. Therefore, I distanced myself. I was not able to do whatever I wanted to do by staying inside the party. That's why I decided to fulfil my duty and now I can do what I feel comfortable to do." He had predicted loss for the Congress in Punjab.

Similarly, R.P.N. Singh quit the Congress ahead of UP polls and joined the BJP. Several others bade adieu to the party including Punjab ex-Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Jitin Prasada last year who were once considered close to Gandhis.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chennai, May 25 : Forest brigand Veerappan's elder brother Madhaiyan died of a cardiac arrest in Salem Government Hospital on Wednesday early morning.

Madhaiyan was a life convict in a case related to the murder of a forest officer Chidambaram in 1987 and was in Salem central prison for the past 34 years. He suffered a heart attack and was admitted to Salem General Hospital on May 1.

Veerappan was killed on October 18, 2004 by a Special Task Force of the Tamil Nadu Police led by K. Vijayakumar. His accomplices Sethukuli Govindan, Chandre Gowdar, and Sethumani were also killed by the STF at Papparapatti in the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu.

Notably, Veerappan was a notorious brigand involved in the killing of more than 150 people including forest officers, revenue officers, police officers, and had ambushed and killed 22 policemen in a single mine explosion. He had poached and killed around 2000 elephants and extracted the ivory and sold it.

He was also involved in sandalwood smuggling and police had then recorded that Veerappan had smuggled and sold sandalwood for around Rs 143 crore.
New Delhi, May 25 : Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who has been convicted in a terror funding case, on Wednesday told the court that he has been following "Gandhian principles" after giving up arms.

Malik, who is awaiting the quantum of punishment for the offences in the case, was produced before the Special NIA judge, Patiala House Court amid tight security.

During the course of the hearing, Malik said: "After dropping weapons, I have followed principles of Mahatma Gandhi. Since then, I have been following non-violent politics in Kashmir." The National Investigation Agency (NIA) argued for the death sentence for Malik.

The court also had directed the NIA authorities to assess his financial situation in connection with the terror funding case prior to Wednesday's hearing.

The accused is facing a maximum punishment of the death penalty, while the minimum sentence can be life imprisonment in the cases in which he is involved.

Malik has been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, other unlawful activities, and disturbing peace in Kashmir.

He had pleaded guilty in the matter. On the last date of the hearing, he told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him, including section 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of a terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

The present case is related to the various terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) backed by Islamic State perpetrating the terrorist and secessionist activities to disturb Jammu and Kashmir.
Gandhinagar, May 25 : In the run-up to elections, as in Gujarat later this year, various theories are floated and considered by political parties on the method of candidate selection -- like not repeating nominees, a three-term bar, keeping out those above 70 will be excluded. Politicians differ on them, with some saying none may be fool-proof, while others say they do achieve one key goal.

"For the first time, the no repeat theory was floated by the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2005 in civic and panchayat polls. It fetched him targeted results. Many young first timers got elected to the Municipal Corporations," says Niranjan Zanzmera, president of the BJP Surat city Committee.

At the same time, he also believes that even after experimenting with such strategies, it is not easy to keep all party workers happy. For each seat there are at least 50 to 70 aspirants, but only one gets ticket. However, when a new face gets ticket to contest elections, it does increase the hope of others and they work for the party with more vigour.

Differing with Zanzmera, Congress Rajkot city committee President Pradip Trivedi said none of these theories and strategies are fool-proof and easy to implement. So till the last moment of filing nominations, equations keep changing and accordingly, parties have to change their strategies.

Each party has to take caste equations, and demography of the constituency into consideration before deciding on tickets and may have to compromise with their strategy, be it no repeat or others strategy, Trivedi says.

He cited examples of an experiment of 2002 and 2007 elections, when Leuva Patidar leader, Vitthal Radadia, who had strong influence over the community and voters, won election from Dhoraji seat in 2002, but his wife Chetnaben Radadia lost elections on Kalavad seat against BJP's R.C. Faldu.

In the same way in 2007 again, Vitthal Radadia won from Dhoraji seat, but his son Jayesh lost the elections on Rajkot South seat against BJP's Govind Patel by a margin 35,643 votes. Experiments do not succeed all the time, he notes.

BJP's Ahmedabad city committee General Secretary, Paresh Lakhani said that for some leaders, the result is not their concern, they simply implement and execute the strategies.

A leader wishing not to be quoted said some leaders become permanent members of some constituencies. They get re-elected from the same seat again and again, even for decades and others don't get a chance. Citing the example of Vasan Ahir, he said no one is getting a chance from Anjar seat as he has been winning for the last three terms on BJP ticket.

Nitin Patel has won from Mehsana two times, and earlier from Kadi seat four times. Mohansinh Rathva got elected from Chhota Udepur assembly seat for a record 11 terms.

Congress' former state unit President Amit Chavda was elected from Anklav for the last two terms. Earlier he got elected twice from Borsad seat. This seat was earlier represented by his uncle Madhavsinh Solanki and his cousin Bharatsinh for four terms. Because of such examples, young workers look for experiments.
New Delhi, May 25 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday told the the court during arguments on sentencing of Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik in a terror funding case that he is responsible for the Kashmiri Pandits' exodus from the Valley.

During the course of the hearing before Special Judge Praveen Singh, the central probe agency also argued for death sentence to Malik.

On the other hand, the amicus curiae sought life imprisonment as a minimum punishment in the case.

Malik, who is awaiting the quantum of punishment for the offences in the case, was produced before the special NIA judge of Patiala House Court amid tight security.

The court also had directed the NIA authorities to assess his financial situation in connection with the terror funding case prior to Wednesday's hearing.

Malik faces maximum punishment of the death penalty, while the minimum sentence can be life imprisonment in the cases in which he is involved.

He had been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, other unlawful activities, and disturbing peace in Kashmir.

He had pleaded guilty in the matter. On the last date of the hearing, he told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him, including section 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of a terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

The present case is related to the various terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) backed by Islamic State perpetrating the terrorist and secessionist activities to disturb Jammu and Kashmir.
Sydney, May 25 : The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) announced on Wednesday that its first trial of a hydrogen-powered electric bus will begin later this year in a transition to zero-emission technology.

The government is partnering with local and national industry suppliers to test the future fuel source. Bus operators also join the trial to help understand how the technology could be implemented across regional NSW, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Unlocking hydrogen use in the heavy transport sector is key to creating new industries and achieving the economic prosperity that comes with it," said NSW Treasurer and Energy Minister Matt Kean.

The local trial of the technology will begin after the first hydrogen fuel cell electric bus arrives on the Central Coast in east NSW. The bus will also need to pass on-road testing before it is rolled out in the trial.

NSW Regional Transport and Roads Minister, Sam Farraway said in some regional areas, buses need to travel greater distances before they refuel, which is why trials like this are important.

"Hydrogen buses have a greater range than battery electric buses, which could make them better suited for use in regional and outer metropolitan areas of the state," Farraway added.

"The results of the battery electric bus trial on the Central Coast will be compared against the hydrogen bus to understand any key differences, including fuel economy and refueling times." The trial is part of the state government's plan on reaching zero-emission targets with alternative transport options that are 100 per cent Australian designed, built and supported.
Bengaluru, May 25 : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Karnataka has challenged the BJP government to initiate action against corrupt ministers on line with what Bhagwant Mann did in Punjab.

AAP State Convener, Prithvi Reddy on Wednesday said, "Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann dismissed Health Minister Vijay Sangla and ordered an investigation, after he came to know that he is taking bribe through commissions. Mann sacked the Minister before the opposition and the media asked for it." He charged that most of the ministers in Karnataka have been accused of corruption but no action has been taken despite the people asking for it.

"The Aam Aadmi Party is constantly fighting corruption. The AAP has filed several complaints against 40 per cent commission charge against the ruling BJP," he said.

"We are constantly staging protests, uncovering corruption. But this deaf BJP government does not have the courage to take action against the Ministers," he charged.

"There are serious allegations against Health Minister K. Sudhakar, Munirathna and others. The contractors have accused these ministers of demanding 40 per cent commission on every project. The religious seers have also alleged that 30 per cent commission has to be given to get the grant for religious mutts. All the tainted ministers should be sacked soon," he said.

"Health Minister Sudhakar was accused of irregularities in the purchase of Covid equipment," retired IPS officer and AAP leader Bhaskar Rao said.

He also said that the AAP has repeatedly demanded for the resignation of Minister Munirathna over alleged irregularities regarding Rs 118.26 crore scam as proved by Lokayukta investigation.

"Minister of Higher Education C.N. Ashwath Narayan's name is repeatedly heard in PSI and Assistant Professor's recruitment scam. Minister Byrathi Basavaraju is accused of grabbing land." The questionshave also been raised against Minister V. Somanna's disproportionate income. Minister R. Ashok is also allegedly involved in illegalities.

There is a video evidence for Minister Shashikala Jolle allegedly raising Rs 27 crore illegally, in egg purchases.

Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh Nirani is accused of obtaining crop loans in the name of thousands of farmers, the AAP leader said.

"Agricultural Minister B.C. Patil is allegedly involved in trafficking of fertilizer in other states. It is unfortunate that the government is not taking any action despite serious allegations against many ministers." he said.

Former KAS officer and AAP leader K. Mathai said, "the whole system of the state is corrupt and our honourable Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is busy in protecting the same."
Los Angeles, May 25 : A witness in Hollywood star Johnny Depp's defamation case called actress Amber Heard "jealous and crazy" on Twitter before he appeared in court.

Morgan Night took to the stand when he confirmed that he wrote a critical tweet about the actress on April 21, reports femaelfirst.co.uk.

The motel owner took to Twitter in response to a post from an account called @ThatUmbrella.

The original tweet read: "Depp said she had 'taken happy something.' Deep is accused of 'removing her hand and yelling at Amber'." In response, Night wrote on the micro-blogging platform: "That never happened. I was with them all night. Amber was the one acting all jealous and crazy." Night, who was called to the stand by Depp's legal team, owned a luxury trailer park that the actor, Heard and their friends visited in 2013.

The actress previously alleged that her ex-husband grabbed a female friend of hers by the wrist at the Hicksville trailer park - but Night rubbished that claim, saying that he "never saw Depp get physical with anyone".

Later, he recalled witnessing an argument between Depp and Heard.

He said: "She was upset at him and she was yelling at him ... He was kind of cowering and seemed almost afraid, and it was really, like, odd to see because he was older than her obviously, but I just went back in the house." Night also caused laughter in the courtroom when he admitted he's not a fan of the actor.

He was initially asked: "You are a pretty big fan of Johnny Depp, aren't you?" And in response, Night said: "I am not." Heard is counter-suing her ex-husband after Depp sued her for defamation over a 2018 article she wrote about being a victim of domestic abuse. The trial is set to conclude this week.
Harare, May 25 : Anti-sanctions lobby group Broad Alliance Against Sanctions (BAAS) has handed over letters to the American Embassy in Zimbabwe inviting African-American Congressional members to visit the country and witness the negative impact of US imposed sanctions.

"The first letter that we submitted was to the Ambassador, whereby we were asking him to submit the other 66 letters for us to the black Congressional members in a bid to lure them to come to visit our vigil site and see how these sanctions have actually hurt the ordinary citizens in Zimbabwe," Sally Ngoni, Co-founder and Spokesperson of BAAS, told Xinhua news agency.

The letters were handed over to Regional Security Officer at the US Embassy Timothy Corso by BAAS Co-founder and Chairman Calvern Chitsunge, Xinhua news agency reported.

In March 2019, BAAS set up a camp at the main entrance of the US Embassy as a protest against the imposition of sanctions. The group said the camp will only be dismantled if sanctions are lifted.

Ngoni urged African-American Congressional members to voice their support for Zimbabwe's fight against sanctions.

"We are hoping that since we sent the letters to the black Congressional members in America, they are the people with the same background as us. Their origins are from Africa, we are hoping that they will be compassionate with their fellow African brothers and sisters, that is us the Zimbabweans, and actually feel how these sanctions have actually caused pain to the ordinary citizens," Ngoni said.

She added that contrary to the claim that sanctions are targeting a few individuals, they are affecting the whole economy.

"You realise that most companies are actually scared of doing business in Zimbabwe because of sanctions. We have seen many banks being fined for carrying out certain transactions in Zimbabwe by countries like the US," Ngoni said.

She added that the lobby group's efforts have resulted in the removal of some state entities from the sanctions list.

"We have seen a lot of changes, for example, we saw Infrastructure Development Bank and Agribank being removed from the sanctions list," said Ngoni.

"We have also had several engagements with the American Ambassador telling him our own side of the story as ordinary citizens, showing him how we as ordinary citizens have suffered from these sanctions and we hope that one day the sanctions will be unconditionally removed." Sanctions were imposed in the early 2000s after Zimbabwe embarked on the land reform programme during which the country re-possessed land from minority white farmers for redistribution to landless indigenous Zimbabweans.

While the US argues that sanctions are targeted on a few individuals and entities, the Zimbabwean government says the impact of sanctions is being felt throughout the whole economy.

Analysts say as a result of the sanctions, especially the US' Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, Zimbabwe, has not fully enjoyed support from international financial institutions.

Yahya Abdullar, a local resident, said no Zimbabwean has been spared by the sanctions.

"The sanctions are affecting Zimbabweans as well as the street kids, to the extent that they cannot even be able to pick anything to eat from the bins," he told Xinhua.

Last October, Alena Douhan, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, visited Zimbabwe to assess the impact of sanctions on the country and she concluded that sanctions had worsened the pre-existing economic challenges in the country.
Davos, May 25 : India has joined the US-led First Movers Coalition, a flagship public-private partnership to clean up the most carbon-intensive industry sectors, from heavy industry to long distance transport.

The coalition on Wednesday announced a major expansion to more than 50 corporate members worth about $8.5 trillion and a total of nine leading governments, including the US, covering over 40 per cent of global GDP.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry made the announcement alongside Bill Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy, at a press briefing hosted by the World Economic Forum.

In addition to the US government, the coalition welcomed India, Japan, and Sweden to the steering board, as well as Denmark, Italy, Norway, Singapore and the UK as government partners.

These government partners will invite companies from their countries to join the coalition and will pursue public policies to commercialise the green technologies corporate members commit to purchasing.

Led by the World Economic Forum and the US government, the First Movers Coalition targets sectors including aluminium, aviation, chemicals, concrete, shipping, steel and trucking, which are responsible for 30 per cent of global emissions - a proportion expected to rise to over 50 per cent by mid-century without urgent progress on clean technology innovations.

For these sectors to decarbonise at the speed needed to keep the planet on a 1.5-degree pathway, they require low-carbon technologies that are not yet competitive with current carbon-intensive solutions but must reach commercial scale by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions globally by 2050.

To jump-start the market, the coalition's members commit to purchasing -- out of their total industrial materials and long-distance transport spending -- a percentage from suppliers using near-zero or zero-carbon solutions, despite the premium cost.

If enough global companies commit a certain percentage of their future purchasing to clean technologies in this decade, this will create a market tipping point that will accelerate their affordability and drive long-term, net-zero transformation across industrial value chains.

The coalition is launching two new sectors: carbon dioxide removal and aluminium, which join the four existing sectoral pledges (aviation, shipping, steel and trucking) launched at COP26.

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, said: "India has been at the forefront of climate change actions. The idea of LIFE -- 'Lifestyle For Environment' -- as highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the call for a global mass movement on sustainable lifestyles, is very critical for combating climate change." "India has also taken global leadership with initiatives like the International Solar Alliance, One Sun One World One Grid, and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. We believe that the need of the hour is to strengthen technological innovation so as to have cost-effective climate technologies on a larger scale.

"The First Movers Coalition has a huge role to play in this and to achieve our climate goals." US Special Presidential Envoy Kerry said the purchasing commitments made by the First Movers Coalition represent the highest-leverage climate action that companies can take because creating the early markets to scale advanced technologies materially reduces the whole world's emissions -- not just any company's own footprint.

"With today's expansion, the coalition has achieved scale across the world's leading companies and support from committed governments around the world to tackle the hardest challenge of the climate crisis: reducing the emissions from the sectors where we don't yet have the toolkit to replace unabated fossil fuels and swiftly reach net-zero emissions." Borge Brende, World Economic Forum President, said: "The coalition's members are truly the 'first movers' who are focused on scaling disruptive innovations that pave the way for long-term transformation rather than the lower-hanging fruit of short-term process efficiency gains." "Once the tipping point is reached in the market, the First Movers Coalition will demonstrate that a net or near-zero transformation across the value chain is not only possible but that it will be no more expensive than the high-emitting alternative."
New Delhi, May 25 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday said that they have filed supplementary chargesheet against one person in the Ansarullah terror module case in Tamil Nadu.

The agency has pressed charges against Divan Mujipeer under the Section 120 B of IPC (criminal conspiracy) and Section 13 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

During investigation, Divan was found to have conspired with co-accused persons -- Mohammed Ibrahim, Mohammed Sheik Maitheen, Meeran Ghani and Gulam Nabi Asath at UAE to form an extremist religious group, namely Ansarullah with an intention to establish Islamic rule in India, especially in Tamil Nadu through violent Jihad.

The accused had recruited like-minded youth into their fold besides conducting religious classes with the intention of waging violent jihad.

They had circulated a magazine named Thozhan for propagating extreme Jihadi ideologies of ISIS and Al Qaeda.

On January 8, 2020, the NIA had filed a chargesheet against 11 people in this case.

Further investigation in the matter is on.
Lucknow, May 25 : The All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) has passed a resolution urging the Central government to keep in mind the religious freedom of Muslims while introducing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

At an executive meeting of the Board on Wednesday, the members said that Muslims follow the country's law but they should be allowed freedom to pursue their religion.

The Board also asked the government to put up the draft for UCC so that Muslims could discuss and deliberate upon it.

The Board further urged the government to ensure that the Places of Worship Act 1991 was not flouted.

AISPLB spokesperson Maulana Yasoob Abbas said: "The situation in the country is getting increasingly communal and it was necessary that the constitution if followed in letter and spirit." "We will meet and give a memorandum to the President and the Prime Minister to stop these communal overtures like surveying all the mosque and heritage monuments. We need to work as a society to build unity among Hindus and Muslims not divide them."
New Delhi, May 25 : Just ahead of the pronouncement of the verdict on Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, the Patiala House Court in the national capital was thoroughly inspected by the sniffer dogs and the bomb disposal squads.

As per latest visuals from the inside the Court, Delhi Police personnel could be seen examining the area with the help of sniffer dogs. A police team carrying thermal scanners was also there.

Even the ceilings were being checked so as to see if there is any suspected material was hidden there.

The passage which leads to the Special NIA Courtroom was completely checked by the security forces.

Malik, who is awaiting the quantum of punishment for the offences in the case, was presented before the special NIA judge of Patiala House Court amid tight security.

He is facing a maximum punishment of the death penalty, while the minimum sentence can be life imprisonment in the cases in which he is involved.

Yasin Malik has been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, other unlawful activities, and disturbing peace in Kashmir.
Islamabad, May 25 : After several hours of political drama and chaos across Pakistan in the wake of PTI's much-anticipated 'Azadi March', the federal government and PTI have both refuted claims of striking an agreement, the media reported.

Following the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the two sides engaged in dialogue, however, no breakthrough was reported between the two. According to Geo News, the talks between the government and PTI continued for two-and-half hours, Geo News reported.

Pakistan Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed that no agreement has been reached between the federal government and PTI. She said news of negotiations and an agreement between the government and PTI is "baseless".

Political tensions are at an all-time high in Pakistan with all eyes on Islamabad as the city braced itself for the arrival of PTI workers and leaders heading towards the federal capital for the party's Azadi March despite the government's instructions not to.

So far, the day has been filled with political drama. Lahore turned into a battleground as multiple scuffles took place between the police and PTI marchers as the latter tried to wriggle out of the barricades placed on their way, Geo News reported.

Law enforcement was on high alert and the government has given instructions to take "all possible measures" to stop the PTI's 'Azadi March'.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan is leading the march, which he has said will be the "biggest" in Pakistan's political history, while Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah will address the public shortly over the ongoing situation.

In order to restrain Lahore's rally from entering Islamabad, the police tried to arrest former energy minister and senior PTI leader Hammad Azhar; however, party workers managed to save him.
Shimla, May 25 : In a major development in the high-profile Himachal Pradesh constable paper leak case, police on Wednesday said that it has zeroed in on Rajasthan-based Income Tax Department official, Sandeep Tailor, believed to be the kingpin of the scam.

Tailor is serving as tax assistant, Group-C, in Chittorgarh, is the kingpin of paper leak, a police statement said.

The investigation has revealed that he had taken Rs 300,000 each from seven candidates of Solan and Arki areas through two middlemen -- Virender Kumar and Dev Raj -- who have already been arrested by the Special Investigating Team (SIT).

The middlemen received Rs 50,000 for their services from Tailor. Police said 80-90 per cent payment was made online by the candidates, whereas some payment was made in cash.

Tailor's wife, Rinki Purva, is serving as a teacher in Government Senior Secondary School in Sangliya in Sikar district. It has been revealed that some amount has also been deposited in her bank account, making her an accomplice in the case.

In the paper leak case, 14 mobile phones and three vehicles have been seized by the SIT from the accused.

A special team of the police has already been deputed to Chittorgarh and Sikar to arrest Tailor.

The Director General of Police is also in touch with his counterparts in Rajasthan to ensure assistance of the local police to the special team of the state police, said the statement, adding the Rajasthan police constable exam also saw a "paper leak" last week.

Facing criticism in an election year, the BJP government in Himachal Pradesh last week announced handing over the probe to the CBI.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur made this announcement saying a decision in this regard was taken keeping in mind the sensitivity of the case as 10 suspects do not belong to the state.

He had told the media that 73 arrests, comprising 10 from outside the state, have been made, adding that the government has acted promptly in registering an FIR and setting up an SIT.

He said the mastermind in the case, Shiv Bahadur Singh, has been arrested from Varanasi, besides another accused was arrested from Bihar.

A written test for recruiting 1,334 constables was conducted on March 27 that saw 75,000 candidates appear.
New Delhi, May 25 : A special NIA court on Wednesday sentenced Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who has been convicted in a terror funding case, to life imprisonment.

Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh announced the sentence.

In the arguments before the sentencing, Malik told the court that he will accept hanging if the intelligence agencies prove any terror-related activities involving him.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) meanwhile told the court that Malik is responsible for the Kashmiri Pandits' exodus from the Valley as it argued for the death sentence for him.
Panaji, May 25 : Claiming Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festivals in Goa are dens of drug peddlers and even drug-related deaths have reported during the fests, AAP Vice President Valmiki Naik on Wednesday said the BJP government is planning such a festival to earn money through corruption.

"The fact that the government itself is considering holding such a festival is worrying," Naik said, addressing media persons here.

On Tuesday, Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte had said that the government intends to hold festival with different flavours on the lines of 'Sunburn' in the state.

Reacting to it, AAP has claimed that EDM festivals are a big source of corruption and this is just another strategy of the BJP's to settle scores.

"Everyone knows the tactics used by the government and festival organisers to settle scores. Festivals of this type are a source of corruption, and the BJP government is now exploring the prospect of earning more money from the fest," Naik said.
New Delhi, May 25 : Leading investment firm Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z) on Wednesday announced a new $4.5 billion fund for crypto and blockchain companies and startups (or Web3.0 startups), as the global crypto market undergoes turmoil with Bitcoin losing nearly 50 per cent of its worth from November last year.

It marks Andreessen's fourth fund for the asset class and brings its total raised for crypto and Blockchain investments to $7.6 billion.

According to the investment firm, in the last decade, the world of crypto and web3 has likewise emerged as a new frontier in technology.

The new $4.5 billion fund doubles the size of their last crypto fund. The firm last year announced a $2.2 billion Crypto Fund III.

"We think we are now entering the golden era of web3. Programmable blockchains are sufficiently advanced, and a diverse range of apps have reached tens of millions of users," said Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.

"We've been investing in crypto since 2013, and today we're announcing our fourth crypto fund, totaling $4.5 billion," he added.

Of that, approximately $1.5 billion will be dedicated to seed investments, and $3 billion to venture investments.

"This brings our total crypto/web3 funds raised to over $7.6 billion," said Dixon.

The VC firm is going to use these funds to invest in promising web3 startups at every stage.

A16Z recently announced the creation of a16z crypto research, a new kind of multidisciplinary lab that will work closely with its portfolio and others toward solving the important problems in the space, and toward advancing the science and technology of the next generation of the Internet.

The annocement came as global crypto mayhem last week wiped out Bitcoin worth $3.5 billion -- created to defend and support the TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin which saw a total crash -- and no one has any idea how such a large sum of funds disappeared.

Nearly 80,394 Bitcoin worth $3.5 billion were purchased by the Luna Foundation Guard, the non-profit organisation set up to promote the growth of the Terra ecosystem this year, according to Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

The sudden meltdown dealt a crushing blow to many tech-savvy young investors who betted big on the algorithmic cryptocurrencies, seen largely as experimental, amid the recent boom in cryptocurrency assets.

Luna's value collapsed in one of the most stunning crypto crashes ever recorded.

In total, over $15 billion in cryptocurrency value was wiped after the TerraUSD stablecoin collapsed.
Kochi, May 25 : Six-time former Congress legislator P.C. George, whose bail in an alleged hate speech case was cancelled by a court in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, was taken into custody by the Kerala police.

George, along with his son Shaun George had arrived before the Palarivattom police. He had another similar case for which he was to appear before the police as a lower court which granted him bail on May 1 had cancelled it.

Top state BJP leaders, including state party president K. Surendran, met the former inside the jail.

Speaking to the media, Surendran said it was unfair that there are different laws for different people.

"While the police was quick to arrest George for a hate speech, this yardstick is not seen when the same crime is being committed by others (Muslim leaders), no arrest is made. This is a clear cut case of different treatment and George has been a victim of this. We want to ask why are the police not arresting other people for the same crime," he added.

Shaun George said the arrest of his father was made as the Thrikkakara by-election is going to be held on May 31.

"Both the Left and the Congress are hand in glove and are against P.C. George and the only reason this is happening is appeasement politics to please a particular community. P.C. George is the one who always respects the law and that's why he came and presented himself before the police. We will seek legal redressal and for that steps have already been initiated," he added.

As the news spread about P.C. George's bail being cancelled, People's Democratic Party activists gathered before the police station in Kochi and shouted slogans against George and demanded that he be arrested.

Several BJP workers were seen shouting slogans against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's government.

P.C. George was taken to a police station by a top police official in Kochi where his statement will be recorded in the alleged hate speech case made in May.

Official sources said the former Congress legislator will then be handed over to the police team from Thiruvananthapuram, who will interrogate him in the case in which his bail has been cancelled.

P.C. George's counsel Sasthamangalam Ajith, who appeared for him and helped him get bail on May 1 in the case registered by a Thiruvanthapuram court, confirmed that George's bail has been cancelled.

"The order says the police are at liberty to arrest him. Since there is a word liberty, the police can decide to arrest him or not and that decision can be taken only by the police," said Ajith.

On May 1, George was arrested by the Thiruvananthapuram police for the alleged hate speech and got bail after he was produced before the court.

A few days later, George speaking at a poll meeting made the same hate speech which led to his bail getting cancelled.

According to official sources, George will be arrested by the police in the state capital later on Wednesday.
New Delhi, May 25 : Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who has been convicted in connection with a 2017 terror funding case, was sentenced to life on Wednesday by a special NIA court here.

Special Judge Praveen Singh pronounced the verdict under relevant sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act which will be concurrent and it will run till life.

The quantum of punishment for the offences in the terror funding case, was pronounced amid tight security at the Patiala House Courts.

During the course of the hearing, Malik said: "I will not beg for anything. The case is before this court and I leave it on the court to decide it." "If I have been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in 28 years, if Indian Intelligence proves this, then I will also retire from politics. I will accept the hanging... with seven Prime Ministers, I have worked," he told the court.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the court during the hearing that the accused is responsible for the Kashmiri Pandits' exodus from the Valley.

The Central probe agency also argued for the death sentence for Malik.

On the other hand, the amicus curiae sought life imprisonment as a minimum punishment in the case.

Malik had pleaded guilty in the matter earlier. In the previous hearing, he told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him, including section 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of a terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.
Karachi, May 25 : The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index shed more than 500 points on Wednesday as clashes between PTI protesters and police officials in Lahore dampened investor sentiment, Dawn reported.

According to the PSX website, the KSE-100 index had gone down by 572.63 points, or 1.37 per cent, by 12:35 p.m.

Ahsan Mehanti of the Arif Habib Corporation said the stock market was witnessing a slump due to the central bank's decision to hike the key interest policy rate and the political instability.

"Stocks fell across the board on investor fears over the impact of the opposition's protest call to initiate fresh elections and massive State Bank of Pakistan policy tightening this week," he said.

"Domestic and foreign investors are withdrawing their capital from the market. Political matters have deteriorated to such an extent that the market has not improved despite Saudi Arabia's announcement regarding the extension of the kingdom's $3 billion deposit to Pakistan," he said, Dawn reported.

He added that reports of a delay in the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and falling rupee played a catalyst role in the bearish activity.

Raza Jaffrey, head of research at Intermarket Securities, said that equities continue to come down with the "risk of confrontation on the streets very much playing itself out".

"The balance of payments situation remains precarious as before. Everything looks cheap but the market has been akin to a falling knife this month. Investors are waiting for the dust to settle before entering equities again," he said.
Two Saudi nationals held at Mumbai airport with 7,24,700 US Dollars worth Rs 5.6 crore Image Source: IANS News

Two Saudi nationals held at Mumbai airport with 7,24,700 US Dollars worth Rs 5.6 crore Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 25 : The customs official at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, detained two Saudi nationals and recovered 7,24,700 US Dollars worth Rs 5.6 crore from them, a senior customs official said on Wednesday.

He said that on May 24, at around 1 p.m. during pre-embarkation Security Check (PESC) through X-BIS machine at International Security Hold Area (SHA) of Terminal-2, CSMI Airport, CISF personnel detected high volume of foreign currency (US Dollars) from the hand baggages of two passengers.

The passengers were later identified as Ahmed Mohamed Ismail Haraza and Essam Ali Omer Mohamed (both Sudani national). They were supposed to travel to Addis Ababa by flight no ET-611.

The matter was immediately informed to Customs officials. Thereafter, the passengers were allowed to proceed towards the departure Immigration counter and were kept under close watch through physical and electronic measures.

Later, Custom officials detained both the passengers at departure Immigration counter and recovered 7,24,700 US Dollars worth Rs 5.6 crore from their hand baggages.
New Delhi, May 25 : The government has initiated the process to select chiefs for the country's top intelligence agencies - the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), security sources said.

The government does not seem to be in the mood to give further extension to the present IB and R&AW chiefs, they said.

The tenure of current IB chief Arvind Kumar will come to an end by this month while R&AW chief Samanta Goel will be retiring on June 30.

Both Kumar and Goel were given a one year extension in May last year, beyond their scheduled service tenure.

The sources also said that the government, most likely, is willing to give command to the senior-most officers of the IB and the R&AW, while appointing IPS officers from outside the organisations will be the last option.

As per the sources, the frontrunner for the post of IB chief is 1987 batch Bihar cadre IPS officer A.S. Rajan, who is currently serving as its number two. Rajan has served as Deputy Director and Joint Director in Gujarat and is rated highly by the government.

Tapan Deka, a 1988 batch officer from Himachal Pradesh cadre, is also the in the race for the top IB post. He is at present working as Special Director and also is in charge of counter-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources said that present CBI Director Subodh Kumar Jaiswal is also being considered for the R&AW. He was head of R&AW's Mumbai station in 2008 when the terror attack took place and served a considerable time in the agency.

It is also learnt that CRPF DG Kuldeep Singh, who is holding additional charge of the National Investigation Agency, could be its next chief.

The government is also searching for the new Director General of the Sashashtra Seema Bal which as of now under the dual charge of ITBP DG Sanjay Arora.
New Delhi, May 25 : Starting Wednesday evening, President Ram Nath Kovind would embark on a visit to three states - Kerala, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh - and return to Delhi on May 29.

On Thursday, the President will inaugurate the National Women Legislators' Conference 2022 being organised by the Kerala Legislative Assembly at Thiruvananthapuram, a communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said here.

On Friday, he will attend the 125th year celebrations of Laxmibai Dagadusheth Halwai Datta Mandir Trust at Pune while on May 28, the President will address a function 'One-Nation - One Health System is the need of the Hour' being organised by the Arogya Bharati at Bhopal.

On the same day, the President will also lay the foundation stone/launch various health infrastructure projects of the state government.

On May 29, Kovind will inaugurate the 59th Mahaadhiveshan of Akhil Bhartiya Ayurved Mahasammelan at Ujjain before returning to the national capital.
Paris, May 25 : Aliaksandra Sasnovich scored her second win over the US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the past eight months, taking out the No.12 seed 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in 2 hours and 4 minutes in the second round of Roland Garros here on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old will next face Angelique Kerber of Germany for the second time in as many weeks after the No.21 seed held off wildcard Elsa Jacquemot 6-1, 7-6(2).

Sasnovich had previously defeated Raducanu 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of Indian Wells last October - Raducanu's first match after winning the US Open as a qualifier.

The 28-year-old had fallen at this stage of Roland Garros on four previous occasions, but put on a dazzling display of shotmaking to reach the third round for the first time.

The 19-year-old Briton Raducanu, who suffered a back injury in the run-up to Roland Garros, finishes her first ever clay-court swing with an overall 6-5 record. The 19-year-old has successfully reached at least the second round on her debut at each of the four majors.

Despite battling for 3 hours and 16 minutes to win the Strasbourg final over Kaja Juvan four days ago, and then for 2 hours and 28 minutes to hold off Magdalena Frech in the first round here, Kerber is still going.

The former World No.1 extended her winning streak to seven matches, though will be relieved to have come through in 2 hours and 4 minutes after withstanding a valiant comeback attempt from 19-year-old Jacquemot in the second set.

Kerber had successully smothered the Frenchwoman's game to take a 6-1, 2-0 lead, keeping a lid on Jacquemot's intermittently impressive shotmaking with greater focus in tight moments. At this point, five games had gone to at least two deuces, and Kerber had won them all.

But Jacquemot, the 2020 Roland Garros girls' champion, kept her head up and was finally rewarded when she broke back for 2-1 after a seven-deuce tussle. She had been demonstrating classic reflexes at net and punishing the Kerber second serve with panache, and the teenager took this energy through the rest of the set.

Elsewhere, a battle of former Roland Garros semifinalists saw No.15 seed Victoria Azarenka overcome Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 7-6(3) in 1 hour and 48 minutes, twice coming from a break down in the second set. She will next meet the surging No.23 seed Jil Teichmann, who continued her stellar clay swing by defeating qualifier Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-1 in 78 minutes.

Swiss left-hander Teichmann is coming off a Madrid semifinal and Rome quarterfinal that have bumped her to a career high of No.24, but this marked the first time in 11 attempts that she has reached the third round of a major.

A player who is no stranger to that stage is Elise Mertens. The No.31 seed advanced to her 17th consecutive Grand Slam third round via walkover after Marie Bouzkova withdrew due to a positive Covid-19 test.
New Delhi, May 25 : The Border Security Force (BSF) on Wednesday launched a search operation near the Harami Nala Creek Border in Gujarat's Kutch area after a Pakistani fishing boat was found there.

As per the standard operative procedure, the BSF has been searching if some miscreants from the Pakistan side have entered the Indian territory.

Sources in the BSF also said that the boat could have drifted into the Indian territory but as per the SoP, the areas nearby must be sensitised following the recovery of the boat.

So far, nothing has been found during the search operation, the sources further said.

This is not the first incident wherein the Pakistani boats have been found in the creek area.

Earlier, on April 3, this year, the BSF had seized one Pakistani fishing boat in Harami Nala area in the Creek area.

Similarly on March 17, the border guarding force had seized two Pakistani boats in the Creek area. Pakistani fishermen had fled after they noticed that a BSF patrol boat had seen their movement.
New Delhi, May 25 : Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar has accused the state government of adopting "Delhi Model of Corruption" as he says 80 per cent of the AAP MLAs in Delhi, including several ministers, had been booked for various graft cases.

He alleged that the Punjab Health Minister was sacked and booked for demanding a cut from the money given to a contractor. He said that earlier, an AAP MLA in the Punjab government was sentenced to a three-year jail term for his criminal activity.

"The involvement of a Minister and an MLA in corruption and criminal case, respectively, within three months after assuming power in Punjab shows that AAP's corrupt methods have been "successfully" implemented in Punjab too," said the Delhi Congress President.

He said that Arvind Kejriwal was compelled to sack three ministers for domestic violence, sexual offence and corruption in the public distribution system, but they were still not removed from the Aam Aadmi Party, which showed that they all had the patronage of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in their criminal activity, whether taking cuts from the water tanker mafia, unauthorised constructions, and various other corrupt deeds.

He said that many AAP councillors were caught red-handed for openly demanding money from people on various counts in sting operations.
Mumbai, May 25 : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar has demanded a 'caste-based' national census to determine quotas for various groups and ensure social equality, here on Wednesday.

"Nobody is asking anything for free, but everybody should get what is rightfully due to them. There is no alternative but to conduct a 'caste-based' Census," said Pawar, addressing a conclave of the NCP-OBC Cell.

He pointed out that the SC/ST had got the benefit of the reservations granted to them by the Constitution and similar concessions must be extended even to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

However, to provide such reservations, the government must ascertain the exact OBC population which can be known by a 'caste-based' Census, and based on these figures, justice can be done to the community, the 81-year-old NCP supremo said.

Slamming the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for blaming the Maha Vikas Aghadi government on the issue of OBCs quotas, Pawar said they were in power in Maharashtra for five years and ruling in Delhi since 2014, so "were you sleeping till now".

He added that irrespective of what the BJP people say there is no hope for the OBCs getting justice from them, and even Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has spoken on the need for a 'caste-based' Census, but the Centre's mindset is different on it.

Pawar reiterated that the MVA -- comprising Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress -- will go for the upcoming civic polls only after the OBCs reservations issue is resolved to ensure that they get their share in the decision-making process.

Pawar's comments came as the state prepares for the local bodies elections amid demands to restore the OBC quotas after the Supreme Court rejected the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission's Interim Report recommending restoration of 27 per cent reservations for OBCs.

Recalling that a senior RSS leader Bhaiyaji Joshi was opposed to a 'caste-based' census as it could send a wrong signal to society, Pawar countered by asking what is wrong if the correct picture emerges, and said that NCP will launch awareness about it for ensuring justice to the OBCs.

Other prominent speakers included Ministers Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde, Dr. Jitendra Awhad, MP Supriya Sule, the Cell's state President Ishwar Balbudhe and others.

The meet concluded with a series of resolutions adopted including urging the Centre to conduct a 'Caste-Based Census', the Maharashtra government should provide a loan of Rs 25 lakhs from the OBC Corporation to the highly educated unemployed OBC youths, setting up hostels for OBC students in cities like Mumbai, Pune with a 1,000-capacity and the Centre should provide major funds for this.

Other resolutions included full implementation of the Mandal Commission Report, the Centre and State governments should take initiative to help the Bara Balutedar community to carry on their traditional businesses, certain measures for the potters and other communities, 27 per cent quotas to the entrepreneurs among OBCs in the party and government committees,
Patna/New Delhi, May 25 : Amid speculation of a change of government in the state, Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan went to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Wednesday to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sources said that Chauhan reportedly met Modi and discussed the current political situation of Bihar. When he came out from the South Block, he did not interact with the media persons Sources have said that the PMO has called the Governor to understand the current political situation of the state.

In Bihar, there is a speculation that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar might break his Janata Dal-United's alliance with the BJP and join hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal to form the government in Bihar. RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav is also coming to Bihar and Nitish Kumar on Monday reportedly directed his MLAs to not to leave Patna for 72 hours.

JD-U leaders have, however, clarified that the MLAs would be needed during the nomination of the Rajya Sabha candidate.

The political relation between JD-U and BJP is sour at the moment. Sources have said that Nitish Kumar has already decided to break the alliance with the BJP in Bihar and its announcement could come any time.

The Bihar Governor's meeting with the PM is also an indication of tense situation between the BJP and the JD-U in the state.
Bhopal, May 25 : BJP president J.P. Nadda will visit Madhya Pradesh from June 1 to 3, during which he will hold several meetings with state party leaders, party's state unit chief V.D. Sharma said on Wednesday.

Talking to the press at BJP headquarters in Bhopal, Sharma said the state leadership has planned a grand welcome for Nadda, who will be first visiting Bhopal on June 1 and then will go to Jabalpur on June 2.

"He (Nadda) will be meeting with state BJP working committee members and party workers in Bhopal on June 1 and on June 2, he will be attending a 'youth connect' programme organised by the party's state youth wing in Jabalpur," Sharma said.

Nadda will meet the state working committee members to review the party's ongoing preparations regarding the Assembly polls scheduled next year. During the meeting, he will also review the progress reports of the individual members of the state working committee assigned to them.

"He will be addressing the gathering of party leaders and workers in Jabalpur," Sharma added.

Nadda's visit will also be crucial as the state is set for panchayat elections and local body polls which are to be held soon. Notably, the state's local body polls have been a point of debate since long due to the OBC reservation issue.

The national BJP president will meet the organisation's office bearers to discuss the election strategy for local body polls so that all the shortcomings can be removed before the election.

Earlier in March this year, Nadda had visited Indore and during a day-long visit had held meetings with party office-bearers.
New Delhi, May 25 : 'The Kashmir Files' actress Bhasha Sumbli, who played the stunning role of Sharda Pandit in Vivek Agnihotri film, has said that Yasin Malik should have been given the death sentence.

A separatist who masterminded the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in 1989-90, Malim was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by the NIA court in the terror funding case in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Terming the sentence as "too little", Bhasha said, "Anything less than death sentence to the rapist and terrorist cannot be considered justice for the Kashmiri Pandits." She said Malik, who had killed four Indian Air Force officers in cold blood, and "killed or raped innocent Kashmiri Hindu men, women and children", cannot just get away with a life sentence and monetary fine.

"He must be hanged, and hanged soon, so that he does not use his time in prison to mastermind yet another kidnapping and demands for his release at the cost of innocents," Bhasha said, adding: "As a Kashmiri Hindu victim of jihadi violence and genocide, I can only hope and pray he gets the sentence. That would be real justice." A displaced Kashmiri Pandit, Bhasha grew up in a Delhi migrant camp amid all the trauma and misery where she saw people fighting each other for bread and blankets.

In 'The Kashmir Files', Bhasha's character Sharda is the daughter of Pushkar Nath, played by Anupam Kher. She portrays the wife of telecom engineer B.K. Ganjoo, who was killed while hiding in a drum, and then Sharda was forced to eat rice soaked with his blood.

The scene from the film is based on an incident that took place in the Chhota Bazaar locality of Srinagar in March 1990.

In the last scene of the movie, Bhasha portrays Girija Tickoo, a laboratory assistant in a government school in Kashmir, who was gang-raped and cut alive with the help of a carpenter's saw in June 1990.
Srinagar, May 25 : Mobile internet services were suspended in the Kashmir Valley on Wednesday although there has been no official word on it.

The development came in wake of a special NIA court in New Delhi pronounced the life sentence for separatist leader Yasin Malik, who was convicted in a terror funding case.

Fixed line broadband internet services, however, remained functional.

Heavy deployment of security forces has been made around all places seen as sensitive from the law and order situation including Srinagar's Maisuma locality where Malik's home is situated.

Deployment has also been strengthened in other parts of the Valley in order to maintain law and order.

Except for an incident of stone pelting in Maisuma area, the situation generally remained peaceful in Srinagar city and elsewhere.

Police used tear smoke canisters to bring the situation under control in Maisuma.
New Delhi, May 25 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the agencies working in the infrastructure sector, such as roads and railways, should map their projects with the water bodies being developed under Amrit Sarovar.

"This would be a win-win situation as the material dug out for the Amrit Sarovars can be utilised for civil works by the agencies," he said. The Prime Minister was chairing the meeting of the 40th edition of PRAGATI, the ICT based multi-modal platform for 'Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, involving Centre and State governments'.

In the meeting, nine items were taken up for review including eight projects and one programme. Among the eight projects, two projects each were from the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas along with one project each from the Ministry of Power and Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. These eight projects have a cumulative cost of over Rs 59,900 crore, concerning 14 states -- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Jharkhand.

During the interaction, the Prime Minister also reviewed the 'National Broadband Mission' programme. Modi asked the states and agencies to leverage the centralised 'Gati Shakti Sanchar Portal' to ensure timely disposal of Right of Way applications. This would expedite the implementation of the Mission. Alongside, they should work to use technology to enhance the 'Ease of Living' for the common man.

"States may also formulate a state level Gati Shakti Master Plan on the lines of the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan and constitute state level units for this purpose. This can go a long way in better planning, identifying and addressing key issues and ensuring better coordination for timely execution of projects," Modi said.

Up to the 39 editions of PRAGATI meetings, 311 projects having a total cost of Rs 14.82 lakh crore have been reviewed.
New Delhi, May 25 : Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Wednesday held a meeting with Union Minister for Forest, Environment and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav here, in a bid to speed up the process of the Aravali Safari Park project.

The park is proposed to be set up in an area of 10,000 acres in the areas of Gurugram district of Haryana.

"The Aravalli Safari Park Project would be an important component towards developing Haryana as a Tourism Hub," the Chief Minister said while interacting with the media persons.

Khattar discussed in-depth with the Union Minister in the context of Aravalli Safari Park to be set up on the basis of world class design and standards.

The regional cultural identity of Haryana will be included in the format of Aravalli Safari Park.

According to the government, before setting up the park, some world class safari parks sites will also be visited by the officials to study their design and standards.The meeting was attended by Haryana CM's PS, V. Umashankar, Haryana Tourism PS M.D. Sinha, and other senior officials from the Central government.
Los Angeles, May 25 : The UAE's first woman filmmaker, Nayla Al Khaja, and music maestro A.R. Rahman are looking forward to their upcoming collaboration on 'Baab', reports 'Variety'.

Written by Al Khaja and Masoud Amralla Al Ali, the film follows Wahida, who is unable to make sense of her twin sister's mysterious death and is plagued by a haunting rhythm in her ears.

Rahman and Khaja were present at the Cannes Film Market to promote 'Baab'. The composer's directorial debut, the virtual reality film 'Le Musk', also had its world premiere at the market's Cannes XR programme.

Talking about 'Baab' with 'Variety', Al Khaja said: "It's about the four stages of grief, but we don't say it so black and white. She [Wahida] creates a fantasy world to justify her sister's death, because she's young. They're identical. They spent their entire life together. So how do you move on after that point?" Shooting for the film will begin in March 2023.

Al Khaja said to 'Variety' that she believes in serendipity as Rahman was in Dubai to set up the Firdaus Studio as part of Expo 2020 Dubai and mentor the Firdaus Orchestra, an all-woman ensemble of 50 musicians from 23 Arab countries. Rahman also composed the music for Shekhar Kapur's 'Why? The Musical', which was part of the Expo.

Rahman started researching Arabic music when he was composing the music for Majid Majidi's 2015 film 'Muhammad: The Messenger of God'. For 'Baab' he is planning to use the Arab melodic system called 'maqam'.
New Delhi, May 25 : A fire broke out at a printing press in north Delhi on Wednesday, but while there was extensive damage, no one was injured, a Fire Department official said.

The official said that they received a call at 5.15 p.m. about a fire at a printing press storehouse near Khatu Shyam Mandir, Jindpur, after which nine fire tenders were pressed into service.

"There have been no injuries or casualties from the incident," Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg told IANS.

However, there was massive loss of property as the printing press, paper cutting machine and paper was destroyed, the official said.

The inferno that gutted the 500 square metre area was brought under control at 6.40 p.m. after which the cooling process started.

The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained.
Bhopal, May 25 : A group of anti-social elements damaged the statue of the country's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in Madhya Pradesh's Satna district. The miscreants, mostly appearing to be of a young age, tried to demolish the statue by damaging its lower portion and hitting it with sticks and iron rods.

A video which surfaced on social media showed nearly a dozen miscreants, with some of them damaging the upper portion and others raining blows on the lower portion of the statue. It also showed that one of them was striking Nehru's statue with a hammer in an attempt to break it.

One of them was holding a big saffron flag. The video showed them shouting slogans against the Shivraj government -- 'Shivraj Singh Chouhan murdabad, Shivraj government murdabad'.

IANS was informed that the miscreants tried to damage Nehru's statue located in Satna city's Dhavari squire on Wednesday afternoon.

After verifying the viral video, the police have registered an FIR against unidentified persons. "A case has been registered against unidentified persons. They have been booked for damaging Nehru's statue and creating social disturbances in the society. Strict action will be taken against them," said a senior police official in Satna district.

Local Congress leaders met Rewa division Inspector General of Police Venkateshwar Rao and lodged an FIR in the matter. "I have lodged an FIR against anti-social elements, who have damaged Pt. Nahru's statue," Kavita Pandey, a local Congress leader told IANS.

Former MP chief minister and state Congress president Kamal Nath has demanded an investigation in the matter. "I demand from the government to investigate the matter and take action against the culprits. Arrangements should be made to protect the statue," Nath wrote on Twitter.
Srinagar, May 25 : A local TV artiste was killed and her nephew injured when militants fired at them at their home in J&K's Budgam district on Wednesday evening, police said.

Police sources said that the militants fired at TV artiste, Ambreen and her 10-year old nephew outside their home in Hishroo village of Chadoora tehsil.

"Both of them were immediately removed to hospital. Ambreen succumbed to critical injuries while her nephew has bullet injury in arm and is stated to be stable," a police source said.

The area has been cordoned off for searches, the source said.
Srinagar, May 25 : The Jammu and Kashmir police along with the Army have neutralised three foreign terrorists of proscribed terror outfit JeM in Kreeri area of Baramulla on Wednesday, an official said, adding one police personnel was also killed while fighting the terrorists.

Police said acting on information, regarding movement of terrorists in Kreeri area of Baramulla, joint special checkpoints were established at many places including near Shrakwara-Najibhat crossing in Kreeri area by the police and the army.

"As the joint party was noticed by a group of terrorists travelling in a Santro car, they started firing indiscriminately upon the joint party which was retaliated effectively leading to a chance encounter," police said.

"In the fierce gunfight, three foreign terrorists were killed and a police personnel Mudasir Ahmad Sheikh received critical gunshot injuries. The injured was immediately shifted to nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and attained martyrdom." The bodies of all the killed terrorists linked with proscribed terror outfit JeM were retrieved from the site and they have been identified as Ali Bhai, Hanief Bhai and Shah Wali all the residents of Pakistan.

"It is pertinent to mention that, the said group of terrorists was active in Pattan-Kreeri axis and were being tracked," police said.

Incriminating materials, huge cache of arms and ammunition and IEDs including three AK-47 rifles, 15 AK-47 magazines, 344 AK-rounds, five Chinese grenades, three IEDs have been recovered from the site of the encounter.

Police have registered a case under relevant sections of law and investigation has been initiated.

Further searches are on for a suspect who possibly escaped from the site.
New Delhi, May 25 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday said that it has arrested an Appraiser of Customs Departments posted with the IGI Airport, and his Associate in a bribery case of Rs one lakh.

The appraiser was identified as Amit Dalal while his associate was identified as Amit Kumar.

The CBI official said that a case was registered on complaint against the accused on the allegations that the appraiser demanded an illegal gratification of Rs 1,40,000 from the complainant for clearance of his shipment. It was also alleged that the complainant was exporting batteries to South Africa.

The CBI laid a trap and caught the accused while accepting bribe of Rs 1,00,000.

Searches are being conducted at the office and residential premises of both the accused. The arrested accused were produced before the Competent Court at Delhi.
New Delhi, May 25 : As the court sentenced Yasin Malik to rigorous life imprisonment on Wednesday for terror funding cases, the Kashmiri Pandits demanded that he should also be held accountable for the crimes he committed against the minority community.

The Pandits have held him responsible for their genocide and mass exodus from the valley in 1990.

"In the terror funding case, he has been awarded life imprisonment by NIA court for terror funding, but the nation and the displaced Kashmiri Pandits are still waiting for the law enforcement agencies to bring to justice those people who committed acts of terror against the hapless Kashmiri Pandit Community, which includes Yasin Malik and many like him. We are still waiting for the day justice is delivered to this beleaguered community," said Ramesh Raina, President, All India Kashmiri Samaj.

The Kashmiri Pandits have been demanding a probe into the role of Yasin Malik and others in the exodus of the minorities from the valley.

Raina said: "We have already demanded a time-bound truth commission to fix the responsibility and accountability on the perpetrators of genocide on us." The Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD), which played a key role in the making of the 'The Kashmir Files' movie has welcomed the decision of the NIA court, but said that Malik should be tried for crimes against the Kashmiri Pandits.

Dr. Surinder Kaul, President of the GKPD, said: "There should be a commission of enquiry to probe Yasin Malik and others. He cannot just get away with life in terror funding case... " He said that Malik was the "butcher of our genocide and ethnic cleansing. He has been given two life imprisonment sentences. And then there are others also... Bitta Karate is also there... and many more".

Nearly seven lakh Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave Kashmir in 1990 because of terrorism which was created by the outlawed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front to which Yasin Malik belonged.

From late 1980s onwards, Malik along with other members of JKLF and other terror groups have been accused of heinous crimes such as targeted killings, kidnappings, gang-rapes, assaults, arson and loot to drive the Hindus out of the Valley.

Newspapers carried advertisements threatening the Hindus to leave or face the consequences. Posters were pasted outside the houses of Kashmiri Pandits threatening them with death.

In March 2019, the Centre banned Yasin Malik's JKLF under the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA). Then Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba said that murders of Kashmiri Pandits by the JKLF in 1989 triggered their exodus from the Valley. "Yasin Malik was the mastermind behind the purging of Kashmiri Pandits and is responsible for their genocide," Gauba said.

The community says when the Government of India accepts that Yasin Malik caused the persecution of Kashmiri Pandits then why has he not been tried for the cases. They demand a commission to be set up which can probe his role in the mass exodus.

Panun Kashmir leader Ramesh Manwati says: "Why Yasin Mallik has not been convicted in the brutal murders that he has committed, including those of four IAF officers in Rawalpora in Kashmir in early 1990. It's 32 years now. It raises a big question mark against the investigating agencies and the intent of the successive governments in tackling the dreaded menace of Islamic terrorism confronting our nation. Nearly 1,500 Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs have been brutally killed, individually and in mass massacres over the decades. Shouldn't they get justice?" Rajinder Koul Premi, whose father renowned poet Sarwanand Koul Premi and brother Virendra were kidnapped, brutally tortured and killed in 1991, demands justice for the whole community.

He said: "Yasin Malik was just one of them. Justice is getting delayed. My family and the whole of my community has been waiting for justice. The Supreme Court should take up our case and bring justice to us. Eyes cannot be closed to our plight. It is 30 years now." "Not just in 1990s, Malik has been continuing with his anti-Hindu agenda even now. He is against our return to our homes," said Manwati.

Malik has been opposing the rehabilitation plan for the displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

In April, 2015 when the Centre was mooting to build composite townships for migrant Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir, he said he will not allow these townships and will oppose them tooth and nail.

For lakhs of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, Yasin Malik is one among the several villains who should be tried for crimes committed against them.

"It's tragic that three decades after no one know has been held accountable for our exodus and genocide. If the government does not act now, then one day will come when our exodus was regarded as myth as there are no FIRs filed, no trials, no accountability," laments Manwati and Premi.

(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b@ians.in)
Islamabad, May 25 : PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday reiterated that he and his supporters would not vacate D-Chowk in Islamabad until a final date for new elections was given from the "imported government", media reports said.

Imran Khan made those remarks during a brief stopover in Hasan Abdal - which is approximately 50kms away from the capital - as his supporters reached D-Chowk ahead of him despite obstacles on their way, Dawn reported.

He said the police would also come to understand his mission - which he called "jihad" - when his caravan would reach its final destination, it reported.

PTI's Karachi chapter transformed its protest at the city's Numaish area into a sit-in after the situation turned tense over the burning of a police van, Geo News reported.

The situation at Numaish Chowrangi took a violent turn on Wednesday evening after the protestors burnt a police van. The protestors had also pelted stones at the police that had inured a Superintendent of Police.

The police tried to disperse the protestors by using aerial firing, however, their efforts went in vain, Geo News reported.

Apart from the chaos at Numaish, riots also erupted at the Khudadad Colony Chowrangi and Noorani Chowrangi.

During the protests, Asif Hasan - who is a photographer for a foreign news agency - was also injured. Geo News cameraman Nasir Ali also sustained wounds.

About the sit-in, PTI leader Khurram Sher Zaman said that their sit-in at Numaish will continue till Imran Khan asks them to end it.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers and supporters are attempting to make their way towards Islamabad as they pushed aside containers and braved tear gas shelling after answering Imran Khan's call for a long march onto the federal capital, Express Tribune reported.

Khan on Wednesday evening said that his long march had entered Punjab and heading towards Islamabad.

"No amount of state oppression and fascism by this imported govt can stop or deter our march," the former premier wrote on his official Twitter handle.
New Delhi, May 25 : Senior advocate and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal who filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday with the help of Samajwadi Party said "it is not easy to quit a party (Congress) after being associated with it for 30-31 years".

"There is no employer-employee kind of relation in a political party. I had to take a personal decision on what I wished to do ahead. I need to raise my voice in an independent manner in the Parliament and if I am getting that opportunity, I want to take that," he told IANS.

Sibal said that he had quit the Congress on May 16, and is an independent voice.

Even as he is yet to take up the membership of the Samajwadi Party, he has filed the nomination for Rajya Sabha as Independent with Samajwadi Party's support in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

On being asked about Congress leaders taking pot-shots at him since quitting the Grand Old Party, Sibal said: "I don't know who is talking what about me. But I know why I took this decision (to leave the party). Everyone has a personal opinion." The former Union Minister, when asked if he has any message to give to the Congress party, said: "I don't want to give any message. The Congress is a national party... they know what they have to do." "... will try to highlight the shortcomings of the Central government. Very soon, people will hear my voice in the Parliament. And they will come to know eventually which issues I will discuss," he said.

Both Akhilesh Yadav and Sibal indicated that Sibal has not joined the Samajwadi Party.

Sibal is known to have close ties with the Yadav family as a senior advocate.

He had argued in January 2017 (during the Yadav family feud) at the Election Commission that Akhilesh Yadav should get the 'Bicycle' symbol. Eventually, he got it.

Sibal was a Union Minister in the UPA government and of late, was very critical of Rahul Gandhi and the functioning of the party.

Sibal's departure from the Congress is considered a blow to the party. The former Union Minister's role in the political circles of Delhi was also considered crucial.
Islamabad, May 25 : Islamabad authorities are preparing to launch an operation to dislodge PTI activists from Islamabad's D-Chowk, the media reported.

Islamabad IGP has called a police force deployed at the entry points of the city to the red zone area, Samaa TV reported.

The Rangers have been deployed in the red zone while backup has also been called in.

A considerable number of PTI activists have reached Islamabad's D-Chowk in front of the Parliament. Police used tear gas to disperse them but in vain.

PTI workers have taken over the area and the police have retreated behind trees, Samaa TV reported.

Earlier, Islamabad police said in a statement that "long march protesters" had set fire to trees and vehicles in the Blue Area.

Police called the fire brigade and the fire was extinguished at some places but the protesters again set the trees on fire at the Express Chowk, it said in a tweet. Security in the red zone has been beefed up.

PTI workers, meanwhile, have been claiming that the fire was caused by tear gas shelling.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) convoys led by party chief Imran Khan started their march on Islamabad with clashes breaking out between police and protesters in parts of the country as the government tried to stop protestors.

Besides closing the roads, police parties continue to raid the homes of PTI activists.
Islamabad, May 25 : Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered Islamabad authorities to stop Imran Khan from entering Islamabad's red zone after receiving reports from the countrys security agencies, the media reported.

The Pakistan Prime Minister has been informed that armed personnel of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan were accompanying PTI leadership on security duty in the march, Samaa TV reported.

At least two SSP rank officers from GB were in the march with their contingents.

The interior ministry has told the PM that a standoff may occur if armed personnel from both sides come face to face, Samaa TV reported.

The Pakistan prime minister has told the authorities to prevent a face-off between armed personnel and not to allow Imran Khan in the red zone in view of the Supreme Court orders.

The government has decided to approach the apex court to take notice of the issue, Samaa TV reported.

Islamabad authorities are preparing to launch an operation to dislodge PTI activists from Islamabad's D-Chowk, Samaa TV reported.

Islamabad IGP has called a police force deployed at the entry points of the city to the red zone area.

The Rangers have been deployed in the red zone while backup has also been called in.

A considerable number of PTI activists have reached Islamabad's D-Chowk in front of the Parliament. Police used tear gas to disperse them but in vain.

PTI workers have taken over the area and the police have retreated behind trees, Samaa TV reported.

Earlier, Islamabad police said in a statement that "long march protesters" had set fire to trees and vehicles in the Blue Area.

Police called the fire brigade and the fire was extinguished at some places but the protesters again set the trees on fire at the Express Chowk, it said in a tweet. Security in the red zone has been beefed up.

PTI workers, meanwhile, have been claiming that the fire was caused by tear gas shelling.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) convoys led by party chief Imran Khan started their march on Islamabad with clashes breaking out between police and protesters in parts of the country as the government tried to stop protesters.

Besides closing the roads, police parties continue to raid the homes of PTI activists.
Patna, May 26 : RJD national President Lalu Prasad Yadav arrived in Patna on Wednesday evening and was received by a large number of party supporters at the airport.

Lalu Prasad, along with his eldest daughter Misa Bharti, arrived at Patna airport at 7 pm, and went to his wife Rabri Devi's official residence at 10 Circular Road.

He also met party leaders including his son Tej Pratap Yadav, Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, Abdul Bari Siddiqui and other leaders at the residence.

Following his arrival, he will announce the names of two Rajya Sabha candidates of his party. Sources have said that the name of Misa Bharti is already confirmed, but has not been announced officially, and Lalu Prasad will finalise the name of another candidate any time from now on.

Earlier, there was a speculation that the RJD may send Baba Siddiqui or ace Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal to the upper house of Parliament. However, the latter has already filed the nomination from Lucknow as an Samajwadi party-backed independent candidate. Now, there is a buzz that a candidate from Rajya Sabha will be selected from Bihar.

Besides the selection of Rajya Sabha candidates, all eyes are on the moves of Lalu Prasad Yadav in the current political situation of Bihar. At present, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's closeness with the RJD chief's younger son Tejashwi Yadav has been increasing appeared in the last one month especially during the month of Ramzan. The situation is as such that neither from the JD-U nor from the RJD side, are giving statements against each other.

The RJD over the past, criticised various policies of the Nitish Kumar government several times. Tejashwi Yadav in particular pointed out ill-implementation of liquor prohibition law, corruption, frequent crime incidents in Bihar etc. Now, the tone of leaders of both the parties have gone down.

Ruling ally BJP, on the other hand, raised these points. On Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Vijay Sinha said that 80 per cent of the Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal programme in Bihar failed. He also slammed Nitish Kumar government for crime graph rising in Bihar.
New Delhi, May 26 : The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) on Wednesday signed two quadripartite agreements for development of sewage infrastructure, including a 35 million litres per day (MLD) Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) for Maheshtala situated on the east bank of Ganga in West Bengal.

The agreement for the STP is signed under Hybrid Annuity Mode at a total cost of Rs 273.52 crore.

One agreement is an Escrow Agreement between NMCG, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), M/s Maheshtala Waste Water Management Private Limited (MWWMPL) and Union Bank of India while the other agreement is a Substitution Agreement between NMCG, KMDA, MWWMPL and Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank (Development Bank of Austria), a statement from the Ministry of Jal Shakti said.

This project aims to stop the flow of sewage into River Ganga from the town. The major components of the project include a 35 MLD STP, four pumping stations, six diversion structures, Repair & Rehabilitation work and 15 years' Operation and Maintenance (O&M) etc.

The project under Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) would mean 40 per cent of construction cost will be paid during 24-months construction period and balance 60 per cent will be paid as quarterly annuities along with interest and O&M cost over a period of 15 years. Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (Development Bank of Austria) is financing MWWMPL, which will be responsible for the entire development and operation of both sewerage network and STPs for 15 years of the concession period.

The payment during the operations period will be subject to achievement of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in terms of treated waste water quality for the STPs, the statement said.
New Delhi, May 26 : A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of Ayush and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) on Wednesday to bring out the expertise under one platform towards evidence based biotechnological interventions in Ayush sector.

The inter-ministerial cooperation between Ministry of Ayush and DBT is expected to generate knowledge and new means of intervention strategies for difficult to treat diseases, said Dr. Rajesh S Gokhale, Secretary, DBT.

Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, said that the MoU between Ministry of Ayush and DBT is expected to pave way for coordinated researches in Ayush sector and the huge untapped potential of Ayush health care system may be utilized for the community benefit.

"Biotechnological R&D and Ayush interventions will improve quality of life as well as life span (Vayahsthaapana Rasayana) and bring down the associated morbidity pertaining to chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, cachexia, pain management and infectious diseases for example Tuberculosis," said the ministry in a statement.

Emphasis would be given to mechanistic studies of Ayurveda Therapeutics using animal models of disease and other advanced analytical methods along with data analytical tools, said the ministry, adding that this joint R&D effort ranging from fundamental science to validation and thereafter product development, will significantly help in the growth of the Indian contributions to this important sector, not only nationally but internationally as well.
New Delhi, May 26 : Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday, in his address at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos at Congress Centre, exhorted India's commitment to strengthen the Digital Health System and in closing the vaccine gap.

Underscoring the need to strengthen Equitable Vaccine Manufacturing Collaborative (EVMC), Mandaviya said: "Digital health is a great equaliser and enabler to support Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals and can help ensure accessibility and affordability of health service delivery." The Health Minister delivered the opening remarks for "Unlocking the Power of Digital Health" and "Closing Vaccines Gap" sessions at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting on Wednesday.

"With prime focus on moving from siloed to an ecosystem approach for digital health, India is creating a national framework for digital health in India. Under Ayushman Bharat (Long Live India) Digital Mission, India has embarked on digital transformation of healthcare in India," said Mandaviya in his remark.

He added that the focus is on creation of a longitudinal Electronic Health Record for more than 1.3 billion people of India. We have already issued more than 220 million Unique Health IDs along with health facilities and provider registry.

With technologies like Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, 5G, nanotech, we need to create a tech supported healthcare service delivery which is resilient, reliable, and accessible till the last mile, he said at 'Unlocking the Power of Digital Health' session.

"We have also provided our COWIN platform to the world as a global public good", he said at the Closing the Vaccines gap session.

"In this session on Closing the Vaccines gap, I envisage learning global best practices and am sure that this session will provide a programme of work for the Equitable Vaccine Manufacturing Collaborative (EVMC) designed to strengthen private - public sector partnerships across the vaccine manufacturing value chain in low and middle-income countries. India looks forward to supporting closing the vaccine gap in Africa", he concluded.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Patna, May 26 : In a bid to prepare ground for "Jan Suraaj" (Good Governance) campaign, ace political strategist-turned-political leader Prashant Kishor (PK) will start his mission from Bihar's Vaishali within 10 days.

"The actual idea is to establish regional connections with the people who are active in society," he said.

During the first press meet in Patna on April 5, Kishor claimed that he wanted 18-20,000 people to join his campaign. Now, he has already met with 60,000 people from across the state and everyone is enthusiastic about joining the campaign and are wanting to change the system, he added.

He said due to the enthusiasm and eagerness that they are showing towards Jan Suraj campaign, they are wanting him to visit their respective areas and the regional connectivity programme is geared towards this.

He said that he will start from Vaishali and then go to other districts according to the wishes of the people. "Such a regional connectivity initiative will actually help to understand what actual problems people of Bihar are facing now. We want to prepare separate plans for separate issues. The motive of Jan Suraaj campaign is not only to connect with people but also provide solutions to them as well," he said.

The Jan Suraaj campaign is kicking off from Mahatma Gandhi Ashram in West Champaran district on October 2 this year and he will do a Padyatra of 3,000 km across Bihar.

During the 3,000 km Padyatra, he said that he will cover 12 to 15 km in one day and stay there at night, and not come to his residence in Patna in between to rest.
Islamabad, May 26 : Tensions in Pakistan's Punjab rose after police made use of tear gas and arrested several activists participating in the PTI's Azadi March in cities across the province as the activists attempted to remove shipping containers blocking routes to Islamabad, local media reported.

Senior journalist Hamir Mir, on his Twitter account, claimed to have received a message from PTI leader Dr Shireen Mazari in which she claimed that the tear gas fired on women and children by the police was "expired".

"Use of expired tear gas is not only violation of court orders but it's a terrorism against Pakistani citizens by Rana Sanaullah," he quoted Mazari as saying. Mazari retweeted Mir's tweet in an apparent confirmation of her claim, Dawn reported.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, along with other party workers, on Wednesday reached Islamabad after PTI workers and supporters made their way towards the federal capital, pushing aside containers and braved tear gas shelling, Express Tribune reported.

A large number of party workers and supporters were present at Islamabad toll plaza to welcome their leader.

PTI leader Faisal Javed Khan, taking to Twitter, said that Imran Khan's caravan had entered the federal capital.

"This caravan has not entered Islamabad but into a naya (new) Pakistan," he wrote, adding that they will earn "real independence" now.

"The workers present at D-Chowk wait for me... I am bringing a sea of people there," Khan announced atop his container, Express Tribune reported.

Khan earlier in the evening said that his long march had entered Punjab and heading towards Islamabad.

"No amount of state oppression and fascism by this imported govt can stop or deter our march," the former premier wrote on his official Twitter handle.

The PTI chief in a fresh statement to his supporters this evening asked them to take to the streets following the top court's verdict regarding the venue of the political gathering.

"I urge the entire nation to take to the streets with their families after the decision of the Supreme Court," Imran said in a video statement released from an undisclosed location.

The former premier added that he was on his way to the famous D-Chowk and asked his supporters to come out of their homes to convey a message that they won't accept anyone's subservience.
Islamabad, May 26 : Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, along with other party workers, late on Wednesday reached Islamabad after PTI workers and supporters made their way towards the federal capital, pushing aside containers and braving tear gas shelling, local media reported.

A large number of party workers and supporters were present at Islamabad toll plaza to welcome their leader, Express Tribune.

PTI leader Faisal Javed Khan, taking to Twitter, said that Imran Khan's caravan had entered the federal capital.

"This caravan has not entered Islamabad but into a naya (new) Pakistan," he wrote, adding that they will earn "real independence" now.

"The workers present at D-Chowk wait for me... I am bringing a sea of people there," Khan announced atop his container, Express Tribune reported.

Khan earlier in the evening said that his long march had entered Punjab and heading towards Islamabad.

"No amount of state oppression and fascism by this imported govt can stop or deter our march," the former premier wrote on his official Twitter handle.

The PTI chief in a fresh statement to his supporters this evening asked them to take to the streets following the top court's verdict regarding the venue of the political gathering.

"I urge the entire nation to take to the streets with their families after the decision of the Supreme Court," Imran said in a video statement released from an undisclosed location.

The former premier added that he was on his way to the famous D-Chowk and asked his supporters to come out of their homes to convey a message that they won't accept anyone's subservience.
Yalumet Airport, Yalumet, Papua New Guinea [ KYX / ]

If you are planning to travel to Yalumet or any other city in Papua New Guinea, this airport locator will be a very useful tool. This page gives complete information about the Yalumet Airport along with the airport location map, Time Zone, lattitude and longitude, Current time and date, hotels near the airport etc... Yalumet Airport Map showing the location of this airport in Papua New Guinea. Yalumet Airport IATA Code, ICAO Code, exchange rate etc... is also provided.

Yalumet Airport Info:

Yalumet Airport IATA Code: KYX Yalumet Airport ICAO Code: Latitude : -6.13333 Longitude : 146.6 City : Yalumet Country : Papua New Guinea World Area Code : 804 Airport Type : Small Timezone : Pacific/Port_Moresby Yalumet Airport Timezone : GMT +10:00 hours Current time and date at Yalumet Airport is 23:06:39 PM (+10) on Friday, May 27, 2022

Looking for information on Yalumet Airport, Yalumet, Papua New Guinea? Know about Yalumet Airport in detail. Find out the location of Yalumet Airport on Papua New Guinea map and also find out airports near to Yalumet. This airport locator is a very useful tool for travelers to know where is Yalumet Airport located and also provide information like hotels near Yalumet Airport, airlines operating to Yalumet Airport etc... IATA Code and ICAO Code of all airports in Papua New Guinea. Scroll down to know more about Yalumet Airport or Yalumet Airport, Papua New Guinea.

Yalumet Airport Map - Location of Yalumet Airport Load Map Papua New Guinea - General Information Country Formal Name Independent State of Papua New Guinea Country Code PG Capital Port Moresby Currency Kina (PGK)

 1 PGK = 0.284 USD

 1 USD = 3.521 PGK

 1 PGK = 0.265 EUR

 1 EUR = 3.767 PGK

 More PGK convertion rates Tel Code +675 Top Level Domain .pg

This page provides all the information you need to know about Yalumet Airport, Papua New Guinea. This page is created with the aim of helping travelers and tourists visiting Papua New Guinea or traveling to Yalumet Airport. Details about Yalumet Airport given here include Yalumet Airport Code - IATA Code (3 letter airport codes) and ICAO Code (4 letter airport codes)

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Artigas Airport, Artigas, Uruguay [ ATI / SUAG ]

If you are planning to travel to Artigas or any other city in Uruguay, this airport locator will be a very useful tool. This page gives complete information about the Artigas Airport along with the airport location map, Time Zone, lattitude and longitude, Current time and date, hotels near the airport etc... Artigas Airport Map showing the location of this airport in Uruguay. Artigas Airport IATA Code, ICAO Code, exchange rate etc... is also provided.

Artigas Airport Info:

Artigas Airport IATA Code: ATI Artigas Airport ICAO Code: SUAG Latitude : -30.4008 Longitude : -56.5078 City : Artigas Country : Uruguay World Area Code : 385 Airport Type : Small Artigas Airport Address / Contact Details :

Artigas Airport (ATI), Artigas, Uruguay Timezone : America/Montevideo Artigas Airport Timezone : GMT -03:00 hours Current time and date at Artigas Airport is 10:06:40 AM (-03) on Friday, May 27, 2022

Looking for information on Artigas Airport, Artigas, Uruguay? Know about Artigas Airport in detail. Find out the location of Artigas Airport on Uruguay map and also find out airports near to Artigas. This airport locator is a very useful tool for travelers to know where is Artigas Airport located and also provide information like hotels near Artigas Airport, airlines operating to Artigas Airport etc... IATA Code and ICAO Code of all airports in Uruguay. Scroll down to know more about Artigas Airport or Artigas Airport, Uruguay.

Artigas Airport Map - Location of Artigas Airport Load Map Uruguay - General Information Country Formal Name Oriental Republic of Uruguay Country Code UY Capital Montevideo Currency Peso (UYU)

 1 UYU = 0.025 USD

 1 USD = 40.07 UYU

 1 UYU = 0.023 EUR

 1 EUR = 42.871 UYU

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EarthKind "Amber has always believed that anything was possible. Thats something her wonderful supportive family has instilled in her. Now, in an amazing achievement, she will compete in the Olympics. I am so incredibly proud of this wonderful young woman, said Kari Warberg Block.

EarthKind, the nations leading plant-based pest prevention company is proud to announce that Amber Hampton will compete at the United States Special Olympic Games in Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, on June 5-12.

Leading with kindness has always been the purpose of EarthKind, and with that in mind, Kari Warberg Block, CEO/Founder of EarthKind, knew that she had to build a brand based on inclusion. Seeing numbers in the millions, of people with disabilities who were unemployed, Kari understood that she had to make a change when starting her companybelieving that all companies should take the lead to protect the health of humans, animals, and the environment, finding opportunities that did not traditionally exist before.

By partnering with LIFESPAN, an organization that assists in the employment of the disabled and older adults, Kari created a program where "Handy-capable individuals" staff 20 percent of Earth Kinds factory workforce, creating employment opportunities and helping them to fulfill long-term jobs that maximize their unique talents and skills by nurturing their dedication and commitment.

Amber is one such person who has benefited from this program. She has been on a journey to accomplish as many goals as possible, including living a fully independent life. Having a secure job where she makes her own money and can pay her bills was one of her major life goals. In the seven years that Amber has worked at EarthKind, she has flourished. Amber has always believed that anything was possible. Thats something her wonderful supportive family has instilled in her. Now, in an amazing achievement, she will compete in the Olympics. I am so incredibly proud of this wonderful young woman, said Kari Warberg Block, everyone at EarthKind is cheering for her, and she knows she has the full support of the whole company behind her.

Entered in several swimming events, including: the 50-meter Backstroke; 50-meter Butterfly; 50 and 100-meter freestyle; and the 125-meter Swimming relay; Amber is setting her sights on gold, just like her idol Michael Phelps.

Kari and EarthKind will always support the passions of its employees. They will be sending her off in style, celebrating her accomplishments and looking forward to her wins, while remembering the motto of the Special Olympics that Amber loves to be a part of "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

Media interested in knowing more about Amber and her story, please contact Janelle Dunbar at janelle@adinnyc.com or 516-242-7677.

About EarthKind:

EarthKind is the leading pest prevention brand with a mission to reduce toxic pesticide use in homes and businesses by offing a Naturally Smarter way to keep pests out without having to kill or poison them. EarthKinds 100% guaranteed, top-rated, solutions are produced using ingredients primarily grown on US farms, made by handicapable citizens who care, and formulated to protect your stored valuables without harm to natures delicate ecosystems, or your familys health. EarthKind is a is a woman owned, Carbon Neutral company.

FB: @EarthKindLiving https://www.facebook.com/earthkindliving

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Human visual inspection is a key component of our manufacturing processes, and Pleoras system helps our operators make consistent and reliable decisions to ensure we always deliver to the quality standards expected by our customers.

Pleora Technologies today announced that DICA Electronics Ltd (DICA) is deploying its Visual Inspection System to reduce manufacturing quality escapes and gather key data from manual processes to help speed root cause analysis. The system uniquely requires just one image to start using AI, with continuous and transparent training based on operator actions to improve and speed automated decision support.

DICA provides high quality electronic assembly services for a diverse range of industries, including industrial controls, telecom, security, and digital imaging. The manufacturer uses Pleoras Visual Inspection System to help operators detect errors, such as incorrect components and orientation, solder defects, and through hole issues, for unique component types, assembly steps, and custom low-run products where automated optical inspection (AOI) is too complex and expensive.

Pleoras Visual Inspection System provides a second set of eyes for our human inspectors, said Steve Vaughan, Vice President, Operations with DICA. Human visual inspection is a key component of our manufacturing processes, and Pleoras system helps our operators make consistent and reliable decisions to ensure we always deliver to the quality standards expected by our customers.

The Visual Inspection System is a camera-based solution with integrated Inspection and Tracking & Reporting apps that are easily trained on a manufacturers unique products and processes.

With just one good image, Inspection apps for incoming, in-process, and final quality control steps automatically compare products to a golden reference and visually highlight differences and deviations for an operator. As the operator accepts or rejects potential errors, the AI model is transparently trained based on their decisions.

After even just one inspection, the AI model will start automatically suggesting a decision for the operator. Over time, the speed and accuracy of automated decision-making will improve as the system continuously learns from operator preferences. In comparison, most AI inspection tools require numerous good and bad images plus time-consuming and expensive algorithm development before they can be deployed in production.

Integrated Tracking & Reporting apps include automated and customizable reporting tools to provide data and insight on manual tasks. Typically, collecting actionable data from manual processes is a challenge for manufacturers, making it difficult to ensure end-to-end quality and implement process improvements when errors do occur. With Pleoras system, manufacturers can collect and save data on the number of suspected and confirmed defects, add operator notes on detected issues, and store product images for traceability, inventory & shipment management, and batch tracking.

When something goes wrong, data from manual inspection processes helps speed investigation so we can prevent future mistakes, said Mr. Vaughan. Recording and saving images of visually inspected products has saved us considerable time when an in-field issue was reported. With Tracking & Reporting we could verify that a good product left our facility, and pinpoint a downstream issue that was impacting quality for the customer. Without data, resolving these types of issues can be a long and complicated process that costs both our company and the customer time and money.

Visual inspection is still a crucial step for many manufacturers, but human error caused by fatigue or distraction often leads to quality escapes that cost time, money, and eat into profitability, said John Butler, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Pleora Technologies. Pleora helps manufacturers seamlessly automate decision-support for human operators so they can benefit from the advantages of AI, while avoiding the costs and complexity of other solutions.

Learn more at Automate

Pleoras Visual Inspection System is now being deployed in print & packaging, manufacturer parts, and consumer goods manufacturing processes to help ensure humans make consistent, reliable, and traceable decisions. The company will be demonstrating its AI portfolio, including the Visual Inspection System, no code development platform, and edge processing, at the Automate Show (June 6-9, Detroit, Michigan  Booth #326).The company will also be sharing how AI can improve manual tasks as part of a Automate 2022 panel discussion on AI in Machine Vision Inspection Applications on Tuesday, June 7th at 8 a.m. EDT.
Crush Wine Experience returns to Long Island Wine Country Saturday, June 25th with its North Fork Crush Wine & Artisanal Food Festival presented by Citi. For tickets & info visit: CrushWineXP.com Duck Walks breathtaking vineyard setting creates the perfect atmosphere for a curated seasonal selection of wines from the North Fork, New York State, California, and around the globe, plus spirits from New York makers and a tasty array of artisanal foods.

Crush Wine Experiences (formerly New York Wine Events) is pleased to return to Long Island Wine Country with its long-running North Fork Crush Wine & Artisanal Food Festival presented by Citi. The 2022 event takes place on Saturday, June 25 at Southolds Duck Walk Vineyards under a spacious tent, protected from the elements. The sixth annual East End summer tasting offers a choice of two general admission sessions: Afternoon: 12-3pm or Evening: 4-7pm and a VIP Ticket option that includes admission to an exclusive VIP area featuring 12 reserve and estate wines and a special array of appetizers for pairing.

Guests will enjoy numerous tasting tables with over 100 quality white wines, reds, roses, and sparkling selections from Long Island, the Hudson Valley, France, California, Slovenia, and South America, plus spirits from New York State farm distilleries. Samplings from artisanal food makers from Long Island and beyond will feature baked goods, salsas, dips, sauces, snacks, and other craft foods. A gourmet food box included with admission for each guest will be filled with cheeses, charcuterie, hummus, vegetables, fig jam, crackers and more.

In addition to sipping and nibbling, guests can chat with the makers, learning about all the offerings directly from the source, enjoy live music in the festive vineyard atmosphere, and keep their complimentary Crush WineXP custom tasting glass and wine tote as souvenirs from their day in Long Island Wine Country. Participating North Fork/East End and New York State farm wineries and distilleries will have selections on hand for guests to purchase their favorites by the bottle or case and artisanal food makers will have full-sized products available for sale as well.

Crush Wine Experiences looks forward to kicking off the summer season with North Fork Crush presented by Citi, notes Sam Kimball, founder of Crush Wine Experiences. Duck Walks breathtaking vineyard setting creates the perfect atmosphere for a curated seasonal selection of wines from the North Fork, New York State, California, and around the globe, plus spirits from New York makers and a tasty array of artisanal foods.

Participating Long Island wineries include Bridge Lane Wines, Chronicle Wines, Clovis Point Vineyard & Winery, Duck Walk Vineyards, Harbes Vineyards, Lieb Cellars, Maiden + Liberty, Peconic Bay Vineyards, Pindar Vineyards, and WA Meadwerks. Wines and spirits from domestic and foreign wineries and distilleries include 90+ Cellars, 1857 Spirits (Schoharie Valley, NY), Coopers Daughter Spirits (Columbia County, NY), Don Tony Perez Wines (Chile), Four Fights Distilling (Steuben County, NY), Laureate Imports (Slovenia), LangeTwins Winery (California), Mengler Family Wines (California), Provence Rose Group (France), The Long Drink (The Netherlands), Springbrook Hollow Farm Distillery (Adirondack Foothills), and Upstate Vodka by Sauvage Distillery (Schoharie County, NY). Artisanal food purveyors include Altheas Tropical Delights, The Cookie Shop, Perfect Blends, Salsa Di Parma, and Saucy Rascals.

Sponsors include Citi (presenting sponsor), Jaguar Land Rover, Aruba Tourism, Smartwater, and North Fork Crush Wine Shop. Support provided by Market New York through I LOVE NY/ New York States Division of Tourism as part of the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. Additional wine, spirits, food makers and sponsors will be added in the coming weeks; see website for details.

Tickets to the North Fork Crush Wine & Artisanal Food Festival are on sale now, ranging from $55 to $99, depending upon ticket level and time of purchase. Check the website for current ticket information and availability. Guests must be 21 or older to attend all of Crush Wine Experiences festivals. The event will take place rain or shine, protected by an expansive tent to shield guests from the elements. Advance purchase is highly recommended as the popular tastings have experienced sold out crowds for over a decade, and the 2022 North Fork Crush is expected to do the same. North Fork Crush is among the numerous tastings Crush Wine Experiences presents throughout the year in the New York metro area, along with its Jazz in the Vines summer concert series at Jamesport Vineyards and its Day Trip to Wine Country, a May through November series featuring Long Island and Hudson Valley winery tours on Saturday and Sundays.

For complete details or to purchase tickets for North Fork Crush on June 25th, visit CrushWineXP.com.

About Crush Wine Experiences

Since 2010, Crush Wine Experiences (formerly New York Wine Events) has built a reputation for delivering memorable food and wine experiences that participants wont find anywhere else. We share the excitement of wine discovery and education through in-person events, virtual tastings, private and corporate wine tours, educational articles, and an archive of on-demand videos.Our live wine and culinary festival experiences and weekly virtual tasting events draw thousands of wine and food-loving consumers and allow them to discover and experience craft beverages and artisan foods. With over a decade of experience, Crush WineXP is a name that guests, winemakers, distillers, brewmasters, and artisan food makers trust. Learn more at CrushWineXP.com.
The search committee and the Piper Shores Board of Directors found that Philip Jean's experience, leadership style, character, and connection to the industry align perfectly for the person we envisioned filling this role, said Malcolm P. Rogers, MD and Chair to the Piper Shores Board of Directors

The Piper Shores Board of Directors announced today that Philip D. Jean has been hired as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Scarborough based lifecare retirement community starting on May 23, 2022. Jean will be taking over for Piper Shores former CEO, Jim Adamowicz, who recently retired after nine years with the nonprofit organization.

Jean comes to Piper Shores from his most recent position as Executive Director at Seabrook Village, a fully integrated continuing care retirement community serving over 1,300 residents and 700 employees in New Jersey. He brings over 25 years of executive-level experience in healthcare and senior living administration to the Piper Shores Community.

The search committee and the Piper Shores Board of Directors found that Philip Jean's experience, leadership style, character, and connection to the industry align perfectly for the person we envisioned filling this role at the beginning of our search, said Malcolm P. Rogers, MD and Chair to the Piper Shores Board of Directors. We are delighted for him to bring his experience and passion to this role as we continue to expand our offerings and bring new lifecare options to the community.

Maine Native Returning to His Roots to Fill Piper Shores CEO Role

A Maine native, Jean is enthusiastic about returning to his home state to continue working for a senior living community. Raised in Lewiston, Maine, Jean attended high school at St. Dominics Academy, and later pursued his education at the University of Maine in Orono where he graduated with a BS in Business Administration. Jean then went on to Husson University where he earned a MS in Business Administration, with a concentration in health care management.

At Piper Shores, Jean will be responsible for the overall direction and leadership of the nonprofit in the pursuit of the organizations mission, vision, values, strategies, goals, and objectives. This includes continuing the growth and expansion of the community, advancing the organizations social accountability and diversity and inclusion initiatives, as well as fostering community culture and providing exceptional quality of life for residents. Jeans top priorities include developing strategies and programs to enhance the lives of residents, identifying opportunities to grow programs, amenities and services as well as focusing on workforce transformation and technology innovation. Additionally, Jean will be looking to expand on Piper Shores dining offerings, and he will seek to align the community with what todays emerging retirees desire. Jean is committed to being contemporary and responsive to best practices, industry standards, and resident feedback, all to ensure Piper Shores continued success, including completion of Piper Shores newest independent living community, The Meadows, currently under construction across the road from the 138-acre Oceanside campus off route 77 in Scarborough.

Having worked for both for profit and nonprofit healthcare organizations across the aging service continuum, Jean has a long, proven track record for being a resident-centered leader. His goals for Piper Shores are to build a collaborative partnership with the Board of Directors and Resident Council that enhances and heightens the overall community experience, as well as to advance and support a cohesive and unified resident structure and model. To support these goals he will utilize the extensive experience hes built working in Senior Living management positions. Jeans skills include building a collaborative and innovative culture, establishing strong resident and board partnerships, encouraging an engaged workforce as well as designing a culture that produces exceptional outcomes and meets the current and future needs of residents.

My passion for the Maine community and driving high quality healthcare programs and services will be a key driver for me at Piper Shores, said Jean. Im excited to step into this role and work with an amazingly collaborative board and resident council, establish lasting relationships with the staff and residents, as well as to continue the great work implemented here over the past decade. Everyone has kindly welcomed me with open arms, and I look forward to leading the Piper Shores community and building on their history of success as the next Chief Executive Officer.

About Piper Shores

Piper Shores is Maines only nonprofit lifecare retirement community. Built in 2001 in a style that complements Maines architectural heritage, Piper Shores is located on 138 acres of beautiful oceanfront property, situated between Higgins Beach and historic Prouts Neck in Scarborough, Maine. Piper Shores is an innovative retirement community that promotes the long-term wellbeing of its residents through a continuum of activities and lifecare services. Piper Shores residents enjoy active, independent lifestyles with guaranteed priority access to on-site assisted living and skilled nursing care, whenever they may need it. Piper Shores is owned by Maine Life Care Retirement Community, Inc., a Maine nonprofit organization, formed by a group of accomplished local individuals to deliver the shared vision of creating an ideal retirement community on the coast of Maine. For more information, visit pipershores.com

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Media Contacts

Morgan Houk

Ethos, PR Coordinator

207-205-1509 (cell)

mhouk@ethos-marketing.com
All cancer survivors deserve a life with less complication and more celebration. Join us to #CelebrateLife and raise awareness of the challenges of cancer survivorship on National Cancer Survivors Day, June 5. #NCSD2022

With nearly 17 million people living with and beyond cancer in the U.S. today  and more than 43 million cancer survivors worldwide  everyone knows someone whose life has been touched by cancer. On Sunday, June 5, 2022, people around the world are coming together to acknowledge these cancer survivors, and to raise awareness of the challenges of cancer survivorship, as part of the 35th annual National Cancer Survivors Day.

National Cancer Survivors Day is an annual worldwide Celebration of Life held on the first Sunday in June. Hundreds of cities across the U.S. and abroad will hold celebrations on this day to acknowledge the cancer survivors in their community, to raise awareness of the ongoing challenges cancer survivors face because of their disease, and  most importantly  to celebrate life.

According to the National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation, administrator for the celebration, A survivor is anyone living with a history of cancer  from the moment of diagnosis through the remainder of life.

As many cancer survivors will tell you, the effects of cancer dont end when treatment does. Cancer survivors face ongoing, often long-lasting, hardships because of their disease, says Foundation spokesperson Laura Shipp. National Cancer Survivors Day is a call to action for people around the world to stand with the cancer survivors in their community and make a commitment to address the challenges of cancer survivorship. Its a day to advocate for further research, more resources, and increased public awareness to improve cancer survivors quality of life.

It is also a day to celebrate. Cancer mortality rates continue to decline, and cancer survivors are living longer than ever before. While we know theres more work to do, the Foundation wants to set aside this one day for cancer survivors to celebrate life. It can be complicated and chaotic at times. But life after cancer can also be beautiful, meaningful, and triumphant. And that is something to celebrate.

The National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation is encouraging everyone  cancer survivors, caregivers, healthcare professionals, family members, and friends  to join the worldwide celebration. To find out how your community is celebrating, check with your local cancer treatment center, hospital, or American Cancer Society office. You can also host a celebration of your own using the resources available through the National Cancer Survivors Day website, ncsd.org.

Additionally, the Foundation is providing a way for everyone, whether attending a local Celebration of Life or not, to connect with fellow cancer survivors and supporters around the world on Sunday, June 5. You can follow the celebration online by using the hashtag #NCSD2022 and following National Cancer Survivors Day on Facebook (Facebook.com/CancerSurvivorsDay), Instagram (@cancersurvivorsday), and Twitter (@survivorsday).

The nonprofit National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation offers free guidance, education, networking resources, and assistance to hundreds of hospitals, support groups, and other cancer-related organizations that host official National Cancer Survivors Day celebrations. The Foundations primary mission is to bring awareness to the issues of cancer survivorship in order to improve quality of life for cancer survivors.

As the number of cancer survivors continues to grow, it is becoming ever more important to address the unique needs of this population. In addition to facing a serious illness, cancer survivors must contend with rapidly rising medical costs; inadequate insurance coverage; difficulty finding or keeping employment; and ongoing physical, psychological, and financial struggles that persist even after treatment ends.

The National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation  along with NCSD 2022 national supporters 2seventy bio, AbbVie, Astex Pharmaceuticals, Aveo Oncology, ConvaTec, Coping with Cancer magazine, Deciphera, Exelixis, GE Healthcare, Hologic, Incyte, Ipsen, Janssen Biotech, Mirati Therapeutics, Novocure, and SpringWorks Therapeutics  is encouraging citizens across the globe to stand with these survivors on National Cancer Survivors Day and make a commitment to addressing the challenges of cancer survival.

Over the past few decades, weve seen great progress being made in extending cancer survival. People with cancer are living many years beyond their initial diagnosis, says Shipp. However, cancer survival is not without complication. Despite this progress, a cancer diagnosis can leave a host of problems in its wake, including financial hardship. Thats why the Foundation believes we must continue to advocate for improved quality of life for cancer survivors.

Leading up to National Cancer Survivors Day, the NCSD Foundation urges everyone to spread the message that all cancer survivors deserve a good quality of life.

The following is a suggested post for your social media sites:

All cancer survivors deserve a life with less complication and more celebration. Join us to #CelebrateLife and raise awareness of the challenges of cancer survivorship on National Cancer Survivors Day, June 5. #NCSD2022

About the Foundation

The nonprofit National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation offers free guidance, education, networking resources, and assistance to hundreds of hospitals, support groups, and other cancer-related organizations that host National Cancer Survivors Day events in their communities. The Foundations primary mission is to bring awareness to the issues of cancer survivorship in order to better the quality of life for cancer survivors.

About National Cancer Survivors Day

National Cancer Survivors Day is an annual, treasured Celebration of Life that is held in hundreds of communities nationwide, and around the world, on the first Sunday in June. On National Cancer Survivors Day, thousands gather across the globe to honor cancer survivors and to show the world that life after a cancer diagnosis can be fruitful, rewarding, and even inspiring. NCSD offers an opportunity for all people living with a history of cancer  including Americas 17 million cancer survivors  to connect with each other, celebrate milestones, and recognize those who have supported them along the way. It is also a day to draw attention to the ongoing challenges of cancer survivorship in order to promote more resources, research, and survivor-friendly legislation to improve cancer survivors quality of life.
Redline Media Group This is an incredible honor, and a true milestone in our history."

Redline Media Group, a Native-American woman-owned, creative marketing, advertising, and strategic communication agency located in Dania Beach, Florida, was honored by The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED) with the NCAIED American Indian Business of the Year Award.

Each year we honor outstanding individuals and companies for their contributions to economic parity and the betterment of Indian communities, said Chris James, President and CEO of NCAIED. It is my honor to announce that Redline Media Group was selected this year to receive the award, signifying their success as a American-Indian owned business, and their demonstration of excellent corporate citizenship.

The award was given on May 22nd at NCAIEDs 33rd annual Reservation Economic Summit (RES Las Vegas), a four-day multifaceted business conference at Caesars Palace Las Vegas Nevada. NCAIED is the longest standing and largest American Indian business and economic development organization in the United States.

This is an incredible honor, and a true milestone in our history, said S.R. Tommie, Founder and President of Redline Media Group and member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. We just celebrated our 19th Anniversary, and when I founded this business all those years ago, I knew success would be based upon a team effort. We focused on our commitment to creative excellence, superior service, and outside the box thinking, developing collaborative relationships with the Client-Partners and brands that we have had the privilege to represent. Our Team has embraced a shared goal of stretching beyond our respective comfort zones in an effort to achieve greatness. To be recognized today by NCAIED for fulfilling that promise is at once humbling and gratifying. I cant wait to bring this amazing acknowledgement back home to share with our Team!

About Redline Media Group

Redline Media Group is an award-winning, Native American woman-owned creative marketing, advertising, and strategic communication agency.

Redline Media Group was founded in 2003 with just three employees, and a focus on not only meeting, but exceeding expectations in order to grow and provide services to some of the largest companies in the world.

From these humble beginnings, Redline Media Group has grown to become a multi-award winning, full-service advertising agency consisting of more than 50 full-time team members, with work in 76 countries around the globe.

The agency has developed creative messaging and strategic advertising programs for some of the worlds most iconic brands, including Hard Rock International, FX Networks/Disney, Seminole Gaming, NIKE, Harley-Davidson, HBO PPV, Flora Fine Foods, Audi, Jaguar, Infiniti, Land Rover, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Koenigsegg, and more.
The Dillon, Kolter Urban's Newest Condo in Buckhead Atlanta Were thrilled with the initial sales surge at The Dillon, said Bobby Julien, chief executive officer of the Kolter Group. Buckhead has been a great location for us and we look forward to seeing demand grow for these homes.

Kolter Urban reports a staggering $62 million in sales reservations since announcing its newest condo project in Buckhead, The Dillon. Sales surged after the Palm Beach County, Florida-based real estate development and investment firm launched its temporary sales center a month ago.

Kolter Urbans sales team says most buyers are downsizing from single-family homes and are drawn to the unbeatable location, sleek design and highly appointed features and amenities of The Dillon.

These are among the strongest sales weve seen of any community weve ever sold, said Anne Schwall, Senior Vice President of Developer Services for Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty, who is leading The Dillons sales and marketing. Buckhead remains a strong draw for home buyers and Kolter Urbans attention to detail and design are making these beautiful homes a magnet for buyers.

With this success, Kolter Urban has accelerated plans for a preservation effort on the historic Book Bindery building, located at 2395 Peachtree Road. This will become the home for the sales team, and it should be open by this July when Kolter Urban also will break ground on The Dillon.

With 144 homes over 18 stories, the luxury lifestyle condominiums are just steps from the Peachtree Battle Promenade. The Dillon will offer stunning panoramic views in every direction. Floorplans include one-, two- and three-bedroom homes, plus a penthouse level and three sub-penthouse estate levels. Residences range from 1,500 to 3,800 square feet, with the bulk of the residential offering being two-bedroom homes with dens ranging in size from 1,500 to 2,000 square feet. All homes boast a private terrace, up to 12 feet deep.

Residences start from $800s and penthouses are from $2 million.

Were thrilled with the initial sales surge at The Dillon, said Bobby Julien, chief executive officer of the Kolter Group. Buckhead has been a great location for us and we look forward to seeing demand grow for these homes.

The Dillon boasts a generous amenity menu that spans across two levels of the building. The Hub, an indoor/outdoor shared work-from-home area with private and semi-private spaces, as well as a conference room, leans into the work from home trend. There's also a formal clubroom with catering kitchen, state-of-the-art fitness center with an outdoor yoga space, south-facing pool deck with a resort-style pool and spa, fire pits with social lounge areas, a dog park and wash, pickleball court, The Library, a resident-only speakeasy with weekly planned events, movie theatre lounge, and game simulator room. Kolter has also introduced guest suites, available for residential use when family and friends visit, available by reservation.

As with Graydon Buckhead, Kolters first condominium homes in Buckhead, the company will reward agents with an unprecedented 50 percent of their commission at contract.

The Kolter Group is among the most experienced real estate investors in the Southeast, having executed investments across major asset classes and all stages of the development cycle. Under the Kolter Group, Kolter Urban has completed, or is in the process of developing over $3 billion of residential projects including over 2,800 waterfront, water view and amenity-rich urban condominium and townhome residences. Recent award-winning luxury high-rise residences, developed by Kolter Urban include Ritz Carlton Residences in Sarasota, Hyde Park House in Tampa and One St. Petersburg.

For more information about The Dillon, please visit TheDillonBuckhead.com.

About Kolter Urban

Headquartered in Palm Beach County, Florida, and winner of numerous industry awards, Kolter Urban has introduced a vision for luxury that is continually raising expectations for homebuyers and establishing new standards for the industry. Kolter Urban has completed or is in the process of developing over $3 billion of residential projects including over 2,800 waterfront, water view and amenity-rich urban condominium and townhome residences. These exceptional residences are located in some of the most desirable locations in Florida and the Southeast, including the Palm Beaches, Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Atlanta. For more information, please visit http://www.kolterurban.com.

About The Kolter Group

The Kolter Group is a diversified real estate development and investment firm that has invested in projects with expected value in excess of $15 billion. Headquartered in Palm Beach County, Florida, the company is among the most experienced real estate investors in the Southeast, having executed investments across major asset classes and all stages of the development cycle. Kolters portfolio of complementary businesses drives an entrepreneurial culture and allows the company to adapt to change and choose investments on a selective basis. Today, Kolter has over 850 team members across its affiliated business units in the southeastern United States and has created award-winning communities, luxury high-rise condominiums and branded hotels. For more information, please visit http://www.thekoltergroup.com/http://www.kolter.com
As a Manhattan Associates partner for thirteen years, and 4-time Partner of the Year recipient, 4SIGHT is excited to achieve company-wide certification on Manhattan's Active Warehouse Management solution.

4SIGHT Supply Chain Group today announced that it has attained Professional Level Certification in Manhattan Associates Partner Program. In achieving this designation, 4SIGHT has demonstrated a high level of expertise in the industry-leading Manhattan Active Warehouse Management solution.

Launched in February 2022, Manhattans Certified Implementation Partner Program represents the companys ongoing commitment to ensuring successful implementation and support of its software from our customers and partners. The program is designed to educate and recognize those who demonstrate extensive knowledge, expertise and ability to deploy Manhattan software. Developed by Manhattans Educational Services Organization, the program leverages many of the same trainings Manhattan employs with its highly-regarded professional services organization.

Manhattans Certified Implementation Partner Program is designed to help companies drive business value and more rapidly achieve a return on investment for their implementation. The Manhattan Active solutions are updated each quarter and the companys ongoing certification program will ensure that program participants keep up with each release.

"As a Manhattan Associates partner for thirteen years, and 4-time Partner of the Year recipient, 4SIGHT is excited to achieve company-wide certification on Manhattan's Active Warehouse Management solution, says Frank Camean, President and CEO, 4SIGHT. The certification is a testament to our teams historical 25+ year implementation experience and knowledge on the new platform. This accreditation allows 4SIGHT to help new and existing clients identify a successful roadmap to migrate from their current WMS application over to the Active platform. We will continue to heavily invest in the advancement of Manhattan's Certified Implementation Partner Program and look forward to additional certifications in the years ahead."

To achieve Professional Level certification, 4SIGHT has completed Manhattans Basics of Supply Chain training, Level 1 and 2 Manhattan Active Warehouse Management training, and training on Manhattans other supply chain solutions. All certified employees have passed exams built to verify proficiency.

Armed with our training, Manhattan Certified Partners are fully equipped to successfully implement and support our market-leading solutions, said Eric Lamphier, senior director of Alliances for Manhattan Associates. Today, Manhattan recognizes 4SIGHT as a new Certified Partner for demonstrating its expertise in providing customer satisfaction using Manhattan products and technology.

About 4SIGHT Supply Chain Group

4SIGHT specializes in supply chain consulting, engineering and information technology. Our seasoned professionals average more than 19 years of experience helping companies across all industries solve their distribution, fulfillment and transportation challenges. As a testament to the value our clients place on our expertise, experience and integrity, 4SIGHT has received multiple industry awards. For more information, please visit http://www.go4sight.com or email us at in4mation@go4sight.com.
4 Wheel Parts (https://www.4wheelparts.com), the largest retailer of 4x4 and off-road products globally, is excited to share the news of their upcoming store opening in Cherry Hill, NJ, their first retail location in New Jersey. Located just outside of Philadelphia, PA, the Cherry Hill location marks the 102nd 4 Wheel Parts store in the US. As part of the grand opening event on Saturday, June 4th, they will be hosting a grand opening celebration with a grand opening sale and hourly giveaways worth over $5,000!

The grand opening will feature an exclusive sale for customers on thousands of Jeep and Truck parts and accessories, with trucks and jeeps on display. Along with hourly giveaways and free food, the first 100 customers to attend will receive free T-shirts. The Cherry Hill 4WP store offers shoppers the best selection off-road brands so they explore the latest off-roading and aftermarket products to customize their vehicle.

Store Location:

2230 Marlton Pike W

Cherry Hill, NJ 08002

Hours:

Sunday: Closed

Monday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Local Time)

Tuesday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Local Time)

Wednesday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Local Time)

Thursday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Local Time)

Friday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Local Time)

Saturday: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. (Local Time)

More information is available at: https://www.4wheelparts.com/

About 4 Wheel Parts

4 Wheel Parts is a powerhouse in the growing $10-plus billion truck, Jeep and 4X4 accessory market. A division of Transamerican Auto Parts (TAP Worldwide, LLC), and acquired by Polaris Industries Inc. in 2016, 4WP sells and installs an extensive line of industry-leading aftermarket parts and accessories for off-road enthusiasts through 95 brick-and-mortar stores in North America and online at 4wheelparts.com and 4wd.com. More than 500 aftermarket auto brands are offered through 4WP, including off-road tires, wheels, suspension, drivetrains, exterior/interior accessories, recovery equipment, lighting, electronics, replacement parts, and gear for the outdoor/camping lifestyle.
Miami Generator Shop - 360 Energy Solutions We are proud to offer Doosan products since their portable air compressors are dependable, efficient, and powerful.

360 Energy Solutions, the foremost Miami generator rental, sales, and service company, is proud to announce the addition of Doosan brand generators and portable air compressors to their available products. Doosan, the parent company of Bobcat and Skoda Power, is South Koreas oldest running company and one of the worlds top ten leading heavy equipment manufacturers. Known for reliability and durability, Doosan generators and air compressors are among the best in the world.

We are very proud to offer Doosan products, said Tony Noa. Doosan will allow us to provide Miami businesses and residents with world-class machines to power everything they need. Their portable air compressors are reliable, efficient and powerful. Were making these amazing machines available for rent or sale, and well be offering service on them, as well.

For many commercial businesses and residents in Miami, generator rental solves their temporary energy needs. 360 Energy Solutions offers generators that are perfect for powering a home, a business, a concert, and can even deliver generators for powering a medical facility. Generator rental is perfect for construction sites, and paired with industrial air compressors, can make work easier and faster. 360 Energy will deliver often in just a few hours.

I was referred to 360 Energy Solutions needing a new generator to replace mine before an approaching storm, wrote a client. The owner and his team went above and beyond to assure I had a generator for the storm, despite the fact I called last minute. Highly recommend this company, they are great to work with and highly dependable.

360 Energy Solutions mission is to offer specialized power solutions to customers where they want it, when they want it, exceeding their quality expectations, while continuing to be efficient, profitable, and safe.

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Tony Noa.

Phone: 786-348-2156

Email: tony@360energysolutions.net

Website: https://www.360energysolutions.net
"Every generation brings value to the workforce, and time is running out to enact knowledge succession plans for these senior employees." - Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller.

As senior employees prepare to exit the workforce, 84% of U.S. employees say its a big loss when older employees retire without passing on their years of knowledge to younger employees. And when the transfer of knowledge fails to happen, workers can be left learning how to do a job on their own with nearly half of U.S. employees (47%) experiencing this.

This is according to a recent survey from The Harris Poll Commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.

In the workplace, baby boomers are more likely than their younger counterparts to feel knowledgeable (66% vs. 49%-57%), and this is reiterated by younger employees who say they view boomers in the workplace as having valuable knowledge (61%), people they can learn a lot from (48%) and as role models to look up to (43%).

Fewer younger employees view boomers as behind the times of technology (19%), less productive (11%) or as a source of delays on projects (8%). Further, only 15% of U.S. employees say figuring out how to work with employees of other ages is a current challenge for them in the workplace; among boomers, this challenge has decreased from 2018 (12% in 2021 vs. 18% in 2018).

Other challenges such as keeping up with new technology (22% vs. 36%), maintaining work/life balance (17% vs. 32%) and figuring out ways to share their knowledge with others at their company (11% vs. 17%) are less common for boomers now than four years ago.

Most U.S. employees (73%) say its absolutely essential or very important for employees to share the knowledge needed to perform their job responsibilities with others. Encouragingly, the majority (66%) believe their employer is taking the right steps to make sure they dont experience a brain drain (i.e., when older employees retire without sharing knowledge of how to do their job with younger generations).

To prepare those successors for their retirement, more than half of boomers (59%) have shared all or more than half of the knowledge needed to perform their job responsibilities with others who will need the information after they retire. This has increased significantly from 2018 (43%).

Despite this uptick in knowledge sharing, more than a quarter (27%) say the processes at their organization change so often that their knowledge and experience in their role will be irrelevant by the time they retirethough this has decreased significantly from 2018 (33%).

Baby boomers in the workforce are usually the ones who have longer-term knowledge of the business, understand the flow and seasonality of a company and stick it out when situations get busy or challenging, said Beth Cary, Express franchise owner in Virginia.

As with everything else, adaptation will take place regardless of the circumstances with more forward-thinking employers taking the time to glean as much as they can from their retiring workforce before they leave.

This can be accomplished via focus groups or other similar data gathering methods that can be performed before retirement, Cary added. Retiring workers want to feel valued and should be very open to this type of data gathering.

Deb Gray, Express franchise owner in Pennsylvania, agrees that planned exits for baby boomers that include adequate knowledge transfers should make the impact of departures minimal.

Its also important to develop a bench of talent and always look to bring up the next new leader or expert, she said. And dont be afraid to fail up. Listen more and acknowledge the multi-generational and cultural differences. Set a culture that works for all and strive to maintain or course correct the culture based on business and people needs.

Every generation brings value to the workforce, and time is running out to enact knowledge succession plans for these senior employees, according to Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller.

While many practices and processes have changed over the years in the labor force, baby boomers have so much wisdom and life experience to pass on to benefit todays newest workers, he added.

Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between Sept. 28 and Oct. 13, 2021, among 2,002 U.S. adults ages 18+ who are employed full-time, part-time, or self-employed. Data were weighted where necessary by age, by gender, education, race/ethnicity, region, household income, household size, and marital status to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. This sample of employees includes 547 boomer employees (defined as employees ages 57-75) that were weighted individually.

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If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena Hollander, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966.

About Bill Stoller

William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment International. Founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing franchisor supports the Express Employment Professionals franchise and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading, international staffing company with franchise locations in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, were in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 586,000 people globally in 2021 and 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.
Celebrating 20,000th Engineer Training in DO-178C by AFuzion AFuzion has trained over 32,000 students in DO-178C, DO-254, DO-326A, ARP4754A, ARP4761, DO-278A and DO-200B; this is 3X more than all other trainers in the world combined.

With last months sold out DO-178C training course, AFuzion surpassed 20,000 worldwide students from 40+ countries attending AFuzions avionics software development and certification training. In total, AFuzion has trained over 32,000 students in DO-178C, DO-254, DO-326A, ARP4754A, ARP4761, DO-278A and DO-200B; this is 3X more than all other trainers in the world combined.

AFuzions next course in DO-178C, DO-254 and ARP4754A is in three weeks but is already sold out. AFuzions following courses will be onsite in Madrid, Spain in September 2022, and Remote/Live in November 2022. If a desired course is sold out anyone can still receive equivalent training. The worlds top three aviation conferences solely use AFuzions trainers thus anyone may come to DASC 2022 in Virginia September 18-22, 2022 or Aerospace Tech Week in Atlanta, Georgia November 8-9, 2022 and receive world-class training. These classes are also by AFuzion; classes normally sell out 4-6 weeks in advance, thus attendees should register for DASC and Aerospace Tech Week early.

AFuzions DO-178C Training has been updated to include:



Multi-Core Processing, CAST-32A, and the new AMC 20-193 Training

ARP4754B Training deltas and new objectives for Aircraft/Systems

ARP4761A deltas and new Aircraft, PASA/PSSA, and Safety Assessment Training

DO-178Cs new Parameter Data Items and Coupling Analysis Training

Free Plan and Checklist for DO-178C and DO-254 projects: in class case-study

Price of AFuzions training is $1450, with 10% discount for 2-3 persons and 20% discount 4+ persons. Yes, AFuzions training is the most expensive and never discounted: the greatest cost however is engineers time in attending training. Inferior training is always discounted for a reason; only AFuzions training is regularly sold out.

Says Chris Jackson, private pilot and AFuzion Co-Founder, "AFuzion literally wrote the book on DO-178C, DO-254, ARP4754A, etc.; only four books have been written on avionics certification/development and AFuzion is the author of the two most popular books including the very latest and best-selling 'Aviation Development Ecosystem' which sells 100+ copies per month; all royalties to charity as always."

Attendees to AFuzion's training receive a complimentary copy of the world's most complete technical whitepaper explaining DO-178C which is overviewed here.
Agri-Investment Services "Agri-Investment Services exclusively represents rural real estate. We don't try to be everything to everyone, as some brokers do. We know rural property - that's what we do."

Brett Veatch was recently ranked among the top 1/2% of all real estate brokers within the Berkshire Hathaway 50,000 member strong global network.

Mr. Veatch is the regional director for Agri-Investment Services - the Natural Resources Division of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices NW Real Estate. His practice area is with farm, ranch, timber, livestock, vineyard, recreational and rural estate properties throughout Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Veatch states: "Our staff focuses exclusively on rural properties - large country estates, farms, ranches, timber and recreational properties. We represent these throughout the region and know to attract and work with the buyers that purchase these assets. Like many things in life, it isn't just having the tools available - we recognize how and when to utilize them."

As a division of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices NW Real Estate, Agri-Investment Services offers a significant advantage over smaller, unspecialized brokerages. With 33 offices in the Northwest, they have the resources to provide robust marketing that places property in front of the right market.

In terms of marketing, Veatch mentions: "Our key to sucess lies in our focus. We find that most rural properties fail to sell because they weren't marketed correctly. It isn't a matter of effort - but of knowing where and how to market this type of property. We don't have buyers for condos or starter homes because we don't represent those. Agri-Investment Services exclusively represents rural real estate. We don't try to be everything to everyone, as some brokers do. We know rural property - that's what we do."

A real estate broker for more than twenty years, Veatch has experience with some of the largest and most complex transactions in the region. Operating out of Portland, Seattle and Boise, Veatch consults with clients on strategic planning and works diligently to provide exceptional service throughout a transaction. Dan Crowson of Crowson Farms said of Veatch: "These days it's rare to have someone that will go the extra mile for you like Brett does."

'Visit Agri-Investment Services at https://agriinvestmentservices.com/oregon-farm-brokers/. Mr. Veatch may be reached directly by dialing 503.708.4663 or at info@agisg.com.


Bruce Lehr

The Haute Lawyer Network, well known for its exclusive and luxurious lifestyle publication Haute Living, is privileged to present Mr. Bruce Lehr as a member and expert in his field. Haute Lawyer offers a prominent collective of leading attorneys.

The invitation-only network features only two lawyers per market. This partnership allows Haute Lawyer to connect its affluent readers with industry-leading attorneys in their area.

ABOUT BRUCE LEHR

Mr. Lehr is the founding partner of Lehr, Levi and Mendez, P.A. and has more than 40 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney. Mr. Lehr has handled hundreds of cases in Florida and throughout the United States. He has represented numerous high-profile clients on charges ranging from murder to bank fraud, securities fraud, healthcare fraud, money laundering, internet sex crimes, mail and wire fraud, mortgage fraud, and tax evasion. He has tried more than 360 jury trials in state and federal courts. Even during the pandemic, he continued to try cases in both the federal and state courts.

Mr. Lehr holds the AV Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, its highest rating for both ethics and legal ability. Since 2012, Mr. Lehr has continually been selected by his peers for inclusion in Super Lawyers, a rating service of outstanding lawyers in various practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Mr. Lehr has also been named Florida Trends Florida Legal Elite. Florida Trends Legal Elite recognizes the top tier of attorneys practicing in Florida as chosen by their colleagues. He has received a 10 out of 10 superb legal rating on Avvo, a widely used guide in assessing a lawyers qualifications, and been chosen to serve as a panelist for the Miami-Dade County Bar Association on numerous topics, including prosecutorial misconduct and starting your own practice at the Bridge the Gap Seminar.

From 1979 until 1983, he worked for the Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office. During that period, Mr. Lehr served as the Chief Prosecutor of the Dade County Courts and Senior Trial Attorney in the Narcotics Division. During his tenure in the State Attorneys office, he was appointed to become a member of the Florida Governors Task Force on Alcohol and Highway Safety. He was also appointed by then Governor Graham to serve on the District XI Ombudsman Committee policing nursing home complaints. Additionally, Mr. Lehr has served as Chairman of the Attorneys Division of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation League Washington Affairs Committee, and a member of its Civil Rights Committee.

Mr. Lehr is also rated AV by Martindale Hubbell, which is its highest rating for both ability and ethics.
Ribbon Cutting at Adam's Flying Pig Coffeehouse in Wheelersburg, Ohio Ohio is a land of opportunity for many types of small businesses, and coffee shops are no exception. We help entrepreneurs with little or no coffee experience become owners of thriving coffee shops serving their local communities." - Crimson Cup Founder and President Greg Ubert

Want to learn how to open a coffee shop in Ohio? Get insider secrets on starting a thriving business in the Buckeye state from the coffee shop startup experts at Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program, Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year has taught over 300 entrepreneurs in 30 states  including over 40 in Ohio  how to open a coffee shop.

Now, the companys 7 Steps coffee shop startup consulting team has added to its series of state-level coffee shop startup guides with, h How to Open a Coffee Shop in Ohio.

Ohio is a land of opportunity for many types of small businesses, and coffee shops are no exception, said Crimson Cup Founder and President Greg Ubert.

In fact, Ohio ranks 33rd among the states in the number of coffee shops per capita, with fewer than one coffee shop for every 6,582 Ohio residents.

That leaves a lot of Ohio coffee lovers without a local coffee shop.

He noted that the company supports over 40 independent coffee shops in Ohio cities and towns, with more on the way.

These entrepreneurs learned how to open their shops through Crimson Cups 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program.

The program is based on Uberts book, Seven Steps to Success: A Common-sense Guide to Succeed to Specialty Coffee, which he wrote initially to help struggling coffee shop customers master all aspects of successful coffee shop operations.

We help entrepreneurs with little or no coffee experience become owners of thriving coffee shops serving their local communities, he said. From choosing a terrific location and writing a strong coffee shop business plan to buying and laying out equipment, hiring and training staff and more, our team is here to guide you.

To hear about the book in Uberts own words, download a free recorded introduction on Soundcloud.

As a coffee roaster and coffee business consultant, Crimson Cup believes our company only succeeds when our customers do, Ubert said. As a result, we support coffee shop owners at every step, from concept through opening day and beyond.

As a one-stop shop for independent coffee shops, Crimson Cup supplies award-winning coffee, the best coffee shop supplies in the business, and ongoing support to help coffee businesses thrive.

Were proud that a growing number of our customers in Ohio and other states now own two, three, or more coffee shops, Ubert said. These shops are part of the fabric that holds their local communities together.

Crimson Cup customer Tracy Heitmeyer opened 5 Bean Coffee in Reynoldsburg, Ohio in November 2008, at the very beginning of the Great Recession.

Without Crimson Cups help, I would never have been able to set up my shop as efficiently, she said. Frankly, I am not sure if I would have stayed in business.

She said Crimson Cup taught her to focus on efficient drink making, costing things out, staff training and customer service.

The staff training is priceless. My people know what they are doing and do it well, she said.

A focus on customer service is a big part of our success, she added. I cant say enough about how important it is to nurture a culture of cooperation and pride in the shop.

After 14 years of success, Tracy now works only a single weekly shift. I enjoy the freedom from the daily grind, she said. My husband and I travel a bit, and I get to spend time with friends and family at my leisure.

I have a glorious life, she concluded. The shop has provided for me financially and keeps my heart happy!

Besides the Ohio guide, Crimson Cup recently published a guide on How to Start a Coffee Shop in Texas.

About once a week for the next year, the roaster will post a state-level coffee shop startup guides on its website. Next up: a guide on how to start a coffee shop in North Carolina.

Although the fundamentals of coffee shop operation remain the same from state to state, the economic opportunities, business formation and licensing requirements vary widely, Ubert said. Were excited to share information and resources to help entrepreneurs expedite their startup journey.

He invited anyone who is thinking of opening a coffee shop in any state to call Crimson Cup for guidance.

If you run into any roadblocks or just want to discuss your vision with a coffee expert, you can reach our startup team by calling 1-888-800-9224.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Founded in 1991, Crimson Cup is at the forefront of the coffee industry. Its attentive roasting, startup support and global partnerships are consciously designed for the greater good of communities around the world. Among other national recognitions, the company has earned 2020 and 2017 Good Food Awards, the 2019 Golden Bean Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year.

Crimson Cup travels the world searching for the perfect cup  driven by meaningful relationships, honesty and a shared vision for the future. Its Friend2Farmer initiatives foster respect and decency through mutually beneficial collaboration across local and global communities.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program, the company teaches entrepreneurs how to open and run independent coffee houses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into how much it costs to open a coffee shop.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also owns several Crimson Cup Coffee Shops and a new CRIMSON retail flagship store. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com, or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.
Drivers in the Burleson, Texas Area Can Get Tire Services at an Affordable Price

Individuals who are looking for Hyundai tire services at an affordable price can get them at Hiley Hyundai of Burleson, an automotive dealership in Burleson, Texas. The dealership is offering to rotate and balance the tires of Hyundai models at a reasonable cost of $59.95. In addition to rotating the tires from front to rear, the dealerships team of experts will perform tire balancing, inspect the tires for wear and inflate the tires to correct pressure.

Drivers interested in taking advantage of these services can schedule a service appointment until May 31, 2022. Moreover, customers can visit the dealerships Service Specials page to take a look at several other service coupons offered by them. The dealership also provides state-of-the-art repair services for Hyundai models using Genuine Hyundai OEM parts. Individuals who are looking for genuine Hyundai OEM parts can order them at the dealership by dialing 817-945-9900.

Furthermore, if Hyundai owners have any other questions regarding their vehicles, they can visit Hiley Hyundai of Burleson at 320 N Burleson Blvd. in Burleson, Texas. The dealerships team of skilled professionals will answer all the questions from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Monday to Saturday.
Elegant Surfaces rebrands to Cabinet Reface Direct, reflecting their mission and message to their clients that they're receiving superior pricing and services since their products are made in-house. Our decision to rebrand sets a clear vision of our value and what we provide for our clients. It's a price you can't beat when you work directly with us, the manufacturer in the cabinet refacing industry, said Eddie Moleros, a Co-Owner of Cabinet Reface Direct.

Cabinet Reface Direct, a rising player and provider of cabinet refacing and interior renovation solutions, has rebranded from Elegant Surfaces, the former company name.

The new name change accurately reflects Cabinet Reface Direct's mission and message to their consumers that they're receiving superior pricing and services since their products are manufactured in-house.

Eddie Moleros, one of the company owners, said, "Our decision to rebrand sets a clear vision in our value and what we provide for our clients. It's a price you can't beat when you work directly with us, the manufacturer in the cabinet refacing industry."

Cabinet Reface Direct is proud to manufacture all of its materials and hardware in the United States. Though the company's name has changed, Cabinet Reface Direct hasn't changed its service offering. The company offers commercial and residential customers seamless and affordable alternatives to cabinet remodeling using the highest quality products available. They also produce the doors and hardware, among the other materials needed for their work.

The company provides a service that does not require cabinets to be demolished and rebuilt, a huge relief "in terms" of time and money savings, especially for kitchens and bathrooms. Cabinet Reface Direct understands that reconstructing these kinds of interiors can be frustrating to the client and have lengthy project completion times.

Instead, the company's services are an efficient and eco-friendly approach to cabinet remodeling. It saves their clients money and time, and projects are completed within days. Cabinet Reface Direct offers customers an extensive selection of cabinet refacing styles and turns an unstylish kitchen or bathroom into attractive and modern-looking rooms, as seen in their gallery. Their scope of work goes beyond cabinet refacing in kitchens and bathroom vanities, but they also improve doors, drawer fronts, hinges, pulls, knobs, brackets, etc.

Cabinet Reface Direct also provides the installation of new accent walls. They come in a variety of textures and styles and can be installed in a day with minimal interference to the client's routine. Cabinet Reface Direct strives to offer best-in-class cabinet refacing services and interior renovation solutions for both residential and commercial customers.

The original company launched in 2015, and now in 2022, its rebrand as Cabinet Reface Direct is the start of a new era. The company is currently teaching contractors to train and learn the necessary skills to run their own successful cabinet refacing business with an included landing page, Google Business Profile, and recommended digital marketing strategies. Those interested can visit their business opportunity page.

To learn more about Cabinet Reface Direct, visit http://www.cabinetrefacedirect.com or call 718-683-5310.


EMC Xcel Energy Partner Award We make it a priority to really understand our utility partners processes to help secure incentives savings and expedite their delivery to our shared customers. -EMC Senior Manager of Customer Incentives Kris Leaf

Lighting + Technology solutions and services provider EMC was named a 2022 Energy Efficiency Partner Award Recipient by Xcel Energy for promoting and rebating energy efficient equipment and ideas that saved energy and money for shared customers in Minnesota. The award recognized EMC LED lighting and controls projects that contributed 4.2 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy savingsthe equivalent of consuming 335,000 gallons of gasoline or burning 3.3 million pounds of coal. Rebates offered by Xcel Energy and applied by EMC offset project costs for customers by $680,000.

EMC is among a select few to receive this recognition, Jeff Kosak, channel development manager for Xcel Energy said about the award, which is bestowed upon trade partners who demonstrate dedication to the utilitys commercial efficiency programs in Minnesota.

EMC customers whose LED lighting and controls projects benefitted from these Xcel Energy incentives included several multisite national accounts with locations in the region.

Some larger projects associated with corporate headquarters facilities were also included, added EMC Senior Manager of Customer Incentives Kris Leaf. "There was a higher level of interest in doing headquarters upgrades while offices were less occupied during the pandemic, avoiding staff disruptions. This trend continued into 2022 as companies prepare to welcome employees back into the office with an improved office lighting experience.

Driving EMCs success with utility incentives offerings nationwide is an in-house team of incentives experts. Customers with hundreds of sites benefit from the teams knowledge of current rebate opportunities and ability to identify locations where new LED lighting and controls provide the best value for the lowest project cost.

The team is also well versed in how to best work with utilities to successfully process the incentives. In the case of Xcel Energy, this included using their Digital Application Process (DAP) to submit customer rebates.

We make it a priority to really understand our utility partners processes, said Leaf. This helps secure incentives savings and expedite their delivery to our shared customers.

About EMC

EMC provides leading-edge LED Lighting + Technology conversion systems and service solutions to a broad range of multinational retail, commercial, industrial and specialized customers. Since 2003, the company has used its total project management approach, EnergyMAXX, to successfully implement thousands of lighting upgrade projects, saving clients across industries billions of kilowatt-hours of energy. EMC has since expanded beyond lighting into smart buildings, EV charging infrastructure, system integration, custom product development, energy analytics and disinfection technologies.
Green Oaks of Valparaiso Entrance: Financing has been secured and preliminary site work has begun for Green Oaks of Valparaiso, a new 120-unit affordable assisted living community for seniors. We are thrilled to offer affordable assisted living options to seniors who never thought assisted living was financially achievable, and to do it right here in our own hometown.

Construction is underway for Green Oaks of Valparaiso, a new affordable assisted lifestyle community that will serve the Valparaiso area of Indiana. Valparaiso city officials, including Director of Development for the City of Valparaiso George Douglas, President of the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce Rex Richards, Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority Peter Nelson, Senior Development Manager for the Evergreen Real Estate Group Jared Isenthal joined together for a groundbreaking ceremony last week.

Evergreen Real Estate Group is excited to bring one of its high-quality residential style affordable assisted living facilities to the Valparaiso and surrounding communities.

Evergreen Construction Company will begin construction of the 98,000 square-foot development consisting of 120 private apartments and a variety of graciously appointed common area amenities: 24-hour personal assistance from nursing staff, fine dining, fitness center, theater, physical therapy, and housekeeping and laundry services will all be available to residents. Most importantly, residents can enjoy the companionship of friends and neighbors while participating in social and recreational activities.

Green Oaks of Valparaiso will provide more than 60 full-time and part-time jobs with an annual payroll for salaries, wages and benefits of over $2.2 million.

The community, which will be operated by Gardant Management Solutions, is expected to open in April 2023.

Individuals interested in having their names added to the interest list to obtain further information about Green Oaks of Valparaiso can call 1-877-882-1495.
What Leprechauns DONT Want You to Know!: a fun-filled fairy tale adventure. What Leprechauns DONT Want You to Know! is the creation of published author Kayla Friend, who lives in Colorado with her wonderful husband and sweet furbabies. She loves to read, hike, and snowboard in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and dive in the Caribbean every chance she gets. She believes the world is an incredible place full of surprises and adventure.

Friend shares, I am thrilled to share this whimsical tale of leprechauns and their pots of gold with readers young and old and everywhere in between!

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Kayla Friends new release pairs a charming narrative with vibrant imagery for the enjoyment of young imaginations.

Friend offers readers an engaging adventure within the pages of her second published childrens work.

Consumers can purchase What Leprechauns DONT Want You to Know! at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about What Leprechauns DONT Want You to Know!, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
As the $648 billion care economy flourishes and age-tech innovations take off, Lalo launches today from beta to provide a private, digital space for families to preserve memories, traditions and legacies held sacred to them.

With one million Covid-related deaths in the U.S. alone and pandemic years having limited families abilities to gather and mourn those and others lost, communities everywhere are left grieving loved ones. As time moves forward, irreplaceable family memories, stories and traditions are lost with them.

As the $648 billion care economy flourishes and age-tech innovations take off, Lalo launches today from beta to provide a private, digital space for families to preserve memories, traditions and legacies held sacred to them. The app-based platform offers an intimate place to remember loved ones who have passed away, preserve memories of older family members, and capture meaningful moments in time.

Founded by Juan Medina after an eight-year stint at Amazon, Lalo was inspired by Medinas own experience. After losing his father - nicknamed Lalo - when he was young, Medina realized he didnt remember him well enough to pass on stories to his daughter, who will never meet her grandfather. Wishing he had more to share, Medina founded Lalo so meaningful memories of loved ones, like his fathers, will never be lost again.

A photograph alone doesnt capture the essence of who someone is, or who they were, said Medina. Lalo embodies the true core of a person and allows families to share everything they want to remember about them in an intimate and personalized way. Lalo is something thats incredibly close to my heart, and I cant wait to share it with the world.

On the heels of a 600-person beta, Lalo is already well-loved by its first customers, made up largely of multi-generational families, and even folks who use the app to preserve memories of pets.

There are people in life who are very important and vibrant, who you center around like a fire to keep you warm and shine light. My dads memories are that fire  and once its gone, its so difficult to bring it back, said Matt Troup, one of Lalos first beta users. It was imperative to keep the fire alive, to share with my children who never had the opportunity to meet their grandfather. Lalo presents the opportunity to keep his memory alive, for myself and for my family.

How it Works

Lalos mobile app guides users to create personalized journeys that capture stories for themselves or a loved one, or to create a memorial for someone who has passed away. The app has evolved through its beta period based on user feedback and is:



Multimedia: With Lalo, users can curate, share, and preserve all types of content  including family recipes, jokes, photos, video clips, voicemails, and much more. The goal is to have the resulting content be as rich and layered as the people it memorializes.

Invite-Only: Family members and friends curate private networks to share memories and communicate within the app, away from the ads, intrusions, interruptions and distant relations in broad social networks.

Private and Protected: With user-owned data and an ad-free interface, Lalo ensures users' information is safe and secure.

Lalo is backed by Overlooked Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage companies with one or more historically ignored founders. Born in Brazil, Medina is the son of parents from Bolivia and Colombia, putting him among the ~two percent of VC-backed Latinx founders in the U.S. Those looking to be part of Lalos growth can back the company through crowdfunding platform WeFunder, where participants can contribute as little as $100 as part of the companys next fundraising round.

Lalo is available to download on the App Store and Google Play. The app is currently free for users, and will eventually have a paid version for $25 per year, paid once annually by the primary account holder.

To learn more about Lalo, visit http://www.lalo.app.

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About Lalo

Lalo was created to provide a private, digital space for families to preserve memories, traditions and legacies held sacred to them. Founded by Juan Medina after an eight-year stint at Amazon, Lalos private, ad-free app allows families to remember loved ones who have passed away, preserve memories of older family members, and capture meaningful family moments in time. Lalo is touted as a key startup revamping the $128.8 billion death-tech industry.

Lalo is backed by Overlooked Ventures and headquartered in Seattle, Washington. For more information, please visit http://www.lalo.app.


The Story of Petal: God Made Me Beautiful: a powerful message of faith for young readers. The Story of Petal: God Made Me Beautiful is the creation of published author Mick Allen, a loving husband and father who earned his degree in communications and aspired to be a rock star before God called him to ministry as a thirty-five-year-old. He has pastored since 1994 and has entertained little ones for years with his stories and music.

Illustrations are provided by Bill Allen, a graduate of the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, who worked as an illustrator and art director in advertising for several years in New Jersey. Bill felt the need to serve his country and joined the United States Marine Corps where he served in the Gulf War, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Africa. He also served in law enforcement for twenty-one years.

Allen shares, The Story of Petal is the heartwarming tale of a lone flower blooming on the prairie and wondering, Am I beautiful? Petals encounters with the bustling prairie dog, enormous buffalo, hissing rattlesnake, and silly roadrunner still leave her wondering. One starry night, Petal prays and knows in her heart that she is beautiful because she was made by the same loving God who hung every brilliant star in the sky. Read the book and find out what unexpected joy awaits Petal.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Mick Allens new book is an enjoyable adventure of an inquisitive little flower and the creatures she meets along the way.

Mick and Bill Allen provide readers with a visually and spiritually engaging work that is certain to entertain and encourage.

Consumers can purchase The Story of Petal: God Made Me Beautiful at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about The Story of Petal: God Made Me Beautiful, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Joe Stevens, ONEIL CFO As an employee-owned business, ONEIL fosters strong relationships with our people, our customers and our partners, and we appreciate that WPCU is in lock step with that, said Joe Stevens chief financial officer for ONEIL.

ONEIL & Associates (ONEIL), has selected Wright-Patt Credit Union (WPCU) as its new financial institution. The new partnership creates important savings for ONEIL, aligns employee-focused cultures and fortifies a business relationship that benefits the Dayton community.

ONEIL began working with WPCU in mid-February and will use several of WPCUs business services, including checking, money market savings, line of credit, business credit card and real estate loan services. However, the two Ohio-based companies align on more than just money with employee-centric cultures at the forefront of both operations.

Working with WPCU is a natural fit for ONEIL because this partnership allows ONEIL to realize substantial savings while growing a relationship with a respected local company, said Joe Stevens, chief financial officer for ONEIL. As an employee-owned business, ONEIL fosters strong relationships with our people, our customers and our partners, and we appreciate that WPCU is in lock step with that.

ONEIL anticipates the shift from traditional banking to deliver a combined impact of $30,000 annually in reduced fees and increased earnings. This is culturally significant because it enables ONEIL to reinvest the savings or return increased profit to its employee-owners.

We are always eager to work with local companies that share our values, said Scott Everett, vice president of member business services and new ventures for Wright-Patt Credit Union. We work every day to help people achieve a greater degree of economic independence, and we recognize that ONEIL is living out that mission each day as well. Through profit sharing and employee ownership, ONEIL helps community members achieve their own financial goals, and were proud to support them in their work.

About ONEIL

For 75 years, ONEIL has been the most trusted resource for product support solutions to valuable equipment manufacturers. Our mission is to make equipment safer to use, faster to repair and easier to maintain. We make complex information easier to understand and apply to create a better user experience and improve business advantage for the Department of Defense, aerospace and commercial industries. Our essential work extends the life of valuable, mission-critical equipment and improves the human experience.

For more information about ONEIL solutions, visit http://www.oneil.com, or follow us on LinkedIn.
"We've packaged RCH Launch Pad to efficiently implement Cloud solutions within start-up biopharmas, providing a robust service with a well-defined set of deliverables customized to meet the goals set by each company we serve."

RCH Solutions, Inc. (RCH), a global provider of Bio-IT expertise for Life Sciences and Healthcare firms of all sizes, introduces RCH Launch Pad, a scalable, cost-effective Cloud computing service designed to address the unique compute challenges of start-up and growing organizations.

What Challenge RCH Launch Pad Solves

Combining objective advice and expert execution, RCH Launch Pad is an optimal solution for adolescent or emerging biopharmas conducting drug or medical device discovery and development. Often these growing organizations need a foundational Cloud computing environment that can stretch and adapt as their goals become increasingly complex, but lack the focused resources, time or Bio-IT expertise to roadmap, build, and service such an environment.

When operating a start-up or growing biopharma, speed, agility, and continuity are critical, said Michael Riener, president and CEO of RCH Solutions.

But with growth comes common operational pain points that can alter the trajectory of an organization and impede its ability to advance science at the desired pace. We've packaged our new offering to solve those challenges, providing a robust service with a well-defined set of deliverables customized to meet the goals set by each company we support.

What RCH LaunchPad Includes

With more than 30 years of experience meeting the needs of teams exclusively within the Life Sciences, RCH Solutions has designed Launch Pad to add value specifically in the areas that matter most to R&D stakeholders. The Launch Pad offering includes three unique services that, when bundled, offer the most comprehensive and precise solution for building and deploying an extensible Cloud compute environment for scale, including:



Cloud Builder: For companies looking to establish a baseline Cloud infrastructure, the RCH Cloud Builder establishes a foundational Cloud compute environment, integrating scientific technologies, applications, and workflows in a multi-governance model to meet the specific demands of R&D teams.

Cloud Accelerator: A truly efficient Cloud-first compute environment benefits immensely from continued analysis and improvements. With the Cloud Accelerator, RCH offers ongoing optimization and performance tuning, allowing for more advanced evaluation and execution of strategies for R&D success.

Sci-T Managed Services: Rather than a generalist support model with minimal impact, the RCH service model prioritizes outcomes, providing on-demand access to a full team of experts across scientific and IT domains critical to research success.

Across each of the three offerings, RCHs team of cross-functional IT experts, Cloud engineers, data scientists, research software specialists, and Ph.D.s work together as a responsive task force to ensure Cloud and other scientific computing initiatives achieve their customers' goals. Additionally, RCH is vendor-agnostic, and can support platforms from a range of Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), including those offered by AWS, Google, and more.

Weve been in the business of scientific computing for more than 30 years, Riener continued. What weve learned in working with Life Sciences companies of all sizesand what we want to bring to those organizations still in infancy or just beyondis that its never too late to get the right platform in place. But getting it right from the beginning is best.

To Learn More

Visit http://www.rchsolutions.com or click here to request a consultation and Cloud assessment.

About RCH Solutions

RCH Solutions (RCH) is a global provider of Bio-IT expertise, helping Life Sciences and Healthcare companies of all sizes clear the path to discovery. For more than 30 years, RCH has provided focused experience and unmatched specialization in designing and deploying cross-functional I.T. strategies, supporting R&D infrastructure, and offering workflow best practices that solve enterprise and scientific computing challenges. Learn more at http://www.rchsolutions.com.
Their feedback, support, and guidance will directly influence our product strategy and strategic roadmap. Collectively we will drive better outcomes for hundreds of universities and hundreds of thousands of students.

RNL (Ruffalo Noel Levitz) today announced members of two of its enrollment advisory boards, experts who will help the firm better understand and address the greatest enrollment challenges facing colleges and universities. Consisting of nationally recognized thought leaders and university officials, RNL will devote one of the boards to graduate and online enrollment and the other to undergraduate enrollment. Their insight and guidance will help RNL better serve the more than 1,500 colleges and universities it works with annually.

The RNL Graduate and Online Enrollment Advisory Board is co-chaired by Eddie Maloney and Joshua Kim, authors of the popular Learning Innovation blog for Inside Higher Ed as well as the books Learning Innovation and the Future of Higher Education and The Low-Density University. Joining Maloney and Kim are:



Timothy Bohling, Chief Marketing and Graduate Enrollment Officer for the Mendoza School of Business, University of Notre Dame

David Cotter, Assistant Provost, Graduate Enrollment & Masters and Professional Student Support, Boston University

Jaclyn Farina, Assistant Dean of Admission, Brandeis University

Javier Flores, Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management, Texas Womans University

Ann Oleson, founder of the higher education marketing firm Converge and currently CEO of Via TRM

Leah Van Wey, Dean of the School of Professional Studies, Brown University

The RNL Undergraduate Enrollment Advisory Board provides a wealth of insights from campus enrollment leaders in areas such as student search and engagement, financial aid management, student retention and completion, and strategic enrollment planning. The board consists of 15 leaders:

Jose Aviles, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Louisiana State University

Lisa Blazer, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Webster University

Leslie Dickerson, Executive Director of Admissions and Enrollment, Montana Tech

Alexa Gaeta, Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, Agnes Scott College

Rakin Hall, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Arcadia University

Terrance Harris, Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Joseph Howard, Vice President for Enrollment, Widener University

Dean Kahler, Vice Provost, Strategic Enrollment Management, University of Idaho

Ashley Skidmore, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, Lewis University (Illinois)

Patricia McCarthy, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Laurie Nichols, President, Black Hills State University

Joel Recznik, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Franciscan University of Steubenville

Brian Troyer, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, Marquette University

Robert Wagner, Vice President, Utah State University

Amanda Yale, Chief Enrollment Management Officer, Slippery Rock University

"We are honored to be aligned with these distinguished higher education thought leaders. Their feedback, support, and guidance will directly influence our product strategy and strategic roadmap. Collectively we will drive better outcomes for hundreds of universities and hundreds of thousands of students, said Greg OBrien, RNLs Chief Growth Officer.

RNL also operates a Fundraising Advisory Board to provide insights for higher education philanthropy.

For more information, contact Brandon Trissler at Brandon.Trissler@RuffaloNL.com.

About RNL

RNL (Ruffalo Noel Levitz) is the leading provider of higher education enrollment, student success, and fundraising solutions. The firm serves more than 1,900 colleges and universities through data-driven solutions focused on the entire lifecycle of enrollment and fundraising, assuring students find the right program, graduate on time, secure their first job in their chosen field, and give back to support the next generation. With a deep knowledge of the industry, RNL provides institutions the ability to scale their efforts by tapping into a community of support and resources.


Only One God: a potent reminder of the power and grace of God. Only One God is the creation of published author Ryan Walker, a former student of Kingston College who was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. A former employee at the Ministry of Labour in Kingston, Jamaica, Walker migrated to the United States in 2006.

Walker shares, Only One God, in every sense of the phrase, is cognizant of the fact that there is only one God and mediator between God and men: the Man, Jesus Christ! This title has depicted my certainty and belief that He that sitteth in the heavens is beyond measure and incomparable to any so-called gods. Jesus Christ is the one and true Lord and Savior, and no one goes to the Father without acknowledging Him.

In every aspect of life, God can be seen. I see Him everywherein the eyes of His newborns and the mothers holding them. I see Him in the fellowship and joy at church. In the beauty of all creation, He is visible. In the common man working hard to provide for his family and the rich who have been blessed and much responsibility required, God is seen. In the courts trying to ensure justice and human flaws which, at times, beg to differ, God is evident in taking evidence. In the heart of the merciful, God is seen in an omnipotent peace, one mankind struggles to understand. He lives and reigns and can be seen in the rains. The sun shines to glorify His glory. Upon the waves of the ocean, beneath a powerful horizon, God, the creator of it all, can be seen.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Ryan Walkers new book is a helpful companion tool for independent Bible study.

Walker shares in hopes of empowering others on their spiritual walk to trust in and seek guidance from Gods Word.

Consumers can purchase Only One God at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Only One God, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Stevens Trucking has not experienced a single cell phone involved incident over 100 million annual miles by adopting the NOCELL solution for addressing distracted driving. Our data shows a more than 70% reduction in phone handling events after 10 days of use

NoCell Technologies, LLC, a leading provider of proactive distracted driving technology for fleets, today announced that Stevens Trucking has not experienced a single cell phone involved incident over 100 million annual miles by adopting the NOCELL solution for addressing distracted driving. NOCELL curtails app distractions by only allowing one-touch access to work-related apps within DOT regulations.

With NOCELL were reducing risk, liability and loss, and maximizing productivity because it helps drivers stay focused on doing their jobs, said Cole Stevens, vice president of sales at Stevens Trucking. We have not had a single cell phone involved incident in the three years since we implemented the solution and our fleet travels over 100 million miles annually. That accomplishment has contributed to lower insurance costs through a reduction in premiums because Nationwide, our provider, has noticed its success.

Headquartered in El Reno, Oklahoma, Stevens Trucking operates primarily in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and Colorado with a fleet of over 300 tractors and more than 1,500 dry vans. Over 90 percent of its truckload service involves dedicated contract freight for a range of manufacturers.

Stevens Trucking first adopted the NOCELL solution from NoCell Technologies three years ago to reduce the potential for device distractions and help drivers maximize productivity. The carrier also chose the platform for tracking driver compliance and enforcing cell phone use policies.

In addition to eliminating cell phone involved incidents and realizing a sizable reduction in insurance premiums, Stevens has seen its CSA scores related to drivers stay at or below the national average. The carrier also credits NOCELL with helping improve driver retention as its fleet has grown substantially because it signals that the company takes driver safety seriously.

We are very pleased that Stevens Trucking has realized safety and cost reduction benefits with NOCELL, said Corey Woinarowicz, chief revenue officer at NoCell Technologies. Our data shows a more than 70% reduction in phone handling events after 10 days of use so they realized that NOCELL could quickly help them reduce risk, liability and loss while also maximizing productivity.

NOCELL, which is compatible with both Android and IOS devices, uses an app on the drivers phone and a non-intrusive NOCELL tag in the cab to detect when vehicles are in motion and disable unauthorized apps. The solution includes a management system to report and track compliance with group- and individual-level mobile device use policies.

NoCell Technologies has formed a partnership with Nationwide to make its distracted driving management platform available to the insurers commercial fleet customers. Visit the Nationwide NoCell partnership webpage to learn more about eliminating distracted driving using the NOCELL system.

About NoCell Technologies, LLC

California-based NoCell Technologies is the industry leading provider of proactive distracted driving technology. The commercial-grade, patented, NOCELL Solution removes mobile device distractions by providing drivers only with fleet-authorized applications and tools they need to perform their jobs when the vehicle is in motion. Coupled with the NOCELL management and alert system, fleet managers can use the on-board solution to easily track compliance and enforce company safety policies. The flexible and robust platform provides a wide range of customizable protocols to meet the needs of all fleets in all market segments. NOCELL enforces safe driving behaviors and helps stem the costly problem of distracted driving at the source. For information, visit http://www.nocell.com.
Maggie Charters returns to the publishing scene with the release of I Am Kellie Earl (published by Balboa Press AU). In this edgy psychological thriller, readers will find that peace carries a cost, truth is slippery, and villains can become victims.

By withdrawing into her fantasy world, and later writing bestselling novels, Kellie Earl has been able to protect herself from her harsh reality as a Russian descendant. When she lands in Fairlea Women's prison after confessing to murdering her abusive stepfather, souls are laid bare, and friendships form. Kellie begins to find peace within the dank walls of the harsh prison. But she always seeks answers to universal questions: Who is to blame for the downfall of humanity, and why can't we all just get along? As Kellie narrates her twists-and-turn story, she gives readers great insights into the workings of the criminal mind and how resilient the human spirit is.

I want readers to see that everyone has a unique story, the author states. We are not alone. We are all connected to our past and present. Both good and bad experiences make us who we are. I want to challenge readers thinking of what causes our destiny. Is it the gods, our choices, or the fickle finger of fate?

Though fictional, I Am Kellie Earl gives a snapshot of life in Fairlea Womens Prison and Australia in the 40s to 80s. The book is of historic significance as it shows the impact of the changing face of Australia, from being a dumping ground for prisoners to becoming a viable real estate. It will appeal to those interested in intense dramas filled with explosive storylines and relatable characters. It will also appeal to writers, as the main protagonist shares the methods behind her genius storytelling. Chapter by chapter, she shares what inspired her to write the novel and how she stayed inspired.

Visit https://www.balboapress.com/en-au/bookstore/bookdetails/838500-i-am-kellie-earl to purchase a copy.

I Am Kellie Earl

By Maggie Charters

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 320 pages | ISBN 9781982293598

E-Book | 320 pages | ISBN 9781982293581

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Maggie Charters is a retired social worker and high school teacher. She is particularly interested in the journey of recovery for those with a mental illness. She mediates the group Schizophrenia on Facebook where people feel accepted as they share their ideas, stories and feelings (no personal stories from this group have been used in this novel). Charters has written several novels, plays and songs that touch on the subject of mental health. She formed and directed two theatre companies (The Echelon Theatre Group and The Gippsland Players), and ran a poetry group for seven years. She was also involved in community radio. Her published works include Kellie's Curse, Bad Moon Rising and My Secret World under her maiden name Maggie Main. She has also written two feature screenplays, Ladies In Waiting and The Tea Party. For more information, visit maggiecharters.com.

Balboa Press Australia is a division of Hay House, Inc., a leading provider in publishing products that specialise in self-help and the mind, body and spirit genre. Through an alliance with the worldwide self-publishing leader Author Solutions, LLC, authors benefit from the leadership of Hay House Publishing and the speed-to-market advantages of the Author Solutions self-publishing model. For more information or to start publishing today, visit balboapress.com.au or call 1-800-844-925.
Im excited to partner with The Agency and bring the brands fresh and modern approach to luxury real estate to The Netherlands, with our first office launching in Amsterdam, said Nipperus.

Global real estate brokerage, The Agency has announced the launch of its first European franchise office in The Netherlands capital of Amsterdam. The new locale is the firms first franchise in Europe among its growing network of offices in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. The Amsterdam office is led by accomplished luxury real estate agent and managing partner, Karina Nipperus.

Were thrilled to introduce The Agency brand overseas as we launch our first European franchise in The Netherlands, said Mauricio Umansky, CEO and Founder of The Agency. Our partner Karina Nipperus is deeply respected throughout the local community and we know she will be an incredible steward of our unique brand and culture. We are looking forward to announcing more franchise partners throughout Europe this year.

The Agency has rapidly expanded its presence across the globe throughout the past year. In 2021, the firms global expansion reached new heights with a record-breaking launch of 11 new franchises in one year, marking it one of the fastest-growing luxury boutique brokerages in the world. The Agency plans to announce more new global franchise partners in the coming months as part of its strategic expansion. To lead its growth across Europe, The Agency recently appointed John Thorpe as Vice President of Franchise Sales and Operations - Europe who has over 20 years of experience working in the international market.

Our expansion in Europe is an exciting next chapter for The Agency as we continue to grow our presence in major metropolitan markets across the globe, said Jim Ramsay, Executive Vice President of Franchise Sales at The Agency. Were thrilled to partner with Karina Nipperus on this venture and offer our unparalleled resources and tools to agents, buyers and sellers in The Netherlands.

With two decades of real estate experience and a wealth of knowledge, Karina Nipperus has her finger on the pulse on the luxury real estate market in Amsterdam. Prior to joining The Agency, Nipperus enjoyed a successful, 20-year career as a top agent in the area, guiding clients through the buying and selling process while navigating complex real estate transactions. Born and raised in Veendam, a small village in The Netherlands, Nipperus moved to Amsterdam at the age of 19 to attend university. After being inspired by a local real estate agent, she obtained her license and began sharpening her skills and expertise while servicing clients throughout the Noord-Holland region. Clients choose to work with Nipperus for her precision, deep market knowledge, fierce negotiation skills and the high quality service she provides. When shes not selling real estate, Nipperus enjoys traveling and spending time with family and friends.

Im excited to partner with The Agency and bring the brands fresh and modern approach to luxury real estate to The Netherlands, with our first office launching in Amsterdam, said Nipperus. Our country is ready for a brand like The Agency, with its international appeal, exceptional offerings and unmatched marketing power.

The Agency is noted by The Financial Times as one of Americas Fastest Growing Companies and has ranked among Inc. 5000s list of fastest-growing private companies in the country for six consecutive years. Breaking away from the traditional brokerage model, The Agency takes a collaborative approach to real estate, fostering a culture of partnership in which all clients and listings are represented in a collaborative environment. Agents and clients benefit from the shared resources and networks of the entire global team, including in-house creative, public relations and cutting-edge technology divisions. Since its founding, the firm has continued its commitment to first-class service and partners with the very best professionals in every market. As The Agency strategically expands, it maintains its local boutique feel, all while providing a truly global, luxury network.

The Agency Amsterdam is located at Van Eeghenstraat 82, 1071GK Amsterdam, NL.

About The Agency

The Agency is an agent-first, tech-driven boutique luxury global brokerage representing clients worldwide in a broad spectrum of classes, including residential, new development, resort real estate, luxury leasing and vacation rentals. Breaking away from the traditional brokerage model, The Agency takes a collaborative approach to the business, fostering a culture of partnership in which all clients and listings are represented in a collaborative environment. Agents and clients benefit from the shared resources and networks of the entire global team, including in-house creative, public relations and cutting-edge technology divisions. The Agency has closed more than $41 billion real estate transactions since 2011, comprising over 50 offices in five countries, and counting, as one of the fastest-growing boutique, luxury real estate franchise brands in the world.
APS will host two virtual news briefings featuring a small number of particularly compelling talks selected from among the approximately 1,600 accepted presentations at the 2022 Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), held May 26 to 29 in Chicago, Illinois. These events will allow journalists to hear from and ask questions of the presenters without needing to travel to the convention.

Topics will include the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education, tools to support ethnic and gender minorities, fake news and misinformation, romance and relationships, and more. Videos of the briefings will be posted on the APS Virtual News Room.

Press Briefing 1, May 27, 10 a.m. CDT: Effect of Abuse on the Brain, Helping Minorities Cope With Stress, Pandemic and Academic Stress, Reading Aloud to Boost Intelligence, and Epigenome and Childhood Development

Scars of Childhood Abuse Are More Than Skin Deep: Trauma Changes White Matter Pathways in the Brain: Studies have shown that childhood verbal abuse can damage white-matter pathways, or tracts, of the brain, leading to mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The impact of physical abuse, however, has not been well understood until now. Researchers from the University of NebraskaLincoln examined the association between childhood trauma due to physical abuse and poor integrity of microstructures in the white-matter areas of the brain, including the tracts that connect the limbic system, which is involved in behavioral and emotional responses. The new findings revealed that as trauma experience increased, the integrity of white-matter tracts connecting the cortex with the limbic system decreased. These results may shed light on how traumatic physical abuse leads to emotional and behavior problems later in life. Title: Relationship Between History of Physical Abuse and White Matter Tract Integrity in the Brain. Authors : Keyoor Joshi, Matthew Brooks, and Hideo Suzuki, University of NebraskaLincoln; Maurizio Bergamino, Barrow Neurological Institute



Studies have shown that childhood verbal abuse can damage white-matter pathways, or tracts, of the brain, leading to mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The impact of physical abuse, however, has not been well understood until now. Researchers from the University of NebraskaLincoln examined the association between childhood trauma due to physical abuse and poor integrity of microstructures in the white-matter areas of the brain, including the tracts that connect the limbic system, which is involved in behavioral and emotional responses. The new findings revealed that as trauma experience increased, the integrity of white-matter tracts connecting the cortex with the limbic system decreased. These results may shed light on how traumatic physical abuse leads to emotional and behavior problems later in life. Relationship Between History of Physical Abuse and White Matter Tract Integrity in the Brain. : Keyoor Joshi, Matthew Brooks, and Hideo Suzuki, University of NebraskaLincoln; Maurizio Bergamino, Barrow Neurological Institute Web App Helps Sexual and Gender Minority Youth Cope With Stress: LGBTQ+ young people are more than twice as likely as their heterosexual and cisgender peers to experience moderate to severe depressive symptoms, due in no small part to stress arising from stigma and discrimination. These mental health disparities are compounded for racial and ethnic minority LGBTQ+ youth, who may face multiple intersecting sources of discrimination. Providing LGBTQ+ youth with preventative, web-based support can meet them where they are, validate their identities, and help them cope with discrimination. A team of researchers reports results of a randomized controlled trial of a web app called imi, which was designed to improve sexual and gender minority adolescents mental health by encouraging identity affirmation and strengthening coping skills. The initial results show that psychosocial interventions delivered via this web app boost positive coping skills and mindsets that are important for helping racially and ethnically diverse LGBTQ+ youth deal with stress. Title: Identity-Affirming Content and Coping Skills Delivered Via a Webapp Supports Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents Ability to Cope with Sexual and Gender Minority Stress. Authors: Emma Bruehlman-Senecal and Jana Haritatos, HopeLab Foundation; Seul Ki Choi, Jesse Golinkoff, Jesse Golinkoff, and Jose Bauermeister, University of Pennsylvania

Pandemic-Induced Academic Stress Associated With Test Anxiety Regardless of Students Gender, Race/Ethnicity, or Parental Education: The COVID-19 pandemic changed how students learned and how they felt about testingand not for the better. A new study compared how U.S. college students felt about testing and their general computer skills before and during pandemic-affected semesters. Even accounting for demographic differences, students with greater pandemic-induced academic stress tended to have higher general test anxiety and less confidence in their computer skills. These findings contribute to a growing understanding of differences in students educational experience during COVID-19 and hold implications for developing better, more equitable assessments in future remote and online learning environments. Title: Test Anxiety, Computer Self-Efficacy, and Pandemic-Related Stress in Educational Assessment Contexts. Authors: Teresa Ober, Matthew Carter, and Ying Cheng, University of Notre Dame

Reading Aloud to Children Shown to Boost Intelligence: Reading aloud to children can forge strong bonds between adults and children and has been shown to bolster language skills during formative years. A new study of Italian school children aged 6 to 12 found that, compared to those who engaged in only regular instruction, those who were read to for 1 hour per day fared far better on several intelligence tests at the end of 4 months. The researchers concluded that a rigorously implemented program of reading aloud can significantly improve intelligence. Title: Reading Aloud to Children Enhances Their Intelligence: Evidence From a Cluster-Randomized Trial. Authors: Emanuele Castano, University of Trento; Federico Batini and Toti Giulia, University of Perugia; Bartolucci Marco, University of Parma



Reading aloud to children can forge strong bonds between adults and children and has been shown to bolster language skills during formative years. A new study of Italian school children aged 6 to 12 found that, compared to those who engaged in only regular instruction, those who were read to for 1 hour per day fared far better on several intelligence tests at the end of 4 months. The researchers concluded that a rigorously implemented program of reading aloud can significantly improve intelligence. Reading Aloud to Children Enhances Their Intelligence: Evidence From a Cluster-Randomized Trial. Emanuele Castano, University of Trento; Federico Batini and Toti Giulia, University of Perugia; Bartolucci Marco, University of Parma Moms Stressful Life Events During Pregnancy May Alter Babys Epigenome and Impact Childhood Development : Grief, social conflict, and mental, sexual and physical abuse may leave a lasting imprint on the next generations epigenome (modifications to DNA that can impact gene function). A new meta-analysis of cord-blood DNA taken from 5,500 pregnant women revealed that life stressors experienced during pregnancy are associated with changes to the fetuss epigenome in regions previously associated with neurodevelopment and schizophrenia, potentially affecting its development. These results provide compelling evidence that biomarkers of maternal stressful life events may shed light on neurodevelopmental processes in children. Author : Anna K. Ruehlmann, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine



: Grief, social conflict, and mental, sexual and physical abuse may leave a lasting imprint on the next generations epigenome (modifications to DNA that can impact gene function). A new meta-analysis of cord-blood DNA taken from 5,500 pregnant women revealed that life stressors experienced during pregnancy are associated with changes to the fetuss epigenome in regions previously associated with neurodevelopment and schizophrenia, potentially affecting its development. These results provide compelling evidence that biomarkers of maternal stressful life events may shed light on neurodevelopmental processes in children. : Anna K. Ruehlmann, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Late Addition: Aggression Among Young Adults Exposed to School Violence During Childhood: Childhood exposure to violence correlates with increased rates of hostility, which are associated with heightened reports of aggressive behavior. The current study found that hostility fully mediated the relationships between witnessing and experiencing school violence during childhood and aggression in young adulthood. Authors: Casey Altomaro and Kristine M. Jacquin, Fielding Graduate University

Press Briefing 2, May 28, 11 a.m. CDT: Stress in the Operating Room, Personality Shifts, Love and Hate, Fake News, and Talking Longer

Is Your Surgical Team Under Stress? Senior and Junior Team Members Feel Stress at Different Times: In the operating room, mistakes due to stress can be deadly. Most measures of surgical-team stress, however, have been based on self-reports, which can yield unreliable data. A new study involving heart rate monitors found that stress in the operating room was felt differently among senior and junior members of the team. Senior surgeons showed increased heart rate only when they were operating; junior surgeons exhibited increased heart rate regardless of whether they were operating or merely observing. Interestingly, when senior surgeons showed increased heart rate, junior surgeons heart rate decreased. Also, scrub nurses experienced more stress when junior surgeons were in control. These findings demonstrate the importance of social influences on stress in the operating room. Title: Physiological Responses of Surgical Teams During Low-Risk and High-Risk Operations. Authors: Kareena del Rosario and Tessa West, New York University; Wendy Mendes, University of California, San Francisco; Peter Gogalniceanu, Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust
In the space of two years, global work culture shifted at a remarkable rate. Four panelists, along with moderator Paul Bogaards of Bogaards Public Relations, looked around today's publishing landscape to assess what may return and what's gone for good.

Odom Media Management founder and literary agent Monica Odom was already working from home, expecting a baby, when the pandemic began. "I sold the most books of any year in 2020and I'm still waiting for them all to publish," she said. Despite her productivity, she fought "to stay grounded amid the immense collective trauma we were all having, recognizing we were all humans doing this work." As an aside, she commented, "I did miss the editor lunches."

That sounds like a throwaway line, yet social distancing highlighted publishing's reliance on workplace culture. Bogaards suggested the pandemic put "a cap on industry fun," lowering morale among people who thrive on hard work and literary perks. "The social fabric seems to be fraying at the edges," Bogaards lamented.

"We're not having as much fun together, and that does take a toll," agreed Julia Sommerfeld, publisher of Amazon Publishing and founder of Amazon Original Stories. As remote work developed, she noticed the rise of "a strong online chat culture. The team is always pinging each other and trying to capture that casual conversation. We're missing the kind of osmosis that happens when we're all together."

St. Martin's Publishing Group president Jennifer Enderlin assured everyone that "the parts we liked best about it will find their way back." Enderlin looks forward to "the special lunch you have with an author who's in town and who gets to meet a few members of the team. It's the 'Tuesday night, another party' that won't come back." She added that Macmillan sponsors company-wide days off to combat burnout. ("I want to go back and work at St. Martin's now, based on all Jennifer is saying," Bogaards quipped.)

To see the video, click here to register for the U.S. Book Show.

If coffee chats and side-by-side teamwork appeal to many, though, others would prefer never to darken the doorway of a conventional office space. "How do we go from 'the office is a fine place to work' to a categorical rejection of office life?" Bogaards asked the panelists.

"One of the good things to come out of the pandemic was this recognition that people can be at home and actually be very productive," said agent Anjali Singh of Ayesha Pande Literary, who launched a side business in lecture management and represented anti-racist educators while stuck at home during Covid. In pre-pandemic years, Singh recalled feeling "stigmatized when I had young children and wanted flexibility in my work life [because] it flew against corporate mores. Now you can read a manuscript pretty much anywhere."

The challenge, Singh said, is balancing "the mentorship that comes from being around employees with more experience, and the camaraderie that comes from being around employees at the same level." Amazon's Sommerfeld felt similarly: "Creative work can really benefit from the privacy and the concentration when working from home or in a mostly empty office," she said. "The hardest part is onboarding new people who don't have that [established office] shorthand."

Enderlin likewise believes in allowing "as much schedule flexibility as possible" and trusting her team. "Everybody wants to do a good job," she said. "When people get as much choice as possible, they're incentivized to make it work." Odom reminded the group: "As a millennial, being a digital nomad was the dream!"

Along with remote and hybrid work spaces comes the opportunity to hire from outside publishing's metro areas. When Bogaards asked the panel how to diversify publishing's workforce in a meaningful way, Odom responded, "I would love to have an agent that lives in New Orleans. Agents are frontline cultural gatekeepers," and hiring people outside New York is a way to access "region, tied to race."

Sommerfeld offered the example of Amazon Publishing's Seattle headquarters, which "has editors in Tennessee, Michigan, Maine, and California, as well as New York. It's been a great asset," she said. "Most authors and readers are not New Yorkbased, and by having team members around the country, we have an opportunity to speak to our customers' breadth of experiences."

Outside hires require training and support too, and some of the panelists saw this moment as a chance for publishers to invest record profits in young and diverse staffers' careers. "We're bringing in a lot more staffers of color, but are we really changing the systems?" asked Odom.

When Bogaards asked the panelists whether employees should share more readily in publishers' profits, Enderlin explained that St. Martin's gave bonuses to every employee in good standing at the end of 2021, "from the most junior newest employee all the way up. We werent going to write a press release, we just did it."

"Good news should be shared," replied Bogaards, who hadn't known. "When PRH gave out bonuses to employees for 50 Shades, it was not a secret!"

Odom, who supported Enderlin's example, reinforced Bogaards's response. "If you were to make it public as something to celebrate, it would encourage other publishers: 'OK, guys, are you going to meet us there?'" Odom said. "Your positive influence allows for it to proliferate instead of stay within your company." She underscored how important profit-sharing may turn out to be, "especially for the younger folk who are resigning. Talks are happening for sure," she said, referring to collective bargaining and a burgeoning interest in labor organization and unions, both in the publishing industry and beyond.

"Historically in trade publishing, the expectation was that you would work from 9 to 5, then you would go to a reception, and then you would read at night," Bogaards observed. "The collectivizing generation is actually putting mile markers down. They say, I don't want to go home and read for four hours." Innovative community-buildingeven if it's happening from nationwide home officesseems poised to change the industry for good.
Richard Brown, who joined Rowman & Littlefield as senior executive religion editor on April 18, is drawing on nearly four decades of experience in the publishing industry as he looks to grow R&Ls religion category. Based in Columbia, S.C., Browns background most recently includes serving as director of the University of South Carolina Press. Prior to that, Brown held editorial roles at Westminster John Knox and Pilgrim Press, in addition to 17 years spent at the Georgetown University Press as director.

Brown was drawn to R&L in part because of the incredible range of topics among its backlist and the opportunity to explore big ideas and ultimate questions, he tells PW. In his new role, Brown is tasked with growing the religion trade category, and while he doesnt have a number in mind in terms of output, its not a matter of pumping out more books, its making sure the books have an impact, he says.

R&L acquired the book program of Duke Divinity Schools Alban Institute in 2014, and Brown is keen to build on that while establishing new publishing partnerships with additional universities and religious organizations. Further, Brown wants to breathe new life into R&Ls Sheed & Ward imprint, which was acquired in 2002.

It has such a rich backlistdozens of biggest names in the field of Catholicism would publish with Sheed & Wardand part of what I want to do is get that imprint running at full speed, Brown says. I really want to make that the go-to imprint for progressive Catholic thought.

Also of special interest to Brown is the intersection between religion and a host of topics such as medicine, health, gender, sexuality, the environment, politics, cultures, racism, and books that illuminate dark places of society and dark places of soul, he says.

I want to show how religion has had this incredible impact on human existence religious communities have helped improve the world, and yet we have to recognize that religious ideologies have enabled oppression, racism, sexism, sometimes genocide, and created conditions of injustice, hardship, suffering; I want to illuminate that too, he tells PW. My ultimate aim is to contribute in some way to a more loving and more just society.

Challenges to the publishing industry include readership trends and the glut of virtual content available today, according to Brown. Youre competing with so much media onlinethere are so many options for people, he says. People want short bits of content, and that is hard when youre wanting to publish extended analytical pieces of scholarship.

Nevertheless, there is an urgent need for credible, serious-minded books on spirituality that would represent a range of religions, Brown says. He notes upcoming R&Ls releases including Donna Schupers Marriage After Religion (Jan. 2023) and The Seven Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism by Carter Heyward (Sept.), which will be featured during this years meeting between the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature in Denver in November.

As he looks ahead, Brown sees a bright future at R&L. Book publishing is a vocation and a calling, he says. Im incredibly fortunate to be part of a house that values religion and understands the significance of religion in the U.S. and abroad.
Set in 1928 Chicago, Kendall Kulpers new novel, Murder for the Modern Girl, features Ruby Newhouse, an 18-year-old flapper who reads minds to identify killers and abusers who would otherwise escape justice and then surreptitiously poisons them. When someone tries to assassinate her states attorney father, Ruby begins using her gift to investigate Chicagos power players, enlisting the help of shape-shifting morgue employee Guy Rosewood in exchange for keeping his abilities a secret. Little does Ruby know, Guy has figured out theres a serial poisoner in Chicago, and is hot on her trail. Kulper spoke with PW about her inspirations, her hobby-turned-side hustle, and how her Harvard education prepared her to write historical fantasy YA.

Was it always your intent to write historical fantasy for young adults, or did you initially have another path in mind?

Yeah, absolutely not my original plan. The course that I took at Harvard, a program called History & Literature, is very broadhistory is anything thats ever happened, and literature is anything that anybody has ever created. Like, a jacket or a car could be literature. It was really just looking at history through the lens of how people create things, whether its books or stamps or quilts for their children; how people process historical events in their lifetime; and how those creations then go on to inform things that happen in the future or our own interpretations of how history took place.

I had always thought that I was going to be a reporter. History & Literature was sort of like the de facto journalism major, so that was how I ended up in that program. Then I graduated and went into journalism and felt like the reality was not quite what I wanted to doit wasnt making me happy in the way that I had hoped it would. Id always written, but when I got to college, I started to write things that I thought would be more prestigiousso, kind of depressing adult short storiesand it just sucked the fun out of writing for me. When I was working this job and was not very happy, I started thinking, Well, when was the last time that writing made me happy? And it was fan fiction that Id written in high schoolNewsies fan fiction, so basically historical YA.

I started writing a YA novel and I absolutely loved it. I was living in New York, my fiance was living in Chicago, and we were looking for an excuse to be in the same city so we could get married, so I was like, You know what? Im going to quit my job and move to Chicago. I have some savings; Ill try to do this YA thing. It wasnt until I was writing my third attempt at a manuscripta historical, which was the first book I got published [Salt & Storm]that I was like, Oh, I guess my degree is actually very helpful!

What inspired you to set this book in 1928 Chicago?

I read this incredible book called The Poisoners Handbook by Deborah Blum. Its nonfiction, but it reads like a great fiction narrative, and is basically about the birth of forensic science, looking at the medical examiners office in New York City during Prohibition. Who doesnt love the 1920s? And this was such an interesting way of looking at that time period, when forensic scientists were racing to develop means to detect when criminal poisonings had taken place. It stuck in my head, and I thought, How can I write my 1920s book and incorporate very cool science-y elements? So, thats how I got to the 1920s, and I stuck in Chicago because I like to write about places that I know well. It has such a great gangster-y history, and its a little different from New York City.

What kind of research did that entail?

Chicago has a very interesting political structure, and this book ended up being a lot more about Chicago politics than I had originally thought. The main characters father is the Cook County States Attorney, so, figuring out how the Cook County States Attorney gets voted in, how the mayoral system works, and all about Chicagos aldermen, which is a very weird quirk that Chicago has. Theyre all so laughably corrupt! Its incredible, the stories that come up. And of course, if youre a historical author, you fixate on these tiny little details that dont matter to anyone else on the planet. I remember I found the Chicago city budget and found the original address of the morgue and what a janitor in 1928 would be making in the Cook County hospital system. I always feel more confident as a writer when I have all that knowledge. I try to get as much research as I can out of the way before I start writing, then let it all sink in, and then just write with the knowledge that the average person would have.

What led you to add fantastical elements to a historical YA crime novel?

I think bringing in fantasy is a great way to talk about difficult subjects at an angle. The character of Guy is a shapeshifter, and he has a very antagonistic relationship to his ability. He sees it as this thing that just comes out of him, that he doesnt know how to control, and he thinks it prevents him from being able to form relationships with other people. I feel like that is often just what it feels like to be human, especially if youre a teenagerthat theres this aspect of you that you are afraid of, and dont know how to control, and youre just looking to beat it down, but that doesnt work. The journey that he is on is to realize that this thing that he thought alienated him from other people is actually the way that he is able to connect with other people.

 I think bringing in fantasy is a great way to talk about difficult subjects at an angle. 

I also think throwing in those fantasy elements adds a new way of thinking about the world and ethical responsibility. After reading this nonfiction book about the 1920s and murderers, I was reading a comic book where one of the characters was a mind reader. He was talking about how he automatically judges a person based on what he can hear in their head. I thought how interesting that would be, if you are a person who is morally upright, and you have a strong sense of justicehow difficult it would be to hear terrible things, and know that, for whatever reason, [the people thinking them] will never face justice. Especially in the 20s, in a place like Chicago. Thats what led me to create the character of Ruby: shes just going about her day and hears something terrible, and she feels like, Well, if I dont do something about it, then its on me.

Ruby pretends to be a flighty flapper, but is secretly a shrewd vigilante who murders bad men that society wont miss. Was it challenging to write a character that some would say straddles the line between hero and villain?

The book makes clear that she understands that murder is wrongits not a good thing that people should be aspiring to. She is somebody who has a strong understanding of the law, and a strong respect for the law, and at the same time, sees how flawed the system truly is. Certainly, my book is not comparable to the incredible work that activists are doing nowadays, but I am really inspired by people who are willing to partake in civil disobedience, and willing to say, Yes, this is the law, but its wrong, or yes, this is the justice system, but its flawed. People who are willing to work around the system, which again, Im not encouraging people to go out and murder, thats not what Im sayingbut in this one fantasy instance where Ruby can read minds, she feels an obligation to do something and is willing to take on whatever guilt and consequences come with breaking the law.

You dedicated this book to your daughters, urging, Stick together, youre stronger as a group. That also seems to be the books central thesis, as Murder for the Modern Girl features several intrepid female characters who have each others backs. Did the dedication inspire the book, or vice versa?

I wrote this book at the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, when a lot of peopleespecially a lot of women and non-binary peoplewere being very affected by what was going on in the news. I took so much solace in feeling like there were other people that felt the same way as me, and in working with these people and supporting them and letting them support me. Ive always told my daughters, You guys are on the same team. If something affects one of you, it affects everybody in this family. We all work together, we all stick together.

There were some earlier drafts of the book where Ruby meets another woman who is a bit catty towards herI eliminated all of that. I didnt want any instances where a woman was belittling another woman. I understand thats not a reflection of reality, but I wanted this to be a book where women may not be exactly [allied] 100% of the time, but theyre not cutting each other down. I wanted it to celebrate female friendship and women working together. Not even just women, because there are strong male characters who are also supporting Ruby and helping facilitate the change that shes trying to enact, and I feel like thats really important too. But certainly as a mother and having two young daughters and so many strong female friendships, I wanted the book to embody that. Ruby is one of the heroes of this book, but I wanted a lot of the other charactersespecially the secondary charactersto also have moments. I didnt want Ruby to feel like a savior, I wanted her to feel like one piece of this big puzzle.

In addition to being an author, youre also a talented embroidery artist. How and when did you acquire that skill, and do you feel that one form of artistic expression helps feed or foster the other?

When I was pregnant with my second daughter, I wanted to make something special for heryou know, second kid, youre basically just inheriting everything. I went on Instagram, and someone had made this beautiful floral embroidered monogram. I didnt know anything about embroidery, but my attitude towards life is, I could probably figure out how to do that. So I went to the craft store and I got a bunch of materials, which, now that Ive been doing it for so long, I realize were not the correct things, but it worked out in the end. I made this thing for my daughter, and put it up on Instagram, and somebody saw it and wanted one for their kid, so I made one for them. Then I saw somebody had embroidered a portrait of an animal and it looked incredible. My friend was having a baby, and I thought, Oh, Ill make one for her! Then somebody at the baby shower wanted one for their dog, and I put those on Instagram, and somebody else emailed, wanting one for their pet. Now I do mostly pet portraits. I try hard to capture the spirit of every animal. I have a dog, and I know that you spend so much time memorizing every tiny little detail of their little sweet faces, and so I try to recreate that as best I can.

Its been such a rewarding hobby, and its so different from writing. When I write, it takes so much timeyou know, the idea for this book came into my head in 2015, and now its 2022, and Im finally getting to show it to people. But with embroidery, a piece takes maybe a week or two, and then I put it on Instagram, and I get all this great feedback right away. It feeds the needy creative artist inside of me. I have tried before to take on a commission and work on a book at the same time, but I get so into whatever Im working on, I find it really hard to jump back and forth. I have to close my commissions anytime Im focused on a book, which I am right now. If I cant sink all my energy into something, its very hard for me to feel fulfilled at the end of the day, so I find that I enjoy it more when I can just focus on one or the other. SomedayIm putting this out there in the worldId love to embroider a childrens book. Thats my ultimate goal with this art form.

You say youre focused on a book right now. What are you writing?

It hasnt been announced yet, but there is going to be another book set in the same world as Murder for the Modern Girl. Not a sequel, but sort of a companion novel, called A Starlets Secret to Dying in Style. Its set in 1934 Hollywood, and its about one of Rubys younger sisters, Henrietta, trying to be an actress, and she starts to see the ghosts of dead actresses everywhere. Its very similar in the style of Murder for the Modern Girl, with dual narrators. Theres a stuntman whos invulnerable to pain and cant be injured and [he and Henrietta] end up meeting and are forced into a sham Hollywood romance for publicity. Henrietta is very similar to Ruby, in that theyre both women who are very intelligent and fun and know what they want, but Henrietta is out to live her life to the fullest, no matter the consequencesand there are a lot of consequences. It has been the most fun to write, but it does have a dark topichow Hollywood treats actors and actresses. That was the biggest challenge with this book: how do I write something that feels hopeful when we all know nothing was solved in 1934, that these problems just got so much worse? Were much more aware of these things now, but its been a two-steps-forward, one-step-back kind of journey.

Murder for the Modern Girl by Kendall Kulper. Holiday House, $19.99 May 31 ISBN 978-0-8234-4972-9
Award-winning childrens book author Derrick Barnes has built an illustrious career writing for children with picture books, early readers, and middle grade novels. In his latest, The Queen of Kindergarten, Barnes returns to the first day of school in this follow-up to his bestselling picture book, The King of Kindergarten, both illustrated by long-time collaborator Vanessa Brantley-Newton. In Queen, a Black girl faces her first day in kindergarten with all the excitement and poise of a queen. Barnes spoke with PW about why reading childrens books featuring Black kids is vital for all children, the storytellers he looks up to, and the family members who inspired his characters.

What motivated you to begin writing for children?

I kind of fell into it. My first job right after graduating college in 1999 was at Hallmark. I was the first Black man in the history of the company to be hired as a copywriter. Gordon C. James, the illustrator of [my books] Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut and I Am Every Good Thing, and I met at Hallmark. He had an agent by the name of Regina Brooks and Ive been with her since 2003. One of the first book deals she came to me with was from Just for Us Books. It was a two-book deal for early reader books. I got lured into writing childrens books and I love it.

What compelled you to write The King of Kindergarten and The Queen of Kindergarten?

With The King of Kindergarten, I did a lot of research and I found two things. The books always had a child who was extremely nervous and scared of going to school. I wanted to flip that on its head and have a child who was brimming with confidence. If a child gets their hands on this book and they may be nervous about going from pre-K to kindergarten, seeing a beautiful brown boy with all this confidence, maybe that will translate to their own personal experience with starting school for the first time. Second, in all the kindergarten books I found, I didnt see any published by a major publisher that featured a Black child starting school for the first time, so thats major. When we went out on the King of Kindergarten tour in 2019, a lot of Black mothers would come up to me and ask, When are you going to write one for the queens? When are you going to do one for the little girls?

Are the central characters in your books based on people in your life?

Yes. My wife and I have four boys. My oldest boy is 21. I have a 17-year-old whos graduating from high school next month, a 15-year-old who is the cover boy for Crown; and, the cover boy for The King of Kindergarten, thats my baby Nnamdi. Hell be 11 in a few weeks. In The Queen of Kindergarten, I kind of based that character on my wife, Tinka. We dont have a little girl, but if we had one, I figure shed be like my wifevery energetic, a life-of-the-party kind of person, super smart. Im the opposite, Im real laid-back. I knew if I made a little girl character, she was going to be like Tinka.

How important is it for you to write books for and about Black kids? What do you hope readers take from these stories?

I used to say that I write primarily for Black children because I want them to see themselves as important, and every child needs to see themselves as important. But you dont realize how important it is for white children to see non-white children be the center of the universe, to be protagonists. Its so important that white children get to see Black children not in a stereotypical way. If they dont have Black children in their immediate environment, theyre going to always defer to those stereotypes. I try not to put anything regarding race into my books. They just so happen to be slice-of-life books that feature a beautiful Black child with a beautiful Black family. I just want to normalize how magnificent we are.

Who are your storytelling role models?

Im a big fan of Langston Hughes. Hes the first major writer I was exposed to. Not just the poetry but his essays, his short stories. Gwendolyn Brooks. Roberta Flack. Derek Walcott, a West Indian poet. I love all his work. Walter Dean Myers, obviously. He set the stage for all of us Black male authors.

What projects can readers expect from you next?

This year, I have another book coming out, on September 27, entitled Victory Stand. Its a graphic novel, my first graphic novel, about the life of Tommie Smith, the 1968 Olympic track and field superstar. Im so excited about that book. I have a Christmas book coming out at the end of next year called Santa Has Got to Go. I have another graphic novel-picture book hybrid entitled Like Lava in My Veins, and Im currently working on a middle grade novel.

The Queen of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes, illus. by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. Penguin/Paulsen, $17.99 May 24 ISBN 978-0-593-11142-0
Co-founded by Eric Carle and his wife Barbara in 2002, the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is gearing up to launch six months worth of anniversary events. Beginning next month, it will host a full roster of festivities taking place in Amherst, Mass., as well as in New York and virtually. From June through December, fans of the author-illustrator of more than 70 books, who died last May, can choose from a number of activities that pay tribute to the space that commemorates the rich history of picture books.

Here are the major highlights scheduled for the museums 20th anniversary.

An Homage to Collage

The Celebrating Collage: A 20th Anniversary Celebration exhibit, opening on June 25, features a showcase of 90 collages from 20 picture book artists specializing in this design form. The idea for the retrospective immediately took hold during the planning stages of the anniversary event. It felt like a perfect way to pay tribute to Eric, who was, of course, a master collagist himself, creating art with painted tissue papers for more than 50 years, said executive director Alexandra Kennedy. We also knew from 20 years of exhibiting picture book art that our visitors were drawn to collage as a medium; its so accessible and tactile to the viewer, while it invites artists to be deeply inventive.

Kennedy, along with museum chief curator Ellen Keiter and director of education Courtney Waring, selected the featured artists, comprised of Micha Archer, Ashley Bryan, Eric Carle, Bryan Collier, Nina Crews, Lois Ehlert, Julie Flett, Ekua Holmes, Steve Jenkins, Ezra Jack Keats, Thao Lam, Leo Lionni, Oge Mora, Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Christian Robinson, Susan L. Roth, Melissa Sweet, Simms Taback, Ed Young, and Elizabeth Zunon.

The exhibition will be dedicated to Carle, as well as Bryan, Ehlert, and Jenkins all of whom died during production of the exhibit.

Opening Day Events

On June 25what would have been Carles 93rd birthdaythe museum will host Collier, Crews, Lam, Roth, and Zunon for a day of story times, gallery talks, and book signings. Refreshments will be provided by a food truck, and guests will be treated to free Very Hungry Caterpillar cookies. The family day event, from 11 a.m.4 p.m., will be promoted via print and radio advertising, social media, e-blasts, and on the Carle Museum website.

Book Birthdays

Fourteen Carle titles with milestone 20th, 25th, and 50th birthdays in 2022 and 2023 have earned a dedicated exhibit. Entitled Eric Carle: Book Birthdays, this display will run from September 3March 5, 2023 and feature the following titles: Do Bears Have Mothers Too?; Flora and the Tiger; From Head to Toe; Have You Seen My Cat?; Hello, Red Fox; I See a Song; Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?; Roosters Off to See the World; The Secret Birthday Message; Slowly, Slowly, Slowly, Said the Sloth; The Very Long Tail; The Very Long Train; and Walter the Baker.

2022 Carle Honors

On September 29, the Carle will recognize champions in childrens literature at the 16th annual Carle Honors Benefit Gala and Art Auction in New York. This years recipients will be Faith Ringgold (Artist); Dolly Partons Imagination Library, represented by Jeff Conyers (Angel); Ajia ()(Bridge), and Wade and Cheryl Hudson (Mentor). A short film chronicling the museums 20th anniversary will also be shown.

Recent Acquisitions

November 19 marks the opening of The Carle Collection: Recent Acquisitions, an exhibit containing 60 pieces of art that have been donated to the museum during the last five years. Featured selections include an 1899 ink illustration by Charles Robinson and a 1941 watercolor by Wanda Gag. Works by Remy Charlip, Raul Colon, Lulu Delacre, Ekua Holmes, Lois Lenski, Arnold Lobel, Allen Say, Maurice Sendak, E.H. Shepard, and Pamela Zagarenski round out the collection.

Later that week on its official anniversary (November 22), the Carle will update its website with hundreds of pieces of art, enabling patrons to view them digitally at no cost. The museum has amassed 95% of its collection through donations for long-term use. We are so grateful to the artists, estates, collectors, and individuals for their generous gifts of art over the past two decades, Kennedy said. Eric and Barbara Carle were very proud of our permanent collection, but they never anticipated it would grow so quickly.

Looking Ahead

As the museum continues to welcome more than 50,000 patrons annually at its Amherst location, it will focus on expanding its reach? through its traveling exhibition program, which draws more than 500,000 people per year in the U.S. and internationally. Long-time partnerships with such institutions as the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Childrens Museum of Pittsburgh, and the New-York Historical Society (currently showing Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Childrens Books), have helped introduce picture book art to a wider audience. Its a perfect example of how large art and history museums are embracing art created for childrenand helping to tell important stories, Kennedy said.

Over the next five years, the museum plans to diversify its permanent collection and exhibit art by acquiring more works by women artists and artists of color. These steps, we hope, will help us as an institution reflect honestly on the past and encourage the creation of more books that mirror the multicultural world we live in, said Kennedy.
In the months since Russia invaded Ukraine, the international publishing community has come together with a number of initiatives aimed at offering support to childrens authors, publishers, and aid organizations. Here, we continue to cover these ongoing efforts.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Polands Fundacja Powszechnego Czytania (Universal Reading Foundation) rallied Polish publishers and their international colleagues in an emergency effort to get Ukrainian-language books to children in Poland. Now three months in, the effort has shifted from an emergency operation to a long-term initiative involving multiple partners. According to recent UN estimates, 14 million Ukrainians have fled their homes as a result of the war. Its estimated that there are currently 200,000 Ukrainian refugee children in Polanddouble the number in the country in mid-March. Tens of thousands have settled in other European countries, including more than 300,000 in Romania, 280,000 in Germany, and more than 200,000 in Moldova.

Earlier this month, the Foundation announced a grant program to offer support for Ukrainian publishers to keep them afloat during the war. With $150,000 in available funds, the program provides Ukrainian publishers with in-kind printing and distribution services provided by Polish businesses, including InPost, one of the countrys major delivery companies. Foundation director Maria Deskur said the organization has received 50 applications and will be announcing the awards June 6. In a press release about the program, Deskur said, We want to support the readership in Ukraine because it is the foundation of well-functioning open democracies, the basis for building a strong and innovative economy.

U.K.-based charity Book Aid International is donating more than 10,000 books to the Foundation. The donation received financial backing from publishers including Scholastic, Oxford University Press, and Green Bean Books. When conflict strikes, books offer the chance to find hope and to continue to learn even while fleeing war, Book Aid Internationals executive director told the Bookseller. We think it is vital to support The Universal Reading Foundations important work at this incredibly difficult time. We could not send a single book without the support of publishers that donate these wonderful, brand new books to our charity. The books have arrived at the Polish-Ukrainian border and are ready for distribution, Deskur said. The effort is an extension Book Aid Internationals work providing books to refugee camps in countries including Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.

U.S.-based language assessment company Avant Assessment and independent childrens publisher Linguacious are supporting the Foundation and the Polish Book Institute with a donation of 1,500 copies dual Ukrainian-English language book Dylans Birthday Present /      by Victor D.O. Santos. Santoss wife is Ukrainian and her parents had to flee the country when the war broke out. By seeing their own language and the Ukrainian flag represented in the story in the book, I hope Ukrainian children will feel prouder than ever to be Ukrainian, the author said.

More International Partnerships

The Federation of European Publishers is raising funds to print and distribute books to Ukrainian refugee children throughout Europe. The initiative, which was introduced at the Bologna Book Fair, has already printed 6,000 books. The campaign has received the support of Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska. At the Turin Book Fair (which ends on May 24), the Federation raised funds and awareness about the effort.

More than 6,000 Ukrainian refugee children have been resettled in the U.K. A partnership between U.K. charity Give a Book (an affiliate of Dolly Partons Imagination Library), and Penguin Random House UK will provide 200 refugee children in London with a free book each month until they reach the age of five. The program relies on Give a Books network of partner schools and community services for refugees in the city and the organizations existing partnership with Penguin, the U.K. supplier for the Imagination Library. Children will receive high quality, age-appropriate books. In our work we see again and again the comfort that a good book and shared reading can provide, said Victoria Gray, executive director of Give a Book.

Also in the U.K., charity Bookmark is raising funds for the Bookmark Box for Ukraine to be distributed to refugee children arriving in the U.K. The box is aimed at welcoming children and offering them an introduction to the new culture they will encounter in the country. The box contains a tablet with [both Ukrainian and English books, apps for language and literacy, and physical books and activities. Bookmark is a teacher-led charity focused on promoting literacy.

Libraries Lend Support

The American Library Association partnered with Ukrainian Library Association to create the [ALA Ukraine Library Relief Fund to support the Ukrainian library community, which has been devastated by the war. Librarians in Ukraine have kept libraries open when possible and created pop-up libraries in shelters, including the Kharkiv subway system where families were living. Since the war broke out, libraries have been a source of connection for displaced people and library staff have struggled to keep up with demand for computer time. The Relief Fund will go toward the purchase of computers, software, material repairs to libraries such as shattered windows and damaged roofs, and relief funds for displaced library staff.

In Norway, the University of Stavanger has created a digital library for Ukrainian refugee children through its International Collective of Research and Design in Digital Childrens Books program. The program is working with volunteer translators and India-based Pratham Books and its digital library Storyweaver to translate books in a variety of languages into Ukrainian, and make them digitally available to educators working with Ukrainian refugee children in any country.

Authors and Illustrators Donate Work

In addition to donating books, Universal Reading Foundation is working on creating original content. A dual Ukrainian-English language anthology titled The Book Against War is in the works. The collection includes stories donated by 50 Polish childrens writers and authors. Author-illustrator Sophie Blackallwho donated the original illustration that the Foundation has used for its fundraising effortshas donated additional illustrations. Developed in consultation with a psychologist who worked with survivors of the war in the former Yugoslavia, the book will be published in both Ukrainian and English and is expected to be available this summer.

Independent publisher Little Lambda Books created a special edition of its title One Equals Many by Sonny Dean, with all proceeds going to United National Crisis Relief Ukraine. We Stand with Ukraine: One Equals Many emphasizes the power of voting and collective action to change the world.

For more coverage on publishers' relief efforts, click here.
The current wave of attacks on free speech and books is nothing new, says Chris Finan, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, whose most recent book is How Free Speech Saved Democracy: The Untold History of How the First Amendment Became an Essential Tool for Securing Liberty and Social Justice. However, what is different during this current crisis, he says, is that there used to be very clear delineations along political lines when it came to both defenders and critics of free speech. Today, on the other hand, some young progressives prioritize social justice over the First Amendment, Finan argues, in their attempts to restrict hate speech.

There has been a shift thats not been helpful towards an understanding of free speech, Finan said, referring to Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wearing a Censored face mask on the floor of Congress. It doesnt help free speech much to be advocated by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

In a conversation with PW editorial director Jim Milliot, Finan noted that he has been a free speech advocate since the early 80s, when he answered a classified advertisement in the New York Times for a coordinator of a First Amendment trade association, the Media Coalition. I had no idea what that was, but it sounded like me, he said. I grew up in the 60s and free speech was a big topic of conversation as it was being repressed in the South during the Civil Rights movement and, it was being repressed, again, in the North during the anti-war movement.

Ronald Reagans election to the presidency in 1980, Finan recalled, prompted a surge in challenges to books across the U.S., especially Judy Blumes books for middle grade and YA readers. Blume was a major lightning rod, Finan explained. People had never experienced books addressed to kids about problems like sex in the schools; they responded vociferously. There also were laws passed and subsequently struck down that inflicted felony penalties against retailerssuch as booksellerswho sold materials with sexual content.

As those things tailed off, suddenly, we were facing 9-11 and threats to reader privacy, said Finan, who by then had left the Media Coalition to head the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

To see the full interview, click here to register for the U.S. Book Show.

First Amendment in Theory and in Practice

Joking that Finan has been chasing a lot of controversies, Milliot pointed out that there have been assaults on the First Amendment almost from the get-go, beginning with the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Finan confirmed this factoid and explained that although there was theoretically free speech in the 19th century, there were no court decisions protecting this Constitutional right made at the time. During World War I, more than 2,000 Americans were prosecuted, and 1,000 convicted, for criticizing President Woodrow Wilson. Among them was Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist Party of America's candidate for president of the United States five times in the early 20th century.

It was really in reaction to that civil liberties meltdown, Finan explained, that people, primarily lawyers in the beginning, began to speak out about the importance of protecting free speech. He also pointed out that the American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920.

Noting that some progressives lobbying for social justice and against discrimination consider fully free speech to be antithetical to their political stances, as the First Amendment guarantees even the right to hate speech, Finan maintained that censoring right-wing books and disrupting speakers on college campuses always boomerangs, as liberals are then accused of hypocrisy when they protest challenges to books addressing race and LGBTQ topics. The strongest defense against hate speech, Finan argues, is counterspeech, or discussion and debate.

We have to defend the right of free speech for all, Finan said. I say that in full knowledge that that means theres a lot of garbage, a lot of misinformation, a lot of hate that gets surfaced on social media.

Pointing out that 15 states have passed critical race theory laws and that most of the books being attacked by right-wing zealots address LGBTQ topics, Finan said that he hopes as a free speech activist is that this will get the attention of many of those who argue the First Amendment is a problem.

You have to fight for free speech, Finan said. Once you take it for granted, then there will be people who will use that against you.
On the third day of the 2022 U.S. Book Show, Regina Brooks, founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency, spoke with four boundary-breaking debut memoirists, who assembled for a panel cosponsored by PW and Amazon Publishing.

While everyone in the conversation shared a Black identity, "we are not any sort of monolith," said Bria Adimora Godley, author of No Acute Distress: A Memoir of Medical School, Mental Illness, and Feeling Fine, Basically (Algonquin Books, Sept.). Godley, a psychiatrist in residency at Yale and the daughter of two Black physicians who shaped her worldview, viewed her writing process as a "split screen," enabling her to examine her own life as a medical student while critiquing the conservatism, paternalism, and whiteness of the medical profession. Godley said she wrote her book because "I want people to have a greater imagination for what is possible."

Possibilities compounded as the panelists described the surprising experiences that led them to write personal narratives. Cin Fabre, author of Wolf Hustle: A Black Woman on Wall Street (Holt, Sept.), started her financial career at age 20, in the pre-internet 1990s, at an offshoot of the brokerage house Stratton Oakmont. Although she was one of the few people of color on Wall Street at the time, "that was everybody else's problem, it wasn't mine [back then]," she recalled. "Yeah, it was frickin' tough. I survived because I had a passion. I wanted to get things done."

Most books about that era represent "a good old boys', white boys' club," Fabre said, "and there's so much more to Wall Street than that." Watching Martin Scorsese's 2013 The Wolf of Wall Street brought back memories of her time as a broker and, she said, "I put my head down [to focus], like I did back then when I wanted to have that success, and I started writing." She reconnected with old associates (including many white men she worked alongside), "relived those moments," drafted a manuscript, and networked her way into a book deal. Fabre believes the diverse story of finance goes unacknowledged, and she wants to start a bigger conversation about both financial literacy and the generational wealth gap for Black and Brown communities.

To see the video, click here to register for the U.S. Book Show.

An alternative perspective on another fraught industry, fashion and beauty, figures into Danielle Prescod's Token Black Girl (Little A, Oct.). Prescod grew up attending private schools in Westchester and Greenwich, Conn., and became a fashion editor at top media brands. "I spent a lot of my life groomed to be in elite institutions," she said. "It produced a major identity crisis for me, because I was Black in those spaces but not encouraged to explore what that meant."

Books, magazines, and movies had failed to represent her as an adolescent, and that had created negative "thought patterns," she realized: "I was deeply affected by the erasure of Black women, and so, naively, I thought that if I were employed by those institutions, my presence might shift some things." Once she became a fashion insider, she found "the exact opposite. I became a further vehicle for white supremacy while it was also working on me."

Prescod found her voice in a viral IGTV post, "Congrats, you woke up, now what?," an anti-racist call to action that she posted on May 31, 2020. The video now boasts more than 2.5 million views. In June 2020, Prescod and fellow Instagrammer Chrissy Rutherford founded the anti-racism consulting firm 2BG Consulting. By theninspired by such comp titles as Jia Tolentino's Trick Mirror and Margot Jefferson's NegrolandPrescod had ample material for the tales she tells in Token Black Girl.

All of the panelists traversed personal and professional categories to an astonishing degree, but perhaps the most itinerant was Aomawa Shields, who described her path as "anything but traditional." In addition to being an associate professor of astronomy at UC Irvine, Shields manages a TV and film acting career in addition to being both a preschooler's parent and the author of Life on Other Planets (Little, Brown, 2023).

"I've felt like a scientist when I'm around actors, [and] I've felt like an actor when I'm around scientists," Shields said. She learned to "embrace that hyphen" linking her identities as a actor, scholar, and writer, and she values "how the personal is informing the professional" in books like Hope Jahren's Lab Girl and Natalie Goldberg's Wild Mind.

Life on Other Planets evolved out of Shields's 2015 TED talk, "How We'll Find Life on Other Planets." Agent John Maas, of Park & Fine Literary and Media, reached out to see whether she might do a popular science book, and she told him she had a memoir planned instead. She waited until she received confirmation of tenure at Irvine in June 2020, due to the truth-telling and vulnerability a memoir necessitates, and that promotion fueled her manuscript. Shields said her goal is to remind her readers that "there might not be any role models for what they want to do."

As an agent and the author of You Should Really Write a Book: How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir, Brooks appeared to be in her element. "I feel like I'm seeing a piece of myself in all of you," she told the group.
In a virtual awards ceremony held the afternoon of May 24, Publishers Weekly editorial director Jim Milliot named The Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kans., PW Bookstore of the Year. Seattle-based commission rep Kurtis Lowe of Book Travelers West is PW's Sales Rep of the Year.

Authors, booksellers, and publishing professionals have testified how, with creativity and panache, the Raven and Lowe supported authors and books during the pandemicand that their actions, in fact, sustained the indie bookstore industry itself.

The Raven co-owner Danny Caine accepted the award from Bayfield, Wisc., where he is attending the Midwest Independent Booksellers Associations spring gathering of booksellers. Sharing a split screen with several of The Raven's co-owners, Caine tried to deflect attention from himself by giving his colleagues several shout outs. "This is a team win," he said. "Everything we've accomplished is 100% thanks to the truly wonderful Raven team."

He added that he wanted to introduce his colleagues because he believes "the future of bookselling is booksellers" and that "the best way to ensure that bookstores have a seat at the table is to foster a new generation of talented and enthusiastic booksellers. The best way to do that is to make sure that bookstores are welcoming and equitable places to do dignified work. Places where people can earn a living wage and build a career if they want to."

Lowe thanked numerous industry colleagues in accepting the award, from his fellow reps at Book Travelers West, to Nancy Suib, the head of an eponymous commission rep group who launched his career by hiring him back in 1997.

And thanks to all the booksellers, Lowe concluded, who commit an act of courage every day by opening their doors to show us that we all belong to universe of ideas, stories and experiences that entertain and challenge us.

To see the video, click here to register for the U.S. Book Show.

Quoth the Raven: Amazon, Nevermore

The Raven, founded by Pat Kehde and Mary Lou Wright in 1987 as a mystery bookstore with a small selection of local interest titles, has become a general bookstore and a beloved community hub in Lawrence, a university town with a population of 97,000 residents and 28,000 University of Kansas students. Caine bought the store in 2017; in January, he sold 49% of his shares in the business to seven of his employees.

After Caine self-published How to Resist Amazon and Why in 2019, which was subsequently issued by Microcosm Publishing in an expanded edition, the Raven became the face of indies everywhere, valiantly doing business in the digital age. Caine is a prominent face in contemporary bookselling: often quoted in media reports on indie bookselling, Caine was named Bookseller of the Year by MIBA in 2019 and profiled by the New Yorker in 2021, and Midwest Living magazine cited the Raven as best bookstore in its Best of the Midwest 2022 feature. Caine currently serves on both the American Booksellers Associations and MIBAs boards.

The Raven has long been an ardent defender of indies, Caine said. He recalled how, in the late 1990s, Kehde and Wright advocated for their business when Lawrence residents debated the addition of a Borders superstore across the street. That store eventually did open, and remained until 2011. But the Raven survived, Caine says, in part because of the compelling story about small businesses the original owners had been telling for years. What I say about Amazon is what the original owners said about Borders in 1997.

A Showman for Books

The third time is the charm for Lowe. A commission rep affiliated with Book Travelers West for more than 20 years, and head of group since 2008, Lowe has been nominated two previous times as PWs Sales Rep of the Year, in 2016 and 2019.

Lowe, who recently partnered with the heads of Fujii Associates and Como Sales to form National Book Travelers, is the quintessential road warrior, traveling between Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington state. When Jonathan Evison, previously published by Workmans Algonquin Books imprint, needed a smooth handoff to Dutton for 2022s Small World, Lowe ferried Evison around the Pacific Northwest for three days on a 24-bookstore tour. Lowe doesnt even rep for Duttonalthough he did use the trip as an opportunity to recommend that booksellers stock up on Evisons backlist titles from Workman, a company that Lowe does represent.

But it was at the height of the pandemic when Lowe really distinguished himself. Lowe, who, pre-pandemic, had converted his West Seattle garage into a combination office/book showroom, began scheduling Zoom sales calls. During these meetings, he walked around his showroom, holding up finished samples grouped by publisher or distributor, leafing through them while pitching, so that the buyer can see jackets and interiors. This allows me to do custom presentations that are not harnessed to an in-person visit, he told PW. I can get much more creative.

Tom Nissley, the owner of Phinney Books in Seattle, describes Lowes Zoom presentations as quite a show: hes zipping around his room, and its obvious that hes thought about what you can do in terms of displays. But then he works with some very visual publishers that you cant get across in the same way with just a phone call.

This story has been updated to include a link to a video of MIBA members inside Apostle Islands Booksellers bookstore in Bayfield, Wisc. cheering the announcement of the Raven's win.
As one of the top multimedia companies in Mexico, Mexico City-based TV Azteca provides Spanish-language content ranging from national TV networks to local broadcasts, to a wide-ranging group of viewers in the territory. Los Angeles-based OTTera  which connects local publishers and content owners with the largest connected TV companies in the FAST arena - will deliver and monetise three TV Azteca pay-TV channels: Azteca Uno Delay -1 hour, Corazon and Clic to Samsung TV Plus."We are excited for this opportunity to work with TV Azteca to expand into what we call the "BroadFAST" space, the movement of traditional Broadcast channels into the FAST arena," said OTTera chairman and CEO Stephen L. Hodge. "As FAST channel growth continues to skyrocket in every corner of the globe, TV Azteca is poised to move quickly and easily into this market. Its high-quality programming and broad appeal has already given it the edge among viewers."This strategic alliance with OTTera will allow us a greater distribution of the TV Azteca channel portfolio with Samsung mainly, and in the near future with other smart TV producers in Mexico and LATAM. We are very excited about this agreement," added TV Azteca International sales director Jorge Gutierrez.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/25/2022



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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.

couple Michael Jessen and Juliana Custodio de Sousa have officially ended their marriage and are divorced.Michael and Juliana's divorce was finalized on May 19 with the dissolution being uncontested by either party, In Touch Weekly reported "Tomorrow two people will be celebrating that I am finally out of their life for good," Michael reportedly wrote on Instagram Stories one day before a judge made the ruling."And they will move on... And will I... Myself, I will not be celebrating, but I will continue to live life with many new lessons learned and much more wisdom gained."Juliana filed for divorce, requesting the "dissolution of marriage," from Michael on Valentine's Day in February 2022 in Bridgeport, CT.Juliana's attorney Renee C. Bauer told In Touch in a statement, "Juliana is looking forward to her next chapter and putting this behind her as amicably as possible."Reports swirled in January 2022 that Juliana had cheated on Michael with his ex-wife Sarah Naso's husband Sean Naso, an aspiring hip-hop artist, while the entire family lived together during the coronavirus pandemic in September 2021.A source told In Touch that an eyewitness had allegedly caught Juliana "making out" with Sean "in the kitchen" of the Connecticut home they had shared with Michael and Sarah and the former spouses' two children, Max and Cece.The alleged kiss reportedly happened during a farewell party for Juliana, who was still married to Michael at the time and was preparing for a trip to Europe.Given Juliana announced her pregnancy with new boyfriend Ben Obscura in November 2021 -- just one month after she and Michael confirmed their split -- the source claimed Sarah had questioned the baby's paternity and whether Ben is actually the father.Sarah "thought the baby belonged to Sean" because of the alleged affair, an insider told the magazine.Juliana allegedly announced her new romance and pregnancy only 24 hours after Michael had attempted to win the Brazilian model back."[Michael] asked her to give their marriage another chance and asked for six months of therapy," the source said, adding that Juliana's public announcements were seemingly "in response" to Michael's phone calls and efforts.Michael was reportedly "in shock and devastated" to find out Juliana had allegedly cheated on him."He didn't want to believe that Juliana would stoop that low and betray his trust," the source said.It also reportedly hurt Michael to have learned about Juliana's pregnancy when "everyone else in the world did" on social media, according to the insider."Michael was physically ill and wept," the source claimed about his reaction to the baby news.And the insider added that Michael was "stunned" and "felt dizzy with confusion and disbelief."However, Juliana has firmly denied both cheating on Michael with Sean and speculation she's expecting Sean's baby.Juliana told In Touch that she has "confirmation" that Ben is the father of her child."It's really sad that this family has nothing to use against me and they are using my baby and making these stories about me," Juliana said in a January statement."I hope I never have to hear or see these people again."Ben was the person to first announce Juliana's pregnancy late last year.He wrote on Instagram in November, "Baby on the way! [Heart emoji]," alongside a picture of the couple embracing."A new adventure is about to begin! We are super excited and we can't wait to welcome our new addition into the family!"He added in his post, "Babyzinho we can't wait to meet you! We are now preparing for the most beautiful blessing we could ask for! The best is yet to come! [Heart emoji]."Juliana commented on the post with three red-heart emojis followed by emojis of a pregnant woman and a mother breastfeeding her baby.A confused or skeptical fan asked Juliana flat out in the comments, "You pregnant?"And Juliana replied, "Yes."One day later, Juliana made a post of her own -- a slideshow of photos that showed the model and Ben kissing, smiling and enjoying a nice dinner out."So excited for our new adventure. Words aren't enough to tell you how wonderful you are, I'm forever grateful for the happiness and joy you have brought into my life, and for [making] one of my biggest dream come true. We can't wait to meet you," Juliana wrote."I am the luckiest woman to be able to call you mine @ben_obscura. Pls: if you have nothing good to say, please just leave."Juliana first reportedly commented one of Ben's Instagram posts on October 7, 2021, and Michael -- who appeared on Season 7 of with Juliana -- proceeded to announce his breakup from Juliana on October 12.After weeks of breakup speculation prompted by their social-media activity, Michael took to Instagram at the time and revealed he and Juliana were divorcing and his "heart is broken." "A quick break from my social media break to say... #HappyAnniversary @julianacustodiooo," Michael began.After posting multiple heart, cake and champagne emojis, Michael continued, "Today is only our second wedding anniversary and, sadly, our last."The Connecticut native described his split from Juliana as "a COVID-19 casualty" that won't be showing up in any statistics.Michael went on to address Juliana and wrote, "Thankfully, you are quickly emerging healthier and stronger than ever. Some of the rest of us will likely be staying in intensive care for quite some time."Michael complimented his estranged wife by calling her resilient, independent and strong, but then he added, "I understand how our situation throughout the pandemic could slowly, and eventually completely, drain you of these qualities.""All of us were completely drained by the end of it and I did not maintain the strength of mind and the fortitude to be the husband that you wanted me to be."Michael admitted he was under great "stress" and "pressure" to take care of his family last year and he did not recognize at the time just how much Juliana had been there for him."I do not blame you for wanting to leave and for desiring a new start. You are more suited for the life that you had before we met and I can understand why you would want to return," Michael wrote.Michael insisted Juliana's happiness "is more important" to him than being a part of her "unhappiness.""My love for you remains true and will always be there for you. I am happy that you have moved on and have quickly found someone new," Michael revealed, suggesting Juliana had already found a new boyfriend."I hope that you will have lasting love and happiness and achieve every dream that you set out upon. If anyone can do it, it is you, and I will always be rooting for you. I will remain with you in the wonderful memories that we shared together."Juliana subsequently posted a statement of her own, claiming Michael had lied about why they're divorcing Juliana insisted she had been the one supporting Michael financially and she "felt like a maid" in their house.Juliana wrote to Michael, "You pointed [out] the COVID-19 as one of the reasons we are [no] longer together, but we all know that there are more than that.""I am grateful for all the lessons and the moments we got to spend together and the beautiful memories with your family. As [you well] pointed out, we went through a lot together, the Covid was a hard time but the hardest part for me was to picture you as someone that would be by my side, and unfortunately, you showed something completely different."Juliana insisted she had done everything to keep Michael's family afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.According to In Touch, the home Michael and Juliana shared in Connecticut when they were married was under threat of foreclosure prior to their split. Michael was later approved for the Foreclosure Mediation Program in July 2021.As shown on a May 2020 episode of : Self-Quarantined on TLC, Michael and Juliana began quarantining in March 2020 with Sarah, Sean, Max and Cece.Sarah had been diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer in February 2020, and so the blended family decided to support one another -- although the living situation was a little hectic and became overwhelming at times, especially for Juliana, who confessed she was "frustrated" about constantly having to stay home."As everyone, we went through a hard time financially, but it was not a problem for me to help you, the kids, ex wife and her husband financially because I was the only one working at the time, but we all know how the situation wears out," Juliana wrote in October 2021."I wasn't part of the family anymore, I was feeling like a maid. It was toxic to a point. I was not living the life I wanted to live."Juliana, who moved to the United States in Summer 2019 and married Michael in October of that year, apparently lost sight of her own wants and needs in the relationship."I needed to leave because I wasn't recognizing who I am anymore. I left my life in Europe and career to live with you, because I loved you. But I love myself more, to the point to recognize I am important, and I want to be happy," Juliana explained.Juliana, however, refused to acknowledge she had already moved on and begun dating "someone new.""You say I have found 'someone new,' but the truth is, I found happiness within myself. I am happy with the new phase, and I ask you to let me go," Juliana insisted.She continued, "Stop making me feel guilty to put myself as the most important person because this is how we [are] supposed to do [things]. I apologize for the way this happened, but we talked multiple times about it and you never seemed to listen or try to understand me."Juliana went on to tell her followers that you must be happy in a relationship and stand up for yourself."Don't [be] afraid to live your best life because you're afraid of what people will think," Juliana explained."You are the only person that [knows] what you've been through. Everyone deserves respect, protection, understanding, love and kindness. Your value doesn't decrease based on someone's inability to see your worth."Juliana insisted that someone who values you would never put themselves "in a position to lose you," and no one should ever be afraid to start over.On September 30, 2021, Michael posted a picture with his daughter on Instagram and answered a few questions about his relationship status at the time.When an Instagram user asked if it's true Juliana had cheated on him, Michael replied, "I hope not!"And another follower asked Michael, "Did you divorce or not?"Michael firmly replied, "No."Juliana had alluded to a breakup with Michael in a series of September TikTok videos. Michael and the kids did not appear in any of her videos, and she complained about having to do all the grocery shopping.Juliana was previously married once before. She said on a episode she had felt pressure to enter an arranged marriage at age 19 and the union only lasted for one year.As for Michael, he had been married to Sarah for 20 years prior to Sarah officiating his wedding with Juliana. And Sarah tied the knot with Sean in November 2019.Juliana and Sarah ultimately became very close friends and got along well, and they made sure Michael's children were being raised in a loving environment with no hostility or resentment.During an April 2020 broadcast of Tamron Hall , Tamron videochatted with Michael, Juliana, Sarah and Sean, while they were all quarantining under one roof in Greenwich, CT.Sarah said she and her husband were planning a move to Los Angeles, CA, soon, and Michael was happy about his entire family being together, despite the group having little altercations here or there.Michael said there was no jealousy or rivalry between Juliana and Sarah, but he revealed how COVID-19 had a negative impact on Juliana's blossoming career."Juliana is just on the cusp of getting modeling jobs. She signed with a really great agency in New York City, and then suddenly, this happens and it's frustrating for her," Michael said.But Juliana and Michael agreed at the time their marriage hadn't crumbled under the stress of quarantining because Juliana was being "very patient."When asked to share the most difficult part of self-isolating together, Juliana joked, "Him having to see my face every day.""I love that!" Michael responded with a laugh, before Juliana admitted the hardest part was having to do all the housework solo.Michael appeared in distress based on Juliana's comment, so she kissed him on the cheek and assured him, "I love you. It's okay! I know you do everything, like pay the bills."Juliana had also shared how she didn't miss her old life in Brazil."To be honest, not really, because I always wanted to work to have a family in the future," Juliana told Tamron. "And now I have a family, so it's my dream come true."Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
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Darlene Smith looks over photos of her husband, Adam Smith, founder of Adam's Seafood Market, on Putney Road, in Brattleboro, Vt., on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. Adam died on May 9, 2022. There will be a celebration of life ceremony for him on Saturday, May 28, 2022, at the Brattleboro Eagles Club.
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After 10 years as one of four representatives for Walpole, Westmoreland, Chesterfield and Hinsdale, Paul Berch, a former public defender in Windham County, Vt., is running for one of two seats in a new Cheshire County District with more than 30,000 constituents.
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Tristan Roberts lives with his family in Halifax. At tristanroberts.co you can read more work and sign up for emails. Tristan would love to hear your thoughts on fathering, Venice, and anything else at tristan@thisspotonearth.com.
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DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  Executives with German automaker Volkswagen say at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that supply chain problems exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war are easing but theyre dealing with a huge backlog of orders.

Audi board member Hildegard Wortmann says the VW-owned brand has its highest level of orders at the moment, but customers are facing wait times of about year or more.

Chairman Herbert Diess says Volkswagen is seeing a clear improvement through summer on the supply of microchips it needs for its vehicles.

Diess says the automaker has no plans to pull out of Chinas Xinjiang region, where it has for years operated a factory and showrooms, despite repeated reports of abuses against ethnic Muslim groups there.

He says that while the companys Xinjiang operations are a negligible part of its overall China business, we think that we would worsen the situation for the people working in this plant and most importantly for the entire region if we would pull out.

Diess says being present in Xinjiang means VWs standards are respected and it can control the situation. He didn't elaborate.

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The head of the World Trade Organization said that leaders in developed nations will need to have the courage to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

At a separate session Wednesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also called for countries to avoid export restrictions on food as Russia prevents shiploads of Ukrainian grain from getting to poorer countries.

On a climate panel, she says it's tough to tell voters that theyre not going to have gas for heating and cooking. But sometimes if youre a brave leader, you have to have the courage to tell people that these are the tough choices we have to make.

Okonjo-Iweala also says the COVID-19 pandemic showed that rich nations do have the funding to deal with global emergencies, raising questions for poorer countries who were promised $100 billion to combat climate change.

In a panel on trade, she says 25 million tons of grain from Ukraine need be evacuated and another harvest is coming next month. She says, This food crisis is real and we must find solutions."

Europe is helping with land routes to get grain to ports in Poland other countries, and officials say there are talks on creating secure sea corridors.

Okonjo-Iweala says 22 WTO members have export restrictions, which she hopes to lower to avoid price spikes that exacerbate the problem.

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Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is calling for stronger gun legislation in the wake of the mass shooting in Texas that killed 21 people, mostly children.

Speaking on a climate panel Wednesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Gore said the latest mass shooting represented a uniquely American form of devastation.

Gore, who shared a Nobel Peace Prize with the U.N.s top body of climate scientists for their work on climate change, made the remarks on the panel on greenwashing, or businesses claiming to be environmentally friendly when they are not.

Gore also made a parallel between the failure to pass comprehensive gun control legislation in the U.S. with the seeming inability of Congress to pass major climate change legislation. He said lobbying and vested interests are able to maintain the status quo.

Gore says, Our democracy has been paralyzed, bought, captured. It has to stop.

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Both Ukrainian and European Union officials have pointed out how Europe is sending massive amounts of funding to Ukraine amid Russia's invasion, while still fueling Vladimir Putin's war machine by buying Moscow's oil and and natural gas.

European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said on a trade panel at the World Economic Forum gathering that the EU needs to act on energy if it wants to get at the heart of financing for Putin's war.

Otherwise, he said Wednesday, We are in somewhat of a paradoxical situation where we are providing massive support to Ukraine with one hand and then we provide financing to Putin to continue its war with another hand. So this clearly needs to stop."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba echoed the thought in separate comments at Davos. He says Europe has learned Russia uses energy as a weapon and that it's important to diversify.

He added, After three months of fighting, my message is simple: kill Russian exports."

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Israeli President Isaac Herzog is calling on other nations to consider a renewable Middle East as a resource for sustainable food, water and energy solutions.

At the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Herzog appealed Wednesday for a new partnership with nations in Europe, Asia and Africa modeled in part on the economic agreements Israel has struck with four Arab nations.

He says such new links would expand a zone of understanding, despite wide gaps and conflicting narratives about a surge in violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

Herzogs speech comes amid international criticism of Israels conduct, including over the recent killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin.

A reconstruction by The Associated Press lends support to assertions from Palestinian authorities and her colleagues that the bullet that killed her came from an Israeli gun.

Herzog, asked after his speech about Abu Aklehs death, called it a very tragic event but said there could be a few scenarios. That's an apparent reference to Israels insistence that Abu Akhleh could potentially have been killed by a Palestinian bullet.

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Financial officials at the World Economic Forums annual gathering in Davos say Russias war in Ukraine has been a major setback to the global economic recovery.

Gita Gopinath, IMFs first deputy managing director, said on a panel Wednesday about global growth that a confluence of shocks are hitting the world.

She says theres a cost-of-living crisis as prices of fuel, food and other commodities soar. On top of that, central banks are raising interest rates to tackle high inflation, China is seeing a slowdown amid COVID-19 lockdowns and the real estate sector is facing weaknesses.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde says the war in Ukraine has revealed that the problems are especially acute in Europe.

On a panel called European Unity in a Disordered World?, she said, Europe is 20% more open to global value chains vulnerabilities than other global markets. Because of that, Lagarde says, its not surprising that the breaking down and the bottlenecks of global value chains affect European companies and us more than others.

___

The World Economic Forum has unveiled an initiative to develop the metaverse, a virtual reality construct that many tech companies are betting will be the next big thing for the internet.

The metaverse will merge virtual life with real life and create endless new playgrounds and workspaces for users equipped with virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices.

The forum said Wednesday that it will work with businesses, regulators, civil society and academic experts to help define and build the metaverse. The focus will be on governing the metaverse as well as how to create economic and societal value.

In a panel talk on the metaverse, Facebook parent Meta's chief product officer, Chris Cox, says he envisioned the need for standards and governance. Meta is betting big on the metaverse as the next big source of the companys growth.

He says there will probably be something like a ratings system" for movies, music and other content in the metaverse so parents and young people can have some sense of what the rules are in the environment that theyre going to walk into.

Cox compared it to walking into a bar versus a playground, which each have a different expectation of the rules that govern those places.

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A top Saudi official has touted a dual strategy of increasing oil production capacity for export abroad while advocating for a domestic reduction of emissions in line with Saudi Arabias net-zero pledge.

Saudi Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal al-Ibrahim said on a panel at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that these two points do not contradict each other."

He said Wednesday that focusing on climate change without focusing on energy security could lead to more countries burning the dirtiest kind of coal in a time of need.

Climate activists and many scientists and energy experts argue otherwise, advocating for an immediate end to greater investment in fossil fuels to keep global temperatures from rising further.

Al-Ibrahim says energy demand from oil will continue to increase and that higher prices and revenue from oil will help the country reach its 2060 net-zero targets quicker.

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The World Economic Forum and leaders of some of the worlds largest businesses are announcing the expansion of a partnership aimed at propelling green technologies.

The First Movers Coalition includes businesses that make major purchases around green technologies and down their supply chains. The idea is to send market signals that lead to more investing and scaling up of technologies like green steel, green hydrogen and carbon capture.

On Wednesday, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry was joined by Bill Gates, Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff, Google Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat and several others to announce in Davos that the number of companies had gone from more than 30 to 55.

Sweden, India, Japan, Denmark, the United Kingdom and other countries also joined the partnership, first launched by the U.S. and World Economic Forum.

Gates says so many green products carry a price premium compared with established fossil fuel technologies and that the way you get rid of that is scale up the production.

The worlds top climate scientists warn that greenhouse gas emissions must be sharply reduced this decade to keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 F) since pre-industrial times.

___

The CEO of Ukraines largest private energy company says it wont buy any energy from Russia as long as hes in charge and insists the European Union can start making up for its dramatic mistake of growing dependent on Russian oil and natural gas by buying energy from Ukraine.

Maxim Timchenko of DTEK Group told The Associated Press at the World Economic Forums gathering in Davos that consumption of its services in Ukraine has dropped 35% since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. He says some of that excess electricity could be shipped to Europe.

Millions of Ukrainians fled their homes during the war, which also has upended business operations and their electricity needs.

Hours before the war erupted, DTEK disconnected from the grids of Belarus and Russia as part of a test run, and Timchenko says it hasnt restored the connection. In mid-March, he says the company synchronized with the EU grid  but only in emergency mode.

He says that doesn't allow the country to get revenue from exporting electricity and that Ukraine needs this revenue to support financial stability of our energy system.

___

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that his country will not give up its land to end Russia's war.

Speaking by video link Wednesday at a Ukrainian breakfast" during the World Economic Forum's gathering in Davos, Zelenskyy said he didn't believe Russian president Vladimir Putin fully understood what was going on in Ukraine.

Responding to a question from CNN's Fareed Zakaria about whether it was possible to negotiate an end to the conflict, Zelenskyy said through a translator that Ukraine is not going to concede our territory. We are fighting in our country, on our land."

He added that it's a war not against anybody but for our land, for our freedom, for our independence, and for our future."

As a first step to diplomatic negotiations, Zelenskyy says Russia would need to demonstrate its desire to engage in talks and should demonstrate at least something like steps withdrawing their troops and equipment to the position before the 24th of February, when the invasion began.

___

Pfizer says it will provide nearly two dozen products, including its top-selling COVID-19 vaccine and treatment, at not-for-profit prices in some of the worlds poorest countries.

The drugmaker announced the program Wednesday at the World Economic Forums annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, and said it was aimed at improving health equity in 45 lower-income countries. Most of the countries are in Africa, but the list also includes Haiti, Syria, Cambodia and North Korea.

The products, which are widely available in the U.S. and the European Union, include 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, some cancers and rare and inflammatory conditions. Company spokeswoman Pam Eisele says only a small number of the medicines and vaccines are available in the 45 countries.

Eisele says New York-based Pfizer will charge only manufacturing costs and minimal distribution expenses. It will comply with any sanctions and all other applicable laws.

This month, the head of the World Health Organization called on Pfizer to make its COVID-19 treatment more widely available in poorer countries.
LITCHFIELD  Visit Litchfield CT, an initiative of the Litchfield Economic Development Commission, has launched an Instagram Live series of conversations with leaders of local attractions.

Broadcast live on Instagram on Wednesdays at 10 a.m., the series is hosted by Lindsey Turner, Vice Chairwoman of the EDC.

To watch, follow @VisitLitchfieldCT on Instagram. When a conversation is starting, the profile will appear at the top of your feed with a ring around it and the word Live. Tap or click to view the broadcast.

Heres the upcoming schedule:

May 25: Dean Birdsall, Stewardship Chairman, Litchfield Land Trust.

Topic: Litchfield Land Trust history, mission, and how to enjoy the trails, as well as a discussion of things planned for Connecticut Trail Days June 4 and 5.

June 1: Colleen Stradtman, President of the Board, Friends of Topsmead State Forest

Topic: A general introduction to Topsmead and a preview of a Screening of Topsmead: One Ladys Legacy at Bantam Cinema & Arts Center June 5 from 6-7:15 p.m.

June 8: Topic: Colleen Kinkade talking about this years Litchfield Hills Road Race, followed by Economic Development Commission member Michelle Murelli of Art Tripping previewing the first-ever Litchfield Makers Market to be held on the Saturday of Road Race Weekend.

On April 27, Turner covered this seasons opening weekend and the new exhibits, To Certain Western Lands, introducing visitors to Connecticuts Western Reserve, now in present day Ohio, and Antiquarian to Accredited: A Look Inside the Historical Society.

On May 11 the topic was the historical societys Tapping Reeve House and Litchfield Law School, the first law school in the nation.

A third conversation focusing on the walking tours for children and families is also planned.

Follow @VisitLitchfieldCT on Instagram, and on Facebook. The website is VisitLitchfieldCT website, where theres an email newsletter sign up at the bottom of the home page.
The Candlelight Party called on authorities to protect candidates in races for local commune councils.

Members of Cambodias largest opposition party said on Tuesday their campaign signs for June 5 elections in southern Siem Reap province were vandalized and destroyed in the latest of a pattern of harassment.

Candlelight Party officials have complained for weeks about incidents of harassment by local officials representing Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP).

Every five years, voters in the nation of 16 million people elect councils to represent rural precincts know as communes and urban districts called sangkat.

This year some 86,000 candidates from 17 political parties are competing for 11,622 seats in 1,652 precincts nationwide.

While the councils hold relatively little power, the June 5 election will test the dominance of the CPP and the limits of political freedom for opponents five years into Hun Sens crackdown on civil society, media and the internet.

Sock Kissing, the chief of the Candlelight Partys northwestern province, told RFAs Khmer Service that signs his party hung in public places were deliberately destroyed, which he said shows the bias held by local officials toward the CPP.

The Candlelight Party urges the authorities to provide equal protection toward the partys candidates, supporters and party property, he said.

The Candlelight Party has risen from the ashes of the main opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party, whose strong showing in previous communal elections in 2017 prompted Hun Sen to have the party dissolved and its candidates banned from politics, paving the way for his CPP to win all 125 parliamentary seats in 2018.

With its rise has come what Candlelight officials say are made-up accusations that the party has used fake names for candidates and has put forward candidates in violation of Cambodian election laws.

Several Candlelight Party activists have been jailed on allegations of submitting false documents to run in the communal elections, and many others say they have been harassed or attacked by people loyal to the CPP.

Sock Kissing said that although authorities are monitoring the campaign trail in Siem Reap, they are watching his party in hopes of catching its candidates slip up, rather than ensuring a free and fair election. He intends to file a complaint with the National Election Commission.

The Provincial Election Committees secretariat chief, Men Vann Sam, told RFA that he had worked with local officials to resolve all complaints.

We are investigating the incidents with local authorities. We are working for all parties, not only the Candlelight Party, he said.

Norn Thera, a Candlelight candidate in Siem Reap, told RFA that he also submitted complaints about political harassment, which makes it hard to conduct a campaign fairly.

I am very sad over the incidents. I cant accept it. Many partys banners were destroyed in public spaces, he said.

Destruction of any political partys property is a crime that affects the political rights of the Cambodians, Sam Kuntheamy, director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, told RFA.

Voting holiday for textile workers

The labor ministry announced Tuesday it will give garment factory workers three days paid leave from June 4-6 to vote.

Yang Sophoan, director of the Cambodia Alliance of Trade Unions, told RFA that the move is a possible indication of CPPs confidence in its position heading into the election.

It shows that the CPP thinks it has a huge advantage in the election, she said.

Before the pandemic, Cambodias garment sector employed about 1 million workers and accounted for 45 percent of Cambodias exports.

The CPP, the only party large enough to field candidates nationwide, is expected to win a landslide victory, enjoying the power of incumbency and patronage in what Hun Sun has effectively turned into a one-party state at the national level.

The government should allow time for workers from remote areas of the country to travel back home to vote, Ath Thun, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, told RFA.

Government spokesperson Phay Siphan said the government was not considering extending the voter leave beyond three days. Given the countrys modern infrastructure, he said workers should not need more than 10 hours of travel.

The government is not covering transportation expenses, Phay Siphan said. The Ministry of Labor, however, urged factories to pay the workers before they leave to vote, or at least loan them money for travel expenses.

Meanwhile, NGOs monitoring the campaign say they have reported no serious incidents so far.

Kang Savang, a monitor with the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, said parties have continued to conduct their campaigns, including by marching and distributing leaflets.

There is no serious irregularity or threat during this election campaign, he said.

The National Election Commission issued a statement Tuesday that said the campaigns were proceeding normally.

In general, the election campaign in the fourth day went smoothly with security, safety and order, without violence or intimidation, it said.

Translate by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Hundreds of students have been gathering this week at two Beijing universities to protest over COVID-19 restrictions, according to video footage uploaded to social media.



Hundreds of students at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) and at Beijing Normal University (Beishida) gathered to show their displeasure with current restrictions on their movements, as the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to roll out its zero-COVID policy across the country following a grueling weeks-long lockdown in Shanghai.



The protests came as district officials in Beijing's Haidian district announced a local lockdown, with classes at the two universities suspended from .



Students at CUPL gathered in their hundreds outside the main block, lighting up their phone flashlights, and demanding the option to go back home, as well as clear information about the timing of final exams and greater transparency from the school administration.



The rally was followed by a similar gathering at Beishida on , during which some protesters shouted historic slogans linked to China's first peasant uprising in 209 BC.



Footage of the protest posted to social media showed a crowd of people waving their lit-up mobile phones.



"Everyone is concerned right now about the policies the university is announcing," a student says in one of the clips. "[We] demand clarification of the timing and methods used for the final exams, and that they respond positively to student demands, with no backlash or interviews."



A poster at Beishida said the administration had given them a verbal promise that they would be able to at least apply to go back home for the duration of the COVID-19 measures, and promised not to retaliate against students who took part in the protest.



A scene of students at Beijing Normal University rallying against restrictions on their movements under the Chinese Communist Party's zero-COVID policy, May 24, 2022. Credit: Participants. 'They want their freedom back'

A Weibo post said some 300 people turned out on evening, although around 500 were expected to take part.



Another source said most of the students were angry over the decision to stop face-to-face classes, while still requiring students' presence on campus to take part in online classes, citing other students at different universities in the same district who were being allowed home.



A resident of Haidian who gave only the surname Zhang said the students want some measure of freedom back.



"Students feel that being stuck indoors all day isn't what they signed up for, and they want their freedom back," Zhang said. "Similar incidents took place at the Beijing International Studies University (BISU)."



"I don't know when Beijing will get back to normal; they are estimating not until June," Zhang said.



Beishida announced on that many students are currently on their way back home to study from their hometowns, and will complete their studies and exams online.



June 4 anniversary approaches

People's University alumnus Guo Baosheng, who now lives in the U.S., said students have shown that there is still a spirit of resistance, and that the university's diplomatic approach -- at least promising to meet some of their demands -- was likely due to the fast-approaching 33rd anniversary of the student-led protests of 1989 and their bloody conclusion in the Tiananmen massacre.



"One of the reasons for the compromise is that zero-COVID is causing very real public resentment," Guo told RFA. "The lower-ranking cadres, including school leaders, are actually very unhappy about the zero-COVID approach, and should be somewhat flexible."



"Another reason is that we are entering the most sensitive period for Beijing colleges and universities, namely, the anniversary of , 1989," he said.



Guo said the authorities typically step up surveillance and monitoring of students' activities in the run-up to the anniversary.



"I was a key target in my school around the anniversary in 1993," he said. "The school leaders will need to guide students [to a satisfactory resolution] before [the anniversary], so as to minimize potential instability."



This year's anniversary is all the more sensitive as it falls ahead of the 20th party congress later this year, during which CCP leader Xi Jinping is hoping to be voted in for an unprecedented third term in office.



The official website of the Tiananmen district management committee of the Beijing municipal government said on it is suspending all spontaneous visits to Tiananmen Square through .



Tourists wishing to view the square must book a slot a day in advance, have a green code on their COVID-19 test and trace app, and a negative PCR test from within the last 48 hours, it said. All visitors will have to pass through security checkpoints, as usual.



Meanwhile, Chaoyang district resident Ye Jinghuan said the area has been under tight restrictions for the past 20 days, with all residents required to work from home, and schools, restaurants and public transportation all shut down.



"The most unbelievable thing about this is that many communities are totally negative, and yet they are still under lockdown," Ye told RFA.



"If you want to leave Shibalidian township, you need to get a pass, a PCR test certifcate and so on," Ye said. "As of [], five Beijing districts have required residents to work from home and shut down public transportation."



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
The two militaries staged the patrol in accordance with their annual military cooperation plan, China said.

Japanese fighter jets scramble to intercept a suspected intrusion into Japans airspace over the Sea of Japan.

Japan has described as provocative a joint patrol by Chinese and Russian air forces over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, conducted when Quad leaders met in Tokyo to discuss regional security.

At Tuesdays meeting, the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States declared a steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi said after the summit that Japan had communicated through our diplomatic routes our grave concerns over the China-Russia joint patrol.

We believe the fact that this action was taken during the Quad summit makes it more provocative than in the past, Kishi told reporters in Tokyo, adding that it was the fourth such incident since November.

The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a brief statement that a joint aerial strategic patrol was carried out in the airspace over the waters of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean.

The two militaries staged the patrol in accordance with their annual military cooperation plan, the statement said.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied that the joint patrol was aimed against third countries.

It said that during the 13-hour mission Russian and Chinese bombers did not intrude into Japanese and South Korean airspace.

South Korea said at least four Chinese and four Russian warplanes entered its air defense zone several times during the day of the patrol, Reuters reported.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend an event during the summit of Quad leaders in Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2022. Credit: Reuters. China-Russia no-limit partnership

The Russian ministry maintained that the Russian and Chinese aircraft  operated strictly in compliance with the provisions of international law.

It said the patrol included Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers of the Russian Aerospace Force and Hong-6K (commonly known as Xian H-6) strategic bombers of the Air Force of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA).

A number of Russian Su-30SM jets provided fighter support for this air task force and at some sections of the route, the bombers were escorted by F-2 aircraft of the South Korean Air Force and F-15 jets of the Japanese Air Force, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Japans Ministry of Defense Joint Staff confirmed that Japanese fighters scrambled to cope with a suspected intrusion into Japans airspace over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

It said in a press release that Japan identified four Chinese H-6 bombers, two Russian Tu-95 bombers and a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Chinese and Russian air forces have conducted such joint strategic air patrol. The two militaries have also carried out numerous joint exercises on land and at sea.

At a briefing on Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the latest event demonstrated that the Sino-Russian partnership is quite alive and well.

Russias President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a summit in February, in which they praised the bilateral partnership as having "no limits" and "no forbidden areas of cooperation."

China-Russia cooperation is driven by strong internal dynamics and valued for its independence. It is not targeted at any third party and will not be affected by others, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Tuesday.

The Russia-initiated war in Ukraine has pushed the two countries even closer and Beijing has so far refused to condemn the Russian invasion.

As the international community responds to Russias aggression against Ukraine, the fact that China took such action in collaboration with Russia, which is the aggressor, is cause for concern. It cannot be overlooked, Japanese Defense Minister Kishi said, referring to Tuesdays joint patrol.

Containing China

The Quad summit on Tuesday, though not mentioning China, did reaffirm the groupings resolve to uphold the international rules-based order where countries are free from all forms of military, economic and political coercion.

Analysts say the four Quad nations share concerns about Chinas growing influence and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

Beijing has been responding to international criticism by holding military drills and deployments.

On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden said his country is "committed" to defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

On the same day, China announced increased naval activities in the two strategically important straits northwest and southwest of Japan.

Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said two Type 054A frigates of the PLA Navy - the Xuzhou and the Handan - transited the Tsushima Strait towards the Sea of Japan while the Sovremenny-class destroyer Hangzhou entered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Miyako Strait from the East China Sea.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the PLA Eastern Theater Command said it has recently organized joint combat-readiness patrol and real-combat training exercises involving multiple services and arms in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island.

These actions are stern warning against the recent collusion activities between the US and the Taiwan independence separatist forces, said command spokesperson, Senior Col. Shi Yi. He did not specify the dates when the exercises took place.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that should be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

The Eastern Theater Command of the PLA is responsible for Taiwan, Japan and the East China Sea.
A team of 13 officials, doctors and technicians traveled to Pyongyang to help fight a recent outbreak.

Army medics involved in medicine supply distribution work at a pharmacy amid concerns of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread in Pyongyang, North Korea May 22, 2022 in this photo released May 23, 2022 by the country's Korean Central News Agency.

A Chinese delegation of medical experts has arrived in Pyongyang to advise North Korea on strategies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been spreading rapidly over the past month, sources in both countries told RFA.

Though North Korea has been reluctant to ask for foreign help during the pandemic, Pyongyang specifically requested that China send a team of experts for guidance, a North Korea-related source in Beijing told RFAs Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Last week 13 medical officials, doctors and medical technicians left Beijing for Pyongyang, and they are currently staying at the National Academy of Sciences in Pyongyangs Unjong district, the source said on Sunday.

North Korea requested help in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 across the country, especially around the Pyongyang area, he said.

The Chinese experts will work closely with North Koreas National Emergency Quarantine Command, hoping to pass on practical knowledge and expertise in dealing with the virus. They will also train North Korean medical personnel.

So far, China has provided supplies like COVID-19 test kits, protective shields, and vaccines to North Korea. In the future, China will also provide support for production technologies and facilities that can produce diagnostic kits, said the source.

North Korea last year rejected 3 million doses of Chinas Sinovac vaccine last September, saying that other countries needed them more. The vaccines the source was referring to are not confirmation that North Korea has begun officially accepting vaccines from China.

Sources have told RFA that doses for elite members of society have made their way to Pyongyang in small amounts.

For more than two years, North Korea denied that any of its citizens had contracted the coronavirus. This month, Pyongyang finally announced its first cases and deaths, saying the Omicron variant had begun to spread among participants of a large-scale military parade in late April.

The country declared a maximum emergency, but the situation has worsened as nearly 3 million people have reported having symptoms of the virus. The government has been isolating suspected patients, but the countrys healthcare system is woefully underdeveloped and ill-prepared to withstand the shocks of a major pandemic.

As COVID-19 cases increased drastically in Pyongyang, the Central Committee of the ruling Korean Workers Party requested urgent assistance from China, a resident of Pyongyang told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

They asked for China to provide medical equipment such as COVID-19 vaccines, test kits and protective clothing and face shields, said the second source.

While the medical equipment is being brought to Pyongyang, the Central Committee has also requested Chinas help in releasing technology needed to help with biological research, he said.

The government established a bio-research center to fight COVID-19, but it hasnt produced any results yet due to a lack of overseas knowledge.

China agreed to help with our request. The medical staff and technicians came to Pyongyang last week and have been conducting technical training at the National Academy of Science Bio research center located in Pyongyang, he said.

North Koreas state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported on May 14 that the countrys leader, Kim Jong Un, ordered researchers to learn from Chinas quarantine achievements and experiences.

The Chinese government is willing to support and strengthen cooperation with North Korea during the COVID-19 response, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

About 2.9 million people have been hit by outbreaks of fever, 68 of whom have died, according to data based on reports from North Korean state media published by 38 North, a site that provides analysis on the country and is run by the U.S.-based think tank the Stimson Center. Around 2.5 million are reported to have made recoveries, while 400,200 are undergoing treatment.

The country has only a handful of confirmed COVID-19 cases, which 38 North attributed to insufficient testing capabilities. Data published on the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center showed North Korea with only one confirmed COVID-19 case and six deaths as of Tuesday evening.

Tuesday marked the first day that no new deaths were recorded since North Korea declared the emergency on May 12, the state-run Korea Central News Agency reported.

"In a few days after the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system was activated, the nation-wide morbidity and mortality rates have drastically decreased and the number of recovered persons increased, resulting in effectively curbing and controlling the spread of the pandemic disease and maintaining the clearly stable situation," KCNA said.

Reuters reported that many analysts doubt the accuracy of the statement, citing the difficulty of assessing the true scale of the virus spread throughout the country.

Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Filippo Grandi (center), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, talks with Rohingya refugees during his visit to the Kutupalong camp in Ukhia, Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, May 22, 2022.

Despite the Ukraine war, the world mustnt forget about the plight of Rohingya and other refugees as well as the burden of their host countries, the head of the U.N.s refugee agency pleaded Wednesday as he ended a five-day trip to Bangladesh.

The conflict stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its humanitarian fallout is straining resources everywhere, including in supporting the sprawling refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh along the frontier with Myanmar, said Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

I am here to remind the international community that there is not just Ukraine. Bangladesh has been bearing the responsibilities for five years and this support cannot decline, he told a press conference in Dhaka.

I will not accept it. I will put maximum pressure on all donor partners.

It is very important that the world knows this should not be forgotten . The risk is there of marginalization of some of the crises because so many resources are absorbed, especially by the Ukraine emergency, he added.

The camps in Bangladeshs Coxs Bazar district house about 1 million Rohingya refugees, including 740,000 who fled atrocities during a military offensive in Myanmars Rakhine state in 2017.

But only 13 percent of the U.S. $881 million needed by humanitarian agencies this year to support the Rohingya refugees in the South Asian nation has been funded as of May.

I am a bit worried... first of all, there are a bit more needs because there is also Bhashan Char, and now in Ukraine, in Afghanistan and a lot of other competing crises, we struggle a bit, but I am here also for that reason, Grandi said.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Grandi visited refugee camps in both Coxs Bazar and on Bhashan Char.

Grandi said the war in Ukraine had added an additional financial burden on the United Nations, which was affecting the Rohingya camps as well.

The Ukraine emergency is posing a problem here as well. We buy liquid gas for  [these] camps. That price has gone up a lot and this is a direct impact of the crisis, he said.

When asked, Grandi acknowledged that funding for the Rohingya refugees would be more difficult than before.

I think the government knows that, we know that, and the donors know that.

The solution to the Rohingya crisis lies in Myanmar, the UNHCR chief said.

The Rohingya refugees I met reiterated their desire to return home when conditions allow. The world must work to address the root causes of their flight and to translate those dreams into reality, Grandi said.

Filippo Grandi (center), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, walks inside the Kutupalong refugee camp in Coxs Bazar district in Bangladesh, May 22, 2022. Credit: UNHCR. Grandi talked with Rohingya about their situation during his visit to refugee camps earlier this week, said Kin Maung, the founder of the Rohingya Youth Association in Coxs Bazar.

We hope, following the visit of UNHCR boss, the process of repatriation will get more focus, he told BenarNews.

We want to return to our homeland with dignity.
The military situation in eastern Ukraine is even worse than people say it is, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said as Russian forces continue to thrust ahead in the Donbas.

Kuleba made the statement during a live question-and-answer session with Twitter users in which he also said the country needs heavy weapons now to effectively fight Russia and said peace talks with Moscow were not really taking place.



Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar told a press briefing that battles in the east had reached "maximum intensity," with Russian forces storming positions simultaneously.



"We have an extremely difficult and long stage of fighting ahead of us," she said.



Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 26, said during the call he felt not even a glimmer of hope for peace.



Draghi told a news conference that he did, however, feel a readiness on Putin's part to try to find a solution to the international food crisis.

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.

According to the Kremlin, Putin told Draghi that Russia "is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through the export of grain and fertilizer on the condition that politically motivated restrictions imposed by the West are lifted."



Britain immediately accused Russia of "trying to hold the world to ransom," insisting there would be no sanctions relief.



Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Putin had "essentially weaponized hunger and lack of food among the poorest people around the world."



Speaking during a visit to Sarajevo, she said any appeasement "will simply make Putin stronger in the longer term."

The White House said there were no talks being held about relaxing sanctions on Russia in order to get grain exports.



Ukraine is one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, corn, and sunflower oil, but Russian forces are currently blocking Ukraine's Black Sea ports, endangering world food supplies.



The international community has been calling on Russia to unblock the ports and allow the export of Ukrainian grain.



The Russian Defense Ministry has proposed a corridor to allow foreign ships to leave Black Sea ports and another to allow vessels to leave Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.



Kuleba said his country was ready to agree on safe corridors in principle but was not sure if it could trust Russia.



The question is how to ensure that "Russia will not violate the agreement on the safe passage and its military vessels will not sneak into the harbor and attack Odesa," he said.

Russian forces briefly reached the last highway out of two key cities which they have been attempting to encircle as Western leaders reiterated that Putin will not win the war.

Russian forces shelled 40 towns in the easternmost pocket still held by Kyiv in the Donbas, Ukraine's military said on May 26.

Russians were advancing on the key twin cities of Syevyerodonetsk and Lysychansk, which lie on either side of the Siverskiy Donets River, with the fighting reaching the limits of Syevyerodonetsk.

Serhiy Hayday, the governor of the Luhansk region, acknowledged that Ukrainian forces were retreating, but said the last road out of Lysychansk and Syevyerodonetsk remained outside of Russian control.

"The Russian Army has thrown all its forces into the fight to capture the Luhansk region. There is heavy fighting on the outskirts of Syevyerodonetsk in one direction. They are simply destroying the city," Hayday said.



Hayday said in an interview posted on social media, that "some 50" Russian soldiers had reached the highway linking Lysychansk to Ukrainian-held Bakhmut, and "managed to gain a foothold for some time" before being "thrown back."



Hayday said Ukrainian forces "are slowly retreating to more fortified positions," and indicated that further Ukrainian withdrawals would follow as "we need to win the war, not the battle."

The head of the local military-civil administration in Syevyerodonetsk said the city had been under "constant fire" for the past week-and-a-half, and 90 percent of housing had been damaged by the fighting.



Oleksandr Stryuk, speaking to Ukraine's NV radio station, said some 12,000-13,000 people are still thought to be in the city that had a pre-war population of 100,000 -- many of them sheltering in basements.

The fall of the two cities would leave the whole of the Luhansk region under Russian control, one of the Kremlin's goals in its war.

A senior U.S. Defense Department official said at a briefing on May 26 that Russian forces had made incremental progress in the northeastern Donbas region.



The strategy of encircling the whole Donbas region hasnt worked, the official said, so the Russians have started trying to pinch off the far eastern elements of the Ukrainian forces between Syevyerodonetsk and Popasna. It is still an effort to encircle Ukrainian forces and cut them off but on a smaller scale, the official said.



The official also provided an accounting of the equipment losses of the Russian forces in the war thus far, saying they were "not insignificant."

The losses include almost 1,000 tanks, 350 artillery pieces, almost three dozen fighter aircraft, and more than 50 helicopters. But the official said the Russian military still has a lot of capability left.

Despite its current momentum, Russia cannot win, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the World Economic Forum in Davos on May 26.



Scholz said that three months of war, "the capture of the whole of Ukraine seems further away now than at the beginning of the war."



"Putin must not win his war, and I am convinced he will not win," Scholz said.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, CNN, and the BBC
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has left nearby Moldova feeling vulnerable and threatened.

With a small military of its own and a decades-long frozen conflict in breakaway Transdniester fueled in large part by Moscow, impoverished Moldova is worried it could be the Kremlin's next target.

The United States and Britain, as well as the EU, have recently come forward with proposals to beef up Moldova's modest military.

That has sparked a debate in this country of some 2.6 million people about abolishing its neutral status, with many arguing it no longer serves the country's best interests. Moldova's neutrality is enshrined in the country's post-Soviet constitution.

Chisinau needs to be roused from its "slumber and inertia" to resolve its security challenges given Russia's "relentless war in Ukraine," said Igor Munteanu, a recent Moldovan ambassador to the United States.

"Everything is related to this paradigm of neutrality which was, as I said in a certain way, a geopolitical rape...by imposing a poisonous peace and limits of external action by accepting neutrality since 1994," Munteanu recently told RFE/RL's Moldovan Service.

The debate on whether Moldova should scrap neutrality and move closer to NATO intensified after British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told The Daily Telegraph on May 20 that Moldova should be "equipped to NATO standard" to help protect it against the threat of a Russian invasion.

She said it was clear that, despite limited success in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin retained "ambitions to create a greater Russia."

Moldova, once a Soviet republic, sits on Ukraine's southwestern border. It does not share a border with Russia, but is close to some of the regions currently occupied by Russian forces in Ukraine's south. Moldova is not a member of NATO, although it did apply to join the European Union less than two weeks after the invasion of Ukraine. The country's pro-Russian opposition has not welcomed Western proposals of military help.

Truss's offer was not the first by a Western official. Derek Chollet, a senior policy adviser to the U.S. secretary of state, said on May 17 in Chisinau that the United States wants to help the Moldovan Army become "more capable, more effective, and more modern in order to defend its sovereignty and territory."

During a visit on May 4, European Council President Charles Michel said the European Union would provide military equipment to the Moldovan military.

How Neutrality Could Help Moldova

But would scrapping neutrality mean much to Moldova in practical terms?

It has not stopped Moldova in the past or present from cooperating with NATO, notes political analyst Cristian Vlas. "Moldova's neutrality status does not prohibit the government from interacting with the NATO military or other militaries," Vlas told RFE/RL in e-mailed remarks.

In fact, Moldova has long had close ties with NATO, Vlas explained, pointing to the latest agreement between Moldova and NATO, the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) that covers 2022 and 2023.

"This is in line with the constitution and contains joint plans for security assistance, and, in a larger sense, for the Moldovan security sector," Vlas said.

NATO has an "open door" policy, meaning it is open to any European country joining as long as the proposed member is "in a position to further the principlesand to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area."

In practical terms, scrapping neutrality "would extend the possibilities for training, receiving military equipment, and creating a belief among citizens that the army is fulfilling its role," said Munteanu.

However, dropping its neutrality would only mean something if Moldova could afford to invest in its army as a member of NATO, said Dionis Cenusa, a visiting fellow at the Vilnius-based Eastern Europe Studies Center.

"No neutrality means applying for NATO membership, but it was rejected for Ukraine and Georgia and it is very unpopular in Moldova," Cenusa told RFE/RL, referring to Kyiv's and Tbilisi's so far fruitless efforts to join the Western military alliance, something NATO left open at its summit in Bucharest in 2008.

"The government in Chisinau faces a dilemma," said Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the London-based Center for European Reform. "Over the last few decades, the divide between Chisinau and Tiraspol has to some extent been blurred by Transdniester's business interest in taking advantage of Moldova's (very slow) integration in European markets, while Moldova's neutrality has kept it out of Russia's eyeline."

Moldova's Meager Military

Given its neutral status plus a lack of funds, Moldova has not allocated much in past years to defense spending, explained Alexandru Flenchea, a former Moldovan minister, in a Telegram post. He noted that defense spending has never exceeded 0.4 percent of GDP.

The military budget for 2021 was reportedly said to be some 914 million Moldovan leu ($48 million) and the number of active military personnel numbers about 5,000, with a further 66,000 possible reservists.

The Western offers to bolster Moldova's meager military came after President Maia Sandu said on April 27 that the armed forces had been ignored for 30 years and that they were due a much-needed overhaul, noted Igor Botan, the director of the Moldovan think tank, the Association for Participatory Democracy.

Moldova must jump at the chance of Western military aid, argued Botan, and compile a list of defensive weapons that its military urgently needs "to prove it is willing to defend itself."

"If they want to ensure the sovereignty and independence of Moldova, the authorities must create a minimum capacity to withstand a possible invasion so that they can be helped later. Otherwise, if the Republic of Moldova is attacked and does not resist, then it will be a kind of Crimea that will be said to have agreed to be incorporated into the Russian Federation," Botan wrote, referring to Russia's relatively quick military seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula in March 2014.

"As for the U.K. offer, I personally cannot tell what will be on the table. It is certain that the government will not demand more than it can handle and will be mostly focused on cybersecurity, intelligence capabilities, border protection, and, maybe, air defense systems (this might be an overstretch)," Vlas commented to RFE/RL.

Russia's Reaction

Following the offer of military aid to Moldova by Truss, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Moscow was watching Chisinau's reaction, but that the supply of NATO weapons to a neutral state "raised questions."

Since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Chisinau has watched warily, concerned that the Kremlin may have its territory in its sights next.

Those fears were further fueled on April 22, when a senior Russian general, Rustam Minnekayev, spoke about Russia occupying southern Ukraine and the possibility of securing a "road out" to the breakaway region of Transdniester, where he said -- without offering any evidence -- that Russian speakers faced persecution.

Russia has around 2,000 troops in Transdniester, most of them guarding an ammunition depot at Cobasna, the largest such facility in Eastern Europe.

Separatist Transdniester also has its own armed forces, which number between 4,000 and 7,500, although little is known of their fighting capabilities or equipment.

While most military analysts believe Russia does not have the military resources to launch a fresh offensive toward Transdniester, the region witnessed a flare-up in unrest last month.

In late April, the de facto Transdniester authorities said that explosions had targeted their state security headquarters in the main city of Tiraspol, Soviet-era radio towers used to broadcast Russian news, and a military unit in a village outside the city.

Separatists in Transdniester blamed Ukrainian "infiltrators," while Kyiv said Russian special services were responsible.

Political Divide

Inside Moldova, the pro-Russia opposition socialists issued a statement on May 23 expressing "deep concern" over the British foreign minister's comments and "strongly condemned" consultations between Moldovan authorities and NATO member states if they took place "behind closed doors."

It was under the socialists, think tank director Botan pointed out, that Moldova first began strengthening ties in 2006 by signing its first NATO IPAP.

"If we remind the opposition who launched cooperation with NATO then we see how the current arguments of the opposition aren't convincing," said Botan.

Any compromise between the two sides may be unlikely especially after former President Igor Dodon was detained by police on corruption charges on May 24.

Dodon, a close ally of Putin, was president of Moldova from 2016 to 2020. He was defeated in November 2020 by Maia Sandu, a U.S.-educated politician who ran on a ticket of closer relations with the West.

The former ambassador Munteanu admitted that any debate on altering Moldova's security status will take time and wont happen overnight.

"Nobody is demanding immediate NATO membership," Munteanu said, calling for a "national dialogue" on the security direction Moldova will ultimately take.
ASHGABAT -- Many beauty salons in Turkmenistan are defying a ban by the authoritarian government on certain fashion accessories -- such as fake eyelashes and acrylic nails -- and continue to secretly offer the forbidden services to trusted customers, Ashgabat resident say.

On paper, most beauty salons and womens hairdressers only provide limited services like trimming hair and simple manicures and pedicures that are not covered by the ban.

But for their loyal customers many salons continue to offer their full array of products and services behind closed doors, many clients and salon owners told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity.

Fearing random police raids on the salons, some beauticians have even started accepting customers in their homes or those of their clients, they added.

Since April, Turkmenistan has effectively banned women from wearing excessive make-up, tight-fitting clothes, false nails, and eyelashes as part of a broader set of restrictions on womens freedoms.

Microblading eyebrows -- which is hugely popular among Turkmen women -- has also been banned.

Women have also been ordered not to dye or bleach their hair, get Botox injections, or cosmetically enhance their breasts or lips.

The ban came with no official announcement or explanation and is being enforced by law enforcement agencies and womens employers.

Hundreds of women have been stopped by police because they were suspected of having lip fillers or false eyelashes. It is estimated that dozens of women have lost their jobs at the national airline and railway services for allegedly having breast implants and/or lip fillers.

But the official threats have done little to discourage women from pursuing their beauty routines, women say. Many continue to have their hair and nails done, tint their eyebrows, and wear heavy make-up despite the ban.

A small difference is that some now choose nail polish colors that are more subtle, the salon owners said. More of those wearing false eyelashes are opting for medium length to try to make them less noticeable.

Business Is Booming

Business is booming for beauticians and hairdressers who have taken a portion of their business underground to evade the draconian ban.

One Ashgabat resident said the customers and salons agree in advance about the service and that the clients usually come through a back door.

For bridal make-up, the wife-to-be visits the salon with several friends who take turns walking around the salon watching out for police who might be coming to raid the premises, several sources said.

The restrictions were first imposed shortly after new Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhammedov came to power in March. He took over the presidency from his father, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, in a managed election widely seen as a mere formality in legalizing the transfer of political power.

As part of the restrictions, women were also banned from sitting in the front seats of private and public vehicles. Drivers with women in the front seat of their vehicles have been threatened with hefty fines for breaching the new rules.

In some cities, police have rounded up couples holding hands in public. Several people who were briefly detained for such a public display of affection told RFE/RL that they were released after being given a lecture on Turkmen traditional values and the womans place in the family and society.

The couples were threatened with unspecified harsh punishments for any repeat offense, eyewitnesses said.

When the ban first came into effect in early April, many beauty salons were fined after police raids or went out of business after losing so many of their customers.

But many in Ashgabat say that the restrictions have since loosened and police raids are less frequent.

According to several Ashgabat residents, some officers are now using the ban to extort bribes from the offenders.

Turkmenistan is one of the most repressive countries in the world. Its also plagued by widespread poverty, unemployment, and food shortages despite sitting atop one the worlds largest reserves of natural gas.
Russia has continued to pour forces and equipment into its all-out offensive in eastern Ukraine, where it seeks to encircle Ukrainian troops in two cities, as Kyiv warns that the country is facing an existential battle that could determine its fate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation in the Donbas was "extremely difficult" as Russia steps up its assault.

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.

Russian forces were advancing from three directions to encircle the easternmost sector of the Ukrainian-held Donbas pocket, with focus on the the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, located on the eastern and western banks of the Siverskiy Donets River.

The fall of the two cities would leave the whole of the Luhansk region under Russian control, one of the Kremlin's goals in its war.



Fighting has reached the outskirts of Severodonetsk, Serhiy Hayday, governor of the Luhansk region, said earlier on May 25. "Russian troops have advanced far enough that they can already fire mortars" on the city, he said in a statement on social media.



Police in Lysychansk are collecting bodies of people killed to bury them in mass graves, Hayday said. Some 150 people have been buried in a mass grave in one Lysychansk district, he added.



Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Zelenskiy, said Russia's "army is having some tactical success, which is threatening to become an operational success in the direction of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk."



Severodonetsk and Bakhmut, a town to the southeast, were in danger of being encircled, Arestovych said. It's possible that settlements "will be abandoned," he said. "It's possible we will have heavy losses."

Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said on May 24 that battles being fought in eastern Ukraine could determine its future.



"Now we are observing the most active phase of the full-scale aggression which Russia unfolded against our country," Motuzyanyk told a televised briefing. "The situation on the [eastern] front is extremely difficult, because the fate of this country is perhaps being decided [there] right now."

The Russian Defense Ministry said on May 25 that it had finished demining the port of Mariupol and that foreign ships stuck there will be able to leave. Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a press briefing that the port had started "to function normally."



The United Nations has urged Russian authorities to release grain stuck in Ukrainian ports to avert global food shortages.



Meanwhile, British intelligence warned that Russia's blockade of Ukraine's key port of Odesa has caused grain supply shortfalls that cannot be compensated by overland exports.

WATCH: Veronika from Ukraine's Donetsk Region lost her family in an attack on the high-rise residential building where she lived. Hit by shrapnel, she was left in a coma. Kira from Kharkiv was hit by shelling when she was walking in a park. Her friend was killed.

The British Defense Ministry assessed in its daily bulletin on May 25 that as long as the threat of Russia's naval blockade keeps deterring access by commercial shipping to Ukrainian ports, "the resulting supply shortfalls will further increase the price of many staple products."



On May 24, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen called for talks with Moscow on unlocking wheat exports trapped in Ukraine as a result of Russia's sea blockade.



"Russian warships in the Black Sea are blockading Ukrainian ships full of wheat and sunflower seeds," von der Leyen told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on May 24.



Russia is using food supplies as a weapon with global repercussions, just like it does in the energy sector, von der Leyen said.



The war and Western sanctions against Russia have sent the price of grain, cooking oil, fertilizer, and energy soaring.



Many countries, including some of the world's poorest, count on Russia and Ukraine, which together account for nearly one-third of the global wheat supply, for more than half of their wheat imports.

The Russian State Duma on May 25 approved a bill that would raise the upper age limit for military personnel serving in the Russian army on a contractual basis.

Zelenskiy said in his nightly address that the move showed that the Russians "no longer have enough young people" to fight the war as he again appealed for weapons.

"We still need the help of partners, especially weapons for Ukraine. Full help! No exceptions, no restrictions," the president said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on May 25 urged governments and companies to "kill Russian exports" as a way to help push Moscow to end its war against Ukraine.

"My message is very simple. Kill Russian exports," Kuleba said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on May 25.



"Stop buying from Russia. Stop allowing them to make money which they can invest in the war machine that destroys, kills, rapes, and tortures people in Ukraine."



Dozens of major international companies from a broad range of sectors have exited Russia since it launched the war against Ukraine on February 24, while the European Union, the United States, and many Western allies have adopted harsh sanctions against Moscow, senior state officials, and President Vladimir Putin and the billionaires seen close to him.



But Kuleba said more must be done given the impact of the war on Ukraine is still far greater than the West's moves against Russia.



Ukraine's economy is "suffering more from the Russian destruction and attacks than the Russian economy suffers from sanctions."



"As long as Russia makes money on selling oil and gas, their pockets are pretty full," he added.



The European Union is currently working on a proposal to ban the import of Russian oil and gas across the 27-nation bloc, but several countries, especially Hungary, have said they will need help through aid and a phase-in period if they are to sign on to the measure.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, CNN, and the BBC
Michael McCaul, the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says that Ukraine should not be concerned that many of his party colleagues voted against the recent $40 billion aid bill, approved to help the country defend itself from Russian aggression. Speaking to RFE/RL's Ray Furlong in Prague on May 25, he said, "I believe there are enough on both sides of the aisle to get to 218, which is what you need to give Ukraine what it needs to win this."
Nikki L. Floris Named Intelligence Analyst in Charge of the Intelligence Division of the Washington Field Office

Director Christopher Wray has named Nikki L. Floris as the intelligence analyst in charge of the Intelligence Division of the Washington Field Office. Ms. Floris most recently served as a deputy assistant director in the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.



Ms. Floris is the first person to hold the position of intelligence analyst in charge at an FBI field office.



Ms. Floris joined the FBI as an intelligence analyst in 2005 and was assigned to the Directorate of Intelligence at Headquarters. She served on the directors daily briefing staff and helped produce executive-level briefing documents.



In 2008, she transferred to the San Diego Field Office and served as the domain management coordinator and as lead of the Counterterrorism Analytic Team. She was part of the team that investigated a senior commander of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).



Ms. Floris returned to the Counterterrorism Division at Headquarters in 2010 as a supervisory intelligence analyst in the Arabian Peninsula Terrorism Analysis Unit. She was later named unit chief and led efforts to identify, target, and disrupt AQAP activities in the United States.



In 2011, Ms. Floris was named the assistant section chief of the divisions Counterterrorism Analysis Section, responsible for operational and policy-making decisions and strategies involving terrorist recruitment, radicalization, and threats in the United States and overseas. She was named section chief in 2013.



Ms. Floris was promoted in 2017 to deputy assistant director in the Counterterrorism Division, where she oversaw terrorism financing operations, strategic operations, and counterterrorism analysis. She moved to the Counterintelligence Division as deputy assistant director of its Intelligence Branch in 2018, where she oversaw all intelligence and strategic functions for the FBIs counterintelligence program and served as the FBIs election security lead for the 2020 presidential elections.



Prior to joining the FBI, Ms. Floris was a lead systems analyst in the private sector. She earned a bachelors in psychology and a masters in criminal justice.



This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
An assistant pastor at a large Carlsbad church was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of multiple counts of molesting a child over the past year, sheriffs officials said.

Matt Tague, 43, was arrested Wednesday, after calling sheriffs investigators Monday to report the crime himself, said Sheriffs Lt. Karen Stubkjaer.

North Coast Calvary Chapel, where Tague had worked until this week, issued a statement saying church staffers had also reported the allegation to law enforcement Monday immediately after learning about it.

The alleged crimes were unrelated to Tagues duties at the church and didnt occur there, church and sheriffs officials said.

Tague, a San Marcos resident, was jailed on suspicion of 16 counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old, according to online jail records. His bail was set at $1.9 million.

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We are utterly heartbroken by these events, the church said in its statement.

Stubkjaer said detectives have no indication there are additional victims.

Tague had been a family pastor at North Coast Calvary, as well as a pastor for the churchs ministry to people aged 30 to 40. A biography previously posted on the church website said he has been married for 20 years and that he and his wife have six children.

Stubkjaer said sheriffs department is handling the case because the alleged incidents took place within the departments jurisdiction. She declined to provide any further details.

There is still a lot of investigation to be done, and I cannot elaborate at this point, Stubkjaer said.

In the statement, church officials said they have strict requirements and procedures in place for hiring pastors and staff, including professional background checks and exhaustive interviews, and that Tague had no prior record of arrest or criminal charges.

North Coast Calvary Chapel is one of the largest churches in Carlsbad, with several thousand people typically attending its weekend services.

The full text of the churchs statement is as follows:

We are deeply grieved to share that early this week we learned that a pastor at North Coast Calvary Chapel, Matthew Tague, was reported to have acted inappropriately with a minor, off church property, and outside of church ministry activities.

When our staff learned of the allegations, we immediately reported the accusation to our Sheriffs Department and terminated Mr. Tagues employment. On Wednesday May 31, Mr. Tague was arrested on suspicion of the offense. The investigation of the accusation is now in the hands of law enforcement.

We ask you to please pray for the victim, as well as the family involved in this tragic matter. Please pray for law enforcement as they determine the facts. We also ask you to pray for justice and restorative healing to take place for all involved.

We are utterly heartbroken by these events. We have strict requirements and procedures in place for hiring pastors and staff including professional background checks and exhaustive interviews. In this case, Mr. Tague had no previous record of arrest or criminal charges. It goes without saying that we are cooperating fully with law enforcement.

As we as a church family process this tragic event, we know that you will have questions. Please meet with our pastors, all of whom will make themselves available to you, or contact Executive Pastor, Bob Mackenzie: bob@northcoastcalvary.org; 760-929-0029 ext. 104.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
In stories readers are seeing daily on the migrant crisis in Europe, the words migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are being used. Whats not being used is immigrants, a word commonly seen in local stories.

New York Times, Reuters, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and BBC primarily use the word migrants in reporting on the happenings in Europe.

So whats the difference among the words?

I grabbed Websters and looked up migrate and immigrate. There didnt seem to be much of difference, but in talking to two reporters and a professor, I learned more about the depth of the words and their meanings.

Websters said migrate is to leave ones country and settle in another. Also to move from one region to another ... to harvest seasonal crops. Immigrate is to come into a new country or region or environment, especially to settle there. Synonym to migrate.

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(Emigrate is leave ones country or region to settle in another. You rarely see this word in a news story, since most angles are people coming into a country or countries.)

I needed some perspective on the words.

Tatiana Sanchez, the U-Ts immigration reporter, said immigrants are willingly settling in a country. She said migrants are more associated with refugees, or they are workers moving from job to job with seasons.

L.A. Times reporter Alexandra Zavis, whos covering the European crisis, explained why the word migrants is used, not immigrants, in reports on the subject.

Migrant is a broad term that includes refugees and those moving for economic reasons. We have been using the term in our reporting about the crisis in Europe because many of these people are still on the move, and some may wish to return home one day. Immigrant refers to those who have moved to a foreign country with the intention of settling there.

Zavis wrote about the descriptions of those flooding into Europe in an article Sept. 11 and the importance the meanings play in the crisis.

Hungarys prime minister, Viktor Orban, contends that the overwhelming majority are economic migrants and not refugees, she wrote.

Refugees, Zavis wrote, are people who have been forced to flee their countries because of the threat of persecution or armed conflict, and because they have no protection from authorities at home.

Migrants may leave for any number of other reasons, including to find work, get an education and better themselves. The term can be applied to refugees, but not all migrants qualify as refugees.

Thats a crucial issue in Europe now with so many fleeing war in Syria. Zavis notes refugees are entitled to asylum under European Union law; migrants are not.

SDSU Professor Enrico Marcelli, a demographer who studies unauthorized immigration, provided a breakdown of the descriptions.

Migrant is the broadest term and is commonly used in Europe, he said. It simply means someone who is in the process of relocating to another country or place, or someone who has already moved.

Under the umbrella term migrant you have refugees and asylum seekers who are being forced to flee to save their lives.

Then theres immigrant. That means a migrant who has moved from one country to another, or is in the process of doing so, he said. This word also has a legal meaning in the United States, which is why immigration scholars often prefer the word migrant. Technically immigrants in the U.S. are legal permanent residents or those with a so-called green card. Then ... there are adjectives sometimes attached to either word, such as illegal, undocumented or unauthorized. (Marcelli uses unauthorized immigrant, which is also the U-Ts style).

Another category of immigrants (or international migrants) is temporary visitor, those holding visas. Lastly, there are immigrants who have become U.S. citizens.

Now I can see why migrant is used for the European crisis. I also believe immigrant is the correct term for local stories because the context in most of those articles is people willingly leaving their countries to settle in the U.S.
(Photo : Pexels/Sourav Mishra) Researchers say that water scarcity is a major issue for much of the population of the world, although, with the right equipment, drinking water can be squeezed out of thin air.

Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin recently demonstrated how a low-cost gel film can pull many litters of water each day out of even extremely dry air.

New Atlas reported that water scarcity is a major issue for much of the population of the world, although, with the right equipment, drinking water can be squeezed "out of thin air."

Cheap gel film pulls buckets of drinking water per day from thin air: The gel is made up of two main ingredients that are cheap and common  cellulose, which comes from the cell walls of plants, and konjac gum, a widely used food additive.  #Science https://t.co/1HpXY7z88b  ReconSecureComputing (@SecRecon) May 24, 2022

The gel is composed of two main ingredients that are common and cheap. These ingredients are cellulose which comes from the plants' cell walls, and konjac gum, a commonly used food additive.

The said two components are working together to make a gel film that can absorb water from air and then discharge it on demand, minus the need for much energy.

ALSO READ: Solar-powered Moisture Harvester Collects and Cleans Water from Air





Gel Film

First, the absorbent construction of the gum attracts water to condense out of the air that surrounds it. On the other hand, the cellulose is designed to respond to a gentle heat by becoming hydrophobic, extricating the captured water.

Making the gel is fairly simple, as well, the research team explained. The basic ingredients are mixed together. They are these mixed ingredients are poured into a mold, where they set in two minutes.

After it's set, the mixture becomes freeze-dried. It is then peeled out of the mold, and ready to start functioning. The mixed ingredients can be made into basically any form or shape needed, and scaled up fairly easily, not to mention cheaply.

In various tests it went through, the gel film was able to squeeze an astonishing amount of water out of the air. At a relative 30-percent humidity, the film could yield 13 liters of water each day per kilogram of gel.

In addition, even when the humidity decreased to only 15 percent, which is a low percentage even for desert air, it could still generate more than six liters of water each day for every kilogram.

A Huge Improvement Over Other Water Harvesters

Describing their research published in the Nature Communications journal, the study investigators said the aforementioned amount was a huge improvement over other water harvesters they have covered through the years.

Moreover, the efficiency of the new gel could be enhanced even further, the team explained, by creating thicker films, absorbent beds, or other range formations of the said material.

Most importantly, perhaps, the material is quite inexpensive or cost-oriented to produce, costing as litter as $2 a kilogram.

This is another major factor in terms of scaling up technology, not to mention, getting to remote areas and developing nations where it is needed the most.

Water Harvesting

CSE describes water harvesting in general, as the "activity of direct collection of rainwater." the collected rainwater can then be stored for direct use, or be recharged into the groundwater.

Essentially, rain is the first water form known in the hydrological cycle, hence, it is a primary source of water for humans. Secondary water sources include lakes, rivers, and groundwater.

Currently, humans rely entirely on such secondary sources of water. In the process, it has been forgotten that rain is the primary source that's feeding all the secondary sources.

Furthermore, water harvesting means having a better insight into the value of rain, as well as making optimum use of rainwater at the site where it falls.

Related information about the technology used to pull out drinking water from thin air is shown on Bloomberg Quicktake's YouTube video below:

RELATED ARTICLE: Water Harvester: A New Atmospheric Technology Which Works Around the Clock With No Energy Needed

Check out more news and information on Water and Technology in Science Times.
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Deputies dove into Uvas Reservoir near Morgan Hill to attempt a rescue from a car submerged in the water after a crash Monday morning  but found the vehicle empty, authorities said.

The driver had already left the scene and made her way to the hospital, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies were dispatched to the reservoir about 8 a.m. Monday following reports of an accident there, Deputy Russell Davis said.

The exact location of the incident was not reported, but the deputies saw skid marks on the ground and bubbles in the water, and concluded that the vehicle was possibly submerged in the reservoir, according to the Sheriffs Office.

Deputies and an emergency medical technician immediately jumped into the water to look for any victims inside the vehicle, a Chevrolet Bolt, authorities said.

However, the car proved to be unoccupied. It was later determined that the driver, described as an adult female, was able to exit her car before deputies arrived, and a bystander gave her a ride to her home, authorities said. It was not clear at what point during the incident she escaped the vehicle.

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.

She later admitted herself to a nearby hospital with minor injuries, according to a Sheriffs Office Facebook post.

Davis said it was unknown what caused the driver to go off the road into the reservoir, and there was no information about whether she was under the influence of any substances. The dive team for the Sheriffs Office and tow company were able to retrieve the vehicle, authorities said.

Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KellieHwang
Shortly after the nations latest mass shooting, which killed at least 18 children at an elementary school in Texas, the California Senate passed a bill Tuesday to allow private citizens to file suit for at least $10,000  a bounty-hunter provision modeled on a Texas abortion law  against makers or sellers of untraceable ghost guns or illegal assault weapons.

We do have some of the toughest gun laws in the country, Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge (Los Angeles County), told his colleagues amid news of the slaughter inside an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. But public enforcement of those laws has not been enough to protect Californians against the new wave of weapons, he said, and private lawsuits would create an incentive to get these dangerous weapons off the street.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the 18-year-old gunman, who was carrying a handgun and possibly a rifle, was also killed.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly raised the gun-control issue. Another shooting. And the GOP wont do a damn thing about it, Newsom tweeted several hours after the shooting. We need nationwide, comprehensive, commonsense gun safety NOW.

SB1327, coauthored by Portantino and Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys (Los Angeles County), was the brainchild of Newsom, who proposed it in December after the Supreme Court allowed Texas to enforce its abortion law. That law allows Texans to sue anyone who performs or aids an abortion in the state for $10,000, plus attorneys fees, if the abortion occurred after the start of cardiac activity, about six weeks into a pregnancy.

If thats the precedent then well let Californians sue those who put ghost guns and assault weapons on our streets, Newsom said on Twitter after the court issued its decision.

The Senate approved the bill on a 24-10 vote and sent it to the Assembly.

Californias definition of illegal assault weapons includes AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles and pistols with detachable magazines and specific features, such as forward pistol grips. Semiautomatic firearms do not require reloading after each squeeze of the trigger.

Ghost guns are sold in parts, without serial numbers or background checks, and assembled by the user. They have been increasingly used in lethal shootings  San Francisco police said ghost gun parts were found at nearly half the scenes of homicides in the city in 2020  and have proven difficult for officers to detect and confiscate, a hurdle likely to hamper private enforcement as well.

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 Biden administration has issued regulations requiring background checks and serial numbers on the firearms, and AB1621 by Assembly Member Mike Gipson, D-Los Angeles, now awaiting an Assembly vote, would ban the manufacture, possession or sale in California of any guns that do not meet the federal standards.

An opponent of SB1327, Sen. Andreas Borgeas, R-Fresno, said Tuesday that he would favor requiring serial numbers on all guns but opposed private enforcement.

Paying private citizens and their attorneys to enforce the law would be a tacit admission that weve hollowed out law enforcement in such a way that it cant do what needs to be done, Borgeas said.

The Senate also approved SB1384 by Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine (Orange County), which would require firearms dealers in California to install audio and video surveillance systems at their shops, purchase liability insurance and undergo annual training by the state on how to recognize and prevent straw purchases of guns for those not entitled to possess them. The bill was sent to the Assembly on a 27-9 vote.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
Police officers across the Bay Area will patrol around local schools in response to the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that left 21 people dead, including 19 children, police and school district officials said Tuesday.

Law enforcement and officials at local school districts said there will be increased police presence near local schools out of an abundance of caution in wake of the mass shooting that killed 19 children and two adults. An 18-year-old gunman, identified by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday with a handgun and possibly a rifle, according to Associated Press reports. Law enforcement killed the suspect, news reports said.

In San Francisco, school district officials said that while they were not aware of any threats or connections to events in Texas, police will patrol around schools out of an abundance of caution through June 1, the end of the school year.

Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston similarly said that while there are no known threats in the sheriffs jurisdiction, he has ordered additional patrols around all of our schools. Mountain View Police Department will also be doing high visibility patrols at local schools on Wednesday out of an abundance of caution, police officials said.

In a statement to the San Francisco Unified School District community, Superintendent Vincent Matthews said that the safety and security of students and staff is of utmost importance of the school district, pointing to a comprehensive crisis plan in the event of any emergency, and schools also have security measures to ensure the well-being of students and staff.

We share the grief and concern following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas. This is a tragic and senseless event and we are keeping the victims families in our hearts, Matthews said. This tragedy is an opportunity for all of us to talk to our students about how we care for them and how we want them to be safe.

Security measures at S.F. schools may include check-in procedures for visitors, the locking of doors at the start of school days, surveillance cameras, security aides and other evidence-based prevention measures, Matthews said.

Youth face a lot of challenges and need a range of trusted adults to support them, Matthews said. Thats why SFUSD has more school counselors and social workers per student than almost any other school district in the state.

John Sasaki, a spokesperson for the Oakland Unified School District, said in a statement that the safety of Oakland students and staff is our top priority.

This scourge of gun violence affects all communities, including Oakland, Sasaki said. The District remains vigilant and will continue to take the necessary steps to keep our campuses safe.

In a statement to the Berkeley Unified School District Community, Superintendent Brent Stephens said counselors are poised to work closely with students and staff who need support starting on Wednesday and through the week. Stephens provided a list of resources for school staff and families, and called on school district staff to support anyone in need, and to especially watch over our students.

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I know that many in the Berkeley Unified community will be experiencing their own grief, loss, and anger as we attempt to process this latest national tragedy, Stephens said. It is especially upsetting to learn of the loss of so many young students as well as an educator.

Stephens added that mass shootings can create increased anxiety among our students, staff, and families - especially when violence is targeted at communities of color, as it was in Buffalo - or impacts immigrant communities, as it has today in Texas.

On May 14, a mass shooter livestreamed his killing of 10 people at a Buffalo grocery store in what officials said was a racist attack by a white man on Black people. Texas officials said the shooter in Tuesdays shooting was from Uvalde, a majority Latino community with 78% of local residents identifying as Latino.

The violence is appalling and unacceptable. This is something we all feel, and that should prompt us towards compassion - towards seeing all our neighbors as precious and irreplaceable - and towards action, Stephens said. We must voice our support for changes to laws that will ensure our students, staff and families are safe in every school every day.

Elected leaders in the Bay Area and California called on Congress to pass stricter gun control measures, and some Bay Area school districts announced enhanced security measures and resources for support for students and staff in the wake of the Texas shooting.

Lauren Hernandez (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez
San Francisco police arrested a 28-year-old man in connection with separate violent attacks on three women this month, officials said.

Deandre Johnson of Oakland is suspected of assaulting, kidnapping, intending to commit rape and other crimes following three attacks in a 10-hour span, San Francisco police said Tuesday on Twitter.

In the first incident, on May 7, Johnson assaulted a 28-year-old woman who was walking alone shortly after 3 p.m. in the area of Sunnydale Avenue and Desmond Street in Visitacion Valley, officials said. Johnson was behaving erratically and yelling incoherently and followed the woman after she crossed the street to avoid him, according to police.

He grabbed the woman, put a hand over her throat to keep her from breathing, shoved her to the ground and strangled her until she lost consciousness, police said. A witness interrupted the assault and Johnson ran away, officials said.

Several hours later, just after midnight the next day, Johnson attacked an 18-year-old woman in the area of Polk and Willow streets in the Tenderloin, officials said. The woman was able to fight him off, police said in a tweet.

An hour after that incident, Johnson attacked and attempted to kidnap a 75-year-old woman near the intersection of Market Street and Van Ness Avenue. Police said Johnson intended to rape the woman. Officers saw Johnson, chased him on foot and arrested him, police said.

Johnson was booked into San Francisco County Jail the morning of May 8 on charges of kidnapping to commit rape, elder abuse, assault with intent to commit rape, battery and two counts of resisting arrest.

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Thank you to the bystanders, witnesses that got involved! police said in a tweet.

Andy Picon (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon
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The labor union representing U.S. Park Police officers took complaints over pay and staffing levels public on Tuesday, urging people to stay away from San Franciscos Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Presidio National Park this summer. But park officials said the warning was unnecessary and that people should feel safe visiting.

The advisory, issued in a news release from the United States Park Police Fraternal Order of Police, said that families should avoid unnecessary travel to San Franciscos national parks because of what it called an officer staffing crisis. The union did not provide year-to-year stats comparing crimes at the parks.

According to the union, the San Francisco field office of the U.S. Park Police has just 11 officers available to patrol the Presidio and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes Fort Mason, Fort Point, Lands End, Baker Beach, Ocean Beach and Fort Funston in San Francisco. Almost daily, overtime is required to make sure the police force meets the minimum staffing level of three patrol officers for the Presidio, which is required in a contract with the trust that runs the Presidio.

With the Memorial Day holiday weekend here, millions of American families are putting the final touches on their summer vacation plans, said Kenneth Spencer, chairman of the union, in the release. It saddens me to say that those plans should not include visits to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area or the Presidio because, simply put, they are not safe.

Officials with the U.S. Park Police and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area disputed the unions assertion.

The safety of our staff and visitors is always our top priority and park areas remain open and available to the public we serve, especially during the last few years of this difficult pandemic, said Charlie Strickfaden, a spokesperson for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Spencer said the staff at the San Francisco field office has been dwindling gradually and now has 32 sworn personnel 11 patrol officers. Two years ago, the office had 50 sworn officers, and it should have 83 sworn personnel, he said. A number of officer retirements are also looming, he said.

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While many police forces around the Bay Area are short-staffed compared to police positions allocated in government budgets, Spencer blamed the problem in San Francisco on the disparity in pay between what the U.S. Park Police and local police departments are paying. He said a starting salary for a U.S. Park officer is $67,769 per year, while San Francisco officers receive a starting salary of $92,560.

Staffing levels at the U.S. Park Police have reached crisis levels, Spencer said.

The police union is prohibited from negotiating park police salaries, which are set by Congress, but the union advocates for legislation such as HR 3924, which would boost pay by quickening pay-grade steps for officers. Spencer believes the legislation, which has been stalled, would help restore staffing levels.

We want to get Speaker Pelosis attention, Spencer said. We want to work with (her) on this. She loves the Presidio, we love the Presidio and we want to be able to do our job. Were hoping she steps in.

Michael Cabanatuan (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
Bay Area and California elected leaders called on Congress to pass stricter gun control measures following a mass shooting Tuesday at a Texas elementary school that left 21 people dead, including 19 children.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde was preventable and said the countrys inaction is a choice. An 18-year-old gunman, identified by Gov. Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, opened fire in the school with a handgun and possibly a rifle, according to Associated Press reports. The death toll rose from 15 to 21 victims Tuesday afternoon, which includes two adults. Law enforcement killed the suspect, news reports said.

Another shooting. And the GOP wont do a damn thing about it. Who the hell are we if we cannot keep our kids safe. Newsom continued his Twitter post. We need nationwide, comprehensive, commonsense gun safety NOW.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and state Assembly Member Marc Berman, who represents parts of the Peninsula and Silicon Valley, each called the shooting mass murder and criticized the ease with which many Americans can obtain firearms. Berman said the shooting marked the second double-digit massacre in 10 days in the United States. On May 14, a mass shooter live-streamed his killing of 10 people at a Buffalo grocery store in what officials said was a racist attack by a white man on Black people.

Abbott said the shooter was from the community of Uvalde, which is home to about 15,000 people, about 78% of whom are Latino. The suspects motive for Tuesdays attack has not been disclosed.

Wiener said the families of the children and adults who were killed have been left devastated ... because of our nations refusal to stop the tidal wave of easy-to-get mass-killing machines.

These mass murders arent inevitable. It doesnt have to be this way, Wiener said. We need fewer guns. Congress must act.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the mass shooting is part of a crisis of existential proportions  for our children and for every American. Pelosi said that Congress has for too long ... offered hollow words after these shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives.

It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law, Pelosi said.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein echoed calls for substantive gun reform, condemning the silence from the gun lobby and Republicans who refuse to allow any gun safety reforms to occur in light of another mass shooting.

Im just speechless at the evil that is running rampant, and behind all of these acts is a firearm, Feinstein said. After every shooting, I ask how many deaths is too many? And after every mass shooting, the news recedes as Republicans refuse to take any action to limit these deaths.

Ronna McDaniel, the GOP chairwoman, called the shooting an absolutely heartbreaking tragedy.

Praying for the people of Uvalde after this senseless act of violence, McDaniel said.

East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell said that as a father of three young children, he wishes he could promise Ill always protect them. Thatd be a lie.

America arms the most dangerous people to the teeth, leaving every child vulnerable to being shot in their class, Swalwell said, also pointing to the Republican party as to blame for the lack of gun safety laws. This is not a policy defect. It is by GOP design.

Rep. Jackie Speier, who survived a shooting in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978, said that she refuses to participate in another moment of silence on the House floor on the heels of another mass shooting, instead saying she wants a moment of action.

Speier on Tuesday called for: 1) No guns for anyone under 21; 2) all guns must have trigger locks that require finger print to be discharged; 3) felony charges for anyone who doesnt safely lock their gun.

It is unclear how the gunman in Uvalde obtained his weapon or weapons. Texas law allows anyone over 21 to carry a handgun without a license.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors had just begun meeting on Tuesday when news of the death toll in Texas began spreading.

Supervisor Ahsha Safai stood up and asked his colleagues to take a moment of silence to honor the families of the victims, a request that Supervisor Shamann Walton, the board president, obliged.

Obviously thats the least that we can do at this moment, Walton said. We will continue to do what we can to change this dynamic.

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Later in the meeting, Supervisor Catherine Stefani gave an impassioned speech in response to the Texas shooting, her voice shaking at times.

The Second Amendment is not a suicide pact, Stefani said. We are failing entire generations through our inaction. I know that we do a lot here in San Francisco, but we have to demand a lot more is done at the federal level. Now is the time to pass the laws that we know will prevent these unbelievable tragedies.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez said that the list of United States schools where mass shootings occurred continues to grow, pointing to shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018.

We keep burying kids and leaving families consumed by grief. And we cant say but it wont happen here because it did, Chavez said, referring to the Gilroy Garlic Festical shooting in 2019. It has been less than three years since 13-year-old Keyla Salazar and 6-year-old Stephen Romero were killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, along with Trevor Irby.

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday reviewed an interim report on gun violence in the county, which said that gun violence costs Santa Clara County $72 million a year due to firearm incidents.

Also in the wake of the shooting, police officers across the Bay Area planned to patrol around local schools out of an abundance of caution. And, during an emotional pre-game news conference for Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on Tuesday evening, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr condemned a group of U.S. Senators for refusing to support a background-check bill for firearm sales.

Chronicle staff writer J.D. Morris contributed to this report.

Lauren Hernandez (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: ByLHernandez
Provided by Tamara Leigh/Goldman Environmental Prize

At the age of 19, Nalleli Cobo helped shut down an oil drill in her Los Angeles neighborhood, and then went on to convince city and county leaders to ban new oil exploration and phase out existing sites.

This happened in March 2020, and Cobos work is now being honored with one of the worlds greatest honors for achievements in environmental activism, the Goldman Prize. The prize, sometimes called the Green Nobel, was founded in 1989 by the late Rhoda and Richard Goldman of San Francisco and honors environmental activists from each major continent, who receive a monetary prize.
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Oakland police said Wednesday they were aggressively investigating the fatal shooting of Artgel Jun Anabo, the beloved restaurateur whose death last week prompted an outpouring of grief across the Bay Area.

Family and friends of Anabo gathered outside of the popular Filipino restaurant Lucky Three Seven on Wednesday afternoon, the day the eatery reopened following the shooting last week.

Standing in front of a growing memorial filled with flowers, candles and photos of Anabo, grieving family members gave emotional speeches about the 39-year-old man who was fatally shot while standing next to his 11-year-old son outside of the restaurant.

Oakland Police Department Deputy Chief Angelica Mendoza said the death of Anabo was a brazen and unfortunate death.

She said that investigators were actively and aggressively investigating the incident and that no arrests had been made. She expects investigators to provide an update in the coming days.

We have a really good team on it, she added.

Terry Wiley, the Alameda County chief assistant district attorney, promised the Anabo family that the case would receive top attention once Oakland police make an arrest.

Were going to get justice for you, he said, as people cheered and clapped.

Analyn Novenario, Anabos sister, began her speech by offering condolences to the families whose loved ones were killed in senseless mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman murdered 19 children and two teachers in an elementary school on Tuesday.

She condemned the factors that she said contribute to this rampant escalation of gun violence, including a failure to recognize people suffering from mental health issues, inadequate access to health care and unwillingness to pursue meaningful gun control with background checks.

How do I ensure a safer future for (Anabos son) and other survivors who are victimized by (these) acts of violence? Novenario said through sobs Wednesday afternoon.

Oakland City Council Member Sheng Thao recalled the traumatic experience of being with Anabos family as they sat the at hospital and how Kiah cried for his father.

This is not OK, said Thao. I dont give a crap why it happened, just put the fing guns down.

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Anabos killing last week prompted an outpouring of grief across the Bay Area and from the Filipino community. A crowdfunding campaign for Anabos son surpassed its original goal of $20,000 to more than $100,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.

The festive eatery in the Fruitvale district, known for its spicy-sweet G-Fire chicken wings and crispy XL lumpia, is known as more than just a restaurant.

Its a community hub where Anabo and Mark Legaspi, his cousin and the other co-owner, hosted annual block parties where they would give out free food and school supplies to neighbors; many Bay Area rappers made it their second home.

Legaspi reassured the crowd Wednesday that they werent going to close the restaurant anytime soon. In fact, he said, they planned to honor Anabos legacy by hosting larger block parties and continuing to give back to the Fruitvale community.

He should still be here doing this, he said of his cousin. Were not letting no one shut us down.

Jessica Flores (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
One of the Bay Areas leading food-tech companies just inked a deal to manufacture the worlds largest known bioreactors for growing meat from cells. Ten of them.

Its an ambitious move from Good Meat  a division of popular vegan egg maker Eat Just Inc. in Alameda  in partnership with equipment manufacturers of bioprocess equipment ABEC Inc.

The company is one in a growing cultured meat industry that is trying to create a protein source that might end humanitys reliance on industrial-based animal agriculture  a leading cause of climate change. Despite the lack of regulatory approval in the United States, investors are pouring billions into the sector and supporting more than 100 startups. Good Meat is the first to announce this kind of step. At 250,000 liters each, these bioreactors  tanks that allow animal cells to proliferate  will likely be the biggest and most complex in the world to fabricate.

Once built, these bioreactors will enable Good Meat to produce huge quantities of cultured chicken and beef without any need for slaughter  potentially 30 million pounds per year, according to Josh Tetrick, CEO of Eat Just. He said that number would allow the company to distribute to major retailers and thousands of restaurants in the U.S. In comparison, cell-based meat competitor Upside Foods recently opened its own pilot facility in Emeryville, which might produce up to 400,000 pounds annually.

This is an expensive facility, Tetrick said. Expensive is no joke. The company declined to share numbers, but industry experts suggest it will cost $400 million to $650 million to build it.

Eat Just Inc.

Making such large bioreactors will be a first for ABEC. While there are some technical challenges, there are none that we feel cant be overcome, said Scott Pickering, CEO of ABEC, which until now has supplied only the biopharma industry.

Even a single 250,000-liter bioreactor is huge. Ten of them will need space  a facility roughly 200,000 to 220,000 square feet in size on acres of land. The physical location is yet to be determined but will probably be found in the next few months, Tetrick said. The front-runners are in Pennsylvania, Utah, Colorado, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin. The company wont stay local because of high costs and the potential for earthquakes.

Despite this bold announcement, regulatory approval in the U.S. is still pending. Without the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agricultures green light, the 100-plus cultured meat startups hoping to feed the world a different version of animal meat must wait. While Good Meat has regulatory approval to sell in Singapore, it has produced and sold less than 1,000 pounds of chicken this year  or about 323 chickens.

Eat Just Inc.

Going big in scale will put pressure on all other costs, including creating media  which fosters cells to grow  and improving cell density, which refers to the ability to grow more cells in each batch. In 250,000 liters, there are hundreds of trillions of cells. At this scale, media inputs such as glucose, amino acids, vitamins, salt and water will be expensive. To help, Eat Just recently partnered with Archer Daniels Midland  an $85 billion global nutrition company  to work toward ways to lower production expenses.

The team at ABEC sees a high degree of likelihood that we can make it work at 250K-liter scale, Tetrick said. But theres still no certainty. He gives his team a 70% chance at successfully growing animal cells in bioreactors of this size.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

ABEC is also designing and manufacturing smaller bioreactors for Good Meats Alameda headquarters, scheduled to be operational in late 2022, and for a Singapore facility slated to open in early 2023.

Some analysts are skeptical that Good Meats plans will pencil out. No one has ever proved that its possible to grow cultured meat beyond 5,000 liters.

I think it will fail because they are pushing the biology well beyond what anyone has ever validated, said Paul Wood, professor of biotechnology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Theres a business there, but its not a commodity business, and 250,000 liters is saying were chasing a commodity market. Instead, he said, startups would be better off focusing on high-end steaks or other expensive meats.

Eat Just Inc.

Its unclear what Good Meats chicken will cost whenever it hits the U.S. market, and the company declined to share. But spokesperson Andrew Noyes said the price could fall below conventional chicken by the end of 2029.

In the meantime, hurdles for the cultured meat industry continue to appear around every corner. Namely, will people want to eat it? So far theres at least some proof in Singapore.

Larissa Zimberoff is a Bay Area freelance writer and the author of Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valleys Mission to Change What We Eat. Email: food@sfchronicle.com
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Coronavirus cases in the Bay Areas spring surge have surpassed the peaks of the devastating winter wave of early 2021, but high levels of vaccination and immunity in the community are keeping hospitalizations at more manageable levels so far, and deaths remain notably low throughout the region.

Statewide, coronavirus cases continue to rise sharply, with the Bay Area reporting overall higher levels than the rest of California. Officials said the current surge shows no signs of waning: The Bay Area is reporting about 53 new cases per 100,000 residents as of Tuesday, up from 18 per 100,000 a month ago and 42 last week.

This wave is still going, and I have not seen evidence it has peaked yet, Dr. Nicholas Moss, health officer for Alameda County, told supervisors during a briefing Tuesday.

The Bay Area is reporting roughly 4,500 new coronavirus cases a day as of Tuesday  about the same as the peak of the winter 2020-21 surge, which was the deadliest period of the pandemic. The true current case count is likely much higher due to so many people testing at home  results of which are not usually reported to the county or state  or not testing at all.

Hospitalizations are a fraction of the 2020-21 surge, though  about 516 people are currently hospitalized with COVID in the Bay Area, up from 255 last month and compared to more than 2,000 in the worst days of the pandemic. The region is reporting about three deaths per day, far below the 50 or more deaths reported daily during the deadliest time.

The nine counties that make up the Bay Area region currently have the highest infection rates in the state, behind only rural Del Norte County. Among them, San Francisco is still outpacing the rest of California in new coronavirus cases. The city reported about 61 daily cases per 100,000 residents as of Tuesday, nearly twice the statewide average of 36 per 100,000. A month ago, San Francisco was tallying 24 cases per 100,000, and last week it was 54.

Other Bay Area counties have also logged substantial increases. Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties are all reporting case numbers more than three times higher than a month ago, while San Mateo Countys case count has doubled.

We are seeing new cases on the rise across the state and here in the Bay Area, Anna Roth, Contra Costa Countys health director, said in a briefing with supervisors Tuesday. She noted that COVID-19 hospitalizations, a lagging indicator of pandemic trends, are still low but ticking up following the steady increase in cases.

Dr. Bob Wachter, the chief of medicine at UCSF, said in a tweet Tuesday that the asymptomatic test positive rate at his hospitals is now 6.2%, up from 4.8% last week. The test population, he previously explained, is mostly preoperative patients at UCSF undergoing routine screening tests before their procedures. The implication is that about 1 in 16 people in San Francisco without symptoms could test positive.

The current wave is playing out a little differently than previous ones, Alamedas Moss said. Earlier surges hit lower-income communities harder, whereas now, its flipped  higher-income communities are seeing higher case rates. This is measured by the Healthy Places Index, which looks at income, education level and other socioeconomic factors. During this wave, white and Asian residents now have higher case rates than Black and Latino residents.

Moss noted that case rates are now roughly where they were in early February when the omicron wave was starting to retreat. But he also agreed with Contra Costas Roth that there is much less severe disease  hospitalizations have increased slightly but are not rising as much, relative to cases, as they did during previous waves.

Our ICU (numbers) have not budged, and were far enough into this wave, about seven weeks now, that I would have expected to see more of a signal there if we were seeing a large burden of severe disease, he said. Hospitalizations are lower than any prior waves weve experienced.

Moss said the Bay Area is not experiencing the same strain on its health care system that the Northeast United States is going through.

Still, statewide hospitalizations of around 1,930 are as high as in mid-March, when California was coming out of the omicron surge, and are forecast to grow to 5,033 by June 22, based on ensemble models from the states health department.

Amid the rising cases and hospitalizations, Roth reiterated Bay Area health officers statement last week with a strong, strong recommendation for people to wear a mask when indoors.

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Deaths, another delayed sign of pandemic trends, have plummeted in the state since the winter 2020-21 surge, mostly due to high levels of vaccination but also thanks to treatments such as the antiviral pill Paxlovid, which is now available at most pharmacies.

More than 90,488 people in California have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, with the state now reporting an average of eight new deaths a day.

San Franciscos health department recommended Monday that parents and caregivers schedule appointments for children ages 5 to 11 to get a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine amid rising community spread.

Health providers started offering the additional doses for children who are five months out from the two-dose primary vaccine series on Friday.

Even though children and teens tend to have mild symptoms, getting COVID-19 can be disruptive and have highly negative consequences to the family and other family members, said Dr. Susan Philip, San Franciscos health officer. The COVID-19 vaccine, and a booster dose when eligible, lessen the chances of infection and severe illness so that kids can have a healthy end to the school year and the start of summer vacation.

There were 107,140 COVID-19 cases reported among children in the U.S. last week, with children representing over 19% of cases nationally, according to data published Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Childrens Hospital Association. The figure marks the first week since mid-February that childrens cases have topped 100,000.

Chronicle staff writers Catherine Ho and Erin Allday contributed to this report.

Aidin Vaziri is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com
COVID case rates in the Bay Area have now exceeded those of the devastating surge in the winter of 2020 to 2021, which was caused by what we now know as the epsilon variant. A massive survey of COVID-19 survivors sheds new light on predictors of long COVID. And UCSF chief of medicine Dr. Bob Wachter tweeted that 6.2% of people in San Francisco screenings not exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms tested positive for coronavirus infection, according to the latest hospital data.

(For the May 26 live blog, click here.)

Latest updates:

Virus spread increasing in all 58 California counties

Each of Californias 58 counties is seeing a growing reproduction rate, which means the spread of the virus is likely increasing statewide. The effective reproduction number, representing the average number of people to whom each infected person spreads the coronavirus, is above 1 in every county, according to state data. In the Bay Area, the estimated figure is highest in Solano County (1.79); Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties (1.60); and Alameda, San Mateo and Sonoma (1.52) counties. Nearly all counties fell below 0.05 following the winter omicron surge. Statewide, the highest rate is in Stanislaus County at 2.62, indicating that each infected person is spreading the virus to nearly three others; and lowest is in Humboldt County at 1.16, which is still above the baseline for no spread.

Pfizer to offer low-cost medicines, vaccines to poor nations

Officials from Pfizer said Wednesday that the company will provide its COVID-19 vaccine and nearly two dozen other products at discounted prices to some of the worlds poorest countries. Most of the 45 lower-income nations targeted to receive not-for-profit products from the drug maker are in Africa, but the list also includes Haiti, Syria, Cambodia and North Korea. Pfizer will also help with the rollout of the medicines and provide education and training programs for health care workers. What we discovered through the pandemic was that supply was not enough to resolve the issues that these countries are having, Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said Wednesday during a talk at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Washington governor, lieutenant, test positive as officials urge masking

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday said he tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing mild symptoms. Im thankful to be vaccinated and boosted, he said in a tweet. I hope all eligible Washingtonians consider getting their booster, which is our best tool for preventing serious illness. Moments later, Lt. Gov. Denny Heck tweeted that he too has tested positive for the virus with mild but unpleasant symptoms and was taking Paxlovid. The same day Inslee and Heck disclosed their diagnoses, Washington state health officials urged people to wear face masks indoors as cases swell across the state. The pandemic is not over  please continue to use all the tools at your disposal for protection: masks, vaccinations, boosters and social distancing when ill, said Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah.

UCSF doc says supercharged variants, eased restrictions driving surge

With the number of coronavirus cases in the Bay Area surpassing the peaks of last years winter surge, many are wondering how the region that fared so well for most of the pandemic is now Californias COVID hot spot. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, said during the schools most recent town hall discussion there are a variety of factors at play. Much of this is driven by less previous exposure to natural infection, he said. But theres also supercharged transmissible variants now, at the time when people are going out like everyone else. He said the BA.2 subvariant is 30% to 50% more transmissible than its parent omicron coronavirus variant and its BA.2.12.1 sublineage is another 25% more transmissible. He said its unlikely that increased testing is skewing the numbers  and they may be much higher because people are testing at home and not reporting their results. Restrictions have been dropped in all areas, he said. And theres the risk of everyone whos visiting as well. During the same discussion, Ralph Gonzales, chief innovation officer for UCSF Health, said cases are rising substantially on the medical centers campus without any sign of relief, likely reflecting community spread in San Francisco. Its likely to go up for a couple of weeks, he said.I know thats not good news but thats what the data is pointing to. He noted that UCSF hospitals are now back at critical staffing levels.

Vaccination does not prevent long COVID, new research finds

Currently available COVID vaccines may prevent hospitalization and death but but only slightly decreased the risk for long COVID, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature Medicine. Using data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which included medical records of nearly 34,000 vaccinated people and more than 113,000 who were unvaccinated during the delta phase of the virus, the researchers from Washington University in St. Louis found that the shots made little difference in reducing persistent symptoms between the two groups. Altogether, the findings suggest that vaccination before infection confers only partial protection in the post-acute phase of the disease; hence, reliance on it as a sole mitigation strategy may not optimally reduce long-term health consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the researchers wrote. Future vaccine formulations may be able to better address long COVID.

Fourth dose of Pfizer vaccine wanes faster than third, study confirms

A fourth dose of Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine provides additional protection against coronavirus infection and severe COVID-19 outcomes compared with three vaccine doses, but its effectiveness wanes faster, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal BMJ. The 10-week study, conducted in Israel during the omicron wave of the virus, compared outcomes of 69,623 adults with three doses of the Pfizer vaccine against 27,876 adults who received the fourth dose. It found that the additional dose offered 65.1% protection at the third week, but that level fell to 22% by the end of the research period. The authors suggest vaccine developers work on improving their formulas. A stabilization effect of additional doses on immune memory should be further investigated, as well as studies on mucosal vaccines, they wrote.

CDC warns of rebound infections after Paxlovid treatment

Some patients who take the antiviral Paxlovid can see symptoms of COVID-19 return following a brief period of recovery, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an advisory on Tuesday. Reports of rebound infections have become increasingly common but the federal health agency still recommends the drug for early-stage treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 among persons at high risk for progression to severe disease. Limited information currently available from case reports suggests that persons treated with Paxlovid who experience COVID-19 rebound have had mild illness; there are no reports of severe disease, the advisory said. There is currently no evidence that additional treatment is needed with Paxlovid or other anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapies in cases where COVID-19 rebound is suspected.

Brain fog, headaches could last more than a year after mild infection, study suggests

Lingering neurological symptoms following a COVID-19 infection  such as brain fog, numbness and headaches  can last for more than a year even as other conditions improve, according to a study published Tuesday in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. the report, from researchers at Northwestern University, is one of the longest follow-up studies on COVID patients who initially had mild symptoms and did not require hospitalization. Almost 80% were vaccinated. Using 18 months of data, it found that the neurological symptoms on average lasted 15 months even as other conditions improved. Long-COVID syndrome is causing a detrimental impact on quality of life and overall productivity which may only continue worsening as the pandemic evolves, the researchers wrote.

A lost year for the HIV fight due to pandemic, CDC says

The battle against HIV in the U.S. was likely dealt a major setback in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the annual HIV Surveillance Report, published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Testing and care plummeted due to stay-at-home orders, disruptions to clinical services, and shortages in materials, the report said. The overall number of HIV diagnoses fell 17% from 2019, but the federal health agency said that was likely due to underdiagnosis and that it will likely take years to know the true impact of the pandemic on combatting HIV. We definitely had a hit from COVID-19, said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the director of the CDCs Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, in an interview with NBC News, calling 2020 a lost year for his team.

San Diego schools delay vaccine mandate for a year, in alignment with state

The San Diego Unified School Board, which oversees Californias second-largest school district, voted Tuesday to delay its planned COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students until at least until July 2023, opting instead to rely on mitigation measures such as temporary indoor mask mandates to address outbreaks and surges at individual schools when necessary. The board said its decision was based partly on evidence that existing vaccines lose effectiveness in preventing transmission of the coronavirus a few months after being administered, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. But they ignored the more significant impact of the shots in preventing serious illness from COVID-19.

About 56% of eligible students age 5 and up in the district are fully vaccinated, and a mandate might not have increased uptake. The likelihood of making a dent in that is questionable, Dr. Howard Taras, a UC San Diego pediatrician, said at Tuesdays meeting. State officials and other large districts, including Los Angeles Unified, have also postponed their vaccine mandates for students pending full federal approval of the shots. San Diego Unified faced additional pressure due to a pair of lawsuits opposing the mandate filed by the founder of an advocacy group that opposes COVID mitigation measures and another individual who was demanding a religious exemption to the rule.

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.

Big jump in Bay Area COVID case rates over past month

The nine counties that make up the Bay Area region currently have the highest coronavirus infection rates in the state, behind only rural Del Norte County. The Bay Area is reporting about 53 new cases per 100,000 residents as of Tuesday, up from 18 per 100,000 a month ago and 42 last week. San Francisco reported about 61 daily cases per 100,000 residents Tuesday, nearly twice the statewide average of 36 per 100,000. A month ago, San Francisco was tallying 24 cases per 100,000 and last week it was 54. The case rates for the Bay Area translate to roughly 4,500 new coronavirus cases per day reported as of Tuesday  about the same as the peak of the winter 2020 to 2021 surge, which was the deadliest period of the pandemic. Case counts likely are much higher because so many people test at home but do not report their results to health authorities and many people do not test at all.

UCSFs Wachter reconsiders benefits of Paxlovid

UCSF Chief of Medicine Dr. Bob Wachter said he would think twice about recommending the COVID drug Paxlovid after what his wife Katie Hafner experienced: a difficult rebound case of COVID-19 after she took a course of Paxlovid. In a lengthy Twitter thread, Wachter weighed the pros and cons of the drug, noting that several studies have shown its efficacy in reducing hospitalizations by up to 89% in high-risk individuals  a huge effect, he said. But he paused at increasing reports of infection returning after someone takes the drug, and noted the second round of illness is often worse. While rebound cases seem to be mild & self-limited, rebound is still a big bummer, he said. His wife returned to isolation for about a week and her symptoms worsened, he wrote. Wachter said ultimately he would take the drug if he was infected because it can curb severe outcomes like hospitalization and death, and my confidence that rebound would be inconvenient but not ultimately super-risky.

Huge new survey sheds light on who is at risk for long COVID

Results from a new survey of more than 100,000 COVID-19 survivors released Tuesday by the personal genetics company 23andMe offer further evidence of a biological cause for the persistent, sometimes debilitating syndrome known as long COVID. Women were at least twice as as likely as men to report being diagnosed with long COVID, as were those who had previously experienced depression or anxiety, according to the South San Francisco firm. Read more about the fascinating report from 23andMe and how it could help inform treatment of long COVID.

One in five infected adults experience long COVID, CDC says

About 1 in 5 adults between ages 18 and 64 who was previously infected with the coronavirus has reported persistent symptoms more than four weeks being diagnosed, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday. Among those 65 and older, 1 in 4 survivors reported symptoms consistent with the conditions known as long COVID or post-COVID, including heart, lung, kidney and gastrointestinal issues, pain, fatigue, loss of smell or taste, and mental health problems. As the cumulative number of persons ever having been infected with (COVID-19) increases, the number of survivors suffering post-COVID conditions is also likely to increase, the researchers wrote. The study looked at data from March 2020 to November 2021, before the winter surge fueled by the coronavirus omicron variant. They estimated the number of those infected has increased substantially since then.

Mayor of San Jose tests positive for COVID-19

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo announced on Monday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. After feeling under the weather this evening, I tested positive for COVID-19, he said on Twitter. I am thankful that my vaccination has prevented any serious symptoms so far. The mayor encouraged others to keep up on their vaccination schedules, test frequently and mask up indoors.

Californias 2nd-largest school district outlines rules for return of mask mandate

San Diego Unified School District outlined criteria that will guide the reinstatement of mask mandates. In a letter to families that was obtained by CBS News 8, officials from Californias second-largest school district said that starting Wednesday they would evaluate each school and require students to wear masks indoors for the remainder of the 2022 academic year and summer when the school hits specific risk metrics: at least three COVID outbreaks at a school within 14 days, and more than 5% of the school population infected; or when 10% or more of the student population is absent each day due to illness over a three consecutive days. If San Diego County is classified as having a high level of COVID risk by the CDC, all schools in the district will return to indoor masking requirements.

BA.2.12.1 now makes up nearly 60% of cases in the U.S.

BA.2.12.1, the highly transmissible sublineage of the coronavirus omicron variant, accounted for 58% of cases in the U.S. last week, according to data published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The variant is crowding out its parent BA.2 subvariant, which made up 39% of cases sequenced by federal health officials. The original BA.1 omicron, which drove the winter surge, now makes up less than 3% of the proportion of cases nationwide. In the Bay Area, BA.2.12.1 and BA.2 are evenly divided with about 48% of the cases each.
The news that San Francisco police officers will not march in this years LBGTQ Pride parade because they wont be allowed to wear their uniforms (No parade for police in uniform objection, Front Page, May 24) struck a nerve with letter writers:

I see this as a culture war. Im an openly gay, Catholic, Mexican Italian who moved to San Francisco from Texas 22 years ago. You can imagine how people have broad-brush categorized me on several fronts of this war.

Yes, there have been many incidents of police abusing their power, even murders, in this country. I am not oblivious to that fact. There is a concern about some in the parade and crowd being triggered by the sight of police in uniform. Logically, the next step, then, is to have the police working during the event also wear plain clothes. Or would it be better that they are not present at all?

And what message is that for all the LGBTQ officers? Dont ask, dont tell?

Its a sad week. We have the San Francisco archbishop and the Pride board playing culture wars. Do we want to build walls or bridges?

Stefan Salinas, San Francisco

Move strains relations

Im flummoxed. These ridiculous demands of the few on the Pride board  who dont seem to understand the importance of having a good, solid relationship between the police and the LBGTQ community  really do damage to the gay community at large. As a member of the gay community, I am ashamed and alarmed by these kind of tactics that create disharmony.

The Pride parade should be a place where all feel welcome, including police, firefighters, nurses  everyone. I support the police and know many if not the majority of the gay community do as well.

Jennifer Fisher, Berkeley

Cops proud to march

It is highly disappointing to see San Francisco police not taking part in Pride. Why? They are intimidating in uniform? I doubt if those same men and women are intimidating when that 911 call is made and they want the coppers there within a few minutes.

Year after year, members of the Police Department would walk the parade route on their own time dressed in their uniforms and proudly wearing their ribbons on their left breast for acts of valor in the line of duty.

I recall one year when I was the officer in charge of the night watch at Bayview Station, just about the entire watch, both straight and gay, attended.

The article brings up incidents that happened in the late 60s, a time when a majority of the officers working today were not even born, but they are being held responsible for the past.

I can guarantee you the officers looked forward to the parade to show their support. I do not think the entire community is in line with Pride boards decision.

Thomas Del Torre, Lincoln, Placer County

Policy is exclusion

I understand how the LGBT community feels about the San Francisco Police Department. It has some issues on community response that needs to be addressed. However, as a retired first responder, I know that these proud officers who want to join the Pride parade are nowhere near the problem.

For decades, members of the LGBT community have been victims of exclusion. Now, with this decision, the Pride board appears to be practicing the same blatant, evil policy. I have rode and walked in so many Pride parades here, in New York and Chicago. But this year, I will not participate in a walk that excludes others.
The political climate energized by the potential fall of Roe v. Wade isnt just going to prevent the ability of many women to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy, it might also prevent millions of people from trying to conceive in the first place.

Think Im being alarmist? Thirteen states have trigger laws banning abortion immediately or shortly after Roe falls. Some, like one that Oklahoma lawmakers passed, define life as beginning at the moment of fertilization.

So, what could happen to in vitro fertilization, or IVF? A common infertility treatment, IVF is a process in which a females eggs are extracted from the ovaries, fertilized in a laboratory to become embryos, and are transferred to a uterus or frozen for future treatment.

Typically, multiple embryos are created at one time as a cost-effective way to increase success rates because not all embryos yield viable pregnancies. Fertilized eggs can be checked for genetic aberrations through optional techniques called preimplantation genetic screening or diagnosis.

In a post-Roe America, could losing fertilized eggs in unsuccessful IVF treatments be considered manslaughter? Could more states outlaw the destruction of unused embryos, like in Louisiana, requiring patients to budget for storing fertilized eggs in perpetuity?

Would state laws limit the number of embryos created at one time or dictate that all embryos be carried to term?

The end of Roe will not necessarily affect IVF or other assisted reproduction by itself, said Professor Henry T. Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford University. It may give some more political encouragement to pro-embryo forces to try to regulate it.

In the past, state personhood amendments were often unsuccessful because of concerns that IVF and similar care could be affected. Legislators tried to distinguish fertility treatments from any antiabortion stances, delicately balancing desires to attract votes.

But if abortion rights are rolled back  and if the antiabortion movement achieves its goal of banning abortion at the federal level how might personhood be defined?

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alitos draft opinion striking down Roe claims that the decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right, but the precedent of Roe is being argued against by distinguishing abortion to be unlike any other constitutional right due to the concept of fetal life.

This lays the groundwork for politicians seeking to activate a particular demographic of voters who identify not through a secular moral stance, but religiously influenced views.

I would be shocked if Congress decides to ban abortion, Greely said. I would be even more shocked if it decided to mess around with IVF ... I think a judge would be awfully reluctant to take a law whose clear intent is to abolish abortion and apply it to IVF ... But  there are a lot of judges.

Up until now, political support for abortion, let alone IVF and contraception, seemed like a safeguard to their accessibility. If Roe falls, it creates an unpredictable political maelstrom.

Its not wrong to worry about the worst possible consequences, Greely said. Most of the time, the worst possible consequences dont happen ... But people should still think about what they might do and what sort of responses would be available. So  prepare, but dont panic.

Fear and misdirecting the publics focus through cross-aisle virtue signaling is a tactic devolving society into a lack of critical thinking.

Prime example? Powerful leaders are debating the concept of life instead of addressing the quality of existing life.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said 78% of the lowest wage private-industry workers did not have access to paid family leave in 2021. Pandering for votes on an abortion platform does nothing for those families. Nor does it help the 400,000 children in foster care  64% of whom were allegedly neglected  in 2020, according to the U.S. Childrens Bureau.

Women die in childbirth in the U.S. more than in any other developed country, a fatal statistic that is three times more likely for non-Hispanic Black women compared to white women.

In a post-Roe America, these figures likely will worsen.

Infertility is a costly medical condition  financially and physically  that could require care, yet many health insurance plans dont cover treatments. This makes IVF already an exclusive option to those who can afford to invest thousands of dollars into their reproductive health.

At 23, my own fertility health became a top priority when a surgeon confirmed that the source of chronic pelvic pain was a condition I must contend with for the rest of my life or until there is a cure. Such issues require more diverse clinical research and should prompt more accessibility to fertility treatments  not less.

But improving and advancing reproductive health care wont happen in a nation consumed by prosecuting abortion and bickering over whether an embryo has legal rights. Instead, state legislators and the federal government will egregiously overreach and dictate deeply personal health decisions.

If one becomes a mother  whether conceiving naturally, with assisted reproductive technology or expanding a family through foster care or adoption  is an individual decision.

This is a fundamental truth that freedom depends upon.

Ultimately, you can disagree with abortion and choose to never have one, that is your right.

But overturning Roe v. Wade  a case that established women and men should have equal control over their bodies and subsequently their health  signals one thing: Womens health and autonomy does not matter in America.

Tea Francesca Price is a part-time digital producer and audio producer for The San Francisco Chronicle.
With the archbishop of San Franciscos announcement Friday that he was unilaterally banning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion, I made a decision that had been building for a long time.

I no longer consider myself a member of the Catholic Church.

Those are painful words for me to write. I spent much of my youth as an altar boy who was deeply influenced by the priests and nuns I encountered. I seriously contemplated becoming a priest at one point, was married in the church, saw my children baptized and looked on in pride when they received their first Holy Communion. I have attended more Masses and listened to more inspiring homilies over the past 40-plus years than I can begin to count.

But if youre Catholic, you know how deeply important the sacrament of Holy Communion is to all of us who consider ourselves sinners. It represents the climax of the Catholic Mass as the consecrated body and blood of Christ. To deny a Catholic this sacrament is to deny them the right to unite with Christ.

The idea that a leader of the church would weaponize something so precious is not only wrong; its abhorrent. It betrays the teachings of Pope Francis and the principles the church has operated under for more than a half century in respecting our rights to follow our conscience on issues of morality. One of the defining statements that came out of the Catholic Churchs revolutionary Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965 was the declaration of religious freedom and decree that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs.

While Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone routinely takes to Twitter to denounce Pelosi and her fellow Catholic, President Biden, over their abortion stances, he rarely targets politicians over other grave moral issues. I did not see a word from him in the aftermath of the Buffalo massacre about the political factors that have enabled a plague of racism, hate and gun violence in our society. I also never see him call for political action to address the plague of inadequate health care and safety net services that results in our country having some of the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in the advanced world.

He apparently had no idea about this nations shameful record on maternal mortality until I called it to his attention on Maternal Health Awareness Day. His brief acknowledgment on Twitter came without any call for action to address it by the same legislators he wants to see ban the right to abortion.

Many of us hoped that leaders like Cordileone would have had the humility to focus on their own institutions moral failings in the aftermath of the child sex abuse crisis. But in his role as bishop in both San Francisco and previously in Oakland, Cordileone has routinely come under fire for his lack of transparency and accountability in addressing this horrific church failure that devastated the lives of untold children across the Bay Area. Just last month, he joined other California bishops in challenging a California law that gives victims of childhood sex abuse additional time to sue.

I am tired of the hypocrisy of bishops who denounce pro-choice politicians for failing to legally protect fertilized embryos while saying nothing about those Catholic politicians such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who flout church doctrine regarding the death penalty, are backed by the extremist National Rifle Association and do nothing to protect Black grocery shoppers from being slaughtered by guns, or the shooting of schoolchildren, as happened yet again in Texas on Tuesday.

While some individual priests have shamefully withheld Holy Communion from pro-choice politicians for many years, Cordileone crossed a red line by issuing a blanket ban against Pelosi receiving the sacrament in her home diocese, after making similar threats against Biden.

Its time to say enough is enough to church leaders who attempt to bully Catholic public officials who refuse to do their theological bidding and refuse to place church doctrine ahead of the views of the constituents they are elected to represent.

I do not agree with Pelosi or her party on every issue, but she is devout Catholic mother of five who spearheaded one of the greatest expansions of health care rights (the Affordable Care Act) in U.S. history, a law that has saved countless lives and pregnancies. If she is not worthy of Holy Communion, I have no interest in continuing to receive it from this church.

My belief in Christs message of love and tolerance is as strong as ever. But I am a Catholic no more.

Craig Lazzeretti is a journalist and lifelong Bay Area resident. He was an editor on the team that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Coverage for the East Bay Times.
WASHINGTON  When she was running for the White House, Kamala Harris proposed a set of novel executive actions she believed a president could take to prevent gun violence without Congress. Theyve mostly gone nowhere in the Biden administration.

After a heartbreaking stretch of gun violence in America during which a shooter on Tuesday in Texas killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school and an attacker in Buffalo, N.Y., targeted and killed 10 Black people at a grocery store less than two weeks earlier, attention has once again turned to Congress. Most Republicans in the Senate continue to oppose legislation that would expand background checks for gun purchases and most other proposals, prolonging the impasse over any legislation that would seek to limit gun violence.

But less attention has been focused on whether more could be done without Congress, through executive action by the White House. Before she was vice president, Harris seemed to think so. During the presidential primary, she pledged she would give Congress 100 days to put gun legislation on her desk, then take action through federal regulatory authority if it didnt.

There are some very concrete things that the administration can absolutely do among her campaign proposals, said Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords, the anti-gun-violence group founded by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, after she was gravely wounded in a shooting at a district event. At the top of the list is closing background checks loopholes, expanding background checks. And they can do that by defining what engaged in the business of selling firearms means.

Harris proposed a regulation that would vastly expand background checks as legislation has sought to do by redefining gun dealer to include anyone who sells five or more guns for profit a year, vastly expanding who would be required to conduct checks on purchasers before sales. That does not appear to be in the works, based on the semiannual agenda published by the federal bureaucracy.

Of the proposals Harris put forward as a candidate, one has somewhat come to fruition. The Department of Justice has instituted a zero tolerance policy for gun dealers who willfully break the law, saying it will seek to revoke licenses of such dealers. Harris advocated for doing that, including for such tactics as allowing straw purchases to get around background checks, as well as taking egregious violators to court and fining them. But how many actions the department has actually taken along those lines  if any  remains unclear and needs to be better accounted for, Ambler said.

There is little evidence, either, that the Justice Department is adopting Harris proposal to redefine fugitive from justice in terms of who is to be denied a gun because they have an outstanding warrant. In 2017, the FBI narrowed its view of that term to include only someone outside the state their warrant was issued in.

She also advocated banning assault weapon imports, though most of the market is domestic, and taking executive action to keep domestic abusers from getting guns, though she offered no specifics on how that idea would work.

President Biden has always been far less of a proponent of executive action than Harris was in her campaign.

In a September 2019 primary debate, Harris was pressed with Bidens criticisms that some executive actions on guns were unconstitutional. Some things you can, many things you cant, Biden said. Harris replied, I would just say, Hey, Joe, instead of saying no, we cant, lets say yes, we can, before he fired back, Lets be constitutional.

Bidens biggest effort to date has been a regulation that will seek to reduce the use of ghost guns, homemade kit-based firearms that are untraceable, by treating them under the law the same as other guns. The administration also has proposed regulations on stabilizing brace devices that can make pistols more dangerous and put forward model red flag legislation that states can enact to get guns out of the hands of people who pose an immediate danger to themselves or others. Biden has struggled to get a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed and was forced to pull his first nominee because of a lack of votes.

Gun violence prevention groups, however, believe more could be done. The grassroots advocacy organizations March for Our Lives, Guns Down America and Change the Ref issued a report card earlier this year grading Biden as a D-plus, with high marks for modeling gun safety policies, investing in communities and regulating untraceable guns, but low marks for dealing with firearm trafficking, spurring congressional action and marshaling public opinion.

We strongly believe that the administration has definitely fallen short in terms of what the administration has the capacity to do, Zeenat Yahya, director of policy for March for Our Lives, told The Chronicle. Its simply not been enough.

Ambler credited the Biden administration for the work it has done so far, but said the realities of gun violence require more, including having a dedicated group of leaders in the Department of Justice focused exclusively on how to reduce such crimes.

The Department of Justice can certainly take the issue of gun violence prevention more seriously, and they can push hard for deep reforms to ATF, which is an agency held hostage to the industry its responsible for regulating, Ambler said. The administration needs to build more infrastructure to be able to hold itself accountable for some of its policy and strategy announcements.

Neither Harris nor the White House responded to requests for comment about whether her ideas have been explored.

Dozens of gun violence prevention groups also sent a group letter to the Biden-Harris transition team in November 2020 with over three pages of recommendations for action the administration could take by itself on the issue, only a handful of which have been adopted, Yahya said. The groups re-upped their unfulfilled recommendations to the administration in February.

Executive action can be fraught. It takes time  the regulation to crack down on ghost guns took a year to be finalized  and is prone to court challenges. In addition to being more hesitant to push the limits of his executive authority, Biden has also been careful not to appear to be meddling in Justice Department business, to promote the integrity of any of its criminal investigations.

Harris and Biden both spoke Tuesday night after the shooting about the need for something to be done.

I think we all know and have said many times with each other: Enough is enough, Harris told a gathering of leaders at an unrelated awards ceremony. As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action and understand the nexus between what makes for reasonable and sensible public policy to ensure something like this never happens again.

And in emotional remarks from the White House upon his return from Asia, Biden called for gun legislation to pass Congress.

When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? Biden said. When in Gods name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done? ... I am sick and tired of it. We have to act.

Tal Kopan (she/her) is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan
Heres how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned the tables Tuesday on San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileones directive to local priests to deny her Communion because of her support for abortion rights: She redefined what it means to be pro-life.

It is not just about abortion.

With just a few brief words Tuesday, Pelosi outlined how Democrats  especially Catholics and other Christians who support abortion rights  can reclaim the moral high ground when it comes to the phrase pro-life as the nations abortion wars heat up in the midst of the expected demise of the Roe v. Wade decision.

Abortion debates have always involved semantics, and conservatives have long described their opposition to the procedure as being pro-life. Though the public has largely moved away from terminology like pro-life and pro-choice, top California Democrats like Pelosi and Gov. Gavin Newsom have been reviving the phrase to make a political point about their opponents narrow definition of the term.

For starters, Pelosi challenged, if Cordileone is so adamant about calling out politicians who he thinks are not sufficiently pro-life, then why isnt he denying the holy sacrament of Communion to Catholics who support capital punishment?

I wonder about the death penalty, which Im opposed to, Pelosi said Tuesday on MSNBC. So is the church, but they take no action against people who may not share their view.

Cordileone declined to respond to The Chronicle when asked before Pelosis comments about why he hasnt proposed refusing Communion to political leaders who support the death penalty  the lions share of whom are Republicans. A representative said he was not doing interviews with the secular media at this time.

Nor did Cordileones representative respond as to whether he has been vaccinated yet against COVID. Last year, The Chronicle first reported that Cordileone had declined to get a vaccine because he said his immune system is strong and that his personal physician told him it was probably not necessary for me to be vaccinated. Earlier this year, Pope Francis  Cordileones de facto boss  said getting vaccinated was a moral obligation.

Pelosi, who has spoken about how her faith informs her politics, has been reluctant to engage in an extensive back-and-forth with Cordileone, who for years has been itching for a public fight over abortion with the nations second-highest-ranking Catholic in public office behind President Biden.

Now, with the Supreme Court about to overturn the half-century-old Roe decision legalizing abortion nationally, Cordileone has a rapt national audience and a widely known national figure as his foil.

For much of the last year, Cordileone has spearheaded a one-issue political campaign aimed squarely  and solely  at Pelosi, whose San Francisco home is located in the archdioecese he presides over. Cordileone believes that a politicians stance on abortion is paramount because it involves the killing of an innocent life.

The archbishop has pursued this line even though Pope Francis has said that Communion is not the reward of saints, but the bread of sinners. The Vatican has expressly warned clergy not to deny politicians Communion because of their political views. In 2018, Pope Francis released a 22,000-word document that said that while defending the unborn should be clear, firm and passionate for Catholics, equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.

Cordileone remains undaunted. He wants Pelosi to publicly renounce her support for abortion rights  which has about as much chance of happening as Pelosi endorsing Donald Trump for a second term.

In his letter to Pelosi, the archbishop wrote: Pope St. John Paul II was also quite consistent in upholding this constant teaching of the Church, and frequently reminded us that those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them.

Pelosi has largely ignored the archbishop until Tuesday. Politically, she gains nothing by engaging with a religious leader in her faith. But on Tuesday, she alluded to how some so-called pro-lifers want to do more than ban abortion.

What is important for women to know and families to know is that this is not just about terminating a pregnancy, Pelosi said. So these same people are against contraception, family planning, in vitro fertilization  its a blanket thing. And they use abortion as the frontman for it while they try to undo so much.

Pelosi isnt the only California Catholic at the front of this fight to reclaim the moral high ground in the abortion battle.

Newsom  a baptized Catholic whose Jesuit alma mater, the Santa Clara University, touts him as a notable alum  took the same tack this month in more extensive and pointed terms when he outlined his proposed revisions in the state budget.

I do want to make a deep point here, said Newsom, who describes himself as a practicing Catholic. California is a pro-life state.

Standing in front of a slide in his presentation titled Californias pro-life agenda, Newsom said being pro-life includes everything from supporting gun safety reforms and universal preschool to taking on climate change.

I think theres a lot of folks out there that are pro-conception to birth, but they fall wholly short of being pro-life, Newsom said.

Being pro-life means youd support prenatal care. Youd support infant health, youd support child care and preschool, Newsom said. If youre pro-life, you believe in science, if youre pro-life you believe in climate change. But in every single one of these cases  universally  the same folks that claim or hold claim to this pro-life (stance) are cutting those programs (or) opposing expansion of those programs.

Newsom made a similar point in the wake of a shooting Tuesday at a Texas elementary school where an 18-year-old gunman killed 21 people, tweeting: Another shooting. And the GOP wont do a damn thing about it. Who the hell are we if we cannot keep our kids safe. This is preventable. Our inaction is a choice.

Top California Democratic strategist Dan Newman applauded Pelosis pushback Tuesday.

Its a recognition that we can no longer let Republicans get away with this crap  its time to expose their hypocrisy, Newman said. Republicans go way beyond the usual hollow cliches and empty rhetoric  their words and deeds are diametrically opposed. ... We need to actively reclaim and defend these terms before Republicans drag them into their upside-down world.

After Tuesdays shooting, Newman said: Every damn day theres another reminder of how ridiculous it is for the party that wants more guns for everyone to call themselves pro-life and tough on crime.

It has been a challenge for abortion-rights advocates to help Catholics and some Christians express how their faith informs their support for allowing individuals the right to terminate their pregnancies. Last year, NARAL Pro Choice America published a memo on the topic and quoted Catholics for Choice President Jamie Manson.

The obligation to not just care for the vulnerable but to actively privilege them over everyone else lies at the heart of the Catholic faith, Manson said.  Its the guiding principle of the churchs work with the poor and the marginalized.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
The two men fired upon by San Francisco police officers last Friday died from gunshot wounds, according to a copy of the medical examiners conclusions into the causes of their deaths reviewed by The Chronicle.

The medical examiners report did not say whether police killed the men, but police have not said that either of the men was armed with a gun.

Officers initially responded to a reported assault by a knife-wielding man last week. The victim in that assault was unarmed, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.

The alleged assailant was definitively killed by police gunfire, the sources said.

The two people were granted anonymity in order to speak candidly about an ongoing, sensitive investigation, in accordance with The Chronicles policy on anonymous sources.

San Francisco officials previously identified the two men as Michael MacFhionghain, 57, and Rafael Mendoza, 49. Their cities of residence were unknown.

The Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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 department has to date declined to release detailed information about the shooting. But a town hall-style event is planned in the coming days where the public will be able to view body camera footage of the incident, in keeping with the departments policy on police shootings.

The California Department of Justice said Monday that it would serve as the lead investigating agency in the shooting.

While state officials declined to release additional information about their rationale for taking up the investigation, the Justice Department, under state law, investigates all incidents of fatal police shootings involving an unarmed civilian.

Dominic Fracassa and Megan Cassidy are San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa @meganrcassidy
A group of men dressed in Nazi paraphernalia, among them a Bay Area leader of a known antisemitic organization, were allegedly seen harassing individuals throughout Los Angeles County, including at a West Hollywood gas station and at a Beverly Hills Hilton hotel.

The group sparked fury last weekend after being spotted driving around in a box truck painted with antisemitic, white supremacist rhetoric, making references to the great replacement conspiracy theory, a white supremacist myth that immigrants and ethnic minorities are replacing Americas white population.

The acronym GDL was reportedly painted on the truck, a seeming reference to the Goyim Defense League  a group classified by the Anti-Defamation League as a network that espouses vitriolic antisemitism and white supremacist themes via the internet, through propaganda distributions and in street actions. One of the individuals was identified by the group StopAntisemitism as Jon Minadeo Jr., the Petaluma-based leader of the GDL.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Minadeo and a group of men were spotted at the Beverly Hills Hilton on Saturday in what appeared to be outfits similar to Nazi brownshirts, parading around the hotel and shouting, Here comes Jew boy  were going to make you go extinct.

Also on Saturday, Forward reported, two men in the truck were also spotted in West Hollywood harassing Black drivers buying gasoline and shouting homophobic messages. (It is unclear whether one of those men was Minadeo.) Videos also showed the vehicle around Beverly Hills, with people shouting antisemitic messages from inside.

Officials in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood condemned the actions.

A Disgusting antisemitic truck spewing vulgar Jew hatred drove through our streets today, Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse tweeted Saturday. An example of inhumanity. As a daughter of an Auschwitz survivor, I will always stand up, speak out and fight this hatred.

In March, Minadeos girlfriend at the time, yoga instructor Kelly Johnson, was fired from two popular Bay Area yoga studios because of her connection with Minadeo. Owner Jeff Renfro described Minadeo in an interview with SFGATE as a quite well-known white supremacist, antisemite, gay-basher.

Beverly Hills police have yet to publicly identify anyone who conducted these actions. A spokesperson for the department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from SFGATE.
Good business owners cover all their bases, and that goes for domain names too. When you utilize descriptive domains for a targeted audience, you can bolster your business and amplify your digital footprint. The more domain names that you use, the more opportunities you have to tell your brand's story. Let's talk about five ways you can support your brand and your business with the strategic use of multiple domain names.



Your established company website domain is your digital identity hub, but it may not be the most effective domain to link for communicating and promoting every area of your business. Large corporations often create standalone sites for many specific tasks and messages. For example, Amazon utilizes amazon.care for access to its employee health care portal. Likewise, Ikea.today offers Ikea visitors a glimpse into the company's product development, philosophy and process. The .today domain separates this content from Ikea's main website while alluding to their up-to-date happenings. When you choose domain names that are easy to remember, customers can quickly navigate to the specific site that provides the information they need.

Related: How to Choose a Descriptive Domain for Your Business

2. Protect your brand

Established businesses that already have a parent brand domain can better protect their brand identities by adding to their domain portfolios. For example, Amazon owns over 5,000 relevant keyword descriptive domains that are set as redirects to relevant pages on amazon.com or wholefoods.com. By claiming brand territory around your company name using redirects, you also help prevent cyber attacks from phishers or even parody sites that might pose as your brand.

3. Strengthen SEO to increase audience engagement

With fox.news and apple.news, descriptive domains are utilized to protect branding, but they are also used to strengthen SEO. Descriptive domains act as short and easy-to-remember calling cards for a company's identity and offerings. Descriptive domain names are more searchable, because they utilize both sides of the dot with descriptive phrases that boost traffic to your site. In the case with malaysia.travel, if the phrase Malaysia travel is typed into a search engine, the intuitive next click would be to Malaysia Travels website. When claiming domains to protect your brand, choosing descriptive domains effectively guides users to the most relevant content.

4. Create a memorable promotion

Unique domains can also be used to make promotions stand out, boosting engagement with a memorable call-to-action. You can drive customer participation in your campaigns with domains that use your brand name alongside a specific domain extension like .deals, .coupons, .delivery or .discount. These types of domains are ideal for social media, billboards, and word of mouth promotion.

For example, a memorable billboard campaign for Bitcoin and NFTs came with simple messages like "make the money better," along with the URL bitcoin.guide. Another billboard said "crypto is a peaceful revolution, hidden in plain sight" with the domain m.guide/bitcoin. Passersby could glance at these memorable links and then find them later, without having to stop and write anything down.

Related: Debunking 3 Common Misconceptions Around Domains

5. Communicate a branded message

Most brands have multiple messages to share with their audience, and multiple domains provide a great way to reinforce various aspects of your brand. For example, Skims Shapewear acquired and uses the domain skims.social for their social media links. Posting this clear and descriptive link makes their social media look more polished and elevated in comparison to using short link providers with nonsensical and difficult-to-remember characters. Likewise, when T-mobile is hiring, they use tmobile.careers to advertise with prospects and recruiters. This domain is descriptive, shorter and much more memorable than https://www.t-mobile.com/careers.

Whether you are running social media campaigns for large corporations or launching the website of a startup, attention to detail elevates your business. Descriptive domain names provide an opportunity for you to be detail-oriented with brand messaging, website security, and a stronger searchability of your business. In choosing what domains your business should claim, don't be afraid to be as creative as you are strategic. The more domains you claim, the more stories your business can tell.

Related: 8 Elements to Consider When Picking Your Domain Name

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Director Steven Spielberg has had an immensely successful career behind the camera. Known for his adventure films like Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park, he has received numerous accolades for Best Director and Best Picture. His 2021 revamp of the famed musical West Side Story, with the help of screenwriter Tony Kushner, garnered him seven academy award nominations, plus nominations for a Golden Globe. Staring actors Ariana DeBose, Rachel Zegler, and Ansel Elgort, the film made waves with original film actress Rita Moreno as executive producer on the project.

Aside from Spielberg's more recent movie success, he is remembered for creating a bevy of films, including his first-ever, Sugarland Express, the science fiction film franchise Star Wars with George Lucas, Raiders of The Lost Ark with Harrison Ford, and War Horse. Not to mention his work as executive producer on the Jurassic Park franchise, including The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and they aren't done yet. Jurassic World Dominion is set to release in the summer of 2022 through his production company Amblin Entertainment and Amblin Partners, with Laura Dern set to reprise her iconic role.

Spielberg is known for keeping his friends close and working with them on several films, such as composer John Williams, and actors Mark Rylance and Tom Hanks. In addition to his work in film, he started the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Los Angeles dedicated to telling the stories of Holocaust survivors, which he started following the success of his movie Schindlers List.

While Spielberg's resume goes on, the director has a wealth of knowledge to offer the younger generation. See below for the full transcript of his 2016 Harvard University commencement address, jammed packed with advice for future entrepreneurs.

Thank you, thank you, President Faust, and Paul Choi, thank you so much.

Its an honor and a thrill to address this group of distinguished alumni and supportive friends and kvelling parents. Weve all gathered to share in the joy of this day, so please join me in congratulating Harvards Class of 2016.

I can remember my own college graduation, which is easy, since it was only 14 years ago. How many of you took 37 years to graduate? Because, like most of you, I began college in my teens, but sophomore year, I was offered my dream job at Universal Studios, so I dropped out. I told my parents if my movie career didnt go well, Id re-enroll.

It went all right.

But eventually, I returned for one big reason. Most people go to college for an education, and some go for their parents, but I went for my kids. Im the father of seven, and I kept insisting on the importance of going to college, but I hadnt walked the walk. So, in my fifties, I re-enrolled at Cal State -- Long Beach, and I earned my degree.

I just have to add: It helped that they gave me course credit in paleontology for the work I did on Jurassic Park. Thats three units for Jurassic Park, thank you.

Well I left college because I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and some of you know, too -- but some of you dont. Or maybe you thought you knew but are now questioning that choice. Maybe youre sitting there trying to figure out how to tell your parents that you want to be a doctor and not a comedy writer.

Well, what you choose to do next is what we call in the movies the character-defining moment. Now, these are moments youre very familiar with, like in the last Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when Rey realizes the force is with her. Or Indiana Jones choosing mission over fear by jumping over a pile of snakes.

Now in a two-hour movie, you get a handful of character-defining moments, but in real life, you face them every day. Life is one strong, long string of character-defining moments. And I was lucky that at 18 I knew what I exactly wanted to do. But I didnt know who I was. How could I? And how could any of us? Because for the first 25 years of our lives, we are trained to listen to voices that are not our own. Parents and professors fill our heads with wisdom and information, and then employers and mentors take their place and explain how this world really works.

And usually, these voices of authority make sense, but sometimes, doubt starts to creep into our heads and into our hearts. And even when we think, thats not quite how I see the world, its kind of easier to just to nod in agreement and go along, and for a while, I let that going along define my character. Because I was repressing my own point of view, because like in that Nilsson song, Everybody was talkin at me, so I couldnt hear the echoes of my mind.

And at first, the internal voice I needed to listen to was hardly audible, and it was hardly noticeable -- kind of like me in high school. But then I started paying more attention, and my intuition kicked in.

And I want to be clear that your intuition is different from your conscience. They work in tandem, but heres the distinction: Your conscience shouts, heres what you should do, while your intuition whispers, heres what you could do. Listen to that voice that tells you what you could do. Nothing will define your character more than that.

Because once I turned to my intuition, and I tuned into it, certain projects began to pull me into them, and others, I turned away from.

Related: Sheryl Sandberg Commencement Speech, University of California at Berkeley, May 2016 (Transcript)

And up until the 1980s, my movies were mostly, I guess what you could call escapist. And I dont dismiss any of these movies -- not even 1941. Not even that one. And many of these early films reflected the values that I cared deeply about, and I still do. But I was in a celluloid bubble, because Id cut my education short, my worldview was limited to what I could dream up in my head, not what the world could teach me.

But then I directed The Color Purple. And this one film opened my eyes to experiences that I never could have imagined, and yet were all too real. This story was filled with deep pain and deeper truths, like when Shug Avery says, Everything wants to be loved. My gut, which was my intuition, told me that more people needed to meet these characters and experience these truths. And while making that film, I realized that a movie could also be a mission.

I hope all of you find that sense of mission. Dont turn away from whats painful. Examine it. Challenge it.

My job is to create a world that lasts two hours. Your job is to create a world that lasts forever. You are the future innovators, motivators, leaders and caretakers.

And the way you create a better future is by studying the past. Jurassic Park writer Michael Crichton, who graduated from both this college and this medical school, liked to quote a favorite professor of his who said that if you didnt know history, you didnt know anything. You were a leaf that didnt know it was part of a tree. So history majors: Good choice, youre in great shape...Not in the job market, but culturally.

The rest of us have to make a little effort. Social media that were inundated and swarmed with is about the here and now. But Ive been fighting and fighting inside my own family to get all my kids to look behind them, to look at what already has happened. Because to understand who they are is to understand who were were, and who their grandparents were, and then, what this country was like when they emigrated here. We are a nation of immigrants -- at least for now.

So to me, this means we all have to tell our own stories. We have so many stories to tell. Talk to your parents and your grandparents, if you can, and ask them about their stories. And I promise you, like I have promised my kids, you will not be bored.

And thats why I so often make movies based on real-life events. I look to history not to be didactic, cause thats just a bonus, but I look because the past is filled with the greatest stories that have ever been told. Heroes and villains are not literary constructs, but theyre at the heart of all history.

And again, this is why its so important to listen to your internal whisper. Its the same one that compelled Abraham Lincoln and Oskar Schindler to make the correct moral choices. In your defining moments, do not let your morals be swayed by convenience or expediency. Sticking to your character requires a lot of courage. And to be courageous, youre going to need a lot of support.

And if youre lucky, you have parents like mine. I consider my mom my lucky charm. And when I was 12 years old, my father handed me a movie camera, the tool that allowed me to make sense of this world. And I am so grateful to him for that. And I am grateful that hes here at Harvard, sitting right down there.

My dad is 99 years old, which means hes only one year younger than Widener Library. But unlike Widener, hes had zero cosmetic work. And dad, theres a lady behind you, also 99, and Ill introduce you after this is over, okay?

But look, if your familys not always available, theres backup. Near the end of Its a Wonderful Life -- you remember that movie, Its a Wonderful Life? Clarence the Angel inscribes a book with this: No man is a failure who has friends. And I hope you hang on to the friendships youve made here at Harvard. And among your friends, I hope you find someone you want to share your life with. I imagine some of you in this yard may be a tad cynical, but I want to be unapologetically sentimental. I spoke about the importance of intuition and how theres no greater voice to follow. That is, until you meet the love of your life. And this is what happened when I met and married Kate, and that became the greatest character-defining moment of my life.

Love, support, courage, intuition. All of these things are in your heros quiver, but still, a hero needs one more thing: A hero needs a villain to vanquish. And youre all in luck. This world is full of monsters. And theres racism, homophobia, ethnic hatred, class hatred, theres political hatred, and theres religious hatred.

As a kid, I was bullied -- for being Jewish. This was upsetting, but compared to what my parents and grandparents had faced, it felt tame. Because we truly believed that anti-Semitism was fading. And we were wrong. Over the last two years, nearly 20,000 Jews have left Europe to find higher ground. And earlier this year, I was at the Israeli embassy when President Obama stated the sad truth. He said: We must confront the reality that around the world, anti-Semitism is on the rise. We cannot deny it.

My own desire to confront that reality compelled me to start, in 1994, the Shoah Foundation. And since then, weve spoken to over 53,000 Holocaust survivors and witnesses in 63 countries and taken all their video testimonies. And were now gathering testimonies from genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, Armenia and Nanking. Because we must never forget that the inconceivable doesnt happen -- it happens frequently. Atrocities are happening right now. And so we wonder not just, When will this hatred end? but, How did it begin?

Now, I dont have to tell a crowd of Red Sox fans that we are wired for tribalism. But beyond rooting for the home team, tribalism has a much darker side. Instinctively and maybe even genetically, we divide the world into us and them. So the burning question must be: How do all of us together find the we? How do we do that? Theres still so much work to be done, and sometimes I feel the work hasnt even begun. And its not just anti-Semitism thats surging -- Islamophobias on the rise, too. Because theres no difference between anyone who is discriminated against, whether its the Muslims, or the Jews, or minorities on the border states, or the LGBT community -- it is all big one hate.

And to me, and, I think, to all of you, the only answer to more hate is more humanity. We gotta repair -- we have to replace fear with curiosity. Us and them -- well find the we by connecting with each other. And by believing that were members of the same tribe. And by feeling empathy for every soul -- even Yalies.

My son graduated from Yale, thank you 

But make sure this empathy isnt just something that you feel. Make it something you act upon. That means vote. Peaceably protest. Speak up for those who cant and speak up for those who may be shouting but arent being hard. Let your conscience shout as loud as it wants if youre using it in the service of others.

Related: Peter Thiel Commencement Speech, Hamilton College, May 2016 (Transcript)

And as an example of action in service of others, you need to look no further than this Hollywood-worthy backdrop of Memorial Church. Its south wall bears the names of Harvard alumni -- like President Faust has already mentioned -- students and faculty members, who gave their lives in World War II. All told, 697 souls, who once tread the ground where stand now, were lost. And at a service in this church in late 1945, Harvard President James Conant -- which President Faust also mentioned -- honored the brave and called upon the community to reflect the radiance of their deeds.

Seventy years later, this message still holds true. Because their sacrifice is not a debt that can be repaid in a single generation. It must be repaid with every generation. Just as we must never forget the atrocities, we must never forget those who fought for freedom. So as you leave this college and head out into the world, continue please to reflect the radiance of their deeds, or as Captain Miller in Saving Private Ryan would say, Earn this.

And please stay connected. Please never lose eye contact. This may not be a lesson you want to hear from a person who creates media, but we are spending more time looking down at our devices than we are looking in each others eyes. So, forgive me, but lets start right now. Everyone here, please find someones eyes to look into. Students, and alumni and you too, President Faust, all of you, turn to someone you dont know or dont know very well. They may be standing behind you, or a couple of rows ahead. Just let your eyes meet. Thats it. That emotion youre feeling is our shared humanity mixed in with a little social discomfort.

But, if you remember nothing else from today, I hope you remember this moment of human connection. And I hope you all had a lot of that over the past four years. Because today you start down the path of becoming the generation on which the next generation stands. And Ive imagined many possible futures in my films, but you will determine the actual future. And I hope that its filled with justice and peace.

And finally, I wish you all a true, Hollywood-style happy ending. I hope you outrun the T. rex, catch the criminal and for your parents sake, maybe every now and then, just like E.T.: Go home. Thank you.

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
I love breakfast sandwiches. In particular, I love the platonic ideal of a breakfast sandwich  a simple, greasy, NYC bodega-style offering that absolutely doesnt have any lettuce on it (please stop putting lettuce on breakfast sandwiches, California). As long as theres some combination of bread-meat-egg-cheese-bread, Im a happy man.

Still, Ive always known I could be happier. So a year ago this week, I went in search of those life-changing San Francisco breakfast sandwiches, the ones where you can tell theyre going to turn your entire day around just by holding them in the wrapper. I asked for recommendations from friends, family, colleagues and strangers on Twitter, and then started my journey.

Since that fateful first sandwich in May 2021, Ive biked more than 150 miles around SF and eaten about 50 different sandwiches. Theyve come from corner stores, hole-in-the-wall cafes, acclaimed bakeries, rooftop coffee shops and every kind of place in between. Ive had sandwiches with eggs that are pillowy-soft and crispy-fried, on crumbly biscuits and delicate brioche, and packed with everything from hash brown-wrapped bacon to the perfect single slice of ham.

This is a list of the best ones I tried. But I want to be very clear: This is not a list of the best breakfast sandwiches in San Francisco.

Heres a secret from someone who wrote Best Of lists for five years at another publication: Theyre the worst thing that ever happened to food journalism, an echo chamber of underpaid food writers rattling off the same handful of restaurants and bars in every major city in America. And really, it would be literally impossible to declare the best of anything without trying every one in every city. I loathe Best Of lists even more than I love breakfast sandwiches.

So this isnt a definitive ranking. Instead, its a collection of 20 restaurants doing breakfast sandwiches that turned my day around, an ode to a food and a city that I love. Hopefully, some of them will turn your day around, too. And please, if your favorite spot isn't on the list, shoot me an email or hit me up on Twitter so I can keep updating this thing with more transcendent breakfast sandwich finds. All right, here we go 

The Breakfast Sandwiches I Will Go Out Of My Way To Eat Again

The first question everyone asked when I told them I was doing this: What was the best one? Which I think is the wrong question. I think the right question is What were the ones youd go out of your way to eat again? These are those:

Grant Marek/SFGATE, Kahnfections photo courtesy of Yelp user Adrienne H.

Kahnfections

3321 20th St.

The order: classic buttermilk biscuit breakfast sandwich with bacon

Im not a biscuit guy. I feel like half of the biscuit always ends up crumbled on the floor and the biscuit-thickness-to-things-inside ratio is rarely right  I dont trust them as a vessel. And yet, the biscuit at Kahnfections (made by baker Judy Kahn, a former Tartine intern who runs the place with her husband Mark) was perfect. The perfect height, perfect sturdiness, perfect perfect. The bacon was also phenomenal  just legitimate, thick-cut brilliance  the eggs were great and the garlic aioli was masterful. This is also the only spot I visited that had the one sure-thing sign of a great breakfast sandwich: 30 guys in spandex standing outside next to their fancy bikes.

Newkirks

1002 Potrero Ave.

The order: BEC

Newkirks, a quaint little spot on roaring Potrero Avenue, says it offers East Coast style fried egg sandwiches, and while Im not totally sure what those are, I am totally sure I love them. The buttered poppy seed Kaiser roll was a delicious and refreshing curveball in terms of bread choice, everything came piping hot and existed in perfect harmony  applewood smoked bacon, extremely melty American cheese and the best fried cage-free brown egg I had on the entire journey.

Breakfast Little

3224 1/2 22nd St

The order: Breakfast Little sandwich

This tiny, cozy, Latino-owned cafe on 22nd (across from Make Out Room) was named after the breakfast sandwich that owner Andrew Perez originally conceived at since-closed Piccolo Petes Cafe in Visitacion Valley. And what a namesake it is: a small, toasted Filipino roll hugs an impossibly fluffy egg cloud with cheese and bacon mixed into it, all for less than $8. I will never stop thinking about Breakfast Little's breakfast sandwich.

Lous Cafe

5017 Geary Blvd. (note: there are four of these in SF, and one on the Peninsula)

The order: original breakfast sandwich

I knew Id find a phenomenal breakfast sandwich in the Inner Richmond, I just thought it would be at Breadbelly. Turns out, it was a few blocks away at Lous Cafe, a family-owned and -operated sandwich spot that first opened in 2010 and has since deservedly expanded to four other locations in the Bay Area. Ramana Brodeth is the matriarch behind it (she worked catering at Andronicos Deli for 19 years) and runs it with her two sons, T.J. and Mark, who help man an elite assembly line of breakfast sandwich production. Served on ciabatta, the original breakfast sandwich has a lot going on (in addition to bacon, egg, American cheese and special sauce, theres an entire hash brown inside of it), but it somehow all works and isnt even slightly unwieldy.

The Breakfast Sandwiches I Will Tell Friends Visiting SF To Eat

These sandwiches are all conveniently located next to things tourists love, making them a super easy sell for people visiting the city who need recommendations for where to get the best breakfast. This is that where.

Grant Marek/SFGATE

Devils Teeth

3876 Noriega St.

The order: regular breakfast sandwich

Sandwiched between Golden Gate Park and the San Francisco Zoo (and just three blocks from the Great Walkway), this is S.F.s consensus best breakfast sandwich (based entirely on the dozens of people who all asked me the same question: Did you try Devils Teeth?). The regular features two scrambled eggs, bacon and cheddar cheese on a delicious buttermilk biscuit. Its phenomenal, and doubly so because youre likely to be eating it on a cool, fog-covered morning in the Outer Sunset (but just between you and me, I think Kahnfections just barely edges them out for biscuit breakfast sandwich supremacy).

Andytown

Rooftop, 181 Fremont St., Park Level

The order: breakfast sandwich

I only wrote down one sentence in my notes for this breakfast sandwich: And the views. Located on the Salesforce Park rooftop, figuring out how to get to Andytown is half the battle  youll enter at 181 Fremont, walk past all the security desks and head to the back left corner of the building where youll grab an elevator that only takes you up to the publicly accessible 7th floor. From there youll walk right into the prettiest of Andytowns four locations in the city. Despite its unassuming name, this is one of the most  assuming breakfast sandwiches I found. Griddled housemade pain de mie slices wrap around bacon, ham, cheddar cheese and a cage-free soft egg that will drip back into the sandwich when you bite into it thanks to the floofy pain de mie. Pro tip: Eat it on the rooftop park (see: the views).

Arts Cafe

747 Irving St.

The order: bacon hash brown sandwich

Golden Gate Park-adjacent Arts Cafe traded one mom-and-pop for another during the pandemic  beloved owners Sarah and Hae Ryong Youn retired and Chol and Young Lee took over, vowing to not change a thing. And its good they didnt, because this Inner Sunset haunts hash brown sandwiches are stuff of legend. Every seat at their quaint little counter was taken on a random Thursday in November when I went, and almost all of them were diving into Arts hash brown sandwiches. Hash browns are griddled and then folded in half (with strips of bacon tucked neatly inside the fold), before being plopped on two sourdough slices along with melted cheddar cheese and two eggs. If you are hungover, this is where you go to feel better.

Golden Gate Meat Company

One Ferry Building, No. 13

The order: breakfast sandwich

The bacon, you guys. The bacon. Oh my gosh the bacon. Courtesy of Golden Gate Meat Company, a fourth generation butcher shop with a stall in the Ferry Building, the breakfast sandwich features a fried fresh egg, cheddar cheese, soft kaiser roll (that looked like it was too much roll, but actually ended up being the exact right amount of roll), and sweet, glorious, thick applewood-smoked bacon that restored my faith in bacon humanity.

Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen

736 Mission St. (theyve got eight locations: six in the Bay Area, one in LA and one in Japan)

The order: bodega bagel sandwich

I was fully prepared for Wise Sons' bodega bagel sandwich to be pretty ho-hum  it looks pretty plain, uses a too-thin bagel (IMO), some eggs, some cheese and no meat, but then you bite into it and youre like, WAIT, SOMETHING IS HAPPENING, WHAT IS THAT MYSTERY DELICIOUSNESS, and it turns out its their garlic aioli, which I want to buy bottled in bulk. Also this one in particular is super portable for on-the-go breakfast sandwiching and theyve got a window for easy ordering outside the Contemporary Jewish Museum (a 7-minute walk to Union Square).

The Platonic Ideal of a NYC Bodega Breakfast Sandwich

This is it.

Grant Marek/SFGATE

Sutter Street Cafe

450 Sutter St. No. 7

The order: Sutter St. AM Special

I knew before the breakfast sandwich even reached my hand that this would be the closest Id come to that ideal NYC bodega breakfast sandwich. Sutter Street Cafe is not easy to find. Its inside of a beautiful old office building down a little corridor next to a parking garage entrance and a jeweler. The crackle of bacon on the grill and various oven beepers going off help guide the way, and once youre inside its a hodgepodge of convenience store and sandwich counter, with a sign that confirms they do all-day breakfast. The AM Special comes with a hash brown and coffee and features a sausage, cheddar and egg combo on an English muffin that somehow is elevated to breakfast nirvana when the entire sandwich goes into a mini oven behind the counter just before they hand it to you. This is just a great breakfast sandwich all around.

The Best Of The Rest

Grant Marek/SFGATE

Daily Driver

One Ferry Building

The order: bacon, egg and cheese

Java Trading Company

100 5th St.

The order: sausage, egg and cheddar cheese

Church Street Groceteria

300 Church St.

The order: eggs, cheese and bacon bagel sandwich

Sweet Chinito

3100 Mission St.

The order: bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwich

Soma Eats

186 2nd St.

The order: the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich

Note: You can currently only get this if you do a catering order

The Bagel Bakery

151 Townsend St.

The order: bacon omelet

House of Bagels

5030 Geary Blvd.

The order: Morning Start

Maxfields

398 Dolores St.

The order: breakfast bagel with sausage

Important note: You can (/should) ask for it on Dutch crunch.

Automat

1801 McAllister St.

The order: Zadies Sandwich (add the slice of smoky ham roll)

Note: This was good, but it was also $12 before tax and tip. Yikes.

Uncle Bennys Donut and Bagel

2049 Irving St.

The order: ham, cheese, egg and bacon
From the business owner/Yelp

The glitz and glamor of Beverly Hills Mirame, a contemporary Mexican restaurant by award-winning chef Joshua Gil, is joining the star-studded lineup of restaurants at Menlo Parks Springline complex, according to the San Francisco Chronicle (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another).

Its what we call the next iteration of Mexican cuisine, co-owner Matt Egan told the paper. Gil and Egan joined forces when Egan direct messaged Gil over Instagram, and in July 2020, they opened Mirame Beverly Hills.
As Shake Shack continues to set roots within Bay Area malls, the popular East Coast burger chain is now headed to Westfield Oakridge mall in San Jose, as first reported by the Mercury News.

Michael Chapman, general manager at Westfield Oakridge confirmed in a statement via email that the San Jose mall is slated to get a Shake Shack, which will join the mall's growing food offerings.

Were excited that Shake Shack is joining Westfield Oakridges growing roster of tenants, Michael Chapman, general manager at Westfield Oakridge, said in a statement. Shack Shack will be a key addition to the centers collection of restaurants and experiences.

While Westfield Oakridge representatives were tight-lipped on when the new restaurant will open, Shake Shack confirmed in a statement via email that the San Jose outpost will likely debut in late 2022.

We are always looking to build out our footprint and were excited to be opening at the Westfield Oakridge shopping center, Katie Scott, manager of brand communications at Shake Shack, said in a statement.

The news comes a month after the burger chain announced more Shake Shack locations are coming to the Bay Area. Later this year, both Stonestown Galleria mall in San Francisco and Bay Street Emeryville shopping center in Emeryville are slated to gain new Shake Shack restaurants, as both shopping centers are in the midst of rebranding into food destinations.

The upcoming Shake Shack restaurant will be the first for San Jose, which is just a short drive from the nearby Shake Shack at Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara. Shake Shack currently has seven Bay Area locations, including two in San Francisco as well as single locations in Oakland, Larkspur, San Mateo, Palo Alto and Santa Clara.
For those among us who like a tipple after takeoff, consider this a sign that the world is healing: Many airlines are resuming in-flight meals and alcohol service.

Early on in the pandemic, many airlines completely cut in-flight refreshment offerings (aside from perhaps a hasty water bottle delivery). Slowly but surely, airlines are reintroducing the amenity.

For example, in 2020, Southwest Airlines cut service completely on short flights and offered only water and a prepackaged snack on longer flights. In 2021, Southwest reintroduced a small selection of nonalcoholic drinks to all flights. It wasnt until February 2022 that its complete pre-pandemic beverage menu returned, which included more soda and juice choices  plus alcoholic beverages for an additional cost.

Other airlines moved a bit more quickly. By July 2020, Delta Air Lines was offering beer cans and single-serve wine bottles. It wasnt until March 2022 that it brought back hot meals for its Delta One and first class customers on some flights.

WHY DID IN-FLIGHT ALCOHOL GET THE AX?

Its hard to peg just one reason why alcohol and hot meals disappeared on flights during the COVID-19 era. For some, it eliminated unnecessary lingering in the aisles while flight attendants took everyones orders.

Others point to unprecedented rates of unruly passenger reports as the reason to remove alcohol in particular. In 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration initiated 1,099 investigations around unruly passengers. Thats up from just 183 in 2020, 149 in 2019 and 146 investigations in 2018, according to FAA data. And not all bad behavior yields an investigation. In 2021, the FAA received reports of 4,290 mask-related incidents and 5,981 unruly passenger reports.

While its unclear how many of those cases involved alcohol (or how many more there might be if alcohol was accessible), flight attendants suggest a correlation.

An online survey of 5,000 flight attendants in summer 2021 by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, a union, showed that mask compliance and alcohol were among the most common factors in unruly passenger interactions. Additionally, 17% of respondents reported experiencing at least one physical incident with a passenger.

Some suspect the reason in-flight beverages got the boot comes down to money. Airlines have sought to cut costs by culling refreshments long before the pandemic. For instance, Frontier Airlines discontinued serving warm, gooey cookies on its flights back in 2012, stating that fresh cookie service does not align with either the perception or financial reality of the ultra low-cost business model, according to a memo obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Today, refreshments are available on Frontier flights for purchase, but there are no freebies.

These days, travelers say that while service has largely returned, its still been significantly reduced.

Pre-COVID, United Airlines would always offer a drink before takeoff, and flight attendants would continue to offer drinks during the flight, says David Decker, an insurance executive and United Million Miler member.

Currently, the flight attendants make the rounds after the plane has reached cruising altitude, but you are hard-pressed to find a flight attendant for a refill. Ive seen some passengers even resort to ringing the flight attendant bell.

HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON IN-FLIGHT BEVERAGES

If you want to save money on in-flight refreshments, then the typical advice of pack your own snacks likely wont apply on airplanes. You cant bring liquids greater than 3.4 ounces through the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, so unless youre drinking a straight espresso shot, there arent a lot of beverage options youll be allowed to get past security.

You cant sneak through your own small stashes of liquor, either; FAA regulations prohibit passengers from drinking alcohol on the aircraft unless its served by a flight attendant.

These days, unless youre flying a budget airline, youll likely no longer have to spend $6 on a soda in the airport terminal just to satisfy your carbonation cravings. If you can wait until after takeoff, you could get it all as part of the cost of your airfare.

And as far as adult beverages go, here are additional ways to save.

LOOK FOR OLD AIRLINE COUPONS

Some airlines offer coupons for in-flight snacks and drinks to loyal customers. And though they tend to have expiration dates, many of those have been extended. For example, Southwest drink coupons that were set to expire in 2020 or 2021 (and can be redeemed for an alcoholic beverage) now dont expire until Dec. 31, 2022.

FLY FIRST CLASS (FOR FREE)

Youre unlikely to be offered a free adult beverage in economy, but you will in the premium seats. On Delta, all Delta Comfort+ and first class customers receive complimentary beer and wine service. United offers complimentary alcoholic beverages in premium cabins, and Alaska Airlines offers complimentary alcohol in first class.

Premium cabins typically arent cheap if youre paying a cash fare, but you might be able to finagle your way to an upgrade. There are a few tricks to getting a free upgrade on your flight, such as through holding airline elite status.

Early on in the pandemic, chasing elite status might not have been a smart money move given that many were traveling less and that perks were reduced. But while earning airline elite status is not exactly a walk in the park, it might be worth it these days if you travel often and fully use the benefits (like actually consuming in-flight alcohol).

USE AIRLINE CREDIT CARD INCIDENTAL CREDITS

Many premium travel credit cards offer statement credits toward airline incidental fees. These fees are additional qualifying charges from your preferred airline beyond the actual airfare. Whats considered a qualifying purchase can vary by credit card issuer, but they typically include checked bags, seat upgrades and  yes  in-flight refreshments.

_______________________________

This article originally appeared on the personal finance website NerdWallet. Sally French is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: sfrench@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @SAFmedia.

RELATED LINKS:

NerdWallet: Airline million miler programs: What you need to know

NerdWallet: How to get free upgrades on flights

NerdWallet: The beginners guide to airline elite status

NerdWallet: How to pick a premium travel credit card
Black Men Heal co-founder Zakia Williams was deeply moved as she watched a young Black man become emotional while speaking about the mental health toll the past few years have taken on him.

He said I just want to play basketball without fear of getting shot, I just want to live. I just want to be,' Williams recalled the young man saying at a virtual group therapy session, Kings Corner, that her Philadelphia-based group holds weekly for Black men across the U.S. and internationally.

A lot of our men report being overwhelmed, tired and feeling like they're being attacked. They see themselves in George Floyd. Each one of them says, That could have been me.

Wednesday marked the second anniversary of Floyd's killing by a Minneapolis police officer, which sparked a global protest movement and calls for a racial reckoning to address structural racism that has created long-standing inequities impacting generations of Black Americans.

Floyds slaying, along with a series of killings of other Black Americans, has wrought a heavy toll on the emotional and mental health of Black communities burdened by centuries of oppressive systems and racist practices. Mental health experts say the racism that causes the trauma is embedded in the country's fabric and can be directly linked to the mental duress many experience today.

But the nation has been slow to reckon with the generational impact of racial trauma, a form of identity-related distress that people of color experience due to racism and discrimination.

Black mental health has always been a topic of concern, said Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Continuously seeing these images of Black people being killed  can elicit trauma-like symptoms in Black people and others who feel somehow connected to what is going on," she said. This "impact of vicarious racism certainly has contributed to worsening mental health states, specifically within the Black community.

The past two years have been particularly traumatizing for Black Americans as the coronavirus pandemic cut a devastating swath through their communities, taking the lives of elders, community pillars and loved ones across the nation.

The neighbors who never came back after that ambulance ride, we saw it up close and personal, Riana Elyse Anderson, a psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Michigans School of Public Health, said of her hometown of Detroit, which was hit hard by the pandemic.

And the greater Black community, when youre looking at how disproportionate the impact was to our mental health, our financial well-being and the loved ones who are no longer here, its really hard for us to move forward.

A collective sense of trauma resurfaced again on May 14 when 10 Black people were killed by a white supremacist in body armor targeting shoppers and workers at the Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York. For many, the grief feels endless.

In Buffalo, we see people that look like our family and were forced to grapple with that, said Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, a civil rights organization. It is a set of circumstances that Black people and other communities that have been targeted, attacked and exploited, have to constantly face."

It is the simultaneous work of having to take care of yourself, dealing with the trauma, and then thinking about how to engage in the path forward and that is work that weve had to do for generations, he said. "And its work that is stressful and tiring.

While Black Americans experience similar rates of mental illness as other Americans in general, disparities persist, according to a 2021 American Psychological Association study. Black Americans often receive poorer quality of care and lack access to culturally appropriate care.

Just 1 in 3 Black Americans who need mental health help receives it and Black adults living below the poverty line are more than twice as likely to report serious psychological distress as U.S. adults who enjoy greater financial security, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.

While the disparities exist across the board for Black Americans, the APA study noted that Black men in particular have not received the help they need. Just 26.4% of Black and Hispanic men between 18 and 44 years old who experienced daily feelings of anxiety or depression were likely to have used mental health services, compared with 45.4% of white men with the same feelings.

Black Men Heal was launched in 2018 as a solution to the nations broken, inequitable mental health care system that has historically failed to center the needs of Black Americans and other people of color, group leaders say. Its main program matches therapists of color with men, who are given eight free individual therapy sessions. More than 1,100 therapy sessions have been provided since the group started and 50 therapists have been recruited. Nearly 80% of the men continue their mental health care beyond the free sessions.

If one man can heal himself, he has the possibility of healing his household, which then has the possibility of healing our community," said Williams, the group's chief operating officer.

After the Buffalo shooting, some Black Americans have expressed outrage and fear, saying they should be able to go about their daily lives without feeling they could be threatened or killed. The grocery store where the attack happened was a gathering place, especially for older community residents.

Black organizations have been working to get resources to the Buffalo shooting victims' families, including access to mental health care. Phylicia Brown, executive director of Black Love Resists in the Rust, said the member-led, abolitionist organization has been collecting donations to provide a year of mental health service access to residents impacted by the shooting.

Buffalo is one of the most segregated cities in the nation," Brown said. Its important to talk about our history of white supremacist violence through acts like this. And I think that it has really taken a toll on everyday citizens and our Black mental health workers, who are grieving and who are angry and who are feeling all the things that we are feeling."

Brown, whose group was formed after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, to strategize ways to abolish racist systems and practices, said real change won't come until the nation truly dismantles the white supremacy and racism that has been allowed to traumatize and terrorize Black people throughout history.

Unless white people are checking themselves and one another, unless white people are organizing at the rate at which Black folks are organizing, Brown said, it will be very hard for us to experience freedom in this country.

___

Stafford, based in Detroit, is a national investigative race writer for the APs Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kat__stafford.
WALDHEIM, La. (AP)  A 13-year-old boy is accused of shooting a Louisiana sheriff's deputy who was investigating a burglary early Wednesday, authorities said.

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Deputy Kenneth Doby went to Waldheim, north of Covington, after a suspected business burglary was reported about 3 a.m., according to a news release from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office.

News outlets reported that Doby was shot once in the back during a struggle with a 13-year-old who was walking in the area. Despite the injury, Doby was able to help arrest the boy before paramedics arrived, Sgt. Suzanne Carboni said in the news release.

Doby, a four-year veteran of the department, was alert and being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the sheriff's office said.

Right now, it looks like hes going to have a full recovery, Sheriff Randy Smith told WVUE-TV. Were very lucky. ... Were just thankful hes going to be OK, because it couldve been a lot worse.

The boy was arrested on charges of attempted first-degree murder, resisting a police officer with force or violence, resisting an officer, battery of a police officer causing injury, simple burglary, illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile, and illegal possession of stolen goods, a news release said.

He is from the Waldheim area, the news release said. Since he's a juvenile, his name was not released.

From what they tell me, during the interview he didnt show any remorse, Smith said.

It was unknown if he has an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Authorities in northern Mexico said Wednesday that six migrants were killed and 25 were injured after a bus they were riding in plunged through a guardrail and down an embankment.

It was the latest in a series of deadly crashes and drownings of migrants in the last week.

The civil defense office in the northern state of San Luis Potosi said those injured in the bus crash included a six-month-old baby and an 8-year-old child.

The office said that all of the victims are migrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Cuba. Prosecutors said the dead included four women and two men, but their nationalities were not immediately clear.

Local media reported the bus had departed from an area near Mexico City and was heading toward the U.S. border. Photos from the scene suggested the bus had flipped onto its side.

The accident occurred on a highway just outside the state capital, also known as San Luis Potosi.

Immigrants activists say crackdowns on migrant crossing have led some to use riskier routes to the U.S. border.

More people are choosing to take more dangerous routes, wrote immigrant activist Irineo Mujica. The number of people who die trying to cross Mexico is rising.

On Tuesday, authorities in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz said six migrants drowned off Mexicos Gulf coast and one was still missing. Apparently, all were from Honduras; smugglers sometimes take migrants in open boats across the Gulf to avoid highway immigration checkpoints.

Four migrants, also Hondurans, were pulled alive from the ocean by rescuers after their 25-foot open boat apparently capsized off the coast.

In another incident, immigration officials said this week that a migrant father and his 7-year-old son were found dead in the Suchiate River, which marks the border between Mexico and Guatemala.

Mexicos national immigration institute said the 36-year-old man and his son were from El Salvador.

Migrants frequently wade, swim or take rafts and boats to cross the border river into Mexico during their attempts to reach the U.S. frontier.

Mexican officials have tightened border inspections along the Guatemalan border, but tens of thousands of Central Americans still make it across, often with the aid of smugglers.

On Saturday, four migrants died and at least 16 were injured in a traffic collision in a town not far from the Guatemala border. The migrants were being transported in the back of cargo truck in the township of San Juan Chamula, just north of the tourist city of San Cristobal de las Casas.

The prosecutors office did not identify the nationality of the dead men, but said the injured included nine people from Honduras, four from Guatemala, a Nicaraguan and an Ecuadorian, as well as one person whose nationality was not clear.

A much larger truck carrying migrants overturned on a highway near the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez in December, killing at least 56 people.
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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  Police seized an arsenal of guns and ammunition from a Northern California man charged with cyberstalking his former co-workers after being fired from his job, it was announced Tuesday.

Bryan Velasquez, 43, of Morgan Hill was charged last week with felony stalking and was released on $50,000 bail. He could face further charges involving illegal weapons, authorities said.

Theres an individual that has animosity, hatred, anger toward others and that was averted. A mass shooting, I believe, was averted, Police Chief Anthony Mata said.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Velasquez had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. He declined to comment when contacted Tuesday by KNTV-TV.

Velasquez was fired from a construction company in January. In April, the company called police to say that he had been engaging in stalking behavior," a police statement said.

The behavior escalated, police said, and included posting online photos of himself pointing guns and sending threatening, profanity-laced emails to his former supervisors and co-workers.

Some of the emails suggested he was watching the alleged victims and described details about their homes and family members.

One recent email that was sent out had statements like, I know where you live, I see you installed a pool, I know what your wife is driving, Marisa McKeown, a supervising attorney for the Crime Strategies Unit of the Santa Clara County County district attorney's office, told the Bay Area News Group.

Police learned that Velasquez owned several registered firearms and, working with the DA's office, got an arrest warrant on the felony charge and a gun-violence restraining order. That allowed authorities to seize his weapons pending a June 6 hearing to determine whether he is fit to possess them. Both orders were served at his home on May 19, police said.

Investigators seized at least five rifles and four handguns, according to police photos. The weapons included two assault-style rifles, and several of the guns had illegal modifications including rear pistol grips and detachable magazines, authorities said.

Also seized were high-capacity magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, tactical body armor and materials to manufacture and assemble ghost guns," the police statement said.

The announcement came only days before the first anniversary of a shooting at a San Jose rail yard that killed 10 people including the gunman.

Sam Cassidy, 57, a disgruntled employee at the Valley Transportation Authority light rail yard, killed co-workers and then himself in the May 26 attack. It was the deadliest mass shooting in San Francisco Bay Area history.
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In the hours after at least 19 children and two teachers were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in the deadliest mass shooting at an American school in nearly a decade, Republicans in Congress joined the world in mourning the latest gun massacre.

But as some offered their thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims, critics have been quick to point out the millions of dollars that GOP lawmakers have taken from the National Rifle Association in contributions over the years.

Nineteen current or recent Republican senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., and Sens. Rob Portman, Ohio, and Joni Ernst, Iowa, have taken at least $1 million each in campaign contributions from the NRA over their careers, according to data compiled by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in 2019.

Among the others is Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who expressed how "grief overwhelms the soul" in an attack like the one in Texas, and acknowledged on Twitter that his offer of prayers and condolences were "grossly inadequate" and that answers were needed. It didn't take long for critics and liberals to slam him for taking more than $13 million in NRA contributions, according to Brady.

"Grief does not overwhelm the soul nearly as much as $13M from the NRA overwhelms your bank account," wrote Jemele Hill, a contributing writer for the Atlantic. "The answer you seek is the money you continue to take."

Hours after the mass shooting in Uvalde, President Joe Biden urged Congress to end the "carnage" of gun violence, pleading with lawmakers to "stand up to the gun lobby" and pass "common-sense" gun laws.

"What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?" he asked in a Tuesday address to the nation.

Biden, who was tapped by President Barack Obama to be his point person on guns after the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Conn., noted that he just returned from Asia, where mass shootings do not occur with the same frequency.

"Why are we willing to live with this carnage?" he said. "Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?"

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., moved Tuesday evening to put two House-passed gun-control bills on the chamber's calendar.

Spokespeople for Romney, McConnell, Portman and Ernst did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

The mass shooting at the elementary school, and Biden's plea for lawmakers to push back on the gun lobby, have magnified attention on the NRA, which is holding its annual meeting over Memorial Day weekend in Houston, located a few hundred miles away from Uvalde. The event is the largest gun lobby gathering this year and comes after cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will feature talks from a group that includes former president Donald Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Abbott is expected to be in Uvalde on Wednesday before his talk at the NRA convention in Houston.

The NRA, which boasts more than 5 million members, is fighting a lawsuit by the New York attorney general accusing the group's executives of misspending millions of dollars.

Many critics went on social media to list how much money the Republican lawmakers have reportedly taken from the NRA, but comedy writer Bess Kalb took it one step further and quote-tweeted all of the responses from GOP senators with how much they have received in campaign contributions from the gun lobby.

After McConnell tweeted how he was "horrified and heartbroken" by the shooting in Uvalde and how the country was praying for those affected, Kalb, the executive producer of Amazon Prime's "Yearly Departed," used the Brady data for her one-sentence reply: "$1,267,139 from the NRA."

Kalb continued to respond to Republicans offering their thoughts and prayers - Ernst, Portman, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Tenn., - with the million-dollar figures in NRA contributions they have received.

Others soon followed the online trend. In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday evening, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said that "there are not adequate words to express the horror" of what happened in Texas. He echoed Romney in acknowledging condolences weren't adequate, while also suggesting that more could be done.

"Obviously, my sincere condolences, but that's not adequate. This is depressing. Something this horrific, children being slaughtered in their school, it doesn't get worse than this," he said. "Again, my sincere condolences to those families."

Nina Turner, a progressive leader who lost a Democratic primary in Ohio earlier this month, highlighted Johnson's remark about how "it doesn't get worse than this" and reminded people that he's taken more than $1.2 million in campaign contributions from the NRA.

"It does, actually," she wrote on Wednesday. "The adults with power (you) don't do anything because the NRA paid you $1,269,486 to do nothing. You sacrificed those children's lives for $1.2 million."

After Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, whose district includes Uvalde, asked for constituents to "pray for our families" and quoted a Bible verse, critics resurfaced a 2021 tweet in which the congressman proudly said he had "voted NO on two gun control measures in the House."

"Pro-tip: Jesus would want you to use your power as a lawmaker to act to stop gun violence in Uvalde instead of quoting Bible versus while taking money from the NRA," said Shannon Watts, founder of the gun violence prevention nonprofit Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Others took aim at those GOP lawmakers who expressed their anger at the shooting days before speaking at the NRA convention in Houston. When Cruz tweeted that he and his wife, Heidi, were "fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wondered why the Texas senator - who has accepted at least $176,000 in NRA contributions - was still slated to speak at the convention.

"You can do more than pray," she tweeted. "Faith without works is dead."

- - -

The Washington Post's Adela Suliman and Isaac Arnsdorf contributed to this report
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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  Alaska Senate President Peter Micciche said Wednesday he will not seek re-election this year, citing a desire to spend more time with family.

His announcement comes after the Legislature last week ended its four-month regular session and a week before a candidate filing deadline.

The Soldotna Republican said he has spent nearly 11 of the last 16 months away from his four daughters and wife, who need me at home. My family is my priority. Last year was marked by drawn-out budget fights and four special sessions.

The Division of Elections shows that Micciche had previously filed to run for the seat. Leona Long with the Senate Majority press office said by email that he had filed months ago and things have changed.

The division currently shows three other candidates for the Senate seat, including Tuckerman Babcock, a former Republican state party chair.

Micciche was first elected to the Senate in 2012 and has been Senate president since last year. He led a Republican-majority caucus whose members had sharply different views on the annual dividend paid to residents from Alaska's oil-wealth fund.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich last week called Micciche a friend. The two spoke to reporters together in Micciche's office on May 19 about their impressions of the legislative session that had just ended.

Begich, an Anchorage Democrat, said working with Micciche had been a joy and a delight."
PHOENIX (AP)  A 2017 law that makes it a crime to pay people for each signature they collect to qualify voter initiatives for the ballot violates the First Amendment and the first criminal case filed using the law must be dismissed, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

The ruling is a major defeat for Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who charged the state's largest signature gathering firm in 2020 with 50 misdemeanor criminal counts for bonus programs it used while collecting signatures for Proposition 208. Petition Partners faced up to $5 million in fines.

Petition Partners denied wrongdoing.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that some of the bonus programs the company used ran afoul of the 2017 law, but the high court did not consider its constitutionality.

The appeals court did. Its ruling said the 2017 law would have a chilling effect on the free speech rights of people trying to get proposed laws on the ballot.

The mere possibility of substantial fines for enterprises, along with fines and possible jail time for circulators, weighs in favor of finding that (the law) imposes a severe burden on Petitioners First Amendment rights, Judge Michael J. Brown wrote for the three-judge panel.

Even though a violation ... is classified as a misdemeanor, this case shows that a misdemeanor offense can still be severely burdensome on the rights of enterprises and circulators seeking to express their desires for political change, Brown added.

The Republican-controlled Legislature said it passed the law to prevent fraud in signature collections. Minority Democrats said it was designed to make it harder to get on the ballot for proponents of laws that GOP lawmakers and business interest oppose.

GOP lawmakers did not make it illegal for candidates for office to pay circulators per-signature. Candidates often use paid circulators to ensure they get enough qualifying signatures to make the ballot.

Brnovich's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Republican is seeking his party's U.S. Senate nomination.

A spokesman for Petition Partners said in a statement that the company was pleased with the ruling.

Petition Partners has always maintained that we followed the law, spokesman David Leibowitz wrote. "Were gratified that a three-judge panel saw fit to order that the criminal charges be dismissed.

Petition Partners succeeded in collecting enough signatures to qualify Proposition 208 for the ballot and voters approved it in November 2020. But the Arizona Supreme Court ruled last year that a major part of the law was unconstitutional. That forced a trial court judge to invalidate it completely earlier this year.
BERLIN (AP)  Austria's coronavirus vaccination mandate has been suspended for another three months until the end of August.

A parliamentary committee signed off Wednesday on an order from the health minister extending the suspension, the Austria Press Agency reported.

Officials said on Tuesday that the mandate for people aged 18 and over, which became law in early February but hasn't yet been put into effect, would remain suspended. They said a commission of experts had concluded that enforcing it currently would not be proportionate and therefore was unjustified.

The plan was first announced in November amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that sent Austria into a lockdown. However, by the time the legislation was in place, much of the sense of urgency had evaporated.

The plan was for police to start checking peoples vaccination status in mid-March, for example during traffic stops. But the government suspended the mandate only a week before its enforcement was due to begin, arguing that there was no need to implement it as things stood.

The legislation provides for people who cant produce proof of vaccination to be asked in writing to do so and be fined up to 600 euros (around $650) if they dont. Fines could reach 3,600 euros if people contest their punishment.

Austria was the first country in Europe to legislate for a universal vaccine mandate. Only neighboring Germany even considered emulating it, but its parliament last month shot down a proposal even for a mandate for people aged 60 and above.

___

Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
A new roundup from WalletHub ranked the best and worst U.S. states for millennials based on quality of life, affordability, education, health, civic engagement and more. So, where does Texas rank among U.S. states and how does the Lone Star State compare across the various ranking metrics?

Overall, the top-ranked states include Washington at No.1, followed by the District of Columbia and Massachusetts, in order, with Utah, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Wisconsin, Virginia and Colorado rounding out the top 10. The Lone Star State just missed the top 20, coming in at No. 22.
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VILLA CLARA, Cuba (AP)  A vessel carrying more than 800 Haitians trying to reach the United States wound up instead on the coast of central Cuba, in what appeared to be the largest group seen yet in a swelling exodus from crisis-stricken Haiti.

Red Cross officials in the province of Villa Clara said Wednesday that the 842 Haitians were being housed at a tourist campground. The group arrived Tuesday at Villa Blanca, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) east of Havana, and reportedly included 70 children and 97 women.

The Haitians said they called for help with light signals after being abandoned and cast adrift by their captain.

We were on Tortuga Island for two months waiting for the trip until last Saturday, when at five in the morning they took us to the boat, 19-year-old Joyce Paul, who arrived on the boat, told The Associated Press.

In the following days, 15 people threw themselves into the sea because they couldnt stand hunger," Paul said. "There was a herring for (each) 15 people and they gave us water.

Paul was traveling with an uncle, his wife and a baby at a cost of $4,000 per person. The family said the captain abandoned them early Tuesday on a separate small boat after taking their cellphones. The ship was listing. With a flashlight, they managed to draw the attention of people on Cuba's coast.

While the number of migrants on this single vessel seemed unprecedented, the U.S. Coast Guard and other nations have reported intercepting several boats carrying well over 100 Haitians in recent months.

It is not unusual for currents and winds to carry Haitians to Cuba, which borders most of the sea path between Haiti and the U.S. Cuba returns most of the arriving migrants to Haiti.

A crumbling economy and a spike in gang-related violence and kidnappings in Haiti has prompted thousands of Haitians to flee their country in the past year. Human rights activists in Haiti say those fleeing believe they are safer taking the risk on an overcrowded boat than staying in their country.

U.S. authorities say the number of Haitian migrants detained in and around U.S. jurisdictions in the Caribbean has doubled. On Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said it stopped a sail freighter carrying 153 Haitian migrants near the Florida Keys.

Earlier this month, the Coast Guard rescued 36 Haitian migrants and found 11 others dead  all women  after a boat capsized northwest of Puerto Rico. The rescue came just days after 68 migrants were rescued in treacherous waters between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

In April, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted more than 130 Haitian migrants aboard a boat near the Bahamas. A month prior, 140 migrants landed in the Florida Keys.

U.S. Coast Guard crews have interdicted about 4,500 Haitians since October. Many were trying to come ashore in the Florida Keys in overloaded vessels. More than 3,000 of those migrants have been found since mid-March, signaling the pace has been picking up in the spring.

Meanwhile, Cuba's government reported a group of 292 Haitians had reached the province of Ciego de Avila in February.

Maximo Luz, a journalist with Telecubanacan broadcaster, said that adverse navigation conditions brought the latest group of Haitians to Cuba, where they sought the help of border guard troops.

The national news site Cubadebate showed images of a gray vessel packed with people and of rescue workers carrying some of the Haitians for treatment.

Miguel Angel Fernandez, head of the Red Cross in Villa Clara province, said the 842 Haitians had received medical attention and first aid.

They are in quarantine, Fernandez told AP, indicating that they would remain there for three to five days.

Arletys Ramos, a municipal epidemiology director, said Haitians are monitored in relation to diseases such as COVID-19, malaria and cholera, although no one among the group was seriously ill.

___

Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (AP)  A young girl died Wednesday morning after Chicago firefighters responding to a fire at an apartment building on the city's South Side found her in a bedroom, a fire official said.

Firefighters who responded to calls about a heavy fire and someone possibly trapped in an apartment found the girl under debris in the second-floor unit of the apartment building in Chicagos Roseland neighborhood, said Larry Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department.
CHICAGO (AP)  A suburban Chicago man who admitted throwing an explosive at police during a violent demonstration in June 2020 was sentenced Wednesday to one year in federal prison.

Christian Rea, 21, of Aurora, pleaded guilty last year to obstructing law enforcement when he threw a lit incendiary device at a line of uniformed police officers, injuring several of them, the Chicago Tribune reported.
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Do you need individual help creating or updating your LinkedIn Profile? Introduction to LinkedIn, a one- on one Course through Ridgefield Continuing Education provides individual assistance in this area.

Lance Whitney, technology journalist and the author of the book Teach Yourself Visually LinkedIn takes you through the steps to create a LinkedIn profile that will promote your professional achievements. You will learn how to add the right details to look your best. Beyond setting up your profile, youll learn how to build your network, connect with other professionals, post updates, ask for recommendations, and join specialized groups.

One- on- one sessions are available on Fridays, June 3 and 24 from 1 to 2 p.m. on Zoom. Each session costs $50. Additional dates can be scheduled. Advance registration required. Visit https://ridgefieldschools.org or phone Peggy Bruno at 203-431-2812 for prerequisites or to register.

Computer classes, Windows 10 and cyber security

Upcoming tech workshops full of essential tips, tricks and insights into Windows 10, cyber security, and more topics are available through Ridgefield Continuing Education. These classes are small to allow for Q and A and take place on Zoom. Tutorials are also available.

Windows 10 Basics and Your Laptop or PC is for people who have at least basic computer skills. This is the course that answers all sorts of questions about your Windows 10 computer. Have your laptop or desktop PC handy and learn how to customize your Start menu and desktop, how to use the Windows 10 Edge browser, how to personalize Windows 10 though its array of settings, how to speak to Windows 10 using the Cortana voice assistant, and how to shop for apps at the Windows Store. The class is on Thursday, June 2, from 1 to 3 p.m. on Zoom. The cost is $40.

Cyber Security: How to Protect Yourself on the Internet is the topic of a highly informative and interactive workshop where you will learn about specific precautions you can take to protect yourself, including how to better safeguard your identity, your personal information, your computer, and your mobile devices when going online. This class is on Thursday, June 9 from 1 to 3 p.m. on Zoom. The cost is $40.

Advance registration is required. Ridgefield seniors (age 62 and over) discount. Visit https://ridgefieldschools.org or phone Peggy Bruno at 203-431-2812 for more information or to register. Excel Pivot Tables and Database Features, LinkedIn Custom Profile, eBay, iPad and software tutorials are also available in May and June.

SAT test prep, Lentz

Take an online SAT Prep class this summer and cover your bases before taking the SAT. Even when SAT optional is available, a good SAT score still helps in applying to college or for various scholarships. Virtual and live online SAT Prep options through Ridgefield Public Schools Continuing Education program help Ridgefield students prepare for the August and fall SATs. Lentz & Lentz SAT Prep, the largest independently owned SAT Prep company in this region, is offering evening and weekend SAT Prep classes. The weeknight class (Group 29) starts on Monday, July 11 (English) and Tuesday, July 12 (Math) from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The weekend class (Group 31) starts on Sunday, July 10 with English meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and math meeting from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Cost is $475 (24 hours) and includes all course materials. For more info visit https://ridgefieldschools.org or https://lentzsatprep.com or call Lentz & Lentz at 1-800-866-SATS.

Parents earn leadership award

John and Lori Berisford, former co-chairs of the Fairfield Universitys Parents Leadership Council, were recently honored with the Parent Leadership Award at the 2022 Fairfield Awards Dinner April 20 at the Cipriani 42nd Street restaurant venue in New York City.

Since 1998, the annual Fairfield Awards Dinner has remained a beloved celebration of Fairfield, raising nearly $20 million for the Alumni Multicultural Scholarship Fund and other endowment scholarships.

The 2022 Awards Dinner honored the Berisfords, whose daughters Liza and Lane graduated from the university in 2021 and 2020, respectively.

The parents volunteered at the university, regularly attending alumni and family weekend events, council breakfasts and spring events, serving as co-chairs of the council.

Lori Berisford also hosted one of the First Moms brunches and served as a parent ambassador throughout the years. She is also involved in the town of Ridgefield, being recognized as Ridgefields Citizen of the Year by the Rotary Club of Ridgefield in 2021.

John Berisford also engaged a panel discussion about the benefits of liberal arts education in a business world for the Fairfield University Charles F. Dolan School of Business.

The Berisfords met about 30 years ago while working at PepsiCo.

Costumed seniors see Downton Abbey

About 20 seniors from Meadow Ridge, a retirement community in Redding, dressed up on Saturday to see the Downton Abbey movie at the Prospector Theater in Ridgefield.

Dressed in costumes fitting of the Downton Abbey era, the seniors enjoyed a formal dinner afterward at Meadow Ridge, complete with lady and lord place cards.

Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings recognized as best

Out of the more than 275 assisted living communities in Connecticut, Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings has been selected as one of the best in the state by U.S. News & World Report.

Ridgefield Crossings earned Best status by achieving the highest possible rating for memory care in U.S. News & World Reports inaugural Best Senior Living ratings following a comprehensive consumer satisfaction survey. Ridgefield Crossings residents and family members gave the community high marks in critical areas, such as overall value, management and staff, resident enrichment, dining and food, safety, transportation, maintenance, housekeeping and location.

Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings offers both traditional senior assisted living and specialized assisted living with memory care for those who would benefit from a safer, engaging environment, chef-prepared meals, supportive living services, transportation and assistance with daily activities, such as getting dressed and medication management. Residents enjoy connecting over programs and amenities offered in many common spaces including a pub, recreation room, wellness center, private dining room, library, dog park, outdoor walking paths and courtyards and more.

Cop receives 2021 Officer of the Year award

Ridgefield Officer Carlos Olivares has been named the Ridgefield Exchange Clubs 2021 Officer of the Year award.

The Ridgefield Exchange Club presented the award at a statewide awards ceremony on May 19 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.

Olivares began his career with the Ridgefield Police Department in 2019. He is a member of the United States Air Force Air National Guard and has been deployed numerous times.

Olivares is a proactive, enthusiastic officer, who always volunteering and putting the community before himself, according to Ridgefield police. He has received numerous letters of recognition from the public for his dedication and commitment to the community.

Students raise $17,000 for well in South Sudan

The Scotland Elementary School fifth-grade students organized their fourth and final fundraiser, a Walk to Water, to raise money to build a well in South Sudan.

On Saturday, May 14, a little less than the 186 preregistered participants set off together on a two-mile round-trip walk along Ridgefield sidewalks at 8 a.m.

Halfway through, around the Cass Gilbert fountain, Scotland Student Council members passed out student-designed Walk to Water stickers to all participants.

Many walkers lingered around after returning to St. Marys School, as children age 12 and under played a quick game of toss to select a small token of appreciation for walking.

Passerby even asked volunteers how they could donate.

Together with registration fees and additional donations, the walk added about $2,800 to their overall donation to Water for South Sudan, a nonprofit. Across four events, students students raised slightly more than $17,000, not including a pending a Rotary Club of Ridgefield grant.

RCK Preschool enjoys spring activities while supporting non profit organizations, and other small businesses

The Ridgefield Community Kindergarten has been invited to local nonprofits and small businesses in town.

Last week, the children visited One Hump Farm, a private sanctuary in Ridgefield for Sheik, the 7-year-old dromedary camel rescued from a petting zoo when he was eight weeks old. HumpFree, an alpaca, and Harry, a rehomed llama, also live at the farm. RCK families learned about the nonprofit while feeding Sheik and Harry their favorite snacks: bananas, carrots and sliced apples.

Owners Stephanie and Robb Heering have opened the farm to the preschool for the past few years, and RCK Preschool says its the highlight of end of the school year.

The preschool also worked with Henny Penny Farm, also located in Ridgefield. The preschool received fertilized eggs from the farm to study the life cycle of a chick. The best part of course is seeing the chicks themselves after their 21 day incubation period.

After a few days out of the eggs, the chicks return to Henny Penny Farm where the students to visit them the following year.

This week the preschool planned to visit Woodcock Nature Center in Wilton to round out its spring time activities. The center will bring some little creatures for children to see and learn about.

RCK Preschool, which is located in Ridgefield, educates 2, 3, and 4 year olds using a play-based philosophy designed to build important foundations for your childs future growth.

Ridgefield Historical Society to re-open Peter Parley Schoolhouse

The Ridgefield Historical Society will re-open the Peter Parley Schoolhouse for a season of Last Sundays at the Schoolhouse from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The historic one-room school, which served the West Lane School District from 1756 to 1915, is maintained by the Historical Society as a mini-museum of early Ridgefield education.

The schools namesake, Peter Parley, was the pseudonym for the childrens textbook author Samuel G. Goodrich who attended the school in his youth. Goodrich completed his formal education at the West Lane School, then spent a lifetime acquiring and sharing knowledge, first as a publisher and then as an internationally known author. His alter-ego, Parley, was a kindly old gentleman whose stories were designed to impart knowledge to young readers. Several of his texts are in the schoolhouse display case, and the Ridgefield Historical Society has recently received a collection of 20 Peter Parley Cabinet Library books for children from Parley Schoolhouse neighbor Abe Puchall.

The school will be open the last Sunday of the month through October, hosted by Jack and Sally Sanders, Ridgefield Historical Society volunteers.

The building is furnished as it would have been when the last students attended class there; descendants of those students still live nearby. The school features displays that describe school life and detail the school districts that once existed throughout Ridgefield, with information on what has become of many of those other one-room schools.

Later in the season, the schoolhouse will mark the birthdays of two of its distinguished graduates: Samuel G. Goodrich in August and Cyrus Northrop in September. Last Sundays at the Schoolhouse are supported by Fairfield County Bank.

For more information about the Peter Parley Schoolhouse, visit https://ridgefieldhistoricalsociety.org.

BioBlitz, vernal pools program to be held

Three organizations are hosting the Ridgefield BioBlitz 2022, where community members are encouraged to celebrate the towns biodiversity and identifiy species.

The program, held Saturday, June 11, is in partnership with the Ridgefield Conservation Commission , Weir Farm National Historical Park , and the Woodcock Nature Center. All ages welcome.

A BioBlitz is an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time.

Attendees will visit different habitats and attempt to identify as many plant, animal and fungi species they can find. Participants will take a trail walk to Weir Pond, stopping to investigate field, forest and aquatic habitats. Each habitat station will have activities guided by expert naturalists and scientists.

Early Birding Survey

7 to 8:30 a.m.

Join WNC educator and bird expert Tommy McCarthy on a short walk through field and forest to identify bird species by sight and listening to calls. Bring binoculars.

Family Sessions

9 to 11 a.m.,

Noon until 2 p.m., and

3 to 5 p.m.

Sign up for one Family Session. Participants will walk trails along field, forest and pond habitats, stopping at stations along the way. Each station will have activities including insect displays, pond scooping for invertebrates, looking under logs, learning about bears, and even an art station to make your own nature journal!

This event is free but pre-registration is required.

Register here.

The free mobile app iNaturalist to identify species and collect data will be used. All species observed will be added to the Ridgefield Natural Resource Inventory. The NRI catalogs the mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians, trees and flowers that inhabit Ridgefield, providing a blueprint to chart a more sustainable future.

Attendees are asked to download the free iNaturalist app prior to the event. Download for iPhone or Google Play

More information is available online at https://www.woodcocknaturecenter.org/bioblitz.

Chamber of Commerce holds 2022 Golf Tourney

More than 100 golfers and local businesses came together at Ridgefield Golf Course May 18 for an afternoon of networking, collaboration and fun.

The Chamber of Commerce thanks all of its member businesses and community partners who consistently show up and make Ridgefield one of Connecticuts top-rated places to live, work, and play. Together in 2022 the Chamber will continue to work hard to promote, support, and advocate for Ridgefields businesses and others who share in our commitment to community.

Even sponsors were: Fairfield County Bank, J. Mulvaney Plumbing & Heating, Pamby Motors, Addessi Jewelers, HamletHub, Oak Ridge Waste & Recycling, Ridgefield Station, Barts Tree Service, Crystal Restoration Services, Golf Lounge 18, Dan OBrien, Ridgefield Overhead Door, Springtide Child Development, C2 Education, RVNAhealth, and Union Savings Bank.

Tee sign sponsors support: 068 Magazine, Golf Performance Center, Carol Hanlon & Coldwell Banker, Lounsbury House, Stephanie McCleery Heering & Coldwell Banker, Michael McGuirk & William Pitt Sothebys, Sunburst Plumbing & Heating, The Tweaked Home, Ridgefield Hardware Co., and Wooster Hollow Cafe.

Generous prize sponsors: John Capilli, Ray Ford & Rolling Hills Country Club, ACT Theater, Adam Broderick Salon & Spa, Angel Cooperative, Craigs Fine Jewelry, Elements Massage, Elizabellas Bake Shop, Sommelier Jillian Fontana, Michele Ford Floral Design, Golf Lounge 18, Hoo Doo Brown, J. McLaughlin Clothing, Lucs Cafe, nancy O, ODeens Catering, Prospector Theater, Ridgebury Farm & Stables, The Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield Running Company, Mary Pat Sexton & Keller Williams, and The West Lane Inn.

Gift bag donors & support: Karla Murtaugh & Compass Real Estate, C2 Education, Fairfield County Bank, OrthoConnecticut, Pamby Motors, Purple Frog Graphics, Sunburst Plumbing, Two Roads Brewery.

The Chamber Golf Committee: included Suzanne Brennan, Lounsbury House; Tom Gartrell, Sunburst Plumbing; Michael McGuirk, William Pitt Sothebys; Nate Mockry, Meta; Dan OBrien, and Diana Spence; plus Chamber Board Volunteers: Ron Herman, Wooster Hollow Cafe; Jill Maguire, Union Savings Bank; Christine Mullen, Aspire Digital Solutions; Christine Santori, Personal Touch Welcome; Theresa Santoro, RVNAhealth; and Mary Pat Sexton, Keller Williams.

Additional thanks to Frank Sergiovanni of Ridgefield Golf Course and catering by ODeens BBQ.

For more information on Chamber events and opportunities please contact dspence@ridgefieldchamber.org or nmockry@ridgefieldchamber.org; office 203-438-5992; www.RidgefieldChamber.org .

Two RHS theater productions earn award nominations

The Ridgefield High School 2021-22 theatrical productions of All in the Timing and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee have received a combined 14 nominations for the 19th annual HALO Awards.

The Halo Awards are presented annually by Seven Angels Theater of Waterbury and celebrate the best of high school theater in Connecticut. More than 70 high schools throughout the state participate, and in a return to pre-pandemic form, the awards will be presented live at the Palace Theater in Waterbury over three nights.

The fall production of All in the Timing was nominated for Best Contemporary Play and Best Performance by a Cast in an Ensemble Production, with individual nominations for Henry Regnery (Don) for Best Male Standout Performance, and Nate Cohen, Henry Regnery, Motria Holian and Audrey Huff collectively nominated for Best Specialty Ensemble. Behind the scenes, Henry Regnery, Motria Holian, Audrey Huff and Asterix Lombardo were nominated for Best Props Design and/or Management.

RHSs spring musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee received nominations for Best Contemporary Musical, Best Performance by a Cast in an Ensemble Production, and Best Orchestra, as well as individual nominations for Emma Young (Logainne) for Best Comic Female Performance, Henry Regnery (Leaf) for Best Comic Male Performance, and Millie Altopp (Olives Mom) for Best Female Standout Performance. Nominations for technical achievement were given to Asterix Lombardo for Best Stage Management, Emmett Joyce for Best Original Cover Design or Artwork and the entire cast for Best Hair and/or Makeup Design and/or Execution.

Ridgefield High Schools achievements will be recognized in a ceremony at the Palace Theater in Waterbury on Tuesday, May 31. Tickets may be reserved by visiting https://www.sevenangelstheatre.org.
MECOSTA, OSCEOLA COUNTIES  Something fowl is still in the air, and up in the air for 4-H participants wanting to show poultry at their county fairs. However, that doesnt mean theyll be completely gone.

The annual Mecosta County Fair will not hold poultry exhibitions or showings this year in-person, Mecosta County Fair board director John Currie said previously. This comes after a 30 day stop order put in place by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development due to avian influenza or bird flu.

The stop order includes shows, exhibitions, swap meets, petting zoos at fairs and game bird or waterfowl displays.

Thirty days without any infection in the whole state  that isnt going to work for us, Currie said. Later fairs may be alright, but I am pretty certain it is not going to happen at our fair.

They are considering doing another virtual showing, Currie said.

The board plans to meet and discuss what to do with poultry entrants.

LEARN MORE  To learn about spotting and preventing exposure to the bird flu, bird owners may visit michigan.gov/mdard for more information or call 517-336-5030.  For more information about the Mecosta County Fair, visit mecostafreefair.com or visit its Facebook page at facebook.com/mecostacountyfreefair.  For more information about the Osceola County Fair, visit osceolacountyfairgrounds.com or visit its Facebook page at facebook.com/osceolafair. See More Collapse

But there are other ways to engage people in the fairs, said Jacob Stieg, Osceola County 4-H program coordinator. Fairs had to come up with creative solutions in 2015.

During that summer, we had no birds at fairs but we created modified showmanship score cards so youth could demonstrate their showmanship skills with plush birds, Stieg said. Through 4-H, we want to make sure kids can demonstrate mastery of poultry projects, so were making sure that the opportunity is there for the youth.

According to the MDARD site, bird owners should look out for signs of:

Sudden death

Significant drop in water consumption

Lack of appetite, energy or vocalization

Drop in egg production

Diarrhea

Swollen comb, wattles, legs or head

Nasal discharge, sneezing or coughing

Abnormal behavior like difficulty walking

Some precautions owners can take to prevent the spread of bird flu include washing your hands, disinfecting clothes and equipment, and making sure poultry are in enclosed spaces where they cant have contact with each other.
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NEW YORK (AP)  Democrat Antonio Delgado was sworn in as New Yorks lieutenant governor Wednesday, becoming the state's first person of Latino heritage to serve in statewide office.

Delgado, who identifies as Afro-Latino, is taking on the largely ceremonial role in the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who selected him for the job. It was previously held by Brian Benjamin, who resigned following his arrest in April for federal corruption charges, which he has denied.

Delgado, 45, will also be Hochul's running mate in this year's gubernatorial election.

Hochul, speaking at a ceremony in New York City before Delgado was sworn into office, said he shares her views of what it means to be a public servant.

It means being a good listener, but not just listening to peoples concerns passively, but translating those concerns into real action. Thats when public service manifests itself and achieves its full potential, she said.

Delgado, who was joined by his wife and twin 8-year-old sons at the ceremony, gave a short speech in which he said his path to politics was not meticulously plotted out.

He is a Rhodes Scholar who, after earning a Harvard law degree, pursued a rap career before becoming a litigator at a New York City law firm.

I heard some chuckles out there, he said as he recounted his foray into hip hop. I followed my heart. Like Im doing now.

He said that though he spanned two different careers, in two very different environments, a diversity of experience will help him bridge divides.

As leaders we need to listen and work hard and find common ground and be effective. That's my commitment," he said.

He spoke about the shooting at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday and said nothing was being done on the national level to protect children like his from gun violence, and he said America was at a moment where too many lives and the foundation of democracy were at stake.

The very fabric of our nation is on the line," he said.

The two-term congressman represented the Hudson Valley and the Catskills and was the first person of color representing upstate New York in Congress. He had campaigned for the U.S. House on universal access to Medicare, creating good jobs and eliminating tax loopholes for the rich.

Delgado's move to leave Congress and join Hochul's administration comes in an election year in which the state's congressional maps were redrawn as part of the decennial redistricting process.

The timing sets up a dual-track process to replace Delgado, in which a special election would be held for his sprawling House seat, New York's 19th Congressional District, on Aug. 23, with the winner holding office for the rest of the year.

But that same day, the state will hold primary elections for Congress under the new political maps, which shifted boundaries and political matchups throughout the state.

That has left some quirks in campaigning, like Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, a Democrat, who announced he will seek to win the Aug. 23 special election for the 19th District, but on the same day, compete in a Democratic primary for the 18th District.

Delgado grew up in Schenectady and lives in Rhinebeck.
BRUSSELS (AP)  The European Union's executive arm entered sensitive legal territory on Wednesday with a proposal to confiscate the frozen assets of oligarchs who try to violate the blocs sanctions over Russias war in Ukraine.

The European Commission proposed two EU laws that would require the 27 member states to cede a degree of jealously guarded national sovereignty over criminal matters.

One piece of draft legislation seeks new European rules on freezing and confiscating the assets of people blacklisted by the EU. The second legislative proposal aims to expand the list of acts deemed to be EU crimes by including breaches of European sanctions.

Both initiatives need the approval of EU governments in a scrutiny process that usually takes many months and can even last for years. The blocs heads of government are due to discuss options for using the frozen assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs to support the reconstruction of Ukraine during a two-day summit next week.

There is no time to lose, Margaritis Schinas, a European Commission vice-president in charge of security matters, told reporters in Brussels. Many times we see assets recovery and confiscation of the small fry, whereas the big sharks find ways to evade.

While the EU has spent decades crafting common rules on various areas of criminal law, European sanctions against Russian leaders and oligarchs over the past three months have added impetus to calls for a stronger European framework.

The EU has imposed asset freezes and travel bans on more than 1,000 people, including over 30 oligarchs, in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Almost 10 billion euros ($10.7 billion) of assets have so far been frozen by EU member countries, according to the European Commission. It has established a Freeze and Seize task force to coordinate the enforcement of what are unprecedented EU penalties against Russia.

EU sanctions must be respected and those trying to go around them punished, said Vera Jourova, a commission vice-president responsible for the rule of law. The violation of EU sanctions is a serious crime and must come with serious consequences. We need EU-wide rules to establish that.

The draft European law on asset recovery and confiscation seeks to bolster cross-border cooperation in the EU. It would require each member country to establish at least one asset recovery office, make it easier for authorities to freeze assets and regulate how such property is managed.

The core objective is to ensure that crime does not pay by depriving criminals of their ill-gotten gains and limiting their capacity to commit further crimes, the European Commission said. The proposed rules will also apply to the violation of restrictive measures, ensuring the effective tracing, freezing, management and confiscation of proceeds derived from the violation of restrictive measures.

This legislative initiative will need the backing of a majority of member-state governments as well as of the European Parliament. By contrast, the parallel proposal to label the violation of European sanctions an EU crime will require the unanimous support of member countries, giving any single one veto power.

These are ambitious, yet realistic, proposals and now more than ever are really necessary, Schinas said. We already have EU rules in this area, but these rules are fragmented, they are not implemented in a uniform way.
It's Tuesday and the holiday weekend is coming fast. The unofficial start to summer begins after Memorial Day, but the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is reminding Michiganders of safe habits and laws that they should be aware of when out on the water.

MDHHS recognized May 23-29 as Healthy and Safe Swimming Week in a press release on Monday, explaining what you can do to keep your family safe and healthy this swimming season.

"Everyone plays a role in preventing pool-related illnesses, injuries and deaths," Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive for MDHHS said in the release. "Use proper hygiene when maintaining and using pools, make sure you and loved ones have basic swimming and water safety skills when partaking in water sports, and prevent access to backyard pools when not supervised."

To keep germs out of the water and your body, MDHHS suggested: Don't swallow the water, stay out of the water if you have diarrhea, shower before you get in the water, don't pee or poop in the water, take children on bathroom breaks or check diapers every hour and change diapers away from the water.

Between 2012 and 2021, 19 outbreaks reported in Michigan were linked to swimming in treated and untreated water locations including pools, hot tubs and freshwater lakes. More than 713 estimated recreational water illnesses including illnesses due to E. coli and Legionella were reported  likely an underestimate, according to MDHHS.

Its also important to prevent pool-related injuries, such as drowning or those caused by mishandling pool chemicals.

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages one to four years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the Great Lakes, over 1,000 drownings occurred between 2010 and 2021, according to MDHHS.

To keep swimmers and boaters safe in the water, MDHHS suggested: Make sure everyone has basic swimming skills, use U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets, choose a responsible adult to provide continuous supervision close to swimmers, know how to respond to a swimmer in distress and how to perform CPR and prevent access to backyard pools when not supervised.

MDHHS also recommended people get their boating safety certificate, which is required for boaters born after June 30, 1996, and most personal watercraft operators. Click on Boating Safety Certificate at Michigan.gov/Boating.

David Kenyon/MI Dept. of Natural Resources

Additionally, President Joe Biden declared this week, May 21-27, National Safe Boating Week.

In 2020, three-quarters of boating deaths were drownings, and nearly 7 out of every 8 drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket, according to the White House.

Officials for the U.S. Coast Guard discussed the importance of life jackets, local boating hazards, essential and recommended boating equipment and other aspects of boating safety at an event Monday afternoon.

Check out the Coast Guard Boating Safety app. You can file a float plan, request assistance, request a vessel safety check and report pollution and hazards to navigation.

More information and safety tips on preventing swimming illness and injury are available at Cdc.gov/HealthyWater/Swimming.
Facebook said Wednesday that the gunman in the Texas school shooting sent direct messages regarding his attack on one of its platforms, something the social media giant learned following the event.

Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference that the gunman posted his plans on the social media site before the attack. The gunman, who authorities have identified as Salvador Rolando Ramos, 18, wrote that "I'm going to shoot my grandmother," and "I'm going to shoot an elementary school," shortly before the attack, according to Abbott.

But in a tweet, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said, "The messages Gov. Abbott described were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred."

Another company spokesman, Joe Osborne, clarified that the messages were sent privately but declined to say which of its social networks were used. Facebook, which was renamed Meta last year, also operates Instagram and private messaging service WhatsApp.

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde when the gunman opened fire.

He appeared to have been active on Instagram previously. A high school classmate, Nadia Reyes, told The Washington Post that he posted an Instagram story two months ago in which he screamed at his mother, who he said was trying to kick him out of their home.

"He posted videos on his Instagram where the cops were there and he'd call his mom a b---- and say she wanted to kick him out," Reyes said. "He'd be screaming and talking to his mom really aggressively."

Social media company Snap said Wednesday that it has suspended an account that may have been connected to Ramos and that it is also working with law enforcement.

It's unclear if Ramos made public posts that could have hinted at the shooting on any social media platform. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District has previously used an artificial-intelligence-backed program to scan social media posts for potential threats years before the attack.

The school district said in a document for the 2019-2020 school year that it used Social Sentinel to monitor all social media with a "connection to Uvalde as a measure to identify any possible threats that might be made against students and or staff within the school district."

It's unclear whether the program was in use at the time of the shooting. Navigate360, which operates Social Sentinel, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Social Sentinel bills itself as an artificial-intelligence-backed software that can scan conversations in organizations' emails and public social media posts to identify people who may about to inflict violence against themselves or others.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Federal Reserve officials agreed when they met earlier this month that they may have to raise interest rates to levels that would weaken the economy as part of their drive to curb inflation, which is near a four-decade high.

At the same time, many of the policymakers also agreed that after a rapid series of rate increases in the coming months, they could assess the effects of their rate hikes and, depending on the economys health, increase rates at a slower pace.

After their meeting this month, the policymakers raised their benchmark short-term rate by a half-point  double the usual hike. According to minutes from the May 3-4 meeting released Wednesday, most of the officials agreed that half-point hikes also would likely be appropriate when they next meet in June and July. Chair Jerome Powell himself had indicated after this month's meeting that half-point increases would be on the table at the next two meetings.

All the officials believed that the Fed should expeditiously raise its key rate to a level at which it neither stimulates nor restrains growth, which officials have said is a rate of about 2.4%. Some policymakers have said they will likely reach that point by the end of this year.

The minutes suggest, though, that there may be a sharp debate among policymakers about how quickly to tighten credit after the June and July meetings. The economy has shown more signs of slowing, and stock markets have dropped sharply, since the Fed meeting.

Government reports have indicated, for example, that sales of new and existing homes have faltered sharply since this month's Fed meeting, and there are signs that factory output is growing more slowly. Gennadiy Goldberg, senior rates strategist at TD Securities, suggested that the minutes released Wednesday might reflect a more hawkish Fed  that is, more focused on rate hikes to restrain inflation  than may actually be the case now.

Some officials, particularly Raphael Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, have indicated since this month's meeting that the Fed could reconsider its pace of rate hikes in September.

And Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, has said that if there's compelling evidence that inflation is moving down, the Fed could slow its rate hikes, likely to a quarter-point pace.

But if inflation has failed to moderate, she added, "a faster pace of rate increases may be necessary.

The minutes released Wednesday signaled a tentative acknowledgement by some Fed officials that recent inflation data might suggest that overall price pressures may no longer be worsening. At the same time, those officials  the minutes dont name individual Fed policymakers  stressed that it was "too early to be confident that inflation had peaked.

Fed officials unanimously agreed that the U.S. economy was very strong, the labor market was extremely tight, and inflation was very high and well above the Feds target of 2%. Powell had expressed similar sentiments at his May 4 news conference.

Fed officials are betting that the economys broad strength will enable it to withstand sharply higher borrowing rates without leading to extended layoffs or a recession.

When Fed officials decided this month to raise their benchmark rate by a half-point to a range of 0.75% to 1%, it was their first increase of that size since 2000. The officials also announced that they would start to shrink their huge $9 trillion balance sheet, which has more than doubled since the pandemic.

The balance sheet swelled as the Fed bought about $4.5 trillion in Treasury and mortgage bonds after the pandemic recession struck to try to hold down longer-term rates. On June 1, the Fed plans to let those securities start to mature, without replacing them. That should also heighten the cost of long-term borrowing.

Powell has said the Fed is determined to raise rates high enough to restrain inflation, leading many economists to expect the sharpest pace of rate hikes in three decades this year. Powell says the central bank is aiming for a soft landing, in which higher interest rates cool borrowing and spending enough to slow the economy and inflation. But most economists are skeptical that the Fed can achieve such a narrow outcome without causing an economic downturn.

Stock prices have plunged on fears that the Feds rate hikes will send the economy into recession. The S&P 500 has fallen for seven straight weeks, the longest such stretch since the aftermath of the dot-com bubble in 2001. The stock index nearly fell into bear-market territory last week  defined as a 20% drop from its peak  but rallied Wednesday.

The minutes also showed that some policymakers decided it was appropriate to consider selling some of its holdings of mortgage-backed securities, rather than simply letting them mature. Sales would make it easier for the Fed to transition to a portfolio composed mainly of Treasurys, the minutes said.

The Fed has said that by September it would allow up to $30 billion of mortgage-backed securities to mature each month, along with $60 billion in Treasurys. Many analysts doubt that the cap will be reached for mortgage-backed bonds, because mortgage rates have jumped more than 2 percentage points since the start of the year. That means that fewer homeowners will refinance their mortgages because their current loan rates are lower than the rates now available in the mortgage market.

Fewer refinancings would force the Fed to sell mortgage-backed securities to maintain its plans to reduce its balance sheet.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  A Texas man has been arrested for what authorities say was his role in an online romance scam in which women were cheated out of a total of nearly $1 million by someone pretending to be an Army general, federal prosecutors in Rhode Island said Wednesday.

Fola Alabi, also known as Folayemi Alabi, 51, was arrested at his Richmond, Texas, home Tuesday and charged with wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha.

No defense attorney was listed in online court records.

Alabi or an alleged accomplice pretending to be a general stationed overseas befriended women on social media on various dates last year, gradually gaining their trust by feigning romantic or personal interest, prosecutors said.

The women were asked to send money to the fake general to help ship his belongings back to the U.S., according to court documents. They were asked to send the money to companies in Texas controlled by Alabi or someone associated with him, at his home address, prosecutors said.

Many of the women were in their 70s and 80s and either widowed or divorced, according to an affidavit in the case. They were from Rhode Island, Tennessee, North Carolina, California, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, Idaho and South Dakota.

The Arizona woman lost $334,000, according to the affidavit. She felt shame, embarrassment, and guilt over being scammed" and did not have enough money for food or to pay bills as a result, according to the affidavit.

The 78-year-old Rhode Island woman sent a check for $60,000 and was going to send an additional $240,000, but her bank determined that she might be a victim of fraud, put a hold on her account and contacted local police, authorities said.

In a related case, Alabi is charged with a cheating a Florida woman in an online investment opportunity scam by pretending to be her brother, according to the affidavit.

He was charged under a 1994 law that provides for more severe penalties for fraud that victimizes people over 55.
BROWNSVILLE, Ky. (AP)  A former Kentucky teacher has been sentenced to federal prison on charges of attempted online enticement of a minor and attempted production of child pornography.

William Lindsey, 30, of Brownsville, was sentenced to 15 years and 8 months on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green, the Daily News reported.
BERLIN (AP)  Police deployed in force and three youths were detained Wednesday after an employee at a school in Germany reported having seen a youth carrying a firearm in a basement room of the building.

Officers were sent to the Ernst Barlach School in the western town of Dinslaken after receiving a call about the claimed sighting at 1:40 p.m. According to the caller, the youth fled when he saw the school employee.
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OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP)  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has tested positive for COVID-19, his office said Wednesday, the same day state health officials urged people to wear face mask indoors as case counts steadily rise.

At a news conference the state's public health leaders said they weren't issuing mandates but strongly recommending masks be worn indoors in crowded or confined places.

This is the time to remind ourselves that this pandemic is not over, said Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah.

In a statement, Inslee's office said the Democratic governor tested positive on a rapid antigen test and is experiencing mild symptoms, including a cough. Inslee is working from home and setting up antiviral treatments.

Inslee, who aggressively pushed for mitigation measures like indoor masking and restrictions on public gatherings early in the pandemic, is fully vaccinated, including two booster shots.

I hope others consider getting their booster because its very effective in preventing serious illness," Inslee said in a statement.

The Seattle Times reports as of early May, the state recorded a seven-day infection rate of about 245.3 cases per 100,000 people, or about 2,600 new infections per day. In mid-March, Washingtons infection rate was about 40.4 cases per 100,000.

Hospitalizations recently surpassed about six COVID hospital admissions per 100,000, or about 67 new hospitalizations per day  up from fewer than two hospitalizations per 100,000 in early April.

The states COVID death rate hasnt seen significant changes in recent months, and has consistently been on the decline since late January, according to Department of Health data.

Also Wednesday Lt. Gov. Denny Heck announced he tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing mild but unpleasant symptoms, similar to a bad head cold.

Heck said he, too, was vaccinated and double-boosted.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Rhode Island's governor signed legislation Wednesday making the state the 19th in the nation to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana, an issue that some lawmakers have been working on for years.

Together we got this job done and we got it done right, Democratic Gov. Dan McKee said at the bill signing ceremony on the State House steps.

Rhode Island's General Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor of the legislation Tuesday night. McKee's said the legislation accomplishes the priorities of making sure legalization is equitable, controlled and safe.

Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey called it a momentous day for the state of Rhode Island.

Cannabis prohibition has been a failed policy for decades, he said.

The law legalizes the sale and possession of up to 1 ounce (28 grams) of cannabis for adults, ages 21 and older, with no more than 10 ounces (283 grams) for personal use kept at a persons home. It will also allow residents to grow a small amount at home.

The start date for recreational sales was pushed from Oct. 1 to Dec. 1 during the legislative process. Recreational marijuana is already sold in Massachusetts. Connecticut has legalized it but recreational dispensaries aren't yet open.

The reality is that prohibition does not stop cannabis use, said Democratic Sen. Joshua Miller, who led the legalization effort in the Senate, in a statement. Since Rhode Islanders can already access cannabis just across the state border or on the illicit market, we experience all the challenges without any of the safeguards or resources that our neighboring states have. With this bill, we are ending prohibition in a way that is safe, keeps revenue in Rhode Island, and is as fair and equitable as we can possibly make it.

The Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association released a statement Tuesday before the legislation passed, saying it wanted to draw attention to several public health and safety holes.

The association said its concerned because of the potential for impaired motorists and more roadway fatalities since there's no test to check for driving under the influence of marijuana. The association also said the bill doesn't adequately restrict marijuana use in public, which creates a public nuisance.

Thirty-three cannabis retailers will be allowed in Rhode Island. There will be a 10% state cannabis excise tax in addition to the 7% sales tax and 3% local tax for the municipality where the sale takes place.

The legislation provides for the automatic expungement of any prior conviction for possession of cannabis that will be decriminalized. The expungements will occur by July 1, 2024, with an expedited process offered for anyone who wants to have their record expunged sooner.

Current fees charged to patients and caregivers for registration in the states medical marijuana program will be eliminated. A three-member Cannabis Control Commission to oversee the industry will be appointed by the governor with input from the House speaker and approval from the Senate.
A romance novelist who wrote about How to Murder Your Husband was convicted in her husbands killing Wednesday following a contentious trial in which prosecutors leaned on a puzzle of circumstantial evidence to portray the author as a duplicitous spouse who spent months quietly plotting the perfect crime.

Nancy Brophy, 71, stood quietly, a pandemic mask covering her nose and mouth, as the verdict was handed down, seven weeks after the trial began in Portland, Oregon. Her sentencing is scheduled for June 13.

Prosecutors had built their case with evidence showing that Brophy had acquired gun pieces in the months before the killing of her husband, Daniel Brophy, including one extra component that prosecutors said could ensure that the bullets used in the shooting would not be traced back to her gun. Prosecutors contended that she shot her husband in his workplace, where there would be no cameras or witnesses, then moved to collect on lucrative life insurance policies in the days that followed.

She had the plan in place, Shawn Overstreet, a deputy district attorney, said in closing arguments this week. She had the opportunity to carry out this murder. She was the only person who had the motive.

Brophy, who had written self-published romance novels, had once speculated in a 2011 blog post that a wife who kills her spouse must be ruthless and very clever because she is likely to become a prime suspect. She pondered various methods of murder, supposing that knives were too personal, poison was too traceable and hit men were too untrustworthy. She wrote that guns were messy and required skill.

At trial, prosecutors detailed how Brophy had purchased a ghost gun kit and a handgun. She then separately purchased an extra slide and barrel on eBay that could have been swapped and placed on the completed gun. That extra component was never found. Brophy testified that the handgun was for protection, purchased with her husbands support, and that the other gun components were for writing research, also purchased with his knowledge.

Brophy had been considering a story about a woman who slowly acquired gun parts in order to complete a weapon and turn the tables on an abusive partner, she and her lawyer said. Brophys romantic suspense books largely focused on what she described in an author bio as pretty men and strong women, about families that dont always work and about the joy of finding love and the difficulty of making it stay.

On the morning of June 2, 2018, Daniel Brophy had gone to the Oregon Culinary Institute, where he taught classes. Students arriving after him discovered his body on the floor of a kitchen. He had been shot twice.

Detectives later told Nancy Brophy that her husband was dead, and they asked her for details of the morning. She said her husband arose early, fed their chickens and walked their dogs. She said she awoke when he came upstairs to have a shower. She estimated he left for work a little after 7 a.m.

But investigators discovered video in the neighborhood of the culinary institute showing what was apparently Brophy driving her old minivan in the area around the time of the killing. Brophy testified that she had no memory of that time period, theorizing that she may have been making a coffee run and taking notes for her book writing. She said her conversation with detectives came as she was overwhelmed with the news of her husbands death.

In closing arguments this week, prosecutors conceded that their case was based on all circumstantial evidence, saying that the jury needed to join together the pieces of a puzzle to reach its conclusion.

Nancy is the only person who could have committed this crime, Overstreet told the jury.

Defense lawyers also leaned on the neighborhoods video surveillance, noting that homeless people appeared to be in the area that morning. One man hid behind a wall and looked in a bag when police officers arrived on scene that morning. Investigators said they were unable to identify the man.

Although friends and family members testified that the Brophys appeared to have a strong and collaborative relationship, which had lasted some 25 years, prosecutors said Brophy had a financial incentive to kill her husband, presenting evidence that the couple had been struggling financially and that she had moved to collect on life insurance policies worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. They noted that she had asked police for a letter stating she was not a suspect just a few days after her husbands killing.

Prosecutors were prohibited from discussing Brophys How to Murder Your Husband blog post during the trial. But at the conclusion of their questioning of Brophy, they covered some of the themes of the blog post, concluding with a question that echoed some of her wording: If there is one thing that you know about murder, is it that anyone is capable of doing it?

Brophy said she absolutely believes that. She said people can murder if they get pushed into a corner, or to protect somebody, or in a rage. And, she said, financial issues can be a big reason for murder.

But, she and her lawyers contended, she did not have sufficient financial motivation to justify murder, noting that the couples insurance policies were not unusual and that she was not a beneficiary on all of them. She said a fictional version of her case would not stand up to scrutiny.

An editor would laugh and say, I think you need to work harder on this story. You have kind of a big hole in it, she said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  About $33 million of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan recently signed into law by President Joe Biden will go toward cleanning up 277 of an estimated 15,000 abandoned oil and gas wells on federal land, the nation's interior secretary said Wednesday.

Millions of Americans live within one mile of an abandoned oil or gas well, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said, adding during a news conference that the wells pose a danger to people, particularly in communities of color and rural communities.

With tens of thousands of known orphaned wells across the country there is a significant amount of work to be done, so the program will provide many jobs that pay well, Haaland said.

There are an estimated 15,000 abandoned wells on federal land  and states have indicated that they would need more than $8 billion to clean up 130,000 other orphaned wells, said Laura Daniel-Davis, principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals.

Those figures could be low  the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated the national total at 3.2 million.

Daniel-Davis said money to help nail down state inventories is included in $1.1 billion announced in January as available to states under the infrastructure law.

This is the first installment of $250 million provided through the infrastructure law for cleaning up orphaned wells and well sites on federal public lands, national parks, national wildlife refuges and national forests, Daniel-Davis said. The next will probably be announced during the fiscal year which starts Oct. 1, she said.

Including wells on federal land, the bill will provide $4.7 billion to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells, said Mitch Landrieu, Biden's infrastructure coordinator.

States are now finally counting them, he said.

Wells covered by Wednesday's announcement are considered high-priority because pollution threatens human health and safety, the climate and wildlife. Several wells, particularly in Pennsylvania and Louisiana, are near disadvantaged groups, Daniel-Davis said.

Some 163 wells are in Louisiana, in five wildlife refuges and the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve's Barataria unit. Sixty-eight are in the Darbonne National Wildlife Refuge and 59 in the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge.

There are 24 each in Kentucky, in the Daniel Boone National Forest, and in Oklahoma, in the Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge. Another 20 are in Texas, 18 in the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania and 14 in Bureau of Land Management lands in Utah. In addition, the government will inventory and assess wells in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah.

Ten wells are in California, three in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio and one in the Gauley River National Recreation Area in West Virginia.

Contractors will measure methane before and after cleanup, Haaland said.

Louisiana has about 4,600 orphaned wells, defined in state law as those with owners that have either gone out of business or have ignored state clean-up orders, said Patrick Courreges, spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources.

He said environmentalists often count those which have been plugged for at least five years as abandoned. As of last fall, he said, there were 9,352 such wells, owned by 447 companies.

Louisiana has been plugging 120 to 200 abandoned wells a year for the past five or six years, he said.

It is our hope to at least double that" with money from the infrastructure bill, said Courreges.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the chief of Greece's diplomatic mission for allegedly seizing cargo from a vessel flying the Iranian flag in Greek waters, state media reported Wednesday.

The IRNA news agency reported that an Iran-flagged ship had to stop in Greek waters due to technical problems and was being held by the Greek government off of Greece's coast. The news agency claimed the vessel's cargo was confiscated with a court order under pressure from the United States. The report didn't say what the cargo was.
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The families of four people  including three teens  who died in a February plane crash off the North Carolina coast are suing the companies that owned the plane and employed the pilot, who also died. The suit claims the pilot failed to properly fly the single-engine plane in weather conditions with limited visibility, making the firms liable.

All eight people aboard the Pilatus PC-12/47 died when it descended into the Atlantic Ocean off the Outer Banks. Four teenagers and two adults on the plane were returning from a hunting trip. The two others were the pilot and his adult son, who was a student pilot, the suit said.

The wrongful death suit was filed Tuesday in Carteret County against EDP Management Group LLC and Green Assets, both of Wilmington, and Dillons Aviation of Greenville.

The plane took off Feb. 13 in the early afternoon from Hyde County Airport, which is on the mainland near the Pamlico Sound. The plane's destination was southwest across the sound to Beaufort, which is along the southern edge of the Outer Banks in Carteret County.

The suit alleges that pilot Ernest "Teen" Rawls failed to maintain control over the plane and improperly flew into weather conditions with limited visibility that required the use of instrumentation.

The suit also asserts that Rawls failed to maintain adequate communication with air traffic control and failed to avoid restricted military airspace, leading to an erratic and irregular flight path.

The suit alleges that Rawls improperly relied on a co-pilot with inadequate training and experience to fly around the restricted airspace and in those weather conditions. Rawls son, Jeffrey Rawls, reportedly, had 20 hours of flight experience, the suit stated.

The suit also claims that Rawls failed to conduct a proper weight and balance evaluation before taking off.

The website for Green Assets listed Hunter Parks, one of the people who died in the crash, as its founder and chairman. His family is not among those who sued. A company spokesman released a statement that said it could not comment on the suit.

There is not a day that goes by that we do not feel the sadness of this tragedy," the statement said. "Our hearts remain with all families and friends who have been impacted by this incident. And because this is active litigation and that the facts of the incident are still unknown, we are unable to comment on the specifics of the complaint at this time.

Email and phone messages seeking comment from Dillons Aviation and EDP Management Group were not immediately returned.

In late February, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary accident report that the pilot had made no distress calls and no declarations of an emergency.

The airplane had reached 4,700 feet (1,430 meters) and was climbing quickly, the NTSB's report stated. There was no response to calls from an air traffic controller, and radar contact was lost.

A final report from the NTSB has not been issued.

Andrew Robb, a Kansas City-based aviation attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the four families, said by phone that the plane's lack of distress calls and climbing altitude were hallmarks of a pilot becoming spatially disoriented.

If there was a problem with the mechanics or the electronics or something on that airplane that caused this 3,000-foot ascent, you would think that the pilot would have made some kind of communication, Robb said.

The lawsuit was filed by the families of passengers Noah Styron, 15; Michael Shepherd, 15; Jacob Taylor, 16; and Stephanie Fulcher, 42.

Others who were onboard included Parks, 45, and Jonathan Kole McInnis, 15.

Rawls and his son lived in Greenville, authorities said in February. Fulcher, Parks and the four teens lived in Carteret County. The mostly rural county is home to older fishing villages as well as touristy areas that include Emerald Isle and Cape Lookout National Seashore.

The four teenagers went to East Carteret High School, which has about 600 students.

Charlie Snow, a close friend of the pilot, told The Associated Press in February that Rawls had previously flown for Snows company, Outer Banks Airlines, and was highly trained and extremely capable.

If anybody could get out of something, if it was possible to get out of it, he could have done it, Snow said.
BEIRUT (AP)  A Lebanese security chief has met U.S. officials in Washington as part of mediation between Washington and Damascus for the release of an American journalist missing in Syria, the head of a mission that assists hostages said Wednesday.

Nizar Zakka, President of the U.S.-based Hostage Aid Worldwide, told The Associated Press by telephone that Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim was discussing the fate of six Americans held in the Middle East, but that the primary objective of his mission is journalist Austin Tice who went missing near the Syrian capital of Damascus a decade ago.

Zakka, who met Ibrahim in Washington on Tuesday, said Biden administration officials would not have invited the Lebanese official to Washington had they not reached something "very serious with regards to the Tice case. He says there are serious threads in the case, without elaborating. Tice's fate remains unknown.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden met Tices parents and reiterated his commitment to continue to work through all available avenues to secure Austins long overdue return to his family.

Tice, who is from Houston and whose work had been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus in August. 2012.

Zakka said the six Americans include Tice and Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia who vanished in Syria in 2017. The four others are held in Iran, according to Zakka, who himself was held in Iran for years before Ibrahim mediated his release in 2019.

Ibrahim, the chief of Lebanons General Security Directorate, has mediated complicated hostage releases in the past. He told Lebanons LBC TV that his work regarding American hostages had slowed down during the transitional period between two administrations in Washington.

There is a decision now to speed up the process, Ibrahim added.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday that U.S. officials tend not to speak of our efforts in public before Americans come home so as not to jeopardize our efforts precisely to bring them home.

He added that U.S. officials are deeply engaged on this case.

In the final months of the Trump administration, two U.S. officials  including the governments top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens  made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information on Tice and other Americans who have disappeared in Syria. It was the highest-level talk in years between the United States and the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, though Syrian officials offered no meaningful information on Tice.

Four years ago, the then-U.S. envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, said Tice is believed to be alive and held hostage in Syria. He didnt say why officials believe this or who might be holding him.

Tice went missing shortly after his 31st birthday on Aug. 14, 2012. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men, saying Oh, Jesus. He has not been heard from since.

In late April, the U.S. secured the release of Trevor Reed, a U.S. Marine veteran detained in Russia for nearly three years, as part of a prisoner swap.

In 2019, Ibrahim's mediation led to the release of U.S. citizen Samuel Goodwin after being held for two months in Syria.

_____

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
RENO, Nev. (AP)  A California man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing a Reno woman whose 5-year-old son told police he pretended to be dead after the killer started firing nearly two dozen gunshots in their motel room.

Lamar Adams, 49, of Richmond, pleaded guilty earlier to one count of first-degree murder and one count of child endangerment, both with the use of a deadly weapon, in the 2020 killing of 42-year-old Lynette Lozano.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Senate Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a wide-ranging proposal they say would help parents stay informed about what their children are being taught and how they're being treated by doctors. The measure also would tread into contentious LGBTQ matters that have caused divisive debate elsewhere.

The Parents' Bill of Rights legislation would bar public school curriculum for kindergarten through third grade from containing instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity. Republicans contend the prohibition is more limited than a new Florida law that critics have dubbed the Dont Say Gay law, which has received intense scrutiny nationally from critics who argue it marginalizes LGBTQ people.

And throughout K-12 schools, local school boards would be required to adopt procedures that notify a parent when school staff notices changes to a child's mental, emotional or physical health or well-being," or before a child's name or pronoun is changed in school records.

Separately, the bill also would subject health care providers to disciplinary action by licensing boards should they fail to receive parental consent for non-urgent medical treatments for a minor child, including fines of up to $5,000.

With kids participating in online classrooms during the coronavirus pandemic, parents got an up-close look at what their children were being taught. It opened their eyes in a lot of ways, Senate leader Phil Berger said.

The bill is about increasing transparency and trust in our public schools, Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, said at a news conference.

The measure, to be heard in an education committee on Wednesday, would have to clear both the House and Senate before going to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Berger and Sen. Deanna Ballard, who is helping shepherd the bill, said they hadn't spoken to Senate Democrats about the measure. But some Democratic support would be needed if Cooper vetoed the bill.

The measure would broaden the rights that parents already have in state and federal laws. Additional rights would include the ability to make health care decisions for their children and to be notified if a government agency suspects a crime has been committed against the child. The proposed rights would be in state law, not in the state constitution.

For schools, parents would have additional legal rights and be provided a guide to student achievement at the start of each school year. Parents would have to be informed that they can review textbooks and instructional materials, request that their child be evaluated for gifted programs and review standardize test results.

Greater participation from our parents really does lead to a better quality of life for our students, said Ballard, a Watauga County Republican. When parents are excluded from critical decisions affecting their childs health and well-being at school, it really sends a message to children that parents' input and authority is really no longer important.

Berger said the provision addressing the K-3 classroom instruction is different from Florida's law because the Senate's proposal would only ban content on sexual orientation and gender identity from actual curriculum.

Language in the Florida law says "classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.

Berger said the North Carolina law would not prevent a K-3 teacher from responding to a child's LGBTQ-related questions. But he said it would make sense for a school to alert the child's parent about such questions.

Parents who have complaints about the K-3 curriculum or don't feel properly notified about their child's physical and mental health could ultimately seek intervention from the State Board of Education or go to court to seek an injunction.

___

This version corrects the bill's title to Parents' Bill of Rights."
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  A federal grand jury indicted 41 suspected gang members in Puerto Rico accused of smuggling drugs to the U.S mainland as part of a $58 million operation, authorities said Wednesday.

Those arrested include several of the U.S. territory's suspected drug trafficking leaders, according to Joseph Gonzalez, special agent in charge of the FBI in San Juan.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  The mass shooting at a Texas elementary school invaded the penalty trial of Floridas campus killer Wednesday as lawyers argued over whether potential jurors should be questioned directly about the nations latest gun tragedy and a victims father was brought nearly to tears.

Attorneys for Parkland, Florida, killer Nikolas Cruz clashed with his prosecutors, saying they should be allowed to ask potential jurors directly about their knowledge and feelings about the Uvalde, Texas, shootings that left 19 students and two teachers dead on Tuesday. The 18-year-old shooter also died.

Those shootings were even brought up unprompted by a potential juror  We all know what happened yesterday  drawing nods from many of the other 12 prospects in her group.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to murdering 17 and wounding 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. A jury is being selected to decide whether the former Stoneman Douglas student is sentenced to death or life in prison without parole  a process that has slogged on for almost two months and has at least a month to go before an expected four-month trial. The lawyers have pared 1,900 potential jurors to about 300 as they seek 12 panelists and eight alternates through a three-stage interview process.

Tom Hoyer, whose 15-year-old son Luke died in the Parkland shooting, stood outside the courtroom Wednesday, his voice breaking and knees shaking at he talked about the Texas killings. He said he was in physical pain thinking about what the victims parents experienced.

I know what those families had to endure sitting in a room waiting to hear that their child is laying in a school on a floor. It is heartbreaking, heartbreaking, said Hoyer, who frequently attends jury selection with his wife and the parents of another victim. I hope their journey through all of this is a lot faster than ours.

Before potential jurors were questioned Wednesday, Cruzs lead attorney, Melisa McNeill, tried to convince Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that potential jurors should be asked directly about the Texas killings.

There is no way these jurors havent been affected, said McNeill, who stopped several times to keep herself from crying. The lawyers need to find out if these jurors believe they are in a position to sit in a case like this. We cant ignore this.

Cruz, sitting at the defense table, did not look up. He appeared to be scribbling on a notepad.

But prosecutor Carolyn McCann argued that Cruzs case must be kept separate from other school shootings and that Texas should not be mentioned. She pointed out that 27 other school shootings have happened in the U.S. just this year  more than one per week. Even when McCann originally erred and repeatedly said there had been 127 school shootings, no one questioned it.

Are we going to have to go back to (the jurors) every time there is an incident? she said.

Scherer ruled that McNeill and her team could ask potential jurors general questions about their feelings on school shootings and the murder of children and whether they could still be fair, but not specifically about Texas. Still, she understood why McNeill had been so emotional in discussing the Texas killings.

How can you not be? she said.

And Cruzs trial for what is now the fifth-deadliest U.S. school shooting marched slowly forward.
UVALDE, Texas  Nineteen children and two adults were shot to death during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbot confirmed.

This is the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since Sandy Hook in December 2012.
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (AP)  Two women were arrested after about 500,000 fentanyl pills were found in an SUV pulled over for speeding on Interstate 10 in Arizona, police said.

The pills that were seized were discovered concealed in collagen supplement bottles on Monday during a search that also turned up a handgun and a large amount of cash, police from the small city of Casa Grande south of Phoenix said in a statement.
JASONVILLE, Ind. (AP)  A southwestern Indiana police chief was justified when he fatally shot a man in April who was threatening people while armed with a knife, a prosecutor said.

Greene County Prosecutor Jarrod Holtsclaw said Stephen Wheeler had been threatening neighbors and others with the knife when he aggressively approached Jasonville Police Chief Ryan Van Horn on April 29 outside Wheeler's home.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  A Danish Jehovahs Witness on Wednesday has returned to Denmark after spending five years in a Russian prison under Moscows crackdown on the religious group, the organization said.

Russia officially banned the Jehovahs Witnesses in 2017, and designated the religious denomination an extremist organization in connection to its alleged propaganda of exclusivity. Dennis Christensen, a 49-year-old Dane, was arrested that year for leading a prayer meeting, and was handed a six-year prison sentence in 2019.
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POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP)  The Russian rocket strikes came early in the morning in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk on Wednesday, shaking buildings, jolting people out of bed and sending chunks of concrete and jagged pieces of metal flying through the air.

One of the two rockets left a crater at least three meters deep, remnants of the projectile still smoldering as nearby residents picked through the debris of their homes, trying to salvage whatever they could.

A row of low terraced houses nearby suffered significant damage, with roofing tiles blown off, door frames ripped from the walls and pieces of brick, concrete and asphalt scattered on the ground.

Four civilians were wounded, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk military administration. At least one of them suffered a head wound and was ferried to the local hospital by ambulance, blood seeping through the bandages and trickling down the side of his neck.

The strikes in Pokrovsk were among several over the past two days that have hit towns and villages as Russia pressed forward in its offensive in the Donbas, Ukraines eastern industrial heartland.

Theres no place left to live in, everything is smashed, said Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother-of-two who lived in one of the terraced houses. The windows had been blown out by an earlier strike about a month ago, and they had replaced them with plastic sheeting. That, she said, probably saved their lives as at least there was no glass flying around.

She had been asleep when the strike hit, just meters from her house.

There was a really big flash and a lot of dust, Kurbonova said, standing outside her home still in her pajamas, her legs and arms blackened by soot. Her 4-year-old son wandered around, clutching a toy train, while her 2-year-old daughter smiled in a stroller nearby.

I was reaching for my child and I couldnt find him in the dust, she said. The boy had been sleeping in the same room as her, while her daughter had been in the next room with Kurbonovas mother. They were all shaken, but none were hurt.

Kyrylenko said Russian strikes killed 12 civilians the previous day in the Donetsk region, and wounded another 10. Another strike on the city of Kramatorsk, northeast of Pokrovsk, hit a multi-story building under construction, damaging it and blowing out windows in nearby buildings but causing no casualties.

Russians continue hitting the cities that are away from the front line,Kyrylenko said on his Telegram channel. They would like to kill as many civilians as possible and cause panic. That is why the only good choice is evacuation. Evacuation saves lives.

The governor of the neighboring Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said at least six civilians had been killed and eight wounded over the past 24 hours in shelling in the town of Sieverodonetsk, at the heart of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Russian forces have been attempting to encircle Sieverodonetsk and cut off Ukrainian forces there. Haidai accused the Russians of deliberately targeting shelters where civilians were hiding.

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for eight years and hold large swaths of territory. Sievierodonetsk and neighboring cities are the only part of the Donbas Luhansk region still under Ukrainian government control.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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GETZVILLE, N.Y. (AP)  The retired police officer killed while trying to stop the gunman in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket was awarded the department's medal of honor at his funeral Wednesday, as the country processed another massacre at a Texas school that killed 19 children and two adults.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia also posthumously promoted Aaron Salter to lieutenant, saying his actions on May 14  firing multiple times at the shooter, striking his body armor  bought precious time that allowed others in the store to escape.

Aaron bravely fought evil that day, Gramaglia said at The Chapel in Getzville, where law enforcement officers from U.S. and Canadian departments filled a dozen rows.

Services were also held for Pearl Young, a 77-year-old grandmother, great-grandmother and substitute teacher who was devoted to her church.

Salter and Young were among the 10 Black people killed when a white gunman with a helmet-mounted camera targeted shoppers and workers at Tops Friendly Market, in a predominantly Black neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon. Three others were injured in the attack, which federal authorities are investigating as a hate crime.

The 18-year-old suspect, Payton Gendron, of Conklin, has been charged with murder and is being held without bail.

Gendron was in a Buffalo City courtroom with his attorneys Wednesday to ask a judge to bar Erie County prosecutors from commenting about the case to avoid influencing potential jurors. The judge did not immediately rule but told attorneys to refrain from speaking publicly until prosecutors and defense lawyers meet to discuss guidelines going forward, The Buffalo News reported.

Salter, 55, of Lockport, was working as a security guard at the store in his retirement, a natural move for the community-minded officer with a loud laugh that would shock your senses and who chewed bubble gum just as loudly, said retired Deputy Police Commissioner Kimberly Beaty, who worked with Salter.

Aaron didnt come to work to be entertainment, he came to do his job, Beaty said, but we enjoyed watching him do it.

Salter retired from the department in 2018 after nearly 30 years. At least one of his bullets struck the suspect's armor-plated vest but didnt pierce it, police said.

Mourners remembered Young as a God-fearing woman and cherished friend. She was a longtime volunteer in her church's soup kitchen and worked as a substitute teacher in Buffalo Public Schools.

Her name is beautiful, just like a beautiful pearl, Youngs oldest sister, Mary Craig of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, said during the service held at Elim Christian Fellowship in Buffalo.

She used these adjectives to describe her late sister: precious, exuberant, adorable, righteous and loving. The first letter of each spells out the name Pearl.

Acting Superintendent Tonja Williams read a letter of condolence to mourners, remembering Young as a long-term, very active substitute teacher. The students affectionately called her Miss Pearl, Williams said.

She was excited to return to the classroom and enjoyed working with the high school students. Pearl was a hard worker and dedicated to the students she served, Williams said, reading from the letter.

Sister-in-law Gloria Anderson told mourners that Young took ministering to nonbelievers seriously. Everywhere Pearl went she told somebody about Jesus, Anderson said.

Young and Anderson attended a prayer breakfast together the day of the supermarket shooting. Anderson said they felt a spiritual high that morning.

It was one of the most glorious times that Ive had in a long time, she said.

After the breakfast, Young asked Anderson to drop her off at Tops Friendly Market so she could pick up a few things. Anderson said she believes just a few minutes passed, after she pulled away to drive home, before the gunman opened fire. Anderson said she felt survivors guilt but has leaned on her faith to cope.

Im going to sorely miss her, but I know that one day, Pearl and Gloria are going to be back together again, Anderson said.

Funerals had been held for barely a few of the Buffalo victims, before yet another mass shooting grabbed headlines. Authorities in Texas say Salvador Ramos, 18, attacked Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday, opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed. Police killed Ramos.

In Buffalo, a funeral for 62-year-old Geraldine Talley is scheduled for Friday. Ruth Whitfield, 86, will be laid to rest Saturday. The Rev. Al Sharpton is scheduled to deliver those eulogies.

Its one thing to experience personal grief, said Salter's childhood friend, Rodney Cunningham, and quite another to experience personal grief that is part of a national culture war that, to be candid, has been going on for years with no end in sight.

___

Morrison reported from New York City.
AP

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP)  Slovenias parliament on Wednesday voted to appoint the leader of a liberal-green party that won last months election as the countrys new prime minister, replacing a right-wing populist.

Lawmakers voted 54-30 for Robert Golob, head of the Freedom Movement party, to take the position. A separate vote is expected in early June to confirm Golob's new government.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Sri Lankas new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as finance minister as this Indian Ocean island nation confronts its worst economic crisis in memory.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa named Wickremesinghe minister of Finance, Economic Stability and National Policies in an apparent bid to regain Sri Lankas credibility as the government negotiates a bailout package with the International Monetary Fund.

Sri Lankans have been enduring shortages of food and fuel, power outages and other privations. The country lacks the financial wherewithal to buy imported necessities and pay its debts, and the economic crisis has fueled political turmoil, with protesters demanding Rajapaksas resignation.

Wickremesinghe's appointment followed a government announcement that Sri Lanka was hiring firms to restructure its $51 billion external debt. Lazard of France will provide financial advice and Clifford Chance LLP will assist with legal help in restructuring Sri Lanka's debts to international creditors.

A five-time former prime minister, Wickremesinghe was appointed to the post two weeks ago after his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa  who is the presidents elder brother  resigned following violent attacks by his supporters on peaceful anti-government protesters.

Sri Lankans for months have been forced to stand in long lines to buy scarce essentials, with many returning home empty-handed. There is a severe shortage of many goods, from food, cooking gas, medicine and fuel to toilet paper and matchsticks.

The economy has suffered under the pandemic, which has kept tourists away, and surging costs for most imports.

Nearly bankrupt, the country has suspended repayments of $7 billion in foreign loans due this year. The IMF has said any short or long-term assistance will hinge on talks with creditors on restructuring loans. Sri Lanka must repay about $25 billion in foreign loans by 2026.

The finance ministry said earlier this month that the countrys usable foreign reserves had plummeted to $25 million.

Wickremesinghe, 73, has been in Parliament for 45 years. His political party split in 2020 amid a leadership crisis and its most senior members left to form a new party, which is currently the countrys main opposition.

He said last week that petrol stocks had dwindled to a single day, but shipments of gasoline paid for by an Indian credit line started arriving over the weekend.

Protesters have been occupying the entrance to the presidents office for more than 40 days demanding Rajapaksas resignation.

Attacks on peaceful protesters by government supporters triggered countrywide riots in which nine people died including a lawmaker and 200 were hurt. Homes and properties of government ministers and their supporters were burned down. The violence has nearly dismantled the Rajapaksa dynasty after Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister.

Apart from being tasked with reviving the economy, Wickremesinghe is working on a constitutional amendment to dilute presidential powers and better empower the Parliament.
BRUSSELS (AP)  The horrific images and stories tumbling out of Ukrainian towns like Bucha in the wake of the withdrawal of Russian troops bear witness to depravity on a scale recalling the barbarities of Cambodia, the Balkans, World War II.

The question now: What to do with this suffering?

With disclosures by Ukrainian officials that more than 400 civilian corpses had been discovered, a chorus has resounded at the highest levels of Western political power, calling for accountability, prosecution and punishment. On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the killings as genocide and war crimes, and U.S. President Joe Biden said Vladimir Putin was a war criminal who should be brought to trial.

But the path to holding the Russian president and other top leaders criminally responsible is long and complex, international lawyers caution.

Certainly, the discovery of bodies which bear signs of executions -- such as gunshot wounds to the head -- presents strong evidence of war crimes, said Clint Williamson, who served as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues from 2006 to 2009.

When victims are found with their hands bound, with blindfolds and bearing signs of torture or sexual assault, an even more compelling case is made. There are no circumstances under which these actions are permitted, whether the victims are civilians or military personnel who had been taken prisoner.

___

This story is part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and Frontline that includes the War Crimes Watch Ukraine interactive experience and an upcoming documentary.

___

There is no reason to believe the Russians will own up to war crimes. Russias Defense Ministry said Sunday that not a single civilian has faced any violent action by the Russian military, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the scenes outside Kyiv as a stage-managed anti-Russian provocation.

The Associated Press and the PBS series Frontline are tracking evidence of potential war crimes committed during one of the largest conflicts in Europe since the end of World War II. As of Tuesday AP and Frontline journalists have verified 90 incidents that appear to violate international humanitarian law.

The War Crimes Watch Ukraine project includes details of apparent targeted attacks as well as indiscriminate destruction of civilian buildings and infrastructure. The AP/Frontline online database will continue to be updated as long as the conflict lasts. The goal is to provide an independent accounting of events, apart from potentially inflated claims by advocates or misinformation spread by state-backed propaganda.

The International Criminal Court, which typically prosecutes only a handful of high-level perpetrators, has opened an investigation into atrocities in Ukraine. Ukrainian prosecutors have launched thousands of criminal investigations, while prosecutors in Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, France, Slovakia, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland have opened investigations of their own. And there have been growing calls to set up a special tribunal to try Russia for the crime of aggression in Ukraine.

To build a case for war crimes, prosecutors must gather forensic and ballistic evidence, as they would in any murder case, to establish the cause and circumstances of the victims deaths. They also need to show that the crime occurred in the context of an ongoing armed conflict, which is clearly the case of Ukraine.

To build a case for crimes against humanity, prosecutors must additionally establish that the crimes were part of widespread, systematic attacks on civilians by, for example, showing patterns of behavior in how people were killed in Bucha, Motyzhyn, Irpin and other towns.

Then comes the more difficult task of establishing who is responsible by building a chain of evidence to link the crime scene with top civilian or military leaders. The first link in that chain is often understanding which forces were present when the atrocities occurred and whose command they were under.

If you want to look into chains of command and perpetrators, its important to analyze and gather information about which unit is where, said Andreas Schuller, program director for International Crimes and Accountability at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin. You need linkage evidence from the entire military apparatus. Documents could be leaked, or witnesses could speak up and disclose internal planning operations.

Building a case all the way to the top -- to hold Putin and other leaders individually accountable for war crimes or crimes against humanity -- will be tough, legal experts say.

Youve got to prove that they knew or they could have known or should have known, said Philippe Sands, a prominent British lawyer and professor at University College London. Theres a real risk you end up with trials of mid-level people in three years and the main people responsible for this horror -- Putin, Lavrov, the Minister of Defense, the intelligence folks, the military folks and the financiers who are supporting it -- will get off the hook.

It would be easier to nab Putin for the crime of aggression -- that is, the act of waging a ruthless, unprovoked war against another country. But the International Criminal Court doesnt have jurisdiction over Russia for the crime of aggression because Russia, like the United States, is not a signatory.

In March, dozens of prominent lawyers and politicians, including Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, launched a campaign to create a special tribunal to plug this legal hole and try Russia for the crime of aggression in Ukraine.

Negotiations are ongoing over how to actually set up such a tribunal so that it has broad legitimacy, either through an international body like the United Nations or under the auspices of a collection of individual states. The Nuremberg tribunal was established by the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France to hold Nazi leaders to account after World War II.

Sands, who also supports the initiative, said that whatever their legal weight, the images pouring out of Ukraine strengthen the political will needed to hold Russia accountable.

You feel something is stirring. And I think I think thats the way the law works. The law does not lead. The law follows, and it follows realities and images and stories, and thats what causes things to happen, he said.

The worse the horrors on the ground, the more calls I get about a crime of aggression tribunal, he added. Governments feel intense pressure to do something.

But it may take an even bigger political shift to convict Putin in a meaningful way. Trials in absentia are not permitted at the International Criminal Court, and even if a special tribunal were set up that could try Putin in absentia, a trial without a perpetrator present might ring hollow.

Im really struggling to see how there is any plausible defense to the evidence we are witnessing, said Alex Batesmith, who served as a United Nations prosecutor in Kosovo and Cambodia and is now a lecturer at the University of Leeds law school. But theres no way on earth Putin will surrender to the ICC or be arrested and brought to the ICC without major cross-continental conflict or internal political shifts in Russia which dont seem plausible.

-

Editors Note: The AP and Frontline are gathering information from organizations including the Centre for Information Resilience,Bellingcat, the International Partnership on Human Rights, the Ukrainian Healthcare Center and Physicians for Human Rights to inform the War Crimes Watch Ukraine interactive experience.

Contact APs investigations team at investigative@ap.org.
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The We Hear You Coalition is looking back on racial inequalities in Midland County to support the development of a more inclusive community.

Midland-area leaders joined forces two years ago, following the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. A police officer knelt on his Floyd's neck for approximately nine minutes on a street in Minneapolis as Floyd repeatedly said he couldnt breathe. The killing, captured on widely-viewed bystander video, sparked protests around the globe  including Midland.

Looking back, co-organizer Diane Brown Wilhelm said the coalition is honoring the moments of progress along the way by connecting foundational work "that everybody is taking on to make a difference."

The coalition organizers have presented findings from a large data collection effort to key local partners in an effort to increase the collective understanding. However, Brown Wilhelm recognizes that there are community members do not understand the initiatives of We Hear You.

Despite that, Brown Wilhelm and co-organizer Sharon Mortensen said there are many community partners who have taken interest. One of them is Chief Nicole Ford of the Midland Police Department, who is working to implement tangible actions plans into the department's effort to address racial injustice.

Ford said she is exploring "different areas" to hit by 2024 in order to "move us forward in a positive direction," as a police department.

"I'm extremely happy that I get to participate in a group like this because I really liked that we use the data to drive our decisions," she said. "I love the cohesive group that we've become. Now it's an open dialogue. That's where we really start to make some positive changes."

Mortensen and Brown Wilhelm said the coalition would like to build a three-year roadmap to implement actions aligned with the efforts to address inequalities found in the survey based on policing, business, government structure (elected and appointed officials), health care, housing, income and poverty.

"We can't do this work alone," Brown Wilhelm said. "We need to make sure that we're positioning this so that the work continues for the long-term."

For example, the Midland County Community Health Improvement Plan is being examined to incorporate addressing some of the health disparities to address the inequalities, according to Mortensen.

The We Hear You organizers began addressing the needs of marginalized communities by conducting a survey to get a better understanding of what issues need to be addressed in the city related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Over the last year, the group has been presenting its findings to critical stakeholders across the coalition's focus areas.

The We Hear You initiative comprises three components: a summary report; Community Survey; and Community DEI Dashboards. Saginaw Valley State University worked with the coalition on the Midland Racial and Ethnic Equity and Inclusion Survey that was sent out in February 2021.

Listen: The Visibility Project Podcast Along with helping fund the We Hear You survey, the Midland Area Community Foundation reported an increase in residents' interest of its Cultural Awareness Coalition. Community Foundation President/CEO Sharon Mortensen said the group is developing a community voice, in part by organizing a Juneteenth event. The Juneteenth Block Party will be held from 2-6 p.m. on June 19 at Creative 360, which is located at 1517 Bayliss Street. It's sponsored by the Midland Area Youth Action Council. "Encouraging voice through some of the activities of coalitions, like Cultural Awareness, that are bringing people together is really a critical way to get folks involved in our community," she said. "Their voices can be heard and ideas that they have can be implemented." One project under the Cultural Awareness Coalition created was the Visibility Project Podcast, which launched in 2021, to give a voice to marginalized groups in the City of Midland. Topics discussed include domestic violence, overcoming stereotypes and fighting through physical disabilities. The Visibility Project Podcast  016 - Supporting indigenous people w/Sierra Clark See More Collapse

The first component of the recent findings consists of an analysis of Midland County data in comparison to secondary data sources such as the U.S. Census, the CDC, and the FBI. For example, the coalition found a great variation within the general perception of police based on WHY respondents race/ethnicity. A greater percentage of African American and Hispanic respondents (42.5 and 42.7 percent, respectively) perceived their neighborhoods to be crime-free in comparison to non-Hispanic white respondents (only 34.8 percent).

The full report repeatedly emphasizes collection and analysis of data as a first step to help develop intentional, strategic, assessed, accountable, and sustained actions to end inequity, injustice, and bias in our community.

(Katy Kildee/kkildee@mdn.net)

Brief look back at what led to the formation of We Hear You

Brown Wilhelm, Ford and Mayor Maureen Donker issued a public statement on June 4, 2020 to condemn the murder of Floyd.

"Hollow words, followed by inaction, will only serve to deepen the pain being shown across the country and which exists right here in our community, too," reads a line of a June 2020 statement, signed by Ford, Donker and Brown Wilhelm. "We can and must do better, and we will."

During summer protests of 2020, an estimated 1,200 people demonstrated at the Ashman Circle in Midland to protest George Floyds murder in addition to the murder of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police March 13, 2020, and the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, an African-American man, while he was jogging in Glynn County, Georgia, February 23, 2020. Speakers at the Midland rally shared their own experiences with racism, condemned institutional oppression, and demanded justice.

On July 13, 2020, the Midland City Council voted unanimously to support this initiative, and on October 20, 2020 the Midland County Board of Commissioners similarly passed a resolution supporting this work.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Wisconsin Democrats renewed calls Wednesday for the Republican-controlled Legislature to take up a pair of gun safety bills that were rejected without any debate just over two years ago.

The bills would institute a universal background check for gun sales and implement a red flag law that would allow judges to take guns away from people determined to be a threat. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is up for reelection in November, called a special session in 2019 to pass them, but Republicans ignored him.
John Minchillo/AP

PULASKI, Wis. (AP)  A Wisconsin man accused of participating in last year's insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has pleaded not guilty to numerous charges.

Riley Kasper, 23, of Pulaski, is accused of pepper-spraying law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6 riot and faces charges that include assaulting officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon to inflict bodily injury and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon, WLUK-TV reported.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney said Wednesday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and planned to work through minor symptoms she said she was experiencing.

The Wyoming Republican's diagnosis comes amid a nationwide surge in new coronavirus cases and reports of positive tests from Cheney's congressional colleagues, including North Carolina Democrat David Price, who tested positive last weekend.
By Keith Burbank

Bay City News

OAKLAND (BCN)

As residential units rise on the waterfront at Brooklyn Basin after years of construction, the fact that 15 percent of these units will be characterized as affordable is a hopeful sign for Oakland, given the city's housing and homelessness crisis.

Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Adrianne Todman toured some of the completed units at Brooklyn Basin on Tuesday and spoke with Oakland officials, including Mayor Libby Schaaf, about Oakland's housing supply, homelessness challenges and community development goals.

The deputy secretary's visit to the Bay Area included a roundtable discussion Tuesday afternoon and was expected to culminate Wednesday with a visit to San Francisco.

"It's hard work to build affordable housing," Todman said. "This is a good example of how to increase housing supply equitably."

When the 62-acre Brooklyn Basin is complete, 3,100 units of housing will be added to Oakland's stock and 465 of those will be characterized as affordable.

Todman toured Vista Estero and Paseo Estero, two of the three completed affordable residential buildings at Brooklyn Basin. Foon Lok West, another building of affordable units, is also complete and people are moving in.

The fourth and final affordable housing component at Brooklyn Basin is Foon Lok East, which begins construction next week.

"Shelter is a basic human need," said Mayor Schaaf, following the tour of the two buildings.

She noted that only 13 percent of California residents ever get a housing choice voucher.

The tour took Todman, Schaaf and other community leaders to the home of Brooklyn Basin resident Estrecia Warner in Paseo Estero, which was built for families.

Warner said she loves the light in her apartment, which has a sliding glass door to the living room.

"It's nice," she said of her new home. "It's peaceful."

Her son enjoys riding his bike outside and playing in his room, he said.

The building also has a learning center designed to look and feel like a classroom to enhance the learning of kindergarten through sixth graders.

"This looks so alive and friendly," Todman said of the center.

Vista Estero is a 110-unit building designed for seniors. Paseo Estero has 101 apartments characterized as affordable. MidPen Housing is developing the affordable housing portion of Brooklyn Basin.

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.
By Bay City News

Two days before the first anniversary of a mass shooting at a transit center in San Jose, another mass shooting -- this one Tuesday at a Texas elementary school that ended the lives of 21 people -- is capturing the attention and aggravation of local officials.

A vigil is scheduled Wednesday in Foster City at 7:30 p.m. at the Foster City Recreation Center gazebo in Leo J. Ryan Memorial Park at 650 Shell Blvd.

The event is organized by the Bay Area chapter of Brady: United Against Gun Violence. Organizers say battery operated candles will be provided.

Local officials know the routine well. Several issued statements Tuesday on the latest mass shooting, while others in San Jose prepare to mark an ominous anniversary.

On May 26, 2021, an employee of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority shot and killed nine people at a VTA maintenance yard in San Jose and then shot himself.

Fast forward 363 days to Tuesday, when 19 schoolchildren and two adults were shot and killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Ten days before that, a racist attack at a supermarket in a Black neighborhood of Buffalo, N.Y., killed 10 people.

In the 10 days between that mass shooting and Tuesday's in Texas, there were 14 mass shootings in the U.S., according to the Gun Violence Archive group, which defines a mass shooting in which four or more people are killed or injured.

"Across the nation, Americans are filled with righteous fury in the wake of multiple incomprehensible mass shootings in the span of just days," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California. "This a crisis of existential proportions - for our children and for every American. For too long, some in Congress have offered hollow words after these shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives. It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law."

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, shared his exasperation in a statement issued from his office.

"When will enough be enough?" he asked. "Thoughts and prayers are not enough, and gutless politicians that have opposed life-saving measures in the past must step up and help us end gun violence."

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called it a dark day, in a statement released by his office.

"I wish that in our nation we could say that a day like today is rare. Sadly, it is all too familiar. The fact is, too many people are killed by gun violence in America."

Bonta pledged to continue calling on officials from the federal government and in other states to do more to stop gun violence.

"We at the California Department of Justice know that addressing gun violence is critical to public safety. And I, as your Attorney General, vow to do much more than send thoughts and prayers."

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.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  In her pursuit of South Carolina's top education job, Republican Ellen Weaver has received endorsements from a number of party leaders across the state, as well a political action committee led by one of the state's top GOP newcomers.

In a statement to The Associated Press, honorary chairman John Warren said South Carolina's Conservative Future would be backing Weaver's campaign for state education superintendent, calling the school-choice advocate by far the most qualified candidate in her knowledge, skillset, and conservative beliefs."

Weaver  the first woman to chair the state's Education Oversight Committee, a nonpartisan group of political appointees tasked with enacting standards to improve South Carolinas K-12 education system  is a lifelong conservative Republican who has fought in the trenches for school choice, Warren added.

A wealthy businessman who forced Gov. Henry McMaster into a 2018 GOP runoff, Warren launched his PAC before the 2020 election, seeking to recruit and support conservative, capable and courageous candidates for legislative races based on the conservative reform movement he posited during his gubernatorial campaign.

Claiming victory in most of the 2020 races in which it sought to play a part, the group is already supporting legislative candidates competing in South Carolina's June 14 primary elections, with plans to announce other endorsements. Warren opted not to challenge McMaster to a rematch this year, saying he would focus on his Bitcoin company, but didn't rule out politics forever.

Superintendent Molly Spearmans decision not to seek a third term set in motion a wide-open race for the states top education job, an election anticipated to garner copious attention amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic, given Spearman's high visibility as she grappled with how best to educate South Carolinas K-12 students safely.

Among six Republicans seeking the GOP nomination, Weaver has been racking up endorsements from establishment Republicans including the three sitting Republican congressmen  Jeff Duncan, Ralph Norman and William Timmons; former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, Weaver's former boss at the Palmetto Promise Institute; and more than two dozen members of the state Legislature.

Weaver also is backed by two former South Carolina education chiefs: Barbara Nielsen and Mick Zais, who also briefly served as U.S. Secretary of Education.

The Republican field shrank in April as two GOP hopefuls, activist Sheri Few and Charleston County School Board member Cindy Bohn Coats, acknowledged they lacked a master's degree  as required for the post under a 2018 change to state law  and dropped out.

Weaver also lacks a master's, but said she would earn one online through Western Governors University before the November general election. Weaver has switched to a master's in educational leadership program at Bob Jones University, a completion her campaign said this week remains on track.

Coats subsequently endorsed Weaver, while Few has backed Lexington County educator Kizzi Staley Gibson, who is also endorsed by Republican congressman Joe Wilson. The other GOP candidates are Travis Bedson, Bryan Chapman, Lynda Leventis-Wells and Kathy Maness.

The three Democrats seeking their party's nomination are teacher Lisa Ellis, state Rep. Jerry Govan, Jr., and school board member Gary Burgess, who says public dollars should not be diverted to private, parochial or religious schools. Democrats have not held an elected statewide position in South Carolina since Jim Rex won the education superintendent race in 2006.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
UPDATE: Gov. Greg Abbott has canceled his planned appearance at the NRA-ILA conference in Houston Friday, opting instead for a press conference in Uvalde.

Abbott's office sent out an advisory late Thursday night announcing the press conference at Uvalde High School at 3:30 p.m., which was around the time he was scheduled to appear in Houston. Abbott follows Sen. John Cornyn, who canceled on Tuesday, the day 19 kids and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School.

Cornyn was tapped by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday to work with Democrats on "middle ground" legislation in response to the school shooting.

Sen. Ted Cruz has not confirmed whether he still plans to appear or not.

Original story follows below.

Days after a deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz are expected to appear at a National Rifle Association conference in Houston this Friday, May 27, along with former president Donald Trump. All three are on the schedule to appear along with Rep. Dan Crenshaw at the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) Leadership Forum at the George R. Brown Convention Center, according to an announcement.

Sen. John Cornyn was scheduled to attend the conference, but his office confirmed to MySA that he canceled his appearance.

Their expected appearance comes after 14 students and one teacher were killed by an 18-year-old suspected shooter Salvador Ramos at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday, May 24. It's not known if any of the Texas officials will speak on the shooting, but the announcement says they will appear during "a celebration of Second Amendment rights."

Abbott said that he mourned "this horrific loss" in a statement made Tuesday afternoon about the Uvalde shooting. Cruz also tweeted Tuesday that he was praying for the families, among many other reactions from Texas officials.

Their appearances and the NRA-ILA's conference draws comparison to when the NRA held a conference in Denver days after the deadly mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999. The NRA held the conference despite recordings released years later showing NRA officials were shaken by the shooting while also discussing alternatives to the conference.

Thousands turned out to protest the NRA conference in Denver.
At least 19 children and two adults were killed after a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, west of San Antonio, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Officials confirmed the suspected shooter is dead. Here's what we know about the shooting:

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the shooter was an 18-year-old high school dropout who resided in Uvalde. The suspect's name is Salvador Ramos. The gunman reportedly posted on Facebook about 30 minutes before the shooting that he was going to shoot his grandmother in the face.

Once he shot her, officials said Ramos published another post that stated he was going to shoot an elementary school. Abbott said he took his grandmother's vehicle, had an accident at the elementary school, and then entered the school with an AR15.

Officials say the shooter "encountered" a school district security officer outside the school, though there were conflicting reports from authorities on whether the men exchanged gunfire. After running inside, he fired on two arriving Uvalde police officers who were outside the building, according to the Associated Press.

The gunman then barricaded himself inside a classroom that was connected to another classroom and began shooting, Abbott said. That's when responding officers converged to the classroom and killed the gunman.

CNN reports that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when the shooter opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him, though a department spokesman said later that they could not give a solid estimate of how long the gunman was in the school or when he was killed.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, the gunman bought a semi-automatic rifle on March 17, and then another on March 20.

Along with the 21 dead, 17 people were injured. According to University Health, the hospital is treating a 66-year-old woman who's in critical condition, a 10-year-old who's in serious condition, and a 10-year-old and 9-year-old who are both in good condition.

Billy Calzada/AP

Where is Uvalde?

The city is about 80 miles west of San Antonio. It was founded as Encina in 1855 but renamed Uvalde in 1857, according to TSHA. There is an estimated population of 24,729 as of July 2021, according to the Census Bureau. The demographic makeup is 95% white and 72% Hispanic.

It is the birthplace of Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey.

The Oscar winner released a statement on Tuesday's shooting asking "What is it we truly value?"

William Luther/AP

Things to know about Robb Elementary School, district

Uvalde CISD has over 4,200 students, according to 2020 Texas Education Agency data. It pulls students from Zavala and Real counties.

Robb Elementary School is less than a mile from Uvalde's city center. Robb Elementary School is 89% Hispanic, according to 2020 TEA data. About 81% of Robb Elementary is classified as economically disadvantaged.

The last day of school for the school district is Thursday, May 26, only two days away.

Uvalde CISD announced in a tweet on Thursday, May 26 that it has postponed its graduation ceremony at Uvalde High School.

"Out of the deepest respect for the families and our community affected by the tragedy we have experienced, the Uvalde High School Graduation Ceremony has been postponed," the district wrote. "This is a difficult time for everyone. Please keep all families in your prayers."

In May 2018, two teenagers from Uvalde were arrested after authorities discovered their plan to commit a mass shooting at a junior high school in Uvalde that was originally planned to carry out on April 20, 2022, according to a report from MySA.com.

The teens were inspired by the Columbine, Colorado shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and often referred to each other using those names. Harris and Klebold killed 13 people and wounded 24 others in a mass murder at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.

Although originally planned for 2022, one of the suspects persuaded the other to commit the shooting in 2018 at Morales Junior High, which the same district as Robb Elementary School.

Dario Lopez-Mills/AP

Uvalde Police Department issues statement on response time

Under national scrutiny about the response time of its officers as the gunman killed 19 children and two teachers, Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez issued a statement recognizing the questions and doubling down on the claim that officers responded in minutes to Robb Elementary. He also noted that officers sustained injuries in the response. The statement says the Texas Rangers are leading the investigation.

The statement was issued on Thursday, May 26, moments after the Uvalde Police Department scheduled a press conference to address the questions at the site of the shooting.

Surviving family members now dead

On Thursday, two days after the shooting, the family of teacher Irma Garcia shared that her husband had died due to grief.

Family also shared a GoFundMe fundraiser set up by Irma Garcias cousin, which includes contributions for her husband, Joe.

"I truly believe Joe died of a broken heart and losing the love of his life of more than 30 years was too much to bear, the fundraiser says.

Biden to visit Uvalde

President Joe Biden plans to visit Uvalde on Sunday. The president and the first lady believe it is important to show their support for the community, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday."

Additional resources are being sent to Uvalde

On Wednesday, May 25, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff issued a statement on the involvement of local resources. Bexar County Medical Examiner Dr. Kimberley Molina is in Uvalde with her staff and has brought on five additional doctors to help "bring closure" to affected families. Wolff says the Commissioners Court will be providing financial help for this effort and are ready to fund more staff if needed.

How to help?

If you are looking for ways to help, please consider donating blood, University Health recommended on Twitter on Tuesday.

"Your donation can help ensure we have supplies immediately available for the victims of this tragic shooting," the hospital tweeted.

You can check for availability here.

The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center also sent 15 units of low titer O whole blood to Uvalde and is asking for others to donate blood as well. You can make an appointment by calling the emergency blood supply at 210-731-5590.
Hayne Palmour IV/TNS

The phrase "thoughts and prayers" has been used so frequently in response to mass shootings that it has its own Wikipedia page highlighting "criticism for its repeated usage in the context of gun violence or terrorism."

Advocates for gun control have criticized Republican lawmakers for using this phrase or expressing similar sentiments of public sympathy while refusing to pass various pieces of legislation on guns. The phrase in the context of mass shootings has grown so toxic that it came as a surprise when California Rep. Darrell Issa used it verbatim after at least 19 children and two teachers were shot and killed in Uvalde, Texas.
Since 2019, the United States House of Representatives has taken votes on three major pieces of legislation aimed at curbing gun violence. Each time, every California Republican in that chamber voted against the measures.

There are currently 10 California Republicans serving in the U.S. House. They are: Doug LaMalfa (District 1), Tom McClintock (District 4), Jay Obernolte (District 8), David Valadao (District 21), Kevin McCarthy (District 23) Mike Garcia (District 25), Young Kim (District 39), Ken Calvert (District 42), Michelle Steel (District 48) and Darrell Issa (District 50).

In the aftermath of a ghastly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left at least 19 children dead, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are signaling that they will attempt to enact new gun control measures in the coming days.

Most of that action is expected to take place in the Senate. But should a vote on any such a measure take place in the House, its unclear whether Tuesdays massacre would be enough to sway Republican lawmakers to vote in favor of restrictions.

Below is a description of each major gun control measure voted on within the past three years, along with how each Republican member of Californias congressional delegation voted on that measure.

HR 8: The Bipartisan Background Checks Act (2019, 2021)

The federal government requires all guns purchased from a licensed dealer to include a background check. However, in some states, background checks are not required for private sales, which include sales on the internet or at gun shows.

House Resolution 8 attempted to remedy that background check loophole by requiring a licensed dealer to get involved in nearly all private sales or transfers. The bill stipulates that a licensed dealer would be required to take possession of all firearms involved in the sale and conduct a background check on the purchaser.

The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House mostly along party lines in February 2019. Only two Democrats voted against it, while eight Republicans voted for it. Ultimately, the bill failed to become law after the Republican-controlled Senate chose to not take it up for a vote.

Reps. Issa, Steele, Kim, Garcia, Valadao and Obernolte were not in office when that vote was held. But Reps. LaMalfa, McClintock, McCarthy and Calvert voted against the measure.

The House took up a slightly modified version of the same bill early last year. It passed the House in March with a 227-203 vote. The bill has yet to be introduced to the Senate for a vote.

All 10 California Republicans currently serving in the House voted against the 2021 version of the bill.

During a speech on the House floor at that time, McClintock said the bills intent was to actually curb firearm purchases generally by making gun ownership for non-criminals legally hazardous.

The purpose of this bill is not public safety, thats a deceptive facade, he said. Its purpose is to make gun ownership so legally hazardous, so fraught with legal booby traps and draconian penalties, that no honest and law-abiding citizen would ever want to take the risk.

HR 1446: Enhanced Background Checks Act (2021)

This bill was authored to close whats known as the Charleston Loophole.

Under current law, a firearm dealer may sell a weapon to someone using whats called a default proceed if a background check cannot be completed in three business days. A shooter who killed nine people in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 obtained his firearm through a default proceed.

This bill would increase the background check window to a minimum of 10 business days. If the check is not completed within that time frame, the dealer can petition those doing the background check for whats called a final determination. If the dealer still hasnt heard back after 10 business days, they can sell the firearm to the purchaser.

The bill passed the House mostly along party lines in March of last year. Again, all 10 California Republicans currently serving in the House voted against the measure.

In a news release sent out in the days following that vote, LaMalfa said the bill would be a serious infringement on a persons constitutional rights by causing potentially indefinite delays in the acquisition of a firearm.

The bill does not merely lengthen time allowed for background checks; it changes a shall-issue system to a may-issue system and gives the FBI discretion to delay firearms purchases indefinitely, the release said.


The greatest Tiktok hair trend Ive seen recently? Heatless hair curlers. Listen, I was suspect at first (like how could you possibly make your hair hold a curl without using an actual curling iron or wand ?!), but after reading all the reviews on social media and seeing how well these curlers worked for the people on my feed, I knew I needed to give them a try. Fast forward a few months of me experimenting with different heatless curlersfrom rollers to flexi rods and headbands and I am fully hooked on the styling method. Personally, I like using heatless curlers on my damp hair before bed to create beachy waves without causing damage (remember, exposing your hair to high temps can lead to split ends and breakage), but there a bunch of different techniques you can do to create various types of wavy and curly styles. Ahead, the best heatless curlers on the market, plus the dos and don'ts of using heatless curlers at home according to expert hairstylists Alex Brown and Andrea Hans.

Yes! As the name implies, heatless hair rollers and curlers are specifically designed to work their magic *without* exposing your hair to heat. Theyre a great option for anyone looking to avoid the potentially damaging effect of hot tools, like flat irons or three barrel wavers. These hair rollers and heatless hair ribbons are a popular choice for setting spiraled styles and adding voluminous movement to your hair.

That said, heatless curlers do however work differently on every hair type, says Alex Brown , a Chicago-based celebrity hairstylist and owner of Space by Alex Brown whose clients Rebecca Black , Kendall Jenner , and Chrissy Teigen . Her advice? Think about your hair texture and the look you want to achieve. For example, naturally curly or textured hair wont achieve smooth waves with a satin wand, but it may help minimize frizz and flyaways. Fine, flat hair may not get mermaid waves from rollers, but they can def help give hair some lift and body.

If you have thicker hair, Brown suggests either rough drying it or waiting until its nearly dry before using a heatless hair curler because your hair may not fully dry when wrapped up. For fine or very straight hair, prepping with a texturizing wave spray is a must for getting your curl to hold.

Valeriya Chupinina $13.99 Shop Now "My limp, fine hair loves these rollers. I twist my dry hair around them in 1-inch sections before bed on dry hair and in the morning? I look like I used that expensive AF hair tool everyone raves about (ahem, Dyson Airwrap)." Beth Gillette, beauty editor Courtesy Image $27.99 Shop Now "When my curly hair gets pulled out, wavy-ish, and blah, Ill spritz my hair with a moisture mist before bed, wrap my hair around this headband, and wake up with a smoother, curl-wave hybrid that didnt require a re-wash." Chloe Metzger, deputy beauty director Courtesy Image $19.99 Shop Now "This silk headband/scarf combo looks ridiculous, but its clutch for giving my straight hair loose waves overnight. My best advice? Watch a YouTube video to figure out how to use it (words cant just explain) and use it on hair thats about 80 percent dry." Lauren Balsamo, deputy beauty director Courtesy Image $13.99 Shop Now "After I give my hair a good wash, I'll get ready for bed and after about 20 minutes, roll my hair up into these pillow rollers. In the morning my hair looks and feels super soft and smooththe satin is a game changer!" Valeriya Chupinina, freelance beauty assistant (oh hiii, that's me!) Courtesy Image







How do you curl your hair without heat?

According to Andrea Hans , master stylist and owner of Broome Street Society in NYC, a popular way to curl hair without heat is to set it into rollers, socks, rags, braids , flexi rods, and other such texture enhancing options. You can wrap your hair in or around all of these styling tools while it is slightly damp and then remove the tools when your hair has completely dried (many do this overnight). Her master tip if your hair has already dried? Use a spray bottle to mist moisture on already wrapped hairthis will allow your hair to reset and take new form.

For larger, bouncier curls, Hans suggests using larger sections and larger rollers but allow for more time for damp hair to dry. After removing the curlers, sock, or rods, brush them out to combine and add volume.

If you want to go for smaller, defined curly pieces, use smaller sections on the size of the roller youd like to see in your curls. Just be careful not to use sections that are too small and put unnecessary pressure or weight onto each hair strand, warns Hans.

How long do you keep heatless curlers in?

The amount of time you spend leaving your hair in a heatless hair curler depends on the method you utilize. According to Brown, velcro hair rollers should be left in hair for around 20 minutes. Satin wands can be left in until hair is fully dry, or you can even sleep with the wand in your hair. This stylists bonus tip? Use a turban or headscarf or headwrap to help keep the wand in place as you sleep, especially if your hair doesnt hold a curl as easily or is on the thicker side.







Do you use heatless curlers on wet or dry hair?

Super-drenched, wet hair is very difficult to set into shape and takes much longer to dry inside of rollers than youd think, explains Hans, adding that damp or dry hair is the preferred option for using heatless curlers. If youre looking to style your hair for the next day, some people will set their dry strands in hair rollers overnight and get great results simply from utilizing the heat from their heads to warm up their hair, says Hans.

Are heatless curls better for your hair?

Generally, heatless curling methods are safe to use on hair, but like everything, moderation is key, says Hans. She suggests trying not to wrap or stretch wet hair too tightly and to modify the product and placement youre using until you find a way to maximize longevity with your curls. Overuse of any styling toolseven those that dont require heatcan be potentially damaging.
WFO SACRAMENTO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

HEAT ADVISORY

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

National Weather Service Sacramento CA

235 AM PDT Wed May 25 2022

...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM PDT THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...High temperatures from 100 to 105.

* WHERE...Portions of the Sacramento Valley, Carquinez Strait

and Delta, Northern San Joaquin Valley and Northeast Foothills.

* WHEN...Until 11 PM PDT tonight.

* IMPACTS...Widespread moderate, to locally high, heat risk. Heat-

related illnesses will be possible, especially for groups that

are sensitive to the heat.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out

of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young

children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles

under any circumstances.

Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When

possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or

evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat

stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when

possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational

Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent

rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone

overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location.

Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
Balmy temperatures are bringing a taste of summer to the Tahoe Basin this week, but the weather is expected to shift substantially over the three-day Memorial Day weekend as a storm system to the north impacts California's Sierra Nevada, the National Weather Service said.

Light snow showers are in the forecast for the mountains ringing Lake Tahoe on Sunday into Monday, and afternoon highs on Sunday could be more than 30 degrees cooler than they were on Wednesday.

South Lake Tahoe is forecast to hit an afternoon high of 76 degrees on Wednesday, and by comparison, on Sunday, the mercury could drop into the low 50s to high 40s, the weather service said. Truckee could break 80 degrees today and is expected to dive down into the 50s over the weekend.

The chance for snow comes as a storm system from Canada is forecast to push down into the Pacific Northwest.

"We'll be catching the southern end of this system," weather service forecaster Heather Richards said. "That's why our accumulations are going to be light. The bulk of that snow will be up toward the Pacific Northwest."

Richards said it's too early to provide a detailed forecast with projected snowfall totals, but as of Wednesday, some models suggested "a dusting of up to an inch" is possible.

"In all honestly, we took that wording out of our forecast as not all our data is in agreement," she said. "Because it's farther out in our forecast period, we're going to wait to assign totals."

Snow in late May for the Tahoe Basin isn't common, but it's also not rare.

"This isn't terribly outside the norm since we're still in spring," Richards said. "Memorial Day weekend can go both ways. It can be really nice or it can be awful."
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

East central Hidalgo County in Deep South Texas...

Cameron County in Deep South Texas...

Southwestern Willacy County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 630 AM CDT.

* At 556 AM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Sebastian,

moving southeast at 50 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Harlingen, San Benito, La Feria, Los Fresnos, Edcouch, Santa Rosa,

South Padre Island, Rancho Viejo, Rio Hondo and La Villa.

This includes the following highways...

Interstate Highway 69 E between mile markers 1 and 40.

US Highway 281 between mile markers 820 and 830, and between mile

markers 834 and 838.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground

lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately.

Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can

hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 630 AM CDT

FOR SOUTHERN KENEDY...NORTHEASTERN HIDALGO...NORTH CENTRAL CAMERON

AND WILLACY COUNTIES...

At 558 AM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Santa Monica,

or 8 miles west of Arroyo City, moving southeast at 50 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Raymondville, Lyford, Arroyo City, Port Mansfield, Hargill, Lasara,

San Perlita, Port Mansfield Airport, Willamar and Yturria.

Continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading

killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to

be struck by lightning.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Brownsville has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Kenedy County in Deep South Texas...

Cameron County in Deep South Texas...

Willacy County in Deep South Texas...

* Until 715 AM CDT.

* At 624 AM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from 27 miles northeast of Port Mansfield to near Holly

Beach to Santa Maria, moving southeast at 40 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Harlingen, San Benito, Raymondville, Los Fresnos, South Padre

Island, Lyford, Rancho Viejo, Rio Hondo, Palm Valley and Arroyo

City.

This includes the following highways...

Interstate Highway 69 E between mile markers 1 and 48.

US Highway 281 between mile markers 822 and 838.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO CORPUS CHRISTI Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service Corpus Christi TX

1151 PM CDT Tue May 24 2022

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of southern Duval,

western Nueces, San Patricio, Jim Wells, southwestern Refugio,

southern Live Oak, northwestern Kleberg and south central Bee

Counties through 1230 AM CDT...

At 1150 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from near Papalote to near Realitos. Movement was

east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph and pea size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Alice, Robstown, Sinton, Mathis, San

Diego, Taft, Premont, Benavides, Driscoll, Bishop, Odem, Orange

Grove, St. Paul, Lake City, San Patricio, Bayside, Edroy and

Banquete.

This includes the following highways...

Interstate 37 between mile markers 7 and 39.

US Highway 281 between mile markers 660 and 704.

US Highway 181 between mile markers 610 and 632.

US Highway 77 between mile markers 632 and 684.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with these storms.

Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe

shelter inside a building or vehicle.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 500 AM CDT for

south central Texas.

LAT...LON 2741 9876 2821 9777 2818 9707 2807 9720

2807 9722 2806 9722 2807 9725 2804 9724

2728 9815

TIME...MOT...LOC 0450Z 278DEG 30KT 2815 9762 2741 9854

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.25 IN

MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southern Kinney County in south central Texas...

Northeastern Maverick County in south central Texas...

Uvalde County in south central Texas...

Zavala County in south central Texas...

West central Frio County in south central Texas...

* Until 1245 AM CDT.

* At 1151 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Concan to near Standart, moving southeast at 45

mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Uvalde, Crystal City, Brackettville, Spofford, La Pryor,

Batesville, Laguna, Knippa, Blewett, Concan, Darling, Washer, Las

Colonias, Uvalde Estates, Dabney, Cline, Anacacho, Divot, Loma

Vista and Alamo Village.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Large hail, damaging winds, and continuous cloud to ground lightning

are occurring with these storms. Move indoors immediately. Lightning

is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear

thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of southeastern Smith,

Rusk, southwestern Gregg and northeastern Cherokee Counties through

1215 AM CDT...

a line extending from 8 miles east of Lindale to near Troup to 6

miles southwest of Sacul. Movement was east at 45 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph.

unsecured objects.

Longview, Henderson, Kilgore, White Oak, Overton, Troup, New London,

Arp, Ponta, Liberty City, Joinerville, Turnertown, New Salem, Minden,

New Summerfield, New Chapel Hill, Mount Enterprise, Reklaw, Rolling

Meadows and Concord.

LAT...LON 3252 9484 3215 9466 3190 9461 3184 9461

3185 9493 3183 9495 3182 9507 3209 9515

3238 9522

TIME...MOT...LOC 0450Z 259DEG 42KT 3246 9528 3212 9511 3176 9503

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

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Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO HOUSTON/GALVESTON Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in League City has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Colorado County in southeastern Texas...

Western Wharton County in southeastern Texas...

Jackson County in south central Texas...

Western Matagorda County in southeastern Texas...

* Until 230 AM CDT.

* At 201 AM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Speaks to near Olivia to 21 miles southwest of

Matagorda Island State Park, moving east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Matagorda, El Campo, Edna, Palacios, South Texas Nuclear Plant,

Ganado, Point Comfort, La Ward, Pierce, Indianola, Schicke Point,

Olivia, Lolita, Blessing, Markham, Port Alto, Cordele, Louise,

Midfield and Morales.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of southwestern De Soto

Parish, Panola, Shelby, northern San Augustine and northwestern

Sabine Counties through 230 AM CDT...

At 202 AM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from 6 miles east of Pinehill to near Tenaha to

Center to near Neuville to near Bland Lake to 9 miles northwest of

Macune. Movement was northeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects.

Locations impacted include...

Carthage, Center, San Augustine, Logansport, Tenaha, Joaquin,

Deberry, Patroon, Bland Lake, Neuville, Shelbyville, Huxley, Gary

City, Longstreet, Stanley, Jericho, Front, Fairplay, Midyett and

Deadwood.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

LAT...LON 3149 9432 3158 9424 3176 9426 3188 9433

3214 9459 3216 9458 3235 9425 3237 9416

3224 9404 3220 9404 3220 9400 3199 9383

3185 9381 3184 9388 3177 9382 3155 9388

3143 9431

TIME...MOT...LOC 0702Z 238DEG 45KT 3213 9449 3191 9427 3180 9421 3168

9419 3161 9419 3149 9431

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO LUBBOCK Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH

WATCH COUNTY NOTIFICATION FOR WATCH 268

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX

739 PM CDT TUE MAY 24 2022

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM

WATCH 268 FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS

IN TEXAS THIS CANCELS 3 COUNTIES

IN NORTHWEST TEXAS

CROSBY GARZA LYNN

THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF CROSBYTON, LAKE ALAN HENRY, NEW HOME,

ODONNELL, POST, RALLS, AND TAHOKA.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 268 REMAINS VALID UNTIL 10 PM CDT THIS

EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS

IN TEXAS THIS WATCH INCLUDES 4 COUNTIES

DICKENS KENT KING

STONEWALL

THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ASPERMONT, DICKENS, DUMONT, GUTHRIE,

JAYTON, OLD GLORY, AND SPUR.

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Coke County in west central Texas...

Northeastern Tom Green County in west central Texas...

Western Runnels County in west central Texas...

* Until 845 PM CDT.

* At 739 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 9 miles northeast

of Carlsbad, moving east at 40 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable

tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,

roofs, and outbuildings.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Grape Creek around 750 PM CDT.

Orient and Tennyson around 805 PM CDT.

Harriet around 810 PM CDT.

Miles around 820 PM CDT.

Mereta around 830 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Wilmeth,

Pumphrey, The Intersection Of Highway 208 And Ranch Road 2662 and The

Intersection Of Highway 158 And Ranch Road 2059.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

This is a dangerous storm, capable of producing large hail driven by

severe winds! SEEK SHELTER NOW inside a sturdy structure and stay

away from windows! If you are caught outdoors, cover your head and

neck.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Sterling County in west central Texas...

Central Tom Green County in west central Texas...

Eastern Irion County in west central Texas...

* Until 800 PM CDT.

* At 716 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 11 miles northwest

of Arden, moving southeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...Two inch hail and 70 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

considerable tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to

mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Arden around 730 PM CDT.

San Angelo State Park, O.c. Fisher Reservoir and Tankersley around

745 PM CDT.

Lake Nasworthy and Twin Buttes Reservoir around 750 PM CDT.

Goodfellow Air Force Base around 755 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Us-

87 Near The Coke-Tom Green County Line and Us-67 Near The Irion-

Tom Green County Line.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Prepare immediately for large hail and damaging winds. People outside

should move immediately to shelter inside a strong building. Stay

away from windows.

Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground

lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately.

Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can

hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 730 PM CDT

FOR NORTHEASTERN VAL VERDE COUNTY...

At 717 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 7 miles south of

Juno, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Juno, Devils River State Nat Area Del Norte and Bakers Crossing.

Continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading

killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to

be struck by lightning.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of Kent, Dickens, King

and Stonewall Counties through 815 PM CDT...

At 717 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from near Dumont to 5 miles east of Jayton to 10

miles northwest of Rotan. Movement was east at 55 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and pea size hail.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Spur, Aspermont, Jayton, Dickens, Guthrie, Girard, Afton, Clairemont,

Grow, Peacock, Dumont, Finney, Old Glory, Mcadoo and Swenson.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

northwestern Texas.

LAT...LON 3296 10079 3360 10101 3383 10104 3383 10000

3296 9999

TIME...MOT...LOC 0017Z 278DEG 47KT 3377 10053 3327 10049 3299 10054

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.25 IN

MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 1015 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...Urban and small stream flooding caused by excessive

rainfall is expected.

* WHERE...Southeastern parts of of west central Texas, including the

following counties, Kimble, Mason, McCulloch, Menard and San Saba.

* WHEN...Until 1015 PM CDT.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 714 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to

thunderstorms. This will cause urban and small stream

flooding.

- Rainfall of one half to 1.5 inches has fallen across much of

the area, and up to an additional half to one inch is

expected.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Brady, San Saba, Mason, Richland Springs, Algerita, Cherokee,

Fredonia, Voca, Pontotoc, Katemcy, Camp San Saba, Camp Air,

Art, Grit, Hedwigs Hill, Sloan, Streeter, Hilda, Calf Creek

and Loyal Valley.

- This includes the following Low Water Crossings...

FM 1851 crossing Tiger Creek, crossings along FM 1221, FM

1030 crossing Wallace Creek, CR 424 crossing Rough Creek,

Katemcy crossing, Spy Rock crossing, Hurley crossing, Old

Union crossing San Fernando Creek, Behrens School crossing

Comanche Creek and Oak Grove crossing.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of southwestern Grant,

Natchitoches, Sabine, southwestern Winn Parishes in north central

Louisiana and Sabine Counties through 815 PM CDT...

At 718 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from near Lena to near Slagle to near Burkeville to

6 miles southwest of Newton. Movement was northwest at 45 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph.

unsecured objects.

Natchitoches, Milam, Many, Zwolle, Colfax, Hemphill, Campti,

Pineland, Montgomery, Browndell, Allen, Florien, Provencal, Natchez,

Clarence, Goldonna, Fisher, Robeline, Powhatan and Kisatchie.

These storms may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

LAT...LON 3158 9384 3179 9346 3203 9282 3140 9267

3152 9272 3135 9295 3136 9339 3128 9344

3128 9353 3117 9358 3116 9391 3111 9410

TIME...MOT...LOC 0018Z 158DEG 39KT 3139 9277 3124 9319 3105 9359 3077

9380

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service San Angelo TX

816 PM CDT Tue May 24 2022

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR EASTERN IRION COUNTY IS

CANCELLED...

The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of

the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

west central Texas.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT

FOR EASTERN TOM GREEN AND WEST CENTRAL CONCHO COUNTIES...

At 816 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Wall, moving

southeast at 40 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

This severe storm will be near...

Vancourt around 830 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include The

Intersection Of Ranch Road 380 And Ranch Road 381.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northern Llano County in south central Texas...

* Until 915 PM CDT.

* At 816 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Pontotoc, or

15 miles northeast of Mason, moving east at 40 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Kingsland, Llano, Buchanan Lake Village, Castell, Field Creek, Baby

Head, Stolz, Lone Grove, Bluffton, Valley Spring and Tow.

Large hail, damaging winds, and continuous cloud to ground lightning

are occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is

one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder,

you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHERN HAMILTON...CORYELL...

NORTHEASTERN LAMPASAS AND EAST CENTRAL MILLS COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The storms which prompted the warning have weakened below severe

limits. Therefore the warning has been cancelled. However gusty

winds and heavy rain are still possible with these thunderstorms.

central Texas.

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of Haskell and

Throckmorton Counties through 915 PM CDT...

At 817 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near

Haskell, moving east at 40 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and nickel size hail.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

Haskell, Stamford, Throckmorton, Rule, Rochester, Woodson, Weinert,

O'brien, Irby, Paint Creek, Sagerton, Elbert, Millers Creek

Reservoir, Lake Stamford Marina, Lusk, Jud, Us-

183 Near The Throckmorton-Baylor County Line, The Intersection Of Us-

283 And Ranch Road 209, The Intersection Of Us-183 And Us-283 and Us-

277 Near The Haskell-Knox County Line.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

LAT...LON 3295 9896 3296 9999 3340 9999 3339 9895

TIME...MOT...LOC 0117Z 268DEG 34KT 3313 9969

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING UNTIL WEDNESDAY

MORNING...

* WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected which may

result in road closures in the vicinity of Buffalo Springs Lake.

* WHERE...Double Mountain Fork Brazos near Lubbock 4ESE.

* WHEN...From this evening until Wednesday morning.

* IMPACTS...At 11.0 feet, Flooding over FM-385 just west of Buffalo

Springs will likely require closure of the highway. Flooding of

the loop road around the west end of Buffalo Spring Lake is also

likely.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 7:45 PM CDT Tuesday the stage was 11.0 feet.

- Forecast...No forecast is available for this location.

- Action stage is 10.0 feet.

- Flood stage is 11.0 feet.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
New radar imaging tools designed at Simon Fraser University to help more effectively detect polar bears and their denning habitats may play a key role in assessing how climate change and other environmental factors are impacting their lives. The research aims to contribute to global conservation efforts.



Students from SFUs Synthetic Aperture Radar Laboratory (SARlab) have just returned from the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard where theyve been working, with Polar Bears International (PBI), Brigham Young University, and ARTEMIS Inc., to test the effectiveness of SAR technology as a tool to detect mother polar bears in their dens.



Our research aims to establish SAR as a useful tool to identify occupied and unoccupied polar bear dens remotely from aircraft, to help us better understand and protect polar bear populations around the world, says Bernhard Rabus, SFU School of Engineering Science professor and Industrial Research Chair in Synthetic Aperture Radar.



The team is using the labs hybrid SAR-optical system to find and map occupied polar bear dens. This system includes an Artemis SlimSAR imaging radar, structure-from-motion camera system, and a precise inertial measurement unit. After post-processing using software developed by SARlab researchers, the data captured by these sensors will allow the detection of the unique radar refraction signatures created by the dens under the surface of the snow.



Research shows that the current tool used to detect polar bear dens in Alaska (Forward Looking Infrared) misses over 55 per cent of known dens as currently used by industry, says Geoff York, PBIs senior director of conservation. Its important to find a more accurate tool to locate dens, so that we can protect these areas from disturbance.



Young polar bear cubs are extremely vulnerable when they are born and rely on the protection of the den as a safe place to grow, until they are big enough to survive in the harsh Arctic conditions.



The SFU team is working in partnership with Brigham Young University (BYU) and ARTEMIS Inc., with funding and research support from PBI.



The SFU research trip to Svalbard, Norway builds on an initial trip last fall to Churchill Manitoba, known as the polar bear capital of the world. The team was able to successfully image polar bears resting on land while waiting on the shore for the sea ice to re-freeze.



Collaborating with PBI and building on their previous SAR efforts was a great opportunity to put SARlabs synthetic aperture radars to use, says Wyatt Gronnemose, an SFU PhD student working in the SARlab. We are all excited to take part in polar bear research and contribute to the protection of these extraordinary animals.



For this project, the SARlab airborne radar system was mounted on a helicopter platform, which allows the team to conduct their research thousands of feet in the air, with minimal disturbance to the bears. The system is able to capture high-definition images by transmitting microwave pulses and recording reflections from the Earths surface. SAR is weather independent and can capture images through rain, cloud and darkness.



Jeff Stacey, MASc student in the SARlab at SFU explains that the radar works by transmitting microwave pulses that penetrate deep into dry snow. Polar bears inside the den have very different electromagnetic properties from the surrounding snow and therefore scatter some of the power from these pulses back towards the sensor.



These reflections are recorded by the radar and then processed into images by our SAR focusing software, says Stacey. Weve used this technique to capture images of artificial targets buried in snow before, so we expect it to work just as well for detecting polar bears during this vulnerable part of their life cycle."



If this tool is proven to be successful at locating dens, it could be used by governments, industry and others to identify areas where disturbance should be avoided during the time of year when polar bear mothers and their cubs are snug in their dens.



By protecting mother polar bears and their cubs, we can ensure the next generation of polar bears has the best chance of survival, says BJ Kirschhoffer, PBIs director of field operations. The Arctic is an incredibly difficult and remote place to do research, so using technology to find solutions to these challenges presents a unique opportunity for conservation. We are grateful to work with students from Simon Fraser University and Brigham Young University to help us answer these questions and develop these technologies to protect polar bears.



The loss of sea ice in the Arctic as a result of climate change poses a major threat to polar bear survival. Polar bears rely on sea ice from the Arctic Ocean to hunt seals, their primary food source.



These large carnivores also face additional threats from pollution and oil and gas exploration. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists polar bears as vulnerable to extinction citing loss of sea ice habitat due to climate change as the most serious threat to polar bears throughout their circumpolar range.

AVAILABLE SFU EXPERT

BERNHARD RABUS, professor, School of Engineering Science

btrabus@sfu.ca

CONTACT

MELISSA SHAW, SFU Communications & Marketing

236.880.3297 | melissa_shaw@sfu.ca

*Photos & video assets available on request

Simon Fraser University

Communications & Marketing | SFU Media Experts Directory

778.782.3210

ABOUT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

As Canadas engaged university, SFU works with communities, organizations and partners to create, share and embrace knowledge that improves life and generates real change. We deliver a world-class education with lifelong value that shapes change-makers, visionaries and problem-solvers. We connect research and innovation to entrepreneurship and industry to deliver sustainable, relevant solutions to todays problems. With campuses in British Columbias three largest citiesVancouver, Burnaby and SurreySFU has eight faculties that deliver 193 undergraduate degree programs and 144 graduate degree programs to more than 37,000 students. The university now boasts more than 170,000 alumni residing in 145+ countries.
HCL Group will commit $15 million over five years to support water-focused entrepreneurs  aquapreneurs  to drive innovation in freshwater resource management.

The company said on Tuesday that this will be done through a program titled the Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative.

HCL has partnered with UpLink, the open innovation platform of the World Economic Forum that connects highly promising startups with the partners and funding they need to scale.

Today, freshwater resources globally are extremely burdened and every fifth child on this planet faces water scarcity, said Roshni Nadar Malhotra, CEO of HCL Group and Chairperson of HCL Technologies. Our partnership with World Economic Forums UpLink platform is a step in this direction and our ecosystem approach can be truly transformative.

She said this will not only encourage and scale innovations in this critical area, but also help build capacity among aquapreneurs to execute on innovative solutions. Through the Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative, HCL is re-committing to accelerate multi-stakeholder collaboration and innovation in the global freshwater conservation space, she added.

The environment, sustainability and governance (ESG) solutions market, estimated to touch $50 billion by 2030, could emerge as the next big growth driver for domestic IT services providers.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra are offering their solutions  gleaned from years of best practices -- to clients looking to go green.

For instance, TCS is currently working with the UN Global Compact to pilot a carbon footprint management tool for enterprise customers across Europe and the Asia Pacific region. UN is connecting TCS to target customers for this initiative.

With the global population set to hit 8.5 billion by 2030, pressure is increasing on the worlds limited supply of freshwater. By 2030, the global demand for water will have exceeded sustainable supply by 40%.

In addition to dire consequences to peoples health and food production, a lack of access to clean water can limit economic growth by up to one-third, as well as have adverse effects on natural biodiversity and the social fabric.

HCLs collaboration with UpLink will encompass building the freshwater innovation ecosystem including: running innovation challenges to source solutions from aquapreneurs (water focused entrepreneurs), connecting these aquapreneurs to existing initiatives and water networks, unlocking funding opportunities to scale their ventures and raising awareness on the global agenda on the importance of freshwater.

UpLink has now run more than 30 challenges and identified over 260 entrepreneurs with innovative solutions for the worlds most pressing issues.

The Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative comes at a critical time, said Olivier Schwab, managing director, World Economic Forum. With water scarcity enveloping regions around the world, we need to fast-track progress within the freshwater sector and build security for people and planet.

Schwab said HCLs collaboration with UpLink will harness and drive forward the solutions of the worlds top innovators, connecting them to the initiatives and networks which can see them scale and drive transformational change for the worlds most fragile water systems.
FICCI LEAD, a technology and business incubator of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) recently inked a landmark MoU to launch the 'India-UAE Start-Up Corridor'. The objective of the initiative is to enhance and expand the start-up ecosystem between India and the UAE.

It will also further the vision of the leadership of both countries under the recently signed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

Around 10 technology-led innovative start-ups from various sectors, including financial services, education and logistics, have been shortlisted for the inauguration of the India-UAE Start-Up Corridor in Dubai.

This initiative would create an ecosystem to embolden the engagement between start-ups, investors, incubators, corporations, and entrepreneurs to scale their business and strengthen their position in the global market.

It will target a minimum of 50 validated start-ups based in India and the UAE over a period of five years with the vision to grow 10 of them into unicorns (start-ups valued at more than $1 billion) by 2025.

The MoU between FICCI LEAD and DIFC is a follow on to the MoU that was signed between FICCI LEAD, Indian Angel Network (IAN), Turbostart, India and MCA Management Consultants, UAE, on January 26 this year at Expo 2020 Dubai, wherein a venture capital fund of $150 million was announced.

Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority said: "Since DIFC's establishment in 2004, we have demonstrated our commitment to building and maintaining sustained, long-lasting partnerships with the Indian market. Indian banks, insurers, law firms and wealth managers have already chosen DIFC as their preferred global financial centre in the region and we are delighted to be working with FICCI LEAD to build a corridor that will attract more Indian start-ups to set up here."

Ajai Chowdhry, Chairman of FICCI Start-Up Corridor & FICCI Lead said: "This landmark MOU is the beginning of an important partnership on enhancing opportunities in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems between India and the UAE. FICCI remains committed to progressively scaling this India-UAE Start-Up Corridor in collaboration with our partner, DIFC, and help convert at least 10 start-ups into unicorns."

Aman Puri, Consul General of India, Dubai said: "I am certain that this MoU between FICCI LEAD and DIFC will foster deeper collaboration between the start-up ecosystems of India and the UAE and bring in opportunities to further the momentum set by interactions during Expo 2020 Dubai. We are excited for the coming years that will witness the emergence of new soonicorns and unicorns in both countries and contribute to finding innovative solutions to global challenges."

S. Venkatesh, Managing Partner, MCA, said: "This MOU is a significant step in enabling the Indian start-ups to have a launch pad in the UAE and widen their market reach to GCC and beyond. He added that MCA is proud to be participating in this great initiative to further economic growth."

Manoj Nayak, Founder of 6th Sense, said: "The India-UAE Start-Up Corridor has been initiated at the right time to bring more prosperity to both the countries and to the global economy. Nayak added that 6th Sense is proud to be part of this programme."

India had launched Start-Up India, envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in January 2016 to give impetus to the indigenous ecosystem and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. India now boasts of the world's third-largest ecosystem for start-ups. Additionally, over the past five years, India has leapfrogged in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business ranking to 63rd position among 190 nations, from 142nd position in 2014. In 2020, India also joined the group of Top 50 countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII) of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

The UAE aims to create 20 unicorns by 2031 and already the leader in the MENA region in terms of tech transformation, digital acceleration and embracing innovative ideas.

Since 2007, FICCI has been an active player in the ecosystem and has supported 1,000+ start-ups/innovators with more than Rs 125 crore.

The start-up enterprises supported by FICCI have been able to generate 140,000+ jobs and leverage more than five times capital from external market sources. More than 100 companies have been provided access to the global markets across the US, South Asia and Africa.
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This week has served up a powerful reminder that fame in art may be long, but celebrity in politics is strictly ephemeral. The Archibald Prize rolls around every year with cosmic regularity, but governments come and go, and when they change, the entire personality of a nation is changed.

The difference is that a new group of highly motivated independents have entered public life, upsetting the traditional balance between the two major parties. While its still too early to say whether this indicates a lasting rearrangement of the political landscape, its reassuring to find that conservative, conscientious people care so deeply about issues such as climate policy, corruption and inequality, as to throw over all their traditional party allegiances.

The teal revolution allows one to hope that Australia is still the land of the fair go, and the success of these candidates should motivate the Labor Party to govern more boldly in key areas. It suggests we are not, after all, a nation of quiet Australians who will let our political masters do whatever they please with taxpayers money.

Salon de Refuses finalist Zoe Youngs The Sisters, featuring Bianca and Allegra Spender. Credit:Zoe Young

All of this confers a special distinction on Zoe Youngs The Sisters (...in black after Hugh Ramsay), which features one of the successful new MPs, Allegra Spender, and her sister, Bianca. If we look to the Archibald Prize to tell us something about the state of Australian society, one could hardly choose a more momentous subject than the seismic shift in the way we vote.
For the first hour, though, this is a cracking story from director Alice Gu that will have you craving every glazed, iced, sprinkled doughnut going around. Not the relatively modest ones we have here, which come with a coating of cinnamon sugar, but the colossal American variety  you know, a moment on the lips, a lifetime on medication to reduce your cholesterol levels.

And thats because of one man: Ben Tek Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee who made millions through his doughnut shops, helped hundreds of Cambodian families fleeing Pol Pots murderous regime and then gambled it all away. Thats not a spoiler  its saving you half an hour from this overly long documentary that, while interesting, skips over some important details in the past decade or so of Ngoys life.

Americans, apparently, eat 10 billion doughnuts a year. Its staggering but whats even more amazing is that a large portion of those doughnuts, in California at least, are made by Cambodian refugees and their families.

The shots of the thick white icing being poured over the doughnuts is hypnotic yet heart tightening, but the story behind Ngoy and Americas deep-fried circle is the American Dream and a Cautionary Tale rolled into one. A migrant success story that America prides itself on, where hard work will get you far, but the trappings of that success will only see you fall further.

It took six months between Ngoy landing in a US refugee camp in 1975 to him being handed the keys to his first doughnut store. He worked almost 24 hours a day to achieve it, juggling three jobs and a young family, but focused on the idea of being somebody. As he says, When youre poor, youll do anything. By 1979 he would own 25 doughnut shops and go on to sponsor more than 100 more Cambodian families fleeing the war. It wasnt just pure selflessness, of course, he saw these families as providing even more business opportunities and money.

He became Uncle Ted to many, a semi-mythical figure who provided money, training and jobs, but who then gambled it away, taking money from the very community he helped build. He fought off Donut King, who reigned supreme in the eastern states of the US, and created a food culture that was peculiar to California. Ngoy was even responsible for the pink box that has become synonymous with doughnuts in pop culture.

Now 80, Ngoy is still a sprightly figure who is interviewed throughout the documentary. His family and former colleagues flesh out the picture somewhat but his last decade or so living in Cambodia, his second family and political career are largely glossed over.
Yeah. I dont want things to be weird for my kids. I certainly go to conventions and sign autographs and stuff. Pre-pandemic I flew around the world and did signings. But I think we have a thing in Australia about tall poppies and people who take themselves too seriously, and I dont want that kind of ego. If its something important  I did a lot of press for when we had Superman come out as bisexual, I did radio in Australia, or when Stan Lee died I agreed to go on The Project. But as a general rule, I like to keep my head down and do the work and just write every day and not do too much press.

I feel quite privileged then.

You shouldnt. I try to avoid me.

Speaking of Superman coming out and the reaction that got  in your line of work is it an occupational hazard to risk the wrath of fans?

Oh, of course. Thats daily, on Twitter and everywhere else. Superman coming out was an incredible thing for the LGBTQIA+ community. We had so many positive messages from people all over the world, people from countries where they couldnt come out, but just wanted to contact me to let me know Id made their world a little bit better. People who came out in their 40s, as well as a host of young people. But obviously that comes with a lot of negativity as well, a lot of nasty. But the positive far outweighs it, and just the positive of doing something like that far outweighs it. You take the slings and arrows and try to focus on the good.
The Liberal Party suffered a massive backlash in suburbs with large numbers of Chinese-Australian voters at the federal election, a sign the Coalition paid a high price for its occasionally bellicose rhetoric and the deterioration in Australias relationship with China.

A swing away from the Liberal Party by Chinese-Australian voters played an important role in the outcome in marginal seats such as Bennelong, Reid, Parramatta and Chisholm, a booth-by-booth analysis of the election results shows.

The swing against the Liberal Party in Sydney and Melbourne suburbs with sizable Chinese-Australian communities was up to three times larger than the statewide average.

Australian Asian Association of Bennelong president Felix Lo said frustration over Chinese-Australian relations played an important role in the outcome in Bennelong. Credit:Steven Siewert

The Liberal Party also recorded big losses among Chinese-Australian voters in seats it narrowly retained, such as Banks in Sydney and Menzies in Melbourne.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong visits Fiji today to try and curb influence of China

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Four men have been charged in connection with the killing of 18-year-old Omar Elomar, who was shot dead in Sydneys west two years ago during a confrontation over what began as a schoolyard conflict.

Elomar had been sitting in the front seat of a car in Miller, near Liverpool, about 11pm on February 15, 2020, when the meeting arranged to sort out an issue between a younger relative and another boy escalated.

Omar Elomar, inset, died on February 15, 2020. Credit:NSW Police

Detectives allege Elomar, an innocent party with no criminal history, was trying to resolve the conflict peacefully when a gun was produced, and he was shot once in the chest.

He died at the scene, as multiple witnesses and alleged participants scattered.
Union raid

Commonwealth Security officers yesterday raided the offices of the Waterside Workers Federation and the Seamens Union in Sydney and Melbourne and seized books and documents. One officer said later, We got what we wanted. He added that the seized papers included correspondence between Sydney and New Zealand waterside union officials. When news of the raids reached the waterfront, Sydneys 6000 watersiders stopped work.

H-Bomb test

The US government today announced the completion of atomic tests at Eniwetok Atoll, including hydrogen-bomb research. The announcement did not use the term hydrogen bomb, but referred to experiments contributing to thermo-nuclear weapons research. The Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Defence today notified President Truman that a programme of atomic weapons tests has been successfully carried out.

Affray appeal
A Sydney woman has been found guilty of murdering her mother, who was found stabbed and strangled to death in a pool of blood in the kitchen, with a jury rejecting the claim she was killed by a home intruder.

Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez, previously known as Megan Jones, pleaded not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court to the murder of Irene Jones in Lansvale in Sydneys south-west on November 2, 2001.

Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez outside the Supreme Court in Sydney during her trial. Credit:Janie Barrett

Six weeks after the trial commenced, having faced delays due to COVID-19, the 11-person jury retired to deliberate on May 18. On Wednesday, they returned a unanimous guilty verdict.

Camelo-Gomez cried in the dock and appeared to be in disbelief, telling her lawyers the justice system gets everything wrong.
Queensland couple contests $4133 water bill

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Teachers unions say Victorian schools should consider making a temporary return to remote learning and cancelling camps in the face of severe staff shortages caused by influenza and COVID-19.

With Victoria reporting more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases a day, many schools have struggled to replace staff who are off sick or isolating, prompting classes to be merged, school leaders to step in to teach and some schools to announce student-free days.

School camps should be put on hold amid soaring flu and COVID-19 cases, unions say. Credit:iStock

The unions say schools cannot be expected to operate as normal.

Schools need more flexibility to manage the pressures they confront, and the [Education] Department cannot expect schools to operate as usual, said Justin Mullaly, deputy president of the Australian Education Unions Victorian branch.
They were the elections high-profile parachute candidates, plonked into two far-flung Sydney electorates by Labor head office over the objections of local members.

But while Kristina Keneally and Andrew Charlton both attracted considerable blowback during the campaign, one emerged victorious while the other crashed out of parliament.

Kristina Keneally lost the previously safe seat of Fowler after a backlash from angry locals. Credit:Nick Moir

Charlton, who previously lived in a $16 million mansion in Bellevue Hill, extended Labors previous 3.5 per cent margin in Parramatta  a seat the Liberal Party targeted relentlessly throughout the campaign.

This was despite negative media coverage, including over his failure to name three restaurants he liked in the area.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Perth radio this afternoon there will be a decision tomorrow on the Biloela family.

He said the decision by interim Home Affairs Minister Jim Chalmers will be made tomorrow and therell be a further announcement there.

A tearful Priya Murugappan celebrates with daughters Kopi and Tharni on hearing the news that they can return to Biloela after Labor won the election. Credit:Home to Bilo campaign

In 2019, I said that the case was very clear. I went to Biloela, I met with the community there, this is a community that wants this family home, he said.

Nades worked at the local meatworks, a meatworker there imports temporary workers.. Priya worked at the local St Vincent de Paul.

We are a strong enough society to say that we should not treat people badly to send a message to others. This has gone on at enormous cost - 10s of millions of dollars.

Were better than that, Australia is a more generous and kind country than that.
Australias new Aboriginal affairs minister has pledged to seek cross-parliamentary consensus on the establishment of an Indigenous Voice in the constitution despite a potential stoush with the Greens, who believe a treaty and truth-telling should be the priority.

While the Greens and Labor agree that the Voice should be constitutionally guaranteed, they differ over important details, including the sequence in which the policy is enacted. The Greens disagree with the position in the Uluru Statement from the Heart that change should start with the Voice, followed by a treaty and a truth-telling commission. These disagreements have raised fears that Labors key policy could be blocked in the parliament.

Linda Burney will soon be sworn in as Australias first female Aboriginal affairs minister. Credit:Brook Mitchell

The minister, Linda Burney, who is expected to be sworn in soon, told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald Labor could explore the potential of working on all three elements of the sequence set forth in the Uluru Statement simultaneously to achieve a consensus with members of the crossbench.

Everything is on the table, Burney says. Why do we have to get one thing done before we can do the next thing? Is it not possible to work on a Voice and establish a Makarrata commission [a council or committee for discussing agreement-making and truth-telling] at the same time? I dont see it as a linear process at all.
The NSW corruption watchdog will hold public hearings to examine whether three former councillors accepted benefits as inducements to approve property developments in Sydneys south.

Former Georges River and Hurstville City councillors Con Hindi and Vince Badalati, and Hurstville councillor Philip Sansom, will front the watchdog as it investigates planning decisions in Hurstville between 2014 and 2021.

Former councillors Vince Badalati and Con Hindi will front ICAC.

The Sydney Morning Herald revealed in late 2020 that the Independent Commission Against Corruption was investigating allegations that Hindi and Badalati voted for a developers projects after travelling overseas with him.

ICAC is investigating allegations the men flew to Tangshan, China, in April 2016 with property developer Wensheng Liu during their time on the former Hurstville council, which preceded the amalgamated Georges River Council. Wensheng Liu was behind a rezoning proposal and a planned 11-storey tower block. Both men have denied any wrongdoing.
The officials warned that flights would only exist for the wealthy. Further, the minister was told that the UK Home Office would not consider excessive charges caused by Australian government policy as a valid reason to extend the visas of thousands of Australians whose visas were due to expire. Australia closed its borders in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened. Credit:Bloomberg This puts thousands of Australian citizens in an impossible position, a document seen by this masthead warned. If they are unable to leave before 31 August, they will be in breach of UK law.

As well it will not be possible for them to work (and any business which employed them would be committing an offence), nor able to access the National Health Service. Loading The high commission has already received a significant number of reports of serious financial hardship among Australians in the United Kingdom. If, after 31 August, those unable to leave are also unable to work, there is a significant risk of widespread destitution among Australians and resultant reputational damage to the Australian government. In addition to the stark letter, an official and confidential diplomatic cable was sent issuing the same warning.

Officials in London worked up an option with British Airways to organise government-backed repatriation flights but neither the proposal or the letter received a response from Payne. Australia first closed its borders to non-residents in late March 2020, but did not introduce caps on quarantine places until July 2020. The effects were instant, as airlines were forced to carry planes with just a handful of passengers, sending fares skyrocketing. The government at one point threatened to fine or jail any Australian who tried to get home from India. Tens of thousands of passengers were continually bumped from flights, leaving them in foreign countries for months and creating a constant backlog of around 40,000 Australians who were locked out of their country. This rolling backlog did not end until NSW became the first jurisdiction to drop hotel quarantine for the vaccinations, effectively reopening the international border in November 2021.

The former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Frances Adamson, defended consular officials telling Australians to go to homeless shelters because they were left stranded overseas. Loading Payne, the former foreign affairs and minister for women, has not been seen in public nor made any comment since her party was booted out of office on the weekend. She was contacted for comment. Her spokesman said the Australian government had helped more than 61,700 Australians return, including 33,516 people on 227 government-facilitated commercial flights, 35 of which were from the UK. The government also spent $40 million on the cost of increasing consular services and extending loans to Australians so they could buy tickets on government-assisted flights.

The government took every consideration into account as it weighed up how best to help Australians overseas while protecting Australians at home, the spokesman said. By avoiding the death rates of so many countries, Australia has saved tens of thousands of lives. Former transport minister and Nationals MP Michael McCormack, to whom the letter was also addressed, praised Payne as one of the most outstanding individuals in Australian politics and said that if faced with a new pandemic, he would do exactly the same again. In a heartbeat, he said. It would be rewriting history in an unfair way to point the finger of blame at Marise Payne or anyone else. There were overseas posts that were concerned with the flights but at the time the highest levels of government and national cabinet had determined that we needed to close the borders.

Its all well and good for people who are experts and people who have degrees in international diplomacy to criticise, but they werent the ones making the decisions, hearing from the health experts that we were going to lose tens of thousands of lives. McCormack said the vast majority of the Australian population was frightened of any COVID-19 case and wanted the borders shut, even if it meant locking out citizens. Loading I dont have a degree in international diplomacy, but Ive got a sense of compassion and a sense of righteousness, he said. He conceded that although the government had offered assistance some Australians may have slipped through the cracks.
Washington: Does it really need to be like this? Should going to school be an occupational hazard for the sake of the Second Amendment?

As US President Joe Biden lamented on Tuesday evening: Why are we willing to live with this carnage?

The horror was unthinkable yet all too familiar.

At least 19 children and two teachers were shot dead in cold blood at an elementary school in south Texas. An 18-year-old gunman walked onto the site and opened fire after reportedly shooting his grandmother at their home. It is the second deadliest US school shooting after Sandy Hook.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in a Central Committee meeting on May 25, 2022.

The Central Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at 10.00 hrs. in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg. Representatives of the Voice of the Youth St. Maarten Foundation will be present.

This meeting was requested by the Board of Voice of the Youth St. Maarten Foundation to present to Parliament a proposal that will enhance the spatial surroundings in the best interest of the youth, law enforcement, and the community of St. Maarten.

The agenda point is:

Presentation on enhancing spatial surroundings and environment through the Obstacle Course and our Youth in St. Maarten (IS/812/2021-2022 dated April 19, 2022)

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations. All persons visiting the House of Parliament must adhere to the house rules and all health and safety protocols, including the wearing of a mask.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary sessions will be carried live on TV 15, SXM Bulletin (Cable TV 120), via SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the internet www.sxmparliament.org, and www.pearlfmradio.sx
PHILIPSBURG:--- Acting Governor of St. Maarten Reynold Groenveldt has passed away today.

SMN News learned that the acting governor died suddenly. SMN News understands that Acting Governor Reynold Groenveldt passed away today at the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) after suffering a massive heart attack. The information on the passing of the acting governor has been confirmed by Governor Eugene Holiday.

Attorney at law, Mr. Reynold Amando Groeneveldt was appointed by Royal Decree, as the first Acting Governor of Sint Maarten. Previously Mr. Groeneveldt served as Acting Lieutenant Governor during the transition period from May 31st, 2010 until October 10th, 2010.

Mr. Reynold Groeneveldt was born on Aruba from Sint Maarten parents and grew up on Sint Maarten. After completing the John Philips School for Secondary Education he left for the Netherlands to pursue teacher training at the Pedagogical Academy in Rotterdam.

Upon the completion of this study, he returned to Sint Maarten and worked for a short period of time as a teacher at the Oranje School in Philipsburg. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Insular Department of Education where he worked for many years and later became the Director until 1995. In 1990 he obtained his Degree in Antillean law from the University of the Netherlands Antilles.

Since 1995 he has been practicing law on Sint Maarten Saba and St Eustatius. Mr. Groeneveldt works as an attorney at law. In the year 2001, he established his own law firm. Mr. Groeneveldt is married to Mrs. Glenda Patricia Groeneveldt-Smith and is the father of a daughter by the name of Angela Fleming-Groeneveldt.

Mr. Groeneveldt enjoys researching legal topics and acquiring legal knowledge, in particular in the areas of Constitutional and Administrative law. Mr. Groeneveldt was a member for many years of various committees that advised the Government on the process of Constitutional change.

The function of Acting Governor entails assuming the function of Governor whenever the Governor is not able to execute the function or whenever the Governor is not in the Country.
POINTE BLANCHE:--- The Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority (SLAC) would like to inform maritime operators, owners, and the community that the Causeway Bridge is closed to maritime traffic until further notice.

SLAC apologizes to the maritime time for any inconvenience caused.

The Causeway Bridge has technical challenges, and SLAC is working closely with technicians from Hollandia in the Netherlands in order to successfully resolve the issues within the shortest period of time.

SLAC will keep the maritime sector and the community informed as to when the bridge will be operational for nautical traffic.
~ Government will continue to fight for relief.~

PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs and Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion announced on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers press briefing that the Kingdom government has indicated through the State Secretary that the Kingdom wants to impose 8 more conditions in order to remove the 12.5% cuts that were imposed on St. Maarten in 2020 in exchange for liquidity support.

Jacobs said she already sent a letter to the State Secretary on Tuesday and intends to follow up when the State Secretary visits St. Maarten. The Prime Minister reminded us that the 12.5% cuts were a condition placed on St. Maarten and now the Kingdom wants to add 8 more conditions in order to remove one. She indicated that the discussion in the Kingdom Council has been postponed since there is no agreement on the added conditions.

Jacobs said 3 of the conditions that have been made public are those that St. Maarten proposed in its letter to the State Secretary when asking for the removal of the cuts. Those that were made public are the 25% cuts for the elected and appointed members of government that will remain in effect, that St. Maarten would cover the costs through its annual budget which she said St. Maarten is prepared to do and the legislation for top income earners must be implemented, which she said was done. All of which the Prime Minister is prepared to do or has done.

Jacobs said those conditions that were made public are the ones St. Maarten suggested in order to give its people relief. She explained that the country does have problems with the other 5 conditions that are yet to be made known.

Jacobs further explained that while St. Maarten worked on the legislation for top income earners, they had to meet with Curacao and Aruba to further discuss this legislation and amend it, in order for it to be in line with the other two Caribbean countries of the Kingdom. This legislation was sent to the Council of Advice after which it will be sent to the Governors office so that it could be sent to the Parliament of St. Maarten.

The Prime Minister said that if this is a condition before the removal of the cuts, she finds it unfair since there is a trajectory that must be followed. The State Secretary has said that she is in solidarity with the people of St. Maarten with the high cost of living and she herself wants to move towards removing the 12.5% cuts that were imposed. Jacobs said that the BES islands already received a stipend to cope with the high cost of living while St. Maarten and its civil servants have not received anything even though not exempted from the rising costs for food that are affecting all countries globally.

Finance Minister Ardwell Irion said the government of St. Maarten made these 3 proposals to the State Secretary and that they will continue on this path. He said that St. Maarten is not getting any liquidity support for these cuts to be removed. The economy is growing, and he personally does not believe that everyone outside of government should be punished for political reasons. The Minister of Finance said the Dutch Government does not have any other reason to justify maintaining the 12.5% cuts for a longer period. On top of all this, maintaining the cuts no longer makes financial sense. He said if the cuts are applied to all entities that receive a subsidy from the government, then this will reduce their wage taxes will affect the governments income. The meeting has been postponed for another two weeks however, these conditions must change to match the reality of the people of St. Maarten and help them by removing the cuts.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Health and Labor Omar Ottley said that the Ministry of VSA through SZV and its inspectors are continuing their investigation of the death of the Back Street store employee who passed away in Colombia on May 15.

Ottley said that based on the information he was given after inspectors visited the store, they determine that the employee was insured with SZV some years ago. He said the employee was in possession of private insurance at the time she died. When the incident occurred, we dispatched the CID of SZV to begin an investigation. SZV will now look into the reason the employee was not insured with SZV. One of the things they will look into is her salary to see if she was paid over the SZV limit.

The Minister then issued a plea to all workers whether documented or not to file complaints if they are being abused by employers. Ottley said one of the trends they see is that many people are afraid to come forward because they are afraid of the repercussions such as being fired. He said the situation is indeed sad because oftentimes the department of labor often finds out about these cases of abuse when it is already too late. There are occasions where people would see me as the Minister of Labor and complain to me, but I still have to ack within the realms of the law by advising them to file a complaint with the labor department before action can be taken.

Ottley said when he provides such advice the employee would then indicate that would not take that route because they do not want to lose their jobs. He assured the employees that while sitting as the Minister of Health and Labor he will fight for them, but they need to come forward. He said if an employee is fired because they came forward it will be handled. He said there are a number of cases of abuse within the workforce, such as tax deductions that are not paid. He urged the working class to also file their taxes so that these delinquent employers can be tracked.

Background on deceased employee.

The employee that passed away worked for 15 years at the back street store, while the Minister said she was insured at some point. The deceased was not insured since 2017 and only a month ago she purchased the NAGICO Gold Health Insurance as she was critically ill while working on appealing the decision of the Minister of Justice to deny her a residency permit.
EPISODE 102 - You Cannot Keep The Birds From Flying Over Your HeadAirdate: June 19, 2022Written By: Anya ReissDirected By: Justin ChadwickChristmas at court, and a controversial masque leaves Protestant Edward and Catholic Mary at odds. Elizabeth finds herself in the middle as Mary, furious at Catherines remarriage, demands she leave them both and come live with her. Thomass brother the Lord Protector Somerset tries to keep the peacebetween the siblings as Pedro returns from Scotland with the news of French invasion as tempers fray at the newly formed court. At home Elizabeth is torn between duty to her sister, her love for Catherine and the growing attention of Thomas which both excites and scares her. As the Dudley family jointhe Chelsea household for a hunt, and Elizabeth is reunited with childhood friend Robert Dudley, she finds herself left with a choice about where she wants to stand in this world, and who she wants to be.
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LAS VEGAS (AP)  Former Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn has accepted an undisclosed financial settlement to end his federal defamation lawsuit against a well-known attorney who represented a dancer who she said accused Wynn of sexual harassment and retaliation.

Los Angeles attorney Lisa Bloom retracted and withdrew claims she made in a news release in March 2018 announcing she represented a woman making claims of inappropriate behavior against Wynn, according to a statement included in a settlement document provided Tuesday to The Associated Press by Wynn's lawyers.

The amount of the settlement was blacked out in the document, which was signed by Wynn and Bloom and submitted to U.S. District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas. The judge approved the agreement and dismissed the case Monday.

Blooms 2018 news release said she was representing a dancer who accused Wynn of leering at female performers who were instructed to strip down to bras and panties when he attended and watched physically revealing segments of rehearsals for Showstoppers at the Wynn Las Vegas resort.

The settlement statement said Bloom wanted to correct the record and state that there has been no evidence obtained that Steve Wynn made inappropriate instructions to dancers, nor that he knew about any inappropriate instructions.

Bloom and attorneys who represented her in the federal case in Nevada did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment. Bloom is the daughter of nationally known womens rights and discrimination attorney Gloria Allred.

Wynn, 80, offered a statement saying he was pleased with the agreement and declaring the matter fully settled, including with a retraction.

Wynn attorney Todd Bice in Las Vegas told AP the settlement amount would remain confidential. He declined additional comment.

Wynn had sought a jury trial and damages of at least $75,000 less than two months after the Wall Street Journal reported that he had harassed or assaulted several women.

Wynn has consistently denied sexual misconduct allegations.

He resigned as chairman and CEO of his namesake company, Wynn Resorts, in February 2018, and sold his company shares. He now lives in Florida.

Wynn's lawsuit against Bloom was filed in April 2018. Mahan denied Bloom's bid to have the case dismissed and she appealed. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco referred it back to Mahan in March 2021.

A reasonable jury could find Bloom "acted with actual malice in publishing the release, a three-judge appellate panel said.

Allegations of wrongdoing against Wynn have spawned other lawsuits and sanctions. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled last month that state casino regulators could still impose a $500,000 fine and discipline Wynn over allegations of workplace sexual misconduct.

Wynns lawyers argue he no longer has casino industry ties and the state Gaming Commission lacks authority to punish him.

The commission separately fined Wynn Resorts $20 million in 2019 for failing to investigate claims of sexual misconduct made against Wynn before he resigned.

Regulators in Massachusetts fined the company $35 million more and the companys top executive $500,000 for failing to disclose sexual misconduct allegations against Wynn when it applied for a license for a Boston-area casino.

Wynn Resorts in November 2019 accepted $20 million in damages from Wynn and $21 million more from insurance carriers to settle shareholder lawsuits accusing company directors of failing to disclose misconduct allegations.

Steve Wynn also has a pending defamation lawsuit against The Associated Press and an AP reporter based on a story about accounts made to Las Vegas police from two women who alleged sexual misconduct by Wynn.
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The news of a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday brought former Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy back to the anguished scene at the firehouse on Riverside Road on Dec. 14, 2012.

Thats where the Sandy Hook Elementary School families awaited the news of whether their family members were among the 26 victims  20 first-graders and six educators  gunned down by the 20-year-old shooter.

After about five hours had passed, Malloy decided he would be the one to inform the families - an experience he recounted days later in an emotional press conference - bucking the usual protocol of waiting for an official identification of the victims.

Everyone had been living on the hope for several hours that somehow, some way, they were there by mistake but of course we knew that they werent, the former Democratic governor of Connecticut said during a brief phone interview Wednesday.

For Malloy, like many others, the details of the shooting at Robb Elementary School, the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook, are eerily similar to the Newtown tragedy.

Initial police reports in both cases said one or two people had been shot. But the death toll quickly rose. In Uvalde, the victims were 19 fourth graders and two teachers.

Reading reports of families in Uvalde who waited for hours for news about their children reminded Malloy of the scene in the Sandy Hook Firehouse where he delivered the worst news a parent can get.

That comes rushing back, having to tell people that if they werent reunited already then they werent going to be, he said.

Connecticut passed the strictest gun laws in the nation following Sandy Hook but many have decried why Congress has done nothing on gun reform in the nearly 10 years since.

Malloy said he didnt want to weigh in on what action should come next, but said he believes there are areas of common ground between Republicans and Democrats on gun safety.

Thats not my work anymore but the senator and others have spoken quite eloquently, and their eloquence deserves a response, said Malloy, referring to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphys impassioned speech on the Senate floor hours after the shooting at Robb Elementary. Malloy is now chancellor of the University of Maine system.

After Sandy Hook, Malloy established an advisory commission that issued a report in 2015 on how to improve school safety, mental health, and gun violence prevention  and he said he hopes that continues to serve as a blueprint for how to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.

We were very careful to try to learn as many lessons as possible from our examination of what transpired that day in Newtown, he said.

Newtown leader during Sandy Hook says failure to act on gun reform is a national embarrassment

Pat Llodra, Newtowns first selectwoman during Sandy Hook, said the families in Uvalde are dealing with a hurt that is so devastating that it forever changes who you are and how you perceive the world.

That is the struggle that these families will have forever, Llodra said in an interview Wednesday, adding that the families should be at the center of every thought, of every decision, and every action going forward.

But Llodra, a Republican, also expressed frustration with inaction by Congress, including many members of her party, following the massacre of Sandy Hook or any of the mass shootings since then.

Were all tired of hearing Oh how devastated I am that this horrible thing happened. Then those same legislators go to work in Congress and do nothing to address the issue, she said.

The solution to preventing these tragedies in Llodras mind involves gun control but also cultural change.

Im talking about cultural change where we stop talking about the gun as the icon of American society, she said. We cant continue to hold the gun up as the symbol thats synonymous with motherhood and apple pie.

A supporter of the Second Amendment, Llodra said she thinks many have abused the intent and purpose of the right to bear arms in arguing against stricter gun laws. She said many Republicans are fearful that supporting gun safety laws will jeapordize their political future.

The Republican Party has sold their soul to the gun lobby, she said. The power structure, I think, has us locked into this notion that to move forward on common sense gun legislation as a Republican, is a death knell for your chances of re-election election. I think we need to stop talking like that.

julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com
In a statement Tuesday night, Gov. Ned Lamont decried the devastating news of a mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school, while calling for stricter gun control laws both locally and federally.

One life taken by gun violence is too many, but 15 innocent lives, including 14 children, is an utter tragedy, Lamont said in a statement. Nearly ten years after Sandy Hook, Connecticut knows this feeling all too well. Our collective hearts and prayers go out to the families in Uvalde trying to process the unimaginable.

We clearly have a gun problem in America, he continued. There are more damn guns on the street than ever before, especially illegal guns.

According to reports, at least 19 people are dead and others injured after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire on students and teachers, in one of the largest school shootings since Adam Lanza killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown in December 2012.

In his statement Tuesday, Lamont described gun violence as a public health crisis requiring widespread action.

It is incumbent upon lawmakers everywhere, whether its Connecticut, Texas, or our nations capital, to rise to the moment in addressing this problem, Lamont said.

While Congress has repeatedly failed to pass federal gun control legislation amid opposition from most Republicans, Connecticut has passed significant measures since Sandy Hook, including a ban on certain weapons and a background check requirement for all firearm purchases.

Still, during the recent legislative session Lamont expressed a desire to do more, proposing a provision to rein in illegal ghost guns and an expansion of the states ban on assault rifles, among other measures, as part of a broader crime bill. The gun control language was abandoned before reaching the Senate floor, however, after pushback from Republicans and anti-gun control advocates.

In his statement Tuesday night, Lamont described gun violence victims as our friends, fathers, kids, teachers, and neighbors.

Theyre worth the effort to find a diligent, pragmatic, and hopefully bipartisan solution before we lose any more of them, he said.

alex.putterman@hearstmediact.com
Tuesdays mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school has renewed calls both nationally and locally for laws regulating gun access.

At a press conference Wednesday, Gov. Ned Lamont touted Connecticuts gun laws, which are among the strictest in the nation, but lamented that the legislature had failed to act on recent proposals to strengthen those laws further.

I was very disappointed that there was no mention of guns [in this years legislative session], Lamont said. Id like to think that we could have done a better job in Connecticut and sent a message far afield.

Connecticuts laws are far stricter than in Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, two of which he was able to legally obtain soon after his birthday, according to officials. In Connecticut, such a purchase would be illegal.

Here is what to know about gun laws in Connecticut, including what gun control measures have and havent passed and how the state compares to its peers nationally.

What gun control measures has Connecticut passed?

In the months after the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, the Connecticut general assembly passed a sweeping bill that some advocacy groups described at the time as the nations strongest gun control legislation.

As part of that bill, signed by then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Connecticut added more than 100 firearms to its list of banned military-style weapons including the AR-15, mandated background checks for all gun purchases and created the nations first dangerous weapon registry.

Since then, the state has taken further, more modest steps toward stronger gun laws, including bills in 2019 that restricted weapons that lack a serial number (known as ghost guns), barred gun owners from leaving weapons unattended in motor vehicles, and required safe storage of firearms in homes where children are present.

Most recently, Lamont in 2021 signed a bill that made it more difficult for people with protective orders against them to obtain gun permits and ammunition.

According to the anti-gun advocacy group Everytown, Connecticut has some of the strongest gun laws in the country and leads the nation with its robust background check and purchase permit requirements.

What gun control measures hasnt the state passed?

Earlier this year, Lamont introduced a new set of gun-control measures as part of a broader crime bill. If passed, the measure would have expanded Connecticuts assault weapons ban; required existing ghost guns to be registered; mandated that all firearms, not just pistols and revolvers, be sold with a trigger lock; and made it easier for police to request gun permits from someone openly carrying a firearm, among other provisions.

Those proposals, however, drew fierce pushback from Republicans, who charged that the policies would violate gun owners constitutional rights. During a lengthy and contentious public hearing, lawmakers and pro-gun advocates criticized the proposed gun-control measures as onerous and knee-jerk.

The only people that would end up getting caught in a lot of these measures are the law-abiding citizens of the state of Connecticut, state Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, said.

By the time the crime bill passed out of the legislative Judicial Committee it had been pared down dramatically, with nearly all gun control language removed.

Meanwhile, Everytown lists a number of measures Connecticut could pass to further strengthen its gun laws, including the requirement that new gun models be childproofed, the ability for officials to deny a firearm purchase if the buyer is believed to pose a danger and the imposition of a mandatory wait time before someone can legally obtain a gun.

The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, another prominent advocacy group, says Connecticut could increase funding to community violence intervention programs and strengthen relinquishment laws, which require someone who is no longer permitted to carry a gun to turn over all firearms to authorities.

Lamont said Wednesday he doesnt plan to call a special legislative session this year to push additional gun-related measures but that he hasnt ruled out doing so.

How does Connecticut compare to other state in terms of gun laws?

Though precise rankings vary from one source to the next, Connecticut is widely considered to have some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.

Everytown grades Connecticut as having the fifth strongest gun laws of any state (behind California, Hawaii, New York and Massachusetts) based on criteria including foundational laws, gun industry and product safety, keeping guns out of the wrong hands and policing and civil rights.

Using a similar methodology, the Giffords Law Center last year gave Connecticut an A- for its gun laws and ranked the state third nationally, behind only California and New Jersey.

Analysis from the Giffords Law Center found a significant correlation between states with strong gun laws and those with low rates of gun deaths, with Connecticut recording only the 45th most gun deaths per capita of any state.

Lamont on Wednesday hailed Connecticut as an example for other states  and the federal government  to follow.

It doesnt work if were doing this on our own, he said. We can make a difference, but we need the federal government to look up and see whats worked in Connecticut and what can work elsewhere.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

alex.putterman@hearstmediact.com
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A deadly shooting at a Texas elementary school Tuesday sent a familiar shock through Connecticut, a state still reckoning a decade later with its own tragedy: The killing of 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

In strong statements, Connecticuts political leaders rang through with a universal message that the death of 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, cannot be in vain.

Drawing parallels to the years of grief felt in Connecticut, U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats and champions for gun reform, pleaded with their colleagues to be a united front in addressing the violence.

Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat seeking a second term who proposed some gun reform in the last legislative session, said it was incumbent on all leaders  local and federal  to make meaningful changes.

But remarks from President Joe Biden made clear that shootings like this have become all too common.

Its been 3,448 days, 10 years, since I stood up at a  grade school in Connecticut where another gunman massacred 26 people, 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary school, Biden said Tuesday in a national address. Since then, there have been over 900 incidents of gun fire reported on school ground.  The list goes on, and the list grows when it includes mass shootings at places like movie theaters, houses of worship, as we saw just 10 days ago a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y. I am sick and tired of it.

Here are the latest updates on the Texas shooting and Connecticuts response:

Biden plans to visit Texas

Biden said Wednesday he plans to visit Texas with first lady Jill Biden in the coming days to hopefully bring some little comfort to the community, the Associated Press reported.

As a nation, I think we must all be there for them, he said. And we must ask, when in Gods name will we do whats needed to be done.

The president also called for new limitations on guns. He said when the Second Amendment was approved, You couldnt own a cannon. You couldnt own certain kinds of weapons. Theres always been limitations, the Associated Press reported.

The Second Amendment is not absolute, he said, according to the Associated Press.

Lamont: Weve got a lot of work to do about guns

In a public briefing Wednesday, Lamont stressed that the nation would be a lot safer if Connecticuts bipartisan 2013 law adopted after the Newtown shooting were expanded nationally. Instead, state residents are reliving the trauma and heartbreak, and sharing the pain of yet another community changed forever.

I look at these crimes, I look at these mass shootings, and theyre somewhat uniquely American, which is tragic, Lamont said on the State Capitols north steps. I love America, but this should not be our curse. He noted the similarities in the shootings in Newtown, with its upcoming 10th anniversary in December, and Uvalde, Texas.

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz recited each name of the 20 first-graders and six adults killed in Newtown. Then Mary Ann Jacob, who was a library aide at Sandy Hook Elementary School, relived the terror of that December morning.

How can we still be having the same conversation about access to guns? Jacobs asked. I was huddled in a closet with 18 9-year-olds and three of my colleagues that day when gunfire shattered the peace of Sandy Hook School, Yesterday, I was right back in that closet, remembering the fear and horror we experienced trying to be brave to the kids we were with, while we were more frightened than wed ever been in our lives. We had no idea at that time that we would become the single worst mass shooting in modern history.

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff criticizes Texas governor

In sharp criticism on Twitter, Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had blood on his hands.

I hope you feel the blood of dead children drip through your fingers and may the grief of those parents haunt your soul for the rest of your days, Duffs tweeted. The tweet included a picture of a social media post by Abbott in which the Texas governor noted his state was second behind California for new gun purchases.

In a subsequent tweet, Duff told Abbott to support gun control and support life, for once.

Organizations plan local vigils to honor those killed

Groups have already started to plan vigils to honor those who were killed in the Texas shooting.

A vigil will be held in Norwalk at 6 p.m. Wednesday on the Norwalk Green. On Thursday, a community vigil will be held on the Trumbull Green at 6:30 p.m. Officials in Fairfield have planned an interfaith gathering on the Sherman Green Lot at noon on Saturday.

Sandy Hook Promise offers assistance to grieving families in Texas

In a statement Wednesday, Sandy Hook Promise, a foundation started by parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, offered their personal assistance to families in Uvalde who are grieving the loss of their children.

Having lived through a mass shooting, still enduring the pain of our own children being killed in their first-grade classrooms by senseless violence, we know that nothing is going to bring back the precious lives lost in Uvalde. We know that the road ahead for the Robb Elementary School community will be incredibly difficult, the statement read. We want to offer the families our compassion and commitment to honor their loved ones, along with ours, as we continue our mission to end gun violence. We also offer ourselves to them, in whatever way we can be of service to their needs.

Former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy sees eerie connection to Sandy Hook

Former Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who was in his first term in December 2012, recalled Wednesday talking to the families of loved ones killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.

Everyone had been living on the hope for several hours that somehow, some way, they were there by mistake but of course we knew that they werent, the former Democratic governor of Connecticut said during a brief phone interview Wednesday.

For Malloy, like many others, the details of the shooting at Robb Elementary School, the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook, are eerily similar to the Newtown tragedy.

Connecticut students, staff return to schools with officers, counselors present

In the aftermath of the Texas shooting, schools in Connecticut will be offering grief counseling to students, who are coming to terms with another mass shooting.

Along with increased counseling, most districts said there will be an increased police presence at schools in the coming days.

Newtown Schools Superintendent Lorrie Rodrigue said in an email to staff and families that counseling teams will be prepared to offer assistance to students at each of the districts seven schools, including at Newtown High School where survivors of the 2012 attack now attend school.

The Texas shootings are reverberating through schools in Connecticut, leaving teachers and staff again fearful of returning to work much like the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy, according to officials with the Connecticut Education Association, the states largest teachers union.

This brings back a terrible remembrance of Sandy Hook in schools throughout the state, said Donald Williams, the unions executive director. Williams said his organization was looking to provide more mental health support for teachers and students as the state legislature recently recognized that schools need more social workers and clinical staff.

But Joslyn DeLancey, vice president of the union, said its still too early to tell which districts may need help and staff members need more resources on how to discuss tragic events with students in an age-appropriate way.

Its hard, Im not going to sugarcoat it, said DeLancy, a Darien fifth-grade teacher who is on a leave of absence. A significant number of educators had to talk themselves into going to work today, just as you had a significant number of parents who didnt want to say goodbye to their children.

Connecticut State Police focused on protecting all school populations here in our state

In a statement Wednesday morning, Connecticut State Police Col. Stavros Mellekas said troopers across the state are committed to the safety of students.

At this time, our focus will be on protecting all school populations here in our state. No specific threats have been received, but in the interest of safety an increased presence of troopers will be felt at Connecticut schools today, Mellekas said.

He added that troopers will assist law enforcement in Texas if they are asked.

Police: If you notice strange behavior, dont overlook it

East Haven police sent a message aimed at parents and guardians Wednesday, saying they should not overlook changes in behavior.

Parents/Guardians: If you observe distant behavior, dark behavior, revenge fantasies, or any other behavior that concerns you, do not overlook it. You can prevent a possible tragedy before it happens. You are the first line of defense. It takes a whole community, aiming to work together to prevent these tragedies. Let us hug our little ones a little tighter today and everyday, the department said.

Sandy Hook victims mother questions armed personnel

In a tweet Wednesday morning, Nicole Hockley, mother of Sandy Hook shooting victim, challenged the notion that staff with firearms and security measures will root out the problem with mass shootings in schools.

Armed personnel or increased expensive security measures are not the answer and they dont deal with the root cause. This is about easy access to firearms and about the people that use them, Hockley wrote.

Mother of Sandy Hook victim says politicians need to be held accountability

In an interview on CBS Mornings on Wednesday, Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose daughter was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, said that politicians need to be held accountable in the wake of this latest mass shooting.

We have to meet their cowardice, their complacency, with outrage and demanding action, Marquez-Greene said.

Experts advise how to discuss the tragedy with children

Dr. Andre Newfield, chair of psychiatry at St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport, said mass shootings like the one in Uvalde on Tuesday have enduring effects for survivors, who may develop post-traumatic stress disorder, but also on their communities.

Theres no greater violence than perpetration of violence against children, and when theres a mass murder of children all in one place in a sacred institution like a school, it doesnt matter how big or small or strong or weak a community is, theyre going to have a major reckoning to deal with, he said.

Newfield recommended that parents of young children in Connecticut think carefully about how, or whether, they discuss the shooting.

For the younger kids who dont have access to this firsthand, I dont think you discuss this, he said. I wouldnt want to instill fear in my children in going to school and having to think about, is there a shooter hiding around the corner? Theres just no way they could possibly process that.

If children ask, Newfield said, parents can emphasize the rarity of school shootings and reassure them that school remains a safe place.

Words will mean nothing without action: Blumenthal address fellow senators

Blumenthal, who has aggressively pushed fellow senators to support gun reform, took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to again seek action that has dogged the legislative body since the Sandy Hook shooting.

I remember the feeling standing outside the firehouse in Sandy Hook as parents learned that their children would not be coming home that night. The same bottomless grief is hitting the families in Uvalde. There are no words, but words will mean nothing without action, Blumenthal said in a tweet accompanying a clip of his remarks on the Senate floor.

What are we doing?: Murphy questions the lack of action

Murphy, who was a senator-elect when students and staff were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was the first to take to the Senate floor to question the years of inaction among his colleagues to address gun violence.

What are we doing? What are we doing?  This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day, Murphy said in the remarks that were shared by ABC News.

Staff writers Alex Putterman, Ken Dixon and Peter Yankowski contributed to this story.
In wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, which officials report killed nineteen children and two adults, notable figures from Connecticut and across the nation reacted to the tragedy with a mix of sorrow and calls to action to prevent further mass shootings.

For Connecticut leaders, this hit close to home as it's the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. grade school since Sandy Hook in December 2012. Sen. Chris Murphy gave a five-minute speech comparing the killings to the Sandy Hook massacre.
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SPOKANE, Wash. (AP)  Scientists will set about 1,000 traps this year in their quest to wipe out the Asian giant hornet in Washington, the state Department of Agriculture said Tuesday.

Scientists believe the hornets, first detected in the Pacific Northwest state in 2019, are confined in Whatcom County, which is located on the Canadian border north of Seattle.

We are doing pretty good right now, said Sven-Erik Spichiger, who is leading the fight to eradicate the hornets for the state Department of Agriculture. We know about where the nests are located in Whatcom County.

The insects are the worlds largest hornets, with queens reaching up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) long. They are considered invasive in North America for their ability to kill other bee and hornet species, which is how they got the nickname murder hornets.

Hornets caught in traps help scientists find the location of nests. The state eradicated three nests last year, all near the town of Blaine, Washington, and there have been no confirmed reports of Asian giant hornet nests so far this year, Spichiger said.

Most of the traps will be set in northern Whatcom County, but a few will be set in the city of Bellingham, he said.

The agency is also encouraging residents to set their own traps, to cover more ground.

The hornets will not be considered eradicated until Washington has gone three full years with no detections, the agency said. The first confirmed detection of an Asian giant hornet in Washington was made in December 2019.

Spichiger said the Entomological Society of America is also working to establish an official name for the insect. Asian giant hornet, or the popular nickname murder hornet, are not official names, he said.

The hornets can also deliver a painful sting, which can result in death if a person is stung repeatedly. Asian giant hornets rarely attack humans unless provoked. About 30 to 50 people die annually from Asian giant hornet stings in Japan, one of their native habitats.

Meanwhile, hornets, wasps and bees typically found in the United States kill an average of 62 people a year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said.

The battle to prevent the Asian giant hornet, an apex predator, from establishing a foothold in North America is being fought mostly in Whatcom County, Washington, and the nearby Fraser Valley of British Columbia. Whatcom County is about 55 miles (88 kilometers) south of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Another effort is underway to determine exactly where in Asia these hornets came from, to try and learn how they are getting across the Pacific Ocean, scientists said. The theory is they are crossing on cargo ships, officials have said.

Hornet queens tend to emerge from winter quarters in the spring and establish nests to birth worker hornets. The hornets start attacking and destroying beneficial honey bees later in the year, eating the bees for protein as they raise more hornets.

A small group of Asian giant hornets can kill an entire honey bee hive in a matter of hours. The honey bees pollinate many of the crops in Washingtons multibillion-dollar agriculture industry.
STAMFORD  For Darcey Trudeau, the thought that her childrens schools could one day be targeted by a shooter is always in the back of her mind.

That little bit of fear that it could happen to your kid never goes away, especially after Sandy Hook, the Stamford woman said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, an 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 children and two educators before he was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent.

While details from Uvalde are still emerging, officials said Wednesday afternoon an armed school district officer was at the elementary school and was wounded after exchanging fire with the gunman. Once the shooter went inside the school, two arriving Uvalde police officers then shot at him from outside the building and both were wounded, according to The Associated Press.

As a security measure, additional police were at Stamford schools Wednesday, part of an effort to help parents and staff feel safer.

Trudeau said she was happy to see more police, and wished law enforcement was more of a common presence there.

Trudeau, the mother of two high school students and a student at Dolan Middle School, said she didnt consider keeping her kids out of school Wednesday. Her children, she said, have all grown up with the idea that school shootings are a part of life.

They know this happens and nothing is done about it, she said.

Neil Cohen, the father of three children at Toquam Magnet Elementary School, also decided to send his children to school.

Was it with more hesitation? Absolutely, he said.

Like Trudeau, Cohen supported the increased number of police officers at schools.

Asking people not to do it is clearly not going to work, he said, about preventing more shooting. If it takes having a physical presence of someone there to defend the kids, then thats what needs to happen.

School administrators let the school community know of the enhanced police presence via social media and emails.

Please know that there will be an increased police presence today at our schools as a way of reassuring our children and staff that they are safe, Stamford schools Superintendent Tamu Lucero wrote in an email sent to families around noon on Wednesday. Our counselors and other mental health professionals are available to any staff or student who needs them. Our school building and district leadership is here to answer any questions parents or community members may have about our commitment to the safety and well-being of our students at all times.

Earlier, an email alert from Westover Magnet Elementary School at 8:30 a.m. said there would be more police presence at all Stamford schools during the day.

It is an added measure of security and nothing to be alarmed by, read the message, which was attributed to the principal of Westover, Lisa Saba-Price.

In her message, Lucero wrote briefly about the tragic shooting.

The horrific events in Texas yesterday brought awful memories of Sandy Hook back into the forefront of our collective consciousness, she wrote. While we are thousands of miles away, this tragedy hits painfully close to us here in Connecticut and we mourn with those left grieving the loss of loved ones.

Diane Phanos, president of the Stamford Education Association teachers union, said shootings like the one in Uvalde took her back to her days as a classroom teacher.

Teachers are very upset over this because you cant distance yourself from something like this, Phanos said.

Amy Nelson, the mother of two students at Strawberry Hill School, said she knows parents who kept their kids home on Wednesday due to the school shooting. She ultimately decided to send her childen, but wondered what they would experience in school on Wednesday.

What will they hear in the classroom? Will they have a discussion about it? she asked. Im sure there is a plan but I just dont know what it is.

Jennifer Forman, the mother of two children at Strawberry Hill School, said the shooting in Texas was devastating, but that such events are becoming more of a regular occurrence.

Im more angry than worried because I feel like nothing is safe, she said.

Includes reporting from the Associated Press.

ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com
Less than a day after a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas, a Wednesday Senate hearing for President Joe Bidens pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reflected the deep political divisions over guns.

Steve Dettelbach would be the first confirmed head of the ATF in seven years and the process could be fraught. For his part, Dettelbach vowed to run the agency without political interference in the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Politics can play no role in law enforcement. None at all, he said.

Biden noted the bipartisan support for Dettelbach at an event to sign an executive order on policing as he urged support for the head of the federal agency that enforces gun laws. For seven years weve been without anyone in charge, he said. "Its time for action.

The Texas massacre carried out with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle cast a long shadow over the hearing, with Democrats making emotional pleas to restrict the similar firearms, especially for younger buyers. Salvador Ramos, 18, bought the guns legally shortly after his birthday, authorities have said. It was the second mass killing of the month carried about by an 18-year-old with an AR-15-style semi-automatic. Authorities say Payton Gendron drove several hours to a Black community in Buffalo and killed 10 people.

The shooters in Texas and New York werent able to buy a beer, but they were old enough to buy an assault weapon, said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. Shootings rose sharply after the decade-long federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004, she said.

The kind of weapons being used by the Russians in Ukraine have no place in a school, said Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Still, a California law requiring people to be 21 to buy a semiautomatic weapon was recently overturned by a federal appeals court.

The Texas attack was the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. Congress has passed little substantial federal legislation to curb gun violence in America since then.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas questioned Dettlebach Wednesday on the definition of the term assault weapon, a politicized term that can refer to various firearms.

The point is, theres really no such thing as a category of assault weapons, he said.

Dettlebach, a former federal prosecutor who has previously supported a ban, said a legal definition would have to come from Congress. I acknowledge that would be a difficult task to define assault weapons, he said.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, meanwhile, said the country should be looking at the root causes of rampage violence rather than passing new gun restrictions.

It raises questions  could things like fatherlessness, the breakdown of families, isolation from civil society and glorification of violence be contributing factors? Lee said.

Both Republican and Democratic administrations have failed to get nominees for the ATF position through the politically fraught process since the directors position was made confirmable in 2006. Since then, only one nominee, former U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones, has been confirmed.

Biden had to withdraw the nomination of his first ATF nominee, gun control advocate David Chipman, after it stalled for months because of opposition from Republicans and some Democrats in the Senate. The nominee will need a simple majority to be confirmed.

__

Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City. Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  Three weeks after Oregons third-largest county learned that a majority of their ballots had blurry barcodes and were unreadable by vote-counting machines, state officials have yet to receive a written plan detailing how the county will complete the tally by June 13, the deadline to certify election results.

As frustrations continue to grow and the results of a key U.S. House race hangs in the balance, Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan met with Clackamas Countys top election officials Monday. She received a verbal update on the countys progress, but continues to wait on a full written plan that outlines benchmarks and a timeline showing how long it will take to duplicate the countys ballots by hand.

I continued to push them and will continue to push them to provide a written plan with regular benchmarks so that I, you and the public can confirm that they are on track to produce timely results, Fagan said during a news conference Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of ballots in Oregons third-largest county were printed with blurred barcodes, making them unreadable by vote-counting machines  a mistake that wasnt caught until ballots were already being returned in the vote-by-mail state. Elections workers must now hand-transfer the votes from those ballots to new ones that can be read in a painstaking process that also raises the possibility of duplication errors.

Clackamas County Elections Clerk Sherry Hall estimates that up to two-thirds  about 73,000 of the roughly 115,000 ballots received by the county so far  have been affected.

The debacle has angered many in Oregon, where all ballots have been cast only by mail for 23 years and lawmakers have consistently pushed to expand voter access through automatic voter registration and expanded deadlines. Its also thrown into question a key U.S. House race in a district that includes a large portion of Clackamas County, which stretches nearly 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers), from Portlands liberal southern suburbs to rural conservative communities on the flanks of Mount Hood.

Results for the Democratic primary for Oregons 5th Congressional District -- where seven-term Rep. Kurt Schrader, a moderate, is trailing in the vote behind progressive challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner  are slowly trickling in. The outcome could have an outsized impact in November, with the possibility that voters could flip the seat for the GOP.

In order to complete the tally by June 13, nearly 200 county employees have been redeployed from their normal duties to hand-transfer the voters intent to a fresh ballot that could be scanned. As of Monday slightly more than half of the ballots  57,550  had been tallied, according to data provided by Clackamas County.

The issue in Clackamas County came to light May 3, when workers put the first ballots returned through the vote-counting machine. About 70 or 80 ballots from each batch of 125 were spit out as unreadable. It was too late to print and mail new ballots, according to Hall, who did not proof the printed ballots before they were mailed out.

State elections officials say they have little authority over local county elections officials, who operate independently and are beholden to voters. Hall is up for reelection in November after holding the job since 2003.
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service San Angelo TX

706 PM CDT Tue May 24 2022

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern

Crockett and southern Sutton Counties through 800 PM CDT...

At 706 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 19

miles northeast of Juno, moving east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

The Intersection Of Us-277 And Ranch Road 189 and Us-

277 Near The Sutton-Edwards County Line.

This includes Interstate 10 between Mile Markers 407 and 424.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

west central Texas.

LAT...LON 3029 10112 3048 10119 3060 10028 3029 10026

TIME...MOT...LOC 0006Z 261DEG 30KT 3040 10096

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Central Mills County in central Texas...

* Until 800 PM CDT.

* At 707 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 10 miles southwest

of Goldthwaite, or 13 miles northeast of Algerita, moving east at

35 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Goldthwaite around 725 PM CDT.

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

The National Weather Service in Midland has issued a

* Dust Advisory for...

Pecos County in southwestern Texas...

Northwestern Brewster County in southwestern Texas...

Southern Reeves County in southwestern Texas...

Northeastern Jeff Davis County in southwestern Texas...

Southeastern Crane County in western Texas...

Northern Terrell County in southwestern Texas...

Southwestern Upton County in western Texas...

* Until 830 PM CDT.

* At 706 PM CDT, a wall of blowing dust and strong winds was located

along a line extending from 12 miles south of Barhart to the I-

10/20 split near Kent, moving southeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...Less than one mile visibility with strong wind in excess

of 50 mph.

SOURCE...Doppler radar.

IMPACT...Hazardous travel.

* This includes the following highways...

Interstate 10 between mile markers 184 and 327.

Interstate 20 between mile markers 0 and 22.

Fort Stockton, Toyah, Sheffield, Balmorhea, Terrell County Gas Plant,

Balmorhea Lake, Balmorhea State Park, Saragosa, Iraan, Fort

Stockton-Pecos County Airport, Star Mountain, Bakersfield, Girvin,

Verhalen, Sierra Madera, Toyahvale, Firestone Test Track and Iraan

Municipal Airport.

Blowing dust brings reduced visibility, leading to dangerous driving

conditions. If driving, avoid blowing dust if possible. If caught in

dense blowing dust, pull off the road, turn off your lights and keep

your foot off the brake.

western Texas.

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Today

Cloudy skies early then heavy thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low near 60F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
During its morning service, Peters Rock Family Worship Center held an annual memorial service for its late first lady Gloria Hawkins by making a contribution to the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research.

Left to right: Ecole Hanks, Mary Watson, Dr. Kim Dorsey, Shamara Love, and Judge Paula Drungole-Ellis
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The amount of legally harvested timber in Romania was 19.8 million cubic meters last year, and another almost 4 million cubic meters legally entered the country, Minister of Environment, Waters and Forestry Barna Tanczos told an online conference organized by WWF Romania on Wednesday.

"SUMAL 2.0 is an extremely complex timber tracking system developed following a lot of pressure from the civil society, at the insistence of the Environment Ministry and after a sustained effort by the Special Telecommunications System to develop what is probably the most complex functional information system in Romania today. It takes huge efforts to ensure a complex nationwide traceability system for timber harvesting or timber entering Romania from abroad and placed on the market for being introduced into the civil circuit. This amount runs in the tens of millions of cubic meters. Last year we had 19.8 million cubic meters of timber logged in Romanian forests with documents, plus another four million cubic meters entering Romania from various countries - Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and EU member states - this is the total amount legally placed on the domestic market. This system must ensure the traceability for the entire quantity, on the one hand, and on the other hand to ensure those GPS routes and documents, pictures, storage for the over 5 million approvals that are issued in a year in Romania," said Tanczos.

SUMAL 2.0 - the integrated timber traceability monitoring IT system was set into operation on January 31, 2021 under the Government's Decision No. 497/2020.

According to the Environment Ministry, more than 6.8 million queries were registered in 2021 in the Forest Inspector app, and more than 70,000 people currently use SUMAL 2.0. AGERPRES
Elena Udrea published on Wednesday, on Facebook, a message addressed to Minister Catalin Predoiu, in which she claims that Romanians "abused" by the Romanian judiciary seek "justice" in Europe, and that she has been detained for 50 days in Bulgaria because she was "illegally convicted" by the courts in our country.

"I understand, Mister Minister of Justice, that you are concerned that some Romanian citizens, abused by the judiciary you have been shepherding since 2007 (with small interruptions), are seeking justice in Europe, so in countries with much higher standards of justice than Romania. But what do you think about the abuse that is happening to me, Mister Minister? What do you think of the fact that I have been detained for 50 days in a European country, because I was illegally convicted, first by a panel of 3 judges who were not specialized and which included Florentina Dragomir, who was exercising without right the position for which she did not fulfill the oath of allegiance, then by a panel of 5 judges constituted with the serious violation of the law, and the appeal for annulment in which I requested the retrial of the case precisely as a result of this composition of the panel was rejected only in my case of all similar cases, in violation of both the Decision 685/2018 of the CCR [Constitutional Court of Romania] and the decision of the CJEU of 21.12.2021?" wrote Udrea.

The former minister added that she has not seen her daughter in two months. She also mentioned that Romanian judges give too high sentences "for a possible bribe of 25,000 euros" [referring to Sorin Oprescu - ed.n.], than for murder, kidnapping, rape and robbery.

She also said that she put "a few bricks" at the foundation of Predoiu's career and specified that she comes alone in the country, if the same law applies to her as in the case of others in her situation.

In early April, Elena Udrea left Romania before the Supreme Court upheld the 6-year prison sentence received in the Gala Bute case. She was captured in Bulgaria before crossing the border into Greece, with extradition proceedings underway.

Sorin Oprescu, Dragos Savulescu, Alina Bica, Mario Iorgulescu, Daniel Dragomir, Marian Zlotea also went to southern European countries after being convicted by Romanian courts.AGERPRES
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, on Tuesday, on the sidelines of this year's edition of the World Economic Forum, had "meetings with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova, Nicolae Popescu.

Minister Bogdan Aurescu and the two high officials from the Republic of Moldova addressed issues related to the regional situation amid the illegal military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and ways to counteract its effects on the Republic of Moldova.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy underscored that Romania will continue to provide a solid and calibrated support to the needs of the Republic of Moldova, both politically, starting with the active support of the steps for advancing the European course of the Republic of Moldova and bilaterally, through financial, material assistance and expertise transfer, shows a press release sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to AGERPRES.

On the same occasion, they also addressed issues related to the transit of goods from the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine to and through Romania, in support of efforts to combat the global food crisis exacerbated by the Russian aggression in Ukraine.

In this context, the high officials addressed the need to speed up the implementation of interconnection projects, with a focus on bridges across the Prut river. At the same time, they discussed technical issues related to the disbursement of the 10 million euro donation to Moldova recently decided by Romania. At the same time, the officials from Bucharest and Chisinau agreed on the need to speed up the implementation of the 100 million euro grant agreement, which has just entered into force, by quickly identifying the projects to be funded. AGERPRES.
Senate President Florin Citu was on a working visit to Helsinki on Tuesday in connection to Finland's NATO accession request.

"Romania supports Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO. Stronger together. Finland's NATO accession will strengthen the Alliance even more. Romania fully supports Finland's bid to join NATO. Finland's decision once again proves the importance of the Alliance and its decisive role in ensuring peace and security, especially in the current context of Russia's aggression in Ukraine," Senate President Florin Citu said during the meeting with Speaker of the Finnish Parliament Matti Vanhanen, as cited in a Senate statement.

According to the cited document, Citu commended "Finland's historic decision, which once again proves the Alliance's importance and its decisive role in ensuring peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area, including in the current security context marked by the Russian aggression against Ukraine."

Florin Citu said that "Romania relies on Finland and Sweden's support for a reinforced, coherent and unitary stance on the eastern flank from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea".

Also, the President of the Romanian Senate expressed interest in structuring bilateral cooperation around topics of common interest, such as education, economy, culture, cybersecurity, digitization, research and green technologies.

Regarding the European agenda, Citu pointed out that "Romania supports the ambitious goals set forth at EU level regarding the digital transition, a process implying considerable efforts and reforms in all economic sectors, and which should be based on balanced and equitable solutions, capable of leading to the economic development of our countries and preventing the deepening of the differences among us." AGERPRES
The Government is set to approve, on Wednesday, a normative act based on which it will take the necessary steps for Romania's withdrawal from the International Bank for Economic Co-operation.

The draft law pending approval concerns the denunciation of the Agreement concerning Multilateral Settlements in Transferable Roubles and the organization of the International Bank for Economic Co-operation, concluded in Moscow on October 22, 1963, and the Protocol signed in Moscow on December 18, 1990, modifying the Agreement concerning Multilateral Settlements in Transferable Roubles and the organization of the International Bank for Economic Co-operation, as well as the Statute of this bank.

"The Government of Romania will send the official notification of denunciation of the IBEC Agreement and of withdrawal from the bank's shareholding. The withdrawal shall become effective after six months since the notification is being submitted, according to the provisions of article 9 of the IBEC Agreement. Romania will coordinate with Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria in order to ensure a simultaneous exit from the IBEC, and to establish similar ways of exit, which will ensure adequate protection of the interests of the withdrawing Member States," reads the explanatory memorandum attached to the draft law.

Also on Wednesday, the Government will adopt a bill to denounce the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Establishment of the International Investment Bank and its Statute, signed in Moscow on July 10, 1970, and the Protocol modifying the Agreement on the Establishment of the International Investment Bank, signed on 10 July, 1970, in Moscow, opened for signature on May 8, 2014, in Havana, and signed by Romania on July 1, 2015, in Moscow.

Based on this draft, the Romanian Government will take the necessary steps to withdraw Romania from the International Investment Bank.

AGERPRES
The Government has approved three decisions on Wednesday in regards to granting emergency humanitarian aid to the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, but also Ukrainian refugees in Romania, informed the Executive spokesman, Dan Carbunaru.

"For the Republic of Moldova, Romania will grant emergency humanitarian aid, for free, in order to ensure the functionality of the energy system. In this sense, through a Government decision, it was approved to remove 130,000 liters of diesel from the State Reserve, 113,000 liters of gasoline and another 5 million liters of fuel oil, with a value of approximately 19 million RON. This is a help which will consolidate, will increase Moldova's energy security and it is Romania's solid answer to the request addressed through the means of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Romania," Carbunaru declared during a press conference at Victoria Palace.

According to him, food items will be sent to Ukraine, as well as blankets, mattresses, pillows, beds, fuel from state reserve, with a value of approximately 10 million RON, without VAT, in order to support the population that was strongly affected by the Russian military aggression.

For refugees that are in Romania following the war in Ukraine, the Government has approved to remove certain products from the state reserve and grant them as emergency humanitarian aid, for free, to the Prefecture Institution from the counties of Botosani, Suceava, Vaslui.

"Those are three of the most tried counties from the perspective of managing the humanitarian situation. (...) In this case we are also speaking of beds, blankets, mattresses, pillows, sleeping bags and also modular elements, light constructions, which will allow local authorities to set up spaces that can host the Ukrainian refugees," Carbunaru specified.AGERPRES
A team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), headed by IMF chief of mission for Romania Jan Kees Martijn, will pay a visit to Bucharest, over May 30 - June 10, for the annual assessment of the Romanian economy, known as the Consultation on Article IV, IMF regional representative for Central and Eastern Europe Nadeem Ilahi announced on Wednesday.

The IMF team will discuss with the Romanian authorities about the economic policies and developments. Meetings will be organised with Finance Ministry, National Bank of Romania and other governmental agencies officials, as well as with representatives of the private sector and NGOs, reads an IMF release sent to AGERPRES.

The IMF mission is expected to hold a press conference at the end of the visit, the same release mentions.

Romania has no ongoing funding agreement with the International Monetary Funds, nonetheless the financial institution makes an annual evaluation of the Romanian economy, based on the consultations on Article IV. AGERRES.
The Judge Section of the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) ordered on Wednesday the expulsion from magistracy, for the second time, of Judge Cristi Danilet for disciplinary offenses consisting in membership of a political formation, participation in political public activities or expressing his political convictions while exercising his job responsibilities.

Cristi Danilet can appeal the CSM decision to the Supreme Court within 15 days.

Shortly after the CSM ruling was handed down, Danilet took to Facebook to explain that he is a member of two NGOs that were critical of the ruling parties.

"Today, the CSM decided to sanction me with the expulsion from the judiciary (for the second time, after the one in December 2021 for the two TikTok videos) because:

* I am [allegedly] a member of a political formation, which is forbidden to magistrates, because I am a member of two NGOs that issued statements that were critical of the governing parties' activity, although I abstained from voting on those statements, I did not sign or share them, and although I showed that the competence for determining what a political formation is doesn't fall on the CSM but on the law, which places in this category only 'political parties', 'electoral alliances', 'political alliances' and 'NGOs representing minorities and running in elections', which is not the case here;

* I [allegedly] participated in political actions, an activity forbidden to magistrates, because I wrote a scientific article on education which was published by one of the two NGOs and because I participated in a non-public meeting of the members of one of the two NGOs declared by CSM to be a 'political formation'," Danilet said.

"For those who don't know: the two NGOs are legally established by a judge as non-governmental, apolitical and non-profit associations. One deals with legal education, the other with the promotion of European culture. No one has ever called for their abolition for having violated their own status," the judge added.

Cristi Danilet, a judge at the Cluj Tribunal, was previously expelled from magistracy by the CSM in December 2021 for his alleged social media activities, specifically for two TikTok posts Danilet argues had nothing to do with the judiciary, but with his private life.

Danilet appealed the first CSM decision in court, but the trials have been dragging on for several months now. AGERPRES
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday, at the beginning of the Government meeting, that the evaluation of the ministers will take place at the end of June and that it will take into account the completion of the 58 calls within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

The prime minister said on Wednesday it is six months since the current Executive took office, but that the activity report would be postponed as ministries are in the process of finalizing milestones and targets for the second quarter.

The head of the Government mentioned that the necessary steps are underway, so that the first application for funding can be submitted by the end of this month.

"Basically, next week, the Ministry of European Investment and Projects will send the request to Brussels. By the end of June we have the obligation to complete the 58 calls out of 69. As such, it is very important and therefore we have postponed this assessment by the end of June, because the evaluation will depend on the fulfillment of this objective, the completion of the 58 calls. It is very important to send the message of concentrating the whole activity of the Government on the achievement and completion of the whole procedural framework and the necessary mechanisms so that we can access the funds allocated by the European Union, both through the multiannual financial framework and through the PNRR," said Prime Minister Ciuca.

AGERPRES.
A military has died on Wednesday during a parachuting exercise at the Boboc Aerodrome, eastern Buzau County, the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) informs.

According to MApN, captain Cosmin Constantin Scortea, from the 71st Air Base Campia Turzii, lost his life following an accident that occurred around 14:00, during a a parachuting exercise on the Aerodrome in Boboc, more exactly during landing maneuvers.

The officer was granted first aid on site, but without any results, his death being ascertained.

"In order to determine the circumstances of the accident, the Military Prosecutor's Office was notified. Furthermore, according to legal procedures, the Air Force Defence Staff ordered an internal committee for investigations," MApN specifies.

Captain Cosmin Constantin Scortea, 38 years old, was employed with the Ministry of National Defence since 2007, has had 67 parachute jumps on record, being attested to the BG-7M parachute type. He was married and had one child.AGERPRES
President Klaus Iohannis welcomed, on Wednesday, at the Cotroceni Palace, Prince Charles of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with whom he discussed bilateral relations and the Romanian-British Strategic Partnership, the Romanian support to Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees, about solutions to limit the effects of climate change and for the conservation of biodiversity, but also about the opportunity to develop educational projects on climate change.

According to a release by the Presidential Administration, the president conveyed congratulations to His Royal Highness on the occasion of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee of Platinum.

"The President of Romania stressed the role of a binder of the bilateral relationship played by the Romanian community in the UK, well integrated and having a positive contribution in the essential sectors of the British economy and society," the source said.

As regards the serious security situation generated by Russia's aggression against Ukraine, President Klaus Iohannis informed Prince Charles about the aid granted by Romania to Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees, including the coordination, through the humanitarian hub in northeastern Suceava, of the support efforts of several states for the benefit of Ukraine.

The Presidential Administration also says that the president appreciated the dedication and involvement of the Prince of Wales in promoting biodiversity and the Romanian countryside, as well as in charitable activities in our country. In this context, President Klaus Iohannis discussed with HRH the Prince of Wales about solutions for limiting the effects of climate change and for biodiversity conservation, applicable in Romania, the United Kingdom and internationally, underlining Romania's commitment to achieving European climate change objectives.

The president stressed that the financing of green projects, afforestation of degraded land and the reconstruction of habitats are priorities set out in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, with substantial financial allocations.

President Klaus Iohannis and Prince Charles also discussed the desirability of developing education projects on climate change, aimed at increasing awareness, but also to prepare the young generations for the green jobs, available on the labour market, capable of generating sustainable economic growth.

The heir to the British Crown is having a private visit to Romania.
Prince Charles of Wales, who is on a visit to Bucharest on Wednesday, met with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca at the Victoria Palace of Government, discussing Romania's security situation against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as its green and renewable energy policies, the government said in a release.

The concerns expressed by His Royal Highness were mainly over the threat to the world food security posed by the Russian blockade of the ports of Odessa and Mykolayiv.

The visiting senior royal was also interested in Romania's green and renewable energy policies and its approach to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

"His Royal Highness recommended his Sustainable Markets Initiative as a solution to bringing together companies that have engaged in commercial activities to reduce pollution and carbon dioxide emissions," the government said.

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca gave an extensive presentation of Romania's efforts to support Ukraine in every way: taking in refugees, supporting internally displaced Ukrainian citizens and those who defend their country, supporting Ukrainian grain exports.

The head of the Bucharest government also presented an assessment of the on-site military situation in Ukraine and of the prospects and threats generated in the Black Sea region.

Nicolae Ciuca expressed Romania's openness to supporting green energy investments, especially offshore wind projects British companies are expected to invest in in the next period.

During the meeting, the Prince of Wales voiced his special appreciation for the support provided by the Romanian citizens to Ukrainian refugees, as well as for the Romanians' manifestation of solidarity and sympathy which have impressed the entire world. His Royal Highness also conveyed the appreciation enjoyed by the Romanians who live in the UK and who contribute through their work to the well-being and economic development of their adoptive communities.

In this context, Premier Ciuca underlined the importance of supporting the Romanian community in the UK by protecting their legal rights, the government release states.
Prince Charles of Wales' brief visit to Bucharest on Wednesday included meetings with President Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and Custodian of the Crown of Romania, Margareta, focusing on the Ukrainian refugee crisis and Romania's support to Ukraine amid the Russian invasion of the neighboring country.

The first item on the senior royal's public agenda was the meeting with President Klaus Iohannis, with the two discussing bilateral relations and the Romania - UK Strategic Partnership, Romania's assistance to Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees, solutions to limit the effects of climate change and preserve biodiversity, as well as the timeliness of educational projects on biodiversity and climate change.

According to the Presidential Administration, the head of the state informed the Prince of Wales about the humanitarian hub in Suceava and the coordination of support efforts from several states for Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine was a topic of discussion also during Prince Charles' meeting with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca at the Victoria Palace of Government, on which occasion His Royal Highness expressed concerns over the threat the Russian blockade of the ports of Odessa and Mykolayiv poses to the world food security.

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca gave an extensive presentation of Romania's efforts to support Ukraine in every way: taking in refugees, supporting internally displaced Ukrainian citizens and those who defend their country, supporting Ukrainian grain exports, and also presented an assessment of the on-site military situation in Ukraine and of the prospects and threats generated in the Black Sea region.

Green energy was another topic of discussion with the Romanian officials.

President Klaus Iohannis and the heir to the British Crown discussed solutions to limit the effects of climate change and preserve biodiversity applicable in Romania, the United Kingdom and internationally, emphasizing our country's commitment to achieving the European climate change goals.

The head of the state emphasized that financing for green projects, the afforestation of degraded land and the reconstruction of habitats are priorities in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, having substantial financial allocations assigned.

A related topic was the timeliness of developing climate change educational projects aimed at raising awareness, but also at preparing the younger generations for the green jobs capable of generating sustainable economic growth.

During the meeting with the Romanian Prime Minister, Prince Charles inquired about Romania's green and renewable energy policies and measures to reduce carbon dioxide footprints.

"His Royal Highness recommended his Sustainable Markets Initiative as a solution to bringing together companies that have engaged in commercial activities to reduce pollution and carbon dioxide emissions," the government said.

Nicolae Ciuca expressed Romania's openness to supporting green energy investments, especially offshore wind projects British companies are expected to invest in in the next period.

In the afternoon, Prince Charles was welcomed by the Custodian of the Crown of Romania, Margareta, and by His Royal Highness Prince Consort Radu at Elisabeta Palace.

Later in the day, Prince Charles visited the Romexpo Center for Ukrainian refugees, which provides clothing, food, baby equipment and key essentials to displaced people.

Accompanied by Crown Custodian Margareta, the Prince of Wales spoke with representatives of organizations that donate or work here, including World Vision, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, UNHCR, and representatives of the Capital City Hall.

The head of the Emergency Department Raed Arafat explained to the heir to the British Crown Romania's actions in the refugee crisis.

"The visit was short, but I think he left with a very positive idea about Romania's response overall and the support of international organizations. (...) He saw our way of handling at individual level, at the level of non-governmental organizations, at the level of local authorities," Raed Arafat explained after the departure of Prince Charles.

The Prince of Wales and Her Majesty Margareta spoke with Ukrainian refugees who fled the horrors of war, as well as with volunteers who support this effort at Romexpo. The center registers more than 1,000 Ukrainian visitors daily, who come here to stock up on basic necessities: food, hygiene products, clothing and footwear, but also for social services and counseling for their stay in Romania.

According to representatives of the Bucharest Social Assistance General Directorate, which runs the Romexpo Donation Center with the support of international and local organizations and volunteers, the number of Ukrainian refugees coming to the center has been rising steadily since the beginning of the war.

More than a million refugees have crossed into Romania from Ukraine since the beginning of the humanitarian crisis on February 24.

According to the British Embassy, His Royal Highness's visit to Romexpo is the latest of a series of engagements Charles has had in recent months in support of the Ukrainian community.

On May 18 the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall met in Ottawa, Canada, with members of the Ukrainian community at the city's Ukrainian Orthodox cathedral, and on March 2 they visited the Ukrainian Cathedral of the Holy Family in London to show their solidarity with the Ukrainian people. AGERPRES
Prince Charles of Wales, visiting Romania on Wednesday, met with Ukrainian refugees at the Romexpo Center organised in Bucharest for displaced people who flee the war in the neighboring country.

Accompanied by Custodian of the Crown of Romania, Margareta, the Prince of Wales spoke with representatives of organizations that donate or work here, including World Vision, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, UNHCR, as well as City Hall representatives.

In the refugee registration hall, head of the Emergency Department Raed Arafat explained to the heir to the British Crown Romania's actions in the refugee crisis.

Prince Charles then visited a storage room for food, toys, and pet food where several children were chasing each other and filming themselves on their phones. Seven-year-old Tatyana offered the Prince a large bouquet of flowers on behalf of the Ukrainian children. The royal visitor also received a basket with small painted wooden objects.

Tatyana's mother, Diana, is from Mykolaiv and says that she and her children have taken refuge in Romania a month and a half ago; she speaks Romanian because her father is from the Republic of Moldova. "I fled here with my four children, but without my husband," Diana said, adding that he has joined them a week and a half ago because he was exempt from conscription on ground of being a father of four.

Diana rules out going to another country and is determined to stay in Romania or return to Ukraine.

39-year old Ilona also arrived from Mykolaiv together with her two daughters, Milana - five, and Arina - 15. Their apartment in Ukraine was destroyed by shelling and she has been living in Galati for almost three months now.

At the Romexpo Center, the refugees can get various products in exchange for vouchers.

The head of the Bucharest Social Assistance General Directorate Cosmina Simian Nicolescu says that in the two and a half months since being set into operation, the center has received approximately 38,000 people, at a daily rate of 1,000, including many children under the age of three.

In the first six weeks since the start of the Romexpo donation project, products came exclusively from individual donations, but now the bulk comes from organizations. More than 120 tons of products were donated to the center, apart from clothing, but there is a high need for children's products - food for babies starting the diversification process, diapers, summer clothes.

At the center, Ukrainian citizens are also offered counseling on their stay in Romania.

"The visit was short, but I think he left with a very positive idea about Romania's response overall and the support of international organizations. (...) He saw our way of handling at individual level, at the level of non-governmental organizations, at the level of local authorities," Raed Arafat explained after the departure of Prince Charles, adding that the royal's message to the Ukrainian families had been one of "encouragement and hope that they will return home as soon as possible." AGERPRES
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  In her pursuit of South Carolina's top education job, Republican Ellen Weaver has received endorsements from a number of party leaders across the state, as well a political action committee led by one of the state's top GOP newcomers.

In a statement to The Associated Press, honorary chairman John Warren said South Carolina's Conservative Future would be backing Weaver's campaign for state education superintendent, calling the school-choice advocate by far the most qualified candidate in her knowledge, skillset, and conservative beliefs."

Weaver  the first woman to chair the state's Education Oversight Committee, a nonpartisan group of political appointees tasked with enacting standards to improve South Carolinas K-12 education system  is a lifelong conservative Republican who has fought in the trenches for school choice, Warren added.

A wealthy businessman who forced Gov. Henry McMaster into a 2018 GOP runoff, Warren launched his PAC before the 2020 election, seeking to recruit and support conservative, capable and courageous candidates for legislative races based on the conservative reform movement he posited during his gubernatorial campaign.

Claiming victory in most of the 2020 races in which it sought to play a part, the group is already supporting legislative candidates competing in South Carolina's June 14 primary elections, with plans to announce other endorsements. Warren opted not to challenge McMaster to a rematch this year, saying he would focus on his Bitcoin company, but didn't rule out politics forever.

Superintendent Molly Spearmans decision not to seek a third term set in motion a wide-open race for the states top education job, an election anticipated to garner copious attention amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic, given Spearman's high visibility as she grappled with how best to educate South Carolinas K-12 students safely.

Among six Republicans seeking the GOP nomination, Weaver has been racking up endorsements from establishment Republicans including the three sitting Republican congressmen  Jeff Duncan, Ralph Norman and William Timmons; former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, Weaver's former boss at the Palmetto Promise Institute; and more than two dozen members of the state Legislature.

Weaver also is backed by two former South Carolina education chiefs: Barbara Nielsen and Mick Zais, who also briefly served as U.S. Secretary of Education.

The Republican field shrank in April as two GOP hopefuls, activist Sheri Few and Charleston County School Board member Cindy Bohn Coats, acknowledged they lacked a master's degree  as required for the post under a 2018 change to state law  and dropped out.

Weaver also lacks a master's, but said she would earn one online through Western Governors University before the November general election. Weaver has switched to a master's in educational leadership program at Bob Jones University, a completion her campaign said this week remains on track.

Coats subsequently endorsed Weaver, while Few has backed Lexington County educator Kizzi Staley Gibson, who is also endorsed by Republican congressman Joe Wilson. The other GOP candidates are Travis Bedson, Bryan Chapman, Lynda Leventis-Wells and Kathy Maness.

The three Democrats seeking their party's nomination are teacher Lisa Ellis, state Rep. Jerry Govan, Jr., and school board member Gary Burgess, who says public dollars should not be diverted to private, parochial or religious schools. Democrats have not held an elected statewide position in South Carolina since Jim Rex won the education superintendent race in 2006.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The families of four people  including three teens  who died in a February plane crash off the North Carolina coast are suing the companies that owned the plane and employed the pilot, who also died. The suit claims the pilot failed to properly fly the single-engine plane in weather conditions with limited visibility, making the firms liable.

All eight people aboard the Pilatus PC-12/47 died when it descended into the Atlantic Ocean off the Outer Banks. Four teenagers and two adults on the plane were returning from a hunting trip. The two others were the pilot and his adult son, who was a student pilot, the suit said.

The wrongful death suit was filed Tuesday in Carteret County against EDP Management Group LLC and Green Assets, both of Wilmington, and Dillons Aviation of Greenville.

The plane took off Feb. 13 in the early afternoon from Hyde County Airport, which is on the mainland near the Pamlico Sound. The plane's destination was southwest across the sound to Beaufort, which is along the southern edge of the Outer Banks in Carteret County.

The suit alleges that pilot Ernest "Teen" Rawls failed to maintain control over the plane and improperly flew into weather conditions with limited visibility that required the use of instrumentation.

The suit also asserts that Rawls failed to maintain adequate communication with air traffic control and failed to avoid restricted military airspace, leading to an erratic and irregular flight path.

The suit alleges that Rawls improperly relied on a co-pilot with inadequate training and experience to fly around the restricted airspace and in those weather conditions. Rawls son, Jeffrey Rawls, reportedly, had 20 hours of flight experience, the suit stated.

The suit also claims that Rawls failed to conduct a proper weight and balance evaluation before taking off.

The website for Green Assets listed Hunter Parks, one of the people who died in the crash, as its founder and chairman. His family is not among those who sued. A company spokesman released a statement that said it could not comment on the suit.

There is not a day that goes by that we do not feel the sadness of this tragedy," the statement said. "Our hearts remain with all families and friends who have been impacted by this incident. And because this is active litigation and that the facts of the incident are still unknown, we are unable to comment on the specifics of the complaint at this time.

Email and phone messages seeking comment from Dillons Aviation and EDP Management Group were not immediately returned.

In late February, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary accident report that the pilot had made no distress calls and no declarations of an emergency.

The airplane had reached 4,700 feet (1,430 meters) and was climbing quickly, the NTSB's report stated. There was no response to calls from an air traffic controller, and radar contact was lost.

A final report from the NTSB has not been issued.

Andrew Robb, a Kansas City-based aviation attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the four families, said by phone that the plane's lack of distress calls and climbing altitude were hallmarks of a pilot becoming spatially disoriented.

If there was a problem with the mechanics or the electronics or something on that airplane that caused this 3,000-foot ascent, you would think that the pilot would have made some kind of communication, Robb said.

The lawsuit was filed by the families of passengers Noah Styron, 15; Michael Shepherd, 15; Jacob Taylor, 16; and Stephanie Fulcher, 42.

Others who were onboard included Parks, 45, and Jonathan Kole McInnis, 15.

Rawls and his son lived in Greenville, authorities said in February. Fulcher, Parks and the four teens lived in Carteret County. The mostly rural county is home to older fishing villages as well as touristy areas that include Emerald Isle and Cape Lookout National Seashore.

The four teenagers went to East Carteret High School, which has about 600 students.

Charlie Snow, a close friend of the pilot, told The Associated Press in February that Rawls had previously flown for Snows company, Outer Banks Airlines, and was highly trained and extremely capable.

If anybody could get out of something, if it was possible to get out of it, he could have done it, Snow said.

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NEW YORK (AP)  A man accused of randomly murdering a fellow passenger on a New York City subway train made his first appearance in court Wednesday, where his lawyer urged the judge and the public not to rush to judgment.

Andrew Abdullah, 25, was ordered held without bail in the death of Daniel Enriquez, 48, who was shot on his way to Sunday brunch in Manhattan.

The gunman wore a hooded sweatshirt and a mask that concealed his face, but police said they used security cameras to track the killer after he fled the station, including footage that showed him shedding the clothing that initially hid his identity.

Abdullah's lawyer, though, said in court that five of six witnesses brought to a police lineup could not identify him as the shooter.

Tensions are running high right now in the city and this is the time to make sure our civil liberties are protected even more, said Kristin Bruan, the Legal Aid Society attorney who represented Abdullah at his first court appearance.

Bruan said her client has been "cooperating fully" and had been in "constant communication with authorities as soon as he learned he was being sought.

Throughout the court appearance, Abdullah looked ahead as he stood in blue sweatpants, a gray t-shirt and with a white mask with his hands handcuffed behind him. He was led away immediately after the hearing ended. The next court date was set for this coming Wednesday.

The shooting, which witnesses told police appeared to be unprovoked, came amid a disturbing rash of gun violence in which people have targeted strangers.

Last month, a man who authorities said had traveled from Philadelphia shot 10 people on a subway train in Brooklyn. On May 14 police say a gunman motivated by racial hatred killed 10 Black shoppers and workers at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

News of the mass shootings in New York was quickly overshadowed by another attack that killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas.

A prosecutor, Nicole Blumberg, described Abdullah as a man with a long history of violent crimes who pulled out a loaded handgun on Sunday as he paced the last car of a Q line train heading from Brooklyn to Manhattan and fired one shot at the center of Daniel Enriquezs body.

She said the other passengers scattered to the sides of the subway car, praying for the life of their fellow passenger and hoping they would not be the next victim.

Blumberg said that after killing an innocent man, Abdullah told the other passengers to put their cell phones away and that they would be getting off at the next station.

The prosecutor said Abdullah fled the train after it pulled into Manhattans Canal Street station, handing his gun to a stranger on the subway stairs. The gun was later recovered by police.

Abdullah's lawyer, Bruan, said she plans to make a bail application at a later date. She said there were flaws in the way the lineup was conducted. Besides the fact that five of six witnesses could not identify Abdullah at all, the lone person who could said that Abdullah was wearing a hat during the attack, the lawyer said.

Authorities have outlined other evidence. Abdullah was stopped by police as he left the area around the station and showed his identification, but was allowed to leave because he wasn't then wearing the hooded sweatshirt witnesses had described, officials have said.

Enriquez worked for the global investment research division at Goldman Sachs and lived in Brooklyn.

Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Workers digging through the rubble of an apartment building in Mariupol found 200 bodies in the basement, Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday, as more horrors come to light in the ruined city that has seen some of the worst suffering of the 3-month-old war.

The bodies were decomposing and the stench hung over the neighborhood, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor. He did not say when they were discovered, but the sheer number of victims makes it one of the deadliest known attacks of the war.

Heavy fighting, meanwhile, was reported in the Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland that Moscows forces are intent on seizing. Russian troops took over an industrial town that hosts a thermal power station, and intensified efforts to encircle and capture Sievierodonetsk and other cities.

Twelve people were killed by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region of the Donbas, according to the regional governor. And the governor of the Luhansk region of the Donbas said the area is facing its most difficult time in the eight years since separatist fighting erupted there.

The Russians are advancing in all directions at the same time. They brought over an insane number of fighters and equipment," the governor, Serhii Haidai, wrote on Telegram. The invaders are killing our cities, destroying everything around. He added that Luhansk is becoming like Mariupol.

Mariupol was relentlessly pounded during a nearly three-month siege that ended last week after some 2,500 Ukrainian fighters abandoned a steel plant where they had made their stand. Russian forces already held the rest of the city, where an estimated 100,000 people remain out a prewar population of 450,000, many of them trapped during the encirclement with little food, water, heat or electricity.

At least 21,000 people were killed in the siege, according to Ukrainian authorities, who have accused Russia of trying to cover up the horrors by bringing in mobile cremation equipment and by burying the dead in mass graves.

During the assault on Mariupol, Russian airstrikes hit a maternity hospital and a theater where civilians were taking shelter. An Associated Press investigation found that close to 600 people died in the theater attack, double the figure estimated by Ukrainian authorities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russians of waging total war and seeking to inflict as much death and destruction as possible on his country.

Indeed, there has not been such a war on the European continent for 77 years, Zelensky said, referring to end of World War II.

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for eight years and hold large swaths of territory. Sievierodonetsk and neighboring cities are the only part of the Donbas Luhansk region still under Ukrainian government control.

Russian forces have achieved some localized successes despite strong Ukrainian resistance along dug-in positions, British military authorities said.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces in the region are facing a difficult situation.

Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there, Zelenskyy said late Tuesday in his nightly address to the nation. Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk  the occupiers want to destroy everything there.

In the Donetsk region, Moscows troops took over the industrial town of Svitlodarsk, which hosts a thermal power station and had a prewar population of about 11,000, and raised the Russian flag there.

They have now hung their rag on the local administration building, Serhii Goshko, the head of the local Ukrainian military administration, told Ukraines Vilny Radio, in a reference to the Russian flag. Goshko said armed units were patrolling Svitlodarsks streets, checking residents documents.

Russian troops also shelled the eastern city of Slovyansk with cluster munitions, hitting a private building, according to Mayor Vadym Lyakh. He said casualties were avoided because many people had already left their homes, and he urged the remaining residents to evacuate west. Heavy fighting was also underway in the city of Lyman.

Amid the fighting, two top Russian officials appeared to acknowledge that Moscows advance has been slower than expected, though they vowed the offensive would achieve its goals.

Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russias Security Council. said the Russian government is not chasing deadlines. And Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of a Russia-led security alliance of former Soviet states that Moscow is deliberately slowing down its offensive to allow residents of encircled cities to evacuate  though forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets.

Hours later, Zelenskyy mocked Shoigu's assertion.

Well, after three months of searching for an explanation for why they were unable to break Ukraine in three days, they couldnt think of anything better than to say thats what they planned, he said in his video address.

Russian officials also announced that Moscows forces had finished clearing mines from the waters off Mariupol and that a safe corridor will open Wednesday for the exit of as many as 70 foreign ships from Ukraines southern coast.

In Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, there were signs of recovery after weeks of bombardment. Residents formed long lines to receive rations of flour, pasta, sugar and others staples this week. Moscows forces withdrew from around Kharkiv earlier this month, pulling back toward the Russian border in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks, though Russia continues to shell the area from afar, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

Galina Kolembed, the aid distribution center coordinator, said that more and more people are returning to the city. Kolembed said the center is providing food to over 1,000 people every day, a number that keeps growing.

Many of them have small kids, and they spend their money on the kids, so they need some support with food, she said.

Meanwhile, the wife of the top commander who held out inside the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol said Tuesday that she had a brief telephone conversation with her husband, who surrendered to the Russians and was taken prisoner last week.

Kateryna Prokopenko, who is married to Azov Regiment leader Denys Prokopenko, said the call broke off before he could say anything about himself.

She said the call was made possible under an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by the Red Cross.

Prokopenko and Yuliia Fedosiuk, the wife of another soldier, said several families received calls in the past two days. The women said they are hopeful the soldiers will not be tortured and will eventually come back home.

Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Moscow-backed separatists in the Donetsk region, told the Russian Interfax agency that preparations are underway for a trial of captured Ukrainian soldiers, including the Mariupol defenders.

Becatoros reported from Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Danica Kirka in London and other AP staffers around the world contributed.

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

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CHESTERFIELD  Local builder McBride Homes has reached a $16.5 million settlement with more than 200 former members of its employee ownership program.

A lawsuit filed in 2018 accused the Chesterfield-based home builders and the employee ownership trustee of an elaborate plan that restructured the company, awarded shares to executives  including CEO John F. Eilermann Jr. and former Chief Financial Officer Michael Arri  diluted employee ownership, and then bought out employees for below market value.

Attorneys for McBride argued they acted in the best interest of all the employees and that shares were purchased for fair value.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Illinois, the home state of GreatBanc, the trustee, gave initial approval to the settlement, which will reimburse employee shareholders based on their stock in the company. Most of the 207 members were scheduled to receive between $1,000 and $50,000 each. Eight would receive $250,000 or more each, according to court documents.

McBride Homes has built more than 35,000 new houses primarily in St. Louis and St. Charles counties in its 75 years in business, according to the companys website.

The company and an attorney for the employees both declined to comment.

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OLIVETTE  Residents spent weeks railing against plans for a new medical marijuana farm here. They got what they wanted Tuesday night.

Proper Cannabis CEO John Pennington said his firm had withdrawn its plans to set up in an old warehouse and would seek facilities elsewhere.

These are projects that we dont want to force, Pennington told the Post-Dispatch. We feel like we could have built a great project here, but weve got to consider voices and opinion.

Proper Cannabis had hoped to transform the old Southern Comfort warehouse at 1220 North Price Road into its second cultivation facility in the region, adding to its first in Rock Hill. The finished product would have had more than 30,000 square feet dedicated to growing, harvesting and packaging bud for dispensaries across the state. Proper Cannabis expected to hire around 100 people to work there.

But the company ran into a buzzsaw at a City Council meeting two weeks ago. Dozens of residents showed up to pillory the project, saying it would unleash noxious odors on nearby homes, threaten residents health and tank their property values.

Council members responded by postponing a vote to approve a permit for the facility. Then last week, they began looking at rewriting zoning rules in a way that would have allowed them to block it.

The development marks the second time this year that medical marijuana firms have run into trouble in the St. Louis suburbs. Business owners in Des Peres spent weeks unsuccessfully trying to fight a new dispensary set to go in there.

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On May 25, 1986, a melting pot of Midwesterners from mayors and movie stars to the children of the Inner city and the farmers of the Mississippi Valley joined hands through Illinois and Missouri in Hands Across America, a national effort to focus attention on the hungry and homeless.

In spite of yawning gaps along the human chain in Missouri and Illinois, organizers called the event an unqualified success.

William Fleming, Missouri project director for the event, estimated that 220,000 people had taken part in the 170-mile Missouri line. In the more densely populated areas of the route such as In the St. Louis metropolitan area lines were sometimes several people deep. But In rural areas, clusters of only several dozen people stood in front of their businesses and homes with their hands linked.

In downtown St. Louis, several thousand people some with tears streaking their cheeks clasped hands down Market Street toward the riverfront in a line that looped around the Gateway Arch. Participants scrambled to squeeze Into the line as organizers called last-minute Instructions over a loudspeaker beneath the Arch. As participants held their arms In the air and sang, staff workers released 4,126 red, white and blue balloons into the hazy sky over the Arch one for each mile along the route.

"This is St. Louis' gift to the national line," said Jim Gladwin, director of logistics and planning for the Missouri project. Jerry Strickland, a 12-year-old seventh grader from Oakville Junior High School, broke out of the line and ran through the Arch grounds carrying a large American flag.

"It was just the greatest feeling in the world," Strickland said.

National Organizers for the event said they needed more than 5 million people to form the chain and hoped to raise $50 million or more for the hungry and the homeless.

Despite frantic work up to the final minute, not all the gaps were closed by 2 p.m. (St. Louis time) when the line formed.

Based on estimates about 4.9 million people participated across the nation.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australias new government has urged China to lift trade sanctions if it wants to reset a bilateral relationship that plumbed new depths under the previous administration.

The Chinese premiers congratulatory letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his election victory was widely seen as a relaxation of Beijings two-year ban on high-level government contact with Australia. Premier Li Keqiang said China was ready to work with Australia to development the bilateral relationship.

But Albanese said it was China, not Australia, that had changed since his center-left Labor Party was last in power in 2013.

China has created a series of official and unofficial trade barriers in recent years to a range of Australian exports worth billions of dollars including coal, wine, barley, beef and seafood.

It is China that has placed sanctions on Australia, Albanese told reporters Tuesday at a Tokyo summit that he attended with President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

There is no justification for doing that and thats why they should be removed, Albanese added.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers also called for China to immediately lift trade barriers between the free-trade partners.

We would certainly like to see those sanctions and those tariffs lifted. They are damaging our economy. They are making life harder for some of our employers and workers here in Australia and so obviously we would like to see those measures lifted, Chalmers said on Wednesday.

China has announced its Foreign Minister Wang Yi would soon visit the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor in a 10-day trip.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong was expected to fly to Fiji on Thursday, a day after returning to Sydney from Japan as the new government hastens to counter Chinese influence in the South Pacific, The Australian newspaper reported. Wong's office did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

Before Albanese and Wong boarded a plane to return to Australia from Tokyo, he thanked Australian voters who, in Saturdays election, gave him the extraordinary honor of representing Australia at important international forums.

I will always act with integrity. I will always act with honesty in my dealings with other leaders and our friends and partners, Albanese said, in comments that could be aimed at his predecessor, Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

During a National Press Club speech last week, Albanese blamed Morrison for damaging relationships with other countries.

He said Morrison misled the United States that Labor supported a secret plan to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered with U.S. nuclear technology. In fact, Albanese's party wasnt told of the plan until the day before it was announced in September.

Albanese also accused Morrison of leaking to the media personal text messages from Emmanuel Macron to discredit the French presidents complaint that Australia had given no warning that a French submarine contract would be canceled. Macron also accused Morrison of lying to him, and French Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault described the leak as a warning to other world leaders that the Australian government could weaponize their private communications.

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Joe Holleman Joe Holleman is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Joe Holleman Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

"St. Louis On The Air," the noon talk show on NPR-affiliated KWMU (90.7 FM) is looking for a new host.

Sarah Fenske will ankle the station on June 22 after almost three years as the show's moderator.

In social media posts, Fenske said she will return to print media as executive editor for Euclid Media, a chain of free weekly newspapers that includes the Riverfront Times. Prior to joining KWMU, Fenske spent four years as editor-in-chief of the RFT.

The Riverfront Times was founded in 1977 by Ray Hartmann, who along with co-owner Mark Vittert, sold the newspaper in 1998 to New Times Media. That company was sold in 2006 to Village Voice Media, and then to Euclid Media in 2015.

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LINCOLN COUNTY  Police on Wednesday were investigating an apparent murder-suicide in a rural area outside of Troy, Missouri.

Lincoln County deputies said they were called around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to the 100 block of Chappel Hill Drive, just west of Troy.

Inside the home they found two adults dead with apparent gunshot wounds, police said.

Investigators said there was evidence it was a murder-suicide and they are not looking for additional suspects.
ST. LOUIS  A man was assaulted downtown Tuesday afternoon, and fired a shot from his gun, as he and a woman were walking near the 700 block of Market Street, police said.

The man and the woman were walking in the vicinity of Ballpark Village around 4 p.m., just a few hours before a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium, when two men in a vehicle pulled up nearby, got out and began assaulting the man on the sidewalk, said St. Louis police Lt. Donna Garrett.

The man who was attacked had a gun, and managed to fire a shot that did not strike anyone, Garrett said. The men who had attacked him then took the gun and beat up the man before fleeing, police said.

The man was treated at the scene before being taken away on a stretcher. No other details were available on the incident.

Downtown crime has been a topic of concern among city officials, residents and businesses in recent months.

Authorities announced Monday that rentable electric scooter companies would shut down the service in the downtown area at 7 p.m. after police said there have been large crowds of young people on the scooters disrupting general safety in recent weekends.

In another effort to control seasonal crowds, city police in April announced increased patrols between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays downtown. To curb cruising and riverfront congestion, the city also began closing Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard at 7 p.m.

Taylor Tiamoyo Harris of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
JEFFERSON CITY  In Missouri, funding for school safety programs has been on a roller coaster in recent years.

In 2020, as part of a response to the growing economic havoc in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Mike Parson slashed $450 million from the budget, including $300,000 for a school safety program.

The money was eventually restored, but the reduction put Missouri dead last in terms of spending on school safety, which aims to prepare schools for active shooters, sexual predators and other threats to children.

In 2021, the state funded the program at $300,000.

And in the states upcoming budget, lawmakers have added to the pot, putting $1 million toward the Missouri Center for Education Safety, which is operated by the Missouri School Boards Association  a $700,000 increase.

Were hopeful it gets signed by the governor, MSBA Executive Director Melissa Randol said Wednesday.

The added money will help the center expand its training for school safety in school districts and will put an added focus on counseling programs that could help prevent shootings from occurring in the first place.

Its a move in the right direction, Randol said, citing the deadly shooting Tuesday at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. This tragedy reminds us again we have to make this a priority.

There also is language in the budget for the Department of Public Safety to launch a program giving police the ability to be alerted if an armed intruder is in a school building.

In 2019, Parson released a blueprint for improving safety in Missouri schools that was the work of a special task force convened by the governor in the wake of the 2018 mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The task force called for every school to have an armed law enforcement officer. The panel also recommended the state offer a set of standards for conducting drills and exercises.

Often drills are conducted without a clear understanding by all parties involved of what is being tested or evaluated, and little to no documentation of the results to help correct deficiencies, the report said.

Hotline, drills

The state asks that any threat to life at school or on a school bus  including physical assault, planned school attacks and human trafficking  be reported to the Courage2ReportMO hotline.

The hotline accepts confidential tips for public and private schools.

Its phone number is 1-866-748-7047. Reports can also be made online.

Mike OConnell, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said that between Aug. 1 and Tuesday, the hotline had received 743 reports.

Because its a 24/7 answering point, reports are addressed immediately and can be sent to law enforcement, school personnel, etc., OConnell said.

We cannot stress enough the importance of students, school personnel and families making a report when they see or hear concerning behavior, and Courage 2 Report ... does just that, said Mallory McGowin, spokeswoman for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

OConnell added upon request, a Patrol trooper will conduct random walk- throughs at any school, he said, adding that in 2019, the patrol conducted 2,509 walk-throughs.

Missouri State Highway Patrol provides active shooter training for any organization, including schools, upon request, he said.

Updated at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 25.

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Kurt Erickson Kurt Erickson is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Follow Kurt Erickson 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
JEFFERSON CITY  In a sign of how closely Missouri politics and the states gun culture are tied, the use of deadly weapons as a campaign tool extends further than the stock pictures of candidates shooting guns.

According to state campaign finance records, Missouri politicians spent more than $34,000 over the past five years buying guns to give away as campaign fundraising items.

Records show politicians may be on pace to set a record this year. Through the first three months of 2022, candidates for office have spent $7,687 on firearms for raffles, putting them on pace to overtake 2014, when $20,485 was spent in the entire year.

In my area, everybody likes guns. Anytime you go to anywhere theres always a gun to be won. Its always been just common, Rep. Andrew McDaniel, R-Deering, earlier told the Post-Dispatch.

The Bootheel-area lawmaker once introduced legislation requiring everyone in the state between the ages of 18 and 35 to own an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. He later said it was aimed at baiting gun control advocates, and the measure never moved forward.

The spending on firearms comes as the nation is again grappling with the horror of a mass shooter taking innocent lives. The latest incident in Uvalde, Texas, left 19 children and two teachers dead.

Unlike prior years, Missouris GOP-controlled Legislature did not send any significant gun-related legislation to Republican Gov. Mike Parson during their annual session.

But in recent years, the Republican super majority has loosened restrictions on gun ownership, as well as passed a law allowing people to sue local law enforcement if they believe police have interfered with their Second Amendment rights.

The measure, called the Second Amendment Preservation Act, was signed by Gov. Mike Parson at a gun store last year.

Pro-gun forces unsuccessfully pushed legislation this spring that would have expanded the use of deadly force. Opponents, include local prosecutors, called it the Make Murder Legal Act.

They also failed again to get legislation across the finish line that would allow people to carry concealed weapons in churches and on public transit.

Both items are expected to be back before the Legislature next year.

Among state lawmakers who have held gun raffles is Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, who wrote a campaign check for $1,747 for guns for future fundraisers.

Basye is term limited and cannot seek another term in the House.

In 2021, Rep. Barry Hovis, R-Whitewater, spent $1,600 on firearms for raffles.

Not all of the spending was for a gun purchase. Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Norwood, spent $120 in 2020 to buy a membership at a gun club in order to do a photo shoot for a campaign ad.

Rep. Tony Lovasco, R-OFallon, reported spending $25 in 2018 to purchase a table at a gun show in Wentzville.

Former Gov. Eric Greitens, who is now running for U.S. Senate, made waves in his 2016 bid for office by blasting away on a military-style machine gun as part of his branding as a pro-gun former Navy Seal.

Six years and a resignation from office later, Greitens is again using guns as a campaign tool.

In late April, Greitens released a video of himself and Donald Trump Jr. shooting guns at an outdoor range.

The video was titled: Striking fear into the hearts of liberals, RINOs, and the fake media.

Originally posted at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, May 25.

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ST. LOUIS  Different life experiences motivated a crowded field of people to run for Missouris open seat in the U.S. Senate.

For personal injury attorney Mark McCloskey, he said God nudged him by forming the angry mob outside his Central West End mansion in 2020. He and his wife, Patricia, were subsequently catapulted into right-wing heroism for brandishing firearms in defense.

For C.W. Gardner, a condo tower doorman who also lives and works in the Central West End, it was seeing McCloskeys early campaign ad. The one where McCloskey, driving a green tractor on the farm, vows never to back down. At formal appearances, he wears suits and cowboy boots.

If thats all it takes for you to run, I guess I can too, said Gardner, 42. I would even add that his cowboy boots dont have scuffs on them. That tells you a lot.

True, Eric Greitens, running at the front end of the pack in the Senate race, has broken his boots in since he also lived in the neighborhood. But Greitens was accused of tying up his hairdresser in the basement, taking a naked picture against her will. He later quit as governor in disgrace.

The Central West End hasnt been sending their best, as of late, Gardner said.

Rather than just complain, Gardner, who grew up in Florissant and OFallon, pieced together a campaign of his own. He says hes a populist who wants to invest in each person. Hes not accepting donations so he cant be be bought (and wont have to mess with the paperwork).

A knack for production, homespun videos and pictures cast Gardner in a Western theme. In one, he stands in front of a barn stock photo. A bald eagle, cut and pasted from the internet, appears to fly overhead.

Hes going as C.W. instead of his real first name, Christopher. Hes grown a formidable mustache.

I like to think that it polls well in St. Francois County, he said.

An eccentric friend volunteered to be campaign manager and, since Gardner doesnt have a license anymore, drive him to Jefferson City on Feb. 22. He wanted to be among the first to formally register as a candidate with the secretary of state.

Gardner considered running as an independent. That requires enough shoe leather to garner 10,000 signatures. Instead, he donned a blue turtleneck, sport coat and black cowboy boots on registration day. He sauntered up to the Republican desk, paid the $500 entry fee in cash. Quickly moving on to another step in the process, he drew a random number to designate where his name will be on the Republican ballot.

As of Tuesday, the deadline to certify ballots, there were 34 candidates in the primary. They are vying to occupy the seat U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, is vacating after serving three six-year terms in Washington. There are 11 Democrats, 21 Republicans, one Libertarian and one Constitution candidate. Officials said its the largest U.S. Senate primary in at least a generation of Missouri elections.

The Aug. 2 primary will winnow the pack to one candidate per party. Former U.S. Sen. John Danforth last week reiterated that he expects a formidable independent candidate to announce soon. Petitions for new party or independent candidate nominations must be submitted by Aug. 1 to be in the Nov. 8 general election.

Gardner is officially among the herd of Republicans, barring a court order to remove his name from the ballot at this point.

Thats where the circus is, he said. I enjoy that kind of chaos, and illuminating who these people actually are.

At least one elections clerk isnt amused.

I can understand the cynicism, but they dont appreciate the collateral damage when they just run on a whim like that, said Pam Grow, Phelps County clerk. Its just one more thing to pile on the back of the local election authority.

She estimated hours, if not days, of extra preparatory work to ensure ballot machines work properly for so many candidates. It may be a challenge to fit all the candidates from each party on the same side of the paper ballot.

Steve Korsmeyer, Cole County clerk, said the high number of candidates this time around reminded him of the March 2020 presidential primary. There were 22 Democrats on the ballot, so many that separate debates were held. Before that, in 2016, the late Chief Wana Dubie, of Dent County, garnered headlines for seeking to replace Blunt in the Senate.

Everybody has a right to run and everybody has a right to vote, Korsmeyer said. Its just part of the process. We are just administrators.

RINOs in the herd

By most accounts, another Republican stands the best chance of joining Josh Hawley in Washington as the junior U.S. senator from Missouri. Other than a few blotches of blue in urban areas, the Show-Me State has become deep red, when it comes to picking political candidates.

Even still, 21 Republicans signing up for the primary is a lot of candidates, said Ken Warren, the most seasoned political scientist in the St. Louis region.

On the other hand, so many of them stand no chance of winning, he said. Honestly, you dont even pay attention to them. You discount them.

According to polling data hes studied, Warren said only three of the GOP contenders are viable: Greitens, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler. Warren described U.S. Rep. Billy Long, an auctioneer from Springfield, as credible, though hes not polling well, even if he did invent the phrase Trump train.

All three of those candidates have played up to Trump, who poses a clear threat to the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law as we have known it in the United States for over 200 years, Warren said. All my life I have studied Congress and the presidency. I have never seen what has evolved since 2016.

Courts have made it clear that Joe Biden beat Trump in the last presidential election. Yet on Jan. 6, Trump loyalists violently stormed the U.S. Capitol. Lawmakers like Hawley, Hartzler and Long voted not to certify the election results.

Although comments like legitimate rape buried politicians such as Todd Akin, the former congressman who ran in 2012 for U.S. Senate in Missouri, Trump seems to have an omnipotent shield. He mocked a disabled reporter. He called the late Republican Sen. John McCain from Arizona, who spent several years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, a loser. He disparaged women, minorities and immigrants.

It doesnt matter what he does and he gets away with it, Warren said. Leading Republicans in the Senate race have bought into it. No Republican is willing to speak out against Trump. As they see it, it would end their careers.

The key word is leading Republican candidate. And perhaps RINO, which stands for Republican in name only. To differentiate himself, Greitens, a former Democrat, often bombs his competition by calling them RINOs. He refused to join the statewide GOP Lincoln Days festivities earlier this year because there were too many RINOs. Greitens preferred to get in front of a cross-country trucker convoy.

But its further back in the herd of Republican candidates where RINOs seem to be running hardest, out in the open.

Going big

Patrick A. Lewis, of tiny Wellsville, drew the lowest number on registration day, a stroke of luck that will put his name at the top of the list on the Republican primary ballot.

Go big or go home, the union laborer told the Montgomery Standard, about running. What makes an electrician qualified when they first start? They dont know anything about it. But they learn the job as they progress into it. Thats how I am looking at it.

Lewis told the Standard that he wanted to keep Missouri from becoming a right to work state, a sentiment that Missouri voters widely supported by rejecting Prop A so unions and higher wages would be protected, a position traditionally owned by Democrats.

Gardner, the doorman from the Central West End on the Republican ballot, calls out Trump.

Hes a coward, and I think hes pathetic, said Gardner. The candidates in this race that follow him are the same.

Gardner went so far as to agree with some of what Democrat Lucas Kunce has to say. Kunce has raised $3.3 million for his Senate campaign, the most of any of the 34 candidates so far, according to the Federal Election Commission. Kunce, a former Marine officer, posts pointed comments about monopolies and the need to make more goods in the U.S.

I am for that, said Gardner, yet he wanted Kunce to note the added costs. Say you have to subsidize that.

From his own side of the ballot, Gardner said leaders are playing dress-up.

There are no ideas behind the people. They really dont have solutions, he said. Eric Schmitt, his solution is to put on cowboy boots, even though hes a DeSmet grad who lives in Glendale.

It wont take opposition researchers long to find some dirt on Gardner. He had several DUIs, served brief jail time and house arrest.

I look at it as a story of redemption, Gardner said. Those mistakes were made. I cant ignore them. I have taken the only step possible to not let that happen again, and that is to not drink.

Gardner said hes been sober nearly nine years, a comment verified by a close friend. Instead of chasing vodka with bourbon, he sucks down menthols. His leading policy plan is pot for potholes, which would use federal tax dollars from marijuana sales to fix holes in the road.

He said hes running for Senate for fun and with a tinge of seriousness. He foresees losing big.

I should probably start saying its rigged now to get the issue rolling, said Gardner, sarcastic smile bigger than his mustache.

Posted online at 7 a.m. Wednesday, May 25.

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JEFFERSON CITY  Democrats running for U.S. Senate in Missouri said Wednesday theyd support ending the filibuster to approve firearms regulations in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday.

Id vote to end the filibuster so we can actually pass universal background checks and keep weapons of war ... out of the hands of people who want to kill our children and turn our schools into war zones, Lucas Kunce, Democrat for U.S. Senate, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Trudy Busch Valentine, another candidate running in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary, echoed Kunces position in a statement: The American people overwhelmingly support commonsense gun legislation: universal background checks, closing loopholes, and restricting the sale of military-style assault weapons ....

In the Senate I will be a leader on this issue and will support efforts to end the filibuster in order to pass meaningful gun legislation, she said.

Ending the filibuster means changing a U.S. Senate rule that requires 60 votes to end debate, a rule that effectively gives the minority the power to stall or kill legislation. Without that rule, Democrats could, at least in theory, pass laws in the current Congress without any Republican support. The U.S. Senate currently is split between 50 Democrats and Independents and 50 Republicans. Because Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, can vote to break ties in the Senate, Democrats currently have an advantage.

Kunce and Busch Valentines comments followed expressions of sympathy Tuesday following the Texas school shooting, which killed at least 21 people, including 19 children.

Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, on Tuesday said he and first lady Teresa Parson are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic news out of Uvalde, Texas. We are praying for the victims families and friends and that they may find strength and peace in such a difficult time.

Kelli Jones, spokeswoman for Parson, did not immediately respond to questions about what Parson was doing to prevent mass shootings in Missouri and whether more needed to be done.

Republican candidates for Senate didnt mention restrictions on firearms when asked what they would do, if elected, to prevent mass shootings.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, said the candidate recently introduced the Police Officers Protecting Children Act, which would allow off-duty and retired law enforcement officers to carry a concealed firearm while in a school zone if a local school passes a policy allowing it.

This added layer of security for schoolchildren is important in rural areas because it allows for a quicker response to help local law enforcement, Dallas Ernst, Hartzlers campaign spokesman, said.

We also need to do more to instill in our kids a culture that values and respects life, he said.

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, another Republican Senate candidate, said in a statement that he and his family were praying for the victims and their families.

We as a society are too quick to judge, blame and divide, Schatz said. Sadly, yesterdays shooting serves as a reminder of that brokenness. We must recommit as a country to addressing the mental health crisis that is far too familiar.

He said in the state Senate, we have significantly increased funding for mental health and I would advocate for additional federal funding until we get people battling mental health the resources they need.

Schatz said he also supported making schools as safe as they possibly can be.

Former Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican who is also running for Senate, didnt say how he would prevent mass shootings if elected.

It is shocking youd want to talk about politics at this time, said an unsigned statement from his campaigns media email account.

The urgent need right now is to provide care for those who have been injured by this horrific act, the statement said. I urge everyone to donate blood and/or funds to South Texas Blood & Tissue, University Health in San Antonio, and First State Bank of Uvalde.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt, St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey and U.S. Rep. Billy Long did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday about what they would do to prevent mass shootings.ReactionAbsolutely heartbreaking news out of Uvalde, Texas, Greitens tweeted on Tuesday. An unthinkable act of evil carried out against innocent children & teachers. May God provide their families with peace and strength in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

Missouri & the nation are grieving with Texas tonight, Greitens said.

Hartzler also expressed sympathy on social media Tuesday.

Todays horrific and senseless tragedy in Texas is simply pure evil, she said. These victims were elementary students, a teacher, and a grandmother. Lowell and I  alongside the entire state of Missouri  are praying for all those lost and their loved ones.

Busch Valentine issued a statement on Twitter on Tuesday.

I was blessed with a new grandson today. It is unimaginable to me that he, or any child in America, has to fear dying from gun violence, she said. Im heartbroken for those who lost their children today in Uvalde, TX. I will fight with everything in me to bring an end to this violence.

I shouldnt have to tell my kids that their classroom could become a war zone at a moments notice. This is a choice, Kunce said on Twitter.

May God give comfort to all those grieving unspeakable loss today, Schmitt tweeted on Wednesday.

Updated at 2:41 p.m. Wednesday.

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Following the slaying of at least 19 students and two adults at a Texas elementary school, gun violence and Chicago crime became the dominant issues Tuesday in dueling televised debates among the six men seeking Illinois Republican governor nomination.

State Sen. Darren Bailey of downstate Xenia called Chicago a crime-ridden, corrupt, dysfunctional hellhole when asked about gun violence.

Lets just call it what it is, said Bailey, who once co-sponsored legislation to split Chicago from the rest of the state. And no one knows that better than the friends and the people that live in Chicago. Somethings wrong. City leaders, they hate the police.

Baileys comments were made at a debate where he appeared alongside businessman Gary Rabine of Bull Valley and cryptocurrency venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan. They came right after a separate televised forum that featured Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, Paul Schimpf of Waterloo, a former state senator, and Max Solomon, a lawyer from Hazel Crest.

Irvin called the Texas school shooting a horrific act.

We need to make sure we support our police and we support our neighbors and our families and our friends and these schoolchildren that we dont allow weapons to get in the hands of criminals and those with mental illnesses, Irvin said.

I believe in the Second Amendment, but I believe background checks are very necessary, Irvin said, adding the states Firearm Owners Identification card, or FOID, law for gun owners was broken and definitely needs to be fixed.

But Schimpf said no additional gun laws were needed. Instead, he said, We need to enforce the gun laws that we have. We need to enforce the background checks. But we need to get rid of the FOID.

Irvin, Schimpf and Solomon appeared at 6 p.m. in a forum hosted by Chicagos WMAQ (Channel 5) and Telemundo. An hour later, Bailey, Rabine and Sullivan appeared for an hour on WGN (Channel 9) All six are vying for the June 28 GOP primary nomination for governor and the right to take on first-term Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Nov. 8.

The split debates, which prevented questioning among the full field, allowed the three candidates on WGN to attack Irvin in absentia for spending millions of dollars on TV ads and mailers that question their Republican loyalties.

Bailey bemoaned the Aurora mayors absence and labeled him a mini-Mike Madigan, a reference to the recently indicted former Illinois House speaker and state Democratic Party chairman.

Its actually a shame that Richard Irvin chose not to be here tonight because I was actually looking forward to having a conversation with him face to face, Bailey said. Richard Irvin is as corrupt as Mike Madigan, and actually electing Richard Irvin into this seat would be no different from allowing Mike Madigan to serve as governor.

Though the situation left Irvin with the opportunity to try to continue his attacks on his rivals unrebutted, he chose to save them for the post-debate spin room in criticizing them for not showing up.

During the earlier forum, Irvin again continued to deflect questions about the influence former President Donald Trump holds over the GOP.

Irvin continued to refuse to specifically say if he voted for Trump in past elections, someone he referred to as an idiot and a bigoted racist in text messages uncovered by WTTW. He did, however, say yes when asked if Democrat Joe Biden won the presidency amid Trumps baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Previously, Irvin has said only that Joe Biden is the president.

But Irvin refused to say if he believed the storming of the nations Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021, was an insurrection. Its not a yes or no question, Irvin said, adding those who broke the law should be prosecuted but those who were engaged in peaceful protests should not. And asked if he wanted Trumps endorsement, Irvin said he was looking for the endorsement of the voters.

But it was the topic of gun violence and crime, in light of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and continued outbreaks of violent crime in Chicago, that took up a large portion of each forum.

Sullivan, Rabine and Bailey each offered their version of thoughts and prayers for the families of the victims but also said mental health issues, not gun laws, are at the core of the problem.

Much of these issues, that were dealing with actually have more to do with mental health than anything else, said Bailey, who has pushed legislation that would repeal the states required FOID card.

When mass shootings occur, Democrats always want to talk immediately about gun control and limiting our Second Amendment rights, Sullivan said.

In addition to needing to look at mental health services, he said, we also have to look at faith and fatherhood.

Rabine also said he thought stricter gun laws werent the answer, noting mass shooting and other violent crimes happen in places like Chicago that have stringent rules in place.

Still, bad people are going to get guns, Rabine said. When bad people get guns  bad things are going to happen.

The three candidates appearing on WGN offered few specifics on policies or programs they would put forward to address rising crime, instead saying they would listen to and support police and push to remove Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx from office, something that would require a change in state law.

After referring to Chicago as a hellhole, Bailey said the solution was to restore confidence in our government by electing honorable men and women to these positions.

At the earlier forum, Irvin recounted learning in February 2019 about the killing of five people and the wounding of five others, including police officers, by a disgruntled former employee of Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora while he was mayor. Months later, Irvin joined with mayors across the country urging congressional action on gun safety.

But Irvin has since denied signing such a letter and instead has said he was focused on fixing the FOID card system, though many of his rivals favor eliminating the card requirement for gun owners.

Solomon, a U.S. citizen from Lagos, Nigeria, whose campaign has largely been relegated to public forums, said the answer to curb gun violence in schools was to make sure that every school in the state of Illinois has armed security guards.

As for crime in Chicago, Irvin repeated his line that he called National Guard troops into Aurora to deal with violent protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In actuality, only the governor has the authority to call out the National Guard as was done by Pritzker based on Irvins request.

If necessary, I would definitely call them in to Chicago as governor, Irvin said of the National Guard, stopping short of saying if he believed it necessary.

For his part, Rabine said a key priority for addressing crime would be to repeal Illinois status as a sanctuary state, where there are restrictions on local law enforcement cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

The sanctuary state is creating a state where illegal felons are treated better than anywhere else in the country here in Illinois, Rabine said.

Irvin also said he would move to revoke Illinois sanctuary state protections for immigrants in the country illegally and said Aurora was not a sanctuary city. But in June 2019, amid plans for Immigration and Custom Enforcement raids, Irvin issued a statement that his city joined with Pritzker and Lightfoot in prohibiting the use of our resources to aid or support ICE in its enforcement activities.

The split forums occurred even though candidates typically resolve differences over televised debates. But in this case the dueling debates occurred when Bailey, Rabine and Sullivan agreed to appear at WGN, which made its invitation before NBC. Irvin accepted the later NBC offer but Bailey, Rabine and Sullivan kept their commitment to WGN.

But Irvin said Wednesday he would appear at a June 2 League of Women Voters on ABC-Ch. 7. Baileys campaign said the downstate senator had a conflict for that date and urged the station to select a new date.

2022 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com.
JEFFERSON CITY  A proposed change in Missouri ethics laws will allow some businesses to write checks directly to candidates for office.

Just four years after former Gov. Eric Greitens was investigated for using shell companies to finance his campaign, the legislation would allow limited liability companies with specific tax status to donate money to politicians.

Under the plan, the companies would have to be in business for at least one year and would have to register with the Missouri Ethics Commission if they want to contribute to candidates.

While those provisions could provide safeguards against election-time hijinks, the law contains no language on how exactly regulators would ensure the companies are real and not just legal vessels for moving dark money into political accounts.

The sponsor, Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, acknowledged there are potential ways to game the system.

Obviously, its not going to catch everyone out there, Koenig said Wednesday. But, it will create some transparency.

The provision is included in a House bill that now awaits action by Gov. Mike Parson. A spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

The overall legislation passed out of the Senate on a 27-6 vote and won approval in the House 129-13.

The proposed new state law will align Missouri campaign finance rules more closely with the Federal Election Commission, which allows certain limited liability companies to contribute to candidates for federal office.

Under FEC rules, an LLC must, at the time it makes a contribution, notify the recipient committee that it is eligible to make the contribution and if it comes from a partnership, how much should be attributed to each donor.

This requirement will prevent the recipient committee from inadvertently accepting an illegal contribution, the FEC says.

Koenig said the Missouri Ethics Commission has allowed some LLCs to contribute, but it was based on an interpretation of law, not an actual, specific law.

I think this puts in some transparency and makes businesses stipulate that they arent breaking the law, Koenig said.

In 2018, a House committee investigating Greitens released two emails suggesting that the Greitens campaign worked to conceal the identity of donors during his 2016 bid for office.

At issue were two companies  White Impala LLC and ELX83 LLC  that were formed in December 2015 and subsequently donated a combined $30,000 to Greitens for Missouri at the time.

By all appearances, these two entities were created to channel contributions to the Greitens campaign from an anonymous donor or donors, reads a memorandum attached to one of the emails that was part of an opposition research paper heading into the 2016 gubernatorial election. Missouri law explicitly prohibits campaign contributions made in such a manner as to conceal the identity of the actual source of the contribution.

The use of this arrangement to hide donors certainly runs counter to Greitenss repeated attacks on corruption and insider political games in Missouri, the memo states.

Greitens, who resigned two weeks later, is among 21 Republicans seeking the partys nomination for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, who is retiring.

In February 2020, Missouri ethics regulators fined his state campaign account $178,000 over violations dating to Greitens 2016 campaign.

The Missouri Ethics Commission said the fine was linked to two dark money groups that were raising and spending money to further Greitens political career.

Former Attorney General Josh Hawley, who is now a senator, also determined that Greitens may have committed a felony by taking his former charitys donor list and using it for political fundraising without the charitys permission. Greitens was charged with felony tampering with computer data, but the charges were dropped after he resigned.

The legislation is House Bill 2400.

Originally posted at 1:48 p.m. Wednesday, May 25.

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UVALDE, Texas (AP)  Surrounded by fellow Republicans on a high school stage, Gov. Greg Abbott was wrapping up his opening remarks about the killing of school children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas, when Beto O'Rourke strode forward from his seat in the audience.

Gov. Abbott, I have something to say," the Democrat challenging Abbott for governor this fall said Wednesday, pointing a finger at his rival. "The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing.

A mix of boos and cheers rose up from the crowd as the former congressman and 2020 presidential candidate briefly spoke, then was escorted from the room. Sen. Ted Cruz, standing behind Abbott, shook his head and said sit down! while one woman in the crowd chanted, Let him speak. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin yelled that O'Rourke was a sick son of a bitch. Some people cried.

And with that, the briefing transformed into an argument similar to the one happening in many corners of America after yet another school shooting that inflicted a shocking death toll  19 children and two teachers.

Democrats want to talk about enacting restrictions on who can possess a firearm and what type of weapons should be available, while Republicans say such laws are meaningless and prefer to focus on other issues like school security  or to avoid the discussion at all.

We need all Texans to in this one moment in time put aside their own agendas, think of somebody other than ourselves, think about the people who are hurt, Abbott said immediately after O'Rourke exited, his voice rising.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, taking the microphone moments later, insisted it was time now to focus on the victims and their families, adding: This is not a partisan issue. This is not a political issue.

But for many  including those in the high school auditorium  the partisanship and the politics are inescapable. Tuesday's mass shooting in the small town west of San Antonio was just the latest to occur in Texas in recent years. After a gunman killed 23 people in a racist 2019 attack that targeted Hispanics at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas lawmakers loosened gun laws.

Abbott said Wednesday that he considers the steps the Republican-controlled Legislature took in 2019 to be the most profound action anywhere in the U.S. to stop school shootings. He and other GOP officials said the proper place to focus is on mental health and hardening schools, or making them more secure, rather than on restricting guns.

He called existing gun laws in Chicago, New York and California ineffective.

I hate to say this, but there are more people who are shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas. And we need to realize that people who think that Well, maybe we just implement tougher gun laws is going to solve that  Chicago and LA and New York disprove that thesis," he said.

Abbotts claim is not supported by federal health data. California and New York consistently register lower rates of firearms deaths than Texas, and have among the lowest per capita rates of firearms deaths in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even with the violence in Chicago that Abbott cites, Illinois too posts a lower firearms death rate than Texas.

Meanwhile, O'Rourke stood outside in the parking lot, where he continued calling for gun control.

If we do nothing, we will continue to see this, he said, year after year, school after school, kid after kid.

Residents of Uvalde also echoed the two sides of the debate.

Ariana Diaz, 17, said she has friends in the close-knit community who lost siblings and mothers. Speaking outside her high school, where the news conference was being held, Diaz said shed like to see ORourke elected governor. She noted that the shooter was 18 and able to buy two guns.

Its not OK," she said. Hes only 18. Hes not even old enough to purchase an alcoholic beverage. He should not be old enough to purchase a gun.

Laura Ligocky, 41, said that as a mother the shooting was gut wrenching but she does not see restrictions on guns as a solution.

Everybody wants gun control, and I dont think its helping, she said, in the parking lot where ORourke was calling for restrictions on firearms. I think its making matters worse.

Burnett reported from Chicago. Associated Press reporter Jake Bleiberg contributed from Dallas.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden will announce steps on Tuesday to narrow the large and persistent racial wealth gap that divides Black, Latino and white Americans, although he will stop short of a cancellation of student loan debt demanded by civil rights groups.

Biden, a Democrat, will call for billions of dollars in grants and investments to benefit poor minority communities, as well as a big increase in federal procurement from small, disadvantaged businesses, and a crackdown on housing discrimination, administration officials told reporters.

He will unveil the measures during a visit to the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where hundreds of Black Americans were massacred by a white mob 100 years ago. They are part of a broader push to reverse systemic racism, and build on executive actions he took during his first week in office, one the officials said.

Administration officials said they had no further news about any plans to cancel high levels of student debt.

Key steps

The measures include:

 Expanding federal contracting with small, disadvantaged businesses by 50% to some $100 billion over five years, harnessing the buying power of the federal government, the worlds single biggest purchaser of goods.

 Using $10 billion of Bidens infrastructure plan which must still be passed by Congress  to revitalize communities like Greenwood that suffer from persistent poverty, historic disinvestment and the ongoing displacement of longtime residents.

 Targeting $15 billion in competitive grants to reconnect minority neighborhoods cut off in the past from schools, jobs and businesses by the building of highways.

 Spending $31 billion to support minority-owned businesses.

 Publishing new rules by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to aggressively combat housing discrimination.

 A new inter-agency push to use standards, enforcement and regulatory action to reduce the gap in appraised values in minority and white communities that nearly doubled between 1980 and 2015, according to research by the University of Pittsburgh.

 A new tax credit for development and rehabilitation of homes in minority neighborhoods to close the gap in pricing on the open market.

Why are these measures needed?

 Racial disparities persist over generations, limiting opportunities for wealth creation for Black and Latino families and reducing their ability to pass on property to their children.

 Data from the Survey of Consumer Finances show that the median Black household had a net wealth of $24,000 in 2019, or nearly 90% less than the median white household.

 Home ownership rates are much lower in communities of color, with just 49% of Latinos and 45% of Black Americans owning their own homes, compared with 74% of white Americans.

 The home ownership rate for Black Americans has declined 5% since 2001, compared with a 1% drop for white Americans, and is now the same as in 1968, the year the Fair Housing Act was passed by Congress.

 The Biden administration has not set any specific targets for home ownership rates, an administration official said, adding that closing the current gap will take significant effort and time.

 The COVID-19 relief plan, already passed by Congress, included $10 billion in mortgage relief for some 2 million borrowers who are seriously delinquent, many of whom are homeowners of color.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  President Vladimir Putin issued an order Wednesday to fast track Russian citizenship for residents in parts of southern Ukraine largely held by his forces, while lawmakers in Moscow passed a bill to strengthen the stretched Russian army.

Putins decree applying to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions could allow Russia to strengthen its hold on territory that lies between eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists occupy some areas, and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

The Russian army is engaged in an intense battle for Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas. In a sign that the Kremlin is trying to bolster its stretched military machine, Russian lawmakers agreed to scrap the age limit of 40 for individuals signing their first voluntary military contracts.

A description of the bill on the parliament website indicated older recruits would be allowed to operate precision weapons or serve in engineering or medical roles. The chair of the Russian parliaments defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said the measure would make it easier to hire people with in-demand" skills.

Russian authorities have said that only volunteer contract soldiers are sent to fight in Ukraine, although they have acknowledged that some conscripts were drawn into the fighting by mistake in the early stages of the war.

Three months into Russia's invasion of the neighboring country, Putin visited a military hospital in Moscow on Wednesday and met with some soldiers wounded in Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.

The event was the Russian leader's first publicly known visit with soldiers fighting in Ukraine since he launched the war on Feb. 24. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited wounded soldiers, civilians and children  including at times when Russian troops were fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv.

A reporter for the state-run Russia1 TV channel posted a video clip on Telegram showing Putin in a white medical coat talking to a man in hospital attire, presumably a soldier.

The man, filmed from behind standing up and with no visible wounds, tells Putin that he has a son. The president, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, responds: He will be proud of his father, before shaking the man's hand.

Zelenskyy reiterated Wednesday that he would be willing to negotiate with Putin directly but said Moscow needs to retreat to the positions it held before the invasion and must show it's ready to shift from the bloody war to diplomacy.

I believe it would be a correct step for Russia to make," Zelenskyy told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link.

He also said that Ukraine wants to drive Russian troops out of all captured areas. Ukraine will fight until it reclaims all its territories, Zelenskyy said. Its about our independence and our sovereignty.

Russia already had a program to expedite the naturalization of people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two eastern Ukraine provinces that make up the Donbas and where the Moscow-backed separatists hold large areas as self-declared independent republics.

During a visit to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin indicated they could become part of our Russian family.

A Russia-installed official in the Kherson region has predicted the region would become part of Russia. An official in Zaporizhzhia said Wednesday that the region's pro-Kremlin administration would seek that as well.

Melitopol, Zaporizhzhias second-largest city, plans to start issuing Russian passports in the near future, said the Russian-installed acting mayor, Galina Danilchenko.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine was not ready to cede control of areas occupied by Russian forces for the sake of reaching a peace agreement, saying some Western lobbyists are pushing Kyiv to so.

Ukrainian society has paid a terrible price and will not allow anyone to take even a step in this direction -- not a single government, not a single country, Podolyak said on Telegram. He said instead ceding territory would only freeze the conflict, not resolve it.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who attended the Davos forum in person, called for friendly countries  particularly the United States  to provide the Ukrainian military with multiple launch rocket systems so they could try to recapture territory taken by the Russians.

Every day of someone sitting in Washington, Berlin, Paris and other capitals, and considering whether they should or should not do something, costs us lives and territories, Kuleba said.

On Wednesday Russian rockets pounded towns far from the front line in the Donbas. The governor of Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, accused Russia of targeting shelters where civilians were hiding in the city of Sievierodonetsk.

The situation is serious, Haidai said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press. The city is constantly being shelled with every possible weapon in the enemys possession.

Sievierodonetsk and the nearby city of Lysychansk are the largest remaining settlements held by Ukraine in Luhansk. The region is more than 90% controlled by Russia, Haidai said, adding that a key supply route was coming under pressure despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Haidai said the road between Lysychansk and the city of Bakhmut to the southwest is considered crucial to keeping Ukrainian troops in the area supplied. Haidai said it was constantly being shelled and that Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams were approaching the area.

The regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said four civilians were injured when two rockets hit the town of Pokrovsk early Wednesday.

One strike left a crater at least three meters (10 feet) deep, with the remnants of what appeared to be a rocket still smoldering. A row of low terraced houses near the strike suffered significant damage.

Theres no place to live in left. Everything is smashed, Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother of two who lived in one of the terraced houses, said.

An earlier strike about a month ago blew out the windows, which were replaced with plastic sheeting. Kurbonova thinks that probably saved their lives since there was no glass flying around.

I was reaching for my child, and I couldnt find him in the dust, she said.

In other developments, Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol was functional again following a nearly three-month siege that ended with the surrender of the last Ukrainian fighters.

The Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said the military completed clearing the port of land mines.

Russian forces took full control of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, after the last defenders holed up in a giant seaside steel plant laid down their weapons last week. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the separatists in Donetsk planned to set up a tribunal to put the fighters on trial and that Moscow welcomes the action.

Elena Becatoros in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, and Jamey Keaten in Davos, Switzerland, 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.
Alabamas Republican primary for U.S. Senate is going to a June runoff between Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks. The Republicans are seeking the nomination for the Senate seat now held by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby who is retiring. Britt is Shelbys former chief of staff and the former leader of the Business Council of Alabama. Brooks overcame a feud with former President Donald Trump to secure a runoff spot. Trump initially endorsed Brooks in the race but withdrew that endorsement in March. The two edged out businessman Mike Durant, who is best known as the helicopter pilot held captive in the events chronicled in Black Hawk Down.
Police are searching for a driver they say fatally hit a pedestrian on a Kansas City road following a police chase of a stolen pickup truck. Police say in a news release that the chase began Wednesday afternoon when officers spotted the pickup and tried to pull it over. The truck fled, ramming a patrol car in the process. Police say the officers called off the chase as the truck entered the northbound lanes of Interstate 435 traveling southbound. Less that a minute later, police found in the road the body a man later identified as 44-year-old Ronald Campbell and the truck a short distance away. A woman who was in the truck was arrested. The driver of the truck fled on foot and has not been found.
The recent spate of mass shootings around the country, culminating in Tuesdays elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, can be seen as the inevitable byproduct of a longstanding debate over the purpose of the Second Amendment  fueled in no small part by the Supreme Courts sometimes confusing (and occasionally conflicting) opinions on the subject.

For over 200 years, lower federal court judges (who spoke the same English language as the Founding Fathers) held that the Second Amendment allowed states to form militias, and arms could be acquired for that unique and limited purpose. Records of gun regulation in eight of the original 13 states strongly suggest that private ownership and use of firearms were not countenanced.

In fact, the Founders gave the first clause of the Second Amendment careful attention, revising it several times and considering it essential to the whole. Though the sentence can be parsed in a variety of ways, its very hard to deny that the first clause modifies the one that follows  that the right to bear arms is dependent upon the need to empower and maintain a well-regulated militia.

The Supreme Court didnt weigh in until 1939, when it issued its landmark decision in United States v. Miller, which is often cited by gun-control advocates to support the argument that the right to bear arms was solely intended to meet the need for state militias. As soon as such auxiliary armies became little more than supplemental forces to augment state National Guard units, the amendment came to be regarded as virtually obsolete.

That venerable understanding of the right to bear arms was shattered in 2008 with a 5-4 majority Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. There the court held that the Constitution protects an individuals right to keep and bear arms, unconnected with service in a militia, for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

The majority opinion was written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch believer that the courts decisions should be based on a strict reading of the Constitution, or the original intent of the Founding Fathers. This was an 180-degree swing from Scalias earlier views, and surprised many legal scholars who argue that any objective study of the Founders thinking would indicate they understood why guns were needed and why their use should be strictly limited to well-armed militias. Guns were not to be owned by every male. If you had a gun, you were a member of the militia.

The National Rifle Association never embraced the courts ruling in Miller, clinging instead to the individual-rights theory. Indeed, the NRA buildings facade outside Washington is emblazoned with a selective version of the Second Amendment that includes only the words, The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. By omitting the introductory clause (A well-organized militia, being necessary for the security of a free state,) the organization continued to justify gun ownership, in the process contributing millions of dollars to politicians whod support this position.

It got to the point where, in 1990, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative, called the NRAs notion of individual gun rights a preposterous fraud.

In any event circumstances have certainly changed since then  there are an estimated 393 million weapons currently owned by private Americans  and getting rid of them would be both practically and politically impossible.

Last fall, the Supreme Court heard arguments in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, challenging one of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, sharply limiting peoples ability to carry weapons outside their homes. Pointed questioning from the justices suggested that the law could soon be declared unconstitutional, upending the way the state regulates firearms at a time when many of its cities are experiencing a crisis of gun violence. (A decision is expected in June.)

Meanwhile, in the endless war of words about gun rights, the academic community has done little but pock the discourse with vague, theoretical utterances whose scattershot scholarship can be fashioned to fit almost any favored thesis. But the blunderbuss proliferation of newly minted gun-rights advocacy perverts both the historical context and plain meaning of the Second Amendment.

Too bad law professors, generally neither grammarians nor historians, have so roiled the waters. The current justices should recognize that law professors are not always straight shooters.

Until 1989, virtually all legal academics had endorsed the view that citizens have a collective right to raise an army but no inherent individual right to carry guns. Then the Yale Law Journal published a confounding essay by Sanford Levinson of the University of Texas that appeared to advocate insurrectionist theory  that the Second Amendment was designed to ensure the peoples ability to confront a tyrannical government.

But history strongly leads to the conclusion that the Framers intentions regarding the Second Amendment were clear. The Founding Fathers were concerned with communal defense. They never contemplated, nor were they likely ever to consider, the right of every citizen to purchase, possess, or use whatever weapon might be on the market at the time  lock-stock-and-barrel, musket, or machine gun.

They were much too sensible for that.

Kenneth Lasson, an emeritus law professor at the University of Baltimore, writes on civil liberties and international human rights.
Former President Donald Trump chalked up some victories in Tuesdays primaries, but he suffered a trio of defeats where it most mattered: Georgia, epicenter of Trumps efforts to overturn Joe Bidens 2020 election victory. Three Republicans on whom Trump had declared war for refusing to do his vote-fixing dirty work  Gov. Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr  all cruised to victory, trouncing Trump-backed challengers who had endorsed Trumps election-fraud lies.

Given the heavy emphasis that Trumps ploys played in these campaigns, Georgia Republicans have spoken loud and clear about their abhorrence of election manipulation. They have done Republicans elsewhere a huge favor by showing them its OK to stand up for whats right while still being loyal to the party.

Trump narrowly lost Georgia to Biden in November 2020. His subsequent efforts to get Georgias Republican leaders to overturn the results was in itself justification for impeachment and, arguably, criminal charges. Most infamously, Trump  then a sitting president, remember  personally called Raffensperger, Georgias top election official and a member of the presidents party, to pressure him into committing fraud.

All I want to do is this, Trump told Raffensperger in the recorded call: I just want to find 11,780 votes, one more than Bidens margin of victory in the state. Theres nothing wrong with saying, you know, that youve recalculated. This was a blatant attempted overthrow of democracy, and Raffenspergers refusal to yield should make him a political hero to both parties.

But Trump, of course, villainized him for it and backed one of his challengers, U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who was among House members who objected to the valid election results on Jan. 6, 2021, and who backed Trumps lies. Raffensperger on Tuesday beat Hice by almost 20 percentage points.

Kemp won an even wider margin over former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, another backer of Trumps lies who garnered Trumps support for it. Ditto with Carr, who easily beat back a challenge from Trump-backed attorney John Gordon, whose campaign was almost entirely about promoting Trumpian conspiracy theories.

There is a dark lining to this silver cloud. An analysis by The Washington Post found that in most primary races around the country, Trump-backed candidates took around 30% of the vote  which, in crowded fields like Ohios U.S. Senate primary, was enough to get Trump-backer J.D. Vance the nomination.

That math could be ominous in Missouri, where the U.S. Senate primaries in August will feature more than 20 Republicans. Among them is disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens, who hasnt yet garnered Trumps formal endorsement but whose ties to Trump-world and his eager promotion of its lies make such an endorsement possible.

Georgias experience should spur Missouri Republicans of conscience to coalesce around a serious candidate  including a conservative independent  who is courageous enough to reject those lies.
Regarding the editorial Legally protected quack medicine  (May 14): By any measure, Missouri is falling behind in health care, education, job growth, wages, quality of life, innovation, etc. I believe we can attribute these dismal results to our governor, Mike Parson, and our Republican-controlled Legislature. Not that Democrats get a free ride, but its the Missouri GOP that is to blame for our failings and sufferings.

The latest debacle, by supposedly rational and intelligent people, is House Resolution 2149. In this bill, pharmacists in Missouri are barred from questioning the use of the drugs Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to patients, two drugs that some have been led to believe help fight the coronavirus. This legislation also would protect doctors who prescribe these drugs should any ill effects happen to those who ingest them. Of course, any reputable doctor will say neither of these two drugs should be used to fight the virus because of potential harm to the patient.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Of interest to editors covering politics/government

New Illinois Committee Forming in Monroe County

(Waterloo, IL  May 22, 2022)  New Illinois is a nonprofit organization with the mission of educating Illinoisans about their RIGHT, under the U.S. Constitution, to pursue the formation of a new state. New Illinois is now forming a committee in Monroe County.

Would you like to see a new state, separate from Old Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County? New Illinois has been working toward this goal since 2018.

The U.S. Constitution gives us the right to government of the people, by the people, and for the people. But in Illinois, the only ones who have that are those living in the one county where power is concentrated. And that is not Monroe County.

Even people who don't live in Illinois know something is wrong--corruption, the nation's highest tax burden, billions in debt, and thousands leaving. Those of us who live here see something more--a state government violating the Constitution and infringing on the rights of citizens.

Entrenched government corruption won't be solved by working harder to elect good people. Illinois is a failed state that has lost its legitimacy. By robbing people of representative government, it has broken the compact that bound us together. The only solution is the constitutional formation of a new state.

The key to success in this effort is THE PEOPLE. That's why New Illinois works through county committees, to get the word out everywhere--and this includes Monroe County!

Joining the Monroe County Committee won't cost you anything. But it will give you the opportunity to make a difference that can change our future.

If you're interested, please email Matt Kern at mkern85@protonmail.com or call (618) 444-7596.

About New Illinois

New Illinois is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit incorporated in 2018 and active throughout the state. New Illinois mission is to educate Illinoisans about their right, under Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, to pursue the formation of a new state. New Illinois envisions a NEW State where all residents will experience representative government, not just those living in the one county (Cook) where power is concentrated. The Declaration of Independence declares that People are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights and can alter or abolish a government destructive of those rights. New Illinois believes the situation in Illinois has reached this point.

For more information about this topic or to schedule an interview, please call the New Illinois office.

Media Contact

G. H. Merritt

(847) 845-9293

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Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian and Western munitions experts have examined debris from Russian guided munitions, especially the Kalibr cruise missile, Iskander SRBM (short range ballistic missile, 300mm guided rockets (similar to the U.S. GMLRS), SAMs (surface to air missiles), military radios and any Russian gear that might use Western components. The investigation was to compile a list of key Western components, usually electronic, used in such equipment. Many of these components are dual-use (civilian as well as military) and the list is being expanded to include possible substitute items available in the West or China. While China has not joined any sanctions program against Russia, similar sanctions can be imposed on China if they are found to be supplying Russia with banned Western components that were purchased for use in Chinese equipment, Chinas tech exports will also be scrutinized.

There are already reports from Russia that efforts to replace the guided rockets and missiles are running into trouble because key components come from the West. These guided munitions are used in most air attacks in Ukraine because the Russian air force could not gain air superiority. Making it more difficult to replenish the Russian stockpile of these weapons is seen as a key element in weakening Russian resolve and ability to fight on. China will also feel the heat from this new approach to sanctions.

Before 2014 China was dependent on Ukraine for some components and that was a problem. In 2021 Ukraine decided to end Chinese majority ownership of Motor Sich, a major and profitable Ukrainian defense manufacturer. The government, in effect, nationalized Motor Sich. While this annoyed China, it also pleased the United States, a major ally and supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders after 2014. The Americans had already sanctioned the Chinese firms that were buying a majority interest in Motor Sich. The Americans feared that control of Motor Sich would enable China to solve its problems with developing and manufacturing high-performance gas turbine engines for helicopters and ships. Back in 2019 China went forward with its efforts to buy this majority stake. Many Ukrainians felt China would take advantage of the corrupt government and industry officials associated with firms like Motor Sich to get better deals. These were often at the expense of Ukraine but very lucrative for the corrupt Ukrainians involved. Many Ukrainians, and Americans, realized how China operated in deals like this. If China obtained a major, or majority, stake in Motor Sich they could, and probably would, steal all the technology and manufacturing secrets and eventually move Motor Sich production to China. Initially they would hire some Ukrainian tech experts to help the Chinese manufacturing operation to get up to speed, but eventually Motor Sich in Ukraine would become a branch of the main operation in China. Eventually the Ukrainian branch would be renamed to something Chinese and Motor Sich would disappear. Most Ukrainians want to keep Motor Sich Ukrainian and not plundered of all its tech by the Chinese.

The Americans had been waging a trade war with China since 2018 and one of the issues was Chinese theft of IP (Intellectual Property). President Zelensky of Ukraine, newly elected and facing major IP threats from China, sees the Americans as the ideal partner in the Ukrainian effort to fend off the Chinese. As if to confirm what China was up to, Sohu.Com, a Chinese media outlet, recently published an article called Thank you Ukraine. This story literally thanked Ukraine for helping Chinese military technology to advance so quickly by making available much Soviet era military tech at low prices and with few restrictions. To its Chinese audience (the article was only published in Chinese) the article made a lot of sense. When Ukrainians got translations of the article the reaction was less complimentary. As the Americans are also interested in how China obtains military tech, it is not surprising that Zelensky has found the Americans interested in assisting him in dealing with the Chinese threat as well as corruption facilitated by Americans.

A political newcomer, Volodymyr Zelensky, was elected president of Ukraine in 2019 by a large margin. Since taking power at the end of May, Zelensky quickly replaced many notoriously corrupt or incompetent government and military officials. Then he proposed new efforts to end the five-year-old war in two eastern provinces (the Donbas) by agreeing to hold elections in Russian occupied portions of Donbas to determine what happens. That means voters could choose to remain part of Ukraine or become an autonomous area. Either way, this would end the war. Zelensky insisted that all Russian troops or mercenaries be withdrawn before the vote is held. This was vital to avoid voter intimidation. Many Ukrainians believe you cant trust the Russians and that the Russians will find a way to cheat. Based on past Russian performance, thats a reasonable criticism because Russia refused to consider the Ukrainian proposal.

Russia was disappointed at the Chinese failure to acquire Motor Sich. Until 2014 Russia was dependent on Motor Sich (and other Ukrainian firms) for some key aircraft and industrial components. As long as Russia is occupying Crimea and parts of Donbas those business relationships are blocked and Russia has not been successful in creating adequate Russian suppliers.

In 2014 there were many Ukrainian-made guidance systems used in Russian air-to-air missiles. This includes the infrared (heat seeking) guidance systems for short-range R-73 and medium-range R-27T. These missiles are the main armament for MiG-29, Su-27, Su-30 and Su-35 fighters.

Su-27/30 aircraft contain a lot of Ukrainian components (hydraulic systems, electrical and electronic systems) as well as braking parachutes. Those components are also produced in Russia but not enough of them to meet the current needs. This dependence on Ukrainian components has an impact on Russian warplane exports. Some of the existing export deals will be seriously jeopardized without Ukrainian components. If the Russians lose access to Ukrainian production their only choice would be to delay deliveries to the Russian air force in order to service the signed export contracts.

After 2014 Russia quickly felt the effects of being cut off from their Ukrainian defense suppliers. Although they seized over a dozen factories in Crimea, including three large shipyards, its still not enough for their needs. Without cooperation from Ukrainian suppliers, Russian military modernization and export plans are in big trouble. The situation is so desperate that the Russians are considering buying the needed components from China, which has long been manufacturing illegal (unauthorized) copies of these items for the illegal copies of Russian aircraft and missiles they also build.

One of the most important Ukrainian aviation suppliers is Motor Sich, which produces many of the new engines (and modernizes old ones) for the Mi-8/17 transport helicopters and Ka-50/52, Mi-28 and Mi-24/35 attack helicopters. Despite considerable effort, Russian industry has been not able to produce sufficient helicopter engines for planned aircraft production. Without Ukrainian engines Russia, will be unable to produce the number of new helicopters for both their own forces and export orders. They will also be unable to refurbish enough older engines to keep existing helicopters operational.

Another area where Russians have troubles is military shipbuilding. Russia simply lacks construction facilities so their shipbuilders alone cannot carry out the ambitious plans for replacing all the aging Cold War era ships with new designs. Meanwhile, Ukraine has three shipyards in Mykolayiv along with more yards in Kherson, Kerch and Sevastopol. The last two have already been seized by Russia, something Ukraine is very angry about.

In Mykolayiv, there is also Zorya-Mashproekt, the largest firm designing and manufacturing gas turbine engines for Russian existing and planned warships. Their engines are used on a majority of the ships of the Russian Navys ships. Russia has failed to organize domestic production of such gas turbines so the reliability of its fleet is threatened.

A lot of Russian combat vehicles are using Ukrainian components for fire control, laser warning and other complex electronic and optical systems. Even if the Russian industry has alternative sources, getting them up to speed will take time.

After 2022 it was discovered that France and Germany had supplied many of the components Ukraine no longer exported to Russia. France and Germany explained that they believed these items were dual-use but their governments did not have a system for detecting deception. Attention was paid to similar Iranian efforts to buy dual-use items and European firms will accept enforcement if their government presents the evidence. The new post-2022 list will work if all NATO nations cooperate.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2022 / Sierra Madre Gold and Silver Ltd. (TSXV:SM)(OTCQB: SMDRF) ("Sierra Madre" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed an arm's length definitive agreement dated May 25, 2022 (the "Definitive Agreement") with First Majestic Silver Corp. ("First Majestic") to acquire a 100% interest in the 39,714-hectare La Guitarra Silver-Gold Property ("La Guitarra") in the Temascaltepec mining district, Mexico (the "Transaction").

Highlights:

La Guitarra is a high-grade, past-producing underground mine with an on-site process facility that operated up to August, 2018

Historical Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of approximately 7.45 million ounces ("oz") of silver-equivalent ("AgEq") and Historical Inferred Mineral Resources of approximately 10.02 million oz AgEq, based on 128,671 metres of drilling[1]

Functional and expandable 500 tonnes per day crushing grinding and flotation facility

Fully permitted for underground mining

Currently on care and maintenance, available for prompt restart

Exploration potential over 15 kilometres of known structures that are untested

Positive community relations with local stakeholders

First Majestic to become Strategic and Largest Shareholder of Sierra Madre

[1] See below under the heading "Notes for Historical Mineral Resources".

La Guitarra is in the southeast end of the Mexican Silver Belt with an underground mine operating up until August 2018 at the site. Past production was in the order of 1 million to 1.5 million AgEq ounces annually between 2015 and 2018. Current infrastructure includes two underground centres (La Guitarra and Coloso), the 500 tonnes per day ("t/d") flotation mill, permitted tailings facility, multiple work buildings, equipment, and related infrastructure.

Sierra Madre will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of La Guitarra Compania Minera S.A. de C.V. ("Subco"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Majestic incorporated under the laws of Mexico that holds a 100% interest in La Guitarra. In exchange, Sierra Madre will issue to First Majestic 69,063,076 Sierra Madre common shares ("Consideration Shares") at a deemed price of $0.65, having an aggregate value of US$35 million.

Alex Langer, Sierra Madre's President and Chief Executive Officer commented, "We are thrilled to announce this transformative acquisition of the fully permitted La Guitarra Mine. The underground mine and 500 t/d mill will advance Sierra Madre towards its goal of become a mid-tier precious metals company. Greg Liller, our COO, Luis Saenz, our Director of Exploration and Development and other members of the team operated the La Guitarra mine under prior ownership from 2006 to 2009. We intend to provide more details on our planned work program in the coming months and will announce additions to our team shortly.

Upon completion of this transaction, First Majestic will become our largest shareholder. We would like to thank First Majestic for entrusting us with this opportunity, and look forward to welcoming them as our largest shareholder and their guidance on the development of La Guitarra. Upon closing of the Transaction, Sierra Madre will hold three exciting precious metal projects in Mexico -La Guitarra, Tepic and La Tigra."

Greg Liller, Sierra Madre's Executive Chairman and Chief Operating Officer commented, "Based on my experience with running the La Guitarra mine and overseeing the district's first large-scale exploration program, I have always believed La Guitarra is one of the largest undeveloped silver opportunities in Mexico. The eastern portion of the district was host to large high-grade mines that were significant producers during the Spanish colonial period. This area has only seen limited modern drilling and exploration even though it is host to hundreds of old mines, prospects, workings and veins. Luis Saenz, our Director of Exploration and Development, has assembled an experienced team to further develop La Guitarra.

First Majestic has done an excellent job in maintaining all permits and preparing development plans necessary for restarting operations. This includes a fully permitted new tailings facility with a 5.8 million tonne capacity. The underground development along with the milling and processing facility has been well maintained. The historic and modern exploration data, executing studies on restarting operations, and completed metallurgical test work on reprocessing the existing tailings have also been completed. This database will allow the Company to proceed with a three-pronged approach to restarting production at La Guitarra:

a district scale exploration and mine development program, completing National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") compliant resource and reserve estimations for areas of the mine active when operations were suspended, and reprocessing the existing tailings."

La Guitarra

The La Guitarra property is in the Temascaltepec mining district, 130 km southwest of Mexico City, with road access. The property hosts two underground centres that are on care and maintenance - La Guitarra and Coloso - and three past-producing zones (the Nazareno, Mina de Agua and El Rincn areas).

The La Guitarra site includes current mining and processing permits, an operating license, a water use permit, an Environmental Impact Authorization ("EIA") for La Guitarra and Coloso mines and exploration permits for the Nazareno, Tlacotal, Trancas, La Guitarra NW, Temascaltepec and San Simon projects. As disclosed in the Annual Information Form of First Majestic for the year ended December 31, 2021 dated March 31, 2022, available for review on First Majestic's profile at www.SEDAR.com, the site hosts Historical Measured and Indicated Resources of 701,000 tonnes grading 227 g/t silver and 1.22 g/t gold (330 g/t AgEq), for a total of approximately 7.45 million AgEq oz. Historical Inferred Resources stand at approximately 1.04 million tonnes grading 240 g/t silver and 0.71 g/t gold (299 g/t AgEq), adding approximately 10.02 million oz of AgEq.

From 2012 to 2018, First Majestic completed approximately 128,671 metres of drilling in 689 diamond drill holes.

Over 100 epithermal veins at La Guitarra are contained in five main vein systems. These systems make up a belt that covers over 15 km of strike and is an estimated 4 km wide.

Notes for Historical Mineral Resource Estimates:

The Historical Mineral Resources for La Guitarra have an effective date of December 31, 2020. The historical estimates were prepared by First Majestic internal "Qualified Persons" (as defined in NI 43-101) who have the appropriate relevant qualifications and experience in geology and resource estimation. The information provided was compiled by David Rowe, CPG, Internal Qualified Person for First Majestic, and reviewed by Ramon Mendoza Reyes, P.Eng., Internal QP for First Majestic. Sample data was collected through a cut-off date of December 31, 2020. Metal prices considered were USD$22.50/oz Ag and USD$1,850/oz Au. The Historical Mineral Resources were reported in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves adopted by CIM (2014 edition) (the "CIM Standards"). All tonnage information has been rounded to reflect the relative uncertainty in the estimates; therefore, there may be small differences in the totals. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") the La Guitarra Historical Mineral Resource Estimates use the terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource", having the same meanings ascribed to those terms as in the CIM Standards. As these mineral resource estimates pre-date the Company's agreement to acquire La Guitarra, the Company is treating them as "historical estimates" under NI 43-101, but they remain relevant as the most recent mineral resource estimates for La Guitarra. No more recent estimates or data are available to Sierra Madre. Further drilling and resource modelling would be required to upgrade or verify these historical estimates as current mineral resources for the respective assets and accordingly, they should be relied upon only as a historical resource estimate of First Majestic, which pre-dates the Company's agreement to acquire La Guitarra. Mr. Gregory Smith, P. Geo., a director of Sierra Madre, is a "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical data and information contained in this news release. However, a "Qualified Person" under NI 43-101 has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current Mineral Resources. Accordingly, a Qualified Person of the Company has not independently verified the Mineral Resources nor the other information contained herein, and the Company is not treating the historical estimates as current Mineral Resources. Mineral Resources that are not mineral reserves do not have economic viability. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

Acquisition Terms:

69,063,076 Consideration Shares to be issued by Sierra Madre

First Majestic may distribute all Consideration Shares in excess of a 19.9% issued and outstanding Sierra Madre holding (on a non-diluted basis) pro-rata to its shareholders (" Excess Shares ").

"). After closing, First Majestic will have a participation right to maintain its pro-rata interest in Sierra Madre (to a maximum of 19.9%) in any future Sierra Madre share issues, subject to customary exceptions.

The Consideration Shares held by First Majestic will be subject to the following contractual resale restrictions, in addition to any securities laws resale restrictions or TSX Venture Exchange (" Exchange ") policies: 25% subject to a 6-month resale restriction; 25% subject to a 12-month resale restriction; 25% subject to an 18-month resale restriction; 25% subject to a 24-month resale restriction.

") policies: The resale restrictions above will not apply to the Excess Shares but will be subject to customary carve-outs in the event of a takeover bid or merger or acquisition transaction involving the common shares of Sierra Madre.

At closing, Subco will grant First Majestic a 2% net smelter return (the "NSR") royalty on all mineral production from La Guitarra. Subco will have the right to buy back 1% of the NSR royalty at a price of US$2,000,000 at any time during the term of the royalty.

Private Placement

Concurrent with or prior to the closing of the Transaction, Sierra Madre intends to complete a private placement to raise gross aggregate proceeds of up to C$10 million (the "Private Placement"). Further details regarding the Private Placement will be announced once final terms of the Private Placement have been determined.

Reverse Takeover

The Transaction and the Private Placement together will constitute a Reverse Takeover or RTO (as defined in the policies of the Exchange). The Transaction and the Private Placement will be therefore, among other things, subject to shareholder approval in accordance with the policies of the Exchange. The Transaction and Private Placement will constitute an Arm's Length Transaction (as defined in the policies of the Exchange).

The common shares of the Company will remain halted pending further filings with the Exchange. Sierra Madre may seek waivers or exemptions from certain requirements of the Exchange in connection with the Transaction, including the requirement to obtain a sponsor for the Transaction. However, there can be no assurance that any waivers will be obtained. If a waiver from the Sponsorship requirement is not obtained, a sponsor will be identified at a later date.

Upon completion of the Transaction, First Majestic will become an insider of the Company.

Completion of the Transaction and Private Placement are subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance and if applicable, disinterested shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained.

There can be no assurance that the Transaction or Private Placement will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the transaction, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of Sierra Madre should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

About Sierra Madre

Sierra Madre Gold and Silver Ltd. is a mineral exploration company, currently focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of the Tepic and La Tigra Properties in Nayarit, Mexico. The Company has an experienced management team with a proven track record of wealth creation in Mexico through project discovery, advancement, and monetization. Sierra Madre's key objective is to advance exploration on the Tepic and La Tigra Properties to determine whether they contain commercially exploitable deposits of precious or base metals.

On behalf of the board of directors of Sierra Madre Gold and Silver Ltd.,

"Alexander Langer"

Alexander Langer

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Contact:

[email protected]

Sierra Madre Gold and Silver Best Practice

Sierra Madre is committed to best practice standards for all exploration and sampling activities. The Company's exploration programs have been conducted following CIM Exploration Best Practice Guidelines which are incorporated by reference in NI 43-101. Analytical quality assurance and quality control procedures include the systematic insertion of blanks, standards and duplicates into the sample strings. Samples are placed in sealed bags and shipped directly to Bureau Veritas Lab located in Durango, Mexico or ALS Chemex in Guadalajara, Mexico for 30 gram gold fire assay, Aqua Regia digestion for silver and multi-element analyses by four acid digestion.

Cautionary Note

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. The forward-looking statements herein are made as of the date of this press release only, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "projects", "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. Forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Company's acquisition of La Guitarra (by way of the acquisition of Subco) on the terms set out in the Definitive Agreement (or at all), the completion of the Private Placement on the terms anticipated by the Company (or at all), First Majestic's distribution of the Excess Shares, the Company's plan to prepare a technical report on La Guitarra, the ability of the Company to obtain requisite corporate and regulatory approvals, including but not limited to the approval of the Exchange, for the Transaction and the Private Placement, the Company's plans and expectations with respect to La Guitarra, the ability of the Company, upon closing of the Transaction, to incorporate La Guitarra into the business of the Company, and the ability of the Company to achieve its goal of becoming a mid-tier precious metals company.

In making the forward-looking statements included in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events and that future metal prices and the demand and market outlook for metals will remain stable or improve. Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of the Company to control or predict, that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, and are developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, including, but not limited to, the risk that the Company is not able to complete the acquisition of La Guitarra (by way of the acquisition of Subco) on the terms set out in the Definitive Agreement (or at all), the risk that the Company is unable to complete the Private Placement on the terms anticipated by the Company (or at all), the risk that the Company is unable to obtain requisite corporate and regulatory approvals, including but not limited to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and shareholder approval, the risk that the Company will be unable to incorporate La Guitarra into the business of the Company, the risk that the Company is unable to achieve its goal of becoming a mid-tier precious metals company, the risk that the assumptions referred to above prove not to be valid or reliable, market conditions and volatility and global economic conditions including increased volitivity and potentially negative capital raising conditions resulting from the continued or escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic, risk of delay and/or cessation in planned work or changes in the Company's financial condition and development plans; risks associated with the interpretation of data (including in respect of third party mineralized material) regarding the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, the uncertainty of the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits and the risk of unexpected variations in mineral resources, grade and/or recovery rates; risks related to gold, silver and other commodity price fluctuations; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability and increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour, the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; risks relating to environmental regulation and liability; the possibility that results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, and the general risk factors related to exploration and development as are set out under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's final long form non-offering prospectus dated March 31, 2021 available for review on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

Such forward-looking information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

SOURCE: Sierra Madre Gold and Silver

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University receives $10 million from Prime Healthcare Foundation to further address physician shortages, healthcare disparities in underserved communities

COLTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM), School of Medicine, celebrated its first graduation on May 21, 2022 as the inaugural class of 62 students received their medical degree. The ceremony featured a $10 million donation to the school from the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a commencement address from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, and a video address from California Governor Gavin Newsom and First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom sharing their support of the mission and students.

CUSM is one of the newest medical schools in the nation. CUSM was founded in 2015 by Dr. Prem Reddy through an initial $60 million contribution from the Prime Healthcare Foundation and through a unique public-private partnership with the County of San Bernardino and Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, the Universitys teaching hospital. During the commencement welcome to more than 700 graduates, faculty, family and friends, Executive Vice Dean Pete Eveland, EdD said, None of this would have ever been possible without the remarkable generosity, humanitarian spirit, and desire to give back to this community by our founder and Chair of the Board, Dr. Prem Reddy.

CUSM was created to be a place that would inspire, motivate and empower the healthcare leaders of tomorrow, and dedicated to addressing our nations physician shortage, healthcare disparities, and advancing medicine in underserved communities, said Dr. Reddy, who is also the Founder, Chairman, President and CEO of Prime Healthcare. Dr. Reddy added, For me, this has been a life-long dream to give others the opportunity I was given. Medicine has the ability to change lives and therefore, change the world. We are honored to support your dreams, your future in medicine, and most importantly, your commitment to giving.

During the commencement, Prime Healthcare Foundation President and Chair Dr. Kavitha Bhatia presented an additional $10 million donation to the University. The funds will be used to expand academic programs, support research, address healthcare disparities and support CUSMs mission to improve healthcare in underserved communities.

There has never been a time when healthcare has been more important, truly saving lives and shaping the future, said Dr. Bhatia, who also serves as Founding Vice Chair of the Board of CUSM. We have been unified in our commitment to selflessly and tirelessly serve others. It has reminded us that as physicians, we have a single calling, a calling that is much greater than ourselves. Today is a dream come true for so many. We imagined CUSM and the impact it can make to improve health, serve communities, and address healthcare disparities here and around the world. We are inspired by these physicians that will be changing the lives of so many.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta was honored as the inaugural commencement speaker. I want to congratulate all of you, the first CUSM class of 2022. I am tremendously honored to be here, said Dr. Gupta.

Dr. Gupta shared a story of his work as a reporter in the Iraq war when a soldier was shot in the head, shattering his skull, and ultimately pronounced dead. After discovering a pulse, Dr. Gupta was asked to take off his reporters hat and put on his surgeons hat, performing emergent neurosurgery in the middle of a war zone. He addressed the graduates, It was an incredible moment, a medical team coming together in the middle of a war doing something others had described as impossible. Changing a life. Saving a life. And graduates, you get to do that. Dr. Gupta then recognized and honored the soldier and his family who were seated in the audience. The soldier received a standing ovation and proceeded to applaud every future physician as they were hooded. Among CUSMs future physicians are captains of the US Army, Army National Guard and Air Force who will go on to make a difference in the lives of others.

Dr. Gupta continued, Be humble. You are about to become the most important person in countless peoples lives, strangers to you now, but soon, people with whom you will share some of the most profound relationships of your life. It really is an enormous privilege to care for another human being at their most vulnerable time to restore them to health when their bodies have betrayed them.

The U.S. faces a projected shortage of physicians. MD supply will not keep pace with demand in many specialties. CUSM now has 422 students, who are among the most talented and diverse medical students in the nation. Each year approximately 130 students are chosen from over 6,000 applications, with 27 percent the first in their family to attend University, 63 percent from California, and 39 percent socioeconomically challenged. CUSM students are not only among the most diverse in the nation but also among the most talented, scoring in the top 10 percent on the Medical College Admission Test (MCATs). One hundred percent of the CUSM MD class of 2022 were matched into residency programs with prestigious specialties and organizations.

Being the first is a gift; it is a priceless and invaluable experience that can never be taken away or repeated, said honors graduate Xi Chen, student commencement speaker. We showed grace, finesse, and maturity through the unprecedented challenges. It is amazing to witness this class crush expectations and make history.

You were here first, blazing a trail that no one had ever traveled before, the inaugural MD class of CUSM, said President & Dean Dr. Paul Lyons. I knew you were a remarkable group from the moment I met you, which I can say with certainty has been an experience shared by everyone who has ever met you over the last four years. You were focused and mission oriented. You were committed to helping fulfill the vision of our founder, Dr. Prem Reddy, whose transformative gifts made CUSM possible.

During the commencement, the University, Prime Healthcare Foundation, and the graduates were presented with congressional and legislative recognitions for outstanding achievements, visionary leadership, and service to the community. Majority Leader of the California State Assembly, Eloise Gomez Reyes, recognized Dr. Reddy, You are a hero to us. You could have picked any community, and you picked my hometown, Colton, California. I thank you for all you have done for this community and these students. This accomplishment is a true testament of your dedicated commitment to excellence in education. Other recognitions were received from Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh; Congresswoman Norma J. Torres; Congresswoman Judy Chu; Bill Ruh, Montclair Mayor Pro Tem and Prime Healthcare Foundation board member; and the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

The Prime Healthcare Foundation, headquartered in Ontario, California, is a public charity that owns 14 not-for-profit community-based hospitals. The mission of the Prime Healthcare Foundation is to provide quality, compassionate healthcare for all, and serve communities through charitable and educational initiatives.

About the California University of Science and Medicine

The California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM) is dedicated to advancing the art and science of medicine through medical education, research, and compassionate healthcare delivery in an inclusive environment that inspires, motivates and empowers students to become excellent and caring physicians, scientists, and leaders. The California University of Science and Medicine is a not-for-profit health sciences university established in 2015, led by MD/PhD faculty members. CUSM offers a Doctor of Medicine (MD) program and a Master in Biomedical Sciences degree program to prepare its diverse student body for careers in healthcare, public service, teaching and research.

Learn more at www.cusm.org.

Find us on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/california-university-of-science-and-medicine/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cusmedicine

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CUSMedicine/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cusmedicine/

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Elizabeth Nikels

[email protected]

909-235-4305

Source: California University of Science and Medicine
Senate passage of the California Cancer Care Equity Act a key step in expanding access to cancer care

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Cancer Care Is Different (CCID) Coalition today celebrates the unanimous California State Senate passage of the California Cancer Care Equity Act (SB 987), a bill that would expand access to specialized cancer care for Medi-Cal patients diagnosed with complex cancers. The 34 to 0 vote moves the bill on to the Assembly, where it is expected to be heard by the Assembly Health Committee next month.

If passed, the California Cancer Care Equity Act (CCCEA) would help remove barriers that prevent access to leading-edge care for Medi-Cal beneficiaries  a group who represents approximately one-third of Californias population. The legislation is a critical step toward connecting more Californians, particularly those from underserved communities, with optimal cancer treatment and saving more lives.

This year, more than 189,000 Californians will hear the terrifying words you have cancer, said Harlan Levine, M.D., president of Strategy and Business Ventures at City of Hope. While innovation has dramatically impacted survival, many patients, particularly those from underserved communities, are unable to access the most highly specialized treatments, clinical trials and care from the subspecialists most likely to help save their lives. This is particularly true for Medi-Cal beneficiaries, and this bill makes a bold statement that we will not leave them behind.

Studies have shown that systemic barriers to adequate cancer care result in worse outcomes for underserved minority groups, those lacking private insurance and those with a lower socioeconomic status. For instance, African American men and women have a 111% and 39% higher risk of dying from prostate cancer and breast cancer, respectively, compared with their white counterparts. Hispanic women experience stomach cancer incidence and death rates that are more than twice as high as white women. Despite having the highest rates of Medi-Cal enrollment (44.3% and 44.9% respectively), approximately 30% of African Americans and Hispanics reported the quality of care accessible in their area as a barrier to seeking treatment.

These disparities are in part due to a lack of access to specialized cancer care, such as genomic testing, precision medicine-based care, subspecialty expertise and clinical trials. Patients insured by Medi-Cal who are diagnosed with breast, colon, lung and rectal cancers are more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage of disease and have less favorable five-year survival rates than commercially insured patients, according to a study from University of California Davis.

The CCCEA will provide a choice to Medi-Cal cancer patients diagnosed with complex cancers so that they can better understand their diagnosis and receive the care they believe is best for them, regardless of their insurance or zip code. In line with the Biden Administrations reignition of the Cancer Moonshot, the legislation would help address disparities in access to leading treatments, such as precision medicine and opportunities to participate in clinical trials.

The California Cancer Care Equity Act, if passed, will be a major milestone in improving access to care and reducing disparities in cancer outcomes. Weve seen incredible innovation in cancer treatments over the past decade, and it is vital that we take a close look at how we deliver innovations in care to equitably reach patients, said the bills author, Senator Anthony Portantino (SD-25). With the Senate passage, we have cleared our first big hurdle in expanding access to leading-edge treatments for Medi-Cal patients, and I am hopeful that the Assembly will now help us to continue this important work.

The bill now moves to the Assembly, where it is expected to be heard by the Assembly Health Committee chaired by Assembly Member Jim Wood by late June. The CCID Coalition encourages Californians to show their ongoing support for this groundbreaking legislation by reaching out to their legislator through the CCID website.

We applaud the California Senate for advancing the California Cancer Care Equity Act, a crucial step toward expanding access to care for underserved patients in California, said Molly Guthrie, vice president of Public Policy & Advocacy for Susan G. Komen. With more than 31,720 women in California expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone, this legislation would help deliver high-quality treatment and care regardless of their insurance status and can mean the difference between life and death. We urge the Assembly to pass the California Cancer Care Equity Act without delay.

All patients  including those from communities that are historically underserved  deserve to have the choice to receive treatment from cancer subspecialists. Unfortunately, thats not the case today. The California Cancer Care Equity Act represents a long overdue shift in the approach used to think about and treat cancer patients, said Thea Zajac, California advocacy director for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. SB 987 will help ensure all Californians with cancer can access the full array of treatments. We look forward to working with assembly members to make this bill law.

Cancer is the leading killer for the Hispanic/Latino community in the United States. The California Cancer Care Equity Act would help address systemic barriers that contribute to these worse health outcomes for minorities, said Ysabel Duron, founder and executive director for the Latino Cancer Institute. Hispanics have one of the highest rates of enrollment in Medi-Cal, yet Medi-Cal beneficiaries experience worse outcomes for several cancer types compared to patients with commercial insurance. All cancer patients  regardless of race, insurance status or zip code  deserve access to optimal care, and we urge the Assembly to advance this bill immediately.

The CCID Coalitions vision is for each Californian diagnosed with cancer to have access to the cancer treatments most appropriate for their individual diagnosis.

About Cancer Care Is Different

Cancer Care Is Different is a coalition-based campaign effort focused on raising awareness of the need to improve cancer care delivery in California. Partners in this effort include City of Hope, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Susan G. Komen, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, National Marrow Donor Program/Be The Match, North Bay Cancer Alliance, Lazarex Cancer Foundation, Triage Cancer, The Latino Cancer Institute and California Black Health Network.

The CCID Coalitions statement announcing support for the bill can be found here. For more information on CCID, visit CancerCareDiff.org.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005850/en/

Letisia Marquez

626-476-7593

[email protected]

Source: Cancer Care Is Different
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation announced today that the board of directors approved 12 grants totaling more than $50 million in the first quarter of 2022. These grants were awarded to 12 grantees across the Hilton Foundations evolving program areas, in the U.S. and internationally.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220524005223/en/

The Tenant Advisory Council through A Community of Friends is comprised of seven permanent supportive housing tenants from seven different buildings who meet regularly with the organizations leadership to advise on projects and activities. Here the Tenant Advisory Council walks through life-sized unit prototypes with Lehrer Architects. Clockwise from lower left: Clarence Scranton, Ruby Smith, Roberto Sheinberg, Frank Ybarra, Mee Heh Risdon, Caroline Havens, Celina Godinez, Theresa Cummingham, Michael Lehrer, Michael Hernandez and Benjamin Lehrer. Photo courtesy of A Community of Friends.

We are proud to support these incredible organizations working to improve peoples lives all over the world, starting in our own backyard here in Los Angeles County, said Peter Laugharn, president and CEO of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. It is inspiring to see so many of our partners across sectors boldly leading change in their own communities.

Following is an overview of the 12 grants awarded in the first quarter of 2022:

Catholic Sisters  Catholic Charities of Los Angeles was awarded $3 million to collaborate with Catholic sisters in providing 325 youth experiencing disadvantages with career development and supportive services through Archdiocesan Youth Employment, and to measure the impact of these services. Marywood University was granted up to $11 million to implement Phase VI of the Sisters Leadership Development Initiative in ten countries in Africa, and to establish an investment fund for sisters education.

Foster Youth  National Center for Youth Law received $3.8 million to support a collective impact campaign that will increase access to reproductive and sexual health care, economic assets and financial supports, improve wellbeing outcomes and reduce unwanted pregnancies and child removals among foster youth in Los Angeles.

Global Early Childhood Development  East and Southern Africa  D-Tree International was awarded $1.8 million to strengthen the national digital community health early childhood development program in Zanzibar and scale to Mainland Tanzania. Episcopal Relief & Development was granted $3 million to equip faith leaders and community stakeholders with the skills to support holistic early childhood development and advance advocacy efforts to support early childhood development services through an interfaith platform in Kenya and Mozambique. United States Fund for UNICEF received $7 million to embed early childhood development within existing systems and service delivery mechanisms at national and sub-national levels in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, and to provide global and regional leadership and technical guidance on early childhood development.

Homelessness  A Community of Friends was awarded $3 million to provide a program-related investment to support piloting an alternative financing model for supportive housing. Social Venture Partners aka Social Justice Partners was awarded $2.3 million to host the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Policy and Systems Change Fellowship program, which will recruit a new generation of public policy sector leaders to prevent and end homelessness across Los Angeles County, with an emphasis on emerging BIPOC leaders.

Opportunity Youth  YouthBuild Mexico received $3.1 million to create a multi-pronged approach to youth employment in Mexico City, including direct service, collaboration and advocacy on behalf of opportunity youth.

Refugees  BRAC USA was awarded $5.6 million to support the scaling up of integrated two-generational programming for refugee and host communities in Uganda.

Program-Related Investments  Affordable Housing Initiative, LLC received $5 million to provide a program-related investment to support the development of affordable and supportive housing through the Affordable Housing Fund.

Equity Fund  Interfaith Youth Core was granted $1.5 million for general operating support.

To learn more about our program areas and how we approach our work, please visit hiltonfoundation.org/program-areas. For more detailed information on our grantmaking, please visit hiltonfoundation.org/grants.

About the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

International hotelier Conrad N. Hilton established the grantmaking foundation that bears his name in 1944 to help people living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage worldwide. Today, the work continues, concentrating on efforts to improve early childhood development outcomes, support older youth as they transition from foster care, ensure opportunity youth can access career pathways, prevent homelessness, identify solutions to safe water access, help integrate refugees into society and lift the work of Catholic sisters. Additionally, following selection by an independent, international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to an organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. The Foundation is one of the worlds largest, with approximately $8.5 billion in assets. It has awarded grants to date totaling more than $2.4 billion, $339 million worldwide in 2021. Please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org for more information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220524005223/en/

Julia Friedman

Sr. Communications Manager

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

818.851.3754

[email protected]

Source: Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
In a series of transactions, Crestwood to acquire Sendero Midstream Partners, LP and First Reserves 50% equity interest in Crestwood Permian Joint Venture at approximately 7x NTM EBITDA

Crestwood more than doubles its natural gas processing capabilities in the Delaware Basin, the leading North American shale play by economics and drilling rig activity; Excess processing and compression capacity combined with complementary footprints drive significant commercial and capital synergies

The Delaware Basin becomes Crestwoods second largest cash flow contributor with 2023E Adjusted EBITDA of $190  $200 million, representing approximately 20% of total company cash flow

Divestiture of Barnett Shale assets for $275 million continues Crestwoods asset optimization strategy by redeploying cash proceeds from non-core assets into higher growth and stacked pay, Delaware Basin assets

Transactions prudently financed with cash proceeds from the divestiture of Barnett Shale assets, common equity issued to First Reserve, and revolver borrowings to maintain Crestwoods strong balance sheet metrics and financial flexibility

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE: CEQP) (Crestwood) today announced it has entered into a series of agreements under which the company will i) acquire Sendero Midstream Partners, LP (Sendero Midstream) for $600 million in cash, ii) acquire First Reserves 50% equity interest in Crestwood Permian Basin Holdings LLC (CPJV) for $320 million in Crestwood common units, plus the assumption of asset level debt, and iii) divest its legacy, non-core Barnett Shale assets to EnLink Midstream, LLC (NYSE: ENLC) (EnLink Midstream) for $275 million in cash. The transactions are expected to close early in the third quarter 2022, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

I am thrilled to announce this series of strategic transactions that greatly enhance the Crestwood franchise by creating immediate scale and additional runway in the Delaware Basin, high-grading our cash flow mix through the rationalization of non-core assets, and successfully maintaining our conservative balance sheet and financial flexibility, commented, Robert G. Phillips, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Crestwood. The acquisition of Sendero Midstream is highly complementary to our existing Willow Lake assets, provides excess processing and compression capacity for current and future customer development activity, and solidifies Crestwoods footprint in the leading North American shale play. Furthermore, the consolidation of First Reserves equity interest in CPJV simplifies our corporate structure and drives enhanced financial, commercial and operational flexibility. Both transactions are highly synergistic and will drive meaningful accretion to our distributable cash flow for many years to come.

Mr. Phillips continued, Todays announcement also marks the culmination of our long-term investment and operating footprint in the Barnett Shale. The Barnett Shale is where Crestwood started dating back to October 2010 and I want to personally thank our field employees for their hard work, dedication, and loyalty over the past twelve years, as they have fully embodied Crestwoods core principles with an unwavering commitment to operational safety and performance. We are excited to pass the torch to EnLink Midstream who shares Crestwoods commitment to operational excellence and corporate stewardship. As we close this chapter in Crestwoods history, we will continue to focus on building and optimizing our sizeable gathering and processing positions in the Williston Basin, Delaware Basin, and Powder River Basin. We believe the strategic actions we are taking today to divest a legacy asset to core up our position in one of the most prolific, economic, and active basins in North America, best positions Crestwood to deliver long-term value creation for our unitholders.

Transaction Highlights and Rationale

Significantly increases exposure to highly prolific northern Delaware Basin: The Sendero Midstream assets are located entirely in Eddy County, New Mexico, one of the most active regions of the Delaware Basin as evidenced by approximately 25% of total basin rigs focused on the county. The region benefits from an ideal combination of low oil breakevens, highly prolific wells, and significant amounts of gas production, making it a premier area for gas midstream investment. The acquisition of Sendero Midstream adds more than 75,000 dedicated acres with over 1,200 tier 1 drilling locations, long-term fixed fee contracts with commodity price upside, and a diverse and active set of private and public producer customers.



The Sendero Midstream assets are located entirely in Eddy County, New Mexico, one of the most active regions of the Delaware Basin as evidenced by approximately 25% of total basin rigs focused on the county. The region benefits from an ideal combination of low oil breakevens, highly prolific wells, and significant amounts of gas production, making it a premier area for gas midstream investment. The acquisition of Sendero Midstream adds more than 75,000 dedicated acres with over 1,200 tier 1 drilling locations, long-term fixed fee contracts with commodity price upside, and a diverse and active set of private and public producer customers. Complementary asset footprint enables operational, capital, and commercial synergies: Sendero Midstreams assets are highly complementary to the existing Willow Lake footprint, and can be integrated with minimal capital investment, enabling Crestwood to capture substantial cost and commercial synergies. The pro forma system will have total processing capacity of 550 MMcf/d with approximately 100 MMcf/d of unutilized space, which reduces the capital investment necessary to expand Crestwoods existing Orla plant to meet existing producer customer needs. As the commodity price outlook remains favorable for an acceleration of activity across the basin, this expanded footprint positions Crestwood to aggressively pursue third party volumes to further optimize utilization of existing infrastructure.



Sendero Midstreams assets are highly complementary to the existing Willow Lake footprint, and can be integrated with minimal capital investment, enabling Crestwood to capture substantial cost and commercial synergies. The pro forma system will have total processing capacity of 550 MMcf/d with approximately 100 MMcf/d of unutilized space, which reduces the capital investment necessary to expand Crestwoods existing Orla plant to meet existing producer customer needs. As the commodity price outlook remains favorable for an acceleration of activity across the basin, this expanded footprint positions Crestwood to aggressively pursue third party volumes to further optimize utilization of existing infrastructure. Further upgrades asset portfolio and cash flow and simplifies structure at attractive valuations: The combined Sendero Midstream and First Reserve transactions represent an estimated 7x NTM (next-twelve-months) EBITDA valuation multiple. The Sendero Midstream transaction provides a natural catalyst to execute Crestwoods stated objective to consolidate First Reserves 50% equity interest of CPJV, which enhances scale and removes the structural complexity of the joint venture in Crestwoods asset portfolio. Based on current and forecasted producer activity, Crestwood expects the Delaware Basin to become its second largest asset generating 2023E Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $190 to $200 million, which represents approximately 20% of the pro forma companys cash flow. In addition, the divestiture of the Barnett Shale assets represents an attractive opportunity to recycle cash proceeds from a non-core asset into a high growth, stacked pay, core basin.



The combined Sendero Midstream and First Reserve transactions represent an estimated 7x NTM (next-twelve-months) EBITDA valuation multiple. The Sendero Midstream transaction provides a natural catalyst to execute Crestwoods stated objective to consolidate First Reserves 50% equity interest of CPJV, which enhances scale and removes the structural complexity of the joint venture in Crestwoods asset portfolio. Based on current and forecasted producer activity, Crestwood expects the Delaware Basin to become its second largest asset generating 2023E Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $190 to $200 million, which represents approximately 20% of the pro forma companys cash flow. In addition, the divestiture of the Barnett Shale assets represents an attractive opportunity to recycle cash proceeds from a non-core asset into a high growth, stacked pay, core basin. Maintains strong balance sheet and enhances credit profile: The transactions will be prudently financed with a mixture of Barnett Shale divestiture proceeds, common equity, and revolver borrowings and are enhancing to the credit profile of the company due to increased cash flow scale, higher asset quality, reduced ownership complexity and expanded future free cash flow generation. Pro forma for the transactions, Q1 2022 leverage was approximately 3.8x, and Crestwood expects leverage to return to sub-3.5x in 2023 as the assets are fully integrated and synergies are achieved. Additionally, Crestwood continues to maintain flexibility under its $175 million common and preferred unit buyback program to further enhance returns and cost of capital opportunistically.



The transactions will be prudently financed with a mixture of Barnett Shale divestiture proceeds, common equity, and revolver borrowings and are enhancing to the credit profile of the company due to increased cash flow scale, higher asset quality, reduced ownership complexity and expanded future free cash flow generation. Pro forma for the transactions, Q1 2022 leverage was approximately 3.8x, and Crestwood expects leverage to return to sub-3.5x in 2023 as the assets are fully integrated and synergies are achieved. Additionally, Crestwood continues to maintain flexibility under its $175 million common and preferred unit buyback program to further enhance returns and cost of capital opportunistically. Extends Crestwoods ESG practices to Sendero Midstream assets: Following the close of the transactions, Crestwood will implement its sustainability best practices as it assumes operatorship of the Sendero Midstream assets. This includes incorporating the acquired assets into its carbon management plan with a focus on emissions reductions and increased methane emissions monitoring. The company will also maintain its strong commitment to biodiversity and ecosystem protection, safety, and community engagement efforts in New Mexico.

Transaction Details

Sendero Midstream Acquisition

Under the terms of the purchase agreement, Crestwood will acquire Sendero Midstream for $600 million in cash, which will be financed with cash from the Barnett Shale divestiture and borrowings on Crestwoods revolving credit facility. The Sendero Midstream assets, located in Eddy County, New Mexico, are comprised of 350 MMcf/d of processing capacity, approximately 140 miles of natural gas gathering lines and more than 53,000 horsepower of field gathering compression.

First Reserves 50% Equity Interest in CPJV

Under the terms of the First Reserve agreement, Crestwood will acquire the remaining 50% equity interest in CPJV for $320 million. As part of the valuation and a condition to closing the transaction, First Reserve will fund $75 million into CPJV to paydown asset level debt and support a portion of the cash consideration due to Sendero Midstream. In connection with these steps, Crestwood will issue to First Reserve approximately 11.3 million common units, which represents a total transaction value of $320 million. Pro forma for the transaction, First Reserve will own approximately 10% of Crestwoods common units outstanding. In addition, Crestwood will assume approximately $75 million in remaining debt outstanding at the joint venture level.

Barnett Shale Asset Divestiture

Crestwood entered into a definitive agreement to divest its legacy, non-core Barnett Shale assets to EnLink Midstream for $275 million in cash. The divestiture of Crestwoods assets includes the Alliance System, the Lake Arlington System and the Cowtown System, representing a full exit from the Barnett Shale. Crestwood will utilize the cash proceeds from the sale to fund the cash consideration for the Sendero Midstream acquisition.

These transactions have been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Crestwoods general partner, Sendero Midstream and First Reserve. The transactions are expected to close early in the third quarter 2022, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Crestwood has posted a supplemental investor deck providing details on the transactions on its corporate website.

Advisors

RBC Capital Markets served as lead financial advisor, Citi served as financial advisor and Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. and Locke Lord L.L.P. served as legal advisors to Crestwood. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor to Sendero Midstream. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett L.L.P. served as legal advisor to First Reserve. Baker Botts L.L.P. served as advisor to EnLink Midstream.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. The words expects, believes, anticipates, plans, will, shall, estimates, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which are generally not historical in nature. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and are based on the beliefs and assumptions of management, based on information currently available to them. Although Crestwood believes that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that any such forward-looking statements will materialize. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied from these forward-looking statements include the risks and uncertainties described in Crestwoods reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and its subsequent reports, which are available through the SECs EDGAR system at www.sec.gov and on our website. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect managements view only as of the date made, and Crestwood assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

About Crestwood Equity Partners LP

Houston, Texas, based Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE: CEQP) is a master limited partnership that owns and operates midstream businesses in multiple shale resource plays across the United States. Crestwood is engaged in the gathering, processing, treating, compression, storage and transportation of natural gas; storage, transportation, terminalling and marketing of NGLs; gathering, storage, terminalling and marketing of crude oil; and gathering and disposal of produced water. Visit Crestwood Equity Partners LP at www.crestwoodlp.com; and to learn more about Crestwoods sustainability efforts, please visit https://esg.crestwoodlp.com.

About First Reserve

First Reserve is a private equity firm exclusively focused on investing across diversified energy, infrastructure, and general industrial end-markets. Founded in 1983, First Reserve has 38 years of industry insight, and has cultivated a network of global relationships. First Reserve has raised more than $32 billion of aggregate capital since inception. Its investment and operational experience have been built from over 700 transactions, including platform investments and add-on acquisitions, on six continents. The firms portfolio companies have operated globally in over 60 countries and span the entire energy and industrial spectrum.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005901/en/

Crestwood Equity Partners LP

Investor Contact

Rhianna Disch, 713-380-3006

[email protected]

Director, Investor Relations



Sustainability and Media Contact

Joanne Howard, 832-519-2211

[email protected]

Senior Vice President, Sustainability and Corporate Communications

Source: Crestwood Equity Partners LP
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- D.A. Davidson welcomes four seasoned bankers focused on senior living and structured housing to its Fixed Income Capital Markets Group, a nationally recognized team of capital markets professionals consistently ranked among the top leaders in fixed income financing. Richard (Rick) Lohr joins the firm as managing director and head of Senior Living and Structured Housing, Amy Hayman and Romy McCarthy come on board as managing directors and Ogieva Guobadia, CFA joins as senior vice president.

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Richard (Rick) Lohr (Photo: Business Wire)

Through their collective decades of industry experience, the team has completed over 250 financings representing in excess of $10 billion for senior living and structured housing clients. Their clients range across both the non-profit and for profit sectors with an expertise in life plan communities, rental senior housing and affordable senior housing. Prior to joining D.A. Davidson, the team led the Senior Living practice at Piper Sandler.

"This team brings a unique depth of expertise and a trusted, high level of service for an industry requiring specialized banking, said Marc Dispense, president of D.A. Davidsons Fixed Income Capital Markets Group. This expansion of our banking capabilities complements our broad investor distribution for specialized segments, allowing us to leverage all sides of the transaction to execute well for our clients. We continue to grow our fixed income capabilities for both taxable and non-taxable client needs, and the addition of this high powered team is a significant event for our multi-year, measured growth plan.

D.A. Davidsons platform is uniquely aligned with and well positioned to serve the needs of both the senior living and affordable housing sectors, said Rick Lohr, head of D.A. Davidsons Senior Living and Structured Housing Group. The firms scale, resources, capital and culture along with its robust and diversified fixed income and equity capital markets platform, will be beneficial to our clients as they look to grow and strengthen their market positions.

What can we expect to see in the future for the Senior Living space?

The senior living sector is both growing and consolidating at the same time, creating a unique set of capital and advisory needs, said Lohr. Over the next decade, demographic driven demand will continue to outpace available supply. Access to capital, operational and governance resources will become increasingly important as the overall business of senior living continues to gain in scale and complexity.

D.A. Davidson & Co.s Fixed Income Capital Markets group is a national leader in raising capital through fixed income banking, distribution and depository strategy. With 31 locations across the U.S., the group is consistently ranked among the top firms in the country. The fixed income team serves new issue clients in public finance banking and taxable debt issuance, and maintains a diverse sales and trading group interacting with taxable and tax-exempt investors including banks, credit unions, insurance companies, bond funds, money managers and trust companies.

About D.A. Davidson Companies

D.A. Davidson Companies is an employee-owned financial services firm offering a range of financial services and advice to individuals, corporations, institutions and municipalities nationwide. Founded in 1935 with corporate headquarters in Great Falls, Montana, and regional headquarters in Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Omaha and Seattle, the company has approximately 1,475 employees and offices in 27 states.

Subsidiaries include: D.A. Davidson & Co., the largest full-service investment firm headquartered in the Northwest, providing wealth management, investment banking, equity and fixed income capital markets services, and advice; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional asset management firm; D.A. Davidson Trust Company, a trust and wealth management company; and Davidson Fixed Income Management, a registered investment adviser providing fixed income portfolio and advisory services.

For more information, visit dadavidson.com.

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Emily Roy

Prosek for D.A. Davidson

(646) 818-9232

[email protected]

Source: D.A. Davidson
Inaugural dunnhumby Retail Media: State of the Industry report highlights retailers who are set to take their slice of a $100B+ business

New dunnhumby research shows vast potential of CPG and agency media spend, but reveals shortcomings in retailers existing media offerings

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- dunnhumby, the worlds leading retail data science organisation, has published its landmark State of the Industry report, which gives a snapshot of the burgeoning Retail Media industry, and reveals that retailers who are not investing in building their own retail media eco-systems look set to miss out on their portion of a multi-billion dollar business.

Retail Media: State of the Industry, examines how leading grocery retailers worldwide are increasingly turning to retail media to offset the increased costs and reduced margins of online shopping and covid responses. And with Forrester predicting the industry could be worth around $50bn by the end of 2022, its understandable that retailers are turning their heads.

But retail media is more than just high margins for retailers, explains Julie Jeancolas, Head of Media and Customer Engagement Products, dunnhumby: With a high-intent, brand safe environment, CPGs and their agencies are increasingly moving multi-million dollar budgets to retail media. The combination of loyalty and purchasing data, and direct link between marketing spend and sales means a very attractive proposition for brands.

Existing retail media offerings are lacking

But new research of leading media agencies and CPGs shows a low level of satisfaction across several notable elements of existing retail media offerings. Crucial aspects of retail media such as targeting, measurement, pricing, activation, and innovation were all cited by CPGs and agencies as areas in need of development that need attention.

From ease of use and availability of data to dynamic pricing and cross-channel activation, we are hearing loud and clear from CPGs that many existing retail media offerings still have some significant room for improvement, continues Jeancolas. CPG marketing teams and their media agencies need a high degree of certainty that their marketing investments have made a direct contribution to sales, and many existing retail media offerings need to up their game to deliver this.

The first true end-to-end retail media platform

The dunnhumby report and research come soon after the launch of dunnhumby Sphere, the end-to-end retail media platform, which allows retailers to scale and maximise their revenues from retail media, and advertising partners to benefit from enhanced collaboration and the ability to plan, book, measure and pay for campaigns across online and in-store channels.

dunnhumby Sphere is already being used by Tesco to power several of the retail media products offered as part of the Tesco Media and Insight platform, which allows Tesco suppliers and agencies to engage with customers and understand their evolving needs.

dunnhumby Sphere is launching in several stages, with modules including Digital Offsite, Digital Onsite Display, Store Media and Sponsored Product Ads coming to the platform throughout the year. For more information, visit dunnhumby.com/retailers/retail-media/dunnhumby-sphere/

**

About dunnhumby

dunnhumby is the global leader in Customer Data Science, empowering businesses everywhere to compete and thrive in the modern data-driven economy. We always put the Customer First.

Our mission: to enable businesses to grow and reimagine themselves by becoming advocates and champions for their Customers. With deep heritage and expertise in retail  one of the worlds most competitive markets, with a deluge of multi-dimensional data  dunnhumby today enables businesses all over the world, across industries, to be Customer First.

The dunnhumby Customer Data Science Platform is our unique mix of technology, software and consulting, enabling businesses to increase revenue and profits by delivering exceptional experiences for their Customers  in-store, offline and online. dunnhumby employs over 2,000 experts in offices throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas working for transformative, iconic brands such as Tesco, Coca-Cola, Meijer, Procter & Gamble, Raleys, LOreal and Monoprix.

Learn more at www.dunnhumby.com

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Gavin Greene

[email protected]

Source: dunnhumby
Honorees recognized during annual Discover 2022  BC in the Cloud User Group in Philadelphia

AUDUBON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Infinite Blue, a leading provider of business continuity/disaster recovery planning and response management software, recognized the inaugural winners of the IB Excellence in Resilience awards during its Discover 2022  BC in the Cloud User Group. The new awards program is designed to spotlight Infinite Blue customers and how they use BC in the Cloud to achieve operational resiliency. Houston Methodist was honored with Recovery of the Year while ADP was named the IB Trailblazer winner.

Recovery of the Year: Houston Methodist

This award recognizes an Infinite Blue customer who has successfully recovered from an incident over the past year using their plans, software, and skills. Houston Methodist faced a catastrophic data center power outage, late on a Friday, impacting 7 hospitals and over 100 clinics, which brought down critical healthcare applications, phones, and internet.

Houston Methodist was prepared for the incident as they had spent the months prior migrating all of their application and infrastructure plans from Word and Excel, into their automated BC in the Cloud software. They had also conducted quarterly testing of the program, followed by After Action Reports and implemented necessary changes.

Recovery efforts, status, and updates were defined and tested, streamlining efforts and coordination using BC in the Cloud software as the central resource. The largest challenge faced was the remote workforce involved in the recovery process, but by using mobile assessable software they were kept updated in real-time as much as possible.

The Houston Methodist team followed their plans outlined in BC in the Cloud to move step by step, recovering one system at a time. In total, it took about 6 hours to get all clinical systems back up, but within 2 hours all critical systems were fully recovered. Houston Methodist took the learnings from the event and enacted new procedures, so this type of event wont happen again.

IB Trailblazer: ADP

The IB Trailblazer is intended to showcase the Infinite Blue customer with the most unique BC in the Cloud use case. With the increased number of disasters the world is facing, ADP identified the need to provide a convenient and fast way for multiple areas in the organization to visualize and assess the potential impacts on its associates, facilities, and critical processes.

ADP has more than 200 locations and approximately 66,000 associates globally, so gathering data in a timely manner before, during and after a disaster, is crucial. ADPs Crisis Management Team, Business Resiliency Planners, and the Facilities Protection Team collaborated to determine what information they needed to see in order to assess initial impacts.

Working closely with Infinite Blues Admin Concierge Services Team, ADP created two features, a Location Portal for non-licensed Facilities, Business Resiliency Planners, and individual Site Leaders and a separate dashboard within the Location Object for its Crisis Management Team and Facilities Protection Team.

The end result provides a high level visual of key on site contacts, Business Units and Divisions, generator and UPS capabilities, key infrastructure information, associate headcount, related continuity plans, and related critical processes within the Location Portal and the dashboard, while the enhanced relationships in the Location Object provide the dolled down details on each of the elements provided on the Location Portal and dashboard.

Since this is the first time in two years that we were able to hold our BC in the Cloud User Group in-person, we wanted to do something special to recognize our customers and how they utilize our software, said Frank Shultz, Chairman and CEO of Infinite Blue. The whole company is excited to share in the success of each of the winners and it was an honor for me to be able to recognize them among their peers. Were already looking forward to building on the success of the first year of the program.

Information for the 2023 IB Excellence in Resilience awards will be available later this year.

About Infinite Blue

Infinite Blue is a software solutions provider that empowers some of the worlds largest organizations to become more obstacle-resistant and resilient. Our friendly and flexible applications work together as an all-in-one, configurable business continuity command center. Leaders can now see potential threats enterprise-wide so you can plan smarter, respond in real-time, and bounce back stronger from disruptions like fires, natural disasters, security breaches, global pandemics, and other what-ifs. Our organizational resiliency suite of applications are built on our low-code platform and supported by our team of experts, so its simple to integrate and configure our existing applications or create something specifically for your organizations needs. For more information, please visit InfiniteBlue.com.

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Kevin Jurrens

[email protected]

Source: Infinite Blue
People are at the very heart of Infogain  Ayan Mukerji, CEO

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Infogain, a human-centered digital platform solutions leader, is proud to announce that it has been Certified by Great Place to Work in India. The certification is based on anonymous feedback and demonstrates Infogains excellence across the five dimensions of the Great Place to Work Trust Index: credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005480/en/

Infogain, a human-centered digital platform solutions leader, is proud to announce that it has been Certified by Great Place to Work in India. The certification is based on anonymous feedback and demonstrates Infogains excellence across the five dimensions of the Great Place to Work Trust Index: credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Ayan Mukerji, Infogain Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am proud of the entire team for earning the Great Place to Work Certification. Our people are at the heart of what we do, and this prestigious award is testament to their enriching experience at Infogain. This also comes as a special honor because it represents our employees honest feelings about Infogain and its work culture, leadership, and employee-first approach. At Infogain every employee contributes to creating a world-class culture and making us an employer of choice."

The Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying outstanding employee experiences. It comes in recognition of Infogains focus on building a collaborative culture and nurturing an environment where employees are challenged, supported, and appreciated.

Dayapatra Nevatia, Infogain Chief Operating Officer, remarked, "This certification is an accolade every Infogainer can be proud of and is a result of steps we have taken to be employee friendly. It reflects the strength in our diverse teams collaborating to deliver high-quality solutions for our clients and partners. This recognition will also resonate well with prospective candidates. Its a moment of great pride for all of us.

Rajiv Naithani, Infogain Chief People Officer, commented, "We are honored to have been certified as a Great Place to Work, especially at a time when employees have been working from home while also caring for their families and juggling priorities. This recognition is a testament to our company's combined efforts to provide a humanistic work environment for our employees. We are committed to a high-trust, high-performance culture as we continue to live our core values of growing together, creating client value, innovating, and delivering excellence.

Yeshasvini Ramaswamy, CEO of Great Place to Work India, said, Organizations in a growth phase have added complexity in managing expectations and experiences for the employees. In the face of the overall macro environment which has been unprecedented, it is appreciable what Infogain has achieved in the engagement levels seen this year. Kudos to the leadership team for driving trust in the organization. Thank you for your contribution to our vision of making India a great place to work for all.

With over 6,000 employees worldwide, Infogain uses a human-centered approach in all its initiatives. Join our team as we continue to grow by visiting our careers page at https://www.infogain.com/careers/.

About Infogain

Infogain is a human-centered digital platform engineering company based out of Silicon Valley. We engineer business outcomes for Fortune 500 companies and digital natives in the technology, healthcare, insurance, travel, telecom, and retail/CPG industries. We accelerate experience-led transformation in the delivery of digital platforms using technologies such as cloud, microservices, automation, IoT, and artificial intelligence. Infogain is a multi-cloud expert across hyperscale cloud providers  Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and Amazon Web Services.

Infogain, an Apax Funds portfolio company, has offices in California, Washington, Texas, the UK, the UAE, and Singapore, with delivery centers in Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Krakow, Montevideo, Noida, Bengaluru, Pune, Gurgaon, and Mumbai. To learn more, visit www.infogain.com.

About Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting, and insights they need to make strategic people decisions. The Institute serves businesses, non-profits, and government agencies in more than 60 countries and has conducted pioneering research on the characteristics of great workplaces for over three decades.

Learn more at https://www.greatplacetowork.in

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005480/en/

Cathy Chandhok | Chief Marketing Officer

[email protected]

+1 (408) 355-6028

+91 98115-02386



Sarmishtha Sinha | Communications

[email protected]

+91 88105-73274

Source: Infogain
Agency Becomes the 3rd acquisition for Inszone in Texas.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Inszone Insurance Services, a rapidly growing national provider of benefits, personal, and commercial lines insurance, announced today the acquisition of Caleb Insurance and Financial Services, Inc.

Founded by Thomas B. Polvogt, III, Caleb Insurance and Financial Services, Inc has been serving the community of Katy, TX and surrounding areas since 1981. The agency has won multiple awards including the Presidents Council Sales award, the Champion Conference award and the Million Dollar Round Table Award, to name a few. Thom and his staff have always striven to make insurance surprisingly simple for their customers, getting them the right insurance at the best value. The Caleb Insurance and Financial Services, Inc team brings decades of combined experience in the insurance industry. They will continue to strengthen relationships in the area and to provide the amazing service clients are used to, now with greater resources under the Inszone brand.

Following the transition, Caleb Insurance and Financial Services, Inc employees will continue operating out of their current location and serving clients under the Inszone Insurance brand with no interruptions.

The acquisition of Caleb Insurance provides Inszone with a second location in the State of Texas and grows our footprint in a key state for the future of our Agency, said Norm Hudson, CEO of Inszone Insurance Services. Combined with Inszones resources, market access and process and procedures, we are excited for the growth of our new office in Katy, Texas.

Inszone continues its aggressive growth plan with goals of strengthening its presence in existing markets and strategically expanding into new ones. A number of important transactions will be announced in the upcoming months.

About Inszone: Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Sacramento, California, Inszone is a full-service insurance brokerage firm which provides a broad array of property & casualty insurance, along with employee benefits solutions. With a strong, experienced management team, Inszone continues to grow organically, as well as through acquisitions. With 29 locations across California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Missouri, Texas and Illinois, the company is looking to further expand throughout the United States.

For more information about Inszone, please visit www.inszoneinsurance.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005852/en/

Inszone Insurance

Norm Hudson  CEO

916-995-0234

[email protected]

Source: Inszone Insurance Services
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dental education should update both its curriculum and delivery methods to prepare oral health professionals to succeed as part of multi-disciplinary health care team serving an increasingly diverse U.S. populationand, ultimately, to improve oral health care access and outcomes, according to articles released online today and publishing in the June 2022 issue of the Journal of Dental Education (JDE).

The articles were published as part of a coordinated initiative among four dental journals to draw attention to, and provide fresh insights about, a 2021 report, Oral Health in America: Advances and Challenges, published by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the National Institutes of Health.

In the JDE review article Oral health in America 2021: Making a case for curricular change, the authors call on dental schools to provide research training opportunities and recruit students who are interested in research. Additionally, they urge an integration of basic and clinical science training, with special attention to instruction on health disparities, safe pain management, addiction science, social determinants of health, use of digital and clinical technologies such as electronic health records and teledentistry, and treatment of diverse populations and patients with complex health needs.

They also write that dental schools should expand interprofessional education to prepare students for health care environments that integrate dental, behavioral and medical services in non-traditional settings such as schools and community centers. Dental schools, they add, can also help remedy the underrepresentation of certain groups in the dental profession through targeted recruitment efforts and by seeking financial support for scholarships.

While we never envision ourselves becoming obsolete or our dental school curriculum becoming obsolete, the scientific advances of today and tomorrow will require that we rethink what we are teaching our students, why we are teaching them, and how we are teaching them, they write.

A guest editorial publishing in the same issue of JDE amplified that point, stressing that the changing landscapein both demographics and technologyrequires new ways of thinking about the goals of oral health care. That editorialThe decades ahead for dental educationurges dental schools to consider ways they can transform findings in the NIDCR report and journal articles into action.

ADEA President and CEO Karen P. West, D.M.D., M.P.H., stressed the fundamental role of dental education in improving oral health. Further gains in oral health care start with dental education, said Dr. West. And advances in dental education start with a greater awareness and knowledge of the challenges we face, the patients we serve, the students we train and the technology we use. I urge everyone in academic dentistry to read the oral health report and journal articles to consider what they can do to prepare the next generation of oral health professionals to best serve their patients and communities.

The other journals publishing perspective papers and editorials about the oral health report are Journal of Dental Research, Journal of Public Health Dentistry and Journal of the American Dental Association.

NIDCR Director Rena DSouza, D.D.S., Ph.D., said she hopes the report and journal papers can help to construct a path forward for improved oral health.

The Oral Health in America report showed that although some measures of oral health have improved over the last 20 years, there is still much work to be done, said Dr. DSouza. The papers published today serve as a framework to guide our community in creating an oral health ecosystem that ensures all Americans can enjoy the benefits of good oral health.

Access the papers and their accompanying editorials below to learn more:

Journal of Dental Research

Journal of Public Health Dentistry

Journal of Dental Education

Journal of the American Dental Association

About ADEA: The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) is The Voice of Dental Education. Our mission is to lead and support the health professions community in preparing future-ready oral health professionals. Our members include all 78 U.S. and Canadian dental schools, more than 800 allied and advanced dental education programs, more than 50 corporations and approximately 18,000 individuals. Our activities encompass a wide range of research, advocacy, faculty development, meetings and communications, including the esteemed Journal of Dental Education, as well as the dental school application services ADEA AADSAS, ADEA PASS, ADEA DHCAS and ADEA CAAPID. For more information, visit adea.org.

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Kellie Bove

[email protected]

202-513-1172

Source: American Dental Education Association
HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the final close of KKR Asia Credit Opportunities Fund (ACOF or the Fund), a US$1.1 billion fund focused on performing privately originated credit investments in Asia Pacific.

Our credit strategy is highly complementary to our existing equity strategies in Asia, and the close of ACOF represents a significant milestone for KKR in Asia Pacific as we continue to build out our suite of investment capabilities and capital solutions across asset classes, said Ming Lu, Head of KKR Asia Pacific. Asia continues to benefit from favorable macroeconomic trends and long-term growth. However, the number of financing options available to companies looking to keep pace with this rapid growth has remained limited. We believe these dynamics provide an attractive landscape for alternative asset managers like KKR who are able to provide more flexible and differentiated credit solutions than traditional lenders.

KKRs Asia Credit platform seeks to provide bespoke private credit solutions to companies and sponsors which harness the strength of KKRs alternative investment capabilities and its expertise as one of the largest alternative credit managers globally. The Asia Credit team leverages KKRs local and global resources to source, diligence, and execute investment opportunities to provide customized financing, ensure capital protections, and support value creation in the process. ACOF intends to pursue investments primarily in performing privately originated credit, and broadly target opportunities across three primary investing themes, including senior and unitranche corporate lending, subordinated corporate lending, and asset-based finance investments.

Brian Dillard, Head of Asia Credit at KKR, said, Bank capital represents approximately 80 cents of every dollar of credit capital in Asia, which is a far larger percentage than what we are seeing in North America and Europe. There is an imbalance of available financing for Asian businesses at a time when the regions growth and prosperity have fueled an enormous demand for more flexible funding solutions by borrowers looking to seize the opportunities. With limited non-bank supply, we believe this market presents compelling opportunities for alternative credit providers like KKR. With ACOF, we are excited to play a larger role in meeting this unmatched demand and assisting leading businesses and sponsors across the region to meet their long-term growth ambitions.

At the time of close, the Fund is the largest inaugural pan-regional fund focused on performing credit and one of the largest inaugural pan-regional credit funds to have been raised for Asia Pacific. ACOF received strong support from a diverse group of new and existing investors, including public and corporate pensions, sovereign wealth funds, commercial banks, insurance companies, asset managers and private investment groups, and family offices. KKR invested over US$100 million alongside external investors through its balance sheet and employee commitments.

In Asia Pacific, KKR has closed 14 credit investments since 2019, accounting for approximately US$2.4 billion invested by KKR and total transaction value of US$4.7 billion. This has included providing acquisition financing and bespoke capital solutions for companies and financial sponsors in the environmental services, real estate, education, infrastructure, and healthcare sectors. KKR Credit has been active in markets including Australia, Greater China, India, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam.

KKR established its credit platform in 2004, and made its first private credit investment in 2005. Over the past 17 years, KKR has built one of the largest private credit platforms globally with the ability to invest across the capital structure and liquidity spectrum. These capabilities are paired with KKRs approach to proprietary sourcing, capital preservation and active portfolio management to seek out long-term capital appreciation and attractive risk-adjusted returns. Today, KKR manages approximately US$184 billion of credit assets globally, including approximately US$102 billion in leveraged credit, approximately US$71 billion in private credit, and approximately US$10 billion in strategic investments, as of March 31, 2022. KKR has a team of approximately 170 credit investment professionals across nine cities in seven countries, including approximately 90 private credit investment professionals globally.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKRs insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life, and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKRs investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKRs website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220524005597/en/

Media:

KKR Asia Pacific

Anita Davis

+852 3602 7335

[email protected]

or

Wei Jun Ong

+65 6922 5813

[email protected]

KKR Americas

Julia Kosygina and Miles Radcliffe-Trenner

+1 212-750-8300

[email protected]

Source: KKR & Co. Inc.
More than 40 national organizations, industry leaders and trade associations join to create the Healthy Workplaces Coalition, which will focus on advocating for healthier and safer buildings

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and ISSAThe Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association announced today the launch of the Healthy Workplaces Coalition, a new coalition of more than 40 national organizations, industry leaders and trade associations collaborating to support and advance federal policy aimed at helping businesses and organizations better afford and implement health and safety improvements in workplaces and across the built environment  to benefit the health and well-being of employees, customers and the public.

Members of this new advocacy coalition launched on Capitol Hill will work together to not only support federal policy promoting healthy workplaces, but also raise awareness using a collective voice to help the public, policymakers and businesses understand the imperative of workplace health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

In addition to IWBI and ISSA, the Coalitions leadership team includes the following Steering Committee members:

American Institute of Architects (AIA)

ASHRAE

American Society of Interior Designers (ASID)

Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA)

Green Seal

International Facilities Management Association (IFMA)

The Real Estate Roundtable (RER)

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

For the first time, many of the nations most important building organizations and leading businesses are uniting to advocate for workplace health, said Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO of IWBI. This kind of collaborative advocacy will help drive the level of investment necessary to get us safely back to business now and fortify our workplaces for the future.

Over the past two years, businesses across the country have struggled to meet new and evolving expectations for safely returning to the workplace. According to a recent Honeywell survey, 72% of office workers worldwide worry about air quality in their workplaces buildings. They are concerned about the impact of poor air quality on their well-being and want more information from their employers about actions taken to improve the built environment and support the health and safety of employees and patrons alike.

While COVID-19 increased the publics attention to the importance of cleaning, air filtration, and hand hygiene, there is now an increased focus and commitment by businesses and buildings to invest in healthy spaces, said John Barrett, Executive Director, ISSA  The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association. As more workers head back to physical workplaces, the demand and expectation for clean, healthy, and safe environments will continue to increase. This coalition will help to educate policymakers about the need to support policies to help employers make these essential investments in healthy workplaces.

Businesses need education and financial assistance to accelerate and deploy proven workplace solutions and strategies to address health threats such as COVID-19 as well as broader health and safety-related issues of the future. While several relevant policy proposals have emerged, further action is needed to incentivize businesses to create and maintain healthy workplaces.

Other members of the Healthy Workplaces Coalition include A SustainAble Production (ASAP); Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI); American Hotel & Lodging Association; American Industrial Hygiene Association; Arxada; Business + Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA); Carrier Global Corporation; Daikin U.S. Corporation; Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance; Fellowes Brands; FMI- Food Industry Association; Global Green; Honeywell; Household and Commercial Products Association (HCPA); Independent Office Products and Furniture Dealers Association; Institute for Market Transformation (IMT); Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure; International Codes Council (ICC); International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA); Johnson Controls; Kimberly-Clark Professional; M Moser Associates; Mindful Materials; Plastarc; Poppy; PortionPac Chemical Corporation; Pritchard Industries; Schneider Electric; Spartan Chemical Company; Sustainable Investment Group; The IAPMO Group and Trane Technologies.

The Coalitions Steering Committee continues to welcome interested participants and anticipates that membership will expand over the next several months.

What leaders are saying about the launch of the coalition:

"American Institute of Architects (AIA) remains steadfastly committed to safeguarding the health, safety, and welfare of the public, said AIA 2022 President Daniel S. Hart, FAIA, PE. The last few years have demonstrated the pressing need for workplaces that are designed to maximize the health of building occupants. AIA looks forward to working with the Healthy Workplaces Coalition to advance common-sense policies that support a built environment where individuals can thrive."

We are thrilled about the long-anticipated launch of the Healthy Workplaces Coalition  which aims to help businesses and other organizations implement health and safety improvements in workplaces and across the built environment, said Gary Wheeler, CEO, American Society of Interior Designers. The American Society of Interior Designers is honored to collaborate with industry partners and other members of the Steering Committee to advocate for policies that benefit not only ASIDs membership of interior designers but all those who work and exist in the built environment. We are eager to continue advancing federal policy that supports businesses in this goal to protect the health, safety, and well-being of their employees and other occupants.

ASHRAEs longstanding commitment to drive health and human comfort in buildings aligns perfectly with the Healthy Workplaces Coalition, said ASHRAE Executive Vice President Jeff Littleton. We look forward to leveraging collaboration with the Coalition partners to drive ASHRAEs vision of a healthy and sustainable built environment for all.

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International is proud to be a founding partner of the Healthy Workplaces Coalition, said Pearce Crosland, Director of Federal Affairs, BOMA International. As businesses continue their return to office and in-person work, maintaining clean and healthy office spaces is vital in keeping our employees, tenants, and the public safe and healthy. BOMA International looks forward to collaborating with partners across various industries to identify best practices to deliver clean, healthy, and safe spaces for employers and employees alike. The Healthy Workplaces Coalition will serve as a key advocacy group to educate Members of Congress on the importance of providing resources for the commercial real estate industry to achieve these goals. BOMA International is committed to providing the resources necessary for our members across the commercial real estate industry to provide safe and healthy workplaces.

The pandemic has unquestionably heightened the worlds focus on indoor environments and how they can positively impact public health, said Ajay Agrawal, Senior Vice President, Global Services, Healthy Buildings & Chief Strategy Officer, Carrier. Carrier is proud to join the Healthy Workplaces Coalition to support and raise awareness of federal policy that will benefit workplace health. At Carrier, we aim to inspire confidence as employees return to business and reap the proven long-term benefits on health and cognitive function that a healthier indoor environment supports.

The launch of the Healthy Workplaces Coalition is a significant step by IWBI and ISSA to connect industry and policymakers to promote health and wellness in workplaces and buildings, said Dave Calabrese, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Daikin U.S. Corporation. An integral part of a good indoor environment is the quality of the air we breathe. Federal and state policies can help make improvements to the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) of buildings that directly contribute to a healthier shared indoor environment. As the global leader in indoor heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, Daikin looks forward to advancing these efforts as we work together to support better air quality for all.

When it comes to the benefits of providing healthy workplaces, there is no shortage of research, only a shortage of resources, said Doug Gatlin, CEO of Green Seal. The past few years have made it clear that it should be an urgent national priority to advance policies that promote safe and healthy workplaces that allow people to thrive during the pandemic and beyond.

Workers are much more cognizant of the spaces they spend time in then they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they want viable evidence that the buildings they use every day for work, school or care are healthier and use technology that helps to foster their well-being, said Manish Sharma, vice president and general manager of sustainable buildings, Honeywell. We look forward to working with the Healthy Workplaces Coalition to further educate, advocate and support the adoption of federal policy that fosters healthier, more sustainable buildings.

Taking a holistic approach to the well-being of workers and workplaces has never been more urgent. Every individual, industry and team that has a hand in workplace strategy must work together to create and sustain safe, healthy, inclusive, net-positive spaces that enrich the lives of all stakeholders, said President and CEO of the International Facility Management Association Don Gilpin. IFMA is proud to join with longtime partners and new associates to advance efforts toward improving the human experience in the built environment. The more voices we can add to advocate for elevated workplace quality, the stronger our chance to be heard.

Were proud to join the Healthy Workplaces Coalition at this critical time when employees are returning to their workplaces and students are returning to their schools. Delivering healthier buildings with enhanced indoor quality as well as comfortable, safe and sustainable environments has been at the heart of our mission at Johnson Controls for 135 years, said Tyler Smith, Executive Director, Healthy Buildings at Johnson Controls. Its important for our coalition members to work together to keep building occupants safe and healthy indoors in the face of evolving health and compliance regulations, but also to empower organizations to commit to more environmentally sustainable projects by delivering solutions that also reduce energy use.

Together with other industry leaders, Kimberly-Clark Professional is proud to participate in the Healthy Workplaces Coalition to help advance the health and safety of workplace environments, said Andy Clement, Chief Customer Officer, Kimberly-Clark Professional. The coalitions focus on advocating for healthier and safer buildings for employees, customers and other building occupants aligns perfectly with our mission to partner with businesses to create Exceptional Workplaces, helping to make them healthier, safer and more productive.

Revitalizing downtown communities hit hard by the pandemic depends on getting Americas workers back to the office place  and supporting the mom-and-pop restaurants and stores that serve our central business districts, said Jeffrey D. DeBoer, President and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable. Policies that support investments to improve indoor air quality and other healthy building strategies will not only accelerate the return to the workplace, but improve the long-term resiliency of our nations built environment.

Americans spend 90% of their time indoors and as more of us are going back to the office, the work and mission of the Healthy Workplace Coalition has never been more critical, said Ben Evans, Federal Legislative Director, U.S. Green Building Council. USGBC has long advocated for healthier and safer spaces and looks forward to working with the coalition to shine a light on this issue and advocate for solutions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005762/en/

Jason Hartke

[email protected]

Source: The International WELL Building Institute
Revenue Up by 24.3% and Adjusted Net Loss Ratio1 Improved by 9.6ppt YoY for First Quarter 2022

SHENZHEN, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. (OneConnect or the Company) (NYSE: OCFT), a leading technology-as-a-service provider for financial institutions in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.

First Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights

Revenue increased 24.3% year-over-year to RMB1,019 million from RMB820 million.

Gross margin was 34.3% as compared to 34.0% same period of the prior year; non-IFRS gross margin was 38.8%, as compared to 43.5% same period of the prior year.

Operating loss was RMB355 million, as compared to RMB346 million same period of the prior year. Excluding the impact of listing expenses in connection with the Companys proposed listing in Hong Kong, adjusted loss from operations1 amounted to RMB318 million, compared with RMB346 million for the same period in the prior year. Adjusted operating loss margin narrowed to 31.2% from 42.2% same period of the prior year.

Net loss attributable to shareholders was RMB318 million, as compared to RMB305 million same period of the prior year. Net loss ratio narrowed to 31.2% compared to 37.2% same period of the prior year. Adjusted net loss to shareholders for the first quarter of 2022 amounted to RMB281 million, as compared to RMB305 million same period of the prior year. Adjusted net loss ratio narrowed to 27.6% from 37.2%.

Net loss per ADS, basic and diluted, was RMB-0.86 as compared to RMB-0.83 same period of the prior year.

In RMB000, except percentages and per ADS amounts Three Months Ended March 31 YoY 2022 2021 Revenue Revenue from Ping An Group 548,682 435,851 25.9% Revenue from Lufax 129,100 75,105 71.9% Revenue from third-party customers2 341,156 308,809 10.5% Total 1,018,938 819,765 24.3% Gross profit 349,031 278,555 Gross margin 34.3% 34.0% Non-IFRS gross margin 38.8% 43.5% Operating loss 354,895 346,130 Adjusted operating loss1 318,409 346,130 Operating margin 34.8% 42.2% Adjusted operating margin1 31.2% 42.2% Net loss to shareholders 317,585 304,732 Net loss ratio 31.2% 37.2% Adjusted Net loss ratio1 27.6% 37.2% Net loss per ADS3, basic and diluted -0.86 -0.83

1 Adjusted operation loss and adjusted net loss ratio excludes listing expense RMB 36.5 million in 2022Q1 in connection with the Companys proposed listing in Hong Kong.

2 Third-party customers refer to each customer with revenue contribution of less than 5% of our total revenue in the relevant period. These customers are a key focus of the Companys diversification strategy.

3 Each ADS represents three ordinary shares

Chairman, CEO and CFO Comments

I am delighted to announce that we achieved strong financial results in Q1 notwithstanding impact from Covid outbreaks. We sustained a revenue growth rate of 24.3% and at the same time, narrowed adjusted net loss ratio by double digits, said Mr. Ye Wangchun, Chairman of the Board. We continued to implement our 2nd stage strategy of deepening customer engagement to focus on serving premium-plus customer and product integration in Q1, resulting in a growth in the number of premium-plus customers. Admittedly, this year will feature higher uncertainties from the macro environment, we, nevertheless, see strong demands from our FI customers for digital transformation. In addition, we have also seen favorable regulatory development, including the FinTech Development Plan (2022-2025), the Guidance on Digital Transformation of Banking and Insurance Sectors, highlighting the strategic importance of digital transformation. We remain fully confident in the potential and outlook of the FinTech industry.

Mr. Shen Chongfeng, Chief Executive Officer, commented Benefitting from ongoing execution of our 2nd stage strategy, integrated products in banking solution have successfully expanded large joint-stock bank customer base. As we sell more products to these customers, we are able to increase their value and improve contribution from premium-plus customers. Products in our relatively new solution-Gamma platform - core systems and AI customer service products - also demonstrated strong momentum, gaining more market share. We will continue to reinforce product integration and customer upgrade in 2022, to further solidify our position and fulfill our mission of supporting financial institutions to grow efficiently.

Mr. Luo Yongtao, Chief Financial Officer, commented, With more usage of our products by customers, revenue registered notable growth, at 24.3% year-over-year, fastest among last three quarters. Number of premium-plus customers, which is a key focus in our 2nd stage strategy, increased by 16% to 74, compared to 64 the same period of last year. In addition to high revenue growth, adjusted net loss ratio further improved by 9.6 ppts year over year from 37.2% to 27.6%. Covid outbreaks in 2022 have indeed brought uncertainties to the macro economy, but we remain unchanged in focusing on growing 3rd party revenue and retaining a sustainable growth. Meanwhile, our Q1 results reflect the effect of our disciplined cost and expenses management, marking another milestone in the path to profitability. We are ready to go further this year.

Recent Developments of the Companys Share Repurchase Program

In February 2022, the Companys board of directors authorized a share repurchase program under which the Company is authorized to repurchase up to an aggregate of 2% of its outstanding ordinary shares during a specific period. As of April 29th, the Company had repurchased approximately 4.2 million ADSs for approximately US$5.9 million under this share repurchase program.

Revenue Breakdown

In RMB000, except percentages Three Months Ended March 31 YoY 2022 2021 Implementation revenue 171,678 168,567 1.8% Transaction-based and support revenue Business origination services 114,793 118,499 -3.1% Risk management services 106,951 99,290 7.7% Operation support services 255,208 212,237 20.2% Cloud services platform 295,834 180,512 63.9% Post-implementation support services 11,427 13,236 -13.7% Others 63,047 27,424 129.9% Total 847,260 651,198 30.1% Total 1,018,938 819,765 24.3%

Revenue in the first quarter of 2022 rose 24.3% to RMB1,019 million from RMB820 million for the same period in the prior year. Cloud services platform and operation support services were the key drivers. Revenue from cloud services platform surged by 63.9% year-over-year, majorly benefitting from on-going digital transformation within in Ping An Group. Revenue from operation support increased by 20.2%, benefiting from our gamma platform AI customer service products roll out and other products. Others, which included revenue from insurer ecosystem participants and oversea business, increased 129.9%. Notwithstanding the travel restrictions in major cities in response to the uptick in the COVID-19 pandemic, implementation revenue increased from RMB169 million to RMB172million.

First Quarter 2022 Financial Results

Revenue

Revenue in the first quarter of 2022 increased by 24.3% to RMB1,019 million from RMB820 million for the same period in the prior year, primarily driven by more demand for solutions in cloud services platform, operation support services and other services to insurer ecosystem participants and oversea business.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue in the first quarter of 2022 was RMB670 million, compared with RMB541 million for the same period in the prior year, primarily driven by higher technology service fees and outsourcing labor cost as we continued to expand our businesss.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased by 25.3% to RMB349 million from RMB279 million for the same period in the prior year. Gross margin was 34.3%, compared with 34.0% in the prior year, slightly increased by 0.3ppt, primarily due to improved gross margin from mature products, however, relatively new solutions showed lower gross margin at initial stage, which offset such improvement. Non-IFRS gross margin was 38.8%, compared with 43.5% in the prior year. For a reconciliation of the Companys IFRS and non-IFRS gross margin, please refer to Reconciliation of IFRS and Non-IFRS Results (Unaudited).

Operating Loss and Expenses

Total operating expenses for the first quarter of 2022 amounted to RMB700 million, compared with RMB636 million for the same period in the prior year. As a percentage of revenue, total operating expenses decreased to 68.7% from 77.6%

Research and Development expenses for the first quarter of 2022 rose to RMB363 million from RMB281 million, reflecting investment put into enhancing existing solutions and innovations. As a percentage of revenue, R&D expenses amounted to 35.6%, compared with 34.3% in the prior year.

Sales and Marketing expenses for the first quarter of 2022 decreased to RMB109 million, compared with RMB167 million in the prior year, mainly due to a decrease in marketing and telecommunication expenses. As a percentage of revenue, sales and marketing expenses decreased to 10.7% from 20.4%.

General and Administrative expenses for the first quarter of 2022 amounted to RMB211 million, compared with RMB180 million in the prior year, primarily due to cost disciplines. As a percentage of revenue, general and administrative expenses decreased to 20.7% from 22.0%. After excluding listing expense in connection with the Companys proposed listing in Hong Kong, adjusted general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue for the first quarter of 2022 was 17.2%.

Net impairment losses on financial and contract assets for the first quarter of 2022 totaled RMB17 million, compared with RMB7 million for the same period in the prior year, reflecting enhanced periodic review and management efforts in trade receivables and contract assets. As a percentage of revenue, net impairment losses were 1.7%, versus 0.9% in the prior year.

Loss from operations for the first quarter of 2022 amounted to RMB355 million, compared with RMB346 million for the same period in the prior year. Operating loss margin decreased to 34.8% from 42.2% in the prior year. After excluding the listing expenses in connection with the Companys proposed listing in Hong Kong, adjusted loss from operations for the first quarter of 2022 amounted to RMB318 million, compared with RMB346 million for the same period in the prior year. Adjusted operating loss margin narrowed to 31.2% from 42.2% in the prior year.

Net Loss

Net loss attributable to OneConnects shareholders totaled RMB318 million for the first quarter of 2022, versus RMB305 million for the same period in the prior year. Net loss attributable to OneConnects shareholders per basic and diluted ADS amounted to RMB-0.86, versus RMB-0.83 for the same period in the prior year. Weighted average number of ADSs for the first quarter was 370,012,917.

Cash Flow

For the first quarter of 2022, net cash used in operating activities was RMB1,119 million. Net cash generated from in investing activities was RMB1550 million. Net cash used in financing activities was RMB557 million.

Conference Call Information

Date/Time Wednesday, May 25, 2022 at 9:00 p.m., U.S. Eastern Time Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 9:00 a.m., Beijing Time Online registration https://www.incommglobalevents.com/registration/q4inc/10962/oneconnect-financial-technology-co-ltd-1q22-earnings-release/

An archived recording and the transcript of the conference call will be available at OneConnects investor relations website at ir.ocft.com.

About OneConnect

OneConnect Financial Technology Co. Ltd. is a technology-as-a-service provider for financial institutions. The Company integrates extensive financial services industry expertise with market-leading technology to provide technology applications and technology-enabled business services to financial institutions. The integrated solutions and platform the Company provides include digital retail banking solution, digital commercial banking solution, digital insurance solution and Gamma Platform, which is a technology infrastructural platform for financial institutions. The Companys solutions enable its customers digital transformations, which help them improve efficiency, enhance service quality, and reduce costs and risks.

The Company has established long-term cooperation relationships with financial institutions to address their needs of digital transformation. The Company has also expanded its services to other participants in the value chain to support the digital transformation of financial services eco-system. In addition, the Company has successfully exported its technology solutions to overseas financial institutions.

For more information, please visit ir.ocft.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in 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, confident and similar statements. Such statements are based upon managements current expectations and current market and operating conditions and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Companys control. 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 limited operating history in the technology-as-a-service for financial institutions industry; its ability to achieve or sustain profitability; the tightening of laws, regulations or standards in the financial services industry; the Companys ability to comply with the evolving regulatory requirements in the PRC and other jurisdictions where it operates; its ability to maintain and enlarge the customer base or strengthen customer engagement; its ability to maintain its relationship with Ping An Group, which is its strategic partner, most important customer and largest supplier; its ability to compete effectively to serve Chinas financial institutions; the effectiveness of its technologies, its ability to maintain and improve technology infrastructure and security measures; its ability to protect its intellectual property and proprietary rights; risks of defaults by borrowers under the loans for which the Company provided credit enhancement under its legacy credit management business; its ability to maintain or expand relationship with its business partners and the failure of its partners to perform in accordance with expectations; its ability to protect or promote its brand and reputation; its ability to timely implement and deploy its solutions; its ability to obtain additional capital when desired; disruptions in the financial markets and business and economic conditions; the Companys ability to pursue and achieve optimal results from acquisition or expansion opportunities; the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak and its potential impact on the Companys business and financial performance; and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Companys 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 the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

Use of Unaudited Non-IFRS Financial Measures

The unaudited consolidated financial information is prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Non-IFRS measures are used in gross profit and gross margin, adjusted to exclude non-cash items, which consist of amortization of intangible assets recognized in cost of revenue, depreciation of property and equipment recognized in cost of revenue, and share-based compensation expenses recognized in cost of revenue. OneConnects management regularly review non-IFRS gross profit and non-IFRS gross margin to assess the performance of our business. By excluding non-cash items, these financial metrics allow OneConnects management to evaluate the cash conversion of one dollar revenue on gross profit. OneConnect uses these non-IFRS financial to evaluate its ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. OneConnect believes that non-IFRS financial information, when taken collectively, is helpful to investors because it provides consistency and comparability with past financial performance, facilitates period-to-period comparisons of results of operations, and assists in comparisons with other companies, many of which use similar financial information. OneConnect also believes that presentation of the non-IFRS financial measures provides useful information to its investors regarding its results of operations because it allows investors greater transparency to the information used by OneConnects management in its financial and operational decision making so that investors can see through the eyes of the OneConnects management regarding important financial metrics that the management uses to run the business as well as allowing investors to better understand OneConnects performance. However, non-IFRS financial information is presented for supplemental informational purposes only, and should not be considered a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with IFRS, and may be different from similarly-titled non-IFRS measures used by other companies. In light of the foregoing limitations, you should not consider non-IFRS financial measure in isolation from or as an alternative to the financial measure prepared in accordance with IFRS. Whenever OneConnect uses a non-IFRS financial measure, a reconciliation is provided to the most closely applicable financial measure stated in accordance with IFRS. You are encouraged to review the related IFRS financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-IFRS financial measures to their most directly comparable IFRS financial measures. For more information on non-IFRS financial measures, please see the table captioned Reconciliations of IFRS and non-IFRS results (Unaudited) set forth at the end of this press release.

ONECONNECT CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31 2022 2021 RMB'000 RMB'000 Revenue 1,018,938 819,765 Cost of revenue -669,907 -541,210 Gross profit 349,031 278,555 Research and development expenses -363,013 -281,299 Selling and marketing expenses -108,907 -167,054 General and administrative expenses -211,301 -180,457 Net impairment losses on financial and contract assets -17,214 -7,104 Other income, gains or loss-net -3,491 11,229 Operating loss -354,895 -346,130 Finance income 2,446 18,157 Finance costs -12,124 -26,235 Finance costs  net -9,678 -8,078 Share of losses of associate and joint venture 11,537 4,547 Loss before income tax -353,036 -349,661 Income tax benefit 20,728 26,871 Loss for the period -332,308 -322,790 Loss attributable to: - Owners of the Company -317,585 -304,732 - Non-controlling interests -14,723 -18,058 Other comprehensive income, net of tax Items that may be subsequently reclassified to profit or loss - Foreign currency translation differences -23,193 50,099 - Changes in the fair value of debt instruments at fair value through other comprehensive income 12,523 1 Total comprehensive loss for the period -342,978 -272,690 Total comprehensive loss attributable to: - Owners of the Company -328,255 -254,632 - Non-controlling interests -14,723 -18,058 Loss per ADS attributable to owners of the Company (expressed in RMB per share) - Basic and diluted -0.86 -0.83

ONECONNECT CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) March 31 December 31 2022 2021 RMB'000 RMB'000 ASSETS Non-current assets Property and equipment 259,506 244,412 Intangible assets 653,232 687,194 Deferred tax assets 707,342 683,218 Financial assets measured at amortized cost from Virtual bank 674 Investments accounted for using the equity method 196,883 185,346 Financial assets at fair value through other comprehensive income 735,926 640,501 Contract assets 145 868 Restricted cash 9,000 Total non-current assets 2,562,034 2,442,213 Current assets Financial assets at amortized cost 3,515 Trade receivables 1,274,817 891,174 Contract assets 198,986 227,895 Prepayments and other receivables 890,640 749,152 Financial assets measured at amortized cost from Virtual bank 9,307 12,711 Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss 917,561 2,071,653 Financial assets at fair value through other comprehensive income 782,730 482,497 Restricted cash 475,314 1,060,427 Cash and cash equivalents 1,270,695 1,399,370 Total current assets 5,820,050 6,898,394 Total assets 8,382,084 9,340,607 EQUITY AND LIABILITIES Equity Share capital 78 78 Shares held for share option scheme -79,752 -80,102 Other reserves 10,513,082 10,512,631 Accumulated losses -6,956,210 -6,638,625 Equity attributable to equity owners of the Company 3,477,198 3,793,982 Non-controlling interests 26,377 41,100 Total equity 3,503,575 3,835,082 LIABILITIES Non-current liabilities Trade and other payables 323,322 313,834 Contract liabilities 19,041 19,418 Deferred tax liabilities 8,347 9,861 Total non-current liabilities 350,710 343,113 Current liabilities Trade and other payables 2,107,183 2,137,099 Payroll and welfare payables 314,429 515,067 Contract liabilities 164,269 153,844 Short-term borrowings 294,829 815,260 Customer deposits 1,424,078 1,350,171 Derivative financial liabilities 223,011 190,971 Total current liabilities 4,527,799 5,162,412 Total liabilities 4,878,509 5,505,525 Total equity and liabilities 8,382,084 9,340,607

ONECONNECT CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31 2022 2021 RMB'000 RMB'000 Net cash generated from / (used in) operating activities -1,118,694 -460,783 Net cash generated from / (used in) investing activities 1,550,267 1,028,447 Net cash generated from / (used in) financing activities -557,038 -1,264,659 Net increase /(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents -125,465 -696,995 Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 1,399,370 3,055,194 Effects of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents -3,210 2,681 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of period 1,270,695 2,360,880

ONECONNECT RECONCILIATION OF IFRS AND NON-IFRS RESULTS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31 2022 2021 RMB'000 RMB'000 Gross profit 349,031 278,555 Gross margin 34.3% 34.0% Non-IFRS adjustment Amortization of intangible assets recognized in cost of revenue 44,436 76,746 Depreciation of property and equipment recognized in cost of revenue 812 600 Share-based compensation expenses recognized in cost of revenue 880 921 Non-IFRS Gross profit 395,159 356,822 Non-IFRS Gross margin 38.8% 43.5% Three Months Ended March 31 2022 2021 RMB'000 RMB'000 Operating Loss -354,895 -346,130 Operating loss margin -34.8% -42.2% Net Loss to shareholders -317,585 -304,732 Net loss ratio -31.2% -37.2% Adjustment Listing expense in connection with the Companys proposed listing in Hong Kong 36,486 0 Adjusted Operating Loss -318,409 -346130 Adjusted Net Loss -281,099 -304,732 Adjusted Operating loss margin -31.2% -42.2% Adjusted Net loss ratio -27.6% -37.2%

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Investor Relations:

OCFT IR Team

[email protected]

Media Relations:

Amy Ding

[email protected]

Source: OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd.
GLENDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- After two years of questions and distractions, the students from Arizona Virtual Academy (AZVA) and the Insight School of Arizona (ISAZ), two full-time, online public schools serving students throughout the state, are ready for their big graduation day, highlighted by the fact that some of them will meet each other in-person for the very first time!

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005001/en/

The ceremony will take place at Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa in Glendale. And both schools are celebrating an increased graduation rate of 15% since 2019. Details for the graduation can be found below or on the AZVA or ISAZ Facebook page.

I am grateful that this graduating class had the opportunity to push through the pandemic without having to stop schooling or change their day-to-day work with AZVA or ISAZ, said Executive Director Charles Woods. Weve all worked so hard these past few years and look forward to seeing what they accomplish next.

This year, AZVA and ISAZ will graduate over 476 students collectively. The graduating class reports it has been accepted to colleges and universities across Arizona and beyond including Arizona State, The University of Arizona, Yavapai Community College, Wright State University, and Cal Poly Pomona.

Prior to the pandemic, students enrolled in virtual school for a number of reasonssome were looking to escape bullying, some may have fallen academically off track, and others were looking for an alternative to the traditional classroom setting.

At the career learning-focused schools, students can pair a solid academic foundation with hands-on learning experiences in growing career fields like Business Management, Health and Human Services, and IT. Whether their path leads them directly into the workplace, to the military, or to higher education, career learning provides students with the skills they need to get there.

AZVA and ISAZ are inviting all families and friends worldwide to join the celebration. Details of the graduation ceremonies are as follows:

WHAT: Arizona Virtual Academy 2022 Graduation Ceremony

WHERE: Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa, 9495 West Coyotes Blvd., Glendale, AZ 85305

WHEN: May 27 at 3:30 PM

WHAT: Insight Arizona 2022 Graduation Ceremony

WHERE: Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa, 9495 West Coyotes Blvd., Glendale, AZ 85305

WHEN: May 27 at 11:30 AM

CONTACT: For any questions about the celebrations, please contact executive director Charles Woods [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact Ken Schwartz at [email protected].

About Arizona Virtual Academy

Arizona Virtual Academy (AZVA) is an AdvancED-accredited, full-time online public charter school that serves Arizona students in kindergarten through 12th grade. As part of the Arizona public school system, AZVA is tuition-free and provides families the choice to access the curriculum and tools provided by K12, a Stride Company (NYSE: LRN). Stride offers learners of all ages a more effective way to learn and build skills for their future. For more information visit azva.k12.com.

About Insight Academy of Arizona

Insight Academy of Arizona (ISAZ) is an AdvancED-accredited, full-time online public school that serves Arizona students in grades 7-12. As part of the Arizona public school system, ISAZ is tuition-free and provides families the choice to access the curriculum and tools provided by K12, a Stride Company (NYSE: LRN). Stride offers learners of all ages a more effective way to learn and build skills for their future. For more information about ISAZ, visit https://insightaz.k12.com/.

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Media

Ken Schwartz

Senior Manager, Communications

[email protected]

Source: Stride, Inc.
GALLUP, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- After two years of questions and distractions, the students from New Mexico Destinations Career Academy (NMDCA), a program of the Gallup-McKinley County Schools are ready for graduation day, highlighted by the fact that some of them will meet each other in-person for the very first time!

The various high school in-person ceremonies took place on May 19, 20 and 21, 2022. A virtual ceremony is set for May 27th.

Our students have so many challenges, and I am grateful that this graduating class had the opportunity to push through them without having to change their day-to-day routine, said Executive Director Gerald Horacek. Weve all worked so hard these past few years and we look forward to seeing what they accomplish next.

This year, the Gallup McKinley County Schools NMDCA program will graduate over 40 students collectively. The graduating class reports it has been accepted to colleges and universities across New Mexico and beyond including University of New Mexico, New Mexico State, Clovis Community College, and Eastern New Mexico University.

Prior to the pandemic, students enrolled in virtual school for a number of reasonssome were looking to escape bullying, some may have fallen academically off track, and others were looking for an alternative to the traditional classroom setting.

At the career learning-focused schools, students can pair a solid academic foundation with hands-on learning experiences in growing career fields like Health Sciences and IT. Whether their path leads them directly into the workplace, to the military, or to higher education, career learning provides students with the skills they need to get there.

NMDCA is inviting all families and friends worldwide to join the celebration. For any questions about the celebrations, please contact MaryRose Paterson at [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact Ken Schwartz at [email protected].

About Destinations Career Academy of New Mexico

Destinations Career Academy of New Mexico (NMDCA) is an accredited, full-time program of the Gallup McKinley County Schools that serves New Mexico students in grades K-12. As part of the New Mexico public school system, NMDCA is tuition-free, and gives parents and families the choice to access the curriculum provided by K12, a Stride Company (NYSE: LRN). Stride offers learners of all ages a more effective way to learn and build their skills for the future. For more information about NMDCA, visit nmdca.k12.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525005071/en/

Media

Ken Schwartz

Senior Manager, Communications

[email protected]

Source: Stride, Inc.
Berkshire Hathaway Energys Rocky Mountain Power utility recognized for increasing engagement and satisfaction with commercial customers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Bidgely celebrates Rocky Mountain Power's recognition as the Smart Energy Consumer Collaboratives (SECC) 2022 Best Practices Award recipient for engaging and enabling its small-to-medium (SMB) business customers to achieve greater energy efficiency. Leveraging meter data and Bidgelys UtilityAI analytics to identify individual consumption patterns, Rocky Mountain Power delivered digital, personalized energy usage reports to more than 60,000 SMB customers across Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. For the first time, the utilitys SMB customers received appliance-level consumption breakdowns that enabled them to better understand how time-of-use affects their energy bill as well as make smarter energy-saving decisions.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220524005277/en/

Bidgely congratulates Rocky Mountain Power for being named Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative's Best Practices Award winner for successfully enabling greater energy efficiency among small-to-medium businesses. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Small-to-medium-sized businesses represent one of the largest demographics among our commercial customers, and we recognized a powerful opportunity to become a resource for helping them better manage their operational expenses, said Barbara Modey, customer satisfaction market research manager at Rocky Mountain Power. Were honored to be recognized by SECC for spearheading a program that simultaneously addresses our customers' needs and improves customer satisfaction.

According to the SECC, SMBs attract less than 5 percent of utility spending on energy efficiency programs and participate in demand-side management programs at a rate three times lower than non-SMB accounts. To better support this underserved customer group, Rocky Mountain Power deployed digital communications that increased awareness of each business individual energy usage as well as the programs and products available for SMB owners to operate more efficiently, save money and reduce their carbon footprint. Within six months of distribution, customers who received personalized energy reports became more engaged and satisfied with Rocky Mountain Power than they were previously.

Congratulations to Rocky Mountain Power for raising the standard on how utilities can deliver high-quality service to traditionally hard-to-reach customers, said Greg Warta, Bidgelys regional director of sales for the West. Breakthrough achievements like Rocky Mountain Powers underscore the value of not only investing in data analytics but sharing energy intelligence directly with customers.

To learn how Rocky Mountain Power increased customer satisfaction and engagement within six months of deploying artificial intelligence (AI)-powered energy reports, read the Bidgely Rocky Mountain Power Case Study. For more about Bidgelys Small-to-Medium Business Solution, read the SMB Solution Brief.

About Rocky Mountain Power

Rocky Mountain Power provides safe and reliable electric service to more than a million customers in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. The company works to meet customers growing electricity needs while protecting and enhancing the environment. Rocky Mountain Power is part of PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity providers in the United States. More information at rockymountainpower.net.

About Bidgely

Bidgely is an AI-powered SaaS Company accelerating a clean energy future by enabling energy companies and consumers to make data-driven energy-related decisions. Powered by our unique patented technology, Bidgely's UtilityAI Platform transforms multiple dimensions of customer data - such as energy consumption, demographic, and interactions - into deeply accurate and actionable consumer energy insights. We leverage these insights to empower each customer with personalized recommendations, tailored to their individual personality and lifestyle, usage attributes, behavioral patterns, purchase propensity, and beyond. From a Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and Grid Edge perspective, whether it is smart thermostats to EV chargers, solar PVs to TOU rate designs and tariffs; UtilityAI energy analytics provides deep visibility into generation, consumption for better peak load shaping and grid planning, and delivers targeted recommendations for new value-added products and services. With roots in Silicon Valley, Bidgely has over 17 energy patents, $75M+ in funding, retains 30+ data scientists, and brings a passion for AI to utilities serving residential and commercial customers around the world. For more information, please visit www.bidgely.com or the Bidgely blog at bidgely.com/blog.

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Christine Bennett

Bidgely

[email protected]

Source: Bidgely
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dating back to the 19th century, the U.S. Senate has often been referred to as the worlds greatest deliberative body. Building upon that tradition of often fierce partisan debate on pressing issues facing the nation, a diverse new coalitionthe Bipartisan Policy Center, the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senateis launching a series of Oxford-style debates between leading U.S. senators.

The goal of The Senate Project debate series is to reintroduce the culture of seeking common ground and consensus that has been the essence of the Senate since it was conceived in 1789. We hope it will inspire policymakers to not only make the case for their points of view, but to then work towards the example set by Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Orrin Hatch for bipartisan bridge-building. In describing their relationship, Senator Hatch once said When we did agree, everyone turned to get out of the way. They thought if Kennedy and Hatch can get it together, it must be good. And Senator Kennedy once told reporters, If you build upon that kind of understanding and respect, you can get a lot of things done. While this debate series will showcase sharp political disagreements, it will also foster areas of common purpose moving forward.

The Senate Project kicks off at 12 noon EDT on Monday, June 13, with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) engaging in a one-hour policy debate. The specific topic(s) will be announced one week prior.

The debate, moderated by FOX News Channels Bret Baier, will be held in the Kennedy Institutes full-size replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber and streamed on FOX Nation. The second debate, hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center, will be held in July at George Washington University, carried live and on demand across C-SPAN platforms, including streamed on C-SPAN Now. A third debate will be held by the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation in Utah this fall.

In a time of deep political polarization in Americaand a 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans in the Senatethe goal of The Senate Project is for the public to hear leading senators from competing ends of the political spectrum. The Oxford-style format of the 60-minute debates will allow senators to engage in extended, thoughtful, wide-ranging debate while exploring areas of constructive disagreement and searching for the bipartisan compromise that has been a hallmark of the Senate for more than two centuries.

The Kennedy Institute provides civic education to schools throughout Massachusetts and has won the prestigious Annenberg Award for the quality of its programs. We initiated this idea in response to what is the most serious division in this country in decades, said Bruce A. Percelay, chairman of the board of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute. It is our hope that this effort will help demonstrate that compromise in the U.S. Senate is actually possible.

The Senate Project is a core component of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundations central mission: to reinvigorate the civic discourse, said Hatch Foundation Executive Director Matt Sandgren. All too often, network programmingwhether on television or onlinesows division and contempt among viewers by exaggerating the differences between us. But The Senate Project seeks to do the exact opposite. It seeks to forge compromise and consensus while still respecting substantive disagreements that exist between the two parties. Our hope is to show that bipartisanship and vigorous debate can coexistand that civility is still possible, even in todays hyperpolarized world.

Our democracy rests on the ability to engage in serious issues and resolve legitimate differences. The Senate Project highlights the creativity and courage required to govern a divided nation, said BPC President Jason Grumet.

Collectively, these three organizations look forward to collaborating with FOX News and its streaming service to begin this important series of debates. We are pleased to partner with the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute to present this full debate without interruption to our FOX Nation subscribers. FOX News Media is home to the most politically diverse audience in cable news and The Senate Projects mission of providing the public with access to thoughtful, extensive debates from all sides of the political spectrum is well-suited for our viewers, said Jay Wallace, President & Executive Editor of FOX News Media.

About the Bipartisan Policy Center

The Bipartisan Policy Center is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that actively fosters bipartisanship by combining the best ideas from both parties to promote health, security, and opportunity for all Americans. Our policy solutions are the product of informed deliberations by former elected and appointed officials, business and labor leaders, and academics and advocates who represent both sides of the political spectrum. BPC prioritizes one thing above all else: getting things done. Learn more at https://bipartisanpolicy.org.

About the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation

Civility and solutionsthese are the twin pillars of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation. They are the ideals that underpinned the senators service and that guide the organizations mission today. The foundation seeks to engender greater civic participation and understanding, to facilitate bipartisan dialogue, and to foster commonsense solutions to our nations most pressing problems by convening the greatest minds in American public life for high-level discussions on the public policy challenges of the day. Learn more at orrinhatchfoundation.org.

About the Edward M. Kennedy Institute

The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate is dedicated to educating the public about the important role of the Senate in our government, encouraging participatory democracy, invigorating civil discourse, and inspiring the next generation of citizens and leaders to engage in the civic life of their communities. Learn more via www.emkinstitute.org.

About FOX News Media

FOX News Media operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Digital, FOX News Audio, FOX News Books, the direct-to-consumer streaming services FOX Nation and FOX News International and the free ad-supported television service FOX Weather. Currently the number one network in all of cable, FNC has also been the most watched television news channel for more than 20 consecutive years, while FBN ranks among the top business channels on cable. Owned by Fox Corporation, FOX News Media reaches 200 million people each month.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220525006001/en/

Media Contacts:

FOX News Media: Irena Briganti

212.301.3608, [email protected]

Bipartisan Policy Center: Steve Scully

202.218.6789, [email protected]

Edward M. Kennedy Institute: Bruce A. Percelay, Board Chair

[email protected]

Orrin G. Hatch Foundation

202.350.0515, [email protected]

Source: FOX News Media
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Technip Energies (PARIS: TE) and Samsung Engineering have been awarded a Pre-FID (Final Investment Decision) Engineering contract for the Texas LNG project in Brownsville, Texas, USA. Through a joint venture with Samsung Engineering, Technip Energies has been appointed lead project contractor charged with project design and delivery. The proposed 4.0 Mtpa(1) LNG export facility site is strategically located on the Port of Brownsville's deep-water ship channel in close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Texas LNG project will utilize Technip Energies SnapLNG solution, which combines a compact modular design concept for mid-scale trains with standardized components and technology. Developed in collaboration with Air Products, the system benefits from speed to market, with greater certainty around both costs and schedule, and best available process technology, refrigerant compression and digitalization. As a result, this solution offers lower emissions and is particularly suited for low-to-zero carbon footprint LNG and phased developments.

Loic Chapuis, SVP Gas and Low-Carbon Energies, Technip Energies, stated, We are pleased to have been selected by Texas LNG to lead the FEED (front-end engineering design) and project delivery and to integrate our modular SnapLNG solution, which is well-suited for the North America market. LNG is more critical than ever in the current global energy context and we are committed to bring our long-standing leadership in LNG to address todays and tomorrows challenges. Our SnapLNG solution illustrates how Technip Energies can address these challenges by bringing to market a low-carbon, modularized and methane-free solution with a compressed time.

Texas LNG, a Glenfarne Group Company, has full authorization from FERC and the Department of Energy and will export to global LNG markets.

(1) Million tons per annum

To know more about LNG: Technip Energies is a global leader in LNG plant design and construction. To learn more about our LNG capabilities, please go to https://www.technipenergies.com/markets/liquefied-natural-gas.

About Technip Energies

Technip Energies is a leading Engineering & Technology company for the energy transition, with leadership positions in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), hydrogen and ethylene as well as growing market positions in blue and green hydrogen, sustainable chemistry and CO2 management. The company benefits from its robust project delivery model supported by extensive technology, products and services offering.

Operating in 34 countries, our 15,000 people are fully committed to bringing our clients innovative projects to life, breaking boundaries to accelerate the energy transition for a better tomorrow.

Technip Energies is listed on Euronext Paris with American depositary receipts (ADRs) traded over-the-counter in the United States. For further information: www.technipenergies.com.

About Samsung Engineering

At Samsung Engineering, we aim to create value based on the worlds best technological competence and contribute to our clients, society and people. Samsung Engineering as one of the worlds leading EPC&PM companies, has served clients in a variety of industries such as oil-refining, gas-processing, petrochemicals, infra-structure & environmental sector and bio-industry. Providing professional services across the whole project cycle ranging from professional feasibility-studies to design, procurement, construction, commissioning, maintenance & operation. Samsung Engineering has completed more than 1,000 projects worldwide.

To prepare for ESG-based eco-friendly businesses for the future, we expanded our value chain to the business of operating green infrastructure, such as water treatment facilities and incinerators, and green solution business for energy optimization and carbon neutrality. To preemptively respond to changes in the global energy industry and take the lead in resolving global warming, we will provide optimal solutions based on our technologies and expertise. For more information, please visit: www.samsungengineering.com.

Important Information for Investors and Securityholders

Forward-Looking Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements usually relate to future events and anticipated revenues, earnings, cash flows or other aspects of Technip Energies operations or operating results. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the words believe, expect, anticipate, plan, intend, foresee, should, would, could, may, estimate, outlook, and similar expressions, including the negative thereof. The absence of these words, however, does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements are based on Technip Energies current expectations, beliefs and assumptions concerning future developments and business conditions and their potential effect on Technip Energies. While Technip Energies believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, there can be no assurance that future developments affecting Technip Energies will be those that Technip Energies anticipates.

All of Technip Energies forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties (some of which are significant or beyond Technip Energies control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from Technip Energies historical experience and Technip Energies present expectations or projections. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. For information regarding known material factors that could cause actual results to differ from projected results, please see Technip Energies risk factors set forth in Technip Energies filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which include amendment no. 4 to Technip Energies registration statement on Form F-1 filed on February 11, 2021.

Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and speak only as of the date they are made. Technip Energies undertakes no duty to and will not necessarily update any of the forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events, except to the extent required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220524006129/en/

Investor relations

Phil Lindsay

Vice-President Investor Relations

+44 20 7585 5051

Phillip Lindsay

Media relations

Stella Fumey

Director Press Relations & Digital Communications

+33 (1) 85 67 40 95

Stella Fumey

Jason Hyonne

Press Relations & Social Media Lead

+33 1 47 78 22 89

Jason Hyonne

Source: Technip Energies
The appointment of three executives adds new depth and experience to accelerate the growth of Top Hats dynamic courseware platform across North American colleges and universities

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Top Hat, the leading dynamic courseware platform for higher education, is delighted to welcome Hong Bui as Chief Product Officer, Bradley Cohen as Chief Academic Officer and to announce the promotion of Donna Battista to Managing Director, Learning Solutions. The appointment of three seasoned executives to the companys senior leadership team adds a number of complementary strengths that will enhance Top Hats ability to bring next generation educational technology to colleges and universities across North America. This includes deep experience in consumer and enterprise product design under Hong Bui, digital publishing and content strategy under Donna Battista and both academic and institutional executive experience under Bradley Cohen.

Hong, Bradley and Donna infuse our executive team with the domain expertise, fresh perspectives and proven leadership we need to accelerate our mission to transform the learning experience for millions of students across North America, said Joe Rohrlich, CEO of Top Hat. We are tremendously excited to welcome these accomplished individuals as we empower educators to deliver meaningful, personalized and equitable learning in every course.

Hong Bui joins Top Hat from GoDaddy where he led the organizations security business across its global brands portfolio. Hong brings over two decades of senior executive experience developing and launching products on behalf of industry luminaries such as Amazon, Expedia and Apple. As Chief Product Officer, Hong will be responsible for driving Top Hats product innovation to increase value to students and academic institutions, and enhance the companys competitive positioning and business growth.

Bradley Cohen brings 25 years of academic and executive leadership experience to the role of Chief Academic Officer, having served most recently as Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Ohio University. A former faculty member, senior vice provost and academic technology officer, Bradley will provide leadership and advocacy within the higher education community as well as strategic guidance to support Top Hats product development, digital publishing and institutional engagement strategy.

In her role as Managing Director, Learning Solutions, Donna Battista will oversee the strategy and development of Top Hats growing catalog of high quality, interactive digital learning experiences, custom content delivery and content services. Prior to joining Top Hat as Vice President, Content Strategy, Donna held senior executive positions at Burning Glass Technologies and Pearson Education where she served as Vice President, Product Management.

We believe higher education is at an inflection point as institutions seek to deliver learning experiences that are more accessible, equitable and consistent with the needs and expectations of todays students, said Rohrlich. Our latest appointments reflect our commitment to serving as an innovative partner dedicated to helping institutions improve student engagement, outcomes and retention.

Over the past year, Top Hat has made significant investments in its senior leadership team to accelerate its growth strategy. Recent appointments include Matt Schurk as Chief Revenue Officer, Jessica Hately as Chief Legal Officer and, most recently, Maggie Leen as Chief Marketing Officer.

About Top Hat

Top Hat is North Americas leading dynamic courseware platform, enabling educators to employ proven student-centered teaching practices through interactive content, tools, and activities in in-person, online and hybrid classroom environments. To accelerate student impact and return on investment, the company provides a range of change management services, including faculty training and instructional design support, integration and data management services, and digital content customization. Thousands of faculty at 750 leading North American colleges and universities use Top Hat to create meaningful, engaging and accessible learning experiences for students before, during, and after class.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220524005049/en/

Top Hat

Eric Gardiner

[email protected]

Source: Top Hat
MILAN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ermenegildo Zegna N.V. (NYSE: ZGN) (Zegna) today announced the publication of the convocation notice for its Annual General Meeting (AGM), which will be held on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 2 p.m. CEST at the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Schiphol Boulevard 701, 1118 BN Schiphol, the Netherlands.

The convocation notice, explanatory notes and other AGM materials, which include Zegnas 2021 statutory audited financial statements, are available under the relevant section of Zegnas corporate website at https://www.zegnagroup.com/en/corporate-governance/general-meetings/. Shareholders may request a physical copy of Zegnas 2021 statutory audited financial statements, free of charge, through the contacts below.

In addition, Zegnas Board of Directors intends to recommend to shareholders a distribution from retained earnings with respect to the financial year 2021 of EUR 0.09 per ordinary share, resulting in a total distribution of approximately EUR 21.8 million. The distribution will be paid in US dollars based on an exchange rate that will be published on Zegnas website (https://www.zegnagroup.com/en/corporate-governance/general-meetings/) the day following the AGM. The distribution will be subject to approval by shareholders at the AGM to be held on June 28, 2022.

If the shareholders approve the proposed dividend distribution, the ex-date will be July 5, 2022, the record date July 6, 2022 and the payment date July 28, 2022.

About Ermenegildo Zegna Group

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. The Groups products are sold through over 500 stores in 80 countries around the world, of which 295 are directly operated by the Group as of March 31, 2022 (244 Zegna stores and 51 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 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 founders legacy  one that is based upon the principle that a businesss 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/20220525005158/en/

Investor Relations

Francesca Di Pasquantonio

[email protected]

+39 335 5837669

Media

Ermenegildo Zegna Group

Domenico Galluccio

[email protected]

+39 335 538 7288

Brunswick Group

Brendan Riley / Alessandro Iozzia / Marie Jensen

[email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]

+1 (917) 755-1454 / +39 335 718 7205 / +33 (0) 6 49 09 39 54

Source: Zegna Group
FILE PHOTO: Storage tanks are seen at the Petroineos Ineos petrol refinery in Lavera, France, March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

By David Gaffen

New York (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday, buoyed by tight supplies and as U.S. refiners drove processing activity to their highest level since before the coronavirus pandemic started.

Brent crude futures for July settled up 47 cents to $114.03 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July delivery ended up 56 cents to $110.33 a barrel.

U.S. crude stockpiles fell 1 million barrels last week, the government said, with gasoline inventories also sliding modestly. Distillate stocks rose by 1.7 million barrels. Refiners picked up the pace of processing, boosting capacity use to 93.2%, its highest since December 2019.

Refiners have had to keep facilities running at full-tilt to deal with heavy demand, especially from overseas, as refined product exports rose to more than 6.2 million barrels per day last week. High exports and a reduction in refining capacity means gasoline stocks have dwindled in the United States.

This upcoming weekend's U.S. Memorial Day travel is expected to be the busiest in two years, causing fuel demand to rise as more drivers hit the road and shake off coronavirus pandemic restrictions despite high fuel prices.

"We're not seeing any elasticity in refined products demand," said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. "People are still going to drive; people are still driving."

Global crude supplies continue to tighten as buyers avoid oil from Russia, the world's second-largest exporter, after the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".

The EU hopes to be able to agree on sanctions that would phase out Russian oil imports before the next meeting of the European Council, the council's president, Charles Michel, said on Wednesday.

Even without a legal ban, self-sanctioning by numerous European companies has led to a record amount of Russia's Urals crude oil sitting in vessels at sea as it struggles to find buyers.

On the flip side is the strict approach to the COVID-19 pandemic from China, the world's biggest oil importer. Beijing has imposed new curbs while Shanghai plans to keep most restrictions in place this month.

(Reporting by David Gaffen; additional reporting by Rowena Edwards, Stephanie Kelly and Scott DiSavino; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE: ADC) (the "Company") today announced that it commenced an underwritten public offering of 5,000,000 shares of its common stock in connection with the forward sale agreements described below. In connection with the offering, the Company expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 750,000 shares of common stock.

Citigroup and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

The Company expects to enter into forward sale agreements with Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank (the "forward purchasers") with respect to 5,000,000 shares of its common stock (or an aggregate of 5,750,000 shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full). In connection with the forward sale agreements, the forward purchasers or their affiliates are expected to borrow and sell to the underwriters an aggregate of 5,000,000 shares of the common stock that will be delivered in this offering (or an aggregate of 5,750,000 shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full). Subject to its right to elect cash or net share settlement, which right is subject to certain conditions, the Company intends to deliver, upon physical settlement of such forward sale agreements on one or more dates specified by the Company occurring no later than May 31, 2022, an aggregate of 5,000,000 shares of its common stock (or an aggregate of 5,750,000 shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full) to the forward purchasers in exchange for cash proceeds per share equal to the applicable forward sale price, which will be the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions, and will be subject to certain adjustments as provided in the forward sale agreements.

The Company will not initially receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of its common stock by the forward purchasers. The Company expects to use the net proceeds, if any, it receives upon the future settlement of the forward sale agreements for general corporate purposes, including to fund property acquisitions and development activity. Selling common stock through the forward sale agreements enables the Company to set the price of such shares upon pricing the offering (subject to certain adjustments) while delaying the issuance of such shares and the receipt of the net proceeds by the Company until the expected funding requirements described above have occurred.

Copies of the prospectus supplement relating to this offering, when available, may be obtained by contacting: Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717 (Tel: 800-831-9146), or Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, 500 West 33rd Street, 14th Floor, New York, New York 10001, Attention: Equity Syndicate Department, telephone: (800) 326-5897, email: [email protected].

This offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement and related prospectus filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). A prospectus supplement relating to the offering will be filed with the SEC. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
FILE PHOTO: An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-400 plane is shown on final approach to land in San Diego, California April 4, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake

By Rajesh Kumar Singh

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Pilots at Alaska Air Group Inc have voted to authorize a strike if agreement on a new employment contract cannot be reached, their union said on Wednesday.

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents over 3,000 pilots at the Seattle-based carrier, said 99% of those who cast their ballots backed strike-authorization.

Alaska pilots, however, cannot walk off the job until the National Mediation Board grants them permission. The board will first have to determine that both the parties are at an impasse and further bargaining would not be productive.

This lengthy and complex process makes it rather difficult for airline workers to strike. The last pilot strike at a U.S. passenger carrier was at Spirit Airlines in 2010.

Alaska said the vote would not impact its customers and operation as its pilots are not on strike.

"We remain committed to reaching a deal to provide an updated contract that is good for Alaska's pilots," the company said.

The vote, however, highlights growing labor tension in the U.S. airline industry. Almost all the major carriers are facing protests from their pilots, who are demanding higher pay and improvements in "fatiguing" schedules in their new contracts.

United Airlines is the only major carrier that has reached an agreement with its pilots on new contract.

The protests come at a time when the industry is grappling with staffing shortages after letting go thousands of pilots at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Alaska itself is battling a high attrition rate. In the first quarter, 27 of its pilots resigned prior to their mandated retirement date.

ALPA says the company is on track to lose 180 pilots this year to other carriers, as its pilot contract remains below the rest of the industry.

Staffing woes are also taking a toll on Alaska's operations, forcing it to cancel 4% of its flights this month.

Alaska Air and its pilots have been negotiating a new contract since the summer of 2019. ALPA has said the company has not "meaningfully" addressed its concerns related to job security and schedule flexibility.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Boeing (NYSE: BA) in partnership with Korean Aerospace Industries and other key suppliers, has delivered the first new wing set for the A-10 Thunderbolt II fleet to the U.S. Air Force. The wing set arrived earlier this month to Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah, where the Air Force has started aircraft integration.

"Boeing is working diligently to deliver greatly needed new wings for the A-10 fleet," said Lt. Col. Jaclyn Melton, materiel leader for A-10 Programs in the A-10 System Program Office at Hill Air Force Base.

Boeing was awarded the contract in August 2019 and is currently working to provide the Air Force with 50 wing sets. Each wing set consists of outer wing assemblies, center wing assembly, control surfaces and the fuselage integration kit. The upgraded wings are more durable, efficient, and easier to maintain, extending A-10 flying life to 10,000 hours.

The A-10 serves a critical role for the Air Force and Boeing is proud to extend our legacy of supporting the Thunderbolt and its mission, said Dan Gillian, vice president of U.S. Government Services for Boeing Global Services. In partnership with the Air Force and our established supply base, we have started full rate production and are actively supporting the customers installation schedule.

The A-10 wing program was previously a dry line, with tools and equipment housed in long-term storage. Boeing Global Services revived the tooling and activated the supply base within 12 months of contract award. The companys previous experience with the A-10 includes delivering 173 enhanced A-10 wing assemblies under a separate contract.
Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE: CEQP) (Crestwood) today announced it has entered into a series of agreements under which the company will i) acquire Sendero Midstream Partners, LP (Sendero Midstream) for $600 million in cash, ii) acquire First Reserves 50% equity interest in Crestwood Permian Basin Holdings LLC (CPJV) for $320 million in Crestwood common units, plus the assumption of asset level debt, and iii) divest its legacy, non-core Barnett Shale assets to EnLink Midstream, LLC (NYSE: ENLC) (EnLink Midstream) for $275 million in cash. The transactions are expected to close early in the third quarter 2022, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

I am thrilled to announce this series of strategic transactions that greatly enhance the Crestwood franchise by creating immediate scale and additional runway in the Delaware Basin, high-grading our cash flow mix through the rationalization of non-core assets, and successfully maintaining our conservative balance sheet and financial flexibility, commented, Robert G. Phillips, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Crestwood. The acquisition of Sendero Midstream is highly complementary to our existing Willow Lake assets, provides excess processing and compression capacity for current and future customer development activity, and solidifies Crestwoods footprint in the leading North American shale play. Furthermore, the consolidation of First Reserves equity interest in CPJV simplifies our corporate structure and drives enhanced financial, commercial and operational flexibility. Both transactions are highly synergistic and will drive meaningful accretion to our distributable cash flow for many years to come.

Mr. Phillips continued, Todays announcement also marks the culmination of our long-term investment and operating footprint in the Barnett Shale. The Barnett Shale is where Crestwood started dating back to October 2010 and I want to personally thank our field employees for their hard work, dedication, and loyalty over the past twelve years, as they have fully embodied Crestwoods core principles with an unwavering commitment to operational safety and performance. We are excited to pass the torch to EnLink Midstream who shares Crestwoods commitment to operational excellence and corporate stewardship. As we close this chapter in Crestwoods history, we will continue to focus on building and optimizing our sizeable gathering and processing positions in the Williston Basin, Delaware Basin, and Powder River Basin. We believe the strategic actions we are taking today to divest a legacy asset to core up our position in one of the most prolific, economic, and active basins in North America, best positions Crestwood to deliver long-term value creation for our unitholders.

Transaction Highlights and Rationale

Significantly increases exposure to highly prolific northern Delaware Basin: The Sendero Midstream assets are located entirely in Eddy County, New Mexico, one of the most active regions of the Delaware Basin as evidenced by approximately 25% of total basin rigs focused on the county. The region benefits from an ideal combination of low oil breakevens, highly prolific wells, and significant amounts of gas production, making it a premier area for gas midstream investment. The acquisition of Sendero Midstream adds more than 75,000 dedicated acres with over 1,200 tier 1 drilling locations, long-term fixed fee contracts with commodity price upside, and a diverse and active set of private and public producer customers.

The Sendero Midstream assets are located entirely in Eddy County, New Mexico, one of the most active regions of the Delaware Basin as evidenced by approximately 25% of total basin rigs focused on the county. The region benefits from an ideal combination of low oil breakevens, highly prolific wells, and significant amounts of gas production, making it a premier area for gas midstream investment. The acquisition of Sendero Midstream adds more than 75,000 dedicated acres with over 1,200 tier 1 drilling locations, long-term fixed fee contracts with commodity price upside, and a diverse and active set of private and public producer customers. Complementary asset footprint enables operational, capital, and commercial synergies: Sendero Midstreams assets are highly complementary to the existing Willow Lake footprint, and can be integrated with minimal capital investment, enabling Crestwood to capture substantial cost and commercial synergies. The pro forma system will have total processing capacity of 550 MMcf/d with approximately 100 MMcf/d of unutilized space, which reduces the capital investment necessary to expand Crestwoods existing Orla plant to meet existing producer customer needs. As the commodity price outlook remains favorable for an acceleration of activity across the basin, this expanded footprint positions Crestwood to aggressively pursue third party volumes to further optimize utilization of existing infrastructure.

Sendero Midstreams assets are highly complementary to the existing Willow Lake footprint, and can be integrated with minimal capital investment, enabling Crestwood to capture substantial cost and commercial synergies. The pro forma system will have total processing capacity of 550 MMcf/d with approximately 100 MMcf/d of unutilized space, which reduces the capital investment necessary to expand Crestwoods existing Orla plant to meet existing producer customer needs. As the commodity price outlook remains favorable for an acceleration of activity across the basin, this expanded footprint positions Crestwood to aggressively pursue third party volumes to further optimize utilization of existing infrastructure. Further upgrades asset portfolio and cash flow and simplifies structure at attractive valuations: The combined Sendero Midstream and First Reserve transactions represent an estimated 7x NTM (next-twelve-months) EBITDA valuation multiple. The Sendero Midstream transaction provides a natural catalyst to execute Crestwoods stated objective to consolidate First Reserves 50% equity interest of CPJV, which enhances scale and removes the structural complexity of the joint venture in Crestwoods asset portfolio. Based on current and forecasted producer activity, Crestwood expects the Delaware Basin to become its second largest asset generating 2023E Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $190 to $200 million, which represents approximately 20% of the pro forma companys cash flow. In addition, the divestiture of the Barnett Shale assets represents an attractive opportunity to recycle cash proceeds from a non-core asset into a high growth, stacked pay, core basin.

The combined Sendero Midstream and First Reserve transactions represent an estimated 7x NTM (next-twelve-months) EBITDA valuation multiple. The Sendero Midstream transaction provides a natural catalyst to execute Crestwoods stated objective to consolidate First Reserves 50% equity interest of CPJV, which enhances scale and removes the structural complexity of the joint venture in Crestwoods asset portfolio. Based on current and forecasted producer activity, Crestwood expects the Delaware Basin to become its second largest asset generating 2023E Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $190 to $200 million, which represents approximately 20% of the pro forma companys cash flow. In addition, the divestiture of the Barnett Shale assets represents an attractive opportunity to recycle cash proceeds from a non-core asset into a high growth, stacked pay, core basin. Maintains strong balance sheet and enhances credit profile: The transactions will be prudently financed with a mixture of Barnett Shale divestiture proceeds, common equity, and revolver borrowings and are enhancing to the credit profile of the company due to increased cash flow scale, higher asset quality, reduced ownership complexity and expanded future free cash flow generation. Pro forma for the transactions, Q1 2022 leverage was approximately 3.8x, and Crestwood expects leverage to return to sub-3.5x in 2023 as the assets are fully integrated and synergies are achieved. Additionally, Crestwood continues to maintain flexibility under its $175 million common and preferred unit buyback program to further enhance returns and cost of capital opportunistically.

The transactions will be prudently financed with a mixture of Barnett Shale divestiture proceeds, common equity, and revolver borrowings and are enhancing to the credit profile of the company due to increased cash flow scale, higher asset quality, reduced ownership complexity and expanded future free cash flow generation. Pro forma for the transactions, Q1 2022 leverage was approximately 3.8x, and Crestwood expects leverage to return to sub-3.5x in 2023 as the assets are fully integrated and synergies are achieved. Additionally, Crestwood continues to maintain flexibility under its $175 million common and preferred unit buyback program to further enhance returns and cost of capital opportunistically. Extends Crestwoods ESG practices to Sendero Midstream assets: Following the close of the transactions, Crestwood will implement its sustainability best practices as it assumes operatorship of the Sendero Midstream assets. This includes incorporating the acquired assets into its carbon management plan with a focus on emissions reductions and increased methane emissions monitoring. The company will also maintain its strong commitment to biodiversity and ecosystem protection, safety, and community engagement efforts in New Mexico.

Transaction Details

Sendero Midstream Acquisition

Under the terms of the purchase agreement, Crestwood will acquire Sendero Midstream for $600 million in cash, which will be financed with cash from the Barnett Shale divestiture and borrowings on Crestwoods revolving credit facility. The Sendero Midstream assets, located in Eddy County, New Mexico, are comprised of 350 MMcf/d of processing capacity, approximately 140 miles of natural gas gathering lines and more than 53,000 horsepower of field gathering compression.

First Reserves 50% Equity Interest in CPJV

Under the terms of the First Reserve agreement, Crestwood will acquire the remaining 50% equity interest in CPJV for $320 million. As part of the valuation and a condition to closing the transaction, First Reserve will fund $75 million into CPJV to paydown asset level debt and support a portion of the cash consideration due to Sendero Midstream. In connection with these steps, Crestwood will issue to First Reserve approximately 11.3 million common units, which represents a total transaction value of $320 million. Pro forma for the transaction, First Reserve will own approximately 10% of Crestwoods common units outstanding. In addition, Crestwood will assume approximately $75 million in remaining debt outstanding at the joint venture level.

Barnett Shale Asset Divestiture

Crestwood entered into a definitive agreement to divest its legacy, non-core Barnett Shale assets to EnLink Midstream for $275 million in cash. The divestiture of Crestwoods assets includes the Alliance System, the Lake Arlington System and the Cowtown System, representing a full exit from the Barnett Shale. Crestwood will utilize the cash proceeds from the sale to fund the cash consideration for the Sendero Midstream acquisition.

These transactions have been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Crestwoods general partner, Sendero Midstream and First Reserve. The transactions are expected to close early in the third quarter 2022, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Crestwood has posted a supplemental investor deck providing details on the transactions on its corporate website.

Advisors

RBC Capital Markets served as lead financial advisor, Citi served as financial advisor and Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. and Locke Lord L.L.P. served as legal advisors to Crestwood. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor to Sendero Midstream. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett L.L.P. served as legal advisor to First Reserve. Baker Botts L.L.P. served as advisor to EnLink Midstream.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) plans to expand its manufacturing footprint in Indiana by investing $2.1 billion in two new manufacturing sites at Indiana's LEAP Lebanon Innovation and Research District in Boone County.

These new facilities will expand Lilly's manufacturing network for active ingredients and new therapeutic modalities, such as genetic medicines, and represent the company's dedication to strengthening its portfolio of potentially life-changing treatments.

"More than 146 years after our founding, Lilly remains committed to investing and innovating in Indiana," said David A. Ricks, Lilly's chair and CEO. "These new sites will add capacity in support of our growing pipeline of innovative medicines, while also creating more high-tech jobs for Hoosiers. We are pleased to be a founding investor at the LEAP Lebanon Innovation District."

Over the past eight years, Lilly has delivered 17 new medicines, including tirzepatide (approved by the FDA as Mounjaro) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, and aims to introduce four potential new medicines in the next two years. These new sites will support increased demand for existing Lilly products and play a key role in bringing Lilly's robust clinical pipeline to patients around the world.

The proposed project is expected to create up to 500 new Lilly roles with an additional four indirect jobs for every Lilly position created, based on industry data. An estimated 1,500 construction jobs will be required while the facilities are being built.

"Lilly has been an anchor in Indiana's economy for generations, and this announcement means they will continue to be here for generations," said Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb. "I am incredibly proud Lilly continues to make exciting investments in Indiana that will better the lives and opportunities of Hoosiers for decades to come. And in turn, the very research and pharmaceutical manufacturing spearheaded here in our state will improve lives worldwide."

Lilly's most recent expansion in Indiana was announced in 2019 and capped a series of investments in research and manufacturing in and around Indianapolis. Those investments totaled more than $2.5 billion over five years and have created additional manufacturing jobs bringing the total current number of Lilly manufacturing employees in Indiana to more than 3,700.

The investment in Boone County is contingent upon local zoning and annexation approvals. Lilly is partnering with several organizations throughout the project, including the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
Maxar Technologies (NYSE: MAXR) (TSX: MAXR) (the Company), provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, will discuss at 11:30 a.m. ET on May 25, 2022, the Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL) award announced earlier today by the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

FY2022 Updated Guidance Range: Management has tightened the 2022 Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA ranges by $30M around the same midpoint for Earth Intelligence, as well as total company results. Earth Intelligence Revenue guidance is between $1,170M and $1,220M, and Earth Intelligence Adjusted EBITDA guidance is between $520M and $555M. Total company Revenue guidance is between $1,805M and $1,855M, and total company Adjusted EBITDA guidance is between $455M and $505M.

Award Discussion: Maxar President and Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Jablonsky, and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Biggs Porter, will host a conference call on May 25, 2022, reviewing these matters, followed by a question-and-answer session. The call is scheduled to begin promptly at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Participants must register for the call in advance by visiting https://conferencingportals.com/event/poKRyurD. After registering, participants will receive dial-in information, a passcode, and registrant ID. At the time of the call, participants must dial in using the numbers in the confirmation email and enter their passcode and ID.

The conference call will also be webcast live and then archived at:

http://investor.maxar.com/events-and-presentations/default.aspx

A replay of the conference call will be made available shortly after conclusion and can be accessed at that time using the following information:

Instant Replay:

Toll Free North America: 1-800-770-2030

International Dial-In: 1-647-362-9199

Passcode: 81317#

Replay available:

From May 25, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. ET to June 8, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET
NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI) today announced the appointments of Melody Birmingham, William (Bill) Jefferson, and Melanie Berman to the company's executive leadership team, along with a reconfiguration of leadership responsibilities for several others on that team. These changes take effect on July 1.

Melody Birmingham will join the company as NiSource's executive vice president and chief innovation officer, responsible for the company's transformation office, information technology, communications, customer, aviation, real estate, corporate security and supply chain management. Birmingham joins from Duke Energy, where she served as senior vice president and chief administrative officer responsible for information technology, enterprise security, administrative services, and the supply chain organization. Prior to that, she served as state president of Duke Energy's Indiana operations, with responsibilities for the state utilities' financial performances and customer experiences, in addition to rates and regulatory strategy, government affairs, community relations and economic development.

"With more than 25 years of executive and leadership experience, Melody brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to NiSource," said Lloyd Yates, president and CEO of NiSource. "Melody is well-known and highly respected in the utility sector, particularly in Indiana, one of our largest operating territories, and will play a pivotal role in the company's transformation as we continue to evolve and grow with the changing energy needs of our customers and communities."

Birmingham holds a Bachelor of Science degree in organizational leadership and management from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration from Strayer University. She completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. In 2016, Birmingham was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, Ind.

William (Bill) Jefferson is also joining NiSource's leadership team as executive vice president, operations, and chief safety officer. Jefferson will oversee emergency response, engineering and asset management, environmental health and safety, field operations support, major projects, operational excellence, work management, and contractor support.

Jefferson joins NiSource from STP Nuclear Operating Company, where he served as site vice president. Prior to that, he served as plant general manager and operations director for STP. Earlier in his career, he served as vice president, transmission maintenance and construction at Duke Energy, and also served as vice president of the Harris Nuclear Plant for Progress Energy and vice president of the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear plants for Florida Power and Light.

Jefferson also served in several roles of increasing responsibility with Exelon Generation Company / PECO Energy Company, including plant manager at Susquehanna Electric Company, senior manager of plant engineering at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, and manager of reactor services at PECO Nuclear.

Jefferson has more than 35 years of experience in the utility industry. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in nuclear engineering from Purdue University. He attended the Duke Fuqua Advanced Management Program and earned a senior reactor operator's license from Peach Bottom nuclear plant.

"Bill brings a depth of knowledge in the areas of safety and operational excellence from the nuclear segment -- one of the safest, most stringent, in the world," Yates said. "With his addition, we plan to drive operational excellence and safety to world-class levels at NiSource and our operating companies."

Once Jefferson joins, Chuck Shafer will lead health, safety and environmental execution, reporting to Jefferson.

The company also announced that Melanie Berman, the company's senior vice president and chief human resources officer, has been elevated to the executive leadership team, also effective July 1.

"Since joining the company, Melanie has distinguished herself to be a leader of the highest caliber," Yates continued. "With more than 20 years of experience managing large-scale change, Melanie will have an important voice at our leadership table as the company navigates and evolves through the energy transition."

Since joining NiSource in June 2021, Berman has partnered with the leadership and the Board's Compensation and Human Capital Committee to develop a talent strategy, encompassing acquisition and development of talent, succession planning, and executive compensation, at a time when attracting and retaining top talent is critical. In addition, Berman has significantly increased the company's change management capabilities.

Berman joined NiSource from The Michaels Companies, where she served as executive vice president and chief human resources officer. Prior to that, Berman held the position of vice president of human resources at Anthem in Dallas, TX. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany, and a Master of Science in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Baruch College.

Following the additions of these leaders and roles, the NiSource Executive Leadership team will consist of the following members:

Shawn Anderson, SVP Risk and Chief Strategy Officer

Melanie Berman, SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer

Melody Birmingham, EVP and Chief Innovation Officer

Donald Brown, EVP and Chief Financial Officer

Kim Cuccia, SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

William Jefferson, EVP Operations and Chief Safety Officer

Pablo Vegas, EVP and Group President, NiSource Utilities

"All of the changes we are announcing today are designed to drive clearer lines of accountability across the organization, and to drive excellence in everything we do," Yates concluded.
A school employee talks through the window of a school bus to one of the parents near the scene of a suspected shooting near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Brad Brooks and Steve Gorman

UVALDE, Texas (Reuters) -A teenage gunman murdered at least 19 children and two teachers after storming into a Texas elementary school on Tuesday, the latest bout of gun-fueled mass killing in the United States and the nation's worst school shooting in nearly a decade.

The carnage began with the 18-year-old suspect, identified as Salvador Ramos, shooting his own grandmother, who survived, authorities said.

He fled that scene and crashed his car near the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a town about 80 miles (130 km) west of San Antonio. There he launched a bloody rampage that ended when he was killed, apparently shot by police.

The motive was not immediately clear.

Law enforcement officers saw the gunman, clad in body armor, emerge from the crashed vehicle carrying a rifle and "engaged" the suspect, who nevertheless managed to charge into the building and open fire, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Sergeant Erick Estrada said on CNN.

Speaking from the White House hours later, a visibly shaken President Joe Biden urged Americans to stand up to the politically powerful gun lobby, which he blamed for blocking enactment of tougher firearms safety laws.

Biden ordered flags flown at half-staff daily until sunset on Saturday in observance of the tragedy.

"As a nation, we have to ask, 'When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?'" Biden said on national television, suggesting reinstating a U.S. ban on assault-style weapons and other "common sense gun laws."

Mass shootings in America have frequently led to public protests and calls for stricter background checks on gun sales and other firearm controls common in other countries, but such measures have repeatedly failed in the face of strong Republican-led opposition.

Authorities said the suspect in Tuesday's killings acted alone. Governor Greg Abbott said that the shooter was apparently killed by police who confronted him at the school, and that two officers were struck by gunfire, though the governor said their injuries were not serious.

After conflicting early accounts of the death toll, Texas public safety officials said on Tuesday night that 19 school children and two teachers had died.

The community, deep in the state's Hill Country region, has about 16,000 residents, nearly 80% of them Hispanic or Latino, according to U.S. Census data.

'MY HEART IS BROKEN'

The school's student body consists of children in the second, third and fourth grades, according to Pete Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department. Pupils in those grades would likely have ranged in age from 7 to 10.

"My heart is broken," school district superintendent Hal Harrell told reporters late in the day, his voice quaking with emotion. "We're a small community and we need your prayers to get us through this."

A group of about 40 family members was led out of the Willie de Leon Civic Center at around 11:30 p.m. Some broke down in the parking lot, wailing and clinging to one another as police escorted people to their cars.

P.J. Talavera, who runs a martial arts school in town, was outside the civic center and said his wife's niece was among the children killed.

Talavera said the town was in a state of "controlled chaos" in the moments just after the shooting, as false rumors spread of other shooters attacking different schools.

"It's surreal. It's unbelievable. There is a hollow emptiness inside," Talavera said.

CEASELESS VIOLENCE

A mass shooting 10 days earlier claimed 10 lives in Buffalo, New York, in a predominantly Black neighborhood. Authorities have charged an 18-year-old who they said had traveled hundreds of miles to Buffalo and opened fire with an assault-style rifle at a grocery store.

Tuesday's bloodshed began when the suspect shot his grandmother before going to the school, Texas Department of Public Safety officer Chris Olivarez said on Fox News, a development Abbott mentioned earlier in the day.

"I have no further information about the connection between those two shootings," the governor said.

University Hospital in San Antonio said on Twitter that it had received two patients from the shooting in Uvalde, a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl, both listed in critical condition.

Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 15 students from Robb Elementary were treated in its emergency room, with two transferred to San Antonio for further care, while a third patient transfer was pending. It was not immediately clear whether all of those students survived.

A 45-year-old victim grazed by a bullet was also hospitalized at Uvalde Memorial, the hospital said.

Hours after the shooting, police had cordoned off the school with yellow tape. Police cruisers and emergency vehicles were scattered around the perimeter of the school grounds. Uniformed personnel stood in small clusters, some in camouflage carrying semi-automatic weapons.

EPIDEMIC OF GUN VIOLENCE

The rampage was the latest in a series of mass school shootings that have periodically reignited a fierce debate between advocates of tighter gun controls and those who oppose any legislation that could compromise the U.S. Constitutional right of Americans to bear arms.

Tuesday's shooting was the deadliest at a U.S. school since a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December 2012. In 2018, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 students and staff.

Firearms became the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents starting in 2020, surpassing motor vehicle accidents, according to a University of Michigan research letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month.

The day's horrors were reflected on the Facebook page of Robb Elementary School, where posts this week showed usual student activities - a field trip to a zoo and a save-the-date reminder for a gifted-and-talented showcase.

But on Tuesday, a note was posted at 11:43 a.m.: "Please know at this time Robb Elementary is under a Lockdown Status due to gunshots in the area. The students and staff are safe in the building." A second post was more explicit: "There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Law enforcement is on site." Finally, a note was posted advising parents that they could meet their children at the small city's civic center.

FACTBOX-Grim chronology of mass shootings in the United States We have to act,' Biden says after Texas massacre, offers no specificsQUOTES-'How many more lives?': Reactions to Texas school shootingTexas elementary school's end-of-year plans shattered by shootingGRAPHIC-School shooting in Texashttps://tmsnrt.rs/3MSN4II

(Reporting by Brad Brooks and Marco Bello in Uvalde, Texas; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Maria Caspani and Tyler Clifford in New York; Daniel Trotta in San Diego; Dan Whitcomb and Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Katie Paul in San Francisco, Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; and Caitlin Webber and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Grant McCool, Leslie Adler and Howard Goller)
FILE PHOTO: A logo is seen on the wheel of a Lucid Air Dream Edition parked at the Nasdaq MarketSite as Lucid Motors (Nasdaq: LCID) began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange after completing its business combination with Churchill Capital Corp IV in New

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lucid Motors said Wednesday it is recalling 1,100 2022 Air vehicles because display screens may fail to work due to a wiring harness possibly not being secured properly.

Lucid said it was not aware of any failures due to the condition. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said a disabled screen would not show critical information, such as the speedometer, gear selection indicators, and warning lights. Dealers will inspect and secure the wiring harness. The California-based automaker plans to mail notification letters June 20.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk's Twitter profile is seen on a smartphone placed on printed Twitter logos in this picture illustration taken April 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Sheila Dang

(Reuters) - Twitter Inc investors blocked the re-election of an ally of Elon Musk to the board at an annual meeting on Wednesday that avoided the biggest question for the social media company: will it complete a $44 billion sale to the billionaire.

Investors voted against Egon Durban, the co-head of private equity firm Silver Lake, who partnered with Tesla CEO Musk on his abandoned bid to take the electric carmaker private.

The rebuke of Durban, who joined the board in 2020, comes as uncertainty looms over the deal.

Musk tweeted on May 13 that the Twitter deal was "temporarily on hold" while he sought more information about the proportion of fake accounts on Twitter.

The company last week said it remained committed to the deal at the agreed price and on Wednesday said it would not answer questions about the deal at the virtual meeting.

"The Twitter board has not embraced Elon Musk and his vision for Twitter. So the fact that his ally has been removed from the board is not surprising," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.

Twitter's board initially voted to adopt a poison pill that limited Musk's ability to raise his stake in the company, but later voted unanimously to accept his buyout offer.

The vote could indicate skepticism among shareholders of Musk's plan or his willingness to pay what he offered, but investors are expected to overwhelmingly approve the deal at another meeting yet to be scheduled.

Some shareholders who filed proposals at the meeting appealed directly to Musk in their presentations.

"Mr. Musk, if you're listening, we hope that you'll join us in voting for this proposal," said Ethan Peck, an associate at the National Center for Public Policy Research, which asked Twitter to commission an audit on its impact on civil rights.

Investors voted in favor of creating reports on electoral spending and on risks of using concealment clauses, such as non-disclosure agreements, according to preliminary voting results from the meeting.

Many advocates say that companies that aim to stop sexual harassment and similar issues should allow workers to discuss the matters in public, which is often impossible with concealment clauses.

However, shareholders voted against annual elections for directors, or declassifying the board, which would make members more accountable to investor approval. The current terms are multi-year and staggered, preventing a sudden, major change.

Shareholders followed management advice to vote against other proposals, including one that would commission a report on company lobbying expenditures.

They re-elected Patrick Pichette, a general partner at Inovia Capital, to the board.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; additional reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker)
PRINCETON, N.J., May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AST is announcing the upcoming launch of IP3 2022 (Industry Patent Purchase Program), which connects patent sellers with AST's Member companies who span across multiple industries. These include companies such as Avaya, Cisco, Dolby, Google, Honda, IBM, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, Philips, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Snap, Sony, Spotify, Twitter, Uber and Verizon, among others. This exposure to some of the world's largest leaders in technology provides sellers the opportunity to market their patents in the secondary market to a much broader audience than what they could find on their own. This is the seventh year that AST has offered this program with the goal of simplifying sellers' access to the secondary market by eliminating some of the common hassles that may accompany this process. IP3 has been carefully designed as a collaborative patent buying platform where the seller determines a fixed price and there is an established fixed term that results in a streamlined process with no cost for sellers.

This year's program will solicit patents for sale at a fixed price from an extensive group of technology areas. These 16 categories that can be found below have been arranged by priority of what they would like to see:

Automotive/ Mobility

Semiconductor Equipment & Manufacturing

Computer Software & Hardware

Cloud Computing & Web Services

Advertising & Content Distribution

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)

Augmented (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR)

Internet of Things (IoT) & Smart Home

Wireless & Telecommunication

Blockchain & Financial Services

Retail & Ecommerce

Health Tech & Healthcare IT

Medical Devices & Imaging

Location-Based Services (LBS)/ Navigation

Industrial & Manufacturing

LED Lighting & Optoelectronics

Last year's IP3 program received submissions from 261 sellers, and AST acquired 34 patent portfolios for $3.86 million. AST launched IP3 in 2016 based on Google's 2015 patent purchase program because AST was well-suited to offer an industry-wide program that would foster a collaborative environment among companies. They are seeing increased interest for patents related to Automotive, Semiconductor, Cloud, AI/ML and AR/VR technologies, along with general high-tech areas listed above. Also continuing in 2022, the portfolios are listed on a non-exclusive basis until the final phase of IP3 2022. This means that patent sellers may continue to market their offerings during the IP3 program. But if a seller's offering is still available during the last weeks of the program, they must sell to IP3 if their price is met.

"This is our seventh IP3 program, and each year brings new sellers and patents of interest to our Members. These fixed-priced, fixed-term programs offer a lot of advantages for both sellers and buyers, and we look forward to another successful program," said Russell W. Binns Jr., CEO of AST. "Our Members are always looking for a variety of quality submissions, and last year more than half of the submissions were first-time submissions, which drove broader Member participation. We are looking to continue that trend this year and hope to see many new and high-quality patents during our June submission window."

Binns added: "We often hear from our Members that having the opportunity to participate in programs like IP3 provides a unique opportunity to take advantage of group thinking and the wisdom of the crowd when it comes to purchasing patents, and makes for an efficient, productive buying experience. We strive to provide an easy, fast and efficient process that benefits both our Members' businesses and the patent seller community."

How to Submit Patents for Sale

Patent sellers and brokers are welcome to submit their patents for sale at a price they set via the AST IP3 portal: www.ast.com/IP3 from June 20 through July 1, 2022. AST will consider submissions in the technology areas outlined above for this installment of IP3. Sellers need only identify the patent family and fixed price at which they are willing to transact. Each submission should contain only related assets, and a preference will be made for single-family submissions or related families.

AST's preference is to review new patent portfolios, although sellers who already submitted their patents to AST's Standard program, where the price is negotiable, can also participate in IP3 2022 by transferring their submission. For additional information on how to transfer the submissions, contact them at [email protected].

At the end of the submission period, AST and the Members will review all the submissions and let the submitters know whether there is interest in a purchase or not by Sept. 23, 2022. Once AST contacts sellers about purchasing their patents, there will be additional diligence that will enable transaction closure in short order. It is anticipated that all transactions and payments will be completed by the end of 2022. From the time patents are submitted to Sept. 6, submitters must let us know if their offering is sold and no longer available or encumbered. From Sept. 7, submitters must sell to IP3 if their price is met and they are notified of an intent to purchase by Sept. 23, 2022.

To obtain more detailed information about IP3 2022, please visit ast.com/IP3. All pertinent IP3 documents, such as the applicable patent assignment agreement and terms and conditions can be downloaded from the website. Participating sellers are encouraged to consult with an attorney prior to their submission to fully understand the terms and conditions of this program. Throughout this process, AST reserves the right not to transact for any reason. For any other questions, please visit website or send email to [email protected].

About AST

AST was founded in 2007 by four global high-tech companies as a member-driven cooperative to mitigate patent risk and to operate with no profit motive. AST serves the world's most innovative and recognized technology companies through the cost-sharing acquisition of patent rights; provides access to the most comprehensive database of patents offered in the secondary market; offers Quarterly Market Insights reporting; and facilitates a community for IP thought leaders to interact and form business relationships.

AST's Members include over 40 top global companies from a wide range of industries including Avaya, Cisco, Dolby, Google, Honda, IBM, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, Philips, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Snap, Sony, Spotify, Twitter, Uber and Verizon. For more information, visit www.ast.com.

Related Images

Image 1: www.ast.com AST

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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Source: AST
SARNIA, Ontario, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Breast Cancer Society of Canada (BCSC) today announced the recipients of their first-ever Breast Cancer Research request for proposals. Researchers from across Canada were invited to submit projects last December for funding consideration in 2022 and beyond.

In February 2021, the World Health Organization declared that breast cancer was the most diagnosed cancer worldwide. Approximately 28,000 Canadians will be diagnosed this year. The breast cancer research projects that have been selected for funding will aim to advance screening, detection, precision oncology and patient reported outcomes, enhancing care for Canadians with breast cancer.

Research has shown us that there are more than 50 types of breast cancer, each with their own unique challenges and demands, said Kimberly Carson, CEO of the Breast Cancer Society of Canada. The new research projects being funded will directly impact the lives of breast cancer patients by developing new diagnostic tools and treatment plans that are tailored to the individual, as patient-support is no longer one size fits all.

The following are the recipients and categories of research that have been selected by BCSC for funding:

Anand Krishnan University of Saskatoon Treatment Research $75,000 Carrie Shemanko University of Calgary Precision Oncology Research $75,000 Mousumi Majumder Brandon University, Manitoba Screening & Detection  Precision Genomics Research $75,000 Melba D'Souza Thompson Rivers University, BC Patient Reported Outcomes $75,000 Jim Xiang University of Saskatoon Precision Oncology Research $25,000 Lisa Porter University of Windsor Treatment Research $25,000

Driven by their vision to end breast cancer, BCSC is committed to funding research projects that will have a direct impact on Canadian patients, focusing on the rapid movement of research findings from lab bench to bedside. As an example, recipient Mousumi Majumder of Brandon University, has been granted $75,000 in funding towards breast cancer screening and detection as part of Precision Genomics Research. Mousumis research will focus on genetic contributions to a patient's health, susceptibility or resilience to disease, and their individual responses to therapeutic interventions.

The BCSC Scientific Committee is driven by funding research that supports breast cancer outcomes for Canadians by funding innovative research and personalized treatment. The goal is to be able to deliver the right cancer treatment, to the right patient, at the right dose, at the right time. The group extends their gratitude to all applicants who submitted a request. The calibre and quality of the applications received was significant and the committee looks forward to funding new projects next year.

The Breast Cancer Society of Canada thanks its generous donors who have made the Breast Cancer Research Grant Proposals possible through their contributions.

Please visit bcsc.ca/updates for further information on the research grants and other projects in progress at the BCSC.

ABOUT THE BREAST CANCER SOCIETY OF CANADA (BCSC) The Breast Cancer Society of Canada (BCSC) is a registered, national, non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to saving lives through breast cancer research. BCSC raises money to fund patient-focused research for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of breast cancer. For more information, please visit bcsc.ca.

MEDIA CONTACT: Logan KazimerHarmony Marketing [email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3f75395f-8803-4d7b-a007-bc9f20c23045

Grant Recipient Mousumi Majumder Grant Recipient Mousumi Majumder in a research lab.

Source: The Breast Cancer Society of Canada
Lithuanian electricity transmission operator LITGRID AB (business ID 302564383, registered office address Karlo Gustavo Emilio Manerheimo str. 8, LT-05131 Vilnius, Lithuania) announces that on 23rd May 2022 the opinion of the Audit Committee of the parent company UAB EPSO-G (hereinafter  EPSO-G) on the intention to conclude the agreements between LITGRID AB and related parties EPSO-G and UAB Energy Cells (hereinafter  the Transaction) on the transfer of their tax losses for the year 2021 to LITGRID AB has been received.

On 23 May 2022, the Audit Committee of EPSO-G considered the Transaction and issued an opinion:

compliance of the Transaction with market conditions is not assessed due to the reason that the Transaction is executed exclusively in accordance with requirements established in the Article 561 of the Law on Corporate Income Tax of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter  the Law on Corporate Income Tax), i.e. pursuant to the Article 561, the Transaction could not be entered into with an entity other than a group entity; the Transaction is fair and reasonable with respect to all shareholders of LITGRID AB as the transfer of tax losses is carried out in accordance with the Article 561 of the Law on Corporate Income Tax and LITGRID AB does not incur any losses due to the Transaction.




Albuquerque, NM, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associa Canyon Gate, an Associa company, is pleased to announce that Dennis Swartz has joined the company as branch president. In this capacity, he will work with company executives to plan and implement business objectives and organizational policies while simultaneously coordinating operations between branches, ancillary companies, and home office departments. He will also be responsible for client and employee experience, client retention, and the client renewal process to maximize financial profitability.

Mr. Swartz joins Associa from a large regional property management firm where he oversaw day-to-day operations related to condominium and homeowner association (HOA) management, as well as single-family accounts and sales. He previously worked with an integrated mortgage and real estate service provider where he oversaw management of residential homes in 175 markets throughout 40 states. Mr. Swartz also served as vice president of real estate services-Midwest for a large multinational property management firm.

We are extremely fortunate to have a leader of Dennis Swartzs expertise join Associa Canyon Gate, said Tiffany Hannah, CAMEx, CCAM-ND Associa regional vice president, West region. His vast knowledge and demonstrated leadership skills in the community management space will be a tremendous asset to our team. Our board members and their residents will also benefit from the vision and insight he brings to the table.

Mr. Swartz holds a Bachelor of Business from Franklin University and an MBA in Marketing from North Alabama University. Additionally, he has served as an instructor at two separate colleges, where he developed and taught real state classes to several thousand students and played a role in developing real estate textbooks.

About Associa

With more than 225 branch offices across North America, Associa is building the future of community for nearly five million residents worldwide. Our 11,000+ team members lead the industry with unrivaled education, expertise, and trailblazing innovation. For more than 43 years, Associa has brought positive impact and meaningful value to communities. To learn more, visit www.associaonline.com.

Stay Connected

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/associa

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Join us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/associa

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Tom Womack Associa 214-272-4107 [email protected]

Source: Associa
EssilorLuxottica 2022 Annual Shareholders Meeting

A ll resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors are adopted

Dividend of Euro 2.51 per share

Shareholders can opt for payment of the dividend in shares





Charenton-le-Pont, France (May 25, 2022  6:00 pm CET)  EssilorLuxotticas Annual General Meeting was held today at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris.

EssilorLuxottica shareholders approved all 16 resolutions submitted by the Board of Directors to the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Meeting, including the compensation policy applicable to the Companys Executive Corporate Officers.

EssilorLuxottica shareholders also ratified the cooptation of Virginie Mercier Pitre as a new Director. She replaces Juliette Favre, representing Valoptec Association, as the new President of the independent Association of EssilorLuxotticas employee shareholders.

I want to thank our shareholders for their unfailing support. As you have witnessed in the past few years, the extraordinary journey of EssilorLuxottica is an impressive story of reshaping and simplifying the new company in order to meet the growing needs of our industry. The recent integration of GrandVision in our family is a meaningful milestone to realize our vision of an open, vertically integrated network company, committed to growing the industry by creating new categories, enhancing access to eyecare and eyewear and opening new markets, declared Leonardo Del Vecchio, Chairman of EssilorLuxottica, after the Annual General Meeting.

Option for payment of the dividend in shares

Furthermore, the resolution granting shareholders the option to receive their final dividend to be paid for the financial year ended on December 31, 2021, in shares has been approved. As duly acknowledged by the Board of Directors, the price for newly issued shares for the payment of the dividend has been set at Euro 135.60 per share.

This price corresponds to 90% of the average of the opening prices on Euronext Paris during the twenty trading days preceding the date of the Annual General Meeting less the amount of the final dividend to be distributed for the financial year ended on December 31, 2021, this total being rounded up to the next euro cent.





The ex-dividend date is set on May 30, 2022. The record date is set on May 31, 2022.





Shareholders will be entitled to opt for payment of the dividend in newly issued shares between June 1, 2022 and June 15, 2022. To exercise such option, shareholders have to address their request to the authorized financial intermediaries (which may set a shorter election period depending on their administrative processes). For shareholders holding shares in pure registered form, the request will have to be addressed to the Companys agent (BNP Paribas Securities Services, Grands Moulins de Pantin, 9, rue du Debarcadere, 93761 Pantin Cedex). For shareholders who have not exercised their option by June 15, 2022 (or the date set by their authorized financial intermediaries) at the latest, the final dividend will be entirely paid in cash.

An application will be made to admit the new shares for trading on Euronext Paris market. The new ordinary shares allocated in payment will confer the same rights as the existing shares and carry current dividend rights (jouissance courante), i.e. they will confer the right to any distribution paid out as from the date of their issuance.

If the amount of the final dividend in respect of which the option will be exercised does not correspond to a whole number of shares, the shareholder will receive the number of shares rounded down to the nearest inferior whole number, and a balancing payment in cash (soulte).

The payment of the dividend or the delivery of the new shares following the exercise of the option will take place from June 21, 2022.

Shareholders may connect to EssilorLuxottica.com to consult the Questions & Answers dedicated to the payment of dividend in shares.

Time frame

Ex date 1 : May 30, 2022.

May 30, 2022. Record date 2 : May 31, 2022

: May 31, 2022 Period to exercise the option : 1-15 June 2022.

: 1-15 June 2022. Date of payment: June 21, 2022.

Notes

1 First date from which EssilorLuxottica shares are traded without the final dividend rights.

2 Date on which positions are determined by the central securities depository at close of business

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Alexandria, VA, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, a preliminary insights report from research supported through the Vaccine Confidence Fund was released at the 75th World Health Assembly. The global research is intended to reveal insights on how to harness social media and online engagement to drive vaccine confidence. Global Impact, the fiscal sponsor and Fund manager, also announced there will be an additional round of requests for proposals (RFPs) for global research focusing on vaccine confidence with an emphasis on enhancing routine immunization and educating health care workers on addressing vaccine hesitancy. The Fund is a program of the Alliance for Advancing Health Online (AAHO) and is financially supported by Meta and Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ USA (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada).

Last year, the Fund issued an open RFP, managed by Global Impact. Global Impact sought proposals that address how social media can be best utilized to better understand vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccination confidence and uptake. In October, the Fund disbursed $7.3 million in funding to 33 grantees globally to pursue new and transformative approaches using social media and behavioral science to address the question.

The Vaccine Confidence Fund Preliminary Insights Report features findings from the grantees research, including insights on potential ways to harness social media and online engagement to drive vaccine confidence. The common themes that emerged from the research can help inform best practices for increasing vaccine confidence and uptake through social media.

We are excited to share an early look into how Fund grantees are exploring new use cases of social media platforms for health efforts, said Kang-Xing Jin, Head of Health at Meta. Weve seen that online platforms have unique strengths, like global scale and the ability to personalize content and services at low cost, that can play a meaningful role in improving global public health  for the present pandemic and beyond.

Bridget Deacon, Managing Director at Shujaaz Inc., a grant recipient, commented: Our research shows that young people can be powerful change agents in their communities. It underlined for us the power of real-life and fictionalized stories to get people talking. We know its those conversations that shift norms and change behavior  for increasing vaccination uptake and beyond. This grant also helped us to refine our targeting; enabling us to reach the right audiences with public health messages that resonate, at the right time, from the most powerful messenger.

The report includes an update from a University of California at San Francisco team that examined the potential of WhatsApp chatbots to address COVID-19 vaccination concerns among pregnant and breastfeeding women in rural North India. "Chatbots in WhatsApp groups are feasible, acceptable and effectively address COVID-19 vaccination concerns among pregnant and breastfeeding women in rural North India, said Alison M. El Ayadi, ScD MPH, Associate Professor, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health Department of Obstetrics, University of California, San Francisco.

In July 2022, the Fund plans to release a full version of the report including insights from all 33 grantees.

Global Impact, on behalf of the Alliance for Advancing Health Online is excited to be launching a second Request for Proposals (RFP) in the coming weeks for global research focusing on vaccine confidence with an emphasis on enhancing routine immunization and educating health care workers on addressing vaccine hesitancy. Click here to sign up for e-mail notification when the RFP is released.

Addressing vaccination hesitancy requires investment in efforts to increase the understanding of the importance of routine immunization, said Michael D. Fornwall, Associate Vice President, Vaccination Confidence, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ USA (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada). By breaking down traditional silos, it is our hope that the insights shared will support more innovative use of social media to enable individuals and communities to have credible and accurate data and resources to make informed decisions about health care.

About AAHOThe Alliance for Advancing Health Online (AAHO) is a newly forming and evolving coalition of stakeholders across the technology, health, global development, and academic sectors who are united in exploring how social media and online engagement can increase the health and resiliency of communities around the world. Currently, stakeholders involved with the AAHO include the Bay Area Global Health Alliance, the CDC Foundation, The MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization. The $40 million multi-year initiative, funded by Meta and Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ USA (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada), will initially focus on addressing vaccine hesitancy and vaccine equity with a strong focus on historically excluded or marginalized communities.

About Global ImpactGlobal Impact works on charitable ventures to inspire greater giving and serves as a trusted advisor, intermediary and implementing partner across the private, nonprofit and public sectors. Through these partnerships, Global Impact has raised nearly $2 billion for causes such as disaster relief and global development. Global Impacts reach and services are complemented by the work of its subsidiary company, Geneva Global.

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Cassie Call Global Impact [email protected]

Source: Global Impact
CALGARY, Alberta, May 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (Gran Tierra or the Company) (NYSE American: GTE)(TSX: GTE)(LSE: GTE) today announced the commencement of offers to Eligible Holders (as defined herein) to exchange (such offers, the Exchange Offers) (i) any and all of the outstanding 6.25% Senior Notes due 2025 issued by Gran Tierra Energy International Holdings Ltd. (GTEIH) on February 15, 2018 (CUSIP: 38502HAA3 / G4066TAA0; ISIN: US38502HAA32 / USG4066TAA00) (the 2025 Notes), and (ii) any and all of the outstanding 7.750% Senior Notes due 2027 issued by the Company on May 23, 2019 (CUSIP: 38502JAA9 / U37016AA7; ISIN: US38502JAA97 / USU37016AA70) (the 2027 Notes and, together with the 2025 Notes, the Existing Notes) for newly issued 8.750% Senior Secured Amortizing Notes due 2029 (the New Notes), pursuant to the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the exchange offer memorandum and consent solicitation statement, dated May 24, 2022 in respect of the Exchange Offers and Consent Solicitations (as defined below) (the Exchange Offer Memorandum). Any capitalized terms used in this press release without definition have the respective meanings assigned to such terms in the Exchange Offer Memorandum.

Existing Notes CUSIP/ISIN Numbers Principal Amount Outstanding Early Participation Premium(1) Exchange Consideration(2) Total Consideration(3) 6.25% Senior Notes due 2025 38502HAA3 / G4066TAA0US38502HAA32 / USG4066TAA00 US$300,000,000 US$50 US$950 US$1,000 7.750% Senior Notes due 2027 38502JAA9 / U37016AA7US38502JAA97 / USU37016AA70 US$300,000,000 US$50 US$950 US$1,000

(1) Premium payable in principal amount of New Notes on the Settlement Date (as defined below) per each US$1,000 aggregate principal amount of Existing Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) on or before the Early Participation Deadline (as defined below).(2) Principal amount of New Notes per each US$1,000 aggregate principal amount of Existing Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) on or before the Expiration Deadline (as defined below). Does not include the Early Participation Premium or the applicable Accrued Interest (as defined below). Accrued Interest will be paid in cash on the Settlement Date. Holders who tender after the Early Participation Deadline but prior to the Expiration Deadline will receive only the Exchange Consideration (and Accrued Interest).(3) Total Consideration includes the Early Participation Premium. Total Consideration payable in principal amount of New Notes on the Settlement Date per each US$1,000 aggregate principal amount of Existing Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) on or before the Early Participation Deadline. Does not include the applicable Accrued Interest, which will be paid in cash on the Settlement Date. Holders who tender after the Early Participation Deadline but prior to the Expiration Deadline will receive only the Exchange Consideration. Holders who tender after the Early Participation Deadline but prior to the Expiration Deadline will receive only the Exchange Consideration.

Simultaneously with the Exchange Offers, (i) GTEIH is conducting a solicitation (the 2025 Solicitation) of consents (the 2025 Consents) from Eligible Holders of 2025 Notes to effect certain proposed amendments (the 2025 Proposed Amendments) to the indenture dated as of February 15, 2018, under which the 2025 Notes were issued (the 2025 Existing Indenture), and (ii) the Company is conducting a solicitation (the 2027 Solicitation and, together with the 2025 Solicitation, the Solicitations) of consents (the 2027 Consents and, together with the 2025 Consents, the Consents) from Eligible Holders of 2027 Notes to effect certain proposed amendments (the 2027 Proposed Amendments and, together with the 2025 Proposed Amendments, the Proposed Amendments) to the indenture dated as of May 23, 2019, under which the 2027 Notes were issued (the 2027 Existing Indenture and, together with the 2025 Existing Indenture, the Existing Indentures). The Proposed Amendments would provide for, among other things, (i) the elimination of substantially all of the restrictive covenants and events of default and related provisions with respect to the applicable series of Existing Notes, and (ii) the amendment of certain defined terms and covenants in the Existing Indentures. It is also expected that the guarantees of the Existing Notes may be released as described in the Exchange Offer Memorandum. Each Exchange Offer and Solicitation is a separate offer, and each Exchange Offer and Solicitation may be individually amended, extended, terminated or withdrawn without amending, extending, terminating or withdrawing any other Exchange Offer or Solicitation. The New Notes will be issued pursuant to an indenture and will be senior secured obligations.

Important Dates and Times

Commencement May 24, 2022. Early Participation Deadline 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 7, 2022, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Company, in its sole discretion. Withdrawal Deadline 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 7, 2022, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Company, in its sole discretion. Expiration Deadline 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on June 22, 2022, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Company, in its sole discretion. Settlement Date Promptly following the Expiration Deadline and is expected to be the second business day after the Expiration Deadline, on June 24, 2022, unless extended.

Eligible Holders who validly tender Existing Notes and deliver Consents, and do not validly revoke such tenders and Consents, on or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 7, 2022, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Company, in its sole discretion (the Early Participation Deadline) and whose Existing Notes are accepted for exchange by the Company will receive US$950 aggregate principal amount of New Notes for each US$1,000 aggregate principal amount of Existing Notes (the Exchange Consideration) and the early participation premium of US$50 principal amount of New Notes for each US$1,000 aggregate principal amount of Existing Notes (the Early Participation Premium and, together with the Exchange Consideration, the Total Consideration).

Existing Notes tendered for their exchange on or prior to the Early Participation Deadline may be validly withdrawn, and the related Consents may be validly revoked, at any time prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 7, 2022, unless extended by the Company, in its sole discretion (the Withdrawal Deadline).

Eligible Holders who validly tender Existing Notes and deliver Consents, and do not validly revoke such tenders and Consents, after the Early Participation Deadline and on or before 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on June 22, 2022, unless extended by the Company, in its sole discretion (the Expiration Deadline) and whose Existing Notes are accepted for exchange by us will receive only the Exchange Consideration.

Eligible Holders whose Existing Notes are accepted for exchange will be paid accrued and unpaid interest on such Existing Notes from, and including, the most recent date on which interest was paid on such Holders Existing Notes to, but not including, the Settlement Date (the Accrued Interest), payable on the Settlement Date. Accrued Interest will be paid in cash on the Settlement Date. Interest will cease to accrue on the Settlement Date for all Existing Notes accepted for exchange in the applicable Exchange Offer.

Our obligation to accept Existing Notes tendered pursuant to the Exchange Offers and Consents delivered pursuant to the Solicitations is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions described in the Exchange Offer Memorandum, which include, (i) the non-occurrence of an event or events or the likely non-occurrence of an event or events that would or might reasonably be expected to prohibit, restrict or delay the consummation of the Exchange Offers or materially impair the contemplated benefits to us of the Exchange Offers, (ii) with respect to the 2025 Notes, the receipt of 2025 Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) prior to the Expiration Date representing not less than 80% of the aggregate principal amount of 2025 Notes outstanding and, with respect to the 2027 Notes, the receipt of 2027 Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) prior to the Expiration Date representing not less than 80% of the aggregate principal amount of outstanding 2027 Notes and (iii) certain other customary conditions.

At any time after the Withdrawal Deadline and before the Expiration Deadline, if GTEIH has received the 2025 Consent of Eligible Holders of 2025 Notes that, in the aggregate, represent Holders that own not less than 50% of the 2025 Notes on such date, GTEIH and the trustee under the 2025 Existing Indenture may execute and deliver the Supplemental Indenture to the 2025 Existing Indenture, which will give effect to the 2025 Proposed Amendments to the 2025 Notes, that will be effective upon execution but will only become operative upon consummation of the Exchange Offer on the Settlement Date.

At any time after the Withdrawal Deadline and before the Expiration Deadline, if the Company has received the 2027 Consent of Eligible Holders of 2027 Notes that, in the aggregate, represent Holders that own not less than 50% of the 2027 Notes on such date, the Company and the trustee under the 2027 Existing Indenture may execute and deliver the Supplemental Indenture to the 2027 Existing Indenture, which will give effect to the 2027 Proposed Amendments to the 2027 Notes, that will be effective upon execution but will only become operative upon consummation of the Exchange Offer on the Settlement Date.

The Company will not receive any cash proceeds from the issuance of the New Notes in the Exchange Offers and the Solicitations. Existing Notes surrendered in connection with the Exchange Offers, and accepted for exchange, will be cancelled. The Company expects to repay any borrowings under its revolving credit facility and terminate, or refinance, in its sole discretion, its revolving credit facility prior to the Expiration Deadline and the completion of the Exchange Offers and Solicitations.

The Exchange Offers are made, and the New Notes will be offered and issued, only (a) in the United States to holders of Existing Notes who are reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers (as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act)) in reliance upon the exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act, and (b) outside the United States to holders of Existing Notes who are persons other than U.S. persons (as defined in Rule 902 under the Securities Act) in reliance upon Regulation S under the Securities Act and who are non-U.S. qualified offerees and eligible purchasers in other jurisdictions as set forth in the Exchange Offer Memorandum. Holders who have returned a duly completed eligibility letter certifying that they are within one of the categories described in the immediately preceding sentences are authorized to receive and review the Exchange Offer Memorandum and to participate in the Exchange Offers and the Solicitations (such holders, Eligible Holders). Holders who desire to obtain and complete an eligibility letter should either visit the website for this purpose at www.dfking.com/gte, or call D.F. King & Co., Inc., the Information Agent and Exchange Agent for the Exchange Offers and the Solicitation of Consents at +1 (800) 967-0261 (toll free), +1 (212) 269-5550 (banks and brokers), or email at [email protected].

This press release does not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell the Existing Notes in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the New Notes, nor shall there be any sale of the New Notes in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The New Notes will not be registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any state and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.

The Exchange Offers are made, and the New Notes will be offered and issued in Canada on a private placement basis to holders of Existing Notes who are accredited investors and permitted clients, each as defined under applicable Canadian provincial securities laws.

None of the Company, the dealer manager, the trustee, any agent or any affiliate of any of them makes any recommendation as to whether Eligible Holders should tender or refrain from tendering all or any portion of the principal amount of such Eligible Holders Existing Notes for New Notes in the Exchange Offers or Consent to any of the Proposed Amendments to the Existing Indentures in the Solicitations. Eligible Holders will need to make their own decision as to whether to tender Existing Notes in the Exchange Offer and participate in the Solicitation and, if so, the principal amount of Existing Notes to tender.

This press release is being issued pursuant to and in accordance with Rule 135c under the Securities Act.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release, and those statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words may, might, will, would, could, should, believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, project, target, goal, guidance, budget, plan, objective, potential, seek, or similar expressions or variations on these expressions are forward-looking statements. The Company can give no assurances that the assumptions upon which the forward-looking statements are based will prove to be correct or that, even if correct, intervening circumstances will not occur to cause actual results to be different than expected. Because forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. There are a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the form and results of the Exchange Offers and Solicitations of Consents; the Companys ability to comply with covenants in its Existing Indentures; the Companys ability to obtain amendments to the covenants in its Existing Indentures; and those factors set out in the Exchange Offer Memorandum under Risk Factors, in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and in the Companys other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Eligible Investors should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The information included herein is given as of the date of this press release and, except as otherwise required by the securities laws, the Company disclaims any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to, or to withdraw, any forward-looking statement contained in this press release to reflect any change in the Companys expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any forward-looking statement is based.

ABOUT GRAN TIERRA ENERGY INC.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc. together with its subsidiaries is an independent international energy company currently focused on oil and natural gas exploration and production in Colombia and Ecuador. The Company is currently developing its existing portfolio of assets in Colombia and Ecuador. The Companys common stock trades on the NYSE American, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GTE. Additional information concerning Gran Tierra is available at www.grantierra.com.

Gran Tierras filings with the SEC are available on the SEC website at http://www.sec.gov. The Companys Canadian securities regulatory filings are available on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com and UK regulatory filings are available on the National Storage Mechanism website at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism. Gran Tierras filings on the SEC website and SEDAR are not incorporated by reference into this press release.

Information on the Companys website (including the Sustainability Report) does not constitute a part of this press release.

For investor and media inquiries please contact:Gary Guidry, President & Chief Executive OfficerRyan Ellson, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial OfficerRodger Trimble, Vice President, Investor Relations+1-403-265-3221[email protected]

SOURCE Gran Tierra Energy Inc.

Source: Gran Tierra Energy Inc.
LA HABRA, Calif., May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Howards, Southern Californias premier independent appliance retailer, today announced the addition of Joy Banducci and Daryl Massy to their senior leadership team. Banducci joins the company as Chief Financial Officer & Technology Officer, and Massy as Senior Vice President & Chief Merchant.

Banducci brings more than 20 years of experience in finance, systems, IT and project management/operations, says John Riddle, CEO of Howards. She comes to the company from Swann Communications where she served as CFO. Swann Communications is a global leader in smart home security systems that partners with Best Buy, Lowes, Amazon and other major retailers. Prior to her time at Swann, Banducci served as CFO/CIO of Manhattan Beachwear and Global VP of Finance for BakerCorp from 2013 to 2018.

Banducci is an exceptional project manager with extensive experience directing teams in support of corporate goals and objectives. Her broad financial and operational portfolio includes investor relations, valuation and due diligence, financial and operational integration, capital structure and debt management, and capital expenditure management. Banducci is a graduate of California State University, Bakersfield.

It is imperative for Howards to continue to strengthen our infrastructure, as we grow our Experience Centers and R.A.R.E. beyond our Southern California base, said Riddle. Joy and Daryl bring tremendous experience and knowledge to Howards. Their hirings introduce new perspectives and skills that will aid in our ongoing efforts to expand our geographic and demographic reach, and to take Howards to the next level.

In addition to Banduccis appointment, Howards welcomes Daryl Massy, longtime merchandising professional. Massy grew up in the major appliance industry, spending more than 20 years with hhgregg. During his time with the firm, he worked his way up from sales consultant to VP of Merchandising for Appliances. As VP of Merchandising, he led a team to over $1 billion in appliance department sales. Massy has a substantial background in driving revenue and profitability, marketing products, managing sales and inventory budgets, P&L management, and merchandising.

Howards is poised to more than double its share of the distinguished and demanding Southern California market, adds Riddle. Now, more than ever, we need visionary leaders to help us achieve our bold and dynamic goals. Joy and Daryl are going to help guide our team as we appeal to a broader audience, allowing Howards to grow across the western U.S.

In addition to the growth of its leadership team, Howards continues its aggressive, strategic expansion throughout Southern California. Howards launched its West Los Angeles location on LA Brea and Willoughby in April and looks forward to the grand opening of its Huntington Beach, Tustin, Agoura Hills, Murietta, and Vista Experience Centers later this year. The retailer possesses large showrooms throughout Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties.

For more information about Howards, please visit howards.com.

ABOUT HOWARDSHowards is Southern Californias premier independent appliance retailer, committed to the customer experience. Through the RARE (Revolutionizing the Appliance Retail Experience) customer service initiative, Howards has revolutionized the traditional sales model, placing the customer at its center and guaranteeing a friction-free shopping experience. The introduction of the Experience Center concept gives customers a personalized and interactive shopping alternative with immersive demonstration and display centers designed to encourage informed purchasing.

There are currently 15 Southern California Howards locations throughout Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties in the companys portfolio, with plans to expand throughout the Western U.S., focusing on reshaping the retail experience. For more information, visit howards.com or connect on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sabrina Suarez714-573-0899 x227[email protected]

Source: Howard's
MADRID and MARLTON, N.J., May 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Impulse Dynamics, a global medical device company dedicated to improving the lives of people with heart failure (HF), announced today a late-breaking presentation of results from the CCM-HFpEF Piloty Study, which is the largest clinical trial to date studying the effects of the companys proprietary CCM therapy to treat HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The results presented  including a substantial 18 point improvement in the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) quality of life score  indicate that, for patients with heart failure and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 50%, CCM therapy not only offered meaningful improvement in quality of life but also substantially decreased hospitalizations versus the patients experience prior to the Optimizer implant. The results were presented at the European Society of Cardiologys Heart Failure 2022 Congress.

Patients with HFpEF suffer from debilitating symptoms and have very few therapeutic options. This patient population is a similar size as the one with reduced ejection fraction and has been shown to have similar struggles with quality of life, hospitalizations, and mortality.

Cecilia Linde, MD, Professor and Consultant in Cardiology at the Heart and Vascular Theme of Karolinska University Hospital and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, who was the co-principal investigator for this investigation, said, The CCM-HFpEF Pilot Study was conducted to explore the hypothesis that CCM therapy might benefit patients with HFpEF. Our hypothesis was based on evidence of greater benefits in CCM HFrEF studies in those with higher LVEF range and from case reports of HFpEF patients. In our CCM-HFpEF-Pilot Study, we found significant benefits from CCM therapy in patients with preserved LVEF, supporting prior findings. I look forward to following the progress of the recently begun pivotal AIM HIGHer trial to continue this journey further.

Dr. Ishu Rao, Medical Director for Impulse Dynamics, welcomed these results because they confirm the potential for positive results in the companys recently initiated AIM HIGHer trial. We are also excited to announce that enrollment is well underway for this landmark IDE-approved, multicenter, randomized, and blinded pivotal trial designed not only to confirm Dr. Lindes groundbreaking work presented today but to go further yet by providing the first long term morbidity and mortality results for a modern Optimizer CCM device. While Dr. Linde specifically studied patients with EFs 50%, in AIM HIGHer, we are examining the efficacy of CCM therapy in 1,500 patients with EFs between 40% and 60%. This represents a large cohort of patients who currently have minimal treatment options and are clamoring for help. If AIM HIGHer's results are consistent with Dr. Lindes findings, we may finally begin to close the significant gap in care that exists for millions of patients afflicted with HF and higher EF.

HF affects more than 64 million people worldwide and leads to dramatic declines in a patients quality of life. Patients are often classified by a measure of cardiac function known as the ejection fraction (EF), which describes the percentage of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each heartbeat. CCM therapy is currently indicated in Europe for patients that have an EF below 50% and has been proven to reduce hospitalizations. However, HF patients with higher EF have had few therapeutic options thus far to alleviate their symptoms and treat their disease.

The purpose of the AIM HIGHer trial  the largest randomized, sham-controlled, device-based interventional heart failure trial  is to further assess the potential of CCM to improve performance and reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality for these patients. CCM therapy for HFpEF has already received the FDAs breakthrough device designation. The Breakthrough Devices Program is a voluntary program for certain medical devices that provide more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases or conditions. The goal of the Breakthrough Devices Program is to provide patients and health care providers with timely access to these medical devices by speeding up their development, assessment, and review while preserving the statutory standards consistent with the Agency's mission to protect and promote public health.

The Optimizer Smart Mini delivers CCM therapy which consists of precisely timed electrical pulses sent to the heart. These signals are designed to improve the hearts ability to function properly, allowing more oxygen-rich blood to be pushed out through the body.

About Impulse Dynamics

Impulse Dynamics, based in Marlton, NJ, is dedicated to helping healthcare providers enhance the lives of people with heart failure by transforming how the condition is treated. The company has pioneered CCM therapy, which is delivered by the companys Optimizer Smart Mini, an FDA-approved treatment verified to improve the quality of life for certain heart failure patients. CCM therapy is a safe, effective, and minimally invasive treatment option for many heart failure patients who otherwise have few effective options available to them. To learn more, visit www.ImpulseDynamics.com, or follow the company on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as may, will, should, expect, plan, anticipate, could, intend, target, project, contemplate, believe, estimate, predict, potential or continue or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning: potential benefits of CCM therapy and the ability for CCM therapy and our products to fill a significant unmet medical need for patients with heart failure; and the short-term and long-term benefits of the Optimizer Smart Mini and CCM therapy in patients with heart failure, as well as to the physicians treating those patients. These forward-looking statements are based on managements current expectations and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Other important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contemplated in this press release include, without limitation: the Companys future research and development costs, capital requirements and the Companys needs for additional financing; commercial success and market acceptance of CCM therapy; the Companys ability to achieve and maintain adequate levels of coverage or reimbursement for Optimizer Smart and Optimizer Smart Mini systems or any future products the Company may seek to commercialize; competitive companies and technologies in the industry; the Companys ability to expand its indications and develop and commercialize additional products and enhancements to its current products; the Companys business model and strategic plans for its products, technologies and business, including its implementation thereof; the Companys ability to expand, manage and maintain its direct sales and marketing organization; the Companys ability to commercialize or obtain regulatory approvals for CCM therapy and its products, or the effect of delays in commercializing or obtaining regulatory approvals; FDA or other U.S. or foreign regulatory actions affecting us or the healthcare industry generally, including healthcare reform measures in the United States and international markets; the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals; and the Companys ability to establish and maintain intellectual property protection for CCM therapy and products or avoid claims of infringement. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements and expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Companys views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

###

Source: Impulse Dynamics
TORONTO, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mandalay Resources Corporation ("Mandalay" or the "Company") (TSX: MND, OTCQB: MNDJF) is pleased to announce the results of its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the Meeting) held today virtually. All the resolutions presented at the Meeting were approved by the shareholders, with the votes cast by proxy representing 67.63% of the total shares outstanding as of the record date.

Election of Directors

The number of directors was fixed at seven members and each of the seven nominees listed in the Companys Management Information Circular dated April 14, 2022, were re-elected to the Companys Board of Directors. Abraham Jonker remains the lead independent director and Bradford Mills continues as Chair. Results of the votes cast by proxy are set out below.

Resolution Votes Cast by Proxy For % For Votes Cast by Proxy Withheld % Withheld Bradford A. Mills 61,552,120 99.953 29,193 0.047 Abraham Jonker 61,551,313 99.951 30,000 0.049 Amy Freedman 61,547,538 99.945 33,775 0.055 Dominic Duffy 61,552,678 99.954 28,635 0.046 Julie Galloway 61,546,238 99.943 35,075 0.057 Robert Doyle 61,548,120 99.946 33,193 0.054 Terrell Ackerman 61,552,080 99.953 29,233 0.047

Appointment of Auditors

Ernst & Young LLP was re-appointed as the auditor of the Company to hold office until the close of the next Annual Meeting of the Shareholders, or until their successor is otherwise appointed, and the directors were authorized to fix the auditors remuneration. Results of the votes cast by proxy are set out below.

Resolution Votes Cast by Proxy For % For Votes Cast by Proxy Withheld % Withheld Appointment of Auditors 62,336,857 99.992 5,284 0.008

For Further Information:

Dominic DuffyPresident and Chief Executive Officer

Edison NguyenDirector, Business Valuations and Investor Relations

Contact:647.260.1566 ext. 1

About Mandalay Resources Corporation:

Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia (Costerfield gold-antimony mine) and Sweden (Bjorkdal gold mine). The Company is focused on growing its production and reducing costs to generate significant positive cashflow. Mandalay is committed to operating safely and in an environmentally responsible manner, while developing a high level of community and employee engagement.

Mandalays mission is to create shareholder value through the profitable operation and continuing the regional exploration program, at both its Costerfield and Bjorkdal mines. Currently, the Companys main objectives are to continue mining the high-grade Youle vein at Costerfield, bring online the deeper Shepherd veins, both of which will continue to supply high-grade ore to the processing plant, and to extend Youle Mineral Reserves. At Bjorkdal, the Company will aim to increase production from the Aurora zone and other higher-grade areas in the coming years, in order to maximize profit margins from the mine.

Source: Mandalay Resources Corporation
New York, U.S.A., May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez Perez-Castejon, will join UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the UN Global Compact, Sanda Ojiambo, CEOs of major corporations and other leaders from the United Nations, governments, civil society and UN Global Compact Local Networks to take stock of business progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

WHAT: United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit 2022WHEN: 12 June 2022WHERE: Hybrid Summit in person and online (registration details below)

Under the theme The World We Want, this year's 24-hour Leaders Summit on 12 June will take a deep dive on collective and individual evaluation of the sustainability journey from addressing global themes and trends, to the resources and tools needed to accelerate progress in business.

More than two dozen CEOs and business leaders will speak including Jon Abrahamsson Ring, Chief Executive Officer, Inter IKEA Group; Silvia Lagnado, Chief Sustainable Growth Officer, Natura &Co; Mark Kaye, Chief Financial Officer, Moodys Corporation; Esther An, Chief Sustainability Officer, City Developments Limited; Azzahraa Annuar, Director of Governance, Risk & Compliance, edotco Group; Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, Schneider Electric; Roy Bagattani, Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, Woolworths Holdings Limited; Kelvine Baggett, Chief Impact Officer, McKesson; Luz Elena Barragan Bravo, Director of Social Impact, CEMEX, Mexico; Karen Basiye, Director Sustainable Business and Social Impact, Safaricom; Conny Braams, Chief Digital and Commercial Officer, Unilever; Andrii Bulakh, Vice-President, Deputy CEO People, MHP; Edison Carlos, Sustainability Director, Aegea; Koushik Chatterjee, Executive Director and CFO, Tata Steel; Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, International Trade Centre; Alberto de Paoli, CFO, Enel; Scott Mather, CIO, PIMCO; Cherie Nursalim, Vice Chairman, Giti Group; Ibrahim Ozgur Yildirim, CEO, Kordsa; Senthilnathan Shanmugam, Group Chief Executive Officer, EFL Global; Marjorie Yang, Chair, Esquel Group, Zhang Yue, Chair and President, BROAD Group; Jan Sun, Chief Executive Officer, Trip.com Group; Maissam El Kouche, Sustainability Manager, Majid Al Futtaim-Holding; Margareth Goldenberg, CEO, Goldenberg Diversidade and Khalila Sandrah Mbowe, Chief Executive Officer, Unleashed Africa Ventures.

Other confirmed speakers include Linda Thomas-Greenfield, United States Ambassador to the United Nations; Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations; Ambassador Alexander Marschik, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations; Roberto Suarez Santos, Secretary-General of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE); John W.H. Denton, Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce; Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation; Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International; Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization; Achim Steiner, Administrator, UN Development Programme; Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme; Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action; Mary Awad Menassa, Senior Climate Action Specialist and Coordinator of UNFCCC and Adrian Pena, Minister of Environment, Uruguay.

Over 24 hours of continuous virtual programming, speakers and guests from 69 Global Compact Local Networks will discuss responsible business practices through the lens of pressing issues such as humanitarian responses to the war in Ukraine; the state of sustainability; credible climate action; reducing inequalities through collective action; transforming governance; womens leadership in decision-making; accelerating a sustainable, inclusive and just transition and bringing innovative sustainable investment instruments to market.

UN Global Compact Local Network in Thailand will host, in partnership with the UN Country Team in Thailand and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), a one-day in-person forum to inform, inspire and catalyze local and regional solutions for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement in the ASEAN region. The event will draw attendees from Global Compact Networks in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.

The Leaders Summit will also include the in-person opening of Stockholm+50 on 2 June which brings the global environmental community together in the Swedish capital for a major international environmental meeting five decades after the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. The event will provide leaders with an opportunity to draw on 50 years of multilateral environmental action to achieve the bold and urgent action needed to secure a better future on a healthy planet.

Journalists are invited to attend. This years Leaders Summit media partners are ESG News and China Business Network which will provide live updates and editorial coverage.

Media Accreditation and inquiries:

For the full programme and to register to attend please visithttps://events.unglobalcompact.org/leaderssummit22Please contact Alex Gee [email protected]

Source: United Nations Global Compact
Calgary, Alberta, Canada , May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

NOVA Chemicals Corporation, 1000 Seventh Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 5L5

www.novachemicals.com | 403.750.3600 tel | 403.269.7410 fax

NOVA Chemicals Corporation (NOVA Chemicals) today announced the appointment of Carol Eicher to its Board of Directors.

Ms. Eichers appointment is effective May 1, and expands the NOVA Chemicals board to 11 directors, including four independent directors. She will be a member of the audit committee and the strategy & sustainability committee.

We are delighted to have Carol join the NOVA Chemicals board, said Chairman Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi. Carols deep operational experience, depth of knowledge in product development and innovation, and passion for sustainability align with NOVAs most critical priorities. We look forward to her active engagement and contributions as we embark in our long-term sustainable growth journey.

Carol is the ideal addition to our board. Her industry insights and guidance will be a tremendous asset as we accelerate our ambitions to achieve a low-carbon, zero plastic waste future, stated Luis Sierra, President & CEO.

Ms. Eicher has more than 30 years of experience in the chemicals industry, serving in senior leadership positions with Innocor, Inc., The Dow Chemical Company, Rohm and Haas Company, Ashland Chemical Company and DuPont. She is currently on the Board of Directors at Arconic, Tennant Company, and Advanced Emissions Solutions.

Ms. Eicher serves on the board of Opera Philadelphia, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fairmount Park Conservancy and as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of York College of Pennsylvania.

To view the full Board, visit Board of Directors | NOVA Chemicals.

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About NOVA Chemicals CorporationNOVA Chemicals is guided by a singular purpose to shape a world where the plastic products vital to our health and happiness are better tomorrow than they are today. We have a bold ambition to create a plastics circular economy and work collaboratively toward a low carbon, zero plastic waste future. NOVA Chemicals portfolio of virgin and recycled resins, along with best-in-class technical expertise, is what sets us apart; our customers use our products to create easy-to-recycle and recycled content films, packaging, and products. Our employees work to ensure health, safety, security, and environmental stewardship through our commitment to Sustainability and Responsible Care.

NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has 2,400 employees worldwide and is wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Learn more at www.novachem.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

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For further information, please contact:

Media RelationsJennifer NanzDirector, Corporate Communicationse-mail: [email protected]

Investor Relations Patty MasryLeader, Financial Reporting & Investor Relations e-mail: [email protected]

NOVA Chemicals logo is a registered trademark of NOVA Brands Ltd.; authorized use.Responsible Care is a registered trademark of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada.

Source: NOVA Chemicals Corporation
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Willie's Grill & Icehouse is Texas' summer headquarters: The Texas-grown brand will unveil a retro-fitted full bar at its popular New Braunfels location with the Official Float Season Kick-Off Party on Saturday, May 28, 2022, with ice-cold drink specials, live music from 4 to 8 p.m., and Willie's classic scratch-made comfort food. The Willie's New Braunfels bar will feature eight new signature cocktails and jaw-dropping summer offers.

Willie's New Braunfels is located at 2966 Coldsprings Drive, New Braunfels, TX 78130. The bar embraces the brand's beloved Texas icehouse roots, stretching indoors to out with plenty of room for watching the big game on multiple big screens, catching up with friends, or lounging while the kids play in Willie's expansive outdoor space.

Willie's New Braunfels will debut its bar with Texas-sized fanfare. Eight new signature cocktails will be introduced, many of which rely on Texas-distilled spirits. Cocktails and frozen specialties include Arnie's Texas Tea, a spiked Arnold Palmer; the Cat 5 Hurricane; the Hill Country Mule, featuring Rebecca Creek Whiskey; the Icehouse Old Fashioned, made with Balcones Texas Whisky; Bubba's Bloody Mary; the I-10 Ranch Water; the Spicy Willie Rita; the Texas Rose, with Tito's Handmade Vodka; Gin & Juice, with Still Austin Gin; El Jefe, Willie's boss rita; Willie's signature Frozen Jack & Coke; the Top Shelf Rita; the Big Willie; the Voodoo Daddy; the Beerita; and Willie's House Rita, served frozen or on the rocks in regular, strawberry, or swirled flavors.

Willie's will also introduce its Summer Triple Play: $3 Frozen Ritas (regular and strawberry), $3 Small Draft Beers, and $3 Frozen Jack & Cokes. Willie's is also highlighting their premium to-go options with $3 To-Go Frozen Drinks and Half-Price Half Gallon and Gallon To-Go Ritas.

Also on tap: Willie's Fire & Icehouse, an original German-style lager created for Willie's. Twenty-five cents of every Fire & Icehouse beer sold will go directly to the New Braunfels Fire Department.

Willie's New Braunfels is open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

IMAGES COURTESY OF WILLIE'S:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/e5a1fwkcck46pa68dor4w/h?dl=0&rlkey=skj8tr5il51qsrh92vao4y70i

ABOUT WILLIE'S GRILL & ICEHOUSE

At Willie's Grill & Icehouse, everyone belongs. Started in 1993 as a humble burger joint in Houston, Texas, Willie's has grown into a Texas institution with 19 locations statewide, beloved by millions as the family's favorite place to unwind. At Willie's, arcade games await the kids and young at heart, while wide-open giant garage doors reveal ample patio spaces with sandboxes and plenty of room to play and relax. Juicy burgers piled high with fixings anchor the gargantuan menu of delicious Texas comfort food, promising something for everybody. For locations, hours, menus, and more, visit www.williesgrillandicehouse.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:Rachel Austin, 713-305-0419[email protected]

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Source: Willie's Grill & Icehouse
SALT LAKE CITY, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The College Innovation Network (CIN), an initiative spearheaded by WGU Labs, today published the results of its 2022 CIN EdTech Faculty Survey, aimed at understanding facultys experiences with education technology (EdTech). Drawing on the surveys insights, the report provides actionable strategies that administrators and EdTech leaders can adopt to help faculty get the most out of EdTech and ultimately improve the student experience.

The published report, Faculty as EdTech Innovators: Moving Beyond Stereotypes to Promote Institutional Change, indicates that, contrary to popular belief, most faculty arent resistant to EdTech. In fact, they feel confident in their ability to adapt to it. The challenge, according to survey respondents, is that faculty need more time, resources, and input to evaluate and use EdTech effectively.

Survey participants included 402 faculty members across eight teaching-focused institutions: Arizona Western College, Central Ohio Technical College, Northern Virginia Community College, Cuyahoga Community College, Bennett College, California University of Pennsylvania, Loyola University New Orleans, and Rio Salado College.

Conducted in November 2021, the multi-institution survey contained 51 items to better understand the faculty experience with EdTech and teaching. Specifically, the survey asked about their teaching approach, EdTech decision making, EdTech implementation and support, and perspectives. Among the findings:

41% of faculty identify as EdTech leaders and 48% identify as enthusiastic followers after seeing successful use cases.

30% of faculty are dissatisfied with the time they have to learn how to use and implement new EdTech and 15% report they do not receive effective EdTech training.

More than 80% of faculty report that accessibility for students with disabilities and for underserved students is very or extremely important when choosing EdTech products.

The transition to tech-enabled teaching hasnt always been smooth, yet its encouraging to see that hasnt deterred faculty from embracing new technology, said the reports author, Dr. Nicole Barbaro. Without faculty support for technology initiatives in the classroom, technology transformation initiatives across the university can fail. We need to ensure were seeing faculty as partners in EdTech, not as barriers.

Dr. Omid Fotuhi, Director of Learning Innovation at WGU Labs, added, Our results give faculty a voicesomething we must also do when procuring and implementing EdTech on campus. Its clear that the ways in which universities make EdTech decisions do not fully consider the time, resources, and training faculty need for successful implementation in their courses. If our ultimate goal is to improve student learning experiences with tech, we must make sure were fully supporting our faculty, too."

About the College Innovation Network

The College Innovation Network (CIN) was launched in 2020 by WGU LabsWestern Governors Universitys research and development hubwith support from the Charles Koch Foundation. CIN is a network of higher education institutions committed to addressing the core challenge of promoting belonging and engagement in the modern higher education environment. CIN leverages technology to build highly engaged learning communities from enrollment through graduation, and beyond. CIN supports educational institutions by identifying areas of need, implementing effective education technology for students, and demonstrating impact through research. Join us as we build learning communities where all students belong. Learn more at wgulabs.org/cin.

About the CIN EdTech Survey Series

CIN is in a unique position to learn about the student and faculty experience with EdTech by leveraging the diversity of institutions within the Network. The CIN EdTech Survey Series is a biannual survey administered across the Network with the goal of generating valuable insights to help institutions understand how faculty and students experience EdTech. These insights can be applied to improve faculty and student experiences, and ultimately bolster the impact of EdTech across the sector.

Christina Ross Western Governors University 805-453-6771 [email protected]

Source: Western Governors University
UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill., May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ivans today announced a new partnership with Tarmika, a single-entry solution designed to streamline the commercial lines quoting process, to connect to the Ivans Distribution Platform, the industrys platform for commercial lines marketing and sales distribution. Connecting to the platform will enable Tarmika to expand access to carriers and MGAs for its agency customers, providing more coverage options for policyholders.

Our goal is to help our agents find the best coverage for their customers, said Raghav Tanna, chief executive officer, Tarmika. Our partnership with Ivans will give our customers access to more products so they can provide the best coverage for their clients specific risks.

Ivans Distribution Platform improves the entire commercial lines policy lifecycle. Unlike point solutions available in the market, the Ivans solution supports both straight-through processing as well as more complex risks that require an underwriters attention. By using Ask Kodiak to identify market appetite as part of the process, the platform increases efficiencies and submission volume and can lower declination rates.

Agencies want to work in one place to manage their commercial lines quoting, not multiple independent applications and portals, while carriers want to minimize the amount of partners they need to connect with for custom development, said Reid Holzworth, chief executive officer, Ivans. We are excited to welcome Tarmika to the Ivans Distribution Platform to deliver its agencies a single access point to the right products and provide our carrier customers expanded market reach.

The Ivans logos are trademarks of Applied Systems, Inc., registered in the U.S.

About Ivans

Ivans is where insurance carriers, agents, and MGAs come together to grow their businesses. Every day, our 34,000 agents and 450 carrier partners plug into technology that empowers them to better determine appetite and eligibility, swiftly produce quotes, get accurate claims and commission updates, automatically communicate policy data, and connect to one another to drive new business. With easier ways to get the days work done, insurance professionals can open the door to more revenue without letting complexity in behind it.

Lauren Malcolm Ivans 678-438-5093 [email protected]

Source: Ivans
CALGARY, Alberta, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Biosenta Inc. (the Company or Biosenta) (CSE: ZRO) is developing environmentally friendly biocidal particles that are successfully tested against infectious bacteria growing on common surfaces. The particles are developed in collaboration with Dr. Maen Huseins laboratory, University of Calgary, and tested in Dr. Ian Lewiss laboratory, University of Calgary. Preliminary results showed that inclusion of the particles into cement provides effective biocidal attributes.

It is critical to tune the morphology of the particles for optimum performance, said Dr. Husein.

We are thrilled about our collaboration with Biosenta and are excited about the new data that is emerging from our collaboration, said Dr. Lewis.

Mass production of the particles is feasible, said Noora, a PhD student working on developing the particles.

The biocidal efficacy of the particles will be tested against Corona virus, including COVID 19, in the near future, said Dr. Ashani, a postdoctoral fellow testing the biocidal efficacy of the particles.

The findings are very encouraging and would have a profound impact in the construction industry because of the aniti-microbial properties of the particles. We are pleased to see the outcome of the research by University of Calgary, which proves the science behind Biosenta that has been years in the making, said Am Gill, CEO of Biosenta.

Further research will be conducted this summer on multiple construction surfaces such drywall, paint, plastic, glass carpet etc. Research funds from Biosenta are matched by Mitacs Accelerate funding that builds partnerships between academia, industry, and the world.

About Biosenta Inc

Biosenta Inc. develops and manufactures a range of chemical compounds for household and industrial applications using advanced encapsulated nanotechnology.

Disclaimer

The CSE has in no way passed upon the contents of this news release and further, has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (forward-looking statements), including forward-looking statements relating the completion of the Transaction. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. If any such risks actually occur, they could impact the potential for discussion, agreement or completion of the Transaction and/or materially adversely affect the Companys business, financial condition or results of operations. In that case, the trading price of the Companys common shares could decline, perhaps materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purposes of providing information about managements current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in the Companys expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law.

For Enquiries, please contact

Am Gill, President and CEO Ph. (403) 830-7667 [email protected]

Source: Biosenta Inc
Zen Leaf North Phoenix - Veranos flagship Arizona location and the Companys largest dispensary in the state - will celebrate its grand opening throughout Memorial Day weekend at its new home on 12401 North Cave Creek Road

Veranos Local Joint dispensary, located at 4201 E University Drive in Phoenix, will also share in the weekend celebration by officially rebranding to reflect the Companys signature Zen Leaf dispensary brand name

Zen Leaf North Phoenix will hold a ceremonial Thursday morning ribbon cutting at 7:30 a.m., followed by Fridays grand opening, weekend-long celebration featuring live DJs, food trucks and vendors, and a 17-foot-long Zen Leaf blimp flying overhead

All Zen Leaf dispensaries statewide will participate in the Memorial Day weekend-long festivities by offering exciting product specials and giving away 100 gift bags per store, per day, between Friday and Sunday that feature an assortment of free cannabis products and Verano and Zen Leaf branded accessories

CHICAGO, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) (Verano or the Company), a leading multi-state cannabis company, today announced the grand opening of the Companys largest dispensary in Arizona, Zen Leaf North Phoenix, located at 12401 North Cave Creek Road on Friday, May 27th at 8 a.m. local time.

Zen Leaf North Phoenix relocated to its new, much larger home on a busy commercial stretch situated between numerous area shopping malls and businesses. While guests can expect the same customer-centric hospitality when visiting the new Zen Leaf North Phoenix location, they will be greeted by enhanced amenities including a larger store space, additional registers and more customer parking, in addition to the Companys suite of premium cannabis products and branded merchandise offerings.

To celebrate the opening of Zen Leaf North Phoenix, Veranos five additional Arizona Zen Leaf locations in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, and two Phoenix dispensaries on W. Dunlap and E. University Drive, will each give away 100 gift bags per store, per day, throughout Memorial Day weekend (Friday  Sunday). Additionally, all Zen Leaf dispensaries will feature specials and promotions over the holiday weekend across a number of product categories to thank Arizona customers and celebrate the opening of the largest Zen Leaf in the Grand Canyon state.

Commemorating the opening of Zen Leaf North Phoenix is a watershed moment for Verano, and Im tremendously proud of our team for their hard work and vision in bringing this flagship Arizona dispensary to life, said George Archos, Verano Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Were thankful for our valued guests and thrilled to welcome everyone at Zen Leaf North Phoenix, our largest Arizona dispensary, and across all of our six Zen Leaf dispensaries statewide throughout Memorial Day weekend.

Zen Leaf dispensaries feature online menus for effortless browsing of their extensive product selection, including the Companys signature Verano Reserve flower, along with edibles, pre-rolls, tinctures, topicals, extracts, vapes and more. For additional convenience, customers can choose to order ahead at zenleafdispensaries.com for express in-store pickup, or through the Zen Leaf mobile application that is available in the Google Play and Apple App stores.

**Media Alert: Photos (credit Verano/Zen Leaf): Zen Leaf N. Phoenix (Cave Creek)Onsite Attendance and Requests: please contact Steve Mazeika, Director of Communications, [email protected], 312-348-4430**About Verano

Verano is a leading, vertically integrated, multi-state cannabis operator in the U.S., devoted to the ongoing improvement of communal wellness by providing responsible access to regulated cannabis products. With a mission to address vital health and wellness needs, Verano produces a comprehensive suite of premium, innovative cannabis products sold under its trusted portfolio of consumer brands, including Verano, Avexia, Encore, and MUV. Veranos portfolio encompasses 15 U.S. states, with active operations in 13, including 12 production facilities comprising over 1,000,000 square feet of cultivation capacity. Verano designs, builds, and operates dispensaries under retail brands including Zen Leaf and MUV, delivering a superior cannabis shopping experience in both medical and adult-use markets. Learn more at www.verano.com.

Contacts:

MediaVeranoSteve MazeikaDirector, Communications[email protected]312-348-4430

InvestorsVeranoJulianna Paterra, CFADirector, Investor Relations[email protected]

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Companys beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", future, "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements or information with respect to the Companys operations. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein, including, without limitation, the risk factors discussed in the Company's publicly available filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except as may be required in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice regarding forward-looking information and statements.

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Source: Verano Holdings Corp.
GUANGZHOU, China and SHANGHAI, China, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WeRide, a global leading Level 4 autonomous driving technology company, announced the strategic investment received from Bosch, one of the leading automotive suppliers. The two parties have signed a strategic cooperation agreement and will jointly develop autonomous driving (AD) software. This cooperation will accelerate the process of developing Bosch Chinas advanced driving solution, moving SAE Level 2-3 AD towards mass production.

Bosch and WeRide representatives at the strategic partnership signing ceremony: Executive Vice-President of Bosch China Dr. David Xu (left 2), WeRide Co-founder & CTO Dr. Yan Li (right 2), President of Bosch Cross-Domain Computing Solutions China Mr. Yin Li (left 1) and WeRide COO Mr. Li Zhang (right 1)

WeRide ONE is a set of universal software that provides a high level of flexibility to achieve autonomous driving capabilities from SAE Level 2 to 4. Based on WeRide ONE and the advanced driving solution from Bosch China, the two parties will jointly develop data-driven intelligent driving software to provide OEM customers in the Chinese market with faster and better service and deliver SAE Level 2-3 advanced intelligent driving experiences covering various scenarios such as urban, highway, and elevated roads in China earlier.

Developed by Bosch Cross-Domain Computing Solutions China, the advanced driving solution is an intelligent driving system solution tailored for the Chinese market which comprises key technical elements such as centralized computing platforms, sensors, software applications, and cloud services. It has been designed with a future-proof scalable architecture. The solution is fully equipped with system-level safety designs encompassing functional safety, cyber security, and safety of the intended functionality, and sets out rigorous requirements for both software and hardware development processes, as well as the verification and release of systems. Adhering to the long-term development strategy of Local for Local, Bosch China continues to invest and innovate locally in key technical areas of automotive electronics and software. Together with WeRide, Bosch is set to make every intelligent driving powered by Bosch Chinas advanced driving solution safer and more trustworthy.

WeRides AD technology has been verified with over 11 million kilometers of rigorous AD test drive on open roads. WeRides innovative Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving fleets comprise Robotaxi, Mini Robobus, Robovan and Robo Street Sweeper. The four products are tested and operated day and night, traveling everywhere from central business districts (CBDs) to urban villages, from tunnels to highways, and in sunny, rainy, and snowy weather conditions. Through years of R&D and application of L4 AD technology, WeRide is now ready to develop and apply L2 and above AD technology in this new strategic cooperation. The highly flexible use of WeRide ONE, the universal software in WeRides AD solutions will enable the vehicles to achieve autonomous driving from L2 to L4.

With the increased adoption of intelligent driving technologies in new vehicles, advanced driving solutions are shaping up to be the next blue ocean for the industry. Bosch has built deep know-how in engineering R&D and technical services in this field, along with its deep-rooted local presence and experience in volume production. WeRide brings to the table its innovative capabilities in autonomous driving technology R&D, product innovation, and operation services. The cooperation between the two parties is set to accelerate the volume production of advanced intelligent driving solutions, and deliver a safer, more comfortable, and smarter driving experience in China, said Li Yin, the president of Bosch Cross-Domain Computing Solutions, China.

Tony Han, founder and CEO of WeRide, said: WeRide is always devoted to developing safe, cutting-edge and commercially viable autonomous driving solutions with the aim of empowering upstream and downstream ecosystems of the industry. Backed by over a century of continuous innovation, Bosch is a global leader in automotive technologies with profound expertise, market insight, and invaluable customer relations. WeRide and Bosch are both well positioned in this joint effort to drive the development and adoption of advanced intelligent driving technologies in China while lead the world in creating the best intelligent driving products.

Developing from L4 autonomous driving mobility to logistics and environmental services market, and evolving further into advanced driving solutions, WeRide will continue to advance towards mass production and commercialization of autonomous driving with strategic partners like Bosch in the future.

About BoschMobility Solutions is the largest Bosch Group business sector. It generated sales of 45.3 billion euros in 2021, and thus contributed 58 percent of total sales from operations. This makes the Bosch Group one of the leading automotive suppliers. The Mobility Solutions business sector pursues a vision of mobility that is safe, sustainable, and exciting, and combines the groups expertise in the domains of personalization, automation, electrification, and connectivity. For its customers, the outcome is integrated mobility solutions. The business sectors main areas of activity are injection technology and powertrain peripherals for internal-combustion engines, diverse solutions for powertrain electrification, vehicle safety systems, driver-assistance and automated functions, technology for user-friendly infotainment as well as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, repair-shop concepts, and technology and services for the automotive aftermarket. Bosch is synonymous with important automotive innovations, such as electronic engine management, the ESP anti-skid system, and common-rail diesel technology.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 402,600 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2021). The company generated sales of 78.7 billion euros in 2021. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Groups strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is Invented for life. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Boschs global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. With its more than 400 locations worldwide, the Bosch Group has been carbon neutral since the first quarter of 2020. The basis for the companys future growth is its innovative strength. At 128 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 76,100 associates in research and development, of which more than 38,000 are software engineers.

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, www.twitter.com/BoschPress.

About WeRide WeRide is a leading, commercial-stage global company that develops Level 4 autonomous driving technologies. WeRide aims to develop safe and reliable driverless solutions to make mobility and transportation safer, more affordable and accessible. WeRide is conducting autonomous driving R&D, tests and operations in over 15 cities around the world.

As the pioneer leader in autonomous technologies and services, WeRide has stepped up to the commercial stage in operations. WeRide offers an all-rounded product mix of Robotaxi, Mini Robobus, Robovan, Robo Street Sweeper and Advanced Driving Solution, providing smart services in online ride-hailing, on-demand transport, urban logistics, environmental services and advanced driving solution.

Established in 2017, WeRide is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, and has expanded its R&D and operation centers to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Anqing, as well as San Francisco in the US. WeRide has formed strategic partnerships with top-tier global OEMs and Tier 1 including Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, Yutong Group, GAC Group, Bosch, etc.

For more information, please visit: Website: www.weride.ai; Medium: https://werideai.medium.com/; twitter/LinkedIn/YouTube: WeRide.ai.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at:https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3472adb9-fc38-448f-b00f-ddc29ad1fbff

Media Inquiries: Bosch China Cross-Domain Computing Solutions Division: Jin Lu Phone: +86 (512) 6767 6660 Email: [email protected] Media Inquiries: Jinyan Ou Director of MKT & PR, WeRide [email protected] +86 13427500859

WeRide and Bosch enter into strategic partnership Bosch and WeRide representatives at the strategic partnership signing ceremony

Source: WeRide
West Columbia, SC, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a cooking challenge, designed to engage school students in creating and enjoying healthier eating habits, Chandler Dorn, a 5th grader at Lexington School District Two in West Columbia, South Carolina, was selected as the national winner of the 11th annual 2022 Sodexo Future Chefs Challenge. The theme of this years competition was a dish from students favorite book or movie made healthier. Dorn won this competition with her signature dish, Snow White and the Seven Layer Trifle. The COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on the 11th annual Sodexo Future Chefs Challenge in 2021, said Stephen Dunmore, CEO, Schools, Sodexo North America. This year it was exciting to be able to hold this challenge again, enabling students from across the country to show off their creativity and skills in culinary excellence. Congratulations to Chandler and our regional winners, making for a strong comeback of the Sodexo Future Chefs Challenge.Celebrating its 11th year, the Sodexo Future Chefs Challenge encourages healthier eating habits by actively involving students in good nutrition. This year, over 1,000 students from 85 school districts across 22 states participated in this years challenge. A panel of judges reviewed the recipes and evaluated them based on originality, healthy attributes, ease of preparation, kid-friendliness, and plate presentation. In addition to winning a tablet as well as a razor scooter and helmet, Dorns winning recipe will be featured in Sodexo elementary school menus in the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023. Regional winners include:

Sam Brown -- Bethany Public Schools, OK (Turkey Twisters)

Taylor Thurmond -- Cheektowaga Central School District, NY (Chicken & Broccoli Naan Pizza)

Miradi Ackler  Battle Ground School District, WA (Balsamic Bacon Grilled Cheese)

Stacie Biscamp  Spotsylvania County School District, VA (Huevos Verdes con Jamon)

About Sodexo North AmericaSodexo North America is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 55 countries. Sodexo provides quality, multichannel and flexible food experiences, but also designs attractive and inclusive workplaces and shared spaces, manages and maintains infrastructure in a safe and environmentally friendly way, offers personalized support for patients or students and even creates programs fostering employee engagement. The company employs 90,066 people at thousands of sites in all 50 U.S. states, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam, and indirectly supports tens of thousands of additional jobs through its annual purchases of $20B in goods and services from small to large businesses. Sodexo North America is committed to focusing on tangible everyday gestures and actions through its integrated services to create a better every day for everyone and build a better life for all.

Heidi Bullman Sodexo [email protected]

Source: Sodexo
West Columbia, SC, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a cooking challenge, designed to engage school students in creating and enjoying healthier eating habits, Chandler Dorn, a 5th grader at Lexington School District Two in West Columbia, South Carolina, was selected as the national winner of the 11th annual 2022 Sodexo Future Chefs Challenge. The theme of this years competition was a dish from students favorite book or movie made healthier. Dorn won this competition with her signature dish, Snow White and the Seven Layer Trifle.



The COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on the 11th annual Sodexo Future Chefs Challenge in 2021, said Stephen Dunmore, CEO, Schools, Sodexo North America. This year it was exciting to be able to hold this challenge again, enabling students from across the country to show off their creativity and skills in culinary excellence. Congratulations to Chandler and our regional winners, making for a strong comeback of the Sodexo Future Chefs Challenge.



Celebrating its 11th year, the Sodexo Future Chefs Challenge encourages healthier eating habits by actively involving students in good nutrition. This year, over 1,000 students from 85 school districts across 22 states participated in this years challenge. A panel of judges reviewed the recipes and evaluated them based on originality, healthy attributes, ease of preparation, kid-friendliness, and plate presentation. In addition to winning a tablet as well as a razor scooter and helmet, Dorns winning recipe will be featured in Sodexo elementary school menus in the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023.



Regional winners include:

Sam Brown -- Bethany Public Schools, OK (Turkey Twisters)

Taylor Thurmond -- Cheektowaga Central School District, NY (Chicken & Broccoli Naan Pizza)

Miradi Ackler  Battle Ground School District, WA (Balsamic Bacon Grilled Cheese)

Stacie Biscamp  Spotsylvania County School District, VA (Huevos Verdes con Jamon)



About Sodexo North America



Sodexo North America is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 55 countries. Sodexo provides quality, multichannel and flexible food experiences, but also designs attractive and inclusive workplaces and shared spaces, manages and maintains infrastructure in a safe and environmentally friendly way, offers personalized support for patients or students and even creates programs fostering employee engagement. The company employs 90,066 people at thousands of sites in all 50 U.S. states, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam, and indirectly supports tens of thousands of additional jobs through its annual purchases of $20B in goods and services from small to large businesses. Sodexo North America is committed to focusing on tangible everyday gestures and actions through its integrated services to create a better every day for everyone and build a better life for all.
New York, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Imagine a world where you make money while finding love

Yes, indeed!

Tindearn is the firstDate-to-Earn app that allowsyou to make money while meeting people. Read on to learn more about why Tindearn could be the best online dating app.

What is Tindearn, and how does it work?

Tindearn is a Web 3 app that uses blockchain technology to allow users to earn while dating online. SWIPE, MATCH, and EARN are three magic words that will get you much closer to financial freedom than any other.

When looking for a date, the app algorithm is designed to ensure you get the best possible partner based on two distinct scores: First, your staking, fixed by how much LIKE token you currently hold, and second, popularity, determined by how much love you get on the app.

The LIKE token is the official currency of Tindearn, and the higher your stake LIKE, the more likely you are to meet people of astounding popularity.How to date using the Tindearn app?To begin, download the Tindearn dating app from Google Play Store or the iPhone App Store. Without wasting any time, register and swipe until you get your match!

Up your game by uploading at least two photos on your profile and making that lasting impression.

How to get rewarded on Tindearn?

All in-app purchases on Tindearn are 100% redistributed to its users.

You can stake LIKE tokens to earn passive rewards in BNB and $LIKE. Tindearn collects a basic 2% sell fee(in BNB) on the LIKE token and BNB from Tindearn Plus and Gold (the 2 premium access of the app). All the BNB collected are 100% redistributed to users.

You can also easily send and receive awesome gifts when you meet your crush. So, you can earn $LIKE everytime you receive Gifts from other users.

Why do investors love Tindearn?

"Staking rewards'' are a way of returning value to users andinvestors. With Tindearn, early investors first benefit greatly from staking $LIKE, as more than 30% of the total $LIKE supply will be distributed to stakers.

Most crypto projects have tokenomics where investors and users can have a positive return on investment only if new users are entering the ecosystem. If the ecosystem doesnt grow, it collapses because of poor tokenomics design.

With Tindearn, the ecosystem is self-sustainable because there is income from Tindearn Plus and Tindearn Gold, the 2 premium access users can purchase.

Thats why Tindearn tokenomics are designed to stand the test of time, be self-sustainable and rewards early investors first.

How can I invest in Tindearn?

The best way besides using the app is to invest in theLIKE token Fairlaunch, which is to be hosted on Pinksale and starts at 25 May 2022, 14:00 UTC.

Company Name: Tindearn

Website: https://www.tindearn.com/

Whitepaper: https://whitepaper.tindearn.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tindearn

Telegram announcement channel: https://t.me/tindearn

Telegram group: https://t.me/tindearngroup

The information provided in this release is not investment advice, financial advice or trading advice. It is recommended that you practice due diligence (including consultation with a professional financial advisor before investing or trading securities and cryptocurrency).

Source: Tindearn
McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) is expected to triumph in its proxy fight with investor and activist Carl Icahn who accused the ...

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With increasing evidence suggesting that psychedelic-assisted therapy may be useful in the treatment of various mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, substance-abuse disorders and depression, the emphasis on mental health treatment has grown these last few years. This has been fueled by the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and the current war in Ukraine.

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is taking place this week in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. At the event, top financial and

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NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Silo Pharma Inc. (OTCQB: SILO) are available in the companys newsroom at https://ibn.fm/SILO

About PsychedelicNewsWire

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Chesapeake Gold Corp. (TSXV: CKG) (OTCQX: CHPGF) ("Chesapeake" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that at the 2022 Annual General Meeting ("AGM") held on May 25, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Chesapeake's shareholders voted in favour of all items of business. All director nominees were elected.

The Company's Stock Option Plan (the "Option Plan"), as amended and restated to comply with the TSX Venture Exchange's (the "TSX-V") new Policy 4.4 - Security Based Compensation, was also approved by a majority of the shareholders. The Option Plan is a "rolling 10%" stock option plan whereby the Company may issue, pursuant to options granted to eligible persons, up to maximum of 10% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company determined at the time of grant. As there are 67,366,866 common shares of the Company issued and outstanding as of today's date, a maximum of 6,736,686 common shares are issuable under the Option Plan. The Option Plan remains subject to final TSX-V approval.

A total of 29,237,196 common shares were represented at the AGM, being 43.40% of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares. The following is a tabulation of the votes submitted by proxy:

Director Nominees Votes For % of Votes Randy Buffington 27,895,150 99.89% Christian Falck 25,794,050 92.37% Doug Flegg 27,891,850 99.88% Lian Li 27,894,378 99.89% Alan Pangbourne 27,891,900 99.88% John Perston 27,891,978 99.88% P. Randy Reifel 27,846,695 99.72%

To appoint Grant Thornton LLP as new auditor of the Company 29,221,724 99.95%

To approve and confirm the Company's "rolling 10%" stock option plan, as amended and restated 27,426,247 98.21%

Following the AGM, Chesapeake re-appointed Randy Reifel as Chairman of the Board, Christian Falck as Audit Committee Chair and Lead Independent Director, and Lian Li as Compensation and Governance Committee Chair.

About Chesapeake

Chesapeake Gold Corp. is focused on the discovery, acquisition, and development of major gold-silver deposits in North and South America. Chesapeake's Metates project hosts one of the largest undeveloped gold-silver deposits in the Americas with a defined resource of over 20 million ounces of gold and 550 million ounces of silver (as per NI 43-101 Technical Report Preliminary Economic Assessment dated August 30, 2021 available on www.sedar.com).

Chesapeake also has an organic pipeline of satellite exploration properties strategically located near Metates. In addition, the Company owns approximately 70% of Gunpoint Exploration Ltd. which owns the Talapoosa gold project in Nevada.

For Further Information:

For more information on Chesapeake and its Metates Project, please visit our website at www.chesapeakegold.com or contact Alan Pangbourne at [email protected] or +1 778 731 1362.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125350
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Goldshore Resources Inc. (TSXV: GSHR ) (OTCQB: GSHRF) (FSE: 8X00) ("Goldshore" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that the Lakehead University's application for educational and public tri-party Alliance grant for its partnership with The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ("NSERC"); MITACS and Lakehead University has been granted in the amount of CA$ 83,750 for 2022 and CA$ 76,250 for 2023.

The Alliance grant encourages university researchers to collaborate with partner organizations (in this case Goldshore Resources), which can be from the private, public or not-for-profit sectors. These grants support research projects led by strong, complementary, collaborative teams that will generate new knowledge and accelerate the application of research results to create benefits for Canada.

Research supported by Alliance grants will:

generate new knowledge and/or technology to address complex challenges

create economic, social and/or environmental benefits

contribute to Canada's long-term competitiveness

support public policy

train new researchers in areas that are important to Canada and to the partner organizations

draw on diverse perspectives and skill sets to accelerate the translation and application of research results

Pete Flindell, VP Exploration for Goldshore Resources, said, "This study will investigate the volcanic and structural architecture, intrusive character, petrography, and alteration chemistry of our portion of the Shebandowan greenstone belt in the Wawa sub-province of Northern Ontario. The aim is to better constrain gold mineralization at Moss Lake and to develop vectors towards mineralization that we will use to grow our resource inventory."

Dr Pete Hollings, Professor of Geology and NOHFC IRC Chair in Mineral Exploration at Lakehead University commented: "The principal methods employed in this study will be fundamental geological mapping and logging, combined with traditional and state-of-the-art analytical techniques, which will characterize the structures, mineralization, and alteration system associated with mineralization. The research team will be trained to use modern digital field methods and high-quality microanalytical instruments, making them highly skilled assets for industry, academia, or government surveys, while generating valuable data sets that Goldshore can rapidly employ to aid their exploration."

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as well as Canadian companies to perform research and training.

MITACS is a nonprofit national research organization that, in partnerships with Canadian academia, private industry and government, operates research and training programs in fields related to industrial and social innovation.

Dr. Noah Philips and Dr. Pete Hollings are excited to be starting a new partnership with Goldshore Resources Inc, through their wholly-owned subsidiary, Moss Lake Project Inc. Thanks to CA$ 80,000 in support from Goldshore, which was matched by CA$160,000 from an NSERC Alliance grant and CA$ 75,000 from MITACS. The Lakehead University researchers will lead a team of one Post-Doctoral Fellow and two MSc (Masters of Science) students in an investigation of the gold and related mineralization on the Moss Lake property.

About Goldshore

Goldshore is an emerging junior gold development company, and owns the Moss Lake Gold Project located in Ontario. Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. is currently a strategic shareholder of Goldshore with an approximate 22% equity position in the Company. Well-financed and supported by an industry-leading management group, board of directors and advisory board, Goldshore is positioned to advance the Moss Lake Gold Project through the next stages of exploration and development.

About the Moss Lake Gold Project

The Moss Lake Gold Project is located approximately 100 km west of the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is accessed via Highway 11 which passes within 1 km of the property boundary to the north. The Moss Lake Gold Project covers 14,292 hectares and consists of 282 unpatented and patented mining claims.

Moss Lake hosts a number of gold and base metal rich deposits including the Moss Lake Deposit, the East Coldstream Deposit (Table 1), the historically producing North Coldstream Mine (Table 2), and the Hamlin Zone, all of which occur over a mineralized trend exceeding 20 km in length. A historical preliminary economic assessment was completed on Moss Lake in 2013 and published by Moss Lake Gold1. A historical mineral resource estimate was completed on the East Coldstream Deposit in 2011 by Foundation Resources Inc2,3. In addition to these zones, the Moss Lake Gold Project also hosts a number of under-explored mineral occurrences which are reported to exist both at surface and in historically drilled holes. The Moss Lake Deposit is a shear-hosted disseminated-style gold deposit which outcrops at surface. It has been drilled over a 2.5 km length and to depths of 300 m with 376 holes completed between 1983 and 2017. The last drilling program conducted in 2016 and 2017 by Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. ("Wesdome"), which consisted of widely spaced holes along the strike extension of the deposit was successful in expanding the mineralized footprint and hydrothermal system 1.6 km to the northeast. Additionally, the deposit remains largely open to depth. In 2017, Wesdome completed an induced polarization survey which traced the potential extensions of pyrite mineralization associated with the Moss Lake Deposit over a total strike length of 8 km and spanning the entire extent of the survey grids.

The East Coldstream Deposit is a shear-hosted disseminated-style gold deposit which locally outcrops at surface. It has been drilled over a 1.3 km length and to depths of 200 m with 138 holes completed between 1988 and 2017. The deposit remains largely open at depth and may have the potential for expansion along strike. Historic drill hole highlights from the East Coldstream Deposit include 4.86 g/t Au over 27.3 m in C-10-15.

The historically producing North Coldstream Mine is reported to have produced significant amounts of copper, gold and silver4 from mineralization with potential iron-oxide-copper-gold deposit style affinity. The exploration potential immediately surrounding the historic mining area is not currently well understood and historic data compilation is required.

The Hamlin Zone is a significant occurrence of copper and gold mineralization, and also of potential iron-oxide-copper-gold deposit style affinity. Between 2008 and 2011, Glencore tested Hamlin with 24 drill holes which successfully outlined a broad and intermittently mineralized zone over a strike length of 900 m. Historic drill hole highlights from the Hamlin Zone include 0.9 g/t Au and 0.35% Cu over 150.7 m in HAM-11-75.

The Moss Lake, East Coldstream and North Coldstream deposits sit on a mineral trend marked by a regionally significant deformation zone locally referred to as the Wawiag Fault Zone in the area of the Moss Lake Deposit. This deformation zone occurs over a length of approximately 20 km on the Moss Lake Gold Project and there is an area spanning approximately 7 km between the Moss Lake and East Coldstream deposits that is significantly underexplored.

Table 1: Historical Mineral Resources1,2,3

INDICATED INFERRED Deposit Tonnes Au g/t Au oz Tonnes Au g/t Au oz Moss Lake Deposit1 (2013 resource estimate) Open Pit Potential 39,795,000 1.1 1,377,300 48,904,000 1.0 1,616,300 Underground Potential - - - 1,461,100 2.9 135,400 Moss Lake Total 39,795,000 1.1 1,377,300 50,364,000 1.1 1,751,600

East Coldstream Deposit2 (2011 resource estimate) East Coldstream Total 3,516,700 0.85 96,400 30,533,000 0.78 763,276

Combined Total 43,311,700 1.08 1,473,700 80,897,000 0.98 2,514,876



Notes:

(1) Source: Poirier, S., Patrick, G.A., Richard, P.L., and Palich, J., 2013. Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Moss Lake Project, 43-101 technical report prepared for Moss Lake Gold Mines Ltd. Moss Lake Deposit resource estimate is based on 0.5 g/t Au cut-off grade for open pit and 2.0 g/t Au cut-off grade for underground resources.

(2) Source: McCracken, T., 2011. Technical Report and Resource Estimate on the Osmani Gold Deposit, Coldstream Property, Northwestern Ontario, 43-101 technical report prepared for Foundation Resources Inc. and Alto Ventures Ltd. East Coldstream Deposit resource estimate is based on a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off grade.

(3) The reader is cautioned that the above referenced "historical mineral resource" estimates are considered historical in nature and as such is based on prior data and reports prepared by previous property owners. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current resources and Goldshore is not treating the historical estimates as current resources. Significant data compilation, re-drilling, re-sampling and data verification may be required by a qualified person before the historical estimate on the Moss Lake Gold Project can be classified as a current resource. There can be no assurance that any of the historical mineral resources, in whole or in part, will ever become economically viable. In addition, mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Even if classified as a current resource, there is no certainty as to whether further exploration will result in any inferred mineral resources being upgraded to an indicated or measured mineral resource category.

Table 2: Reported Historical Production from the North Coldstream Deposit4

Deposit Tonnes Cu % Au g/t Ag Cu lbs Au oz Ag oz Historical Production 2,700,0000 1.89 0.56 5.59 102,000,000 44,000 440,000



Note:

(4) Source: Schlanka, R., 1969. Copper, Nickel, Lead and Zinc Deposits of Ontario, Mineral Resources Circular No. 12, Ontario Geological Survey, pp. 314-316.

Peter Flindell, MAusIMM, MAIG, Vice President - Exploration of the Company, a qualified person under NI 43-101 has approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For More Information - Please Contact:

Brett A. Richards

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Goldshore Resources Inc.

P. +1 604 288 4416 M. +1 905 449 1500

E. [email protected]

W. www.goldshoreresources.com

Facebook: GoldShoreRes | Twitter: GoldShoreRes | LinkedIn: goldshoreres

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements relating to expectations regarding the exploration and development of the Moss Lake Gold Project, the use of proceeds from the Financing, and other statements that are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, among others: the Company may require additional financing from time to time in order to continue its operations which may not be available when needed or on acceptable terms and conditions acceptable; compliance with extensive government regulation; domestic and foreign laws and regulations could adversely affect the Company's business and results of operations; the stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and these fluctuations may adversely affect the price of the Company's securities, regardless of its operating performance; and the impact of COVID-19.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

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 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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125257
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Nextleaf Solutions Ltd. (CSE: OILS) (OTCQB: OILFF) (FSE: L0MA) ("Nextleaf" or the "Company"), a federally regulated manufacturer and distributor of cannabis vapes and oils, announced today the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office has granted Nextleaf a patent for the Company's foundational process for producing high-purity CBD and THC ingredients.

Nextleaf's patented technology allows for oil-grade cannabis and hemp flower to be efficiently processed into a high-purity distilled cannabinoids. The resulting THC or CBD distillate is tasteless, odourless, standardized for potency, and ready to use as the hero ingredient in a wide range of products, including vapes, oils, softgels, transdermal or sublingual delivery, and water-soluble extracts.





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5347/125205_d87641078449aaa5_001full.jpg

The Company has been issued 18 U.S. patents, and over 95 patents globally, on cannabinoid processing including extraction, distillation, and acetylation. Nextleaf initially files its patents in the United States to create a priority date and allow for future filings in other selected jurisdictions. This is common in the field of intellectual property ("IP") protection. The Company owns issued patents in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Israel, Germany, Australia, Colombia, South Africa, the U.K., and across Europe. Nextleaf follows a global IP strategy of protecting the means to producing standardized cannabinoid-based products at scale within a regulated market.

Medical cannabis is currently legal in Jamaica and possession of small amounts of marijuana was decriminalized in 2015, with residents permitted to grow up to five plants for personal use only.

"This patent reinforces our vision of developing intellectual property that improves cannabis oil economics globally," said Paul Pedersen, CEO of Nextleaf Solutions. "We believe there will be a regulated commercial market for cannabinoid-based products in Jamaica during the 20-year life of this patent".

Nextleaf Issues Warrants

The Company has issued 500,000 warrants to purchase common shares of the Company to the holder of the convertible note issued on March 31, 2021 (the "Note"). The warrants were issued as consideration for revision of terms of the Note and are exercisable at a price of $0.138 per share for a period of 36 months from the date of issuance.

About Nextleaf Solutions Ltd.

Nextleaf is a federally regulated manufacturer and distributor of cannabis vapes and oils under its award-winning prohibition-era brand, Glacial Gold". The Company's multi-patented ingredient processing technology transforms cannabis and hemp biomass into high-purity distillate at an industrial scale. Nextleaf is a low-cost producer of cannabis oils, and supplier of THC and CBD ingredients to qualified wholesale partners across Canada. Nextleaf is the first publicly traded company to be issued a U.S. patent for the industrial extraction and purification of cannabinoids. The Company has been issued 18 U.S. patents, and over 95 patents globally, on cannabinoid processing including distillation and acetylation. Nextleaf develops cannabinoid-based formulations and delivery technology through its Health Canada Research Licence with sensory evaluation of cannabis via human testing. For more information visit www.nextleafsolutions.com and www.Glacial.Gold

Nextleaf trades as OILS on the Canadian Securities Exchange, OILFF on the OTCQB Market in the United States, and L0MA on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Follow the Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Follow Glacial Gold": Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Jason McBride, Corporate Development

604-283-2301 (ext. 219)

[email protected]

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company,

Paul Pedersen, CEO

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's intellectual property("IP"), expected IP licensing revenues, and those regarding the Company's 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. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially include, but are not limited to the risk factors discussed in the Company's MD&A for the most recent fiscal period. Management provides forward-looking statements because it believes they provide useful information to investors when considering their investment objectives and cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. 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 consequences to, or effects on, the Company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed or approved the contents of this press release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125205
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2022) - Radio Fuels Energy Corp.(CSE: CAKE) (OTCQB: CKEFF)(formerly, Mainstream Minerals Corporation) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that its common shares are now eligible for electronic clearing and settlement through the Depository Trust Company ("DTC") in the United States.

DTC, a subsidiary of Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., manages the electronic clearing and settlement of publicly traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through DTC are considered DTC eligible. This electronic method of clearing securities speeds up the receipt of stock and cash, and thus accelerates the settlement process for investors and brokers, enabling the stock to be traded over a much wider selection of brokerage firms.

Obtaining DTC eligibility of its common shares represents the company's commitment to increasing visibility and accessibility for all of its current and potential shareholders in the United States. It enables Radio Fuel's to expand its reach to a larger portion of the global investment community, while providing a more efficient and seamless trading process.

About Radio Fuels Energy Corp.

The Company is a junior natural resource company focused on providing exposure to uranium and other commodities through the investment, acquisition, exploration, and development of projects and companies.

For further information, please contact:

Cejay Kim

President & Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (778) 886-1826

Email: [email protected]

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/125255
FILE PHOTO: Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks at his primary election night watch party in Newtown, Pennsylvania, U.S. May 17, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah Beier/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The deadlocked U.S. Senate Republican primary between wellness celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund executive David McCormick was headed for a recount in Pennsylvania, Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman said on Wednesday, with the outcome delayed into next month.

Oz, whose candidacy was propelled in the final weeks of the campaign by an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, led McCormick by only 902 votes with all counties reporting, within the 0.5% margin that triggers an automatic recount.

McCormick has not waived his right to a recount, Chapman said, adding that she will issue the formal declaration on Thursday afternoon. Counties must complete the recount no later than June 7, she said.

The two men are vying for the Republican nomination to square off against Democrat John Fetterman in the Nov. 8 midterm election to replace retiring Republican Senator Pat Toomey.

The outcome poses a test for Trump's influence over the Republican Party as he mulls a possible third run for president in 2024. The former president has endorsed over 190 candidates as he tries to solidify his status as party kingmaker, though his picks have not always prevailed.

Oz and McCormick have both positioned themselves as champions of Trump's populist "America First" agenda. But they have each faced questions over the authenticity of their conservative convictions and their commitment to a state to which they only recently returned as residents.

Fetterman, a goateed, tattooed, liberal lieutenant governor, has cultivated an "everyman" appeal by sporting hoodies and shorts on the campaign trail. He won the Democratic nomination against moderate U.S. Representative Conor Lamb, hours after having had a pacemaker implanted to address irregular heart rhythms that caused a stroke. He has said doctors expect a full recovery.

The fate of the Pennsylvania seat could help determine which party controls the 100-seat U.S. Senate in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. The chamber is currently split 50-50, with Democrats in control because of Vice President Kamala Harris's tie-breaking vote.

Republicans are also defending open Senate seats in Ohio and North Carolina, as well as incumbent Senator Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. Democratic incumbents are vulnerable in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire.

(Reporting by David Morgan and Makini Brice; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)
New initiative aims to provide humanitarian aid and medical supplies to the citizens of Ukraine

AUGUSTA, Ga., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- America's Warrior Partnership (AWP) and Help Ukraine 22 announce an alliance to fight the humanitarian disaster in Ukraine caused by the ongoing Russian invasion. The partnership enables AWP to join the efforts of Help Ukraine 22 in connecting humanitarian aid and supplies to the people of Ukraine through Ukraine Serve, a customized version of WarriorServe, an existing technology platform developed by AWP.

"What's happening right now in Ukraine is a tragedy on a massive scale. As a veteran-serving organization, standing by when a crisis occurs is not in our DNA," said Jim Lorraine, president and CEO of America's Warrior Partnership. "We are thrilled to be partnering with Help Ukraine 22 and playing our part to help the millions of innocent civilians who have been displaced by this war."

WarriorServe is a proprietary technology platform built on SalesForce that is customizable to an organization's needs and structure when people, resources, and solutions need to be connected. AWP's team of technical experts quickly assessed the dire needs of the situation in Ukraine and created a customized version of the platform for Help Ukraine 22 to use to connect supplies to Ukrainians in the middle of the war zone.

"Our partnership with AWP has been an immediate force multiplier in terms of efficiency and effectiveness in delivering humanitarian aid to Ukrainians in need," said Brian Medford, director of Help Ukraine 22.

Over 14 million people have been displaced since the conflict in Ukraine began in late February, according to the United Nations. More than 6.3 million people have fled to neighboring countries, with Poland receiving around 3 million of those refugees alone.

Help Ukraine 22 provides both financial and humanitarian support by working with a network of reliable partners in the United States, the European Union and Ukraine. As of May 6, AWP's Ukraine Serve platform has helped to connect 65 non-governmental agencies and delivered $1.25 million in humanitarian aid and medical supplies to 167,000 Ukrainians.

For more information on America's Warrior Partnership and their collaboration with Help Ukraine 22, subscribe to America's Warrior Partnership newsletter by visiting https://www.americaswarriorpartnership.org.

About America's Warrior PartnershipAmerica's Warrior Partnership is committed to partnering with communities to prevent veteran suicide. We fill the gaps between veteran service organizations by helping nonprofits connect with veterans, their families, and caregivers. Our programs bolster nonprofit efficacy, improving their results, and empowering their initiatives. Increasing the quality of veterans' lives, thus helping to end veteran suicide.

About Help Ukraine 22Help Ukraine 22 is a humanitarian aid effort led by a team of American and Ukrainian experts that fills gaps in immediate assistance for Ukrainians in need through its "Operation Palynytsya" initiative. Help Ukraine 22 operates through an organizational supply chain powered by Ukraine Serve. Learn more at www.helpukraine22.org

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americas-warrior-partnership-and-help-ukraine-22-collaborate-to-fight-the-humanitarian-disaster-in-ukraine-301555183.html

SOURCE Americas Warrior Partnership
American Century Investments' impact investing survey shows growth of greenwashing concerns and individuals' willingness to sacrifice returns for impact

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The appeal of impact investing has reached all-time highs in the fifth impact investing survey by global asset manager American Century Investments. Respondents were surveyed at the end of 2021 in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. Responses reflected rising interest in impact investing compared to results going back to 2016 in the U.S, to 2019 for the UK and 2020 for Germany. Australia was new to the 2021 survey.

"We see a rising demand across geography, generation and gender, along with favorable economics and a supportive political and regulatory environment that will drive changes and advances in sustainable investing over the coming year," said Sarah Bratton Hughes, senior vice president and head of ESG and sustainable investing for American Century Investments.

Appeal of impact investing increases across geography, generation and gender

In the United States, 61% of respondents found impact investing appealing, up from 51% in 2020. Similarly, the appeal in the United Kingdom rose to 63%, up from 48% in 2020. The appeal in Germany increased from 35% in 2020 to 44% in 2021. The lower appeal of impact investing by German respondents relative to the other countries was driven by the statistically significant larger share who reported they didn't know if it was appealing or not (35%) compared to the U.S. (17%), UK (17%) and Australia (18%). Statistically similar shares of respondents in the U.S. (22%), UK (20%), Germany (21%) Australia (24%) indicated they found impact investing unappealing.

The majority of respondents in the U.S. (61%), UK (63%) and Australia (57%) found impact investing appealing, with appeal even higher among millennials (66%) and Gen Xers (64%) in the U.S.; millennials (67%) in the UK; and millennials (68%) and Gen Xers (60%) in Australia. While baby boomers generally found impact investing less appealing than the overall population, their interest increased year over year in each country surveyed again. The appeal of impact investing increased 10 points to 55% for American baby boomers, increased 29 points to 63% for UK baby boomers and increased 6 points to 32% for German baby boomers.

Impact investing gained appeal for men and women over the years surveyed. In the United States, appeal was up to 63% for men (from 57% in 2020) and 59% for women (from 46% in 2020). In the UK, appeal was up to 66% for men (from 48% in 2020) and 60% for women (from 48% in 2020). In Germany, appeal was up to 50% for men (from 40% in 2020) and 38% for women (from 29% in 2020). In all four countries, women were less likely than men to say impact investing was unappealing.

Environment the largest concern internationally, while health care topped American concerns

The top cause for respondents in the UK (34%), Australia (30%) and Germany (34%) was the environment and climate change, whereas in the U.S. the top concern was health care and disease prevention and cures (25%).

As an asset manager with an impact on global health, American Century Investments has a unique perspective on sustainable investing. More than 40% of American Century dividends go to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a world-class biomedical research organization with an equity stake in American Century.

"With the Stowers Institute as our controlling owner, doing good for the world comes from doing well for our clients. Over the last 22 years, we have generated more than $1.87 billion for their medical research as we work to generate returns for our clients. With our history and culture, we are better positioned than anyone in the industry to help clients navigate sustainable investing that can do good for the world while helping our clients prosper with purpose," said Jonathan Thomas, president and chief executive officer of American Century.

In its 2022 environmental, social and governance (ESG) outlook, American Century identified those top concerns among those surveyed, as well as empowerment (labor), sustainable living (food crisis) and digitalization (cyber), as areas that would dominate the ESG space in the coming year and beyond.

"Our approach to ESG and sustainable investing focuses on the opportunities within the areas of empowerment, sustainable living, environment, digitalization and health care to innovate solutions, address critical challenges and transform society. These important themes shape our research agenda, engagement and proxy voting activities to not only contribute to transforming society but doing so while delivering superior, long-term, risk-adjusted returns," said Bratton Hughes.

Alpha plus: Sustainable investing as an alpha generator

A significant, and increasing, share of people are willing to sacrifice returns for a positive impact. In the U.S., 38% of respondents reported a willingness to sacrifice returns for a positive impact, up from 33% in 2020. A staggering 50% of U.S. millennials are willing to sacrifice returns for a positive impact, with similar numbers in the UK (49%) and Australia (45%).

"In our view, this trade off isn't necessary and isn't the future of sustainable investing. Sustainable investing is more than just a risk mitigator. We believe it's an alpha generator. This is alpha plus: sustainable and impact strategies have the potential to provide market-beating returns coupled with societal and environmental alpha," said Bratton Hughes. "We expect this alpha-plus approach to appeal to the majority of people who are either unsure or unwilling to sacrifice returns for a positive impact."

Greenwashing concerns also continue to increase, but don't deter appeal

Concerns about greenwashing continue, with half or more of respondents in the U.S. (50%), UK (58%), Germany (50%) and Australia (51%) believing greenwashing has increased. Despite this, less than half of respondents in the U.S. (44%), UK (39%), Germany (38%) and Australia (39%) reported greenwashing influenced their interest in impact investing.

"We expect greenwashing not only to remain a concern, but to expand beyond environmental or climate claims to claims related to all Sustainable Development Goals. The combination of regulatory pressure, investor demand and industry cooperation will help drive clarity, consistency and transparency across the sustainable investing space," said Bratton Hughes.

Survey methodology

Impact investing is financial investments designed to have a positive impact on society, while providing potential long-term returns. The 2021 survey was conducted among a representative sample of 1,008 U.S. adults, 1,003 UK adults, 1,016 adults in Germany, and 1,006 adults in Australia 18 years of age and older from November 17-19, 2021 in the U.S. and November 16-21, 2021 internationally. The study was fielded using ENGINE's Online CARAVAN Omnibus Survey. The results from the survey were weighted by age, sex, geographic region, race and education to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the adult U.S., UK, Germany and Australia. Previous years' survey results can be found here.

Infographic: 2022 American Century Impact Investing Infographic

About American Century InvestmentsAmerican Century Investments is a leading global asset manager focused on delivering investment results and building long-term client relationships while supporting research that can improve human health and save lives. Founded in 1958, American Century Investments' 1,400 employees serve financial professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors from offices in New York; London; Frankfurt; Hong Kong; Sydney; Santa Clara, Calif.; and Kansas City, Mo. Jonathan Thomas is president and chief executive officer, and Victor Zhang serves as chief investment officer. Delivering investment results to clients enables American Century Investments to distribute over 40 percent of its dividends to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a 500-person, non-profit basic biomedical research organization. The Institute owns more than 40 percent of American Century Investments and has received dividend payments of $1.87 billion since 2000. For more information about American Century Investments, visit americancentury.com.

When portfolio managers incorporate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into an investment strategy, they consider those issues in conjunction with traditional financial analysis. When selecting investments, portfolio managers incorporate ESG factors into the portfolio's existing asset class, time horizon and objectives. Therefore, ESG factors may limit the investment opportunities available, and the portfolio may perform differently than those that do not incorporate ESG factors. Portfolio managers have ultimate discretion in how ESG issues may impact a portfolio's holdings, and depending on their analysis, investment decisions may not be affected by ESG factors.

2022 American Century Proprietary Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved

Contact: Justin Emily Wills(816) 340-4062

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SOURCE American Century Services Corporation
NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BizVibe, a business intelligence platform providing detailed company data for both buyers and suppliers, has recently added new insights for the computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing industry. This platform contains 30M public and private company profiles spanning across 300+ industries and 200+ countries, and features more than 3,200 computer and peripheral equipment companies. These company profiles range from global market leaders to specialized manufacturers, with each profile containing 50+ unique insights.

View all computer and peripheral equipment company profiles. Try for Free!

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Company summary

Product and service offerings

Risk level report

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Industry trends and challenges

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Computer and Peripheral Equipment Industry Insights: Trends and Challenges

The direct-to-consumer (D2C) model for the computer manufacturing industry is years ahead of many other sectors. Computer manufacturers are leveraging e-commerce platforms to establish and expand D2C channels that skip the logistics and challenges faced by traditional sales cycles. D2C strategies also help computer manufacturers sell customized personal computers and computer components effectively and efficiently.

The global semiconductor shortage has impacted many sectors, particularly the computer industry. The computer industry is dependent on so many other industries that any big supply chain disruptions can significantly impact production and sales.

Computer and Peripheral Equipment Company Insights on BizVibe: Top Players and Specialized Manufacturers

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Lintes Technology CO. LTD

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Micron Technology Inc

Asus

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View 50+ insights for all computer and peripheral equipment companies

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About BizVibe

BizVibe is transforming the way buyers and sellers do business online. Our supplier intelligence and sales intelligence tools provide best-in-class company insights to help businesses discover, track, monitor, and evaluate companies of interest. BizVibe's platform contains more than 30 million company profiles, each packed with 50+ unique insights. For more information, please visit www.bizvibe.com or start your free trial today.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bizvibe-adds-new-company-insights-for-3-200-computer-and-peripheral-equipment-companies--risk-evaluation--regional-analysis--similar-companies--financials-and-management-team-301550470.html

SOURCE BizVibe
BRADENTON, Fla., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the national Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC) was activated to send much needed blood to the hospitals in and around Uvalde, Texas, scene of Tuesday's tragic elementary school shooting that claimed at least 21 lives and left several more injured.

The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps was activated to send blood to the hospitals in and around Uvalde, Texas.

"Our BERC Network was activated to help our partner blood center, South Texas Blood and Tissue meet the need of trauma patients at local hospitals in Uvalde, Texas," said Nelson Hellwig, CEO of the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services and Administrator of the BERC Program.

As part of their on-call week, the following community-based blood centers have rushed blood to the region: SunCoast Blood Centers; Carter BloodCare, The Community Blood Center (Appleton, WI), The Blood Connection, The Blood Center (New Orleans, LA); Vitalant; Rock River Valley Blood Center; Community Blood Center of the Ozarks; Miller-Keystone Blood Center (Bethlehem, PA) and LifeServe Blood Center.

"Our hearts are broken by this senseless tragedy," said Scott Bush, CEO of SunCoast Blood Centers. "We have mobilized our team to support the needs of local patients and hospitals in South Texas."

Today's activation marks the fourth time since its inception in September 2021 that the BERC Network has been called upon to provide blood during a national emergency.

"There are no words to express how deeply saddened we are about the loss of so many innocent lives," said The Blood Connection President & CEO, Delisa English. "Because of BERC, we are at least able to help the people of South Texas and their local blood center. Times like these remind us of why we continuously urge our community to donate blood."

The blood from BERC Network of blood banks is being sent to South Texas Blood and Tissue, the steward of the local blood supply in that part of Texas.

About the Blood Emergency Readiness CorpsThe Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC), a collaborative effort of 30 community blood centers, was founded in 2021 to meet immediate transfusion needs when faced with large scale emergency situations that require blood transfusions. These blood centers commit to collecting extra units on a rotating "on call" schedule to create an available supply of blood for emergency needs.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blood-emergency-readiness-corps-activated-to-respond-to-the-school-shooting-in-south-texas-301555284.html

SOURCE Blood Emergency Readiness Corps
Annual awards recognize companies that build outstanding work environments

BOSTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boston Business Journal has named Salary.com to its 2022 Best Places to Work  the BBJ's exclusive ranking of the Massachusetts companies that have built outstanding work environments for their people.

The 80 companies honored in 2022 range in size and industry, with winners from the technology sector, retail industry, health care space, commercial real estate and more.

"Achieving high employee engagement is what elevates companies from good to great. Making the Boston Business Journal's list of Best Places to Work shows we're doing right by our amazing employees," said Salary.com CEO and co-founder Kent Plunkett. "Our people are our greatest assets. They have accelerated Salary.com's product innovation and business growth to new heights during very challenging times. We're proud to be included on this list of companies who care enough to get it right."

"We are so glad to be able to celebrate this year's Best Places to Work in person. These companies signify teamwork, retention, engagement, trust with co-workers and senior leaders. Together they create a dynamic, innovative place where people want to work and grow," said Carolyn Jones, Market President and Publisher of the Boston Business Journal.

The 181 businesses that met criteria for office location and size participated in employee-engagement surveys distributed by Business Journal partner Quantum Workplace. Employees were asked to rate their work environment, work-life balance, job satisfaction, advancement opportunities, management, compensation, and benefits.

Based on the results of those surveys, businesses were assigned a score out of 100 percent and ranked by Quantum. The top-rated companies are listed in five size categories  extra small (20 to 49 employees), small (50 to 99 employees), medium (100 to 249 employees), large (250 to 499 employees) and extra-large (500 or more).

The Best Places to Work celebration will be held in-person on June 16th at the Boston Park Plaza from 5:30pm  8:30pm. The special publication will appear in the June 17th weekly edition of the Boston Business Journal.

The Boston Business Journal is the region's premier business media organization, one of 45 markets owned by American City Business Journals. For marketing and sponsorship opportunities, contact the Business Journal today.

ABOUT SALARY.COM

Salary.com is the leading provider of compensation market data, software, and analytics, bringing more of the trusted data and intuitive software organizations need to get pay right. The industry's fastest-growing compensation management company, Salary.com serves over 30,000 survey participant organizations, over 8,000 business-to-business software subscribers, and over 45 million employees globally. HR professionals rely on Salary.com's 360 view of their compensation practices so they can efficiently and accurately achieve internal pay equity and adapt to market changes. Salary.com's state-of-the-art CompAnalyst accelerates compensation workflows, delivers real-time data, and powers accurate, equitable, and competitive compensation through one intuitive platform. For more information, please visit www.salary.com.

Media Contact:Julie Murphy[email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boston-business-journal-names-salarycom-a-2022-best-places-to-work-company-301554576.html

SOURCE Salary.com, Inc.
LOS ANGELES, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the California State Assembly passed a bill 65-0 that would close a loophole in state law that allowed Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to influence decision-making at the Department of Insurance without registering as a lobbyist. On Monday, the Assembly voted 73-0 to pass another bill to require agencies to retain all public records for a minimum of two years.

AB 1783 (Levine), addressing lobbying of state agencies, and AB 2370 (Levine), requiring retention of public records, both arise from a government corruption scandal involving the Department of Insurance and the workers' compensation insurer Applied Underwriters.

Two former lawmakersFabian Nunez and former Assembly Member Rusty Areiaswere hired by Applied Underwriters to influence Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara's approval of the sale of the company.

At stake were potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in overcharges to small businesses and workers. Fabian Nunez and Rusty Areias were to be paid under a $2 million contingency fee contract.

The Sacramento Bee recently reported on the issue of so-called "consultants" influencing administrative actions of state agencies, while avoiding public reporting requirements of the landmark Political Reform Act.

AB 1783, passed today, closes a loophole by including under the definition of "lobbying" any efforts to influence the Department of Insurance or Department of Managed Health Care's approval of insurance company mergers. The bill would apply existing public reporting requirements and a ban on contingency fee bounties.

AB 2370, passed Monday, would require all state agencies to retain public records for a minimum of two years.

California's landmark Public Records Act reflects the principle that government transparency is essential in a democracy. Yet, there is no minimum retention period for such records that applies to state agencies. As a result, records may be deleted or destroyed before the public or journalists are able to access them.

AB 2370 would simply apply to state agencies the same minimum two-year retention period for public records that is already in place for California counties and cities.

Destruction of public records hamstrings government agencies' ability to conduct enforcement actions and is contrary to the basic tenets of transparency.

Yet, just this year the Department of Insurance adopted a record deletion policy that would have automatically deleted agency email after 180 days unless individual staff manually archived each email.

The policy, which was pulled back in the wake of media attention, was developed following statewide news coverage of the pay-to-play scandal involving Applied Underwriters and cloaked campaign donations to Insurance Commissioner Lara's 2022 re-election campaign.

Failure to retain public records is a problem that reaches beyond the Department of Insurance. For example:

As recently reported, a state official shredded documents that she no longer considered "relevant," even though they were central to a contract dispute.

CalPERS began automatically deleting email older than 60 days in 2011 after a government scandal.

In 2016, CalTRANS's 120-day auto delete email policy was determined to constitute spoilation of evidence.

The California Environmental Protection Agency currently considers emails transmitting "informal information" to be "transitory," and deletes them after 90 days.

The Medical Board destroys "physician licensing files . . . . not necessary to establish qualifications for licensure" upon the time the physician's license is issued.

The DMV destroys records regarding a driver's failure to establish insurance coverage following an accident after just 30 days.

The Department of Forestry destroys records regarding hazardous material (Hazmat) property upon expiration of the relevant contract regardless of the time period, and records of fire safety inspections after one year.

AB 2370 is supported by California News Publishers Association, Californians Aware, Consumer Watchdog, First Amendment Coalition, and Oakland Privacy.

AB 1783 is supported by California Clean Money Campaign, Consumer Federation of California, and Consumer Watchdog.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/california-assembly-passes-good-government-bills-to-close-agency-lobbying-loophole-and-bar-destruction-of-records-says-consumer-watchdog-301555422.html

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog
ROWLEY, Mass., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Comstar, LLC ("Comstar") is providing notice of a recent event that may affect the security of certain information.

On or about March 26, 2022, Comstar discovered suspicious activity related to certain servers within its environment. Comstar immediately took steps to secure our network, and launched a thorough investigation, with the assistance of third-party experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident. On April 21, 2022, the investigation determined that certain systems on Comstar's network were subject to unauthorized access. However, the investigation was unable to confirm what specific information on those systems was accessed. As such, Comstar reviewed the contents of those systems to determine what information was contained therein and to whom it related for purposes of notification.

The review of the systems determined information related to certain individuals was contained within. The information varied by individual but may have included name, date of birth, medical assessment and medication administration, health insurance information, driver's license, financial account information, and Social Security number.

Individuals who have questions about this incident or believe they may be impacted by this incident, can contact our dedicated call center at 877-587-4280, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time except holidays, or visit our web site for more information at www.comstarbilling.com

Monitor Your Accounts

Under U.S. law, a consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. You may also directly contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below to request a free copy of your credit report.

Consumers have the right to place an initial or extended "fraud alert" on a credit file at no cost. An initial fraud alert is a 1-year alert that is placed on a consumer's credit file. Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer's credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumer's identity before extending new credit. If you are a victim of identity theft, you are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any one of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.

As an alternative to a fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a "credit freeze" on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information in the credit report without the consumer's express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in your name without your consent. However, you should be aware that using a credit freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in your credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application you make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, you cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on your credit report. To request a credit freeze, you will need to provide the following information:

Full name (including middle initial as well as Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.); Social Security number; Date of birth; Addresses for the prior two to five years; Proof of current address, such as a current utility bill or telephone bill; A legible photocopy of a government-issued identification card (state driver's license or ID card, etc.); and A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if you are a victim of identity theft.

Should you wish to place a fraud alert or credit freeze, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:

Equifax Experian TransUnion https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit- report-services/ https://www.experian.com/help/ https://www.transunion.com/credit-help 888-298-0045 1-888-397-3742 833-395-6938 Equifax Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 105069 Atlanta, GA 30348-5069 Experian Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016 Equifax Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 Experian Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094

Additional Information

You may further educate yourself regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, credit freezes, and the steps you can take to protect your personal information by contacting the consumer reporting bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission, or your state Attorney General. The Federal Trade Commission may be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. You can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. You have the right to file a police report if you ever experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, you will likely need to provide some proof that you have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and your state Attorney General. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.

For California residents: Visit the California Office of Privacy Protection (www.oag.ca.gov/privacy) for additional information on protection against identity theft.

For Kentucky residents: Office of the Attorney General of Kentucky, 700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 118 Frankfort, Kentucky 40601, www.ag.ky.gov, Telephone: 1-502-696-5300.

For District of Columbia residents: the District of Columbia Attorney General may be contacted at: 400 6th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001; 202-727-3400; and [email protected].

For Maryland residents: the Maryland Attorney General may be contacted at: 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; 1-410-528-8662 or 1-888-743-0023; and www.oag.state.md.us. Comstar is located at 8 Turcotte Memorial Drive, Rowley, MA 01969.

For New Mexico residents: you have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in your credit file has been used against you, the right to know what is in your credit file, the right to ask for your credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting bureaus must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to your file is limited; you must give your consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; you may limit "prescreened" offers of credit and insurance you get based on information in your credit report; and you may seek damages from violator. You may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage you to review your rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act by visiting www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf, or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.

For New York residents: the New York Attorney General may be contacted at: Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341; 1-800-771-7755; or https://ag.ny.gov/.

For North Carolina residents: the North Carolina Attorney General may be contacted at: 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6000; and www.ncdoj.gov.

For Oregon residents: Oregon Department of Justice, 1162 Court Street NE, Salem, OR 97301-4096, www.doj.state.or.us/, Telephone: 877-877-9392.

For Rhode Island residents: the Rhode Island Attorney General may be reached at: 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903; www.riag.ri.gov; and 1-401-274-4400. Under Rhode Island law, you have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this incident. There are [#] Rhode Island residents impacted by this incident.

For Washington D.C. residents: the Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia can be reached at: 441 4thStreet NW, Suite 1100 South, Washington, D.C. 20001; 1-202-442-9828; https://oag.dc.gov.

For All U.S. residents: Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20580, www.consumer.gov/idtheft, 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338).

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/comstar-llc-provides-notice-of-data-security-event-301555405.html

SOURCE Comstar, LLC
CAMDEN, N.J., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cooper University Health Care ("Cooper"), a health system that provides treatment to its patients throughout South Jersey and the Delaware Valley, has learned of a data security incident that may have impacted data belonging to current and former Cooper patients. Cooper has sent notification of this incident to potentially impacted individuals and has provided resources to assist them.

On December 13, 2021, Cooper learned of unusual activity involving an employee's email account. Upon discovering this activity, Cooper immediately launched an investigation with the assistance of independent cybersecurity experts to determine what happened and identify whether personal / protected health information had been accessed or acquired without authorization. Cooper also took steps to secure all employee email accounts.

The investigation revealed that an employee email account had been accessed without authorization sometime on or before November 24, 2021. Cooper then launched a comprehensive review of the contents of the email account. On May 10, 2022, Cooper learned that some individuals' personal and protected health information may have been contained therein. Cooper thereafter worked diligently to gather up-to-date contact information needed to notify all potentially affected individuals.

At this time, Cooper has no evidence that any of the potentially affected information was accessed, disclosed, or misused as a result of this incident. However, beginning on May 24, 2022, Cooper notified all potentially affected individuals. In doing so, Cooper provided information about the incident and about steps that potentially impacted individuals can take to protect their information.

The following personal and protected health information may have been involved in the incident: names, dates of birth, medical professional's names, diagnosis and treatment information, billing and claims information, and medical record number.

The privacy and protection of personal and protected health information is a top priority for Cooper, which deeply regrets any inconvenience or concern this incident may cause. Cooper is working to implement additional safeguards to help ensure the security of its email environment and to reduce the risk of a similar incident from occurring in the future. Cooper has also established a toll-free call center to answer questions about the incident. Call center representatives are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m.  8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding holidays and can be reached at 1-800-405-6108. Please provide the following code when calling: l3btotw0i3yu.

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SOURCE Cooper University Health Care
Deal with Three UK builds on successful rollout at Three Ireland

DUBLIN, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Corrata, the award winning mobile security solution provider, is delighted to announce a partnership with Three UK to bring Corrata's mobile threat defense solution to Three UK's business customers. Today's launch builds on the successful rollout of Corrata at Three Ireland. Corrata's mobile threat defense solution, which will be sold under the brand Three Mobile Protect, provides organisations with protection against the full range of mobile cyberattacks including sms phishing, malware and Wi-Fi hacks in a simple to deploy, easy to manage solution. This launch is supported by our partner CWSI, a leading European provider of IT Security and compliance solutions.

Commenting on the launch, Snehal Bhudia, Director of Business Propositions & Go To Market at Three UK said: "This is an exciting partnership for Three Business. The Three Mobile Protect service gives our customers state of the art security protection that will help to protect them from dynamic cybercrime without intruding on employee privacy."

According to a recent UK Government survey 39% of businesses and 26% of charities identified an attack or breach in 2021. Given that many attacks go unnoticed the real level of cyber incidents in the UK is likely significantly higher. Phishing attacks in particular are on the rise and now represent 83% of incidents. SMS phishing alone grew 700% in the first six months of 2021. In the light of this, the need to improve cyber security defenses is clear.

Corrata's mobile threat defense solution is a simple to deploy, easy to manage software product which, once installed on an employee's phone, protects against phishing over email, SMS, WhatsApp and other mobile messaging services. It also filters out offensive content, defends against spyware (malicious apps designed to steal business and personal data), and blocks attempts to intercept Wi-Fi.

Colm Healy, CEO, Corrata, commented: "We are delighted that Three UK have launched Corrata's mobile threat defense solution to their business customers. Our experience has shown that mobile operators have the trust and expertise needed to successfully partner with businesses to address their cybersecurity challenges."

Corrata's mobile threat defense solution operates discreetly on an employee's mobile phone or tablet, with no interruption of device performance and without the need to collect privacy sensitive information.

About Corrata

Corrata are global leaders in mobile endpoint security. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, they currently work with leading businesses across Europe and North America to provide complete protection against phishing, malware, man-in-the-middle attacks and data loss on smartphones and tablets. Corrata's mobile threat defense solution operates discreetly on a user's mobile phone or tablet, with no interruption of device performance and without compromising employee privacy or user experience.

About Three UK

Three launched in 2003 as the UK's first 3G only network, laying its foundations as the network that was born to be different. Today Three is a connectivity company that connects people to people, people to things and things to things and has 9.7 million customers. Our network today covers 99% of the UK population and we carry 28% of the UK's mobile data traffic.

Three launched 5G in August 2019, is the largest holder of spectrum in the UK and has been recognised by Ookla as having the UK's fastest 5G network. It is the only operator able to meet the International Telecoms Union (ITU) 2020 standard of 100MHz of contiguous spectrum for full 5G services.

Three UK is a proud partner of Samaritans, where it will use the strength of its network and technology to connect 1 million people to emotional support.

Three was voted the Best Network for Data at the Mobile Choice Consumer Awards, as well as Best Network for Roaming by uSwitch, and the Best High Street Retailer at the Mobile Industry Awards.

Three UK is part of the CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd group of companies which has mobile operations in 11 countries. We employ more than 4,800 people across our offices in Reading and Glasgow and our 311 retail stores.

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SOURCE Corrata
Cumulus' integrated platform combines multiple digital Central Nervous System (CNS) measurement tools with AI analytics

The platform enables real-world, longitudinal assessments of disease progression to accelerate CNS clinical trials

CNS-101 and CNS-102 studies will assess the platform in early-stage Alzheimer's Disease (AD) dementia, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) patients

BELFAST, Northern Ireland, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cumulus Neuroscience, a global digital health company, announces the start of two validation trials  CNS-101 and CNS-102  supported by a group of leading global pharma companies and Innovate UK. The studies will investigate the potential benefits of Cumulus' integrated physiological and digital biomarker platform in quantifying cognitive decline over time in patients with dementia, across AD, ALS and FTD.

Brian Murphy, Cumulus Neuroscience's Chief Scientific Officer, said: "Current standard measurement tools for dementia, such as clinician administered scales, only give a snapshot in an atypical environment and can suffer from day-to-day variation and other measurement errors. As such, they limit the precision and ability to measure an effect in current CNS clinical trials. Previous field-testing with dementia patients has shown that Cumulus' platform is suitable for at-home use, and so these studies are a great opportunity to assess its potential in providing more precise, longitudinal measures of cognitive decline. Our technology is already being used in clinical trials of new treatments for Alzheimer's, and these studies will provide additional validation of its sensitivity to change over time."

Cumulus' approach has been guided by nine of the world's leading pharma companies and combines a varied set of CNS measurement domains  including neurophysiology, speech, cognition, sleep and mood  within a single, consolidated digital platform accessible via a hand-held tablet device and time-linked to a functional EEG measure of brain activity. The platform combines these measurements with advanced AI and data analytics techniques. This facilitates repeated at-home assessment to gather longitudinal data and more accurately discern subtle trends in disease progression. This greater precision is designed to accelerate clinical trial pathways and improve outcomes in the development of new medicines for CNS disorders.

The UK multi-site CNS-101 study will assess the feasibility of using these repeated digital measures at home in patients with early-stage AD dementia compared with healthy controls. 120 participants will use the platform at home over the course of one year, and data will be compared with standard assessments typically used in AD dementia clinical trials.

The CNS-102 study, run in collaboration with Professor Orla Hardiman of Trinity College Dublin and Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital, will assess at-home use of the platform for a period of up to 37 weeks in individuals with ALS and FTD matched with healthy controls. The data obtained at-home will be compared with a standard measure typically used in clinical trials for tracking change in ALS and FTD, and with standardised neuropsychological measures of cognitive function.

Dr Kinan Muhammed, Chief Investigator of the CNS-101 study at the lead site at Oxford University Hospital, said: "We're pleased to be working with Cumulus to investigate ways to improve measurement in these devastating diseases. The platform is specifically designed to address several key parameters in the assessment of CNS disease progression. The frequent at-home approach to sampling data is intended to lower patient burden and could improve the sensitivity and success rate for future clinical trials in dementia."

About Cumulus Neuroscience

Cumulus Neuroscience has created the next-generation, gold standard integrated physiological and digital biomarker platform for measuring functional brain health. Uniquely, it combines neurophysiological monitoring (EEG) time-linked with a range of assessment tools for frequent at-home use. In clinical trials it provides critical data and insights to accelerate the delivery of more effective central nervous system (CNS) therapies to patients.

Our innovative platform has been designed in collaboration with leading global pharmaceutical companies to greatly improve the speed, robustness and cost-effective execution of neuroscience clinical trials by allowing better and timely assessment of drug candidates earlier in development, with the aim to provide an industry-wide standard for real-world measurement of disease progression and treatment response.

Our platform has been developed to capture large amounts of real-world lab-quality data through time across multiple behavioural and physiological domains by tracking physiology, functions and symptoms in the patient's home. The platform also provides cutting-edge AI-based data analysis allowing it to provide the best and most cost-effective assessment of CNS treatment outcomes.

Cumulus Neuroscience is confident that it can play an important role in assisting its pharma and biotech partners to develop transformational therapies to address multiple important neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, where treatment options are extremely limited.

The Company is supported by highly experienced specialised investor the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) as well as LifeArc and Future Fund, together with a world-class Scientific and Technical Advisory Board.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Cumulus Neuroscience Brian Murphy, CSO & Co-Founder[email protected]Tel: +44 28 9264 6600

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting Frazer Hall, Evelyn McCormack, George Underwood[email protected]Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 9571

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cumulus-neuroscience-commences-clinical-studies-of-digital-biomarker-platform-in-degenerative-neurological-diseases-301554293.html

SOURCE Cumulus Neuroscience
Dial Introduces Count on Clean Crew Experts

STAMFORD, Conn., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Dial, America's trusted brand for almost 75 years, is excited to announce the formation of the Count on Clean Crew. Partnering with seven notable experts in their respective fields of skin, science, medicine, education, wellness, and sustainability, the newly established Count on Clean Crew will educate consumers on Dial products, sustainability initiatives, and healthy hygiene habits.

Joining the Count on Clean Crew will be:

Dr. Corey L. Hartman- Board Certified DermatologistDr. Hartman will share tips on how to incorporate Dial products that are Dermatologist-tested and approved into your daily routine.

About: Corey L. Hartman, MD, FAAD is the founder and medical director of Skin Wellness Dermatology in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Hartman is certified by the American Board of Dermatology and is a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Mrs. Frazzled- TeacherMrs. Frazzled will help educate and instill healthy hygiene habits at home and in the classroom, while supporting Dial social responsibility initiatives.

About: Affectionately known as "Mrs. Frazzled" to over one million TikTok followers, Arielle Fodor is a full-time third-grade teacher at an urban Title 1 school in Los Angeles, California. When the pandemic turned the world of education on its head, Arielle turned to TikTok to connect with teachers around the world. Since then, her TikTok videos have been featured by BBC News, the New York Times, the New York Post, Inside Edition, Insider, PBS, PopSugar, and more.

Danielle Maltby - Registered NurseDanielle will provide advice on why it is important to use products that contribute to healthy hygiene habits while still tending to your skincare needs.

About: Born in Wisconsin and currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee, Danielle is a 36-year-old medical professional who has a passion for uplifting the voices of women in healthcare. Nurse, podcaster, and all-around do-gooder, Danielle spent 12 years in the NICU as a bedside nurse and charge nurse before creating The WoMed podcast.

Rosie Acosta- Wellness Content Creator and AuthorRosie will provide advice on why it is important to use products that are gentle and effective.

About: Rosie Acosta has studied yoga and mindfulness for more than 20 years and has taught for over a decade. She hosts a weekly conversational wellness podcast called, Radically Loved. Rosie has traveled all over the world leading workshops, retreats, and yoga teacher trainings.

Jhanneu - Sustainability Content CreatorJhanneu will help educate on Dial sustainability efforts and demonstrate how to incorporate easy environmental tips into everyday life.

About: Jhanneu is an Austin-based sustainability content creator and expert, who has built a successful lifestyle brand around showing how low waste living can be inclusive and accessible to all. With over a 54k combined social media following, she is able to reach those who want to start a low waste lifestyle but don't know how to start.

Dr. Krupa Playforth- M.D., FAAPDr. Playforth will share healthy hygiene habits that help protect consumers and their families.

About: Dr. Playforth is a board-certified pediatrician in Northern Virginia. As a mother of 3, she understands the anxiety of late-night google searches and believes that parents deserve evidence-based, practical advice from a reliable source. Dr. Playforth is on the Healthcare Advisory board for Babylist, is featured on NBC-Washington discussing current topics in child health, and has contributed to NYT, Huffington Post, CNN, Kevin MD, and Insider Magazine.

Chad Mickens- Amazing Parent, DadChad will share how families can incorporate handwashing into their daily hygiene habits as a fun activity vs. a chore.

About: Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Chad now calls Atlanta, Georgia home where he is a full time firefighter and dad. For fun, Chad enjoys spending time with his family and showcasing his wife Tiffany and two daughters, Olivia Jo and Ella Mae, on his popular TikTok.

Dial delivers clean, healthy-feeling skin you and your family can count on. With consumers continuing to shift towards better-for-you products and ingredients, Dial wants to share how they continue to deliver the clean you can count on. The Count on Clean Crew experts will act as a resource to demonstrate the many benefits of Dial and the various ways you can incorporate the brand into your daily routine.

"For almost 75 years, families have relied on Dial to deliver a clean they can count on. The Count on Clean Crew are not only experts in their fields, but they share Dial's mission to promote health and hygiene. We are excited to partner with them to share their knowledge with the community by providing tips on sustainability, wellness and hygiene," said Nicole Vigue, Marketing Director, Henkel.

For further information on the Count on Clean Crew and newest Dial product launches visit www.dialsoap.com & @dial on Instagram and TikTok.

About Dial

America's trusted brand for over 70 years, Dial delivers clean, healthy skin for you and your family with products for Women, Men, and Kids. From bar soap, body wash, and liquid hand soap, our products provide benefits such as moisturization, exfoliation, anti-bacterial and more. Count on Clean. www.dialsoap.com

About Henkel in North America In North America, Henkel operates across its three business units: Adhesive Technologies, Beauty Care, and Laundry & Home Care. Its portfolio of well-known consumer and industrial brands includes Schwarzkopf hair care, Dial soaps, Persil, Purex, and all laundry detergents, Snuggle fabric softeners as well as Loctite, Technomelt and Bonderite adhesives. With sales close to 6 billion US dollars (5 billion euros) in 2021, North America accounts for 25 percent of the company's global sales. Henkel employs over 8,000 people across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. For more information, please visit www.henkel-northamerica.com, and on Twitter @Henkel_NA.

About HenkelHenkel operates globally with a well-balanced and diversified portfolio. The company holds leading positions with its three business units in both industrial and consumer businesses thanks to strong brands, innovations and technologies. Henkel Adhesive Technologies is the global leader in the adhesives market  across all industry segments worldwide. In its Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care businesses, Henkel holds leading positions in many markets and categories around the world. Founded in 1876, Henkel looks back on more than 140 years of success. In 2021, Henkel reported sales of more than 20 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of about 2.7 billion euros. Henkel employs about 53,000 people globally  a passionate and highly diverse team, united by a strong company culture, a common purpose to create sustainable value, and shared values. As a recognized leader in sustainability, Henkel holds top positions in many international indices and rankings. Henkel's preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX. For more information, please visit www.henkel.com.

Photo material is available at www.henkel-northamerica.com/press

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SOURCE Henkel
ENA's annual achievement awards recognize exemplary emergency nursing professionals

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Welcomed to the Emergency Nurses Association by Judith Kelleher five decades ago, Barbara Baldwin, RN, described herself as humbled to receive the award named for her mentor.

The 2022 Judith C. Kelleher Award, announced on Wednesday, is the association's most prestigious honor. Baldwin, of Helotes, Texas, joined ENA in 1972 and quickly came under Kelleher's tutelage. Baldwin's passion and commitment for emergency nursing and ENA stretched over many years, including several in which she served as a delegate to the association's annual General Assembly. In 2020, she received ENA's Gail P. Lenehan Advocacy Award for her work to establish National Babysitter's Day as part of her overall efforts to promote health and safety in babysitting through her Safety Whys course.

Baldwin remains appreciative of Kelleher's early influence on her career.

"We hit it off, she took me in as an adopted ENA daughter," Baldwin said. "She was my personal mentor. She taught me grit and perseverance."

ENA President Jennifer Schmitz, MSN, EMT-P, CEN, CPEN, CNML, FNP-C, NE-BC, described Baldwin as an emergency nursing role model for her significant contributions in the emergency department, in her community and as an ENA member.

"Barbara has had an exemplary career worthy of this tremendous honor," Schmitz offered. "This recognition is only made more special by the personal connection Barbara and Judith shared over the years."

On Wednesday, ENA also announced the recipients of seven other individual awards, as well as the annual State Council Achievement Awards, the State Council/Chapter Government Affairs Award and the Team Award.

Schmitz praised this year's recipients for their outstanding work through challenging times and difficult work environments.

"ENA members are leaders, innovators and problem-solvers. These awards show how many different ways an ED nurse can make an impact at the bedside, in the classroom and beyond every day," Schmitz said. "I am proud of each recipient for what they mean to the association and the greater communities they serve."

The 2022 ENA award recipients and other honorees will be recognized during Emergency Nursing 2022 in Denver Sept. 30-Oct. 3:

Behind the Scenes Award: Lee Walker, BSN, RN, EMT-B, CEN, of Texas

Lifetime Achievement Award: Michael Moon, PhD, MSN, RN, APRN, CEN, CNS-CC, FAEN, of Texas

Nurse Manager Award: Debra Rodriguez, MSN, RN, CPEN, of Texas

Nursing Education Award: Emily Green, MSN, RN, CEN, of Indiana

Nursing Practice and Professionalism Award: Aaron Salinas, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, NRP, of Texas

Pediatric Readiness Improvement Award: Krista Easley, MSN, RN, TCRN, of Texas

Rising Star Award: CPT. Jeffrey Maler, BSN, RN, EMT-P, CEN, CFRN, TCRN, of Texas

State Council/Chapter Government Affairs Award: Maryland ENA State Council

Team Award: Deb Jeffries, MSN-Ed, RN, CEN, CPEN, TCRN; Lynn Sayre Visser, MSN, RN, PHN, CEN, CPEN, FAEN; a diverse international team of contributors and editors; and the editor and staff at Springer Publishing Company for creating the evidence-based Rapid Access Guide for Pediatric Emergencies: Providing Expert Nursing Care

In addition to the individual honors, 10 states  Arizona, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Washington  received 2022 State Council Achievement Awards for their outstanding local efforts last year.

About the Emergency Nurses AssociationThe Emergency Nurses Association is the premier professional nursing association dedicated to defining the future of emergency nursing through advocacy, education, research, innovation, and leadership. Founded in 1970, ENA has proven to be an indispensable resource to the global emergency nursing community. With more 50,000 members worldwide, ENA advocates for patient safety, develops industry-leading practice standards and guidelines, and guides emergency health care public policy. ENA members have expertise in triage, patient care, disaster preparedness, and all aspects of emergency care. Additional information is available at www.ena.org.

ENA Media Contact:Dan CampanaDirector of Communications847-460-4017[email protected]

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SOURCE Emergency Nurses Association
PROVIDENCE, R.I., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EpiVax, Inc. ("EpiVax") announces the publication "Evaluation of a Human T Cell-Targeted Multi-Epitope Vaccine for Q Fever in Animal Models of Coxiella burnetii Immunity" in Frontiers in Immunology, a collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital's ("MGH") Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, the Oxford Vaccine Group, Colorado State University, and Innatoss Laboratories B.V. The work was supported by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), under contract HDTRA1-15-C-0020, for which MGH was the prime contractor.

EpiVax and MGH release exciting new data on a T cell driven vaccine candidate for Q Fever.

Q Fever is a zoonotic disease caused by Coxiella burnetii bacterial infection. In addition to acute cases, a small but significant number of patients will develop a chronic infection with serious health risks such as endocarditis. This study is an important proof of concept for a new type of vaccine that has the potential to reduce hospitalization and severe outcomes.

Importantly, this study documents vaccine-immunogenicity in mouse and macaque models. The broad immune response to the vaccine candidate in the macaque model is an exciting finding that study authors hope to replicate in human trials.

The study also challenges the status quo of pursuing sterilizing immunity as an efficacy end-point for vaccine-challenge studies-particularly for a T cell-driven vaccine. Researchers focused on a robust, disease-limiting cellular (T cell) immune response to induce infection-clearing protection, markedly different from the traditional vaccine development goal of provoking an infection-blocking humoral (antibody) response.

On the potential for this new candidate, Ann Sluder, Associate Director of the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center at MGH and lead author, said "The one existing Q fever vaccine, composed of inactivated bacteria, can cause severe reactions in some individuals and is approved for use only in Australia. The novel T cell-targeted vaccine is designed to stimulate disease-preventing immunity in humans while also avoiding the acute reactions that have prevented wider approval of the inactivated vaccine."

Researchers aim to work closely with regulatory agencies to develop a preclinical testing plan suitable for a T cell-driven vaccine candidate. Advancing to human trials would be an important milestone for T cell vaccine technology.

About EpiVax:

EpiVax is a biotechnology company with expertise in T cell epitope prediction, immune modulation, and rapid vaccine design. EpiVax's immunogenicity screening toolkits for therapeutics and vaccines, are employed in advancing the research of a global roster of companies.

For more information, visit www.epivax.com.

Press Contact:

Katie Porter, Business Development ManagerEpiVax[email protected]

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SOURCE EpiVax Inc.
Collaborative community DATAcc releases a new set of resources to incentivize and support inclusion in digital measurement product development and deployment

BOSTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Digital Health Measurement Collaborative Community (DATAcc), a collaborative effort hosted by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), announced a new set of open-access resources to guide inclusivity in the development and deployment of digital health measurement products. In doing so, DATAcc's 46 member organizations offer some of the first tangible solutions for the industry to bridge the gap between recognizing the need for inclusivity with digital health measurements and making inclusivity a standard practice. A free, public launch event is being held today at 11 a.m. ET, during which the experts from the DATAcc Steering Committee and project team will further detail these two suites of products.

"Collaborative communities like DATAcc are tackling important issues within the medical device ecosystem," said Anindita Saha, assistant director of the Digital Health Center of Excellence in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "The DATAcc community collectively agreed that their first priority project should focus on establishing inclusivity as a foundation of digital health measurement. The resources created by DATAcc provide product developers and clinical users with tools to help realize the promise of digital health measurement."

"Our industry has a history of admiring the lack of inclusion in medical product development and healthcare, yet has been slow to act," said Jennifer Goldsack, CEO of DiMe. "Digital health measurement offers the opportunity to redefine health and disease, inform an improved understanding of disease burden, and improve access to better healthcare. We are enormously proud of the DATAcc community for insisting that their inaugural resources support the industry in establishing new digital tools, measures, and their applications that address long-standing health disparities and inequity, helping move our industry from 'should do' to 'how to'."

The new resources sit within two sets of toolkits: one for developing digital health measurement products, and the second for deployment. The first toolkit features everything digital measurement product developers need to take an inclusive approach - providing the supporting tools and research that they need to take them from initial concept through the regulatory approval process.

The Market Opportunity Calculator: This model provides tangible numbers quantifying the opportunity  clinically and financially  of taking an inclusive approach to digital measurement product development. It is an interactive tool, much like an online mortgage calculator, where users can look at major health conditions along different vectors of inclusivity (race, income, education, and age) and compare current state to future state.

This model provides tangible numbers quantifying the opportunity  clinically and financially  of taking an inclusive approach to digital measurement product development. It is an interactive tool, much like an online mortgage calculator, where users can look at major health conditions along different vectors of inclusivity (race, income, education, and age) and compare current state to future state. The Digital Measurement Product Development Process: Modeled after the FDA Device Development Process, this tool describes, for the first time, the inclusive approach to developing a digital measurement product. Decision points throughout the development process are layered with key steps and considerations to ensure that an inclusive approach is taken at each phase.

Modeled after the FDA Device Development Process, this tool describes, for the first time, the inclusive approach to developing a digital measurement product. Decision points throughout the development process are layered with key steps and considerations to ensure that an inclusive approach is taken at each phase. The Library of Evidence: To support industry putting the inclusive development process into action, this "heat map" resource combines over 85 resources that demonstrate instances of quantified benefits, across vectors of inclusion, in areas both directly and indirectly related to digital health measurement products.

The second toolkit helps guide care and research teams, patients, community organizations, planning teams, and tech support teams on how to take an inclusive approach when deploying digital health measurement products in healthcare and research. The new Digital Measurement Product Deployment Toolkit includes a Quick Start Guide to Community Partnerships, Guidance on Inclusive Communications, End User Bill of Rights, Support Call Flowchart, and an annotated list of resources that includes organizations that specialize in inclusion and links to curated resources.

"DATAcc's new resources will provide technology manufacturers with the powerful data they need to develop products and target communities that are in need of access," said Rene Quashie, VP of Health at CTA. "Technology plays a critical role in improving our lives and DATAcc's toolkit is a great step toward further inclusion and access to healthcare."

Today's launch also marks the one-year anniversary of DATAcc. As it enters its second year, the community will consider the next most pressing issues to tackle in order to advance our shared vision of high quality digital health measurement for all. Top topics under consideration include health data rights, data governance, and data standardization and harmonization.

DATAcc welcomes new members to its community annually through an open call period beginning in June 2022. Interested organizations can sign up for an information session here.

About DATAcc: Hosted by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), the Digital Health Measurement Collaborative Community (DATAcc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, pre-competitive collaboration comprising the broad and inclusive range of stakeholders necessary to modernize the way we measure and define health and disease using digital approaches and technologies. Together, this collaborative will develop and demonstrate best practices and advance harmonized approaches to speed the fit-for-purpose use of digital health measurement to improve lives and minimize harm. DATAcc is one out of 12 collaborative communities in the U.S. and launched one year ago in May 2021. Apply to join the community!

About the Digital Medicine Society: At DiMe, our commitment to fully integrating experts from all of the disciplines comprising digital medicine is unwavering. From regulators to white-hat hackers, ethicists to engineers, and clinicians to citizen scientists, we are proud to welcome all experts committed to ensuring that digital medicine realizes its full potential to improve human health. Join us!

Media Contact: Carla English, [email protected]

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SOURCE Digital Medicine Society (DiMe)
SHENZHEN, China, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Huion, a leading supplier of digital drawing devices in the world, today launches an innovative Bluetooth pen tablet, the Inspiroy Giano G930L.

It will mark a leap forward for Huion's pen tablets. With exceptional performance, Inspiroy Giano is one of the winners of the Red Dot of the Red Dot Award: Product Design [2022], which will provide an unprecedented drawing experience for professional creators in illustration, animation, graphic design, industrial design, image editing, gaming, etc.

Built for professionals

Huion values user demand when developing new products. Inspiroy Giano is specially designed for professional creators. Featuring a 13.6 x 8.5inch working area, Inspiroy Giano works better with popular big-screen monitors and offers a flexible and efficient drawing experience.

Moreover, the mini LCD screen on the upper left of Inspiroy Giano indicates the status of the pen tablet and digital pen, such as the power and connectivity, allowing creators to check the information at a glance. Additionally, six programmable keys ensure quick access to the commonly-used functions to improve productivity.

Upgraded PenTech, optimized performance

Huion has always been working hard on technological innovations to empower artists to implement their creative ideas.

Applying PenTech 3.0, the battery-free digital pen PW517 not only ensures precise cursor positioning and smooth lines input through advanced algorithms but also enhances the drawing experience through realizing short retraction distance.

Furthermore, Inspiroy Giano achieves >300PPS report rate, 8192-level pressure sensitivity, and 60 tilt support, accurately capturing every subtle change in strokes. In addition, the digital pen PW517 is equipped with standard pen nibs and felt pen nibs, the latter of which will bring a more natural drawing experience as they can cause more friction between the paper-like surface of the grit-textured panel and the pen tip.

Redefine compatibility

Huion hopes to help artists explore more ideas conveniently. Compatible with Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, and Android operating system, Inspiroy Giano supports easy connection to computers and Android devices via Bluetooth. Besides, the long-lasting battery life guarantees uninterrupted all-day creation.

Today, tens of millions of people use Huion products to express their creative ideas around the world. To improve the drawing experience, Huion will continue to develop more innovative and practical products.

For more information about Inspiroy Giano, please visit www.huion.com.

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SOURCE Huion
VANCOUVER, BC, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Galiano Gold Inc. ("Galiano" or the "Company") (TSX: GAU) (NYSE: GAU) is pleased to announce that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS") and Glass Lewis and Co., LLC ("Glass Lewis") have both recommended that Galiano's shareholders vote FOR all the proposed resolutions that will be considered at the Company's annual general meeting of shareholders (the "Meeting") which will held virtually on Thursday June 2, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time).

ISS and Glass Lewis are two leading independent proxy advisory firms that, among other services, provide voting recommendations to pension funds, investment managers, mutual funds and other institutional shareholders.

Galiano Gold Inc.'s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders

The Meeting will be held online at https://meetnow.global/MG2NTNZ for the following purposes:

To elect directors of the Company for the ensuing year; To appoint the auditor of the Company for the ensuing year and to authorize the directors to fix their remuneration; and To authorize and approve a non-binding advisory resolution accepting the Company's approach to executive compensation.

Galiano shareholders are encouraged to read the meeting materials in detail and cast their votes prior to the proxy voting deadline. Copies of the meeting materials are available under Galiano's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and under the "Investors" section on Galiano's website at www.galianogold.com/investors/annual-meeting

YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT  PLEASE VOTE TODAY

The Board of Directors UNANIMOUSLY recommends that shareholders vote FOR all proposed resolutions that will be considered at the Meeting.

Submit your vote well in advance of the proxy voting deadline at 10:00 a.m. (Pacific Time) on Tuesday May 31, 2022.

How to vote

Galiano shareholders can vote their shares using the following methods:

Voting for Registered Shareholders (shares represented by a physical certificate or DRS Statement)

Internet  Go to www.investorvote.com, enter your 15-digit control number found on your form of proxy and vote your shares.

Go to www.investorvote.com, enter your 15-digit control number found on your form of proxy and vote your shares. Telephone  Call 1-866-732-8683, enter your 15-digit control number and follow the interactive voice control instructions to vote your shares.

Voting for Non-Registered/Beneficial Shareholders (shares held with a broker, bank or other intermediary)

Internet  Go to www.proxyvote.com, enter your 16-digit control number found on your voting instruction form and vote your shares.

 Go to www.proxyvote.com, enter your 16-digit control number found on your voting instruction form and vote your shares. Telephone  Call 1-800-474-7493, enter your 16-digit control number and follow the interactive voice control instructions to vote your shares.

Shareholder Questions:

Shareholders who have any questions or require assistance with voting may contact Galiano's proxy solicitation agent:

About Galiano Gold Inc.

Galiano is focused on creating a sustainable business capable of long-term value creation for its stakeholders through exploration and disciplined deployment of its financial resources. The Company currently operates and manages the Asanko Gold Mine, located in Ghana, West Africa which is jointly owned with Gold Fields Ltd. The Company is strongly committed to the highest standards for environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and neighbouring communities. For more information, please visit www.galianogold.com.

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SOURCE Galiano Gold Inc.
CARE-O-SENE research project will develop advanced catalysts for sustainable aviation fuels

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sasol (JSE: SOL, NYSE SSL) and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) will lead a consortium to develop and optimise next-generation catalysts that will play a key role in decarbonising the aviation sector through sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

At a ceremony at Sasol's global headquarters in Johannesburg today, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the launch of CARE-O-SENE (Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene) research project, to be funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Sasol.

Sasol joins forces with five other world-leading organisations in Germany and South Africa to accelerate the development of catalysts that are essential to produce green kerosene on a commercial scale through Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology.

"We are delighted to have been selected to lead this important project," said Fleetwood Grobler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sasol Limited. "Our expertise in FT technology and catalysts makes us the ideal partner to help Germany and the world decarbonise the aviation sector and make it sustainable over the long-term."

Prof. Dr. Bernd Rech, Scientific Managing Director of HZB adds, "CARE-O-SENE will enable us to accelerate innovation in a crucial field of green energy. This can only be achieved in a global partnership by deeply integrating fundamental research and technology development on an industry relevant scale."

Other CARE-O-SENE project partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the University of Cape Town, Department of Chemical Engineering (UCT) and INERATEC GmbH. The consortium expresses its sincere gratitude to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for supporting these important efforts.

CARE-O-SENE will run for three years and pursues the goal of setting the course for large-scale commercialisation of green kerosene production by 2025 with its research on catalysts. Catalysts are used to speed up chemical reactions, increase the yield and improve the quality of refined products. The new FT catalysts are expected to increase the fuel yield of the process to over 80 percent, thereby optimising use of resources.

Unlike conventional kerosene derived from fossil feedstocks, SAF can be made from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon dioxide sources. Developing SAF is key to a sustainable decarbonisation of the hard-to-abate aviation industry, and the main lever for net zero aviation. The underlying technology to developing SAF at scale from green hydrogen and sustainable carbon sources is FT technology, in which Sasol has been a global leader for more than 70 years.

Issued by:

Alex Anderson, Head of Group Media RelationsMobile +27 (0) 71 600 9605;[email protected]

Matebello Motloung, Manager: Group Media RelationsMobile: +27 (0) 82 773 9457[email protected]

Other Press contacts:Sunna Schulz, Senior Manager Corporate Affairs Eurasia ChemicalsDirect telephone: +49 40 63684-1364; Mobile: +49 152 0835 3881[email protected]

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und EnergieSilvia Zerbe, Manager Public Relations:Direct telephone: +49 30 8042-42607[email protected]

About Sasol:

Sasol is a global chemicals and energy company. We harness our knowledge and expertise to integrate sophisticated technologies and processes into world-scale operating facilities. We safely and sustainably source, produce and market a range of high-quality products in 23 countries, creating value for stakeholders. Our purpose 'Innovating for a better world' compels us to deliver on triple bottom line outcomes of People, Planet and Profit, responsibly and always with the intent to be a force for good. We have prioritised five Sustainable Development Goals to ensure our business is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

About Sasol's Information Privacy Policy:

We wish to inform you about the processing of your Personal Information by Sasol South Africa Limited and your rights under applicable data protection law, as interpreted and included in Sasol Information Privacy Policy.

Within our company, only Sasol Group Media Relations will receive your Personal Information to fulfil the purpose of maintaining the relationship with the receiver in his/her capacity as a member of the media. You have the right to request for the correction or deletion of your Personal Information stored by us at address: Sasol Place, 50 Katherine Street, Sandton in Johannesburg. You also have a right to restrict the processing of your Information. To exercise your privacy rights or find out more about Information Privacy Policy, kindly contact our Privacy Office on: [email protected]

HZB boilerplate

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und Energie (HZB) researches solutions for a climate-neutral society. Scientist are developing and optimising efficient and cost-effective energy materials for solar cells, batteries and catalysts. With 1200 employees, HZB is one of Germany's largest non-university research centers in the field of energy research and is a member of the Helmholtz Association. More Information: www.helmholtz-berlin.de

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/international-consortium-to-advance-decarbonisation-of-the-aviation-sector-301554515.html

SOURCE Sasol
More than 50 companies have now joined the First Movers Coalition, launched by President Biden of the US and the World Economic Forum at COP26

Coalition calls for urgent progress on clean technology innovation to achieve net-zero emissions globally by 2050

Johnson Controls, founding member of the Coalition, has committed to purchase 10 percent near net zero steel by 2030

CORK, Ireland, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson Controls, the global leader for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, is proud to support the expansion of the First Movers Coalition, which Johnson Controls joined as a founding member in November 2021. The First Movers Coalition, a flagship public-private partnership to clean up the most carbon-intensive industry sectors, from heavy industry to long-distance transport, announced today a major expansion to more than 50 corporate members worth about $8.5 trillion and seven leading governments covering over 40% of global GDP.

Global companies must work together to create new markets for a net-zero future

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry made the announcement alongside Bill Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy, at a press briefing hosted by the World Economic Forum.

"Global companies must work together to create new markets for a net-zero future. As a founding member of the First Movers Coalition Johnson Controls made a commitment to purchase 10 percent near net-zero carbon steel by 2030, and today welcomes new members, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Salesforce, to the Coalition, creating an unprecedented demand signal for cleantech," said George Oliver, chairman and CEO Johnson Controls. "Only through joint collaboration we are creating unprecedented market demand for the near-zero or zero-carbon technologies needed for net-zero by 2050."

Led by the World Economic Forum and the US government, the First Movers Coalition targets sectors including aluminium, aviation, chemicals, concrete, shipping, steel, and trucking responsible for 30% of global emissions  a proportion expected to rise to over 50% by mid-century without urgent progress on clean technology innovation.

The companies  whose market cap represents about $8.5 trillion across five continents  have sent the largest market signal in history to commercialize emerging clean technologies by making unprecedented advance purchase commitments by 2030 for near-zero carbon steel, aluminium, shipping, trucking and aviation as well as advanced carbon dioxide removal solutions.

Reducing emissions to net-zero by 2050 is possible if the right technologies are brought to commercial scale within the next decade.

"On behalf of the whole team at Johnson Controls, it is our great honor and pleasure to be counted among the founding partners of the First Movers Coalition. Let us salute Secretary John Kerry and the leadership of the World Economic Forum for launching this innovative partnership, and historic expansion today," said Katie McGinty, vice president and chief sustainability and external relations officer at Johnson Controls. "This is exactly the kind of "working together"business and government, togetherthat the world so needs and that we know is an unbeatable combination. The toughest problemslike decarbonizing hard to decarbonize sectorswither in the face of formidable partnerships, and we believe, transform them into opportunities."

Among the earliest industrial companies to report carbon emissions and pledge emission reductions, Johnson Controls continues to make tremendous progress  committing to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2040  ten years ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement goal. By 2030, the company aims to cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 55 percent and Scope 3 emissions by 16 percent. These ambitious 2030 emissions reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.

Additional information on the First Movers Coalition can be found here and to read more about Johnson Controls commitment to sustainability, please visit: https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/corporate-sustainability/environment

About Johnson Controls

At Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI), we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet.

Building on a proud history of more than 135 years of innovation, we deliver the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through OpenBlue, our comprehensive digital offering. Today, with a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the world`s largest portfolio of building technology and software as well as service solutions from some of the most trusted names in the industry. Visit www.johnsoncontrols.com for more information and follow @Johnson Controls on social platforms.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/johnson-controls-supports-major-expansion-of-first-movers-coalition-301553589.html

SOURCE Johnson Controls International plc
BOSTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- juli, the AI-powered digital health platform that delights and engages consumers to power their own health while offering their healthcare providers insights from sub-episodic health data, today announced the appointment of Michael Seggev as Senior Vice President/Commercial. Seggev will be responsible for leading U.S. and global commercialization of juli and will report directly to CEO Bettina Hein.

Seggev brings over 25 years of commercialization experience in healthcare, including B2B go-to-market planning and launch leadership at two disruptive digital health startups. He previously launched products that achieved over $1.8 billion in annual sales. Under his leadership, the first device/drug/app combination inhaler for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was brought to market.

"With the addition of Michael, we're fully focused on commercializing and developing juli to help payers, providers and employers tackle the complexity of chronic and co-morbid conditions," said Hein. "I look forward to working with Michael to amplify our team's ability to drive the value of juli with these key customers."

The juli platform combines data from five sources: electronic medical records, smartphones, wearables, environmental data, and patient-reported information. The platform combines these disparate data sources into AI-driven insights for management of multiple comorbid conditions. These unique capabilities help juli identify previously unseen correlations and drive micro-behavioral changes that can improve complex chronic conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, asthma, migraine, and chronic pain.

In March, the company announced a $3.8 million seed round of investment intended to scale its commercial team across the U.S. and conduct randomized clinical trials while building data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities.

Seggev has a proven pedigree in the digital health and chronic disease management arena and has served in healthcare leadership roles since 2005. Past roles include stints as HIV Global Brand Leader at Merck, Global Commercial Lead in Teva's Digital Health group, and Chief Commercial Officer at Vocalis Health, which pioneered the use of vocal biomarkers and developed products to screen for COVID-19 and monitor chronic patients with COPD and congestive heart failure (CHF). Most recently, Seggev led commercial efforts at Donisi Health, a company providing in-home medical-grade monitoring of multiple cardiopulmonary parameters for patients with CHF, chronic kidney disease, and other diseases.

"The juli team has applied their expertise in data, AI, software and consumer experience to decode the complexity of chronic disease management and simplify the integration of insights derived from the incredible amount of data we all produce every single day," Seggev said. "Our single solution integrates data from all available sources, working across chronic conditions including complex patients managing multiple conditions at once; I'm thrilled to join juli and accelerate our ability to improve patient health and lower health care costs."

Chronic and mental health conditions account for 90% of U.S. healthcare expenditures. juli harnesses AI to help people with such conditions and their caregivers gain control by giving them powerful insights into the behavioral patterns that impact their health, like pinpointing triggers that make a complex, multifactorial condition worse, and identifying changes that can help avoid or alleviate a flare-up.

Since launching approximately a year ago, more than 20,000 people have used the juli app to help manage their multiple chronic conditions. The company has already earned high-profile awards including Best New Company of 2021 by MassTLC; has been selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as one of 15 digital health startups to join the 2022 PandemicX Accelerator cohort; and is one of only nine companies selected into SoftBank Vision Fund's Emerge Program for 2021.

About juli

juli is a management platform that empowers patients and their care teams to manage complex chronic conditions. The AI-powered app combines patient-provided data, environmental data, and a patient's social and behavioral context, to identify micro-behavioral changes that can improve their health. juli supports patients with chronic health conditions like asthma, migraine, depression, bipolar disorder, and chronic pain through a number of evidence-based approaches, and uniquely unites multiple health data sources in one place. For more information visit https://www.juli.co/.

Media Contact

Todd Stein510.417.0612[email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/juli-welcomes-michael-seggev-as-senior-vice-presidentcommercial-301555001.html

SOURCE juli
Digital system links Kemin liquid application systems for better customer experience and improved efficiency

DES MOINES, Iowa, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kemin Industries, a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services, recently launched KEMINCONNECT, a cloud-based data management platform that connects Kemin's liquid application systems with its Internet of Things (IoT) tool. KEMINCONNECT leads the company's digitalization efforts of its services for the animal nutrition and health, rendering and pet food markets.

A technological revolution focused on exploring automation and data exchange in industrial environments gradually takes place in commercial and manufacturing settings. KEMINCONNECT advances Kemin's role in transitioning to modern technologies. For example, smart machines that analyze and diagnose issues can be linked across the value chain via KEMINCONNECT. This connection improves the agility and reactivity of the Kemin support team and maximizes the overall equipment effectiveness.

Kemin recently introduced KEMINCONNECT at an online event for animal nutrition and health professionals that addressed the steady progress of digitalization in the feed industry. During the event, a panel of experts spoke on the subject in an effort to bring attention to the digital awareness curve in the agricultural industry. The panelists were experts involved in digitalization for business-to-business and the animal nutrition and health sectors, including:

Bernd Gro, Chief Technology Officer, Software AG

Vinicius Chiappetta, Global Commercial Director, Cargill Digital Solutions

Tom Verleyen, Global Platform Director, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health

The experts discussed the tremendous opportunities digitalization offers the agricultural industry. Using technology to connect different steps in the production process can result in overall cost reductions, gains in efficiency and automationall of which improve customer experience and production efficiency.

In the near future, ecosystems that encompass feed and feed production, as well as farming and animal monitoring, will offer agricultural companies a full and connected experience at each step of the value chain. By utilizing the data and technology encapsulated in KEMINCONNECT today, Kemin can identify what brings true value to its customers tomorrow.

The speakers also stressed the importance of change management, as data security and integrity are essential to establishing trust and acceptance of a digital solution. Digital transformation goes far beyond simply installing technology for users to learn and operate independently; supporting them with industry expertise is critical to maximizing the benefits of a digital solution.

"Kemin is pioneering the future of value-added services linked to its liquid application systems for the industry," said Raf Snoekx, Business Development Manager, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health  EMENA (Europe, Middle East, North Africa). "At Kemin, we use digital transformation to provide customers with all data and insights at hand, enabling them to make data-driven decisions that optimize their processes and operations. We do this through KEMINCONNECT, our digital application management platform created in-house and tailor-made to the needs of our customers."

Kemin has spent months validating KEMINCONNECT in pilot projects ran across different continents. Several customers were involved in the development phase to provide input and ensure KEMINCONNECT's functionalities and dashboards meet their needs. Feedback from these customers has been extremely positive, and Kemin is now gradually rolling out its digital service.

KEMINCONNECT offers better integration of Kemin's liquid application system into customers' existing production processes. With this digital platform, customers can enjoy increased agility and reactivity from Kemin support teams, and operators will gain additional insights on how to improve their process and application systems.

For more information on KEMINCONNECT, click here.

About Kemin Industries

Kemin Industries (www.kemin.com) is a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services. The company supplies over 500 specialty ingredients for human and animal health and nutrition, pet food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, food technologies, crop technologies, textile, biofuel and animal vaccine industries.

For over half a century, Kemin has been dedicated to using applied science to address industry challenges and offer product solutions to customers in more than 120 countries. Kemin provides ingredients to feed a growing population with its commitment to the quality, safety and efficacy of food, feed and health-related products.

Established in 1961, Kemin is a privately held, family-owned-and-operated company with more than 3,000 global employees and operations in 90 countries, including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Italy, Russia, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa and the United States.

Media Contact: Lauren Burt, Head of Worldwide Communications, [email protected], +1 (515) 249-4219

 Kemin Industries, Inc. and its group of companies 2022. All rights reserved.   Trademarks of Kemin Industries, Inc., U.S.A. Certain statements, product labeling and claims may differ by geography or as required by government requirements.

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SOURCE Kemin Industries
Panelists from Northwell Health, H. F. Lenz Company, and Messer will provide strategies on how to upgrade existing medical oxygen systems

BRIDGEWATER, N.J., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following skyrocketing demand for medical oxygen during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare facilities are adjusting to their "new normal" oxygen consumption rates and considering upgrades to their oxygen supply infrastructure. At the 2022 American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) Annual Conference and Technical Exhibition in Boston on July 20 at 8:15 a.m., Messer will join a panel of experts to discuss "Medical Oxygen Systems: Design, Infrastructure and Capital Planning."

The session will equip healthcare engineers with the fundamentals for a code-compliant medical oxygen supply system, tools to evaluate their existing systems, and strategies for obtaining capital budget approval. The attendees will hear from:

Christopher Tamulonis, MSA, MSOM, CHFM, CHC, Senior Director, Facilities Management for Lenox Hill Hospital  Northwell Health

David A. Blackner, P.E., Vice President, H. F. Lenz Company

Jeff L. Jarvis, Medical Gas Specialist, H. F. Lenz Company and

Donald E. Smiley, Director of Healthcare, Messer

In addition, Messer will showcase how to improve the security of oxygen supply at ASHE Booth 1314, July 17-20. Messer healthcare team will highlight its:

Vast production and distribution network with 24/7 remote monitoring

Quick service response during demand surges or natural disasters

Comprehensive Design, Build, Provide platform that delivers NFPA-compliant bulk medical gas installations from plant to patients

To learn more about Messer healthcare's Design, Build, Provide platform, visit: https://www.messer-us.com/healthcare.

About Messer Americas

Messer is the largest privately held industrial gas business in the world, and a leading industrial and medical gas company in North and South America. Messer offers over 120 years of expertise in industrial, medical, specialty and electronic gases. The company delivers quality gases, related services and technology via an extensive production and distribution network. Health and safety, sustainability practices and environmental protection are core Messer values that are embedded in the company's daily operations.

Messer Americas is part of the Messer SE & Co. KGaA, representing a USD ~3.8 billion enterprise with presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit: www.messeramericas.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/messer-helps-healthcare-facilities-prepare-for-future-medical-oxygen-challenges-at-ashe-2022-301555009.html

SOURCE Messer North America, Inc.
Clear Channel Outdoor, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children & Texas Center for the Missing Team Up on National Missing Children's Day to Reunite Missing Kids with their Families

HOUSTON, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Texas Center for the Missing, Houston's Amber Alert Provider, and Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE: CCO) today launched a month long national child safety awareness campaign coinciding with National Missing Children's Day (May 25). The digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) campaign will help generate leads for missing children's cases nationwide. Specifically in Texas, where 253 children are missing, CCO held four press conferences earlier today to highlight missing children's cases in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and El Paso.

The national campaign, supporting the local effort, will reach millions in cities across the country over the next month using CCO's digital billboards, including in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. The creative showcases a series of stunning statistics illustrating the number of missing children in each state and the message "Help Find Them." For 15 years, CCO has tapped the real-time capabilities of its DOOH media network to help recover abducted children through the posting of AMBER Alerts on its digital billboards. This new campaign extends that effort and underscores the company's ongoing commitment to child safety.

Children go missing every day in the United States, and while most are found quickly, some remain missing for months and even years. This is a reminder that child safety should remain a priority for communities across the country. When a child is reported missing to law enforcement, federal law requires that child be entered into the FBI's National Crime Information Center, also known as NCIC. According to the FBI, in 2021 there were 337,195 NCIC entries for missing children.

The Texas campaigns specifically feature individual missing children's cases across CCO's DOOH displays. The child's photo is included in each message, and in some cases, the child's age progression photo is shown if the child has been missing for an extended period. Each child's image will run across multiple digital billboards in each Texas city thousands of times per day on each digital display.

The Texas Department of Public Safety Missing Persons Clearinghouse received 46,581 missing person reports in 2021 with 33,774 being juveniles. CCO is providing this month-long public service campaign at no cost in partnership with the Texas Center for the Missing, Houston's Amber Alert Provider and NCMEC.

"At the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, we know the power of pictures and community action. Clear Channel Outdoor is in a unique position to leverage their digital space to help bring home missing children and we are thrilled to be able to fight for a safer tomorrow with CCO," said Gavin Portnoy, Vice President of Communications and Brand, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. "Always, but especially on National Missing Children's Day, we encourage the public to pay attention to the photos of missing children and report any information they may have. It only takes one person to bring home a missing child."

"With over 8,000 children reported missing from Greater Houston in 2021, partnerships like these are critical to reuniting families and ensuring the safe recovery of at-risk missing children," said John McNamee, CEO, Texas Center for the Missing.

"Clear Channel Outdoor began this program over 10 years ago and has reunited a number of children with their families which is the most rewarding service we can perform for the communities where we operate," said Lee Vela, Vice President, Public Affairs, Clear Channel Outdoor-Houston. "Digital billboard messages have worked repeatedly to help find these children and we are honored to play a role in this safety campaign alongside NCMEC and Texas Center for the Missing."

2022 Missing Children Cases featured across Texas in this program include:

Houston: Ameera Deadrick has been missing since June 1, 2016, at the time she was eight years old. She is an African American female 4'3" high and weighing 50 pounds.

San Antonio: Lina Khil was last seen in the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road on December 20, 2021. She has straight shoulder length hair and was in a red dress, black jacket, and black shoes. Lorne "Trey" Jones was last seen in December 2021. He is right-handed with curly ear top hair and is African American.

El Paso: Angel Marie Avalos has been missing since June of 2017.

Dallas Region: Atiz Garcia was last seen on April 8, 2021. She is a Hispanic female with brown hair and eyes. She weighs about 140 pounds and is 5'1".

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25th as National Missing Children's Day. National Missing Children's Day is a reminder to all parents and guardians of the need for high-quality photographs of their children for use in case of an emergency, and for the need for everyone to pay close attention to posters and photographs of missing children.

About Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. ("CCOH") (NYSE: CCO) is at the forefront of driving innovation in the out-of-home advertising industry. Our dynamic advertising platform is broadening the pool of advertisers using our medium through the expansion of digital billboards and displays and the integration of data analytics and programmatic capabilities that deliver measurable campaigns that are simpler to buy. By leveraging the scale, reach and flexibility of our diverse portfolio of assets, we connect advertisers with millions of consumers every month across more than 500,000 print and digital displays in 26 countries.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited ChildrenSince 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has served as the leading private, nonprofit organization helping to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization. As part of its work as the clearinghouse and resource center on issues relating to missing and exploited children, NCMEC operates a hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678), and has assisted in the recovery of more than 376,000 missing children. NCMEC also operates the CyberTipline, a mechanism for reporting suspected child sexual exploitation, which has received more than 118 million reports. To learn more about NCMEC, visit www.missingkids.org.

About the Texas Center for the MissingTexas Center for the Missing (TCM) is a Houston-based non-profit and is the Amber Alert AND Silver Alert provider for the 14-county Houston-Galveston region. TCM offers crisis intervention, prevention, and community education services related to child abductions, runaways, internet lures, and endangered adults. To decrease the number of missing children, we at Texas Center for the Missing know that children and families need to be educated about how to remain safe, law enforcement needs to be trained on how and when to activate local Amber Alerts, and the community at large needs to be aware of the painful reality of these situations.

For more information, visit centerforthemissing.org or watch our latest videos at: www.youtube.com/user/theTXCenter.

Connect with Texas Center for the Missing on Facebook at www.fb.com/TXCenter or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TXCenter.

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SOURCE Clear Channel Outdoor
Neosec's SaaS platform automatically discovers and assesses all APIs used by an organization to deliver protection from fraud and abuse within business APIs

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Neosec today announced that its cloud-based platform for managing API use and abuse has been recognized as an Excellence Award finalist in the Best Emerging Technology category for the 2022 SC Awards. Rather than simply identify potential API structural vulnerabilities, the Neosec platform continually discovers all APIs in use and applies behavioral analytics and machine learning to identify fraud and abuse in APIs that connect valuable company resources to third parties. Recently, Neosec was named a 2022 Gartner Cool Vendor in Application Security: Protection of Cloud-Native Application and was selected as a finalist in the RSA Innovation Sandbox to take place June 6 at the RSA conference in San Francisco.

Now in its 25th year, the SC Awards are cybersecurity's most prestigious and competitive program. Finalists are recognized for outstanding solutions, organizations, and people driving innovation and success in information security. A complete list of the finalists in the Best Emerging Technology Excellence Award category is now on the SC Media website.

"Being selected as a 'best of' finalist for a category covering so many emerging technologies for security from so many different companies is a distinctive honor and reflective of the unique and vital role performed by the Neosec platform," said Giora Engel, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Neosec. "Through imperative digital business initiatives, companies are being turned inside out with their most valuable systems, data, and assets connected directly to third parties using APIs. Companies must have visibility and the means to identify and stop fraudulent behavior or misuse."

Entries for the SC Awards were judged by a world-class panel of industry leaders from sectors including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, consulting, and education, among others.

Winners will be announced during SC Awards week, scheduled to begin on August 22, 2022. A Meet the Winners networking reception celebration will take place during InfoSec World 2022, September 27th, in Orlando, Florida.

About CyberRisk Alliance

CyberRisk Alliance (CRA) is a business intelligence company serving the high growth, rapidly evolving cybersecurity community with a diversified portfolio of services that inform, educate, build community, and inspire an efficient marketplace. Our trusted information leverages a unique network of journalists, analysts and influencers, policymakers, and practitioners. CRA's brands include SC Media, SecurityWeekly, ChannelE2E, MSSP Alert, InfoSec World, Identiverse, Cybersecurity Collaboration Forum, its research unit CRA Business Intelligence, and the peer-to-peer CISO membership network, Cybersecurity Collaborative. Click here to learn more.

About NeosecNeosec is re-inventing application security with a powerful platform that unifies security and development teams to protect modern applications from threats. The foundation of the SaaS platform is built on data and analytics to manage security at scale. Neosec prevents threats from abusing the complex network of APIs that connect today's businesses. The platform helps organizations discover every API and audit risk. Neosec has pioneered the use of behavioral analytics to understand normal versus abnormal API usage and delivers powerful threat hunting capabilities. Neosec prevents threats and stops abuse hiding within APIs, and brings new intelligence to application security. Neosec is based in Palo Alto, California, with R&D in Tel Aviv, Israel. To learn more, visit neosec.com.

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SOURCE Neosec
DALLAS, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NexPoint Advisors, L.P., investment adviser to the NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust ("NXDT" and together with affiliated entities "NexPoint"), today announced the extension of the offering period for its previously announced offer to purchase Shares of Beneficial Interest (the "Shares") of United Development Funding IV ("UDFI" or the "Company") at a price of $1.10 per Share upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase and in the related Assignment Form for the offer (which together constitute the "Offer" and the "Tender Offer Documents"). The Offer is now scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight, Eastern Time, at the end of the day on June 23, 2022, unless the Offer is extended or earlier terminated. The Tender Offer Documents are available at www.UDFITenderOffer.com, or from the information agent for the Offer, as discussed below.

As previously announced on December 14, 2020, the Offer is conditioned upon, among other things, the satisfaction or waiver of the following conditions: (i) there shall not have been threatened, instituted, or pending any action or proceeding before any court or any governmental or administrative agency (a) challenging the acquisition of shares pursuant to the Offer or otherwise relating in any manner to the Offer, or (b) in the sole judgment of NexPoint, otherwise materially adversely affecting the Company; (ii) NexPoint shall have received all required governmental approvals, if any, for the Offer; (iii) NexPoint shall have had the opportunity to conduct sufficient due diligence to determine whether the offered price per share is reasonable given the current financial condition and results of operations of UDFI; (iv) the Board of Trustees of UDFI shall have waived in writing the ownership limitations set forth in Article VII of the Declaration of Trust of UDFI as such limitations would otherwise apply to the Offer; and (v) NexPoint shall have received satisfactory evidence that UDFI has continued to qualify as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") under federal tax laws and thereby to avoid any entity-level federal income or excise tax.

NXDT is in the process of converting from an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 into a real estate investment trust ("REIT"). In connection with that conversion, NXDT dropped down certain of its investments to a single-member, wholly owned limited liability company subsidiary, NexPoint Real Estate Opportunities ("NREO"), which is reflected as a portfolio company of NXDT. NexPoint Advisors, L.P., external adviser to NXDT and NREO, continues to have investment and voting power over the UDF IV Common Shares. Accordingly, NexPoint continues to beneficially own the UDF IV Common Shares it had previously reported to the SEC on its last Schedule 13D.

On January 8, 2021, UDFI announced that it had reduced the percentage of outstanding Shares that a shareholder may own from 9.8% to 5.0%. The Company took such action in an effort to frustrate the Offer. It also announced it amended the Company's bylaws to require that certain legal actions could be brought on behalf of or against UDFI only in certain courts in Maryland. NexPoint is reviewing these actions and their legality under applicable law.

Shareholders should read the Offer to Purchase and the related materials carefully because they contain important information. Shareholders may obtain a free copy of the Offer to Purchase and the Assignment Form from D.F. King & Co., Inc., the information agent for the Offer (the "Information Agent"), by calling toll-free at (800) 331-7543. THE OFFER WILL EXPIRE AT 12:00 MIDNIGHT, EASTERN TIME, AT THE END OF THE DAY ON JUNE 23, 2022, UNLESS THE OFFER IS EXTENDED OR EARLIER TERMINATED.

About the NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust (NXDT)

The NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust (NYSE: NXDT), formerly the NexPoint Strategic Opportunities Fund (NYSE: NHF), is a closed-end fund managed by NexPoint Advisors, L.P. that is in the process of converting to a diversified REIT. The name change became effective on November 8, 2021. On August 28, 2020, shareholders approved the conversion proposal and amended NXDT's fundamental investment policies and restrictions to permit NXDT to pursue its new business. NXDT has completed the repositioning of its investment portfolio sufficient to achieve REIT tax status and is operating during its 2021 taxable year so that it may qualify for taxation as a REIT.NXDT has also realigned its portfolio so that it is no longer an "investment company" under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "1940 Act"). On March 31, 2021, NXDT filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") for an order under the 1940 Act declaring that NXDT no longer operates as an investment company (the "Deregistration Order"). During the SEC's review process, NXDT will continue to be structured as a closed-end investment fund.

For more information visit www.nexpoint.com/nexpoint-strategic-opportunities-fund

About NexPoint Advisors, L.P.

NexPoint Advisors, L.P. is an SEC-registered adviser on the NexPoint alternative investment platform. It serves as the adviser to a suite of funds and investment vehicles, including a closed-end fund, interval fund, business development company, and various real estate vehicles. For more information visit www.nexpoint.com

Risks and Disclosures

This document is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any common stock of UDFI or any other securities. The offer to purchase common stock of UDFI will only be made pursuant to the Offer to Purchase, the Assignment Form and related documents. THE TENDER OFFER MATERIALS (INCLUDING THE OFFER TO PURCHASE, THE ASSIGNMENT FORM AND CERTAIN OTHER TENDER OFFER DOCUMENTS) WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. STOCKHOLDERS OF UDFI ARE URGED TO READ THESE DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT SUCH STOCKHOLDERS SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE MAKING ANY DECISION REGARDING TENDERING THEIR SHARES. Investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of these statements (when available) by directing such requests to the Information Agent, by calling toll-free at (800) 331-7543.

Media ContactLucy Bannon[email protected]

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SOURCE NexPoint Advisors, L.P.
WAPATO, Wash., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pace International, a leading provider of sustainable postharvest solutions and technologies for the fresh produce industry, is pleased to welcome its newest Pacific Northwest Account Manager, Garrett Babst.

As an Account Manager, Babst will work directly with customers to ensure satisfaction, meet and exceed budgeted sales revenue goals, and pull Pace products through distribution. He will be based in Wenatchee, Washington and serve the greater Yakima, Washington region, and Canada.

"We're pleased to have Garrett join us at Pace International," said Marcelo Masoero, Senior Global Sales Director, Pace International. "His knowledge and extensive experience in the agriculture industry is unparalleled and will help us achieve our goal to provide exceptional service that results in greater efficiencies and higher packouts."

Most recently, Babst served as the Packaging Sales Manager at Northwest Wholesale Inc., after being promoted from Sales Representative. Over the course of his career, he gained experience throughout the agriculture industry as a Sales Representative and Account Manager with Decco, Fruit Packer Supply and AgroFresh.

"Garrett is a proven sales professional with exceptional account management experience. Throughout his career, he has established strong customer partnerships that have led to an outstanding track record of delivering business results. We are thrilled to add his expertise to our roster at Pace, where we deliver the best solutions to help each customer achieve their goals," added Masoero.

About Pace International LLC

Pace International LLC is a subsidiary of Valent BioSciences LLC, a Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. business. Pace collaborates with growers, packers and agricultural organizations to develop innovative solutions to enhance, protect, and preserve fruit and vegetable quality and freshness. Pace is the leading global provider of sustainable postharvest solutions and technologies, equipment and technical services to maximize efficiencies in packing operations and increase the freshness and value of harvested crops. For more information, visit the company's website at paceint.com.

About Valent Biosciences LLC

Headquartered in Libertyville, Illinois, Valent BioSciences LLC is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. Valent BioSciences is the worldwide leader in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of biorational products, with sales in 95 countries around the world. Valent BioSciences is an ISO 9001 Certified Company. For additional information, visit the company's website at valentbiosciences.com.

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SOURCE Pace International
WWII Icon Opens for First Time in Decades; Tickets on Sale Now

HONOLULU, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum is preparing to open the doors of the historic Ford Island Control Tower on Memorial Day after being closed for decades.

A new tour, Top of the Tower Tour, is a guided tour that includes access to the historic Operations Building, the Firehouse Exhibit, and an elevator ride to the upper cab of the control tower  the pinnacle of the tour with 360-degree views of the Pearl Harbor aviation battlefield from 168 feet high. Historic videos and pictures in the upper cab show the impact and aftermath of the attack that gives a new understanding of the "day which will live in infamy."

The bottom of the Operations Building is anchored by the Preserving our National Treasure exhibit, researched and fabricated by U-Haul, which explores the history of the building and tower in WWII and beyond. The exhibit also shares the WWII story of U-Haul founders, L.S. Ted and Anna Mary Cary Schoen, a family story of service and ingenuity.

"The Ford Island Control Tower stands as a symbol of resilience and peace, standing watch over this hallowed ground," said Elissa Lines, Executive Director of Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. "It's time for the world to witness Pearl Harbor from an aerial perspective."

The Ford Island Control Tower officially opens for operations on May 30, 2022, in honor of Memorial Day. The restoration process began in 2012 and cost more than $7 million to date. Spanning 10 years, the effort included: restoring historic windows and walls, replacing 53 tons of steel in the tower itself to stabilize the structure, and updating ceiling, flooring, electrical conduits, lighting, restrooms, and office space. Air conditioning was also added.

The latest stage to be completed, the refurbishment of the historic elevator, provides access from the ground floor to the upper control cab. With funding from the Schoen family of U-Haul and mechanical expertise from Otis Elevator Company, the elevator lift system was repaired and updated as needed to both preserve the historic elements of the 1940s era equipment and ensure safe operations. The elevator will allow visitors to ascend 15 stories to the upper cab exhibit and observation deck. A final project, restoration of remaining exterior windows, is slated for later this year.

"From the tower, it's easy to imagine the thunderous rain of bombs and bullets coming down, erupting in fire, chaos, and death," says Rod Bengston, Director of Exhibits, Restoration, and Curatorial Services. "Now, however, visitors will also be able to grasp a sense of peace and tranquility that comes from the historic view."

According to Bengston, designer of the exhibit in the upper control cab, the following sites can be seen from the tower:

Battleship Row, where eight U.S. Navy battleships (USS Arizona , USS Oklahoma , USS West Virginia , USS California , USS Nevada , USS Tennessee , USS Maryland , and USS Pennsylvania ) were bombed and damaged, with four sunken;

, USS , USS , USS , USS , USS , USS , and USS ) were bombed and damaged, with four sunken; Military bases and airfields at Hickam, Wheeler, Bellows, Ewa, Schofield, and Kaneohe, where 188 U.S. military aircrafts were bombed;

Ewa Plains, where the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service initiated the attack;

Hospital Point, where the USS Nevada was beached;

was beached; The Ford Island runway, surrounding shipyards, and historic buildings

The Pearl Harbor National Memorial featuring the USS Arizona Memorial, as well as the Battleship Missouri Memorial, and the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum.

Funding for the multi-phase, decade-long restoration of the Ford Island Control Tower was powered by generous donations from the State of Hawaii, Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust, Freeman Foundation, Historic Hawaii Foundation, James Gorman Family Foundation, OFS Brands, Dave Lau and Sharon Elske, Alexander "Sandy" Gaston, Robert A. and Susan C. Wilson Foundation, The R.K. Mellon Family Foundation, CDR and Mrs. Edward P. Keough, Larry and Suzanne Turley, and the U.S. Department of Defense, and many other individuals and corporations.

For tickets and information, visit www.pearlharboraviationmuseum.org or call (808) 441-1000. Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Complimentary access to the Museum is via the shuttles that run every 15 minutes from the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center at 1 Arizona Memorial Place.

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum is located on America's WWII aviation battlefield, one of the few places in our country's nearly 250-year history where America was attacked by a foreign enemy on its own soil. From the strafing marks on our grounds to the incredible views of the most famous battleship in American history, the view from the tower is not to be missed.

Click here for photos, video, logo, and b-roll.

ABOUT PEARL HARBOR AVIATION MUSEUMPearl Harbor Aviation Museum is located on Historic Ford Island, where bombs fell during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Walk the Pearl Harbor battlefield where the attack began, enter the bullet-scarred hangars, and see the control tower and aircraft of the battle, including a Japanese Zero and the B-17 Swamp Ghost. Hear the stories of World War II heroes and their response to the attack that changed our nation and world. Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum's mission is to steward America's first World War II aviation battlefield. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that depends on membership, volunteers, and donations for support. To join, volunteer or support, visit www.PearlHarborAviationMuseum.org.

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SOURCE Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum
ODESSA, Texas , May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Saulsbury is pleased to announce that it was recently selected to perform the mechanical construction for two compressor stations in McKenzie County, ND.

"These projects mark the fifth and sixth compressor stations we've been selected to complete for our client. Saulsbury has built a strong relationship with this client over the last two years, and we look forward to continuing to support them into the future," said TJ Stewart, Director of Business Development.

Eric Volk, Director of Northern Operations notes, "Our team has a history of successful project execution in the Bakken. We look forward to continuing to build this relationship and to deliver another set of successful, safe and on time projects."

Saulsbury's Northern Operations is based out of Bismarck, ND and has project leaders with extensive experience providing turnkey construction services while maintaining an exceptional safety standard.

About Saulsbury Industries Saulsbury Industries is a full-service engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction company that specializes in building the infrastructure necessary to fuel the future. Saulsbury serves its clients in heavy industrial markets by designing and building safe, well executed, capital-efficient projects nationwide. Headquartered in Odessa, Texas, the company's national office footprint includes Dallas, Houston, Port Arthur, Henderson, Abilene, Pecos, and Corpus Christi, TX; Carlsbad, NM; Tulsa, OK; and Bismarck, ND. For more information, please visit www.saulsbury.com and follow Saulsbury on LinkedIn or Facebook.

For information or inquiries, please contact:

Saulsbury Marketing and Communications 2951 E. Interstate 20Odessa, TX 79766(432) 366-3686[email protected]

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SOURCE Saulsbury Industries
AUSTIN, Texas, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In a move to bring major bicycle production back to the United States from Asia, Guardian Bikes has announced that it is opening a highly-automated bike factory in Seymour, Indiana.

"Guardian's vision is to challenge the status quo in every way, rejecting the model of disposable, unsafe kids bikes. We make the safest bikes, ones kids LOVE to ride, built with unmatched quality and safety standards."

Every year, approximately 11 million kids bikes are purchased in the United States. 10.5 million out of the 11 million (96%) are imported from China. The pandemic exposed to the average consumer what experts already know - a China-dependent supply chain is fragile and unsustainable.

Guardian Bikes is a fast-growing startup backed by investor Mark Cuban. Yet with 6-12 month lead times, the current bicycle supply chain cannot keep up with its rapid growth.

In April 2020, Cuban challenged Guardian CEO Brian Riley to develop a new type of bike factory utilizing robotic automation in the United States.

"Guardian Bikes mission is to make the safest kids bikes, sold direct to customers' door, with an incredible customer experience. We do that through first principles innovation across a variety of areas from our patented award winning SureStop brake system, to our RideSizer software, to our proprietary packaging and 99% assembled home delivery. Our next step is our biggest innovation yet, a highly automated factory right here in the U.S.A." , founder and CEO Brian Riley has said.

Guardian Bikes has chosen Sam Markel to lead its U.S. facility. "The Midwest has a deep history of automotive manufacturing that we will leverage to bring innovation into our new facility in Indiana. We are creating the sourcing, operations, and manufacturing leaders in the region that will excel Guardian's growth path," Markel says.

In addition to the investment in the local economy, moving to the USA will have a significant impact on its carbon footprint. Each container's journey to the USA emits about as much C02 as an average passenger vehicle emits over a year.

Its first semi-automated USA assembly run bagan May 2022 for their newest product, the 12" Guardian Balance Bike, with all other Guardian Bikes to begin in August.

More details about the factory build out can be found at guardianbikes.com.

About Guardian Bikes

In 2007, Brian Riley's grandfather had a head-over-handlebar accident after grabbing his front brake too hard, resulting in several broken vertebrae. Riley was inspired to develop something for bikes to eliminate the possibility of head-over-handlebar accidents. In 2013, the award-winning invention, SureStop brakes, were brought to market. In 2017, Guardian Bikes with SureStop brakes were introduced to America by landing a deal on Shark Tank with entrepreneur Mark Cuban. In 2022, Guardian Bikes are in homes all across America and its 99% accurate RideSizer tool has been used by hundreds of thousands.

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SOURCE Guardian Bikes
NEW YORK, May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Silver Fern Farms, New Zealand's leading red meat producer and exporter, celebrated the launch of its USDA-approved Net Carbon Zero by Nature 100% Grass-Fed Angus Beef at a New York City event attended by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

"It's great to see NZ exporters like Silver Fern Farms bringing their own initiatives to sustainability and our regenerative future," said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the event. "It's a wonderful example of how Aotearoa New Zealand prides itself on preserving its land and sea for future generations."

"Silver Fern Farms and their Net Carbon Zero Beef represents both NZ values but also our aspirations when it comes to climate change. Rather than this product being the exception, it will increasingly be the rule. It's great to see Silver Fern Farms leading the charge in that regard."

Held at the Kimpton Hotel Eventi rooftop in Chelsea, the Prime Minister was joined by the visiting New Zealand trade mission, New York and U.S. national media, and the Silver Fern Farms board and leadership team. The event was to celebrate the successful introduction of Net Carbon Zero by Nature Angus Beef to the U.S. The 100% grass-fed product is already being sold in supermarkets in the New York Tri-state area, the Midwest, and California.

"Taking care of our emissions is our own responsibility, no-one else's," said Silver Fern Farms CEO Simon Limmer. "We are not outsourcing our emissions, rather we are recognizing and incentivizing our farmers for their efforts to create farm environments that are better able to capture carbon, increase biodiversity, and support nature positive food production."

"As an exporter and marketer, we know that our pastoral farming system already has many of the attributes consumers are looking for. We are continuing to invest, innovate and support those working the land to ensure our farms continue to be seen as the best in the world."

With exports to 60 countries and supplying the U.S. market with its grass-fed product for four decades, Silver Fern Farms' Net Carbon Zero by Nature Angus Beef products are a further step along its journey towards becoming a nature-positive food brand.

Simon Limmer says that U.S. consumers and its own New Zealand cooperative farmers are more conscious than ever of the environment in which their food is raised. "In New Zealand we have a deep connection to nature and caring for the environment is part of who we are. With our Net Carbon Zero range we want to show we can produce great tasting, nutrient dense red meat in way that is better for the planet. This is truly beef made better"

BACKGROUND

Silver Fern Farms Net Carbon Zero by Nature Angus Beef has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and certified by New Zealand's premier agricultural science institution Ag Research and New Zealand's most trusted environmental verification body, Toitu Envirocare.

The key to Silver Fern's zero carbon methodology is "insetting"  determining how much of the carbon produced is being absorbed by the local environment. New Zealand has a uniquely biodiverse farming environment, with on-farm vegetation including regenerating native bush, woodlot forests, shelter belts, summer shade and winter animal shelter, and erosion and riparian planting.

Recognizing that 96% of beef emissions occur on farm, in 2018 Silver Fern Farms commenced a program to map and measure the sequestration potential from the many types of vegetation present on New Zealand farms. Satellite technology, aided by increasingly sophisticated AI software, has been used to measure on-farm vegetation to within 0.5 of a meter, enabling a calculation of each individual farm's ability to sequester carbon.

A committed red meat exporter to the U.S. for 40 years, Silver Fern Farms has been providing its New Zealand-farmed products to supermarkets, restaurants, and food service distributors with several product ranges including premium ground beef, beef steaks, lamb, and venison retail packs.

Additional press information available here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ynn8s2fppvrgcrf1xrx7b/h?dl=0&rlkey=m6tqudfnejhwi0jx9ckipankq

SILVER FERN FARMS USA MEDIA CONTACTS:Christopher Chafin, VP Media & Content [email protected] Tel 718 530 4135Martin Elder, Media Relations Director, [email protected] Tel 646 645 7108Release issued by SweeneyVesty USA on behalf of Silver Fern Farms79 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016. Tel 212 226 5105

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SOURCE Silver Fern Farms
The Best Practices Awards spotlight how consumers and small businesses are benefitting from energy innovation

DALLAS, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) announced the recipients of the 2022 Best Practices Awards at the 2022 Consumer Symposium, which was hosted as part of DISTRIBUTECH International, the leading annual transmission and distribution event.

The Best Practices Awards, now in their fifth year, highlight successful programs, technologies and strategies from electricity providers in six categories, including the new Energy Equity Award, which was developed to acknowledge a provider that's advancing a more equitable energy system.

Selected by an independent advisory panel of industry experts, the 2022 winners are:

Saint John Energy has been honored with the Smart Energy Innovation Award for the Smart Energy Project, which will bring significant advancements in AI and machine learning to make timely, cost-effective decisions to manage its system load profile, increase asset utilization and efficiency and curb peak demand charges for the utility and its customers.

for the Smart Energy Project, which will bring significant advancements in AI and machine learning to make timely, cost-effective decisions to manage its system load profile, increase asset utilization and efficiency and curb peak demand charges for the utility and its customers. San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has been honored with the Culture Transformation Award for modernizing their existing CIS environment and building a digital core to transform the legacy, premise-based system to a 360-degree, customer-centric platform.

for modernizing their existing CIS environment and building a digital core to transform the legacy, premise-based system to a 360-degree, customer-centric platform. London Hydro has been honored with the Consumer Engagement Award for launching an automatic, personalized Price Plan Calculator and allowing a self-serve rate switch. The calculator enables consumers to stay on the London Hydro website and get all the information they need to make an informed choice about their rate plan.

for launching an automatic, personalized Price Plan Calculator and allowing a self-serve rate switch. The calculator enables consumers to stay on the London Hydro website and get all the information they need to make an informed choice about their rate plan. PSE&G has been honored with the Energy Equity Award for the Clean Energy Jobs Program that is working to fill clean energy positions implementing PSE&G's energy efficiency programs with 2,000 low- and middle-income New Jersey residents.

for the Clean Energy Jobs Program that is working to fill clean energy positions implementing PSE&G's energy efficiency programs with 2,000 low- and middle-income New Jersey residents. JEA has been honored with the Consumer Education Award for JEA Drive Electric, a first-of-its-kind electric vehicle (EV) education, marketing and peak load reduction program in Northeast Florida. The program is encouraging EV adoption and incentivizing drivers who charge their EVs during off-peak hours.

for JEA Drive Electric, a first-of-its-kind electric vehicle (EV) education, marketing and peak load reduction program in Northeast Florida. The program is encouraging EV adoption and incentivizing drivers who charge their EVs during off-peak hours. Rocky Mountain Power has been honored with the SMB Engagement Award for leveraging Bidgely's UtilityAI solution to deploy digital energy usage reports to more than 60,000 small-and-medium business (SMB) customers in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.

More information on the winning programs can be found in the "2022 Best Practices Guide".

Jonathan Field Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative404-348-8015[email protected]

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SOURCE Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative
Welcomes SoftBank Group to its member ranks

TOKYO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The SODA Foundation, which hosts the SODA Open Data Framework (ODF) for data mobility from edge to core to cloud, today announced two new open source projects: Kahu and Como. Kahu streamlines data protection for Kubernetes and its application data, and Como is a virtual data lake project to enable seamless access to data stored in different clouds. The SODA Foundation also welcomes SoftBank Group as an end-user supporter and key collaboration partner on the Como project.

Data is the fuel of our global digital economy and harnessing its power requires collaboration on a massive scale

According to the 2021 SODA Data and Storage Trends Report, two of the top challenges in managing data in containers and cloud-native environments are availability (46%) and management tools (38%). In direct response to the report findings, the SODA Foundation community collaborated to introduce new tooling options through the Kahu project to improve backup and restore practices critical to data availability. Furthermore, as enterprises become more data-driven and data growth for some enterprises can exceed 10PB per year, object data management offered by the Como Project will play an important role in performance and scalability requirements for cloud-native environments.

"Data collection, management, and consumption is becoming the new competitive battlefield in IT", said Steven Tan, chairman, SODA Foundation. "We're excited to announce Kahu and Como as the latest advances in open source data management and storage. Our 28 members are also excited to welcome the engineers and open source community within SoftBank Group to the Foundation."

"Data is the fuel of our global digital economy and harnessing its power requires collaboration on a massive scale", said Kuniyoshi Suzuki, Senior Director, Cloud Engineering , SoftBank Group. "Softbank is excited to be joining a community of open source software developers focused on enabling improvements toward data storage, recovery, and retention in cloud environments. We look forward to collaborating with the SODA Foundation and its members, while contributing to the future of this important community."

New Open Source Releases

In addition to the announcement of Kahu and Como projects, the SODA Foundation also announced the:

Release of SODA Framework Madagascar v1.7.0: Formerly Open Data Framework (ODF), SODA Framework comprises independent projects initiated by the community to solve common data and storage problems faced by end users. It includes:

Terra: a universal SDS controller for connecting storage to Kubernetes, OpenStack, and VMware environments.



Delfin: a performance monitor for heterogeneous storage infrastructure in a single pane of glass.



Strato: a multi-cloud data controller using a common S3-compatible interface to connect to cloud storage.



Kahu : new project to streamline data protection for Kubernetes and application data.

Expansion of its Eco Project Initiative with the introduction of more open source projects:DAOS: a software-defined object store designed from the ground up for massively distributed Non Volatile Memory (NVM), providing features such as transactional non-blocking I/O, advanced data protection with self-healing on top of commodity hardware, end-to-end data integrity, fine-grained data control and elastic storage.YIG: extends Minio backend storage aggregating multiple Ceph clusters to form a massive storage resource pool that can easily scale up to exabyte (EB) levels with minimal performance disruption.CubeFS: a cloud-native storage platform used as the underlying storage infrastructure for online applications, database or data processing services and machine learning jobs orchestrated by Kubernetes.Karmada: a Kubernetes management system that enables organizations to run cloud-native applications across multiple Kubernetes clusters and clouds, with no changes to your applications.SBK: an open source software framework for the performance benchmarking of any storage system.

Conferences and Survey

SODACODE : this week, developers from around the world will participate in SODACODE 2022 - the Data & Storage Hackathon on May 25 - 26. The first-of-its-kind coding event organized by SODA Foundation is open to developers from all levels ranging from beginner to advanced. The hackathon will conclude with project demonstrations, presentation sessions, panel discussions and an award ceremony for the hackathon winners.

: this week, developers from around the world will participate in SODACODE 2022 - the Data & Storage Hackathon on May 25 - 26. The first-of-its-kind coding event organized by SODA Foundation is open to developers from all levels ranging from beginner to advanced. The hackathon will conclude with project demonstrations, presentation sessions, panel discussions and an award ceremony for the hackathon winners. Trend Survey : The SODA Foundation will release its second-annual Data and Storage Trends Survey on June 30, 2022.

: The SODA Foundation will release its second-annual Data and Storage Trends Survey on June 30, 2022. SODACON: a technical conference held by SODA Foundation, will be held this year in Yokohama, Japan on December 7, 2022. The conference will bring together industry leaders, developers and end users to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges and solutions in the field of Data and Storage Management in the era of cloud-native, IoT, big data, machine learning, and more.

Additional Resources

Join the SODA Foundation

Attend SODACODE 2022 - The Data & Storage Hackathon

Read the 2021 Data and Storage Trends Report

About the SODA FoundationPreviously OpenSDS, the SODA Foundation is part of the Linux Foundation and includes both open source software and standards to support the increasing need for data autonomy. SODA Foundation Premiere members include China Unicom, Fujitsu, Huawei, NTT Communications and Toyota Motor Corporation. Other members include China Construction Bank Fintech, Click2Cloud, GMO Pepabo, IIJ, MayaData, LinBit, Scality, Sony, Wipro and Yahoo Japan.

Media Contact[email protected]

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

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SOURCE SODA Foundation
TAIPEI, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institute for Information Industry of Taiwan, an organization supporting the development of the nation's information industry, is expanding its Internet of Things Manufacturing Base services to foreign inventors.

IoT Service Hub understands that not all manufacturers have the same level of technological know-how or experience in undertaking such innovations. Thus, it brings together the best of Taiwan's tech talents, enterprises, and industry-leading technologies to help foreign manufacturers and inventors bring their IoT product to market in a faster and more cost-effective way.

The IoT Service Hub three key services are:

Providing AIoT evaluation board(EVB/Demo board) made by Taiwan's IC to assist product development,

C onnecting Startup or product to interdisciplinary experts in Taiwan,

onnecting Startup or product to interdisciplinary experts in Taiwan, Providing numerous AIoT solutions to help the industrial digital transformation.

Firstly, the Hub helps AIoT product developers lower their technical and technological thresholds to speed up the prototype development and entire mass production process.

The hub has released several AIoT evaluation boards cooperated with Taiwanese semiconductor companies. The Hub makes Taiwan IC-based development toolkit of various transmission applications, and offer assistance such as coordinate files for PCB, BOM, Gerber file, and SMT proofing to lower the technological threshold and accelerate production.

Secondly, the Hub connects inventors to over 200 cross-industry corporate partners and experts, including system integrators, mass production, and designers across Taiwan's manufacturing industry chain. They also provide technical consultations and critical assessments

Building on this service, the Hub is currently organizing an international manufacturing service, with numerous companies expected to start assisting international mass production of prototypes in 2022.

Thirdly, the Hub product managers are on hand to facilitate each production phase for a project. Individual case managers provide in-depth management for each potential case, and arrange key resource services including case consultation and resource introduction.

Since its founding in 2018, the Hub has supported more than 400 IoT smart manufacturing innovations, of which 100 have been brought to market.

Nowadays, the Hub has spurred digital transformation in key industries, such as creating smart isolation rooms for remote care at the Long-term Care Center for the Elderly, and 3EGREEN TECHNOLOGY, INC.'s IoT power usage monitor that assists traditional food factories in reducing their carbon footprints towards achieving net zero carbon emissions.

For more information, visit https://www.ideas-hatch.com/iot_service_hub.jsp?lang=en

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SOURCE IoT Service Hub
Achieved record quarterly net revenues of $10.58 million, a 96% increase from Q1 2021, and a 12% increase from Q4 2021

Improved gross margin (before changes in fair value) to 35% from 32% in Q4 2021, and from 1% in Q1 2021

Continued to decrease costs, with general and administrative expenses of $3.92 million, a 14% decrease versus Q4 2021

Subsequent to March 31, 2022, amended the secured revolving facility (the "Revolver Loan"), increasing the term portion by $4.0 million to $24.0 million

TORONTO, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (the "Company" or "TGOD") (CSE: TGOD) (OTC: TGODF), a sustainable global cannabis company, reports its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022. These filings are available for review on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. All financial information is provided in Canadian dollars except where otherwise indicated.

Management Commentary:

"We continued our momentum from Q4 2021 with strong Q1 2022 results, including another record month in March. These results can be attributed to the launch of new products and our existing products gaining further traction, affirming the strategic approach we have taken," commented Sean Bovingdon, CEO of TGOD. "In addition to continuing to increase our retail distribution by investing in building relationships with the retail cannabis chains to expand distribution, we are preparing for future growth. We remain on track to achieve breakeven EBITDA on a monthly basis in Q2 and are pursuing opportunities for additional cultivation for 2023 to meet the strong demand for our products, specifically our premium flower. We continue to have strong conviction in our potential to achieve significant growth quarter over quarter, as we remain focused on quality and consistency, as well as continued cost discipline and execution to build a strong and sustainable organization and brands that consumers love."

First Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights:

Three months ended Three months ended March 31, 2022 March 31, 2021 Variance to Q1-2021 ($) Variance to Q1-2021 (%) December 31, 2021 Variance to Q4-2021 ($) Variance to Q4-2021 (%) Net Revenue 10,575 5,389 5,186 96% 9,466 1,109 12% Cost of sales 6,868 5,348 1,520 28% 6,432 436 7% Gross profit (loss) before changes in fair value of biological assets 3,707 41 3,666 8941% 3,034 673 22% Gross profit (loss) % before changes in fair value of biological assets 35.05% 0.76% 32.05% Realized fair value adjustment on sale of inventory (2,435) (1,530) (905) 59% (2,535) 100 (4%) Unrealized gain on changes in fair value of biological assets 4,305 3,321 984 30% 4,368 (63) (1%) Gross profit (loss) 5,577 1,832 3,745 204% 4,867 710 15% Gross profit (loss) % 52.74% 34.00% 51.42%

The Company:

Achieved record quarterly net revenues of $10.58 million, a 96% increase from Q1 2021, and a 12% increase from Q4 2021. The quarter-over-quarter increase in revenue is in line with the Company's forecast and can be mainly attributed to the launch of premium flowers (Cherry Mints & Maple Kush), launch of Pre-rolls, and Highly Dutch Organic flower gaining traction in 2022. With Acosta Canada Corp, providing direct store support as well as budtender and consumer education, in addition to the new listings accepted in key markets for January 2022, the Company achieved significant increased revenues in key markets. The Company has also invested in building relationships with the retail cannabis chains to expand distribution in the past six months.

Improved gross margin (before changes in fair value) to 35% from 32% in Q4 2021, reflecting higher net revenues due to sales mix of products moving towards premium flower. The Company believes gross margin and net revenue in Canada will continue to increase as it sells proportionately more premium flower, which should result in achieving breakeven adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (" Adjusted EBITDA ").(1)

").(1) General and administrative expenses (" G&A ") decreased to $3.92 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, a 14% decrease in comparison to $4.57 million for Q4 2021. In comparison to Q4 2021, G&A expenses decreased by $0.65 million which is primarily a result of the reduction in overall office expenses and the reduction of termination benefits that were incurred in the prior quarter.

") decreased to $3.92 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, a 14% decrease in comparison to $4.57 million for Q4 2021. In comparison to Q4 2021, G&A expenses decreased by $0.65 million which is primarily a result of the reduction in overall office expenses and the reduction of termination benefits that were incurred in the prior quarter. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $2.24 million for Q1 2022, representing a 57% improvement of $2.93 million compared to Q1 2021 as a result of the Company's increase in revenue and continued cost cutting initiatives as well as a sales mix with premium flower accounting for 27% of overall sales versus 19% in the previous quarter.

As of March 31, 2022, the Company had positive working capital of $19.01 million (including non-cash contingent consideration liability of $4.78 million).

Key Initiatives:

The Company expanded its production base to meet increasing consumer demand by adding cultivation at the facility in Valleyfield, Quebec (" Valleyfield "). The Company expects Valleyfield to add 2,500 to 3,000 kgs of flower annually while remaining the production facility for hash products.

"). The Company expects Valleyfield to add 2,500 to 3,000 kgs of flower annually while remaining the production facility for hash products. On March 10, 2022, the Company announced that it had agreed with its Canadian lender for the Revolver Loan to: (i) increase the overall Revolver Loan limit by $5 million to $30 million; (ii) allow certain eligible inventory to be included as collateral; and (iii) relax certain non-financial covenants; subject to the satisfaction of various conditions set out therein. In exchange, the Company issued 500,000 common shares of the Company (" Common Shares ") to the lender at a price of $0.10 per Common Share. All other terms under the Revolver Loan remained the same.

") to the lender at a price of $0.10 per Common Share. All other terms under the Revolver Loan remained the same. Since October 2021, the Company has been engaged with advisors for the sale of Company's entity in Poland, HemPoland S.p.a. Z.o.o. ( "HemPoland"), which was deemed non-core to future operations and the Company strategy. The Company received a non-binding competitive offer subsequent to Q1 2022. The Company anticipates completing the sale of HemPoland within the coming months.

Key Updates Subsequent to the Quarter:

On April 29, 2022, the Company announced that the Revolver Loan was amended and restated, whereby the lender agreed to: (i) increase the overall Revolver Loan limit from $30 million to $34 million, through providing an additional advance of $4 million (ii) increase the term portion of the Revolver Loan from $20 million to $24 million (iii) amend the EBITDA financial covenant (as defined in the Revolver Loan agreement) to take effect on June 30, 2022, (iv) remove the covenant requiring a $4 million prepayment through funds raised by the sale of HemPoland and (v) introduce certain prepayment fees in the combined amount of 2% of any prepayments, subject to the satisfaction of various conditions set out therein.

On May 17, 2022, the Company announced it raised additional working capital through asset sale of its leasehold improvements at the Puslinch facility (the "Transaction") with the landlord (the "Landlord") for $3 million (the "Consideration"). $2 million of the Consideration will be paid to the Company in cash, and $1 million of the Consideration will settle previous loans advanced to the Company by the Landlord, including all accrued interest and transaction costs thereon. In connection with the Transaction, the Company has also agreed to an increase in rent of $25,000 a month for the remainder of the lease term on the Puslinch facility of approximately 19 years.

Investor Conference Call to Discuss First Quarter Results:

Management will host a conference call with analysts on May 26, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the results. Participants may access the call by dialing 416-764-8688 (Toronto) or 1-888-390-0546 (North America); Conference ID 81358956. For those unable to participate on the live call, a playback will be available for one week after the conference call using this URL: https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1550743&tp_key=fff6b3ddd0

About The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (CSE: TGOD) (OTC: TGODF) is a sustainable, global cannabis company with a focus on innovation, quality, consistency, integrity and transparency. By leveraging science and technology, TGOD harnesses the power of nature from seed to sale. The Company is committed to cultivating a better tomorrow by producing its products responsibly, with less waste and impact on the environment. In Canada, TGOD serves the recreational market with a brand portfolio including The Green Organic Dutchman, Highly Dutch Organics, Ripple by TGOD and Cruuzy brands, and the medical markets in Canada, South Africa, Australia, and Germany. All cannabis utilized in products for The Green Organic Dutchman and Highly Dutch Organics brands is grown through a certified organic process, which includes living soil, filtered rainwater, sunlight, and natural inputs.

TGOD's Common Shares and certain warrants issued under the indentures dated December 19, 2019, June 12, 2020, October 23, 2020 and December 10, 2020 trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") under the symbol "TGOD", "TGOD.WS", "TGOD.WR", "TGOD.WA", and "TGOD.WB" respectively. TGOD's Common Shares trade in the U.S. on the OTCQX under the symbol "TGODF". For more information on The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd., please visit www.tgod.ca.

(1) Non-GAAP Measures, Reconciliation and Discussion

This press release contains references to "Adjusted EBITDA" which is a non-international financial reporting standards ("IFRS") measure (a "Non-GAAP Measure"). Management defines Adjusted EBITDA as loss for the period, as reported, adjusted for deferred income tax recovery, foreign exchange gains and losses, finance costs, accretion expenses, finance income, share of loss on investments in associates, revaluation of contingent consideration, loss (gain) on disposal of assets, impairment of investment in associates, impairment (reversal of impairment) charge for non-financial assets, loss on derecognition of investment in joint venture, impairment loss on remeasurement of disposal group, loss on assets held for sale, debt modification, acquisition related costs, change in fair value of investments, realized fair value adjustment on sale of inventories, unrealized gain on changes in fair value of biological assets, share based compensation, depreciation and amortization. This measure does not have any standardized meaning according to IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies.

Management believes Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information as it is a commonly used measure in the capital markets to approximate operating earnings. The Company provides the Non-GAAP Measure as supplemental information and in addition to the financial measures that are calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS. The Non-GAAP Measure is also presented because management believes such measures provide information which is useful to shareholders and investors in understanding its performance and which may assist in the evaluation of the Company's business relative to that of its peers. Management believes the Non-GAAP Measure is a useful financial metric to assess the Company's operating performance on a cash basis before the impact of non-cash items, and on an adjusted basis as described above. However, such Non-GAAP Measure should not be considered superior to, as a substitute for or as an alternative to, and should only be considered in conjunction with, the most comparable Non-GAAP Measure.

Reconciliations of the Non-GAAP Measure is presented in the Company's management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2022 (the "Q1 MD&A"). The Non-GAAP Measure should not be considered superior to, as a substitute for, or as an alternative to, and should be considered in conjunction with the IFRS financial measures presented in the Company's financial statements. For more information, please see "Non-GAAP Performance Measures" in the Company's Q1 MD&A, which is available under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.

Cautionary Statements

This news release includes statements containing certain "forwardlooking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law ("forwardlooking statements"). Forward looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, statements about future net revenue and gross margin, statements about future Adjusted EBITDA, statements about future production quantity and timing, statements about the offering of any particular products by the Company and statements regarding the future performance of the Company, statements about future development, growth and delivery of products, and statements about the level of demand for TGOD's products. Forwardlooking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "should", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forwardlooking statements throughout this news release. Forwardlooking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties (including market conditions) and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forwardlooking statements, including those risk factors described in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form filed with Canadian securities regulators and available on the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information or forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forwardlooking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

Neither the CSE nor the CSE's Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of CSE) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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SOURCE The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.
Quick, Easy Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Available via Online Scheduling for General Public, in Addition to Calling and Texting

SAN MARCOS, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TrueCare is providing easy access to the newly approved COVID-19 booster shots for children ages 5 to 11 years through its community healthcare centers in North San Diego and South Riverside Counties. The CDC recommends children receive a booster shot at least 5 months after their initial Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination series.

With COVID-19 cases increasing across the country  up 40 percent since May 12 in San Diego County according to the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA)  vaccines are still the best defense for protection.

"Vaccinations against COVID-19 are the most effective way to combat moderate to severe complications such as hospitalization and Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C), a condition that causes long COVID," according to TrueCare's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marie Russell. "With rising rates across the county, it is important to do everything we can to provide the most protection to our kids."

Since November 27, 2021, 90 percent of the pediatric hospitalizations for MIS-C syndrome occurred in not-fully-vaccinated children, according to the HHSA.

With more than 18 million doses administered in this age group, COVID-19 vaccines are safe for children and teens and are scrutinized under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history. TrueCare pediatrician Dr. Chanelle Calhoun adds, "Children receive a smaller dose and side effects are mild and a normal sign that your child's body is building protection."

"Finding a COVID-19 booster vaccine for your child is easy and free," adds Russell. "Our job as a community health center is to provide access, especially for those within our diverse communities who are underserved and have a more difficult time getting appointments due to long or non-traditional work hours."

At TrueCare, anyone can make an appointment for a free vaccination, booster or additional dose at the organization's locations in San Marcos, Oceanside and Perris.

TrueCare's new online scheduling tool and MyChart patient portal make it simple and convenient to get a COVID-19 vaccine or booster appointment. Visit the online web link (truecare.org/schedule-a-covid-19-vaccination-online) or log in to MyChart (https://mychart.ochin.org/mycharttc/Authentication/Login) to schedule.

Appointments can also be made by calling or texting (760) 736-6767. TrueCare staff speak multiple languages, so everyone feels comfortable during their visit.

For more information, visit www.truecare.org.

For questions or concerns about the vaccine, contact your provider or reference TrueCare's frequently asked questions here. (https://truecare.org/wellness-services/covid-19-flu-updates/#faqs-btn)

Get more information about the COVID-19 vaccine at https://truecare.org/wellness-services/covid-19-flu-updates/

About TrueCareFor 50 years, TrueCare has not wavered in its commitment to patients, their families, and its communities. As a non-profit community health center, TrueCare is dedicated to delivering a superior and compassionate healthcare experience to nearly 60,000 patients every year, reducing barriers and increasing accessibility to quality care. TrueCare cares for the diverse communities of North San Diego and South Riverside Counties with services ranging from primary care, pediatrics, women's health, behavioral health, chiropractic treatments and dentistry. In addition, TrueCare offers transportation services, community health outreach, insurance enrollment assistance and case management programs. For more information, visit https://truecare.org

MEDIA CONTACT:Michele Baker, Mambo Communications858-449-3619[email protected]

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SOURCE TrueCare
SHANGHAI, May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently Westwin (formerly Microsoft Online) is proud to announce the launch of SEM.Wreach.net  enabling non Chinese speakers to run paid search campaigns on Baidu.

Wreach SEM will form part of Wreach.net, which currently enables western companies to easily setup and manage their WeChat and Weibo company accounts. Wreach SEM will further enable western companies to conduct paid search keyword planning, campaign activation, reporting and optimisation, all in English.

Baidu currently receives 3.3 billion daily searches, while Google receives 5.6 billion and Microsoft Bing receives 0.9 billion. Baidu currently has a 34% share of global Search market.

Of the top 10 countries by GDP, China is the 2nd largest economy providing 25.7% of their GDP total (source: World Bank). China will overtake US to become the world's largest economy by 2030 (source: CEBR).

Wreach SEM has been designed to open up the world's second largest economy on the world's second largest search engine to western companies wanting to do paid search in China. All translation happens instantly in-platform, with proofreading of all translations prior to launch, guaranteeing 100% accuracy and campaign confidence.

"Our goal," says Alain de Maurier, Sales & Marketing Director at Westwin UK, "was to add the ability to do paid search on Baidu, China's biggest search engine, but without the need to learn Chinese or necessarily rely on another 3rd party. Wreach in its previous form, let western businesses do social media in China; we always planned to include paid search at some point and we are pleased announce that point is right now, at a time when search engine marketing has never been so important, across every market globally."

Wreach SEM gives you the freedom to:

1. Understand China  Discover what Chinese users are really searching for

2. Launch in China  Launch on Baidu with full understanding and complete confidence

3. Scale in China  Monitor and optimise your campaigns in English and in real-time

If you want to run truly global Search campaigns, Wreach SEM is the all-in-one platform for you. To book a live demo of Wreach SEM or to setup your own logins to the platform, please visit the following link: https://sem.wreach.net/

About Westwin:

Formerly known as Microsoft Online (MSN China), Westwin is a marketing agency specializing in cross-border digital advertising / marketing solutions. In August 2016, Westwin acquired the majority business of Microsoft Online (MSN China) to better serve the unique China market. As one of Microsoft's core partners in China, Westwin focuses on driving business through Bing Ads. Westwin also inherited the branding and marketing consultancy business of Microsoft Advertising to help Chinese enterprises build brand globally. Apart from that, Westwin maintains partnerships with Baidu, Weibo and other Chinese digital platforms to offer one-stop digital marketing solutions to foreign businesses.

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SOURCE Westwin
NEW YORK, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yext, Inc. (NYSE: YEXT), the Answers Company, today announced that its first quarter fiscal year 2023 results will be released on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, after the close of the market. The company will host a conference call at 4:30 p.m. (ET) / 1:30 p.m. (PT) to discuss its financial results with the investment community.

A live webcast of the event will be available on the Yext Investor Relations website at http://investors.yext.com. A live dial-in is available domestically at (877) 883-0383 and internationally at (412) 902-6506, passcode 3151785.

A replay will be available domestically at (877) 344-7529 or internationally at (412) 317-0088, passcode 1685973, until midnight (ET) June 15, 2022.

About YextYext (NYSE: YEXT) is the Answers Company and is on a mission to empower every company in the world to provide authoritative answers to every question about their organization. Yext leverages AI to collect and organize a company's information and deliver it  in the form of answers  to customers, employees, and partners. Yext's Answers Platform works by pulling in information, organizing it into a Knowledge Graph and then delivering it via a set of platform services, including Listings, Search, Pages & Reviews. Brands like Verizon, Subway, and Marriott  as well as organizations like the U.S. State Department  trust Yext to radically improve their business and deliver perfect answers everywhere.

For further information, contact:

Investor Relations:[email protected]

Public Relations:[email protected]

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SOURCE Yext, Inc.
5.2 Billion Parcels Grew 16.8% Increasing Market Share to 21.6%

RMB1.1 Billion Adjusted Net Income Grew 34.9% as Industry Pricing Turned Around

SHANGHAI, May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and SEHK: 2057), a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China ("ZTO" or the "Company"), today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022[1]. Despite severe impact from Omicron induced shutdowns starting in March, the Company grew parcel volume 5.2 billion, or 16.8%, while achieving high levels of customer satisfaction as well as earnings growth. Cash generated from operating activities was RMB1,105.4 million.

Financial Highlights for First Quarter 2022

Revenues were RMB7,904.1 million (US$1,246.8 million), an increase of 22.1% from RMB6,472.5 million in the same period of 2021.

Gross profit was RMB1,619.5 million (US$255.5 million), an increase of 47.7% from RMB1,096.5 million in the same period of 2021.

Net income was RMB875.5 million (US$138.1 million), an increase of 64.1% from RMB533.5 million in the same period of 2021.

Adjusted EBITDA[2] was RMB2,002.1 million (US$315.8 million), an increase of 36.4% from RMB1,468.1 million in the same period of 2021.

Adjusted net income[3] was RMB1,054.5 million (US$166.3 million), an increase of 34.9% from RMB781.6 million in the same period of 2021.

Basic and diluted net earnings per American depositary share ("ADS"[4]) were RMB1.12 (US$0.18), an increase of 75.0% from RMB0.64 in the same period of 2021.

Adjusted basic and diluted net earnings per American depositary share[5] attributable to ordinary shareholders were RMB1.34 (US$0.21), an increase of 42.6% from RMB0.94 in the same period of 2021.

Net cash provided by operating activities was RMB1,105.4 million (US$174.4 million), compared with RMB477.0 million in the same period of 2021.

Operational Highlights for First Quarter 2022

Parcel volume was 5,226 million, an increase of 16.8% from 4,475 million in the same period of 2021.

Number of pickup/delivery outlets was over 30,700 as of March 31, 2022.

Number of direct network partners was over 5,750 as of March 31, 2022.

Number of line-haul vehicles was approximately 11,000 as of March 31, 2022, which were self-owned vehicles.

Out of the approximately 11,000 self-owned trucks, approximately 9,200 were high capacity 15 to 17-meter-long models as of March 31, 2022, compared to over 9,000 as of December 31, 2021.

Number of line-haul routes between sorting hubs was over 3,650 as of March 31, 2022, compared to approximately 3,700 as of December 31, 2021.

Number of sorting hubs was 99 as of March 31, 2022, among which 88 are operated by the Company and 11 by the Company's network partners.

(1) An investor relations presentation accompanies this earnings release and can be found at http://zto.investorroom.com. (2) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure, which is defined as net income before depreciation, amortization, interest expenses and income tax expenses, and further adjusted to exclude the shared-based compensation expense and non-recurring items such as the net gain on disposal of equity investment and subsidiary which management aims to better represent the underlying business operations. (3) Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP financial measure, which is defined as net income before share-based compensation expense and non-recurring items such as net gain on disposal of equity investment and subsidiary in which management aims to better represent the underlying business operations. (4) One ADS represents one Class A ordinary share. (5) Adjusted basic and diluted earnings per American depositary share attributable to ordinary shareholders is a non-GAAP financial measure. It is defined as adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders divided by weighted average number of basic and and diluted American depositary shares, respectively.

Mr. Meisong Lai, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ZTO, commented, "With sound execution of our consistent strategies, ZTO achieved good results for the first quarter. Parcel volume reached 5.2 billion, and we expanded our market share by 1.2 points to 21.6%. Benefiting from the industry's price stabilization and meaningful increases, we increased our income from operations by 76.4% to 1.1billion while maintaining superior quality of services. 2022 remarks our 20th anniversary, and ZTO is better prepared than ever before to further our competitive lead in scale, efficiency and quality of earnings."

Mr. Lai added, "The abrupt Omicron outbreaks that scattered across the country in mid-March disrupted the industry's growth momentum causing its parcel volume to decrease by nearly 12% year over year for the month of April. Tremendous efforts and sacrifices were being made, and ZTO Shanghai was among the first few logistics companies to resume operations in early-May. China is committed to the containment of the virus and a steady economic growth at the same time. We are hopeful to see a carefully staged rebound underway through supportive central policies and coordinated local efforts. We believe the foundation for China's economic growth is sound, and even though prevention will become part of a daily norm, being an integral part of people's day-to-day lives, express delivery industry will continue to be the catalyst of the economic expansion as well as benefiting from it"

Ms. Huiping Yan, Chief Financial Officer of ZTO, commented, "Despite various headwinds, ZTO delivered a solid quarterly performance. The adjusted net income grew 34.9% to 1.1 billion with enhanced profit margin. Our core express delivery ASP went up by 8.5% as competition became more sensible. The 2.3% increase of combined unit sorting and transportation cost resulted from weaker volume due to the Omicron lockdowns was temporary. Our operating cost structure is healthy and will provide unsurpassed scale leverage as volume return to normal."

Ms. Yan added, "Cash flow from operating activities increased 131.8% to 1.1 billion. Capital spending was 1.8 billion. As part of the digitization effort to improve operating efficiencies, the volume-cost-profit initiatives have started to show positive results. Detailed data enabled process monitoring, and analyses are made to find, solve, or prevent problems. Suitable pricing and optimal use of resources can provide us greater leverage to dial up volume in-take while ensuring profitability across all segments of operations including those of our network partners."

First Quarter 2022 Financial Results

Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 2022 RMB % RMB US$ % (in thousands, except percentages) Express delivery services 5,672,809 87.6 7,220,261 1,138,968 91.3 Freight forwarding services 492,986 7.6 331,085 52,227 4.2 Sale of accessories 260,179 4 282,071 44,496 3.6 Others 46,563 0.8 70,633 11,142 0.9 Total revenues 6,472,537 100 7,904,050 1,246,833 100.0

Total Revenues were RMB7,904.1 million (US$1,246.8 million), an increase of 22.1% from RMB6,472.5million in the same period of 2021. Revenue from the core express delivery business increased 26.6% compared to the same period of 2021, as a combined result of a 16.8% increase in parcel volume and an 8.5% increase in parcel unit price. Revenue from freight forwarding services decreased by 32.8% compared to the same period of 2021 as cross border e-commerce demand and pricing gradually normalized with pandemic recovery. Revenue from sales of accessories, largely consisted of sales of thermal paper used for digital waybills, increased 8.4%. Other revenues were mainly consisted of financing services and equipment sales.

Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 2022 % of % of RMB revenues RMB US$ revenues (in thousands, except percentage) Line-haul transportation cost 2,533,913 39.1 2,953,991 465,981 37.4 Sorting hub operating cost 1,511,370 23.4 1,880,367 296,620 23.8 Freight forwarding cost 436,393 6.7 307,901 48,570 3.9 Cost of accessories sold 74,575 1.2 82,903 13,078 1.0 Other costs 819,753 12.7 1,059,409 167,118 13.4 Total cost of revenues 5,376,004 83.1 6,284,571 991,367 79.5

Total cost of revenues was RMB6,284.6 million (US$991.4 million), an increase of 16.9% from RMB5,376.0 million in the same period last year.

Line haul transportation cost was RMB2,954.0 million (US$466.0 million), an increase of 16.6% from RMB2,533.9 million in the same period last year. The unit transportation cost remained flat given the sharp increase in fuel costs yet offset by continued transportation cost efficiency gain derived mainly from higher mix of high-capacity trailer trucks of our fleet and improved load rate from better route planning. There were approximately 1,100 more self-owned high-capacity vehicles in operation compared to the same period last year.

Sorting hub operating cost was RMB1,880.4 million (US$296,6 million), an increase of 24.4% from RMB1,511.4 million in the same period last year. The increase was primarily consisted of (i) RMB222.3 million (US$35.1 million) increase in labor-associated costs, a net result of wage increase offset by automation-driven efficiency improvement, and (ii) RMB105.4 million (US$16.6 million) increase in depreciation and amortization costs for automation equipment and facility construction. As of March 31, 2022, 422 sets of automated sorting equipment were in service, compared to 349 sets as of March 31, 2021.

Cost of accessories sold was RMB82.9 million (US$13.1 million), increased 11.2% compared with RMB74.6 million in the same period last year in line with parcel volume growth.

Other costs were RMB1,059.4 million (US$167.1 million), an increase of 29.2% from RMB819.8 million in the same period last year. The increase was mainly consisted of increases of (i) RMB76.2 million (US$12.0 million) in tax surcharge as previous round of Covid-19 relief policies expired, (ii) RMB69.6 million (US$11.0 million) in costs serving enterprise customers, and (iii) RMB47.5 million (US$7.5 million) in information technology and related costs.

Gross Profit was RMB1,619.5 million (US$255.5 million), increased 47.7% from RMB1,096.5million in the same period last year as a result of both volume and ASP increase at a higher rate than cost increase. Gross margin rate improved to 20.5% from 16.9% for the same period last year.

Total Operating Expenses were RMB503.2 million (US$79.4 million), compared to RMB463.7million in the same period last year.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were RMB618.2 million (US$97.5 million), decreased by 0.3% from RMB620.2 million in the same period last year, mainly due to the decrease of share-based compensation expense.

Other operating income, net was RMB115.0 million (US$18.1 million), compared to RMB156.6 million in the same period last year, and consisted mainly of (i) RMB68.3 million (US$10.8 million) of VAT super deduction and (ii) government subsidies and tax rebates of RMB49.9 million (US$7.9 million).

Income from operations was RMB1,116.3 million (US$176.1 million), an increase of 76.4% from RMB632.9 million for the same period last year. Operating margin rate increased to 14.1% from 9.8% in the same period last year.

Interest income was RMB111.1 million (US$17.5 million), compared with RMB75.5 million in the same period last year.

Interest expenses was RMB59.6 million (US$9.4 million), compared with RMB15.6 million in the same period last year.

Loss from fair value changes of financial instruments was RMB0.9 million (US$0.1 million), compared with a gain of RMB15.8 million in the same period last year, which reflected fair value changes determined by selling banks according to market-based estimations of the redemption prices of the financial instruments.

Income tax expenses were RMB255.2 million (US$40.3 million) compared to RMB149.6 million in the same period last year. Overall income tax rate increased by 2.9 percentage points this quarter compared to same period last year as a result of higher mix of taxable income generated by local operating entities which are subject to the full 25% tax rate compared than the 15% preferential rate granted to one of our headquarter entities for its High and New Technology Enterprise qualification.

Net income was RMB875.5 million (US$138.1 million), which increased by 64.1% from RMB533.5 million in the same period last year.

Basic and diluted earnings per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders were RMB1.12 (US$0.18), compared to basic and diluted earnings per ADS of RMB0.64 in the same period last year.

Adjusted basic and diluted earnings per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders were RMB1.34 (US$0.21), compared with RMB 0.94 in the same period last year.

Adjusted net income was RMB1,054.5 million (US$166.3 million), compared with RMB781.6 million during the same period last year.

EBITDA[1] was RMB1,823.1 million (US$287.6 million), compared with RMB1,220.1 million in the same period last year.

Adjusted EBITDA was RMB2,002.1 million (US$315.8 million), compared to RMB1,468.1 million in the same period last year.

Net cash provided by operating activities was RMB1,105.4 million (US$174.4 million), compared with RMB477.0 million in the same period last year.

[1] EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure, which is defined as net income before depreciation, amortization, interest expenses and income tax expenses which management aims to better represent the underlying business operations.

Business Outlook

Taking into account the current market conditions and the uncertainties associated with COVID-19, the Company revises its annual parcel volume projection to be in the range of 24.96 billion to 25.86 billion, representing a 12% to 16% increase year over year. Relative to the entire industry performance, the Company is confident to achieve one percentage point or more increase in its market share for the entire year. These estimates represent management's current and preliminary view, which are subject to change.

Company Share Purchase

On November 14, 2018, the Company announced a share repurchase program whereby ZTO was authorized to repurchase its own Class A ordinary shares in the form of ADSs with an aggregate value of up to US$500 million during an 18-month period thereafter. On March 13, 2021, the board of directors of the Company approved the extension of the active share repurchase program to June 30, 2021. On March 31, 2021, the board of directors has approved changes to the share repurchase program, increasing the aggregate value of shares that may be repurchased from US$500 million to US$1 billion and extending the effective time by two years through June 30, 2023. The Company expects to fund the repurchases out of its existing cash balance. As of March 31, 2022, the Company has purchased an aggregate of 36,074,242 ADSs at an average purchase price of US$25.21, including repurchase commissions.

Exchange Rate

This announcement contains translation of certain Renminbi amounts into U.S. dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of readers. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars were made at the exchange rate of RMB6.3393 to US$1.00, the noon buying rate on March 31, 2022 as set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Systems.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company uses EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders and adjusted basic and diluted earnings per American depositary share, each a non-GAAP financial measure, in evaluating ZTO's operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes.

Reconciliations of the Company's non-GAAP financial measures to its U.S. GAAP financial measures are shown in tables at the end of this earnings release, which provide more details about the non-GAAP financial measures.

The Company believes that EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders and adjusted basic and diluted earnings per American depositary share help identify underlying trends in ZTO's business that could otherwise be distorted by the effect of the expenses and gains that the Company includes in income from operations and net income. The Company believes that EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders and adjusted basic and diluted earnings per American depositary share provide useful information about its operating results, enhance the overall understanding of its past performance and future prospects and allow for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by ZTO's management in its financial and operational decision-making.

EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders and adjusted basic and diluted earnings per American depositary share should not be considered in isolation or construed as an alternative to net income or any other measure of performance or as an indicator of the Company's operating performance. Investors are encouraged to compare the historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders and adjusted basic and diluted earnings per American depositary share presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measures differently, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures to ZTO's data. ZTO encourages investors and others to review the Company's financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.

Conference Call Information

ZTO's management team will host an earnings conference call at 8:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 (8:30 AM Beijing Time on May 26, 2022).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

United States: 1-888-317-6003 Hong Kong: 852-5808-1995 Mainland China: 4001-206-115 Singapore: 800-120-5863 International: 1-412-317-6061 Passcode: 2110139

Please dial in 15 minutes before the call is scheduled to begin and provide the passcode to join the call.

A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following numbers until June 1, 2022:

United States: 1-877-344-7529 International: 1-412-317-0088 Passcode: 4204306

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at http://zto.investorroom.com.

About ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and SEHK: 2057) ("ZTO" or the "Company") is a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China. ZTO provides express delivery service as well as other value-added logistics services through its extensive and reliable nationwide network coverage in China.

ZTO operates a highly scalable network partner model, which the Company believes is best suited to support the significant growth of e-commerce in China. The Company leverages its network partners to provide pickup and last-mile delivery services, while controlling the mission-critical line-haul transportation and sorting network within the express delivery service value chain.

For more information, please visit http://zto.investorroom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the Company's unaudited results for the first quarter of 2022, ZTO management quotes and the Company's financial outlook.

These forward-looking statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the Company's belief regarding expected results and events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of its control. The Company's actual results and other circumstances may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and events indicated in these forward-looking statements. Announced results for the first quarter of 2022 are preliminary, unaudited and subject to audit adjustment. In addition, the Company may not meet its financial outlook included in this news release and may be unable to grow its business in the manner planned. The Company may also modify its strategy for growth. In addition, there are other risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ from what it currently anticipates, including those relating to the development of the e-commerce industry in China, its significant reliance on the Alibaba ecosystem, risks associated with its network partners and their employees and personnel, intense competition which could adversely affect the Company's results of operations and market share, any service disruption of the Company's sorting hubs or the outlets operated by its network partners or its technology system. For additional information on these and other important factors that could adversely affect the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects, please see its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of the press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this release, except as required by law. Such information speaks only as of the date of this release.

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA Summary of Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Comprehensive Income Data: Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 2022 RMB RMB US$ (in thousands, except for share and per share data) Revenues 6,472,537 7,904,050 1,246,833 Cost of revenues (5,376,004) (6,284,571) (991,367) Gross profit 1,096,533 1,619,479 255,466 Operating income (expenses): Selling, general and administrative (620,224) (618,199) (97,518) Other operating income, net 156,571 114,978 18,137 Total operating expenses (463,653) (503,221) (79,381) Income from operations 632,880 1,116,258 176,085 Other income (expenses): Interest income 75,482 111,098 17,525 Interest expense (15,582) (59,635) (9,407) Gain/(loss) from fair value changes of financial instruments 15,799 (881) (139) Foreign currency exchange loss, before tax (333) (12,865) (2,029) Income before income tax, and share of loss in equity method investments 708,246 1,153,975 182,035 Income tax expense (149,638) (255,219) (40,260) Share of loss in equity method investments (25,082) (23,232) (3,665) Net income 533,526 875,524 138,110 Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests 99 30,746 4,850 Net income attributable to ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. 533,625 906,270 142,960 Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders 533,625 906,270 142,960 Net earnings per share attributed to ordinary shareholders Basic 0.64 1.12 0.18 Diluted 0.64 1.12 0.18 Weighted average shares used in calculating net earnings per ordinary share/ADS Basic 828,504,517 808,690,979 808,690,979 Diluted 828,504,517 808,690,979 808,690,979 Other comprehensive loss, net of tax of nil: Foreign currency translation adjustment 17,911 (12,185) (1,922) Comprehensive income 551,437 863,339 136,188 Comprehensive loss attributable to noncontrolling interests 99 30,746 4,850 Comprehensive income attributable to ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. 551,536 894,085 141,038

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets Data: As of December 31, March 31, 2021 2022 RMB RMB US$ (in thousands, except for share data) ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents 9,721,225 9,900,970 1,561,840 Restricted cash 27,736 204,060 32,190 Accounts receivable, net 933,444 863,429 136,203 Financing receivables 1,111,461 896,061 141,350 Short-term investment 2,845,319 4,002,264 631,342 Inventories 82,961 59,196 9,338 Advances to suppliers 667,855 823,308 129,874 Prepayments and other current assets 3,142,368 3,146,379 496,329 Amounts due from related parties 133,990 139,995 22,084 Total current assets 18,666,359 20,035,662 3,160,550 Investments in equity investee 3,730,448 3,746,786 591,041 Property and equipment, net 24,929,897 25,814,040 4,072,065 Land use rights, net 5,335,549 5,348,923 843,772 Intangible assets, net 35,634 34,085 5,377 Operating lease right-of-use assets 897,238 852,052 134,408 Goodwill 4,241,541 4,241,541 669,087 Deferred tax assets 934,848 970,595 153,108 Long-term investment 1,214,500 1,514,500 238,907 Long-term financing receivables 1,412,956 1,453,396 229,268 Other non-current assets 762,273 714,415 112,696 Amounts due from related parties-non current 611,100 621,360 98,012 TOTAL ASSETS 62,772,343 65,347,355 10,308,291 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current liabilities Short-term bank borrowing 3,458,717 6,053,930 954,984 Accounts payable 1,957,529 1,718,187 271,037 Notes payable 174,920 45,000 7,099 Advances from customers 1,226,549 1,194,604 188,444 Income tax payable 86,789 - - Amounts due to related parties 22,786 38,717 6,107 Operating lease Liabilities 250,995 236,106 37,245 Acquisition consideration payable 22,942 22,942 3,619 Dividends payable 708 1,283,990 202,544 Other current liabilities 5,794,380 5,287,150 834,027 Total current liabilities 12,996,315 15,880,626 2,505,106 Non-current operating lease Liabilities 556,091 539,250 85,065 Deferred tax liabilities 292,356 285,825 45,088 TOTAL LIABILITIES 13,844,762 16,705,701 2,635,259 Shareholders' equity Ordinary shares (US$0.0001 par value; 10,000,000,000 shares authorized, 826,943,309 shares issued and 808,448,289 shares outstanding as of December 31, 2021; 826,943,309 shares issued and 809,733,116 shares outstanding as of March 31, 2022) 535 535 84 Additional paid-in capital 28,229,026 27,093,665 4,273,921 Treasury shares, at cost (2,067,009) (2,020,403) (318,711) Retained earnings 22,716,799 23,596,326 3,722,229 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (242,104) (254,289) (40,113) ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. shareholders' equity 48,637,247 48,415,834 7,637,410 Noncontrolling interests 290,334 225,820 35,622 Total Equity 48,927,581 48,641,654 7,673,032 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 62,772,343 65,347,355 10,308,291

Summary of Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Cash Flow Data: Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 2022 RMB RMB US$ (in thousands) Net cash provided by operating activities 476,952 1,105,395 174,372 Net cash used in investing activities (4,371,990) (3,314,751) (522,889) Net cash provided by financing activities 993,968 2,580,645 407,087 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 33,268 (20,822) (3,285) Net (decrease)/ increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (2,867,802) 350,467 55,285 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period 14,360,092 9,769,361 1,541,079 Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 11,492,290 10,119,828 1,596,364

The following table provides a reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash reported within the condensed consolidated balance sheets that sum to the total of the same such amounts shown in the condensed consolidated statements of cash flows:

As of March 31, March 31, 2021 2022 RMB RMB US$ (in thousands) Cash and cash equivalents 11,074,124 9,900,970 1,561,840 Restricted cash, current 404,048 204,060 32,190 Restricted cash, non-current 14,118 14,798 2,335 Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 11,492,290 10,119,828 1,596,364

Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 2022 RMB RMB US$ (in thousands, except for share and per share data) Net income 533,526 875,524 138,110 Add: Share-based compensation expense (1) 248,027 178,980 28,233 Adjusted net income 781,553 1,054,504 166,343 Net income 533,526 875,524 138,110 Add: Depreciation 495,708 601,643 94,907 Amortization 25,651 31,054 4,899 Interest expenses 15,582 59,635 9,407 Income tax expenses 149,638 255,219 40,260 EBITDA 1,220,105 1,823,075 287,583 Add: Share-based compensation expense 248,027 178,980 28,233 Adjusted EBITDA 1,468,132 2,002,055 315,816 (1) Net of income taxes of nil

Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 2022 RMB RMB US$ (in thousands, except for share and per share data) Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders 533,625 906,270 142,960 Add: Share-based compensation expense(1) 248,027 178,980 28,233 Adjusted Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders 781,652 1,085,250 171,193 Weighted average shares used in calculating net earnings per ordinary share/ADS Basic 828,504,517 808,690,979 808,690,979 Diluted 828,504,517 808,690,979 808,690,979 Net earnings per share/ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders Basic 0.64 1.12 0.18 Diluted 0.64 1.12 0.18 Adjusted net earnings per share/ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders Basic 0.94 1.34 0.21 Diluted 0.94 1.34 0.21 (1) Net of income taxes of nil

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.Investor Relations

E-mail: [email protected]Phone: +86 21 5980 4508

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zto-reports-first-quarter-2022-unaudited-financial-results-301555052.html

SOURCE ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.
Commission File Number 001-31914

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

Report of Foreign Private Issuer

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

May 25, 2022

China Life Insurance Company Limited

(Translation of registrants name into English)

16 Financial Street

Xicheng District

Beijing 100033, China

Tel: (86-10) 6363-3333

(Address of principal executive offices)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F:

Form 20-F  Form 40-F 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): 

Indicate by check mark whether by furnishing the information contained in this Form, the registrant is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934:

Yes  No 
Exhibit 99.1

ZEGNA GROUP ANNOUNCES 2022 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND PROPOSED DIVIDEND DISTRIBUTION

MILAN, May 25, 2022  Ermenegildo Zegna N.V. (NYSE: ZGN) (Zegna) today announced the publication of the convocation notice for its Annual General Meeting (AGM), which will be held on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 2 p.m. CEST at the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Schiphol Boulevard 701, 1118 BN Schiphol, the Netherlands.

The convocation notice, explanatory notes and other AGM materials, which include Zegnas 2021 statutory audited financial statements, are available under the relevant section of Zegnas corporate website at https://www.zegnagroup.com/en/corporate-governance/general-meetings/ . Shareholders may request a physical copy of Zegnas 2021 statutory audited financial statements, free of charge, through the contacts below.

In addition, Zegnas Board of Directors intends to recommend to shareholders a distribution from retained earnings with respect to the financial year 2021 of EUR 0.09 per ordinary share, resulting in a total distribution of approximately EUR 21.8 million. The distribution will be paid in US dollars based on an exchange rate that will be published on Zegnas website (https://www.zegnagroup.com/en/corporate-governance/general-meetings/) the day following the AGM. The distribution will be subject to approval by shareholders at the AGM to be held on June 28, 2022.

If the shareholders approve the proposed dividend distribution, the ex-date will be July 5, 2022, the record date July 6, 2022 and the payment date July 28, 2022.

About Ermenegildo Zegna Group

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. The Groups products are sold through over 500 stores in 80 countries around the world, of which 295 are directly operated by the Group as of March 31, 2022 (244 Zegna stores and 51 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 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 founders legacy  one that is based upon the principle that a businesss 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.

Investor Relations

Francesca Di Pasquantonio

[email protected]

+39 335 5837669
qnbc-8k_20220524.htm

false 0000750558 NONE 0000750558 2022-05-24 2022-05-24

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 13 OR 15(d) OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of report (Date of earliest event reported):

QNB Corp.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Pennsylvania 0-17706 23-2318082 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) (Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

15 North Third Street , P.O. Box 9005 , Quakertown , PA 18951-9005

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

( 215 ) 538-5600

(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Not Applicable

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None.

Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered Common Stock QNBC N/A

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)  Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)  Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))  Pre-commencement communication pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 ( 230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ( 240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. 





Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

On May 24, 2022, QNB Corp. (the Company) held its 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders for which the Board of Directors solicited proxies. At the Annual Meeting, the shareholders of the Company voted on the following proposals stated in the Proxy Statement dated April 12, 2022.

As of the record date for the Annual Meeting, holders of a total of 3,551,629 shares of the Companys Common Stock were entitled to vote on the matters considered at the Annual Meeting. The proposals voted on and a record of the vote on each matter presented to the shareholders of the Company at the Annual Meeting were as follows:

Proposal No. 1: Election of Class I Directors to serve a term of three years and until their successors are elected:

Name Votes For Votes Withheld Broker Non-Votes Autumn R. Bayles 1,966,471 129,396 458,637 David W. Freeman 2,069,491 26,376 458,637 Ranajoy Ray-Chaudhuri 1,934,732 161,135 458,637

Proposal No. 2: To approve an advisory vote on executive compensation:

Votes For Votes Against Abstain 1,985,112 49,747 61,008

Proposal No. 3: To ratify the appointment of Baker Tilly US, LLP as QNBs independent registered public accounting firm for 2022:

Votes For Votes Against Abstain 2,519,540 18,983 15,981

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
This Amendment No. 4 amends the statement on Schedule 13D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Qatar Airways Group Q.C.S.C (formerly known as Qatar Airways Q.C.S.C., Qatar Airways) and Qatar Airways Investments (UK) Ltd. (QAI UK; together with Qatar Airways, the Reporting Persons) on January 17, 2017 (as amended, the Schedule 13D) as amended by Amendment No. 1 filed by the Reporting Persons on September 7, 2021, Amendment No. 2 filed by the Reporting Persons on December 16, 2021 and Amendment No. 3 filed by the Reporting Persons on January 18, 2022 with respect to the Common Stock, no par value, of LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (LATAM or the Issuer). Capitalized terms used but not defined in this Amendment No. 4 have the meanings set forth in the Schedule 13D. Except as specifically provided herein, this Amendment No. 4 does not modify any of the information previously reported in the Schedule 13D.

Item 2. Identity and Background

Item 2 of the Schedule 13D is hereby amended and restated in its entirety as follows:

(a) The names of the persons filing this statement are Qatar Airways Group Q.C.S.C., a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Qatar and Qatar Airways Investments (UK) Ltd., a United Kingdom company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qatar Airways Group Q.C.S.C.

(b) The business address of Qatar Airways is Qatar Airways Tower 1, P.O. Box 22550, Doha, Qatar, and the business address of QAI UK is 10-11 Conduit Street, London W1S 2QR, United Kingdom.

(c) Qatar Airways is the national carrier of the State of Qatar. Qatar Airways serves over 140 international destinations. QAI UK is a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of Qatar Airways that engages in certain investment activities on behalf of Qatar Airways.

(d) Neither the Reporting Persons nor, to the knowledge of the Reporting Persons, any person identified on Schedule A attached hereto have been convicted in a criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations or similar misdemeanors) during the last five years.

(e) Neither the Reporting Persons nor, to the knowledge of the Reporting Persons, any person identified on Schedule A attached hereto was, during the last five years, a party to a civil proceeding of a judicial or administrative body of competent jurisdiction and as a result of such proceeding was or is subject to a judgment, decree or final order enjoining future violations of, or prohibiting or mandating activities subject to, federal or state securities laws or finding any violation with respect to such laws, except as described below.

(f) Qatar Airways is organized under the laws of Qatar. QAI UK is organized under the laws of the United Kingdom. The citizenship of each director and officer of the Reporting Persons is set forth on Schedule A attached hereto.

Set forth on Schedule A attached hereto is the name, present principal occupation or employment (and the name, principal business and address of any corporation or other organization in which such employment is conducted) and the citizenship of each of the directors and executive officers of the Reporting Persons as of the date hereof.

Item 4. Purpose of Transaction.

Item 4 of the Schedule 13D is hereby amended and supplemented by deleting the last paragraph of item 4 of Amendment No. 3 and inserting the following language in its place:

On May 20, 2022, the Reporting Persons, Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta) and Costa Verde Aeronautica S.A. (Costa Verde) entered into an agreement (the Reallocation Letter) pursuant to which the parties have agreed to transfer, exchange and assign, and thereby reallocate, preemptive rights they currently hold and backstop commitments they have made under the BCA to purchase equity/and or securities convertible into equity in reorganized LATAM, such that, in connection with LATAMs emergence from bankruptcy, Costa Verdes and Deltas respective ownership interests in reorganized LATAM are anticipated to be approximately 7% and 10%, and the Reporting Persons ownership interest in reorganized LATAM is anticipated to be approximately 10%. Such equity percentages are unchanged by the Reallocation Letter. The Reallocation Letter sets forth the terms by which the preemptive rights and backstop commitments will be reallocated, specifically providing that the Reporting Persons and Delta will transfer to Costa Verde all of their preemptive rights in connection with Common Stock issued through an equity rights offering (the ERO New Common Stock) and their commitments to subscribe and purchase their respective portions of unsubscribed ERO New Common Stock (collectively, ERO New Common Stock Backstop Commitments) in exchange for a portion of Costa Verdes preemptive rights to acquire convertible notes Class B (the New Convertible Notes Class B) and commitment to subscribe and purchase its respective portion of unsubscribed New Convertible Notes Class B (collectively, New Convertible Notes Class B Backstop Commitment), each as provided for in and permitted by the BCA and Chilean law, as applicable. If the Facilitating Shareholders collectively acquire less than 27% of the equity to be issued in connection with LATAMs reorganization, they will transfer, exchange and/or assign their respective ERO New Common Stock, New Convertible Notes Class B, ERO New Common Stock Backstop Commitments and New Convertible Notes Class B Backstop Commitments, as applicable, such that the equity in reorganized LATAM owned by each of the Backstop Shareholders will be reduced proportionately from the anticipated percentages indicated above, respectively.

The foregoing description of the Reallocation Letter is qualified in its entirety by the express terms of such agreement, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 7.6 and is incorporated herein by reference.
(Tribune News Service)  For the second time in a row, a NATO allys warship is joining a Norfolk-based carrier strike groups final preparations for deployment.

The Italian Navys destroyer Caio Duilo arrived at Naval Station Norfolk this week as it plans to join the USS George H.W. Bush carrier strike group in its Composite Unit Training Exercise, or COMPTUEX.

In a COMPTUEX, a Navy group runs through complex scenarios to certify its ability to carry out a wide range of missions.

Last year, when the Norwegian frigate HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen joined the USS Harry S. Truman strike group for its COMPTUEX, those scenarios included a transfer of command and control from a U.S. fleet to NATO, as well as operations under NATO command and control.

Both were critical when the Truman group, including Nansen, deployed this year. They came under NATO command and control  a first for a carrier group  for the Neptune Strike 2022 exercise in January, a test of how a carrier group integrated with other NATO forces would defend any alliance member.

And after doing just that through the late winter and spring, with Trumans air wing running air policing missions over NATO member airspace as the carrier and its ships patrolled the Aegean, the group returned to NATO command and control earlier this month for the Neptune Shield 2022.

For this exercise, it joined the Norfolk-based USS Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, its embarked Marines from the 22 Marine Expeditionary Unit and forces from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The aim is to work on and refine operations linking carrier groups with expeditionary forces  like the Marines and the sailors who move them on and off the beach.

The Kearsarge groups COMPTUEX earlier this year included the first NATO command and control scenario for an amphibious group and its Marines.

The Bush strike groups major command elements are the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, Carrier Air Wing 7, Destroyer Squadron 26, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), and as Information Warfare Commander.

The Caio Duilio is named for the Roman consul Gaius Duilius, who won Romes first victory at sea during the First Punic War, defeating the Carthaginians at the Battle of Mylae in 260 B.C.

Its crew of 193 carry out a wide range of missions, from escorting carrier strike groups, to anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare. Stealth technology gives it a low radar profile and it has a top speed of 29 knots.

dress@dailypress.com

2022 Daily Press.

Visit dailypress.com.

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(Tribune News Service)  Fort Benning's newly proposed name honors famed Vietnam commander Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife Julie, officials tasked with renaming Confederate military assets announced Tuesday.

Fort Moore was selected from a list of 87 finalists that included names with ties to Benning, but the Army post just south of Columbus played a major role in the lives of the Moore family. The husband and wife are buried on post surrounded by the soldiers who died at Ia Drang as Hal's last wish was to be buried among his men.

For more than a year, the Moore children campaigned to rename Benning on behalf of their parents. The goal was to honor the importance of the military family.

The pair operated as a command team, one unit moving toward a common goal. While Hal is widely celebrated for his military accolades, the Moore family said their proposal celebrates Julie's legacy, bringing her into the fold as an equal partner, their son Dave told the Ledger-Enquirer in September 2021.

The Naming Commission will provide its renaming recommendations for bases and other Department of Defense items that commemorate the Confederacy to Congress. The U.S. Secretary of Defense has the authority to rename the bases, officials said.

"We look for inspirational stories, and the Moores, Hal and Julia together, provided an incredibly inspirational story and a way to recognize the army family in a way that we thought would inspire Army families, soldiers, communities and the nation, said Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, a member of the commission.

Who were Hal and Julie Moore?

In his interview last year, Dave spoke about his parents' lives.

Hal and Julie Moore first met at Fort Bragg, N.C. She was an Army brat, born at Fort Sill, Okla., in 1929 to Colonel Louis J. Compton and Elizabeth Compton. After several assignments, the family arrived at Bragg, and Col. Compton commanded Army Field Forces Board #1 on the post.

A young soldier who graduated from West Point, Hal was sent to Bragg in 1948 after being stationed in Japan. Hal ended up a parachute tester under Compton.

Julie, then a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was visiting her parents when she met Hal at the post pool. She introduced herself, and although Hal seemed to brush her off, love eventually blossomed. Julie decided Hal was the man for her in the summer of 1949. She chased him until he caught her, Dave told the Ledger-Enquirer. The couple married in November 1949, and their first child was born 18 months later at the installation.

Lt. Gen. Moore's three-decade military career is highlighted by his heroism as commander at the Battle of Ia Drang during the Vietnam War. The battle was depicted in Hal and late war correspondent and journalist Joe Galloway's 1992 best-seller "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young."

Moore, then a Lt. Col., and his roughly 400 men were outnumbered and started taking enemy fire 90 minutes after landing at Landing Zone X-Ray. The situation was dire, son Dave Moore and Ramon A. "Tony" Nadal, a captain who served under Hal Moore during the fighting, told the Ledger-Enquirer.

Reporters and military historians later compared Moore's position to that of another 7th Cavalry commander, George Custer  his troops were surprised and slaughtered at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Troops in the valley even called the blonde-headed Moore "Yellow Hair," a tongue-in-cheek nod to Custer. Yet, Moore and his men did not meet Custer's fate.

Over the next three days, the Americans engaged the much larger North Vietnamese forces. Moore took an active role in the fighting, joining a company in an infantry assault on the second morning. The North Vietnamese nearly overran the Americans' position, but well-placed, timely artillery and air support kept Moore and his men on the field.

Casualties were high on both sides, especially for the North Vietnamese who withdrew on Nov. 16. The Americans claimed tactical victory in the first main engagement of the Battle of Ia Drang.

Meanwhile, Julie spent her entire life in the military  as a daughter, a wife and later, a mother, when two of her sons joined up. Dave entered the Army in 1979, graduated from West Point in 1984 and retired in 2011. Steve Moore graduated from West Point in 1975 and retired from the Army in 1995.

She also served as a Red Cross volunteer working in Army hospitals and dental clinics, pushed for Army daycare centers to receive proper support and helped other wives adjust to military life all while raising a family of her own.

Complaints from Julie and other Fort Benning spouses, eventually brought about the Army's modern death notification system. To this day, a uniformed officer and a chaplain deliver the news.

In the aftermath of the Ia Drang battle, the U.S. Army had yet to establish a proper system for notifying the next of kin when a soldier was killed. Telegrams were simply given to cab drivers for delivery.

Julie was able to get Western Union to tell her who was receiving death notifications in the Columbus area. She'd arrive not long after the taxis, grieving with the widows and families of the fallen. She attended funerals of the men who served under her husband's command, Dave previously told the Ledger-Enquirer.

"You don't see Army spouses in front of formations getting awards and things of that sort for the most part. ...You see the person in the military getting the accolade, but that actually came as a result of the sacrifice and commitment of others," Dave said.

(c)2022 the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Ga.)

Visit the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Ga.) at www.ledger-enquirer.com

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When President Joe Biden responded yes to a reporter who asked whether the United States would be willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, the debate over the policy of strategic ambiguity toward the island was reawakened. The White House quickly clarified that, despite the presidents off-the-cuff remark, there was no policy change: The United States continues to recognize Beijing as the sole legitimate Chinese government, while supplying arms to Taiwan - and not comment on what further actions it would take to defend it.

Yet some observers suggested that we have been overdue for tougher talk. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., for example, tweeted that Bidens answer was the right thing to say and that making a formal military commitment was the right thing to do.

But those who endorse abandoning strategic ambiguity in favor of a more hawkish stance fail to appreciate the full range of the policys benefits. Strategic ambiguity is not merely designed to deter China, after all - though that is one key aim. It is intended to also keep Taiwans ambitions from becoming overly aggressive.

Considered from all angles, the policy is an important framework that keeps Taiwan secure. There is no benefit to Bidens comments, as some have said; rather, they chip away at an admittedly complicated arrangement that has effectively kept the peace since the passing of the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979.

To begin with the basics, strategic ambiguity tries to mitigate two potential pathways to war. First, China might attack Taiwan because it perceives that Taiwan is moving too close to independence. Second, China might attack Taiwan to prevent the United States and Taiwan from becoming too closely allied. (International law scholars know that wars to deter alliance formation are all too common.)

In the first case, supplying arms to Taiwan and leaving open the possibility of stronger U.S. intervention obviously aims to deter China from attacking a Taiwan it perceives as trying to break free. In the second case, ambiguity reduces the perception that there is an impending formal alliance - a true mutual-defense pact - between Taiwan and the United States, which ought to ease Chinas mind. The lack of that formal, binding commitment also encourages Taiwan not to take strong steps toward independence, which itself could provoke the mainland.

Calls to abandon the U.S. policy of ambiguity have gained steam in recent years, however. A significant number of politicians and pundits believe that todays China is sufficiently militarily strong to be undeterred by an intervention that is less than certain. The policy known as strategic ambiguity . . . has run its course, wrote Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and David Sacks, a research fellow at the council, in September 2020.

Chinas growing strength does reduce the deterrence effectiveness of an ambiguous policy, but there are other things to consider. Calls to abandon ambiguity altogether ignore the effect of U.S. defense commitment in Taiwan politics. The Taiwan public is already overconfident about U.S. defense support: In surveys conducted in Taiwan between 2002 and 2020 (overseen by Duke University and National Chengchi University scholars), between 60% and 75% of survey respondents in Taiwan consistently expressed that they believe the United States would send troops to help Taiwan if China attacked.

This confidence has been bolstered by reassuring gestures from U.S. policymakers, which have increased in recent years. In the Trump administration, the State Department lifted rules prohibiting interactions between American and Taiwanese diplomats, for example, and in both the Trump and Biden administrations, U.S. congressional delegations frequently made visits to Taiwan. In April, for instance, one such delegation with leaders of both parties traveled to Taiwan on a military aircraft and met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, as well as Taiwans foreign minister and minister of national defense.

Taiwans confidence, however, is out of step with more-qualified public opinion for Taiwan in the United States, where about half support defending Taiwan (a figure that is up significantly from historical trends). More important, Taiwanese overconfidence is not supported by concrete U.S. military actions that would ordinarily demonstrate support to assist a partner. Unlike the United States and its formal military allies in East Asia - Japan and South Korea - the American and Taiwanese militaries do not have an institutional structure to manage military cooperation; nor do the United States and Taiwan engage in joint large-scale military exercises or base-sharing. And the Taiwanese certainly dont benefit formally from the security of the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Those arrangements are consistent with strategic ambiguity, but recent hawkish rhetoric from many in the United States isnt. Comments like Bidens - even if it was a gaffe - do not match American military preparations, either, and contribute to Taiwanese overconfidence.

An underappreciated purpose of strategic ambiguity is to allow the United States and Taiwan to cooperate informally without provoking a military reaction from China. This cooperation includes arms sales to Taiwan, low-level U.S. military training in Taiwan, and a de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan, among other things. China might well not tolerate such ties if a formal defense commitment were announced.

When any military alliance is considered, there is always a dangerous window before it is formally implemented in which adversaries of the alliance might attack to block the alliance. Russias recent attack on Ukraine was, in part, motivated by its desire to block Ukraine from ever joining NATO, and in 1954, China attacked islands in the Taiwan Strait to try to prevent the United States and Taiwan from implementing a mutual-defense treaty. A new formal U.S. commitment to Taiwans defense today would take time and effort to pose a credible and capable defense of an island fewer than 100 miles away from China. China would face incentives to strike during that period.

What the Biden administration should be doing is making genuinely ambiguous statements in public - and, in private, reminding our Taiwanese friends that U.S. intervention is not a sure thing. At the same time, the United States should continue to give military advice, direction and weapons to Taiwan to help the Taiwanese to defend themselves.

The war in Ukraine is providing lessons about the kinds of weapons (such as antitank and anti-ship missiles) and tactics that are most effective in fending off an invasion by a more powerful military. Arms-sales packages and military advice should be updated to account for this new information. In addition, the United States should work with Taiwan to counter looming unconventional threats to Taiwan, including Chinese threats to Taiwans cybersecurity. The United States should also quietly beef up its capability in East Asia so if a China-Taiwan war breaks out, we would be able to make it very expensive for China - if we decide to get involved. But we shouldnt say in advance thats a sure thing.

---

Brett V. Benson is an associate professor of political science at Vanderbilt University.
UNITED NATIONS  The United States on Tuesday urged rapid progress from military to civilian rule in Sudan and threatened sanctions on anyone impeding or blocking the transition to democracy.

Richard Mills, deputy U.S. ambassador at the United Nations, said Washington supports a joint effort by the U.N. political mission in Sudan, the African Union and the eight-nation regional group IGAD to facilitate a Sudanese-led shift to democracy.

Speaking before the Security Council, he strongly encouraged Sudanese civilians and military to use this process to move quickly on the framework for a civilian-led transitional government.

Sudan has been in turmoil since an October military coup upended its short-lived transition to democracy after three decades of repressive rule by strongman Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir and his Islamist-backed government were removed in a popular uprising in April 2019.

The military takeover sparked protests demanding a return to civilian rule and a crackdown on protesters by security forces. The coup also sent Sudans already fragile economy into free fall, with living conditions rapidly deteriorating.

The two main protest groups, the Sudanese Professionals Association and the Resistance Committees, have long demanded the removal of the military from power and the establishment of a fully civilian government.

The generals say they will hand over power only to an elected administration. They say elections will take place in July 2023 as planned in a constitutional document governing the transitional period.

Mills expressed hope that the dialogue facilitated by the U.N., AU and the east African IGAD regional group will succeed and soon.

The transfer of power to a civilian-led government will enable the resumption of international financial support and development assistance  support that is desperately needed, the U.S. envoy said. To make sure that progress happens, and that the people of Sudan are well-served, we are prepared to levy consequences on those who impede or otherwise spoil Sudans transition to democracy.

In U.N. diplomatic language, consequences mean sanctions.

The U.N. special representative for Sudan, Volker Perthes, was asked if he thought sanctions would be useful, and replied: I believe more in incentives than in sanctions.

From late March until today, he said, Sudanese authorities have released at least 86 detainees, including high profile officials and activists, but at least 111 people reportedly remain in detention in Khartoum, Port Sudan and elsewhere.

While violence by security forces against protesters appears to have decreased overall, another protester was killed Saturday, bringing the total number to 96, he said.

If the authorities want to build trust, it is essential that those responsible for violence against protesters be held to account, Perthes said.

Following the initial release of detainees and reduction in violence, Perthes said, the U.N., AU and IGAD began on May 12 indirect talks with the parties on core issues. Those include the term and composition of key constitutional organs, future relations between the military and civilian components, and the mechanism and criteria for selecting a prime minister, he said.

Reaching understandings on these issues, Perthes said, will help chart the way out of the crisis and address the institutional vacuum after the coup.

The U.N. envoy was also cautious.

Let me be clear: There are also spoilers who do not want a peaceful transition to democracy, or refuse a solution through dialogue, Perthes said. The Sudanese parties should not allow such spoilers to undermine the opportunity of finding a negotiated exit to the crisis.

Sudan's new U.N. ambassador, Al-Harith Mohamed, told the council: We continue working in Sudan to complete the political transition and move towards democracy, freedom, peace and justice."

He said the government is involved in the U.N., AU and IGAD initiative to form a national consensus and have a civilian government. And in this case the military will cede power to the government," but the ultimate objective is having democratic elections he said.
A Somali police officer recently received an unexpected summons from the enemy. An unknown caller ordered him to report to a town outside the capital, Mogadishu, where the extremist group al-Shabab would settle a dispute between him and his brother. The caller assured the officer he would be safe even if he showed up in uniform.

Overcoming his fear, Khadar traveled to meet with a panel of four bearded men in an office made from iron sheets. The al-Shabab men wanted to know why he was denying his brothers a share of the land they inherited from their father.

"After an hour and a half of debate, the men directed me to distribute the inheritance among my brothers," Khadar recalled in an interview with The Associated Press, withholding his last name for safety concerns.

Khadar complied, an extraordinary gesture to an armed group that continues to pose a deadly threat to his police colleagues and his government at large.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab is projecting authority and asserting a wider role in public life in this troubled Horn of Africa nation, underlining the extent of the challenge Africa's deadliest Islamic extremist group presents to the newly elected government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The threats range beyond regular attacks on places frequented by officials and include militant control of vast territory where federal officials don't dare go and can't even collect taxes.

The group, which seeks to create an Islamic caliphate out of Somalia, is also increasingly undermining authorities by offering a parallel justice system  enforced by the threat of violence  in a country where many have little faith in conventional courts.

Some people who spoke to the AP expressed a favorable view of al-Shabab, saying its mobile courts are not corrupt and that the group appears able to protect vulnerable people in ways the federal government cannot.

"You will get justice in al-Shabab courtrooms if you know you are doing the right thing," said farmer Muallim Abdi, a father of eight children who lives in another al-Shabab-controlled village near Mogadishu. "But in the government-controlled areas it will take time, and the formal courts are corrupt."

Abdi acknowledged that life under al-Shabab is "extremely difficult," citing the children forced to join the group, the tax burden and the inability to enjoy private property. Last Ramadan, he said, al-Shabab asked residents to raise money to buy livestock to be slaughtered for the Eid feast, an unreasonable demand at a time when the riverbed was dry and some people were on the verge of displacement amid drought.

Al-Shabab "remains in a healthy financial position" thanks to illicit taxation as well as income derived from the ongoing sale of $40 million in charcoal stockpiles in the city of Kismayo, a U.N. panel of experts reported last year.

Al-Shabab's tax code compels all those intending to buy or sell farmland to register with the group's land office, through which sales can be finalized. Farmers are ordered to notify al-Shabab of the quantities they are harvesting.

"Once I harvested and sold 2,247 bags of onions but did not inform al-Shabab because I had an emergency to attend to," Abdi said. "I was home when two men on motorcycles arrived. I was accosted for not telling them about the harvest. I was detained in a small, dark room and nearly suffocated." There's no room for appeal in the al-Shabab system.

Despite the $1,123 fine he paid, Abdi still sees al-Shabab in a positive light because later it ruled in his favor to settle a land dispute with a neighbor. Both claimants were summoned and told to prove ownership before a committee that found his papers authentic, he said.

"The public would rally behind al-Shabab if they stopped killing people," Abdi said.

Al-Shabab, which has killed thousands of civilians in the last decade, is estimated to have anywhere between 4,000 and 7,000 fighters, according to the Mogadishu-based security think tank Hiraal Institute.

Although al-Shabab's extortionate power has been a major concern among traders, some businesspeople said they feel more confident in its mediation of disputes.

"They are becoming more reliable, and the people are counting on them," Hiraal Institute's Samira Gaid said of al-Shabab's court system.

Somalis from minority clans, a growing community, see al-Shabab courts as fair, she said.

Al-Shabab has seized even more territory in recent years, taking advantage of rifts among security personnel as well as disagreements between the government seat in Mogadishu and regional states.

Forced to retreat from Mogadishu in 2011, al-Shabab is slowly making a comeback from the rural areas to which it retreated, defying the presence of African Union peacekeepers as well as U.S. drone strikes targeting its fighters.

The militants in early May attacked a military base for AU peacekeepers outside Mogadishu, killing many Burundian troops. The attack came just days before the presidential vote that returned Mohamud to power five years after he had been voted out.

Al-Shabab's strategy is to "bleed the system" while patiently waiting for the exit of foreign troops, said Gaid, the security analyst.

The restructured AU peacekeeping mission is set to wind down by the end of 2024, when Somali forces would take over security responsibilities.

American officials cited the heightened threat posed by al-Shabab in mid-May as President Joe Biden signed an order to redeploy hundreds of U.S. troops to Somalia. Somali authorities have welcomed the decision reversing a 2021 order to withdraw U.S. troops.

Mohamud has said securing Mogadishu will depend heavily on pushing militants out of the neighboring regions of Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle. That could be challenging.

Al-Shabab "has sharply increased its infiltration of state institutions, particularly security institutions," said political analyst Abdi Aynte, a former government minister.

Rebuilding Somalia's security system "isn't an administrative problem but ultimately a political one," with the new president needing to reform the security services in a way that's accommodative of all competing groups, he said.

___

An Associated Press journalist in Somalia contributed. Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  North Korea fired three ballistic missiles Wednesday morning off its eastern coast, prompting the United States and South Korea to respond with a show of force of their own launches.

North Koreas missiles, fired hours after President Joe Biden wrapped up his first presidential trip to Seoul and Tokyo, came from the Sunan area, where the regimes airport is located, according to the Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The three missiles were fired at 6 a.m., 6:37 a.m. and 6:42 a.m. The first, believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, flew roughly 224 miles at a peak altitude of 336 miles; the second disappeared at an altitude of 12 miles; and the third, believed to be a short-range ballistic missile, flew about 472 miles at an altitude of 37 miles, according to South Koreas military.

The Japan Ministry of Defense confirmed at least two ballistic missiles were fired Wednesday morning and landed outside of the countrys exclusive economic zone, Minister Nobuo Kishi told news reporters.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in an unsigned press release Wednesday said the incident did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory and that it highlights the destabilizing impact of [North Koreas] illicit weapons program.

Following the launches, U.S. Forces Korea announced in an unsigned press release that it had fired surface-to-surface missiles toward its eastern coast to demonstrate the ability of the combined [U.S.-South Korea] force to respond quickly to crisis events.

USFK, which is responsible for roughly 28,500 troops on the Korean Peninsula, said in the release it used the Armys Tactical Missile System and South Koreas Hyunmu-2 missile system for the live-fire exercise.

South Koreas military also conducted an armed exercise consisting of 30 South Korean F-15K jets, the Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement Wednesday.

This armed protest by our military showed our will to firmly deal with any provocation, including North Korean ICBM launches, the statement said. We have the ability and the posture to conduct pinpoint strikes on starting points of provocations with our overwhelming fighting power.

North Koreas launches mark the regimes 16th round of missile tests so far this year. It last conducted a missile test on May 12, roughly a week before Biden arrived in South Korea as part of his five-day trip to Asia.

U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials have warned in recent weeks that the North could conduct another missile or nuclear test as soon as this month. South Korean government officials braced for a possible weapons test during Bidens visit and said they prepared adequate countermeasures.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday condemned the Norths tests and described them as a grave provocation.

Pyongyangs continued provocations will inevitably lead to "stronger and swifter [South Korea]-U.S. joint deterrence and invite only its international isolation," Yoons office said in a statement.

Yoon, who was inaugurated this month, pledged with Biden to initiate talks to increase the scope and scale of U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises due to North Koreas evolving threat.

We are going to step up our exercises, Yoon said during a press briefing with Biden on Saturday.

Yoon, a member of the countrys conservative People Power Party, has vowed to increase cooperation with the U.S. military and respond decisively against North Koreas provocations.
China followed President Joe Bidens vow to defend Taiwan militarily by announcing it held military exercises close to the democratically ruled island, underscoring its anger over the U.S. stance.

The air and sea combat readiness patrol was a solemn warning about the recent collusion between the U.S. and Taiwan, Colonel Shi Yi said in a statement on Wednesday from the Eastern Theater Command of the Peoples Liberation Army. The command, which is headquartered in the eastern city of Nanjing, didnt say when exactly the exercises were conducted.

On the Taiwan issue, the U.S. side says one thing and does another, giving repeated encouragement to Taiwan independence forces. This is hypocritical and futile, and will only lead the situation to a dangerous situation, and it will also face serious consequences, Shi added.

The comments show how much Biden angered Beijing by answering yes when asked Monday in Tokyo if the U.S. would act militarily to defend the island in the event of a Chinese attack. White House officials later said he was only promising U.S. aid to help Taiwan defend itself in the event of hostilities.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin also lashed out at the U.S. at a regular press briefing Wednesday in Beijing, saying it will incur irreparable consequences and unbearable cost for supporting Taiwan.

China has a pattern of using the PLA to respond to what it sees as U.S. provocations regarding Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory that must be brought under control by force if necessary. After a group of senior senators including Republican Lindsey Graham visited last month, China held air and naval training near the island.

The government of President Tsai Ing-wen asserts Taiwan is already a de facto independent nation deserving wider international recognition. The Biden administration has stepped up its backing since Russias invasion of Ukraine in February, partly to deter any attack across the Taiwan Strait.

Chinas top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, last week warned the U.S. about its increased support for the government in Taipei, saying: If the U.S. side insists on playing the Taiwan card and goes further and further down the wrong road, it will certainly lead to a dangerous situation.
TOKYO - The government and ruling parties plan to begin full-scale discussions to boost the countrys defense budget in the next fiscal year and beyond, after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told U.S. President Joe Biden during the pairs summit in Tokyo on Monday that Japan will secure a substantial increase in its defense budget.

The majority of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers have called for a fundamental expansion of the defense budget, but the cautious stance of the LDPs junior coalition partner Komeito, as well as fiscal constraints, may impede the move.

LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi expressed his support for Kishidas resolve to increase the defense budget. It is extremely important to develop a defense system that can respond to the severe security environment, Motegi said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Japans defense budget for the current fiscal year stands at 5.4 trillion yen ($42.4 billion U.S.), or 0.96% of gross domestic product, which is about half of the 2% target that NATO member countries set for themselves.

Calls have been growing within the LDP to raise defense spending following Russias invasion of Ukraine and North Koreas repeated ballistic missile launches.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is spearheading the discussions on the defense budget increase. He was the first to insist on greater defense expenditures, saying, We must make efforts to move toward 2%.

On an internet program on Friday, he said the Self-Defense Forces do not have a sustainable combat capability and that their equipment, ranging from machine gun rounds to SM-3 interceptor missiles, cannot be said to be sufficient.

Following Kishidas remarks on the defense budget increase on Monday, Abe called for an increase of more than 1 trillion yen for next fiscal year, aiming for a budget above 6.5 trillion yen.

Japans defense spending has grown by only about 700 billion yen over the past 10 years. As China has become increasingly active in its maritime expansion, the government has instead raised the much smaller budget for the Japan Coast Guard, which is connected to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry.

Calls have emerged within the Defense Ministry for more ammunition and missiles, and improvement of SDF facilities in addition to the reinforcement of mainstay defense equipment such as tanks. This is a good opportunity to allocate funds to areas that have previously been left behind, a senior Defense Ministry official said.

However, in order to achieve a target of 2% within five years, an increase of nearly 1 trillion yen will be needed each year.

Komeito, which calls itself the party of peace, is cautious about a large increase in defense spending. We take the prime ministers determination seriously, Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi said at a press conference on Tuesday. However, he also said, How much of an increase is appropriate is something we will consider during our discussions on defense capabilities.

How to secure financial resources is another unavoidable issue.

A senior Finance Ministry official said, Its fine to increase [defense spending], but in which other areas should we make cuts? Coordination in boosting defense expenditures may face difficulties as the financial issue could lead to discussions on slashing social security spending, which accounts for one-third of the countrys budget.
Newly declassified U.S. intelligence shows that a Russian naval blockade has halted maritime trade at Ukrainian ports, in what world leaders call a deliberate attack on the global food supply chain that has raised fears of political instability and shortages unless grain and other essential agricultural products are allowed to flow freely from Ukraine.

Russias navy now effectively controls all traffic in the northern third of the Black Sea, making it unsafe for commercial shipping, according to a U.S. government document obtained by The Washington Post.

The document, based on recently declassified intelligence, analyzed heat signatures emitted by Russian ships to reveal dense areas of naval activity along portions of Ukraines southern coast and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia occupied and annexed in 2014. The blockade that ensued following Russias invasion in February halted civil maritime traffic, entrapping Ukrainian agricultural exports and jeopardizing global food supplies, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the intelligence.

The impact of Russias actions cannot be understated as Ukraines seaborne exports are vital to global food security, the official stated. Ukraine provides about 10% of the worlds wheat exports, and the vast majority of those exports  approximately 95% in 2020  departed via Black Sea ports.

In recent days, world leaders have warned that Russias blockade poses one of the most dire threats to global stability since the war began. Ukraine is a global food basket. The country is the worlds largest exporter of sunflower oil, the fourth largest exporter of corn, and the fifth largest exporter of wheat.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that 20 million tons of wheat are struck in Ukraine. Russia has deliberately bombed Ukrainian grain warehouses and is hoarding its own food exports as a form of blackmail, she said, holding back supplies to increase global prices, or trading wheat in exchange for political support. This is using hunger and grain to wield power.

Politically fragile countries are especially vulnerable, von der Leyen said, noting that bread prices in Lebanon have increased by 70% and food shipments from Odessa to Somalia have stopped because of Russias actions.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed the grim assessment last week in remarks at the United Nations, calling Russias blockade a deliberate effort to destabilize the worlds food supply.

Since Russia issued a warning to mariners in February that significant areas of the Black Sea were closed to commercial traffic, the Russian military has repeatedly blocked safe passage to and from Ukraine by closing the Kerch Strait, tightening its control over the Sea of Azov, stationing warships off Ukrainian ports. And Russia has struck Ukrainian ports multiple times, Blinken said.

The food supply for millions of Ukrainians  and millions more around the world  has quite literally been held hostage by the Russian military, he said.

For weeks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Western powers to break the blockade. In his remarks to the Davos forum, Zelensky said Russian forces were blocking Ukraine from exporting 22 million tons of grain, sunflower and other foods, which were rotting in Ukraine.

If we do not export [grain] in the coming months, if there are no political agreements with Russia through intermediaries  there will be famine, there will be a catastrophe, there will be a deficit, there will be a high price, Zelensky warned.

But Western powers have few options for ending the Russian blockade.

The United States has no vessels in the Black Sea, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a news conference at the Pentagon on Monday. The Biden administration has steadfastly resisted any direct military involvement in the war.

Ukraine has focused on preventing an amphibious assault by Russian forces into key coastal cities and areas, which could help Russia to solidify its control in the east of the country, where Moscow has concentrated its energy after failing to capture the capital, Kyiv, and other key cities in central Ukraine.

Right now its a bit of a stalemate [in the Black Sea region] between the Ukrainians wanting to make sure that theres not any sort of amphibious landing against Odessa, a key strategic port, Milley said. The area has become a no-go-zone for commercial shipping, he said.

The Ukrainian military has notched some notable successes against the Russian navy, sinking the Black Sea flagship Moskva, with some assistance from intelligence provided by the United States. But those strikes have been insufficient to reopen Ukrainian ports.

The European Commission has proposed exporting Ukraines wheat and other grains by rail, road or by river. But its unclear how allied forces could protect those shipments from Russian assault.

Denmark plans to send Harpoon anti-ship missiles and a launcher to Ukraine, which could help pierce the blockade and get food exports flowing again. But it may take months to train Ukrainian military personnel on how to use the weapons and integrate them into the countrys coastal defenses, according to military experts.

Even before Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 2022 was forecast to be the most food-insecure year on record globally, making supply from Ukraine even more critical, Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said in remarks last week in Vienna.

Carpenter cited Ukrainian government reports that Russian forces had stolen 400,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat, as well as farm equipment, which was shipped back to Russian territory. He said Russian forces had also destroyed roads, railways and rail stations needed to transport products for export, in addition to its blockade of sea ports.

As a result of Russias aggression, global food shortages are increasing and food prices are rising, exacerbating suffering and hardship for millions of vulnerable people across the globe, Carpenter said, noting a World Food Program estimate that the war could drive 47 million additional people worldwide into acute food insecurity.

Commercial satellite imagery appears to confirm some of Carpenters and the Ukrainian governments allegations. Photos taken last week and published by Maxar Technologies showed Russian ships loading grain at Sevastopol, a port in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Russian officials have denied they are attempting to cut off Ukrainian exports and blamed Western sanctions for disruptions to global food supplies.

These bans destroyed in a day, long-term, convenient, comfortable transport and logistics chains, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in remarks in Oman earlier this month.

Offering no evidence to support his claims, Lavrov accused Ukrainian authorities of refusing to let dozens of vessels leave their ports, including those that deliver wheat to various parts of the world. They have even closed their ports by mining the exit ways, making it impossible for these vessels to leave.

The Middle East Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, accused Russia last week of violating an international agreement that allows Turkey to regulate transit of warships during times of war through the Turkish Straits, which connects the Black and Aegean seas.

Turkey triggered the Montreux Convention four days after Russia invaded Ukraine, which prevented Russia from bringing more warships to the Black Sea, but Moscow circumnavigated the agreement by using merchant vessels  which are not prohibited from the waterways  to supply its military operations in Ukraine, the institute found, citing an analysis of naval traffic.

The report also accused Russia of stealing Ukrainian grain on an industrial scale and using the profits to fund its war.

It is absurd that Russia has been allowed to weaponize commercial trade by illegally blockading the Odessa and Chornomorsk harbors, while also profiting from the sale of stolen Ukrainian grain, exported from an occupied Ukrainian port, the reports authors wrote.

As the war entered its fourth month, there was little sign that the Zelensky administration or the Ukrainian people were prepared to negotiate an end that resulted in loss of Ukrainian territory.

A poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 82% of Ukrainians are not prepared to give up any land, even if it means the war continues.

Only 10% said they believed that giving up land was worth ending the conflict. Eight percent were undecided.

- - -

The Washington Posts Andrew Jeong in Seoul and Karen DeYoung, Karoun Demirjian and Timothy Bella in Washington contributed to this report.
ANKARA, Turkey  A senior Turkish official insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials Wednesday that Turkey would not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankara's objections.

"We have made it very clear that if Turkey's security concerns are not met with concrete steps in a certain timeframe the process will not progress," Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference after the talks in Ankara that lasted about five hours.

Kalin is the spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a senior presidential aide.

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO last week, in a move representing one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russia's war in Ukraine that could rewrite Europe's security map.

Turkey has said it opposes the countries' membership in the Western military alliance, citing grievances with Sweden's  and a to a lesser extent Finland's  perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey views as security threats.

The PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by several of Turkey's allies, has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey, a conflict that has cost the lives of tens of thousands people.

The Turkish government also accuses Finland and Sweden of imposing arms exports restrictions on Turkey and refusing to extradite suspected "terrorists."

Turkey's objections have dampened Stockholm's and Helsinki's hopes for joining NATO quickly amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine and put the trans-Atlantic alliance's credibility at stake. All 30 NATO members must agree on admitting new members.

The Swedish and Finnish delegations met with Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation was led by state secretary Oscar Stenstrom, while Jukka Salovaara, the foreign ministry undersecretary, headed up the Finnish delegation, Turkish officials said.

Kalin said Turkey's proposal to lift arms export limits was met with a "positive attitude" by the Swedish and Finnish delegations.

He added that talks would continue once the Nordic governments had responded to Turkey's demands.

Turkey also expects the extradition of 28 "terrorism" suspects from Sweden and 12 from Finland, Kalin said, adding that there was "no legal or judicial basis" not to extradite them. Turkish state media had previously said Turkey demanded the extradition of 33 suspects from the two countries.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said following a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Stockholm that her country wanted to "clarify" claims that have been floating around during discussions with Turkey.

"We do not send money or weapons to terrorist organizations," Andersson said.

During a news conference with the Estonian prime minister later Wednesday, Andersson said that "in these times, it is important to strengthen our security."

She said Sweden has "a constructive dialogue" with Turkey and that Stockholm was "eager to sort out issues and misunderstandings and questions."

Michel, who is scheduled to head to Helsinki from Stockholm, said it was "a pivotal moment for Sweden" and "we fully support your choices."

Turkey this week listed five "concrete assurances" it was demanding from Sweden, including what it said was "termination of political support for terrorism," an "elimination of the source of terrorism financing," and the "cessation of arms support" to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it.

The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.

Turkey said that it has requested the extradition of Kurdish militants and other suspects since 2017 but hasn't received a positive response from Stockholm. The Turkish government claimed Sweden had decided to provide $376 million to support the Kurdish militants in 2023 and that it had provided them with military equipment, including anti-tank weapons and drones.

Finland has received nine extradition requests from Turkey in a recent period covering over three years, Finnish news agency STT said Wednesday, citing data from the Finnish justice ministry. Two people were extradited while six of the requests were rejected. A decision was pending regarding one other case.

Speaking Tuesday before a meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia had left Sweden and Finland "no choice" but to join NATO.

She said Germany would support the two countries' membership, calling it "a real gain" for the military alliance.

__

Andrew Wilks in Istanbul, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report.
STUTTGART, Germany  A potentially precedent-setting decision by Germanys top fiscal court to overturn tax penalties on a U.S. Army civilian employee is being studied to see what ramifications it could have for other Americans locked in financially devastating fights with German tax authorities.

The Munich-based tribunal ruled in February 2021 that the finance court in Rheinland-Pfalz, home to the largest American military community outside the United States, had ignored provisions in a bilateral tax treaty that makes U.S. government pay off-limits to German tax collectors under certain circumstances.

The little-known case, only now coming to light publicly, centered on an unidentified active-duty soldier stationed in Germany in the 1990s.

An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that the U.S. is aware of the ruling and is analyzing its implications to determine whether it could be a model for others in Germany covered by NATOs Status of Forces Agreement.

At some point during the Germany tour of the former soldier in the case, he married a German and bought real estate, actions that tax offices view as grounds for targeting U.S. personnel regardless of their SOFA status.

He was put in the taxing authoritys crosshairs after leaving the service and transitioning to an Army civilian job in Germany.

The case did not delve into the main dispute over whether SOFA offers blanket tax protection for U.S. personnel on orders in Germany. Still, the crux of the issue is an Americans motive for coming to Germany, according to the Munich court.

Local tax offices have argued that if Defense Department employees are not in Germany solely for their job and have other ties to the country, such as a German spouse, they can be taxed as an ordinary German resident regardless of their SOFA protections.

The Munich court asserted that what is decisive is the point in time at which the applicant became resident in Germany.

That means local tax officials need to look at the reason for this person coming to Germany in the first place, said Georg Weishaupt, a tax specialist representing three American families in separate SOFA-related tax cases. He analyzed the ruling for Stars and Stripes.

If the American arrived in Germany solely for the job and later married a German or bought German real estate, military pay would be exempt from taxation, Weishaupt said.

But arriving in Germany with a German spouse or anything else that could be perceived as a special tie to the country is still problematic, he said.

(The court decision) doesnt work for everybody, Weishaupt said. Maybe (the problem) has been solved for some people who are affected but not for all.

Its been nearly two years since the U.S. lodged a formal complaint about the tax issue facing hundreds of Americans with military ties in Germany, and the countries remain at a standstill on the matter.

In the meantime, U.S. personnel have been left to their own devices to fight the tax collection efforts in court. The toll exacted by the assessments and costly legal challenges has left some Americans in financial ruin.

The unidentified U.S. official who spoke about the ruling said it doesnt completely solve the issue for targeted Americans because its inapplicable in some scenarios. Weishaupt concurred that it is not a full remedy.

He said the decision applies only to the family involved in the case at issue, so the question now is how local German tax offices will apply the ruling going forward.

Still, the case could set a precedent for Americans in similar circumstances who find themselves in the sights of the German version of the IRS.

Among the personnel who could stand to benefit from the courts decision are people who have been in Germany for an extended period, such as teachers in DOD schools, who often spend the bulk of their careers overseas and sometimes buy real estate in Germany, he said.

Active-duty personnel who arrived in Germany with no special ties and later transitioned to a civilian posting in Germany also would benefit from the decision, Weishaupt said.

However, the ruling would not help SOFA-protected contractors because the decision dealt only with Americans paid directly by the U.S. government.

Also, service members or Defense Department civilian workers who marry a German while on tour or redeploy to a different country and return to Germany for another military assignment couldnt use the ruling as a defense, he said.

Weishaupt said a more all-encompassing court decision is still needed to resolve the issue permanently.

The Americans cases he has working their way through the German legal system center on the contention that local finance offices are basing their right to tax on a fundamental misreading of SOFA.

My position is anybody who is here under NATO SOFA is protected regardless of any intent or not to return to the U.S. or reasons for coming to Germany in the first place, he said. If my position holds in court, this issue dies and it dies for good.
The top U.S. envoy to the Iran nuclear talks says that efforts to revive the 2015 agreement are faltering but that he believes offering Tehran limited sanctions relief could still salvage the accord and provide the basis for a broader deal.

In testimony prepared for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Special Envoy Robert Malley says that a return to the multinational Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action would help keep a lid on Iranian nuclear activity that accelerated after President Donald Trumps 2018 decision to pull out of the deal despite an array of punishing sanctions.

But Malley makes clear that time is running out after more than a year of start-and-stop talks in Vienna appeared to have lost momentum.

We do not have a deal with Iran, and prospects for reaching one are, at best, tenuous, according to Malleys prepared remarks.

The bottom line is that we are convinced, as are all our European partners, that we can both provide limited sanctions relief in exchange for Iran taking important steps to roll back and constrain its nuclear program, and still use the vast reservoir of remaining sanctions and other tools at our disposal to pressure and target its other dangerous activities, he says.

Trump and his allies argued that the original deal, negotiated under President Barack Obama, eased pressure on Tehran without addressing Irans ballistic missile program or its support for terrorists beyond its borders. Trump referred to the accord as a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made.

Iranian officials have repeatedly said their nuclear program is peaceful and not designed to build a weapon. But since the U.S. quit the accord, Tehran has gone beyond agreed-to limits on nuclear enrichment and, according to Malley and other experts, may be only weeks or months away from accumulating the fuel needed to build a nuclear weapon if that decision is made.

The Biden administration has struggled to resurrect the 2015 agreement, with negotiations in Vienna dragging on, even as the efforts of U.S. diplomats continue to fuel criticism from senior Republican and Democratic lawmakers at home. The Foreign Relations panels chairman, Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey, was among opponents of the original accord and has questioned the prospect of reviving it.

In his remarks on Wednesday, Malley acknowledges the strongly held competing views on the agreement but added that the simple fact is this - as a means of constraining Irans nuclear program, the JCPOA was working.

Malley begins his comments by detailing all the ways Iran poses a threat to the U.S. and its allies - including offering support for terrorist groups, directing attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East and detaining foreign and dual nationals for political purposes - but added the collapse of the deal, and the urgent need to revive it, has actively distracted American officials from focusing on Irans other activities.

We harbor no illusion, Malley says in his prepared remarks. Nuclear deal or no nuclear deal, this Iranian government will remain a threat.

But he argues, every problem the U.S. has with Iran would be vastly magnified, and our freedom of action to address them significantly reduced, if Irans leaders acquired a nuclear weapon or if it remains as it is now, close to being able to obtaining the material for one.
(Tribune News Service)  Biden administration officials have asked a Lebanese general for help securing the freedom of Austin Tice, a journalist and U.S. Marine Corps veteran missing in Syria since 2012, as well as five other Americans held in the Middle East, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

Abbas Ibrahim, chief of Lebanons General Security Directorate, met with Roger Carstens, the U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, on May 23 to discuss U.S. citizens who are missing or detained in Syria, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. Ibrahim also held meetings with White House and U.S. intelligence officials.

Of course, we talked about the case of Austin Tice, Price said.

Ibrahim helped the Trump administration facilitate the freedom of a U.S. citizen from Syria in 2019, and was a part of a push to free Tice in 2020. But the Lebanese general told Arab media this week that work to free U.S. hostages slowed in the transition between administrations.

There is a decision now to speed up the process, Ibrahim recently told Lebanons LBC TV.

State Department officials are reluctant to discuss ongoing hostage negotiations out of fear it could compromise their efforts. But Biden administration officials indicated in recent weeks they would be willing to engage anyone and everyone that can help free Tice.

The United States does not recognize the government of Bashar Assad in Syria and severed diplomatic relations with Damascus during the civil war there.

But Carstens office  a hostage fusion cell coordinating efforts to free Americans unjustly detained abroad across multiple government agencies  has already been given the green light to negotiate directly with other governments with which the United States does not maintain relations, including the regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

Biden officials continue to operate on the belief that Tice is alive, despite the Syrian government declining to acknowledge his whereabouts, according to a U.S. official familiar with his case.

President Joe Biden met with Tices parents earlier this month to discuss the case.

We asked President Biden to pursue sustained diplomatic engagement including transactional negotiation with the Syrian government for Austins safe return, Marc and Debra Tice, Austins parents, said in a statement after the meeting. Our discussion in the Oval Office took place in an atmosphere of confidence. President Biden made significant, encouraging commitments for this effort.

A Texas native and former officer of the United States Marine Corps, Tice was 31 years old when he traveled to Syria in 2012 as a freelance journalist for McClatchy, the Washington Post and CBS News.

He was detained at a checkpoint in a suburb of Damascus. Five weeks later, a video was released showing him held by unidentified armed men. No one has claimed responsibility for his disappearance.

2022 McClatchy Washington Bureau.

Visit mcclatchydc.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Nearly 4,000 future Air Force master sergeants were afforded a sneak peek at the services promotion list Monday, thanks to an early, mistaken post to the services personnel website.

The list, posted more than a week ahead of the scheduled May 31 release date, was live for about 40 minutes before it was removed from the site.

However, the promotions were reposted by an anonymous user on a popular Reddit page, r/AirForce, which has more than 183,000 subscribers.

To be clear I didn't leak this! I'm just trying to control the damage, wrote the anonymous Reddit poster.

The Air Force quickly removed the online list to preserve the commanders right and privilege to inform their airmen of their promotions and also inform those who didnt make the list, said Toni Whaley, spokeswoman for the Air Force Personnel Center, in an email to Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.

The promotion rate this year is down by 4.11% from last year to 14.8% of eligible candidates.

The Air Force selected 4,040 technical sergeants for promotion, but Reddit users questioned why the list included only 3,946 names.

The 22E7 Promotion Board selected 4,000 technical sergeants for promotion and set aside an additional 40 allocations for supplemental promotions, Whaley said. The list that was inadvertently released does not include the names of Airmen with sensitive [Air Force Specialty Codes].

The Air Force authorized 0.5% fewer master sergeant positions this year after revising the enlisted grade structure, personnel center spokeswoman Staff Sgt. Kiana Pearson said in a news release Tuesday. This years promotion cycle saw an increase of 2,575 eligible technical sergeants for promotion over last year thanks to high retention rates, she said.

Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne Bass addressed the spilled list Tuesday on her Facebook page.

In this digital age, we are going to have information leaks, and its easy to share without thinking, Bass said. Concerning, yesterdays spillage  I appreciate the Airmen who held fast and allowed command teams the time to properly notify their people.
WASHINGTON  The head of the Food and Drug Administration faced bipartisan fury from House lawmakers Wednesday over months of delays investigating problems at the nation's largest baby formula plant that prompted an ongoing shortage.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf laid out a series of setbacks in congressional testimony that slowed his agency's response, including a COVID-19 outbreak at the plant and a whistleblower complaint that didn't reach FDA leadership because it was apparently lost in the mail.

Califf testified before a House subcommittee investigating the shortage, which has snowballed into a national political controversy and forced the U.S. military to begin airlifting supplies from Europe.

The shortage largely stems from Abbott's Michigan plant, which the FDA shut down in February due to contamination issues. Under fire from Congress, parents and the media, Califf gave the first detailed account Wednesday of why his agency took months to inspect and shutter the plant despite learning of potential problems as early as September.

The FDA's response was: "Too slow and there were decisions that were suboptimal along the way," Califf told lawmakers.

The FDA and President Joe Biden face mounting political pressure to explain why they didn't intervene sooner to head off the supply crisis.

"Why did it take an onslaught of national media attention for the Biden administration to act with a sense of urgency required to address an infant formula shortage?" asked Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Virginia, the committee's ranking Republican.

Califf said the agency had been trying to monitor formula supplies since 2020 when COVID-related disruptions first emerged, but regulators have limited visibility into company supply chains.

The House panel also heard from three formula manufacturers, including a top Abbott Nutrition executive who apologized to parents for the shortage.

"We let you down," said Abbott vice president Christopher Calamari. "We are deeply sorry."

Calamari repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether any employees were disciplined or fired over the problems at the plant, which included standing water, a leaky roof and damaged equipment.

FDA staff began honing in on Abbott's plant last fall while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula from the facility. The four cases occurred between September and January, causing hospitalizations and two deaths.

The FDA planned to begin inspecting the Sturgis, Michigan, plant on Dec. 30, according to Califf's testimony. But Abbott warned that about a dozen plant employees had tested positive for COVID-19 and requested a delay. As a result, the FDA didn't begin its inspection until Jan. 31.

After detecting positive samples of a rare-but-dangerous bacteria in multiple parts of the plant, the FDA closed the facility and Abbott announced a massive recall of its formula on Feb. 17.

"We knew that ceasing plant operations would create supply problems but we had no choice given the insanitary conditions," said Califf, calling the problems "shocking" and "unacceptable."

Abbott and the FDA have reached an agreement to reopen the plant next week, under which the company must regularly undergo outside safety audits.

Califf also struggled to explain delays in following up on a whistleblower complaint alleging numerous safety violations at Abbott's plant, including employees falsifying records and failing to test formula before shipment.

Several FDA staffers reviewed the complaint in late October when it was sent to a regional FDA office, but an interview didn't take place until two months later, in part due to the whistleblower's scheduling conflicts.

Senior FDA officials eventually received the complaint via email, but not until February due to "an isolated failure in FDA's mailroom, likely due to COVID-19 staffing issues," according to the FDA testimony. A mailed copy addressed to then-acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock has still not been located.

Political outrage over the shortage has landed squarely on the FDA and Califf, who was confirmed to the FDA role for a second time in February. The problems have escalated into a political firestorm for the White House, which has invoked the Defense Production Act and emergency import measures.

The FDA contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Feb. 11. about a potential shortage, just days before Abbott's recall, according to FDA's timeline.

Califf said the FDA requested new authorities, funding and staff to track supply chain data that could have helped get ahead of the problem, but noted Congress has not provided them.

Several lawmakers raised longstanding concerns that the FDA's food program  which oversees most U.S. foods except meat, poultry and eggs  is underfunded and needs restructuring.

The program has a convoluted leadership structure in which there is a director of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and a separate deputy commissioner for "food policy and response." The deputy commissioner has more of a safety focus, but has no direct authority over food center staff nor field staff who inspect company plants.

Both officials testified Wednesday, along with Califf.

When Rep. Nanette Diaz-Barragan, D-Calif., asked who is in charge of food safety, Califf and food center director Susan Mayne gave extended answers, describing different roles and responsibilities.

"I don't think there's one person that is responsible," Diaz-Barragan responded. "I just think it goes to show there needs to be restructuring and it needs to be more clear who's ultimately responsible."

Later Wednesday afternoon, Abbott's Calamari told lawmakers his company plans to build extra capacity and redundancies into its supply chain to avoid future disruptions. He reiterated the company's point that the FDA has not drawn a direct link between the illnesses reported in infants and bacteria samples collected from its plant.

After the company restarts production next month it will be able to produce more formula than before the recall, he noted.

"We're going to learn from this. We're going to get better as a result of this," Calamari said.

Executives from Reckitt and Gerber also testified on their efforts to boost production.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
ATLANTA  President Joe Biden and three former presidents paid tribute Wednesday to late Veterans Administration chief and U.S. senator Max Cleland, who lost limbs while serving in Vietnam.

Biden called Cleland a hero who "exemplified the best of the American spirit."

Former President Barack Obama said Cleland was "someone who defied impossible odds to become one of our nation's finest public servants."

"Max wore the physical and emotional scars of war, but he never lost his drive to do right by the people of Georgia and Americans everywhere," Obama said.

Obama, Biden and former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were not present, but sent letters that were read by Carter's grandson, Jason Carter.

Cleland died of congestive heart failure in November at the age of 79, but his memorial service was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cleland was a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam when he lost his right arm and two legs while picking up a fallen grenade in 1968. He blamed himself for decades, until he learned that another soldier had dropped it. He also spent many months in hospitals that were ill-equipped to help so many wounded soldiers.

Speakers at the Atlanta church recalled how Cleland struggled to get up each morning and dress, but still remained buoyant and jovial.

"He was a man defined not by what had happened in his life, but he was defined by courage and maybe even more than that by one principle: to make a better world," former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said. "He lived that everyday. Yes, he had his demons but he dealt with them in a positive, inspirational way that set a model for all of us."

Hagel, a Republican, said Cleland's example was especially important today amid the country's political polarization. Cleland was a Democrat.

"Because he never let that division or polarization ever affect his personal relationships, his love of his country, his love of his friends and brothers, Republican or Democrat," Hagel said.

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and fellow Vietnam veteran John Kerry also sent a written tribute in lieu of attending in person.

Kerry said Cleland came to Iowa in 2003 during Kerry's presidential run and lifted up his flagging campaign staff, telling them if they didn't go out and knock on doors in the three-foot snow drifts he would do it himself.

"And he told them, 'If you see my wheelchair tracks in the snow and they stop, start digging,'" Kerry said.

Other men would not have recovered from the tragedy Cleland suffered in Vietnam, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes said. He called Cleland a "force of nature."

"His disabilities became his strengths. His struggles became our inspiration," Barnes said. "After all these years, I'm still amazed at his sacrifice and service, and I was always humbled to be in his presence."

Fellow veterans cheered when Carter appointed Cleland to lead the Veterans Administration, a post he held from 1977 to 1981. The VA and the wider medical community recognized post-traumatic stress disorder  what had previously been dismissed as shell shock  as a genuine condition while Cleland was in charge, and he worked to provide veterans and their families with better care.

Cleland left Washington after Carter lost reelection, and in 1982 was elected Georgia's Secretary of State, a post he held for a dozen years. Then he won the Senate seat of the retiring Sam Nunn.

Historian Douglas Brinkley, a friend of Cleland's, said Cleland "never forgot a single Vietnam vet his entire life."

"He wanted to know their back stories, who they dated, how their lives were changed, where they were getting their medical treatment," Brinkley said.

Brinkley called on the veterans administration to honor Cleland with a memorial in Washington.
WASHINGTON  Lawmakers on Wednesday awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to Merrills Marauders, bestowing the nations highest civilian honor to the famed Army unit from World War II.

In a virtual ceremony, Congress honored the soldiers of the 5307th Composite Unit, as the Marauders were formally known, who fought deep behind enemy lines in the jungles of Japanese-controlled Burma. Only two veterans from the unit, named after its leader Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill, are alive today.

Merrills Marauders stand among the great heroes of our history, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Their extraordinary hard-won success helped turn the tide in the Pacific theater and propelled the Allies to victory in the Second World War.

The Marauders were tasked with disrupting enemy communications and supply lines and capturing the Myitkyina airfield in northern Burma to open a critical supply route between India and China.

The daring mission was fraught with hardship.

Soldiers trekked 1,000 miles over the steep Himalayan foothills, walking farther than any other American WWII fighting force. They engaged in more than 30 battles with Japanese troops that outmanned and outgunned them and suffered from months of disease, hunger, thirst, monsoons, scorching heat and exhaustion.

By the time the unit seized the airfield on May 17, 1944, its ranks had dwindled from 3,000 men to 200.

All these years later, we remain every bit inspired, every big grateful and forever humbled by the example of these brave Americans, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Today, freedom and democracy are once again in danger around the world, and we look to the sacrifices of those who came before us for strength, inspiration and wisdom.

Russell Hamler, 97, one of the surviving Marauders, spoke of his wish for peace last month when he received his individual medal.

I would like to see them outlaw wars, he said at a ceremony in Baldwin, Pa. I would like to see a group that would get together and iron out [issues] with words instead of bullets because I listen to the news, with Russians killing little kids, and its so awful. I would like to see a peaceful world.

Gabriel Kinney, an Alabama resident who celebrated his 101st birthday in February, is the only other remaining member of the unit. Three Marauders  Gilbert Howland, 99, Robert E. Passanisi, 99, and Raleigh Nayes, 99,  have died since April.

Every Marauder has earned a Bronze Star Medal, an extremely rare distinction among combat units, said former Rep. Peter King, a Republican from Long Island. The group included Japanese-Americans who served as intelligence translators and proved vital to the units success, he noted.

King helped lead the yearslong legislative effort to recognize the men with the Congressional Gold Medal, which was approved in 2020. Pelosi said the medal will be placed in the Smithsonian, where future generations can be reminded of the Marauders fight for freedom and democracy.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., an Army officer, said he was especially thrilled that the House of Representatives could approve the award while we still have survivors of the Merrill's Marauders with us.

The legacy of the Marauders can be directly traced to todays Army Rangers. The colors used to identify the units six combat teams can be found on every tan beret worn by a Ranger, said J.D. Keirsey, commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment. The Rangers crest displays a star, sun and lightning bolt to symbolize the "behind enemy lines, deep-strike character" of their predecessors, he said.

We Rangers of today salute the Marauders of World War II, Keirsey said. Your legacy is impossible to forget. You inspire us and the memory of your fellow Marauders will not go forgotten.
The National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. intelligence agency that operates the nations spy satellites, announced that it is awarding billions of dollars in contracts over the next decade to three commercial satellite companies that take photos of Earth.

In a statement, the NRO said that it was the largest-ever commercial imagery contract effort and that it represented a historic expansion of the NROs acquisition of commercial imagery to meet increasing customer demands with greater capacity than ever before.

The awards went to Planet, BlackSky and Maxar, all of which operate fleets of satellites orbiting Earth that take imagery of the ground below.

The contracts come as the Pentagon and intelligence agency are increasingly relying on imagery from commercial satellite companies to aid in spying, warfare and humanitarian efforts. Commercial images have played a big role in the war in Ukraine, with commercial satellites capturing troop movements, destruction, even plumes of smoke that disclose the locations of missile attacks - all in high definition.

The imagery is so vital that this year the government of Ukraine issued a plea for help, asking satellite companies to share their data with the Ukrainian military.

Countries have for decades used satellites to spy on their enemies. But a revolution in technology, driven in large part by the private sector, has made the satellites smaller, less expensive and highly capable. As a result, the U.S. government has said it wants to harness those capabilities.

The NRO has a long-standing strategy of buy what we can, build what we must, Chris Scolese, director of the NRO, said in a statement. The diversity offered by our expanding architecture composed of both commercial and NRO systems increases our resilience and enables an integrated approach to the threats facing our nation.

While the NRO said only that the contracts are valued at billions of dollars over the next decade, BlackSky said its award was worth $1 billion. In a filing, Maxar said its could be worth up to $3.24 billion. It was unclear how much Planet would receive as part of the program, and a spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
BRIGANTINE, N.J. (Tribune News Service)  Two Vietnam-era amphibious vehicles that caught the attention of onlookers at Island Beach State Park last week are once again stuck on a Jersey Shore beach in Brigantine after pulling up on the towns Cove beach late Monday afternoon.

The Wild Sally and Big Jack motored into the Absecon Inlet and drove onto the beach after Wild Sally suffered steering issues.

We realized that one of the old steel hydraulic lines had ruptured, John Hennage told NJ Advance Media while in Virginia picking up the parts needed to get Sally operating again.

He was one of five crew members helping motor the two vehicles to Aberdeen, Md., for a company his sister is starting. The vehicles will then head to Tappahannock, Va.

Such an amphibious vehicle is called a LARC, for lighter amphibious resupply cargo, or sometimes LARC-LX, and were used in the military.

It hasnt been an easy ride for the crew who left Staten Island May 16 for what was supposed to be an approximately 36-hour trip.

They pulled up on Island Beach State Park when they encountered a clogged fuel line. They did enough work to get up and running before making a stop in Barnegat Light to finish up.

From Barnegat Lighthouse down to Atlantic City was really a nice pleasurable trip, Hennage said.

Brigantine might have been another unscheduled stop for the crew, but for curious people walking on the beach Tuesday afternoon, it was a chance to see the massive vehicles up close prompting one person to ask jokingly, Are we being invaded?

With the Memorial Day weekend fast approaching, Hennage said the plan is to be out of Brigantine before the crowds arrive. The next scheduled stop is in Cape May for fuel.

Our plan is to be off the beach before anybody is trying to get on the beach for the holiday week, said Hennage.

Brigantine City Manager Jim Bennett said that he spoke to Hennage and he assured him they would be gone by first light Friday morning at the latest.

They ran into a maritime emergency and were happy that theyre safe, Bennett said, who did training on an LARC when he was in the Army between 1986 and 1991.

Theyre the largest amphibious vehicle the U.S. military has ever built, said Bennett.

Hennage said that his sister bought three of the LARC LXs a few years ago from a Staten Island company, which purchased eight of them after they were decommissioned by the Army sometime in the early 2000s.

One was not worth salvaging and was stripped for parts. Out of the eight, these are the last two and were used in Vietnam. The LARC LX was used to offload supplies and personnel.

Once in Virginia they will be used for marine construction including beach reclamation, beach stabilization and seeding oyster beds along the Chesapeake Bay.

Using these vehicles will make it easier to bring large equipment and trucks directly to the beach without having to go through someones yard or tearing up the towns small road infrastructure, said Hennage.

He said that only 60 of the LARC LX were built beginning in the 1950s. The two his sister purchased, #48 and #49, were built in the early-to mid-1960s.

Hennage said that through his research, he could only find approximately 10 left in the world and only five or six of those are partially operational.

Theyre unusual, said Hennage. I mean, there arent very many of them left. People will never see another one.

According to Leland Brummett, one of the crew members who was working on Wild Sally, the LARC LX can travel 20 mph on land and 6 knots in the water.

So we would have been home if we could have just driven it down the road, he said with a laugh.

thawk@njadvancemedia.com

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WASHINGTON - A former technology company executive testified Tuesday that he felt "extremely uncomfortable" being asked in 2016 to use his commercial data firm to search for information about associates of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Jared Novick at the time was chief executive of a firm founded by another tech executive, Rodney Joffe. He offered one of the more colorful bits of testimony - and one of the last pieces of prosecution evidence - in the trial of Michael Sussmann, a well-connected lawyer being prosecuted by special counsel John Durham for allegedly lying to the FBI when he made allegations about possible Trump-Russia connections.

Less than two months before the 2016 election, Sussmann gave the FBI data and analysis that argued a Trump Organization computer was in secret contact with a server for Russia-based Alfa Bank. Sussmann is charged with lying when he claimed he wasn't bringing the information on behalf of any client; in fact, prosecutors allege, he was acting on behalf of Joffe and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Prosecutors are trying to convince the jury that Sussmann lied to obscure an underhanded effort by Clinton partisans to dig up damaging information about candidate Trump, share that information with reporters and get the FBI to launch an investigation. Sussmann has denied the allegations, and his lawyers say the prosecution argument of a sprawling conspiracy are unfounded.

On Tuesday, Novick testified that Joffe tasked him in August 2016 with searching for data on people associated with Trump - including Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser who was investigated by the FBI as a suspected agent of the Russian government; and Richard Burt, a former U.S. ambassador who reportedly advised the campaign on foreign policy matters.

Novick said he was also asked to look at computer addresses with the word "Alfa" in it.

Page was the target of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court-approved surveillance in 2016 and 2017. A review of that case found the FBI made serious omissions and errors in the applications presented to the court. Page was not charged with a crime.

Novick testified the search terms he was given by Joffe were "associates of Donald Trump and Russian entities." He said he was "extremely uncomfortable" by what seemed to be the political motivations of the request, particularly since his company examines broad swaths of data for corporate security, not individuals' data.

He compared the request to having a commercial satellite used for flood analysis suddenly being repurposed to study someone's backyard at a specific address.

"Given the political nature of the work and the individuals, I knew I could only trust certain people at the company," said Novick, who decided to give the project a code name so that only a few employees would know about it.

"We called it Crimson Rhino because the last thing I wanted in our office was Donald Trump's name," he testified.

Sussmann's lawyer, Sean Berkowitz, pressed Novick to admit that he did not like or get along with Joffe, suggesting that was his motive to now testify in the case.

"I had a challenging time with Rodney, correct," Novick said.

Sussmann's trial is the first courtroom test of the investigative work done over the last three years by Durham, who was appointed by Trump administration attorney general William Barr to probe whether the federal agents who investigated the 2016 Trump campaign committed wrongdoing. The case has served as a kind of Rorschach test for those still smarting over the 2016 election and eager to see political opponents suffer legal consequences for what happened.

Prosecutors said they will present only one more witness before finishing their case - a person who can summarize exhibits and testimony and is expected on the stand Wednesday.

After that, Sussmann's defense team is expected to call a number of witnesses, including former New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau, an FBI agent and character witnesses. Closing arguments could come as early as Friday.

Lichtblau's potential testimony is complicated by his assertion that as a journalist, he should not be forced to testify about issues beyond his conversations with Sussmann and Joffe. U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper said he intends to hear arguments about that issue before any potential testimony.
(Tribune News Service)  Eighty-one years after he was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Seaman 1st Class Wilbur F. Newtons remains returned to his hometown in Missouri.

Members of Newtons family felt relieved and finally at peace when his remains, identified through DNA testing, arrived at Kansas City International Airport on Tuesday to a Navy guard and water salute from two fire trucks.

It is very moving for the family, said Jane Perkins, the daughter of Newtons first cousin. Weve hoped, weve always wondered, but nobody really knew before now.

Newton died Dec. 7, 1941, in the attack on Pearl Harbor while stationed aboard the USS Oklahoma, according to his obituary. His remains had been interred in Hawaii along with other unidentified servicemen since 1941.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency used dental and anthropological analysis to identify Newton after his maternal first cousin and her two sons gave the Navy samples of their DNA in 2012. Newton was accounted for on Oct. 21, 2021  nearly 80 years after his death.

Robin Deeds, the son of Newtons oldest living relative, said that while he knew his father had a first cousin who died at Pearl Harbor, he didnt know Newtons name until his father learned that his remains were identified.

After eighty years, you give up after a certain amount of time, Deeds said. I want to thank his cousins that gave the DNA because if it hadnt been for for those three, we wouldnt be here today.

Newton will be buried in his family plot in Mound City, Mo., which also holds the remains of his parents and two of his three sisters.

When we found that marker, we knew we had found where he belongs, Perkins said.

Newton was born on Sept. 23, 1912, in Polk, Neb. His family settled in Mound City when he was 7 years old.

According to his obit, Newton joined the U.S. Navy in May 1940 for a six-year enlistment after previously joining the Civilian Conservation Corp in Leavenworth and working for The Works Progress Administration in San Francisco.

During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Newtons ship sustained multiple torpedo hits, causing it to capsize. Newton and 428 of his fellow crewmen died  few survived. Newton was 29 years old when he died.

The American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains from the U.S.S. Oklahoma in 1947, but were only able to identify 35 of the men at the time, according to the DPAA.

The unidentified remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. They stayed there for 68 years before the DPAA exhumed the unknown remains for testing in 2015.

For his service, Newton received the American Defense Service Medal, a Purple Heart, and the Gold Star pin, among other honors.

Navy sailors Julie Mota Herrera and Elizabeth Gronau-Young, both second class petty officers, said they were honored to take part in the ceremony on Tuesday.

You could be in the Navy all your life and this is definitely the most honorable thing, Gronau-Young said. Especially in our day and age where we dont really see war time, this is something we get to do, to honor who weve lost.

A service for Newton will be held at United Methodist Church in Mound City at 10 a.m. May 28 followed by a military ceremony at Mount Hope Cemetery. Pettijohn & Crawford Funeral Home will be open for the community to pay their respects from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 26 and 27.

The family requests memorial donations to the Mound City United Methodist Church, Mound City American Legion cemetery fund, or the Mound City Kiwanis Club.

2022 The Kansas City Star.

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(Tribune News Service)  Hernan Luis y Prado, a U.S. Naval officer, was on track to becoming a doctor, but he gave up that dream to serve his fellow veterans in a different way.

By day, he saw young men preparing for deployment as he worked at a military hospital in Washington, D.C. At night, he saw veterans being treated in the trauma ward.

After work, Hernan  who saw three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan during his 15 years of service  and his Marine buddies would deconstruct and fiddle with machines in his garage. It was something to keep their hands busy while they were miles from their loved ones or recovering from injuries. Hernan recognized an untapped potential in these veterans but knew that "tinkering" wasn't a career.

But this tinkering in Hernan's garage became the spark for VetPowered, a business that changed the trajectory of his life and so many other veterans' lives.

More than a decade ago, Hernan and his wife Rachel Luis y Prado sold everything they owned to start VetPowered, a San Diego manufacturing business, and a nonprofit called Workshops For Warriors, which educates veterans for careers in advanced manufacturing.

Hernan had always felt like he needed to do something more and this was it  creating a constructive path for veterans to build a career. An encounter with an injured veteran who he'd served with in Iraq was a turning point.

"I decided to make that my life's mission and not staying in the Navy and becoming a doctor," said Hernan, who served in the U.S. Navy as a hospital corpsman and then as a surface warfare officer. "I had friends that couldn't wait."

They sold their house, cars, dipped into savings and Hernan even stopped working at the hospital where he was preparing to apply for medical school. With Rachel's support, he pivoted his career to focus his time and energy on the idea that started in their garage.

"It looks nice  glamorized  now. Back then it wasn't so exciting," he said.

Earlier this month, Hernan was honored with the 2022 Small Business Person of the Year award for California. The U.S. Small Business Administration selected him for his success in business and his contribution to the community.

Hernan founded VetPowered in 2009 to support the nonprofit he'd started a year earlier called Workshops for Warriors, a no-cost school for veterans leaving the service. At Workshops for Warriors, 1,000 veterans have graduated from the four-month program to gain credentials in welding and careers at some of the largest manufacturers in the country.

VetPowered was started to sustain Workshops for Warriors, as banks wouldn't hand out loans to startup charities, Hernan said. Today it stands out as a profitable business with 18 employees, half of whom are veterans and the other half civilians.

VetPowered repairs machines, does installation and welding at its sprawling 145,000 square feet of property off Boston Avenue and Main Street in Barrio Logan. The business also conducts rapid prototyping and manufacturing for a variety of clients such as America's largest electric vehicle manufacturers, the military and Boeing.

In the bustling industrial facilities  24 buildings in all  employees monitor precise machines that pare down a block of metal into a functioning mechanism or use 3-D printers to mock-up parts.

Not far from San Diego's shipyards, the organization has rapidly expanded its footprint in the neighborhood as a result of tapping into small-business loans from the government and with help from San Diego's Small Business Development Center.

But to get there, they had to work through challenges like getting over the hump of 2017. It was the hardest year for them, said Rachel, who serves as the chief financial officer at VetPowered.

Hernan recalls his wife tapping him on the shoulder around midnight in bed one night and delivering the news that they were $50,000 short for the next day's payroll. While they had to tell their employees that payroll was delayed and scrambled for what to do next, a moment stands out to both Hernan and Rachel that pushed them through.

They got a knock on the door. A veteran who had come through their program came by to tell them that if it wasn't for Workshops for Warriors, he wouldn't be alive today.

This put things into perspective and after calling up every donor and resource they had, as Hernan puts it, the stars aligned. One of their donors offered double what Hernan had asked for so he wouldn't have this problem again.

This was another pivotal moment for Hernan because it shifted how they'd run VetPowered to thrive as a business and not just as something that helped Workshops survive.

"We found our revenue sources, and then we started growing and then the challenges were like keeping up with the growth," Rachel said. "Neither of us went to school to run a business ... so we had to learn everything on the go."

When it comes to dealing with unexpected challenges, Hernan has the same advice for other entrepreneurs as what he told his teenage daughter the other morning before school.

"You are the captain of your own ship," he said. "You are the captain of your soul and it's completely on you how you choose to react to whatever situation is in front of you."

The organizations have rooted themselves in the Barrio Logan community by opening a food donation site once a week in partnership with the San Diego Food Bank and by purchasing a nearby apartment building to house evicted employees during the pandemic.

"The ultimate vision is to have people 100 years from now look back and see that VetPowered and San Diego were the birthplace for America's green manufacturing workforce," Hernan said.

The next phase of growth for the business includes an $18 million project that is three years in the making. In June, demolition starts on a 24,000 square foot building, which Hernan said will be completed by the end of 2023 and will allow them to quadruple their operations.

2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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MOUNT JOY, Pa.  Harold Billow, 99, the last known survivor of a World War II POW massacre during the Battle of the Bulge, will be laid to rest Thursday in Pennsylvania.

Billow, who died May 17, was attached to the Army's 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion when his unit surrendered and he was taken prisoner by Waffen SS soldiers as German forces launched an offensive in Belgium to try to change the war's tide in December 1944.

According to various accounts, the Germans opened fire on the unarmed prisoners in a field, killing more than 80 in what came to be known as the Malmedy Massacre.

"As soon as the machine gun started firing, I went face down in the snow," Billow told Lancaster Online in 2019.

He played dead as the Germans checked for survivors.

"Anybody that showed signs of life, they would point-blank shoot them in the head to finish them off," Billow said.

Billow said he stayed there for several hours before he and other survivors bolted. He made his way through hedgerows before reaching the safety of American lines.

After the war, he was called to testify at a war crimes trial in which 43 German soldiers were sentenced to death for the Malmedy Massacre. However, they were eventually released after investigators determined U.S. guards had coerced confessions.
A Bay of Plenty butcher has reached breaking point and is closing one of his stores after the latest in a spate of burglaries pushed his health and stress levels to the limit.

Doug Jarvis, who has been a butcher for 38 years, said his life was touch and go after his blood pressure reached dangerously high levels following break-ins and thefts from his stores in Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

Im done, he said. Im so sorry for the customers but it is just not worth it. Its killing me.



Thieves stealing milk from outside Doug Jarvis Butchery

The butcher and deli owner announced he is closing his store at Owens Place retail park in Mt Maunganui completely. The tipping point arrived over the weekend when pallets of milk were stolen from outside the store by robbers with head torches and disguised in balaclavas.

This is what drove me to the edge, said Jarvis. It is not the milk itself - it is just I cant deal with it all any more. It is the impact on my health, with the stress of the financial loss from all the break-ins this year.

I have had to spend thousands adding extra security and paying insurance excesses, and the margins on meat are getting tighter by the day with inflation and competition from the big supermarkets.

Jarvis said his doctor had warned him that his blood pressure was so high it was touch and go.

He wanted me to go into hospital, he said, as it was so high it was at dangerous levels and touch and go. I have the business to look after, but it got to the point where I said to myself these break-ins are a s... show, I just cant deal with it any more.

Jarvis will close down his Mt Maunganui store but will retain the shop in Papamoa Plaza.

It was not an easy decision for the man who started to learn his trade when he was 13 years old at his fathers store in Manchester, England.

Ive been in the trade for 38 years and loved it, but I cant handle this, said Jarvis. I have never seen anything like it. The police do what they can but the issue is people steal and just get away with it.

If anybody did this years ago, they would be thrown into jail. Now they just have to do community service or something, and that is if they get caught. They dont care.

Doug Jarvis has experienced a number of thefts and break-ins in recent weeks.

The overnight break-ins have been accompanied by a number of daylight incidents at both of his stores. Meat has been stolen by thieves at night but also by some walking in and helping themselves.

Jarvis customers expressed their disappointment at the closure but were unanimously supportive and understanding of Dougs decision.

Sorry for the stress this has caused you and your family  the most appalling behaviour, said one post on his social media page.

Such a loss to the community.

Sorry this has happened yet again, said another. So not cool, you are trying to make a living and you keep getting kicked in the guts.

Beyond comprehension these thugs! Why do they think it's their right to steal from you?



Doug Jarvis runs two stores - in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa. Photo: SunLive.



Annemarie Quill/Stuff
A record crop, ongoing investment in brand-led demand creation, and the industrys ability to respond and leverage its scale and structure have helped Zespri deliver a record result for the 2021/22 season, with total global fruit sales revenue exceeding NZ$4 billion for the first time.

In spite of the immense challenges faced by the industry this season, Zespris 2021/22 Financial Results show total global revenue generated by fruit sales reached NZ$4.03 billion, up 12 percent on the previous year, with total global operating revenue up by 15 percent to NZ$4.47 billion.

Global sales volumes also increased 11 percent on the previous year to 201.5 million trays.

The results saw direct returns to the New Zealand industry increase to a record $2.47 billion including loyalty payments, despite the considerable uncertainty generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and cost increases across the supply chain. Earnings were again spread through regional communities including within the Bay of Plenty, Northland, Nelson, Gisborne, and the Waikato.

Kiwifruit. Photo: Zespri.

Grower returns remained strong in a challenging season, with per hectare returns representing our second best on record across all varieties:

 The average return for Zespri Green per tray was $6.35, with the average return per hectare reaching $75,494.

 Zespri Organic Green reached an average return per tray of $9.74, with the average per hectare return increasing to $67,752.

 The average return for Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit was $11.51 per tray, and the average return per hectare was $176,026.

 Zespri Organic SunGold Kiwifruit saw a per tray return of $12.61, with the average per hectare return $143,772.

 Zespri Sweet Green achieved an average return per tray of $7.82 and an average return per hectare of $54,609.

Zespris Non-New Zealand Supply sales increased to $536.9 million while Zespris net profit after tax is $361.5 million, a record result and up from the 2020/21 restated profit of $277.1 million, led by an overall strong performance and by the continued demand for Zespri SunGold licence.

Zespri Chairman Bruce Cameron says the results reflect an incredible effort across the industry to continue to operate safely throughout the challenges presented by the pandemic.

This was an extraordinary season where the industry faced some considerable headwinds in market, throughout the supply chain and on orchard, yet collectively we found a way to tackle the challenges and to continue to succeed.

Most pleasingly, not only have we delivered strong returns for growers including our second-highest per hectare returns, weve strengthened our partnerships across our global supply chain, continued to make positive contributions to our communities and made decisions as an industry to set ourselves up for sustained success, says Bruce.

Zespri Chief Executive Officer Dan Mathieson says the results reflect the ongoing focus on investment in the Zespri brand, an ability to build demand ahead of supply to create value and the long-term relationships which have helped the industry overcome challenges and continue to move forward.

This is a really pleasing result given how significant the challenges we faced in the 2021/22 season were, says Dan.

Zespri Chief Executive Officer Dan Mathieson. Photo: Zespri.

These included the pandemic and ongoing supply chain disruption, shifting weather patterns, tightening regulations, changes to fruit flows, increasing competition in the market, labour shortages, late season fruit quality issues, significant cost increases and international trade challenges.

Exporters right around the world have been tested, and our industry again rose to the challenge to deliver strong results in the toughest of circumstances, says Dan.

We were able to succeed because of the hard work growers, suppliers, our partners and the whole Zespri team put in to ensure that we could adapt and deliver a quality product that more and more consumers want.

Our investment in building our brand has been supported by our long-term partnerships throughout the supply chain, and by utilising our scale, weve avoided the worst of the global shipping crisis through greater use of charter shipping to ensure our fruit can get to market to meet the growing demand. Our teams in market also allowed us to stay closely connected to the challenges and changing market conditions, and be agile in response.

Zespri is based at Mount Maunganui. Photo: Zespri.

Dan says importantly this growth wasnt just in New Zealand, with Zespris offshore growing operations continuing to perform strongly.

We saw ZGS financial performance reaching new levels, despite some weather-related challenges in Europe, with volumes of around 26.5 million trays and a contribution to fruit and services payment of around $410 million, says Dan.

The growth of our offshore production remains critically important, boosting our efforts to serve our consumers year round, helping to hold our shelf space, make our marketing investment more efficient and to maintain commercial partnerships to allow us to launch our New Zealand sales season.

As a result, we are able to maximise the benefit from the increased international demand were creating, delivering stronger returns to growers in New Zealand and around the world.

A more sustainable future

Zespri has also continued to embrace more sustainable practices, making solid progress towards our long-term sustainability goals.

Weve outlined a range of long-term targets which reflect our commitment to address areas that our consumers and customers have indicated should be a priority for a business like ours, says Dan.

Our climate change strategy, for example, sets out how we will work with the industry to help lead the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. Were also continuing to move towards our goal of having 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2035 and to strengthen our efforts to create an industry where our people are well supported.

Kiwifruit orchard. Photo: Zespri.

Dan says Zespri had maintained its focus on investing heavily in its communities throughout 2021/22 to ensure the benefits of the industrys growth are shared.

Whether its creating healthy communities or supporting those in need, our focus on being led by our values continues to allow us to create value for growers and our communities and we will maintain our commitment to this moving forward, says Dan.

2022/23 Season Outlook

The industry is continuing to work hard to ensure it can deliver the remainder of the 2022/23 seasons crop which has lower volumes than initially forecast. This years SunGold Kiwifruit and Zespri RubyRed Kiwifruit harvest are now complete and Green packing is in full swing.

Dan says that challenges remain in the current season, with the pandemic continuing to impact the global supply chain, particularly shipping networks.

We know the current season is a tougher scenario but the industry continues to adapt and work together to make sure were meeting the growing demand for our fruit, managing the uncertainty and challenges and working towards another strong result.

The future of our industry is incredibly bright, with strong growth opportunities ahead of us and were committed to meeting those, says Dan.

2021/22 Financial results summary:

 Zespri global operating revenue: NZ$4.47 billion (includes licence revenue)

 Zespri global fruit sales revenue: NZ$4.03 billion

 Total New Zealand-grown fruit and service payments including loyalty premium: NZ$2.47 billion

 Zespri global trays sold: 201.5 million trays

 Zespris net profit after tax: NZ$361.5 million

 Expected Total Dividends: NZ$1.78
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Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Bangalore, BKSC Posts: 467 Thanked: 1,448 Times

View My Garage





Boston, USA: In search of snow!



*Synopsis.*

An opportunity presented itself at quite short a notice for me to visit NYC and I grabbed it with all my limbs.





*Prominent characters in the story.*

@drivebyfire, aka Sid who was the co-conspirator in

And yours truly, DS!





*Setting of the story arc.*

What could one expect during the first 20 days of March across North-Eastern US? What would the weather patterns be?



Let us ask Google.











Modern systems are so accurate with predictions and patterns nowadays and Google largely gets things right, except for when it doesn't, because the weather in reality (to our delight) was like this.









*Plot.*



Mahatma Gandhi once said, I first learned the concept of nonviolence in my marriage.



DS gets the man's point now, having been married a year. Sid is married too, hence this trip brought out emotions and discussions the two had never had before and added another dotted tile to the mosaic floor, they call friendship.



Barely after a week of planning and reservations (short notice you see), DS landed in the US.



Naah, not so quick! Frankfurt first.



DS chose to fly into NYC via Frankfurt, Germany. The city is located around the river Main, and is such a beauty to look at, from up above (the world so high, like a diamond in the..... err.... sorry).











But once landed, DS had to switch from one giant metal tube into another and boy was that a giant pain in the gluteus maximus!

Thanks to COVID and innumerably closely spaced departing flights, the entire airport was swarmed with a beeline of people. DS joined the line and moved barely 5 feet in 30-35 odd minutes. His next boarding was to close in the next 25 min and he couldn't be a mere spectator. He decided to push against people and managed reaching at the front where he was greeted by an extremely rude shiny headed gent. He proceeded to push DS to the back, but DS was adamant and shoved his boarding pass across the gent's face. Nothing was said and DS was let through to security checking counters.



Never has gymming felt so beneficial. Security check plus running with luggage from terminal Z13 to Z69 and yet managing to reach within 4-5 minutes of boarding gates closing without having a heart attack was the most blissful experience in Germany.



What followed was peaceful sleep.

Big thanks to the firm for booking business class tickets throughout, the difference is easily felt in terms of comfort.



Less than 10 hours later, DS landed in NYC and immigrations at the POE were a breeze.



Each time DS and Sid have traveled together, some kela (sh!t happens moment) always followed!

Would this trip be any different, for a change?



Time to book a cab from JFK to World Trade Centre, beside which was the pre-booked hotel.



Uber appeared to be extremely costly at 300+ USD for the trip while Lyft was substantially cheaper.



Let's try adding the company card for starters and if not, I shall use my own credit card for expenses. What can go wrong, especially after landing at JFK, trying to book a cab?











I tried adding my own credit card thereafter, which immediately got blocked for 1 day because it was deemed as a potential fraudulent transaction, due to the change of geographies.



If anything can go wrong, it will! - Murphy uncle.



DS then attempted availing a NY taxi, after waiting in queue for quite long. He managed getting into a sexy black Suburban driven by a Bengali gent.



Look at the ODO on the car! :o











1 hour and an eye-watering 250 USD later, one could find DS waiting at the lift to his 41st floor accommodation, situated merely 100 meters away from the spot where WTC towers used to be!



41st floor near the WTC you say?



Views from DS' room.



WTC observatory from one window.







Financial District skyline from another (window).



What land is foreign? None. I'm foreign, the traveler!An opportunity presented itself at quite short a notice for me to visit NYC and I grabbed it with all my limbs.@drivebyfire, aka Sid who was the co-conspirator in this trip (Two buddies, one Mustang and a road-trip to the best driving roads in the USA) , sorry for the shameless plug.And yours truly, DS!What could one expect during the first 20 days of March across North-Eastern US? What would the weather patterns be?Let us ask Google.Modern systems are so accurate with predictions and patterns nowadays and Google largely gets things right, except for when it doesn't, because the weather in reality (to our delight) was like this.Mahatma Gandhi once said,DS gets the man's point now, having been married a year. Sid is married too, hence this trip brought out emotions and discussions the two had never had before and added another dotted tile to the mosaic floor, they call friendship.Barely after a week of planning and reservations (short notice you see), DS landed in the US.Naah, not so quick! Frankfurt first.DS chose to fly into NYC via Frankfurt, Germany. The city is located around the river Main, and is such a beauty to look at, from up above (the world so high, like a diamond in the..... err.... sorry).But once landed, DS had to switch from one giant metal tube into another and boy was that a giant pain in the gluteus maximus!Thanks to COVID and innumerably closely spaced departing flights, the entire airport was swarmed with a beeline of people. DS joined the line and moved barely 5 feet in 30-35 odd minutes. His next boarding was to close in the next 25 min and he couldn't be a mere spectator. He decided to push against people and managed reaching at the front where he was greeted by an extremely rude shiny headed gent. He proceeded to push DS to the back, but DS was adamant and shoved his boarding pass across the gent's face. Nothing was said and DS was let through to security checking counters.Never has gymming felt so beneficial. Security check plus running with luggage from terminal Z13 to Z69 and yet managing to reach within 4-5 minutes of boarding gates closing without having a heart attack was the most blissful experience in Germany.What followed was peaceful sleep.Big thanks to the firm for booking business class tickets throughout, the difference is easily felt in terms of comfort.Less than 10 hours later, DS landed in NYC and immigrations at the POE were a breeze.Each time DS and Sid have traveled together, some kela (sh!t happens moment) always followed!Would this trip be any different, for a change?Time to book a cab from JFK to World Trade Centre, beside which was the pre-booked hotel.Uber appeared to be extremely costly at 300+ USD for the trip while Lyft was substantially cheaper.Let's try adding the company card for starters and if not, I shall use my own credit card for expenses. What can go wrong, especially after landing at JFK, trying to book a cab?I tried adding my own credit card thereafter, which immediately got blocked for 1 day because it was deemed as a potential fraudulent transaction, due to the change of geographies.- Murphy uncle.DS then attempted availing a NY taxi, after waiting in queue for quite long. He managed getting into a sexy black Suburban driven by a Bengali gent.Look at the ODO on the car! :o1 hour and an eye-watering 250 USD later, one could find DS waiting at the lift to his 41st floor accommodation, situated merely 100 meters away from the spot where WTC towers used to be!41st floor near the WTC you say?WTC observatory from one window.Financial District skyline from another (window). Last edited by Divya Sharan : 23rd May 2022 at 11:48 .
NASA's venerable space telescope continues to capture the wonders of space after it released an upgraded image featuring a spectacular stream of star formation flowing between four colliding galaxies.

(Photo : NASA, ESA, and J. Charlton (Pennsylvania State University); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America))

A recently revised NASA Hubble Space Telescope photo of the Hickson Compact Group 31 (HGC 31), featuring a river of star formation flowing between four dancing dwarf spiral galaxies.

River of Star Formation The Hubble Space Telescope has been in orbit, taking snapshots of the universe for more than three decades now, and scientists have never lost their interest in the observatory's large and wide archives. The "river of star formation" image, as NASA termed it in a blog post released on Wednesday, May 1, is one of the telescope's fascinating archives as it highlights a galactic dance between four dwarf galaxies within the Hickson Compact Group 31 (HGC 31) of galaxies.

"Another dwarf, cigar-shaped galaxy to [NGC 1741]'s right joins their dance with a thin, blue stream of stars that connects the trio," NASA detailed in their blog post.

The HCG 31, the fourth member, can be seen at the bottom left. While at the center of the image is a bright star shining in the way of the quartet galaxies.

According to the space agency, these encounters between dwarf galaxies are commonly seen billions of light-years away, which means that it happened billions of years ago as well. However, these galaxies or members of HGC 31 are relatively near since they are only 166 million light-years away.

It has been decades since Astronomers understood that these dwarf galaxies are gravitationally tugging on each other. The image shows that their classical spiral shapes are stretched out like taffy, drawing out long streamers of gas and dust.

NASA said that the brightest object in the Hubble image is actually the two colliding galaxies. Its system is aflame with a firestorm of star birth, generated when hydrogen gas is compressed through close interactions between the galaxies and collapses to create stars.

Hubble's observation holds scientific significance since it has added important clues on how these galaxies collide with each other. This will give astronomers the chance to determine how and when the encounter began and to possibly forecast a future merger.

Read Also: NASA's Hubble Telescope Looks Into 'Needle's Eye' of Dwarf Spiral Galaxy With Strange Void

Two Interacting Galaxies

Hubble has a history of capturing galaxies in high-detail for almost a generation and multiple images have highlighted colliding galaxies. This photo, for instance, is a pair of galaxies called Arp 298, interacting 200 million light-years away from Earth and located in the constellation Pegasus.

Arp 298 will also be one of the first science targets of the new James Webb Space Telescope which will start its operations this summer. In fact, the $10 billion observatory is already in its final weeks of commissioning and will soon render more sharp images in various configurations.

Hubble will help the Webb telescope for the next few years in understanding the evolution of the universe through studying the solar system and other distant galaxies and stars.

Related Article: NASA's Hubble Telescope Gains New Milestone In Solving Mystery of Universe's Expansion Rate

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASA's next-generation space observatory was able to successfully watch a moving asteroid as the telescope inches toward the end of its six-month commissioning period.

Webb Telescope Tracks an Asteroid

James Webb Space Telescope can track nearby objects and keep a watch on the solar system, distant galaxies, stars, and other faraway objects, and it is expected to do so in the next 20 years, according to Space.com.

NASA wrote in a blog post on May 19 that the observatory is almost set to begin science observations.

NASA added that as they move forward through commissioning, they will begin to test other objects moving at different speeds to verify that they can study objects with Webb that move through the solar system.

Webb's ability to see nearby targets will let it observe almost everything, from icy objects in the Kuiper Belt to potentially habitable moons orbiting the gas giant planets of the solar system.

Also Read: NASA James Webb Telescope is Finally Aligned: Ready for the Universe

The asteroid chosen for the observing exercise was 6841 Tenzing, a main-belt asteroid named after Tenzing Norgay. The Tibetan mountaineer was one of the first two people to summit Mount Everest, together with Edmund Hillary.

The Webb observations happened just days before the 69th anniversary of their summit on May 29, 1953.

Heidi Hammel, the James Webb interdisciplinary scientist for solar system observations, said in a blog post that Bryan Holler, at the Space Telescope Science Institute, had a choice of around 40 possible asteroids to test the moving target tracking.

Quoting Holler, Hammel said that his team wanted to choose an asteroid with a name linked to success as invoking that seemed a no-brainer.

Hammel is also elected as the vice president for science at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and he is also best known for years of research concerning Uranus and Neptune.

James Webb Telescope's Challenges

Webb faces a few additional challenges with tracking a moving target, NASA has said, such as needing to change between slightly colder and hotter altitudes that may affect the delicate alignment of instruments and mirrors, according to SpaceRef.

However, Hammel said that the science the telescope will bring to the outer solar system is worth all of the trouble, especially for planets like Uranus and Neptune that have only seen a single spacecraft visit those distant worlds so far.

Hammel was previously involved in the imaging campaign of the 1989 flyby of Neptune of that NASA spacecraft, Voyager 1.

Hammel said that it was the lack of a new mission to these very distant worlds that got him involved in Webb many years ago.

The Uranus team hopes to definitively link the chemistry and dynamics of the upper atmosphere, detectable with Webb, to the deeper atmosphere that they have been studying with other facilities over many decades.

Other planned science targets within the solar system include the rings of Saturn, the atmosphere of the moon Titan, observations of the several icy objects in the Kuiper Belt, and the sporadic and suspected plumes, emerging from the icy moon Europa in Hubble Space Telescope footage.

In February, James Webb Telescope captures images of the JWST.

In April, James Webb Telescope showed never-before-seen images of the cosmos.

Related Article: How To Watch NASA James Webb Space Telescope's L2 Arrival! Here's the Estimated Date and More

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Written by Sophie Webster

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Japanese astronauts will be boarding NASA's Artemis missions to the moon, with the possibility of even landing on the surface, as part of an interagency collaboration to expand lunar exploration.

(Photo : NASA)

Illustration of the Gateway in moon orbit with contributions from international partners.

US-Japan Gateway Commitment

President Joe Biden and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made the commitment on Monday, May 23, during a meeting in Tokyo, confirmed by the White House and NASA in separate announcements.

This commitment would mean that a Japanese astronaut will be included in NASA's planned Gateway moon-orbiting space station. NASA said in their statement that Biden and Kishida both have a "shared ambition" to have a Japanese astronaut travel to the moon with the space agency.

Biden said in the agency announcement that he is "excited" with the work that both countries will do together on the Gateway station around the moon. He is looking forward to having the first Japanese astronaut joining them in their lunar mission under the Artemis program.

The commitment was largely in part of a set of agreements between the U.S. and Japan on matters such as 5G cellular networks, cybersecurity, and science and technology partnerships, according to a White House explainer document.

If these agreements come to fruition, Japan would further broaden its range and reach of space exploration after the missions it has launched from the past few years. This will also be in line with Kishida's promises since October to include a Japanese astronaut on the moon's surface, as well as revising the country's space policy to prioritize a crewed landing on the moon.

It is worth noting that Japan has launched successful space missions before. In fact, in 2020 the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) retrieved a sample of an asteroid to our planet. The agency has also been a long-time ISS partner, especially for the robotic arm technology and Kibo science module that it contributed to the station.

The agency launched its first recruitment in 13 years of new astronauts last year and more than 4,000 applicants wanted to grab the opportunity, according to a report by the Japan Times.

Read Also: NASA CAPSTONE: Microwave Oven-Sized Spacecraft to Provide Massive Artemis Mission Advancement

"Expanding Bilateral Cooperation"

Meanwhile, the ongoing Russia's invasion of Ukraine has damaged numerous space partnerships and although the ISS interagency agreement is still in place with Russia, there is no certainty that it will extend its mission beyond 2024 even though Biden has allowed the U.S. to extend its operations in the station for six years more.

But despite this, the U.S. continues to broaden its space work in Asia. In fact, on May 21, Biden held a summit in Seoul, South Korea, with President Suk-yeol where they agreed to expand their space collaborations.

U.S.'s commitment with Japan will expand their "bilateral cooperation for decades to come" in space explorations and scientific collaborations, noted by the White House.

This collaboration was further strengthened after the two countries exchanged asteroid samples from their recent missions. Japan, for instance, has given NASA a sample of Ryugu returned to Earth back in December 2020.

NASA will also be giving Japan a sample of asteroid Bennu in 2023 when the Origins, Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft returns.

Related Article: Next NASA Artemis I Wet Dress Rehearsal's Status To Be Discussed! Where To Watch, Discussion Topics, and More

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Over 40 Democratic lawmakers have urged Google CEO Sundar Pichai to stop using its location data that keep unnecessary or non-aggregated location information that could be used against people who are seeking abortion care.

(Photo : FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

A photo shows the logo sign of Google at their stand ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on May 22, 2022.



Geofence Warrants

The lawmakers sent a letter to the CEO amidst the controversial overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court (SC) case that guaranteed abortion as a federal right after a draft opinion published by Politico shows that the SC has voted to reverse the case.

It is worth noting that the court has not delivered its final ruling on the matter, however, the Chief Justice confirmed that the draft was authentic.

The possibility of abortion becoming illegal has sparked fears that search histories or location data could be used against people who want to get an abortion, especially for those who are seeking them in states where it is illegal.

With the support of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., they expressed in the letter how Google's current practice of "collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data" could help "far-right extremists" who want to crack down on people availing reproductive health care services.

They also claimed that Google keeps historical location information of many smartphone users and shares that data with government agencies.

The letter also detailed how Google received 11, 554 geofence warrants back in 2020, a court order that requires the tech giant to turn over data from users' location and time data.

However, CNBC noted that it is still unclear with many of those warrants have been responded to by Google.

"If abortion is made illegal by the far-right Supreme Court and Republican lawmakers, it is inevitable that right-wing prosecutors will obtain legal warrants to hunt down, prosecute, and jail women for obtaining critical reproductive health care," the lawmakers wrote.

Democrats urged the company to protect its user's location data from government surveillance.

Read Also: Abortions Are Safe And Effective, Says Study, But The Quality Of Care Varies From State To State

Apple's Difference

As of now, abortion is still constitutionally protected in the U.S. But if the SC finally overturns the Roe v. Wade case, almost two dozen states will make abortion illegal, and as such concerns are raised about using citizens' digital footprints against people seeking abortion care.

The use of geofence warrants has been critical in identifying and arresting the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters and they have also been issued for bank robberies, break-ins, and other crimes. However, in March, a federal district court ruled that these warrants are unconstitutional.

The lawmakers highlighted Apple's difference from Google in the letter, saying that the former has not retained "invasive tracking databases" of their users' location. Democrats said that Google is creating a "digital divide" that makes privacy and security a privilege.

"Americans who can afford an iPhone have greater privacy from government surveillance of their movements than the tens of millions Americans using Android devices," the lawmakers said.

Related Article: Women-led Mobile Clinic Seeks to Fix Missisisipi's Health Crisis Via Free Services

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
AT&T users will now have an easier time getting their hands on either Google's Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro.

(Photo : Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 15: American photographer Annie Leibovitz (L) discusses the new camera features on the new Google Pixel 4 smartphone during a Google launch event on October 15, 2019 in New York City.

Google's latest lineup of Pixel phones is very popular and the company has made it easier for customers to purchase them directly through its online store.

Since the launch of the Pixel 6 series, they have been sold through the Google Store in unlocked, Fi, and Verizon configurations. Although the unlocked model works on AT&T, it doesn't come with a compatible SIM card and doesn't support the carrier's 36-month financing plans.

That's all changing now because Google Store now has AT&T versions.

Also Read: Google's Pixel 6 Q1 2022 Shipped Out 1.2 Million Units

How It Works

AT&T users will need to pay a bit more for a mmWave-compatible Pixel 6 on the carrier at $699 with a $100 markup over the unlocked model.

Customers need to use the 36-month financing plans to get a phone from Google, but it will reduce the cost to only $19.41 per month. On the other hand, the big brother model's price stays at $899.

The Catch

Customers can get these carrier-specific models at their full retail cost but they need to be purchased through the company itself.

Another thing is that the color choices are limited in which the Pixel 6 will only come in Stormy Black. So, for those who want to get the other colors, they will need to look somewhere else. The Pixel 6 Pro only comes in Stormy Black and Cloudy White.

A Trade-In

Also recently, AT&T kicked off a promotion that will reduce $800 from any of their best Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy phones, which could mean a free phone or a big discount.

The deal works like this: AT&T is willing to give $800 in credits to apply over 36 months on a new phone if customers trade something in. To be eligible for the promo, you will need to buy a Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro or top Galaxy phones, such as the S22, S22+, S22 Ultra, Galaxy Z Flip 3, and Fold 3. You can see the full list of eligible trade-ins here.

This is a 3-year contract deal, which means you need to be dedicated to AT&T and their network to go for this. Customers also need to subscribe to one of their top unlimited plans that start at $75/month for a single line. The bill credits from the $800 discount that starts after three billing cycles. And if you cancel, you will need to pay for the rest of the phone immediately.

Related Article: AT&T 'Unlimited Max' Plan at $45/month Launches But with a Catch: Here's How to Get It

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Written by April Fowell

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Stellantis is going on a new venture, and it is with South Korea's Samsung to build its line of electric vehicle batteries that it will use for future EVs of the company. The partnership also chose a new location to build their plant, and it is in Indiana where they will erect the $2.5 billion manufacturing facility that will help boost its production.

Stellantis Samsung to Create EV Battery Plant in Indiana

(Photo : ERIC PIERMONT/AFP via Getty Images)

A picture taken on January 27, 2022 shows a view of electric engine assembly lines at automaker Stellantis plant in Tremery, eastern France.

Stellantis announced via a press release that it is partnering with Samsung SDI. The venture would focus on electric battery manufacturing, soon opening its doors on a new plant. The plant's location would be in Kokomo, Indiana, and there the companies would erect their production facility that will focus on power cells.

The target opening date would be in 2025, and it is the same time when Stellantis would launch its Jeep 4xe electric SUVs to the public, and it may or may not receive the power cell. The manufacturing plant aims to produce 23 gigawatt-hours (GWh) before increasing its production to 33 GWh.

The release said that the batteries would supply Stellantis' North American assembly plants.

Read Also: Samsung to Generate 80,000 Jobs While Spending $355 Billion for Next-Gen Tech

Stellantis' $2.5B Budget to Open 1,400 Jobs

The plant's construction will begin later this year, and it is expected to start its initial operations by 2025, particularly in the first quarter of the year. The plant's opening is not only providing an opportunity for Stellantis vehicles to improve, but it also aims to offer 1,400 jobs in the area and the surrounding places of Kokomo.

Stellantis and its EVs

Stellantis from the Fiat Chrysler group is one of the massive names in the electric car industry now, especially as it commits itself to produce massive units of its EVs by 2030. The company supports the goal of the Biden administration to have EVs in the country by 2030, and by the arrival of the next decade, it will only focus on this venture.

One of Stellantis' earliest takes on EVs is its upcoming release of the first Jeep SUV that will feature a battery-powered vehicle that will bring clean energy transportation for all. The 4xe model is coming by 2025, and the lineup would get Jeep vehicles a new electric drivetrain that would focus on having available for everyone.

The accessibility of electric cars is a massive change in the automotive landscape today, and it focuses on features that adhere to modern needs and preferences, unlike the takes before. Now, Stellantis and Samsung are joining forces to bring EV batteries to the cars that the former company will get, becoming an essentially self-sustaining manufacturer.

Related Article: New Long-Lasting Tesla Battery Now Being Studied; LFP To Have a New Nickel-Based Power Cell Competitor

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Apple will be implementing a new requirement for its developers that is expected to go live on June 30 of this year. This new implementation will require Apple Developers to add an account deletion option for their users.

Apps Should Offer an In-App Way to Delete User Accounts

According to the story by MacRumors, Apple will require all of its developers to not only add support for account creation but also account deletion. This means that should the app allow its users to sign up within the app, there should also be an "in-app way to delete said account later on."

When the Cupertino giant first introduced its App Store changes in June of 2021, this actually included the account deletion rule. Apple initially wanted to require its developers to support account deletion much earlier.

Company Changed Its Timeline for Required Account Deletion Option

The original plan was for account deletion to be supported as early as January 31, 2022. That deadline, however, has been pushed way back in order to give developers more time to implement the changes.

Now, Apple will be enforcing its new timeline and will give developers only until the end of June for them to comply. By the end of June, the Cupertino giant will require all apps to have an easy account deletion option in-app.

Apple Will Require Developers to Make Deletion Easier

As per the guidelines, the company requires developers to make deletion much easier for users. This means that apps that previously offered temporary disablement or deactivation won't be enough and will still be required to add deletion to their options.

When it comes to account deletion for certain highly regulated industries, Apple says that the app can still offer customer service flows to assist users when deleting their accounts. This, however, does not apply to industries considered outside of the highly regulated list.

Read Also: iTunes 12.12.4 Update for Windows: Apple Security Fixes

Apple Says Accounts Don't Need to be Immediately or Automatically Deleted if It Takes Time

Industries that are not considered highly regulated, as per Apple, should not make things hard on their user. Due to this decision, the Cupertino giant notes that they should not require their users to make a call, send an email, or go through numerous steps just so that their account can be deleted.

Apple released a more detailed guideline regarding what they are expecting from developers when it comes to account deletion. Developers have already been given a timeline and the company expects their apps to have an easier deletion option by the end of June.

When the new guidelines are enforced regarding account deletion, apps that fail to do so will risk breaching the Apple guidelines and may have to deal with penalties. There is, however, a section within the guidelines that says if users have to be manually deleted and it takes time, Apple will not require their deletion to be automatic and immediate.

Related Article: Apple is Potentially Expanding Its Manufacturing to Vietnam: Tim Cook Meets Country's Prime Minister

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Verizon is implementing an update to its existing anti-spam measures to help protect its users from falling victim to this kind of activity. The update includes better identification for spam calls or texts in Spanish and Mandarin.

Verizon is Updating Its Anti-Spam Measure to Reduce the Number of Scam Calls and Texts Received

According to the story by Android Headlines, Verizon, one of the largest carriers in the United States, is not excepted from its users receiving spam calls and texts. Just like other carriers, customers are still receiving spam calls or texts every once in a while.

The company, however, plans to change this and at least reduce the amount of spam calls or texts its customers receive by a significant amount. This is through Verizon updating its anti-spam measures to help increase the number of calls and texts from scammers it blocks.

Verizon Identified 24 Billion Unwanted Calls for 82 Million Customers to Date

According to the story by Verizon, they have been able to identify 24 billion unwanted calls for a total of 82 million customers ever since. This is on top of the millions of spam messages being received by its users on a daily basis.

As per the company, "industry-leading security capabilities" have given them the ability to better identify Spanish and Mandarin spam calls and prevent them. Verizon will be increasing its efforts to identify spams in other languages.

The Company is Working Closely with the Industry Traceback Group (ITG) to Report Scam Calls

Verizon is also working closely with Industry Traceback Group (ITG) in order to better identify robocalls and automatically "help pass them on to law enforcement." This was recorded as the first time that a carrier has been able to identify and submit "foreign language scam call examples to the ITG."

Manon Brouillette, the CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, said that the company is able to source, report, and prevent bad actors thanks to the help of some of the most advanced network security analytics in the world.

Read Also: Hackers Attack Zola: Wedding Accounts Lose Money From Fraudulent Purchases

Verizon Says the Call Filter App Helps Customers Protect Themselves From Scam Calls

Brouillette detailed that the Call Filter app and other tools also helped their customers protect themselves. They announced that they are working together in order to prevent scam calls from making victims out of their customers.

Although scam calls might not be stopped 100%, Verizon plans to at least decrease the number of scam calls and texts its customers receive on a daily basis. So far, Android Headlines notes that its customers seem satisfied with the changes made by the company.

During the first quarter of this year, customers reportedly received less scam calls compared to the same quarter of last year due to the Verizon Anti-Robocalling Efforts Tracker. The company, however, did not give any particular survey data to show just how much their efforts have worked.

Related Article: New Google Gmail Vulnerability is Capable of Hacking Credentials Upon Signing Up

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Written by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The NASA-watched mile-wide asteroid's image has been captured by the Virtual Telescope Project, a research astronomy service founded by Italian astrophysicist Dr. Gianluca Masi.

(Photo : Screenshot from The Virtual Telescope Project's official website. )

NASA-Watched Mile-Wide Asteroid's Image Captured; Here's Where You Can View the Livestream of Its Passing

Space experts said that since the educational agency was able to take the first photo of the massive space rock, it means that the asteroid is also nearing Earth.

But, this doesn't mean that it will collide with the planet. NASA said that the "7335 (1989 JA)" asteroid's nearest distance from Earth is expected to be around 2.5 million miles.

The Virtual Telescope Project said that they captured the image of this space rock after it reached 5.8 million kilometers (3.6 million miles).

NASA-Watched Mile-Wide Asteroid's Image Captured

According to Mashable's latest report, the massive asteroid is around 1.1 miles wide, making it one of the largest asteroids spotted by NASA and other space agencies.

PhysOrg reported that 1989 JA is traveling at around 30,000 mph.

"To provide some context, that is 17 times the speed of a bullet through the air. At this speed, the asteroid could travel around the planet Earth in 45 minutes," explained Franck Marchis, the chief scientific officer of Unistellar, a telescope company.

(Photo : Photo Courtesy of NASA/Newsmakers)

A mosaic image of asteroid Eros at it's north pole, taken by the robotic NEAR Shoemaker space probe February 14, 2000 immediately after the spacecraft's insertion into orbit. After a year of circling and taking pictures, NEAR will touch down on asteroid Eros February 12, 2001.

Also Read: NASA Solar Sails: How Does it Work? Space Ventures to Have New Technology Like Boats

On the other hand, the giant space rock is expected to pass across the planet on May 27, at around 2:26 p.m. UTC.

If you want to watch the passing of the 1989 JA asteroid, you can visit the Virtual Telescope Project's official website since the service will live stream this space event.

Now, should people worry about the passing of the massive asteroid?

Mile-Wide Asteroid NOT Alarming

Although NASA is keeping an eye on the new mile-wide asteroid, space experts said that it is unlikely to collide with Earth.

If there's a possibility, then the international space union will issue an official warning to the White House and other government agencies as soon as possible.

As of writing, NASA is using its advanced James Webb Space Telescope to track solar system objects, as well as stars, distant galaxies, and other heavenly bodies.

Thanks to the space agency's efforts, it was able to track a moving asteroid for the first time. You can visit Space.Com's official report to see more details.

Meanwhile, the latest deal between Biden and Japan's PM Kishida will allow NASA's Artemis mission to include a Japanese astronaut.

On the other hand, NASA's James Webb Telescope is expected to explore the solar system.

For more news updates about the NASA-watched asteroid and other space objects nearing Earth, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: NASA Hubble Telescope Captures Galaxy Twice as Big as Milky Way; Here's What Makes NGC 474 Unusual

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Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Witness is a documentary series dedicated to contemporary photographers who work in conflict zones and risk their lives to cover the events going on in the most dangerous parts of the world. Photojournalists document history in the conflict zones in Mexico, Libya, Brazil and South Sudan. Sometimes they cooperate with local police for safety reasons, sometimes they get shot or killed.
On May 25, 1963, thirty-one African leaders convened a summit meeting and founded the Organization of African Unity. They renamed 'Africa Freedom Day' as 'African Liberation Day.'

On Wednesday, Zambia joined the rest of the African continent in commemorating the Africa Freedom Day with President Hakainde Hichilema calling for the exploitation of Africa's abundant natural resources to grow economies.

While acknowledging that many countries on the continent have attained political independence, the Zambian leader expressed concern that many countries have not yet attained economic emancipation.

He expressed concern that the continent was still grappling with many challenges such as food insecurity, instability as well as other challenges which have been worsened by the pandemic. Africa was endowed with abundant natural resources which could go a long way in unlocking sustainable development and improving food security if properly harnessed.

"These resources can improve food security in our country, the region, continent and the rest of the world if they are properly managed and harnessed," Hichilema said in his address to mark the day which was televised on the state broadcaster.

#May25 is the day to celebrate #AfricanLiberationDay and to commemorate the struggle of African people worldwide for emancipation, and against bondage, oppression, colonialism and imperialism.



We raise our voices for Africa freedom and liberation! #PanAfricanism pic.twitter.com/CWpFyiAFc1  International Peoples' Assembly (@peoplesassembl_) May 25, 2022

While the continental theme for this year's commemoration is "Strengthening Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent", Zambia chose the local theme, "Leveraging National Resources to Boost Food Security". The Zambia leader said the country was self-sufficient in the production of maize, cassava and groundnuts which could go a long way in contributing to food security if properly managed.

The main commemoration in Lusaka, the country's capital, started with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Freedom Statue in honor of people who died while fighting for the country's independence. A ceremony was later held at State House in which various people were honored for their contribution to the country's development in various areas.

"On May 25, 1963, thirty-one African leaders convened a summit meeting and founded the Organization of African Unity (OAU). They renamed 'Africa Freedom Day' as 'African Liberation Day'," Faces of Haiti recalled, adding that "today we celebrate us, our ancestors, and our roots."
The current exhibition includes original paintings such as a rug with the legend "Welcome", and also replicas of famous murals, such as the pro-Palestine protester throwing flowers.

On Wednesday, Santiago City's Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center (GAM) opens "The Art of Banksy: Without Limits", an exhibition with over 160 works, murals, sculptures and video installations that pays tribute to the British graffiti artist.

"The artist's ironic images challenge us as humanity... reviewing his work makes us wonder how we resolve conflicts and why," the GAM Director Felipe Mella said.

Banksy's humor and art "are provocations that mobilize and allow us to look at ourselves, criticize ourselves and be more aware of the social political crisis we are experiencing and how we are dealing with it."

Despite his anonymity, Banksy was included by Time magazine in its 2010 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. His works have sold for millions of dollars in auction houses, although the vast majority of them can be appreciated for free on the streets of the world's most important cities.

"I want to live in a world created by art, not just decorated with it," the artist from Bristol, once said.



Hoy se lanza en el GAM la expo de Banksy pic.twitter.com/SofC83M1iN  Terra Chile (@holaterra) May 24, 2022

The GAM exhibition, which has already toured different cities around the world, such as Istanbul, Amsterdam, Berlin, Seoul or Miami, is not authorized by the urban artist, but the Banksy Pest Control company knows and confirms its content.

The current exhibition includes original paintings by Banksy, such as a rug with the legend "Welcome", and also replicas of famous murals, such as that of a group of pigeons with anti-immigration messages or the protester throwing flowers.

It also has his creation "Escape," which originally appeared in a prison in England, and "Pulp Fiction," which portrays the stars of the movie of the same name pointing bananas instead of guns.

There is a section dedicated to his activism on behalf of migrants, an "infinity room" that addresses political issues, a reproduction of a London Underground station that immerses visitors in Banksy's street art, and a documentary video that recounts his life and work.
Fighting has raged between the DRC army and rebels attempting to regain control of several localities after being pushed back by government troops supported by the UN Mission.

Several positions of the army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have come under attack by March 23 Movement (M23) rebels since early Wednesday in the northeastern North Kivu province.

"The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) were attacked on several axes by the M23 and its allies from 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday," Col. Ndjike Kaiko, an army spokesman in Goma, said.

"At present, the situation has stabilized in the zones of Chanzu, Runyonyi, and the surrounding area except in Kibumba, where the FARDC is working to repel the assailants from where they came from."

M23 rebels have occupied Kibumba, about 20 kilometers from Goma, capital of North Kivu province, and that they also cut the road linking Goma and Bunagana, a Congolese town bordering Uganda where fighting has also been ongoing since Wednesday morning.

Clashes in Kikumba reportedly forced about 10,000 people to flee toward Rugari, in Rutshuru territory, and Kibati, about 8 kilometers from Goma.

Since last week, fighting has raged between the DRC army and M23 rebels attempting to regain control of several localities after being pushed back by government troops supported by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO).

On Tuesday, MONUSCO head Bintou Keita accused M23 rebels of deliberately targeting MONUSCO peacekeepers stationed in the Shangi area of North Kivu province early Sunday, hours after attacking DRC army positions.

The M23 is a group of former rebels of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). The name came from the March 23, 2009, agreement between the CNDP and the Congolese government. M23 leaders have accused the government of failing to respect that agreement.

The M23 announced in early April its withdrawal from the villages it took earlier in the Rutshuru territory of North Kivu province. However, early Sunday, intense fighting resumed between DRC armed forces and the M23 in the Rutshuru territory.
In 1987, the U.S. Congress declared the PLO a "terrorist organization" and prohibited it from opening any of its office in the United States.

On Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority (PA) called on the United States to remove the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) from the lists of terror classified by the U.S. Congress.

The PA addressed an official letter to the U.S. administration, calling on it to remove the PLO from the lists of terror, said Hussein al-Sheikh, a member of the PLO executive committee.

"We expressed our shock and our absolute rejection of the persistence of this unjust and unfair classification of the Palestinian people who live under the occupation while the Israeli terrorist organization Kach was removed from those lists," Al-Sheikh pointed out.

The Palestinian request comes days after U.S. State Department announced that it removed five extremist groups believed to be no longer active from its list of foreign terrorist organizations, including the Israeli "Kach" organization.

#IsraeliCrimes: 16-year-old #Palestinian Ghaith Yameen has died from wounds he sustained this morning after the Israeli occupation forces shot him in the head in the West Bank city of #Nablus.#Accountability pic.twitter.com/Deu0T1K0sR  PLO Department of Public Diplomacy & Policy (@PalestinePDP) May 25, 2022

The Palestinians accuse this organization of being responsible for killing and wounding dozens of worshipers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron in 1994 and being behind the incitement to kill and displace Palestinians.

In 1987, the U.S. Congress declared the PLO a "terrorist organization" and prohibited it from opening any of its office in the U.S. Despite the decision, the Congress allowed presidents to issue an exemption with their consent, which every president has done since the signing of the Oslo peace agreement between the PLO and Israel in 1993, except former President Donald Trump.

In September 2018, the Trump administration closed the PLO office in Washington D.C. and its banking accounts to pressure the Palestinians to stop working with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel.
Wearing a mask Not worn if the conditions are met at the reading seats of some libraries in Tokyo
The Louisiana House on Wednesday voted to ban spanking and other forms of corporal punishment in public schools but would allow parents to provide written consent if they want school officials to discipline their child.

The measure, House Bill 649, cleared the House 70-28.

It next faces action in the Senate ahead of the June 6 adjournment.

Two earlier attempts for an outright ban on corporal punishment narrowly failed, with the last one missing by one vote on May 11.

Louisiana House lawmakers reject bid to ban spanking in public schools for second time For the second time in less than a week the Louisiana House rejected a bill that would ban spanking, paddling and other forms of corporal puni

Current state law allows local officials to decide whether corporal punishment is allowed.

Most school districts in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas ban spanking.

However, a statewide survey that got responses from 46 of Louisiana's 69 school districts showed 27 school systems prohibit the practice and 19 allow it.

Backers said the latest proposal allows parents and guardians to make the final call.

New push to ban spanking in Louisiana public schools clears House committee A renewed bid to ban paddling and other forms of corporal punishment in public schools won approval Wednesday without objection from the House

"My intent is to give parents the right to choose," said state Rep. Stephanie Hilferty, R-Metairie and sponsor of the bill.

The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

The issue appeared all but dead after the bill narrowly failed in the House earlier this month.

But backers on Wednesday won a suspension of the rules to debate the issue again, then got the House to approve the crucial amendment that added a caveat to the ban -- written consent from parents to school officials to allow them to punish their child.

A total ban would apply to special education students.

Rep. Barry Ivey, R-Central and a longtime opponent of a statewide ban, backed the revised measure.

"It just requires a parent to make an affirmative decision to exact corporal punishment on their child," Ivey said.

Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, opposed the measure.

McCormick said the state usually allows opt outs instead of opt ins on controversial issues. "The whole purpose is to kill corporal punishment in public schools," he said of the bill.

Some lawmakers asked how parents would be notified about the new rules.

Hilferty said parents and guardians could be provided forms at the start of the school year, much like they are allowed to give their consent to certain forms of first aid for their children.

Critics said parents can already opt out of corporal punishment for their children in school districts that allow it.

"It is very difficult the way some parishes are set up," Hilferty said.
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Former NSW premier Mike Baird says the Coalition should reflect on the lessons learnt from the weekends election loss, as he prepares to take the helm at a philanthropic fund manager that directs funding to charities supporting children and youth at risk.

Baird, a Liberal premier from 2014 to 2017, will on Thursday be announced as the next chair of Future Generation Australia, a pro bono position that aims to strengthen ties between the fund management sector and charities.

Incoming Future Generation Australia chair Mike Baird (centre), with Geoff Wilson and CEO Caroline Gurney. Credit:Natalie Boog

One of the most striking features of the weekends poll was the Liberal Partys loss of traditionally blue-ribbon seats in inner Sydney and Melbourne to teal independent candidates. Baird was reluctant to talk about the election in any detail, but suggested the federal opposition should reflect on lessons learnt from the defeat.

The only thing I would say is that I think following results like that, the best thing to do is take your time and reflect on the lessons learnt. Its not the time to charge away and think you have all the answers. A good period of reflection is required, Baird said.
Wintons winning novel is Cloudstreet (McPhee Gribble), a huge saga of the Lamb and Pickles families, classic Aussie battlers who share a house in Perth. Being a Winton work, however, its a highly unconventional saga where the shifty shadow brings spectacularly good and bad luck. Ghosts intrude, a pig talks and one character hovers constantly between life and afterlife.

The shifty shadow of fate has smiled on the Western Australian writer Tim Winton. At the age of 31, he has won Australias top fiction prize, the $25,000 Miles Franklin award, for the second time.

As the Miles Franklin judges put it yesterday, the book is leisurely in the telling but punctuated by moments of astonishing terror, beauty, tenderness and laughter... the romantic imagination takes flight and soars. Turning his back on restraint... Winton has produced a wonderfully comprehensive study of the role of luck and chance in mens lives, of the human capacity for what seems like a limitless range of feeling, of how the totally unexpected comes to be seen as the completely necessary...

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Winton said by phone this week that he was again turning his back on restraint and looking at the totally unexpected. He was, in fact, sitting in the Candy Cane Inn in Anaheim, California, and gazing at the Matterhorn.

It was the Disneyland version, of course, not the real Swiss mountain. Winton couldnt attend the Miles Franklin award presentation in Sydney yesterday because he was in the middle of a tour promoting the release of Cloudstreet in the United States. But he was delighted to hear of his second win (his first Miles Franklin went to his novel Shallows in 1984).

Cloudstreet is dedicated to Sam and Sadie Mifflin and Olive and Les Winton, his two sets of grandparents, whose stories went into generating Cloudstreet (one grandparent retired to the backyard to live in a tent, like his character Oriel Lamb). The novel came out of a collection of incidents, a few little images and a vague idea... things I overheard as a kid. A lot of it was lies or big fibs, and what better basis for a book than lies?
Tom Wren is an amusing George Banks, the father on the steep learning curve, and Lucy Maunder excels as his wife, now (slightly oddly) an ex-actor rather than the suffragette she was in the film. Their children, Jane and her little brother Michael, are appealingly played by Chloe Delle-Vedove and Will Steiner (from a pool of child actors), with Michael having some of the shows sharpest lines. Nancye Hayes is beautifully cast as the Bird Woman, Hannah Waterman is a riotous Mrs Brill, and Chelsea Plumley, Robert Grubb and Gareth Isaac admirably round out the leads. The ensemble matches them, and the execution of Stephen Mears choreography for Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious takes the breath away. The show does have two flaws, however. One is that some songs, including the interminable Step in Time, were always lame, as are some of the newly penned numbers. More generally, Act Two falls away compared with the wonder of Act One, the story losing momentum and nearly half the songs being reprised. But go and see it. The stage craft and performances wont just bewitch your children, theyll bring out your own long-buried inner child. - John Shand A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here.

Orontea by Antonio Cesti

City Recital Hall, May 26

Also, May 28, 29, 31 and June 1

 Apart from occasional homage to canonical figures like Monteverdi and Purcell, opera has tended to pass over the 17th century as a period where improbable classical plots were given extravagant, mannered treatment by composers yet to discover operas true destiny. One of Sydneys rare  possibly unique  blessings over the past 20 has been the opportunity to see and hear this music in witty sophisticated productions from Pinchgut Opera, whose only inauthentic trait is its ability to conjure delight on shoestring budgets. No plot twist is left unexplored by the cast of Orontea. Credit:Brett Boardman

Under Artistic Director Erin Helyard, Pinchgut has developed enormous expertise, stylistic affinity and capacity to translate to todays world. As Helyard notes, Orontea by Antonio Cesti is best seen as a romantic comedy, hugely popular in its day. This agile production by Constantine Costi, with beguiling choreography from Shannon Burns and design from Jeremy Allen (set), Sabina Myers (costumes) and Damien Cooper (lighting), continues Pinchguts tradition of playfully reinventing ancient works within a modern dramatic vocabulary, enlivened with generous splashes of the absurd. Allen has ingeniously given the constrained City Recital Hall stage a deceptively spacious feel by placing a proscenium and curtain at the back and extending a platform in front of the instrumentalists, while Myers and Cooper bring zest and life with audacious colour. Helyard draws delicate, glistening balance from the small orchestra in phrases that sometimes look backwards to the rhythmic cleverness and flexibility of Monteverdi and elsewhere anticipate the phrase patterns of a later age. Loading This is a very fine cast. Anna Dowsley sings the title role of the Egyptian Queen Orontea with wonderful fiery colour and vividness, creating a dramatic persona that amusingly mixes the regal and the petulant. It is rewarding to see her musical and dramatic stature grow and blossom. Her lover, Jonathan Abernethy as Alidoro, embodies the rough-hewn hunk who sets hearts aflutter, yet sings with a rounded voice of fine-grained subtlety and polished finish. Sofia Troncoso hams up the breathless desire of Oronteas rival Silandra, her voice dripping with voluptuous sensuousness and caressing cadences, while Douglas Kelly as Cordino, with whom she eventually has to make do, has neatly modulated correctness and smoothly even tone  the perfect husband.

As the sabre-rattling young Ribrino, spoiling for war, Louis Hurley has a voice of light finesse and tapered refinement, while Andrew OConnor as the bibulous servant Gelone combines rich depths with stylish agility, not to mention a capacity to hold the stage while blind drunk. David Greco is preoccupied, pontificating and distracted as the duty-bound disapproving Creonte and Dominica Matthews, as the wealthy lascivious Aristea, sings with richly seasoned maturity. Roberta Diamond endows the cross-dressing, mustachioed Giacinto with comic pathos and is the finely polished voice behind dancer Ryan Smith, a mischievously gleeful Amore. Alexandra Graham dances a lean philosopher with rubbery limbs and Heath Keating a muscly toy-boy. For Cesti and his librettist Cicognini, more is more in terms of expansiveness, and although the quality and theatrical inventiveness prevent the work from dragging, it is well to enter the second half with relaxed enjoyment, glass in hand, knowing that no plot twist will be left unexplored without an aria or two. - Peter McCallum THIS IS PERSONAL

Sydney Opera House Playhouse Theatre

May 26

Until May 29



At the beginning of the show Mary Coustas walks on, stands at the front of the stage and takes a good look at the audience. Whats going on? Its awkward. Do we laugh now? Wheres Effie? This is Personal could be just another celebrity trauma drama. Heaven knows, Coustas has plenty of baggage to unpack. Growing up enduring the grinding hell of casual racism, plus a constant dread that the next phone call would be the one telling her her fathers heart had finally stopped for good. Becoming Australias favourite wog. And then going into battle with her body, surviving successive rounds of IVF to become a parent at 50. Mary Coustas This is Personal is a one-woman show that declines to follow a well-trodden path. But Coustas is not here to ask for sympathy. Shes here as a witness, an uncanny observer of life, a truth-teller trying to making sense of it all. And laughing along the way. Because, as her mother says  imagine the thick Marrickville Greek accent - You gotta find the funny, else youre screwed. This is Personal is a one-woman show that declines to follow a well-trodden path. This is not stand-up and were not looking for cheap laughs. Coustas has made a career out of playing up to stereotypes, but now shes stepping away from the wig. We start with a stage, bare but for a clock that ticks ominously, a phone which rings when something bad happens, and a 50-something actor telling a lame joke. Ninety minutes later, weve covered life, death, love, the miracle of swivel chairs and carpet squares, unthinkable loss and unquenchable hope. Tissues at the ready.

Its not all serious. The naked self-reflection is punctuated by big, loud, roaringly funny scenes of family life, conjured up by Coustas with a mixture of physical theatre and masterful comic timing. And, yes, there are plenty of accents and plenty of characters, like the incredible vomiting aunt, and the unspeakably sexist uncle, but Coustas barely gives Effie a look-in. Its the scene where she recreates her graduation show - an extravagant, dead-pan interpretive dance rendition of the history of the world, set to music by The Smiths - that we hear the killer one-liner, and its from her beloved father. Mary. No-one needs to see that. Tell your stories. So she does. This is Personal. This is Mary. - Harriet Cunningham A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here.

BEFORE THE MEETING

Reginald Theatre, May 25

Until June 11

 The grip is immediate, and only tightens as the play goes on. That grip is not so much driven by a story as by a single emotion - the one the Lodges previous inhabitant found so elusive: compassion. In other hands a play with multiple scenes set before AA meetings would be likely to drown a spillage of mawkishness. But US playwright Adam Bock is too good for that. He makes his characters initially draw us in with their warmth, humour and benign bickering - makes the reasons they go to AA secondary to their in-the-present interaction. Alex Malone, left, and Jane Phegan are both astonishingly good in their roles. Credit:Danielle Lyonne The structure is ingenious and equally keenly crafted. All but one of the scenes has the same setting, and their effect is cumulative, like so many bricks building a wall, the characters histories initially as sparingly applied as mortar. The scene thats the exception is a solo rather than a duo, trio or quartet: just one back-story, as told at a meeting proper, by middle-aged Gail (the brilliant Jane Phegan).

The 80-minute plays centrepiece comes around the two-thirds mark with the house lights partially up, so we, too, are at the meeting. Gail begins by relating all the facets of her childhood that she cant blame for her alcoholism. But as the monologue progresses through the stages of her disease to the point where she weans herself off not only booze and dope, but sugar, coffee and excessive food, the lighting tightens around her. Bock takes us deep inside Gails life, which, like all lives, involves laughter as well as tragedy. A lesser playwright might have allocated such a speech to every character, but one of Bocks crowning achievements is to make the specificity and intimacy of Gails story come to stand for all. Phegans delivery of the speech is the high point of a production replete with peaks, and burdened with no troughs. Her voice dances across the confessional lines like an alto saxophone riffing on an ever-expanding theme, and meanwhile her physical acting deepens the truth and the impact, with fingers, hands, wrists, arms and shoulders all as movingly expressive as her face. Loading Just as astonishingly good are Alex Malone as the pregnant Nicole, whose jokes and wisecracks are her only body-armour as the world comes sniping at her, Tim McGarry as Ron, an irascible ageing man with a heart of gold, and Tim Walker as nervy young Tim, an AA first-timer when the play begins. The cameo fifth character is Gails adult daughter, Angela, who bursts in on the action after Gails monologue, and clouds some of the truth of what weve just heard. Ariadne Sgouros is the only actor whose performance shows the faintest fault lines, but then she has the mighty challenge of entering the action at the three-quarter mark already in a towering rage.

Chrysoulla Markoullis gently wistful music demarcates the scenes, and is an exquisite counterpoint to the sharpness of the dialogue  another box ticked in this masterful, perfectly cast production directed by Kim Hardwick (for White Box Theatre). The characters throb with life on Martin Kinnanes set depicting a dreary church basement room, becoming ever more lacerating, until you walk out dazed and wounded  but also exhilarated by the truth, the lustre and the intensity of it all. Were this a Sydney Festival production and the actors blessed with greater renown, the queues would stretch around the block. You must see it.

- John Shand A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here. GHOSTING THE PARTY

SBW Stables Theatre

May 25

Until June 11



Last week, New South Wales legalised voluntary assisted dying. This week, Ghosting the Party, Melissa Bubnics play about ageing, death with dignity, and the care work of women, debuted from Sydneys Griffin Theatre Company.

This is more coincidence than design; the play won the Lysicrates Prize in 2017. Still, its a welcome arrival. Ghosting the Party is wickedly funny, desperately loving, and just sharp enough to pierce your heart. Amy Hack, Belinda Giblin and Jillian ODowd in Ghosting The Party. Credit:Clare Hawley Grace (Belinda Giblin, ablaze with stubbornness and wit) is 87 years old. Everything hurts. Shes terrified of mental decline. She wants to die. Her daughter Dorothy (Jillian ODowd, with her heart on her sleeve, ever-hovering, ever-wounded) isnt having it. Surely, one should fight to stay alive at all costs? Doesnt Grace appreciate all Dorothys sacrificial support? Then theres Dorothys daughter Suzie (Amy Hack, in a superlative performance). She reluctantly returns to Australia from Montreal, where shes been living for more than a decade to build her career, to be there for her family. Graces re-assessment of life and living weighs on them all, re-shaping their conversations and behaviours as well as reinforcing long-held obligations, burdens, and needs. Together and apart, the women argue, joke, attempt new beginnings, and experience endings.

At just 80 minutes, the play somehow folds some of lifes biggest ideas into a jar and holds them up for our perusal: between scenes, the actors move out of time and role to share more philosophical ideas about dying, parenting and the politics of care. Director Andrea James shapes the production with welcome playfulness and keen perception. A laugh will hang in the air just long enough to feel like a present; loss and grief coax tears to the eyes just when you need the relief of feeling. Its all wonderfully alive. Loading Luckily, too, it all takes place on Isabel Hudsons hyper-feminine, ultra-domestic pastel wallpaper set with clever costumes that uplift the narrative (Dorothy, the ultimate caregiver, is drowning in florals). Verity Hampsons lights play partner to Jamess clever staging, and Phil Downings composition and sound design help bridge the gap between abstract sequences and plot-driven scenes. When do women get to stop caring for others and live  or die  for themselves? Ghosting the Party doesnt have any answers (or any remedies for ageing), but it has a persistent, compassionate sense of solidarity: this is a play that slings a no-nonsense arm around you and tells you that you arent alone.
Peter Noonan, the Emeritus Professor at the Mitchell Institute and the Centre for Research on International Education Systems at Victoria University in Melbourne, died on April 23, 2022. This resulted in an extraordinary career doing just that, in the following order: the first national secretary of the TAFE teachers association (1981-84); ministerial adviser and senior executive in the Cain Victorian government, developing the Youth Guarantee and a new Victorian vocational training system (1984-87); adviser to federal education minister John Dawkins (1987-89); head of strategy, Victorian State Training Board (1989-92); deputy then acting head of the Australian National Training Authority (1993-1999); deputy head of the Queensland Department of Employment, Training and Industrial Relations, with responsibility for the training portfolio (1999-2001); consultant, researcher and policy adviser (2001-14); and professor, then emeritus professor of tertiary education at the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University (2014-2022). In 1987, Hawke government education minister John Dawkins asked Peter to join him in a shake-up of higher education to establish the Unified National System, massively increase university funding (including though the HECS student loan scheme), and lay the groundwork for a national vocational training system in parallel. This progressed Australias transition to a mass tertiary education system, essential for our place in the global economy. After influential roles in the Victorian State Training Board, ANTA, and the Queensland training system Peter began, in 2002, his long stint as adviser to governments, business, education providers and policy outfits, through the vehicle of consulting in his own firm, Phillips KPA, the Allen Consulting Group and ACIL Allen. This included being a member of the Bradley Higher Education Review team, which developed the demand-driven system for Gillard, to further widen participation in higher education and extend the work he had done nearly 20 years earlier with Dawkins. Professor Denise Bradley said: Peter demonstrated formidable technical competence and agility, a great head for detail, very strong democratic values and a capacity in all of this to keep hold of the larger picture. He is without doubt the best analyst of our tertiary system.

Peter did not confine himself to working on tertiary education. He also carried out germinal work for the Gonski review of school funding, designing its centrepiece schooling resource standard. His research and his policy contribution ramped up after he joined the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University. VU, with its dual vocational and higher education focus and emphasis on widening opportunity, was a perfect fit for him. At Mitchell, he led a program of research, with a range of collaborators, on reconceptualising tertiary education, as a more integrated, less hierarchical and more flexible system, with stronger connections between the vocational and higher education sectors. These core ideas were incorporated in his landmark Review of the Australian Qualifications Framework, commissioned by COAG. He was the right person to lead that review because he had a deeper understanding than anyone of all education sectors. The reviews recommendations represent the cornerstone of tertiary education reform needed to support a future of lifelong learning for all Australians. An important feature of Peters working life was his role as mentor. Many young policymakers and researchers learned enormously from him. Sarah Pilcher, a colleague at the Mitchell Institute, said of Peter that he understood that the arc of a successful and meaningful career was about more than leaping from one rung of the ladder to the next, but about trying to combine endeavour with living life, and looking after yourself, family, friends and colleagues along the way.

And Peters insight was not only reserved for young people. The authors of this obituary were great beneficiaries of his advice, as was Peter Coaldrake, former vice-chancellor of Queensland University of Technology and currently chair of TEQSA, the national higher education regulator, who described him as a great mentor to me. And the relationships were always two-way. Peter was always keen to learn from the many others he interacted with. Alongside his research, Peters advice to government on both sides of politics continued. He was not hidebound when it came to getting up good public policy, or recognising intelligence and capability wherever it was to be found. Ministers and bureaucrats of many stripes would attest to that. He did some of his major work, including the AQF Review, while undergoing treatment for cancer. Many of those he worked with had no idea that he was ill, such was his professionalism. Right up to his last few weeks, Peter was still working with others on publications moving big ideas forward. This included a paper with Tony Mackay and Sandra Milligan, on senior secondary certification, which incorporates seven policy directions that aimed at opening open up a much richer range of ways for students, employers and education institutions to match the capabilities and aspirations of students with suitable educators and employers. He was also undertaking a book with colleagues from academia and industry about rethinking tertiary education, and work on the book will continue in his honour. He was also providing outstanding advice to policymakers and researchers, right until the end, as a member of the federal governments Expert Panel of Vocational Education and Training, and as a member of the board of the Australian Industry Groups Centre for Education and Training.
One of the three women who survived attacks from Claremont serial killer Bradley Edwards wants to encourage others to speak up and make a fuss if they have been a victim of violence.

Former social worker Wendy Davis was attacked by Edwards as she sat at her desk in Hollywood Hospital writing a report one afternoon in 1990.

Wendy Davis has written a book detailing her involvement in the Claremont Serial Killer case.

Edwards, then aged 21, grabbed her from behind, shoved a cloth into her mouth, and began dragging her towards an isolated toilet block.

In Davis new book, Dont Make a Fuss: Its Only the Claremont Serial Killer, she recalls how she was struggling with the then-Telecom apprentice, who had been working at the hospital, when he suddenly released her.
A culture problem

I visited an elementary (primary) school in America some time back. After walking through a metal detector I entered the building through bullet-proof glass doors. The second floor of the school was beautiful, full of light, but the ground-floor classrooms had no windows to make sure children were safe from drive-by shootings.

After meeting my host family I went to a local shop like a 7-Eleven to buy some groceries and the first thing in that store was a gun counter with weapons that would please a Third World dictator. And finally, when I was given the keys to a van so I could drive my students around, it was made clear to me that if I were stopped by the police, never, ever leave the vehicle (like we do here) because the police would simply shoot me dead.

There are so many good things in America, but gun culture there is obscene.

Loy Lichtman, Carnegie THE FORUM

Behind the facade

Some Dutton boosters are saying that he is not at all a head-kicking right-wing conservative and certainly not Voldemort. No, there is really a pleasant and pragmatic Pete behind the tough guy facade. So I guess it was pragmatic to boycott Australias apology to the stolen generations? I guess it was pragmatic to joke about rising sea waters on Pacific Islands? I guess it was pragmatic to oppose Turnbulls National Energy Guarantee and then challenge him for the leadership? Its funny those same Dutton boosters also said Scott Morrison, the coal-fondling ideologue who locked up asylum seekers and stopped them attending funerals, was really Scomo, the daggy dad. Well that worked out well.

Graeme Henchel, Yarra Glen He will bury them

David Sharma has been quoted as saying that a visceral dislike of Scott Morrison was a drag on the Liberal vote. If, as mooted, Peter Dutton is elected leader of the parliamentary Liberal Party, then the drag on the Liberal Party vote in future elections will be more akin to an avalanche burying their chances of returning to govern for many years to come.

Harry Kowalski, Ivanhoe How sensible?

The new leadership of the federal parliamentary Liberal Party seems all but settled. Peter Dutton evidently has wide support in the party, even extending to at least some of the remaining so-called moderates. He is being described as pragmatic. Taking the similarly self-described Scott Morrison as a benchmark, though, you might wonder what thats code for?

Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills

Bard up to date

Over 400 years ago Shakespeare described Hamlets apparent madness as an antic disposition. On reading South Australian senator Alex Antics complaint that Morrisons Liberals adopted a Labor-lite policy platform (Right-wing commentators harm the Liberals, The Age, 25/5), can anyone seriously question the Bards contemporary relevance? The only difference is that Hamlet was just pretending to be insane.

Mike Smith, Croydon Simple truths

Matthew Guy should take Ross Gittins advice as a template on how he could win the coming state election (How Albanese can hit heights, The Age, 25/5). Be more truthful, more respectful, more inclusive, less divisive, and admit mistakes. Simple things, and so simple to implement.

Neil McMillan, Pt Cook Strategic mistake

We all had a chuckle when Anthony Albanese announced during the election campaign that Chinas influence in the Pacific could be obviated by promoting climate change and sending in the ABC. We put this all down to the hyperbole and theatrics of the campaign. But when he repeats at the Quad conference in front of world leaders that climate change was the main economic and security challenge for countries of the Pacific, then Australia must seriously worry about his strategic assessments of threats in the area. The Chinese must be breathing a sign of relief. No wonder they extended an olive branch to the PM.

Martin Newington, Aspendale Mother nature wont wait

Labor says it wont bend to the Greens and change its 2030 emissions reduction target. Then they say they want to take the politics out of climate change. It wont be the Greens that Labor will bend to, it will be the climate. It has been all along and this is what the Greens understand.

Phil Labrum, Flemington Two to tango

When Anthony Albanese states that there is no justification (The Age, 25/5) for Chinese sanctions on Australian trade does he think the Chinese applied them accidentally or randomly? He dismisses the last nine years of Australias deteriorating relationship with China and assumes that Australia isnt even partly to blame. It appears that Albanese has already received his orders from Joe Biden about what Australias foreign policy on China should be.

Peter Martina, Warrnambool

Opportunity wasted

Anthony Albanese had what might be the best opportunity he will ever have to exchange Julian Assanges freedom for Australias continued co-operation with US aims in the Pacific. Albanese had his first bilateral meeting yesterday with US President Joe Biden and, despite his words of some time ago that Assange should be released he did nothing.

Norman Broomhall, Port Macquarie Flagging change

I was a very proud Australian to see my prime ministers first press conference in front of three flags: the Indigenous flag, the Torres Strait Islands flag and the Australian flag. Now we can hope for all types of renewal.

David Hunt, South Melbourne Shift in ambitions

The Albanese governments policy agenda has been described as modest. Before we forget them, the governments commitments regarding aged care include: registered nurses on site 24/7; residents to receive 215 minutes of care per day; a government funded wage rise for aged care workers; mandatory nutrition standards for aged care residents; and to make residential care providers detail how they are spending the money they receive.

When, and if the government achieves those objectives, it can claim to have revolutionised aged care.

Rod Wise, Surrey Hills The professionals

To answer your correspondents question as to why the new teal members are described as professional women, its because they are. The men weve had so far? Very much open for debate.

Robert Gibson, Kensington Money wasted

United Australia Party  about $210 spent on each vote. (UAP candidate could be senator via Lib preferences, The Age, 23/5). All that money wasted! Think of all the good Clive Palmer could have done for Australia with $100 million invested in some worthwhile projects. Some of it might even have made it to electorates that arent marginal.

Now, that would have been a real challenge to the political orthodoxy.

Ian Taylor, Northcote

Unfathomable

It is difficult to comprehend the way some medical people can dedicate their lives to saving others including the work they volunteer overseas and then one man spending almost $100 million dollars on an election campaign for virtually no result.

Michael McKenna, Warragul Recoup the cash

The most critical task facing the incoming government is to reduce the deficit. There must be retrospective legislation passed before the October budget to demand from companies, and private schools, the return of monies they did not need.

Warren Thomas, Ivanhoe Theyre dreamin

The tedious and somewhat tawdry election is now behind us. It was significant in that neither major party attempted any form of serious debate or discussion about tax reform. Since the Howard and Costello era of government, Liberals have adopted the position that the total tax revenue as a proportion of GDP should not exceed something of the order of 23 per cent.

Australians believe that as a first world nation the government should provide universal first-rate services in public education, public health services and welfare services. But the countries usually cited as being fine examples of first class public services are Scandinavian countries, and the OECD put their tax to GDP ratios (as of 2019) at: Denmark 46.6 per cent; Finland 42.3 per cent; Norway 39.9 per cent; Sweden 42.6per cent. This analysis put the OECD average at 33.4 per cent and Australias ratio as 27.7 per cent.

If Australians expect to be provided with first class services in public education, public health and welfare by paying for a third class ticket, they have unrealistic expectations.

Peter Taylor, Mont Albert North Blinded by the lights

Your correspondent (Letters, 25/5) could not have said it better. Attending the AFLM has become an experience of flashing lights, noise, music, drunks, booms, betting odds. The football is the main game and presently best experienced and filtered in my own lounge room. VAFA and other local football for me.

Julienne Gleeson, Malvern Sharing fairways

Re: Northcote park move seen as wedge (The Age, 24/5), Inverleigh Golf Club, in country Victoria, has recently installed an 18-hole championship standard disc (frisbee) course alongside and across its existing fairways. The golfers enjoy a right of way over the frisbee players who pause their game as they watch the golfers hit off. Everyone seems to enjoy the serenity of the countryside.

Terry Bohan, Belmont

Voters forgotten

I am an Australian voter living overseas for the past decade, but still keenly engaged in the important decisions at home, and proud of my right and responsibility to vote. For the past five elections I have been able to walk into an embassy or consulate in South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, to cast my votes in the federal election.

This year, this option was not available to me, and despite DFAT and the embassy having my contact details and the demonstrated capacity to communicate with me about AFL Grand Final parties, Australia Day events etc, I did not find out about the inability to vote in person until I called them to ask about pre-polling. I understand this was a decision of the AEC and DFAT, but given the COVID numbers in Australia, surely the risk overseas is not high, and accommodations could be reached to set up an outdoor polling place, for example. I received my postal ballot on May 19, and hopefully it will be arrive by the due date, but I am furious at the situation faced by expats.

Damien Brosnan, Bangkok, Thailand And another thing Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: Liberal leadership

Without Josh Frydenberg the Liberal cupboard is embarrassingly bare. Peter Dutton will be like Tony Abbott on steroids, namely an effective and aggressive opposition leader but a disastrous PM if fate so dictates.

Kevin Burke, Sandringham

So Australia is heading for an opposition leader and so-called PM-in-waiting who wants us to prepare for war. And I thought the Libs couldnt get worse after Morrison.

Brian Morley, Donvale How, exactly, will a Peter Dutton leadership help the Liberal Party?

Mary Cole, Richmond A few words of advice to the Liberal Party. Choose a female leader and a male deputy leader to show quiet Australians you really are listening.

Rebecca Mangan, Mt Eliza Election fallout

The election was such a tragic waste of pork.

Jamie Inglis, Coburg By relying on Scott Morrison to win the election on his own, the Coalition knew who to blame for their loss.

Phil Lipshut, Elsternwick

Hey Luca, weve red carded and sent off Scott Morrison for you.

Stuart Gluth, Northcote Liberals conundrum with the Nationals  cant win with them, cant win without them.

Carolyn Ingvarson, Canterbury Seems like all Abetz are off.

Chris Burgess, Port Melbourne I believe there is a ukulele for sale on eBay.

Myra Fisher, Brighton East Furthermore

Many of us professional women used to be called or maybe used to be doctors wives, but then we went to school and became doctors, engineers, lawyers, journalists, businesswomen and so on. Thank you Gough Whitlam.

Jenny Darling, Southbank
Free flu shots may soon be available in Victoria as a sharp rise in influenza infections increases pressure on hospitals and the ambulance union warns of a concerning shortage in advanced life support paramedics able to respond to the most life-threatening callouts.

The NSW and Queensland governments have already pledged free influenza vaccines for those aged six months and over.

Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed the state government is considering making flu shots free for all Victorians. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In the clearest indication yet that Victoria will follow their lead, Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Wednesday the government was in deep discussions with the Pharmacy Guild and Australian Medical Association about making flu shots free.

The push for free vaccinations came after the states healthcare system again grappled with immense pressure on Tuesday night, forcing Ambulance Victoria to declare another code orange due to severe staffing shortages and high demand.
Peter Dutton has issued a rallying cry to a devastated Liberal Party, promising to bring together moderate and conservative wings fractured by the election loss and vowing to take the fight to Labor on the economy.

Dutton formally confirmed on Wednesday he will stand for the leadership of the Liberals as he warned things are going to be tough under Labor  higher interest rates, cost of living, inflation and electricity prices.

Sussan Ley and Peter Dutton.

Labor talked a big game on the economy. They now have to deliver and we will hold them to account, he said in a statement.

Liberal MP for NSW Sussan Ley is the front-runner to be Duttons deputy, ahead of senators Jane Hume and Anne Ruston, while Angus Taylor and Stuart Robert are positioning for the treasury portfolio.
El Gobierno del Peru esta dispuesto a realizar en nuestro pais una reunion regional del Foro Economico Mundial para America Latina y el Caribe el 2023. Esta propuesta le fue transmitida a @ProfKlausSchab, fundador y presidente del @wef, en nuestro encuentro realizado en #Davos. pic.twitter.com/v1KEltS0WG
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Premier Torres: La seguridad ciudadana no solo compete a la @PoliciaPeru, sino tambien a las Fuerzas Armadas y a los gobierno locales y regionales. Por eso, se esta trabajando para que se desempenen coordinadamente. pic.twitter.com/YLj6c2dGJI
? El presidente Pedro Castillo promulgo la ley que permite a los trabajadores retirar, de manera excepcional, el 100 % de los fondos de la CTS. En un plazo maximo de diez dias calendario se dictaran las disposiciones reglamentarias.

??? https://t.co/QumIkJ8ZbG#SiempreConElPueblo pic.twitter.com/NBkE7eemBY
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Parliament adopted the bill banning cash payments in making bookmaking bets or other gambling activities.

The law will take effect after 10 days.

Furthermore, after 6 months the bookmakers and gambling organizations will be banned from accepting bets via payment terminals.

Bets will be allowed to be made only by bank cards, and the winners will receive their sum again in non-cash method.

The bill is authored by Civil Contract lawmakers as part of fighting gambling addiction in the country.

The bill passed with 67 votes in favor.

The opposition lawmakers were not participating in the session.
An American Airlines aircraft flies past JetBlue and United Express aircraft as it lands at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 24, 2022. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

18 Major Airlines, FAA, and DOT to Be Sued Over COVID Vaccine Mandates

First lawsuit against Atlas Air has been filed

John Pierce Law has filed a lawsuit against Atlas Air, on behalf of US Freedom Flyers (USFF) and Atlas employees, and plans to sue all major airlines, 18 altogether, plus the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT), contending that the vaccine mandates imposed by these agencies on the airlines employees infringed on their constitutional, religious, and medical liberties.

The lawsuit against Atlas Air was filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, with over 100 plaintiffs pursuing litigation.

Fundamentally, this case is about whether Americans should be required to choose between their livelihoods and being coerced into taking an experimental, dangerous medical treatment, reads the lawsuit (pdf).

Plaintiffs are mostly unvaccinated pilots, flight attendants, as well as other Atlas staff.

It is also about the safety of Americas airline industry. Should pilotsunder federal regulation required to be among the healthiest workers in the United Stateswho have taken an experimental vaccine that is now shown to have potentially deadly, long-term side effects, be allowed to fly massive aircraft in our skies? While those who have (smartly) refrained from such a course be forced out of their jobs? it states.

Atlas Air is one of the industrys largest cargo carrier companies and the worlds largest operator of the Boeing 747 aircraft.

The law firm was founded by Att. John Pierce, who founded the National Constitutional Law Union. He previously represented George Papadopoulos in connection with the 2016 Russia Hoax, reaching a dismissal of the DNCs case and helping secure a presidential pardon. He is also currently representing defendants being charged in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

So the complaint has been filed. Were in the process of serving everyone. And then, well likely be looking for some kind of injunctive relief here soon to make sure that all the COVID-related mandates stop immediately. And then well proceed [with] litigation, motion, practice, and discovery and then onward to trial eventually, Pierce told The Epoch Times.

This week, John Pierce Law plans to file another lawsuit against United Airlines.

Well be hitting basically all of them in sequence, and then well be going after the FAA as well. Were gonna get these vaccine mandate type of rules and COVID restrictions ruled unconstitutional. And were gonna get findings that there was discrimination under Title Seven. Were gonna get punitive damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress and things like that, Pierce said.

Its going to require a big fix, ultimately. And thats probably going to require legislation and kind of getting all the stakeholders at the table, but the first step is civil litigation.

Airlines, which are government contractors, are affected by President Joe Bidens order from September of last year that states all employees of those companies have to be vaccinated against the Chinese Communist Party virus.

Pierce said that as soon as he heard about the airline mandates he predicted that it would be the next big wave of litigations.

[These lawsuits are] absolutely crucial. Its a very, very red lineIf you get to the point where you have to choose between getting an experimental drug shot in your arm and your paycheck, thats just unAmerican, its unconstitutional, its outrageous, its sickening.

If thats not the hill to die on when it comes to liberty, thats about as close as I can imagine it, Pierce said.

Josh Yoder, a major airline pilot and a spokesperson for Freedom Flyers who recently supported the trucker-led The Peoples Convoy, says that there has been harassment, threats, intimidation, vaccine injuries, and even suicides that have come out of these mandates.

Were not doing class action. Were doing individual litigants. And the reason were doing it that way is because so many people have been harmed and people have experienced different levels of harm. We have the unvaccinated who have been harassed, threatened, and intimidated into getting vaccinated. Then we have many people as well who got vaccinated against their will, who were coerced and forced into doing it under threat of losing their employment, Yoder said.

And then, in addition, we have the vaccine-injured, and the numbers of vaccine-injured are growing by the day, Yoder went on, Its just incredible whats happening with pilots.

Pilots have to maintain a flight physical in order to maintain their licenses.

The Epoch Times recently reported that a pilot for American Airlines, one of the top 3 largest airlines in the country, suffered a cardiac arrest between two flights, about 6 minutes after landing.

And so what were seeing is many pilots are experiencing health conditions. Specifically, cardiac issues [are] what were seeing a lot of. And many of these pilots are afraid to come forward because if they come forward they lose their flight physical, they lose their flight medical. So theyre continuing to fly. We have a lot of pilots that are flying with chest pain and neurological conditions, because if they come forward they lose their careers, Yoder said.

Freedom Flyers is now acting as an advocacy group between the pilots, the FAA, and the companies in order to assist them in coming forward and speaking out on their conditions.

We have a massive team of medical professionals who are helping these people, but were asking everyone to come forward. While its absolutely devastating to their careers, we need them to come forward because this is the safety of the American public that were talking about, Yoder said.

According to a group of attorneys, doctors, and other expertsand a pilot who says his career ended due to adverse reactions from a vaccinethe FAA has been breaking its own rule that states pilots should not fly after having taken medications that have been approved for less than a year, The Epoch Times reported in December.

The Epoch Times reached out to Atlas Air for comment.
Pallets of baby formula are unloaded after being sent in through Operation Fly Formula, at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., on May 25, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

2nd Baby Formula Shipment Arrives in Virginia

A second shipment of much-needed baby formula from Europe has arrived in Virginia on Wednesday.

Responding to political pressure, the Biden administration began airlifting shipments of formula to the United States.

At the same time, the Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday that it has launched an inquiry into the formula shortage, seeking information on any deceptive or fraudulent business practices related to it.

The agency said it also aims to shed light on what led to the concentration in the baby formula market and the weak supply chains.

Food experts say strict formula regulations set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have long limited competition.

Beginning in 1980, Congress gave the FDA authority to rigorously enforce the nutritional content of all formula sold in the United States, imposing extra research and manufacturing standards that have few equivalents worldwide. The changes came after some babies were sickened by deficient formulas in the 1970s.

The United States has long imposed tariffs and quotas on dairy imports from abroad, including Canada, in order to shield American milk producers from competition.

In a related move, the FDA said Tuesday it would allow the importation of 2 million cans of Kendal Nutricare formula from the UK to boost supplies. The products are expected to begin arriving in U.S. stores early next month.
The United Nations headquarters building is seen from inside the General Assembly hall in New York on Sept. 21, 2021. (Eduardo Munoz/Pool Photo via AP)

$375,000 Paid to UN Expert Is Legalized Corruption

China paid most of the money, and should be ejected from the UN

Commentary

The principles of the United Nations were inspiring in 1941 when an American president and British prime minister met on warships anchored in the North Atlantic first to put them on paper. Now, the U.N. that resulted is rotten to the core.

Not because of the original principles of the Atlantic Charter, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. But because of the United Nations and member states failure to adhere to them.

The worst abusers, all authoritarian countries, do everything in their power to subvert the ideas found in the Atlantic Charter, including through bribery and the influence of their money on the weakness of human greed.

Exhibit A is $375,000 paid by China, Russia, and Qatar for a supposed U.N. expert to oppose U.S. and allied sanctions against the worlds worst human rights abuse. These corrupt and corrupting countries, one of which is committing genocide and the other invading a nearby democracy, are obviously biased on the issue of human rights and territorial integrity, and so is their paid expert, Alena Douhan.

Yet, the expert represents the United Nations to the world on the issue of sanctions, and so influences world opinion to go soft on human rights abuse and territorial aggression. Under the mantle of the United Nations, she operates precisely against the organizations founding principles. In the shadow of Nazi Germany, these were meant to ensure that the atrocities of World War II never recurred.

The payment for Douhan is composed of $250,000 from China, $150,000 from Russia, and $25,000 from Qatar, according to a filing seen by U.N. Watch and the Hong Kong Free Press.

But theres more. Douhan is a professor in Belarus, a country so unfree and closely allied with Russia that Vladimir Putin launched his pincer attack on Ukraine in part from that northern autocracy.

There is much criticism of this illiberal and legalized corruption of a U.N. expert.

Dr. Hillel Neuer, a Canadian human rights activist who leads U.N. Watch, wrote in a statement that It beggars belief that a supposed independent human rights expert can accept money from regimes at the same time as she endorses their events designed to cover up atrocities.

Dr. Teng Biao, a human rights lawyer and scholar at the University of Chicago, replied to the news on Twitter. Shame on Alena Douhan, he wrote. This #UN special rapporteur received [a] US$200,000-contribution from #China and helped the CCP whitewash #Uyghurgenocide and spread the [Chinese Communist Partys] propaganda.

Uyghurs and Tibetan people demonstrate against China outside of the United Nations offices in Geneva on Nov. 6, 2018. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

In the course of her U.N. work, Douhan provided propaganda wins to other dictators as well, complete with a U.N. stamp of approval, in Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba.

All of these countries want to violate U.N. principles at will, without fear of economic repercussions in their trade with democracies.

Douhan did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

If China, in particular, can make unilateral sanctions illegal according to international law, it will grease the skids on Beijings path to global hegemony.

International laws against unilateral sanctions would, in particular, weaken the worlds two most powerful democracies. The United States and European Union are still the worlds two largest economies by nominal GDP. Their ability to deter human rights abuse and protect territorial integrity peacefully and economically would be undermined, increasing not only the chance of such abuse but the likelihood that disputes would escalate more quickly to military conflict.

Roosevelt and Churchills original conception of the United Nations, to socialize authoritarian countries toward democracy, including through their signatures on the 1948 U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, formalized the right of citizens everywhere to free and fair elections. It was a daring and noble gamble at the time.

However, Soviet Russia and communist China made clear within a few short years that they had no intention of democratizing and no respect for the U.N. principles to which they solemnly agreed. Russia and China joined the United Nations not from a sincere agreement with its principles, but to buy time against the United States and its democratic allies. These two dictatorships are trying to warp the United Nations from a tool for democracy and international peace into a tool of their illiberal power.

The corruption of Alena Douhan is thus a symptom of the problem rather than the problem itself. The deeper issue is that we continue to allow dictatorships that violate the basic principles of the United Nations to remain in their positions within the organization. They should instead be ejected, root and branch. Start with its most powerful member: communist China. That would make an example for the rest, who, it can still be hoped, would improve as a result.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Three men found on board the Woodhaven III near Makin Island, Kiribati, on May 23, 2022. (New Zealand Defence Force)

7 Missing People at Sea Found Safe on 2 Boats Near Kiribati in the Pacific

Seven people on two separate missing boats in the Pacific have been found and rescued by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).

The crew on an Air Force P-3K2 Orion plane had spotted both vessels within 10 nautical miles of each other near the Pacific Island nation Kiribati. The two boats had gone missing in separate incidents.

On Monday, RNZAF responded to a request by the Rescue Coordination Centre NZ, on behalf of Rescue Coordination Centre Fiji and Kiribati, to search for a five-metre yellow hulled boat that was reported to have been lost at sea after leaving on a trip from Makin Island to Butaritari Island, Kiribati, on Friday.

At the same time, the United States Coast Guard had been preparing to search for another boat with three people onboard, Woodhaven III, that had also been reported missing near Kiribati around the same time.

The Orion crew searched around Makin Island and coincidently spotted Woodhaven III first, which was located approximately 150 nautical miles from where it was thought to have gone missing.

Soon after, the yellow hulled vessel was also found with two men, a woman, and an 11-year-old child on board.

The crew reported that all seven survivors appeared to be in good health, dropped survival packs containing water and locator beacons to both boats, and contacted nearby vessels to conduct a rescue.

Survivors were found onboard a yellow-hulled boat near Makin Island, Kiribati, on May 23, 2022. (New Zealand Defence Force)

A crew member on a RNZAF Orion prepares to drop a survival pack to those on board two missing boats from Kiribati on May 23, 2022. (New Zealand Defence Force)

Air Commodore Shaun Sexton said it was a great result to be able to locate the survivors on both boats.

In a post on Facebook before the missing people were found, the Kiribati government thanked the New Zealand government for responding to their request for assistance.

The Government of Kiribati remains grateful for the Government of New Zealand and the New Zealands Defense Force ongoing assistance to mount SAR (search and rescue) missions in search of missing fishermen and seafarers from Kiribati, the post said.

Kiribati is an independent Pacific nation that is about halfway between Hawaii and Australia, with a population of around 120,000 people.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R) celebrates with his family after entering a runoff election against candidate Katie Britt in Huntsville, Alabama on May 24, 2022 (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times)

Alabama GOP US Senate Race Heads to Runoff Between Britt, Brooks

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.Alabamas Republican primary for U.S. Senate will come down to a runoff on June 21 after neither of the two top candidates, Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, grabbed a majority of the vote.

With 66 of Alabamas 67 counties reporting, Britt had 45 percent of the vote to Brookss 29 percent. A third candidate, Michael Durant had 23 percent.

Britt, the former CEO of Business Council of Alabama and onetime chief of staff to retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, ran on a traditional conservative platform that supported fighting big tech companies. Although Britts campaign site doesnt mention former President Donald Trump, she has agreed with his claims that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election.

It is clear tonight that Alabamians want new blood, she said. They want someone to go to Washington, D.C., and shake it up. It is clear that they want a true Christian conservative Republican who will lead on the America first agenda and doesnt just talk about it but knows how to actually get something done.

Brooks celebrated that his campaign is continuing, and urged his supporters to continue their efforts.

Two months ago, the experts declared our campaign was dead in the water, he told a crowd of supporters in Huntsville. Today, just call me Lazarus, resurrected by Alabama citizens who figured out who the real MAGA conservative is.

In his speech, he thanked his family and the other candidates that ran in the election, and praised Durant, while criticizing Britt for attack ads.

In particular, I applaud Mike Durant, who honorably served in Americas military, helped build Pinnacle Solutions, creating hundreds of jobs for Alabama citizens, and who was dishonestly and unfairly hammered by countless negative attack ads crafted by the Mitch McConnellKatie Britt team, he said.

Alabama is an extremely conservative state, which means the GOP nominee is likely to win the general election.

Stan McDonald, the campaign co-chairman for Rep. Mo Brooks (R) waits for election results in Huntsville, Ala. on May 24, 2022 (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times)

In his speech, Brooks said he wasnt concerned that Trump rescinded his endorsement. However, losing the endorsement caused a strategic shift, according to several people who worked on Brookss campaign.

Thats the classic Mo Brooks race, said Stan McDonald, Brookss campaign co-chairman. The professional donor base versus the volunteer voter base. And Mo really knows how to appeal to that volunteer voter base.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Anonymous Source Who Vouched for TrumpRussia Claims is Same Man Who Sent Lawyer to FBI: Agent

WASHINGTONThe technology executive who helped gather data on Donald Trump and Russia in 2016 sent some of the data to the FBI as a confidential source, an FBI agent revealed in federal court on May 25.

Rodney Joffe, the executive, also had his lawyer take the data separately to FBI lawyer James Baker, according to prosecutors.

Joffe approached Thomas Grasso, an FBI special agent, in October 2016 with information he said pointed to Trump having a secret communications channel with a Russian bank, Grasso said on the stand in the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington.

The same claims were passed just days earlier to Baker by Michael Sussmann, who was representing both Joffe and the Hillary Clinton campaign at the time.

Sussmann acted on behalf of his clients, who hoped to influence the 2016 presidential election in Clintons favor, according to special counsel John Durhams team. Grasso was testifying during the trial of Sussmann, who was charged with lying to the FBI because he told Baker he was not bringing the information on behalf of any clients.

Baker conveyed the information to others in the FBI. Cyber experts with the bureau quickly deemed the allegations false but a full probe was launched, headed by the FBIs Chicago office with the backing of FBI Director James Comey and other bureau leaders.

Rodney Joffe. (LinkedIn)

Grasso, who met Joffe in the mid-2000s and considers him a friend, knew that Joffe was a confidential source but did not contact Joffes handler. Grasso, who is now retired, also abided by Joffes request to keep his identity secret.

Grasso reached out to an agent in Pittsburgh who specialized in Russian counterintelligence matters. In an email dated Oct. 2, 2016, Grasso wrote to the agent that the FBI had received some information from an anonymous reporter concerning the TrumpRussia allegations.

The reporter was actually Joffe, who has never been a journalist, Grasso admitted on the stand.

Ever heard of circular reporting? Andrew DeFilippis, one of the prosecutors, asked the retired agent.

Yes. As I understand it, I would tell you something and you would report out back to me, Grasso said.

Ever seen a situation where individuals try to put information into different parts of the FBI to make it look like it is coming from different places at the same time? DeFilippis said.

No, Grasso said.

Joffe told Grasso that the FBI was already working on an investigation into the claims, knowledge that Grasso outlined in the email he sent to his colleague, which was forwarded to Chicago agents.

Grasso eventually spoke with Allison Sands, one of the analysts investigating the data. She told him the FBI already knew of the allegations and had found they were not true.

Grasso said he had no further involvement and was not aware of the resolution of the case.

Joffe was later terminated by the bureau as a confidential source.

If Grasso had known Joffe was linked to the Clinton campaignJoffe said he was promised a position in the government if Clinton won the election and later claimed he was jokinghe would have passed that information to the Chicago agents, Grasso said.

I would want them to know that this is tied to a political matter, I think that would be relevant, he said.

John Haughey Follow John Haughey has been a working journalist since 1978 with an extensive background in local government, state legislatures, and growth and development. A graduate of the University of Wyoming, he is a Navy veteran who fought fires at sea during three deployments aboard USS Constellation. Hes been a reporter for daily newspapers in California, Washington, Wyoming, New York, and Florida; a staff writer for Manhattan-based business trade publications.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House of Represenatatives panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach, sitting beside panel vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), speaks in Washington on Oct. 19, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks Jan. 6 Committee From Obtaining RNC Records

A panel of three judges for the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday temporarily blocked the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach from receiving records involving the Republican National Committees (RNC) fundraising efforts leading up to the day of the incident.

A federal judge ruled earlier this month that a subpoena for documents and testimony that the House Jan. 6 select committee issued to an RNC mass marketing vendor, Salesforce, was legitimate.

Salesforce, a cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, was used by the RNC and former President Donald Trumps 2020 campaign, sending hundreds of emails dating as far back as Nov. 3, 2020.

But on Tuesday, the three-judge panel, all Trump appointees, granted the RNC a temporary administrative injunction prohibiting third-party vendor Salesforce from handing over the partys fundraising records to the select committee while the court considers an emergency appeal from the RNC.

The purpose of this administrative injunction is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion, Judges Gregory G. Katsas, Neomi Rao and Justin R. Walker, all said.

The House Jan. 6 select committee says that the subpoena is needed so that they can see whether the campaign used Salesforces platform to disseminate false statements about the 2020 election in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack.

The Select Committees investigation and public reports have revealed evidence of Salesforces involvement in and knowledge of events within the scope of the Select Committees inquiry, the subpoena reads. Information provided to the Select Committee and public reporting indicate that during the 2020 election cycle, Salesforce provided its services to President Donald Trumps reelection campaign and to the Republican National Committee.

The RNC announced in March that they are suing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the other members of Congress investigating the Jan. 6 breach to prevent them from obtaining confidential information about their internal activities and that of its members.

In a statement, the RNC called the subpoena unlawful while noting that information requested by Congress about the internal activities of the Republican Party and millions of its supporters is completely unrelated to the attack on the Capitol.

It also accused the subpoena of trampling on core First Amendment rights of the RNC and millions of Americans.

The national committee had asked the D.C. Circuit panel to prevent the subpoena from being enforced pending an appeal.

Without an injunction, the RNC will have no opportunity to obtain relief on appeal, as Salesforce has indicated it will respond to the Subpoena and the Congressional Defendants claim the Court is without authority to award relief once Salesforce produces, the RNCs lawyers wrote in a court filing earlier this month.

However, the Select Committee responded in its own filing that it has an urgent need for the records ahead of the public hearings which could begin as early as June.

An injunction pending appeal would deprive the Select Committee of key information relevant to its investigation, its public hearings, and its consideration of legislation, the select committee said in its own filing.Further delay in obtaining the materials sought by the subpoena could obscure key facts and affect Congress efforts to prevent January 6th from recurring in our rapidly approaching next election cycle, or in the future.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L) and U.S. President Joe Biden attend the Quad Fellowship Founding Celebration event in Tokyo, Japan on May 24, 2022. (Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images)

Australian PM Calls on Beijing to Remove Trade Sanctions

New Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has continued Australias tough stance towards Beijings economic coercion on local exporters, telling the Chinese regime that it should remove tariffs on export products if it wished to see diplomatic ties restored.

This comes after Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory letter to the new prime minister, breaking a two-year hiatus on high-level diplomatic communication with Australian leaders.

In the letter, Li said China was willing to work with Australia to review the past and to uphold the principles of mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win results, according to the Australian Financial Review.

He also called on the Australian government to remember that it had been 50 years since the start of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, which was established in 1971 after a visit to China by then-Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. The move by the Whitlam Labor government helped spur the establishment of diplomatic ties between the CCP and Western countries.

However, Albanese appeared unwilling to compromise in the face of the overture, noting that his government would not agree to any demands from Beijing.

Its not Australia thats changed, China has, Albanese told reporters. It is China that has placed sanctions on Australia. There is no justification for doing that and thats why they should be removed.

The prime minister also signalled that Beijing should withdraw the 14 demands made in 2020 at the start of the diplomatic freeze, calling them entirely inappropriate.

Australia is a great democracy. We stand for our values, which are consistent, Albanese said. I, whenever askedmust have been hundreds of times nowhave said that the demands, which were placed by China, are entirely inappropriate. We reject all of them. We will determine our own values. We will determine Australias future direction. 

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) welcomes Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) at the premier office in Tokyo, Japan, on May 24, 2022. (ZHANG XIAOYU/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The comments from the prime minister come as he meets with U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) in Tokyo, where a major focus has been the BeijingSolomon Islands security deal, a key part of the CCPs influence campaign in the Pacific.

We know thats the case. Australia is responding to that, along with the United States, Albanese said. We discussed the need for the Quad to engage more in the Indo-Pacific. That was a general themehow do we engage, how do we make sure that we push our shared values in the region at a time when China is clearly seeking to exert more influence?

The prime minister said he mentioned the Labor Partys new Pacific plan, including the Australia Pacific Defence Training Facility and permanent and temporary migration programs for Pacific workers. He also signalled the Australian governments willingness to engage more deeply in the region on the issue of maritime security.

Fish stocks are so important for our Pacific Island neighbours. We spoke about that. We spoke about climate change and the need for support for climate change infrastructure in the region, he said.
Australias Carbon Phobia

Commentary

In a revealing news article, the ABC indicated that, according to its Vote Compass data, Australians have nominated climate change as the most pressing issue of our time. Specifically, the article claims that many are seeking answers on what policies each party has for one of the most pressing issues of our time.

Similarly, using the language of the United Nations, Climate Change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a defining moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale.

Of course, there is no doubt that mankind has a moral obligation to respect the environment and to minimise environmental degradation and real pollution by maintaining our forests and wisely utilising our natural resources, thereby creating a liveable space for people.

But it is troubling that voters, even though they may not have even a basic understanding of events underlying the claimed climate change crisis, are amenable to uncritically believing the indoctrinating rhetoric of the climate change bureaucracy and its army of doomsday disciples.

Recently, a report prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)the United Nations body for assessing the science relating to climate changepredicted that in 100 years, without human action now, temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees Celsius, resulting in low-lying islands being submerged. It also concludes that carbon dioxide gas emitted by human activity is responsible for warming the planet.

Reports like these have encouraged incessant demands to close the coal, oil, and gas industries and, instead, to wholeheartedly embrace the development of sustainable renewable technologies.

Consequently, the two major Australian parties, the Coalition and Labor, have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, with the Greens looking to achieve zero emissions by 2035. In other words, by 2050, Australia is removing the equivalent, or more than, the amount of carbon dioxide it is emitting.

Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt is seen leaving Kensington Primary school with his family after voting on Federal Election day in Melbourne, Australia, on May 21, 2022. (AAP Image/Luis Ascui)

The obsessive pursuit of zero emissions by 2050 is a delusional attempt by these parties to pander to the new quasi-religion of climate change, the objectives of which are unrealistic and economically irresponsible because they attack the energy source on which life itself depends.

Even the term emissions is loose terminology. Sometimes called carbon emissions, but always meaning carbon dioxide emissions, it has created the carbon phobia which terrifies impressionable people and unquestioning believers.

Australias unequivocal commitment to net-zero emissions springs from its adoption of recommendations made at the COP26 conference and the previous conference in Paris in 2015, which resulted in the adoption of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

As former U.S. President Donald Trump demonstrated, this agreement can be abandoned unilaterally, and unquestioning acceptance is a surrender of our sovereignty to offshore interests with other agendas.

However, there is an alternative and plausible explanation for a rise in average surface temperatures, a superficial and false measurement of the warming of the planet, as researched by John McRobert, a civil engineer who has over 50 years of first-hand experience of extreme climate events and of researching their cause and effect.

The net-zero objective can be shown to be a delusional political construct that lacks scientific rigour and validity. Instead, the officially sanctioned narrative involves the relentless pursuit of the governments preferred politically correct views on climate change, thereby endangering the very future that the climate activists seek to protect.

According to McRoberts alternative scenario, our planet commenced as a ball of molten material rich in carbon, which has been slowly cooling ever since. Carbon dioxide comes from the interior of the Earth at a rate regulated by the solar and cosmic cycles in which the planet orbits. The thin solidified skin stresses and cracks under gravitational and electro-magnetic forces to release heat and carbon-rich material into the oceans and atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is the essential ingredient of life on Earth: humans, animals, plants, and insects just recycle a tiny fraction of carbon dioxide compared to carbon in its manifold forms emitted through natural causes.

A student reaches for an inflated globe during a Fridays for Future protest for urgent climate action in Muenster, northwestern Germany, on May 24, 2019. (Guido Kirchner/dpa/AFP via Getty Images)

The core of the Earth still has approximately the same temperature as that of the surface of the Sun. It defies any understanding of basic laws of physics, particularly regarding heat exchange. Ocean depths are being heated in bulk patches from below (and only on the surface from sunlight above) to cause the oceanic current-driven cycles of feast and famine, rain, and drought (La Nina and El Nino and similar events in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans) that have continued through millennia and are unaffected by the coal-fired power stations upon which we depend. Volcanic eruptions emerge through cracks in the crust opened by cyclical stresses on the Earths thin skin and cause huge global impacts on the climate.

The cure to the global pandemic of carbon phobia is thus a solid injection of scientific facts, which, however, is sadly lacking at present.

In a book, Volcanic Eruptions and Great Earthquakes, John Grover describes the work he carried out on detecting and tracking the energy released from deep seismic events. The book acknowledges the work of Professor S. Warren Carey, and his quote in the foreword, published in 1998, remains relevant:

Do not doubt that in our enlightened age, the really important discoveries are and will be rejected as often as they are accepted. Nor should we doubt that even in our own professional lifetime, we will repudiate with similar pontifical finality the most important advances to reach our desks because of what we think we know.

While the climate concerns expressed by Australias political parties are commendable, a failure to consider alternative explanations for the planets warming should be heard. Unfortunately, the present debate on climate change, not unlike debates on other social issues, such as gender fluidity, abortion, euthanasia, and affirmative action, is intolerant of different viewpoints.

Hence, people who dare to question the accepted official version are branded climate change deniers and sceptics. They are likely to be ostracized by the liberal elites running Australia. And, yet their alternative viewpoints are eminently plausible and certainly deserving of being considered seriously by the voters when casting their vote in an election.

The current carbon phobia is evidence that the nexus between carbon dioxide and climate has been broken scientifically, empirically, anecdotally, and statistically.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on May 24, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Orders US Flag Flown at Half-Staff After Texas Elementary School Shooting

The U.S. flag will be flown at half-staff at the White House and at locations across the United States as a mark of respect for the victims of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas.

U.S. President Joe Biden was aboard Air Force One Tuesday afternoon when officials said a gunman acted alone in fatally shooting at least 14 students and a teacher at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Biden has ordered the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff until sunset on May 28 at all public buildings and grounds, military posts, and naval vessels across the country and its territories as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence.

I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations, Bidens proclamation stated.

I hoped when I became president I would not have to do this, again, Biden said at a press conference late Tuesday, decrying the death of beautiful, innocent second, third, and fourth graders in another massacre.

Police cordon off the streets around Robb Elementary School after a mass shooting, in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Their parents will never see their child again, never have them jump in bed and cuddle with them, he said.

As a nation, we have to ask, When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?'

We have to act, he said and suggested reinstating the assault weapons ban and other common sense gun laws.

Biden spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shortly before landing in Washington to offer any and all assistance he needs in the wake of the horrific shooting, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield wrote on Twitter.

President Biden just spoke with Governor Abbott to offer any and all assistance he needs in the wake of the horrific shooting in Uvalde, TX. pic.twitter.com/u3yMHFtcJJ  Kate Bedingfield (@WHCommsDir) May 24, 2022

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said deputy chief of staff Jen OMalley-Dillon and other senior members of Bidens team briefed the president on the shooting aboard Air Force One, AP reported.

Robb Elementary School is currently attended by students in the second, third, and fourth grades.

Texas governor said at a briefing in Abilene that the shooter was 18-year-old Salvador Ramos who drove to the school and opened fire with a handgun. He may also have had a rifle.

He shot and killedhorrifically, incomprehensibly14 students, and killed a teacher, Abbott said.

Abbott said Ramos is dead, likely killed by responding officers. Two officers were wounded during the confrontation but were expected to survive, he said.

Officials are investigating the shooting.
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Russia to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin visited the Syunik province, the Embassy said in a press release.

Accompanied by the leadership of the Border Guard Department of the Russian Federal Security Service in Armenia, the Ambassador paid tribute to the memory of the members of the crew of Mi-24 helicopter, who were killed on duty near Yeraskh in 2020.

The Ambassador also visited the Paruyr Sevak and Tegh border points of Armenia, met with the Russian border troops.

The Russian Ambassador then was welcomed by the representatives of the Kapan municipality who thanked Russia on behalf of the residents of the town for assisting the implementation of socio-economic development programs, as well as for the participation of border troops in ensuring the security in the region.

Sergei Kopyrkin also visited the Russian border guard base located near the airport of Kapan. He was briefed on the ongoing operative situation in this section of the Armenian border.
FBI public affairs officials arrive at the Uvalde High School auditorium for an update with state and local officials the day after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary, in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Border Patrol Officer Killed Texas School Shooter: Governor

A Border Patrol officer killed the Uvalde elementary school shooter on Tuesday, said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at a news conference.

Officers with the Consolidated Independent School District (ISD) approached the gunman and engaged with the gunman, the Republican governor said. The gunman then entered a back door and then went down two short hallways and then into a classroom on the left-hand side.

The gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, then went into a classroom, which was connected to another classroom and opened fire, Abbott said. Ramos is accused of killing at least 19 children and two adults.

Border Patrol, Consolidated ISD officers, police, sheriffs, and DPS (Texas Department of Public Safety) officers converged on that classroom. And a Border Patrol officer killed the gunman, Abbott said.

Before heading to Robb Elementary School, Ramos allegedly shot his grandmother in the face and fled the home, said Abbott and other officials. He entered Robb Elementary through a back door carrying an AR-15-style rifle and wearing tactical gear, although officials said he wasnt wearing body armor.

While in the school, he barricaded himself in fourth-grade classroom, authorities said, before turning the gun on students and teachers before he was shot by the Border Patrol officer. Another 17 people suffered injuries, he said.

Before the spree, Ramos purchased two rifles and 375 rounds of ammunition in March, authorities said.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez told CNN that his grandmother, who wasnt identified, is still alive and hospitalized in critical condition.

Were hoping, were praying, that the grandmother does pull through because obviously, she is a key witness, Olivarez said. Authorities are trying to locate the suspects grandfather, Rolando Reyes, who gave an interview to ABC News about the incident.

Speaking to ABC, Reyes said that he was not aware his grandson had purchased weapons and ammunition in recent days, saying that he would have alerted the authorities had he known because Reyes is a convicted felon and cant be in the same home with firearms.

I didnt know he had weapons. If Id have known, I would have reported it, he remarked.

Reyes said that Ramos was quiet and mostly kept to himself.

Sometimes Id take him to work with me. Not all the time, but sometimes. This past year he didnt go to school. He didnt graduate. You would try to tell him but kids nowadays they think they know everything, he said, adding: He was very quiet; he didnt talk very much.
An elementary school student writes in her notebook in Brea, Calif., on May 24, 2021. (John Fredricks/ The Epoch Times)

Capistrano Unified Adopts Curriculum to Comply With Californias Inclusive Education Law

The Capistrano Unified School Districtthe largest in Orange County, California, serving 14 cities and unincorporated areasis adopting a history and social studies curriculum for kindergarten and elementary school students that includes inclusive material in order to comply with state education laws.

The states Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, passed in 2012, requires schools to include historical contributions by people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community in their history and social studies curriculum.

Capistrano Unifieds Board of Education on May 18 unanimously voted to adopt the new history and social studies curriculumknown as California Studies Weeklyfor grades K5 after piloting it in classrooms for the past two years.

I am very taken with this product, Board Member Amy Hanacek said ahead of the vote. I think its excellent. Its engaging. It is modern. Its how young people are learning, and I just like how fluid it is as well.

The districts previous K5 history and social studies curriculum was adopted by the board in 2007; however, last weeks board report stated that these materials are outdated and not aligned with the FAIR Act.

Some sample materials of Studies Weeklys workbooks for different grade levels are accessible on its website, which states that the curriculum can engage all K6 students in social studies, science, and social emotional learning in a way thats aligned to state standards and frameworks and culturally relevant, post-2020 equity lens.

Elementary aged students work on their math homework in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on May 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

A social studies sample for kindergarten introduces concepts such as equality, fairness, voting, and the common good.

The third-grade sample offers lessons on communities, identity, and perspective.

The fourth-grade sample includes lessons highlighting civil rights activists, including labor union leaders Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong.

According to the board report, the Studies Weekly curriculum has been developed with increased diversity represented [and]  more California specific content, including local tribes by region, additional primary sources, and increased use of inquiry, critical thinking, and research skills, and integrated supportive lessons for English language learners.

The districts Elementary History and Social Studies Steering Committee initially recommended the Studies Weekly material to the district during the 201920 school year.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the district was unable to pilot the material in classrooms until 2021.

During the 202021 school year, the curriculum was tested in 60 elementary classrooms for 35 full instructional days, according to Peggy Baerst, the districts executive director for Curriculum and Instruction. In the following school year, it was piloted in all district classrooms, from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Baerst said that the district conducted student and parent surveys during the pilot period before the curriculum was considered for official adoption.

In January 2021, pilot teachers reviewed and discussed all data and evidence gathered from surveys. The pilot committee came to consensus to recommend California Studies Weekly for consideration, Baerst told The Epoch Times in an email.

According to the board report, 65 percent of teachers who piloted the curriculum said the material was engaging and interesting in November 2021; in a January follow-up survey, 60 percent of the same group of teachers said so.

The report also showed that 79 percent of parents whose children received the lessons would like the board to adopt the curriculum.

The survey results were initially presented to the districts Instructional Materials Review Committee on April 12, which encouraged the committee to recommend the Capistrano Unified board adopt the material.

It is currently unclear whether the adoption will take effect in the upcoming 202223 school year.

The estimated one-time cost to implement this adoption is $1,414,000, funded by district lottery funds.

California Studies Weekly is currently used in 45,633 schools across the nation, reaching 4,576,078 students, according to the curriculums website.
Tuesday night, there are key primary elections happening in Georgia, Texas, and Alabama. And with Democrats holding a very slim majority in Congress, every vote counts. This years midterms could flip the balance of power in the nations Capitol. Well take a look at how these races are unfolding.

Former Virginia Attorney General and acting deputy director of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli join us to discuss Georgias primary and the so-called new normal of prolonged periods of vote tabulating, one of which is still underway in the state of Pennsylvania.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacted after an archbishop denied her communion over her stance on abortion.

President Joe Bidens recent remarks on defending Taiwan militarilyin the event of a Chinese invasionare causing a stir. Was that the president saying a gaffe or insight into Americas policy on the China-Taiwan relationship? Questions also remain as to whether it was intentional. An expert explains why he is confident that Biden meant what he said and that it was not a gaffe.

Senior fellow at America First Policy Institute Steve Yates joins us to discuss Americas relationship with China and Taiwan moving forward.

Weeks after the Supreme Court draft opinion was leaked, the public still knows nothing about who did it. But we do have some information about the person who is handling the investigation.

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Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaks during a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on Dec. 9, 2020. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

CCP Leader Xi Meets UN Human Rights Chief After US Calls Her Visit a Mistake

Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a video meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on May 25, a day after new documents revealing the regimes human rights abuses targeting Uyghurs in Xinjiang was published.

Bachelet kicked off the six-day trip on May 23, the first by a U.N. human rights chief to China since 2005. She will visit Kashgar and Urumqi, both in the far-western region of Xinjiang, where the U.N. has estimated about 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities are detained.

Former detainees have recounted the abuses inside the facilities, such as political indoctrination, torture, drugging, and rape. While the regime denied all abuses, the United States and other Western democracies have labeled Beijings actions a genocide.

The closely-watched trip was criticized by Western officials and rights advocates who argued that the Chinese regime would limit whom she could talk to, stage-manage her trip, and use it for propaganda purposes.

A security person watches from a guard tower around a detention facility in Yarkent County in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang region on March 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

During Wednesdays video call, Xi rejected the criticism and defended the Chinese Communist Partys human rights position, saying it suits its own national conditions, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

On the issue of human rights, there is no perfect ideal country, Xi said.

The readout from Chinese state media didnt mention Xinjiang.

Bachelet was quoted by CCTV as saying she admired the regimes efforts and achievements on poverty and human rights.

The Epoch Times has sought comment from her office.

In a tweet from Bachelets office on Wednesday, she described the meeting with Xi and senior Chinese officials as a valuable opportunity to directly discuss human rights issues and concerns.

For me, it is a priority to engage with the Government of China directlyon human rights issues, domestic, regional and global, Bachelet said in her opening remarks at the meeting, according to a U.N. statement. For development, peace and security to be sustainablelocally and across bordershuman rights have to be at their core.

The meeting comes a day after thousands of mugshots of Uyghur detainees as well as police documents were published by the Washington-based advocacy group Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. The extensive data, known as Xinjiang Police Files, were allegedly hacked from police computer servers in Xinjiang, and was widely reported by global media.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in Guangzhou, southern Chinas Guangdong Province on May 23, 2022. (Deng Hua/Xinhua via AP)

Bachelet started her trip from the southern port city of Guangzhou, where she met Chinas foreign minister Wang Yi. The statement on the ministrys website includes a photo showing Wang sending Bachelet a book of Chinese leader Xis quotes about human rights.

The trip was conducted within a closed loop, a system used during the Beijing Winter Olympics where people in the bubble have no physical contact with the outside world, according to Chinas foreign ministry. Bachelet also wont be accompanied by any journalists. Her office said she would hold a press conference at the end of the trip.

U.S State Department spokesman Ned Price said on May 20 that the administration didnt expect the regime would grant the necessary access to conduct a complete, unmanipulated assessment of the human rights environment in Xinjiang.

We think it was a mistake to agree to a visit under these circumstances where the high commissioner will not be granted the type of unhindered access, free and full access that would be required to do a complete assessment and to come back with a full picture of the atrocities, the crimes against humanity, and the genocide ongoing in Xinjiang, said Price.

The Associated Press contributed to the report.
An empty road is seen in Shanghai Central Business District during a lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai, China, on April 16, 2022. (Aly Song/Reuters)

China Is Now Uninvestible

Foreign investors fleeing Chinas cratering economy

Commentary

Beijing can bend reality only so much before it must turn to reality. And what a harsh reality the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is facing.

The CCP Pushes False Hopes and Failure

Beijings assertion that the extreme lockdowns over relatively few cases of the CCP virus would not impact the economy is, not surprisingly, proving to be false. Despite all of the CCPs assurances about Chinas economic performance, it is now the worst since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

The latest economic reports show almost a 3 percent drop in industrial production and retail sales collapsing by over 11 percent in April. Whats more, unemployment is now over 6 percent, approaching the highest levels since Beijing began tracking unemployment levels in 2018.

As Chinas economic malaise continues to worsen, Western investors are minimizing exposure to an increasingly erratic investment climate. There are a few key factors causing investors to flee China, such as lockdowns, crackdowns, and slowdowns.

But in every case, the blame for the investment pullback rests squarely on the shoulders of the CCP. Many, but not all of the problems, start with or are made worse by government-enforced lockdowns.

Zero-COVID Policy Means Less-Than-Zero Growth

The CCP persists in its irrational zero-COVID policy that forces the lockdowns of entire cities of tens of millions of people for relatively few cases of the CCP virus. Shanghai, a major financial center of 26 million people, has been under total lockdown for weeks on end. Beijing has also been under tight mobility restrictions. Manufacturing regions such as the province of Jilin in the north, to Shenzhen in the south have also been under lockdown.

The impact on manufacturing activity and international revenue has been significant. The Caixin PMI shows that Chinas services activity has seen the second-largest decline on record. Any number below 50 on the PMI means economic contraction. Its current level is 36.2. Its no surprise that almost 60 percent of European enterprises in China expect to see falling revenues for 2022.

The Ripple Effect of Lockdowns

Of course, the lockdowns have had tremendous ripple effects across Chinas economy, and no more so than in the critical real estate sector.

For example, under lockdown conditions, homebuyers are physically unable to purchase a home. The impact on home sales has been brutal, with Chinas top 30 real estate markets seeing sales fall by 54 percent year-over-year this past April.

But even a bigger problem looms in the near future for Chinas economy thats heavily dependent on real estate development. Of great concern is the ongoing but slow-motion demolition of Chinas entire development market. This sector alone comprises up to 30 percent of Chinas economy.

Evergrande, one of the largest real estate firms, has effectively defaulted on its debt obligations and is the poster child for the debt-laden industry. But it is by no means an outlier. Up to 40 percent of real estate development firms in China face default. Investment groups on the ground in China now say that the collapse of the countrys multi-trillion dollar real estate industry is a certainty and will be brutal.

Beijings crackdown on technology giants is another policy of the CCP thats hamstringing economic activity. The CCP is crushing entrepreneurial activity across the tech sector, destroying earnings, costing jobs, and stifling innovation across Chinas vast high-tech landscape.

E-commerce giant Alibaba will cut at least 15 percent of its workforce this year, resulting in the loss of some 40,000 jobs. Other tech firms will likely follow with their own downsizing.

Supporting Russias War Has a Cost

Russian Tu-95 strategic bomber flies during Russian-Chinese military aerial exercises to patrol the Asia-Pacific region, at an unidentified location, in this still image taken from a video released on May 24, 2022. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

But lockdowns and crackdowns werent the only causes for falling economic activity. The Chinese regimes support for Russias war against Ukraine has triggered record levels of investment outflows. In the month of March alone, China saw $17.5 billion in investment outflows, including $11.2 billion in bonds and the balance in equities.

Accompanying this, an unprecedented level of capital flight out of China are raising levels of uncertainty in the country. Beijings increasingly provocative behavior toward Taiwan, for example, is also worsening its diplomatic relations with foreign investors. More to the point, its not a regional investment retreat by foreign investors but a calculated withdrawal from China. No other emerging markets are experiencing similar outflows.

Predictably, Chinas GDP target wont be met this year. No one in China is definitively saying so, but its an absolute certainty. Even global analysts have conceded that GDP will fall by at least 0.5 percent, with some estimates as high as 0.8 percent.

Chinas equity markets are reflecting that reality. Theyve been hit hard by all of these headwinds, leading global markets to dumping Chinese stocks in massive amounts. March saw the largest stock market valuation drop in six years. Whats more, the index of U.S.-listed Chinese stocks fell over 70 percent.

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

Of course, the CCP is trying to browbeat and propagandize the economy back into shape. Premier Li Keqiang is exhorting regional governors to take steps to stop the bleeding and restore some stability to the economic picture.

But theres little that the governors and other provincial officials can really do. The challenges facing the Chinese economy are largely the result of macro policies, made at the national level in Beijing by the CCP.

Its an absurdity to blame lower level officials for the policies put into force by the CCP that continue to cause so much damage to the economy. Its also an absurdity to expect them to provide solutions in the face of persecution by the CCP for violating its policies.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Has the U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan changed? President Joe Biden says no, just one day after he suggested the end of that position. But what are experts saying?

Four leading Indo-Pacific nations vow to stand together to keep the region free and open. They say theyre keeping an eye on China.

Subway cars made by a Chinese company are being removed from service in Boston after a series of accidents over the past three years.

Beijing tightens control over its COVID-19 narrative inside the country. One of our team members shares their first-hand experience.

Data research tells us that investing in Chinese stocks may be a bad idea. Return is lowvery lowcompared to other markets.

Topics in this episode:

Bidens Remarks on Taiwan Not Gaffe: Expert

Quad Vows to Stand Up for Freedom, Openness

Chinese-Made Subway Cars Fail in Massachusetts

Beijing Lockdown Angers Local Residents

Beijing Citizen Cuts Contact w/ Family Member Abroad Under Authorities Threats Over Pandemic Narrative

Data: Investing in Chinese Stocks a Bad Idea

Chinas Lockdown Impacting US Economy

Movie Festival on Human Rights Returns to NY

UN Human Rights Chief Lands in China

Dissident: Beijings Spy Operations in the US

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China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference during a session of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, in Beijing, on March 8, 2018. (Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese Minister Embarks on 8-Nation Pacific Trip to Boost Alliances

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will embark on a 10-day trip to the Solomon Islands and seven other Pacific Island nations this week to boost Beijings alliances with the nations.

Chinas Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Wang would visit the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Timor Leste from May 26 to June 4.

He will also pay a virtual visit to Micronesia upon invitation and host the second China-Pacific Island countries foreign ministers meeting in Fiji, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters.

Wang said that the trip will further enhance the political mutual trust between China and these countries, elevate our cooperation in various sectors to a new level, and bring new vitality to the long-term development of bilateral relations.

During the visit, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will have separate talks with foreign ministers of these countries and meet with heads of state and heads of government, he noted.

The Chinese ambassador to the Solomon Islands said that Wang would visit Honiara with a nearly 20-member delegation and sign a number of key bilateral agreements with the Solomons government.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said on Monday that Wangs visit to the Solomon Islands will mark a milestone in bilateral relations, describing China as one of Solomon Islands key development partners.

The Solomon Islands signed a security deal with Beijing last month, which other nations feared would allow China to establish a military base 1,700 kilometers off the Australian coast and destabilize the Indo-Pacific.

Micronesia had previously appealed to the Solomons government to scrap its deal with China, fearing that the Pacific islands would become the epicenter of a future confrontation between these major powers, given its role as a battleground during World War II.

Meanwhile, speculations arise that Beijing may be attempting to enter into similar deals with other Pacific island nations amid President Joe Bidens trip to Asia to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the region and counter Chinas dominance.

Beijing has begun talks with Kiribati and at least one more Pacific island country for an agreement, the Financial Times reported on May 21, citing an unnamed U.S. official.

China said last year that it was planning to upgrade an airstrip and bridge on one of Kiribatis islands, Kanton, which the Kiribati government said was purely initiated for civilian use, according to Reuters.

Kanton is located 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) southwest of Hawaii, where the U.S. military bases are situated. Any substantial build-up there would give China a presence in territory that has been firmly aligned with the U.S. and its allies since World War II.

China has increased efforts to expand its influence in the Pacific, particularly through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which other nations, including the United States, have criticized as a debt trap to smaller nations.

Four Pacific Island nationsthe Marshall Islands, Palau, Nauru, and Tuvaluhave recognized Taiwan as a sovereign nation. In November 2019, Tuvalu said that it rejected offers from China to build artificial islands to help it cope with rising sea levels.

Tuvalu Foreign Minister Simon Kofe told Reuters that his nation was working on setting up a group uniting Taiwans remaining four allies in the Pacific. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to conquer it by force if necessary.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Constitution Could Become Discriminatory, Racist If Indigenous Voice Is Entrenched: Aboriginal Leader Warren Mundine

Changing the Constitution to include the Indigenous Voice is dangerous as it risks turning the foundational law of Australia into a tool for discrimination, according to Indigenous leader Nyunggai Warren Mundine.

The push for constitutional reform to recognise Indigenous people has grown louder after newly elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged he would commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full in his election victory speech on Saturday.

The statement, proposed in a petition from the First Nations National Constitutional Convention in 2017, asks the government to establish a permanent body in Parliament representing the Indigenous community. Such a move would require amendments to the Constitution to establish the Indigenous Voice, which would require a referendum.

The statement also urges the government to establish a truth commission to present historic and ongoing injustices against Aboriginal people in Australia.

However, Mundine, the former national president of the Australian Labor Party, argued that the proposal advocated would involve putting one race above other races.

Putting the Voice in our Constitution is dangerous because we want all citizens to be treated equally. When youve got it into the body of the Constitution, then it can become discriminatory and racist, he told The Epoch Times.

If you put something in the Constitution its very hard to get it out. And if it doesnt work, then were sort of stuck with it.

The former chairman of the Coalition governments Indigenous Advisory Council said five similar attempts to change the Constitution have occurred since 1970 all of which have failed. Mundine said experiments with such laws have ended in revolution and argument.

The Aboriginal Flag is seen flying during the NAIDOC March in Melbourne, Australia, in July 2005. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

A Blame Game

The Uluru Statement was put forward against the backdrop of widespread political discontent stemming from the controversial belief that Aboriginal Australians were systematically discriminated against following British colonisation.

The left-wing Australian Greens party were the first to endorse the Uluru Statement, followed by the centre-left Labor Party, which called the Statement a generous offer of a genuine partnership and a real chance for us to create a reconciled Australia.

Labors incoming Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney also supported entrenching the Voice in Parliament, saying it can give advice on issues affecting Indigenous people.

But Mundine described the issue as a blame game. He said the proposals dont actually meet the needs of the Indigenous community, which faces a whole wide range of problems such as high rates of crime and violence in remote areas, low health and housing standards, and a lack of access to education and employment opportunities.

Mundine said over the last 50 years the Australian government has likely plunged over a trillion dollars into addressing Indigenous disadvantage, but it was having no effect.

This idea that you need to set up a huge bureaucracy thats going to cost millions and millions of dollars to operate and is going to solve all these problems is just a fantasy world, he said. Weve got to deal with the reality.

Further, contrary to the belief that Indigenous peoples lack a voice in the Parliament, Mundine said the 2022 federal election resultwhich has seen nine and likely 10 Indigenous candidates voted into power (the highest on record)demonstrated that there was no problem with representation.

[They said the truth commission] is going to look at laws that affect Aboriginal people. Well, name me a law that doesnt affect Aboriginal people. Its every law, its taxation, its traffic, road rules, its education; its health, its the budget.

Its nonsense, quite frankly. We are achieving so much now and moving ahead.

Dancers perform at The Yabun Festival, an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures at Camperdown in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 26, 2020. (Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Instead, Mundine believes that it is economic development that is the missing link in the Indigenous spaces as it will lead to more jobs, better health, higher education, improved housing, and infrastructure.

Whats happening in some parts of Australia now is we got generational welfare with 234 generations who havent had a job  This is where you see the drugs and alcohol and mental health issues are in those areas, he said.

Now weve got to get people back to work. And thats how it has helped people improve their lives.

The well-known Indigenous figure also weighed in on the preferential treatment of Aboriginal Australians, which he said has impeded their effort to move on.

If youre looking at other people to fix your life, then youve got problems because no one can fix your life except for you, he argued. If you fall on hard times, then well help you. But the idea is that you get to work, you dont live on welfare for the rest of your life.

Australia is one of the freest democratic societies in the world. I always say if were such a bad place, then why do people go on boats to try to get here? I dont see people getting on boats trying to leave.
CSR and ESG Versus Private Property and Free Markets

Commentary

To whom are corporations accountable? For most of our history, the answer was straightforward. Legally, corporations were accountable to ownershipthat is, corporate officers had a fiduciary obligation to strive to earn profits for corporate shareholders. Economically, corporations were (and remain) accountable to their customersthat is, they need to serve customers well by providing good value to them or else lose revenue and go broke. Morally and prudently, they were and are accountable to their employeesthat is, pay them and treat them sufficiently well to retain the personnel and skillsets needed to produce and deliver the goods and services that the corporation provides.

In an economic system based on private property (i.e., capitalism or free enterprise) the consumer is sovereign. Corporations that successfully meet consumer demands profit and prosper. Corporations that fall short of this goal sustain losses and either shrink or go out of business. People with no business experience often assume that running a business and making money is easy. Its not.

On the contrary, earning profits is extremely challenging. Consumers can be very fickle. Understandably, consumers (thats you and I, folks) look for the best value for our dollars. That means that corporations are incentivized to find ways to trim their costs through increased efficiencies and to seek a competitive edge through improved quality and/or added features. Corporations constantly have to worry about losing market share to competitors and about consumer tastes changing and thereby rendering existing product lines passe or obsolete.

On top of having to continually win over consumers, corporations have to navigate heavy bureaucratic regulation, deal with currency monetary policy fluctuations, and cope with such unwelcome developments as supply-chain disruptions and rising costs of inputs.

Nowadays, corporations have to cope with an additional layer of challenges created by the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement. CSR involves various activists, elitists, and politicians asserting that corporations responsibilities extend beyond customers, shareholders, and employees to additional vaguely defined stakeholders, such as society and community. The current version of CSR is called ESGEnvironmental, Social, Governance scores. ESG scores have proliferated in the last couple of years. This is unfortunatefirst, because the scores are largely meaningless, and second, because various financial, academic, and governmental elitists use them to coerce businesses into making concessions to the political agenda of the elitists.

First, lets debunk the scores themselves.

E: A corporations environmental score is superfluous. In the first place, the profit motive drives corporations to increase efficiencies and reduce waste; in the second, our country has strict anti-pollution laws and regulations that American corporations must comply with.

S: The social score implies that a corporations wellbeing conflicts with the overall societys wellbeing. In fact, a successful, profitable corporation is, by its very success, a key contributor to societys wellbeing. A successful business employs residents, who in turn are able to patronize local businesses. Businesses also expand a communitys tax base. I lived for a long time in a pleasant rural community that blocked businesses from entering the community in the name of preserving a bucolic past. The result was run-down roads, an inability to attract top teachers, and a slowly dying town center. Its common sense that businesses comprise a crucial component of the economic lifeblood of a community. Where do cities grow? Where there are businesses. What explains the historic phenomenon of ghost towns? No viable businesses.

G: Governance is interpreted in several ways. Some corporate critics want to adjust the pay of corporate executives. Thats the business of the owners of the business (shareholders) not outsiders. Others say its about a corporation not discriminating in its hiring practices. Thats mostly a red herring. In our competitive marketplace, corporations have strong incentives to look beyond race, gender, etc., to find the most talented workforce. They cant afford to discriminate (letting the competition hire the talent that you need is suicidal in business) nor can they afford to lose talent by rigidly adhering to the quotas that activists favor. Also, as is the case with the environmental score, anti-discrimination gambits are rather redundant, given that discrimination is largely illegal already.

The basic animus of CSR and ESG is an animus against private property. Every assertion that there are stakeholders who have as much a claim on a corporation as its shareholders, customers, and employees is socialistic in tendency. More specifically, its fascistic in the economic sense, for although most of these activists refrain from calling for the nationalization of private corporations, they definitely favor government being in charge of production. ESG activists appear to be making common cause with the progressives in Washington who are striving to impose a command economy under the guise of a Green New Deal and with Big Finance elitists who will reap billions of dollars from helping Washington to engineer the planned economic transformation of our country.

We see clear examples of how ESG scores are being used to steer capital away from fossil fuel interests. One horrendous example is that the second-largest state-run company in the oil and gas industryChina Petrochemical Corporationhas an ESG score of 70, which is nearly double the scores of Chevron and ExxonMobil. How does that happen in a sane world? Remember that in China, environmental pollution is horrific, human rights are widely abused, and an unchecked government can dissolve or nationalize Chinese corporations whenever they want to.

In addition to unfairly grading American fossil fuel companies, ESG scores have also been wielded against states such as West Virginia by grading them as higher credit risks, even though West Virginia has a budget surplus and an AA-bond rating. However, because of the coal industry in the state, ESG penalizes the state government, giving it a lower score than less fiscally sound state governments. Talk about discrimination!

Multiple states are pushing back legislatively against the anti-market machinations of the ESG movement. Not surprisingly, those state governments have Republican majorities. In blue states, the ESG agenda of government occupying the commanding heights of the economy is shared by the socialists and economic fascists there. Once again, we find the American people split along party lines on a major economic issue. Indeed, a simple way to tell a socialist from a capitalist is to ask if a person prefers businesses to be accountable to consumers and produce what consumers want, or to be accountable to governments and produce what government mandates. Its a simple, clear-cut choice.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., on May 1, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Cyber Company Asked by Clinton-Connected Executive to Dig Deep on Trump Associates: Owner

Request came from Rodney Joffe, who has said he was promised a position in a Clinton administration

WASHINGTONA technology executive who hoped to get a position in the government if Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election tasked a cyber company with compiling a report on about half a dozen Donald Trump associates and their families, the man asked to put the report together testified in federal court on May 24.

Rodney Joffe, the executive, approached Jared Novick, the CEO and part-owner of BitVoyant, in August 2016 with the request.

Novick recounted receiving a document that had the names of about six individuals, their spouses, their personal emails, and their addresses, along with other information.

The first name was Carter Page, the Trump campaign associate that was spied on by the U.S. government despite being an asset for the CIA.

Richard Burt, a lobbyist, was another name, Novick said.

According to a court filing, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, two other Trump associates, were also listed.

The request was extremely uncommon, Novick told the court.

The whole thing felt to me like opposition research, he said. It made me feel very uncomfortable.

Novick went to Victor Oppleman, a friend who, like Joffe, was on BitVoyants board, and aired his concerns. While Oppleman also was displeased with the request, Novick ultimately moved forward with compiling the report, assigning three analysts to it.

The project was dubbed Crimson Rhino.

The last thing I wanted was Donald Trumps name on BitVoyants tasking board so that everybody could see, Novick said. He restricted knowledge of the project to employees who had connections with Joffe. I told them to hopefully do it quickly and get rid of it, he said.

Michael Sussmann arrives at federal court in Washington on May 18, 2022. (Teng Chen for The Epoch Times)

Joffe asked the company to cast a large net in the operation. He handed over Domain Name System data from the White House and Trumps residences that he accrued through his own company, Neustar, to help with the project. The goal was to go deep, as deeply as possible, go wide, not look through a soda straw but look at everywhere for things related to the Russian Alfa Bank, Novick said.

Some of what turned up may not be related to Alfa Bank, Joffe said.

Novick was testifying during the trial of Michael Sussmann, a Clinton campaign lawyer who also represented Joffe in 2016 ahead of the election. Sussmann is on trial for allegedly lying to the FBI when he said he was not bringing information that he said showed a backchannel between Trumps business and Alfa Bank to an FBI lawyer.

The bureau and the CIA later found the backchannel claim unsupported.

Trumps spokesman didnt respond to a request for comment on Novicks testimony.

Novicks team, after several weeks, finished the report and gave it to Joffe. He said he was told the information was going to an attorney.

Under cross-examination by Sussmann lawyer Sean Berkowitz, Novick acknowledged arguing with Joffe at times. He said he didnt remember telling prosecutors that there was a bit of friction between himself and Joffe.

It remains unclear whether Sussmann will testify in his own defense. Prosecutors plan on wrapping up their case on Wednesday; defense lawyers will call former New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau, FBI agent Tom Grasso, and some character witnesses, among others.

John Haughey Follow John Haughey has been a working journalist since 1978 with an extensive background in local government, state legislatures, and growth and development. A graduate of the University of Wyoming, he is a Navy veteran who fought fires at sea during three deployments aboard USS Constellation. Hes been a reporter for daily newspapers in California, Washington, Wyoming, New York, and Florida; a staff writer for Manhattan-based business trade publications.
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan met with President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Presidential Office said.

During the meeting the Armenian President highlighted the continuous active cooperation with the ICRC in solving a number of humanitarian issues.

He particularly emphasized the importance of ensuring the return of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and civilian captives who are still held in Azerbaijan following the 44-day war unleashed against Artsakh. The President attached great importance to the need for the active engagement of the ICRC to this process.

Issues relating to ensuring the continuation of the search operations for the missing servicemen were also discussed at the meeting.

The ICRC President assured that the issues voiced by the President of Armenia are a priority for him and are under the spotlight of the structure led by him.
Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 02, 2022. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

Elon Musk Says Starlink Works Quite Well on Plane, Says He Is Testing on His Private Jet

Tech billionaire Elon Musk said on May 23 that he is testing SpaceXs Starlink on his private jet.

I am testing Starlink on the plane. Some polishing needed, but its working quite well, Musk wrote on Twitter. In a separate tweet on the same day, Musk wrote, Starlink does work on vehicles in motion, including planes, but not yet reliably.

SpaceX, a private company owned by Musk, has over 2,300 working Starlink satellites orbiting in low-Earth orbit. The satellite broadband service provider has signed a few deals with airliners for in-flight Wi-Fi services, including Hawaiian Airlines and semi-private charter flight provider JSX.

Recently, SpaceX rolled out its Starlink services for recreational vehicles and campers.

In another tweet on May 23, Musk wrote that Starlink will soon be available in some African countries, without naming any specific nation. Currently, Starlink is available in at least 32 countries around the world.

Starlink will serve everywhere on Earth that were legally allowed to serve, he added.

The viability of Starlink has geopolitical implications, none more evident than the role it has played in the ongoing war in Ukraine. Days after Russias invasion, Musk began shipping Starlink terminals to Ukraine to provide internet to Ukrainians, after a plea for help from Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraines information minister.

On May 23, Fedorov said that Musk has provided over 12,000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine, in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, according to Bloomberg.

All critical infrastructure uses Starlink, all structures that are needed for the states functioning use them, Fedorov said. We need to receive them constantly because they are one of the elements of the foundation of our fight and resilience.

Starlink has played a crucial role for Ukraine to withstand Russias attacks. In April, a Ukrainian soldier identified as Dima, who was based in Dnipro, a city in eastern Ukraine, told journalist David Patrikarakos that Starlink is what changed the war in #Ukraines favor.

#Russia went out of its way to blow up all our comms. Now they cant. Starlink works under Katyusha fire, under artillery fire. It even works in Mariupol, the soldier added.

In March, an officer with Aerorozvidka, an air reconnaissance unit within Ukraines army, told British news outlet The Times that drones needed to be connected to Starlink.

If we use a drone with thermal vision at night, the drone must connect through Starlink to the artillery guy and create target acquisition, the officer said.

China

The Chinese regime is alarmed by Starlinks capabilities, as evident by an opinion article published by the official newspaper of the regimes military, the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Daily, on May 5. The article harshly criticized SpaceX and said it should be of concern that the company has become a space juggernaut.

Some experts said if SpaceX installs a few root servers in the space, it can make Starlink the second independent global Internet, which will pose a serious challenge to all countries in defending their cyberspace sovereignty and protecting their information security, the article says.

Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said the PLA Daily article showed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sees Starlink as a direct threat to its rule, according to his op-ed published by The Epoch Times.

It is the CCP that seeks hegemony in space by denying access to space resources to any country that may eventually seek to threaten the CCPs hegemony on Earth, Fisher added.

Beijing has already taken steps to build its own broadband constellation in the low-Earth orbit. In 2021, Chinas State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission gave approval to the creation of a company called China Satellite Network Group Co. to create and operate the planned constellation.

In March, China launched six test communication satellites to low-Earth orbit. Three more test communication satellites were launched in May.

Fisher suggested that Starlink could work for Taiwan, in the event of a Chinese invasion, just the way it has for Ukraine.

Musks Starlink system is replacing Ukraines terrestrial internet and is being used to fight Russian invaders. So, too, could Taiwan harness Starlink to fight CCP invaders or sustain a post-invasion sovereignty, Fisher said.

The communist regime in China sees Taiwan as a part of its territory to be united with the mainland, by force if necessary. However, the island has never been under CCP control and is a de facto independent entity with its own military, democratically-elected government, and constitution. Russias invasion of Ukraine has fueled speculation that China could be emboldened and invade Taiwan.
Ex-Clinton Lawyer May Testify as He Seeks Acquittal on Charge of Lying to FBI

Update: Sussmann has decided not to testify.

Original story below.

WASHINGTONThe lawyer who was representing Hillary Clintons campaign when he took derogatory information about her rival Donald Trump to the FBI in 2016 may take the stand in his own defense.

Michael Sussmann, the lawyer, would speak for about three hours of direct testimony if he does choose to testify, Sean Berkowitz, one of his attorneys, told the court on May 25.

The cross-examination would be expected to go into Friday, which would likely mean closing arguments would not take place until the following Tuesday, after the Memorial Day weekend.

But Berkowitzs team wants U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, the Obama appointee overseeing the case, to agree to not allow questions on negotiations that Sussmann engaged in through his counsel with prosecutors before being charged.

The defense already filed a sealed motion detailing their arguments and asked for a prompt response from prosecutors.

Berkowitz said a response is needed sooner rather than later because it would inform Sussmanns decision to take the stand.

Cooper said it was hard to find an example of pretrial negotiations being used as evidence, suggesting hes leaning toward the defense on the matter.

Andrew DeFillipis, a prosecutor with special counsel John Durhams office, said that prosecutors would reply by 6 p.m. on Wednesday to determine whats fair for the defendants cross-examination.

Among the considerations, DeFillipis said, is prosecutors wanting to make sure everything they say is in compliance with Department of Justice policy.

A ruling on the competing arguments is expected early Thursday, with a decision from Sussmann soon after.

Sussmann is on trial for allegedly lying to the FBI when he took allegations concerning Trump and Russia to the bureau in September 2016. At the time, the lawyer said he was not bringing the information on behalf of any clients.

Sussmann later told a congressional panel that he received the information from a client and handed over the white papers and associated thumb drives to FBI lawyer James Baker on behalf of a client.

Sussmanns lawyers have alleged that the FBI should have known he was representing Democrats, noting that officials were aware of Sussmanns past involvement with the Democratic National Committee. The lawyers have also asserted that the alleged lie was immaterial to the actual information.

The FBI examined the information and found it did not support the claims about Trump. The CIA, who Sussmann later met with, also determined the information did not back up the allegations.

John Haughey Follow John Haughey has been a working journalist since 1978 with an extensive background in local government, state legislatures, and growth and development. A graduate of the University of Wyoming, he is a Navy veteran who fought fires at sea during three deployments aboard USS Constellation. Hes been a reporter for daily newspapers in California, Washington, Wyoming, New York, and Florida; a staff writer for Manhattan-based business trade publications.
Former Clinton Lawyer Told Different Stories to Congress, FBI About Origin of TrumpRussia Info, Jury Hears

WASHINGTONA former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer told members of Congress in 2017 that he took information about Donald Trump and Russia to the FBI on behalf of a client, even though he previously told the bureau that he was bringing the data of his own volition, jurors in federal court heard on May 25.

I think its most accurate to say it was done on behalf of my client, Michael Sussmann, the lawyer, told the House Intelligence Committee on Dec. 18, 2017.

Portions of the transcript were read into the record as prosecutors with special counsel John Durhams team wrapped up their case against Sussmann, who is on trial on a charge of lying to the FBI.

Sussmann texted FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016 asking for a meeting so he could share information, although he claimed he was coming forward of his own accord, not as part of his representation of any clients.

Sussmann, then at Perkins Coie, at the time was representing both the Clinton campaign and Rodney Joffe, a technology executive who has said he was promised a position in the government if Clinton won the 2016 election.

Prosecutors say the parties colluded in gathering data and claiming that it showed a secret link between Trump and Russias Alfa-Bank. They hoped to sway the election in Clintons favor.

About 14 months after handing over the allegations to Bakerthe FBI and the CIA both deemed the claims falseSussmann sat before the House panel and told members that he received the TrumpRussia information from a client, whom he indicated wasnt the Clinton campaign. He also said he did not go to the FBI and CIA on his own volition but was directed by his client to go to the agencies and present the information.

We had a conversation, as lawyers do with their clients, about client needs and objectives and the best course to take for a client. And so it may have been a decision that we came to together. I dont want to imply that I was sort of directed to do something against my better judgment, or that we were in any sort of conflict, but this wasI think its most accurate to say it was done on behalf of my client, Sussmann told the panel.

Clinton campaign officials have testified that they didnt approve of Sussmann going to the FBI. They hoped that media outlets would publish stories on the Trump-Alfa Bank claims, and were concerned that going to the bureau would delay the articles.

Defense lawyers, meanwhile, called their first witnessesseveral former Department of Justice employees, including former Associate Deputy Attorney General Tashina Gauhar.

According to notes that Gauhar took at a March 6, 2017, meeting that involved top officials, there was an awareness that Sussmann brought the information for a client or clients.

Then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said during the meeting that the TrumpAlfa-Bank claims came from an attorney who brought [them] to [the] FBI on behalf of his client, with the last word possibly being clients.

Gauhar said on the stand she didnt remember the meeting but said she recognized the notes as ones she took. When pointed to the part about McCabe, Gauhar said she didnt recall that moment.

Another former DOJ official, Mary McCord, was questioned as the defense introduced her notes, which stated that an attorney brought the allegations to Baker and that the attorney didnt say who client was.

Baker testified earlier in the trial that Sussmann told him when their meeting first started that he was not coming on behalf of any particular client, and that he was very confident of the recollection. He didnt take notes of the meeting.

Baker also said he could only vaguely remember the 2017 meeting, for which he was listed as a participant, and didnt remember anything that was said.

John Haughey Follow John Haughey has been a working journalist since 1978 with an extensive background in local government, state legislatures, and growth and development. A graduate of the University of Wyoming, he is a Navy veteran who fought fires at sea during three deployments aboard USS Constellation. Hes been a reporter for daily newspapers in California, Washington, Wyoming, New York, and Florida; a staff writer for Manhattan-based business trade publications.
Limited supply of baby formula at a convenience store in Chelsea, Mass., on May 20, 2022. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

Federal Trade Commission Launches Inquiry Into Baby Formula Shortage

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday launched an inquiry into the ongoing shortage of baby formula in the United States.

In a statement, the FTC said the inquiry seeks information on the nature and prevalence of any deceptive, fraudulent, or otherwise unfair business practices aimed at taking advantage of families during this shortage.

The inquiry also seeks to find out what factors have led to concentration in the infant formula market and the fragility of the supply chains for these crucial products, the FTC said.

Press coverage of the ongoing baby formula shortage increased in recent months after Abbott Laboratories, a top U.S. supplier of baby formula, announced a recall of several lines of powdered formula on Feb. 17, and voluntarily shut down a key plant in Sturgis, Michigan, on the same day. The plant produces up to one-quarter of the countrys baby formula.

Abbott Laboratories stated on May 16 that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reopen the plant. The plant is expected to reopen within two weeks. Abbott noted that there would be about six to eight weeks from the start of production to when the baby formula products reach supermarket shelves across the country.

The FTC said on Tuesday it will examine mergers and acquisitions in the infant formula market to better understand current concentration, how it came to be, and how that should inform future merger review.

In a statement, FTC Chair Lina Khan said the ongoing baby formula shortage is causing enormous anxiety, fear, and financial burden for American families and said she is committed to investigating and enforcing the law against anyone who has deceived, defrauded, or scammed desperate families.

She said the FTC is also investigating whether manufacturers or distributors are engaging in unlawful discrimination that may be limiting remaining infant formula supplies at smaller retailers.

The FTC is seeking public input on the matter and is encouraging the public to comment on the public docket on the following topics:

Instances where families have experienced fraud, deception, or scams when attempting to purchase infant formula or been forced to purchase formula from online resellers at exorbitant prices;

Families experiences purchasing infant formula through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) throughout the crisis;

Retailers experiences obtaining brands not ordinarily covered by their states WIC programs and their experiences working with distributors and manufacturers throughout the crisis;

Whether small and independent retailers have faced particular difficulties accessing limited supplies of infant formula compared to large chain retailers;

The impact of mergers and acquisitions on the number of infant formula suppliers, capital investment, and total manufacturing capacity;

The impact of state WIC competitive bidding on the number of infant formula suppliers, capital investment, and total manufacturing capacity;

The impact of FDA regulations on the number of infant formula suppliers, capital investment, and total manufacturing capacity, including capacity located outside the United States; and

Whether there are other regulatory barriers that have prevented companies located outside the United States from entering the infant formula market.

The FTC specified that comments should be submitted to regulations.gov and must be received no later than Friday, June 24, 2022, by 11:59 pm ET.

The FTC is launching a public inquiry to identify the factors that contributed to the shortage or hampered our ability to respond to it, Khan said. Learning from this experience can help determine how we can minimize the risk of similar shortages in the markets for other life-sustaining products.

The FTC will be working with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which administers WIC, to analyze the results of the public inquiry and see whether any policy changes may be needed to prevent future shortages.

Prior to the February temporary closure of the Abbott plant, shortages of baby formula were noted amid supply chain pressures triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said in an interview with CNN on May 16 that he had been alerted to the baby formula shortage situation by the FDA since 2021.

From everything Ive known, the FDA has kept me apprised of this from last year, Becerra said, referring to the ongoing baby formula shortage. We have been moving as quickly as we can.

President Joe Bidens administration has sought to relieve the shortage by importing emergency supplies from Europe, the first of which arrived on Sunday. Biden had said he was invoking the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to help boost supplies.
USS Bataan leads the Fleet Week vessel parade up the Hudson River. The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship is docked at Pier 88 and will be open to the public during Fleet Week. (Richard Moore/The Epoch Times)

Fleet Week Kicks Off in New York With Parade of Ships

New York put on a beautiful morning on May 25 to welcome visiting naval vessels in the city to celebrate Fleet Week.

After a two-year pause due to the pandemic, the event returnedleading off with the traditional parade of ships into New York harbor and then up the Hudson River.

Fleet Week is a celebration of the United States naval forces, including the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marines, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Taking part in the early-morning procession led by a Coast Guard cutter were the flagship USS Bataan, the seagoing Coast Guard buoy tender USCGC Sycamore, the British Royal Navys HMS Protector, USCGC Dependable, USS Milwaukee, and smaller U.S. Naval Academy craft.

The USS Bataan is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship that can carry a mix of aircraft depending upon the warships mission.

They include: Harrier II attack aircraft, F-35B Light ending stealth fighters, Super Cobra attack helicopters, Osprey assault support tilt rotors, Super Stallion heavy-lift choppers, and anti-submarine helicopters.

During Fleet Week (May 26May 31) ship tours are being conducted between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

There will be no public access on May 29.

Potential visitors are being asked to be prepared to show proof of COVID-19 vaccinations and wear a mask.

The vessels are docked at:

Manhattan Pier 88 southUSS Bataan (Norfolk, Va.)
Flames from a gas burner on a cooker in a private home in Nice, France on Feb. 1, 2017. (Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

Global Gas Crunch Claims First Australian Trading Casualty

MELBOURNEA gas seller that supplied 7 percent of the eastern Australian market has collapsed due to soaring global gas prices, the first significant casualty in the country from the global gas supply crisis due to sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The Essential Services Commission on Tuesday suspended private gas retailer Weston Energy from the wholesale gas market for failing to meet financial security requirements and said the companys 184 large and medium-sized customers would be shifted to other suppliers.

The collapse of Weston Energy underscores energy price concerns set to face Australias new Labor government, as it pushes to rapidly expand renewable energy to replace gas and coal over the next eight years.

Weston Energy Managing Director Garbis Simonian said gas prices had nearly tripled since the start of the year due to Russias invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a special military operation.

At the same time recent outages at Australian coal-fired plants have driven up demand for gas-fired generation.

Rapidly rising energy prices have put hundreds of Australian businesses and thousands of jobs at risk, Simonian said in a statement.

With the unprecedented surge in prices, Weston was unable to manage cash flow for its trading business, he said.

Weston Energys collapse has also hit Australias no.2 independent gas producer Santos Ltd, which had lined up Weston as a potential customer for 4 percent of the 75 petajoules a year of gas it plans to produce at its Narrabri project.

Santos had no immediate comment on Westons collapse.

Santos plans to drill appraisal wells this year at Narrabri, a project which could supply enough gas to meet up to half of the demand in New South Wales state. It has not set a timeframe for a final investment decision on the long-delayed project.

By Sonali Paul
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - NOVEMBER 02: Voters arrive at Bryn Mawr Community School on Election Day on November 2, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The mayor's position, and amendments addressing policing, housing, and executive power are all on todays ballot. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

GOP Candidates Munson, Finstad Tied in Minnesotas Special Primary Election

Unofficial poll results show Minnesota state Rep. Jeremy Munson and former state Rep. Brad Finstad, both Republicans, running in a dead heat in Minnesotas 1st U.S. Congressional District special primary.

The May 24 election will determine which party candidates will advance to the Aug. 9 general election to fill the five-month remainder of the term of late Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.)

Hagedorn died on Feb. 28 after he was diagnosed with stage-four kidney cancer three years earlier.

With 77 percent of the districts 21 counties reporting, Munson and Finstad are both tied at 37 percent, with a potential recount coming.

Hagedorns widow, Jennifer Carnahan, and Matt Benda are both tied at 8 percent, despite Carnahan running as a Republican legacy candidate and top campaign fundraiser. The Republican ticket included 10 candidates.

On the Democrat side, Jeffrey Ettinger is far ahead of the other seven candidates. Sarah Brakebill-Hacke is running in a distant third place with 13.3 percent.

State election law currently doesnt require voters to register by party affiliation. According to state election rules, Hagedorns seat can only be filled by special election.

Carnahan picked up her late husbands mantle as a Trump-supporting conservative Republican as portrayed in photographs on her official website. However, she didnt receive the former presidents endorsement.

Even though Carnahan had raised more than $400,000 in contributions, her campaign was anything but smooth sailing.

In August 2021, she resigned as chairwoman of the Republican Party of Minnesota following the indictment of top donor Anton Lazarro on charges of sex trafficking of minors.

Although Carnahan denied knowing of Lazarros activities, she was beset with allegations that she ignored staffer complaints of workplace sexual harassment and that she created a toxic work environment.

She also faced criticism after she reportedly said in a December 2020 tape recording: I dont care. Jim, hes going to die of cancer in two years. So be it.

She told WCCO her remarks were absolutely regrettable, and that she had obviously apologized to my husband. I love him very much, and Im going to continue to be his biggest supporter and cheerleader.

Carnahan accused her Republican and Democrat detractors of running a smear campaign.

The left has tried to cancel me before, but I will never be canceled, she said. I will never accept the double standards or guilt-by-association they are so desperately attempting to attack me with.

Munson won a special election in February 2018 to replace state Rep. Tony Cornish, who had resigned following sexual misconduct allegations. He then won two-year terms in general elections in 2018 and 2020. He served as chairman of the 1st District Republican Party before his legislative career as a financial consultant.

As the fiscal and constitutional conservative in this race, Munson said he wouldnt vote to increase the nations debt ceiling.

Finstad, a former three-term Minnesota state representative, served as Trumps appointed state director for USDA Rural Development in Minnesota from 2017 to 2021.
Enduring financial hardship, lately, some pet owners have had to make hard choices to surrender their furry friends.

A photo of a nearly 6-year-old dog left leashed to a fire hydrant went viral on Facebook. She was left with a backpack full of treats and her favorite toys and a note from her former owners, who could not care for the poor pooch any longer.

That photo was posted online by the Wisconsin Humane Society after a local neighbor saw the abandoned dog at the corner of East Walnut Street and South Clay Street in Green Bay and waited with her for an hour to see if her owners would return.

But they didnt.

The resident then brought her to the Humane Society, and the dog, who, according to the note, was named Baby Girl, was temporarily taken into their care.

The contents of the note, the Humane Society explained in the Facebook post, revealed why the owner had to give Baby Girl up. The caption read:

We are so sorry you had to part with your best friend. Its evident just how much you loved her and we can see you did your best while struggling with your own medical complications and challenges of life. We see your love in the bag you carefully packed with all of her favorite things. We see your love in the way you secured her leash so she wouldnt get hit by a car. We see your love in the way you placed her in the middle of a neighborhood where shed be quickly found. We see your love in how happy and healthy Baby Girl looks. And we see your love in the note you left, pleading for someone to help her when you no longer could.

They added, We wish you all the best and hope that if you see this, you can rest a little easier knowing your Baby Girl has a bright future ahead 

(Courtesy of Wisconsin Humane Society)

News of the heartbreaking abandonment was reported by local media, and thanks to all the publicity, after the stray dogs mandatory hold, new potential adoptive owners had arrived before the Humane Society opened.

As of May 12, they posted some good news in an update: She has officially found a new home! Meanwhile, an outpouring of kindness for her previous owner had filled their hearts to the brim. They had made contact with them and passed along supportive resources that have been offered to her from this generous community, they wrote.

The Humane Society noted that taking care of Baby Girls diabetes mellitus (dog diabetes) and medical costs could be expensive, but that she is a wonderful goofball with a heart of gold.

They also reminded the public that they will never turn away an animal in need, and pet owners can surrender their animals anonymously.

We regularly work to make sure that surrender fees are not a barrier to those needing to rehome their pet, and although we request a surrender appointment be made in advance, we do take in emergency surrenders if necessary. Its important to us that the community knows we are a supportive, welcoming resource for those in need, the Humane Society stated.

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
Protesters demonstrate against the "dramatic deterioration of press freedom" in Hong Kong as they gather in the center of Kingston upon Thames in south west London, on Jan. 9, 2022. (Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

Hong Kong Migrants Warn UK Government to Be Wary of CCP Infiltration

The British government's incentives toward Hong Kong people may provide exploitable opportunities

In early May, British MPs met some Hong Kong migrants who called on the UK government to watch out for infiltration from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that has threatened the safety of Hong Kong residents in the UK.

On May 11, British Labor Partys east and southeast Asian group presided over a meeting at the British Parliament with representatives of Hong Kong people, listening to their living needs in the UK, according to Radio Free Asia on May 14.

Labor Party MP Stephen Kinnock stressed at the meeting his partys support for the British National (Overseas) (BNO) visa program, a preferential policy to enable Hong Kong people to immigrate to the UK after the CCP implemented a National Security Law, violating its commitment to ensuring freedom and democracy in the former British colony.

Simon Cheng, the founder of the British Hong Kong Association of Hongkongers, raised concerns about infiltration by the CCP into the UK. He said that the British government pledged 43 million (about $59 million) to resettle Hong Kong migrants in Britain, but some of the Chinese groups receiving funding are suspected of being controlled by the CCP.

Cheng elaborated at the meeting that two directors of the Chinese Community Centre-Birmingham (CCC-B) which has obtained a 35,000 ($43,000) grant were revealed to have worked for the BritishChinese Project. The founder of the project, Chinese lawyer Christine Ching Kui Lee, was identified in a Jan. 12 MI5 Security Service Interference Alert (SSIA) as an agent of the Chinese government.

The alert issued by the agency said an individual named Christine Ching Kui Lee has been knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

It said Lee has been facilitating financial donations to political parties and politicians, and warned that anyone contacted by her should be mindful of her affiliation with the Chinese state and remit to advance the CCPs agenda in UK politics.

Cheng was formerly director of Trade and Investment at the Scottish Development International (SDI) of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong. In August 2019, he was detained for 15 days by Chinas state security while on a business trip to Shenzhen.

Cheng told the Hong Kong edition of The Epoch Times on Nov. 25, 2021, that during his detention he had been tortured, isolated, and forced to admit guilt for acting on behalf of the UK in the 2019 Hong Kong protests.

People hold up slogans such as Break away from the Chinese Communist Party during the New Years Day March on Jan. 1, 2020. (Wen Hanlin / The Epoch Times)

Besides CCC-B, another Chinese association in Southampton was also accused of having ties with the CCP.

An April 18 report in The Times pointed out Ping Hua, the founder of the Chinese Association of Southampton (CAS), who wrote an article defending the CCPs abuse of Uighurs in Xinjiang and slammed U.S. accusations of the Chinese regime committing atrocities as an attempt to incite a provocative subversion in Hong Kong.

Hua voiced similar opinions at a Stop Anti-Asian Racism, Reject New Cold War rally in Londons Chinatown on last Nov. 27. The rally sparked violence, leading to one person being taken to hospital and at least one person being arrested.

CAS received 20,130 ($25,166) of UK funding.

Also at the meeting with British MPs, Finn Lau, a Hong Kong political activist in his 90s, said he had been attacked in June 2020 on a street in London.

On June 2, 2020, Lau was walking near his home in London when he realized he was being followed. He said he stopped at a streetlight, and three people suddenly came out and hit him. The attack caused a bone fracture in his right eye and left him with a severe concussion. Lau suggested that the attack may be related to the CCP paying gang members to commit violence.

On Jan. 1, 2020, Lau participated in New Years Day March in Hong Kong and was apprehended together with many other protesters. He was discharged after a 50-hour detention and immediately bought a plane ticket back to the UK where he worked. After 7 months, in August 2020, the Hong Kong authority issued an arrest warrant for him.

In this photo illustration, the UK Immigration: ID Check app on a mobile phone is seen in Hong Kong, China, on Feb. 23, 2021. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

Labour Party MP Sarah Owen, the organizer of the meeting, questioned the government in Parliament about how to protect Hongkongers in Britain from violence by CCP gang members.

James Cleverly, British Foreign Office minister, responded that the CCP persecution of these Hongkongers did not cease even when they arrived in the UK and that the authorities would take protecting Hongkongers into consideration seriously.

Labor Party MPs Stephen Kinnock said, despite the CCPs expanding erosion of democracy and freedom, Hongkongers courageous perseverance inspired the world.

The UK stands by Hong Kongs pro-democracy movement and will be assuming its obligations to Hongkongers who have been let down due to CCPs breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, he said.

The Labor Party member pledged that if his party wins the general election, the BNO plan will be renewed.

Up to 100,000 Hongkongers have moved to the UK under the BNO visa program. By staying in the UK for five years on such a visa, they can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain and then apply for naturalization after a further year.

The BNO visa program was announced in November 2020 by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, providing an initial pathway for BNO holders from Hong Kong to immigrate to the UK.

Alexander Zhang contributed to this report.
A gunman opened fire Tuesday at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children. Its the latest in a series of mass killings at churches, schools, and stores.

The suspect is being identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, of Uvalde, Texas, where the mass shooting began at about noon.

The shooting at Robb Elementary School was the deadliest at a U.S. grade-school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

It does not appear that the dead alleged shooter, Salvador Ramos, was a white supremacist. Watch the media, post-Buffalo supermarket shooting, deftly switch from angry white men to easy access of guns.

Watch todays Larry Elder Show interview with Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and Dr. John R. Lott, Jr., founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center.

* Click the Save button below the video to access it later on My List.

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YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Argentina to Armenia Mariano Vergara says the relations between the two countries are at a high level. According to him, a lot has been done over the course of years for the development of the Armenian-Argentine ties, but adds that still much needs to be done.

The Ambassador told reporters today that the fact that there is an Embassy of Argentina in Armenia is also conditioned by the large Armenian community in Argentina. He said this is also the reason why a concert will be held in Yerevan on May 27 on the occasion of the Argentine National Day, that is celebrated on May 25. This is also a vivid manifestation of the Armenian-Argentine firm ties, he added.

The Ambassador said he is impressed with Armenia, praising the high level of culture here and adding that music is loved and appreciated in Armenia.

We have noticed that the music-lover Armenian society shows a special attitude to the Argentine tango, particularly, they like the works of Astor Piazzolla. It would be better if an Argentine bandoneonist came to Armenia, stayed here and gave concerts in the region and also played Argentine music. It would be much better if a school of Argentine tango opened in Armenia and there would be professional tango dancers here, Mariano Vergara said.

He informed that they are planning another concert in Yerevan in October in cooperation with the State Chamber Orchestra of Armenia. The concert will be dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Argentina.

We are going to implement quite rich cultural programs. There will be photo exhibitions, presentations of translations of literary works and other events, he said.

Reporting by Anzhela Hambardzumyan
Nimkii Curley, a senior at Evanston Township High School in Ill., was denied the opportunity to walk with his class because he refused to remove religious decorations honoring his Native American heritage from his graduation regalia. (Courtesy of Megan Bang)

Illinois Senior Refuses to Remove Religious Symbols; Denied Graduation Ceremony

Nimkii Curley grew up hearing the stories of his grandparents and great grandparents, all survivors of the Federal Indian boarding school system which purposely erased Native American culture in generations of children, spanning 150 years, in an effort to take Native American land.

His Navajo grandfather, 90, lives with Curley, 17, and his parents and siblings, in their Evanston, Illinois home. Curley has tribal affiliation with the Turtle Clan Ojibwe Anishinaabe and the Navajo Dene Black Sheep Salt Clan. He was raised to understand, appreciate, and live in his culture, including its spiritual traditions. That is why he was so honored when, for high school graduation, he received gifts from his community, including beads to decorate his cap, traditional flowers for his stole, and most special, an eagle feather which he hung where the cap tassel would be.

Its a really sacred thing, Curley said of the feather.

Nimkii Curley in his graduation regalia, May 22, 2022, Evanston, Ill. (Courtesy of Megan Bang)

Evanston Township High School (ETHS) told students that additional apparel or adornment on caps and gowns is not permitted during the graduation ceremony, a school representative told The Epoch Times. Curley felt his items fell into a different category.

I was aware of that, and I already had these gifts made for me from the community, Curley told The Epoch Times. I thought that its within my religious freedom to wear them. At least the feather. The other stuff that I had, not so much. But it seems like people are wearing crucifixes. I thought that maybe I could bring my feather.

At the graduation ceremony on Sunday, he was pulled out of line by an event coordinator and told he would not be able to walk onto the stage to get his diploma. He accepted that but assumed he would get to sit with his classmates one last time, so he got back into line.

Then he was told again, this time with more insistence, that he could not wear his adornments and they pushed for him to remove his feathered cap and wear a plain cap and stole, Curley said.

They didnt understand, in that moment. You have to allow people to have grace in those kinds of situations, Curley said, noting that he is not angry with the school or security that handled the situation. He understands they were not trying to be harmful, and neither was he. I was offered the option to sit on the sidelines at the top of the second floor, in the bleachers, in the very back.

It wasnt about personal expression for Curley, he said it was about his grandparents, who had their culture erased in boarding schools and it was about not repeating that culture erasure. It was about not being invisible for him and his younger sisters as they finish their time in the same school.

His family sat with him in the stands, and they watched the graduation speeches, until he decided to leave, at some point after they started calling names and handing out diplomas.

Because of its proximity to Chicago, the school has mascots of the Chicago Blackhawks around its buildings. It is an Indian head with a painted face and four feathers in his hair. Curley tried but failed to get the mascot banned from the school.

The fact that racist Blackhawks mascots are allowed in my school, but Im not allowed to be who I am on graduation day, that is anti-indigenous, Curley said. Its socially acceptable to be racist against Native Americans in a way thats unique. We dont want to play the oppression Olympics for sure, but it is unique.

My grandfather speaks Navajo fluently. He is a boarding school survivor and because of that, I dont know my native language and my dad doesnt know it. My dad never was given the option to learn, Curley said. My dad was forced out of high school, so I was going to be the one to graduate for him and for my grandfather. But that will have to wait for the next generation.

The day after graduation, the principal and superintendent went to Curleys home, gave him his diploma, and apologized.

They said they were with me and they give promises and its really important to see them follow through. Its a nice gesture that they came to give me my diploma, but its up to them to deliver on the promises.

Curley says the school promised to ban Blackhawks mascots in the school and they promised that next year, all students would be able to represent their heritage and their identity.

The Epoch Times asked the school about those promises specifically but it did not confirm them. It is possible a school board meeting may be needed to decide such policy.

We are taking the opportunity to examine our past practices. ETHS is reviewing the graduation guidelines, particularly as they relate to acknowledging the history and stories of indigenous students, and we will let students and families know when there are changes in the future, the school said in an email.

Next, Curley will attend the University of Wisconsin, Madison to study environmental engineering.
Witnesses Testify in Investigation Into LA Deputy Gangs

LOS ANGELESWitnesses testified May 24 that so-called deputy gangs are still active in the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department (LASD) during an LA County Civilian Oversight Commission special hearing. But LA Sheriff Alex Villanueva quickly condemned on social media the proceeding as wildly unconstitutional and bizarre theatrics.

The special hearing opened with witness testimony alleging that deputies have formed gangs that set up work slowdowns, by not answering calls in a timely manner, among other things, disciplining colleagues who fail to fall in line.

The commission announced an investigation into this matter earlier this year, although there were no judges present during Tuesdays hearing. Villanueva was invited to the hearing, but did not attend.

One witness, a current deputy in the East Los Angeles division, spoke by telephone anonymously about one of the internal gangs called Banditos.

Roughly 12 to 15 deputies are tattooed members of the Banditos at East LA, according to witness testimonies, with an additional 10 to 15 considered associates.

Villanueva said the hearing was a scripted and well-rehearsed political stunt to influence the outcome of the election.

I was the first and only sheriff in fifty years to take positive action, including firing, disciplining, and transferring employees found responsible for misconduct, Villanueva wrote on Twitter May 24. On two separate occasions, claims of deputy gangs have been thrown out of court for lack of evidence.

Another witness, Sheriffs Lt. Larry Waldie, admitted to being an internal gang known as the Gladiators when he was a deputy at the Compton station. He told the panel he had run-ins with another gang, the Executioners, when he became the divisions captain.

Witnesses also said members of deputy gangs would celebrate deputy shootings.

The term deputy gang has become a racist dog whistle, a fact-free straw man argument designed for political purposes and financial gain. If anyone has real evidence of misconduct, please share it so the LASD can take appropriate lawful action, Villanueva wrote on Twitter.
Former President George W. Bush watches the NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Oct. 6, 2019. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Iraqi Man in Ohio Charged in Plot to Murder Former President George W. Bush

An Iraqi man living in Columbus, Ohio, has been charged by federal authorities for allegedly plotting to smuggle foreign nationals into the United States as part of a plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush.

Agents from the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, 52, Tuesday morning. He appeared in federal court at 2:30 p.m. and his case was unsealed at that time, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Authorities caught Shihab in a sting set up under the direction of the FBI.

In August 2021, Shihab allegedly intended to help who he thought was an Iraqi citizen enter the country for a $40,000 fee.

Shihab provided specific instructions on how he would smuggle the person into the United States after 60 days. In October and December 2021, Shihab accepted tens of thousands of dollars for the purported smuggling. In reality, the individual was fictitious, and the interaction was coordinated under the direction of the FBI, the DOJ said in a release.

The DOJ said the charging document also alleges that Shihab had plans to smuggle four additional Iraqis into the United States for the purpose of killing former President George W. Bush in retaliation for Iraqi deaths during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

OIF, commonly known as the Iraq War, was launched in 2003 by the United States under Bush.

It is alleged that Shihab then planned to smuggle the would-be assassins out of the country via Mexico.

In furtherance of the assassination plot, Shihab allegedly traveled to Dallas in February 2022 to conduct surveillance of locations associated with the former President, the DOJ said. In March 2022, it is alleged Shihab met with others in a hotel room in Columbus, Ohio, to look at sample firearms and law enforcement uniforms.

Shihab is an asylum seeker who entered the United States in September 2020 on a visitor visa. He lived in both Columbus and Indianapolis and worked at markets and restaurants in both cities, according to the DOJ.

The charges against him were announced by officials from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, the DOJs National Security Division, the FBIs Cincinnati Division, and the United States Secret Service.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after their bilateral meeting at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on May 23, 2022. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Japanese Astronaut Will Join NASAs Artemis Mission to the Moon: Biden

President Joe Biden said on May 23 that a Japanese astronaut will board NASAs Artemis mission to the moon, as the United States and Japan seek to expand civil space cooperation.

During a press briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, Biden said the partners are committed to sending a Japanese astronaut to the Gateway Station, a planned international space station that would orbit the moon.

Im excited at the work we will do together on the Gateway Station around the moon, and I look forward to the first Japanese astronaut joining us on the mission to the lunar surface under the Artemis program, Biden said.

NASA said in a statement that Washington and Japan are working to formalize the Japanese astronauts inclusion on the Gateway project.

With this historic announcement, President Biden is once again showing nations throughout the world that America will not go alone but with like-minded partners, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said.

Biden also met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol before arriving in Japan, during which the two leaders agreed to strengthen their alliance across all sectors of space cooperation.

The United States and Japan are also cooperating to use earth observation data to improve the capability to predict climate change, the White House said.

Both sides intend to conclude their framework agreement in 2023, which will expand bilateral cooperation for decades to come across a wide variety of space exploration, scientific, and research activities.

Washington will provide Japan with a sample from the asteroid Bennu in 2023, just as Japan provided the United States with an asteroid sample collected by Hayabusa2 in November 2021.

Japan has an extensive space program, mainly focused on developing launchers and space probes. But the country doesnt have a human flight program and has relied on the United States and Russia to carry its astronauts into space.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reopened astronaut recruitment in 2021 to revive its pool of aging astronauts. NASA said it sees JAXA as a critical partner on the International Space Station and the Artemis project.

JAXAs planned contributions include I-HABs environmental control and life support system, batteries, thermal control, and imagery components, which will be integrated into the module by ESA (European Space Agency) prior to launch, NASA said.

Japan also built the Kibo experiment module on the International Space Station, and resupply missions have been lifted into space by its heavy launch rockets.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) stands with former U.S. vice president Mike Pence at a campaign event at the Cobb County International Airport on May 23, 2022, in Kennesaw, Georgia. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Kemp, Raffensperger Overcome Anger and Trumps Disapproval in Georgia

Many conservative Georgians, motivated by former President Donald Trump, are still angry that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger didnt do more to investigate claims of widespread fraud related to the 2020 election.

That displeasure didnt prevent the two incumbents from winning their respective GOP primaries on May 24.

Kemp, who was endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence, prevailed in a landslide over Trump-backed David Perdue.

Raffensperger avoided a runoff by surpassing 50 percent of the vote and defeated Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.).

In essence, [former] President Trump, along with his supporters grievances from the 2020 Presidential Election, is on the ballot, national politics expert Peter Bergerson, a political science professor with Florida Gulf Coast University, said before the primary.

Kemp earned a resounding victory with 883,263 votes (73.70 percent) compared to Hices 261,278 (21.80 percent), according to updated figures from Decision Desk HQ on May 25.

Trump personally recruited Perdue to challenge the incumbent governor.

Kemp had his share of support from Republicans and even Trump supporters who are satisfied with his performance.

Support for Kemp

A Republican Party county chair in Georgia who is a staunch Trump supporter told The Epoch Times that, aside from questions about how he responded to the election fraud claims in 2020, Kemp has done an admirable job and deserves another term.

He is a conservative who managed the COVID crisis effectively and, as a result, businesses and communities in Georgia are better off than states with governors who shut down for a longer period of time, he said.

We need true conservative leadership across the board in Georgia, and he [Kemp] does that.

A northwest Georgia voter named Diane, who backed Trump-endorsed Herschel Walker in the U.S. Senate primary and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgias 14th Congressional District primary, said she also cast her ballot for Kemp.

He cares about issues that are important to Georgia, and he is focused on solutions and not politics, Diane said outside a voting precinct in Dallas, Georgia, on May 24.

He is pro-life. He protects the Second Amendment. He reopened the state early on during COVID, and that helped our economy. All of these things are important to me.

At his watch party in downtown Atlanta, Kemp encouraged Georgia Republicans to unify to defeat Democratic primary winner and former state Rep. Stacey Abrams in November.

He also praised supporters for ignoring Trumps message about the race.

Even in the middle of a tough primary, conservatives across our state didnt listen to the noise. They didnt get distracted, Kemp said.

Former senator David Perdue greets supporters March 7, 2022, at a campaign event in Commerce, Ga.. (Courtesy of the Perdue for Governor campaign)

Perdue, a former Georgia U.S. senator, echoed Kemps call for unity.

I want you to know tonight that I am fully supporting Brian Kemp in his run to beat Stacey Abrams, Perdue said as part of his concession speech.

Its emotional for all of us, were disappointed, I get that. Lets take a few hours, lick our wounds, and tomorrow morning, youre going to hear me going to work for Brian Kemp to make  sure that Stacey Abrams is never governor of Georgia.

Electing Kemp to another term and preventing Abrams from taking the office should be a top priority for Georgians in November, Pence said at a rally on May 23.

Who is best positioned to defeat Stacey Abrams and the national Democrats that will descend on Georgia in this falls election? Pence asked the crowd.

You know the answer. Brian Kemp beat Stacey Abrams four years ago, and with your support, Brian Kemp will do it all again in November.

An Unmitigated Disaster

Abrams will be an unmitigated disaster for the people of Georgia if she wins, Pence added.

She may be the weakest candidate on crime in the history of Georgia. She supports taxpayer-funded abortion on demand all the way up to the moment of birth, he said.

She supports gun control and higher taxes. She wants to give illegal immigrants free health care, free welfare, and free college, and send you the bill.

Hice, who has served four terms representing Georgias 10th District in the U.S. House, joined Trump in saying that the 2020 election results were swayed by widespread fraud, including in Georgia.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger holds a press conference on the status of ballot counting in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 6, 2020. (Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Since Raffenspergers office oversees elections, that has made him a target for Trump and his most ardent supporters.

Raffensperger gained 607,935 votes (52.32 percent) followed by Hice at 387,669 (33.37 percent) with 95 percent of the ballots counted, Decision Desk HQ reported on May 25.

Leading up to the primary, it appeared that the secretary of states race might end in a runoff.

A Survey USA poll conducted between April 22 and April 27 showed that Raffensperger led with 30 percent of the vote followed by Hice at 20 percent. Nine percent of the remaining respondents were split between two other candidates.

In that survey, 40 percent of voters were undecided.

M.V. Hood III, a professor of political science at the University of Georgias School of Public and International Affairs and director of the schools Survey Research Center, coordinated a poll in April that found Hice was ahead at 30.3 percent, followed by Raffensperger with 22.7 percent.

Hice, former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle, and former probate and magistrate judge T.J. Hudson ran campaigns questioning how Raffensperger handled the 2020 election.

All three challengers said that Georgians lost confidence in the system as a result of Raffenspergers response.

Raffensperger Defends Record

Raffensperger vigorously defended his record, saying that Georgias elections are fair and secure. He insisted that he made the right decision when he turned down Trumps demand to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

He pointed out that he wholeheartedly supported a restrictive voting bill signed into law by Kemp in 2021.

On the campaign trail, Raffensperger pointed out that The Heritage Foundation named Georgia the top state in the country for election integrity.

He also mentioned that he is the first and only Georgia secretary of state to conduct a full citizenship check of the states voter rolls and that, in 2019, he made ballot harvesting illegal.

Raffensperger ignored the polls and embarked on a statewide tour talking to Georgia citizens.

I put over 40,000 miles on my truck in the last year, just visiting people, all parts of the state, he said at his victory party on May 24.

The Democratic primary is headed for a runoff as state Rep. Bee Nguyen received 43 percent of the vote and will face Dee Dawkins-Haigler, who finished a distant second with 19 percent.

Raffensperger, the winning Democrat, Libertarian Ted Metz, and nonpartisan candidate Brenda Nelson-Porter are the candidates who will appear on the ballot in the general election.

Trump did get some good news in Georgia on May 24 as Greene and Walker decisively won their primaries and are expected to prevail in November.

Greene is one of Trumps most loyal supporters among U.S. House members, and Walker is a devoted Trump ally who is endorsed by the former president.
Ken Paxton Wins Texas Attorney General GOP Primary

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the May 24 Republican primary election for his seat against Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush.

With 21 percent of the precincts reporting at 4:07 p.m. ET on May 25, Paxton received 68 percent of the vote and was projected as the winner of the race by Decision Desk HQ. Bush received 32 percent of the vote.

Paxton will face former American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Rochelle Garza in the general election in November. Garza won the Democratic primary by more than 20 points on May 24.

Paxton, the Trump-endorsed incumbent, failed to outright win the primary in March, which would have required more than 50 percent of the vote. However, in the four-way race in March, he had ended with a handy lead over second-place Bushgaining 42.7 percent of the votes to Bushs 22.4 percent.

Turnout for primary runoffs is historically dismal. The more high-profile 2020 presidential primary attracted fewer than 13 percent of registered voters in both the Republican and Democratic races. Texas has 17 million registered voters.

Help me end the Bush Dynasty, Paxton wrote on Twitter on May 17, as early voting was underway.

Paxton has legal issues going into the election, which may be part of the reason he didnt sail through the primary. Hes facing an FBI probe into abuse-of-office allegations, as well as an upcoming trial for securities fraud.

But he received the coveted Trump endorsement last year, which likely gave him an early bump. On May 16, Paxton posted a video of him and Trump standing together as the former president calls him the most effective attorney general.

Get out and vote for Ken Paxton, hes going to win big. But you know what, just in case he gets a little bit close, go out and vote. Hes done a terrific job for Texas and for our country, and he has my complete and total endorsement, Trump said.

Bushthe son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who ran for president in 2016has his family political dynasty, which used to be considered Texas royalty, behind him.

However, the Bush name isnt necessarily an advantage anymore as support of the name wanes, particularly post-Trump. Hes the last Bush still in office.

The Bushes found themselves sort of outside of the mainstream of the Republican Party once Trump defeated Jeb Bush in the Republican primariesthat was lots of bad blood, Kenneth Grasso, professor of political science at Texas State University, told The Epoch Times.

Paxton is clearly the candidate of the Trump wing of the party in the sense that he is, again, a social conservative, more populist oriented, more aggressive, and assertive in pushing his political agenda.
Labors Promised Action on Uluru Statement Distracts From Real Issues: Indigenous MP

The Labor governments election pledge to put the Indigenous Voice in the constitution could divert attention away from the real problems that the Aboriginal community in remote areas is dealing with, says an Australian Liberal senator of Indigenous background.

It comes after newly elected prime minister Anthony Albanese promised he would implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.

The statement, which was proposed as a petition by the First Nations National Constitutional Convention in 2017, asks the government to establish a permanent body representing the Indigenous community in the parliament through a referendum.

The body would consist of Indigenous Australians whom the government needs to consult with on policies affecting the Aboriginal community, a process called treaty.

The Uluru Statement also called for a truth-telling process between governments and Aboriginal peoples to present what it described as historic and ongoing injustices against Indigenous people.

It was introduced against the backdrop of widespread political discontent stemming from the controversial belief that Aboriginal people are systematically discriminated against by others as a result of British colonisation.

However, incoming Alice Springs Country Liberal senator Jacinta Price said that there are things happening right now that are far more urgent than recording past injustices, such as the safety of women and children in regional communities.

Price told The Australian on Tuesday that the Labor governments proposed referendum on the Indigenous voice is a distraction from important issues facing the community.

Australian Aboriginal leader Warren Mundine speaks at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

This sentiment is echoed by Warren Mundine, Chairman of Tony Abbott governments Indigenous Advisory Council, who said the proposals put forward under the Uluru Statement doesnt actually meet the needs of the Indigenous community.

The former National President of the Labor party told The Epoch Times that the government should instead focus on increasing the employment rate, improving health, education and housing standards, as well as tackling crime and safety issues.

None of these (proposals) fixes any of that.

While some argued that setting up an Indigenous Voice in parliament is a symbolic move to recognise the Indigenous community, which is believed to have received unfair treatment under the Australian political system, Mundine said it is living in a fantasy world.

The well-known Indigenous Australian figure noted Aboriginals have gone a long way to representation within the parliament, as the 2022 federal election saw nine and possibly 10 Aboriginal politicians voted into federal parliamentthe highest on the record.

This idea that you need to set up a huge bureaucracy thats going to cost millions and millions of dollars to operate, is going to solve all these problems, is just living in a fantasy world, he said. Weve got to deal with the reality.

Its nonsense, quite frankly, we are achieving so much now and moving ahead that this is like [saying] we need a bureaucracy. Like I need a hole in the head.

Mundine added that it is against the Aboriginal culture to have people sitting in Canberra make decisions about the Indigenous communities.

What weve got to do is get leadership on the ground. Under our culture, its the traditional owners and clan leaders who make decisions about our country. Thats our religious beliefs in our culture.

In a 2017 commentary, Indigenous academic Anthony Dillon described the treaties as symbolism and quick fixes, noting that thousands upon thousands of Aboriginal Australians are already doing perfectly well without a treaty, including those pushing for it.

Talking about a treaty or changing the constitution is easy; improving employment and educational opportunities is considerably more difficult, he wrote.

So many activists actually think they are doing something constructive when they protest from the sidelines claiming that a treaty is the solution. They are not.
The storage facility auto tower of German carmaker Volkswagen is reflected in a VW logo at the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg, northern Germany, on March 26, 2021. (Ronny Hartmann/AFP via Getty Images)

Lawsuit Accuses 3 Automakers and Parts Maker in Air Bag Case

DETROITA class action lawsuit is accusing three automakers and a parts manufacturer of knowingly selling vehicles containing air bag inflators that are at risk of exploding. Two deaths and at least four injuries have been linked to such explosions.

The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday in San Francisco, names ARC Automotive Inc. of Knoxville, Tennessee, which made the inflators and sold them to air bag manufacturers. The air bag makers, in turn, sold them to General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen, which are named in the lawsuit, too.

The five plaintiffs are the owners of vehicles with ARC inflators who contend the defective air bag parts were not disclosed when they made their purchases.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has been investigating ARC inflators for nearly seven years without a resolution, estimates that there are 51 million on U.S. roads. Thats somewhere between 10% and 20% of all passenger vehicles.

Yet most drivers have no conclusive way to determine whether their vehicle contains an ARC inflator. Even if they were to tear apart the steering wheel assembly, the internal parts might bear the markings only of the automaker or the air bag manufacturer, not the inflator maker.

You could have a ticking time bomb in your lap and youve got no way of knowing, said Frank Melton, a Florida lawyer who is among those filing the new lawsuit.

One of the deaths was a mother of 10 who was killed in what appeared to be an otherwise minor crash in Michigans Upper Peninsula last summer. Police reports show that a metal inflator fragment hit her neck in a crash involving a 2015 Chevrolet Traverse SUV.

In a statement Tuesday, GM said it hadnt had a chance to review the lawsuit. It said it is dedicated to the safety of its products and customers and is cooperating with NHTSA in its investigation.

Messages were left seeking comment from ARC and Ford. Volkswagen declined comment.

The plaintiffs allege that ARCs inflators use ammonium nitrate as a secondary propellant to inflate the air bags. The propellant is pressed into tablets that can expand and develop microscopic holes if exposed to moisture. Degraded tablets have a larger surface area, causing them to burn too fast and ignite too big of an explosion, according to the lawsuit.

The explosion can blow apart a metal canister housing the chemical, sending metal shards into the cabin. Ammonium nitrate, used in fertilizer and as a cheap explosive, is so dangerous that it can burn too fast even without moisture present, the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs allege that ARC inflators have blown apart seven times on U.S. roads and two other times in testing by ARC. There have so far been five limited recalls of the inflators that totaled about 5,000 vehicles, including three recalls by GM.

Auto safety advocates say the case seems to mirror the Takata air bag saga that began in the early 2000s, which also involved exploding air bag inflators and resulted in 28 deaths worldwide, hundreds of injuries and the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. So far NHTSA has gathered information but hasnt forced any wider recalls from its investigation that began in July of 2015.

A Takata Corp. logo on a display of child safety seats at a car showroom in Tokyo, on June 26, 2017. (Christopher Jue/Getty Images)

Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies Inc., which conducts research for lawyers that sue automakers as well as for other groups, noted that just as in the early stages of the Takata ordeal, many ARC ammonium nitrate inflators remain in use.

Its almost like Groundhog Day here, said Kane, who asserts that NHTSA should have acted already. Its not a question of whether it can kill or injure people. It already has.

ARC, the lawsuit alleges, knew about the danger of ammonium nitrate in patent applications it filed in 1995 and 1998. In 2019, after several ARC inflators blew apart, ARC acknowledged that its use was not acceptable for automotive air bags, according to the lawsuit.

The suit asserts that General Motors, which began recalling Takata ammonium nitrate inflators in 2013, should have known that ARCs inflators were also unstable.

GM recalled only a small number of vehicles that contained a particular lot of inflators, despite its knowledge that ARC driver- and passenger-side inflators in various models and model years from 2002 through at least 2015 also had experienced ruptures, the lawsuit said.

In its statement Tuesday, GM said it makes recall decisions based on data and facts. It declined to comment further.

The lawsuit alleges that ARCs inflators are marred by a systemic problem rather than just a limited manufacturing defect. In 2014, an ARC inflator in a 2004 Kia Optima blew apart in a crash in New Mexico, injuring the driver.

Two years later, the driver of a car made by Kias sister automaker Hyundai was killed in Canada when an ARC inflator exploded in a crash.

The lawsuit also names Volkswagen and Ford as defendants, alleging that they represented the air bag inflators as safe while knowing they were dangerous.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating ARC inflators in 2015 after an Ohio woman was injured when an inflator exploded in a Chrysler minivan. At the time the agency estimated that there were 490,000 ARC inflators on the nations roads.

The review was elevated to an engineering analysis  a step closer to a product recall  in 2016 after the death in Canada.

Though a seven-year investigation is longer than most NHTSA reviews, inflators are particularly complex, said David Friedman, a former NHTSA acting administrator who is now a vice president at Consumer Reports.

Automakers appear to be balking at recalls for cost reasons, Friedman said. And NHTSA, he suggested, needs a slam dunk case before seeking recalls because of threats and lawsuits that automakers have filed in the past.

Thats one of the things thats broken in the system, he said.

Friedman described NHTSA as a chronically underfunded agency that has had to prioritize safety issues after four years of the Trump administration, which demanded far less federal regulation.

The fact that its stretched on seven years, the companies should have blinked, or NHTSA should have made them, or if they truly dont have a case, then say so, Friedman said.

A NHTSA official who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about an ongoing inquiry, said the investigation has persisted because of the complexity of air bag inflators and because ARCs design is different from Takatas.

We want to make sure what we do is thorough. he said.

He noted that NHTSAs investigation of ARC has had to examine issues different from the Takata case. Ammonium nitrate in Takatas inflators, for example, would deteriorate when airborne moisture entered the canister. But ARC pressurizes its inflator canisters to keep moisture out.

Its not similar to Takata, the official said.

Whether the ammonium nitrate tablets can deteriorate without moisture is still being investigated, he said.

The agency, he said, has retrieved ARC inflators from vehicles to learn how they work. It also has gathered production and other data from ARC and automakers and issued an order making automakers report any problems with ARC inflators.

He noted that several years went by without any incidents, before there were three in the past two years and that each of those cases is informing the investigation.

By Tom Krisher
A photograph shows a barley field at a farm in southern Ukraines Odessa region on May 22, 2022, on the 88th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)

RussiaUkraine War (May 25): Russia Ready to Set Up Corridor for Ships Leaving Ukraine With Food, With Conditions

The latest on the RussiaUkraine crisis, May 25. Click here for updates from May 24.

Russia Ready to Set Up Corridor for Ships Leaving Ukraine With Food, With Conditions

Russia is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying on Wednesday.

Ukraines Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 and more than 20 million tonnes of grain are stuck in silos in the country.

Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies and the lack of significant grain exports from Ukraine ports is contributing to a growing global food crisis.

Ukraine is also a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.

Western powers have been discussing the idea of setting up safe corridors for grain exports from Ukraines ports, adding that any such corridor would need Russian consent.

We have repeatedly stated on this point that a solution to the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the lifting of sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions, Rudenko was quoted as saying.

And it also requires the demining by the Ukrainian side of all ports where ships are anchored. Russia is ready to provide the necessary humanitarian passage, which it does every day.

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Russia Inches Towards Default as Washington Ends Bond Payment Exemption

Following Washingtons decision to end a key sanctions exemption, Russias chances of defaulting on its debts have increased.

Back in February, the U.S. Treasury had stated that it would allow Russia to make sovereign bond payments to American investors despite strong financial sanctions imposed on Moscow for its aggressive incursion into Ukraine. But on Tuesday, the departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it will not be renewing this exemption.

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Putin Hikes Russian Pensions, Plays Down Ukraine Impact on Economy

President Vladimir Putin ordered 10 percent rises on Wednesday in pensions and the minimum wage to cushion Russians from inflation, but denied the countrys economic problems were all linked to the war in Ukraine.

With annual inflation near 18 percent last month, the Kremlin leader acknowledged that 2022 would be a difficult year for the Russian economy.

When I say difficult, it doesnt mean all these difficulties are connected to the special military operation, Putin told a televised meeting of the State Council in Moscow.

Because in countries that arent conducting any operationssay, overseas, in North America, in Europeinflation is comparable and, if you look at the structure of their economies, even more than ours.

The pension increase comes into effect from June 1, while the minimum wage hike kicks in on July 1. Analysts said the steps would not prevent a sharp fall in real incomes.

Putinwhose approval rating has jumped more than 10 points since the start of the Ukraine campaign to 82 percent, according to the independent Levada Centres April pollpledged in March to reduce poverty and inequality this year despite Western sanctions and high inflation.

The Research and Expert Review Institute of the bank VEB said the increase in social payments would slow but not prevent a decline in Russians real incomes, wages, and pensionsafter inflation is taken into account.

The increase in wages and pensions may add to the inflation pressures that the central bank tried to cap with an emergency rate hike to 20 percent in late February, as the rubles foreign exchange value plunged. It has cut its rate twice since then as the ruble has recovered.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the measures would cost the federal budget around 600 billion roubles ($10.5 billion) this year and about 1 trillion roubles in 2023.

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Tanks, But No AmmoGermanys Ukraine Pledges Show Military Muddle

Four weeks ago, Germany agreed to send dozens of anti-aircraft tanks to help defend Ukraine from Russias invasion, part of what it called a turning point after decades of military restraint. Berlin says it can deliver the first Gepard tanks in July.

Thats too slow, a Ukrainian parliamentarian said on Tuesday, as Russian forces launched an assault on the countrys east.

Kyivs pleas for heavy weapons have intensified since Moscow turned its firepower on Ukraines east and south. But one reason for Germanys delay was a lack of ammunition, industry sources and Ukraines ambassador saida fact that was well-known to Berlin when it first made the pledge.

The confusion underlines how Russias invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has caught Berlin on the back foot. Germany is starkly ill-equipped for military action, its army chief has said, despite having one of the biggest defense industries in the world, with 9.35 billion euros worth of weapons exports in 2021 according to government data.

Gepard tanks fire a burst of 35 mm shots that form a cloud in the air to stop an incoming aircraft. Germany no longer uses them and has scant stocks of ammunition, which needs to be specially manufactured.

Asked to comment on the lack of ammunition, a defense ministry spokesperson said the government was giving support where support was possible. On May 20, Berlin said it had found ammunition and would send the tanks. Asked how it had found enough ammunition, the ministry did not respond.

Since promising the Gepard tanks, Berlin has pledged more heavy weapons to Ukraine. At home, it aims to use the special fund to boost defense spending over 45 years, bringing it to the 2 percent of economic output mandated by NATO. That would make Germany the worlds third-biggest military spender behind the United States and China, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

But its parliament has yet to pass the special fund.

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Switzerland to Aid Ukraine With Asset Seizure

The Swiss government on Wednesday said it will initiate proceedings to confiscate more than 100 million francs ($104 million) in assets of a close associate of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Switzerlands governing Federal Council said it is providing support to Ukraine as Kyiv is facing certain difficulties in its efforts to confiscate the money, which have been compounded by the current war. But it said the move is unrelated to sanctions imposed on Russia this year.

The government said the assets of Yanukovych associate Yuriy Ivanyushchenko and family members were frozen in Switzerland following the ouster of the Kremlin-friendly Yanukovych in 2014. A Swiss federal court will determine whether the assets can be confiscated and, if it agrees, they will be returned to Ukraine.

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Ukraines Zelenskyy Says Will Only Talk Directly to Russias Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that he was only willing to talk directly to Vladimir Putin and not via intermediators.

He added that if the Russian President understands reality there was the possibility of finding a diplomatic way out of the conflict.

Zelenskyy, speaking to an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, also said that Ukraine would fight until it recovered all of its territory.

The Ukrainian President said that Moscow should withdraw its troops back to the lines in place before Russia began its invasion on Feb. 24.

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US May Send American Troops to Ukraine to Safeguard Reopened Embassy: Gen. Milley

Plans to send American forces back into the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are being considered for the protection of the U.S. Embassy, said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, to reporters at the Pentagon on Monday.

Some of the things that may have been out there in the media, those are planning efforts that are underway at a relatively low level, Milley told reporters, possibly referring to a Wall Street Journal report.

The May 23 report talked about the diplomatic balancing act by White House officials to send in troops to safeguard the newly-reopened embassy during times of war, risking personnel safety on one hand, while avoiding escalating the conflict.

Read the full article here

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Moscow Says It Is Preparing Measures Against English-language Media in Russia

Moscow is working on measures against English-language media in response to unfriendly actions by foreign governments toward Russian media, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Zakharova said Russia was preparing measures against Anglo-Saxon media, using a term Russian officials often use to refer to the English-speaking world.

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EU to Make Breaking Sanctions Against Russia a Crime, Seizing Assets Easier

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to make breaking European Union sanctions against Russia a crime, a move that would allow EU governments to confiscate assets of companies and individuals that evade EU restrictions against Moscow.

Breaking EU sanctions on Russia is now a criminal offence in 12 EU countries. It is either an administrative or a criminal offence in 13 and two treat it only as an administrative offence, Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said. Penalties for sanction breaking across the EU vary accordingly.

The Commission proposal aims to unify that approach to make sanctions evasion a serious crime in all members of the 27-nation bloc, he told a news conference.

Todays proposals aim to ensure that the assets of individuals and entities that violate the restrictive measures can be effectively confiscated in the future, the Commission said in a statement.

The EU has so far frozen 10 billion euros in physical assets and more than 20 billion euros in bank accounts of Russian oligarchs.

But before these assets could be confiscated and sold off, the oligarchs would first have to be convicted of either trying to evade sanctions or of other crimes and the assets seized would have to be linked to that crime only.

The new EU law, which has to be unanimously approved by all EU governments and get a majority in the European Parliament, would also penalise those who help break sanctions, like lawyers or bankers working with those who circumvent restrictions.

The Commission also proposed to make it generally easier to confiscate assets of criminals in the EU, making it possible to impose an immediate freezing order to prevent the assets from being moved, before a proper court order confirms it.

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Ukraine Wants Rocket Launchers Sent Quickly

Ukraines foreign minister says the urgency of his countrys weapons needs can be summed up in two abbreviations: MLRSmultiple launch rocket systems, and ASAPas soon as possible.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says the situation in the eastern Donbass region is extremely bad. The rocket systems could help Ukrainian forces try to recapture places such as the southern city of Kherson from Russian occupiers who invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Kuleba said he had about 10 bilateral meetings with other leaders whose countries possess such systems.

The response I get is, Have the Americans given it to you already? he said, alluding to U.S. leadership. So this is the burden of being a leader. Everyone is looking at you. So Washington has to keep the promise and provide us with multiple launch rocket systems as soon as possible. Others will follow.

If we do not get an MLRS ASAP, the situation in Donbass will get even worse than it is now, he added. Every day of someone sitting in Washington, Berlin, Paris and other capitals, and considering whether they should or should not do something, costs us lives and territories.

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Sweden, Finland Delegations in Turkey for NATO Talks

Delegations from Sweden and Finland are scheduled Wednesday to hold talks in Ankara with senior Turkish officials, aiming to overcome Turkeys objections to their historic bids to join NATO.

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join the alliance last week in a move that marks one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russias war in Ukraineand which could rewrite Europes security map.

Turkey has said it opposes the two Nordic countries membership in the military alliance. It cites grievances with Swedensand a to a lesser extent Finlandsperceived support to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey views as a security threat. It also accuses the two of imposing arms export restrictions on Turkey and refusing to extradite suspected terrorists.

Turkeys objections have dampened Stockholms and Helsinkis hopes for quick NATO membership amid Russias invasion of Ukraine and puts the trans-Atlantic alliances credibility at stake. All 30 NATO members must agree to admit new members.

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Russia Looks to Cement South Ukraine Presence

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued an order to allow a fast track to Russian citizenship for people in two southern regions of Ukraine which are largely held by Russian forces.

Putins decree, dated Wednesday, could allow Russia to strengthen its control over the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. They form part of a land connection between eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula.

Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin last week visited both regions and indicated they could become part of our Russian family. A Russia-installed official in the Kherson region has predicted the region could become part of Russia.

Russia already had a program for fast-track naturalization of people living in two regions of eastern Ukraine claimed by Russia-backed separatists.

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Russia Says It Destroys Production Facilities of Aircraft Engines Maker

The Russian military says it has destroyed the production facilities of a key Ukrainian maker of aircraft engines.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that the military has used long-range air- and sea-launched missiles to destroy the Motor Sich plant in Zaporizhzhia.

Motor Sich has been a key maker of aircraft engines since Soviet times. It has specialized in helicopter engines, which were also used to equip Russian helicopters before the supplies were halted following Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula.

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Russia Says Mariupol Port Is Working Again

The Russian military says the key Ukrainian port of Mariupol is functioning again after three months of fighting.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that the military has finished clearing the port of mines and it is now fully operational.

The Russian forces took control of Mariupol, the strategic port on the Sea of Azov, after the last Ukrainian defenders at the giant Azovstal seaside steel plant laid down their weapons.

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Russia Scraps Age Limit for Joining Military

Russian lawmakers have passed a bill that removes age limits for professional soldiers joining the military and could be a way for the Russian armed forces to expand recruitment.

The lower house of the Russian parliament passed the bill in all three readings Wednesday to scrap an age limit of 40 for Russians signing their first voluntary military contracts.

The chair of the parliaments defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said the measure would make it easier to hire people with in-demand specialisms. A description of the bill on the parliament website indicated older recruits could be suited to operating precision weapons or serving in engineering or medical roles.

Russian authorities have said that only volunteer contract soldiers are being sent to fight in Ukraine, though they have acknowledged that some conscripts were drawn into the fighting by mistake in the early stages.

In recent years, the Russian military has increasingly relied on volunteers. All Russian men aged 1827 must undergo one-year compulsory military service.

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Ukraine: Russia Must Withdraw to Pre-War Positions for Talks

Ukraines president said Wednesday that Russia must pull back to its pre-war positions as a first step before diplomatic talks, a negotiating line that Moscow is unlikely to agree to anytime soon.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he currently sees no willingness on the part of Russia to resume earnest negotiations on ending the 3-month war.

At the beginning, there was an impression that we can move ahead, that there would be a certain result or some outcome of those talks. But it all has stalled, Zelenskyy said through an interpreter by video link to attendees at this years World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

He expressed a willingness to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin directly, but stressed that Moscow needs to make clear its willingness to engage in serious talks.

They should demonstrate at least something like steps withdrawing their troops and equipment to the position before the 24th of February, the day Russias invasion began, he said. That would be a correct step, first step in negotiations.

Zelenskyy also made clear that Ukraines aim is to regain all of its lost territory.

Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol has become functional after three months of fighting.

The military has completed clearing the port of land mines and it has been made fully operational, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday.

Russian forces have taken full control over Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, after the last Ukrainian defenders at the giant Azovstal seaside steel plant laid down their weapons.

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Russia Launches New Assault on Eastern Ukraine Towns

Russian forces launched offensives on towns in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, with constant mortar bombardment destroying several houses, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia focuses its attack on the industrial Donbass region.

Russia is trying to take the rest of the separatist-claimed Donbasss two provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, and trap Ukrainian forces in a pocket on the main eastern front.

In the easternmost part of the Ukrainian-held Donbass pocket, the city of Sievierodonetsk on the east bank of the Siverskiy Donets River and its twin Lysychansk, on the west bank, have become a pivotal battlefield. Russian forces were advancing from three directions to encircle them.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyys office said the Russians launched an offensive on Sievierodonetsk early on Wednesday and the town was under constant fire from mortars.

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said six civilians were killed and at least eight wounded in Sievierodonetsk.

Ukraines military said it had repelled nine Russian attacks on Tuesday in the Donbass using aircraft, rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, mortars, and missiles.

Reuters could not immediately verify information about the fighting.

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Russia Ready to Set Up Corridor for Ships Leaving Ukraine With Food, With Conditions

Russia is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying on Wednesday.

Ukraines Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 and more than 20 million tons of grain are stuck in silos in the country.

Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies and the lack of significant grain exports from Ukraine ports is contributing to a growing global food crisis.

Western powers have been discussing the idea of setting up safe corridors for grain exports from Ukraines ports, adding that any such corridor would need Russian consent.

We have repeatedly stated on this point that a solution to the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the lifting of sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions, Rudenko was quoted as saying.

And it also requires the demining by the Ukrainian side of all ports where ships are anchored. Russia is ready to provide the necessary humanitarian passage, which it does every day.

Russia is in touch with the United Nations on the issue, Rudenko was quoted as saying by another news agency, RIA.

Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of planting drifting mines in the Black Sea.

Rudenko was also quoted by Interfax as saying that possible escort by Western ships of Ukraines vessels carrying grain would seriously exacerbate the situation in the Black Sea.

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200 Bodies Found in Mariupol: Mayors Adviser

An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol said on Tuesday that workers removing rubble from a collapsed apartment building in the devastated Ukrainian city found about 200 corpses in the buildings basement.

Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram that the bodies were decomposing and that the stench permeated the neighborhood. Its not clear when they were discovered and the report could not be independently verified.

Perched on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol was relentlessly pounded during a monthslong siege that finally ended last week after some 2,500 Ukrainian fighters abandoned a steel plant where they had made their last stand in the strategic port city.

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Ukrainian Refugee Camp in Mexicos Capital to Close

Organizers of a camp for Ukrainian refugees who had traveled to Mexico said Tuesday they will soon close it and discouraged Ukrainians still in Europe from traveling to Mexico as they try to enter the United States.

Some 1,000 Ukrainians passed through the camp during the month that it was open on the east side of Mexico City. Now, only about 120 remain, and 98 percent of those already have sponsors lined up in the United States and expect to soon travel there, said Vlad Fedoryshyn, director of United with Ukraine, a nongovernmental organization, that collaborated with the Mexican government to establish the camp.

Anastasiya Polo, United with Ukraine spokeswoman, said Ukrainians still in Europe should register for the U.S. governments program and not waste money and effort traveling to Mexico. Before the camp was established in Mexico City, Ukrainians were traveling to Tijuana at the U.S.Mexico border.

We are asking people from Europe, Ukrainians, to go through the program from Europe, do not come to Mexico because it is much more expensive for them, it is a lot of traveling, Polo said. The camp will close by June 1, but Ukrainians remaining in Mexico will continue receiving support.

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US to End Russias Ability to Pay International Investors

The United States will close the last avenue for Russia to pay its billions in debt back to international investors on Wednesday, making a Russian default on its debts for the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution all but inevitable.

The Treasury Department said in a notification that does not plan to renew the license to allow Russia to keep paying its debt-holders through American banks.

Since the first rounds of sanctions, the Treasury Department has given banks a license to process any bond payments from Russia. That window expires at midnight May 25.

There had already been signs that the Biden administration was unwilling to extend the deadline. At a press conference heading into the Group of Seven finance minister meetings in Koenigswinter, Germany, last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the window existed to allow a period of time for an orderly transition to take place, and for investors to be able to sell securities.

The expectation was that it was time-limited, Yellen said.

Naveen Athrappully, The Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. There is no consensus over continuing the work, talks of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on Nagorno Karabakh, first of all by Azerbaijan, but the rumors about the "death" of the Co-Chairs format are a bit exaggerated, ARMENRESS reports Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan during the parliament-Cabinet Q&A session.

MP Vahagn Khachaturyan inquired if there is any consensus on the mandate and works of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs format, whats the future of that format and whats being done to start talks on NK issue in the sidelines of the format.

"Due to the war in Ukraine, the work of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, to put it mildly, is not active. In general, it can be stated that there were no visible works in that framework. Prior to that, Azerbaijan was the country that rejected the proposal, need to continue the talks on the format of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs. But after the war in Ukraine, there was some disagreement also between the Co-chairs. We, undoubtedly, see the place of negotiations for the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the platform of OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, Mirzoyan said.

He assured that the Armenian side constantly talks about this, works in this direction with all international partners, first of all, with the Co-chairs. "And I am happy to state that recently, you might have noticed that the Co-chair countries are reaffirming their commitment to continue working in that format," Mirzoyan said.

According to him, this can be seen in the joint statement of Prime Minister Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin after the last meeting, and in the statement made after his visit to the US by US Secretary of State Blinken, in the statement made by his French counterparts.

Referring to the issue, the Foreign Minister said that to say that there is a consensus on this issue would be an exaggeration. "There is no consensus, first of all, through Azerbaijan's efforts. However the rumors about the 'death' of this format are also a bit exaggerated," Mirzoyan said.
Jorge Cortez, a resident of Orange, Calif., has been supporting veteran service members by putting up U.S. flags in front of their homes since 2018. (Courtesy of Paula Zmudzinski)

Local Hero Flies Old Glory for Service Members Before Memorial Day

ORANGE, Calif.An Orange County man has become a local hero for painting his community red, white, and blue in preparation for Memorial Day.

Jorge Cortez, a resident of Orange, California, and Loyal Knight Officer of the Orange Elks Lodgea fraternal order with nearly a million members since its establishment in 1868has been supporting veteran service members by putting up U.S. flags in front of their homes when they dont have the ability to do so.

In a Facebook group titled Flags Over Orange/Villa Park/Tustin, Cortezwho is known as JCposts stories about the veterans and their families to whom he gifts the flags. He has also been known to keep in check with those he has helped in the past to see if they need a fresh flag and adjustments to the position of the old one.

JC has been providing these flags since 2018 and is continuing to add more veterans to his service list daily.

As a father of six, JC has to schedule the installations during his precious spare time and sometimes brings his young daughter with him to help install the flags.

According to his Facebook page, the families he helps sometimes invite him in to share a piece of their story and show him around their homeswhich he then posts online with their permission to commemorate their commitment to the country.

Paula Zmudzinski nominated her parents, June and Bob Shelly, to receive a flag after seeing what JC has been doing on social media.

June and Bob Shelly have their U.S. flag set up thanks to Jorge Cortez, a resident of Orange, Calif., who has been supporting veteran service members by putting up U.S. flags in front of their homes since 2018. (Courtesy of Paula Zmudzinski)

JC provides a wonderful service and tribute to our Veterans.  [My parents] are thrilled to have a flag, Zmudzinski told The Epoch Times.

Her father, Bob, served in the U.S. Armyincluding the army band in Panamafor two years from 1956 to 1958 and then in the Army Reserves for four more years. The couple now has two daughters and eight grandchildren, two of whom are serving in the Navy.

A collage of June and Bob Shelly of Orange, Calif. (Courtesy of Paula Zmudzinski)

JC also installed a flag for Mike Wallace, who served in the Marine Core from 1976 to 1985. He requested the flag in honor of his late father Paul Wallace, who served in WWII as an artilleryman and fought in The Battle of the Bulge.

JCs support for veterans, active service members, and their families comes greatly appreciated this time of year as Memorial Day, May 30, approaches.

Another Orange County city, Newport Beach, is putting up 1,776 flags on display as a Field of Honor in Castaways Park for community members to admire and reflect on the sacrifice service members and first responders have made on Memorial Day.

The previous year, JCs cousin, an active airman, was also honored in the Orange Field of Valor with a flag for his service.

In 2021, JC was nominated as one of 125 most influential people in the county by the Orange County Register after hanging over 100 flags in the community. In a Facebook post celebrating this feat, JC thanked several other people and organizations for their financial support for his cause, including the communities of the City of Orange, Home Depot, Orange Elks Lodge, and his family.

If you would like to learn more about or support JCs work and other service members in your community, visit his Facebook group page.
Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks to the media at a watch party in Rome, Georgia, after winning the District 14 GOP primary on May 24, 2022. (Jeff Louderback/The Epoch Times)

Marjorie Taylor Greene Wins Georgia 14th District GOP Primary

ROME, Ga.Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene won the Republican U.S. House primary in Georgias 14th Congressional District on May 24.

With 67 percent of the precincts reporting at 9:39 p.m., Greene received more than 69 percent of the vote and was projected as the winner by Decision Desk HQ.

Greene will face Democrat Marcus Flowers in the general election. Flowers won the Democratic primary with more than 74 percent of the vote.

This is a referendum on the Washington establishment and the media. They have attacked me and lied about me over and over. They have consistently tried to mislead people in my district and across the country about who I am, Greene told a crowd of supporters shortly after winning.

Winning by such a large margin shows that the people here dont believe the lies and the negative messaging, and it shows people see that I am standing up for the values that are important to them, and to all of us as Americans.

A political lightning rod, Greene was a relatively unknown in her northern Georgia district until she left the business world for a successful House of Representatives bid.

Early in Greenes freshman term, House Democrats and 11 Republicans voted to remove her from committee assignments because of her outrageous beliefs and controversial social media posts.

An outspoken defender of former President Donald Trump and his America First platform, Greene twice introduced articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden.

She emerged as a vocal critic of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and was heavily fined for not wearing a mask on the House floor.

This year, Greene has voted against almost every Ukraine-related bill in Congress since Russia launched its invasion.

Greene has also drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike because she asked for a roll call on a series of bills. Many bills are generally passed either through voice vote or unanimous consent, which Greene says doesnt always reflect an accurate tally, nor does it give voters a true sense of who voted for what.

The American people deserve to know where their member of Congress stands with a roll call vote, Greene said. While thousands of illegal aliens are invading Bidens open border, American kids are losing their education with closed schools. Thousands of small businesses have been forced to shut down. The people really dont care about politicians whining about voting and doing their job for 10 hours.

On behalf of five voters in the 14th District, the national election and campaign finance reform group Free Speech for People attempted to have Greene banned from running for reelection in April.

The group alleged that Greene had a significant role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breech. They argued that her actions violated a part of the 14th Amendment regarding insurrection, which makes her ineligible to seek another term.

In early May, Georgia Administrative Law Judge Charles Beaudrot decided that Greene was eligible to remain on the ballot, ruling that the voters didnt provide sufficient evidence to support their claims.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger accepted Beaudrots findings and announced that Greene could seek reelection.

Greene said she encouraged a rally to support Trump, but she explained that she was unaware of plans to storm the Capitol. She added that she feared for her own safety during the incident and wrote social media posts urging people to remain calm and be safe.

Strahan Emerges as Main Challenger

Jennifer Strahan, who owns a health care advisory company, was considered Greenes most serious challenger, but Greenes campaign account was stockpiled with $9 million while Strahans pulled in around $400,000.

A first-time candidate, Strahan describes herself as a wife, mother, business owner, and Christian. She earned a doctorate in health care leadership and founded an advisory firm that helps health care businesses significantly reduce wasteful spending.

Strahan received backing from the Republican Jewish Coalition PAC, congressional members, and PACs representing UPS, International Paper, and other businesses.

We undoubtedly must have a comprehensive view and we must push back on the progressive agenda we are seeing in Washington, Strahan told The Epoch Times. However, when you dont have relationships with colleagues, you cant do that.

That hurts our district, our communities, and our citizens when we dont have an effective voice representing us. You dont have to sacrifice effectiveness for conservative values.

Greenes supporters disagree. At a rally for Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate David Perdue last week, Bikers for Trump founder and rally organizer Chris Cox invited Greene to the stage after saying: Like Donald Trump, she tells it like it is. You dont have to read her mind.

Throughout her reelection bid, Greene has encountered backlash from detractors who believe her style is too brash.

The mainstream media, the far left, and establishment Republicans are excited because they think that maybe we can get rid of her, Greene said about the May 24 primary and the November general election.

I say the things that people care about and say at home. I criticize Democrats a lot, but I also criticize my own party because I blame Republicans and Democrats both for where we are, and so do most people.

On paper, unseating Greene in the general election looks impossible, several Democrats admit. Yet Flowers, a U.S. Army veteran who wears a cowboy hat, has raised more than $8 million. After winning the Democratic primary, he is gearing up for pulling off an upset in a district usually dominated by Republicans.

Georgias 14th Congressional District is abundantly conservative. According to GeorgiaVotes.com, its 70 percent Republican.

Spanning from a part of northwest Georgia that stretches from metro Atlanta to the state line at Chattanooga, Tennessee, the district still heavily favors Republicans, even after boundaries were slightly shifted in 2021.

Redistricting gave the 14th District part of Cobb County, which President Joe Biden won by 14 points in 2020. As a whole, the district voted for Trump by 48 percentage points. Greene won by 31 pointsmore than 13,000 votesin 2020.
FILE PHOTO: A sign marks the headquarters of Moderna Therapeutics, which is developing a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 18, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Moderna Testing Potential Monkeypox Vaccines in Pre-Clinical Trials

Moderna Inc. said on Monday that it testing potential vaccines against monkeypox in pre-clinical trials as the disease spreads in the United States and Europe.

The announcement comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that there have been 131 cases of monkeypox identified around the world, with most of them occurring in Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.

Several cases or possible cases have been reported in the United States, including in Massachusetts, New York City, Utah, and Florida.

The first suspected case was reported on May 7 in an individual who traveled from the United Kingdom to Nigeria and subsequently returned to the United Kingdom.

In a statement on Twitter on Monday, pharmaceutical and biotechnology giant Moderna pointed to its commitment to advancing programs by 2025 against pathogens that pose a threat to public health, which it announced in March this year.

Underscoring this commitment, and as monkeypox is of global public health importance as identified by the WHO, we are investigating potential monkeypox vaccines at a preclinical level, Moderna said.

Moderna did not provide further details regarding its trials on monkeypox vaccines.

The Epoch Times has contacted Moderna for comment.

The vaccine manufacturers announcement comes one day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that doses of the Jynneos vaccine are being released in the United States to prevent monkeypox from spreading.

Made by Denmark-based biotech group Bavarian Nordic, the Jynneos vaccine is approved in the United States to be used against smallpox and monkeypox in people aged 18 and over who are at high risk of infection.

Symptoms of one of the first known cases of the monkeypox virus are shown on a patients hand June 5, 2003. (CDC/Getty Images)

According to the CDCs website, the monkeypox virus is related to smallpox, meaning that the latter vaccine may be able to protect individuals against monkeypox.

Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology at the CDC, told reporters at a media briefing on Monday that there are over 1,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine that were approved in the United States in 2019 and that are in the strategic national stockpile. They were initially set aside to be used for a potential smallpox outbreak.

Right now we are hoping to maximize vaccine distribution to those that we know would benefit from it, McQuiston said. So those are people whove had contact with known monkeypox patients, health care workers, very close personal contacts, and those in particular who might be at high risk for severe disease.

I can report that there has been a request for release of the Jynneos vaccine from the national stockpile for some of the high-risk contacts of some of the early patients. So that is actively happening right now, she added.

Monkeypox is a virus transmitted to humans from animals and is similar to smallpox, although it is clinically less severe than smallpox.

It is endemic to several African countries, typically those in close proximity to tropical rainforests, and spreads from one person to another through close contact with bodily fluids, lesions, respiratory droplets, and contaminated materials.

The virus can cause symptoms including fever, body aches, swelling of the lymph nodes, fatigue, and a prominent bumpy rash that often begins on the face before spreading to other parts of the body and can last up to a month

A number of individuals who have been diagnosed in the current outbreak have been homosexual men, WHO officials have said, although the virus itself is not a sexually transmitted infection and can be caught by anyone.
The CEO of Moderna Stephane Bancel is seen in this video frame grab as he speaks during an interview with AFP on Nov. 17, 2020. (Ivan Couronne/AFP via Getty Images)

Moderna Throwing 30 Million Doses in the Garbage, CEO Says

The CEO of pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna, Stephane Bancel, said the company is having to throw away millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines because nobody wants them.

Bancel made the comments during an appearance at the World Economic Forum on Monday, while noting his concerns over the lack of people getting vaccinated and waning immunity among those who have had the shots but declined to get boosters.

Its sad to say, Im in the process of throwing 30 million doses in the garbage because nobody wants them. We have a big demand problem, Bancel said.

The Moderna chief explained that his company has contacted a number of governments across the globe to see if anyone wants to take the vaccines but it has proven unsuccessful.

We right now have governmentswe tried to contact  through the embassies in Washington. Every country and nobody wants to take them, he said. And so the challenge we have right now is very different to the one we had two years ago.

The issue in many countries is that people dont want vaccines, Bancel added, while referencing populations in countries like China and the United States.

Bancels comments come as Moderna is set to release its superior Omicron- and subvariant-specific COVID-19 vaccine booster by the fall.

Moderna Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton told CBS earlier this month, We are confident that by the fall of this year, we should have large amounts of that new booster vaccine that will protect against Omicron and other variants, and really protect Americans and people around the world as we go into the fall of 2022.

However, deaths from COVID-19 have declined in recent months while hospitalizations remain relatively low. Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccines have remained a polarizing topic amid reports of adverse effects.

In recent months, a string of European countries have found themselves stuck with vaccines that they simply cannot use because of a lack of demand, while tighter finances in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine mean some nations simply cannot afford to purchase more. Those nations are now looking to amend their contracts with producers including Pfizer, Bloomberg reported.

During a virtual meeting with health officials from EU members nations including Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Finland, and others, organized by Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski on May 18, officials agreed to write a joint letter to the European Commission regarding the need to renegotiate the vaccine contracts.

We hope that the discussion with the commission and among member states will allow flexibility in the vaccine agreements, the joint letter states, adding, We are also counting on vaccine producers to show understanding to the exceptional challenges that Poland is facing supporting Ukraine and giving shelter to millions of Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war.

In a separate letter to commission President Ursula von der Leyen in April, the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania noted that vaccines are still being delivered to the Baltic states and other member states despite dwindling administration.

This puts pressure not only on logistics networks and storage but also has budgetary implications, the presidents wrote.

Negotiating with the vaccine manufacturers in an effort to amend deals with suppliers could grant member states the right to re-phase, suspend, or cancel altogether vaccine deliveries with short shelf life, they noted.

Meanwhile, in another letter, the health ministry of Bulgaria called for an open dialog with the commission and pharmaceutical companies, pointing to the fact that the current arrangement leaves member states forced to purchase quantities of vaccines they dont need.
More Travellers Coming to Canada as Pandemic Restrictions Ease: StatCan

The number of international travellers coming to Canada is on the rise with the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, but the number still remains well below pre-pandemic levels, Statistics Canada says.

A report from the agency released on May 24, shows roughly 148,900 foreign residents arrived in Canada in March 2022. While this is five times the number compared to the same month in 2021, it is less than half (43 percent) of the trips foreigners made to Canada in March 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similarly, U.S. residents made roughly 465,200 trips to Canada in March 2022, roughly five times the number of March 2021 but this represents less than one-third (31.9 percent) of the 1.5 million trips north made by Americans in March 2019.

The number of European travellers coming to Canada also saw a significant increase, jumping from 5,600 in March 2021 to 68,800 in March 2022. Visitors from Asia also increased from 12,100 to 33,700 during this period. However, the number of trips from both regions was also below the March 2019 level.

The StatCan report also looked at the number of trips Canadian residents made abroad.

Overall, Canadian residents made six times more trips overseas in March 2022 compared to March 2021, but it was still just over one-third (37.1 percent) of those made in March 2019.

Of the total returning Canadian trips, 775,800 were by automobile, with just under half (47.8 percent) being same-day trips.

While the number of return air trips by Canadian residents rose steeply from 18,900 in March 2021 to 549,300 in 2022, this was still under half the number of pre-pandemic trips.

The report also said many Canadians appear to have resumed March break vacations abroad as 685,000 residents returned from overseas travels in 2022, up from the 48,800 trips in March 2021 yet less than half (47.4 percent) of the 1.4 million trips made by returning Canadians in March 2019.

Canadians made 1.3 million return trips from the United States in March 2022, five times as many as in March 2021, but just a third of the 4 million trips made in March 2019.

In February 2022, the Canadian government announced its plan to gradually phase out restrictions on international travel with the easing of on-arrival testing for fully-vaccinated travellers and the option of using a rapid antigen test result or a molecular test result to meet pre-entry requirements.

At the end of that month, when restrictions limiting the number of airports allowed to receive international travellers expired, international flights were permitted to land in all Canadian government-designated international airports.

In April, border measures were further relaxed to allow fully-vaccinated travellers to enter the country without having to provide a negative pre-entry COVID-19 test.
Elon Musk, founder and chief engineer of SpaceX, speaks at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition in Washington, on March 9, 2020. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Musk Warns About Declining US Birth Rate: We Just Need to Celebrate Having Kids

Billionaire Elon Musk has again sounded an alarm over the countrys dwindling birthrate, saying people should celebrate having kids.

The tech visionary has for years warned that population collapse is the biggest threat to civilization, yet he has recently focused more on domestic underpopulation. USA birth rate has been below min sustainable levels for ~50 years, Musk wrote in a May 24 Twitter post.

Contrary to what many think, the richer someone is, the fewer kids they have. I am a rare exception, claimed the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who is also a father of eight. Most people I know have zero or one kid.

Writing in reply, former Tennessee GOP congressional candidate Robby Starbuck said America needs a culture shift that celebrates the nuclear family & having kids.

We just need to celebrate having kids, Musk responded.

Contrary to what many think, the richer someone is, the fewer kids they have. I am a rare exception. Most people I know have zero or one kid.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2022

His remarks come as the U.S. birthrate increased last yearthe first time since 2014up 1 percent from a year earlier, according to newly released report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It shows the number of births declined by an average of 2 percent per year from 2014 to 2020, followed by a further drop of 4 percent from 2019 to 2020 in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, the billionaire rebuked claims that having fewer children is environmental-friendly to prevent global warming, calling it total nonsense.

The environments gonna be fine even if we doubled the population, Musk said during a virtual summit on May 20. We cant have civilization just dwindle into nothing.

In 2019, American women in households with an annual income below the poverty threshold of $13,011 have seen the highest birth rate, at 74 births per 1,000 women, according to data from Statista. In comparison, families making over $200,000 per year have the lowest birth rateonly 44 births per 1,000 women.

Official statistics show that the estimated cost in 2015 of raising a child from birth through age 17 is $233,610, excluding the cost of college education, or almost $14,000 annually.

Musk expressed similar concerns in 2019 during a seminar with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba founder Jack Ma in Shanghai. Most people think we have too many people on the planet. But actually, this is an outdated view, he said, describing population collapse as the biggest issue in 20 years.
A supplied image obtained on Saturday, April 30, 2022, shows the newly discovered Philoria knowlesi, an already endangered mountain frog that calls Queensland's Gondwana Rainforest home. Australian scientists have discovered a new species of frog in south-east Queensland and it's already endangered. (AAP Image/Supplied by Queensland Department of Environment and Science) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

New Australian Mountain Frog Hops Into View

A new species of mountain frog has been discovered in the rainforests of New South Wales (NSW), and Queensland, Australia.

The species Philoria knowlesi was discovered by researchers from universities, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and the South Australian Museum, alongside ecologists from the Department of Environment and Science (DES).

The DES and external researchers suspected the existence of an undiscovered mountain frog species in 2006 when they began to collect and analyse the DNA of mountain frog populations in areas of Queensland and NSW. The areas monitored by the research team were Mount Barney National Park and Levers Plateau in Northern NSW, which are within the Gondwana Rainforests, one of Australias UNESCO World Heritage sites.

DES Senior Conservation Office Harry Hines said in a department media release that although researchers had long suspected there was a new species, in order for it to be confirmed, genetic evidence of the frog species was required.

As there were no DNA samples available from Mount Barney and Levers Plateau, the taxonomic status of these populations remained unresolved for many years, Hines said.

Over the past 16 years, we have gathered DNA samples and determined these populations are actually genetically distinct and warrant being regarded as a new species, he said.

Researchers in Australia spent 16 years gathering DNA evidence to establish the existence of the new mountain frog species. DNA double helix. (typographyimages/Pixabay)

Philoria knowlesi is varied in colour and pattern and is limited to upland rainforests and the areas adjacent to the wet eucalyptus forests. The species breed in small bogs, the banks of headwater streams, and seepages, where the males can build breeding chambers in wet areas for the tadpoles to entirely develop within during the spring and early summer.

This new species of frog belongs to a lineage that is found only in rainforest vegetation communities, key researcher from the University of Newcastle (UON) Honorary Professor Michael Mahony said.

Most are confined to the very headwaters of mountain streams, Southern Cross University (SCU) Senior Lecturer David Newell said in an SCU news release.

Mahony and Newell said that the only known habitat of the Philoria knowlesi, the Gondwana rainforest, has one of Australias most diverse ecosystems.

The rainforests of Mt Barney National Park in Queensland and the adjacent Mt Nothofagus National Park in New South Wales have special significance in the evolution of Australias biota, they said. This is why they are enshrined as part of the Gondwana Rainforest of Australia World Heritage Area.

There are currently seven known species of mountain frog, six of which are found only in the Gondwana rainforest area, Mahony and Newell said.

A firefighter conducts back-burning measures to secure residential areas from encroaching bushfires on the Central Coast, some 90-110 kilometres north of Sydney, on Dec. 10, 2019. Toxic haze blanketed Sydney on Dec. 10, as Australians braced for severe weather conditions expected to fuel deadly bush blazes. (Saeed Khan/via Getty Images)

Australian wildlife and critical habitats such as the Gondwana rainforests and the multiple species of mountain frog living within were extensively and significantly impacted by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020.

The Australian federal government has sought to address the impact by dedicating $200 million (US$142 million) to a Bushfire Wildlife and Habitat Recovery Package. The most impacted areas and threatened species were prioritised for funding.

Furthermore, the commonwealth government provided $3.85 million to the Queensland government for the recovery of fire impacted areas in southern Queensland, such as the Gondwana Rainforests.

Officer Hines said that the mountain frogs that survived the Black Summer were still inhabiting areas that were burnt by the fires, according to the DES led and government-supported Queensland Bushfire Recovery Program.

Not only that, but the increased survey effort resulted in the discovery of additional populations of the new species, Hines said.

Additionally, he noted that the researchers were also able to gather the only systematic data on calling phenology, which he said: will support the design of future surveying and acoustic monitoring of the species.

The Wurrmbu Creek is seen flowing through the world heritage listed Daintree rainforest on Nov. 15, 2012 in Mossman Gorge, Australia. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Hines said that the DES is currently working to preserve the habitat of the new frog species as a component of ongoing park management since, at the moment, the new species qualifies as endangered.

There are a number of measures rangers are taking to support the recovery of fire-impacted areas of Mount Barney National Park and the Gondwana Rainforests, including where these frogs are found in Queensland, he said.

The measures in place include a program to control feral pig populations, fencing to keep cattle out, ongoing fire management to limit risks of future bush fires, and weed control in surrounding areas. The weed control is intended to support habitat regeneration.

Prof. Mahony said that the new species was named Philoria knowlesi to honour environmentalist Ross Knowles, from St Ives, Sydney in NSW for his outstanding work on Australian frogs and conservation.

The naming recognised Mr Knowles for his early field research that first uncovered the high species diversity among mountain frogs, Mahony said.

And because of his long and tireless support of environmental values and conservation of Australias unique biodiversity.

The formal description of the new frog species is included in a scientific paper published in the journal Zootaxa.
A Boeing logo during the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 23, 2022. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

No Data to Support Changing Boeing 737 MAX 10 Cockpit Alerting: Executive

EVERETT, Wash.A Boeing Co. executive said there was no need to revamp the cockpit crew alerting system in its forthcoming 737 MAX 10 jet, as the U.S. planemaker races to complete its certification before a year-end deadline.

I personally have no belief that theres any value in changing the 737, Mike Delaney, Boeings chief aerospace safety officer, told a small group of reporters at its factory north of Seattle.

Theres no data that says switching to another system is safer, Delaney said, adding that the company was still evaluating its options.

Boeing is facing an increasingly high-stakes battle to win certification for the largest variant of the 737 MAX before a new safety standard on cockpit alerts takes effect.

The deadline for changes was introduced as part of broader regulatory reforms at the Federal Aviation Administration after fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Missing the deadline could trigger require Boeing to revamp the jets crew alerting system. That would most likely mean separate pilot trainingraising costs to airlines and putting orders at risk.

Delaneys comments came during a media event Boeing hosted at its Everett campus north of Seattle, where it unveiled new pilot training tools and a revamped data-sharing system.

The efforts are part of a long-term global safety initiative, to reduce risks such as those faced by the crews in two 737 MAX crashes.

The event was timed to the release of an annual safety report, required by.

The settlement also required Boeing to separate the CEO and Board chair positions, which it has done, and create for at least five years an ombudsperson program to provide Boeing employees conducting airplane certification work with a way to raise work-related concerns.

Delaney, a Boeing veteran who took on the safety role more than a year ago, told reporters an ombudsman had been selected, but had not yet started the job. He declined to name the person.

Boeing has also added six new board members with expertise in engineering, safety, and supplier management, and.

The 737 MAX 10, the largest variant of the 737 MAX family, competes with Airbus strongest-selling model, the A321neo. Both planes are aimed at the fast-growing segment of the market just above 200 seats.

Boeing is entrenched in broader certification and industrial headaches across its jetliner portfolio.

The company has held talks with some lawmakers about asking for more time, but has not formally sought an extension to address the flight deck issue. Only Congress can extend the deadline if the FAA does not certify the MAX before the end of the year.

Unlike other Boeing aircraft, the 737 lacks the Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System known as EICAS, which complies with the FAA regulation.

People love the upside of design changes and never thinking about the downside, Delaney said.

By Eric M. Johnson
The flag of North Korea is seen in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 20, 2017. (Pierre Albouy/Reuters)

North Korea Fires 3 Ballistic Missiles, With 1 Suspected ICBM

US, South Korea respond quickly

North Korea has launched three ballistic missiles off its east coast on Wednesday local time, according to South Koreas military, marking the first weapons fire in about two weeks and the 17th round this year. One of the missiles is believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

According to South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the three ballistic missiles were launched in the space of less than an hour between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. from the Sunan area of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

The first missile appeared to be an ICBM, while a second unidentified missile appears to have failed mid-flight, the JCS said. The third missile was a short-range ballistic missile, it said.

Japans coast guard also reported at least two launches. Japanese broadcaster NHK reported the missiles appeared to have landed outside the countrys exclusive economic zone.

In a quick response, Washington and Seoul held combined drills, mobilizing warplanes and firing several surface-to-surface missiles. Specifically, the JCS said Seouls military mobilized about 30 F-15 fighter jets and fired a Hyunmoo-II ballistic missile into the East Sea, Yonhap reported. Meanwhile, the United States fired one Army Tactical Missile System missile in the same direction.

Our militarys show of force was intended to highlight our resolve to firmly respond to any North Korean provocations, including an ICBM launch, and our overwhelming capability and readiness to conduct a surgical strike on the origin of the provocation, the JCS said in a statement.

North Koreas missile launches came hours after U.S. President Joe Biden left Asia after a five-day trip. Biden started the trip by visiting Seoul where he agreed to boost measures to deter North Korea from advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities and intensifying its weapons tests. The measures include plans to increase and expand combined military exercises with South Korea, as well as deploy more U.S. strategic assets if necessary.

The two countries had also offered to send COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea.

After traveling to South Korea, Biden went on to Japan, where he and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio agreed to work closely to address security challenges, which include North Koreas nuclear and ballistic programs, as well as Chinas increasingly coercive behavior in the AsiaPacific region.

Bidens Asia trip concluded with a Quad meeting with the leaders of Japan, India, and Australia.

Separately, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday convened his first National Security Council meeting to discuss the Norths launches, his office said. Yoon, who took office on May 10, strongly condemned North Koreas launches as a a grave provocation that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions, raises tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, and threatens international peace.

Just hours before Pyongyangs missile launches, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington that North Korea may be about to conduct a major weapons test.

Our concern for another potential provocation, be it an ICBM launch, be a potential seventh nuclear weapons test, our concern has not abated in any way, he said.

North Koreas last missile tests were on May 12, hours after the country reported its first COVID-19 cases. This year, the country appears to have ramped up its weapons tests, including test-firing ICBMs at full range in March, marking the first ICBM test since 2017.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Storage tanks are seen at the Petroineos Ineos petrol refinery in Lavera, France, on March 29, 2022. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

Oil Edges Higher on Tight Supply and Expected Demand Uplift

LONDONOil prices rose on Wednesday, buoyed by tight supplies and the prospect of rising demand from the summer driving season in the United States, the worlds biggest crude consumer.

Brent crude futures for July rose for a fifth session running, gaining $1.69, or 1.5 percent, to $115.25 a barrel by 0940 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July delivery rose $1.86, or 1.7 percent, to $111.63.

Stockpiles data from the U.S. government is due on Wednesday, with analysts polled by Reuters poll expecting U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories to have fallen last week.

Just ahead of the summer driving season, U.S. gasoline stocks find themselves at their seasonally lowest level since 2014, said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

U.S. Memorial Day weekend travel is expected to be the busiest in two years, causing fuel demand to rise as more drivers hit the road and shake off coronavirus pandemic restrictions despite high fuel prices.

At the same time, global crude supplies continue to tighten as buyers avoid oil from Russia, the worlds second-largest exporter, after the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a special military operation.

Frances new foreign minister on Tuesday said she was optimistic on the prospect of securing agreement on a European Union sanctions package that would phase out Russian oil imports to the bloc despite current opposition in some quarters.

With explicit bans on importing Russian crude in the U.S. and UK, and oil companies reluctant to buy even without formal legal obstacles, self sanctions are still causing supply shortages, said SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes in a note.

On the flip side is the the strict approach to the COVID-19 pandemic from China, the worlds biggest oil importer. Beijing has imposed new curbs while Shanghai plans to keep most restrictions in place this month.

By Rowena Edwards
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Complying with the letter addressed to the President of the Republic by the political parties submitted to the Artsakh Republic Parliament on May 24, President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan convened an enlarged sitting of the Security Council on May 25, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Artsakh Presidents Office.

Ad initium, the Head of the State underscored that the wording about ensuring the "rights and security of the ethnic Armenian population of Karabakh" in the statement of President of the European Council Charles Michel is highly unacceptable for the people and authorities of Artsakh, noting that it does not reflect the demands and aspirations of the Artsakh Armenians, based on the right of peoples to self-determination, which have been clearly formulated for the international community over the past thirty years.

According to President Harutyunyan, he had a chance to meet with Armenian Premier Nikol Pashinyan and discuss the Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting held in Brussels on May 22, and in this context he would like to affirm once again, that the exclusive right of determining the fate and status of Artsakh belongs to the people and authorities of Artsakh. In the words of the President, Prime Minister Pashinyan stressed that no one can, nor is going to sign any document behind the back of the people of Armenia and Artsakh. If there is a concrete proposal for concrete solutions, it will be discussed with the Artsakh authorities, and the public will be informed properly.

President Harutyunyan stressed that the Artsakh Republic unwaveringly pursues the path of international recognition of independence through the full and unconditional realization of its people's right to self-determination, and the proper provision of the rights and security of the people of Artsakh is only possible outside Azerbaijan.
(L-R) Progressive Conservative Party Leader Doug Ford, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, Liberal Party Leader Steven Del Duca, and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner debate during the Ontario party leaders' debate, in Toronto on May 16, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn)

On Ontario Election Campaign Trail, Education Promises Miss the Mark

Commentary

Next to health care, education is the second most expensive line item in every provincial budget. Its not surprising that education is a major topic during the current Ontario election campaign.

Politicians from all parties are making plenty of education campaign pledges. Too bad most of these promises would have little impact on student academic achievement, and in some cases, would do more harm than good.

For example, both the Ontario Liberals and the NDP say they will reduce class sizes. The Liberals went furthest with a pledge to cap class sizes at only 20 students for all grade levels and in all subjects. To meet this pledge, the Liberals say they will hire an extra 10,000 teachers for Ontario public schools.

Its easy to get caught up with the hype for smaller class sizes. There is a certain amount of logic that smaller classes will mean more individual attention for students and a more manageable workload for teachers. No doubt this is a popular proposal with parents and teachers.

However, while smaller class sizes are moderately beneficial for early years students, there is no evidence that they make much difference with older students. That is certainly what Derek Allison, noted education scholar and professor emeritus at the University of Western Ontario, found in 2019 when he conducted an extensive review of education research on the impact of smaller classes on academic achievement.

Considering how heavily indebted the province of Ontario is, capping class sizes would be prohibitively expensive. Blowing the budget on a policy that has only a moderate impact on student achievement seems unwise.

The Ontario Liberals and NDP also say they will scrap standardized testing for students. They argue that the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) needs to be replaced by a different assessment system. However, they are both vague on what exactly would take its place.

Without the data provided by standardized tests, it will be even harder to figure out how well Ontario students are actually doing. Provinces such as Saskatchewan and Manitoba abolished most of their standardized tests years ago and they are literally operating in the dark when it comes to measuring student achievement.

Scrapping the EQAO tests might play well to certain crowds, but it certainly wouldnt be in the best interest of students. Provinces need accurate data on student academic achievement to make good policy decisions.

As for the Ontario PCs, their record on education is mixed at best.

While they are wisely promising to continue with the EQAO tests and are avoiding foolish promises to cap class sizes, they are still moving ahead with two mandatory e-learning credits for high school students. There is not a shred of evidence that mandatory e-learning benefits students and it is disappointing that the Ontario PCs are still pushing forward with this initiative.

The best part of the PC education platform is its promise to improve math and reading instruction. In fact, some positive changes have already happened. For example, Ontarios new math curriculum does incorporate many of the basic skills (such as learning standard algorithms and memorizing times tables) that were absent in the old curriculum.

As for reading instruction, the PCs appear to be the only party taking the recent Right to Read report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission seriously. Specifically, Education Minister Stephen Lecce recently pledged to realign the elementary curriculum with evidence-based reading instruction practices. This means a stronger focus on phonics and the abandonment of the ineffective three-cueing approach to reading instruction.

Considering the many challenges facing Ontarios public education system, the last thing students and parents need are simplistic solutions to complex problems. Real positive change will come from taking the time to improve the curriculum, particularly in math and reading, and help teachers become more effective in the classroom.

Thus, while there is much to be desired about how the Ontario PCs have handled the education file over the last four years, their education platform, even with its weaknesses, is still better for students than the Liberal or NDP platforms.

Regardless of which party wins the June 2 election, Ontarians deserve real changes that benefit students and that dont come with an unreasonable price tag for taxpayers.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Ontario Election: Parties Plans for Tackling Fuel Costs, Affordability

With the price of gasoline crossing the $2-per-litre mark and other cost-of-living-related concerns, heres a look at where Ontario political parties that have at least one MPP in the current legislative session are offering ahead of the June 2 vote. Parties are presented in order of the number of seats they hold in the legislature, from highest to lowest, and in the case of sole-MPP parties, the length of time the MPP served with the party.

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Leader Doug Ford. (The Canadian Press/Chris Young)

The Ford government has brought in legislation to cut the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre and the gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre for six months starting on July 1.

The Progressive Conservative Party is also campaigning on its initiatives to remove fees for licence plate renewal and tolls on some highways. The party says it is further helping with cost-of-living issues by increasing the minimum wage to $15.5 an hour starting on Oct. 1, which it says will help workers with rising costs.

On housing affordability, the PCs are touting their plan to cut red tape and build homes faster, noting that it resulted in the construction of more than 100,000 new homes in 2021, the highest level of new housing starts in a single year since 1987.

If re-elected, the party says it plans to build 1.5 million new homes over 10 years and pledges to work with municipalities to remove burdensome red tape to significantly accelerate the permitting and approvals of new home and rental construction.

Among its housing initiatives, the party says it will advance the transit-oriented community program, which recently led to agreements to build nearly 50,000 new housing units in the Greater Toronto Area that will be connected to transit.

The PCs add that they will crack down on land and housing permit speculators who are artificially choking the supply of new homes and driving up costs.

They also plan to invest more than $1 billion over the next three years to get more workers into jobs in the skilled trades.

Ontario New Democratic Party

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. (The Canadian Press/Chris Young)

Ontario NDP Leader Andrew Horwath says she would regulate retail and wholesale mark-up of gas prices, with the Ontario Energy Board setting a weekly price that would allow reasonable profits for fuel companies.

To address other cost-of-living issues, the party says it will create a provincial food strategy that puts focus on locally sourced food, adding that its plan to regulate the price of gas will also lower food-shipping costs.

On electricity costs, the NDP says it will provide support for retrofitting homes to make them more energy-efficient and thus lower electricity bills. It says it will expand clean renewable energy, including hydro, wind, and solar power, and improve grid scale storage and make major grid interconnections with Quebec and Manitoba to enable cost-effective electricity imports.

The party says it will also look for ways to work with the feds to have the $10-a-day child-care program implemented faster, and reduce fees for before- and after-school child care.

On housing, the NDP says it will establish a new public agency to build 250,000 affordable homes, and introduce a speculation and vacancy tax on residential properties. It will also end exclusionary zoning to increase the supply of affordable housing options.

For renters, the party says it will reinstate rent control, ensuring that new renters pay what the last tenant paid by scrapping vacancy decontrol, and will help 311,000 households with rent payments through a portable housing benefit.

As for post-secondary education, the NDP says it will convert student loans to grants, retroactively remove student loan interest, and reverse cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program.

Ontario Liberal Party

Ontario Liberal Party Leader Steven Del Duca. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

The Liberal Party, led by former Wynne government cabinet minister Steven Del Duca, plans to maintain the fuel tax cut by 5.3 cents per litre and gas tax cut by 5.7 cents per litre introduced by the Ford government for six months, a party spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

On other affordability issues, the party says it will remove the provincial HST on prepared food under $20, a plan that would be fully funded by a 1 percent surtax on Ontario companies that make more than $1 billion a year, and a 2 percent income tax increase on people earning over $500,000 a year.

It will also raise the minimum wage to $16 an hour and develop a living wage that factors in the local cost of living in different regions of the province.

On housing, the Liberal Party says it will build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years, and go after the rules and red-tape that are driving home costs and prices up.

Among initiatives it would launch to build new homes are unlocking more provincial land by burying electric transmission lines and redeveloping underutilized strip malls and offices, while introducing new taxes on vacant homes in urban areas and developers sitting on land.

The Liberals say they will also prevent sudden rent hikes by reinstating rent control everywhere in Ontario.

For post-secondary education, the party says it will give more funds to the Ontario Student Assistance Program that helps students pay for college and university. It would also eliminate interest on student loans.

Green Party of Ontario

Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner. (The Canadian Press/Geoff Robins)

The Green Party, led by first-time MPP Mike Schreiner, is calling for systemic solutions to reduce transportation costs, rather than focusing on reducing fuel costs. It also wants increased electrification and rebates for electric vehicles, reduced transit fares, and building communities such that there is no need for long commutes to and from work.

On other affordability issues, the party says it will increase the minimum wage by $1 each year, starting at $16 in 2022, and increase it further for cities that have higher living costs. It also says it would phase in a basic income program.

On housing, the Greens say they will invest $1 billion a year to build 182,000 new affordable community rental homes over the next decade and require a minimum of 20 percent affordable units in all housing projects above a certain size. The party will also allow single-family dwellings to be divided into multiple condominium units, end blind bidding, implement a down payment support program, and provide incentives for first-time homebuyers.

For renters, the party says it will reinstate rent controls on all units and extend financial support. It will also implement a speculation tax on people and companies who own more than two properties in the province, implement taxes to discourage leaving homes vacant and flipping properties, and crack down on money laundering.

For post-secondary education, the Greens would convert loans to grants for low- and middle-income post-secondary students.

New Blue Party of Ontario

New Blue Party of Ontario Leader Jim Karahalios. (Handout)

The New Blue Party, led by lawyer Jim Karahalios, plans to axe the carbon tax and also reduce the HST from 13 percent to 10 percent.

The party currently has one MPP in the legislature, Belinda Karahalios, Jims wife, who was elected as a PC candidate but was removed from the party for opposing the Ford governments legislation to give the government more power to extend emergency orders.

New Blue also plans to target electricity costs by getting rid of wind turbines, which Karahalios says are adding to the rates significantly although they make up a small portion of the electricity generation capacity.

Decommission those, take those down, to reduce the price of electricity, he said in an interview.

On housing affordability, the party is opposed to the federal governments plan to increase immigration levels, which would increase demand for housing. On the supply side of housing, Karahalios says his party will focus on slashing red tape to allow more units to be built.

We have to do a review of the bureaucratic red tape and regulations and a host of industries, not just housing, he said. The Planning Act is a patchwork of different things of provincial and municipal laws and rules, and theyre applied differently based on different jurisdictions.

Karahalios says his party would ensure there is one set of rules and planning for everyone, and clarity and consistency in the planning process, so that people who are friends with the lobbyists running established parties dont have extra advantage.

Ontario Party

Ontario Party Leader Derek Sloan. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Led by former Conservative MP Derek Sloan, the Ontario Party says it plans to eliminate the provincial sales tax on gasoline and diesel while prices are high, and eliminate the provincial and industrial carbon taxes while challenging the federal carbon tax. The party says it will also develop a strategic oil reserve to cushion consumers during supply shocks and bolster demand in times of crisis.

The Ontario Party has one MPP in the current session of the legislature, Rick Nicholls, who was elected as a PC but left after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Further on energy affordability, the party says it will partner with Western provinces to push for an energy corridor between Ontario and Alberta, and eliminating Green Energy scams while putting a focus on making Ontario and Canada energy self-sufficient.

To rein in housing costs, the party says it will give property owners more freedom to build multi-unit residential dwellings, secure the right for Ontario to set immigration policy similar to Quebec and use that power to lower immigration rates into the province, ban foreign buyers from buying residential homes and vacant land, and fight money laundering which has impacted real estate prices.

For post-secondary education costs, the Ontario Party says it will lower the cost of tuition for programs that are in demand in the labour market, and make it virtually free for qualified applicants to train in skilled trades. It will also remove subsidies for programs that dont have labour market demand.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
Guests test out the new World of WarCraft expansion at BlizzCon 2017 at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Nov. 3, 2017. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)

Orange County Man Charged With Harassing Online Gamer for Multiple Years

SANTA ANA, Calif.An Orange County man appeared in federal court May 24 after a federal criminal complaint accused him of stalking a professional online gamer during a multi-year harassment campaign.

Evan Baltierra, 29, of Trabuco Canyon, was arrested by FBI agents on Monday afternoon, making his initial appearance the following day in a U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

He was released on $15,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned June 27.

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Baltierra orchestrated a campaign of harassment targeting the victim, her boyfriend, her friends, and her boyfriends family since July 2020.

The victim, a Canadian resident, is a known professional gamer in the community of World of Warcraft, a popular multiplayer online role-playing game.

According to a Department of Justice statement, the victim traveled to Anaheim in November 2019 to attend Blizzcon, an annual gaming convention that focuses on several video game franchises, including World of Warcraft. The victim met Baltierra in person at a meet-and-greet with her fans at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Following the convention, Baltierra allegedly asked the victim to be his valentine. In response, she politely told him she had a boyfriend. Baltierra then allegedly expressed a desire to visit the victim in Canada, an offer she declined.

After learning from an online friend in June 2020 that Baltierra was trying to find out where she lived because he wanted to visit her, the victim decided to remove Baltierra as moderator of her stream channel and block him from her social media, the statement says.

Baltierra allegedly continued to contact the victim via direct message on various platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and email.

He allegedly contacted the victims boyfriend and her colleague via the same online platforms. Many of these messages contained threats of violence toward the victim.

Baltierra also allegedly created fictitious online profiles that displayed photographs of the victim, including pornographic photographs where it appears that Baltierra photoshopped the victims face onto the photograph.

He then sent the photoshopped pictures to the victims friends and family, and regularly posted the photographed pictures on various internet chat rooms, the affidavit alleges.

Despite obtaining a temporary restraining order against Baltierra in Orange County Superior Court in February 2021 and Baltierra signing an agreement in which he promised to end the harassment campaign, Baltierra allegedly continued to stalk the victim.

In March 2022, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Baltierras residence and seized several items, including a thumb drive that contained many photoshopped nude images with the victims face on them, and evidence on Baltierras iPhone of email accounts with which he used to send the victim harassing messages, the affidavit states.

Baltierra is charged with one count of stalking. If convicted, Baltierra would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

The FBI investigation remains ongoing.
Panel Rejects Navy Attempt to Boot Officer for COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal

A Navy officer who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine is not getting separated from the force, an administrative board recently ruled.

The board, composed of three officers, found that Lt. Bill Moseley did not commit misconduct by refusing to get the vaccine, according to R. Davis Younts, Moseleys lawyer. The board also found unanimously that Moseley should be retained in the Navy.

A record of the May 20 hearing is not yet available, but the Navy confirmed that Moseley is not being removed.

The Navy can confirm a board of inquiry occurred for Lt. Bill Moseley and that he was retained in the Navy. The Navy does not comment on the specifics of administrative actions, a Navy spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in an email.

The Epoch Times has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for audio of the hearing and the verdict.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a Biden appointee, ordered all military personnel in August 2021 to get a COVID-19 vaccine. He said the move was done to make sure military readiness was maintained during the pandemic.

Each member had the option of submitting requests for accommodation, but many requests were rejected, including the vast majority of those submitted on religious grounds.

Moseley opposes getting a COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons but ultimately opted not to file a request for a religious exemption because he became convinced that the request was going to be denied, regardless of how legitimate it was, Younts told The Epoch Times.

Moseley also felt he had an obligation as an officer to object to the lawfulness of Austins order.

Underpinning the challenge to the order was the fact that the approved versions of the COVID-19 vaccines remain largely or completely unavailable in the United States. The two most administered shots, from Pfizer and Moderna, were first cleared under emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late 2020.

Lt. William Moseley, left, in an undated file image. Moseley, right, stands with attorney R. Davis Younts after winning his case to stay in the military despite refusing the COVID-19 vaccine order. (Courtesy of R. Davis Younts)

Moseley spent time buttressing his case by going to three separate Navy facilities to see if they had the versions of the vaccines marked Comirnaty (Pfizer) or Spikevax (Moderna) but found each time that they werent available, Younts said.

He was able to document that which I think was very important, because many, many people, including people in the military, just dont understand the distinction between an emergency use authorization product and whats actually FDA approved, he said.

Austin in his memorandum to the force ordering COVID-19 vaccination said that the mandatory vaccination will only use COVID-19 vaccines that receive full licensure, or approval, from the FDA. But he also said that vaccines that have received FDA authorization or clearance from the World Health Organization are allowed.

Queries to states by The Epoch Times have repeatedly shown that few, if any, vaccines produced after approval are available. The FDA has declined comment, and the companies have said that existing product will be used until it is no longer available.

Federal law says that products granted emergency authorization cannot be mandated for the military unless the president determines, in writing, that complying with such requirement is not in the interests of national security. Neither President Donald Trump nor President Joe Biden has made such a determination.

Moseley submitted a copy of that law and several other exhibits to the board supporting his position that it is legally impossible to comply with the mandate, according to documents reviewed by The Epoch Times.

The Navy board largely agreed, and Moseley, who enlisted in 2000, can now remain with the force until he retires.

Nearly 900 Navy members have been discharged for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine as of mid-May.

Moseleys case could affect future ones, depending on who you ask.

The board looked at all the facts, all the information, all the evidence, and they found that refusing the COVID vaccine was was not misconduct, because they were not convinced it was a lawful order, Younts said. Its not binding on any other case, but it does send a strong strong message that if military members get a fair shakeyou have a fair and impartial boardthis is going to be the outcome.

The Navy spokeswoman said: Boards of inquiry are decided on a case-by-case basis and the decisions of one board of inquiry will not necessarily have implications for other boards of inquiry or for separations that have already occurred. The Navy is committed to due process, to include boards of inquiry.
Dr. Mehmet Oz receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, Calif., on Feb. 11, 2022. (JC Olivera/Getty Images)

Pennsylvania Officials Officially Announce Recount for GOP Primary for US Senate Seat

Oz, McCormick separated by about 900 votes

The Republican primary for a soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat representing Pennsylvania is headed to a recount, officials announced on May 25.

The 902-vote difference between Dr. Mehmet Oz and businessman David McCormick is within the one-half of 1 percent margin that triggers a mandatory recount under state law, Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman said during a briefing.

Mr. McCormick has not waived his right to a recount. So, as acting secretary of state, Im required by the election code to order all county boards of elections to conduct a recount of the race, she said.

McCormick had said in a statement that the narrow difference between himself and Oz would trigger a recount.

We look forward to a swift resolution so our party can unite to defeat socialist John Fetterman in the fall, he said, referring to the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor who won the Democrat primary.

Casey Contres, an Oz campaign manager, said earlier that it was becoming obvious that Oz would prevail.

The unofficial count, following returns from all 67 counties, had Oz with 419,365 votes, or 31.2 percent, and McCormick with 418,463 votes, or 31.1 percent.

Author Kathy Barnette was third with about 25 percent.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick holds a campaign rally at Frosty Valley Resort in Danville, Pa., on April 20, 2022. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Each county can start recounting votes on May 27. They must start by June 2 and finish by noon on June 7.

Chapman also ordered all counties to separate and tabulate ballots without dates and with incorrect dates.

Our position is that undated and incorrectly dated ballots should count, she said, pointing to a federal appeals court decision that federal law requires Lehigh County to count 257 mail-in ballots that werent counted in the 2021 election because no dates were written on the return envelopes. To be clear, our guidance will enable counties to arrive at an accurate count no matter what the courts decide.

With 65 counties reporting, the undated ballot count was 860 from Republican voters and 4,190 from Democrat voters. There are about 4,000 absentee ballots that havent yet been counted, in addition to around 6,000 provisional ones.

The announcement came a few days after McCormick filed a lawsuit to try to make sure all mail-in ballots lacking a date were counted. No judgment has yet been rendered.

Once the recount is over, the winner will face off with Fetterman for the seat being vacated by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is retiring after his current term in office.

Every Senate seat is critical because the makeup of the upper chamber is currently 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats or nominal independents. Vice President Kamala Harris, as president of the chamber, can cast tiebreaking votes.

Out of 34 Senate seats up for election, 14 are held by Democrats and 20 by Republicans.
Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard is shown in this courtroom sketch in Toronto, Jan. 6, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Alexandra Newbould)

Peter Nygard Sexual Assault Case to Return to Montreal Courtroom in July

Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygards sexual assault and forcible confinement case in Quebec will return to a Montreal courtroom July 8.

Nygard remains detained in Toronto and did not appear during the brief hearing before a judge at the Montreal courthouse.

Laurence Juillet, a lawyer for Nygard, asked for the delay while her clients other pending sex crime cases move through the courts.

Nygard faces one count of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement in Quebec. The crimes, which involve the same person, allegedly took place between Nov. 1, 1997, and Nov. 15, 1998.

He is also facing six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement in Toronto in connection with alleged incidents dating back to the late 1980s and mid-2000s.

Authorities in the United States have asked for him to be extradited to face sex-related charges in that country.
A 3D printed Pfizer logo is placed near medicines from the same manufacturer in this illustration taken on Sept. 29, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

Pfizer Providing Drugs, Vaccines at Not-for-Profit Price to Poorest Nations to Address Health Inequities

Pfizer Inc. announced on May 25 that it will provide all of its current and future patent-protected drugs and vaccines on a not-for-profit basis to 1.2 billion people in 45 lower-income countries.

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology company said in a press release that the plan is part of An Accord for a Healthier World, launched with the aim to address health inequities between many lower-income countries and the rest of the world.

The 23 drugs and vaccines to be made available to the lower-income countries help treat and prevent a range of infectious diseases including COVID-19, pneumonia, and meningitis. They also help to treat certain cancers, including types of leukemia, breast cancer, and advanced kidney cancer, and help to manage inflammatory and rare diseases.

These drugs are already available in the United States and Europe but will be sold to poorer nations at the cost of manufacturing along with minimum distribution costs.

As Pfizer launches new medicines and vaccines, those products will also be provided to the lower-income countries that are part of the accord.

As we learned in the global COVID-19 vaccine rollout, supply is only the first step to helping patients. We will work closely with global health leaders to make improvements in diagnosis, education, infrastructure, storage and more, said Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla. Only when all the obstacles are overcome can we end healthcare inequities and deliver for all patients.

The accord countries include 27 low-income countries as well as 18 lower-middle-income countries that have transitioned from low to lower-middle-income classification in the past 10 years, Pfizer said.

The company will initially work with healthcare officials in five countries: Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, and Uganda, to identify early insights and opportunities to ensure all medicines and vaccines can reach those in need, including bringing in experts to support diagnosis, health care professional education, and training, as well as tackling issues regarding supply chain management and other infrastructure enhancements.

Work in these five countries will then be applied to help support the rollout of the initiative in the remaining forty countries, Pfizer said.

Pfizer also plans to work with accord participants to help reduce the amount of time it takes to make new medicines and vaccines available in these countries.

The pharmaceutical giant noted that a lack of access to these medicines and vaccines in poorer nations leads to the deaths of nearly one million people each year and increases the risk of chronic diseases that significantly impact the quality of life for at least half a million more.

Pfizer is also using funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance work on a vaccine against Group B Streptococcus (GBS), the leading cause of stillbirths and newborn mortality in low-income countries.

They are also in talks to support Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine development, another maternal vaccine.

Bill Gates noted that everyone, no matter where they live, should have the same access to innovative, life-saving drugs and vaccines while touting the accord for potentially helping millions of people in low-income countries live healthier lives.

Pfizer is setting an example for other companies to follow, Gates said.

Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine generated income of nearly $37 billion in sales for 2021. However, the company has sold its vaccine in lower-income countries for about $6.75 per dose compared to the European Union and the United States, which pay about $19 per dose, Reuters reports.

Overall, Pfizers full-year 2021 revenues came in at $81.3 billion, or 92 percent higher than in 2020.

However, the drug manufacturer has come under scrutiny in recent months over injuries and deaths associated with its COVID-19 vaccine, which is built on messenger RNA technology.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed on May 19 that a young boy had died after getting Pfizers COVID-19 shot, with evidence showing that he suffered heart inflammation, a side effect that health officials have acknowledged can happen in rare cases following vaccination.

Two unnamed teenage boys were previously determined to have died shortly after getting the Pfizer vaccine, with autopsies conducted by medical examiners indicating that heart inflammation was the primary cause of death.

Pfizer has also come under for fire for requesting a 75-year deadline to release documents from their clinical trials of the vaccine to the public.

The company was later forced to release the documents after a group called Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to obtain the documentation used to approve the shot.

In January 2022, a judge in Fort Worth, Texas, ordered the FDA to release 55,000 pages of the documents each month until they are all released, which was expected to take about eight months.
Neron is a magnificent black jaguar with beautifully rare markings. His otherworldly coat, a velvet display of rosettes, has won many hearts at The Big Cat Sanctuary.

All black jaguars have rosettesrose-like markings found on the fur used to camouflagebut only a small number have markings as bold as Nerons. Like printed silk, his coat glistens.

Nerons rosettes are particularly remarkable as they are much lighter on his tail end, gradually darkening towards his head, Harry Cooke, a spokesperson for The Big Cat Sanctuary, told The Epoch Times.

Four-year-old Neron was born in Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, joining the UK sanctuary in 2018 as part of the European Endangered Species Breeding Program for jaguars. It was recommended he breed with the female jaguar named Keira, who just turned 5.

Cooke said that when Keira first met Neron at The Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, UK, it was love at first sight. We observed very playful, flirtatious behavior when they were first introduced in 2019, and their love for one another blossomed as they began living together, he said.

Keira and Neron make a most striking jaguar couple, and the pair are now proud parents to 1-year-old Inka, born at the sanctuary in April 2021.

When together, Keira clearly brings out his softer side. The pair are often seen grooming each other and displaying their affection. Following the birth of Inka last year, Neron and Keira are currently kept separate at the sanctuary.

This is to keep all the jaguar family safe just whilst Inka grows up, Cooke explained. We are hoping to reintroduce Neron back into the family fold soon.

While her jaguar father is cool and calm, Inkas disposition is different.

She is quite the opposite of Neron, very lively and energetic! Cooke said. She is developing really well, and we look forward to watching her grow into adulthood.

Located in the countryside, the sanctuary is a peaceful, tranquil refuge for endangered cats, both large and small. The team said they were over the moon to welcome Neron into the fold, particularly given his majestic appearance. In the wild, around 1 in 10 jaguars are naturally found to be black. Their color is caused by a genetic anomaly known as melanism, which results in dark pigmentation. It can give the animal an extra stealthy appearance.

Neron is a quiet, gentle jaguar and is beautiful both inside and out, Cook said. Beneath his large and strong exterior, he has a heart of gold.

There are other jaguars living at the sanctuary, which carefully welcomes visitors on a prearranged basis. Does Neron interact with the other cats?

Neron has not directly met the other jaguars on the site, but does live opposite Athena and Sofia, who he does occasionally communicate with. He only has eyes for Keira though, Cooke said.

Watch the video below:

(Courtesy of The Big Cat Sanctuary)

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Grandmaster Jay, left, leader of NFAC, speaks with police before a march of his group and supporters in Louisville, Ky., on July 25, 2020. (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

Police Officer Recounts Militia Leader Pointing Rifle at Him

LOUISVILLE, Ky.The trial of all-black militia leader John Johnson continued on May 25 with Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) Sgt. Tim Nett describing to a jury what it was like to have the defendant point an AR-15 rifle at him during the civil unrest of 2020.

Johnson stands accused of aiming his rifle at law enforcement officers who were conducting rooftop surveillance during a Sept. 4, 2020, protest in Louisville over the police killing of Breonna Taylor.

Nett said he was on the rooftop of the Louisville grand jury building that night when he was told over police radio that Johnsons Not [Expletive] Around Coalition (NFAC) was approaching his position. Nett said he looked over the rooftop to monitor Johnson and about 12 of his colleagues, and he immediately had a light shined on him.

As I look down, I get a light directly in my face. My immediate reaction was to pull away from the ledge, Nett said. I was also blinded [in that moment].

Netts involvement in the incident was brief, he said. Johnson continued walking to a park where a demonstration was taking place, and he wouldnt be charged over the matter until about three months later.

Despite characterizing Johnson as a danger to police officers and the public, Nett said he and his fellow law enforcerswho included members of the FBI and Secret Servicedidnt arrest him that night because they were outgunned.

As he had done in his opening argument, defense attorney Donald Meier scrutinized law enforcements decision to allow Johnson to continue walking freely throughout Louisville for the rest of the night, as well as for the next day, which was the running of the Kentucky Derby.

Meier asked Nett why police didnt put Johnson under surveillance and arrest him when he was unarmed and separate from the NFAC.

I cant speak to anyone elses decisions. The plan was to deal with it later  Our resources were at a bare minimum, Nett said.

So, on the list of priorities for keeping the city safe, it was a low priority? Meier asked.

Nett disagreed that it was a low priority, but said the immediate danger had passed when Johnson stopped pointing his rifle at the officers.

Meier pressed further.

If you point a weapon at another human being, youre a threatespecially someone with a vendetta against the police. If Johnson wanted to kill police, thats extreme danger. Right? the defense counsel asked.

Yes, the police sergeant responded.

And yet, it was more important for you to remain on the rooftop than to apprehend that individual? Meier asked again.

We knew it could be dealt with later, Nett said.

After the prosecution reexamined Nett, he stepped down and Louisville councilman David James took the stand.

James interacted with Johnson throughout the summer of 2020, meeting on conference calls to discuss the NFACs plans to come to Louisville.

James said Johnson wanted to bring the NFAC to Louisville amid the state attorney generals investigation into the killing of Breonna Taylor.

The councilman said he tried to persuade Johnson not to come because of the potential for danger. He said he initially pacified Johnson by promising him a meeting with the attorney general about the investigation into the police.

Johnson agreed, and someone at the mayors office was supposed to coordinate the meetingbut never did.

I thought that was a mistake, James said, suggesting that the canceled meeting spurred the NFAC to travel to Louisville.

James was still on the stand and had yet to be cross-examined as of the publication of this article.
The paranormal has its place in American courtrooms, in police stations, and even in business strategies.

Lawyers sometimes use psychics to select favorable juries, for example, or may consider supernatural phenomena in their clients defense. Proprietors of supposedly haunted historic sites, restaurants, and other venues weigh how their ghosts factor into business plans.

Consultant Loyd Auerbach helps in all these situations.

With a Masters in parapsychology, he is the director of the Office of Paranormal Investigations (OPI), has taught at Atlantic University in Virginia and at JFK University in California, and created the Certificate Program in Parapsychology Studies formerly at the HCH Institute. His OPI work involves not only investigating the paranormal, but also consulting on such phenomena.

With a background in the legal world, he specializes in advising lawyers in particular. He works at LexisNexis Group, which offers online legal, business research, and risk management services. Auerbach said that lawyers often consult him about paranormally-related argument in cases.

Killing a Witch

For example, a husband and wife in San Francisco were convicted of killing their roommate, whom they believed was a witch. The wife thought this roommate, a self-professed wiccan, was stealing her beauty and energy. The couple said they were abiding by their spiritual beliefs in not suffering the witch to live.

Law allows for persons who think they are being attacked physically to use force, within reason. Their lawyer decided to employ these grounds, and asked Auerbach to testify that a psychic attack could compel such a belief.

However, the prosecutor asked Auerbach whether  holding this belief that a witch might inflict physical harm  the couple could have taken a different course of action to defend themselves, whether it was necessary, in their belief, to kill the witch? Auerbach said, one might argue that there were, indeed, other means of handling the situation from that perspective.

His client believed himself to be possessed when he committed the crime.

In the end, the couple were convicted.

In another murder case, a defense attorney asked Auerbach whether possession might constitute a potential defense, since his client thought himself possessed when he acted. I advised the attorney to have the client evaluated for psychological/psychiatric issues, since that defense had already been tossed out in other courts, Auerbach said.

Psychic-Aided Investigation

When lawyers or police ask him about psychics, Auerbach directs them to ones who are more bona fide, and to manage their expectations.

Psychics dont solve cases necessarily, but may provide leads. They also work in multifarious ways. Some dont want to be told anything about the case and will simply come up with what they can on their own. Others want to be told it all so they can focus on finding new leads.

In the first instance, results can have an amazing impression on officers. Wow, this psychic didnt know anything about the case and he came up with all these details we know to be true, they may say. But where does it take the investigation if they already have those details?

The second instance might envoke more skepticism. Theres no magic here, they might say. He just made a good guess based on the information we gave him. Yet in addition to what they already knew, they obtained a new clue leading in a useful direction.

Loyd Auerbach. (Courtesy of Loyd Auerbach)

He knows one psychic whose special talent seems to be visualizing a perpetrator. She works well with a sketch artist.

Psychics may have other talents, Auerbach said. He knows one psychic whose special ability was visualizing a perpetrator. She works well with a sketch artist. When she describes the face she sees, it often turns out matching one of the suspects, which can help police direct more attention to the case of that individual.

One of the most useful lines of inquiry Auerbach advocates to police consulting psychics is, Where can we find hard evidence? This is what they need, after all, to secure a conviction.

Should I Use My Ghost to Make Money?

Proprietors of haunted venues sometimes consult Auerbach. Most such locations tend to be restaurants, he said. Owners want to know what to do with their ghost stories; would it be good for business to publicize them? What might the potential outcomes be?

He often asks them, Is your food good? Customers may come once for the ghosts, but may not return unless they enjoy the experience  including the food. Return customers are better for business than one-time diners.

Auerbach has helped business owners build better urban myths around their spooks. He helps gather witness testimonies, investigates claims and the history of the spots, and reconstructs authentic ghost tales.

Reality TV?

Media professionals are the largest group of OPIs consulting clients. But Auerbach has observed a strange reversal in how the paranormal is investigated in making movies and TV programs today versus back in the day.

The reality TV folks dont seem to care whether they talk to anybody in the field, or not these days  they used to, but they dont [now], he said. Its the screenwriters working on fiction who want the actual facts more often.

He noticed a change in the news media, too. When Ghostbusters came out in the 80s, for example, he would get media inquiries along the lines of, We know its not like that in real life, what do you guys [paranormal investigators] actually do? Now, however, with supernatural flicks focused on phenomena that are purportedly truer to life, interested parties ask Auerbach to take them to locations to witness such phenomena. This is a less realistic approach, he said, than those he got in the days of Ghostbusters.

He encourages would-be investigators to carefully check the credentials of paranormal experts they interview.

More than 3,000 amateur ghost-hunting groups exist in the United States, at the time of writing. Many of them call themselves professional but clearly arent, Auerbach said. Using some device or other to measure electromagnetic fields doesnt qualify a groups work as scientific.

In the Classroom

Its hard to find accredited courses in parapsychology in the United States. But, Auerbach noted, the UK has more than 20 universities offering parapsychology classes.

Auerbach also teaches courses in various formats  such as online classes at the Rhine Education Center.

Yet, many in academia are skeptical of such phenomena, which blocks them from being studied more widely.

I deal with skeptics all the time, and Ive dealt with some of the top guys over the years. People have these experiences, and the scientific and academic community wants to simply write them off, Auerbach said. It would be great, he thinks, if skeptics took it upon themselves to thoroughly investigate such claims, even to disprove them, rather than just ignoring them or attributing standard explanations, such as hallucinations, to them across the board.

Youve got millions of people who have these experiences, he said. You cant just write them off.

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The trilateral meeting of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev took place in Brussels on May 22, 2022.

May 25, 2022, 09:24 Statement of the "United Motherland" Party on the Developments around the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict

STEPANAKERT, MAY 25, ARTSAKHPRESS: Following the statement widespread by the Chairman of the Council of Europe, the United Motherland Party declares:

1. The well-known trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 declared that the Republic of Armenia is no longer the guarantor of the Artsakh Republic security. As part of this statement, Russia assumed this function, deploying peacekeeping forces in parallel with the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces.Therefore, ensuring stability, security in the South Caucasus region, including the establishment of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict without the mediation of Russia is practically unpromising and fruitless.

2. The only de facto mandate for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the complex ethno-political conflicts in the South Caucasus remains with the OSCE Minsk Group; other approaches to the subtleties of the problem that go beyond this dimension are unacceptable.

As the Republic of Artsakh is not involved in the negotiation process of the conflict settlement as an independent entity, Armenia has the right to negotiate on its behalf; therefore the Armenian authorities are obliged to:

 Obtain the consent of the people of Artsakh and the authorities elected by them on the main principles and elements of the negotiations;

 Negotiate on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict either only within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group or in the Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral dimension, which already has a precedent.

The efforts of the mediations can and should be aimed at encouraging or supporting the final settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of the above-mentioned measures.

3. The active mediation efforts of the Council of Europe in the issues of Armenia-Azerbaijan border, unblocking of infrastructure, peace agreement, and economic development are aimed at overcoming dependence of Europe on Russia by using Azerbaijan's gas potential. In the context of such mutually beneficial expectations, the Council of Europe cannot maintain a mediating balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan, including in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Thus any mediation by it will have to be compromised by the components of Artsakh security system.

This is evidenced by the vocabulary of the President of the Council of Europe, who avoids even using the phrase "Nagorno Karabakh".

We consider deem unacceptable and inadmissible for Armenia to allow and introduce such a discourse on the NK conflict settlement in the agendas of an international community or organization.

4. The non-fulfillment of the agreements reached by the Azerbaijani authorities in the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 and the aggressive rhetoric are inversely proportional to the agreements reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a result of various mediations.

A comprehensive and final solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is possible only through horizontal communication with the people of Artsakh and the government elected by them, and not through declaring them internationally wanted, committing crimes against humanity, organizing information-psychological terrorism, and creating an environment of creping aggression.
An indigenous girl plays inside a teepee at a young bush camp in the northern Ontario First Nations reserve in Attawapiskat, Ont., on April 20, 2016. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Reform the Indian Act to Boost First Nations Entrepreneurship, Says Study

First Nations entrepreneurship can be improved if Ottawa removes further barriers to property rights within the Indian Act, a new study suggests.

Indigenous people in Canada face many barriers to entrepreneurship that other Canadians do not, so Ottawa has a responsibility to right this wrong, said study author Tom Flanagan, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, in a May 19 press release.

The study, titled The Indian Act: A Barrier to Entrepreneurship noted that despite calls by Canadian politicians and indigenous leaders to repeal the Indian Act over the years, repeal never seems to happen.

There is no general agreement on what should replace the Act, and First Nations are deeply attached to some of the special protections it affords, wrote Flanagan, also professor emeritus at the University of Calgary.

Because repeal is politically impossible, the focus in practice has been on gradual improvement through amendments to the Act and passage of supplementary legislation.

The Indian Act was passed by the federal government of the new Dominion of Canada in 1876. Its original purpose was to set aside land reserves, not as permanent homelands but as temporary protected spaces where First Nations people could live while they were assimilated into the Canadian community, Flanagan said.

But by the middle of the 20th century it was becoming clear that Indians did not want assimilation and that the lands set aside by the Indian Act had become de facto permanent homelands.

This created a challenge as to how the reserve communities could function in Canadas market economy, he said, as Canada was fast transitioning from an agricultural to an industrial economy given agriculture alone could not support a growing population.

How could Indian reserves, owned by the Crown and centrally administered by a government department, become loci of prosperity for their residents in Canadas new economy? No one had an immediate answer, he added.

The study found that with the revision of the act in 1951, certificates of possession (CPs) for reserve lands were introduced. The CPs allow First Nations to own their own homes, but their utility in the larger marketplace is limited because the homes can be given or sold only to members of the same band.

The study proposed, among several recommendations, expanding the property rights within the act such that indigenous people can choose to develop or sell their lands within and outside reserves. At the same time, expediting the creation of urban reserves, which Flanagan argued in his 2019 study, have the potential to increase the standard of living of First Nations through participation in the economy.

Flanagan said although 41,000 pieces of land on reserves were held under CP by 2012, only 315 First Nations, about half the total number, had any CPs at all.

Of these 315, most had less than 5 percent of their land under this form of lawful possession, and only about 10 percent had more than half their land allotted to CPs, he said.

He added that the lands possessed under those CPs were mostly concentrated in southern Ontario, southern B.C. and Quebec, where reserves were located close to urban areas with higher probability of economic opportunity.

This makes sense because it takes effort to acquire a CP, and land closer to cities is likely to be more valuable, thus making the effort worthwhile.

Natural Resources

The study also recommended examining Indian Oil and Gas Canada, a federal agency that manages oil and gas resources on First Nations reserves, to see if it is generating higher returns for First Nations than they could achieve by acting individually in the market.

If the answer is yes, consider establishing similar organizations for other types of natural resources from First Nations traditional territories, the study said.

In addition, Flanagan said the federal government should stop blocking pipelines and other resource development that represent the best chance for prosperity in many remote locations.

The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau blocked the Northern Gateway and Energy East pipeline proposals, failed to give energetic support to Keystone XL, and slow-walked the construction of Trans Mountain and Coastal GasLink by allowing environmental protests free rein, he argued.

Such development represents the best chance for the prosperity of many First Nations in remote locations.

Flanagan said the federal governments emphasis on paying First Nations for historical grievances will not help them achieve prosperity, and such efforts should be reduced.

Such payments temporarily put cash in the pockets of recipients but do nothing to promote long-term economic independence, he said.

In fact, they may inhibit economic advance, because they make it appear that the road to wealth lies in cultivating past grievances rather than acquiring skills and making products to sell in the marketplace.
Police officers watch over a crowd of people near the Colorado state capitol during a protest in Denver, Col., on May 29, 2020. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

Refunding Police Alone Not Enough to Curb Crime, Policing Professionals Say

Two years ago, the death of George Floyd ignited a nationwide call to defund the police. Under public pressure, many cities cut police budgets.

Now, as crime rises and concerns about safety grow in an election year, city and state lawmakers are tapping federal pandemic relief funds to retain and hire more police officers.

President Joe Biden has urged those who havent done so to act quickly before the usual summer crime surge.

However, money alone cannot wipe out the damage incurred by the policing profession and public safety in the past two years, according to professionals from several statewide law enforcement organizations.

To curb crime, lawmakers must also fix George Floyd-fueled legislation that has made it too risky for officers to do their jobs, restricted officers ability to enforce the law, and emboldened the criminals, they said.

Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith. (Courtesy of Justin Smith)

It is not a money issue; it is the fact that youve made this job so untenable that people are afraid to be police officers, Larimer County Sheriffand legislative committee chairman at County Sheriffs of Colorado (CSC)Justin Smith told The Epoch Times.

Colorado is the first state to pass a massive police reform bill during the height of the George Floyd protests. In a matter of 16 days in June 2020, the Black Caucus led the charge and rammed the bill through the Democratic-controlled legislature.

The most contentious part of the bill was to allow citizens to file civil rights lawsuits against police officers in state courts.

In these cases, officers could not invoke qualified immunity as a defense, and they can be held personally liable for remedies up to $25,000.

By the end of 2020, Colorado officers had left their jobs in droves, citing police reform as the top reason, according to a member survey conducted by CSC and the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police.

Smith said he has not heard any officer in the state held personally liable under the new law so far, but the potential personal liability has been a constant stressor on many officers minds.

If they want to stay in the policing profession, why not leave for a state that is more supportive? he said.

In 2021, more than 2,400 officers quit, and just 1,700 policing jobs were filled in Colorado, according to data obtained by CPR news from Colorado Peace Officers Standards and Training Board.

Even if we were able to stop the leaking today and just held onto what we had, it would take years to rehire and train police to provide adequate protection for citizens of the state, Smith said.

Over the past two years, Smith and other law enforcement leaders tried to work with legislatures to fix the police reform fallout but had little success.

In Washington, the newly formed Black Caucus also pushed through a sweeping police reform bill through the Democratic-controlled legislature, which became law in May 2021.

One measure that greatly concerned law enforcement is a further restriction on police pursuit.

Under the new law, police can only conduct vehicle pursuits when they have probable cause that someone has committed a violent crimea higher proof burden than the old reasonable suspicion standard.

The change has led more suspects to try to elude the police, according to local agencies. At Mount Vernon Police Department, there were nine vehicle eluding cases in 2020. It jumped to 16 in 2021 and is on pace to surpass 100 this year, according to a letter from police chief Chris Cammock to state lawmakers.

Ed Wojcicki. (Courtesy of Ed Wojcicki)

Auto theft also jumped significantly after the new law.

In the first two months of this year, there were 8,320 auto thefts, an 83 percent increase from the same time last year, according to data compiled by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC.)

During the 2022 spring legislative session, association leaders tried to work with lawmakers to fix the police reform. They got some fixes done but not on the vehicle pursuit.

The current law allows and encourages a brazen contempt for the law, and as many of you can see every day, criminals believe they can simply drive away and law enforcement cant do much to stop them, WASPC executive director Steven Strachan said in a letter to members.

Some criticize us for fighting too hard, pointing out the unintended consequences, and identifying problems with the sweeping reform laws.

We believe the foundational elements of law enforcement that allow us to serve victims and the public are worth it and would do it again, Strachan said.

In Illinois, leaders at the Illinois Association of Police Chiefs (ILACP) have also tried to work with lawmakers to fix the problems in a year-old criminal justice reform bill.

The bill was pushed through the Democratic-controlled legislature by the black caucus during a week-long lame-duck session in January 2021.

I dont like to blame anybody. We deal with the reality that we have. We try to reach common grounds with Democratic lawmakers by saying, Look, we both want body cameras. Let us just tweak the language so that it is easier to implement, ILACP executive director Ed Wojcicki told The Epoch Times.

Since then, two trailer bills have been passed to improve the reform, and a third one is in planning to address remaining law enforcement concerns around ending cash bail, prohibiting arrests for a wide range of misdemeanors, and allowing anonymous complaints against police officers.

As happened in Colorado and Washington, Illinois legislatures passed bills this year to allocate tens of millions of dollars to retain, hire, and train police officers.

The pendulum is swinging back in our direction, but if you look at the legislative output in the big picture, there still is not enough change to address the violence and crime, Wojcicki said.

He points to a bill that enhances the penalty for fleeing and eluding police that failed to pass this year.

For Virginias Herndon Police Department police chief Maggie DeBoard, the death of George Floyd has fueled the biggest sea change in the policing profession that she has ever seen in her 35-year law enforcement career.

At the height of the George Floyd protests, Virginia lawmakers convened a special legislative session, and the Black Caucus pushed through a sweeping police reform bill with little law enforcement input.

Maggie DeBoard. (Courtesy of Maggie DeBoard)

I kept telling them one thing, If you keep pushing these bad changes you are going to drive people out of this job, and you cannot fix this problem with all the money in the world, DeBoard, who also chairs the legislative committee at the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police (VACP,) told The Epoch Times.

VACP executive director Dana Schrad said the police reform movement energized the Black Caucus to take the lead within the Democratic Party and polarized the two parties in the largely moderate Virginia state government.

In November 2021, Republicans retook control of the governorship and the lower chamber in Virginia. As a result, some rollbacks to the police reform were passed this year, but more remains to be done, such as the further limitation on traffic stops, according to Schrad.

Next year, will the state government turn all Republican? If it does, we will have an opportunity. But I would think what we should do, is take the D and R aside and say, Okay, what are we trying to achieve? What is one of the most fundamental purposes of government? The answer has always been public safety, Schrad said.
Republican Representative from Ohio Jim Jordan speaks during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 2020. (Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images)

Report Shows FBI Spied on 3.3 Million Americans Without a Warrant, GOP Demands Answers

Top House Republicans are demanding answers from the FBI after court-ordered information came to light showing that the federal agency had collected the information of over 3 million Americans without a warrant. In a May 25 letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio) asked Wray to explain why his agency had wiretapped and gathered personal information on over 3.3 million Americans without a warrant (pdf). Limited authority to gather foreign intelligence information is granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Specifically, section 702 of the bill says: the Attorney General (AG) and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) may jointly authorize the targeting of (i) non-U.S. persons (ii) who are reasonably believed to be outside of the United States (iii) to acquire foreign intelligence information. However, this power can grant an expanding circle of possible searches to the FBI and other intel agencies, who can use the same power against American citizens who had any interaction with targeted foreigners. Historically, insight into how FISA has been used against American citizens has been limited and hidden behind classified reports. However, a November 2020 decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)which serves as a watchdog for U.S. intelligence agenciesrequired that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) report the number of U.S. person queries run by the FBI against Section 702-acquired information. In accordance with these new requirements, ODNIs recently-released Annual Statistical Transparency Report included data on how often the FBI gathered information on American citizens using section 702 in 2021. In total, queries against U.S. citizens came out to a jaw-dropping 3,394,053 searches. By comparison, only 1,324,057 such queries were made in 2020, representing around a 250 percent increase during President Joe Bidens first year in office. According to ODNI more than half of these queriesapproximately 1.9 millionwere part of the larger investigation of alleged Russian attempts to target or weaken U.S. critical infrastructure. The ODNI report also admitted that on at least four occasions, the FBI failed to get FISC approval before accessing the contents of information collected under section 702.

This is not the first time the FBI has been caught red-handed overstepping its legal authority under section 702.

In November 2020, the FISC announced that the government  reported numerous incidents in which the FBI reviewed information gathered under section 702 without obtaining proper permission from the court.

On other occasions, the FISC noted, the FBI used section 702 for issues entirely unrelated to foreign intelligence. These included queries for criminal investigations about healthcare fraud, transnational organized crime, violent gangs, domestic terrorism involving racially motivated violent extremists, as well as investigations relating to public corruption and bribery.

None of these queries was related to national security, and they returned numerous Section 702-acquired products in response, the FISC noted.

Rigorous Congressional oversight of the FBIs Section 702-related activities is essential given FBIs track record utilizing its FISA authorities, Jordan and Turner ruled in view of the FBIs past overreach.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on March 2, 2021. (Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images)

In their letter to Wray, Jordan and Turner laid out a laundry list of questions about the report, demanding further transparency and explanations on the revelation that the FBI has often overstepped its legal authority to spy on American citizens.

Among other questions, they requested a full accounting of all 3,394,053 citizens who showed up in FBI queries and [the] number of preliminary or full investigations into any U.S. citizens the FBI has initiated as a result of information obtained through any of these U.S. person queries, and the nature of the predication for each such investigation.

They also asked for information on the 1.9 million Americans queried over alleged Russian efforts to compromise U.S. critical infrastructure. Specifically, they asked for, The rationale for why these queries were found to be compliant with the FBIs Section 702 querying procedures [and the] total number of U.S. citizens the FBI identified as victims of these compromises(s) pursuant to these queries.

In addition, they demanded A detailed statement about the FBIs investigation, including the status of the investigation and any information uncovered about the identity of the Russian actors and their involvement with or connection to the Russian government, if any.

Additionally, they asked for information gathered under FISA rules in the years between 2015 and 2020, as well as for an explanation of the FBIs overreach of authority on various occasions.

The letter demands that Wray provide a written response by no later than 5 p.m. on June 7.

FISA Section 702 was last authorized by Congress for a six-year period in 2018 and will be up for reauthorization in 2024.

The FBI could not be immediately reached for comment.
Researchers Closer to Creating Blood Test for Suicide Risk

Researchers have discovered an approach to identify blood biomarkers that could predict the risk of suicide in patients with depression, bringing them one step closer to developing a potential blood test for use on future patients thanks to a study by researchers at the University of CaliforniaIrvine (UCI) and Pritzker Research Consortium.

Suicides have increased to nearly 50,000 deaths yearly in the United States and around 800,000 total globally, according to the teams research now published in Translational Psychiatry, a peer-reviewed medical journal launched in 2011. The 2022 study further shows clinical depression as the most common diagnosis among suicides.

Even more troubling is that in the United States alone, suicide rates have increased by more than 35 percent over the last 20 years, the study says, making it the tenth leading cause of death.

Identifying those at the highest risk is a pressing challenge, researchers note in the literature, adding that suicide prevention strategies and current medications, although helpful, have not stemmed the increase in self-inflicted deaths.

As such, researchers launched an investigation to see if a blood biomarker signature for depression could be identified in post-mortem patients who took their own lives, studying both brain and blood cells. Their efforts were successful.

In their research, scientists found that non-preserved blood can be used to discover a gene that, when expressed or activated, makes people at a higher risk of suicide.

Not only can this discovery help providers pinpoint suicidal individuals, the results can also help researchers understand molecular changes in suicide victims, which may be of great use in treating the illness moving forward.

That is so cool, I didnt even know you could test for something like that  in someones blood, a source diagnosed with depression, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Epoch Times. I wish that test was already available when I was in high school.

The study uses a novel gene expression approacha way to look for clusters of genes encoded in our DNA that make people at higher risk for certain conditionsin this case the genetic code specific to putting people at risk of suicidal tendencies.

Research further shows that many individuals do not disclose suicidal intentions despite frequent contact with health care professionals and that an estimated 30 percent of suicides visit a healthcare provider within a month of taking their lives.

As such, once developed this blood test can be administered during such medical visits, potentially helping to identify high-risk individuals before its too late.

These blood biomarkers are an important step toward developing blood tests to identify patients with imminent risk of ending their lives, said corresponding author Dr. Adolfo Sequeira, associate researcher in the Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the UCI School of Medicine in a statement.
A software engineer shares his incredible story of recovering from a serious health problem that doctors could not cure. Falun Dafa, an ancient Chinese spiritual practice, gave him hope and changed his life for the better.

On May 15, Santhosh Krishnamurthy spoke at a rally to celebrate World Falun Dafa Day at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. He also raised awareness of the Chinese regimes ongoing persecution of the practice in China.

Krishnamurthy was born in South India. In 2005, he and his wife immigrated to the United States, and they now reside in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. Krishnamurthy said that in 2015, despite a healthy lifestyle, he developed a serious health issue that doctors could not explain or cure.

He felt disappointed, frustrated, and hopeless.

Even though I was blessed with everything, I felt empty inside.

A work colleague told him about a spiritual cultivation practice of mind and body called Falun Dafa. The ancient Chinese spiritual practice consists of simple, slow-moving meditation exercises based on the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.

I became very much drawn and curious to learn more about this practice. I started reading and gathering a lot of information and also started to practice the exercises in addition to reading Zhuan Falun, the core teaching, at home by myself, Krishnamurthy explained.

The more I learned and did the exercises, the more I felt de-stressed and wonderful. After just a few weeks of practicing, my health conditions started improving, and, to my surprise, I was completely cured. I felt full of positive energy and was always in high spirits.

Santhosh Krishnamurthy (middle in purple cloth) doing Falun Dafa exercises at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pa., on July 10, 2021 (Serena Shi/The Epoch Times)

Krishnamurthys family members and co-workers began to see the dramatic positive change in him.

I started to have a lot more empathy towards others, having a compassionate heart in everything that I do and, most importantly, maintaining a calm and serene attitude even during challenging situations in life, he said.

After seeing Krishnamurthys positive transformation, his mother, aunts, and grandmother took up the practice three years ago.

Sharing that Falun Dafa has become his moral compass guiding him in a positive direction, Krishnamurthy said that he wanted his experience to serve as an example that this practice is not only good, but everything that the Chinese Communist Party has said against Falun Dafa is completely baseless and full of lies. This practice has benefited millions of people around the world who have gained health, goodness, and prosperity.

He hopes that the worlds people can understand the evil and corrupt nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Also known as Falun Gong, Falun Dafa is an ancient Chinese spiritual practice consisting of qigong exercises and moral teachings that promote living life according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. However, the CCPs regime launched a brutal campaign to eliminate the practice in July 1999 due to its growing popularity, which had attracted 70 million to 100 million adherents in Chinamore than the number of Party members.

Since then, millions have been detained in prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center. Detained adherents also have been victims of forced organ harvesting, resulting in an untold number of people being killed for their organs to fuel the lucrative transplant industry in China.

In closing his remarks at the rally, Krishnamurthy noted that the Liberty Bell, the main attraction of Independence National Historical Park, stands as a symbol of freedom in this great country of United States of America.

I sincerely urge everyone to learn more about this wonderful practice, stand against the ongoing persecution in China, and completely reject the evil Chinese Communist Party.

Krishnamurthy asked the audience to remember and cherish these words: Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are good!
Police cordon off the scene where a woman was fatally shot prior to an elementary school shooting, in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Texas Elementary School Shooter Gave Little Warning: Governor

UVALDE, TexasThe man who killed 19 children in a Texas elementary school on May 24 posted three times to Facebook before arriving at the facility, Gov. Greg Abbott said during a press briefing on May 25.

About 30 minutes before Salvador Ramos, 18, entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and opened fire, he wrote on social media, Im going to shoot my grandmother.

Another post, minutes later, I shot my grandmother.

A third, around 15 minutes before the massacre began, Im going to shoot an elementary school.

Apart from the posts, there was no meaningful forewarning of the mass shooting, Abbott, a Republican, told reporters during the briefing.

Andy Stone, a spokesman for Facebook parent company Meta, said in a statement that the posts were private one-on-one text messages. The messages were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred, he said, adding that the company is closely cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation.

The posts were located by the FBI, which is assisting local and state authorities with the investigation, according to Texas officials.

An online search turned up no criminal history, and authorities have so far found no indication of prior criminal incidents.

Ramos was a dropout who had attended Uvaldes high school. Its unclear if he attended Robb Elementary School.

After Ramos shot his grandmother, 66, at her home where he lived, his mother called the police. She also ran for help for her mother, who was airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio, where shes listed in critical condition.

Ramos then took his grandmothers car and drove about three miles before crashing. He exited the vehicle with a backpack and one of the semi-automatic rifles that he purchased legally from a local sporting goods store in March, before moving to the west side of the school campus. As he was approaching, a school resource officer engaged with him. No gunfire was exchanged, and Ramos was able to make it into the school.

He turned right, then left, before reaching two adjoining classrooms and gaining access to them, where he opened fire.

Ramos tried entering at least one other classroom but moved on after finding a locked door, Joe Daniel, a Uvalde resident who lives near the school, told The Epoch Times. Daniels 8-year-old daughter was inside that classroom.

Chris Vasquez, a teacher at a nearby private school, said she spoke with a parent whose child was shot during the mayhem. The child, a boy, told his parents that the shooter walked into the classroom and said, Okay everybody, goodnight.

Salvador Ramos was identified as the gunman in a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. (Texas Department of Motor Vehicles)

A tactical team of law enforcement officers, including Border Patrol SWAT agents and a Uvalde deputy, breached the classroom door and killed Ramos.

In addition to the shooter and 19 children, two teachers were killed. Other individuals were wounded.

The motive remains unclear, officials said.

Texas leaders largely framed the problem as a mental health issue, as opposed to one regarding access to firearms.

Any person who conducts such an attack has mental health issues, Abbott said.

We as a government need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it, he said.

There are real gun laws in New York. There are real gun laws in Chicago. There are real gun laws in California. I hate to say this, but there are more people that were shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas. And we need to realize that people who may think we just need to implement tougher gun laws, itll solve itChicago and LA and New York disproves that thesis.

Our job is to come up with real solutions that we can implement.

The state legislature will, when it reconvenes, discuss legislation to tackle mental health issues, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Republican, said.

Abbott said that laws that were passed in 2019 aimed at preventing school shootings would be closely examined to make sure there were no shortcomings in the language or implementation.

Editors Note: This story has been updated with information from Meta.

Charlotte Cuthbertson Senior Reporter Follow Charlotte Cuthbertson is a senior reporter with The Epoch Times who primarily covers border security and the opioid crisis.
The Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act: Cynical and Revealing

Commentary

On May 19, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act by a vote of 217207. Four Democrats and every Republican voted against the bill. The purpose of the bill is to empower the federal government (specifically, the Federal Trade Commission) to fine oil companies if they increase prices in an excessive or exploitative way, with the bill, in typical Washington fashion, not bothering to define what constitutes excessive or exploitative.

This billwhich has little chance of passing the Senateis both cynical and revealing.

Its cynical because supporters of the bill are accusing oil companies of doing what the federal government itself is doingnamely, restricting the supply of oil. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) publicly declared, Big Oil is threatening our entire economy by keeping supply low and jacking up prices at the pump.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asserted in a hearing on May 16, The problem is Big Oil is keeping supply artificially low so prices and profits stay high.

It takes a lot of chutzpah to blame oil companies for currently tight supplies when the administration of President Joe Biden has so aggressively pursued anti-fossil fuel policies and repeatedly declared its desire to wean U.S. consumers from fossil fuel consumption. I wrote twice last year about specific anti-oil production policies that the Biden administration has adopted.

Has the administration altered course in response to gas prices spiking higher? Not in the slightest. Just a few days before Reps. Porter and Pallone tried to blame oil companies for tight oil supplies, the administration canceled oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico and Cook Inlet. Existing leases are being held in regulatory purgatory whereby bureaucrats refuse to approve a green light for actual production. A few days ago, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) commented that 16 months after the Biden administration announced a pause on granting new oil exploration leases, we still have no new leases, and, it has become crystal clear that the pause is in fact a ban.

Democrats have a long history of persecuting oil companies. In 2007, the House passed similar anti-price gouging legislation. Multiple times since then Congress has staged the political theater of show trials during which they lambaste oil company executives. This tactic is a classic political sleight of hand. Congress wants to get your attention fixed on the Big Oil bogeyman so you dont notice how irresponsible Congress itself has been in blocking the development of domestic oil deposits. (Interestingly, Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), one of the four Democrats who voted against the bill, referred to it as a political gimmick.)

Besides being cynical, the anti-price gouging bill is very revealing.

The demagogues who voted for it are at war with the inexorable, unrepealable law of supply and demand. The average American understands that gasoline prices are soaring and oil company profits are rising because supply isnt keeping pace with demand. The politicians who voted for the price-gouging bill prefer to blame greedy oil executives rather than impersonal market forces for higher prices and profits. This raises an important question: If all oil companies have to do to maximize profits is restrict supply, why dont they do that every year and avoid horrendous years like 2020 when they lost billions of dollars?

There are two realities about the oil market that elude those who voted to punish alleged price gouging: Its highly cyclical and brutally competitive.

This years healthy oil company profits are the result of a still-young upturn in the cycle after the 2020 bottom. Many oil company leaders are hesitant to boost exploration spending now, partly because of how much money they have lost in recent years and partly because they perceive the Biden administrations zealous anti-oil beliefs.

Not only has the administration been canceling pipelines and leases while rendering existing leases almost worthless by imposing a regulatory freeze on actual drilling, but Biden also keeps talking about weaning Americans from fossil fuels ASAP, praising the U.N. scheme to have financial institutions steer capital away from the oil industry, and ESG ratings are branding oil companies as socially irresponsible.

Who would want to go out on a limb and commit huge sums of capital if they fear that Uncle Sam wants to curtail, if not crush, their business?

If Democratic politicians really wanted to lower gas prices for consumers and squeeze oil company profits, they would use the law of supply and demand to help them. They would remove all restrictions from drilling and selling oil. Oil companies would resume the cutthroat competition that has characterized their industry from the beginning. Supply would go up, prices and profit margins would go down, and American consumers would be thrilled.

Instead, these anti-market zealots want to suppress gas prices and squeeze oil profits while at the same time thwarting oil production. These economically incompatible goals are irrational. Like socialistic central economic planners, they believe that they can alter the way the world worksreality itselfby legislative will. Thats what makes their passionate desire to control, manage, and direct the economy for the alleged good of the people so dangerous. They think prosperity is a matter of will and that their good intentions will overrule the laws of economics, physics, and so on.

Of course, progressives tend to justify their heavy-handedness on economic policies by invoking justice. Democrats are the party of fairness, right? Well, not exactly. Consider this: Just as oil company profits are at or near record highs today, so U.S. homebuyers are facing record-high house prices. The reason is exactly the same: low supply relative to high demand. To be consistent, then, shouldnt Congress fine all those homeowners who are taking advantage of current market conditions to gouge buyers? Are those howls of protest I hear? I agree with you! It would be unjust for Congress to limit how much you sell your house for. That would infringe upon your property rights. But then, why should Congress intervene to limit how much a company sells its product for? Morally, theres no difference.

Progressives reject the rule of law and viciously discriminate against Americans who produce oil. This overt assault on property rights reveals the socialistic spirit that animates todays progressives.

Our countrys rapid economic growth over the past century and a half has been powered by the energy that oil companies have produced for us. They even produced the oil that Biden is releasing from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to boost his popularity poll numbers. Congress, by contrast, has never produced a gallon of energy, even as they spend billions of dollars that they have taxed from those companies. How about a little gratitude for American oil companies, Congress?

The only positive comment one can make about the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act is that it makes plain just how allergic progressives are to economic common sense.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault responds to the Opposition during question period, at the Legislature in Quebec City, May 12, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)

Too Far or Not Far Enough: Quebecs New Language Law Leaves Many Displeased

News Analysis

The province of Quebecs National Assembly adopted Bill 96 to protect the French language on May 24. But critics on both sides of the language debate are displeased, with Anglophones considering it a violation of their rights and Quebec separatists saying it doesnt go far enough.

Bill 96 updates Quebecs French charter and modifies a number of laws, which will reinforce the use of the French language in education, workplaces, the production of official documents, and how new immigrants will receive services.

The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) and the Parti Quebecois (PQ), who are fundamentally opposed to each other on the core issue of Quebecs place within Canada, both sided against the governing Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) over the bill, but for very different reasons.

The PQ decried the bill as soft and without aim nor objective in a May 24 statement.

Its sad to see that the CAQs federalist wing won the debate on language; and French is going to lose, said its MNA Pascal Berube.

PLQ Leader Dominique Anglade has called the bill divisive and raised concerns in the Assembly surrounding health care accessibility for Anglophones expressed by the provinces college of physicians.

The text of the bill  maintains grey zones and raises concerns about the future possibility of patients to speak in the language of their choice with the person providing care, wrote the College des medecins du Quebec on May 20.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault has maintained that the bill doesnt impact the health care arena, and told those who bring up this issue to stop talking nonsense.

Bill 96 states that French is the language of the administration, which public services such as health care fall under, but it says another language than French can be used when health, public safety or principles of natural justice require it.

The CAQ has a majority and could have passed the bill unilaterally, but it received support from the left-wing party Quebec Solidaire.

A Quebec not-for-profit organization linking English-language groups in Quebec has decried the bill as the most significant derogation of human rights in the history of Quebec and Canada.

Bills of rights protect people from abuse by the state. With the preventive use of notwithstanding clause, this protection is eliminated, said the Quebec Community Groups Network in a May 24 statement.

The government has created a Charter free zone, where all citizens have lost their fundamental rights and freedoms in the application of the Charter of the French Language.

Montreal-based human rights attorney Julius Grey says a group of lawyers intends to challenge the law despite the notwithstanding clause, up to the Supreme Court or international instances if needed.

Quebec also uses the clause for its Bill 21 which prevents the display of religious symbols by public servants in positions of authority.

Not Far Enough

Like the PQ, some nationalist groups and personalities say Bill 96 doesnt go far enough in protecting the French language, which they see as under attack due to cultural pressures and demographic shifts.

French defence group Imperatif Francais would have liked to see Bill 96 impose French in colleges (CEGEPs), the education level between high school and university in Quebec, or to implement Bill 101, which restricts access to primary and secondary education in English.

Bill 96 does target CEGEPs indirectly by capping the proportion of students in English-language institutions to 17.5 percent of the overall student population. Statistics Canada says that as of 2016, English was used as the first official language for 13.7 percent of Quebecs population.

A French proficiency exam will also need to be passed to obtain the CEGEP diploma.

Commentator and author Mathieu Bock-Cote, an influential Quebec intellectual, also says Bill 96 misses the mark by not applying Bill 101 to CEGEPs, and adds it doesnt address the issue of immigration, which he says is the main cause of English being used increasingly in Montreal.

The ridiculous reaction of the Anglophone community to Bill 96 demonstrates how many within its ranks do not even want to pretend to respect the principle of a French Quebec. They associate this to ethno-linguistic supremacy. Its odious, he wrote in Journal de Montreal on May 24.

After passing Bill 96, the CAQ will be turning its attention to the issue of immigration to wrest more power away from Ottawa to determine who gets to be admitted and settle in Quebec.

With attacks from both sides, Premier Legault qualified Bill 96 as balanced and moderate.

On one side theres a party that says it goes too far. On the other one says it doesnt go far enough. Hence, we see that the CAQ is in a balanced position, said Legault on May 25, reported by Le Devoir.
Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on May 2, 2022. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

Twitter Shares Jump After Elon Musk Boosts His Equity Commitment in Twitter Takeover

Twitter shares jumped more than 7 percent in after-hours trading following a fresh securities filing showing Elon Musk has boosted the equity commitment in his Twitter buyout to $33.5 billion from $27.5 billion.

The filing stated that Teslas CEO has allowed the margin loan commitment provided by Morgan Stanley to expire. The margin loan was backed by Tesla shares, according to a previous filing. Tesla shares were down 45 percent year-to-date.

Instead of relying on a margin loan to fund the transaction, the billionaire has increased his equity commitment by $6.25 billion.

Musk committed to provide an additional $6.25 billion in equity financing to fund a portion of the Merger Consideration by amending and restating the Amended Equity Commitment Letter, the filing stated.

Musk is in the process of taking Twitter private for $44 billion. Twitter shares tumbled nearly 20 percent after the billionaire announced on May 13 that his takeover of the social media platform was temporarily on hold until there is more clarity on the websites spam bots.

The tech billionaire already secured additional financing from a group of investors that include Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison for his buyout, according to a previous securities filing on May 5.

The worlds richest man received equity commitment letters from 19 investors, committing to pay $7.14 billion in cash or Twitter common stock, according to the document.

The largest contribution came from the Saudi prince whos also one of Twitters largest stockholders, with a $1.9 billion commitment, followed by Ellison, who agreed to invest $1 billion.

Other investors include Sequoia Capital Fund, Canadian private equity firm Brookfield, asset management firm Fidelity, Qatar Holding, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and crypto exchange Binance.

According to CNBC, Musk is in discussions with Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey and other investors to help finance the transaction or roll over their shares into the new merger.

On April 25, Twitter accepted Musks proposal to take the company private for $54.20 per share in cash, which put the firms value at about $44 billion.

To finance the deal, Musk had originally secured $25.5 billion in loans, of which $12.5 billion was a margin loan backed by Tesla stock, according to the announcement on April 25. In addition, Musk had committed to provide nearly $21 billion in equity capital at the time.

As a result of the increased equity commitments, the margin loan obligation has been terminated, according to the new filing.
It may not qualify as a baby boom, but U.S. births were up in 2021 for the first time in years.

New federal government data show a 1% increase in births from 2020, with more than 3.6 million births last year. It was the first increase in seven years.

The general fertility rate for 2021 also rose 1%, with 56.6 births for every 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44.

That slight bump upwards marks at least a turnaround from the baby bust of the first pandemic year: Both the fertility rate and number of births declined a significant 4% between 2019 and 2020, the reports authors noted.

However, were still not returning to pre-pandemic levels, Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine, told the Associated Press.

The new report is from the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It analyzed data from more than 99% of birth certificates issued nationwide.

Age of mother mattered. The birth rate rose for 25- to 49-year-old women, but dropped for those between 15 and 24. It was unchanged among 10- to 14-year-olds.

The rise in births among older women was larger during the latter part of 2021 compared to earlier in the year, according to CDC researcher Brady Hamilton, who led the new study. That might reflect an ebbing of uncertainty around pregnancy and delivery in this age group as the year went on, he said.

These are births that were postponed, Hamilton told the AP.

Except for 2006 and 2007, teen birth rates have declined each year since 1991.

In 2021, birth rates fell among 15- to 17-year-olds and among those 18 to 19. For 15- to 19-year-olds, the rate fell 6% in 2021 to 14.4 births per 1,000 females.

But circumstances surrounding the births also reflected some changes.

The preterm birth rate rose 4% to 10.48% in 2021. This was the highest since 2007.

Meanwhile, the rate of cesarean delivery grew to 32.1% and the rate of low-risk cesarean delivery rose to 26.3%.

More Information

The World Population Review has state-by-state birth rates.

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, news release, May 24, 2022

This story was originally published on the HealthDay site.
The world faces the threat of a new Cold War "with nuclear undertones" and a surge in extreme nationalism, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday in a speech to graduates of Seton Hall University in New Jersey. The ceremony was broadcast on the university's website, Tass informs.

May 25, 2022, 10:05 UN chief Guterres announces new Cold War threat

STEPANAKERT, MAY 25, ARTSAKHPRESS: "From the Middle East to the threat of a new Cold War with grave nuclear undertones, to terrorism and sectarian fighting within countries rooted in ancient grievances, to an explosion of extreme nationalism that ignores the central truth that international solutions are always in the national interest <> Each challenge is another sign that our world is deeply fractured," he said.

Among other threats to the world, Guterres cited climate change, rising social inequality, and the spread of hunger and disease. He warned the graduates that the world that they are entering is full of dangers. "We face conflicts and division on a scale not seen in decades  from Yemen to Syria, from Ethiopia to the Sahel and beyond," he said. Guterres payed special attention to the conflict in Ukraine, which, he pointed out, "is causing immense human suffering, destruction and death."

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow's plans did not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. He assured that the goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country.
Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) speaks during a House Judiciary Committee markup of H.R. 7120 the Justice in Policing Act, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 2020. (Greg Nash/Pool via Reuters)

US Rep. McBath Wins Democratic Nomination in Redrawn Georgia District

Rep. Lucy McBath won the Democratic nomination in Georgias U.S. 7th Congressional District primary over fellow Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux in the newly redrawn district near Atlanta.

McBath, who has campaigned on a platform of gun safety, describes herself on Twitter as the mother of Jordan Davis, who was fatally shot at a gas station during a 2012 argument about loud music.

She referenced her late son in a post on Twitter marking her victory.

Today is why we act. This victory is why we act. This is why, after Jordans murder, I made a promise to my son, to my family, our entire community, that I would spend the rest of my life fighting to prevent more parents from the heartbreak of losing a loved one, she wrote, accompanied by a photo of herself with her son when he was a baby.

Today is why we act. This victory is why we act. This is why, after Jordans murder, I made a promise to my son, to my family, our entire community, that I would spend the rest of my life fighting to prevent more parents from the heartbreak of losing a loved one. pic.twitter.com/fTtnn0giwy  Lucy McBath (@lucymcbath) May 25, 2022

McBath received 63 percent of the vote, while Bourdeaux received 31 percent.

McBath, who previously represented the states 6th District, faced Bourdeaux, the 7th District incumbent, after their congressional districts were redrawn by the GOP-led state legislature in a process that happens every 10 years. Parts of McBaths district were moved into Bourdeauxs, and McBaths district went from leaning Democratic to safely Republican in redistricting.

Prior to the redistricting, McBath had flipped her seat in 2018 to Democratic from Republican, with an increase in black voters cited as a contributing factor.

McBath will face a Republican nominee in the general election on Nov. 8.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A child navigates online learning resources provided by his school in northern England on March 23, 2020. (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

UK Government-Recommended Online Learning Tool Used During Lockdown Harvested Childrens Data

Data company says the information was not shared with any third party

Data from thousands of children was harvested during the pandemic by a government-recommended online learning tool without parents knowledge, according to a joint investigation involving Human Rights Watch (HRW) and The Telegraph.

The Telegraph reported that Edpuzzle, a Department for Education (DfE) recommended company that provides interactive video lessons aimed at children as young as 5, had monitored pupils.

Edpuzzle is being criticised for failing to make it clear that it collected the data, which included the activity of childrens mice and keyboards.

It is not known how many pupils used Edpuzzle during lockdowns. In the first three months of this year, over 4,000 teachers across 1,600 schools in Britain used the program.

The investigation was completed in partnership with HRW, which said that because of school lockdowns, the unprecedented rollout and use of education technologies turbocharged the mass collection of childrens data without adequate privacy protections.

This drastically compromised childrens right to privacy, it said.

Technical analysis of Edpuzzle conducted by HRW and experts claimed the site used four third-party ad trackers, which identify and collect information about a person visiting a website.

The company confirmed to The Telegraph that pupils were monitored when they used the technology and that some third parties had access to the information held.

But it insisted that the data had only been used for Edpuzzles own business purposes and that the information had not been sold to third parties, adding that none of its actions violate its privacy policy which weve laid out in clear, simple language in order to be accessible to all.

In a recent report, HRW said that the governments of 49 of the worlds most populous countries harmed childrens rights by endorsing online learning products during COVID-19 school closures without adequately protecting childrens privacy.

In most instances, it was impossible for children to opt-out of such data collection without opting out of compulsory schooling and giving up on learning altogether during the pandemic, the organisation added.

HRW said that the use of education technologies helped governments to fill urgent gaps and deliver some measure of learning during the pandemic.

But governments endorsements and procurements of [education technologies] also turbocharged the mass collection of childrens data, exposing their personal information to the risk of misuse and exploitation by the advertising-driven Internet economy and resulting in the mass surveillance of childrens lives, both inside and outside of the classroom, HRW said.

A DfE spokesperson told The Telegraph that the government had strict requirements in place to ensure children and their data are kept safe online, including through data protection obligations on schools, but that schools were responsible for choosing online learning programmes.
Protesters demonstrate outside of the San Diego Unified School District office against a vaccination mandate for students in San Diego, Calif., on Sept. 28, 2021. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

Under Legal Pressure, San Diego Schools Delay Vaccine Mandate With No Religious Exemptions

The San Diego Unified School District decided on May 24 to postpone for a second time its policy requiring students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as opponents press forward with a federal lawsuit against the district.

Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society special counsel and partner at LiMandri and Jonna LLP, hailed the decision to delay the mandate as a victory.

We welcome this course of action, which represents another significant victory for these families and their students, most of whom will now be able to have normal senior years and graduate from high school, Jonna said in a statement.

The mandate, which was to take effect in July, will be delayed until July 2023 or later. The school district, which previously delayed the mandate, is one of the few in the United States that requires students to receive the vaccine for in-person instruction while not offering a religious exemption for schoolchildren.

The extensively litigated case went before the Supreme Court three months ago, as The Epoch Times previously reported. On Feb. 18, the high court denied an application to halt the mandate after the school district postponed it at that time but invited the litigants to seek an injunction in the future if circumstances warrant. The court order states: Because respondents have delayed implementation of the challenged policy, and because they have not settled on the form any policy will now take, emergency relief is not warranted at this time.

While the Supreme Court has generally been reluctant to block mandates requiring people to accept COVID-19 vaccinations, the court has been willing to curtail pandemic-related restrictions when religious freedoms have been threatened.

The new postponement decision took place days after attorneys from the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm that focuses on religious freedom, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction (pdf) against the mandate in federal court and one day before the school districts response to the motion was due. The motion is scheduled to be heard on June 15 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

The Thomas More Society and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty have been representing a group of families who sued the school district and its board of education over its policy that required students to obtain the controversial vaccines, while explicitly disallowing exemptions for sincerely held religious objections. Those who object say they disapprove of the vaccines because they were tested using human fetal cell lines.

The school districts policy would have forced students to take the vaccine and violate their faith, or stand firm and skip the vaccine but withdraw from all extracurricular activities and return to independent, online study.

Jonna said in one ruling in the case, 11 judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit dissented from a decision not to provide emergency relief for students with religious objections to the mandate, arguing the mandate should be immediately struck down, given its constitutional shortcoming. A few weeks later, he said, when the Supreme Court was ready to invalidate the San Diego school mandate, the district halted the policy, prompting the high court to decide not to intervene.

The school boards decision to postpone the mandate earlier this year was likely made in order to evade Supreme Court review, Jonna said. Soon after, the district decided to reimpose the mandate as of July 2022.

Thus, we immediately filed yet another motion seeking injunctive reliefset for hearing June 15, 2022, Jonna said. But the district is pulling its mandate, yet againlikely because it realizes, once again, that the mandate would be struck down in court.

The districts own evidence shows that there is no widespread classroom transmission of the virus and that other mitigation measures appear to work to protect against spread. As well, 80 percent of the students are vaccinated, so there is no justification for refusing to accommodate students with religious objections, he said.

Thus the San Diego Unified School District has no legal or factual way to justify imposing a mandate that offers no exemptions for students with sincere religious objections.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Jonna said although the playing field has tilted against the school district, its important to move forward with the lawsuit, given the districts tactics.

This mandate is basically dead at this point, Jonna said.

There is no way they can justify this mandate. And we want to depose all of the key personnel.  It seems their medical experts have all backed off.

At this point, what they should do is just agree to offer protections for students with religious objections and agree that any future mandate would have that protection. But absent some clear agreement to that effect, were just going to push forward with the case.

Jonna said the new delay of the mandate is a significant victory for now because many of our clients will now be able to graduate from high school without this mandate affecting them. So it is a big deal.

The school district didnt respond by press time to requests for comment.
University Launches Virtual Reality Headsets to Improve Quality of Life in Aged Care

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is launching a virtual reality (VR) toolkit titled Transforming Aged Care with Virtual Reality (TACWVR) on May 25, aimed at aged care seniors to give them a better quality of life.

We integrated VR technologies into three Australian aged care facilities to find ways of better socially connecting residents with each other, staff and their families during this [COVID-19] pandemic, said the lead researcher, Prof. Evonne Miller.

She said that COVID-19 has been especially hard on people living in aged care homes and virtual and augmented reality can improve their lives by allowing them to leave their homes through VR.

VR can take them back to their honeymoon, let them reconnect to something important from their past or travel to a country they always wanted to visit. They can sky-dive, ride a gondola through Venice, sail a yacht and so much more. The possibilities are limitless and overcome mobility and health problems.

The research team, which is partially funded by a philanthropic research grant from Facebook, conducted trials within Queensland and Victorian aged care homes to test the VR headsets, and although the researchers report positive findings from their trials, they have yet to publish any paper confirming their findings.

The VR have been marketed to aged care homes, pricing at around $600 (US$427) per headset. The team believes that these headsets can improve the quality of life of seniors as it gives them social and emotional enrichment by allowing seniors an opportunity to re-engage with the outside world through augmented reality as well as reminiscing over past memories.

VR has gained increasing academic interest in recent years, with many trials undertaken on its uses in healthcare, particularly for patients that have constrained mobility.

The technology is increasing in its therapeutic uses including pain management, and the treatment of phobia and anxiety, with an overall positive outcome, observed in the participants.

Additionally, the Australian Navy announced in January 2022 that it will be funding virtual reality training programs for the defence force.

However, concerns remain over the ethics of virtual reality with critics citing the issues with the persuasiveness of the immersive experience which could make users prioritise the virtual world over the real one. They also argue it could extend reminiscence therapy for seniors.

Nonetheless, researchers for TACWVR argue that the integration of VR into aged care is an effort worth the investment of time and money.

Our trials produced levels of happiness and resulted in stories being shared and people feeling more valued and engaged, said Leonie Sanderson who was VR Project Manager for the trial.

The project was the result of a collaboration between QUT, Griffith University, the University of Melbourne and La Trobe.
A barricaded entrance to a residential area is seen under lockdown due to COVID-19 restrictions in Beijing, China, on May 24, 2022. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

University Students in Beijing Protest Against Campus Lockdowns

As Beijings COVID-19 cases increase, more and more neighborhoods are placed under strict lockdowns. But students at some university campuses in Chinas capital city are protesting against the harsh measures, demanding administrators to allow them to return home.

Since April 22, the number of infection cases from the omicron variant has increased from six to 99 on May 22, according to Chinese media. There have not been any deaths reported so far. Due to Chinese authorities past record of underreporting infections and covering up information, it is difficult to assess the true scale of the current outbreak.

On May 21, Beijings Haidian District, where many universities are located, announced a week-long lockdown.

Protest at Beijing Normal University

Videos have been circulating online that show students protesting at Beijing Normal University on the eve of May 24. One video shows the BNU students gathering outside the gymnasium and meeting with the school officials.

Students wrote on social media that despite in-person classes being canceled on campus, students are not allowed to go home. Many are worried that they wont be able to return home if the number of COVID infections continues to climb.

A screenshot of an online notice showing four demands from Beijing Normal University students organizing a protest on May 24, 2022. (The Epoch Times)

BNU students published a notice online to call for the students to gather outside the school gym at 8 p.m. on May 24. The message reads, BNUers Unite and #BNU Let Me Go Home, laying out four demands to the universitys administration: provide information on the dates and format of the final exams; provide dates for the summer break and confirm whether students can go home; respond to students demands transparently; and do not retaliate against students who participated in the protests.

The bottom of the poster reads, Whether you are a silent bystander or an outspoken individual, your support counts as long as you show up.

A screenshot of Beijing Normal Universitys response to the students on May 24, 2022, requiring them to obtain permission from parents and hometown officials to return home. (The Epoch Times)

Later that night, around 10:40 p.m., a student posted on WeChat that the BNU administration told the students that they could apply for permission to go home as long as they could provide documentation or permission to return from their parents and local authorities of their hometowns.

It is unclear if the permission to return is an official document, and no further details were provided on how the students can obtain it.

Screenshot of students protesting against the COVID lockdown at Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China, on May 24, 2022. (The Epoch Times)

Earlier Protests

On May 23, students at the China University of Political Science and Law staged a protest. They had circulated a notice online, asking students to gather at 8 p.m. in front of the main building on campus and play the song Do you hear the people singthe same music used during the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020.

Screenshot of a notice circulated by students at China University of Political Science and Law, listing five demands and inviting people to join a protest on May 23, 2022. (The Epoch Times)

The notice listed five demands similar to those of Beijing Normal University.

The next day, on May 24, the university responded with a statement, allowing students to return home. The notice, titled Reminders On Returning Home During Campus Lockdown, asked the students to observe the rules of Beijing municipality and those of their hometowns during their return and not come back to campus until further notice.

The earliest protest in Beijing known to the public took place on the eve of May 15 by students at Peking University. They removed the barrier wall that was set up on campus the day before.

Officials Nervous Over Student Protests, Expert Says

As the news about the protests broke out, some China observers noted that they coincided with the upcoming anniversary of the June Fourth incident or Tiananmen Square massacre.

Former BNU professor Li Yuanhua told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on May 25 that the university officials are certainly very nervous and sensitive about June Fourth, but most students do not know about the incident. Also, the students did not mention June Fourth in their demands. Regardless, Li said, university campuses are now highly volatile due to the lockdowns.

The Chinese youth are ignorant about the June Fourth incident because it is heavily censored by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The CCP continues to deny it ordered the military to break up the student-led pro-democracy rallies and open fire on civilians at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. The actual death count, though kept as a top secret by the CCP, was at least 10,000, according to a secret UK diplomatic report. Textbooks in China do not mention the event, and discussion of the topic is scrubbed online.

Li also said that the students demands are very reasonable but that the university officials might not be able to make the decisions themselves because the situation is related to travel restrictions under the Chinese regimes zero-COVID policy. Other regions could be reluctant to allow people from Beijing to enter due to the growing number of COVID cases in Chinas capital city. He added that high-level officials at the Ministry of Education might have to step in and make the final decision on students demands.

Ning Haizhong and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
Shelves are empty of baby formula at a store in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on May 20, 2022. (Joseph PreziosoAFP via Getty Images)

US Allows 2 Million Baby Formula Cans in From UK, Lets Abbott Release 300,000 Specialty Cans

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday it will allow about 2 million cans of baby formula from the United Kingdom into the country, and allow Abbott Laboratories to release about 300,000 cans of specialty formula, to help ease the ongoing nationwide shortage.

We continue to do everything in our power as part of the all-of-government efforts to ensure theres adequate infant formula available wherever and whenever parents and caregivers need it, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement. Our recent steps will help further bolster supply of infant formula, including through the import of safe and nutritious products from overseas based on our increased flexibilities announced last week.

Importantly, we anticipate additional infant formula products may be safely and quickly imported into the U.S. in the near-term based on ongoing discussions with manufacturers and suppliers worldwide.

The FDA announced it is exercising enforcement discretion to allow the importation of the 2 million cans from UK-based company Kendal Nutricare. The cans, which are under the companys Kendamil brand, have no safety or nutrition concerns after an evaluation, and are expected to land on U.S. store shelves starting in June, the FDA said.

Kendal Nutricare currently has over 40,000 cans in stock for immediate dispatch, the agency said, adding that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is discussing options to get those cans into the country as soon as possible.

The FDA also announced it is letting Abbott release some 300,000 cans of its EleCare amino acid-based formula for babies and infants who urgently need it to survive, on a case-by-case basis.

The cans of specialty formula were previously produced at Abbotts facility in Sturgis, Michigan, where other baby formula products that were recalled by Abbott on Feb. 17 were produced.

These products will undergo enhanced microbiological testing before release. Although some EleCare product was included in Abbott Nutritions infant formula recall, these EleCare products that will be released were in different lots, have never been released and have been maintained in storage under control by Abbott Nutrition, the FDA noted.

Given the critical need of this product for some individuals, the FDA encourages parents and caregivers to consult with their health care providers to weigh the potential risk of bacterial infection with this product, it added. Parents and caregivers seeking access to these products should contact Abbott directly to request that a product be made available to them by calling 1-800-881-0876.

The ongoing baby formula shortage in the United States was recently exacerbated after Abbott Laboratories, the biggest U.S. supplier of powder baby formula, in February recalled some products, including those under the brand Similac, and temporarily shuttered its manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Michigan, which was producing up to one-quarter of the countrys baby formula.

The recall came after reports of bacterial infections among four infants, two of whom died. The FDA, which launched an investigation into the matter following consumer complaints, cannot conclude whether the cases of infants that fell sick were directly related to the Abbott facility until its investigation is concluded, Califf previously said.

Production at the Sturgis facility is set to restart on June 4, Abbott said in a statement. The company said it would prioritize making EleCare and supplying it on or about June 20. It also the formula would be provided to children in need for free.

Prior to the Abbott recall, the baby formula shortage among multiple manufacturers was brought on by supply chain pressures linked to COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

Also on Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into the ongoing shortage of baby formula in the country, calling for public input on the matter.

The Biden administration has sought to relieve the shortage by importing emergency supplies from Europe via Defense Department-contracted commercial aircraft under Operation Fly Formula. The first lots of formula arrived in Indianapolis, Indiana, from Germany on Sunday.

President Joe Biden has also invoked the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to help manufacturers obtain ingredients to produce more formula.
A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, on June 9, 2016. (Richard Carson/Reuters)

US Announces Sales of 40 Million Crude Oil Barrels From Strategic Petroleum Reserve

The U.S. government has announced the sale of up to 40.1 million barrels of crude oil to be released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over the coming months.

The U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) notice of sale is part of the Biden administrations March 31 announcement to release 1 million barrels of crude oil a day for six months in light of nationwide shortages and high gas prices.

The DOE cited the RussiaUkraine conflict as a cause for global supply chain disruptions.

The release of oil barrels will come in stages. The first 90 million barrels are expected to roll out from the United States emergency reserves between May and mid-August.

The United States has the worlds largest supply of emergency crude oil with federally owned oil stock stored in underground salt caverns at four storage sites in Texas and Louisiana.

The DOE said it has been executing on President Joe Bidens release plan for the last several weeks.

In progressing the plan, the first stock of critical backup supply will include 20 million barrels that were already scheduled in May before Bidens March announcement, and another 30 million barrels scheduled on April 1 after Bidens announcement.

It also includes the 40.1 million barrels being released through the DOEs latest notice of sale on May 24. The remaining 90 million barrels will be released between August and October, the DOE said.

Biden has the power under certain conditions to direct the secretary of energy to sell the countrys oil reserves, which is done via a competitive auction to the highest bidder, under Section 161 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

Bidders have until 10 a.m. central time on June 1 to put in their offers. Contracts will be awarded no later than June 10.

Of the 40.1 million barrels captured in the current notice of sale, 39 million barrels will be sour crude oil and 1.1 million barrels will be sweet crude oil.

Sweet crude oil will be delivered from June 21 to 30, and sour crude oil from July 1 to Aug. 15.

The sales will be conducted from Big Hill (up to 12.5 million barrels), West Hackberry (up to 12.5 million barrels), Bryan Mound (up to 8 million barrels), and Bayou Chactaw (up to 7.1 million barrels).

The United States is among other countries to ban imports of Russian crude and oil products. As such, around 62 million barrels of Russian crude oil sits on vessels at sea, according to data from analytics firm Vortex, Reuters reported.

The last time the United States initiated an emergency drawdown of U.S. oil reserves was in 2011 when Biden served as vice president under President Barack Obama. At that time, 30 million barrels of oil were delivered to 15 companies in the world market in response to supply chain issues linked to Libya.

Prior to that, emergency drawdown was initiated by President George W. Bush in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina damaged oil refineries in the United States, and before that by his father, President George Bush, in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 3, 2022. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

US May Send American Troops to Ukraine to Safeguard Reopened Embassy: Gen. Milley

Plans to send American forces back into the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are being considered for the protection of the U.S. Embassy, said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, to reporters at the Pentagon on Monday.

Some of the things that may have been out there in the media, those are planning efforts that are underway at a relatively low level, Milley told reporters, possibly referring to a Wall Street Journal report.

The May 23 report talked about the diplomatic balancing act by White House officials to send in troops to safeguard the newly-reopened embassy during times of war, risking personnel safety on one hand, while avoiding escalating the conflict.

The U.S. Embassy was shut down 10 days prior to the Russian invasion, and was reopened on May 19 after a three-month closure. Embassy staff worked out of Poland for the first two months of the war but Charge dAffaires Kristina Kvien returned to the country on May 2.

Other countries like the UK, France, and Germany have reopened embassies after Russian forces focused their offensive on the eastern parts of the country.

If the military is deployed, it would be special forces for the defense and security of the embassy that lies within range of Russian missiles. President Joe Biden earlier made assurances that no U.S. forces would be sent into Ukraine.

The proposals to send in troops have not yet made it to [Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin] or myself for that matter, for refinement of courses of action and whats needed, said Milley. Any deployment of U.S. troops would require a presidential decision.

Were a ways away from anything like that. Were still developing courses of action, and none of that has been presented yet to the secretary, Milley added.

The Biden administration reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on May 18 after closing it ahead of Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Russian forces continue to hit Kyiv intermittently. On April 28, two Russian missiles struck the central Shevchenko district of the city and lower floors of a 25-story residential building, wounding at least 10 people, according to reports from Ukrainian forces.

The strikes happened during a visit to Ukraine by the head of the United Nations.

There are concerns whether bolstering troop presence could provoke the Russian forces to attack the capital again, and cause harm to staff members working in the embassy. At present, State Department diplomatic security officials provide protection for embassy personnel.

Bridget Brink was confirmed by the Senate as the new U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. She has not yet arrived in the country.
U.S. President Joe Biden participates in the U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit at the U.S. State Department in Washington on May 13, 2022. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

US Seeks to Upgrade ASEAN Relations to Curtail Chinese Influence, Taiwan a Potential Beneficiary

News Analysis

The outcome of the U.S.-ASEAN summit that ended on May 13 was a pledge to establish an ASEAN-U.S. Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in November of this year. Experts believe Taiwan, a non-ASEAN member, would become a beneficiary in the U.S. efforts to counter China in the Pacific.

From May 12 to 13, U.S. President Joe Biden presided over the first-ever U.S.-ASEAN special summit in Washington, announcing over $150 million in initiatives to deepen U.S.-ASEAN relations and expand common capacity to achieve shared objectives.

Among the initiatives, $60 million is dedicated to new regional maritime security led by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), including the deployment of USCG assets and the transfer of ships to Southeast Asian countries to increase the coastal nations maritime law enforcement capacity.

Biden said that the partnership would intensify U.S. engagement with the 10-country bloc to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, a veiled reference to China. Although ASEAN nations are interested in receiving trade and investment from China, they are concerned about Chinas military presence in the region.

Beijings claim to the South China Sea infringes on the sovereignty of several Southeast Asian nations. Currently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has territorial disputes with several ASEAN members, such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, as well as non-ASEAN members Taiwan and Japan.

The United States is committed to continuing to cooperate to promote trade and investment and facilitating resilient global supply chains and seamless regional connectivity, including for essential goods such as medical supplies, medicines, vaccines, food and agricultural products, commodities, high-tech products, and other essential supplies and services, contributing to sustainable economic recovery and resilience in the region, the Joint Vision Statement for the 2022 ASEAN-U.S. Special Summit reads.

A director at the thinktank Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, Hua Chia-Cheng, told The Epoch Times that the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) does not force the countries to choose between the United States and China but seeks to reduce the countries reliance on China. Recognizing that ASEAN is heavily involved with China economically, the United States realized the need for a more diversified and resilient supply chain amid the global pandemic and to cement its presence in Asia.

Reliable trade partners with shared values are what the United States is really looking for in the Indo-Pacific, Hua said. [The partnership] is not simply to reduce tariffs on each other, but to establish security and trust.

Hua said the United States and ASEAN countries would need to negotiate and prioritize the fields to cooperate on so that IPEF partners can relieve pressure on the supply chain in the case of an emergency.

Taiwanese businessmen and companies have been heavily involved in ASEAN trades for a long time, especially in the field of semiconductors. An upgraded relationship between the United States and ASEAN would be an excellent opportunity for Taiwan to play a more critical role in the U.S. supply chains, Hua added.

Chinas ASEAN Relations and Belt and Road Initiative

In November 2021, China and ASEAN were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership, according to a joint statement (pdf) for the 2021 ASEAN-China Special Summit. Since 2009, China has been ASEANs largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years. And in 2020, ASEAN became Chinas largest trading partner for the first time.

Chinas Ministry of Commerce called ASEAN a critical part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the new land-sea corridor for international trade.

However, as part of Beijings global expansion strategy, many countries participating in BRI have failed to make economic gains and suffered from enormous debt.

The BRIwhich serves as a tool for the CCPs global expansionfinances enormous loans to developing nations for building infrastructure.

A Chinese worker carrying materials for a project that is part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative in Laos, on Feb. 8, 2020. (Aidan Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

The ostentatious projects have been described as being a part of so-called debt-trap diplomacy since the often unpayable loans will force the nations to repay China with goods or land.

Chinese state-owned banks provide the countries with loans they can barely afford. The loans are then used to pay Chinese companies in order to build infrastructure, including the development of roads, ports, power plants, mines, telecommunications, or banking institutions.

When the nations are unable to pay, they must grant China assets like long-term exploitation rights for natural resources, or leases of infrastructure built using the loans.

For instance, in December 2017, Sri Lanka leased the major Hambantota Port to Beijing for 99 years due to its inability to pay BRI owed loans of $1.4 billion. This gave the CCP a key base in the Indian Ocean.

A general view of the port facility at Hambantota in Sri Lanka, on Feb. 10, 2015. (Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images)

A study from AidData, a research lab at William & Marys Global Research Institute, analyzed 13,427 projects backed by China in more than 165 countries over 18 years and found that the projects total value amounts to $843 billion.

Joyce Liang, Antonio Graceffo, and Danella Perez Schmieloz contributed to this report.
Police cordon off the streets around Robb Elementary School after a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Uvalde Residents Reeling After Mass Shooter Kills 19 Children, 2 Adults at Elementary School

UVALDE, TexasParents and children gripped each other a little tighter on May 24, knowing they were the lucky ones.

Mayor of Uvalde Don McLaughlin confirmed at 10:30 p.m. local time that 19 children and two adults were confirmed dead in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Joe Daniel, a Uvalde resident who lives near the school, said his 8-year-old daughter was traumatized after the gunman tried to get into her classroom, but the teacher locked the door.

Construction workers came racing into his house from next door as they heard gunfire. Salvador Ramos allegedly shot his grandmother before driving toward the school, entering the campus, and opening fire. Law enforcement officers shot Ramos.

Everybodys just in shock, Adrian Ramirez said.

Another man said his cousins child is still missingtheyd already called all the hospitals from Uvalde to San Antonio, and now they feared the worst.

Its a small community, and word travels fast. One man showed The Epoch Times the Facebook page of one of the teachers who was shot. He knows her best friend.

Every towns got its criminals, [but] I didnt think ours had one of those, he said.

Moses, a retired truck driver who declined to give his surname, said hed lived across the street from Ramoss grandmother all his life.

Ive known her all my life. I cant believe this happened, he told The Epoch Times. Moses said shes real hardworking, real nice and kept her yard and her house really clean.

Ramoss grandmother is in critical condition.

Mosess great-grandson was at Robb Elementary during the shooting, but he wasnt injured. But some who didnt make itI know their parents, their grandparents, Moses said.

Its shocking. Its hard to believe. The part I dont understand is, maybe he and his grandma got into it, but what have little kids got to do with it?

Nothing like that should ever happen.

City officials held a press conference at 7 p.m. local time to provide a brief update.

Anne Marie Espinoza, spokeswoman for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (CISD), said all schools were closed immediately for the summer.

Uvalde CISD Chief of Police Pete Arredondo said the priority was to get information to the families of the school children.

As of now, were still working on this active investigation. Once were able to provide information to the families, we will do so first and foremost, he said. Let me assure you, the intruder is deceased. And we are not actively looking for another individual or any other suspects in this case.

CISD Superintendent Hal Harrell said grief counseling would be provided at the local Civic Center starting at 10 a.m. on May 25, for our students, our staff, community members, anybody that needs to come at that time.

My heart was broken today, Harrell said.

The Uvalde Police Department said the streets around the school would be closed for several days.

To our community, we ask you to keep those affected in your prayers. Please be patient and understanding with the active scene and investigation, the department posted on its Facebook page on the evening of May 24.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered flags in the state to be lowered to half-staff.

Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde. Cecilia and I mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering, Abbott said in a statement.

First responders from all over the region rushed to Uvalde to assist. Ambulances from Bandera County, Edwards County, and San Antonio were sitting next to Uvalde trucks. Local Border Patrol agents, sheriffs deputies, and police officers from neighboring counties flooded in to help.

Uvalde, with a population of about 16,000, sits about 60 miles east of the U.S.Mexico border and 83 miles west of San Antonio.
At least 20 people, including 18 children, were killed in the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas senator Roland Gutierrez told CNN.

May 25, 2022, 11:08 At least 18 schoolchildren, two adults killed in Texas school shooting  governor

STEPANAKERT, MAY 25, ARTSAKHPRESS: The senator said he obtained the information from Texas rangers, who take part in investigating the tragedy. In his words, 18 children are known to have been killed. Three adults also died, including the shooter. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said earlier in the day 14 children and one teacher were killed.

Gutierrez also said that prior to the attack, the perpetrator presumably shot at his grandmother, but she survived. The woman was hospitalized, her condition is unknown.

According to a report by Associated Press, it was the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children and six adults. Shortly before the attack, he killed his mother.

Russian Consul General in Houston Alexander Zakharov told TASS that Uvalde police has no information about any Russian speakers killed or injured in the attack.

Earlier, Texas Governor Greg Abbott identified the shooter as 18-year-old Salvador Romas, a local resident. The perpetrator acted alone and was killed by police on site. According to the governors information, the attacker was armed with a pistol, but presumably he also carried a rifle.
Virginia Sued Over Law That Allows Violation of Ranchers Property Rights

Virginia is being sued by property owners over its unusual law that allows hunters to invade private property to retrieve their hunting dogs, often resulting in damage to property and livestock.

This lawsuit isnt aimed at hunting, but at protecting property rights, according to the Sacramento, California-based Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a national nonprofit public interest law firm that is representing the property owners.

Virginia is one of just two statesthe other is Minnesotathat allows hunters to enter private property to retrieve their hunting dogs, PLF states.

The 25-page legal complaint in the case (pdf), Medeiros v. Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, was filed in Henrico County Circuit Court in Virginia.

The plaintiffs are Virginia property owners James Medeiros of Wilsons, Robert Pierce of Virgilina, and Mauricio Tovar of Chesterfield. Also listed as a plaintiff is Blue Wing LLC, which owns 1,100 acres in Virgilina, including a tree farm, 20 miles of hiking and horseback riding trails for use by its members, and a 500-yard rifle range. Pierce is a member of the corporations board and operates the Blue Wing property.

The defendant, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), is an agency of the state responsible for regulating hunting and enforcing state laws and regulations governing hunting. The agencys Law Enforcement Division has more than 100 conservation police officers for dealing with complaints related to hunting dogs.

Lead plaintiff James Medeiros and his family run their own business, White Oak Meadows, on land they bought in 2012 in Dinwiddie County outside of Richmond. The family cultivates forest and farm products, including beef and poultry raised exclusively on grasses and native vegetation.

Ranching is already a tough business and dealing with uninvited hunters and their hunting dogs makes it even tougher for ranchers, according to PLF.

Although using dogs to hunt game, especially deer, is a tradition in Virginia going back to when 20,000-acre farms afforded plenty of room for chases that spanned more than two miles, nowadays, there are more people and less farmland. Currently, private hunting grounds are generally 5,000 acres or smaller, and rarely adjacent to each other, so the dogs that deer hunters rely on end up on nearby private property.

The retrieval law, which is typically invoked during deer hunting season, applies to several game animals with year-round seasons.

Hunters arent required to give property owners notice. And in practice, hunters can use the cover of other games hunting seasons and access rules to gain year-round access to actively hunt on private property, rather than merely retrieve wandering hounds, PLF stated in a summary.

These unannounced intrusions by dogs and hunters also have an adverse effect on Medeiross business. White Oak Meadows has lost livestock and poultry to marauding hounds, and the dogs have disturbed cows and disrupted their milking process. The plaintiffs dont oppose deer huntingmany are hunters themselvesbut they dont want trespassers on their land.

Were not saying that hunters shouldnt be able to get their dogs back, PLF attorney Daniel Woislaw told The Epoch Times in an interview.

Our clients are just asking that these hunters get permission, because most of the time theyre going to say yes to a request to access their land, Woislaw said.

But when the government grants this right, and says they dont have to get permission, thats taking away a property interest. Thats taking away the right to decide who comes and goes on your private property, and thats worth something.

It makes sense to bring the case now in light of last years Supreme Court decision in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, Woislaw explained.

In that 63 decision in the case brought by PLF, the high court ruled a California regulation allowing labor organizers to enter an employers property and disrupt business for hours every day for one-third of the year to recruit new members was unconstitutional, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

Until the Cedar Point ruling, the government pretty much always wins, so if you fell into this regulatory camp, youre pretty much going to lose no matter what, Woislaw said. But under the ruling we dont have to do this convoluted regulatory taking analysis, the government doesnt always win.

We see this case as very similar to that because what this law is doing is its giving a physical right to enter property for public use on behalf of a group of hunters, and theres no compensation. So were asking for that compensation, the lawyer said.

Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources spokesperson Paige Pearson told The Epoch Times in an email, We have no comment on this matter as its pending litigation.
In this file photo, people attend the Leimert Park Rising Juneteenth celebration to mark the end of slavery, in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 19, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Walmart Pulls Juneteenth Ice Cream After Backlash

Walmart has pulled a Juneteenth-themed ice cream flavor from shelves after facing a considerable public backlash, with critics accusing the retailer of cultural appropriation and inappropriate commercialism.

On Monday, Walmart decided to withdraw an ice cream from its food label Great Value for Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the emancipation of black slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865. In recent years, the holiday has seen new popularity as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement and the growing centrality of racial issues in the progressive movement. Last year, President Joe Biden signed a bill declaring Juneteenth (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day) as a federal holiday.

Share and celebrate African-American culture, emancipation, and enduring hope, reads a blurb on the ice creams packaging.

The controversial ice cream is adorned in the colors of the Pan-African flag and features a pair of dark-toned hands joining in a high-five. Its flavor consists of swirled cheesecake and red velvet cake, an homage to the Juneteenth tradition of eating red foods as a somewhat morbid reminder of the blood shed by black slaves before emancipation.

However, the Afrocentric frozen treat was not well-received by all customers, and many users took to Twitter to express their disdain for the commercialization of this ostensibly serious holiday.

Its important to have diverse voices at the table when making strategic business decisions. When you dont, you end up making costly, foolish mistakes like Walmarts Great Value Juneteenth Ice Cream, said P.R. executive Jennifer N. O. Littlejohn on Twitter.

Walmart responded on Monday, apologizing for any insensitivity and announcing that they would be taking the frozen desert off the shelves.

Juneteenth holiday marks a celebration of freedom and independence, Walmart said in a statement. However, we received feedback that a few items caused concern for some of our customers and we sincerely apologize. We are reviewing our assortment and will remove items as appropriate.

The ice cream flavor is just one of several Juneteenth-related items which the company has reconsidered in light of ensuing controversy. The retailer also featured Juneteenth party decorations, apparel, and books in anticipation of the impending holiday. However, it was the frozen dessert that drew the most controversy.

This is not the first time that a food distributors efforts to promote African-American history have backfired and resulted in controversy. In 2019, New York University came under fire after the food caterer Aramark featured a themed menu for African-American history month at one of the universitys dining halls, featuring stereotypical African-American cuisine such as ribs, collard greens, and Kool-Aid. While this was presumably intended as a celebration of black American culture, it provoked criticism from racial minorities and self-designated allies.
Washington Ends Bond Payment Exemption for Russia, Leading to Fears of Default

Following Washingtons decision to end a key sanctions exemption, Russias chances of defaulting on its debts have increased.

Back in February 2022, the U.S. Treasury had stated that it would allow Russia to make sovereign bond payments to American investors despite strong financial sanctions imposed on Moscow for its aggressive incursion into Ukraine. But on May 24, the departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it will not be renewing this exemption.

The sanction exemptions ended at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on May 25. This means that U.S. individuals and entities will no longer be able to receive bond payments from Russia without breaching government sanctions.

If the bondholders dont get their money when the money is due, factoring in any grace periods that apply, Russia will be in default on a sovereign debt, Jay Auslander, a partner at law firm Wilk Auslander, said to Reuters. With the waiver gone, there seems to be no way for bondholders to get paid.

Though the exemption-lapse only applies to American citizens, it is expected to make things tougher for Russia as it seeks to pay other debt holders, owing to the critical role U.S. financial institutions play in the global financial system.

Moscow is due to make bond coupon payments worth $71 million and 29 million euros ($31 million) on May 27. Russia has already transferred a part of the money, anticipating the end of the U.S. exemption, according to Business Insider.

Russia can still avoid an official default despite Washingtons action, according to Olga Nikolaeva and Iskander Lutsko of Russian broker ITI Capital. The majority of Russian bondholders are now European entities, while the Treasury decision only applies to U.S. entities, the analysts point out.

Russia will proceed with coupon payments, while those blocked from getting money from the Russian sovereign will not be able to meet a quorum requirement to initiate litigation as part of default procedure, ITI Capital said in a recent note, according to Insider.

Moscow will likely argue that it has not committed a default since the United States has made it impossible for Russia to make those payments despite Russia having the necessary funds, said Adam Solowsky, a partner in the Financial Industry Group at global law firm Reed Smith, in an interview with CNBC.

Russias situation is an abnormality when compared to the regular process for sovereign defaults. In such a situation, a country restructures its bonds with investors as it nears default.

Thats not going to be feasible for Russia at this time because basically under the sanctions, nobody can do any business with them, so the normal scenario that we would see play out is not what we would expect in this case, Solowsky said.
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FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP)  Jurors in Johnny Depps libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard heard a snippet of testimony Tuesday contradicting one of Heards key witnesses, but much of the context was stripped away.

Jennifer Howell  who once employed Heard's sister, Whitney Henriquez  testified briefly Tuesday in the six-week civil trial through a recorded deposition.

Depp is suing Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse. His lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.

Depp has denied he ever struck Heard, and says she was the abuser in the relationship. Heard has testified about more than a dozen separate instances of physical abuse she says she suffered at Depps hands.

Howell testified that she sent an email in 2020 to Henriquez begging her to tell the truth.

Jurors, though, did not see the letter, nor did Howell explain in what way she thought Henriquez was being untruthful. The edited deposition played in court for less than 15 minutes  Howell appeared to walk out of the deposition before lawyers had completed their questioning.

In a court document, though, Howell goes into much greater detail. She gives a four-page declaration in which she says Henriquez confided in her that Heard was the aggressor in the fight and Henriquez allegedly said she thought Heard was going to kill Johnny.

Howell also says in the declaration that Henriquez told her and others in their workplace that Heard cut off Depp's finger in a fight the couple had in Australia. The severed finger has been a point of dispute throughout the trial. Depp says the finger was severed when Heard lobbed a vodka bottle at him. Heard says Depp did it to himself on a night when he was in a drunken rage and sexually assaulted her with a bourbon bottle.

Henriquez is the only one of Heards witnesses who testified in the six-week trial that she personally witnessed Depp physically assault Heard, in a fight where she said each landed blows on the other while she was caught between the two.

It's not entirely clear why Howell's testimony was so limited. Throughout the trial, though, Judge Penney Azcarate has strictly enforced rules limiting hearsay evidence, and Howell's description of what Henriquez told her would likely be a classic example of hearsay unless Depp's lawyers could claim some sort of exception to the hearsay rule.

In Howell's declaration, she acknowledged that she was upset when she learned that Heard had pledged millions of dollars to the American Civil Liberties Union and a children's hospital, when Howell thought the money could do more good at The Art of Elysium, the nonprofit she ran and that had employed Henriquez.

The limited nature of Howell's testimony makes it unclear if jurors will draw the connections that Depp's team hopes to make.

Howell testified as a rebuttal witness for Depp after Heard rested her case Tuesday morning without calling Depp to the stand  Heard's lawyers had initially suggested they would call Depp as a witness.

Jurors may still hear more from Depp. His team has indicated they may call him to the stand Wednesday.

Both Depp and Heard have each testified extensively already about details of their toxic relationship.

Also Tuesday, the celebrity news site TMZ filed an emergency motion seeking to block the testimony of a former employee, Morgan Tremaine.

TMZ said it's concerned that Tremaine is prepared to testify Wednesday for Depp and violate a pledge of confidentiality that the news outlet provided to a source who gave TMZ information related to the couple's high-profile divorce.

Heard has denied that she tipped off news outlets to the fact that she obtained a temporary restraining order after filing for divorce from Depp in 2016. Heard alleged Depp abused her in that application, and Heard was photographed by paparazzi leaving the courthouse with an apparent bruise on her cheek.

Depp's lawyers have said she sought publicity about her abuse allegations to falsely damage his reputation.

Also Tuesday, Judge Penney Azcarate rejected a motion from Depps attorneys to toss out a $100 million counterclaim she filed against Depp. The counterclaim alleges Depp's then-lawyer, Adam Waldman, defamed Heard when he called her abuse allegations a hoax.

Azcarate said the bar for tossing out a claim before it goes to the jury is exceedingly high, and said there is enough evidence to allow it to go forward. She had already ruled Depp could be held responsible for statements made by his lawyer, a principle Depp's team disputes.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Following in Dave Chappelle's footsteps, Ricky Gervais ridicules transgender women in his new Netflix comedy special. As with Chappelle, the British stand-up quickly drew backlash for what a LGBTQ advocacy group called anti-trans rants.

In SuperNature, released Tuesday on the streaming service, Gervais jokes about old-fashioned women. They're the ones with wombs.

He then imagines a conversation with such a woman who objects to sharing a restroom with a trans woman. They are ladies, look at their pronouns. What about this person isn't a lady? Gervais said, supplying the response: Well, his penis.

In the hourlong special, Gervais defended his remarks as equal-opportunity humor and not a reflection of his views on trans or other rights. But transgender and LGBTQ defenders fired back, with GLAAD asserting that the special violates a Netflix policy against content designed to incite hate or violence.

We watched the Ricky Gervais comedy special on Netflix so you dont have to, the media watchdog group said. Its full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes," along with anti-gay rhetoric and inaccurate statements on HIV.

The LGBTQ community and our allies have made it very clear that so-called comedians who spew hate in place of humor, and the media companies who give them a platform, will be held accountable," GLAAD said in a statement.

Alexis Rangel, policy counsel with the National Center for Transgender Equality, said that jokes based on dehumanizing myths about transgender people disregard how such falsehoods fuel hatred and anti-trans violence, especially for trans youngsters.

She cited a 2015 organization survey that found 54% of those in kindergarten through 12th grade who were out or perceived as transgender were verbally harassed, 24% were physically attacked and 13% were sexually assaulted.

Such unfunny attempts at humor give people permission to discriminate, harass and even commit violence, Rangel said in a statement.

Netflix and a representative for Gervais didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Last year, Chappelle and Netflix created a furor when his stand-up special, The Closer, was accused of anti-trans humor by gay rights groups and some Netflix employees. Ted Sarandos, the streaming giants CEO, declined to remove the special, citing creative freedom, and Netflix and Chappelle remain in business together.

In an Instagram video last October, Chappelle blamed the media for framing the dispute as him versus the LGBTQ community, and said the controversy was about corporate interest and what I can say and what I cannot say.

Gervais is familiar to audiences as a repeat host of the Golden Globes. He's an Emmy-winner for his role in the comedy Extras and as a producer of The Office, based on the original British series of the same name that he co-created.

His trans mockery comes early in the SuperNature special, in which he also targets Asians and the Holocaust, among others. At a later point, he defends his approach by dismissing the idea that a joke is a window into a comedian's true soul.

That's just not the case. I'll take on any view to make the joke funny. Ill pretend to be right wing, I'll pretend to be left-wing. ... Full disclosure: Of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights. And trans rights are human rights, he said.

Live your best life. use your preferred pronouns, be the gender that you feel that you are, Gervais said  then added another trans-directed punchline.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  Investigators didn't find a DNA profile for the man accused of killing his wife's co-worker on items recovered in the case, including a gun, a hacksaw and a knife, a state criminalist testified Tuesday.

Armando Barron's profile didn't turn up, but testing did find a DNA profile, or a possible contributor, for Jonathan Amerault, the man who died, said Katie Lynn Swanko under questioning from Barrons lawyer in a Keene, New Hampshire courtroom.

Prosecutors allege Barron assaulted his wife, Britany Barron, the night he discovered she was texting with Amerault, then used her cellphone to lure him to a park just north of the Massachusetts state line in September 2020. They allege he beat and kicked Amerault, forced him into his own car and shot him three times.

Barron's trial began last week. The prosecution is expected to wrap up its case Wednesday.

Armando Barron has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping and other charges. His lawyers argue that his wife shot Amerault, which she denies.

Britany Barron had testified that after Amerault was shot, she was then forced to drive the car 200 miles (322 kilometers) north to a remote campsite. There, she said, she was forced to behead Amerault and dispose of his body.

About a dozen items submitted to Swanko had tested positive for the presence of human blood, but the DNA profile on them was unknown," Swanko said. She said comparisons were made to known profiles of Amerault, Armando Barron and Britany Barron. Amerault's profile came up on nearly all of the items.

So across all of the items that you tested from this investigation, Armando Barron was not a possible contributor of the DNA to any of those items that you tested?" defense attorney Morgan Taggart-Hampton asked.

That's correct," Swanko said.

A few items, such as a black tank top and a sample of a napkin, showed Britany Barron's profile, Swanko testified.

The tested items included a pair of blue sneakers. During earlier testimony Tuesday, a criminalist testifying about a zigzag impression left on Amerault's face, saying it could have been made by a blue sneaker that she was given to analyze. Prosecutors said earlier in the trial that Armando Barron owned a pair of blue sneakers.

Also on Tuesday, an investigator testified about messages on social media accounts recovered from Britany Barrons and Amerault's phones that September night, including one on Britany's asking Amerault to come to a park, followed by one telling him to turn to the right" and that she was there.

The jury also heard a recording of a conversation a police officer had with Armando Barron at his home a couple of nights later. Barron is heard saying he dropped his wife off to go camping, and that he thought the officer was serving him divorce papers. He also said he had driven up north.

Britany pleaded guilty last year to three counts of falsifying evidence and was released from jail on parole last month.

The Associated Press had not been naming the couple in order not to identify Britany Barron, who said she suffered extreme abuse. Through her lawyer, she recently agreed to the use of her name.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  One of the last remaining anti-abortion Democrats in Congress was facing his toughest primary challenge yet in Tuesday's runoff, while a staunch gun safety advocate ousted her House colleague in a fierce member-on-member congressional primary in suburban Atlanta.

Meanwhile, in northwest Georgia, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conspiracy-peddling provocateur, sailed to victory despite facing a handful of GOP primary challengers in her Republican-leaning district.

For both Republicans and Democrats, Tuesdays primary elections in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota and Texas pitted members of the partys activist base against more moderate candidates. The races offer a glimpse of what the next Congress could look like.

Here are a handful of races to follow:

THE LAST ANTI-ABORTION HOUSE DEMOCRAT

Moderate Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, a nine-term incumbent, is a perennial target for progressives. But so far the anti-abortion congressman has prevailed in a series of close races in the largely Hispanic district that stretches from the Rio Grande to San Antonio.

Whether his winning streak will continue was not clear early Wednesday as Cuellar was locked in a close race against Jessica Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration attorney and abortion rights supporter who once interned in Cuellar's Washington office.

The race was too early to call Wednesday morning.

The race is Cisneros' second attempt at ousting Cuellar, whom she lost to by 4 percentage points in 2020. She came within 1,000 votes of Cuellar in Texas' March primary, forcing Tuesday's runoff.

Heading into the night, it appeared she had a new edge after a recently leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion draft showed the justices poised to overturn the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that grants a constitutional right to abortion.

Adding to Cuellar's headwinds, the FBI earlier this year raided his home in the border city of Laredo. Though Cuellars attorney says he had been exonerated, the issue was enough of a liability that his allies sent out direct mail ads with a mock newspaper headline proclaiming him cleared.

The winner will face Cassy Garcia, who won the Republican runoff for the seat.

BRING IT ON, LIARS

For the vast majority of Vernon Jones nearly three-decade-long Georgia political career, he was a Democrat. But this year, the scandal-plagued politician reinvented himself as a pro-Donald Trump Republican and jumped in the race for an open House seat that stretches from the Atlanta suburbs to Athens.

Hell, they even call me the Black Donald Trump! Jones tweeted after entering the race while challenging his rivals to Bring it on, liars!

Jones is one of the most prominent Black politicians to endorse Trump and spoke at the 2020 Republican convention. He even had Trumps endorsement. Jones will go to a June 21 runoff against Mike Collins, a trucking company president whose father, Mac Collins, was a former Georgia congressman, on Tuesday. Neither crossed the 50% threshold needed to win outright.

Collins has already telegraphed that Jones considerable baggage will be an election issue.

As DeKalbs executive, Jones faced investigations over his expensive security detail, and a woman accused Jones of raping her in late 2004. She dropped the charges but never recanted. Jones said they had a consensual sexual encounter. A grand jury later alleged that as CEO he was part of an endemic culture of incompetence, patronage, fraud and cronyism.

MEMBER ON MEMBER PRIMARY

After the 2020 census, Georgias Republican-dominated Legislature redrew the boundaries of Democratic Rep. Lucy McBaths suburban Atlanta district, transforming it into a GOP stronghold. They also redrew another Atlanta-area swing seat, making Democratic Rep. Carolyn Bourdeuxs district solidly Democratic.

So McBath, a nationally renowned gun-safety advocate, went district shopping  and decided to challenge Bourdeaux, a college professor in her first term. And on Tuesday, McBath ousted her colleague-turned-rival, boosted by $4 millions in ad spending by the gun safety lobby, as well as a cryptocurrency billionaire.

McBath ran on a compelling personal story. Shes a Black woman whose son was killed by a white man during a dispute over stereo volume in 2012. Ever since her first election in 2018, McBath has made passing gun legislation through Congress her rallying cry.

It's a message that took on added poignancy Tuesday after an 18-year-old gunman entered a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children.

We are exhausted, all of us, McBath told supporters late Tuesday. We are exhausted because we cannot continue to be the only country in the world where we let this happen again and again and again.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE

Marjorie Taylor Greene has been a lightning rod for controversy since her 2020 election to Congress. Barely a month into her term, she was stripped of her committee assignments after social media posts were unearthed showing she had endorsed calls to assassinate prominent Democrats.

But her provocations havent ebbed since then. And thats apparently what voters in her conservative northwest Georgia district like about her.

On Tuesday, they overwhelmingly voted to send her back for a second term, dispatching a field of five GOP challengers, including a health care consultant who marketed herself as a no-nonsense conservative alternative.

Even before Greene was first elected, her antics enraged Democrats  and made her a rising Republican star.

In the short term, Democrats' decision to strip Greene of her committee assignments reduced her influence in a chamber where the hard work of legislating is what builds power and influence.

But if Republicans win back the House majority in November, as history suggests they may, she could still come out ahead. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who is in line to become House speaker, has said she wont just get her committee assignments back; shell likely receive a promotion.

MINNESOTA DUMPSTER FIRE

When Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn died of kidney cancer in February, his widow, former Minnesota GOP chair Jennifer Carnahan, said her husband's wish was for her to succeed him and represent southern Minnesota in Congress.

The GOP primary race did not shape up that way, with Carnahan trailing in a distant third. The Associated Press has not yet called the race.

Even before announcing her bid, Carnahan's friendship with a GOP donor who was federally indicted for sex-trafficking minors sparked a firestorm. Then a recording surfaced last year in which she said, Jims gonna be dead in two years. So be it." Last week, she was sued by her deceased husband's family as they attempted to recoup money they loaned him for cancer treatment, which they say she was supposed to pay back to them.

The drama, which local GOP officials have likened to a dumpster fire," allowed two other candidates to surge ahead.

Former state lawmaker Brad Finstad held a slim lead over state Rep. Jeremy Munson early Wednesday. But the race was too early to call.

The winner will face former Hormel Foods executive Jeff Ettinger, who won the Democratic nomination.
The second meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani commissions for delimitation will take place in Moscow, the Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryans office confirmed.

May 25, 2022, 14:31 Second meeting of delimitation commissions to take place in Moscow

STEPANAKERT, MAY 25, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: However the timeframes arent yet specified.

The date of the second meeting of the delimitation commissions isnt decided yet, but the location, yes, it will take place in Moscow, Grigoryans office said.

Meanwhile, the Russian Deputy FM Andrey Rudenko had said that he hopes the next meeting will take place next week.
DENVER (AP)  A Maryland man is accused of throwing a flagpole and a smoke grenade at police and assaulting an Associated Press photographer during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents released Tuesday.

Rodney Milstreed allegedly threw the flagpole bearing a navy flag javelin-like toward a group of Capitol police officers blocking the stairs leading up to the Capitol, apparently hitting one officer, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Colorado. Later, after an officer picked up a smoke grenade that had been spreading smoke near police and lobbed it toward protesters, Milstreed allegedly picked it up and threw it back toward police, the document said.

The documents do not name the photographer but the description and photos show it is AP photographer John Minchillo.

Millstreed is the third person to be charged with assaulting him that day. Video captured by a colleague showed Minchillo being pushed, pulled and punched by a group of men outside of the Capitol. Some of the attackers are heard accusing him of being part of the far-left antifa movement.

In the court documents, investigators said the colleague's video and police body camera video show Milstreed grabbing Minchillo, who was dressed in black and wearing a helmet-style gas mask, by his backpack and pulling him backward down the stairs and then shoving him and advancing toward him in a threatening fashion."

In a Facebook post a few days later, Milstreed said attacking the photographer was worth it, adding Hit him with everything god give. The crowd cheered," according to the complaint.

Milstreed, who prosecutors say is from Finksburg, Maryland, but arrested in Brighton, Colorado, on Tuesday, also allegedly shared photos of two assault weapons, a large supply of ammunition and gun parts after sending a Facebook message in November 2020 about how it was going to "get ugly when the votes from the 2020 presidential election were overturned.

Milstreed is being represented by a lawyer from the federal public defender's office, which does not comment on cases.

In August, Benjamen Scott Burlew of Miami, Oklahoma, was charged with dragging and ultimately pushing Minchillo over a low stone wall on the Capitol grounds. Alan William Byerly of Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, was arrested in July on charges of assaulting Minchillo and police officers during the riot.

Several other people have been charged with assaulting journalists, inciting violence against members of the press or destroying camera equipment belonging to journalists covering the riot, including an AP video crew.

About 800 defendants have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Roughly 300 pleaded guilty. Juries have convicted four other defendants after trials. Charges in the riot range from misdemeanor offenses for those who only entered the Capitol to seditious conspiracy charges against members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group.

Another trial began Tuesday in the case against a U.S. Army reservist. Timothy Hale-Cusanelli is charged with obstructing the joint session of Congress convened to certify President Joe Bidens electoral victory.

___

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report from Boston.
Nearly a decade after 20 elementary school students and six staff members were fatally shot in Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary, officials said a teen killed at least 18 children at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday.

The death toll also included three adults, but it was not immediately clear whether that number included the gunman, according to the Associated Press.

The shooting at Robb Elementary School outside of San Antonio gave sharp focus to what has become a grim reality in the United States in the years since the Sandy Hook shooting: Even the most vulnerable are not safe from the ravages of gun violence.

Addressing the nation Tuesday night, President Joe Biden said he is sick and tired of the violence.

Its been 3,448 days, 10 years, since I stood up at a  grade school in Connecticut where another gunman massacred 26 people, 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary school. Since then, there have been over 900 incidents of gunfire reported on school ground, he said. The list goes on, and the list grows when it includes mass shootings at places like movie theaters, houses of worship, as we saw just 10 days ago at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y.

These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world, Biden said. Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Where in Gods name is our backbone?

Its time to turn this pain into action, he continued, calling for Americans to stand up to gun lobbyists. Its time to act.

While details were still limited immediately after Tuesdays shooting, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the 18-year-old shooter was dead, apparently shot by responding officers. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo identified the shooter as Salvador Ramos.

According to Abbott, the shooter entered the building with a handgun and possibly a rifle, before opening fire.

It was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since Sandy Hook on Dec. 14, 2012.

The news of another mass shooting, this time from Texas, is devastating. One life taken by gun violence is too many, but 15 innocent lives, including 14 children, is an utter tragedy, Gov. Ned Lamont said earlier in the day, ordering the flags in the state to fly at half staff.

Nearly 10 years after Sandy Hook, Connecticut knows this feeling all too well. Our collective hearts and prayers go out to the families in Uvalde trying to process the unimaginable.

While federal gun reform has been elusive following the Sandy Hook shooting, nine families of the victims successfully challenged whether a gunmaker could be held accountable if their weapon is used in a mass shooting.

In what has been described as a landmark case, Remington, a manufacturer of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook shooting, agreed to a $73 million settlement with families to resolve the wrongful death suit.

On Tuesday, representatives of the families of Sandy Hook victims reached an agreement with InfoWars host Alex Jones that will move along the trial to award damages in the defamation lawsuit the families won last year. A federal judges ruling last week in Texas will allow a similar defamation trial to begin as soon as June.

Two defamation lawsuits were filed in Texas, while a third was filed in Connecticut after Jones called the Sandy Hook shooting staged, a giant hoax and completely fake with actors.

Po Murray, the chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance and a former neighbor of the Sandy Hook shooter, said the community was reeling Tuesday over the similarities between the two incidents and the age of the victims.

Obviously, were all devastated by what happened and the similarity between that shooting and the Sandy Hook shooting breaks our heart because we know exactly what theyre going through right now, Murray said.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who has been on a political mission for a decade to pass gun violence legislation, immediately took to the Senate floor Tuesday to draw a parallel between the devastation in Sandy Hook and the shooting in Texas. As he has often done over the past decade, Murphy pleaded with fellow senators to pass gun control legislation.

Im here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here, he said. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that makes this less likely. I understand my Republican colleagues may not agree to everything that I may support, but there is a common denominator that we can find.

Murphy said he didnt expect gun control laws to end mass shootings or altogether eliminate gun violence, but would represent at least an attempt to address the problem.

It will not solve the problem of American violence by itself, but by doing something we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing shooting after shooting, he said.

Murphy ended his brief speech by repeating a simple question: What are we doing?

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who, like Murphy, has ardently pushed for stricter gun control measures since the Sandy Hook shooting, similarly raised the call for action in Congress to stymie the violence.

My heart breaks as I relive the shock and grief of Sandy Hook 10 years ago, knowing the infinite pain that will hit these families in Texas. ... This senseless violence will stop only when Congress matches thoughts and prayers with action, Blumenthal said.

Like Blumenthal and Murphy, Lamont echoed the calls for gun reform both locally and federally.

We clearly have a gun problem in America. There are more damn guns on the street than ever before, especially illegal guns, Lamont said. We must test our capacity as a nation in this moment to strengthen public safety and health. I want to be clear  gun violence is a public health crisis. It is incumbent upon lawmakers everywhere, whether its Connecticut, Texas, or our nations capital, to rise to the moment in addressing this problem.

The killings in Uvadle, Texas, come less than two weeks after a mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store where 10 Black shoppers and workers were killed in upstate New York.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said Tuesday enough is enough with the deadly gun violence.

This is an avoidable American tragedy, but unfortunately, it is not unusual. Last week, it was a racist mass shooting in Buffalo. Today, 14 students and their teacher have been lost forever. I am terrified about what will happen next, DeLauro said in a statement earlier Tuesday.

Mass shootings are taking the lives of babies, parents, brothers and sisters. In my home state of Connecticut, the tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School has traumatized our community and we will never be the same. We lost 26 beautiful souls on that cold December day, and we now mourn for those taken from us at Robb Elementary School today.

Reporting from the Associated Press and the San Antonio Express-News, a Hearst newspaper, was included in this story. Staff writers Alex Putterman and Liz Hardaway contributed to this story.
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BRIDGEPORT  A federal judge cleared the way for Sandy Hook families to have the defamation lawsuit they won against Alex Jones released from bankruptcy protection and returned to state court, where a trial to determine the damages Jones must pay had been set for August.

After a brief status conference on Tuesday, federal bankruptcy Judge Julie Manning got commitments from both sides to submit an agreement for the families to drop three Jones-controlled entities currently in bankruptcy protection from the defamation lawsuit the families won last year. Once Manning sanctions the agreement, it will allow the families to prepare for trial to determine how much money Jones will pay for calling the worst crime in Connecticut history staged, synthetic, manufactured, a giant hoax, and completely fake with actors.

The Sandy Hook families will be free to pursue their damages because they will no longer be party to the three Jones-controlled businesses in bankruptcy. The families target will be Jones himself and his parent company Free Speech Systems, which technically were not part of the bankruptcy filing, but which benefited from the automatic stay that federal bankruptcy cases have over state courts.

The agreement reached in bankruptcy court Tuesday will also end a month-long saga for an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in 2012, when a gunman killed 26 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The saga began when Jones sought bankruptcy protection for three of his business entities just one week before the first of two jury award trials were set to begin in Texas, where the parents of two slain Sandy Hook boys also won separate defamation cases against Jones last year.

The Sandy Hook families here and in Texas accused Jones of bad-faith bankruptcy filings, since the three businesses in question had a combined monthly income of $38,000. Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019 through his conspiracy-based internet merchandise and broadcast platform, Infowars, his representatives said in court.

Last week, a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas released Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation cases back to state court in Texas. The first jury trial to award damages was expected to begin as soon as June.

On Tuesday in Connecticut, Manning expressed frustration that the case had persisted before her for weeks without a resolution.

She proposed a solution to Alinor Sterling, a Bridgeport attorney representing the Sandy Hook families, and Cameron Atkinson, a New Haven attorney representing Jones.

I have wasted too much time with this back-and-forth on these cases, Manning said. If attorney Sterling drafts an order and attorney Atkinson agrees to a stipulated dismissal where everybody signs it removing the defendant debtors, is that going to suffice?

I can certainly make it happen, your honor, Sterling said.

What happens for Jones with three defamation damages trials pending is unclear.

Bankruptcy was Jones good faith effort to pay creditors and pay them in an equal fashion, his representatives said in court.

Jones has already spent $10 million on attorney fees and has lost at least $20 million because of the defamation lawsuits, according to his representatives.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
Douglas Sacha/Getty Images

The Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis has been requested to help in an investigation of the death of a 20-year-old man in O'Fallon, Ill. by the O'Fallon Police Department, the squad said in a news release.

The department received a call for a shooting at about 10 p.m. on Sunday night in the parking lot of Bella Milano, located in the 400 block of Regency Park. Ivan Marshall, a 20-year-old employee of Bella Milano, an Italian restaurant, was shot and taken to the hospital where he died from his injuries.
Congenital heart defects may be much more common among children of women with heart defects than of men with heart defects, according to new research.

Smaller studies had already reported a higher offspring risk for mothers with congenital heart defects, or CHDs. But researchers wanted to confirm those findings in a larger population and also delve into specific cardiac defects.

They looked at public records of more than 2 million children born in Denmark from 1977-2011 and compared the risk of congenital heart defects in children with and without a parent with a CHD.

The study, published Tuesday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine, found the risk of congenital heart defects was nearly double in the offspring of affected women compared to the offspring of affected men  479 heart defects per 10,000 births versus 271.

In addition, compared to children of women without CHDs, children of women with CHDs had more than five times the risk of having a heart defect. For children of men with CHDs, the risk was triple.

Dr. Nina yen, the study's lead author, said the findings were somewhat expected because similar results were found in smaller U.S. and U.K. studies. But she was surprised that women were more likely to have children with their same type of heart defect.

The findings "are important in genetic counseling and prenatal investigation, especially now that an increasing number of persons with congenital heart defects are surviving to adulthood and are healthy enough to parent children," said yen, an epidemiology professor in the department of global public health and primary care at the University of Bergen in Norway.

yen said the findings could help doctors counsel prospective parents with congenital heart defects. The study "may also provide clues to improve our understanding of the genetic architecture of cardiac malformations," said yen, also a senior consultant in medical genetics at Haukeland University Hospital in Norway.

Researchers don't know why heart defects were more common among the offspring of women with CHDs. The excess risk could not be explained by the slightly higher birth rates among women with CHDs, yen said. It's also unclear, she said, why women were more likely to have children with the same type of defect, particularly defects that disrupt the pathway for blood to leave the heart.

Despite being based in Denmark, yen said the study may apply to a more diverse U.S. population "since we are comparing mother-offspring risks to father-offspring risks, and not the absolute risk of congenital heart defects, which most likely differ across diverse populations."

Dr. Nael Aldweib, who was not involved in the research, said the study's rate of heart defects among the offspring of women with CHDs might actually be an underestimation because women with severe congenital heart defects are advised against pregnancy.

Still, he called it "a really important study that sheds new light on the topic."

"I think almost all clinicians will be using this data to counsel parents before, during and after pregnancy," said Aldweib, assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

"Moms with congenital heart disease should work closely with their cardiologists to make sure blood pressure and other risk factors are well-controlled, and overall heart health is optimized before and during pregnancy," he said.

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Editors Note: In recognition of National Historic Preservation Month, local historian Cindy Reinhardt tells the stories behind some of Edwardsvilles historic buildings in a series of eight articles in the month of May.

The charming cottage at 817 St. Louis St. was built for a widow, Louisa (nee Frank) Gusewelle and her children. Louisas husband, Frederick Wilhelm Gusewelle, a wealthy Pin Oak Township farmer, died in 1879 at the young age of 43. Since Louisa and Frederick were both German immigrants, it is likely that German was the language spoken in their home.

At the time of Fredericks death in 1879, the couple had seven children, aged 4-17. Louisa remained on the farm for another six years until her oldest sons, twins who were 17 when their father died, reached the age of 23 and could be put in charge of farm operations.

Notations at the Madison County Archival Library state that the St. Louis St. house was built in 1885, and although there is no specific documentation of this, it is likely true. Records at the Madison County Recorders Office show that Louisa bought the property in 1884, and newspapers show her younger children in Edwardsville classrooms in 1889, both indicators of when the house was built. It was also the first house built in the Joseph Gillespie Addition on St. Louis St. (then called Fair Ave. because of the fairgrounds located on the western end of the street).

The house is small, still only two bedrooms despite at least two additions on the back, making it difficult to imagine that it wasnt crowded. Louisa likely had it in mind as a retirement home when she had the house built and assumed the children would soon be gone. What she didnt know was that four of her children would never marry, and never left home.

Of her seven children, the two older boys, Fred and Edward, remained on the farm. Fred eventually left, moving to Texas and later to the state of Washington. Edward was a Pin Oak farmer all his life. The remaining five children, Henrietta, Frank, Ida, Amos and Lydia all shared the St. Louis St. house with their mother when it was new.

Amos was the first and only one of the five to leave permanently. He went to school at Valparaiso University where he met his wife, Maude, married in 1896, then finished school. He returned to Madison County where he was a teacher for 13 years before finding a better paying job with the U.S. Postal Service.

Henrietta, known as Etta, also attended Valparaiso. She didnt complete her studies but became a matron for the school, living in Indiana for approximately 20 years, from approximately 1895 to 1915. Afterward, she returned to 817 St. Louis St., but by this time her mother had already passed away.

When Louisa died in 1902, a St. Louis newspaper inelegantly printed a large headline that read, Found Dead in Bed. To settle her estate, the house was sold at auction. Amos bought the house, then immediately sold it to his sisters who were living in the house for the same price that he paid for it.

Living at the house at the time of their mothers death were three of her children. A son, Frank, who worked as a salesman, first at Edwardsville Dry Goods Company and later for the Madison Mercantile Company. The two sisters living at home, Ida and Lydia, were both skilled seamstresses. Lydia worked at the Elder Manufacturing Company and when sister Etta returned to Edwardsville she also went to work at Elder.

Elder was a shirt manufacturing company located between Main and Commercial Streets in Edwardsville. The operation was a large one, with 150 sewing machines, and hired mostly women. Lydia was a seamstress and Etta was in management for the company.

The facility was at the base of the hill behind the St. James Hotel, where the municipal parking lot south of the Wildey Theatre is now located. On the night of Nov. 30, 1936, after 19 years in business, the plant was destroyed by fire and explosions in spectacular fashion.

Frank and Ida both died in 1934, leaving Etta and Lydia to share the house. They were beneficiaries in their siblings wills which included a farm owned by Frank. The Gusewelle sisters, fortunately, were able to retire before their long-time employers business was lost to the fire.

Amos died in 1941 and Etta in 1945 leaving only Lydia at the house at 817 St. Louis St. She died in 1958, but during the last seven years of her life, she leased the St. Louis St. house to the Steiner family and lived with Amoss son, Frank and his wife, Rose. She left the house to them when she died. Frank and Rose continued to lease to the same family until 1977 when they sold the house to Jesse Goddard, who sold it to her daughter Joanna Goddard Watson who died in 2003.

This small frame house, at 136 years old, is remarkably well-preserved. Tasteful additions have been added to the back of the house over the years, but the view from the street is the same as when the house was built. The Princess Anne inspired architecture is simple, yet elegant, with slender columns and flattened arches on the veranda. The sides and back of the house have composite siding (approved for National Register properties), but the front of the house is the original wood siding. Louisa Gusewelle would have no problem recognizing her townhouse today.
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Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged to respect human rights progress in different countries during a video conference on Wednesday with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet who is visiting China, Tass informs.

May 25, 2022, 15:23 Xi Jinping urges to respect human rights progress in different countries

STEPANAKERT, MAY 25, ARTSAKHPRESS: "It is necessary to respect human rights progress in all countries," China Central Television quoted him as saying. "The national traits of each country are different, there are differences in history and culture, the social system, the level of socio-economic development," the Chinese leader continued. "It is only necessary and possible to proceed from the actual situation in the country and peoples needs in order to find an appropriate way to develop human rights," he pointed out.

Chinese president emphasized that escaping the reality and blindly copying the models of other countries can lead to catastrophic repercussions which in the end will cause the suffering of many people. Xi Jinping also noted that China is ready to maintain active dialogue and develop cooperation in the sphere of human rights with all sides based on equality and mutual respect, expand consensus, minimize differences of opinion, share best practices, facilitate the promotion of human rights for the global good.

In her turn, Bachelet said that the UN Human Rights Office is willing to bolster and discuss cooperation with the Chinese side and make joint efforts to promote the progress of the global human rights cause. She stressed that during the visit she expected to establish contacts and directly communicate with the Chinese government as well as with the representatives of different circles of society and asserted that this visit will allow her to better understand China.

On Monday, UN High Commissioner arrived in China and met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Guangzhou on the same day. As the press service of the UN Human Rights Office reported on Friday, the visit will last until May 28. This is the first country visit by a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to China since 2005.
Lithuania will hand over 20 M113 armored personnel carriers, as well as military trucks and mine-clearing vehicles, to Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said in a statement, news.am informs.

May 25, 2022, 17:11 Lithuania to hand over 20 M113 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine

STEPANAKERT, MAY 25, ARTSAKHPRESS: Coordinated assistance from our side and allies is a decisive factor for Ukraine's victory, Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said in a statement.

The total cost of equipment th is 15.5 million euros. Earlier, Lithuania provided Ukraine with military assistance in the amount of 100 million euros, the ministry added.
Ahead of the Osun State gubernatorial election, the Peace and Conflict Management Unit of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Osun State Command has taken peace awareness campaign to Sasa market in the State Capital, Osogbo.

Speaking on behalf of the state Commandant Emmanuel Ocheja, the Head of Peace and Conflict Management Unit (PCM), Chief Superintendent of Corps (CSC) Anjorin Oluwakemi, said the peace awareness campaign is necessary as preparations for the gubernatorial election is in top gear hence, the need to sensitize people on violence free gubernatorial polls cannot be emphasized at this period.

While sensitizing people at the market about the mandates of the Unit, CSC Anjorin appealed to both old and young people, who are mostly Yorubas and Hausas to embrace peace. She stressed that the strength of Nigeria lies in unity in diversity.

CSC Anjorin further enjoined the market men and women to keenly watch over their children and wards so as not to be used as tools in the hands of political actors to cause mayhem or heat up the polity unnecessarily.

She added that Violence should not be a way of addressing grievances, saying the doors of Peace and Conflict Management Unit of the NSCDC are opened to mediate and resolve conflicts amicably among willing members of the public.

CSC Anjorin concluded that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (Amendment) Act 2007 empowers the unit to arrange and mediate in the settlement of civil disputes among willing members of the public in cases of Marital/Family issue, Breach of Agreement, Land Dispute, Communal Clash, Indebtedness, Tenancy, etc.

Responding to the visit, the Head of Yoruba market women Chief Mrs Adijat Moruf Salete (Iyaloja of Sasa market) and the Head of Hausa section of the market, Seriki AbdulRaman commended the efforts of NSCDC for organizing the peace awareness campaign in the market. They assured that all the market people would exercise their franchise during the forthcoming elections without being involved in violence.

E-SIGNED:

ASC II ATANDA OLABISI

PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER

NSCDC OSUN STATE COMMAND.


Violence by Muslim mobs in Nigerias Bauchi State on 20 May has left the minority Christian residents of the north wondering whether the regions blasphemy laws are aimed at eliminating them completely, writes Masara Kim.

Just over a week after the brutal murder of a Christian college student, Deborah Samuel Yakubu, in Sokoto, Muslim residents attacked Christians in Katanga, the seat of Warji county in Bauchi State, near the border with Kano.

As in Samuels case, locals accused a female Christian health worker, Rhoda Yau, of blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed, following a comment she made in a government employee WhatsApp group. According to witnesses, the accusation led more than 200 teenagers, led by a few adults, to gather to attack Yau.

Read the full report at nigeria-report.org.

Meanwhile, after making a factfinding trip to Plateau state, the Nigerian human rights activist Monsignor Obiora Ike has warned that the persecution of Christians and the demographic displacement of minorities in the Middle Belt has taken on genocidal dimensions and is a crime worse than that carried out in the town of Bucha in Ukraine.

Christians in Nigeria, according to Ike, are systematically disenfranchised and subjected to constant persecution and martyrdom in the 21st century, with over 30,000 killed in the last decade alone. Many more have been kidnapped, brutalized, or driven from their homes. There are now over two million internally displaced persons in Nigeria.

You can find the full report here: nigeria-report.org

Follow Nigeria Report on Twitter for the latest updates
Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, today, Wednesday May 25, 2022 addressed the people of Anambra State. Declares curfew in 8 local government areas of the State

Below is the full text of his address:

*Peace and Security in Anambra As Our Collective Responsibility*

Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR

Governor, Anambra State

Being Press Statement by Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR (Governor of Anambra State) at a News conference: Awka, Wednesday, 25th May, 2022

Umu nnem, Ndi Anambra!

You employed me to lead the process of building a livable and prosperous homeland. After swearing-in on the 17th March, 2022, I worked for 8 hours and 45 minutes that day and have kept working hard every day to make you proud. A lot is ongoing, and we will report to you in due course. However, we recognized from the first minute that restoring peace and security will be foundational to our larger agenda as a people. We devoted several paragraphs in our inaugural speech to underscore the grave security challenges we inherited (with the deadly criminal gangs largely in occupation of 8 local governments). You may recall that I was attacked by so called unknown gunmen while addressing youths at a rally in March 2021 leaving three policemen dead, and indeed hardly any candidate could campaign freely in the seven local governments of the south senatorial zone in 2021. I knew the grave situation, and determined to confront it. I met with the state security council for three and half hours on the first day and there was the consensus to deploy both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches.

While the security agencies have been doing their best with limited resources, we are convinced that sustainable peace and security cannot be achieved without the cooperation and solidarity of the people. Consequently, we went to work to mobilize our people and address the wider socio-economic and legacy issues fueling agitations and insecurity.

We consulted and collaborated with the South East Joint Body of Bishops and traditional rulers; issuing joint statements, with the Joint body of bishops organizing prayers sessions in the entire South East on 4th April, 2022, with the goal of ending the Sit-at-home and ensuring an enduring peace and security in the South East;

We organized Anambra Peace and Security Dialogue, with the leadership of the Christian denominations, town unions, traditional rulers, youth organizations, women, market, and transport unions, as well as political leaders and non-indigenes on XX with a Communique calling for an end to the Sit- at homeand peace and security in the South East on 2nd April, 2022;

We offered the Olive branch to all the armed youths in the forests to come out, surrender their guns and with the commitment that our government would help to retrain and empower them to contribute positively to our development. Our government has, in our proposed revised budget, provided handsomely for youth empowerment.

The official leadership of IPOB also repeatedly issued statements dissociating itself from the senseless and destructive Sit- at home on Mondays etc as well as the kidnappings and criminal actions of gangs in the state and the south east;

We set up the Truth, Justice and Peace Committee, with the goal of getting to the remote and immediate causes of the agitation and criminality, with a view to proffering systematic and lasting solutions;

We have severally again met with town union leaders and traditional rulers; landlords etc, all in the mobilization of the people for lasting peace and security;

True to our commitment to engage with ALL state and non-state actors relevant to the search for lasting peace and security, we visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and he reiterated that he never authorized the senseless Sit at Home, and absolved his organization, IPOB, from the crass criminality especially the barbaric enforcement of the Sit at home and the kidnappings and spilling of blood. Mazi Kanu expressed his willingness to personally address the press to charge his followers to keep the peace. Subsequently, his lawyer issued an official statement confirming this position and his associate also addressed the media in the same vein;

We have also had Town Hall meetings with Ndi Anambra in Lagos and Abuja, and our people are united in their condemnation of the criminality going on in the state and environs, and demonstrated their commitment to join hands with us in solving it.

The list of the public engagements is long (with even a longer list of backroom plans and actions).

Despite the above, the criminal gangs are unrelenting in their desperation to maintain their very lucrative criminal enterprise and expand their other agenda of domination. When the security agencies rooted them out of two of their numerous camps, their reprisals were to burn down the secretariats of two local governments and attack police stations, police and soldiers. Routinely they kidnap for ransom, rape, and murder their victims as well as burn houses and properties. They relish in shooting soft targets, including recently a poor woman frying akara in front of her house on a Monday. Over the past one week, Ndi Anambra and indeed the nation have been treated to the gory stories of the kidnapping and subsequent beheading of Hon Okechukwu Okoye (member of the State House of Assembly) and his aide, Cyril Chiegboka (both from my community, Isuofia) as well as the brutal murder Mrs Harirat Jubril from Adamawa state and her four children and three other northerners. Anambra people have been in shock. This is not who we are. Our deepest condolences are with the families of the various victims. We are working round the clock with the security agencies and the perpetrators must be brought to book.

Let us be very clear. These criminals causing mayhem in Anambra, albeit of disparate groups and gangs, are Igbos (dominantly from other South East states) whose real objective is lucrative criminality and foisting their idolatrous religion on the region. Unfortunately, every criminal gang (including cult groups) claims to be a liberation movement, making it difficult to differentiate between any genuine agitators from criminals. Unfortunately also, the criminals now dominate the space. Anambra is the prime target because that is the most lucrative location for kidnapping for ransom in the South East. With their immense propaganda machine funded largely by their sponsors abroad, they have tried everything to indoctrinate the people with all kinds of false emotive narratives, and divert attention from their real objectives. They claim to be fighting for the people, and yet randomly kill the same people, destroying their livelihood, and stopping their children from going to school. What has agitation to do with kidnappings including kidnapping of priests of God, invasion of churches and tabernacles including desecration of the Alters of God? Why is it that everywhere they gather and in every camp they operate, there is a Deity/idol to which they routinely offer blood in sacrifice? From accounts of those kidnapped and later freed the stench of dead bodies in the camps cry up to heaven. We see videos of them and their idol worship; we note their threats to priests and bishops, including threatening to take over some churches?

The truth is that this tiny minority (certainly far less than 0.1% of us), is bent upon challenging the foundation of the things that make us who we are:

Enterprise: We are known for our enterprise but these people are bent on killing our businesses by the forceful Sit at home; kidnapping for ransom; forceful taxation of communities, businesses, and individuals; etc;

Christianity: The people of the South East, especially Anambra, are predominantly Christians. But with this gang, idolatry is back with vengeance. They forcefully try to convert people, especially the young ones to idolatry by initiating them into cults, swearing oaths to their Deities, etc with the promise of invincibility. Consequently, these youths join them as members and informants.

Desecration of our culture: Spilling of the blood of the innocent is considered an abomination by our culture and by our Christian religion. We understand that they kill and harvest human organs for rituals and human sacrifice in their so called camps.

With their new religion of idolatry and deadly weapons which they use to kill at random, they have tried to create a culture of fear and silence. More recently, the people have begun to question their propaganda, motive and means and they know that they have lost the sympathy of the people. That explains why they desperately tried to ignite a national inter-ethnic crisis by killing some innocent northerners who have lived peacefully in our state for decades to divert attention from their criminality and then seek to re-brand themselves as defenders of the people. They have failed, and will continue to fail. Millions of our people live in the North and other parts of Nigeria, and Anambra people are known for their uncommon hospitality. In most homes in Anambra, non-indigenes live happily as tenants or as landlords, pursuing their legitimate businesses and this wont change. We pride ourselves as the Light of the Nation, and Anambra will continue to be a land of opportunity for every Nigerian as well as non-Nigerians. We will continue to work hard with security agencies to ensure security of life and property in our state.

Umu nnem, Ndi Anambra!

The hour has come for us to step up our game, and take back our state. The tiny but vicious gangs that have invaded our state and terrorize us are mostly in eight local governments in Anambra and three neighboring local governments in Imo State. They are in our forests, communities, and houses owned by individuals. They dont come from the air, and hence are not unknown gunmen. They are known. You know them, but are either too scared to speak up or out of indifference. But for how long will you be silent while our people continue to be killed in the most cruel and barbaric manner? It is because we have remained ambivalent, opting to sit on the fence rather than take a stand against an obvious evil, that has made a minor sore to fester so cancerously. The hour has now come, and we must rise up to take our destiny in our hands. Everyone, indeed, everyone has a role to play. While we continue to commit Anambra unto the hands of God, we as a people must rise up to clean and cleanse our land. The security agencies will continue to do their part, but we the people, must proclaim that Enough is Enough and demonstrate full ownership. Consequently, as complementary measures to the efforts of the security agencies, our government has decided on the following immediate steps:

Once again, we are releasing several telephone numbers for the public to report any criminality or suspicious conducts. These phone numbers are managed in my office (in strictest confidentiality). Call us, or text (SMS or WhatsApp), and we will respond expeditiously. The phone numbers are:

09017280990

07039896429

09167514891

09076237441

09168041120

08093175528

08124153139

In addition to the N10 million cash reward we placed on those who gruesomely murdered Hon Okechukwu Okoye and his aide, we are also offering a cash reward of AT LEAST One Million (N1,000,000) to anyone who provides useful information leading to the arrest of any of the leaders or members of these criminal gangs including those who support them financially or in kind, and all those enforcing the illegal Sit-at-Home order, or anyone involved in the kidnapping, murder, and arson, or access to the camps where the criminals operate from. The bounty will depend upon the profile of the criminal: their leaders will attract higher amounts. Similar bounty will be paid to anyone who gives information about anyone or location where hard drugs (especially Mkpulu mmili) are manufactured in the state. The State Government hereby assures any informant of confidentiality in this process and would not disclose your identities or contact.

With effect from tomorrow, Friday, 26th May, 2022, a 6pm to 6am curfew is hereby placed on motorcycles (okada), tricycles (keke), and shuttle buses in Aguata, Ihiala, Ekwusigo, Nnewi North, Nnewi South, Ogbaru, Orumba North and Orumba South Local Governments until further notice. Until further notice also, motorcycles, keke and shuttle buses are banned from operating in these local governments on Mondays until the Sit-at-Home completely stops. The youths of every community in the zone are hereby enjoined to assist the security agencies in the implementation of this policy and are mandated to seize any such motorcycle or tricycle on the spot. Local Vigilantes should report such motorcycles or tricycles (keke) immediately, and they will be confiscated by government and the owner prosecuted. The Okada, Keke, and shuttle bus union leaders must take responsibility to report their members who are involved in criminal activities. We shall review this after two weeks, and if members of these unions continue to be involved in criminal activities, the government will have no choice but to either disband the Unions and/or ban them out rightly in the state.

No part of Anambra State (house, bush or forest) shall be used as camps for these criminals. Anyone with a gun in a camp is considered a criminal in Anambra State, and the government and people will work with security agencies to flush them out. The State Government shall pursuant to its powers under the Land Use Act revoke and acquire any land found to be harboring these criminals, for public purpose. Henceforth, every community is required to provide information on any part of their land occupied by these criminals as camps. If the community fails to do so, the government will take over such land.

All communities are hereby charged to take over their communities completely and through the leadership of their Town Unions and Traditional Rulers give weekly security reports (submitted every Friday) to the State Government on the state of security in their communities. The cooperation of the youths in that regard is now imperative. I charge the vigilantes of each community to rise to the occasion and contend with these criminals in your locality whether they are in your bush or the houses in your community. The State Government expects the report of any progress made in this regard and shall support and reward you accordingly.

Any buildings found to be harboring these kidnappers and murderers who have laid siege on our State will, as provided by Criminal Code (Amendment No.3) Law 2013, be forfeited to the State Government. To that extent, all landlords are hereby directed to proceed on Operation Know Your Tenant by keeping appropriate records of their tenants and report anyone suspected of being involved in criminal activities. Each community leadership must keep full register of all tenants in their communities, their occupation, etc and keep an eye on their activities. The State Government shall as an emergency measure, disband the leadership of any community which fails to report criminal activities in their communities or immediately respond to the requests contained in this address.

All market leaders and stakeholders are hereby charged to join the communities in taking back their territory and monitor the activities in their markets. They are all required to return weekly security reports to the State Government.

Everybody who either in person or through telephone calls demands cash support or ransom from anyone in furtherance of any criminal activities or groups should immediately be reported to the government via the telephone lines provided.

All transporters, i.e, bus drivers, shuttle drivers, tricycle (keke) and motorcycle (okada) riders must immediately report any suspicious passengers. Because it has come to the knowledge of the State Government that over 80% of transport operators use fake plate numbers and identities, all transport operators must henceforth re-register their vehicles, tricycles and motorcycles with their valid means of identification and their biometrics captured. This exercise shall immediately be commenced and anyone who defaults in doing that after four weeks from today would be treated as a suspect and adequate measures taken against him or her.

All hotels are directed to obtain the means of identification of their guests and keep an inventory of all guests in their hotels. The management of the hotels should immediately report any suspicious persons or group of persons checking into or converging in their hotels. Immediate sanctions would attend any dereliction in that regard, including possibly shutting down or demolition of such hotels.

All fuel stations are hereby directed to, within 4 weeks from today, place surveillance cameras in their stations and keep the records generated by those cameras in order to assist the State Government, when required, in tracking these criminals who inevitably fuel their vehicles at fuel stations.

Finally, let me urge our people to remain calm. This season shall pass. The God of Anambra assures that we shall overcome the forces of darkness. Indeed, this tough beginning foretells of a more glorious future. We thank all the stakeholders in the Anambra project, and particularly thank the security agencies for their determination and sacrifice. We enjoin our religious leaders to continue to lift up the state in prayers and to also mobilize our people as they fight evil in our land. Together, we shall take back our state and make it the true Light of the Nation.

God bless you all,

God bless Anambra State,

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Signed

Christian Aburime (Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Gov. Soludo)
Accra, Ghana May 24, 2022:The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa), brainchild of Abdul Samad Rabiu - philanthropist, industrialist, and Chairman of BUA Group, in collaboration with Rebecca Foundation of Ghana, has commenced the construction of eight multi-functional libraries in schools across Ghana. This is coming a few months after ASR Africa awarded the Rebecca Foundation a US$500,000 inaugural Africa-focused basic education infrastructure grant to support the Foundations Learning to Read and Reading to Learn initiative.

Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of the first library situated in Kwahu Bepong community, Kwahu South District of the Eastern Region in Ghana, Udoh Ubon, Managing Director of ASR Africa, commended Rebecca Foundation for its role as the implementing partner of the project, and for their commitment to building a reading culture amongst children in Ghana. Udoh also thanked the Kwahu Bepong community for providing the land for the construction of the library and noted that the sustainability framework of the project will ensure its sustenance even after it is handed over to the Ghana Library Board for management. He further added that construction of the other libraries will commence over the next few weeks in other communities across Ghana.

According to Udoh, This modern library project seeks to provide Ghanaian children a comparative advantage in competing with their peers all over the world. This is the beginning of a partnership that will go beyond the library. I can assure you that with what we have seen and with how you have responded to this first grant, we intend to consider future partnerships on other developmental projects.

On her part, the Ghanaian First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, who is also an Executive Director of the Rebecca Foundation, thanked Abdul Samad Rabiu and the ASR Africa initiative for supporting the Foundation to build the libraries, and expressed confidence that before long, the library will be up and running. Represented at the ceremony by Akosua Newman, Director of Operations for the Office of the First Lady, she said that since inception in 2017, Rebecca Foundation had carried out several programmes and infrastructural projects under its Learning to Read Reading to Learn initiative in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. With our partners from ASR Africa, the Rebecca foundation looks forward to building more of these libraries in other communities. Rebecca Akufo-Addo added.
The toxic mixture of religion and politics is the distinguishing trademark that has beggared Nigeria`s development and progress and until our leaders get the priority right, poverty and instability shall remain the signature tune of the country for a long time to come. I may be wearing the garb of a doomsday prophet but the realities are so stark and revealing. The recent butchering of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto State by fellow students teachers is a tip of the iceberg. It is not going to be the last time religious zealots nurtured by poverty and insane religious ideology shall continue to make a mockery of the secular nature of the country and a bad reason for Nigeria to attract international media attention.

The reaction of President Muhammadu Buhari is very instructive of the mindset of our leaders. After a belated condemnation of the murder of Deborah, the president counseled that people should be sensitive of other people`s religious persuasion. It is a sad for our democracy and the secular nature of the country. The presidential aspirants of both the PDP and APC are avoiding the condemnation of that criminal act except a few that came out to condemn it. Section 10 of the 1999 constitution state clearly that no religion shall be adopted as state religion. And that Nigerians are very free to practice any religion of their choice. But this is observed more in breach. The reasons for mocking the secular state are many and varied.

Take a look at any of the Naira notes and explain to me what the Arabic letters and Islamic motif on the currency are doing. This is a country which lingua franca is English. Yet we are saying that ours is a secular state. There are no Christians` signs like the cross on the Naira notes. The governor of the Central Bank should explain to us why our Naira notes are so designed. For many years running, our Naira notes are paraded as Islamic symbols and I know that some people with twisted mind and toxic ideology may accuse the writer of blasphemy.

Even more offensive is the two legal systems in the country. In the northern part of the country, the sharia legal system that is deeply rooted in Islam is practiced and the numerous SANs and legal luminaries are looking the other side. Why is the northern states practicing the criminal aspect of Sharia law and we are keeping mute? Why are we deceiving ourselves that ours is a secular state? The truth of the matter is that most of our leaders are pretending to be living in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Add the Islamic secret police, Hisbah that is notorious for enforcing the strict code of Islam as regards the consumption of alcoholic drinks. Kano state is infamous for the destruction of beer and spirits and it is given wide publicity. Yet the same state government that takes pride in destroying alcoholic drinks gets money from VAT collected on drinks from other states. This is hypocrisy, pure and simple. If you say drinking of alcohol is bad, you should not receive money on VAT on alcohol from other states. That is why the issue of VAT should be well addressed and I stand with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on this matter.

Our leaders are always using religion to climb the political ladder and stay in power. Why is it that Nigeria sponsors religious pilgrimages to Mecca and Jerusalem? The Glorious Koran and the Prophet (Peace and Blessing upon Him) enjoin Moslems to embark on pilgrimage if you have the economic power. The Koran does not state that government should sponsor Moslems to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Even funnier is that case of Christians. There is no portion in the Holy Bible that says that you should make pilgrimage to Jerusalem. If you are doing that as a tourist and interested in the birth place of Jesus Christ and the places mentioned in the Bible, you are free to please yourself. Until government hands off the sponsorship of pilgrimages, the secular nature of the country shall be under assault and we shall continue to have those who want to kill in the name of religion.

Nigeria is a country infamous for many public holidays. The public holidays in the national interest like Independence Day and Labour Day are understandable. But the many public holidays in the celebration of Christian and Moslems feasts assault the very foundation of our secular state. Time was when government tried to balance the number of public holidays for Moslems and Christians. The adherents of African Traditional Religion are left out. But as Nigerians, when we have spiritual problems, we abandon the Bible and Koran and run to African Traditional Religion. Nigeria is indeed a limping secular state with religious sentiments buffeting her.

A lot of people have spoken and commented on the gruesome murder of Deborah by her colleagues in the name of religion. Two suspects are already in the custody. The sad and painful reality that some misguided youths demonstrated that the suspects should be released. I am not bothered about that. What gnaws my heart is that a certain professor hires many lawyers to defend the suspects. The message is that the professor and his likes support the killing of innocent people under the veneer of `blasphemy`. Time was when some youths in the north demonstrated against a cartoon that was published in Denmark alleged to had disrespected Prophet Mohammed (Peace and Blessing of Allah on Him). The northern leaders should attack the virus of Islamic extremism by educating the youths. Education is the solution and unfortunately States like Sokoto and Zamfara failed to register their students for WAEC examinations this year. It is a tragedy and those who still delude themselves that Nigeria is a secular state are at liberty to do that.

Julius Oweh, a journalist, writes from Asaba, Delta State
The Tokyo summit was the second in-person meeting of the four leaders

President Joe Biden finally began his first visit to Asia last weekend to visit key American allies like South Korea and Japan, and also to attend the second in-person summit of the four-nation Quad, comprising, besides the United States, India, Australia and Japan.

Prior to Australias closely-fought election last Saturday, it had been speculated that if the Labour Party came to power, it might emulate Kevin Rudd, the last Labour PM, who had backpedalled on the Quad after becoming Prime Minister in December 2007, months after its birth. But things appear to be different in 2022, and there is bipartisan support for a much tougher line on China. Australians have undergone years of coercive Chinese trade restrictions to damage Australian commodities exports. A recently signed Chinese security deal with the critically- located Solomon Islands, in Australias maritime neighbourhood, has irked them more.

President Bidens Asia tour has strategic significance. He explained his foreign policy priorities during a visit to the state department on February 4, 2021, just after taking over. He said he aimed to repair the alliances which his predecessor Donald Trump had worked overtime to damage, and fight authoritarianism by rooting diplomacy in Americas democratic values. President Trump had done the reverse by his unabashed praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Biden also wished to uphold universal human rights, the rule of law, freedom and human dignity. The importance of climate change was emphasised, pointing out that on his very first day in office he had the United States re-enter the Paris Climate Agreement, which Mr Trump had abandoned. He also announced an early global summit on safeguarding democracy globally.

His first trip abroad was to Europe to repair the European alliance system. But Covid-19, mismanaged by his predecessor, swallowed much of his time and energy. He nevertheless convened the first in-person Quad summit on September 24, 2021 in Washington. The Tokyo summit was the second in-person meeting of the four leaders.

President Biden wanted to signal that his original agenda was not forgotten despite the distraction since last February with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Over the last three months President Bidens leadership has been crucial to the unity of Nato, collective resistance to face the Russian breach of the UN Charter and extension of military and economic assistance to beleaguered Ukraine.

Russia has been denied capture of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, the full annexation of the Donbas region and the completion of the north-south Russian pincer to lop off a third or more of Ukraine. Odessa remains in Ukrainian possession, blocking Russias move to cut off Ukraine from the Black Sea. With Russias challenge in Europe countered though not reversed fully, President Biden now turned to the original priority of containing China. Hence the Asian visit began with South Korea, with Japan as a natural second leg.

While the US has gained strategically since the Ukraine War, China has been entrapped by Vladimir Putins misadventure. After the February Xi-Putin summit, days before the war began, the phrase bandied was a no-limits partnership. It indicated a mutually empowering convergence of interests of two premier military powers and permanent

members of the United Nations. Three months later, the economic strangulation of the Russian economy leaves China dangerously exposed, with a crucial Communist Party meeting approaching. In addition, its Zero Covid policy, requiring massive lockdowns in major cities, has slowed its economy. According to Bloomberg, for the first time since 1976, Chinas GDP growth at two per cent would be lower than that of the US at 2.6 per cent. Russias fate is still subject to Mr Putin deciding to either cut his losses or gambling on a longer and debilitating conflict. If the US threat of bleeding Russia to permanently weaken it is credible, China is stuck in the middle.

China is also seeing the dangers of unilateral military action to achieve self-defined strategic goals, like annexing Taiwan militarily. The Quad summit was important to lay out the next steps to constrain Chinese misconduct. The Quad leaders joint statement explains that while the first summit in Washington was to delineate a positive and practical agenda, the Tokyo one was to deliver on this promise. The Quad is characterised as a force for good. China naturally strongly disagrees.

The joint statement expounds this under several headings. Under Peace and Stability, it reveals the members discussed our respective responses to the conflict in Ukraine. Publicly, India still only seeks a ceasefire and peaceful resolution, while decrying the humanitarian crisis but without condemning Russia or joining the Wests economic boycott.

However, by introducing the UN Charter and international law, Russias Ukraine invasion and Chinas unilateral actions in its maritime and continental neighbourhood get clubbed. The UN Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) is re-emphasised. Aseans unity and centrality in the Quads Indo-Pacific approach is highlighted. India is thus cajoled to adopt a uniform approach towards the depredations of Russia or China as principles cannot be applied selectively between partners.

On climate change, about which Australias new Labour government is more forthcoming, the Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP) was adopted. A net zero by 2050 is promised. To handle the Covid-19 pandemic, the Quad has committed $5.2 billion to the COVAX AMC vaccine programme.

Terrorism is condemned with the need reiterated to punish the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks.

The announcement of the 13-nation Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) came as a welcome surprise as it began creating a larger trade and investment underpinning for the narrower Quad grouping of four democracies. The US chose this route for it does not require going to the US Senate as tariff reductions or eased market access are not envisaged. This partially fills the gap remaining after President Trump made the US exit the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). China utilised that to seize charge of the 15-member Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership (RCEP), which India refused to join.

The Tokyo Quad summit enabled the US to demonstrate commitment to the Indo-Pacific and Chinas containment. President Bidens cryptic affirmative reply to whether the US would intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan, despite his offices attempt to dilute it, would have been noted in Beijing. The space for India to adopt double standards in judging events in Asia as compared to those in Europe is shrinking. The Joe Biden-Narendra Modi bilateral meeting would have reinforced that message despite praising democratic Indias success at handling Covid-19 compared to authoritarian Chinas failure. Finally, the Quad is here to stay and perhaps grow.
Wema Bank Plc , one of Nigerias struggling financial institutions is in the news again for the wrong reasons as some customers of the bank have accused the lender of conducting illegal banking practice in the country.

They said they discovered that the bank and its agents had allegedly been opening unauthorised accounts for customers with information or data in the banks possession.

The financial institution, led by Ademola Adebise, has allegedly been opening accounts for some Nigerians on its digital banking platform, ALAT, without their knowledge or consent in a bid to celebrate its 5th anniversary.

While the actual number of unauthorised accounts opened on behalf of unsuspecting Nigerians is unknown, Wema Bank was aiming to achieve a million account in one day.

Wema Bank, in a mail claimed the unauthorised accounts were opened for certain persons to celebrate with us despite not informing them ahead or receiving approval to create the accounts.

This illegal banking practice is similar to that of Wells Fargo, a United State bank, which was accused of opening 1.5 million accounts without authorisation, with over 565,000 credit cards applied for, allegedly without customers consent.

About 5,300 employees at Wells Fargo were sacked for opening the illegal accounts, and the company was fined $185 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the United States.

The unauthorised Wells Fargo accounts were only uncovered by the affected persons when the accounts started accumulating debt from bank charges on the unsuspecting individuals.

Just as the sacked Wells Fargo employees were said to have indulged in fraudulently opening sham accounts to beat target, Wema Bank vendors and marketers may have used the same strategy to achieve the lenders anniversary target.

That of Wema Bank is expected to also place a financial burden on the unsuspecting persons through account maintenance cost, from which the lender generated about N2.10 million last year, surpassing N1.24 million of 2020.

Recently, Mental Health Advocate, Adebayo Tayo, took to his Twitter account to publicly accuse Wema Bank of opening an account in his name without authorisation from him.

Tayo lamented that he never knew he had a new Wema Bank account until his mother contacted him, because she received an alert that was intended for him  shocking, how come he owns an account hes unaware of, and his mom receives the alert.

I am concerned about how my info had been used by Wema Bank and I need detailed explanations about the account including every transactions it has performed before someone uses my details for an account to launder money or collect ransome, he stated.

Following a probe into Tayos claim, this newspaper discovered he was not the only one whose identity was used by the financial institution, to open accounts on its digital banking platform, ALAT, without the knowledge or consent of the individuals.

Another affected Nigerian is Oyenike Ojo, whose name was used to open an account. However, when money was sent to the account, the alert details showed another name, Oluseyi Bamgboyi as account owner  which means two different names seem to have been used to open one account.

Ojos husband said something was shady about the account, What I said is, the current name on the account number in my screenshots is not my wifes name. If you look at that screenshot, the account was opened with my wifes name and a new account number.

She also got a credit alert notification via sms with the new account number. This shows that her details were used to open that account. However I tried to do a transfer to that account this morning when I read the news only to see that the account name is Oluseyi Bamgboye and not Oyenike Ojo (which is my wifes name). Something is definitely fishy, he explained to Ripples Nigeria.

Ojo said his wife has an account with Wema Bank which she hasnt used for about seven years, and the new account created in her name doesnt seem to carry the same number with her old account.

He stressed that the unauthorized accounts opened is definitely an inside job., stating , Customers details are compromised and they are being used to open new accounts. Whether by marketers so as to meet targets of number of accounts opened, or for money laundering, I cant tell.

Ojo asked for an investigation into the illegal accounts opened by Wema Bank, saying the situation is questionable, How Oyenike Ojos savings account opened without her permission has now become Oluseyi Bamgboyes account is definitely questionable. Ojo said, expressing his worry.

Another name used to open unauthorized account, Abimbola Fakoyejo, disclosed that he was still wondering about his unused account on ALAT, when he saw a message notifying him that an account has been opened in his name.

Wema Bank also did not immediately respond to our enquiry on the matter.

Story Credit: Ripples Ngeria


Airports on alert for monkeypox symptoms

BANGKOK: The Public Health Ministry has issued alerts instructing all international airports to step up their screening of arrivals, especially from 17 countries where monkeypox cases have now been confirmed, according to its deputy minister, Sathit Pitutecha.

healthtourism

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 25 May 2022, 02:28PM

Officials receive arrivals at Suvarnabhumi airport in Samut Prakan. Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul

Each airport has a disease control unit and officials will intensify measures against monkeypox by being more vigilant, he said.

Skin disease and sexually transmitted disease clinics will be asked to watch out for monkeypox as Mr Sathit urged the public to keep abreast of the situation from the Department of Disease Control (DDC), reports the Bangkok Post.

Dr Chakkarat Pitayawonganon, director of the DDCs epidemiology division, said travellers from the UK, Spain and Portugal are being closely monitored for monkeypox.

He said travellers from these countries who have visible symptoms such as rashes will be asked to take a test, adding that no tests have been conducted so far.

The ministry has not declared monkeypox a dangerous communicable disease yet and no domestic cases have been reported. However, it will meet to assess the risk of infection, he said, adding the ministry has not considered a vaccination programme.

Dr Supakij Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences, said smallpox vaccines are known to be 85% effective against monkeypox and the department is well-equipped to test and approve such vaccines if needed.

As smallpox was eradicated in 1980, vaccination against the disease has not taken place for 40 years. However, vaccines have been developed against the virus out of concern it could be used as a bio-weapon.

He said three drugs - tecovirimat, cidofovir and brincidofovir - which were developed to treat smallpox are still being analysed for their effectiveness.

The World Health Organization (WHO) held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the outbreak after more than 100 cases were detected in Europe.

Monkeypox causes symptoms which are similar to smallpox although they are often less severe and it is not as contagious.

Thassayu Dechachote, chief of disease control at Phuket airport, said the airport is stepping up surveillance against monkeypox as 130 passengers have come from at-risk countries recently. But no cases have been found so far.
Cop suspended for stomping on teens

BANGKOK: A deputy crime suppression chief at Sam Phran station in Nakhon Pathom has been suspended pending an investigation after he and another policeman allegedly assaulted two handcuffed teenagers last month.

policeviolencecrime

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 25 May 2022, 10:01AM

An image from a video posted online shows an officer stomping on the head of one of three teenagers who were handcuffed in Nakhon Pathom. Screenshot: Yak Dang Diew Jadhai Return Part 2 / Facebook

Pol Capt Chaiyapoj Khotsamrarn, deputy crime suppression chief at Sam Phran station, and Pol L/C Phanadorn Changkhian, were captured on CCTV kicking the two teens, stomping on their heads and beating them with a belt on April 30.

On Tuesday, Pol Maj Gen Chomchawin Purathananon, commander of Nakhon Pathom Provincial Police, said a police internal probe has concluded its report into the incident and submitted it to senior officers, reported the Bangkok Post.

The probe found grounds to the allegations against the two policemen, who are also facing criminal complaints for the assault.

The provincial police have formed a panel to launch a serious disciplinary probe into Pol Capt Chaiyapoj and ordered that he be suspended pending the investigation and legal proceedings, Pol Maj Gen Chomchawin said.

The incident occurred in front of the Pruksa Ville 44 housing estate on Boromratchonnanee Rd in Sam Phran. It was circulated on social media last Friday and appeared on the popular Facebook page Yak Dang Diew Jadhai Return Part 2.

According to the accompanying post, the teenagers had ridden to seek help from the two Sam Phran officers claiming a rival group was chasing them with plans to attack.

The officers found one teen had a gun. One officer then stomped on the heads of the two young men.

They were later charged with illegal possession of a weapon. The officers actions drew a barrage of criticism after the video went viral.
Gunman kills 18 children at Texas elementary school

TEXAS: A teenage gunman killed 18 young children at an elementary school in Texas yesterday (May 24), prompting a furious President Joe Biden to denounce the US gun lobby and vow to end the nations cycle of mass shootings.

deathdisastershomicidemurderviolence

By AFP

Wednesday 25 May 2022, 10:23AM

A police officer walks outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas where the tragic shooting took place. Photo: Allison Dinner / AFP

The attack in Uvalde - a small community about an hour from the Mexican border - was the deadliest US school shooting in years, and the latest in a spree of bloody gun violence across America.

Its time to turn this pain into action for every parent, for every citizen of this country, Biden said, his voice heavy with emotion.

Its time for those who obstruct or delay or block commonsense gun laws - we need to let you know that we will not forget, he said.

As a nation, we have to ask when in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in Gods name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, addressing an earlier news conference, named the suspect as Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old local resident and a US citizen.

He shot and killed, horrifically and incomprehensibly, Abbott said.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials told CNN the gunman had shot his grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School around noon where he abandoned his vehicle and entered with a handgun and a rifle, wearing body armour.

The gunman was killed by responding officers, the officials said, adding one adult had also been killed in the attack.

Footage showed small groups of children weaving through parked cars and yellow buses, some holding hands as they fled under police escort from the school, which teaches students aged around seven to 10 years old.

It was the deadliest such incident since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.

The White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in mourning for the victims - whose deaths sent a wave of shock through a country still scarred by the horror of Sandy Hook.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Robb Elementary - which teaches more than 500, mostly Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students - called on parents not to rush in to get their children.

You will be notified to pick up students once all are accounted for, the school said on its website soon after the attack.

Happens nowhere else

Ted Cruz, a pro-gun rights Republican senator from Texas, tweeted that he and his wife were lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.

But Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook shooting took place, made an impassioned appeal for concrete action to prevent further violence.

This isnt inevitable, these kids werent unlucky. This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day, Murphy said on the Senate floor in Washington.

Im here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely.

The deadly assault in Texas follows a series of mass shootings in the United States this month.

On May 14, an 18-year-old man shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.

Wearing heavy body armor and wielding an AR-15 rifle, the self-declared white supremacist livestreamed his attack, having reportedly targeted the store because of the large surrounding African American population.

The following day, a man blocked the door of a church in Laguna Woods, California and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and injuring five.

Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to strengthen - or weaken - their own restrictions.

The National Rifle Association has been instrumental in fighting against stricter US gun laws. Abbott and Cruz are listed as speakers at a forum that is being held by the powerful lobby in Houston, Texas later this week.

The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35% compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data.
Phuket ready for major events, say local figures

PHUKET: Key Phuket tourism figures went on the promotional campaign trail again yesterday (May 24), re-announcing that Phuket is ready to host major events such as the Thailand Tourism Congress 2022 (TTC 2022) and Thailand Travel Mart Plus 2022 (TTM+ 2022) next month.

Wednesday 25 May 2022, 12:56PM

Among those present for the announcement, at a press event held a the newly opened Andamanda water park in Kathu, operated by the Liptapanlop familys Proud Group, were Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew, Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong and Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, President of the Phuket Tourist Association.

The TTC 2022 will be held at Beyond Resort Kata on June 6-8, while the TTM+ will be held at Angsana Laguna Phuket on June 8-10, explained V/Gov Pichet.

The event will see more than 400 guests, including representatives from both local and foriegn government agencies and tourism-related businesses, join the event, he said.

Meanwhile, the TTM+ event is expected to see more than 700 people from tourism-related businesses and agencies attend, he added.

Also present was Thanet Phetsuwan, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Deputy Governor of Marketing for Asia and the South Pacific, said that the government is planning to fully reopen the country to foreign tourists this year, in order to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment, especially in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

To ensure the reopening is a success, the TAT will promote Thailand in foreign markets under the marketing theme Visit Thailand 2022: Amazing New Chapters, he said.

The theme will inspire local and international travellers to explore more of Thailand, Mr Thanet said

Rawat Areerob, President of Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation (PPAO), noted that the TTM+ event will provide local businesses the opportunity to expand by developing relationships with international partners.

The event will feature business-matching sessions, a networking dinner and media exhibitions, he added.

The TTM+ was an annual event jointly organised by the TAT, Phuket provincial authorities and the private business operators since 2001. The event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Rewat noted.

Mr Bhummikitti said the TTC event will also play a key role in promoting improvements and sustainability within the tourism industry.

Both events are considered necessary and important for creating Thailands tourism strategy, he said.

The Thai tourism industry has evolved into focussing on a qualitative tourism destination. Sustainability and balancing growth in terms of both the quantity and quality of tourists are the lessons learned from COVID-19 that have played an important part in making those of us in the Thai tourism industry to stop and think, and rethink, in order to keep going, Mr Bhummikitti said.

Mr Bhummikitti invited business operators and executives of tourism associations throughout the country to come to Phuket to attend the forum to discuss ways to attract more visitors while minimising the impact of mass tourism, especially on the environment.

Pattanachai Singhavara, Director of the Southern Regional Office of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), said that Phuket is highly prepared to be the destination for meetings, seminars and travel as part of reward schemes.

We are ready in terms of transportation infrastructure, hotels, MICE venues as well as the potential and readiness of MICE personnel in the area, Mr Pattanachai said.

Join us in encouraging us to offer ourselves to host a special event, the World Specialized Expo, in Phuket. Under the event name EXPO 2028 - Phuket, Thailand, the Thailand team has entered a bid for the rights to host the event, he said.

Thailand is competing with four other countries to host the World Specialised Expo: the United States, Argentina, Serbia and Spain.

The full proposal will be submitted to the Bureau International des Expositions in Paris, France, at the end of next month, Mr Pattanachai said.
Viva lItalia Night at The Naka Island

Start From: Friday 3 June 2022, 06:00PM to Friday 3 June 2022, 09:00PM Mon. Tue. Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Sun.

The Naka Island, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Phuket the hidden paradise of our exclusive island resort in Phuket, will hold the first Viva lItalia Night, an epicurean event that celebrates the twin pleasures of fine food with premium beverage at our award-winning restaurant, My Grill on June 3rd, 2022 at 18.15-20.45 hrs.

Celebration of twin pleasure, this enticing epicurean evening features a sublime set menu crafted by Thailands Italian culinary expert with, Chef Vincenzo Sorrentino and Daniele Pinto, an Italian Sommelier.

These two talented craftsmen have come together to create a sensational four-course set menu that showcases the finest cuisines, pared with premium Italian beverages at our beachfront restaurant for only THB 2,999++ per person. For more information and reservation, please call 66 76 371 400 or email: nakaislanddining@luxurycollection.com
Xi speaks with UN Human Rights chief, defends Chinas progress

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping held a video call with UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet today (May 25), as she visits Xinjiang during a mission overshadowed by fresh allegations of Uyghur abuses and fears she is being used as a public relations tool by the Communist Party.

Chinese

By AFP

Wednesday 25 May 2022, 05:09PM

Graphic on selected reports on the human rights situation in Chinas Xinjiang region. Graphics: AFP

Beijing is accused of detaining over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-western region as part of a years-long crackdown the United States and lawmakers in other Western countries have labelled a genocide.

Bachelet is expected to visit the cities of Urumqi and Kashgar as part of a six-day tour that has been dogged by concerns from Western officials, diplomats and rights groups that the Communist Party will attempt to use it to whitewash abuses.

China vehemently denies the allegations, calling them the lie of the century.

The United States has reiterated its view that Bachelets visit was a mistake after the release of thousands of leaked documents and photographs from inside the system of mass incarceration this week.

But Xi defended his countrys human rights progress during the call while Xinjiang was not specifically mentioned by either side, according to a readout from state broadcaster CCTV.

Human rights issues should also not be politicised, instrumentalised, or treated with double standards, Xi said according to a CCTV readout, adding that China has a human rights development path that... suits its national conditions.

CCTV reported Xi as telling Bachelet that there is no ideal nation on human rights.

He added that there is no need for a teacher who is bossy towards other countries, in an apparent reference to recent public criticisms of the trip by United States and UK officials.

According to the CCTV readout, Bachelet said the UN Human Rights Office is willing to strengthen cooperation with the Chinese side.

She was also reported to have said: I admire Chinas efforts and achievements in eradicating poverty, protecting human rights, and realising economic and social development.

Appalled

State Department spokesman Ned Price said yesterday the United States was appalled by the latest allegations, after a consortium of media outlets reported on thousands of leaked documents and photographs from inside Xinjiangs system of mass incarceration.

The Xinjiang Police Files, leaked by an anonymous source to academic Adrian Zenz, showed top leaders in Beijing including President Xi calling for a forceful crackdown.

They also included a 2017 internal speech by Chen Quanguo, Xinjiangs hardline former Communist Party chief, in which he allegedly orders guards to shoot to kill anyone who tries to escape.

Britain and Germany also voiced outrage, with UK foreign secretary Liz Truss calling for China to grant Bachelet full and unfettered access to the region and her German counterpart urging a transparent investigation.

During a Monday meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, Bachelet was presented with a book of Xi quotes on respecting human rights, according to state media photographs.
Today

Partly to mostly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 81F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 52F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Cloudy early with thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 69F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 21C. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

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Cloudy with periods of light rain. Low 17C. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Periods of rain. High near 21C. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 17C. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Rain likely. High 21C. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional light rain. Low 17C. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Randy von Liski (myoldpostcards /Getty Images

After the U.S. Census Bureau updated its figures after the 2020 census, showing that Illinois grew by 250,000 residents, lifting the state's population to more than 13 million for the first time in history and reversing the 2020 census initial numbers which showed Illinois as shrinking, President Joe Biden and the federal government were called upon to ensure that Illinois receives federal funding reflecting its growth.

Illinois' population was undercounted by roughly 2% in the 2020 census, with the adjusted Census results showing an increase in Illinois' population as people continue to move to the state in pursuit of "expanded economic and employment opportunities," the state wrote in a news release.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  New Zealand will reopen its borders to tourists from all countries by July, allow back cruise ships and make it easier for skilled workers to immigrate as it looks outward to the world again following the COVID-19 pandemic, the government said Wednesday.

New Zealand imposed some of the worlds strictest border controls when COVID-19 first hit more than two years ago. That allowed the nation of 5 million to eliminate several virus outbreaks and get vaccination rates up before the omicron variant swept through this year.

New Zealand's coronavirus death toll has remained far below that of almost every other developed nation. But as the pandemic has dragged on, New Zealand's border measures have increasingly appeared outdated as other countries have reopened.

New Zealand has been slowly reopening, first to Australians last month and then to tourists from the U.S., Britain and more than 50 other countries earlier this month. Wednesday's announcement will allow tourists from China, India and other countries to come starting July 31.

The government said it also planned to end the need for people to get predeparture COVID-19 tests by the end of July.

But in a sign that the virus continues to disrupt daily life, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern did not make the announcement in person at a business lunch in Auckland as she had planned, but instead spoke via video link from her residence in Wellington where she is isolating.

Ardern's fiance Clarke Gayford tested positive for the virus on Sunday. Ardern has so far tested negative and said she's been symptom-free. New Zealand health rules require household contacts of infected people to isolate for seven days.

Today I can announce that New Zealand fully reopens to the world by July 31, completing our reconnecting work two months ahead of schedule," Ardern said on the video link.

She said new immigration settings would make it easier for skilled workers to enter from July, with a new green list of 56 sought-after professions including doctors, nurses, engineers, plumbers, teachers and tech workers.

This package is designed to address the urgent skills shortages created by COVID while also putting our immigration settings on a better and more sustainable footing," Ardern said.

Before the pandemic hit, more than 3 million tourists visited each year, accounting for 20% of New Zealands foreign income and more than 5% of the overall economy.

Business leaders and tourism representatives welcomed the announcement.

After two years of hardship, hundreds of Kiwi ship suppliers and tourism operators can start rebuilding their businesses back," said Debbie Summers, the chairperson of the New Zealand Cruise Association.

Ardern has also been signaling the country's reopening plans with trips abroad, including a recent trip to Singapore and Japan and an upcoming trip to the U.S.
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ROME (AP)  Pope Francis has sent a protocol greeting to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, assuring him of prayers on his patron's feast day and stressing the value of human life and wisdom, as the Vatican insists on maintaining cordial relations amid the war in Ukraine.

The website of the Moscow Patriarchate published the brief greetings Francis sent Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to mark Tuesday's feast day for St. Cyril, a saint important to both Catholics and Orthodox Christians, especially in Slavic nations.

These days I pray to our Heavenly Father that the Holy Spirit will renew and strengthen us in the gospel ministry, especially in our efforts to protect the value and dignity of every human life, Francis wrote.

He also called for Gods gift of wisdom.

The moderate tone was evidence of the Vatican's attempt to maintain relations with Kirill, a policy that has come under increasing criticism from the head of the Polish bishops conference. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki returned from a visit to Ukraine this week and called for the Vatican to change its naive and utopian policy, saying it won't work in the long run.

In an interview with the Polish Catholic news agency KAI, Gadecki said it was a noble goal to strike a dialogue with Moscow. But that is not accompanied by sufficiently serious thought on the Vaticans part, he was quoted as saying.

Kirill has justified the invasion on spiritual and ideological grounds, calling it a metaphysical battle with the West. He has blessed soldiers going into battle and invoked the idea that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.

Francis' three-sentence note to the Orthodox leader made no mention of Russias invasion of Ukraine or even a generic appeal for peace. That said, it was a protocol greeting marking a religious observance; Francis has, in his public remarks, frequently denounced the war and loss of life.

Gadecki, of the Polish bishops' conference, acknowledged that the tradition of Vatican diplomacy is to not call out aggressors, and to seek at all costs to maintain an open channel of dialogue in hope of nudging a peaceful resolution.

In the case of Ukraine, the Vatican has also been keen to not antagonize the Russian Orthodox Church, after it worked for decades to improve relations that culminated in a historic meeting between Francis and Kirill in Havana in 2016.

But today, in the situation of war  it is most important that the Holy See supported Ukraine on all levels and was not directed by utopian thoughts, Gadecki was quoted as saying.

Gadecki also said bitterly that his visit to sites of mass killings in Ukraine led him to conclude that humans have drawn no lessons from previous deadly wars but have only improved their killing methods.

Weve heard so many declarations and incantations over recent decades about such crimes no longer being possible, given the present level of civilization, but murdering people has turned out to be just as possible as before, he said.

Francis mentioned the war at the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday. Speaking to Polish pilgrims, he called for prayers for peace in Ukraine and for God to teach us to show solidarity for those who are affected by the tragedy of war and to find reconciliation among nations.

___

Scislowska reported from Warsaw, Poland.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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JERUSALEM (AP)  Turkeys foreign minister visited Israel on Wednesday as part of ongoing efforts to improve ties between the two countries, which have often been bitterly divided in recent years over Turkey's support for the Palestinians.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the first official visit to Israel by a Turkish official in 15 years, said that normalizing ties with Israel and addressing disagreements in a constructive manner" will contribute to a peaceful resolution to the Mideast conflict.

He prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, a major holy site at the heart of recent unrest in the region. It is the third holiest site in Islam and is built on a hilltop that is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

Cavusoglu said talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog had helped calm tensions in Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended in early May.

Working on a positive agenda can also help us to address our disagreements in a more constructive manner," Cavusoglu told reporters.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, speaking at the same press conference, said the two countries "have always known how to return to dialogue and cooperation.

Nations with long histories always know how to close one chapter and open a new one. That is what we are doing here today, he said.

Turkey, beset by economic troubles, has been trying to end its international isolation by normalizing ties with several countries in the Mideast, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Cavusoglu also met with Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank, where he reiterated Turkey's support for their struggle for an independent state alongside Israel.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state. There have been no serious peace talks for more than a decade.

We believe that normalization of our ties will also have a positive impact on peaceful resolution of the conflict, Cavusoglu said.

He also visited Yad Vashem, Israels Holocaust memorial, on Wednesday.

Turkey and Israel were once close allies, but relations grew tense under Erdogan, who is a vocal critic of Israels policies toward the Palestinians. Turkey has also embraced the Islamic militant group Hamas, which Israel and Western countries view as a terrorist group.

The countries withdrew their ambassadors in 2010 after Israeli forces stormed a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, which has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas seized power there in 2007.

Nine Turkish activists were killed. Israel apologized to Turkey for the deaths under a U.S.-brokered agreement, but reconciliation efforts stalled.

Turkey recalled its ambassador in 2018 after the United States recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, prompting Israel to respond in kind. The two countries have not reappointed their ambassadors.

The latest attempt at a rapprochement has been led by Herzog, Israel's mostly ceremonial president, who visited Turkey in March, becoming the first Israeli leader to do so in 14 years.

Herzog spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, the same annual gathering where Erdogan famously stormed off the stage after a sharp exchange with Israel's then-President Shimon Peres about Gaza in 2009.

Taking questions after his speech, Herzog acknowledged that the process with Turkey was not a lullaby of Romeo and Juliet," but based on mutual interests. He also referenced the earlier exchange at Davos.

We have our ups and downs with Turkey, Herzog said. "Im very pleased that I have an open, frank dialogue with President Erdogan which is leading in the right direction.

___

Associated Press writer Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
WFO HOUSTON/GALVESTON Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in League City has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Burleson County in southeastern Texas...

West central Brazos County in southeastern Texas...

Northwestern Washington County in southeastern Texas...

* Until 1245 AM CDT.

* At 1219 AM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from 8 miles southeast of Cameron to near Lexington to 7

miles southwest of Giddings to near Rosanky, moving east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect considerable tree damage. Damage is likely to

mobile homes, roofs, and outbuildings.

* Locations impacted include...

Caldwell, Somerville, Burton, Lake Somerville Dam, Lake Somerville

State Park & Trailway, Carmine, Lyons, Deanville and Chriesman.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

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Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
UVALDE, Texas (AP)  An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children as he went from classroom to classroom, officials said, in the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade and the latest gruesome moment for a country scarred by a string of massacres. The attacker was killed by law enforcement.

The death toll also included two adults, authorities said. Gov. Greg Abbott said one of the two was a teacher.

The assault at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

Hours after the attack, families were still awaiting word on their children.

Outside the town civic center, where families were told to gather, the silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wailing. No! Please, no! one man yelled as he embraced another man.

My heart is broken today, said Hal Harrell, the school district superintendent, announcing that all school activities were canceled for the time being. Were a small community, and were going to need your prayers to get through this.

The attack also came just 10 days after a deadly, racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that added to a yearslong series of mass killings at churches, schools and stores. And the prospects for any reform of the nations gun regulations seemed as dim, if not dimmer, than in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook deaths.

But President Joe Biden appeared ready for a fight, calling for new gun restrictions in an address to the nation hours after the attack.

As a nation we have to ask, when in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in Gods name are we going to do what has to be done? Biden asked. Why are we willing to live with this carnage?"

Many of the wounded were rushed to Uvalde Memorial Hospital, where staff members in scrubs and devastated victims' relatives could be seen weeping as they walked out of the complex.

Officials did not immediately reveal a motive, but they identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio. Law enforcement officials said he acted alone.

Ramos had hinted on social media that an attack could be coming, according to state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who said he had been briefed by state police. He noted that the gunman suggested the kids should watch out.

Before heading to the school, Ramon killed his grandmother with two military-style rifles he purchased on his birthday, Gutierrez said.

That was the first thing he did on his 18th birthday, he said.

The attack began about 11:30 a.m., when the gunman crashed his car outside the school and ran into the building, according to Travis Considine, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. A resident who heard the crash called 911, and two local police officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter.

Both officers were shot, though it was not immediately clear where on the campus that confrontation occurred, or how much time elapsed before more authorities arrived on the scene.

Meanwhile, teams of Border Patrol agents raced to the school, including 10 to 15 members of a SWAT-like tactical and counter-terrorism unit, said Jason Owens, a top regional official with the Border Patrol.

One Border Patrol agent who was working nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about it.

The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, the law enforcement source said.

Owens confirmed that an agent suffered minor injuries, but would not provide details of that confrontation.

He said some area agents have children at Robb Elementary.

We have Border Patrol kids that go to this school. It hit home for everybody," he said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were wounded, but Uvalde Police Chief Pete Arredondo said there were several injuries. Earlier, Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

Robb Elementary School has an enrollment of just under 600 students, and Arredondo said it serves students in the second, third and fourth grade. He did not provide ages of the children who were shot. This was the school's last week of classes before summer break.

Uvalde, home to about 16,000 people, is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the border with Mexico. Robb Elementary is in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.

The tragedy in Uvalde was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, and it added to a grim tally in the state, which has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years.

In 2018, a gunman fatally shot 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area. A year before that, a gunman at a Texas church killed more than two dozen people during a Sunday service in the small town of Sutherland Springs. In 2019, another gunman at a Walmart in El Paso killed 23 people in a racist attack.

The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston. Abbott and both of Texas U.S. senators were among elected Republican officials who were the scheduled speakers at a Friday leadership forum sponsored by the NRAs lobbying arm.

In the years since Sandy Hook, the gun control debate in Congress has waxed and waned. Efforts by lawmakers to change U.S. gun policies in any significant way have consistently faced roadblocks from Republicans and the influence of outside groups such as the NRA.

A year after Sandy Hook, Sens. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, and Patrick J. Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, negotiated a bipartisan proposal to expand the nations background check system. But the measure failed in a Senate vote, without enough support to clear a 60-vote filibuster hurdle.

Then-President Barack Obama, who had made gun control central to his administrations goals after the Newtown shooting, called Congress' failure to act a pretty shameful day for Washington.

Last year, the House passed two bills to expand background checks on firearms purchases. One bill would have closed a loophole for private and online sales. The other would have extended the background check review period. Both languished in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome objections from a filibuster.



Eugene Garcia and Dario Lopez-Mills in Uvalde, Jake Bleiberg in Dallas, Ben Fox in Washington, Paul J. Weber in Austin, Juan Lozano in Houston and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.



More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings
MADDIE STEPSKI, Stonington, Softball, Senior; Stepski collected the 100th hit of her career in the Bears win over Fitch. For the week, Stepski was 8 for 11 with three doubles, her 12th home run of the season and six RBIs. Stepski is hitting .746 with 49 RBIs and 30 extra-base hits.

RACHEL FEDERICO, Westerly, Track, Junior; Federico finished first in the discus at the Class B championships. Federico had a school-record throw of 121-4 to take first place. She broke the previous mark of 111-7 by 9-9.

MARISSA PERKINS, Wheeler, Softball, Junior; Perkins was 7 for 16 as the Lions played five games during the week. Perkins hit two homers, doubled twice and drove in nine runs. She is hitting .400 with 20 RBIs this season.

IAN CLARK, Chariho Track, Junior; Clark finished first in the 200 with a meet record at the Class B championships. He also ran a leg on the 4x100 relay team that established a meet record, and he placed first in the 100.

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The number of Brits turning to 'side hustles' to generate extra cash has grown since the start of the pandemic, leading to a five-fold increase in business owners under the age of under 24.

Data from website hosting platform GoDaddy and the University of Kent has revealed that the challenges of the pandemic, combined with the cost of living crisis, means more and more people have set up their own companies to supplement their income.

The study, which analysed data from more than two million microbusinesses, shows a third of businesses with fewer than ten employees are now run as side hustles, compared to 20.8 per cent in March 2020.

More and more Brits have turned to side hustles to earn some extra cash since the start of the pandemic

And the growing number of side hustles has had a significant impact on the demographic of the country's entrepreneurs.

The percentage of business owners under 35 has grown from 26.4 per cent to 34 per cent since the start of the pandemic, according to the survey.

And the number aged between 18 and 24 soared from 1.7 per cent pre-pandemic to 8.6 per cent.

The increase in younger entrepreneurs, as well as job volatility during the pandemic, has also led to a rise in those who started their business while not in full-time employments.

The number of microbusiness owners who were unemployed before starting their business was 5.7 per cent before the pandemic, while those in part-time work was 7.9 per cent. These figures have risen to 7.3 per cent and 11.7 per cent respectively.

'I've run a number of side hustles in the past, from craft and knitting supplies to remainder book sales; and a hobby business is a great way for people to earn some extra money,' said Rob Peters, a business owner who now runs brokerage Simple Fast Mortgage.

'It's in tougher times when the cost of everything is rising that innovative business ideas are born, and those ideas can often turn into successful full-time businesses or vocations.'

Twenty-two year old Cameron Langstow from Plaistow, East London works part-time as a postman but launched Bark + Shout, a pet accessory company, in April 2021.

Part-time postman Cameron Laingstow launched Bark + Shout during lockdown to make some extra cash

'I started Bark + Shout as I didn't have a clear career path and needed a way to make extra money. My day job helps pay the bills and while I try to reinvest the extra income from Bark + Shout back into the business to help it grow, it's certainly helpful to know it's there.

'Running the business fully online means I can reduce costs and build a business with a long-term trajectory. The success we've had so far means I'm hoping to be running Bark + Shout full time by the end of the year.'

The demographics of entrepreneurs have also started to become more diverse. The percentage of female microbusiness owners has increased from 32 per cent to 39.8 per cent, while the proportion from minority communities has risen from 13.2 per cent to 15.1 per cent.

Black founders account for 5.4 per cent of pre-pandemic businesses and 6.6 per cent among those created after March 2020. The corresponding figures for Asian entrepreneurs are 10.1 per cent pre-pandemic and 11.9 per cent after it began.

What kind of jobs could you do on the side? Anything that makes you some extra cash on the side can be classed as a side hustle but there are some types of jobs that are more common than others. Popular side hustles include selling items online, driving for Uber, becoming a delivery driver, managing social media accounts, babysitting, cleaning, selling handmade products and personal training. One unconventional emerging trend is people turning their pets into social media influencers. GoDaddy estimates there are more than 4million 'entre-paw-neurs' with average earnings for dogs at 15,627 per year and cats at 12,895 per year. Selena Pang, 41, from London was forced to close her hair salon in lockdown and decide to share her pug Kikko on Instagram. 'I noticed the trend in side-hustles and set myself the goal of building Kikko's Instagram account to 10,000 followers,' she said. 'Once that gained traction, I decided to monetise the opportunity and launched a website alongside the Instagram page.'

How to balance your full-time job with a side hustle

You may have an idea for a business but not know how to balance it with your current job - especially if this is your first time launching a business.

We asked some entrepreneurs how they managed to fit in their side hustle around work.

Felicity Pryke, who set up her own yoga company Finding Felicity added an extra hour to each of her working days, allowing her to switch to a four-day week while getting the salary of 4.5 days.

'My salary only dropped by 10 per cent - your income drops by even less due to income tax. Unless you're on a very high salary, you can probably make that back by having a full day extra to focus on your business,' she said.

Jessica Ross, founder and CEO at marketing agency Smashtag Social, reiterated the need to balance the day job and side hustle so as not to burn out.

'Keep a list of priorities going for your side hustle, so that you have a running list to work from,' she said.

'Decide if it really is a side hustle that you want or whether you actually want to do that job full-time.

'If your side hustle is something you're actually working towards doing forever, just make sure it's not a hobby as otherwise you may find yourself hating it when you have to do it under pressure.'

Finally, Julia Kermode, founder at self-employed network IWORK, stresses the need to stay on top of your finances.

'The free trading allowance is only 1000 and you will need to tell HMRC about any income you earn over this.

'It might be boring, but when you start your hustle it's wise to always set aside some of your profits for tax.

'Keeping on the straight and narrow from the outset will make life so much easier as your business grows and flourishes.'
Text messages to voters about an intercepted asylum seeker boat on election day were sent without the approval of the home affairs minister.

The new Labor government has labelled the move a disappointing example of the Liberal-National coalition politicising border protection.

But outgoing Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews says text messages sent by the Liberal Party on Saturday were not approved by her.

"I had no knowledge of the text messages. I didn't know that they were being even contemplated," she told the ABC on Wednesday.

"A lot of things were happening on election day. What the party chose to do is a party matter ... it wasn't something that was endorsed by me."

Ms Andrews defended the Border Force media release about the boat intercepted in Australian waters as "operationally focused".

"It was actually an important thing to do, given the fact it was election day and there needed to be transparency," she said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the former government breached the bipartisan approach to border protection in a last-ditch effort to sway voters.

"It was terribly disappointing ... to see the way that the government in its dying hours attempted to publicise and politicise and send those text messages out about border security," he told reporters in Canberra.

The new Labor government turned back its first asylum seeker boat this week.

Operation Sovereign Borders safely returned the boat to Sri Lanka on Tuesday after it was intercepted near Christmas Island on Saturday, an Australian Border Force spokesman said.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles gave the order.

The order was consistent with the message that people arriving by boat would still be processed in the same way under a Labor government, Dr Chalmers said.

"Australians know, and the people smugglers know, that we remain committed to Operation Sovereign Borders," he said.

Ms Andrews said she was pleased the vessel had been turned back by the new government.

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"It's a very critical time for Australia and we did say, prior to the election, that this was going to be ... a test for the new government," she told Sky News.

The turnback directive was condemned by Human Rights Watch's Australian researcher Sophie McNeill, who called on Mr Albanese to "end this cruel policy".

"Implementing a blanket turn back the boats policy is not legal or humane," she said.

"It is also inconsistent with Australia's obligations under domestic and international law to protect the right to life and rescue persons in distress at sea."
Kingsport, TN (37660)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 59F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch..

Tonight

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 59F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch.
Kingsport, TN (37660)

Today

Showers this morning, becoming a steady rain during the afternoon hours. High around 75F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Rain. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch.
Kingsport, TN (37660)

Today

Showers and thundershowers likely. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 73F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch.
Kingsport, TN (37660)

Today

Partly cloudy with afternoon showers or thunderstorms. High 74F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

A shower is possible early. A few clouds. Low around 55F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
Russian forces launched offensives on towns in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday with constant mortar bombardment destroying several houses and killing civilians, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia focuses its attack on the industrial Donbas region.

Russia is attempting to seize the separatist-claimed Donbas two provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, and trap Ukrainian forces in a pocket on the main eastern front.

In the easternmost part of the Ukrainian-held Donbas pocket, the city of Sievierodonetsk on the east bank of the Siverskiy Donets River and its twin Lysychansk, on the west bank, have become a pivotal battlefield. Russian forces were advancing from three directions to encircle them.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiys office said Russian forces launched an offensive on Sievierodonetsk early on Wednesday and the town was under constant fire from mortars.

Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said six civilians were killed and at least eight wounded, most near bomb shelters, in Sievierodonetsk.

At the moment, with the support of artillery, the Russian occupiers are attacking Sievierodonetsk, Gaidai said.

Ukraines military said it had repelled nine Russian attacks on Tuesday in the Donbas where Moscows troops had killed at least 14 civilians, using aircraft, rocket launchers, artillery, tanks, mortars and missiles.

Reuters could not immediately verify information about the fighting.

In a sign of Ukrainian success elsewhere, authorities in its second-largest city, Kharkiv, re-opened the underground metro, where thousands of civilians had sheltered for months under relentless bombardment.

The re-opening came after Ukraine pushed Russian forces largely out of artillery range of the northern city, as they did from the capital, Kyiv, in March.

WORLD WAR THREE?

Three months into the invasion, Russia still has only limited gains to show for its worst military losses in decades, while much of Ukraine has suffered devastation in the biggest attack on a European state since 1945.

More than 6.5 million people have fled abroad, uncounted thousands have been killed and cities have been reduced to rubble.

The war has also caused growing food shortages and soaring prices due to sanctions and disruption of supply chains. Both Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grain and other commodities.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen accused Russia of using food as a weapon.

Billionaire financier George Soros, also speaking in Davos, said Russias invasion of Ukraine may have marked the start of World War Three.

The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible, he said.

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday lambasted President Vladimir Putin, casting the Kremlin chief as a doomed madman who was butchering the people of both Ukraine and Russia.

This is a stupid war which your Putin started, Navalny told an appeals court in Moscow via video link from a corrective penal colony. This war was built on lies.

Underlining the global tensions unleashed by the war, major U.S. ally Japan scrambled jets on Tuesday after Russian and Chinese warplanes neared its airspace as U.S. President Joe Biden visited Tokyo.

Meanwhile, in a decision that could push Russia closer to the brink of default, the Biden administration announced it would not extend a waiver set to expire on Wednesday that enabled Russia to pay U.S. bondholders.

Russia had been allowed to keep paying interest and principal and avert default on its government debt.

Russian lawmakers gave the first stamp of approval to a bill that would allow Russian entities to take over foreign companies that have left the country in opposition to Moscows actions in Ukraine, a government online portal showed. [nL5N2XG5UG}

On Monday, Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) became the latest Western brand to announce it was pulling out of Russia, following a similar decision by McDonalds. The hamburger chains trademark Golden Arches were lowered near Moscow on Monday.

DRAWN OUT CONFLICT

Senior Russian officials suggested in comments on Tuesday the war, which Russia calls a special operation, may be drawn-out.

Nikolai Patrushev, head of Putins security council, said Russia would fight as long as necessary to eradicate Nazism in Ukraine, a justification for the war that the West calls baseless.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia was deliberately advancing slowly to avoid civilian casualties.

Zelenskiy dismissed such statements as absolutely unreal.

In Kharkiv, hundreds of people were living underground in trains and stations when the authorities asked them to make way on Tuesday.

Everyone is crazily scared, because there is still shelling, said Nataliia Lopanska, who had lived in a metro train for most of the war.

The Donbas fighting follows Russias biggest victory in months: the surrender last week of Ukraines garrison in the port of Mariupol after a siege in which Kyiv believes tens of thousands of civilians were killed.

Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to Mariupols Ukrainian mayor now operating outside the city, said the dead were lying in the rubble.

About 200 decomposing bodies were buried in debris in a basement of one high-rise building, he said. Residents had refused to collect them and Russian authorities had abandoned the site.

SOURCE: REUTERS
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ALBANY  Gov. Kathy Hochul will announce a new program Wednesday that will train military members in semiconductor manufacturing at Albany Nanotech before they return to civilian life.

The VET S.T.E.P. Career Skills Program as it is called is funded by the National Science Foundation and was developed in partnership with Mohawk Valley Community College.
In the Aug. 23 special election to fill the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, residents of New Yorks 19th Congressional District will have a choice to make: Two veteran politicians on either side of the Hudson River, with a history of working together and a competitive respect for one another.

The winner of the election  which pits Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, a Democrat, against the Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro  will carry out the remainder of the term of Delgado, who will be sworn in as lieutenant governor Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The victor will also gain incumbent status before the November midterm elections, for which both Molinaro and Ryan have declared their candidacies in New Yorks newly drawn districts. Molinaro will run again in the 19th, while Ryan will shift focus to the 18th.

Ryan has run for this particular seat before, finishing second to Delgado in a bruising 2018 congressional primary. He went on to run for county executive the next year. In an interview with the Times Union, Ryan expressed admiration for the outgoing representative.

[Delgado has] just tremendous work ethic, showing up, I think, to 60-plus town halls throughout the pandemic, Ryan said. Core to being a representative is just remembering you are a representative, which means: show up, listen, hear everybody, really, really think and understand everybodys perspective and then bring that together.

The current 19th is a swing district, and the special election has outsized national implications, as it will determine the size of the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives for the remainder of the 117th Congress. Ryan and Molinaro are trying to convince voters to elect them to national office based on local Hudson Valley resumes.

Ryan touts his record of directing once-in-a-generation investments into local mental health programs, housing and infrastructure with American Rescue Plan funds. He also emphasizes his connection to the region as a lifelong Kingston resident. He has watched the city transition from a booming factory town in the IBM days through a post-industrial decline to its current status as a popular destination, but one where housing is scarce and deaths of despair are common.

We saw suicides in Ulster County during the pandemic double. We saw fatal opioid overdoses up 93 percent, Ryan said. So a lot of what were doing with the Rescue Plan funds at the local level is reinvesting in mental health.

To that end, the county is building a 24/7 crisis stabilization center, open to anyone experiencing mental health or substance abuse problems. Earlier this year, Ryan also deconsolidated the mental health department from the county health department to make it its own operation and elevate mental health services to be a top priority.

After the special election, Ryan will pivot to running in the newly drawn 18th district, which voted for Joe Biden by a margin of 4.7 points. But he says hes approaching both races with the same strategy and focusing on the same issues.

Across the Hudson Valley and the Catskills, up into the sort of Southern Tier and Capital Region, everybodys really experiencing the same challenges right now, Ryan said. Were coming out of a once-in-a-century pandemic. Were dealing with rising costs of everything. Were dealing with global instability, Ukraine obviously as the flashpoint but a lot more. Were dealing with really a coordinated assault on womens reproductive rights.

The 40-year old West Point graduate will face a challenge in Molinaro, whose results-oriented agenda has garnered support from voters across parties since first being elected county executive in 2011.

Like other Republicans running for office in New York, Molinaro points to cash bail reform as an accelerant on the rising crime rate. It is hurting our ability to treat mental illness in the criminal justice system, he said.

But unlike some of his fellow party members, he has made significant efforts to deal with the ongoing mental health crisis in his county through non-criminal interventions, including allocating $3 million from the county to fund several new inpatient beds in the Hudson Valley in collaboration with Westchester Medical Center and MidHudson Regional Hospital.

And after Attorney General Letitia James secured millions in settlements from opioid manufacturers and distributed it across the state, Molinaro invested his countys share in a program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, which empowers officers to divert low-level drug away from jail.

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Molinaro lists education as another crucial issue to voters, but unlike other GOP candidates in New York, theres little mention of critical race theory or sex education in his platform. Families just want access to quality education that leads their kids to jobs, he said.

Hes concerned with recovering from the learning deficit many students face because of the pandemic. Rather than blaming overreaching mandates or teacher unions, he says, this year has been a challenge both for students and for teachers, who have been trying their best to keep kids engaged and inspired.

Molinaro also thinks its ridiculous that wealthy people can donate unlimited amounts of money and receive tax write-offs, while volunteer firefighters only get a $200 tax credit.

Think about what that says to hardworking people, Molinaro said. You commit yourself to your community, you risk your life, and youre told that doesnt matter?

Neither candidate is eager to embrace the polarization that has become endemic to American politics, and both expressed a willingness to reach across the aisle for compromise that would deliver for Hudson Valley residents. Ryan was hesitant to pin blame on the opposing party for the problems affecting voters, instead pointing to a difference in leadership styles.

I think there are two kinds of people in any leadership job: outcome-oriented people and process-oriented people, he said. Outcome-oriented people want to deliver things for people, especially right now and the needs are so high. Process-oriented people get bogged down in their own self-interest, their own advancement, the mechanics, and that is what is not working right now.

Molinaro took a similarly diplomatic approach when speaking about his opponent.

I have no ill-will against Pat, he said. Ive worked with Ulster County on a number of things.
Seventeen people accused of being part of a drug distribution network will face court following dawn raids across Sydney's southwest.

The group, alleged members of an importation and distribution syndicate linked to the Alameddine crime family and Comancheros bikies, are aged between 19 and 28, and were arrested in co-ordinated raids on Tuesday.

A 39-year-old man also taken into custody is in hospital.

The majority of charges concern commercial drug supply, participating in or directing a criminal group, dealing with proceeds of crime and firearm offences.

The raids were the result of a covert 10-month operation and followed a crackdown on organised crime in response to a spate of shootings that police say were predominantly linked to control of the Sydney drug market.

Director of State Crime Command Detective Chief Superintendent, Darren Bennett says there will be more "operational activity planned for this week and this month".

"So this is essentially the beginning of it," he told ABC TV on Wednesday.

"This is essentially targeting the root cause of the gangland violence we're all aware of.

"We're going to work hard on these people until they get the message that sort of violence is not acceptable."

Police Commissioner Karen Webb says she is satisfied police have "cut the head off the snake", referring to the Alamaddine network.

Taskforce Erebus was recently formed with the goal of tackling organised crime in NSW following the recent shootings.

One of its roles is to co-ordinate existing operations so police don't get in each other's way.

Police began targeting the alleged syndicate in July with the formation of Strike Force Sugarcane.

During Tuesday's raids, 36 phones were seized that police say were being used to arrange drug deals.

One had more than 700 contacts in it, and it will be alleged each phone was linked to bringing in $250,000 a week.

Mr Bennett says the seized phones provided a treasure trove of information about drug dealers' activities.

Story continues

"That information will form the basis of a lot of investigations going forward.

"If you've been on those phones you can expect a knock on the door," he said.

Competition over the phones is believed to be a factor in a number of murders as dealers fought to steal or keep the devices and their lucrative client base.

Meanwhile, a 23 year old man has been arrested in relation to another shooting in southwest Sydney on Tuesday night.

Police confirmed to AAP the shooting was a separate incident unrelated to the taskforce's remit.

The man was arrested at a Greenacre service station on Wednesday evening and taken to a police station where charges are to be laid.

Officers responding to reports of gunfire at a Roselands unit block late on Tuesday found a 30 year old man who'd been shot in the hand.

He was taken to hospital in a serious condition, while two 25-year-old women were arrested at the scene and a 25-year-old man was grabbed nearby.

The women were charged with concealing a serious indictable offence and the man with custody of a knife in a public place and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.
Public officials gathered Wednesday outside the renovated Marys Avenue campus of the HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston to announce an agreement to bring back 20 inpatient mental health beds to Ulster County, which has lacked hospital inpatient psychiatric services since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In that time, suicides in the county doubled and fatal opioid overdoses rose by 93 percent.

The agreement is pending the approval of New York State.

Now more than ever, we must guarantee that all residents have ample access to vital local mental health and addiction recovery services, said Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan. I am so proud that our community came together and advocated tirelessly to ensure these services are available, and appreciative that Westchester Medical Center truly listened, worked collaboratively with us and stepped up to make it happen.

The announcement came more than two years after Westchester Medical Center (WMC), which operates the HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, shut down 40 inpatient mental health beds and 20 chemical detoxification and rehab beds at the Marys Avenue hospital following a state order mandating hospitals increase available bed capacity to meet pandemic requirements.

The beds, which had provided the only inpatient psych and detox services in Ulster County, ultimately were never used to treat COVID-19 patients. But even as COVID surges waned, WMC consistently refused to commit to reopening the units, which operated at a financial loss, prompting widespread concern among hospital staff, health advocates and elected officials that the critical services were gone for good.

In response, a coalition of advocates led by nurses from the New York State Nurses Association and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East initiated a public campaign to pressure WMC to bring back the beds. Ryan also launched a petition demanding that the state deny any application submitted by WMC requesting decertification of inpatient behavioral health beds at HealthAlliance. The petition surpassed 1,000 signatures on its first day.

Since our services have disappeared, I noticed that a lot of people I used to see come in have also disappeared, said Gabe Valdez, a SEIU1199 union member and emergency room technician who recently lost a brother to suicide after he was released from an overcrowded North Carolina mental health facility after just four days. Those are the things that kept me yelling so angrily and so passionately to get this stuff back.

The 20 beds are expected to be online sometime in the first quarter of 2023, according to WMC Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Josh Ratner. The HealthAlliance is in the process of a $135 million project to consolidate services at an upgraded Marys Avenue campus and transform the Broadway campus into a medical village focused on outpatient care. The Marys Avenue renovation is on track to be completed this October, after which Ratner said the inpatient mental health beds will be submitted for state certification and constructed.

Ratner said there is no plan to reconstitute a dedicated detox unit at Marys Avenue, instead outlining a goal to cohort those patients in an area so that we're not using a scattered bed program.

Janet Strominger, a NYSNA labor relations representative, called that a great start, but they need to set up a separate unit as they had before, because it is dangerous for the other patients on the unit and its dangerous for the staff [to intersperse patients]. You need specially trained staff to provide detox patients with specialist care.

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WMC also announced that it would expand the number of inpatient behavioral health beds at its Poughkeepsie hospital, MidHudson Regional, from 40 to 60. Many patients experiencing an acute mental health crisis in Ulster County have been transferred to MidHudson Regional if they are deemed in need of inpatient care.

The goal, as outlined by hospital and elected officials, is for the new inpatient beds to complement new services New York State, Ulster County and WMC have invested in, including community-based outpatient programs, a mobile mental health response team, and a forthcoming $3.3 million crisis stabilization center, one of the first in the state.

Effectively what we looked at was, How do we make sure we have a model that provides local access for care, but also ensures that we have a sustainable model for staffing, Ratner said. At the end of the day, when you look at inpatient care, theres probably the ability to fill a lot more beds.

He added that WMC wanted to resurrect a local access point for patients experiencing mental health crises, but what we're really trying to do is create a center of excellence in the northern region and be able to shift patients if we need to, and provide specialty care in each of the locations.

Last year, WMC laid off 41 workers at its Kingston hospitals as part of an overall effort to consolidate services and cut costs. Some reduction in our workforce is necessary for operational efficiencies and responsible fiscal management of the organization, officials said in a press release at the time.

Wednesdays announcement followed many months of what Ulster County Mental Health Commissioner Tara McDonald called some very challenging and spirited conversations between local stakeholders and WMC.

Today is a day to celebrate a win, said State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, who has been among the cadre of elected officials calling for WMC to return the mental health beds. But well all be paying very close attention, and staying in conversation to make sure that its the best it could possibly be.
The demolition of the Ulster County Jail to make way for the Golden Hill senior and workforce housing development is set to begin this summer.

Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan made the announcement on Tuesday, which follows a vote made by the Ulster County Legislature last week to use $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for the demolition. Ulster County is requesting bids for the former jail demolition work.

The passing of a resolution means that the county is one step closer to building its new senior and workforce housing development at the site. The Golden Hill development calls for approximately 80 units of senior housing and 80 units of workforce housing, priced between 30 and 60 percent of area median income.

Due to the age and condition of the vacant jail structure, economic reuse of the building was not an option. However, the infrastructure is already in place below ground in terms of water and sewer. Construction is expected to start in the beginning of 2023, and people could be living there by the beginning of 2024.

Ulster Countys housing action plan calls for increasing the supply of an array of affordable housing, including senior, workforce and supportive housing.

To build housing in New York, and especially upstate New York, given all the challenges, we have to be really creative and innovative and finding sites we can repurpose, Ryan told the Times Union: Hudson Valley in February. Were doing that in all different dimensions, including the project at our old jail.

The county jail has been largely vacant since 2007. The county still has ownership of the former jail, which sits atop Golden Hill in Kingston.

One-, two- and three-bedroom apartments will be available, according to the plans. The development will also include a community building, providing gathering and fitness space for residents and space for local organizations to offer services. Philadelphia-based development team Pennrose will design, build and manage the project. It will work locally with Family of Woodstock and other community organizations to provide supportive services to future residents.

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Some residents have expressed concerns for the development, mainly regarding traffic. The concerns prompted an entrance change to the more favorable Route 32, versus funneling traffic through quieter neighborhood streets. Residents of Glen Street have asked the city and county for years to block access from the residential road to Golden Hill.

A final traffic plan will be presented to the City of Kingston in the coming weeks.
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COOPERSTOWN  Robert Ainsley, who has decades of opera experience as singer, director and administrator and is known for his advocacy for new works, has been named the next artistic and general director of the Glimmerglass Festival.

He succeeds Fracesca Zambello, who has held the position since late 2010 and recently announced that this summer would be her last with the venerable festival, which will celebrate its 50th season in 2025.
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Mass shooters have killed hundreds of people throughout U.S. history in realms like stores, theaters and workplaces, but it is in schools and colleges where the carnage reverberates perhaps most keenly  places filled with children of tender ages, older students aspiring to new heights and the teachers planting the seeds of knowledge, their journeys all cut short.

If a mass shooting is defined as resulting in the death of four or more people, not including the perpetrator, 169 people have died in 14 such events connected to U.S. schools and colleges  from 1999's Columbine High School massacre to Tuesday's shooting in Texas. That's according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, and to other AP reporting:

ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, May 2022, 21 dead

An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two adults, officials said. Law enforcement killed the attacker.

OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL, November 2021, 4 dead

A sophomore student is accused of killing four people and wounding others at his school in Oxford, Michigan, near Detroit. His trial is set for September. His parents are charged with involuntary manslaughter; authorities say they ignored warning signs.

SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, May 2018, 10 dead

A shooter opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. The 17-year-old suspect has been charged with murder.

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL, February 2018, 17 dead

An attack left 14 students and three staff members dead at the school in Parkland, Florida, and injured many others. The 20-year-old suspect was charged with murder.

UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, October 2015, 9 dead

A man killed nine people at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, and wounded nine others, then killed himself.

MARYSVILLE-PILCHUCK HIGH SCHOOL, October 2014, 4 dead

A 15-year-old used text messages to draw several cousins and friends to his cafeteria table at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington state. He fatally shot four of them before killing himself.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA, May 2014, 6 dead

A 22-year-old college student frustrated over sexual rejections fatally stabbed or shot six students near the school in Isla Vista, California, and injured several others before he killed himself.

SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, December 2012, 27 dead

A 19-year-old man killed his mother at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, then went to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first graders and six educators. He took his own life.

OIKOS UNIVERSITY, April 2012, 7 dead

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

A former nursing student fatally shot seven people at the small private college in East Oakland, California. He died in prison in 2019.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, February 2008, 5 dead

A 27-year-old former student shot and killed five people and wounded more than 20 others at the school in DeKalb, Illinois, before killing himself.

VIRGINIA TECH, April 2007, 32 dead

A 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007; more than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.

WEST NICKEL MINES AMISH SCHOOL, October 2006, 5 dead

A 32-year-old man entered an Amish schoolhouse near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, dismissed the boys, bound the girls, and fatally shot five of them before killing himself. Five others were wounded.

RED LAKE HIGH SCHOOL, March 2005, 9 dead

A 16-year-old student killed his grandfather and the man's companion at their Minnesota home, then went to nearby Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a teacher and a security guard before shooting himself.

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL, April 1999, 13 dead

Two students killed 12 of their peers and one teacher at the school in Littleton, Colorado, and injured many others before killing themselves.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Lamenting a uniquely American tragedy, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden delivered an urgent call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman shot and killed at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school.

Biden spoke Tuesday night from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bracketed by mass shootings in the U.S. He pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure  and bitterly blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.

'When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Biden said with emotion. Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?"

With first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children  though not to gun violence  spoke in visceral terms about the grief of the loved ones of the victims and the pain that will endure for the students who survived.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away, Biden said. Theres a hollowness in your chest. You feel like youre being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out.

He called on the nation to hold the victims and families in prayer  but also to work harder to prevent the next tragedy, Its time we turned this pain into action," he said.

At least 19 students were killed at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, according to local officials. The death toll also included two adults. The gunman died after being shot by responding officers, local police said.

It was just a week earlier that Biden, on the eve of his overseas trip, traveled to Buffalo to meet with victims' families after a racist, hate-filled shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

The back-to-back tragedies served as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world," Biden said, reflecting that other nations have people filled with hate or with mental health issues but no other industrialized nation experiences gun violence at the level of the U.S.

"Why? he asked.

It was much too early to tell if the latest violent outbreak could break the political logjam around tightening the nation's gun laws, after so many others  including the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 26, including 20 children  have failed.

The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong," Biden said. He has previously called for a ban on assault-style weapons, as well as tougher federal background check requirements and red flag laws that are meant to keep guns out of the hands of those with mental health problems.

Late Tuesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer set in motion possible action on two House-passed bills to expand federally required background checks for gun purchases, but no votes have been scheduled.

Biden was somber when he returned to the White House, having been briefed on the shooting on Air Force One. Shortly before landing in Washington, he spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and offered any and all assistance needed, the White House said. He directed that American flags be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims in Texas.

His aides, some of whom had just returned from Asia with the president, gathered to watch Bidens speech on televisions in the West Wing.

Id hoped when I became president I would not have to do this, again," he said. "Another massacre.

In a stark reminder of the issue's divisiveness, Biden's call for gun measures was booed at a campaign event in Georgia hosted by Herschel Walker, who won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Speaking at an Asian Pacific American event that was intended to celebrate Biden's Asia trip, Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier that people normally declare in moments like this, our hearts break  but our hearts keep getting broken ... and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families.

We have to have the courage to take action ... to ensure something like this never happens again, she said.

Echoing Biden's call, former President Barack Obama, who has called the day of the Sandy Hook shooting the darkest of his administration, said, Its long past time for action, any kind of action."

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Michelle and I grieve with the families in Uvalde, who are experiencing pain no one should have to bear, he said in a statement. Were also angry for them. Nearly ten years after Sandy Hookand ten days after Buffaloour country is paralyzed, not by fear, but by a gun lobby and a political party that have shown no willingness to act in any way that might help prevent these tragedies.

Congress has been unable to pass substantial gun violence legislation ever since the bipartisan effort to strengthen background checks on firearm purchases collapsed in the aftermath of the 2012 shooting.

Despite months of work, a bill that was backed by a majority of senators, fell to a filibuster  unable to to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to advance.

In impassioned remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who represented Newton, Connecticut, in the House at the time of the Sandy Hook massacre, asked his colleagues why they even bother running for office if theyre going to stand by and do nothing.

Im here on this floor to beg  to literally get down on my hands and knees  to beg my colleagues, he said.

Murphy said he was planning to reach out to Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn after the two had teamed on an 2021 effort to toughen background check requirements that never became law. He said he would also reach out to Texas other Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

I just dont understand why people here think were powerless, Murphy said. We arent.

Cornyn told reporters he was on his way to Texas and would talk with them later. Cruz issued a statement calling it a dark day. Were all completely sickened and heartbroken.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who sponsored gun legislation that failed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate after Sandy Hook, said, Were just pushing on people who just wont budge on anything.

It makes no sense at all why we cant do commonsense things and try to prevent some of this from happening, he said.



Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Michael Balsamo, Alan Fram and Farnoush Amiri contributed.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  China wants 10 small Pacific nations to endorse a sweeping agreement covering everything from security to fisheries in what one leader warns is a game-changing bid by Beijing to wrest control of the region.

A draft of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press shows that China wants to train Pacific police officers, team up on traditional and non-traditional security" and expand law enforcement cooperation.

China also wants to jointly develop a marine plan for fisheries  which would include the Pacific's lucrative tuna catch  increase cooperation on running the region's internet networks, and set up cultural Confucius Institutes and classrooms. China also mentions the possibility of setting up a free trade area with the Pacific nations.

Chinas move comes as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a 20-person delegation begin a visit to the region this week.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price expressed concern Wednesday about Chinas intentions, saying Beijing might use the proposed accords to take advantage of the islands and destabilize the region.

We are concerned that these reported agreements may be negotiated in a rushed, nontransparent process, Price told reporters. He warned that China "has a pattern of offering shadowy, vague deals with little transparency or regional consultation in areas related to fishing, related to resource management, development, development assistance and more recently even security practices.

Price added that agreements that include sending Chinese security officials to the nations "could only seek to fuel regional international tensions and increase concerns over Beijings expansion of its internal security apparatus to the Pacific.

Wang is visiting seven of the countries he hopes will endorse the Common Development Vision  the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

Wang is also holding virtual meetings with the other three potential signatories  the Cook Islands, Niue and the Federated States of Micronesia. He is hoping the countries will endorse the pre-written agreement as part of a joint communique after a May 30 meeting in Fiji he is holding with the foreign ministers from each of the 10 countries.

Micronesias president, David Panuelo, has told leaders of the other Pacific nations his nation won't endorse the plan, warning it would needlessly heighten geopolitical tensions and threaten regional stability, according to a letter from Panuelo obtained by the AP.

Among other concerns, Panuelo said, the agreement opens the door for China to own and control the region's fisheries and communications infrastructure. He said China could intercept emails and listen in on phone calls.

Panuelo called the Common Development Vision the single most game-changing proposed agreement in the Pacific in any of our lifetimes and said it threatens to bring a new Cold War era at best, and a World War at worst.

Panuelo declined to comment on the letter or the proposed agreement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Wednesday he didn't know about Panuelo's letter.

But I dont agree at all with the argument that cooperation between China and the South Pacific island countries will trigger a new Cold War, he said.

Like some other countries in the Pacific, Micronesia is finding itself increasingly caught between the competing interests of Washington and Beijing.

Micronesia has close ties to the U.S. through a Compact of Free Association. But it also has what Panuelo describes in his letter as a Great Friendship with China that he hopes will continue despite his opposition to the agreement.

The security aspects of the agreement will be particularly troubling to many in the region and beyond, especially after China signed a separate security pact with the Solomon Islands last month.

That pact has raised fears that China could send troops to the island nation or even establish a military base there, not far from Australia. The Solomon Islands and China say there are no plans for a base.

The May 30 meeting will be the second between Wang and the Pacific islands' foreign ministers after they held a virtual meeting last October.

Those who follow China's role in the Pacific will be scrutinizing the wording of the draft agreement.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Among its provisions: China will hold intermediate and high-level police training for Pacific Island countries.

The agreement says the countries will strengthen cooperation in the fields of traditional and non-traditional security and will expand law enforcement cooperation, jointly combat transnational crime, and establish a dialog mechanism on law enforcement capacity and police cooperation."

The agreement would also see the nations expand exchanges between governments, legislatures and political parties."

The draft agreement also stipulates that the Pacific countries firmly abide by the one-China principle, under which Taiwan, a self-ruled island democracy, is considered by Beijing to be part of China. It would also uphold the non-interference principle that China often cites as a deterrent to other nations speaking out about its human rights record.

The agreement says that China and the Pacific countries would jointly formulate a marine spatial plan to optimize the layout of the marine economy, and develop and utilize marine resources rationally, so as to promote a sustainable development of blue economy.

China also promises more investment in the region by mobilizing private capital and encouraging "more competitive and reputable Chinese enterprises to participate in direct investment in Pacific Island countries.

China also promised to dispatch Chinese language consultants, teachers and volunteers to the islands.

The AP has also obtained a draft of a five-year action plan that's intended to sit alongside the Common Development Vision, which outlines a number of immediate incentives that China is offering to the Pacific nations.

In the action plan, China says it will fully implement 2,500 government scholarships through 2025.

In 2022, China will hold the first training program for young diplomats from Pacific Island countries, depending on the pandemic situation, the draft plan states, adding that China will also hold seminars on governance and planning for the Pacific nations.

In the draft action plan, China says it will build criminal investigation laboratories as needed by the Pacific nations that can be used for fingerprint testing, forensic autopsies, and electronic forensics.

China also says it will also spend an additional $2 million and send 200 medics to the islands to help fight COVID-19 and promote health, and promises to help the countries in their efforts to combat climate change.
Lori Van Buren/Times Union

SARATOGA SPRINGS  Despite the shutdown of Gaffney's, the nightclub that city police identified as a prime source of Caroline Street violence, the fights in the early morning hours outside the bars on the block continue to erupt.

Two people were arrested early Sunday morning on Caroline Street in two separate incidents of alleged violent behavior. Saratoga Springs police arrested a 25-year-old man from Amsterdam at about 12:43 a.m. for allegedly fighting, resisting arrest and harassment, and a 21-year-old man from Troy at about 3:08 a.m. for alleged fighting. Both fights, police said, took place in the street.
Albany County DA's office

ALBANY -- The former human resources director of the Sidney Albert Albany Jewish Community Center is facing three to nine years in state prison if she does not pay back $127,000 she stole from the Whitehall Road facility.

Martina Hull, 40, of Troy, also admitted this week that she lied to a grand jury that was hearing evidence about the case.
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Less than a day after the second-deadliest U.S. school shooting happened in Texas, Capital Region leaders said Wednesday they aren't counting on gun control measures to end the senseless drumbeat of violence  so theyre trying to take pragmatic approaches to keep children safe.

As an immediate response, Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple sent additional deputies to schools Wednesday, and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that State Police will do daily check-ins at schools until the end of the school year next month.

But Apple thinks a way to combat school shootings would be to add resource officers to every school.

My theory is guns are here, guns have been here for hundreds of years, guns are never leaving, Apple said. So lets focus on some of the other stuff.

At schools where his deputies are already contracted as resource officers, theyve added panic buttons in strategic locations. The button opens two-way communication with Albany County dispatch, and Apple noted it could be useful in medical emergencies and other issues, not just a mass shooting.

State Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, D-Albany, who is in favor of gun control measures to reduce school shootings, is also trying to come up with creative ways of tackling the issue - similar to the yearslong effort by governments to sue pharmaceutical manufacturers for distributing and advertising excessive amounts of opioids.

I hope we will start to go after manufacturers, she said. It took us years, but we went after Big Pharma. Theyve had to pay billions of dollars. It forced them to pay attention to their supply chain. Its the same with guns.

Suing them if they distribute recklessly to sellers who dont follow state rules could work, she said.

The point is to hold the manufacturer accountable, she said.

She has sponsored a bill that would require social media companies to set up and monitor a reporting system in which other users could note any warning signs.

Before the Texas shooting, the killer posted on social media that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then posted that he had shot her, and shortly afterward posted that he was going to an elementary school, according to Texas law enforcement. He and his grandmother lived less than a half-mile from Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

I was just venting with a few members about how hopeless it seems, she said. That doesnt mean Im giving up. There are more tools and Im all in.

Law enforcement officials said the man accused of a mass shooting at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo also posted on social media, quickly gathering an audience for a livestream of the shooting. One post said he felt empowered because people watching would be cheering me on.

Fahy said the state needs to hire more analysts to watch social media for threats. The state has only one.

But the governor could hire a 1,000 people tomorrow, you cannot keep up. Social media companies must take some responsibility and ownership here, Fahy said.

Meanwhile, the impossible-to-predict nature of school shootings has left educational leaders unsettled. Schools already lock all doors and speak to visitors through cameras, but it has not deterred purveyors of violence from forcing their way in.

It definitely worries me. When we started our capital project in 2019, the whole premise of the project was making the building more secure, said Green Island Superintendent Kimberly Ross. I mean, the money could have been spent on high-end tech, but I recognized we needed to make the building safe and secure first.

Green Island is eliminating one entrance, leaving the building with just one way in. New locks are being added so teachers can lock their classrooms from the inside. Additional work is also being done to the entrance to harden it to make it more difficult to force open.

The district also hired a resource officer this year, as part of an effort to quell fights at the secondary school level. That worked, but Ross doesnt think a resource officer would be enough if there was a mass shooting.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

If a tragedy was ever going to happen, it isnt as if the SRO was at the door all day long. An SRO is obviously trained for a crisis situation, but that doesnt mean it will stop a crisis from happening, she said.

Still, the hardened vestibule might slow an attacker long enough for the officer to get there, she said.

We continue to find ways to make sure the students are safe, Ross said.

Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association, and a member of the NRA board of directors, said every school should add a school resource officer or an armed guard. Schools should also let teachers carry guns if they want, he said.

Officers tried to stop the Texas shooter Tuesday outside the school, but he still made his way in, Texas law enforcement said at a press conference Wednesday.

In a short interview, King repeated several NRA talking points that are inaccurate, particularly about the worst mass school shooting in U.S. history at Sandy Hook Elementary. But he emphasized that he also wants school shootings to stop.

I dont want to see kids get killed anywhere. Ive got young grandchildren and I want to see them protected, he said. The problem is our schools are not safe because we have not taken the initiatives to make them safe. We need some kind of armed officers at the school.

The school resource officer debate, however, is also a thorny one. Parents and students have disagreed about whether it is really helpful and further traumatizes children, particularly children of color. The Schenectady city schools, which is increasing officers from two to six districtwide, had a heated school board race this month that partially focused on the issue.

But Apple says officers could work in partnership with counselors to also get children help if officers notice red flags.

People say we need mental health counselors. OK, I dont disagree with that but the police officers can stop a threat, he said, adding, They can see kids wandering around aimlessly or bullyingThose officers have been invaluable.
HUNTER - A 31-year-old Dutchess County hiker was found dead near Bridal Veil Falls in the Platte Cove area of the Catskills Sunday, officials said.

Elizabeth Adinaro, from Hopewell Junction, was found by state Forest Ranger Anastasia Allwine, who had responded to the area at 12:35 p.m. after getting a report about a fallen hiker, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Allwine was soon joined by State Police, Greene County paramedics, and seven other DEC personnel.

Adinaro was pronounced dead at the scene. Rangers had to conduct a technical rope recovery to bring her body up from a ravine. Her body was transferred to the custody of the Greene County coroner. The scene was cleared at 6:40 p.m.

State Police are leading the investigation.

Courtesy DEC

Other responses

Prior to that, at 9:30 p.m. on May 18, rangers responded to a call for assistance at the Kaaterskill Wild Forest, also in Greene County. Rangers found two hikers from Washington, D.C., who were lost approximately one-half mile from the Long Path.

They helped the pair back to the trailhead by 3:30 a.m.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

On May 18 at 12:47 p.m., rangers in Washington County received a call that two hikers were dehydrated and lacked energy as they approached the summit of Buck Mountain. A ranger reached the pair, who were in good condition, by 3:17 p.m. and walked them out of the woods by about 5 p.m.

On May 19 in Warren County two rangers responded by boat to a 2:30 p.m. report of an injured hiker on First Peak in the Tongue Mountain Range, near Northwest Bay. Rangers reached the hiker by 4:30 p.m. and determined the 55-year-old man from Tupper Lake couldn't put any weight on his knee. Rangers helped carry the hiker to the boat, reaching Green Island by 7:48 p.m. The man then sought further medical attention on his own.

At 9:37 p.m. on May 21, a ranger responded to a report of an overdue hiker who had planned to climb Giant Mountain. By 11:43 p.m. four rangers searched in the Roaring Brook Valley to no avail. They had earlier spotted the hikers car in the Roaring Brook parking lot. The next day, 12 rangers and volunteers from the Adirondack Climbers' Coalition joined the search. At 10:10 a.m., rangers located the hiker about 2 miles from the trailhead. The 53-year-old from Saratoga Springs had two unstable leg injuries. A State Police helicopter hoisted the injured climber to safety. Due to weather conditions, the helicopter was forced to land in Ray Brook and the hiker was taken to the hospital.
The state parole board is reconsidering its decision to grant parole to an 88-year-old inmate convicted of strangling and raping a teenager in the Rochester area 60 years ago.

James Moore had been scheduled for release from prison around June 6 following an April parole hearing, his 21st request since an early 1980s state law made him eligible for early release despite his original sentence of life in prison without parole.

But Moore's release is now on hold. The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision issued the following statement on Wednesday about Moore's status:

"Based on new information, that became available after the Parole Boards decision to grant James Moore an open date, that date has been temporarily suspended pending a thorough review and a rescission hearing for the incarcerated individual. The Department has no further comment at this time."

Murderer who met wife at Auburn prison granted parole at age 88 A man imprisoned by New York state for the past 59 years for strangling and raping a teenage girl has been granted parole at age 88.

The date for the rescission hearing has not been set.

Moore is married to Auburn resident Joyce Smith, and in previous appearances before the parole board, he had indicated he would live with her if released.

The parole board's original decision drew criticism from law enforcement leaders, including Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck, who posted comments about it on his Facebook page.

"This individual will soon be living in Cayuga County and should never have been considered for release," Schenck wrote. "Someone capable of raping, strangling, and murdering a 14 year old child should never be free to live in our community."

Moore, New York's longest-serving prison inmate, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison for the 1962 killing of 14-year-old Pamela Moss, of Penfield. Authorities said Moore attacked the girl on a trail near her home, strangled and raped her, and dumped her body in a water-filled gravel pit.

While confessing to the killing, Moore told police he had sexually molested at least 17 other girls and admitted he raped a 9-year-old girl, authorities said. He pleaded guilty to Moss' murder in order to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to life without parole. However, changes to state law later made him eligible for parole every two years starting in 1982.

Judge John Lomenzo sentenced Moore in 1963. He spent the next decade at Attica Correctional Facility, working as a dental assistant, school teacher and administrative assistant in the prison. In 1973, he was moved to Auburn Correctional Facility, where he later met and eventually married Smith, a volunteer coordinator of the prison's arts programming.

Moore spent more than two decades in Auburn, where he earned several business degrees and worked as a clerk and machinist before being transferred to Collins Correctional Facility in Gowanda in 1999. From there, he was sent to Cayuga Correctional Facility and later transferred to Franklin Correctional Facility in Malone.

Moore has said he learned that chemicals he was using during his time as a landscaper were known to cause episodes of mania, and he came to believe that's why he committed those crimes.

Lomenzo, the original sentencing judge, wrote to the parole board in 2001 recommending Moore's release, saying "I can now, with a clear mind, state that is my belief that Mr. Moore has been rehabilitated."

Moore is currently being held in at Coxsackie Correctional Facility.

For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

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BALLSTON SPA  A Saratoga Springs man who pleaded guilty to a felony tied to a fight that ended with the death of a retired state correction officer was sentenced to 4 years in prison Wednesday.

Judge Chad W. Brown imposed the sentence on James Garafalo during an afternoon appearance in Saratoga County Court. Brown also ordered five years of post-release supervision.

Garafalo, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault last March after he and his brother, Jordan Garafalo, allegedly started a fight with 56-year-old Mark French at Clancys Tavern in August. According to Frenchs friend Kevin Gordon, French died after he was knocked to the pavement, hit his head and then went into cardiac arrest on Caroline Street.

James Garafalo showed no emotion, staring straight ahead, as French's widow, Angela French, spoke remotely saying that Mark was "the love of her life, her husband and best friend for 31 years."

"Because of your actions, I don't get to wake up with a kiss and a cup of coffee made just the way I like it," she said. "I will never again feel the absolute safety and comfort of being enveloped by Mark's warm embrace. ... Because of the choices you made, I will forever miss the little things he did every day that made me feel important, special and loved."

She broke down when she told James Garafalo that he took away Nick and Grace French's father and that his death has left her to struggle and unable to work.

"Im not the most important person to anyone anymore," she said. "So I feel like I'm a nobody. Im having a hard time finding my footing."

She then said she forgave James Garafalo.

Kevin Gordon, Mark French's best friend, is not so forgiving. He called James Garafalo a "scumbag" who is playing the "tough guy."

Gordon feels the same way about Jordan Garafalo, 39, who pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges last December and is free on $100,000 bail. His trial will begin on Oct. 3. The Garafalo brothers are associated with J. Garafalo and Son Asphalt Paving of Wilton,

Mark French, a retiree from Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, died at Albany Medical Center on Aug. 15, 2021, the day after he was injured. Though living in South Carolina, he was visiting the city, his former home, with his son Nick French to go to a friend's funeral. The Frenches were out at Clancy's celebrating a $2,000 win at the Saratoga Race Course.

At about 11 p.m., the father and son called for an Uber. Gordon said that as they went to leave, the brothers, who were allegedly causing trouble in the bar, came up behind Nick French and allegedly "sucker-punched" him in the head.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

When Mark French, a 6-foot-5-inch tall cancer survivor, saw it and went to help his son, Gordon said, he got punched in the back of the head.

Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen would not talk about the details in the case as Jordan Garafalo's case is pending. Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Buckley also did not mention the particulars of the Garafalos' actions during sentencing.

However, she called it a devastating loss for the French family and said she hopes James Garafalo's sentence "sends a message to this defendant that he will finally choose to make better decisions."

Judge Brown reserved comment, saying that Angela French said it best.

Gordon said James Garafalo did not get enough time, but Heggen said "justice was served."
MOUNT JOY, Pa. (AP)  Harold Billow, 99, the last known survivor of a World War II POW massacre during the Battle of the Bulge, will be laid to rest Thursday in Pennsylvania.

Billow, who died May 17, was attached to the Armys 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion when his unit surrendered and he was taken prisoner by Waffen SS soldiers as German forces launched an offensive in Belgium to try to change the war's tide in December 1944.
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The Russian parliament gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a bill that would allow the government to appoint new management of foreign companies that pulled out of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

According to the state news agency Tass, the new law would transfer control over companies that left Russia not for economic reasons but because of anti-Russian sentiment in Europe and the U.S. Tass said foreign owners would still be able to resume operations in Russia or sell their shares.

Many foreign companies have suspended operations in Russia. Others have walked away entirely, despite their huge investments.

McDonalds announced this month that it is selling its 850 restaurants in Russia.

The State Duma, the lower house of Russias parliament, approved the bill in the first of three readings on Tuesday. After final approval, it would go to the upper house and then to President Vladimir Putin for his signature.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the new law made it even more imperative for foreign companies remaining in Russia to leave. Its the last chance to save not only your reputation but your property, he said in a statement.

_

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 After 3 months, Russia still bogged down in Ukraine war

 200 bodies found in Mariupol as war rages in Ukraines east

 AP-NORC poll: US economy, not punishing Russia, is top priority

 Pentagon says more high-tech weapons going to Ukraine

 After 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

___

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian military said Russia has fired at Ukrainian border guards in the northeastern Sumy region in the latest of a series of alleged cross-border attacks over the past few weeks.

Military officials say observers Tuesday night recorded seven shots from Russian territory toward the village of Boyaro-Lezhachi, most likely mortar fire.

The Ukrainian Operational Command North said on its Facebook post that eight other shots were heard Tuesday afternoon near a neighboring village. There were no reports of any deaths.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Russian shelling continues around Ukraines second-largest city of Kharkiv, even after Russian troops withdrew from its surroundings last week.

Ukrainian regional officials say the city of Derhachi was hit and a 69-year-old woman died and another person was injured.

Derhachi is southwest of the city of Kharkiv and has previously come under Russian shelling.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is using everything at its disposal in the fight for four cities in the eastern Donbas region.

The situation in the Donbas now is very difficult, Zelenskyy said late Tuesday in his nightly address to the nation. Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there. Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk  the occupiers want to destroy everything there.

Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian army is fighting back, but it will take time and a lot more effort by our people to overcome their advantage in the amount of equipment and weapons.

He told Ukrainians they should be proud of having held off Russia for three months in a war that many in Russia and the West expected to last three days.

Zelenskyy appealed for even more weapons from the West to keep Ukraine in the fight including multiple-rocket launchers and tanks.

In addition, Zelenskyy mocked the statement made Tuesday by the Russian defense minister that Russia was deliberately slowing its offensive to allow residents of encircled cites time to evacuate.

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KYIV, Ukraine  The Ukrainian governor of the eastern Luhansk region said Tuesday that the area was facing the most difficult time since conflict with Russia-backed separatists began in 2014.

Now, for the Luhansk region, is the most difficult time in the eight years of the war, Serhii Haidai wrote on Telegram. The Russians are advancing in all directions at the same time, they brought over an insane number of fighters and equipment.

He also accused Moscows troops of deploying scorched-earth tactics across the region, one of two which make up Ukraines eastern industrial heartland.

Its only getting worse. What the Russians are doing is hard to describe in words. The invaders are killing our cities, destroying everything around.  The situation is on the verge of being critical. The free Luhansk region is now like Mariupol, Haidai added, in a reference to the ruined port city captured by Moscow last week.

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KYIV, Ukraine  The top military commander who fought until last week to keep Ukrainian control of the southern port city of Mariupol is alive in Russian-controlled territory, his wife said Tuesday after holding a brief telephone conversation.

Kateryna Prokopenko, who is married to Azov Regiment leader Denys Prokopenko, said that her husband asked her how she was, but that the line broke off before he could say anything about himself.

She said the phone call was possible under an agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Russia and thanks to the mediation of the Red Cross, which has been visiting some of the Ukrainian fighters who surrendered.

Earlier this month Russia announced its takeover of Mariupol with the surrender of the fighters holed up at the massive Azovstal steel mill.

Prokopenko, who spoke to The Associated Press in Kyiv together with another wife of a soldier, Yuliia Fedosiuk, said that the Ukraine and Russia agreement guarantees proper burial of dead soldiers and certain conditions for the prisoners of war, including allowing them to hold telephone calls with family members a few times per week.

The two women said several families had received calls in the past two days. They said they could not reveal more details of the agreement but they were hopeful that the soldiers will not be tortured and that they eventually will come back home.

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BERLIN  Germany has rejected suggestions that it is reneging on a promise to provide Poland with tanks to make up for those that Warsaw has delivered to Ukraine.

Polish President Andrzej Duda told German broadcaster Welt that he was very disappointed Berlin had not fulfilled its promise on the delivery of Leopard tanks to Poland.

Speaking after a meeting with her Polish counterpart in Berlin on Tuesday, Germanys Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the issue had been discussed in order to resolve misunderstandings.

She said Germany could not supply heavy weapons at the press of a button as there were numerous questions to consider, not least what arms are actually available.

Polands Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said his country regretted that the situation with regard to arms deliveries to Ukraine was not as dynamic as hoped, but acknowledged that the devil lies in the detail on the issue.

Poland gave Soviet-designed T-72 tanks to Ukraine with the expectation that NATO, the U.S. and Germany would fill that void.

Germany has agreed to several similar circular swaps with allied countries such as Slovenia and the Czech Republic, who in turn are sending older Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine.

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DAVOS, Switzerland  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday accused Russia of deliberately bombarding grain warehouses across Ukraine and weaponizing food supplies.

Russias invasion of Ukraine has provoked disruptions of global food supplies, and the blockade of Ukrainian ports has been particularly harmful. Ukraine accounted for 90% of grain and oilseed exports before the war, according to the EU.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the head of the EUs executive arm said about 20 million tons of wheat are currently stuck in Ukraine.

And on top of this, Russia is now hoarding its own food exports as a form of blackmail  holding back supplies to increase global prices, or trading wheat in exchange for political support, she said. This is using hunger and grain to wield power.

Von der Leyen said that fragile countries and vulnerable populations suffer the most. She said bread prices in Lebanon increased by 70%, and food shipments from Odesa have been blocked from reaching Somalia.

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LVIV, Ukraine  An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol said on Tuesday that workers removing rubble from a collapsed apartment building in the devastated Ukrainian city found about 200 corpses in the buildings basement.

Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram that the bodies were decomposing and that the stench permeated the neighborhood. Its not clear when they were discovered and the report could not be independently verified.

Perched on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol was relentlessly pounded during a monthslong siege that finally ended last week after some 2,500 Ukrainian fighters abandoned a steel plant where they had made their last stand in the strategic port city.

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BRUSSELS  A European Union plan to suspend all tariffs on imports from Ukraine for one year cleared the final political hurdle on Tuesday when EU finance ministers endorsed the move.

Meant to help the Ukrainian economy battered by Russias invasion, the removal of the EU duties will apply to Ukrainian industrial products, including steel, and to farm goods such as fruits and vegetables.

The EU has already scrapped most of its tariffs on Ukrainian products as a result of a 2016 free-trade agreement. Ukrainian exports to the EU were worth 24.1 billion euros ($25.8 billion) last year, with the main goods being metals, agricultural products and machinery.

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Two top Russian security officials vowed on Tuesday that Moscow will achieve all the goals set for the military operation in Ukraine, appearing to address the fact that the invasion, expected by many to be a blitzkrieg, has entered its fourth month this week.

The secretary of Russias Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said in an interview published Tuesday that the Russian government is not chasing deadlines.

Nazism must either be 100% eradicated, or it will raise its head in a few years, and in an even uglier form, he said in a response to a question about the war dragging on.

Russia has falsely called the war a campaign to denazify Ukraine  a country with a democratically elected Jewish president who wants closer ties with the West.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of security officials that Russia is deliberately slowing down its offensive by arranging cease-fires and humanitarian corridors in order to avoid casualties among the civilians.

APs reporting on the ground found that the Russian forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets, such as hospitals, schools and venues where civilians were sheltering.

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PARIS  A Ukrainian government minister pushed Tuesday for a quick decision on eventual Ukrainian membership in the European Union, even as France warns that it could be decades before Ukraine joins the bloc.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna met with French Europe Minister Clement Beaune Tuesday in Paris and argued that Ukraine has made deep and difficult reforms aimed at improving its chances at EU membership.

As politicians, we must find a way for Ukraine to truly become part of this family, both economically and politically, she told reporters.

The European Commission aims to deliver a first opinion in June on Ukraines request to become a member. But the process usually takes many years, and French President Emmanuel Macron has said it could be decades.

In the meantime France is proposing an interim arrangement that would allow more political cooperation with Ukraine and other potential EU members.

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DAVOS, Switzerland  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says Russia can be reintegrated into the orbit of European nations if it finds its way back to democracy, the rule of law, the respect for the international rules-based order.

Von der Leyen spoke at the World Economic Forums annual gathering Tuesday. Insisting on the historical and cultural links between Europe and Russia, the head of the EUs executive arm said reconciliation is certainly a distant dream and hope.

But this also says that our standing up against this brutal invasion is standing up against the leadership in Russia. It is the Russian people who are the ones who decide about the future of their country. They have it in their hands.



ANKARA, Turkey  The leader of a Turkish nationalist party that is allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey should consider leaving NATO if circumstances become inextricable and Turkey is forced to approve Sweden and Finland membership.

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Action Party, said in a speech to his partys legislators on Tuesday that Turkey isn't without alternatives and could be part of a possible security alliance that could be made up of Turkic-speaking states and Muslim nations.

Turkey is not without options. Turkey is not helpless. Leaving NATO should be put on the agenda as an alternative option if the circumstances become inextricable, Bahceli said. We did not exist with NATO, and we will not perish without NATO.

Turkey is objecting to Sweden's and Finlands historic bid to join the alliance, citing as reasons their perceived support to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and other groups that Turkey considers to be terrorists.

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ANKARA, Turkey  Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says a delegation made up of officials from Sweden and Finland are expected to arrive in Turkey later on Tuesday to discuss Ankaras objection to their membership in NATO.

Cavusoglu told a group of journalists traveling with him on a two-day visit to the Palestinian territories and Israel that the delegation would meet with Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal on Wednesday.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto also confirmed the meeting.

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A Russian-installed official in Ukraines Kherson region says the regions pro-Kremlin administration will ask Moscow to set up a military base there.

There should be a Russian military base in the Kherson region, deputy head of the Russia-installed administration in Kherson Kirill Stremousov was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. We will be asking for it, the entire population is interested in it. It is vitally important and will become a security guarantee for the region and its residents.

Russian forces took control of the Kherson region in southeastern Ukraine early on in the war and installed its own administration there. Ukrainian officials have speculated that Russia plans to stage a referendum in the region to declare its independence, similar to the ones that took place in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014. Moscow recognized the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics two days before invading Ukraine and used it as a pretext to send troops to its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Stremousov denied such plans earlier this month and said the region will ask the Kremlin to make it part of Russia instead. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said it is up to the people of Kherson to decide how and where they want to live.

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LONDON  British military authorities say Russian forces have intensified efforts to encircle and capture Severodonetsk and neighboring cities, the only part of the Luhansk region that remains under Ukrainian government control.

The U.K. defense ministry, in a briefing posted Tuesday morning, says the northern and southern arms of the Russian operation are currently separated by about 25 kilometers (15 miles) of Ukrainian-held territory.

The ministry says Russian forces have achieved some localized successes despite strong resistance from Ukrainian troops that occupy well dug-in defensive positions.

The ministry says the battle for Severodonetsk is only one part of the Russian campaign to take the larger Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, and the fall of the city may cause logistical problems for the Kremlin.

If the Donbas front line moves further west, this will extend Russian lines of communication and likely see its forces face further logistic resupply difficulties, the ministry said.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Russian shelling of a residential building in Sievierodonetsk killed four people, Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region Serhiy Haidai said Tuesday. He didnt specify when the shelling took place.

The Russian forces in recent weeks have been trying  so far unsuccessfully  to take control of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in the region, subjecting both cities to intensive shelling.

The most recent round of shelling, Haidai said, damaged six houses in each of the two cities.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Workers digging through the rubble of an apartment building in Mariupol found 200 bodies in the basement, Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday, as more horrors come to light in the ruined city that has seen some of the worst suffering of the 3-month-old war.

The bodies were decomposing and the stench hung over the neighborhood, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor. He did not say when they were discovered, but the sheer number of victims makes it one of the deadliest known attacks of the war.

Heavy fighting, meanwhile, was reported in the Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland that Moscows forces are intent on seizing. Russian troops took over an industrial town that hosts a thermal power station, and intensified efforts to encircle and capture Sievierodonetsk and other cities.

Twelve people were killed by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region of the Donbas, according to the regional governor. And the governor of the Luhansk region of the Donbas said the area is facing its most difficult time in the eight years since separatist fighting erupted there.

The Russians are advancing in all directions at the same time. They brought over an insane number of fighters and equipment," the governor, Serhii Haidai, wrote on Telegram. The invaders are killing our cities, destroying everything around. He added that Luhansk is becoming like Mariupol.

Mariupol was relentlessly pounded during a nearly three-month siege that ended last week after some 2,500 Ukrainian fighters abandoned a steel plant where they had made their stand. Russian forces already held the rest of the city, where an estimated 100,000 people remain out a prewar population of 450,000, many of them trapped during the encirclement with little food, water, heat or electricity.

At least 21,000 people were killed in the siege, according to Ukrainian authorities, who have accused Russia of trying to cover up the horrors by bringing in mobile cremation equipment and by burying the dead in mass graves.

During the assault on Mariupol, Russian airstrikes hit a maternity hospital and a theater where civilians were taking shelter. An Associated Press investigation found that close to 600 people died in the theater attack, double the figure estimated by Ukrainian authorities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russians of waging total war and seeking to inflict as much death and destruction as possible on his country.

Indeed, there has not been such a war on the European continent for 77 years, Zelensky said, referring to end of World War II.

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for eight years and hold large swaths of territory. Sievierodonetsk and neighboring cities are the only part of the Donbas Luhansk region still under Ukrainian government control.

Russian forces have achieved some localized successes despite strong Ukrainian resistance along dug-in positions, British military authorities said.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces in the region are facing a difficult situation.

Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there, Zelenskyy said late Tuesday in his nightly address to the nation. Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk  the occupiers want to destroy everything there.

In the Donetsk region, Moscows troops took over the industrial town of Svitlodarsk, which hosts a thermal power station and had a prewar population of about 11,000, and raised the Russian flag there.

They have now hung their rag on the local administration building, Serhii Goshko, the head of the local Ukrainian military administration, told Ukraines Vilny Radio, in a reference to the Russian flag. Goshko said armed units were patrolling Svitlodarsks streets, checking residents documents.

Russian troops also shelled the eastern city of Slovyansk with cluster munitions, hitting a private building, according to Mayor Vadym Lyakh. He said casualties were avoided because many people had already left their homes, and he urged the remaining residents to evacuate west. Heavy fighting was also underway in the city of Lyman.

Amid the fighting, two top Russian officials appeared to acknowledge that Moscows advance has been slower than expected, though they vowed the offensive would achieve its goals.

Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russias Security Council. said the Russian government is not chasing deadlines. And Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of a Russia-led security alliance of former Soviet states that Moscow is deliberately slowing down its offensive to allow residents of encircled cities to evacuate  though forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets.

Hours later, Zelenskyy mocked Shoigu's assertion.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Well, after three months of searching for an explanation for why they were unable to break Ukraine in three days, they couldnt think of anything better than to say thats what they planned, he said in his video address.

Russian officials also announced that Moscows forces had finished clearing mines from the waters off Mariupol and that a safe corridor will open Wednesday for the exit of as many as 70 foreign ships from Ukraines southern coast.

In Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, there were signs of recovery after weeks of bombardment. Residents formed long lines to receive rations of flour, pasta, sugar and others staples this week. Moscows forces withdrew from around Kharkiv earlier this month, pulling back toward the Russian border in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks, though Russia continues to shell the area from afar, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

Galina Kolembed, the aid distribution center coordinator, said that more and more people are returning to the city. Kolembed said the center is providing food to over 1,000 people every day, a number that keeps growing.

Many of them have small kids, and they spend their money on the kids, so they need some support with food, she said.

Meanwhile, the wife of the top commander who held out inside the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol said Tuesday that she had a brief telephone conversation with her husband, who surrendered to the Russians and was taken prisoner last week.

Kateryna Prokopenko, who is married to Azov Regiment leader Denys Prokopenko, said the call broke off before he could say anything about himself.

She said the call was made possible under an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by the Red Cross.

Prokopenko and Yuliia Fedosiuk, the wife of another soldier, said several families received calls in the past two days. The women said they are hopeful the soldiers will not be tortured and will eventually come back home.

Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Moscow-backed separatists in the Donetsk region, told the Russian Interfax agency that preparations are underway for a trial of captured Ukrainian soldiers, including the Mariupol defenders.

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Becatoros reported from Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Danica Kirka in London and other AP staffers around the world contributed.

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
The pandemic showed how important electronic devices are to our daily lives. Yet there's new legislation in Albany that could impact their safety and create potential security issues for all New Yorkers.

Assembly bill 7006A mandates that repair shops without proper training or certification be treated the same as manufacturers' authorized repair networks. If this bill passes, manufacturers would be required to supply unvetted, untrained shops with proprietary information about thousands of devices like smartphones, computers and appliances.
An 1885 state law, the only one of its kind in the nation, is choking off the economic growth New York needs to create new jobs and tax revenue.

The Scaffold Law is an albatross around New Yorks neck, inflating the cost of the billions of dollars of federally funded infrastructure projects New York has planned, and discouraging private development.

What prevents the state from changing this law in a way that will continue to protect the safety and welfare of workers on construction sites? Its the trial lawyers who benefit richly from the status quo, and their political power in Albany.

Insurance costs in New York are $41 per square foot versus $3 in Connecticut and $5 in New Jersey. New Yorks insurance rates are over 300 percent higher than those of any other state in the United States. These costs threaten New Yorks future growth opportunities.

Right now the construction market is booming, with businesses relocating their offices to states like Texas, Florida, and Tennessee while reducing their presence in New York City.

Why do we let this happen? How can we build affordable housing with these astronomical insurance costs? How can minority- and women-owned contractors afford liability insurance policies in order to grow their companies?

There is no higher priority than the protection and well-being of all workers before or after they are injured on a construction site. The ironic part of all this is that New York has one of the safest construction rates in the nation  despite other areas having lower insurance costs. Is it any wonder why construction activity is down in New York and up in virtually every other region?

Sign up for the Observation Deck newsletter Read the latest Times Union opinion, perspective and letters to the editor on Mondays by signing up for our Observation Deck newsletter.

Illinois, the only other state with a similar law, eliminated it over two decades ago. Attempts by trial attorneys to reinstate it were met with broad opposition, including from organized labor. New York state remains a shining example of how not to do things.

So how do we fix this? The Legislature has to tell the trial attorneys to stop being so greedy and help us establish a system that protects worker health and safety while at the same time allowing New York to grow.

Louis Coletti of New York City is president of the New York Building Traders Employers Association. Nayan Parikh of New York City is president of the National Association of Minority Contractors, New York chapter.


Walmart pulled a store-brand Juneteenth-themed ice cream, and now critics are calling attention to a better ice cream option: Creamalicious  a black woman-owned artisanal French ice cream company with national distribution.

Juneteenth takes place on June 19, and is a federal holiday marking the freedom of enslaved Black Americans. After Walmart released several products that made reference to the holiday, many critics  including Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr.  criticized the move on social media.

Walmart stocked its freezer shelves with a celebration edition Great Value Juneteenth ice cream, a Swirled Red Velvet and Cheesecake Flavored Ice Cream. Under the "Our Story" label was a call for customers to Share and celebrate African-American culture, emancipation, and enduring hope.

Black Enterprise rounded up some spot-on tweets from frustrated and outraged social media users. As @CreatorsLawyer pointed out on Twitter, Walmart had also appeared to trademark the national holiday celebrating the abolition of slavery by printing a  next to the word "Juneteenth" on the label.

Comedian @KevOnStage commented: The gentrification of Juneteenth is on the way brough to you by @Walmart. I'm also looking at the little  symbol next to Juneteenth with so many questions sigh. Do you not have any trademark attorneys who advised against this? Or do y'all just not care?

In keeping with American tradition, Walmart celebrates Juneteenth by using black culture to make white folks rich, wrote @bigbadwolf456.

Social media users suggested that customers put their money elsewhere instead by buying a similar ice cream from Black-owned Creamalicious artisan ice cream, one of the few Black-owned ice cream companies in national production. Its sold at Target (as well as Walmart), and some people even pointed out that Walmart seems to have copied one of their most popular flavors.

If youre at Walmart and youre thinking about buying the one on the left. Take a few seconds to look for and buy the one on the right. They are the same flavor except Creamalicious Ice Creams is black owned, wrote @winston00_ .

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

As Ad Age pointed out, on May 23, Bridge, a group formed by marketing and diversity, equity, and inclusion execs from Unilever, Discover Financial, NBC Universal, among others, wrote an open letter to Walmarts mostly white executive board calling on them to remove the product.

Would you launch an ice cream called January 27? The day the world remembers the Holocaust. Or April 7, the day that memorializes the genocide in Rwanda. Of course not, the letter read.

Following the backlash, Walmart will remove the product, the company said in a statement to FOX television stations. "We received feedback that a few items caused concern for some of our customers and we sincerely apologize. We are reviewing our assortment and will remove items as appropriate."

You can buy Creamalicious online at Target, Walmart, and other stores.
ALBANY  Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday called on state lawmakers to put forth legislation that would raise the age from 18 to 21 for someone to legally purchase an AR-15 semiautomatic weapon in New York, a reaction to the mass shootings at a Texas school this week and a Buffalo grocery store earlier this month.

"How does an 18-year-old purchase an AR-15 in the state of New York?" Hochul said from the New York State Intelligence Center in Rensselaer County where she attended a meeting on the interstate flow of illegal guns. "That person is not old (enough) to buy a legal drink. I want to work with the Legislature to change that."

She noted that both gunmen in the recent deadly shootings were 18-year-old men with AR-15 style weapons.

"I don't want 18-year-olds to have guns, at least not in the state of New York," Hochul said.

Lawmakers are debating whether to include the age restriction for all semiautomatic weapons or limit it to an AR-15. Certain progressive Democrats are are seeking to raise the age to purchase a firearm for all guns while others want to see semiautomatic weapons banned altogether.

Republicans generally avoided putting out any direct statements on Hochul's announcement. Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt said on Twitter that public safety is on the "top of our minds" and the conference would "continue to fight for common sense policies." He said continuing support for law enforcement and corrections officers is critical as the GOP seeks to further rework the state's cash bail laws, reform the parole system and pass a "victims' justice agenda."

The policy decision on raising the age to purchase an AR-15, which would likely face legal challenges, is one piece of what Democratic lawmakers have discussed behind closed doors on potential changes they could make to the state's gun laws in response to the Buffalo shooting that left 10 Black people dead in an attack being investigated as a racist hate crime.

"This is something we have been discussing and we have always been supportive of this idea and would certainly be in favor of moving forward," said Mike Murphy, a spokesman for the state Senate Majority Leader's office.

The Assembly Majority is in active discussions related to a variety of gun policy proposals, including an increase in the age to purchase an AR-15 firearm, according to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie's office.

Unlike the Senate Democrats, the Assembly Democrats did not immediately agree to the proposal that was first publicly announced by Hochul during the news conference in East Greenbush Wednesday morning.

Hochul left open the door to raising the age to 21 to purchase additional firearms beyond just AR-15 or semiautomatic weapons. She described it as a "minimum" to what she would like the Legislature to do in the final four days of the scheduled session that ends June 2.

"We will do more and I will not sleep at night until I know that everything has been done humanly possible to protect New Yorkers and to help them heal," Hochul said.

The governor acknowledged there will be legal obstacles to her goal of raising the minimum age for firearm purchases. A federal court in March said California's ban on people under 21 buying semiautomatic weapons was unconstitutional.

U.S. 9th Circuit Court Appeals Judge Ryan D. Nelson, an appointee of then-President Donald J. Trump, ruled to reaffirm the "right of young adults to keep and bear arms," stating that "America would not exist without the heroism of the young adults who fought and died in our revolutionary army."

"I'm not going to let my fear of losing a court case to stop me from what I think is correct for New Yorkers and will protect them," Hochul said. "You may get a judge who actually cares and has common sense and would understand that these are not punitive measures."

She asserted there is a balance between the Second Amendment and the right for the government to protect the public.

"Don't tie our hands," Hochul said. "And I'll make that argument in court any day of the week."

Hochul acknowledged that gun violence in New York, similar to elsewhere in the country, is not limited to semiautomatic weapons in mass shootings. She said the state needs to continue to remove "ghost guns" from the streets, the often-illicit and untraceable firearms that come from out of state and are often attributed by law enforcement to violent crimes in New York.

Neither the National Rifle Association nor its state affiliate, the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, immediately responded to requests for comment Wednesday.

In an April bulletin from the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, titled "Clearing up the confusion about the AR-15," it characterized the firearm as a "modern sporting rifle" that is one of the "most popular firearms sold today."

"However, once again, the left is railing about the AR-15 rifle and I must again point out their lies," states the article written by Jim Collins, a board member.

He noted the firearms "may look like military rifles, but by law, they function like other semi-automatic civilian sporting firearms." Collins said the gun, which is often mistaken for a machine gun but fires one round each time the trigger is engaged, follows the pattern in the nation's history to have civil sporting rifles. He said they are versatile guns for target shooters and hunters in all weather.

"And last, but not least, it is a fun gun to shoot," Collins wrote." So, please do not be misled by the folks who would take our freedom from us."

In the month since the publication of the latest New York State Rifle and Pistol Association bulletin, which endorses Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin for governor on his Second Amendment stance and platform to repeal the state's SAFE Act, there have been two high-profile mass shootings  incidents that always ignite the right-to-bear-arms debate. The firearm used by the gunman in the Buffalo shooting was legally purchased in New York, but illegally modified with out-of-state purchases.

State Attorney General Letitia James issued a statement late Wednesday celebrating a federal judge's decision rebuking a legal challenge from gun manufacturers and sellers that had unsuccessfully argued that a state law passed last year could not make distributors of firearms liable for gun violence.

"As public officials, we were elected to solve problems and address the needs of the people," James, a Democrat, said in a statement. "Prayers alone will no longer do, and cowardliness is not part of the job description. New York will always lead, and I urge others with a backbone to follow."
Leinster and Irish rugby star Ryan Baird has been announced as a new Ambassador for Family Carers Ireland and he is urging people all over Ireland to get active and challenge themselves to walk, jog or run a distance of 24 kms in 7 days  all while raising vital funds for the charity.

Paws for a Cause is a national fundraising drive which is taking place during National Carers Week June 13  19.

Ryan and Family Carers Ireland are asking people all over Ireland to walk or run 24k over 7 days with or without their furry friend in solidarity with Irelands 500,000 family carers and in recognition of the 24/7 nature of many caring roles.

All monies raised by Paws for a Cause will go directly to help family carers in crisis, providing essential supports such as counselling, respite and emotional support as well as the purchase of practical support items including hoists, wheelchairs and in some particularly difficult cases, putting food on tables and oil in heating tanks.

Ryan Baird said Im delighted to support Family Carers Ireland  I have a great admiration for the work they do across the country. I have seen first-hand from my aunt and her family the dedication, commitment and sacrifice they make to take care of my cousin on a daily basis.

This, for me, is a simple and fun challenge to show how easy it can be to raise vital funds for a great charity that does incredible work. I am appealing to everyone to get behind this great cause. Whether you have a dog or not, sign-up and participate, and support this amazing charity.

Cllr Richie Molloy,manager of the Clonmel Family Carers office,welcomed Ryans support saying With more families than ever relying on Family Carers Ireland for support, this fundraiser couldnt come at a better time. We are seeing unprecedented levels of stress and financial worries piled on family carers.

Above - Family Carers manager in Clonmel Cllr Richie Molloy with Emma Lacey and her assistance dog Luna who will be supporting the Paws for a Cause fundraiser

All of us at Family Carers Ireland are delighted to have an ambassador like Ryan who is willing to literally go the extra mile and help us raise much needed funds and awareness. We want to encourage everyone across Ireland to enjoy the benefits of exercise, while raising money and ultimately having a bit of fun," said Cllr Molloy.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- On May 25th, Baidu announced that it has become the first company to receive driverless autonomous driving road test licenses (with an empty drivers seat, and a safety driver on the passenger seat) in Chongqing.

Apollo Moon ARCFOX; photo credit: Baidu



Early on, Chongqings Yongchuan District released a notice that allows self-driving vehicles to perform open road tests in its intelligent connected vehicle pilot area. The authorities then issued licenses to Baidu, permitting Baidu to conduct driverless road tests in the area. This marked another city authorizing Baidu to operate fully autonomous driving vehicles after Beijing, where Baidus driverless vehicles are serving the public via its Apollo Go Robotaxi service.

According to the tech giant, it will initially deploy five Apollo Moon-powered ARCFOX autonomous vehicles in the 85 square kilometers of open testing roads in Yongchuan District. Notably, Baidus Robotaxi ride-hailing platform, Apollo Go, has been serving residents in Yongchuan District for a while. Passengers can hail a ride at any one of the 60 pick-up stations scattered in scenic areas, schools, shopping areas, residential areas, and industrial parks.

Baidu is optimistic about also providing driverless Robotaxi service to passengers in Chongqing in the near future.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol cannot be allowed to drift, but insisted the post-Brexit agreement would not be scrapped.

Ms Truss, who is in Northern Ireland to visit companies affected by the protocol, pledged to remove customs bureaucracy whilst at the same time protecting the EU Single Market.

Her visit coincided with a trip to Derry by a group of Democratic and Republican delegates from the US house of representatives and senate, led by congressman Richard Neal.

Mr Neal said that issues with the protocol are for the UK and EU to sort.

Last week, Ms Truss announced an intent to table legislation at Westminster that would override parts of the protocol without the approval of the EU.

The Government move came amid the ongoing powersharing impasse at Stormont created by the DUPs refusal to agree to form a new devolved executive following the recent Assembly election until the so-called Irish Sea border is removed.

Speaking in Lisburn, Co Antrim, the Foreign Secretary said: I am in Northern Ireland to talk about our solution on customs, putting in place a red and green lane to make sure that we remove customs bureaucracy for those goods that are travelling from Great Britain into Northern Ireland, so we can restore the balance between the communities and restore the working of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

We have had months of negotiations with the EU and our preference remains a negotiated solution but what we cannot allow is for this situation to drift.

We do have difficulties with companies, and I have met them before in Northern Ireland and am meeting more today, of being able to get goods into Northern Ireland, there is an issue with costs, there is an issue with communities not feeling respected in Northern Ireland.

Its very important that we deal with these practical issues, how we remove the customs bureaucracy whilst at the same time protecting the EU Single Market to resolve this situation.

She continued: What we have been clear about is the protocol is causing political instability, so we havent seen the Northern Ireland Executive in operation since February, Ms Truss said.

What we need to do is to make sure that as well as protecting north-south trade, we are protecting east-west trade.

I have come today with practical solutions, making sure that we are sharing commercial data with the EU to protect the Single Market, at the same time as making it easier to trade goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

Everybody in Northern Ireland recognises our issue is with the protocol, we are not talking about scrapping the protocol, what we are talking about is fixing the issues so we can protect north-south trade whilst at the same time making east-west trade easier.

Speaking in Derry, Mr Neal described significantly disproportionate issues with the protocol, compared with issues dealt by the two communities in Northern Ireland previously.

He said: People here took up much more severe challenges  this is an issue for the European Union and for the UK Government to sift and sort.

I think we want to be mindful of the fact that the difference of opinion that existed from Brussels and London was substantial, and the Commission in the European Union, they suggested these problems were imminently solvable, and I think based on the conversations we had of good faith that is the case.

Mr Neal has been criticised by unionists in recent days. He said he will have to chance to talk to DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson later.

I have known him for a long period of time, I dont want to trespass. I have had a good relationship with him over the years, he said.
Hankook Tire has opened the Technoring, a new proving ground in Taean, South Korea, stated to be the largest proving ground in Asia. The facility covers 1,260,000m2 and features 13 testing tracks, designed to accommodate all types of vehicles from supercars to trucks and buses, including facilities for high-speed driving at up to 250km/h.

The proving ground is also equipped with a control tower, office buildings, workshops, fueling stations and electric vehicle charging stations. The 37.1m-high control tower is a hub through which tests are managed via integrated monitoring systems.

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Tires, being the only media in a vehicle that makes contact with the road surface, is the key for maximizing vehicle performance, providing safety, satisfying fuel efficiency and driving comfort. This is why we at Hankook recognize the need for various testing grounds to ensure best product quality in all conditions, said Hyunbum Cho, chairman and CEO of Hankook & Company.

With data accumulated from testing at the Technoring, Hankook also plans to accelerate its digital transformation. The company is set to build a big data analysis platform and develop virtual optimization technology based on artificial intelligence. In the future, Hankook says it also aims to create a database recording the response of tires and vehicles tested under severe conditions, with which Hankook will build digital twins.

High-speed oval

The high-speed main circuit consists of 4 lane tracks with a total length of 4.6km. Designed to allow high-speed testing up to 250km/h on a straight course, the track includes a 38.87 high bank curve.

Vehicle dynamics area / skid pad

The vehicle dynamics area and skid pad test steering stability and performance limits through slalom tests, lane changes and tests on roundabouts (traffic circles). This track allows for testing at a maximum speed of 200km/h.

Dry handling circuit

The dry handling circuit tests handling performance on dry surfaces and is 3.4km in length, consisting of 16 corners. The straight course is 670m long, and allows a maximum speed of 190km/h.

Wet handling circuit /  Hydroplaning curve

The wet handling circuit is 1.6km long and consists of 11 different corners. The circuit allows test driving up to 128km/h. The hydroplaning curve enables diversifying wet road conditions by adjusting depth of water ranging from 1mm to 10mm.

Ride

Designed to test ride comfort when driving, the 970m-long ride track comprises four lanes and 15 road surfaces including national highways, asphalt, brick roads, and more.

Braking

The braking course consists of four dry lanes and four wet lanes of various road surfaces made of asphalt, concrete and other materials. Dry braking test track enables test speeds up to 150km/h.

Hydroplaning straight

The 150m hydroplaning straight allows hydroplaning tests under various wet road conditions by adjusting depth of water ranging from 1mm to 10mm.

Pass by noise

The 920m-long track is designed to carry out tire noise tests to meet the requirements of car manufacturers and ISO certification.

Noise vibration harshness

This 700m-long course is designed to measure tire noise. It consists of seven different roads and five different lanes of asphalt and a concrete trench.

General road

The 5km-long general road connects all test tracks. It is designed to conduct a comprehensive performance test including ride comfort on various surfaces.

Off-road

Featuring various obstacles such as puddles and boulders, the course is designed to test off-road tire performance.

Chip-cut road tracks

The 1.4km-long chip-cut road tracks test tire durability. The tracks also test chip and cut wear.
Tonight, much less online outrage or political commentary, the Kansas City homicide count continues to escalate at a record breaking pace.

Here is tonight's report . . .



Homicide 700 block of Ditman



Tonight just after 8:30 PM, officers were dispatched to the 700 block of Dittman in regard to a Shooting. Upon of arrival they were directed toward the side of the road where they found an adult male who had been shot. The male was unresponsive and EMS responded to the scene and pronounced him deceased.



Preliminary information is that some type of altercation may have occurred prior to the shooting. We do not have any suspect information at this time.



Detectives and crime scene personnel have responded to the scene and are actively canvassing for witnesses and processing the scene for evidence. If you have any information please call the Homicide unit at 234-5043. If you wish to remain anonymous you can call the TIPS hotline at 474-TIPS, with up to a $25,000 reward for an arrest in this case.

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Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Man dies in Tuesday night shooting in KCMO KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police in Kansas City, Missouri, are investigating a shooting that killed a man on Tuesday night. The shooting happened Tuesday night at around 8:35 p.m. Officers responded to the 700 block of Ditman Road and someone pointed them down the road. They later found the man suffering from gunshot wounds.

KCPD investigating after man is fatally shot on Tuesday night KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Kansas City Police Department is investigating a fatal shooting that happened on Tuesday night. According to the police, it happened at 8:35 p.m. on Ditman Avenue just south of Independence Avenue. The neighborhood is just east of I-435 and west of Blue Ridge Boulevard.

Developing . . .


KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas sent out a call to action hours after one of the worst school shootings in American history.

Here's his message for those who haven't seen it yet . . .

Of course we respect his commitment and his passion.

However . . .

RIGHT NOW KANSAS CITY CONTINUES ALONG A RECORD BREAKING HOMICIDE PACE AFTER TWO YEARS OF HISTORIC MURDER COUNTS!!! WHERE'S THE URGENCY TO SOLVE OUR DEADLY COWTOWN TREND?!?

My grandma's favorite depression-era catchphrase comes to mind . . .

"Charity begins at home."

If Mayor Q can save lives and fix this long standing school shooting crisis . . . More power to him.

However . . .

We need that same energy and passion to solve deadly gun violence on local streets where an ongoing slaughter ALSO doesn't have any simple solutions.



What we fear is that Mayor Q is caught up in a partisan talking point battle powered to sway Midterm voters . . . And THAT has very little benefit for the people of Kansas City in the midst of ongoing violence that continues to plague local streets.

Developing . . .
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In April 2022, the monthly registrations of XPeng's three mass-produced models added up to 8,912 units, surging 80.4% year on year, while tumbling 42.5% month on month, according to the data compiled by Gasgoo Auto Research Institute (GARI).

In terms of April 2022 registrations of China's locally-built new energy passenger vehicles (NEPVs), XPeng ranked eighth among auto brands in the country and was credited the runner-up among Chinese startups.

The P7 was still the best-performing model of XPeng in April, while it only outnumbered the P5 by only 93 units. With 3,632 units registered last month, the P7 faced a 60.4% month-on-month plunge, but still scored a 25.4% year-on-year growth.

In April, Foshan topped other cities by the P7 registrations, outselling the runner-up Guangzhou by 345 units. Among the top 10 cities by April P7 registrations, there were six provincial capitals, namely, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Nanjing, and Changsha.



The P5 accounted for 39.7% of XPeng's April registrations. The all-electric sedan saw its monthly registrations drop 20% from the previous month to 3,539 units in April.

The rankings of the top 4 cities by the P5 April registrations were the same as that of the P7. There were nine cities recording over 100 units in the P5 registrations last month.

The G3 registrations reached 1,741 units in April, 1,722 units of which were the G3i. Last month, the first production model under XPeng logged an 8.4% month-on-month decrease.



Regarding the G3 registrations in April, Foshan was still the No.1 city. Other cities in the country all failed to have over 100 G3s registered last month.
Today Kansas City dead-tree media reaches a new low in a desperate attempt to promote a progressive agenda for Midterm election season rather use their platform to behave like decent humans.

Here's their crux of a lazy argument which relies on dog whistle partisan politics to rally supporters by way of emotive pleas rather than reasoned arguments . . .

"Americans know some gun regulations work. Universal background checks, and a ban on the sale and manufacture of some multi-round weapons, would not prevent every mass shooting, but they might prevent one. Just one. Or save one life.

"This is a pro-life position you will not hear from pro-life politicians . . .

"We all know what comes next. Gun fetishists will accuse Americans of politicizing a tragedy. Now isnt the time to talk about this, well hear. Its reckless. Provocative. Unconstitutional."

The strawman debate tactic is almost effective if it wasn't for the disgusting abortion reference.

Are we to believe the newspaper's implicit argument: That killing hundreds of thousands of infants in the womb is somehow morally superior to the horrific slaughter of youngsters in the classroom?

The newspaper's rhetorical tap dancing is not only disgusting but also insulting because they don't even bother to parse their arguments for readers. Their screed is pure accusation, blame and vitriol directed at political opposition.

Even worse . . . It's patently false.

Now, in fact, is the PERFECT time to talk about feeble gun control crackdowns and how they haven't helped to solve rampant violent crime on local streets or in cities across the nation.

KCMO has a bevy of gun laws on the books, Chicago has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation and so many other urban areas are awash with firearm regs that haven't done much to curb a wave of deadly violence that has surged across the nation amid the pandemic.

Yes, the Kansas City Star is doing their best to politicize an American tragedy but what's worse is that they're not even doing a good job of it.

Just like the feeble and accusatory language of Prez Biden . . . Instead of working to form a consensus they're content to blame, emote and play the victim amid a tragic situation they helped to create.

TKC doesn't pretend to have any answers to the tragic school shooting crisis but what's absolutely certain is that the accusatory circle of jerks in mainstream and social media aren't doing anything more than attempting to stir a hysterical reaction from Americans that diligently works to overlook so much dissatisfaction with the progressive leadership to date.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
A peek at labor progress in our 2nd favorite part of the metro . . .



Here's the consequence of a recent election . . .



"The stores workers, located at 18710 E. 39th St., voted 17-3 to join Workers United International. The vote was held as part of a count in front of the National Labor Relations Board.Earlier this year, two other stores in the Kansas City area, one at 75th Street and Interstate 35 in Overland Park, and another at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri, signaled their intentions to unionize.The Overland Park store voted 6-1 to unionize in a vote on April 8, though those results were objected to by Starbucks attorneys."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Independence Starbucks 1st in Missouri to unionize KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Workers at an Independence Starbucks voted overwhelmingly to unionize, becoming the first Starbucks store in Missouri to do so. The store's workers, located at 18710 E. 39th St., voted 17-3 to join Workers United International. The vote was held as part of a count in front of the National Labor Relations Board.

Starbucks workers in Independence become the first in Missouri to vote in a union Starbucks workers at 39th Street in Independence voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to become the first Missouri store in the giant coffee shop chain to unionize. Baristas and shift supervisors at the cafe voted 17-3 in favor of organizing to bargain with the multinational coffee company as members of the Chicago & Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United.

Developing . . .


For the second year in a row, more than 500 people died of a "completely preventable" drug overdose in Toronto.
A cyclist was seriously hurt after being struck by a car in North York Thursday.
Maryanne Oketch, a 24-year-old seminary student from Ajax, Ont., is the second Canadian to win the show that sees contestants compete in challenges and, literally survive, on an island.
Police are investigating four overnight armed carjackings or attempted carjackings in Scarborough.Police believe the four incidents are all connected.
Karina Tassiopoulos, class of 2020, at her belated Wilfrid Laurier University convocation in April, standing before university chancellor Eileen Mercier. She says of missing out in 2020: "Not being able to celebrate graduating, which was literally my only accomplishment in my 22 years of existence thats tangible, was heartbreaking." - Supplied
Toronto chef Camille Mayers is the founder and owner of the new Deeply Rooted Farmers Market, which features Black and Indigenous vendors. - Joanna Lavoie/Metroland
POMPANO BEACH, Fla.  M.D. Science Lab, makers of the Swiss Navy brand, announced their honor as the exclusive lubricant sponsor of the renowned International Mr. Leather (IML) and International Mr. Bootblack Weekend 2022.

Patience is truly a virtue, said Ellen Friedman, regional director of sales, events, and marketing for M.D. Science Lab. Ive been working with IMLs Sponsorship Coordinator, Jon Krongaard, for many, many years and we were finally able to make this partnership happen. I could not be more thrilled for Swiss Navy to be the exclusive lubricant company as part of this wonderful organization and their event.

International Mr. Leather (IML) is an international conference and contest of leathermen held annually since 1979 in Chicago, Illinois, and this year Swiss Navy will serve as the Platinum Sponsor of this event. IML Weekend starts on Thursday, May 26th and continues through Monday, May 30th.

"We are excited to have Swiss Navy join this years International Mr. Leather - International Mr. Bootblack Weekend as our lube sponsor," said IML-IMBB Executive Director, Bill Stadt. "We look forward to a long and mutually successful partnership with Swiss Navy."

Friedman, who has been spearheading Swiss Navy sponsorships for several years, shared why these partnerships are so important, Our M.D. Science Lab family knows that its crucial to support and empower individuals and their freedoms, and weve come to value our opportunities to partner on these inclusive events such as IML Weekend.

Swiss Navy has a strong history of supporting groups championing the intimate rights of others and is proud to be able to be a part of International Mr. Leather (IML) and International Mr. Bootblack Weekend 2022and is looking forward to many more sponsorships ahead with this incredible organization.

For more information about International Mr. Leather and International Mr. Bootblack Weekend 2022, visit imrl.com.

To learn more about Swiss Navy and to view their latest product range, visit swissnavy.com.
Meanwhile, Germany has not had any countries on its list of "high-risk areas" for the coronavirus since early March.
Public education in Ontario is under threat. How we, the people, must save it
How much does it cost to fuel up in Toronto?
John Metcalfs memoir Temerity and Gall: blisteringly funny observations about CanLit, even if it is elitist

In his new memoir, Metcalf reserves special ire for Simon Brault of the Canada Council and the nationalist platitudes of the CBC: "Canada Reads. That it does is news to me!"
The Royal Cliff Beach has been recognized by TripAdvisor as a 2022 Travelers Choice award winner for Top Family Hotel.



(TRAVPR.COM) THAILAND - May 24th, 2022 -

Royal Cliffs Fantastic Traveler Reviews Land it a Place among Travelers Favorites

Pattaya, Thailand  The Royal Cliff Beach has been recognized by TripAdvisor as a 2022 Travelers Choice award winner for Top Family Hotel. The award celebrates businesses that have received great traveler reviews from travelers around the globe on TripAdvisor over the last 12 months. As challenging as the past year was, Royal Cliff stood out by consistently delivering positive experiences to travelers.

Winners were determined based on the millions of reviews and opinions collected in a single year from TripAdvisor travelers worldwide. This recognition cements the propertys position as among the finest in the country being part of an elite group on TripAdvisor that are known to be truly exceptional.

Congratulations to the 2022 TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Winners, said Kanika Soni, Chief Commercial Officer at TripAdvisor. The Travelers Choice Awards recognize the best in tourism and hospitality, according to those who matter most: your guests. Ranking among the Travelers Choice winners is always tough  but never more so than this year as we emerge from the pandemic. Whether it's using new technology, implementing safety measures, or hiring outstanding staff, Im impressed by the steps you've taken to meet travelers' new demands. You've adapted brilliantly in the face of adversity."

The Royal Cliff Beach Hotel offers family-friendly accommodations along with on-site amenities that keep both parents and kids happy and entertained at all times. Funtasea  Kids World and The Verge - Games, Pool and Karaoke offer productive and fun activities for families to enjoy. Its new spectacular infinity-edged pool, Sky Aquarium, features an exciting kids pool along with multiple spots for various activities, including outdoor massages, surf skating, and many more.

To see traveler reviews of the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel, please visit:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293919-d305821-Reviews-Royal_Cliff_Beach_Hotel-Pattaya_Chonburi_Province.html

The Travelers' Choice awards are the highest honor TripAdvisor can give. Royal Cliff prides itself in providing hospitality excellence and exceeding its guests expectations. Its positive reviews reflect how it has constantly been commended by worldwide travelers and praised for its unparalleled services and wide-ranging facilities.

Thailand and specifically Pattaya, is one of the most sought-after travel destinations for tourists. Staying in the right award-winning hotel can guarantee a luxurious experience that goes above and beyond the norm. The Royal Cliff Hotels Group operates 4 luxury hotels providing tourists from home and abroad with the ultimate experience. Its superior service has been paramount to this latest achievement that marks an excellent start for the group this year. It has impressively won over 250 national and international awards to date. This is the ideal destination to discover everything you need for an exceptional holiday. Book your stay directly with Royal Cliff and get the best price guaranteed together with value-added optional extras for an enhanced hotel experience you deserve by visiting www.royalcliff.com, contacting Reservations at (+66) 38 250 421 ext: 2732 or emailing reservations@royalcliff.com.

For more information on the Royal Cliff Hotels Group, please visit www.royalcliff.com.

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Flagstaff High School senior Anni Woods has been awarded a full-tuition scholarship through the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), and will be heading to Paul Smiths College in New York in the fall to study baking and pastry arts.

She said she wanted to pursue culinary arts as a career because shes always loved cooking.

Ive always just had a thing for baking, its always come so naturally to me, she said. ... Ive been doing it for four years in the classroom and Ive enjoyed every minute of it and Ive learned so much. I thought, `If I'm going to make a job out of something Im going to do for the rest of my life, it might as well be something that I enjoy doing.

Shes been taking culinary classes throughout her time at FHS, starting with Culinary One as a freshman after testing out of the introductory class and progressing to Baking and Pastry and Culinary Competition as well as Culinary Two and Three.

She won the Paul Smiths scholarship after participating in the regional and national C-CAP competitions.

Arizona is one of seven regions across the United States served by C-CAP, which is described by its website as striving "to help further food and social justice as well as equity and inclusion by providing tools for success.

In the first round, the students had a few hours to make a C-CAP salad and a French omelet meant to assess their knife cuts and cooking skills. They then made chicken chasseur for the final competition, alongside dessert crepes filled with pastry cream and decorated with a chocolate sauce and strawberries.

The students were judged on their technique and skills in several areas as well as their finished dishes.

They didnt judge necessarily on the dish that was provided itself, but also on ... your communication skills, cleanliness, being able to follow safety and sanitation procedures, and being able to work in the workspace provided," she said.

To prepare, Woods and FHSs other competitor practiced every Thursday starting in the first half of the year. When the time came for the competitions, they packed boxes with all the materials needed, including whisks, pots and pans, and their knife kits. In the past, competitors had to bring portable stoves as well, but this time they were provided.

The workspaces for the competition were very small Woods said.

Since we had to travel for this, we couldnt necessarily bring everything we wanted to bring, we only had to bring necessities," she said.

She added: "We had to pack all of our stuff into one box. It was kind of hard to do that, and we had to bring everything so nothing was provided. It was a little tricky, but we managed."

This was Woods first year competing, she said, because she was still in virtual learning her junior year.

I had to make up for all of that, so Im very grateful for our younger students this year, she said. Our junior this year was able to participate and compete, and she did make it into the top 10 juniors -- which was awesome.

While Woods described herself as artsy and spent three years on the swim and dive team, cooking has been her priority throughout high school.

She said the main thing shell be taking from her time at FHS is the kitchen experience she gained, specifically mentioning the CAVIAT (Coconino Association for Vocations, Industry and Technology) program.

I dont think theres anything that can compare to that at home, she said.  Theres a different connection, because its like going to work. You interact with other people, and you have to work and solve problems as a team instead of doing it individually at home. I think that's something thats really important that Im going to take with me, because it's given me so much skill in that field, and Im so grateful for that.

Now she's cooking up plans for Paul Smiths College, located in Adirondack State Park in New York.

I love it here, she said of Flagstaff, but, I dont know, theres just bigger and better things out there.

She said she was also excited that the school was surrounded by mountains and hiking trails.

Im a six-hour flight away from what I know, so thats going to be a little bit nerve-wracking, but I think its going to be fun. And it's such a small school, which i was looking for in a school, because i feel like its just more connected with the students," she said.

She felt like the whole recipe for future success came together.

"I was afraid that I would have to move to a city, but I fortunately got the scholarship that I wanted," she said. "It does rain and snow a lot there, I'm gonna have to get used to that, but yeah, I'm really excited."

Woods hopes to one day open her own bakery.

Ive only worked for local businesses, and I love how they just connect with the community. Ive always thought theres just something special about that, she said. Id love to open up my own business one day.

She wanted other students to know that there are a variety of paths to take.

Just because you dont have straight As and dont necessarily focus all the way in school, there are so many other options out there. Theres so many trade schools and internships and opportunities that are available to you, and just because youre not going to college doesnt mean youre not going to be successful, she said.

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Installation of flood sirens in the Grandview and Sunnyside neighborhoods began this week.

The sirens are being provided by the City of Flagstaff and the Coconino County Flood Control District with financial support from the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. Installation will continue through May. Testing, training and public awareness of the siren alert system will take place at various times throughout June.

The four elevated, high-power speaker arrays will emit alarm sounds and voice messages to residents when rain thresholds are triggered within the burn scar above the Flagstaff neighborhoods. Emergency messages from the sirens will repeat in English and Spanish. The sirens will operate alongside free emergency notification alerts text messages.

The purchase of the sirens was unanimously approved by the Coconino County Board of Supervisors following destructive 2021 flooding from the Museum Fire burn scar.

There are currently three thresholds programmed for the siren operation. The first threshold is activated by 0.25 inches of rainfall in 15 minutes as measure by rain gauges in the fire scar. At this threshold, emergency personnel from the city and county will begin advanced monitoring, but no sirens or emergency alert messages will be activated.

The second threshold is 0.40 inches of rainfall in 15 minutes, at which point an emergency notification alert will be issued only for the Mount Elden Estates neighborhood. The siren alert system will also be activated, and city and county official will post alerts on social media.

At the third threshold of 0.75 inches in 15 minutes, an emergency notification alert will be issued for Mount Elden Estates, Paradise, Grandview Homes and Sunnyside neighborhoods. Text messages alerts will be sent to registered numbers in these areas, the siren alert system will be activated, and city and county officials will post alerts on social media.

The installation of these flood sirens is just one of many mitigation efforts that the city and county have been working on to address flooding from the Museum Fire scar.

Residents can sign up for emergency notification alert text messages at coconino.az.gov/ready. To hear the siren sounds that will be used by the Museum Flood area siren alert system, please visit museumfloodprojects.com/sirensystem.

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Sunday, May 22

On this date in 1894, Dr. A.E. Douglass selected a site in Flagstaff for the Lowell Observatory.

On this date in 1923, four people died in an explosion at the Apache Powder Plant at Benson.

On this date in 1925, a solid copper flagpole, donated by Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co., was erected in front of the American Legion building in Miami.

On this date in 1925, a wolf-like pack of 15 or 20 wild dogs killed livestock and terrorized children in the Silverbell Road area near Tucson.

On this date in 1925, citizens of Bisbee formed the Bisbee Volunteer Forest Fire Fighting Corps which was to consist of 13 groups of four men each, trained in firefighting.

Monday, May 23

On this date in 1868, Col. Christopher Kit Carson, who directed the campaign against the Navajos which resulted in their surrender and the exile of about half the tribe to Fort Sumner between 1864 and 1868, died at Fort Lyon, Colo., just nine days before the June 1 signing of the treaty which allowed the Navajos to return to their homeland.

On this date in 1919, the Secretary of the Arizona Livestock Board reported that Cochise County was swarming with cattle rustlers.

On this date in 1927, one person died and several were injured when two Santa Fe trains crashed near Flagstaff.

Tuesday, May 24

On this date in 1869, John Wesley Powell and his party began their historic exploration of the Colorado River.

On this date in 1915, Arizona and California celebrated the opening of the new Ocean to Ocean highway bridge at Yuma.

On this date in 1925, R.J. Jones of Phoenix, who owned a 160-acre tract of land located a mile and a half from the Casa Grande ruins, announced that the land would be subdivided and a new town called Coolidge would be built.

On this date in 1930, the State of Arizona presented a bronze statue of John Campbell Greenway to Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.

On this date in 2013, a federal judge rules that the office of Joe Arpaio, the self-proclaimed Americas toughest sheriff, systematically racially profiled Latinos in its trademark immigration patrols. The decision marks the first finding by a court that the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office racially profiles people.

Wednesday, May 25

On this date in 1892, the Arizona Medical Association was organized in Phoenix. It was incorporated on June 16, 1950.

On this date in 1929, Yuma Mesa Grapefruit Co. announced it would erect a $25,000 packing house in Yuma and the Bomberger Seed Co. would construct a $10,000 warehouse and seed laboratory.

Thursday, May 26

On this date in 1881, the first telephone office was established in Tucson.

On this date in 1894, the city of Flagstaff was incorporated.

On this date in 1909, the Pima County Court dismissed a 22-year-old murder indictment against Geronimo.

On this date in 1910, the Pima County Board of Supervisors ruled they would not license saloons in mining camps that had no police force.

On this date in 1915, the first furnace was put into operation at the Clarkdale Smelter to smelt the ore from the United Verde mines at Jerome.

On this date in 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the proclamation creating Sunset Crater National Monument.

Friday, May 27

On this date in 1896, the first commencement of Phoenix Union High School was held at the Phoenix Opera House. Keynote speaker John E. Merriam talked on What Electrical Science is Doing for the World.

On this date in 1910, it was announced that Picacho Mine, which had sat idle in the Cababi Mountains for many years, was to reopen.

Saturday, May 28

On this date in 1909, two bankers who wrecked the First National Bank in Bisbee were given the minimum sentence of five years in prison.

On this date in 1910, the Pima County Board of Supervisors offered $500 for the arrest and conviction of the killers of stage line operator and rancher Oscar Buckalew.

On this date in 1910, Red Springs, a community north of Globe and considered a suburb of Miami, was practically wiped out by fire which destroyed 19 of the 23 houses in town.

On this date in 1912, Executive Order 1538 set aside the Ak Chin Reservation for the Maricopa Indians.

On this date in 1918, Matthew B. Rivers, a Pima Indian, became the first Arizonan to be killed in action in World War I. He died in Catigny, France as a member of Company K, 28th Infantry.

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Once discarded, plastic materials can take years to break down. They clog up landfills and o
A total of 234 children have been killed and over 433 injured in Ukraine since the Russian invasion started.

The relevant statement was made by the Ukrainian Prosecutor Generals Office on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

As of May 24, 2022, over 667 children in Ukraine were affected by the Russian armed aggression. According to the data from juvenile prosecutors, 234 children were killed and over 433 injured, the report states.

These data are not final, as they are being investigated within the areas of hostilities, temporarily occupied and liberated areas.

Currently, most casualties were recorded in Donetsk Region (146), Kyiv Region (116), Kharkiv Region (103), Chernihiv Region (68), Luhansk Region (50), Kherson Region (49), Mykolaiv Region (45), Zaporizhzhia Region (28), Sumy Region (17), the city of Kyiv (16) and Zhytomyr Region (15).

On May 22, 2022, a 12-year old girl, who was seriously injured in Russias shelling on May 7, 2022, died at hospital.

On May 20, 2022, a 16-year-old boy received serious bodily injuries in Russias artillery strikes on the village of Chkalovske, Kharkiv Region, and later died.

On April 8, 2022, two boys, 11 and 13, were injured in Russias shelling of Lysychansk, Luhansk Region.

A total of 1,848 educational institutions were damaged across Ukraine as a result of Russias daily air and artillery strikes, and 173 of them were destroyed completely.

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In Luhansk Region, Russian troops have focused efforts on the offensive operation to encircle such settlements as Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk.

The relevant statement was made by Luhansk Regional Military Administration Head Serhii Haidai on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Regarding the situation at the front line, the enemy has focused efforts on the offensive operation to encircle Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk. Now, with the support of artillery, they are conducting assault operations in the direction of Toshkivka and Ustynivka, near Lysychansk, Haidai wrote.

In his words, Russias shelling is very strong. Sometimes it is impossible to record all the damage on time, as it is difficult to reach the impact areas.

In particular, with a two-day delay we received information that the enemy had again shelled the regional specialized school. It is a childrens boarding school in Hirske, which offered an advanced educational environment. The Russian world has made everything possible to take this away. In addition, we are constantly receiving reports on the housing stock damaged in Popasna and Rubizhne, Haidai noted.

According to Haidai, AZOT chemical plant has been under continuous enemy fire over the past day.

In Lysychansk, thick smoke was observed coming from an oil refinery, which is situated near the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway shot through by Russian troops. The oil refinery is regularly hit with enemy projectiles, Haidai added.

Meanwhile, more than 10 residential houses were damaged in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, and one person was injured.

Haidai noted that, over the past day, Ukrainian defenders had repulsed 16 enemy attacks, destroyed eight Russian tanks, 22 armored fighting vehicles and one motor vehicle. The Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense units shot down an enemy Granat unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and six Orlan-10 UAVs.

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The Czech Republic has supplied to Ukraine a number of attack helicopters and, together with Slovakia, is currently repairing dozens of armored vehicles, which will return to combat once restored.

This was reported on Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal with reference to the Pentagon, Ukrinform wrote.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has thanked the Czech government for their contribution, the newspaper said.

It is specified that the Ukrainian side received Soviet-made Mi-24 attack helicopters, which have already been sent to Ukraine in the context of joint efforts to reclaim its airspace.

Read also: Czech Republic among five major military aid donors to Ukraine

In addition, the Czech Republic and Slovakia received several batches of armored vehicles from Ukraine to restore them before they can be used in combat again.

These steps mark a significant increase in Western support for Ukraine in its efforts to repel Russian aggression.

In April, the Czech Republic became the first NATO country to report the transfer of tanks to Ukraine. Now it is the first to announce the supply of attack helicopters to the Ukrainian Armed Forces
Russian troops have killed 238 children and injured at least 433 in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion started on February 24.

According to Ukrinform, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said this on Telegram.

"As of the morning of May 25, more than 671 children have been affected in Ukraine as a result of full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation. According to official figures from juvenile prosecutors, 238 children were killed and more than 433 were injured," the statement said.

The figures are not final as work is underway to establish casualties in areas of active hostilities, in the temporarily occupied and liberated territories, the Prosecutor General's Office added.

Most children were affected in Donetsk region  149, Kyiv region  116, Kharkiv region  104, Chernihiv region  68, Luhansk region  50, Kherson region  49, Mykolaiv region  45, Zaporizhzhia region  28, Sumy region  17, Kyiv city  16, Zhytomyr region  15.

During the recording of criminal offenses, it became known that an 11-year-old girl had been killed by Russian shelling on February 25 in the Chuhuiv district of the Kharkiv region.

It was also reported that three teenagers aged 14, 15 and 17 were killed by Russia's shelling of Mariupol, Donetsk region.

A total of 1,848 educational institutions have been damaged in bombing and shelling of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Of them, 173 are completely destroyed.

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Ukraine's defenders from February 24 to May 25 killed about 29,450 Russian soldiers and officers, including 100 in the past day.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said this on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

The Armed Forces also destroyed 1,305 (+3) tanks, 3,213 (+19) armored fighting vehicles, 606 (+0) artillery systems, 201 (+0) MLR systems, 93 (+0) air defense systems, 206 (+1) warplanes, 170 (+0) helicopters, 491 (+11) operational and tactical level UAVs, 112 (+0) cruise missiles, 13 (+0) warships/cutters, 2,217 (+5) other vehicles and tanker trucks, and 44 (+0) pieces of special equipment.

The enemy suffered the greatest losses over the past day in the Lyman direction, the General Staff said.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said earlier that on May 24, in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the Ukrainian army repelled nine attacks by Russian invaders and destroyed more than 30 military vehicles of the enemy.
Russian invaders are doing everything to make life in Ukraine unbearable, but the Ukrainians will win the war and rebuild their state, making it even better.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said this at a press conference with Swiss President Ignazio Cassis as part of the World Economic Forum in Davos, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The Russian military tortures and kills children and women. Russian artillery destroys houses, schools, hospitals, forcing Ukrainians to leave their homes. They destroy roads and industrial enterprises, grain storage facilities, utility enterprises. The occupiers are doing everything to make life in Ukraine unbearable," Shmyhal said.

He added that the total economic losses in Ukraine caused by full-scale Russian aggression amount to about $600 billion, but Ukraine will win.

Shmyhal stressed that the victory of the Ukrainian army on the battlefield is only 50% of Ukraine's victory, the other 50% will come when Ukrainians return home, "when we rebuild destroyed Ukrainian cities, towns, villages, roads, enterprises, and make them even better, when Ukraine becomes an economically successful member of the European Union."

He stressed that Ukraine is already doing everything to bring the liberated cities back to life, but there is still a lot of work to be done, and Ukraine is determined to recover from the ashes of war and become better than before.

"The rebuilding of Ukraine should be a success story for the entire civilized democratic world. The plan will include restoration and development of infrastructure and housing, structural modernization and restart of the economy, implementation of European standards in all areas, measures to combat unemployment, support vulnerable groups, restore and preserve cultural heritage," Shmyhal said.
Over the past day, May 24, the Russian troops launched 25 strikes on Donetsk region.

"The enemy struck the localities of Avdiivka, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Mykolayivka, Lyman, Toretsk, Bakhmut, Soledar, Zalizne, Nelipivka, New York, Raihorodok, Berdychi, Shcherbynivka, Lastochkyne, Kalynove, Orlivka, Ulakly. Human casualties have been reported," the press service of the National Police of Ukraine (NPU) posted on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

As noted, 45 civilian objects  residential buildings, a hospital, a railway station, a factory, a construction company, and critical infrastructure facilities  were destroyed.

According to the National Police data, Russian troops opened fire on civilians from aircraft, tanks, heavy artillery, missile launchers, Grad and Tornado systems.

The police and the Security Service of Ukraine opened criminal proceedings under Article 438 (violation of the laws or customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Over the past day, May 24, 12 civilians were killed and 10 more were wounded in the enemy attacks in Donetsk region.

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AGOURA HILLS, California -- Gusting winds whipped through a charred swath of the Santa Monica Mountains, a landscape that the enormous Woolsey Fire chewed through in 2018. Twigs and broken leaves crunched and crumbled underfoot as volunteers worked on a recent Saturday to restore areas like Paramount Ranch, a working movie set thats operated by the National Park Service to preserve American filmmaking history.

This area has been part of a multiyear restoration effort, and the National Park Service is halfway to its goal of planting 100,000 trees and plants in the Santa Monica Mountains to help restore areas like Paramount Ranch and Cheeseboro Canyon after wildfires.

The real answer to fixing things is getting people to take action and take an interest in the natural land in their local areas, said Joey Algiers, the restoration ecologist for the National Park Service. Together, with large groups of people who are passionate about the same things, we can make a really big difference.

The Woolsey Fire burned over 90,000 acres and is one of many wildfires that have devastated natural ecosystems across the West, especially California where fire seasons no longer end. The number of acres burned has increased steadily over the past three decades, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In 2020, wildfires destroyed 10,122,336 acres across the nation, up from 4,621,621 acres in 1990.

Although the term wildfire suggests these fires have natural causes, the National Park Service defines a wildfire as an uncontrolled fire that was unplanned. The Congressional Research Service finds that 88% of wildfires from 2016 to 2020 were started by humans. That includes the Woolsey Fire, which was started by a loose wire within electrical equipment, according to state prosecutors.

After wildfires have decimated lands, ecologists have chosen to look at the bright side: In the past, invasive species have pushed native plants out of their natural ecosystems. Californians are learning to live with fire by replanting native species that have fire-adapted qualities, such as heat-resistant seeds and fire-resistant bark.

Although land restoration for the Woolsey Fire has been ongoing since 2019, the areas have not yet been fully restored. Even when volunteers have put 100,000 plants and trees in the ground, their job isnt done, Algiers said. Land constantly evolves.

Youll come out in five years from now and 10 years from now and see trees you didnt notice before. And in 50 years or 100 years, this could be an open woodland, Algiers said.

Paramount Ranch was developed in 1927 as a setting for many movies, and it was taken over by the National Park Service in 1980. Now, the NPS counts on volunteers and donors to help fully restore the area.

Everything here is project-based, Algiers said. We already have funding for the next two years for this particular project, and were constantly looking for additional funding and more partners to continue to build upon the work weve been doing. The park does have its own budget, but if we want to do large-scale work, we really couldnt do as much without partners.

Loud calls of birds erupt through the air at Paramount Ranch. Although the chatter can be mistaken for geese, it comes from tropical, nonnative birds: parrots.

The parrots arent the only living things here that dont quite fit into Southern Californias ecosystem. The National Park Service says an invasive species is a nonnative organism that damages a natural ecosystem. Their impacts can be seen on the environment, on the economy and even on human health.

When deciding the plant palette for restoration projects -- a list of species that work well within an ecosystem -- NPS ecologists agreed that native species were the only way to go. Native species are important because of the way their biology works with the land. The native plants the park is reintroducing are ones that also can work with wildfires, Algiers said.

Algiers points to the invasive wild mustard plant as a prime target.

These nonnative plants live less than a year, spread very quickly and dry up very quickly, Algiers said. So the chances of a fire starting are much higher than in native vegetation. Native vegetation can resprout after a fire as long as they arent burned too frequently.

Because native plants, such as the purple needlegrass, store more water and need less to keep hydrated, they are effective aids to wildfire prevention.

Thats one of the problems we are seeing in our mountains, the fires are happening too often and the time between these fires is shortening, Algiers said.

Success isnt always guaranteed, either. About 90% of everything planted so far since the Woolsey fire has survived over two years, Algiers said.

Restoration techniques include wrapping roots in biodegradable wire materials and placing milk cartons around the plant to protect it from gusty winds and hungry herbivores. Cinder blocks also have been placed because of their durability and ability to control invasive plants.

The milk cartons have been fantastic, I mean they work really well, Algiers said. They do kind of fall apart, but we reuse them as much as we can. We stake them in the ground, and once the roots have been established for a few months, we take the milk cartons off. And even if the plants get eaten, theyll survive.

Although protective measures are taken with new plants, these measures dont harm the ecosystem or the species within it. One prevalent species within the Santa Monica Mountains is the gall wasp. While wasps arent too popular with humans, they are a big part of a full ecosystem.

Wasps will sting and deposit their eggs onto an oak, and the oak forms almost like a tumor at the point of deposition, Algiers said. Then galls form and the eggs of the wasps will hatch inside.

This is another example of the relationship between insects and plants that are critical, Algiers said. We need oak trees and we need the next generation of wasps to continue because they prey on other insects and they are eaten by spiders and birds. Then the birds nest in the oak trees, and then the birds eggs can get eaten by snakes. Snakes get eaten by bobcats, and all these relationships can happen just because of good native vegetation.

With the National Park Service goal to plant 100,000 plants and trees, many donors and volunteers are stepping up to make that goal possible, including Re-Plant Love, Open Hearts Foundation, Tree People, the Malibu Foundation and the city of Agoura Hills.

About 1,500 of these oak trees were grown at a nursery and donated by Tree People, Algiers said. They helped plant thousands of plants and shrubs around these trees and we will be out here again next year expanding even more.

In the three years since these restoration efforts have begun, Algiers has seen the changes the park has made and is optimistic of efforts being made in other communities as well.

You can see stories across the world of communities coming together to clean a beach that has been littered, and they end up just being a momentum and they are able to make incredible change, Algiers said. I see that happening more and more with restoration and with environmental action. There seems to be a real sense of urgency and people realize that the time to act was yesterday.

If your area has been damaged by wildfires or other disasters, check the National Park Service or other programs for volunteer opportunities.

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The current stage of the war may move into a diplomatic format when Russia shows such a desire.

"When Ukraine says that it will fight until it regains all its territories, it means only that Ukraine will fight until it regains all its territories. It doesn't mean anything else. This is about independence and sovereignty. This stage of bloody war may move into a format of diplomatic negotiations in one form or another, with the participation of the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, or also involving our strategic partners. We can enter this stage if we understand that the Russian side shows at least the possibility and desire to move from a bloody war to diplomacy. This is possible if the Russian Federation demonstrates at least something. Saying "at least something", I mean such steps as withdrawal of troops to the positions before February 24. I think this would be the right step on the part of the Russian Federation," President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said at a video link during the Davos Ukrainian Breakfast, Ukrinform reports.

At the same time, he noted that Russia had so far shown no interest in ending the war or at least in holding talks.

"I don't see any interest, I don't see many substantive things," the President said.

According to him, the only positive aspect of the talks with Russia is the evacuation of people from Mariupol and taking civilians and soldiers out of Azovstal.

"But the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross were involved in this process, all made every effort to help, so there was a certain result. So far, I do not see any [Russias] steps to achieve any results," Zelensky said.

The President stressed that Ukraine had been witnessing such a delay in the negotiation process since the Minsk process.

"Therefore, we are against any artificial agreements without real confirmation involving a circle of partner countries that are ready to confirm, support, and act as guarantors of Ukraines security," he said.

As reported, the Ukrainian military defended Mariupol for more than 80 days. On May 16, the evacuation of Ukrainian defenders from the Azovstal steelworks, blocked by Russian invaders, began and lasted for several days.

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Four civilians have been wounded as Russians launched two missile strikes on the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region.

"In the morning, two missiles hit Pokrovsk. It is currently known about four wounded civilians. They were taken to hospital. Three infrastructure facilities were damaged," Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko posted on Telegram.

Late at night, a shell hit an unfinished high-rise building in Kramatorsk, destroying two entrances. The shock wave damaged windows in nearby houses. Fortunately, no one was injured.

The Russians continue to strike the towns far from the front line. They want to kill as many civilians as possible and sow panic. Thats why evacuation is the only right choice now! Evacuation saves lives! the head of the region emphasized, addressing those who still stay in the region.

On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops shell and destroy infrastructure, massively fire on residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages, using artillery, MLRS and ballistic missiles.

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In unrecognized Transnistria, the level of the "terrorist threat" was reduced to yellow and the idea of mobilization was abandoned.

This was stated by Operational Command South on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"Realizing that sowing panic and imitating terrorist activity on the part of Ukraine fails to yield the desired result, the red level of the terrorist threat in Transnistria was abolished and a yellow one was set," the Command said.

It is also noted that the Transnistrian authorities, confused by the mass exodus of potential recruits from the unrecognized republic, abandoned the idea of general mobilization.

On the part of Ukraine, the relevant section of the border is reliably protected and monitored.

According to the Command, the situation on the southern borders of the contact line is tense but remains under control. The enemy continues to improve its engineering positions.

In particular, in Kherson region there was an enemy attempt overnight Wednesday to capture some of the positions held by Ukrainian defenders. The attack was repulsed so the enemy retreated to the previous position. As a result of the firefights, one Russian serviceman was killed and two wounded.

In Mykolaiv region, several territorial communities bordering on Kherson region were under fire. The enemy is destroying households, launching strikes on farmland and destroying vehicles. Information about the victims is being clarified, the Command reported.

As previously reported, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense informed that the Russians are artificially aggravating the situation in Transnistria to use it as a psychological attack against Ukraine.
The deployment of Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile launchers to the Brest region of Belarus does not mean they can be actively used against Ukraine, as Russia now does not have a large number of missiles for these systems.

Waldemar Skrzypczak, former commander of the Polish Land Forces and former deputy minister of national defense, said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

"The Russians do not have many Iskanders, so they will save them. The deployment of launchers does not mean anything, because you need to have missiles for them. They have already used a lot of missiles. I don't think they have significant reserves," Skrzypczak said.

According to him, the Russians do not have the opportunity to replenish missile stocks, as sanctions have limited their ability to obtain the elements needed to create these shells.

"They will fire only when the target of the attack is 100% confirmed," the expert said.

According to him, Russia intends to fire on critical infrastructure in Ukraine from the Brest region, including railway junctions and stations, important road infrastructure, warehouses, those located mainly in the Lviv region. Thus, they want to prevent the delivery of new Western weapons to the front lines, he said.

The expert noted that the Russians will use spies and informants to check the targets, as they will not be able to do it using drones and planes at a considerable distance due to the presence of Ukrainian air defense systems.

Skrzypczak stressed that Ukraine now needs offensive weapons, air defense systems and new generation aircraft.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on May 24 that Russia had moved a division of Iskander-M missile launchers to the Brest region at a distance of up to 50 kilometers from the state border of Ukraine.
As more accusations are made at the international level against Russia of creating a food crisis, which was the result of the blockade of Ukrainian sea ports, the Russian Defense Ministry has begun to justify itself for its criminal actions.

That's according to an article published on the website of the Information Resistance news site, Ukrinform reports.

"In particular, the Russian Defense Ministry sent a letter to the president of the Moscow Association of Military Attaches (MAMA), the president of the Moscow Association of Air Force Attaches (AFOA) and the president of the Moscow Association of Naval Attaches (FNOA), in which they blamed Ukraine for creating a food crisis," the statement said.

It also says the Russian ministry, completely ignoring and denying its guilt in the food crisis, in this letter accused Ukraine of holding foreign ships hostage and not letting them out of ports, threatening to open fire. In turn, none of the representatives of the ships staying in Ukrainian ports announced that they were being held by force, and everyone is well aware that they are hostages to an exceptionally critical situation, the situation that Russia has created.

"The Russian Defense Ministry in the letter also tried to present itself as a benefactor, saying that the Russian authorities 'sheltered' more than a million Ukrainian refugees in the country. But, it is well known that a significant part of Ukrainian citizens from the occupied territories were taken to Russia by force and placed in something similar to concentration camps," the statement said.

According to Information Resistance, the ministry also lies about some green corridors that the Russian occupiers offer for the exit of foreign ships. Today, shipping in the exclusive economic zone of Ukraine is impossible due to drifting sea mines.

Russia used more than 500 old Soviet naval mines (moored mines), which break off and drift uncontrollably during storms. In fact, navigation in the region is impossible until the mines are completely cleared.

"It is obvious that the Russian Defense Ministry has launched another campaign to spread lies and manipulations against Ukraine, using the facts of their own crimes as accusations. This was expected, given the traditional reaction of the Russian side to accusations against itself, which it always fends off by blaming others for its own crimes," the statement said.
Ukraine's Armed Forces repulsed ten enemy attacks in the area of the Joint Forces Operation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on May 25.

According to Ukrinform, the press service of the Joint Forces Task Force said this on Facebook.

Along the entire line of defense, the enemy uses combat aircraft, multiple rocket launchers, large-caliber artillery, tanks, mortars of various systems, launching missile and bomb strikes on civilian infrastructure and peaceful residential areas.

Russian troops fired on more than 40 settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, destroying and damaging 47 civilian objects, including 38 homes, a school, a health camp, a recreation center and a railway station.

Five civilians were killed and 12 others were injured by the shelling.

"Ukrainian defenders of the Joint Forces Task Forces repulsed ten enemy attacks today, and battles with the occupier are still ongoing at two locations. Our brave warriors inflict losses on ruscist invaders in manpower and equipment," the statement reads.

In the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian Joint Forces destroyed four Russian tanks, a piece of special equipment, two artillery systems, an armored personnel carrier and a motor vehicle.

Air defense units shot down four Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles.

Earlier reports said that Ukraine's Armed Forces killed about 29,450 Russian soldiers between February 24 and May 25.
In the temporarily occupied parts of Kherson region, farmers are being forced to sell their vegetables to Crimea at prices significantly lower than the market.

Serhiy Khlan, a deputy of the Kherson regional council and adviser to the head of the Regional Military Administration on terrorism, addressed the issue on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"Russians in Crimea rejoice over cheap early vegetables imported from Kherson region. The products taste good and are sold at much lower prices," Khlan wrote.

However, he stressed, no one there cares that the crops were stolen from Ukrainians.

Read also: FM Kuleba urges countries not to buy Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia

Kherson region is an agricultural area that supplied vegetables to the whole country. At first, Russian invaders cut off the temporarily occupied part of Kherson region from the rest of Ukraine, and then forced farmers to sell vegetables at minimum prices, effectively robbing them.

"Feeding off people's deaths and grief, the invaders rejoice over cheap stolen vegetables," said Khlan.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, in Kakhovka, Kherson region, Russian invaders are forcing farmers to sign applications for "agricultural operations" to obtain permission to irrigate their fields.

Farmers in the occupied region are threatened "nationalization" of their assets if they operate without a permit and fail to pay taxes to the invaders.

Some farmers chose not to start their spring field work at all, some operate using their own reserves of fuel, fertilizers, and there are also those who cooperate with the enemy, buying resources from the invaders.

Read also: Satellite images show Russian ships loaded with Ukrainian grain in Crimea

Farmers are working under pressure from Russian invaders: their agricultural equipment is being taken away, while their fields are being mined. The enemy is systemically taking out grain from Kherson region for exports.

Russian invaders have allowed farmers to sow only grain and sunflower, demanding that farmers agree to give away 70% of their future crops free of charge.
Unblocking Ukrainian ports for the sake of global food security will be a major Ukraine-related issue on the agenda of the World Trade Organization.

This was announced by First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukrinform reports.

"Unblocking Ukrainian ports for the sake of food security will be the main Ukraine issue on the World Trade Organizations agenda," the statement said.

It is noted that the issue was discussed during a meeting with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okondji-Iveala at the World Economic Forum.

Read also: FM Kuleba urges countries not to buy Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia

Svyrydenko thanked the top official for his personal efforts in seeking a solution to exporting Ukrainian grain, which is vital for the whole world.

It is also noted that the officials agreed on the directions of cooperation on the eve of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, which will be held on June 12-15 in Geneva.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the Russian Federation, which is blocking Ukrainian grain in Ukrainian ports and continuing hostilities on Ukraine's fields, is blackmailing the international community by threatening famine in entire regions. She recalled that today Russian artillery is deliberately shelling grain storages all over Ukraine. Russian warships are blocking Ukrainian carrying with grain and sunflower in the Black Sea. The consequences of these shameful acts are obvious to all, she noted, as global wheat prices have skyrocketed, affecting the most vulnerable nations.
The Danish Ministry of Defense has expressed condemnation of Russia's aggression against Ukraines maritime shipment industry and support for imposing the most severe sanctions against the Russian Federation.

It is truly a very difficult situation also in relation to Ukraines free movement at sea. Denmark strongly condemns Russias unprovoked aggression towards Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, similarly in the maritime domain, the ministry told Guildhall.

The Danish Government actively supports Ukraine politically, through donations of military equipment, as well as humanitarian contributions. The Danish support is based on requests from and in cooperation with the Ukrainian Authorities. Denmark works in close cooperation with the international society to assist Ukraine and encourages the toughest sanctions to be imposed on Russia, the Danish Ministry of Defense concluded.

Earlier, the chief of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament (Folketing) Bertel Gorder, answering a question about the need to bring NATO ships into the Black Sea to ensure safe navigation, said that he hopes this is possible, at the same time stressing that he fears such step depends on peace agreements.

Earlier, a number of world politicians in the U.S. and Europe, as well as members of the European Parliament, issued statements about the need for the international community to take measures to unblock Ukrainian ports.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of using food as a weapon in the war with Ukraine. According to him, the Russian Federation is holding hostage deliveries not only to Ukraine, but also to many other countries. Blinken called on the aggressor power to cease the blockade of Ukrainian ports, which hinders traditional export routes.

The CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag stated that it condemned the blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russia, calling it a tragedy for the whole world. German deputies call on NATO, the EU, and the German government to increase pressure on Russias logistics capabilities to ensure that the Ukrainian ports are unblocked.

Read also: Russians take grain out of captured Berdiansk via Crimea to Russia

Former commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, Member of the European Parliament, Lieutenant General Rigo Terras said an effective step could be NATO warships entering into the Black Sea to unblock the Ukrainian seaports and ensure safe merchant shipping, since Russia would not dare to attack these vessels.

Melanie Vogel, a member of the French Senate, who represents the Greens group, announced her support for demands to Russia to unblock Ukrainian seaports.

In turn, Member of the European Parliament Petras Austrevicius of Lithuania said that the blockade is an international problem requiring international intervention to solve it. According to the MEP, the United Nations should provide a plan to address the issue, including to have ships under the UN auspices deployed in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to provide a safe convoy for transporting Ukrainian grain and agricultural products to third countries.
Britain's Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Wednesday rejected the idea of lifting a number of Russia sanctions in return for opening humanitarian corridors for grain exports from Ukrainian seaports.

During his meeting with his Spanish counterpart Margarita Robles he called on Russia to do the right thing and let Ukraine export its grain through a green corridor to help countries where grain scarcity could trigger hunger, Reuters reports.

"That grain is for everyone, Libya, Yemen, people around the world are relying on that grain to feed themselves," Wallace said. "I call on Russia to do the right thing in the spirit of humanity and let the grain of Ukraine out, stop stealing the grain for its own means. Let's not talk about sanctions, let's do the right thing."

On Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said the country was ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions, the Interfax news agency reported.

At the same time, Wallace welcomed the suggestion of Black Sea nations, such as Turkey, escorting the Ukraine grain shipments after Moscow ruled out the involvement of Western forces.

Ukraine expects this year's harvest to be about 70% of last year's harvest, as some fields are now under Russian control or mined.

President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said during an online meeting at the Ukrainian House in Davos that the world's business and political elite should make efforts to get 22 million tonnes of grain stranded in Ukraine out of the country, thus preventing famine in a number of countries.

Read also: Russians take grain out of captured Berdiansk via Crimea to Russia

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the Russian Federation, which is blocking Ukrainian grain in Ukrainian ports and continuing hostilities on Ukraine's fields, is blackmailing the international community by threatening famine in entire regions. She recalled that today Russian artillery is deliberately shelling grain storages all over Ukraine. Russian warships are blocking Ukrainian carrying with grain and sunflower in the Black Sea. The consequences of these shameful acts are obvious to all, she noted, as global wheat prices have skyrocketed, affecting the most vulnerable nations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France explained its position on the statements concerning Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

"We welcome Ukraine's application for EU membership. It is being considered by the European Commission and will be discussed at the level of heads of state and government at the European Council meeting in June," reads the statement posted on the Ministrys website.

The French Foreign Ministry notes that Ukraine is part of the European family as was stated by President Macron on May 9 and the minister of state for Europe on May 22.

"The project of the European political community, formulated by the President of the Republic, is neither an alternative to membership nor an alternative to the membership process. On the contrary, it aims to strengthen relations with all our neighboring European countries as soon as possible and to strengthen our comprehensive support for candidate countries with the purpose of their accession," says the statement.

As reported, on May 9, President of France Emmanuel Macron announced an initiative to create a new "European political community" so that countries that are not formal members of the EU, Ukraine among them, could join the new space in Europe.

On May 22, Clement Beaune, Minister of State for European Affairs, said that the process of Ukraine's accession to the European Union could take 15 or 20 years. He also expressed the opinion that Kyiv should join the European political community proposed by President Macron.

On May 23, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine and France were actively discussing Ukraine's path to the EU and how long it would take.

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Western politicians are wrong in suggesting that they can persuade Ukrainians to make concessions to Vladimir Putin and cede part of its territory. Ukraine must restore its territorial integrity, the aggressor must pay military reparations, and criminals must be held accountable for their crimes.

This was stated by Polish President Andrzej Duda during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I am 100% convinced that Ukrainians are fighting with all their might and will continue to fight. They do not rest hope with peace, which will imply Western Europe forcing Ukrainians to cede their land to Putin, to agree to his demands," Duda said.

The Polish president stressed that Ukrainians would not agree to this for multiple reasons.

"They will not agree to this because rivers of blood have already been shed, the Russians have destroyed their country. The very thirst for revenge and the need to win back whats theirs is so strong that I do not believe that the Ukrainians will agree to a peace deal, which will include the Russians taking away another square kilometer of Ukrainian land," said the Polish leader.

He added that Ukrainians would not agree to this for political reasons, too. Duda explained that, if a politician is found who would agree to this, their political career in Ukraine would be over immediately.

The president of Poland noted that defending Ukraine is a joint decision of the Ukrainians, no one there has a different opinion on the issue.

"Therefore, if one of the Western politicians thinks that he will force Ukrainians to give in to Putin today, as Berlusconi (ex-Prime Minister of Italy - ed.) recently said, he is deeply mistaken," Duda said.

The president of Poland stressed that he would fully support Ukraine, as it is impossible, once again, to violate the norms of international law with impunity, and the world  not to react to it.

"I will not agree with Russia killing people with impunity, and the world pretending not to notice; with no decisions being made in relation to Russia; with Russia not paying military reparations for the losses inflicted on Ukraine; with not forcing it to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine," Duda stressed.

He urged Western audiences not to believe Russian propaganda about "Nazis in Ukraine," calling it "complete nonsense." He added that the Kremlin carried out an armed aggression against Ukraine solely because of "Russia's imperial ambitions."

"This war must end with Russia handing over the occupied territories to Ukraine, paying a contribution, and the criminals being prosecuted," Duda said.

He called on everyone to support Ukraine, because the truth is on its side and today it needs comprehensive military, political, and humanitarian support, as well as the creation of funds that will allow the country to rebuild and return to normal life.

As Ukrinform reported, the World Economic Forum (WEF), which is the annual meeting place of the world's political and business elite, is being held in Davos from May 22 to 26.

Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine has been going on since February 24.
Berlin has promised Poland Leopard tanks to replace those the nation handed over to Ukraine, but the German government failed to keep its word.

This was reported by Die Welt with reference to a statement by Polish President Andrzej Duda, according to Ukrinform.

"The government has not kept its promise. And frankly, we're very disappointed. We have provided Ukraine with a large number of tanks because we believe that this is our responsibility as a neighbor," he said.

The president stressed that, since Poland gave its tanks to Ukraine, it hoped for support on the part of NATO, the United States, and Germany.

"Most of the tank arsenal of the Polish Armed Forces are German Leopard tanks. So if we were supported by Germany, if we got a replacement, we would be very happy," said the Polish president.

He also said that the German government was doing too little to help Ukraine.

It should be recalled that Germany earlier sent to Ukraine a new batch of antitank grenade launchers and mines.
The end of the war depends on both the West's united position on aid to Ukraine and Russia's desire to sit down at the negotiating table.

"As for when this war may end, I think it depends on some things, specific things. First of all, on the desire of different parties," President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said during the Davos Ukrainian Breakfast, Ukrinform reports.

First and foremost, he said, the end of the war depends on the desire of the united West not to be afraid to fight the Russian Federation. Moreover, according to the President, it depends on the desire of Russia itself.

"Because this war will end in any case, and we understand that there is a military part of the war (now is the tensest moment: a lot of blood of innocent people, civilians, a lot of military personnel losses). After the military part is over, I am sure there will be a peace process in any case, and there will be a negotiating table, and there will definitely be peace. The question is whom Ukraine will negotiate with, the question is which Russian president Ukraine will negotiate with," Zelensky added.

The President of Ukraine stressed that the negotiation process also depended on the wishes of the incumbent president of Russia.

Asked whether it is possible to negotiate with the incumbent president of Russia, Zelensky noted that Putin stayed now in his own information world and did not understand that Ukraine would not make concessions.

"We are fighting on our land, and I emphasize that this is Ukraine's war not against anyone, but for itself, on its own land, for its own freedom. And precisely for its own future... And that is why he [Putin] must live in reality, and his entourage must help him get out of his informational unreality which they have been building for many years, decades ... And so today we can only talk to the president of the Russian Federation as talks with any mediator do not make sense," Zelensky said.

According to him, the Ukrainian society also plays an important role, having seen the consequences of the actions of Russian troops in Ukraine and seeing what happens now in the occupied territories.

"I think this desire [to sit down at the negotiating table] disappears with every passing day," Zelensky said.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that China has chosen the policy of staying away from the Russian-Ukrainian war and Ukraine is currently satisfied with this policy.

"China has chosen the policy of staying away. At the moment, Ukraine is satisfied with this policy. It is better than helping the Russian Federation in any case. And I want to believe that China will not pursue another policy. We are satisfied with this status quo, to be honest," President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said at a video link during the Davos Ukrainian Breakfast, Ukrinform reports.

Before the war with Russia, China was Ukraines largest trading partner, he added. And now, according to Zelensky, no Chinas steps against Ukraine are observed. At the same time, the President admits that China has not taken any steps to support Ukraine.

"Although there is a rather good and long history between the countries. Therefore, I would like to have an advantage in these relations compared to Russia," he said.

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Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on Washington to provide multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to Ukraine as soon as possible and set an example for other countries.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a session in Ukraine House Davos, answering the question about what weapons and in what timeframe Ukraine would need, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to Kuleba, the urgency of Ukraines weapons needs can be summed up in two abbreviations: MLRS ASAP, i.e. multiple launch rocket systems as soon as possible.

Now the situation with arms deliveries for Ukraine is much better than a month ago, Kuleba said. He noted the leadership of the United States in arranging the Ramstein Air Base meeting and coordinating the efforts of partners.

Kuleba told he had had about 10 bilateral meetings with other leaders whose countries possess MLRS.

The response I get is, Have the Americans given it to you already?. So this is the burden of being a leader. Everyone is looking at you. So Washington has to keep the promise and provide us with multiple launch rocket systems as soon as possible. Others will follow, Kuleba noted.

In his words, if Ukraine does not get MLRS as soon as possible, the situation on the battlefield, which is extremely challenging now, will get even worse. Kuleba stressed that some settlements in the areas of hostilities had already stopped to exist. Without such weapons, the Ukrainian military are unable to start the liberation of Kherson Region.

Every day of someone sitting in Washington, Berlin, Paris and other capitals, and considering whether they should or should not do something, costs us lives and territories, Kuleba stressed.

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

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Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski agreed that the two countries are companions, not competitors, on their European integration path.

Dmytro Kuleba announced this on Twitter following a meeting with the President of North Macedonia, Ukrinform reports.

"Met with President of the Republic of North Macedonia @SPendarovski. Skopjes support of Ukraine in these tense times remains steadfast. Ukraine will always remember this. We also agree that on the EU integration path Ukraine and North Macedonia are companions, not competitors," the top diplomat tweeted.

The Foreign Ministry earlier stated it considered it unfair to link Ukraine's EU candidate status to progress in integrating the Western Balkans, and called on Europe to seek solutions, not excuses.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg has called for the "gradual integration" of Ukraine, as well as Georgia and the Western Balkans, into the European Union.

The top diplomat stated this in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

We are now awaiting the recommendation of the EU Commission, which is due in June. I fully understand the request of Ukrainian President Zelensky. We have to send a clear signal to Ukraine: the country is part of the European way of life and it is anchored in our community of values. We'll see how that happens. I doubt that candidate status is the only solution for Ukraine," Schallenberg said when asked if Ukraine could become a candidate for EU membership.

According to the Austrian minister, the EU must be careful that the appointment as a candidate for EU accession does not remain just a label and that the population basically does not notice anything about it for years. This is also noticeable in the Western Balkans where the countries were promised accession in 2003. You can feel how disillusioned and frustrated the people there are today, the minister said.

"We have to step up our game in the Western Balkans and get down to business. When we talk about Ukraine, we must also talk about the Western Balkans at the same time," said the Austrian Foreign Minister, adding: "One cannot rule out that Putin is also trying to destabilize the Western Balkans."

In this regard, he called for "gradual integration". We need gradual integration rather than all or nothing. We should leap over our shadow and involve the countries of the Western Balkans in decisions on factual issues in sub-areas if the legal requirements are met. For example in the research area, in energy issues, in trans-European transport planning, in cohesion policy or in certain sectors of the internal market," said the minister.

However, according to him, such "gradual integration" does not replace full membership in the EU: "Accession is mandatory."

According to Schallenberg, such "gradual integration" could be an option for Ukraine as well. "The 27 EU countries could consult with representatives of the Western Balkans or Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia for two or three hours before the start of regular meetings. So these countries could participate. They would be involved in specific questions, but the decisions are ultimately made by the EU states," the Minister explained the practical implementation of his idea.

At the same time, when asked whether Ukraine should eventually join the European Union as a country in the Western Balkans, he said: "In the case of Ukraine, the EU has made no promise of accession. Ukraine's accession to the EU  if it happens at all  would still be very, very far away anyway."

Earlier, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg reportedly questioned the need to grant Ukraine full membership in the European Union.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has supported the need to strengthen the regime of control over the entry of Russian citizens into Ukraine and instructed Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to consider the introduction of visas for Russians.

The head of state said this in his response to the electronic petition No. 22/134744-ep, which received the required number of signatures for consideration, Ukrinform reports.

"Against the background of full-scale Russian aggression, the issue raised is important and urgent, so I support the need to strengthen the regime of control over the entry of Russian citizens into Ukraine. Taking into account what was stated, a respective letter was sent to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal with a request to work out the issue," Zelensky said.

The petition was registered on February 11. Its author is Mykyta Viktorovych Mazura. The document referred to the need to "introduce a visa regime for Russian citizens trying to enter the territory of Ukraine."

Ukraine severed diplomatic relations with Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.

Photo: President's Office
Ukraine and the Netherlands have agreed to deepen cooperation in the protection of cultural heritage and museums.

The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reported this after a virtual meeting between Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko and State Secretary for Culture and Media of the Netherlands Gunay Uslu and her team.

"For us, the Netherlands is one of the examples in the field of protection of cultural, including architectural, heritage and museum standards. We agreed on in-depth cooperation in these areas," Tkachenko said.

The minister thanked his colleagues for supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia. The ministry noted that the Netherlands had severed cultural ties with Russia and joined EU sanctions on blocking Russian TV channels.

Representatives of the Dutch government announced the creation of a special fund of EUR 1 million to support Ukrainian artists.

Uslu supported Ukraine's proposal to join the restoration of damaged cultural heritage in the framework of a joint pan-European initiative.

The participants in the meeting also stressed the importance of broadcasting Ukrainian TV channels in the Netherlands.

The Ukrainian Minister thanked his colleagues from the Netherlands for their support and expressed confidence that cooperation between the two countries in the cultural and information spheres will lead to significant results.
May 25, 2022



In the wake of the recent rash of extremely violent and hateful acts against Black and Asian American communities in the United States, and in light of the murders of 19 elementary school children and their teachers yesterday, we join UMB President Jarrell and Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Forbes Berthoud in standing in solidarity against hate and violence. We remain committed and undeterred in advancing the work of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice.

As UMB President Bruce Jarrell stated in his May 16, 2022, letter to the community: As a UMB community, we denounce acts of violence, racism, and hatred, as well as racism in all its form. Together we must continue to work toward building a more inclusive, just, and peaceful society. The work begins with each of us. We each play a role in creating safe and inclusive environments. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion are our responsibility. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We have a human obligation to care for our fellow community members, particularly in times of crisis and uncertainty, and when our humanity is threatened. The Student Counseling Center and the Employee Assistance Program stand ready to support you.

During these challenging times, we must continue to be present for each other. Know that we, the undersigned and many other University resources, are here for you. You can count on us to advocate with you, be a resource if you need support, and model how to be in community with each other and our Baltimore neighbors. We encourage you to connect and remain engaged in how we can proactively be forces for the changes we want to see in the world. We are stronger together working for equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice.

Sincerely,

Patty Alvarez, PhD, MS

Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs & Chair of the Diversity Advisory Council

Office of the Provost

Jeffrey R. Ash, EdD

Associate Dean, Diversity and Inclusion

University of Maryland School of Nursing

Neijma Celestine-Donnor, MSW, LCSW-C

Assistant Dean & Director, Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

University of Maryland School of Social Work

Eleanor Fleming, PhD, DDS, MPH, FICD

Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion

University of Maryland School of Dentistry

Shani Fleming, MSHS, MPH, PA-C

Chief Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer

Graduate School

Courtney J. Jones Carney, DPA, MBA

Executive Director, Intercultural Leadership & Engagement Director, Intercultural Center

UMB Student Affairs

Russell A. McClain, JD

Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion

University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

Sandra Quezada, MD, MS, AGAF

Associate Dean for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion

University of Maryland School of Medicine

Kristin Reavis, MD, MBS

Director of Student Diversity and Inclusion

University of Maryland School of Medicine

Chanel F. Whittaker, PharmD, BCGP, FASCP

Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi with Rohingya refugees at the Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre at Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district.  UNHCR/Kamrul Hasan

DHAKA - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi appealed today for sustained and predictable support for Rohingya refugees and their local host communities in Bangladesh, while emphasizing the need to maintain refugees hopes for voluntary return to Myanmar once the situation allows.

Grandi is currently wrapping up a five-day trip to Bangladesh where he met Rohingya refugees, the countrys top leadership, UNHCR donors and humanitarian actors.

The world must remember the crisis that Rohingya refugees and their hosts have been facing for the last five years. The refugees lives depend on how the international community responds in caring for them, Grandi said, after visiting the refugee camps in Coxs Bazar and Bhasan Char island.

Bangladesh hosts some one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled for their lives from Myanmar in 2017 while others arrived many years earlier. Grandi expressed gratitude to Bangladesh and underlined the important strides in the refugee response under the leadership of the Government, including COVID-19 vaccinations for more than 88 per cent of the refugee population over 18 years of age.

Bangladesh, which has led in assisting nearly a million refugees, remains a priority partner for UNHCR, but continued international support is crucial to provide life-saving assistance and build hope, Grandi stressed. This is why I am here, to try to shine a spotlight on Bangladesh, its people, and the Rohingya refugees it has been hosting for decades, and to remind the international community of the importance of their support, including flexible funding to protect Rohingya refugees until they can safely return home.

The High Commissioner said the solutions lie within Myanmar. While UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and UNDP continue to work on community projects in Rakhine state under a tripartite agreement with Myanmar, initiatives must be scaled up and more support is needed to create conditions for voluntary returns in a just, safe, and sustainable manner. The Rohingya refugees I met reiterated their desire to return home when conditions allow. The world must work to address the root causes of their flight and to translate those dreams into reality, Grandi said.

While in Bangladesh, it is important that Rohingya refugees can live in safety and dignity, that they can send their children to school and learn from the Myanmar curriculum, which is being rolled out in the refugee camps. Some 52 per cent of the refugee population are under the age of 18.

Skills development and livelihood activities in Coxs Bazar and on Bhasan Char are extremely important in allowing refugees to build peaceful communities, contribute to a safe environment and support their sustainable return, Grandi added.

Some 28,000 Rohingya refugees have been relocated to Bhasan Char by the Government of Bangladesh, and the High Commissioner observed that essential humanitarian services have been scaled up. He called for continued strong Government leadership on the island, enhanced education services, skills development and livelihood initiatives.

Humanitarian agencies need more than US$881 million this year to support approximately 1.4 million people, including 920,000 Rohingya refugees in Coxs Bazar and Bhasan Char, and around 540,000 Bangladeshis in neighbouring communities. As of May 2022, the Joint Response Plan is only 13 per cent funded.

B-ROLL

Bhasan Char - https://media.unhcr.org/Share/t65fhxj7e3050x70204v35b5nb8w514i

https://media.unhcr.org/Share/t65fhxj7e3050x70204v35b5nb8w514i Coxs Bazar - https://media.unhcr.org/Share/2tks40f3501683p60rv21i1818u5e3vf

For more information on this topic, please contact:
This activity was organized by Hue City People's Committee in collaboration with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), on the morning of May 23.

Leaders of Hue City and the KOICA survey the area on the both banks of the Huong River

The launching ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong; Secretary of Hue City Party Committee, Mr. Phan Thien Dinh; Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Mr. Hoang Hai Minh; Chairman of Hue City People's Committee, Mr. Vo Le Nhat; as well as leaders of Hue City, departments and branches. From the Republic of Korea (RoK), Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Da Nang, Mr. Ahn Min Sik; Country Director of the KOICA in Vietnam, Mr. Cho Han Deog; and Project Manager, General Director of OCS, Mr. Cho Kyung Hoon attended the event.

The project on "Building Hue City of culture and smart tourism", which is funded by the Republic of Korea Government, is a program aiming to concretize the project on adjusting the general planning of Hue City, the project on detailed planning of the both banks of the Huong River, and the pilot project, which are funded by the Republic of Korea Government for Hue City from 2011 to the present.

The project is implemented with the goals of building a tourism development project in Hue City and building a smart tourism information system; developing an urban cultural tourism center and expanding urban walking zones in Hue City; installing smart lighting and surveillance camera systems along the both banks of the Huong River; as well as building public administration capacity in tourism development and urban management.

Leaders of the province and Hue City posing for a photo with the KOICA leaders

The project includes five components, including establishing a smart cultural tourism hub in Hue City; a pilot project of the smart cultural tourism hub, which is the Da Vien islet cultural complex; smart lighting and surveillance camera systems along the both banks of the Huong River; building public administration capacity in tourism development, as well as urban management and project management.

In a speech at the event, Mr. Ahn Min Sik, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Da Nang emphasized that over the past time, Hue City had implemented numerous important projects in cooperation with the KOICA, namely the project on adjusting the general planning of Hue City, the project on planning the both banks of the Huong River; and, the city was gradually developing around the Huong River, so as to become a well-known tourism destination; at the same time, aiming towards the goal of turning itself into a centrally-managed municipality by 2025.

The project on "Building Hue city of culture and smart tourism will combine smart-city technical solutions to accumulate tourism-related data, and increase access to necessary information for visitors, which will also include the improvement of the urban environment by installing smart lights, public Wi-Fi network coverage, and cultural integrated zones. Thanks to this project, the city will be able to continue to develop into a tourism city in both traditional and modern directions. Therefore, this launching ceremony is a stepping stone that Hue City will create many accompanying values with tourism resources for continued development.

According to the Chairman of Hue City People's Committee, Mr. Vo Le Nhat, the successful implementation of the project will make an important contribution to the stable and sustainable development of the culture and tourism sector, on the basis of integrating technology into tourism infrastructure, exploiting and promoting the cultural and tourism resources of Hue City in particular and the whole province in general. For this reason, the city wishes to continue to witness close coordination between experts and managers from the Republic of Korea and Vietnam so that the project will be completed on schedule, with high quality.

By Thanh Huong
Panama City, Fla.  The advisories have been rescinded for the Panama City Beach City Pier (SP 3) location at 16101 Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach, the Spyglass Drive (SP 7) location at 4723 Spyglass Drive, Panama City Beach, and the Carl Gray Park (SP 9) location on Collegiate Drive in Panama City.

There are no advisories for any of the Bay County sampling locations.

The Bay County Health Department, Bay CHD, conducts saltwater beach water quality monitoring in accordance with the Healthy Beaches Monitoring Program. Water samples are collected twice a month between March and October. The samples are checked for enteric bacteria that normally inhabit the intestinal tract of humans and animals. The presence of enteric bacteria can be an indication of fecal pollution, which may come from storm water runoff, pets and wildlife, and human sewage. Poor results are posted as an Advisory at the affected beaches.

Healthy Beaches advisories are issued to protect swimmers from increased risk of gastrointestinal illnesses. At a lower occurring level, there may also be increased risks of upper respiratory infections, skin rashes, and ear infections. Healthy Beach advisories are not related to Necrotizing fasciitis, a rare complication.

Sampling is usually done on Mondays with results on Tuesday, with exception of holidays. Results are shared at Bay.FloridaHealth.gov, through media releases, and real-time on the Florida Healthy Beaches page at FloridaHealth.gov and search for Healthy Beaches.

Florida Healthy Beaches Program Categories are; Good = 0-35 Enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water, Moderate = 36-70 Enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water, and Poor = 71 or greater Enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water. If levels are above 70, Bay CHD notifies the local Florida Department of Environmental Protection for further investigation.

If you have any questions, please contact the Bay County Health Department at 850-481-4806 or visit the Department of Healths Internet Beach Water Quality website at http://www.floridahealth.gov/healthy-environments/beach-water-quality/index.html.

####

About the Florida Department of Health

The department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.
Chinese authorities have pledged to increase credit issuance and enhance financial support for key businesses and fields.

Strengthened financial support will be given for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, green development, scientific and technological innovation, energy supply, water conservancy and infrastructure, among others, according to a meeting jointly held by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Downward pressure on the economy continues to increase due to the unexpected factors at home and abroad, the meeting said, calling on the financial system to fully wield policy tools and underpin the high-quality economic development by expanding credit.

Efforts should be made to promote the steady growth of real estate credit; defer repayments on loans to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, individual businesses and truck drivers; and postpone repayments on housing, consumption and other loans that were severely affected by the epidemic, according to the meeting.

The PBOC has pledged to double the quota of inclusive loans to smaller businesses, guide local financial institutions to grant more loans, and roll out new policies to enhance credit support.
May 25 2022

Aberdeen City Council has taken possession of the 16m Milltimber Primary School from Robertson Construction.

Part of the Oldfold Farm development the Scott Brownrigg designed replacement school has a capacity of 434 pupils plus 60 early learning and childcare places.

Situated on the western outskirts of the city the school provides 14 classrooms arranged around four flexible 'learning plazas' to facilitate play, relaxation and study.

An outdoor learning space also provides opportunity to learn about food production with pupils encouraged to plant crops as part of a small orchard, promoting healthy eating and environmental awareness.

Milltimber leads three other new and replacement schools throughout the city at Countesswells, Riverbank and Torry which are due to be complete next year.

Photo provided by Aberdeen City Council
SIMFEROPOL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2022) A dual-currency zone has been introduced in the liberated part of the Zaporozhye Region, payments can be made both in Ukrainian hryvnias and in rubles, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the regional military-civilian administration, told Sputnik.

"A dual-currency zone has been introduced in the region. Payments can be made both in hryvnias and rubles.

All benefits will be paid in rubles. The arrival of the ruble has significantly revived the region's economy," Rogov said.

The Russian military, during a special operation to demilitarize Ukraine, took control of the Kherson Region in the south of the country and part of the Zaporozhye Region. Military-civilian administrations have been formed in the regions, broadcasting of Russian tv channels and radio stations has begun, and trade ties with Crimea are being restored.
(@FahadShabbir)

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2022) The United States will not renew the existing general license that provided Russia with a range of exemptions associated with the debt repayment and will let it expire on May 25, the US Treasury announced on Tuesday.

"OFAC (The Office of Foreign Assets Control) will not renew the provisions of GL-9C issued pursuant to the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 587, that expire on May 25, 2022 at 12:01 a.m. EDT (5:01 a.m. GMT)," the Treasury said in a press release.
(@FahadShabbir)

Fairfax, United States, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Lawyers for Amber Heard, after six weeks of scathing claims and counterclaims of domestic violence, rested their defense on Tuesday in the defamation suit filed by her ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Depp's attorneys responded by asking that Heard's countersuit against the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star be dismissed but the judge hearing the case in Virginia, near the US capital, declined to do so.

Judge Penney Azcarate said enough evidence has been presented for the seven-person jury to weigh the merits of Depp's defamation suit against Heard and her countersuit against him.

The 58-year-old Depp filed suit against Heard over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse.

" Heard, 36, who had a starring role in "Aquaman," did not name Depp in the op-ed, but he sued her for implying he was a domestic abuser and is seeking $50 million in damages.

The Texas-born Heard countersued, asking for $100 million and claiming she suffered "rampant physical violence and abuse" at his hands.

Depp, during his four days on the witness stand, denied ever striking Heard or any other woman and claimed that she was the one who was frequently violent.

Heard testified about a number of occasions during which she said she was assaulted by an intoxicated Depp.
Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :"To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away," said US President Joe Biden -- a twice-bereaved father channeling his own heartache to console a nation devastated by another mass shooting on Tuesday.

Over his long years in public office, the 79-year-old Democrat has often spoken about the tragic death of his infant daughter.

Naomi, aged one, died in a 1972 car crash, which also took the life of Biden's first wife Neilia.

Biden has also publicly mourned the 2015 death of his eldest son Beau, taken by brain cancer at just 46 years old.

But on Tuesday, he reached for those two instances of life-changing grief to comfort a new set of families whose lives have been torn asunder.

Hours after a teenage gunman killed at least 19 young children at an elementary school in Ulvade, Texas, Biden stepped up to a presidential lectern in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

Like his successors, Biden was being called on to deliver remarks that would explain the inexplicable to Americans and to the world.

But his thoughts, and his remarks quickly turned to a much narrower audience.

"There are parents who will never see their child again, never have them jump in bed and cuddle with them.

Parents who will never be the same," he said.

"There's a hollowness in your chest, and you feel like you're being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out," he said, eyes occasionally flitting downward and his hands tightening.

"It's suffocating. And it's never quite the same." When Biden has given speeches after such shootings -- most recently after a racist massacre in Buffalo, New York -- or after disasters, he has often reached for words of hope, as well as condolences.

He has promised bereaved families that a day will come when their pain would ease, when the memory of a loved one will bring smiles and not just tears.

But on Tuesday, he offered no such a horizon.

Instead, this devoutly Catholic president turned to his wife of more than four decades, first lady Dr Jill Biden, and to a faith that has comforted him over the years.

"'The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit,' So many crushed spirits," he said.

"So, tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them, to give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.""Our prayer tonight is for those parents, lying in bed and trying to figure out, 'Will I be able to sleep again? What do I say to my other children? What happens tomorrow?'"
(@FahadShabbir)

Seoul, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :North Korea fired three ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan early Wednesday, Seoul's military said, just one day after President Joe Biden wrapped up his first Asia visit as US leader.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that it had "detected at around 0600 (2100 GMT), 0637 and 0642 the firings of ballistic missiles launched from Sunan area." Japan's coastguard warned of a "possible ballistic missile" launch from North Korea, telling vessels to stay away from fallen objects in the waters.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that Tokyo was trying to confirm information about the launch.

South Korea's new President Yoon Suk-yeol will oversee a meeting of the National Security Council at 0730 to discuss the launches, his office said.

Yoon, who was sworn in earlier this month, has vowed to get tough with Pyongyang after five years of failed diplomacy.

The Wednesday launches are the latest in a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests by Pyongyang this year, including test-firing intercontinental ballistic missiles at full range for the first time since 2017.

The latest apparent test come just days after Biden left South Korea Sunday after a trip overshadowed by US officials warning that Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un could carry out a nuclear test while Biden was in the region.

While in South Korea, Biden joined Yoon for talks, including discussing expanded military exercises to counter Kim's sabre rattling.

Joint exercises had been scaled back due to Covid and in order for Biden and Yoon's predecessors, Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in, to embark on a round of high-profile but ultimately unsuccessful diplomacy with North Korea.

Any build-up of forces or expansion of joint military exercises would likely enrage Pyongyang, which views the drills as rehearsals for invasion.

On his last day in Seoul, Biden told reporters he had a only a short message for Kim: "Hello. Period." And he added that the United States was "prepared for anything North Korea does." Kim has recently doubled down on his programme of military modernisation.

Despite struggling with a recent Covid-19 outbreak, new satellite imagery has indicated the North has resumed construction at a long-dormant nuclear reactor.

Earlier this month, North Korea confirmed its first ever Omicron cases in Pyongyang, and the virus has since torn through its unvaccinated population of 25 million.

More than three million people have been sick with "fever" North Korean state media said Wednesday, with 68 deaths since the outbreak began in late April.

How that crisis might impact Kim's decision on nuclear tests is one of the many unknowns that US and South Korean officials have been weighing.

On May 12, North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles the same day that leader Kim declared an "emergency" over the Covid outbreak.

A few days earlier, North Korea test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile, which itself came just three days after a separate ballistic missile launch.

North Korea's state media, which typically reports on weapons tests within 24 hours of a successful launch, has not commented on any of those tests.

South Korea said last week that North Korea's preparations for a nuclear test had been completed, and they were waiting for the right time.
Belarus was actively participating in the first phase of Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine by allowing Russian troops to use Belarusian territory for their actions in the eastern European country. Minsk now seems to be preparing for Poland's potential involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

According to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, countries of the world should unite and prevent the regional conflict in Europe from escalating into a full-scale world war.

"What worries us is that the Poles and NATO are ready to come out and help take western Ukraine like it was before 1939," Lukashenko said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Sochi on May 23.

The Belarusian leader also stressed that Ukrainians will eventually have to "ask Belarus to prevent the separation of their country."

In other words, Lukashenko directly accused NATO and Poland of plotting to partition Ukraine. Such a statement came one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a "historic" joint customs control with Warsaw.

"Unity of Ukrainians and Poles is a constant that no one will break," Zelenskyy stressed, following the meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy also announced that a draft law on the special legal status of Polish citizens living in Ukraine would be submitted to the countrys parliament shortly. Once the law is adopted, Poles would likely be able to be elected as state authorities in Ukraine, and the two countries' security forces are expected to be integrated.

Such a scenario, according to Moscow, could have an impact on the future of Ukraine. Russia, just like Belarus, claims that Poland will not hesitate to seize lands in western Ukraine.

"Knowing history well, I do not doubt for a second that given half a chance, Poland will snatch western Ukrainian territories from its friend Ukraine," said Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky on May 18, emphasizing that the authorities in Ukraine "have such friends that they do not need enemies."

At this point, however, any annexation by Poland of Ukrainian territories does not seem very probable. However, if the conflict in the Eastern European country continues to drag on  which is something that Lukashenko recently warned about  it is entirely possible that Polish, or troops of other neighboring NATO countries, will eventually enter western Ukraine.

Not long ago, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev stressed that Warsaw aims to deploy "NATO peacekeeping forces" to Ukraine. Such a move would allow the Ukrainian army to freely redeploy its troops from the West of the country to the Donbas, as well as to southern parts of Ukraine, given that Polish or other NATO forces would secure its western flank.

At the same time, Polands potential involvement in the Ukraine conflict would put Russia in a very difficult position. If the Russian army engages in a direct fight against Polish troops in Ukraine, it will be a de facto "proxy World War III" that Moscow and Warsaw would fight on the Ukrainian territory. If, however, Russia turns a blind eye to Polish actions, the West will undoubtedly interpret it as a serious demonstration of Russian weakness and will likely continue deploying NATO troops to Ukraine.

Quite aware that such a scenario is not off the table, Lukashenko recently said that "under certain circumstances, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine might fight against Poland for preservation of Ukrainian territorial integrity." The problem, however, is that the very term "Ukraine's territorial integrity" has already become quite fluid. For Moscow, the Donbas and Crimea are not part of Ukraine, and the southern part of Ukraine has been effectively under Russian control for almost three months. Thus, there is no doubt that certain political forces in Warsaw would seek to annex Lviv, and some other regions of western Ukraine that were part of Poland until 1939. However, it is highly uncertain if the U.S. would give Polish authorities the green light for such an adventure.

Minsk, for its part, has already started preparing for a potential escalation. On May 10, Viktor Gulevich, Belarusian chief of general staff, accused Washington and its allies of building up military personnel on Belarusian borders, which is why the Russian ally deployed its air defense, artillery and missile units for drills in the west of the country. Ukrainian armed forces, on the other hand, have reportedly built a new line of defense along the nation's border with Belarus, which suggests that Kyiv is taking Gulevich and Lukashenko's statements very seriously.

Ever since the Ukraine conflict escalated, the Belarusian leader repeatedly vowed not to send troops to the eastern European country, and the Kremlin never publicly pressured Lukashenko to make such a radical move. However, closer military and political ties between Warsaw and Kyiv could force Moscow and Minsk to eventually change their strategy.

Indeed, the situation in Ukraine is becoming more unpredictable and potentially escalatory.
(@FahadShabbir)

Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Fourteen students and a teacher were shot dead Tuesday when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at their Texas elementary school, the latest in the United States' relentless cycle of school mass shootings.

Here are America's deadliest classroom gun massacres in the last two decades.

- Columbine High School (1999) - Two teenagers from Columbine, Colorado, armed with an assortment of weapons and homemade bombs, went on a rampage at their local high school.

Twelve students and a teacher were killed during the April 20 massacre. Another 24 people were wounded.

Columbine, whose name has become synonymous with school shootings, is one of the first -- and still among the deadliest -- such shootings in the United States.

- Virginia Tech (2007) - A South Korean student at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute opened fire on the Blacksburg, Virginia, campus, killing 32 students and professors before committing suicide.

Thirty-three people were wounded.

The gunman had apparently idolized the Columbine shooters, referring to them as "martyrs" in a video, part of a hate-filled manifesto he mailed to police during the shooting.

- Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012) - A 20-year-old man with a history of mental health issues killed his mother in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14 before blasting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Twenty children, aged six and seven, were shot dead, as well as six adults. The shooter then committed suicide.

The parents of Sandy Hook victims have led numerous campaigns to toughen gun control laws, but their efforts have largely failed.

Some conspiracy theorists insist the massacre was a government hoax, claiming the shooting involved "actors" in a plot to discredit the gun lobby.

- Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (2018) - On February 14, a 19-year-old former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who was expelled for disciplinary reasons returned to the Parkland, Florida, school and opened fire.

He killed 14 students and three adult staff.

Stoneman Douglas students have become crusaders against gun violence under the banner "March for Our Lives," lobbying for tougher gun control laws and organizing protests and rallies.

Their campaign has taken off on social media, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of young Americans.

- Santa Fe High School (2018) - Ten people, including eight students, were killed when a 17-year-old student armed with a shotgun and a revolver opened fire on his classmates in rural Santa Fe, Texas.

Classes had just started on the morning of May 18 when the shooting began.

Following the tragedy, Texas Governor Greg Abbott unveiled 40 recommendations, mainly focused on increasing armed security on school campuses and stepping up mental health screenings to identify troubled children.

Gun ownership can be a point of pride for many Texans, and even some Santa Fe High School students spoke out against linking the shooting to the need for better gun control.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah on Wednesday underlined the need for convening a conference on important national issues like climate change and water scarcity aimed at devising an effective strategy to tackle the confronted challenges

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah on Wednesday underlined the need for convening a conference on important national issues like climate change and water scarcity aimed at devising an effective strategy to tackle the confronted challenges.

Responding to a Calling Attention Notice regarding the shortage of water in Cholistan, he said there was a drought-like situation, the area had faced in 1910 and the shortage of water supply would further deteriorate the situation.

Currently, the water in and out-flow at almost all dams had considerably decreased and even the Mangla dam reached below its dead level, declaring it 'dangerous' having a negative impact on the national economy.

The minister said the climate change was badly affecting the country as in August there would be excessive water due to melting of snow in mountains, advising the Ministry of Climate change to work on war-footing and suggest corrected measures for the agriculture sector for effective utilization of water.

Answering a supplementary question, Khursheed Shah also stressed the need for judicious utilization of underground water for irrigation purposes, adding at present there was around 45-47 per cent water shortage.

He said the country had sufficient water but there was a need for better management by increasing its storage capacity with the construction of new dams.

He was of the view that there should be more dams in the next 4-5 years to preserve the water that went to the sea unutilized, and vowed to make utmost efforts for allocating 10 per cent of the next PSDP to funds for the construction of dams.

"It will help build 2-3 new dams by 2025-26, and there will be no problem of water shortage." The minister said if looked at the increasing population, there could be severe issues of food security and water shortage by 2030, adding it was the collective responsibility of everyone to make future planning in that regard.

Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the country had enough water but storage capacity had decreased over time and increased consumption of water.

He said natural storages had also vanished due to a fast pace of construction activities in rural areas.

He underscored the significance of using modern irrigation techniques as these would help preserve water and produce better yields. "Around 70 per cent water of the country is used for irrigation, if the modern techniques are adopted it will preserve half of it (70%)." The minister also highlighted the issue of water wastage and theft that needed due attention for its redressal, suggesting hiring services of experts that how water could be preserved and better utilized.

He requested owners of television channels to air a public-service message of 5-10 seconds creating awareness among the public for judicious utilization of water and stopping its wastage.
Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan on Wednesday said there would be no reconciliation with the armed group, planning advancement towards Islamabad in the name of long march against the democratic and constitutional government

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan on Wednesday said there would be no reconciliation with the armed group, planning advancement towards Islamabad in the name of long march against the democratic and constitutional government.

Addressing a news conference along with Minister of State for Petroleum Senator Dr Musadik Malik here, he said all possible measures would be taken to ensure protection of life and property.

"The government has decided that there will be no reconciliation with Imrani group," he said, adding freedom of expression was the constitutional and democratic right but no one would be allowed to create anarchy.

"It is our unflinching resolve that we will defend the constitutional government, life and property at all costs," he said.

He recalled that in 2014 the PTI had staged a violent 126-day long protest/sit-in in the Federal Capital, during which its workers led by Imran Khan resorted to attack on Parliament, Police, Radio & ptv buildings, instigating the public for civil disobedience.

Now, the PTI leadership was hurling the same threats and bloodshed to achieve their ulterior motives.

The minister said the PTI was using Khyber Pakhtunkwa government's resources in its long march.

He said the federal government was acting upon the guidelines in the light of the apex court's 2019 decision in the Faizabad sit-in case, which clearly stated that constitutional right of public gathering could not be used to topple a constitutional government. "The right to assembly is recognized as a right to preserve the democratic order, it cannot be used to overthrow a lawful government nor can the right of assembly be used to bring about a revolution or insurrection," he said quoting some part of the judgment.

He said the court also observed that the roads neither could be used for 'camping grounds' nor blocked for indefinite period, as these were meant for free public mobility.

Khurram was of the view that the right of assembly could not be used for bulldozing the rights of other citizens like routine life and employment related activities.

Besides, he said, the court observed that if any party attempted fanning hatred, contempt and violence against governments, it would fall in 'sedition.' Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik said staging protest was the constitutional right of every citizen but no one could be allowed to besiege the federal capital and putting the life and property at risk in the pretext of long march.

He said it was evident from the public speeches of PTI leadership that the long march would be 'bloody' that had now been confirmed through some intelligence reports about carrying weapons and ammunition in the rally with the sole purpose of creating anarchy in the country.

Based on the intelligence reports, he said, the government had decided 'door-knocking' of some people to investigate them in that regard, during which a constable embraced martyrdom. "It proved the march is bloody." Recently, he said, during a raid automatic weapons and ammunition were allegedly recovered from the House of PTI's general secretary.

Dr Musadik said the apex court had asked the PTI to give in writing that the long march would be peaceful, but they refused.

Keeping in view all these things, he reiterated that all possible steps were being adopted for the rule of law, protection to life and property of public and "strengthening the state."Answering a question, the Petroleum minister said the government had ensured sufficient stocks of petroleum products in the country, saying there were 15-20 percent additional stocks for May as compared to the same month of the last year.
Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday decided to form a joint working group to further explore opportunities in the health sector for further strengthening cooperation in this area

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday decided to form a joint working group to further explore opportunities in the health sector for further strengthening cooperation in this area.

The Director General Health Pakistan and Special Assistant to Iranian Health Minister were identified as focal points from both sides, says a fax message received here from Geneva on Wednesday.

The decision was made during a meeting held between Federal Minister for Health Abdul Qadir Patel and Minister of Health and Medical education, Iran Dr. Bahram Einollahi, on the sidelines of World Health Assembly in Geneva.

The minister said Pakistan and Iran enjoy long-standing brotherly relations. Both countries have commonality of views on global public health issues and enhanced consultation and coordination would be useful, he said.

He said that Iran has carried out excellent reforms in the health sector specially in terms of improving health care services. Iran has done commendable work in extending health insurance coverage, he said.

The situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates stepped up bilateral cooperation and exchange of views. Achieving international public health security remains a key objective and it will however face challenges of funding sources and priorities, he said.

He said,"Pakistan believes there is a need for enhanced international cooperation and assistance to strengthen national health systems and to ensure all people enjoy the basic right to health.

" Both dignitaries consider areas of cooperation including enhanced cross border cooperation for infectious diseases control, exchange of experts for technical assistance on Universal Health Coverage focusing on strengthening public health and Primary health care delivery, Exchange of healthcare financing experts for lesson sharing and guidance for developing healthcare financing policies, cooperation in medical training and research, and assist medical professionals by granting fellowships from respective institutions and cooperation in developing mental health infrastructure and trainings regarding mental health services in outreach facilities.

During the meeting it was highlighted that in the global health context, both countries should work closely with other EMRO Member States and WHO to ensure that realization of tangible measures to promote health remains at the forefront of the global development agenda.

For this purpose it was agreed that respective Missions of both countries in Geneva may work closely especially on important matters like the upcoming negotiations on proposed pandemic treaty, International Health Regulations amendments, and sustainable finances of WHO.

Pakistan has recently been selected as one of the recipients of mRNA technology. "Once this arrangement matures, we would help expand vaccine supply to EMRO region and beyond," the minister shared.
Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the Indian Charge d'Affaires (Cd'A) to the Foreign Office and conveyed Pakistan's strongest condemnation and rejection of the malafide conviction and sentencing of Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik in a "grossly suspicious and contrived" case

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the Indian Charge d'Affaires (Cd'A) to the Foreign Office and conveyed Pakistan's strongest condemnation and rejection of the malafide conviction and sentencing of Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik in a "grossly suspicious and contrived" case.

The case was registered under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Indian Penal Code (IPC), dating back to 2017, by the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Foreign Office spokesperson said in a statement.

The Indian Cd'A was conveyed that the Government of Pakistan's strong indignation over the highly reprehensible sentencing of Yasin Malik after his conviction on fabricated charges, denial of fair trial and inhuman incarceration despite his deteriorating health, in complete defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

It was highlighted that by implicating him in a concocted case and carrying out a bogus and one-sided trial, India has again misused the judiciary in the outrageous execution of political vendetta against the Kashmiri leadership.

It was conveyed that the abhorrent Indian attempts seeking to defile the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiris for their right to self-determination as "terrorism" only substantiated India's deeply etched credentials as a 'serial violator' of human rights and usurper of the fundamental freedoms of the Kashmiris.

The Cd'A was told that the Government of Pakistan remained deeply concerned over the inhuman conditions under which Yasin Malik has been detained in Tihar Jail since 2019.

Recalling the martyrdom of Hurriyat leader Ashraf Sehrai, last year in brutal Indian custody after his victimization and arrest under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA), the Indian Cd'A was conveyed Pakistan's grave apprehensions regarding Yasin Malik's well-being especially given the ruthless treatment meted out to him in the Indian jail despite his chronic ailments which has resulted in a sharp decline of his health.

The official was further asked to advise his government to acquit Yasin Malik from all baseless charges, ensure his well-being and arrange for his immediate release from the prison.

Moreover, the Government of India must release all Kashmiri leaders incarcerated on trumped-up charges, halt forthwith the gross and systematic persecution of Kashmiris in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), cease the use of state-terrorism as a policy tool.

India was also asked to let the people of IIOJK determine their own future through a free and impartial plebiscite under the United Nations auspices as enshrined in the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Pakistan also asked the international community, cognizant of the worst human rights violations and the atrocities being perpetrated by India in the IIOJK, to take immediate stock of the aggravating situation in the IIOJK and press India to fulfill its obligations under the international humanitarian law and the Charter of the United Nations.
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Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Security Shazia Marri on Wednesday expressed her deep grief and sorrow over the demise of senior journalist Talat Aslam

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Security Shazia Marri on Wednesday expressed her deep grief and sorrow over the demise of senior journalist Talat Aslam.

In her condolence message, Shazia Marri also expressed her sympathy to bereaved family members.

The minister also prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved family members to bear this irreparable loss.
(@FahadShabbir)

Scientists have demonstrated that normal brain ageing is accelerated by approximately 26 per cent in people with progressive Type 2 diabetes compared with individuals without the disease, said a medical study

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Scientists have demonstrated that normal brain ageing is accelerated by approximately 26 per cent in people with progressive Type 2 diabetes compared with individuals without the disease, said a medical study.

There is already strong evidence linking Type 2 diabetes with cognitive decline, yet few patients currently undergo a comprehensive cognitive assessment as part of their clinical care.

The results, published today in eLife, suggest that by the time Type 2 diabetes is formally diagnosed, there may already be significant structural damage to the brain. The findings also suggest that the patterns of Type 2 diabetes-related neurodegeneration strongly overlap with those of normal ageing, but that neurodegeneration is accelerated, Medical Daily reported.

Sensitive ways to detect diabetes-associated changes to the brain are therefore urgently needed.

"Routine clinical assessments for diagnosing diabetes typically focus on blood glucose, insulin levels and body mass percentage," said Botond Antal, a doctoral student at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, US.

"However, the neurological effects of Type 2 diabetes may reveal themselves many years before they can be detected by standard measures, so by the time Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed by conventional tests, patients may have already sustained irreversible brain damage," Antal added.

The team evaluated the relationship between typical brain ageing and that seen in Type 2 diabetes from a dataset, which includes brain scans and brain function measurements, of 20,000 people aged 50 to 80 years old.

The results were then compared with a meta-analysis of nearly 100 other studies.

Their analysis showed that both ageing and Type 2 diabetes cause changes in executive functions such as working memory, learning and flexible thinking, and changes in brain processing speed.

However, people with diabetes had a further 13.1 per cent decrease in executive function beyond age-related effects, and their processing speed decreased by a further 6.7 per cent compared to people of the same age without diabetes.

Further, MRI scans of people with and without diabetes showed that people with diabetes had even more pronounced decreases in gray matter beyond the typical age-related effects  a further 6.2 per cent decrease in grey matter in the ventral striatum, but also loss of grey matter in other regions, compared with normal ageing.

"Our findings suggest that Type 2 diabetes and its progression may be associated with accelerated brain ageing, potentially due to compromised energy availability causing significant changes to brain structure and function," said Lilianne Mujica-Parodi, at the varsity's Director of the Laboratory for Computational Neurodiagnostics.

"By the time diabetes is formally diagnosed, this damage may already have occurred. Our results underscore the need for research into brain-based biomarkers for Type 2 diabetes and treatment strategies that specifically target its neurocognitive effects," Mujica-Parodi noted.
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Five foreign vessels were able to leave the port of Mariupol after demining, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2022) Five foreign vessels were able to leave the port of Mariupol after demining, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"On May 24, Russian engineers cleared the port in Mariupol, experts of the Black Sea Fleet transported a Ukrainian border patrol ship flooded by the so-called Azov people  that is, representatives of nationalist battalions  from the fairway. As a result, five foreign ships were able to go to sea," she said at a briefing in Moscow.
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Moscow is calling on its African partners to demand that the West lifts anti-Russian sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2022) Moscow is calling on its African partners to demand that the West lifts anti-Russian sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

He stressed that Russia would continue to faithfully fulfill its contractual obligations to supply food, fertilizers and energy to the countries of the continent.

"We call on our friends, the African Union, to demand, persistently demand from the West the lifting of illegal unilateral sanctions that undermine the transport and logistics infrastructure necessary for world trade, which creates risks primarily for vulnerable segments of the population," Lavrov said, speaking at a reception on the occasion of Africa Day.

"The voice of Africa must be heard. A more principled position on this issue should be taken by the UN Secretary General," the minister noted.

Russia and Africa need to create joint financial mechanisms protected from Western pressure, Lavrov said.

African countries take a balanced and objective position on the situation in Ukraine, despite Washington's discriminatory pressure, the minister said.

"I note with satisfaction that African countries take a balanced and objective position regarding what is happening in Ukraine and around it. We know that the unceremonious line of behavior of Western countries sometimes provokes open rejection on the African continent," the minister said.

He also expressed confidence that "African friends will not succumb to Washington's discriminatory pressure."

Russia highly appreciates the readiness of African countries to further expand the political dialogue with Russia, build up economic, humanitarian and other interaction, Lavrov said.
SEOUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2022) The South Korean military, jointly with their US counterparts, fired two missiles in response to North Korean missile tests on Wednesday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of the Republic of Korea said.

In the morning of May 25, North Korea launched three ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan, all launches were conducted from the Sunan area in Pyongyang.

"Our army, in response to today's provocation by North Korea... conducted the Elephant Walk exercises, as well as launches by missile units of South Korea and the United States," the JCS said.
Gina Heckey has always loved animals.

Heckey, who works as senior executive for the Foundation at Beatrice Community Hospital, got her start in non-profits at an early age.

I tell a story when Im meeting many people about how philanthropy is kind of in my blood, Heckey said. Growing up, my mom was big into fundraising and volunteering. And she was actually the volunteer coordinator for our humane society in Greely, Colorado. So I was volunteering at humane societies when I was very young.

Now, Heckey has come full circle with her appointment as chair of the six-member Beatrice Humane Society Board at the beginning of 2022.

Anyone whos spent any time with Gina will know shes an animal lover, Carlee Fiddes, shelter manager, said. If you look at her watch face right now, its her dog.

Heckey said she is brining that love of animals and her experience in non-profit fundraisingwith a career that put her in the same Montana hospital as BCH CEO Rick Haraldsonto fore in her Board leadership.

Heckey just weeks ago graduated from the Lily School of Philanthropy with a masters in philanthropic studies. She said the Humane Society is on the right course and blooming into an influential organization in Beatrice.

Fiddes said the Humane Society has come a long way in recent years.

We used to be a more rag-tag city shelter, she said. We used to have a machine shop downtown that we were gifted to become the shelter That was what this organization started out as. It was born out of necessity. And weve grown into this really amazing non-profit that has so much more to offer than just sheltering those strays. To actually be able to be a no-kill shelter and be a champion voice for animals here in the community.

Heckey said the non-profit, which employs seven staff members and works with dozens of volunteers, need only stay the course.

We really did use to be a charity that was wholly dependent on our partnership with the City and the County, she said. And it was not a decision that we made to say, Oh, we need to do bigger things. The community started investing more in this organization So the community really grew the organization for us. And now really all we have to do is be good stewards of that and show them that weve been able to build off all that and create a really partnership-driven, professional-driven persona.

Heckey said the Humane Society should continue to grow its partnerships with aspects of the community.

Our first goal is always to take care of all the animals in this community, Heckey said. This community is it for us. On the other hand, we have the capacity and the knowledge and the professionalism to be able to help make so much more of an impact than even that. So doing that always with the understanding that our community comes first.

Fiddes said she is confident Heckey is the right person to lead the Board.

Heckey moved to Beatrice in 2019, and in those short three years, she's left fingerprints of her passion for community development across the town.

In a small towns, it takes a long time to become a local, she said. Im probably not see as a local yet Our board is made up of people who have been working with this organization for years. So while I seem kind of new, everything that I do and everything that this board will do is driven toward the longevity of the Humane Society. And really, how we can make this community a better place.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will convene the National Security Council on May 26 to discuss the applications of Finland and Sweden to join NATO, Turkish media reported on Wednesday

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2022) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will convene the National Security Council on May 26 to discuss the applications of Finland and Sweden to join NATO, Turkish media reported on Wednesday.

In addition to the applications of Sweden and Finland to join NATO, the council will discuss the progress of Operation Claw-Lock in northern Iraq and the alleged accumulation of military assets by neighboring Greece, the Anadolu news agency said.

The Turkish security council's third meeting since the start of 2022 will also discuss Russia's military operation in Ukraine, with an emphasis on Turkey's mediation efforts and developments in the Black Sea, the report said.

Regarding the situation in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean seas, the council will consider in detail the protection of the interests and rights of Turkey and the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The council will also discuss steps to establish a security zone along the southern borders of Turkey, including by means of counterterrorist operations, the report said.

On May 18, Sweden and Finland submitted their applications for NATO membership to the alliance's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. Turkey reportedly blocked the start of consideration of their applications and Erdogan has repeatedly said that he cannot "assess positively" the membership of the Nordic states in NATO due to their support for the Kurdistan Workers' Party and Kurdish YPG militia, which are designated as terrorist organizations by Ankara.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blasted the West for lacking unity on Wednesday, as the Russian invasion entered its fourth month and Moscow's troops advanced in eastern Ukraine

Kyiv, Ukraine, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blasted the West for lacking unity on Wednesday, as the Russian invasion entered its fourth month and Moscow's troops advanced in eastern Ukraine.

Russian forces relentlessly bombarded the industrial city of Severodonetsk while attempting to encircle it, a key goal of recent fighting in Ukraine's Donbas region.

However, Moscow told the West to lift sanctions to stave off a global food crisis sparked by the war between two countries that together produce nearly a third of the world's wheat.

Zelensky renewed calls for heavy weapons from foreign partners, saying the billions of Dollars' worth already put up were not enough to help Ukraine's outgunned forces.

"Unity is about weapons. My question is, is there this unity in practice? I can't see it. Our huge advantage over Russia would be when we are truly united," Zelensky said via videolink to an event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Zelensky said Ukraine was grateful for US support, but urged Europe to step up, specifically naming neighbouring Hungary which is blocking an EU-wide embargo on Russian oil.

The Ukrainian president said hours earlier in his daily address to the nation that Russian forces "want to destroy everything" in eastern Ukraine.

Western funds and weapons have helped Ukraine hold off its neighbour's advances in many areas, including the capital Kyiv.

Russia is now focused on expanding its gains in eastern Donbas, home to pro-Russian separatists, as well as the southern coast.

- 'Completely destroy' - The governor of the eastern region of Lugansk, Sergiy Gaidai, said Severodonetsk was being hammered by air strikes, rockets, artillery and mortars in a bid to solidify control over the province and move further into Ukraine.

"The Russian army has decided to completely destroy Severodonetsk. They are simply erasing Severodonetsk from the face of the earth," Gaidai said in a video on Telegram.

In the town of Soledar, Ukraine's salt manufacturing hub, the ground shook moments after Natalia Timofeyenko climbed out of her bunker to reassure herself that she was not alone.

"I go outside just to see people. I know that there is shelling out there but I go," the 47-year-old said after a thundering blast smashed apart a chunk of a mammoth salt mine where she worked with most of her friends and neighbours.

Ghostly frontline towns like Soledar are being hammered by Russian artillery as they sit along the crucial road that leads out of besieged Severodonetsk and its sister city Lysychansk.

Twelve people were killed by "extremely heavy shelling and attacks" in the neighbouring region of Donetsk, which also forms part of Donbas, the Ukrainian presidency said.

In a sign that the rest of the country remains at risk, Russian cruise missiles struck the major southern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and damaging dozens of houses, the presidency added.

- 'Solving the food problem' - In Moscow, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made it clear Russia was settling in for a long conflict.

"We will continue the special military operation until all the objectives have been achieved," he said, using President Vladimir Putin's name for the war.

Tough sanctions imposed after Russia's February 24 invasion of its pro-Western neighbour are causing food shortages around the world, Moscow added.

"Solving the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the removal of sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions," said Russian deputy foreign minister, Andrey Rudenko.

He also demanded that Ukraine de-mine its ports.

The West argues it is Russia's offensive in Ukraine and blockade of Ukraine's ports that has pushed global food prices to an all-time high -- sparking fears of worsening hunger, particularly in Africa.

Vital supplies are running short in Ukraine itself as the Kremlin's war grinds on -- including water.

"I have a family of four. Can you imagine how much water we need to wash, to cook food, to make some tea?" asked Valeriy Baryshev, a 27-year-old baker, as he strapped jugs of drinking water to the back of his bike in the southern port of Mykolaiv.

- 'It is just war' - A swathe of southern Ukraine meanwhile is living under Russian occupation.

Two hundred bodies were found in the basement of a destroyed building of the port city of Mariupol, which fell to Moscow recently after a devastating siege, Ukrainian authorities said.

As the locals refused to collect and pack the heavily decomposed bodies, the Russian emergency workers just left the scene, Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said on Telegram Wednesday.

"It is impossible to be within the area due to the corpse smell," she wrote. "The occupiers turned the entire Mariupol into a cemetery." Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko, speaking to Davos via video-link, warned that 100,000 people were without water, food and electricity, and warned disease risked further fatalities.

Residents meanwhile expressed concerns about the future in Kherson, about 400 kilometres (240 miles) west of Mariupol, which has been fully controlled by Russian forces since early in the war.

Moscow-backed officials are pushing for formal annexation by Russia.

"People are very apprehensive," trolleybus driver Alexander Loginov, 47, told AFP from the cabin of his vehicle, during a press trip organised by the Russian defence ministry.

Day-to-day life remains marked by uncertainty, especially over payment of salaries as "Ukrainian banks are closing".

"To be honest, it is just war," Loginov added.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th May, 2022) The United States will maintain the sanctions it has imposed on Russia even if Moscow unblocks Ukraine's sea ports to allow for grain exports amid its special military operation, US State Department spokesperson Ned price told reporters on Wednesday.

"So, we certainly won't lift our sanctions in response to empty promises and we have heard empty promises before from the Russian Federation. I think we have all have good reason to be skeptical when we hear various pledges and offers from Russia," Price said when asked to comment on Russia's announced readiness to unblock Ukraine's sea ports in exchange for lifting sanctions.

Price added that US sanctions are not causing disruptions to Russia's agricultural exports and were specifically designed to allow for the export of agricultural commodities and fertilizer.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said Moscow is ready to launch humanitarian corridors to unblock Ukraine's sea ports for exports of Ukrainian grain, but Kiev must first ensure that ports are cleared of mines.

Rudenko also said that Moscow is open to engage in a dialogue on food security, yet a "comprehensive approach" is needed to address the unfolding food crisis, including the lifting of sanctions against Russia.

Numerous countries and international organizations have been calling for unblocking Ukraine's sea ports and releasing the grain stuck in warehouses, seeking to curtail rising food prices and deliver crops to the regions facing acute food insecurity as soon as possible.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2022) The United States condemns North Korea's new missile launches and urges Pyongyang to stop provocations, a State Department spokesperson told Sputnik.

In the morning of May 25, North Korea launched three ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan, all launches were conducted from the Sunan area in Pyongyang.

"The United States condemns the DPRK's multiple ballistic missile launches earlier today. These launches are a violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, and are a threat to the region," the State Department spokesperson said.

"We call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue. Our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad," the spokesperson said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that the West remained divided over the extent of its support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia's months-long invasion

Davos, Switzerland, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2022 ) :Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that the West remained divided over the extent of its support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia's months-long invasion.

"Unity is about weapons. My question is, is there this unity in practice? I can't see it. Our huge advantage over Russia would be when we are truly united," Zelensky said during a panel discussion on Ukraine at the World Economic Forum.

Washington and European countries have poured billions of Dollars' worth of arms into Ukraine to help the country's outgunned forces beat back the better-armed Russian invaders.

Kyiv has called for greater support, membership to the US-led NATO military alliance, and for a no-fly zone to be imposed over the country.

Zelensky said Ukraine was grateful for support from US President Joe Biden but said resolve was lagging closer to home.

"We are on the European continent and we need the support of a united Europe," he added.

Zelensky specifically named neighbouring Hungary, which has voiced opposition to a European Union-wide embargo on Russian oil, another key Ukrainian demand.

"Hungary is not as united as rest of EU," Zelensky said.
SIMFEROPOL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2022) The Zaporozhye Region, after its complete liberation from Ukrainian nationalists, will set a course towards becoming part of Russia, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the region's military-civilian administration, told Sputnik.

"There can be only one future for the Zaporozhye Region - it should be part of Russia, should become a full-fledged constituent entity of the Russian Federation. We do not need gray zones, we do not need the Zaporozhye People's Republic. We want to be part of Russia, as we always were for hundreds of years," Rogov said.

"We have always been an advanced part of the Russian Empire.

The population of the Zaporozhye Region is absolutely Russian in mentality, so it will take a few months to fully adapt. More and more people are actively in favor of rapprochement with Russia," he said.

The Russian military, during a special operation to demilitarize Ukraine, took control of the Kherson Region in the south of the country and part of the Zaporozhye Region. Military-civilian administrations have been formed in the regions, broadcasting of Russian tv channels and radio stations has begun, and trade ties with Crimea are being restored.
The Beatrice Board of Education Committee of the Whole met to hear site plans for the preschool and high school and an update on the new elementary building project on Tuesday, May 24.

Director of Early Childhood Development Missy Timmerman discussed the preschools site plan. Timmerman said some of the schools focuses will be on professional development and addressing poverty.

Were seeing that gap grow, whether it be language, potty-training, just cleanliness, those things that are really, really hard to address, Timmerman said. So how do we help address that for parents district-wide.

Beatrice High School Principal Jason Sutter discussed the high school site plan. He mulled the possibility of a student ID plan.

We think that creating a student ID system that students would use for lunch codes, attendance, bathroom passes, etc we see that as a real impact on our school, he said. It would help us track kids. It would help us with attendance We dont think thats going to take us long to get that implemented and up and running, and we see that as a positive for our high school.

The Committee of the Whole heard from bond counsel about the project. Gilmore, Bell and Rogers bond attorney Michael Rogers said the Southeast Nebraska Education Association, the interlocal agency formed between Beatrice Public Schools and ESU 5, and BPS will give final authorization to the financing project soon.

There will be action items on the agenda in June to approve from the School Districts perspective, Rogers said. The interlocal agency has already been formed. Theyve been doing a lot of work. They will have a separate meeting to authorize the financing. They will actually be borrowing the money from Pinnacle Bank and doing the project. The school district will then lease it from the Southeast Nebraska Education Agency. So that will be on the agenda June 13, approving the lease the school district with enter into with the agency.

The financing is backed by the school districts current building fund levy.

The building will take up about 29 acres of the 92 acres the school district owns north of BHS.

The aim is to begin construction in July.

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Shamrock Foods, the largest family-owned independent foodservice distributor in the West, has opened a new store in Billings at 1323 Main St., in the Heights.

Shamrock Foodservice Warehouse provides a fresh, friendly and convenient shopping experience for restaurant operators, home shoppers, food trucks, caterers, small businesses, non-profits, and more, the company said in a press releases.

Featuring approximately 4,000 products, the store offers everything from high-quality meats and seafood to a variety of fresh produce and dairy, plus hundreds of items are Montana grown or manufactured. In addition, its stocked with disposables, cleaning supplies, kitchen equipment and appliances.

Our Shamrock Foodservice Warehouse stores are the shopping trifecta for foodservice customers and the general public because we offer the highest-quality chef-approved products, a clean and convenient shopping experience and unmatched service, said Ann Ocana, chief marketing officer for Shamrock Foods Company.

The store allows restaurant operators to replenish their kitchens with the same brands between scheduled Shamrock Foods deliveries. And, with no membership required, the store is also open to the public, providing convenient access to a full range of foodservice and wholesale grocery products at great prices, the company said.

As both the foodservice and culinary industry thrive throughout the region, we want to be the areas go-to resource for that movement, said Ocana. And, with Shamrock Foods Company celebrating our 100th year as a family-held business this year, weve proven to have the expertise, drive and commitment to support our foodservice industry partners now and into the future.

Grand opening activities include vendor demonstrations, exclusive giveaways for the first 100 customers with special savings and product sampling throughout grand opening week. The opening also serves as the kick-off to a month-long in-store food drive to benefit Billings Food Bank, with Shamrock Foodservice Warehouse donating an initial $2,000 to jumpstart the drive.

This year may mark a century in business, but Shamrock Foods Companys story is just beginning and were thrilled that our Billings store is now part of that narrative, said Ocana.

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The 102nd edition of Catholic Days (Katholikentag) opens Wednesday in the German city of Stuttgart, kicking off a five-day celebration marking a unique tradition in Germany and beyond, and offering a positive cultural and ecclesial impact on society.

By Stefan von Kempis

Catholic Days are usually held every other year in alternate cities. It is among the largest and most important social events in Germany and Europe. The Catholic Days can be compared to World Youth Days in terms of the festive atmosphere they create.



Katholikentag has a history going back more than 170 years. They offer an expression of the secular strength and responsibility of the lay people of the Catholic Church in Germany.

Read also 25/05/2022 Pope: Pray for peace and move forward together in solidarity In a message to participants at the 102nd Katholikentag (Catholic Days) event in Stuttgart, Germany, Pope Francis warmly greets them and calls on them to pray for peace and know ...

The founding moment of the current Katholikentag dates back to the "General Assembly of Catholic Associations of Germany," which took place in Mainz in 1848. In that same year, the German parliament met for the first time in St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt. In a sense, the birth of Catholic Days is thus linked to the beginnings of democracy in Germany.



This festival of faith was initially organized by the Pious Society for Religious Freedom, which over the course of history became the Central Committee of German Catholics. During the "Kulturkampf" under Bismarck at the end of the 19th century, the secular body opposed the government, ensured the survival of the Catholic Church in the German Reich and defended Catholics' ties with Rome against fierce opposition from the regime.

Festival of German faith

Many of the Catholic Days became important reference points for self-assertion for Catholics in 20th century society as well. It is therefore not surprising that the Katholikentag could not be organized during World War I and during the Third Reich.

The Katholikentag model also set a precedent, as even now the Protestant Church in Germany regularly organizes a "Kirchentag" - and recently there have also been "ecumenical Kirchentags." The third and most recent one took place last year in Frankfurt, but mostly online due to the pandemic.



Today, the Katholikentags are many things in one: a festival of faith, a place for the exchange of ideas and contacts, and a forum for debates that have an impact on German society. Political and religious leaders from Germany and abroad regularly attend the five-day event, and the Pope usually sends a message of greeting for the opening of the events. The Days conclude on Sunday with a solemn Mass.



In Stuttgart, the motto of Katholikentag 2022 is "sharing life." Organizers expect about 20,000 participants. The last major event had been attended by 80,000 people in Munster in 2018. As usual, Vatican News - Vatican Radio will be present with its own booth on the "Church Mile."

Interview with Marc Frings, General Secretary of the Central Committee of German Catholics, on the Katholikentage by Vatican News' Gudrun Sailer

Q: Katholikentage - literally: Catholic Days - have existed in Germany for almost 175 years. How do you briefly explain what it is to someone who has never been there?

Yes, indeed, we go back to a very long tradition. We started in 1848. But in a nutshell, I would say that a Katholikentag today is an event that lasts for five days, and that brings together several thousand participants who discuss, together with experts, political, church and social issues, and to celebrate faith and culture and take together, come and stand on trends and visions vis a vis current developments that we are facing in the world, not only within the Church, but also outside.



Q: The Katholikentag is predominantly organised and supported by lay people. To what extent does that shape the character of this event?



If we go back to history, I have to add that in the early beginnings, the bishops were even excluded, so it was a 100% laypeople only event. But today we partner every time together with the host diocese. So it's a close cooperation between the Central Committee of German Catholics and the German Bishops here in Germany. It's very important to say that it's a bottom up process.

It means that the whole program and we are talking about 1,500 events, panel discussions, workshops, cultural activities, is prepared and conducted by volunteers, mainly deriving from Catholic civil society. And it means that no one can complain about the program because it 100% represents the current priorities of representatives of the civil society coming both from the Catholic Church, but also from our ecumenical friends, from experts, from thinktanks, political parties, etc.

Marc Frings, General Secretary of the Central Committee of German Catholics

Q: Katholikentage show themselves open to ecumenism. What significance do these topics have at the Katholikentag?



I think it's an obvious trend that both German Catholic conventions, but also the Protestant conventions are moving closer together. We are now are more ecumenically driven today. I can say that we are hosting almost 150 workshops, panels, worships that are focused primarily on the ecumenical situation in Germany.

And I think this has also very practical dimension, given that most of the marriages in Germany today bring together partners from different confessions. So I think it's important that we do not only take a theological, very academic point of view, but also a practical one, because ecumenical life is something that goes very deep into private life of Christians in Germany.



Q: For what reason does the Katholikentag always, and even more this time, offer events on current socially relevant and political topics?



Historically speaking, this is where we are coming from. The lay people in Germany always wanted to penetrate the public arena with all their political convictions, ideas, concepts. This is where the Katholikentag movement comes from.

Our self proclaimed understanding until today is that we do not limit ourselves to church related debates, but that we want to change the world and our surroundings accordingly, and hence we translate our faith into action. And the Katholikentag may be the most visible tool that we use for this. We, as the Central Committee of German Catholics, also do political lobby work in Berlin, which is also where our office is spaced.

But it's important that we do not only discuss church related issues, but that we discuss, for example, climate change, post-colonialism, the war in Ukraine, the post-war situation of Afghanistan. So global topics as well as social dimensions, debates that take place only in Germany. This is something where we want to give in our opinions. And I think this is the very added value of the work of the Central Committee of German Catholics here in Germany.



Q: What significance does the Katholikentag have in the faith life of Germans today?



It's still very important, definitely, especially for those who are organized in associations and in unions and who play a significant role in the everyday life of Catholic Church. But we also have to face changing patterns.

The majority of Germans, of the majority of people living in Germany to be more correct, do not belong any longer to one of the two big churches in Germany. This means that we also have to adapt to a new reality, that we have to defend and explain better what we are doing, why we are doing it.



Q: In what sense the Katholikentag can be considered a faith event, a celebration of the Catholic religion?



This is definitely a very important pillar of every Katholikentag. Every Catholic convention consists of many worships, big celebrations that will take place publicly. We want to show our faith and our belief. And all of this takes place out of the usual boundaries in which we every day celebrate our Catholic, our Christian belief. And I think it's important also to discuss these issues not only within the worship, but also in special workshops that take place.

As you know, we are currently on the Synodal Path that also discussed the idea of a future Catholic Church. And this is why it's important also to have every two years such a Katholikentag where faith live also needs to be taken under review in order to see where the spiritual dimension of German Catholics also is heading for.



Q: How many guests do you expect and what makes the Katholikentag special this time?



It is the first post COVID Katholikentag. Not many public events so far took place in Germany. But we are still expecting more than 20,000 participants joining us from Wednesday to Sunday in Stuttgart.

When you ask me for specific topics, I would definitely say that from a Church perspective, we will intensively discuss the German Synodal path. We still have one year ahead of us. The Synodal path was designed in order to face the concrete consequences of the many sexual abuse cases that took place in the frame of the German Catholic Church. But we are also discussing the situation in Ukraine. We are offering a variety of workshops and panels that shed light on trends and consequences of the corona pandemic, especially when it comes to domestic violence, to the situation of single households.

But the added value, I think, of the program is the broad variety that also includes events for toddlers, for kids, for young people, for students, for the LGBTQ community, for couples, for singles. We have a very broad also social arena where people will definitely find support.

And I think which is also very important: It's a very interactive event. We have also digital formats for those who cannot join us directly in Stuttgart. They can follow us on Livestream, they can interact with us. And I think this makes it very unique and special and I hope that many of you will make it to the south of Germany.
Pope Francis expresses his condolences for the victims of a tornado which struck the Gaylord community in Michigan, US, and for the loss of life caused by storms in southeastern Canada.

By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis said he is saddened to learn of the tragic loss of life and destruction caused by the tornado which struck the Gaylord community in recent days.

In a telegram addressed to Bishop Jeffrey J. Walsh of Gaylord, a city of about 4,200 people west of Detroit in the US State of Michigan, the Pope expressed heartfelt solidarity with all affected by this natural disaster.

In the message signed on his behalf by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the Pope said he also offers the assurance of prayers for the dead, the injured and displaced and those engaged in relief efforts," and he invoked Gods blessings of strength and peace on all those affected.

Friday's tornado killed two people, injured more than 40 others, knocked out electricity, and flattened parts of the northern Michigan community where such extreme weather conditions are rare.

Storms in Canada

In a separate telegram addressed to Bishop Raymond Poisson, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Pope said he has been informed of the recent storms that struck southeastern Canada resulting in the loss of life and widespread destruction.

Offering his prayers for all who are suffering the effects of this calamity, he said he "commends the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of almighty God and assures the injured and those who grieve of his spiritual closeness.

Pope Francis concluded by invoking blessings of strength and consolation upon his brother bishops in the affected areas and upon the civil authorities who continue to provide needed assistance.
Vietnam Briefing highlights Vietnams Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhs visit to the US for the US-ASEAN Summit from May 11 to 27. The visit reiterates further growing ties between the US and Vietnam on the sidelines of the summit. While ASEAN members are looking for concrete commitments from the US, the Vietnam-US relationship is like to continue to grow as the US looks to counter Chinas global influence presenting opportunities for US businesses.

Vietnams Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh concluded his US tour from May 11 to 27 attending the ASEAN-US Summit as well as visiting the UN. Chinh was accompanied by a Vietnamese delegation which included several government ministers and dignitaries. The event marked the first visit by a Vietnamese PM since the 13th National Party Congress.

The ASEAN-US summit covered key topics such as maritime security, pandemic preparedness, clean energy, and economic recovery. US President Joe Biden described the partnership as critical and hailed a new era in relations. Both sides reiterated their intentions to lift the current relations from a strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership in November of this year.

Specifically, PM Chinh and Biden held talks related to health, climate change, renewable energy, sustainable development, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). PM Chinh noted four pillars of the IPEF which include supply chain stability, digital economy, climate and labor, tax, and corruption but needed time to study its details.

Relations between US and Vietnam have been on an upward trajectory with the US taking active interest in developing the ecosystem of health, human security, and developing maritime security architecture. High-level visits have involved US Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, as well as former US presidents.

As per the Indo Pacific Strategy, released by the US, the US wants ASEAN to remain a leading regional institution, with larger security dynamics. The Biden administration wanted to demonstrate that ASEAN is vital to the US Indo-Pacific policies. However, ASEAN members are looking for more concrete commitments from the US, particularly surrounding trade and investment, which have thus far been lacking.

Nevertheless, PM Chinhs visit is seen as a success in forging a stronger partnership including US-ASEAN ties. Vietnam has maintained its balanced position on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and reiterated its stance on territorial integrity and free passage in the South China Sea.

PM Chinh was also the only ASEAN leader to deliver a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)  a think tank based in the US and became the first Vietnamese leader to speak at Harvard University.

Vietnam-US trade

The US has remained one of Vietnams largest trade partners and the latter looks to the former for bilateral trade and investment. Bilateral trade between both countries reached US$111.56 billion in 2021 rising from US$90.8 billion the previous year. As per Vietnams Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) the US currently has 1,145 projects with a total registered capital of US$10.3 billion. PM Chinh however reiterated that this does not reflect the true potential and this is more room for growth.

Vietnams main exports to the US include textiles and garments, footwear, smartphones, computers, and wood, while exports from the US to Vietnam include Computers, electronics, cotton, machines, plastic, and animal feed.

Vietnams Trade with the US and China in 2021 Total trade with US Total trade with China Vietnam US$112 billion US$133 billion

Source: Census.gov, trademap.org

During his visit, PM Chinh also met with several US businesses in energy, infrastructure, finance, science, and technology. A significant visit was to the HQs of Intel and Apple in Silicon Valley. After the development, the Wall Street Journal reported Apple told its contract manufacturers that it wants to boost production outside of China to countries like Vietnam and India due to Chinas strict pandemic protocols.

Investment in tourism, electronics, agriculture, and renewables

During PM Chinhs trip, Vietnams Saigontourist Travel Company signed an MoU on a comprehensive strategy with the US and Vietnam Airlines to promote tourism. The company is also promoting a program called Vision Destination to US from 2022 to 2025 to promote two-way tourism as the US is a favorite destination of Vietnamese travelers. An MoU was also signed to promote the exports of agricultural products, particularly lychee fruits to US consumers. Vietnam is currently the eighth largest market for US agricultural products and food.

In terms of hi-tech industries, apart from investments from Intel and Apple suppliers earlier, solar energy corporate First Solar invested over US$1 billion to produce solar panels. PM Chinh held meetings with several US business leaders and reiterated that Vietnam is open for business and that US businesses should look for opportunities in the country.

Vietnam has prized itself on prioritizing a favorable business environment, infrastructure, and administrative reforms for US businesses as well as focusing on climate change and commitments to net-zero. USTR representative Katherine Tai said that her agency wants to boost cooperation in the digital economy and sustainable agriculture systems.

The two sides have also pledged to cooperate in post-pandemic recovery, supply chains, digital transformation, energy transition, and green sustainable development. These are sectors that US businesses can further invest into Vietnam.

FTAs in the making?

Vietnam is a party to several free trade agreements and has been banking on these to further its economy while developing its industries. Recently Vietnam signed the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP, formerly TPP, which the US was part of) but a deal with the US has so far not come to fruition. The US meanwhile is attempting to develop a wide range agreement related to digital economy and e-commerce. Vietnamese and ASEAN officials still hope that the US would return to the CPTPP and further trade in the region.

But the US does not have Congress support and convincing US labor companies will be a hard ask. Without any concrete statement, its difficult to see the situation changing any time soon. In the absence of any substantial FTA negotiations between the two countries, the IPEF is the second-best option. However, analysts have called for the IPEF to be strong in terms of trade, while including stronger labor and climate change commitments.

Officials say that only two ASEAN members  Singapore and the Philippines are in the initial group to sign up for negotiations under the IPEF.

US-Vietnam ties continue to strengthen but concrete commitment necessary

The US is likely to continue former President Trumps confrontational approach towards China to counter its global economic influence. US businesses have further noted that Vietnam is an important link in global supply chains, and this is only expected to strengthen despite the pandemic.

Vietnam is an important partner of the US in the Indo-Pacific and this relationship is expected to continue and even strengthen. When Vietnamese manufacturer VinFast announced that it will build an electric vehicle and battery factory in North Carolina, the White House issued a statement acknowledging this development underlining the economic strategy and two-way trade between both countries.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper stated that he will make bigger effort to beef up US-Vietnam ties particularly in trade, investment, education, defense, and security while bringing US investors and goods to Vietnam.

With Vietnams economic strategy, approved by the 13th Party Congress, on shifting foreign investments to hi-tech industries with provisions on environment protection, opportunities exist for both US and Vietnamese businesses to expand cooperation in trade, knowledge, and strategic partnerships.

Further, official state visits are likely to continue into 2022 as both countries build on their bilateral relationship and with scheduled events such as the G20 Summit, and the Asia Pacific Cooperation Economic Leaders Conference in Cambodia and Thailand.
Earlier this month, Oum Savan visited the house of one of his children during lunch, but before touching his food he became preoccupied with his campaign for chief of Chhnok Tru Commune in the upcoming Commune and Sangkat Elections on June 5.

Oum Savan, a high school teacher in Baribour Town, quickly jotted down some demographic information about his constituency and some new talking points he developed to convince voters to support his candidacy for the Candlelight Party.

Campaigning for the polls officially began on May 21 and the revived opposition party is trying to launch a challenge to the long-ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen. In recent years, the CPP has quelled democratic opposition, turning Cambodia into a de facto one-party state.

Oum Savan, 54, experienced political success before in the 2017 local elections, becoming second deputy commune chief for the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP). But he served only four months after the CPPspooked by the CNRPs surprising win of 44 percent of the voteinstigated the Supreme Court in November 2017 to dissolve the CNRP ahead of the 2018 General Elections, or national parliamentary elections. CNRP leader Kem Sokha was arrested in September 2017.

Oum Savan said it was very painful to watch the CPP seize all CNRP parliament and commune council positions, yet he was encouraged by the electoral success and waited for a chance to compete again.



I had an urge to join them. I want to be back into politics

I wanted to help people in my commune, but I didnt know what to do. So, when I learned the Candlelight Party was coming back after they had held a congress [in November 2021], I had an urge to join them. I want to be back into politics to get the power to serve people, he told VOA Khmer.

Oum Savan said he wanted to address voters complaints over misgovernance, corruption, a lack of healthcare, and poor land rights in his commune, located south of the Tonle Sap Lake.

In nearby Trapaing Chhan Commune, Sngoun Samean, 61, said she beat the local CPP candidate in 2017 with 1,331 votes against 1,279, but served only three months and twenty days as CNRP commune chief.

She was keen to compete again to reclaim the office. We were in a deadlock until late 2021. Now we have the Candlelight Party that we can rely on, Sngoun Samean told VOA Khmer.

Across Cambodia, many ex-CNRP-ers have felt the same and have seized the chance to join the Candlelight Party. Party leaders said in March they mobilized 23,679 candidates to compete in almost all 1,652 communes and sangkats (municipal areas)greatly outnumbering other opposition partiesand that they can build on the partys old grassroots network and recognizability to challenge the CPP.

An opposition party revived

Opposition figure Sam Rainsy created the party in 1995 and it bore his name up until 2012, when it was mothballed as he joined forces with Kem Sokhas Human Rights Party to form the CNRP. After the 2017 crackdown, it was renamed the Candlelight Party, in an allusion to its familiar logo, which allowed it to keep distance from Sam Rainsy as he was convicted on what are seen as political charges.

The exiled Rainsy endorsed the Candlelight Party and wrote recently in an opinion article in The Diplomat that it was led by a new generation of leaders and having a surprise impact.

However, divisions emerged with Sokha, who has distanced himself from the Candlelight Party as he remains caught up in a court case. Most of his ex-CNRP followers have stayed on the sidelines, while a few created small parties, fracturing the opposition. A record 17 parties will compete.



Campaigning without their leader

At Candlelight Party rallies, which have become increasingly common since April and have been the first significant opposition gatherings in four years, leaders urged members to be confident of success even if they lacked their well-known leader.

In a recent social media video, Party Vice-President Son Chhay was seen telling a modest rally in Siem Reap: Our courage these days is inspired by the founding president, Sam Rainsy. But what is next is on us!

The veteran opposition politician returned to Cambodia in March and was among dozens of leading CNRP-ers banned from politics in 2017 until the government lifted the court order in 2020.

Oum Savan said he believed voters are also keen to support the re-emergence of the opposition party even if it was renamed and headed by second-tier leadership. No matter whoever comes to lead the party instead of [Sam Rainsy], the party will always be recognized as a strong party, he said.

Local harassment and undemocratic restrictions

Besides the absence of their leader, the Candlelight Party also faces significant challenges due to local harassment and undemocratic legal restrictions, while their resources are paltry compared to the ruling CPP.

Oum Savan said party offices only provided promotional material and he paid some $1,500 out of his own pocket to organize events and would have to spend more during the campaign period.

A pre-election report by the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) warned conditions were lacking for free and fair elections. A lack of independent media and civil society were hindering voter access to information and opportunities for local election monitoring. There have also been widespread reports of efforts to bribe or threaten opposition members into pulling out and to hinder their public presence.

The National Election Commission appeared to have a partisan bias towards the CPP government when it cancelled the Candlelight Partys whole candidate lists in 26 communes as some candidates allegedly failed Khmer literacy requirements, according to ANFREL.

During a recent visit to Kampong Chhnang Province there were few public signs of the Candlelight Party or other opposition parties, while the CPP had a marked pre-campaign presence.

Local candidates said opposition signs were often pulled down and locals who placed them in their yards faced harassment from CPP supporters and state officials. They added that many Candlelight Party supporters who had offered to monitor the polls were pulling due to growing harassment.

Sngoun Samean said many locals still secretly signaled their support. Young people strongly support me because they know very well about current situations and political contexts, she said.

Noun Bopha, a Chhnok Tru Commune civil servant and father of four college-going children, said he thought the repression had reduced local voters interest and weakened the opposition and its community engagement.

Its not like before, they are scared of their own safety, and their family too Im worried that the [Candlelight Party] has fewer activists now [than the CNRP], Noun Bopha said, adding that he would support the party, but that it would probably fare significantly worse than the CNRP in 2017.

Local Candlelight Party candidates, nonetheless, remained defiant in the face of the challenges and the risk of another crackdown if they do score an election victory.

Its OK if they rob our seats once, or twice, or a hundred times. As long as the Candlelight [Party] win[s] and I am elected, I will keep standing for the commune chief candidacy until we have justice in our country for our local people, Sngoun Samean said.
A court in Myanmar ruled Tuesday that a corruption trial for ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and three political colleagues will continue after finding that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence for their indictment.

Suu Kyi, who was forced from office when the military seized power from her elected government last year, has been charged with 11 counts under the Anti-Corruption Act, with each count punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine.

The corruption cases are among a large number of charges under which the military is prosecuting her. If found guilty of all the charges, she could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.

Suu Kyis supporters and independent analysts say the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the militarys seizure of power while keeping her from returning to politics. The armys takeover was met with widespread non-violent protests. After the peaceful demonstrations were quashed by lethal force, they turned to armed resistance in many areas.

A legal official who is familiar with Suu Kyis cases said she and her co-defendants were formally indicted Tuesday on four corruption counts on charges of allegedly building a residence with money from charitable donations and granting permits to rent land at lower-than-market prices for a foundation named after her mother.

The court will now hear the defense arguments, including cross-examination of the prosecution's witnesses.

According to Myanmar law, a judge can order an end to a trial after the prosecution has presented its case if it doesn't have merit. This first phase is roughly similar to a grand jury process in Anglo-American law. If the judge finds the prosecution case credible, the trial continues into a second phase in which the defense presents its case and a verdict is delivered.

Suu Kyi has already been sentenced to 11 years imprisonment after being convicted on charges of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, violating coronavirus restrictions, sedition and another corruption charge.

All of Suu Kyi's trials in the capital, Naypyitaw, are closed to the media and the public, the prosecutors do not comment on them and the state-controlled media have not reported directly on the proceedings. Suu Kyis lawyers have been barred since last year from providing details of the trials under a gag order.

The courts decision on Tuesday was confirmed by a legal official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information.

In the cases under consideration Tuesday, the state Anti-Corruption Commission has declared that several of Suu Kyi's alleged actions deprived the state of revenue it would otherwise have earned.

The former mayor of Naypyitaw, Myo Aung, is a co-defendant in the two cases relating to granting permits to rent lands in Naypyitaw. Ye Min Oo, Naypyitaws vice mayor, is a co-defendant in one and Min Thu, a former Cabinet minister and member of the Naypyitaw Development Committee, in the other.

The seven other cases currently being tried under the Anti-Corruption Act include several related to the purchase and rental of a helicopter by another of Suu Kyis former Cabinet ministers. Suu Kyi is also charged with two counts of bribery that allege she took $550,000 from a construction magnate.

She is also being tried on a charge of violating the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, and a charge of election fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of three years.
Philippine president-elect Ferdinand Marcos signalled his determination to adopt nuclear power Monday, holding talks with South Korea's envoy on possibly reviving a mothballed $2.2 billion plant built during his father's dictatorship.

The 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was left dormant after the elder Marcos was toppled in 1986.

In the run-up to the May 9 presidential election, Marcos Junior spoke about the need for nuclear power to address exorbitant electricity costs in the country.

He left open the possibility of resuscitating his father's failed venture -- an idea he is now pushing ahead of his June 30 inauguration.

Marcos said he met South Korean Ambassador to Manila Kim Inchul on Monday to discuss a proposal on reviving the Bataan plant.

"Can we continue with it or do we need to build a new one? What are the things that we will have to do?" Marcos told a news conference after the meeting.

"So we revived the discussions on it, although they have come before. We will now study their recommendations and their findings, and we will see if we can still apply," he added.

Studies by South Korean and Russian experts showed it was possible to get the plant working again, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi told a Senate hearing in 2020.

But upgrading an ageing facility fitted with outdated analogue technology could take at least four years and cost another $1 billion.

There are also question marks on its design and location.

A monument to the greed and graft of the elder Marcos's era, the plant sits 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Manila, near several volcanoes in a part of the Philippines regularly shaken by earthquakes.

"If we are going to industrialise post-pandemic, we are going to go through rapid industrialisation, then the power sector must be ready for that," Marcos said.

Building a new power plant from scratch would take three to seven years, he added.

Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte issued an executive order earlier this year making nuclear power part of the country's planned energy mix.

The Philippines -- regularly affected by electricity outages -- relies on imported carbon-belching coal for more than half of its power generation.

Supporters of nuclear power say the technology offers a cleaner option to help meet demand.

But critics argue that renewable sources, such as wind and solar, are cheaper and safer to produce in a country hit by earthquakes, typhoons and volcanic eruptions.
The Montana Supreme Court has ruled against state utility regulators and NorthWestern Energy for requiring a wind farm developer to pay $267 million to connect to NorthWesterns transmission system.

Consolidated Edison Development planned to build wind farms in Wheatland, Pondera and Teton counties with NorthWestern Energy as its target customer under a 44-year-old law requiring utilities to purchase power from small generators.

Those plans ran aground when NorthWestern chose to bill CED $267 million for network upgrades. After the Montana Public Service Commission sided with the utility, CED sued. What followed was the latest case against regulators and the states largest monopoly utility concerning the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, or PURPA. The law requires utilities to buy power from qualifying alternative energy facilities, complete with contract lengths set by states, and as well as regulator-established rates for the smallest projects.

Commissioners have repeatedly imposed conditions on renewable energy businesses that violate PURPA law. The commission has created shorter contract lengths and pricing terms that made solar projects uneconomical, and even suspended PURPA hookup laws in Montana at the utilitys request.

In the latest case, Montanas Supreme Court ruled that the commission erred in requiring CED to pay for upgrades to NorthWesterns transmission system. The costs went beyond what could reasonably be considered CED's share..

Most of the cost came from CEDs planned 75-megawatt wind farm in Wheatland County. In that instance, NorthWestern said it would need a new transmission line, a twin to one already servicing the area, at a considerable cost, first estimated at $128 million, then adjusted upward to $237 million.

NorthWestern argued that the transmission line was only necessary because of CEDs Wheatland wind farm.

But the transmission line NorthWestern expected CED to pay for was capable of serving more than CEDs Wheatland wind farm.

In order to connect Wheatland, NorthWestern wants to construct a second transmission line of equal length and capacity, essentially doubling its transmission service and providing additional reliability to its network at CEDs expense, wrote Justice Laurie McKinnon.

CED shouldnt have to pay for more than the costs associated with servicing its own project, the court ruled.

There were wins in the ruling for NorthWestern and the PSC. The court didnt grant CEDs request for a 25-year contract, which the developer argued it was entitled to, based on a previous court decision. The contract length on the table for CED is 15 years.

The court also concluded the commission is correct in assessing network upgrade costs, though commissioners erred in assigning the $267 million for those costs.

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A Singaporean court handed a civil servant a four-week jail sentence on Tuesday for leaking information about the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions.

Such leaks rarely happen in the city-state, where the government keeps a tight hold on sensitive information, and the civil service is highly regarded.

But the case is among a few instances during the pandemic where civil servants leaked information related to Covid-19 to their family or acquaintances before it was made public.

Chua Wee Lin, a 52-year-old who was a deputy director at the National Library Board at the time, leaked information about the planned relaxation of measures to 18 others in a WhatsApp group four days before the government announced the plans in June 2020.

After attending a meeting where the information was shared, he sent messages detailing the dates that country clubs, cinemas and restaurants would be allowed to reopen after Singapore's partial lockdown, according to court documents.

Some of the members forwarded the information to their friends and family, and one of the messages went viral, eventually reaching staff at a different government ministry, who made a police report.

The leak forced the government agencies involved to redirect resources to find the source, court documents said.

"This was extremely time consuming given the viral nature of the information spread, and this had to be done concurrently with their attempts to fight the pandemic," prosecutors said.

Chua was handed a four-week jail sentence after pleading guilty to wrongful communication of information under the Official Secrets Act.

The maximum punishment for the offence is a fine of $2,000 Singapore dollars ($1,455) and two years' imprisonment.

Earlier this year, a woman was jailed for 18 weeks for leaking Covid-19 case numbers while she worked for the Ministry of Health, while another civil servant faces similar charges over leaking information on school closures to her husband, according to local media.
Join veteran journalist Hayde Adams on Straight Talk Africa every Wednesday as he and his guests discuss topics of special interest to Africans, including politics, economic development, press freedom, health, social issues and conflict resolution.
Somalia's prime minister has suspended his foreign affairs minister over allegations that he authorized an illegal shipment of charcoal to Oman. The Somali government banned charcoal exports a decade ago to prevent deforestation and the funding of conflicts. However, analysts say the shipment was not the real reason for the suspension.

The suspension of Foreign Affairs Minister Abdisaid Muse is equivalent to a dismissal and came after he authorized a ship to leave Somalia carrying a load of charcoal. The shipment violates Somalia's laws preventing charcoal exports.

However, Muses suspension was long expected because Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble is expected to be replaced by incoming Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Isak Farhan, deputy director of Somali Public Agenda, a research group based in Mogadishu, notes that Muse was close to outgoing Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, and had ignored letters from the prime minister, including one that fired African Union Special Envoy to Somalia Francisco Maidera.

Isak says the suspension could be seen as a result of poor cooperation between the minister of foreign affairs and the prime minister. He says, we know that minister was the national security adviser to the outgoing president, and with the confidence of the president, he was later appointed foreign minister. Apparently, he says, the minister did not report to the prime minister and did not listen to his suggestions.

Isak says the export of charcoal is a highly sensitive issue in Somalia because makers of charcoal cut down trees and cause damage to the environment.

He says, it is illegal to export and log coal in Somalia because it contributes to land degradation, drought, and famine. Somalia is semi-arid, he says, so logging forests will exacerbate desertification.

Hassan Sheikh, a professor who teaches at Somalia's universities, says Muses action sends a bad signal.

He says, I find it particularly regrettable that some people are still involved with logging trees in Somalia, let alone a government official, such as the foreign minister, to permit a ship to carry charcoal to Oman. He says that will certainly encourage those who were discouraged to continue logging the trees.

The professor noted that charcoal exports were banned by both the Somalia government and the United Nations Security Council in 2012, and that U.N. monitors are particularly vigilant about enforcing the ban.

He says, among the U.N. monitoring group's work is the ban on charcoal, which threatens Somalia's environment as it continues to become a desert, because Somalia is progressing towards desert.

It is still a mystery why the foreign affairs minister authorized an illegal charcoal export, but it is no secret that many Somali politicians take advantage of transitions between administrations, by putting their own interests ahead of the general publics.
North Korea test-fired three ballistic missiles Wednesday, hours after U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up a visit to Northeast Asia.

U.S. officials had repeatedly warned that North Korea could conduct a long-range missile launch, or even a nuclear test, during or around Biden's Asia trip.

While North Korea refrained from any tests during Biden's visit, it launched its latest flurry of missiles about 12 hours after he left Japan.

In an alert to reporters, South Korea's military said North Korea launched three ballistic missiles from the Sunan area of Pyongyang toward the sea off its eastern coast.

Japan's military reported that North Korea launched a pair of suspected ballistic missiles.

The reason for the discrepancy between the number of missiles reported by Japan and South Korea was not immediately clear.

The range of the missiles was also not yet known.

Shortly after Biden landed in the Washington area, he was briefed on the North Korean launches, U.S. officials said.

In a statement, the U.S. military said that the launches did not pose "an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies," but that the event "highlights the destabilizing impact" of North Korean weapons.

North Korea has conducted 17 rounds of launches this year. In March, it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, its first such test in nearly five years.

The nuclear-armed North regularly came up during Biden's discussions in South Korea and Japan.

In Seoul, Biden and South Korea's new president, Yoon Suk Yeol, indicated they could soon intensify joint military exercises that had been scaled back since 2018.

In Tokyo, Biden met with the families of Japanese citizens who were kidnapped by North Korean agents decades ago.

At a Tuesday meeting of the Quad  a regional grouping of democracies that includes the United States, Australia, Japan and India  Biden and his counterparts condemned North Korea's "destabilizing ballistic missile development and launches."

North Korea walked away from nuclear talks with the U.S. in 2019, the same year it resumed ballistic missile tests. Under Biden, the U.S. has repeatedly said it is willing to reenter talks without preconditions.

Biden said in Seoul, however, that he would only meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if Kim was "sincere" and "serious" about moving the talks forward.

When asked in Seoul whether he had a message for Kim, Biden replied: "Hello. Period."

Kim has not publicly responded to Biden's greetings. In the past, North Korean officials suggested they would not reenter talks while the United States undertook a "hostile policy" toward the North.

U.S. officials traveling with Biden suggested that North Korea's coronavirus outbreak was one possible reason Pyongyang had not engaged in negotiations.

North Korea had not acknowledged any coronavirus cases until this month, when it reported an explosion of suspected infections. Since May 13, North Korean state media have reported over 3 million suspected cases.

The outbreak has not prevented North Korea from conducting missile tests. Since it acknowledged the COVID-19 cases, North Korea has fired at least six ballistic missiles.

The North has multiple possible motives for testing weapons, including pressuring the U.S., shoring up domestic political support for leader Kim, ensuring the performance of new weapons and demonstrating deterrence.




President Joe Biden was speaking to the nation Tuesday night shortly after returning to the White House from a five-day trip to Asia that was bookended by "horrific" mass tragedy.

Biden was on Air Force One Tuesday afternoon when officials said a gunman acting alone killed at least 14 students and a teacher at a Texas elementary school. His departure for Asia last week came just two days after he met with victims' families after a hate-motivated shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The back-to-back tragedies served as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

Biden directed that American flags be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims.

Vice President Kamala Harris said that people normally say in a moment like this, "our hearts break -- but our hearts keep getting broken ... and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families."

"We have to have the courage to take action ... to ensure something like this never happens again," she said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was briefed on the shooting by deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley-Dillon and other members of his senior team aboard Air Force One.

Shortly before landing in Washington, Biden spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from the presidential plane "to offer any and all assistance he needs in the wake of the horrific shooting in Uvalde, TX," White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tweeted.
U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol have effectively ended a conciliatory stance toward North Korea, marking the beginning of firm deterrence and an unyielding goal of denuclearization during their first summit, experts said.

Biden and Yoon suggested they remain open to a diplomatic path if North Korea is sincere in achieving denuclearization.

While open to dialogue, Gary Samore, White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, said the two leaders agreed to take a firm military stance in dealing with North Korea.

Washington and Seoul will look for ways to show a strong military posture as a deterrent against any potential provocations, he said.

The approach Biden and Yoon adopted  strengthening deterrence with the goal of denuclearization while staying open to diplomacy  is a clear departure from what was possible for the Biden administration to achieve with former South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had different approach toward North Korea, according to Bruce Klingner, former CIA deputy division chief of Korea and current senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Klingner said Moon "advocated offering benefits to North Korea, including more lax enforcement of sanctions, prior to Pyongyang taking steps toward coming into compliance with U.N. resolutions."

Moon prioritized inter-Korean reconciliation and pursued a conciliatory approach to engage North Korea in dialogue while he sought an end-of-war declaration and peace initiative over denuclearization.

The approach, according to U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan in October, differed from the priority Washington placed on denuclearization.

In an interview with CNN on Monday, Yoon said that appeasing North Korea through the conciliatory strategy Moon adopted "has proven to be a failure."

Evans Revere, a former State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea, said, "The key difference between this summit and the Biden-Moon summit of 2021 is the shared realization today that concessionary diplomacy toward North Korea has not only not succeeded, [but] it has encouraged even worse behavior by North Korea."

North Korea conducted 17 rounds of weapons tests this year, including intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. On Wednesday in Korea, the South Korean military said North Korea fired ballistic missiles.

Klingner pointed out that the joint statement by Biden and Yoon on Saturday included their concerns over North Korea's missile launches and nuclear programs.

The statement says the two leaders view North Korea's nuclear program as "a grave threat" and "condemned" Pyongyang's "escalatory ballistic missile tests this year," which are "clear violations" of U.N. resolutions.

The critical tone toward weapons tests and programs was absent in the Biden-Moon joint statement made a year ago, on May 21, 2021, even though North Korea launched multiple missiles prior to that summit.

"The 2022 statement has a stronger tone, criticizing North Korea's actions while the 2021 statement merely sought to address nuclear and missile programs," Klingner said.

What was included in the 2021 Biden-Moon joint statement but excluded in the 2022 Biden-Yoon joint statement was the mention of the Panmunjom Declaration and the Singapore Joint Statement. Each emphasized peace on the Korean Peninsula while seeking denuclearization.

Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed the Panmunjom Declaration at their summit in April 2018, agreeing to improve inter-Korean ties and reduce military tensions toward an eventual path toward reunification.

The Singapore Joint Statement that former U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim signed at their summit in June 2018 said Washington would provide a security guarantee toward Pyongyang as it sought denuclearization.

Harry Kazianis, president of the newly developing think tank Rogue States Project, said, "The Moon government was clearly willing to take much greater risks and offer concessions as a sort of carrot for talks if it would move the needle, and the Biden team was clearly against that."

Kazianis continued that Biden and Yoon "are on the same page when it comes to denuclearization. Yoon and Biden don't want to make any major concessions to Pyongyang for just coming to the table and talking."

Rather than hinting at any concessions such as the security guarantees and sanctions relief sought by North Korea, Biden and Yoon have agreed to take a stronger defense posture against the regime's threats.

The 2022 joint statement says, "Biden affirms the U.S. extended deterrence commitment" to South Korea "using the full range of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities."

In contrast, while stating the U.S. would use a full range of capabilities to defend South Korea, the 2021 joint statement does not pinpoint using nuclear capabilities in deterring North Korea.

Klingner also said, "Yoon and Biden pledged to resume combined military exercises and U.S. rotational deployment of strategic assets."

Joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea were often either scaled down or canceled under the Moon government after Trump suspended what he called "provocative" exercises in June 2018 following his Singapore summit with Kim.

The Biden-Yoon joint statement says, "considering the evolving threat" from North Korea, the leaders "agree to initiate discussions to expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training."

VOA's Korean Service contacted North Korea's mission to the U.N. for its response to the Biden-Yoon joint statement emphasizing deterrence while seeking denuclearization but did not receive a reply.

Ken Gause, director of the Adversary Analytics Program at CNA, said the approach taken by Biden and Yoon would make it difficult for North Korea to come to the negotiating table.

The Biden-Yoon statement laid out "a two-pronged strategy, one of deterring North Korea and the other, denuclearization" but "didn't talk about anything about the concessions that the U.S. and South Korea would be willing to make in order to get back into discussions with North Korea."

Kazianis regretted that what was missing was a detailed description of a possible deal on denuclearization.

"Neither Yoon nor Biden would declare any outlines of what a deal with North Korea on denuclearization might look like  something I would argue Pyongyang would want before it sits down and talks," he said.

"However, he added, Yoon and Biden have much bigger problems to tackle besides North Korea right now, and it makes sense that neither wants to risk any political capital trying to engage" North Korea.
Police in northern Cameroon said they have freed 70 children from an illegal disciplinary camp, where the children say they were left by their parents to be chained and beaten. According to authorities, camp workers were detained and the injured and traumatized children are being treated.

Cameroon police said they entered an illegal disciplinary camp, known locally as a traditional rehabilitation center for wayward children, in the city of Ngaoundere.

Police said they freed 70 boys and girls 6 to 14 years old Tuesday, with many limping as a result of torture and others with fresh wounds.

Among the freed children is 14-year-old Alim Iddrisou, who said when he refused to attend a Quranic school in March 2020, his parents accused him of having a lack of respect for community rules and elders and took him to the center.

He said God saved his life and gave him courage to bear the gruesome torture inflicted on him by workers of the center. He said he spent the first of his two years in the camp with his feet chained, and each child was served a poorly cooked meal each day and anyone who complained was beaten by the camp's guards.

Speaking on local media, Iddrisou said each time the few toilets in the camp were occupied, workers forced children to defecate in plastic bags or urinate in bottles. He said older boys were escorted to empty the feces and urine in a nearby stream at night.

The freed children said four of their peers died of torture and starvation within the past three months and they do not know where their bodies were buried. Police acknowledge that a few children died. The government said it is still trying to identify their parents.

Kildadi Taguieke Boukar is the governor of Cameroon's Adamawa region, where Ngaoundere is located, said he ordered children who looked tired and frail to be rushed to local hospitals. Boukar also said he has asked police to locate parents of the freed children so they can answer to charges that will include child abuse and negligence.

Boukar ordered local government officials, clerics, elite, community leaders and village chiefs to help put a stop to this form of primitiveness and torture by reporting promoters of such disciplinary camps to the police. He said parents who send their children to such camps will be punished, as Cameroon is a state of laws and its citizens must respect human rights or face the consequences.

Owners of the camp and its workers have been arrested by police. The camp owners are to be charged with torture, homicide, illegal detention and child abuse.

Rights groups like the Yaounde-headquartered Center for Religious Studies and some Muslim groups like the Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries of Cameroon, have previously criticized what they call the proliferation of Islamic disciplinary camps in Cameroon.

The government says even though such camps were prohibited in 2017, many are hidden within communities and operate illegally. The government says it will locate and close such centers and educate parents about the abuses committed there.
Connecticut U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, who came to Congress representing Sandy Hook, begged his colleagues to finally pass legislation that addresses the nation's continuing gun violence problem as the country's latest school shooting unfolded Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas.

A gutted Murphy took to the floor and demanded that lawmakers do what they failed to do after 26 students and educators were killed in Newtown.

The Democrat gave an impassioned speech, urging his colleagues to finally find a compromise.

"Our heart is breaking for these families. Every ounce of love and thoughts and prayers we can send, we are sending," said Murphy, who represented Newtown, Connecticut, where Sandy Hook Elementary School is located, as a former U.S. representative.

"But I'm here on this floor to beg to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues. Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely," he said.

The tragedy in Texas appeared to be similar to the 2012 mass shooting in Connecticut, where 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his way into the locked building and then killed 20 first-graders and six educators with an AR-15-type rifle legally purchased by his mother. He then killed himself as police arrived. Before going to the school, Lanza fatally shot his mother at their Newtown home.

"I just don't understand why people here think we're powerless," Murphy told reporters. "We aren't."

Murphy said he is "so willing to bend over backwards to find compromise" on the legislation. "I want to show  this country that that we care."

A report by the Connecticut's child advocate said Lanza's severe and deteriorating mental health problems, his preoccupation with violence and access to his mother's weapons "proved a recipe for mass murder."

Advocacy groups that formed in the wake of the Connecticut shooting expressed dismay at the news of shooting the Robb Elementary School, where at least 14 children and one educator were killed.

"We are devastated by yet another heart wrenching school shooting incident in America  this time in Uvalde, Texas, nearly 10 years after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting tragedy," said Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance, in a written statement. "For the past decade, we have warned all Americans, including elected politicians across the nation, that if a mass shooting can happen in Sandy Hook, then it can happen anywhere. We have begged presidents, all members of Congress, governors and state representatives to strengthen the federal and state gun laws to keep our families and our communities safe."

Murphy expressed hope that compromise on gun control measures is possible.

"I understand my Republican colleagues will not agree to everything that I may support, but there is a common denominator that we can find," he said, acknowledging the problem of gun violence can't be solved overnight. "But by doing something, we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers  who see the highest levels of government doing nothing, shooting after shooting."
A senior Turkish official insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials Wednesday that Turkey would not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankara's objections.

"We have made it very clear that if Turkey's security concerns are not met with concrete steps in a certain timeframe the process will not progress," Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference after the talks in Ankara that lasted about five hours.

Kalin is the spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a senior presidential aide.

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO last week, in a move representing one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russia's war in Ukraine that could rewrite Europe's security map.

Turkey has said it opposes the countries' membership in the Western military alliance, citing grievances with Sweden's  and a to a lesser extent Finland's  perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey views as security threats.

The PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by several of Turkey's allies, has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey, a conflict that has cost the lives of tens of thousands of people.

The Turkish government also accuses Finland and Sweden of imposing arms exports restrictions on Turkey and refusing to extradite suspected "terrorists."

Turkey's objections have dampened Stockholm's and Helsinki's hopes for joining NATO quickly amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine and put the trans-Atlantic alliance's credibility at stake. All 30 NATO members must agree on admitting new members.

The Swedish and Finnish delegations met with Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation was led by state secretary Oscar Stenstrom, while Jukka Salovaara, the foreign ministry undersecretary, headed up the Finnish delegation, Turkish officials said.

Kalin said Turkey's proposal to lift arms export limits was met with a "positive attitude" by the Swedish and Finnish delegations.

He added that talks would continue once the Nordic governments had responded to Turkey's demands.

Turkey also expects the extradition of 28 "terrorism" suspects from Sweden and 12 from Finland, Kalin said, adding that there was "no legal or judicial basis" not to extradite them. Turkish state media had previously said Turkey demanded the extradition of 33 suspects from the two countries.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said following a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Stockholm that her country wanted to "clarify" claims that have been floating around during discussions with Turkey.

"We do not send money or weapons to terrorist organizations," Andersson said.

During a news conference with the Estonian prime minister later Wednesday, Andersson said that "in these times, it is important to strengthen our security."

She said Sweden has "a constructive dialogue" with Turkey and that Stockholm was "eager to sort out issues and misunderstandings and questions."

Michel, who is scheduled to head to Helsinki from Stockholm, said it was "a pivotal moment for Sweden" and "we fully support your choices."

Turkey this week listed five "concrete assurances" it was demanding from Sweden, including what it said was "termination of political support for terrorism," an "elimination of the source of terrorism financing," and the "cessation of arms support" to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it.

The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.

Turkey said that it has requested the extradition of Kurdish militants and other suspects since 2017 but hasn't received a positive response from Stockholm. The Turkish government claimed Sweden had decided to provide $376 million to support the Kurdish militants in 2023 and that it had provided them with military equipment, including anti-tank weapons and drones.

Finland has received nine extradition requests from Turkey in a recent period covering over three years, Finnish news agency STT said Wednesday, citing data from the Finnish justice ministry. Two people were extradited while six of the requests were rejected. A decision was pending regarding one other case.

Speaking Tuesday before a meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia had left Sweden and Finland "no choice" but to join NATO.

She said Germany would support the two countries' membership, calling it "a real gain" for the military alliance.
Gallaudet University in Washington hosted its first undergraduate commencement ceremony since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Gallaudet is the only university in the world where deaf, deaf-blind and hard-of-hearing students live and learn bilingually in American Sign Language and English. Keynote speaker Apple CEO Tim Cook and Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, among others, addressed the graduating students. VOAs Penelope Poulou has the story
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks game wardens are looking for help to identify a man who is suspected of illegally killing a turkey just feet from a home south of Roundup at around 5:30 p.m. on May 2.

Security cameras at the home on Ambush Road caught footage of the man, who was dressed all in camouflage and driving a black four-door pickup with a matching topper.

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to visit https://myfwp.mt.gov/fwpPub/tipmont to provide details or call the FWP violation reporting hot line at 1-800-TIP-MONT (and/or Game Warden Jake Barzen at 406-409-1987). Tipsters may be eligible for a cash reward of as much as $1,000. The reward is sponsored in part by the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

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The United States was in mourning Wednesday in the aftermath of the countrys latest mass killing, a teenage gunmans assault on an elementary school in the southwestern state of Texas that left at least 19 children and two adults dead. It was one of the deadliest rampages at a school in the countrys history.

The attack unfolded in the small city of Uvalde, where authorities said the 18-year-old gunman first shot his grandmother at her home, then crashed a car and entered the school, carrying out the shootings before law enforcement killed him.

All the victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School, a law enforcement official told CNN.

U.S. President Joe Biden, in an emotional White House address late Tuesday, expressed condolences to the victims families, while questioning why mass shootings are so common in the U.S. and urging lawmakers to support what he called common sense gun laws.

I am sick and tired, he said. We have to act.

Why are we willing to live with this carnage? he asked. Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in Gods name is our backbone? When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?

It was not immediately clear that the latest mass killing changed the minds of any opposition Republican lawmakers in the Senate, who in the past have blocked restrictive gun measures favored by Biden and Democratic senators.

At least 10 Republican lawmakers would need to join all 50 Democrats in the chamber to pass restrictive gun control legislation.

Some lawmakers talked of trying to reach legislative compromises that would require further background checks of gun buyers, extend the time frame for such checks or ban the sale of guns over the internet. The U.S. banned the sale of assault weapons, often used in mass killings and, according to police, deployed by the gunman in Tuesdays attack, from 1994 to 2004. Congress then failed to renew the law.

Legislative attempts to tighten gun laws have been adamantly opposed by lobbyists for gun manufacturers and pro-gun lawmakers who cite Americans rights to gun ownership that is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

Biden said he learned about the shootings as he was returning from a trip to Asia.

What struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world, Biden said. Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency they happen in America. Why?

Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant Erick Estrada told CNN that officers saw the gunman leave the crashed car carrying a rifle, and that officers engaged the suspect, but that he was still able to get into the school.

Lydia Martinez Delgado wrote on Facebook that her niece, Eva Mireles, was a teacher at the school and among those killed.

Im furious that these shootings continue, Martinez Delgado said in a statement. These children are innocent. Rifles should not be easily available to all. This is my hometown, a small community of less than 20,000. I never imagined this would happen to especially loved ones.

The school districts superintendent, Hal Harrell, told reporters that grief counseling services were being made available for students and that the remaining few days of the school year were canceled.

My heart is broken today, Harrell said. Were a small community, and were going to need your prayers to get through this.

A spokesman said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply shocked and saddened by the heinous mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. It is particularly heart-wrenching that most of the victims are children.

Tuesdays attack was the deadliest school shooting in Texas and the deadliest elementary school shooting since the 2012 attack on Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 26 people dead, 20 of them schoolchildren.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott identified the gunman as Salvador Ramos, who attended the citys high school. News outlets reported that law enforcement officials say he legally purchased two assault weapons days after his 18th birthday a couple weeks ago and 375 rounds of ammunition. He posted pictures of the weapons on a social media account attributed to him.

Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde, Abbott said in a statement.

Abbott said he and his wife, Cecilia, mourn this horrific loss and we urge all Texans to come together to show our unwavering support to all who are suffering.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas echoed similar sentiments. Today is a dark day. Were all completely sickened and heartbroken, he said in a statement. Weve seen too many of these shootings. No parent should have to bear the pain of burying their child. We need to come together, as one nation, and support Uvalde as they try to heal from this devastating loss.

Both Abbott and Cruz were among a group of Republican figures, including former President Donald Trump, scheduled to appear Friday in Houston at the annual convention of the National Rifle Association, the gun rights group that has opposed gun control measures.

The Texas elementary school has an enrollment of about 600 students in the second, third and fourth grades and sits in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes. The town has a population of about 16,000 people and is the seat of government for Uvalde County. It is about 135 kilometers west of San Antonio and about 120 kilometers north of the border with Mexico.

Texas has been the scene of several mass shootings over the past five years. One year before the Santa Fe school shooting in 2018, a gunman at a Texas church killed more than two dozen people during a Sunday service in the small town of Sutherland Springs. In 2019, another gunman at a Walmart in El Paso killed 23 people in a racist attack.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
North Korea test-fired three ballistic missiles Wednesday, including what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, South Korea said, hours after U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up a visit to Northeast Asia.

U.S. officials had repeatedly warned North Korea could conduct a long-range missile launch, or even a nuclear test, during or around Bidens Asia trip. While North Korea refrained from any tests during Bidens visit, its flurry of launches came just 12 hours after he left Japan.

The first missile, likely an ICBM, flew for about 360 kilometers and reached an altitude of 540 kilometers, South Koreas military said. The North also launched a missile that failed shortly after liftoff, as well as a third ballistic missile that was presumed to be short-range, it added.

In response, South Koreas military says it conducted an exercise involving 30 F-15K fighter jets. The United States and South Korea also conducted a surface-to-surface missile launch, it added.

Our demonstration of armed forces showed that we are determined to respond to any provocations such as North Koreas ICBM launch and we are capable of precisely striking the origin of the provocation with our militarys overwhelming power, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The United States and South Korea jointly condemned North Koreas destabilizing ballistic missile tests, according to a White House readout of a phone call between U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his South Korean counterpart, Kim Sung-han. The U.S. also reaffirmed the United States steadfast commitment to the defense of South Korea.

North Korea has conducted 17 rounds of launches this year. In March, it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time in nearly five years.

There are also signs North Korea could soon conduct its first nuclear test since 2017. South Koreas presidential office told reporters Wednesday that North Korea recently tested a detonation device in apparent preparation for a nuclear test.

Commercial satellite images have for weeks shown increased activity at North Koreas Punggye-ri nuclear test site, near the countrys border with China.

North Korea has already crossed the red line, abandoning a 2018 moratorium that applied to both nuclear tests and ICBM tests, said Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

The United States, South Korea, and Japan have condemned North Koreas launches, noting they violate United Nations Security Council resolutions. But China and Russia, North Koreas most powerful defenders, have instead criticized the United States for refusing to make concessions to the North.

China agrees with North Koreas position that the U.S. is conducting joint military exercises without taking North Koreas security concerns into consideration, Park says. "Now, North Korea will unreservedly launch high-intensity provocations as China backs them.

North Korea a focus of Bidens trip

The nuclear-armed North regularly came up during Bidens discussions in South Korea and Japan.

In Seoul, Biden and South Koreas new president, Yoon Suk Yeol, indicated they could soon intensify joint military exercises that had been scaled back since 2018.

In Tokyo, Biden met with the families of Japanese citizens who were kidnapped by North Korean agents decades ago.

At a Tuesday meeting of the Quad  a regional grouping of democracies that includes the United States, Australia, Japan and India  Biden and his counterparts condemned North Koreas destabilizing ballistic missile development and launches.

North Korea walked away from nuclear talks with the United States in 2019, the same year it resumed ballistic missile tests. Under Biden, the U.S. has repeatedly said it is willing to reenter talks without preconditions.

Biden said in Seoul, however, that he would only meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if Kim was sincere and serious about moving the talks forward.

When asked in Seoul whether he had a message for Kim, Biden replied: Hello. Period.

Kim has not publicly responded to Bidens greetings. In the past, North Korean officials suggested they would not reenter talks while the United States undertook a hostile policy toward the North.

U.S. officials traveling with Biden suggested that North Koreas coronavirus outbreak was one possible reason Pyongyang had not engaged in negotiations.

North Korea had not acknowledged any coronavirus cases until this month, when it reported an explosion of suspected infections. Since May 13, North Korean state media have reported over 3 million suspected cases.

The outbreak has not prevented North Korea from conducting missile tests. Since it acknowledged the COVID-19 cases, North Korea has fired at least six ballistic missiles.

The North has multiple possible motives for testing weapons, including pressuring the U.S., shoring up domestic political support for leader Kim, ensuring the performance of new weapons, and demonstrating deterrence.
An Indian court sentenced a Kashmiri separatist leader to life in prison on Wednesday after declaring him guilty of terrorism and sedition, triggering a clash between protesters and police and a partial shutdown of businesses in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Mohammed Yasin Malik, 56, led the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, one of the first armed rebel groups in the Indian-held area, but later shifted to peaceful means in seeking the end of Indian rule.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since British colonialists granted it independence in 1947. Both countries claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over its control.

Malik was arrested in 2019 and was convicted last week on charges of committing terrorist acts, illegally raising funds, belonging to a terrorist organization and criminal conspiracy and sedition.

Before Wednesday's sentencing, dozens of Kashmiris gathered at Malik's home in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Some marched through the streets, chanting "We want freedom" and "Go back India." Government forces fired tear gas at the marchers, who threw stones.

No injuries were immediately reported.

Shops and businesses closed in the main centers of Srinagar.

Prosecutors said the judge rejected their request for a death sentence.

The government banned Malik's organization in 2019, accusing it of funding terrorism and blaming it for the deaths of minority Hindus in the Himalayan region.

Malik protested the charges during the trial and said he was a freedom fighter.

"The terrorism-related charges leveled against me are concocted, fabricated and politically motivated," he said.

"If seeking azadi (freedom) is a crime, then I am ready to accept this crime and its consequences," he told the judge.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned Malik's sentencing, and its Foreign Ministry said it summoned India's top diplomat in Islamabad.

"Today is a black day for Indian democracy & its justice system," Sharif tweeted. "India can imprison Yasin Malik physically but it can never imprison idea of freedom he symbolizes. Life imprisonment for valiant freedom fighter will provide fresh impetus to Kashmiris' right to self-determination."

In the late 1980s, Malik joined a group of young people who traveled to Pakistani-controlled Kashmir for arms training, seeking independence for all of Kashmir from India and Pakistan.

By 1989, Indian-controlled Kashmir was in the throes of a full-blown rebellion, with Malik and his comrades conducting attacks against the Indian security establishment and pro-India Kashmiri politicians.

India responded with a massive militarization of Kashmir, saying it was fighting a Pakistan-sponsored proxy war. It unleashed a brutal counterinsurgency campaign, and soldiers were given broad impunity and allowed to shoot suspects on sight or detain them indefinitely.

Malik was arrested during a raid by Indian troops in 1990 and was released in 1994. He took over control of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, shifting away from armed rebellion and seeking the end of Indian rule over the territory through peaceful political means.

In 2003, Malik and his associates began collecting signatures of Kashmiris seeking the right to self-determination. They traveled for two years to hundreds of villages and towns, gathering over 1.5 million signatures.

He helped lead an anti-India uprising in 2008 with large-scale protests that marked a shift from armed struggle to non-violent resistance. He continued to lead large public gatherings in subsequent years seeking an end of Indian rule.

Malik held several unsuccessful rounds of talks with the Indian government, including with two prime ministers. He is married to a Pakistani artist, Mushaal Hussein, and they have a 10-year-old daughter.

Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict since 1989.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a coalition of anti-Indian Kashmiri political groups, said Malik was "being punished for his political beliefs" and was "convicted in invented cases under draconian laws."

The group urged the Indian government to release all Kashmiri political prisoners and resolve the Kashmir conflict through dialogue.
Australia's new leader signaled Tuesday that he would resist growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region  seeming to dismiss Beijing's hopeful comments upon his election and portending a growing closeness between the United States and Australia.

"We will determine our own values," newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday, on the sidelines of a meeting of leaders of the Quad, an informal grouping of the United States, Japan, India and Australia. "We will determine Australia's future direction. It's China that's changed, not Australia."

He added that he had received a formal congratulatory note from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang but had not spoken to Beijing since his election win, three days earlier.

Also on Tuesday, the White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden "reaffirmed his steadfast support for the U.S.-Australia alliance and commitment to strengthening it further."

Biden's statement also alluded to China's increased interest in the island of Taiwan, which Beijing says is part of China, saying that the U.S. president "commended Australia's strong support for Ukraine since Russia's invasion, and the leaders agreed on the importance of continued solidarity, including to ensure that no such event is ever repeated in the Indo-Pacific."

Albanese, a left-leaning politician from Australia's Labor Party, pledged that if elected, he would deepen relations with the Quad and with the U.S. In his initial comments as prime minister, he described the U.S. as Australia's "most important ally."

Albanese also said the four Quad leaders discussed China's increasing boldness in the Asia-Pacific region, including how to "make sure that we push our shared values in the region at a time when China is clearly seeking to exert more influence."

Albanese's election came after nine years of declining Sino-Australian relations under conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The relations took a further downward turn in 2021, when Chinese officials handed an Australian journalist a list of 14 grievances that Beijing allegedly had with Canberra.

The list included Australia's foreign interference laws, decisions to ban Chinese provider Huawei from its 5G network, and siding with the U.S. "anti-China campaign" by calling for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

In September, the U.S. announced a trilateral security partnership named "AUKUS"  for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. That agreement included the unprecedented decision to share U.S. nuclear submarine technology with Australia, a move widely seen as a bulwark against Chinese aggression in the Pacific. As a candidate, Albanese pledged to support the AUKUS deal.

Then in April, China inked a security deal with the Solomon Islands that would allow China to "make ship visits to, carry out logistical replacement in, and have stopover and transition in the Solomon Islands"  language that raised concerns in Canberra and Washington over Beijing's possible ambitions in the Pacific.

Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said this week that Australia has long ignored the "threat from the east that can watch and potentially target our military bases."

"For decades we have over-estimated our influence in the Pacific; under-invested in promoting our security; and failed to appreciate China's strategic intent," he said in a column in The Australian, the nation's largest national newspaper.

And former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd  a self-professed Sinophile who speaks Mandarin and who named Albanese as his deputy prime minister during his term  encouraged the new prime minister to work multilaterally to counter Beijing.

"A successful China strategy should be non-negotiable on our core values: our liberal democracy, our commitment to universal human rights and our alliance with the United States are not up for debate," he wrote. "But we should talk less, do more, and  when we inevitably disagree with Beijing  we should always hunt in packs so that Australia cannot be easily singled out for retribution."

Charles Edel, Australia chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told journalists ahead of the summit that Australia has a front-row seat to China's broader ambitions.

"Things have changed enormously across the region, and nowhere is that more true than in Australia, which has recently really been at the front of the pack on so many foreign policy and domestic decisions affecting relations with China," he said.

But for all of this talk around and about China, a carefully worded Tuesday statement from the four Quad leaders strenuously avoided the mention of the country's name.

"We strongly oppose any coercive, provocative or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo and increase tensions in the area, such as the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploitation activities," it said.
Azerbaijan's journalists are used to working in tense conditions, but a media bill passed into law earlier this year has many of them on edge.

Lawmakers have not yet established penalties to accompany the law, but critics say provisions, including a media registry, will make working more difficult, especially for freelance or independent reporters.

Journalists in Azerbaijan have always faced obstacles, says Nigar Mubariz, who contributes to several media outlets. But now, she says, they have to be more vigilant.

"The places I work for have not censored me even after the law was passed. Unfortunately, we are accustomed to working in tense conditions. But now this tension has increased and we have to protect our rights," she told VOA.

Mubariz believes the media registry will make it hard for some journalists to gain access to official sources because freelance reporters like her may not be considered journalists.

Other parts of the law set up to address objectivity and bias could also be used to restrict critical reporting.

"This law not only hinders the work of journalists, but also prevents the public from accessing accurate information," Mubariz said.

She added that the new law "directly contradicts" Article 50 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to seek and disseminate information.

Restricting the media's work is damaging both to journalists and their audiences, Mubariz said, adding that it "hinders the coverage of future problems in the country, socio-political processes, and the provision of accurate information to society."

Azerbaijani lawmakers have defended the new ruling as a way to improve relations between media and the state, and say the bill was widely discussed, including with journalists.

"The law protects media independence, freedom of speech and does not impose any sanctions or restrictions," Aydin Mirzazade, a member of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, told VOA earlier this year.

He also dismissed claims that it contradicts Azerbaijan's constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The law adds to an already restrictive environment. Azerbaijan has a poor press freedom record, ranking 154 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index, where 1 is freest, says Reporters Without Borders.

The watchdog says "media laws have become increasingly repressive" in the past two decades and authorities imprison and harass independent and critical journalists.

Despite those challenges, the country's media are involved in reporting on and exposing big issues. Investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova was part of the global coverage of the Pegasus project last year, which examined how spyware targeted politicians, civil society, and media workers, including Ismayilova.

Period of change

Some journalists are adopting a wait-and-see approach: working as usual while waiting to see how authorities plan to enforce the law.

Freelancer Parvana Gurbanli says she just follows the existing rules for international and professional media.

"I want to continue to operate on this principle. But I don't know how successful I will be after the enforcement of the law," she said. "I think that if all independent journalists continue at the same pace, the new law will lose its force over time."

Gurbanli believes that the law violates conventions on freedom of expression and the right to information and worries that the media registry could concentrate journalism in the hands of the government.

"These media outlets and all their employees will be included in the media register. Under the new law, independent journalists will not be considered journalists," she said.

Farid Gahramanov, who works for the independent Turan news agency, said questions remain over how the registry will work.

The government media regulator is expected to oversee the operation but, Gahramanov said, "There is no clarity on this issue."

"The question is how soon will the agency include a given media outlet in the register? In what cases can there be refusals? How should they be justified?" he said.

Gahramanov believes the obligation to register could result in self-censorship, saying "The danger of breaking the law will force [journalists] to be loyal."

Potential benefits that some officials say will be extended to press card holders could also be problematic, Gahramanov said.

"To ensure objectivity and impartiality, a journalist must be independent of the state, political institutions and business organizations. Their only privilege should be [to be] able to access information quickly," he said.

Gahramanov believes that the best way the state can help journalists is by strengthening security.

"This means swift investigation of crimes against journalists, toughening of penalties for crimes against media representatives," he said.

This story originated in VOA's Azerbaijani Service.
Part 1

The Activist

After Alyssa Alhadeff died in the Parkland shooting, her mother Lori turned first to faith, then politics. In honor of Alyssa, she took on the establishment and won a seat on the county school board.

Part 2

A Family United

Carmen Schentrups death in the shooting turned her family into a force for action. While Carmen's brother and sister worked to sign up young voters, their parents lobbied for safer schools back home.

Part 3

American Divide

Firearms are a staple in Virginia's 5th Congressional District, an expansive area stretching from wine country through the majestic Shenandoah Valley  and a place of two minds on guns.

Part 4

From Ashes to Canvas

Through his art, parent Manny Oliver created a passionate tribute to the son he lost at Parkland  and became an inspirational force for students during the midterm elections.

Part 5

Mother of the Everglades

Marjory Stoneman Douglas almost singlehandedly saved the Everglades with the motto, Be a nuisance where it counts, but never give up. After the shooting, Parkland students adopted her advice.
Pfizer said Wednesday that it will provide nearly two dozen products, including its top-selling COVID-19 vaccine and treatment, at not-for-profit prices in some of the world's poorest countries.

The drugmaker announced the program at the World Economic Forum's annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, and said it was aimed at improving health equity in 45 lower-income countries. Most of the countries are in Africa, but the list also includes Haiti, Syria, Cambodia and North Korea.

The products, which are widely available in the U.S. and the European Union, include 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, some cancers and rare and inflammatory conditions. Company spokeswoman Pam Eisele said only a small number of the medicines and vaccines are currently available in the 45 countries.

New York-based Pfizer will charge only manufacturing costs and "minimal" distribution expenses, Eisele said. It will comply with any sanctions and all other applicable laws.

The drugmaker also plans to provide help with public education, training for health care providers and drug supply management.

"What we discovered through the pandemic was that supply was not enough to resolve the issues that these countries are having," Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said Wednesday during a talk at Davos.

He noted that billions of doses of the company's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, have been offered for free to low-income countries, mainly through the U.S. government, but those doses can't be used right now.

Earlier this month, the head of the World Health Organization called on Pfizer to make its COVID-19 treatment more widely available in poorer countries.

Comirnaty brought in nearly $37 billion in sales last year, and analysts expect the company's COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid to add almost $24 billion this year, according to the data firm FactSet.
Pope Francis on Wednesday said he was "heartbroken" by the shooting at a school in Texas that killed at least 19 children and two teachers, calling for greater controls on weapons.

The crowd in St. Peter's Square for his weekly general audience applauded his appeal, made a day after worst school shooting in the United States in nearly a decade.

"I am heartbroken by the massacre at the elementary school in Texas. I pray for the children and the adults who were killed and for their families," Francis said of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

"It is time to say 'enough' to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons. Let us all make a commitment so that tragedies like this cannot happen again," he said.

Speaking from the White House hours after the shooting, a visibly shaken President Joe Biden urged Americans to stand up to the politically powerful gun lobby, which he blamed for blocking enactment of tougher firearms safety laws.

Francis has often taken on the weapons industry. In 2015 he said people who manufacture weapons or invest in weapons industries are hypocrites if they call themselves Christian.
Heat waves like the ones roasting South Asia this year don't just sap people's strength. They drain people's finances in ways that are not always obvious.

It's one of the ways climate change is weighing on the economy and making poor people poorer.

"These effects are global, they are pronounced, and they are persistent," said Teevrat Garg, an economist at the University of California-San Diegos School of Global Policy and Strategy.

South Asia is especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change-driven heat waves. But temperature extremes are becoming more common worldwide as the planet warms.

1. Too hot to work

March and April were the hottest or near-hottest months on record across South Asia.

Climate change made this heat wave about 100 times more likely, according to the U.K. Met Office.

The heat has been brutal for farmers, construction workers and anyone who has to work outside. That's about half the workforce in South Asia.

"Wage laborers like us work despite the heat," Indian construction worker Kushilal Mandal told Agence France-Presse in April. "We wont be able to eat if we dont work."

At these temperatures, heatstroke and even death are real risks.

Many work sites shut down early. But that means lost wages.

The U.N. International Labor Organization says that in 2030, hours lost to heat worldwide will be the equivalent of losing at least 80 million full-time jobs.

2. Lower earnings for outdoor work

It doesn't take a full work stoppage to hurt workers' wages. People just cant do as much when it's hot.

In a study Garg co-authored, workers in Indonesia in a hot, sunny environment were 8% less productive than those in a shady environment that was about 3 degrees cooler. Doubling wages did not increase productivity.

"It's not about workers feeling icky or lazy or just like, 'I don't want to work because it's hot,' " Garg said. "It's that heat is representing binding constraints on workers' ability to do their job."

3. Factory slowdowns

Heat affects workers even if they are not exerting themselves. High temperatures slow down factory workers, too.

"We think of manufacturing as a thing that occurs inside. But inside doesn't mean protected from heat. It doesn't mean air conditioning," said World Bank economist Patrick Behrer.

Studies as far back as 1915 show factory workers paid by the piece earn less at higher temperatures. Even call center workers get less done in hot conditions.

"It's harder for you to pay attention. It's harder for you to focus. You get tired more easily," Behrer said. "All of those things feed through to reductions in productivity."

4. Workplace injuries

More than wages can be at risk.

"Because you're paying less attention to what you're doing or you're more tired, you're much more likely to injure yourself," Behrer said.

On very hot days, workers are about 10% more likely to be injured on the job than on a cool day, Behrer and colleagues found in a study.

That could mean lost wages for the day, or it could be more serious. "If you get hurt on the job, that can be a permanent change in your life," Behrer said.

5. Poverty traps

Poorer areas are more vulnerable to the impacts of rising temperatures than wealthier areas, researchers have found. Workers tend to be in industries that are more exposed to heat. And poor people often can't afford air conditioning. These inequalities are expected to worsen with global warming.

High temperatures also lower crop yields, which lower household incomes in largely agrarian economies such as those of South Asia.

The effects can be passed on to children in these rural households. Garg and colleagues found that students score lower on math and reading tests the year after a hot year, perhaps because their families had less money to spend on education, or even on food or health.

Adaptation

Societies can adapt to hotter temperatures. Factories, for example, can buy air conditioning.

But that's money they won't spend on better equipment or hiring more workers, Garg noted.

"Adaptation is not free. It's expensive. It's costly," he said. "And in general we find that the poorer you are, the more expensive it is."

Social safety net programs can help. Garg and colleagues, for example, conducted a study focused on a safety net program in India that supplemented income in rural areas. Since heat waves did not affect farm households budgets as much, the effect of heat on students test scores was smaller.

With heat waves becoming more common, demand for safety-net programs is growing.

"Countries are already paying for climate change," Garg said, "because the demand on social protection is rapidly increasing as we get more and more hot days."

"When we think about climate investments, [typically] we're thinking about seawalls and green energy. And all of that's quite important. But ... safety net [programs] are going to play a huge role for low- and middle-income populations," he said.
Flood victims in South Africa's port city of Durban had yet to recover from last months historic rain when another storm hit this weekend. Victims and experts say it is a signal that better urban planning is needed to protect residents and their livelihoods from future extreme weather.

It has been over a month since historic floods in South Africas eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal made nearly 7,000 people homeless.

But their numbers are growing as heavy rains and repeat floods hit the port city of Durban last weekend, destroying more homes, and damaging temporary shelters.

Emily Hector is a community leader in the Durban township of Umlazi and is supporting a shelter in a community hall.

It's not getting better. It's getting worse," she said. " So if it happens for the rain to come back again. So that means we won't have a shelter to accommodate other people because the people, the halls right now, it's overloaded.

KwaZulu-Natal officials say at least 250 people were evacuated from shelters.

South African federal authorities earmarked $63 million for clean-up and rebuilding while funds are also coming from various levels of government and aid groups.

But victims say they havent been told when they will get to move to longer-term housing.

28-year-old flood victim Masbonge Dlamini lived in an informal settlement in Umlazi.

We don't have another space. If we do, we will try by all means to escape for all escape, escape to that place directly," Dlamini said. "We will not going to go to a hall whereby you will sleep with many people as far as we are here with, because its because we don't have a choice. We don't have another places.

Experts are calling South Africas severe weather damage a wake-up call for better disaster management in the face of climate change.

Alize le Roux is a senior researcher for the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.

I think it shows us that we are definitely not prepared for even worse storms in what we see now," Le Roux said. "And to be clear, what climate change will do is it will shift these systems even more. So we need to be prepared for seeing what we've saw on a more regular basis. So more often, we will see these types of flooding.

But experts say re-building from damage like South Africas flooding is also an opportunity to safeguard from future extreme weather.

Le Rouxs advice includes keeping homes and infrastructure out of floodplains, developing more precise early warning systems, and having clear evacuation plans.

We need to think about restoring ecological infrastructure  so upstream, ensuring that we manage our basins or water basins adequately and rightly enough so that we actually mitigate flooding," Le Roux said. "We also need to think about the vulnerabilities within communities so things like addressing poverty, the systemic drivers of why people are locating on these high-risk spaces.

Many of the South African flooding victims lived in informal settlements on city outskirts with poor infrastructure.

They say more public housing inside the cities would be safer, offer better access to public services, and help prevent more people from ending up homeless.
C.M. Russell High School and neighborhood elementary schools in Great Falls enacted protective safety measures early Wednesday as police investigated a report in the neighborhood of a potential threat.

Officials said later in the day no threat had existed and there were no arrests.

Police posted on Facebook that Detective Jesse Rosteck, a school resource officer at the high school, was alerted shortly before 8 a.m. about a potential threat to the school involving a student with a gun. The initial report came from a parent who said that during morning drop-off they saw a student place a gun into a bag and walk into the school.

Rosteck placed the school in lockdown status. Students and staff were directed to secure themselves in classrooms and no one was allowed to enter or exit the building.

Detectives worked with the parent to review surveillance video. The students involved were questioned. Detectives determined the item seen by the reporting party was a benign object that could have been mistaken for the barrel of a gun and there was no threat.

"The students who were questioned were fully cooperative, have been cleared of any wrongdoing, and were released to their parents," police said.

Law enforcement officers from several agencies, including Cascade County Sheriffs Office, U.S. Marshal Service, Montana Probation and Parole, Montana Highway Patrol, Customs & Border Protection, Homeland Security, and the FBI, converged on the school and the surrounding area.

Crews from Great Falls Fire Rescue and Great Falls Emergency Services staged to administer emergency medical care if needed.

Police told parents earlier in the day via Facebook that they could pick up their children who were at elementary schools.

"Praying for peace and safety," one person posted online.

Wednesday was the last day of the school year for seniors at the high school. All classes and activities at CMR were canceled for the rest of the day.

Authorities posted about noon that students with vehicles at the high school were allowed to drive home and could take siblings with them, but no friends. They were instructed to go directly home. Students who walk or bus to school were taken to Montana ExpoPark, where parents or guardians could pick them up. An ID was required.

Capt. Doug Otto and Superintendent Tom Moore held a news conference earlier in the day in which Otto said police had yet to find someone with a firearm and students would remain in lockdown.

"We have everybody at the school, everyone is safe," Otto said.

According to publicschoolreview.com, Russell has about 1,400 students.

The incident occurred less than a day after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas.

Helena Public Schools Superintendent Rex Weltz posted a note on the district's website.

"Our hearts go out to the families and staff at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas," he wrote. "We are heartbroken this morning as we prepare to support our kids, both as parents and educators, in the wake of another national tragedy.

"Some students may have difficult questions about yesterdays horrible event which comes just 10 days after a shooting in a New York grocery store. We can take steps to help them cope. One of the most important things we can do is to stick to our normal routines at home, at school, and with sports and other extra-curricular activities," Weltz said.

"All District operations are normal today and staff are taking age-appropriate steps to help students cope while continuing normal class activities. For our youngest kids, this means class-as-usual and being available for kids who may have heard about the shootings and have questions or emotions to address. For middle school and high school students, there may be more direct discussion to share feelings and check in on each other."

He said the district will continue to collaborate with parents, law enforcement, mental health care providers, and local government to identify and implement safety and violence-prevention measures.

Independent Record photographer Thom Bridge contributed to this story.

Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.

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The superintendent of a Texas elementary school where an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 18 children and three adults said his heart is broken today.

Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, said Tuesday that Robb Elementary School will be closed and all school activities will be cancelled until further notice. Harrell also said grief counselors would be available starting Wednesday morning.

"My heart is broken today," Harrell said. "We're a small community and we're going to need your prayers to get through this."

The death toll increased Tuesday evening. State Sen. Roland Gutierrez said he'd been briefed by state police on the latest fatalities from the school in Uvalde, a heavily Latino community about 85 miles west of San Antonio.

In addition to 21 dead, three people injured in the shooting remain in serious condition, Gutierrez told The Associated Press. The gunman is dead, likely killed by police.
On its face, Tuesday's primary election for the Republican partys gubernatorial nominee in the U.S. state of Georgia was nothing remarkable. Brian Kemp, the sitting governor, faced off against former U.S. Senator David Perdue and comfortably won his party's nod to pursue another term in office by 73% to 22%.

Normally, two veteran politicians slugging it out over the chance to win a state's highest office wouldn't raise too many eyebrows. But some wonder whether the Georgia race presages a larger fight in the GOP that will play out in both the 2022 midterms and the 2024 general elections.

That's because the two highest-profile supporters of Kemp and Perdue were, respectively, former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Donald Trump.

Trump's influence varies

A clear takeaway from Tuesday night is that the Trump endorsement doesn't carry the weight it used to and that the former president's inner circle appeared to believe it did just days ago.

As Pence prepared to campaign for Kemp in Georgia on Monday, a spokesman for Trump said in a statement, "Mike Pence was set to lose a governor's race in 2016 before he was plucked up and his political career was salvaged. Now, desperate to chase his lost relevance, Pence is parachuting into races, hoping someone is paying attention. The reality is, President Trump is already 82-3 with his endorsements, and there's nothing stopping him from saving America in 2022 and beyond."

That, however, was not how things played out Tuesday. And according to Charlie Cook, founder of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, Perdue's weakness in Georgia highlights the limits of Trump's power over individual races.

"In a Republican primary, when the voters don't know much about either candidate, the Trump endorsement is enormous," Cook told VOA.

But in a high visibility race like Georgia's, where a sitting governor ran against a challenger who had served as one of the state's U.S. senators, Trump's influence is clearly less potent, Cook said.

"If it's a blank slate, his endorsement means a lot in a Republican primary," he said. "But if they already knew a lot about both people, it doesn't mean nearly as much."

Deeper conflict in GOP

There are multiple reasons Pence and Trump, who spent four years together in the White House, find themselves on different sides of the Georgia gubernatorial race.

One is that Pence is clearly testing the waters for a run, possibly against Trump, in the GOP presidential primary in 2024.

But the most significant factor is the ongoing battle within the Republican Party for control of the narrative surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when Trump supporters  some threatening to "hang" Pence  disrupted the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.

'Proxy conflict'

"This is a proxy conflict between the former president and the former vice president," William A. Galston, a senior fellow in Brookings' Governance Studies program, told VOA as ballots were being cast on Tuesday.

"And it is a conflict not just over the candidates that they've backed but also about the two very different stories about the end of the Trump administration, and January 6, that each of them represents."

Galston said that he had begun to notice "a steady undertone" of resistance to the former president's fixation on his 2020 loss, even among Republicans who supported Trump during his presidency.

"They don't think it's helpful to the party or the country to continue this endless retrospective on the 2020 presidential election, and Mr. Trump keeps it up," Galston said. "He may well be opening the door for candidates who strike Republicans  including staunch Republicans, including Trump Republicans  as more forward-looking."

A likely Trump challenger

That Pence would challenge his former running mate was not always clear.

Trump, both on the day of the Capitol riot and after, criticized Pence for his refusal to reject the electoral votes submitted by a number of states after it had become clear that Joe Biden had won the 2020 presidential election. Trump and a number of his advisers had come up with a plan to throw the election to the House of Representatives, where Republican lawmakers could have voted to declare Trump the president.

The plan was illegal, and Pence refused to go along with it, inciting the fury of both Trump and the crowd that stormed the Capitol.

In the year that followed the January 6 assault, Pence slowly and cautiously distanced himself from his former running mate.

Pence steps away

After more than a year of remaining mostly quiet, Pence delivered a speech to the conservative Federalist Society in February in which he publicly broke from the former president, saying that Trump's claims about Pence's ability to reject electoral votes were incorrect.

"President Trump is wrong," Pence said. "I had no right to overturn the election."

He added, "The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. And frankly there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president."

That same day, Trump issued a statement repeating his false claim that the 2020 election results had been marred by fraud. "I was right and everyone knows it," he said. "If there is fraud or large-scale irregularities, it would have been appropriate to send those votes back to the legislatures to figure it out."

Trump targets Kemp

The Georgia gubernatorial primary became a flashpoint between Pence and Trump because Kemp had been one of the Republican elected officials who had refused to go along with the former president's effort to overturn the election.

Georgia, which Trump lost in 2020 by just under 12,000 votes, was one of the states where Trump and his advisers had hoped to reverse the election results. Kemp, however, publicly refused their request that he decertify the election results and appoint electors who would vote for Trump.

Trump has been highly critical of Kemp ever since, and when Perdue announced his campaign in December 2021, Trump endorsed him immediately.

Perdue's loss on Tuesday suggests that the former president's consistent focus on the results of the 2020 election may not continue to pay political dividends.
U.S. President Joe Biden and the State Department said that nothing has changed in U.S. policy toward Taiwan after Biden's unusually hardline statement Monday of military support for the self-governed island prompted anger from China and gave a boost to the western Pacific island where many worry about an attack from Beijing.

"Our One China Policy and our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait of course remains," said State Department spokesman Ned Price, who reiterated the U.S. commitment to provide the island with "military needs to defend itself."

"That is where we were then; that is where we are today," Price said

The State Department's clarification comes after Biden said "yes" when asked by a reporter in Tokyo whether he was willing to get involved militarily for Taiwan's defense, if needed. U.S. leaders normally leave that option open, as allowed by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, without making any firm commitment.

The White House walked back Biden's comments on Taiwan last year over a similar comment.

China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, although the two have been separately ruled since Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists and retreated to the island. Beijing has not renounced the use of force if needed to bring Taiwan under its flag. The U.S. does not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan but sells arms to Taiwan and maintains aircraft carriers in the Pacific.

Biden added at the news conference, which he attended with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, that China lacks "the jurisdiction to go in and use force to take over Taiwan."

Taiwan response

Taiwan welcomed Biden's comments.

"This is a very important message, meaning that the United States will take very concrete steps to respond to any kind of military escalation in this area," said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies think tank in Taiwan.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed "sincere welcome and thanks" in a statement Monday on Biden's remarks.

"Our government will not change its resolve to protect Taiwan's freedom, democracy and security and will continue stepping up self-defense," the statement says. "We will keep deepening our cooperation with the United States, Japan and other like-minded countries to safeguard security in the Taiwan Strait."

The U.S. leader's remarks will raise "confidence" in Taiwan, said Wang Wei-chieh, Taiwanese co-founder of the FBC2E International Affairs Facebook page. Given today's tensions between China and Taiwan, Wang said, many Taiwanese people will think Biden means the United States can now send troops.

China response

In China, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin said his government was "resolutely opposed" to Biden's comments on Taiwan and that it would take self-protection measures. He called Taiwan a domestic matter with no place for "foreign intervention."

"We urge the U.S. side to avoid severe damage to peace in the Taiwan Strait and to Sino-U.S. relations," Wang told a scheduled news conference in Beijing. "The Chinese side will make resolute moves to protect its own sovereignty and security rights, and we do as we say."

Chinese officials are taking the Biden remarks "seriously," said Liu Yih-jiun, a professor of public affairs at Fo Guang University in Taiwan. He expects China to follow up with action, though without starting a military conflict.

Biden not alone

It is not the first time a U.S. president has been asked about Taiwan and spoken unambiguously, despite the U.S. policy of "strategic ambiguity"  meaning intentionally vague about Taiwan  with no formal diplomatic ties yet friendly with and selling weapons to the island.

Former President George W. Bush had raised questions in 2001 as Biden did this week. He was asked in an ABC interview if Washington had an obligation to defend the Taiwanese in case of an attack by China: "Yes, we do ... and the Chinese must understand that," he was quoted as saying.

"I believe that in reality it's still hard to predict whether the U.S. is going to send troops or no given the complexity of U.S. domestic politics and other calculations," Wang said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday he would be open to negotiations with Russia, but only direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking by video link to the World Economic Forum, Zelenskyy said there was a potential for finding a diplomatic way out of the conflict if Putin understands reality.

Zelenskyy added that a first step toward talks with Russia would be for Russian forces to withdraw to the lines that were in place before Russia invaded in late February.

There has been no sign of movement toward a negotiated end to the conflict in recent weeks, with each side accusing the other of not being willing to engage in talks.

In Russia, Putin issued an order that would fast-track Russian citizenship to people living in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. There is already a program to fast-track citizenship for people living in the Donbas.

Ukrainian officials said the latest fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces had reached the edge of the industrial hub of Severodonetsk, with Moscows troops trying to seize control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine after failing to topple Zelenskyy or capture the capital, Kyiv.

The Ukrainian governor of the eastern region of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, described the situation around Severodonetsk as "very difficult" and said there was "already fighting on the outskirts."

"Russian troops have advanced far enough that they can already fire mortars" on the city, he said.

Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak pushed foreign governments to take action to pressure Russia to end the war.

Today, the future of Europe is not formed in Brussels or Davos. It is formed in the trenches near Severodonetsk and Bakhmut. The duration of this war depends on the speed of imposing energy sanctions and weapons supply. Want to end the war? The key to peace is in your capitals, Podolyak tweeted.

That followed a Zelenskyy message late Tuesday in which he said sending Ukraine rocket-propelled grenades, tanks, anti-ship missiles and other weapons was the best investment to prevent future Russian aggression.

Meanwhile, the European Union, Britain and the U.S. announced the creation of what they called the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group to coordinate with Ukraine on investigations of possible Russian war crimes during the three months of fighting.

Economic pressure

The United States said it will not extend a waiver, set to expire Wednesday, that allowed Russia to pay back its debts to international investors.

The Treasury Department had let Russia use U.S. banks to make the payments, saying that was a temporary measure meant to provide an orderly transition and allow for the investors to sell their stakes.

Closing that pathway raises the prospect that Russia may default on its debt.

NATO expansion

Delegations from Sweden and Finland were in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Wednesday for talks with Turkish officials about the two nations applications to join NATO, which have been met with opposition from Turkey.

Turkey accused Sweden and Finland of harboring people linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey says orchestrated a 2016 coup attempt.

NATO bids need approval from all of the alliances current members. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said he is confident any objections will be overcome and both Sweden and Finland will be welcomed into the alliance.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
UVALDE, TEXAS 

Fourteen children and one teacher were killed in a shooting at a Texas elementary school Tuesday, the governor said, and the 18-year-old gunman was dead.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said a local man opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles (137 kilometers) west of San Antonio. It was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history and occurred four years after a gunman fatally shot 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area.

"He shot and killed, horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher," said the governor, adding that two officers were shot and wounded but were expected to survive.

The gunman was a resident of the community and entered the school with a handgun, and possibly a rifle, and opened fire, Abbott said. He said the shooter was likely killed by responding officers but that the events were still being investigated.

Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief of Police Pete Arredondo said at a news conference that the gunman acted alone.

It was not immediately clear how many people, in addition to the dead, were hurt, but Arredondo said there were "several injuries." Earlier, Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

Robb Elementary School has an enrollment of fewer than 600 students and Arredondo said it serves students in the second, third and fourth grade. He did not say what grades the children who were shot are in.

A heavy police presence surrounded the school Tuesday afternoon, with officers in heavy vests diverting traffic and FBI agents coming and going from the building.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the school shooting on Air Force One as he returns from a five-day trip to Asia and would continue to receive updates. Jean-Pierre said Biden will deliver remarks Tuesday evening at the White House.

The shooting in Texas came less than two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 Black shoppers and workers in what officials have described as a hate crime.

Uvalde is home to about 16,000 people and is the seat of government for Uvalde County. The town is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the border with Mexico. Robb Elementary is in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes. There is a funeral home across the street from the school.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday co-chaired a breakfast meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum Summit where he is attempting to lure investors to Zimbabwe, which has registered insignificant foreign direct investment over the last few years. Critics say his current trip to Davos is a waste of national resources.

Mnangagwa co-chaired a breakfast meeting with Friends of African Continental Free Trade Area, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Malawian leader Lazarus Chakera, and Hage Geingob of Namibia at a lavish event, which was part of some interactive sessions for African Heads of State and Governments, Chief Executives of Corporations and Heads of International Organizations.

Mnangagwa is in Switzerland for this Annual Forum until May 26th. He told the meeting that his government is open for business.

The future of business, development and wealth creation now depends on digital economy.

Industry Minister Sekai Nzenza, who is accompanying the president, says Zimbabwe is looking for foreign investors.

The president and government are doing everything to lure investors to Zimbabwe.

Simba Mavaza, a Zanu PF program coordinator based in Britain, says Mnangagwas efforts to attract foreign domestic investment will have tangible results.

The president is coming back to Davos for the second time and his message is the same- Zimbabwe is Open for Business.

Independent economic commentator, Masimba Kuchera, is skeptical about Mnangagwas investment drive.

The World Economic Forum as the name suggests is a platform to talk but the outcome is different for every country depending on their global status and financial muscle.

Business expert and chief executive of CEO Round Table Zimbabwe, Kipton Gundani, concurs.

Its good to go to these forums but we also need to fix our own policies at home and address the ease of doing business in the country.

In its 2021 investment climate statement on Zimbabwe, the United Sates noted that business entities are free to invest in most sectors, including mining, without any restrictions following the amendment of the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act, which required majority ownership by indigenous Zimbabweans. In certain sectors, such as primary agriculture, transport services, and retail and wholesale trade including distribution, foreign investors may not own more than 35 percent equity. The U.S. further said that Zimbabwe has negotiated investment treaties with 35 countries, but it has ratified only 11, including those with the Netherlands, Kuwait, Denmark, China, Germany, Russia, South Africa, and Switzerland. Inspite of these agreements, the U.S. said the government has failed to protect investments undertaken by nationals from these countries, particularly with regard to land. Despite these setbacks, some economists, including Prosper Chitambara of the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe say it is good for Zimbabwe to attend these forums, but more Importantly, to work on business policies promoting foreign and local investment.

The World Economic forum is a very important platform  so it is critical to be there as a government, but we should go beyond the forum and execute what the delegates bring back from Davos.

The cost of attending the World Economic Forum is pegged at US$19,000 per delegate for the 2022 event. Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean government, whose airline has been banned to fly in Europe, is alleged to have hired a private Swiss Jet for its delegation at $30,000 per hour, suggesting that the cost of this trip could easily spill into a million dollars. But Mavaza says the cost of the Davos trip is nothing compared to the gains expected from the summit.

The amount of money the president and his team spent to travel to Davos and back to Zimbabwe can never be more than the value of the outcome of this trip.

President Mnangagwa is also accompanied by his wife, Auxillia, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava, several government technocrats and state security agents.

The theme of this years World Economic Forum is: History at a Turning Point: Government Policies and Business Strategies. More than 2,500 people are attending the event, which is highlighting issues like the Russia/Ukraine war, global warming and escalating prices of fuel.
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So far, Russia's oil exports have not slowed down a bit from the war in Ukraine and international sanctions. In fact, Russia exported more oil in April than it did before the war. And high oil prices mean Moscow is raking in money. That's one reason Europe is considering a Russian oil ban: Current sanctions are not hurting Moscow enough. Europe gets more of its oil from Russia than anywhere else. It would have to make up for those banned barrels somewhere else, and that won't be easy. And it's likely to push oil prices everywhere up even further.
This photo provided by Ford Foundation shows Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation receiving Frances highest cultural honor in recognition of his support of the arts and artists on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at the French embassy in New York. Being in this firmament is absolutely humbling, Walker told The Associated Press. Im simply a servant to the idea of art and justice in the world, because we cant have justice without art.
The war in Ukraine has exposed how quickly peace can collapse. Europe had seventy years without a conflict between states, lulling many to believe permanent peace was the new normal. With those illusions shattered, were now seeing a rearmament and massive cyber security infrastructure investments by European countries to reduce their vulnerability to the predations of Vladimir Putin.

The United States can learn many lessons from the Ukrainian conflict. It seems that many Americans are eager to deny the threats posed to us by our foreign adversaries. Its been 20 years since we were last attacked on our own soil. I fear we are now like the Europeans were until just weeks ago  lulled into a false sense of security and in denial about those who wish to do us harm.

Of increasing concern are the threats of cyber warfare. Remember last years attack against the Colonial Pipeline? It caused a fuel shortage on the East Coast and resulted in President Biden declaring a state of emergency. Colonial Pipeline is just one of dozens of ransomware attacks against Americans last year  most of them didnt make national headlines.

Considering the ubiquity of technology in our critical infrastructure, there are no shortage of targets for cyber-attacks. The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency tracks sixteen critical infrastructure sectors that are vulnerable to attack  everything from our food supply, to healthcare, to communications and transportation.

As we saw with Colonial Pipeline, disrupting even one cog in a complex system has far-reaching effects. In that example, hackers saw an opportunity to score a ransom. But imagine the havoc we would see with a coordinated attack against several critical infrastructure sectors at the same time by a state-backed actor. Without launching a single ship or plane, a foreign adversary could cause severe damage.

Were already preparing to defend against these attacks in Montana. Our Adjutant General of the Montana National Guard has the authority to call up guardsmen to active duty to defend against cyber attacks.

These threats are real and theyre evolving rapidly. Whats most alarming is we know that our worst enemies are investing heavily in developing cyber capabilities. Hackers backed by Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and others are now capable of hitting American targets.

What can we do about it? For one, our military and national security infrastructure is considered the most advanced in the world. That provides some comfort, but being the best doesnt mean that we are invulnerable to attack.

This is why we must maintain our position as the global technology leader. We need to increase investments in technology and continue to foster an environment of technological innovation.

China in particular is investing billions to beat the United States in technology and cybersecurity. In fact, becoming the world technology leader is a stated goal of the Chinese Communist Party. This is not just for economic reasons  Chinese leadership views technological innovation as a national security imperative.

For the United States to remain the leader in technological innovation, weve got to keep government out of the way. A responsible, pragmatic, and thoughtful approach to regulation has obviously served us well, but today were seeing increasing calls in Washington to clamp down on our technology companies. Doing so leaves us more vulnerable.

Its encouraging to see some leaders, like Senator Daines, recognize the threats posed by China. Senator Daines is leading the fight to strengthen our technology sector, for instance by sponsoring the Endless Frontiers Act, which invests in innovation and holds China accountable for cyber-attacks and intellectual property violations.

China views us as their adversary. Weve got to do the same, and make the appropriate preparations to defend ourselves. As the experience in Ukraine has shown, we might be more vulnerable than we realize.

Roger Hagan is a former member of the Montana House of Representatives and retired member of the United States Air Force and Air National Guard.

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huatulco (41.1 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s : violent horizontal shaking...car alarms set off...pool water sprwad outside | 5 users found this interesting.

puerto escondido (118.5 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : on the toilet | 5 users found this interesting.

san Pedro Pochutla (65.5 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : I noticed it in bed, but immediately noticed by everyone in building. | 2 users found this interesting.

la crucecita mexico (41 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : rattling and sideways shaking. no damage | 2 users found this interesting.

Pochutla / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 15-20 s an interesting fact It is that after it trembled it started to rain | 2 users found this interesting. (reported through (reported through our app I have noticed that same rain effect as well - sometimes a dAy later but it comes after a big one. / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 15-20 s

Sayula de aleman Veracruz (226.4 km NNE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Sentada desebrando queso | One user found this interesting.

Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca (117.2 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : My bed shake | One user found this interesting.

Puerto Escondido, San Pedro Mixtepec -Dto. 22 -, Oaxaca (119.7 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : I was laying in bed and the bed started shaking | One user found this interesting.

Puerto Escondido (119.2 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Shaking, swaying for a few seconds. Preceded by rumbling | One user found this interesting.

San august (74.2 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Floor and chairs shook | One user found this interesting.

Tehuacan (301.3 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / very short : En mi casa,sentado,por que me llamaron que estaba temblando | One user found this interesting.

San Pablo villa de Mitla (98 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Was sitting on the couch and felt it | One user found this interesting.

Ejutla de Crespo, Oaxaca (92.7 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 10-15 s : Tiro mis balvones | One user found this interesting.

Mazunte (77.8 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Sitting at the beach | One user found this interesting.

Oaxaca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 30-60 s : Light vibration at first, then bed started to shake and finally I touched the wall and it was moving as well. Oaxacas alarms went on.

Crucecita / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : Moderate shaking, rolling shake | One user found this interesting.

Puerto Escondido / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Estamos en un colchon en la playa y sentimos la tierra moverse abajo de nosotros | One user found this interesting.

Oaxaca, Huayapam (131.6 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s

Ejido la Joya, Leon, Guanajuato (821.5 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

Huatulco Oaxaca (41.2 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 30-60 s

Crucecita, Santa Maria Huatulco, Oaxaca (39.9 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

MEXICO (496.3 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

Puerto Escondido Oaxaca Mexico (119.9 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Playing cards sitting at table

Crucecita hotel plaza delphines (41.3 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

PUEBLA (406.8 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Cdmx (498.3 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

San Juan Juquila mixes (130.2 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s : Fue derrepente y luego todo se sacudio violentamenta

La Crucecita (41.4 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

La crucecita (40.4 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Noticed water bottles falling and plants shaking

Oaxaca (69.5 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 20-30 s : Las fotalezas se movian de extremo a extremo se valanciaron los autos y viviendas

Rinconada Puerto escondido (118.4 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s
Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Kate Moss testified on May 25 that ex-boyfriend Johnny Depp never pushed me, kicked me, or threw me down any stairs. Rather, she said that he came to her rescue after what she described as a nasty fall during a vacation. Depps team called Moss as a rebuttal witness in his defamation trial against his former wife, Amber Heard. Depp and Heard have both accused each other of abuse, and Heard testified on May 5 about a rumored domestic incident between him and the supermodel, when the stars dated in the 1990s. Ms. Moss, do you know Johnny Depp? his attorney, Ben Chew, asked. Yes, Moss replied with a slight smile. Moss, who took the stand via video from Gloucester, appeared fresh-faced and wore a dark jacket and white shirt for her testimony. She said that she and Depp had a romantic relationship from 1994 to 1998. Ms. Moss, did there come a time while you were a couple that the two of you took a vacation together to the GoldenEye resort in Jamaica? She responded in the affirmative. What, if anything, happened? Chew continued. We were leaving the room and Johnny left the room before I did, and there had been a rainstorm, and as I left the room, I slipped down the stairs and I hurt my back, Moss said. And I screamed, because I didnt know what happened to me, and I was in pain, and he came running back to help me and carried me to my room, and got me medical attention. Chew pressed: Did Mr. Depp push you, in any way, down the stairs? No, Moss said. Heards team did not cross-examine Moss.

When Depp took the stand again today as part of his rebuttal case, he was asked about the rumor and its origins. What happened, Depp said, is what she said happened, referring to Moss. Depp said he recalled telling Heard the story. Ms. Heard took the story and turned it into a very ugly incident, all in her mind, Depp said. There was never a moment where I pushed Kate down a set of stairs  and yet shes spewed this three times before. Depp was asked what he specifically told Heard about the stairs incident. Very simply that we were in Jamaica; I had left our bungalow about three minutes prior to her. I was standing outside and suddenly rain starts just coming down like its a monsoon, and then I remember looking to Kate coming out the door, Depp said. And there were three little wooden stairs, and she slipped. Her legs came up and she landed on her coccyx. She was obviously physically in pain. She was hurt. She was crying. So I ran over to grab her to make sure she was alright. Depp continued: Thats it. Thats all I ever  thats the whole story, and, um, the rumor of it, Id never heard a rumor like that before Ms. Heard grabbed hold of it.

The saga of Mosss involvement in Depp and Heards ever tawdry trial is a bit convoluted. Heard claimed that she struck Depp in the face during an argument in the spring of 2015, scared that he would throw her sister, Whitney, down the stairs. I dont hesitate, dont wait. I just, in my head, instantly think of Kate Moss and stairs, and I swung at him  Heard had also name-dropped Moss during Depps U.K. defamation trial against The Sun newspaper, where she reportedly recalled hearing a rumor that he had pushed an ex-girlfriend  whom she thought was Moss  down stairs. On May 17, Heard was asked on cross to explain her mention of Moss. You thought he was going to throw your sister down the stairs like he had thrown Kate Moss down the stairs, right? one of Depps lawyers pressed, in reference to the allegation. Heard answered, Ive heard a rumor, big rumor, about that. By naming Moss, Heard effectively paved the way, from a legal standpoint, for Depps lawyers to call her as a witness. Mosss account of her time with Depp also provides a counternarrative to his behavior as a romantic partner. Heard presented jurors with video-deposition testimony from Ellen Barkin, who went out with Depp briefly in the 1990s. Barkin described Depp as an immensely jealous boyfriend who was frequently inebriated. She also claimed that Depp threw a bottle during a dispute with someone in his inner circle in a Las Vegas hotel room.
Todays Specials All jokes aside, stand-up is getting artful onscreen. Photo: Adam Rose/Netflix

Earlier this month, Netflix put on its first-ever comedy festival in L.A., and it was a big one. Spread throughout the city, from the smallest, hippest comedy venues to Dodger Stadium, the Netflix Is a Joke Fest featured some of the most exciting up-and-coming talent alongside the streaming platforms biggest success stories, from Nate Bargatze to John Mulaney to Taylor Tomlinson to, yes, Dave Chappelle. Its still unclear if the festival will become a yearly tradition  especially with Netflix feeling some financial hardship for the first time  but the event served as a celebration of the streamers work over the past five or so years, during which it has ascended to stand-up-comedy domination.

The person largely responsible for all of this is Robbie Praw, whom Netflix hired in early 2016. Comedy is the only business Praw has ever known: He was raised by a comedy-nerd family, and his first job out of college in 2004 was working in the programming department at Montreals Just for Laughs comedy festival. In the 12 years that followed, Praw rose the ranks at JFL to VP of programming and developed deep relationships with some of comedys biggest names before they were names at all, such as Ali Wong and Bo Burnham. Those are relationships he has built on since taking on the role of director of original stand-up-comedy programming at Netflix, working under Lisa Nishimura. Last month, he was promoted to vice-president of stand-up and comedy formats, officially becoming Netflixs No. 1 comedy guy, overseeing stand-up specials, sketch series including I Think You Should Leave, and shows like Murderville and the upcoming Greatest Roasts of All Time.

Eight days after the Netflix Is a Joke Fest, Praw looked back on the past six years and how his approach to bringing comedy to at-home viewers has changed.

Lets start with the festival. Besides it being a nice thing to do, why do it?

First of all, it was an investment in the space. The genesis of this was that three or four years ago, we had bought this special, this comedy hall of fame called The Hall that we just taped, and we were thinking how great it would be to do a celebration of comedy around it. I have a background in the space, so it was something that I was excited about doing  specifically in a city like L.A. You would think that there wouldve been, at some point, a massive comedy festival in L.A., but it has never happened.

Before COVID, we had sold like 50,000 tickets out of the gate, then canceled three weeks later, which felt really stupid at the time. I think it became a unique situation to bring comedians together for the first time who havent seen each other throughout the pandemic  kind of putting together a comedy camp. One of the things that I was the most blown away by was how much comedians enjoyed the festival and the time together.

And it did well enough that youre like, Well do this next year?

I dont know. It was successful, and were really proud of it, but right now this is not built to be a yearly event. We certainly have interest in doing different things live in the future.

Comedians attend a brunch hosted by Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos at the Netflix Is a Joke Fest in Los Angeles. Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Netflix

How did you get the Netflix job in 2016?

Lisa Nishimura, who was overseeing docs and comedy at the time, would come to the Just for Laughs festival every year, and eventually we had a conversation. Quite frankly, Id just had my first kid and wasnt that eager to come over, because I was pretty happy in Montreal. Even though I was overseeing the festival, the thing that I enjoyed doing the most was working on New Faces or launching new talent. As Netflix started to emerge in the stand-up space six or seven years ago, and with Lisa reaching out, I was really excited about the opportunity to work with some of the comedians that Id worked with forever and having the ability to put them on a bigger platform. What we do in stand-up at Netflix is very, very special. We work with most of the big names. Even the folks we arent working with anymore  their specials are on Netflix and theyre going to be there forever.

When you started at Netflix, you all declared, Were going to release a special every week. What was your buying philosophy then, and what have you learned since?

We didnt have the library at that point, so there was a real, exciting opportunity to quickly build and offer a lot of stand-up on Netflix. But I dont think we had as much of a sophisticated take on exactly what comedy our members specifically responded to, so we learned a lot in those years.

There werent a ton of huge comedy specials when you started. It wasnt really a thing many comedians were aspiring to before 2000, and even until the mid-2010s, only a small number of comedians were getting them. I had heard that Comedy Central would give a comedian around $15,000 just to keep them in the Comedy Central orbit. What was it about Netflix as a platform for specials that was different?

Something that Ive always appreciated at Netflix, since the second I started, is that your stand-up special could be next to Stranger Things or Ozark or House of Cards  whatever the hit of the moment was. Over the years, our members  who might otherwise not have been big stand-up fans  found stand-up.

I think leaning into a lot of different voices introduced people to stand-up for the first time. The moment my wife fell in love with stand-up was when she was introduced to Ali Wong  who I love as well, but there was a different connection. When Ali launched Baby Cobra in 2016, we had just had a kid, and my wife was able to truly see a meaningful experience onscreen. Not every special is for everyone, certainly, but it does allow folks to find their favorite comedian, and thats a really powerful thing.

Baby Cobra. Photo: Alex Crick/Netflix

Something Ive heard from comedians and managers is that stand-up proved to be really popular after people finished binging something serious. Bert Kreischer has talked about how Netflix told him that most people just watched the first 30 minutes, so he put his closer 30 minutes into his special. Can you confirm that?

People do watch our specials  often all the way through. But you could go to any club around the country right now and see a big headliner do 90 minutes or you could see somebody do seven minutes, and those are two very valid versions of the art form. Sometimes you like a shorter version of something. Sometimes, rather than a comedian constructing an evening for you, a comedians take on a specific thing may be a vital, important piece of comedy. Were striving to do both.

Weve now entered the Dave Chappelle portion of the interview.

Oh, great.

Dave has put out six hours in five years on Netflix  plus 8:46 and those Instagram specials complaining about Chappelles Show and not getting paid enough. Chris Rock has released five hours in his entire career. Did you think all of Chappelles hours were ready to release? Especially since it was leaked that these specials lose money for Netflix.

I believe that Dave is one of the most important stand-up comedians of all time. Certainly, hes the most popular stand-up comedian of this moment, and were thrilled to have this partnership with him. His specials have been extremely well received. I mean, I dont know how many Emmys, Grammys  he got the Mark Twain award.

Our members both love his specials and watch them in big numbers. Complete his specials in big numbers. He has some of the highest Rotten Tomatoes scores when his specials are released. So yeah, we obviously work with Dave because Dave is one of the top-regarded stand-up comedians of all time, and we definitely hope to continue working with him.

After protests broke out inside Netflix over The Closers material, Ted Sarandos commented, We have a strong belief that content on screen doesnt directly translate to real-world harm. He later said that comment was an oversimplification. Do you think content on screen causes real-world harm?

We would never  I mean, if we felt like we were putting something onscreen that was causing real-world harm, we would not be putting it onscreen. That being said, content of all kinds elicits reactions and thats why we all love art. This is a special that, obviously, had a lot of reactions to it. But in the end, I was fairly proud to work for a company that would allow important artists the ability to have creative expression.

Did the protests inform or expand your perspective on how these things are received or your own responsibility for them?

I just really believe in the notion of creative expression. Specifically when it comes to an artist like Dave Chappelle, I think its really important that the person in my job is giving someone like Dave the ability to express himself. Im proud that we stood by that.

The Closer. Photo: Netflix

Netflix has 15 politically incorrect stand-up subcategories like Cynical Politically Incorrect, European Politically Incorrect, and Irreverent. Why the dedication to this?

I dont think we have any dedication to that. We have comedy for everybody, and certainly some stand-up comedy is on that bleeding edge. But we have tons of different types of specials in any given week. We have a special coming out from different artists that I dont think would be categorized in that way. Its a testament to our members and people generally having different tastes; thats what that is.

You dont feel like youve been doing slightly more in that area?

I dont think so.

This is not to be like, How dare you do it at all?!

No no no no, Im not taking it that way. I actually just  Its something we should look at, but no, I dont think thats the case. Its possible that maybe some of those specials get a little more attention in the media, but I dont think that is necessarily an accurate assessment of how were programming. Certainly, some comedy falls in that lane, but I wouldnt say thats a specific concentration.

Four years ago, Jason Zinoman asked you this, but he was told you couldnt answer it. Theres one very famous comedian you all used to work with named Louis C.K. If he was interested, would you buy his next 

Sorry, could you spell that? Sorry.

Yeah. So C as in C, K as in K.

Oh, okay. Cool, cool, cool. Yeah, I mean, we have no plans to work with Louis right now.

What sorts of considerations, research, and conversations go into someone like Jeff Ross being actively featured in the festival  seemingly part of the development pipeline  but someone like Chris DElia not being there at all, even though he was previously a part of the Netflix family?

Its obviously a tough question. Every situation is different, and we do an appropriate amount of due diligence on making some decisions. We try not to be reactive.

I mean, generally, first things first: Were for creative expression. We have a lot of people who have discussions on every special that we do and every person that we work with, and I think we make the best informed decisions. That happens across the board  on every single selection on the slate. Obviously, Im responsible, but we discuss things as a group, then what we put out into the world speaks to the decisions we end up making.

How do you measure the success of a special beyond numbers?

I mean, everything  from the amount of folks who watched it to the amount of folks who rewatched it, to the amount of conversation there was about it, to the fact that it then went on music-streaming services and was in the top ten, to the Grammys, the Emmys. You love when people love something. Its hard to define, and thats something that was unquestionable about Inside: People loved it. Its one of my favorite things that weve ever put out.

Years ago, Chris Rock said a lot of specials arent special anymore. He said this years before you even got this job. He calls them okays.

He calls them normals.

Yes! Thats what it is.

I dont want to be responsible for a Chris Rock quote, but I think thats what he calls them.

And back when you first started at Netflix in 2016, your line was that no one complains about how many albums people put out 

Oh, gosh. Shit. I was about to give you that line.

Yeah, I know. I carve out the answers so you dont repeat yourself. But youve said stand-up is ideally a live art form  hence the festival. So what makes an hour of comedy something that needs to be filmed as a special?

What makes it a special is the artists that were choosing to work with. Thats usually the place it starts. Giving our trust to them to make an hour (or half hour or whatever it is) something that is truly special. But its not really a process that I feel like we own. Its really very artist-driven. Ronny Chieng shooting his last special in that restaurant  thats not something that we suggested. We want artists to be performing in a context that theyre excited about, and its a process that they lead.

How did Inside come together?

Fairly early in the pandemic, Bo reached out to express that he was going to do Inside. Somewhere around Christmastime, he had sent me around 20 minutes of it. Some of it didnt even end up in the piece. But he was genuinely working on it like it comes across  for two years. Ive been working with Bo since he was 17 and I was 27 at Just for Laughs. I think hes one of the most special artists in the world.

Inside. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix

You told Jason Zinoman that there would be a little bit more curation of comedy specials now  that employees have been instructed to spend members money wisely  which seems to imply that you have less money to buy them. In general, how will certain downturns affect your approach?

Listen, budgets are always fluid, but we just invested in one of the biggest festivals ever put together  let alone in comedy. We have 12 specials or something coming out. Maybe its not exactly that number, but the amount of specials we have this year is a very large number with some of the biggest stand-ups in the world. What I was speaking to in that article is that we need to have a better sense of what our members want.

Can you speak to anything you know that they love?

Our members love Gabriel Iglesias. They certainly love Bo Burnham. They love Dave Chappelle. They love John Mulaney. Bill Burr.

Youre naming famous comedians. [Laughs.]

[Laughs.] No, I know. I do think another thing our members love is discovering the thing that other people dont know about  like a Taylor Tomlinson, a Hannah Gadsby, or a Ronny Chieng. That has always been part of the lifeblood. Ali Wong was the first key example of that. And by the way, it happened with Bo  the comedy world knew Bo really well, but truly, I think the world opened up to him.

What did you learn from the MoNique experience in terms of balancing numbers and the legacy of the comedian?

First of all, MoNique broached a very important conversation that deserves to be talked about, and Ive been a huge fan of hers forever and hope I get to still work with her at some point. Every negotiation with every artist is a snowflake, so its very rare that we have a negotiation that ends on day one. They typically take some time to figure out.

I think that we have great empathy in this space. This is not like you have hundreds of workers and scriptwriters and directors; usually, a special ends after a culmination of somebody doing material that is very personal to them. So obviously, the least fun part of the job is figuring out compensation, but we figure it out. And again, budgets are fluid, but I think that on the whole, were doing a pretty good job at it.

It seems like Netflix has shifted a lot of its focus and buying strategies around international appeal  like finding the next Squid Game. Comedy has always had a hard time translating internationally. What have you learned about international stand-up or the appeal of American stand-ups to international audiences?

Weve never seen more comedians touring other places in the world, and certainly, Im proud of the role that Netflix has played in that. But the core audience for stand-up, typically, is more geographically based. Thats why we try to have a subset of different folks around the world  my team hates when I say this, but heat-seeking missiles to audiences that really want that. Were not necessarily looking for the Squid Game of stand-up; were looking for something that you will specifically love and tell your friends about.

Recently, I read that Netflix is interested in live-streaming technology. How do you think it might work with stand-up or comedy in general?

Having been through this festival and that great live experience, it wouldve been something to capture some of it. But its definitely early days on that conversation.

Can you give any broad strokes of what the future holds for the stand-up special? What you might like to see more or less of?

My answers lame but  funny first. Were buying all sorts of different things, but the thing that excites me the most in comedy is when people have really funny material that folks see themselves in  and giving our members and comedy fans the ability to be distracted. Thats part of the joy of doing this live thing.

Seeing that in person again was very special. The audiences were ravenous for comedy, and its why you spend your life doing what you do  because its an under-talked-about genre, in a way, and a very important thing. Laughter is a key human emotion that is how many of us can contextualize our entire lives, and its important. So the thing that gets me excited is when I sit down and watch a special and I laugh my ass off.

This interview has been edited and condensed.
U.S. Citizen and Four Chinese Intelligence Officers Charged with Spying on Prominent Dissidents, Human Rights Leaders, and Pro-Democracy Activists

A U.S. citizen and four officials from Chinas Ministry of State Security (MSS) were charged in an indictment, unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn yesterday, with conspiracy and other charges related to an espionage and transnational repression scheme.

According to court documents, Wang Shujun, 73, of Queens, New York; Feng He, aka Boss He, of Guangdong; Jie Ji, of Qingdao; Ming Li, aka Elder Tang and Little Li, of Guangdong; and Keqing Lu aka Boss Lu, of Qingdao, allegedly participated in an espionage and transnational repression scheme in the United States and abroad. Wang was arrested on March 16, pursuant to a criminal complaint, and will be arraigned at a later date. He, Ji, Li and Lu remain at large.

We will not tolerate efforts by the PRC or any authoritarian government to export repressive measures to our country, said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Departments National Security Division. These charges demonstrate the Justice Departments unwavering commitment to hold accountable all those who violate our laws in seeking to suppress dissenting voices within the United States and to prevent our residents from exercising their lawful rights.

As alleged, Wang acted as a covert intelligence asset in his own community, spying on and reporting sensitive information on prominent pro-democracy activists and organizations to his co-defendants, who are members of the Chinese governments Ministry of State Security, said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. Todays indictment exposes and disrupts an operation by the PRC that threatens the safety and freedom of Chinese nationals residing in the United States on account of their pro-democracy beliefs and speech. Our office and our law enforcement partners will remain vigilant to thwart foreign espionage activities aimed at our citizens and residents.

If anyone doubts how serious the Chinese government is about silencing its critics, this case should eliminate any uncertainty, said Acting Executive Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. of the FBIs National Security Branch. The Chinese governments aggressive tactics were once confined to its borders. Now, the PRC is targeting people in the United States and around the world. The FBI and its partners remain committed to combatting transnational repression.

According to court documents, Wang is a well-known academic and author who helped start a pro-democracy organization in Queens that opposes the current communist regime in China. However, as alleged, since at least 2011, Wang has used his position and status within the Chinese diaspora and dissident communities to covertly collect information about prominent activists and human rights leaders on behalf of the MSS and PRC. As alleged in the indictment, He, Ji, Li and Lu acted as Wangs handlers, directing Wang to target specific individuals and groups that the PRC considers subversive, such as Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, advocates for Taiwanese independence, and Uyghur and Tibetan activists, and obtain information on particular topics and matters of importance to the MSS.

As alleged in the indictment, Wang communicated and provided information to the MSS, including to He, Ji, Li and Lu, by using encrypted messaging applications and emails, as well as during face-to-face meetings in the PRC. Wang would often memorialize the information he collected in email diaries to be accessed by the MSS. These diaries included details about Wangs private conversations with prominent dissidents, as well as the activities of pro-democracy activists and human rights organizations. A search of Wangs residence incident to his arrest revealed approximately 163 diary entries Wang wrote to He, Ji, Li and Lu and other MSS officials.

For example, in one series of communications on or about Nov. 22, 2016, Ji instructed Wang to interface with a particular attendee at an upcoming pro-democracy event and to accomplish the task assigned by the Boss, referring to Lu. Ji noted that the attendee of interest had contacts with Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians and wished Wang luck at getting good results. In another exchange on or about Nov. 16, 2016, Wang informed Li that he just finished chatting with a prominent human rights activist, noting that he asked the necessary questions and received candid answers. Li responded great and with a thumbs-up emoji, instructing Wang to write it in a diary. At least one Hong Kong democracy activist and dissident that Wang reported on to the MSS, identified as Hong Kong Dissident #1 in the indictment, was subsequently arrested by the PRC.

In addition to this conduct, the indictment alleges that Wang transferred and possessed telephone numbers and contact information belonging to Chinese dissidents to the MSS, as well as making materially false statements to federal law enforcement, falsely denying that he had contacts with PRC officials or the MSS.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Artie McConnell of the Eastern District of New York is prosecuting the case with valuable assistance from Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Divisions Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Montanas magnificent wildlife populations are the envy of the nation, an important part of our economy and a tie that binds Montanans together across generations.

But in April, a small front group, the United Property Owners of Montana (UPOM) filed a lawsuit whose goal is to take the public out of wildlife management decisions and to privatize the publics wildlife in the hands of a few powerful landowners. Claiming elk populations in central Montana are too high, UPOMs suit demands the immediate reduction of elk populations in much of the state, and further claiming that all hunting regulations issued by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission are unconstitutional.

As Montana legislators who sit on the House and Senate Fish and Wildlife Committees and who take seriously our oversight duties over how Montanas wildlife is managed, the UPOM lawsuit is of great concern. Not only is the foundation of professional wildlife management under assault, but so too is our hunting heritage of equal opportunity for all.

UPOM was formed 15 years ago, and its agenda is to privatize public resources  including public lands and water, and the fish and wildlife that lives there. They have sued over the states stream access law, sued to stop the reintroduction of native bison on public lands, and fought bills to increase the fine for gating public roads that lead to public lands. UPOM has always been secretive about its financial backers but there is little doubt that wealthy out-of-state landowners provide a big part of its bankroll

UPOMs extremism stands in stark contrast to how Montanans have long approached wildlife management issues. Most Montana farmers and ranchers value wildlife and recognize the need to work with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) to solve management issues. Many landowners count hunters as good friends, and partner with conservation groups and FWP to provide hunting and fishing access and restore wildlife habitat.

In Montana, there is legal precedent dating back decades that firmly establishes the public ownership of wildlife and we have confidence that the Montana courts will reject UPOMs legal argument and its extreme approach. We have less confidence over how Governor Greg Gianforte will respond.

Two years ago, UPOM filed a suit against a very restrained bison restoration plan adopted by FWP. In a backroom deal, Governor Gianforte settled the case in UPOMs favor and unilaterally agreed that the state would not consider any bison restoration plan for the next decade. There was no advance notice of this deal, no opportunity for the public to comment and no input from FWPs professional wildlife managers.

Given UPOMs weak legal arguments, there is good reason to believe that their actual strategy in the current suit isnt victory in court but another back room deal with the Governor.

Given the stakes of UPOMs suit over elk management, and the great interest of the public and Montana hunters in these issues, it is essential that Governor Gianforte is transparent in any settlement discussions, and that an opportunity for public review exists before any agreement is finalized.

We recognize that many wildlife management issues are difficult, in part because Montanans care so deeply about them. But over decades, Montana has developed a process where every Montanan can participate in management decisions, including landowners, hunters and the public. This is as it should be for a resource that is so much a part of our heritage and so important to our future. Theres no room in this process for secret deals.

Tom France represents Montana House District 94. Pat Flowers represents Montana Senate District 32.

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Americans overwhelmingly say they want to welcome Ukrainians fleeing a Russian invasion that has displaced millions, laid waste to entire cities and horrified the world. Yet within the U.S. immigration system, an obstacle emerges: Its hard to argue that Ukrainians should get special treatment, when so many other equally desperate asylum seekers, mostly non-White, have been rejected, jailed in inhumane conditions or stuck in interminable backlogs.

The solution: The U.S. must urgently reform its immigration system, so that quickly and efficiently providing refuge and work authorization to the most vulnerable migrants becomes the norm, not something special.

When the war began in late February, the European Union quickly granted Ukrainian refugees the right to live and work for up to three years, and has since accepted more than five million. Yet only on March 24 did President Joe Biden announce that the US would take a mere 100,000, and his administration has yet to achieve even that.

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Ukrainians displaced by the war must contend with an immigration system that is aimed at exclusion. A lucky few have entered on visitor visas, an option that provides only temporary safety and prohibits legal work. Thousands have traveled to Mexico and made their way to the Tijuana border crossing, where they were initially turned away under a public health law known as Title 42  still being used to reject Central Americans, Haitians and Mexicans  but later granted an exemption that has allowed some 23,000 to stay in the country under humanitarian parole. A new program called Uniting for Ukraine will grant entry to those who can find U.S.-based sponsors willing to sign (unenforceable) declarations of financial support  potentially opening the way for tens of thousands more parolees, but also providing minimal resettlement assistance and exposing Ukrainian women to the danger of trafficking and exploitation by unscrupulous sponsors.

Gaining work authorization, essential to immigrants seeking to support themselves, is even more difficult. US unemployment is near record lows, and Ukrainians are highly educated and motivated to work, yet adjudication of a work permit application can take as long as a year  including under a special program known as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. Such delays will lead many Ukrainians to work unlawfully in low-skilled jobs, risking abuse, exploitation, denial of future immigration applications or even deportation proceedings. And even if parolees somehow obtain the right to work, their status will remain temporary. If they choose to stay, they may have no choice but to apply through the asylum system, which currently faces a backlog of 430,000 cases at asylum offices and more than 1.6 million at immigration courts.

This is not a good look for a self-professed nation of immigrants whose leader has pledged to help Ukrainians. So how can the U.S. fulfill its promise, and promises to other people fleeing violence and repression? First, ensure that entrants on humanitarian parole receive prompt assistance in applying for work authorization, and automatically expedite applications for prioritized groups (in this case Ukrainians). Second, rapidly adjudicate TPS applications. Third, pass an Adjustment Act allowing designated groups of parolees  for example, Ukrainians fleeing war and Afghans fleeing the Taliban  to apply for residence if they are unable to return to their country of origin at the end of their parole.

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Its frustrating that it has taken the plight of white-skinned Ukrainians to draw attention to the deficiencies of the US immigration system, but if the result can be more humane treatment for all people fleeing violence and repression, so be it. Urgent action to accept more Ukrainians in the US not only makes moral and economic sense  its a geopolitical imperative. The flood of Ukrainian refugees into Europe  Poland has already accepted more than 3 million, or almost 10% of its population  threatens to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment that could undermine the Western alliance in support of Ukraine. And that, in turn, could affect the outcome of the war itself.

More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:



Can EUs Refugee Success Lead to More Cooperation?: Editorial



The War Prompts the Kindness of Strangers: Therese Raphael

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Biden Picked the Wrong Time to Try Lifting Title 42: Editorial

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Joy Ziegeweid is an immigration attorney in New York. She is a founder of the Legal Immigration Network for Ukraine, which provides information and pro bono legal support for those displaced by the war in Ukraine.

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Corruption seems so fundamental to the business of mineral extraction that its almost winked at. When Rio Tinto Group announced in 2016 that it was firing two senior executives over $10.5 million of payments made in connection to a mining project in Guinea, investors looked instead to the booming iron ore price and shares rose 6.8%.

This week its been Glencore Plcs turn to collect the wages of sin. The stock rose as much as 5.3% Tuesday, putting it just 0.03% below its all-time high, after it admitted to bribery and market manipulation and agreed to pay a $1.1 billion settlement with authorities in the US, UK and Brazil over a decade of corrupt practices that stretched from Houston and Los Angeles to Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The settlement certainly removes a cloud over the stock thats been hanging around for a while. Though Glencores mix of mining and trading operations is unique among listed companies, it arguably trades at a discount to its closest peers  a factor that may well be connected to the disreputable whiff around the company since it was formed from the ashes of fugitive commodity trader Marc Richs eponymous business.

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A more telling factor, though, is that the settlement is evidence Glencore is good at doing the job its shareholders want it to do: extracting the maximum value from global flows of commodities and funneling it toward investors.

As were seeing around the war in Ukraine, where European oil companies have been mixing Russian crude with other varieties to disguise the unpalatable origin of their cargoes, the trading business has always thrived on ensuring consumers dont think too hard about the sources of their raw materials.

Urals crude is selling at a $30 discount to the Brent equivalent at present. For traders prepared to get their hands dirty with the legal but ethically dubious business of dealing in that product, it represents notional arbitrage profits of close to $150 million a day. One of Richs greatest coups was selling Iranian oil to Israel after the 1979 Islamic revolution, brokering a deal that neither nation was prepared to publicly countenance.

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The business of a commodity trading house depends on getting access to vast amounts of product. Glencore doesnt produce crude in any significant quantities, but the 706 million barrels it bought from third parties and sold onward last year was equivalent to about 2% of global output. Add in the volumes of petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel, and youre closer to 4% of the world market.

Finding barrels that arent already locked up by the major national oil companies and the listed oil majors often involves going to places theyre less willing to venture. Of the $2.1 million of payments Glencore made in 2020 that were disclosed under the EUs anti-corruption laws, more than a third went to countries that rank in the bottom half of Transparency Internationals index of perceived graft.

In theory, its possible to make an ethical payment to even the most kleptocratic of governments. Still, the evidence presented by the US Department of Justice  outlining more than $100 million that Glencore spent to funnel bribes to officials in Nigeria, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo  suggests these relationships fall into criminal territory far too often.

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Glencores customers should be just as concerned about the other side of its criminal settlement. Roughly 70% of the fines levied by US authorities related not to corruption in sub-Saharan Africa, but market manipulation in US commodities hubs, where traders fattened their margins with a scheme straight out of Trading Places: putting in bogus sell orders for fuel oil to depress the value collated by the price-setting agency S&P Global Platts, then buying the contracts based on the artificially deflated benchmark price (and vice versa).

Such activity has at times been an almost routine practice in many markets, with billions of fines paid over the past decade for manipulation of foreign exchange and Libor benchmarks. Commodities still present a target-rich environment, with plenty of obscure micro-markets where price-setting is more art than science. Some of Glencores major products, such as coal, ferrochrome and cobalt, are sold into just such illiquid markets. Even a relatively significant LME-traded metal like nickel isnt immune.

Glencore wants to draw a line under such behavior. Its no longer the company it was when the unacceptable practices behind this misconduct occurred, Chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi said, adding that board and management are committed to creating value for all stakeholders. Thats an admirable ambition  but its equity investors, who care most about the value it creates for shareholders alone and include many of the senior executives who were in charge when the wrongdoing took place, will no doubt hope that wont mean too much moral rigidity.

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In a business that thrives on the thin margins that commodity traders live on, the $1.1 billion fine it will pay out looks like small change for a company that posted revenue of some $2.34 trillion and operating cashflow worth $76.58 billion in the relevant period. For all its diligent ESG reporting, no one invests in Glencore because they want to add some ethical sheen to their portfolio.

More From This Writer and Others at Bloomberg Opinion:

 The City of London Is the Wild West of Metals: Javier Blas



Its Time for Glencore to Embrace Change: Clara Ferreira Marques

 Coals Price Conundrum Betrays an Invisible Hand: David Fickling

Want more from Bloomberg Opinion? OPIN .

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities. Previously, he worked for Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

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It always amazes me the photos that can be taken while in the water.

If you like underwater photos too, the University of Miamis 2021 Underwater Photo Contest winners is a great place to look online at some incredible shots. The winning photographs can be seen at https://www.rsmas.miami.edu/community-and-giving/outreach/underwater-photo-contest/2021-contest-winners/index.html.

The big winner was a venom-filled fireworm from Rio de Janeiro. Ive never even heard of such things, but it doesnt look as scary as it sounds. The photo is actually quite pretty.

The shot was taken by Ricardo Marques Dias at Arraial do Cabo in Brazil. The photo shows the flaring white bristles of the poisonous bearded fireworm that lives throughout the tropical western Atlantic as well as the mid-Atlantic ocean. It eats soft and hard corals and small crustaceans.

From Indonesia to Illinois, more than 800 photos were submitted to the 2021 contest, highlighting the vastness of life under the sea.

The other winning images showcase an array of sea life, including a reticulated brittle star crawling on a red cushion sea star, a school of migrating Munks devil rays and a bottom-dwelling polka-dot batfish.

A call for entries is now open through Sept. 26 for the 2022 contest, with a new category offered on weather  from extreme to extraordinary.

The contest is judged by a panel of professional photographers and marine scientists, photographs are divided into six separate categories. The contests are open to all amateur photographers who earn no more than 20% of their income from photography.

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For almost two decades, lawmakers in Washington have been pushing legislation that would rein in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Facing a near-certain presidential veto, the proposal has never crossed the finish line. Now, the legislation is getting a new look amid surging gasoline and oil prices. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight 1. What would the legislation do?

The bill -- dubbed the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, or NOPEC -- would empower the U.S. Department of Justice to file an antitrust lawsuit against OPEC for trying to control oil production or to affect crude prices. It would do this by amending the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the law used more than a century ago to break up the oil empire of John Rockefeller. Even if the Justice Department were never to act on its power to sue, the mere existence of this option might be enough to force the cartel to change its behavior.

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2. Does this have a chance of becoming law?

A recent vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee paves the way for full Senate consideration, but its unclear when, or if, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will bring the measure to the floor. The Biden administration has expressed concern about unintended consequences of the legislation as the war in Ukraine stokes volatility in energy markets. Versions of the bill were approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2007, but the idea got no further under a veto threat by President George W. Bush. Former President Donald Trump supported the NOPEC idea before becoming president, and OPEC was a frequent target of his on Twitter, but during his four-year term the legislation was never brought to the floor for a vote in either chamber.

3. Who opposes NOPEC?

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Both the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have come out strongly against the bill, fearing retaliatory action against U.S. companies abroad if it becomes law. U.S. shale producers also benefit from OPECs discipline in bolstering prices when they fall too low without any of the risk.

4. What would be the possible repercussions for the oil market?

Makan Delrahim, Trumps antitrust chief, told a Senate hearing in December 2018 that NOPEC could very well lower the price ultimately to the consumer. But in the short-term, passage could potentially boost prices, especially if fears of retaliatory action escalated.

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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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Floods, droughts and food shortages are just some of the effects of climate change, while exploitation and corruption drive social injustice around the world. Governments tackling these issues are realizing that to solve them, they need first to define and measure them. Some are turning to so-called taxonomies that establish which economic practices and products are harmful to the planet and which arent. The idea is that the price of goods and services must reflect the human and environmental cost of both production and disposal, which in turn would spur much needed change. But designing a code is fiendishly difficult.

1. What are taxonomies?

Theyre essentially systems for organizing information, and form the basis of codes for sustainable corporate conduct and investing. Those that already exist focus mostly on environmental risks, and are based on research by scientists backed by the United Nations. When the 2015 Paris climate accord was struck, its roughly 200 signatories acknowledged that action must be taken. The average global temperature is already 1.1 degree Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than it was before the industrial revolution. Scientists say the limit is 1.5 degrees Celsius, beyond which lies climate catastrophe. Taxonomies provide a detailed guide for which activities jeopardize climate goals and which support them.

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2. Which jurisdictions have taxonomies?

The European Union has set a global benchmark with its taxonomy, on which a technical group began work back in 2018. The EU has since been followed by Colombia, China, Japan and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The UK is also working on its own version of one. Based on work by the EU and China, the International Platform on Sustainable Finance is focusing on establishing some uniformity through a Common Ground Taxonomy, which covers areas such as agriculture and manufacturing. If definitions diverge too much, that could hamper efforts to channel funding to sustainable businesses and meet climate goals.

3. What does the EUs taxonomy cover?

Right now, it addresses climate change mitigation and adaptation. It covers 170 different economic activities that combined represent around 40% of the EUs listed companies operating in industries responsible for almost 80% of direct greenhouse gas emissions. There are four more environmental objectives to go, including biodiversity, and also a social taxonomy in the works. Companies are being required to report on how well they aligned.

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4. How do they work elsewhere?

There are more than 20 are under development around the world, according to the IPSF, and theyre starting to diverge. The EU for example has established minimum social safeguards and criteria reflecting the principle of do no significant harm, but these arent universally used.

5. Will all businesses have to comply?

Which companies or business activities will be included and by what deadline is currently under review. Larger listed corporates are first in line in the EU, where companies including those in the financial industry will be required to identify how much of their business corresponds to the lists, so investors can direct their money to those with the highest degree of alignment. But requiring disclosure from all companies irrespective of size is at present unrealistic; its too complex and costly, with lack of data a constant obstacle.

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6. How do you know which companies are aligned?

Calculating how much of sales, operating profit and capital expenditures are eligible to be aligned with the EUs taxonomy is difficult. Data is tough to obtain and financial institutions, for example, cant use estimates. To help both investors and companies, the EU is developing a central database of information, and the IPSF has created a tool to map sales that are eligible, though it warns this isnt an indicator of environmental performance.

7. Will it work?

A recent survey by the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System found that, of two dozen financial regulators, 20% are using taxonomies and another 60% plan to use, or are considering using, one. But in a sign of what may come, the EUs taxonomy became mired in controversy over the inclusion of some gas and nuclear plants to temporarily meet demand for energy, a situation worsened by the war in Ukraine. Some trade organizations have warned regulations are so complex that theres a risk investors will steer clear of companies, even low emitters, depriving them of financing to clean up. But organizations like the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warn failure isnt an option.

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Tuesday was the fourth and final big primary day of May, with most of the action in the South. Next week is quiet, and then seven states hold primaries on June 7. Highlights, bullet-point style:  The one-third club got even bigger. Several candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump in competitive Republican races have wound up with about a third of the vote. That wasnt doing much for Trumps would-be reputation as omnipotent GOP kingmaker, and what happened in Georgia on Tuesday was even worse. In the two contests that Trump put the most time and money into, in an attempt to punish incumbent Republicans who refused to help him illegally overturn the 2020 election, Trumps candidates lost badly. US Representative Jody Hice, whom Trump backed to defeat incumbent Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the official who had refused Trumps personal entreaty to find enough votes to overturn President Joe Bidens 2020 victory in Georgia, received only about 34% of the vote, with Raffensperger able to win without needing a runoff. And Trumps candidate for governor, former Senator David Perdue, couldnt even reach the one-third club. He was blown out by incumbent Governor Brian Kemp, losing by about 50 percentage points while only receiving about 22% of the vote.

 Trump did have a few things to brag about. In the cases where the party came together to support his candidates, they did well against little competition. Last week it was US Senate nominee Ted Budd in North Carolina. This week it was former Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders winning the Arkansas gubernatorial primary and Trump friend Herschel Walker winning the Georgia Senate primary, both by large margins. Its important to note that the latter two, at least, will probably be Trump allies if elected. But its hard to credit Trump for those landslide wins, since both had statewide appeal and both had consensus support among party actors.

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 Indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton may not be the worst elected official in the US, but hes perhaps the most embarrassing one. He clobbered state Land Commissioner George P. Bush in a runoff Tuesday by a two-to-one margin. Really, Texas Republicans? Paxtons been under indictment for years, and thats for a different alleged crime from the one hes currently under investigation for  thats the one that drove much of his own staff to resign in protest of what they considered flat-out corruption. There must be hundreds, maybe thousands, of extremely conservative lawyers in the state, perfectly capable of suing Democratic presidents and otherwise fighting for the Republican policy agenda, but who can also plausibly stand for the rule of law in the Alamo State. Why dont Texas Republicans choose one of those?

 Whether its Paxton or Kemp or Raffensperger, one of the lessons of Tuesdays voting is a familiar one in US politics: Incumbents win primaries. Yes, every once in awhile an elected official fails to win re-nomination, but its rare, even when theres seemingly good reason. And yet one of the big factors driving Republicans in Congress is fear of being defeated in primaries. Politicians are always paranoid; what varies is what theyre paranoid about, and at least since House Republican Whip Eric Cantor was shocked by a primary loss back in 2014, its primaries that worry them the most. (Many are in safe districts, but as a practical matter theyre safe from primaries, too). In particular, quite a few anti-Trump Republicans have retired rather than face re-election. Kemps and Raffenspergers wins suggest that some of those retirees may well have been able to stay in office had they only been willing to fight back. Perhaps that will happen more in 2024.

 But for now? Dont take Trumps unimpressive endorsement record this month as evidence that the Republican Party is any less dominated by its radical, and increasingly anti-democratic, faction. Kemp and Raffensperger deserve tremendous credit for standing up against Trump and for democracy when it mattered after Election Day in 2020, despite incredible pressure. But before and after that, both supported efforts to make voting harder, and in some cases to make election administration more susceptible to partisan interference  at least when the party likely to benefit is the GOP. Those arent purely Trumpy positions within the Republican Party. They preceded Trump, and theyre widely shared by most members of the party, whatever their views of the former president. Its good to see that the party didnt punish Kemp and Raffensperger for refusing to go further by fabricating votes. But that such things are even in question shows how radical the party has become.

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(Corrects spelling of Herschel Walkers first name in third paragraph.)

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

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Each new mass shooting in the US reignites debate over the countrys treatment of gun rights as virtually sacrosanct. Americans own more guns than anybody else on Earth, even adjusted for population. (Yemenis are second.) Firearms were involved in the deaths of more than 45,000 people in the US in 2020, 54% of which were suicides. But Americans disagree along partisan political lines on whether thats a major issue for the country.

Mass Shootings in the US

While mass shootings account for just a fraction of US gun deaths, they attract the most attention. In May 2022, 19 children and two teachers were killed at an elementary school in rural Texas, a week after 10 were killed at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. In a report released the same month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified 61 active shooter attacks in 2021 that killed 103 people -- the most annual deaths since 2017, which was the year a sniper opened fire at a concert in Las Vegas, killing 58 people.

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The murder of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida in 2018 gave voice to a new group of activists  students  who demanded tougher controls. Public opinion shifted in that direction, but has since returned to 2017 levels. A Pew Research Center poll in 2021 found that 53% of Americans said laws should be more strict, down from 60% in 2019. In the survey, 73% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans said they considered gun violence to be a very big problem for the US.

Gun rules are largely determined by the states, and since the Parkland shooting, new restrictions have been enacted in a majority of them. The measures strengthened requirements for background checks on gun purchasers, banned the use of attachments that enable a semiautomatic rifle to fire faster, and aimed to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. In 2021, New York became the first state to allow people harmed by guns to take firearm dealers and manufacturers to court. But movement toward stricter controls has not been uniform. Its now legal in 21 states to carry hidden guns in public without a permit, compared with four states in 2014.

Inside American Gun Culture

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The US is one of three countries to include gun-ownership rights in its constitution. (Mexico and Guatemala are the others.) The right of the people to keep and bear arms, enshrined in the Second Amendment, was established in the 18th century to allow states to form militias to protect themselves against oppression by the federal government. In 2008, the US Supreme Court ruled that the amendment also protects the gun rights of individuals. Beyond the legalities, the gun is a cultural icon in the US. It was a necessary instrument of soldiers in the Revolutionary War and cowboys roaming the Wild West. More recently, semiautomatic guns that fire bullets in rapid succession  also called assault weapons  have gained popularity among law-abiding gun owners and mass killers alike. Mass shootings in other countries, although less common, have also led to debates over regulation. A massacre of 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand in early 2019 prompted an overhaul of gun laws there.

The Gun Control Debate

Gun owners, many of whom live in rural areas, view gun controls as an attack on their way of life. The National Rifle Association, the dominant pro-gun group, has argued that criminals simply ignore gun regulations. Many NRA-backed lawmakers have said shootings dont prove the need for new regulations and that its better to arm more people, including teachers, so they can defend themselves and others. Theyve noted that after Congress let a ban on assault weapons expire in 2004, shootings in the US declined. Gun-control groups (some backed by Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News) say the drop  part of an overall decrease in violent crime  occurred for other reasons, notably improved policing. They also credit strict gun laws enacted in Australia after a 1996 killing spree that left 35 people dead with all but ending mass shootings there.

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The Reference Shelf

 A Council on Foreign Relations report compares gun laws in the US to those in other wealthy democracies.

 The Small Arms Survey compares rates of private gun ownership by country.

 A Department of Justice report shows gun-related crime generally falling from 1993 to 2011.

 A Law Library of Congress report summarizing gun control laws in 18 industrialized countries and the European Union.

 Mother Jones calculates gun violence costs the US $229 billion a year.

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The World Health Organization has revealed that there are now 131 confirmed cases of monkeypox, and a further 106 suspected cases, in 19 countries. Experts describe the event as random but containable and was likely sparked initially by sexual activity at recent raves in Spain and Belgium. Nevertheless, with the world still reeling from the effects of the Covid pandemic, the rise of a different disease is putting many people on edge.

Bloomberg Opinions Bobby Ghosh hosted a live Twitter Space discussion with Bloomberg Intelligence senior pharmaceutical analyst Sam Fazeli to get the lowdown on the disease and find out whether we should be worried.

Bobby Ghosh: Let me start by asking the most basic question possible: What is monkeypox?

Sam Fazeli: There are, seemingly, an endless number of viruses that circulate in nature. This happens to be one of them. Its an orthopoxvirus, like smallpox. Monkeypox is less problematic than smallpox was in terms of the mortality rate. The virus which is currently circulating seems to be the strain that is endemic in West Africa.

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Weve known about two strains for a few decades. Both are endemic in different parts of Africa  Central Africa and West Africa, respectively  and there have been occasional cases reported outside of the African continent, usually from someone traveling from an affected area. But this outbreak seems quite unusual in that cases are being reported in so many different parts of the world all at the same time. Whats happening?

There was actually an outbreak of 71 cases in the US in 2003, not because of a person traveling but because of imported rodents from Ghana. Those rodents then infected pet prairie dogs, who then infected people. There was a possibility of some local transmission back then, but it certainly was passed on from animals to humans. Thats a problem were dealing with in many of these viral outbreaks, from bird flu to Covid.

In terms of todays unusual outbreak, we have to be aware that its too early to be able to be sure whether the virus has genuinely been separately seeded in different countries or whether at least most of the cases came from a super spreader event. The best way to know how related the cases are is to sequence them. The first genome was published by Portuguese scientists and they found that the virus seems to be quite close to the virus which was found in several countries in 2018 and 2019. That already tells you that it hasnt necessarily changed a lot. Although all of this is up for revision, it suggests that hopefully well find that the majority of these cases are actually related.

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In passing, its worth just unpacking that, although it is called monkeypox, it doesnt really come from monkeys. We only began to pay attention to it when monkeys began to get it. Does it originate with simians now? What do we know about how the disease is transmitted?

Orthopox viruses, especially monkeypox, are viewed as generalists. That means this virus can and does infect a variety of species. Rodents are the most common vehicles for infection, then it jumped to monkeys and now humans. The transmission can happen relatively easily, not necessarily through a specific route. In this case, the view is that its spread through contact with contaminated fluids from an infected person and it needs to be relatively close contact.

The likelihood is that the majority of transmission will be when youre either in very close proximity to somebody whos got the virus, so youre picking up their exhaled droplets, or youre in physical contact with them. It could also be passed on via fomites  touching a surface that someone infected has touched.

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There have been some reports suggesting that it happens mostly through intimate contact, including really close proximity or having sex with a person.

I think we have to be very careful not to misinterpret the conversation and the information thats coming out. Just because the majority of cases have been found in men who have sex with men doesnt mean anything with regards to sexual transmission. We are only looking at the way this particular spread happened. It could have easily been any other kind of intimate contact, heterosexual or whatever.

What are the symptoms of monkeypox?

It starts with a headache and fever, the usual things that you deal with when you get a viral infection. These symptoms are basically your defense system kicking in. A lot of viruses dont like higher temperatures, which is why the body raises its temperature. We get a headache and muscle aches because of all the chemicals  such as cytokines  which get released to fight the infection. Then, within a week or two, some people get a rash which develops into pustules.

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If youre covered in these pustules, then youd have the risk of bacterial infection and, in some cases, sepsis. Thats where the lethality can come from.

There have been zero deaths so far in this particular cluster. The 1-3% mortality rate or the 10-13% mortality rate for the Central African strain has been mentioned a lot, but you have to remember that, just like Covid, it depends on how patients are looked after. If a patient is at home with no oxygen available, no ICU, no medical professionals looking after them, their risk of death is higher. That may be the situation in rural Africa where these numbers have been calculated, but in countries with good healthcare and drugs, Im sure the fatality rate will remain below 1%  0%, hopefully!

The symptoms remind me of my childhood when I got chickenpox. I was bedridden for several days and I remember it being very uncomfortable. Then it went away. Do we have a sense of whether monkeypox is more painful, or more threatening than chickenpox?

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Its a much more uncomfortable infection if you get the full-blown pustules on your skin. But it varies, Ive heard of a case where somebody was infected who had previously been vaccinated against smallpox. They had just one or two lesions, which is nothing. Thats what you assume and hope is going to be the case with most people who have been vaccinated already. The question is around folks who arent vaccinated. How bad do they get it?

Because I grew up in India in the 1970s and 80s, I was vaccinated for smallpox as a child. Then smallpox was eradicated and in many countries, vaccines were no longer given. Does that make us more vulnerable to monkeypox?

Yes, I think it does, which is whats likely going on here. There was the suggestion that maybe the Covid lockdowns increased our susceptibility to disease. You might say that for flu and the coronavirus, both of which are respiratory viruses. But really in this case, I think its just a coincidence. We have an endemic virus in Central and West Africa which has then been given an opportunity to spread among a population of people who have never seen an infection or a vaccine that gives them protection against the virus.

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Its good news that the vaccine already exists, unlike with Covid. We have vaccines that work both prophylactically as well as after one has got the disease. So they can be preventative as well as a cure.

Correct, a few days after a diagnosis of infection, the vaccine seems to still do the job. The interesting thing is that both vaccines are manufacturable today. Stocks may not be as high as one would like in situations like this, but many countries had already been stockpiling it, not in fear of monkeypox, but in fear of a bio-terrorism attack by smallpox.

Because the disease is less transmissible than Covid, you dont need everybody to get vaccinated. You can use it to treat people who get diagnosed and vaccinate the people around them. This method is called ring vaccination, and its proven successful in controlling smallpox before.

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There was a great deal of discussion about whether poor countries would be able to afford Covid vaccines. Is that an issue for monkeypox vaccines?

The Covid vaccine from Pfizer was between $15 and $20 a shot. For most of us who live in England, Sweden or the United States, thats not expensive given the protection it gives you. I expect that for controlling and better managing the global spread of this virus, the equivalence of COVAX will buy vaccines for countries who cant afford it. At the same time, the cost is determined clearly by the volume. If we only need one million doses, as opposed to a 400 million doses, then companies will probably have to charge a little bit higher because margins will be lower at those sorts of volumes. But Im not expecting this to be a very expensive vaccine.

Thats reassuring. How have leaders responded to monkeypox? President Biden felt compelled to answer a question about it during his trip abroad in South Korea. Have we learned things from our fight with Covid at a policy level that are particularly useful in dealing with monkeypox?

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The good thing is, as weve said already, that this is not a disease which weve never dealt with before, even if it may not be necessarily the living memory of many people. Its only 50 years ago or so that we stopped the smallpox vaccination programs. Bavarian Nordic, one of the manufacturers of a smallpox vaccine, apparently already had meetings with health authorities from several countries just in the past few days, which were arranged six months ago. That shows countries were already thinking about this  whether it was more smallpox than monkeypox that they were thinking of doesnt really matter.

Is there any reason to think monkeypox is seasonal?

At the time of year when people are more outdoors than indoors, youd expect most infections, especially respiratory ones, to decline. But this is transmitted by contact. So I dont think we can classify it as seasonal.

What about variants  which have been a real issue with Covid? Has the monkeypox virus shown any sign of developing new variants that are resistant to the existing treatments?

Its way too early to know. Nigeria gathers great epidemiology data, but with the number of monkeypox cases, its not anywhere near the scale of SARS-CoV-2. With SARS-CoV-2 also being an RNA virus, it probably has a higher opportunity to mutate.

The early data that we do have from the Portuguese scientists suggests the viruss genome is similar to what it was in 2018 and 2019, and thats quite reassuring. But, when viruses multiply at high levels, you cant escape the fact that mutations will occur. So well have to monitor it.

What do we do to protect ourselves from monkeypox?

Weve had this with Covid. There are choices that we can all make in our lives relative to our own circumstances, such as opting to wear a mask. If youre worried or feel threatened, you can take precautions. But I think the expectation by most scientists is that this will self-limit eventually, especially when the awareness is so heightened, because it doesnt transmit that easily.

Now that its been a couple of weeks since the story broke and there have been cases reported in various countries, are we already seeing more research being devoted to this outbreak?

I know that the genomics folks are working 24-7 on sequencing the genomes of the virus to better understand the epidemiology. Thats the best way when you only have 200 cases of knowing how these incidents are potentially related to each other. We already have at least two drugs that could treat the virus and two vaccines, at least. So I dont think we need to do enormous amounts of research. What we do need to do here is to have the right healthcare public health policy in place to manage it and decide where do we go next? Do we go back and vaccinate everybody that wasnt vaccinated, or do we just manage it using ring vaccination?

More from Bloomberg Opinion

 Monkeypox Isnt Looking Like a Covid-Sized Threat: Lisa Jarvis

 The Woman Who Made the UK a World-Beater in Genomics: Raphael & Fazeli

 SIDS Remains a Heartbreaking, Under-Investigated Mystery: Lisa Jarvis

((In 4th paragraph, removes reference to chickenpox, which isnt an orthopoxvirus.))

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Sam Fazeli is senior pharmaceuticals analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence and director of research for EMEA.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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The latest incident in Americas epidemic of gun violence  this time at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday  has left 19 children and two teachers dead. Last year alone, more than 1,500 children under 18 were killed by firearms. Americas gun scourge is not about mental illness. It is, and always has been, about the 400 million guns that remain largely unregulated on the streets and in our homes, some of which are then brought to our childrens schools.

Bloomberg Opinions Sarah Green Carmichael hosted a live Twitter Space to discuss US firearm policy with Francis Wilkinson, a Bloomberg columnist covering gun control. Aditi Nerurkar, a physician at Harvard Medical School, joined them for the latter half of the discussion. Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Sarah Green Carmichael: This is a day for me as a parent and an American. I am absolutely devastated by the school shooting in Texas. These mass school shootings are such a uniquely American phenomenon. There have been 27 school shootings so far this year. I was a high school student when the Columbine shooting happened, and Im now a 40-year-old middle-aged person. Why havent we been able to stop this from happening?

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Francis Wilkinson: There are two reasons. One is culture and one is politics. We have a very powerful gun-centric movement in this country that both views guns almost as sacred objects and also toys  take Senator Ted Cruz, cooking bacon on the barrel of a semiautomatic rifle, or a 9-year-old using an Uzi at a shooting range with tragic results. Gun culture has enormous influence in our politics; if you look at the way states handle guns, you see wide divergences. The Supreme Courts going to be ruling on a case involving gun possession that could really make it very difficult for even the blue states to regulate guns.

SGC: A lot of people keep getting hung up on the Second Amendment. Can you give us a brief sense of where you think the Supreme Court case is going legally? Last fall, when the case was heard at the court, you interviewed a really interesting legal scholar and historian, Patrick J. Charles, about the long history of gun regulation.

FW: My guess is that the court will do what most people expect, which is to expand the District of Columbia v. Heller ruling to the streets. In 2008, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a very closely divided 5-4 majority decision in which he harnessed some of the evidence for the Second Amendment as a personal right to own a gun and possess a gun in your home. (Former Chief Justice Warren Burger considered this interpretation to be one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated on the American people, and many people agree with that sentiment.) Heller extended a right that had previously been understood as a militia right to an individual right. What the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association case seeks to do is extend that right into the streets where you can carry it in public and you cannot be prohibited from carrying it on your person.

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What weve seen is conservatives have been using the courts to push an agenda that is not always popular. We see this with Roe v. Wade. It is another way of cementing power. There is an element of raw power to all of these gun decisions. Theyre trying to use raw power to make blue states conform to red-state laws. Theyre trying to use raw power to nationalize gun culture. I think at some point, if Americans want to reject that, theyre going to need to become much more politically active on gun issues than they have been.

Aditi Nerurkar: When I was a clinical physician, I saw many patients who were victims of gun violence. When people say that gun control isnt a public-health issue, it enrages me and makes my blood boil because ultimately, the victims of gun violence end up in medical facilities where people like me care for them. Most Americans are in favor of tighter gun control, but there are a handful of very powerful people in government who have deep ties to the NRA and political affiliations and funding that are preventing it from happening.

SGC: Theres a horrible feeling of deja vu that we are just doing this over and over again. Parents are bereaved again. Politicians offer their empty thoughts and prayers. Again, someone stands up and says, Oh, its too soon to politicize this. We just seem stuck in this deadlock and Im wondering if you really see any way to move forward at this point.

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FW: Creating a sense of futility is part of the political game here. If you dont want something to happen, you cultivate a sense of futility that nothing can be done about it. And weve seen that for a long time now. While thats going on, the NRA and other parts of the gun movement in the US have been trying to sell as many guns as possible. But there is no question that things can be done because weve watched them be done over the last 10 or 15 years in a lot of blue states. Weve seen California and Hawaii regulate guns and ammunition. Weve seen states adopt red flag laws. And if you see the correlation between those states and states that are free-flowing gun states, you see a very different kind of death rate from firearms. So yes, there is something we can do, but its going to have to take a very concerted effort because as the gun culture has expanded and nationalized its agenda, its created an incredibly difficult fight. Itll take a lot more political pressure from Americans who are not part of the gun culture.

SGC: Would banning semiautomatic weapons help curtail the problem? These mass shootings have really soared in the years since the assault weapons ban expired.

FW: There are tens and tens of millions of semiautomatic pistols in circulation, which are capable of firing off enough rounds in rapid succession to kill any number of children in a classroom. So my suspicion is that a ban on assault weapons would not completely end mass shootings. But obviously if you look at the mass shootings in the US, the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle is the rifle of choice. This is a huge problem in a country with perhaps 400 million guns. The question is: Where do you begin? We have not begun yet. I think for a lot of people its pretty rational to begin with the most deadly and arguably least justifiable weapon in the entire arsenal.

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SGC: Unfortunately, its not just about this heartbreaking shooting yesterday, but also the shooting in Buffalo that occurred at a supermarket not even two weeks ago. Both shooters were able to buy the guns legally. It still blows my mind that a troubled 18-year-old could just walk into a store and walk out with one of these military-grade weapons.

FW: There are three ways to regulate guns:

 You regulate the type of gun.

 You regulate where you can have a gun.

 You regulate who can have a gun.

The reality is in America, basically any mentally or emotionally troubled person can walk into a gun shop and buy a gun. People who have made extremely disturbing comments to other students or to family members are able to buy a gun. I remember a case a few years ago where a schizophrenic woman was suicidal. Her mother called the local gun shop and said, Please do not sell her a gun. The schizophrenic woman went in, bought a gun legally, and came home and used that gun to shoot her father in a paranoid episode.

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Theres been a big movement in this country recently in some states to enact red-flag laws. And they have worked in instances where people who have been troubled have sought to buy a gun, but they were on a list and they were prevented. This is a very, very small number of people, though, at this point, and a lot of states do not have red-flag laws.

SGC: In just a couple of days, the NRA is going to be holding a big meeting in Texas. How do you expect it to unfold?

FW: The NRA is going to do what the NRA does best: foment fear. Thats what sells guns, as we saw with Covid, right? In the early days of the virus, we saw people in upstate New York in line waiting to get a gun. Theres a kind of primal mechanism to it  youre not going to stop a pandemic with a firearm, but a lot of people went out and bought them just because social insecurity prompts these sorts of feelings. If you go back and look at Wayne LaPierres speeches over the years, hes talking about the most outlandish breakdown of society. The NRAs position is that government isnt capable of keeping you safe. Nothing can help you. Everyone is against you. The world hates you. You better have an arsenal in your home or else youre going to die. That sounds like absolute hyperbole coming from me. But its basically the message that the NRA has delivered over and over. So in Texas, theyre going to go through the same ritualistic machinations that they go through every year at these things. Theyll talk about how nothings going to save you but a gun. The police arent going to get there in time. Youre on your own; government is broken. The only friend youve got, the only thing you can rely on, is a gun. And that gets at the sense of futility that we were discussing earlier. Of course, if you look at the statistics, owning a gun is more likely to lead to gun violence in your own home than not owning a gun.

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SGC: There are technological ways to make guns safer. We have handprint technology. We have safe-storage laws and practices. Why does the NRA oppose even these restrictions that exist as much to protect gun owners as other people?

FW: Protecting gun owners is not actually what the gun industry and the NRA are concerned with. What theyre concerned with is selling guns. Massacres, unfortunately, help sell guns. Chaos helps sell guns. Fear helps sell guns. None of those three things are aided by safe-storage laws. So you cant really expect the gun industry to be terribly interested in doing things that are going to reduce fear and enhance rationality. We constantly see cases of children being shot or shooting when they get their hands on a firearm that their mother or father has left carelessly somewhere. But again, fear and chaos breed gun sales, and its a very cynical business.

SGC: Just weeks ago, the New England Journal of Medicine showed that guns are now the leading cause of death among children and adolescents. That is ahead of traffic crashes, drug overdoses, drowning and of course ahead of Covid-19. There are many things parents worry about, and yet guns are the biggest cause of death.

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FW: Part of that is also suicides, which is a big part of gun violence. The majority of gun killings in the United States are suicide.

SGC: The Harvard School of Public Health reported that more people kill themselves with a firearm than are murdered by one; 85% of people who attempt suicide with a gun succeed compared to just 3% of people who attempt suicide via drug overdose, and suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in the US. Why dont we focus more on suicides and why do we focus so much on homicides when it comes to guns?

AN: One thing that I would really like to do is decouple the idea of mental health and guns. The US does not have a higher rate of mental illness compared to other countries, but we do have a higher rate of gun violence. And often those who have mental-health issues are not taking a gun and shooting others. Instead, they inflict self-harm.

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One of the excuses people often say when theyre talking about guns is Oh, it was just a person who was mentally ill. That vicious cycle just continues to repeat. Often mental illness is the scapegoat, but gun control is a public-health issue. And we need to really reframe the conversation on a national level, because we are the only industrialized nation with 288 school shootings since 2009.

SGC: Frank, you recently spoke to a father in Philadelphia who said that it was easier for teenagers to get guns than to buy cigarettes. And cigarettes and Big Tobacco have obviously been subjected to plenty of lawsuits. Might there be a model here that could let us have some creative ways of solving this problem?

AN: Its incredible just how many similarities there are historically between the NRA and Big Tobacco. Many of the health risks of cigarettes were hidden and covered up by Big Tobacco. It was only very recently in my lifetime that cigarettes became a public-health issue. The surgeon generals warning on boxes of cigarettes, changing the age, showing ID  there are so many tighter measures now, and all this was fueled by the American people. In many ways, guns are the cigarettes of 2022. We won against a lobby because of the American peoples will to fight and change things. We need to do the same with the NRA with gun control, because in many ways the American people  like with cigarettes back in the 1980s  are against guns and gun violence and want stricter control.

SGC: I am always struggling on these days to focus on anything but shootings like this. Im bizarrely grateful to have my job as a distraction. If I had to do something that wasnt related to this topic today, I dont know how I would be able to focus on it.

AN: In moments like these, our mental health, both individually and collectively, is incredibly important. Many of us havent even fully grieved the Buffalo shooting, and now this happens. Its smart to manage our social media use and our news feeds and all of the things that we do online. As someone who works in public health, I urge everyone to take care of your mental health during this time. Reach out to loved ones you know. Hug your kids if you have them. If youre a parent, just take care of yourselves, because it is a really difficult and emotional time. I can only imagine the parents of those children.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Sarah Green Carmichael is a Bloomberg Opinion editor. Previously, she was managing editor of ideas and commentary at Barrons and an executive editor at Harvard Business Review, where she hosted HBR IdeaCast.

Francis Wilkinson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering U.S. politics and policy. Previously, he was an editor for the Week, a writer for Rolling Stone, a communications consultant and a political media strategist.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Its about time investors were hit with the reality about electric vehicle startups. But what do tanking shares mean for the much-hyped, cheap capital-sucking EV makers that took the market by storm last year? Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Stocks of EV upstarts, from New York-listed, Chinese firms such as Nio Inc., Xpeng Inc. and Li Auto Inc. to their American peers Rivian Automotive Inc. and Lordstown Motors Corp., have lost their sheen in recent weeks, exacerbated by a broader turn in sentiment and rising rates. Turns out making fancy, future-forward cars is kind of hard.

Its even tougher when costs to produce vehicles are surging. Manufacturers cant get their hands on parts and sales have been underwhelming. Adding pressure, those Chinese companies that trade in the US are getting caught up in the regulatory tit-for-tat between Washington and Beijing.

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Until now, raising capital had been the easy part. Investors rushed to check off their ESG-friendly holdings, happily backing anything that seemed tech-y and green. All the while they appeared to ignore the basic requirement of a manufacturing company: Can it actually make the product? And is it being produced at scale? How quickly will it go from prototype to mass production?

Many upstart EV makers boasted all sorts of artificial intelligence and smart-driving systems. Still, they needed to source integral parts from other firms, especially the core component  batteries. They put out big production forecasts, based on unlimited consumer demand and the inevitable need for companies to bow to regulatory pressure around emissions. Several even went with an asset-light model, contracting out the vehicle-making part.

Most investors loved the rhetoric. Now, pulling in cash is getting tougher as rates are rising. Investors will soon be forced to face another reality: Production and manufacturing matter. Its not just about the ability to bulk up coffers; putting capital to work will need to go beyond talk of adding fancy gadgets, software systems and speccing out vehicles. Meanwhile, even though car buyers are keen on EVs, hobbled supply and high prices risk denting demand. The average cost of a new EV in the US is $65,000, according to Kelley Blue Book estimates.

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Barriers to entry are rising, too. EV and battery companies that cant produce or show a viable products will become the laggards  if they can survive at all. In recent weeks, these firms seem to have gotten realistic with their plans.

Struggling firm Lordstown recently sold its factory to iPhone contract assembler Foxconn Technology Group for $230 million to raise cash, and said its ability to stay in business depends on getting more funding. Earlier this month, it struck a joint venture deal with the assembler to make cars. When went public almost two years ago, it had hoped to make 2,000 pickups and then 32,000 in the following full year. Now, it plans to make 500.

A production deal doesnt necessarily speed up the manufacturing process, either. Foxconn has also partnered with Lordstown competitor Fisker Inc. to make cars. Thats in addition to Fiskers existing agreement with another large contract manufacturer, Magna International Inc. But even with pros by its side, the company only expects to make vehicles by the end of this year.

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In Fiskers public offering document, one of the risk factors stated was that the companys business model relies on outsourced manufacturing of its vehicles. The cost of tooling a manufacturing facility with a collaboration partner is high, but such cost will not be known until Fisker enters into a vehicle manufacturing agreement. In fact, the EV company even stated clearly that investors should not place undue reliance on Fiskers statements about its production plans or their feasibility in the time frame anticipated, or at all.

Yet investors seemed confident; EVs were about to roll off production lines. Blame Covid-19 or supply chains or geopolitics  the reality is, there arent many EVs on roads in 2022.

Even EV firms with big backers and policy support havent had it that easy, and are only now coming around to ramping up production and sales. Nio, XPeng and Li Auto are producing just thousands of units per month. Elsewhere in the world, Lucid Group Inc., which is backed by Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund, is setting up production in the kingdom and has inked a purchase agreement with the government for up to 100,000 cars.

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EV companies will no doubt face growing pains and its obviously good to have bold plans. But someones got to make sure theyre delivering on those promises. The danger now is that the hype dies off and takes demand with it, as consumers give up their hopes. In that case, well end up where we started. Investors need to peel past the promises and pressure manufacturers to produce  at scale, and soon.

More From This Writer and Others at Bloomberg Opinion:

 Electric Vehicles and SPACs Are a Terrible, Expensive Match: Chris Bryant

 Elon Musk Has It All Wrong on Subsidies: Anjani Trivedi

 In the Electric-Car Race, Ford Is Stuck in a Hybrid: Liam Denning

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Anjani Trivedi is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies in Asia. Previously, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Food prices are soaring and worse may be on the way. The US Department of Agriculture reported that there were only 3.7 days suitable for farm field work in Minnesota last week due to unusually cold and wet weather. That kind of bad weather has meant that only 11% of Minnesotas spring wheat crop was in the ground as of Sunday, compared to 100% at the same time last year.

Its not just Minnesota, either. Across the Midwest, one of the worlds most fruitful breadbaskets, farmers are well behind their usual planting pace. If the rain and cold continues, some crops wont be planted at all.

Thats bad. Now the US government is making it worse. Thanks to incentives built into federally subsidized crop insurance programs, some farmers may soon find it more profitable to file insurance claims and keep productive land idle than to produce wheat, corn and soybeans, even though prices are surging. Its unclear how many acres could be affected; potentially, its millions. With deadlines looming for farmers to make decisions, its urgent for policy makers to shift the incentives toward planting.

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Farming is risky. To mitigate that risk, the government has long subsidized crop insurance against losses due to weather or bad markets. In an average year, more than 1 million policies worth over $100 billion are issued on crops grown on hundreds of millions of acres. Since 1994, every basic crop insurance policy has provided prevented planting insurance to protect investments in land, equipment and agricultural supplies like seeds in the event that bad weather or other circumstances makes planting impossible.

Its an essential policy for every farmer. But policy makers have long worried that insurance can discourage production.

The risk starts with how the value of a future crop is calculated for insurance purposes. Federal crop insurance managers calculate averages of a decade of production history to project future yields and related insurance guarantees. A higher yield in one year boosts a farmers production history, and the value of crop insurance in the future. A poor yield lowers the value of that insurance.

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Prevented planting insurance includes two important exceptions. First, when a farmer makes a prevented plant claim, those acres are excluded from the production history average for the year, so long as a second crop isnt planted later. If a second crop is planted (say, if waterlogged land dried enough for planting), the prevented plant insurance payout is lowered and the second crop yield is included in the production history.

Its a risky choice for the productive farmer. Take a substantial payout and idle the land; or take a smaller payout and gamble on a good yield for crops planted later in the year.

Barring extremely high prices like those prevailing today, an economically rational farmer will elect to skip the second planting and take the larger payout. Indeed, an analysis of historic farm data shows thats precisely what has happened in the past. During periods in which second plantings were not included in the production history for insurance purposes, farmers replanted.

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For example, between 1995 and 1997, 36% of prevented planting acres (4.6 million) were replanted with second crops. Between 2008 and 2011, a period in which (like now) second crops were included in the production history, only 28,708 prevented planting acres  around 0.1% of those claimed  were replanted with second crops. Likewise, a 2018 study found that farmers generally manage crop insurance decisions to prevent reductions in their production histories.

Like the weather, prevented planting claims fluctuate wildly between years. The dates upon which farmers are required to make a decision vary by crop and region, but some have passed and most of the key ones are approaching. For spring wheat, its May 25 in northern Minnesota and North Dakota; corn and soybeans tend to be days or a few weeks later. Farmers who dont file a claim before the relevant deadline will watch their coverage drop by a little bit each day for almost a month, giving them more and more reason to enter the program and reduce yields to zero in 2022.

With food prices spiking, the White House and Congress shouldnt accept that incentive structure. Unfortunately, its too late to make large-scale reforms to a complex insurance program in which claims are already being made in 2022. But its not too late to tweak the details to encourage farmers to plant waterlogged acres later in the year. To do that, the Agriculture Department should order that production histories will not be calculated on prevented planting acres that receive second crops in 2022. In future years, that decision may raise the cost of subsidizing crop insurance. But for now, its a quick means of encouraging food production when consumers need it most.

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For decades, crop insurance has been crucial to protecting the farmers who produce food for Americans and the world. It shouldnt now become a program that prevents farmers from planting at all.

More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

 The Inconvenient Truth That Could Prevent Global Famine: Gideon Eshel

 Bringing Home the Bacon Will Cost You, For Now: David Fickling

 The Biggest Ideas in Farming Today Are Also the Oldest: Amanda Little

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia, technology and the environment. He is author, most recently, of Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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A shaken President Joe Biden spoke for the country on Tuesday night, expressing shame and anger at the slaughter of innocents at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. In the immediate aftermath of this most recent mass shooting  the murder of 19 young children and two educators  shame and anger are the only right response. In the first instance, they fit the case better than calm analysis ever could.

As the shock subsides, however, it needs to give way to purposeful outrage. Exactly how the killings came about might not be clear for a while  but the details wont change the case for the commonsense gun regulation that most of the country wants. From time to time, Congress has come close to acting, then failed to. It has long lacked any excuse for this dereliction of duty. Voters need to marshal their anger and direct it against the politicians and interests that, year after year, have persistently blocked reform. When it comes down to it, neighbors need to persuade neighbors that the path were on will lead to a dead end.

As the president said, reasoned gun laws might not prevent every mass shooting  but the disgraceful American exceptionalism just visited on the children of Uvalde (as it was on the innocents of Buffalo, New York, and too many places before it) could undoubtedly be diminished with universal background checks and other safeguards.

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We are not yet at the point where the cold dawn in Uvalde fails to elicit shock, sadness and outrage. But that should come as no comfort, especially when the steps we can reasonably take to reduce the possibility of yet another massacre are so manifestly before us.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:



In Philadelphia, Teenagers Want Guns Off the Streets: Francis Wilkinson



Buffalo Mass Shooting Should Force a Reckoning for Tech Platforms: Parmy Olson



Confessions of a Reformed British Gun Nut: Max Hastings

The Editors are members of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda are the first five countries to commit to join the initiative

Pfizer has launched An Accord for a Healthier World. The initiative aims to provide all of Pfizers patented, high-quality medicines and vaccines available in the US or the European Union on a not-for-profit basis to 1.2 billion people in 45 lower-income countries. The Accord seeks to greatly reduce the health inequities that exist between many lower-income countries and the rest of the world.

The Accord countries include all 27 low-income countries as well as 18 lower-middle-income countries that have transitioned from low to lower-middle-income classification in the last ten years. Pfizer will work with healthcare officials in Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda to identify early insights and opportunities to ensure all medicines and vaccines can reach those in need.

This will include expertise to support diagnosis, healthcare professional education and training along with supply chain management and other infrastructure enhancements. Learnings from these five countries will be applied to support the rollout for the remaining forty countries.

Pfizer will also collaborate with Accord participants to identify quick and efficient regulatory pathways and procurement processes to reduce the longer amount of time it can take to make new medicines and vaccines available in these countries.

Under the Accord, Pfizer has committed to providing 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, certain cancers, and rare and inflammatory diseases. The Accord also aims to establish faster access to Pfizers future pipeline medicines and vaccines on a not-for-profit basis to the 45 countries, particularly those that treat diseases that disproportionately impact global health.
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The conclusion of the US congressional hearing on UAPs, formerly known as UFOs, is an opportunity to take stock of where matters stand on a question that has captivated humankind for centuries: Have we been visited by aliens or not? Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight On this question, the hearing was by no means definitive. As unsatisfying as that may be, we did learn a few things  not the least of which is how to sharpen our thinking about this subject.

The first and most important lesson is that many cases of UAPs, which stands for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, cannot be explained by observer error, at least not in any simple way. There do seem to be vehicles (phenomena?) going many times faster than US military craft, stopping and turning on a dime, showing no visible signs of propulsion and operating in ways that appear to violate standard understandings of aerodynamics.

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The evidence is from multiple sensor sources, including photography, and supported by numerous eyewitness accounts. The US government is coy on its other sources of sensor measurements, but has stated that the same technology that is detecting UAPs is also used for routine intelligence purposes.

Dont expect more details anytime soon. Nevertheless, its safe to say  and recent conversations with knowledgeable people have led me to believe  that the US government has standard radar and satellite evidence of these phenomena. If these moving vehicles were pure phantoms, not showing up in any other sensor readings, why would the government have held these hearings in the first place? It would have been easier to simply dismiss UAP reports and move on.

There are popular YouTube videos by Mick West, a prominent debunker of pseudoscience, suggesting that Navy videos of UAPs flying at hypersonic speeds reflect human and camera errors. Yet the US military and intelligence sources are not endorsing that hypothesis, even though it could make their lives easier, and so it seems unlikely. (Recall that, several decades ago, experts exposed Yuri Gellers magic tricks rather quickly.)

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All this said, there is a hunger for understanding of the UAP phenomenon. The problem is that there isnt nearly enough evidence to conclude these are spacecraft of alien origin, so a lot of people dismiss these stories altogether.

But the question is not binary. What if we thought about it probabilistically? More specifically: What are the three best reasons to think UAPs might be of alien origin? And what are the three best reasons for thinking this is quite unlikely? At the end Ill give you my probabilities  and I hope you will think carefully about yours.

The case for alien visits:

1. Alien visitation of earth is to be expected.

Philosophers, astrophysicists and others love to debate what is called the Drake equation, which concerns how many advanced alien civilizations are out there. Our galaxy arguably has between 100 billion and 400 billion stars, and we are discovering new potentially habitable planets all the time. Given how advanced human civilization is on earth, you might expect some even more advanced civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy, ones which have the ability to send messages to other solar systems.

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Even if you find the prospect of interstellar alien civilizations highly unlikely, there are so many candidate stars and planets that it probably has happened at least once. Those civilizations can simply send out some self-replicating solar- or nuclear-powered drones  no little green men required  and hope some of them end up somewhere interesting.

There is plenty of debate about the right numbers to plug into the Drake equation, and thus the number of potential interstellar civilizations. These debates wont be settled soon, but at the very least they challenge the presumption that alien visitation should be considered a priori unlikely, counterintuitive or surprising.

For a long time, skeptics of alien visitation had a simple question: Where are they? One possible answer is that the aliens already have shown themselves to us, if only in the form of uninhabited drone probes.

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2. Alternative explanations do not hold up.

It now seems unlikely that the recordings are picking up secret high-powered experimental craft of the Russian air force. Just ask Ukraine. And given that the Nimitz recording and sighting dates back to 2004, should we really think they are advanced Chinese vehicles? Although the US military has had increasingly frequent interactions and near misses with Chinese military vehicles in the South China Sea, they dont seem anything like the UAP reports (many of which are based in the Atlantic).

Another common hypothesis has been that the recordings are picking up a secret advanced vehicle from some other hitherto unknown part of the US government. If so, again, why hold these hearings in the first place? If the secret branch has the resources to produce such aircraft, wouldnt someone have stepped forward by now? Wouldnt it be at least an active rumor? Or couldnt someone in the secret operations branch call up a friendly senator or two to get the hearings called off? In fact, last weeks congressional hearing rejected this explanation outright.

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It is also hard to believe this is all an elaborate US psy op against the Russians or Chinese. For the US to admit so brazenly that it doesnt know whats going on in its own backyard hardly seems calculated to scare or intimidate.

3. Some top US leaders seem to think aliens have visited us.

Former CIA director John Brennan raised this possibility when I interviewed him in 2020, while former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have noted that alien visitation is a possible cause of the unusual measurements and sightings.

To be clear, Obama and Clinton dont seem to consider alien visitation as the primary hypothesis. But maybe the US government asked former leaders to make supportive and open-ended public statements about the possibility of aliens, so that it does not look unprepared if and when they show themselves  and Clinton and Obama agreed. And who is supposed to know better than they do?

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Not one of these three points is a knockout argument, of course, or close to it. But they keep the alien-contact hypothesis viable. So what about the other side?

The case against visits by aliens:

1. Alien sightings remain relatively rare.

Lets say alien drone probes can make it here. That would imply the existence of a very advanced civilization that can span great distances and command energy with remarkable efficiency. If thats the case, why isnt the sky full of aliens? Why arent there sightings from more than just military craft?

So the question is not so much, Why dont we see aliens? as, Why dont we see more of them? It is a perfectly valid (and embarrassing) question. On one hand, the aliens are impressive enough to send craft here. On the other, they seem constrained by scarcity.

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Are we humans like those bears filmed in the Richard Attenborough nature programs, worthy of periodic visits from drone cameras but otherwise of little interest? The reality is that bears, and indeed most other animals, see humans quite often.

2. If you believe aliens are real, then you should be prepared to believe that religious miracles are real, too.

Most Americans believe in God, and many millions of them believe in angels and other forms of religious miracles. (For the record, I do not.) I do not know how many Americans who believe in aliens also believe in angels, but I suspect the ratio is lower than it is among the population at large. Yet a belief in alien visitation is just as unusual a hypothesis as a belief in religious miracles. Once we open up the box and consider non-scientific explanations for UAPs, such as space aliens, why exactly should we rule out non-secular explanations?

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Other commentators have suggested that UAPs come from alternate universes or perhaps even from the future. Those hypotheses to me seem much less likely than simple alien visitation. But on what basis do I make that claim? I have no experience with being right about this phenomenon, and neither does anyone else. In other words, it may be that citing space aliens opens up too many other possibilities.

3. The alien-origin hypothesis relies too much on the argument from elimination.

The argument from elimination is a common rhetorical tactic, but it can lead you astray. You start by listing what you think are all the possibilities and rule them out one by one: Not the Russians, not sensor error, and so on  until the only conclusion left is that they are alien visitors. As Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes once said: When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

The argument from elimination works fine when there is a fixed set of possibilities, such as the murder suspects on a train. The argument is more dangerous when the menu of options is unclear in the first place. Proponents of the alien origin view spend too much time knocking down other hypotheses and not enough time making the case for the presence of aliens.

***

There is an argument that is often used against the alien-origin hypothesis, but in fact can be turned either way: If they are alien visitors, why dont we have better and more definitive forms of evidence? Why is the available video evidence so hard to interpret? Why isnt there a proverbial smoking gun of proof for an alien spacecraft?

This particular counter isnt entirely convincing. First, the best evidence may be contained in the still-classified materials. Second, the same question can be used against non-alien hypotheses. If the sensor readings were just storms or some other mundane phenomena, surely that would become increasingly obvious over time with better satellite imaging.

The continued, ongoing and indeed intensifying mystery of the sightings seems to militate in favor of a truly unusual explanation. It will favor both the alien-visitation and the religious-miracle hypotheses. If it really were a flock of errant birds, combined with some sensor errors, we would know by now.

So, if we try to approach this question as rational truth-seekers, where do we end up? All the arguments above seem inconclusive. I am still struck by the absence of a good alternative to the alien hypothesis, but am not sure how heavily I should weigh that judgment. A little or a lot?

To cite a favorite forcing question of mine: What if I had to put down a bet?

When all is said and done, I rate the alien-origins hypothesis as at least 10% likely. I see some reasonable chance that the absence of a plausible alternative hypothesis reflects the reality that the alien-origin hypothesis is true. I cant derive how I get to the exact probability for that option, but it seems to me it ought not to be tiny, given that alien visitation is not a priori so unlikely.

Many of my friends and peers find my judgment crazy and see it as evidence of the decline of my cognitive powers. Perhaps you agree. For myself, I can only say that I dont think the aliens will see it that way.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 We Need a Plan If We Find Out Were Not Alone: Mark Buchanan

 The UFO Report Wont Change Minds, But Maybe It Should: Stephen Carter

 If the Pentagon Takes UFOs Seriously, So Should Markets: 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. A professor of economics at George Mason University, he hosts the Marginal Revolution blog and is coauthor of Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives and Winners Around the World.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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State high court rejects Republican maps again Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight A frustrated Ohio Supreme Court rejected Republican-drawn Statehouse maps for a fifth time Wednesday, extending the string of GOP defeats in a redistricting process that has ground the states legislative primaries to a halt. Chief Justice Maureen OConnor was clearly angered by the Republican-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commissions decision to resubmit maps that the high court had already found unconstitutional once before, calling it a stunning rebuke of the rule of law.

The court ordered the seven-member panel to reconvene and pass entirely new maps that meet constitutional requirements by June 3. Ohios map fight comes amid the once-per-decade political mapmaking process that all states must undertake to reflect population changes from the U.S. census.

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OConnor (R) faulted a separate, federal three-judge panel for making her courts job more difficult. She said the judges effectively rewarded the redistricting commissions inaction when they signaled that they would impose the rejected legislative maps favored by Republicans this Friday if the state cases arent resolved by then.

 Associated Press

Reality TV star gets 12 years for child porn

Former reality TV star Josh Duggar was sentenced Wednesday to about 12 years in prison after he was convicted of receiving and possessing child pornography.

Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks to give the maximum term of 20 years to Duggar, whose large family was the focus of TLCs 19 Kids and Counting.

The judge sentenced Duggar to 12 years and seven months in prison.

Duggar was arrested in April 2021 after a Little Rock police detective found that child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar. Investigators testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.

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TLC canceled 19 Kids and Counting in 2015 following allegations that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier.

Duggars parents said he had confessed to the fondling and apologized. After the allegations resurfaced in 2015, Duggar apologized publicly for unspecified behavior and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.

 Associated Press

Settlement in death of man in custody

The family of a Black man who yelled that he couldnt breathe before he died in a North Carolina jail in 2019 has reached a $3 million settlement in its wrongful-death lawsuit, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

John Nevilles family reached the settlement with all five former jailers who were initially charged with involuntary manslaughter in his death as well as with the Forsyth County government and Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr., the Winston-Salem Journal reported.

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The settlement was reached during a mediation meeting April 19. In that settlement, the detention officers, Forsyth County and Kimbrough do not admit liability.

Neville died on Dec. 4, 2019, after having a medical emergency at the Forsyth County jail. Kimbrough did not publicly acknowledge Nevilles death until about six months later, when he was questioned by the Journal in June 2020.

 Associated Press

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Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: May 23 Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The Washington Post say paused Disinformation Governance Board was doomed from its inception The Disinformation Governance Board has been put on pause  leaving skeptics of the new body within the Department of Homeland Security sighing with relief. The board was from the start too mired in controversy to perform its intended function. But its collapse is no cause for celebration.

The rollout of the DGB was rife with mistakes. Its name was eerie enough (and its infelicitous initials close enough to KGB) to conjure the specter of an Orwellian Ministry of Truth, and details on the boards function were scarce enough to lead even those who might have otherwise supported it in concept to wonder about its effect on free expression. The American Civil Liberties Union, for instance, pointed out that any real enforcement authority for the DGB to direct the removal of information on the Internet would be unconstitutional. The ACLU was right: The DGB couldnt and didnt have any real enforcement authority. Instead, it was meant to be an internal coordinating body, given a mission to establish best practices for DHS in the work the agency is already doing to fight malign influence campaigns online.

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Whether the creation of the DGB was the most effective way to draw up these best practices  which could range from offering tips on correcting false narratives through public messaging to advising agencies on how to monitor social media for disinformation without impinging on civil liberties  was never clear. Yet this episode has shown how vulnerable the government is to the same types of campaign the DGB was supposed to help it fight. Some of the questions about the boards ambit were legitimate; worries about the perceived liberal bias of the woman picked to lead it, researcher Nina Jankowicz, while overblown, still merited consideration. But amid the legitimate criticisms arose a focused, aggressive right-wing effort to mislead citizens about the boards role, and to harass Ms. Jankowicz until she tendered her resignation.

Those most at fault in this imbroglio, of course, are the actors who flooded the Web with lies and misogyny. But DHSs own errors were a showcase in some of the worst practices for blunting disinformation: failing to anticipate how opportunists might exploit its odd name or vague mission to sow distrust, for instance, and then failing to mount a robust response as smears spread far and wide. These failures are the reason the DGB had to be, at least temporarily, dismantled. Theyre also a reason, however, that some version of the job it was designed to do remains necessary. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the Biden administration has learned from this going forward.

ONLINE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/23/disinformation-governance-boards-collapse-showcases-problem/

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May 19

The New York Times says support for Ukraine means support for democratic values and the right of countries to defend themselves against aggression

The Senate passed a $40 billion emergency aid package for Ukraine on Thursday, but with a small group of isolationist Republicans loudly criticizing the spending and the war entering a new and complicated phase, continued bipartisan support is not guaranteed.

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, warned the Senate Armed Services Committee recently that the next few months may be volatile. The conflict between Ukraine and Russia could take a more unpredictable and potentially escalatory trajectory, she said, with the increased likelihood that Russia could threaten to use nuclear weapons.

These are extraordinary costs and serious dangers, and yet there are many questions that President Biden has yet to answer for the American public with regard to the continued involvement of the United States in this conflict.

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In March, this board argued that the message from the United States and its allies to Ukrainians and Russians alike must be: No matter how long it takes, Ukraine will be free. Ukraine deserves support against Russias unprovoked aggression, and the United States must lead its NATO allies in demonstrating to Vladimir Putin that the Atlantic alliance is willing and able to resist his revanchist ambitions.

That goal cannot shift, but in the end, it is still not in Americas best interest to plunge into an all-out war with Russia, even if a negotiated peace may require Ukraine to make some hard decisions. And the U.S. aims and strategy in this war have become harder to discern, as the parameters of the mission appear to have changed.

Is the United States, for example, trying to help bring an end to this conflict, through a settlement that would allow for a sovereign Ukraine and some kind of relationship between the United States and Russia? Or is the United States now trying to weaken Russia permanently? Has the administrations goal shifted to destabilizing Vladimir Putin or having him removed? Does the United States intend to hold Mr. Putin accountable as a war criminal? Or is the goal to try to avoid a wider war  and if so, how does crowing about providing U.S. intelligence to kill Russians and sink one of their ships achieve this?

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Without clarity on these questions, the White House not only risks losing Americans interest in supporting Ukrainians  who continue to suffer the loss of lives and livelihoods  but also jeopardizes long-term peace and security on the European continent.

Americans have been galvanized by Ukraines suffering, but popular support for a war far from U.S. shores will not continue indefinitely. Inflation is a much bigger issue for American voters than Ukraine, and the disruptions to global food and energy markets are likely to intensify.

The current moment is a messy one in this conflict, which may explain President Biden and his cabinets reluctance to put down clear goal posts. All the more reason, then, for Mr. Biden to make the case to American voters, well before November, that support for Ukraine means support for democratic values and the right of countries to defend themselves against aggression  while peace and security remain the ideal outcome in this war.

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It is tempting to see Ukraines stunning successes against Russias aggression as a sign that with sufficient American and European help, Ukraine is close to pushing Russia back to its positions before the invasion. But that is a dangerous assumption.

A decisive military victory for Ukraine over Russia, in which Ukraine regains all the territory Russia has seized since 2014, is not a realistic goal. Though Russias planning and fighting have been surprisingly sloppy, Russia remains too strong, and Mr. Putin has invested too much personal prestige in the invasion to back down.

The United States and NATO are already deeply involved, militarily and economically. Unrealistic expectations could draw them ever deeper into a costly, drawn-out war. Russia, however battered and inept, is still capable of inflicting untold destruction on Ukraine and is still a nuclear superpower with an aggrieved, volatile despot who has shown little inclination toward a negotiated settlement. Ukraine and Russia now appear further apart than at any other point in the nearly three-month-long war, as The Times reported.

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Recent bellicose statements from Washington  President Bidens assertion that Mr. Putin cannot remain in power, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins comment that Russia must be weakened and the pledge by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, that the United States would support Ukraine until victory is won  may be rousing proclamations of support, but they do not bring negotiations any closer.

In the end, it is the Ukrainians who must make the hard decisions: They are the ones fighting, dying and losing their homes to Russian aggression, and it is they who must decide what an end to the war might look like. If the conflict does lead to real negotiations, it will be Ukrainian leaders who will have to make the painful territorial decisions that any compromise will demand.

The United States and NATO have demonstrated that they will support the Ukrainian fight with ample firepower and other means. And however the fighting ends, the United States and its allies must be prepared to help Ukraine rebuild.

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But as the war continues, Mr. Biden should also make clear to President Volodymyr Zelensky and his people that there is a limit to how far the United States and NATO will go to confront Russia, and limits to the arms, money and political support they can muster. It is imperative that the Ukrainian governments decisions be based on a realistic assessment of its means and how much more destruction Ukraine can sustain.

Confronting this reality may be painful, but it is not appeasement. This is what governments are duty bound to do, not chase after an illusory win. Russia will be feeling the pain of isolation and debilitating economic sanctions for years to come, and Mr. Putin will go down in history as a butcher. The challenge now is to shake off the euphoria, stop the taunting and focus on defining and completing the mission. Americas support for Ukraine is a test of its place in the world in the 21st century, and Mr. Biden has an opportunity and an obligation to help define what that will be.

ONLINE: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/opinion/america-ukraine-war-support.html

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May 22

The Wall Street Journal says that Democrats obsession with climate crisis will cost American consumers, workers and businesses

Democrats are fighting over the Biden Administrations antidumping investigation of Chinese solar manufacturers, and its a revealing brawl. Progressives want cheap and abundant green energy that boosts U.S. manufacturing, but theyre discovering they cant have it all.

The Commerce Department in March launched an investigation to determine if solar companies are circumventing antidumping duties on China by diverting production to Southeast Asia. Cue accusations by solar power producers, rooftop-solar companies and their friends in Congress that the Administration is sabotaging their own green energy goals.

This investigation could expand harmful, job-killing tariffs on solar imports, raising costs for consumers, 22 Senators, including 19 Democrats, warned this month.

On the other side of this fight are U.S. solar manufacturers, unions and Congress Members from the Rust Belt including Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. They warn solar imports will imperil U.S. manufacturing jobs unless Commerce intervenes.

The roots of this dispute go back a decade. After the 2008-2009 recession, Democrats sold green subsidies in the Obama stimulus as a way to revive U.S. manufacturing. But then the Chinese figured out how to produce inexpensive solar panels at scale with cheap labor and energy (i.e., coal power). Between 2008 and 2013, global solar prices fell 80%.

In 2012 the Obama Administration responded to complaints by U.S. manufacturers that their overseas competitors were benefiting from government subsidies by slapping tariffs up to 250% on Chinese imports. Forget that the Energy Department also provided loan guarantees to Solyndra and other U.S. startups.

Rather than boost domestic manufacturing, the tariffs drove Chinese companies to move some production to Southeast Asia. China now makes up a mere 1% of solar imports while Malaysia accounts for 31%, Vietnam 29% and Thailand 26%. U.S.-made photovoltaic panels comprised about 20% of the solar market last year.

U.S. solar manufacturers now say Chinese companies are dodging tariffs. Maybe they are, but plunging photovoltaic panel prices have been a boon for U.S. solar power. Tariffs will raise the cost of solar generation, which will be passed onto utility rate-payers. Higher costs could also curb homeowner demand for rooftop panels, which no doubt is why many of the Democrats howling about Commerces probe are from sunny states.

Its hard to feel sympathy for U.S. solar companies, which benefit enormously from government mandates and subsidies, including a 26% federal tax credit. Theyve also been aided by anti-carbon policies that have driven many nuclear and fossil-fuel plants to retire prematurely and will destroy more jobs than they create.

The rapid expansion of renewable power is also increasing the cost of maintaining a reliable electricity grid, which will raise costs for U.S. manufacturers, rendering them less globally competitive. This is why a carbon tariffi.e., a tax on foreign imports based on the CO2 emissions of where they were madeis gaining traction in Congress.

Democrats solar fight illustrates how their climate obsession is leading to more trade protectionism. American consumers, workers and businesses will be the losers.

ONLINE: https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-biden-solar-panel-tariff-brawl-china-green-energy-price-cost-democrats-climate-change-11652980030

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May 24

The Los Angeles Times says, after another school shooting, that the American Dream dies in our own schools and home, by our hands and those of our neighbors

Perhaps this is how it all ends  self-government, self-defense, self-control, liberty, unity, family. Perhaps the fate of the nation is to watch its soul die along with the at least 19 students and two adults shot to death Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. This is us, the American people, on both sides of that gun  and countless other guns on countless playgrounds, shopping centers, streets and homes, killing our children, ourselves and each other. Killing our future.

This is who we are. This is what we have become. We can no longer send our children to school without pangs of anxiety that they will be in the line of fire in what ought to be havens of safety and learning. Nor can we find refuge in churches, mosques or synagogues, or in shopping centers, or at baby showers, picnics or parties. When we feel in danger, we get out our guns. Our guns put us in danger, so we get more.

Abraham Lincoln, in his earliest known public address, said that the still-young United States could never be brought down by a foreign enemy. It was 1838, he was only 28, and the Civil War was still nearly a quarter-century into the future. But he was correct when he told his Lyceum audience that All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

No, any danger to the U.S. comes from within. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher, he said. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

He was president by the time the nation had its most serious brush with suicide over the question of whether freedom means some people have the liberty to buy, own and exploit others, or whether it instead means all must be free. The Civil War was straightforward, with a clear enemy  even though it was ourselves  that wore different uniforms and could be defeated on the battlefield.

Now its not so simple. We are again our own enemies, but what are we killing ourselves for? We dont even know. We just keep getting our guns, loading them and pulling the trigger. We elect political leaders who promise action, but we never hold them accountable. In any case, the killings continue. This may be the suicide of which Lincoln spoke. This may be why we die, not for a great cause but for a loss of love and respect for one another and the dream that bound our forebears together.

ONLINE: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-24/editorial-ulvade-shooting-national-suicide

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May 24

China Daily says Tokyos acquiescence to U.S. in Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity excludes China and leaves Japan truckling

As some Japanese said, Tokyos reception of visiting U.S. President Joe Biden was grandiloquent to the point of truckling.

Even though Tokyo should be well aware that the so-called Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity proposed by the United States represents Washingtons latest scheme to try and exclude China from the regional economic structure and that it will unavoidably harm regional development and unity, it was still happy to attentively set the stage for the U.S. leader to unveil it.

Even though Tokyo is well aware that the Quad will make Japan a tool, along with India and Australia, for Washington to threaten Chinas security at the costs of regional peace and stability, it was still happy to host the Quad summit on Tuesday.

Likewise, although Tokyo should be well aware that it is the U.S. that has provoked the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Japan has been happy to join the U.S. sanctions against Russia, irrespective of how they affect the stability of Northeast Asia.

And if the Japan-European Union summit earlier this month is taken into account  which produced a highly provocative joint statement covering issues of Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan and human rights conditions in China  it is fair to say that Tokyo feels no qualms about throwing itself into the arms of the West, although it is well aware that in doing so it is betraying common regional interests and Asian values.

And history shows that when Japan forgets it is a member of the Asian family, it causes disaster in the region.

After the Meiji Restoration in the late 19th century that initiated Japans rise, the country started looking down upon and harassing, and then invading and enslaving, its neighbors.

It was its historic victory over Russia in their war in 1904 that led to the countrys self-aggrandizement peaking to such an extent that it embarked on a militarist and expansionist path of no return, leaving unhealed wounds in the region that continue to fester.

Now is another time that the country seems on the verge of doing that with the connivance of the U.S.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations. Their win-win cooperation has not only benefited the two peoples but also the rest of the world. That offers an important lesson that Japan should heed.

If Tokyo once again becomes consumed by notions of regional dominance, even though it plays the role allotted to it by the U.S., it will be set on a course that will repeat its past missteps.

ONLINE: https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202205/24/WS628cbe91a310fd2b29e5eb77.html

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The Hettinger County sheriff said prosecutors declined to file charges against the deputy after the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation reviewed the April 21 shooting, according to The Bismarck Tribune. Jeffrie Ray Glover Jr. died after he was shot inside Mott-Regent Public School in the town of Mott in the southwestern corner of the state. There are 242 students enrolled in the district.

The deputy used his stun gun on Glover twice as he tried to handcuff him. Warner said that at one point during the confrontation, Glover was on top of the deputy with his arm on his neck trying to take the deputys knife. Warner said the deputy, who had already lost consciousness once, drew his gun as he started to black out again and shot Glover once.
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SOFIA, Bulgaria  Bulgaria is sticking to its position blocking North Macedonias accession talks with the European Union despite growing pressures from its Western partners to lift its veto following Russias invasion of Ukraine. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Hours after EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi wrapped up his talks with Bulgarian officials, saying he would return in three weeks to seek Bulgarias yes to the negotiations, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov on Friday reiterated his position that the government would not do anything based on external pressure.

In a video address to the nation, Petkov said his centrist coalition government would act only based on a broad national consensus. He urged President Rumen Radev to convene a meeting of national security council to discuss the current stage of the relations between the two Balkan neighbors.

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Sofia is pushing for North Macedonia to pass constitutional guarantees protecting the rights of Bulgarians in North Macedonia as well as to make progress on historical disputes and to eliminate hate speech against Bulgaria.

Petkov said the cabinet would not take any action before full agreement was reached between all coalition partners and Parliament has issued a firm position.

The National Assembly alone has the final legitimate mandate on North Macedonia, and this should be perfectly clear to the whole of Bulgarian society and to our foreign partners, Petkov said.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged Bulgaria and North Macedonia on Wednesday to resolve their dispute, speaking on the phone with the leaders of both countries.

The purpose of these talks, while France holds the EU presidency, was to encourage the two countries to quickly pursue the dialogue on the dispute between them, Macrons office said.

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BEIRUT  A Lebanese security chief has met U.S. officials in Washington as part of mediation between Washington and Damascus for the release of an American journalist missing in Syria, the head of a mission that assists hostages said Wednesday. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Nizar Zakka, President of the U.S.-based Hostage Aid Worldwide, told The Associated Press by telephone that Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim was discussing the fate of six Americans held in the Middle East, but that the primary objective of his mission is journalist Austin Tice who went missing near the Syrian capital of Damascus a decade ago.

Zakka, who met Ibrahim in Washington on Tuesday, said Biden administration officials would not have invited the Lebanese official to Washington had they not reached something very serious with regards to the Tice case. He says there are serious threads in the case, without elaborating. Tices fate remains unknown.

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Earlier this month, President Joe Biden met Tices parents and reiterated his commitment to continue to work through all available avenues to secure Austins long overdue return to his family.

Tice, who is from Houston and whose work had been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus in August. 2012.

Zakka said the six Americans include Tice and Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia who vanished in Syria in 2017. The four others are held in Iran, according to Zakka, who himself was held in Iran for years before Ibrahim mediated his release in 2019.

Ibrahim, the chief of Lebanons General Security Directorate, has mediated complicated hostage releases in the past. He told Lebanons LBC TV that his work regarding American hostages had slowed down during the transitional period between two administrations in Washington.

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There is a decision now to speed up the process, Ibrahim added.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday that U.S. officials tend not to speak of our efforts in public before Americans come home so as not to jeopardize our efforts precisely to bring them home.

He added that U.S. officials are deeply engaged on this case.

In the final months of the Trump administration, two U.S. officials  including the governments top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens  made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information on Tice and other Americans who have disappeared in Syria. It was the highest-level talk in years between the United States and the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, though Syrian officials offered no meaningful information on Tice.

Four years ago, the then-U.S. envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, said Tice is believed to be alive and held hostage in Syria. He didnt say why officials believe this or who might be holding him.

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Tice went missing shortly after his 31st birthday on Aug. 14, 2012. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men, saying Oh, Jesus. He has not been heard from since.

In late April, the U.S. secured the release of Trevor Reed, a U.S. Marine veteran detained in Russia for nearly three years, as part of a prisoner swap.

In 2019, Ibrahims mediation led to the release of U.S. citizen Samuel Goodwin after being held for two months in Syria.

_____

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

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SEOUL, South Korea  North Korea test-launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile and two shorter-range weapons toward its eastern waters Wednesday, South Korea said, hours after President Joe Biden ended a trip to Asia where he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend its allies in the face of the Norths nuclear threat.

The suspected ICBM didnt fly its full range. But if confirmed, it would still be North Koreas first test of an ICBM system in about two months amid stalled nuclear diplomacy with the United States. The launch suggests North Korea is determined to continue its efforts to modernize its arsenal despite its first COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused outside worries about a humanitarian disaster.

North Koreas sustained provocations can only result in stronger and faster South Korea-U.S. combined deterrence and can only deepen North Koreas international isolation, the South Korean government said in a statement after an emergency security meeting.

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Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi called the launches an act of provocation and absolutely impermissible.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held separate calls with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan during which they condemned the launches as a clear violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, the State Department said.

Blinken noted Washingtons commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan remains ironclad as the three allies continue to cooperate to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the statement said.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the launch of the three missiles only contributes to increasing regional and international tensions and reiterated U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres call on North Korea to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions, which ban such tests.

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Diplomatic engagement remains the only pathway to sustainable peace and complete and verifiable de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Dujarric said.

(The launches) were a political message. Theyre saying they feel bad about Bidens recent summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at Korea Aerospace University in South Korea.

Biden and Yoon said after their meeting Saturday that they would consider expanded military exercises to deter North Korean nuclear threats.

Biden brushed aside questions about any possible provocation by North Korea during his trip, saying, We are prepared for anything North Korea does. He later met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, and they vowed to work closely to address security challenges, including North Koreas nuclear and ballistic programs and what they called Chinas increasingly coercive behavior in the region.

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According to South Koreas military, the first missile was likely an ICBM that reached a maximum height of 540 kilometers (335 miles) while traveling 360 kilometers (223 miles). The statement said the second missile disappeared from South Korean radar at some point and the third flew 760 kilometers (472 miles).

Kim Tae-hyo, South Koreas deputy national security adviser, told reporters that the first launch involved the Norths biggest Hwasong-17 missile, whose potential range includes the entirety of the U.S. mainland. He said the missile was fired at a high angle and that its launch appeared aimed at reviewing the weapons propellant and stage separations, though he couldnt conclusively say whether the test was successful.

He said the tests of the two other missiles, both short-range, implied North Koreas intention to improve its ability to launch nuclear strikes on its rivals.

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While the North Korean launches were part of its weapons development program, they were also strategically timed to the end of Bidens Asian visits and likely designed to test the readiness of South Koreas new government, which took office about two weeks ago, Kim said.

The flight details for the suspected ICBM were similar to those of two previous North Korean launches this year, which the South Korean and U.S. militaries had said were meant to test components of the Hwasong-17 missile. North Korea said at the time it launched rockets to test cameras for a spy satellite.

After the two launches, South Koreas military in March detected what it said was a North Korean Hwasong-17 missile that blew up soon after liftoff. Later in the month, North Korea claimed to have successfully launched the Hwasong-17 in its first full-range ICBM flight test that broke its self-imposed 2018 moratorium on long-distance launches.

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South Korea said North Korea may have fired a smaller ICBM, not a Hwasong-17. Whichever it was, the missile flew longer and higher than any other weapon the North has ever tested, experts say.

Chang, the missile expert, said he doubts whether North Korea truly launched an ICBM again Wednesday because the country would have no reason to conduct the same test repeatedly and waste an ICBM that costs about 10 billion to 20 billion won ($8 million to $16 million).

He said the flight details of the third missile resemble those of the hypersonic missile that North Korea tested in January. Other analysts say it could also be the Norths highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile.

After the Norths earlier launches, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they fired surface-to-surface missiles to demonstrate their striking capabilities. South Korea said its air force on Tuesday conducted an elephant walk involving 30, fully armed F-15K fighter jets parading along a runway in formation.

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Wednesdays launches were North Koreas 17th round of missile firings this year. Experts have said North Korea wants to move ahead with its push to expand its arsenal and apply more pressure on its rivals to wrest sanctions relief and other concessions.

U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials have said North Korea could soon conduct its first nuclear test in nearly five years as well. Kim, the South Korean official, said North Korea has been testing a trigger system for a nuclear explosive device.

Before Wednesday, North Koreas most recent missile tests occurred on May 12, hours after the country acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak.

The country in the past few days has said there has been a positive sign in its anti-virus campaign. Since admitting to the outbreak, North Korea has identified about 3 million cases of an unidentified fever but said only 68 people died, an extremely low death toll for COVID-19.

___

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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JERUSALEM  Turkeys foreign minister visited Israel on Wednesday as part of ongoing efforts to improve ties between the two countries, which have often been bitterly divided in recent years over Turkeys support for the Palestinians. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the first official visit to Israel by a Turkish official in 15 years, said that normalizing ties with Israel and addressing disagreements in a constructive manner will contribute to a peaceful resolution to the Mideast conflict.

He prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, a major holy site at the heart of recent unrest in the region. It is the third holiest site in Islam and is built on a hilltop that is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

Cavusoglu said talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog had helped calm tensions in Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended in early May.

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Working on a positive agenda can also help us to address our disagreements in a more constructive manner, Cavusoglu told reporters.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, speaking at the same press conference, said the two countries have always known how to return to dialogue and cooperation.

Nations with long histories always know how to close one chapter and open a new one. That is what we are doing here today, he said.

Turkey, beset by economic troubles, has been trying to end its international isolation by normalizing ties with several countries in the Mideast, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Cavusoglu also met with Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank, where he reiterated Turkeys support for their struggle for an independent state alongside Israel.

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Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state. There have been no serious peace talks for more than a decade.

We believe that normalization of our ties will also have a positive impact on peaceful resolution of the conflict, Cavusoglu said.

He also visited Yad Vashem, Israels Holocaust memorial, on Wednesday.

Turkey and Israel were once close allies, but relations grew tense under Erdogan, who is a vocal critic of Israels policies toward the Palestinians. Turkey has also embraced the Islamic militant group Hamas, which Israel and Western countries view as a terrorist group.

The countries withdrew their ambassadors in 2010 after Israeli forces stormed a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza, which has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas seized power there in 2007.

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Nine Turkish activists were killed. Israel apologized to Turkey for the deaths under a U.S.-brokered agreement, but reconciliation efforts stalled.

Turkey recalled its ambassador in 2018 after the United States recognized Jerusalem as Israels capital, prompting Israel to respond in kind. The two countries have not reappointed their ambassadors.

The latest attempt at a rapprochement has been led by Herzog, Israels mostly ceremonial president, who visited Turkey in March, becoming the first Israeli leader to do so in 14 years.

Herzog spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, the same annual gathering where Erdogan famously stormed off the stage after a sharp exchange with Israels then-President Shimon Peres about Gaza in 2009.

Taking questions after his speech, Herzog acknowledged that the process with Turkey was not a lullaby of Romeo and Juliet, but based on mutual interests. He also referenced the earlier exchange at Davos.

We have our ups and downs with Turkey, Herzog said. Im very pleased that I have an open, frank dialogue with President Erdogan which is leading in the right direction.

___

Associated Press writer Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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KAMPALA, Uganda  Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was criminally charged Wednesday by authorities who accused him of inciting violence with his efforts to stage street protests against rising commodity prices that the government largely blames on the war in Ukraine. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, spent the night in a police cell after being arrested Tuesday while addressing people in downtown Kampala, the capital. To get there, he had eluded constant surveillance at his home by police trying to foil his attempts to go out.

Besigye indicated to the public that it is desirable to demonstrate, an act which was calculated to lead to destruction or damage to property, the prosecutors charge sheet said.

Besigye, a serial campaigner against the government of longtime President Yoweri Museveni, has been arrested hundreds of times over the years. He has rarely faced charges in court.

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The retired army officer has been calling on Ugandans to wake up and protest against rising commodity prices that the government blames mostly on the war in Ukraine, a major supplier of grain and edible oils.

But authorities, declining to make price interventions of any sort, are encouraging Ugandans to tighten their belts.

Museveni, an authoritarian and U.S. ally on regional security who has been in power since 1986, told Ugandans in a recent speech to substitute cassava for bread, saying the widely cultivated root tuber is a healthy alternative. That drew scorn from many in this East African country.

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MEXICO CITY  Organizers of a camp for Ukrainian refugees who had traveled to Mexico said Tuesday they will soon close it and discouraged Ukrainians still in Europe from traveling to Mexico as they try to enter the United States. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Some 1,000 Ukrainians passed through the camp during the month that it was open on the east side of Mexico City. Now, only about 120 remain and 98% of those already have sponsors lined up in the United States and expect to soon travel there, said Vlad Fedoryshyn, director of United with Ukraine, a nongovernmental organization, that collaborated with the Mexican government to establish the camp.

Anastasiya Polo, United with Ukraine spokeswoman, said Ukrainians still in Europe should register for the U.S. governments program and not waste money and effort traveling to Mexico. Before the camp was established in Mexico City, Ukrainians were traveling to Tijuana at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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We are asking people from Europe, Ukrainians, to go through the program from Europe, do not come to Mexico because it is much more expensive for them, it is a lot of traveling, Polo said. The camp will close by June 1, but Ukrainians remaining in Mexico will continue receiving support.

The program, Uniting for Ukraine, was announced by the U.S. government April 21. Four days later, Ukrainians showing up at the U.S.-Mexico border were no longer exempted from a pandemic-related rule that has been used to quickly expel migrants without an opportunity to seek asylum for the past two years.

To qualify people must have been in Ukraine as of Feb. 11; have a sponsor, which could be family or an organization; meet vaccination and other public health requirements; and pass background checks.

More than 6.5 million Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded its smaller neighbor on Feb. 24, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

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India set to become the third country, after England & Japan, to indigenously manufacture high powered magnetron essential to Medical Linear Accelerators: Dr Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Science and Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Earth Science; MoS of Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has said that the government is supporting indigenous development of high-powered Magnetron technology used mainly for cancer radiation therapy.

Dr Jitendra Singh presided over the signing of a MoU between Technology Development Board (TDB) of DST and Panacea Medical Technologies, Bangalore to provide financial support for development and commercialisation of S Band Tunable Magnetron for Particle Accelerators".

TDB has agreed to provide loan assistance of Rs 4.87 crore, out of the total project cost of Rs 9.73 crores to the company.

"High-powered Magnetron developed by CSIR-CEERI (Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute), Pilani for commercial use will be a pathbreaking technology for oncologists to treat even 2 mm diameter brain tumour with precision radiation with very little side-effects", said the Minister.
I was a big fan of seeing the insides of other peoples houses, especially people who were slightly famous like Melissa, Frances, narrator of Sally Rooneys Conversations with Friends, says early on in the novel.

Homeownership is a remote concept for Frances, a millennial college student in Dublin who writes and performs spoken-word poetry. Shes used to sharing a flat with a roommate and not interested in making a lot of money. But when she finds herself romantically entangled with Melissa and her husband, Nick, their tasteful material life becomes an object of infatuation.

Joe Alwyn and Alison Oliver in the adaptation of Sally Rooneys novel Conversations with Friends. Credit:Element Pictures/Enda Bowe

In the new Hulu series based on the book, the seaside Victorian belonging to Nick (played by Joe Alwyn) and Melissa (Jemima Kirke) doesnt disappoint. The interior walls, made of a textured concretelike material, are a moody grey-blue, and the space is dotted with sprays of eucalyptus, Irish-made ceramics, sheepskin throws and large, artistic light fixtures.

The dining nook seems pulled from the pages of a recent Architectural Digest: a plant-filled space with weathered white-brick walls and several doors made of large glass panes set in rectangular steel frames, leading to a courtyard.
The incoming federal government has expanded access to fourth doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to about 1.5 million extra Australians with health conditions, including cancers, diabetes, lung and liver disease, ahead of winter.

People aged 16 and over with chronic cardiac, neurological, kidney, liver and lung disease, who are severely obese or underweight, or with other conditions that leave them immunocompromised will be able to access a fourth jab from May 30.

Access to fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines is being expanded. Credit:AP

Diabetes requiring medication and all cancers are covered by the new eligibility criteria, which also extends to people with a disability who have significant or complex health needs, or multiple comorbidities that increase their risk of poor outcomes from COVID-19.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size It has been five years since hundreds of First Nations leaders gathered at Australias red centre to endorse the historic Uluru Statement from the Heart. Now, with a new prime minister leading a new government, it finally looks as if the changes called for in the Uluru Statement will be acted upon. As Anthony Albanese claimed victory on May 21, the first words out of his mouth were a message of support for the Statement: I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet. I pay my respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging, and on behalf of the Australian Labor Party I commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, he said. But what does the Uluru Statement actually call for? And what can we expect in the first term of a Labor government? . Credit: What is the Uluru Statement? The Uluru Statement from the Heart is a document (above) written and endorsed by hundreds of Indigenous leaders who invite the Australian people to join them in their call for structural and constitutional reforms to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Importantly, it is not addressed to the government nor to politicians.

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Its 12 paragraphs are simple and direct. It notes that the sovereignty of First Nations people is ongoing and has never been ceded, and asks for the creation of two new institutions: an Indigenous Voice to parliament and a Makarrata Commission to oversee treaty-making and truth-telling. We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country, the statement reads. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country. The three key reforms the statement calls for can be summarised as Voice, Treaty, and Truth  in that order. The statement was the culmination of years of work. A Referendum Council, appointed in 2015 by prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and Labor leader Bill Shorten held 12 dialogues (town hall-style meetings) with Indigenous people across the country. It then gathered more than 250 Indigenous delegates for a convention at the spiritual heart of Australia, Uluru, a sacred place to the local Anangu Traditional Owners. It was at this meeting that the statement was endorsed to a standing ovation. Several delegates walked out in protest while the vast majority backed it  a historic consensus, even if not unanimous. Read the full statement here.

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Mutitjulu elder Rolley Mintuma presents the Uluru Statement inside a piti to Teangi Brown and Irene Davey during the closing ceremony of the national convention in May 2017. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen What is an Indigenous Voice? A Voice would be an advisory body of Indigenous people to express views to MPs on policy and legislation that would affect their communities. It would allow Indigenous people to provide expert knowledge and feedback, and have a say in how government decisions affect their lives. The statement argues that reforms such as an Indigenous Voice would empower First Nations people to address the torment of powerlessness that sees them over-incarcerated and their children alienated from their families at alarming rates. Several countries already have some kind of Indigenous Voice. Advocates for the Uluru Statement compare the idea to the First Nations parliaments in Norway, Sweden and Finland for the Sami people. In another example, the New Zealand parliament reserves seven of its seats for Maori electorates. The Uluru Statement doesnt outline what shape or form a Voice should take, but it does say the body must be enshrined in the Australian Constitution, which would have to happen via a referendum. This would make it difficult for a hostile government to abolish it, as the Howard government did to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) in 2005. If enshrined in the Constitution, the Voice could be removed only through a second referendum, which would ultimately leave the decision to the Australian people.

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How would a Voice work? The Uluru Statement and the Voice proposal were dismissed by the former Coalition government in 2017 under the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull. In fact, several high-ranking members of that government incorrectly claimed an Indigenous Voice would be a potential third chamber of parliament. Things slowly started to change after the 2019 election, when Ken Wyatt became the first Aboriginal person appointed as Minister for Indigenous Australians. The Coalition still refused to support the Uluru Statement, but the party did warm to the idea of an Indigenous Voice, albeit not one enshrined in the Constitution. Wyatt promised to legislate it through an act of parliament. Indigenous leaders Marcia Langton and Tom Calma were then appointed in late 2019 to investigate what this Voice might look like. After consultation, they recommended the creation of local and regional Voices that would work with all levels of government, followed by a national Voice that could advise on federal policy and laws. The local and regional Voice bodies would be relatively flexible so that they could adapt to the needs of different communities, who would be able to determine how many people were involved with their local Voice and how they were appointed (whether by an election or through structures drawn from traditional law and custom, for example). Langton and Calmas report said the national Voice should have a more formal structure with two members from each state and territory plus another from the Torres Strait Islands. It also suggested that NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia have an extra member for remote residents, and that there be an extra member for Torres Strait Islander people living on the mainland.

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The Coalition promised to legislate 35 local and regional Voice bodies and assigned $31.8 million towards their creation in its final budget. Nothing was included in the forward estimates for a national Voice. However, this process never happened  the Coalition lost the election before it could begin. Labor, on the other hand, has backed a constitutionally enshrined Voice to parliament since 2017. Kgari Fraser Island in Queensland, with the Uluru Statement in 2017. What is a Makarrata Commission? And truth-telling? Makarrata is a Yolgnu word meaning a coming together after a struggle. That captures the idea of what this commission would seek to do: assist in creating a fair and truthful relationship between Indigenous people and other Australians. It would be in charge of agreement-making between First Nations people and governments. Labor has made it clear it also sees this as a body to oversee treaty-making processes. There are already treaty processes under way in some jurisdictions to try and fix the unjust relationships that have been created due to colonisation. The Northern Territory and Victoria are two such jurisdictions. The NT Treaty Commissioner has published a discussion paper that details some of the more complex parts of the process. For example, it notes that treaties between First Nations people and colonisers (which would include todays governments) tend to be different from regular treaties, say, between warring countries. These treaties often contain clauses to provide reparations to make up for historical losses that cannot be fixed, allow limited self-government, and provide financial resources so that communities can become more economically empowered. The Makarrata Commission would also oversee truth-telling activities. Truth-telling refers to a process of sharing historical truths, warts and all, after periods of conflict or severe human rights violations. The idea is that by revealing the full extent of injustices committed against Indigenous people, wider society can fully come to terms with history and move towards true reconciliation.

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A Richfield, Minnesota, man is charged with negligent homicide in connection with a March crash on Interstate 94 in North Dakota that led to the death of a Montana man.

Hashi Shire, 37, also is charged with misdemeanor aggravated reckless driving, court records show.

Shire was driving a 2020 Freightliner and double box trailers that went out of control on the icy highway west of Mandan and crossed the median into oncoming traffic, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol. The rig collided with a westbound GMC Sierra that was pulling a trailer loaded with a pickup. The driver of the GMC, Scott Walden, 46, of Missoula, Montana, died a week later. A passenger in the GMC, 49-year-old Antonina Walden, of Missoula, suffered serious injuries, the Patrol said.

Shire suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. A passenger in the Freightliner, Ahmed Ahmed, 27, of Minnetonka, Minnesota, was not injured.

Authorities allege Shire was aware of dangerous driving conditions due to poor weather but was distracted by a conversation he was having with Ahmed.

"Shire drove without due caution and at a speed to endanger a person," Trooper Brian Mehlhoff said in a Patrol document.

Shire faces a possible five-year prison term on the negligent homicide charge. Defense attorney Tom Dickson in a statement to the Tribune said his client "was driving carefully and well under the speed limit when he hit some black ice. This was a terrible and tragic accident."

Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com

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A Parshall woman accused of allowing an infant in her care to starve to death two years ago has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Paige Howling Wolf, 27, in December entered into a plea agreement on charges of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of child neglect.

Law enforcement and medical personnel in June 2020 responded to a call of an unresponsive infant at a Parshall residence. An autopsy showed the child died from chronic starvation, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Four other children -- three of whom authorities said had methamphetamine in their systems -- were taken from Howling Wolfs care. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2020.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland in addition to prison time ordered Howling Wolf to spend three years on supervised release, court documents show. Hovland handed down the five-year sentence on the involuntary manslaughter charge and four-year sentences on each of the child neglect counts. Howling Wolf will serve all of the sentences at the same time.

The judge further ordered Howling Wolf to pay $4,000 in restitution on each of the four counts, court records show.

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Enrollment records show that the 18-year-old whom authorities say killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas never attended a public school in North Dakota.

Texas State Sen. Roland Guitierrez in an interview on CNN said Texas state police told him shooter Salvador Ramos was born in North Dakota. He did not say where in North Dakota. Guitierrez said Ramos went to high school in Uvalde, Texas, the city where the shooting happened Tuesday.

Authorities say Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday before law officers killed him. It was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, according to The Associated Press.

Whether Ramos had a background in North Dakota is unclear. Birth records are confidential under state law.

North Dakota's Department of Public Instruction has no record of a student named Salvador Ramos being enrolled in a public school in the state, according to spokesman Dale Wetzel.

"This enrollment data goes back, at minimum, to the 2006-07 school year, when Mr. Ramos would have been a preschooler," he said.

Local enrollment databases verify that Ramos did not previously attend any schools in the Bismarck or Mandan public school districts. Light of Christ Catholic Schools also said it has no record of him.

Both public school districts said counselors are available to any students who want to talk about what happened in Texas. Light of Christ classes ended last Friday.

Gov. Doug Burgum has directed all government agencies to fly the U.S. and North Dakota flags at half-staff until sunset Saturday in remembrance of the shooting victims. He encourages North Dakota residents to also lower flags at their homes and businesses. His directive is in accordance with a proclamation issued by President Joe Biden.

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Allentown, PA (18103)

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Clouds, some sun, and warmer and more humid with a few gusty showers and storms late in the day. .

Tonight

A few showers or gusty thunderstorms possible early then partly cloudy.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Clouds, some sun, and warmer and more humid with a few gusty shower and storms late in the day. .

Tonight

A few showers or gusty thunderstorms possible early then partly cloudy.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Mostly cloudy and cool with a spotty shower, but most of the day is dry. .

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Mostly cloudy and muggier with a shower or two.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.  A South Dakota man has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing a child and witness tampering.

A federal judge this week sent Kimo John Little Bird, 40, of the town of Little Eagle, to prison for life on his conviction of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. An additional 10 years in prison was imposed for committing the crime while he was required to register as a sex offender. Little Bird was sentenced to five years in prison for witness tampering, to be served concurrently with the other counts.

The community of Little Eagle is on the South Dakota portion of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Little Bird was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2020 and found guilty by a jury last November.

Little Bird was convicted of sexually abusing a minor in 2006 and was required to register as a sex offender. In 2016, Little Bird sexually abused an 11-year-old girl. Prosecutors said prior to his trial, he contacted a number of potential witnesses in an effort to have them pressure the girl into recanting her accusations.

The criminal actions by this defendant were egregious. The federal penalties for child sexual abuse offenses are severe for a reason, and the district courts sentence ensures that this defendant will never again have the opportunity to victimize children or otherwise harass vulnerable citizens, said U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Justice ServicesStanding Rock Agency.

Little Bird was turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

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

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Exclusive: Maisie Smith (Eastenders) is set to make her musical theatre debut this year, joining Kevin Clifton (Singin' in the Rain) in the upcoming UK tour of Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom The Musical.

The duo previously won the Strictly Come Dancing 2019 special for Children In Need, with Smith returning to the main show the following year and becoming a finalist.

Check out our exclusive video with the two leads below:





Craig Revel Horwood, who is set to direct and co-choreograph the show, commented: "I'm delighted that the super talented Maisie Smith is joining Kevin Clifton on the Strictly Ballroom UK tour. I can't wait to see them dance together again. Expect some sexy moves, sizzling costumes and a simply sensational evening! I know that they'll both be FAB-U-LOUS!"

The musical, based on Luhrmann's 1992 film, follows an unlikely romance between Scott Hastings (Clifton) and Fran (Smith) set against the colourful backdrop of the Australian ballroom dancing scene. It features a book by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce and hit songs such as "Love is in the Air" and "Time After Time". The tour also promises new songs by artists including Sia, David Foster and Eddie Perfect.

Co-choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing's creative director Jason Gilkison, the production launches at Portsmouth's Kings Theatre on 26 September 2022, before visiting Bromley, Sunderland, Liverpool, Llandudno, Birmingham, Wimbledon, Darlington, Blackpool, Peterborough, Sheffield, Guildford, Ipswich, Reading, Cardiff, Plymouth, Truro, Wolverhampton, Southampton, Northampton, Hull, Canterbury, Southend, Bradford, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Bournemouth, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Derry, Glasgow, Aylesbury, Nottingham, Salford, Leeds, and culminating in Bristol on 15 July 2023.

Smith is scheduled to remain with the production until 25 March 2023.

Tickets for select dates are available below.
Williamson, WV (25661)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. High 71F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Rain showers this evening with clearing overnight. Thunder possible. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Total assets of the Bank of North Dakota reached a record last year.

The nation's only state-owned bank released its annual report Monday, highlighting $144.2 million of profits and the record $10 billion in total assets, including loans, securities and cash.

"I think the big thing (2021) represented is that we just grew a lot," said bank President/CEO Todd Steinwand, who took the wheel last year after his predecessor Eric Hardmeyer retired.

Steinwand attributed the record assets to North Dakota's $1 billion of federal Rescue Plan coronavirus aid along with another $1 billion in additional state tax revenue and earnings from the Legacy Fund oil tax savings.

The Legislature met last fall in a special session to decide how to spend most of the Rescue Plan money.

Sixteen years of record bank profits ended in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Last year's profits were up about 2% from 2020.

Steinwand said the bank weathered the pandemic better than anticipated. The bank in 2020 added $16.8 million to its loan loss reserve due to economic uncertainty, but last year it added $4.75 million. Banks use such reserves to alleviate losses on defaulted loans.

"We already had a significant balance in that loan loss reserve, and so that flowed right to our bottom line and allowed us to have a higher net profit than we did in 2020," Steinwand said.

Every two years since 2017, the Legislature has transferred $140 million of bank profits to the state's general fund to help balance the budget.

Bank assets continue to hold closely to $10 billion. 2022 profits are on track to reach $145 million to $150 million, according to Steinwand.

He said the overall economy has improved from the pandemic's throes, noting higher commodity prices and strong federal government payments and crop insurance payments in the agriculture economy.

Businesses also fared the pandemic better than anticipated, he said. The bank in 2020 launched several business relief programs using federal COVID-19 aid and bank capital.

The bank's total loan portfolio last year held at $4.7 billion. Its agricultural loan portfolio fell by $61 million, to $702 million; the business loan portfolio grew by $162 million.

The governor-led, three member Industrial Commission, which oversees the bank, praised the institution's year in a joint statement:

Bank of North Dakota continues to implement visionary concepts to move the state forward, whether working with the private sector, state agencies or local governments. These results, along with the annual (Standard & Poor's) report ratings, demonstrate the strong position of the Bank."

S&P gave the bank a credit rating of "A+/Stable" in 2021, which Steinwand said "gives an overall indication from an outside third party of the strength of the bank."

The report also highlights the bank's economic impact from nearly 15,000 agricultural and commercial loans from 2011-20, using a model to show the bank's loan participations in 2020 helped create or retain more than 50,000 jobs in North Dakota with a projected impact of $6 billion to the state's gross domestic product.

Steinwand noted that the years of greatest impact during that stretch were when the bank provided disaster programs, including COVID-19, drought and farm stability programs.

The annual report is available online at bnd.nd.gov.

Reach Jack Dura at 701-250-8225 or jack.dura@bismarcktribune.com.

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It is fair to say that the governments preeminent responsibility is to provide for the nations defense. When necessary, civil liberties protected by the Bill of Rights must yield to the demands of national security. In Minersville v. Gobitis (1940), the Supreme Court, over assertions of religious liberty by Jehovahs Witnesses, upheld a Pennsylvania state law requiring school children to salute the flag on the theory that the pledge of allegiance promotes national unity and national unity protects national security.

The Gobitis Courts 8-1 decision was popular throughout the country. It perpetuated the traditional doctrine of paying respect to the nations most sacred national symbols, and only Justice Harlan F. Stones dissent provided support for the witnesses assertion that the statutes requirement constituted a violation of their religious liberty protected by the First Amendments Free Exercise Clause. Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes private note epitomized the feelings of the nation: I simply cannot believe that the state has not the power to inculcate this.

But three members of the court who joined Justice Felix Frankfurters Gobitis opinion  Hugo Black, William O. Douglas and Frank Murphy  subsequently declared their regrets and, in an unprecedented joint recantation, announced a desire to reverse their participation in the ruling. That shift, combined with the addition of two justices  Robert H. Jackson and Wiley Rutledge  created a new working majority that was prepared to overturn Gobitis.

West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), provided that opportunity. In that landmark decision, the court struck down a compulsory flag salute statute, holding that students enjoy a First Amendment right, grounded in speech and religious freedom, to choose whether to recite the pledge of allegiance.

Justice Jacksons opinion, considered by scholars to be one of his very best, stood four-square behind Free Speech and Free Exercise guarantees and rejected the claim that the nations security hinges on coerced recitation of the pledge of allegiance. The Bill of Rights, Jackson declared, denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce allegiance.

In an eloquent defense of the American creed of liberty and First Amendment freedoms, made more moving by the context of Hitlers tyranny and his war on democracy, Justice Jackson stated: If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.

The flag salute statute, Justice Jackson wrote, transcends constitutional limitations on power and invades the sphere of intellect and spirit which it is the purpose of the First Amendment to our Constitution to reserve from all official control. For those who feared the collapse of patriotism without coercive ceremonies, rather than ceremonies that are voluntary and spontaneous, Jackson replied, is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds.

Justice Jacksons tribute to intellectual freedom emphasized the individualism and rich cultural diversities that define and sustain America. Great achievements  the product of exceptional minds  come at the price of occasional eccentricity and abnormal attitudes. In a nod to the reality of the religious minority whose teachings were denied, Jackson wrote: Where they are so harmless to others or to the State as those we deal with here, the price is not too great. But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.

Justice Frankfurter dissented and took offense to the demise of his Gobitis opinion. He insisted that the court should adhere rigorously to the doctrine of judicial self-restraint and its emphasis on deference to the legislature, lest the judiciary becomes a legislative body. Frankfurters objection flew in the face of the courts embrace of the preferred freedoms approach, which emphasizes over-arching protection of First Amendment freedoms, including religion and speech liberties, which are indispensable to the existence of other freedoms.

When preferred freedoms are implicated, as they were in the flag salute cases, the court will require strict scrutiny of the legislation and demand compelling governmental reasons for breaching those liberties. In Barnette, the court found the reasons wanting for requiring students to recite the pledge of allegiance.

In the years since Barnette, the two well-heeled doctrinal approaches to interpretation often have been the subject of debate, and likely always will be since the role of the judiciary is central to constitutional government. Sometimes, resolution hinges on a little common sense. After Justice Frankfurter delivered his opinion in Gobitis, he was discussing the case with Eleanor Roosevelt at Hyde Park. The First Lady stated that despite the justices learning and legal skills, there was something very wrong about a ruling that forced little school children to salute a flag when the ceremony violated their fundamental religious beliefs and represented no threat to the nations security.

David Adler is president of The Alturas Institute. This "We the People" series is provided by the North Dakota Newspaper Association and Humanities North Dakota.

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No one is questioning Gov. Doug Burgums right to donate to Republican campaigns. Whether its good politics for the governor to take sides in the Republican primary is another issue.

In 2020 Burgum donated more than $3.2 million to the Dakota Leadership PAC run by former advisers. The PAC was successful in getting Republicans favored by Burgum to win in the primary.

The most notable target in 2020 was Rep. Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Burgum and Delzer had butted heads during the previous legislative session.

Delzer was defeated in the primary by Burgum-favored David Andahl, who died of COVID-19. Delzer was appointed by his district Republican Party to replace Andahl, so he ultimately kept his seat. This year Delzer is one of five Republicans fighting for two House seats in District 33. And it appears Burgum is targeting his seat again.

Burgum has been accused by both Republicans and Democrats of attempting to buy legislators friendly to his agenda. The governor got off to a rough start with the Republican-dominated Legislature during his first term.

How much influence a Burgum endorsement carries in a Republican primary remains uncertain. However, most legislative candidates arent in a position to spend a lot of money on a primary. Getting funding for advertising, yard signs and other campaign activities provides a boost.

Burgums donations also can have a chilling effect on other legislators. Knowing that if you cross the governor too many times he might fund a primary opponent can create second thoughts. Its an unspoken political threat.

Burgum points out that its not unusual for a governor and other officeholders to contribute to campaigns. The difference is that Burgum is well-positioned because of his successful business background to donate lots of money.

Former Republican Gov. Ed Schafer, whos credited with reviving the party in the 1990s, has voiced concerns about Burgums donations. One Republican just outright campaigning with gobs of money against another Republican worries him.

Others suggest a governor trying to elect legislators who support his agenda threatens the idea of separation of power in government.

If North Dakota had a more competitive political landscape, Burgum might not be tempted to influence Republican primary races. If Republican candidates faced stiffer opposition from Democrats in the general election, Burgum might not want to challenge incumbents in the primary.

In most cases, Republicans who win in the primary can count on being victorious in November. Until that changes, Republicans wont see a pressing need to rally around one candidate.

To be fair, candidates endorsed by Burgum shouldnt be expected to rubber stamp the governors agenda. In the Legislature, local issues often determine how lawmakers vote. Still, having friendly legislators who remember donations has to help the governor.

In the end its the voters who have to decide if Burgum is trying to unfairly shape the Legislature with his pocketbook. Well find out next month how much clout there is behind the governors donations.

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A Winnipeg pastor known for being outspoken about churches that flouted public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic has been recognized for his online efforts.

A Winnipeg pastor known for being outspoken about churches that flouted public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic has been recognized for his online efforts.

Feedspot, which calls itself the internets "largest human-curated database of bloggers and podcasts," has named Erik Parkers Millennial Pastor as the third-best pastor blog in Canada.

SUPPLIED A Winnipeg pastor known for being outspoken about churches that flaunted public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic has been recognized for his online efforts. Feedspot, which calls itself the internets largest human-curated database of bloggers and podcasts, has named Erik Parkers Millennial Pastor as the third-best pastor blog in Canada.

The service, which provides access to more than 250,000 bloggers, awarded the ranking based on traffic, social media followers and freshness.

Parker, pastor at Sherwood Park Lutheran Church in East Kildonan, was surprised.

"Im not chasing views or looking for controversial stuff," he said, noting he gets about a thousand visitors a week at millennialpastor.ca. "Im just writing about how life intersects with where I am at. Sometimes, they go viral. Sometimes, they dont."

Parkers posts about churches challenging and breaking pandemic restrictions created a stir, including the two open letters he addressed to Springs Church in Winnipeg.

"I got a lot of reaction, some of it positive, some negative," he said, noting he received good responses from other pastors, both mainline and evangelical.

During the pandemic, it was a minority of churches getting all the attention for not following health orders, he said.

"They didnt represent the majority of Christians," he said. "I wanted to provide a different perspective. I felt I had to say something, offer an alternative voice."

Parker, 39 and a father of two young children, has been blogging for nine years. He started doing it as a "way to express the things swirling around in my head."

For Parker, its also a way to communicate what its like to be a younger pastor working in an older mainline church setting.

"Im an iPhone pastor in a typewriter church," he said, adding the blog is a way to "understand the generational commute."

Parkers bishop, Jason Zinko of the Manitoba Northwestern Ontario Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada, is happy to see him being recognized for his work on the blog.

Parker "brings a current and fresh perspective into a denomination that is often very traditional," Zinko said, adding he especially appreciates how Parker "speaks up when he has something important to add to a conversation or to give a different perspective."

The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.

The blog is valuable for the synod since it "engages millennial generations, particularly pastors, in imagining a contemporary vision for our church."

James Bedford, 59, is a member of Sherwood Park Church. He likes how the blog builds bridges between older and younger people and for how Parker addresses issues in the wider religious community.

"That was an important message to send out there," he said of Parkers posts about pandemic restrictions. "Im thankful he spoke up. Its our Christian duty to look out for others."

Parker plans to keep blogging.

"I want to write about what is going on in the world from a mainline, Lutheran perspective and help people navigate this time of incredible change," he said.

faith@freepress.mb.ca
A German court has sentenced a woman who posed as a doctor to life in prison for causing the deaths of several patients.

Former reality TV star Josh Duggar is set to be sentenced for child pornography offences.

A vigil is scheduled in Minneapolis today to mark the second anniversary of George Floyd being killed by a police officer.

An Ottawa judge is expected to rule today on whether Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich should be jailed for allegedly violating one of her bail conditions.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cancelled his planned appearance at a fundraising dinner in Surrey, B.C., last night after speakers at the event said protesters hurled racial slurs at attendees.
In a new interview, ousted La Crosse priest Father James Altman described increasing fractures between himself and the leader of the Diocese of La Crosse, calling a recent incident where he was not allowed to attend the ordaining of a La Crosse priest the last straw.

Altman appeared on a May 17 episode of The Patrick Coffin Show, a right-wing podcast and video series  that has been permanently banned from YouTube, according to the host  where he directed statements to Callahan stating he would no longer hold back any punches after the incident.

Bill, you put on the last straw. And youre going to regret it to the day you die. Because the people need to know what kind of vipers you are, Altman said of Callahan.

The Tribune reached out to the Diocese of La Crosse to confirm the events and to get a response, but did not hear back by print time. The Diocese spokesperson also did not respond to the Tribunes questions back in March.

The controversial priest has been on probation with the Diocese for the last year after he was removed as pastor of St. James the Less last July. A review of his role is currently underway, which Altman said could have a ruling in the coming months.

During the interview, which was taped in front of a live audience at a home in Orange County, California, Altman said he had wanted to watch an old friend be ordained at the St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral, which is the mother church of the diocese, that past Saturday.

To avoid being a distraction, Altman texted the rector of the cathedral, asking if he could sit in the choir loft to watch the event. The rector, according to Altman, directed the question to Callahans office who declined to allow Altman to attend.

Throughout the interview  which bounced around topics from abortion to President Joe Biden to the fate of the church  Altman returns to the incident, sometimes in an aggressive tone while directly addressing Callahan.

Bill, are you listening? Bill, again, put your listening ears on, Bill. I dont need your permission to come to any Catholic Mass anywhere in the world, much less my own diocese, much less the cathedral in my own diocese where I myself was ordained. I dont need your permission, Bill, Altman said.

He said that until that incident he had been undeservedly nice to Callahan. I have withheld the punches until now, Altman said. He said later, the gloves have now come off.

Altman said he considered still attending the ordination but feared he may have been blocked from entering and did not end up going, a decision he told the crowd that he regrets.

During the interview, Altman said he was recently denied access to attend a private Mass at another Catholic church, but did not specify which one. First reported on by the Tribune in September 2020, Altman has been mixed in a swirl of controversy while also rising in the conservative spotlight over the past two years.

Some of his rhetoric has included misinformation on the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, anti-LGBTQ+ messages, statements that Democrats are Godless and more.

During a question-and-answer segment of the interview, Altman was asked whether or not the Catholic church should be taken back by force.

In his response, Altman advocated against force, but stumbled while giving an example.

Lets say we take out a bishop, lets say  oh! Altman said.

The crowd laughed and the host stated Altman was being purely metaphorical, humorously clarifying later that take out meant to take to dinner. But when one member of the audience said, We hope some Italian priest will take care of them, Altman responded by saying, I know.

Guido, got a job for you, Altman said. Guido is an Italian name and word, but is commonly considered an ethnic slur.

Altman stated that he has been told it could be another six months before a ruling is in on his review.

In the meantime, he remains a paid priest with the diocese.

Altman noted that regardless of the ruling, he expects he could face consequences for being disobedient during his suspension, which has banned him from preaching, living outside of the diocese boundaries and more. Violation of those restrictions could lead to punishments such as censure or excommunication from the church.

But Altman described during the interview that he considered himself part of a separate underground church already.

We will be the true Catholic church, he said.

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The Minnesota Marine Art Museum (MMAM) in Winona will be open a new exhibition titled Impressions of Water: Prints by Clara Ueland 1997-2022.

There will be an opening reception at MMAM to celebrate the artist and her work from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 27. This reception is open to the public, and tickets are $10 and are available at the door.

Medina, Minn., artist Clara Ueland creates beautiful and colorful prints inspired by her trips to the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota, Lake Superior and Scotland.

I have always had an affinity for water in the landscape, working with such themes such as water plants, rain clouds, lakes and streams, says Ueland of the connection between water and her work. Lake Superior, in particular, is a constant source of inspiration with its changing light and colors, wave patterns, squalls and clouds.

After receiving a masters degree in painting and printmaking at Berkeley, Clara Ueland assisted the director and printer of Universal Limited Art Editions, a pioneering publisher of fine art prints located in Long Island, New York.

Minnesotas artistic community, especially the printmaking community, is so much better off because of Claras pioneering and artistic contributions, says Scott Pollock, MMAMs executive director. For someone who had the opportunity to work alongside artists like Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg in the early stages of their careers and translate that level of artistic merit to make it her own is absolutely commendable. You can feel that level of integrity in her work, and were absolutely thrilled to present this body of work, adds Pollock.

Ueland creates her work by using the labor intensive intaglio printing process, which uses a series of etched copper plates to produce the final image. She creates her prints at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis.

Impressions of Water: Prints by Clara Ueland, 1997-2022 features an overview of the artists prints from 1997 to the present, and it will be on view at MMAM through Sept. 25, 2022. More information about the exhibition and its related programming can be found at MMAM.org.

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Volkswagen Group Ireland was seeking a solution to track parts sales through their dealer network, which was previously done by emailing PDFs. To meet their business requirements, they needed a scalable, enterprise solution that offered tailored analytics to a broad range of users.

Access this case study to discover how, by partnering with Pyramid Analytics, Volkswagen is now able to:

Customize data views to specific managers and retailers to keep data secure

Digitally document and track parts sales through a large network of dealers

Drill to very granular levels of detail on their data without losing the crucial big picture perspective

And more
The Wisconsin Dells FFA Alumni & Supporters Chapter will host the first annual Farm to Fork Breakfast Fundraiser from 7 a.m. to noon June 4 at Bowman Park, 730 Capital St., Wisconsin Dells. The goal is to highlight local products and businesses while educating guests about Wisconsin Agriculture. Cost is $10 and the menu features a full plate of local goods including grilled cheese, scrambled eggs, sausage, milk and more.

The New Haven Helping Hands 4-H Club, Wisconsin Dells High School FFA and the Dells Country Historical Society will be on hand. There will be ice cream and baked goods for sale, a tractor show featuring restored tractors, an agriculture scavenger hunt and kids activities.

DCHS will host its "Heritage Day" with Bowman House Tours until 3 p.m. and artisanal products such as yarn spinning, paintings for donations to Ukraine, and quilts on display made by DCHS.

For more information, find the Wisconsin Dells FFA Alumni & Supporters on Facebook. To participate in the tractor show, email Sandy Jensen at sandy.jensen74@yahoo.com as soon as possible.
The Mauston School District will sponsor the Summer Food Service Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, to provide nutritious meals to children during the summer, when free and reduced-price school meals are unavailable. Free meals will be made available to children age 18 and younger. Persons older than age 18 who are determined by a public educational agency to be mentally or physically disabled and participate in a public or private non-profit school program during the regular school year also may receive free meals.
Musical theater participants from area high schools have earned state accolades in the Jerry Awards program.

Run by the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, the Jerry Awards program has educators and industry professionals review approximately 100 musicals in 30 Wisconsin counties each year. Young thespians are nominated in a variety of categories and schools are provided with constructive feedback of the productions.

Beaver Dam High School student Clara Hale picked up an Outstanding Supporting Performance honor for her haunting portrayal of Fruma-Sarah in the BDHS fall production of Fiddler on the Roof.

The Beaver Dam Area Community Theatres summer production of Working: A Musical was recognized with an award for Outstanding Stage Crew.

Each production participating in the Jerry Awards program selects a student for a Spirit Award, which is chosen by its cast, crew and orchestra members. Local Spirit Award winners include: Karl Weidler, Fiddler on the Roof, BDHS; Olivia Lafler, Working: A Musical, BDACT; Joseph Weiglein, Mary Poppins, Mayville High School; and Kaleb Herrick and Bryna Walters, The SpongeBob Musical, Horicon High School.

The Jerry Awards program culminates in an annual show that highlights excellence in high school musical theater. That show, which has been held virtually the past two years, returns as an in-person event at the Overture Center on June 12. Tickets are available at overture.org.

The evening is filled with performances including medleys from Outstanding Musical award recipients, solos featuring the Outstanding Lead Performers and group numbers showcasing the Outstanding Supporting Performers, Outstanding Dance Performers and the Spirit Award recipients.

Follow Kelly Simon on Twitter @KSchmidSimon or contact her at 920-356-6757.

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JUNEAU  A 26-year-old Mayville woman was placed on probation for three years for leaving her then 2-year-old child alone in her apartment in May 2020.

A neighbor in the complex had found the child in the hallway shortly before midnight on May 21, 2020. Ciera West was found guilty by a jury on Jan. 26 of a felony count of child neglect and misdemeanor charges of resisting an officer and bail jumping.

Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Sciascia withheld sentencing and placed West on probation. In addition, she must participate in counseling or treatment if recommended and must pay court costs. A 30-day jail sentence was imposed and stayed.

According to the criminal complaint:

Mayville police went to the apartment shortly after midnight. The caller said that around 11 p.m. on May 21, 2020, she heard what she thought was a plastic bag or animal in the hallway. After a while she noticed the door to the apartment was open and the 2-year-old was running in the halls. The woman said that prior to contacting police, she had knocked on the apartment door and an apartment door where she believed the childs mother could have possibly been at that time.

The police checked the apartment and found no one else in the home. According to the complaint, police were contacting Dodge County Child Protective Services at the time when West walked out of a neighbors apartment.

West allegedly said she was gone for 15 minutes while she took garbage out and got a blanket from her neighbor. West resisted officers but they were able to take her into custody. She requested that a family member be contacted to take care of her child.

Follow Terri Pederson on Twitter @tlp53916 or contact her at 920-356-6760.

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Beaver Dam veterans groups will remember those who died wearing the red, white and blue with a ceremony on May 30 in Oakwood Cemetery.

Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday of May, honors the men and women who lost their lives while serving in the U.S. military. First known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971.

American Legion Auxiliary member Lois Levenhagen is once again serving as the ceremony committee chair.

The committee has been very busy planning to get back to normal for this years Memorial Day ceremony, she said.

The annual Memorial Day ceremony was canceled in 2020 due to concerns regarding the pandemic. In its place, veterans recorded a private service and roll call of the dead that could be viewed online. An in-person ceremony returned last year.

Levenhagen noted that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, many families have found it difficult to have full funeral services for deceased veterans.

With this ceremony we wish to extend that service to honor them on Memorial Day, she said. These veterans have served in order to preserve our countrys freedom.

The program starts at 10:15 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park in Oakwood Cemetery, east of Highway 151 on Highway 33. Hosting this years ceremony is the AMVETS of Beaver Dam. The service will include the reading of the names of veterans who have passed away in the past year.

We will be having a flyover this year which makes the reading of the deceased veterans names more special, Levenhagen said.

There will be some park benches available for use, but attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets for additional seating.

The ceremony committee requests that attendees practice social distancing, with mask wearing being optional. The service will be live-streamed on Daily Dodge for those who cant attend in person.

Dodge County Veterans Service Officer Andrew Miller will be the guest speaker at the event.

Miller enlisted in the National Guard in 1989 after graduating from high school and then joined the Army in 1991 following the Gulf War.

During his military career, he served approximately nine years in Germany and another three years in southwest Asia between Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The remainder of his almost 22 years of service was spent at various locations in the United States, with no more than three years at any duty station.

Millers professional background is predominantly in information technology and telecommunications, but he has been involved in veteran services for the past decade. He has been the Dodge County Veterans Service Officer since 2015.

The Beaver Dam High School and St. Katharine Drexel marching bands will provide patriotic music during the ceremony. The playing of Taps will follow a rifle salute.

In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will move to the Veterans Center, 300 Beichl Ave., Beaver Dam, at 10:30 a.m.

For more information, call Chuck Staab 920-887-8247, Del Yaroch 920-885-6903 or Lois Levenhagen 920-887-0642.

Follow Kelly Simon on Twitter @KSchmidSimon or contact her at 920-356-6757.

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The Wisconsin Elections Commission postponed choosing its new chair Tuesday after a Republican commissioner who could have challenged for the post abruptly resigned, saying the state GOP doesnt want him to lead the commission because he believes Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden fair and square.

Dean Knudson told the commission in a farewell speech that Republican leaders have branded him a RINO, or Republican in name only, a derogatory term Republicans attach to members of the party they dont feel are loyal enough.

Knudson said he believes the GOP has falsely peddled conspiracy theories that Biden somehow stole Wisconsin from Trump, even though multiple recounts and court rulings have found no widespread fraud and that Biden beat Trump by about 21,000 votes in the state.

The painful truth is President Trump lost the election in 2020 ... and it was not due to election fraud, Knudson said. Its been made clear to me from the highest levels of the Republican Party of Wisconsin there was a deep desire that I not be chair and thats fine.

Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, hadnt responded to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The commission is made up of three Democrats and three Republicans. The chair rotates between the parties every two years. This year is the Republican turn at the helm.

Under state law, only Knudson and Republican commissioner Bob Spindell are eligible for the post. Spindell has been publicly campaigning for the post.

The next chair will hold the position heading into the November election and in the lead up to the 2024 presidential election in battleground Wisconsin. The chair by state law approves the vote canvass following elections and certifies results. The chair also sets the agenda for the commission and can exert influence over how questions are framed, an important power on the board that is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

Knudson suggested the commission hold off on a vote until Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, appoints his successor. Despite Spindells urgings to take the vote, the commission voted 5-1 to postpone the contest until its June 10 meeting. Spindell was the only commissioner who voted against the move.

In the crosshairs

Earlier in the day, GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels changed his stance on the Elections Commission, joining his fellow Republicans in the race in calling for the complete dismantling of the 6-year-old agency that administers elections in the state.

Michels new position means the Wisconsin Elections Commission would be abolished under plans proposed by all four top Republicans running to unseat Democratic Gov. Tony Evers this fall. The six-member bipartisan commission was created by Republicans in 2016, but has since come under fire from members of the GOP for how the 2020 election was administered due to unfounded claims of widespread fraud and mounting pressure from Trump.

Michels, co-owner of Brownsville-based construction company Michels Corp., said his about-face comes after discussions he had with delegates and Spindell at the Republican Party of Wisconsins annual convention in Middleton over the weekend. Spindell said late last year hes probably responsible for many of the commissions split votes in recent meetings, a trend that has made it near impossible for the agency to pass or rescind guidance to local election clerks and fuel for the commissions critics.

While this evolution may be uncommon in politics, Im not a politician, Michels said in a statement. Ive come to the conclusion the WEC is not salvageable. To have non-elected officials overseeing the administration of elections has proven to be fundamentally flawed.

Fellow GOP gubernatorial candidates former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, business owner and former Marine Kevin Nicholson, and state Rep. Timothy Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, have called for a complete dismantling of the Elections Commission. Both Ramthun and Nicholson have said they want to see the Elections Commission eliminated and oversight of elections moved to the Secretary of States Office. Kleefischs proposal would move election administration under the secretary of state or the state Legislature and create a new office within the state Department of Justice to to handle election fraud.

Divergent view

Michels said hes opposed to placing election oversight under the same agencies as his GOP rivals, noting that doing so could give more power to Attorney General Josh Kaul and Secretary of State Doug La Follette, both Democratic incumbents who are seeking reelection this fall.

Michels indicated he wants to see elections overseen by elected officials, but did not say who would take on that role if the commission is dissolved. His campaign had not responded to an email seeking additional details.

Kleefisch tweeted Wednesday her support for Spindell as the commissions next chair as a means to ensure that our laws are followed this election cycle.

Michels new stance comes just weeks after he unveiled a plan earlier this month to overhaul the Wisconsin Elections Commission by repealing all previous election guidance issued by the agency to clerks across the state and terminate the six members of the bipartisan commission  three Republicans and three Democrats  and replace them with new appointments.

Some components of Michels initial plan remain intact, including his call to fire any agency staff that participated in the creation of formal guidance that failed to comply with state law and banning private election grants and unmanned absentee ballot drop boxes.

Vos holds firm

Earlier this year, former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who was hired by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, to lead the one-party review of the 2020 election at a cost of $676,000 to taxpayers, listed the elimination and dismantling of the Elections Commission as one of his top recommendations to the Legislature.

Vos, who has repeatedly extended Gablemans contract with the state despite no evidence of widespread fraud in the now 18-month-old election, has been adamantly opposed to eliminating the commission. Vos has also rejected Gablemans recommendation that the Legislature consider decertifying the results of the 2020 election, something experts and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have described as a constitutional impossibility.

Calls to dismantle the Elections Commission come just six years after the agency was formed in 2016 by then-Gov. Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers to replace the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board, which itself was created in 2008 in the wake of the 2001 legislative caucus scandal that saw lawmakers from both parties convicted of using taxpayer resources to campaign.

The GAB came under fire from Republicans for its role in an investigation into coordination between Walkers 2012 recall campaign and supposedly independent political groups.

The winner of the Aug. 9 primary will go on to face Evers in the Nov. 8 election.

Evers, who has vetoed multiple bills passed by the GOP-led Legislature aimed at putting restrictions on elections, has said he opposes any effort to make voting harder in Wisconsin.

State Journal reporter Mitchell Schmidt contributed to this report.
I never thought I could enjoy reading a social scientist. From what I know, from

Taleb's works and my own experience, many are prone to ignore marginal but vital

data to fit their models. I have been aware of the author Samuel Huntington for a

while and tried a couple of times his well-known "The Clash of Civilizations and

the Remaking of World Order." It was full of multi-syllabic words and felt dull.

Instead, I was recently attracted to his 2004 book (he died in 2008), "Who Are

We? The Challenges to America's Identity."

It talks about things most relevant to me, as an immigrant, e.g.,

- America as a deeply religious country with an Anglo-Protestant heritage,

- characteristics of the American people,

- concepts such as subnational identity, the Davos man, etc.,

- assimilation of immigrants, etc.,

things that I wish I were told earlier. The truth is, I might have been told

most of these but, buried in work and later hobbies, I was just not interested.

The book does not bend backward to be politically correct. On the topic of

immigration and assimilation, e.g., the author shows where he stands at page

256,

Lionel Sosa ends his book, The Americano Dream, of advice to aspiring

Hispanic entrepreneurs, with the words: "The Americano dream? It exists, it

is realistic, and it is there for all of us to share." He is wrong. There is

no Americano dream. There is only the American dream created by an Anglo-

Protestant society. Mexican-Americans will share in that dream and in that

society only if they dream in English.

What if I replace "Americano Dream" with Chinese-American Dream, and "Hispanic"

and "Mexican" with Chinese?

The narratives in the book and the declaration in the Foreword,

This is, let me make clear, an argument for the importance of Anglo-

Protestant culture, not for the importance of Anglo-Protestant people.

convinced me that the guy was more academic than a racist.

Although I might not agree with all the points the author makes, it has been a

start. I feel ready to explore, now that I have acquired some lingo. I can begin

to read, observe, and compare. This reminds me of Skynet acquiring self-awareness.
What is real civilization and prosperity in modern world?

Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, it tells of people living in fear amid environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of cleanup and financial reparations to other villagers are made-and ignored. The countrys government, led by a brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interests. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. Their struggle will last for decades and come at a steep price.

Told from the perspective of a generation of children and the family of a girl named Thule who grow up t become a revolutionary, is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghost of colonialism, comes up against one communitys determination to hold on to its ancestral land and a young womans willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her peoples freedom.

People will blame the misfortunes of the people in KOSAWA by the American oil company and the African government. Because the safe equipments is part of an oil company, the oil company cant polluted people and let the local government treat the ills even they give money to the government.

In this novel, the African elder goes to relatives house to wait for death and the villagers raise the mad person and give him food in turn. They use herbs as medicine to heal the sick and have spiritual guard to important decisions. The townspeople collect taxes from villagers but refuse to give them jobs when a oil company has taken their land. I want the oil company have a small part of land to do business and have safe facilities to protect people from pollution, and government uses the foreign companys money to improve local peoples life including land. After she went to America, she got education about revolution and she became a rebellion with modern thinking like Martin Luther King, such as parade peacefully against corruption and celebration for their culture and ancestors. She was put into prison for her rebellion but she never gives up doing so to set her country free.

Konga is a good hunter, farmer and fisherman until he gets mad. He believes only people can save themselves instead of depending on corrupted government or good foreigners. In China, when child is one month old, he is given a birth celebration. Different cultures have different ideas about what means to be civilized and prosperous. In this book, American company means material richness. Their employees have brick houses and cars and get children good education. They are not civilization because they are not good person to exploit the poor villagers of their land and bring pollution to their children and environment.

On the contrary, the African villagers have little material things to meet their needs but they have beliefs to their ancestor and love each and have courage to fight injustice. They have good morality and civilization.

Grief in this book is shared by so many. For example, when an orphan was sexual abused by the head of a village, he was forced to keep silence to keep the village from tiring apart. He refused to go back to the village after marriage and cut contact from his relatives until he died. He seldom smiled because of hatred experience and didnt believe a foreign oil company can bring any benefit to his land.

When many children died of pollution, some fathers went to the capital to appeal the government to help; some use weapons to attack workers and some kidnapped the government officers. Some use law. Kosawa has a long law suit against the oil company for decades but it failed because the U.S. court ruled that the evil African court should make judgment.

The Kosawa court put pleading villagers to death when one of the imprisoned government offices died of deadly disease, they are machines of government and they will never rule for the villagers.

Kosawa people want the oil company to treat their sick children as well as make the polluted river clean. But the oil company wants the whole village to open a new well. At last, the land of ancestor was destroyed by the government and sold to the company; all the villagers lost their relations to their ancestors and their home.

The story seems plausible. When Austin fell in love with Thula but she determined to give up her true lover. He said he was dying because he loses the true love in life so did Thula. Freedom is more valuable than love --- the belief encourages a lot of rebellions to fight for their countries. Pollution, colonist and government cooperate with foreign country, children got sick because of pollution, and people lost their land by the government in modern history. All kinds of pressure about living are threaten to modern people.

People want a good government, economic growth, civilization growth, environment protection, and they want happiness. Money cant take place of a good homeland, a good president, and healthy children. Happiness index is a good goal to pursuit in some poor country.

Civilization and prosperity maybe a good goal for life but how to get it?

How beautiful we weresummary we should have known the end was near. 

----------The powerful novel is education and necessities for modern people

from Imbolo Mbue.
Soldiers on the Chinese contingent to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are awarded the United Nations Peacekeeping Medal during a medal parade ceremony in southern Lebanon, June 16, 2021. [Photo by Liu Xiongma/Xinhua]

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua)  Global peace and development is faced with challenges posed by the Ukraine crisis at a time when the world has yet to emerge from the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To tackle the peace deficit, Chinese President Xi Jinping has put forward China's proposal. In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022, Xi proposed for the first time the Global Security Initiative (GSI).

Built on the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security Xi laid out eight years ago, the initiative seeks to promote the establishment of a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture.

Over the years, Xi has enriched his security vision and elaborated on it on various international occasions. The following are some highlights of his remarks in this regard.

May 21, 2014

In his keynote speech delivered at the fourth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia Summit held in Shanghai, Xi said: "We need to keep pace with the changing circumstances and evolving times. One cannot live in the 21st century with the outdated thinking from the age of Cold War and zero-sum game."

"We believe that it is necessary to advocate common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security in Asia. We need to innovate our security concept, establish a new regional security cooperation architecture, and jointly build a road for security of Asia that is shared by and win-win to all," he said.

Sept. 26, 2017

While addressing the opening ceremony of the 86th Interpol General Assembly, Xi said that "countries should adopt a concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and jointly respond to security challenges."

He called for promoting global security governance in a more fair, reasonable and effective way, saying: "Countries, while maintaining their own security, should take into account other countries' security."

Doves are released to the sky at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, July 1, 2021. [Xinhua/Sun Fei]

July 25, 2018

At a business forum at the 10th BRICS summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, Xi called on BRICS countries to promote common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.

He also stressed that BRICS members should address issues that matter to all through consultation and oppose hegemony and power politics.

March 26, 2019

At the closing ceremony of the China-France Global Governance Forum held in Paris, the Chinese president called for joint efforts and mutual assistance to address the peace deficit.

It is advisable to uphold a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, discard Cold-War and zero-sum mentalities, reject the law of the jungle, and settle conflicts by peaceful means, Xi said.

Nov. 10, 2020

While addressing the 20th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Beijing, Xi said: "We need to safeguard security and stability and build a community of security for us all."

"Security and stability are the number one precondition for a country's development, and thus concern the core interests of all countries," he said, adding: "We need to act on the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, address all forms of threats and challenges effectively, and foster a sound security environment in our region."

Sept. 3, 2021

Addressing the opening ceremony of the plenary session of the sixth Eastern Economic Forum, Xi called on all parties to form synergy to safeguard regional peace and stability.

All parties need to narrow differences and build consensus through dialogue and exchanges, embrace the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and work for a harmonious and tranquil homeland for us all, Xi said.

Photo taken on April 19, 2022 shows the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) International Conference Center in Boao, south China's Hainan Province. [Xinhua/Yang Guanyu]

April 21, 2022

In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022, Xi proposed the GSI to promote security for all in the world.

"It is important that we stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and work together to maintain world peace and security," Xi said.

He also called for "taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously, uphold the principle of indivisible security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the pursuit of one's own security at the cost of others' security."

May 19, 2022

When delivering a video address at the opening session of the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Xi called for building a global community of security for all.

Both history and reality tell us that seeking one's own security at the expense of others' will only create new tensions and risks, the Chinese president stressed.

(Source: Xinhua)
BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua)  The right to subsistence comes first among all human rights. On protecting human rights, China has long given top priority to safeguarding people's rights to subsistence and development.

A famous proverb, reading "Food is the first necessity of the people" first appeared in the Chinese classic Hanshu, or the Book of Han, which was compiled during the Han dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.).

Chinese President Xi Jinping has, on many occasions, quoted this saying, emphasizing the importance of securing adequate food for the people.

While meeting political advisors in March, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed that food security is among the country's most fundamental interests.

Of all things, eating matters most, and food is the most basic necessity of the people, said Xi, adding that through enormous efforts, China is capable of feeding one fifth of the global population with nine percent of the world's arable land and six percent of the freshwater resources.

In building a moderately prosperous society, China takes it as the primary goal to secure adequate food and clothing and protect the right to subsistence, and takes further steps to meet the growing material and cultural needs of the people.

(Source: Xinhua)
Florida high school senior and class president Zander Moricz was told he could not say "gay" during his graduation speech at Pine View School in Sarasota County. If he did use the word  forbidden thanks to Ron DeSantis' discriminatory "Don't Say Gay" law  the school would cut his microphone. So he came up with a brilliant work-around, delivering both a poignant and humorous graduation speech by substituting the word "gay" with "curly hair."

"I must discuss a very public part of my identity. This characteristic has probably become the first thing you think of when you think of me as a human being," he said. "As you know, I have curly hair"

Watch the rest of the clip in the video below.

florida high school class president zander moricz was told by his school that they would cut his microphone if he said "gay" in his grad speech, so he replaced gay with "having curly hair." i am in awe pic.twitter.com/OqLbar5bwq  matt (@mattxiv) May 24, 2022

Via The Hill
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WATCH: President Biden calls on nation to 'turn this pain into action' after 19 children killed at Texas elementary School
Llay quarry extension could see extraction of nearly 700,000 tonnes of sand and gravel

Plans to extend a quarry in Llay could result in the extraction of nearly 700,000 tonnes of sand and gravel.

A planning application has been submitted by the owners of Ballswood Quarry to extract minerals from two new areas at the site off Gegin Lane.

Cheshire and North Wales Sand and Gravel Limited said there are only 200,000 tonnes of sand and gravel remaining within the part of the quarry it currently has permission to work on.

The company said it meant supplies of construction materials from the site could run out in the near future.

The proposed extension areas are to the eastern and western parts of the site with one being a 4.37-hectare plot of agricultural land where there are an estimated 500,000 tonnes of material.

The other is a smaller area of 0.68 hectares close to the site offices, where there are said to be about 190,000 tonnes.

Representatives for the firm behind the proposals said the extensions would help to support the local economy.

In a planning statement submitted to Wrexham Council, they said: The minerals products industry is a vital enabling sector of the UK economy, which has a broad impact on overall economic activity.

Granting planning permission for the three proposed changes to the extraction area of Ballswood Quarry would maintain the employment for 11 jobs for approximately ten years if the scheme is approved.

The proposed quarry would provide a significant contribution to the local economy.

It is estimated that this contribution would equate to approximately 750,000 to 1,000,000 per annum on external suppliers and on goods and services over the lifetime of the development, as well as contributing to the national and local tax base.

A positive determination of this planning application would provide a viable and high-quality mineral supply to meet identified need.

The agents said the plans would not result in any changes to methods of quarrying at the site.

They also said traffic movements associated with the proposals would remain the same.

The local authority is expected to make a decision on the application at a later date.

By Liam Randall  BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Mark Pritchard and David Bithell re-elected as leader and deputy of Wrexham Council

Mark Pritchard has been re-elected as leader of Wrexham Council.

Cllr Pritchard, who was unopposed in this months election by any of the major political parties, was returned to the role at the first full council meeting of the new administration.

The Guildhall chamber is back in person some new bits like hybrid screen and new councillors, same old smell and squeaky chairs pic.twitter.com/F51pvwlqUD  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 25, 2022

Councillor David A Bithell was also re-elected as deputy leader of the local authority.

Both Cllr Pritchard and Cllr Bithell merged their two independent groups together earlier this month to create a new super group.

They will work alongside the nine Welsh Conservative councillors to form a new council.

The newly former Independent Group has 21 members, and the Conservatives have 9  meaning together they have 30, over half the seats on the 56 strong council.

Cllr Mark Pritchard is returned as Council Leader once again, nominated by Cllr Hugh Jones and seconded by Cllr David A Bithell. No other nominations, think that is 26 for, 21 against and 1 abstain.  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 25, 2022

Speaking at todays meeting Cllr Mark Pritchard thanked all those who had voted for him, describing it as a privilege and an honour.

He said: These are exciting times for Wrexham.

As leader I will give 100 per cent commitment to take Wrexham forward.

After the elections I believe the political flags should be put down and we all work together to take Wrexham forward.

I hope in the coming years we work together for the better of wrexham and the people of Wrexham.
New 16m bakery production line set to create 100 new jobs

A new 16 million production line will create 100 jobs at a top bakery.

The investment at Jones Village Bakery in Wrexham has been hailed as a major boost for the local economy.

The state-of-the-art equipment is being installed at the family firms new 140,000 sq ft bakery on Wrexham Industrial Estate.

According to the company, it will be the most advanced production line in the world and its expected to be up and running in July.

The procurement and installation are being masterminded by projects director Christien Jones.

The bespoke 85 metre long line has been configured to the companys exacting specifications, with most of the equipment coming from a specialist Dutch supplier.

According to Mr Jones, its the perfect marriage between the latest technology and the traditional craft baking skills for which the company is renowned.

He said: Essentially, this is a craft bakery line on a larger scale so we still have the influence of the craft master baker but we have taken away the mundane jobs like the lifting and the carrying.

I dont believe theres anything like this in the world at the moment.

Weve put a lot of elements together to make the total line which is very special but its all about the bread and actually its all about slowing bread production down.

The process, including fermentation, all the way through to our proofing and our baking, means it can take up to 38 hours to make one loaf.

The magic is provided by the skill of our staff. We add value to our products by using hand work by our trained team but theres no skill in lifting a bakery tray. Thats what were trying to take away so its more appealing to attract staff going forward.

Equally excited was his brother Robin, the managing director, who said the staff recruitment process was already underway.

The company is looking to take on 50 staff now and a further 50 next year when a second shift is expected to swing into action.

Training will be provided in the firms in-house Baking Academy.

Robin Jones said: Were so proud because this is a multi-million pound world class facility and the products that we make with it will change the face of bread making in the UK.

Christien and his team and the suppliers have worked so hard to enable us to make a wide variety of bread and morning goods products. They have done a brilliant job.

This fantastic new production line represents a massive investment for us and Im really delighted with what weve developed.

Our customers are over the moon and I think when it launches in July its going to be an absolute gamechanger in the baking world.

For the right people, there are excellent career prospects at the Village Bakery  most of our managers and supervisors are homegrown.

This is also an exciting time to join our successful team and help us make these amazing products.

It would be a bonus if applicants have experience working in a bakery but the fundamental requirement is finding people with the right attitude because we can teach them the skills needed to become a first class baker.

These are good, long-term jobs which will provide a massive boost to the local economy in Wrexham and beyond.

Anybody who would like to know more should email Jason Page at Recruitment@villagebakery.co.uk
New train type spotted on Wrexham to Bidston line being tested to see if capable of operating on route

A brand new train type was put through its paces on the Wrexham to Bidston line on Tuesday prompting further speculation that the much-delayed Class 230 trains may never come into service on the route.

The two-car Class 197 unit was spotted on Tuesday as Transport for Wales (TfW) carried out a compatibility run on the Borderlands Line.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has authorised the passenger use of 30 two-car and 12 three-car TfW class 197 trains whoch are built by CAF and assembled in Newport.

They are due to come into service this year on long-distance routes throughout the Wales and Borders network, serving destinations as varied as Holyhead, Fishguard and Liverpool TfW has said.

To date, there has been no mention from the train operator about the potential for Class 197s to be deployed onto the Wrexham  Bidston line.



TfW purchased five Class 230 trains  which use the bogies and aluminium bodyshells of withdrawn London Underground trains  in 2018 for use on the line which serves a number of Flintshire stations including Shotton, Hawarden and Buckley.

The intention was to bring the new hybrid diesel/battery units into service in 2019 but TfW only took delivery of units from Vivarail in July 2020.

Staff training requirements were hampered by the Pandemic leading to further delays.

Other delays have been caused by technical issues, in July last year, training was temporarily suspended after a small fire on one of the units.

TfW had hoped to bring the Class 230 units into operation on the Wrexham to Bidston this month but a further battery-related thermal incident in April led to the implementation programme being suspended.

Theres been recent speculation that TfW has either bought or leased a number of old Sprinter trains from another operating company to support the much-needed increase in services on the line.

As part of the 50m North Wales Metro programme to transform rail, bus and active travel services across the region, the Welsh Government originally committed to increasing the number of trains on the Borderlands Line to two per hour from May 2022.

That move has been hindered by the issues with the Class 230 units and objections from a freight operator.

GB Railfreight (GBRf), which operates freight trains into Hanson Cement near Penyffordd, formally objected to the additional passenger trains as they would conflict with new daytime freight traffic to and from Padeswood.

The introduction of two trains per hour on the Wrexham-Bidston route is dependent on an Office of Rail and Roads adjudication.

The Class 197s are being phased in across the TfW network to eventually replace old rolling stock on the Cambrian and Conwy Valley lines and will allow extension of services between Liverpool Lime Street to Chester into both north and south Wales.

The 197s could be used to increase capacity on the Wrexham to Bidston line and some transport watchers have even suggested the Class 230 programme could be scrapped.

TfW has however said it remains committed to bringing the 230s into passenger service as soon as possible.

On Tuesdays Class 197 sighting, a spokesperson for Transport for Wales said: To give maximum fleet flexibility our appointed manufacturer CAF is contractually committed to ensuring the Class 197s are capable of operating on all TfW routes  with the exception of the Core Valley Lines in South Wales  and therefore a run was carried out on Tuesday to confirm compatibility on the Wrexham  Bidston route.

Full details of where they will operate in the future will be released in due course.

On the current situation with the Class 230 trains, TfW told our sister site, Deeside.com: We will shortly be recommencing testing of the Class 230s, however this will not be completed in time for the trains to be introduced this month.

We are committed to bringing these trains into passenger service as soon as possible and aim to introduce these trains onto the Wrexham-Bidston route later this year.

The introduction of two trains per hour on the Wrexham-Bidston route is dependent on the Office of Rail and Roads adjudication and we must wait for their decision before making any further comment.
Wrexham Council maintains dementia-friendly status for third year running

Wrexham Council has successfully maintained the status of working towards being a dementia-friendly authority for the third consecutive year running.

A dementia friendly community is a place where those living with dementia are understood, respected, supported and able to live in the way they want and where they choose.

As well as the continued support from the adult social care department, there are also dedicated Dementia Friends Champions within the authority who deliver awareness sessions to other members of staff to work towards Wrexham becoming a dementia-friendly authority.

Family carers and professional carers were affected greatly by the pandemic and a report found that between March and June 2020, a quarter of people in the UK who died from Covid-19 had dementia.

It was during these challenging times that the council provided as much support as possible to those individuals and their families who are affected by dementia.

Upon hearing the news of this achievement, Alwyn Jones, Chief Officer for Social Care said, It is fantastic to hear that Wrexham Council has maintained its status of working towards being a dementia-friendly authority.

There are so many of our staff that work so tirelessly to provide support to those living with dementia and their families, and receiving this accolade reflects this.

National research has shown that the Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the mental health of those affected by dementia. Their feelings of isolation increased and a marked decline in physical wellbeing and their cognitive abilities was noted.

So it was more important than ever to maintain our high standards of support and to make sure that support is always there for those in our community with dementia and their families.
There are a number of ways to help people suffering from homelessness in America, and banning camping in public places is not one of them. Apparently, Tennessee lawmakers think banning camping in public will raise awareness and somehow bring more aid to unhoused people, this will just hide people who need help from view.

AP:

Tennessee is about to become the first U.S. state to make it a felony to camp on local public property such as parks.



Tennessee already made it a felony in 2020 to camp on most state-owned property. In pushing the expansion, Sen. Paul Bailey noted that no one has been convicted under that law and said he doesn't expect this one to be enforced much, either. Neither does Luke Eldridge, a man who has worked with homeless people in the city of Cookeville and supports Bailey's plan  in part because he hopes it will spur people who care about the homeless to work with him on long-term solutions.

The law requires that violators receive at least 24 hours notice before an arrest. The felony charge is punishable by up to six years in prison and the loss of voting rights.
Shireen Abu Akleh, a prominent and well-respected Palestinian-American journalist reporting on the Israel-Palestine conflict, was shot dead two weeks ago in the West Bank, seemingly the victim of crossfire between militants and Israeli forces. CNN reports that, on the contrary, she was intentionally targeted and killed by Israeli forces and there was no other ongoing gunfire in the area.

an investigation by CNN offers new evidence  including two videos of the scene of the shooting  that there was no active combat, nor any Palestinian militants, near Abu Akleh in the moments leading up to her death. Videos obtained by CNN, corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.  CNN reviewed a total of 11 videos showing the scene and the Israeli military convoy from different angles  before, during and after Abu Akleh was killed.

There were simply too many cameras around to get away with it, at least in the sense of resolving public ambiguity about what happened. Other evidence, such as the tight grouping of missed shots around her position, also suggest strongly that Abu Akleh was shot at.
Protesters marched through downtown Louisville, Kentucky on Monday to demand justice for Omari Cryer, a twenty-five-year-old African American man who was shot and killed by a deputy with the US Marshals Task Force on Friday morning. The demonstrators observed a moment of silence before releasing balloons into the air and chanting Justice for Omari.

Omari Cryer

While law enforcement officials have released few details about the shooting, the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) released a statement on Saturday that US Marshals were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a suspect in the 800 block of Sutcliffe Avenue for domestic violence, strangulation and assault when an altercation ensued with the suspect.

The statement said that a deputy US Marshal discharged his weapon striking the suspect, and officers on the scene rendered aid, but the suspect was pronounced deceased.

Subsequent information from the coroners office confirmed that Cryer was shot more than once. People at the scene also told the Louisville Courier Journal that the US Marshals Task Force raided the house where Cryer was a guest of a friend and he ran from the home toward Sutcliffe Avenue. They also reported that even though the shooting took place at 9:00 a.m., Cryers body was still at the location where he was shot as of 1:30 p.m.

On Sunday, family, friends and supporters organized a protest at Jefferson Square Park across from Louisville Metro Hall and the Jefferson County District Court. They demanded city officials provide an explanation to Cryers mother, who has yet to be allowed to view the body of her son. Family members said that Cryer had several children of his own.

Ansong McGhee, Cryers cousin, said, We want to know what happened to Omari Cryer, we want to know. McGhee added, according to WDRB, They're killing our kids and we're sick of it. Im sick and tired of being sick and tired. Were out here saying another name. Another name. Another black man is dead.

On Monday, LMPD Police Chief Erika Shields held a press conference to answer questions. Shields said, There was a brief foot pursuit. They ran upon a fence. Subsequently, the Marshals opened fire, striking Mr. Cryer.

Shields declined to elaborate on the original claim that there was an altercation between the US Marshal and Cryer. Instead, Shields said that Cryer was armed with a gun although she did not say if he brandished the weapon or if the agents chasing him were aware that he was armed.

When asked if Cryer was shot in the back, she said it was too early in the investigation to provide that information. Shields also said that surveillance and bodycam video would be made available in the near future along with the full coroners report.

Shields was also asked why the US Marshals Task Force was involved in serving an arrest warrant on state charges, to which she replied that LMPD has a partnership with the US Marshals Service. [The Marshals] work with us to serve high-risk felony warrants, she said.

Shields also used the press conference to review the details of the warrant being served on Cryer as well as his prior felony charges.

With the memory of the brutal murder of Breonna Taylor by LMPD officers in March 2020 still fresh in the minds of the public, Louisville city officials are concerned that the shooting of Cryer will lead to wider protests. The officer who fired 16 rounds into Taylors apartment and killed her, following the serving of a no-knock warrant, was never charged with a crime.
The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that two death row inmates cannot raise evidence of ineffective counsel during a federal habeas appeal, since they failed to present it in state court. The 6-3 ruling, divided along ideological lines, effectively denies rights set forth in the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, including the right of the accused to counsel of choice, to appointed counsel and to the effective assistance of counsel.

Overturning rulings by lower federal courts, the Supreme Court decision severely restricts the ability of felons convicted in state court to appeal to the federal courts on the grounds of ineffective counsel and present exculpatory evidence not raised at the state level.

It effectively overturns the Supreme Court ruling in a 2012 case, Martinez v. Ryan, which said that a convicted defendant is not at fault for any failure to bring a trial-ineffectiveness claim in state court.

That ruling opened the door to appeals like the one brought by Arizona death row inmate Barry Jones, who argued in federal court that his lawyers in state-level proceedings failed to present evidence clearing him of the charge of raping and murdering his girlfriends four-year-old daughter.

In 2018, a federal court overturned Jones conviction and wrote that had he had effective counsel there is a reasonable probability that his jury would not have convicted him of any of the crimes with which he was charged and previously convicted. An appeal of that ruling by the state of Arizona was turned down by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The other Arizona death row inmate in the Supreme Court case Shinn v. Ramirez, David Ramirez, claimed that his state-appointed lawyer made little effort to try to prove his intellectual disability. Ramirez was convicted of fatally stabbing his girlfriend, Mary Ann Gortarez, and her 15-year-old daughter Candie, in 1989. Ramirez claimed that his lawyers at the state level failed to present evidence of his horrific childhood that might have led to a sentence of life imprisonment instead of death. The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals also sided with Ramirez.

The anti-democratic ruling in Shinn v. Ramirez follows the leaking of a Supreme Court draft opinion overturning the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade and granting states the power to criminalize abortion.

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said that a 1996 law that sought to limit criminal appeals did not allow a federal court to conduct hearings or consider evidence beyond the state-court record based on ineffective assistance of state post-conviction counsel. He was joined by the courts other right-wing justices--Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Thomas majority opinion in Shinn v. Ramirez means that convicted defendants like Jones and Ramirez can be held responsible, kept in prison and executed even if their state-appointed attorney provided ineffective counsel on appeal.

Writing for the minority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, described Thomass opinion as perverse and illogical. Sotomayor wrote that it reduced to rubble previous Supreme Court rulings that found the right to effective counsel to be a bedrock principle of the US criminal justice system.

In siding with Arizona, Justice Thomas argued that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 imposed strict limits on federal courts in such cases. The act, passed by Congress with broad bipartisan support and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, severely limits the power of federal courts to grant habeas corpus relief to state prisoners. Most notably, it imposes strict limits on death penalty appeals to the federal courts.

In his ruling, Thomas is saying that the accused must rely solely on the record of a trial in which he or she was ineffectively defended. He writes: [A] federal order to retry or release a state prisoner overrides the States sovereign power to enforce societal norms through criminal law, inflicting a profound injury to the powerful and legitimate interest in punishing the guilty, an interest shared by the State and the victims of crime alike.

He writes further: [T]he attorney is the petitioners agent when acting, or failing to act, in furtherance of the litigation, and the petitioner must bear the risk of attorney error.

Stated plainly, the constitutional right of the accused to effective counsel must be subordinated to the right of the state to incarcerate or even put him or her to death, irrespective of the accuseds guilt or innocence.

Justice Sotomayor wrote in the dissenting opinion: Ineffective-assistance claims frequently turn on errors of omission: evidence that was not obtained, witnesses that were not contacted, experts who were not retained, or investigative leads that were not pursued.

She added, To put it bluntly: Two men whose trial attorneys did not provide even the bare minimum level of representation required by the Constitution may be executed because forces outside of their control prevented them from vindicating their constitutional right to counsel.

Frank Atwood, who was not party to the Supreme Court case, is scheduled to be executed by the state of Arizona on June 8. He was sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of eight-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson. Because Atwoods crimes occurred before Arizona outlawed the gas chamber in 1992, he had the choice between death by lethal gas or lethal injection.

Atwood chose the gas chamber, but with nitrogen gas, as opposed to the cyanide specified by Arizona Department of Corrections protocol. Cyanide was the gas used under the Nazis to murder millions of Jews and opponents of the regime. Because Arizona specifies that cyanide be used, the method defaults to lethal injection for Atwood.

Atwoods attorneys say their client is in a wheelchair and suffers from a spinal condition that would cause him the maximum level of pain the human brain can process if he is strapped to a gurney for lethal injection, pointing to the extended period of time it takes Arizona execution teams to insert IVs into condemned prisoners.

Clarence Dixon, executed in Arizona on May 11, was the first person to be executed by lethal injuection since the ghastly, two-hour execution of Joseph Wood in 2014. Executioners spent 40 minutes trying to insert IVs into Dixons arms before finally resorting to cutting into his groin to administer the drugs through his femoral vein. A media witness reported that Dixon gasped after the toxic chemicals were administered, losing consciousness shortly thereafter.
On May 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan bitterly denounced the May 16 trip by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Washington. Declaring that Mitsotakis no longer exists for him, Erdogan made clear that he viewed the trip by Mitsotakis as a breach of trust with far-reaching implications for the NATO alliance.

Erdogan denounced Mitsotakis for involving the United States in Greeces conflict with Turkey in the Aegean Sea. We had agreed with him not to include third countries in our dispute. Despite this, he visited the US and spoke to the Congress, warning them not to give F-16 [fighter jets] to us, Erdogan said. He also accused Greece of harboring supporters of the failed NATO-backedmilitary coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016 that nearly succeeded in assassinating Erdogan.

Erdogan also let it be known that he viewed the US building of NATO bases in Greece, targeting Russia and growing Chinese economic influence in the region, as a threat to his government. He said: And most importantly there are nearly 10 bases in Greece. Whom does Greece threaten with those bases? Or why are these bases being created in Greece?

As he threatens to veto US-backed plans for Finland and Sweden to join the NATO alliance against Russia, Erdogan has repeatedly denounced NATO bases in Greece and stated that Turkeys decision not to veto Greeces return to NATOs unified military command was a mistake. Last Thursday, he said: What happened when [Greece] went back? For example, America has now established a base in Alexandroupoli, a Greek city near the border with Turkey.

The visit of Mitsotakis to Washington undoubtedly placed significant military and strategic pressure on the Turkish government. Mitsotakis wrote on Twitter that his meeting with Biden demonstrated how Greece/US relations are at an all-time highin trade, investment, and defense. He also said that we will launch the process for the acquisition of a squadron of F-35 aircraft. And we do hope to be able to add this fantastic plane to the Greek air force before the end of this decade.

Turkey was excluded from the F-35 program by the United States following its purchase of S-400 air defense systems from Russia after the NATO-backed 2016 coup failed.

The rising Greek-Turkish conflict and tensions inside NATO go hand-in-hand with a dangerous escalation in the Aegean Sea. Greeces Kathimerini reported on a large-scale Greek naval exercise, Storm 2022, which is currently underway and will be completed on May 27, amid mutual allegations of airspace violations between Greece and Turkey. It wrote that Turkey sent a message with two F-16s fighter jets that violated Greek airspace, reaching just two 2.5 nautical miles from the northern port city of Alexandroupoli.

Turkey claimed Greece violated its airspace twice this week, and that it replied to those violations Friday based on reciprocity and in accordance with Turkish Air Forces rules of engagement.

Kathimerini also criticized Turkey for having resumed its practice of allowing boats packed with migrants to depart from its coast for the Greek islands in the eastern Aegean.  It was the first instance in some time that such a large number of migrants tried to enter Greek territorial waters from the Turkish coast.

It is apparent, however, that the Aegean conflict is now bound up with the NATO war on Russia in Ukraine, and US plans for military escalation against Russia and China.

Erdogan boasted of assisting NATO in the war against Russia in Ukraine. He said, Even in the war in the north of the Black Sea, about which everyone likes to talk big, it is us who have given the most significant, concrete and beneficial support to Ukraine. Turkish arms sales to Ukraine rose from $2 million in the first quarter of 2021 to $60 million in the first quarter of 2022. He added that his government exerts the sincerest efforts to first reach a ceasefire and then to achieve lasting peace in the region by maintaining political and humanitarian relations with Russia.

Ankara has closed the Dardanelles and Istanbul straits between the Aegean and Black Seas to both Russian and NATO warships since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The NATO-Russia war threatens workers internationally, and in particular in the Balkans and the Middle East, with a catastrophic nuclear war. Erdogans statement Thursday that the outbreak of a new world war will benefit neither the region nor the world points to mounting concerns in the Turkish bourgeoisie over these dangers. Washingtons war aims against Russia in Ukraineto first take back Crimea and the Donbas, carve up Russia, and install a neo-colonial regimeare similar to its policy against countries across the Middle East, including potentially Turkey itself.

The danger of a world war driven by the imperialist powers, led by Washington, cannot however be fought by bourgeois regimes like the Erdogan government. Politically reactionary, tied to imperialism and fearful above all of the working class, it is both unwilling and unable to mobilize and unite mass opposition that exists internationally to imperialist war. That tasks falls to the working class.

While Erdogan is threatening to veto Finnish and Swedish accession to NATO, he is only doing so in the context of horse-trading with the NATO imperialist powers to give him a green light for further attacks on the Kurdish people and military operations in the Middle East.

When Erdogan announced that he would veto Sweden and Finland joining NATO on the grounds of their support for the Kurdish-nationalist People's Protection Units (YPG), he is targeting US policy. While Washington supports the YPG as a proxy force occupting the north of Syria against the Russian-backed government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Turkish bourgeoisie is determined to prevent the emergence of a YPG-led Kurdish state on its borders.

To this end, Erdogan, who has repeatedly invaded Syria since 2016, occupying parts of the country, threatened a renewed Turkish invasion of Syria: We are starting to take new steps soon regarding the remaining parts of the works which we have launched to create 30-kilometer-deep secure zones along our southern borders.

Erdogan has demanded that Sweden and Finland stop supporting the YPG in Syria as well as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which his government bans as terrorist groups. He has discussed this in a flurry of meetings with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

On Monday, Erdogan said: We have said that these countries have to choose between providing practical and political support to terrorist organizations and expecting Turkeys consent to their NATO membership, and they have to show this with explicit signs.

However, US officials still predict that Erdogan will capitulate to pressure to admit Sweden and Finland into NATO. On Tuesday, Deputy US Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said Washington is confident that Finland and Sweden will be able to resolve those [concerns] with the Turks directly.

In reality, there are growing signs that the NATO war on Russia threatens to provoke a regional conflagration across the Middle East. Ankaras preparations for new attacks on the YPG militias come amid claims that Russia is reducing its military presence in Syria to reinforce its forces in Ukraine. There have been several reports that Iranian forces are deploying into Syria to replace Russian troops who are being drawn off to fight on the Ukrainian front.

Yesterday, in an article titled How the Ukraine crisis could make the Syrian civil war worse, the Washington Post wrote: Some might view a reduced Russian role in support of Assads regime as a positive development. But our assessment is that these shifts could create significant risks of renewed fighting as well as escalate tensions between Israel and Iran.

The growing danger of regional and even global war emphasizes the urgency of developing the growing struggles in the working class into a unified international movement against imperialist war and for socialism.
There is growing support from health care workers for former county detention center nurse Michelle Heughins, who has been unjustly charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of an inmate in December 2019 at Forsyth County Jail in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her plea entry is scheduled for June 9, where she is planning to plead not guilty.

In a secret grand jury meeting on April 4, charges were dropped against the five detention center officers who had handcuffed, kneeled on and forcefully placed Mr. Neville in a prone position while he was in clear medical distress. Ms. Heughins is now the sole individual indicted for the death.

On the heels of the RaDonda Vaught conviction, nurses are speaking out in opposition to the scapegoating of health care workers for systemic issues, including short-staffing and overwork, that put workers in impossible and unsafe positions.

Michelle Heughins checks the blood pressure of John Neville after he is detained by jail officers (from video released by the Forsyth County Superior Court) [Photo]

Sheila, a nurse with 40 years of experience across multiple nursing disciplines, spoke with the World Socialist Web Site to defend Michelle Heughins and share her experience working in corrections facilities.

Sheila began, I worked in a prison hospital and a maximum security corrections center about 20 years ago. Im seeing the same issues now with the Heughins case that I experienced 20 years ago.

Sheila used her experience to illustrate some of the issues nurses face in correctional facilities. She said, The way it works is the COs [corrections officers] are there to respond to behavior. The medical workers are there to respond to medical. But the two dont talk to each other, dont work together. [Mr. Neville] got behavioral response treatment for a medical issue.

[In the bodycam footage] I didnt see any correct policies being worked out. I know the officers acted out of their scope of practice. When the nurse arrived, the CO officers are supposed to stand down, but as you see in the video, the COs maintained control. [Heughins] should have assumed it or asked for it, but instead it was the COs making medical decisions.

Sheila explained that she believes nurse Heughins should have assumed control, and it was likely within her scope of practice to do so. However, Sheila explained, the reality of working as a nurse in the prison system is much more complicated.

Youre told that the officers are in control of everything. You have to be really tough and experienced to fight to take over. You cant get intimidated. If Im the person who has the medical knowledge, then Im the one who takes the lead in the medical situation. I used to get a lot of heat for that.

In the videos you can hear the officers asking [Heughins] to leave the room. How was he supposed to get medical attention? Everything the officers were doing was a behavioral response. She was not allowed to follow the standards of care. Thats the main thing that bothers me.

Sheila also speculated that Ms. Heughins could have been one of the only medical personnel on the floor, and she may have not had the proper experience to handle such a medical emergency. You cant be intimidated and you cant be afraid and you really, really have to have working knowledge. If you work corrections, you dont see situations like this often, maybe once every six months. You need to have a strong and recent experience in the hospital.

Sheila continued, Theres a lot we need to know. Had she been in a hospital situation before? Did the employer require a few years of experience in hospital or provide her with proper training given her inexperience? What was the training like? If she didnt have the right experience and training, then this goes back to her employer. A systems issue once again.

The officers are also supposed to know basic first aid, basic CPR. They should have noticed his respirations. Everybody knows this. We all saw what happened to George Floyd. If you have your knee on someones belly, on their neck, what do you think is going to happen?

Im a nurse first. You were a murderer, child abuser, I leave that outside. When I go through that door, I am a nurse and they are a patient. I treat them like Mr. President. But that isnt the dominant culture. Instead, its, Youre inmates, you get what you get. It may be two weeks before a patient gets their medication, before a patient gets their inhaler. The actual distribution of health care is horrible.

Sheila broadened the discussion and spoke about the dangerous precedent of prosecuting nurses for mistakes made under immense pressure and overwork. The fact that 20 years have passed and corrections centers and hospitals have the same issues or even worse conditions, lack of equipment, lack of staff. It boils down to money. They think we are disposable  Then the CEOs get bonuses while our money goes down. What if you hired 25 new nurses instead of getting your bonus? They wont do that. Why do CEOs who know absolutely nothing about hospitals and medicine get to make these decisions?

Who wants to go to work knowing you might not get to go home or you might go to jail for something that happens at everybodys job? Everybody makes mistakes. Sure there ought to be recourse for certain severe mistakes, but criminal charges are not appropriate. A change has to come.

Erika, a nurse in California, told the WSWS, I think this nurse is a scapegoat for the crimes committed by the officers. The family wants justice for a wrongful death, and they should get it. The nurse did not restrain the inmate, nor did she hogtie the inmate. Why then is she facing manslaughter charges? To me this looks like excessive force committed by the officers. While the nurse did not strongly object to the officer's actions, she did not participate in the excessive force herself. Why is this even a case against her?

Erika offered her own personal experience as a nurse in the emergency department, Ive witnessed police officers being too aggressive with patients in emergency departments. Its very difficult to tell an armed officer to back off when they are subduing a patient (or inmate). Ive never worked in a jail but I imagine the nurses do not interfere when officers are doing their supposed job.

She continued, A repeat of George Floyds death happens regularly, and something needs to change. Holding a jail nurse responsible for an excessive force death caused by law enforcement will not solve the problem.

Chana, an experienced nurse in California, is passionate about the fight to defend scapegoated nurses and the fight against the underlying systemic issues in health care through the united action of health care workers. She is also the founder of the growing Facebook group, Justice for Nurse Michelle Heughins and Mr. John Neville. She recently spoke to WSWS reporters to share her thoughts on the Michelle Heughins case.

The full [Medical Examiner] report makes it clear. Cause of death: complications of hypoxic ischemic brain injury due to cardiopulmonary arrest due to positional and compressional asphyxia during prone restraint.

Chana continued, I feel this was a grievous chain of errors on the part of the COs. I don't know if that is resulting from their training or the policies that were in place, but any competent person would have recognized that this man was in trouble and would have intervened appropriately. I believe had the COs acted differently he would have had a different outcome. This is the fault of the COs and the facility, those who run it and those who own it.

Chana then turned to a discussion of the role of Nurse Michelle Heughins in the emergency. I want to know, what were the policies and how much authority did she have in this situation? Ive spoken with nurses who work in corrections. Many agree, shes at the mercy of the CO determination as to when she can have access to a patient.

She added, It also seems she may not have a lot of hospital experience ... and if you dont have the skills and experience in ACLS, its not going to be clear how to jump in and what to do. Theres a lot of emotion and anxiety in situations like this. I have to presume that she was also witnessing at least the segment before she enters [in the bodycam footage] and initiates resuscitation efforts. Im sure this wasnt easy for her.

Chana spoke about the way the county DA and the sheriff attempted to cover up the death of John Neville. Only after the efforts of the family and local news media were bodycam videos disclosed. I believe that nurse Heughins is being sacrificed. They had to point a finger of blame somewhere and they chose to point it at her.

Chana also spoke about what drives her to defend nurses such as Michelle Heughins and others such as RaDonda Vaught, DonQuenick Beasley, Christann Gainey and others.

Mistakes will be made. We are human, and we are fallible. To be criminally charged for an honest mistake, not a premeditated choice to do harm but an error committed in the noble act of serving humanity, will drive and has been driving health care workers out of their professions and preventing new people from wanting to enter.

Chana then spoke on the daily stress experienced by nurses who are overburdened with patients and tasks during a shift. If you have eight patients on medsurge, you end up with 7.5 minutes per hour per patient, that includes looking at labs, grabbing medications and supplies as well as time directly with patients. Seven minutes is not enough! Now we are going to spend some of those precious seven minutes trying to cover ourselves legally rather than giving the loving care that patients deserve.

We have seen more and more strikes and theres more coming. We are all exhausted after three years of pushing ourselves into the ground. Now that we can come up for air we are gathering together for safety issues and trying to address change. There is no health care without health care workers. So theres no profit for the boards and the CEOs without us either.

On Sunday, May 22, at a meeting hosted by the World Socialist Web Site Healthcare Workers Newsletter, nurses from throughout the US met to discuss the situation facing health care workers and the scapegoating of nurses for the consequences of short staffing and overwork.

Nurses at the meeting adopted a resolution, founding a national health care workers steering committee to assist in the building of rank-and-file committees at every hospital and workplace to defend nurses and health care workers, and to connect opposition to victimization to a struggle to advance the interests of nurses and patients against the for-profit health care system.

Send in your statement opposing the victimization of Michelle Heughins and other nurses using the form below.
More than six weeks after the tragic death of his uncle on a Boston train, Kelvin Lalin and his family still have been provided with no explanation of how the tragic accident took place or received personal condolences from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).

Kelvin Lalin holds a sign outside the Broadway MBTA state where his uncle was killed (Courtesy the Lalin family)

Robinson Lalin, 39, was killed in the early morning hours of Sunday, April 10, when his arm was trapped in the door of an inbound Red Line train at Broadway station in South Boston. He was subsequently dragged to his death when his body ended up under the tracks.

Lalins death is one of a series of accidents on the MBTA in the recent period exposing the unsafe and potentially deadly conditions riders confront on the transit system, which includes rapid transit, buses, commuter rail and ferry service. Daily ridership is still sharply down from pre-pandemic levels of an estimated 1 million daily, to about 568,000, according to the T, resulting in a decline in revenue from fares.

The World Socialist Web Site spoke to Kelvin Lalin at his familys home in Dorchester earlier this month.

We are left with no answers from the MBTA as of now, he said. All we know is what the MBTA has released in the preliminary report. I have tried to contact the MBTA personally, but its gone unacknowledged. I do not know if they are ignoring me or ducking me, but I would like to hear from them.

Kelvin said that the MBTA had a safety meeting via Zoom a few weeks after the accident. All they said was we are sorry for the Lalin family and then they moved on to the next thing that they had on their agenda and that was it, he said.

Robinson Lalin (Courtesy the Lalin family)

In particular, Kelvin has requested videos from the station showing the accident. We have requested the videos; I hope to see them soon. I am the spokesman for the family. My mother, she is obviously not going to be able to see them. She has been going through a lot of trauma since the first day. Robinson was her youngest brother. She is not going to be able to see her brother die the way he did.

But I want to see it. We have requested it. I have called the MBTAs office. I have left messages. There is no call-back. Nothing. We are just grieving right now and waiting to see what we do next.

Earlier this month, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that Lalin was dragged more than 100 feet along the platform and onto the surface below, near the tracks.

According to an MBTA Transit Police report obtained by the Boston Globe and reported in its May 17 edition, Robinson stepped off the train and onto the platform, then went back onto the train before exiting a second time.

When his arm became stuck in the door, he ran 105 feet down the platform before he lost his balance and was dragged to his death. What was left of his mangled body was found about 75 feet inside the tunnel.

The transit police report reveals that after the accident, the train stopped for a short time in the tunnel outside Broadway station for an unspecified mechanical issue before proceeding. It was not until the train had traveled ten additional stops, to the end of the line at Alewife Station, and eight stops back to the Downtown Crossing station, that the train was finally stopped after the MBTA determined it had been involved in the fatal accident.

The train continued to travel and take on passengers despite a witness reporting the tragic scene to Transit Police at about 12:31 a.m., about three minutes after the train arrived at Broadway.

Kelvin said that his uncles death had exposed the lack of safety on the transit system. My uncles situation, it basically put a spotlight on a lot of negligence on the MBTA. They have been consistently continuing to have these issues, and they are not addressing them. And unfortunately, my uncles death was I hope the last straw. I hope another family does not have to go through what we are going through.

Park Street station on the MBTA Red Line

After the accident, the NTSB said that there was a fault in a local door control system that enabled the train to move with the door obstructed. The trains are designed to prevent them from moving when the passenger doors are obstructed. Passengers repeatedly witness train doors opening and closing before the cars proceed, especially during rush hour, when they try to enter or exit an overcrowded train.

They have said it seems as though the sensors on the door were not working. Now these trains are from 1969 or 70. There are still not any answers from the MBTA, or a phone call from the governor or anyone in charge. We are having a tough time actually dealing with it. It is irresponsible, it is criminal. I am here trying to hold my mother up. She is very emotional and devastated.

There are MBTA personnel on the platforms only at the busiest of stations during rush hour, waving a flashlight to indicate to the driver that the train is safe to proceed. In almost all cases, the one driver on a train is tasked with looking out the window of the lead car to see if all the doors are closed. The door sensors are supposed to act as a fail-safe backup for the driver, but on the early morning of April 10 at Broadway station, when the sensor failed, the driver somehow was not aware that someone was stuck in the door.

Kelvin said of the driver, We just know that they were placed on leave. They have been on the job since 2018. I am sure they know their job pretty well. I do not know what happened at that moment when my uncles life was taken.

To date, the Boston Carmens Union has reported nothing on its web site about the accident, either to offer condolences to the Lalin family, or to raise issues about safety on the trains for both drivers and passengers.

The Lalin family, Robinson circled center front (Courtesy the Lalin family)

Kelvin described the horrific condition of his uncles body and the fact that authorities were only able to identify him from a print from one of his fingers. According to the NTSB report, he ended up basically under the train, he said.

At first, they told us he was unrecognizable, so you cannot have an open casket for him. They said when you are arranging a funeral they said, listen, all you can do is cremate him. He is not in one piece. They were not up front with us about his condition. It took about two weeks to get his body out of the Medical Examiners Office. The very last day I was told the truth about his condition.

We had the funeral last Saturday, right up the street at the church. We said our final goodbyes. Unfortunately, it was not a normal goodbye that loved ones say to their fellow loved ones that passto never see them. There are no words to explain how deep this situation is.

Other recent accidents on the MBTA include the following:

In July 2021, a collision on the Green Line train sent 27 people to the hospital, including three MBTA crew members. The MBTA faces a criminal investigation by the Suffolk District Attorneys Office in connection with the accident. The T has yet to implement technology meant to prevent such crashes 13 years after federal officials first recommended it be installed.

In September 2021, an ascending escalator malfunctioned at Back Bay station, suddenly reversing, causing a bloody pileup of people at the bottom. Nine people were sent to the hospital.

Also last September, a Red Line train derailed, hitting the platform at Broadway station with 47 passengers on board. No injuries were reported.

In January, a commuter rail train struck a womans car in Wilmington, killing her, when the crossing gates and flashing lights designed to keep cars off the tracks did not activate in time.

On May 22, a man died after he was struck by an MBTA commuter rail train while crossing the tracks on foot in Hanson.

According to letter obtained by the Boston Globe in April, the Federal Transit Administration said it is extremely concerned with the ongoing safety issues at the MBTA and will take on an increased safety oversight role of the transit system.

The business-friendly Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says the MBTA could face a shortfall as large as $400 million in its yearly budget that begins in 2023 and a $13 billion shortfall for core infrastructure improvements it plans to make over the next decade. The system owes in excess of $5 billion to its creditors, which takes precedence as the system is starved for funds.

Kelvin offered advice to others riding the trains in Boston. This was very unexpected for my family, he said. Just be careful, just be careful. It is obvious that the MBTA, at least the trains, are not safe. Trains are not being serviced. There are faulty sensors, faulty doors, negligence.

So really, do not depend on anyone for your life and your safety. That is up to you. Take care of yourself as much as possible. Love your family and your peers as much as possible because you never know when it could be the last day you see them.

Following Robinson Lalins death, the MBTA stated that it has been acting aggressively to improve safety at all levels, and has spent $8 billion on system vehicles and infrastructure over the past five years. Such statements are cold comfort to the Lalins and other families who have suffered the devastating consequences of a dilapidated transit system.
The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka held its Third National Congress on May 14-16. Party members throughout the island participated in this important event, which was held online due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

The SEP congress was held under extraordinary political conditions in Sri Lanka amid an immense global crisis of capitalism which has been intensified by the pandemic, the US-NATO proxy war against Russia and the international upsurge of the class struggle.

Sri Lankans protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka, demanding President Gotabaya Rajapakse resign, Monday, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

The government of President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and bourgeois rule in Sri Lanka as a whole have plunged into unprecedented economic, political and social crisis, confronting weeks of mass protests and strikes by workers, youths and rural toilers demanding Rajapakses resignation.

David North, the chairman of the WSWS International Editorial Board and SEP (US) national chairman, addressed the congress, delivering greetings on behalf of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and the SEP (US). The other sections of the ICFI also sent greetings to the congress, which were read out.

Pointing to the most extraordinary circumstances under which the congress was being held, North said: In our view, you confront within Sri Lanka a political crisis with unprecedented dimensions. That crisis itself in Sri Lanka is unfolding within the greatest global crisis of world capitalism since the end of the World War II.

He continued: The fundamental challenge which this Congress confronts is to clearly define the attitude of the Sri Lankan section of the IC to the events and of course to the developing revolutionary crisis within Sri Lanka itself. In another sense, the Congress which you are presently holding has many similarities to the Congress of the Bolshevik Party in April 1917, the first Congress that was held after Lenins return to Russia amid a revolutionary crisis. In the midst of a global war, the challenge for the [Bolshevik] party was to define a political orientation, political program and perspective that provided the necessary leadership to the working class.

North pointed out that Lenins struggle in that congress of the Bolshevik Party was to reorient the party on the basis of the Theory of Permanent Revolution, setting the party on the path of revolution, i.e. to bring it to power.

North explained: In determining the policy of the party in Sri Lanka, under conditions of exceptional crisis, we first understand that it is all the more necessary to place this crisis within its international context Our starting point is never the national, but rather the international framework... Only on that basis, only on the international context within which the crisis in Sri Lanka is unfolding, is it possible to arrive at the necessary revolutionary orientation for the working class.

After extensive discussion, the congress unanimously adopted the main perspective resolution, The pandemic, the global crisis of capitalism, the resurgence of the class struggles and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka) and an emergency resolution, The popular uprising against the Rajapakse government and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party.

The main resolution pledged the SEP to vigorously fight for the scientific strategy of elimination of COVID-19 pandemic, and the program against imperialist war preparation, and to build the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) launched by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI).

After noting the ICFIs comparison of the pandemic with World War I, the resolution explained how the ruling classes of warring imperialist powers had continued with war despite its horrors as any negotiated settlement would undermine their geopolitical and economic interests. Only the intervention of the Russian working class under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party by seizing power and beginning the socialist transformation of the world brought the war to an end.

The document continued: Today, the working classinternationalised as never before under the globalisation of productionin imperialist countries as well as in the countries with belated capitalist development, such as India and Sri Lanka, joins struggles, in a far advanced systemic crisis of capitalism, and faces the same task of overthrowing capitalism and taking the path of the socialist transformation of the world.

The resolution exposed the two types of policies carried out by the governments around the world in response to the pandemic: herd immunity, which says if the virus spread unchecked it will eventually exhaust itself, and mitigation of the impact of the pandemic through vaccination and masking which is in fact a modification of herd immunity. Both have failed to stop the spread of the virus and instead led to a global surge of COVID-19 with dangerous new variants.

In contrast to the strategies of herd immunity and mitigation, the ICFI supports the scientific strategy of ending the pandemic. It is based on policies advanced by the foremost epidemiologists, virologists and other scientists and entails the universal coordinated deployment of every weapon in the arsenal of measures to combat COVID-19, the resolution stated.

The document explained that the major imperialist powers, led by the US, have been aggressively pursuing their reactionary geopolitical interests during the deadly pandemic, posing the threat of world war. The danger of a Third World War, the global pandemic and social disaster can only be prevented by mobilizing the international working class, that is, by building a socialist movement of the international working class on the lines advanced by the ICFI in its statement Socialism and the Fight Against War, issued on February 18, 2016.

The resolution noted that last December marked 30 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union by the ruling Stalinist bureaucracy. It has vast implications and lessons for the working class now coming to decisive battles against capitalism internationally, without which it cannot achieve its historical tasks of socialist revolution.

The document explained that only the ICFI had been able to predict the dissolution of the Soviet Union, contrary to all the agents of both imperialism and Stalinism, as it was based on Leon Trotskys analysis of the counter-revolutionary role of the Stalinist bureaucracy. Trotsky had warned that if the Soviet working class did not overthrow the Moscow bureaucracy in a political revolution and re-establish its power as a part of world socialist revolution, the bureaucracy would dissolve the Soviet Union and restore capitalism.

The resolution dealt extensively with the immense economic, political and social crisis confronting bourgeois rule in South Asia as a part of the global crisis of capitalism, which had been greatly intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and the reactionary policies of governments in the region. These included their criminal response to the pandemic, harsh austerity measures, lining up behind the imperialist war drive and moves to dictatorial forms of rule, all of which had fuelled the emergence of class struggle in the region as a part of global upsurge of the working class.

The document drew the political conclusion: The crisis intensified by the pandemic has once again proved the historical unviability of the states created in 1947-1948 in South Asia under the so-called independence. This state system was set up as part of the post-war settlement between the imperialist powers and the Stalinist Soviet bureaucracy with the connivance of the national bourgeoisie Sri Lanka was established as a separate state. The only way out for the multi-millions of workers and poor in South Asia is to overthrow the reactionary states and the rule of the bourgeoisie and the establishment of a Union of Socialist Republics of South Asia as part of a world socialist federation.

The resolution analysed the crisis of the Sri Lankan government of President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and bourgeois rule, the shift towards autocratic rule and the development of class struggles in detail, placing them in an international context.

In its concluding section on The tasks of the Socialist Equality Party, the document elaborated an independent revolutionary program for the working class in Sri Lanka and South Asia based on the Trotskyist Theory of the Permanent Revolution. That perspective envisages that in the countries of belated capitalist development such as India and Sri Lanka, the national bourgeoisie cannot address the democratic tasks and social questions of the masses Only the united working class, leading poor farmers and the oppressed masses, can address those historical tasks by establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat as part of world socialist revolution.

The emergency resolution stated: The current extraordinary political situation in Sri Lanka can properly be understood only by placing it in the context of the immense crisis of global capitalism, highly intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing US-NATO proxy war against Russia. A correct political orientation of the party towards the growing popular movement of workers, youths and rural toilers in Sri Lanka can only be developed through such an international approach.

Explaining the significance of the popular uprising against the Rajapakse government in which the working class has begun to play a central role, the resolution elaborated an independent revolutionary program for the working class to fight for a government of workers and peasants, which will be committed to socialist policies, as a part of the broader struggle for socialism in South Asia and internationally.

In his remarks at the conclusion of the congress discussion, outgoing General Secretary Wije Dias pointed out that the two resolutions discussed in the congress, the reports and all the greetings from the sections of the ICFI, including those by David North, have highlighted the perspectives of international socialism on which the SEP is based.

Commenting on the political situation in Sri Lanka, Dias said: The installation of [United National Party leader] Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new prime minister is a historic appointment which has made everyone surprised. The political danger of the appointment of an individual who failed to win a vote in the election to parliament and only managed to enter parliament through the national list, to the premiership, the dominant post of the parliament, is now being revealed.

Dias pointed to the series of meetings that Wickremesinghe held with the Colombo ambassadors from the US and other major powers. He explained those discussions were focused not on demands for financial assistance from those countries to deal with severe scarcity of essentials like fuel as claimed publicly, but on how to integrate Sri Lanka into the US-led military-strategic offensive against Russia and China. Citing US diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks, Dias pointed out that the US had recognized Wickremesinghe a long time ago as the foremost agent it could find in Sri Lanka to serve its interests.

Dias explained that the other parties of the bourgeois political establishment, including the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), were lining up behind Wickremesinghe. He insisted on the necessity of the political and theoretical struggle of the party against various pseudo-left groups that are working to politically subordinate the working class to the bourgeois parties.

He briefly elaborated the SEPs call and struggle for the formation of workers action committees in every factory, workplace, plantation and neighborhood, independent from the unions, and its relationship to the partys struggle to independently mobilize the working class to establish a government of workers and peasants, which will be committed to socialist policies, as a part of the broader struggle for socialism in South Asia and internationally.

The congress delegates elected a new central committee. The members of the incoming central committee elected the outgoing general secretary Wije Dias as party chairman, the outgoing assistant secretary Deepal Jayasekera as general secretary, Saman Gunadasa as the new assistant secretary, K. Ratnayake as WSWS national editor, Wasantha Rupasinghe as assistant editor and Vilani Peiris as treasurer.
Another horrific mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas Tuesday left at least 19 children and two school employees dead at Robb Elementary School. It was the 30th shooting at a K-12 school so far this year in the US and the deadliest since the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut where 20 children and six adults were killed.

The shooting started around 11:32 a.m. local time. The district told Robb Elementary parents to stay away from the school during the day, which was put in lockdown. Children were transported to a nearby civic center from the school to be reunited with their parents afterwards.

The 18-year-old suspect, Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School, was killed in a gun battle with police, including federal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents who responded to the shooting. Uvalde is just 65 miles from the US-Mexico border and the site of a CBP station.

Police outside Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. [AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills]

Ramos allegedly shot and killed his grandmother and had ditched his car before running into the elementary school armed with an AR-15 and multiple magazines. Sgt. Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN Tuesday night that Ramos was wearing body armor and was able to fight his way past police already at the school and began going classroom to classroom.

University Health in San Antonio said it had two patients from the shooting, a child and an adult, with their condition unknown at this time. There may be another fatality, according to State Senator Roland Gutierrez, but authorities have not confirmed it.

School shootings have occurred so far in 2022 at a rate of more than one per week. There have been 200 mass shootings so far this year, including a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York by a fascist gunman who killed ten people.

President Joe Biden, having come back from his warmongering tour in Asia, held a nine-minute press conference where he gave perfunctory remarks, quoting scripture, calling for prayer, and denouncing the gun lobby. So tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them, to give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel now, he said. As a nation, we have to ask when in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in Gods name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done? Biden also ordered flags to be flown at half mast at all public buildings for four days.

Once again Biden, and the political establishment more broadly, are evading the deeper, fundamental issues which give rise to the phenomenon of mass shootings.

The US indeed has the highest per capita gun ownership in the world, in no small part due to lobbying by weapons manufacturers. Former president Donald Trump, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, Senator Ted Cruz and other fascistic representatives of the Republican Party will be speaking at a conference of the National Rifle Association in just three days. Last year Abbott proudly signed a law which allows Texans to carry a handgun without a license or a permit.

This, though, does not come close to explaining the mass shootings that have become a horrific part of American life. If anything, the focus of the Democrats on the gun lobby and gun control serves to obscure the real causes of these outburst of violence.

More information will emerge in the coming days to shed light on the particular circumstances behind the mass shooting in Texas. However, the regularity of such horrific acts of homicidal violence can only be understood in relation to the social reality of the United States, which is riven by extreme levels of inequality and overseen by a ruling class that promotes violence at every turn.

In the US, over 1,000 people a year are killed by the police. Summary executions by the police continue to occur at a rate of three every day. Some of the most recent victims include Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese refugee and auto parts worker who was shot execution style after a traffic stop, and DeAnthony VanAtten, who was shot running away in the parking lot of a grocery store.

The US government under both Biden and Trump has racked up over one million deaths from COVID-19, the highest absolute death toll in the world. The Biden administration has completely embraced Trumps pursuit of herd immunity and dropped all protective measures, preparing the way for the next million deaths.

Biden is also working to escalate the US/NATO war with Russia, funneling $20 billion in arms to keep the bloodbath in Ukraine continuing. The administration is deliberately and recklessly seeking to provoke a war with both Moscow and Beijing, the largest and third largest nuclear superpowers respectively.

This is following 30 uninterrupted years of US warfare around the world since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, where US soldiers, tanks, drones, planes and death squads are sent to impose neocolonial rule at the end of a bayonet. Millions around the world have perished at the hands of US arms during this period, with whole societies reduced to rubble.

This is not the picture of a rational, healthy society. The mass death, wars of aggression, militarism and police killings are the product of a bankrupt ruling class, and this product finds its reflection in the massacres in schools, shopping centers and elsewhere that have become a part of daily life in America.
Devastating eyewitness reports are revealing the broad scope of war crimes by Ukrainian neo-Nazi militias armed by NATO against Russia. They expose the criminal character of the US-NATO war on Russia and the pro-war propaganda of the entire French political establishment.

These revelations come from reports on Frances Sud Radio by Adrien Bocquet, a handicapped former French soldier who traveled to Ukraine during the war as a medic, and from Le Monde. This newspapers analysis of a video, which was widely seen on social media but initially dismissed by the media as Russian propaganda, supports Bocquets eyewitness statements.

Le Monde is politically close to President Emmanuel Macron and, like the rest of the official press, has supported NATO against Russia in Ukraine. Yet, on May 16, it confirmed the authenticity of a video published on social media showing Ukrainian militiamen firing rifles into the knees of Russian prisoners of war who were tied up and defenseless. This took place on March 25 in the village of Mala Rohan, near Kharkov.

According to Le Monde, this video was made while a unit of the Ukrainian army and three far-right nationalist militiasthe Azov Battalion, Fraikor and the Slobojanshchyna Battaliontook Mala Rohan from Russian troops.

Andri Ianholenko, the leader of the Slobojanshchyna Battalion, is visible and identifiable on the video. On other videos Le Monde found on Ianholenkos social media accounts, he publishes the traditional slogan of the Ukrainian fascists, Glory to Ukraine, and poses with the three Russian prisoners of war shot in the March 25 video.

Le Monde thus reluctantly admitted the authenticity of a video previously dismissed by French and NATO media as Russian propaganda. It treats the Slobojanshchyna fascists quite mildly, euphemistically describing the war crime documented on the video as probable abuse committed by Ukrainian volunteers against Russian prisoners of war. But what the video shows is a war crime by Ukrainian neo-fascism against defenseless prisoners.

Le Monde, which has been in contact with the Ukrainian far-right volunteers since April about this video, only published its analysis after Bocquet spoke to Andre Bercoffs show on Sud Radio on May 10. Le Monde, like the rest of the mainstream French media, has to date been deafeningly silent on Bocquets claims. But it is evident that its authentication of this video retroactively lends credibility to Bocquets interview on Sud Radio.

Bocquet, a former soldier who was made paraplegic after an accident when he was 21 but subsequently partially healed thanks to implants on his spinal cord, briefly went to Ukraine to treat wounded Ukrainian fighters. Assigned to the Azov Battalion in Kiev and then Lviv, he returned to France to give a shattering report on this battalion and the broader Ukrainian war. He told Sud Radio:

I saw many war crimes. The only war crimes I saw during the days I was there were perpetrated by Ukrainian forces, and not by Russian forces. This does not mean that there were no Russian war crimes, but there are also war crimes on the Ukrainian side, yet no one talks about them. When I returned to France, I was really shocked. ... Between what I saw and heard on TV news reports and what I saw on the ground, it was night and day.

About the Azov Battalion, whose flag bears the Wolfsangel symbol of the Nazi SS division Das Reich that committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine and France during World War II, Bocquet said: They are 20,000 men spread here, there and everywhere with their super neo-Nazi logo across Ukraine, but it doesnt seem to bother anyone. And they are getting weapons from Europe. He added:

You know what they talked about, in front of me because I understand a bit of Ukrainian and Russian, and many of them spoke English? They would crack up saying that if they ran across Jews or black people, that they would cut them up. That is what they talked about, and it really gave them a good laugh.

Bocquet stated that the March 25 torturing of Russian troops by the head of the Slobojanshchyna Battalion is in fact a regular practice of Ukrainian far-right militias against Russian prisoners. He said:

I saw captured Russian soldiers who had already been really roughed up and who were tied up. We were in a sort of hangar, and the captured Russian soldiers were arriving in little vans in groups of three or four. Each time they made the soldiers get out of the vans, the Azov fighters would ask: Who are the officers, who are the officers? Each soldier who got out of the van got a bullet to the knee from an assault rifle, whereas they were defenseless and tied up. I have videos showing this. Otherwise, I would not allow myself to make such allegations, showing Russian soldiers getting bullets in the knee. ... And the ones who unfortunately decided to say, I am an officer, they got a bullet to the head.

Bocquet, who was with the Azov Battalion during the massacre in Bucha, denounced the cynical media propaganda that attributes the deaths only to Russian forces. He told of a confrontation he had with US journalists in Bucho whose reporting was falsifying events he was seeing. Bocquet said:

These Americans were shooting videos and saying, these are Russian bombardments and its landing in a park and its unacceptable. I went to see them, and I asked, why are you saying that? And they said, oh, dont worry, it makes good images. Do you know what these bombings really were? In fact, there was a Russian target and a team of Azov fighters I was with who were inputting settings on a little mortar to fire off bombs. And they put in the wrong range. ... So these bombs, instead of landing 100 meters further off on the Russian equipment, landed in a little park. And they were passing this off as Russian shells.

French media have since then neither commented upon nor sought to invalidate Bocquets widely seen report. It underscores, however, the lack of any critical reporting on the war in Ukraine in the official media in France or other NATO countries and their downplaying of the role of Ukrainian neo-Nazism in the war.

These revelations vindicate the warnings made by the World Socialist Web Site on the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine and the close ties between NATO and the far-right Ukrainian regime ever since the NATO-backed putsch in Kiev in 2014. Not only Washington but also Paris and the other major European imperialist powers, who are pouring billions of euros in weapons into the Ukrainian army and neo-Nazi militias, are using the neo-Nazis to wage a dirty war against Russia.

This does not in any way change the reactionary character of the Kremlins war in Ukraine, though it does factually confirm some of Russian President Vladimir Putins claims on NATOs ties to Ukrainian neo-Nazis. Putins war is founded on Russian nationalism, his explicit rejection of communism and on the Stalinist bureaucracys 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union. As Putin is allied to far-right forces in Russia and internationally, including the National Rally in France, one cannot call his war anti-fascist.

It is however, above all, an unanswerable indictment of the foreign policy of imperialism and of the establishment media and pseudo-left groups like the Pabloite New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) that support it. These petty-bourgeois circles have increasingly aligned themselves behind the NATO wars since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Especially since the wars NATO launched in 2011 against Libya and Syria, they have systematically presented CIA-backed wars as democratic revolutions.

The first substantial reports from on the ground that do not come from media sources that simply echo NATO propaganda are blowing the official presentation of the war apart. The now undeniable presence of neo-Nazis on the Ukrainian side testify to the politically criminal character of the war, the NATO governments who are waging it and the political parties that are supporting it.
Yesterdays face-to-face meeting in Tokyo of the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) marked a sharp and systemic stepping up of the US-led war preparations against China.

On every frontmilitary, economic, maritime surveillance, supply chains, and cyber and space warfarethe government heads from the US, Japan, India and Australia endorsed aggressive measures to encircle, isolate and provoke Beijing.

From left: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Quad leaders summit at Kantei Palace, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The summit was a key feature of US President Joe Bidens five-day trip to South Korea and Japan to display what the White House called a powerful message that, even as Washington escalates its proxy war against Russia in Ukraine by pouring in another $40 billion of weaponry and support, it is prepared to fight a war on two fronts, against both Russia and China.

Biden set the tone as the summit began. This is about democracies versus autocracies, and we have to make sure we deliver, he insisted. In reality, the White House war drive is about reasserting the US post-World War II hegemony over the Indo-Pacific and extending it to the strategic Eurasian landmass.

The event was dominated by Bidens deliberate declaration at an international media conference, standing alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, that the US would intervene militarily if China sought to incorporate Taiwan, which is recognised internationally as part of China.

Kishida followed suit. In formally opening the summit, he repeated previous denunciations of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and linked it to US allegations of Chinese threats to Taiwan. We should never, ever allow a similar incident to happen in the Indo-Pacific, Kishida said.

Regardless of subsequent White House claims that Bidens statement did not represent a ditching of the five decades-old US policy of strategic ambiguity on the issue of military intervention, the shift was clear. Todays editorial in the Australian noted: The US President, however, has said virtually the same thing on three occasions since August last yeara point not lost on Beijing.

The editorial said Bidens timely warning in Tokyo should disabuse the leadership in Beijing of assuming that the US would be unable to afford a two-front war.

Notably, the US shift was welcomed yesterday by editorials in the Washington Post, which praised it as less ambiguous and more strategic, and the Wall Street Journal, which urged Biden to go further by including Taiwan as a nation-state member of the new anti-China economic bloc unveiled at the Quad summit.

As with the US-NATO operation against Russia, the US ruling class is seeking to goad Beijing into a reaction over Taiwan that could become a pretext for war, with reckless disregard for the risk of a catastrophic nuclear conflict.

The official Quad communique was bland, as is customary, and avoided overt mention of China. But its language and every initiative announced at the event were directed at accusing China of aggression and blocking Beijing strategically and economically.

The four government leaders said they strongly oppose any coercive, provocative or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific. These included the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries offshore resource exploitation activitiesall accusations levied against Chinas activities in the South China Sea.

The Quad leaders reaffirmed their resolve to uphold the international rules-based order where countries are free from all forms of military, economic and political coercion. Far from standing for freedom, these are code words for maintaining the order erected and dominated by the US and its allies since World War II.

Two new programs were unveiled at the summit. One was a Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative. Under the guise of cracking down on alleged illegal Chinese fishing, this will ramp up US-led maritime monitoring and intervention. It will connect existing surveillance centres in Singapore, India and the Pacific to track vessels across South East Asia and the entire Indo-Pacific. The use of satellite imagery and active intelligence sharing has obvious military implications.

The other initiative was an anti-China economic bloc, labelled the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). Unlike supposed free trade zones, this 13-member bloc is clearly protectionist, designed to bolster US and allied access to regional markets without offering reduced tariffs or greater access to US markets. The White House said it would enable the US and its allies to to decide on rules of the road.

The IPEF dovetails with other measures, expanded at the summit, to strengthen global supply chainswhich will be vital in a war against China, the worlds second largest economyreinforce digital security by excluding Chinese telecommunications companies, and develop cyber and space war capacities.

In a bid to counter Chinese investment and aid, the four leaders said they would seek to extend more than $US50 billion of infrastructure assistance and investment in the Indo-Pacific, over the next five years. They claimed to be committed to bringing tangible benefits to the region, but the real thrust is to block Chinese programs.

Moreover, the funds promised, even if provided, are drops in the bucket compared to the needs throughout the impoverished former colonial territories stretched across the strategic ocean.

Likewise, the much-promoted focus on climate change is about escalating US and allied security operations, especially in the Pacific, to counter Chinese moves, such as Beijings recent security agreement with Solomon Islands.

As if to reinforce that reality, Biden was accompanied at the summit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Indo-Pacific adviser Kurt Campbell. Last month, Campbell visited Solomon Islands to warn that the US would respond accordingly if its government allowed China to establish any military presence.

For all the purported and belated concern for the impact of global warming on the Pacific islands, the newly-elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in his opening public statement to the summit, directly linked climate action to the security of our region.

Albaneses presence at the event, and the commitments he gave there, underscored how much is at stake for the US. Biden effusively praised the Labor Party prime minister for jumping on a plane to join the summit just three hours after being sworn into office on Monday following Saturdays national election.

It would have been a blow to US credibility if no Australian leader had attended the summit, especially given the strategic importance of Australia as a platform for any war against China, as it was for the US war against Japan in World War II.

Albanese was at pains to swear allegiance to the Quad, saying it was an honour that this is my first act as prime minister, to attend this important Quad Leaders meeting here in Japan. He was anxious to dispel any doubts in Washington about his governments commitment, after the last Labor government pulled out of the Quad in 2008, concerned for its impact on relations with China, Australias largest export market.

A White House statement released following a side meeting between Biden and Albanese said the pair had also reiterated their support for the US-NATO war against Russia and the swift progress of the AUKUS security pact with the UK, a military alliance against China that features the supply of nuclear-powered submarines and hypersonic missiles to Australia.

He (Mr Biden) commended Australias strong support for Ukraine since Russias invasion, and the leaders agreed on the importance of continued solidarity, including to ensure that no such event is ever repeated in the Indo-Pacific, the statement read.

That language indicates that Albanese understood and embraced the US shift on military intervention in Taiwan, despite his later nervous insistence that Australian policy had not changed.

Evidently, Biden made little progress in his ongoing efforts to strongarm the Indian government into lining up behind the US war on Russia, with which New Delhi has longstanding strategic, economic and military ties.

A White House readout of Bidens meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Biden condemned Russias unjustifiable war against Ukraine, adding that the two leaders committed to providing humanitarian assistance. But Indias government made no mention of Ukraine or Russia in its readout.

Instead, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said Biden and Modi discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, technology, defence and concluded with substantive outcomes adding depth and momentum to the bilateral partnership.

This was the fourth Quad summit in less than two years, following an in-person gathering in Washington last September and two virtual events. That underscores the increasing importance of this alliance, which has been revived and placed at centre stage by the Biden administration as an essential spearhead of its offensive against China.

Provocatively, US national security advisor Sullivan said Bidens trip, capped by the Quad summit, sent a message that will be heard everywhere and we think it will be heard in Beijing.
On May 18-19 in Budapest, Hungary, the US-based Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) hosted an international event that was live-streamed globally on the internet. The event, organized by the American Conservative Union, featured appearances from leading far-right politicians from around the world, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of fascistic Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and former US President Donald Trump.



In his brief taped remarks, Trump described Orban as a great leader, a great gentleman, and congratulated him on his very big election result. Trump added that he was very honored to have endorsed the far-right prime minister.

Expressing the fear of working class revolution gripping the ruling elite the world over, Trump ended his comments by saying, We are looking to stop a lot of the problems that are going in the world, including in the Untied States. Socialism and even communism if you look at it really deeply.

President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally for Senate Republican candidates in Valdosta, Ga. Dec. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)



Joining Trump and Orban were several right-wing European politicians who also spoke at the event, including Nigel Farage, formerly of the Brexit and UK Independence Party, Santiago Abascal, president of Spain's far-right Vox party, and Jordan Bardella, acting president of the fascist National Rally, the 2018 rebranding of Jean-Marie Le Pens National Front.



In addition to politicians, fascistic journalists spoke at the rally. The Guardian first reported on Saturday the appearance of Hungarian journalist Zsolt Bayer. Bayer is an unofficial adviser to Orban. His anti-Semitic diatribes are frequently reprinted in the Magyar Nemzet newspaper.



During his appearance at CPAC, Bayer presented images from recent Calvin Klein fashion ads as proof that the Black Lives Matter agenda was gaining ground and the fall of Western civilization was imminent.



Bayer is a long-time political ally of Orban and one of the co-founders of the Fidesz party, which Orban currently leads. In 2016, Orban signed off on awarding Bayer the Knights Cross, one of the highest honorifics handed out by the Hungarian state.



Bayers history of fascistic commentary includes, according to the Guardian, referring to Jews in England in 2011 as stinking excrement. In a 2013 column for the pro-government newspaper Magyar Hirlap, Bayer wrote that a significant part of the Roma are unfit for coexistence. He added, They are not fit to live among people. These Roma are animals and they behave like animals.



A translation from Spiegel online of Bayers 2013 column continues: They are incapable of human communication. Inarticulate sounds pour out of their bestial skulls... one must retaliate rather than tolerate. These animals shouldnt be allowed to exist. In no way. That needs to be solvedimmediately and regardless of the method.



In response to criticism from the Biden administration, in a column last year Bayer employed fascistic tropes to attack US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Bayer disputed Blinkens claim to have Hungarian roots, even though Blinkens mothers family were Jewish Hungarians who emigrated to the United States. Bayer, wrote: you [Blinken] are completely a ROOTLESS Hungarian as you are a rootless American.



The use of the word rootless as an anti-Semitic epithet was employed most famously in the 20th century by Adolf Hitler, who branded the Russian Revolution and Marxism a Jewish conspiracy spread by a rootless international clique that incites nations against each other.



Other US speakers at the two-day rally included far-right commentators Candace Owens, formerly of Turning Point USA, and Fox News Host Tucker Carlson, a vociferous supporter of Orban and leading propagandist of the neo-Nazi Replacement theory.



In multiple episodes of his program, Carlson has endorsed the theory while speaking in support of Orbans anti-immigrant policies. The mutual admiration between the authoritarian leader of Hungary and the bow tie-wearing fascist was on display at CPAC Hungary, with Orban praising Carlson by name.



Of course the Grand Ole Party has associates in the media, but they do not compete with the dominance of the liberal press, Orban said. Only my friend Tucker Carlson places himself on the line without wavering. His new program is the most watched. What does that mean? It means that programs like his should run day and night. As you say, 24/7.



In a 2019 segment of the Tucker Carlson program, the host defended Orban against criticisms of his fascistic policies by European politicians.



Carlson said, Instead of helping the native population to have more children, the Hungarian government, [European Union leaders] say, should import a replacement population from the Third World. Thats the George Soros solution.



In his speech at CPAC Hungary, Orban attacked the Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor Soros in a thinly disguised appeal to anti-Semitism, declaring: We are dealing with the same people: faceless, ideologically trained bureaucrats sitting in Washington D.C. and Brussels. Progressive liberals, neo-Marxists intoxicated by the dream of wokeness, those in the pay of George Soros, the advocates of the open society. They want to abolish the Western way of life that you and we love so much: what your parents fought for during World War II and the Cold War, and what we fought for when we drove the Soviet communists out of Hungary.



Other notable speakers at the event included Republican congressmen Andy Harris (Maryland) and Mike Waltz (Florida), as well as Trumps former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.



Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, presided over the event. In text messages, Meadows turned over to the House January 6 Select Committee investigating Trumps failed coup, Schlapp instructed Meadows to get 4 or 5 killers to torch local election sites.



In response, Meadows wrote, I may need to get you and mercy [Mercedes, Schapps wife] to go to [Pennsylvania].


When Albert Einstein died in 1955, there was no such thing as publicity rights. Those came along much later. Today, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which Einstein co-founded in 1918, earns about $12.5 million a year licensing his image. The Guardian has a fascinating article about image licensing and the California Celebrity Rights Act of 1985.

Computer manufacturers were especially eager to associate their products with Einstein. In 1989, Sony reluctantly paid $63,000 to use Einstein's image in an advertisement. In 1997, [celebrity publicity rights attorney Roger] Richman received word that Apple wanted to use Einstein's photograph to advertise its Mac computers alongside the slogan "Think different". After Richman had negotiated what he believed to be a fair fee of $600,000 he received a call from Apple's cofounder, Steve Jobs, demanding a reduction. "I explained that there was only one Albert Einstein," Richman wrote in his memoirs. If the fee was too high, he said, Jobs could license Mae West instead: "She thought different also." Jobs paid up.

Despite Richman's best efforts, some "seriously offensive" products, as he saw them, reached the market. When Richman discovered that a chain of stores owned by Universal City Studios sold a sweatshirt with the slogan "E=mc2: Shit Happens", he successfully had the sweatshirt banned, and forced Universal to pay $25,000 in damages. Richman later took umbrage at Command & Conquer, the video game series launched in 1995 by Electronic Arts, in which players could, in his words, "click a few keys that result in Adolf Hitler killing Albert Einstein". Richman wanted EA to add a sticker to each box warning of antisemitic content. EA counterclaimed that fictional writing about historical characters was a first amendment right that superseded the right of posthumous publicity. The parties settled out of court.
Finland, along with their Nordic neighbors in Sweden, have recently made the bid for official NATO membership. To celebrate this news, the Olaf Brewing out of Savonlinna, Finland has brewed a special NATO-themed lager, dry-hopped with Cold War military tensions. No, seriously  the brewery's CEO says the beer has "a taste of security, with a hint of freedom." From the Associated Press:

Olaf Brewing's OTAN lager features a blue label with a cartoon version of a beer-drinking medieval knight in metal armor emblazoned with NATO's compass symbol. The beer's name is a play on the Finnish expression "Otan olutta," which means "I'll have a beer," and the French abbreviation for NATO, which is "OTAN." The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has two official languages, English and French. CEO Petteri Vanttinen told The Associated Press on Thursday that the craft brewery's ad hoc decision last weekend to start producing the beer was motivated by "worries over the war in Ukraine" and its consequences for Finland.

The company did a Twitter thread about the beer as well:
Ex-president Donald Trump wanted to dethrone Georgia's Republican governor Brian Kemp, who refused to play along with Trump's plot to overturn 2020's election results. In yesterday's primary election his manDavid Purdue, a former Senatorwas soundly thrashed by Republican voters happy with Kemp, who won 72% of the vote to Purdue's 22%. The BBC heads out out on a limb to report that Trump's grip on the party is slipping.

Mr Kemp, a staunch conservative, drew the former president's ire after he certified that his state had been won by Joe Biden in 2020. Mr Trump had alleged that there were 11,000 votes for him to be found which would reverse the result, but the governor disagreed. Georgia's top election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who also refused Mr Trump's entreaties at the time, won his bid for re-election on Tuesday. Mr Trump's claims that the election had been "stolen" from him has become a divisive issue within the party, splitting "establishment" Republicans from Trump populists, even dividing the former president's own administration members.

Kemp will be challenged in November's general election by Stacey Abrams, who ran unopposed in the Democratic Party's primary.
Jemal, who put the property under contract two to three weeks ago after spotting it while riding down the street, would not say how much he will pay for the cavernous former warehouse with the saw-tooth front roof line, located at 1100 Niagara, adjacent to the Niagara River. It is currently owned by Giles Kavanagh, through 1100 Niagara Street LLC.
Paying up to put down

Buffalo-area homebuyers already know they can get a lot of house for their money, which is part of what makes Western New York so attractive, even as frenetic competition has driven prices to record highs.

But they apparently also realize they don't have to put down an exorbitant amount upfront in order to win the day.

That's significant because, with a severe shortage of homes for sale, the more aggressive and affluent buyers are pulling out all the stops to beat out their rivals for the homes. And in many more expensive markets, that could put homeownership out of reach for the younger and lower-income buyers, and leave them out in the cold.

Not as much in Buffalo. Just one in every three homebuyers in the Buffalo metropolitan area put down more than the traditional 20% of the price on their home purchases in 2020, according to a new report by Inspection Support Network. That's the fourth-lowest rate among more than 53 large cities nationwide. Only nearby Rochester, Birmingham and Detroit were lower than Buffalo's 32.8%.

Even more, the median down payment locally was a relatively affordable $20,000  consistent with the median property value of $195,000, and representing just 30.2% of buyers' income.

Now let's contrast Buffalo with many other cities, so get ready for some shock. In sunny San Jose, Calif., more than two-thirds of homebuyers  twice the rate in Buffalo  put down more than 20% on a home, with a median down-payment of $290,000. That's more than most houses in Buffalo cost outright, and it's 120% of what those buyers earn. The median home value is $1.16 million, with a median loan amount of $765,000.

San Francisco was second, at 60.9% putting down more than usual in advance. The median down-payment was $250,000, on a $995,000 house. That was followed by Los Angeles, San Diego, New York City, Boston and Miami.

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By comparison, just over half of buyers across the country  53.3%  put down more than 20% on their home, with a median advance payment of $50,000. That's up from 43.5% in 2019, and it's becoming more common in more expensive and competitive markets, where bidders are also paying well above the asking price, waiving appraisals and home inspections, and paying cash instead of bank loans. California had six of the top 15 cities in the ranking.

 Jonathan D. Epstein

Want to know more? Three stories to catch you up:

Welcome to Buffalo Next. This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest coverage on the changing Buffalo Niagara economy  from real estate to health care to startups. Read more at BuffaloNext.com.

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH...

Gold Wynn Tower

Then: Gold Wynn Residential USA CEO Jeffrey Wynn had high hopes to convert the Mohawk Ramp into a new mixed-use complex with a glass residential apartment tower, akin to what the Toronto native would find all over his hometown. He lost out in the bidding to Douglas Jemal, and then took aim at replicating the glass-tower project on a surface parking lot that once held the Century Theater.

Now: After placing an offer on the lot and then losing out a second time  also to Jemal  Wynn is refocusing on projects in other cities.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing feasible right now, so at this juncture, we're putting the Gold Wynn Tower on hold until we can find a suitable parking ramp or lot," he said. "We just can't seem to locate a parking ramp or surface lot that will work."

However, he and his company are still working on their $15 million plan to convert part of the western portion of the ACB Building  at 69 Delaware Ave., just off Niagara Square  into as many as 50 market-rate apartments. He's also bringing a new restaurant  Deco, run by Mon Ami Cafe owners Greg Grigorian and Armen Pogosyan  into the space formerly occupied by Shayleen's.

DEALS, DEALS, DEALS

An actuarial consulting firm has purchased a 15,065-square-foot office building in the Audubon community office park in Amherst. Actuarial Consulting Services paid $1.6 million for the building located on 3.62 acres at 30 Bryant Woods North, buying it from Bryant Woods Partners, according to Pyramid Brokerage Co. of Buffalo, which handled the deal for both sides. Our new building will allow us to continue to grow and to be able to maintain our high level of service for our clients," said Mark Brand, president and CEO of ACSI.

ON THE MOVE

The State Department of Environmental Conservation has relocated the main office for its Region 9 staff. After more than 30 years in Ellicott Development Co.'s six-story red-brick building at 270 Michigan Ave., at the corner of Seneca Street, the agency has moved to the three-story former Computer Task Group administration building at 700 Delaware Ave. Ellicott bought the 44,680-square-foot building from CTG in February 2018 for $1.8 million, and spent $5 million on a renovation.

THE LATEST

Catch up on news tied to Buffalo Niagara's economy

The Thruway Authority lost its bid in court to hold five contractors responsible for alleged negligence in installing turbines at four highway exit locations in Western New York. It sought to recoup $8.1 million in damages, arguing that the machines did not perform as promised.

Unemployment dropped to a record low 3.6% for April across the Buffalo Niagara region last month, despite a slowdown in hiring as roughly 7,500 people from the local work force have been lost since the pandemic began.

Prolific Downtown Buffalo developer Douglas Jemal has agreed to buy the former Curtiss Malt House on Niagara Street, with plans for a multi-million-dollar conversion of the building into apartments.

Two years after initially filing a lawsuit, federal and state regulators on Monday shut down what they called a "predatory debt collection operation" in Getzville that was owned by local chiropractor Dr. Scott A. Croce, his wife, Susan, and sales professional Christopher L. Di Re.

Buffalo Urban Development Corp. officials are contemplating a potential $2.14 million investment that would double the power capacity at the growing Northland Beltline campus, an East Side light-industrial hub.

New York State's $14 million investment into creating a breakwall for Olcott Harbor is starting to pay off, as local businessman David Hedley is planning to bring a two-story mixed-use project along the harbor's east federal pier, with shops on the first floor and a boutique hotel upstairs.

A new 250-seat facility is coming to Canterbury Woods' Amherst campus. The community performing arts center is designed to be comfortable and appealing for both Canterbury residents and the general public.

Highmark is donating $300,000 to honor Katherine "Kat" Massey, who worked for 40 years for the health plan that is today Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York. She was killed in Saturday's mass shooting at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue, and the money will go toward helping those affected by the tragedy. A number of other large employers are stepping up to help in the wake of Saturday's tragic events.

The Buffalo Niagara region's job count increased 2.7% in April from a year ago, but the growth still lagged the state's 5% increase over that time and national rate of job growth  a 4.6% increase over that time.

The Hamburg Industrial Development Agency is considering rescinding Ford Motor Co.'s $3.1 million in tax breaks for long-term investments in its Buffalo Stamping Plant because the company would not commit to maintaining its current job level as part of the five-year project.

West Seneca insurance firm Aebly & Associates is seeking tax breaks for a relocation and expansion project on Union Road that will provide for a more appealing space than the two cramped offices where it currently resides on Seneca Street.

Paolini Enterprises Inc. in Sanborn is proposing to construct five new buildings using a portion of the 42-acre former Spaulding Fibre plant in the City of Tonawanda that will be leased out to small light manufacturers and distribution companies.

Before it can move ahead with its plans for a redevelopment project featuring an apartment complex along the Scajaquada Creek in Buffalo, Savarino Cos. will have a major cleanup job ahead of it after decades of contamination by the site's prior users.

Buffalo Next reporters Jonathan D. Epstein, Jon Harris, Natalie Brophy, Matt Glynn, Janet Gramza and Mike Petro contributed to this roundup.

ICYMI

Five reads from Buffalo Next:

1. Ex-bull rider Rick Gardner has become the University at Buffalo's startup guru: He's helping UB pave the way for entrepreneurs with a program dubbed the Cultivator, a nursery for sprouting startups.

2. Doctor recognized for providing aid in strife-torn regions: Dr. Aaron Epstein has been splitting his life between surgical shifts in Buffalo and leading the humanitarian aid group he founded in 2015. Now, he's in line for one of the nation's top civilian awards.

3. Rachel's Mediterranean grill expands beyond Buffalo home: Rachel's has made it big in Western New York, and the family-owned business is now trying to expand the concept down the Thruway in New York and in larger markets such as Fort Worth, Texas.

4. Mickey Rats gets one more summer, but Captain Kidd's gives way to townhomes: Ellicott Development Co. CEO William Paladino said the real estate company is trying to get Mickey Rats Beach Club open for business again by Memorial Day, for what may be its final summer.

5. Nationwide shortage of baby formula hits home: Parents in the Buffalo Niagara region are feeling the impact of the shortage. Here's how some local families are scrambling to get what they need for their babies.

The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the regions economic revitalization. Buying a building? Redeveloping a property? Got a tip? Reach Real Estate & Development reporter Jonathan D. Epstein at 716-849-4478 or email him at jepstein@buffnews.com.

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Wyoming County Community Health System has found its next CEO.

The health system on Wednesday announced that David A. Kobis, a longtime health care executive and management consultant, will start May 31 in the top role. The system includes a 62-bed hospital and 138-bed nursing home in Warsaw, along with several outpatient offices in Warsaw, Arcade, Attica, Castile, Mt. Morris and Perry.

Kobis, who was born in Buffalo and raised in East Aurora, for the last three years has consulted with health systems and organizations across the country, specializing in rural health and distressed hospitals. His LinkedIn profile shows he has been in the Lakeland, Fla., area since 2019, first as the managing principal of Aspire Healthcare Consulting and then as a principal at Health Management Associates.

Prior to that, Kobis held several executive roles, including president of Fatima Hospital in Providence, R.I., chief integration officer at Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut and chief operating officer at Cortland Regional Medical Center. Before those roles, he was an executive at Olean General Hospital and Bradford (Pa.) Regional Medical Center, two hospitals that are now affiliated with Buffalo's Kaleida Health.

Kobis will succeed Joseph L. McTernan, who died Jan. 24 after a brief illness. McTernan, 44, was hired in August 2019 and led the health system, with a payroll of just under 500 workers, through the significant challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition to taking the helm at a time when the industry is grappling with financial and staffing challenges, Kobis also joins WCCHS on the heels of significant community tension after the hospital ended its contract this year with popular orthopedic surgeon Dr. Paul Mason, The Daily News in Batavia has reported.

The controversial move spurred a call for a complete and independent review of the health system, though the county's Board of Supervisors voted against such a review at its April 12 meeting, minutes show.

WCCHS said Kobis is well suited for the job, having spent more than a decade working with rural health care organizations. His work has included financial turnarounds for distressed hospitals, the expansion of dental services in underserved rural communities and the development of provider recruitment strategies.

"Dave's extensive experience in health care, particularly in rural hospital situations, qualifies him for the position of the chief executive officer at WCCHS," said Richard Kosmerl, president of the health system's board of managers. "His leadership will be a key factor as we continue to navigate and then recover from the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and will then set us in a great position to move forward and continue to provide outstanding health care services to the citizens of our county and our neighboring region."

At a meeting April 11, the board of managers approved a three-year employment agreement with Kobis, according to meeting minutes. He will make a salary of $375,000 per year, and must live within 40 miles of the hospital, the minutes state.

The health system said Kobis has strong ties to the area, having spent more than 30 years in Western New York.

Kobis received his degree in business administration from the University of Richmond and Master of Business Administration from the Ohio State University.

Jon Harris can be reached at 716-849-3482 or jharris@buffnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByJonHarris.

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In-person events of both the large-scale and intimate variety return with a vengeance this summer. The summers overarching theme might be seen as a hard-earned celebration of gathering en masse to enjoy the arts, and the sense of community that enjoyment fosters.

Whether that means immersing yourself in the jubilation of the return of an in-person Pride Festival at Canalside, basking in the low-key vibe of musical offerings in the Elmwood Village, or venturing to the Buffalo Outer Harbor to indulge in some world-class EDM, theres more on offer this summer than there has been since the pre-Covid good old days of summer, 2019.

Heres a list of some enticing summer events and shows, notable for their broad range and diversity of programming.

AK Teens: Museum Ambassadors - Celebrate

June 3 at Albright-Knox Northland

In These Truths, an exhibition of works by Black artists, co-curated by two of Buffalos most incisive and in-tune creators, Edreys Wajed and Aitina Fareed-Cooke, runs at the Albright-Knox Northland through June 5. On June 3, the AK Teens  a group of high school juniors and seniors enrolled in the Albright-Knoxs museum education program  will present their own curated evening with performances, a scavenger hunt, music, a movie, food, and art-making activities celebrating the exhibition. What a great opportunity for kids of all ages to engage with the arts in a personal manner.

Camp Everything

June 5 at the Buffalo Pride Festival, Canalside

The Burchfield Penney Art Center is teaming with Torn Space Theatre Company to present the multimedia piece, "Camp Everything," designed by artist Adam Weekley. Debuting at the Buffalo Pride Festival, it's described by the Burchfield Penney as part mobile installation, part performance piece (borrowing) from nostalgic memories and impressions of 1980s summer camps in an effort to create a whimsical world of inclusiveness and celebration. Weekley has said that Camp Everything was inspired by live-action childrens shows like "The Muppets" and "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," and is meant to celebrate the ideas of kindness, diversity and acceptance. Its always the right time for this kind of celebration. The Pride Festival runs from 1 to 7 p.m. June 5 at Canalside. The Pride Parade begins at 11 a.m. at Elmwood and Forest avenues, ending at Allen Street.

Strawberry Moon Festival

Noon, June 18 at Artpark, Lewiston

Artparks third annual Strawberry Moon Festival finds Canadian alt-folk favorites Blue Rodeo and Inuit soul/funk ensemble Pamuya headlining an evening concert that caps a day of music, dance and the arts celebrating the culture of the indigenous peoples of Western New York and Southern Ontario. There will be a musical tribute to the late Joanne Shenandoah, a trailblazer in the world of Indigenous music, who was known for her fearless and forward-looking ability to marry traditional, ancestral melodies to contemporary song structures.The Smoke Dance Competition is an awesome ceremony that finds dancers blending traditional warrior dances with freestyle moves.

Bidwell Parkway Summer Concert Series

Tuesdays at 7 p.m. from June 21 through Aug. 9 at Bidwell Parkway

This free summer concert series is both family-friendly and smartly curated. In a chilled out environment, you can catch bands that run the gamut from jazz to classical, reggae-dub to Latin funk and more. Heres the 2022 lineup: June 21, Brian Dunne; June 28, George Caldwell and Star People; July 5, Olmsted Dub System; July 12, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; July 19, RNSM; July 26, Creek Bend; Aug. 2, Buffalo Loves the '90s with the Ed Wyner Band; and Aug. 9, Tom Stahl and the Dangerfields.

Starts at noon on June 26 on Elmwood Village (1000 - 1010 block)

The inaugural run of the Elmwood Summerfest will find 15 bands performing on a large stage on Elmwood Avenue, contests, games, and food and beverages. The festival's artist lineup includes bands from Buffalo and Rochester, among them Sideways, Witty Tarbox, Farrow, Folkfaces, Well Worn Boot, and Kevin Sampson and the Night Shift. Tickets are $25; $50 VIP.

Summer of Love '22: A Buffalo Homage to the Monterey Pop Festival

4 p.m. Aug. 20 at Riverfest Park

The Buffalo Music Coalition  the same folks responsible for 2019's successful "Western New York Woodstock" mini-fest at Riverfest Park  celebrate the iconic Monterey International Pop Festival of 1967. Local musicians will gather to re-create sets from the Association, Jefferson Airplane, the Who, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar Laura Nyro and others.

Plasticiens Volants: Leonardo, Dreams & Nightmares

8 p.m. Aug. 20 at Artpark, Lewiston

Plasticiens Volants, a nearly 50-year-old street theater company birthed in Toulouse, France, routinely blows minds around the globe with its vibrant, alternately soothing and surreal performances employing massive hand-painted inflatable creations. Artpark has hosted the troupe twice - in 2017, when Plasticiens Volants debuted its Big Bang production, and in 2019, when Pearl received its U.S. premiere. This year, Plasticiens Volants brings a new production celebrating the multidisciplinary mashups and unfettered creative prowess of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo wanted to paint the wind, writes Artistic Director Thierry Collin on the PV web site. In his wake, Plasticiens Volants reinvent the masters fantasies by sculpting the air.

Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts

Aug. 27 and 28, Elmwood Village

There will be 170 artists, four stages with music, dance and puppetry, a broad array of international food with vegetarian and vegan options, all on offer in the neighborhood that has long been the creative hub of the Buffalo arts community  thats the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts in a nutshell. Originally conceived as a community-based, localized answer to the increasingly commercial Allentown Art Festival, EAFA has evolved into one of the premier annual fests in the region.

Deadmau5

6 p.m. Sept. 17 at Lakeside Lawn, Buffalo Outer Harbor

Born Joel Zimmerman and raised in Niagara Falls, Canada, the producer and DJ known as Deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse"), is widely regarded as one of contemporary electronic musics most adventurous and influential artists. Grabbing a Deadmau5 gig for the new Lakeside lawn at the Buffalo Outer Harbor was a major score for Buffalo  even more so when we consider the fact that this show will be the artists first gig in Western New York.

Borderland Music & Arts Festival

Sept. 17-18, Knox Farm State Park, East Aurora

Though the lineup has not yet been revealed, the Borderland Music & Arts festival has evolved into a fittingly festive way to bid adieu to the summer.

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Whether you're an adult looking for places to spend time with the kids or an adult who wants to play to bring out your inner child who loved trains or dinosaurs  we've compiled a list of special events and attractions that will even make adults feel like kids again.

Special events

Antarctic Dinosaurs. This touring exhibit at the Buffalo Museum of Science takes you through Antarctica to bring you face to face with such extinct creatures as a 25-foot-long Cryolophosaurus and the sea monster Taniwhasaurus. Visitors will get to try excavation techniques used in digging for dinosaur fossils and see about 50 fossils like the upper arm bone of a pterosaur, a flying reptile. Tickets have a timed entry and are separate from regular museum admission. Cost is $24 adults, $21 for ages 2 to 17, seniors, students and military.

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra movie nights. The BPO has two movie-themed nights that were made for kids. For each event, the audience will watch a very popular movie on the big screen while hearing the soundtrack performed live by the BPO. At 7:30 p.m. June 4, the BPO performs the music of "Star Wars: A New Hope" in Kleinhans Music Hall. That's the original 1978 film where we first heard the iconic "Star Wars" theme. The BPO moves on to another popular film franchise with "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" on July 9 at Artpark in Lewiston.

Day Out with Thomas. Celebrate the 75th anniversary of Thomas & Friends from June 10-12 at this annual event held at the Medina Railroad Museum (530 West Ave.). Train rides with Thomas depart every 45 minutes, rain or shine. The day includes themed activities, a meet and greet with Sir Topham Hatt, activities at the Imagination Station, an approximate 25-minute ride aboard Thomas the Tank Engine and admission to the museum. Event grounds are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Nights at the ballpark. The Buffalo Bisons continue to host special nights made especially for families at Sahlen Field. The team's popular Star Wars Night returns on June 11 with pre- and post-game appearances by your favorite  and not so favorite  "Star Wars" characters. (The Bisons will be dressed in Palpatine jerseys.) New this year is Marvel Defenders of the Diamond Night on Aug. 27. Captain America and Captain Marvel will be there, along with other guest appearances. Bring the family pet for Dog Days at the Park where you can get treats and Bisons' gear for your best friend. Remaining dates are June 9, July 6, Aug. 23, Sept. 6. Family packs are available.

Ongoing attractions

Buffalo Heritage Carousel. This beautifully restored vintage carousel includes 30 horses, a sea dragon, deer, lion, tiger and ostrich among its menagerie. Located inside a solar-powered roundhouse at Canalside on downtown Buffalos waterfront, it was custom designed and manufactured in 1924 by Spillman Engineering in North Tonawanda for Domenick De Angelis. Summer hours (June, July and August) are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. It is closed Tuesdays. Rides are $1.

Hidden Valley Animal Adventures. Take a walk  and ride  on the wild side of this 63-acre sanctuary that is home to about 400 animals of nearly 40 species. Look for Betsy the goat and her newborn twin boys at the Small Animal Adventure where you can get close and even feed some of the animals. Another newborn is Bessie the zebu calf and you can also meet Sadie, 1, a Nilgai antelope. The Wild Game Safari is a 2.2-mile self-driven trail route. (Shuttle buses are available, but reservations must be made in advance). Admission is $12 to $15. Food  both the human and animal kind  is available on premises. A full list of animals and rules is available at hiddenvalleyadventure.com. The address is 2887 Royce Road, Varysburg.

Old Fort Niagara. This is one of those backyard treasures we take for granted. Set against the picturesque backdrop of where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario in Youngstown, the 22-acre National Historic Landmark is home to six 18th century buildings including the impressive French Castle, built in 1726. Other buildings are from the 19th and 20th century when the fort was a military post. Self-guided and guided tours are available during normal hours, but kids will especially enjoy one of the living history events that include such extended activities as artillery and musket demonstrations, music and cooking. The French and Indian War Encampment, the forts largest event of the year, re-creates the 1759 siege of Fort Niagara, July 2-4. Learn about the American Revolution on the New York frontier during Soldiers of the American Revolution, July 23-24, and the Fort Niagara's role in the War of 1812 during an encampment, Sept. 3-4. The fort is open year-round with extended hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily Memorial Day through Labor Day. Admission is $17 adults, $12 ages 6 to 12.

Penn Dixie Fossil Park & Nature Reserve. Who doesn't love playing in the dirt? This 54-acre park in Blasdell is home to fossils from the Devonian Period  the "ages of fishes"  dating back about 380 million years ago. So not only is digging encouraged, you get to keep all the fossils you find. What are the chances of finding a fossil you wonder? If you just look down, it's about 100%. Bring your own small shovel and pail or rent equipment on site for $5. The site is accessible. It's out in the open so bring sunblock and appropriate clothing. Food is allowed; just clean up after yourself. Penn Dixie is at 4050 North St., Blasdell. Admission is $11-$13.

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ATLANTA (AP)  In the first statewide test of new voting restrictions, Georgia's high-stakes primary election appeared to be running smoothly Tuesday with no reports of major problems in one of the nation's most important battleground states.

A record number of ballots cast during the early voting period in the three weeks before Election Day helped ease the strain at polling places. There were no reports of long lines or widespread equipment problems despite hotly contested GOP primary races for governor and U.S. Senate.

Its all quiet, and quiet is good, said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who also was facing a GOP primary challenger in his re-election bid.

He said overall turnout was on track to set a record for a midterm election in the state.

Tuesday's primary was the first major election since the GOP-controlled Legislature and Republican governor adopted tighter rules following the 2020 presidential election and amid a concerted effort by former President Donald Trump to cast doubt on his loss with unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

Lawmakers added restrictions to mail voting, limited drop boxes and changed rules that could make it harder for voters who run into problems on Election Day to have their ballots counted. Thats despite no evidence of widespread fraud that would have changed the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, a state that Democrat Joe Biden won by about 11,800 votes.

Election Day capped a record-setting early voting period in Georgia. Nearly 860,000 ballots had been cast through Friday, the majority of which were done in-person as opposed to mail. State election officials said the early turnout marked a 168% increase from the 2018 primary and a 212% increase from 2020.

Republicans have touted the early voting numbers as evidence that the Georgia elections law, known as Senate Bill 202, has not harmed voters.

Now we are seeing the hard evidence that as we all knew, the hysteria was never based on fact to begin with, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Since primaries tend to draw more experienced voters, it may be too soon to draw any sweeping conclusions about the effects of the Georgia law. In the fall, more first-time and infrequent voters  those who are more likely to encounter challenges at the polls  will be casting ballots.

Georgias primary also was expected to draw far higher turnout among Republicans because of the closely contested GOP races for governor and secretary of state, and a high-profile U.S. Senate race. The two leading Democratic candidates for governor and U.S. Senate were facing little to no opposition.

Nothing I have seen so far has changed the fact that Georgia could have celebrated the historic turnout we saw in 2020 and made voting more accessible," said Sophia Lin Lakin, deputy director of the ACLUs Voting Rights Project.

Georgia was among three states, along with Alabama and Arkansas, holding regular primaries Tuesday. Texas had runoff elections for the GOP primary for attorney general and for a Democratic congressional seat, while Minnesota was holding a special primary for the seat of former Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died in February.

Georgia - along with other states that have held early primaries  has seen a dramatic decline in the use of mailed ballots since the record numbers reported in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when voters were seeking alternatives to crowded polling places.

Brad Conlon, who cast his ballot at a church in the north Georgia town of Holly Springs, said he prefers voting in-person because he believes its more secure. He said poll workers checked his ID twice.

I have a lot of concerns about methods that arent really well-watched, protected, said Conlon, who owns a small business in heavily Republican Cherokee County.

Across the state, election officials and voting rights groups reported a few instances of polling locations opening late, minor equipment troubles and some voters showing up at the wrong voting location  in some cases because of errors in the voting materials they received. Officials acknowledged the error for some voters in Chatham County, home of Savannah, and posted signs on the door of at least one polling place redirecting voters. State election officials said a drawn-out redistricting process gave election offices tight deadlines to ensure that all voters were assigned to their proper precinct.

Voting was being extended in at least seven precincts in Georgia that delayed their morning opening. There were no immediate reports of major voting issues in the other states.

The new Georgia elections law made several changes. It made it harder to request a mail ballot by shortening the period voters can apply for one and added new ID requirements to the applications and the ballot itself. Voters could request a ballot online two years ago, but now they must print or obtain a paper form, sign it in ink and send it in by mail, email or fax.

As of Monday, about 72,000 mail ballots had been returned out of nearly 97,000 requested by Georgia voters. About 1,300 applications were rejected for arriving past the new, earlier deadline, or about 1.4% of those submitted.

Texas primary voters in March were tripped up by new identification requirements, resulting in an abnormally high rate of mail ballot rejections. Lawmakers in Alabama and Arkansas also shortened the period for those requesting absentee ballots.

Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Associated Press writers Alan Fram in Washington, D.C., and Jeff Martin in Holly Springs, Georgia, contributed to this report.

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

According to the federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, photovoltaic, or PV, materials and devices convert sunlight into electrical energy.

A single PV device is known as a cell, typically producing about 1 or 2 watts of power. These cells are made of different semiconductor materials and are often less than the thickness of four human hairs. In order to withstand the outdoors for many years, cells are sandwiched between protective materials in a combination of glass and/or plastics.

To boost the power output of PV cells, they are connected together in chains to form larger units known as modules or panels. Modules can be used individually, or several can be connected to form arrays. One or more arrays is then connected to the electrical grid as part of a complete PV system. Because of this modular structure, PV systems can be built to meet almost any electric power need, small or large.

PV systems also include mounting structures that point panels toward the sun, along with the components that take the direct-current (DC) electricity produced by modules and convert it to the alternating-current (AC) electricity used to power most homes.

The largest PV systems in the country are in California and produce power for utilities to distribute to their customers. The Solar Star PV power station produces 579 megawatts of electricity, while the Topaz Solar Farm and Desert Sunlight Solar Farm each produce 550 megawatts.
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A witness says onlookers urged police to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunmans rampage killed 19 children and two teachers.

Juan Carranza spoke Wednesday as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.

Carranza lives across the street from Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde.

He says women were shouting at officers: Go in there! Go in there! soon after the attack began. But he says the officers didn't enter.

Minutes earlier, Carranza had watched as Salvador Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch outside the school, grabbed his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shot at two people.

Authorities say once inside the school, Ramos locked the door of a classroom and started shooting. All those who died were in that classroom.

A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation says Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open the room with a key.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE TEXAS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING:

 Governor: Texas gunman said he was going to shoot up school

 Beto ORourke disrupts news conference on shooting

 Stories are emerging about the lives of the children and teachers killed

IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

UVALDE, Texas  The rifle used in the Texas elementary school shooting is known as a DDM4 Rifle. Its modeled after the M4 carbine, the U.S. militarys go-to rifle, according to a blog post by the guns maker, Daniel Defense.

The Daniel Defense rifle can be classified as an AR-15 type. A key difference between the Daniel Defense rifle and the M4 carbine is that the militarys version can switch to fully automatic or fire a three-round burst depending on the model.

AR-15-type rifles can be purchased for as little as $400, but the Daniel Defense rifle is on the high-end of around $2,000 or more. These rifles can also be financed, with customers paying less than $100 a month.

The Daniel Defense rifle is not sold with sights. According to pictures of the shooters guns posted on Instagram, he appears to have purchased a battery-powered holographic sight that typically sells for around $725.

A snipers scope uses magnification to aid in hitting targets from a great distance. Holographic sights are designed to speed up the process of short-range shooting by helping to fix on targets more quickly.

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the Second Amendment is not absolute as he called for new limitations on guns in the wake of this weeks massacre at a Texas elementary school.

When the amendment was approved, he said, You couldnt own a cannon. You couldnt own certain kinds of weapons. Theres always been limitations.

Biden was speaking at the White House before signing an executive order on policing on the second anniversary of George Floyds death.

He that he would visit Texas with first lady Jill Biden in the coming days to hopefully bring some little comfort to the community.

As a nation, I think we must all be there for them, he said. And we must ask, when it Gods name will we do whats needed to be done."

WASHINGTON  The State Department says the school shooting in Texas and other mass casualty incidents are hurting Americas standing abroad and giving comfort to U.S. rivals and adversaries.

Spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday incidents like these not only cause damage to the U.S. global reputation but also upset and confuse friends and allies who dont understand how they can continue to happen.

The fact is that what happens in this country is magnified on the world stage, Price told reporters a day after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults in the Texas school shooting. And countries around the world, people around the world, are going to fixate on what transpires here  oftentimes out of envy, but again thats when were at our best.

Price said the shootings will have implications for our standing and the U.S. diplomats posted around the world are very mindful of that.

He said that despite the State Departments foreign policy focus, the shootings hit American diplomats as a real punch to the gut.

A Facebook spokesman says messages posted by the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school were private.

Andy Stone says the messages were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy. He says Facebook is cooperating with investigators.

Gov. Greg Abbott described the messages at a news conference where he said the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, used an AR-15 in the attack Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

About 30 minutes before the shooting, Ramos sent three social media messages. According to the governor, Ramos posted that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman, and finally that he was going to shoot an elementary school.

UVALDE, Texas  Beto ORourke interrupted a press conference Wednesday about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, calling the shooting totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.

ORourke was escorted out while members of the crowd yelled at him, with one man shouting profanities at ORourke. The Democrat is challenging against Gov. Greg Abbott in this years election.

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said to ORourke: Youre out of line and an embarrassment.

ORourke, as he was being escorted out, turned around, faced the stage, pointed his finger and said: This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday.

Abbott says the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school warned on social media minutes before the attack that he was going to shoot up a school. He says the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, used an AR-15 in the attack Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

The news conference was attended by several elected Republican officials.

UVALDE, Texas  The governor of Texas says the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school warned on social media minutes before the attack that he was going to shoot up a school.

Gov. Greg Abbott says the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, used an AR-15 in the attack Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

About 30 minutes before the shooting, Ramos made three social media posts. According to the governor, Ramos posted that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman, and finally that he was going to shoot an elementary school.

Seventeen people were also injured in the attack.

Abbott says Ramos had no known criminal or mental health history.

Evil swept across Uvalde yesterday, the Republican governor said at a news conference attended by other Republican political officials.

Former President Donald Trump says hell deliver an important address to America at the National Rifle Associations annual convention in Texas on Friday.

The Republican leader posted on his social media network Wednesday that America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship.

Houstons Democratic mayor, Sylvester Turner, says some people want the city to cancel the NRA meeting, but he says they cant break the contract.

The greater question, he says, is why politicians still plan to speak there after the shooting in Uvalde. Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz are among other Republicans scheduled to address a leadership forum sponsored by the NRAs lobbying arm.

Its about elected officials at the highest level in our state going and speaking and endorsing those policies and thats wrong," Turner said. "And you cant pray and send condolences on one day and then be going and championing guns on the next.

BERLIN  German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser sharply condemned the Texas school massacre, saying shes shocked by the terrible bloodshed.

It is horrific that so many children and a teacher were killed. And it is terrible how powerful the gun lobby still is in the USA  despite so many terrible crimes, Faeser tweeted on Wednesday.

Germany has a strict weapons law, and its authorities must enforce it decisively, she said.

Above all, we must disarm extremists very consistently. Where necessary, we will further tighten gun laws, Faeser said.

However, Germany is not immune from school attacks. Last week, a school employee was seriously wounded in a crossbow attack at a high school in Bremerhaven and a suspect was detained. Earlier this month, a 16-year-old was detained for allegedly plotting an attack on a secondary school in Essen after police seized weapons and bomb-making materials from his apartment, authorities said.

HARTFORD, Conn.  Schools around the country increased security as a precaution after the killings of 19 children and two teachers in Texas.

In Connecticut, where the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting killed 20 first graders and six educators, state police said they were sending extra troopers to schools Wednesday, although no specific threats had been received.

This assault on the most innocent of our citizens is deeply disturbing and heartbreaking, Connecticut state police Col. Stavros Mellekas said in a statement. At this time, our focus will be on protecting all school populations here in our state.

Schools in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Virginia, Maryland and Florida also were among those increasing security and offering counseling.

WASHINGTON  Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor Wednesday in the aftermath of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting to call out the Republicans decadeslong opposition to gun control legislation.

Maybe the thought of putting yourself in the shoes of these parents instead of in the arms of the NRA might let you wriggle free from the vise-like grip of the NRA to act on even a simple measure, the New York Democrat said. For the sake of these children, these 9-year-olds, these 10-year-olds, these 11-year-olds, these beautiful children, please, damn it.

The Democrats pleas to Republican colleagues reflect a long history of congressional inaction on gun control since a gunman killed 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Connecticut, nearly a decade ago. Democratic lawmakers have introduced countless proposals that would have required a background check of the gunman in Texas. All failed to pass, mostly due to the filibuster.

Schumer pledged Wednesday to move forward with or without Republican lawmakers.

Instagram has confirmed it's working with law enforcement to review an account that appears to belong to the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers in Texas.

A series of posts appeared on Instagram and TikTok in the days leading up to Tuesdays shooting. One selfie appears to show the shooter in front of a mirror. Another photo shows a gun magazine in hand. And on Friday, the same day law enforcement officials believe Salvador Ramos bought a second rifle, a picture of two AR-style semi-automatic rifles appeared.

Another Instagram user with many more followers was tagged in that post. That user has since removed her profile, but first she shared parts of what appears to be a chilling exchange with Ramos, asking her to share his gun pictures with her more than 10,000 followers.

I barely know you and u tag me in a picture with some guns, she responded, adding, Its just scary.

A response sent from Ramoss account on Tuesday morning just said: Im about to.

Witnesses said the shooting began around 11:30 a.m.

UVALDE, Texas  The man who killed 19 children and two teachers in Texas bought his guns legally days before the attack and soon after his 18th birthday, a law enforcement briefing said.

He bought one AR-style rifle from a federally-licensed gun dealer in the Uvalde area on May 17, according to a state police briefing given to Sen. John Whitmire. The next day, he bought 375 rounds of ammunition, and bought a second rifle on May 20.

Officers recovered one of the rifles from Ramos truck and the other was found in the school, according to the briefing. It says Ramos dropped a backpack with several magazines full of ammunition near the school entrance, and that he was wearing a body-armor style vest but that it had no hardened plates inside.

Actor Matthew McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday. He called on Americans to act now to control an epidemic of mass shootings.

Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us, McConaughey posted on his Instagram account. We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo.

The actor doesnt describe any specific laws or policies he wants adopted. He doesnt mention gun control.

As Americans, Texans, mothers and fathers, its time we re-evaluate, he wrote. We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground.

This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better.

UVALDE, Texas  Uvalde community members arrived early Wednesday at a civic center where families learned the fate of their loved ones the night before. Volunteers arrived with Bibles and therapy dogs.

A minister says he prayed with families of victims in a hospital waiting room after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers inside an elementary school classroom in Texas.

Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

Pastor Doug Swimmer of the nondenominational Potters House Church told ABCs Good Morning America on Wednesday that Uvalde is a tight-knit community where people know their neighbors and see them every day.

Asked what he said to people whose faith may have been shaken by the mass shooting, Swimmer said I know that one thing that we as Texans understand is that God is still God ... he is able to bring comfort in times of distress.

VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis has said he's heartbroken about the massacre at an elementary school in Texas.

Francis spoke Wednesday during his general audience. He said he was praying for the children and adults killed and their families after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, killing at least 19 children and two adults before an officer shot and killed the gunman.

UKRAINE  Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that he was deeply saddened by the news of the murder of innocent children in Texas.

Zelenskyy, in a tweet, sent his condolences to the families of the victims, the people of the U.S. and President Joe Biden after a gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, killing at least 19 children and two adults before an officer shot and killed the gunman.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture is launching a new project to help monitor Asian giant hornet activity. Participants can locate and register a paper wasp nest and observe it weekly for any hornet visits.
FILE - A nurse holds a vial of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, right, and a vial of the vaccine for adults, which has a different colored label, at a vaccination station in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. U.S. regulators authorized a COVID-19 booster shot for healthy 5- to 11-year-olds on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, hoping an extra vaccine dose will enhance their protection as infections once again are on the rise.
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Bishop Michael W. Fisher has reinstated two retired priests who were on leave for months due to accusations of sexual abuse of minors.

Fisher said in a press release Tuesday that a review board determined the accusations against the priests were unsubstantiated and recommended that they be returned to priestly ministry.

Buffalo Diocese priest most often accused of sex abuse dies at age 79 The Rev. Donald W. Becker, a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing minors in 30 Child Victims Act lawsuits, died on Tuesday in Fort Myers, Fla. at age 79.

The Rev. Robert J. Schober, 71, and Monsignor Leo McCarthy, 90, are allowed again to celebrate Masses and do other priestly work. McCarthy had been suspended since July, while Schober was on leave since September.

Both priests denied ever committing any acts of abuse, according to the diocese.

Schober was named in an Aug. 4 Child Victims Act lawsuit filed by attorneys Steve Boyd and Jeff Anderson on behalf of an unnamed plaintiff. The lawsuit accused Schober of engaging in unpermitted sexual contact with a minor from 1980 to 1985 at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Elma. Schober was associate pastor of the parish, and the youth was 8 to 13 years old at the time, according to court papers and diocese directories.

Deceased Buffalo priest accused of abusing boy in 2017 A claim of unpermitted sexual contact by the Rev. Robert M. Yetter in a lawsuit filed last week is the most recent alleged incident of abuse by a diocese priest among several hundred cases that have become public through court filings since 2018.

McCarthy was accused in three separate lawsuits that accused him of abusing minors during his assignment as pastor of St. Matthew Church in the 1980s. One of the lawsuits, filed by attorneys Jesse Seiden and Jeff Herman, accused McCarthy of raping a 12-year-old girl multiple times. The plaintiff, who now lives in Colorado, also said in court papers that she told a teacher at the school about it and when McCarthy found out, she was expelled from school.

Boyd and Anderson filed the two other lawsuits accusing McCarthy of abuse.

Each of the lawsuits identifying Schober and McCarthy named parishes as defendants. They are on hold as the Buffalo Diocese attempts to negotiate a mediated settlement in federal bankruptcy court with more than 900 people who lodged clergy sex abuse claims with the court. The settlement talks also include insurance companies and Catholic parishes and schools, which are separate non-profit organizations and have not filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Buffalo Diocese will reduce number of pastors as part of reorganization Instead of a pastor for each of the dioceses 160 parishes, Bishop Michael W. Fisher will name just 36 pastors  one for each of the families of parishes designated earlier this year as part of the dioceses Road to Renewal effort.

The diocese said it followed rigorous policies and protocols in dealing with the allegations in question, including notifying the Erie County District Attorneys Office, which declined to act on any of the allegations.

The diocese also said their attorneys reached out to Boyd and Anderson to interview the plaintiffs as part of its investigation, but the plaintiffs declined to cooperate.

The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
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Hungary's asparagus season started at the end of April, later than usual, and is expected to run until mid-June, according to an analysis by the Agricultural Research Institute (AKI), writes napi.hu.

Farm gate prices for locally-grown asparagus are 12% higher than a year earlier, according to the analysis.



In late April and early May, asparagus was going for HUF 2,000/kg at Budapest's big wholesale produce market.



Hungarian farmers harvest 5,600-6,700 tonnes of asparagus annually, according to data from recent years. Last year, the value of asparagus exports rose 15% to HUF 2.66 billion.



Hungary exported 1,090 tonnes of asparagus to Germany, 537 tonnes to Switzerland, 245 tonnes to Sweden and 221 tonnes to Finland.



Total asparagus production in the European Union came to 315,400 tonnes last year.



Germany accounted for around 40% of the crop.
An Alden man who talked at a dental office about being in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor Capitol riot charge.

Daniel Warmus, 38, pleaded guilty Monday to unlawful parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Warmus showed a video to those at the dental office about a week after the the riot, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C.

Anonymous tips, email data and a brag led to arrest of 5 from WNY in Capitol riot The people arrested Wednesday in the Buffalo area were William Michael Sywak, 45, of Hamburg, and his son William Jason Sywak, 27, of Arcade; Traci Sunstrum, 44, of Amherst; and John Juran, 51, of Williamsville.

U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman set sentencing for Sept. 12.

Warmus traveled to Washington to attend a rally for former President Donald Trump, wearing a black button on his sweatshirt that read "Stop the Steal," according to court documents.

After the rally, he went to the U.S. Capitol, where he witnessed rioters antagonizing and pushing past law enforcement lines on the upper west terrace, according to prosecutors. He also saw rioters using Mace on law enforcement officers as police shot tear gas and flash bangs into the crowd to keep rioters back and away from the inside of the U.S. Capitol.

At about 2:17 p.m., Warmus entered the Capitol building through the Senate wing doors, as other rioters were climbing through broken windows. He remained inside the Capitol for 16 minutes. He walked toward the crypt on the first floor, then climbed a staircase to the second floor and entered the rotunda at about 2:24 p.m., where he walked around and put an unknown dark object on a statue, according a court record.

Warmus has been free on a personal recognizance bond since his arrest on May 18, 2021.

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The opposition Momentum Movement on Tuesday called on Interior Minister Sandor Pinter to address the real problems of Hungarys public education rather than focusing on breaking down teachers protests.

After parliament approved a law on transitional provisions in connection with the expiration of the special legal order on May 31, Momentum lawmaker Endre Toth told a press conference that the regulation severely curbs teachers right to strike.



Under the new law, teachers strikes must not result in lessons falling out in classes standing before school-leaving exams, or in classes with children with special needs.



Otherwise, teachers must hold 50% of classes during the strike, and supervision must be provided for the children in the remaining time in their own classrooms.



Toth said the measure made teachers protest invisible.



The oppositions education package proposes a 50% wage hike, free choice of textbooks and a review of the school funding system, he said. The opposition will submit parts of that package to parliament, he said.



Photo courtesy: Momentum.hu
A pro-government columnist believes Hungary would be happy with a non-binding embargo on Russian crude oil, as suggested by the German Deputy Chancellor.

German Minister of the Economy and Deputy Chancellor Robert Habeck suggested that Hungarian opposition to an immediate oil embargo could be circumvented by the remaining 26 EU member countries if they opt for a voluntary ban on Russian oil imports.



Meanwhile, Fidesz MEP Tamas Deutsch claimed at least half a dozen other member countries tacitly stand with Hungary on oil. In another development, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, that Hungary will need a solution to its problems with energy supply if Russian imports are phased out. In the meantime, MOL, Hungarys regional oil and gas multinational, is reported to be working on a 15 point project to replace Russian oil.



On Mandiner, Matyas Kohan ridicules western politicians, including Mr Habeck and Katarina Barley, deputy speaker of the European Parliament, who believe they can punish Hungary by declaring an oil embargo on Russia without her.



In fact, Kohan writes, we would get exactly what we have been asking for. He also suggests that in case of a voluntary boycott, Hungary may end up being followed by Slovakia, Czechia, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Italy. He then remarks that by insisting on their intention to phase out Russian oil, EU leaders have created panic and, consequently, a sharp rise in the price of crude oil, thereby hitting their own economies while boosting Russian oil revenues.



By ending the panic, on the other hand, he concludes, they would cut back Russias oil income by at least 30 per cent, without harming their own economies.



This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher.

Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

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MTi Photo: Szilard Koszticsak
CPAC is partnering with a government that is backsliding on democracy by holding its first European conference in Hungary, claims CBS News.

Included in the lineup of conservative speakers is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. CBS News Correspondent Adam Yamaguchi is one of the only western journalists who has gained access to the conference.



He shares his first-hand experiences in the video below, including the response he has seen following a controversial speech from Orban.





MTI / PM's press office photo: Zoltan Fischer
Sarah Harris hands swish back and forth as she outlines a silhouette in jet-set dark blue.

Her brush strokes form a line of people swaddled in blankets, trudging through billowing snow. Ponca Chief Standing Bear kneels on the ground and cradles his dead son along the trail.

But then  a burst of color.

Harris etches rust, olive and tan into the image to show Standing Bears world-changing testimony in front of a federal courtroom in Omaha. In the image, he extends his right hand, about to speak his famous words.

That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be of the same color as yours. I am a man. The same God made us both.

Harris gestures to the image.

He's an icon for justice, and what he accomplished is fantastic, she said. I hope it inspires people to learn from his example that, despite all the trials and agony, you can still make a stand and have your voice heard.

The historic scene now covers the walls of a government building adjacent to the state Capitol.

The Executive office building at 521 S. 14th St. will be renamed the Chief Standing Bear Administrative Justice Building after Sen. Tom Brewer introduced a bill to rename two state government buildings at Gov. Pete Ricketts request.

In the Chief Standing Bear Administrative Justice Building, government employees involved in the judicial branch manage daily operations. Harris said theres no better place for a man who advocated for human rights to be memorialized.

Outside the building, sculptor Benjamin Victor will soon add a bust of the Ponca chief to further cement his legacy.

Both Victor and Harris hail from Boise, Idaho, but became involved in the project because of Victors esteemed Standing Bear sculpture in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. Harris and Victor have collaborated on several other projects.

Harris was grateful to have the opportunity to discuss Standing Bear's legacy with a group of Lincoln High students who helped her paint Friday. Their initials were added to the bottom-left corner of the scene in royal blue.

She said this project in particular is important because few people realize Standing Bears lasting impact.

As we make his message more aware, Ive come to find out that I don't think a lot of Nebraskans know about his story, Harris said.

The mural features the chief's most prominent moments, from his journey on the Trail of Tears to the legal decision that changed so many lives.

After Standing Bear and the Ponca Tribe were removed from their homes in 1879 and forced to walk 600 miles to the Quapaw Reservation in Oklahoma, one-third of the tribe died, including his son, Bear Shield.

Standing Bear felt compelled to return his sons body to his home state of Nebraska. The chief was arrested after leaving Oklahoma.

Other famous Nebraskans appear in the mural, including Gen. George Crook and journalist Thomas Tibbles. The two men helped Standing Bear establish a case. In the painting, Judge Elmer Dundy listens to Standing Bears testimony from behind the bench.

After Standing Bear's testimony, Dundy ruled that Indigenous people had human rights under the law. Standing Bear was able to return home.

Brewers bill also proposed the former Woodmen building at 1526 K St. be renamed the First Nebraska Administrative Building after the First Nebraska Infantry Regiment, a band of Union soldiers who served in the Civil War.

Jason Jackson, Department of Administrative Services director, said the new names come as part of a longstanding effort to beautify government buildings.

For a long time, our buildings in the Capital environment area haven't had names or any sense of historical context, Jackson said. One of our projects is just to make these buildings reflect the dignity of the work that happens within them on behalf of Nebraskans in our community.

The Standing Bear mural will be unveiled in July, Jackson said, during a ceremony where the governor and several public officials will be present to celebrate Harris' work.

Judi gaiashkibos, executive director with the Nebraska Indian Commission, said Standing Bears legacy should be a guide for state government. She hopes Harris' blue hues and thick strokes serve as a reminder for Nebraskans.

I think the mural is an inspiration for the legal profession in Nebraska, gaiashkibos said. We have to do more in our state to provide justice for the first people, and this is the beginning.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7241 or jthompson@journalstar.com
Bangladeshs largest Padma bridge will open to traffic on June 25, announced road, transport, and bridges Minister Obaidul Quader after meeting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, reports Xinhua news agency. "Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the bridge on June 25 morning in a grand ceremony," he said. The Bangladesh government has already fixed the toll rates of the bridge. According to a gazette notification, toll rates will range from 100 takas to over 6,000 takas.

The huge infrastructure project, with the main bridge spanning 6.15 km in length, is the largest and most challenging in Bangladesh's history. The bridge standing across the Padma River to link the northeastern and southwestern areas of Bangladesh is also a key part of an anticipated trans-Asian railway network.

Also read: Indian Rapper Badshah arrives in auto-rickshaw to take delivery of his Rs 3.55 crore Lamborghini Urus: Watch Video

Hasina inaugurated the main construction work of the bridge in 2015. The Padma multipurpose bridge is located about 40 km southwest of Dhaka. The Padma Bridge is a multipurpose road-rail bridge across the Padma River to be constructed in Bangladesh. When completed it will be the largest bridge in Bangladesh and the first fixed river crossing for road traffic. It will connect Louhajong, Munshiganj to Shariatpur and Madaripur, linking the south-west of the country, to northern and eastern regions.

(With inputs from IANS)

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The sub-4m compact SUV space is one of the biggest pies in the Indian automotive industry, and all carmakers want to have a fair share of this pudding. Hence, there are a host of compact SUVs on sale in the country. While almost all the automakers have a compact SUV on offer, or is planning to launch one, only a handful of products do well since the Indian audience is not easy to understand. In the month of April this year, SUVs remained the second-favourite body style in the Indian market after hatchbacks. Therefore, heres a list of the top 5 best-selling compact SUVs in India.

1. Tata Nexon

Tata Nexon is the best-selling SUV in the country! The indigenous compact SUV clocked sales of 13,471 units in April this year. In comparison to the corresponding month last year, it posted a YoY increase of a whopping 94 per cent. The Nexon is available with two engine choices - 1.2L turbo-petrol and 1.5L diesel. Both the engines can be mated to either a 6-speed MT or a 6-speed AMT.

The countrys largest automaker - Maruti Suzuki, is participating in the compact SUV race with the Vitara Brezza. With its reliable 1.5L petrol motor and butch styling, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza could manage sales of 11,764 units last month, which is a positive year-on-year increase of 5 per cent.

The Hyundai Venue has started to show its age now, and it is ready to receive a mid-cycle update soon. Spy shots of the Hyundai Venue facelifts test mule are all across the internet, and they suggest that Hyundai is preparing to take the top spot in this game again. In April this year, the Venue managed to secure the position of the third best-selling compact SUV in the Indian market with sales of 8,392 units.

Also read - Noida police issues challan to over 600 people for drunk driving, flouting traffic rules

4. Kia Sonet

Kia Sonet is one of the most-loaded products in the segment. It comes with a large 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment unit, Bose sound system, electric sunroof, cruise control, wireless phone charger, and more. Impressed with its feature list, Indian buyers bought 5,404 units of the Kia Sonet last month to help it become the 4th best-selling compact SUV in India. The South Korean brand has recently updated its compact SUV, and the prices now start from Rs 7.15 lakh, ex-showroom.

5. Mahindra XUV300

The title of the most dynamic compact SUV on sale in the country today belongs to the Mahindra XUV300. Offered with either a 1.2L turbo-petrol motor or a 1.5L oil burner, it indeed is the torquiest one on the list. Also, it secures the position of the 5th highest-selling compact SUV in India, with a total of 3,909 units sold last month.
In order to woo international airlines, Nepal has decided to waive off several charges for a year for international flights to the countrys newly-opened Gautam Buddha International Airport. The decision was taken by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) on a 100 percent waiver of charges, including for landing, parking, communication, navigation aid and security check, will be effective from May 28, reports IANS.

"We granted a waiver of fees as part of marketing of the new international airport to woo international airlines to operate their flights in this new airport," CAAN spokesman Deo Chandra Lal Karn told Xinhua news agency on May 24. "By operating international flights, an international airline can get a waiver of fees of around $2,000 per flight," he added.

On May 16, Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways became the first foreign airline to land at the Gautam Buddha International Airport, the second of its kind in Nepal situated in the southwestern city of Bhairahawa.

Also read: Worlds biggest plane, 124 world records, many titles, one name; Antonov An-225

"It is conducting three flights a week in the new airport," said Karn. "Many other international airlines have also notified us that they are assessing whether to conduct flights in the new airport."

The new airport, about 280 km from the capital of Kathmandu, is expected to be the main gateway to Lord Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini nearby. It is also intended to serve as an alternative and backup to the overcrowded Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

(With inputs from IANS)

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Taliban allowed an Emirati company to manage three airports in Afghanistan after the fall of the country's U.S.-backed government on May 24. However, the United Arab Emirates did not immediately acknowledge the deal. Under the deal, the Abu Dhabi-based firm GAAC Solutions would manage the airports in Herat, Kabul, and Kandahar, the Taliban said. They held a news conference in Kabul in which they signed the deal with an individual they identified as a managing director for GAAC, reports AP.

Ghulam Jelani Wafa, the Taliban's acting deputy transportation and civil aviation minister signed the accord. Also on hand was Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister, who described the arrangement as renewing an airport ground-handling agreement with the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms home to the long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad Airways.

However, the deal left more questions than answers, particularly as Qatar had been in line to run the airports, though the deal apparently broke down over Doha's requirement to have their own security personnel on hand at the airports. The Gulf Arab nation already has agreed to represent the United States in Taliban-run Afghanistan following the closure of the American Embassy in Kabul and the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from the country in late August.

Also read: SpiceJet faces Ransomware attack; passengers stranded for hours, flights delayed: Watch video

Meanwhile, Qatar Airways had been running flights to evacuate American citizens out of Afghanistan since the takeover. The Taliban did not discuss the deal's terms. The Emirati Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

GAAC Solutions describes itself on a one-page website as an Abu Dhabi-based joint venture whose partners include the firm G42. Officials at G42 have refused to identify who owns the company, though many suspects it links back to Abu Dhabi's ruling family. GAAC and G42 did not respond to emails seeking comment.

The Emirates' state-run WAM news agency also did not acknowledge the deal, though the UAE was one of the few nations that allowed the Taliban to operate diplomatic posts in their nation during their earlier rule.

GAAC reportedly signed a $47 million service contract in 2020 to run airports in Afghanistan, including ground handling, information technology, and security. During the ceremony, Baradar said the Taliban wanted good relations with all countries and called on investors to come and invest in Afghanistan. He insisted the Taliban government would provide facilities and security for them.

However, the Taliban have faced withering international criticism of their rule since seizing the country by force last August amid the American and NATO troops withdrawal from Afghanistan. They have refused to reopen schools for girls above the sixth grade, despite earlier promises. Last week they ordered women working on television to cover their faces.

(With inputs from AP)

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James Corden is famous for his carpool karaoke skills, which he has demonstrated brilliantly with celebrities like Justin Bieber, LeBron James, Nick Jonas and many others. However, when he gets Tom Cruise on The Late Late Show, things are not so easy for him. Recently, Tom Cruise was on Corden's show to promote his new movie Top Gun: Maverick, giving him rides on small aircraft. Since it's an aviation-based movie, it has sparked a conversation about the actor's aviation skills, which has brought forth the fact that the actor is also a skilled pilot capable of flying everything from fighter jets to helicopters.

.@TomCruise arriving to the #TopGun: Maverick Global Premiere red carpet in style. pic.twitter.com/0eBarJQwfM  Top Gun (@TopGunMovie) May 5, 2022

Tom Cruise's flying skills before Top Gun: Maverick

Based on his answers to several questions on a youtube channel, Wired, in 2017, Tom Cruise is one of the most skilled actors in Hollywood, in Indian terms, he probably is a 'Sharma Ji ka ladka.' However, coming to his skills as an aviator, in the movie Top Gun: Maverick, it's not the first time Tom Cruise is flying planes, though it is probably his first-time flying fighter jets. Long before the latest Hollywood movie was in discussions, the actor had revealed that he is a multi-engine instrument-rated commercial pilot, which means he is qualified to fly as pilot-in-command of aircraft with more than one engine.

Moving on, in the movie Top Gun: Maverick's trailer Tom Cruise can be flying an F-18 Super Hornet fighter jet, which was one of the most capable fighter jets that have been part of the US Navy's fleet until 2019. However, the skills to fly a fighter jet do not come easy. But, for the actor, this was not his first time interacting with a fighter jet. For the movie Top Gun, he learned to fly such military-grade jets, starting with the F-14.

Also read: Tom Cruise to dogfight world's most advanced Russia-made Su-57 fighter jet in Top Gun: Maverick

Other than the Top Gun series, Tom Cruise has been flying and doing stunts on a plane in multiple movies. The most notable of which has to be the scene from the movie Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation in which Ethan Hunt is left hanging from a plane. The other scene that comes to mind is the scene from The Mummy in which the characters can are falling out of planes.
New Delhi: A McDonald's outlet in Ahmedabad's Science City Road was sealed after a video of a consumer surfaced that showed a dead Lizard in a glass of cold drink ordered by him.

A customer named Bhargav Joshi along with his friends had ordered glasses of soft drinks and a couple of burgers at the McDonalds outlet. In the video the people were heard saying that despite complaining and sitting there for over 4 hours, no action was taken by the outlet. The supervisor of the outlet instead offered to pay Rs 300 after they complained of finding a dead lizard in the soft drink.

Meanwhile, taking cognisance of the matter, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) sealed the McDonalds outlet. As per media reports, AMC Food Safety Officer Devang Patel has sent the samples of the cold drink for testing at the public health laboratory in Ahmedabad. The AMC has also directed the outlet to not open without seeking prior permission from the Corporation.
Niagara Falls Superintendent Mark Laurrie said he was asked this question more than once today: "Can we just finish the year on remote?"

Kids, teachers and parents are scared in the wake of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, 10 days after 10 Black people were shot and killed in a Buffalo supermarket.

Complete coverage: 10 killed, 3 wounded in mass shooting at Buffalo supermarket Ten people were gunned down at a Buffalo supermarket May 14 in a horrifying mass shooting that officials were quick to label as "pure evil" an

Attendance was down a bit and police presence was up Wednesday, as parents and students were nervous about entering school after the shootings.

"It's just a never ending cycle of sadness and unbelievable situations," Laurrie said. "Coming on the heels of the tragedy in Buffalo, there was much more concern last night and today, and much more, I would say, trepidation."

"It's been a long few years with Covid, then piling on two gun tragedies in two weeks, it's very, very hard," Lori Allan, director of communications and development at the Charter School for Applied Technologies, said. "It's the end of the year, you're trying to get to the finish line, and then  this."

'Stay connected,' Buffalo mental health counselor advises those shaken by mass shooting Once you start counseling and change some things, you see a glimpse of hope, White said last week. Then things change so drastically by one negative event. People are worried. 'What do we do now? What do we think now?' 

While schools are dealing with sadness and anger, they also are trying to calm the fears of parents, students and staff, and a community still dealing with the tragedy at home.

Showing identification and getting buzzed through at least one locked door to enter a school has been the norm for years. Some schools have metal detectors.

Niagara Falls and Buffalo Public Schools on Wednesday started requiring anyone visiting schools  parents, caregivers, siblings and vendors  to call first.

"The safety and security of our students and staff is our highest priority! After the horrific Buffalo and Texas mass shootings, any person who wishes to enter a school MUST call ahead and obtain prior approval to enter the building," interim Buffalo Superintendent Tonja Williams said in her message to the school community.

There is video surveillance at Buffalo schools, and visitors could be subjected to wanding and a search, "for additional safety measures," she said.

"The Buffalo Police Department and/or Buffalo Public Schools security staff will have a presence in and around schools for an undetermined amount of time," the message said.

In addition to police and security, schools have prepared for the unthinkable in other ways.

"We do safety drills, and this is a reminder why," said Allan, the Charter School for Applied Technologies spokeswoman. "Nobody likes that we have to drill for it, but we do."

She said the school usually does not tell students when they are having an active shooter drill, but that will change now.

"We are going to start telling them because it's been so traumatic recently," she said.

In a letter to the community, Sabatino Cimato, superintendent of Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda schools, said, "Tragic incidents like this reinforce the critical need to ensure best practices are in place and followed in each of our schools."

Schools are addressing questions and reinforcing that schools are safe, Andrew Lyle, superintendent of the Charter School for Applied Technologies, told parents.

"We understand the anxiety you may feel as you send your student off to school each day," he said.

While the weather is nice, students at CSAT will remain indoors for physical education classes and recess for the time being, Allan said.

"There's just more heightened awareness in the buildings," Allan said.

"The murders of 19 children and two staff members in an elementary school in Texas hits especially close to home because it threatens the sense of safety and security of everyone who works in a school or who has children in school," the Erie-Niagara School Superintendents Association said in a statement.

"Every superintendent goes to bed at night asking themselves, are we doing enough to protect our students tomorrow? We ask for the same from our elected leaders," New York State Council of School Superintendents President Phyllis Harrington and Executive Director Charles Dedrick said in a joint statement. "Have we all done enough to ensure the safety of the children, teachers and staff as they set foot in our schools? Families deserve to know they are a priority and that each persons safety is an actual birthright."

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New Delhi: The Karnataka government on Wednesday said the World Economic Forum Meet in Davos has proved to be "very fruitful", as the team led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has inked MoUs with two major companies for a total investment flow of Rs 52,000 crore. It is proof of strong faith and trust reposed by major companies in Karnataka, and it is the biggest investment proposal the state recorded in the recent past, the Chief Minister's office said in a statement. The expected investments from these companies would create employment opportunities for thousands of persons, it said.

The state government has succeeded in wooing the investors in a big way under the leadership of Bommai with able cooperation from Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani and IT, BT Minister C NAshwath Narayan.

Today was Bommai's third day at the WEF meet, during which he had had interactions with a number of business leaders from across the world.

ReNew Power, a leading name in the renewable energy sector, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the State government to invest Rs 50,000 crore.

Noting that the company intends to set up production units in Renewable Energy, Battery Storage and Green Hydrogen over the next 7 years in two phases, the release said, in the first phase Rs 11,900 crore would be invested on the ongoing projects in the State and they would be operationalised in the next 2 years.

In the second phase the company plans to invest Rs 37,500 crore to set up Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen units over the next 5 years, it said, adding that the projects spread over two phases would create employment opportunities for about 30,000 people.

The CM has termed this as a milestone in the Renewable Energy sector of Karnataka.

Also, the Lulu Group International has come forward to invest Rs 2,000 cr in Karnataka.

The company intends to open 4 Shopping Malls and Hyper Market, and is also keen to establish export oriented food processing units in the state. The projects are expected to create job opportunities for 10,000 people, the release said.

Highlighting the two new policies of the state--new R & D Policy and new Employment Policy--as part of its endeavor to make Karnataka the most attractive investment destination, Bommai invited the corporate honchos to participate in the Global Investors' Meet to be held in Bengaluru in November and the Bengaluru Tech Summit.

Among companies which have evinced interest to invest in Karnataka include Siemens, which is taking up two projects in Bengaluru focusing on Magnetic Imaging and Diagnostics and a health related R & D project.

The state government has assured special incentives for the company to set up its production unit for modern medical equipment. Discussions were also held on the 'Beyond Bengaluru' project to draw investments to Tumakuru, Hubballi-Dharwad and Mysuru cities.

Dassault Systems is keen to invest in Electric Vehicles, Modern Production systems, industrial training for students in Digital 4.0 technology and Smart City project in Karnataka.

Nestle has shown interest to modernise and expand the Nestle Instant Coffee unit in Nanjangud.

Bharti Enterprises Chairman and CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal has expressed its desire to set up a Mega Data Centre in the State. The State government has assured all the necessary cooperation to make it a reality.

Bommai, who met the head of Nokia, suggested making good use of the opportunities in the state for the manufacture of telecommunication products.

Nokia has its biggest Research Centre in Bengaluru with over 7,000 technocrats engaged in research related to 5G, advanced 5G and 6G technologies.

Additional Chief Secretary in the Department of Industries E V Ramana Reddy, CM's Principal Secretary N Manjunath Prasad and Commissioner in the Department of Industries Gunjan Krishna were part of the CM's team.

This was Bommai's first overseas trip as Chief Minister. There was earlier speculation on whether or not he will travel to Davos.
In the Indian electric scooter market, the Ather 450X is a name that can be counted upon for reliability. The scooter is also loved for the sleekness it embodies in its design and the modern-day equipment that it comes loaded with. In a new development, Ather Energy has announced that the 450X buyers will now be able to have the convenience of a tyre pressure monitoring system as an accessory against a sum of Rs 5,000. Ather Energy has developed these sensors, which will fit inside the wheel, and to do so, regular wheel stems have to be replaced with these.

These TPMS sensors are configured to send alerts on tyre pressure on the instrument cluster. The screen will display air pressure for both tyres. In addition, a red alert for low tyre pressure will be shown, while the white alert denotes that the tyres are adequately inflated. Recommended setting stands at 32 psi for the front and 30 for the rear.

Well, the Ather 450X isnt the first electric scooter in the Indian market to boast this feature. The recently-launched 2022 TVS iQube comes with a tyre pressure monitoring system from the factory on select variants.

Also read - TVS iQube vs Ather 450X vs Ola S1 Pro spec comparo: Best electric scooter to buy in India

Talking of the Ather 450Xs specifications, the scooter boasts peak power and torque outputs of 6 kW and 26 Nm, respectively. Furthermore, it can do a 0-40 kmph run in just 3.3 seconds, while the claimed range stands at 85 kilometres. With a seat height of 720 mm, the Ather 450X also offers an under seat storage space of 26 litres. Pricing for the Ather 450X starts from Rs 1.38 lakh, ex-showroom.
Mumbai: A copy of actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's modelling invoice from the initial phase of her career has surfaced on the internet.

The bill dates back to May 23, 1992, roughly two years before she won the coveted Miss World title in 1994. It shows that the actress received Rs 1,500 in lieu of her work for a magazine shoot.

A copy of the bill shared by a Reddit user details the nature of the contract and the work that the Guru actress undertook.

It specifies that Aishwarya, who was "aged about 18 years" at the time, "agreed to work as a model" for a firm called Krupa Kreations for a magazine catalogue shoot. The bill carries her signature at the bottom and tells that the deal was signed in Mumbai.

A Twitter user named Vimal Upadhyay shared pictures from the magazine shoot on Twitter in a series of tweets, complete with the catalogue photos and the magazine cover.

Hello, Today I am celebrating the 30th Anniversay of the Fashion Catalogue published by me. Aishwarya Rai, Sonali Bendre, Niki Aneja, Tejaswini Kolhapure were few of the models posed for this Catalogue. (Collage 1) pic.twitter.com/2SvQvZbMVF  SGBSR Maharashtra (@Vimalnupadhyaya) May 23, 2022

Hello, Today I am celebrating the 30th Anniversay of the Fashion Catalogue published by me. Aishwarya Rai, Sonali Bendre, Niki Aneja, Tejaswini Kolhapure were few of the models posed for this Catalogue. (Collage 2) pic.twitter.com/ucRkCLVASj  SGBSR Maharashtra (@Vimalnupadhyaya) May 23, 2022

One of the tweets read, "Hello, Today I am celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Fashion Catalogue published by me. Aishwarya Rai, Sonali Bendre, Niki Aneja, Tejaswini Kolhapure were few of the models posed for this Catalogue (sic)."

Hello, Today I am celebrating the 30th Anniversay of the Fashion Catalogue published by me. Aishwarya Rai, Sonali Bendre, Niki Aneja, Tejaswini Kolhapure were few of the models posed for this Catalogue. (Collage 3) pic.twitter.com/p6QooKyMpP  SGBSR Maharashtra (@Vimalnupadhyaya) May 23, 2022

Hello, Today I am celebrating the 30th Anniversay of the Fashion Catalogue published by me. Aishwarya Rai, Sonali Bendre, Niki Aneja, Tejaswini Kolhapure were few of the models posed for this Catalogue. (Collage 4) pic.twitter.com/WPVe0YYfoE  SGBSR Maharashtra (@Vimalnupadhyaya) May 23, 2022

Hello, Today I am celebrating the 30th Anniversay of the Fashion Catalogue published by me. Aishwarya Rai, Sonali Bendre, Niki Aneja, Tejaswini Kolhapure were few of the models posed for this Catalogue. (Collage 4) pic.twitter.com/WPVe0YYfoE  SGBSR Maharashtra (@Vimalnupadhyaya) May 23, 2022

Hello, Yesterday I celebrated the 30th Anniversay of the Fashion Catalogue published by me. Aishwarya Rai, Sonali Bendre, Niki Aneja, Tejaswini Kolhapure were few of the models posed for this Catalogue. pic.twitter.com/AQBuQakv2K  SGBSR Maharashtra (@Vimalnupadhyaya) May 24, 2022

Meanwhile, Aishwarya recently marked her 21st appearance at the ongoing 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, where she is a regular fixture at the red carpet.
Ahmedabad: Hardik Patel, who recently quit the Congress, has suggested that the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat will be a "one-sided" affair. The Patel quota leader said that the outcome of the elections will be in favour of the BJP.

Hardik Patel added, "I don't see Congress anywhere." Replying to a question if BJP was an option for him, Patel said, "Why shouldn't it be?" The influential Patel community leader further stated that Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has a better electoral strategy than Congress.

He also hit out at the Congress leadership for their alleged "hatred towards Hindus and Lord Ram". Patel`s remarks followed the statement of a former working president of the Congress, Bharatsinh Solanki.

Addressing an OBC meeting in Ahmedabad, Solanki said, "The BJP has always used Lord Ram`s name for political gains... It has played with the sentiments of lakhs of Hindus. With great respect, people had donated for the Ram Shila in the late eighties for the construction of Ram Temple, but they never bothered to take care of Ram Shila... It was found that dogs used to pee on the Ram Shila in Ayodhya."

In a series of tweets, Hardik Patel said, "I had said earlier also that the Congress party works to hurt the sentiments of the people, it is always trying to damage the faith of Hindu religion.

"I want to ask the Congress and its leaders as in what enmity do you have with Lord Shri Ram? Why hate Hindus so much? After centuries, a temple of Lord Shri Ram is being built in Ayodhya, yet the leaders of Congress keep making statements against Lord Shri Ram."

Alleging that the Congress has always hurt the Hindu faith, he questioned the party and its leaders as to why they are against Lord Ram. However, Congress hit back saying Hardik Patel's move to leave the party ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls due later this year is not likely to affect the party's prospects as he has lost credibility.

The Congress had benefited from Patel's agitation seeking reservation for Patidars in 2017 but his community's support to the party dwindled after he joined the Congress in 2019.

The Congress lost the 2017 Gujarat elections, falling just short of nine seats in the 182-member Assembly, and was then being seen as having the potential to dethrone the BJP, which has been in power in the state for over two decades.

Patel, who had joined the Congress in 2019, resigned from the party last week.
Bhubaneswar: Altogether 26 children have been diagnosed with the hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in Odisha and their condition is stable, a health official said on Tuesday. HFMD, an infectious disease is caused by intestinal viruses and occurs mostly in children. The illness is rare in adults as they usually have immune systems strong enough to defend them from the virus.

In most cases, the viral illness has symptoms like fever, painful sores in the mouth, and rash with blisters on hands, feet, and buttocks, according to the World Health Organization.

Out of the 36 samples that were collected and tested in the Regional Medical Research Centre in Bhubaneswar, 26 were found to be HFMD positive, Health Services director Bijay Mohapatra told reporters.

ALSO READ | Tomato Fever: Mistakes that can cost your child dearly

Of the HFMD-infected children, 19 are from Bhubaneswar, three from Puri, and two each from Cuttack and Puri, according to Mohapatra.

"Those infected are in the age group of 1-9 yesterdays and have been asked to remain in isolation for five-seven days," the official said.

The condition of the patients is not serious and surveillance is being maintained, he added.

Earlier this month, over 80 cases of the HFMD were reported from Kerala's Kollam district, prompting the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to increase their vigilance in the border districts.

ALSO READ | Tomato fever or HFMD virus in Kerala? Know causes and symptoms of Head, Foot and Mouth Disease
The iconic Niagara Falls lit up in Save Soil logo colors in an expression of support for the Save Soil movement. Straddling the border between the United States and Canada, Niagara Falls is a geological wonder and one of the most famous waterfalls in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42M5W8O8Ewk&t=157s

Taking to Twitter, Sadhguru, who is spearheading the movement and is currently on a 100 days, 30000 km lone bike journey, said, Spectacular to see #NiagaraFalls light up in support of #SaveSoil. Time for every human heart to come alight for the Mother of all mothers and the Source of all Life. -Sg

https://twitter.com/SadhguruJV/status/1528275405597093889

Several iconic locations around the world, have shown a similar support for the movement. On Sadhgurus visit to Geneva during his ongoing Save Soil journey, the iconic Jet d'Eau light up with Save Soil colors of blue and green.

https://twitter.com/cpsavesoil/status/1511942108529238021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx50G51zNUI

Montreal Olympic Stadium, Montreal also lit up in Blue and Green in support of the movement.

https://twitter.com/IshaUSA/status/1527341202072252418

Sadhguru, as part of the movement, is currently at World Economic Forum to speak about the impending disaster of soil extinction and the urgent need for single-pointed action to address it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/cpsavesoil/status/1526880278873919488

The Save Soil Movement is supported by various global bodies and agencies including the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD); the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Faith for Earth, a UNEP initiative; the World Food Programme (WFP); and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In the first 50 days since the start of his journey, the movement has already touched over 2 billion people, with 72 nations agreeing to act to Save Soil. Several nations, including 7 Caribbean nations, Azerbaijan, Romania, UAE have signed the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Save Soil to enact policies to safeguard soil. The 54 Commonwealth of Nations, European Union, several pan-European organizations, Muslim World League have also come forward to support the Save Soil movement.
Jalpaiguri (West Bengal): Days after BJP MP Arjun Singh rejoined the Trinamool Congress, at least 20 saffron party leaders in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri have tendered resignation together from their party posts, accusing the district leadership of taking money in lieu of inducting members in a local panel, a party functionary said on Wednesday.

The dissent leaders, including party's Jalpaiguri district general secretary Amal Roy, claimed that those who had worked for the saffron brigade and fled their homes due to the post-poll violence in the state did not get a place in the newly formed Maynaguri South Mondal committee.

Roy alleged that the posts of the local panel have been handed out in lieu of money to those who were inducted into the party recently.

ALSO READ: Want to create alliance to oppose BJP: Kapil Sibal as he quits Congress

"The dissent leaders have submitted their resignation letters to the district chief," he claimed.

When contacted BJP's Jalpaiguri district president Bapi Goswami refused to make any comment on the allegations.

The development came weeks after Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during his visit to West Bengal, had advised the BJP state unit to strengthen the party organisation in order to put up a fight against the ruling party.

BJP's state unit spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya denied the allegation of new members being inducted into the local committee in lieu of money but admitted that there are "differences of opinion in the organisation"

ALSO READ: BJP top brass to meet in Delhi to discuss plans for Modi govt's 8th anniversary celebrations

"The party will look into the matter and the problem will be sorted out soon," he said.

Notably, Jalpaiguri is a stronghold of the BJP as the party bagged four of seven constituencies in the district in the last assembly elections. Singh had on May 22 rejoined the state's ruling party.

One of the prominent Hindi-speaking leaders of the TMC, Singh had joined the saffron camp ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, and went on to win the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP in the state has been fighting hard to keep its flock together after former Union minister Babul Supriyo and five legislators, including national vice-president Mukul Roy, switched over to the TMC since the assembly poll results last year.

Several senior TMC leaders like Rajib Banerjee and Sabyasachi Dutta, who had joined the saffron camp, too, returned to the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

Live TV
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal of looting accolades over the sacking of Punjab health minister Vijay Singla, who was found to be involved in corruption. It may be mentioned that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor had praised Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann for his action against the corrupt minister and said that it "brought tears" to his eyes.

Delhi CM Kejriwal also said that he is proud of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for sacking Punjab Minister Vijay Singla over corruption allegations. "Proud of you Bhagwant. Ur action has brought tears to my eyes. The whole nation today feels proud of AAP," Kejriwal tweeted.

                               Press Conference | LIVE https://t.co/Mb2eHrva1b  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 24, 2022

Taking a jibe at Kejriwal, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said he (Kejriwal) is looting accolades for sacking a corrupt minister. "It has been 68 days since your sinful government came into power and during this period we can conclude that AAP is not able to handle Punjab. People of the state are saying that wherever AAP goes corruption reaches there," Bhatia said.

He said in your government, the minister indulges in corruption and extorts commission on the medicine which was used for the benefit of the public and you say that "I am proud of you (Mann) and action has brought tears to eyes."

"When your own minister involves in corruption and caught for his sin what is so proud of this? these are crocodile tears and the country is ashamed of it," he added. Bhatia further asked Kejriwal to answer his statement which he made in April saying that corruption ended in Punjab in 20 days, now will you accept that the corruption has re-grown in the AAP government again?

The BJP leader alleged that AAP is a mega corrupt party and said Kejriwal only makes rosy promises during elections and gives only thorns to the people. Punjab`s Anti-Corruption Branch arrested Punjab Minister Vijay Singla following corruption allegations against him.

(With Agency Inputs)
Save Soil is a global movement launched by Sadhguru, to address the soil crisis by bringing together people from around the world to stand up for Soil Health, and supporting leaders of all nations to institute national policies and actions toward increasing the organic content in cultivable Soil.

25 May 2022: There is nobody on the planet whos against (enhancing soil organic content)- not fertilizer industries, not pesticide industrieseverybody is for it because rich soil is the fundamental of rich life for us. Healthy soil and healthy life are inextricably connected, said Sadhguru, Founder-Isha Foundation, speaking on the Wisdom Panel at the Future of Cities event at the World Economic Forum 2022 in Davos yesterday. Save soil is global movement launched by Sadhguru, to address the soil crisis by bringing together people from around the world to stand up for Soil Health, and supporting leaders of all nations to institute national policies and actions toward increasing the organic content in cultivable Soil.

In a brief but impassioned appeal to representatives from more than 150 countries who were in attendance at the event, Sadhguru spoke about the critical need to regenerate soil health to make it remunerative for farmers to continue to farm their lands in the interest of food security, to reduce migratory exodus into cities and to ensure long-term planetary wellbeing.

Watch Video Sadhgurus Speech From Davos here:

Sadhguru also outlined his idea of One Building City to reclaim degraded lands. He said builders should consider decongesting cities by moving to the peripheries where land is abundant and developing it partially for human habitation. He proposed a built-up area of 1 acre on a 50-acre plot. You can build 50 to 100 floors  remaining 49 acres will be completely eco-friendly (with) forests, enough agriculture; if you wish, you can grow enough fruits and vegetables that you need for this community, he said explaining the concept. Up to 10,000 people can live in this city; we cap (it at) 10,000 he added terming cities with 10 million population a mess.

Sadhguru said that 72% of the worlds investment is in 31 cities on the planet making urban centers not only a magnet for migration but also more and more chaotic and senseless. He called for urbanizing rural areas by shifting investment from its present congested concentration in urban centers.

Other speakers on the Wisdom Panel included Helena Gualinga an Ecuadorian environmental and human rights activist from the Kichwa Sarayaku community in Pastaza, Ecuador; and Dr. Deepak Chopra, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism.

Sadhguru is currently on a 100-day 30,000 km lone motorcycle journey through Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East to press for global consensus on policy-driven action to save soil from extinction. Soon after speaking at Davos, Sadhguru left to resume his journey in the Middle East and will ride into Oman to address the audience at Oman Convention and Exhibition Center. He will then begin his journey to India on June 29, where he will be riding across the country to spread the message to Save Soil.

65 days into his journey that began on March 21 from London, Sadhguru has held 467 events around the world bringing together political, business and cultural leaders globally to speak in one voice to save soil. Till date, 72 nations have supported the movement, agreeing to act to save soil.

The global movement to save soil from extinction comes in the wake of alarming degradation of fertile soils across the world, posing a clear and present threat to global food and water security. The United Nations has warned that at current rates of soil degradation, 90% of the earth could turn into desert by 2050- less than three decades from now.

To watch Sadhguru's address in Davos, please click here. 

For Pictures, Videos and Soil Facts please visit the Soil Dossier.

If you would like to know more about this, please call +91 94874 75346 or write to: mediarelations@ishafoundation.org

===================

Conscious Planet: Save Soil, is a global movement to inspire a conscious approach to saving our soil and planet. This is, first and foremost, a peoples movement. The aim is to demonstrate the support of over 3.5 billion people (more than 60% of the worlds voting population) around the world and empower governments to initiate policy-driven action to revitalize soil and halt further degradation. World leaders, influencers, artists, experts, farmers, spiritual leaders, NGOs and citizens are vocally supporting the movement to re-establish Humanitys relationship with Soil.

For Pictures, Videos and Soil Facts please visit the Soil Dossier.

Website: savesoil.org
New Delhi: The All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) has called for a Bharat Bandh on Wednesday demanding a caste-based census. The nationwide strike has been called as a mark of protest against the Centre for not conducting a caste-based census for the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

The Federation is also demanding reservations for the SC/ST/OBC communities in the private sector. Besides, BAMCEF is also protesting against the use of EVMs during elections and the issue of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Population Register (NPR).

The other key demands include the implementation of a separate electorate in OBC reservation in Panchayat polls in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, resumption of the old pension scheme, protection of labour rights and no displacement of tribal people.

BAMCEF also demanded a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) for farmers. Several parties including BJP`s ally Janata Dal-United have been demanding a caste-based census in the country.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said that a caste-based census would enable the government to work for the development of various sections of the society. "We will start it soon and will also ensure it is implemented properly. Once the caste-based Census is done, the government can work for their development," he said.

Earlier, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had said that the Government of India has decided as a matter of policy "not to enumerate caste-wise populations other than SCs and STs in the census".
Niagara Falls Superintendent Mark Laurrie said he was asked this question more than once today: "Can we just finish the year on remote?"

Kids, teachers and parents are scared in the wake of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, 10 days after 10 Black people were shot and killed in a Buffalo supermarket.

Complete coverage: 10 killed, 3 wounded in mass shooting at Buffalo supermarket Ten people were gunned down at a Buffalo supermarket May 14 in a horrifying mass shooting that officials were quick to label as "pure evil" an

Attendance was down a bit and police presence was up Wednesday, as parents and students were nervous about entering school after the shootings.

"It's just a never ending cycle of sadness and unbelievable situations," Laurrie said. "Coming on the heels of the tragedy in Buffalo, there was much more concern last night and today, and much more, I would say, trepidation."

"It's been a long few years with Covid, then piling on two gun tragedies in two weeks, it's very, very hard," Lori Allan, director of communications and development at the Charter School for Applied Technologies, said. "It's the end of the year, you're trying to get to the finish line, and then  this."

'Stay connected,' Buffalo mental health counselor advises those shaken by mass shooting Once you start counseling and change some things, you see a glimpse of hope, White said last week. Then things change so drastically by one negative event. People are worried. 'What do we do now? What do we think now?' 

While schools are dealing with sadness and anger, they also are trying to calm the fears of parents, students and staff, and a community still dealing with the tragedy at home.

Showing identification and getting buzzed through at least one locked door to enter a school has been the norm for years. Some schools have metal detectors.

Niagara Falls and Buffalo Public Schools on Wednesday started requiring anyone visiting schools  parents, caregivers, siblings and vendors  to call first.

"The safety and security of our students and staff is our highest priority! After the horrific Buffalo and Texas mass shootings, any person who wishes to enter a school MUST call ahead and obtain prior approval to enter the building," interim Buffalo Superintendent Tonja Williams said in her message to the school community.

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There is video surveillance at Buffalo schools, and visitors could be subjected to wanding and a search, "for additional safety measures," she said.

"The Buffalo Police Department and/or Buffalo Public Schools security staff will have a presence in and around schools for an undetermined amount of time," the message said.

In addition to police and security, schools have prepared for the unthinkable in other ways.

"We do safety drills, and this is a reminder why," said Allan, the Charter School for Applied Technologies spokeswoman. "Nobody likes that we have to drill for it, but we do."

She said the school usually does not tell students when they are having an active shooter drill, but that will change now.

"We are going to start telling them because it's been so traumatic recently," she said.

In a letter to the community, Sabatino Cimato, superintendent of Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda schools, said, "Tragic incidents like this reinforce the critical need to ensure best practices are in place and followed in each of our schools."

Schools are addressing questions and reinforcing that schools are safe, Andrew Lyle, superintendent of the Charter School for Applied Technologies, told parents.

"We understand the anxiety you may feel as you send your student off to school each day," he said.

While the weather is nice, students at CSAT will remain indoors for physical education classes and recess for the time being, Allan said.

"There's just more heightened awareness in the buildings," Allan said.

"The murders of 19 children and two staff members in an elementary school in Texas hits especially close to home because it threatens the sense of safety and security of everyone who works in a school or who has children in school," the Erie-Niagara School Superintendents Association said in a statement.

"Every superintendent goes to bed at night asking themselves, are we doing enough to protect our students tomorrow? We ask for the same from our elected leaders," New York State Council of School Superintendents President Phyllis Harrington and Executive Director Charles Dedrick said in a joint statement. "Have we all done enough to ensure the safety of the children, teachers and staff as they set foot in our schools? Families deserve to know they are a priority and that each persons safety is an actual birthright."

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Patna: An all-party meeting on the caste-based census in Bihar will be held on June 1 under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna, informed Bihar Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Wednesday. Choudhary further said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has "not opposed" the all-party meeting on the caste-based census."All parties have agreed (on the caste-based census in Bihar). I`ve said that talks have been held with all parties and they`ve agreed on an all-party meeting on June 1. We hope that people of all parties will come. As far as Bharatiya Janata Party is concerned, they`ve not opposed it," he said.

Choudhary added that almost all parties in the state have been in the favour of a caste-based census since the beginning. The Bihar minister also said that following a decision that will be taken in the meeting, a meeting of state cabinet ministers will also be called for its implementation. "So, that will be taken up in the next meeting of the Council of Ministers and then the government will try to implement it," he said. Notably, the Bihar Chief Minister had earlier said that the state government will conduct a caste census, and would seek political consensus before doing so.

Highlighting the importance of the caste Census, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that it would enable the government to work for the development of various sections of the society. "We will start it soon and will also ensure it is implemented properly. Once the caste-based Census is done, the government can work for their development," he said. Caste Census has become a key political issue in Bihar. Most of the parties in Bihar, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) which is in Opposition in the state, have called for Caste Census.
New Delhi: Bhartiya Janta Party's (BJP) top leaders and ministers will meet on Wednesday at the party headquarters here to discuss and plan for the programmes to mark the eight years of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.

Speaking to ANI, a top source in the party said, "There will be a meeting at the BJP headquarters on May 25. We will discuss the plan and programme for the grand celebrations of eight years of the Modi Government".

The BJP chief JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BL Santosh among others will take part in the meeting. The source in the party further said that they will also discuss the execution of 15 days long programmes related to 'Seva, Shushan, and Gareeb Kalyan' to mark eight years. The target is to reach people with all the policies and programmes of the government, said the source.

"The BJP is planning for the grand celebrations by reaching out to its people with government policies and programmes. The ministers will take out `Vikas Teeratha yatra`. Details will be discussed in the meeting tomorrow," the source added.

The BJP will complete its eight years at the Centre on May 30, which the party plans to celebrate from May 30 to June 14 on the theme of `Service, Good Governance and Poor Welfare`.

Notably, in the meeting of the BJP national office bearers that took place in Jaipur on May 20, a blueprint was prepared to take the report card of the government to the people.
New Delhi: Yasin Malik, separatist leader from Jammu and Kashmir, has sentenced to life imprisonment in terror funding case. On Wednesday (May 25), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had urged the court to give the death penalty to Yasin Malik. Malik had said that will not beg for anything and left the decision on court. The lawyer who attended the court proceeding said, in the courtroom, "Yasin said that if he has been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in 28 years, if Indian Intelligence proves this, then he will also retire from politics. 'I will accept the hanging. With seven Prime Ministers, I have worked'. But the court has sentenced Yasin to life. Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh announced the sentence.

Yasin has got two life sentences and five punishments of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The sentences will to run concurrently. A monetary penalty of over  10 lakh has also been levied, as per reports.

#WATCH | Terror funding case: Yasin Malik being taken out of NIA Court in Delhi. He will be taken to Tihar Jail shortly. He has been awarded life imprisonment in the matter. pic.twitter.com/bCq5oo47Is  ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2022

Earlier, on the demand by NIA for the death penalty to the separatist leader, he said, "I will not beg for anything. The case is before this court and I left on the court to decide it." NIA SPP (Special Public Prosecutor) told the court that Yasin Malik is responsible, in part, for the Kashmiri Pandit exodus.

The court on the last date had convicted him in the matter. Malik recently had pleaded guilty in the terror funding case. The lawyer representing NIA on Wednesday sought maximum punishment against Malik. However, Advocate Akhand Pratap Singh (court-appointed amicus) sought minimum punishment (life imprisonment). Earlier, the court asked NIA to give an affidavit on the socio-economic status of convict Yasin Malik after taking the help of local authorities. Malik is also directed to file an affidavit disclosing all sources of his income and assets (movable and immovable).

Yasin Malik has been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, other unlawful activities, and disturbing peace in Kashmir. He had pleaded guilty in the matter. On the last date of the hearing, he told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him, including Sections 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of a terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

The present case is related to the various terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) backed by Islamic State perpetrating the terrorist and secessionist activities to disturb Jammu and Kashmir.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday (May 25) registered a PMLA case against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, Bhaskararaman and others in the Chinese visa racket case. The economic probe agency has taken cognisance of the FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The ED will summon Karti and others shortly. The Congress MP is likely to join the investigation at the CBI headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday. Earlier on May 17, the CBI had arrested Karti`s close associate S Bhaskar Raman in the case.

Sources told ANI, "as per the court`s orders of Karti`s bail, he has to appear before CBI within 16 hours of reaching India", adding "We haven`t summoned him since the court has already directed him to join the investigation within 16 hours of his arrival in India. If he fails to appear, then we might issue summon order to him for joining the investigation."

Earlier on Tuesday, Karti P Chidambaram claimed that he is not involved in the Visa case, anyhow, adding "I am heading back home today, as per the plan made when I left two weeks ago for UK and Europe. It does not intimidate me that the central government is once again using its agencies to accuse me of a malicious and completely fabricated charge."

Adhering to continue his fight against the "motivated attempts to target his father (P Chidambaram) through him", Karti said, "Previously, the agencies have gone after me on the basis of the statement of an undertrial murder suspect. Now, they are basing their bogus charges on the alleged actions of a deceased person, whom I never met."

Denying all the allegations of being connected with the scam, Karti further said, "For what it`s worth, however, I firmly state that I am not associated with this visa issue directly, indirectly, vicariously or even telepathically! The allegations against me by the CBI are ludicrous, to say the least. I categorically deny all of them."

"I say with certainty that I have never facilitated even a single Chinese national in their visa process, let alone 250. I have no knowledge of the procedures, processes and the formalities that need to be fulfilled in order to obtain visas related to project work in India..." ANI quoted the Congress MP as saying.

Expressing faith in the judiciary, he further said, "In the last 7 years, I have been raided 6 times, without any cause or evidence by the central government`s agencies, which has sadly become a single party`s machinery to fulfill its political vendetta. Professionals associated with me are being targeted and harassed... My travel has been restricted and I have been made to do rounds of the courts even for a visit to my daughter at her university."

(With ANI Inputs)
New Delhi: After Kapil Sibal on Wednesday (May 25) declared that he resigned from the grand old party on May 16, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said that "people come and go from our party", adding that he will not blame anyone for the senior leaders exit. Sibal is among the five prominent faces that left the Sonia Gandhi-led party this year. A few days back in a major setback, senior Punjab politician Sunil Jakhar and Gujarat leader Hardik Patel resigned from Congress.

Commenting on the former Union ministers resignation, Venugopal said, "He had already written a letter to the Party President. The letter says that he firmly believed in the values of Congress. He said nothing else. Let him state his position. Then I can say. The resignation letter is of a very high standard. People come and go from our party. This is a big party. Some may be leaving the party. Some may go to other parties. I am not going to blame anybody who left the party. Congress has a vast space.

Sibals resignation comes in the backdrop of Congress recent 'Chintan Shivir' in Udaipur. The Congress General Secretary said that the grand old party will undergo a comprehensive re-organization, with every person being designated a task, ANI reported.

Attacking the BJP-led Centre, Venugopal accused the government of using central agencies against the Opposition. "During this regime, the Central Government is using the CBI, intelligence and all other agencies to eliminate political opponents. They are working to eliminate other political parties by using vicious methods that have never been used by any government. It`s hard to survive. But we have confidence. The Congress has the strength to overcome this. The Congress also has leaders for that. There will be temporary setbacks here and there. We will study the problems. The party will be strengthened and taken forward brilliantly," he said.

Announcing his exit from Congress, Sibal, after filing his nomination papers for Rajya Sabha as an independent candidate backed by Akhilesh Yadavs party, said earlier in the day, "I will not say anything about Congress. I have resigned. So it is not appropriate for me to say anything about Congress. It is not easy to leave a relationship of 30-31 years. In the past, only a few came to House by getting elected independently, especially in Rajya Sabha. I have got a big opportunity and it has been given to me by Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, Azam Khan. I will raise the issues of the country in the House."

(With agency inputs)
As many as 21 people, including 19 children, were killed after a teenage gunman opened fire at a school in Texas (United States) on Wednesday (May 25, 2022). Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that the suspect, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was apparently killed by police officers responding to the scene and that two officers were struck by gunfire.

In today's DNA, Zee News Editor In Chief Sudhir Chaudhary analyses the gun culture and mass shootings in the US.

This was the biggest incident of mass shooting in the US in the last decade. All of the children killed in it are under the age of 11. The attacker deliberately targeted such small children because he wanted to create fear in the minds of their parents as well as the rest of the people of the city.

This attack took place in a school in the state of Texas, about two thousand 700 kilometers from Washington DC, where about 600 children studied. The boy who attacked this school was only 18 years old. And he had bought two rifles on his birthday, the day before the attack. He had also posted some of his pictures with these rifles on social media.

However, then people did not take these pictures very seriously because in the US it is quite common to post such pictures on social media with weapons. In fact, 44 percent of people above the age of 18 have a gun in their home. And there it is as easy for people to buy a gun as it is to buy any toy from the shops in our country. This is the reason why this boy easily bought two guns and kept them in his house. And then he attacked this school.

Before this attack, he also shot and killed his grandmother. And after that he entered the school with a gun, and started firing indiscriminately on small children in this school. He took the lives of 19 children in a few minutes.

Live TV
New Delhi: In a big move aimed at providing required relief to consumers, the Central Government has exempted customs duty and agriculture infrastructure development cess on 20 Lakh metric tonnes of yearly import of crude soyabean and sunflower oil.

According to a Finance Ministry notification, the order will come into force on May 25, 2022, and shall cease to apply after March 31, 2024.

"Central Govt has allowed import of a quantity of 20 Lakh MT each of Crude Soyabean Oil & Crude Sunflower Oil per year for a period of 2 years at Nil rate of customs duty & Agricultural Infrastructure and Development Cess. This will provide significant relief to the consumers", the CBIC tweeted.

Central Govt. has allowed import of a quantity of 20 Lakh MT each of Crude Soyabean Oil & Crude Sunflower Oil per year for a period of 2 years at Nil rate of customs duty & Agricultural Infrastructure and Development Cess. This will provided significant relief to the consumers. pic.twitter.com/jvVq0UTfvv  CBIC (@cbic_india) May 24, 2022

The announcement comes in the wake of a surge in edible oil prices in India. India is one of the worlds largest vegetable oil importers and relies on imports for 60 per cent of its needs.

Meanwhile, after Russia`s invasion of Ukraine, edible oil prices have shot up significantly. Sunflower oil is imported into India majorly from Ukraine and Russia.

In February, the Government of India on Monday announced that agri-cess on crude palm oil has been reduced to 5 per cent with effect from 12th February 2022 from the earlier 7.5 per cent.
New Delhi: An abandoned Pakistani fishing boat was seized by the Border Security Force (BSF) on Wednesday (May 25) near the border in Gujarat's Kutch district, PTI cited an official statement as saying. As per the BSF, the boat probably glided to the Indian side due to strong winds. A BSF patrolling team came across the boat in the morning on the Indian sides border with Pakistan in Harami Nala creek area.

"Crossing the marshes and nalas on foot, the BSF patrol party immediately reached the spot and seized one Pakistani fishing boat about 100 meters inside the Indian border near border pillar no. 1165," said the release. The boat swept inside the Indian territory likely due to "high sea state and strong winds," the statement added.

This Pakistani fishing boat was probably washed away inside the Indian territory due to high sea state (Sea State 5) & strong winds. The seized boat was thoroughly searched & nothing suspicious recovered except fishing nets & fishing equipment. Intensive search of the area is on. pic.twitter.com/mzvuj1bBs0  BSF GUJARAT (@BSF_Gujarat) May 25, 2022

The security officials recovered fishing nets and equipment from the boat, the BSF said adding nothing questionable was found.

Earlier in February, the BSF had started a massive combing operation in the Harami Nala area against intruders. The border force had then caught six Pakistani nationals and captured 11 fishing boats. Later on May 4, the BSF had seized a boat abandoned by Pakistani fishermen in the same area.

Notably, Indian fishermen are banned from this creek due to security reasons, while Pakistan fishermen are often caught from the region after they set sail in the Indian waters, mostly in search of better catch, PTI reported.

(With PTI inputs)
Srinagar: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on Wednesday granted bail to PDP leader Waheed Para, who was arrested by the NIA in a terror conspiracy case in November 2020. While granting bail to Para against a surety of Rs 1 lakh, a division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice V C Koul laid down several conditions on the PDP leader.

The court directed Para to present himself before the investigating officer as and when required to, surrender his passport to the investigating officer of the case and not leave the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir without the prior permission of the trial court.

Para, perhaps, has become the first person to benefit from the Supreme Court putting on hold trial of cases under section 124 A (sedition). The division bench listed the apex court ruling as one of the mitigating factors while allowing Para's appeal for bail.

"Regarding the sedition charges under Section 124-A IPC, the issue is governed by the recent judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of S.G. Vombatkere vs. Union of India, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 470, whereby the Supreme Court has directed that all the pending trials, appeals and proceedings with respect to the charge framed under Section 124-A of IPC shall be kept in abeyance," the court observed.

The division bench said keeping in view the totality of circumstances and the discussion made hereinabove, "we are of the considered view that this appeal deserves to be allowed. Ordered accordingly."

"Consequently, order dated 20.07.2021 passed by the Special Judge, NIA Srinagar is set aside and the appellant is admitted to bail in connection with FIR No.31/2020 registered in Police 15 Crl A(D) No.15/2021 Station, CIK Srinagar," the court order said.

"The Superintendent, Central Jail, Srinagar, is directed to release the appellant, provided he is not involved in any other case, after the appellant furnishes before him a personal bond of rupees one lac with a surety of the like amount," it said.

The court observed that Para had not been charged under section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

"In the instant case, the appellant is not charged with Section 15 of UAPA Act and, therefore, the reverse burden provision contained in Section 43-E of the UAPA Act is not attracted. When we view the instant case in the light of settled legal position, we find that the trial Court has not exercised the discretion in consonance with the settled legal principles on grant or refusal of the bail," the court said.

"As is rightly contended by learned counsel appearing for the appellant that the appellant is charged under Section 18 of UAPA Act read with Sections 120-B and 121-A IPC, but no material or evidence is brought on record by the prosecution to sustain the charge," the bench added.

The court also said that viewed from any angle, the evidence assembled by the investigating agency and relied upon by the prosecution to prosecute the appellant even if accepted as it is without any denial or rebuttal by the appellant, is not such on the basis of which the Court can formulate an opinion that the allegations proved during the investigation are prima facie true.

"The evidence as is gathered by the prosecution is too sketchy to be believed prima facie true, that too, with a view to deny bail to the appellant. The gravamen of allegation against the appellant is that he was hobnobbing with a member of a terrorist organisation with a view to further his political aspirations. The appellant is shown to be a member of mainstream political party i.E Peoples Democratic Party which has remained in power in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir," it added.

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Monkeypox has been rapidly spreading to over a dozen countries, but what can come as a relief to people is the statement by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC has dispelled fears saying that the virus doesn't spread via air as Covid-19. The CDC noted that the monkeypox virus transmission requires close contact with an infected person, CNBC reported. Although it can spread through respiratory droplets as well, but not nearly as easily as Covid-19, they said.

'Monkeypox surveillance similar to that of Covid-19'

In tune with the CDC statement, Dr NK Arora, Chairman, COVID working group National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), said, "Monkeypox is not as contagious or severe as Covid-19. However, its spread is a matter of concern. It will have severe output in those immunocompromised. The government has set up an expert committee for this. The surveillance similar to that of Covid-19."

First monkeypox case in Finland?

Meanwhile, Finland has identified a "highly likely" first case of monkeypox in the country, the Helsinki hospital district said in a statement on Wednesday (May 25). The hospital district on Wednesday found that a man, who had returned from a trip to another European country, had an infection caused by an orthopoxvirus and will by the end of the week know for sure whether it is monkeypox. "The patient that is currently at home has blisters and a high fever but otherwise he is feeling well," the hospital district said.

How does monkeypox spread?

A monkeypox patient with lesions in their throat or mouth can spread the virus through respiratory droplets if they are around someone else for an extended period of time. However, the virus does not spread easily that way, Dr Jennifer McQuiston, a CDC official was quoted as saying. "This is not Covid," McQuiston said, adding "Respiratory spread is not the predominant worry. It is contact and intimate contact in the current outbreak setting and population."

For example, nine people with monkeypox took lengthy flights from Nigeria to other countries without infecting anyone else on the planes, according to McQuiston. "It's not a situation where if you're passing someone in the grocery store, they're going to be at risk for monkeypox," she said.

It is primarily spread through sustained physical contact such as skin-to-skin touch with someone who has an active rash, CDC officials said. The virus can also spread through contact with materials that have the virus on them like shared bedding and clothing.

Monkeypox: Vaccines needed?

South African disease experts said on Wednesday that they did not see a need for a mass vaccination campaign against monkeypox or believe that cases would explode in the same way as COVID-19. South Africa has not recorded any confirmed or suspected of cases of monkeypox, a usually mild viral infection that is endemic in parts of West and Central Africa.

(With inputs from Agencies)
June 3, 1959  May 14, 2022

Geraldine "Gerri" Chapman Talley always took care of her co-workers  and especially their stomachs.

At Transitional Services, a Buffalo nonprofit where Talley worked for nine years, colleagues said she was known for her baking skills, especially her apple crisp that she would bring in to share. Co-workers were the lucky taste-testers when Talley wanted to try a new recipe. There was nothing she couldn't cook.

She also baked cakes for an office birthday club.

Even after Talley left Transitional Services in 2016 to pursue another job, former colleagues still called her to request baked goods, which she would deliver  whether it was for an office event or a dish that would be passed or shared at a personal gathering.

"Gerri baked for everyone in the office," said Kimberly M. Larratta, executive administrative assistant at Transitional Services. "She baked for our families for holidays and birthday cakes for our children."

Perhaps that's why, to many co-workers, Talley felt like a friend or a family member. Talley was one of the 10 people killed May 14 when a white supremacist from the Southern Tier visited the Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue and started shooting. She was 62 years old.

Family, friends remember Geraldine Talley as a 'beautiful soul' Family and friends remember Geraldine Talley, 62, as a friendly person eager to help others in need and someone who loved to cook. She and her fiance went to Tops on Saturday afternoon for a quick shopping trip.

At Transitional Services, which helps people living with mental illness and related substance abuse issues transition to community housing, Talley worked as the administrative assistant and the receptionist at the office. Larratta said she was dedicated to her job and was delightful to work with.

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"We at Transitional Services Inc. feel the loss of a very sweet and generous person," she wrote in an email. "Gerri's sunny, sweet smile will be truly missed."

Transitional Services is where Talley also met Gregory Allen, a maintenance staff member there. The two met about seven years ago and fell in love and were talking about getting married, Allen previously told The Buffalo News.

Allen and Talley were in the Tops store together that day, making a quick stop for food to make sandwiches. Allen was in another aisle from Talley to get the iced tea when the incident occurred. He climbed into a cooler to stay safe.

Talley was born in Grove Hill, Ala., before moving to Buffalo in 1971 with her parents and her sister. Paula Henderson wrote on Talley's tribute wall on Lombardo Funeral Home's website that she met Talley in fifth grade at Clarke County School, noting the two developed a friendship as the only two people of color in the class.

After Talley moved, Henderson wrote, they continued to write each other through high school before they each went on to create their own lives. But they later reconnected on Facebook.

"I will always remember her smile and calming spirit," Henderson wrote. "Rest well my childhood friend."

In Western New York, Talley graduated in 1981 with a degree in secretarial science from Bryant & Stratton College.

In Talley's death notice, her family wrote that she loved spending time with family, sitting by the water and baking.

"Gerri will be remembered for her beautiful spirit, her dimpled smile and immense love for her family," the family wrote.

Talley is survived by her children, Genicia Smith, Mark Talley Jr. and stepdaughter Marquish Jacobs; three sisters; one brother; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Relatives and friends are gathering at the Mt. Aaron Baptist Church, at 540 Genesee St., from 10 to 11 a.m. Friday. A funeral service will immediately follow at 11 a.m.

Jon Harris can be reached at 716-849-3482 or jharris@buffnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByJonHarris.

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New Delhi: In another tragic killing in Jammu and Kashmir, a woman was shot dead and her minor nephew wounded by terrorists at her residence in the Budgam district on Wednesday (May 25), PTI cited the police as saying. The woman has been identified as Amreen Bhat, a TV artiste, who was shot dead by terrorists at her house in Chadoora, ANI reported. She was taken to a hospital where doctors declared her dead. Her 10-year-old nephew also received a bullet injury on his arm, the J&K police added.

"At around 1955 hrs, terrorists fired upon one lady Amreen Bhat D/o Khazir Mohd Bhat R/o Hushroo Chadoora at her home. She was shifted to hospital in injured condition where doctors declared her dead," the police said.

#UPDATE | Three terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT were involved in this heinous terror incident. The area has been cordoned off and searches started. Case registered and investigated underway: Police  ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2022

According to the police, three terrorists of the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were behind the gunning. The area has been cordoned off and the police have registered a case. A probe is underway, the J&K police said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah expressed "shock" and grief at the heinous attack. "Shocked & deeply saddened by the murderous militant attack on Ambreen Bhat. Sadly Ambreen lost her life in the attack & her nephew was injured. There can be no justification for attacking innocent women & children like this. May Allah grant her place in Jannat," the former J&K Chief Minister tweeted.

He added, "Her nephew is a young 10 year old boy. Yesterday it was a police constables daughter injured in an attack & today this young 10 year old child. How does anyone justify these attacks?"

Her nephew is a young 10 year old boy. Yesterday it was a police constables daughter injured in an attack & today this young 10 year old child. How does anyone justify these attacks?  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 25, 2022

This incident comes a day after a cop was shot dead and his 7-year-old daughter injured after terrorists attacked them outside their Srinagar home.

The spate of killings has increased in Jammu and Kashmir over the past few months, with terrorists even targeting civilians and non-locals.

Meanwhile, Kashmiri Pandits have been agitating against the J&K administration over the killing of a government employee Rahul Bhat. Bhat was killed by terrorists inside the Tehsil office in Chadoora of Budgam district of Central Kashmir on May 12. The protestors are demanding the relocation of all migrant Kashmiri Pandits, who got jobs under the prime minister's package, to safer places.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal, who resigned from Congress on May 16, said on Wednesday (May 25) that he will work towards forging an Opposition alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government. Backed by the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP), Sibal filed nomination papers today for the Rajya Sabha elections as an independent candidate in Lucknow. He told ANI, "I will not say anything about Congress. I have resigned. So it is not appropriate for me to say anything about Congress. It is not easy to leave a relationship of 30-31 years. In the past, only a few came to House by getting elected independently, especially in Rajya Sabha. I have got a big opportunity and it has been given to me by Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, Azam Khan. I will raise the issues of the country in the House."

Sibal said he will work towards highlighting the flaws of the Modi government ahead of the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. "I had tendered my resignation from the Congress party on May 16. It is important to be an independent voice. While staying in Opposition we want to create an alliance so that we can oppose the Modi government. We want the flaws of the Modi government to be known to the people in 2024. I will put my efforts for that," he said.

Sibal was among one of the G23 members, a group of dissenters in Congress that had sought an organisational overhaul. The senior lawyers tenure as Congress' Rajya Sabha MP will end in July. "I have filed the nomination as an Independent candidate. I thank Akhileshji for supporting me," he told the reporters, adding that he is no longer a senior Congress leader.

Without elaborating on his exit from the Congress, which is seen as a big jolt for the party, Sibal said, "I had a deep relation with the Congress. It was for 30-31 years. This is not a small thing. I joined the Congress because of Rajivji (former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi). You must be thinking, how one can go from the Congress after 31 years. There must be something (for leaving the party).. That my heart is facing. Sometimes such decisions are to be taken."

Sibal said his ideology is related to that of the Congress and he is not far away from the grand old party. The top lawyer is among the prominent faces that left Sonia Gandhi-led Congress this year. A few days back in a major setback, senior Punjab politician Sunil Jakhar and Gujarat leader Hardik Patel resigned from the party.

(With agency inputs)
Lucknow: Former MHRD minister Kapil Sibal filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha with the support of the Samajwadi Party in presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav at the party headquarters in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday (May 25). Sibal told reporters that he had resigned from the Congress on May 16 and is currently an independent voice.

He further said, I have filed nomination as an Independent candidate. I have always wanted to be an independent voice in the country, adding, On May 16, I resigned from the Congress Party.

Sibal said, "It is important to be an independent voice. While staying in Opposition we want to create an alliance so that we can oppose the Modi govt."

It is important to be an independent voice. While staying in Opposition we want to create an alliance so that we can oppose the Modi govt: Kapil Sibal after filling nomination of Rajya Sabha with the support of Samajwadi Party pic.twitter.com/UbqfLJlVbD  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) May 25, 2022

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav told ANI, "Today Kapil Sibal filed nomination. He is going to Rajya Sabha with SP's support. Two more people can go to the House. Kapil Sibal is a senior lawyer. He has presented his opinions well in the Parliament. We hope he'll present opinions of both SP as well as himself."

Today Kapil Sibal filed nomination. He is going to Rajya Sabha with SP's support. Two more people can go to the House. Kapil Sibal is a senior lawyer. He has presented his opinions well in the Parliament.We hope he'll present opinions of both SP as well as himself: Akhilesh Yadav pic.twitter.com/eGFYVNkAwA  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) May 25, 2022

Earlier in January 2017, Sibal had argued at the Election Commission that Akhilesh Yadav should get the 'Bicycle' symbol, and Akhilesh eventually got the symbol.

Another jolt to Congress

Sibal, whose exit from the Congress is another jolt to electorally battered party. A prominent member of the G23, which had sought an organisational overhaul in the Congress, Sibal's tenure as Congress' Rajya Sabha MP ends in July,

Sibal's resignation comes close on the heels of Sunil Jakhar and Hardik Patel resigning from the Congress, which recently held a 'Chintan Shivir' in Udaipur.

Notably, elections for 11 Upper House seats of Uttar Pradesh are underway.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (May 25, 2022) arrived at the Palam Air Force Station in Delhi after concluding his action-packed two-day Japan visit. In Tokyo, the prime minister participated in the Quad Leaders' Summit and also held bilateral meetings with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden, and new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

During the Quad Leaders' second in-person Summit, PM Modi highlighted India`s consistent and principled position on the need for cessation of hostilities, resumption of dialogue, and diplomacy.

"Our mutual trust, our determination, is giving new energy and enthusiasm to the democratic forces," he told fellow Quad leaders.

Highlights from Japan. Have a look. pic.twitter.com/haYnljDnfx  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 24, 2022

The Summit in Tokyo, notably, is the fourth interaction of Quad Leaders since their first virtual meeting in March 2021.

Meanwhile, a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi "leading" the Quad leaders from the front in Tokyo has gone viral on the internet. In the picture, PM Modi could be seen walking down a flight of stairs leading the head of states of Japan, Australia, and the United States.

Union Minister Smriti Irani shared the picture on her official Twitter handle and said, "Pradhan Sevak - knows the way, goes the way, shows the way."

Pradhan Sevak  knows the way , goes the way , shows the way pic.twitter.com/QTpN8ODxhR  Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) May 24, 2022

The national convener of BJP`s IT cell Amit Malviya also shared the picture and captioned it, "Leading the world... a picture is worth a thousand words."

Leading the world a picture is worth a thousand words. pic.twitter.com/T4lJ8rFt1u  Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 24, 2022

Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, and Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesperson Sambit Patra were also among the BJP leaders who shared the photo to hail PM Modi's leadership skills.
Srinagar: Mehbooba Mufti, the president of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), compared the judiciaries of India and Pakistan on Wednesday, claiming that although six others were condemned to death in a lynching case in Pakistan, people accused of the same crime in India were released on bail and felicitated. "In Pakistan, one man was lynched. They sentenced six to death and 12 others were given life sentence. How many Akhlaqs have been lynched here so far since 2015? No one has been punished," Mehbooba told reporters in Kulgam after a party convention.

"Forget about being punished, the accused are garlanded. That is the difference between this judiciary and that judiciary," she said.

Interacting with the media, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said the BJP has nothing to give to the people of the country except stoking communal sentiments.

"They don't have jobs for the youth, the price rise is uncontrollable and people are finding it difficult to get two square meals. They had said they will put Rs 15 lakh in people's account. Instead they snatched food grain from the farmers at cheap rate and distributed five kg free to each family. That's how this country is being run. In such a situation, targeting Muslims and their places of worship and raising Hindu-Muslim issues is all they have. However, I want to tell them if you have any prescription like Hitler, let it be known for all, what do you want to do with Muslims?," she asked.

Asked about the recent spate of killings in Kashmir, Mehbooba said unless the government stopped its 'muscular policy', she does not see an end to the bloodshed.

"They said once Article 370 goes, there will be no strike or killings. Why are people being killed now? What is the security forces doing? Unless they stop the policy of arrests and harassment, bloodshed in Kashmir won't stop," she added.

Earlier, she was also asked about JKLF chief Yasin Malik who was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday (May 25) by an NIA court in Delhi.

ALSO READ: Yasin Malik, Kashmiri separatist, gets life imprisonment in terror funding case

She said Jammu and Kashmir is a 'political issue' and such incidents in the past have been unable to resolve the problem. "People (from Kashmir) have been hanged before as well but it has not resolved the issue. It has only become more complex. I think the consequences and results of adopting a muscular policy will not be good. It will be contrary to expectations," she added.

(With PTI inputs)

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Kanyakumari: Claiming that no case of monkeypox was reported in Tamil Nadu, Minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday appealed to people not to panic about the viral zoonotic disease. The Minister for Medical and Family Welfare said the government has advised Health department officials to step up surveillance at airports and directed hospitals to inform the government if anyone is suspected to have symptoms of the virus.

"Monkeypox disease is spreading in various countries like the United States, England, Europe, Canada, Australia. There are no fatalities reported due to the virus. We have directed authorities to step up surveillance in all the airports including screening of passengers who arrive from African countries," Subramanian told reporters after inspecting the facilities at the district government hospital here.

Subramanian said the Health department advised both private and government-run hospitals to inform the district health director about patients who show symptoms of the monkeypox virus.

"People need not panic about the viral disease," he said.

Public are advised to refrain not to come in contact with animals and also isolating an individual for three weeks if he has symptoms of the virus, he said.

Following hygiene practices like keeping hands clean also help in containing the spread of the virus, he added.

On Monday, Health Department Principal Secretary J Radhakrishnan directed the district collectors and commissioners of corporations to monitor and identify suspected cases of monkeypox, if any, and isolate them at healthcare facilities for appropriate treatment.

In a message to collectors, he said people who have travelled in the last 21 days to a country that has recently confirmed or suspected cases of the monkeypox should be monitored.
New Delhi: On Wednesday (May 25), Uttar Pradesh minister and BJP leader Jitin Prasada took a dig at Kapil Sibal after the latter announced he had quit the Congress and filed his nomination for a Rajya Sabha seat from UP as an Independent backed by the Samajwadi Party. In an apparent payback, Prasada - a former member of the G23 who had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking an organisational overhaul before quitting the party and joining the BJP - took to Twitter to say, "How's the 'Prasad' Mr. Sibal!#Rajyasabha," seeking to get even with the former Congress veteran.

When Prasada joined the BJP months before the UP assembly elections, Sibal had written on the microblogging website, "Jitin Prasada Joins BJP. The question is will he get 'prasada' from BJP or is he just a 'catch' for UP elections? In such deals if 'ideology' doesn't matter changeover is easy."

Check out Jitin Prasada's tweet and Kapil Sibal's previous tweet:

Sibal had used the "prasada" analogy to hint at the benefits the leader could possibly reap from joining the BJP. The pun did not go down well with Prasada, who got a payback moment when Sibal announced he quit the Congress on May 16 and filed his nomination as a Samajwadi Party supported Independent candidate on Wednesday. Prasada tagged Sibal's tweet and gave it back to him in words the latter had used when he quit the Congress.

Meanwhile, Sibal, whose exit is another jolt for the electorally battered Congress that has seen a spate of high-profile resignations, said he dreams of bringing all opposition parties together in the fight against the BJP in 2024. Refusing to speak against the Congress, a party he has been with for three decades, he said he bears it no ill-will and is not far from the party and its ideology. The former Union minister went to the Uttar Pradesh assembly premises to file his papers with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav and other senior leaders by his side.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday arrived at the Air Force Station, Palam, Delhi after participating in the Quad Leaders` Summit as part of his two-day tour in Japan. The Summit in Tokyo is the fourth interaction of Quad Leaders since their first virtual meeting in March 2021, in-person Summit in Washington D.C. in September 2021 and virtual meeting in March 2022.

Delhi | Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives from Tokyo after participating in #QuadSummit2022 as part of his two-day tour in Japan. (Source: DD) pic.twitter.com/yvLPRB8Qrm  ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2022

At the Quad Summit, PM Modi highlighted India`s consistent and principled position on the need for cessation of hostilities, resumption of dialogue and diplomacy.

PM Modi, along with the leaders of the Quad nations, took part in the fourth interaction of the leaders, which saw criticism of Russian military action in Ukraine, from Australia, Japan and the United States.

During the summit, the leaders reiterated their shared commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and the importance of upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of disputes.

They exchanged perspectives on developments in the Indo-Pacific and the conflict in Europe. On the sidelines of the Quad Summit, Prime Minister on Tuesday had bilateral meetings with US President Joe Biden and new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He will also have a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

On the first day of his visit to Japan on Monday, the Prime Minister had a series of engagements. He participated in the event to launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity and chaired a business roundtable in Tokyo. He also interacted with members of the Indian community.
Blood spilled in front of the famous Jagannath temple in Puri, Odisha. The son of the priest of the Jagannath temple was shot dead. The police force reached the spot to investigate the murder. The police have already arrested the accused. District SP Vishal Singh said that the accused in the murder has been arrested. The reason for the murder is said to be personal enmity. The police acted swiftly after the murder of the priest's son of the temple and the accused has been arrested.

After this incident, there has been a wave of panic in Puri. The accused has been arrested by the police. The police custody will be questioned. After the shooting, a huge crowd gathered at the spot. The police in the murder case showed caution and took the impostors to themselves. They interrogated him. The investigation of the case is going on.
New Delhi: Even as Delhi`s Saket Court reserved the order on an appeal regarding the restoration of 27 Hindu and Jain temples in the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli, Capital's Waqf Board has claimed that Namaz used to be offered at a mosque there, that was stopped by the Archaeological Survey of India.

The ASI on Tuesday opposed a plea before a Delhi court seeking restoration of Hindu and Jain deities inside the Qutab Minar complex, saying it is not a place of worship and the existing status of the monument cannot be altered, said a PTI report.

In a letter to ASI Director-General last week, Delhi Waqf Board chairman Amanatullah Khan requested for allowing Namaz at the "ancient" Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in Qutab Minor complex, claiming it was stopped by the ASI officials. The letter reportedly quotes him as saying, "Five-time daily prayers were offered by the Muslims at the mosque and the practice continued without any hindrance and interference since its inception."

Delhi Waqf Board chairman further said, "It is important to mention that the said mosque is duly notified Waqf property vide Gazette of Delhi administration dated 16.04.1970 and five time prayer is taking place at the said mosque since times immemorial," requesting the ASI DG for action against those officials who stopped Namaz at the mosque, and allow it without any restriction so that the peace and harmony of the area are "maintained".

Imam of the mosque, Maulvi Sher Mohammad appointed by the Waqf Board, had also written a letter to ASI in this regard on May 7, stating that the ASI officials were not allowing them to offer prayers in the mosque.

Court reserves order on plea to restore temples in Qutub Minar complex

Delhi`s Saket Court on Tuesday reserved the order on an appeal regarding the restoration of 27 Hindu and Jain temples in the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli. It was alleged in the appeal that the Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid situated within the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli was built in place of a temple complex.

After hearing the lengthy submissions of the appellant and other parties, additional District Judge Nikhil Chopra reserved the judgement in the matter and fixed June 9, 2022, for order.

According to reports, the court said that parties would be at liberty to file brief synopsis if any within a week, with an advance copy to the opposite party. Advocate Vishnu Jain appearing for the petitioner (Appellant) apprised the court that Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid situated within the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli was built in place of a temple complex.

Jain read Section 16 of the AMASR Act 1958 that says "A protected monument maintained by the Central Government under this Act which is a place of worship or shrine shall not be used for any purpose inconsistent with its character," submitting that "Once a deity always a deity and it has its dignity forever. It is the determination of character."

Meanwhile, appearing for Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) opposed the appeal and said Qutub Minar is a monument and no one can claim a fundamental right over such a structure.

As per the Ancient Monuments Act, the Qutub Minar Complex is a monument and no right to worship can be granted at this place. There is no provision under AMASR Act 1958 under which worship can be started at any living monument. High court of Delhi clearly mentioned in its order dated January 27, 1999, stated ASI.

The suit was filed on behalf of Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishabh Dev and Hindu deity Lord Vishnu (through their next of friends), seeking restoration of the alleged temple complex, comprising as many as 27 temples.

"The suit was filed to preserve and protect the religious and cultural heritage of India and to exercise the right to religion guaranteed by Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India by restoring 27 Hindu and Jain temples with respective deities which were dismantled, desecrated and damaged under the command and orders of Qutub-Din-Aibak, a commander of invader Mohammad Ghori, who established slave dynasty and raised some construction at the same very place of temples naming it as, Quwwat-Ul-Islam Mosque," the plea said.

The suit sought to declare that Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, Lord Sun, Goddess Gauri, Lord Hanuman, Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishab Dev have the right to be "restored" within the temple complex at the site of Quwwatul Mosque Complex, Mehrauli, south-west Delhi "after rebuilding it with the same honour and dignity".

It also sought to issue an injunction directing the Central government to create a trust, according to the Trust Act 1882, and hand over the management and administration of the temple complex situated within the area of Qutub Complex in Mehrauli after framing a scheme of the administration to such trust.

"Pass a decree in the nature of a permanent injunction, restraining the defendants permanently from interfering in making necessary repair works, raising construction and making arrangement for the pooja, darshan and worship of deities in accordance with Sections 16 and 19 of `The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958` by a trust, to be created by the Central government within the area," the suit said.

The ASI counsel reportedly submitted before the court that it would be contrary to the law to agree to the contention of any person claiming a fundamental right to worship at the 'centrally protected' monument, adding "Qutab Minar is not a place of worship and since the time of its protection by the central government, Qutab Minar or any part of Qutab Minar was not under worship by any community."

The counsel for the ASI further said that it was very clear from the Persian inscription at the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, that the cloisters were erected with carved columns and other architectural members from 27 temples. The revival of worship was not allowed wherever it was not practised at the time of protection of a monument, he added.

(With Inputs from Agencies)
Struggling to control her emotions on the day after another mass shooting, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday called for new efforts to intercept the flow of illegal guns into New York State, require microstamping on some ammunition and raise the age for purchasing military-style rifles to 21.

Hochul joined Kevin Bruen, superintendent of the New York State Police, at the State Police Intelligence Center in the Albany suburb of East Greenbush to seek the Legislature's approval in the waning days of its session for the new age limit on purchasing weapons like the AR-15 used in the May 14 shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo. Police say they also recovered two AR-15 rifles from the Tuesday shooting scene in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed 21 lives  including 19 children.

Eighteen-year-olds are the accused shooters in both incidents, she noted.

"How does an 18-year-old purchase an AR-15 in the State of New York, or the State of Texas?" she asked. "That person isn't old enough to buy a legal drink.

"I want it to be 21," she added. "I think that's just common sense."

Hochul continued her drive to impose more controls on purchasing weapons such as the military-style AR-15.

"I don't want 18-year-olds to have guns, at least not in the State of New York," the governor said, adding she will concentrate on the AR-15 but examine limiting access to other guns too.

After an emergency meeting convened by Hochul on Wednesday morning, Bruen said State Police will immediately coordinate with local agencies in checking on schools during regular patrols through the end of the school year. He said parents should know that troopers and local police will be on extra alert to protect their children.

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Hochul acknowledged a California program requiring some bullets to be microstamped to provide a "fingerprint" upon discharge has encountered problems. But she said New York can learn from the California experience, and she called on the firearms industry to drop any opposition and join in crafting a better system. The governor reminded gun manufacturers of liability issues they continue to encounter, and she suggested it is in their best interests to cooperate in efforts she labeled "not punitive."

She also noted the need for cooperation with other states, which she said is improving but not to the extent needed.

"I'll be honest, doing this alone in the State of New York will not solve the problem as long as guns and high-capacity magazines as we saw in Buffalo come in from other states," she said.

Still, Hochul and Bruen noted new success in controlling illegal guns, citing the recent seizures of 4,105 guns. Hochul also pointed to her new executive order banning "ghost guns" stemming from homemade kits.

Gunning for the guns: Police cracking down in Buffalo to reduce shootings They are going after the "trigger pullers and the gun traffickers," Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said.

The governor also dismissed any suggestion the state should hold off on new measures because of possible legal challenges in court.

"I don't want to tie our hands when it comes to our desire to stop violence on the streets of New York or a grocery store in Buffalo," she said.

As funerals for the 10 victims of the Buffalo shootings continue, Hochul focused on the effects of guns on families and her desire to at least limit their access. She acknowledged the rights and limitations imposed by the Second Amendment but emphasized  with some emotion  her renewed resolve.

"It happens in a nation that seems to revere the rights of gun owners, and the ability to possess guns, over the right of children to stay alive, or to go to a school without fear of having to duck or run," Hochul said, criticizing Congress for a lack of action. "They look to us to protect them, and they have the right to be protected by the adults who govern this country.

"But just this morning, as we're all dealing with the pain, I'm asking myself as governor, 'Am I supposed to just leave all the flags at half-mast?' They're still at half-mast from Buffalo," she added. "No, I don't want to."

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Hyderabad (Telangana): Telangana Congress urged the Telangana government to remove the photo of Veer Savarkar from the Salar Jung Museum. Congress urged the government to replace it with the photo of freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Mahatma Gandhi or Nizams of Hyderabad.

Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, Organising Secretary in Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee Osman Mohammed Khan said, "The Congress leaders on Tuesday visited the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad. At the museum, we objected to placing the photo of Savarkar inside the Museum and demand the government to remove it with immediate effect."

Expressing his unhappiness over witnessing the minimalist representation of Nizams of Hyderabad in the museum, Khan said, "Today, we came to this museum which is one of the best in Hyderabad. I felt really bad looking at a few scenes here. Salar Jung was a Prime Minister during the Nizam rule. The Nizam family here had donated several antique pieces. However, the government did not acknowledge it well."

"The museum authorities have removed all his photos from the museum. Instead, they chose to place the photo of Savarkar here. Savarkar was never a part of the freedom struggle. He was supporting the Britishers. Putting his photo in Salar Jung museum is very shameful and we condemn it," ANI quoted him as saying.

The Congress leader questioned Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and said, "the museum comes under your jurisdiction. Here, the local MLA, local corporator is of AIMIM. Such a big issue is happening and you are not aware of it? We appeal that Savarkar`s portrait be removed from here immediately."

TRS slammed for nominating Parthasaradhi Reddy to Rajya Sabha

Telangana Congress working president Aredla Jagadeeshwar Reddy (Jagga Reddy) on Tuesday slammed the state government for nominating prominent industrialist Bandi Parthasaradhi Reddy to the Rajya Sabha.

KCR is learnt to have finalised the name of Parthasaradhi Reddy, the owner of pharma major Hetero Drugs, for the Rajya Sabha from the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, ANI report said.

"How can a person who committed a major scam is given a Rajya Sabha seat", questioned Jagga Reddy, questioning the TRS for giving a Rajya Sabha ticket to a person who was indulged in a major scam with the sale of Remdesivir medicine during the pandemic in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Initially, it was rumoured that Remedesivir was working for COVID-19 and that Remedsiver medicine was a big scam in both states. Parthasaradhi Reddy is the owner of pharma major Hetero Drugs.

Jagga Reddy, who alleged that the Remedesivir scam was worth Rs 10,000 crore, demanded that the Upper House ticket be denied to the person who played with people`s lives.

(With Agency Inputs)
Days after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin hugged former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi`s assassination convict upon his release, Shiv Sena said it is not a right ideal for the nation. Addressing the reporters today, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, "Everyone knows Tamil Nadu`s politics. Rajiv Gandhi was the nation`s leader. He sacrificed himself for the nation. He was assassinated in Tamil Nadu. If Chief Minister felicitates his assassins, I think it`s not our culture."

"If someone drafts a new dimension like this, then it is not a right ideal for the nation," he added. On May 18, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin met AG Perarivalan, one of the convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi`s assassination.

CM Stalin shared a video where he was seen hugging Perarivalan. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has been rooting for Perarivalan`s release for a long time. Congress has said it was "deeply saddened" by the Supreme Court order to release AG Perarivalan, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case while its ally DMK has hailed the apex court`s ruling.

Notably, Shiv Sena is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra in which the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress are also partners.

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New Delhi: At least six tourists from West Bengal, including four women, were killed and 40 others were injured late on Tuesday (May 24, 2022) night when the bus they were travelling in rolled down the road at Kalinga Ghat on the borders of Kandhamal and Ganjam districts of Odisha. The incident took place near the Durgaprasad village in Ganjam and 15 people among the injured are in serious condition, the PTI news agency quoted police as saying on Wednesday.

The bus was reportedly carrying 77 people, of which, about 65 were from West Bengal's Howrah and Hooghly districts. It was moving towards Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh from Daringibandi in Kandhamal district when the mishap took place, the PTI reported citing Ganjam superintendent of police Brijesh Rai.

The bodies of the six tourists -- Supiya Denre (33), Sanjeet Patra (33), Rima Denre (22), Mausumi Denre, Barnali Manna (34) and Swapan Gushait (44) -- were retrieved after breaking the window panes of the bus.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik expressed grief over the accident.

"I am deeply pained by the loss of lives due to a tragic accident in Odisha`s Ganjam district. In this tragic hour, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray that those injured recover at the very earliest: PM @narendramodi," tweeted Prime Minister`s office.

I am deeply pained by the loss of lives due to a tragic accident in Odishas Ganjam district. In this tragic hour, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray that those injured recover at the very earliest: PM @narendramodi  PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 25, 2022

Mamata said the state administration is coordinating with counterparts in Odisha for a quick post-mortem of the bodies and treatment of those injured in the mishap.

"Sad to know that six of our fellow citizens from WB have succumbed to their injuries, while some others are still struggling with the trauma of a grave road accident in the early hours today when they were moving in a hired bus in the Ganjam district of Odisha on their way to Vizag," she tweeted.

Banerjee also said that a high-level team led by the principal secretary in the state disaster management and the MLA of Udaynarayanpur is heading to Odisha to facilitate the return of those injured.

Sad to know that six of our fellow citizens from WB have succumbed to their injuries, while some others are still struggling with the trauma of a grave road accident today early hours when they were moving in a hired bus in the Ganjam district of Odisha on their way to Vizag(1/3)  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 25, 2022

Condolences to the relatives of the deceased, solidarity for the fighting survivors.(3/3)  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 25, 2022

Odisha Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera has ordered a probe into the circumstances leading to the accident.

(With agency inputs)
Srinagar: Mobile internet was suspended in Kashmir following the sentencing of Kashmiri Separatist leader Yasin Malik on Wednesday (May 25, 2022). The JKLF chief was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court on Wednesday (May 25). The decision to shut down mobile internet was taken as a precautionary measure. However, officials said that internet services were working on fixed-line including fiber and broadband.

Ahead of the Yasin Malik verdict, stone pelting had taken place in Srinagar and parts of Srinagar had observed a spontaneous shutdown on Wednesday ahead of a court's verdict on the quantum of sentence for separatist Yasin Malik, who has been convicted in a terror funding case, officials said. Most of the shops and business establishments in Maisuma and adjoining areas, including some shops in Lal Chowk, were shut, they said.

Shops in some areas of the old city here were also shut, however, public transport was plying normally, they added. Security forces have been deployed in strength in the city to avoid any law and order problems, they said.

Malik, the chief of banned JKLF, was on May 19 convicted by a Delhi court under the stringent anti-terror law in a case related to funding of terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir, after he pleaded guilty to all charges framed against him.

Special Judge Praveen Singh had then posted the matter for May 25 to announce the quantum of punishment and also directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to assess Malik's financial condition to determine the amount of fine that could be imposed.

(With PTI inputs)

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Kolkata: West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee on Wednesday appeared before the CBI here for interrogation in connection with its probe into the alleged irregularities of appointments in government-run and aided schools by West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC). Chatterjee, who was the education minister when the alleged illegal appointments were made, on Wednesday will be asked the same questions for which his answers did not match with those of the members of the advisory panel in connection with the scam, a CBI officer told PTI.

The members of the advisory panel, which was constituted by the West Bengal School Education Department in November 2019 for monitoring pending recruitments of teaching and non-teaching staff in the schools, were questioned by CBI sleuths earlier. The minister will also be asked questions about the appointment of the daughter of the Minister of State for Education Paresh Adhikari as a primary school teacher, the officer said.

SSC recruitment irregularities | West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee reaches CBI Office in Kolkata pic.twitter.com/33xLVmZ29H  ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2022

"We had asked Chatterjee questions on Wednesday last week when he appeared before us but his answers did not match with those of the members of the advisory panel. That is why we will ask him the same questions. He will also be asked questions related to Paresh Adhikari's daughter's appointment as a teacher in a government-aided school. We are trying to find out Chatterjee's links to all these," the CBI officer said.

This was the second time that Chatterjee, who is also the secretary-general of Trinamool Congress, is being questioned by the central investigating agency in connection with the scam, which has snowballed into a major controversy in the state.

He had appeared before the CBI on May 18 for questioning in the scam after a division bench of the Calcutta High Court he had approached upheld the orders of a single bench that directed the CBI to inquire into the alleged illegal appointments by the WBSSC. He was questioned for three and half hours on his first appearance.

The CBI is also looking into the alleged anomalies in recruitments in Group C posts in government-aided schools through the West Bengal School Service Commission, an official said on Sunday.

Chatterjee, who is presently the minister for industries and commerce, was directed to present himself before CBI on Wednesday last week by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court. He had also directed all five members of the advisory committee to appear before the CBI.
Tamil Nadu BJP Central District Chairman of the SC/ST wing, Balachandran, was allegedly murdered by three unidentified assailants in Chintadripet, a locality in Chennai on Tuesday. Speaking on this development, Viswanathan, father of BJP`s Central Chennai SC/ST wing president Balachandran, told ANI today, "For the past six months, there was a problem between my son and one Dharga Mohan. Dharga Mohan`s sons Pradeep and Sanjay wanted to join BJP, but my son refused as they are rowdies. Then, there was a clash between my son and them."

"There was also a clash between them and my son regarding a cloth shop where Pradeep and Sanjay demanded money from the shop (owner). Police should arrest them quickly," Viswanathan demanded today.

The body of the deceased was brought to the hospital for autopsy. As per State police officials, he was killed by three unknown people in Chintadripet. Chennai Commissioner of Police Shankar Jiwal told reporters, "It`s a murder case involving previous enmity (angle). Eyewitnesses have spoken about the incident. We have formed a special team to arrest the accused. I have come here to see if there was a lapse of any sort."

Further probe into the matter is underway.

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Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will reportedly avoid greeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he arrives here on Thursday to attend the 20th annual celebrations at the Indian School of Business (ISB). This would be the second time in less than four months that the TRS chief, who is eyeing a key role in national politics against the BJP, will do the same.

According to reports, Rao is scheduled to be in Bengaluru on that day to meet former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) leader HD Deve Gowda. KCR returned to Hyderabad on Monday from Delhi after a four-day visit to the national capital and Chandigarh. He is likely to leave for Bengaluru on Wednesday evening.

As per the schedule already announced, KCR will reach Bengaluru on May 26 where he will call on former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. The next day, he will reportedly leave for Ralegan Siddhi where he will meet prominent social activist Anna Hazare. From there, he will go to Shirdi for Saibaba`s darshan and will then return to Hyderabad.

During his stay in Delhi, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief had called on Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal, and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav. Rao along with Kejriwal also travelled to Chandigarh and they were joined by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for a programme on May 22, where KCR handed over cheques of Rs 3 lakh each to families of farmers who died during the movement against the three farm laws brought by the Centre.

KCR presented cheques of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of four Army personnel from Punjab who were martyred during clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley.

PM Modi to attend 20th annual day celebrations of ISB

Prime Minister Modi is visiting Hyderabad on May 26 to participate in 20th annual day celebrations of the ISB and the graduation ceremony of the postgraduate programme Class of 2022 of the business school. The Prime Minister will address the students of both Hyderabad and Mohali campuses, according to the programme announced by ISB dean Madan Pillutla.

PM Modi will reportedly plant a sapling at the ISB, unveil a commemorative plaque and release the ISB MyStamp and Special Cover, besides awarding medals to the academic scholars of excellence.

An IANS report said that the ISB had invited CM KCR for the event. The dean reportedly said that the chief minister conveyed his best wishes and informed that he would not be able to attend the event in view of his scheduled visit to another state.

Earlier on February 5, KCR had not received Modi on his arrival in Hyderabad and also skipped the two programmes attended by the Prime Minister, who had unveiled the statue of saint Ramanujacharya and inaugurated 50th-anniversary celebrations of ICRISAT during the then day-long visit.

KCR had come under sharp criticism from BJP, which alleged that KCR insulted the Prime Minister. His action was viewed in political circles as a symbolic protest against the Modi government`s discrimination against Telangana, said the report.

The state BJP has reportedly slammed KCR for once again avoiding a meeting with the Prime Minister. State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar alleged that the TRS chief is running away from the state to avoid facing Modi.

According to reports, KCR has stepped up his efforts to work for a national alternative. KCR had hinted at floating a national party to play a key role in national politics at the 20th formation day celebrations of TRS.

Tight security for PM Modi's visit to Hyderabad

The Telangana police is making tight security arrangements for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the city on May 26. It will be deploying around 2,500 police personnel, said a PTI report.

Around 2,500 police personnel will be deployed in view of the Prime Minister's visit to the city and all necessary arrangements are in place, police sources told PTI.

Asked about reports that police were collecting the details of ISB students as part of precautionary measures, the sources said they were checking the antecedents of all those who will be attending the event.

"We do background check of all those people who will be in the proximity of the Prime Minister. Not just students, but staff among others also. It is not specific to students, all those who are attending the event," PTI quoted the sources.

On reports that social media accounts and online posts of some of the students were under vigil, the sources said "...Whatever is required is being done as part of the background check", adding that antecedents verification of those staying on the institute's premises was also being carried out to identify any strangers if any.

The police also ordered that no flying activities of Remotely Controlled Drones or Para-Gliders or Remotely Controlled Micro-Light Aircrafts, be allowed over the area bounded by a circle of five km radius from Indian School of Business, Gachibowli.

(With Inputs from Agencies)
Kanpur: Police have arrested a 24-year-old woman, her parents and a Muslim cleric, accusing them of illegal confinement of a minor boy, his forcible religious conversion and marrying him to the woman, an official said on Wednesday. The arrests were made after a video of the marriage went viral on social media. It also prompted members of right wing group Bajrang Dal to stage a protest at Kakadeo Police Station on Monday.

Two policemen, including the station house officer (SHO) of Kakadeo Police Station, were suspended on Tuesday for negligence in investigation, officials said.

Police sources said the boy and the woman came in contact through a popular social media platform and regularly chatted with each other.

Commenting on the incident DCP (West) BBGTS Murthy said, "Mohammad Hanif (42), his wife Jameela Bano (40) and their daughter Simran (24) along with a Muslim cleric Tauheed (52) who performed the marriage have been arrested on Tuesday for alleged kidnapping and forceful conversion of minor Dalit boy."

The accused have been booked for illegal confinement and under sections of Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion law.

The law prohibits forceful conversion or that done by allurement and fraudulent means.

The 16-year-old boy works at an eatery and had left his house for Gorakhpur on Saturday.

He returned home on Sunday and told his mother that he went to Simran's house where "he was given something to eat after which he felt dizzy. He was then forced to convert to Islam and marry her," the mother alleged in the police complaint lodged at Kakdeo Police Station on Monday.

Murthy also suspended the station house officer of Kakdeo Police Station Ram Kumar Gupta and sub-inspector Sher Singh for negligence in investigation.

According to police, Simran is married and has a three-year-old daughter. Her husband left her two years ago.
New Delhi: Congress MP Karti Chidambaram did not appear before the CBI on Wednesday to join the investigation into an alleged scam pertaining to issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the home minister, officials said. They said he is likely to join the investigation on Thursday. A special court had ordered Karti Chidambaram to join the CBI investigation within 16 hours of his arrival from the UK and Europe where he had gone with permission from it and the Supreme Court.

ALSO READ: Chinese Visa scam: ED files PMLA case against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, Bhaskararaman and others

Messages and calls to the Congress MP seeking his statement on the appearance before the CBI remained unanswered.

The case pertains to allegations of Rs 50 lakh being paid as bribe to Karti and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL), which was setting a power plant in Punjab, the CBI FIR said.

The agency has already taken Bhaskararaman in custody in connection with the case.

ALSO READ: Visa scam case: MP Karti Chidambaram moves anticipatory bail application, CBI opposes plea

According to the CBI, the work for setting up the power project was being executed by a Chinese company and was running behind schedule.

A TSPL executive had sought re-issuance of project visas for 263 Chinese workers for which Rs 50 lakh allegedly exchanged hands, according to the CBI FIR.

Karti Chidambaram has denied all allegations and said "if this is not harassment, not a witch-hunt, then what is."

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Karti had said, "I am heading back home today, as was planned when I left 2 weeks ago for a work/ family-visit trip to UK and Europe. It does not intimidate me that the central government is once again using its agencies to accuse me of a malicious and completely fabricated charge."

"Previously, the agencies have gone after me based on the statement of an undertrial murder suspect. Now, they are basing their bogus charges on the alleged actions of a deceased person, whom I have never met. I intend to continue to fight every one of their motivated attempts to target my father through me," he said.

The MP said, "For what it's worth, however, I firmly state that I am not associated with this visa issue directly, indirectly, vicariously or even telepathically! The allegations against me by the CBI are ludicrous, to say the least. I categorically deny all of them."

The agency has alleged that Bhaskararaman was approached by Vikas Makharia, the then associate vice president of TSPL, for the reissue of project visas to 263 Chinese workers working at the Mansa-based power plant.

The CBI FIR, which contains the findings of the investigating officer who probed the PE, has alleged that Makharia approached Karti through his "close associate/front man" Bhaskararaman, the officials said.

"They devised a back-door way to defeat the purpose of ceiling (maximum of project visas permissible to the company's plant) by granting permission to reuse 263 project visas allotted to the said Chinese company's officials," it was alleged.

Project visas were a special type of visa introduced in 2010 for the power and steel sector for which detailed guidelines were issued during P Chidambaram's tenure as the home minister but there was no provision of reissue of such travel documents, the FIR alleged.

"As per prevalent guidelines, deviation in rare and exceptional cases could be considered and granted only with the approval of the home secretary. However, in view of the above circumstances, the deviation in terms of reuse of project visas is likely to be approved by the then Home Minister...," it further alleged.

The CBI in its FIR on May 14 has named as accused Karti, Bhaskararaman, Makharia, Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), and the Mumbai-based Bell Tools Limited through which bribes were allegedly routed.

The case was registered under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 477A(falsification of accounts) and sections 8 and 9 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said.

It alleged that the payment of the bribe was routed from TSPL to Karti and Bhaskararaman through the Mumbai-based Bell Tools Ltd with payments camouflaged under two invoices raised for consultancy and out-of-pocket expenses for works related to visas for the Chinese workers.

Makharia had later thanked Karti and Bhaskararaman on email, it added.

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Yasin Malik, separatist leader from Jammu and Kashmir, was sentenced to life imprisonment in terror funding case. On Wednesday (May 25), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had urged the court to give the death penalty to Yasin Malik. Malik had said that will not beg for anything and left the decision on court. The lawyer who attended the court proceeding said, in the courtroom, "Yasin said that if he has been involved in any terrorist activity or violence in 28 years, if Indian Intelligence proves this, then he will also retire from politics. 'I will accept the hanging. With seven Prime Ministers, I have worked'. But the court has sentenced Yasin to life. Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh announced the sentence. Yasin has got two life sentences and five punishments of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The sentences will to run concurrently. A monetary penalty of over  10 lakh has also been levied, as per reports.

The Kashmiri separatist leader and former militant is an advocate of the separation of Kashmir from both India and Pakistan, and wants an independent Kashmir. Yasin Malik was the Chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) which originally spearheaded armed militancy in the Kashmir Valley. He gave up violence in 1994 and adopted peaceful methods to resolve the Kashmir issue.

In August 1990, Yasin Malik was captured in a wounded condition, and remained in jail till May 1994. In October 1999, he was arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA). He was also arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 2002.

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What Pearl Young did on her final morning was a perfect representation of who she was.

The 77-year-old evangelical missionary, Sunday School teacher, food pantry volunteer and substitute teacher was invited by her sister-in-law, Gloria Anderson, to attend a prayer breakfast in the city. At Young's homegoing service Wednesday, Anderson described the power of the Christian worship she and Young experienced at the breakfast.

"It was one of the most glorious times I've ever had," Anderson said. "There was a spiritual high in the presence of the Lord."

After the breakfast, Young told Anderson she needed to stop for groceries. Instead of inconveniencing her sister-in-law, Young said Anderson should drop her off at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue  which was on Anderson's way home  instead of Young's usual grocery store at Main Street and Bailey Avenue.

The joy of worship, strength of faith and love for others evident on that Saturday morning were hallmarks of Young's life, which was honored in a three-hour memorial service Wednesday before more than 200 family members, friends, religious leaders and others from the community at Elim Christian Fellowship. Young was one of 10 people killed May 14 in a racially motivated mass shooting by a Broome County man. Young's three children  sons Damon and James Young and daughter Pamela Pritchett  sat at the front, surrounded by many of her 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

With the memorial dubbed a "celebration of life," percussion and bass reverberated throughout the sanctuary, breaking up any solemnity with lively gospel songs, dancing and clapping. "Pearl's Praise Medley," led by a 30-member choir, was essentially a memorial dance party. Young's joy while at church  and love for hugging and dancing  was a common remembrance.

"If you didn't have a good time at church, Pearl was going to have a good time for herself," said Bishop Glenwood H. Young, the brother of Young's late husband, Oliver, in his eulogy. Closing the ceremony, he repeatedly referenced Young's favorite scripture, Psalm 30:5: "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."

The bishop acknowledged several roles  family member, pastor and bishop  he played in Young's life for more than 50 years since she arrived in Buffalo in 1967 after growing up in Fayette, Ala. In all three, the bishop witnessed Young's impact on others  not just the 40 to 50 Church of God in Christ congregations she worked with, but also those who did not share her faith.

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"No one was beyond her reach," he said. "She endeavored to serve humanity."

Elders and bishops from the Church of God in Christ, the largest Pentecostal denomination in the U.S., extoled Young's service, from her role as president of its missionary board to biweekly volunteering at a Central Park food pantry affiliated with her home church, Good Samaritan Church of God in Christ in Cheektowaga.

Buffalo Public Schools interim superintendent Tonja M. Williams spoke about Young's 20 years as a long-term substitute teacher in Buffalo schools, most recently at Emerson School of Hospitality. Williams said Young was so dedicated that occasionally one of her sons would call an Uber to make sure his mother arrived at school on time.

Pearl Young put her faith to work "She was just involved in so many different things to help humanity. That was her goal in life, seemingly, whatever she could do to help someone, said her brother-in-law, Bishop Glenwood H. Young, of the 2nd Church of God in Christ Western New York Jurisdiction.

Young's passion for youths was evident beyond her care for students. In addition to knowing her grandchildren's favorite foods, her sense of humor touched her own children.

"Pearl was affectionately known as the Bank of Pearl," her obituary reads. "She was always willing to give her children loans that they might need, but she also maintained a detailed ledger of the transaction and repayments to insure she was paid back in full."

The Rev. Andre Clark, the service's officiant, told a story of when he drove Young to Connecticut and was concerned he might fall asleep at the wheel. Clark preferred coffee, but Young told him that would not be necessary.

"She was in the backseat, and she talked to me about the Sunday school she was planning the entire trip," Clark said. "I didn't fall asleep."

Verdis Griffin, assistant supervisor of women in the WNY branch of Church of God in Christ, called Young a lifelong friend with whom she attended college and joined on missions.

"She was my sister, more than a friend," Griffin said. "I can't say goodbye, so I just celebrated. Pearl is indeed a pearl."

Ben Tsujimoto can be reached at btsujimoto@buffnews.com, at (716) 849-6927 or on Twitter at @Tsuj10.

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New Delhi: An Indian court on Wednesday (May 25) ordered life in jail for Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik for funding terrorist activities and many other charges, prompting street protests outside his residence and condemnation from Pakistan's prime minister. Malik, head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), had pleaded guilty to the charges but on Wednesday told the special court where his trial was held that he had been practising non-violent politics in Kashmir after giving up arms in the 1990s. "It is high time that it is recognised that terror funding is one of the gravest offences and has to be punished more severely," Special Judge Parveen Singh said in the court in New Delhi, announcing Malik's life imprisonment under a section of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

The court is designated for cases brought by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which mainly handles offences deemed to affect the sovereignty, security and integrity of India. According to the Indian government, Malik had been at the "forefront of separatist activities and violence since 1988" in the Kashmir valley. It says many Kashmiri Hindus had to flee because of violence committed against them by Malik's group in 1989.

Malik, who was convicted last week, had pleaded guilty to the 10 charges brought against him by the NIA, including waging or attempting to wage war against the government, and helping raise funds for anyone to "commit a terrorist act". The court said Malik "did not want any trial and therefore, he was ready to plead guilty". His wife Mushaal Hussein Mullick said the sentencing was illegitimate. "Verdict in minutes by Indian kangaroo court...The iconic leader will never surrender," she tweeted.

In Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, police fired tear gas and pellets to disperse stone-pelting protesters outside Malik's residence. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said it was a "black day" for Indian democracy and its justice system. "India can imprison Yasin Malik physically but it can never imprison idea of freedom he symbolises," Sharif said on Twitter.

Today is a black day for Indian democracy & its justice system. India can imprison Yasin Malik physically but it can never imprison idea of freedom he symbolises. Life imprisonment for valiant freedom fighter will provide fresh impetus to Kashmiris' right to self-determination.  Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) May 25, 2022

India declared JKLF an "unlawful association" in 2019, the year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federally controlled territories. Political parties in Kashmir said Malik's verdict was a setback to peace efforts. "We are afraid that this will further compound the uncertainties in the region and will only fuel more alienation and separatist feelings," a group of parties that have in the past fought elections in Kashmir said in a statement.
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday (May 25) awarded life imprisonment to Yasin Malik, one of the foremost separatist leaders, in a terror funding case, saying the crimes committed by him struck at the "heart of the idea of India" and were intended to forcefully secede Jammu & Kashmir from Union of India. Special Judge Praveen Singh awarded varying jail terms to Malik for offences under the stringent anti-terror law--Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the IPC, rejecting the NIA's plea for capital punishment. He said the crimes for which Malik was convicted were of very serious nature.

"These crimes were intended to strike at the heart of the idea of India and intended to forcefully secede J&K from UOI. The crime becomes more serious as it was committed with the assistance of foreign powers and designated terrorists. The seriousness of crime is further increased by the fact that it was committed behind the smokescreen of an alleged peaceful political movement," the judge said. The maximum punishment for such an offence is death penalty.

The life term was awarded two offences - section 121 (waging war against government of India) of IPC and section 17 (raising funds for terrorist act) of the UAPA. According to the Supreme Court, life imprisonment means incarceration till the last breath, unless the sentence is commuted by the authorities. However, the authorities concerned can review the punishment only after a minimum of 14 years of imprisonment has been completed, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa said.

In a 20-page order, the judge said the crimes for which Malik has been convicted were of very serious nature. The judge, however, noted that the case was not the "rarest of rare", warranting death penalty. The judge said the manner in which the crimes were committed was in the form of conspiracy whereby there was an attempted insurrection by instigating, stone-pelting and arson, and very large-scale violence led to the shutting of the government machinery. He, however, noted that the manner of the commission of the crime, the kind of weaponry that was used, led him to a conclusion that the crime in question would fail the test of rarest of rare cases as laid down by the Supreme Court.

While awarding life imprisonment under section 17 of the UAPA, the court said financing is the backbone of any operation including terrorist activities. "In the present case, the order on charge specifies how funds were raised and how they were received from Pakistani establishment as well as designated terrorist Hafeez Saeed and through other hawala operations. It is these funds that were used to create unrest where under the guise of public protests, paid terror activities of stone-pelting and arson at mass scale were committed," the judge said.

He noted had there been no such funding for the convict to conspire to commit these acts and to pay the perpetrators, the violence and mayhem at this scale could not have been committed. "Therefore, in my considered opinion, it is high time that it is recognized that terror funding is one of the gravest offences and has to be punished more severely," the judge said, while also imposing a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Malik.

On NIA's submission that Malik was responsible for the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits and their exodus, the judge said, "I find that as this issue is neither before this court, nor has been adjudicated upon and thus court cannot allow itself to be swayed by this argument." "I accordingly find that this case does not call for awarding death sentence as demanded," the judge said, rejecting the NIA's plea for capital punishment.

During the hearing, Malik contended he had given up violence in the year 1994. "After the ceasefire in the year 1994, he had declared that he would follow the peaceful path of Mahatma Gandhi and engage in a non-violent political struggle. He has further contended that since then there is no evidence against him that in the last 28 years he had provided any hideout to any militant or had provided any logistic support to any terrorist organisation," the court noted from Malik's submission.

Malik told the court he had met all the prime ministers since the time of V P Singh till Atal Bihari Vajpayee who engaged with him and gave him a political platform. "Government of India had provided him all the platforms to express his opinion in India as well as outside, and government cannot be considered to be a fool to give an opportunity to a person who was engaged in terrorist acts. He has further contended that it has been alleged that he was engaged in acts of violence in the valley post the killing of Burhan Wani. However, immediately after the death of Burhan Wani, he was arrested and remained in custody till November 2016. Therefore, he could not have engaged in violent protests," the judge said.

On Malik's submission that he gave up the gun in 1994 and, thereafter, he was recognised as a legitimate political player, the judge said, "In my opinion, there was no reformation of this convict. It may be correct that the convict may have given up the gun in the year 1994, but he had never expressed any regret for the violence he had committed prior to the year 1994. It is to be noticed that, when he claimed to have given up the path of violence after the year 1994, the government of India took it upon its face value and gave him an opportunity to reform, and in good faith, tried to engage in a meaningful dialogue with him, and as admitted by him, gave him every platform to express his opinion," the judge said.

"Rather, betraying the good intentions of government he took a different path to orchestrate violence in the guise of political struggle. The convict has claimed that he had followed Gandhian principle of non-violence and was spearheading a peaceful non-violent struggle. However, the evidence on the basis of which charges were framed and to which convict has pleaded guilty, speaks otherwise," the judge noted. The entire movement, he said, was planned to be violent.

"I must observe here that the convict cannot invoke the Mahatma and claim to be his follower because in Mahatma Gandhi's principles there was no place for violence, howsoever high the objective might be. It only took one small incident of violence at Chauri Chaura for the Mahatma to call off the entire non-cooperation movement," the judge said.

He noted that Malik, despite the large scale of violence engulfing the valley, neither condemned it nor withdrew his calendar of protest.

The judge said, in the present case, the primary consideration for awarding a sentence should be that it should serve as deterrence for those who seek to follow a similar path.

The court awarded Malik 10 year jail term each under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 121-A (conspiracy to wage war against the government of India) of IPC and sections 15 (terrorism), 18 (conspiracy for terrorism) and 20 (being member of terror organisation) of UAPA. It also awarded five-year jail term each under sections 13 (unlawful act), 38 (offence related to membership of terrorism) and 39 (support given to terrorism) of UAPA.


New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday (May 25) sentenced life imprisonment to Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik in a 2017 terror funding case. While pronouncing the verdict, Special Judge Praveen Singh also awarded varying jail terms for several offences under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik. However, the NIA had sought death penalty for the Kashmiri separatist leader.

The Kashmiri separatist leader has been awarded two life sentences by the court. Notably, all the sentences will run concurrently.

What sentences have been imposed on Yasin Malik?

Section 121 of IPC - Life imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine

Section 17 of UAPA - Life imprisonment and Rs 10 lakh fine

Section 120B of IPC: 10 years imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine

Section 121A of IPC - 10 years imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine

Section 18 of UAPA - 10 years imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine

Section 20 of UAPA - 10 years imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine

Section 38 of UAPA - 5 years imprisonment and Rs 5,000 fine

Section 39 of UAPA - 5 years imprisonment and Rs 5,000 fine

Section 13 of UAPA (read with Section 120B of IPC): 5 years imprisonment and Rs 5,000 fine

Section 15 of UAPA (read with Section 120B of IPC): 10 years imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine

On May 10, Malik had told the court that he will not contest the charges levelled against him.

Reactions to Yasin Maliks sentencing

Yasin Malik`s wife Mushaal Hussein Mullick called the sentencing "illegitimate". "Verdict in minutes by Indian kangaroo court," she said adding, "The iconic leader will never surrender," Reuters quoted Mushaal as saying.

The Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) termed Malik's life imprisonment "unfortunate" and said it is a "setback" to the peace efforts.

"Life imprisonment given to Yasin Malik is unfortunate and a setback to the efforts for peace. We are afraid that this will further compound the uncertainties in the region and will only fuel more alienation and separatist feelings," PAGD spokesperson M Y Tarigami was quoted as saying by PTI.

(With agency inputs)

ALSO READ: Centres muscular policy will have dire consequences: Mehbooba Mufti ahead of court order on Yasin Malik
SRINAGAR: In a major success for the security forces, three Pakistani terrorists were killed in an encounter in the Kreeri area of the Baramulla district of North Kashmir. Meanwhile, a J&K policeman was also killed in a gunfight with terrorists.

Sharing more information, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said, "Three Pakistani terrorists were killed. One J&K Police personnel also attained martyrdom in this chance encounter. Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition has been recovered. Further details shall follow."

Earlier, a fierce gunfight broke out between security forces and terrorists in the Kreeri area of Baramulla district. After getting the input about the presence of terrorists in the area, a joint team of J&K Police, Army and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation in Kreeri.

As the searching team cordoned the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired upon the forces, which was heavily retaliated and an encounter started.

It's pertaining to mention here that it was the 49th encounter of this year and security forces have managed to kill 75 terrorists in the anti-terror operation including 17 Pakistani terrorists.

Besides, 43 terrorists mostly hybrid terrorists are also apprehended till now in this year as per the data of the Jammu & Kashmir police.
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday sought death sentence for Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who has been convicted in a terror funding case a few days ago. Earlier, Malik was produced before the Patiala House Court amid tight security.

During the course of the hearing before the Special Judge, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) argued for the death sentence to Malik, according to court sources.

The hearing, which was paused for the lunch break, will resume at 3.30 PM. On May 19, Special Judge Praveen Singh posted the matter for May 25 to hear the arguments regarding the quantum of punishment for the offences levelled against Malik.

The court also had directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) authorities to assess his financial situation in connection with the terror funding case prior to Wednesday`s hearing.

The accused is facing a maximum punishment of the death penalty, while the minimum sentence can be life imprisonment in the cases in which he is involved. Notably, in the last hearing, Yasin had withdrawn his lawyer. As he pleaded guilty earlier, nothing was left to be heard during the course of the hearing.

Yasin Malik has been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, other unlawful activities, and disturbing peace in Kashmir.

He had pleaded guilty in the matter. On the last date of the hearing, he told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him, including section 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of a terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

The present case is related to the various terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) backed by Islamic State perpetrating the terrorist and secessionist activities to disturb Jammu and Kashmir.
New Delhi: A Special NIA court will on Wednesday pronounce the quantum of punishment for Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who has been convicted in a terror funding case a few days ago. On May 19, Special Judge Praveen Singh posted the matter for May 25 to hear the arguments regarding the quantum of punishment for the offences levelled against Malik.

The court also had directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) authorities to assess his financial situation in connection with the terror funding case prior to Wednesday`s hearing.

The accused is facing a maximum punishment of the death penalty, while the minimum sentence can be life imprisonment in the cases in which he is involved. Notably, in the last hearing, Yasin had withdrawn his lawyer. As he pleaded guilty earlier, nothing was left to be heard during the course of the hearing.

Yasin Malik has been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy, waging war against the country, other unlawful activities, and disturbing peace in Kashmir.

He had pleaded guilty in the matter. On the last date of the hearing, he told the court that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him, including sections 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act), and 20 (being member of a terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

The present case is related to the various terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) backed by Islamic State perpetrating the terrorist and secessionist activities to disturb Jammu and Kashmir.
Mumbai: Benchmark indices wiped out early gains as volatility yet again ruled the markets, with the Sensex extending its decline to the third day running on Wednesday, falling over 300 points amid a sell-off in IT stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 303.35 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 53,749.26. During the day, the bechmark hit a low of 53,683.16 and a high of 54,379.59.

The broader NSE Nifty declined 99.35 points or 0.62 per cent to end at 16,025.80.

From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, State Bank of India, HCL Technologies and M&M were among the biggest laggards.

In contrast, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Nestle, ICICI Bank and ITC were the prominent gainers.

Asian markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul ended with gains, while Tokyo was marginally lower.

Exchanges in Europe were trading in the green in the afternoon trade.

Stock markets in the US had mostly ended lower on Tuesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.37 per cent to USD 115.1 per barrel.

Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2,393.45 crore on Tuesday, as per stock exchange data.

"Domestic indices wavered tracking mixed sentiments from global markets as investors assessed the possibility of a recession in the US followed by the Fed policy tightening.

"Global markets are awaiting the release of the Fed minutes, which will be evaluated for details on the path of the upcoming rate hikes," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
New Delhi: 7th Pay Commission fitment factor latest update: A crucial cabinet meeting may today decide upon the long pressing demand of the central government employees unions on hiking the fitment factor, media reports have said. The endless wait of central government employees who have been pressing for the demand to hike fitment factor may end today if government arrives at a decision in its cabinet meeting.

If the much anticipated decision on hiking the fitment factor comes out poositive then the salary of central government employees too will increase substantially.

Several media reports have 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.
California- Apple on Tuesday released two new Pride Edition bands with dynamic Pride watch faces in support of the global LGBTQ+ community and equality movement. This year's Pride Edition Sport Loop showcases a colour gradient with the word "pride" woven directly into the band.

Apple said it is also launching a new shot on iPhone pride campaign on Instagram that captures the essence of artists and figures within the global LGBTQ+ community. The Pride Edition Sport Loop and Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop are available for Rs 3,900.

Utilizing the durable and adjustable Sport Loop design, Apple used a new technique to remove several of the double-layer nylon-woven textile loops on the band to reveal the word "pride" in a cursive style inspired by the original "hello" greeting - displayed on the first Macintosh in 1984. ALSO READ: Elon Musk's falls out of elite $200 billion club, net worth shrinks

The colourful threads move as the Digital Crown on Apple Watch is rotated, the display is tapped, or the user's wrist is raised. Apple is also including new App Clip functionality within the band packaging to deliver a simple and convenient way for customers to immediately access the new matching watch face.
New Delhi: In yet another instance of an outage with a social media platform, several Indian users said that they were unable to use the Meta-owned photo sharing platform, Instagram. According to Downdetector, an online platform that provides real-time status about the availability or unavailability of various websites and services, Instagram users were not able to log in to the app. Several users facing the issue took to microblogging platform Twitter to complain about the outage, sharing funny memes to call out Instagram and its loopy servers and tech team.

As of now, Instagrams parent company, Meta, hasnt come out with a clarification on the most recent outage for platform users in India. Many users also complained about the outage on Downdetector.

According to Downdetector, the outage impacted Instagram at around 11 am. Several users said on Twitter that the issues they were facing were related to Instagrams server-side problems.

The outage majorly impacted Instagram users logging into the mobile app. On the other hand, the ones using Instagram on the website said that there were no issues in using the platform.

Here are a few memes shared by Instagram users:

#instagramdown

*Me who thinks my internet is not working *

Airplane mode: pic.twitter.com/rn7gfg2sh3  Anish (@anish_dhingra09) May 25, 2022

Instagram itself Under Maintenance and blaming My Internet Connection, be like: #instagramdown pic.twitter.com/KgYyIhJnBI  ThePsyBJ (@bhavyasaini_09) May 25, 2022

Twitter users to Instagram users after #instagramdown pic.twitter.com/bYtKOiKYpj  Shakib Anwar (@Shakib__Anwar) May 25, 2022

Meanwhile, Instagram is introducing a visual refresh for its logo this week. According to media reports, the new logo is a slightly tweaked version of the previous one as it is brighter. Also Read: EPFO cites 3 big benefits of filing e-nomination, check steps to complete process online

Instagram says the refresh is designed to embrace continued evolution and to help it "create more immersive and inclusive experiences," as per Tech Crunch. Also Read: SHOCKING! McDonald's Ahmedabad outlet sealed after dead Lizard found in cold drink --Watch
A police officer resigned from the Buffalo Police Department Tuesday before admitting to misdemeanor charges in two off-duty domestic violence incidents, the Erie County District Attorney's Office announced.

Keenan J. Redmon, 36, of Buffalo, pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree assault, one count of second-degree menacing and one count of second-degree criminal trespass.

Redmon faces a maximum of one year in jail at his Aug. 15 sentencing by State Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Haendiges. He remains released on his own recognizance.

At about 11 p.m. on July 22, Redmon forcibly grabbed a female victim by the back of her neck at a Hertel Avenue restaurant, the DA's office said.

On the late evening of Aug. 26 and into the early morning hours of Aug. 27, he forced the same woman into a bathroom and brandished what appeared to be a pistol while threatening her. The incident occurred while Redmon was unlawfully inside her Buffalo home.

District Attorney John J. Flynn commended the Buffalo Police Department for its work in the investigations.

An order of protection remains in effect on behalf of the victim.
New Delhi- Meta on Tuesday rolled out updated 3D Avatars on Facebook, Messenger and for the first time on Instagram stories and direct messages in India. Meta, earlier known as Facebook, is also adding new facial shapes and assistive devices for people with disabilities.

"Representations in the metaverse should reflect the diversity of the real world. Avatars are just the first step toward enabling everyone to express themselves in their unique ways," said Manish Chopra, Director and Head Partnerships, Meta India in a statement "When you create your avatar you can choose the right facial features, body types, clothing styles, and more to create your virtual self," he added.

The update adds Cochlear implants and over-the-ear hearing aids (for one or both ears) in a variety of colours, and on all platforms including Virtual Reality. It also includes wheelchairs, which will appear in stickers on Facebook, in Messenger chats and in DMs on Instagram. ALSO READ: With petrol prices crossing Rs 420 and diesel Rs 400, Sri Lanka encourages people to work from home

The company said it is also improving the look of Avatars, subtle adjustments have been made to certain facial shapes and skin shaders to make avatars more authentic. It will continue to add more options over time based on feedback from the community, the company noted.
San Francisco: Tech giant Microsoft has announced several enhancements and new capabilities for developers building collaborative apps for Teams and Microsoft 365. The company said it is introducing Live Share, a capability for apps to go beyond passive screen sharing and enable participants to co-watch, co-edit, co-create, and more in Teams meetings.

Developers can use new preview extensions to the Teams SDK to easily extend existing Teams apps and create Live Share experiences in meetings," Jeff Teper, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft 365 Collaboration, said in a blogpost. "Live Share is backed by the power of Fluid Framework, which supports sophisticated synchronisation of state, media, and control actions with only front-end development," Teper added.

This synchronisation will run on Teams hosted and managed Microsoft Azure Fluid Relay service instance -- at no cost to developers. The company also announced further steps it is taking to help developers reach and retain new customers through the Microsoft Store.

When an app is listed in Microsoft Store, Windows Insiders will soon be able to open Start, type the name of an app, view search results from Microsoft Store, and easily install it from there without distracting from their flow, the company said. ALSO READ: I wished to kill George W Bush because...': Iraqi man arrested over plan to kill former US president

Start is a highly used surface in Windows, and over half of customers search from Start regularly. When customers search from Start, they often search for apps, so Windows Search is a valuable new channel for acquisition of Store apps, it added. The company also introduced Microsoft Store Ads, a new product designed to help developers grow their business by getting their apps or games in front of the right customers at the right time and to inspire Microsoft Store customers with great, engaging content.

Microsoft said that it is bringing an upcoming refresh to OneNote that will help the app feel both familiar and modern. Under the hood, it is improving nearly all stages of note-taking workflow that will help users to focus on their content, capture naturally with voice, ink, camera, and AI, organise pages the way users want and share notes with clarity Modern Visuals.
New Delhi- South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics on Tuesday announced that Galaxy Watch4 users can now enjoy Google Assistant in select countries. The company said it has jointly built a unified Wear OS platform with Google that creates a seamless connection across Android devices.

The platform comes with Google Play, which gives users access to some of the most popular apps and services from Google, including Google Maps, Google Pay, and YouTube Music. "Starting today, Galaxy Watch4 users will also be able to download Google Assistant on their devices gaining access to fast, more natural voice interactions, quick answers to questions and on-the-go help," the company said in a blog post.

"With access to both Bixby and Google Assistant, consumers will have access to more advanced voice assistant functionality right from their wrists," it added. Google Assistant will be available in 10 markets, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the UK and US.

It will also support 12 languages, which include Danish, English (American, Canadian, UK, Australian, Irish), Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French (Canadian, France), and Taiwanese. ALSO READ: After relief on edible oil, sugar price rise to be prevented! Government takes big decision

In India, the new Bluetooth-only model of Galaxy Watch4 was launched at Rs 23,999 for the 40mm dial size and Rs 26,999 for the 44mm model. Along with health features such as a heart rate monitor, one of the interesting USPs of the device is that it allows users to monitor their stress levels.
Mumbai: Zindagi channel will be available on Indian television as a DTH offering starting Monday with the iconic show "Zindagi Gulzar Hai", featuring Pakistani stars Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed.

The channel is all set to launch on DTH platforms as a "value added service" airing other Pakistani fiction shows such as "Kitni Girhain Baaki Hain", "Aunn Zara" and "Sadqay Tumhare", according to a statement issued by the channel.

Shailja Kejriwal, Chief Creative Officer, Zee Special Projects said, it is a proud moment for the team to launch Zindagi across key DTH platforms.

"What started as a salient idea between a few people deeply invested in the belief of cross border cultural collaborations grew to become one of the most loved television channels in the country.

"Zindagi took its journey ahead on OTT fueling the digital consumption needs in the country, and the community of believers continued to grow. Today, we add new partners, new believers in Tata Play, Dish TV and D2H, as we take Zindagi to every corner of the country," Kejriwal said in a statement.

"Zindagi Gulzar Hai", the 2012 romance-drama which made Saeed and Khan household names in India, revolves around Kashaf and Zaroon who navigate the highs and lows of a romance through the prism of class divide and gender dynamics.

Pakistani anthology thriller television series "Kitni Girhain Baaki Hain" had Indian actor-politician Kirron Kher as the narrator. The show, directed by Angeline Malik, premiered on 27 March 2011 on Hum TV, a Pakistani channel. "Aunn Zara", a 2013 show, was directed by Haissam Hussain and featured Maya Ali and Osman Khalid Butt as titular warring couple. "Sadqay Tumhare" was a drama, starring Mahira Khan in the lead.

The line-up also includes this year's Zindagi Original series "Mrs. & Mr. Shameem", starring Naumaan Ijaz and Saba Qamar, which is also available on ZEE5, and many more shows.

Besides airing fiction shows, the service is all set to showcase some of the most acclaimed Hindi movies such as "Baarish aur Chowmein" (2018) featuring Taapsee Pannu and Amit Sadh and directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia; Ketan Mehta's "Toba Tek Singh" (2017), based on a short story by Saadat Hasan Manto, featuring noted actor Pankaj Kapoor; "Silvat" (2016) written by Faraz Arif Ansari and directed by Tanuja Chandra with Kartik Aaryan in a leading role, "Saari Raat" (2015), a film by Aparna Sen starring her actor daughter Konkona Sen Sharma, among others.

Talking about the partnership, Pallavi Puri, Chief Content and Commercial Officer, Tata Play said there is a huge fan following for nuanced and author-backed storylines in India and she believes Tata Play Zindagi's content library will be a treat for the viewers who like relatable narratives.

Shruti Kumar, Head - VAS, Dish TV India Ltd., said their service aims at offering relatable, wholesome, unique, and relevant content to subscribers.

"We are delighted to announce Zindagi Active as the latest addition to our comprehensive value-added service portfolio. With this, we offer our subscribers the stories that are emotional and enthralling, series and movies that resonate with them, their families, and relationships.

"We hope to bring together people/communities beyond our country's border who share similar values, cultures, and traditions. Our Active Services brings the most appealing and relevant content to our subscribers, and the latest addition of the Zindagi Active service reaffirms our commitment towards them," Kumar added.

Zindagi goes live at 7 pm and the channel will be available on Tata Play on 154 whereas Dish TV and D2H can tune into 117.
The deadliest terrorist attack in Nigeria! At least 50 people are reported to have been killed in a militant attack in Borno province on the cameroonian border in the northeast of the country. The number of injured is high, and some of them are said to be in critical condition. Local residents believe it belongs to the Boko Haram militant group. Borno State and the northeast of Nigeria, which have been ravaged by militant attacks since 2009.

According to a local farmer, "We are all very scared of this incident. We are the ones who buried the 50 dead. Most of the dead were working in the fields at the time of the terrorist attack. The rest had gone to collect wood. A large number of boko haram militants came on motorbikes and started firing indiscriminately. So many people died in front of our eyes.

Boko Haram has increasingly targeted farmers, herders and loggers, accusing them of spying and passing information to the Nigerian military. They have also been raiding herding communities and stealing cattle, a valuable commodity in the region to fund their operations.

Inspired by boko haram, the Islamic State group continues to claim responsibility for attacks in various places called the West Africa Province. However, locals claim that the attack was carried out by Boko Haram only.
New Delhi: For decades, scientists have been looking for that elusive cure to cancer. Though humankind has made several strides in this direction, cancer still accounts for nearly 10 million or one in six deaths globally every year, according to the World Health Organization. And now, scientists at the University of Utah, United States, have discovered a natural anti-cancer chemical in sea corals off the Florida coast, in what is being considered a significant step in the fight against cancer. The chemical called eleutherobin is made by easy-to-find soft and flexible corals resembling underwater plants.

Back in 1990s, eleutherobin was identified in a rare coral off Australia, but since then, marine scientists have been unable to find it in high enough quantities for lab tests. According to researchers, the holy grail chemical is used by corals as a defence against predators, but it can also inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

The University of Utah team, led by Eric Schmidt, professor of medicinal chemistry, and comprising Paul Scesa, postdoctoral scientist and first author, and Zhenjian Lin, assistant research professor, is now trying to recreate the chemical in the laboratory.

The first major challenge was the belief that similar to other kinds of marine life, the chemical was synthesised by symbiotic organisms that lived inside the animals. It didnt make sense. We knew that corals must make eleutherobin, Scesa was quoted as saying in a University of Utah press release.

The next step was to find out whether the corals genetic code carried instructions for making the compound. Advances in DNA technology had recently made it possible to rapidly piece together the code of any species. The difficulty was, the scientists didnt know what the instructions for making the chemical should look like, the press release added.

They addressed the problem by finding regions of coral DNA that resembled genetic instructions for similar types of compounds from other species. After programming bacteria grown in the lab to follow coral DNA instructions specific to the soft coral, the microorganisms were able to replicate the first steps of making the potential cancer therapeutic.

The scourge of cancer

In a recent report, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said the number of Indians suffering from cancer is expected to increase to 29.8 million in 2025. At present, it is 26.7 million. The leading cancers among Indians are lung cancer and breast cancer, with each accounting for over 10 per cent of total cases.

According to a study by The Lancet Oncology, India reports over 1.3 million cancer cases every year, accounting for nearly 8 per cent of the total deaths. Sedentary lifestyles, pollution, obesity, and increasing tobacco and alcohol consumption are said to be the major reasons behind rising cancer cases in the country.

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Columbia: An Iraqi man who came to the United States two years ago and applied for asylum hatched a plot to assassinate former President George W Bush in retaliation for casualties against his compatriots during the Iraq war, the government announced Tuesday. Shihab Ahmed, 52, also schemed to smuggle other Iraqis into the U.S. from Mexico to aid in the plot, after which they'd be smuggled out back through Mexico, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Columbus.

Shihab insinuated he had contacts with the Islamic State group, but it did not appear the plot came close to materializing, with confidential informants briefing the FBI from April 2021 through this month, the complaint said.

Shihab was ordered held without bond by federal Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers during a short hearing in court Tuesday. If convicted, Shihab could face up to 30 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

Shihab worked at restaurants in and around Columbus and also at a market in Indianapolis where he had an apartment, the government said. He told a confidential informant that he assisted in the killing of American soldiers during the Iraq War, and said he and others "wished to kill former President Bush because they felt that he was responsible for killing many Iraqis and breaking apart the entire country of Iraq," the complaint said.

Shihab traveled in February to Dallas, where he took video of the entrance gate to the neighborhood where Bush lives, and also traveled to Detroit in November to investigate smuggling Iraqi nationals into the U.S., the government said.

Shihab met a confidential informant in a Columbus hotel room in March to examine weapons and U.S. Border patrol uniforms, according to the complaint. Shihab allegedly planned to use a Columbus car dealership to help transfer money from an Islamic State official into the U.S.

Last fall, Shihab accepted thousands of dollars for what he thought was payment for him to smuggle another Iraqi citizen into the U.S., according to the complaint, but the transaction was entirely coordinated by the FBI.

'I mean Ukraine': George Bush mistakenly calls Iraq invasion 'unjustified'

Last week, George W Bush had mistakenly described the invasion of Iraq as "brutal" and "unjustified" before correcting himself to say he meant to refer to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Bush made the comments in a speech during an event in Dallas on Wednesday (May 19), while he was criticizing Russia's political system.

"The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq, Bush said, before correcting himself and shaking his head. "I mean, of Ukraine."

Speaking in Dallas this afternoon, former President George. W Bush made a significant verbal slip-up while discussing the war in Ukraine. He tried referencing what he described as the wholly unjustified and brutal invasion  but said Iraq, instead of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/tw0VNJzKmE  Michael Williams (@michaeldamianw) May 19, 2022

He, however, jokingly blamed the mistake on his age as the audience burst into laughter.

In 2003, when Bush was president, the United States led an invasion of Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that were never found. The prolonged conflict killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many more.
New Delhi: Health authorities in the United Arab Emirates and the Czech Republic on Tuesday (May 25, 2022) detected their country's first case of the monkeypox virus. In the UAE, the case of the viral disease was confirmed in a woman who traveled from West Africa, while in the Czech Republic, it was found in a woman returning from a festival in Belgium.

The Czech Republic's National Institute of Public Health (SZU) said that a sample from one of three people tested had been positive for Monkeypox disease, although final testing results would be confirmed next week. The two other suspected patients` tests were also still being worked on.

The infected woman had attended a music festival in Antwerp at the start of May and began showing symptoms after her return, Reuters reported.

ALSO READ | Monkeypox disease outbreak: New cases 'only tip of iceberg', warns WHO

In the UAE, the government said little about the patient but stressed that authorities were investigating her contacts and taking all necessary measures to limit the spread of the monkeypox virus. They also did not say where the case had been discovered.

The diagnosis of the monkeypox virus in the UAE marked the first reported case on the Arabian Peninsula. Israel, notably, recorded the first reported case in the Middle East earlier this week.

MONKEYPOX SUSPECTED, CONFIRMED IN 19 COUNTRIES

Since early May, health authorities in as many as 19 countries have found around 237 suspected and confirmed cases of monkeypox, according to Reuters. The majority of these infections have been discovered in Europe and officials around the world are keeping watch for more cases because, for the first time, the rare disease appears to be spreading among people who didn't travel to Africa, where monkeypox is endemic.

Scientists, however, believe that the risk to the general population is low and do not expect the recent monkeypox outbreak to evolve into a pandemic like Covid-19, given the virus does not spread as easily as SARS-COV-2.

MONKEYPOX DISEASE OUTBREAK 'NOT NORMAL'

The World Health Organization (WHO), meanwhile, said on Tuesday that the outbreak of monkeypox cases outside of Africa can be contained.

"We encourage you all to increase the surveillance of monkeypox to see where transmission levels are and understand where it is going," Reuters quoted Sylvie Briand, WHO director for Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness, as saying.

The recent outbreak was "not normal", she said and stressed that it was "containable".

There are also vaccines and treatments available for monkeypox, Briand added and called for appropriate containment measures, more research, and global collaboration.

"Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill," she said speaking at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

WHAT IS MONKEYPOX VIRUS?

Monkeypox is a virus that originates in wild animals like rodents and primates and occasionally jumps to people. It belongs to the same virus family as smallpox. Most human cases have been in central and west Africa and outbreaks have been relatively limited.

It is said to be first identified by scientists in 1958 when there were two outbreaks of a 'pox-like' disease in research monkeys, thus the name monkeypox. The first known human infection was in 1970, in a young boy in a remote part of Congo.

WHAT LED TO THE LATEST MONKEYPOX OUTBREAK?

A top adviser to the World Health Organization said on Monday that the leading theory is that monkeypox was likely spread after sexual activity at two recent raves in Europe.

Dr David Heymann, who chairs WHO's expert advisory group on infectious hazards, said monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with someone already infected with the disease, and that "it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission."

ALSO READ | WHO says no evidence monkeypox virus has mutated

Authorities in countries including Britain, Spain, Germany, and Portugal say most of the known cases in Europe have been among men who have sex with men, but experts emphasise that anyone can be infected through close contact with a sick person, their clothing, or bedsheets.

Scientists, however, say that it will be difficult to determine whether the spread is being driven by sex or merely close contact.

WHY ARE MOST OF THE MONKEYPOX INFECTIONS IN MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MEN?

It's unclear, but the disease is more likely to infect gay and bisexual men than anyone else.

"This may just be unlucky that (monkeypox) happened to get into this one particular community first," the PTI news agency quoted Dr Jake Dunning, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of Oxford, as saying.

"It's just that they are a community and by having sex with each other, that is how it's spreading," he said.

Other experts warn that the disease could spread more widely if measures aren't taken to stop the outbreak.

"Infectious diseases don't care about borders or social networks. Some groups may have a greater chance of exposure right now, but by no means is the current risk of exposure to monkeypox exclusive to men who have sex with men," a US scientist said.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF MONKEYPOX?

Most monkeypox patients experience only fever, body aches, chills, and fatigue. People with more serious illnesses may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body.

Most people recover within about two to four weeks without needing to be hospitalised, monkeypox can be fatal for up to 6% of cases and is thought to be more severe in children.

HOW MANY MONKEYPOX CASES ARE THERE TYPICALLY?

As per the World Health Organization, there are thousands of monkeypox infections in about a dozen African countries every year. Most are in Congo, which reports about 6,000 cases annually, and Nigeria, with about 3,000 cases a year.

In the past, isolated cases of monkeypox have been spotted outside Africa, including in the US And Britain. The cases were mostly linked to travel in Africa or contact with animals from areas where the disease is more common.

In 2003, 47 people in six US States had confirmed or probable cases. They reportedly caught the virus from pet prairie dogs that been housed near imported small mammals from Ghana.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: As many as 21 people, including 19 children, were killed after a teenage gunman opened fire at a school in Texas (United States) on Wednesday (May 25, 2022). Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that the suspect, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was apparently killed by police officers responding to the scene and that two officers were struck by gunfire.

The incident took place at the Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde and authorities said that the suspect acted alone.

Texas Governor told a news conference hours after the shooting that 14 school children have been killed along with one teacher. But Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez later said that the death toll had climbed to 18 children and three adults, Reuters reported.

Flags flown at half-staff after Uvalde shooting

President Joe Biden, who is returning to the US after a five-day trip to Asia, has reportedly ordered flags flown at half-staff until sunset daily until May 28 in observance of the tragedy.

Governor Greg Abbott also directed that the Texas flag be immediately lowered to half-staff statewide on Wednesday in memory of those who lost their lives in the shooting.

ALSO READ | Texas school shooting: 18-year-old gunman posted pic of two rifles on Instagram before leaving 21 dead

"Flags should remain at half-staff through sunset on Saturday, May 28, 2022. Flags should be returned to full-staff on the following day," he said.

Directing the Texas flag be immediately lowered to half-staff statewide on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in memory of those who lost their lives in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. https://t.co/cKLXbPPgLw https://t.co/YWsIidOTAz  Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) May 24, 2022

"Individuals, businesses, municipalities, counties, and other political subdivisions and entities are encouraged to fly their flags at half-staff for the same length of time as a sign of honor and respect," Abbott added.

'I am sick and tired of it,' Joe Biden after Texas massacre

Americans must stand up to the gun lobby and pressure members of Congress to pass sensible gun laws, US President Joe Biden said as he addressed the nation after the killing of 19 children and two teachers in Texas.

"As a nation, we have to ask when in God's name we're going to stand up to the gun lobby when in God's name we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done," he said in a televised speech.

For every parent, for every citizen, we have to make it clear to every elected official: Its time for action. We can do more. We must do more. pic.twitter.com/VDe0Wc7YT8  President Biden (@POTUS) May 25, 2022

"I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage," he added.

Im addressing the nation on the horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. https://t.co/8WI1nWHu6R  President Biden (@POTUS) May 25, 2022

The shooting, notably, unfolded within a fortnight after 10 people were killed in Buffalo, New York, in a predominantly Black neighborhood. An 18-year-old man, whom authorities said opened fire with an assault-style rifle, was charged for shooting in Buffalo.

The United States experienced 61 "active shooter" incidents last year, up sharply from the prior year and the highest tally in over 20 years, Reuters reported citing the FBI data.

(With agency inputs)
TEXAS: Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old gunman, who allegedly shot and killed at least 21 people, including several children and two adults, at a Texas elementary school, had posted a picture of 2 assault rifles on Instagram before the massacre.

He even tagged a young woman, messaging her, "Be grateful I tagged you." Texas school shooter cryptically wrote to her, "I got a little secret." When she asked him what he meant, he only said, "before 11." On her own Instagram account, she said she fell asleep before she could answer him.

Ramos, 18, allegedly shot and killed his grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with two assault rifles around 11:32 AM local time, according to the US officials.

The 18-year-old gunman, who was identified as the suspect in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday, was killed by police after the shooting.

Tuesdays shooting was one of the worst school massacres in US history  in 2012, 20 first-graders and six educators were killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The gunman in that case, Adam Lanza, gunned down his mother in bed before opening fire at the school. Thirty-two people died in a shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007.

Biden calls for stricter gun-control legislation in US

Expressing shock over the tragic incident, US President Joe Biden asked Americans to stand up to the gun lobby and urged the members of the Congress for an immediate gun control legislation as he highlighted that the `sensible gun laws` need to be passed in the wake of Texas school shooting.

"When we passed the Assault Weapons Ban (in 1994), mass shootings went down. When the law expired [in 2004], mass shootings tripled. The idea that an 18-year old kid can walk into a gun store and buy assault weapons, it`s just wrong." US President said hours after the deadliest school shooting in Texas.

Suggesting reinstating the assault weapons ban and other "common-sense gun laws, Biden said, "We have to act."

He said pointing to Congress members, "It`s time for those who have struck or delayed or blocked the common-sense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget." Biden drew on his own experience with grief, having lost his first wife and young daughter in a car accident in 1972 and an adult son to cancer in 2015.

"To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away," he said. "There`s a hollowness in your chest you feel like you`re being sucked into it ... you`re never quite the same". US President asked the nation to pray for them and "give the parents and siblings strength in the darkness they feel right now as a nation."

US President mentioned the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, and said, "Since then they have been over 900 incidents of gun fires reported on school grounds."

He spoke of the shooting in Buffalo ten days ago and lamented that in both incidents an 18-year-old was able to purchase a gun and commit such heinous crimes. Biden was briefed about the shooting aboard Air Force One as soon as he returned from a trip to Asia, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Twitter.

He called Texas Governor Greg Abbott to offer any assistance needed."His prayers are with the families impacted by this awful event," Jean-Pierre said. In a statement issued before he landed, Biden ordered the flags at the White House and at US federal and public buildings to be flown at half-mast until Saturday.
State Sen. Edward A. Rath III said Wednesday that he will defend his seat against challenger Joel A. Giambra in an Aug. 23 primary election, setting up a rare intra-party contest featuring two of the best-known names in Republican politics.

"We went through all the infrastructure you need to do very early on when you assess a campaign, and now I'm ready to go and incredibly energized," he said.

Rath, seeking his second term in Albany, originally declined to run when early reapportionment maps landed him in an overwhelmingly Democratic district as well as a general election face-off with Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy and his $1.5 million campaign treasury.

But then revised maps stemming from a Republican court challenge caused Rath to reconsider and say he was running, until a final revision released last weekend presented a possible tougher challenge. Nevertheless, Rath said he is now finally committed to seeking the 61st District seat.

The Republican primary winner will face incumbent State Sen. Sean M. Ryan of Buffalo, who will enjoy a strong Democratic enrollment advantage.

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Giambra, the former Erie County executive, also formally announced this week. Though Niagara Falls and its significant Italian-American population is no longer included in the new district, Giambra still believes his "moderate Republican" brand will better sell in a Democratic district. He points to his two county executive terms as a Republican in overwhelmingly Democratic Erie County. In addition, he won several elections as Niagara councilmember and Buffalo comptroller as a Democrat.

New State Senate lines nix possible major primary battles in Western New York A State Supreme Court justice early Saturday morning approved final maps tweaked by a "special master" over the past few days, and it now seems certain that most local Senate incumbents avoid serious challenges, and that new districts will better represent similar communities as much as possible.

"I can win as a Republican," he said. "I have the ability to attract Democratic voters."

Still, the looming primary presents an awkward situation for local Republicans, as Rath represents an old line GOP family that includes his parents  the late State Supreme Court Justice Edward A. Rath Jr. and former State Sen. Mary Lou Rath  as well as his grandfather, the late County Executive Edward A. Rath Sr. Indeed, the Rath County Office Building is named after Erie County's first county executive.

But Giambra enters the race as the endorsed candidate of the Republican and Conservative parties. Top party regulars like Amherst Republican Chairman Brian D. Rusk now want nothing to do with Giambra, who first ran for county executive in 1999.

"In no way do I want Joel Giambra representing Amherst," he said. "I don't like his politics, and it was a big mistake for us to back such a liberal Democrat like him for county executive."

Party leaders have already circulated and submitted designating petitions for Giambra.

Rath, despite his deep GOP and Conservative affiliations, must now circulate his own petitions to qualify for the Aug. 23 ballot. Rath said Monday that his team is already carrying petitions, and he expects no problem making the ballot.

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Houston: There have been dozens of shootings and other attacks in US schools and colleges over the years, but until the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999, the number of dead tended to be in the single digits. Since then, the number of shootings that included schools have killed 10 or more people has mounted. The most recent two were both in Texas.

ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, May 2022

An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 14 children, one teacher and injuring others, Gov. Greg Abbott said. The shooter died.

SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, May 2018

A 17-year-old opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. The suspect has been charged with murder.

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL, February 2018

An attack left 14 students and three staff members dead at the school in Parkland, Florida, and injured many others. The 20-year-old suspect was charged with murder.

UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, October 2015

A man killed nine people at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, and wounded nine others, then killed himself.

SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, December 2012

A 19-year-old man killed his mother at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, then went to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first graders and six educators. He took his own life.

VIRGINIA TECH, April 2007

A 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007; more than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.

RED LAKE HIGH SCHOOL, March 2005

A 16-year-old student killed his grandfather and the man's companion at their Minnesota home, then went to nearby Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a teacher and a security guard before shooting himself.

COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL, April 1999

Two students killed 12 of their peers and one teacher at the school in Littleton, Colorado, and injured many others before killing themselves.
Austin (Texas, US): In a horrific tragedy, 19 children and two teachers were killed in the small town of Uvalde, west of San Antonio, in Texas after a gunman opened fire inside an elementary school. This is the United State's deadliest school shooting incident in nearly a decade. The gunman was just 18 years old and the youth opened fire at Robb Elementary School, killing at least 21 people. As condolences poured in from across the world, US President Joe Biden said that the fact that a teenager can go into a shop and buy a gun was "so wrong".

"The idea that an 18-year-old can walk into a store and buy assault weapons is just wrong. What in Gods name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?" the POTUS tweeted.

The idea that an 18-year-old can walk into a store and buy assault weapons is just wrong. What in Gods name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?  President Biden (@POTUS) May 25, 2022

POTUS had earlier tweeted, "We know common sense gun laws cant and wont prevent every tragedy. But we know they work and have a positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban  mass shootings went down. When the law expired  mass shootings tripled. (sic)"

The youth opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde town, Texas, 134 km from San Antonio, on Tuesday morning before he was killed by law enforcement officers. All fatalities and injuries took place inside one classroom Uvalde, according to Lt. Chris Olivarez, spokesperson for the Texas Department for Public Safety. The shooter barricaded himself in one room, killing two teachers and 19 children, he told CNN. "Just goes to show you the complete evil from this shooter," Olivarez said, just 10 days since 10 people were killed in a mass shooting in New York.

Investigators say the suspect was armed with a handgun, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and high-capacity magazines. The deceased children are in the second, third and fourth grades - aged between 7 years and 10 years, he said.

There have so far been at least 212 mass shootings in the US in 2022, according to the nonprofit organisation Gun Violence Archive. This means there have been more mass shootings this year than there have been days in 2022, CNN reported. CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter. Tuesday's massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvald is the second-deadliest school shooting since 2012, when 26 children and adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

(With PTI inputs)
Before last week, Malene Whites mental health counseling sessions were pretty much the same as those that take place almost everywhere else.

She talked with clients about the challenges they faced growing up, the hardships in their daily lives and the choices theyve made that add to their burdens.

But trying to help process the torrent of emotions that come with a racially motivated mass shooting in their city felt like a crushing weight for White and her clients.

Once you start counseling and change some things, you see a glimpse of hope, White said last week. Then things change so drastically by one negative event. People are worried. 'What do we do now? What do we think now?' 

The most important step, she told them, is to talk honestly with family, friends, co-workers and others, even if youre not sure exactly what to say.

The scary part is when there is no dialogue, she said. My message is let's just talk, let's communicate, let's stay close, connected to each other.

White grew up and still lives on the East Side. She has worked in the health field for two decades, the last five years as a licensed mental health counselor specializing in trauma and post-traumatic care.

Many of her clients are Black, but she serves people of different races, colors and creeds in the Spectrum Health and Human Services Downtown Buffalo Counseling Center.

White also leads a grief and support group Monday afternoons in the Buffalo City Mission and has spent part of the last week helping to provide free trauma counseling at the Johnnie B. Wiley Resource Center, four blocks from the Tops supermarket where a self-avowed racist killed 10 Black people May 14.

The mass shooting in Buffalo was more than a crime. It was another volley in a public health crisis We have a crisis in racism, a crisis in gun violence, but also a crisis in the lack of services, including a lack of access to mental health care, said Dr. Joseph Sellers, who grew up in Buffalo and is president of the Medical Society of the State of New York.

The shootings shook even her most optimistic clients, who have worked hard to change their circumstances.

"It's 'I'm hurt. I'm broke. And I don't know if somebody's going to hurt me,'  White said. That's different than it was a week ago. Now, we're not talking about coping skills. We're talking about the fear. We're talking about where you can go get groceries. We're talking about how you can navigate in the community. People are talking about trying to move out of the neighborhood. We've backslid a little.

Many of Whites clients are poor, so more typical counseling conversations involve how to navigate bus routes on a limited income, further their education, find and keep a job, and afford child care and healthy foods. Some have abused alcohol and other drugs that offer only fleeting comfort in their unpredictable lives. Others have been diagnosed with mental illness and need help steering through the health care system and staying on their medications.

For some, the challenges have been intergenerational.

It is harder to process new trauma when you already carry around a load, White said.

This heavy, massive, massacre-type killing has challenged many, she said, especially Blacks, including those who have made do without counseling to this point.

I'm hearing about intrusive thinking. I'm hearing about nightmares. I'm hearing negative feedback, avoiding people, places and bad memories. I'm seeing a lot of tears. There was the feeling of being attacked for many, many, many years due to their ancestry  and now theyre feeling attacked in 2022.

White talked with double the number of those who typically attend the group session on grief at the City Mission.

Mind you, the people I work with in both locations are a mixed pool, she said. The conversation was, Just recognize that person standing next to you is in an eerie place, as well. Every white person is not out here to kill me. This was an isolated incident, a terrible, terrible deed by one person. We talked about loving each other and continuing to love each other, and to not let this create the anger and frustration and division that it was supposed to create.

The conversations at the mission, and elsewhere, ended in hugs, handshakes and a stronger desire to forge ahead.

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Whites overarching message remained the same. Be good to yourself and those around you.

I'm always talking about self-care, she said. I'm always talking about the next journey. What can we do? What are some coping skills to manage lifes struggles? We'll go into the prevalence of services, trying to manage the emotions, knowing that they want to do better.

It meant a great deal last week to White, her clients and their neighbors that those across the region, and beyond, supported efforts to get more food into the hands of people who lost their only full-service supermarket.

It was also important, she said, that the Erie County Department of Mental Health collaborated to provide free, confidential counseling with Spectrum Health, Crisis Services, Endeavor Health Services and BestSelf Behavioral Health.

That support continues from 1 to 9 p.m. through Friday at the Wiley Center, 1100 Jefferson Ave.; there is no paperwork to fill out and there is a resource room for children to get help, too. All are welcome. Several people have come from outside the neighborhood, said Cherie Messore, a Spectrum Health spokesperson.

White also was among those who participated Friday in a webinar for business owners who sought more counsel about how to talk about the mass shooting with employees and customers, and get them support, if needed.

The message is a familiar one in counseling: Avoid distractions that keep you carrying a heavier and heavier load of troubles.

I'm talking to people about facing their feelings and their emotions, not running away from them, having those conversations with family and others, White said. If we're isolated from them, theyre going to come into your sleep. You're not going to want to eat. You're not going to want to go to work. You're going to find yourself in a place of not being able to cope with life.

Now is the time to prioritize what is important, she has told her clients. Eat healthier, exercise more and listen to soft music. Volunteer to help your community and country. Sit still for a moment often. Rub your feet before bed.

If someone cant talk with a loved one or needs more encouragement, talk with a counselor.

Its important to be able to ride the wave, to be able to engage in a safe place for conversation, she said.

White started last week fearful that anger would rule her workplace and community. Relief set in as she heard echoes of what she recommends in counseling coming from church and community leaders, as well as President Biden and the First Lady on their visit to Buffalo. Spontaneous gatherings and organized vigils continued to affirm hopes that the city and region will see brighter days.

She knows that wont be easy, recounting a client who cried so hard at the end of her counseling session Thursday that White handed her several tissues.

She whispered into my ear and said she was sorry, that she felt so guilty, and her people were so wrong, White said. She asked what she could do. This was a white woman. I just hugged her and told her, 'Do what you're doing right now. Just help me help you. Stay connected.' 

Need help?

Erie County Warmline: Free confidential non-crisis phone line, 716-248-2941, and text line 716-392-2221, for people having difficulty coping with life experiences. Open 4 to 11 p.m. daily.

Erie County Crisis 24-Hour Hotline: Counselors are available to talk with those in need at 716-834-3131.

211 WNY: Visit 211wny.org or call 211 anytime in the region for a free and confidential link to health and human services, including community resources for many health, social, mental health, substance use and developmental disability services.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline: 716-226-6264, namibuffalony.org

Mental Health Advocates of WNY: Regional resource for mental health support, 716-886-1242, mhawny.org.

Suicide prevention: Anyone contemplating self-harm can call the 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255.

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Will they say no yet again?

Will opponents of any gun control  the NRA, their congressional lapdogs, virtually all Republican officeholders  once more cling to the lie that high-capacity rifles are not a big part of our problem  designed, as they are, to kill by the dozen? Will they claim theres nothing to do about the mass murders those weapons enable in places like Uvalde, Texas; Newtown, Conn,; and the East Side of Buffalo?

Those on the reflexive right will agree that the slaughter of children and the racist murders of Black people are terrible crimes, but moments later insist that such tragedies are a price of freedom. They're not.

Americans arent stupid. They understand these shootings to be intolerable and they know what the history of this country tells them: We can do better.

At least 19 children were massacred in a Texas schoolroom on Tuesday, along with two teachers. The incomprehensible attack followed the racist murders in a Buffalo supermarket by just 10 days. While politicians dither and equivocate, other attacks are, almost certainly, being planned.

When in Gods name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? President Biden demanded in the aftermath of Tuesdays child murders. Its the right question. Indeed, for the moment, its the only question. When will they wake up?

Interesting  and surely revelatory  was the anguished response of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. He shot and killed horrifically, incomprehensibly, he said at a news conference. But he offered no suggestions for avoiding the next massacre.

A survey last year found that some 53% of Americans favored stricter controls on guns. While that majority had shrunk from previous surveys, two horrifying attacks in less than two weeks will surely change some minds  in New York, in Texas and anywhere else a shocked citizenry can distinguish between the words of the Second Amendment and the rights of children and grocery shoppers not to be murdered.

It doesnt have to be that way, as the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia observed in a 2008 decision. One of the courts most conservative members in recent years, Scalia wrote that Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. [It is] not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.

Still, who can be optimistic that Washington, Texas or other Republican-led states will act, even with the blood of children having once again been spilled? They did nothing after the Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut, almost 10 years ago. Thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers. How about action, as well?

Some will argue that laws dont matter. If they did, theyll say, New Yorks SAFE Act and Red Flag Law would have prevented the May 14 killings at the Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue. Its a false argument. Figures show this state suffers less gun violence than most other states. That may have to do with New Yorkers mindset along with our laws, but the laws surely make a difference. The Red Flag law and its enforcement need to be improved, as we have learned, but its the right approach.

What is more, other crimes occur despite laws on the books. A law isnt an impenetrable shield. Hate crimes occur, domestic violence occurs, rapes occur. And, as the American pro-life population may soon discover, abortions will still occur.

Our laws are, in part, an expression of our values. Do we value the right to easily buy weapons designed for mass murder over the lives of children, grocery shoppers, partiers and others? An outsider would have to conclude that we do. The ability to massacre is more important than any of the lives that have been lost and will continue to be lost.

Mass shootings certainly happen in other counties, but not like they do here. The American gun homicide rate is 25 times higher than other high-income countries, according to research by everytownresearch.org. The difference between this country and others, it concludes, is easy access to guns.

As a consequence, 1,363 people in the United States were killed and 947 more were wounded in 240 mass shootings between 2009 and 2020. Thats an average of 20 such massacres each year. Buffalo is now a member of that suffering family. So is Uvalde, Texas.

Primary elections for Congress, state houses and governors will soon be upon us. Ask those candidates, especially the Republicans, what they think a country of intelligent people can actually do to respond effectively to the horrors that unfold far too often.

Heres how Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat put it in response to Mitt Romney, a Republican colleague from Utah:

I mean, our job is not to send thoughts and prayers, our job is to pass laws, Murphy told reporters. So if you think the beginning and end of your responsibility after a mass shooting is to sympathize with the victims and the families, then you know, why are you in the Senate? Why ask for this job?

Why, indeed? The time for mere thinking and praying is long past.

  

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
Theres going to be emotions you didnt even know you had. This quote from Buffalo Urban Leagues Melissa Spikes-Archer speaks to the importance of reaching out for counseling after violent and traumatic events such as Buffalo experienced on May 14.

The Buffalo Urban League is one of many organizations providing free mental health assistance in the wake of the shooting, but the worry is that people who need the counseling may hesitate to seek it. Thats why, in the days following the attack, the Urban League sent counselors out into the streets, including those surrounding the Jefferson Avenue Tops supermarket, to reach out to those who were clearly suffering.

Experts in this field confirm that help isnt always sought when its needed and that mental health disparities due to racial inequities are just as much a systemic problem as physical health disparities that rose to the forefront during the early days of the pandemic. Fear of expense is also a factor.

In Tuesdays News story, survivors Julia Harwell and Lamont Thomas, who were both in Tops that day with their daughter Londin, spoke of rent being more of a priority than counseling. Its a reminder that the numbers of those whose lives have been shattered by this tragedy go well beyond the initial circle of victims and their families.

In a recent Associated Press story, Reshawna Chapple, a Black therapist and associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Central Florida, spoke to these issues: Every time something like this happens, it opens up the wounds all over again, Chapple said. We arent taught to acknowledge feelings that are negative. The ones who need help the most are definitely not going to ask for it. Chapple stresses that systemic racism is part of the reason why too few in the Black community seek mental health counseling, either on a regular basis or in the aftermath of tragedy.

Local counselor Malene White, who works at Spectrum Health and Human Services Downtown Counseling Center, also leads a grief counseling group at City Mission and has been one of many mental health professionals providing free trauma counseling at Johnnie B. Wiley Resource Center. White feels the main thing is to just start talking. The scary part is when there is no dialogue, she said in a News report . My message is lets just talk, lets communicate, lets stay close, connected to each other.

Anxiety, depression, obsessive thoughts and behaviors, hallucinations, feelings of hopelessness and helplessness  those are a few of the symptoms that Erie County Medical Centers Behavioral Health center cites as reasons to seek counseling. But those arent the only ones. Also, its not necessary to have been in or near Tops that day. Pain has descended like a dark cloud over many in Western New York as a result of this event. Nobody should feel ashamed about needing to get some help to relieve it.

When Buffalo stops being a national news story and even local attention begins to be drawn toward other concerns, that pain and all the problems that go with it will still be here.

Weve provided some mental health/counseling resources in a list published on Sunday, but here they are again, with additions. Keep in mind that private discussions via virtual visits are often available from many, if not most, of these organizations.



 211 WNY, 211wny.org or call 211: This is a free, confidential link to a host of other services, provided by United Way.

Crisis services, 716-834-3131, crisisservices.org: Crisis Services is a proven resource for its 24/7 hot line and more. This help is always free of charge.

 Erie County Warmline, call 716-248-2941 and text 716-392-2221: This non-crisis support line is available 4-11 p.m. daily.

 Emergency Mental Health Support Micro-Grants: These mini-grants are intended to support Black people impacted by the mass shooting and support costs for mental health services or other types of therapy.

 Erie County Medical Center, 462 Grider, 8 a.m.-10:30 p.m. daily, 716-898-1594 (help center): This help can be in-person or virtual.

 Mental Health Advocates of WNY, 716-886-1242, mhawny.org: Non-clinical services that promote mental well-being and provide assistance with navigating the mental health delivery system.

 Mental Health Care Services at the Johnnie B. Wiley Resource Center, 1100 Jefferson Ave., 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily., 716-834-3131 (hot line): Counselors from many other local mental health providers including Crisis Services, BestSelf Behavioral Health, Endeavor and Spectrumare working here. The effort is coordinated by the Erie County Department of Mental Health.

 National Alliance for Mental Health Helpline, 716-226-6264, namibuffalony.org: Made of of volunteers who know the pain of mental illness and want to help others face those challenges.

 Renovated Soul and Marriage Therapy, 716-275-4264: This center is offering free grief counseling through its help line.

 Spectrum Health & Human Services, 716-710-5172: Free support is offered through this 24/7 help line.

 National Suicide Prevention Hotline, 800-273-8255: Anyone contemplating self-harm can call the 24-hour number.

  

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
The leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade should be a wake-up call to every pro-choice individual in America. We can no longer take abortion access for granted, as right-wing politicians are now planning their aggressive attacks on a woman's right to choose. Our reproductive rights are now on the ballot every time an election is held.

One of our community's most anti-choice politicians is County Clerk Mickey Kearns, a nominal Democrat who runs on the Republican line. In the State Assembly, Kearns voted to allow employers to fire employees for getting an abortion. He also voted to deny women legal protection from criminal prosecution for seeking an abortion. Not only is he out of step with nearly every Democrat on this issue, but many Republicans as well.

Many will say that the County Clerk's Office does not make decisions regarding abortion, and it should therefore not be an issue in an election for that position. However, one of the last two Erie County Clerks is the Governor, and the other is in the House of Representatives. County Clerks are frequently elected to higher Offices, and Mickey Kearns likely has plans to do so.

Although the Erie County Republican Committee endorsed him for re-election as County Clerk, Mickey Kearns is running in the Democratic Primary. Pro-choice Democrats can send a loud message to every anti-choice politician by voting against Mickey Kearns in the Primary Election.

Deborah Cohen

Buffalo
Ascendant Resources Executive Chairman Mark Brennan joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has met the conditions to increase its ownership from 25% to 50% in the Lagoa Salgada project in Portugal. The company will now focus on the rest of the conditions to increase its stake in the Project to 80% by year end. Brennan also share results from the recent exploration work and geological interpretation of the Lagoa Salgada Property in Portugal. Brennan telling Proactive the results included the identification of copper rich stockworks below the North Zone at Venda Nova. Identification of a potential massive sulphide lens lateral to the South Zone at Venda Nova. Brennan also shared Deep Penetrating Electromagnetic work at the Venda Nova deposit included two large loops centered along strike of the known mineralization, both north and south sectors.
After a 1,200-year-old canoe was brought to the surface of Lake Mendota in early November, it appeared that significant study of the ancient watercraft would have to wait at least two years since the canoe is undergoing a long-term preservation process in a specialized tank.

But in March, the canoe was briefly liberated from its bath of purified water and UV sterilization to undergo a series of high-tech 3D scans to create detailed renderings and give researchers a jump-start on their study of the rare archaeological find.

UW-Madison announced Tuesday that Lennon Rodgers, who directs the Grainger Engineering Design and Innovation Laboratory, conducted the scans at the invitation of Wisconsin State Archaeologist James Skibo and Scott Roller, a senior collections manager for the Wisconsin Historical Society. The canoe, being preserved and housed at the Wisconsin State Archive Preservation Facility on Madisons Near East Side, was out of its tank for about a day in order for Rodgers, who oversees the College of Engineerings makerspace, to do his work.

They call Lake Mendota the most studied lake in the world, said Skibo, referring to the work of the universitys Center for Limnology, which has a lakeside lab just west of Memorial Union. I want to make this the most studied canoe in the world. We want to use every resource available to learn as much as we can about this vessel to tell a variety of stories.

The canoe, located in 27 feet of water about 100 yards off the Shorewood Hills shoreline, was discovered in June by Tamara Thomsen, who was on a recreational dive but is also a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society. Carbon-14 dating conducted from a sample of the 15-foot-long wooden canoe before it was brought to the surface revealed its age.

That means it was likely created by the effigy mound builders who inhabited the Madison area a millennium ago and were ancestors of todays Ho-Chunk Nation. Seven net sinkers found in the boat suggest that it was a work canoe, used for a type of fishing previously only documented among cultures living along the shores of the Great Lakes.

The high-resolution scans conducted in late March by Rodgers captured marks and textures not apparent to the naked eye, and the software of the scanning devices was used to further analyze the surface by taking cross-sections and focusing on specific features, said Rodgers, who made 20 scans, each taking 15 to 20 minutes. Rodgers and makerspace staff have scanned a variety of objects over the years, including snowmobile engines, butterfly chrysalises, Formula 1 vehicle components, valuable artwork and an ancient wooden bowl.

Now they can add the oldest intact boat ever found in Wisconsin waters to the list of their scans.

I really enjoy working in interdisciplinary settings, Rodgers said in a statement announcing the scans. I hung out with these archaeologists and historians and I could see they think differently from engineers. Thats why Im attracted to these projects. They have a fresh, different approach to problem solving, and we as engineers can work with them in a complementary way.

The canoe was in pure water and removed the day prior for cleaning of sediment and other particles, during which time Historical Society staff also changed the vat liner and added fresh water. The canoe remained out of the tank overnight but was wrapped in wet towels and poly sheeting to keep it saturated before doing the 3D scanning the next day, Roller said.

With the canoe on an examination table, Rodgers first used his iPhone to create a lower resolution color scan before using a high-end 3D scanner that doesnt capture color but has a finer resolution.

The scanner projected a laser pattern onto the surface of the canoe and used two cameras to measure how the laser pattern deforms as it moves over the surface with the guidance of small reflective stickers placed on the canoe to track the scanners overall location and orientation relative to the surface.

The information from the scan was then used to reconstruct the 3D shape of the surface in real time on a computer screen.

Once back in his own lab on the UW-Madison campus, Rodgers used sophisticated software to stitch the scans together, creating a digital 3D model of the canoe that can be spun around, flipped upside down, zoomed in on and manipulated in many ways.

Now we have a really good three-dimensional scan of this object, said Rodgers, who was found by Skibo after a Google search. You can see all the way down to the tool marks.

Once the preservation process is completed, the canoe will likely go on display. But Skibo may use the scans to create a full-size replica in which visitors could sit, once the new Wisconsin History Center opens on Capitol Square at the top of State Street. Skibo is also considering scans of other fragile archived artifacts and wants to use specially equipped drones to scan forests and fields in Wisconsin to uncover hidden effigy mounds and other historic sites.

This canoe is a very complex shape, and it was created by hand, Skibo said. So there was a person, an engineer, that built this 1,200 years ago. He or she was probably one of the original early makers. To me, documenting that work is a great use for 3D scanning.

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A day after a gunman killed 21 people at a Texas elementary school, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul called on Wisconsins Republican-controlled Legislature to ban untraceable, homemade guns and require universal background checks for gun buyers.

Separately, Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, circulated a petition calling on the Legislature to approve universal background checks and allow judges to take guns away from owners they deem risky. In 2019, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called his first special session encouraging legislators to pass those measures, but Republican leaders called the bills an infringement on Second Amendment rights and ended the special session just seconds after it began.

Along with banning untraceable ghost guns and background checks, Kaul called for keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, which spokesperson Gillian Drummond said was in response to last weeks Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that allows certain domestic abusers to receive a concealed carry permit.

These are steps that have broad public support, he said. What we lack is legislative will.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, as well as several Republican legislators did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2019, Vos reiterated Republican concerns that red-flag laws, under which people deemed to be threats by a court must surrender their firearms, would infringe upon due process.

We already have had these debates, we already know where people stand, Vos said. I dont necessarily want to spend a bunch of time playing politics with this.

Evers slammed the Legislatures inaction at the time. This year, Evers vetoed AB 597, which would have allowed concealed carry licensees to bring guns to places of worship located on school grounds, and AB 495, which would have allowed concealed carry licensees to bring guns in their vehicles on school grounds.

Politicians, and Republican politicians in particular, need to be more concerned about parents than they are about the NRA, Kaul said Wednesday. They need to be more worried about about keeping kids safe than they are about keeping their political futures safe.

In Washington, D.C., Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson refused to answer whether he would support background checks for people who want to buy guns. Calling Tuesdays shooting heartbreaking in an interview with radio host James T. Harris, Johnson blamed the shooting on many Americans secularization and called for stronger communities and renewed faith.

Speaking on the U.S. Senate floor Wednesday, Johnson also called for passage of a measure he authored that would codify the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety into law.

That measure calls for the clearinghouse to include information about threat prevention, preparedness, protection, mitigation, incident response and recovery.

Its a good idea, Johnson said. It could save lives. It is an action, when people are calling for action following this tragedy.

The legislation does not call for background checks for gun buyers. Neither chamber in Congress has voted on the measure.

Democratic U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blocked action on the bill Wednesday, saying he would focus instead on a measure that would authorize federal agencies to monitor, analyze, investigate and prosecute domestic terrorists.

Democrats arent interested in solutions. They are interested in maintaining wedge issues that they believe give them a political advantage, Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning said in a statement.

Asked whether Johnson would support the domestic terrorism measure, Henning said, Wont speak to hypotheticals since Sen. Schumer today, after he blocked Sen. Johnsons commonsense school safety legislation, said there would be numerous proposals added to this bill and we have yet to see that.

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In arguments before the state Supreme Court Tuesday, attorneys sparred over whether parents should be allowed to sue the Madison School District over its gender identity policies without identifying themselves or even proving they are residents of the district.

In September 2020, a Dane County Circuit Court judge temporarily suspended portions of the Madison School Districts guidance on gender identity that a group of unnamed parents and a conservative law firm sued to overturn last winter.

Judge Frank Remington granted a request from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) to bar the district from enforcing parts of its guidance related to when and how staff can speak to a parent about a childs gender transition. Remington issued the partial injunction in September.

Remington, in May 2020, ordered the parents names be disclosed to School District attorneys, but as of Wednesday, counsel for the district was still unaware of the plaintiffs identities.

Sarah Zylstra, representing the Madison School District from local law firm Boardman Clark, said she took Luke Berg, deputy counsel for WILL, at his word that the plaintiffs are indeed parents of Madison School District students though she couldnt confirm or question the validity of that claim due to their anonymity.

Unless I know who those are, I have no way to verify whether they are or they are not parents in the district, she said.

Chief Justice Annette Ziegler suggested Berg submit an affidavit to disclose the plaintiffs names to the court only, but Zylstra argued that she would then have to share that information with the school district to verify whether or not they are indeed parents of students.

Berg argued the parent identity isnt relevant to the case, because the question of whether parents are notified if their child adopts a new identity is a constitutional issue. He also argued that public knowledge of the plaintiffs identity could open them up to retaliation and harassment because the case involves a sensitive and controversial topic. He said anonymity was necessary to protect the identity of the plaintiffs children.

Zylstra argued that the identity of the parents needs to be known in order to allow her to raise a legal defense, to protect against ethical constraints and address aspects of a facial challenge  or the plaintiffs claim that their constitutional rights as parents are being curtailed.

WILL initially represented 14 parents, but that number has now dropped to six.

Tuesdays argument was two pronged. Berg asked the court to require the district to defer to parents regarding their childs gender identity as the issue of the plaintiffs anonymity continues to be argued. The initial partial injunction, handed down by the circuit court in September 2020, didnt go far enough, WILL argued, because students are allowed to transition at school without parental notice or consent.

We need an injunction to protect parents rights to protect children from harm, while the issue regarding anonymity is decided, he said.

Adam Prinsen, from law firm Quarles and Brady, who argued on behalf of the Memorial High School Gender Equity Association, noted that because of the anonymity of the plaintiffs, the circuit court was unable to adequately hear the preliminary injunction motion.

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RACINE  The Illinois woman convicted of killing the young housekeeper who lived with her and dumping the body in rural Racine County in 1999 was sentenced on Monday to serve the rest of her life in prison without the opportunity for parole.

Linda LaRoche, 67, was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide for the murder of Peggy Lynn Johnson-Schroeder.

LaRoche was ordered to serve five years for the additional charge of hiding a corpse.

At trial, Assistant District Attorney Diane Donohoo said she believed LaRoche was jealous of Johnson-Schroeder, who was loved by the family she lived with.

LaRoche had hired Johnson-Schroeder to be a housekeeper after Schroeders mother died.

LaRoches children described Peggy as kind, sweet and quiet. The defendants only daughter said: Everybody loved Peggy.

In contrast, LaRoche was described as somewhat of a screamer. One of her younger sons said, We had a rocky relationship.

Several of her children said LaRoche was abusive to Schroeder over several years; though, they themselves were not abused.

Lost opportunity

Johnson-Schroeders sister, Heather Leslin, spoke of the lost opportunity to develop a relationship with her half-sister.

They had made plans together and even talked of getting a place to share.

The only conversations we had were over the phone, and that was never enough, she said, explaining Johnson-Schroeder had many responsibilities.

Leslin claimed that LaRoche put an end to their phone calls, claiming that she was only upsetting Johnson-Schroeder.

I was denied the opportunity to have a family relationship with Peggy, she said while adding that their plan was to form a sisterly bond.

Johnson-Schroeders aunt also addressed the court, telling the judge that her niece was a loving and caring human being, and not an animal like you treated her, she said to LaRoche.

Her aunt noted that a year after Johnson-Schroeder lost her brother, who died by suicide, the young woman was also dead.

You, Linda LaRoche, brutally, barbarically beat and tortured her and left her to take her last breath on the side of the road in a cornfield with nothing, not even her name, the aunt said.

She added, Youre a monster.

Sentencing

LaRoche was allowed to speak on her own behalf where she took the opportunity to deny she had killed Johnson-Schroeder.

First of all, my heart and soul go out to her family, LaRoche said. Whoever did this to her is more than a monster, they dont deserve to breath, but its not me.

She revisited the facts of the case and once again denied that she had time to drive the young woman from McHenry, Illinois, where they lived, to Raymond, Wisconsin, where the body of Johnson-Schroeder had been dumped in a cornfield, because she claimed she had only been gone two-and-a-half hours.

LaRoche had been identified as a suspect after the case had gone cold after she, while living in Florida, allegedly bragged about having killed someone in Illinois two decades prior. Someone who overheard that reported LaRoche to police, who later arrested the woman.

LaRoche told the court she has ashamed of having dropped the young woman off at a restaurant where she was supposed to meet a friend. LaRoche said she was ashamed of having no explanation for her family.

She said they all had a shared goal  the DAs Office, the sheriffs office, the family  to get justice for Johnson-Schroeder.

And this isnt justice, she said. Im sorry but I didnt do anything like that.

Judge Timothy Boyle rejected the defendants claim that she was not the killer of Johnson-Schroeder. From the courts perspective, you are in fact guilty of these offenses, he told her, adding Anyone with a soul would agree this was a very heinous crime.

You were a nurse who tried to do good things for people. And then the fact that you took Peggy in and that may have been altruistic at the time, but on the other side of that is this person whose anger  and your own kids even described it  that could take over and just be out of control.

Boyle outlined some of the lifes events that Johnson-Schroeder would never get to experience: joy, potentially having a spouse and child. And whether that was going to happen or not, her journey ended, Boyle said.

He explained he was denying her the opportunity for parole because, in a certain sense, she had 20 years of opportunity before she actually got charged in the case. LaRoche was arrested in Florida on Nov. 5, 2019.

Almost 23 years ago

The Racine County Sheriffs Office was dispatched to Raymond on July 21, 1999, after passersby found a young womans body in the first row of a cornfield.

The woman was badly beaten, had broken bones, was malnourished and evidence suggested she was probably tortured. The medical examiners report indicated Schroeder had multiple injuries that all contributed to her death, but it was an infection that ultimately caused it.

The infection was necrotizing fasciitis, a rare bacterial infection that is sometimes referred to as flesh-eating.

The young woman from the cornfield had never been arrested, so her fingerprints did not turn up any identification. She was buried in a Jane Doe grave and went nameless for 20 years until modern methods of DNA testing turned up an identification.

Once she was identified, investigators learned that Schroeders father had abandoned his family when she was young and her mother was deceased. She was described in court as cognitively slow.

She met LaRoche at a free clinic where the older woman was working as a nurse. LaRoche offered the young woman a job helping at her house with housework and her six children, according to testimony.

LaRoche told investigators she took Schroeder in because she identified with her situation. She, too, had lost her mother while she was still quite young.

I had a troubled childhood, LaRoche told investigators. I didnt have anyone, either.

When Schroeder moved into the home, she brought almost nothing with her besides a two-person tent.

Circumstantial evidence enough to convict

The case presented by the Racine County District Attorneys Office was largely circumstantial. It has been almost 23 years, so there were no witnesses to Schroeder being dumped in a cornfield, no DNA, fingerprints or surveillance video.

Complicating matters was the fact Johnson-Schroeder was not killed by a gunshot or knife wound. While she had many injuries that contributed to her death, it was the untreated infection that ultimately killed her.

Donohoo acknowledged the circumstantial nature of the case, noting the defense used the word as if circumstantial was a dirty word. She explained circumstantial evidence is evidence from which the jury could draw a reasonable conclusion and is admissible in court.

The testimony from multiple witnesses, including some of the defendants own children, indicated Johnson-Schroeder lived in a state of chronic abuse.

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CANNES, France  South Dakotas Pine Ridge Reservation has often been depicted in film but rarely from the inside. The Cannes Film Festival entry War Pony," though, sought to capture daily life on the reservation by relying on the perspectives of its Native residents.

The film was directed by the actor Riley Keough and her friend, Gina Gammell. They both reside in Los Angeles. But while shooting Andrea Arnold's 2016 film American Honey across the U.S. heartland, Keough shared a scene with Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy, two young Lakota men from Pine Ridge without any previous acting experience whom Arnold had enlisted as extras.

We just got stuck in a motel room together for four hours, Keough, the Zola and The Girlfriend Experience actor, recalled in an interview in Cannes. Our scene was moved so we were just sitting there drinking beer.

She was the star there so I was like, OK, cool. Just on set drinking, says Sioux Bob, smiling. I got paid $2,000 for, like, two hours of my time, so Im not mad at it.

But what began an unlikely friendship  and eventually collaboration  would stretch over the next seven years. Keough and Gammell would visit Pine Ridge and, later, Sioux Bob and Reddy would travel out to Los Angeles. Hanging out and making Snapchat videos eventually morphed into a screenplay written by Sioux Bob and Reddy.

From such modest beginnings and a lot of just sitting around drinking, War Pony emerged as not just an accomplished portrait of life on Pine Ridge but an enthusiastically received Cannes premiere in the festival's Un Certain Regard section.

Its so wild, Keough says, laughing and shaking her head in disbelief. Every time I look at Frank and Gina, Im like, What? We know how we started and how far weve come.

War Pony follows a pair of protagonists. One is Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting), a laconic 23-year-old who manages to get by hustling small jobs and who lands a gig with a nearby wealthy white rancher who profits and plunders from the reservation in various ways. The other is Matho (LaDainian Crazy Thunder), a 12-year-old with a drug-dealing father. A series of loose-jointed, interconnected episodes follow that are both comic (a potentially lucrative poodle plays a co-staring role) and tragic.

The stories came straight from Reddy, Sioux Bob and others who drew from their own memories and experiences on the reservation. It was shot on the streets many of the actors live on.

It wasnt too hard to keep it authentic, says Sioux Bob. Were all first-time actors. Its Pine Ridge. This is your life. All this outlandish stuff you see in the movie, that was Tuesday.

War Pony, which is seeking distribution in Cannes, features a cast mostly populated by Oglala Lakota and Sicangu Lakota citizens of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Rosebud Sioux Tribe. A key figure was producer Willi White, a tribal citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who has striven to bring more authentic depictions of Indigenous people to movie screens.

Pine Ridge is really unique," says Sioux Bob. Its really beautiful but its so chaotic. Thats what I wanted everyone to see. This isnt just my reservation. All reservations are in rural areas like this and there are probably groups of kids doing the same things. And I wanted it to be showcased. Thats the reality."

In coming to Cannes, many among the cast and filmmakers were making their first overseas trip. The young Crazy Thunder hadn't heard of Cannes before. But the experience of making War Pony  grittily realistic, ultimately triumphant  and seeing his home honestly reflected on screen has inspired him.

You want to go out and find more resources and reach for a different opportunity, reach for higher, says Crazy Thunder.

That films are ultimately authored by one person, the auteur, is common belief at the Cannes Film Festival. But the community effort of War Pony challenges that notion.

A lot of people made this film, says Keough.

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Educational leadership has never been more important, according to Mike Teahon.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, an ongoing teacher shortage and other challenges, its also more difficult than ever, he added.

Leadership can be very lonely, said Teahon, an associate professor and chair of the University of Nebraska at Kearneys Department of Educational Administration.

But it doesnt have to be that way.

A former school administrator in Amherst, Dunning and Gothenburg, Teahon believes the key to effective school leadership is getting people involved and engaged at every level  from bus drivers and custodians to teachers and technology directors.

A lot of times people see leadership as administrators. Its more than that, he said. Leadership capacity exists at all levels. Some of the most successful districts have strong teacher-leaders who work together with the administrative team.

Teahon and his colleagues in the UNK Department of Educational Administration promote this model through the NexGen Leadership Academy, a program launched last fall to develop and support current and future leaders in Nebraskas educational system.

The two-year academy includes a variety of collaborative activities, both virtual and face-to-face, that allow participants to learn from each other as well as recognized experts and leaders in the field of education. There are mentorship, networking and professional development opportunities, job-a-like cohort meetings for educators with similar responsibilities and goals and district-specific meetings to discuss local strategies.

Participants can choose to complete a series of four online graduate courses that focus on school leadership and culture, with these credit hours counting toward an educational administration program at UNK.

A total of 150 educators representing school districts from Bayard to Blair are part of the academys first two cohorts. On Monday, roughly 100 of them were on campus for the inaugural NexGen Leadership Academy Summit, an event featuring keynote speakers, breakout sessions, a panel discussion and networking.

Columbus Public Schools Superintendent Troy Loeffelholz attended with several staff members. He was invited to speak to academy participants last fall, then recognized it would be a great program for CPS teachers who are currently in leadership positions or are interested in pursuing one. About 20 people applied for the districts 12 allotted spots.

We know that we have to start recruiting from within to fill our leadership positions, Loeffelholz said. Instead of relying on the lottery to see what kind of applicants are out there  because theyre few and far between  we decided we needed to grow our own.

Loeffelholz hopes the NexGen Leadership Academy can help CPS develop an internal talent pipeline by giving employees the tools they need to succeed in these positions.

We want to broaden their horizons in the way they think about leadership and how to work with students and educators, he said.

Katie Burger, an instructional facilitator at York Public Schools, signed up for the NexGen Leadership Academy as part of the inaugural cohort last fall. She called it a low-stress way to further develop her professional skills.

I love that this academy brings in all different types of leaders, she said. Every month when we hear from our presenters, they all have a different perspective on the same topic. I really enjoy learning from all those different people.

The academy gave Burger the confidence she needed to pursue a new position at York Public Schools, where shell be the assistant elementary principal in 2022-23.

I just have a desire to serve, and thats the next step to continue serving my community and school, said Burger, who received her school principalship endorsement from UNK.

The 34-year-old knows the knowledge and connections shes gained through the NexGen Leadership Academy will benefit her now and well into the future.

Thats what were trying to do in all of these districts, Teahon noted. My goal is to build leadership capacity at all levels across the state.

For more information on the NexGen Leadership Academy, contact Teahon at 308-865-8844 or teahonmd@unk.edu.

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Scotus Central Catholic graduate Cassie Kouma said her faith was strengthened during her freshman year of college, leading her to question how she's living her faith.

The University of Nebraska at Kearney student said that thought led her into researching Christian martyrs who lived and died for their faith.

This research culminated in Kouma writing a poem  in the style of Emily Dickinson  describing the life of St. Perpetua for an assignment in her English class.

Her professor, Marguerite Tassi  who was impressed by Koumas poem  told the Scotus graduate about a college undergraduate research fellowship program. The fellowship - which starts next fall - allows Kouma to research more Christian martyrs and write poetry.

Ive always had it in the back of my mind that Ive wanted to write poems about saints, said Kouma, a 2021 Scotus graduate. Ive always enjoyed writing poems about religious topics.

Kouma also credited Tassi with sponsoring and mentoring her project.

Tassi said she was moved by Koumas work after asking her class to do a creative imitation of a poem they enjoyed. Kouma chose Dickinsons Because I could not stop for Death.

It was a fabulous poem. She did a fabulous job, Tassi said. I think it lit a fire under her.

Kouma said her inspiration began with St. Perpetua  who was told by her father to recant her faith before her death. Perpetua died alongside four others in Carthage, Northern Africa, in the year 203. Her execution took place on the floor of an amphitheater for all to see.

Kouma added shes always been inspired by saints and what goes through their minds when they are facing death and knowing they will see God.

Through the fellowship, she will take 10 martyrs and write about what that experience may have been like for them.

Its a really exciting idea, Tassi said.  The project is partly research-based and partly creative writing. It really evolved naturally through the reading we were having in class and her connection with Emily Dickinson.

Tassi said she was happy to have taught Kouma, adding she is the kind of student who teachers love to have in their classroom.

Like her faith, Kouma has been interested in poetry for some time. She participated in poetry contests in high school before writing more in college.

Kouma  who is currently studying secondary English education at UNK  said she hopes to become a high school English teacher.

I would like to teach at a Catholic school so that way I could bring the faith aspect into it too, Kouma said, adding she would like to add an emphasis on poetry to her class as well.

She added shes looking forward to her fellowship.

Im really grateful that I can do such a faith-based project at a secular university, Kouma said. Im really thankful for the foundations that were found in my faith with my family, going to Scotus and how thats been able to grow at college.

Andrew Kiser is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at andrew.kiser@lee.net.

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Jan Went has taught business at Lakeview Community Schools for 27 years. In that time, she's accumulated several accolades and awards, the most recent being the top high school business educator in the country.

The National Business Education Association recognizes excellence among high school business educators, on several levels. In 2020, Went received best in the state of Nebraska and then in 2021 best in the mountain-plain region, culminating in this year's national award.

As for what may have gotten her this distinction, Went said one of the things that she strives for and thinks sets her teaching apart is a connection with her students.

"I take a lot of pride in the fact that it's very easy for me to connect with students. From day one they feel comfortable in class and comfortable with me," Went said.

Lakeview High School Principal Steve Borer expressed similar comments, that Went's connection to her students sets her apart from other business educators.

"Mrs. Went does a very good job of building relationships with her students in the classroom. She also does an excellent job teaching them the basics of Microsoft Office," Borer said.

Went's journey began at Lakeview, where she decided she wanted to pursue a career in business, thanks to her business teacher in high school. From there, she attended Wayne State University seeking a degree in business administration with an emphasis in office administration.

"Once I got to college, after one semester, I realized I could actually teach what I enjoy and have summers free," Went explained.

After 11 years at Scotus Central Catholic High School, some of those teaching math, Went came back to her alma mater at Lakeview and has been there ever since.

Went described her classes as being more "business technology" than pure business. Students learn how to use tools like Microsoft Office and can even earn a certification while in the class.

"I love that we teach skills for life," Went said. "What I really enjoy is that they (students) don't ask 'when am I ever going to use this?'"

Those certifications, Borer added, students carry with them after they graduate, and several students have even come back to thank Went for concepts they learned in her classes.

Went said she tries to focus on these kind of hands-on application-based lessons.

"Everything I teach they know they will use now or in the not to far off future. Everything is hands on. Kids like hands on, they like to be engaged," Went said.

While Went primarily teaches high school classes, she recently took on a junior high exploratory business class. She said she was a little hesitant when first introduced to the idea but has since adapted.

"I've always taught high school, but it was only nine weeks. Now, it's the brightest part of my day every day when those eighth graders come in excited and ready to learn," Went said.

In that section, Went introduces them to the concepts she will discuss in later sections, as well as some basic business communication management topics. The capstone project, however, is unique to that section.

Students are tasked with creating a concept for a food truck, complete with designing their own business cards, menus, flyers, etc. As a final part of the project, they have to pitch their idea for "funding."

"Its all fictional, but they also bring in a sample of their feature item. I mean, if it involves food kids are going to love it," Went said.

Went's Junior IT Applications II course has even designed media for local businesses, such as Foreman Lumber, the Time For Change Coalition and Shell Valley Insurance.

"It's just really cool, the kids get to learn the basics and apply them and see them get used," Went said.

Borer said that Went is an excellent teacher and an example of the type of teachers Lakeview has on its team.

"I feel like our staff is top notch and Mrs. Went is included in that," Borer said. "Anytime one of our team members can win an award I think it says a lot about the rest of our team."

Went said the aspect of business she enjoys the most is technology and how technology in education changes. In her classroom, she has several manual typewriters for display purposes, bygone relics of former business classes.

"Education is always changing. As the years go on, you have got to be flexible, evolve and adapt. Kids keep you young," Went said.

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Brazil in Bitcoin Adoption Drive: Blockchain.com's Expansion, Miners' Tax Break, Real Estate Firm's BTC Choice

Source: AdobeStock / IrynaV

Crypto adoption is gaining pace in Brazil, with the crypto wallet giant Blockchain.com looking to hire local staff, a major real estate firm committing to bitcoin (BTC) pay, and the government looking to incentivize crypto mining by waiving tax on imported mining hardware.

In a post on LinkedIn, Blockchain.com explained that it was looking for a General Manager to be based in Sao Paulo  promising a package that involves crypto bonuses. The post noted that the new hire would be expected to recruit a world class team to execute the global business strategy in market, including hiring and managing additional Brazilian sales executives as the business grows.

And the firm appears to have its sights set on institutional investors and potential partners in the traditional finance space. The post continued, explaining how the new manager would be expected to cultivate relationships with our most important Brazilian institutional clients to source new opportunities and increase the overall amount of business we do together.

The posts author added:

The universe of companies could include crypto exchanges, neobanks, fintech apps, and more.

Meanwhile, miners in Brazil have something to celebrate. As reported by Exame, the Ministry of Economys Foreign Trade Chamber has stated that devices that make use of the SHA 256 encryption algorithm, commonly used in Bitcoin mining, can now be imported without tax charges, provided they have energy efficiency measured at 25 degrees Celsius equal to or less than 32 J/TH (joules/terahash).

Exame noted that the government has taken a more conciliatory approach to the sector in the past few weeks. In April, the Executive Management Committee of the Chamber of Foreign Commerce also announced that it would slash tax rates to zero taxes on the import of hardware wallets.

And iMovel Magazine reported that Gafisa, one of the four biggest domestic residential construction and real estate firms in Brazil, has struck a deal with Foxbit, one of Brazils biggest crypto exchanges.

The deal will allow house buyers to pay in BTC for properties  and will begin with offering BTC pay at a new development of 400+ apartments it is building in Sao Paulos Rua Nestor Pestana.

Gafisa, the media outlet reported, has been studying the possibility of allowing customers to pay in BTC since February 2021.

____

Learn more:

- Brazils Biggest Neobank Makes Bitcoin Investment & Will Let Customers Buy BTC, Ethereum

- Coinbase Ends Brazilian M&A Talks



- Crypto Bills in Panama, Brazil Progressing Fast, but Argentina Province Sends Mining Warning

- Brazilian Parliament Heading for Key Vote on Crypto Regulation Bill



- Blockchain.com's IPO Might Happen This Year, Indian Exchange CoinDCX Doubles Valuation

- Blockchain.com More than Doubles its Valuation to USD 14B in 12 Months
HARRISBURG  Pennsylvanias top election official said Wednesday that the margin between the top two candidates in last weeks Republican primary for U.S. Senate is tight enough to trigger a statewide recount, dragging the outcome into June as the candidates fight in court.

The states acting secretary of state, Leigh Chapman, said the difference in vote totals for the top two finishers  celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick  fall within the margin in state law for a mandatory recount.

Oz, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, led McCormick by 902 votes, or 0.07 percentage points, out of 1,343,643 ballots reported by the state as of Wednesday.

One question for McCormicks campaign is whether there are enough outstanding ballots for him to make up the difference with Oz.

The Department of State estimated that counties had about 10,000 provisional and absentee ballots remaining to count, but it did not know how many were cast by Republican voters.

There are another 860 Republican mail-in ballots without handwritten dates on their envelopes that are the subject of court cases, department officials said.

In a recount, most of the ballots are simply rescanned electronically. Election workers check ballots by hand if a scanner recorded no vote or dismissed it as a double vote, and they may find more voters there, election lawyers say.

The biggest change in votes could come from the discovery of a data entry error, a human mistake  such as transposed numbers when tallying precinct voting data  that could go in either direction, they say.

Under Pennsylvanias recount law, the separation between the candidates must be inside the laws 0.5% margin. The Associated Press will not declare a winner in the race until the recount is complete. That could take until June 8.

The winner will face Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in Novembers midterm elections. The incumbent, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, is retiring after serving two terms.

The deadline for counties to report their unofficial results to the state elections office was Tuesday. Even so, counties continued counting thousands of ballots on Wednesday, including provisional, military and overseas absentee ballots.

Chapmans recount order is mandatory unless the losing candidate requests that it not be carried out. McCormick had no plans to decline a recount and said in a statement that we look forward to a swift resolution so our party can unite and defeat Fetterman in the fall.

Counties will begin the recount next week and have until June 7 to finish and another day to report results to the state.

McCormick is hoping to get help closing the gap in votes with Oz.

His campaign has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to compel counties to promptly count those ballots. A lower court has ordered a hearing next Tuesday on the matter.

Oz, the Republican National Committee and the state Republican Party oppose McCormicks request. A separate case that affects those same ballots could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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The names of five soldiers from Cumberland County who died during the Civil War will be added to a soldiers monument in Veterans Memorial Courtyard during Carlisles annual Memorial Day Commemoration Monday.

The recognition of the members of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry will take place during a ceremony following the communitys annual Memorial Day parade.

Kirk Wilson, president of the Carlisle Joint Veterans Council, says research by the Cumberland County Historical Society identified the soldiers and spearheaded the effort to have them properly recognized. The 54th Massachusetts was mustered by the federal government and was one of the first to consist predominantly of Black troops.

The men are:

Pvt. Henry King, 27, West Pennsboro resident, killed in action on James Island, South Carolina, July 16, 1863.

Pvt. Augustus Lewis, 20, Shippensburg area resident, killed in action on April 15, 1863, at Fort Wagner, South Carolina.

Pvt. Edward Parks, 43, Carlisle resident, died of disease on Oct. 3, 1863, at Morris Island, South Carolina.

Sgt. Alfred Whiting, 23, Carlisle resident, died on June 26, 1865, in a Union hospital in Alexandria, Virginia.

Pvt. Stewart Woods, 27, Penn Township resident who was wounded and captured on April 15, 1863, at James Island, South Carolina. He died March 15, 1865, at Wilmington, North Carolina.

The addition of these five veterans to the Civil War Memorial is long overdue, said Shawn Gladden, executive director of the Cumberland County Historical Society. We are proud to have participated in the necessary work that led to the recognition of privates King, Lewis, Parks, Woods and Sgt. Whiting and we look forward to memorializing them along with all of the brave veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their community and their country during the Civil War.

Remarks will be delivered during the ceremony by Louis M. Werdebach, a member of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is a graduate of Carlisle High School. Werdebach is a commissioner on Carlisle Boroughs Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The names will be read by Ronnie McFadden during a bell ringing ceremony. Dickinson College Professor James Martin will sing Lift Every Voice and Sing.

The monument listing Cumberland County residents who served and died in the Civil War was dedicated in 1871. It was constructed through a grassroots campaign featuring local fairs and fundraising events in the years following the war. The cost of adding the additional names is being funded by an anonymous donor.

Other musical selections will be offered by a joint Carlisle High School Band-Carlisle Town Band. Military honors will be rendered by Cedar Cliff High School Junior ROTC, the Cumberland County Honor Guard and the Edward J. Rykoskey Chapter of the Vietnam Veteran.

A look at other Memorial Day events planned across the Midstate:

Saturday, May 28

Hampden Township: The Hampden Township Veterans Recognition Committee will hold a Memorial Day Service at 11 a.m. at the Captain Leon Lock Veterans Memorial in Hampden Township Veterans Park, 4345 Marketplace Way, Enola. The guest speaker will be retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Walt Lord. In the case of inclement weather, the service will be at the Hampden Township Volunteer Fire Company Station I, in the community room.

Sunday, May 29

Boiling Springs: Boiling Springs Post 8851 will host a Memorial Day parade at 1 p.m. The parade starts at Boiling Springs High School, travels through Boiling Springs and finishes at the clock tower and flag pole near Childrens Lake. The guest speaker will be Army officer Brian Jackson, a 1981 graduate of Boiling Springs High School.

Indiantown Gap National Cemetery: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Indiantown Gap National Cemetery will host its 40th annual Memorial Day program at 2 p.m. rain or shine. John Spruyt, director of Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, will welcome the audience. AMVETS Past Department Commander, Bernie McDonald, will deliver the Memorial Day address. Joseph Snyder, Memorial Council Trustee, will serve as the master of ceremonies. Parking will be at the Arrowhead Community Club, 9-65 Fisher Avenue on Fort Indiantown Gap with shuttle bus transportation to and from the designated parking area to the cemetery. There will be limited handicapped parking at the cemetery itself.

Monday, May 30

Camp Hill: American Legion Post 43 will hold a Memorial Day service and parade at 9:30 a.m. The parade starts at 19th and Market Street, moves west to 24th Street, north to Walnut Street and east to the Camp Hill Fire Station. The ceremony will follow in the cemetery located directly behind the fire station. The guest speaker will be Daniel Serfass, retired Navy commander and the superintendent of schools at Camp Hill. In the case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held at the Camp Hill Borough Building at 2145 Walnut St.

Carlisle: The Carlisle Memorial Day parade is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Following the parade, an annual Memorial Day service will be held at Veterans Memorial Courtyard on the Square in Carlisle. The parade will form at North Hanover and North Street. It will proceed south on Hanover Street, past the Square and turn right on West Pomfret Street. It will continue west then turn right onto South Pitt Street. Some units will disband at West High Street. Others will turn right onto West High Street and disband at the Square.

Carlisle: Another Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony will take place at 11:30 a.m. Monday at Lincoln Cemetery, 149 W. Penn St. The ceremony is sponsored by the Haines Stackfield American Legion Post 826. Carlisle Police Chief Taro Landis will deliver the memorial message.

Newville: The Newville Joint Veterans Council will host a Memorial Day parade at 1 p.m. in downtown Newville. The lineup for the parade starts at noon, with the parade beginning at 1 p.m. on Broad Street. The parade route runs from Broad Street to Walnut Street to West Big Spring Avenue to South High Street and ends at West Street. A memorial service follows the parade at 1:30 p.m.

Mechanicsburg: The Mechanicsburg Area Veterans Council will hold a Memorial Day parade and service. The parade starts at 10 a.m. will proceed from Filbert and Simpson streets and travel to the Mechanicsburg Cemetery GAR monument on Marble Street. The service will follow at the GAR monument at 11 a.m. In case of inclement weather, the service will be conducted at the VFW Post 6704, 4907 Carlisle Pike.

Mechanicsburg: The Vietnam Veterans of Mechanicsburg will hold a Memorial Service at 2 p.m. at the Lincoln Colored Cemetery off Winding Hill Road in Mechanicsburg. Guest speaker will be Kevin Shaw, historian. The service will be conducted rain or shine.

Monroe Township: The township will host a Memorial Day ceremony at Mount Zion Cemetery (intersection of Route 74 and 174 outside Boiling Springs) at 10 a.m. Seating will be available and the ceremony will last about 45 minutes. The guest speaker will be retired Col. Michael Zang, a Monroe Township resident. The Cumberland Valley JROTC Color Guard will present and retire the colors. Sharon Nelson will lead a sing-a-long of patriotic music, and bagpiper Bill Gable will play two selections. Navy Veteran Ryan Barrick will be the master of ceremonies. Air Force veteran Jerry Warner will present the POW-MIA Remembrance Ceremony. If there is inclement weather, the ceremony will be in the Monroe Township Building at 1220 Boiling Springs Road.

Email Jeff at jpratt@cumberlink.com or follow him on Twitter @SentinelPratt.

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UVALDE, Texas (AP)  An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 18 children, officials said, and the gunman was dead.

The death toll also included three adults, according to state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who said he was briefed by state police on the fatalities. But it was not immediately clear whether that number included the assailant.

It was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since a gunmen killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago. And it came just 10 days after a gunman in body armor killed 10 Black shoppers and workers at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in what authorities say was a racist attack.

Federal law enforcement officials said the death toll was expected to rise.

This is a breaking news update. AP's original story is below:

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Educators and parents headed to school Wednesday heavy hearted and still reeling from news of Tuesdays wanton slaying of 19 children and two teachers in a Texas elementary school, the deadliest school shooting since 2012.

The deaths at the hand of an 18-year-old with no connection to the school prompted local divisions to once again to offer resources for educators and families on discussing the random violence with their children and to seek help, if needed.

This message is in many ways a painful repetition of what we have said in response to earlier shootings across our country, including 10 days ago at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo and at schools such as Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida or Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, Charlottesville officials wrote in a message to families on Tuesday night.

Charlottesville schools Superintendent Royal Gurley Jr. and board chairwoman Lisa Larson-Torres signed the letter to families.

Division officials shared a resource sheet on how to talk with children about race and community violence, which was developed by school counselors in August 2017. It has been shared several times since.

On social media, Gurley said it was OK for teachers to pause lesson plans and take care of themselves and their students.

Students need developmental play, [social-emotional learning] conversations, and spaces to ask difficult questions, he wrote.

For Christa Bennett, sending her children to school every day is terrifying. She said she makes a conscious thought to hug her children each morning and tell them goodbye in case thats the last time she sees them. This morning she felt raw as she sent them off to school.

It is not lost on me that people who are not white and privileged have carried the fear of violence, of their babies being snatched from them, for forever in our country, Bennett wrote on social media. All our children need to be safe. All of us need to be safe. Theres really nothing more important than that.

She said focusing at work was hard Wednesday as she worried about her children. She talked about the shooting with older child, who is in middle school, but not with her elementary-aged child.

Following the Buffalo shooting, Buford Middle students walked out of class last week to call for racial justice and to stand in solidarity with the victims. Bennett said seeing students take a stand gives her hope for the future.

We have to have hope to keep on living, she said.

Other local parents on social media talked about how they cried as they dropped their children off at school and made sure to say goodbye to their kids. Teachers shared their fears about going to work Wednesday and experiences during recent active-shooter drills.

Christine Esposito, a teacher in Charlottesville, shared on Facebook how she planned to approach students.

Im going to lie convincingly to every child I see today, she said. Im going to sell that lie with my whole body because I dont know what else to do. Im going to assure every student who asks that well keep them safe, all the while knowing that teachers and schools dont actually have that power.

She added that teachers will keep them safe to the best of their abilities.

All that means is that well die trying to protect them, she wrote. No amount of a teachers love or a teachers physical body is going to protect a child from an AR-15.

According to news reports, the two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, were shot while protecting their students.

As has been the case after previous school shootings, Virginia state officials turned their attention to school safety and security measures.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin met with state officials Wednesday to talk about school safety. A Youngkin spokeswoman told media outlets that the governor has asked for an evaluation of steps already taken as well as future steps to ensure schools are safe.

Jillian Balow, the state superintendent for public instruction, said state officials must review all the facts as they come to light and determine what steps we can take in Virginia to better protect our students, teachers and school communities.

Following the deadly 2018 school shooting in Parkland, state lawmakers formed the House Select Committee on School Safety.

In its December 2018 report, the committee recommended changes to the role of school counselors, requiring mental and emotional health to be taught in schools, more funding for school divisions to purchase security equipment and school resource officers, among others.

In 2020, Charlottesville and Albemarle County school divisions removed armed police officers from school buildings following protests over race profiling and policing. On Wednesday, Albemarle County schools Superintendent Matthew Haas told families in a message that the schools work closely with the county police.

Our strongest resource remains our partnership with the Albemarle County Police Department, Haas wrote. We communicate regularly with the departments senior leadership on the security of our buildings, potential threats, and deployment of officers in and around our buildings.

In recent years, the division has made several security upgrades at buildings and changed front entrances to buildings so that visitors must go through the front office. The division also implemented Anonymous Alerts, which allows students and families to report safety concerns.

Haas said the tool is one of the divisions most significant assets to identify and deter threats. He encouraged anyone concerned about the behavior, circumstance, or social media posts of a student, employee, or someone else associated with a school to make a report through Anonymous Alerts.

After each of these horrific events, we inevitably learn from the investigations that the person responsible showed signs to peers, family, school officials, or police of being a potential threat, Haas wrote. In cooperation with the Albemarle County Police Department, we take every potential threat seriously, and we will put safety first every time.

Albemarle County and Charlottesville, in an effort to boost mental health support for students, have hired social and emotional counselors at schools and implemented a social-emotional learning curriculum.

The city school division also has improved access control to its buildings, including updated door-locking systems.

Though it doesnt feel like it right now, we remind ourselves and you that schools remain one of the safest places for young people, Charlottesville officials wrote. Let us join together to make sure that the schools of tomorrow are even safer.

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The two semi-finalists from which the next Oregon State University president will emerge  Charles R. Martinez and Jayathi Y. Murthy  visited the Corvallis campus Monday and Tuesday this week to meet community members and answer questions about how they would lead if selected.

Murthy is the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Martinez is the 12th dean of the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin.

Each candidate had two questions-and-answer sessions with the community in the morning, and then gave a presentation and answered more questions in the afternoon.

The process stood in stark contrast to the hiring push that resulted in the selection of F. King Alexander, who resigned under a cloud last year. Alexander was hired through a secretive process that left the public in the dark about the candidates for the job until the board voted to offer it to him.

Ultimately, a report by law firm Husch Blackwell concluded King contributed to systemic failures in responding to sexual and relationship violence during his time as president at Louisiana State University. The fallout from the report and ensuing statements from those close to the situation resulted in Alexanders resignation at OSU in March 2021.

Charles R. Martinez

A central theme throughout all of Martinezs talks was his experience as a first-generation college student. He emphasized that first-gen students are not simply a photo op for the university but part of the schools fabric of excellence.

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Martinez earned his bachelor's in psychology from Pitzer College. He attended the California School of Professional Psychology for his master's and Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

Martinez worked at the University of Oregon for 22 years in various positions, including vice president for Institutional Equity and Diversity and director for the Center for Equity Promotion, before relocating in 2019 to UT Austin.

His specialized area of research is in Latino/a health disparities, and he said he plans to bring an equity lens to leadership.

This is not a moment to be quiet, Martinez said. This is a moment to be stronger about what we care about.

Both Martinez and Murthy briefly addressed how they know the universitys community members are still healing from the King controversy, and that they recognize the need to gain the communitys trust if selected as president.

Jayathi Y. Murthy

During her talks, Murthy shared her experience as a woman in engineering, and how oftentimes she finds herself to be the only woman in the room.

I came to engineering from the outside, she said. Ive always found the boundaries of engineering to be much too constrained.

Murthy grew up and received her undergraduate degree in India before coming to the United States to receive her masters and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Washington State University and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, respectively.

The work she is most proud of at UCLA, Murthy said, is building up the Women in Engineering at UCLA program, which supports the full participation of women in engineering. Murthy was the first woman dean at UCLA Engineering.

In her Tuesday afternoon presentation, Murthy said she would work to improve graduation and retention rates as well as accessibility for all students if selected as president.

Members of the public are encouraged to fill out the community input form if they attended any of the sessions to aid in the OSU Board of Trustees decision. The board is expected to make its decision by June 7, with the new president starting in July.

Joanna Mann (she/her) covers education for Mid-Valley Media. She can be contacted at 541-812-6076 or Joanna.Mann@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter via @joanna_mann_.

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The question I get asked the most as someone who went from being a Republican to a Democrat is: Whats the biggest difference between the two parties?

The answer: Every impulse Democrats have is defensive and every impulse Republicans have is offensive.

A report in The Washington Post last week showed these dynamics at play perfectly between Democrats and Republicans on the January 6th Select Committee. As The Post described, Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida insisted that the committee focus less on former President Donald Trump and more on the security and intelligence failures that allowed the attack on the Capitol. In response, Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming argued that the committee should keep its focus on the former president.

This is the best illustration I have come across that demonstrates how different Republicans and Democrats approach things on a tactical and, Id say, cellular level.

When Republicans have the reins of power, they do not hesitate to go after the very top. From Barack Obamas birth certificate to Hillary Clintons emails and potentially Hunter Bidens laptop, the GOP is unapologetic about pursuing witch hunts for political gain.

Democrats, on the other hand, are always pursuing lines of legitimate oversight reluctantly. At times, it feels like they are apologizing for doing the right thing.

I think back to Trumps first impeachment and the hesitant posture displayed by the Democrats during those proceedings. It was almost as if they were forced into it, regretted that it came to this, and moved as fast as possible to get it over with.

Democrats controlled the House majority but never forced Trump administration officials with firsthand knowledge of the events that were at the center of the impeachment inquiry to testify such as John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney or Rick Perry, and the Republican-controlled Senate predictably torpedoed any effort to compel them to testify.

History repeated itself during Trumps second impeachment as firsthand witnesses like Mike Pence, Mark Meadows, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Rudy Giuliani, etc., were never called to testify. Hillary Clinton, of course, was grilled by the Republican-led Benghazi Committee for more than 11 hours.

Its almost as if Democrats believe there is some prize awaiting them for showing what they would characterize as restraint. There isnt.

Some Democrats might think that if they pushed for certain investigative inquiries, that would give Republicans license to seek retribution should they regain power after the midterms this November. Newsflash: They are going to do that anyway.

Understand that if the GOP gets back the power of the gavel, they are going to unleash an investigative tsunami against Democrats and the Biden administration thatll make the Benghazi circus look like a walk in the park. They will not show any hesitancy or restraint. They will not worry about looking partisan or responsible. They certainly wont care about facts and the truth.

Democracy itself is under siege from the Republican Party. Democrats may have just a few months left  if control of the House flips in the midterms  to protect and defend our democratic process.

They should use every single tool of congressional power to hold the leaders of the Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack accountable. They should use the visibility of a congressional hearing to put on display the full measure of lunacy and absurdity that have hijacked the Republican Party. They should invoke inherent contempt against anyone who refuses to comply with the committees subpoenas so that anyone who refuses to testify before the committee is thrown in jail by the House sergeant at arms.

They should do what the Republicans would do given a chance: refuse to compromise and go on the attack. This difference, of course, is that the Democrats are going after the insurrectionist machine and defending democracy while the GOP is tearing it down.

Kurt Bardella is a contributing writer to Opinion. He is an advisor to both the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a former senior adviser for Republicans on the House Oversight Committee. @KurtBardella

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Here they are, Lebanon's five-member Strawberry Court, royalty of the annual Strawberry Festival, a traditional as old as the festival itself.

Each candidate completes an application, and goes through a two-part interview process before the final selection is made. Those selected receive college scholarships.

To qualify, this year's high school senior winners must attend Lebanon High School, East Linn Christian Academy, any Lebanon area private or charter school, or be home schooled with a Lebanon residence and have been at least 16 years old by Jan. 1.

One will be crowned queen at 5:30 p.m. on opening day, Thursday, June 2.

Moriah Dahlgren

To Moriah Dahlgren, born and raised in Lebanon, Strawberry Court was always something that happened around town, outside her experience.

But the 17-year-old said she enjoys an eclectic mix of interests and friends piqued that interest when they shared their experiences from prior years courts with Moriah.

Ive seen this tradition happen my whole life, and I thought nows my chance, she said. I should try it.

Moriah honed her public speaking and social skills in her hobbies, she said. Strawberry Court was a way to further strengthen her ability to meet, talk to and talk in front of groups of people.

I wanted to strengthen my speaking skills and social skills, and I thought being a princess would help that, she said.

And its the sensible end to a childhood path of academic and business success  a scholarship granting civic effort that gets her in front of community leaders before heading off to college.

But its also very fun, Moriah said. I get to do this with the other girls, and we visit with kids and do parades.

Some know Moriah through the Lebanon robotics team, the Scalawags, who compete in the international nonprofit For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. She learned to weld and solder and engineer and program with the team.

But Moriah said she mostly feels responsible for art direction, where she designs pirate-themed equipment for the team, and making business connections for the Scalawags  courting sponsors and writing grant applications.

Shes also appeared on stage in community and school productions in Albany and with Lebanon Association for Theater Arts.

In the fall, shell put public speaking, outreach and grade-earning skills to use at Linn-Benton Community College, studying business. Business more than any other hobby has kept Moriah trying new skills, she said.

Moriah said she sees a throughline from public speaking and outreach to entrepreneurial endeavors. But shes been practicing business skills as long as shes been working on the grades and extracurricular activities she needed to excel in high school.

Among her earliest business-related memories, she said, is playing restaurant with her parents. She made imaginary food and sat her family in the make-believe dining room of an eatery.

Moriah wasnt content to only cook, though. She laughed as she recalled planning menus and balancing income with expenditures.

I wanted to run the whole thing and make that money, Moriah said.

Trinity Holden

Trinity Holden wants to be tough.

The Lebanon outfielder and catcher has been working on her mental game in softball, she said, and eventually wants to be a surgeon in the U.S. Marine Corps, working on bones and musculature.

But she also always wanted to be a princess.

Trinity said shes lived in Lebanon her whole life and saw the Strawberry Court at public appearances and civic functions.

If you live in Lebanon, you definitely know who the Strawberry princesses are, she said. I got to watch and see what kind of people they are.

And those are five people who are good, she said, and do good by organizing community service hours and visiting with children in elementary schools.

They were an idol to a lot of people, Trinity said. I really wanted to be that for someone else.

Surrounded by the rest of the court, now-princess Trinity said she recognizes the work ethic and drive in her colleagues. Their interests differ, but broadly the court is a group of young women who want to make the world a better place, she said.

The Strawberry Court is the prime example for what a lot of girls hope to be at our stage in life, Trinity said. And then were working on the best version of ourselves that we can be later.

Its difficult not to relate her career of civic engagement and achieving with softball.

Trinity's played since she was 9. Shes been all over the country with her club team. the Northwest Bullets, and made friends and connections that helped broaden her sense of community.

The sport became her portal for competition, she said, allowing her to find some drive and motivation in excelling at a team sport. Focusing on how each game unfolds in a series of plays and responses between teams gave her some structure.

I fell in love with it, she said. I knew it was something that was mine, and I could control and be good at it.

And, Trinity said, softball became her portal for community service. Softball players put together gift baskets for teams that lost their homes in the 2020 Labor Day fires.

Shes signed with Portland State University, where shell play softball for the Vikings in the fall. Trinity said shell study pre-medicine in Portland and wants to join the Marines, where she intends to go to medical school and become an orthopedic surgeon.

And she could pull it off  Trinity said she knew by first grade she wanted to be a doctor, and by the third grade that she wanted to be in the military.

By fifth grade, she knew she wanted to be a Strawberry princess. One down, two to go.

With college mere months away, she said shell miss the court of five princesses who get along really well.

Of course I would like to be queen, Trinity said. Who wouldnt? But this is a chance to relax on the competitiveness and just enjoy my time.

Clarissa Lewis

Clarissa Lewis said Strawberry princesses exemplify role models.

Growing up in Lebanon, Clarissa said she met princesses who visited with her in elementary school. She found in those women people who are a good influence; they tolerated different opinions. They encouraged those around them.

But above all, they were kind.

Ive never had a bad experience with a princess, Clarissa said. Shes kind even when shes in a bad mood. If theyre having a bad day, they dont put that on others.

That kindness and positive role-modeling was in her mind when she applied to be on the court. Shes seen it reflected in her peers, finding nothing but support as the five young women wave their way through parades and school visits on their way to coronation of Strawberry Queen at the Strawberry Festival in June.

Theyre all kind and we all have a good time, Clarissa said.

Shes been able to complete the cycle that first tipped her to the Strawberry Court, visiting with elementary students.

Clarissa is unsure whether she made an impression that will lead some Lebanon children to follow in her shoes and one day apply for the same court.

But they would come up to us and hug, and they dont even know us, she said. Thats very encouraging  other people do see us as good.

Theres a natural fit for Clarissa and other high-achieving students in Strawberry Court. She described civic engagement and community service projects that gave her repetitions interacting with business leaders and making public appearances.

I didnt realize how much it takes to become a Strawberry princess, Clarissa said.

The program also shifted her perspective, giving her more insight into the city where shes spent her life.

Clarissa has seen a side of Lebanon she didnt know existed: visits with Rotary clubs; the local chamber of commerce Distinguished Service Awards; a walk to raise awareness of and prevent child abuse organized under mid-Willamette Valley advocacy group Dalas Blue Angels.

Its given me a different view of Lebanon, Clarissa said. And its made me more personable. I can go up to people and start a conversation.

Outside of studying and Strawberry princessing, Clarissas life revolves around music. Shes been with Lebanon High School choir programs all four years of her upper-grade school career.

Over the summer, shes slated to take her piano and singing skills to Europe where shell perform all over the continent with youth music program Oregon Ambassadors of Music.

Then she intends to study music at Linn-Benton Community College. Clarissa said shed like to work as a musical therapist or choir teacher.

Like the other Strawberry princesses, Clarissa has balanced college plans and extra-curricular activities with public appearances and keeping up her grades.

Clarissa acknowledged it sounds like a lot of work. But she likened her experience to her sisters, an Oregon State University student who missed much of high school under the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 related restrictions on gatherings.

Sis involved herself in clubs and school-related activities, Clarissa said.

Shes in her primetime, and I kind of wanted to do the same, she said.

Laurel McGuigan

While many know the Strawberry Court by sight, spotted at parades and festivals throughout the school year, Laurel McGuigan has known a couple of past princesses by name.

Laurel said she didnt hesitate to sign up based on the experience of friends who served on previous courts. Theres the visible part of the court, speaking publicly about personal ambitions, appearing at parades.

But theres service, too.

Some of the things they were doing to try to change the community inspired me to apply for the court, she said.

Their insight showed Laurel young women in Lebanon can leverage academic and church experience into community service that puts blankets in the hands of the unhoused or provides food to children at spaghetti feeds.

When I was younger, seeing the princesses, they were a big role model to me, she said. Im really aspiring to be that same kind of presence.

As a child, she would meet Strawberry princesses at elementary appearances. Shes said shes connected those encounters to a model for how to be more present in a community.

Somebody who is always trying to put their best foot forward, she said. They may not succeed the first time, but they keep applying themselves. They keep trying to do the next good thing."

The court also has reinforced her communication with peers and teachers, and reminded her to be compassionate with herself. Its an exercise in work ethic, Laurel said, but also a chance to be who she saw in those princesses who informed her decision to try out for Strawberry Court.

Somebody who keeps pushing and persevering through those difficult times, she said.

Theres been a lot to push through: four years of playing varsity high school softball, shadowing health care professionals for a career-related class, applying for colleges, and finding a little time to hike in Central Oregon and at Abiqua Falls.

Laurel said shell be able to take compassion and work ethic into the health care field. Shell attend Western Oregon University in the fall, she said, and wants to complete two years of prerequisite classes before transferring to Oregon Health & Science University to finish up a nursing bachelors degree.

Although she hadnt decided on a school or program until relatively recently, Laurel's been interested in health care since she was a child, when she played with stethoscopes and pretended to diagnose and treat ailments in her siblings.

She honed her interests in a health occupations class, shadowing professionals at local clinics and hospitals.

In the back of my mind, its always been nursing, she said.

Shell also study American Sign Language, she said, and wants to attain certification so she can open up her nurse practice to people who cant communicate well by voice.

Thats a helpful skill for people who need a little extra help communicating, she said.

Hailey Savedra

To Hailey Savedra, the Strawberry princesses were just cool.

Adults tend to talk down to kids, but the Strawberry princesses talked to you like youre level with them. They were super cool, she said. I was always star-struck when they came to our school.

Those experiences more than the scholarship or parade appearances or title of queen were on her mind when she applied to be on the court, she said.

Yes, theres a crown. Yes, its technically a competition.

But Hailey said what shell take away from Strawberry Court is the time shes spent with her colleagues.

Its so sad that its almost over, she said. Its really the experience more than it is the crown.

Despite their varying interests, Hailey said she sees a group of girls with similar qualities.

We all do very different things  some of us do sports, and some of us do robotics, and some of us do choir, she said. But we have a similar work ethic.

It's become a chance to connect with her mom and aunt who also were Strawberry Princesses.

I didnt know what they were like when they were princesses because I obviously hadnt been born, she said.

Hailey has spent four years studying leadership in high school. She said she organized prom for special education students for two of those.

She also served as a cheerleader, an experience that has prepared her for the Strawberry Court. Both are exercises in throwing oneself out there, she said, and both improved her public speaking and social skills.

I had to put myself out there, she said. And it caused me to grow."

Hailey said shes studying at Linn-Benton Community College to become a certified nursing assistant, then shell take prerequisite classes at the same school before transferring to Oregon State University for construction engineering management.

Shes book smart, she said, but needs variety in her life. She shadowed a construction engineering manager who described a career of new sites, new people, new projects every day.

I love new adventures, Hailey said.

Alex Powers (he/him) covers business, environment and healthcare for Mid-Valley Media. Call 541-812-6116 or email Alex.Powers@lee.net.

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WEDNESDAY

Academy for Lifelong Learning, 9:30 a.m., online. Scott Gianelli, professor of physics at Suffolk County Community College, New York, will present "Then and Now: Where Are We in the Climate Crisis?," discussing the history behind climate science, where we are now and what we can do about it. ALL invites nonmembers to attend one or two classes at no charge to see if they are interested in becoming members. Email admin@academyforlifelonglearning.org if interested.

Native American Flute Circle, noon, plaza, Student Experience Center, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. The annual gathering of the Oregon State University Native American-style flute circle, led by music instructor Jan Looking Wolf Reibach. Past flute circle gatherings at Oregon State are thought to be the largest in the world. They have brought together past and present students of Music 108, one of the most popular baccalaureate core courses at OSU, in a celebration of cultural diversity and togetherness. In May 2019, 624 participants joined together in the largest iteration of the event to date. Hosted by the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Visual, Design and Performing Arts. Information: erin.sneller@oregonstate.edu.

THURSDAY

"American Strings on the Plaza: An Evening with Curtis Salgado," 7 p.m., plaza, Student Experience Center, 2251 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. Join host Bob Santelli in getting to know the Pacific Northwest's own blues legend, Curtis Salgado, and guitarist Alan Hagar, in an evening of conversation and live performance. NPR has called Salgado "an icon" with "a huge voice." Salgado has been nominated three times for the Blues Music Award for Song of the Year, winning in 2018 for "Walk A Mile in My Blues" from "The Beautiful Lowdown" album. In total, he has won nine Blues Music Awards, including the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award. After more than 40 years of recording, Salgado and Hagar and talk about their careers, Salgado's music, their creative process. The interview will be followed by a live performance. The event is part of the College of Liberal Arts "American Strings" series. Each segment of "American Strings" is comprised of a conversation and live, intimate performance by artists from a variety of genres, making for a one-of-a-kind opportunity to appreciate and know better the great American music tradition. Admission is free. Seating is first come, first served, starting at 6 p.m. Livestream option available at https://beav.es/wCf. Information: erin.sneller@oregonstate.edu.

FRIDAY

Music a la Carte, 12:45 to 2:45 p.m., Memorial Union, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. University Chorale presents "Seeking Light," its final concert of the school year, featuring music reflecting themes of safety and refuge, peace, hope, awakening. Free and open to the public. The program will include Navarud's "Lunar Lullaby;" Mendelssohn's "Verleih Uns Freiden;" "From Now On," arranged by Emerson; Trotta's "You Are My Refuge;" Williams' "Seeking Light;" Jensen's "I Got a Key;" "Akekho Ofana No Jesu," arranged by Botha; Davison's "Ritmo;" "If I Can Help Somebody," arranged by Thomas; and Leavitt's "Festival Sanctus." Students studying choral conducting will share the podium. University Chorale is a lab choir directed by Sandra Babb. This concert represents the culmination of the students' learning throughout the term. Information: erin.sneller@oregonstate.edu.

SUNDAY

Van Buren Bridge Video and Guided Tour, 1 p.m.; meet at the Majestic Theatre, 115 SW Second St., Corvallis. The historic bridge will be removed and destroyed, most likely this year. Get an up-front tour of its unique features before it disappears. Roz Keeney will present her video "Van Buren Bridge: A Visit From the Past" before participants move on to a guided tour of the nearby bridge. Those who wish to skip the video can meet the group at Kinetic Bagel Institute, 250 NW First St. This event is free and registration is not required.

Items for this calendar are pulled from the user-generated calendar that runs on our websites. For further information, write to jane.stoltz@lee.net.

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Gun-related crimes in Denver are on the rise, which has police and city leaders bracing for what could be a violent summer.

Just this past weekend, four people were hurt in two different shootings in just 12 hours: three at Park Avenue and Lawrence Street downtown and one on King Street.

The violence illustrates a problem that Denver police have been watching since the first of the year: The most recent Denver police numbers show that aggravated assault crimes involving guns are up 73% so far this year compared to the three-year average from 2019-2021.

As of Sunday, Denver has seen 858 gun-related crimes, compared to the three-year average of 495 for the same period.

Fatal shootings are also on the increase and 59% of the victims are Black, according to Denver police numbers, even though African-Americans make up less than 10% of Denvers city population.

Because of this critical situation, Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen, Mayor Hancock and representatives from the Attorney Generals office recently met with local faith-based groups, the local NAACP and community leaders to get help.

So far this year, 39 people have been killed by guns in Denver, which Pazen said is on pace to give 2022 the unwanted distinction of being the citys bloodiest ever.

Weve had dramatic increases in shootings and a significant increase in murder. If the violence continues at this pace it will exceed any year recorded, Pazen told The Denver Gazette. The most gun deaths Denver has ever seen was 1981 when 101 people were shot and killed.

Pazen blames the frightening increase on the fact that criminals are getting their hands on guns illegally. Police data indicates that 42% of people arrested for murder are convicted felons and more than 38% were under some kind of supervision.

Studies will tell you theres a relatively small number of individuals responsible for a disproportionate number of violent crimes. If you address those offenders, you can lower the impact, he said.

Most of 2022s aggravated assaults were committed in two hot spots: downtown Denver and on East Colfax Avenue from Syracuse to Yosemite on the border of Aurora.

Meanwhile, three other areas which previously were clusters for violent crime are seeing less violence. Those are the areas near Alameda and Federal, the corner of Peoria and 47th Avenue near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Holly Street.

Pazen attributed the decrease in violence in those pockets of the city to community-led programs, like Violence Interrupters and Struggle of Love Foundation, which help by giving at-risk kids opportunities and by including families in discussions about mental health, drugs and guns.

Aurora is seeing similar jumps in gun-related crime, also up 73% with 19 murders through the weekend ending May 23 compared to 11 by this time last year.

Colorado Springs has had 14 gun-related murders so far this year through May 23, compared with six last year, and 65 non-fatal shootings in 2022 compared with 44 through this time last year. Thats according to statistics supplied by CSPD Officer Elizabeth McGregor.

There is good news in Denver in that police have solved around 75% of homicides that have been committed so far this year, which is above the national average of 60%. Pazen said that homicides happen for a variety of reasons, not just one or two.

"They're not all gang-related. They're not all youth-related. They're not all drug-related or domestic-violence related, said Pazen. Bottom line weve got to hold these criminals accountable.
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Statement at the Arria-formula Meeting on Protection of Journalists

Statement

Colleague, the legendary war correspondent, Marie Colvin  who was killed on assignment in Homs in 2012  said that the role of the media is shining a light on, and I quote, humanity in extremis, pushed to the unendurable". Throughout modern history, journalists have risked their lives to capture the realities of conflict and communicate the horrors of war.

Journalists and media workers are quite simply indispensable to our work in the Security Council. Peace and security, freedom of expression and a free and independent press are inextricably linked.

Our efforts to uphold democracy, to monitor human rights abuses, and to identify emerging conflicts would be a fraction of what they are without the information we receive from journalists. The fact is we need journalists to shine a light on the truth.

Yet, today, the very journalists we speak about are being harassed online and offline, are being arbitrarily detained, spied upon, attacked, and, even as we have heard, murdered.

Colleagues,

In the early hours of 11 May, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed while on assignment in Jenin in the occupied Palestinian territory. She was a hero to aspiring journalists, an exemplary reporter in the field. We send our condolences to her family and to her colleagues, including those who join us today.

At the time of her killing, Shireen was on duty in a blue press vest. A symbol which denotes civilian status. A symbol that demonstrates to parties to conflict that journalists are not a target. Irelands Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has called for an independent investigation into her killing and for the perpetrators to be held to account. That call needs to be answered without delay.

Shireens shocking and untimely death has once again drawn the worlds attention to the dangers faced by journalists and media workers daily. It should also be a rallying call for all of us to say that the targeting or the silencing of independent journalists anywhere is simply unacceptable.

Over the last three decades, over 1500 journalists, a staggering number, have lost their lives as they were reporting the truth. And in the last year, weve seen, we have heard, chilling stories and images from the frontlines of crises which journalists face daily.

In Afghanistan, the Talibans takeover has decimated the hard-fought space for a free press. Hundreds of journalists have fled the country. Many of those who remain are in hiding, fearful of beatings, arbitrary arrest, or worse. Women journalists have been singled out, targeted and discriminated against. Hunted down. We cannot accept this.

As Russia continues to wage its brutal war of aggression in Ukraine, we have seen journalists targeted for simply doing their job, and killed in indiscriminate attacks. This includes Irish cameraman, referred to by Jon earlier, Pierre Zakrzewski and his Ukrainian colleague, Oleksandra Kuvshynova, both of whom were killed on 14 March when their vehicle came under fire. Others have been blacklisted. Their crime? Their determination to reject mistruths and to instead report the reality of this unjustified war.

Journalists have long been the international communitys early-warning system. Drawing attention to emerging conflicts, human rights abuses and atrocity crimes, including genocide. Many are human rights defenders. In return for bearing witness, journalists have been detained or expelled on arbitrary grounds from increasingly totalitarian countries.

Just last month in Mali, Radio France International and France 24 were suspended following reporting on human rights violations.

Last week, The Economist reporter Tom Gardner was expelled from Ethiopia, this follows the ousting of Irish journalist Simon Marks of the New York Times, and numerous reports of arrests of Ethiopian journalists.

Since the February 2021 coup in Myanmar, the operating licenses of independent news outlets have been banned and journalists have been arbitrarily detained with worrying reports of torture and abuse.

In Somalia last November, the Radio Mogadishu journalist known as Adiaziz Afrika was hunted down and murdered by Al Shabaab. This was not an isolated incident. Somalia is considered to be the most dangerous country in Africa for reporters.

These examples are just a snapshot of the dangers journalism faces in situations on our Security Council agenda. They are part of wider trends of attacks against freedom of expression and media worldwide.

The expansion of the online space and technology has been integral for receiving real-time information about conflict, broadening our abilities to react rapidly, verifying crimes. But it has also increased avenues for harassment, surveillance through powerful software, and targeted abuse and attacks.

Women journalists face particular dangers as they carry out their work. They are targeted with misogynistic hate speech and often with sexual and gender-based violence. Journalists from minority backgrounds face disproportionate levels of abuse.

We often discuss the protection of civilians in conflict in the Council. And to be clear as per Resolutions 2222 and 1738  journalists, media professionals and associated personnel in conflict zones are civilians. They must be protected and respected as such. Yet impunity is rampant. That will persist if we do not act.

This Council must seek to ensure the protection of civilians and compliance with obligations to do so under international law. Many peacekeeping missions are mandated to protect civilians. This is an active responsibility. We must take it seriously. We must do more.

We call on our fellow members of the Security Council to take heed, take heed, of what we heard from our briefers today and to uphold Resolutions 1738 and 2222, to protect journalists and media professionals working in armed conflict, to secure accountability for crimes against them, and to ensure a free and independent press.

When UN Missions report to this Council, they should report on the protection of journalists. The UN could also explore assessments of protection mechanisms for journalists, and support monitoring of attacks on press freedom and freedom of expression. This includes taking online threats seriously, and addressing them swiftly.

Make no mistake. Journalists are integral to upholding human rights. Journalists are integral to the pursuit of justice and truth. Journalists are integral to sustainable peace. It is high time that the Security Council treated them as such.

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Statement at the UNSC Open Debate on Protection of Civilians

Statement

President,

I would like to that the US for convening this meeting on the protection of civilians.

I also want to thank our briefers, Mr. Rajasingham, Director General Mardini, Mr. Miliband and Ms. Boketa.

Your messages and importantly, your recommendations, are just what this Council needs to hear; and more importantly what we need to heed.

President,

Lets be clear, ensuring humanitarian access is a matter of life and death for civilians trapped in conflict. Reaching civilians in their moment of need could not be more central to their protection. It could not be more central to what we believe is the role of this Council.

I will focus on three points relating to the access challenges facing humanitarians globally.

First, in conflict-affected countries, such as Somalia, Syria, South Sudan, Mali, and Myanmar, hostilities and attacks on humanitarian staff have greatly hindered the civilian populations access to lifesaving assistance. This insecurity is delaying, reducing, and in some cases, preventing aid flows.

Put simply, it is costing lives.

How many times must we repeat in this Chamber the phrase Humanitarian workers must never be targets?

How many more times must we insist that those responsible for attacks against them be held to account?

President,

Such attacks also force humanitarian organisations to adjust their practices. They disproportionally transfer risk to local humanitarians. In some cases, humanitarian organisations are forced to withdraw entirely. Mr. Rajasingham made that point clear this morning.

In 2021, 98% of humanitarians killed, injured, or kidnapped in conflict contexts such as the DRC were national staff.

As Rachel clearly and powerfully stated earlier, women in conflict situations  civilians and humanitarians  face additional challenges and are met with violence on a daily basis.

This is starkly evidenced in Haiti where violence and insecurity  particularly systematic sexual violence  requires urgent, survivor centred responses.

In Tigray, as millions face starvation, humanitarians have faced major impediments in transporting relief items, fuel, and medicine into the region. We think it is shameful that only 11% of what was needed from July to December last year reached the civilian population. Visa denials, expulsion of UN and NGO staff, and the targeting of humanitarian personnel have been a defining feature of this conflict.

All the while, the spectre of insecurity looms large.

Our calls have been clear. The recent improved flow of aid must be expanded, and accompanied by the restarting of essential services in the region.

President,

Bureaucratic impediments to humanitarian access can amount to de-facto denials of humanitarian access.

Lets be clear. Arbitrary denial of humanitarian access is also in contravention of international law.

In countries such as Myanmar, humanitarians are required to overcome visa blocks, onerous registration requirements and significant restrictions on their operations.

The veil of bureaucracy cannot be used to conceal humanitarian suffering from the international community.

In some areas, the denial of access has evolved from a consequence of conflict to a weapon of war. David Miliband made this point eloquently this morning.

Second, President,

The use of explosive weapons in populated areas continues to have devastating short, medium, and long-term impacts. Civilians represent almost 90% of casualties when explosive weapons are used in populated areas. This is compounded by the destruction of critical infrastructure, such as roads, hospitals and sanitation facilities.

Where we cannot prevent or resolve conflict, we must work to minimize harm. That is why it is a priority for Ireland to continue leading consultations to strengthen the protection of civilians from the humanitarian consequences arising from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

We are determined to deliver a political declaration that leads to operational changes in practice and in policy. One that enhances the protection of civilians during armed conflict. The high level of engagement from states, including from many present here today, from international organisations and civil society is encouraging. We hope to conclude negotiations in the coming months.

Third, to protect civilians, this Council needs to meet our promises and implement what weve agreed. We heard that message loud and clear yesterday at the Arria formula meeting on the Protection of Journalists. This Council needs to implement resolution 2222.

Resolution 2417 on Conflict and Hunger provides the tools to alleviate current and prevent future access issues, which block food insecure populations from life-saving assistance.

Whats needed now, as ever, is implementation.

The renewal of the UN cross border operation into north west Syria is critical to ensure humanitarian assistance continues to reach millions of people in grave need. As co-penholder, alongside Norway, Ireland will continue to work constructively with all member states to ensure the Council upholds its duty to the people of Syria.

Sanctions and counter-terrorism legislation are not intended to have adverse humanitarian consequences this is a shared responsibility of all members of this Council and one Ireland takes seriously. Resolution 2615, required in response to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan serves as a demonstration of what can be done when the Council comes together and acts.

President, in conclusion,

It is clear that in conflicts such as Ukraine, Ethiopia, Syria, Yemen and the occupied Palestinian Territory, this Council has failed to deliver the political protection we can collectively offer.

Vulnerable civilians continue to suffer the consequences of wars not of their making. This is a damning indictment. Some of our briefers have said that clearly today. 17 years ago, the UN adopted a global commitment on the Responsibility to Protect. But civilians continue to suffer the consequences of wars not of their making. This is a damming indictment.

So let us be frank. If we do not use all the tools available to us now, next years debate will hear of an even graver situation of the protection of civilians. It will hear of an even higher toll of death and destruction.

I now want to address those who are parties to ongoing conflicts and those who support them: you have a responsibility to protect civilians. International Humanitarian Law must be respected. Allow humanitarians to do their work without hindrance or interference. Put an end to the suffering of war.

It is never too late to do the right thing.

Thank you, President.

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After a long campaign, Brandon Shoupe plans to take a break with his family before getting back to work for Houston County.

Shoupe won the countywide Houston County Commission chairmans race without a runoff in Tuesdays Republican primary election and has no Democratic opposition for the November general election.

With at least two new district commissioners coming on board, Shoupe is looking forward to the possibilities for the county and taking things in a new direction.

Everybodys got things that they want to accomplish, and I want to help them accomplish those things if its in the best interest of the county, Shoupe said on Wednesday. Weve just got to figure out what everybody wants to do and how were going to do it, and prioritize things. The economy is certainly a worry for me. I dont know if things are going to be great going forward for the next year or two, so there may be some tough, tough decisions ahead.

Based on unofficial totals, Shoupe ended the primary race with 8,999 votes, or 57.76% of the total votes cast. Current District 2 County Commissioner Doug Sinquefield received 4,765 votes, or 30.58%, and businessman Bobby Lewis received 1,817 votes, or 11.66%.

Shoupe said its been his honor to serve alongside Sinquefield, who like Shoupe chose not to run for his district seat in order to run for chairman.

He has a lot to be proud of in his years of service, not only to the county but also to the nation as a soldier, Shoupe said of Sinquefield. Hes a great man, and Im very honored to have served with him.

Shoupe, who has served two terms as a commissioner, will also be having conversations with current Commission Chairman Mark Culver, who chose not to run for re-election after serving in office for nearly three decades. Shoupe said he knows theres more to the chairmans job than district commissioners may realize, and he plans on taking advantage of any help or advice that Culver can provide.

He cares about the county, and wants to see it continue in a good direction; he wants to see good leadership come from the commission, Shoupe said. Even though hes stepping out of office, hes still committed to Houston County, and he wants to see it succeed.

In other local races in Houston County, Sheriff Donald Valenza handily won another term in office with 13,644 votes, or 85.29% of total votes cast. His opponent, Randy Anderson, received 2,354 votes, or 14.71% of votes cast.

Houston County Coroner Robert Byrd won his Republican primary challenge against Kendall Glover. Byrd received 8,457 votes, or 52.87%, to Glovers 7,538 votes, or 47.13%.

The District 3 Houston County Commission race will go to a runoff on June 21 between incumbent Ricky Herring and opponent Richard Talley. With five candidates in that Republican race, an outright win for any candidate was going to be tough.

Herring received 2,238 votes, or 47.78%  he needed 50% plus one vote in order to avoid a runoff. Talley came in behind Herring with 1,039 votes, or 22.18%. George Trotter finished the race with 573 votes, or 12.23%; Priscilla Andrews received 476 votes, or 10.16%; and Brandon Bagwell received 358 votes, 7.64%.

Tracy Adams won the District 2 Houston County Commission race in the Republican primary with 2,266 votes, or 58.87%. Chris Love received 1,583 votes, or 41.13%.

In the Republican primary race for District 4, the commission seat currently held by Shoupe, James Ivey won with 2,654 votes, or 54.22% to Vanita McLains 2,241 votes, or 45.78%.

On the Democratic ballot, District 1 County Commissioner Curtis Harvey defeated opponent Earl Jones. Harvey received 560 votes, or 56.8%, compared to Jones 426 votes, or 43.2%.

David Hollinger won the Democratic race for the Houston County Board of Education District 1. Hollinger, the incumbent, received 128 votes, or 59.53%, to Jeffery Leon Macons 87 votes, to 40.47%.

Alabama Sen. Billy Beasley, a Democrat who represents District No. 28, won his re-election with 6,743 votes, or 61.31%. His opponent Frank Chris Lee received 4,255 votes, or 38.69%. The Senate district covers a portion of Houston County along with all of Henry, Barbour, Bullock, Macon, and Russell counties. Beasley won each county except for Macon County, which Lee won.

Current State Rep. Jeff Sorrells won another term in office with 7,262 votes, or 78.41% of total votes case. Opponent Eric Johnson received 1,999 votes, or 21.59%.

In the 20th judicial circuit races, Russ Goodman defeated incumbent Pat Jones in the Republican race for district attorney over Houston and Henry counties. Goodman ended with 10,922 votes, or 58.53% of total votes cast in the race compared to Jones 7,737 votes, or 41.47%.

The Republican primary race for Circuit Court judge place 4 will go to a runoff between Seth Brooks and Chris Richardson. Brooks received 8,795 votes or 46.38% of the total votes cast while Richardson received 6,209 votes, or 32.74%. Holly Sawyer received 3,959 votes, or 20.88%.

Peggy Ussery is a Dothan Eagle staff writer and can be reached at aussery@dothaneagle.com or 334-712-7963. Support her work and that of other Eagle journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at dothaneagle.com.

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It was a solid win for Brandon Shoupe in his bid for Houston County Commission chairman in Tuesdays Republican primary election.

District 3 Commissioner Ricky Herring, however, is headed to a runoff.

Shoupe  the current District 4 county commissioner  had 57.76% or 8,999 votes. District 2 County Commissioner Doug Sinquefield had 30.58% of the total votes or 4,765. Businessman Bobby Lewis took 11.66% of votes cast, or 1,817.

There were no Democrats seeking the countywide chairmans seat.

All precincts were in by 9:30 p.m., leaving only the provisional ballots to be counted next week.

While statewide races such as the governors race and the U.S. Senate seat received a lot of attention, Houston County voters had their share of local races to decide during Tuesday's primary election.

Current Commission Chairman Mark Culver chose not to seek re-election, opening up the countywide office. Because Sinquefield and Shoupe decided to run for the chairmans seat that left both of those district seats open.

On the Republican ballot for the District 2 Houston County Commission, Tracy Adams won with 2,266 or 58.87% of votes and Chris Love had 1,583 or 41.13%.

James Ivey won the District 4 seat with 2,654 or 54.22% of votes while Vanita McLain received 2,241 or 45.78% of votes cast in that Republican primary race.

District 3 Commissioner Ricky Herring will go to a runoff on June 21 against Richard Talley. With five candidates running in that Republican race, Herring received 2,238 votes, or 47.78% votes. Talley followed with 1,039 or 22.18% of votes.

There are no Democrats seeking the District 2, District 3, or District 4 commission seats.

On the Democratic ballot, Curtis Harvey won re-election in the commissions District 1. Harvey ended the night with 560 votes, or 56.8%, with opponent Earl Jones receiving 426 votes, or 43.2%.

Houston County Board of Education member David Hollinger won re-election in the Democratic primary with 128 votes, or 59.53% compared to opponent Jeffery Leon Macon, who received 87 votes, or 40.47%.

In other local Republican races, both Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza and Coroner Robert Byrd won in their races.

Valenza won with 13,644 or 85.29% to opponent Randy Andersons 2,354 or 14.71%.

Byrd received 52.82%  8,457 votes  to win his bid for re-election. His opponent Kendall Glover had 47.13% or 7,538 votes.

Tuesday's voter turnout, despite the threat of rain late in the day, was on par with past election cycles when the Alabama governors seat has been up for election, Houston County Probate Judge Patrick Davenport said.

Its not as high as we would like to see, but its consistent with a gubernatorial cycle, Davenport said.

From a technical perspective, Davenport said the primary election day had gone smoothly.

Fortunately, today, weve had very little incidents, he said.

Peggy Ussery is a Dothan Eagle staff writer and can be reached at aussery@dothaneagle.com or 334-712-7963. Support her work and that of other Eagle journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at dothaneagle.com.

Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
The shocking shooting that left 18 children dead at a school in Texas is forcing parents and schools to once again confront how to talk to kids about violence. Here are some tips from experts.
MONTGOMERY  Alabamas Republican primary for U.S. Senate is going to a June runoff between Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks after neither candidate captured a majority of the vote.

Britt is Alabama Sen. Richard Shelbys former chief of staff and the former leader of the Business Council of Alabama. Brooks is a six-term congressman from north Alabama. They will advance to a June 21 runoff, which is required if no candidate captures more than 50% of the initial vote.

The two edged out Mike Durant, a businessman best known as the helicopter pilot shot down and captured in the events chronicled in Black Hawk Down.

Unofficial and incomplete statewide vote totals around 11 p.m. showed Britt was ahead with 265,812 votes or 45%, followed by Brooks at 167,714 or 29% and Durant with 136,707 or 23%.

Trump had initially endorsed Brooks but rescinded that backing in March, citing unhappiness with Brooks performance and accusing the conservative congressman of going woke for suggesting it was time to move on from Trumps 2020 election fraud claims.

Shelby, one of the Senates most senior members, announced last year that he would not seek reelection in 2022, igniting the messy GOP primary at a time when the national Republican Party is trying to chart a direction after Trumps departure.

Outside groups have pumped more than $20 million into the Alabama race to either support or oppose one of the frontrunners.

Phil. T. McCuiston Jr., 83, wore a cap emblazoned with Trump Monday to hear Brooks speak with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Huntsville.

Trump gets 95% of them right, but on this one Im going to stand with Brooks, said McCuiston, a retired businessman. He's got the record.

Ashlie Combs, a 40 year-old veteran from Lincoln, said many of the men she served with in Iraq joined the armed forces because of Durant. She said she was impressed by his willingness to sit down with her and discuss ongoing issues for veterans, such as suicide rates.

To have him sit and listen to me as a person and not just a number, or a box to check off, was great, Combs said.

Jack Graham, 71, cast his vote for Britt in east Montgomery on Tuesday.

Its time to let the young people take over. Lets see what she can do. I think shes smart. Shes level-headed. She has a good background. Shes got good experience, Graham said.

The Republican nominee will face the Rev. Will Boyd, a minister and engineer from Hoover, who defeated two opponents in Tuesday's primary. Boyd was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018 but lost to Republican Will Ainsworth.
Workers maintain photovoltaic panels in April in Ordos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The city, a major coal production center in China, is optimizing its energy structure by introducing more clean energy. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Erratic access to stable electricity caused residents of drought-plagued Shilekai, a remote village in Ordos in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, a lot of headaches.

Dependent on electric pumps to irrigate their farms, the low voltage of the power transmitted from the substation 25 kilometers away meant they were forced to use their pumps in shifts.

"It wasn't unusual that by the time it was my turn, it was already after midnight," Gao Daqi, an ethnic Hui villager recalled.

Now, the 58-year-old has bid farewell to these difficulties, thanks to a distributed photovoltaic power generation system he installed last year. Its solar panel also serves as the roof for his sheepfold.

He said previously, low voltage made the pump inefficient and irrigation costly but that now, thanks to the solar power system, his problems have been solved. Better yet, the panel shades his goats from the merciless sun.

Actually, the system brings Gao even greater benefits.

Covering an area of 200 square meters and costing about 90,000 yuan ($13,365), Gao's setup can generate 34,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, so in addition to enjoying free power, he is able to sell the surplus back to the local grid for 0.28 yuan per kilowatt-hour.

Gao and his family have only recently emerged from poverty, so he paid 10,000 yuan for the system, with the remainder subsidized by local authorities.

He can make around 10,000 yuan a year from selling his surplus.

Chen Dongyao, chief technical engineer at Inner Mongolia Aohan Energy Technology, which developed the project, said that the system can work continuously for at least 25 years.

"The air here is very clean," he said. "This means high efficiency in power generation."

Chen said villagers don't need to do any maintenance as the company can debug the systems remotely. Using a mobile phone app, villagers can check how much power they have generated, as well as how much they have made from selling the surplus, he continued.

The company first had the idea to promote solar energy in the arid area in 2018, but large-scale development would have meant a lot of official procedures, which would have been time-consuming. Building sheepfolds using solar panels sidestepped that problem and was also able to address individual difficulties faster.

Chen said three households in the village already have systems installed, and another 64 families have signed up to buy. Those interested can apply for low-interest loans if they cannot afford the purchase outright.

The company plans to make Shilekai a pilot area for distributed photovoltaic power generation. "Based on the experience we gain from the village, we would like to extend the model to any area with poor access to stable power in Otog Banner and allow more farmers to benefit," he said.
Enterprises are increasing production and export. (Photo: VNA)

According to a representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, at the consultation session, Mr. Tran Trung Hieu, Second Secretary of the Vietnam Trade Office in Kuwait, will introduce an overview of the market for processed products in Kuwait and issues of access, application of regulations, standards and conditions for exporting this product to the Kuwait market.

Besides, Mr. Ali Al Sayeghm, President of Lemonade International Company for Convention and Exhibition Management in Kuwait cum President of the International Import-Export Portal Company in Vietnam, will share some experiences in doing business with the Kuwait market.

According to data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Kuwait in 2021 reached more than 4.78 billion USD, up about 49% over the same period the previous last year. In which, Vietnam's exports reached more than 60 million USD.

Vietnams main export items to Kuwait include mobile phones, electronic equipment and spare parts, seafood, furniture and agricultural products (vegetables, tea, rice, pepper, cinnamon and star anise). In which, wood and wood products account for the highest proportion, followed by vegetables and fruits, means of transport, and aquatic products.

In the opposite direction, in 2021, Vietnams imports from Kuwait posted more than 4.7 billion USD, up 49% over the same period last year. This year, the country mainly imported a large amount of crude oil from Kuwait for refining activities from Nghi Son Refinery.

According to the Kuwait Customs Service, Kuwaits import turnover from Vietnam only accounts for more than 1% of the markets total import turnover.

With 82% of the countrys area being desert, besides oil revenue, Kuwait has not yet produced many agricultural, industrial and consumer goods. Besides, Kuwait's GDP per capita is high, so consumer demand for goods is very stable.

Therefore, in the coming time, Vietnam can promote exports of agricultural products, aquatic products, wood and wood products, machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts, for which Kuwait currently has high demand./.
Photo for illustration

The Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden, concurrently of the Nordic region, in coordination with the Ministry of Planning and Investments Department of Investment and Development, Ministry of Economy of Latvia, Ministry of Industry and Trades Department of Trade Promotion, and the Embassy of Vietnam in Sweden, concurrently with Latvia will organize the Vietnam - Latvia Business Forum on May 31.

The event is among activities held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Latvia.

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden, concurrently of the Nordic region, Latvia is one of the three nations in the Baltic region.

Latvia holds a strategic geographical position for business activities between the EU region and emerging markets located to the east of the Baltic country. The European nation is geographically located as a gateway between the EU and Asia, especially Russia.

In spite of being a small country, reforms have seen the Latvian economy continuously grow over the past decade, with the exception of 2020 due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst it holds great economic potential.

Currently, Vietnamese export staples include seafood, cashew nuts, coffee, pepper, plastic products, bamboo and rattan products, wood and wood products, garments and textiles, footwear and other products.

Vietnam imports items from Latvia such as rubber, timber and wood products, cotton, fabrics of all kinds, raw materials for textiles and garments, leather, machinery, equipment and pharmaceuticals./.
Statement on the FBI Response to the Shooting in Buffalo, New York

Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate, and other FBI officials led a National Partners Conference Call today with faith leaders, civil rights leaders, and private sector partners to discuss the tragic shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, over the weekend. Director Wray offered his deepest condolences to the victims and their families and to the entire community of Buffalo for what he called a despicable attack.

I want to be clear, for my part, from everything we know, this was a targeted attack, a hate crime, and an act of racially motivated violent extremism, said Director Wray. While there remain a lot of unknowns, as there always do in an investigation at this stage, what is absolutely certain is that we at the FBI are committed to comprehensively and aggressively investigating Saturdays attack.

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Ihor Zhdanov, Information Defence Project , Open Policy Foundation

Information Defence of Ukraine provides a daily review of the military-political situation in Ukraine as of the past day of May 10th, based on an analysis of open sources.

PLEASE NOTE! The first review was published on February 26th. All experts of the Information Defence of Ukraine project work free of charge, on a volunteer basis. We need your help. Each of your charitable donations is important to us. Your help in UAH can be transferred to the Oschadbank card: 5304 0999 9952 1978, Beneficiary name: Ihor Zhdanov. Your help in US dollars can be transferred to the account: IBAN number: UA513226690000026207001378162; Name of bank: Acc. 04-095-334 PJSC State Savings Bank of Ukraine, Hospitalna str., 12 G, Kiyv, Ukraine; SWIFT: COSB UA UK KIE. Beneficiary name: Ihor Zhdanov (  ). For more information about our team, see the link in the end of this review.

1. The Armed Forces of Ukraine heroically restrain the enemys attacks in the decisive battle for the Donbas.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine , in the Kharkiv region, the Defence Forces of Ukraine liberated the settlements of Cherkaski Tyshky, Ruski Tyshky, Rubizhne and Bairak. In general, the Ukrainian defenders liberated 1,003 settlements of our country from the occupiers.

The enemy is increasing the pace of strategic offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone. Exercises fire along the entire line of contact and in the depths of the defence of Ukrainian troops.

The enemy did not carry out active offensive operations in the Slobozhanskyi direction. The enemies continue to take measures to regroup their units.

In order to prevent the advance of the units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine and to strengthen their troops, the enemy additionally moved up to five hundred mobilised people from the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to the territory of the Kharkiv region.

In the Izium direction, the enemy continued to create favourable conditions for the offensive attack, for which the enemy replenished ammunition and logistics, conducted engineering equipment of advanced positions and strengthened air reconnaissance.

In the Severodonetsk direction, the enemy carries out assault operations in the areas of the settlements of Nizhnie, Toshkivka, Orikhove, in the Luhansk region, without any success.

The enemy is trying to gain a foothold in the area of the settlement of Oleksandrivka, the enemy is carrying out assault operations in the area of the settlement of Shandryholove, in the Donetsk region, without any success.

In Bilohorivka, the "cleansing of the territory" continues, the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed the pontoons and military equipment of russian troops, some of the invaders fled back to swim.

In the Donetsk direction, the occupiers attempted assault operations in the directions of Marinka, the settlements of Kamianka, the Yasynuvata district, and Novomykhailivka, the Pokrovskyi district, in the Donetsk region. The enemy was unsuccessful.

In Mariupol, the enemies continues to focus their efforts on blocking and destroying the Ukrainian units near the Azovstal plant. With the support of artillery and tank fire, the enemy conducts assault operations.

The National Guard says that all of Ukraine's leaders are now working on how to evacuate civilians and rescue military combatants who were defending the Azovstal plant in occupied Mariupol.

The deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, known as Kalyna, told Ukrayinska Pravda that russian shelling of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol had resulted in severe injuries. For a while, the defenders lost contact with the hospital.

The total combat losses of the enemy from February 24 to April 10 were approximately: 26,000 combatants (+350) were eliminated, tanks - 1,170 (+25) units, armoured combat vehicles - 2,808 (+44) units, artillery systems - 519 (+6) units, MLRS - 185 (+0) units, air defence means - 87 (+0) units, aircraft - 199 (+0) units, helicopters - 158 (+0) units, UAVs operational and tactical level - 380 (+3), cruise missiles - 94 (+0), ships / boats - 12 (+0) units, motor vehicles and tankers - 1 980 (+10) units, special equipment - 41 (+0).

Due to significant losses in the Kharkiv region, units of the 138th separate mechanised brigade of the 6th-Military Army of the Western Military District were withdrawn from Ukraine to the Belgorod region of the russian federation for recovery. A significant part of the remaining military combatants who signed the contract with the army units wrote reports for dismissal.

2. Information summaries, reviews and assessments of foreign, Ukrainian intelligence and think tanks.

A senior Pentagon official said that sanctions against russia were beginning to damage its defence-industrial base, making it difficult for the russian military to replenish high-precision guided munitions.

He stressed that "they have already used a lot of high-precision weapons. They continue to hit Mariupol with a bunch of dumb" bombs. So, they have problems with replenishing high-precision ammunition.

We believe that sanctions and export control, especially when it comes to electronic components, have affected the capabilities of russia's defense industry and their ability to replenish the.

According to the US defense official, Ukraine has received 13 arms shipments from seven countries in the last 24 hours. He also said that the US President Joe Biden had asked for another $5 billion in military support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the russian militaries, according to a US official, have not made much progress in Ukraine in the last 24 hours. He also said the Pentagon saw no sign that russia could mobilise more forces, regardless of May 9.

The head of US National Intelligence Avril Haines speaking in the Senate, said that president putin, in the face of an unsuccessful "special operation" in Ukraine, is likely to declare martial law in russia and start a war in the occupied territories of Moldova.

According to the UK intelligence review , the underestimation of the Ukrainian resistance and the losses sustained in the result did not allow putin to announce the military success of his army in Ukraine on May 9th.

According to UK intelligence, russia's plan of invasion was most likely based on the mistaken assumption that the russian army would meet limited resistance and be able to quickly surround the settlements.

It is noted that this assumption forced the russian troops to try to conduct the initial stage of the operation with an easy approach, designed to achieve a quick victory with minimal losses.

"This miscalculation has led to unbearable losses and a further reduction in russia's operational focus," the review has informed.

According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine ( GUR ), putin's regime ordered the media to focus russian attention on the opposition of the russian army to the all EU and NATO countries.

Having numerous advantages in manpower and equipment, the army of the occupying country sustains catastrophic losses and defeats from the defenders of Ukraine. To change russians' perceptions of military "invincibility" and prepare society for possible defeat, russian media have been ordered to report on the russian-Ukrainian war as russia's armed confrontation with all European Union and the NATO countries. According to the Kremlin political technologists, this will reduce the shame of losing to a more powerful enemy.

The occupier's propagandists will now "brainwash russians with ideas about the need to unite for their own survival and blind confidence in the Kremlin dictator's policies."

The Central Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine reports that the grain stolen by russia from Ukraine is already in the Mediterranean. The most likely destination is Syria.

3. The russian occupiers are violating international humanitarian law and committing a genocide against Ukrainians.

International and national investigation into the genocide of the russian occupiers against Ukrainians. The bodies of 44 dead civilians were found in the temporarily occupied Izium in the Kharkiv region under the rubble of a house destroyed by the occupiers in March.

The russian aggressors kill Ukrainian children. More than 642 children were injured in Ukraine as a result of full-scale armed aggression by the russian federation. As of the morning of May 10th, the official number of child victims has not changed - 226. The number of injured has increased and now is 416.

Most children were affected in the Donetsk (139), the Kyiv (116), the Kharkiv (99), the Chernihiv (68), the Kherson (46), the Mykolaiiv (44), the Luhansk (44), the Zaporizhzhia (28), the Sumy (17), the Zhytomyr (15) regions and in Kyiv City (16).

A 17-year-old girl was injured as a result of the enemy cruise missile fire in the village of Nova Dafinivka in the Odesa region.

The russian invaders are launching missile and bomb strikes on civilians, towns and villages. The night of May 10th was relatively calm for Kharkiv, heavy fighting continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, russians shelled Pervomaiskyi and several other villages in the Mykolaiiv region, and a shopping centre and a warehouse were destroyed by a missile strike in Odesa on May 9th.

There was a night of a constant anxiety in the Dnipropetrovsk region. In the morning, the Zelenodolsk community was shelled again with artillery. Several houses in the settlement of this community were affected. There are no victims.

The Kharkiv region: the night was relatively calm, during the day - one victim of shelling in the Slobidskyi district of the city. The occupiers fired on the Kharkivkyi and Balakliia districts - 4 people were wounded. Three people died in Tsyrkuny, two women were hit by an explosion while being carried on stretchers.

The Luhansk region: a shelling at the Lysychansk refinery - ignition of the installation of elemental sulphur and low gas pipeline gas station, a fire area of 360 square meters.

The Donetsk region: on May 9th, russians fired on 13 settlements, killed 12 civilians and wounded 7.

Significant destruction of civilian infrastructure in Marinka. In Avdjiivka: in the evening and in the morning there was artillery shelling, with direct hits on high-rise buildings. There were two air strikes at night. As of 8 am, the shelling continues.

The shelling of Toretsk, the villages of Zalizne and New York did not stop. In New York on May 9th, one of the few historical monuments burned down - Peter Dick's steam mill. The monument was not destroyed during two World Wars.

The Odessa region: in the evening of May 9th, the rockets were fired at Odesa. The shopping centre and the warehouse of finished consumer goods were destroyed. One person was killed, five wounded were taken to hospital and treated there.

russia has once again launched a missile attack on a damaged bridge across the Dniester estuary in the Odesa region.

The Mykolaiiv region: at about ten o'clock in the evening near the village of Bilozirka, there were attacks. Pervomaiske was shelled all night. An 81-year-old resident died as a result of the shelling, there was a fire and most garages were on fire. Pervomaisk territorial community was fired on during the entire night.

Lymany (the Halytsynivska territorial community of the Mykolaiiv district) lasted until 3 am. Three houses were destroyed, no one was injured. Also in the evening, the enemies fired on the village of Balovne (the Kostiantynivska territorial community). There is destruction of private houses there, the power substation failed.

4. Evacuation of civilians, exchange of prisoners.

Despite the lack of official green corridors, one in five residents left the territory of the temporarily occupied Kherson region, and almost half of the people left the regional center.

5. Political and socio-economic situation in Ukraine, economic losses due to russian aggression.

The government and society demonstrate unity, patriotism and faith in victory. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba in an interview with The Times said that if Ukraine won the battle for Donbass, it would like to liberate all its russian-occupied territories, but did not rule out negotiations.

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba also stated that if Ukraine does not receive the status of a candidate for EU membership, it will mean deception on the part of the European Union - and Ukraine is not going to accept this response.

The UOC-MP Metropolitan Onufrii asks the russian president putin to apply the extraction procedure to the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol who are blocked at the Azovstal plant.

Economic and infrastructural losses due to russian aggression. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has downgraded the forecast for Ukraine's economic decline due to the war to 30% - at the end of March the forecast was minus 20%. This is stated in a statement on the bank's website.

At the same time, the EBRD forecasts a 20% recovery of the Ukrainian economy in 2023 compared to the previous forecast of 23%. However, the real rate of GDP growth will depend on how long the war in Ukraine will last, the terms of the peace agreement, the scale of reconstruction and the number of refugees returning home, the bank added.

Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have suffered direct losses of $ 64-85 billion in the 75 days since the full-scale russian invasion has begun.

This is stated in the Advanter Group research provided with the support of the Ministry of Finance and the League of Business Clubs.

According to Kyiv local authorities, since February 24, the russian occupiers have destroyed 390 buildings in the capital, 222 of which are apartment buildings. The shelling and bombing damaged the buildings of 75 educational institutions, 30 of which were preschools. As well as 17 health care facilities and 11 cultural facilities.

The total cost of all reconstruction work is EUR 70 million.

Signs of recovery of the Ukrainian economy. Last week, the number of investors in military bonds among citizens and businesses increased from 11.8 to 43.3 thousand.

The Ministry of Finance sold UAH 4.7 billion worth of military bonds at an auction on May 10th.

Restoration of infrastructure in de-occupied and war-affected areas. Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported on the results of the restoration of critical infrastructure in de-occupied cities and towns, and currently there are 1,003 such settlements, de-mining has already been carried out in 224 settlements.

The National Police resumed work in almost 600 de-occupied towns and villages. Local governments have earned revenues in 70% of cities, road transport has been restored by 70%, railway - by 42%.

Gas supply was restored in 650 settlements, electricity was provided in 83% of settlements, water supply and sewerage - in 60% of settlements, gas stations were restored in 49% of settlements.

Mobile and Internet services have been restored in 720 settlements, banks operate in almost 300 settlements, and Ukrposhta has resumed its services in almost 800 settlements.

6. International support and assistance to Ukraine.

Political support for Ukraine. The US President Joe Biden has signed a land lease law for Ukraine, which will speed up the transfer of important military equipment and other critical supplies to Ukraine by reducing bureaucratic red tape. It de facto allows to donate equipment with provisions that provide that the recipient countries will pay their value to the United States later.

Bundestag Speaker Barbel Bas called for speeding up the process of granting the EU membership to Ukraine. She said this in her interview for the ZDF.

German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalen Baerbock has said that Germany supports Ukraine's full membership in the EU in the future.

The Lithuanian Seimas has approved a resolution recognising russia's actions in Ukraine as a genocide and russia as a country that supports and carries out terrorism. This was reported by Delfi .

Financial assistance to Ukraine. The US Department of Commerce has announced the suspension of 232 customs tariffs on Ukrainian steel for one year.

The European Commission plans to issue new EU debt securities to cover Ukraine's short-term financing needs over the next three months. This was reported by Politico , citing information from three European diplomats.

Military assistance to Ukraine. The United States transported 85 of the 90 howitzers the presidential administration promised to provide to Ukraine. Moreover, more than 110,000 rounds of ammunition have already been delivered to Ukraine, out of the promised 184,000.

310 Ukrainian gunners have completed a training course on howitzer shooting, and more than 50 are currently undergoing howitzer shooting training.

Humanitarian aid to Ukraine. 45 fire engines arrived in Ukraine, handed over by Italy in cooperation with the EU.

7. Statements, provocations and fakes of the russian aggressors.

The White House believes that the content of the russian president putin's speech at the May 9th parade in Moscow is a lie and absurd.

Jen Psaki was quoted as saying by Ukrinform that "the assumption that president putin's war was caused by Western plans is a blatant lie and absurdity." She believes that other statements by putin at the parade are another "version of the review of history that has taken the form of misinformation" and have already taken place in russian guidelines.

Psaki called putin and the Kremlin a "disinformation factory."

8. Political and socio-economic situation in russia, the impact of international sanctions on it.

New sanctions and restrictions against russia. Japan has announced new sanctions against russia, targeting Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and the defence industry companies.

Ukraine has been forced to suspend gas transit through stations in the Luhansk region since Wednesday, May 11th, in the russian-occupied territory, supplying a third of its gas to Europe. This was announced by the Operator of the gas transmission system of Ukraine.

The International Working Group on Sanctions against russia (Yermal-McFaul Expert Group) has developed a Roadmap for Energy Sanctions: Recommendations for Sanctions against russia. This was reported by the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Estonia and Finland have signed an agreement on security of gas supply, according to which neighbouring countries must help each other in the event of disruptions in natural gas supplies.

***

The Open Policy Foundation (hereinafter - the Foundation, http://openpolicy.org.ua ) is a well-known public organisation that conducts analytical research and information campaigns, in particular on Ukrainian and foreign policy, protection of the rights of young people from the temporarily occupied territories to receive higher education in Ukraine.

With the beginning of the russian aggression, the Foundation's experts, together with other leading Ukrainian analysts, have joined a team to implement the Information Defence of Ukraine project. Experts of the project prepare daily reviews of the military-political situation in Ukraine in Ukrainian, English, and Russian, the first review was released on February 26th, moderate the telegram channel Information Defence of Ukraine, https://t.me/info_defense_ua .

For three months now, we have been working on a volunteer basis, free of charge in the conditions of hostilities, sometimes under the sounds of air attack sirens.

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Glory to Ukraine!
NATO is unlikely to dare to forcibly unblock Ukraine's maritime food exports, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes.

"If NATO did not close Ukrainian skies in the most tragic moments of the war, should they dare to close Ukrainian sea to allow safe passage of vessels with Ukrainian agricultural products?" he said at the Ukrainian Breakfast in Davos, where the World Economic Forum is taking place on Wednesday.

"I will wholeheartedly welcome that decision, but I don't see the stamina and the bravery to take on all the risks associated with this operation," Kuleba said.

At the same time, he said that Ukraine is now looking for a solution to the problem.

"We cannot allow the interruption of the agricultural cycle in Ukraine, because that will mean a multi-year food crisis in the world," the minister said.

He also warned that even if the Russian Federation signed guarantees of safe passage, it could violate this agreement at any time.

"Unpredictability of Russia's behavior is the main risk," Kuleba said.
On May 24, Ukraine received a JPY 13 billion or $100 million loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on concessional terms with maturity period of 30 years at 1% per annum with a grace period of 10 years, the Ministry of Finance has reported.

"The agreement is the first part of the agreed financial assistance between Ukraine and Japan," the Finance Ministry said in a release on Tuesday.

The ministry said that the funds will be directed to the state budget to finance priority expenses, to support the most unprotected population of Ukraine, in particular, to ensure priority social and humanitarian expenses, and health care.
The Ukrainian authorities are planning to present a draft of the Ukraine Recovery Plan at the reconstruction conference in Lugano to be held early July, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.

"Ukraine expects the restoration conference to become a powerful driver and political platform for the implementation of further steps towards the restoration and development of Ukraine, the peaceful future of our state and the stability of the democratic world," the press service of the government said, citing Shmyhal after a press conference with President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

According to him, the Ukraine Reform Conference, which will be held in Lugano on July 4 and July 5, was decided to devote to the restoration of Ukraine, and at the event Ukraine plans to present a draft Recovery Plan.

"The plan will include the restoration and development of infrastructure and housing, structural modernization and restarting the economy, the implementation of European standards in all areas, measures to overcome unemployment, support for vulnerable groups of the population, restoration and preservation of cultural heritage. We believe that we will receive support from the project from partners and attract new participants to the restoration of Ukraine," the head of government said.

The prime minister also called on the international community to mobilize financial assistance for the implementation of the Plan for the Recovery and Development of Ukraine, which is crucial for overcoming the consequences of the war and avoiding a large-scale social and economic crisis.
Ukraine will reduce gas consumption to the level of its own production and continue the transition to carbon-free energy, Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said during a meeting with acting US Charge d'Affaires for Ukraine Alan Purcell and US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ukraine Director James Hope on Wednesday.

"This will be facilitated by the involvement of USAID in the preparation of new projects for the energy sector construction, which should begin immediately after the end of the war," Haluschenko is quoted on the website of the Ministry of Energy.

Another of the immediate tasks of the ministry, according to him, is to increase the export of Ukrainian electricity to Europe.

"Currently, we are planning to increase commercial exports. This is important for us, because there is a shortage in the electricity market due to a decrease in the level of settlements as a result of the war. On the other hand, an increase in the export of Ukrainian electricity will allow European states to largely replace Russian gas," the minister noted.

As reported, Ukraine, through the export of electricity, can replace 17% of the Russian gas consumed in the EU countries.

In 2021, Ukraine reduced its own gas production by 2.2%, to 19.79 billion cubic meters.
Energoatom has refuted the information voiced in Davos by the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, about stockpiles of 30,000 kg of plutonium and 40,000 kg of enriched uranium at Zaporizhia nuclear power plant occupied by Russian invaders, which, in his opinion, are at risk of being kidnapped for military purposes.

"Neither uranium nor plutonium, which could be used for military purposes, was and is not stored at Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. But fuel assemblies are stored, but this is a completely different story, and it is called nuclear fuel. Which, of course, is present at all nuclear power plants in the world," Energoatom wrote on its Telegram channel on Wednesday.

The company also noted that at the NPP, spent nuclear fuel is stored in a special dry storage facility, which also does not in any way relate to "voiced nonsense."

On the eve of that day, during a discussion on nuclear security at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Grossi expressed concern that such nuclear materials were located at the NPP, stressing that this was also the basis for an early visit of the IAEA to Zaporizhia NPP.

"We are trying to get back to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Six nuclear reactors, 30,000 kg of plutonium, 40,000 kg of enriched uranium, and my inspectors do not have access to this," he said.

At the same time, he called an unprecedented and unviable situation in which the nuclear power plant is controlled by Russian forces, but the Ukrainian operator Energoatom manages it.

According to him, under such conditions, the IAEA cannot have enough leverage to control nuclear safety.

"So we hope to go there to also prevent possible problems. Or we end up finding out that several hundred kilograms of material for nuclear weapons have disappeared. This is what keeps us awake at night," Grossi said.
During the past days, the Turkish occupation army stationed in the occupied areas of Azaz, Marea and Afrin escalated the pace of its attacks on al-Shahba canton, as it targeted, during the past few days, all villages and districts of al-Shahba canton and Shirawa district with hundreds of missiles.

the administrator of the Afrin Canton Council, Fikret Abdalo, said that "the attacks carried out by the Turkish occupation aim to exterminate the people in al-Shahba and eliminate the resistance. The artillery shelling targeting the area where the displaced people of Afrin are, caused many massacres, including the Tel Rifaat massacre, which killed 8 children, and then the Uqiba massacre, which caused the death of an entire family of three, not to mention the destruction of dozens of homes.

Concerning the Turkish occupation of the displaced persons camps in al-Shahba canton and Sherawa district, Fikret Abdalo said: The occupation does not target the border areas only, but rather targets the five camps located in al-Shahba canton and Sherawa district, the last of which was a few days ago, when it bombed from the occupied city of Marea the village of Tel Qarah. Which is not more than two kilometers away from Sardam camp. Several months before that, al-Awda camp was targeted in Sherawa district, targeting tents, and last year Sardam camp was also targeted.

During her speech, Fikret Abdalo referred to the joint policy led by Turkey and the Damascus Government with the aim of weakening the resistance of the people and undermining their will, "in addition to the continuous bombing by the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries on the area. The Damascus Government imposes a severe siege on the people, at a time that requires it to take a serious position regarding The attacks were preceded by the aggression, but we see that the policy that it follows supports Turkey to achieve its goal of weakening and undermining the resistance of the age.

For his part, the co-chair of the Tel Rifaat district council, Mohammad Hanan, spoke about the Turkish occupation army targeting the district with the aim of emptying it of its people, which is being shelled on daily basis.

Hanan continued, "Because the Tel Rifaat district is located in a strategic area, the Turkish occupation aims in its plans to control it, and seeks to evacuate it by committing massacres, intimidating the people, breaking their will and weakening their resistance.

Hanan stated that the targeted areas are near the points of concentration of Russian forces, "and Turkey is committing these massacres before its eyes, without any reaction from it, knowing that it intervened in Syria in 2015 under the pretext of protecting citizens, but what it is doing today in Tal Rifaat confirms that it is present." in the region only for its own interests."

At the end of his speech, Mohammad Hanan stressed that the people of Tel Rifaat district, including Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, are committed to the option of resistance against the occupation plans led by Turkey and its mercenaries. He also called on humanitarian organizations to do their duty towards the people of al-Shahba canton.

T/S

ANHA
Businessman Rinat Akhmetov said he believes in the victory of Ukraine and the resumption of Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea and Donbas.

"And what I believe in is our victory, with Crimea and Donbas as part of a united Ukraine," Akhmetov said in an interview with Novoye Vremya.

According to him, now the government, business and civil society are working shoulder to shoulder for the victory of Ukraine.

"We all - the president, the government, business, and every Ukrainian  want Ukraine to be free, strong and successful. Our Ukrainian army is bravely fighting for our freedom now," the businessman said.

He stressed that the common goal for Ukraine is to be a free, democratic European country.

"My position is unchanged. I was, am and will be pro-Ukrainian, as well as my views and values. That is why for many years I have been the largest private investor, employer and taxpayer in Ukraine. And I see Ukraine as a free, democratic European country," Akhmetov said.
On Wednesday night, the aggressor launched a missile attack on Krasnopillia in Sumy region, preliminarily there were no deaths, head of the regional military administration Dmytro Zhyvytsky said.

"At about one in the morning, from the territory of Russia, the enemy fired rockets at our Krasnopol. The launch, preliminarily, was from an aircraft that did not cross the state border. The houses of civilians in Krasnopillia were damaged. About 20 houses and power lines were damaged. Half of the village was left without electricity. There were preliminarily no deaths," Zhyvytsky wrote in the telegram channel on Wednesday morning.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the statement made by Russia about the allegedly deliberate slowdown in the advance of Russian troops in Ukraine is a lie.

"Today, another absolutely inadequate statement was made from Russia that they deliberately slow down offensive actions. Well, after three months of searching for explanations why they failed to break Ukraine in three days, they did not come up with anything better than to say that it was planned so," Zelensky said in a video message on Tuesday evening," Zelensky said in an evening video message on Tuesday.

He said that almost 30,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine today, more than 200 aircraft have been shot down, thousands of Russian tanks, armored vehicles and their other equipment have been destroyed, and almost entire Russian missile ammunition has been almost completely spent.

"And they want to cover this up with a lie, that they are fighting not at full strength. It's a pity. And the time will come when they will admit it themselves," the president said.

As reported, on the morning of May 24, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called the slowdown in offensive operations in Ukraine "deliberate." According to him, Russian troops allegedly create "humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians" from cities and villages surrounded by Russia in the south and east of Ukraine, and also allegedly "declare a regime of silence."
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that after the active phase of the war there will be a peace process, but the question is with which Russian president Ukraine will negotiate peace.

"After the military part, there will be a peace process, a negotiating table, there will be peace, the question is with which president of the Russian Federation Ukraine will negotiate peace. And it depends on the desire of the current president of Russia," he said on Wednesday, speaking via video link at the Ukrainian Breakfast at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Ukraine, as a country that shares the fundamental values and principles on which the European Union is built on and fights for them, deserves to be granted the status of an EU candidate, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola has said.

"Why would we spend once again decades hiding behind legalities when it is just simply a question of political will," she said Wednesday at the Pinchuk Foundation's Ukraine Breakfast in Davos, which hosts the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The President of Latvia, Egils Levits, also supported the position that granting Ukraine the status of an EU candidate is a political decision, and the EU should do it.

"If we should be serious and take our principles seriously, then, of course, there is no way to say that Ukraine also belongs to Europe and then technical issue how to do it... The candidate status is the starting point and we should give the candidate status to Ukraine. I think it's realistic, and it is possible, and it is also in our interests," he said.

As reported, earlier the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte assessed the chances of Ukraine to soon become a candidate for EU membership as "not very high." At the same time, Kyiv expects that this status will be granted as early as June this year.
The strategic plan of defense is to liberate the entire territory of Ukraine, and sooner or later broad counter-offensive actions must occur, said spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksandr Motuzianyk.

"According to the strategic plan of the defense of Ukraine, we aim to liberate the entire territory of our state, and sooner or later broad counter-offensive actions must occur. At the same time, it will depend on the general situation that has now developed in the east and south of our state. I'm not ready to talk about when it will happen. But, of course, we will liberate our lands from the Russian occupiers," Motuzianyk said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center in Kyiv on Wednesday.
At least 22,000 residents of the occupied city of Mariupol, Donetsk region, died during three months of the war, CNN writes citing the city's mayor's adviser Petro Andriuschenko.

Andriuschenko said the 22,000 figure is based on the many contacts he and other city hall officials continue to have with officials left in the city. But he believes the real figure could be much higher.

Andriushchenko said that the process of reburying the dead has been complicated by Russian official insistence that reclaimed bodies be brought to a morgue and that a person claiming a body must agree to record a video in which the applicant says the deceased was killed by the Ukrainian military.

The mayor's adviser said his contacts paint a picture of a city in the grip of a humanitarian disaster, with very little contact with the outside world. Mobile communications are just beginning to recover. Residents cannot move freely, as special permits are needed for any movement in the city, and the filtration system does not allow them to flee.

As reported, at the end of April, mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko stated that more than 20,000 residents had died in Mariupol since the beginning of the full-scale offensive of the Russian invaders.
The Ministers of Digital Transformation of a number of countries are ready to promote the rapid integration of digital documents in the Diia application into their national systems, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov said.

"After the completion of the official part of Diia Summit I personally met with the digital leaders of Latvia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Slovenia, Finland and Canada. Now our team is actively working to make the Diia application international. Then Ukrainians with digital documents will be able to travel between the countries and use them in all life situations abroad. The ministers of digital transformation are now ready to help us in the implementation of such a project," he wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.

Fedorov also noted that Moldova is already adopting the necessary legislative changes to recognize Diia, and Ukraine is implementing technical integration with Poland to display Ukrainian documents in their application.

"We hope that we will be able to establish cooperation with other countries as soon as possible," he said.

According to him, it was also possible to agree on clear joint digital projects with each minister. Among them are participation in open competitions of the Digital Europe program, the implementation of the e-delivery service for citizens, the mutual recognition of electronic signatures, distance learning, cyber defense and countering propaganda.
The Russian Federation has stepped up the use of aviation components to support its ground offensive, said spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksandr Motuzianyk.

"The aggressor is firing intensively along the line of combat and in the depth of the defense of the Ukrainian troops in Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The enemy has stepped up the use of aviation components, primarily assault and army aviation, to support its ground offensive," Motuzianyk said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He noted that the involvement of long-range and strategic bombers continues to expose the air defense systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and identify new frontiers for launching cruise missiles.

"According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the crews of Russian Tu-22M3 and Tu-95/160 long-range bombers from the airspace over the waters of the Azov and Caspian Seas, as well as the airspace of Rostov region, conducted exercises and practiced conditional launches of cruise missiles," Motuzianyk said.
Advisor to head of the Presidents Office of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak has said that there can be no talk of freezing the conflict.

"There can be no question of freezing the conflict. Firstly, any freeze is a war postponed in time. A bigger, bloodier and more prepared one on the part of the aggressor, who will work on mistakes, dismiss and arrest generals, and put fighters with experience of today's war in their place. By the way, we have also done our work on mistakes: Ukraine has drawn conclusions from the Minsk agreements and therefore will not go for Minsk-3," he wrote on the Telegram channel on Wednesday.

Podoliak also noted that "since the beginning of the war, 13 million Ukrainians have already left their homes. These people will not return to live in the occupied territories or in the gray war zone. Are those calling for the freezing of the war going to support our migrants for life?"

"No one in the world is interested in a prolonged war. No one is interested in the food crisis. But today, the shortest way to end the war is weapons, sanctions and financial assistance to Ukraine," he wrote.

"Ukraine was given from three days to several weeks. Ukrainians have defended Kyiv, liberated three regions and are completing the liberation of the fourth. Today.... they offer us to give Russia the east and the south. Thank you for the advice, but perhaps we will accept help with weapons," Podoliak said.
Many in NATO have lost the moral and professional ground to make any comments about Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.

"All these technical discussions about standards, criteria. When there is a political decision that they belong to us, we are part of one - everything else will follow, as long as there is no such political decision, you hear hundreds of arguments why this is impossible. We understand how it works. But I believe that many in NATO have lost the moral and professional ground to make any comments about Ukraine," Kuleba said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.

He added that NATO, as an institution, does literally nothing to support Ukraine in the war started by the Russian Federation.

"My point of view is very simple: we see allies who are helping Ukraine. We see a group of NATO allies helping us. But at the beginning of the war (this was the public mood), the people of Ukraine believed that NATO was a powerful force, and the EU could only express different levels of concern. But war is always a test that tears off masks, and we all saw real faces. We have seen revolutionary innovative decisions made by the EU, which they themselves did not expect to take, and we see NATO as an alliance, an institution that is on the sidelines and doing, literally, nothing. I regret to say this," Kuleba said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemns the decree of the Russian president on the illegal passportization of residents of the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian army in Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.

"Illegal passportization in Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, as well as in Crimea and in the temporarily occupied part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, is a gross violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the norms and principles of international humanitarian law, as well as the obligations of Russia as an occupying state, in in accordance with Article 45 of the Hague Convention of 1907 and Article 47 of the Convention for the Protection of Civilian Population in Time of War of 1949. The decree of Russia's president is legally null and void and will have no legal consequences. This decision will not affect the citizenship of Ukraine for residents of the territories temporarily occupied by Russia," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said.

The ministry said the forced passportization of Ukrainians in Kherson and Zaporizhia regions is another evidence of the criminal goal of Russia's war against Ukraine  the seizure of Ukrainian territories for their further occupation and integration into the Russian legal, political and economic field.

"Ukraine calls on the international community to stop Russia from committing crimes against Ukraine and Ukrainians on a scale unknown in Europe since the Second World War. We demand the immediate adoption of the sixth EU sanctions package, which includes an embargo on Russian oil, and the start of work on the seventh sanctions package. The Russian regime must be held accountable, and the Russian military machine must be deprived of financial resources," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The ministry also called on international partners to expedite decision-making on the further provision of weapons to Ukraine, primarily multiple launch rocket systems, to protect Ukrainian territories from Russian aggression.

"Delay will only encourage the Putin regime to further crimes against Ukraine and the destruction of peace and security in Europe," the Foreign Ministry said.
The effectiveness of sanctions will be significantly increased if secondary sanctions are imposed and the categories of goods that are prohibited for export to Russia are expanded, Deputy Head of the President's Office Rostyslav Shurma has said at a discussion at the Ukrainian House in Davos.

"There are still a lot of categories [of commodities] that have not been sanctioned. If you go into details, for example, for the oil industry, there are a lot of materials, a lot of cracking components that can be blocked, but they are not blocked yet," he said.

Shurma added that many components used in the Russian military industry, such as some semiconductors, certain chemical materials, and a number of metals, were still missing from the list of sanctions.

Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge Alexander Rodnyansky also stressed the importance of imposing secondary sanctions. He recalled that there is a Eurasian Union, which includes Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as Armenia, which allows Russia to trade through these countries.

"But that's not the only way: they can trade with Georgia We see a lot of trade going on there. And that's why they invent all sorts of creative tools. So the only key how the international community can respond to this is secondary sanctions, which, again, we are still waiting for and which have not been imposed on a large scale," Rodnyansky stressed.
The troops of the Russian Federation are trying to overcome the resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and establish full control over the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.

"The enemy focuses its main efforts on the defeat of the Joint Forces group and attempts to establish full control over the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Here the enemy is trying to overcome the resistance of the units that make up the grouping of the Joint Forces in order to create favorable conditions for conducting an offensive. The enemy concentrated its main efforts on Bakhmut direction. He is trying to develop success in Lymanske direction. In addition, the Russian occupiers continue to actively prepare for offensive actions in Novopavlivske and Zaporizhia directions," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine informed on Facebook on Wednesday evening.

As the message notes, the situation has not changed in Volynske and Poliske directions compared to the previous days.

"At the end of May... it is planned to conduct practical actions of units of the armed forces of Belarus at the training grounds in the Brest, Vitebsk, Grodno, Minsk and Mogilev regions. According to available information, the plan of these measures provides for the removal of weapons and military equipment from storage and the implementation of marches," the General Staff noted.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in Siverske direction, the enemy continues to cover the section of the Russian-Ukrainian border in Bryansk and Kursk regions, and in order to prevent the transfer of units of Ukrainian troops to other directions, the enemy is shelling civilian and military infrastructure facilities in the border areas of Ukraine.

"In Slobozhanske direction, the occupiers are systematically exerting a high-intensity fire influence on the areas of concentration of our troops. The aggressor units fired at civilian infrastructure in the areas of the settlements of Krasnopillia, Sumy region, as well as Ternova, Ruski Tyshky, Dovhenke and Nova Dmytrivka, Kharkiv region," the operational report says.

The General Staff noted that the enemy is trying to improve the tactical position of its units in the areas of Izium and Sloviansk - it made attempts of assault and offensive actions in the areas of Dovhenke, Kharkiv region and Bohorodychne, Donetsk region, but had no success and withdrew with losses.

In Donetsk direction, the enemy is launching artillery and air strikes in the areas of Lyman and Kamyshevakhi in Donetsk region, Severodonetsk and Novozvanivka in Luhansk region.

"The enemy attempted offensive and assault actions in Severodonetsk and Bakhmut directions in the areas of the settlements of Berestove, Lypove and Nyrkove, had no success, retreated to the previously occupied lines. In Avdiyivka direction, the Russian occupiers conducted unsuccessful assault operations in the areas of the settlements of Krasnohorivka, Kamenka, Avdiyivka and Pisky. The enemy carried out air strikes and artillery shelling in the areas of Maryinka, Nikolske, Poltavka and Orikhove," the report says.

According to the General Staff, in Pivdenno-Buzke direction, enemy units tried to improve the tactical situation in the direction of Mykolaiv and provide access to the administrative borders of Kherson region.

"The enemy fired at the positions of our troops and civilian infrastructure in the areas of Novo-Oleksandrivka, Trudoliubivka, Novopavlivka, Blahodatne and Posad-Pokrovske," the message says.

The General Staff stressed that the enemy continues to suffer losses of personnel and military equipment, information is regularly received about a large number of wounded servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation in medical institutions of settlements bordering Ukraine.
Hungary still against oil embargo against Russia, demands that European Commission solve problem of energy security

Hungary does not intend to support the proposal for an embargo against Russian oil until a solution to the problem of its energy security is found, the Associated Press reports, citing Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

This problem was created by the European Commission, so the solution must be offered by the European Commission. The solution must come first, and only then can we talk about sanctions, Szijjarto said.

He also blamed the EUs executive branch for "pushing the plan without ensuring the energy security of Hungary, " which gets 85% of its natural gas and more than 60% of its oil from Russia.

Szijjarto stressed that Hungary would not vote in favor of the oil embargo proposal as long as it makes Hungarys energy supply impossible.

Earlier on Wednesday, President of the European Council Charles Michel expressed confidence that a consensus on the oil embargo against Russia can be found before May 30-31, when the EU summit takes place.

The European Commission stated that it does not stop discussing the issue of organizing an embargo on Russian oil, while taking into account the interests of countries such as Hungary.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky instructed Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to work out the issue of introducing a visa regime between Ukraine and Russia.

The adoption of the relevant decision by Zelensky is stated in the response of the head of state to a petition that has collected over 25,000 signatures of citizens of Ukraine on the introduction of a visa regime with Russia.

"Against the background of full-scale Russian aggression, the issue raised [on the introduction of a visa regime with Russia] is important and urgent, therefore, I support the need to strengthen the control regime for the entry of Russian citizens into Ukraine. Taking into account the above, a relevant letter was sent to Prime Minister of Ukraine Shmyhal with a request to work out this issue," according to the response published on the presidential website on Wednesday.

Zelensky also thanked everyone who supported this petition for their active citizenship.
The European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom announce the creation of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, ACA) to coordinate efforts to bring those responsible for the atrocities committed during Russia's war against Ukraine.

This is said in a press release issued by the EEAS on Wednesday.

It says that the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) will be a mechanism aimed at ensuring efficient coordination of their respective support to accountability efforts on the ground." "The ACA will reinforce current EU, US and UK efforts to further accountability for atrocity crimes in the context of Russias ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine. It advances commitments made by the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom to demonstrate international support and solidarity at this crucial historical moment for Ukraine, " the press release reads.

The overarching mission of the ACA is to support the "War Crimes Units of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (OPG) in its investigation and prosecution of conflict-related crimes." "The ACA seeks to streamline coordination and communication efforts to ensure best practices, avoid duplication of efforts, and encourage the expeditious deployment of financial resources and skilled personnel to respond to the needs of the OPG as the legally constituted authority in Ukraine responsible for dealing with the prosecution of war crimes on its own territory, " the message reads.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) intends to invest $1 billion in 2022 and is ready to finance NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, Bank President Odile Renaud-Basso has said.

We intend to continue investing $1 billion this year and we are focused on supporting key infrastructure such as the power grid (Ukrenergo), we are reserving a Naftogaz credit facility to support their working capital and liquidity, she said during the discussions at the Ukrainian House in Davos as part of the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

The EBRD intends to offer an investment plan to support these companies and the private sector in general and to provide credit facilities for agribusiness and pharmaceuticals and not only, she added.

We also plan to work with municipalities to help internally displaced people, Renaud-Basso said.
On Thursday, May 26, at 14.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference on the topic "Restoration of Ukraine after the War: Current State, Plans, Prospects, Investments." Participants: President of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine, Head of the International Technology Transfer Association Artem Honcharenko; professor, Director of the Center of the Academy of Construction of Ukraine Ivan Perehynets; professor, rector of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture Petro Kulykov; coordinator of the U.S. Volunteer Movement Maryan Burmylo; Head of the International Relations Department of Kontramarka Help Oleksiy Honcharov; head of the union "International Scientific and Expert Center for Monitoring the Consequences of Military Armed Conflicts" Yevhen Sytnyk (8/5a Reitarska Street). The broadcast will be available on the Youtube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Registration of journalists on the spot with editorial certificates.
Ukraine's efforts to develop algorithms for compensating for Russia's damage during the Russian aggression and the possibility of bringing it to justice were the main topics of the Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk's speech at the annual Israel Bar Association. The Embassy of Ukraine in Israel reported this at Facebook.

Ambassador of Ukraine to Israel participated at the panel dedicated to the unprovoked war of russia against Ukraine and the war crimes of the russian army. Ambassador Korniychuk, as keynote speaker, mentioned the diplomatic and legal efforts of our state to develop algorithms for compensation of damage (infrastructure, industry, civil sector, affected individuals), which russia causes during full-scale and bloody war against Ukraine, - the statement reads.

In particular, the possibility of using existing international bodies to bring russia to account, and creating ad hoc international tribunal has been discussed.

Separately was raised the issue of engagement of foreign governments - donors and international funds to charitable projects for reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, - the Embassy noted.
The transport ministry announced on Thursday the start of the experimental operation of air-conditioned Spanish trains along the Cairo-Alexandria line.
The Palestinian Authority on Thursday announced the results of its investigation into the shooting death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, saying it had proven she was deliberately killed by Israeli forces as she tried to flee.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry outlined Egypts vision for the Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) as part of his participation in the World Economic Forums (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Egypt is scheduled to host the COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh this November.

Shoukry, who is also president-designate of the COP27, participated in a WEF session titled The Way to the 27th Session of the Conference of the Parties of The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on Monday.

The session tackled partnerships between the private and public sectors in the field of climate action in the Middle East and North Africa.

Shoukry is also scheduled to meet a number of high-level officials from different countries participating in the annual event to address the ongoing preparations for Egypts hosting of the COP27.

Additionally, the meetings will discuss means of cooperation to enhance global climate action on all levels, especially in terms of implementing adaptive measures and mitigating the negative repercussions of climate change, said Ahmed Hafez  spokesperson for the foreign ministry.

Egypt has affirmed that it will work through its presidency of the COP27 to enhance international action to handle climate change at all levels, achieve the goals of the Paris Accords, support efforts to reduce emissions and provide funding for African and developing countries to deal with the phenomenon.

Egypt launched on Thursday the National Strategy for Climate Change 2050  five months ahead of the conference  which boasts numerous goals, including bolstering Egypts climate change leadership internationally, achieving sustainable development and economic growth, and preserving natural resources and ecosystems.

As per the 2050 strategy, the state seeks to expand its reliance on renewable energy sources, reduce fossil fuel emissions, and adopt sustainable consumption and production models to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from other non-energy-based activities.

The 2022 edition of the WEF is its first in-person annual meeting in more than two years, with leaders scheduled to tackle global issues, including the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian War, geo-economic shocks, and climate change.

The forum, which is running from 22 to 26 May, is being held under the theme of History at a Turning Point: Government Policies and Business Strategies. It is hosting 2,500 political, business, civil society, and media leaders.

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Egypts Foreign Minister and President-designate of the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) Sameh Shoukry has said that the conference this year will include a number of initiatives to push for the fulfilment of climate pledges.

Shoukry delivered a speech at the Road to COP27 session during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Monday, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Related Egypt launches National Strategy for Climate Change 2050 ahead of COP27

The session discussed partnerships between the private and public sectors in climate action in the Middle East and North Africa.

During his speech, Shoukry said a number of initiatives involving different parties will be launched at COP27, which is scheduled to be held in November in Sharm El-Sheikh city.

The top Egyptian diplomat presented Egypts vision regarding COP27, which he said is based on the necessity of pushing for the effective and rapid fulfilment of the climate pledges declared by various countries.

This should take place in a way that maintains the goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, he said, adding that international climate action should be based on the latest scientific facts and data without politicisation.

Shoukry also underscored the need for work between all parties concerned with climate action, including the private sector, which he said plays a vital role in this regard.

Shoukry expressed hope that the coming preparatory meetings ahead of COP27 focus on the issues of climate adaptation and mitigation and climate finance.

Egypt has repeatedly affirmed that it will work through COP27 to enhance international action to handle climate change at all levels, achieve the goals of the Paris agreement, support efforts to reduce emissions and provide funding for developing countries to deal with the phenomenon.

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African countries must prioritise working with multilateral institutions to address ongoing global crises, especially climate change, that disproportionately affect the continent, President of the Republic of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo said on Tuesday.

Addo made his statements during his speech at the opening ceremony of the African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meeting that is being held in Accra, the capital of Ghana, over five days.

Addo identified five priorities the continent needs to deal with amid severe ongoing global challenges, which include working towards a debt action plan, collaborating and working with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the G20 Common Framework, exploring options for the strategic use of the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to support Africa through the AfDB, working with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and other global institutions to promote the establishment of a food security facility, and promoting the African Financial Stability Mechanism for greater financial market stability for Africa.

Since February, prices of staple food commodities have surged drastically. Africa faces a fertiliser shortage of some two million metric tons in 2022, estimated at $2 billion, according to the IFAD, potentially creating a productivity deficit of 20 percent to 50 percent in agriculture. Rising food prices disproportionately affect African families, as food consumes some 40 percent of household income, compared to less than 20 percent in advanced economies, Addo explained.

Regarding the continents debt issue, Ghanas president said that Africas debt to GDP ratio rose an estimated 71.1 percent between 2019 and 2020, up from 60 percent prior to that, mainly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In these trying times, the IMFs $650 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDR), approved in August 2021, was meant to be of significant relief. However, based on the allocation principles, the African economies got $33 billion, which is about five percent. Moreover, the promise to reallocate some $100 billion of the SDR allocations to our economies, which was agreed to at the Paris Summit in 2019, has so far yielded about $36 billion in pledges as of April 2022. The strategic decision to make the AfDB the delivery vehicle for these SDRs must be pursued and achieved. Leveraging the SDRs (four times as AfDB does) will significantly boost resources for Africas transformation, according to Addo.

As the AfDBs 2022 meetings key theme is Achieving Climate Resilience and a Just Energy Transition for Africa, AfDB President Akinwumi A. Adesina noted that Africa is disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of climate change, including rising frequency and intensity of droughts, cyclones, floods and desertification.

Climate change is shortchanging African economies. Africa suffers $7 billion up to $15 billion in losses annually due to climate change, which are projected to rise to $40 billion per year by 2030, he explained.

It is worth noting that AfDB has recently doubled its financing for climate to $25 billion by 2025 that are being directed to the African countries, with the share of its climate finance dedicated to adaptation represents 67 percent, the highest among all multilateral development banks globally.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry stated that Cairo is always ready for dialogue on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue, describing the file as an existential issue and a matter of national security for Egypt and its people.

Shoukry made the statements to Sky News Arabia on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Tuesday.

[Previously exerted] efforts have not yielded a legally binding agreement regarding the GERDs filing and operation policies, nevertheless, Cairo is working hard to push forward matters in order to reach an agreement that [simultaneously] allows Ethiopia to develop and safeguards Egypts rights, the minister said.

Egypt and Sudan have been negotiating with Ethiopia for almost a decade now to reach a legally binding and comprehensive agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD, which Addis Ababa started building on the Blue Nile in 2010.

Cairo and Khartoum have blamed the failure of the talks on Ethiopian intransigence and refusal to sign any legally binding deal.

The latest round of African Union (AU)-sponsored talks between the three countries over the GERD in Kinshasa, DRC collapsed in April 2021, and all attempts to revive the negotiations since have failed.

Egypts top diplomat also told Sky News Arabia that Cairo closely follows up on the issue with international partners, but there have been no positive results so far.

Egypt is always prepared for dialogue and is ready to resume negotiations to settle this issue, Shoukry stressed.

Deadlock lingers

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly affirmed earlier in 2022 that Cairo is interested in resuming negotiations with Sudan and Ethiopia and resolving technical and legal points of contention to reach a balanced deal.

Egypt  which relies mainly on the Nile for its water needs  fears that the unilateral operation of the GERD and the filling of its 74-billion-cubic-metre reservoir will negatively impact its water supply, while Sudan is concerned the GERD will harm the regulation of flows to its own dams and their safety.

On the other hand, Ethiopia says the project  which will generate 5,250 megawatts of electricity when completed  is essential for producing electricity and economic development, repeatedly downplaying the concerns of Cairo and Khartoum.

Egypt has repeatedly stated that it has no objections to Ethiopia using the dam to generate the electricity it needs for its development plans.

However, Cairo said it opposes any action that compromises its already inadequate share of Nile water or changes its patterns.

Previously, Madbouly stressed that developments in Nile Basin countries were a priority for Egypt, stressing that Cairo has provided aid and expertise to help promote development and secure stability for its neighbours.

In February, Ethiopia, which had unilaterally completed the first and second filling of the dam, announced that the first turbine of the GERD has begun generating power.

The Ethiopian News Agency said at the time that the first turbine is generating 375 megawatts, with the second turbine set to operate soon.

In response, Egypt said the unilateral decision to start power generation from the GERD is another violation of the Declaration of Principles (DoP) signed between Addis Ababa, Cairo, and Khartoum in 2015.

Libyan development

Concerning the developments in Libya, Shoukry told Sky News Arabia that Egypt was exerting huge efforts to ensure the success of the Libyan reconciliation process.

We are providing all means of supports to our Libyan brothers in order to bring the views of the different powers and parties there closer to ensure the formation of an elected government, president, and legislative council that represent the wellbeing of the Libyan people and meet their hopes as well as protect the country from foreign intervention, Shoukry told the Emirati-based news channel.

In a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 17 May, Egypt urged all Libyan parties to exercise restraint and refrain from taking any steps that can fuel violence after clashes erupted earlier in the day between rival powers in the Libyan capital.

Cairo contacted Libyan and international parties to prevent possible military escalation in Tripoli and urge Libyan parties to avoid armed clashes, sources told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news website, noting that parliament-appointed Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha pledged to Cairo that his side would exercise restraint and avoid escalation.

COP27

When asked about the 27th edition of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) that will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh this November, Shoukry  who is also the president-designate of the COP27  said that the conference will focus on fulfilling international commitments that were made in previous editions of the conference.

He also said that the COP27 will focus on fostering cooperation between the public and private sectors to provide the needed sources to achieve food security and to face climate change.

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In an exclusive interview with Sarah Ibrahim  associate director for Global Generic Drug Affairs at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the first Egyptian-American in such a leading position  Ahram Online discussed Ibrahims journey from Cairo University to her current position.

Ibrahim also elaborated on her efforts to harmonise generic drugs regulations in order to ensure the provision of high standard and affordable drugs  a matter that saves billions of dollars annually and is crucially important to the US and low- and middle-income patients around the world.

Ahram Online (AO): Would you tell us about your career path from Egypt to your current position at the FDA?

Sarah Ibrahim (SI): I was born and raised in Egypt. I studied at Cairo Universitys Faculty of Pharmacy, where I graduated the top of my class and then served as a faculty member for two years, in which I truly enjoyed interacting with my students, who continued to inspire me with their endless motivation.

I then pursued a PhD scholarship at University of Cincinnatis School of Pharmacy in the US, from which I graduated in record time. After concluding my PhD, I was hesitant between going back home or staying and acquiring experience in the American pharmaceutical industry.

I settled on joining the industry as a formulation development scientist and dedicated my focus at the time to transdermal (application of a drug through the skin) and ophthalmic drug delivery.

It was a very unique field that not a lot of people were specialised in that, one that I chose to pursue due to my passion for learning new subjects. After working in the pharmaceutical industry for numerous years, I then decided to return to academia as an assistant professor at an academic institution in the state of New Jersey.

That is when I received an offer from the FDA related to my research experience in transdermal studies. As you are well aware, the FDA is the federal entity within the health and human services department that researches the effects of drugs and issues regulatory control on their production and distribution.

I joined the FDAs Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research seven years ago as a pharmacologist in the Pharmaceutical Quality Department, where I reviewed hundreds of new drug applications awaiting approval for clinical trials. I was then later promoted to my current position.

AO: What are your main responsibilities as associate director for Global Generic Drug Affairs?

SI: First of all, let me tell you about generic drugs, which are copies of the drugs of more well-known brands. Typically, generic drug developers do not repeat the clinical trials and safety and effectiveness studies that were conducted before by the companies whose drugs they are trying to replicate. This allows these generic drug companies to bring affordable products to the market.

Globally, generic drugs play an integral role in helping address rising healthcare costs and promoting access to medication. With that in mind, regulatory requirements and scientific approaches vary drastically from one country to the other for approving generic drugs.

My job is to ensure through rigorous scientific and regulatory processes that Americans get access to safe, effective, and high-quality drugs. Additionally, we lead the global efforts and develop strategies to manage identified risks and harmonise regulatory approaches of generic drugs.

For example, we have a parallel scientific advance programme that we launched with the European Medicine Agency (EMA). Under this programme, a drug manufacturer can submit an abbreviated new medicine or generic drug application to the FDA as well as a marketing authorisation application for a hybrid product based on the definition of the EMA.

Pharmaceutical companies, through this programme, can meet in real time and receive concurrent scientific advice from the EMA and the FDA. That successful collaboration may provide companies and drug developers with a deeper understanding of the basis of regulatory decisions for both agencies. It also avoids any unnecessary replication of studies.

AO: How are generic drugs represented in the US market?

SI: In the US, drug pricing is not regulated. Healthcare spending on prescription drugs in the US is among the highest in the world. That may explain why 90 percent of prescriptions dispensed in the US are generic drugs.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, these drugs have saved consumers an estimate of $8-10 billion annually, and billions more are saved when hospitals use these medicines.

In 2017, the FDA announced a Drug Competition Action Plan that further encourages robust and timely market competition for generic drugs and helps bring greater efficiency and transparency in the reviewed process without sacrificing the scientific rigour underlining the production process.

Additionally, the FDA is helping to remove barriers to the development and market entry of generic drugs so that consumers get the medication they need at affordable prices.

To obtain FDA approval for a generic drug, companies need to show that their product is the same as the on-brand drug so that healthcare professionals and consumers can rest assured that an FDA approved generic drug is as safe and effective as its on-brand counterpart.

AO: What is the impact of generic drugs on developing countries?

SI: Though the price gap between a brand and a generic drug tends to be narrower in developing countries, generic drugs allow wider accessibility to patients due to the lower cost.

This is an important factor, especially with the global drug shortage. In low-middle income countries, drug expenditures account for about 20 to 60 percent of total healthcare spending. It also creates competition in the market that leads to affordable treatments for more patients.

AO: Would you tell us about the FDAs current efforts regarding new and generic drugs treating COVID-19?

SI: The FDA is committed to providing the timely recommendations, regulatory information, guidance, and technical assistance necessary to support rapid coronavirus disease response efforts.

We are continually working to promote drug innovation and improvement; strengthen quality assurance, safety, and supply of drugs; and enable more efficient use of industry and regulatory resources.

AO: What are possible areas of collaboration with the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA)?

SI: The FDA continues to explore what regulatory, scientific, as well as technical measures we can take to further harmonise generic drug standards globally.

We have engaged with international organisations and world leading regulatory authorities. We also work with the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH), which is the global venue for harmonisation of standards for pharmaceutical drugs.

Historically, the ICH focused on developing international standards for new drugs. In 2018, at the FDAs urging, the ICH adopted a proposal for developing scientific and technical standards for generic drugs and called for a working group on the matter.

The ICH then called for a guideline on standards for demonstrating bioequivalence for immediate release of oral dosage forms of drugs. With variations in the regulatory approaches around the globe, harmonisation can be achieved through the greater understanding of counterpart approaches.

In 2021, the FDA launched an initiative of the generic drug cluster for the leading regulatory agencies to achieve a common understanding of each agency regulatory requirement regarding generic drug development. These regulatory agencies identified a common need and a common goal in the presence of confidentiality and commitment to allow the exchange of information to occur.

Returning back to your question, Egypt is an observer but not a member of the ICH. It is important to revert that question back to the Egyptian authorities to see what they can contribute to the FDAs regulatory efforts.

AO: How were you able to switch careers from a scientist to a regulatory policymaker?

SI: Every step you take requires learning. Growing from one position to another necessitates gaining certain skill sets. I do see a lot of scientists who are more comfortable being in the lab and publishing research. Thats a preference; it requires a moment of reflection with oneself to define your strength and capabilities and how far you are comfortable in dealing with new challenges.

It also requires appropriate leadership that is able to see these skills sets in you and set you on a path where you can utilise your potential. I should acknowledge that the FDA has fully invested in me to be effective in the role that I currently represent.

AO: What advice would you give to the young girls in Egypt who would like to pursue a career in science?

SI: When I was a student of pharmacy in Egypt, I thought that I would be truly lucky if I ever got to walk the hallways of the FDA. I couldnt have dreamed what I have reached now.

I would advise future scientists to dream as far as their heart can muster and they will surely succeed.

Every success story that you hear about is not unattainable by others. You are capable of achieving even more. You can be successful in any country you choose to live in; you just have to utilise the resources you have, continue working hard, have faith in your abilities, and never give up.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that the West remained divided over the extent of its support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia's months-long invasion.

"Unity is about weapons. My question is, is there this unity in practice? I can't see it. Our huge advantage over Russia would be when we are truly united," Zelensky said during a panel discussion on Ukraine at the World Economic Forum.

Washington and European countries have poured billions of dollars' worth of arms into Ukraine to help the country's outgunned forces beat back the better-armed Russian invaders.

Kyiv has called for greater support, membership to the US-led NATO military alliance, and for a no-fly zone to be imposed over the country.

Zelensky said Ukraine was grateful for support from US President Joe Biden but said resolve was lagging closer to home.

"We are on the European continent and we need the support of a united Europe," he added.

Zelensky specifically named neighbouring Hungary, which has voiced opposition to a European Union-wide embargo on Russian oil, another key Ukrainian demand.

"Hungary is not as united as rest of EU," Zelensky said.

He also pointed to a lack of consensus over Sweden and Finland's historic bid to join NATO, which has been called into question by Turkey.

"Is there this unity regarding the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO? No, no. So, is there a strong joint West? No," the Ukrainian leader said.

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A Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in clashes that erupted during a "Jewish pilgrimage" to the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry identified the youngster as Ghaith Yamin, 16, who died of a head wound "after being shot by Israeli forces" during clashes near Joseph's Tomb, outside the northern city of Nablus.

The Israeli occupation army, which provides security for monthly pilgrimages to the site, said: "Hundreds of Palestinians took part in a violent riot as Jewish worshippers entered Joseph's Tomb, throwing stones and firebombs at the forces.

"Soldiers responded with fire at a suspect throwing a firebomb. A hit was identified," it said in a statement. "In addition, gunshots were heard in the area."

The Islamic Jihad militant group issued a statement praising the "ambush" its fighters prepared for Israeli forces securing the pilgrimage, saying there was an exchange of fire between the two sides.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its medics treated four people wounded by rubber bullets and 36 who inhaled tear gas, as well as one person who fell during the clashes.

Tensions have been high in the occupied West Bank for the past three months amid a wave of attacks on Israelis that led to arrests and clashes.

Nineteen people -- including 18 inside Israel and a Israeli West Bank settler -- have been killed.

Israeli security forces have responded with raids inside Israel and the West Bank, particularly in the flashpoint northern district of Jenin.

Three Israeli Arab attackers and a police commando have died.

Thirty-four Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank -- suspected militants but also non-combatants, including a journalist who was covering a raid in Jenin and bystanders.

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We offer pellets for export to the European Union.

Not very light colour, A1, ash content is up to 0.7%.

Price including shipping to Warsaw:

big-bags - 130 euros

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The 13-year-old Egyptian-Hungarian violinist Mariam Abouzahra won the 'Golden Note, in a classical music competition organised by the Austrian TV ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation).

The news about Mariam's win was shared by her father on his Facebook page.

Mariam's win comes only a few months after she garnered the silver award at the Nutcracker International Television Contest for Young Musicians.

The Golden Note is a classical music show aired by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF), which is Austria's largest media provider, operating four national television and twelve radio channels.

Competing against dozens of other young performers, the teenage musical prodigy reached the finals together with other eight performers between the age of 10 and 16.

This year, the competition welcomed young talents to perform on string instruments, piano, as well as wind instruments.

In the finals, Abouzahra performed 'Sabre Dance' from is Aram Khachaturian's ballet Gayane.

A classical music stable, the Sabre Dance is a very challenging work for a musician, demanding high skills and testing the performers capabilities.

The competition's jury included renowned names in the classical music scene, such as baritone Clemens Unterreiner; violinist Lidia Baich; and Rebecca Horner, the principal dancer of the Vienna State Ballet Company.

The final competition and special gala aired on the television channel ORF 2 on 21 May.

Born to a Hungarian mother, Nora Emody, and an Egyptian father, Ahmed Abouzahra, both pianists, the young musician is also the granddaughter of famous Egyptian actor Abdel-Rahman Abouzahra.

Mariam Abouzahra started playing violin at the age of three, following the example of her elder sister Amira.

Both sisters have been performing extensively and winning in international contests, such as the German youth national competition, the Virtuozok Talent show in Hungary and many others.

In 2020, the sisters received the highest awards at one of the most prestigious competitions for young violinists- the International Arthur Grumiaux Competition in Belgium.

The Abouzahra sisters are also among the few young talents who are offered support by the Young Virtuosos Foundation.

Mariam is currently studying in the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under the guidance of violin professor Dora Schwarzberg.

In December 2021, she won the silver award at the Nutcracker International Television Contest for Young Musicians in Moscow, Russia.

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Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on Wednesday that Egypt will launch within days the official website of the 27th session of the Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will be hosted in the Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheikh in November.

In a weekly Cabinet meeting, Madbouly stated that climate change is one of the main issues in Egypt and worlds agenda.

The premier also stressed that Egypt will not spare any effort during its presidency of the COP27 in moving forward from the pledges phase to the real implementation phase in order to come up with practical and realistic measures to face global phenomenon.

On Thursday, Egypt launched its 2050 National Strategy for Climate Change five months ahead of the COP27. The strategy aims to effectively address the repercussions of climate change in a way that contributes to improving the quality of life for Egyptians, achieving sustainable development and sustainable economic growth, and preserving natural resources and ecosystems.

The strategy also aims to enhance Egypts climate change leadership internationally.

Earlier in May, Egypt revealed the COP27s official logo, which represents the cultural identity of Egypt and Africa.

The logo highlights Egypts unique cultural identity along with the African influences on ancient Egyptian civilisation, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 11 May, with its design displaying an African sun embracing the sun of the ancient Egyptian deity Aten as it rises over a new horizon.

The sun  a source of life and a sign of hope  is a deeply rooted symbol in African civilisation, the foreign ministry said, adding that the rising and setting sun refers to the cycle of life and renewed hope for a better world, as its rays provide the energy needed for the continuation of life.

The sun of Aten, with its rays ending in hands, refers to the generosity of nature as it provides the means for life, welfare, and prosperity, the statement continued, adding that in the middle of the logo, there is a new horizon that represents hope for a better future.

Coinciding with its preparations to host the COP27, Sharm El-Sheikh  which will be completely free of single-use plastic bags as of this June  is witnessing the implementation of other measures and various environmentally-friendly projects in the fields of electric transportation, waste management, use of renewable energy, and green tourism in hotels and diving centres.

On Tuesday, the governorate of South Sinai announced that 27 national projects will be finalised in Sharm El-Sheikh ahead of the COP27, including the construction of a flyover on the Middle Road (King Salman Road), as well as five axes linking El-Salam Road, the Middle Road, and the Ring Road.

The projects also include the construction of an environmentally friendly local unit building, the Central Park, a commercial mall, a banks complex in El-Nour district, three solar power plants, two garages for electric-powered public transport buses, and electric vehicle fast charging stations.

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Turkeys foreign minister said Wednesday that normalizing ties with Israel will help efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke in Jerusalem as part of the first visit by a senior Turkish official to Israel in 15 years. The trip comes as Israel and Turkey have worked to reset their relations after years of strained ties.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart, Cavusoglu said that working on a positive agenda can also help us to address our disagreements in a more constructive manner. Communications between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Israeli counterpart helped calm tensions between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem during Ramadan, he added.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that the two countries have always known how to return to dialogue and cooperation.

Nations with long histories always know how to close one chapter and open a new one. That is what we are doing here today, he said.

Cavusoglus visit to Jerusalem followed a series of high level meetings with Palestinian officials in Ramallah, where he stated Turkeys commitment to the Palestinians and their independence.

The Turkish foreign minister said that he discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with both parties, and we believe that the two-state solution with UN parameters is only the solution for a durable peace.

We believe that normalization of our ties will also have a positive impact on peaceful resolution of the conflict, he said.

Earlier on Wednesday Cavusoglu visited Yad Vashem, Israels Holocaust memorial, and was to pay a private visit to Jerusalems Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Turkey and Israel were close allies, but relations grew tense under Erdogan, who is a vocal critic of Israels policies toward the Palestinians.

The countries withdrew their ambassadors in 2010 after Israeli forces stormed a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians that broke an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.

The incident resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists.

Turkey recalled its ambassador in 2018 after the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem, prompting Israel to respond in kind. The two countries have not reappointed their ambassadors.

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On the occasion of Africa Day 2022, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday that Egypt will continue to endeavour side by side with its sister African countries to achieve sustainable development.

Africa Day marks the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on 25 May 1963, with Egypt a founding member. The OAU later evolved on 9 July 2002 into the African Union (AU), which is made up of 55 member states that represent all the countries on the continent.

I congratulate all the brotherly African peoples on the occasion of Africa Day, El-Sisi wrote on his official Facebook account.

The Egyptian president described the occasion as a great historical moment that established a new era in strengthening unity and cooperation between the countries of our continent."

"Egypt will continue working side by side with its sister African countries to achieve sustainable development and boost joint efforts to find solutions to problems and conflicts that the continent has suffered from for decades and have prevented the realisation of the dreams of its people," El-Sisi said.

Today we are taking firm steps towards creating a stable continent that guarantees a decent life for its people and instills a culture of civility, tolerance, and love for the whole world, El-Sisi said.

In closing, the Egyptian president wished the peoples of Africa "progress, stability, and prosperity on this day.

Egypt invests in cooperation with Africa

In recent years, the Egyptian government has placed a priority on cooperation with its African sisters on the political, economic and social levels.

In November 2021, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) stated that the total value of Egyptian exports to the AU hit $3.9 billion during the first nine months of 2021, compared to only $2.8 billion during the same period last year.

CAPMAS further noted that Egypts exports to AU countries in general witnessed a 37.8 percentage hike during the same period.

In the same month, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that Egypt is aiming to boost trade exchange with African countries, stressing that regional cooperation between trade blocs is a crucial mechanism for achieving development.

Egypt is a signatory to several trade agreements among African countries, including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)  an agreement that was adopted and opened for signature in March 2018 in Kigali before going into force in January 2021 after months of delays owing to the pandemic.

The AfCFTA aims to accelerating intra-African trade and boost Africas trading position in the global market by strengthening its common voice and policy space in global trade negotiations.

Furthermore, the AfCFTA will be the largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), given Africas current population of 1.2 billion people, which is expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2050.

Meanwhile, Egypt has vowed to speak for African concerns at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27), which will be held in Sharm El-sheikh in November.

Moreover, Egypt has recently invested in a number of healthcare and development projects in a number of African nations.

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Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb said on Wednesday that terrorism is a political phenomenon created by some Western political regimes and then attached to Judaism, Christianity and Islam for political gains and agendas.

El-Tayyeb made the comments in a meeting with the representatives of 11 countries and a delegation from the Royal College of Defense Studies in the United Kingdom, where they discussed counterterrorism and radicalism.

El-Tayyeb said that Al-Azhar  which is the worlds most prominent institution of Sunni Islamic learning  has included in its universitys syllabuses subjects like counterterrorism and counter radicalism.

The grand imam also said that Al-Azhar established the Egyptian Family House along with the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church in 2011 to promote good relations between Muslims and Christians in Egypt.

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The ministers have agreed to hold the joint committee between Egypt and South Africa once every two years alternately in the two countries, as well as mid-term reviews at the level of senior officials.

The eighth joint committee between Egypt and South Africa was held in March 2010 in Pretoria, while the first round of the committee was held in April 1996 in Cairo.

During Wednesdays meeting of the committee, the delegations of the two countries, headed by Shoukry and Pandor, launched a comprehensive dialogue to exchange visions on a wide range of topics of bilateral relations.

The delegations also discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern, the statement said.

Business council, economic ties

During the meeting, Shoukry and Pandor said their governments are determined to establish an Egyptian-South African business council and remove nontariff barriers undermining trade between the two countries.

The council will aim at encouraging the business communities in the two countries to make use of the multiple opportunities for trade and investment in each country, the ministers noted.

They also urged activating cooperation between the authorities concerned with investments and commerce chambers in Egypt and South Africa to encourage and facilitate the participation of the private sector in the two countries economies.

The ministers discussed practical approaches to boosting the volume of intra-regional trade and the flow of investments between the two countries, the statement said, adding that the current volume of trade and investment between the two countries do not reflect the level of huge capabilities they possess in this regard.

The ministers agreed on taking further steps to achieve economic integration in the continent, including through boosting cooperation among existing sub-regional economic groupings.

This is in addition to activating the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement between the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and therefore activating African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Bilateral relations

The ministers also agreed on expanding cooperation in various other fields, including defence, security, law enforcement, energy, mining, petrochemicals, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, communications and information technology, science and research, and agriculture.

Expanding cooperation in these fields should be achieved by exchanging expertise and bilateral visits between Egypt and South Africa and building capacities, the ministers noted.

Pandor invited Shoukry to visit South Africa for the tenth round of the joint committee between the two countries in Pretoria in 2024, the statement said, adding that the Egyptian minister accepted the invitation.

During the committee meeting, the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Egyptian Space Agency (EGSA) and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) on cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

The two ministers referenced Cairo-Cape Town Road project, launched under the leadership of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and backed by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, as a link between the two countries, as well as countries in the north, east and south of the African continent.

In the face of the global coronavirus pandemic implications, the ministers agreed on establishing cooperation between Egypt and South Africa regarding COVID-19 vaccine production for local and continental uses.

This comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) selected Egypt and South Africa among six countries to receive the tools needed to locally produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines in Africa.

Shoukry and Pandor urged international organisations and financial institutions to strengthen efforts to support the health sector in African countries as well as international mechanisms concerned with the equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines.

The ministers called on countries worldwide to purchase vaccines manufactured in Africa to ensure the preservation of manufacturing capabilities in the continent.

Africas voice at COP27

Pandor congratulated Shoukry on Egypt being chosen to host the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) from 7-18 November in Sharm El-Sheikh city.

The two ministers affirmed the need to work together to ensure that the voice of Africa is heard in a suitable manner during COP27.

They agreed on cooperating to make sure that urgent and tangible measures are taken to face climate change globally in a way that achieves the interests of the peoples of the continent and the world.

Regional, intl issues

Discussing the challenges facing Africa currently and the political situation across the continent, the ministers stressed commitment to continued joint work to enhance continental security and peace.

This includes implementing the African Unions Silencing the Guns Initiative, achieving objectives of the AU Agenda 2063, countering terrorism, extremism, irregular migration, human trafficking, money laundering and drug trafficking.

The ministers discussed current crises taking place around the world and their implications on international security and peace, stressing the importance of dialogue and political negotiations and solutions to these crises.

Shoukry and Pandor affirmed their countries support for endeavours that seek a quick political settlement for the international crises.

In this regard, the ministers underscored the need for providing support to the multilateral system.

They noted that the global governance institutions, including the United Nations and the UN Security Council, should be more inclusive, representative, and democratic to allow and facilitate greater participation by developing countries in global decision-making.

They also stressed the importance of the role of the Non-Aligned Movement in ensuring that the views of its member states are taken into consideration.
South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor has said that Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia have to act in accordance with binding agreements regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute.

This would help the discussions between the three countries not end up in chaos, Pandor told a press conference on Wednesday alongside Egypts Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry in Cairo.

South Africa supports the continuation of the discussions under the AU to settle the GERD dispute, she added.

For his part, Shoukry reiterated Egypts call for reaching a legally-binding agreement that regulates the filling and operation of the mega dam in accordance with international law and through negotiations that fairly take into consideration the interests of the three countries.

The binding agreement should fulfil the aspirations of Ethiopia in development and prosperity and secure a decent life for the Ethiopian people, the top Egyptian diplomat said.

The deal should also protect the Egyptian and Sudanese water security, especially in light of Egypts full dependence on the Nile for its water resources, Shoukry added.

We want to be supportive of our brothers in Africa and we see promising opportunities for bilateral, tripartite and collective cooperation between us and our brothers in Ethiopia to achieve mutual benefit, security and stability, the Egyptian FM stated.

Egypt will continue through peaceful means and negotiations to reach an agreement that secures the interests of all parties equally, he added.

Pandor made an official visit to the Egyptian capital today, during which she and Shoukry chaired the ninth round of the joint committee between Egypt and South Africa and held a comprehensive dialogue on enhancing bilateral and continental cooperation.

Egypt and Sudan have been negotiating with Ethiopia for almost a decade now to reach a legally binding and comprehensive agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD, which Addis Ababa started building on the Blue Nile in 2010.

Cairo and Khartoum have blamed the failure of the talks on Ethiopian intransigence and refusal to sign any legally binding deal.

The latest round of African Union-sponsored talks between the three countries over the GERD in Kinshasa, DRC collapsed in April 2021, and all attempts to revive the negotiations have since failed.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly affirmed earlier in 2022 that Cairo is interested in resuming negotiations with Sudan and Ethiopia and resolving technical and legal points of contention to reach a balanced deal.

Egypt  which relies mainly on the Nile for its water needs  fears that the unilateral operation of the GERD and the filling of its 74-billion-cubic-metre reservoir will negatively impact its water supply, while Sudan is concerned the GERD will harm the regulation of flows to its own dams and compromise their safety.

On the other hand, Ethiopia says the project  which will generate 5,250 megawatts of electricity when completed  is essential for producing electricity and economic development, and has repeatedly dismissed the concerns of Cairo and Khartoum.

Egypt has stated that it has no objections to Ethiopia using the dam to generate the electricity it needs for its development plans, but it opposes any action that compromises its already inadequate supply of Nile water or changes its patterns.

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Five Turkish soldiers serving in northern Iraq as part of operations against Kurdish militants were killed Tuesday, the defence ministry said on Wednesday, updating an earlier toll.

Another two soldiers were wounded during fighting, said the ministry statement, which did not say where the clash took place.

An earlier toll provided by the military had three soldiers killed and four wounded.

Turkey's official news agency Anadolu said the Turkish soldiers had clashed with fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara and its western allies say is a terrorist organisation.

The PKK has training camps and bases in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan and has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, a conflict that has killed 40,000 people, many of them civilians.

Ankara has launched a series of operations against PKK fighters in Iraq and Syria, the latest one in northern Iraq beginning in April.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey would soon launch a new military operation into northern Syria which he said was designed to create a 30-kilometre (19-mile) "security zone" along their border.

Since 2016, Turkey has also launched three offensives into northern Syria against the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian-Kurdish group it considers to be part of the PKK.

Turkey wants to use these security zones to keep Kurdish militants at a safe distance -- and to house some of the 3.7 million Syrian refugees currently sheltering inside its own borders.

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In response to President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisis call for a national dialogue on Egypts political and economic priorities in the coming stage, the Wafd, Egypts longest-serving party, held a series of meetings last week to prepare for the discussions. The Wafds newly-elected chairman, Abdel-Sanad Yamama, described the national dialogue as a golden opportunity for political parties to present their visions on Egypts future and that a committee had been formed to prepare the Wafds agenda. Yasser Qoura, deputy chairman of the Wafd Party and head of the committee, talks to the Weekly about the partys preparations for the national dialogue

How do you see President Al-Sisis call for national dialogue?

This call was greatly welcomed by the Wafd Party. We, in the Wafd Party, believe that this call is a serious one and comes in time to put an end to political sclerosis in Egypt. We know that when President Al-Sisi came to office in June 2014 he drafted a number of priorities for the country, on top of which were fighting terrorism, restoring the countrys internal stability, and standing up to economic crises. This led political reform to take a back seat. But as the country regained stability and as the country is about to face a new wave of challenges, it is important that a national dialogue be held to find common ground among all political forces on the countrys priorities in the coming stage and introduce a number of political reforms.

What about political reform?

This is a very important issue for the Wafd Party. Being one of the oldest political parties in the world and with a history of more than 100 years, the Wafd has always been considered the voice of liberal democracy. We in the Wafd believe that Egypt is currently suffering from a state of political stagnation and we hope that the proposed national dialogue will be able to get it out of this condition.

How do you describe the Wafds internal situation?

During some point, the Wafd was roiled with internal rivalries and conflicts, but after the democratic election of Abdel-Sanad Yamama last year as a new chairman of party, the Wafd restored stability and its members now agree that it should regain its pioneering role in defending liberal democracy, freedoms, respect of human rights and free and fair elections.

What political reforms are expected to be adopted by the Wafd during the national dialogue?

The Wafd Party decided to form a committee to be tasked with preparing its vision on political reform. I was appointed head of the committee which will include a number of the partys senior officials and with the cooperation of the Wafd Partys Institute for Political Studies. The committee shall prepare a paper to be presented to the national dialogue on The Wafds vision for political reform. But all in all we think that a number of essential political reform steps should be taken to reinvigorate political life. These should include amending the constitution, changing the political parties law, and forming a presidential council for Egyptian political parties to coordinate positions and policies and solve internal disputes peacefully. We believe that the existence of a large number of political parties is not good. Most of these are not effective and without a clear ideology. We ask that political parties with liberal platforms be merged into one political party, and those with leftist ideologies be also unified into one political party. We want two strong political parties competing for power just like the Labour and Conservative Party in the United Kingdom and the Democrats and Republicans in the United States.

What amendments does the Wafd want to be introduced to the political parties law?

We want this law to be amended to help political parties have adequate sources of funding. The current law stipulates that political parties get funding from only two sources: membership fees and donations. These are by no means enough and lets recall that before the 2011 revolution the state was providing LE500,000 in annual financial assistance to each political party. But this came at the expense of the principle of independence of political parties. So the law should be amended to help political parties double their sources of income in order to be able to get to the people on the street in the form of organising political rallies, opening television channels and issuing newspapers. Political parties should be allowed to implement income-generating investment activities. On the other hand, the law should also be amended to allow political parties with similar platforms to merge with each other into a bigger entity. A presidential council should be formed to coordinate positions among political parties, intervene to solve internal disputes and negotiate with the government.

Are you still in favour of the state donating money to political parties?

No. We are completely against this. We believe that political parties should depend on their own sources of funding and have their own mouthpiece papers that should spread their platforms and fight their battles.

What about businessmen? Do you agree that businessmen should set up political parties and join parliament?

Our experience in Egypt shows that mixing politics with business is harmful to political life because businessmen usually use their money to buy votes and seats in the parliament. They aim to join parliament not to defend the peoples rights, but to get parliamentary immunity.

Some believe that the call for political dialogue came under pressure from the US and the West and because of the economic pressures caused by the Ukraine-Russia war...

Yes. I think that the US is exerting a lot of pressure in the area of democratisation, free speech and respect of human rights. But I do not think that President Al-Sisis call for national dialogue came from being under pressure. It came because of the economic pressures caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. I think that President Al-Sisi came to the conclusion that Egypt has defeated terrorism and regained stability and that it is high time to walk the road of political reform and democratisation. The president wants to listen to all views across the political spectrum and he wants to see how the principle of political pluralism and the multi-party system can be implemented.

Do you agree that the Muslim Brotherhood should be excluded from the proposed national dialogue?

It is completely impossible that a group having blood on its hands be allowed to participate in the dialogue. The dialogue should be open to all civilian forces which teamed up during the anti-Muslim Brotherhood 30 June Revolution. These are civilian forces which stood shoulder to shoulder against [the country] turning into a religious state.

Some believe that the national dialogue should be organised by the Senate rather than the National Academy for Training (NAT) which they say is a bureaucratic institution affiliated with the presidency. What is the Wafds take on this?

I think the president chose the National Academy for Training because it is responsible for organising global youth forums and so it has good experience in this field. Not to mention that by organising this conference the academy will open the door for young people to gain experience and prepare them as future leaders.

Do you think that the Wafd Party could be a majority party in the near future?

Right now we are rebuilding the party. The Wafds Higher Council will be elected next October to take charge of reforming the party and preparing it for parliamentary elections scheduled in 2025. Right now the Wafd has just 36 MPs in the House and the Senate. We want this number to be no less than 90 in the coming parliament and to be the majority party in the 2030 parliament.

What message does the Wafd Party want to convey to Egyptians through the proposed national dialogue?

Our message is that we are currently passing through very tough economic times due to the war in Ukraine and this requires us all to be patient and join hands with the state because we are all in an extreme state of danger.

Do you agree that the scope of the national dialogue be widened to include economic issues?

Economic issues should take priority. We want a new government that can tackle economic global challenges efficiently and professionally.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 26 May, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Moscow said Wednesday it would be "premature" to consider a prisoner swap with Kyiv before Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered to Russian troops stand trial.

Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Moscow would consider a prisoner swap with Kyiv after the surrendered Ukrainian fighters "are appropriately convicted, sentenced".

"Before that, all talk of an exchange is premature," Rudenko told reporters as quoted by Russian news agencies.

Last week, hundreds of Ukrainian defenders of the strategic port city of Mariupol in the country's southeast surrendered after holding out at the city's Azovstal steelworks for weeks.

Among the Ukrainian fighters who gave themselves up were members of the Azov regiment, a former paramilitary unit which has integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces.

Russia describes the unit, which has had previous links to far-right groups, as a neo-Nazi organisation.

On Monday, a Kyiv court found Russian serviceman Vadim Shishimarin guilty of war crimes for killing an unarmed civilian and sentenced him to life in prison.

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President Vladimir Putin issued an order Wednesday to fast track Russian citizenship for residents in parts of southern Ukraine largely held by his forces, while lawmakers in Moscow passed a bill to strengthen the stretched Russian army.

Putins decree applying to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions could allow Russia to strengthen its hold on territory that lies between eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists occupy some areas, and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

The Russian army is engaged in an intense battle for Ukraines eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas.

In a sign that the Kremlin is trying to bolster its stretched military machine, Russian lawmakers agreed to scrap the age limit of 40 for individuals signing their first voluntary military contracts.

A description of the bill on the parliament website indicated older recruits would be allowed to operate precision weapons or serve in engineering or medical roles.

The chair of the Russian parliaments defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said the measure would make it easier to hire people with in-demand skills.

Russian authorities have said that only volunteer contract soldiers are sent to fight in Ukraine, although they have acknowledged that some conscripts were drawn into the fighting by mistake in the early stages of the war.

Three months into Russias invasion of the neighboring country, Putin visited a military hospital in Moscow on Wednesday and met with some soldiers wounded in Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.

The event was the Russian leaders first publicly known visit with soldiers fighting in Ukraine since he launched the war on Feb. 24.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited wounded soldiers, civilians and children, including at times when Russian troops were fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv.

A reporter for the state-run Russia1 TV channel posted a video clip on Telegram showing Putin in a white medical coat talking to a man in hospital attire, presumably a soldier.

The man, filmed from behind standing up and with no visible wounds, tells Putin that he has a son. The president, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, responds: He will be proud of his father, before shaking the mans hand.

Zelenskyy reiterated Wednesday that he would be willing to negotiate with Putin directly but said Moscow needs to retreat to the positions it held before the invasion and must show its ready to shift from the bloody war to diplomacy.

I believe it would be a correct step for Russia to make, Zelenskyy told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video link.

He also said that Ukraine wants to drive Russian troops out of all captured areas. Ukraine will fight until it reclaims all its territories, Zelenskyy said. Its about our independence and our sovereignty.

Russia already had a program to expedite the naturalization of people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two eastern Ukraine provinces that make up the Donbas and where the Moscow-backed separatists hold large areas as self-declared independent republics.

During a visit to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin indicated they could become part of our Russian family.

A Russia-installed official in the Kherson region has predicted the region would become part of Russia. An official in Zaporizhzhia said Wednesday that the regions pro-Kremlin administration would seek that as well.

Melitopol, Zaporizhzhias second-largest city, plans to start issuing Russian passports in the near future, said the Russian-installed acting mayor, Galina Danilchenko.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine was not ready to cede control of areas occupied by Russian forces for the sake of reaching a peace agreement, saying some Western lobbyists are pushing Kyiv to so.

Ukrainian society has paid a terrible price and will not allow anyone to take even a step in this direction -- not a single government, not a single country, Podolyak said on Telegram. He said instead ceding territory would only freeze the conflict, not resolve it.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who attended the Davos forum in person, called for friendly countries, particularly the United States, to provide the Ukrainian military with multiple launch rocket systems so they could try to recapture territory taken by the Russians.

Every day of someone sitting in Washington, Berlin, Paris and other capitals, and considering whether they should or should not do something, costs us lives and territories, Kuleba said.

On Wednesday Russian rockets pounded towns far from the front line in the Donbas. The governor of Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, accused Russia of targeting shelters where civilians were hiding in the city of Sievierodonetsk.

The situation is serious, Haidai said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press. The city is constantly being shelled with every possible weapon in the enemys possession.

Sievierodonetsk and the nearby city of Lysychansk are the largest remaining settlements held by Ukraine in Luhansk. The region is more than 90% controlled by Russia, Haidai said, adding that a key supply route was coming under pressure despite stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Haidai said the road between Lysychansk and the city of Bakhmut to the southwest is considered crucial to keeping Ukrainian troops in the area supplied. Haidai said it was constantly being shelled and that Russian sabotage and reconnaissance teams were approaching the area.

The regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said four civilians were injured when two rockets hit the town of Pokrovsk early Wednesday.

One strike left a crater at least three meters (10 feet) deep, with the remnants of what appeared to be a rocket still smoldering. A row of low terraced houses near the strike suffered significant damage.

Theres no place to live in left. Everything is smashed, Viktoria Kurbonova, a mother of two who lived in one of the terraced houses, said.

An earlier strike about a month ago blew out the windows, which were replaced with plastic sheeting. Kurbonova thinks that probably saved their lives since there was no glass flying around.

I was reaching for my child, and I couldnt find him in the dust, she said.

In other developments, Russia said the strategic Ukrainian port of Mariupol was functional again following a nearly three-month siege that ended with the surrender of the last Ukrainian fighters.

The Russian Defense Ministrys spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said the military completed clearing the port of land mines.

Russian forces took full control of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, after the last defenders holed up in a giant seaside steel plant laid down their weapons last week.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the separatists in Donetsk planned to set up a tribunal to put the fighters on trial and that Moscow welcomes the action.

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Russia said Wednesday that it will start paying its foreign debt in rubles after the United States ended an exemption allowing Moscow to make the payments in dollars held in Russia.

The US Treasury announced Tuesday it was closing the escape clause to the drastic financial sanctions imposed on Moscow after it sent troops to Ukraine, pushing Russia closer to default.

"Noting that the refusal to extend this licence makes it impossible to continue servicing government foreign debt in US dollars, payments will be carried out in Russia's currency," the finance ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

The ministry added that there would be a "possibility to later convert them (payments) into the original currency" using a Russian financial institution as the paying agent.

Punishing Western sanctions on Russia have largely severed the country from the international financial system, including blocking Moscow's ability to access funds held in US banks to pay its foreign creditors.

The US move scrapped the final exemption, which was forcing President Vladimir Putin's government to drain its war chest of foreign currency reserves to make payments.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in the statement that the current situation was "artificially created by an unfriendly country."

He said that it "primarily hurts the rights of foreign investors in Russian debt instruments".

Siluanov stressed the situation has "nothing in common" with 1998, when Russia defaulted on domestic ruble-denominated debt amid a broader financial crisis.

"Now we have money and a desire to make payments, too," the minister said, adding that the step would not affect Russians' quality of life.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last week that "if Russia is unable to find a legal way to make these payments... they technically default on their debt."

The Russian government has attempted to pay in domestic currency, but many of the bonds do not allow repayment in rubles.

The next debt service deadline on May 27 is for is for 100 million euros in interest on two bonds: one requires payment in dollars, euros, pounds or Swiss francs only; the other can be paid in rubles.

According to reports by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal on Friday, the Russian Finance Ministry transferred funds out of the country early to make the payments and avoid default.

Nearly $400 million in interest is due in late June.

After a 15- to 30-day grace period following a missed payment, the country likely would be declared in default, further deteriorating its financial position and allowing creditors to take legal action to recover the funds.

The country last defaulted on its foreign currency debt in 1918, when Bolshevik revolution leader Vladimir Lenin refused to recognise the obligations of the deposed tsar's regime.

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Studies have consistently shown that vaccination with mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna offer the best protection against hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Chinese vaccines made with older technology proved fairly effective against the original strain of the virus, but much less so against more recent variants. As this evidence became clearer, even countries that initially used Chinese vaccines and some other less effective Western-made vaccines have turned to mRNA vaccines for booster shots and new vaccinations.

"The biggest issue is about the delay of the reopening," said Xi Chen, a health economist at Yale University's School of Public Health. "The consequences will be huge, the supply chain disruption, the disruption to all kinds of service sectors."

Now health experts say that delay -- a result of putting politics and national pride above public health -- could lead to avoidable coronavirus deaths and deeper economic losses because whole cities would be locked down to insulate the country's unprotected population.

As early as spring of 2020, a Chinese pharmaceutical company, Fosun Pharma, reached an agreement to distribute -- and eventually manufacture -- the mRNA vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech. It still has not been cleared in mainland China, despite being authorized for use by separate authorities in Hong Kong and Macao.

China is trying to navigate its biggest coronavirus outbreak without a tool it could have adopted many months ago, the kind of vaccines that have proven to offer the best protection against the worst outcomes from COVID-19.

Not China. Regulators have not publicly said why they have not acted -- the mRNA vaccines are authorized in much of the world and have proved safe and effective in hundreds of millions of people. But a Chinese health official and another person directly involved in the negotiations told The Associated Press that authorities have held back because they want to master the technology in China and not depend on foreign suppliers. Both spoke on condition of anonymity, given the sensitive nature of the issue.

For more than a year, the approach seemed defensible. The country was able to keep the virus at bay better than any other large nation with its strict "zero COVID" approach that isolates infected people and locks down communities when infections pop up.

But now, the highly transmissible omicron variant is testing that strategy, requiring ever wider and longer lockdowns that are taking a greater economic and human toll. While other countries are able to operate close to normal because their people are protected by vaccination or previous infection, China is left with only its lockdown strategy to avoid huge numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.

China may be changing its mind. The Communist Party-owned Global Times newspaper reported last month that Fosun Pharma is still working with health authorities on its approval and that Shanghai authorities recently issued new policies that could allow the import of COVID-19 vaccines. Fosun, based in Shanghai, did not respond to questions about the announcement. China's National Health Commission directed questions to the country's drug regulator, the National Medical Products Administration. That agency did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

In the meantime, hopes for a Chinese-developed mRNA vaccine center on Abogen Biosciences, a startup founded in 2019 by Bo Ying, an American-trained scientist who once worked for Moderna. The company has partnered with more established companies in the country such as Walvax, a private company founded in 2001, and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, the military's medical research facility. Abogen has raised more than $1.7 billion since 2020.

The company's vaccine candidate succeeded in eliciting an immune response in a small, preliminary test in humans designed to evaluate safety, according to a study published in the journal Lancet Microbe.

The results were "promising," said Dr. Vineeta Bal, who studies immune systems at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune, India. But she also said that a direct comparison of the immune response triggered by the test shot with the response triggered by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines would have helped scientists better evaluate its performance.

But large studies that are needed to show whether the shot works to prevent infections or symptoms have not been completed. Abogen did not respond to requests for an interview. Even if the studies can be completed and the vaccine proves effective, manufacturing the millions of doses required will be a challenge, experts say. Abogen built a manufacturing facility in December 2020 with a projected capacity of up to 120 million doses a year.

Manufacturing that vaccine and ensuring quality at scale will be a difficult hurdle to clear because mRNA is still a new technology, said Scott Wheelwright, chief operating officer at BioInno Bioscience, a Chinese biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer, who has held conversations with Abogen.

In the meantime, Chen, the Yale health policy expert, said the Chinese government should better protect its elderly population by approving the Pfizer vaccine and encouraging booster shots. Using a Chinese phrase that means "giving up completely," Chen said the change from "zero COVID" does not have to be all or nothing. "It doesn't have to be tang ping or sticking to zero COVID," Chen said. "I don't think there are only two solutions, and we can stick to a middle ground."
Incheon's annual Pentaport Rock Festival will return to Songdo in August.

One of Korea's biggest live music festivals, the event marks its 17th year this year.

It will be held from Aug. 5 to 7 with spectators in attendance for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic started.

The festival will feature some 50 musicians and bands from home and abroad including American rock band Vampire Weekend, indie rock band Japanese Breakfast headed by Michelle Zauner, French indie band Tahiti 80, as well as Korean bands like Crying Nut, Jannabi and Nell.
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff here said Wednesday.

The fresh provocation came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up his trip to Seoul and Tokyo early this week, vowing to use all defense capabilities including nuclear weapons to defend South Korea against a nuclear attack from the North.

A provocation of one kind or another was widely expected at this time. This was already the North's 17th missile launch this year alone.

The JCS said the missiles were launched from Pyongyang over the course of an hour between 6 and 7 a.m. They flew about 360 km and reached a maximum altitude of 540 km. One of them appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile.


Six Chinese and Russian warplanes on Tuesday buzzed Korea's air defense identification zone as Chinese warships entered the East Sea.

The show of force came a day after Korea joined the anti-China Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) led by the U.S., while leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad, an informal anti-China alliance of the U.S., Japan, Australia and India, met in Tokyo.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff here, two Chinese H-6 bombers entered Korea's identification zone without identifying themselves 126 km northwest of the submerged shelf of Ieo around 8 a.m. and exited again an hour and a half later.

They then joined two Russian TU-95 bombers and two Sukhoi fighters north of the East Sea and reentered the zone together around 10 a.m. but exited east of Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo around 10:15 a.m.
In Russia, Putin issued an order that would fast-track Russian citizenship to people living in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. There is already a program to fast-track citizenship for people living in the Donbas.

There has been no sign of movement toward a negotiated end to the conflict in recent weeks, with each side accusing the other of not being willing to engage in talks.

Speaking by video link to the World Economic Forum, Zelenskyy said there was a potential for finding a diplomatic way out of the conflict if Putin "understands reality." Zelenskyy added that a first step toward talks with Russia would be for Russian forces to withdraw to the lines that were in place before Russia invaded in late February.

krainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday he would be open to negotiations with Russia, but only direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian officials said the latest fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces had reached the edge of the industrial hub of Severodonetsk, with Moscow's troops trying to seize control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine after failing to topple Zelenskyy or capture the capital, Kyiv.

The Ukrainian governor of the eastern region of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, described the situation around Severodonetsk as "very difficult" and said there was "already fighting on the outskirts."

"Russian troops have advanced far enough that they can already fire mortars" on the city, he said.

Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak pushed foreign governments to take action to pressure Russia to end the war. "Today, the future of Europe is not formed in Brussels or Davos. It is formed in the trenches near Severodonetsk and Bakhmut. The duration of this war depends on the speed of imposing energy sanctions and weapons supply. Want to end the war? The key to peace is in your capitals," Podolyak tweeted.

That followed a Zelenskyy message late Tuesday in which he said sending Ukraine rocket-propelled grenades, tanks, anti-ship missiles and other weapons was "the best investment" to prevent future Russian aggression.

Meanwhile, the European Union, Britain and the U.S. announced the creation of what they called the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group to coordinate with Ukraine on investigations of possible Russian war crimes during the three months of fighting.

 Economic Pressure

The United States said it will not extend a waiver, set to expire Wednesday, that allowed Russia to pay back its debts to international investors.

The Treasury Department had let Russia use U.S. banks to make the payments, saying that was a temporary measure meant to provide an "orderly transition" and allow for the investors to sell their stakes. Closing that pathway raises the prospect that Russia may default on its debt.

 NATO Expansion

Delegations from Sweden and Finland were in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Wednesday for talks with Turkish officials about the two nations' applications to join NATO, which have been met with opposition from Turkey.

Turkey accused Sweden and Finland of harboring people linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey says orchestrated a 2016 coup attempt.

NATO bids need approval from all of the alliance's current members. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said he is confident any objections will be overcome and both Sweden and Finland will be welcomed into the alliance.
KYODO NEWS - May 25, 2022 - 21:00 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

Japan began offering fourth coronavirus vaccine shots Wednesday to older people, and those with underlying medical conditions.

People eligible for fourth inoculations are those aged 60 and older as well as individuals between 18 and 59 with chronic health conditions, such as respiratory illnesses or heart conditions, or at high risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms if infected with the coronavirus, according to the health ministry.

The ministry suggests people receive the booster shots at least five months after receiving their third inoculation. The majority of seniors began getting third shots in January, meaning that the fourth round of shots is expected to be in full swing from June onward.

Procedures for receiving vaccine tickets differ depending on residents' local governments, with some tickets being sent directly to eligible individuals, while others need to be applied for.

To confirm eligibility and avoid confusion, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is asking people to check with local governments and to pay attention to public announcements.

Overseas studies have shown that fourth vaccine shots can prevent severe COVID-19 symptoms from developing in people over 60 for a certain period of time.

The studies, however, did not show sufficient data for effectiveness for those under that age.

A government official touched on the possibility of expanding the scope of those eligible, saying, "We will make considerations while continuing to collect a range of information."

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KYODO NEWS - May 25, 2022 - 15:50 | All, World

At least 19 children and two teachers died in a shooting rampage at an elementary school in the southern state of Texas on Tuesday, U.S. media reported, citing local authorities.

Addressing the nation, President Joe Biden said he was "sick and tired" of the "carnage" of gun violence gripping the nation, and called for stronger gun control.

The gunman, identified as an 18-year-old high school student, was killed by officers responding to the scene, which took place in Uvalde, about 120 kilometers west of San Antonio and close to the Mexican border.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Salvador Ramos is also believed to have shot his grandmother prior to going to Robb Elementary School, which is attended by second- through fourth-grade students, and carrying out the mass shooting at around 11:30 a.m., according to media.

The shooter reportedly acted alone, possibly using a handgun and a rifle. Two responding officers who were struck amid the gunfire apparently escaped without serious injuries.

Speaking from the White House, Biden, who had just wrapped up a visit to Asia, said he was struck that mass shootings are rare in other countries.

Only 10 days earlier, a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, had killed 10 people.

The president asked the nation to stand up to the gun industry and Congress to pass "common sense" gun laws.

"As a nation we have to ask: When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" he said. "Why are we willing to live with this carnage?"

The Uvalde rampage was the deadliest school shooting since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the state of Connecticut that killed 26 people including 20 children in 2012.

Biden, who was vice president at the time, has been a long-time advocate of gun control, but no significant legislation has been enacted in Congress in the meantime.

Gun violence is the leading cause of death among youths in the United States, according to a recent University of Michigan study.

In 2020, more than 4,300 individuals from 1 to 19-year-olds died from firearms. The figure includes deaths from suicides, homicides and unintentional deaths, it said.

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By Miya Tanaka, KYODO NEWS - May 25, 2022 - 07:44 | All, World

U.S. President Joe Biden's trip to Asia sought to put on full display the robust bilateral alliances with Japan and South Korea, as well as the evolving Quad partnership with Japan, Australia and India in the face of the looming security threats and economic challenges posed by China.

But the development of a deeper and broader alignment across the Indo-Pacific that can push back against China's assertiveness seems to remain elusive, as indicated by the mixed response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the vagueness of a just-launched U.S. economic engagement initiative in the region.

During his three-day visit to Japan through Tuesday, Biden suggested that a firm global response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's "barbarism" in Ukraine may shape the future behavior of China, which seeks to bring Taiwan into its fold, by force if necessary.

The "expectation" is that China will not try to seize the self-ruled island by force, but it "depends upon just how strongly the world makes clear that that kind of action is going to result in long-term disapprobation by the rest of the community," Biden said at a press conference Monday alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

But experts have been doubtful that U.S. coalition-building efforts will result in any reassurance that many countries across the Indo-Pacific would stand up in the event of a potential military attack on Taiwan by China.

"We shouldn't assume that just because a lot of countries, especially some of the large economies, took action on Russia that they would necessarily do that in the China context," said Zack Cooper, an expert on U.S.-China competition and Asia security issues at the American Enterprise Institute.

"My sense is the coalition on China would be harder to build and probably smaller," he added, apparently in mind of the possible repercussions of acting against China, whose economy is far larger than Russia's and more deeply integrated with the rest of the world.

"We also have to remember that even though the sanctions (imposed on Russia from the West) have been pretty tough, they didn't actually stop Putin from invading in the first place."

In the Ukraine crisis, the Biden administration has hailed the "unprecedented commitments" from Indo-Pacific nations to support Ukraine and impose costs on Russia for its aggression, citing Japan, Australia, Singapore, South Korea and New Zealand.

But the countries are all close U.S. allies and partners, and a gaping hole in the united front has been India -- the only Quad member shying away from condemning Russia and from taking punitive steps due to its heavy reliance on Moscow as a weapons supplier.

Apparently in consideration of India's stance, a joint statement of the Quad leaders released after their meeting Tuesday in Tokyo did not mention Russia by name.

India's failure to stand firm with the other democracies over the Ukraine crisis has stirred disappointment among U.S. lawmakers, raising a question as to whether the South Asian country, which holds key potential to act as a counterbalance to China, can be viewed as a reliable partner.

Cooper said India's neutral position on the Ukraine situation is not likely to undermine the role of the Quad, as the group's focus is on China rather than Russia.

White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell described India as a "swing state," a term in American politics referring to a state where Republican and Democratic candidates have similar levels of support, making its voting patterns unpredictable from one election cycle to the next.

"It is in all of our best interests to try to work with India over time to bend its trajectory more to the West," he said in early May at an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Although the Quad is "important," there is a need to realize its "limitations," said Joseph Nye, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, during a recent webinar organized by the New York-based Japan Society.

India is the only Quad member sharing a land border with China and it sees its friendly ties with Russia as leverage in dealing with a border conflict with Beijing, which resulted in a deadly clash in 2020.

The Quad, formed to coordinate the response of the four countries to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, had a dormant period amid leadership changes and concerns about economic repercussions from China. But the group was revived in 2017 and gained traction amid the members' deepening concerns over China's behavior.

The fact that New Delhi is willing to "meet formally with Japan and Australia and the U.S. is a huge step forward," given that India was originally "very scared to do much with the Quad" out of concerns of antagonizing China, the Harvard University professor emeritus said.

"But we shouldn't think of trying to push it into a formal defense alliance. The Indians aren't ready for that yet," he added.

While differences among the Quad members over Russia are likely to persist, the Biden administration is also facing headwinds over what is deemed its primary tool for economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.

Biden formally announced the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, or IPEF, on Monday, joined by a dozen countries including Japan, India, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam.

Although the initiative has been touted as a "21st-century economic arrangement" to tackle new challenges such as setting standards for the digital economy and ensuring secure supply chains, the United States has said the IPEF will not be a traditional free trade agreement involving tariff-cutting commitments.

Trade experts are skeptical as to whether the scheme can provide incentives for participation without offering greater market access to the world's largest economy.

Riley Walters, an expert on East Asia at the Hudson Institute, said the "economic gains from the framework are questionable" and the IPEF "looks disappointingly unambitious and is unlikely to usher in a new era of U.S. economic engagement in the region."

Meanwhile, the prospects of ties between the two closest U.S. allies in Asia -- Japan and South Korea -- seem to have brightened in the wake of the recent launch of conservative leadership in South Korea as it pursues a more pro-U.S. policy and larger role in regional affairs.

Ryo Sahashi, an associate professor specializing in international politics in East Asia at the University of Tokyo, said he is optimistic about increased cooperation between the two countries, as well as with the United States, such as over semiconductor supply chain issues.

But he also acknowledged that disputes over wartime history which have longed marred the bilateral ties will not be easily overcome, suggesting the risk of potential flare-ups.

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KYODO NEWS - May 25, 2022 - 14:54 | All, World, Japan

Japan has conveyed "grave concern" to China and Russia over a flight of strategic bombers during a Quad summit held in Tokyo, the government said Wednesday.

Six Chinese and Russian strategic bombers flew over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the Pacific on Tuesday in apparent protest at the meeting that day of the leaders of Japan, the United States, Australia and India.

Calling the joint flight a "show of force" against Japan, Japan's top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, said the fact that it was conducted during the summit "raises the level of provocation."

"We cannot overlook actions that heighten tensions in East Asia when Russia has already increased tensions in Ukraine," Matsuno said in a regular press conference.

He also said China dared to conduct the drill despite ongoing international efforts to stop Russia's aggression, and the government "strongly demanded China play a responsible role in maintaining peace and security in the international community."

Masahisa Sato, a lawmaker who leads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's foreign affairs division, criticized Beijing, saying, "China has demonstrated itself as a rogue nation."

"We must show a stern stance based on international law against such an aberrant show of force," Sato said calling on the government to consider sailing defense force vessels to the Taiwan Strait.

Following the summit, the Quad leaders expressed opposition to changing the status quo by force in any part of the world. There is a strong sense in much of Asia, where China's assertiveness is increasingly being felt, the consequences of Russia's war in Ukraine will extend beyond Europe.

The long-distance joint flight, announced by the Japanese Defense Ministry late Tuesday, was the first such operation by Beijing and Moscow since November last year and the fourth confirmed by Japan.

The ministry said that of the four Chinese warplanes, two were Xian H-6 bombers and the other two were believed to be a similar type. There were no intrusions into Japanese airspace by any of the six bombers involved in the flight.

The Chinese and Russian defense ministries announced that their warplanes conducted a "joint patrol" over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.

The Russian Defense Ministry was quoted by the Tass news agency as saying that the aircraft of both countries "acted strictly in accordance with the provisions of international law," and that "there were no violations of the airspace of foreign states."

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Shelves are empty at a grocery store during a baby formula shortage in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on May 24, 2022. New York City, the most populous city in the United States, has entered into a state of emergency due to the shortage of infant formula supply in the country. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

NEW YORK, May 23 (Xinhua) -- New York City, the most populous city in the United States, has entered into a state of emergency due to the shortage of infant formula supply in the country.

Eric Adams, the mayor, signed an emergency executive order on Sunday empowering the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to prevent price gouging for infant formula.

The emergency executive order will help authorities to crack down on any retailer looking to capitalize on this formula supply crisis by jacking up prices on this essential good, said Adams.

New Yorkers who are overcharged for formula can file a complaint with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, according to a statement from New York City.

"The nationwide infant formula shortage has caused unimaginable pain and anxiety for families across New York - and we must act with urgency," added Adams.

The New York State Division of Consumer Protection recently issued an alert reminding parents to be aware of online scams and unscrupulous vendors who may try to take advantage of the situation.

New York Attorney General Letitia James also urged New Yorkers to be on alert for potential price gouging of baby formula and to report any dramatic price increases to her office.

It's estimated that over 40 percent of large retailers are out of stock of infant formula in the United States, including 43 percent of retailers in the tristate area, where New York City is located, news reports said.

Although the U.S. federal government invoked the war-time Defense Production Act to secure domestic supply, it likely would take a few more weeks for domestic supplier Abbott Nutrition to resume production of baby formula in its Michigan facility, the reports said.

A military plane shipped the first batch of infant formula from Europe to the United States on Sunday, as part of the government's effort to ease the nationwide shortage. 

Baby formula supplies are limited at a department store during a baby formula shortage in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on May 24, 2022. New York City, the most populous city in the United States, has entered into a state of emergency due to the shortage of infant formula supply in the country. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

Shelves are empty at a grocery store during a baby formula shortage in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on May 24, 2022. New York City, the most populous city in the United States, has entered into a state of emergency due to the shortage of infant formula supply in the country. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

Shelves are empty at a grocery store during a baby formula shortage in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on May 24, 2022. New York City, the most populous city in the United States, has entered into a state of emergency due to the shortage of infant formula supply in the country. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)




NANCHANG, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The number of endangered sika deers living in a nature reserve in east China's Jiangxi Province has seen a significant increase over the past decades thanks to great efforts in wildlife protection.

A population survey of sika deer in Jiangxi's Taohongling Nature Reserve conducted last year showed that the population of this species rose to 624 in 2021 from less than 60 in 1981.

Being an endangered species under top national protection in China, the sika deer in the reserve belongs to the deer family of the south China subspecies.

Taohongling Nature Reserve, covering a total area of 125 square km in the city of Jiujiang, is an important protection base for wild sika deer.

The nature reserve was established in 1981 as a response to a continuing decrease in the number of wild sika deers due to factors such as natural environment damage and hunting.

Experts have conducted many investigations on the population of sika deer in the nature reserve since 1981 and have seen a steady rise in its numbers over the past decades.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
















GENEVA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Billionaire investor David Rubenstein said China has a very bright economic outlook in the long term on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Tuesday.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Participants attend the BRICS Forum on Development of Industrial Internet and Digital Manufacturing in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, May 23, 2022. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

XIAMEN, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The industrial internet and digital manufacturing are taking root in BRICS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. There are broad prospects for cooperation in these fields, transforming modes of production and shaping people's experiences of life, work and study.

This topic was extensively discussed at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Forum on Development of the Industrial Internet and Digital Manufacturing on Monday in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, with nearly 300 representatives attending in person and virtually.

The use of smart agricultural equipment such as driverless tractors is now commonplace on large farms in Brazil, one of the world's biggest producers and exporters of soybeans and beef, according to Brazilian Ambassador to China Paulo Estivallet de Mesquita.

In Russia, digital technology has been widely applied in the unmanned manufacturing and transportation sectors. Some transportation product prototypes are undergoing digital transformation upgrades, said Alexey Gruzdev, Russia's deputy minister of industry and trade. He also said that Russia is ready to work with other BRICS countries in industrial digitization.

India is also working on digital infrastructure and government services, and the country has cut health care costs through digital means, making inexpensive health care services accessible to the public, said Som Parkash, India's union minister of state for commerce and industry.

South Africa is taking advantage of the industrial internet and digital manufacturing to create more opportunities for young people, said Ebrahim Patel, South Africa's minister of trade, industry and competition, expressing the hope that related businesses and sectors in BRICS countries will carry out closer cooperation.

In China, digital transformation leads the way to industrial development. "China has built the largest optical-fiber and mobile networks in the world, with over 1.6 million 5G base stations and over 400 million 5G phone users," said Xiao Yaqing, China's minister of industry and information technology.

The scale of China's industrial internet sector has exceeded 1 trillion yuan (about 150.2 billion U.S. dollars) and spawned a host of new business models, such as collaborative research and development, unmanned production, remote operation and maintenance, online monitoring and shared manufacturing, Xiao said.

An initiative on cooperation among BRICS countries in the manufacturing industry's digital transformation was launched on Monday, covering issues such as the development of digital infrastructure and how to boost the inclusive growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The forum is scheduled to run from Monday to Tuesday and is being co-hosted by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the provincial government of Fujian and the municipal government of Xiamen. 
BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- China is saddened by the heavy casualties caused by repeated deadly shootings in the United States and has expressed condolences to the victims and sympathy to the injured and bereaved families in the Texas shooting incident, said a foreign ministry spokesperson on Wednesday, also urging the U.S. side to effectively safeguard its own people's human rights.

Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two adults at a Texas elementary school in southern America on Tuesday.

"The right to life is the biggest human right and racial discrimination is the worst injustice," Wang said, noting that the United States is the country with the worst gun violence and racial discrimination, and the worst human rights deficit, however, "the U.S. government has not been seen to do anything substantive to address these problems in the past decades."

"In the past 25 years, the U.S. federal government has failed to adopt a single gun control act and nearly 60 years have passed since Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream,' but the brutal reality of George Floyd's 'I can't breathe' is still visible," Wang said.

The spokesperson further pointed out that the U.S. government is indifferent to the systematic violation of human rights of the American people, but is keen on wanton attacks and interference against other countries under the guise of human rights.

"This fully shows that the so-called U.S. emphasis on human rights is completely hypocritical and empty," Wang said, adding that if the U.S. government doesn't care about the human rights of its own people, how can it really care about the human rights of other countries?

"We urge the United States to take the human rights of the American people seriously and submit an American human rights report to the world as soon as possible," Wang said, also urging the U.S. side to take effective measures to protect the lives of the American people and ensure that they enjoy the right and freedom from fear, gun violence and racial discrimination. 
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock hold a video meeting on May 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)

GUANGZHOU, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock held a video meeting on Tuesday, exchanging views on furthering bilateral ties and upholding true multilateralism, among other issues.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the China-Germany diplomatic ties. Wang said that, over the past five decades, the two countries have adhered to the concept of seeking common ground while reserving differences, mutual benefit and win-win results, and have deepened cooperation in various fields.

The all-round strategic partnership between the two countries has become an important stabilizing factor in today's world, Wang said, adding that the sound and steady development of China-Germany relations serves the interests of both sides and helps the two countries play a positive role in maintaining world peace, stability and development.

He said that the two countries should make good use of the government consultation mechanism, advance high-level dialogues on strategy, security, finance and people-to-people exchanges, and strengthen exchanges among local governments and youth, as well as educational and cultural exchanges.

Wang pointed out that China and Germany have been deeply involved in each other's development over the past 50 years, which is beneficial to both. China has been Germany's largest trading partner for six consecutive years, and Germany is China's largest trading partner in Europe.

"China is willing to deepen cooperation with Germany in traditional fields and expand cooperation in emerging fields such as intelligent manufacturing, information and communication, service trade and new-energy vehicles to foster new growth drivers for the two countries," said Wang.

Baerbock said Germany regards China as an important partner for cooperation and is formulating a new strategy toward China.

Germany is willing to maintain interactions with China at various levels, strengthen cooperation on environmental governance, climate change and pandemic response, and facilitate personnel exchanges, she added.

Wang said China hopes that Germany's new strategy toward China will remain active and pragmatic, with foreseeable positive results, and conducive to greater development of bilateral ties.

On issues of global significance, Wang said China and Germany, as two major countries, should further strengthen strategic communication, make joint efforts and inject more stability and positive energy into the world.

He said the two countries should explicitly uphold true multilateralism, and maintain the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the international law and basic norms governing international relations.

Baerbock said Germany supports multilateralism and is firmly committed to strengthening European strategic autonomy.

The two ministers also exchanged views on grain supply problems caused by spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis.

Wang said that the international community should push for an early ceasefire and a green channel for Russia and Ukraine to export grain. China is willing to maintain communication with all parties. 

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock hold a video meeting on May 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, holds a video meeting with Constantine Tassoulas, president of the Greek parliament, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, on Tuesday said China and Greece should enhance parliamentary exchanges to provide support for cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

During a video meeting with Constantine Tassoulas, president of the Greek parliament, Li said that China will work with Greece to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and promote the development of the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.

He said the NPC will strengthen exchanges with the Greek parliament among their high-level committees, special committees, friendship groups and parliamentarians, share legislative and supervisory work experience, and provide legal support for cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

Li called on the two countries to view political mutual trust as the foundation for cooperation, firmly support and cooperate with each other, and jointly promote the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system.

China appreciates Greece's long-term adherence to the one-China principle and supports Greece in safeguarding its core interests and legitimate rights and interests, Li said.

Greece has long played an active role in promoting the development of China-EU relations, and China is willing to make joint efforts with relevant countries, including Greece, to promote the further development of China-EU cooperation, Li said.

He called for the synergy of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with the Recovery and Resilience Plan of Greece, and expand cooperation in fields such as shipping, energy, infrastructure, green economy and digital economy.

Tassoulas reiterated Greece's firm commitment to the one-China policy. He said the Greek parliament will make positive contributions to the joint construction of the Belt and Road, and bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and tourism. 

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, holds a video meeting with Constantine Tassoulas, president of the Greek parliament, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)
Relatives of Ghaith Yamin mourn during his funeral in the West Bank city of Nablus, on May 25, 2022. A Palestinian teenager was killed and more than 90 others were wounded early on Wednesday during clashes with Israeli soldiers near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement. The statement said Ghaith Yamin, 16, was killed after he was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during clashes in Nablus. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

RAMALLAH, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian teenager was killed and more than 90 others were wounded early on Wednesday during clashes with Israeli soldiers near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The statement said Ghaith Yamin, 16, was killed after he was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during clashes in Nablus.

More than 90 Palestinians were injured, including 11 who were shot by live ammunition and 23 by rubber-coated metal bullets, the statement said, adding that more than 60 suffered suffocation after inhaling teargas.

Palestinian eyewitnesses said that Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers exchanged fire when Israeli soldiers escorted a group of Jewish worshippers who arrived at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus for prayers.

They said clashes also broke out between dozens of Palestinian stone-throwers and the Israeli soldiers, who fired live ammunition, rubber bullets, and teargas canisters to disperse the Palestinians.

Israeli authorities have not given any comment on the incidents.

On Tuesday, three Palestinians were injured in an exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian medics at the city's hospital said.

Israeli army forces carry out daily raids on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank to arrest Palestinians who are wanted by Israel for being involved in carrying out attacks against Israel.

An Israeli army spokesman said that Israeli army forces carried out security activities in Jenin and when Palestinian gunmen opened fire at them, they responded and injured three gunmen.

He said that the forces arrested a wanted man on suspicion of terrorist activity, adding that two M16 weapons and an Israeli military jacket were found during searches in his house. 

Relatives of Ghaith Yamin mourn during his funeral in the West Bank city of Nablus, on May 25, 2022.

A Palestinian teenager was killed and more than 90 others were wounded early on Wednesday during clashes with Israeli soldiers near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The statement said Ghaith Yamin, 16, was killed after he was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during clashes in Nablus. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)
BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday underlined earnestly implementing policies for stabilizing the economy and supporting market entities, employment and people's livelihood.

Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at a teleconference.

He also urged efforts to keep the economy running within an appropriate range. 
Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, talks with villagers at Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Gansu Province, May 23, 2022. Wang made an inspection tour to Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture from Monday through Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

LANZHOU, May 25 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Wang Yang has stressed the importance of advancing high-quality development and ensuring lasting stability in the country's prefectures and counties with large Tibetan populations.

Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a recent inspection tour to Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Gansu Province.

From Monday through Wednesday, Wang visited rural areas, pastoral areas, schools and religious venues in Gannan, where he had in-depth exchanges with people of various ethnic groups and figures from the religious circles to learn about the economic and social development and work related to ethnic and religious affairs in prefectures and counties with large Tibetan populations.

During the tour, Wang presided over meetings to solicit opinions and suggestions.

Wang underscored greater efforts to combat separatist activities and rely closely on people of all ethnic groups to forge an ironclad shield for national security.

He noted the need to preserve and pass down cultures of various ethnic groups, and promote interactions, exchanges and integration among all ethnic groups.

Wang stressed the importance of upholding the principle of developing religions in the Chinese context and guiding Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to the socialist society.

He called for consolidating achievements in poverty alleviation, promoting rural revitalization, developing industries with local characteristics and strengths based on resource endowment, and exploring new ways for areas with large ethnic minority populations to march toward modernization and common prosperity.

The environment and ecology of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau should also be well protected, Wang said. 

Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, talks with figures from the religious circles at Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Gansu Province, May 24, 2022. Wang made an inspection tour to Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture from Monday through Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)
Calvern Chitsunge (C), co-founder and chairman of Broad Alliance Against Sanctions, hands over letters to the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, on May 24, 2022. Anti-sanctions lobby group Broad Alliance Against Sanctions (BAAS) on Tuesday handed over letters to the American Embassy in Zimbabwe inviting African-American congressional members to visit the country and witness the negative impact of U.S. imposed sanctions. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang)

HARARE, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Anti-sanctions lobby group Broad Alliance Against Sanctions (BAAS) on Tuesday handed over letters to the American Embassy in Zimbabwe inviting African-American congressional members to visit the country and witness the negative impact of U.S. imposed sanctions.

"The first letter that we submitted was to the ambassador, whereby we were asking him to submit the other 66 letters for us to the black congressional members in a bid to lure them to come to visit our vigil site and see how these sanctions have actually hurt the ordinary citizens in Zimbabwe," Sally Ngoni, Co-founder and Spokesperson of BAAS told Xinhua.

The letters were handed over to Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy Timothy Corso by BAAS Co-founder and Chairman Calvern Chitsunge.

In March 2019, BAAS set up a camp at the main entrance of the U.S. Embassy as a protest against the imposition of sanctions. The group said the camp will only be dismantled if sanctions are lifted.

Ngoni urged African-American congressional members to voice their support for Zimbabwe's fight against sanctions.

"We are hoping that since we sent the letters to the black congressional members in America, they are the people with the same background as us. Their origins are from Africa, we are hoping that they will be compassionate with their fellow African brothers and sisters, that is us the Zimbabweans, and actually feel how these sanctions have actually caused pain to the ordinary citizens," Ngoni said.

She said contrary to the claim that sanctions are targeting few individuals, they are affecting the whole economy.

"You realize that most companies are actually scared of doing business in Zimbabwe because of sanctions. We have seen many banks being fined for carrying out certain transactions in Zimbabwe by countries like the U.S.A.," Ngoni said.

She said the lobby group's efforts have resulted in the removal of some state entities from the sanctions list.

"We have seen a lot of changes, for example, we saw Infrastructure Development Bank and Agribank being removed from the sanctions list," said Ngoni.

"We have also had several engagements with the American Ambassador telling him our own side of the story as ordinary citizens, showing him how us as ordinary citizens have suffered from these sanctions and we hope that one day the sanctions will be unconditionally removed," she added.

Sanctions were imposed in early 2000s after Zimbabwe embarked on the land reform program during which the country re-possessed land from minority white farmers for redistribution to landless indigenous Zimbabweans.

While the United States argues that sanctions are targeted on a few individuals and entities, the Zimbabwean government says the impact of sanctions is being felt throughout the whole economy.

Analysts say as a result of the sanctions, especially the United States' Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA), Zimbabwe has not fully enjoyed support from international financial institutions.

Yahya Abdullar, a local resident, said no Zimbabwean has been spared by the sanctions. "The sanctions are affecting Zimbabweans as well as the street kids, to the extent that they cannot even be able to pick anything to eat from the bins," he told Xinhua.

Last October, Alena Douhan, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, visited Zimbabwe to assess the impact of sanctions on the country and she concluded that sanctions had worsened the pre-existing economic challenges in the country. 

Members of anti-sanctions lobby group Broad Alliance Against Sanctions protest against the imposition of sanctions in front of the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, on May 24, 2022. Anti-sanctions lobby group Broad Alliance Against Sanctions (BAAS) on Tuesday handed over letters to the American Embassy in Zimbabwe inviting African-American congressional members to visit the country and witness the negative impact of U.S. imposed sanctions. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang)

Members of anti-sanctions lobby group Broad Alliance Against Sanctions protest against the imposition of sanctions in front of the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, on May 24, 2022. Anti-sanctions lobby group Broad Alliance Against Sanctions (BAAS) on Tuesday handed over letters to the American Embassy in Zimbabwe inviting African-American congressional members to visit the country and witness the negative impact of U.S. imposed sanctions. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang)
BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday met representatives of a meeting commending heroes and role models from the public security system.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, offered warm congratulations to the representatives, and extended sincere greetings to police and auxiliary police officers from across the country. 
The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- President Joe Biden said Tuesday night that the United States should "stand up to the gun lobby" after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas.

"I am sick and tired of it. We have to act," Biden said in emotional remarks from the Roosevelt Room of the White House. He called the shooting a "carnage."

"The gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons which make them the most and largest profit," he continued. "We have to have the courage to stand up to the industry."

At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday.

The suspect, identified as 18-year-old Uvalde High School student Salvador Rolando Ramos, was killed by responding officers.

"The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong," noted Biden, who just returned from a trip to Asia.

"What struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world," he pointed out. "These kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America."

The United States has seen at least 212 mass shootings so far this year, according to an online database that keeps a record of the country's gun violence incidents.

More than 17,000 people have died in gun-related episodes across the United States over the past five months, including approximately 640 children and teenagers.

"Tonight, there are parents who will never see their child again. Parents who will never be the same," Biden said, calling for efforts to "turn this pain into action."

"We can do so much more. We have to do more," he added.

March for Our Lives, a student-led movement supporting gun control legislation, tweeted that "you can't stop a bullet with thoughts and prayers."

"To honor those lost and save countless lives, we need action," the group wrote. "We're dying while we wait for it."

Tuesday's massacre is the deadliest American school shooting since the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, nearly a decade ago.

Uvalde, about 136 km west of San Antonio, is located near the U.S. southern border. '

Photo taken on May 24, 2022 shows the flags at half-staff on top of the Texas Department of Transportation building in Austin, Texas, the United States. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photos by Bo Lee/Xinhua)

Photo taken on May 24, 2022 shows the flags at half-staff on top of the Texas Department of Transportation building in Austin, Texas, the United States. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photos by Bo Lee/Xinhua)

Photo taken on May 24, 2022 shows the flags at half-staff on top of the Texas Department of Transportation building in Austin, Texas, the United States. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photos by Bo Lee/Xinhua)

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
Members of the Hungarian new government take the oath of office at Hungarian Parliament in Budapest, Hungary on May 24, 2022. The members of Hungary's new government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban took their oath of office in Parliament here on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, President Katalin Novak appointed the ministers of the fifth Orban government. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

BUDAPEST, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The members of Hungary's new government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban took their oath of office in Parliament here on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, President Katalin Novak appointed the ministers of the fifth Orban government.

Addressing the deputies, Orban said that never before in Hungary's democratic history has a government had such a strong democratic mandate as this one.

Orban said he selected the members of his new government with the aim of finding the best solutions for the challenges Hungary will face over the next four years.

"The new government is facing a particularly hard task," he said, recalling the challenges posed by the coronavirus, the conflict in Ukraine and the country's disputes with the European Commission.

He also added that he had been a member of Parliament for 32 years but had never seen "as much uncertainty about the future as today."

Most of his former ministers kept their portfolios. Zsolt Semjen remains deputy prime minister and will also be responsible for the implementation of national policy programs, church affairs and ethnic minorities.

Istvan Nagy is minister of agriculture again and Sandor Pinter remains interior minister also in charge of education, health and social affairs.

Janos Lazar will lead the new Construction and Investment Ministry. Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky replaces Tibor Benko as minister of defense.

Judit Varga remains minister of justice and Peter Szijjarto keeps the foreign affairs and trade portfolio.

Janos Csak is the new minister of culture and innovation, and Antal Rogan will lead the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister and will oversee the work of the secret services.

Gergely Gulyas continues as head of the Prime Minister's Office. Mihaly Varga starts a new term as minister of finance and so does Laszlo Palkovics at the head of the Ministry of Technology and Industry.

Marton Nagy will lead the new Ministry of Economic Development and Tibor Navracsics will be minister of regional development in charge of the utilization of European Union (EU) funds.

Orban has been in power continuously since 2010. He also served as prime minister between 1998 and 2002.

Orban's Fidesz party won its fourth consecutive parliamentary election on April 3. It now holds 135 seats in the 199-member Parliament. 

Members of the Hungarian new government take the oath of office at Hungarian Parliament in Budapest, Hungary on May 24, 2022. The members of Hungary's new government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban took their oath of office in Parliament here on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, President Katalin Novak appointed the ministers of the fifth Orban government. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Members of the Hungarian new government take the oath of office at Hungarian Parliament in Budapest, Hungary on May 24, 2022. The members of Hungary's new government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban took their oath of office in Parliament here on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, President Katalin Novak appointed the ministers of the fifth Orban government. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers his speech before members of the Hungarian new government take the oath of office at Hungarian Parliament in Budapest, Hungary on May 24, 2022. The members of Hungary's new government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban took their oath of office in Parliament here on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, President Katalin Novak appointed the ministers of the fifth Orban government. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Members of the Hungarian new government take the oath of office at Hungarian Parliament in Budapest, Hungary on May 24, 2022. The members of Hungary's new government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban took their oath of office in Parliament here on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, President Katalin Novak appointed the ministers of the fifth Orban government. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)




* The death of African American man George Floyd two years ago added a reprehensible chapter into America's ill-famed human rights record.

* Two years on, the country continues to reel from controversial police killings of African Americans.

* Partisan chasm, ideological divisions and economic inequality are still exacerbating racial issues in the United States.

by Xinhua writer Sun Ding

MINNEAPOLIS, United States, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The death of African American man George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer here two years ago added a reprehensible chapter into America's ill-famed human rights record.

Two years on, the United States continues to reel from the terrifying murder that occurred in broad daylight. At the same time, it struggles to find a cure for racism long embedded in the nation's political, economic, and social fabric.

More worrisome is the fact that partisan chasm, ideological divisions and economic inequality are still exacerbating racial issues, further heightening rather than dulling a sense of breathlessness among African Americans and other minorities.

Photo taken on May 22, 2022 shows the George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)





"I CAN'T BREATHE"

On May 25, 2020, Floyd was arrested on a street corner of Minneapolis, Minnesota by four police officers after a convenience store employee called 911 and reported that the 46-year-old man had used a counterfeit bill to buy cigarettes.

One of the responding cops -- white male Derek Chauvin -- had his knee on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes during the arrest. The tall African American man pleaded "I can't breathe" multiple times before losing consciousness. Medics arrived very shortly and loaded the motionless man into an ambulance, who was pronounced dead later.

"I lost words. There was numbness. I don't know if it was shocking in denial because nothing made sense to me," Floyd's aunt Angela Harrelson described the feeling of learning about her nephew's killing to Xinhua while standing at the site of the deadly encounter, now commonly called "George Floyd Square" -- a gathering place for people to pay their respects and remember him.

"There was no preparation," said Harrelson, who referred to Floyd as his middle name Perry, adding that she was "thrust into the moment to deal with grief, to deal with pain through the emotional rollercoaster."

Kevin Brown, a local resident and African American who witnessed part of Floyd's arrest, told Xinhua that "it just takes the air out of you" when seeing "how graphic it was."

Many other Americans also felt irritated and took to the streets to protest against police brutality and racism throughout the summer of 2020. A flurry of cities -- including Washington, D.C. -- imposed curfews and activated National Guard members in response to the unrest and violence over which politicians on different sides blamed each other.

Medical examiners have concluded the cause of Floyd's death was "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual restraint and neck compression." All four involved Minneapolis officers were fired and have been found guilty on different charges, and Chauvin is serving a sentence of 22 years and six months in prison after being convicted of murdering the man.

A recently-released biography of Floyd authored by Washington Post reporter Robert Samuels and his colleague Toluse Olorunnipa revealed how systemic racism in the United States shaped the man's life and legacy -- "from his family's roots in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, to ongoing inequality in housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and policing," according to the book's publisher.

"One thing that we wanted folks to understand when they read the book is that the institutional hardships and barriers that were presented to George Floyd could have happened to almost any Black man living in America," Samuels said. "And that's one of the terrifying things about it."

Floyd's aunt Angela Harrelson stands on the George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the United States, May 22, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)





MORE VICTIMS

In the aftermath of Floyd's death, there was a renewed push to reform policing in the United States. However, the ugly scar of racism hasn't healed over the past two years. Instead, it has grown more painful with more controversial police killings of African Americans.

Amir Locke, 22, was fatally shot by Minneapolis police executing a "no-knock" search warrant as part of a homicide investigation in an early February morning this year. Body camera footage shows a gun in Locke's hand -- which he legally possessed -- as he was abruptly awakened and emerged from a couch.

Locke was not a suspect in the crime for which the warrant was issued and was not named at all in the document but prosecutors declined to file charges against the officer who took his life, alleging that the young African American man's reaction constituted a "specifically articulable threat." Civil rights activists have argued Locke was acting in self-defense.

According to Mapping Police Violence -- an initiative that reports data pertaining to U.S. police violence, African Americans were more than 20 percent of those killed by police in 2021 despite being only 13 percent of the total population, meaning that they are nearly three times as likely to be killed by cops as white people in the United States. "The act of police brutality wasn't something new," a Minneapolis community volunteer named Phi told Xinhua.

Minneapolis artist and activist Mari Mansfield painted a mural called Mourning Passage on the surface of a road section near George Floyd Square, which consisted of "the names of 169 people of color killed by police" in the United States, with Floyd's name at the top of the artwork.

"You can say one name or a few names but when you actually write it down it's a lot more people than you think," Mansfield told Xinhua as she instructed volunteers to repaint the names to mark the second anniversary of Floyd's death. "I have a waitlist of a lot of names. This list will never be done. It will never be finished. There will always be someone left off."

"America had been slowly killing George Floyd for decades before Derek Chauvin pressed the last breath out of him," wrote Imbolo Mbue, a Cameroonian-American novelist and short-story writer based in New York City, in an article recently published in The Atlantic.

"Fair enough, but deep down I know, many of us know, that even with Chauvin in prison, justice has not been fully served," Mbue lamented. "Those entities that created the conditions for Floyd's death carry on. They thrive. Their next victim awaits."

ORIGINAL SIN

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, millions of people were kidnapped from Africa and forced into slavery in the American colonies for the production of cash crops such as tobacco and cotton.

By the mid-19th century, an entangling of the Westward Expansion and an abolition movement in the United States provoked fierce debates over slavery that would divide the young nation in the bloody Civil War. Though the Union victory freed the nation's 4 million enslaved people, the negative legacy of slavery has stayed alive.

Having had more than enough of prejudice and violence, African Americans launched a struggle for social justice as part of a civil rights movement in the mid-20th century, leading to the United State passing a series of major legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- which legally ended the segregation that had been institutionalized by Jim Crow laws.

"No one should have a membership to equality. Equality is a birthright. It's not an option," Harrelson pointed out. "For 400 years it has been an option for brown and black people. You had to negotiate equality -- the right to ride the bus, the right to vote, the right to be educated. Those things were illegal for us."

Despite the civil rights laws, the African American community has continued to suffer from racism in the United States over the past decades. A Gallup poll in 2021 found that there is still as much as 64 percent of adults in the United States who believe that racism against African Americans is widespread in the nation.

People wait for COVID-19 testing in the Queens borough of New York, the United States, Dec. 29, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further aggravated the predicament of African Americans. Less likely to be insured and receive treatment, they have had higher infection and death rates than their white counterparts. As a result, African Americans experienced a staggering 2.9-year downturn in life expectancy compared to 1.2 years for white people, according to a study issued by the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

"For us, Floyd's death was a gut punch -- a vivid realization that it could have been me or my husband or wife, my daughter or son, my cousin or uncle," Ben Crump, an African American lawyer who specializes in civil rights, wrote in a recent opinion for The Washington Post.

"It was deeply personal, because every Black American knows we share a common and constant vulnerability," Crump acknowledged. "That's why Floyd's dying words -- 'I can't breathe' -- spoke for us all." (Video reporters: Sun Ding, Liu Jie, Hu Yousong; video editors: Chen Sihong, Wei Yin)
Robert Golob (C), leader of the Freedom Movement, Tanja Fajon (L), leader of the Social Democrats, and Luka Mesec, leader of the Left, sign a coalition agreement in Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 24, 2022. Three Slovenian center-left parties signed a coalition agreement, paving the way for a leftward policy shift, on Tuesday.

The move comes a day before parliament is due to confirm leader of the Freedom Movement (FM) Robert Golob as the country's new prime minister, following the April 24 general election. (Photo by Zeljko Stevanic/Xinhua)

LJUBLJANA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Three Slovenian center-left parties signed a coalition agreement, paving the way for a leftward policy shift, on Tuesday.

The move comes a day before parliament is due to confirm leader of the Freedom Movement (FM) Robert Golob as the country's new prime minister, following the April 24 general election.

The agreement was signed by the FM, which holds 41 out of 90 parliamentary seats, as well as the Social Democrats which holds seven seats and the Left, five seats.

Under the agreement, the new government will strengthen the public health system, and increase taxes on income, real estate and pollution. It will also build a large number of public apartments that will be rented out to those with low incomes. Furthermore, the government will introduce a pension reform, increase media freedoms, and promote a digital and green economy.

Golob told reporters after signing the coalition agreement that his government wants to ease the burden of rising energy and food costs on citizens, but did not give more details on how this will be achieved.

The parliament is expected to confirm Golob's cabinet by June 3, ousting the center-right government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa. 

Robert Golob (C), leader of the Freedom Movement, Tanja Fajon (L), leader of the Social Democrats, and Luka Mesec, leader of the Left, pose for photos after signing a coalition agreement in Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 24, 2022. Three Slovenian center-left parties signed a coalition agreement, paving the way for a leftward policy shift, on Tuesday.

The move comes a day before parliament is due to confirm leader of the Freedom Movement (FM) Robert Golob as the country's new prime minister, following the April 24 general election. (Photo by Zeljko Stevanic/Xinhua)

Robert Golob (C), leader of the Freedom Movement, Tanja Fajon (R), leader of the Social Democrats, and Luka Mesec, leader of the Left, walk in front of the National Assembly Building of Slovenia after signing a coalition agreement in Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 24, 2022. Three Slovenian center-left parties signed a coalition agreement, paving the way for a leftward policy shift, on Tuesday.

The move comes a day before parliament is due to confirm leader of the Freedom Movement (FM) Robert Golob as the country's new prime minister, following the April 24 general election. (Photo by Zeljko Stevanic/Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet via video link in Beijing, capital of China, May 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping met via video link with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday in Beijing.

President Xi welcomed Bachelet to China. He expounded on major issues regarding China's human rights development in the context of China's history and culture, and reaffirmed the principled position of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government in upholding and protecting human rights in all areas. He stressed that, on day one of its existence, the CPC identified as its founding mission the pursuit of happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and has been working hard for the people's interests over the past century. The people's aspiration for a better life is what we are striving for. After decades of strenuous efforts, China has successfully found a path of human rights development in keeping with the trend of the times and China's national reality. We have been advancing whole-process people's democracy, promoting legal safeguard for human rights and upholding social equity and justice. The Chinese people now enjoy fuller and more extensive and comprehensive democratic rights. The human rights of the Chinese people are guaranteed like never before.

President Xi pointed out that in terms of human rights protection, no one can claim perfection and there is always room for improvement. On the basis of equality and mutual respect, China is ready to actively conduct human rights dialogue and cooperation with all other parties to expand common understanding, reduce differences, promote mutual learning, seek progress together, and jointly advance the international human rights cause for the greater benefit of people across the world. At present, it is most important to work on the following four priorities:

First, putting people front and center. It is important to take the people's interests as the fundamental purpose and goal, make continuous efforts to address the most pressing and immediate issues that concern the people the most, and strive to deliver a better life to the people. That is the biggest human right. How a country is doing on human rights is essentially gauged by whether the interests of its people are upheld, and whether they enjoy a growing sense of fulfillment, happiness and security. That is the most important criterion for assessing the human rights conditions of a country. The people should become the true masters of their countries and the main participants, contributors and beneficiaries of human rights development.

Second, respecting different countries' paths of human rights development. Human rights have historical, specific and practical contexts. With different national conditions, histories, cultures, social systems and levels of economic and social development, countries should and can only explore suitable paths of human rights development in light of national realities and people's needs. Any system or model blindly copied from another country regardless of the situation on the ground will not only look out of place, but also bring disastrous consequences. Should that happen, it is the people who will bear the brunt. There is no shortage of such examples, and lessons must be learned.

Third, following a holistic approach to all categories of human rights. Human rights are a rich and all-encompassing concept, and must be advanced with integrated and systematic measures. For developing countries, the rights to subsistence and development are the primary human rights. More efforts are needed to achieve development of higher quality, efficiency, equity, sustainability and security, so as to provide strong safeguards for the advancement of human rights.

Fourth, stepping up global human rights governance. The promotion and protection of human rights is a common cause for humanity and thus requires the concerted efforts of all. When it comes to human rights issues, there is no such thing as a flawless utopia; countries do not need patronizing lecturers; still less should human rights issues be politicized and used as a tool to apply double standards, or as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. It is important to abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, advocate humanity's common values, and steer global human rights governance toward greater fairness, justice, equity and inclusiveness. China will continue to support the UN in making positive efforts for the international human rights cause.

Ms. Bachelet expressed appreciation to China for receiving her visit despite the COVID challenge, the first visit to China by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 17 years. She very much values and cherishes this visit and will have extensive engagements and direct communication with the Chinese government and people across different sectors. The High Commissioner is confident that this visit will give her a better understanding of China. She expressed admiration for China's efforts and achievements in eliminating poverty, protecting human rights and realizing economic and social development, and commended China's important role in upholding multilateralism, confronting global challenges such as climate change, and promoting sustainable development across the world. The High Commissioner's Office would like to enhance communication and explore cooperation with the Chinese side to make joint efforts for the progress of the global human rights cause.

Ding Xuexiang, Yang Jiechi, Wang Yi (in Guangzhou) were present at the meeting. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet via video link in Beijing, capital of China, May 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet via video link in Beijing, capital of China, May 25, 2022. The photo shows Bachelet attending the meeting in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Deng Hua)
BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Good friends always have plenty to talk about, as Chinese President Xi Jinping can attest. When he was a county official in Hebei Province, north China, he enjoyed many inspirational meetings of minds with the writer Jia Dashan.

Sometimes, the two would meet in Xi's office and talk until well into the night, only to find themselves locked into the compound. Unwilling to wake up the janitor, Xi would squat down and boost Jia over the iron gate to leave.

In their conversations, Xi and Jia found many commonalities, from an interest in literature and culture to their views on many social issues. Xi said he considered Jia "a bosom friend" and "a reference and example" in his governance work and personal conduct.

Their friendship started in 1982, when they first met in Jia's crowded home in Zhengding County, Hebei. Despite winning a top literary award in 1977, Jia still classed himself as an amateur writer but he was beginning to enjoy renown across the country. His home was often filled with visitors, many among whom were literary youths. Xi had read Jia's works and was impressed by their "humorous language, philosophical analysis, true and beautiful description as well as ingenious and unique conception."

Jia was the first person Xi visited in Zhengding after his arrival in the county. But, being so lost in discussing literature with his friends, Jia did not notice the stranger at first. Xi did not interrupt, but instead sat down and waited patiently.

It was not until Jia took a rest for some water that he realized that the young man was the new deputy Party chief of his county.

The two soon hit it off, finding themselves able to chat about almost everything -- literature and art, opera and movies, and social life. "It was the first time we met, but we were like old friends who hadn't seen each other for years," Xi recalled.

After that meeting, they became close friends and often exchanged opinions.

Their topics went beyond literature. Xi was exceptionally meticulous about the protection of local cultural relics, and Jia often impressed Xi with his extensive knowledge of the culture and history of his hometown.

As a "know-it-all" in Zhengding, Jia clearly knew the history of his hometown -- including every pagoda and Buddha. To further develop the county's cultural undertakings, Xi made a proposal, allowing Jia, a non-Party member, to be promoted as the head of the local culture bureau, which was unprecedented in Zhengding.

"If we were not able to protect our relics, we would be guilty of wrongdoings and be ashamed to face future generations," Xi once said to Zhengding officials, believing that all cultural relics, from tiny totems to entire ancient cities, must be carefully preserved.

They also talked about what was really happening on the ground, which Xi said was "a window and channel" for him to know social conditions and public opinions in a timely manner.

Xi left Zhengding in 1985 and went to Fujian Province, east China, but their friendship continued. Without fail, every year ahead of the Spring Festival, Xi would send Jia a card.

After hearing that Jia was diagnosed with cancer in the mid-1990s, Xi visited him in hospital despite his tight work schedule. On Feb. 9, 1997, the third day of the Chinese New Year, Xi made a trip to Zhengding and saw Jia again.

"His energy was almost exhausted," Xi once recalled in an article in memory of Jia. Jia managed to sit up from the bed and they took a picture. They had no idea that this would be Jia's last photo with anyone.

Eleven days later, Jia, at the age of 54, passed away.

In the article, Xi said Jia was his "good friend and brother," hailing his care for the nation and the people, his integrity and diligent work style.

"But like his immortal works, his sincerity and kindness will remain with us forever," Xi said. 
Aerial photo taken on Aug. 31, 2021 shows the countryside scenery of Gaoling Township in Du'an Yao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A strong agricultural industry, beautiful countryside and well-off farmers -- this is rural China described when speaking about the goal of the country's rural revitalization strategy for the upcoming decades.

What will China's future countryside look like? What would be done to turn this vision into reality in the next few years? The latest action plan on China's rural construction has provided more details.

By 2025, tangible progress should be made on rural construction, and continuous improvement should be seen in the rural living environment, said the document jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council General Office on Monday.

China also expects positive progress in ensuring that every village and household has access to rural infrastructure, steady advancement in basic public services, and solid results in promoting cultural and ethical progress in rural areas.

The action plan has focused on the development of both infrastructure and services. It arranged projects to improve rural roads, water supply, energy, logistics, housing and living environments, as well as efforts to enhance public services and rural governance.

"Rural construction is an important task in implementing the rural revitalization strategy, as well as an essential part of China's modernization drive," the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group said in a Q&A with Xinhua.

The action plan will play a guiding role in advancing the rural construction initiative and making rural areas more attractive places to live and work, according to the office.

The rural revitalization strategy, which was first put forward during the 19th CPC National Congress in 2017, aims at achieving the basic modernization of agriculture and rural areas by 2035, and the grand goal of strong agriculture, beautiful countryside and well-off farmers by 2050.

To make the countryside more livable, China launched a three-year rural living environment upgrade campaign in 2018, which follows another five-year campaign from the previous year to further consolidate such efforts.

By the end of 2020, more than 40 million rural household toilets had been renovated during the three-year campaign, with the penetration rate of clean toilets achieving 68 percent in China's rural areas, statistics showed.

From 2016 to 2020, China also built or rebuilt more than 1.4 million km of rural roads. The country will continue road construction and bring the total length of rural roads to approximately 5 million km by 2035, according to a plan released by the transport ministry.

Despite the progress, there are still weak links between rural infrastructure and public services, which has yet to fulfill the farmers' ever-growing needs for a better life, the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group has noted.

"Apart from infrastructure, rural construction would also cover rural governance, sustainable development of rural industries, public services and promotion of cultural progress," said Li Xiaoyun, a professor at China Agricultural University.

Rural construction will be a green and resource-efficient process, according to the action plan, which has aimed for an alignment between construction and the natural environment.

In efforts to protect the rural environment, China has aimed to keep the rural green coverage rate above 32 percent by 2025, with some 20,000 national forest villages and a great number of local forest villages established, according to the country's forestry and grassland authorities.

The action plan has also highlighted the participation of farmers in the decision-making and construction process, as well as the need to keep the traditional architecture, folk culture and local characteristics instead of simply copying the urban construction models.

"Farmers will not only be beneficiaries of rural construction, but also important participants, builders and supervisors of the process," said Zhang Bin, a researcher with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. 
BAGHDAD, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A total of three paramilitary Hashd Shaabi members were killed in two attacks by militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a police source said on Wednesday.

Early in the morning, a clash erupted when the IS militants attacked a Hashd Shaabi outpost in the Mansouriyah area northeast of the provincial capital Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, Major Alaa al-Saadi from the provincial police told Xinhua.

The clash resulted in the killing of two Hashd Shaabi members and the wounding of another, al-Saadi said.

Late on Tuesday night, IS militants attacked Hashd Shaabi positions in the Himren mountain range in the northern part of Diyala province, sparking clashes with the attackers that resulted in the killing of a Hashd Shaabi member, al-Saadi added.

He said that Iraqi security forces intensified security measures and dispatched reinforcement troops in anticipation of further attacks.

Over the past few months, Iraqi security forces have conducted operations against the extremist militants to crack down on their intensified activities.

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since 2017. However, the IS remnants have since melted into urban centers, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against the security forces and civilians. 
BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The recent patrol and training exercises by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) around the Taiwan Island were necessary actions against the collusion between Taiwan and the United States, a Chinese defense spokesperson said Wednesday.

Tan Kefei, the spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, said that the PLA Eastern Theater Command had recently organized joint war-preparedness alert patrol and combat training exercises involving troops of multiple services and arms in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island.

"These are necessary actions taken targeting the collusion between Taiwan and the United States, and conforming to the need of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Tan said.

Seeking "Taiwan independence" is doomed to fail, and so is supporting such actions, Tan said, adding that by playing the "Taiwan card" to contain China, the United States is putting the situation in jeopardy.

The PLA is on high alert and ready to take all necessary measures to resolutely thwart any external forces' interference and secessionist attempts for "Taiwan independence," he added. 
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street for Prime Minister's Questions in London, Britain, Jan. 12, 2022. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

Written by senior civil servant Sue Gray, the damning 37-page report describes booze-fueled parties attended by large numbers of people, which broke lockdown rules imposed by the government. "Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen," Gray's report underlines. "The senior leadership...must bear responsibility for this culture."

LONDON, May 25 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has taken full responsibility for parties held at his Downing Street office that broke COVID-19 rules, but is refusing to resign over the scandal.

A much-anticipated report commissioned by the government, published on Wednesday, investigates 16 events held at Downing Street in 2020 and 2021.

Written by senior civil servant Sue Gray, the damning 37-page report describes booze-fueled parties attended by large numbers of people, which broke lockdown rules imposed by the government.

"Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen," Gray's report underlines. "The senior leadership...must bear responsibility for this culture."

"Those in the most junior positions attended gatherings at which their seniors were present," she adds.

The closed Tower Millennium Pier is seen in London, Britain, on Jan. 5, 2021. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

Johnson attended some of the events, including a surprise birthday party organized for him on June 19, 2020, for which he received a fine from the Metropolitan Police (Met).

Last week, The Met wrapped up its own inquiry into lockdown breaches at Downing Street, issuing a total of 126 fines to 83 people.

Speaking to lawmakers at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) session in the House of Commons (lower house of Parliament) after the Sue Gray report was published, Johnson said he took "full responsibility for everything that took place under my watch."

However, he added that he had been as "surprised and disappointed as anyone else in this House at the revelations."

Johnson's political opponents have renewed their calls for his resignation now that both investigations on the lockdown parties have been published.

A boy walks next to the National COVID Memorial Wall in London, Britain, March 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Referring to a "catalogue of criminality" exposed in Gray's report, Labour leader Keir Starmer said it was time for Johnson "to pack his bags" and "restore dignity" to the office of the prime minister.

"They pretend that the Prime Minister has somehow been exonerated, as if the fact that he only broke the law once is worthy of praise," said the opposition leader.

"The truth is they set the bar for his conduct lower than a snake's belly and now they expect the rest of us to congratulate him as he stumbles over it," he added. 
Palestinian artist Zainab al-Qoulaq is seen at her exhibition in Gaza City, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Palestinian female artist Zainab al-Qoulaq, who lost 22 family members in the Israeli bombings in Gaza last May, is holding an art exhibition of her own nine paintings to remind people of the tragedy.

GAZA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Zainab al-Qoulaq, a Gaza-based artist and a survivor of the large-scale Israeli bombings on the Palestinian enclave last May, put on an art exhibition on Tuesday to remind people of the tragedy.

Dubbed "I am 22 and I lost 22 people," the exhibition was organized by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, a nongovernmental organization, in cooperation with the UN Women Palestine.

Nine paintings, with depictions of ruined homes, ambulances, corpses and skeletons, show the visitors her trauma from the military attacks.

"I drew with my feeling about the Israeli crime against my family and dozens of others during the aggression," the 22-year-old woman told Xinhua.

A woman visits the exhibition held by the Palestinian artist Zainab al-Qoulaq, dubbed "I am 22 and I lost 22 people," in Gaza City, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

"I am here to spotlight my family story and to tell the world that we are not numbers, we are humans, and we have rights that must be respected and protected from any violations," she said.

On May 10, 2021, Israel and Hamas, the ruling faction of Gaza, began a round of what was later described as their heaviest fighting since 2014, which lasted 11 days and killed more than 260 Palestinians and 14 Israelis.

The Israeli military offensive came after Hamas-led militants' barrage of rockets on Israeli major cities in response to Israeli provocations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.

Many Gazan residents, including 22 members of al-Qoulaq's family, were killed in building collapses caused by Israeli airstrikes claiming to destroy underground tunnels used as militant hideouts.

Al-Qoulaq, her father and a brother had been trapped under the rubble for about 12 hours before being pulled out by rescue teams, and later found themselves the only survivors of the whole family.

A painting by the Palestinian artist Zainab al-Qoulaq is seen at her exhibition in Gaza City, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

"No one can imagine the pain, fear, and horror I lived through under the rubble when I didn't know what would happen to my family," she said.

Failing to express her haunting agony in words, al-Qoulaq resorted to drawing, according to the artist.

"In the past, my daughter used to paint nature and other beautiful things, but because of the Israeli crime, she started painting tragic events that express how sad she is," al-Qoulaq's father Shukri told Xinhua.

"Hundreds of thousands of people have been subjected to the Israeli massacres, and we are working primarily to support these victims so that their voice can be heard to the world," said Maha Al-Husseini, an official at the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

A woman visits the exhibition held by the Palestinian artist Zainab al-Qoulaq, dubbed "I am 22 and I lost 22 people," in Gaza City, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Sami Shaqoura, an exhibition goer, expressed his solidarity with al-Qoulaq, saying "the paintings touch people and make the viewer feel sad for the tragedy that befell her family."

"We have to support the victims of the Israeli wars and encourage them to continue their lives despite the wounds they suffer," he added. 
RAMALLAH, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian authorities on Wednesday urged the Israeli government to call off "the provocative flag march" scheduled to hold in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh warned that allowing the Israeli flag march to pass through Islamic neighborhoods in East Jerusalem "would lead to tension and violence."

"Israel underestimates the determination of the Palestinian people and their leadership, who can withstand and challenge the Israeli insistence to organize the march of flags in the old city of Jerusalem," Abu Rudeineh told reporters.

He held the Israeli government "fully responsible for this escalation that would flame tension and violence," adding that "the Palestinians can defend Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian sanctities."

Abu Rudeineh called on the United States to take a clear and explicit stance toward the Israeli provocations and remove ambiguity in Palestinian-American relations by implementing its words and preserving its credibility under international law.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli media reported that the Israeli Police ordered a state of alert in Jerusalem and Israel for fear of an outbreak of tensions when the flag march is organized on Sunday.

Last week, the Israeli police agreed to allow the flag march to pass on its regular route through Damascus Gate and the Islamic Quarter in East Jerusalem.

In May 2021, the flag march sparked military tension between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip that lasted for 11 days. More than 200 Palestinians and more than 10 Israelis were killed. 
People visit the Space Tech Expo USA 2022 in Long Beach, California, the United States, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

Some new materials, tools and technologies are on show at the expo, including thermal management, high-resolution 3D surface analysis and advanced injection molding technology.

LOS ANGELES, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A space tech expo was held in Long Beach in Southern California on Tuesday and Wednesday, showcasing the latest development in space-related technologies, solutions and innovation in the space industry.

The expo attracted over 220 exhibitors and more than 3,000 attendees worldwide. It is America's leading showcase of space technology and services for spacecraft, satellite and launcher systems, components and materials for civil, military and commercial space, according to the organizer.

Some new materials, tools and technologies were on show at the expo, including thermal management, high-resolution 3D surface analysis and advanced injection molding technology.

People visit the Space Tech Expo USA 2022 in Long Beach, California, the United States, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

The expo also featured talks and seminars on a variety of topics including technologies, markets and space system development. Participants could learn the latest in market opportunities and key technology developments from the industry's leading experts.

Fabio Boccola, CEO of German company Hauschild Engineering, traveled from Dusseldorf, Germany to attend the expo. The company presented its smart bladeless centrifuge mixer at the expo, which combines intelligence and power blend together.

Boccola told Xinhua the company hopes to reach out to more customers and distributors in aerospace and manufacturing industries.

People visit the Space Tech Expo USA 2022 in Long Beach, California, the United States, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

Calling China a good market, Boccola said the company has distributors in China and hopes to apply its mixers to more Chinese partners in such industries as chemicals, paintings and glues.

A space art show was also held at the expo, showcasing paintings, drawings and digital works on astronauts and space exploration.

Simon Kregar, director of exhibitions at the International Association of Astronomical Artists, told Xinhua it is the seventh time he participated in the annual expo. Kregar said he loves to share his space art projects to more audiences, and expects to see more international cooperation in artistic work inspired by the exploration of the universe. 
Video: An 18-year-old man opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde city in the U.S. state of Texas on May 24, 2022, leaving at least 21 people dead, including 19 children. (Xinhua)

"It happened in Texas," says Catherine Russell. "Where will it happen next? This year, we have already seen horrific attacks on schools in Afghanistan, Ukraine, the United States, West Africa and beyond."

UNITED NATIONS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Citing the deaths in the U.S. Texas elementary school shooting, the head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) asked on Wednesday: how many more children will die before leaders act?

"Tragedy after tragedy, shooting after shooting, young life after young life: how many more children will die before government leaders act to keep children and their schools safe?" asked Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. "Because until they do, these horrors will continue."

She said the children attacked and killed in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday were attending school, the one place outside of their homes where they should be safest.

Photo taken on March 7, 2022 shows Catherine Russell (C front), head of the UN Children's Fund, speaking during a Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Xie E)

The 19 children, a teacher and a school staff member who set off for school in the morning will never return home to their families, said Russell, adding that many more who witnessed the carnage will bear the emotional and psychological scars for the rest of their lives.

"It happened in Texas," she said. "Where will it happen next? This year, we have already seen horrific attacks on schools in Afghanistan, Ukraine, the United States, West Africa and beyond."

There has been criticism of constitutionally protected U.S. gun laws, especially those allowing the sale of automatic weapons to young people, under 21 years of age. 
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, speaks at a teleconference on implementing policies to stabilize economy, May 25, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the teleconference. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday underlined the need to earnestly implement policies to stabilize the economy and support market entities, employment and people's livelihoods.

Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at a national teleconference held by the State Council, urging efforts to keep the economy running within an appropriate range.

Li said that various effective measures have been implemented in response to difficulties and challenges arising from unexpected factors this year.

However, he said that the difficulties in March, and since April in particular, are in some respects and to a certain extent greater than those experienced in 2020 when the COVID-19 epidemic hit the country, marked by downward indicators for employment, industrial production, power consumption and cargo transportation, among others.

He stressed that development is the key to solving all problems in China, and urged swift actions from now on to bring the economy back on track.

Measures should be taken to fully implement China's new development philosophy, coordinate epidemic control with economic and social development in a highly efficient way, and place stabilizing growth in a more prominent position.

More work should be done to support market entities in order to sustain employment and people's livelihoods, ensure reasonable economic growth in the second quarter, and reduce the unemployment rate as soon as possible, Li said.

Emphasizing the 33 measures to stabilize the economy proposed at a recent State Council executive meeting, he issued an order to government departments to introduce practical implementation measures by the end of May.

He also urged local authorities to introduce policies in light of local conditions to help market entities tide over difficulties and stabilize and increase job posts.

Local governments should treat all kinds of market entities equally, continue to smoothen logistics and industrial chains to promote work and production resumption, and ensure the timely distribution of unemployment insurance and social assistance funds to people in need.

The State Council will send task forces to 12 provinces from Thursday to oversee local work in implementing state policies, according to the premier. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, speaks at a teleconference on implementing policies to stabilize economy, May 25, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the teleconference. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)
Farmers prepare tree seedlings for planting in Aberdare Forest under the Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) programme in Nyandarua County, Kenya, March 15, 2022. (Photo by Robert Manyara/Xinhua)

Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, issued a stark warning in a press release. "While it is important to recognize the progress that has been made on key environmental issues in the last year, the world remains on course for environmental catastrophe unless it takes urgent and unprecedented action to address the climate and nature crises."

DAVOS, Switzerland, May 25 (Xinhua) -- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International on Wednesday called for urgent action to secure a nature-positive and net-zero emissions world at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022 here, while agriculture giant Syngenta Group emphasized that science, technology and regenerative agriculture could help tackle some of the challenges.

As nearly 2,500 global leaders from business, politics, civil society and the media are meeting in the Swiss mountain town this week, WWF called on them to accelerate their action to tackle climate and nature crises.

Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, issued a stark warning in a press release. "While it is important to recognize the progress that has been made on key environmental issues in the last year, the world remains on course for environmental catastrophe unless it takes urgent and unprecedented action to address the climate and nature crises."

"In the face of growing political and economic instability, leaders meeting at Davos must balance short-term responses with the long-term actions needed to increase resilience and secure a liveable planet for future generations," he said.

"This means urgently increasing the ambition of their climate targets, transitioning to sustainable food systems, and stepping up efforts to conserve the ecosystems and biodiversity left on the planet, while restoring what's possible.

This year, world leaders have an unmissable chance to embrace a 'Paris-style' agreement to tackle our escalating nature crisis and make a fairer, nature-positive and food-secure world a reality."

People walk on a dusty road in Kibwezi, Makueni County, Kenya, Nov. 1, 2021. (Photo by Mukoto Imbova/Xinhua)

WWF warned that global greenhouse emissions are returning to sky-high levels last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, while deforestation remains alarmingly high, and the global extinction crisis continues unabated.

The WEF in Davos takes place ahead of Stockholm+50, an international meeting convened by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 2-3. It aims to commemorate the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and celebrate 50 years of global environmental action.

According to a UN report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), more than one million species are now threatened with extinction.

Joao Campari, leader of WWF's Global Food Practice, said: "On top of the nature and climate crises, we are facing an escalating food security crisis. As leaders grapple with shocks and stresses, and justifiably focus on securing food supplies, we must ensure building sustainable and resilient food systems remains a long-term priority. If not, we will face even more frequent and more damaging crises."

"The way we produce and consume food is both the biggest driver of nature loss and a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Adopting nature-positive food production practices is a win-win for people and the planet and should be a priority for forward-looking countries and businesses," Campari added.

According to the WWF's "The Living Planet Report 2020," food systems are responsible for 80 percent of deforestation and generate around 30 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

People cool off in a canal during a heatwave in Lahore, Pakistan, on May 16, 2022. (Photo by Sajjad/Xinhua)

In the press statement, WWF wrote that natural disasters caused by climate change and human ecosystem disruption cost more than 300 billion U.S. dollars per year.

"Climate-smart growth could deliver at least 26 trillion U.S. dollars in economic benefits through to 2030, and a move to more sustainable agriculture, combined with forest protection, could deliver over 2 trillion U.S. dollars per year," it said.

Erik Fyrwald, chief executive officer (CEO) of Syngenta Group, one of the world's leading agricultural innovation and technology companies, said: "When it comes to food, humanity faces an epochal challenge. With globally stagnating arable land, it is of utmost importance to safely supply a rapidly growing global population with high-quality food while protecting biodiversity and the climate."

The Swiss company, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is owned by the Chinese chemical company ChemChina.

"Our vision is regenerative agriculture with higher land productivity which means more food produced on less land so more land is returned to nature and we stop deforestation," Fyrwald said.

"We are contributing to a reduction of agriculture greenhouse gas emissions, aspiring to go from 12 percent of total global emissions today to net-zero or even net-positive." 
ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The African continent on Wednesday marked the annual Africa Day celebration with widespread call for the realization of Africa's continental development aspirations.

Africa Day is observed annually on May 25 to celebrate the achievements of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU), from its creation on May 25, 1963.

The Africa Day is commemorated to acknowledge the role of the continental bloc in the fight against colonialism, as well as the progress that Africa has made while reflecting upon the common challenges that the continent faces in a global environment, according to the AU.

The Chairperson of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat in his message on the Africa Day celebration said, during the past ten years, Africa has been confronted with the challenges of terrorism, violent extremism and transnational crimes of human trafficking, drug trafficking, and arms trafficking.

Mahamat said terrorism, in particular, is constantly gaining ground in Africa as many AU members devote a good part of their resources and energies to fighting or protecting themselves against this phenomenon, thus depriving vital sectors such as health and education of the resources they need.

Common continental challenges such as corruption, inter-community conflicts, recent waves of unconstitutional changes, youth unemployment and the persistent precariousness of African women, among others, are also said to be challenges affecting the African continent.

The AU statement said the economic crisis which is burdened by growing debt, the climate and energy crisis which, in turn, affects food prices through the exorbitant cost of transport, while the health crisis following the outbreak of COVID-19, weakens the production capacities of the various economic agents.

According to the AU, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, which entered into force in 2021, making Africa the largest common market in the world and accelerating Continental integration is among the ongoing initiatives that have the potential to propel the continent and overcome the challenges.

The AU called on Africans from al walks of lives to join hands towards the success of AfCFTA and other continental aspirations.

"Fellow Africans, it is to this exercise of reflection that I would like to invite you on this memorable Day, where the festive activities, quite understandably should not relegate to the background our essential concerns," an AU statement quoted Mahamat as saying.

Senegalese President Macky Sall, who is also the current chairperson of the AU, on his part called on Africa's populace to expedite the continent's integration ambition as a continuation of building a united Africa.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed echoed Sall's comments as he called for the realization of the major aspirations of the AU towards the betterment of Africa.

"On this Africa Day, we reaffirm the vision of continental unity and the commitment of our ancestors' towards a peaceful, integrated and prosperous future," Ahmed said.

This year's edition of Africa Day is marked under the AU's theme of the year "Building Resilience in Nutrition on the African Continent: Accelerate the Human Capital, Social and Economic Development." 
RABAT, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank has approved 57 million euros (about 60.7 million U.S. dollars) as an additional loan to finance the ongoing construction of the Nador West Med Port complex in northern Morocco, official RIM radio reported Wednesday.

The bank granted 113 million euros in 2015 for the same infrastructure project, which is expected to be completed in December 2024.

The Nador West Med Port is a major new port and industrial complex located on Morocco's Mediterranean coast around 30 km from the town of Nador, with an estimated cost of more than 1 billion euros.

This infrastructure will involve a mixed cargo port including terminals for containers, hydrocarbons and ships, backed by an industrial investment Free Zone of 1,500 hectares (15 square kilometers), the report said. 
ACCRA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) will mobilize at least 25 billion U.S. dollars to support Africa's climate adaptation programs, AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina said Monday.

"Climate change is killing African economies. Annually, Africa loses 7 billion-15 billion dollars due to climate change. This is expected to rise to 50 billion dollars a year by 2040," said the AfDB president at a media breakfast during the bank's 2022 annual meetings..

"The Bank has doubled its climate finance to 25 billion dollars by 2025," he announced.

To secure Africa's food supplies in the face of climate change, Adesina said the bank's flagship program "Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT)" has delivered climate-smart seeds to 12 million farmers in 27 countries in just two years.

"TAAT delivered water-efficient maize to 5.6 million households in East Africa, an area hit by severe droughts three years ago," he added.

Adesina also noted that the bank is now implementing a 20-billion-dollar Desert-to-Power initiative in the Sahel region that would provide electricity generated from solar power for 250 million people. 
YAOUNDE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Officials from Cameroon and Gabon began meeting on Tuesday in Cameroonian capital Yaounde to discuss the border demarcation between the two countries.

"This meeting is a veritable platform for permanent consultation and reflection on questions linked to demarcation and security of the border of both countries. The outcome of this meeting will fill the legal vacuum that exists in that domain," said Cameroon's Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji.

"This meeting will help us trace our border. (We need) to identify the reference side, register their geographical distinctions as well as all problems faced," said Lambert-Noel Matha, Gabonese interior minister.

The two sides are expected to finalize a draft protocol on establishing a mixed technical committee to demarcate the border, the officials said, reiterating that there is no border dispute between the two countries.

Cameroon and Gabon share a border of about 300 km. 
SYDNEY, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities of Australia's state of New South Wales (NSW) urged residents to get vaccinated against flu as it continues to see a rise of influenza cases amid high COVID-19 infections.

NSW Health said on Tuesday that the state's hospitals are facing a triple threat with high numbers of COVID-19 cases, a surge in flu cases and staff furloughing due to illness. The significant pressure is also challenging the availability of staff of emergency departments across the state.

"With almost no exposure to flu these past two years, it is imperative we all get a flu jab to protect ourselves and the community," NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.

Up until Tuesday, 14,812 flu cases have been reported in NSW this year and 3,349 people have presented to emergency departments with influenza-like illness.

On Wednesday, the state also reported 8,970 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths. There were 1,209 people with the virus in hospitals and 35 people in ICU.

Under the pressure, children aged six months to five years old are of particular concern. Parents were told to be alert about this flu season and get their child vaccinated.

NSW Chief Paediatrician Matt O'Meara said this young group is particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of flu.

"At least 10 percent of children admitted to hospital with flu will be so sick that they need intensive care. Parents can reduce the risk of that happening, just by getting their child vaccinated," O'Meara said.

Flu vaccines are free in NSW for people who are considered to be at higher risk of developing into severe illness, such as children from six months to under five years of age, pregnant women and people with serious health conditions.

NSW government is also considering making the flu vaccines free for other people across the state as cases are skyrocketing, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.

"Hopefully, we will follow the path, but it's a little too early yet. We just need to make sure the system works," Hazzard told ABC. 
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's efforts in researching and producing human vaccines has been given a boost on Wednesday with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Chinese company CanSino Biologics and two Malaysian partners.

The tripartite MOU will see CanSino formalize its relationship with Malaysian pharmaceutical company Solution Biologics and the National Institutes of Biotechnology Malaysia and strengthen the existing relationship between the parties at a strategic and working level.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Adham Baba, who witnessed the signing, said the MOU would facilitate joint research programs for the development of human vaccines, exchange of researchers and technical experts, technology and knowledge transfer and biomanufacturing and commercialization of vaccine products for Malaysia and international markets.

Adham also noted the close cooperation between Malaysia and China in facing the COVID-19 pandemic, with the two countries sharing expertise in scientific and technological capabilities related to the advancement of human vaccine development.

"With this cooperation, I am optimistic that today's event is a hallmark for both Malaysia and China to strengthen the existing cooperation and we are looking forward to exploring the new possibilities as well as potential collaborative efforts that can complement areas of mutual interest between the two countries," he said.

Minister of the Chinese embassy in Malaysia Tang Rui noted that China and Malaysia signed an agreement on cooperation in vaccine development and accessibility on Nov. 18, 2020, followed by an agreement signed in December 2021 to build a more solid China-Malaysia comprehensive strategic partnership in the post-pandemic era.

"Vaccine research and development cooperation has been put at the forefront of our cooperation. The Chinese government attaches great importance to China-Malaysia vaccine research and development cooperation, and promotes the cooperation of enterprises and scientific research institutions of both countries. All efforts lead to today's substantial progress," he said.

For his part, CanSino Biologics chief executive officer Yu Xuefeng said the close relations between the two countries have made such cooperation possible while thanking the Malaysian side for their efforts in ensuring a conducive environment.

"Thanks to the long-standing friendship between Malaysia and China that keeps reaching new heights, Malaysia has always been one of our most important strategic markets. We appreciate that the Malaysian government constantly provides an inclusive environment and efficient service to innovative enterprises like us," he said. 
MINSK, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Test systems for detecting monkeypox will be ready to use in Belarus by mid-June as planned, the country's Deputy Health Minister and Chief State Sanitary Doctor Alexander Tarasenko said Tuesday.

The National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology is engaging in the development of the test systems, reported BELTA News Agency,

If testing is needed before mid-June, the biomaterial will be transferred to Russia's State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector, Tarasenko was quoted as saying.

According to Tarasenko, epidemiologists are concerned about monkeypox cases in Europe, as the epidemic, previously recorded in Central and West Africa, has now spread to other parts of the world.

However, the deputy minister said that the risk of importing the infection to Belarus is minimal and the health ministry has strengthened control measures at the border.

Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in the tropical rainforest areas of central and west Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions. In May 2022, multiple cases of monkeypox were identified in several non-endemic countries, according to the World Health Organization. 
MOSCOW, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday to simplify the procedure for residents in the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions in southern Ukraine to apply for Russian citizenship.

Putin signed the document to amend an April 2019 decree, expanding the favorable terms from serving Donetsk and Lugansk residents to covering people of the current four places.

The Zaporizhzhya region is preparing to issue Russian passports, Sputnik news agency reported on Wednesday. 
WASHINGTON, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is disappointing for some nations as it fails to include plans to lower tariffs, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said Monday in an article.

As U.S. President Joe Biden's approval rating dips, observers have raised doubt over the continuity of Washington's policy.

"The key problem for Biden in Asia is that he is constrained by the domestic politics of trade in the United States," Neil Thomas, a China analyst at the political risk consulting firm Eurasia Group, was quoted by the WSJ as saying.

"What countries in Asia want is precisely what Biden cannot give: greater access to the U.S. market," Thomas said. 
DAMASCUS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- During its controversial war on terror in Syria, the U.S. military killed a big number of civilians and has ever since trying to cover up the crimes in order to escape with impunity, Syrian experts have said.

In a 2019 airstrike near the town of Baghouz in Syria's eastern Deir al-Zour province, a total of 80 people were killed, 64 of whom were believed to be civilians including women and children, in one of the largest civilian casualty incidents in the U.S. war against the Islamic State (IS).

However, the killing of civilians in the attack was first exposed by The New York Times in last November, prompting a U.S. internal probe by the Pentagon, which concluded last week that most of the killed were "IS fighters" so no U.S. troops involved should be even disciplined.

In defense of the conclusion, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said: "yes, we killed some innocent civilians, women and children...It was in the midst of combat, in the fog of war."

The U.S. Central Command also defended its action earlier by claiming that 60 of the victims "might have been terrorists because women and children in the Islamic State sometimes took up arms."

The cold-blooded dismissal of any wrongdoing has once again attested to the U.S. hypocrisy, if not leniency, toward heinous war crimes committed by U.S. troops in other countries, said Syrian experts.

Hussam Shoaib, a Syrian political expert, told Xinhua that the Pentagon was forced to carry out the investigation to give an impression that Washington is concerned about human rights, but the conclusion was shameless and hypocritic by refusing to hold accountable any of those behind the civilian killings.

"Of course, the goal behind delaying the investigation was an attempt to absorb the public opinion. Now, this announcement came out, aside from the issue of numbers, to give a new impression that the United States of America is defending human rights and is concerned about it," he said.

Shoaib stressed that there were even more victims than what the U.S. media had reported in the strike in Baghouz, and that the United States wants to hide the real number of victims to escape with impunity.

"Today when we talk about the Baghouz massacre maybe there were more than 70 deaths because the U.S. wants to dwarf the numbers to give the impression that there were no mass killings against the civilian population as a result of its barbaric operations in Syria," he said.

Mohammad al-Omari, another Syrian political expert, said the United States has been trying very hard to polish its own image as an invader and exonerate its troops in Syria from the crimes they are accused of.

He told Xinhua that the Syrian government and U.S. media had both accused the U.S. administration of committing mass killings of civilians in Syria, but Washington has been "deliberately hiding the actual number of civilian victims so to maintain its self-drawn image of a human rights protector."

"This indicates that the U.S., which carries flashy slogans about the protection of human rights and democracy, is actually violating the human rights and the rights of the Syrians through committing massacres against the Syrian people," al-Omari said.

The irony, he said, is that those who claim to be protecting civilians and their rights cover up their own crimes against civilians under the pretext of fighting terror.

Al-Omari also said that the United States violated the international law by creating the so-called anti-terror coalition against the IS outside the international legitimacy and without the consent of the Syrian government.

"The creation of the anti-terror coalition outside international legitimacy, the intervention in the Syrian territories without coordination with the Syrian state, and the killing of Syrians under the slogan of fighting terrorism, indicate how the U.S. is undermining the international law under the pretext of freedom and human rights," he said. 
South Africa: Infrastructure must be maintained with climate change in mind

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Patricia de Lille, says recent flooding in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal has highlighted the importance of building and maintaining public infrastructure with the mitigation of changing climate patterns in mind.

The Minister was presenting the departments budget for the 2022/23 financial year in the National Assembly on Tuesday afternoon.

The floods took the lives of at least 443 people and destroyed public infrastructure including schools and housing.

Recent events have again laid bare the importance of infrastructure and ensuring that we not only build new infrastructure but maintain existing infrastructure. We must build and maintain infrastructure taking the severe impacts of climate change into consideration, she said.

De Lille said the department has been hard at work in both provinces in support of reconstruction and relief efforts.

A database of over 300 built environment professionals has been made available to COGTA [Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs] to help assess, scope, cost, design and implement critical reconstruction and building of damaged infrastructure. Departmental resources will focus on the current 53 government owned buildings in KZN and the 12 government owned buildings in Eastern Cape, which have been damaged by the floods to make them usable.

The department has also identified 258 land parcels while the KZN Department of Public Works and Human Settlements have identified a further 25 land parcels. These land parcels are being assessed for suitability for the resettlement of displaced communities by the Housing Development Agency (HDA), she said.

The Minister highlighted that furthermore, the construction of 18 bridges in KZN will commence at the beginning of June, at least 20 bridges have been assessed in the Eastern Cape and that more capacity has been assigned to the two provinces Transport Departments.

Furthermore, the Minister told the National Assembly that a final report on the damages caused by the fire, which ravaged Parliaments buildings earlier this year, is being processed.

Budget highlights

The Minister presented the departments budget to the NA and highlighted that it includes:

Some R8.5 billion in terms of the Appropriation Bill of which R7.4 billion is earmarked for transfers and subsidies with the rest dedicated to paying salaries and goods and services

The total budget allocation for the Property Management and Trading Entity (PMTE) is some R23.5 billion with R19 billion of that coming from client departments

The biggest source for the PMTE budget is received through revenue from accommodation charges for client departments using [the departments] buildings.

In terms of last financial years expenditure, the department managed to spend 97% of the adjusted budget and PMTEs expenditure in the last financial year was 89%, she said.

De Lille revealed that as of March this year, departments utilising the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) buildings and infrastructure owe the department at least R8.3 billion.

More than 60% of the amount relates to old claims for previous years. For the financial year 2021/22 under review, R21.5 billion was invoiced to client departments, of which R18.4 billion (85%) was recovered.

Late reimbursements affects DPWIs ability to provide quality services and settle invoices to service providers and municipalities, she said.

Expanded Public Works Programme

She revealed that the department has allocated at least R3 billion to the employment providing Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) for the 2022/23 financial year and revealed that more than a million work opportunities were provided in the last year.

In the 2021/22 financial year, the overall target for work opportunities in EPWP was 1 009.

Out of these work opportunities, provinces and municipalities combined have reported 634 546 work opportunities, she said.

Shelters for GBV victims

As part of governments response to the scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa, the Minister said the department will be stepping up its efforts to release properties which will be converted into shelters for GBV survivors and victims.

DPWI has identified 83 properties in the past year to be allocated for shelters for victims of GBV and the Department of Social Development has selected 47 properties to be used as shelters.

The department will prepare and release more properties this year across the country for Social Development to utilise in the fight against gender-based violence and femicide and we call on provinces and municipalities to also release some of their own buildings for GBV purposes, she said. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
SINGAPORE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The fundamental objective of the so-called Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) by the United States is to besiege and contain China under the pretense of promoting regional economic development, said Ang Teck Sin, a political commentator in Singapore.

The IPEF, to some extent, is a substitute for the U.S.-framed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in terms of containing China's development and growth, Ang told Xinhua on Monday.

The TPP was signed in early 2016 as a massive trade agreement led by the United States. However, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from it shortly after taking office. The remaining TPP members have forged ahead with a new version of the pact, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The U.S. move to initiate the TPP aimed to cut the economic links between China and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, which is also the primary purpose of the Joe Biden administration in launching the IPEF, said Ang.

Ang said the Biden administration has no intention of joining the CPTPP but has been attempting to continue to fulfill the TPP's goal of containing China with the new IPEF.

To enable the IPEF to corner China, the United States needs more member states to join the framework, said Ang, pointing to U.S. attempts to draw the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries over to its side.

The United States still leads the world with its powerful military technology and economic strength. But that isn't enough to persuade smaller countries to join U.S.-led blocs if it means harming their own interests.

The American oligarchy has been formed. The National Rifle Association has hijacked its domestic policy while the arms industry holds outsized influence in international policy, said Ang, adding that this is a problem that both parties in the United States face.

Ang added that the situation would not change until a third party emerges to eliminate these overly influential interest groups. 
WASHINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Two U.S. veterans who fought air campaigns in the 1940s to help the Chinese defeat Japanese aggression called for the wartime spirit of friendship and cooperation between the two countries to address the present-day challenges facing all humankind.

Robert Moore and Harry Moyer were pilots of the Flying Tigers -- a volunteer air unit organized by the U.S. government to fight alongside the Chinese army and people against the Japanese invasion during World War II.

They recently sent letters to Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang, less than two months after Qin and the two veterans attended an event in Washington marking the 80th anniversary of the Flying Tigers' air defense of China.

"The term 'Flying Tigers' means so much more than just those two words. It was coined at a terrible time in Chinese history," Moyer wrote in his letter. "China and America were allies then, great friends, and together drove the invaders from the land and sky."

"I understand the soul of the Tiger does not die as other animals do but lives on. So too should we look at that relationship as an example of how our two countries worked together to overcome great challenges," he said.

Moore said that the dangers of today's world, from environmental degradation to the spread of contagious diseases, are affecting every human on earth. "That is why we must work together, cooperatively and in the spirit of friendship. Our lives may depend on it."

"Too many nations are still acting like schoolboys arguing over marbles on the playground," Moore said.

"I believe that China and the United States, two countries with a history of cooperation can be an example for the rest of the world. Real changes must come from those in positions of authority who are willing to lead and have the desire for a better world," he said. 
by Xinhua writer Wang Xinyi

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Two years ago, 46-year-old unarmed African American George Floyd died handcuffed, gasping for air under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.

Footage of his last words pleading, "I can't breathe" set off collective grief and anger, which evolved into a modern-day civil rights movement that had brewed for years. Unfortunately, little progress has been made in advancing black civil rights since.

Despite mounting calls for racial justice and police overhauls, the Floyd tragedy continues unabated in a country where white supremacy remains widespread. Floyd's murder was nothing new -- it merely came to the fore while many more unknown "Floyds" remain out there.

A New York Times report in April cited an investigation released by the Department of Human Rights of the U.S. state of Minnesota showing that the Minneapolis Police Department routinely engages in several forms of racially discriminatory policing, fails to hold officers accountable for misconduct and has used fake social media accounts to target black people and organizations.

Real change feels elusive, especially for many black Americans, who have been living under the shadows of systemic racism and ingrained injustice across the country. They know all too well that those officers were held accountable in large part due to a simmering outcry. After all the complaints filed, tears dropped, blood shed, rallies launched and reform bills grilled in the Senate, the disproportionate use of excessive, often lethal, force against people of color continued relentlessly.

One of the most recent cases involved Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old black man fatally shot in the back of the head while face down by a Michigan police officer during a traffic stop.

In a poll jointly conducted with the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research earlier this year, the Associated Press found that few Americans believe there has been significant progress over the last 50 years in achieving equal treatment for black people in dealings with police and the criminal justice system. Black Americans, many of whom held hope in Democrats' promises on racial justice initiatives in 2020, are especially pessimistic about future progress in this regard.

Instead, after chanting for years about racial justice and vowing police reform, White House politicians are talking more about bolstering the police for "public safety." The current administration has deviated from its promise to voters, hell-bent on increasing police numbers.

Fading trust in police and the judicial system is corroding public faith and poisoning the social climate.

Across the country, racial profiling against African-Americans occurs daily and on almost every front, from education and employment to healthcare. Furthermore, staggering wealth and immunity gaps harm communities of color.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare underlying inequalities and cracks in the U.S. system. Among over 1 million lives lost to the coronavirus, communities of color were hit hardest due to failed access to health insurance and vaccines.

"Racial inequality was baked into the recipe of the creation of the United States of America," Brookings senior fellow Rashawn Ray argued. From plunder and oppression in the earlier establishment of the country to lynching and exclusion that have persisted until today, racist traditions are deeply embedded in America and fit nicely into a culture that is numb, or perhaps opposed, to oversight and accountability when it comes to racial justice.

The United States, long believed to be a melting pot that embraces diversity, has chosen to oppress minority communities, turning the American dream into a nightmare for many.

What lies behind these chronic woes is a long-overdue response by self-serving political elites, more obsessed with political posturing than passing legislation to bring necessary change.

The time has come for the United States to truly mend its extensive racism and heal the wounds of a divided society. 
WASHINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- An 18-year-old man opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde city in the U.S. state of Texas on Tuesday afternoon, leaving at least 21 people dead, including 18 children, authorities said.

The shooting has again showed that the recurrent and deep-rooted problem of gun violence in the United States is aggravating.

As of Tuesday, over 31,300 people have died or been injured due to gun-related incidents in the United States this year, according to a database run by the nonprofit research group Gun Violence Archive.

The following are some of the bloodiest mass shootings in the United States this year:

-- A 18-year-old gunman walked into an elementary school in Uvalde in the U.S. state of Texas on Tuesday afternoon and killed at least 21 people, including 18 children, Governor Greg Abbott said at a news conference.

-- Two people were killed on the scene and three others critically injured in a shooting at a flea market on May 15 in Houston, the largest city of the U.S. state Texas, authorities said.

-- Also on May 15, one person was killed and at least four others were injured in a shooting at a church in the western U.S. state of California, authorities said.

-- On May 14, an armored gunman killed 10 people and injured three others at a supermarket in Buffalo of New York State, according to local enforcement officials.

-- On May 8, one person was killed in an apparent shooting on Grizzly Peak Boulevard in Oakland, police said.

-- On April 17, two minors died and eight more people were injured after shots were fired at a house party with as many as 200 people in attendance in Pittsburgh, a major city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

-- On April 16, two separate mass shootings in the state of South Carolina have left at least 23 people injured in total.

-- On April 8-11, at least 18 people were shot, with at least five of them killed, in New Orleans, the largest city in the southern U.S. state Louisiana within 72 hours, tying the record for the last 10 years.

-- On April 3, the Sacramento Police Department confirmed that six adults were killed and 12 other people were injured in a mass shooting in the capital city of California.

-- On Feb. 28, five people, including three children, were killed after a man opened fire in a church near Arden Fair mall in Sacramento. 
* As of Tuesday, over 31,300 people have died or been injured due to gun-related incidents in the United States this year, according to a database run by the nonprofit research group Gun Violence Archive.

* The time has come for the United States to truly mend its extensive gun violence and heal the wounds of a society in disarray.

* The United States has seen at least 212 mass shootings so far this year, according to an online database that keeps a record of the country's gun violence incidents.

by Xinhua writer Xu Jianmei

HOUSTON, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The names of at least 19 children and two teachers who were killed on Tuesday in the deadliest U.S. school shooting over nearly a decade are gradually being revealed in Uvalde, in the U.S. state of Texas.

Eight-year-old Uziyah Garcia and ten-year-old Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez were among the victims, local media outlets reported early Wednesday morning.

Distraught families of the Robb Elementary School students gathered at a local community center late into the night of Tuesday, making pleas for help to find missing children. A number of parents had been asked for DNA swabs to confirm their relationship with their children, local media reported.

The tragedy is the deadliest shooting at a school since the Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut in 2012 that left 26 people dead, including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old.

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

The shooting once again demonstrates that gun violence, a deep-rooted problem in the United States, is worsening.

As of Tuesday, over 31,300 people have died or been injured due to gun-related incidents in the United States this year, according to a database run by the nonprofit research group Gun Violence Archive.

The time has come for the United States to truly mend its extensive gun violence and heal the wounds of a society in disarray. What lies behind the chronic woe is a long-overdue response by self-serving political elites, more obsessed with political posturing than passing legislation to bring about necessary changes.

"There are parents who will never see their child again, never have them jump in bed and cuddle with them ... To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away," U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday night.

The president has ordered U.S. flags on federal grounds to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Saturday to remember the victims of these "senseless acts of violence."

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

The number of the injured remained unclear as of early Wednesday morning. Uvalde Memorial Hospital spokesperson Tom Nordwick earlier said that as many as 13 children and a man in his 40s were being treated for injuries following the shooting.

Erika Escamilla, a local resident, told The Washington Post of her 10-year-old niece's experience during the shooting happening in the classroom next to hers.

The young girl heard a man cursing and yelling, and then gunshots. Afterward, when her class was evacuated, she looked into the classroom and saw the horrific scene, said Escamilla.

"She's traumatized ... She saw blood everywhere," said Escamilla.

The assailant, an 18-year-old man who entered the school with a handgun and possibly a rifle, "shot and killed (these kids) horrifically, incomprehensibly," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott at a news briefing earlier on Tuesday.

Police are believed to have killed the gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, a local high school student aged 18 who also shot his grandmother before crashing a vehicle near the school. He is believed to have acted alone.

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on top of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

"I am sick and tired of it. We have to act," Biden said from the White House hours afterward, calling the shooting a "carnage."

"The gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons which make them the most and largest profit," said Biden, "We have to have the courage to stand up to the industry."

"How many more children must lose their lives from senseless gun violence?" Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner questioned in a statement following the shooting.

"By doing nothing to prevent gun violence, (our) nation chooses this pain," an editorial published by the San Antonio Express-News said.

March for Our Lives, a student-led movement supporting gun control legislation, tweeted that "you can't stop a bullet with thoughts and prayers."

"To honor those lost and save countless lives, we need action," the group wrote. "We're dying while we wait for it."

Before the Uvalde shooting, there had been at least 39 shootings in K-12 schools, colleges and universities through 2022, resulting in at least 10 deaths and 51 injuries across the United States, according to a CNN report.

The United States has seen at least 212 mass shootings so far this year, according to an online database that keeps a record of the country's gun violence incidents.

More than 17,000 people have died in gun-related episodes across the United States over the past five months, including approximately 640 children and teenagers.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut delivered an emotional call to action on the Senate floor following the school shooting in Uvalde, saying that "our kids are living in fear every single time they set foot in a classroom because they think they're going to be next."

"What are we doing? Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senate? Why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job -- of putting yourself in a position of authority -- if your answer is that as the slaughter increases, as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing," the senator said.

Photo taken on May 24, 2022 shows the flags at half-staff on top of the Texas Department of Transportation building in Austin, Texas, the United States. (Photos by Bo Lee/Xinhua)

Last week, 38 gun control groups urged lawmakers to take immediate action in a letter to Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The groups first requested that House Democrats "appropriate 750 million U.S. dollars for evidence-led Community Violence Initiatives," which they said could "break cycles of violence by addressing their root causes through meaningful investments to community-led programs."

They also urged Senate Democrats to "live up to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's pledge to hold a Senate debate" and vote on legislation to expand background checks to all gun purchases.

They also wanted the leaders to address the "Charleston Loophole," which allows gun purchases to move forward after three business days, even with an incomplete background check.

"Following the most recent racist act of domestic terrorism in Buffalo, New York and the increase in gun violence across the country, we are calling on you to immediately do everything and anything in your power to live up to the promises you make to voters every election year," the groups wrote in their letter.

(Xinhua writers Xia Lin in New York City and Sun Ding in Washington D.C. also contributed to the story.) (Video reporters: Sun Ding, Hu Yousong, Liu Yanan, Zhang Mocheng; video editors: Wu Yao, Li Qing, Ming Dajun)
RAMALLAH: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with President of the European Union (EU) Parliament Roberta Metsola in Ramallah to discuss the rising tension between Palestine and Israel. On Tuesday, the meeting took place.

Metsola came to Israel on Monday and had discussions in the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, amid rising tensions between Israel and Palestinians in recent weeks, according to reports.

President Abbas addressed the EU Parliament President on the continuous "Israeli assaults and assassinations," settlement development, and Israeli actions in east Jerusalem, according to the official Palestinian news agency (WAFA). "The unilateral Israeli measures in Jerusalem and the entire Palestinian lands are mounting to crimes of ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination," the Palestinian President told WAFA.

Abbas complimented the European Parliament, the European Union (EU), and its member states for supporting the political process to end the Israeli occupation based on international legitimacy and international law.

The President of the European Parliament told the Palestinian President that the EU backs the two-state solution based on international resolutions, international law, and rejection of Israeli settlements.

Sri Lanka PM Ranil Wickremesinghe to retain FM Portlio

Ukraine receives 20,000 artillery rounds of NATO standard 155 mm ammunition from Canada

Xinjiang police files reveal details of Uyghur internment in China
Srinagar: An inflammatory tweet by former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi about separatist and terrorist Yasin Malik of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has surfaced, to which former Indian spinner Amit Mishra replied that Afridi stopped speaking. In fact, today Yasin Malik is going to be punished in a terror funding case. Afridi had tweeted that the way India is trying to silence those who raise their voice against human rights abuses in Kashmir has no meaning.

In a tweet, Afridi wrote, "The way India is trying to silence those raising voice against the violation of their human rights is meaningless. Fabricated allegations against Yasin Malik will not stop kashmir's freedom struggle. On such illegal trails against the leaders of Kashmir, I appeal to the United Nations (UN) to take notice of this matter. '

To this, Amit Mishra replied, "Dear Shahid Afridi, he (Yasin Malik) has pleaded guilty in the courtroom. Everything can't be misleading like your date of birth. This tweet of Amit Mishra is going viral on social media. Let us know that On the Kashmir issue, Afridi has made provocative statements and tweets in the past.

Virat Kohli to score 'century' to win the match today? Shoaib Akhtar has hope, says this.

2nd Eliminator of IPL 2022 today, Rahul Brigade to face Bangalore's challenge

Hardik Pandya says heart-wrenching thing about Dhoni
UNITED NATIONS: According to a news statement from the Department of Peace Operations, a Zimbabwean peacekeeper who served with UNMISS Wins 2021 Military Gender Advocate of Year Award.

Major Winnet Zharare, a military observer who served in Bentiu, South Sudan, until April 2022, will receive the honour from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday at an event commemorating the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, according to reports.

In a news statement, Guterres stated, "She has proved invaluable role that women play in developing trust, fighting for change, and forging peace." "Her example demonstrates how more women at the decision-making table and gender balance in peace operations can benefit us all." In November 2020, Zharare was assigned to the UN Mission in South Sudan.

She campaigned for gender balance and women's involvement within her own ranks, among local military peers, and in host communities throughout her 17-month tenure, according to the news release.

Palestinian Authority asks US to remove PLO from its terror lists

Turkey wants 'formal agreement' to allow Finland and Sweden to join NATO

Palestinian and EU parliament Presidents discuss states' rising conflicts
Dhana Raj Acharya of the CPN-Unified Socialist has been elected the mayor of Pokhara, the largest metropolitan city in terms of area, and apparently Nepals tourism capital. The 52-year-old Acharya garnered 58,893 votes whereas Krishna Bahadur Thapa of CPN-UML was restricted to 52,848.

Whereas it is Acharyas first time in a public office, he is an established name in several other sectors. Here are five essential things you need to know to know Dhana Raj Acharya and his vision for Pokhara.

1. Good impression outside the party

Dhana Raj Acharya says he has a vision and a will to work. He is also a capable leader. Although he represents a new party that is yet to expand its organisation across Nepal, Acharya was able to garner a good number of votes in the toughly-fought mayoral election. People believe many of his voters were outside the Unified Socialist and the ruling alliance. Apparently, many cadres of the opposition UML voted for him thanks to his good impression.

2. Lions Club activism

File: Dhana Raj Acharya

Dhana Raj Acharya has been active in the Lions Club for more than a decade and has not been involved in any controversy till now. He was the governor of the club in 2017/2018. He hence had hoped he would win the votes of the Lions.

3. Competition with a previous leader

L-R: Krishna Thapa and Dhana Raj Acharya

Dhana Raj Acharya had played an important role in making Krishna Thapa of the UML the mayor in 1997. Hence, he had considered the competition to be very interesting this time.

4. Irregular political career

Dhana Raj Acharya came to prominence in Pokhara politics in 1994 as a student leader at the Prithvi Narayan Campus, but he was not active in mainstream politics for a long time. Nonetheless, he was involved in the CPN-UMLs student wing and Kaski district committee for some years.

After the split of the CPN-UML last year, senior UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal formed a parallel committee across the country. Acharya returned to politics as the Kaski coordinator of the same committee. His return to politics had been a headache for Kaski UML.

5. Regular business career

Dhana Raj Acharya files his candidacy for the mayor of Pokhara, in 2022.

If you believe Dhana Raj Acharya is an irregular politician, you can surely say he is a regular business person. He has made a big economic leap in the meantime.

He started his business in a stationery store. While active in industry and business, Acharya did not give up the ropes of business associations close to the UML. In 2003, he became the head of UMLs Kaski Industry and Business Department. From 2004 to 2012, he was the fraction secretary of the Federation of Nepal Book and Stationery Entrepreneurs.

Acharya was also active in the Federation of Nepalese National Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Entrepreneurs and took charge of the central industry and labour department of the CPN-UML.
Home  Nature  Sustainability  GGGI to partner with Energy Ministry, NEA and KU to produce hydrogen and ammonia for fertilisers

Kathmandu, May 25

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), an inter-governmental organisation working in over 40 countries in the world, has extended its partnerships with the Energy Ministry, Nepal Electricity Authority and Kathmandu University to produce green hydrogen and ammonia for fertiliser production in the country.

The organisation signed various agreements with concerned government officials recently as the organisations Director-General Frank Rijsberman and Asia Regional Director Achala Abaysinghe visited Nepal from May 20 to 24.

The visit was aimed at strengthening existing relationships in the country and establishing new partnerships, the organisation says.

In particular, the GGGI Nepal office says it signed memorandums with the Nepal Electricity Authority, Ministry of Energy, and the Kathmandu University to work together on green hydrogen and ammonia production for fertilisers in Nepal.

Likewise, the GGGI launched a National Roadmap for Bamboo Sector in partnership with the Ministry of Forests and Environment. This paves way for further work to build capacity and enterprises in the bamboo sector in Nepal.

The organisations Nepal office says the visit was aimed at deepening relationships with the ministry, National Planning Commission and other national agencies and understanding Nepals ground reality including the green growth opportunities here.

During their stay in Kathmandu, the officials also visited the Teku waste transfer station to assess potential solutions to waste management in Nepal, and the Guhyeshwari wastewater treatment plant to understand challenges in wastewater treatment.
Kathmandu, May 25

Police have recorded former Miss Nepal Malvika Subbas statement in connection with her alleged involvement as a witness in an eight-year-old rape case on Tuesday.

Subbas name had come up in the recently revealed case where a woman has accused Manoj Pandey, the organiser of a beauty pageant of drugging, raping and blackmailing her.

Malvika Subba was the choreographer of the beauty pageant and was called by the police as a witness.

The police on May 21, arrested the accused, Manoj Pandey, owner of Model Global Visas Consultancy on charges he raped a minor in 2016.

SP Dinesh Raj Mainali says that Nepal Police will speak to various others including those whose names have been mentioned in the video posted by the woman.

Police sources say that Subba told police that the young lady had told her she was harassed but she did not ask for details from the lady.

Police say that Subbas statement will help them during the investigation.

Nepal Police says that it has also called on the winner and the second runner-up of the beauty pageant the lady was a part of.
There is this rhythm in the paintings on display in the group art exhibition titled, Sirjana-2020: A Collective Art Show.

Sirjana-2020 began on Sunday at Nepal Art Council, Babermahal and is the annual show from the masters of Sirjana College of Fine Arts.

A range with rhythm

In the exhibition, most of the rhythmic paintings are created in the abstract form where their composition and the colour combination have enhanced their fluidity, sending out pleasant vibes to the viewers. Veteran artist Shashi Shahs two paintingsColourful Horses and Black Horses featured in the exhibition showcase horses on movement. There is this sense of rhythm on those running horses.

Colourful Horses by Shahi Shah in the exhibition

Likewise, artist Navindra Man Rajbhandari has created a set of four abstract paintings titled Tamasoma Jyotirgmaya using bold and vibrant colours like red, yellow, black, white and more. His curvy, straight or curly lines also have similar essence as if the lines are dancing to some happy music.

Tamasoma Jyotirgmaya by Navindra Man Rajbhandari

Then, artist Sunil Ranjit using the religious motif of Mahakaali has depicted the mask dance in the abstract form where he has beautifully played with the luminosity in his composition. Not only religious motifs, but he has also represented the social life of rural Kathmandu, where few Newa men and women are busy with rice planting and playing musical instruments in another set of paintings.

Newa social life in Sunil Ranjits paintings.

Installation art too

Moreover, the first floor of the gallery for Sirjana-2020 is garnered with not only the paintings but installations and sculptors as well.

As you enter the gallery, a larger than life-size dragonfly by veteran artist Sharada Man Shrestha welcomes you warmly. This sculpture is made of scrap and waste materials. Other sculptors whose artworks are on display are Gopal Kalapremi Shrestha, Chandra Shyam Dangol and Prakash Ratna Shakya.

Ceramics 2021 Raku ware by Gopal Kalapremi Shrestha

Then, Sirjana-2020 also features paintings from veteran artists such as Krishna Manandhar, Batsa Gopal Vaidya, Sharda Ranjit, Madan Chitra, Radheshyam Mulmi, Lok Chitrakar, Shyam Lal Shrestha, and Devina Malla among others.

Moreover, one gets to witness artworks from different generations of artists along with modern and traditional artworks. This year, 24 artists artworks have been showcased in the exhibition.

Other highlights of Sirjana-2020 are musical programmes, folk dances and portrait workshops. The musical and folk dance programme was held on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. The portrait workshop will begin at 12:30 pm on Thursday and anyone interested can visit the exhibition to participate in it.

The exhibition continues till May 27.
" " Colorado Springs-based American Kenny Rackers celebrates winning the first race at Cooper's Hill during the annual tradition of cheese rolling on May 27, 2013, in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, England. Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Usually on the last Monday in May, a huge wheel of cheese goes hurtling down a hillside in southwest England. And if that weren't awesome enough, people chase it.

The annual Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling in Gloucestershire County has been going on for centuries. It's not the only cheese-rolling event in Gloucestershire, and there are at least a couple outside England, but the Cooper's Hill one in the town of Brockworth is the most famous. Thousands of people show up to watch racers fall their way down the course. (Due to the Queen's Platinum Jubilee this year, the 2022 version of this race will be held on Sunday, June 5, instead.)

It's an extreme sport. Few, if any, of those chasing the cheese remain on their feet. Cooper's Hill is bumpy and might as well be vertical  the slope is 70 degrees in some stretches  so racers basically lurch, roll and tumble their way to the finish line. That's about 220 yards (200 meters) of falling hard. Bruises, scrapes, sprains, dislocations and broken bones are common. A bouncing cheese wheel once sent a spectator to the hospital.

But one hardy runner from each race walks away with a roughly 8-pound (3.6-kilogram) wheel of traditional Double Gloucester, a firm cheese described by the British Cheese Board as "mellow, creamy or buttery."

Gloucestershire residents have been producing Double Gloucester since about 1500. When exactly they started chucking it down Cooper's Hill is hard to say.

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Mysterious Beginnings

The first known written account of the annual cheese rolling dates to 1826, but it was likely already a long-standing tradition by then. One enthusiast dug up a 1902 news clipping that has the event going back "at least 200 years" before then.

The "why" of cheese rolling is pretty elusive. The 1902 article simply calls it a "rustic sport," but some think it may have its roots in ancient pagan festivals or religious rites. Gabrielle Roman writes in the cheese magazine Culture that, allegedly, "pagans would roll bundles of burning brush down a hill to represent the birth of the new year," and scatter "buns or cakes across the top of the hill as a sort of fertility rite, in an effort to bring in a good harvest."

A local paper suggests it could stem from an ancient ritual related to securing rights to common pasturage. The British Cheese Board wonders if the supposed habit of early Double Gloucester buyers to "jump up and down on the cheese to assess its grade and suitability" might come into play.

However cheese rolling came about, the goal, at least, is simple: Catch the cheese.

But you can't actually catch the cheese. For one thing, it gets a head start. The master of ceremonies counts to four to start the race, releasing the cheese on three and the racers on four. A wheel also dramatically outperforms bipeds on steep, uneven terrain. The Double Gloucester has been clocked at up to 70 miles (113 kilometers) per hour.

So in practice, the goal is to be the first nondairy entity across the finish line. And preferably without sustaining any major injuries.

" " Competitors lurch, roll and tumble during the annual Spring bank holiday cheese-rolling race at Cooper's Hill near Gloucester in 2019. Mark Hawkins/Composed Images/Future Publishing via Getty Images

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"A Most Dangerous Game"

Cheese rolling can be treacherous. The 1902 article observes that the Cooper's Hill race "appears to strangers to be a most dangerous game, but the hill people appear quite unconcerned."

The racers seem to take a "throw-yourself-off-the-top" approach, as Jean Jefferies, a resident of Cooper's Hill and the author of "Cheese-rolling in Gloucestershire," once put it. A Fest300 reviewer from San Francisco who attended the race in 2013 compared it to "throwing your childhood Raggedy Ann and Andy down the stairs."

Thus the paramedics and the "catchers." Traditionally from the local rugby team, catchers tackle any racers who cross the finish line on their feet so they don't keep speeding down the hill.

The town canceled the 1998 cheese rolling over safety concerns. At the 1997 event, at least 33 people were injured, some of them spectators. One spectator was hospitalized for head injuries after a cheese bounced into the crowd and he tried to dodge it, lost his balance and fell down the hill.

The race returned in 1999 with some safety improvements, including better fences, a mountain-rescue team on hand and a noon starting time, reasoning the former 6 p.m. start may have allowed contestants too many hours in the pub beforehand.

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Going Rogue

But after the 2009 cheese rolling, the town finally gave up. That year, 15,000 people showed up to watch, considered more than three times the safe capacity of the venue. In March 2010, the town announced the official end of the centuries-old event.

On hearing the news, one cheese racer told The Guardian, "I have no idea how I'll hurt myself this year now."

He needn't have worried. Rebel cheese racers took over the planning, organization and liability, and the unofficial annual Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling was born. In 2015, Brockworth local Chris Anderson won his 15th cheese. Here's some footage of the 2015 event that BadgerBotherer1 posted on YouTube.

Now That's Cool During England's period of World War II food rationing, racers chased a hollow wooden cheese replica, which contained a sliver of cheese, down Cooper's Hill.

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Originally Published: Apr 18, 2016
Weather Alert

PATCHY DENSE FOG THIS MORNING Widespread fog remains in place over parts of the area this morning with visibilities varying from 1 to 4 miles. Some areas may have patchy dense fog with visibilities at a quarter of a mile or less. This is expected to diminish by 10AM. Motorists should be aware of varying visibilities while driving. Motorists should slow down, use your low beam headlights, and leave plenty of distance ahead of you.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off on May 19, 2022.

The mission launched from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for NASA Boeing's uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) for the agency's Commercial Crew Program.

Liftoff for OFT-2 occurred at 6:54 p.m. EDT. Starliner is expected to arrive at the space station for docking about 24 hours later with more than 500 pounds of NASA cargo. The flight test is designed to test the system's end-to-end capabilities for NASA's Commercial Crew Program providing valuable data towards NASA certifying Boeing's crew transportation system for regular crewed flights to and from the International Space Station.

NASA ID: KSC-20220519-PH-KED02_0003 Photographer: NASA/Kevin Davis and Chris Colem Larger image

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President Biden on Tuesday spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to offer federal assistance in the aftermath of a school shooting that left 14 children dead.

Biden phoned Abbott while en route back to Washington, D.C., from Asia, where he had been since Friday. Biden offered the governor any and all assistance he needs in the wake of the horrific shooting in Uvalde, TX, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tweeted.

Biden is scheduled to address the shooting in prepared remarks later on Tuesday at the White House.

A gunman killed at least 14 children and one teacher at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday, making it the deadliest massacre of the year to date and the deadliest school shooting since 2018, when a gunman killed 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

Biden was briefed on the Texas shooting while aboard Air Force One by deputy chief of staff Jen OMalley Dillon and other aides on the plane. Biden ordered flags be flown at half-staff at all government buildings through Saturday in response to the shooting.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
DAVOS, Switzerland  The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is well underway, and there is a lot happening here on the ground despite not being as crowded as previous years.

One source said the crowds feel 10% to 20% lighter in the halls of the Congress Center. Another noted that the after-hours party scene (more on that below) is less muted than in year's past.

There is also far less optimism about the economy in the voices of world's power brokers. One CEO remarked that we may be talking ourselves into a recession. A few others have noted that Europe seems to be near a recession (though European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde offered a different take on this), which could blow back onto U.S. shores.

President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde speaks during a session at the Congress centre during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on May 25, 2022. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

Here is some other themes Yahoo Finance has spotted on the ground here at WEF:

The ghost of Trump: If you look closely, remnants of the Trump administration are all over Davos  and we aren't talking about those tariffs on China that President Biden may now be looking to end.

The hot after-hours party ticket on Tuesday was from former Trump White House Communications Director Anthony "The Mooch" Scaramucci. The Skybridge Capital founder has also been spotted working the halls  something he is very good at  of the busy Congress Center. No word on if Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, got an invite to Mooch's gathering. Kushner, who was spotted at the Congress Center on Monday, was here for Davos 2020 as part of the presidential delegation but has slipped in under-the-radar this time.

Next hot party ticket is today as cybersecurity firm Cloudflare (who is building a name for holding the best parties at Davos) is flying in The Chainsmokers to perform.

U.S. President Donald Trump leaves after a news conference at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Twitter drama: Those captivated by the Elon Musk-Twitter saga may have forgotten that Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor has a day job  and it isnt monitoring Elon Musks stream of consciousness on Twitter.

Since November 2021, Taylor has worked alongside tech titan Marc Benioff as co-CEO of Salesforce to compete against rivals SAP (CEO Christian Klein is here), ServiceNow (CEO Bill McDermott is not here due to a scheduling conflict, a source told me), and IBM (CEO Arvind Krishna is here, spotted in his trademark dark blue suit).

Story continues

Taylor clearly knows where his ultimate priorities lie, alongside Benioff and Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield (Salesforces latest  and largest  acquisition). Taylor has been meeting with business leaders throughout the week, a source says. Somehow we suspect the Twitter battle has come up in his chats  followed quickly by the future of cloud services and the future of work.

Borge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum (L) Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry (2nd L), Xie Zhenhua (3rd L) Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs of China , Geraldine Matchett, Member of the Board of Directors, ABB Ltd (3rd R), Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti (2nd R), Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com (R) attend the annual meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on May 24, 2022. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

All things finance: It's never hard to spot an investment banker at Davos  usually by their attire. Think slim fit dark-colored Hugo Boss or Zenga suit, fitted dark shirt, slim fit tie and dull black Gucci dress shoes.

The banker brigade has been out in full force this year, mostly the European deals and financing teams from the likes of a Goldman Sachs and others. Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing was also spotted in the Congress Center (in that dark suit setup...), as was the bank's America's CEO Christiana Riley.

Execs who Yahoo Finance have spoken with say bankers are presenting deals (because that's what they do) for companies they believe are worth much more than their current stock prices indicate (the market has been brutal as we all know).

Financing is also top of mind as companies look to shore up their balance sheets ahead of a potential recession. And on the topic of markets, one major hedge fund player told me the selling in the markets may not yet be over. Take from this what you will.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

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Diffractive solar sails, depicted in this conceptual illustration, could enable missions to hard-to-reach places, like orbits over the Suns poles. Credits: MacKenzi Martin

As NASA's exploration continues to push boundaries, a new solar sail concept selected by the agency for development toward a demonstration mission could carry science to new destinations.

The Diffractive Solar Sailing project was selected for Phase III study under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. Phase III aims to strategically transition NIAC concepts with the highest potential impact for NASA, other government agencies, or commercial partners.

"As we venture farther out into the cosmos than ever before, we'll need innovative, cutting-edge technologies to drive our missions," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program helps to unlock visionary ideas - like novel solar sails - and bring them closer to reality."

Like a sailboat using wind to cross the ocean, solar sails use the pressure exerted by sunlight to propel a craft through space. Existing reflective solar sail designs are typically very large and very thin, and they are limited by the direction of the sunlight, forcing tradeoffs between power and navigation. Diffractive lightsails would use small gratings embedded in thin films to take advantage of a property of light called diffraction, which causes light to spread out when it passes through a narrow opening. This would allow the spacecraft to make more efficient use of sunlight without sacrificing maneuverability.

"Exploring the universe means we need new instruments, new ideas, and new ways of going places," said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Our goal is to invest in those technologies throughout their lifecycle to support a robust ecosystem of innovation."

The new Phase III award will give the research team $2 million over two years to continue technology development in preparation for a potential future demonstration mission. The project is led by Amber Dubill of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

"NIAC allows us to foster some of the most creative technology concepts in aerospace," said Mike LaPointe, acting program executive for the NIAC program at NASA Headquarters. "Our goal is to change the possible, and diffractive solar sailing promises to do just that for a number of exciting new mission applications."

Diffractive lightsailing would extend solar sail capability beyond what's possible with missions in development today. The project is led by Amber Dubill of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The feasibility of the concept was previously studied under NIAC's Phase I and Phase II awards, led by Dr. Grover Swartzlander of Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, who continues as a co-investigator on the project. Les Johnson, lead for two of NASA's upcoming solar sail missions at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, also is a co-investigator. Under the earlier awards, the team designed, created, and tested different types of diffractive sail materials; conducted experiments; and designed new navigation and control schemes for a potential diffractive lightsail mission orbiting the Sun's poles.

Work under Phase III will optimize the sail material and perform ground tests in support of this conceptual solar mission. Orbits passing over the Sun's north and south poles are difficult to achieve using conventional spacecraft propulsion. Lightweight diffractive lightsails, propelled by the constant pressure of sunlight, could place a constellation of science spacecraft in orbit around the Sun's poles to advance our understanding of the Sun and improve our space weather forecasting capabilities.

"Diffractive solar sailing is a modern take on the decades old vision of lightsails. While this technology can improve a multitude of mission architectures, it is poised to highly impact the heliophysics community's need for unique solar observation capabilities," said Dubill. "With our team's combined expertise in optics, aerospace, traditional solar sailing, and metamaterials, we hope to allow scientists to see the Sun as never before."

NIAC supports visionary research ideas through multiple progressive phases of study. NASA announced 17 Phase I and Phase II proposal selections in February 2022. NIAC is funded by NASA's STMD, which is responsible for developing the new cross-cutting technologies and capabilities needed by the agency to achieve its current and future missions.

For more information about NASA's investments in space technology, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

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(Bloomberg) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who seized additional power this week with a state of emergency, said that large companies ranging from energy to airlines will have to turn over their extra profit to shore up the nations ailing budget.

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Banking, insurance, energy, large retail, telecom and airline industries -- sectors dominated by multinational firms -- will be ordered to turn over the bulk of their extra profit to two funds this year and next to finance utility-price subsidies and the cost of modernizing the armed forces, Orban said in a video message on Wednesday.

The fresh financing will help consolidate the Hungarian budget as the European Union imposes an effective funding freeze against Orbans government, which it accuses of flaunting European norms. The Hungarian forint extended losses against the euro after the announcement, closing in on a record low.

We ask and we expect that those who made extra profit in this time of war to help the people and contribute to the national defense budget, Orban said.

The funding move was Orbans first decision under a wartime state of emergency, which took effect Wednesday, two days after the premier was sworn in to a fifth term in office, allowing his government to rule by decree. Details of the move and its cost will be announced at a government briefing on Thursday, Orban said.

Hungarys budget has been pushed to the brink by record pre-election spending earlier this year, ahead of the April 3 election win that gave Orban two-thirds control of the Hungarian parliament.

Days after Orbans landslide victory, the European Commission triggered a freshly introduced mechanism that allows it to ultimately cut funding to members where graft and rule-of-law concerns are prevalent. While some had believed that the tool, which was first used against Hungary, may provide leverage against Orban after more than a decade of power consolidation, theres been no sign of a change of direction in Budapest.

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The Hungarian leader is currently blocking an EU attempt to impose an oil embargo against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Last week, he shared a 12-point blueprint with U.S. Republicans on how to consolidate control, including by building a media empire and new institutions. His ultimate message to them: Play by your own rules.

The forint dropped 3.1%, the most in more than two months, to near a record low, trading at 394.83 to the euro as of 7:06 p.m. in Budapest. Stocks plunged earlier as OTP Bank Nyrt., Hungarys largest lender, dived 4.7% while energy company Mol Nyrt. fell 4%.

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Container assembly that will be used to carry the agencys Biology Experiment-1 on the Artemis I mission. Photo credit: NASA

As NASA prepares to return to the Moon through Artemis, teams at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are working to send much smaller life forms to space to help scientists better understand the effects of space radiation before humans return to the lunar surface.

A number of science experiments, including the agency's Biology Experiment-1 (BioExpt-1), will be flying on board Artemis I - the mission that will test the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion as an integrated system before sending astronauts to the Moon.

NASA's Space Biology Program selected four biology experiments to fly as part of BioExpt-1, which involves using plant seeds, fungi, yeast, and algae to study the effects of space radiation before sending humans to the Moon and, eventually, to Mars.

"Each of these four experiments will help us understand a unique aspect of how biological systems can adapt and thrive in deep space," said Sharmila Bhattacharya, NASA program scientist for space biology. "Gathering information like this and analyzing it after flight will eventually help us paint the full picture of how we can help humans thrive in deep space."

During Artemis I, Orion will travel more than 40,000 miles beyond the Moon, passing through the Van Allen Belts - areas beyond low-Earth orbit where cosmic radiation is trapped - and providing researchers with a true deep space environment for conducting these experiments.

"We don't currently know what the effects of radiation are outside of low-Earth orbit and how that could affect our system and our biology," said Dinah Dimapilis, NASA project manager. "I'm excited to see what we can learn from these experiments, to see us go back to the Moon, and to know that I get to be a part of all of this."

The four experiments will be split into two science bags fabricated and assembled by personnel with the Test Operations and Support Contract at Kennedy. About three weeks before launch, each science bag will be carefully placed into container assemblies built by a team with the Florida spaceport's Laboratory Support Services and Operations Contract and then secured to the backbone of Orion.

When Orion finishes its journey and splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, each of the experiments will be returned to the principal investigators for further study. Those principal investigators were awarded grants from NASA Biological and Physical Sciences, totaling approximately $1.6 million. The awardees are Federica Brandizzi, Ph.D., Michigan State University; Timothy Hammond, Ph.D., Institute for Medical Research, Inc.; Zheng Wang, Ph.D., Naval Research Laboratory; and Luis Zea, Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder.

Astrobiology, Space biology,

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PROVIDENCE  Narragansett Electric is no more.

The first order of business for PPL Corp. on Wednesday after completing the purchase of National Grids electric and natural gas operations in Rhode Island was a change of name. The business once known as Narragansett Electric is now Rhode Island Energy.

More: Legal settlement clears way for sale of National Grid's business in RI

We felt it was important to demonstrate that we are a Rhode Island company serving Rhode Islanders, David Bonenberger, president of the new company, said in an interview. We are being inclusive of the entire state.

A truck with the name and logo of Rhode Island Energy, the gas and electric company formerly known as Narragansett Electric. PPL Corp. changed the name after finalizing the purchase of the company on Wednesday from National Grid.

Rhode Islanders may already have seen the new name and logo for the company. Its on some service trucks. Signs at the companys headquarters on Melrose Street in Providence will be switched over in the next few days. And the 780,000 customers in the state will start seeing changes in bill inserts and other correspondence next week.

Pennsylvania-based PPL is wasting no time after waiting longer than expected to close on the $5.3-billion transaction with National Grid and take over as the sole provider of natural gas in the state, as well as the main supplier of electricity.

The companies announced the sale more than a year ago. Its taken this long to get here because federal and state regulators had to review the transaction and sign off.

There were further delays after the Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities and Carriers gave the key approval to the deal in February. Both Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and Maura Healey, his counterpart in Massachusetts, lodged appeals.

More: Massachusetts attorney general drops objection to sale of National Grid's RI business

It was only after settlements were reached with them  the most recent, an agreement with Neronhas office valued at more than $200 million, announced Monday  that the sale could finally go through.

Bonenberger, a longtime PPL employee in Pennsylvania who was tapped to lead the new Rhode Island business last year, moved to Warwick last month with his wife, Francine. He spent his first official day in the Providence offices on Wednesday.

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Bonenberger was set to meet with Gov. Dan McKee, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey in the afternoon.

The message Bonenberger would convey: Were here for the long term, he said.

New call center and control room

Beyond the rebranding, Bonenberger said Rhode Islanders will start to see bigger changes. Because National Grid operates a business in Massachusetts too, it made financial sense to share services with Rhode Island. With the sale, PPL will have to build out some of those capabilities in Rhode Island.

A customer call center will be built at a facility already owned by the company in Cumberland. A natural gas control room will also be constructed there. An electric control room will go up at a company facility in Lincoln. As for storm response, it will continue to be coordinated out of the Providence office.

The investment in the state will mean an increase in the companys workforce, from 1,100 people today to about 1,300 by the time the transition from National Grid is complete in two years, said Bonenberger.

As to what customers can expect, Bonenberger said the company has plans to start offering the type of smart electric meters that PPL rolled out in Pennsylvania to help manage load. Rhode Island regulators, he said, are eager for changes to modernize the electric grid that will also include an advanced distribution program, but he could not offer a timeline.

Combatting climate change

Those changes would help manage demand from customers, reduce waste, and integrate more distributed sources of renewable energy  which would help Rhode Island meet targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions set out by last years Act on Climate.

More: RI Gov. Dan McKee signs 'landmark' Act on Climate

I would argue we are the best-positioned utility to help the state achieve those goals, Bonenberger said.

Under the terms of the approval from the state utilities division, PPL committed to coming up with a report on decarbonization to support the Act on Climate within 12 months of closing. The settlement with Neronha goes a step further, requiring PPL to open up the report process and work with stakeholders in the state. The agreement also requires the company to assess Act on Climate impacts for all filings with state regulators.

In the end, the settlement, which includes debt forgiveness, a $50-million customer credit and a commitment not to pass up to $103 million in transition costs to customers, worked well for all parties, said Bonenberger.

For us, were very excited, he said. We think well be good partners for the state of Rhode Island.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: New Narragansett Electric owner PPL Rhode Island Energy
NextAlt, LLC

NextAlts Features and Benefits

NextAlts Features and Benefits

NextAlt Platform Visibility

NextAtl Platform Visibility

HOUSTON, May 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NextAlt, LLC (NextAlt) is pleased to announce its soft launch showcasing three high caliber fund managers (Managers). NextAlts platform is designed to fill the gap to provide accredited investors direct access to hard to find Managers, and allow RIAs, top-tier family offices, institutions, and HNW/UHNW individuals, to pursue vetted investment strategies through a proven, securities compliant, financial technology.



By using NextAlt, Allocators can reduce email clutter, free up time for Manager selection, speed up screening, due diligence and transaction execution, and benefit from improved efficiency with no added cost, said James Row, CEO of Entoro, LLC, an investor in NextAlt.

NextAlts Features and Benefits

Our solution gives Managers a toolkit to present and highlight to qualified investors what is distinctive and impactful about their strategy while providing Allocators with integrated Manager information to drive engagement beyond an initial presentation, shorten the evaluation and decision-making process, and streamline transaction execution, said Allen Wolf, NextAlt CEO.

NextAlts Platform Visibility

Across Capital Partners. As a technology investor scaling companies across global markets, we are actively seeking innovative solutions to support our own growth. NextAlts platform provides Across Capital with a unique channel to reach new investors at scale. We are excited to work with the NextAlt team! said Rafael Costa, Co-Founder of Across Capital Partners.

East Chop Capital. Our first fund is delivering strong returns for investors including two triple-digit ROI exits to date, said Calvin L. Butts Jr., Principal of East Chop Capital. In our second fund, investors see a smart, counter cyclical strategy well suited for the current market dynamic. Savvy investors use NextAlt to discover new managers who can grow their wealth. We're incredibly pleased to be an early adopter of NextAlt's innovative marketplace.

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NextAlt, LLC is a digital fund marketing business combining tradition capital introductions with a technology platform to enhance fund manager reach and messaging and to speed up allocator introductions, due diligence, and workflows for exempt private transactions. NextAlt partners with Entoro Securities, LLC as its broker-dealer for fully vetted and compliant fund securities offerings and further leverages Entoros OfferBoard securities offering platform for fund transaction execution and compliance.

Entoro Securities, LLC, is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a Broker-Dealer and is a member of FINRA and SIPC.

NextAlt

Media Contact:

Mei Piao

Email: mpiao@entoro.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2668741f-caae-4a2b-b2a4-a55a343cfbb2

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/612d1b26-3d57-4cfb-a07c-480b8043150f






By Azernews





Belarusian Gomselmash holding company resumes cooperation with Azerbaijan's Ganja automobile plant, Azernews reports, citing Belta.

Gomselmash and Ganja automobile plant have signed a memorandum on cooperation and joint work has been already kicked begun. At present, a new Belarusian harvester is being finalized by Azerbaijan's order.

"This is a second class combine harvester. By the end of the year, we will test it in Belarus, and next year we plan to start supplying it to Azerbaijan. We plan to supply up to 50 units per year to this market," the company's First Deputy Director for Sales and Development, Dmitry Afanasyev, said.

As part of the visit of Belarusian PM Roman Golovchenko to Azerbaijan, contracts worth more than $70 million were signed. During the Golovchenko's visit to the Ganja automobile plant, the contract was signed for the supply of 950 unassembled tractors in the amount of $15.5 million between the Belarusian Minsk Automobile Plant and Ganja automobile plant. In addition, a memorandum of cooperation was also signed between the Ganja automobile plant and Gomselmash OJSC. It should be noted that Gomselmash is one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural machinery ranking among the world market leaders of combine harvesters and other complexes of agricultural machines.

Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Belarus were established on June 11, 1993. The two countries are cooperating in various sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, transport, remote sensing services, etc.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Belarus amounted to $424.4 million, with the exports accounting for $295.5 million and imports for $128.9 million in 2021.

Railway passenger carriages, fiberboard of wood, butter, medicaments, furniture, wood sawn or chipped lengthwise, beef, electric transformers, and cheese are the main export goods to Azerbaijan. From Azerbaijan, Belarus imports polymers of propylene, tomatoes, fruits, nuts, fresh fruits, fruit and vegetable juices, and others.

Since 2007, a number of joint projects in the field of industrial cooperation have been launched including assembly lines of Belarus tractors and trucks. The leader of the Belarusian-Azerbaijani cooperation in the sphere of industrial cooperation is the Ganja automobile plant.
Berkshire Hathaway Energys Rocky Mountain Power utility recognized for increasing engagement and satisfaction with commercial customers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 25, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bidgely celebrates Rocky Mountain Power's recognition as the Smart Energy Consumer Collaboratives (SECC) 2022 Best Practices Award recipient for engaging and enabling its small-to-medium (SMB) business customers to achieve greater energy efficiency. Leveraging meter data and Bidgelys UtilityAI analytics to identify individual consumption patterns, Rocky Mountain Power delivered digital, personalized energy usage reports to more than 60,000 SMB customers across Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. For the first time, the utilitys SMB customers received appliance-level consumption breakdowns that enabled them to better understand how time-of-use affects their energy bill as well as make smarter energy-saving decisions.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220524005277/en/

Bidgely congratulates Rocky Mountain Power for being named Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative's Best Practices Award winner for successfully enabling greater energy efficiency among small-to-medium businesses. (Graphic: Business Wire)

"Small-to-medium-sized businesses represent one of the largest demographics among our commercial customers, and we recognized a powerful opportunity to become a resource for helping them better manage their operational expenses," said Barbara Modey, customer satisfaction market research manager at Rocky Mountain Power. "Were honored to be recognized by SECC for spearheading a program that simultaneously addresses our customers' needs and improves customer satisfaction."

According to the SECC, SMBs attract less than 5 percent of utility spending on energy efficiency programs and participate in demand-side management programs at a rate three times lower than non-SMB accounts. To better support this underserved customer group, Rocky Mountain Power deployed digital communications that increased awareness of each business individual energy usage as well as the programs and products available for SMB owners to operate more efficiently, save money and reduce their carbon footprint. Within six months of distribution, customers who received personalized energy reports became more engaged and satisfied with Rocky Mountain Power than they were previously.

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"Congratulations to Rocky Mountain Power for raising the standard on how utilities can deliver high-quality service to traditionally hard-to-reach customers," said Greg Warta, Bidgelys regional director of sales for the West. "Breakthrough achievements like Rocky Mountain Powers underscore the value of not only investing in data analytics but sharing energy intelligence directly with customers."

To learn how Rocky Mountain Power increased customer satisfaction and engagement within six months of deploying artificial intelligence (AI)-powered energy reports, read the Bidgely Rocky Mountain Power Case Study. For more about Bidgelys Small-to-Medium Business Solution, read the SMB Solution Brief.

About Rocky Mountain Power

Rocky Mountain Power provides safe and reliable electric service to more than a million customers in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. The company works to meet customers growing electricity needs while protecting and enhancing the environment. Rocky Mountain Power is part of PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity providers in the United States. More information at rockymountainpower.net.

About Bidgely

Bidgely is an AI-powered SaaS Company accelerating a clean energy future by enabling energy companies and consumers to make data-driven energy-related decisions. Powered by our unique patented technology, Bidgely's UtilityAI Platform transforms multiple dimensions of customer data - such as energy consumption, demographic, and interactions - into deeply accurate and actionable consumer energy insights. We leverage these insights to empower each customer with personalized recommendations, tailored to their individual personality and lifestyle, usage attributes, behavioral patterns, purchase propensity, and beyond. From a Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and Grid Edge perspective, whether it is smart thermostats to EV chargers, solar PVs to TOU rate designs and tariffs; UtilityAI energy analytics provides deep visibility into generation, consumption for better peak load shaping and grid planning, and delivers targeted recommendations for new value-added products and services. With roots in Silicon Valley, Bidgely has over 17 energy patents, $75M+ in funding, retains 30+ data scientists, and brings a passion for AI to utilities serving residential and commercial customers around the world. For more information, please visit www.bidgely.com or the Bidgely blog at bidgely.com/blog.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220524005277/en/

Contacts

Christine Bennett

Bidgely

press@bidgely.com
By Trend

It is planned to open permanent tourist offices of Azerbaijan in the Turkish capital Ankara, also in Istanbul, State Tourism Agency's Chairman Advisor Kanan Guluzade told Trend.

According to Guluzade, the state agency intends to open tourist offices in a number of countries and establish cooperation with partner companies from different countries.

"It was planned to open permanent tourism offices of Azerbaijan in Turkey and Kazakhstan, before coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, which are members of the Organization of Turkic States., he noted.

Turkey is one of the biggest priority markets for us. Negotiations are currently underway to open a permanent tourism office of Azerbaijan in Ankara or Istanbul, or in both of these cities," Guluzade added.
Virginia State Police are looking for a King George County man who police say used his cousins name and information when he was arrested on a DUI charge in March.

Nogomodia Smith, 48, was arrested by a state trooper following a March 3 traffic stop in King George, State Police Sgt. Jessica Shehan said. He was taken to the Rappahannock Regional Jail.

He gave the trooper a different name during the traffic stop, and he signed various documents at the jail using his cousins name and information, Shehan said. Police soon learned that Smith wasnt who he claimed to be, but by that time, he had been released from jail, authorities said.

Shehan said the investigation showed that Smith had used the cousins name on multiple occasions in addition to that night.

Smith is also charged with 13 counts of forgery, six counts of identity theft, two counts of obstructing justice, possession of drug paraphernalia, refusing to take a blood or breath tests and three traffic offenses.

Smith is described as being 5 feet 11 inches tall, 235 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call State Police at 804/609-5656. The public can also call #77 on a cellphone or send an email to questions@vsp.virginia.gov.

Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
The way students learn across the commonwealth has drastically changed over the last two years, but the mental health challenges they face remain consistent. Prior to the pandemic, one in five Virginia children suffered from ADHD, anxiety, depression, and other diagnosable mental health conditions.

The pandemic has only exacerbated youth mental health issues across the commonwealth and across the countrya Kaiser Health Foundation study showed 31% of parents reported that their childrens mental health had worsened. Further, 37% of high school-aged children stated they had poor mental health during the pandemic, according to a survey published by the Centers for Disease Control in 2022. These challenges are even more acute in communities of color; Black and Hispanic students are half as likely to receive mental health services as white students.

Our kids are hurting, and we must act now to provide critical resources to support them.

May marks Mental Health Awareness Month. This year, we can truly honor Mental Health Awareness Month by passing key funding in the state budget to provide support for Virginia youth.

Less than 10% of Virginias systemwide behavioral health system budget is dedicated to services for youth. With an historic budget surplus, we should begin to fill the gaps left by years of underfunding mental health services. That means making investments at all levels: from the school system to the behavioral health system to community programs. Critically, we must help connect the school systems with resources in their communities, as students face new challenges.

As budget negotiators finalize a budget over the next weeks, I hope a top priority will be to address the youth mental health crisis. There are five key decisions in the budget that could make a major impact in supporting Virginias young people with the mental health resources they need right now.

First, budget negotiators should fund a new $10 million School-Based Mental Health Integration Pilot. This program will create grants for schools to bring in community-based mental health services to support students.

Second, our budget should create a new Behavioral Health Commission task force to study the school-based mental health system and what can be done to better provide mental health clinical interventions in schools. This task force would be led by parents, students, teachers, administrators, school-based and community mental health professionals, and leaders in relevant state government agencies.

We also must take action to provide increased resources for school-based support staff: guidance counselors, social workers, school psychologists and other professionals within our K-12 schools. During Mental Health Awareness Month, we honor the service of the mental health workforce in our communities, and we should commit to giving them the resources and staffing they need to help our young people.

Third, we should pass a provision in the Senate budget that makes significant progress by partially lifting the 13-year-old budget cap on state funding for school support staff enacted during the 2008-09 recession. From 20092020, Virginia schools added 63,000 students, while the number of school support staff positions dropped by 1,700. This has led to school support staff being overburdened and unable to support increasing mental health needs of students. This budget amendment, which I have championed for several years, would provide hundreds of millions of dollars to school support staff.

Fourth, negotiators are also currently considering funding for Senate Bill 490, which would raise the standard of support staff per student from 3-per-1,000 to 4-per-1,000. This would mean that students in every school in Virginia would have a baseline standard of access to the counseling they need.

Fifth, budget negotiators can approve and fund The Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention. Included in both the Senate budget and my Senate Bill 487, the center would be a hub for research, best practices, and strategies for the implementation of firearm violence intervention and prevention programsincluding community-based intervention and addressing the suicide-by-gun epidemic.

Taken together, these five measures in the budget could make a major dent in the youth mental health crisis. Our kids are hurting. Decisions being made right now present effective paths to helping our kids get the mental health resources they need. There should be no higher priority in the budget than our childrens future.

Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D) represents the 9th District in the Virginia Senate.
On Memorial Day, we honor men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in military service to our nation. Time and again throughout our Republics history, courageous Americans have ventured into harms way to protect the freedoms we hold dear. The liberties we enjoy wouldnt be possible without their heroism.

A brief survey of history reminds us that freedom is rare and fragile. Its not the norm throughout the centuries. When freedom is established, its often upheld at great cost through the selfless service of devoted patriots. Our Republic has endured for nearly two-and-a-half centuries due to the blood, sweat, and sacrifice of our military veterans.

One of the many things I love about Nebraskans is the honor we have for our fallen heroes. Our residents give generously to organize commemorative ceremonies, create parks, and build monuments to memorialize those weve lost in war. These tributes preserve the stories of Nebraskans heroic patriotism for future generations.

Bill and Evonne Williams, of Omaha, exemplify our states commitment to honoring those lost in military service. They led the creation of the Remembering Our Fallen Memorial to honor American military members who have died since 9/11. The memorial displays photos of the heroes who took the fight to the enemy after 9/11, deploying halfway around the world to dismantle terrorist networks. The brave sacrifices of these men and women in the Middle East protected our freedoms and restored peace and security here in America.

The national Remembering Our Fallen Memorial will be displayed in Omahas Old Market (12th and Jones Streets) from Friday, May 27th at 2:00 pm to Saturday, May 28th at 4:00 pm. The Nebraska Remembering Our Fallen Memorial will be displayed at Midwest Bank at 2601 W. Cooper Street in Norfolk from May 23-30. You can learn more about the memorials by visiting www.patrioticproductions.org/rememberingourfallen.

Nebraskas communities have also taken the initiative to build fitting tributes to our departed heroes. In March, the community of Papillion broke ground on the Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Memorial at SumTur Amphitheater. The memorial will honor those Americans who bravely served our nation during the Vietnam War. It will celebrate their love of country, call to mind their courage, and display our collective gratitude for their many sacrifices. You can learn more about it at nvvmf.org.

Last month, Nebraska hosted the dedication of a physical memorial to members of the 73rd Calvary Regiment at Heartland of America Airborne Memorial in Omaha. It honors 51 of our nations heroes who died while serving in the regiment. The ceremony took place on the 15th anniversary of a terrorist attack in Iraq that claimed the lives of nine soldiers from the 73rd Cavalry, including two from Nebraska: First Lieutenant Kevin Gaspers of Hastings, and Staff Sgt. Ken Locker, Jr. of Burwell. I invite Nebraskans to pay tribute to these heroes by visiting the memorial, either in person or online at www.heartlandairborne.org.

In addition to memorializing those weve lost, Nebraskans step up to support our Gold Star families in need. In January, Staff Sgt. Lockers son, Preston, had his Chevy Malibu stolen from the Lincoln Northeast High School parking lot. Preston had bought the car with money his dad left him.

The thieves wrecked the vehicle, which police later found totaled and abandoned. Since the car only had liability insurance coverage, Prestons family needed to come up with money to replace it. Family friend Stephanie Dowding started a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money so that Preston could buy a new car. Nebraskans gave generously, exceeding her goal of $7,000 by donating double that amount. Thats the Nebraska Way, going above and beyond to support the families whove lost a loved one through military service.

We also saw that support last September when a Nebraska herofallen Marine Corporal Daegan Pagereturned home after making the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. It was inspiring to see Nebraskans line the streets to honor him and support his family. Cpl. Pages sacrifice is a sobering reminder that our freedoms cant be taken for granted. We must continue to vigilantly defend them.

One hundred years ago, Willa Cather published the novel One of Ours, which won the Pulitzer Prize. The book and its main character were inspired by her cousin Grosvenor P. Cathers service in World War I. Grosvenor grew up near Willa in Webster County and was Nebraskas first officer to die in the war. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for valor. U.S. Army records describe his heroism: During a strong enemy attack Lieutenant Cather mounted the parapet of his trench, and, although exposed to withering machine-gun fire, he so skillfully directed the fire of his automatic rifles that the attack was repulsed. In this action he fell mortally wounded.

A line from One of Ours is etched in stone at the national World War I Memorial in Washington, DC. It aptly describes the bravery of soldiers like Kevin, Ken, Daegan, and Grosvenor. They were mortal, but they were unconquerable. On this Memorial Day, we thank God for the unconquerable spirit of those whove given their last measure of devotion on our behalf.

You can learn about heroic Nebraskans whove given their lives in defense of freedom over the past 20 years by visiting veterans.nebraska.gov/fallen-soldiers. As always, please email pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov or call 402-471-2244 with any questions or concerns you may have.

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Yesterday I wrote about anniversaries but I didn't mention what for my family was the most significant anniversary. There is a book called Lost Lives which lists everyone who died in Northern Ireland as a result of the conflict in chronological order up until the date when the book was published in 1999. It is out of print now and second hand copies are very expensive and hard to come by. The entry for the 24th May 1974 includes my two uncles. The entry is based on an article and in some places it is inaccurate.

I wrote a post about about the events of that evening 8 years ago. More work has done on our family history and there were a couple of inaccuracies in my post. Anyway here it is again with some minor changes. Apologies if you read this yesterday in a post by Nelly.

Our Road

This is the road I grew up on. On the right hand side are the fields that belonged to my father's family and on the left are the fields that he himself bought in the 1960s.

Our family has lived in this part of Northern Ireland for generations. I went to the same primary school as my father and grandfather. My grandmother first came to the parish to work as an assistant in that school. She would have been in her early teens and her job was to help the teacher, looking after the younger children and teaching domestic skills. Eventually she might have became a teacher herself. My great uncle, Father Joe, was a priest in her parish in the Glens of Antrim and I guess he must have had something to do with her coming to work in that school. She ended up marrying his brother before she was out of her teens.

Her family must have thought she had made a good match marrying into a family that had a small farm and a pub/shop and importantly, more money than most of their Catholic neighbours. They lived in the biggest house in the parish and there were only three brothers; the priest, the trainee doctor and my grandfather who was a farmer and a publican. There were no sisters or grandchildren. Indeed as one brother was a priest and the other died before he had time to qualify only Jeannie and Johnny had children. Jeannie got pregnant a lot. A number of her children died in infancy but 11 of them survived into adulthood. While they appeared to be better off than other people and in many ways they were, money was a constant issue with my grandmother frequently trying to scrape together the money to pay bills.

Johnny was by all accounts a charming and funny man, well educated although unlike his brothers he didn't go to university. He was witty and had a way with words, making up stories and laughing at the the neighbours, enshrining them in ditties that his children could still quote 50 years later. He was a troubled man, his own father had died young and his mother was a bit too fond of the drink. He followed in her footsteps. He died in the 1950s.

Both of my grandparents opposed partition and in the 1920s my grandfather was arrested and sent to prison in Belfast. His sentence included hard labour. I know very little about it as it was never talked about in our house. My father's generation, perhaps in a spirit of rebellion against their parents' views, were not overly republican or perhaps they were just pragmatic, knowing that if living in a Protestant area and running a business where the majority of customers were not Catholics overt republicanism would not have gone down very well.

People have long memories though and there was always some talk about the family and their connections with the IRA. I did ask my father about it not long before he died and he told me that when he was young there would occasionally have been people on the run staying in the house. This would have been long before the second world war.

In May 1974 I was preparing for my O Levels. I have to say I was doing it in a very half hearted way. I was reasonably good at school and as this predated the the kind of horrific competitiveness there is now around exams I wasn't really that bothered. I sort of expected to pass whatever I did. London Sister was also doing exams, A levels, and was taking it a lot more seriously than me as she was planning to escape to university so needed to do well enough to get her place.

This day 40 years ago was a Friday. Part of our problems about revising was that it was being speculated everywhere that the exams were going to be cancelled due to the Ulster Workers' Strike which had started a few days earlier. While we opposed the strike and everything it stood for not having to do our exams would have been a bit of a silver lining.

The strike was miserable because the electricity kept going off and it was cold and damp and everyone was really tense and bad tempered. On one of the days when we had gone to school a decision was taken that the school had to close at lunchtime as it wasn't safe for us to be in town and identifiable as Catholics by our school uniforms. My father and youngest brother came to collect us. I was mortified in case anyone saw Daddy in his work clothes. It is quite likely there was a bale of hay in the car. This bothered me more than the fear of anything happening to us.

A few days before this the first person who any of us knew who died as a result of the Troubles was found dumped on the outskirts of Belfast. He had gone to school with my cousins and my sister knew him. My parents knew his parents my mother having grown up in the same part of the country. For years we heard rumours about what had happened to him. Whatever it was his immediate family were not allowed to identify his body as it was was deemed that it would be too traumatic for them. Afterwards it was said that some of his siblings were really angry about this. They had wanted to see him one last time. He was 20 and a student at Queen's University in Belfast.

The Dublin and Monaghan bombing had also happened earlier that month, the biggest death toll on any one day of the Troubles and apparently almost completely forgotten by everyone today - one of the most shameful incidents of the troubles on a par with Bloody Sunday. It was carried out by loyalists and it is now widely believed in collusion with the British armed forces.

It's hard looking back on all of this to remember that at the time we were just as interested in normal teenage stuff as anyone else of our ages growing up would have been. The strike meant we missed Top of The Pops! We couldn't go out to the Deerpark where there was a dance or disco on a Thursday night. There was nothing to do and it was boring. At some level we must have been frightened but I don't really remember that. I do remember, rather shamefully, finding some aspects of it exciting.

That Friday night though we were all fed up. My parents had gone to visit my aunt and the electricity was once again off. In the absence of anything better to do we had all gone to bed. Our phone was in the hall which meant when it rang someone had to get out of bed and go downstairs. The first person to ring was related to one of my aunts. He had heard that there had been trouble in the pub and wanted to know if we had heard anything. I can't remember the details but I was the person who phoned the pub to find out. There was a really old-fashioned pay phone in the pub with Button A and Button B for customers to use. A man answered and asked who I was. I told him my name and he told me to hold on and I could hear someone in the background explain that I was one of Seamus's ones. The man came back on the phone and asked where my parents were and I told him they were out and he told me it was very important that I get a message to my father to come to the pub but even more important was that we stay inside and not answer the door to anyone. The man was an RUC officer but he didn't tell me that.

Moments later a Protestant neighbour drove into the yard and of course we answered the door. He wanted one of us to come with him to take him to find my parents. We weren't sure if they were visiting my granny or my aunt who both lived about three miles away. My 14 year old brother went with him. Our neighbour had told us there had been some shooting but not what had happened.

Another person then turned up who we knew really well. One of us asked if anyone was hurt and he looked at us incredulously:

"Hurt? They're dead not hurt."

I don't think we understood exactly what had happened that night for some time. A mob of men, most of whom were involved in Protestant paramilitary groups, had descended on the pub and piled into the bar and the back kitchen. Three of my aunts were in the kitchen and they escaped by climbing out the window. One of them, the wife of Brendan, hid in the shed where empty bottles were stored. A long time after the noise stopped she came back into the house and saw Brendan slumped on the floor. There was dark fluid on the tiles next to him and she told my sister recently that she remembered thinking to herself: 'Brendan has spilled his Guinness - that's what it is, Guinness.' Sean and Brendan had both been shot.

All of this is such a long time ago but it is all the tiny details you remember. My mother in shock was given something to drink after she had been told the news but the only alcohol in my aunt's house was poteen which even a hardened drinker would have found hard to swallow. My mother didn't drink but she knocked it back.

Another uncle immediately threw up on being told the news.

One of my cousins was brought to our house and three of us slept in a double bed that night. She was distraught. The rest of the kids were farmed out to various relatives. Apart from the cousin who ended up in our house they had all been upstairs when it happened.

All through the night people kept coming to the house and someone almost set the chimney on fire not understanding the vagaries of our Raeburn.

My youngest brother slept through the entire thing and he was really upset that no-one had thought to wake him up and tell him what had happened. He must have been really shocked when he came trailing downstairs in the morning to find the house full of people. He was ten at the time, a year older than the youngest of my cousins who had lost their father.

Just over a week later we began our exams. I passed all of mine as did my sister but one of my cousins who was in my year at school failed most of her O levels. She had to resit the whole year.

For a long time there was a Wikipedia entry on this incident which seems to have disappeared now. It started off by describing my uncle as a 'publican' except that someone kept editing it and changing it to 'republican'. I guess that people still do have long memories.
Male Afghan TV presenters have donned face masks on air in a show of solidarity with female colleagues who were ordered by the Taliban to cover their faces.

The Taliban issued a decree earlier this month that ordered women to cover their faces in public by wearing an all-encompassing burqa or niqab. The decree was then extended to female TV presenters.

After initially defying the order, female presenters on May 22 wore full veils that only exposed their eyes to viewers on major TV networks. On the same day, some of their male colleagues also covered their faces to protest the Talibans decree.

"We are in deep grief today, Khpolwak Sapai, the head of Tolo News, Afghanistans leading broadcaster, said in a May 22 post on Facebook. Sapai posted photos of male and female employees all donning black face masks.

The images triggered a social media campaign in which others, including prominent journalists in other countries, have posted selfies of themselves with masks using the hashtag #FreeHerFace.

Since seizing power in August, the Taliban has imposed a series of restrictions on women, including on their appearance, access to work and education, and freedom of movement. The rules are reminiscent of the Talibans first stint in power in the 1990s, when the militant Islamists deprived women of their most basic rights.

Rights groups say the Talibans order for female TV presenters to cover their faces is an attempt to force them to quit their jobs and remove women from public life. Previously, the women on TV wore loose headscarves that only concealed their hair.

New Order 'Is Illogical'

Female TV presenters have vowed to keep working and raise their voices despite the new order.

We all know that the media is the voice of society and restrictions on the media mean the suppression of freedom of expression, a female television presenter who did not want to be named told RFE/RLs Radio Azadi.

The new [decree] is illogical and it does not have any religious justification, she said, adding that women should have the right to choose what they wear in public.

Tolo News presenter Banafsheh Binesh said her work was being hampered by the Taliban order.

Presenting with a mask is very challenging, Binesh told Radio Azadi. When your face is covered, it puts a distance between the presenter and the audience.

Yalda Ali, another presenter with Tolo News, suggested that the new decree was an attempt to take women off the air.

In a video posted online, she thanked her male colleagues for the show of solidarity while asking them how far they would be willing to go in supporting their female colleagues.

This is a step by step [process]. Today, Im ordered to wear a mask to cover half of my face. Tomorrow, I will be ordered to wear a burqa so that Im completely covered Will my [male] colleagues wear a burqa, too? Yalda said.

When our voices will be declared [un-Islamic] and women will be removed from the media, will my male colleagues protest by resigning? she added.

Mohammad Akif Sadeq Mohajir, the spokesman for the Talibans Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, claimed that the group was not against female presenters.

"We have no intention of removing them from the public scene or sidelining them, or stripping them of their right to work," he told AFP.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the order for female presenters to cover their faces had religious justification, telling RFE/RLs Radio Azadi that it promotes womens chastity and dignity.

'Womens Rights Crisis'

But that has been rejected by Afghans and foreigners alike.

Female and male journalists and presenters across the world protested the decree by posting photos with face masks using the #FreeHerFace hashtag, including Spanish journalist and former politician Pilar Rahola and Jon Williams, the managing director of Irelands RTE News.

Support for Afghan female presenters also came from Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. He protested the decree while also highlighting the Talibans ban on girls attending secondary school.

Faces are windows to our souls and personalities. Our faces are our identities. It is our basic human right to show our identities. Also, when girls are enrolled in schools, they get an identity, he wrote on Twitter on May 24 while posting a photo of himself with his wife, Toor Pekai Yousefzai, with both wearing face masks.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a May 23 statement that foreign diplomats meeting the Taliban should support the #FreeHerFace campaign and speak out against the Talibans violations of women's rights.

Women journalists are just the latest casualties in what has become the most serious womens rights crisis in the world, HRW said. But the Taliban are not immovable, and coordinated pressure has the potential to impact their decisions. Donors and governments owe it to Afghan women and girls to do more to defend their rights."

Since the Taliban regained power, many Afghan female journalists have been forced to quit their jobs. Others have fled the country while those remaining have gone into hiding.

In September, the French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said that, despite the Talibans assurances, women journalists would be allowed to keep working, fewer than 100 of Kabuls 700 women journalists were still working.
Destroyed houses are photographed in Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, in April. Three months after it invaded Ukraine hoping to overtake the country in a blitz, Russia has bogged down in what increasingly looks like a war of attrition with no end in sight.
The U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds practice Tuesday, May 24, 2022, for their performance at the conclusion of the Air Force Academy Class of 2022 graduation ceremony at Falcon Stadium Wednesday, May 25, 2022. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
By Azernews





Azerbaijan and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have discussed prospects for further cooperation, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during the meeting between Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov with EBRD's President Odile Renaud-Basso on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"We held a meeting with the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (@EBRD) Odile Renaud-Basso (@OdileRenaud) in Davos. We talked about Azerbaijan-EBRD relations, projects implemented in our country with the support of the Bank, and the prospects for further cooperation," the minister tweeted.

Established in 1991, EBRD invests in projects that contribute to the transition to an open market economy, as well as the development of private and business activities.

Earlier, the bank approved a $51 million loan for the construction and subsequent operation of the Garadagh solar power plant, to be built by the UAE's Masdar in Azerbaijan.

Moreover, on May 12, Azerbaijan and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed a loan agreement to finance the "solid waste management" project in Ganja. The project is part of Ganjas engagement in the EBRD's Green Cities program and will trigger the development of a Green City Action Plan (GCAP). The 10 million loan will be used to introduce smart waste collection and route optimization systems. New container types, enhancement of the current fleet, and introduction of greener vehicles will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the citys municipal services.

Azerbaijan has been a member of the EBRD since September 25, 1992. The main strategic directions of the EBRD's activity in Azerbaijan, are the diversification of the economy, the development of local capital markets, and the support of the green economy. To date, the EBRD has invested over 3.5 billion through 181 projects in the country.

One of the main priorities of EBRD in Azerbaijan is to support the local corporate sector with direct financing. EBRD continues to pursue investments in energy projects, especially where there is a gap to improve efficiency and energy security.

Azerbaijan is the largest recipient of the EBRD funds in the Caucasus, as well as one of the largest recipients of this organizations funds in the CIS and Eastern Europe.
Colorado officials and candidates for statewide and federal office reacted Tuesday with anguish and outrage following an attack by an 18-year-old gunman at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left at least 22 dead, including 19 children. The gunman was killed by law enforcement, authorities said.

Amid calls for prayers and action, some state leaders noted that Coloradans are all too familiar with mass shootings, from the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 to the shooting last spring at a Boulder King Soopers, with too many to count in between.

The shooting at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday was the deadliest at a U.S. school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, nearly a decade ago.

Gov. Jared Polis ordered that flags in Colorado be immediately lowered to half-staff until sunset on Saturday as a mark of respect for the victims of the shooting.

In a statement issued before the extent of the massacre was known, the Boulder Democrat contrasted the crushing grief in the Texas town with the joy he saw on faces at an elementary school earlier in the day in Montezuma County in the southwest corner of the state.

This morning I visited Mancos Elementary School and saw the joy on the faces of students and teachers in their last week of school as they looked forward to new adventures this summer and next school year," Polis said.

"Now fourteen students and a teacher at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas had their joy ended forever from a cold blooded attack, and their parents, friends and families wont ever hold them in their arms again or be able to watch them grow."

Added Polis: "Colorados hearts are heavy for our friends in Texas and join in showing love for the families and community affected.

Heidi Ganahl, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, tweeted: "My heart aches for the senseless pain we see too much of. I pray we can all figure this out  together. Our kids are depending on us. Covering the families of the victims and the Uvalde community with prayer and love, and determination to do things differently. #PrayForTexas."

The state's two senators referenced last week's racist shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in separate statements. Both Democrats said that it was time to act to protect Americans from the plague of gun violence.

In a statement on Twitter, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said: "14 kids and a teacher killed in Texas today. 10 Black Americans killed in New York 10 days ago. This horrific gun violence is uniquely American. We cannot become numb to it. We need to act and #EndGunViolence now."

"As a parent, I weep. Our children deserve so much better than this nightmare," U.S. Sen, John Hickenlooper tweeted. "We need to protect our future from this senseless violence."

In a statement released hours later, Hickenlooper recounted a grim toll.

Were approaching the 10th anniversary of the Aurora, Colorado, mass shooting where 70 people were injured and 12 murdered on an ordinary night at the movies," he said. "One year ago, 10 more Coloradans were killed while shopping for groceries. A white supremacist targeted another supermarket just days ago in Buffalo, New York. And today, children slaughtered in Texas.

How many shootings are enough before we stop terrorizing our children and our families?

Joe O'Dea, a Republican running for the nomination to challenge Bennet, tweeted, "The tragic school shooting in Uvalde is heartbreaking. Pure evil. I am praying for the families of the victims."

"My heart breaks knowing ANOTHER community is dealing with a tragic shooting. We cant become numb to this violence. We must act to protect our communities and our children," U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, tweeted. "Thoughts and prayers are not enough."

In a later tweet, she added: "We have to take action now to end these horrific school shootings. We have to ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines and we need universal background checks now.

"I will not be silenced on this."

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat who represents Boulder in the House, said he was heartbroken and frustrated.

"Children. Innocent children," he tweeted. "Devastating and horrific. Im heartbroken for the families of those who lost their loved ones, And frustrated beyond words at the refusal of lawmakers to protect our kids from harm. Praying for the people of Texas."

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Centennial Democrat who represents the communities surrounding the site of the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, said it's up to officials to do something about the mass shootings.

"Thoughts and prayers will not bring these children back," Crow tweeted. "And it clearly wont stop the next shooting. It never has. This is a policy problem. If youre an elected official who wont join me to fix this, sit down and shut up."

Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, an outspoken gun-rights advocate and owner of a firearms-themed restaurant in Rifle, called for Americans to turn to God.

"My heart goes out to the friends and families of the 15 dead in Uvalde, Texas," she tweeted. "The loss of innocent life breaks my heart. It is in times like these that we should, as individuals, communities, and as a nation, turn to God for comfort and healing."

Her GOP primary challenger, state Sen. Don Coram of Montrose, told Colorado Politics in a statement that he was praying for the victims and survivors.

What happened today was a sickening and heartbreaking tragedy," Coram said via text message. "Praying tonight for the Uvalde community and especially for the families lives that will never be the same. It is devastating when innocent children are the victims of senseless acts of violence.

Adam Frisch, one of the Democrats running in a primary in the congressional district Boebert represents, said on Twitter that he and his wife were "horrified, outraged, and saddened beyond belief" as the news emerged from Uvalde.

"When Covid started, I earned my substitute teacher license. My focus was PreK-4," Frisch said in another tweet. "The highlight of every day was watching parents at days end meet their kids with shared smiling faces. I am just shattered 14 *more* families will never do that again-ever."

Another Democrat vying for Boebert's 3rd Congressional District seat, Alex Walker, called the Republican incumbent "the f-----problem" in a tweet.

"School shooting threats have risen 998% in 10 years, so no, this is not going to get better, and yes, your vote in the midterms can save lives," Walker said in a later tweet.

The candidates in Colorado's two open, competitive congressional districts split along party lines, with the Democrats calling for legislative responses to control gun violence and the Republicans calling it a crisis of mental health and faith. One GOP congressional candidate said the way to protect schoolchildren is to arm more gunmen.

Running in the state's new 8th Congressional District, which stretches from suburbs north of Denver to Greeley, presumptive Democratic nominee state Rep. Yadira Caraveo, a Thornton pediatrician, said on Twitter that "sensible federal gun violence prevention legislation" was needed to address shootings like the one that took place at the Texas school.

"School should be a place of safety. But 14 little kids  just like the kids I treat in clinic every day  just lost their lives trying to learn," Caraveo tweeted. "My heart is broken for their families. The violence must stop. We need sensible federal gun violence prevention legislation, now."

The four Republicans running in a June primary for the seat had different reactions, with one saying legislation aimed at guns won't accomplish anything and the others invoking the power of prayer.

These shootings are horrific and heartbreaking in ways the mind cannot even begin to grasp," Thornton Mayor Jan Kulmann said in a text message. "There is a mental health crisis in our youth that deserves the absolute focus of leaders in every community and at all levels of government. One more gun law wont protect our communities or our kids. Too many of our children are not well, and we must act.

Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine posted a brief message to Facebook: "Praying for Uvalde and our nation."

State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, urged her Facebook followers to pray.

"Please stop what you are doing and say a prayer for the families of victims of the school shooting at the elementary school in Texas," Kirkmeyer wrote.

Tyler Allcorn, an Army Special Forces veteran who lives in Arvada, said on Twitter that he and his wife were "heartbroken for the community" where the massacre took place.

"True evil exists in our world and those who hurt children are truly evil," he said. "The victims and their families will be in our prayers today and for a very long time."

In the Jefferson County-based 7th Congressional District, state Sen. Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood, the presumptive Democratic nominee, said in a statement that she was "heartbroken" for the families whose children wouldn't be coming home after "yet another mass shooting."

"We need action, and in Congress Ill fight for federal laws to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and make sure law enforcement has the tools and intelligence to stop these tragedies before they happen again," Pettersen said. "Our kids should be safe at school, the grocery store, the movie theatre and places of worship. My heart and my resolve are with those who lost someone unnecessarily today.

The Republicans running in the district all said mental health issues were to blame for the shooting.

Tim Reichert, a Golden economist, said in a statement to Colorado Politics that he and his wife were praying for the families of the children who were killed in the shooting.

"We cannot imagine the heartbreak and devastation these families are feeling right now. Our thoughts and gratitude are also with the first responders," Reichert said. "We must foster a society in which our objective is human flourishing. We must ensure our children receive the mental health help they need, and come to understand and respect their own dignity as well as the dignity of others."

Pine Republican Erik Aadland, a former oil and gas executive, called the day's events a "heartbreaking tragedy" and said his "deepest sympathy and prayers" went out to students and their families in text message delivered via a campaign aide.

"Congress should take immediate steps to secure the Southern border against illicit firearms and other contraband streaming across it via the cartels and other bad actors," Aadland said, adding, "At every level, we must also take steps to address the mental sickness at the root of these tragic shootings."

Aadland's spokeswoman, Lydia Blaha, said she didn't think the candidate meant to suggest that the gun or guns used in the attack on the elementary school were "illicit."

Asked whether Aadland thought Congress had a role helping prevent mass shootings, Blaha responded: "Pass legislation which focuses on the root causes of mental health illness. Erik is well positioned to champion this legislation with his real world and academic experience in addressing mental illness."

"This is so tragic and I feel terrible for the loss of life and these poor families," said Laurel Imer, a former legislative candiate, in a lengthy statement, adding that she was praying for them.

"The only way to protect our children from an armed gunman is with an armed gunman. These shooters pick these locations because they know its a gun-free zone. Very few elementary schools have security on campus. And, for the ones that do, the security personnel are unarmed and ineffective. You might as well have a mother with a broom," she said.

Imer maintained that "mental health is the issue, not guns."

"While guns may be the tool, the intent to harm and commit murder has nothing to do with the gun," she said. Congress, she added, must do something to protect students but "is so afraid of political backlash. Bottom line, the gun will be blamed. Its not the guns fault. If you have an intent to murder in your heart, you will use any means you can access."
A year after Childrens Hospital Colorado declared a state of emergency for pediatric mental health on May 25, 2021, officials say the situation has worsened, as record demand for treatment continues to overwhelm capacity.

The number of children who are coming to us for emergency department care who are in crisis is higher, and our inpatient unit continues to be full, said Zach Zaslow, senior director of government affairs for Children's Hospital Colorado, which operates 16 urgent, emergency and specialty locations statewide.

In the first quarter of this year, the system has seen a 23% increase in patients coming to emergency departments with suicidal thoughts, major depressive episodes, psychotic breaks and other mental illness, compared to the first quarter of 2021.

That's a 103% increase above the first quarter of 2019, before the pandemic began, officials said.

Also, Zaslow said, more preteens and teenagers are staying longer in emergency departments or hospital beds than necessary because theres nowhere for them to go.

Theyre ready to discharge, but theyre not ready to go home, and theres no residential bed or community foster home willing to accept them, he said.

The states most pressing challenge is the workforce shortage, said Minna Castillo Cohen, director of the Office of Children, Youth and Families in the Colorado Department of Human Services.

The office oversees child welfare and youth offender systems.

The need in Colorado is shifting from generalist providers to specialists, Castillo Cohen said.

We recognize that our placement continuum for young people needs to have that right composition so we can meet individual needs of all kids, from community-based services a child can receive while living at home with their family up to most intensive treatment in psychiatric residential care, she said.

Psychiatric residential treatment facilities, which serve the most severely mentally ill children, are particularly lacking employees, Castillo Cohen said.

Data also show the need for providers who specialize in youth substance use disorder is exceeding capacity, she said.

The Pikes Peak region continues to see significant mental health needs, said Cari Davis, executive director of the Colorado Springs Health Foundation.

The organization was established 10 years ago through the lease of Memorial Health System to University of Colorado Health and awards grants in El Paso and Teller counties that target immediate health care programs.

The 2021 Colorado Health Institute Colorado Health Access Survey showed that 35% of El Paso County residents ages 16 and older experienced a decline in mental health because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The need was great before the pandemic but is now even greater, Davis said. All age groups have suffered, but youth seem to have been particularly affected.

About one-third of the Colorado Springs Health Foundation's grants  a payout of more than $8 million over the next three years  is allocated for mental health and substance use disorder programs in the community, she said.

Nationwide, teens are the saddest theyve ever been, according to a 2021 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

American high school students who said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness increased from 26% in 2009 to 44% in 2021, according to the study. And one in five high school students nationwide said they have contemplated suicide.

The CDC numbers coincide with what Childrens Hospital Colorado emergency departments are seeing, Zaslow said.

Suicide remains the leading cause of death for children and young adults ages 12-24, according to the Colorado Attorney General's Office.

But Mental Health America's latest report on youth mental health released Tuesday ranked Colorado as 13th in the nation, indicating it's in the range of having a lower prevalence of youth mental illness and higher access to care than states listed below it.

Attorney General Phil Weiser credits in part the Department of Law providing nearly $1 million since 2018 on Sources of Strength, a school-based suicide prevention program involving peer leadership, emotional support, and the importance of adult connections and seeking help.

Such programs play a pivotal role in empowering teens across Colorado, Weiser said in a statement.

Lawmakers took notice of the alarm industry leaders sounded last year, Zaslow said.

We really have seen a remarkable increase in awareness and sensitivity that this is a problem that needs immediate solutions, from elected officials at every level of government, Zaslow said. The reality is folks are seeing this in every community in the state.

A COVID-relief fund legislators designated in the 2021 session for behavioral and mental health partially was allocated in this years session through 13 bills that include adding behavioral health services for juvenile offenders and increasing treatment beds.

State lawmakers also supported increases in Medicaid reimbursements, community-based behavioral health programs, workforce training and telehealth services.

Under system reform, duties of a new Behavioral Health Administration were set this session to build a more family-friendly and easier-to-navigate process and make other improvements.

Whether families use private-pay or government-subsidized insurance, Castillo Cohen said the goal is to find solutions to provide community-based care first and foremost before anybody needs to access residential care.

But it takes time, industry leaders said, for changes to come online and start making a difference for children and families.

County human service workers continue to see the need expanding daily, said Lexie Kuznick, director of the Colorado Human Services Directors Association, which last year pled with state officials for relief for acute patients in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems awaiting treatment.

Kids in crisis today cannot wait a month or two or six to end up in the most appropriate treatment setting, she said. We need to come up with creative solutions to the hiring challenges in residential facilities and the severe shortage of appropriate placement options for our highest-need children and youth in the short-term, while we continue to expand prevention and early intervention supports in the longer term.

Advocates are pivoting attention to congressional lawmakers to back the Strengthen Kids Mental Health Now Act, a comprehensive proposal that would provide money for states to decide how best to spend the funding in their communities and boost school-based programs, the workforce and agency partnerships.

We need more sustained investments as temporary COVID dollars expire and clinicians tell us were going to see a cohort of kids impacted by stresses of the pandemic needing sustained support, Zaslow said.

The crisis in youth mental health is a pandemic in its own right.
A Colorado Springs police officer accused of assaulting a teenager who allegedly had a sexual relationship with his girlfriend pleaded not guilty on Wednesday morning, setting the way for a trial this fall.

Shane Reed, 30, is charged with second-degree kidnapping, menacing and assault after a confrontation with a 15-year-old boy who allegedly had a sexual relationship with Reed's girlfriend, Kristen Wessel, 31.

An affidavit acquired by The Gazette states that on Jan. 30, Reed confronted the teenager. The youth told police at the time that Reed dragged him, pressed him against a fence and said he could "kill him, and nobody would find the body," the affidavit states.

Reed had the boy pinned to the fence for around 20 minutes, the affidavit states, adding that the boy believed Reed would have killed him had a friend not been there.

Reed was arrested on March 18 and posted the $10,000 bond for his release shortly after. Following Reed's arrest, the Police Department placed him on administrative leave.

Wessel has been in El Paso County jail on a $140,000 bond since January, facing multiple charges of sexually assaulting a minor. She is also being held on a separate $60,000 bond for a misdemeanor violation of a protection order.

Wessel will be in 4th Judicial District Court on Tuesday for arraignment.

Justice William Bain set Reed's jury trial for Sept. 19, with a bond hearing set for July 13.
Colorado Springs School District 11's three finalists for superintendent did a final, two-hour interview conducted by the district's board of education Tuesday at the Tesla Professional Development Building.

Earlier this month, the district named Peter Hilts, Tammy Clementi and Michael Gaal as finalists. District 11 has said it expects to make an offer to a finalist by the end of May, with the person selected starting as the new superintendent by July 1.

Here are some details about each candidate:

Peter Hilts

Current position: District 49 chief education officer

Education experience: Hilts served as principal, director of strategic programs and director of academic services at The Classical Academy nearly 10 years. He has been in his current position since May 2013.

On balance between parents' rights and schooling:

Hilts said that a school district embodies a social contract much in the way the government does. Parents relinquish a certain level of control over their children to have them learn.

Parents should meet schools' expectations and schools should strive to meet the parents' expectations.

He said the issue arises comes from when the school disconnects from the education purpose on which parents have agreed to, and deviate to a social purpose which they have not agreed. He said the school should be very clear on that which is social-oriented and that which is education-oriented, and the school should stay in its domain.

On staffing challenges and retaining high-quality members:

Hilts stressed a need to get the right people in the right position. He said one of the ways he has done so in the past is by posing scenarios to job candidates. For instance, a scheduling manager candidate had to look at a master schedule with a built-in problem. It was impossible to schedule all the classes in all the rooms with all the teachers, so Hilts took note of those who improvised and accounted for the built-in error.

Quote: Hilts said he did not wish to receive a multiyear contract for the position if hired. He wanted to earn his salary every year. "My job performance should be my job security," he said.

Tammy Clementi

Current position: Chief education officer of Education Is It, a consulting group she founded to help schools and school districts.

Education experience: Before Education Is It, Clementi was a consultant for Kidz Can Learn. She was the chief academic officer for Aurora Public Schools 2011-2013 and chief academic officer for Pueblo City Schools 2008-2010. She was an assistant principal for Fountain Middle School and taught as an elementary classroom teacher for D-11 for 14 years.

On balance between parents' rights and schooling:

Clementi emphasized the need to understand each side of the debate without judgment and to understand that many will not change their minds on their held beliefs and find a way to move forward on shared values.

She said she would not announce her own stance and that the community should work together for the good of the students.

On staffing challenges and retaining high-quality members:

When asked about challenges with staffing shortages in the district, Clementi acknowledged that it's a teacher's market but that culture, more so than salary, keeps staff in district. She said that teachers' and staffs' voices carry weight in terms of recommending the district to others.

She also emphasized the need to be creative in attracting people in the community. She mentioned providing scholarships for adults who are interested in switching careers. She spoke about providing support to paraprofessionals in terms of scholarships and encouraging them to pursue a degree and start making what they are worth.

Quote: "This is just coming home for me. I say it would be more than just fate to round out my career in the career where I started. I've had my eyeball on D-11 since 2004 when I left," she said.

Michael Gaal

Education experience: Michael Gaal was the deputy chancellor of innovation and systems improvement at District of Columbia Public Schools. Gaal was chief of staff at Oakland Unified School District, and the chief operating officer for the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan.

On balance between parents' rights and schooling:

Gaal suggested the solution may be in communicating to not just the parents who attend school board of education meetings regularly but the other parents in the district. He also suggested looking at parent complaints and input from a geographic standpoint and seeing if anything can be gleaned from that data. If a certain neighborhood is struggling, the district can pinpoint strategies for that area.

On staffing challenges and retaining high-quality members:

Gaal emphasized the need to "grow your own," by which he meant hiring internal candidates who already understood the work required and were already accustomed to the environment. He also spoke to empowering those people to be able to complete their education to take on bigger jobs in the district. Finally, he spoke to taking advantage of the many great universities in the area, forging relationships with them and placing student teachers in schools where there will be vacancies.

Quote: Gaal, who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1989, said he has seen damage done by the COVID-19 pandemic in schools across the country. He said the remedies are severely disproportionate to what each student lost during the pandemic.

"It the greatest knowledge lost in the history of America. We have two years of learning lost in every school district in America and nobody is treating it like the crisis that it is. ... It's like filling up one sandbag when the dam in front of your house just let loose."
EXCLUSIVE  A copy of Hunter Biden's hard drive obtained by the Washington Examiner is indisputably authentic, and there is no evidence of any hacking or file manipulation, according to an examination conducted by a former Secret Service agent who has testified as a cyberforensics expert in over 100 classified, criminal, and civil matters at the state, federal, and international levels.
FILE PHOTO: A woman looks at white crosses set up for the victims of the Route 91 Harvest music festival mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., October 7, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File Photo
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani and international brands Volskaya, Aisha, Inju, Azizli Kids Collection, and Princess Amira have presented their collections at the Azerbaijani Fashion Week 2022.

Designers offer schoolchildren and teenagers both casual fashionable clothes, elegant dresses, and sets for various holidays, Azernews reports.

The adult show opened with a collection from the DABZ brand. Elnara de Birbuet, the founder of the brand, stylist, influencer, and creator of her own fashion school Style Me, added bright juicy colors to her collection. Pantsuits with accentuated waists and loose-fitting blazers, short skirts and shorts combined with masculine cut shirts - everything in the DABZ collection is made in bright colors - from juicy green to scarlet and sunny yellow.

On this day, Kazakhstan was presented by na_mi_lab and Lariya School with a futuristic and bold collection where purple, orange, and black prevail.

Tajikistan presented the best collections of its designers that previously took part in the Tajikistan Fashion Week.

Honored Art Worker of Azerbaijan Fakhriya Khalafova presented her new collection on the podium. The collection was called Bella Rosa (Beautiful Rose) inspired by different shades of rose flowers.

Fakhriya Khalafova presented the new collection in collaboration with the Italian jewelry brand Spoleto Gioielli.

The mood of the collection of the Kazakh brand Guli was created by the fabrics used by the designer, in particular, delicate velvet in warm shades. The designer added a traditional twist to her collection using prints and different cuts.

Gunel Ismayilova and her brand GNL closed the second day of the 12th season of Azerbaijan Fashion Week with a collection of evening dresses.

Recall that the main theme of the 12th season of the Azerbaijani Fashion Week was the idea of ??friendship between peoples and the world.

The 12th season of the fashion show gathered talented designers from Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

The phrase "We are Together" has been chosen as the main motto of the 12th season of the Azerbaijani Fashion Week.

The fashionistas had a great chance to meet once again and, most importantly, to convey the ideas of friendship and peace through creativity.

The theme of friendship between peoples and respect for the national traditions of different countries was reflected in the colors of the main visual of this season. For the design of posters, invitations, and gifts, artists and graphic designers used all the colors of the flags of the participating countries.

Photo credits: Adil Yusifov

Media partners of the event are Azernews.az, Media Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.Az.
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People react outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School after a shooting, in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Marco Bello
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

The National Carpet Museum has marked International Museum Day with multiple events, Azernews reports.

The photo exhibition "Talking Monuments" opened at the museum as part of the celebration. The main goal of the exhibition was to encourage young people to protect their cultural heritage and to draw their attention to this issue.

In their remarks, the director of the Carpet Museum, Shirin Malikova, the head of the Museum and Movable Cultural Heritage Sector, Altun Mikayilli, the director of Yeni Gallery Baku Art Center, Rafael Gulmammadov, art critic Elchin Shamilli, architect, art critic Elchin Aliyev the importance of preserving historical monuments.

The exhibition featured photos of museums and historical and cultural monuments destroyed during the Armenian occupation of Karabakh. The students of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, majoring in museology, archival work, and protection of monuments, informed the guests about the monuments in the photos.

In addition, master classes on hemp were held with Honored Artist Yelelena Hagverdiyeva and textile stained glass with Honored Artist Taryer Bashirov.

An interesting and entertaining quest game was organized for the little guests of the museum. They were shown a puppet show "Flying Carpet" staged by the Carpet Museum's Children's Department on the occasion of the Year of Shusha.

The fairy tale "Flying Carpet" was created by the museum staff and members of the "Children's Union" operating under the museum.

Founded in 1967, the National Carpet Museum never ceases to amaze everyone with its beautiful architecture.

Initiated by eminent carpet artist Latif Karimov, it is beautiful inside and out. The museum's new building is designed in the form of a rolled carpet.

The Carpet Museum stores over 14,000 exhibits of the finest Azerbaijani carpets.

The museum hosts multiple events, including international symposiums, conferences, and various exhibitions.

In 2019, the museum received the national status for its significant contribution to the popularization and promotion of the Azerbaijani Carpet Weaving Art.

In 2020, the Carpet Museum enriched its collection with beautiful pile carpets purchased by the Culture Ministry at the Sartirana Textile Show in Italy.

The 19th-century Guba carpet Ugakh was donated to the Carpet Museum, while the Karabakh carpet Chalabi enriched the collection of the museum's Shusha branch.

The Carpet Museum also focuses on cooperation with world-leading museum organizations.

Moreover, the Carpet Museum won Travelers' Choice Awards for the fourth time in a row.
Brian Slamkowski is a Major in the U.S. Army and currently a GEN Wayne Downing Scholar at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies. A graduate of Air Academy HS in 2006, Brian grew up in Colorado Springs. The views are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Department of the Army or the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Air Force Thunderbirds fly over during the celebratory hat toss during the Air Force Academys Class of 2021 graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs.
A majority of Douglas County commissioners on Tuesday indicated opposition to a proposal to put $10 million from the county's federal American Rescue Plan Act allocation toward a $600 million project that would ship water to the country from the drought-ridden San Luis Valley.

The project, several years in the making, is promoted by Renewable Water Resources, a company that includes among its principals former Gov. Bill Owens.

Commissioners Lora Thomas and Abe Laydon said they were against using ARPA dollars, based on recommendations from water attorneys. Commissioner George Teal, a longtime advocate for the plan, remains in favor.

At the heart of Tuesday's decision are two memos from water attorneys regarding the project that has been kept under wraps since mid-March. Commissioners authorized their release to the public Tuesday.

The first memo, dated March 23, is from attorneys Stephen Leonhardt and April Hendricks of the firm Burns, Figa & Will. Its executive summary said there is "no unappropriated water" available in the confined aquifer, the source for the RWR project. In addition, RWR has not come up with an augmentation plan in sufficient detail to demonstrate that its plan will meet the requirements of the state water rules and avoid injury to other water rights, the memo added.

The memo continues, saying the RWR project "is not consistent" with the state's water plan, so no state dollars would likely be available for it; and that Douglas County will face numerous hurdles to obtain federal, state and county permits for the project after a decree from state water court is entered.

"RWR does not intend to obtain permits before going to water court, and RWRs current proposal calls for Douglas County to bear all responsibility for obtaining the required permits for this project. Obtaining the required federal, state and county permits likely will take several years, at a substantial financial cost to Douglas County, with a risk that one or more permits will be denied."

The May 2 memo notes that Leonhardt and Douglas County attorney Lance Ingalls attended a meeting with RWR's attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck as well as RWR principal John Kim on April 1.

"Lance and I agreed that the information and explanation from RWRs attorneys did not change our conclusions on ARPA as presented in our March 23 memorandum," Leonhardt wrote.

Among the findings in the May 2 memo :

 Questions on whether ARPA money could be used for the project.

 Recognition that an RWR-supported community fund would not mitigate economic losses from the dry-up of irrigated lands and impacts on related businesses.

 Opposition from the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, which is managed by state Sen. Cleave Simpson, R-Alamosa, a major opponent of the project.

 Difficulty in rehabilitating the land once the water is removed.

 The closed aquifer cannot sustain any new pumping, and that a buyer of water rights could only use those rights for their originally decreed purposes, meaning RWR would have to go to water court to change those uses from agricultural to municipal, which could mean a long court battle.

Said Leonhardt: "We still cannot recommend acceptance of RWRs proposal at this time; the recent meetings have confirmed the major impediments to the completion of this project. The two reasonable options would be to (1) reject the proposal; or (2) continue discussions with RWR (and perhaps other interested parties in Douglas County and/or the San Luis Valley) to see if agreement can be reached on an acceptable proposal."

"I did the right thing early on" to oppose this project, Thomas told Colorado Politics Tuesday, adding that she did her own research and came to the same conclusion as the attorney who wrote the memos, which cost the county $40,000, she said.

The plan is also opposed by virtually every major elected official in Colorado, including Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Silt and her primary opponent, state Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose.

Laydon and Teal directed the commission's staff to continue working on a deal with RWR that does not use ARPA money.

The project would move 22,000 acre-feet of water from a confined aquifer in the San Luis Valley through a yet-to-be built pipeline and up to a yet-to-be-identified water provider in Douglas County. An acre-foot of water  enough to cover an acre of land to a depth of 1 foot  is considered the amount needed by a family of four for about a year.

The project would require a $10 million investment from the county, paid for with American Rescue Plan Act dollars, out of the total cost of around $600 million. RWR would pay those willing to sell their water rights about $2,000 per acre-foot, although water experts in the valley say that is about half of its value. RWR would then charge the water district that buys the water $19,500 per acre foot.

RWR's Sean Tonner argued that the RWR project would economically benefit the valley, which he said is among the most impoverished areas of the state at 43% below the poverty level and where population is declining and getting older.

"We can have both: We can have the Front Range being vibrant; the Front Range needs water. We can have the San Luis Valley being vibrant; it needs capital and needs to transition its economy to something lower than 90% to 95% agricultural-based," he told Colorado Politics in March. "We're not saying shut down all ranching and farming, but have a more diversified economy outside of government jobs and agriculture."

Critics, however, say a $50 million community fund proposed by RWR would not mitigate even one year's economic losses the valley would experience as a result of the loss of that water to agriculture and related businesses.

In a statement after the meeting, the Douglas County commissioners said the board decided, based on objective legal recommendations from outside counsel, that ARPA funds are inapplicable to the RWR proposal and that RWR has significant additional hurdles to overcome in order to demonstrate not only a do no harm approach, but also a win-win for Douglas County and the San Luis Valley.

"That said, Douglas County welcomes ongoing discussions with RWR, should they be able to provide new information or otherwise overcome these hurdles," the statement concluded.

"This is good news for the San Luis Valley and it speaks to the hundreds and perhaps thousands of people who spoke out against this unviable proposal," Simpson said. "The San Luis Valley residents, water providers, environmental and conservation groups, agricultural interests, businesses and even many Douglas County residents submitted letters expressing opposition and attended numerous work sessions presenting a mountain of evidence why the RWR proposal is not a win for Douglas County nor the San Luis Valley."

RWR, in a statement sent to Colorado Politics, said, "Were appreciative of the unprecedented level of scrutiny and due diligence our project has undertaken throughout this process. In the arid West, no water project is easy. There is no one silver bullet for finding solutions to our states water crisis. High-quality, renewable, and cost-effective water resources  as our project has identified  are essential for Colorados water security and independence as much as they are rare."

The company "is pleased and encouraged to engage in further dialogue with Douglas County as we work together on a real water solution for Douglas County. Our team is eager to address the countys remaining questions as raised in the legal analysis. We are confident in our ability to mitigate any areas of concern."
Tina Peters, the Mesa County clerk and candidate for Colorado secretary of state, spent campaign funds on a travel to Florida, lodging and tickets to a movie screening at Mar-a-Lago, according to her latest campaign finance filing.

The May 16 filing, as first reported by Colorado Newsline, shows Peters spent $472.88 at a Hilton Hotel in West Palm Beach on May 9. She also bought 40 tickets, valued at $800, for "2000 Mules," a Dinesh D'Souza documentary alleging fraud in the 2020 election that was screened on May 5 at former President Donald Trump's resort.

Peters also bought an airline ticket on May 3 for $361.60, although the expenditure does not identify the destination. Another $14.89 was spent at Starbucks, with the expenditures listed as "FL trip" and $26.54 for a Uber ride, also identified as for the Florida trip.

Peters tweeted that she was at the May 5 screening.

What a fantastic night at Mar-A-Largo for the premier of 2000 Mules! Thank you, Dinesh D'Souza, Catherine Engelbrecht, Gregg Phillips, President Trump, and everyone else who made this incredible night!The film will be available online this weekend at 2000Mules dot com. pic.twitter.com/grTvQRqzQ5  Tina Peters for Colorado Secretary of State (@Tinafor22) May 5, 2022

Colorado's campaign finance law and a related state-issued manual for candidates states that candidate committees "may not use contributions for personal purposes not reasonably related to the election of the candidate except that a candidate committee may make expenditures to reimburse the candidate for reasonable and necessary child or dependent care expenses the candidate incurs in connection with their campaign during the election cycle."

Peters already has two campaign finance complaints and three ethics complaints filed against her. The campaign finance complaints are tied to travel and hotel accommodations in South Dakota to participate in a cyber-symposium hosted last August by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who allegedly paid for those expenses, and a legal fund set up on Peters' behalf that allegedly did not include required disclosures. The ethics complaints are similarly related.

Peters' campaign has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Hong Kong: Cyber security legislation proposed

The Government is making preparatory work to clearly define the cyber security obligations of critical infrastructure operators through legislation, with a view to strengthening the cyber security of this infrastructure in Hong Kong.

Secretary for Innovation & Technology Alfred Sit made the remarks when answering questions from lawmaker Johnny Ng in the Legislative Council today, saying that a public consultation exercise is expected to be launched by the end of this year.

He emphasised that critical infrastructure is of great significance to the normal operation of society. If information systems, networks or computer systems are disrupted or sabotaged, the operation of major facilities may be affected and this will seriously jeopardise the economy, people's livelihood, public safety and even national security.

Noting that the increase in cyber attacks in recent years has brought substantial challenges to the cyber security of critical infrastructure around the world, Mr Sit said Hong Kong does not have specific legal requirements on the cyber security of such infrastructure.

Therefore, in addition to industry best practices as well as guidelines and requirements on cyber security imposed by individual regulatory authorities, the Government is making preparations to clearly define the cyber security obligations of critical infrastructure operators through legislation in order to enhance the cyber security of critical infrastructure in the city.

It will also refer to the cyber security standards adopted worldwide and by other jurisdictions in formulating relevant standards.

Mr Sit stressed that the Government has been closely monitoring the trends of cyber attacks and the associated security threats around the globe.

The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer has formulated a comprehensive set of Government IT Security Policy & Guidelines which are reviewed and updated regularly. All bureaus and departments must strictly abide by the policy and guidelines to ensure the security of government data and information systems.

Moreover, government websites and systems have adopted multiple layers of security measures to detect, block and tackle different types of security threats.

This story has been published on: 2022-05-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Azernews





YARAT Contemporary Art Space presents the works of Azerbaijani artist Ujal Hagverdiyev in the solo retrospective exhibition Conversation in Presence ("Movcudluqda unsiyy?t") at the Museum of Azerbaijani Painting of the XX-XXI Centuries.

It is the first time YARAT Contemporary Art Space has presented a large-scale exhibition of works created by Azerbaijani artist Ujal Hagverdiyev at the Museum of Azerbaijani Painting of the XX-XXI Centuries. Featuring paintings, etudes, album sketches, poems, personal belongings, and photographs from private and state collections, the exhibition accounts for around 250 works of art and graphics that encompass the entirety of his oeuvre. Most works are presented to the public for the first time.

Conversation in Presence transfuses Ujal's idea of "presence in space": illustrating all aspects of his oeuvre, it enables the spectator to engage in a sort of silent "dialogue" with the artist. Although he passed away, the exposition is built on the concept of contemplation and observation of the space by the artist himself. This very presence enables us to sense Ujal's "existence": touching upon his inner domain, the exhibition reflects on the aspects of his personality and work and also pictures him as a great colour stylist and connoisseur of arts, always in search of something hitherto unknown.

Ujal Hagverdiyev, who set out on his way in the 1980s, is famous for his artistic searches and experiments in various genres and schools of art. Apart from day-to-day topics (people, animals, nature, objects, etc.), his works, which are abundant visually and thematically, allude heavily to imagination and dreams, oriental philosophy, and religious topics.

Through his searches, Ujal created a unique visual language with an inimitable style and went down in the history of art as an artist renowned for his unmatched versatility. He spent the last five years of his life painting frescoes at the Church of Michael the Archangel in Baku. His wife, Yelena Hagverdiyeva, also an artist, completed his work after his demise.

The exhibition is curated by Farah Alakbarli.

Venue: Museum of Azerbaijani Painting of the XX-XXI Centuries

Dates: May 26  October 16

Free admission, COVID passport is required

Ujal Hagverdiyev (1960-2004) is a member of the Hagverdiyev family of artists. Having graduated from the Azim Azimzade Art School in 1979, he continued his education at the Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute. After the death of Hasan Hagverdiyev, his father, he considered Kamal Ahmadi and Sanan Gurbanov his mentors. Ujal Hagverdiyev drew inspiration from Italian renaissance art, modernistic styles such as neo-impressionism, cubism, and fauvism, and the Qajar art school. Ujal Hagverdiyev's works were showcased in Russia, Georgia, UAE, France, Tunisia, Austria, Germany, and Turkey; his masterpieces are kept in private collections across the USA, Austria, Germany, Finland, and Russia.
A field day will held on June 16 the Iowa State University Northern Research and Demonstration Farm in Kanawha.

The event will take place at the farms southern location, one mile south of the main farm on County Road R35, or 1040 James Avenue. Registration and refreshments will begin at 9 a.m. and the field day will start at 9:30 a.m. Certified crop adviser credits will be available. Lunch will be served at noon and the field day will conclude by 1 p.m.

Tar spot, recent analysis of the corn nitrogen rate calculator and a review of current growing season issues will highlight the summer field day.

Farm superintendent Matt Schnabel will begin the day with a season review of the farm activities. He will be followed by North Central Iowa Research Association President Greg Guenther, who will provide an update on an on-going capital campaign.

Alison Robertson, corn pathologist with ISU Extension and Outreach, will discuss current concerns with tar spot and fungicide timing. Graduate students Mitchell Baum and Kyle King will discuss interactions between plant density and nitrogen rates on economic optimum ranges and yearly variability of the economic optimum N rate for corn.

Gentry Sorenson and Angie Rieck-Hinz, field agronomists with ISU Extension and Outreach, will discuss current crop management topics including planting date impacts on yield potential, crop development, and pest issues. Depending on planting and herbicide application timing, an optional tour of the herbicide mode of action demonstration plots will be available to tour.

The board of directors of the North Central Iowa Research Association will briefly meet upon the conclusion of lunch. This field day will be free and open to all interested people.

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By Azernews





Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has received Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan Aziz Abduhakimov, Azernews reports, citing Azertac.

The meeting underscored the successful development of friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan in the political, economic, and transport sectors, and highlighted the importance of reciprocal visits.

During the conversation, they touched upon the importance of the selection of Shamakhi as the Tourism Capital of the Turkic World by the Organization of Turkic States and the holding of the 7th meeting of the Ministers of Tourism of the member countries of the organization there. The sides expressed confidence that this event would contribute to the expansion of cooperation in the field of tourism between the member states of the organization.

President Ilham Aliyev praised the initiative of the Uzbek president to have a school built in Fuzuli District liberated from Armenian occupation.

President Ilham Aliyev said that given the existence of a large number of historical sites and historical monuments of world importance in the two countries, there was good potential for expanding cooperation in the tourism sector.

The Uzbek official pointed to the effective cooperation between relevant agencies of the two countries in the tourism sector and expressed his satisfaction with his participation in the event in Shamakhi.
CG Public Health is hosting a free hepatitis C testing day for those born between 1945 and 1965 and people considered high-risk.

Every person who gets tested will receive a free $10 gift card, multiple options are available according to a press release.

Testing will be held at CG Public Health from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Friday, May 27. Appointments are required. Schedule your appointment online by visiting cghealth.com/services/testing.

Though testing will be free for qualified individuals during this event, the United States Preventative Task Force recommend a one-time screening for all adults aged 18 to 79 for Hepatitis C even if you are not symptomatic.

Hepatitis C is an infection caused by a virus that attacks the liver and leads to liver damage, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer. Most people with hepatitis C do not know they are infected. Since many people can live with hepatitis C for decades without symptoms or feeling sick, testing is critical so those who are infected can get treated and cured.

Hepatitis C can be treated and cured, said Sam Severson, RN disease prevention specialist at CG Public Health. If left undetected or untreated, the damage to the liver can be fatal. We are really hoping that eligible people in our county will take advantage of this testing opportunity.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), three out of four people with hepatitis C were born between 1945 and 1965. The reason behind this is unknown, however most people born in this time period are believed to have become infected in the 1960s, '70s and '80s when transmission of hepatitis C was highest.

Hepatitis C is primarily spread through contact with blood from an infected person.

An individual could have gotten infected from medical equipment, or procedures before universal precautions and infection control procedures were adopted. Others could have gotten infected from contaminated blood and blood products before widespread screening virtually eliminated the virus from the blood supply by 1992.

Sharing needles or equipment used to prepare or inject drugs, even if only once in the past, could spread hepatitis C. Still, many people do not know how or when they were infected.

Rae Burnette is a GA and Crime & Courts Reporter at the Globe Gazette. You can reach her by phone at 641.421.0523 or at Rae.Burnette@GlobeGazette.com

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There are plans in place in the city in case a school shooting like the one Tuesday in Texas were to happen in Danville, according to the Danville Police Department.

We work with the school system and their director of security, Danville Police Department Capt. Steve Richardson said during an interview Wednesday. We always have a response plan in place.

The department collaborates with the Danville Life Saving Crew, the Danville Fire Department and Danville City Public Schools to train for crisis events, including mock exercises involving active-shooter scenarios.

Danville police have school resource officers in the school system, which also has its own private security, Richardson said.

We have multiple officers assigned to the schools, he said, adding that the department has not beefed security in the school division since the shooting in Texas.

On Tuesday, 19 children and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was shot and killed by an officer, The Associated Press reported.

Before the rampage that took place in a single classroom, Ramos shot his grandmother.

Danville Public Schools officials declined to comment on the incident out of respect for the victims in yesterdays unthinkable tragedy, school division spokesperson Lanie Davis said Wednesday.

Counselors are available to students who would like to talk to someone about recent tragedies, she added.

As for the school systems security plan, it has been updated, Davis said.

In recent years, we have revised our security plan and we feel comfortable with it, she said.

The plan includes school security officers at each elementary school, secure entrances and closely monitored campuses via security cameras, Davis said.

Each school has its own safety plan that is reviewed regularly, she said.

In Pittsylvania County, School Superintendent Mark Jones said he has been in contact with school principals.

We have spoken with our principals about this and theyre on alert, Jones said.

The county school system already requires anyone who enters a school building to present identification and undergo a background check before being allowed in, Jones said.

School doors  as well as classroom doors while class is in session  are locked, he said.

Pittsylvania County Public Schools, which has school resource officers at its middle and high schools, conducts fire drills and intruder drills at its schools and has crisis management training, Jones said. The Alternative School and the Pittsylvania Career and Technical Center also share a school resource officer.

They are deputies, Jones said of the school resource officers. They can perform any task that a regular sheriffs deputy does.

Pittsylvania County Sheriff Mike Taylor said his office will maintain a stronger presence around the countys school campuses.

Words escape me concerning the shooting yesterday, Taylor told the Danville Register & Bee on Wednesday. My heart aches for the families and the community. I offer my prayers and condolences to those who have lost their children and the families of the teachers that were among those killed.

Richardson said the Danville Police Department is working to improve its response to individuals in crisis.

If you recognize or see someone acting suspicious or if you think they need a welfare check, dont be afraid to let us know, Richardson said.

Anyone can call 911, or 988, a mental-health response number similar to 911, he said.

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WENTWORTH  The North Carolina Department of Public Safety, along with two other agencies, is sponsoring a May 27 Community Resource Fair to assist people who have criminal records as they re-enter the workforce and regular daily life.

The aim of the event, also sponsored by Project Re-Entry and Project Safe Neighborhoods, is to provide those who are on parole, probation or recently released from prison an opportunity to connect with local employers and other resources, including mental health counseling, substance abuse help, and more.

The event will be held from 1-4 p.m. at the National Guard Armory at 292 NC 65 in Wentworth, next to the county courthouse.

Representatives will be on hand to discuss: employment opportunities and strategies for job seeking, education, health and nutrition, family counseling, mental health care and substance abuse issues, as well as transportation.

The event is free.

For more information, contact: Daryl Crowder at 336-634-6089 or Daryl.N.Crowder2@nccourts.org or Nora Gannat 336-324-1129 or ngann@ptrc.org.
Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink ...

In Samuel Taylor Coleridges iconic poem written in 1798, the ancient mariner was ironically lamenting his overwhelming thirst, even as he was surrounded by undrinkable ocean saltwater.

Nowadays, the quotation is sadly applicable to waters increasing pollution by industry and human carelessness  a theme picked up and developed by several of the artists represented in a group exhibition at GreenHill Center for NC Art in Greensboro.

H2O, as its titled, brings together works by seven artists who recognize the vital importance of water and the increasing urgency surrounding its widespread pollution.

Barbara Tyrolers large-format photographs take a largely aesthetic approach to the theme. From a little distance, these Water Crossing Portraits resemble boldly colored abstract-expressionist paintings, but at closer range their flatness becomes apparent, and close-up views reveal their pictorial content as water itself, with glimpses of human bodies submerged in it. Because the water is evidently in motion  as are the bodies, in some cases  the figural elements are visually distorted, as in a funhouse mirror.

Kevin Palme employs a more conventional pictorial strategy in his drawing installation titled How to Become a Cloud, which centers on an enlarged but otherwise realistic rendering of somewhat precariously stacked ice cubes beginning to melt.

Instead of using traditional drawing mediums, Palme took a cue from the tradition of Tibetan sand mandalas, creating the image from sand meticulously manipulated on a surface of black-painted wood atop a low pedestal. Furthermore, he doubled it, using the same technique and scale to render negative mirror-images of the stacked cubes on two identically sized, black-painted pedestals installed side-by-side on the gallerys floor. It makes for a poetically effective meditation on impermanence and physical transformation.

Sea Stars, the site-specific installation that is the focus of Carolyn Hennes contribution to the show, is on an intertidal sandbar in eastern North Carolinas Newport River. Its represented here by a looping video sequence of aerial photographs and explanatory texts.

Using a special, biodegradable hardscape material developed by a marine ecologist, Henne created a group of sculptures that read from above as a monumental drawing of an octopus and three identical groups of life-size, synchronized swimmers  five in each group, lying on their backs with their feet touching to form a five-pointed star shape.

These sculpted images were installed in May of last year, since which time theyve been encrusted with oysters native to this intertidal region. In that respect the piece is an inter-species collaboration. The exhibited video can also be viewed on Hennes website (carolynhenne.com/sea-stars).

Each of the other artists are more direct in addressing water-pollution concerns.

Over the last 40 years Bryant Holsenbeck has built a reputation for creating sculptural installations entirely from plastic detritus she scavenges from the environment and saves in large quantities. Her two pieces at GreenHill suggest bodies of moving water  falling in one case and flowing in the other  and are made entirely of discarded plastic items that she has found in various aquatic environments. In each case the effect is striking and the point is clear.

Caroline Armijo takes on the issue of toxic waste-disposal by an electrical-power company, namely Duke Energy, in a series of works that identify and comment on Dukes coal ash storage ponds across the state. Spills and leaks from some of these ponds have generated controversy in recent years, often centering on the question of who pays for the necessary clean-up.

Personal connections prompted Armijos particular focus on a Duke Energy coal ash pond adjoining Belews Lake near Walnut Cove. A looping video juxtaposes her still photographs of local citizens with excerpts from taped interviews in which they talk about the coal ashs deleterious effects on their lives and on the local environment.

Displayed on pedestals arrayed in front of the screen are a few personal artifacts chosen by the interview subjects for their connection with the coal ash issue. Each of these objects has been scattered with gray coal ash to highlight the connection.

Armijo is also represented by several works made of coal ash compacted into light-weight hexagonal forms, exemplifying one way in which the surplus material might be put to safer, practical use, as opposed to being dumped into natural bodies of water.

James Barnhill is known primarily for his carefully detailed, realistic figural sculptures, one example of which is included here  a milk-painted, carved-wood effigy of a Cachalot Whale, aka sperm whale  a massive aquatic mammal that remains ubiquitous in the worlds oceans.

Such whales are among the many aquatic beings potentially endangered by the massive oil spills documented in Barnhills other works on view, including two monumental paintings, each measuring about 7-by-15 feet.

One of them is a frontal view of the Exxon tanker ship Valdez, which in late March 1989 ruptured on a reef, releasing more than 10 million gallons of crude oil into Alaskas Prince William Sound. Its a startling sight, placing the viewer in the water directly in front of the tanker. An appropriate metaphor for the increasing urgency of water-pollution concerns, it appears to be bearing down fast.

The other painting, equally startling in its way, is a birds-eye view of British Petroleums offshore oil well known as Deepwater Horizon, which in April 2010 erupted in a fiery explosion and released some 210 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Barnhills painting shows the massive fire in the midst of otherwise tranquil-looking water, surrounded by the nautical equivalent of firetrucks spraying the flames. Tellingly, the Gulf waters as rendered by Barnhill are crystal blue at the surface but increasingly darker toward the bottom, where theyre rendered impenetrably black.

More understated in their critique of human-caused water pollution are Will Warasilas photographs  18 images including color and black-and-white. Its a uniformly strong selection, although relevance to the shows theme is more obvious in some images than in others.

An air of doom and foreboding seems to emanate from Warasilas Vultures Over Belews, which shows a flock of the big birds perched at random on an angular structure that presumably regulates water flow, all in silhouette against a twilight-hued sky. The impression is enhanced for viewers who have already seen Armijos previously described installation about Duke Energys coal ash pond alongside Belews Lake.

On the other hand, the Belews site is deceptively pristine-looking and beautiful in a carefully composed birds-eye view Warasila made in low sunlight. In admiring it, you might never know youre looking at a reservoir of toxic sludge.

A provocative show that takes a head-on approach to an urgently controversial issue, H2O hits uncomfortably close to home, no matter where you live.
MIAMI  The mayor of the nations most progressing and least progressive large city says a confluence of macro factors explains both attributes. Abundant sunshine here and equally abundant misgovernance in other U.S. municipalities help Miami. The most important factor, however, is that so many residents of this haven for immigrants have been, Mayor Francis Suarez says, traumatized by our origin story. Note the our.

Miami has always been a magnet for people from elsewhere, from northern states, then Cuba, followed by Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and other places where socialism and other permutations of abusive, prosperity-preventing government are not abstract theories but vivid memories. In a city where most were born elsewhere, Suarez, 44, is the first mayor who was born here. He is the son of Miamis first Cuban American mayor: Xavier Suarez, the ninth of 14 children in a family once put under house arrest by Fidel Castro, arrived in the United States at age 12 in 1961 speaking little English. He is the author of six books, and the recipient of Villanova and Harvard degrees. The Suarez family, like this city, believes in what Abraham Lincoln called the right to rise.

National Democrats demography-is-destiny theory reflects the mentality of a party soggy with the tribalism of identity politics: The browning of America will supposedly guarantee Democrats dominance. This theory is being slain by Florida facts: In 2016, Donald Trump carried Florida by 110,000 votes; in 2020, by nearly 400,000. Until recently, the largest swing state in presidential politics, Florida might be following Ohio in removing itself from the list of such states.

We live, Francis Suarez says, in an experiential world. The Miami experience, which is expected to attract more than 300,000 new residents by 2032, includes:

The lowest tax rate since the 1960s, the mayor says, despite a 65% population increase. Two trillion dollars in managed financial assets  equivalent to almost 200% of Floridas gross domestic product, and 8.6% of 2021 U.S. GDP  have moved here recently. Suarez says Congresss cap on the deductibility from federal income taxes of state and local taxes has made Miami 13% less expensive than many non-Florida cities, and Floridas absence of state and local income taxes approximately doubles that advantage. Miami ranks first among U.S. cities in the migration of tech jobs, and first in percentage of tech job growth among cities with at least 10,000 job postings. Because COVID-19 popularized remote work, Miami is no longer a net talent exporter: Do your Connecticut job here. Approximately 47,000 residential units will be built in the next 36 months. The homicide rate, down 15% in a year, is the lowest since 1957. Despite an inviting climate, Miami has its lowest homeless rate since 2013.

Miami is the heart of Miami-Dade County, which is two-thirds Hispanic. Hillary Clinton carried it with 64% in 2016 but, in 2020, Joe Biden won only 53% as Trump nearly doubled his 2016 vote total. Today, Latino voters and non-Hispanic white voters are about equally likely to describe themselves as conservatives.

Miamis mayoral elections are nonpartisan, but Suarez, who was reelected last year with 79% of the vote, is a registered Republican, albeit one who did not vote for the partys presidential nominee in 2016 and 2020. He is not coy about his interest in what he calls the big job. His decision about seeking the Republicans 2024 presidential nomination will not be contingent on what a 75-year-old, sulking 70 miles north of here, decides to do with his dwindling days.

The ambitions of most of the GOPs presidential aspirants are larger than any executive experiences that might make their ambitions more seemly. Someone needs to banish the Republican miasma of stale anger. As a candidate, Suarez would offer a generational transition with Miami Republicans traditional agenda of lightly taxed and lightly regulated social dynamism. Republicans here say, Somos los hijos de Reagan (We are the children of Reagan).

Suarez has more pertinent governing experience than a 43-year-old Illinois state legislator had accumulated by 2004, four years before being elected president.

The nation has never plucked a president directly from a mayors office, but considering the disappointing results of traditional candidate selections, why not try something novel?

George Wills email address is georgewill@washpost.com.
GREENSBORO  Tax bills for homeowners would increase under a proposed $689 million budget recommendation from the city manager.

The proposed 2022-23 budget adds employee positions and increases pay for city employees while further investing in economic development, public safety, affordable housing, transportation and infrastructure, according to the introduction to City Manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba's budget document.

To offset service cost increases, the proposal would raise the monthly solid waste fee from $2.50 to $3.50 and household hazardous waste monthly fees from $0.60 to $0.97.

Jaiyeoba proposed keeping property tax rates steady, but that would mean more property taxes for most homeowners because the value of properties has increased under the recent revaluation. In that way, his proposal mirrors the one made by County Manager Michael Halford last week.

For the city, the increase in property values could mean another $46 million per year in property tax revenue if City Council approves keeping the rate as is.

Based on conversations among City Council members on Monday, that appeared to be an open question. City Council has nine members and eight were present during the budget discussion. At least five of those spoke Monday about being interested to see the tax rates lowered.

"I think that some people are still having sticker shock over the reevaluations," Mayor Nancy Vaughan said. "So I think we need to look at this."

Vaughan also wondered whether the city would actually be able to fill eight proposed police positions given current hiring difficulties.

Councilwoman Tammi Thurm echoed Vaughan's thoughts on the property taxes and said she thought the council could possibly look for some middle ground.

Councilman Justin Outling said he would be curious to find out what the city manager might cut from his proposal if he were to consider a lower tax rate.

Other council members had different lines of questioning. Yvonne Johnson said she was most interested in hearing about how the budget impacted affordable housing. And Sharon Hightower said she wants to make sure that the city is looking out for its employees and investing in sectors of the budget that had previously been lacking. She cited transit as an example.

"I understand the tax concern, but sometimes youve got to spend a little bit to get a lot," she said.

City Council members plan to dig into the budget further at a work session Thursday.

A public hearing is scheduled for June 7.

Contact Jessie Pounds at 336-373-7002 and follow @JessiePounds on Twitter.
RALEIGH  North Carolina governments most powerful Republican elected official threw his weight fully behind Medicaid expansion Wednesday, raising the stakes for an issue lingering in state politics for a decade that could result in hundreds of thousands of low-income adults getting insured.

Senate leader Phil Berger of Eden was a longtime opponent of accepting federal funds through the 2010 Affordable Care Act to cover people that make too much money to qualify for traditional Medicaid, but too little to qualify for subsidized private plans. Opposition by Republicans have left North Carolina one of a dozen states that have not accepted the match.

Berger revealed last fall he was willing to consider expanding Medicaid as part of budget negotiations. Earlier this week, Senate Republicans revealed they were considering seriously a package of health care access and insurance changes including expansion, which was disclosed Wednesday and heard in a Senate committee.

If theres a person in the state of North Carolina that has spoken out against Medicaid expansion more than I have, Id like to meet that person, Berger said at a news conference, but now, I think (expansion) is the right thing for us to do.

Even if the measure clears the Senate, odds for full passage appear long before this years budget-adjustment session ends around July 1. House Republicans led by Speaker Tim Moore are skeptical that theres time to negotiate it and a House-Senate study committee looking at expansion has not made recommendations.

Berger said the Senate bill contains several provisions the study committee likely would have recommended anyway, and passing the measure will give the House something else to chew on.

Any final measure would go to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, an ardent expansion supporter who is encouraged to see progress on getting more people covered with health care in North Carolina, spokesperson Jordan Monaghan wrote in an email.

In his most public, comprehensive explanation to date, Berger described how he changed his mind after attempts to enact market-based insurance and health care reforms fell short.

Why now? Why this? Berger asked. First, we need coverage in North Carolina for the working poor. Second, there is no fiscal risk to the state budget moving forward with this proposal. And the Medicaid program has been overhauled in recent years so that it can handle additional consumers without creating state budget problems, he added.

The expansion proposal would likely cover 500,000 or 600,000 people. While about 2.7 million North Carolina residents are now enrolled in Medicaid, some current consumers whom the state have been required to keep on the rolls during the pandemic would ultimately be covered by expansion.

Berger said hes fairly convinced Congress wont lower the federal governments 90% share of expenses for expansion enrollees, and the bill cancels the program if that happened. The state would pay its share through hospital assessments and get an additional $1.5 billion over two years to treat traditional Medicaid patients  an additional sweetener for North Carolina to join.

We are not likely to ever get a better deal than we are being offered now, said state Sen. Joyce Krawiec, a Forsyth County Republican, also a former expansion opponent who is helping shepherd the measure.

The bill directs a work requirement for expansion recipients be developed and presented to federal Medicaid regulators for approval, but its rejection would not cancel expansion. Such mandates in other states have been struck down by courts or blocked by President Joe Bidens administration.

Long-term prospects for final passage of the Senate package may have more to do with its non-expansion items. They include significant easements to the states certificate of need laws, which regulate the expansion of health care facilities and equipment purchases, and the authorization of advanced-level nurses to work independently from physicians.

The nursing licensure changes has been sought by the professions lobbying association. Some senators and the North Carolina Medical Society raised concerns about those provisions in Wednesdays committee meeting, citing patient safety.

Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Forsyth County Republican who with Krawiec leads the study committee and supports expansion, said in a text Wednesday that its important that we pass a clean expansion bill  not one that combines a number of other controversial health policy issues.

But supporters of the Senate bill said the measure must be comprehensive to ensure enough health care professionals and facilities are available to serve Medicaid patients.

Still, longtime advocates for expansion were ecstatic about the prospects their ultimate goal could soon be achieved.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden prepared to address the nation Tuesday night shortly after returning to the White House from a five-day trip to Asia that was bookended by horrific mass tragedy.

Biden was on Air Force One Tuesday afternoon when officials said a gunman acting alone killed 18 students and three adults at a Texas elementary school. The president's departure for Asia last week came just two days after he met with victims families after a hate-motivated shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The back-to-back tragedies served as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

Biden entered the White House appearing somber, saying he would soon speak to the American people about the shooting. He directed that American flags be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was briefed on the shooting by deputy chief of staff Jen OMalley-Dillon and other members of his senior team aboard Air Force One.

Shortly before landing in Washington, Biden spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from the presidential plane to offer any and all assistance he needs in the wake of the horrific shooting in Uvalde, TX, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tweeted.
RALEIGH  A week after U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost his primary election, a federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a trial judges decision that had blocked North Carolinas elections board from examining whether he should be disqualified from running for reelection.

A panel of judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling from District Judge Richard Myers, who had determined that a section of the 14th Amendment addressing insurrection and serving in Congress didnt apply to Cawthorn. Voters who filed a formal challenge to Cawthorns candidacy pointed to how the first-term Republican spoke at the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Cawthorn denies participating in an insurrection.

The decision lost some urgency, however, because Cawthorn lost his May 17 primary in the 11th Congressional District to state Sen. Chuck Edwards. The court ruled even after Cawthorns attorney suggested last Friday the appeal was moot because election officials would certify the primary result in early June, meaning his name will not appear on the November general election ballot.

In an opinion footnote, Circuit Judge Toby Heytens wrote the rulings were filed anyway because the results arent yet official, leaving to Myers any decision on whether to dismiss the case. Tuesdays ruling, however, could inform how other challenges are handled by states in the future. Similar challenges have been filed against members of Congress in other states who have been strong supporters of former President Donald Trump, including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group that assisted with the Cawthorn challenge, called Tuesdays decision a major victory.

A spokesperson for Cawthorn didnt immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The North Carolina voters who filed the challenge cited the section that declared no one can serve in Congress who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same. The amendment, ratified three years after the Civil War ended to deal with ex-Confederates, does allow Congress to pass laws that can remove such restrictions.

Writing the prevailing opinion among the three judges, Heytens wrote that Myers got it wrong in March when he wrote that an 1872 law that removed office-holding disqualifications from most ex-Confederates also exempted current members of Congress like Cawthorn.

Arguments that since the law removed office-holding disqualifications from all persons whomsoever meant it applies to future legislators were misplaced, according to Heytens. The circuit judge said the past-tense language clearly meant it applied to those whose constitutionally wrongful acts occurred before its enactment.

Given that the 1872 law still prevented top Confederate officials like its former president Jefferson Davis from serving again, Heytens wrote, the notion that the 1872 Congress simultaneously deemed any future Davis worthy of categorical advance forgiveness seems quite a stretch.

Still, the judges express no opinion about whether Representative Cawthorn in fact engaged in insurrection or rebellion or is otherwise qualified to serve in Congress, Heytens added.

James Bopp, an attorney for Cawthorn, argued before the panel on May 3 in Virginia that the Constitution leaves the decision on whether someone is disqualified to serve in the U.S. House with the elected body itself  not the states. While Heytens wrote that the also panel didnt rule on whether the Constitution gives Congress that responsibility, his colleagues weighed in.

Circuit Judge Jim Wynn wrote that the Constitution does give states broad powers to regulate candidates and ballot access. Circuit Judge Julius Richardson said Myers court lacked jurisdiction to handle the case to begin with, saying determining a House members qualification is a privilege and duty given only to the House itself.

Free Speech for People also helped file the challenge against Greene, who was on Tuesdays primary ballot in Georgia. While a federal district judge allowed the challenge there to continue, a state administrative law judge found that they did not present sufficient evidence to back their claims that she had engaged in insurrection. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger accepted those findings and said Greene was qualified to run. An appeal is pending.

The appeals court also agreed that Myers should have allowed at least one voter filing the candidacy challenge to intervene in the lawsuit, which was actually filed by Cawthorn against the State Board of Elections.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has received Secretary-General of the Organization of Turkic States Baghdad Amreyev, Azernews reports, citing Azertac.

The sides noted at the meeting that successful cooperation was underway in various directions within the Organization of Turkic States, and the role of Azerbaijan in the activities of this organization was praised.

The importance of the Organization's support for Azerbaijan's just position during the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia and during the Patriotic War was reiterated.

Baghdad Amreyev recalled with pleasure his visits to the liberated territories, including Shusha. The Secretary-General noted that a meeting of the Ministers of Information and High Technologies of the Organization of Turkic States would be held in Baku in the coming days, and representatives of participating ministries would also attend the TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan Aerospace and Technology Festival.

He also noted the intention to hold a large-scale business forum within the Organization of Turkic States in Shusha in June, adding that private companies and business people from the Turkic world were interested in construction projects in the liberated Karabakh and East Zangazur regions of Azerbaijan.

Baghdad Amreyev said that Shusha was declared the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World in 2023, and numerous cultural events would be held in Shusha together with Azerbaijan.

During the conversation, the sides noted the importance of the selection of Shamakhi as the Tourism Capital of the Turkic World by the Organization of Turkic States for 2023 and expressed their confidence that Baghdad Amreyev's visit to Shamakhi would contribute to the expansion of cooperation between Turkic states in the field of tourism.
As the June primary election draws near, the two frontrunner candidates in a state Supreme Court race continue to accuse the other of political alignments that could cast doubt on their impartiality on the bench.

James Brown, Republican head of the Public Service Commission whos challenging Justice Ingrid Gustafson for her seat on the Supreme Court, attended a fundraiser hosted by Susan Gianforte, first lady to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, at their home last week.

A week earlier, Brown was speaking at a GOP forum in Butte when he offered to the crowd one of the people who urged him to run in the first place.

In February, Im pleased to say that the governor of the state of Montana called me and asked me to consider running for the Supreme Court of Montana, Brown said. The governors theory was that what were seeing in Montana is were seeing the court systems acting as a shadow legislature.

For over a year now the GOP has openly regarded the courts as stacked with liberals, as the courts have put the brakes on ambitious Republican-backed policies. Gianforte, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, all Republicans, and the state Republican Party have endorsed Brown.

Its a tightrope walk for judicial candidates whose campaigns are bound by the Judicial Code of Conduct. Those rules prohibit judicial candidates from seeking, accepting or commenting on partisan endorsements.

Both Gustafson and Brown still work to keep politics at an arm's length through their political messaging. In his campaign ad, Brown states as an attorney, "I believe we deserve impartial and independent courts." Gustafson's campaign ad asserts there's "no room for politics in the courtroom."

Yet both have still appeared publicly next to partisan leaders in recent months as they build support to push through the primary election.

In an email on Wednesday, Brown said he did not consider his vocal appreciation of Gianforte urging him to run afoul of the judicial conduct rules.

I received calls from farmers, ranchers, and small business owners from across Montana asking me to step-up and run for the Montana Supreme Court, Brown said in an email. I was humbled to hear from them, as well as the Governor, as I weighed this decision.

Gianforte has been a defendant in a handful of cases that have already reached the state Supreme Court. Asked if the governor's support for his campaign is enough to recuse himself from future cases in which Gianforte is involved, Brown said his only duty to the court would be to the constitution.

"That is what is required of me and that's how I will conduct myself on the court," he said.

A spokesperson for the governor's office on Wednesday said Brown was already considering a bid for the Supreme Court when Gianforte encouraged him to run.

"After hearing Jim Brown was considering running for the Supreme Court, the governor encouraged him to run, because Jim is an exceptional attorney who will interpret laws, not make them from the bench," spokesperson Brooke Stroyke said.

Brown, too, has cried foul on the incumbent. In April Gustafson held a fundraiser at Ten Mile Creek Brewery in Helena. Former Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, was in attendance and was among the names listed on the event invitation. Bullock appointed her to the high court after 13 years on the District Court bench.

Asked why she would invite a well-known Democrat to a fundraiser for a nonpartisan candidate, Tim Warner, Gustafsons campaign manager, said in an email, "He is a friend."

Through her campaign this week, Gustafson rejected any notion that politics have played a role in her time on the bench.

"Any allegation that the court or myself are motivated by political idealogue is a manufactured falsehood," Gustafson said. "There is a partisan effort afoot to weaken the judicial branch and remove it as a check and balance to the other branches of government."

Still, Democrats' proximity to the Supreme Court has given Republicans ammunition on the campaign circuit. The state GOP called Democratic outrage over its support of Brown a "hypocrisy" in light of the $60,000 Democrats spent in 2016 in support of Dirk Sandefur's Supreme Court campaign, who beat out now-Republican Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras.

Last week, retired Supreme Court Justice Mike Wheat spoke at a Democratic forum hosted by the Gallatin County central committee. Wheat is also a former Democratic state senator.

There is a wingnut guy thats running against (Gustafson), his names Jim Brown, Wheat said. She needs our help.  We have to get out, we have to support her and we have to ensure that she stays on the Supreme Court, because they (Republicans) are looking to take it over.

The urgency at the Bozeman Democratic dinner hung on the recent revelation that the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and leave abortion access to the states. In Montana, the Attorney Generals Office has already asked the Supreme Court to overturn Armstrong, a 1999 ruling that provided a stronger right to abortion access than Roe.

In the event Brown wins, however, the addition of an ideological conservative would not alter the immediate course of the Supreme Courts decisions, at least not yet, said Lee Banville, a political analyst and professor at the University of Montana.

It happens over a series of appointments, or in this case, elections, Banville said. So if this works, if Republicans strategy of knocking off Gustafson works, I mean, yeah, theyre going to keep doing it.

Theres one thing standing in the way from the Republican Party doing whatever it wants to do, and that is an independent judiciary deciding whether a law is constitutional, he continued. And if it stands in your way, try to change it. Thats kind of a natural thing of power politics.

As for Gustafson's campaign inviting Bullock, a well-known Democrat to a Helena fundraiser, Banville likened the increasing partisan support to an arms race. The ramifications of politicizing the court, of creating the public perception that the courts are at the whim of the party in power, chips away at the purpose of having the nonpartisan branch of government, Banville said.

Nobody had to inject pure political leanings into this race, Banville said. Is it surprising? No. But was it inevitable? No. It didnt have to be like this.

The third candidate for Gustafson's seat, Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Mike McMahon, has had a far quieter campaign. While the partisan influences in the race have set the tone, McMahon has tried to keep politics at a distance.

"To me, the efforts made by special interest groups and partisan groups certainly supports the other two candidates," McMahon said Wednesday.

McMahon has traveled the state to campaign on weekends, he said, from Eureka to Ekalaka. He said people have reached out to him to find out more about his rulings and decisions. Republicans have painted his ruling in a recent case about campus firearm carry as a decision against the Second Amendment. McMahon in that case ruled that the state constitution gives the Board of Regents authority to regulate what happens on university campuses, not the state Legislature, which passed the law in light of legal advice that it might not conform with the constitution.

"I've learned there's a lot of uninformed voters out there and my goal is to reach out to them and inform them as best as possible why I'm running and why I think it's important," McMahon said.

McMahon has never run for a partisan office but records show he has contributed financially to Republicans, including Gianforte's 2016 unsuccessful run for governor. But he said he doesn't try to bring that up when talking with voters.

"That's a partisan issue and this race shouldn't be about partisans. That's all in the past," McMahon said.

The Commissioner of Political Practices database shows Gustafson, who has been a judge since 2004, has donated to four candidates, only one of which was partisan: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark O'Keefe in 2000. Brown, by contrast, has donated to 39 Republican candidates, according to COPP records.

Through May 14, Gustafson had raised more than $113,000 for the primary; Brown has raised more than $92,000 and McMahon had raised less than $40,000.

The primary election is June 7.

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Today's highlight:

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a Black man, was killed when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for about 9  minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and pleading that he couldn't breathe; Floyd's death, captured on video by a bystander, would lead to worldwide protests, some of which turned violent, and a reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.

On May 25:

In 1787, the Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.

In 1946, Transjordan (now Jordan) became a kingdom as it proclaimed its new monarch, Abdullah I.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy told Congress: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, ordered the Virginia county to reopen its public schools, which officials had closed in an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka desegregation ruling.

In 1968, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was dedicated by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall.

In 1977, the first "Star Wars" film (later retitled "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope") was released by 20th Century Fox.

In 1979, 273 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed just after takeoff from Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

In 2008, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander arrived on the Red Planet to begin searching for evidence of water; the spacecraft confirmed the presence of water ice at its landing site.

In 2011, a judge in Salt Lake City sentenced street preacher Brian David Mitchell to life in prison for kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Smart, who was 14 at the time of her abduction in 2002. A judge in Tucson, Arizona, ruled that Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of wounding U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killing six in a shooting rampage, was mentally incompetent to stand trial. (Loughner would later plead guilty; he was sentenced to seven life terms in prison.)

In 2012, the private company SpaceX made history as its Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station. In Syria, more than 100 people were killed in one day in a cluster of villages in central Homs province; U.N. investigators blamed pro-government gunmen for at least some of the killings, but the Syrian regime denied responsibility and blamed rebels for the deaths.

In 2016, actor Johnny Depp's wife, Amber Heard, filed for divorce in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences after 15 months of marriage.

In 2017, surrounded by stone-faced allies, President Donald Trump rebuked fellow NATO members for failing to meet the military alliance's financial benchmarks. Republican Greg Gianforte won a special election for Montana's sole U.S. House seat a day after being charged with assaulting a reporter.

In 2018, Harvey Weinstein was charged in New York with rape and another sex felony in the first prosecution to result from the wave of allegations against him. (Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault; he is serving a 23-year prison sentence.)

In 2020, a white woman, Amy Cooper, called 911 to claim she was being threatened by "an African American man," Christian Cooper, who had confronted her for walking her dog without a leash in New York's Central Park. (After a video of the confrontation was widely circulated, Amy Cooper lost her job with investment firm Franklin Templeton and was charged with filing a false police report; the charge was dismissed after she completed a counseling program.)

In 2021, the White House confirmed that President Joe Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin would hold a summit in June in Geneva. The family of George Floyd met at the White House with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the first anniversary of Floyd's death during his arrest by police in Minneapolis. Former Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia died at the age of 94; the former Navy secretary was married to film star Elizabeth Taylor when he first ran for the Senate in 1978, and he held that Senate seat for 30 years.

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DECATUR  The Decatur school board had a spirited discussion on the merits of increasing the graduation requirements, with varied opinions shared on both sides of the issue.

Under the last board, an increase in graduation requirements to 25 credits by the year 2025, was approved. Superintendent Rochelle Clark and Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Jeff Dase presented their case to the current board during a work session Tuesday to keep the number where it is now, at 22 credits.

The Illinois State Board of Education is planning to require a laboratory science for graduation in Illinois, Dase said, and one of his and Clark's suggestions was for the district to require those sooner, so students would be ahead of the curve. And by keeping the required number of credits at 22, Dase said, students would have chances to make up classes in which they struggled, or take more electives that support their career goals, or engage in work/study programs.

During the pandemic, we saw a lot of students requesting flexible schedules, Dase said. They had to work, they had things to take care of at home, and a light bulb went off.

Board member Al Scheider said with a seven-period day, that's a possible 28 credits over four years, and to only require students to earn 22 credits sends the wrong message, in his opinion.

I have no problem with students working toward their goals, but I don't know why that means they don't need to have same number of credits. When we went from six to seven (class) periods, you have 28 possible periods in four years. With 22 credits you can fail 12 classes, and that is not a statement we want to make to students.

The administration looked at factors including graduation rate, chronic absenteeism, and mobility and requiring 22 credits instead of 28, she said, will provide students who fail a required class a chance to make it up without falling behind in earning credits.

Board member Regan Lewis looked up surrounding districts' graduation requirements and they range from 24 in Mount Zion to 28 in Warrensburg-Latham, though she said their student populations and Decatur's are different.

I think, Al, that your point is well taken, she said. There's a lot of discussion on being competitive and marketing and bringing people into the district, but we need to think about the kids in our district right now and how best to serve them to make sure they're able to graduate. I don't think we can deny a lot of students need more support due to whatever circumstances they may be encountering.

Administrators are discussion various ways to do that, Dase said, such as offering pre-algebra or basic English classes for students, and the student ambassadors, Daniel Flores and Sciler Treacy, who were present and asked to speak on the topic, both said it was a fine line to offer assistance to struggling students without giving those students unintended encouragement to fail.

I know a lot of classmates who failed classes during COVID, and that put a dent in the number of credits they were able to earn, said Daniel. But there's merit in pushing students to do the best they can. If (the number of credits ) were moved to 24, there's still room for retention for eight classes, and there would still be that buffer there. Isn't that enough of a buffer? It's not like you're asking kids to pass all 28 classes for graduation.

Sciler, who like Daniel graduated last weekend, said allowing too many chances is not adequate preparation for college and career.

Once you step into real life, when somebody asks you to do something, they're gong to expect you to do it right, and do it right the first time, he said.

No decision was made during the work session.

In the board meeting that followed, the board approved naming Rida Ellis principal of American Dreamer STEM Academy. Ellis has been serving as assistant principal of the school. The board also named Kamie Meador principal of Dennis School. Meador is currently assistant principal at Hope Academy.

The board also acknowledged the death of former Superintendent Elmer "Mac" McPherson.

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

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DECATUR  Visitors to Decatur Public Schools can only enter buildings by being buzzed in through secure entries, and must pass through the school office, providing a photo ID which is scanned into a system, before being allowed into the building itself.

School security measures are on many people's minds after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, where 19 children and two adults were killed by an 18-year-old who had first shot his grandmother before crashing his car near the school and fleeing into a classroom. The shooter is also dead.

The state of Illinois requires active shooter drills to be held annually at Illinois schools, and most school personnel also undergo ALICE training regularly. ALICE, or Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evaluate, ensures staff is prepared to react to an active shooter or intruder in a school.

We are also in the process of hiring a director of safety, diversity, and equity who will be responsible for ensuring district-wide training for staff, said Decatur Superintendent Rochelle Clark. We are outlining mandatory training for security that involves active shooter training to take place during the upcoming school year.

School resource police officers are on duty in both MacArthur and Eisenhower High Schools and Stephen Decatur Middle School, while other buildings share police officers, and all buildings have trained security personnel on staff as well, Clark said. Metal detectors are used in the high schools and middle school as well.

Central A&M Superintendent DeAnn Heck said officers are not assigned to specific buildings in that district but are available when needed.

Our local police are wonderful support and are often a presence in the schools, Heck said.

Visitors to the district's buildings must be buzzed in through the office.

COVID restrictions prevented the staff undertaking ALICE training in the last two years, she said, but that will resume with the coming school year, and was a regular part of training prior to the pandemic. Students are often reminded that if they see or hear something that doesn't seem right, they should inform an adult immediately.

Maroa-Forsyth staff members meet with law enforcement annually for updated training, said Superintendent Kristopher Kahler, and a police officer is primarily assigned to the high school but also is a presence in the middle and elementary buildings on a regular rotation. The district also uses a system where visitors must provide a state-issued ID for access to the building and that ID is run through the system for a background check before visitors are allowed inside.

Curt Nettles, superintendent for the Clinton School District, said they practice active shooter drills annually with an optional additional drill, if we feel that we need to make any changes or tweak it or anything.

We want students and staff to know how to behave and how to react.  but if were drilling too much, it can create complacency and also we dont want those thoughts, especially in our younger kids heads, too much, Nettles said.

Clintons five school buildings have single points of entry with doors locked by default, he said.

Visitors are screened by building personnel through cameras and speakers before being admitted to the schools offices.

The districts school resource officer, Mike Bennett, covers all five buildings and does a fantastic job of training our administration and staff on what to do in a crisis, Nettles said, noting they do training beyond the drills.

Bennett reviews possible scenarios with staff and teaches the appropriate behavior and decision-making skills at least once per school year, the superintendent said.

Nettles said he met with Bennett and the Clinton Police Chief Robert Lowers on Wednesday to review their security measures and plans, and had more police presence in the buildings than a typical day.

In the wake of the Uvalde shooting, Nettles said he sent a message to staff reminding everyone what their jobs are and to be vigilant.

When this sort of thing happens, it just creates a heavy feeling. You start your day and you try to push through knowing when those people in Texas are going through and you feel for them, he said. We have our kids in front of us and we have to push through, but everybody feels a heaviness.

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

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Voters walk into the Comal County Offices, Goodwin Annex for early voting Tuesday, May 17, 2022. Early voting continues through May 20 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for primary runoff elections.
BRISTOL, Tenn.  A developer told the Bristol Tennessee City Council during a Tuesday work session his project is being targeted with misinformation and used the presentation on a proposed annexation and residential expansion of the Fox Meadows neighborhood to attempt to set the record straight.

Jerome Malinay, the developer of the $60 million, 23-acre development off Beaver Creek Road, addressed concerns City Council has received regarding the project during his presentation. City officials said they have received eight phone calls and several letters from current Fox Meadow residents expressing either concern or support for the rezoning and the housing development

First thing that came out was the developer is from Texas. Hes coming in and swooping in to do this development and running out. Well, Im 60 years old. Been here since I was 2 years old. So Ive got 58 years worth of roots here, Malinay said. Ive got developments in Virginia, Tennessee, [the] Carolinas and Georgia. Eighty percent of which are within a 100-mile radius of here.

Malinay pointed out to City Council that in the petition being circulated by residents of Fox Meadows who oppose the development, they express support for the construction of single-family dwellings.

One thing in the petition I want to note when it gets to you: It says, We do not oppose additional single-family homes as was laid out in the original development plan, and thats whats being developed here, Malinay said.

Malinay highlighted he has the single-family unit stipulation written into his contract with the construction company, which will be developing the Fox Meadows extension.

Im under contract with national builders coming in, Malinay said. My contract specifically states single-family dwellings.

Vince Turner, the vice mayor of Bristol, Tennessee, believes that, in the long run, current residents of Fox Meadows will benefit from the expansion of their neighborhood.

At the end of the day, wherever you build your home, and wherever your neighborhood is, if there is other property that is surrounding it at any point in time, unless its your property, it can become something else, and it may be developed, and thats just part of life, Turner said. I think as far as property values and everything else, they are going to see a benefit.

Council member Margaret Feierabend expressed that she believes council should do a better job in the future of publicizing these less formal proceedings to give interested citizens the opportunity to attend and participate.

What would have been good in thinking about the future is, once it goes on the agenda, to put out notices to give people the opportunity before we do the resolution, Feierabend said. People could have come and learned a little bit more in a little less formal setting. Im sure people would appreciate this.

In total, the number of single-family units that would be added to Fox Meadows would be 176, which would bring the total number of homes in the neighborhood to 308.

The next step for the project is the preliminary plat input from various city departments regarding infrastructure and safety requirements.

The Bristol Tennessee City Council will vote on the revised land rezoning proposal at its next City Council meeting Tuesday, June 7. If passed, the plan will then return to the Bristol Regional Planning Commission for review.

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BRISTOL, Va.  Improving communication regarding the city landfill took center stage Tuesday during the Bristol Virginia City Council meeting.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, more than one resident requested the city pass along more information regarding the landfill, which has been at the center of widespread odor and emission complaints for more than a year. Mayor Anthony Farnum said the city plans to improve.

We need to strive to continue to improve, and I think well find ways to do that, Farnum said after the meeting. Weve heard from the community that they want information. We need to communicate better, and its our job to listen, so were going to work on that.

Improving communication with the community was one of 10 recommendations made by a panel of landfill experts in its April 25 report to the city and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

City Manager Randy Eads said city officials and consultants are currently digesting that report.

Right now our experts, DEQ, everyone is trying to absorb what the expert panel has suggested and come up with a solution. Once a solution is come up with by our engineers, weve got to present that solution to DEQ, and theyll have to sign off on it before we move forward, Eads said.

DEQ is requesting an action plan be submitted to them on or before July 6, and city consultant SCS Engineers expects to meet that deadline, Eads said.

The 11-member panel made 10 primary recommendations to address landfill issues, including the construction of a sidewall odor mitigation system, improving the performance of existing gas extraction wells, eliminating emissions from the landfill surface, installing a system to measure landfill temperatures, installing at least five dedicated monitoring wells and extraction wells, installing a temporary geo-synthetic cover over the entire landfill and developing a stormwater management plan.

Eads also reviewed past communication efforts, including some that resulted in death threats.

In April or May, I began having meetings with citizens in these council chambers before meetings, until the point in September when my life was being threatened and peoples lives at the landfill were being threatened  based on the situation at the landfill  and I had to stop that, Eads said. I was on Facebook until about September, trying to communicate with people about what was going on, and I would get threats via Facebook on my life or on my property.

The city manager had previously declined to publicly discuss those threats.

He also noted the city maintains a website that has been updated regularly.

We have attempted to communicate as much information about this landfill as soon as we get it. If there is something imperative for the public to know about, it is on the website as soon as we can get it, Eads said.

Some future steps will take time, he said.

Over the next year were going to continue to get data and give it to the experts, give it to our consultants and engineers so that they can come to some conclusion as to how we move forward, Eads said. The landfill is not closing tomorrow. Its not closing a month from now. It may not close six months from now because their [experts] own report says not to close it until we get things under control. If we close it before it gets under control, were doing nothing but creating an environmental disaster for the city to deal with 10 years from now. Weve got to fix it, and weve got to fix it right.

Eads called the landfill a monumental disaster.

In other action, the council voted 4-0, with one member absent, to finalize the citys fiscal 2022-23 operating budget. The $59.8 million general fund budget includes alterations approved earlier this month, including funding two additional positions and benefits at the sheriffs office ($130,000), maintaining the judicial alternative sentencing program for at last another year ($238,400) and granting an additional $23,000 to both Believe in Bristol and the Birthplace of Country Music.

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Stella Robinette has an innate passion for teaching kids life skills.

I wanted to teach other kids some of the skills that I was taught growing up, Robinette said of why she started the youth-focused nonprofit HOPE (Help Our Potential Evolve) TriCities in 2008. We try to teach life-skill lessons, preparing them for the real world.

Robinette, a 2022 YWCA Tribute to Women Award recipient in the Empower category, is a Kingsport native teaching local youth skills in a range of topics like money management and employment prep.

Each week, about 25 to 30 kids in the Kingsport-based HOPE program meet and attend classes on subjects such as banking, real estate, etiquette, work attire and job interviewing, Robinette said.

I think those (job prep) skills go a long way in life when they prepare for it, Robinette said.

HOPE also participates in a Hope for Health program that teaches kids healthy shopping practices and eating habits.

According to Robinette, youth are entered into HOPE mostly through word of mouth. Over the years, the program has had a number of success stories, she says, including one student who was able to job shadow at a local business while in high school, get hired there at 18 and go on to gain employment with Kingsport City Schools.

Most kids that have graduated from us are living out on their own, making it on their own, Robinette said. I just love to see the growth in these guys  that's what excited me.

Raised in Kingsport by her great aunt and uncle, Robinette says she learned by the example of their generosity. She also learned leadership skills and the value of community service from them as well.

I owe everything that I have done to them because they really instilled it in me, especially work, Robinette said. Even when I couldn't work I knew it was something I still had to do, whether I got paid for it or not. I just couldn't go home and sit down.

Fourteen years into HOPE TriCities, Robinette continues to be driven to see kids improve.

I get joy out of helping others, Robinette said. When I see these kids exceed, my joy comes from there, and I love it.

ABOUT THE AWARD: Recipients of the YWCA Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginias Tribute to Women Award are nominated by area organizations and selected by an independent panel of judges based on leadership abilities, their achievements and positive influence. This is the 31st year of the awards.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a Decree on dismissal of Javid Gurbanov from the post of chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC.

The order comes into force from the date of signing.
No Virginia governor during the past 50 years endured the roller coaster of redemption that took Ralph Northam from disgrace in 2019 to new horizons of racial understanding and support three years later.

Northams redemption through rebuilding his reputation by dealing with Virginias fraught history of race relations is told in a new book that examines racial progress and other factors that changed the states political leanings.

David Toscano, who served as House of Delegates Minority Leader prior to his retirement at the end of 2019, traces years of the states political transformation from mostly Republican in 2005 into a Bellwether, the title of his book that cogently explains Virginias role as an indicator of national change.

Toscano treats Northams redemption as part of Virginias unique racial history in which Black residents fought in courts and elections to overcome paternalistic racism. In other states, more abject terror was used to subjugate people of color.

Northam in February 2019 faced the startling revelation that his 1984 medical college yearbook page featured a photo of characters in blackface and wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood. Northam could not recall or explain the photo and was met with immediate calls for his resignation.

Instead of resigning, the soft-spoken governor began an extended listening tour and relied on support from Virginias Legislative Black Caucus. He shifted the focus of his governorship to deal with minority concerns about civil rights and disparities in medical and other treatment of minorities.

One change in his 2020 budget allowed Northam, a physician later widely praised for Virginias response to the COVID pandemic, to include new funding to attack maternal mortality disparities among people of color.

Northams actions solidified his strong support among African Americans across the state, said Toscano, who noted that the Black caucus, unlike most leading Democrats, himself included, never officially called on the governor to resign.

Luck, and timing, still mean a lot to individuals in politics. The Legislative Black Caucus stuck by the governor and  within a week of the photo being leaked in the media  newly disclosed scandals involving his lieutenant governor and attorney general quickly intervened and created political succession difficulties.

Larry Sabato, founding director of the University of Virginias Center for Politics, said Northam was saved by two developments: that Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax had been accused of sexual harassment by two women, and Attorney General Mark Herring, next in line after Fairfax, revealed he had worn blackface at a party during his undergrad days at UVA in the early 1980s.

If they all resigned, Republican Speaker of the House Kirk Cox would have become governor, Sabato noted. Simultaneously, Northam began to implement a redemption strategy. He would dedicate the rest of his governorship to helping right the many racial wrongs in Virginia.

Del. Sally Hudson, a fellow Democrat who won Toscanos seat in 2019, said of Northam, No one can deny he presided over extraordinary strides in Virginia history. I credit the Legislative Black Caucus for charting the course and Governor Northam for having the courage to follow.

His leadership is sorely missed, Hudson added of the governor, who left office in January after being term limited by Virginias unique constitutional ban on direct succession.

Democratic Del. Schuyler Van Valkenburg, a Henrico County high school civics teacher, said Northam did in education and health care make Virginia a more equitable place.

Toscano and others believe that Northam is not one of the two figures in the yearbook, one wearing blackface and the other a Klan hood. Northam apparently knows who the man in blackface and the hooded figure, possibly a woman, are and chooses not to reveal their identities.

Sabato said he does not know who was in that photo. We were promised an answer and never got it. Its legitimate to point that out. Somebody knows the truth. Maybe a bunch of somebodies.

Toscanos book discusses many other facets of Virginias racial history, including the nearly century-old origins of the states political exceptionalism nickname for doing things: The Virginia Way, which means many things to different folks.

The term as it was used in the 1930s meant that if whites were civil in dealings with African Americans, then all Virginians would be more likely to maintain racial separation based on consent, Toscano said.

He advocates a bold new Virginia Way that would include all residents and get people of different backgrounds and experiences into the room where decisions are made.

Toscanos book makes a strong case that the Virginia Way should be to strengthen the states resolve to learn from its racial history and place more chairs at the table.

Gibson is a member of Virginias Commission on Civic Education.
Houston County High School student Lakoda Gleason waves from the front seat of a Stearman biplane as pilot Rick Mantei brings the plane in for its landing.

WARNER ROBINS, Ga.  There is nothing quite like fulfilling a dream. There is a swelling of pride as you fulfill your long-term goal, an overwhelming sense of accomplishment or excitement that fills your chest, accompanied by a fleeting bittersweet feeling of needing to move on to the next phase to find something new. It is an affirmation that you, an individual, are doing what you are meant to do.



On Friday, May 20, Houston County High School student Lakoda Gleason experienced some of these feelings and more as he took flight in a PT-17 Stearman  a biplane previously used by the United States Navy and Army Air Forces as a primary training plane for upcoming pilots during World War II  alongside his pilot, Rick Mantei. He was even able to fly it.

Lakoda and his mother, Carrie Gleason, met with Mantei at the Warner Robins Air Park on Highway 96, under the ruse that Lakoda would just be receiving the opportunity to look at the Stearman. After a pop quiz on plane knowledge and Army Air Force facts, Mantei asked Lakoda if he was ready to fly.

Lakoda was strapped into the front seat of the biplane, goggles in place and gloves pulled snuggly over his hands within five minutes. The aircraft raced down the runway, lifted into the air and passed over the tree line, leaving behind those that had gathered to see them off.

Mantei took Lakoda over Warner Robins, flying high above busy thoroughfare like Highway 96 and Watson Boulevard. From above, the usually busy roads looked like small paths, the heavy mid-day traffic not a concern.

Robins Air Force Base, usually so intimidatingly large was plainly visibly as well, stretching across the horizon as Mantei brought the plane higher into the air.

The whole of Warner Robins, its streets, homes and businesses, its parks, schools and the many people who populate them, were all visible from the sky above.

Looking up from the Stearman, the blue sky and the clouds that migrate across its plain were closer than ever before. The sun, high above in its noon position, warmed the two passengers arms and heads, while the passing winds cooled their faces. So high above the city and its requirements, yet still open to the elements, the flight brought on a feeling of weightlessness  of freedom.

"It felt like being a bird, Lakoda said. "Youre up there, and you can look down on everything youve ever known and loved. It really gives you the feeling that youre on top of the world  you get a chance to relax and forget all the chaos on the ground.

For a brief moment, Mantei even allowed Lakoda to take the stick and steer the biplane while thousands of feet in the air.

Only after a few short minutes, the plane returned to the earth. Its wheels pressed into the grass and dirt of the runway and began to slow. When the plane whipped around and stopped in front of the hangar where a small group waited for Lakodas response, he called the experience irreplaceable.

"Im ecstatic right now; that was so cool, Lakoda said. "I will never forget it  the feeling of being up in that canopy, having a control of it for a few, you cant replace that  its what I wake up for every day and what I live to do.

For Lakoda, this experience was on the path to fulfilling a dream. In August he will be starting his junior year at Houston County High School, and is a member of their JROTC. He also has autism.

Lakoda is also a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and bowls with the youth league at Robins Air Force Base.

But he is best known amongst his peers and superiors for wanting one thing: to be a pilot. He has been working towards that goal since he was three years old, having logged several flight hours at aviation camps.

Currently, he is working to get his Private Pilot license. After graduating high school, he plans to enroll into the military. When it is all over, he hopes to be a pilot for the United States Air Force.

For Mantei, it is about something else. It is about helping the next generation, guiding them along the path so they can succeed.

Mantei is a former pilot for the United States military and a stockbroker. The owner of several planes, Mantei has been flying since he received his appointment and went to the Air Force Academy. He bought his Stearman after leaving the military and has been flying it ever since.

He got word of Lakodas dream to be a pilot, and decided that he wanted to help him along the way, to give him a taste of what the future could be like.

"I believe that if the older generation does things like this for the younger generation, theyll feel important; theyll feel valued, Mantei said.

"If more people stopped thinking about themselves and started thinking about other people, this would be a better place  a lot better place all the way around. You may look at it and think: What is one little ride going to do in an airplane?  come back. It wouldnt surprise if in 40 years, that kid is president. It wouldnt surprise me one damn bit. Those little things matter hugely.
District Attorney William Kendall spoke at the event honoring fallen law enforcement officers and their families.

WARNER ROBINS, Ga.  "I pray that You keep a shield of protection over our local, state and federal law enforcement officers. Equip them with courage and instill in their heart, that if they fall in the service of another, that they will not be forgotten.



Those were the words of Warner Robins Assistant Police Chief Chris Rooks as he led an opening prayer at a candlelight vigil on May 20.

That evening, at Southside Baptist Church, law enforcement officers, their families and the public gathered together to honor the men and women who lost their lives in the line of duty over the past year.

According to Warner Robins Police Chief John Wagner, the event saw its largest turnout in years.

District Attorney William Kendall took the stage and spoke at the event. He opened his speech by laying out the numbers of how many have fallen last year: 619 in total, 142 military veterans and 51 Georgia residents, making Georgia third in the nation for law enforcement fatalities.

"In 2022, already, [there were] 107 line of duty deaths; although a decrease from last years numbers, one death is too many, Kendall said.

He read a poem by Paul Harvey called "Policeman, remarking that policemen wear many hats and work tirelessly to keep the public safe.

"A policeman is a composite of what all men are: mingling of a saint and sinner, dust and deity. What that really means is that they are exceptional, they are unusual, they are not commonplace. Buried under the froth is the fact, and the fact is: less than one-half of one percent of policemen misfit the uniform, the poem said.

Kendall went into detail about his upbringing, his prior background in the Marines and his prior experience in law enforcement.

Kendall was no stranger to grief. In his time in the Marines, he lost Barry  his military working dog  to chemical exposure.

Kendall also knew Richard Crooms, an investigator at the district attorneys office. Crooms lost his life in a car accident in March of this year. In his speech, Kendall remembered arriving at the scene with Captain Jon Holland from the Houston County Sheriffs Office.

"[Holland] prayed with me in silence and comforted me, Kendall said. "He told me to be a strong leader and to have faith. He stuck by my side the whole day because thats what cops do.

The law enforcement community stood by Kendall, providing police escorts for an ambulance, then from the hospital to McCullough Funeral Home.

"Within ten minutes, there were 20 or 30 police cars staged at the hospital, ready to give our brother a proper escort, Kendall said.

At the funeral home, officers from Centerville Police Department, Houston County Sheriffs Office and Warner Robins Police Department surrounded each side of the funeral car and saluted Crooms.

To Kendall, his experience that day was a testament to the dedication of the law enforcement community to supporting the fallen.

"To see law enforcement throughout our county stop everything that they were doing for a moment in time and take care of one of their own  it truly had me in tears, Kendall said.

He then offered up his condolences to the families of the fallen:

"To the family, friends and loved ones of our fallen officers: Know that you are loved, Kendall said. "Your officer will be remembered and cherished, and that their legacy will continue on through the men and women who continue the mission with their time on this earth.

Kendall said that while it was emotionally difficult, he was honored to speak at the event.

"I have a love for law enforcement, Kendall said. "I come from a law enforcement background, and now being a D.A. I have the ability to impact the community and help law enforcement out to do their job. To be a part of the memorial ceremony was a big honor for me. It means a lot.

Kendall was first invited to speak in February, one month before Crooms accident. He said that when he typically speaks, he tends to be more lighthearted  but this time he spoke more from the heart.

"I went from being there to honor the folks I knew who work out in the community, who I didnt have a close personal relationship with, to where one of my own passed away and died in the line of duty. It certainly changed the dynamic for me, Kendall said.

Seeing his fellow officers mourning was also difficult for him.

"You dont want to see people sad, you dont want to see them mourn the loss of their brothers and sisters like that, but I think it just goes to show that police officers are different, Kendall said. "Theyre strong people. Theyve always answered the calls. They have big hearts, and they do a lot of good for the people.

Chief Wagner also spoke at the event, leading an emotional candlelit ceremony where Honor Guard members and families lit one candle each for 16 fallen officers around the Middle Georgia area.

At the end of the ceremony, each of the fallen officers was called over dispatch one final time, and the silence on the other side of the call was harrowing.

"The finality of that is heart-wrenching, Wagner said.

Reflecting on the event with The Journal, Wagner admitted he had a hard time emotionally while reading the names of the fallen officers and thinking of their families.

"I think about my family, too: What if? Wagner said.

Wagner knew three fallen officers personally: Investigator Crooms, Houston County Sheriffs Office Captain Michael Jere Stokes, and Lieutenant Brandi Meagan Cross-Stock with the Brooklet Police Department.

Knowing Captain Stokes and his family hit home for Wagner.

"Stokes was a mentor for me, Wagner said. "Even though he was with the [Sheriffs Office] and I was with the city, our paths crossed numerously.

Lieutenant Cross-Stock had previously worked with Warner Robins Police Department, and Wagner was trying to convince her to come back to the department.

Wagner was saddened by each of their passings.

"Thats three too many, he said.

Wagner also reflected on the role law enforcement plays in society, saying that they will always answer the call, regardless of who makes it.

"People love us, people hate us. People buy us lunches, people curse us, Wagner said. "But at the end of the day, the person that loves us and the person that hates us still calls 911.

Wagner wanted those who currently serve to know that while the job can be dangerous, getting home safely is the top priority.

"At the end of the day, and at every roll call, you must set your sight on the fact that youre going to go home safely, Wagner said. "Youve got to know your training, your intuition and your sixth sense. Never let your guard down, because youve got a family to go home to at the end of the day.

Wagner wanted the families of the fallen to know that their sacrifice was not in vain.

"Were still going to remember [their] loved ones, Wagner said.

Kendall agreed that while their ultimate sacrifice is tragic, the legacy of the fallen will live on.

"They will never be forgotten, Kendall said. "We will always remember them, and we will continue to remember them through the work that we do and honor them.
A long-promised widening to busy sections of N.C. 150 in Catawba County may no longer have a set date for construction. It could be a decade before the project moves forward, according to state transportation officials, because it is not currently in the NCDOT 10-year plan.

Rising costs bear some of the blame, transportation planning manager for Western Piedmont Council of Governments Brian Horton said.

The cost of construction projects increased statewide in recent years, leaving room for fewer projects in state plans. The total estimated cost for all programmed projects in the 2020-29 State Transportation Improvement Program is now closer to $33 billion than the original cost, which was closer to $22 billion, Horton said.

The N.C. 150 expansion was included in the current 10-year state plan but likely wont make it on the upcoming 2024-33 plan. The N.C. 150 project will compete with other projects for funding. The need for expansion would be ranked based on the issues with traffic and the amount of accidents.

The original plan was to widen N.C. 150 from one lane in each direction to two in each direction to accommodate high traffic volumes on the Catawba County portion of the road. The widening would begin at the intersection of N.C. 150 and N.C. 16. The road would be widened to Mooresville in Iredell County. The widening in Iredell County will continue as planned. Only the Catawba County portion is delayed.

There have been prior delays, but this is the first time the state will no longer commit to the project.

Catawba County officials were surprised and frustrated when the county learned of the uncertainty of the N.C. 150 project, Catawba County Commissioner Kitty Barnes said.

Counties cannot build or maintain roads per North Carolina statute, but we are actively advocating for the Catawba County portion of this project to be the states top priority moving forward, Barnes said.

Barnes said past development decisions were made based on the promise of the planned widening and the county is evaluating new development proposals in the area with the situation in mind.

This will be a long-term focus for the county, Barnes said.

Kendra Eades, owner of Honeybee Real Estate and a native of Sherrills Ford, said she feels that the uncertainty of the construction start date doesnt matter to most people. She said that typically N.C. 150 isnt a key factor when her clients are looking to buy. Most people who work in Mooresville are going to buy in Mooresville, Eades said.

N.C. 150 connects Catawba County to Mooresville. Eades said that with the growth of Newton and the expanded N.C. 16 making it easier to get to Charlotte, people in the Sherrills Ford area are finding that they dont have to go to Mooresville as much.

Kim Jordan, director of marketing and communication for Catawba County Schools, said that the increase of new residential construction in the Sherrills Ford area will likely impact Catawba County Schools enrollment in the future.

This might affect bus drivers who use N.C. 150 on their daily routes to and from school. Students who live near the highway mostly attend schools in the eastern part of the county. These schools include Balls Creek Elementary School, Sherrills Ford Elementary School, Mill Creek Middle School and Bandys High School.

Sherrills Ford Elementary School has two buses that take N.C. 150 as part of the daily school route and Bandys High School has five buses that use the road. Director of Transportation for Catawba County Schools Ashley Martin says that with the growth in the area, most bus drivers are seeing an increase in traffic during their daily routes. She added that, so far, the traffic has not significantly changed route times.

N.C. 16 widening on track

The expansion of N.C. 16 to four lanes is still projected to be complete by December but the cost of the project has increased.

The eight-mile expansion from two lanes to a four-lane divided highway between Tower Road and Caldwell Road will finish two years behind schedule.

The project will likely cost $45 million due to some delays and changes, N.C. Department of Transportation Communications Officer Marcus Thompson said. The original project estimate was $41.5 million.

The expansion was originally set to be complete in December 2020, but weather, supply chain and utility line issues delayed the project, according to NCDOT.

Construction crews are still working to complete the widening work on the northern section of the road, place the final pavement surface and install new signs, Thompson said.

Once complete, the expansion is expected to better connect Charlotte and Newton.

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The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoards Dairyman.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) has selected Taylor Schaefer of Franksville as Wisconsins 75th Alice in Dairyland. In this position, Schaefer will work for the contract year as a full-time communications professional for DATCP, educating the public about the importance of agriculture in Wisconsin.

Taylor Schaefers fondest memories stem from her familys beef and crop farm, where raising livestock and serving as a youth leader in the Racine County 4-H program ignited her passion for agriculture. Schaefer went on to study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was involved in the Association of Women in Agriculture, Badger Dairy Club, and the University of Wisconsin Marching Band. In 2021, she interned with Mayer Beef and Folk Song Farm, where she broadened her knowledge of the Something Special from Wisconsin program and connected with consumers.

She has since joined the Animal and Dairy Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a digital media intern and the Mid-West Farm Report as a farm assistant. In May 2022, she will graduate with bachelors degrees in animal sciences and life sciences communication and a certificate in digital studies. Upon graduation, she accepted a position with the Mid-West Farm Report in Madison, Wisconsin.



As a young exhibitor, I looked up to Alice for her contributions towards reconnecting consumers to producers and ability to foster positive relationships between urban and rural community members, said Schaefer. As Alice, I will explore Wisconsins diverse agriculture industry and share my knowledge with audiences of all demographics across the state.

Schaefer was selected at the 75th Alice in Dairyland Finals hosted by Dane County this weekend. She will begin her term as the 75th Alice in Dairyland on July 5, 2022. She succeeds 74th Alice in Dairyland Julia Nunes of Chippewa Falls, who will continue her current term as the 74th Alice in Dairyland until the transition in July.



About Alice in Dairyland

Alice in Dairyland is a full-time communications professional for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). The Alice program is supported by several partner organizations including Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Kettle Moraine Mink Breeders Association, Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board, Midwest Jewelers Association, Ginseng Board of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Beef Council. For more information about the Alice in Dairyland program, visit https://www.aliceindairyland.com/ and follow Alice online on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Ann Street United Methodist Church

335 Ann St., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Randy L. Wall. In person and Facebook Live worship at 11 a.m. at Ann Street Church. Sermon: The Helmet of Salvation. Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-20.

Bethpage United Methodist Church

109 Fellowship Ave. at West C Street, Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Gary MacDonald. Christian education at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. As an act of caring for yourselves and others, you can choose to wear a mask during indoor worship; however, at this time, mask wearing is not required.

Bogers Chapel United Methodist Church

1775 Flowes Store Road E., Concord. Pastor: Eric Shaver. Worship service is at 10 a.m. in person or on Facebook. Masks are optional. Opening reading: Psalm 97. Sermon: Risk and Reward. Scripture: Acts 16:16-34.

Calvary Lutheran Church

950 Bradley St., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Debbie Frye. In-person worship at 8:30 a.m. (casual worship  outdoor chapel) and 11 a.m. (traditional worship). Masking optional. Childrens area and nursery available. All services livestreamed and available anytime on the Calvary Lutheran YouTube channel  access easily through the website at http://www.clconcord.org. Also on Sundays, 10 a.m. Sunday school. New on Wednesdays at 7:45 p.m. is an outdoor sunset worship in the outdoor shelter. All are welcome.

Crossroads Church

220 George W. Liles Parkway, Concord. Pastor: Lowell McNaney. Live worship streamed on Facebook, Crossroads Concord Church app or mycrossroads.co website at 9:30 a.m. and 11:11 a.m.

Crown Pointe Baptist Church

703 Tennessee St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Doug Crawley. Sunday school at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary, or view online at the Facebook page. Sermon: Stones of Remembrance. Scripture: Joshua 4:1-9, 20-24 ESV.

Eastside Missionary Baptist Church

199 Elgin Drive, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Stephen Burrow. In-person services include Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. and worship services at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Recorded worship services and other information at EastsideMissionaryBaptist.org. You will be welcomed. Practice social distancing.

Epworth United Methodist Church

1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Bill Roberts. Church has reopened its 10 a.m. worship service for attendance. Epworth UMC continues to follow the appropriate COVID-19 social distancing guidelines as outlined by the governor and the CDC. We welcome you to join us in worship. Sermon: Truly Free. Scripture: Acts 16:16-34.

Forest Hill United Methodist Church

265 Union St. N., Concord. Senior pastor: Rev. Mandy Jones. Associate pastor: Rev. Wes Judy. We are open for in-person worship. Contemporary worship is at 9 a.m. Sunday school/small groups is at 10 a.m. Traditional worship is at 11 a.m. Both the contemporary and traditional worship services will also be livestreamed at foresthillumc.org or facebook.com/foresthillumc.

Harmony United Methodist Church

101 White St. NW, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Thad Brown. Join us for Sunday school at 10 a.m. followed by our worship service in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. Sermon: Pointing to the Cross. Scripture: Micah 7:19; Malachi 2:17-3:1; Luke 24:44-45; Isaiah 29:18-19; I John 5:20-21; II Corinthians 4:4-6. We welcome all to join us in worship. Service is live on Facebook.com/HarmonyUnitedMethodistChurch. We welcome all who are unable to join us in person to worship with us online. For more information, call the pastor at 704-791-2883 or the church at 704-782-8237.

Jackson Park United Methodist Church

715 Mable Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor: Laurie Knoespel. Adult Sunday school is at 9:30 a.m. In-person worship service is at 10:30 a.m. Nursery will be provided during worship service.

Kirkwood Presbyterian Church

900 Klondale Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Dennis B. Craft. Worship is at 11 a.m. in church sanctuary on Sundays. No mask restrictions.

McGill Baptist Church

5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, in-person services. Pastor: Rev. Steve Ayers. If you have not taken the COVID-19 vaccine, wear a mask. McGill will stream a worship service Sunday at 10 a.m. on www.facebook.com/mcgillbaptistchurch/ and on YouTube. The services will be live and also available on recording afterward. Sermon: Left Behind? Scripture: Psalm 47; Acts 1:1-11; Luke 24:44-53.

Midway United Methodist Church

108 Bethpage Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Craig Allen. Come join us on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. for Sunday school and 10:30 a.m. for worship. The service is also livestreamed on the web at midwayunitedmethodistchurch.org or facebook.com/midwayUMC.

Mt. Mitchell United Methodist Church

6001 Old Salisbury-Concord Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Joel Locklear. Sunday school is at 10 a.m. (adult and children classes.) Worship is at 11 a.m. in person or on Facebook. Masks are optional and social distancing recommended. If you have not taken the COVID vaccine, wear a mask. Sermon: Victory. Scripture: Hebrews 9:24-28.

Multiply Church Concord

150 Warren C. Coleman Blvd. N., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Douglas Witherup. 8:30 a.m. service held at 280 Concord Parkway S., Suite 15, Concord. Services at 150 Warren C Coleman Blvd. N., are worship and sermon at 9:30 a.m. and worship and sermon at 11:15 a.m.

New Gilead Reformed Church

2400 Old Salisbury-Concord Road. 9:40 a.m.: Bible study. 10 a.m.: Childrens Bible school. 11 a.m.: Inside worship, Facebook worship, drive-in worship at 1600 AM radio.

Oak Grove Baptist Church

200 Sims Parkway, Harrisburg. Pastor: Rev. Franklin D. Watkins. Youth Day Minister: Michael G. Stafford. 10 a.m. in-person worship service and Facebook Live and YouTube Live. Sermon: Stick To The Recipe. Scripture: Galatians 5:19-21, 22-23.

Second Presbyterian Church

1578 Dale Earnhardt Blvd., Kannapolis. Pastor: Sue Black. Assistant minister: Rev. Aaron Price. Worship: 11 a.m. in sanctuary and on Facebook Live. Sermon: We Remember. Scripture: Genesis 28:10-22.

St. Johns Reformed Church

901 N. Main St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Chris King. 9:30 a.m.: Sunday school for all ages. 10:30 a.m.: Worship service (in person or online at www.ourstjohns.org). 4 p.m.: Adult Bible study. Sermon: Lessons from the Judges Part 10  The Depths to Which We Can Fall. Scripture: Judges 19-21.

Information for Sermon Topics must be submitted by 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Email your topic to jstamey@independenttribune.com.
Winston-Salem police arrested a 16-year-old male juvenile Tuesday in connection with the May 10 shooting at Hanes Mall, authorities said.

The teenager is charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury, Winston-Salem police said. He was taken to a juvenile detention center, and he is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

The teenager is the second person who has been arrested in this case.

Reginald Dewayne Gray, 26, of East Fifth Street, was arrested May 12 and charged with possessing a firearm as a felon and other offenses, police said.

Gray was being held Tuesday at the Forsyth County Jail with his bond set at $545,500, the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office said.

Gray was shot in his upper arm in the gunfire involving the teenager at Hanes Mall shortly before 2 p.m. May 10, police said.

Gray was arrested after he was released from Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, police said. Gray was treated for a non-life-threatening injury at the hospital.

Investigators determined that the shooting was a targeted incident involving Gray and the juvenile, police said. Officers are not looking for any other suspects.

Police did not say where in the mall the shooting took place, but a worker at Hot Topic told a Journal reporter that the shooting occurred near a kiosk outside the clothing store, which is on the lower level of the mall near Dillards.

After the shooting, Gray ran from the mall toward the Golden Corral restaurant on the mall perimeter road. Officers found him outside the restaurant suffering from the gunshot wound, police said.

No bystanders were injured in the incident that caused panic among the malls employees and customers.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a Decree appointing Javid Gurbanov as deputy minister of Digital Development and Transport of the country.

The order enters into force from the date of its signing.
Students and staff members at Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools can expect to see more law enforcement at their schools on Wednesday in response to the deadly shooting at an elementary school in Texas, Superintendent Tricia McManus said.

The increased officer presence is meant to ease any anxiety that students, staff members and parents may be feeling in the wake of the shooting, McManus said after Tuesdays school board meeting.

In addition, the school districts psychological services team will be sending resources to teachers and staff members to help them talk to students about the shooting. Teachers arent necessarily encouraged to bring up the shooting but to be aware of what students are talking about, McManus said.

Its a very difficult conversation to have with a little kid, she said.

School spokesman Brent Campbell said McManus plans to send a message to parents on Wednesday about the shooting. The school district also plans to compile a list of resources for parents and put that information on its website.

News of the shooting began to spread during the school boards committee meetings on Tuesday.

Board Chairwoman Deanna Kaplan called for a moment of silence in honor of the slain children and adults before the start of the regular school board meeting.

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Gov. Roy Cooper came to Moore Magnet Elementary School on Tuesday to tout a tutoring program that he hopes will help students who suffered academically during the pandemic.

A joint project of the Office of the Governor, the N.C. State Board of Education and local school districts, the North Carolina Ed Corps program trains and pays people to serve as literacy tutors in schools, using funds from the American Rescue Plan Recovery Act.

We know the challenges of this pandemic. We know children got behind some, Cooper said. So we needed a way to focus on extra help for our students. This takes people who are willing to tutor, gives them additional training and also pays them to be in the school helping these children with focused, evidence-based tutoring. Its going to be remarkable.

The program is in 24 of the states 115 school districts, including Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. The goal is to be in 30 school districts next year, according to John-Paul Smith, the executive director of N.C. Ed Corps. About 200 tutors work in those 24 districts. There are 17 working in the local school district, with plans to add another eight next year, said Janice Broyles, who oversees the program in the Triad.

The local tutors are focused on building the reading skills of children in grades K-2, Broyles said. The data is showing significant gains and great growth with these children getting additional tutoring, she said. These light bulb moments are happening.

The school district has a goal of having 90 percent of all local third-graders reading on grade level by 2025. Its an ambitious goal, considering that the number of third-graders reading at grade level or above dropped to 39% in 2021, compared with 52% in 2019, the last year that was not impacted by the pandemic. Statewide, 45% of third-graders tested at or above grade level at the end of 2021.

This is giving them the foundational skills they need to be successful readers later, Superintendent Tricia McManus said.

At Moore, Cooper spent several minutes in a classroom with three Ed Corps tutors, Aliah Sharp, Elizabeth Carroll and Lois Roewade. The three women were each reviewing reading materials with three students.

This is an amazing way for parents and the community to connect with students, Cooper said. Its an imperative for this to succeed.

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Governor Roy Cooper has ordered all United States and North Carolina flags at state facilities to be lowered to half-staff beginning immediately through sunset Saturday to honor the victims of the mass shooting Tuesday at a Texas elementary school.

Two teachers and 19 children were killed by a gunman who entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

"Our hearts are heavy for their loved ones and the community," Cooper said in a statement released this morning.

The announcement said individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions are also encouraged to fly flags at half-staff for the duration of time indicated.
A U.S. Army base could be named for a Winston-Salem native, but it wont be Lawrence Joel.

An independent commission on Tuesday recommended new names for nine bases, including one in Louisiana that would be renamed for Army Sgt. William Henry Johnson, a Black Medal of Honor winner who was born here. The commission will select a final list of names and submit it to Congress by Oct. 1.

The Naming Commission has been assigned to rename military bases named for Confederate Army officers.

Fort Polk in Louisiana would be renamed Fort Johnson, after Johnson, who served in World War I. A member of the 369th Infantry Regiment, the so called Harlem Hellfighters, Johnson was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2015.

According to research from Fam Brownlee, a local historian, Johnson was born in the town of Winston around 1892. His family moved to Albany, N.Y., when he was a teenager.

War broke out in Europe in 1914, though the United States did not enter the conflict until April 6, 1917.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army June 5, 1917, and was assigned to Company C, 15th New York Infantry Regiment  an all-black National Guard unit that would later become the 369th Infantry Regiment, according to an army.mil biography of Medal of Honor recipients.

On May 15, 1918, then-Pvt. Johnson was on sentry duty on the front lines in Western France. He and another soldier were attacked by a German patrol of at least 12 soldiers. The other soldier was wounded by shrapnel, leaving Johnson to fight off the invaders.

A Defense Department article on Johnson said he killed one German with a rifle shot, knocked another one down using his rifle as a club, killed two with a bolo knife, and killed one with a grenade.

The commission received 34,000 submissions for the renaming of the military bases, retired Army Brig. General Ty Seidule said.

Joels name was on an initial list of 87 under consideration for the new name of Fort Bragg.

Joel, a Black native of Winston-Salem, was an Army medic in South Vietnam. During a battle in November 1965, Joel took care of his fellow soldiers, despite haven been wounded twice during the battle.

He was credited with saving at least 13 soldiers and was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.

The Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem is named after him.

In addition, Fort Braggs Lawrence Joel Health and Dental Clinic is named after him.

The commission is recommending that Fort Bragg be renamed Fort Liberty.

Throughout our history, liberty remains the greatest value, Seidule said. Ever since the nation created a standing army to provide for the common defense, the armys greatest battles have been for liberty.

The commissions recommendations are the latest step in a broader effort by the military to confront racial injustice, most recently in the aftermath of the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

For years, U.S. military officials had defended the naming of bases after Confederate officers. As recently as 2015, the Army argued that the names did not honor the rebel cause but were a gesture of reconciliation with the South.

But in the aftermath of the Floyd killing, and the months of racial unrest that followed, the Pentagon and Congress pushed for a comprehensive plan to rename the military posts and hundreds of other federal assets such as roads, buildings, memorials, signs and landmarks that honored rebel leaders.

Other recommended new names are:

Fort Gordon, Georgia, would be Fort Eisenhower, commemorating President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who led allied forces in Europe in World War II.

Fort Pickett, Virginia, would be named after Tech Sgt. Van Barfoot, a Medal of Honor recipient who served in World War II

Fort Rucker, Alabama, would be named Fort Novosel, after Chief Warrant Officer Michael Novosel, a Medal of Honor recipient who served in World War II and Vietnam.

Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, would be renamed Fort Walker, after Mary Edwards Walker, a doctor who treated soldiers in the Civil War and later received a Medal of Honor.

Fort Hood, Texas, would be renamed Fort Cavazos, in honor of Gen. Richard Cavazos, who served in the Korean War, received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest military award, and became the Armys first Hispanic four-star general.

Fort Benning, Georgia, would be named after a married couple: Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, who served in Vietnam and received the Distinguished Service Cross, and his wife Julia, who prompted the creation of teams that do in-person notifications of military casualties.

Fort Lee, Virginia, would get a hyphenated name  Fort Gregg-Adams  to honor Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg, a logistics leader, and Lt. Col. Charity Adams, who led the first female Black unit of the Army deployed in World War II.

336-727-7299 @jhintonWSJ The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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A $2.8 million federal grant has been awarded to Yadkin Valley Telephone Membership Corp. for the construction of a fiber optic network designed to provide high-speed internet to local businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funding came from the federal American Rescue Plan and was provided by the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Commerce Department.

The federal funding is accompanied by a $703,700 local commitment.

The project is projected to create or retain more than 30 jobs and generate $160,000 in private investment.

The Yadkinville telecommunications company is a participant in the national Internet for All initiative, which includes an investment of $45 billion "to provide affordable, reliable, high-speed internet for everyone in America," according to a Commerce statement.

This EDA investment will serve as a down payment for the further broadband investments coming from President Bidens bipartisan infrastructure law," U.S. Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.

Gov. Roy Cooper said the grant will "provide critical support to strengthen broadband infrastructure and economic opportunity in Yadkinville."

The Piedmont Triad Regional Development Corp. recommended the Yadkinville telecom for the grant.

The nonprofit's mission is "bringing together the public and private sectors to create an economic development roadmap to strengthen the regional economy, support private capital investment and create jobs."

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Senate Republican leaders said Wednesday they have embraced a new reality about Medicaid expansion in introducing a multilayered health care reform bill.

Their support, however, hinges on a give-and-take legislative proposal  that Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Democratic leaders are willing to accept several long-term GOP health care reform plans in order to expand Medicaid coverage.

Those include a controversial work requirement for new recipients and easing restrictions that could allow more health care providers, including for-profits, to enter the states marketplace.

Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and Sen. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, acknowledged in a press conference they have been among the legislatures top critics of Medicaid expansion since it became a possibility in 2010 under the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

If theres a person in the state of North Carolina who has spoken out against Medicaid expansion more than I have, Id like to meet that person, Berger said. In fact, I would like to talk to that person about why my view on this has changed because this is the right thing to do.

Krawiec opened her comments by saying meet the second person who has talked more about not expanding Medicaid in North Carolina, next to (Berger).

Coopers office said the progress on Medicaid expansion is encouraging and that the governor will carefully review this legislation.

The revamped House Bill 149 passed the N.C House as a bill to improve access to telehealth but was revised in the state Senate to include the Medicaid expansion provisions.

In formally introducing the proposed bill, Berger asked Why now, why this?

Senate GOP leaders say their opposition has thawed in part because of the federal governments track record  during the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations  on paying 90% of what it costs to expand Medicaid in the 38 states that allowed more people to be covered.

I had concerns the federal government would break its promise ... leaving states, such as North Carolina, holding the bag with bigger and bigger health care expenses and holes in our budget, Berger said.

Berger said recent Medicaid reform legislation, highlighted by the managed care transition that began in July, has made the states system capable of handling the additional (450,000 to 650,000) people who will be covered without creating problems for the state budget.

It was a broken program that was mismanaged and burdened taxpayers with billion-dollar shortfalls on a regular basis, Berger said.

Fortunately, over the past decade, Republican leadership in the General Assembly has turned Medicaid around in N.C. with eight straight years of solid Medicaid budgets without cost overruns.

Obamacare not going away

The Affordable Care Act, Berger said, is not going to go away.

At this point in time, all legal and legislative attempts to overturn that act have not succeeded, and I do not think they will succeed in the future. Its highly unlikely that the 90% cost share will change.

Although the proposed bill would allow the states health secretary to end North Carolinas expansion efforts if the federal government stops covering 90% of the costs, Krawiec said, We dont believe that will happen.

Medicaid expansion opponents have downplayed an annual $758 million that the states hospitals and health-care systems have agreed to provide to help cover the states 10% share.

Another enticement for Senate Republicans: the 2021 federal COVID-19 relief law would give North Carolina $1.5 billion over two years to treat traditional Medicaid patients if it accepts expansion.

Medicaid expansion has now evolved to the point that it is good state fiscal policy and helps us address the mental health crisis were facing, Berger said.

Krawiec said there is a fear that the federal government will force us at some point to expand Medicaid since there are just 12 non-expansion states.

Were not likely to get a better deal (from the federal government) than is being offered now, Krawiec said.

Krawiec said HB149 is a rescue plan for our hospitals, especially our rural hospitals, all of whom have had rough times through the pandemic.

Hospitals have wanted to expand Medicaid to cover more people, and this bill does that, along with expanding telehealth, she said.

GOP bill priorities

Berger emphasized that Senate GOP leaders believe Medicaid expansion needs to happen with additional reforms, including the very real supply-side issues that prevent North Carolinians from accessing care.

Perhaps foremost is easing some restrictions on certificates of need, which health care providers must obtain from the state before building new health care centers or adding certain equipment.

Easing that restriction could allow for more competition, including from for-profit groups, for medical procedures.

The states not-for-profit health care systems have opposed weakening certificate-of-need laws out of concern that large for-profit groups would enter North Carolina and cherry-pick the more lucrative services, leaving the not-for-profits treating the sickest patients, likely without health insurance, who come into emergency departments.

Other key elements of the proposed Medicaid expansion: permitting nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and nurses with other advanced specialties to practice without a physicians formal supervision; requiring health insurers in the state to cover telehealth services; and requiring in-network health facilities to alert consumers when out-of-network providers are scheduled to provide care.

Krawiec said the proposed bill pairs with many other policy changes that will improve access to care, emphasizing reforming the certificate-of-need laws that I have been working on since I got here.

Berger said that we must do something to improve health care, especially expand access and control costs. We need coverage in North Carolina for the working poor.

House opposition

Berger acknowledged that state House Republican opposition to expansion remains a major obstacle.

He said the Senates goal is to clear the bill and then give the House and Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, the time they need for review, which could carry the legislation into the 2023 for lengthy discussion in that chamber.

We want to be able to educate the House on why everyone standing here has changed their minds, Berger said.

A joint oversight legislative committee has been addressing Medicaid expansion, along with other potential health care reform considerations, at several pre-2022 legislative session meetings as part of a budget compromise reached between Cooper and Republican legislative leaders.

The committees goal is to make recommendations in the fall. The committee has Krawiec and Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, among its co-chairs.

Berger and Krawiec said that, while the committee has produced great discussions on health care reform, including Medicaid expansion, Senate leaders felt the timing was right now to move the reform proposal.

Lambeth said Monday that the committee has not finished their work and has made no recommendation.

The House continues to look at best options for North Carolina, he said. It has work to do and no plans to take up expansion in the short session that is projected to end in early July.

Berger said that a potential fall committee recommendation timetable was another reason to move forward with now since I fully expect the recommendation to be identical, if not very similar, to (HB149).

If we dont get the bill passed in the short session, it gives the committee something to chew on, he said.

Medicaid in N.C.

Medicaid currently covers 2.71 million North Carolinians, which increased by nearly 27%  588,611 people  since the pandemic surfaced, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Those who might be eligible under the expanded program are those who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid coverage, but not enough to purchase coverage on the private insurance marketplace.

It is likely, the Associated Press reported, that many of those new enrollees could remain on Medicaid post-pandemic if the proposed expansion bill becomes law.

Sen. Ralph Hise, R-McDowell, another previously fierce opponent of Medicaid expansion, said he was struck by the reality that most of the proposed new enrollees already are being served. He also has been a long-time supporter of certificate-of-need reform that would be accomplished in HB149.

The work requirement for new Medicaid recipients has received grudging support from some Democratic legislators.

Work requirements in other states have proven problematic, however.

A work requirement passed by the Arkansas and New Hampshire legislatures has been struck down by federal courts. In March 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would not hear additional arguments on the appeals made by the two states.

Berger said the plan is to pass the bill with the work requirement included, and then well deal with whether or not we can convince the Biden administration or the courts that this is the right thing to do.

Berger said that, while the work requirement is being litigated, enrollees would remain eligible and not be denied.

The shift on Medicaid expansion by Senate Republican leadership does not come completely out of the blue, but it is still a remarkable shift from where leadership stood on the issue for much of the last decade, said John Dinan, a political science professor at Wake Forest University and a national expert on state legislatures.

This is a remarkable change on the part of senate Republican leadership  to now be making a strong case for Medicaid expansion, at least as long as expansion is coupled with various other conservative health-policy priorities.

Mark Hall, a public-health and law professor at Wake Forest, said HB149 is an encouraging sign that the task force process is generating constructive movement on several fronts.

But, he said, a bill this complex isnt likely to be enacted quickly.

The tricky part will be what happens if there is significant opposition to one or more of those pieces. Will the rest of the bill survive or will it be politically feasible to spit off individual parts into separate bills? Hall asked.

The only way to find out is to start the serious legislative deliberations. Introduction of this bill will accomplish at least that much.

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The shooter in Buffalo had a racist motive. He wanted to kill Black people. We dont know exactly how he developed his hatred, but we know that it was the motivating factor in his rampage because its confirmed by his own words.

Beyond that, we know that this race hatred manifested itself in the most tragic form of loss for 10 grieving families. These are the things that we know.

Unfortunately, a lot of people with shady motives have explained from their lofty media pulpits exactly how the Buffalo assassin became an avenging angel for the white race.

Mind readers all, they have the same theory which undergirds their narrative, as if theyd all received the same explanatory email from some leftist university docent.

Here is how it goes: Tucker Carlson, newly dubbed American Nationalist by The New York Times, has fomented this race hatred with his highly rated cable news program on Fox. Critics argue the Fox News star has promoted something called replacement theory, which essentially holds that white Americans are being replaced by people of color.

That theory, which actually is bandied about on white supremacist websites and in the dark corners of the interwebs, is real.

It is dangerous, it is toxic and it has taken a deep foothold in certain segments of American society. It is also nothing new.

But the problem comes when you try and argue that this sort of hatred has become a mainstay of the conservative movement, which is exactly what the commentators alleged in the wake of the Buffalo massacre. NPR published an article entitled How the Replacement Theory Went Mainstream on the Political Right. In case the reader didnt get the complete message, a picture of President Trump accompanied the article, which noted that replacement theory began in white supremacist circles, but has since moved more mainstream on the political right in this country among many Republicans, explicitly or implicitly.

I think were all a little tired of the guilt by association that has become common practice on the left when it comes to issues of racism. Any time there is the suggestion that a shooter has targeted his victims because of their race, religion or ethnicity, the angle for the media becomes he was radicalized by Fox News.

They dont even try and hide it anymore, with anchors on CNN and MSNBC literally calling out their favorite personalities by name. Tucker demonized brown people. Sean Hannity is a mouthpiece for Trump, who demonized brown people. Laura Ingraham hates brown people, as well as little trans kids and Heathers two mommies.

President Biden has played into the whole conservatives are racist schtick with his coining of the phrase Ultra MAGA, which conjures up visions of storm troopers in tactical gear waving Nazi flags while attending a CPAC conference.

The pity is that he doesnt need to do that, doesnt need to exaggerate. There really are evil people who march in the streets and say things like Jews will not replace us. There are murderous thugs who did just that in Charlottesville, when Heather Heyer was massacred and the full measure of racism was on display.

Just as the terrorists who took down the Twin Towers are not representative of an entire religion, the philosophical extremists do not reflect an entire demographic of political thinkers.

They dont even represent one side of the political divide. The Buffalo assassin defined himself as a center-left, Fox News hating atheist who thought that the Republican Party was in league with corporations. He would not have been pulling the lever for Trump.

I grieve for the families who lost loved ones. I think that we can have legitimate discussions about gun laws and mental health laws and, yes, hate crime statutes. But I am personally sick and tired of being told that a young white man who murdered 10 Black people is representative of me, and of those who think like me.

I refuse to believe that every Muslim wants to destroy America, and that every Black American wants to drive a car into a crowd where white grandmothers are dancing in joy and celebration. Its time for a large part of those who stand on the other side of the political divide to extend that same human courtesy, and decency, to me.

Christine Flowers (cflowers1961@gmail.com) is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times.
For most of us, the term historic neighborhood probably conjures visions of steep, gabled roofs, turrets, spacious front porches and shutters that actually open and close.

Not rooftop solar panels.

But as the need for, and the popularity of, solar energy increases, that appears to be changing.

Consider the solar panels atop the Queen Ann-style house, built in 1901 in Winston-Salems historic West End neighborhood, that Matt Giegengack and his wife, Claire Calvin, added as only one among several steps their family has taken toward more sustainable lifestyles. (They also raise chickens, grow their own vegetables and compost in their backyard, not to mention Matts purchase of a Tesla electric vehicle and his installation of a home charging station.)

Or similar panels on a 19th-century Greensboro home owned by Tim Lindeman and his wife Nancy Walker.

As John Deem reported recently in the Journal, theres a growing number of historic homes in the Triad that have solar panels on their roofs.

In fact, as Deem also reported earlier this month, 177 Triad residents planned to go solar in April, according to N.C. Utilities Commission documents.

You wouldnt exactly call it a green tsunami. But it could be the beginning of a hopeful trend.

By the end of 2021, 512 Winston-Salem residents had installed solar panels in their homes; 535 in Greensboro.

The advent of the panels in historic neighborhoods is positive proof that the panels can coexist with historic preservation.

In Giegengacks case, the contractor contacted the Forsyth County Historic Landmarks Commission for approval  that is, what is called a certificate of appropriateness.

The panels, mounted in the front of the house, were approved on the third try, after the initially proposed total of 29 panels was reduced to 15.

In Lindemans case, approval came after the fact, but the panels on his house are largely hidden from view because they are flush-mounted on the rear roof, like neatly arranged rows of blue dominoes.

In both instances, someone had to be among the first  to take something that initially might seem out of place  remember when cars first were required to have three brake lights?  but gradually becomes normal with changing customs and design refinements.

And, unlike Lindeman and Walker, Giegengack has seen savings immediately.

That because his homes panels provide more electricity than the house requires and the excess amount goes to the power grid.

Duke Energy, in turn, pays him a credit for that power.

Thats all well and good, says Giegengack, an ophthalmologist and professor at Wake Forest University Medical School, but like Lindeman and Walker, he wasnt in it for the money.

I decided to do it because it was cool and it was easy and it was a good thing to do, Giegengack said. I didnt do it because I needed the extra money every month. I mean, I like that, but that wasnt the motivation.

Either way, its a win.

Whether all of us care to acknowledge it or not, climate change is here and now, not a looming threat in the future. You might have seen the recent story about beachfront houses in North Carolina falling into the Atlantic.

A fair warning, however: The science (and politics) of sustainability can be complicated. Green approaches dont always work in older structures. For one thing, some older construction materials are not compatible with todays technology.

Further, Duke Energy has proposed to the N.C. Utilities Commission that it be allowed to pay a lower rate in excess solar electricity credits. This means a longer wait for homeowners on a return on their investment.

That said, the new momentum toward residential solar, as well as other alternative energy sources, is welcome, if overdue, in North Carolina. History and sustainability are finding more and more common ground. For instance, as John Deem also has reported, the Forsyth County Historical Resources Commission in 2020 revised design standards for the West End community to include reviews of electric charges and environmentally friendlier building materials.

And why shouldnt it? Isnt protecting the planet, which is home to us all, the ultimate form of historic preservation?
A Lincoln company that uses technology to make nitrogen fertilization more efficient has received more than $1 million from investors.

Sentinel Fertigation, the brainchild of founder Jackson Stansell, announced Wednesday that it has received an initial $1.2 million seed investment from a group of investors that includes Invest Nebraska, Burlington Capital Ag-Venture and the Nebraska Angels.

Stansell, an Alabama native who came to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to pursue advanced degrees in agricultural and biological systems engineering, developed the company out of research he did for his master's degree.

"Jackson Stansell leading Sentinel Fertigation is a perfect example of Nebraska entrepreneurs developing solutions that help farmers across the Midwest," Stephanie Luebbe, executive director of the Nebraska Angels, said in a news release. "The market is prime for a solution like this right now and we're bullish on what Jackson can accomplish and learn this growing season."

Seed funding is typically the first investment a company receives from outside investors. Sentinel Fertigation, which had previously received $25,000 investments from the UNL student venture fund and the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development's LaunchLNK program, said it will use the current investment to complete software development, execute initial imagery contracts and hire additional staff.

The company will be working with Midwest farmers in a paid pilot program this summer.

"Our paid pilot program this summer is the first step to our system making a significant impact at scale," Stansell said in the news release. "I am excited about the team we have begun assembling and working with them to make Sentinel the leader in fertigation management.

Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.

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A Google search indicates there are currently more than 21,000 welding jobs in need of filling in the United States, including thousands in the Midwest.

That's all the proof needed that welding is a profession in demand.

Southeast Community College is again on point -- addressing the needs of the public -- by announcing plans to spend $43.5 million to build an expanded welding training facility at its Lincoln campus.

The facility, which includes the repurposing of the old, smallish space, will attract students who might be reluctant to take on the debt that comes with enrolling at a four-year university.

Because the proposal is to be paid for through the college's property tax levy, it must now be approved by the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education.

That may be a formality -- and we hope that it is --but timing matters right now as SCC juggles a couple of other projects, including a technology center.

Journal Star higher education reporter Chris Dunker wrote last week that SCC's welding program currently has room for 84 welding booths. The new facility would grow that number to 184 welding booths to accommodate learners of various skill levels while moving the welding program into a standalone facility would address several safety concerns that exist in the current space.

Much like the state-of-the-art nursing program that recognized a need in the workforce and filled it, the welding program should provide the same kind of benefit for Lincoln, the state of Nebraska and the Midwest region.

Just as important, it gives students, many of whom are carefully weighing their options before taking on student loans, another option.

Give to Lincoln Day has arrived

The Lincoln Community Foundation will host its 11th annual Give to Lincoln Day -- a 24-hour event that encourages gifts to support local causes that people care about -- on Thursday.

In its first 10 years, the event has raised more than $41 million, including a record $8 million last year that went to help 456 local nonprofit organizations.

When you consider that the first Give to Lincoln Day in 2012 raised $1.3 million, it's a clear indicator of how big this day has grown.

Here's to setting another record in 2022 -- to obliterating last year's mark and setting a new standard.

Give to Lincoln Day symbolizes what a caring, nurturing city this is and at a time of rising prices at the pump and in our grocery stores is a a clear indicator of the selflessness of so many amazing people in this town.

Here's to another big day of giving.

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President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Caputova has sent a congratulatory letter to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of Independence Day.

His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Dear Mr. President,

On behalf of the citizens of the Slovak Republic and on behalf of myself I congratulate you and all the citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the National holiday.

The current world faces many challenges  impacts of the ongoing pandemic, signs of the climate changes, various hybrid threats, as well as several conflicts, which endanger universal values of freedom, equality, democracy and rule of law.

Along with the fading pandemic and growing manifestation of climate changes, the world finds itself in a difficult situation, which fundamentally changes the international security architecture. Russian invasion to Ukraine  our close neighbor has dramatically affected the international community as a whole. Millions of people fleeing away from the war, many human victims and enormous material losses of the war caused by Russia provide pictures that we could hardly imagine in the current Europe.

In addition to international solidarity, the answer to these challenges lies also in returning to the values of multilateralism and to the adherence of the principles of international law. I believe that our cooperation will be further developing in this and other areas for the benefit of the people of our both countries.

Dear Mr. President,

I wish you and all citizens of your country first and foremost peace, stability, prosperity and democratic development.

Sincerely,

Zuzana Caputova

President of the Slovak Republic
A 61-year-old Lincoln man posed as his step-father-in-law and defrauded the 85-year-old of more than $50,000, according to police.

Lincoln Police Sgt. Chris Vollmer said the department began investigating after the 85-year-old man's daughter reported a large sum of money was missing from his account in early April.

Paul Sheldon, the 85-year-old's stepson-in-law, had been impersonating his relative in at least 18 phone calls with the man's bank, directing money to be wired into different accounts, Vollmer said.

Sheldon ultimately defrauded the 85-year-old of $50,300, Vollmer said.

He was arrested and booked into the Lancaster County jail this week on suspicion of theft by deception and senior adult abuse.

Vollmer said it's unclear if police have recovered the stolen funds. The 85-year-old victim died in early May, Vollmer said, about a month after his daughter reported the fraud.

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Rain spit down on a gray Wednesday as Officer Mario Herrera's family and fellow Lincoln police officers packed into a third-floor courtroom and an overflow courtroom to watch a judge sentence the teen who shot and killed him in 2020.

Felipe Vazquez, now 19, was 17 on Aug. 26, 2020, when he tried to escape from police who came to arrest him on the other side of his brother's locked bedroom door, breaking the window, jumping out and firing off three shots from a stolen gun.

"Society needs to be protected from Mr. Vazquez's dangerousness," Lancaster County District Judge Andrew Jacobsen said, before reading through each of seven counts.

He started with 70 years in prison to life for first-degree murder. Then went on to 59 to 86 years more for attempted assault on a second officer, escape and four gun charges.

The sentence means Vazquez won't be eligible for parole for roughly 70 years.

First-degree murder, as charged here, typically comes with an automatic life sentence. But because he was under 18 at the time, he faced 40 years to life, under Nebraska law.

"In my mind, the most important factor in this case is the age of Mr. Vazquez at the time these crimes were committed," said his attorney, Nancy Peterson, arguing for the judge not to give a life sentence. "He was little more than a child."

She said the law recognizes that 17-year-olds are different, and their brains still are developing. Coupled with his lack of opportunity and role models, she said, it helps to understand how he got to Aug. 26.

"Our hearts break for the Herrera family and for the community and everyone who lost a friend and colleague," she said.

Then, Vazquez offered a brief apology to the family for his actions, which cost Herrera his life.

"To the family of Mario Luis Herrera, I know times have been hard without him. Due to my poor decision-making, you're at a loss. But when comfortable, I ask for y'all forgiveness," the teen said.

Moments later, an at times tearful Adelina Herrera, who was 18 when her father was killed, stood at a podium, directing her comments to "the kid who killed my dad."

"On Sept. 7, 2020, my dad died and so did you," she said. "Your life ended the moment you shot and killed my dad, as living is more than just an existence."

Adelina Herrera said as she celebrates birthdays, graduates college, gets married someday and has kids of her own and grows old, Vazquez will still be sitting in a cell, the same 17-year-old kid that killed her dad.

Her dad's life wasn't meant to end early, she said, but at 50, he had a full and complete life.

"I could list off every single good quality he had, all of the good things he did and what an amazing police officer and person he was. But you don't care. You didn't care when you pulled the trigger and you don't care now," Adelina Herrera said, calling Vazquez a coward who deserved everything he gets.

Then, Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon said: "They say this was a thoughtless and impulsive act, and that's how somebody that age acts. Yet for 20, 25 minutes he sat there negotiating with the officers, making up his mind which way he was going to go."

Out the door into the hallway, where he knew officers were waiting, or out the window and into the street, where he knew at least one officer was. Condon said Vazquez made that choice, and when he got into the street it was either the officer or him.

"By imposing the sentence, we tell Mr. Vazquez there are consequences to your actions and that you will not give him the opportunity to hurt another person, another family or another community again," he said.

In the end, Jacobsen said the court and the jury believed Vazquez's intentions were clear: He was shooting to wound or kill the officers in an attempt to escape.

After his arrest, just hours after having shot Herrera, he was recorded spitting on the floor of the interrogation room, singing rap songs and flashing gang signs to a camera.

"This is an indication to me that he harbored little to no remorse for his actions," Jacobsen said.

After sentencing, dozens of police officers poured out into the hallway and headed back down to the police station.

Celia Herrera, who is 17 now, stood beside her siblings and mother, Carrie Herrera.

"I think we're all glad that it's finally over," she said. "None of this will bring my dad back, but it's a little bit of peace of mind."

Carrie Herrera said you never want to ask why us.

"But you kind of ask, 'God, why did it happen to Mario' and, 'Why was their dad taken away.' Such a senseless act," she said.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSpilger

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Margaret Reist Local government reporter Margaret Reist is a recovering education reporter now writing about local and county government and the people who live in the city where she was born and raised. Follow Margaret Reist Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Theyre not done.

Supporters of the Niskithe Prayer Camp  created to oppose the planned Wilderness Crossing development near First Street and Pioneers Boulevard and across the street from a Native sweat lodge  delivered that reminder Tuesday.

A small group walked in the rain to the offices of the developer, Manzitto Construction, the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln and the mayors office to deliver copies of an online petition begun by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor and signed by more than 2,300 people.

Susan Alleman, who helped organize the event, said they thought it was important to stress that its not just Native people concerned about the development and the impact on the sweat lodge and land important to Indigenous people.

We feel like the city, Manzitto, the church, have been more apt to dismiss what is happening because its Native people, and they just dont have a lot of power in our society, she said. "We wanted to show up with a group of allies ... we are all in support of the Native community, we want them to have a seat at the table and have the respect thats been lacking for so long.

A member of the group read a statement at each of the locations, urging the city and Catholic church to encourage the developer to create a park in the development, ensuring a buffer between the sweat lodge and the proposed homes and protect whats known as Snell Hill, a sandstone outcropping on the land.

Despite stiff opposition from environmental and Native advocates, the City Council approved the zoning and annexation changes necessary for the development to proceed, and the mayor signed the ordinances.

The Catholic Diocese sold the land in question, roughly 75 acres, to Manzitto for $3.8 million.

The group is planning a rally on the steps on the state Capital Thursday from 5:30-7 p.m.

LES rates stand out

Comparatively speaking, your Lincoln Electric System bill isnt so bad, according to a competitive market study.

In fact, compared to 87 cities, LES ranked 12th in affordability for residential customers, based on an average monthly bill of $82.85.

That residential bill as a percentage of household income ranked 17th among cities, according to the market study, which was based on 2020 data that includes both the average cost per kilowatt-hour charged to customers and average usage.

When considering just the average price per kilowatt-hour, LES ranked 15th overall  including residential, commercial and industrial sectors. For residential customers, it ranked eighth.

LES ranked seventh for having the most stable rates over the past 10 years and third-best in reliability, not including major event days. When those days are included, LES ranked 14th.

The Comparative Market Study replaces a National Rate Study LES has done for over 30 years, with more reliable and accessible data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Census Bureau.

Words of encouragement

The Lincoln City Council on Monday elected Tammy Ward chairwoman and Tom Beckius as vice chair  but before handing over the gavel James Michael Bowers, a social worker at Dawes Middle School, had a few words of encouragement.

To my students, current and former, who think the future isn't for them, you can do this, you can have this gavel, said the youngest member of the council and first openly gay member to be elected chairman.

To the LGBTQ kids in the closet who think this world isnt for them, you can do this, you can have this gavel. To kids growing up in low-income families or rough situations who think that positions of power arent for you, you can do this, you can have this gavel. You should do this, you should have this gavel.

Hear, hear.

No driver's license necessary

Scooter riders in Lincoln can now prove theyre 18 years old  a requirement of the ordinance that made a pilot scooter program permanent  using a state ID as well as a drivers license.

The change, approved Monday by the City Council, was an effort to be more inclusive, acknowledging there may be people able to ride scooters who dont have a drivers license.

It wasnt unanimous, however.

Even though he appreciated the effort to be more inclusive, Councilman Tom Beckius said he voted against the amendment because hes concerned people whove never had a drivers license might not understand the rules of the road.

Councilman Richard Meginnis voted no, he said, because he thinks the age limit should be 16, not 18. If 16 is old enough to get a drivers license, he said, it should be old enough to operate a scooter.

More sidewalk cafes

Were ready.

Thats what downtown bar owner SaRena Freet had to say to the City Council Monday, nine months after the council passed an ordinance allowing downtown bars to have sidewalk cafes.

The ordinance eliminated the requirement that 60% of revenue come from food sales  a self-reported requirement difficult to enforce and one bar owners argued was unfair to them.

Freet, who had advocated for the ordinance change, has been working since then to create a sidewalk cafe outside The Hot Mess, 408 S. 11th St.

Among the hurdles: the bar was once an automotive shop, so the area out front was once a driveway and sloped too much. Although Freet couldn't find a grant or community program to help her pay for the improvements, she managed to get it done.

On Monday the City Council approved her application  the first since the ordinance passed  and she said she hoped to have the outdoor area up and running by the end of the week.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSreist

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The Lincoln Community Foundation is again set to help raise millions of dollars for local charities.

Thursday marks the 11th annual Give to Lincoln Day -- an event dedicated to giving back to area nonprofits and promoting philanthropy. A record total of 479 charities of all shapes and sizes have registered for the event, up from 456 last year.

The level of generosity that exists in this community is both humbling and eye-opening" said Alec Gorynski, the new president of the Lincoln Community Foundation.

The event has raised $41 million over the first 10 years, with the possibility of reaching the $50 million mark this year.

Give to Lincoln Day is expected to break last year's record of $8 million raised.

How to donate Online: GivetoLincoln.com In-person: Locations across Lincoln on Thursday. * Lincoln Community Foundation, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. * Tower Square, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. * West Gate Bank branches, hours vary

Donations will be accepted online until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. Donors can choose specific charities to designate gifts to or choose to help them all. The full list of organizations is available at GiveToLincoln.com.

Each donation made will qualify for a portion of a $500,000 match fund sponsored by the Lincoln Community Foundation, presenting sponsor West Gate Bank and other businesses.

Through Thursday, donations can be dropped off at the Lincoln Community Foundation from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., any West Gate Bank in Lincoln until 6 p.m. or during a community festival planned at Tower Square on the day of the event. Checks should be made to the Lincoln Community Foundation with the selected charity written in the memo line.

Donations can be tracked on the website throughout the day on Thursday.

Give to Lincoln Day is really special because its that one moment in time in this city where everyone comes together and says let's raise money and give to the causes that matter most to us," Gorynski said. "Were part of something special, and we can recognize it and celebrate it together

The Tower Square Festival will return for the first time in two years on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 13th and P streets.

Around 70 of the registered organizations will be present to offer activities and information about their missions.

Itll be a place where we can gather together and celebrate this really generous community we live in," Gorynski said.

Reach the writer at 402-473-2657 or jebbers@journalstar.com

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  Alabamas Republican primary for U.S. Senate is going to a June runoff between Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who overcame losing former President Donald Trump's endorsement to remain a contender for the GOP nomination.

The candidates are seeking the Senate seat now held by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, who is retiring. Britt is Shelbys former chief of staff and the former leader of the Business Council of Alabama. Brooks is a six-term congressman from north Alabama.

The two edged out Mike Durant, a businessman best known as the helicopter pilot shot down and held captive in the events chronicled in Black Hawk Down, to advance to a June 21 runoff, which is required when no candidate captures more than 50% of the initial vote.

It is clear tonight that Alabamians want new blood. They want someone to go to Washington, D.C., and shake it up. It is clear that they want a true Christian conservative Republican who will lead on the America first agenda and doesnt just talk about it but knows how to actually get something done, Britt told supporters gathered in Montgomery.

Some had largely written Brooks off two months ago when Trump dramatically dumped his once-favored candidate in the primary. Brooks fought his way back to a second-place finish behind Britt, harnessing his history with voters, stumping with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and benefiting from a series of negative ads targeting Durant.

Brooks had continued to run under the banner of MAGA Mo," referencing Trumps Make America Great Again slogan. In his Tuesday night speech, Brooks called himself the America First, MAGA candidate in the race, and said he has a proven record on issues like border security and opposition to abortion.

This Senate runoff is a battle for the soul of the Republican Party. Its a battle to advance the United States of America, Brooks said.

Trump had initially endorsed Brooks in the race, rewarding the firebrand congressman who spoke at the Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6, 2021. But the former president rescinded that backing in March, citing unhappiness with Brooks performance and accusing the conservative congressman of going woke for suggesting it was time to move on from Trumps false claims of 2020 election fraud. Trump did not endorsed another candidate in the primary.

Phil. T. McCuiston Jr., 83, wore a cap emblazoned with Trump Monday to hear Brooks speak with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Huntsville.

Trump gets 95% of them right, but on this one Im going to stand with Brooks, said McCuiston, a retired businessman. Hes got the record.

In east Montgomery, Jack Graham, 71, voted for Britt on Tuesday.

Its time to let the young people take over. Lets see what she can do. I think shes smart. Shes level-headed. She has a good background. Shes got good experience, Graham said.

Outside groups pumped more than $20 million into the race, and Brooks benefited from a series of ads that took aim at Durant, including one from a political action committee that portrayed the former prisoner of war as opposing gun rights. Durant has called the ad patently false" and said it was difficult to overcome an opponent with zero integrity and unlimited resources. He urged supporters to back candidates who want to go to Washington to do something different.

You cant stand here and complain about whats going on in Washington, D.C., and then go cast your vote for somebody whos part of the establishment," Durant said in his concession speech Tuesday.

The Republican nominee will face the Rev. Will Boyd, a minister and engineer from Hoover, who defeated two opponents in Tuesday's primary. Boyd was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018 but lost to Republican Will Ainsworth.

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 Nebraska Legislature leaned further to the right last year, according to a recent report published by the Conservative Political Action Conference and the American Conservative Union Foundation.

The report awarded the Legislature a conservative rating of 61% for 2021, which is 5 percentage points higher than its rating for 2020 and 6 percentage points higher than the states overall average. Each lawmaker was also given a rating, with the highest score going to state Sen. Robert Clements of Elmwood with 96% for 2021.

The lowest-rated lawmaker was Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha with 26% for 2021. Hunt declined to comment, but posted to Facebook Monday criticizing the report for being outrage fodder and said it had no relevance to her work in the Legislature.

Grateful to CPAC always for the free publicity, but I know people can see past the way theyre trying to divide us and see that nothing is really that black and white, Hunt wrote on Facebook.

CPAC publishes conservative ratings for each state legislature every year based on lawmakers voting records across 186 policy issues, according to a press release.

Clements conservative score was well above those for his peers in the Legislature. The second-highest rating went to Sen. John Lowe of Kearney with 90%, while a handful of other lawmakers scored in the high 80s. Clements said he suspects his high rating was because he always votes yes or no on every bill, and never opts to go present not voting.

Im glad to let people know my opinion, Clements said.

Though the Legislatures conservative rating for 2022 has not been released yet, Kevin Smith, chair of University of Nebraska-Lincolns political science department, said he would be surprised if its score was drastically different from its 2021 rating, given many of the same lawmakers served both years.

But Clements pointed to several conservative bills that lawmakers failed to pass during the 2022 session, including a permitless concealed carry bill and a so-called trigger bill to ban all abortions in Nebraska upon the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

Nebraskas conservative shift has been years in the making and reflects the national Republican Party, which has been leaning more conservative in recent years, according to UNL political science professor Elizabeth Theiss-Morse. The highest conservative rating CPAC gave the Nebraska Legislature was 69% in 2018.

However, compared to its neighbors, Nebraska is far from the most conservative state. Nebraska ranks 28th in the U.S. for its overall conservative rating, and four of its neighbors  Missouri, South Dakota, Wyoming and Kansas  rank higher.

Smith said this is likely because of the Nebraska Legislatures unicameral structure. The Legislature is nonpartisan, and political parties cant dictate members of legislative committees like other state legislatures, Smith said.

The CPAC report doesnt indicate whats to come in future sessions. Smith said reports like these are less a tool to show where a legislature is going, but more of a yardstick to measure where a legislature has been.

A total of 14 seats in the Nebraska Legislature will be occupied by a new lawmaker next year, regardless of the outcome of Novembers general election. That is because the incumbent either cant run or opted not to run. Incumbents are running in 11 other races.

Your crystal ball is as good as mine, Smith said.

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OMAHA -- Patriotic Productions Memorial Day parade is returning to Omaha this weekend to provide some fun, while also remembering the solemn mission of the holiday.

This years downtown Omaha parade will feature the U.S. Army Fife and Drum Corps, a mounted color guard and portrayals of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Patriotic Productions Memorial Day weekend festivities will start on Friday with an event featuring hot air balloons in the parking areas adjacent to Baxter Arena. The 7 p.m. event will include the worlds largest American flag hot air balloon, which rises seven stories.

The weekends main event, the Memorial Day parade, will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. The parade through Omaha's Old Market is expected to include nearly 70 entries and will be led by a Purple Heart inflatable and Gold Star families from several states.

Last years parade over Memorial Day weekend, which featured the Budweiser Clydesdales and country artist Lee Greenwood, drew thousands to the streets of downtown Omaha.

This years parade will be followed by a concert at 12th and Jones streets featuring a performance by Eva Yllescas, a 14-year-old Gold Star daughter, along with other music groups.

Patriotic Productions is a nonprofit started by Bill and Evonne Williams of Omaha, who said the mission of the Memorial Day parade is to honor Gold Star families and promote patriotism, especially among children.

We think most families want their children to understand what Decoration Day, now called Memorial Day, is all about. However, a long ceremony on Memorial Day is geared more toward adults. Omaha does not have any other city-wide parade to honor our Gold Star families and veterans, so this seems like the right thing to do, organizer Bill Williams said in a news release.

Patriotic Productions is also known for organizing honor flights for Nebraska veterans and for creating the Remembering Our Fallen tribute towers honoring fallen veterans post 9/11. The tribute towers are exhibited nationwide and will be displayed at this years concert following the parade.

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RACINE  A defamation lawsuit filed by Mount Pleasant's village attorney against Kelly Gallaher, a Mount Pleasant resident and frequent critic of the Foxconn project as well as village government, was tossed out Tuesday in Racine County Circuit Court.

Both sides, however, are still counting Tuesday's verdict as a win.

Chris Smith, the village's attorney, said his only goal in filing the lawsuit was proving that he did not lie to the media  in this case, The Journal Times.

Smith had told a reporter in February that a since-abandoned plan to lengthen elected Mount Pleasant trustees' terms from two years to three had been discussed since 2018.

Gallaher, in public statements made through the "A Better Mt. Pleasant" social media pages she controls, said Smith was lying, which was inaccurate  the court ruled Tuesday that it is factual that such discussions dated back to 2018, even though they were not publicly known until much later.

Gallaher later retracted the claims, but the lawsuit continued regardless, which Gallaher considered an attempt at "intimidation" on Smith's part.

"Well, the main purpose, the main reason I filed the lawsuit was because I felt like I had to prove that I did not lie to The Journal Times," Smith said in a phone interview Tuesday evening.

Smith said that Judge Jon Fredrickson ruling that Smith's statements were accurate was enough for him to be satisfied. "I'm very happy with that outcome, because I'd much rather have that than go through a lengthy court case to prove I did not lie."

The Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm working pro bono on Gallaher's behalf, alleged that Smith had acted with an intent to muzzle and intimidate Gallaher  an attempt that appears to have failed.

"Chris Smiths lawsuit was transparently bogus and had no basis in the law. But a lawsuit doesnt need to have any merit to scare people into silence, and thats all too often the whole point of lawsuits like this one," Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Robert McNamara said in a statement Tuesday.

In an interview Tuesday evening, Gallaher said "Obviously, I'm relieved, but I believe that Chris Smith filed a bogus lawsuit that was aimed to bankrupt and defame me."

Gallaher took Fredrickson's ruling as "a warning to public officials that this is part of the job: citizens have a right to criticize their local government."

A release from Institute for Justice stated: "That is why IJ took on Kellys case. It is easy for lawyers or people with easy access to lawyers to file lawsuits and force their critics to spend thousands of dollars defending them  or, more likely, simply shut up. But the First Amendment means that lawsuits like Smiths are baseless. Kelly had done her research and fully explained her basis for thinking that Smith was lying, and Smith  as a government official  has to overcome the high bar of First Amendment protection for speech like Kellys."

Gallaher added: "I believe that Chris Smith ... has disqualified himself to serve as a public official ... No (Mount Pleasant) citizen can now engage in public debate without fear that they could be sued."

Smith said Tuesday he was not trying to silence Gallaher, but rather solely clear his name by proving he did not lie. "No, not at all," he said when asked about the claims of Gallaher and the Institute for Justice. "My primary purpose for filing the lawsuit was to publicly prove that I did not lie to the media."

A SLAPP on the wrist Kelly Gallaher considered Chris Smith's lawsuit against her to be a "SLAPP" lawsuit, or a "strategic lawsuit against public participation." Cornell Law School defines a SLAPP lawsuit as a "lawsuit filed strategically by a corporation against a group or activist opposing certain action taken by the corporation, usually in the realm of an environmental protest. Typical claims underlying a SLAPP suit are libel, slander or restraint of business." The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press considers SLAPP lawsuits "an all-too-common tool for intimidating and silencing criticism through expensive, baseless legal proceedings."

Under U.S. law, a public official to succeed in a defamation lawsuit, they must prove that the person they are accusing of defamation acted with "actual malice." Online records indicate the court found nothing "malicious" in Gallaher's actions.

Smith filed the lawsuit as a private citizen, not as a public official, although his status as a public official is still considered when it comes to the court weighing a defamation lawsuit.

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RACINE  Two men face charges after allegedly breaking into R&D Executive, a mens fashion store at 424 Main St., and stealing an iPad and a safe almost four weeks ago.

Benjamin A. Silver, 54, of the 900 block of Washington Avenue, was charged with two felony counts of burglary of a building or dwelling and two misdemeanor counts of theft.

Jermarel Ramon Cobb, 50, also of the 900 block of Washington Ave., was charged with a felony count of burglary of a building or dwelling and a misdemeanor count of theft.

According to a criminal complaint:

On May 1, officers were sent to R&D Fashion Executive on 424 Main St. for the front door being damaged.

Upon arrival, an officer met with two people who said they were walking past the business when they saw the glass door was damaged. The door was completely smashed out and a black tire iron was found along the exterior of the west wall. The business owner said that an iPad and safe containing various documents were stolen.

An officer spoke to a woman who said she possibly saw the burglary in progress the previous night. She arrived at a parking lot near the business and saw two men looking through the west windows of the business. One of them approached her vehicle and said they were just using the bathroom, and then the two quickly left.

Surveillance of the burglary showed the suspects enter the business at 10:45 p.m. A suspect then left a few minutes later before returning at 12:42 a.m. to steal more items. The suspect went behind the counter five times and can be heard saying Wheres the safe? in the video.

An investigator arrested Cobb for an unrelated matter, and Cobb provided a statement that he was involved in different burglaries around Racine, including the one at R&D Fashion Executive. He said he was with Silver and another suspect, who was not named in charging documents.

He said that Silver and the other suspect broke open the door with a screwdriver. A woman pulled up when he had a tire iron to bust the window out. He told the woman they were urinating and got back into their car and left.

Later, the three of them broke a window to gain entry, and they stole a safe and put it in a white sedan belonging to the other suspect. They gained entry to the safe and then dumped it in the river.

Both Silver and Cobb were given a $1,000 cash bond in Racine County Circuit Court on Tuesday. Silver has a preliminary hearing on Wednesday and Cobb has a preliminary hearing on Thursday, both at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave., online court records show.

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RACINE  They say beauty isnt everything, that its what's inside that really matters. This may be true, but sometimes looking good on the outside can help your inner self shine even brighter. This is what Bryanna Carter-Smith, the owner of Junoesque By Bree, believes and wants to help everybody who walks through her doors achieve.

Junoesque By Bree, 330 Main St., is a new luxury spa specializing in several corrective skincare services like facial and body treatment. The spa also offers head-to-toe body waxing, eyelashes extension, teeth whitening and gemming, permanent makeup and body sculpting services for people of any gender.

Junoesque By Bree was originally opened in May 2021 at the Georgetown Professional Building, 3801 Monarch Drive, but Carter-Smith moved to the location off Main Street to have her business have more of a face  with a storefront as opposed to an area of an office building, as well as to better accommodate her growing number of services thanks to her increased staff.

Junoesque By Bree Location: 330 Main St., former home of Nailed It and SheaBrojaes Natural Expressions Phone: 262-456-4234 Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday Online: "Junoesque By Bree" on social media Grand Opening: July 30 The spa also offers a membership program. For $45 a month, members will get 20% off all services, 10% off all retail products, priority booking and a complimentary glass of wine or champagne or water (which is offered to every guest already) of the members choosing each visit. To learn more about the additional discounts and perks with becoming a member, stop in to see Carter-Smith and her team.

The spa began with two employees. Now, there are seven.

Carter-Smith found it frustrating having a suite in the back of the basement of an office building. She knew that because of the way her business is advertised on social media by her and her team, the spa deserved more walk-by traffic, so a storefront was ultimately the way to go.

I knew I was going to move to a new location as soon as I moved into my old one, Carter-Smith said. I came in here and met the realtor and walked through the space, and I was like 'This is me.' It just felt right.

Quote Juno, in the Roman mythology, is the queen of the gods. Her Greek equivalent was Hera, wife of Zeus.

While moving into a new location feels like she is starting over, Carter-Smith and her staff have worked hard to make their presence at the storefront known. The staff handed out samples of beauty products during the last Wine Walk organized by the Downtown Racine Corp. and already heard positive feedback on social media.

Carter-Smith and her staff worked hard to make the brick-walled and hardwood floored space on Main Street their own, doing everything from adorning the space with shelving and artwork, to creating and painting new treatment rooms with the help of people from Carter-Smiths church and dressing a comfortable sitting area. Its giving girl power said Carter-Smith.

Junoesque by Bree is currently open and full service, with a grand opening planned for July 30. While Carter-Smith doesn't have a set plan for the opening just yet, she knows there will be a videographer/photographer present, as well as a photo booth. Like with other events she has put on in the past, Carter-Smith will offer a discount to anybody who books a service on the day. Walk-ins are welcome, but Carter-Smith is by appointment only. She closes her reservations for the next month until the 27th of each month.

What my aim is is that I want people to walk in one way, but I want them to walk out feeling better. When they come in here they forget about everything that is going on in the outside world, they are in the moment and here to vent and cry with us, lord knows we are criers, Carter-Smith Said, "but usually its a place of healing, I think god truly allowed me to grow my business the way I did for a reason, and its because it touches peoples lives for the better. I just wanna make sure were doing his work by making people feel safe.

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President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by President of the Parliament (Riigikogu) of the Republic of Estonia Juri Ratas.

Expressing his hope that the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Estonia will continue successfully developing, the President stressed the importance of mutual contacts, and noted that the visits of the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament to Estonia and of the Speaker of the Estonian Parliament to Azerbaijan contributed to expanding bilateral relations, including inter-parliamentary cooperation.

Touching upon the visit of the delegation led by Juri Ratas to Shusha, President Ilham Aliyev stressed that this visit was very important in terms of seeing firsthand the large-scale destruction committed by Armenians in those territories during the occupation.

Touching upon EU-Azerbaijan relations, the President praised the results of his recent visit to Brussels, noting the statement by EU Council President Charles Michel. The President added that the European Union was playing an important role in normalizing the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Noting the importance of relations with the European Union for the country, the President said that these relations were multifaceted and covered other areas in addition to traditional energy. The President said that the modern transport infrastructure created in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan's links with the Caspian littoral states and the West would play a very important role in the interaction between Europe and Asia.

President of the Estonian Parliament Juri Ratas congratulated President Ilham Aliyev and his people on 28 May, Independence Day, and stressed the importance of celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Juri Ratas noted that he had fruitful and productive meetings during his visit to Baku.

The sides exchanged views on prospects for cooperation.
Mark Lewis, who served as the publisher and president for the Wisconn Valley Media group, has been promoted to president of the Tulsa World Media Group.

After nearly 13 years here, Lewis is leaving southeastern Wisconsin and the Wisconn Valley Media Group, which includes The Journal Times in Racine, Kenosha News and Lake Geneva Regional News.

I have enjoyed all the years I have spent in Racine. I have raised three kids there and will always feel like its home. I will miss all the people who I have come to know as friends and I believe southeastern Wisconsin has a bright future ahead of it, Lewis said.

Lewis started as the publisher of The Journal Times in 2009 and when Lee acquired United Communications Corp (UCC) in 2019 he went on to lead the Kenosha News and Lake Geneva Regional News.

I am proud and impressed with the leadership he exhibited during the acquisition of UCC, and bringing Kenosha and Lake Geneva into the Lee family, said Chris White, the president of Lees Western Media Group.

Mark has earned this promotion. During his work, Mark developed a reputation for delivering outstanding performance and for developing strong, high-performing teams, White continued in announcing the promotion.

During his tenure with the Wisconn Valley Media group, Lewis was actively involved in the community.

He was chairman of the board for Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce (RAMAC), vice chairman for the Racine County Economic Development Corporation, on the board for the Wheaton Foundation and served on administrative services for Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Racine.

He also served as president for Goodfellows, a nonprofit that focuses on youth activities including providing assistance to Tex Reynolds Toys for Tots program, which provides donated toys to children in need during the holidays.

Going forward, Clint Wiedholz will continue to oversee advertising in Racine and Rob Ireland will continue to oversee advertising operations in Kenosha and Lake Geneva.

Stephanie Jones will be overseeing news as the southeastern Wisconsin regional editor, working directly with Adam Rogan, The Journal Times news editor, and John Sloca, news editor of the Kenosha News. Jones is the Lake Geneva Regional News editor and former Journal Times editor.

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RACINE COUNTY  Memorial Day will be observed in Racine County with these events:

Sturtevant Memorial Day Parade: Village of Sturtevant, 10 a.m. Saturday, May 28. The route is 86th Street to Buckingham Drive to Broadway Drive to 97th Street to Hulda Drive to 95th Street and ending at South Park. Parade entry winners will be presented with an award.

Racine County Veterans Support Expo: Memorial Hall, 72 Seventh St., Racine, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, May 28. Free. Veteran support agencies in education, employment, benefits; social event, 3-5 p.m.

VFW Post 8343 Balloon Launch: Motorcycle parade leaving from The Penney Bar & Grill, 6959 S. Loomis Road, Wind Lake. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Parade travels from Penney Bar and around Wind Lake to the VFW memorial grounds. Events at The Penney Bar include music by TW & Company (noon-4 p.m.), raffles, Boy Scout food booth.

Racine Memorial Day Parade: Parade steps off at 10 a.m. Monday, May 30, at Washington Avenue and West Boulevard, proceeds north on West Boulevard, north on Osborne Boulevard and ends at Graceland Cemetery. A ceremony follows at 11 a.m. at the cemetery.

Wisconsin Veterans Home Parade: Third annual Memorial Day Parade to honor the residents of Wisconsin Veterans Home. Interested participants are asked to meet from 1 to 1:45 p.m. Monday, May 30, in the parking lot of the Racine County Fairgrounds, 19805 Durand Ave. (use the Highway 45 entrance).

Participants are invited to decorate their vehicles with signs thanking the veterans and to wave flags out the windows. The vehicles will leave the fairgrounds at approximately 2 p.m. and travel on highways 11 and C to the grounds of Southern Wisconsin Center and the Wisconsin Veterans Home. The parade will include vehicles from the Kansasville and Union Grove-Yorkville fire departments. The parade will pass Boland Hall, Gates Hall and Fairchild Hall where residents will be outside or watching out the windows. Participants also include the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, motorcycle clubs from Wisconsin and Illinois, vintage car owners and anyone who wants to honor the veterans.

The parade will drive through the adjacent Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery which will be decorated for Memorial Day weekend with 23,000 flags on the graves of fallen heroes. The parade will make a final pass through the Wisconsin Veterans Home.

Memorial Services

American Legion Post 171, 1027 New Street, Union Grove, will hold the following events for the Memorial Day weekend:

Saturday, May 28, 9 a.m. Meet at Post 171. Proceed to seven local cemeteries to place American flags on veterans graves.

Sunday, May 29, 7:45 a.m. Meet at Post 171 (Honor Guard in uniform). Proceed to cemeteries for Memorial salutes as follows: 8:30 a.m., Seventh Day Adventist Cemetery; 8:50 a.m., Scotch Settlement Cemetery; 9:10 a.m., Dover Catholic Cemetery; 9:30 a.m., Yorkville Cemetery; 9:50 a.m., Pilgrims and Trinity Lutheran Cemeteries; 10:20 a.m., Sylvania Cemetery; 11 a.m., Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 21731 Spring St., Union Grove (Honor Guard will post colors at the Memorial Program hosted by the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs).

Monday, May 30, 8 a.m. Meet at Post 171 (Honor Guard in uniform). Proceed to the American Legion Memorial Park. for 9:15 a.m. Memorial Day program, followed by a procession to Union Grove Memorial Cemetery, 5115 S. Colony Ave., for an honors ceremony. Legion family potluck picnic at Post 171 at 11 a.m.

American Legion Harvey Funk Post 494 of Caledonia will conduct Memorial Day services at these locations on Monday, May 30 (public invited):

9 a.m., McPherson Cemetery, 7100 block of Highway K, Raymond.

9:15 a.m., Oak Grove Cemetery, Highway G and 76th Street, Raymond.

9:30 a.m., St. Louis Cemetery, 13207 Highway G, Caledonia.

10 a.m., Trinity Lutheran Cemetery, 7 Mile and Nicholson roads, Caledonia.

10:30 a.m., Caledonia Memorial Cemetery, 6800 block of Nicholson Road, Caledonia.

11 a.m., Franksville Memorial Park, 9416 Highway K, Franksville.

11:30 a.m., Harvey Funk Post 494, 4700 block of Highway 41 (East Frontage Road), Caledonia.

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This story was originally published by ProPublica.

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

Jay Stone grew up in the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago ward politics, the son of a longtime city alderman. But his own forays into politics left him distrustful of Chicago Democrats.

When he ran for alderman in 2003, he was crushed at the polls after party leaders sent city workers out to campaign against him. Even his own father didnt endorse him.

Then when Stone sought the mayors office in 2010, he only mustered a few hundred of the 12,500 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. He filed a federal lawsuit over the requirement and lost.

His father, Bernard Stone, who held office for 38 years, once told the Chicago Tribune: My son is very good at what hes trained to do. And thats not politics.

Jay Stones training was in hypnotherapy, and he eventually walked away from Chicago politics, carving out a living using hypnosis to help people with anxiety, weight gain, nicotine addiction and other issues. Only in retirement, and after a move to Wisconsin, did he finally find his political niche.

In 2020, Stone played a crucial, if little-known, role in making Wisconsin a hotbed of conspiracy theories that Democrats stole the states 10 electoral votes from then-President Donald Trump. The outcry emanating from Wisconsin has cast Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as a force of untoward political influence and helped create a backlash against using private grants, including large donations from Zuckerberg, to assist election officials across the country.

In Wisconsin, Stone has finally been embraced politically, by activists and politicians who, like him, didnt approve of the so-called Zuckerbucks or of big-city Democratic mayors. They, too, are unhappy with the way the 2020 presidential election was run in Wisconsin and how it turned out. And they, too, show no inclination of giving up, even when their claims have been rejected and other Republicans have told them its time to move on.

The best part of getting involved in politics in Wisconsin is the wonderful people Ive been meeting, Stone said in an interview. Theyre just a great group of men and women that I admire and respect.

The questioning of the legitimacy of President Joe Bidens 20,000-vote victory in Wisconsin continues thanks to Stone and others who have emerged to take on outsize roles after the election. Among them: a retired travel industry executive who has alleged voter fraud at nursing homes. Ten alternate GOP electors who signed documents to try to subvert the certification of Bidens election. And some state legislators who are still looking for ways to hand the state to Trump, a year and a half after the election.

Stone hasnt garnered much public attention, but records indicate that in the summer of 2020 he was the first person to complain to state authorities about grant money accepted by local election officials. The funds were earmarked for face masks, shields and other safety supplies, as well as hazard pay, larger voting facilities, vote-by-mail processing, drop boxes and educational outreach about absentee voting.

Stone, however, saw the election funding, which came from a Chicago nonprofit, as a way to sway the election for Biden by helping bring more Democratic-leaning voters to the polls in Wisconsins five largest cities.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission rejected Stones claim last year, on the grounds that he didnt live in any of the cities he mentioned and that the complaint did not allege any violations that the commission had the authority to investigate. A separate complaint Stone filed with the Federal Election Commission, in which he objects to the Zuckerberg money, has not been resolved.

Nonetheless, the idea that the election was somehow rigged lives on.

Chief among the election deniers is Michael Gableman, who served on the state Supreme Court for a decade. A Trump ally, Gableman was named as special counsel by the GOP-controlled State Assembly to investigate the legitimacy of Bidens victory in Wisconsin. Not only did Gableman give Stones accusations a platform, he took them even further. In his review for the Assembly, Gableman labeled the grants a form of bribery.

Gableman expressed his admiration for Stone during a March interview on the Tucker Carlson Today show, which streams online.

Its a private citizen, a guy named Jay Stone, who really deserves a lot of credit, Gableman said, referring to questions about the election grants.

He saw all of this coming, Gableman said. And hes not a lawyer. I dont know what his particular training is  hes trained in the medical field. He filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission back in August of 2020, well before the election. And he foresaw all of this, he foresaw the partisan nature of all of the Zuckerberg money and all of the Zuckerberg people coming in to influence the election.

Gableman, who has not responded to requests for an interview, had hired Stone as a paid consultant for his review by the time he appeared on Carlsons show.

But thats not the only thing keeping Stone from a quiet retirement in Pleasant Prairie, not far from the Illinois border, where he grows his own fruits and vegetables and heats his home only with firewood. Once again, hes got his eyes on political office. This time hes running for the Wisconsin State Senate, seeking to unseat Republican Van Wanggaard, R-Racine.

The Chicago Connection

In the summer of 2020, cities across the U.S. were canceling Fourth of July firework celebrations. Public health departments were scrambling to put contact tracing measures in place to track the spread of COVID-19. Movie theaters remained shuttered. Vaccines were still undergoing testing.

Against this backdrop, the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit based in Chicago, decided to get involved. Its stated mission is to ensure that elections across the country are more professional, inclusive and secure.

The group approached the mayors of Wisconsins five largest cities  Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine  and encouraged them to draw up a Safe Voting Plan outlining how they would spend more than $6 million in grant money to make it easier for people to vote while also limiting their exposure to the highly contagious coronavirus.

Wisconsins April elections, including the presidential primary, had been a near-disaster. The states Democratic governor and GOP-controlled legislature bickered over whether to postpone the balloting. Election offices were deluged with requests for absentee ballots. National Guard troops stepped in to replace poll workers too scared to volunteer. Polling places closed or relocated. Some voters waited in long lines for hours.

The Safe Voting Plan envisioned a smoother election that November. The goals were to keep voters safe and educate them about how to cast a ballot properly, whether in person or by mail. The plan also expressed the desire to ensure the right to vote in our dense and diverse communities.

Green Bay, for example, proposed using $15,000 to partner with churches, educational institutions, and organizations serving African immigrants, LatinX residents, and African Americans to help new voters obtain documents needed to get a valid state ID that they could show at the polls or to get an absentee ballot.

The Center for Tech and Civic Life awarded the $6.3 million to Wisconsins five largest cities in early July 2020. Thats when a friend of Stones sent him a link to a newspaper article about the grants.

Within 10 minutes, I knew this was a scam, because they were targeting the Democratic strongholds in the state of Wisconsin, said Stone.

Stone recognized that the organizations address on Chicagos Magnificent Mile was in the same building that had once housed Barack Obamas campaign headquarters, which he felt confirmed his instincts.

He took exception to the proposed outreach to communities that traditionally vote Democratic, saying such efforts are the responsibility of candidates and parties, not municipal election workers. On Aug. 28, 2020, he fired off a 27-page complaint to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which included 167 exhibits.

The Center for Tech and Civic Life exploited COVID-19 to help Democrats, Stone wrote. All of CTCLs $6.3 million expenditures will increase voter turnout in Wisconsin cities that are heavily Democratic and increase the likelihood that Democrat Joe Biden will win Wisconsins 10 electoral votes.

Less than a week later, CTCL made a major announcement: It had received a $250 million donation from Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. The couple later added an additional $100 million. CTCLs previous funding had come from a variety of foundations.

Ultimately, CTCL awarded grants to more than 2,500 elections offices across 49 states, including rural parts of Wisconsin. The sums included $5,000 to small communities such as Ralls County, Missouri, and $10 million each for the city of Philadelphia and for Fulton County, Georgia, which encompasses most of Atlanta.

In an interview, Stone said he wouldnt have objected if the grants had been awarded to each of Wisconsins 72 counties  with every county getting an equal amount per registered voter.

According to a ProPublica analysis, the biggest municipalities in Wisconsin received the most money and had higher per capita grants than smaller places like Waukesha, Brookfield and Fond Du Lac, which all had a history of voting for Trump. For instance, the per capita figure for Milwaukee was more than 10 times that of nearby Waukesha.

An analysis by Ballotpedia, a nonprofit focusing on elections, found that Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan  swing states that ended up in the Biden column  received some of the highest per capita grants from CTCL. However, its nearly impossible to discern what may have turned the tide in those states and whether turnout was affected by the grant money, a motivation to vote against Trump, or other factors.

CTCL was formed in 2014. One of its founders, Tiana Epps-Johnson, was named an Obama Foundation fellow in 2018, providing her with leadership training and other resources to help her in her work. She has described CTCL as nonpartisan, but Stone said the Obama Foundation connection suggests otherwise.

Epps-Johnson, who is CTCLs executive director, did not respond to a voice message left on her direct line, but the group replied with a statement saying the grant money was available to all parts of the country. Every eligible local election office that applied was awarded funds, CTCL stated.

The center also defended its actions in a lawsuit the Trump campaign filed against the Wisconsin Elections Commission; the suit alleged, in part, that the state election commission had improperly supported the five cities plan to promote expanded mail-in voting.

In an amicus brief in that case, CTCL wrote: Most of those funds were used to purchase personal protective equipment for voters and election workers, to recruit and train additional staff, to provide improved security, to establish in-person polling places, to process mail-in ballots, and to ensure emergency preparedness. CTCLs program thus helped officials throughout the nation to run secure, lawful, and efficient elections for all Americans.

A federal judge appointed by Trump found no merit in the former presidents case and dismissed it.

Zuckerberg also denies having hidden motives in funding nonprofits that targeted voting issues. His spokesperson Brian Baker said in an email to ProPublica that Zuckerberg and his wife stepped in when our nations election infrastructure faced unprecedented challenges and the federal government failed to provide adequate funds. The goal, Baker said, was to ensure that residents could vote regardless of their party or preference.

When Wisconsinites went to the polls in November 2020, there were far fewer issues with people having trouble casting a ballot or having to wait in long lines than there had been in the spring election.

Jay Stones grievances

Stones skepticism was deeply rooted. His own family and his political failures were shaped by Chicago politics, giving him a close-up view of the unseemly tactics of loyalists associated with Democratic rule under Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley and then, to a lesser extent, his son Richard M. Daley.

Running for 32nd Ward alderman on Chicagos North Side in 2003, Stone preached good government, transparency and election reform. He lost. Testimony in a 2006 federal corruption trial involving top Daley administration officials described how party bosses ordered city workers to campaign for Stones opponent, the sitting alderman.

They wanted a puppet they could control, Stone said.

After his election defeat, Stone filed a claim against the Daley administration as part of a class-action suit seeking compensation for damages related to political patronage. A federal monitor awarded him $75,000 based on Stones claims about city workers forced to campaign against him. His efforts taking on the Daley machine earned him a description as a passionate independent from a reporter for the Chicago Reader, an alternative weekly.

Reflecting on the experience, Stone said that even his father was unwilling to endorse him for fear of political retribution. (Stones father died in 2014. Jay Stone said that despite their political differences, they remained close.)

Undeterred, in 2010 Stone made a bid for mayor, hoping to take on Richard M. Daley, but Daley announced he would not run for a record seventh term.

Stone didnt obtain enough signatures to qualify for the ballot and sued the citys Board of Election Commissioners, claiming the requirement was onerous and unconstitutional, designed to keep the machine in power. The courts disagreed, and the case failed.

Stone never won an election in Chicago, but he was able to build a professional life there as a hypnotherapist in private practice. Stone decided to enter the field after earning first an undergraduate philosophy degree and then an MBA. He received a doctorate in clinical hypnotherapy through remote learning from a now-shuttered California institute.

Hypnotherapists are not licensed in Illinois. But the treatment has gained acceptance. According to the National Institutes of Health, hypnosis has been shown to help people manage some painful conditions and deal with anxiety.

Stone sought to help clients visualize a better future, a goal he said he wanted to achieve in politics, too. In hypnosis, Stone said, some of his patients experienced flashbacks to past lives that helped them find peace and change their behavior for the better. He wrote a paper, posted on his website, on the potential to use DNA to prove the existence of past lives.

Science, he noted, always starts with a theory. And then you have to be able to prove it, he said.

His theories about elections tend to lump all Chicago Democrats together, so that Michelle and Barack Obama are considered just as capable of unsavory political tactics as the two Daleys who governed Chicago for decades.

Stone maintains that the Obamas have unduly influenced elections through a network of former White House staffers associated with nonprofits Stone believes are inappropriately registering and influencing voters. (He said he soured on Barack Obama long ago because he believed that Obama had failed to confront the Chicago Democratic machine as a U.S. senator.)

He is particularly opposed to the star-studded nonprofit When We All Vote, set up by Michelle Obama to register voters and help close the race and age gap. By the 2020 election, more than 500,000 people had started or completed their voter registration process through When We All Vote, according to the group.

I believe Michelle Obamas When We All Vote is the most powerful political organization or political machine in the country, Stone said in a video he posted on Rumble, a video platform thats popular among some conservatives. When We All Vote is more powerful than the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee combined.

When We All Vote told ProPublica in an email that it is nonpartisan and works with schools and educators to increase civic engagement and voter participation, saying its initiatives comply with the letter and spirit of the law.

Stone filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission against the former first lady, alleging criminal violations for offering financial prizes to schools that registered the most voters and for enticing people to early voting sites with food and music. The commission, in a 5-1 vote in April, dismissed the matter due to a lack of reasonable suspicion and fined him $500 for filing a frivolous complaint. (Stone on Friday appealed that decision in Kenosha County Circuit Court.)

Stone saw the supposed Obama networks fingerprints on the 2020 election grants offered by the Center for Tech and Civic Life.

And while he measures his words more carefully than Gableman and others who see the 2020 Wisconsin election results as tainted, he clearly is in that camp.

There was so much, I dont want to say fraud, but there was so much deviation from the election laws and the election norms, it raises serious questions, he said of Trumps loss in Wisconsin.

I dont think the election was fair and just.

Allies in Wisconsin

The CTCL money has become a central theme in complaints about Bidens victory in Wisconsin  and in the review by Gableman. Under pressure from Trump, GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos appointed Gableman to review whether the election was administered fairly and lawfully.

Gableman has fallen short of proving fraud, but did use an interim report and an appearance before the legislative oversight committee on March 1 to highlight the Zuckerberg money and call for disbanding the Wisconsin Elections Commission. He said the legislature should look into decertifying the 2020 election results, but even Republican officials balked at that.

Republican Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke tweeted that handing authority to partisan politicians to determine if election fraud exists would be the end of our republic as we know it.

Jay Stone sat in the front row behind Gableman during the meeting, where Gableman released a report of his findings thus far. It spanned 136 pages, half of which dealt with the CTCL grants, which he characterized as election bribery.

Stone helped in the review but wont talk about what exactly he did in the ongoing investigation, which was budgeted by Vos to cost taxpayers $676,000. Im on a confidentiality agreement, Stone said.

Stone billed Gableman $3,250 for 128 hours of work between Feb. 16 and March 1, according to an invoice obtained by the nonprofit group American Oversight, which has sued to get access to Gablemans records.

Asked about Gablemans bribery terminology, Stone sighed. Its not a typical case where somebody gives a politician money for, lets say, a zoning change, he said. So, its not your typical bribery case, but certainly its worth looking into.

Lawsuits in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota about the CTCL grants have failed, as did Stones complaint to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Just last week in Madison, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Ehlke called the election bribery allegation ridiculous, saying he saw no evidence that CTCL offered anything to change anyones vote. I mean, what proof is there in the record anywhere of an inducement of bribery? That whole thing just falls away. Theres nothing in the record. Is there?

Minnesota lawyer Erick G. Kaardal, who continues to challenge the grants, replied that he reads state law to mean: We dont want Wisconsin public officials taking money to get people to go to the polls.

The county case is an appeal of the elections commissions rejection of a similar complaint Kaardal filed there about the grants. Ehlke has yet to rule.

Gablemans work, meanwhile, has been widely discredited, cast by politicians, including some Republicans, and legal analysts as unprofessional and amateurish. Wisconsins Democratic governor called the investigation a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars.

This effort has spread disinformation about our election processes, it has attacked the integrity of our clerks, election administrators, and poll workers, and it has emboldened individuals to harass and demean dedicated public servants, Gov. Tony Evers said in a prepared statement.

The issue of using private grants in administering elections, however, remains alive.

Zuckerberg will not be making future donations to election offices, his spokesperson told ProPublica earlier this month, calling it a one-time donation given the unprecedented nature of the crisis.

More than a dozen states, meanwhile, have banned or restricted the use of private funds for election offices. The Wisconsin legislature passed a bill in 2021 prohibiting counties or municipalities from applying for or accepting any private donations for elections, but left room for the Wisconsin Elections Commission to take outside grants so long as the money is distributed statewide on a per capita basis. Evers vetoed it.

In southeastern Wisconsin, however, the Walworth County Board of Supervisors passed its own ban last month, prohibiting the county from accepting donations or grants for election administration from individuals or nongovernmental entities.

Now that hes left a mark as a political activist in Wisconsin, Stone is back on the campaign trail.

At County Line Hall, an event hall with a Union Grove mailing address despite being located south of Highway KR in Kenosha County, Stone addressed about 100 people gathered at a regular meeting of the Racine-based H.O.T. Government group, a right-leaning Wisconsin grassroots organization that adopted an acronym for the words honest, open and transparent. (Stone is the groups vice president.) A stuffed effigy of a torso with a white foam head hung from the rafters, wearing a shirt labeled Corrupt Officials.

Standing before a large American flag, he politely asked people to sign his nominating forms. Republican State Rep. Janel Brandtjen, who chairs the elections committee overseeing Gablemans investigation and supports the effort to overturn Bidens Wisconsin victory, jumped up from her seat to lead the crowd in a chant: Jay Stone! Jay Stone!

Jay is the one who filed the complaint in the very beginning, she told the audience. Jay is a real hero in what hes done for Wisconsin.

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The day after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two adults at a Texas elementary school, Wisconsin Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul called on the states Republican-controlled Legislature to ban homemade ghost guns and require universal background checks for gun buyers.

Separately, Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, circulated a petition calling on the Legislature to approve universal background checks and allow judges to take guns away from owners they deem risky.

In 2019 Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called his first special session encouraging legislators to pass those measures, but Republican leaders called the bills an infringement on Second Amendment rights and ended the special session just seconds after it began.

In Texas

Initial reports indicate the shooter shot his grandmother, posted on social media that he intended to commit a school shooting, drove to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, but then crashed his truck, exchanged gunfire with a police officer who was injured, got into the school, barricaded himself inside a single classroom and began shooting anyone that was in his way, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety said Wednesday on NBCs Today.

Law enforcement officers eventually killed the gunman. Multiple officers were reported to be shot non-fatally.

Wisconsin

Along with banning untraceable ghost guns and background checks, Kaul called for keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, in reference to last weeks unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that allows certain people convicted of domestic abuse to receive a concealed carry permit.

These are steps that have broad public support, he said. What we lack is legislative will.

In a social media post last week, the Racine Police Department reported that it had taken a 14-year-old with a 9mm ghost gun pistol into custody. It might look like a normal gun but it is not, the post said. This is a ghost gun, that includes a full auto-selector switch and a magazine that holds 40 rounds. Ghost guns do not have serial numbers and are untraceable firearms that are typically assembled at home from kits bought online. To truly emphasize the seriousness of this, a 14-year old juvenile had in his possession a fully automatic ghost gun. This is the reality Racine Police Officers are dealing with on a daily basis. If you see something, say something!

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg; Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester; and several other Republican legislators did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In 2019, Vos reiterated Republican concerns that red-flag laws, under which people deemed to be threats by a court must surrender their firearms, would infringe upon due process. We already have had these debates, we already know where people stand, I dont necessarily want to spend a bunch of time playing politics with this, Vos said.

Evers slammed the Legislatures inaction at the time. This year, Evers vetoed:

AB 597

, which would have allowed concealed carry licensees to bring guns to places of worship located on school grounds, and

AB 495

, which would have allowed concealed carry licensees to bring guns in their vehicles on school grounds.

Politicians, and Republican politicians in particular, need to be more concerned about parents than they are about the NRA (National Rifle Association), Kaul said Wednesday. They need to be more worried about about keeping kids safe than they are about keeping their political futures safe.

In Washington D.C., Republican Sen. Ron Johnson refused to answer whether he would support background checks for people who want to buy guns. Calling Tuesdays shooting heartbreaking in an interview with radio host James T. Harris, Johnson blamed the shooting on many Americans secularization and called for stronger communities and renewed faith.

Johnson on the U.S. Senate floor Wednesday also called for the passage of a measure authored that would codify the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety into law. That measure, the Luke and Alex School Safety Act of 2021, calls for the clearinghouse to include information about threat prevention, preparedness, protection, mitigation, incident response and recovery.

Its a good idea, Johnson said on the U.S. Senate floor Wednesday. It could save lives. It is an action when people are calling for action following this tragedy.

The legislation does not call for background checks for gun buyers. Neither chamber in Congress has voted on the measure.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly joined the calls for reform of gun laws in Wisconsin and nationally.

The painful fact that gun violence and other societal challenges continue to spill into our schools requires me to engage in issues that extend beyond traditional school policy, Underly said in a statement. The education of Wisconsin students and the safety of our children and educators in our schools must be addressed  not tomorrow, not next month, and not after the next loss of life.

In a statement Tuesday, Evers said Our hearts are broken by the maddening and horrific act of gun violence in Uvalde. (Wisconsin first lady) Kathy and I are praying for the parents and families, educators and classmates, and an entire community that has been shattered by a merciless act of gun violence. We cannot accept that gun violence just happens. We cannot accept that kids might go to school and never come home. We cannot accept the outright refusal of elected officials to act. Enough has been enough for too damn long already.

Adam Rogan of The Journal Times contributed to this report.

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On Monday a police officer showed up at our house.

We had been letting our two oldest kids bike to school because we were giving them freedom and there are crossing guards and sidewalks and we only live a few blocks from school.

But on Monday they decided to not take the route we practiced. They were running late and trying to hurry. I caught my oldest not wearing her helmet and I yelled for her to put it on and she did then they biked away.

The next thing we know we have a police officer at our house. He was just there to tell us that our kids decided to rush and decided to bike on a busy county road without a sidewalk.

He followed them to school from a distance and made sure they got there safe. I feel grateful for that.

The kids have now lost their school biking privileges along with other things. I feel grateful we had someone there looking out for our kids.

In light of this week I feel compelled to share this story. Every day you send your kids to school, you never know what will happen.

All we can do is trust in God. For me I hope my kids learned a lesson this week that they will carry with them about safety.

But I know there is so much beyond my control as a parent and my kids control. Dropping them off at school on Wednesday morning, I found myself with tears in my eyes. Just yesterday on Tuesday, May 24, in Uvalde, Texas, 19 children and two adults were killed when a gunman came into the school and open fired.

As I dropped off my kids, I couldnt help but think about the parents in Uvalde who dropped off their own children just the day before. Maybe they said, I love you. Maybe they yelled at their kids because they forgot their lunch in the car or maybe they were running late and didnt say good bye at all. Who knows? We all know days get very busy. And sometimes we as parents lose patience with our children, but we love them more than anything in the world.

You try your best to protect your kids. For me that includes my oldest, my 12-14-12 baby, born the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting that killed 20 children.

This week, Im so grateful things turned out safely for my kids. I feel almost guilty crying for the families in Uvalde. Sometimes I think that I dont deserve to be sad. What those families are going through is not sadness. Its something worse than grief.

One of my worst thoughts after hearing the news about Uvalde, Texas was that well talk about this for a week and then for the rest of us in the world, well move on because there will be another tragedy and another mass shooting. That makes me really sad.

Stephanie Jones is the Southeastern Wisconsin regional news editor, overseeing the Kenosha News, Journal Times and Lake Geneva Regional News. She is also the mother of three children in elementary school and used to write a Mommy Talk column for Racine.

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A conservative Chicago law firm that has been working with the Republican-appointed special counsel probing Wisconsins 2020 election has filed another spate of lawsuits challenging another aspect of that election  ballot drop boxes  that has long raised the ire of Republicans, especially since their candidate for president lost.

The Thomas More Society, however, isnt suing all the approximately 245 Wisconsin municipalities that used the absentee ballot drop boxes in November 2020, just the five largest and most Democratic-leaning: Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine.

The firm, on behalf of a total of six residents in the five municipalities, notes that state law is silent on the use of drop boxes and asks a judge to declare them legally unauthorized and permanently barred.

Democrats and Republicans alike largely approved of drop boxes prior to the 2020 election, and the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission approved their use in the election as a way to cut down on crowds at polling places at a time when there was no vaccine against COVID-19 and public health authorities were warning that large groups, such as at polling places, could spread the virus thats killed more than 1 million Americans.

A January ruling by a Waukesha County judge that barred the use of drop boxes except in a clerks office has been appealed, and the legality of drop boxes is now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on the matter sometime this summer.

The Elections Commission in February rescinded its guidance allowing drop boxes, in keeping with the lower courts ruling. The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau found the drop boxes were used in at least 43 cities, 46 villages and 156 towns throughout the state in the 2020 election.

A spokesperson for the Thomas More Society did not respond when asked why the firm isnt suing the other municipalities that used drop boxes. The Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine clerks offices also did not respond to an opportunity to comment.

Erick Kaardal, an attorney for the group, has been working with former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman on his ongoing $676,000 probe of the election. That review was paused earlier this month by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to allow time for resolution of five lawsuits related to the probe.

Much like multiple judges, outside reviews and recounts, Gableman has so far found no evidence of the kind of widespread fraud or criminal activity that could have changed the outcome of the election in Wisconsin, where Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by just fewer than 21,000 votes.

Still, he and other conservatives continue to allege a conspiracy among Democratic-leaning nonprofits and elections officials to use more than $10 million from the Chicago-based nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life to boost turnout in Democratic areas under the guise of safe voting during a pandemic.

Money from the Center for Tech and Civic Life was distributed to about 214 Wisconsin municipalities, including many won by Trump, to pay for things including poll worker training and pay, new voting machines, ballot drop boxes and personal protective equipment. While the states five largest and most Democratic-leaning municipalities got between two and four times more money, per capita, than other municipalities, the center has said no municipality that asked for the money was denied it.

A Dane County judge earlier this month characterized as ridiculous Kaardals claims in a separate lawsuit that accepting the centers grants to help fund elections constituted bribery. There is nothing in state law barring private funding to help administer elections.

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MADISON  The Wisconsin Supreme Court wrestled Tuesday with whether to block a Madison school district policy that prohibits staff from informing parents that their children have changed genders, with opponents arguing the policy amounts to a secret experiment on children and supporters countering that the guidance protects student privacy.

The school district adopted a policy in 2018 that allows students to change their gender identity at school. Teachers and other school staff are required to use names and pronouns of the students' choosing without parental notice or consent. School staff is also prohibited from disclosing information about students' gender identity to anyone, including their parents.

A group of parents represented by the conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in February 2020 alleging the policy violated parents' constitutional rights to direct their children's upbringing. They've asked the court to issue a temporary injunction blocking the policy's enforcement while lower courts weigh the case.

What we're talking about here is a grand social experiment, WILL attorney Luke Berg told the justices during oral arguments Tuesday. Never before on such a large scale have (schools) treated little girls as little boys. ... Parents have the right to decide if they want their children to be part of this experiment."

Adam Prinson, an attorney representing gender equity associations at three Madison high schools, maintained that the policy doesn't prevent parents from talking with their children or seeking therapy for them.

We're talking about respecting a child's privacy, not intervening in the home, he said.

Conservatives hold a 4-3 majority on the court, although conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn sometimes acts as a swing vote. Justice Rebecca Bradley signaled she supports the parents, saying the policy allows schools to facilitate a gender transition and completely hide this from the parents.

The liberal-leaning justices tried to focus on technicalities in the case rather than larger ramifications for the policy. They questioned Berg's request to allow the parents to sue anonymously, noting that while judges can seal cases state law generally requires case files to be open to the public and include the parties' names and addresses.

Berg maintained that the parents need to maintain anonymity to protect themselves and their children from retaliation. The school district's attorney, Sarah Zylstra, complained to the justices that without the parents' names she can't mount a viable defense. She doesn't know whether the plaintiffs are Madison parents or if they might have conflicts of interest.

Berg told the justices that the parents' names aren't relevant because the case is about constitutional rights, not damages. He pledged to tell Zylstra anything that she needs to know about the plaintiffs but he doesn't want their names released because they could face harassment.

Justice Rebecca Dallet was flabbergasted.

(The schools' attorneys) have to accept your statement that they're parents? Dallet said. How is the other side supposed to (counter) if they don't even know who they are?

Chief Justice Annette Ziegler, a member of the conservative majority, pointed out the court has handled multiple cases with plaintiffs using John Doe pseudonyms in the past. Bradley said the threat of retaliation is real, pointing to a firebomb attack on an anti-abortion organization's Madison office earlier this month after a draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court was on course to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked.

It's unclear when the state Supreme Court might rule on the Madison policy. The justices often take months to render their opinions following oral arguments.

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1. Yes. If the price of gas keeps rising, a long road trip is going to be out of the question.

2. Yes. Its bound to take toll on the vacation budget; well have to make other plans.

3. No. It may take longer to pay off my gas cards, but high prices wont change my plans.

4.No. Im planning to fly for my vacation, so gas prices wont be much of a factor.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without knowing what prices will be several weeks from now .

Vote

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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 on the occasion of the Independence Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Will be updated
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sent a congratulatory letter to Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on the occasion of this countrys national holiday - Independence Day.

Dear Madame President,

I am pleased to convey my sincerest congratulations and the best wishes to you and your entire people on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of the National Holiday of the friendly Georgia  the Independence Day.

The Azerbaijani-Georgian ties are built on strong foundations such as centuries long friendship, good neighborhood and mutual support. This year is particularly remarkable in the history of our bilateral relations  we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of establishment of the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Georgia. We are pleased to see the expansion of our collaboration based on mutual confidence and the fostering of our strategic partnership during this period.

I am confident that as a reflection of the will of our peoples, through our joint efforts, our interstate relations and productive cooperation across various areas will continue to progress successfully and contribute to the prosperity of our countries and regional peace and stability.

On this festive day, I wish you strong health, happiness, success in your endeavors, and everlasting prosperity to the friendly people of Georgia.

Sincerely,

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
KEARNEY  SkyWest Airlines announced in March it plans to pull out of Kearney and 30 other cities in June, but it appears federally subsidized air service could continue in Kearney, and it could be still be SkyWest.

We certainly will have air service to Denver, Kearney City Manager Michael Morgan said this week, but after reviewing proposals from three airlines interested in flying from Kearney to Denver, he cautioned travelers to expect changes.

Among those changes: Kearney will no longer have daily flights to Chicago, and the planes that a new airline flies would be different from the Bombardier-manufactured CRJ200 50-passenger jetliners flown by SkyWest, which operates as United Express.

Last week the federal Department of Transportation opened bids from the various airlines seeking to replace SkyWest as Kearneys airline. Morgan said three regional airlines submitted proposals. They include:

- Denver Air Connection, which would fly 30- and/or 50-passenger jetliners;

- Ravn Alaska, which wants to fly 50-passenger Dash 8-300 turboprop aircraft; and,

- Boutique Air, which proposes to fly 8-9 passenger Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop aircraft.

Morgan said Kearney has asked DOT to extend the time to review the proposals beyond June 10. Under its federal contact, SkyWest must continue serving Kearney until June 10, but the federal extension would temporarily prevent SkyWest from discontinuing its service from Kearney.

Morgan said its possible that SkyWest might decide against dropping its Kearney service and rescind its notice to discontinue flying from Kearney. Since the Utah-based commuter airline began serving Kearney, SkyWest has achieve record passenger volume month after month.

SkyWest cited a pilot shortage when it announced its plans to discontinue commuter service to 31 airports. The shortage has affected the airline industry at many levels, and some airlines are scrambling to train new pilots and boost their pay.

Of the three airlines that made proposals for the Kearney route, only one flies aircraft similar to SkyWests 50-passenger CRJ200s, which can fly at nearly 600 mph.

Denver Air Connection flies Embraer 145LR jetliners that cruise at almost 450 mph.

Ravn Alaskas Dash 8-300 turboprop aircraft cruise at 328 mph. Ravn is proposing to fly to both Kearney and North Platte.

Morgan said as June 10 gets closer the situation remains unsettled, but Kearneys position appears to be stronger than some cities who are among the 31 that SkyWest said it wants to drop. The DOT received three proposals to serve Kearney, but some cities didnt receive any proposals.

This is all new territory, Morgan said. Its going to be interesting to see what shakes out in the next few days.

CUTLINE

Jetliner Parking

Mike Konz, Kearney Hub

Three airlines are seeking to replace SkyWest as Kearneys commuter airline. SkyWest is reportedly considering rescinding its decision to drop Kearney. The Utah-based airline, which operates as United Express, flies Bombardier-built CRJ200 jetliners, that are faster and fly higher than the other companies that bid for Kearney.
LEXINGTON  A broken back porch light was the cause of an early morning fire that caused damage to a Lexington house early Wednesday morning.

At 4:09 a.m., the Lexington Volunteer Fire Department was called to 1404 N. Madison St. for the report of a house fire.

LVFD Fire Chief Bo Berry said a broken back porch light sparked causing damage to the siding on the back side of the house. There was light smoke damage to the rest of the house.

A family of five was home at the time of the fire, but they were not injured.

To knock down the blaze firefighters used a two sided attack, Berry said, sending a water line behind the house to hit the fire. A second water line was sent through the front of the house to prevent the fire from spreading farther.

Firefighters had the fire under control in about 25 minutes, Berry, but stayed at the scene to ensure there were no hot spots or flare ups. He said all fire units returned to the fire hall around 7 a.m.

A total of 22 firefighters responded to the scene with two fire engines, a rescue unit, a command pickup and their extraction and air trailer.

The LVFD was assisted on scene by the Lexington Police Department, Dawson County Sheriffs Office, Nebraska State Fire Marshal and the Nebraska Public Power District.
BERTRAND  Little information is know about the drivers involved in a car-semitrailer crash Wednesday morning that temporarily closed U.S. Highway 23 near Smithfield.

Before 9 a.m. the Bertrand Volunteer Fire Department was called to the crash near the intersection of Highway 23 and Road 434, one mile east of Smithfield. The Elwood Volunteer Fire Department was later paged to the scene for mutual aid for the Jaws of Life, and to help with a fuel spill from the semi.

Smithfield is located in between Elwood and Bertrand on Highway 23.

Near the intersection, the semi and trailer were both on their side, blocking both lanes of traffic. A white Chevrolet car with heavy damage to the passenger side had come to rest in a field south of the Highway.

No information about the number of people involved in the accident or the extent of their injuries was immediately available.

In addition to firefighters, other agencies that assisted at the scene included the Gosper County Sheriffs Office, the Phelps County Sheriffs Office, the Nebraska State Patrol, Phelps Memorial Health Center and the Nebraska Department of Transportation.
Agricultural producers and handlers who are certified organic, along with producers and handlers who are transitioning to organic production, can now apply for the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDA) Organic and Transitional Education Certification Program (OTECP) and Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP), which help producers and handlers cover the cost of organic certification, along with other related expenses. Applications for OTECP and OCCSP are both due Oct. 31.

By helping with organic certification costs  long identified as a barrier to certification  USDA has helped producers participate in new consumer driven markets while investing in the long-term soil and financial health of their operations, said Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Gene Schriefer. We launched the Organic and Transitional Education Certification Program to build on the support offered through the Organic Certification Cost Share Program and provide additional assistance to organic and transitioning producers weathering the continued market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organic research underway in Wisconsin and other states clearly demonstrates that, with management, crop yields are comparable to conventionally grown crops, dramatically improving profit margins. This year, in response to stakeholder feedback, we have aligned the signup dates for these two organic programs and encourage Wisconsin producers to work with the local USDA Service Centers and State agencies to complete the applications. Were committed to making sure our Nations organic producers and handlers have the tools they need to continue positively shaping our local and regional food systems.

Cost share for 2022

OTECP covers:

 Certification costs for organic producers and handlers (25% up to $250 per category).

 Eligible expenses for transitional producers, including fees for pre-certification inspections and development of an organic system plan (75% up to $750).

 Registration fees for educational events (75% up to $200).

 Soil testing (75% up to $100).

Meanwhile, OCCSP covers 50% or up to $500 per category of certification costs in 2022.

This cost share for certification is available for each of these categories: crops, wild crops, livestock, processing/handling and State organic program fees.

Producers can receive cost share through both OTECP and OCCSP. Both OTECP and OCCSP cover costs incurred from Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022. Producers have until Oct. 31, 2022 to file applications, and FSA will make payments as applications are received.

How to apply

To apply, producers and handlers should contact the Farm Service Agency (FSA) at their local USDA Service Center. As part of completing the OCCSP applications, producers and handlers will need to provide documentation of their organic certification and eligible expenses. Organic producers and handlers may also apply for OCCSP through participating State agencies.

Additional details can be found on the OTECP and OCCSP webpages.

Opportunity for state agencies

FSA is accepting applications for State agencies to administer OCCSP through July 18. If a State department of agriculture chooses to participate in OCCSP, both the State department of agriculture and FSA County Offices in that State will accept OCCSP applications and make payments to eligible certified operations. However, the producer or handler may only receive OCCSP assistance by either FSA or the participating State department of agriculture.

More information

OTECP builds upon OCCSP, providing additional relief to help producers during the pandemic. OTECP uses funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act; OCCSP is funded through the Farm Bill.

USDA has made other strides to assist organic producers. In 2022, USDAs Risk Management Agency (RMA) increased expansion limits for organic producers with coverage through Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP). RMA also updated the insurance option to allow producers to report acreage as certified organic or transitioning, as long as organic certification was requested by the acreage reporting date. Also, this year, RMA introduced a new option  Micro Farm  through WFRP designed for producers with small-scale operations that sell locally, which includes organic producers.

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Azerbaijan has repatriated two children, who were kept in an Iraqi penitentiary, via the Baghdad-Istanbul-Baku route on May 25, Azernews reports, citing the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

As a result of the coordinated and phased measures taken by the Azerbaijani government, the children managed to return home.

Initially, their Azerbaijani citizenship was established. Following that, the Azerbaijani embassy in Iraq organized the childrens repatriation by providing them with ID cards and flight tickets.

Azerbaijan's Consulate General in Istanbul provided a quick passage for them at the airport.

Upon arrival in Azerbaijan, the repatriates underwent the necessary medical examination and were placed in the appropriate institution for reintegration and rehabilitation. It is planned to hand them over to their relatives after the completion of the relevant procedures, the ministry stressed.

The ministry described the repatriation process as a clear example of the state's care for its citizens and another humane step of this kind.

So far, the number of Azerbaijani citizens repatriated from Iraq, including 288 children and two women, has reached a total of 290 people.
Area communities will once again observe Memorial Day, this year on May 30, and remember the men and woman who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the military.

Viroqua

The citys observance begins at 9:45 a.m. with a rifle salute and Taps at the Pioneer Cemetery located on Rock Avenue. The parade will step off at 10 a.m. and make its way to the Viroqua Cemetery.

A program will be held in the cemetery immediately following the parade. The program will include guest speaker Dr. David Banner, the Viroqua High School band, and readings by veterans and students.

Readstown

The villages service will be held in the Readstown/Town of Kickapoo Advancement Building at 9 a.m.

Village President Anders Unseth will give the welcome, following the invocation by Pastor Charles Miller.

The Readstown Area Historical Society will read the honor roll, and American Legion Auxiliary Post 447 will lay the wreaths.

Music selections will be performed by Kathryn Miller, Greg Smith and families and the Kickapoo Middle/High School choir.

Barbara Hammond will read Our Heroes and John Sime will present Two Score and More.

Hamilton Harris Post 447 will also be part of the service.

Westby

The Westby American Legion and VFW will conduct ceremonies at the following cemeteries and locations:

Our Saviors on Saugstad Road, 8:15 a.m.;

Vang Lutheran on Vang Road and Hwys. 14/61, 8:30 a.m.;

Skogdalen Lutheran, Timber Coulee, Co. P, 8:55 a.m.;

North Coon Prairie, Sunrise Road, 9:15 a.m.;

Norseland Nursing Home, 9:30 a.m.;

Westby Veterans Memorial, 9:40 a.m., where a short service will be held;

Coon Prairie, Coon Prairie Road, 10 a.m.;

United Methodist Church, East Ridge Road and Quarry Road, 10:20 a.m.;

Bethesda Lutheran, East Ridge Road and Bethesda Road, 10:35 a.m.;

Bloomingdale, at the intersection of Church St. and Co. S., 11:00 a.m.;

Sugar Grove, intersection of Co. P and D, 11:15 a.m.;

Dell Methodist Church on Bloomingdale Road, 11:40 a.m.;

Salem Ridge Methodist Church, 12:10 p.m. followed by lunch at the church.

Viola

The Memorial Day program will take place in the Viola Cemetery at 11 a.m. In case of rain, the program will be held in the Kellogg Shelter or the community building.

Mike Geary, Viola Village Board member, will give the welcome, with Hamilton Harris Post 447 posting the colors and giving the rifle salute. The American Legion Auxiliary will present the honor roll and place the wreaths.

The speaker will be Roy Torgerson, Vernon County deputy sheriff. Music will be provided by Kathryn Miller, Kickapoo High School choir director, and Greg Smith, KHS band director, and families, and the Kickapoo Middle School/High School choir. Taps will be played by Bill Doolan.

Other participants in the program include Barb Hammond, auxiliary president, Duane Wallace, pastor of The Key-Full Gospel Church, West Lima, Shari McCauley, Vicki Joholski Groom and Post 447 Commander Tom Simonson.

La Farge

La Farge VFW Post 9075 will host the villages annual Memorial Day observance in the La Farge High School gym at 10 a.m. The speaker is Dan Pulvermacher. The La Farge High School band, under the direction of Karen Fowell, will provide the music.

Soldiers Grove

Members of the William Scoville American Legion Post 220 will join the Gays Mills Legion Post in Gays Mills at 10 a.m. The Legionnaires will return to the veterans memorial in Soldiers Grove for a service at 11 a.m., where Brian McCoy will be the speaker. Dinner will be served at the Soldiers Grove American Legion Hall at noon.

Coon Valley

The Coon Valley American Legion Post 116 will conduct military rites at seven cemeteries on the morning of Memorial Day, May 30.

They are Koethe Cemetery at 7:30; Mormon Coulee Trinity Church 7:45, two cemeteries; St. Joseph Ridge Catholic Church 8:15; St. Marys Catholic Cemetery 8:30; Esofea Lutheran Church 9:30; and Coon Valley Lutheran Church at 10.

There will be a parade through Main Street in Coon Valley at 10:30, beginning at the post office and ending at the Veterans Memorial in the park.

The Memorial Day program will begin at 11 at the Veterans Memorial. Participating in the program will be Coon Valley American Legion Post 116, the Auxiliary, and the Sons of The American Legion, Chaseburg American Legion Post 202, and the Coon Creek VFW. The Westby High School band and choir will provide musical selections.

The main speaker will be U.S. Army Maj. Jared C. Emmart. He is originally from Stoughton, Wisconsin, and he enlisted in the Wisconsin Army National Guard in May 2006. Upon graduation from Viterbo College in May 2009, he was commissioned an officer through the ROTC program as an Engineer Officer in the Regular Army. After training, Emmart was Assistant Battalion Operations Officer for the 46th Engineer Battalion at Ft. Polk Louisiana. During this time he was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to the Horn of Africa. In April 2013 Emmart transferred to the Army Reserves where he commanded the 652nd Engineer Company for three years. Emmart then took his second company command, the 312th Engineer Company in March 2016 and was deployed to the Middle East where he was responsible for engineering projects in several countries. Upon returning from overseas Major Emmart was assigned as an Observer/Controller/Trainer with the 338th Training Support Battalion at Ft. McCoy for training units prior to their upcoming overseas missions. In October 2021 Emmart was mobilized in support of Operation Allies Welcome at Ft. McCoy to assist with the transition of over 12,000 Afghan refugees to the United States. During this time, he was assigned to be the Command Information Chief where he was responsible for messaging all the refugees daily to ensure they could transition smoothly into America.

Emmart currently resides in La Crosse with his wife Alison (Nelson) and their daughter Elsie. He currently works for OptumServe (formerly Logistics Health). Emmart is a member of Coon Valley American Legion Post 116.

After the program there will be a lunch served in the Legion Hall by Auxiliary Unit 116.

The public is invited to attend the program and is asked to bring lawn chairs for seating.

De Soto

De Soto VFW Post 8123 will be conducting services at the following cemeteries on Memorial Day:

De Soto, 9:30 a.m.;

Walnut Mound, Retreat, 10 a.m.;

West Prairie, 10:30 a.m.;

Rising Sun, 11 a.m.;

Freeman Lutheran, 11:30 a.m.;

Ferryville, noon.

Memorial Day meals

Several organizations are serving meals to commemorate the day.

The Our Saviors Cemetery Association will be hosting a Memorial Day freewill pancake breakfast. Breakfast will be served in the heart of the Our Saviors Cemetery on Saugstad Road just outside of Westby. A hearty meal of pancakes, sausages and cheese curds will be served from 7 to 8:30 a.m., with a break for the Rendering of Honors by the local American Legion and VFW. Serving will then resume until all are served.

All contributions received will go entirely toward the upkeep, expenses and beautification of the historic cemetery. The two projects the association is focusing on this year are landscaping and planting trees on the lot line with the new city industrial park. Call Donna Leum at 608-634-3778 with any questions.

New Hope United Methodist Church, E2290 State Hwy. 82, Red Mound, is serving a pancake breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m., featuring plain or blueberry pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy, and applesauce. Freewill donations will be taken for the meal. In addition, there will be a bake sale.

Women of Faith will sponsor a Memorial Day dinner from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Faith UMC, S3297 W. Salem Ridge Rd., La Farge. The menu includes chicken and noodles, beef and noodles, salads, beans, dinner rolls, desserts and beverage. The cost is $12 per adult, $7 for children ages 7-12, and those ages 6 and younger eat free. Eat in or carry out will be available. The Women of faith are also sponsoring a raffle. Tickets are $5 each or five tickets for $20. Call Marla at 608-689-2590 or Jean at 608-606-4582 with any questions.

Angela Cina can be reached at angie.cina@lee.net.

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VIROQUA, WI  The Viroqua Area Schools Board of Education and administration are seeking resident feedback on facilities priorities and potential future improvement plans through a community-wide survey.

This survey is a result of the three Community Input Sessions that were held in April; every Viroqua resident was invited and welcomed to attend, and if they were unable to attend in person, the District recorded a session and posted it online. Feedback was received from more than 100 individuals during these sessions, and the District was able to frame the community-wide survey around the information gathered.

The eight-page survey has now been delivered to every Viroqua Area Schools resident; if you have yet to receive a copy, please contact the District. The survey will provide the District with valuable information about the desired direction for future improvements

Over the past year, the District has been assessing and evaluating options to address facility needs that are too large to be covered by the Districts annual operating budget. To view the proposed plans and learn more about the facilities planning work, please visit the district website.

The purpose of the community survey is to gather feedback on potential plans to improve educational spaces for both todays students and future generations of Viroqua Blackhawks. The survey feedback will help the District and Board of Education prioritize if and when projects should be funded.

We are asking our community for input on when and how to proceed with needed improvements to our school facilities, said District Administrator, Tom Burkhalter. We are very grateful for the continued support from our community, and we are asking the residents to give us feedback on our next steps.

To collect feedback, the District is working with School Perceptions LLC, an independent data firm with expertise in conducting school district surveys. Residents can complete the paper survey and mail it back to School Perceptions in the postage-paid envelope provided or log on to the website listed on the paper survey, enter the unique access code, and take the survey online.

To get additional survey copies for members of your household, or for a Spanish-language version of the survey, please call the District Office at 608-637-1186. The survey is open until June 3.

Results of the survey will be reported at the Board of Education meeting later this summer and will be available on the Districts website.

More information is also on the Districts website at www.viroquaareaschools.com. Questions can be directed to Tom Burkhalter, District Administrator, 608-637-1186, or email tburkhalter@viroquablackhawk.org.

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The CDC continues to investigate the cause of a rash of hepatitis cases among youth, with at least 180 reports of the inflammatory condition nationwide.

Unexplained cases of pediatric hepatitis have now been identified in at least 20 countries, according to Mayo Clinic, with the CDC sharing 38 states and territories had reported cases which were under investigation as of May 25. The earliest cases stateside were detected in fall 2021 in Alabama, and at least six children nationwide have died.

We are really in the investigation phase of all of this so its important to acknowledge what we know, but there are a lot of unknowns still, says Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, pediatric infectious disease expert at Mayo Clinic Rochester

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) says there are at least four cases among youth in Wisconsin, with one patient requiring a liver transplant and one dying. The Minnesota Department of Health in a May 6 press release stated it was investigating three cases. The CDC lists states with cases under investigation, but does not report the number from each state in order to protect patient privacy.

DHS delivered a Health Alert Network Health Advisory last month to make medical and public health staff aware of the appearance of acute hepatitis among area youth and potential links to the adenovirus, which was detected among around 50% of patients nationwide, per the CDC.

Experts are also looking at possible connections to the coronavirus, including long COVID, or increased susceptibility due to precautions like masking and distancing reducing exposure to adenovirus and thus decreased natural immunity. The majority of the hepatitis cases were among youth under 5, who are currently ineligible for the COVID vaccine.

Its difficult to ignore this is happening kind of on the background of the COVID pandemic, and so there are a lot of interesting questions of how they could be related, says Rajapakse. However, the majority of patients were not COVID positive at the time of developing hepatitis, and Rajapakse says, We think its probably unlikely to be related to acute COVID-19 infection.

Vaccines for hepatitis A and B are standard for children, though the virus may materializing in types C, D and E. Hepatitis can have both infectious or non infectious causes, including ingestion of fecal matter through contaminated food or water, contraction from others with the infection through blood or bodily fluids, or overdoses of toxins or certain medications. The adenovirus usually causes cold-like symptoms, but adenovirus 41 can lead to stomach and intestine inflammation.

We know that (adenovirus 41) can cause hepatitis, but the cases reported prior to this current cluster were primarily among people who had weakened immune systems or were immunocompromised, says Rajapakse. So thats why this has generated so much interest.

Liver inflammation can range from mild to severe, with symptoms including jaundice, abdominal pain, nausea and fatigue. Hepatitis has no cure, but medications can help minimize symptoms and reduce risk of liver damage.

The liver is really one of the most important organs of our bodies  it receives a lot of the blood supply from the heart, it sends fresh blood up to the brain, removes all of those toxins, it controls sugars, it controls how thick or thin our blood is, says Dr. Sara Hassan, a pediatric transplant hepatologist with the Mayo Clinic Childrens Center. Once the liver fails all those functions (cease).

In cases of liver failure, Hassan notes, a transplant is necessary in a matter of days or even hours. The CDC May 18 shared the number of pediatric hepatitis patients requiring a liver transplant declined from 15% to 9% in recent weeks.

This is quite rare, Hassan says of cases necessitating transplants. We are keeping our eyes open. Not every hepatitis is going to progress. We will certainly be aware of this and monitoring for this and checking on progression.

The liver is wonderful and most of the time if we have a little bit of injury, the liver is able to heal itself. So remember those cases are rare, and were working really hard to figure out how we can help, how we can investigate and how fast we can support.

Rajapakse says parents should be aware of signs and symptoms of hepatitis, and consult a health care provider if any are present. Its important to remain vigilant, but parents neednt be fearful.

I wouldnt see this as cause for panic or significant anxiety at this point, says Rajapakse. And hopefully as we learn more we will be able to share some more.

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A 26-year-old Onalaska woman faces drug and child neglect charges after she was arrested by town of Campbell police May 22.

India L. James was charged Tuesday in La Crosse County Circuit Court with felony counts of possession of designer drugs with intent to deliver, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and neglect of a child under age 6 and misdemeanor counts of child neglect (two counts), possession of marijuana, resisting an officer and bail jumping.

According to the criminal complaint, an officer observed James operating a vehicle with expired registration on Bainbridge Street. She exited onto Interstate 90 before exiting onto Rose Street in La Crosse.

The officer activated the squad cars emergency lights, but James reportedly took a left on West George Street. She then entered a parking lot off McDonalds Place, ran over a curb and ended up facing the squad car. The officer positioned the squad car so James couldnt leave the parking lot and approached her vehicle. She reportedly told police she was looking for a safe place to pull over.

A La Crosse police officer who arrived to assist reportedly saw marijuana on the front passenger floorboard. James denied it was marijuana and allegedly refused multiple orders to exit her vehicle. The complaint says she resisted being handcuffed and placed in a squad car.

Police searched the vehicle and allegedly found 22 ecstasy pills, six grams of cocaine, one gram of marijuana and nearly $2,500 in cash.

The following day, police were dispatched to the Norwood Inn, where James three children, ages 10, 6 and 4, were reportedly alone in a motel room and absent from school. The children told police that James left the room at 9 p.m. the previous night and didnt return. The complaint says James made no mention of her children during the arrest.

The complaint says the children showed no outward signs of neglect. However, social workers who inspected reported multiple safety factors in the room, including items shoved into a heat register, clogged plumbing, a large knife sitting out, an electrical power strip sitting on top of clothing and laundry detergent not kept in a safe place. The children were served breakfast by hotel staff and taken to school in Onalaska later in the day.

Judge Gloria Doyle released James on a $2,000 signature bond with conditions of drug testing, GPS monitoring and no contact with her children unless approved by Child Protective Services. She has a preliminary hearing set for June 3.

La Crosse Tribune reporter Steve Rundio can be reached at steve.rundio@lee.net.

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A new report from Westerns department of Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement shows use of Westerns on-campus food pantry, the Cavalier Cupboard, rose dramatically from the year prior, as normal campus operations resumed throughout the 2021-22 academic year.

The annual report showed the total amount served rose to 1,910, the most since the cupboard began in 2014. In total, 119 individuals used the pantry throughout the year, with 54% being repeat clients. When the pantry began in 2014, the total amount served was 727.

As we continue to normalize these services, we are finding more individuals have been using the Cavalier Cupboard, said Mitch Berry, student inclusion specialist at Western Technical College. A big part of this comes from our ability to provide hygiene and baby care items, fresh produce, and other refrigerated or frozen food items.

The Cavalier Cupboard was started in 2014 by a Western Technical College student who recognized the need to provide food for students. Since opening, the pantry has served 8,189 students and their families.

For more information on Westerns Cavalier Cupboard, visit https://www.westerntc.edu/food-pantry.

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Newly disclosed documents show former Republican Gov. Scott Walker encouraged an environmental appointee not to give up his position when his term expired to thwart Democratic Gov. Tony Evers agenda.

Fred Prehn, a Wausau dentist and cranberry grower appointed by Walker to the Natural Resources Board in 2015, has refused to step down since his term ended in May 2021.

Senate Republicans have yet to hold a confirmation hearing for his replacement, securing a conservative majority on the board, which oversees the Department of Natural Resources.

Recovered text messages released to the Wisconsin State Journal in response to an open records request show Prehn sought advice from the former governor in November 2020, more than six months before Evers nominated Sandra Naas to replace him.

I heard from legislators they do not intend on confirming anybody soon. And of course the chances of Evers reappointing me are slim to none, Prehn wrote. Im wondering if you think its improper for me to stay on until somebodys confirmed. I know its been done in the past but is it really the proper thing to do?

Prehn went on to say the change in the boards priorities is becoming staggering and if he stayed on Walkers appointees would maintain a majority for a while longer.

If possible, stay on, Walker responded. Any voices that can counter their racial view of the world are good.

Walker did not elaborate. A spokesperson for his current organization, Young Americas Foundation, had not responded to a request for clarification on whether he intended to type racial or radical.

The DNR previously released emails showing Prehn discussed his plans to remain with an aide to Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Minocqua Republican and fierce critic of the DNR, as well as conservative lobbyists. No text messages were included in that batch of records.

A DNR attorney said the agency recently received the deleted texts with Walker as part of a lawsuit brought by Midwest Environmental Advocates, which accused Prehn of withholding public records. A Dane County judge this spring declined Prehns request to dismiss the case, ruling his communications regarding his plans are public records.

Prehn has previously denied coordinating with GOP elected leaders, telling The Associated Press he never spoke to any currently elected Wisconsin state officials in regards to this matter but spoke to friends and acquaintances.

Prehn said Wednesday he asked Walker because he valued his input.

My concern as to why I may or may not remain on board was mine and mine alone, Prehn wrote in an email to the State Journal. I believe this administration has gone rogue with ignoring many of the state statutes. Clearly many of my concerns have come to fruition.

To the court

The state Supreme Court is considering whether Prehn can legally remain in office.

Prehn contends a 1964 state Supreme Court ruling allows appointees to stay beyond the end of their terms until a replacement is confirmed by the Senate.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has asked the courts to force Prehn to step down, arguing his seat became vacant when his term ended, and the law allows the governor to temporarily fill vacancies even without Senate approval.

Since his term expired, Prehn has voted to reject regulations of toxic PFAS compounds in groundwater and to weaken the agencys proposed drinking water standards for the so-called forever chemicals. He voted last fall to exceed a bag limit recommended by DNR biologists for a wolf hunt that was ultimately scrapped when a federal judge reinstated federal protections.

If allowed to remain, Prehn could also cast a deciding vote on the DNRs new wolf management plan, which could set population goals and help determine hunting quotas if the gray wolf is again removed from the endangered species list.

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Planned Parenthood says it will offer abortion services at its clinic in Moorhead, Minnesota, if North Dakotas only abortion clinic does not quickly relocate from Fargo should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. Planned Parenthood says it expected Red River Womens Clinic, a private clinic not affiliated with it, to make the short move across the river by July 1 if necessary. The Fargo clinic has long operated as the only abortion provider in the state. Owner Tammi Kromenaker says she would cross over to Moorhead if forced to do so, but has been too busy to explore details of such a move. She adds that there are too many unknowns to confirm a specific date for relocation.